Identity, burial-record leads, numbered markers and selected family documentation. Blake Street is behind Westville Cemetery and Congregation Mishkan Israel’s cemetery, accessible through the 661 Whalley Avenue cemetery tract. Woodin Street is by Rockview at the base of Mueller Drive near the Hamden border. The earlier almshouse burial ground has not been located by the cited researcher and is not equated with either site. No complete original burial register or rights-cleared historic photograph of these grounds was acquired.
Executive history
The familiar label “New Haven paupers cemetery” covers more than one place. Blake Street is the hillside municipal ground behind the Westville and Mishkan Israel cemeteries. Woodin Street is a separate city burial ground near the Hamden boundary. Researcher Sherill Baldwin lists both independently and separately records an almshouse burial ground whose location remains unresolved. Keeping these places distinct is essential when matching an institutional death to a cemetery record. [PAU-009]
Blake Street served poor and unclaimed burials from 1884 to 1931, according to John Moritz’s 2026 reporting, which describes roughly 2,200 people buried there. Most markers used numbers rather than names. These approximate totals and operating dates are reported historical findings, not a count independently established from a complete register in this collection. [PAU-010]
Names can survive even where the stones have lost their numbers. Baldwin’s Blake Street project starts with material from the Charles R. Hale Collection and presents modern rearrangements by surname, age, death year and plot number. These are finding aids derived from an earlier compilation. The source record, the modern transcription and a field identification of a particular stone each answer different questions and should be checked against one another. [PAU-003]
Woodin Street’s separate chronology is documented in a 2019 report based on interviews with city staff. The approximately two-acre ground opened in 1927 and received its last burial in 1985; staff reported 1,101 burials and described a surviving names-to-numbers record book. Anna Fitch Ardenghi’s 1954 trust funded cemetery improvements, including a fence and granite cross. The 2019 project sought to repair the grounds and recover sunken markers; its announcement is not evidence that every proposed repair was completed. [PAU-004]
Anna Horan’s recovery illustrates how a life history and a gravesite identification require different evidence. An 1885 newspaper notice describes a Horan household crisis and a possible almshouse admission. Baldwin’s later research connects Anna’s 1907 death with Blake Street number 685 and explains how neighboring numbered entries helped locate the weathered marker. Descendants subsequently supplied a named stone. The notice alone neither names Anna nor establishes where she was eventually buried. [PAU-001]
Recent remembrance also includes the Tritton family. Trinity on the Green and St. Luke’s announced a June 14, 2026 memorial dedication for Lucy Tritton, Lois Tritton and descendants at the Westville cemetery grounds. The dedication and family names document commemorative work; a shared memorial inscription should not by itself be used to infer that every person named occupies the same grave. Original freedom papers, cemetery entries and vital records remain separate sources for each person’s history. [PAU-011]
Key dates
1884 — Reported beginning of Blake Street municipal burials. PAU-010
1927 — Woodin Street municipal cemetery opens. PAU-004
1931 — Reported end of new burials at Blake Street. PAU-010
1954 — Anna Fitch Ardenghi trust supports improvements at Woodin Street. PAU-004
1985 — Last Woodin Street burial reported by city staff in 2019. PAU-004
2019 — City staff describe a preservation project and surviving names-to-numbers book for Woodin Street. PAU-004
2026-06-14 — Tritton family memorial dedication announced by Trinity and St. Luke’s. PAU-011
A closer look at the surviving record
A household before a numbered grave
The short Horan notice is a glimpse of housing loss and anticipated poor relief in 1885. Its language reflects a newspaper’s account, and its crop omits the masthead. Anna’s later identification at Blake Street rests on separate research and numbered burial evidence. Keep the family story connected without turning this article into an admission record or cemetery register.
A Cruel Husband — Horan household newspaper notice
A contemporary notice reports that Thomas Horan left his wife and one child without furniture, food or a home, and anticipates an almshouse admission. It supplies family circumstances, not a burial record.
Public domain in the United States: newspaper item published in 1885. The visible surname reads Horan. This is a historical newspaper allegation; Anna is not named in the crop. Her identification and later Blake Street burial depend on the linked modern research, not this notice. No original issue page was acquired.
A Cruel Husband.
Thomas Horan, a painter living at the upper end of Congress avenue, yesterday sold all his furniture and left town, leaving his wife and one child without a home or anything to eat. They stopped at a neighbor’s last night, and will probably be admitted to the almshouse to-day.
Source note: transcription checked against reproduced clipping. The crop has no masthead, page number or date. September 23, 1885 and the newspaper title are supplied by the reproducing researcher; verify against the complete issue before formal newspaper citation.
Credit: New Haven Morning Journal and Courier, historical clipping reproduced by Sherill Baldwin, Buried Stories. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-001, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-002 · Sources & research leads · 1930s compilation
Charles R. Hale Collection — cemetery inscriptions and indexes
Original collection guide at the Connecticut State Library; starting point for the Blake Street compilation.
Request the appropriate New Haven cemetery volume and inspect complete pages and front matter. Public access to a later transcription is not proof that this archive holds a complete original burial register. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-002, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-003 · Sources & research leads · Current research
Who is buried at Blake Street?
Baldwin’s explanation and links to sorted versions of the Hale-derived data.
Derived modern finding aid. Some older WordPress links redirect and should be checked before embedding. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-003, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-004 · Sources & research leads · 2019-09-06
The Dead Rescued
City-staff reporting on Woodin Street’s location, dates, record book, trust and preservation needs.
Modern article and photographs are linked only. The report locates the 2019 record book in Community Services Administration custody; current custody requires confirmation. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-004, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-005 · Sources & research leads · 2024-11-01
John Bray (about 1835–1891)
Research linking a 29th Connecticut veteran to Blake Street and identifying children in the New Haven Orphan Asylum census.
Follow the cited Hale entry 215-22, p. 1673 and New Haven Register, November 12, 1891, “Fatal Attack of Rheumatism.” Blog image caption/link for an 1882 Donation Day article is mismatched with an 1890 court clipping; do not reuse under the 1882 caption. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-005, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-006 · Sources & research leads · 2026-04-11
Anna Horan — descendants and numbered graves
Research narrative supplies the 1885 clipping and explains the identification of marker 685.
A second clipping has a caption date June 2, 1891 but a filename suggesting February 6, 1891. Omitted from selected assets until the issue is checked. The account says John Horan died at St. Francis in 1907 but leaves his burial unresolved. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-006, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-007 · Sources & research leads · 2025–2026
Friends of Blake Street Cemetery
Community research, tours and grounds-care information.
Photographs and authored modern text remain linked rather than republished. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-007, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-008 · Sources & research leads · 2024
Grove Street Dignity Project — distinct burial history
Another New Haven cemetery’s research into marginalized burials and reinterments.
Disambiguation lead only: Grove Street is not Blake Street or Woodin Street. External source reference; the complete source is not reproduced in this download.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-008, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-009 · Sources & research leads · Source consulted September 2026
Supporting source: buried-stories.com
Supporting source for the collection history and chronology.
External source; consult the original publication for its full context.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-009, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-010 · Sources & research leads · Source consulted September 2026
Supporting source: ctmirror.org
Supporting source for the collection history and chronology.
External source; consult the original publication for its full context.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-010, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
PAU-011 · Sources & research leads · Source consulted September 2026
Supporting source: www.trinitynewhaven.org
Supporting source for the collection history and chronology.
External source; consult the original publication for its full context.
Credit: Original publisher or holding institution, linked at source. Cite SGC SGC-PAU-021, PAU-011, source title, page and URL; accessed September 8, 2026.
