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— by Duncan Green
7/1/25
Lyme, NH — Every year, Michael Hinsley joins 8th graders at Lyme Elementary on their class trip to Washington, D.C. Before the trip, the longtime town cemetery trustee collects information through various databases to learn about the students’ family histories. In his eyes, everyone loves history, but the way to captivate young people is to demonstrate how their ancestors are a part of it.
Hinsley loves digging through the old records. More often than not, a class has a few kids with fascinating family trees. He’s discovered decorated military heroes and important American leaders—the most interesting in his mind being those who lived in the Upper Valley region. As it turns out, though, not every record tells an inspiring story.
While researching old census data, Hinsley found that in the early 19th century, as many as six enslaved people lived in Lyme at the same time. “I was absolutely astounded! I mean, what the hell?” he says. With fellow community members, including former cemetery trustee Jay Cary, he has dedicated himself to identifying these people, finding their burial sites, and marking their graves with as much information as they can find about the lives those early residents lived.
Cary’s research focuses on Cate and Prince, a couple he believes were married and owned by the Beal family. James Beal first moved to Lyme from Woodstock, CT after being gifted a plot of land in Lyme from his sister’s husband, David Rawson, according to the Town of Lyme book. Beal fathered fourteen children in Lyme and was a farmer, teacher, and “public officer,” and owned the couple until they died. While there isn’t extensive information on other slave-owning families beyond their names, Hinsley says they were all prominent land owners. Lyman Converse, Thomas Hall, Jack Sheppard and Beal all reported owning at least 1 slave in the 1810 census. Hinsley and Cary suspect one of the Beals’ slaves had died by then.
1810 Federal Census Data from Lyme, NH. First slide key shows that second column from the right is where slaves are listed. Courtesy of Michael Hinsley
In 2020, with the help of ground-penetrating-radar specialist Bob Perry, the board of trustees was able to identify the couple's remains in the Beal family plot in Beal Cemetery. Hinsley and Cary believe the Beals were given the couple as a gift when they were married in Woodstock, CT in the late 1700s, based on records from their wedding. When they moved to Lyme, Cate and Prince came with them, remaining there until old age. They were buried next to their owners.
After identifying their graves about five years ago, Cary and Hinsley began work on constructing and then placing a new headstone. They believe whatever had marked the plot previously was stolen in the 1930s, and decided it was important that the graves not remain unmarked. With the help of the cemetery committee, they had a stone crafted in Fairlee with the words, “In memory of Cate and Prince, husband and wife, Enslaved in Woodstock, CT, Died in old age In Lyme, NH about 1800.”
While having the stone made wasn’t particularly difficult, placing it was no easy task. The remote Beal cemetery is virtually inaccessible by most vehicles, as it sits on a hill covered in irreplaceable endangered plants and dotted with weight-sensitive graves. To place the stone, Ernst Kling, a fire lieutenant and forest warden, came in to help. Aided by a specially built ramp and Kling’s 6-wheeled UTV, the team was able to delicately place the 500-pound stone at the site last fall. “I've used this machine for rescues and for the fire department,” Kling says. “And when I can, I try to lend a hand for stuff that’s important to people in this town.”
Ernst Kling carefully moves the 500 lb. stone using his 6 wheeled UTV. Video courtesy of Ernst Kling
Ernst Kling carefully moves the 500 lb. stone using his 6 wheeled UTV. Video courtesy of Ernst Kling
For Cary, there are still many questions to answer about Cate and Prince. What was their primary service and what was their relationship like with the Beal family? Using old letters from members of the Beal family discussing care for the aging enslaved couple, as well as their peculiar burial site in very close proximity to the family’s, Cary suspects the couple didn’t have a “normal” relationship with their owners. Admitting it may be wishful thinking, Cary wonders if they were perhaps treated as more of a part of the family than most enslaved people. He has continued to search for more information.
“ Ordinarily in those times, when an African American enslaved person died, people didn't put a headstone on their grave,” Cary says. “Vital statistics about them, birth, deaths and marriages were not usually recorded either. So doing research on enslaved people around here is really difficult.”
Michael Hinsley and Jay Cary pose with Cate and Prince’s new gravestone last fall. Photo Courtesy of Jay Cary
In Hinsley’s work, Cate and Prince are just the first success in a larger quest to find and commemorate all enslaved people who called Lyme home. With the census data as a start, Hinsley hopes to discover the others’ burial sites, learn who they were, and recognize them as a part of the town’s history. He knows that there may be no further surviving record of the others, but believes he has a responsibility to continue his search.
To make matters more difficult, Beal Cemetery is one of five cemeteries in Lyme, and one of four that are “closed.” Hinsley believes there is a high likelihood that some of these burial sites are within other cemeteries, but also pointed out that centuries ago some people were buried elsewhere, expanding their search area to the entirety of the town.
When asked why he pursues this project, Hinsley said he feels people in the Northeast know too little about the presence of enslaved peoples in their communities. While the South was more dependent on slave labor than the northern states, northerners nonetheless owned slaves—and the institution was not unique to Lyme, with enslaved people living in towns across New Hampshire until the state abolished slavery in 1857. “In the South, people know that most old buildings, old farms, were built and operated on slave labor,” Hinsley says. “We go and talk about this at school [here], and students, adults, and history teachers are shocked.”
Cary said he was satisfied with how the new stone handled its first NH winter. Photo by Duncan Green.
While finding graves and identifying enslaved people is a long-term project, Hinsley is working with the town on building a memorial to the six enslaved Lyme residents on the town green. The committee has had several public meetings to get townsfolk’s input, and hopes construction will begin soon. “(Cemetery trustees) make sure that burial grounds are taken care of, maintained and preserved,” Hinsley says. “But some graves are unmarked because of the person’s race. We just couldn't accept that.”
Duncan Green grew up in Plainfield and went to Lebanon High School. He’s now a rising junior at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, studying journalism and history, and served as news editor this past semester for The Daily Orange*, SU’s independent student newspaper. He is Daybreak’s first summer reporting intern.*