Not-quite 200 years after he was laid to rest in a small, family plot in the Town of New Dorlach, German-born Christoffel Rhines, a farmer and Revolutionary War soldier who fought at the Battles of Saratoga and Bennington, was honored again Saturday at the Parsons Road Cemetery in what’s now the Town of Sharon.
Among those on hand: his great-great-great grandson, Timothy Rhines, the man who started the Sharon Springs American Legion on what became a three-year journey to find and then reclaim the almost-forgotten cemetery where Private Rhines, his wife, Cattarina (Heyans) of Palatine, and likely 11 of their children are buried.
“Today, we dedicate the final resting place of an American patriot who came to this land as a young man,” Legion Auxiliary Chaplain Lori Nolfo told about 50 people crowed into the cemetery for the dedication.
“He took up arms so a new country could be formed. That country has become the greatest country the world has ever known.”
It was after Mr. Rhines wrote to the Sharon Historical Society looking for information of his great-great-great grandfather, a farmer who likely received his land from New York as payment for his service in the Revolutionary War, that the pieces began to come together.
Sharon Supervisor Sandy Manko, who’d worked on a Historical Society survey of local cemeteries a decade ago, remembered a couple of headstones and a handful of fieldstones at the Parsons Road site; Harry Edsall, the farmer who owns the land now, talked Saturday about driving a bulldozer through the overgrown site, unaware of the history buried there.
“I was just looking to clear a way across the road,” Mr. Edsall said. “Then I saw stones—and I started to realize what it was. A few feet to the right…”
Once they realized what they had, members of the American Legion went to work clearing it by hand and cleaning and repairing the Rhines’ stones; about 20 other sites are marked by white, wooden crosses and guests at Saturday’s dedication were invited to lay a red carnation at each of them.
Also donated to the effort were a flagpole and flag, a bench, a split rail fence and a sign identifying it at the Parsons Road Cemetery.
The Sons of the American Revolution have also provided expertise and help with the restoration and hopes to provide a marker identifying it as a historical site in the spring.
Carol Vacca, guest speaker at the event, spoke of the contributions made by the soldiers and their wives in a difficult time and praised the Legion members for their work.
“Now those who come to visit historic cemeteries have one more to explore,” she said.
For Mr. Rhines, the connections he made when he first began looking into his past stretch across history.
“You are my friends forever,” he said.