Smallpox Victims Forgotten No More

Through the efforts of P. Edward Deschenes and John Bryant, the "Smallpox Cemetery" was dedicated on Labor Day in Jaffrey. The remote site is the resting place of five men and one girl who died of smallpox in Jaffrey in the autumn of 1792.

The tiny cemetery is on the Deschenes Farm, about a 10-minute walk from Pierce Crossing Rd. through the woods. On Monday afternoon, about 50 invited guests, gathered on Pierce Crossing Rd. and went together to the burial ground, them to pay tribute to the six victims.

There is a reason the site is so remote: in 1792, smallpox was a scourge and victims were put in isolation to prevent the disease from spreading to the healthy. The six were separated from society not only in life, but in death: they were not laid to rest in an established cemetery, but in a new place set aside especially for them.

There used to be at least two gravestones at the small plot, but they, have long since fallen down and shattered, their pieces scattered. For years, there was no evidence that people were buried in the plot.

The place had been mostly forgotten except by the Deschenes family, the neighbors, and some citizens such as Homer Belletete who are interested in Jaffrey history.