Bethel Cemetery - Elmwood Section

Bethel Cemetery - Elmwood Section (previously known as Elmwood Cemetery), is located on Route 302 (Dodgingtown Road) in Bethel, Connecticut. The cemetery's oldest section (closest to the street on the right side) dates from the mid-1800s. The majority of the remaining space is for 20th-century and modern burials, as Bethel Cemetery is still very much in use. There are two notable residents in Elmwood: William Wright, a crew member on the ocean liner, Morro Castle, who survived the ship's fatal fire, and William Moulton Marston, who, among other things, invented the lie detector and created "Wonder Woman". Their memorials are shown toward the bottom of this page.

Estimated number of interments, as of June 2025: at least 1487.

Photos were taken 9 May 2022 and 12 June 2025.

"IN memory of MARY ELIZA,

daughter of John G. & Sally Johnson,

who died Feb 6. 1855,

AE. 16 Yr's 7 Mo's & 1 Day."

The sons of Joshua S. & 

Eunice E. Taylor. 

Henry S. (right) died 5 February 1857,

age 8 years and 8 months.

George F. (left) died 14 July 1859,

age 5 years and 6 months.

"Jennie

AE. 5 mo's. & 2 d's."

Jennie Dibble, daughter of 

Virgil & Annette.

She died 17 February 1874.

"Myrtle Belle

Daughter of F.B. & Carrie Dikeman

Died May 1, 1890.

Aged 12 yrs. 6 ms. & 2 dys."

(The remainder of the inscription 

is illegible.)

An unusual stone that, unfortunately, 

is too faded to read. 

Possibly "Johnnie" and then 

something indecipherable. 

When I've found monuments like these 

in other cemeteries, 

they are usually for a child.

"Phoebe Ann Hinman.

Died Nov. 24, 1906

Aged 60 years."

"Spanish American War

Lauvrits M. Svendsen

U.S. Navy

Died Oct. 3, 1933

AE. 63."

The veterans' area of Bethel

(Elmwood) Cemetery.

"Erected and dedicated by

the Veterans of Foreign Wars

of the United States

Post 935, Bethel, Ct.

For those who served and

gave their all."

Morro Castle, launched in 1930, was an ocean liner that traveled from New York to Havana. On a return voyage from Cuba, 8 September 1934, a fire was detected in a utility closet. A series of mechanical and crew errors allowed the fire to spiral out of control. In all. 137 people succumbed to smoke, fire, or drowning, before the burning ship beached itself at Asbury Park, New Jersey.

William Wright (1917 - 2001) was a wiper in the engine room of Morro Castle on its last voyage. Wright escaped aboard one of the six lifeboats (No. 10) which had been lowered from Morro Castle.  (Thanks to Peter's Morro Castle Page for the information.)  He is buried with his wife, Tekla (1922 - 2000).

"Elizabeth Holloway "Sadie" Marston

Feb. 20, 1893 - Mar. 27, 1993

Attorney & Psychologist

Gave the concept of Wonder Woman

for comic books and movies 

to her husband

William Moulton Marston

May 9, 1893 - May 2, 1947

Attorney & Psychologist

Creator of the lie detector

Author of Wonder Woman and

23 books & articles"

According to the PBS program, American Experience "The Lie Detector", Marston created a primitive lie detector. (At about the same time, John Augustus Larson created a prototype that would spawn the modern polygraph we are familiar with today.) Eager to promote his invention, Marston used it in a criminal investigation and announced that the prime suspect was innocent. The judge ruled that the device and its results were inadmissible in court. The public debate that ensued overshadowed the actual court case, in which the suspect was found guilty. He insisted that the uproar over the lie detector took away from his ability to get a fair trial. Afterward, Marston used his device as a "love meter", and he briefly worked in Hollywood measuring audience reactions to film sequences (until he was replaced by a younger, and less abrasive, Leonarde Keeler, a former protege of Larson and the man who would promote the polygraph into the pop culture stratosphere). Marston taught at Tufts University until his unconventional lifestyle got him terminated. Marston and his wife were polyamorists, and eventually Marston's mistress moved in with the couple, giving birth to two of Marston's four children. Finally, Marston came up with the idea for Wonder Woman. He was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.

The old street entrance on 

Route 302 / Dodgingtown Road,

leading to the original burials.

All photos copyright by the author, 2022. Not to be used or reproduced without permission.

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