Mountain Grove Cemetery

Mountain Grove Cemetery is located at the corner of North Avenue and Dewey Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was established in 1849 when showman and politician, P.T. Barnum, purchased the land and designed the layout of his "sculpture garden." Mountain Grove is one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the area, with memorials set in a park-like environment, complete with ponds and gently sloping hills covering 125 acres. I have listed below some of the more prominent inhabitants of the cemetery with photos of some of their memorials. I have also included images of other memorials that I found interesting on page 2.

Mountain Grove is one of only two Connecticut cemeteries featured in Loren Rhoad's book, 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die.

Curious as to why Bridgeport - Connecticut's most populous city that can trace its earliest European settlement to 1644 - only has one cemetery with stones dating from the 1700s? Visit the page, The Mystery of Bridgeport's Missing Cemeteries.

Estimated number of interments, as of February 2025: over 32,949. 

Photos were taken October 2008, December 2009, August 2010, December 2023 and August 2025.

To view more of Mountain Grove's monuments, continue to page 2.

Follow this link for a map of Mountain Grove.

Civil War Memorial at 

Mountain Grove,

"in loving remembrance of those

who did not return."

Behind the memorial are rows of

Civil War graves.

For more information about the "Pro Patria" Civil War monument, and to view the names of "those who did not return", click here.

Some of the more prominent inhabitants of Mountain Grove:

Cornelius "Neal" Ball 

(22 April 1881 - 15 October 1957), Major League Baseball player, member of the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox. On 19 July 1909, Ball made the first unassisted triple play in Major League baseball history while playing for the Indians against the Red Sox. His glove is in the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. 

P. T. Barnum (Phineas Taylor Barnum)

(5 July 1810 - 7 April 1891), mayor of Bridgeport and organizer of the Barnum & Bailey Circus. Served two terms in the Connecticut legislature. He was instrumental in developing "America's first marine rural park," Seaside Park, in Bridgeport. He also founded and was the first president of Bridgeport Hospital. Barnum purchased the land for, and designed, Mountain Grove Cemetery, ignominiously destroying older cemeteries in the process. (Read the article, Bridgeport's Missing Cemeteries.) 

Nathaniel Wheeler Bishop 

(16 September 1865- 4 April 1920), son of William Darius Bishop (below). Alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention from Connecticut, 1916. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Despondent due to a lengthy illness, he stabbed himself in the chest, and died soon afterward at Bridgeport Hospital. He was 54.

William Darius Bishop 

(14 September 1827 - 4 February 1904), US Congressman, a member of the Connecticut State House, and the Connecticut State Senate. Also served as President of the Naugatuck Railroad Company and the New York and New Haven Railroad Company.

George L. Carlson 

(1887 - 26 September 1962). Carlson was an illustrator and artist. He created the dust jacket artwork for "Gone With the Wind" (1936). 

Frances J. "Fanny" Crosby 

(24 March 1820 – 12 February 1915). Blind since infancy, she was one of the most prolific lyricists in history, writing over 8,000 hymns. Crosby was also known for her preaching, and during her lifetime Crosby was one of the best-known women in the United States. She played the hymn "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" at President Grant's funeral in 1885. Her compositions include, "Blessed Assurance," "My Savior First of All," and "Safe in the Arms of Jesus." Crosby was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1975. 

John Calvin Curtis 

(17 April 1846 - 17 January 1917), Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient (Union Army). 1st Lieutenant 9th Regiment Connecticut Volunteer Infantry. During fighting near Baton Rouge, LA, (5 August 1862) Curtis "voluntarily sought the line of battle and alone and unaided captured 2 prisoners, driving them before him to regimental headquarters at the point of the bayonet." Curtis was also a founder and the first president of the Boys' Club of Bridgeport, Connecticut. He is buried with his wife, Adeline Stuart (1849 - 1920). 

Vernon Dalhart (Marion Try Slaughter, Sr.) 

(6 April 1883 - 14 September 1948), pioneering country musician. In 1924, he released "Wreck of the Old 97", which was the best-selling single in its time, and was the biggest-selling non-holiday record in the first seventy years of recorded music. "The Prisoner's Song" was estimated to be a #1 hit for 12 weeks in 1925-26. His lifetime recording sales are estimated at 70 million copies. In 1998, "The Prisoner's Song" was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and the Recording Industry Association of America named it one of the Songs of the Century. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1981 and into the Gennett Records Walk of Fame in 2007. 

Robert Elliott DeForest 

(20 February 1845 - 1 October 1924), US Congressman, mayor of Bridgeport, member of the Connecticut State House of Representatives, and a member of the Connecticut State Senate. 

Dr. Alfred Civilion Fones 

(17 December 1869 - 15 March 1938), dentist and founder of the dental hygiene movement. Fones created the term, "dental hygienist," and founded the first school dedicated to that profession in 1913, The Fones School of Dental Hygiene at the University of Bridgeport. Each year students make a pilgrimage to the Fones family plot. 

William Bliss Hincks 

(1841 - 7 November 1903), Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient (Union Army). Hincks was a member of the 14th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry and fought in the battles of Gettysburg, Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He won the nation's highest military medal for capturing an enemy flag at Gettysburg (Pickett's Charge).

"William B Hincks

Medal of Honor

Maj 14 Conn Inf

Civil War

Nov 7 1903"

Robert Lawson 

(October 4, 1892 – May 27, 1957) , writer and artist, best known for his work as an author and illustrator of children's literature. Lawson won the Caldecott Medal in 1941 and the Newbery Medal in 1945. Many websites, including Wikipedia, state that Lawson is buried in Mountain Grove.  Lawson is NOT interred in Mountain Grove.  According to the cemetery's manager, the author was cremated at the cemetery, but his ashes are elsewhere. 

Daniel Nash Morgan 

(18 August 1844 - 30 May 1931), banker, member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and the State Senate. Morgan served as mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut (1880-81) and United States Treasurer from 1893 until 1897. Morgan was struck by an automobile an died 12 days later, on 30 May 1931. He was 86.

"He that judgeth me is the Lord."  

Irene E. Newman 

(4 July 1875 - 15 November 1958), the world's first dental hygienist, serving under Dr. Alfred C. Fones (above). In 1917, Newman received the first dental hygiene license and she became president of the first dental hygiene association, The Connecticut Dental Hygienists Association. 

William Henry Noble 

(16 August 1813 - 18 January 1894), Civil War (Union), Colonel Seventeenth Connecticut Infantry; Brevet Brigadier General. Present at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Siege of Fort Wagner and Fort Sumter. 

Oscar Leander Johansson Palmquist 

(26 July 1885 - probably 27 March 1925), Titanic survivor and murder victim. Palmquist was a third-class passenger on the RMS Titanic (1912). He jumped from the ship as the liner slid into the ocean. He had tied two life belts around his waist in an effort to fight against the powerful suction created by the sinking ship. Palmquist clung to a stateroom door in the freezing water for more than five hours before being rescued by the Carpathia. He was assisted by a young woman in one of the lifeboats who let him hold onto her shawl like a rope, helping to keep him afloat.

While working as a tool maker at A. H. Nilson Co. (Bridgeport), Palmquist befriended a co-worker. He then began an affair with the man's wife. On 27 March 1925, Palmquist told acquaintances he was going to a party. He withdrew some money from the bank and stopped at a local barbershop. That was the last record of his whereabouts. On 18 April 1925 (almost 13 years exactly from the sinking of the Titanic), his body was found in Bunnells Pond, Beardsley Park, Bridgeport. His death, at the time, was reported as an accidental drowning. It is now commonly believed that he was murdered by the jealous husband. The local undertaker told Palmquist's brother and sister that he had found no no water in his lungs, and therefore Oscar did not drown. He also stated that the decomposition of the body was more consistent with lying on land than in water. Oscar's brother, Amandus (buried elsewhere in Mountain Grove), later said that he had searched for Oscar when he went missing, but had been warned to stop asking questions, and was threatened with the same fate as his brother. Oscar's nephew, Robert Palmquist, said that "Oscar never went near the water after the Titanic disaster. He also was a strong man and would not have drowned in a pond." Bunnells Pond was shallow – about 5 feet deep. Oscar was buried in an unmarked grave in Mountain Grove until a grave marker was placed in 2013. (Appreciation to Encyclopeida Titanica for filling in the gaps.)

Margaret Fogarty Rudkin 

(14 September 1897 - 1 June 1967), founder of Pepperidge Farms, Inc. Rudkin, despite popular belief, is NOT interred in Mountain Grove and (accordingly) does not have a marker there. According to the cemetery's manager, she was cremated and her ashes are elsewhere. 

John William Sterling 

(16 September 1826 - 5 June 1881), served as Captain and commander of the 2nd Connecticut Volunteer Light Artillery (Civil War). 

Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren

Charles Sherwood Stratton (4 January 1838 - 15 July 1883) and his wife, Mercy Lavinia Warren (31 October 1841 - 25 November 1919) were entertainers who traveled the world with P.T. Barnum. "General" Tom Thumb performed for Queen Victoria and both entertainers were received by President Abraham Lincoln. Thumb's final adult height was three feet four inches. Warren stood 32 inches tall and weighed 29 pounds. The statue atop Stratton's memorial is said to be life size.

Isaac Blair Trumbull

Isaac Blair Trumbull (4 Nov. 1882 – 7 May 1915) was the president of the Trumbull Motor Company in Bridgeport. By early 1915, the company was producing 300 cars a month. Trumbull boarded the RMS Lusitania with 20 “Trumbull cars”, on his way to England. He held ticket 8568, and he stayed in cabin B-1. Trumbull was killed in the attack on 7 May 1915. His body was recovered and identified (No. 137) and sent to New York onboard the S. S. New York. The Trumbull Motor Company ceased production after Isaac’s death. (Information from The Lusitania Resource and Wikipedia.)

Dr. Ira DeVer Warner and Dr. Lucien Calvin Warner

Ira (26 March 1840 - 11 January 1913) and his brother, Lucien (26 October 1841 - 30 July 1925) founded Warnaco. Warnaco originally made corsets; it now produces Warners bras and undergarments and is a Fortune 500 company. 

Nathaniel Wheeler 

(7 September 1820 - 31 December 1893), inventor of the Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine. Served in the Connecticut state senate and House, and the General Assembly. A memorial fountain, located at the intersection of Fairfield Avenue, John Street and Park Avenue in Bridgeport, was erected in his honor in 1912. The fountain was created by Gutzon Borglum, who is most famous as the creator of Mount Rushmore. 

The following photos were taken on a morning walk in December 2023. 

All photos copyright by the author, 2025. Not to be used or reproduced without permission.

Continue on to page 2 of Mountain Grove's monuments

or return to the main page.