Earlier this year [2003], the Connecticut State Archeologist was requested by the Peter Pond Society in Milford, Connecticut, to examine a possible burial site for the remains of Peter Pond. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) tests adjacent to the tombstone of Peter's mother, Mary Pond, had earlier determined that possibly two unmarked burials lay next to her. In response to that request, Dr. Bellantoni conducted a three-day search at the Milford Cemetery in mid-August of this year.

Who was Peter Pond and why are people looking for the site of his burial? Peter Pond, the eldest child of Peter Pond (hereinafter referred to as Peter Pond the elder) and Mary (Hubbard) Pond, was born January 18, 1740 in Milford, Connecticut. His paternal ancestors included early settlers of Charlestown, Watertown, Newton, Boston and Dorchester, Massachusetts, and Windsor, Connecticut. His younger brother, Charles (1744-1832) was a trader, soldier, and privateersman. On one of his 1776 exploits, Charles commanded the sloop Schuyler which ferried Nathan Hale across Long Island Sound on the secret mission that ended in Hale's execution as a spy.

Peter Pond married Susannah Newell some time around 1762. They had three known children. A son Peter was born about 1763 and died at age 50 in the West Indies. A daughter Elizabeth was born in 1764 and a second daughter Susanna was born in 1766. Peter's wife Susannah died March 8, 1795 at age 52.

Peter served in the French and Indian Wars and in 1761 he tried his fortunes at sea. However, his mother died that year while his father was in Detroit on a fur trading trip, and Peter, in his own words, had to "take charge of a young fammaley til my father returnd after which I bent my mind aftor different objects and taread in Milford three years which was the ondlay three years of my life I was three years in one plase sins I was sixteen years old up to sixtey." At the end of the three years (about 1765) Peter began a fur trading career in the Detroit area. This subsequently led to the upper Mississippi and from then until 1788 his career evolved into fur trading and exploration. He was also known as quite an adventurer and became famous as an explorer of Western Canada. Peter was well-known in Canada and was knighted for his explorations and maps of the western Canadian area.

Peter was the first white man into the Athabasca country in 1778 where he founded Fort Chipewyan, near Old Fort Bay. In 1782 he spent the winter at Lac La Ronge near the camp of Etienne Wadden. Food was short and a quarrel developed between Wadden and Pond. Wadden was killed and Pond later wrote, "We met the next morning eairley and discharges pistols in which the pore fellowe was unfortenat." Peter was not prosecuted.

It was during the winter of 1787-88 that the Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie was also in Athabasca and received much of his information regarding this territory. He spent the winter with Pond who taught him all he knew of the area. (Later Mackenzie was to receive much of the credit for discovery of the Northwest Passage.) It was about this same time that Pond was involved in a second death, the murder of trader John Ross. Pond was later acquitted of the murder but was treated badly thereafter and before long returned to the United States.

Upon his return to the United States, Peter Pond was commissioned a captain in the Army and served some time as a special agent for Secretary of War Henry Knox. He was also sent to Niagara and Detroit to spy upon the Indians while pretending to be a fur trader. He retired back to New England in 1790 or 1791 where he died in poverty in about 1807. There is no indication as to where Peter Pond or many other members of his family are buried.

What were the results of the search? Working in conjunction with members from the Peter Pond Society, FOSA volunteers assisted Dr. Bellantoni in uncovering a large plot next to the grave of Peter's mother Mary Pond, who is buried in the old burying ground at Milford Cemetery at Gulf Street. This three-day project did not uncover any adult remains and hence there is no evidence that Peter Pond was buried next to his mother's grave. This would also serve to confirm that Peter Pond's father, Peter Pond the elder, who died within a few years of his wife, is not buried in the area that was searched.

However, the effort did uncover the traces of three possible children's graves. The most predominant skeletal remains uncovered were that of a child buried close to Mary Pond. These remains are possibly those of Jedediah Pond, the youngest brother of Peter Pond, who was known to have been baptized in 1761 - the same year his mother died. The assumption was expressed that the mother and child may have died during childbirth. What skeletal remains there were gave evidence of a very young, or premature, baby. The burial was unusual insofar as there were 21 shroud pins found in the grave.

The two other remains were also possibly those of children. Skeletal evidence in the second grave gave some credence to the body being that of a child three to four years of age. The third grave showed evidence only of a coffin outline with one or two coffin nails. Again, the coffin outline was consistent with that of a young child. An examination of the Pond family genealogy records reveals no children associated with the family in this age range dying around this time.

The excavation and recovering of the graves was completed and now the search must continue for the final burial site of Peter Pond. Nonetheless, it is exciting to discover and gather information about an early Canadian explorer and his connections with Connecticut.