Dike Cemetery
Brandy Hill and Gawron Road, Thompson 0.28 acres
GPS Latitude 41.97080 Longitude -71.83750
The Dike Cemetery is located on property that was originally purchased by Samuel Narramore in 1729. In 1746, Samuel and his wife Rachel made a “covenant” with their son-in-law James Dike for him to provide for their future care. Then in 1750, Samuel deeded the property to James.
At her death in 1912, Mary Dike left money in trust to care for the cemetery. In 1913, the Dike farm was sold with the exception of the cemetery. On September 24, 1913, George P. Dike, then a resident of Franklin, Suffolk County, Massachusetts established a trust for the Dike Cemetery “to hold and maintain said land as a burying ground for the persons already interred therein and for such other members of the Dike family, or other persons as said trustee or his successors shall permit to be interred therein….”
In 1954, George Dike, Trustee of the Cemetery Trust, deeded the cemetery along with its trust funds to the West Thompson Cemetery Association. Only a portion of this cemetery has its own deed; it is in volume 38, page 62 and is recorded as .28 acres in the Thompson land records.
In 1863, George Dike and his cousin Albyn V. Dike arranged to have an iron gate and granite posts made and set. On February 18, 1880, some of the Dike descendants erected a monument to the memory of James and Mary Narramore Dike.
The 1934 Hale Collection shows there were twenty-two (22) legible headstones; nineteen (19) with the Dike surname, two (2) with Ross and one with Tucker; there were also numerous field stones without dates. No family relationship of either the Ross or Tucker family with the Dike family can be identified. The Ross family lived on Brandy Hill; perhaps this was the closest cemetery to them.
Family lore tells that during the second smallpox epidemic, the James Dike homestead was used as a hospital since James had already survived the first epidemic. His wife Mary Narramore died from smallpox in 1761 and hers is the oldest recorded grave. Others who were hospitalized with the smallpox and died were also buried in this family cemetery but without markers.
Veterans of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 are buried here. Records indicate that James Dike (1718-1792) was a civil servant during the Revolutionary War period and served Thompson both as a surveyor of highways and as a tithingman (an annually elected Town official whose duties were to keep order in church during its services and to enforce the observance of the sabbath). Thomas Dike (1744-1808), son of James and Mary, served as a Sergeant during the Revolutionary War under Captain Green and Colonel Williams. Both Dike men are recognized in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) database; neither grave has a DAR marker. Samuel Dike, son of Thomas, was an Ensign in the 11th Militia from Thompson during the War of 1812.
The Dike Cemetery in the document section below may help in locating a tombstone; this is the original Hale’s List of Cemetery Inscriptions which records the gravestone locations as the person who collected the information walked through the cemetery
Ida Ransom, July 2024
Documents:
Dike Cemetery – Hale’s List of Cemetery Inscriptions