Cemetery Maps

Old St. Denis Cemetery in Fort Fairfield, Maine contains the graves of some of the earliest settlers in Fort Fairfield. Some of the earliest settlers, like Michael Russell, settled in the area in 1819. Others came in the 1820s. Many of these settlers were Irish and their tombstones tell from which counties in Ireland these settlers originated. Many of these men were members of the British 98th Regiment Afoot or the West India Rangers. Other Irish settlers came after the border was defined in 1842 and fled the Irish Potato Famine or the Great Hunger. These Irish settlers came through New Brunswick. There are also some Civil War soldiers in this cemetery. Prior to the building of the first St. Denis Catholic Church, the Irish settlers depended on missionary priests who came from St. Bruno’s Parish in Van Buren, Maine. The missionary priests would give the sacraments. The first St. Denis Church was built in the 1840s at the front of this cemetery. Then in the later 19th century, the a new St. Denis Church was built in Fort Fairfield.