Bethel Cemetery - Elmwood Section

Elmwood Cemetery

Bethel, Connecticut

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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 is one "famous" resident in Elmwood: William Moulton Marston, who, among other things, invented the lie detector and created "Wonder Woman". His memorial is shown further down on this page.

Estimated number of interments, as of January 2024: at least 1447.

Photos were taken 9 May 2022.

The old street entrance to Bethel Cemetery,

leading to the original burials.

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.

"Myrtle Belle

Daughter of F.B. & Carrie Dikeman

Died May 1, 1890.

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

(The remainder of the inscription is illegible.)

"Spanish American War

Lauvrits M. Svendsen

U.S. Navy

Died Oct. 3, 1933

AE. 63."

The veterans' area of Bethel

(Elmwood) Cemetery.

"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.

A view of Bethel Cemetery.