People did not all arrive in the New World of their own free will; some were brought in heavy iron shackles as victims of slavery. According to records, 236 slaves and 17 free blacks and American Indians lived in the Town of Montgomery in 1790. Much information about them and this half acre cemetery has been obscured by time, but the burial ground was established in the mid-18th century and was most likely used for slaves owned by some of the original Palatine settlers. More than 100 markers stand within its boundaries, and two are known to be inscribed, including one bearing the date 1756. The cemetery remains an important link to the past and a reminder of the contributions and sacrifices made by those buried there in the establishment of the Town of Montgomery and this nation as they helped open what was once the American frontier.
