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In the burying grounds along the Connecticut River from East Haddam to Long Island Sound occur a number of brown sandstones that are quite distinct from any others. These stones are neatly and boldly lettered. The cherubim are almost always lop-sided with large noses and tiny mouths. They were made by David Miller, a Middlefield, Connecticut, carver. His stones are abundant in many burying grounds on the west side of the Connecticut River.
Miller owned a quarry in Middlefield. He apparently was closely associated with William Holland. In one instance both were paid for a stone. In fact one of the stones with probate payment to David Miller is very similar to the "basic" Holland design.
The Miller faces are indeed unusual. Dr. Caulfield’s manuscript notes characterize them as expressing an emotion somewhere between anger and disbelief.
From: Slater, James A. The Colonial Burying Grounds of
Eastern Connecticut and the Men Who Made Them. Memoirs of the
Connecticut Academy of Arts & Sciences, vol. 21. Hamden,
Connecticut: Archon Books, 1987.
*Homer Babbidge Library call number f/Q/11/C85/v.21