BIDDEFORD — A soldier long gone and forgotten, maybe for centuries, is being remembered once more.

Several members of the community are taking an interest in one of the country’s first veterans, Revolutionary War veteran Silvanus Knox.

Knox, his wife Hannah and several of his family members’ remains are buried in the Greenwood Cemetery. Nobody knows for certain when the last time those graves were visited or tended to by anyone who cares about them.

In fact, it was only recently that Knox’s grave was rediscovered.

It all began a few weeks ago when Richard Pickens of 33 Green St. was having his furnace serviced.

Pickens, who bought his house about 20 years ago, always knew he had a gravestone in his basement.

“I thought maybe it was a Halloween decoration or something some kids dragged in,” he said.

But when the furnace service man saw the stone for his first time, he asked Pickens if he realized the stone was that of a veteran of the American Revolution.

After that, Pickens did some research on the Internet and found there was a record of Silvanus, also spelled Sylvanus, Knox, who had the same timeline as the Knox on the stone: date of birth Feb. 20, 1759 and date of death April 9, 1839.

Pickens, who is also a veteran, said he wanted to find out about Knox and do something with the stone to remember him, “as one veteran to another.”

While there isn’t much information to be found about Knox, one of his descendants has done some research about her genealogy and can fill in some of the blanks.

Catherine Landry of Michigan says Knox is her great-great-great-great-grandfather on her father’s side of the family. She said she looked into her past as a way to connect to that side of her family and the father she never met.

According to her research, said Landry, Knox was born in Somersworth, N.H. and served in the war as a private with troops in New Hampshire. He married Hannah Bunker on Dec. 28, 1786, and the couple lived in Lyman and raised their family there. Knox worked as a shoemaker.

As a result of his service in the war, Knox received a pension, which his wife also received after his death.

Knox died in Lyman. There is no evidence that he ever lived in Biddeford.

Marc Bolduc, of Hope Memorial Chapel in Biddeford, said he thinks Knox ended up in a Biddeford cemetery because there were no large cemeteries in Lyman.

Pickens contacted Bolduc for help when he began researching Knox. But it’s still a mystery as to how the veteran’s gravestone ended up in Pickens’ basement.

The gravestone may have once been used to mark Knox’s grave, but there is a bigger stone now marking the grave located at Greenwood Cemetery.

Bolduc, working with Carl Walton who supervises the cemetery, located Knox’s burial site and the site of his family members.

Although the cemetery records for burials that far back aren’t complete, “we got lucky,” said Bolduc. “We found it right away.”

Bolduc said he got involved when Pickens called because, in his line of work, he knows whom to contact to find some answers.

“I know it doesn’t make any difference to anybody,” he said, about finding out about Knox.

But, said Bolduc, “like for any of ancestors once they die, a lot of times they’re forgotten. When we remember our dead, they’re still alive.”

Now that Knox’s grave has been rediscovered, the old stone will be placed on the grave. Also, Knox’s military service can now be recognized. Every year, veteran organizations place American flags on the graves of the veterans to recognize their service. Knox can now be honored in that same way, his service to his country remembered.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.