WAYNE -- The Wing name is ubiquitous in Wayne.

The town was settled in the late 1700s by seven Wing brothers. Pocasset Lake was once Wing Pond. Wing Lane is still accessible from Pond Road. And a few Wing descendants still live in town.

"You don't do Wayne history without understanding the Wing family," said Eloise Ault, a Wayne resident and member of the town's historical society.

For many in the Wing family, the final resting place is the Wing Cemetery on Pond Road, a graveyard built in concentric circles that emanate out from an obelisk at the center.

Until recently, however, the cemetery's history was a glaring "unknown" in Wayne history.

Discovery

Ault and fellow Wayne Historical Society members had often wondered about the Pond Road cemetery.

The site was granted a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, but the register's records carried the following notes: "history -- unknown" and "architect -- unknown."

In 2002, Ault says, the Wayne Historical Society experienced a breakthrough.

A Livermore Falls woman dropped off a plastic garbage bag to historical society members. It was filled with letters, ledgers, deeds, bills and receipts dated from 1837 to 1864. The documents belonged to Llewellyn Wing, a descendant of one of the Wing brothers who settled Wayne, according to Ault's account of her research in the historical society's 2008 book "A Happy Abundance."

From the crumpled and blemished 150-year-old documents, Ault and the historical society pieced together the history of a cemetery that underwent a major redesign in 1867, resulting in the concentric circle configuration.

But it wasn't immediately obvious who orchestrated the design.

During their research, historical society members came across a 1920s issue of the Wing family's genealogical magazine, "The Owl," that offered a brief biography of Alonzo A. Wing, son of Aaron, one of the original seven Wing brothers. "[I]n 1867 at his suggestion and through his efforts the Wing Cemetery was established," the publication read.

But Ault and other historical society researchers needed confirmation, so they turned to a historical society in Jefferson, Wis.

Alonzo Wing had moved to the Midwestern town after his education at Kents Hill School and Colby College (then known as Waterville College) and the local newspaper, the "Jeffersonian," published dispatches detailing Wing's travels to Maine around the time of the 1867 cemetery redesign.

"He was able to convince his brothers that this was a good thing to do," Ault said of the cemetery remodel. "He inspired them."

The concentric circle design of the cemetery was an engineering feat, Ault said. Those working on the cemetery, for example, had to temporarily move at least 39 graves while the redesign took place. Then they had to carry out a sophisticated plan for the property, cutting arcs from granite and shaping grave plots around them.

The concentric circles turned out to be a carefully conceived plan to reflect Wing family genealogy. The eight-sided obelisk at the center carries the names of all seven original Wing brothers. Descendants are buried in rows emanating out from the inscribed name of their Wing brother ancestor.

"There's gossip right here," Ault says of the graves. "There's love. There's everything here. It's a special place and it needs protection."

"It's a gem," said Jane Wing Giglio, one of the Wing descendants who lives in Wayne. "It's a beautiful cemetery and very unique."

Alonzo Wing

The National Register of Historic Places accepted additional documentation from the Wayne Historical Society in January to fill in the two major blanks in the register's Wing Cemetery entry.

Ault and historical society members had unraveled the story of a man who carved out a prominent reputation for himself in his adopted Wisconsin home while maintaining a strong connection to his hometown in Maine.

Wing was the local superintendent of schools in Jefferson, Wis., "for many years," according to Ault's "Happy Abundance" account. He later served as the county superintendent of schools. That was before his tenure as a regent of the State University of Wisconsin and his 1850 election to the Wisconsin State Legislature.

In his private life, Alonzo Wing was a civil engineer and surveyor, using the skills he applied to designing the Wing Cemetery.

"You begin to wonder. This sounds kind of padded," Ault said. "Nobody could be all these things, but he was."

Wing returned to Maine permanently after the 1884 death of his wife, Jane, who was buried in the Wing Cemetery. He likely accompanied the body on its eastward trip.

Honoring Alonzo

The history of the family cemetery documented, the Wing Assembly of Maine in early September fastened a bronze plaque to a granite post near the cemetery entrance. It's a tribute to the Wing family member who plotted out the family graveyard.

"It's a heritage that I don't believe too many people have, and it's something to really treasure," said Marion Sherman, a Wing descendant from Somerville who spearheaded fundraising to have the plaque installed. "The pride in me is really deep."

Now a key link in the Wing family's history, Ault was the assembly's guest speaker at the plaque's Sept. 19 unveiling.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com