The veteran, Lt. Simon Perkins, was a Lisbon native who served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, according to Tucker Fox Hentz of Austin, Texas.

While researching his family tree, Hentz recently discovered he was the fifth great-grandson of Perkins and found that many family members were buried in Ames Cemetery. He learned Perkins was a veteran, but his gravesite did not acknowledge him as one.

In order to become a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Hentz had to prove he descended from someone who fought in the American Revolution.

Iva Arpin of Griswold, member of the Daughters of the American Revolution chapter in Norwich, hosted the rededication of the grave.

"I received a call from a man in Texas last spring asking me to look at the gravestone," she said. "He said he was researching his family and believed that Simon was a veteran."

Arpin investigated the gravesite and saw the original stone, which has deteriorated from the elements. Most of the lettering on graves from the time of the American Revolution is illegible, but she said she could make enough out of Perkins' grave to determine that it was his.

She and Hertz decided the gravesite needed to be restored and rededicated in order to recognize Perkins' contributions to the history of the United States.

Perkins' grave is surrounded by several other Perkins gravestones, indicating that most of the family was buried together in the same area of the cemetery.

Hentz made a new stone that recognizes Perkins as a Revolutionary War veteran and the Gen. Ebenezer Huntington Society of the Children of the American Revolution of Norwich restored the gravesite and set the new stone.

Although Hentz could not attend the ceremony, he wrote a speech for it that was read by Phyllis Nelson, senior president of the Ebenezer Huntington Society.

"The American Revolution was in many ways our country's first civil war and it eventually became the first true world war," he wrote. "Today, we are here to remember my ancestor, Lt. Simon Perkins, one of those many courageous individuals to whom we owe a most solemn debt. Of course, as history has shown, his ultimate sacrifice and that of so many others helped guarantee this victory for his children and their future generations."

Perkins died in 1778 of dysentery.

Arpin said she wants to further restore the cemetery, which is located off Route 169, and has a mix of old and new graves.

"I can tell from the amount of open space that there are more graves here," she said. "Many of the gravestones have fallen and many must be buried underground. We found a Perkins grave that was underground. This cemetery needs a facelift."

Dr. Albert Gosselin Sr. and his wife Laura Gosselin of Lisbon, members of the Lisbon Historical Society, attended the ceremony. They said it is important that the community recognize local history.

"We don't remember enough," Laura Gosselin said. "People kind of forget about it."