USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Roxbury > Forest Hills cemetery: its establishment, progress, scenery, monuments, etc. > Part 1
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no. 311. Deposited Nov. 26, 1855, Recorard Vol. 30. Page 754
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
THEDOCH THE HALLRWIOT THE
PRINCIPAL GATEWAY.
Forest Hills Cemetery :
ITS
ESTABLISHMENT, PROGRESS, SCENERY,
MONUMENTS, ETC.
W.a. Ora
WITH TEN ILLUSTRATIONS.
" O Grave ! well might each thoughtful race Give thee the high and holy place : Mountains and groves were meet for thee, Thou portal of eternity." Mary Howitt.
ROXBURY: PUBLISHED BY JOHN BACKUP. 1855.
75 :61 ยท FTC8
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by W. A. CRAFTS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts.
6. 5.27 Mg
PREFACE.
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY, although of recent origin, has rapidly grown in public favor, and the number of those who are now interested in it is so large, that the publication of a book giving an account of its establishment, its consecration, scenery, monuments, etc., may at least prove acceptable to many persons. This volume has been prepared rather for the use of proprictors of burial lots there, or others who are interested in the sacred spot by tender associations, than for the general reader, who might perhaps find too much of detail and dulness in its pages.
To the general history and description given in the body of the book, an Appendix has been added, containing all the official papers relating to the Cemetery, the acts, ordinances, regulations,
iv
PREFACE.
forms of deeds, and other matters of especial interest to proprietors, and a catalogue of pro- prietors down to the time of publication.
The illustrations are from drawings made by Mr. Benjamin Worcester, engraved by Mr. John Andrew. It was thought that a few views of the kind here given would be more acceptable and more appropriate to the volume, as they certainly are more tasteful, than a larger number of cuts representing only the monuments. It was diffi- cult, however, to select views which might gener- ally be thought the most attractive, or especially worthy of being comprised in so small a number. The object was to present the scenery of the different parts of the Cemetery, and some of its most striking characteristics.
Such as it is, the volume is submitted to those interested in the Cemetery, in the hope that it may, in some degree, prove an acceptable and useful book.
ROXBURY, OCTOBER, 1855.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION.
1
Establishment and Progress of Forest Hills 17
Commissioners. 50
Consecration, and Rev. Dr. Putnam's Address 55
Scenery and Beauties. 77
Monuments . 103
Epitaphs. 142
Reveries at Forest Hills
152
APPENDIX
173
1. Communication of Mayor Clarke, etc.
2. Gen. Dearborn's Report.
3. Orders for purchase of lands.
4. Acts of the Legislature relative to the Cemetery.
5. Ordinance establishing Name.
6. Ordinance establishing Form of Deed.
7. Procession at the Consecration.
8. Area of land and cost.
9. Debt for land.
10. Receipts and Expenditures.
11. Form of receipt for perpetual care of lots.
12. Regulations for visitors.
13. Tombs, Fences, Monuments, etc.
14. Avenues and paths.
15. Catalogue of Proprietors.
INTRODUCTION.
WITHIN the last twenty-five years public senti- ment in this country, or in this section of the country, has made a marked and praiseworthy progress in relation to the places set apart for the burial of the dead. Previous to that time burial places had been only desolate graveyards, overgrown with long grass and noxious weeds, and with little else of vegetation, save, perhaps, here and there a neglected tree which shaded some forgotten grave. Dilapidated fences, crum- bling tombs, prostrate headstones, neglected graves on which no turf had been laid or stone reared, made such spots gloomy and repulsive. Even down to the present time such is the char- acter of too many of the burial places of pleasant, thriving towns. But a change has come over the aspect of many others, and the good taste and reverence for the dead which led to the establish- ment of Mt. Auburn, the first cemetery of the
A
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FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
kind in the country, has extended far and wide to large towns and small hamlets ; ancient burial places have been improved and ornamented, and more extensive and appropriate grounds are set apart as the resting place of the departed.
Though we call this improvement in public sen- timent a progress of later years, it cannot be claimed as an idea of this enlightened age. It is rather a return to the practice of former times, the revival of old ideas, the learning of a lesson from the ancients and from heathen, but improved by the spirit of Christianity and the refinements of modern times; but more than all it is the ex- pression of feelings natural to the human heart.
The ancient Hebrews selected for the burial of their dead some secluded field, " with all the trees therein and the borders round about," places be- yond the limits of their cities or the ordinary re- sorts of the living, where they buried them "under a tree," upon some hill or in some valley, or gar- den, as the scriptures record. A sacred example was the Holy Sepulchre where Jesus was laid, which had been prepared in a garden near the base of Calvary. The ancient Egyptians exca- vated tombs with wonderful art and labor in the rocks and forest clad hills which overlook the upper Nile, and built their cities of the dead with as much concern and care as they did their cities
3
INTRODUCTION.
of the living, and quite apart from the latter. The Greeks buried in beautiful groves, in lonely and secluded spots, sometimes by the side of highways where elegant monuments were shaded by the cypress or the palm tree, or in their public ceme- teries, " places of repose," which were away from the abodes of the living multitude, and where often the sculptor's choicest works and nature's beau- ties were combined to honor the memory of the dead, or to soothe the grief of the living. The Romans, like the Greeks deposited the ashes of their dead along the sides of their public thorough- fares, and the Appian Way was bordered with monuments to their heroes and illustrious men, not erected in a neglected waste, but where be- neath luxuriant foliage the inscriptions bade the " traveler pause " and give a passing thought to the memory of the dead. And yet
" In the dark bosom of the earth they laid Far more than we, -for loftier faith is ours ! Their gems were lost in ashes -yet they made The grave a place of beauty and of flowers, With fragrant wreaths and summer boughs arrayed, And lovely sculpture gleaming through the shade. Is it for us a darker gloom to shed
O'er its dim precincts ?"
The aboriginal Germans deposited the dead in deep, shadowy groves, consecrated by solemn rites
4
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
to this sacred purpose. Even the American In- dians selected secluded spots, in the primeval forests, wherein to bury their warriors, and to which they clung with greater tenacity than to their hunting grounds, as they were driven west- ward. So have most savage people sacred and beautiful groves or hills dedicated to the repose of their dead.
The Mohammedan Turks carrying their dead beyond the limits of their cities and villages to extensive cemeteries, in most cases plant a cypress over each grave; and thus have they reared those solemn groves which stretch along the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus where the dead of Con- stantinople are buried. Those dark groves, in- deed, combine the expression of a national senti- ment with a reverence for the dead; for the Turks believe that some time they will be compelled to relinquish their European possessions and to re- tire to Asia, and hence it is with them a sacred duty to bury the faithful Moslem in soil which shall still remain safe from the desecration of the Giaour.
In various parts of Europe rural cemeteries have been established since the commencement of the present century, in many cases bringing about an entire change in the manner of disposing of the dead. The most noted of these, and the first one
5
INTRODUCTION.
on an extensive scale was the celebrated cemetery of Pere Le Chaise, at Paris. But before that was contemplated there were beautiful, shady churchyards in English villages where the dead were laid at rest, and the living were wont to
" Watch the sunshine through all hours, Loving and clinging to the grassy spot, And dress its greensward with fresh flowers."
In Hungary humble graves were adorned with flowers, and proud mausoleums were erected in secluded spots and surrounded with trees and flowers, where the living often came to mourn their dead. In Switzerland, the little burial places of the Alpine villages were made beautiful by the unaffected love of those who planted flow- ers upon the graves of the departed, or hung gar- lands upon the simple crosses that commemorate them. The establishment of ornamental ceme- teries in the vicinity of large towns was but the cultivation of the refined taste and reverent re- gard for the dead which had hitherto found ex- pression chiefly in simple, rural life.
The early settlers of this country, especially the Puritan colonists brought little of that refined sentiment which finds consolation in laying the re- mains of beloved ones in pleasant places, and A2
6
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
adorning their graves with the beautiful of nature and art. Their austere religion paid little regard to such things, or rather forbade them. To that the gloomy aspect of the grave was more congen- ial and appropriate. They buried their dead with proper concern and due ceremonies, and often reared over their graves stones which recorded the virtues of the good; but there was no path- way to those graves worn by mourning friends ; none went thither to protect the turf or to plant trees and flowers over them. When their dead were buried out of their sight they cherished their memories in the heart, but made no votive offer- ings at the grave.
In some cases the early colonists selected eleva- ted and grand sites for their burial places, which looked out upon the sea or over the abodes of the living. The old Winslow burial place at Marsh- field, that at Plymouth, Copps Hill burial ground in Boston, and some others are examples. But it was too often the case, if we can judge from the relative position of old burial grounds now, that they selected places neither secluded, beautiful or picturesque. This is the more true of the succes- sors to the first settlers, perhaps, than of the Pil- grims and their contemporaries. A piece of land was set apart for the "burying ground," rather for its convenience, the nature of the soil and such
7
INTRODUCTION.
considerations. Though the primeval forests were about them, and space almost illimitable, they chose too often some contracted place where the woods were cleared, and sometimes in low and most inappropriate situations. Had the men of those times set apart more extensive lands, with the trees of the forest still upon them, or had they like the Turks planted a tree or shrub over each grave, how different now would appear the ancient burial places of New England !
The descendants of the Pilgrims are most re- sponsible for the desolate and repulsive appear- ance and condition of these old cemeteries. They closely followed the bad example of the forefath- ers, without the redeeming qualities which the lat- ter sometimes exhibited in the choice of sites. They continued to carry the dead to the old burial grounds, which they suffered to become more desolate and neglected than in their earlier days, until more room was required, and then a new field - perhaps a little larger and even less attractive in its aspect - was selected, enclosed and left unadorned and in a short time uncared for.
Thus it was for two hundred years in our older towns; when cemeteries might have been growing more beautiful and more sacred by their beauty, and their records of the dead might have been
8
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
more carefully preserved, they have become more and more repulsive, inscriptions have been oblit- erated, stones broken or buried, and each genera- tion has seemed to vie with its predecessor in doing as little as possible for the embellishment and even ordinary neatness and preservation of the grounds and their contents. Moreover, as the population has increased, and small villages have grown to thriving towns and large, densely inhab- ited cities, those burial grounds are in the midst of the habitations of the living, mere yards of un- turfed graves and unsightly rows of charnel houses. Each year the burials have become more numer- ous, and from this constant increase and the mode of burial, it has at last been considered that such cemeteries in the midst of the living are prejudi- cial to health, as well as disagreeable to the eye. And so utility, necessity finally accomplished what taste alone could not.
It was only necessary, however, that the first step should be taken in order to secure a reform in these things. When Mt. Auburn was laid out, a beautiful example of what the resting place of the dead should be, communities as well as indi- viduals became sensible of the defects and insuffi- ciency of the common burial grounds. Similar cemeteries were soon after established in the vicinity of other large cities in the country ; and
9
INTRODUCTION.
these in their turn exerted a good influence, so that rural cemeteries were next established in or near towns of less magnitude, and public sentiment began to demand that the old burial places should be better cared for and, at least, rendered less re- pulsive. There were, indeed, some few spots used for burial, before the establishment of Mt. Auburn, which gave evidence of good taste and a proper regard for the dead. But most of the cemeteries which now make any pretence to rural embellish- ment, have been established since the consecration of Mt. Auburn, and are in no small measure the result of the influence of such an example on pub- lic sentiment. From that time rural and garden cemeteries have been increasing, and a refined taste in regard to this subject has been extending.
Most of the extensive rural cemeteries, like Mt. Auburn, are private establishments, projected and controlled by individuals. They answer the de- mands of good taste and pecuniary means among a portion of the community, and contribute to the elevation of public sentiment in regard to this subject ; but they do not supply the whole want, and afford alike to the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the consolation of laying the remains of their friends in grounds made beautiful as well as sacred by the hand of taste. The time had not come, and indeed, has not yet come, when individ-
10
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
uals, society, communities, which make up the body politic, are ready to adopt the same princi- ple or sentiment in public action, which operates upon them in private. Acknowledging the pro- priety of adorning the grave, and of a reverential care for the dead, admitting the necessity of aban- doning intramural burials, they are slow to act upon these demands of necessity and good taste by establishing burial places similar to Mt. Auburn or Greenwood or Laurel Hill. But looking at the progress of public sentiment it may be hoped that the time is not far distant when public cemeteries shall be on a scale, in extent and embellishment, corresponding to the wealth, intelligence and re- finement of communities for whom they are estab- lished.
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY is believed to be the first one of the kind established by any city or town, in this section of the country at least, as the public burial place of its inhabitants .* One of the necessary duties of municipal governments is to provide burial places, but the duty has been per-
* It cannot be said that the Cemetery was established ex- clusively for the use of the inhabitants of Roxbury. Its proximity to Boston and a large suburban population was duly considered in its establishment, and it was designed to meet in some degree the wants of these, as well as of the municipality by which it was established.
11
INTRODUCTION.
formed too often in the disreputable manner be- fore spoken of. "Room for the dead " was the only demand that was answered, even when the public taste accustomed to better things as ex- hibited in the private cemeteries, could not be satisfied by any such measure. Public taste and public spirit, or public taste and the public finan- ces are too often very great strangers, and some- times, indeed, are considered positive and irrecon- cilable enemies to each other. It has been thought and said that those whose pecuniary means would permit them to have a private burial lot could purchase such in some of the private cemeteries, and those for whom the public must provide a place of interment should neither expect nor de- sire more than the common grave in an unembel- lished yard. But taste and refined feelings are not measured by wealth, nor are they confined to the opulent. The poor as well as the rich have tears to shed over the grave, and flowers to plant there, if they may but lay their lost ones where every- thing is not so gloomy and repulsive as to forbid them. Even those to whom the cares and bur- dens of a toilsome life, or perchance the errors of a sinful one, afford little opportunity for the indul- gence of sentiment or the cultivation of refined taste, may, when following their dead to a grave where all around is beautiful, receive impressions
12
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
never to be forgotten, which shall purify their hearts, awaken aspirations which they never felt before, or open new and pure sources of pleasure.
A pious regard for the dead which leads to a decorous care for the places of their interment should not be confined to a class, but, as an almost universal sentiment, it should be especially a char- acteristic of an enlightened Christian community. And what is a pure as well as a natural sentiment should not be left for private indulgence only, but should be publicly regarded and fostered by law and by municipal authorities. The law does its part by protecting and making sacred those places which are devoted to burial. Why should not the people, or those whose care and duty it is to pro- vide these places, carry out the idea and make them sacred to the affections as well as in law, by selecting beautiful sites and bestowing upon them something of the care and embellishment that are bestowed upon and around the abodes of the liv- ing ? The character of a community may thus be surely though imperceptibly refined; and, more than this, the spirit of patriotism may be elevated and strengthened. For if you make your ceme- teries beautiful, and places of frequent visitation, you strengthen in no small degree the tie which binds those who are wont to visit them to their country. The spot where their fathers and their
13
INTRODUCTION.
friends are buried, if it possess those charms which impress the heart and gratify the taste, will never be forgotten, and the land which contains it, though it have no other attraction, will yet be dear to them for this.
When the municipal authorities of Roxbury, with an enlightened foresight and good taste pur- chased and laid out the cemetery of Forest Hills, they commenced a good work, and set an example which may well be followed by other municipali- ties, and has, indeed, produced its proper effect upon some. Although the measure may possibly have been a little in advance of public opinion at that time, the result has shown that it was "not done too soon, nor on too large a scale, nor at too great a cost." It has found increasing favor with each succeeding year ; it has awakened, with- in the sphere of its influence, a more general re- gard for the sanctuary of the grave; it has called into life pure and elevated sentiments that else might have slumbered forever; it has in a great measure changed the feelings of a community with regard to the place of burial, and the tomb which was once revisited only to lay a new treasure there, has become a hallowed spot, to which the mourner may come to indulge his grief or find consolation for his sorrow amid the beauties of nature. Year by year it will become more sacred,
B
14
FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
more endeared to the hearts of the living as the sanctuary which contains an ever increasing com- pany of departed friends; and it will be looked upon, by those who have followed their beloved ones thither, as a place without which the associ- ations of home and of country would not be com- plete, though around it cling only sorrowful mem- ories.
Now that we have become accustomed to rural cemeteries we are sensible how inappropriate, in- decorous and almost unhallowed were the old burial grounds as they existed in past years. Human feelings, which have found life and expres- sion in the experience of the more appropriate rural or garden cemeteries, would revolt from a return to interments within those unadorned and desolate burial places as they formerly existed. Happily many of them have been transformed into more attractive fields, and trees and shrubs are planted, and flowers bloom, where once were only weeds.
For those who reap the benefit of this reform in the character of our places of sepulture it is a matter for congratulation that it commenced as early as it did; and those men who first cherished and carried into effect the idea of establishing a rural cemetery in the vicinity of Boston, are enti- tled to the gratitude of all who can appreciate the
15
INTRODUCTION.
work and its happy results. The founders of Mt. Auburn conferred upon the community of which they were members, and indeed upon the whole country, a benefit far greater than merely afford- ing some individuals an opportunity of securing appropriate and beautiful burial lots, though this was no small one, considered in its true light. They commenced a good work; they sowed a good seed, which has produced a hundred fold, throughout the land; they awakened some of the finer feelings of humanity, have gratified and cul- tivated a higher taste for rural art, and making the burial place more sacred and more familiar, have afforded consolation and peace to many mourners.
Establishment and Progress of Forest hills.
IN October, 1846, Hon. John J. Clarke, Mayor of Roxbury, laid before the City Council a com- munication * in relation to the condition of the public burial grounds of the city, and recommend- ing that the council consider the expediency of purchasing a tract of land for a new place of in- terment. This communication did not contemplate the establishment of an extensive rural cemetery, but the subject of a new burial ground being thus opened, the attention of a few gentlemen was di- rected to the extent and manner of cemetery which it was desirable to establish. The subject was referred to a select committee of the city council, and subsequently to them was committed a petition of Hon. H. A. S. Dearborn and others, for the establishment of a rural cemetery, which was presented on the first of the following March.
* City Records, vol. 1, page 202.
B*
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FOREST HILLS CEMETERY.
This committee at the close of the municipal year, in March, reported that they had not been able to secure a desirable tract of land, and the subject was referred to the next city council, which was to be organized the following month.
The subject was early brought to the attention of the new city council, and a committee * of that body gave it an earnest consideration. Gen. Dearborn was now Mayor of the city, and his views unquestionably gave direction to the labors of the committee, some of whom, however, were already earnest advocates of a rural cemetery on a liberal scale. A portion of this committee de- voted much time in examining various tracts of land within the limits of the city (which then in- cluded West Roxbury) to ascertain their adapta- tion for the purposes of a cemetery of the charac- ter proposed. They desired to obtain a tract which would combine all the requisite natural beauties and capabilities, somewhat central in po- sition and on terms so favorable that they might not be any serious obstacle to the establishment of such a cemetery.
Though several tracts presented some attrac-
* The Standing Committee on Burial Grounds, consisting of Mayor Dearborn, Aldermen Head and Kingsbury, and Messrs. Kittredge, Crafts, Weld, Forbush and Jordan of the Common Council.
19
ESTABLISHMENT AND PROGRESS.
tions and requisites, and some, indeed, may have been deemed more beautiful and appropriate than the one finally selected, but could be had only at great cost,-none seemed to combine so many requisites, of beauty, capabilities and cheapness, as the tract known as the Seaverns Farm, belong- ing to Mr. Joel Seaverns, together with one or two smaller lots adjoining, belonging to other parties. This land, lying about three quarters of a mile south-east of Jamaica Plain, and about two miles and a half from the more densely inhabited section of lower Roxbury, was as central as it could reasonably be expected so large and cheap a tract might be found. A considerable portion of it was wild and rugged in appearance, hilly, rocky and precipitous, but well covered with wood; and this part may have seemed to some not a very eligible place for the establishment of a cemetery. Another part wore a less rugged aspect and was clothed with a grove of pines. Still another part was open and cultivated ground. The whole together favorably impressed several of the committee, and by its diversity of scenery and natural adaptation for the work of the land- scape gardener, especially pleased the fine taste and judgment of Gen. Dearborn.
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