USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Historical sketch and matters appertaining to the Granary burial-ground > Part 1
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73 .61 X7B7
HISTORICAL SKETCH
ANDY
MATTERS APPERTAINING
TO THE
GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND.
BOSTONJA 228
CONDITA AL 1080.
1800
Glass. F73 .61 Book G7B7
OFFICIAL DONATION.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
AND
MATTERS APPERTAINING
TO THE
GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND
, SIT DE
SIC
BIS
BOSTONIA CONDITAZD.
2D.1822.
163D. T
ED
Published by the Cemetery Department of the City of Boston
TRUSTEES
J. ALBERT BRACKETT, Chairman
JACOB MORSE WILLIAM J. FALLON
ALBERT W. HERSEY FREDERICK E. ATTEAUX
ALBERT E. SMITH, Secretary
NOTE .- The department acknowledges with gratitude the assistance received in the prep- aration of the histories of Copp's Hill and the Granary Burial Grounds from C. W. Ernst, Esq., who has given freely of his time, contributed much valuable historical matter, and pointed out many important details which, from a careful and analytical study of the records of our city, have come to his knowledge.
BOSTON MUNICIPAL PRINTING OFFICE 1902
4
Fus . 51 GIBT
NOV 4 1902 D. of D.
YHAASUI JHT 22310000 70
-
ENTRANCE TO GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND.
THE GRANARY BURIAL GROUND.
An epitome of the history of the Granary Burial Ground and of its roll of famous tenants is wrought in the inscription on its gates.
On the left hand gate we read :
GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 1660.
WITIIIN THIS GROUND ARE BURIED THE VICTIMS OF THE BOSTON MASSACRE, MARCH 5, 1770.
JOSIAH FRANKLIN AND WIFE ( Parents of Benjamin Franklin) ; PETER FANEUIL ; PAUL REVERE ; AND JOHN PHILLIPS, FIRST MAYOR of BOSTON.
On the right hand gate is this inscription :
GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 1660.
WITHIN THIS GROUND ARE BURIED JOHN HANCOCK. SAMUEL ADAMS, and ROBERT TREAT PAINE, Signers of the Declaration of Independence;
GOVERNORS
RICHARD BELLINGHAM, WILLIAM DUMMER, JAMES BOWDOIN, INCREASE SUMNER,
JAMES SULLIVAN and CHRISTOPHER GORE; LIEUT. GOVERNOR THOMAS CUSHING; CHIEF JUSTICE SAMUEL SEWALL; MINISTERS JOIIN BAILY, SAMUEL WILLARD; JEREMY BELKNAP AND JOHN LATHROP.
This burial ground situated on Tremont street, between Park Street Church and the Tremont Building, at the corner of Tre- inont and Beacon streets, is the third oldest cemetery in Boston. It is of almost the same date as Copp's Hill. being established about 1660. The ordinance of 1833, to discontinue burials in
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the old ground for a time, refers to the Granary as well as to Copp's Hill. In common with Copp's Hill, the Granary owes its establishment to the incapacity of King's Chapel to contain all the dead of the growing town.
It was generally called the South Burying Ground or place until about 1737, when the town granary was moved from the head of what is now Park street and set up on the site of the present Park Street Church. The granary when built in 1729 stood in the Common, where the City has built sani- taries (13 Boston Rec. 189; Price map of 1743; 12 Boston Rec. 159). May 3, 1737, it was voted in meeting of Select- men that the "Granary be fixed and set at a distance of twelve feet from the wall of the Burying place." Later it was occasionally referred to as the Central or Middle ground, being situated midway between the King's Chapel ground on the north and the Boylston Street ground on the south. In May 1830, it was proposed to call it "Franklin Cemetery" but the name never acquired currency. The term South Burial Ground as applied to the Granary Burial Ground lasted from about 1660 to about 1756, when the new burial ground corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets began to receive the appellation. In 1759 the Town Records (vol. 16, p. 27) call it " the South Burial place on the back of the Workhouse." The term Granary Burial Ground is modern. We have no exact quotation before 1795 (27 Boston Rec. 274) . The granary served as such from 1728 to 1784, and after it was given to other uses, the term " Granary Burial Ground " came up, and still lasts, illustrating the tenacity or conservatism of our folk speech.
At present, it is bounded about 327 feet southeast on Tremont street; 297 feet southwest on the Park street side; 210 feet northwest ; and 262 feet northeast. It was at first a part of the Common, which once took in all the area bounded by Tremont, Beacon and Park streets. Its northerly boundary toward Bea- con is the same as originally made in the latter part of the sev- enteenth century.
Originally part of the Common, the territory between Tre- mont, Beacon and Park streets, was soon devoted to special uses when the first pound in Boston was established in the present burial ground, near the present Tremont building, not far from Tremont street (2 Bost. Ree. 17, 18, 40; 3 Suff. Deeds 45) . and when about an acre to the north of the pound was granted to John Wilson, the pastor, who sold it in 1661 to JJames Oliver. The original Wilson lot, mentioned in the Book of Possessions, is now covered by the Tremont building.
Beacon street, from Tremont to Somerset, was established on March 30, 1640 (2 Bost. Ree. 52) : from Somerset to Park under the Town order of 20: 6: 1660, fully carried out 25 : 6: 1662.
Tremont street, from School to Park, is mentioned in the Book of Possessions, about 1645, as " the streete on the west" of Zaccheus Bosworth's property, now occupied by the Parker House.
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Park street was established under the order of the Town Meet- ing adopted on March 14, 1737/8 (12 Bost. Rec. 191).
The irregular square bounded by these streets was originally a part of the Common. At an early day the pound was established there, " the fould keeper " and "ye fould " being mentioned in the Town Records of May 13, 1637.
This pound was near the northeast corner of the burial ground, just back of the southern projection from the Tremont building on Tremont street. The northern and eastern lines of the pound still exist.
The land from the pound to Beacon street, and up to the pres- ent Athenaeum lot, about an acre, was the garden of John Wil- son, the first pastor of the First Church, who sold it in 1661 (Book of Poss., 3 Suff. Deeds 489). It was soon cut into house lots.
The original almshouse lot included the Athenaeum lot, and the gore or triangle, numbered 8 and 10 Beacon street, was given to Mary Willis on March 11, 1660/61. It was reduced by the change in the line of Beacon street, and a description of the re- duced lot appears in the Town Records of 22: 12: 1668/69.
The irregular little lot between the pound and Tremont street, still to be seen, and originally covering 745 square feet, was given on November 28, 1664, to Stephen Barrett (7 Bost. Rec. 23; 7 Suff. Deeds 44).
The House of Correction, or bridewell, could have been established on Park street, below the almshouse, by the County of Suffolk, under the consent given in the town meeting of De- cember 27, 1720 (8 Bost. Rec. 148).
In 1662, the almshouse, corner of Park and Beacon streets, was built ; in 1721, the House of Correction, or Bridewell, lower down on Park street; the Granary in 1728; to the north and northwest, private lots were granted and dwellings erected after 1660. There is some doubt as to the establishment of the bridewell or house of correction. An outbuilding of the alms- house may have been so used. By 1722, as shown in Bonner's map of that date, the land fronting Beacon street had been set off in house lots on nearly the present lines.
Tremont street, however, was scarcely more than an open lane up to the eightheenth century, with but few houses on the eastern side facing the great common field and the cemetery. Originally it was called all sorts of names, until in 1708 the town adopted the official title of Common street. Until after the revolution, Park street was still but a roadway. It first appears laid out on Norman's map, published in 1789 ; and was then known as Cen- try or Sentry street, and sometimes Century street. Beacon street was ordered laid out March 30th, 1640 (o.s.) which is also, in a measure, the birthday of Boston Common, but did not take its present form until 1662.
The records as to the Granary are incomplete and fragmentary, though it is referred to in many ways at a very early period of the town's history.
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On May 15, 1717, the selectmen were voted authority, at their discretion, " to Enlarge the South burying place by takeing in part of the High way on the Easterly /ide thereof, fo as that thereby ye said Highway he not thereby too much Straightened."
On April 29, 1719, nothing apparently having been done, this time it was ordered, that the South Burying Place should be enlarged next the Common or Training Field. The precise ex- tent of the addition is doubtful, the probability being that some of the graves extended into the present area of the Common, as was evidenced by the fact that several gravestones were dis- interred by the workmen digging the foundations of the Brewer Fountain in 1868. In 1720, the historic pound was removed from the burial ground, near Tremont street, to what is now Park street.
During the year 1720-21 fifteen tombs were built and licensed. Vide 13, Rec. Comm. R., p. 18. They ran in a line parallel to Park street, on the southwest side, beginning at the upper cor- ner. Six were added in 1722, extending east, the first being that of the Hancocks, and by 1725 the line was complete.
In 1727, a new range was begun from the corner, following Tremont street on the east side to No. 30 and 13 northerly. This row was finished, and the line carried irregularly around what was then the corner of the Tremont House garden, as far as number 80. In 1739 five more tombs were added. No records are extant of any grants until 1810, and few or no tombs were probably built meanwhile. In that and the following three or four years, twenty-six tombs were built on the northerly side, and the same number on the westerly.
Beside these tombs, bordering on the sides, there are sixty others within the yard, of which the city owns one, set apart for the interment of children. Many tombs are not under regular grant and these usually contain the remains of ministers and prominent men of the town.
In 1807 permission was granted William Payne and his sisters to erect tombs in the yards of their Beacon street estates, west of the Atheneum, and bordering on the burial ground, to be entered from the latter. Of these tombs, despite the fact that they were situated under stables and outhouses, nine were built and purchased by such leading citizens as David Sears, John Gore. Uriah Cotting, Edward Blake and others.
The records of the selectmen contain numerous grants of tombs, with sundry conditions as to the manner of building and maintenance. The introduction to the first fifteen grants runs :
" April 13, 1721. Voted, That whereas the Town of Boston at a Pub- licke Town Meeting on the 29th Day of aprill, 1719, Ordered that the South Burying place Should be Inlarged next the Common or Training field, In persuance of which vote or order. The felectmen in the year 1720 did inlarge the faid Burying Place, At which time Sundry of the Inhabitants of the faid Town to the Number of fifteen desired Liberty to Ereet new Toombs, on the South Line of the faid Burying place, which the feleetmen Granted, on Condition they would cary up and maintain, a brick wall, on faid Line at the End of their Toombs, which faid line
GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND.
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of Toombs begins at the upper or West Corner of the faid Burying Place next the Alm's House. "
In a description of Boston written in the Columbian Magazine at Philadelphia, in 1787, among the chief buildings mentioned were " a workhouse ; a bridewell ; a public granary." All these three, and especially the last, are closely connected with the Granary Burial Ground.
In the Provincial days, the question of the grain supply was of great importance to the town. Grain was frequently scarce, and but few of the inhabitants were so wealthy as not to be affected thereby. On December 29, 1718, the selectmen reported that in provision against such scarcity they had " purchased 10,000 weight of bread, at 40 shill p hundred for the fupply of ye Inhabitts." It was ordered sold during one month in small quantities to such as desired to purchase. On October 16, 1733, also a contract was made with two of the selectmen, John Jeffries and David Colson, to erect a granary or "Meal House " in the North End "on a piece of land belonging to the Town near the North Mill," the cost not to exceed £100.
The granary in the southern part of the town, after which the cemetery is called, was built in 1729 near the foot of Park street. In 1737 it was moved to the present site of Park Street Church as a result of the addition of the workhouse to the neighboring town buildings. There had been for some years an agitation for a new workhouse, but the project had been deferred on account of the expense. A subscription in 1736 contributed £4368, given by 123 persons. A committee appointed to consider the matter reported on March 29, 1737, recommending a location near the granary, while the latter building was to be removed to the corner of Tremont street.
It was a long, wooden building, framed with oak timbers, of plain and gloomy appearance, with a capacity of 12,000 bushels. The grain was purchased and stored each year by the town's agents, and sold to the needy at an advance of ten per cent. in price. The keeper of this granary for a long period was Francis Willoughby. In the troublous days, prior to the breaking out of the Revolution, the granary was kept well stored until the end of the Revolutionary War. In 1795 the town voted to sell the buildings on condition of an early removal. It remained ten- anted by various tradesmen, refreshment stands, etc., until 1809. when it was removed to Commercial Point, Dorchester, and altered into a hotel.
Further up on Park street were the almhouse, workhouse, and. bridewell, built of brick. The almhouse was erected on the corner of Beacon street in 1686, and was a two-storied building, with gambrel roof and projecting gable. Later a wing was added. It remained in use until the opening of the almhouse on Leverett street in 1802.
The workhouse, the subscription for which has already been mentioned, was erected for the detention of the vagrant and dis-
S
solute in 1738. It was somewhat larger than the almshouse, being 140 feet long, with gables, and also two-storied.
The bridewell, a combined house of correction and insane asylum, was smaller than the other two buildings and stood in the centre of Park street. In front were two of the three trees growing on the Common in 1722, according to Bonner's map. There was also a Bull house standing close to the bounds of the yard, for the Records of the Selectmen Feb. 25, 1735, state that " Liberty is granted to Mr. John Kneeland to break up the Ground in the South Burying Place between the Bull House and the north east corner of it, in order for the Building Five Tombs." This Bull house was in reality but a shed used temporarily for the stabling of the town's bulls.
Not far away, on the corner of Hamilton place and Tremont street, was a manufacturing house erected by the province for the encouragement of spinning, etc. This was demolished in 1806. In 1783 it was voted, " That Part of Common Street between the Grainery and the North end of the Burying Ground Adjoin- ing be the Places for the Wood Markets for all the Wood brought by land into this Town for Sale."
These were the rather prosaic and dismal surroundings of the early cemetery. Dingy buildings and ill-kept fences were all that Park street had to show a century since. Many of the towns- people, on their way to the Common or the Training Field, were often moved to generous pity by begging hands thrust through the almshouse fence and by the appeals of the poor and orphans within.
The Granary burial ground was used as a pasture lot for that purpose to John Woodmansey in 1678 (7 Boston Rec. 120, 201 ).
April 26. 1703, George Ripley was appointed to take care of watering the Bulls "and to put them by night in the burrying place." In 1713 " ye 21th of Aprill, The Selectmen have agreed according to James Williams' proposals to Lett unto him the grass of Ye South burying place " for "Fourty Shillings " he to make good all damages " wch may happen to the graves by reason of his Cows going there."
It appears from the town's records Feb. 28, 1727, " Ordered That the Town Treasurer abate mess"s Ezekel Lewis & JJames Williams Twenty Six Shillings and Eight pence being one third part of the Last years Rent of the South Burying Place, by Reason they Lost part of the feed the fence being Down Some time."
At a meeting of the Selectmen JJune 2nd 1756 Voted : "To order the Sextons to Stubb up some Poisonous Weeds in the Burying grounds near the Alms House."
May 17, 1758, At a meeting of the selectmen " John Ramstead hierd the Herbage of the South Burying grounds for One year at three pounds Six Shillings & Eight pence p Annum."
Trees were ordered planted along all the cemeteries in 1712. (11 Boston Rec. 157).
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As the town expanded southward, however, some attempt was made to beautify the neighborhood, mainly by the planting of trees. In March 1733, it was voted that. "the row of trees already planted on the Common should be taken care of by the Selectmen," and that "another row be planted at a suitable distance from the former, and a row of posts be set up with a rail on top of them." This fence was to extend "through the Common from the Burying Place to Colonel Fitche's fence, leaving openings at the several streets and lanes." In 1737 the Common was separated from the Granary by a fence running up the hill; and two years later, one was ordered "set up" to Beacon street. A fence similar to the former was maintained until 1836, when the iron fence designed by Richard Upjohn was built around the Common at an expense of $82,160.
In the fall of 1784, a third row of trees was planted on the Common, inside the other two, by Oliver Smith and others.
The greatest gratitude is due, however, for the planting of the famous row of beautiful elms on " Paddock's Mall," in front of the burying ground. These were set out in 1762 by Capt. Adino Paddock and Mr. John Ballard. The former was a coach builder, and kept his shop at what is now the corner of Winter and Tremont streets, where formerly lived .Daniel Maud, the schoolmaster, on a lot granted in 1637. Mr. Ballard was a public spirited resident of the North End.
The mall in ancient days was about 350 feet long, and before the "straitening" of 1717 comprised part of the present ceme- tery. The erection of the cemetery fence further narrowed the walk, which at first lay so near the highway that the footpath barely protected the roots of the trees from passing vehicles. Later another walk was added on the street edge, some inches lower than the inner path, and separated from it by a curbstone. Along this walk in the old days, as well as within the Common, stood refreshment booths set up on holidays.
Captain Paddock's elms were imported from England as sap- lings and were kept in a nursery at Milton until capable of being transplanted. They grew to a noble size and retained their ver- dure five or six weeks longer than the native elms on the Common. They are supposed to have extended from Park Street Church northerly to the larch tree that grew in the ceme- tery over the victims of the Boston Massacre, and were probably about sixteen in number.
These old elms, long the favorite resort of the birds and the gray squirrels, were narrowly threatened with destruction in 1860 from the march of trade; and in 1870 but eleven, already infirm with age, were standing. Since then, they have all, despite indignant protests, fallen unfortunate victims to the modernizing of Tremont street. The largest stood nearest the Tremont House, and in 1870, as told by Shurtleff, measured sixteen feet ten inches in circumference at the sidewalk.
Captain Paddock took the most precious care of them while he lived. It is related of Jacob Kuhn, for many years the honest
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and vigilant messenger of the State House, that "it was he who, when a young lad, was passing along the Granary Burying- ground, shortly after Mr. Paddock had caused a row of young trees to be set ont on the sidewalk. Ile took hold of one of those slender saplings, and thoughtlessly began to shake it. In a moment Mr. Paddock darted out from his house opposite and served him as he had served the tree." In the celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Aet on May 19, 1766, the elms on the mall, as well as the Liberty Tree, were decorated with lanterns.
In the " Massachusetts Gazette Extraordinary" of May 22 of the same year, and in the "Evening Post " of May 26, Captain Paddock was forced to insert the following notice :
יו y The Row of Trees opposite Mr. Paddock's shop have of late received Damage by persons inadvertently breaking off the limbs of the most flourishing. The Youth of both sexes are requested, as they pass that way, not to molest them ; those trees being planted at a consider- able expense, for an Ornament and Service to the Town. Not one of the trees was injured the Night of General Rejoicing, but last Night several limbs were broke off."
Again, on August 26, 1771, Captain Paddock advertised as follows in the " Evening Post " :
"A GUINEA REWARD
Will be given by the subscriber to any one who shall inform him of the Person or Persons that on Thursday night last cut and hacked one of the Trees opposite his House in Long Acre."
" As the said Row of Trees were planted and cultivated at a consider- able expense, it is hoped that all persons will do their Endeavour to dis- countenance said Practices.
ADINO PADDOCK."
Long Acre was a popular name for Tremont street beween School and Winter streets, because it was largely occupied by coach builders, like Long Acre in London. The outrage may have been due to the fact that Paddock, who, out of respect for London's famous carriage-building district, had given the name of Long Acre to that part of Tremont street between Winter street and King's Chapel, was a Tory. At the time of the Evacua- tion, five years later, he left the town forever, and went to Hali- fax. At all events, during the Revolution the elms suffered no injury from the ruthless British soldiery. It is said that many years after the Revolution, Paddock wrote to a friend in Boston expressing his gratitude that his favorite trees had come un- scathed through the Revolution.
They also survived, with more or less damage, the great gales of 1815, 1860, and 1869. When the stone foundation was laid for the iron fence built in front of the cemetery in 1840 at a cost of $5,000, and when Tremont street was paved with brick, their roots suffered seriously and their nourishment was much dimin- ished ; but they lived through it all with little impairment of their grace and beauty.
GRANARY BURIAL-GROUND.
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Captain Paddock, their sponsor, was one of the commanders of the train of artillery, and also served many years as sealer of leather. He stayed a year in Halifax after the Evacuation, then embarked for England. In 1781 he became an officeholder in the Isle of Jersey and there died March 25, 1804, aged 76.
The trees within the burying-ground itself were largely pro- vided by private subscription, and were planted in the spring of 1830. Since that date, there have been various additions made to the trees and shrubbery, and most of the paths have been laid ont, as well as a foolish symmetry attained by rearranging the gravestones. - Gleaner.
The Granary was less fitted naturally than Copp's Hill for a burial-ground. It continually required draining, as is evidenced by many orders, petitions and votes set forth in the town's records, there being many underground springs which made the turf damp and boggy. At the time of the moving of the Gran- ary in 1737, the tombs were filled with water by the temporary cessation of drainage, while the old drain, which had emptied upon the Common, was being replaced by a new one emptying into the common sewer. Remains of this old drain were uncovered in 1868, when the foundations of the Brewer fountain were being laid.
The old Bellingham tomb, near the westerly wall, given to Governor James Sullivan, when the Bellingham family became extinct, was found by the latter, when he sought to repair it, about a century ago, partly filled with water.
Overcrowding and neglect marked the history of the Granary, as well as of the other cemeteries of Boston. In 1740 a petition was presented to the selectmen from John Chambers and others, grave-diggers, declaring that " the old and South Burying Places are so filled with Dead Bodies, they are obliged oft times to bury them four deep, praying it may be laid before the Town, for their consideration." At their leisure, the authorities began to look about for a new burying-ground, and on October 11, 1754, selected, and in 1756 purchased, "a portion of Colonel Fitche's pasture at the bottom of the Common." The tract decided upon embraced about two acres, and then belonged to Andrew Oliver, Jr. This was the South Burying-ground, later known succes- sively as the Common and Central Ground.
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