USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Historical sketch and matters appertaining to the Copp's Hill Burial-Ground > Part 2
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THE REVEREND DOCTORS INCREASE, COTTON, & SAMUEL MATHER were intered in this Vault. Tis the Tomb of our Father s MATHER-CROCKER S. I DIED Augt 27th 1723 Æ 84 C DIED FEB 13th 1727 Æ 65 S DIED June 27th 1785 Æ 79
Here lie together the three eminent figures in Boston's eccle- siastieal history between 1664 and the Revolution, men of great general learning, of emphatic temperament and of remarkable influence in the affairs of the age. Their history needs no re- counting. They were buried with great solemnity. Six of the leading ministers formed Cotton Mather's pallbearers, while in the funeral procession walked the public dignitaries. The narrow streets were thronged, and the " windows were filled with sorrowfull spectators all the way to the burying-place."
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Many of the numerous descendants of the Mathers also rest in this tomb. Cotton Mather, for instance, had fifteen children by the first two of his three wives. When the tomb was last opened sixteen years ago for the interment of one of the Crocker family, the remains of generations of the family were found heaped in great disorder.
The Hutchinson tomb, in the south-east corner, was built about 1711. Here were buried Elisha and Thomas Hutchinson, father and grandfather of the governor. Thomas Hutchinson, who died December 31, 1789, built at his own expense the first school-house in the North End. On the sandstone slab covering the entrance of tomb is beautifully carved the family coat of arms. Like many other memorials in the Boston cemeteries, it has not escaped vandalism. With incredible effrontery, one Thomas Lewis, an undertaker, scattered the Hutchinson remains to the winds, took possession of the tomb and in place of the honored name of Hutchinson had carved his own.
Another notable stone is that commemorating the patriot, Capt. Daniel Malcom. It is of hard blue slate, well preserved, and bears the following inscription :
Here lies buried in a Stone Grave 10 feet deep CAPL DANIEL MALCOM MERCHt. who departed this life October 23d 1769 Aged 44 years. a true son of Liberty a Friend to the Publick an Enemy to oppre/sion and one of the foremost · in oppo/ing the Revenue Acts on America.
The stone grave, however, is built of brick.
Malcom was a merchant, and his store on Fleet street was a favorite resort of the haters of the revenue acts. He was also a warden of Christ Church and vice president of the Charitable Irish Society. In February, 1768, aided by friends armed with clubs, he smuggled in at night a cargo of sixty casks of wine from a vessel anchored five miles down the harbor. A little later he presided over a meeting of business men, at which it was resolved to import no more English goods, except those needed for the fisheries, for a year and a half. Some months afterward, he was one of the leaders in the mob which resisted the seizure of John Hancock's sloop "Liberty " by the boats of the British frigate " Romney." He was decidedly obnoxious to the King's officers, and six years after his death the British soldiers made his tombstone a particular target, the bullet marks being very conspicuous.
In the north-western part of the yard is the stone of Capt. Thomas Lake, bearing the following inscription :
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Capt. Thomas Lake Aged 61 Yeeres An EmineNet Faithfull ServaN of God & One Of a Publick Spirit Was Perfidovsly Slain By ye Indians At Kennibeck Avgvst ye 14th 1676 IERE Interred FE 13 Of March Following
The story runs that the deep slit cut into the stone was filled with melted bullets taken from his body. The knives of relic hunters, however, have left no vestige of the lead.
Captain Lake was a man of fortune, being one of the earliest proprietors of lands in Maine and New Hampshire and actively engaged in commercial pursuits. He commanded the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1662 and 1674. He served in the early part of King Philip's War, then departing for Arowsick Island, Maine, which he owned jointly with Captain Thomas Clarke. His body was not discovered until seven months after he had been slain, his fate being meanwhile unknown.
Not far from the Lake stone is a large slate block preserving the memory of Nicholas Upshall, who died in August, 1666, aged about 70. He is notable as furnishing one of the good examples of religious toleration in the early days, and although a man of much property and influence, as well as a prominent member of the church, he fell a victim to the intolerance of his fellow townsmen. He owned land in 1637 from Hanover street to the waterside on the northeast side of Richmond street, and was the twenty-third original member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. His main offence was his kindness towards the Quakers, who were zealously prosecuted by certain authori- ties from Governor Endicott down. For bribing the jail-keeper to supply two imprisoned Quaker women with food he was fined £20 and banished. He resided in Rhode Island during the remaining six years of Governor Endicott's rule, and on his return gave the Quakers the free use of a room in his house, which for a long time subsequent was known as the "Old Red Lyon Inn." He is referred to as follows in the " History of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company :" "Property, moral worth, public services, wife, children, friends, cannot preserve a man from the ruthless fangs of religious persecution. The respectable Quakers of the present day (Lynn) have recently reclaimed the remains of their former brethren from the old Quaker burying-ground lest rapacious hands of speculation should trespass further. Why do they not redeem the ashes of those who may be considered among the first martyrs of their sect ?"
In December, 1878, there was discovered among five stones
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closing the entrance to an old tomb one with the following inscription : " Recompense Wadsworth, A.M. First Master of ye Grammar Free School at ye North End of Boston. Aged about 25 years ; Died June ye 9th, 1713." The establishment of this school was voted at a town meeting on March 11, 1711-12, and on March 9, succeeding, the selectmen were " empowered to introduce Mr. Recompense Wadsworth at the North End, and to allow him sixty pounds for one year." The young teacher died after teaching for six months in the new school-house, which was built on Bennet street in 1713.
One of the most finely carved armorial bearings in the ceme- tery is that chiselled on the well-preserved slate stone over the Clark tomb near the main gate. The inscription reads :
HERE LYES THE MORTAL PART of (William Clark Esqr.) An Eminent Merchant of this Town, and An Honorable Counsellor for the Province ; Who Di/tingui/hed Him/elf as A Faithful and Affectionate Friend A Fair and generous Trader ; Loyal to his (Prince), Yet always Zealous for the Freedom of his Countrey;
A De/pi/er of Sorry Per/ons and fiecle Actions, An Enemy to Prie/tcraft and Enthusiasm Ready to relieve and help the Wretched;
A Lover of good Men of Various Denominations And a Reverent Wor/hipper of the (Deity)
William Clark was one of the wealthiest ship-owners of the time and an original member of Christ Church. His brick mansion on the corner of Garden Court and Prince Street, later occupied by Sir Henry Frankland, the collector of customs, was among the finest in town. In the French wars he suffered the loss of forty ships, which, with other reverses, is said to have hastened his end.
His stone suffered the same fate as that over the Hutchinson tomb. One Samuel Winslow, sexton of the First Baptist Church, boldly appropriated the tomb, ejecting the occupants, and inscribed his own name above that of the rightful owner.
In the adjoining tomb sleeps Dr. John Clark, brother to the merchant, a very worthy physician according to the Latin eulogy upon his finely carved tombstone. The seven succeed- ing generations of the family each produced a physician of the same name.
Among the most illustrious by birth of the cemetery's ten- ants were the Mountforts, long a prominent North End family. Tomb No. 17, on the Hull street side, built in 1711, bears the name of John Mountfort ; and No. 59, erected in 1724, that of Jonathan Mountfort, together with the family coat of arms. The two were sons of Edmund Mountfort, who fled from
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London in 1656 on account of political offences. He married a granddaughter of Nicholas Upshall, and died in 1723, being buried in the Granary. The Mountforts traced their descent to an ancient Norman family, seions of which came over with the Conquest. Turstain de Mountfort, 1030, is mentioned in Dugdale's " History of Warwickshire."
Jonathan Mountfort was a wealthy physician and apothecary, his shop being long known as " Mountfort's Corner," and was of a decidedly eccentric temperament. He was one of the seceders from the New North Church in 1719, and helped build the "New Brick " or " Weathercock " Church, of which he was chosen treasurer.
John Mountfort was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1696, and owner of Mountfort's wharf. His descendants long resided on Prince street.
Another tomb emblazoned with family arms is that of the family of Joshua Gee, one of the most famous of the old ship- wrights, who, as we have noted, purchased the small private lot in the centre of the cemetery. The inscription on his tomb reads simply : "The Arms and Tomb belonging to the family of Gee." The noted Gee shipyard was located on the south-west side of Prince street, while the family mansion stood on the corner of Salem and Prince streets, known as "Gee's Corner." The adjoining lands were also in possession of the Gees. Judge Sewall frequently mentions dining with the Gees.
A plain white stone in the north-west corner, bearing the simple inscription : " Edmund Hartt's Tomb, 1806," records the memory of the yet more famous builder of the "Constitution " and the " Boston."
In the western part of the yard is the Mariners' Tomb, " Dedicated to the Seamen of All Nations, by Phineas Stowe, Pastor of the First Baptist Bethel Church, Boston, 1851." It contains the remains of Emily, wife of Dr. Stowe, who died on the day the monument over the tomb was completed, and also those of four sailors. The cost of erection was met by contri- butions from seamen and their friends, the crew of the United States sloop-of-war Albany giving $52.
A tragic history is told by the large triple stone near the tool- house, which preserves in intricate lettering the memory of George Worthylake, aged 45; his wife Ann, 40, and their daughter, Ruth, 13. Worthylake, who had been brought up on George's Island, was the first keeper of Boston Light. On No- vember 3, 1718, the family set sail for Noddle's Island, but, the eraft capsizing, they " took in heaven by the way," according to the old historian. Franklin, then a printer's apprentice to his brother, at the latter's urging, took this incident as the theme for a street ballad, called the "Lighthouse Tragedy." Although " wretched stuff," according to the author, and severely criti- eised by his father, it had a considerable sale. Unfortunately no copy is now extant.
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In the northern part of the yard, in a plain brick vault, lie the remains of Chief Justice Parker. Near the north-west angle is the much more pretentious monument to Charles Jar- vis, a noted local politician, who died in 1807, aged 59, "a Statesman, a Patriot, and an honest Man, whose dignified De- portment, sublime Eloquence, unbounded Philanthropy, and other Virtues endeared his memory to his Fellow Citizens." A few feet away is the vault once owned by Governor Christopher Gore.
Perhaps the most ornate monument in the cemetery is that erected by Isaac Dupee, and bearing a beautifully carved coat- of-arms, together with the following tribute in verse :
MY NAME FROM THE PALMS OF HIS HANDS ETERNITY WILL NOT ERASE ;
IMPRESSED ON HIS HEART, IT REMAINS IN MARKS OF INDELIBLE GRACE. YES, I TO THE END SHALL ENDURE, AS SURE AS THE EARNEST IS GIVEN, MORE HAPPY, BUT NOT MORE SECURE,
THE GLORIFIED SPIRITS IN HEAVEN.
A simply inscribed stone records the death in 1778, at the age of 66, of Dr. Andrew Eliot, the well beloved pastor of the New North Church. A beautiful coat-of-arms, said not to be- long to the family, is carved on the obverse side. Dr. Eliot's house is still standing at the corner of Hanover and Tileston streets.
Timothy Thornton, who died Sept. 19, 1726, aged 79, was one of the committee which negotiated the Sewall purchase. He was also prominent in town affairs, being several times town commissioner and selectman, as well as in the General Court and serving on the committee appointed to issue bills of credit to pay the debts incurred in the French and Indian wars-the first paper currency issued in Massachusetts.
Edward Martyn, another of the committee, sleeps at the right of the Hull-street entrance. His tombstone bears an elaborate coat-of-arms. He commanded the Ancient and Honorable Ar- tillery Company in 1715, and once owned most of the land from Hanover street to the sea.
Beside the Ellis tomb and monument in the north-east corner of the yard for over forty years grew a willow tree of interest- ing origin. It was brought as a slip from the willow that shades the grave of Napoleon at St. Helena by Capt. Joseph Leonard in 1844, and here transplanted by Roland Ellis. It was destroyed by the great gale of 1888.
In the centre of the yard stands the tombstone of one of the foremost of the Quakers, William Mumford, who died in No- vember, 1718, at the age of 77. He was a stonecutter and builder, and on July 10, 1694, bought a lot in Brattle square, whereon he erected the first Quaker meeting-house, which was as well the first briek church built in the town. In January,
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COPP'S HILL BURIAL-GROUND. (CENTRAL PART.)
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1708, he purchased another lot on Congress street, and there built a second meeting-house, to which the Quakers repaired after selling the earlier edifice. Part of this lot constituted the Quaker burying-ground, until the remains contained therein were removed to Lynn in 1825.
On the northern slope of the yard is the monument erected in 1848 to Major Samuel Shaw by his grandson, Robert G. Shaw. The story of the soldier's life is briefly told by the inscription, which runs :
[MAJOR SAMUEL SHAW,] third son of Francis & Sarah, served as an Officer in the Revolutionary War, from its commencement to its close. On the 22d of Feb. 1784, he sailed from New York in the Ship Empress of China, for Canton, as supercargo & part owner; this being the first vessel that sailed from the U. States for that place he was appointed by Washington Consul to China, which office he held until his death in 1794
Near the front gate sleeps a fellow-soldier, Major Thomas Seward, who " gallantly fought in our late Revolutionary War and through its various Scenes behaved with Patriotic Fortitude and died in the Calms of Domestic Felicity as becomes a Uni- versal Christian, November 27th, 1800, Æ 60."
The following commanders of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company are interred in the cemetery : Capt. Thomas Lake, Capt. Ralph Hart, Col. John Carnes, Capt. Caleb Lyman, and Capt. Edward Martyn.
On the western slope of the hill is the stone recording the name of Deacon Shemm Drowne, Hawthorne's famous carver in wood, who wrought the grasshopper on the Faneuil Hall vane. He died in 1774 at the ripe age of 90.
Nearby rests Captain John Pulling, died January 25, 1787, at the age of 51, after whom was named the headland in Chelsea fronting on the water.
Another noteworthy stone is that erected in memory of Prince Hall, first Grand Master of the colored Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts.
A rather pathetic inscription is that on a stone near the Snow- hill-street path, reading :
In memory of BETSY, Wife of David Darling, died March 23d, 1809 Æ 43 She was the mother of 17 children, and around her lies 12 of them, and 2 were lost at sea. BROTHER SEXTONS, please leave a clear berth for me near by this Stone.
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The request was not heeded, as Mr. Darling, who was sexton of the North Church and also a grave-digger in the yard, was buried in another part of the yard.
Mention should not be neglected of a tiny stone in the northern part of the yard, reading :
SARAH RULE aged 9 years died July ye 5 1690
This little lass is the one who daubed with ink the papers of Cotton Mather, moving the worthy divine to great wrath.
These are a few of the more notable stones that claim the attention of the rambler in Copp's Hill. Almost equally note- worthy are the old epitaphs, many of them, as is usual in old cemeteries, quaint and curious, some incoherent and ungram- matical. Doubtless the oddest and most puzzling is that over the grave of Mrs. Ammey Hunt, who died in 1769. We have no clue to the neighborhood gossip hinted at in these peculiar lines :
A sister of Sarah Lucas lieth here, Whom I did Love mo/t Dear; And now her Soul hath took its Flight, And bid her Spightful Foes good Night.
Even more amusing is the tradition connected with the fol- lowing conventional stanza on the stone of Mrs. Mary Huntley :
Stop here my friends & cast an eye, As you are now, so once was I; As I am now, so you must be, Prepare for death and follow me.
A young wag is said to have added in chalk :
To follow you I'm not content Unless I know which way you went.
Some of the other more interesting epitaphs follow :
Henry D. Emerson, d. Aug. 16, 1840, aged 4 :
" Like a bright flower he was cut down."
Peter Gilman, April 12, 1807, aged 42 :
"Stop my friends, and in a mirroir fee What you, though e'er so healthy, soon must be. Beauty, with all her rosebuds, paints each face; Approaching death will strip you of each grace."
Mrs. Betsy Pitman, 1784, aged 27 :
COTTON MATHER TOMB, COPP'S HILL BURIAL-GROUND.
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" Hafte: hafte: he lies in wait, He's at the door. Insidions Death: Should his Strong hand arreft, No composition sets the prisoner free."
Elijah Swift, May 9, 1803, aged 73 :
"A wits a feather, and a chief s a rod ; An honest man's the noblest work of God."
Mrs. Eliza Fuller, Sept. 16, 1806, aged 22 :
" An angel's arm can t snatch me from the grave, Legions of angels can't confine me there."
On an old monument near the Winslow tomb :
" A SAMUEL returned to God in Christ" After a short abode on earth To shun earth's harmes and crimes Was here well put to bed betimes The grave's as short as you prepare Lest thy death come at unaware."
James Seward, died 1792, aged 6 months :
" He bore a lingering sickness with patience, and met the King of Terrors with a smile."
The prophecy contained in the following inscription on the stone of Major John Ruddock, who died in 1772, was literally fulfilled, the words having almost entirely disappeared :
" Time may efface this monumental stone, But time nor malice can his worth dethrone For villains living oft may buy a name, But virtue only swells posthumous fame."
The following lines are carved on an old foot-stone, without name or date, probably erected about 1700 :
" What is t fond mortal yt thon wouldst obtain By spining out a painful life of cares; Thou livest to act thy childhood ore again, And nought intends but grief and seeing years. Who leaves this world like me just in my prime Speeds all my business in a litel time."
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Mrs. Eliza Meria Revere, died 1804, aged 28 :
" Death with his dart has pierced my heart, When I was in my prime ; When this yon fee grieve not for me, Twas God's appointed time."
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Capt. Robert Newman, died 1806, aged 51 :
"Though, Neptune's waves and boreas's blasts Have tost' me to and fro: Now well escap'd from all their rage, I'm anchor'd here below, Safely I ride in triumph here, With many of our fleet, Till signals call to weigh again, Our admiral Christ to meet. O may all those I've left behind Be wash'd in Jesus's blood, And when they leave the world of sin Be ever with the Lord."
Elizabeth Kenney, Sept. 10, 1807, -42.
In the cold mansions of the silent tomb, How still the solitude, how deep the gloom, Here sleeps the duft, unconcious close confin'd But far, far distant dwells the immortal mind.
Eliza Starr died June 8, 1800, - 6 yrs. 3 mos.
Nor Youth nor Innocence could fave, Eliza from the infatiable Grave! But cease our Tears ; no longer weep, The little Maid doth only Sleep: Anon /he'll wake and rije again, And in her Saviour's arms remain.
John Crease, Dec. 8, 1800, -33.
How lov'd how valued once, avails the not To whome related or by whome begot; A heap of du/ts alone remains of thee, Tis all thon art and all the proud Shall be.
Rebecca Perkins, March 16, 1802,- 19 yrs. 7 mo.
My friends and Parents do not mourn, Nor drop one tear now I am gone; Where I am gone, I am at reft; Pray think me number'd with the ble/t.
John James, Dec. 22, 1803,-47
Tho' worms destroy this Body's skin, Yet I shall see my Lord; He'll build my Body up again, For I believe his word, My God that lives above the skies Shall safely gnard my clay, Till he shall bid it to arise At the great Judgement day.
William N. Steel, Dec. 21, 1815,-3 mo. 6 ds.
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Just like an early rose, We've seen an infant bloom, But sadder oft before it blows Death lays in the tomb.
Susanna Gray, July 9, 1798,-42.
Stranger as this spot you tread, And meditate upon the Dead; Improve the moments as they fly, For all that live must shortly die.
Stephen Kent Chadwick, Apr. 27, 1790,-2 yrs. 8 mno.
Beneath this Stone doth lye as much Virtue, as could dye, Which when alive did vigor give, to as much Beauty as could live.
John Goff, Feb. 26, 1807,-44.
My glass is run, my life is spent My earthly temple was but lent; Why should I wish a length of years, To spend in such a vale of tears.
Ilannah Newhall, Apr. 29, 1785.
O cruel death that would not to me spare, A loving wife a kind companion dear, She now her saviour's beauty does behold, And joins to sing his praife on harps of gold.
Elizabeth Brown, Dec. 11, 1803,-35.
When the last scene the closing hour drew nigh, And earth receded from her swooning eye, Tranquil she left this transitory scene, With decent triumph and a look serene; By faith she fix'd her ardent hopes on high In Jesus mercies, and in him did die, So shall her grave with rising flowers be drest, And the green turf lie lightly on her breast; Here shall the morn her earliest tears bestow; Here the first roses of the year shall blow, While angels with their silver wings o'er shade The ground now sacred by her relics made, Then rest in peace beneath this sculptur'd stone, Till Jesus' trumpet call thee to his throne.
Nathaniel Lewis, May 12, 1778,-42.
What's Fame, a fancy'd life in other's breath A thing beyond us ev'n before our Death. A Wits's a feather and a Chief's rod An honest Man's the noble Work of God.
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Sally Goodwin, Ang. 23, 1781, -25.
My hope is fix'd my Spirit's free, Longing my Saviour for to See; Such joy and blifs, doth fill my foul, Nothing on earth doth me control, My loving Hu/band and Infant /mall My Parents dear I leave you all; My Soul doth wing the heavenly way. My Saviour's call I muft obey, Read this and weep but not for me, Who willing was to part with thee; That I may reft with Chri/t above, In peace and joy and endless love.
Elijah Adams, Ang. 25, 1798, - 61.
() Death thou haft conquer'd me, I by thy Dart am slain, But Chrift will conquer thee, And I shall rise again.
4 Children of Jabez & Lydia Sweet, aged 4, 10, 12 & 14 mos.
Stay gentle reader, view this spot of Earth, Sacred to virtue, innocence, and worth,
Four infant roses, budding in the morn,
Shed their sweet fragrance in life's early dawn, Entwin'd their parent stems, so fond caref'd
Each gave one smile, to glad the pensive brea/t,
And dropp'd and wither'd, died! Here seek repose,
Till Christ transplant them in the groves above, To bloom immortal in the joys of love.
John Buckley, Jr., Aug. 23, 1798, -23.
In Peace here refts a Traveller's Duft, His Journey's at an End;
He priz'd E/teem among the Juft, A Cen/ure from a Friend, " Broke loofe from Time's tenacious Chains, And Earth's revolving Gloom, To range at large in vaft Domains, Of radiant World's to come."
Mrs. Deborah Blake, d. in 1791, aged 21 years :
" Friend, as you pass, suppress the falling tear; You wish her out of heaven to wish her here."
Mrs. Martha Cabot, d. in 1809, aged 60 :
" So unaffected, so compos'd a mind, So firm, yet soft, so strong, yet so refin'd, Wasting disease and pain severely tri'd, The saint sustain'd it, but the woman di'd."
Capt. William and Mrs. Mary Burke, d. in 1787 :
" They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their deaths they were not divided."
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WINSLOW TOMB, COPP'S HILL BURIAL-GROUND.
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Mrs. Mary Hughes, d. in 1765, aged 46 :
" Time, what an empty vapour t'is, And days, how Swift they flay : Our life is ever on the Wing, And Death is ever nigh. The Moment when our Lives begin, We all begin to die."
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