USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
This old yard teems with many interesting associa- tions of the past. During the first thirty years of the town, it was the sole repository of the dead in Boston; for it was not until about the year 1660 that two new cemeteries, the North Burial-Ground on Copp's Hill, and the South, more generally known as the Granary Burial- Ground, on the westerly side of Tremont street, were laid out for use. To a stranger who visits this old hab- itation of the dead, beside the most frequented street in the city, the feelings of reverence are at once awakened; and the strange looking old stones with their quaint inscriptions idealize the past, as, winding along among these hallowed relics, one reads the brief history of a spent life in the simple name and age of the lone tenant beneath each of them, cut with the sculptor's chisel in
188
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
the cold, gray slate. To the old Bostonian, associations of a dearer character rush through the mind, as the his- tory of times long past involuntarily comes up, while perusing the names of the well-known active townsmen of the days that have passed away forever. A walk through this silent habitation may not be wholly unin- teresting. On passing the principal gateway of this sacred enclosure in Tremont street, the visitor is forcibly struck with the peculiar arrangement of the gravestones which first meet his eye. He notices rows of these memorials of the deceased lining all the avenues and bypaths of the ground, arranged as fences, - the curious freak of a noted superintendent of burials, who unwit- tingly removed these testimonials of love and respect from the spot where they had been placed in pious memory of deceased relatives and friends, - so that they now serve only as a record of the past, without giving the hallowed associations for which they were origin- ally raised.
The memorials which present themselves to view are of various kinds. The most ancient are constructed of a very durable species of stone - porphyritic green stone, smoothed on one or two faces, and bear inscrip- tions in plain Roman capitals; although in the old- est, some of the letters are blended together as logotypes: and they are destitute of all sepulchral ornaments and devices whatever. The second in order of time were imported from England, and are of very substantial slate stone; they are enriched with sculptured borders, and decorated with death's heads, hour glasses and cherubim. The gravestones next in antiquity are of home origin, and are constructed of American slate or marble, having frequently r'ide
---
- -
189
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
carvings. Not unfrequently will be found a more costly marble, from a foreign quarry, but shaped and lettered in this country. The tombs in the middle of the yard are designated by horizontal monumental slabs, sup- ported either by columns or by solid rectangular con- structions of brick or stone; while those on the sides of the enclosure generally have square tablets, resting im- mediately upon the soil which covers the tombs. Some of these slabs and tablets exhibit well-cut armorial de- vices. The oldest slabs are of sandstone, and conse- quently, from the effect of the pelting rain storms on their soft and perishable faces, their inscriptions have become somewhat illegible, if not altogether obliterated. The old native greenstone and the English slate stone have best performed their allotted tasks. One of the most prominent objects in this abode of the dead is a white marble monument, exactly in the centre of the yard, erected to the memory of a venerable and useful citizen, Hon. Thomas Dawes, better known as Col. Dawes, who was for many years identified with the me- chanical interests of the town, and who, as the inscrip- tion relates, died Jan'y 2, 1809, æt. 78. Very near to this, a few steps to the northwest, is the tomb of the Boston branch of the pilgrim family of Winslow, desig- nated by a horizontal tablet supported by mason work, and exhibiting on one side a shield with lozenges on a bend, the well-known heraldic arms of the ancient fam- ily, bearing the name; and in the vault beneath were deposited the remains of John Winslow, in 1674, and of Mary, his wife-the famous Mary Chilton, who in her girlish sport was the first woman to leap on shore at Cape Cod from the renowned May Flower, of ever- blessed memory, and who died in 1679. A short dis-
190
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
tance further on is the tomb of Governor John Leverett, one of the best and most humble of the old colonial dig- nitaries, who, after performing well his part, died on the sixteenth of March, 1678-9, in the sixty-third year of his age; and perhaps there is reposing in the same vault the dust of his excellent father, the venerable elder of the First Church, who died on the third of April, 1650. The Leverett tablet contains a long inscription in the Latin language, which is too far obliterated to be thoroughly copied.
Not far from this last are situated, side by side, the tombs of the Winthrops and the Olivers. Within the first have lain the ashes of three very distinguished individuals, - father, son, and grandson, each in his turn well known in our historical annals as Governor John Winthrop, -John Winthrop, Sen., Governor of the Massachusetts Colony, who died on the twenty-sixth of March, 1649, aged sixty-one years; John Winthrop, Jr., Governor of Connecticut Colony, who died on the fifth of April, 1676, aged seventy years; and Fitz-John Winthrop, Governor of the United Colonies of Con- necticut, who died on the twenty-seventh of November, 1707, in his sixty-eighth year. These three individuals, although holding the office of Governor over three dif- ferent jurisdictions at the respective times of their decease, died in Boston, and became tenants of the same tomb.
The tomb of Elder Thomas Oliver, of the First Church, subsequently became the property of the church that he had faithfully served as the Ruling Elder until his decease, which occurred on the first of June, 1658, he being about ninety years old. A large tablet stand- ing near this tomb contains an inscription relating to
191
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
the decease of four of the early pastors of the church in the following words:
HERE LYES INTOMBED THE BODYES OF THE FAMOUS REVEREND AND LEARNED PASTORS OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN BOSTON VIZ : MR. JOHN COTTON, AGED 67 YEARS, DEC'D DECEMBER THE 23D, 1652;
MR. JOHN DAVENPORT, AGED 72 YEARS, DEC'D MARCH THE 15TH, 1670; MR. JOHN OXENBRIDGE, AGED 66 YEARS, DEC'D DECEMBER THE 28TH, 1674; MR. THOMAS BRIDGE, AGED 58 YEARS, DEC'D SEPTEMBER THE 26, 1715.
A little aside from this conspicuous memorial of the four humble pastors are the very modest and now ob- scure gravestones of Sarah, the widow of the beloved John Cotton and excellent Richard Mather, and of Eliz- abeth, the widow of John Davenport; the former of whom died on the twenty-seventh of May, 1676, aged seventy-five years, and the latter on the fifteenth of the next September, aged seventy-six years. So great was the veneration of those who had held office in the man- agement of the church towards their pastors, that many of them were buried in this immediate neighborhood, as is made evident by their gravestones, some of which have happily escaped removal from their original loca- tions.
Nearly in the northwest corner of the yard is a clus- ter of the most ancient tombs in Boston; the second oldest in the ground, as far as the inscription reads, is very near the middle of the northerly side, near the His- torical Society's building. It is that of Jacob Sheafe,
192
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
an opulent merchant of his day, and bears the following inscription cut upon a horizontal tablet:
HERE LYETH INTERD THE
BODY OF IACOB SHEAFE OF
BOSTON WHO FOR SVME TIME LIVED AT CRAMBROCK
IN KENT IN OVLD INGLAND
HEE DECEASED THE 22TH OF
MARCH 1658 AGED 58 YEARS.
The widow of Mr. Sheafe (Margaret, daughter of Henry Webb, a wealthy Boston merchant, who gave the estate in Washington street to Harvard College in 1660), not long after the decease of her husband married Rev. Thomas Thacher, the first pastor of the Old South Church; and at her decease on the twenty- third of February, 1693-4, at the age of sixty-eight years, was interred in the same vault, as undoubtedly her second husband was, who died on the fifteenth of October, 1678, aged fifty-eight years and five months.
Near the Sheafe tomb is a cluster of horizontal tablets, raised over sepulchral vaults of ancient date, among which is that of Thomas Brattle, probably the wealthiest New England merchant of his day, who died on the fifth of April, 1683, in the sixtieth year of his age, leaving, besides his other treasures, his son Thomas to be the principal founder of the church which bears his name, and to be the great friend as well as Treasurer of Harvard College; and also another son, William, the learned and pious minister of the First Church in Cambridge.
A little to the south of these last-mentioned tombs, and in the same cluster, are those of the Leverett and Bromfield families. In the first mentioned, bearing the
193
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
number 30, were buried the Governor and the members of his immediate family, the famous Secretary Isaac Addington, and many other persons of note; and in the last-named were buried Mr. Edward Bromfield and his descendants, among whom were the Phillipses (of the family of Lt .- Governor William), and also some of the family of the late Daniel Dennison Rogers. Just east of these is the tomb of Dr. Benjamin Church -- he who acted so queerly in the time of the war of the revolution - which became subsequently the property of the late Turner Phillips, over which, in the year 1857, a tall white marble monument was erected. In this vault were deposited in February, 1688, the remains of Lady Anne Andros, wife of the notorious Sir Ed- mund, who set up a claim to be Governor of New England, and very much abused the good people of the town about three years, until he was seized by Dr. Elisha Cooke and others, and subsequently sent home to England, to the great joy of the people.
In the northeast corner of the burial-ground is a spacious vault, long used as a charnel house, but which in 1833 was repaired and fitted as a place of deposit for deceased children. Just at the south side of the entrance to this may be seen standing the gravestone which affection had more than two centuries ago placed over the remains of Deacon William Paddy, one of the most useful of the townsmen of his day. He was one of the early settlers of the Plymouth Colony, being there as early as 1635, where he served the town and colony in various capacities until he removed to Boston. This relic of early times is of native greenstone, and is the oldest upright tablet in the yard. Like many others of the old gravestones, it was furtively removed from its
25
194
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
original position many years ago; and in 1830, while workmen were removing earth from the north side of the old building at the head of State street, known as the Old State House, it was found several feet below the surface of the street. Near the stone were found sev- eral small bones and pieces of wood, which the incredu- lous readily believed to be remnants of the skeleton and coffin of the deacon; but the bones did not prove on examination to be human relics. The stone very prop- erly was restored to the Chapel Burial-Ground, where it is very evident that it belonged, as the gravestones of his last wife and several of his children are to be found in the same yard. Too many of the old stones have been removed from their proper places, and used for covering drains, paving the floors of tombs, and closing their mouths. The inscription on Deacon Paddy's gravestone is as follows:
HERE: LYETH THE : BODY : OF : MR WILLIAM: PADDY : AGED 58 YEARS : DEPARTED THIS: LIFE: AUGUST: THE [28] 1658
On the back of the slab are the following lines:
HEAR . SLEAPS . THAT
BLESED . ONE WHOES LIEF GOD . HELP . VS . ALL . TO . LIVE THAT . SO . WHEN . TIEM . SHALL . BE THAT . WE . THIS . WORLD . MUST. LIUE WE . EVER . MAY . BE . HAPPY WITH BLESSED . WILLIAM . PADDY
Near the southeasterly part of the yard, although not where it should be, is placed the gravestone of Capt. Roger Clap, another of the old worthies, who was
195
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
for twenty-one years Captain of the Castle in Boston Harbor. It bears the following inscription:
HERE LYETH BURIED YE BODY OF CAPT.
ROGER CLAP AGED 82 YEARS
DECEASED YE 2 OF FEBRUARY 1690-1.
Pursuing the walk around the edge of the burial- ground, and passing by the large number of gravestones placed in rows, like those which first met the eye on en- trance, the visitor will notice a few more horizontal slabs, more sparsely scattered, on the east and south sides, al- most the last of which, near the southwestern corner, is over the tomb of Major Thomas Savage, one of the noted men of the first years of the town, and a gallant com- mander in King Philip's war in the year 1675, and who died on the fifteenth of February, 1681-2, aged seventy- five years, if the inscription which differs slightly from other authorities (as gravestones are very wont to do) can be believed. The original building known as King's Chapel, which separated this burial-ground from School street, was erected of wood in 1688, and gave way for the present Stone Chapel in 1749, built of hammered granite from the Quincy quarry. In 1833 permission was given to the wardens of the chapel to enlarge their vestry and extend it over the burial-ground towards the east; and the wooden building erected at that time has been followed within a few years by one of granite. Previous to the erection of the present building belong- ing to the Massachusetts Historical Society, in 1832, a passageway extended from Tremont street to Court square on the northern boundary of the burial-ground;
196
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
and until the taking down of the old City Hall, in 1863, there was also a passageway leading from the City Hall yard to the same square, bounded partly by the easterly side of the ground. The discontinuance of these ave- nues has been beneficial to the cemetery.
CHAPTER XIII.
NORTH BURYING-GROUND.
Old North Burying-Ground, on Copp's Hill ... Consists of Several Cemeteries, having Distinctive Names . . . Its Extent and Boundaries . . . Old Ground, and its Purchase in 1660 and Bounds . . . Oldest Inscription . . . The Sewall Pur- chase in 1709 by Gee, and Addition by the Town in 1711 . . . Wishing Rock .. . Hull Street Cemetery Established in 1832, Discontinued in 1853, and its Tenants Removed in 1861 . . . New North Burying-Ground, 1810, and the First Burial in it . . . Tombs Built in it by Hon. Charles Wells and Edward Bell in 1814 . . . Charter Street Burial-Ground, Tombs Built by Mr. Wells in 1819 . . . Uncertainty of the Origin of Name of the Burying-Ground . . . William Copp, and his Son David . .. Number of Tombs ... Trees first Planted in 1833 · ·· Avenues and Paths . .. Disarrangement of Gravestones; Mutila- tion of Inscriptions . . . Sacrilegious Act of British Soldiers, during the Rev- olution . . . Armorial Devices of Distinguished Families . . . Monuments . . . Ancient Tombs . .. Dates of Building ... Infants' Tomb . .. Tool House ... Thomas Hutchinson and Others . . . Ingratitude to a Public Benefactor and Desecration of his Tomb . . . Mather Tomb . . . The Worthylakes . . . The Sis- ter of Sarah Lucas . . . The Graves of the Darlings . . . Hannah Langford . . . Peter Gilman . . . Jerusha Caddall ... The Silversmith's Wife . . . Captain Daniel Malcom and his Remarkable Grave . .. Mary Boutcher.
IN point of age the old North Burying-Ground, upon Copp's Hill, comes next to the King's Chapel Burying- Ground in Tremont street, although it is about coeval with that now generally known as the Granary Burying-Ground, also bounded upon Tremont street, or rather upon Paddock's Mall, which intervenes to sepa- rate the burial-ground from the highway.
This ancient cemetery is by no means a unit, al- though it may appear so to the modern visitor. It is a congeries of several parcels of land purchased at vari-
198
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
ous times; and, strange to say, has to knowing ones distinct names for its different parts. As a whole, it is bounded on the southwest about three hundred and thirty feet by Hull street; on the northwest by Snowhill street about three hundred and twenty-four feet; on the northeast about three hundred and fourteen feet by Charter street; on the southeast about one hundred and twenty feet by private property; on the northeast, again, about one hundred and twenty-eight feet, also by private property; and lastly on the southeast, again, by private land about one hundred and twenty feet. The oldest portion, that which has been generally called the North Burying-Ground, is situated at the northeasterly part of the present enclosure, and is bounded two hundred and ninety-four feet on Charter street, and one hundred and fifty-four on Snowhill street; and was purchased of John Baker and Daniel Turell by deed dated the twen- tieth of February, 1659-60, which instrument was not recorded until seventy-six years afterwards, in the fifty- third volume of the records of conveyances. The southeasterly portion of this part was that chiefly used for burial of the towns-people, while that near Snowhill street served for the last resting-place of the slaves and freed persons. Undoubtedly it was first used for inter- ments about November, 1660, the time that the order was passed by the townsmen of Boston, that the Old Burying-Ground should be "wholly deserted for some convenient season, and the new places appointed for burying only made use of." No older inscription has been found than that which records the decease of Mary, the daughter of Arthur and Jane Kind, who died on the fifteenth of August, 1662, although the stone was not erected until several years later, as an inscription of
199
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
William, another child of the same parents, is on the top of the same stone, bearing as the date of death the fourteenth of February, 1666. There may, however, be older memorials in the yard, hidden, as this was, until a few years ago, at the bottom of one of the ancient vaults, as a portion of its floor. The only entrance to the enclosure was then from Charter street, for to the southwest of it was situated the pasture of Judge Samuel Sewall, which really belonged to his wife Han- nah, as part of her inheritance from her father, the noted John Hull, the mint master when the New England shillings were coined, more than two centuries ago, - she who is said to have had for her marriage portion her weight in silver shilling pieces struck from the N. E. die. On the seventh of January, 1708-9, Judge Sewall and his wife Hannah conveyed to Joshua Gee, the father of the distinguished clergyman who was from 1723 to 1748 the colleague and successor of the famous Cot- ton Mather, a small portion of this pasture, "one rodd square, in which Mrs. Mary Thacher now lyeth buried," bounded by, and on the northeast adjoining to the burying-ground, "with no right of way except through the old burying place." This Mrs. Thacher was the wife of Judah Thacher, of Yarmouth, and died on the thir- tieth of November, 1708, in the sixty-eighth year of her age, as her gravestone, now standing in the yard, dis- tinctly indicates. On the ninth of May, 1711, the inhabi- tants of Boston determined to enlarge this graveyard, and consequently the Selectmen bought of Judge Sewall and wife a large part of the remainder of their pasture, measuring, according to the deed of conveyance, passed the seventeenth of December, 1711, one hundred and seventy feet on Snowhill street, one hundred and eighty
200
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
feet on Hull street, one hundred and forty feet south- easterly on private property, and two hundred and fifty feet upon the old burial-ground. These purchases com- prise what is now styled the Old North Burying-Ground. The northwesterly side formerly communicated with Lynn street by a steep and very abrupt bank, which will be well remembered by the boys of fifty years ago, who used to claim that territory for their play-ground; and perhaps the memory of some may extend back to the time when the wishing rock stood conspicuously there in its popularity. The portion of Snowhill street now lead- ing from Hull to Charter streets was scarcely more than a myth, until quite recently, being little more than a private passage-way between the two streets; in the year 1832, however, Mr. Jacob Hall and others purchased a portion of land bordering on the northwest side of the old ground, and by permission of the city authorities established a cemetery called the "Hull Street Ceme- tery," and erected rows of tombs, at the same time re- linquishing their right to the above-named portion of Snowhill street, and making an arrangement with the city that the street should be a public walk or mall thir- ty-three feet in width. This cemetery was discontinued in 1853, and the remains removed to Mount Hope Cemetery in February, 1861.
In 1810 the "New North Burying-Ground" was established, the land for the purpose having been purchased on the eighteenth of December, 1809, of Ben- jamin Weld. It was bounded on Hull street one hun- dred and twenty-six feet; on the old ground about one hundred and thirty-eight feet; and on its southerly side and fronting upon Hull street stood the old gun-house of the Columbian Artillery Company. Fifty-two tombs
201
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
were built around the sides of this new enclosure by Hon. Charles Wells, in 1814; and after the gun-house was removed, fifteen tombs were built on its site in the fall of 1827, by Edward Bell. This yard was arranged so that its area should be used for burials in graves, which were laid out in ranges, and several deposits were allowed to be made in the same grave. The first person interred in this small yard was John Richardson, on the sixth of July, 1810, who was drowned a few days be- fore. The lot occupied by this burial-ground was for- merly known as Merry's pasture, Jonathan Merry having long possessed it before he sold it to Mr. Weld, who con- veyed it to the town. The old gun-house was moved, by vote of the town, to this lot in 1810, soon after the purchase of the estate; and was not removed to its last position until the necessity arose for the tombs after- wards built by Mr. Bell.
In 1819 Hon. Charles Wells was allowed to build tombs, thirty-four in number, in a small graveyard bounded twenty feet on Charter street, one hundred and twenty feet on the Old Burying-Ground, twenty-eight feet southwesterly on the New Burying-Ground, on Hull street, and southeasterly on private property. This very small yard was fenced in, and was usually styled the "Charter Street Burying Ground." But now it has become to all appearance part of the old cemetery, the division fence having been removed several years ago. It was purchased on the third of June, 1819, of John Bishop, of Medford, and had formerly belonged to Nathaniel Holmes.
How, and exactly when, the burial-ground took the name of "Copp's Hill Burying-Ground " is not known. Old Mr. William Copp, the cordwainer of the early days
26
202
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
of the town, indeed dwelt on the northwestern part of the extreme limits of the hill, well on towards Prince street; but he did not die until ten years after the es- tablishment of the cemetery, and his son David, the Elder, an important man at the North End, lived until the twentieth of November, 1713, when he died at the good old age of seventy-eight years. Most of the maps made about the time of the American Revolution, and a few years later, have the name of Copp's Hill attached to the portion of the hill lying northwest of Snowhill street, on a part of which the honest old cobbler dwelt.
There are within the enclosure two hundred and twenty-six tombs, two of which belonged to the city, one being fitted and prepared for children in June, 1833. On the twenty-seventh of May, 1833, fifty dollars were appropriated by the city authorities towards purchasing trees for ornamenting the grounds; and from this date the whole appearance of the hill began to change, and the place soon resumed its ancient popularity. Almost all of these trees have been removed, and others of a more appropriate character have taken their places. This gives to the hill a very agreeable shade on sultry days. Near the Ellis monument is a weeping willow raised from a slip taken in 1840 from the tree which grew over the grave of Napoleon at St. Helena.
None of the burial-grounds in Boston possess more interest than does this old cemetery at the North End. During the most of the year its gates are flung open, and its walks are frequented by visitors, not only from among the neighboring residents, but also by persons from all parts of the city. Within a few years many avenues and by-paths have been laid out, gravestones having been removed for this purpose, affording oppor-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.