USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 21
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for Dr. Elisha Cooke, the inflexible New England patriot in the days of Andros and the royal gover- nors). The cast part of the present King's Chapel stands on land on which stood the old school-house of Master Philemon Pormort, the first known master of the first free school in Boston, in 1635. When the stone building, now known as King's Chapel, was erected, the corner-stone being laid by Governor Shir- ley on the eleventh of August, 1749 (but not until the school-house had been built), twenty tombs were placed in the basement, and a large vault, called the Stranger's Tomb, under the tower. These have been owned and occupied by some of the most noted of the inhabitants of the town, and are still used as de- posits for the dead. Governor William Shirley, who died in Roxbury on the twenty-fourth of March, 1771, was buried in tomb numbered 18, Rev. Mather Byles, of Christ Church, performing the funeral services. The tablets containing inscriptions appertaining to this cem- etery are placed upon the walls of the chapel, and are to the memory of Mrs. Frances Shirley, Mrs. Frances, wife of Mr. William Bollan, Mr. Charles Apthorp, who died on the eleventh of November, 1758, Mr. Samuel Vassall, of London, of ancient memory, Mr. William Price, who died on the nineteenth of May, 1772, aged eighty-seven years, and some of the late pastors of the church.
Beneath St. Paul's Church is a cemetery containing sixty-four tombs, which were built soon after the erec- tion of the building, the corner-stone of which was laid on the fourth of September, 1819, and the building con- secrated on the thirtieth of June, 1820, by Bishops Gris- wold and Brownell. Permission was formally given, on the first of September, 1823, for the use of the tombs
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
in this cemetery on the usual terms, a special condition having been previously passed that no tomb should be appropriated for the interment of strangers or of any person in consideration of payment therefor. In 1825 the remains (such as could be found in the Minot tomb in the Granary Burying-Ground) of Dr. Joseph Warren, the patriot, were removed to the Warren tomb, and the following suitable inscription placed upon the box which contained them: - "In this tomb are deposited the earthly remains of Major-General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill, on the 17th June, 1775."
These honored relics have since been placed in an imperishable urn, and deposited in a vault in Forest Hills Cemetery, where, though now in their fourth place of burial, it is presumed they will remain beside those of his distinguished brother, until the last great day.
In January, 1823, the proprietors of Park street Meeting-House petitioned the City Council for liberty to erect tombs under their building, which was granted, and thirty tombs were brought into use. About the year 1862, the Society determined to discontinue this cemetery, and a lot was purchased at Mount Auburn for the future place of deposit of remains that had already been buried within these vaults. To this and other burying-places the remains were removed during the summer of that year, and the stately monument at Mount Auburn attests to the good faith and liberality of the church in this matter.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SOUTH BOSTON AND EAST BOSTON CEMETERIES.
South Boston Cemeteries . . . St. Matthew's Church Cemetery, 1818 . . . St. Matthew's Church Sold to the Freemasons, and the Cemetery Discontinued . .. A Burial-Ground Provided for by the Act Annexing Dorchester Point to Boston in 1804 . . . Lot Selected in 1817, and Set off by the Supreme Court in 1818, and Laid out as the Boston Cemetery . .. Tombs Built in 1821, and Demolished before 1853 . .. Hawes Burying-Ground, 1816 . . . Union Ceme- tery, 1841 . . . St. Augustin Cemetery, for the Burial of Roman Catholics, 1818 . . . Size and Position of the Lot, and St. Augustin Chapel . . . Burial of Rev. Dr. Matignon in 1818 . . . Monument of Rev. Dr. O'Flaherty, and other Tablets in the Yard ... East Boston Burying-Grounds . .. Interment in Graves . . . The Burial-Ground Purchased in 1838, and Established . . . The Israelitish Burying-Ground, Belonging to the Congregation Ohabei Shalom, Established in 1844 . . . Old Funeral Customs . . . Introduction of Hearses.
HAVING in several preceding chapters given a cursory description of the burial-places upon the peninsula, it now remains to take a brief notice of those, modern though they may be, which are situated at South Boston and East Boston, and the newly acquired territory.
South Boston, under the name of Dorchester Point, was set off from Dorchester and annexed to Boston on the sixth of March, 1804; at which time it comprised a few farms, on which there were not many houses, and no place for the burial of the dead, the Old Burying- Ground in Dorchester, at the corner of Boston avenue and Eustis street, generally serving the purpose for the few families who made their abode there.
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
The first movement for a burial-place at South Bos- ton seems to have arisen on the building of St. Matthew's Church, which was organized on the twenty-fourth of March, 1816, and incorporated on the sixteenth of the following June. In 1817, the wardens and vestry com- menced building their house of worship on Broadway, about a hundred feet northwest of E street, on a lot which was subsequently conveyed to them on the fourth of November, 1818, by Abraham Gould, a large real estate owner of that part of the town, the church having been consecrated by Bishop Griswold on the twenty- fourth of the preceding June. The size of the lot of land and also the building was subsequently increased. When the church was erected, tombs were built in its cellar; and an application was made to the Board of Health for permission to use and occupy them for burial purposes. A committee of the Board reported on the eighteenth of June, 1818, "that they had attended to the duty assigned them, by viewing the situation, and examining the tombs referred to, and, taking into consid- eration the remote situation of the chapel from the body of the town, the faithful and secure manner in which the tombs are built," recommended that the request be granted; and the following order was passed:
" Ordered, That the tombs now built under St. Matthew's Chapel at South Boston be, and they are hereby, appointed, located, established as a place where the dead may be buried in the town of Boston; and all persons are hereby required to take notice and govern themselves accordingly."
This burial-place took the name of St. Matthew's Church Cemetery, and has been very much used. The church building was recently sold to the freemasons of
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South Boston, and the use of the sixty tombs has been discontinued, although a few of the owners held out for a considerable time against having the deposits in their tombs removed; this prevented the freemasons putting the land to the use for which it was last purchased, and they subsequently sold it to persons who have erected upon it substantial buildings.
The legislative act of 1804, which annexed to Boston that portion of Dorchester now known as South Boston, provided that the proprietor of the tract should " assign and set apart three lots of land on the same for public use, viz., one lot for the purpose of a public market place, one lot for a school house, and one lot for a burial ground, to the satisfaction and acceptance of the select- men of the town of Boston "; or in case the said Select- men and proprietors should not agree upon the said lots, it should be lawful for the Supreme Judicial Court, at any session thereof in the County of Suffolk, upon appli- cation of the said Selectmen, to nominate and appoint three disinterested freeholders of Boston "to assign and set off the three lots aforesaid by metes and bounds "; and the lots of land by them assigned and set off as aforesaid should thenceforth "vest in the said town of Boston forever without any compensation to be made therefor by the town." Provision was also made that if compensation for the land should be demanded, then the lots should be appraised and the valuation assessed upon all the proprietors.
The first-mentioned lot for the market house was deeded to the town in 1819 by Mr. John Hawes, the person who has been so noble and generous in his gifts for the improvement of South Boston; but there being no immediate need for the market house, the donor gave
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
permission that the land should be used for the erection of a school-house until a public market should be required. No lot has as yet been demanded by the city for school purposes under the act of March 1804, although several buildings have been erected for school- houses on land specially bought for the same.
In 1817, the Selectmen of Boston selected a lot for the cemetery contemplated in the legislative act, but were not able to agree with the proprietors of the land respecting its assignment for the purposes of a burial- ground; consequently resort was had to the Supreme Judicial Court, and a petition was presented at the No- vember term of 1817 for the appointment of three com- missioners; and Ebenezer Gay of Hingham, Thomas Greenleaf of Quincy, and Isaac S. Gardner of Brook- line, were appointed by the Court, who after a hearing, had on the twenty-third of November of the same year, set off a portion of land containing about 85,400 feet, situated on Dorchester street and next to the division line between South Boston and Dorchester, which action was approved by the court. The lot was bounded south on Dorchester street three hundred feet, west on Dor- chester boundary line two hundred and sixty feet, north on F street, and including a part of it, two hundred and sixty feet, and east on Seventh street. Upon this the Board of Health commenced the building of tombs; and in January and March, 1824, the proprietors released their rights in the land to the city, "to have and to hold the same to the said city as and for a burying ground in pursuance of the provisions of said act" of 1804.
During the latter part of the year 1821, in conse- quence of an order passed by the Board of Health on the twenty-fourth of July, fifteen tombs were built in
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the cemetery by Mr. Thomas Austin, and the lot was properly fenced in. The committee who had charge of the work closed a report, submitted on the thirteenth of January, 1821, in the following words :- " The com- mittee, therefore, have the satisfaction to state, that, although in the execution of the important duties con- fided to them by the Board of Health, they have had much labor, anxiety, and responsibility, yet they derive great consolation from witnessing the public approba- tion of the intelligent and provident proceedings of the Board of Health in providing for the exigences of the town of Boston a repository for the dead, so convenient, and exceeding in solemn magnificence and elegance anything of the kind in the United States, it is their opinion that when the whole of the 'Boston Cemetery' shall have been completed agreeably to the plan already adopted by the Board of Health, the same will be highly honorable to the moral feeling of the citizens of the metropolis and an ornament to our State and country." These tombs were offered for sale on the sixth of June, 1821, and were advertised as "completed with iron doors and locks in a style superior to any in America." Four only were sold at that time, three for $152 each, and one for $166.34.
Notwithstanding the exalted opinion the committee had of the Boston Cemetery, it never became an object of much pride to Boston, and was very little used; in- somuch, that in 1853, it appears that nearly all of the tombs had been demolished, and burials had ceased to be made in it, on account of the unsuitable condition of the soil for graves and tombs. Several attempts have been made by individuals to get possession of this lot, but these efforts proved of no avail; and in 1868 the neces-
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
sity of additional school accommodations in Ward XII. having become imperative, a new and elegant school- house for the Shurtleff School was erected upon this conspicuous site, and dedicated on the twenty-third of November, 1869.
On the twelfth of October, 1816, John Hawes of South Boston conveyed to a committee of the inhabi- tants of South Boston a small lot of land on the old road leading to the point "for the use of a burying ground for the inhabitants." It was bounded northerly one hundred and nine feet on the " old road," easterly one hundred feet, and southerly one hundred and nine feet on land of Abraham Gould, and westerly one hundred feet on land of the heirs of Col. Ebenezer Clap; and lies between the streets now known as Fourth and Fifth streets on the north and south, and between L and M streets west and east, and contains about one-quarter of an acre and ten square feet. In this small yard there are about seven tombs, the yard having been chiefly used for interment in graves, which practice was discon- tinued some years since. The use of this graveyard, now known as the Hawes Burying-Ground, was not sanctioned by the Board of Health until the twelfth of March, 1821.
On the thirtieth of October, 1841, the trustees of the Warren Association sold to Adam Bent of South Bos- ton a small lot of land south of, and adjoining to, the · Hawes Burying-Ground; bounded on the north one hundred and eleven feet by the Hawes Yard, easterly about fifty-five feet by land of the Association, south- erly about one hundred and ten feet by Fifth street, and westerly forty-three feet by land of Jonathan Phillips. In this small yard were originally fifteen tombs and five
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burial lots. The owners of the lot have named it the Union Cemetery, and have placed around it a very neat iron fence.
In the year 1818 the Roman Catholics selected a lot of land upon Dorchester street for a burial-ground, which was purchased in parcels of Zachariah G. Whit- man and Jonathan Mason, by deeds passed on the ninth of December, 1818, the twenty-seventh of March, 1819, and the fifth of April, 1822; and St. Augustin Cemetery was established by an order of the Selectmen: " Ordered, That there be assigned and located some suitable place at South Boston, under the direction of the Board of Health, as a burial ground for that denomination of Christians called Roman Catholics of the town of Boston."
This lot has a front of about one hundred and fifteen feet southerly upon Dorchester street, and extends back as far as F street; on the east being bounded by Sixth street, and on the west by Tudor street. The whole lot is enclosed by a high wooden fence, and contains a large number of monuments and gravestones, which are chiefly of white marble, many of the monuments having long epitaphs, and most of the stones somewhat more upon them than the ordinary gravestone inscriptions. Within the enclosure is a small chapel, containing about thirty-eight pews, consecrated by Bishop Fenwick in 1833, which is now seldom used, and is going rapidly to decay. This lot possesses much interest, and is the only yard in South Boston in which burials are allowed to be made in graves. Here repose the remains of Francis Anthony Matignon, D. D., a most estimable man, formerly the minister of the Roman Catholics in Boston. He died of consumption, at the age of sixty-
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five years, on the nineteenth of September, 1818, having been born in Paris on the tenth of November, 1753. His funeral, which occurred on the twenty-first of Sep- tember, was attended with uncommon ceremonies, a considerable number of Acolytes with burning tapers escorting the large procession through the streets from the Church of the Holy Cross in Franklin street to the Granary Burying-Ground, where the body was temporarily deposited in the tomb of Mr. John Magner, from which it was removed to St. Augustin Cemetery on the twenty-first of the ensuing April. Within the chapel, at the right of the altar, stands a mural tablet bearing the following inscription:
Here lie the mortal remains of FRANCIS ANTHONY MATIGNON, D. D., and for 26 years Pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross in this town: Ob. Sept. 19th, 1818, Æt. 65.
Beloved of God and men whose memory is in benediction:
Eccl'us C. 45., V. 1. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips. He walked with men in peace, and in equity, and turned many away from iniquity. For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth: because he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. Malachi C. 2., V. 6, 7.
Far from the Sepulchre of his fathers repose the ashes of the good and great Doctor MATIGNON; but his grave is not as among strangers, for it was, and will often be watered by the tears of an affectionate flock, and his memory is cherished by all who value learning, honour, genius, or love devotion.
The Bishop and congregation in tears have erected this monument of their veneration and gratitude.
In front of the chapel stands the monument of Dr. O'Flaherty, and upon the walls are inserted tablets com- memorative of three distinguished Catholic priests : Rev. James McGuire, a native of the county of Cavan,
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Ireland, died on the fifth of March, 1850, aged thirty- five years; Rev. Patrick Byrne, a native of the county of Kilkenny, Ireland, ordained on the eighteenth of March, 1820, and late pastor of St. Mary's in Charles- town, died on the fourth of December, 1844, aged fifty- two years; Rev. John Mahoney, a native of the county of Kerry, Ireland, who, after a laborious mission of six years in the States of Maryland and Virginia, and of thirteen years in the diocese of Boston, departed this life on the twenty-ninth of December, 1839, aged fifty- eight years.
Dr. O'Flaherty will long be remembered for the great ability he exhibited in the famous religious con- troversy which he had many years ago with Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher. His monument is quite imposing. It is of white marble, containing on the front panel a medallion portrait of the deceased, and upon the left panel a Latin inscription which is thus translated into English on the right panel:
Here lies the body of THOMAS JOHN O'FLAHERTY, who was born in the county of Kerry in Ireland. A physician of high repute and a most worthy priest of ALMIGHTY GOD.
He always shone as the ornament of the sciences, the faithful interpreter of languages, and the intrepid and invincible defender and expounder of the sacred dogmas of the Catholic Church. His countrymen and fellow- laborers in the vineyard of Jesus Christ have, under the guidance of the Rev. James O'Reilly, his most faithful friend, honorably erected this monu- ment to the imperishable memory of a Priest so celebrated and dear to all He died on the 29 day of March, 1846, aged 47 years. May his soul rest in peace. Amen.
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
Within the enclosure there are a very few tombs, the popular mode of burial with the Catholics having been in this yard in graves. Over each grave is a large per- pendicular marble slab, much larger and more expensive than those of any of the other burial-grounds in Boston, and upon each of these are the three letters I. H. S., and generally the words " requiescat in pace."
The above-mentioned burial-grounds are all that are situated in South Boston, the necessity for others having been supplied by the large suburban cemeteries in the neighboring towns.
There are two cemeteries at East Boston, the lots for which were bought of the East Boston Company, and in both interments are chiefly made in graves.
On the thirteenth of July, 1838, the Company con- veyed a tract of land, four hundred and fifty by three hundred and fifty feet, between Bennington, Harmony, Auburn, and Swift streets, to the city for a burial-ground; and on the sixteenth of the same month the same was accepted by the Board of Aldermen, and it was ordered to be enclosed with a light fence, and that no person be allowed to be buried within it nearer than eighteen feet from the enclosing fence. This yard is used by the res- idents of the ward, and a few interments are made in it of persons from the peninsula, on account of the privi- lege of burying in graves, which many persons consider most proper. In this yard are about twelve tombs.
The congregation Ohabei Shalom, the Israelitish Society of Peace, on the twenty-ninth of April, 1844, petitioned the city government for leave to purchase a portion of the East Boston Burying-Ground for a cem- etery, but were denied; but having bargained for a lot of land in the fourth section of the island, they again
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petitioned the Board of Aldermen for leave to use the lot so obtained, which was granted on the fifth of October of the same year. In the mean time, on the twenty-fifth of July, the society purchased the lot at the corner of Byron and Homer streets, one hundred feet square, and containing a little less than a quarter of an acre of land. The burials in this yard are entirely in graves, and the neat white gravestones, with Hebrew inscriptions, and now and then one partly in English, add much to the peculiarity of the cemetery. The lot is enclosed with a wooden fence, and in consequence of its remote distance from the thickly inhabited portion of the island is seldom visited. The order passed by the Board of Aldermen establishing this graveyard was in the following words:
" Ordered, That the trustees of the Israelitish con- gregation Ohabei Shalom (Friends of Peace) with their associates having purchased a lot of land No. 250 in Section 4 at East Boston, be and they are hereby author- ized to lay the same out as a private burying-ground, they complying in all respects with the statute laws of the State and the ordinances of the City, and the rules and regulations of this Board, subject, however, at all times to the supervision of the superintendent of burial- grounds and the control of this Board."
Previous to the purchase of this lot the Jewish burials were either at Newport, R. I., or in South Read- ing, a neighboring town. The original ground laid out in 1844, not sufficing for the burials of the sect, which has much increased during the last few years, permis- sion was given by the Board of Aldermen on the thirti- eth of June, 1868, for an increase of the lot, which in consequence thereof has been enlarged on the southerly
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
side by the addition of another piece of ground exactly one hundred feet square.
With the exception of the tombs belonging to the various City Institutions at South Boston and Deer Island, and the graveyards at Castle and Rainsford Islands, there are no burial-places within the old limits of the city other than those described in these chapters, if the burial of early executed persons in the common and the harbor are made exceptions.
In the olden time burials were conducted in a very different manner from what they now are. When a death occurred in a family, it was generally made known very widely; and on the day of the funeral, the relatives and friends, far and near, assembled at the house of the deceased, and carried the body to the burial-ground, unless, as in many of the towns in the Plymouth Colony, there were places for burial upon the farms, which was not the case, of course, in Boston. As our fathers eschewed everything that resembled the church customs of their fatherland, no prayers nor particular services were had at the house or even at the grave; but after the funeral the mourners and their friends returned to the house, and there, if we can believe the charges in the old administration accounts, there some- times must have been pretty high times. Instead of the prayers and addresses which are now part of the funeral ceremonies at houses, the prayers, and now and then a funeral sermon, were reserved for the ensuing Sunday forenoon religious services at the meeting-house. The first prayer made at a funeral in Boston is said, on good authority, to have been offered by Rev. Dr. Chauncy, at the interment of Rev. Dr. Jonathan Mayhew, pastor of the West Church, who died on the ninth of July, 1766,
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and was buried from the West Church on account of the great concourse who desired to pay respect to his memory by being present on the occasion. The as- sembly being in a meeting-house, it was deemed proper and expedient that a devotional exercise should be had; and this incident led to a custom which is now universal. The sermon which introduced the present custom of funeral sermons over the body was preached by Dr. John Clarke in Brattle Street Meeting-House, at the in- terment of Rev. Dr. Samuel Cooper, who died on the twenty-ninth of December, 1783, and was buried on the following Friday; which being the day the usual sacra- mental lecture was delivered in Brattle Street Church, and the body having been taken into the meeting-house on account of the great number of persons who desired to attend the funeral, Rev. Dr. Clarke, the junior pastor of the First Church, who was to have preached the lecture, changed it into a funeral service, and thus set an example which has been much followed since. The sermons which are usually designated as funeral ser- mons were generally in early times preached, as before said, upon the Sunday after the funeral; although occa- sionally, by accident, the funeral sermon was preached at the time of interment, an exception to the general rule.
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