USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 22
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There were no hearses in the early days of the town. The coffin, which was generally of pine, hemlock, or cedar, and sometimes of harder and more costly wood, was usually stained black or red, and sometimes covered with black cloth; and this was ornamented with capa- cious hinges and a plate, all struck up into form from sheets of tinned iron, the plate being marked with black letters, neatly painted upon a planished surface. This
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was carried by hand upon a bier to the grave, or tomb, as the case happened to be, by bearers, who were from time to time relieved by others who walked by their side; and these were followed by the mourners and friends, who walked two by two, man and woman, arm and arm, and boy and girl hand and hand together. After the funeral the bier was left standing over the grave ready for use when occasion should require. This custom prevailed till within a period which can be well remembered by our oldest people. The bearers were generally rewarded with a present of gloves, and sometimes scarfs, and the mourners had funeral rings of black enamel, edged with gold, bearing as inscription the name, age, and date of death of the deceased. Hearses were not introduced into Boston until about the year 1796, when, on account of the great distance of the burial-grounds from some parts of the town, their use became necessary. Carriages, for the women to ride in, were introduced into use not long afterwards, although the men continued to walk until the establish- ment of the suburban cemeteries.
Until the purchase of " Sweet Auburn," on the con- fines of Cambridge and Watertown, for a rural burial- place, very little had been done towards ornamenting and beautifying the graveyards in Boston and the neighboring towns; but since the establishment of Mount Auburn Cemetery, much has been done to expel from the old graveyards their forbidding appearances.
In late years, since the abolishment of burials in graves within the limits of the peninsula, the greatest number of interments have been made in the rural cem- eteries, that at Mount Auburn being the oldest of those most generally used. On the twenty-third of June,
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1831, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, an insti- tution of high standing and much usefulness, obtained an addition to its act of incorporation, conferring powers to dedicate and appropriate any part of the real estate which it then owned or should afterwards purchase, "as and for a Rural Cemetery or Burying Ground, and for the erection of Tombs, Cenotaphs, or other Monuments, for or in memory of the dead: and for this purpose to lay out the same in suitable lots or other subdivisions, for family, and other burying places; and to plant and em- bellish the same with shrubbery, flowers, trees, walks, and other rural ornaments," etc. The grounds taken for this purpose by the society was the land on the border of Cambridge and Watertown, known by the name of "Sweet Auburn," evidently derived from Goldsmith's delightful poem. Within this tract is an eminence, long known as Mount Auburn, whose summit is about one hundred and twenty-five feet above the level of Charles River, which flows gracefully by its southerly borders.
The whole lot now contains a little over one hundred and twenty-five acres, and was formally consecrated on the twenty-fourth of September, 1831. By an act of the legislature, approved on the thirty-first of March, 1835, Joseph Story, John Davis, Jacob Bigelow, Isaac Parker, George Bond, Charles P. Curtis, and others, were created a corporation, by the name of the Proprie- tors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn. This and the Forest Hills and Mount Hope cemeteries have been the places for burial most used for interment by the people residing in Boston and its immediate vicinity.
In the year 1846, the necessity for another large rural cemetery similar to that at Mount Auburn becoming apparent, efforts were made in the then city of Roxbury,
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
which included at that time the present town of West Roxbury, for the establishment of a new public ceme- tery within the limits of that city. Hon. John J. Clarke, the first Mayor of Roxbury, made a communication to the City Council on the fifth of October of the same year, which contained the following suggestion: "At a time not very remote it will become necessary to procure other places of sepulture for those that shall die in the city. Mount Auburn is too distant, and but compara- tively few feel able to procure lots there. I would therefore invite you to consider the expediency of pur- chasing a tract of land, (if one can be procured well adapted,) and laying it out in a proper manner, and appropriating it to the purposes of a cemetery for the use of all the inhabitants of the city, on such terms and conditions as shall be thought best; and also to take measures to make the existing cemeteries more respect- able." The communication was referred to a joint special committee of the City Council for consideration. On the twenty-ninth of October, a public meeting of the citizens of Roxbury was held in City Hall, and resolu- tions were passed urging the purchase of the Seaverns farm, in the west part of Roxbury. On the ninth of November, 1847, on motion of Alderman William B. Kingsbury, it was ordered, " that the Joint Standing Committee on Burial Grounds be, and they hereby are, authorized to purchase of Joel Seaverns, for a Rural Cemetery, a tract of land called the Seaverns farm, containing fifty-five acres, more or less, at three hundred dollars per acre": and at the same meeting an order was passed, directing a special committee to apply to the General Court for an amendment to the City Charter, authorizing the City Council to take the proper steps
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necessary for instituting the new cemetery. An Act of the Legislature of the Commonwealth was approved on the twenty-fourth of March, 1848, authorizing the City Council of Roxbury to elect by joint ballot in convention a board of five commissioners for the term of five years, on the principle of rotation, to have the sole care, super- intendence, and management, of a "Rural Cemetery," provided the act should be accepted by the City Council within thirty days after its passage. The act was ac- cepted on the twenty-seventh of March, and the pur- chase of the land was made by deed dated the next day. The laying out of the grounds was commenced on the twenty-fifth of the ensuing April; on the twenty-sixth of June, the cemetery was named "Forest Hills" by ordinance, and on the twenty-eighth of the same month it was formally dedicated. Since the first purchase, the cemetery has been increased in size to about one hun- dred and thirty-three acres. On the annexation of Rox- bury to Boston, it was deemed best that the Forest Hills Cemetery should be placed under a private Board of management, elected by the proprietors of the lots; con- sequently an Act of the Legislature was obtained on the twelfth of March, 1868, by which Alvah Kittredge, George Lewis, William C. Harding, proprietors of lots in Forest Hills Cemetery, their associates and succes- sors, were made a corporation by the name of "The Proprietors of Forest Hills Cemetery," with the neces- sary powers and privileges, and subject to the usual liabilities and restrictions. The officers of the corpo- ration by the act are seven trustees, and a treasurer and secretary; and the corporation were empowered by the act to hold real estate in West Roxbury to the extent of three hundred acres, and personal estate to
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
an amount not exceeding five hundred thousand dollars. The Act of Legislature was accepted by the proprietors on the twenty-third of March of the year it was passed. In consequence of the above transfer of the manage- ment of the cemetery, an order was passed by the City Council and approved by the Mayor on the thirty-first of March, 1868, authorizing the Mayor to execute, in behalf of the city, a conveyance of the lands purchased for this cemetery, and the City Treasurer to transfer and deliver the property obtained and acquired for said cemetery, which the city had acquired by the union of the two cities, to the proprietors of the cemetery; and the Mayor, on the day of the aforesaid approval, exe- cuted the deed, in accordance with the order.
Partially within the limits of Dorchester, near Hyde Park, and partly in West Roxbury is situated Mount Hope Cemetery, another of the rural places of burial estab- lished for the convenience of the citizens of Boston and of the neighboring cities and towns. This cemetery was originally laid out for burial purposes by a company of gentlemen who obtained an act of incorporation on the tenth of November, 1851. The grounds contain one hundred and four and three-fourths acres, and were consecrated for their present use on the twenty-fourth of June, 1852, by appropriate services. On the thirty- first of July, 1857, the cemetery was conveyed to the city for the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars; since which it has been under the management of a Board of five trustees, the City Registrar serving as secretary. A superintendent resides near the cemetery.
CHAPTER XIX.
BURYING-GROUNDS IN BOSTON HIGHLANDS.
The Three Cemeteries of the Highlands . . . The Old Burying-Ground, or Eliot Burying-Ground . . . The Ancient Cemetery of Roxbury, and Depository of the Remains of the First Settlers . . . The Dudley Tomb . . . Thomas, Joseph and Paul Dudley . . . Dudley Epitaphs and Anagrams . . . The Parting Stone on Eliot Square, 1744 . . . The Eliot or Ministers' Tomb . .. Ministerial In- scriptions · · · Oldest Gravestone .. . Samuel Danforth's Grave . . . Gravestone of Rev. Shearjashub Bourn . . . Curious Inscription on Gravestone of Ben- jamin Thomson . . . The Father of the Patriot , Warren . . . The Warren Cemetery, formerly the Property of the First Parish . .. St. Joseph's Cemetery, near Circuit Street.
THE Boston Highlands, formerly the city of Roxbury, before annexation to Boston, contained three burial places: - the Old Cemetery at the corner of Washing- ton and Eustis streets; the Warren Cemetery, near War- ren street and Kearsarge avenue, established by the Society of the First Parish; and St. Joseph's Cemetery on Circuit street.
The first of these, known to antiquarians as the Eliot Burying-Ground, because the remains of the Rev. John Eliot were deposited within its bounds, is indeed an antiquated cemetery, and is situated at the corner of Washington and Eustis streets, about two miles in a southerly direction from State street, a short distance south of the old Boston and Roxbury line, making the northeasterly corner of the junction of the roads leading to Dorchester. In this spot the
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
people of Roxbury first selected their place for the burial of the dead of their town, and here were laid to rest the most notable as well as the most ancient of the original inhabitants of that old settlement. One can- not pass through this quiet yard without noticing upon the memorials there standing the names of persons dis- tinguished in the early history of New England - although the custom of making interments in tombs has, in a great measure, prevented the appearance of many of the best known in the annals of the first years of the town. Fortunately the position of the resting-places of these have been carefully and reverently transmitted down to the present generation in the most authentic manner, and with the most scrupulous precision.
Until within a few years, this old graveyard has been most unwarrantably neglected; but now, instead of being overgrown with noxious weeds and unsightly bushes, as formerly, it presents a very different appear- ance, as though the taste and skill of the noted floricul- turists of the neighborhood had been expended upon its once desolate and uninviting walks. The broken monuments have been repaired, the fallen stones have been uprighted, the weeds have been plucked, and the bushes cut down, and a great and favorable change has come over the old cemetery; for the enterprising citizens have somewhat redeemed the sepulchres of their fathers, and some have strewn them with flowers.
Within this walled ground lies all that was mortal of many of the worthiest men among our forefathers. Here were deposited the remains of the famous Dud- leys, Thomas and Joseph, two ancient governors of Mas- sachusetts, the first during the existence of the colonial charter, and the second after its dissolution; and Paul
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Dudley, the noted chief justice, so well known for his liberally bestowed mile stones. Here, in a tomb, for ages almost unknown, lie the ashes of New England's famous apostle, the revered John Eliot; and here lie many of the former pastors and teachers of the old church of Roxbury. Until quite recently, none of these worthies have had inscriptions on monument or tablet, though written epitaphs in some instances have been preserved. Although Governor Thomas Dudley was renowned for his great strictness and integrity, and died at the age of nearly seventy-seven years, on the thirty-first of July, 1653, it is not to be supposed that any one had the temerity to place upon his sepulchral tablet (which has been taken from out of the monu- mental slab) the following traditionary epitaph:
" Here lies Tom Dud, That sturdy old stud, A bargain's a bargain And must be made good."
It would be much more reasonable to believe that the following anagram and verses, sent to him a few years before his decease by some nameless author, might have been deemed worthy of such a purpose:
"THOMAS DUDLEY Ah! old must dye. A death's head on your hand you neede not weare, A dying head you on your shoulders beare. You neede not one to mind you, you must dye, You in your name may spell mortalitye. Younge men may dye, but old men, these dye must, 'Twill not be long before you turne to dust. Before you turne to dust! ah! must! old! dye! What shall younge doe, when old in dust doe lye? When old in dust lye, what N. England doe? When old in dust doe lye, it's best dye too."
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
What old Governor Dudley thought of the officious offering thus made to him, it would be very difficult in these far distant days to imagine; but it certainly must have set him to thinking, and undoubtedly diverted his mind to the thoughts of putting his house in order. Notwithstanding the fashionable custom of making ana- grams of the names of distinguished people, which pre- vailed at the time he lived, it cannot be presumed that he adopted the above lines for his epitaph; for the following lines of his own composing were found in his pocket after death, and may be considered more appro- priate for elegiac purposes, if any of his descendants should see fit to renew the memorial stone over the spot where his remains were first deposited:
" Dim eyes, deaf ears, cold stomach, shew My dissolution is in view. Eleven times seven near liv'd have I, And now God calls, I willing die. My shuttle's shot, my race is run, My sun is set, my day is done. My span is measur'd, tale is told, My flower is faded, and grown old.
My dream is vanished, shadow's fled, My soul with Christ, my body dead, Farewell dear wife, children and friends, Hate heresie, make blessed ends. Bear poverty, live with good men; So shall we live with joy agen. Let men of God in courts and churches watch O'er such as do a toleration hatch, Lest that ill egg bring forth a cockatrice, To poison all with heresie and vice. If men be left, and otherwise combine, My Epitaph's, 'I dy'd no Libertine.'"
Another epitaph written in Latin, probably by Rev. Ezekiel Rogers, the first minister of Rowley, in twelve
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lines, is preserved, but will probably never be cut in stone.
The second Governor Dudley, Joseph, the son of his father's old age, died, on the second of April, 1720, also in Roxbury, where he passed the last remaining eighteen years of a very eventful life. Perhaps his best epitaph could be extracted from his last will and testament: -
" I bequeath my Soul into the hands of Almighty God, thro' Jesus Christ my Lord, in whom I trust for eternal Life, and my Body to be decently buried with my Father."
Paul Dudley, son of Governor Joseph, was chief justice of the Province of Massachusetts, and died on the twenty-first of January, 1750-51. He was buried in the tomb of his fathers; but his epitaphs are only to be read on the numerous mile stones that skirt the roads in Norfolk County. One of these, erected in 1744, may be seen near the Norfolk House, at the corner of Centre and Washington streets on Eliot square, bearing the following inscriptions on three sides of an upright stone:
DEDHAM.
THE CAMBRIDGE.
RHODE
PARTING
WATERTOWN.
ISLAND.
STONE. 1744. P. DUDLEY.
This old Parting Stone has undoubtedly pointed the way to what was once considered the termination of civilization, and has given rest to the wearied limbs of many a foot traveller of the olden time, who has, while sitting upon the rough ashlar, blessed the memory of good, as well as just, Paul Dudley.
The tomb of this family is the first that meets the eye on entering the cemetery from Eustis street, and
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
may be readily distinguished, as recently some one has placed upon the monumental slab that covers it an oval of white marble, bearing upon it the name Dudley.
A little further on, to the right and left, is a cluster of half a dozen other tablets which cover the tombs of some of the magnates of old Roxbury. Among these, is "the ministers' tomb," and in it was buried old John Eliot the apostle, and the translator of the Bible into the Indian tongue. No epitaph commemorative of this good man can be found cut in stone by any of his con- temporaries; but modern hands have restored the old monument, and cut upon its tablet the following:
HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF JOHN ELIOT
THE APOSTLE TO THE INDIANS. Ordained over the First Church Nov. 5, 1632. Died May 20, 1690, Aged LXXXVI.
ALSO OF THOMAS WALTER. Ordained Oct. 19, 1718. Died Jan. 10, 1725. Aged XXIX.
NEHEMIAH WALTER. Ordained Oct. 17, 1688. Died Sept. 17, 1720. Aged LXXXVII.
OLIVER PEABODY. Ordained Nov. 7, 1750. Died May 29, 1752. Aged XXXII.
AMOS ADAMS. Ordained Sept. 12, 1753. Died Oct. 5, 1775. Aged LIV.
ELIPHALET PORTER. Ordained Oct. 2, 1782. Died Dec. 7, 1833. Aged LXXV.
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In renovating this ancient monument, the outside of the old structure has been completely covered with a mastic coating, and upon one of its sides have been placed in prominent letters the words "Parish Tomb."
The oldest gravestone now to be found in the yard is that of Samuel Danforth, the oldest child of Rev. Samuel Danforth, the colleague of Rev. John Eliot. This boy was born on the seventeenth of January, 1652-53, and, as the old record informs with great ex- actness, " at nine o'clock at night," and was baptized at Boston by his grandfather, Rev. John Wilson, two days afterwards. The inscription is as follows:
: SAMUEL DANFORTH: : AGED: 6 MONTHS: :DYED: 22 D: 3 M: 1653:
The gravestones of several other children of Rev. Samuel Danforth, who died in infancy, are also to be found in the enclosure, and almost all of them are older than any original memorials to be found in any of the burying-grounds in Boston.
A few gravestones bear very curious inscriptions. That of Rev. Mr. Bourn of Scituate, who died in Rox- bury, is as follows:
" Here lies buried the body of the Rev. Shearjashub Bourn, late Minister of the First Parish in Scituate, and son of the Hon. Melatiah Bourn, esq. of Sandwich, who died 14 August, 1768, æt. 69.
Cautious himself, he others ne'er deceived, Lived as he taught, and as he taught believed."
Another stone records in a somewhat remarkable manner the death of an eminent person, who figured in Roxbury a little more than a century and a half ago, as a schoolmaster and physician:
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
" Sub spe immortali, ye Herse of Mr. Benjamin Thomson learned schoolmaster & Physician, & ye Renowned Poet of N. Engl. obiit aprilis 13°, anno Dom. 1714, & ætatis suæ 72, mortuus sed immortalis. He that would try What is true happiness indeed must die."
In the back part of the yard, and perhaps in too humble a position to meet the eye of any but that of an antiquary, could once be found the almost forgotten gravestone of Joseph Warren, the father of the patriot of Bunker Hill fame. This memorial, which has been removed from its place within a short time, although the footstone has been left to mark the grave, states that he died on the twenty-third of October, 1745, in the sixtieth year of his age. The following account of his decease is taken from the Boston News-Letter:
ROXBURY, October 25, 1745 .- "On Wednesday last, a sorrowful acci- dent happened here. As Mr. Joseph Warren, of this town, was gathering apples from a tree, standing upon a ladder at a considerable distance from the ground, he fell from thence, broke his neck, and expired in a few moments. He was esteemed a man of good understanding, - industrious, upright, honest and faithful; a serious, exemplary Christian; a useful member of society. He was generally respected amongst us, and his death is universally lamented."
This old yard does not seem to have been much used in late years, owing undoubtedly to the large number of rural cemeteries in the neighborhood. At a very little expense, this place so centrally situated, and upon one of the most public highways of Boston, might be made one of the ornaments of the city; and if the gate should be left unlocked, it would certainly be visited as much as
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other burying-grounds, which serve for Sunday evening promenade grounds during the summer months.
The Warren Cemetery was purchased and laid out by the religious society worshipping in the meeting-house of the First Parish of old Roxbury on the eighteenth of June, 1818, at a time when there were only three re- ligious societies in the old town of Roxbury, which then included the present town of West Roxbury. The lot was bought of Samuel Bugbee, of Wrentham, for one thousand dollars. It contains one acre, two quar- ters, and one rod, and was described as bounded as fol- lows, viz: "beginning at the northwest corner of land belonging to the heirs of Doct. John Warren, deceased, running north thirty-three degrees east, one of Gun- ter's chains, and four links by the Great Road leading from Boston to Milton, to the south side of a great rock; thence south eighty-four degrees east, six chains and forty-five links to a corner in Samuel Weld's land; thence bounded easterly by said Samuel Weld's land, and partly by land belonging to the heirs of Doct. John Warren, as the wall now stands; bounded southerly, westerly, and south westerly, by land belonging to the heirs of Doct. John Warren, deceased, as the stone wall now stands, running in an irregular direction to the first corner by the road agreeable to a plan taken by Mathew Withington, dated April 21st, 1818." At a meeting of the pew proprietors of this society, held on the fourth of January, 1841, they voted to offer to the town the new burial-ground, without consideration, provided the town would accept the same; which was done on the fifteenth of the ensuing March. This cem- etery is situated on a rising ground a short distance south of Dudley street, and in the centre of a district
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
bounded by this street on the north, Winthrop street on the south, Grenville street on the east, and Warren street on the west, from which it receives its name, and by which it is approached from the west through Kear- sarge avenue, which once bore the name of Mount Vernon Place, and which is continued to Winthrop street on the south.
Southwest of Circuit street, and southeast of Fen- wick street, between Shawmut and Walnut avenues, is situated St. Joseph's Cemetery, a large burying-ground belonging to the Roman Catholics. At a distance from Shawmut avenue, this presents a very prominent appear- ance, from the large number of white memorial stones which have been erected over the graves of its silent inmates, and on account of the special neatness and care with which its monuments have been arranged and preserved. This cemetery was laid out in 1847, and established by the city council on the seventeenth of December, 1849, by the following order:
" Ordered, That permission be granted to the Rev. Patrick O'Beirne, pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Rox- bury, to establish a burial ground or cemetery within a parcel of land containing about four acres, and situated near the westerly end, and on the southerly side of Walk Hill street, being a part of the premises described in the deed of B. C. Evans to the Rev. Patrick O'Beirne, dated May 5, 1849, and recorded in the Registry of Deeds for the County of Norfolk, Book 136, page 310; Provided the regulations which have or may be established in conformity to the provision of the ordinance and orders of the city council in relation to the burial grounds and interments of the dead are complied with."
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