USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 23
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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
CHAPTER XX.
DORCHESTER BURYING-GROUNDS.
The Seven Burial-Grounds in the Sixteenth Ward . . . The Old Burying-Ground, 1634 . . . Early Capen Gravestone .. . Very Ancient Horizontal Slabs . . . Enigmatical Inscriptions, 1644, 1648, and 1659 . . . Monument to General Humphrey Atherton . . . Curious Epitaph of William Poole . .. John Foster, the Ingenious Mathematician and Scholar ... Tomb of Rev. Richard Mather . . . Elder James Humphrey . . . Lieutenant - Governor William Stoughton . . . Elder Hopestill Clap . . . Royall Family Tomb . .. Grave of Miriam Wood, the old School Dame .. . Deacon James Blake ·· · Daniei Davenport, the Old Sexton .. . South Burying-Ground, 1814 . . . Dorchester Cemetery, 1848 .. . Roman Catholic Cemetery on Norfolk street, 1850 . . . Mount Hope Cemetery and Catholic Burying-Ground . . . Cedar Grove Cemetery, 1868.
DORCHESTER, now a constituent part of Boston, bearing. numerically speaking, the designation as the Sixteenth Ward, has seven burial-places: the Old Burying-Ground on Stoughton street; the South Burying-Ground on Washington street, near the Lower Mills; the Dorches- ter Cemetery on Norfolk street; the Roman Catholic Cemetery, also on Norfolk street; Mount Hope Ceme- tery, partly in Dorchester, on Walk Hill street; the Ro- man Catholic Cemetery, contiguous to Mount Hope Cemetery; and the New Cemetery recently laid out on Adams street, bearing the name of the Cedar Grove Cemetery.
During the first few of the earliest years of the town of Dorchester, as it is conjectured by antiquaries, the
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
place of burial was situated near where the first meeting- house was erected, in the vicinity of the corner formed by the junction of Pleasant and Cottage streets; but this spot could not have been long, nor much in use, for in November, 1633, the fathers of the town agreed upon having a burying-ground on the corner of the present Stoughton street and Boston avenue, and on the third of March, 1634, they laid out for the purpose a lot of five rods square, the nucleus of the present cemetery, which contains about three acres of land. In this inter- esting spot were buried the forefathers of Dorchester, and here can be seen in good preservation the memo- rials which the filial piety of their posterity have placed in respect to their virtues and good names. Here can be found several gravestones bearing the earliest dates of any of the ancient inscriptions in New England; yet appearances are such as to give room for reasonable doubt as to their being of the extreme antiquity that their dates might lead incautious persons to infer. The oldest date is 1638; but the inscription is put upon the stone in such a manner as to give conclusive evidence that the sculptor's work was not performed earlier than the year 1653, and probably later than 1800.
The inscription is as follows:
HERE
LIES THE BODIES OF MR. BARNARD CAPEN & MRS. JOAN CAPEN HIS
WIFE; HE DIED NOV. 8 1638. AGED 76 YEARS
& SHE DIED MARCH 2 6 1 6 5 3
AGED 75 YEARS.
In the neighborhood of this stone, near the corner of the two streets, are two very ancient-looking, horizontal
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TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
slabs, which are supposed to have been placed over graves earlier than those which bear inscriptions; and it is not unreasonable to believe, that the traditionary stories about their being placed there to prevent the disturbance of the dead by the wild animals are correct.
On a small square horizontal slab of dark slatestone may be read two poetical enigmas, the subjects of which have baffled the skill of the very persevering and ingen- ious antiquaries and genealogists of Dorchester. This slab does not appear as old as its inscriptions indicate, and it may have been placed in the yard as late as the year 1659, when a similar inscription was dated, if not at a period somewhat subsequent to that. The inscrip- tions are:
ABEL . HIS . OFFERING . ACCEPTED . IS HIS . BODY . TO . THE . GRAVE . HIS . SOVLE . TO . BLIS ON . OCTOBERS . TWENTYE . AND . NO . MORE IN THE . YEARE . SIXTEEN . HUNDRED . 44
SVBMITE . SUBMITTED . TO . HER . HEAVENLY . KING BEING. A . FLOWER . OF . THAT . ÆTERNAL . SPRING NEARE. 3. YEARS. OLD. SHE. DYED. IN. HEAVEN. TO. WAITE THE . YEARE . WAS . SIXTEEN . HUNDRED . 48
The third inscription, its stone not to be found, has been preserved by an ancient grave-digger, now resting from his labors beneath the turf of the same yard, and is as follows:
SUBMIT submitted down to dust, Her soul ascends up to the just; At neer ** old she did resign. Her soul's gone to Christ, year '59.
The following inscription, on the large horizontal tablet placed over the remains of Major-General Hum- phrey Atherton, may without any doubt be considered as
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
old as the date connected with it. General Atherton was a man of considerable usefulness in the colony, hav- ing held many important offices, and at the time of his death was the incumbent of the highest military position in Massachusetts. He may be said to have died in the service of his country; for on returning home early on the morning after the sixteenth of September, 1661, from Boston Common, where he had been reviewing the troops, he came, in the darkness of the night, in collision with a stray cow, and was thrown from his horse and killed. He was buried with great pomp and display as is shown in his epitaph, which is carefully cut upon the stone under the image of a naked sword, the emblem of high military rank. The inscription is in capitals, and as follows:
Heare . lyes . ovr . captaine . and major . of . Svffolk . was . withall A . goodly . magistrate . vas . he . and . major . generall
Two. trovps. of. hors. with. hime. here. came . svch. worth. his love. did . crave Ten . companyes . of . foot . also . movrning . marcht . to . his · grave Let . all . that . read . be . svre . to . keep . the . faith . as . he . hath · don With . Christ . he . livs . now . crownd . his . name . was . Humphrey . Atherton He . dyed . the . 16 . of . September . 1661.
There are many interesting memorials in this yard. Those of Rev. Richard Mather and Rev. Josiah Flint, the first of whom died on the twenty-second of April, 1669, aged seventy-three years, and the latter on the fifteenth of September, 1680, aged thirty-five, are of the only early clergymen of the town. Of the ancient schoolmasters, there may be seen the gravestone of Mr. William Pole (or Poole, as it should be), a very aged man, who died on the twenty-fourth of February, 1674- 75, aged eighty-one years. This old settler was in Dorchester as early as 1630, and subsequently was for
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a while in Taunton, where he was a captain of the train band and a representative to the General Court. On his return to Dorchester he served in a double capacity, as town clerk and schoolmaster. Like many other remarkable persons, when his final days approached, he wrote his own epitaph, and his posterity had the same faithfully cut in capital letters upon his tombstone, as follows:
HERE - LIETH - BURIED - YE - BODY - OF MR. WILLIAM - POOLE-AGED-81-YEARS WHO-DIED-YE-25TH, OF-FEBRUARY-IN YE-YERE 1 6 7 4 . Ye - epitaph - of - William - Pole - which - hee - hemself made - while - he - was -yet-liuing- in-remembrance-of his - own - death - & - left - it - to - be - ingraven - on - his tomb - yt - so - being - dead - he - might - warn - posterity or-a-resemblance-of-a-dead-man-bespeaking-ye-reader. Ho - passenger - tis - worth - thy - paines - too - stay & -- take -- a -- dead -- mans -- lesson -- by -- ye -- way J- was -- what - now -- thou -- art -- & -- thou -- shalt -- be What - J - am - now - what - oods - twixt - me - & - thee Now - go - thy - way - bvt - stay - take - on - word - more Thy-staf-for-ought-thou-knowest-stands-ye-next-dore Death - in - ye - dore - yea - dore - of - Heaven - or - Hell Be - warned - be - armed - believe - repent - fairewell.
It is somewhat astonishing that stone-cutters of the olden time should not only misspell names, but make mistakes in figures; and yet so they did, as is strongly illustrated in the case of goodman Poole. This care- lessness often makes much confusion for antiquaries.
One of the most learned men in Dorchester was young Mr. John Foster, son of Capt. Hopestill Foster. This young man was educated at Harvard College, where he graduated in the year 1667. He was a universal genius; he was "the ingenious mathematician and printer" and schoolmaster. It is said of him that
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
he designed the "seal or arms of ye colony," the Indian with a bow and arrow, and the famous motto, "Come over and help us." He died on the ninth of September, 1681, aged only thirty-three years, and yet had accom- plished much to keep his name in pleasant remembrance. " Ars illi sua Census erat-Skill was his cash."
One of the most noted tombs in the Dorchester graveyard is that of Rev. Richard Mather, father of the distinguished Rev. Increase Mather, and grandfather of the remarkable Rev. Cotton Mather, and great-grand- father of the notorious loyalist and wag, Rev. Mather Byles. His inscription is upon a horizontal tablet, and is as follows:
D. O. M. SACER RICHARDUS HIC DORMIT MATHERUS (SED NEC TOTUS NEC MORA DIUTURNA) LÆTATUS GENUISSE PARES INCERTUM EST UTRUM DOCTIOR AN MELIOR ANIMUM & GLORIA NON QUEUNT HUMARI
Diuinely Rich & Learned Richard Mather Sons like Him Prophets Great Reioicd this Father Short Time His Sleeping Dust heres couerd down Not His Ascended Spirit or Rinown. U. D. M. In Ang. 16. An. In. Dorc: N-A. 34 An. Obt. Apr. 22 1669 Æt suæ 73
James Humphrey, one of the Ruling Elders of the Church, died on the twelfth of May, 1686, in his seventy- eighth year; and a poetic inscription, written in acrostic verses, was placed over his tomb, in the year 1731, when it was repaired by his grandson, Jonas. It is said of Elder " Humfrey," that a short time before his decease, he intimated a desire to be buried in the same vault with the Rev. Mr. Mather; but circumstances preventing, his remains were deposited in a grave near his beloved
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TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
pastor, in the westerly part of the old enclosure. The lines, written in the usual gravestone style, are as fol- lows:
I nclos'd within this Shrine is Precious Dust, And only waits for th' Rising of the Just. M ost usefull he Liv'd adorn'd his station E ven to old Age serv'd his Generation: Since his Decease tho't of with Veneration.
How great a Blessing this Ruling Elder he, U nto this CHURCH & TOWN & PASTORS Three? M ATHER he first did by him Help receiue, F LINT he did next his Burthen much relieue: R enown'd DANFORTH did he Assist with Skill. E steem'd High by all: Bear Fruit untill Y ielding to Death his Glorious Seat did Fill.
On the seventh of July, 1701, died Lieutenant-Gov- ernor William Stoughton, aged seventy years, one of the most useful men in the colony. He graduated at Harvard College in 1650, prepared himself for the min- istry and preached awhile in England; was a member of the Council, Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and Lieutenant-Governor of the Province, acting as gover- nor many years. He is most favorably remembered for his benefactions to his Alma Mater, to which he gave one thousand pounds. A building that bore his name, but has now been superseded by another still retaining it, was built at his expense, and property was left by him for the support of poor scholars. He lies buried be- neath an imposing tablet, which has been restored at the expense of the college, and upon which is a very learned Latin inscription, said to have been written by Cotton Mather, but believed to be a paraphrase of that of the renowned Blaise Pascal. It has been translated into English as follows:
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
HERE LIES WILLIAM STOUGHTON, ESQUIRE, Lieutenant, afterwards Governor, Of the Province of Massachusetts in New England, Also Chief Judge of the Superior Court in the same Province, A man of wedlock unknown, Devout in Religion, Renowned for Virtue,
Famous for Erudition, Acute in Judgment, Equally Illustrious by Kindness and Spirit, A Lover of Equity, A Defender of the Laws, Founder of Stoughton Hall, A most Distinguished Patron of Letters and Literary Men, A most strenuous Opponent of Impiety and Vice. Rhetoricians delight in Him as Eloquent,
Writers are acquainted with Him as Elegant, Philosophers seek Him as Wise. Doctors know Him as a Theologian, The Devout revere Him as Grave, All admire Him; unknown by All Yet known to all. What need of more, Traveller? Whom have we lost - STOUGHTON ! Alas! I have said sufficient, Tears press, I keep silence. He lived Seventy Years; On the Seventh of July, in the Year of Safety 1701, He Died. Alas! Alas! What Grief!
The gravestone of Elder Hopestill Clap (son of the noted Capt. Roger Clap, who commanded the Castle
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TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
in Boston Harbor many years under the colonial govern- ment, and whose gravestone is now standing in King's Chapel Burying-Ground in Boston) may be seen, with an inscription written by Rev. John Danforth, his pastor:
HERE LIES INTERRED YE BODY OF ELDER HOPESTILL
CLAP WHO DECEASED
SEPTEMBER 2D 171 9
AGED 72 YEARS.
His Dust Waits Till The Jubile Shall Then Shine Brighter then ye Skie Shall meet & Join (to Part no more) His Soul Thats Glorified Before Pastors & Churches Happy He With Ruling Elders Such As ITe Present Useful Absent Wanted Liu'd Desired Died Lamented.
The following inscription was placed over the grave of an ancient school-mistress, and may be noticed in the oldest part of the ground:
HERE LYES YE BODY
O F MIRIAM
WOOD
FORMERLY WIFE TO JOHN SMITH
AGED 7 3 YEARS
DIED OCTOBER
YE 19TH
1
7 0
6 .
A Woman well beloved of all
her neighbours from her care of small Folks education their number being great that when she dyid she scarsely left her mate So Wise Discre[et] was her behaviours that she was well esteemed by neighbours She liv'd in love with all to dy so let her rest [to] Eternaty.
A very long and excellent inscription may be found upon the tomb of the family of Royall, in which were
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
buried William Royall, of North Yarmouth, who died on the seventh of November, 1724, in the eighty-fifth year of his age; and of Hon. Isaac Royall, of Charles- town, who died on the seventh of June, 1739, aged six- ty-seven years.
Another epitaph which is somewhat curious is in this old yard, so remarkable for its peculiar inscriptions, which were frequently made more plain by the hand of old Daniel Davenport, the sexton and "Old Mortality " of Dorchester, and which have been preserved by a distinguished antiquary, who has made accurate copies of all within the cemetery, is:
Here lyes buried ye body of Mr. JAMES BLAKE who departed this life Octr. 22d, 1732, Aged 80 years & 2 months.
He was a member in full
communion with ye church
of Christ in Dorchester above 55 years, and a Deacon of ye same Church above 35 years.
Seven years Strong Pain doth end at last, His weary Days & Nights are past; The Way is Rough, ye End is Peace; Short Pain gives place to endless ease.
Perhaps this description of the Old Burying-Ground cannot be better closed than by giving the inscription on the stone standing upon the grave of the old sexton. This is furnished by Mr. Ebenezer Clapp, an eminent antiquary of Dorchester, who saw "Old Mortality" dig- ging and preparing his own grave a third of a century ago. The old man, after delving in his profession about half a century, died at Dorchester at a very advanced
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TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
age; and at his decease was the oldest male inhabitant of Dorchester. The following is the inscription, which was written by his former pastor, Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris, D. D., one of the most remarkable antiquaries and conscientious historians of the day, and who left two generations behind him to exemplify his industry and research:
This grave was dug and finished in the Year 1833 by DANIEL DAVENPORT, when he had been Sexton in Dorchester twenty seven years, had attended 1135 funerals, and dug 734 graves.
As Sexton with my spade I learned To delve beneath the sod;
Where body to the earth returned, But spirit to its God.
Years twenty seven this toil I bore, And midst deaths oft was spared
Seven hundred graves and thirty four 1 dug Then mine prepared. And when at last I too must die Some else the bell will toll; As here my Mortal relics lie, May heaven receive my soul.
Mr. Davenport lived nearly a generation of years after he had thus prepared for his own burial; and dur- ing most of this time continued his avocation as sexton. He attended probably five hundred more funerals after digging his own grave, having his son William for a colleague the latter part of his life. Such were his feel- ings for the Old Burying-Ground that he lingered about it to the last, and regarded it as his own pleasant home,
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
as it had already been that of his worldly emolument. The following inscription tells the visitor when this old man ceased from his earthly labors, and when he was garnered into the field where he had laid to rest so many of his old acquaintances and fellow-townsmen:
He died December 24, 1860, aged 87 years, 6 mos, 19 days. He buried from March 3, 1806 to May 12 1852 one thousand eight hundred & thirty seven Persons.
William Davenport, son of the old sexton, after he had buried twelve hundred and sixty-seven persons, died in the fortieth year of his age, and was gathered to his father.
The South Burying-Ground, which ranks second in age in Dorchester, is situated on Washington street, near the Lower Mills, and was established in 1814, the first interment being made on the twentieth of May of that year.
Rev. John Codman, D. D., who died on the twenty- third of December, 1847, at the age of sixty-five years, bequeathed to the Second Parish a lot of land for burial purposes on Norfolk street. This was consecrated as the "Dorchester Cemetery," on the twenty-seventh of October, 1848, the day that the remains of this dis- tinguished theologian were removed from their original place of deposit to the family tomb within the enclosure. The first burial in the cemetery was made eight days previous.
The other burying-ground on Norfolk street origi- nally contained about ten acres, but has been consid- erably enlarged. It was purchased on the twelfth of
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August, 1850, of John Tolman, and has been used for the interment of Roman Catholics.
Mount Hope Cemetery and the Roman Catholic Burying-Ground near it have been mentioned in a for- mer chapter.
In the year 1867, a rural cemetery was laid out by the town of Dorchester on Adams and Milton streets, near the Lower Mills. It is designated as Cedar Grove Cemetery, and contains a little more than forty acres of land. It is under the control and management of a board of five commissioners under the authority of a special act of the legislature, approved by the gov- ernor on the sixteenth of March, 1868, granting powers similar to those under which Forest Hills and Mount Hope have become so attractive as burial-places of the dead. This cemetery affords a very considerable variety of surface and material, and presents extensive and delightful views of the neighboring country and Neponset River, which flows by its southerly borders. In the process of its improvement a good degree of success has been attained in preserving the distinctive natural beauties of the place, while turning them to useful account in the general purpose for which the grounds are designed. The original cost of the land was about twenty-five thousand dollars, and since the commencement of the enterprise further sums to the amount of thirty thousand dollars have been appropri- ated for improvements. By the provisions of the act above-mentioned, a portion of the grounds was set apart as a free public burial-place for the inhabitants of Dorchester, the remaining portions to be sold in lots, and the proceeds devoted exclusively to the pre- servation and embellishment of the cemetery. Pro-
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
vision is also made for the application of trust funds to special purposes, and for the care of particular lots. The grounds are laid out in accordance with designs by L. Briggs, Esq., under the direction of William Pope, Henry J. Nazro, Nathan Carruth, Henry L. Pierce and Albe C. Clark, commissioners.
CHAPTER XXI.
HISTORY OF BOSTON COMMON.
Erroneous Idea that the Common was Given to the Town . . . Bought of William Blaxton in 1634 . . . Removal of Blaxton to Study Hill, and his Decease in 1675 . . . Rate Raised for Paying for the Peninsula . . . Famous Deposition of John Odlin and Others in 1684 .. . The Deponents . . . Danger of Losing the Common . . . Common Land Reserved for Future Benefit of the Town ... Establishment of the Common in 1640 . .. Title to the Whole Peninsula Obtained by Charter, by Purchase of the Indians in 1630, and of Mr. Blaxton in 1634· · · Quitclaim Release of Charles Josias, alias Wampatuck, in 1685 . .. Town Orders Concerning the Common, and its Use for Pasturage of Cows and Sheep . . . Sale of the Common Land Restricted to the Consent of the Inhabitants ... Cow Keeper and Shepherd Appointed ... Town Orders Against Abuses of the Common . . . The Probable Commencement of Inter- nal Health Arrangements . . . The Improvement of the Common Confided to the Selectmen . . . Provision of the City Charter Respecting the Common, by which it cannot be Leased nor Sold by the City Council.
PERHAPS there is no part of Boston in which its citi- zens feel more pride than in its Common. This tract of about forty-five acres has from the early days of the town been the free and undisputed property of its inhabi- tants. Many persons have supposed that it was given to the town, but this is not true; for it was purchased of Mr. William Blaxton, him who was seated upon the peninsula when the colonists came to Massachusetts, and who so generously invited them to his hospitable abode, where so bountifully flowed the purest water from his living spring. For about four years after the removal of the colonists to Boston, they dwelt contentedly with
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DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
their host; and in the year 1634, the reverend gentle- man, undoubtedly desiring a greater freedom and less in- terruption from company, - or, as it has been said, that he might escape the lord-brethren of New England, as he had previously endeavored to avoid the lord-bishops of Old England-quitted his peninsula, or "neck," as it was anciently called, to the sole enjoyment of his guests, and departed to a place near Providence, called by him Study Hill, where he spent the remainder of his days with his family in quiet, and died on the twenty- sixth of May, 1675, just before the breaking out of the Narraganset war. Before leaving Boston, however, he sold all his interest in the peninsula, except in six acres, where his house stood, to the colonists, for thirty pounds. The money therefor was raised by a rate, as is shown by the following entry in the first book of the town's records, under date of the tenth of November, 1634: - "Item, yt Edmund Quinsey, Samuel Wilbore, Willm Boston [Balston], Edward Hutchinson the elder, Will™ Cheesbrough, the constable, shall make & as- sesse all these rates, vizt. a rate of 30£ to Mr. Black- ston," etc. The following deposition, now printed from the original document, which is sanctioned by the well known autograph signatures of Governor Bradstreet and Judge Sewall, was taken in 1684 to perpetuate the evidence of the fact, as probably no deed was taken from Mr. Blaxton at the time of the release; and cer- tainly none was ever recorded in the records of the county or colony (those of deeds commencing about the year 1640). The earliest entries in the town vol- ume, previous to September, 1634, have been irrecover- ably lost; therefore if such a fact had ever been re- corded by the town authorities, all evidence thereof
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has been lost. This interesting document is in the following words:
" The Deposition of John Odlin aged about Eighty- two yeares, Robert Walker aged about Seventy Eight yeares, Francis Hudson aged about Sixty eight yeares, and William Lytherland aged about Seventy Six yeares. These Deponents being ancient dwellers and Inhabitants of the Town of Boston in New-England from the time of the first planting and setling thereof and continuing so at this day, do jointly testify and depose that in or about the yeare of our Lord One thousand Six hundred thirty and ffour the then present Inhabitants of sª Town of Boston (of whome the Honoble John Winthrop Esq" Governor of the Colony was cheife) did treate and agree with M' William Blackstone for the purchase of his Es- tate and right in any Lands lying within the sª neck of Land called Boston, and for sª purchase agreed that every householder should pay Six Shillings, which was accordingly collected none paying less some considerably more then Six Shillings, and the sd sume collected was delivered and paid to M' Blackstone to his full content & satisfaction; in consideration whereof hee Sold unto the then Inhabitants of sª Town and their heires and assignes for ever his whole right & interest in all and every of the Lands lying within sd neck, Reserving onely unto himselfe about Six acres of Land on the point commonly called Blackstons point on part whereof his then dwelling house stood; after which purchase the Town laid out a place for a trayning field; which ever since and now is used for that purpose & for the feed- ing of Cattell; Robert Walker, & Wm Lytherland fur- ther Testify that M' Blackstone bought a Stock of
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