BGuthrie Photos: MA -- Boston -- Copp's Hill Burying Ground

MA -- Boston -- Copp's Hill Burying Ground:

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[1] COPPBG_010830_01.JPG	[2] COPPBG_010830_02.JPG	[3] COPPBG_010830_03.JPG
[4] COPPBG_010830_04.JPG	[5] COPPBG_010830_05.JPG	[6] COPPBG_010830_07.JPG
[7] COPPBG_010830_09.JPG	[8] COPPBG_010830_10.JPG	[9] COPPBG_010830_12.JPG
[10] COPPBG_010830_14.JPG	[11] COPPBG_010830_16.JPG	[12] COPPBG_010830_18.JPG
[13] COPPBG_010830_20.JPG	[14] COPPBG_010830_22.JPG	[15] COPPBG_010830_24.JPG
[16] COPPBG_010830_26.JPG	[17] COPPBG_010830_28.JPG	[18] COPPBG_010830_30.JPG
[19] COPPBG_010830_32.JPG	[20] COPPBG_010830_34.JPG	[21] COPPBG_010830_36.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. COPPBG_010830_05.JPG: Grave of Cotton Mather, one of the religious idiots responsible for the Salem Witch Trials. The historical marker here says: The Mathers Several generations of great 17th and 18th century New England divines are buried here. Increase (1639-1723), the father; Cotton (1663-1728), the son; and Samuel Mather (1706-1785), the grandson, belonged to a remarkable family of ministers. At a time when the church wielded its own power and religious zeal translated into political influence, the Mathers' ecclesiastical attainments assured them secular authority. Increase was the sixth son of Richard, who was first of the Mather dynasty and a minister in Dorchester. Increase graduated from Harvard in 1656 and within a decade began a 60 year ministry to the 2nd Church of Boston. Later, he was named president of Harvard. As a powerful statesman, Increase represented Massachusetts at the British Court and tried to secure a new, beneficial charter for the Colony in the early 1690's. This effort and his role as personal advisor to the new Royal Governor, Sir William Phips, attracted such resentment that he was forced to resign as Harvard president and lose his political power. Increase spent his last days in the North End where he had lived much of his life and had raised his 10 children.
2. COPPBG_010830_09.JPG: The marker says "Here lies buried in a Stone Grave 10 feet deep Cap Daniel Malcolm (Merch) who departed this Life October 23d 1769. Aged 44 Years. A true son of Liberty, a Friend to the Publick, an Enemy to oppression and one of the foremoft [sic] in opposing the Revenue Acts on America." The holes are apparently gunshots from British troops occupying the city during the American Revolution. As specified at http://www.kellscraft.com/bostonillustrated/bostonillustrated02.html : "The old North Burying-Ground was the second established in the town. It has for many years been closed against interments, but has been faithfully cared for as a cherished old landmark. Its original limits, when first used for interments in 1660, were much smaller than now. Like most of the remaining relics of the early times, this burial-ground bears traces of the Revolutionary contest. The British soldiers occupied it as a military station, and used to amuse themselves by firing bullets at the gravestones. The marks made in this sacrilegious sport may still be discovered by careful examination of the stones. One of these most defaced is that above the grave of Captain Daniel Malcolm... This refers to a bold act of Captain Malcolm, in landing a valuable cargo of wines, in 1768, without paying the duty upon it. The performance was in the night under the guard of bands of men armed with clubs. It would be called smuggling at the present day, but when committed it was deemed a laudable and patriotic act, because the tax was regarded as unjust, oppressive, and illegal.
Wikipedia Description: Copp's Hill Burying Ground
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Copp's Hill Burying Ground is a historic cemetery in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1659, it was originally named "North Burying Ground", and was the city's second cemetery.

History

The cemetery was founded on February 20, 1659, when the town bought land on Copp's Hill from John Baker and Daniel Turell to start the "North Burying Ground". Now named "Copp's Hill Burying Ground" (although often referred to as "Copp's Hill Burial Ground"), it is the second oldest cemetery in Boston (second only to the King's Chapel Burying Ground founded in 1630). It contains more than 1200 marked graves, including the remains of various notable Bostonians from the colonial era into the 1850s.

The first extension was made on January 7, 1708 when the town bought additional land from Judge Samuel Sewall and his wife Hannah. The land was part of a pasture which Mrs. Sewall had inherited from her father, John Hull, master of the mint.

Benjamin Weld and his wife Nabby sold the second extension to the town for $10,000 on December 18, 1809 soon after they had bought it from Jonathan Merry, who had used it as pasture. Ten years later, Charles Wells, later mayor of Boston, bought a small parcel of land from John Bishop of Medford and used this as a cemetery that was later merged with the adjacent North Burying Ground. Because of this complicated history, it is no longer possible to discern the original boundaries of the cemetery.

On the Snow Hill Street side are the many unmarked graves of the African Americans who lived in the "New Guinea" community at the foot of the hill. In addition to the graves there are 272 tombs, most of which bear inscriptions that are still legible.

By 1840 the cemetery had fallen into near disuse but the town continued to maintain the site intermittently. By 1878 it was badly neglected. The cemetery was not an official stop on the Freedom Trail when it was created in 1951 but it has since been added and is much-frequented by tourists and photographers. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Notable burials

* William Copp's children
* Shem Drowne, coppersmith, author of the grasshopper weathervane atop Faneuil Hall
* Benjamin Edes, journalist and agitator
* Prince Hall, abolitionist and founder of Black Freemasonry
* Edmund Hartt, master carpenter
* Samuel Mather, Independent minister
* Increase Mather, Puritan minister
* Cotton Mather, Puritan minister
* Robert Newman, one of two patriots who placed the signal lanterns in the steeple of Old North Church for Paul Revere's midnight ride to Lexington and Concord
* John Norman, publisher
* Major Samuel Shaw, first American consul at Canton
* Nicholas Upsall, Puritan and later Quaker leader
* Phyllis Wheatley, first published woman of African descent, poet, former slave
* George Worthylake, first keeper of the Boston Light
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