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(7) Tombs and Monuments
Throughout Copp's Hill Burying Ground are examples of tombs and monuments constructed to commemorate the dead. Table tombs or table-stones are elaborate markers of a grave's location. Usually there is a sepulcher underneath the marker holding the remains of multiple family members. One example is the Hutchinson/Lewis tomb (G-295.) It once contained members of the famous (and infamous) Hutchinson family of Boston. After royal Governor Hutchinson fled to London, the tomb was bought by a Mr. Lewis and it is his name inscribed on the face. Tombs were first granted and built in 1717-1718, and were constructed around the edges of the graveyard. They were large, cellar-like constructions with arched openings. Many family tombs, but others, were bought and rented to whomever paid for space.
The Gee Family Tomb
Peter Gee (c. 1608-1682), fisherman, bought land in Boston in 1668. His son, Joshua Gee (d. 1724), became a prosperous shipwright, owning a shipyard on the North End waterfront. He bought Tomb #3 around 1717. His son Joshua Gee Jr. (1698-1748) attended Harvard College (1717) and was the fourth minister of Second Church (1723-1748), succeeding the Mathers. Gee also maintained his father's shipbuilding business. His wealth is exemplified by the portraits of him and his second wife, Anna Gerrish, by painter John Smibert.
Builder of the U.S.S. Constitution
Edmund Hartt (1744-1824), shipbuilder, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts. In 1771, he married Elizabeth Clark and together had ten children. In 1786, Edmund and Elizabeth bought a shipyard on Commercial Street that had one building slip, a saw pit, and a blacksmith shop. In 1794, Hartt Shipyard won the contract to construct the U.S.S. Constitution, which was launched on October 21, 1797. The shipyard also produced U.S. naval ships Boston and Argus. The site of the Hartt Shipyard is now called Constitution Wharf and is the site of the U.S. Coast Guard Support Center. Edmund Hartt and family are buried in Tomb #55.
The Seamen's Tomb (D-1) was the idea of Phineas Stowe, pastor of the First Baptist Bethel Church in the North End. It is marked by a monument dedicated to "Seamen of All Nations" and was built from their contributions. There is also an unmarked City Tomb for Infants in Section D. Other monuments in Copp's Hill mark family tombs such as the Dupees (g-297) and Jarvis (A-385.)
Copp's Hill Facts
Below ground burials were outlawed in 1836, but tomb burials continued until 1968.
Gravestone carvers re-used old or unclaimed gravestones. Look at the back of the marker of Theodore James (d. 1813) (G-235) (towards the entrance on the right near the tree) to see the upside-down writing from an earlier carving! |