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^'7^.- .in-^n.A^C^f.:^,-T. ^ 
 
 EPITAPHS 
 
 Bofylag ffif 
 
 DORCHESTER 
 
 ' V 
 
EPITAPHS 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 OLD BURYING GROUND 
 
 DORCHESTER, 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 n 
 
 BOSTON HIGHLANDS 
 
 1 869 . 
 
I 
 
 ^ 
 
 Is: () T I C E 
 
 The epitaphs in the following pages were copied by the compilers 
 themselves. Great care has been taken to preserve the spelling 
 and punctuation of the originals. They deem it unnecessary to 
 mention each separate work, which they have consulted in the pre- 
 paration of the biographical notices. Suffice it to say, that wherever 
 they have found anything of interest, relating to their subject, they 
 have freely made use of it. 
 
EPITAPHS 
 
 In the old barying-ground at Upham's Corner, Dorchester, 
 Mass., can be found the most ancient tomb-stone inscriptions in 
 the United States, those at Jamestown, Va., alone being excepted. 
 When the yard was laid out, in 1634, it contained but five square rods, 
 but after several enlargements, it now embraces an area of about 
 three acres, in which over six thousand bodies have been interred. 
 The first burial there took place in 1638, but the original stone, which 
 marked the spot has long since disappeared, and is now replaced by 
 one of comparatively recent date. The oldest stone now in the 
 yard, is over the graves of two children, and bears the two following 
 epitaphs i — 
 
 AEEL.HIS.OFFERING.ACCEPTED.IS. 
 HIS.BODY.TO.THE.GRAVE.HIS.SOVLE.TO.BLIS. 
 ON.OCTOBERS.TWENTYE.AND.NO.MORE. 
 IN.TIE.yEARE.SIXTEEN.HVNDRED.44. 
 
 SVBMITE.SVBMITTED.TO.HER.HEAVENLY.KING. 
 BEING.A.FLOWEROF.THAT..ETERNAL.SPRING. 
 NEARE.3.YEARS.OLD.SHE.DYED.IN.HE.^VEN.T0.WAITE. 
 THE.YEARE.WAS.SIXTEEN.HVNDRED.4S. 
 
 HEARE.LYES.OVR.CAPTAINE.AND.MAIOR.OF.SVFFOLK.WAS.WITHALL. 
 
 A.GODLY.MAOISTRATE.WAS.HE.AND.MAIOR.GENERALL. 
 
 TWO.TROVPS.OF.IIORS.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.TIIE. FAITH. AS.HE.HATH.DON. 
 
 WITH.CHRIST.HE.LIVES.NOW.CROWND.HIS.NAME.WAS.HVMPRY.ATHERTON. 
 
 HE.DYED.THE.16.0F.8BrTEMsBR.lOjl. 
 
6 Kl'ITAI'HH. 
 
 Before he left England, Humphrey Atherton married a young 
 woman, whose name is unknown, when their united ages amounted 
 to less than twenty-nine years. 
 
 It is not positively known when he came to this country. Charles 
 H. Atherton, one of his descendants, says, that he arrived at Bos- 
 ton, in 1631, on board the ship James, Capt. Taylor, but Mr. Drake 
 in his work, entitled, " Result of some Kesearehes among the British 
 Archives for Information relative to the Founders of New Eng- 
 land," does not mention such a vessel, as having left England, either 
 in that year or the year before. It is supposed that he came from 
 Preston, in Lancashire, as persons named Atherton were to be 
 found there as late as 1780. 
 
 The first authentic fact in his history, which we possess, is that 
 he was admitted a freeman, at Dorchester, May 2, 1638. The same 
 year, the second of the existence of the Ancient and Honorable 
 Artillery Company, he became one of its members, and continued as 
 such to the time of his death, serving at different periods as Ensign, 
 Lieutenant, and Captain, which last office he held twice, in 1650 and 
 in 1658. He was the earliest representative from Dorchester, 
 to the General Court, whither he was first sent in 1638, and to which 
 the same town afterwards elected him nine times, the last being 
 1651. lu 1659, while representing Springfield, he became Speaker, 
 
 He was the originator of the first Trainband in Dorchester, 
 commanded for sometime the Suffolk Regiment, and upon the death 
 of Sedgwick, in 1656, succeeded him in his rank of Major General, 
 the highest military office in the colony. In 1644 he went to Nar- 
 ragansett, with Captains Johnson and Cooke, to arrest and try 
 Samuel Gorton, for heresy. He led several expeditions against the 
 Narragansett Indians, and when at length they became subject to 
 Massachusetts, he was often appointed to collect their tribute of 
 wampum. To complete the catalogue of honors bestowed upon 
 him ; he was Town Treasurer and several times Selectman in 
 Dorchester. 
 
 Among his personal friends was Miles Standish, whose name has 
 been rendered immortal by Longfellow. 
 
 Atherton, as a believer in witches, felt it to be a duty which he 
 owed to God and to his Country to mete out to the poor creatures, 
 against whom accusations were brought, the punishment, which, in 
 his opinion, they so richly merited. As assistant, a position which 
 he occupied during the last oiglit years of liis life, he was instrumen- 
 
EPITAPHS. 7 
 
 tal in bringing about the execution of Mrs. Hibbins, who was hung 
 for witchcraft, June 19, 1656. This was probably the second mur- 
 der in New England, for the same imaginary crime. 
 
 A fall from his horse was the cause of his death. Concerning 
 him, Johnson says, "altho he be slow of speech, yet is he down 
 right for the business' — one of a cheerful spirit, and intire for his 
 country." The Quakers thought differently. They had been sub- 
 jected to much persecution at his hands, and they believed his hor- 
 rible death to be (rod's visitation of wrath. Besse says, " Humfray 
 Adderton, who at the trial of Wenlock Christison, did, as it were, 
 bid defiance to Heaven, by saying to Wenlock, 'You pronounce 
 Woes and Judgements, and those that are gone before you pro- 
 nounced Woes and Judgements ; but the Judgements of the Lord 
 Grod are not upon us yet,' was suddenly surprised : having beeu, 
 on a certain day, exercising his men with much pomp and ostenta- 
 tion, he was returning home in the evening, near the place where 
 they usually loosed the Quakers from the cart, after they had 
 whipped them, his horse, suddenly affrighted, threw him with such 
 violence, that he instantly died ; his eyes being dashed out of his 
 bead, and his brains coming out of his nose, his tongue hanging out 
 at his mouth, and the blood running out at his ears : Being taken 
 up and brought into the Court-house, the place where he had been 
 active in sentencing the innocent to death, his blood ran through 
 the floor, exhibiting to the spectators a shocking instance of the 
 Divine vengeance against a daring and hardened persecutor ; that 
 made a fearful example of that divine judgment, which, when fore- 
 warned of, he had openly despised, and treated with disdain." 
 
 D. O. M: SACER 
 
 RICHARDUS HIC DORMIT MATHERUS. 
 
 (SED NEC TOTUS NEC NORA DIUTURNA) 
 
 L^TATUS GENUISSE PARES. 
 
 INCERTUM EST UTRUM DOCTIORAN MELIOR. 
 
 ANIMUM & GLORIA NGN 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. 1« ANS. IN DORC: N. A. 34 ANS. 
 
 GET. APR. 22. 1669. ^T:SU^ 73. 
 
8 EPITAPHS. 
 
 Richard Mather, son of Thomas and Margaret Mather, was born 
 at Lowton, Parish of Winwick, Lancashire, England, in 1596. 
 
 When only fifteen years of age, he had made such progress in his 
 studies that he was entrusted with the care of a public school at 
 Toxteth Park, near Liverpool. During the geven years which he 
 devoted to school-teaching, he fitted several young men for Oxford, 
 and finally went to the University himself, and was entered a stu- 
 dent at Brazen Nose College, May 9, 1618. He had been there 
 but a few months, when in response to an invitation from his old 
 friends at Toxteth, he became their pastor. lie preached his first 
 sermon, Nov. 30, 1618, 
 
 In 1626 he married Catherine, daughter of Edmund Holt. 
 
 He was suspended from his ministry in Aug., 1633, for non con- 
 formity to the rules of the established church. Having been re- 
 stored the following November, he was again suspended the next 
 year, this time for not wearing the surplice. 
 
 In quest of that religious freedom which was denied him in the 
 land of his birth, he came to New England, in 1635. On the 25th 
 of October, of that year, he and his wife became members of the 
 Church in Boston. Soon after this, he received three almost simul- 
 taneous invitations to settle as minister in as many different towns, 
 Plymouth, Roxbury and Dorchester. By the advice of John Cotton 
 and others of his friends, he went to Dorchester, and was made 
 teacher of the first church there, Aug. 23, 1636. 
 
 In 1639, assisted by Thomas Welde and John Eliot, of Roxbury, 
 he made the New England Version of the Psalms. 
 
 Ilis wife died in 1655, and he married in less than a year after, 
 Sarah the widow of John Cotton. 
 
 He had six sons, all by his first wife, the first four of whom were 
 born in England ; the others in Dorchester. They were as follows : 
 
 Samuel, born May 13, 1626 ; came to this country with his 
 father; graduated at Harvard College, 1643 ; was made first fellow 
 of the university, and such was the esteem in Avhich he was held by 
 the students, that when he left them they wore mourning ; preached 
 sometime at Rowley as assistant to Mr. Rogers, and afterwards 
 had charge of the North Church, in Boston for one winter; in 1650, 
 returned to England and became chaplain of Magdalen College ; 
 was senior fellow of Trinity College, and minister of the Church of 
 St. Nicholas, in Dublin ; soou after the restoration, was unjustly sus- 
 pended on a charge of sedition, and returning to England, preached 
 
EPITAPHS. 9 
 
 at Burton Wood, till ejected by the Bartholomew Act, 1662 ; from 
 this time until his death, preached before a church, gathered at his 
 own house. 
 
 Timothy. 
 
 Nathaniel, born at Lancaster, Mar. 20, 1630; graduated at 
 Harvard College, 1647. After his return to England, Oliver 
 Cromwell, in 1656, presented him with a living at Barnstaple. After 
 the restoration he was ejected from his ministry. He died in London, 
 July 26, 1697, after preaching forty-seven years in England, Ire- 
 land and Holland. 
 
 Joseph. 
 
 Eleazar, born May 13, 1637 ; graduated at Harvard, 1656 ; or- 
 dained minister of Northampton, Mass., June 23, 1661, and died 
 July 24. 1669 ; married a daughter of John Warham, sometime 
 minister of Dorchester, and afterwards of Windsor, Connecticut. 
 
 Increase, born June 21, 1639; graduated, H, C, 1656; 
 ordained as minister of the North church in Boston, May 27, 1669 ; 
 was President of Harvard University, from 1685 to 1701, when he 
 resigned ; was agent in the Mother Country for procuring a 
 new charter, which he obtained from William and Mary, in 1691 ; 
 married Maria, daughter of John Cotton ; was the author of about 
 a hundred printed books. 
 
 Ye.EPITAPH.OF.WILLIAM.POLE.WIIICII.HER.IIEMSELF 
 MADE.WHILE.IIE.WAS.YET.LIUINa.IN.REMEMBRA\OE.OF 
 HIS.OWN.DEATH.A.LEFT.IT.TO.BE.INGRAVEN.ON.HIS 
 TOMIi.YT.SO.BEINaDEAD.HE.MIGHT.WARN.POSTERITY 
 OR.A.RESEMBLAXCE.OF.A.DEAD.MAN.P.ESPEAKING.Ye.READER 
 HO.PASSENGER.TIS.WORTH.THY.PAINES.TOO.STAY 
 A.TAKE.A.DEAD.MANS.LESSON.BY.Ye.WAY 
 I.WAS.WHAT.XOW.THOU.ART.A. THOU.SHALT.be 
 
 what.i.am.now.what.odds.twix.me.&.thee 
 
 N0W.60.THY.WAY.BUT.ST.\Y.TAKE.0NE.W0RD.M0RE 
 THY.STAF.FOR.OUGHT.THOU.KNOWEST.STANDS.NEXT.Ye.DORE 
 death. IS.YE.DORE.YEA.DORE.OF.nEAVEN.OR.nELL 
 BE.WARND.EE.ARMED.BELIUE.REPENT.FARE WELL. 
 
 A tablet on the side of his tomb has the following : — 
 
 HERE.LIETH.BURIED.Ye.BODY.OF 
 Me.WILLIAM.POOLE.AGED.SI.YEARS 
 Wn().DIED.YE.2.^)TH.OF.FEBRUARY.IN 
 Ye.YERE.KjTI. 
 
10 EPITAPHS. 
 
 William Poole acted as Town Clerk of Dorchester, upwards of 
 forty years. He also taught school for some time. 
 
 Ebenezer Clapp, Esq., the author of a History of Dorchester, has 
 in his possession the original " account and memorandum book of 
 Elder Saml. Clap, the oldest son of Capt. Roger Clap." 
 
 We have kindly been permitted by the owner to transcribe from 
 it, the two following versions of this same epitaph, both of which 
 were also written by Pole himself. 
 
 "Mr William Pole his epitaph made by his owne hand who died, 
 the. 24. of the. 12. mo : 1674. 
 
 "Hoe Ciirths Inhabitant : its worth thy ftay 
 
 to take a dead mans lefFon by the way 
 
 I was, what now thou art ; and thou flialt bee 
 
 what I am now : thy feif, behold in niee 
 
 Death will be greuious when thou com'st to dy 
 
 the way to eafe it, is to learne to dy 
 
 sin is the sting of death :* 
 
 dy firft to fin, and death no hurt can doe 
 
 now goe thy way ; but ftay : take one word more 
 
 thy ftaff for ought thou know'st, ftands next the dore 
 
 death is the dore, yea dore of huau'n or hell 
 
 be warn'd, be arm'd, beleeue, repent, farewell. 
 
 W . P: 
 
 Hoe pafsenger : tis worth thy pains to ftay 
 
 and take a dead mans lefson by the way 
 
 time was I wiis what now thou art, and thou 
 
 another day f halt bee what I am now 
 
 now goe thy way : but ftay, take one word more 
 
 thy Stafe for ought thou know'st ftands next the dore 
 
 death is the dore, yea dore of heauen or hell 
 
 be warn'd : be arm'd : beleefe : repent, fare well 
 
 W. P." 
 
 The Puritans are dead I 
 One venerable head 
 Pilluws below, 
 His grave is with ns seen 
 'Neath Summer's georgeous green 
 And Autumn's golden sheeu 
 And Winter's suow. 
 
 * The manuscript is here illegible. 
 
EPITAPHS. 11 
 
 In Memory of 
 Dea. NICHOLAS CLAP, 
 
 one of the early settlers of Dorchester. 
 
 He came to New England about 1633, and died 
 
 Nov. 24, 1679 ; aged 67 years. His descendants, 
 
 to whom he left the best of all patrimony, 
 
 the exiiiiiple of a benevolent — 
 
 industrious and christian 
 
 life ; 
 
 erect this stone to his memory 170 years 
 
 after his decease. 
 
 His Piety, 
 His constancy in virtue and in trutli, 
 These on tradition s tongue shall live ; tJiese shcil 
 
 F rom Sire to (Son be haixled dowa 
 To latest time. 
 
 THE 
 
 INGENIO US 
 
 Matheraaticiau & printer 
 
 Mr, JOHN FOSTER, 
 
 AGED 33 YEARS DYED SEPTR. 9tH: 
 
 16 8 1 
 
 April, 16 8 1. 
 /. 31. Astra CoHs Vivens Moriens, snper Aethera FosieVy 
 pj. F, Scande, precor ; Coelum, Metiri disce supremum. 
 3£etior, atque meum est : Emit mihi dives. Testis : 
 Nee leneor Quicquam, nisi Graies, solvere — 
 
 (Upon the foot-stone,) 
 
 Mu. 
 
 JOHN FOSTER 
 
 Ars iLLi SUA Census Erat — 
 
 ovin, 
 Sjkili, was hjs cash. 
 
12 EPITAPHS. 
 
 Hopestill Foster came from England in the Elizabetli, William 
 Stagg Master. He arrived at Boston in 1635, at the age of four- 
 teen. Among his twenty-seven fellow-passengers was jMary Bates, 
 a young woman three years his senior, wliom he afterwards married. 
 John, their second son, was baptized Dec. 10, 1648. He was grad- 
 uated at Harvard College in 1667. 
 
 Prior to 1674, there had been but one printing-press in N. E., that 
 at Cambridge, controlled by the University, but in that year, it was 
 granted by the General Court, that one might be set up elsewhere, 
 and accordingly John Foster was made " Comptroller " of one es- 
 tablished at Boston. Although he had charge of this press, he was 
 not himself a practical printer. 
 
 Thomas, in his history of the Art of Printing, says that the 
 earliest book emanating from his press, which he has seen, bears the 
 date, 1676 : the latest, 1680. 
 
 A pamphlet by John Eliot, entitled "A brief Answer to a small 
 Book written by John Norcot, against Infant Baptism," etc., with 
 Foster's imprint as follows, " Boston, Printed by John Foster, 
 1679," recently brought two hundred and fifty dollars, one of which, 
 that of 1681, at an auction in New York City. 
 
 He calculated and published several almanacs, annexed to that of 
 1681, was a " 7>issertation on Comets," from his own pen. 
 
 He was the designer of the arms of Massachusetts. In 1679 he 
 became a member of the Artillery (jomjtany. 
 
 The following English version of his epitaph, is given by Thomas. 
 Thou, Foster, who on earth did'st study the heavenly bodies, now 
 ascend above the firmanent, and survey the highest heaven. I do 
 survey and inhabit this divine region. To its possession I am ad- 
 mitted through the grace of Jesus : and to pay the debt of gratitude, 
 I hold the most sacred oblisration. 
 
 Here lyes interred ye body 
 Of Mr. James Humfrey, here- 
 to-fore One of ye Buling 
 Elders of Dorchester ; Who 
 departed this life ye 12th. 
 
 of May 1686 ; in ye 
 78th. year of his age. 
 
EPITAPHS. 13 
 
 I nclos'd within this Shrine is Precious Dust, 
 A nd only waits for th' Rising of the Just. 
 M ost uselull while he LivM Adoin'd his station, ~| 
 E ven to old Age serv'd his Genoration : > 
 
 S ince his Decease tho't of with Veneration. j 
 
 H ow great a Blessing this Ruling Elder he, 
 
 U nto this Church <fe Town & Pasioes Three? 
 
 IM ATHER he first did by him Help receiue, 
 
 F LINT he did nixt his Burthen much relieue: 
 
 R enowned DANl^'ORTH. did he Assist with Skill.) 
 
 E steemed High hy all : Bear Fruit untill V 
 
 Y ielding to Death his Glorious Seat did Fill. J 
 
 James Humphrey was admitted freeman at Dorchester, 1645. In 
 his will he expressed a wish to be buried in the same tomb with his 
 friend Richard Mather, but, as the tomb was not sufficiently large to 
 receive another body, he was interred near by. 
 
 (lULIELMUS STOUGHTONUS Armiger, 
 
 Provinciae Mafsachusettensis In Nova Anglia Legatus, 
 
 deinde Gubernator ; 
 
 Nec-non Curiae in eadem Provincia Superioris 
 
 Justiciarius Capitalis, 
 
 Hie laeet. 
 
 Vir Conjugij Nescius, 
 
 lleligione 8anctus, 
 
 Virtute Clarus, 
 Doctrina Celebris, 
 Ingenio Acutus, 
 Sanguine & Animo pariter Illustris, 
 ^quitatis Amator, 
 Legum Propugnator, 
 Collegij Stoughtoniani Fundator. 
 Literarum & Literatorum Fautor Celeberrimus, 
 Irapietatis & Vitij Hostis iVcerrimus. 
 Hunc Rhetores amant Facundum, 
 Hunc Scriptores norunt Elegantem, 
 Hune Philosophi qua^runt Sapientem, 
 Hunc Pij A^enerantur Austerum, 
 Hune Omnes Mirantur ; Omnibus Ignotum, 
 Omnibus Licet Notum. 
 Quid Plura Viator ! Quern perdidimus 
 Stoughtonum ! 
 Heu ! 
 Satis dixi Urgent Lachrymae, 
 Sileo. 
 Yixit Annos Septuagenta ; 
 SeptiiiKi di(^ Jiilij Anno Salutis 1701 
 Cecidit. 
 Heu I Heu I Qualis Jjuctus I 
 
14 RPITAPHS. 
 
 A tablet on the side of the tomb reads as follows : — ■ 
 
 Stoughton Monument 
 
 repaired by 
 
 Harvard College 
 
 mdcccxxviii. 
 
 William Stoughton, son of Col. Israel Stoughton, who command- 
 ed the Massachusetts Troops in the Pequot War, graduated at 
 Harvard in 1650, and went to England where he became a fellow of 
 New College, Oxford. After preaching in Sussex County, he re- 
 turned to New England. In 1671, he was made assistant, and held 
 the same office several times subsequently. 
 
 He was Author of the Election Sermon of 1668, the best ever 
 preached in Massachusetts. 
 
 In 1677 he sailed again for the Old Country, as agent of Massa- 
 chusetts Colony. 
 
 In 1687 he was one of Sir Edmund Andros' Council. He was 
 Lieut. Governor of Mass. from 1694 to 1699, and from 1700 to 
 1702, occupying the gubernatorial chair during a portion of toe time. 
 
 He was commander-in-chief five years, beginning 1694. He was 
 a liberal benefactor of Harvard (-ollege, and Stoughton Hall was 
 built at his expense in 1698. /. mong other bequests to the same 
 institution, was property, the income of which was to be applied to 
 the education of students from Dorchester. 
 
 In 1692, as judgo, he tried several witches. To show in what 
 esteem Savage held him, we quote from Mr. Drakes "Annals of 
 W^itcheraft " as follows : — 
 
 "A cotemporary says he is sure that most of the charges in those 
 indictments ' would be better laid against the judges in the Oyer 
 and Terminer ' for that these judges served if they did not wor- 
 ship the Devil, and took him to be their God, whether they signed 
 liis book or not. Had that book been brought into court, as it 
 ought to have been, or the Government called on to show, at least, 
 what means they had used to get the precious record to the open 
 view of the jury, the name of William Stoughton, and more than 
 one of his associate judges, I doubt not, as clearly as that of any 
 of the accused, would have flare<l in tlie sapphire blaze.' " 
 
EPITAPHS. 1 5 
 
 The following which is nearly a literal translation of this epitaph, 
 is copied from Clapp's History of Dorchester. 
 
 Here lies 
 
 William Stoughton, Esquire 
 
 Lieutenant, afterwards Governor 
 
 Of the Province of Massachusetts in New EnghxnJ , 
 
 Also 
 
 Chief Judge of the Superior Court 
 
 In the same Province. 
 
 A man to Wedlock unlinowu. 
 
 Devout in Religion, 
 
 Renowned for Virtue, 
 
 Famous for Erudition, 
 
 Acute in Judgement, 
 
 Equally illustrious by Kindred 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 honor him as a Theologian, 
 
 The Devoted 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 1 701 , 
 
 He Died. 
 Alas! Alas! What Grief ! 
 
IG EPITAPHS. 
 
 HERE LYES Ye BODY 
 OF MIRIAM WOOD 
 
 FORMERLY WIFE TO JOHN SMITH 
 
 AGED 73 YEARS 
 
 DIED OCTOBEY Ye 19tli. 
 
 1706 
 
 A Woman well belov'd of all 
 hei- neighbours ; for her care of fniall 
 Folks education ; their number being great, 
 that when fhe dy'd fhe fcarcely left her mate. 
 So Wife, Difcreet, was her behaviours 
 that fhe was AVell esteem'd by neighbours. 
 She liv'd in love with all to dye. 
 so let her reft to Eternaty. 
 
 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 duo; 734 graves. 
 
 As Sexton, Avith 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 
 I dug, then mine prepared. 
 
EPITAPAS. 1 ( 
 
 And when, at last, I too must ilic. 
 
 Some else the bell will toll ; 
 As here my mortal relics lie. 
 May heaven receive my soul. 
 He died December 24, 1860, 
 aged 87 years 6 mos. lit days. 
 He buried from INlarch 3, 180(5 
 to May 12, 1852 
 One thousand eight hundred & thirty-seven 
 Persons. 
 
 William Davenport, a son of Daniel, was also a sexton. He died 
 in his fortieth year, after having buried twelve hundred and sixty- 
 seven persons. 
 
 GEORGE HOWARD CLARK, 
 
 died at Falmouth, A a. 
 
 Feb. 15, 1862, 
 
 aged 30 years, 
 
 9 months, 9 days. 
 
 Member of 11th Regt. Co. K. 
 
 Mass. Vol. 
 
 Gone, Init not forgotten. 
 
 PRO 
 PATRIA 
 
 TO the memory of 
 BENJAMIN STONE, Ju. 
 
 captain of Dorchester co. k. 
 
 11th. Keg't. Mass. vols, 
 who after sixteen months 
 
 of arduous service, 
 
 was wounded at the second 
 
 Bull Kun battle, 
 
 and died at Washington 
 
 sept. 10, 18G2, 
 
 in the 45tli. year of his age, 
 
 this Tablet is erected 
 by his sorrowing townsmen. 
 
18 EPITAPHS. 
 
 AS a citizen, 
 
 respected and beloved throngli life. 
 
 lamented in his early death 
 
 as a self-devoted patriot-soldier. 
 
 TO the Memory of 
 Sergt. I. HALL 
 STIMPSON, 
 CO. c, 13th, Regiment, 
 
 Mass vol's., 
 
 who was wounded at 
 
 the Battle of Antietam, 
 
 sept. 17th, and died 
 
 at Hagerstown. Md. 
 
 oct. 8th, 1862, 
 
 ^^t. 23 yr's. 
 
 "/ have heen upheld through 
 all this pain and sufferimj hy 
 that ever kind God and tender 
 Father, rvhovi you ahvays iaiujht 
 wc to love and venerated 
 
 WTLLTAM KDWAED IJLAKE, 
 
 ])ied at Falmouth, va. 
 
 Dec. 21, 1862, 
 
 aged 20 years, 1 month, 
 
 13 da vs. 
 Member of the 11th. Regt. 
 CO. K. Mass. vol. 
 
 He is not dead, but slcopeth. 
 
EPITAPHS. 19 
 
 Sergeant 
 
 HARRISON GLOVER, 
 
 of Co. G, 56tli. Mass. Regt. 
 
 son of Thomas 0. 
 
 and Elizabeth B. Glover, 
 
 wounded before Petersburg, 
 
 Virginia, 
 
 died in Hospital 
 
 on David's Island, 
 
 New York Harbor, 
 
 August 31, 1864, 
 
 aged 20 years. 
 
 In the midst of Life we are in Death. 
 
 She bent her steps at twilights peaceful hour 
 To worship God, and his rich grace implore; 
 A higher boon than that she sought was given. 
 The gate she entered proved the gate of Heaven 
 Scarce had her willing feet the threshold prest 
 Ere she was summoned to her final rest 
 
 Her hands left the Bible wide open. 
 To tell us the road she had trod. 
 With way-marks like footsteps to tell us 
 The path she had gone up to God. 
 
 Lively I walked lifes journey through 
 
 Till I arrived at Eighty-two; 
 Then calm descended here to rest 
 I« hopes to be forever blest. 
 
20 EPITAPHS. 
 
 Serene I walked Fifth's journey or'e 
 Till I arriv'd at eiglity-fo«r 
 Then calm descended here to rest 
 In hopes to be forever blest. 
 
 How very ffew like me survive 
 And reach the age of eighty-flve ; 
 liong time I trcnl this vale of tears. 
 Till bending with a weight of years ; 
 I calmly sunk into the grave. 
 Trusting almighty power to save. 
 
 On the 2 1st of March 
 
 God's angels made a sirche 
 
 Around the dove they stood; 
 
 They took a maid 
 
 It is said] 
 
 And cut her down like wood. 
 
 In " Gleanings from the Curious," the above epitaph is said to 
 be from this cemetery. Although no such inscription now exists in 
 the yard, it is not unlikely that at one time it was to be found there. 
 
 SACRED 
 
 To the Memory of 
 * * * 
 Affliction sore long time she bore. 
 Physicians wei'e in vain. 
 Till God did please that death should seize. 
 And ease her of her pain. 
 
 Also op 
 MARY E. ROBINSON 
 
 ORAND- DAUDHTER of the ABOVE. 
 
EPITAPHS. 21 
 
 " She looked well to the ways of her household, 
 And ate not the bread of idleness." 
 
 Proverbs Slst, 27. 
 
 ' An honest man's the noblest work of God. 
 
 For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight ; 
 His can't be wrong whose life is in the right. 
 
 Blest are the dead that die in the Lord. 
 According to his holey word. 
 
 My husband has left a wife to mourn his loss. 
 Jesus wept. 
 
 N. B. — She was formerly the wife of Mr. John Capen. 
 
 A stranger to ofience 
 and inward storm. 
 
 "She hath done 
 what she could." 
 
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