Janice is still at it......Charlestown,NH......Old Fort #4......this one is about cemeteries. Farns10th@aol.com wrote: > Subject: Cemeteries > Source: History of Charlestown, NH - The Old Fort No. 4 by Rev. Henry H. > Saunder- > son - printed at Claremont, NH 1876 > p.707-709 > CEMETERIES > The proprietors of No. 4 at a meeting legally held May 1, 1751 > > "Voted that Capt Stevens, Capt. Spafford and John Hastings be a Committee to > purchase of the owners of some lands or house lotts where they shall think > best > for a burying place; or if they cannot purchase said lands then to pitch upon > and > buy out a burying place otherwhere where they shall think most convenient." > > Previous to this time the dead had been principally interred on "Burying > Hill," > as it was called, which was the ground lying between the present South Parish > Meeting House Lot and the opposite side of the street. On this little rise, > formerly > much higher than now, those who had fallen in defence of the place, or had > died > of sickness, had found burial. > > It had been voted by the proprietors to build their Church there, and near > the Church, in accordance with the old New England custom, was the appropriate > place for the dead to rest. Many were buried there, among whom we may number > nearly all the defenders of No. 4, who fell in the first Indian War. It was > the design > of the inhabitants to purchase of the owners the front part of some house-lots > lying contiguous to that spot, but probably their committee failed in their > endeavor > and therefore located their burying-ground where the old portion of the > Cemetery is > now. It appears that the Committee did little more than to select the > grounds and > purchase them, for we hear nothing more of the Burying Ground before 1763 in > which year the town voted that it should be fenced. > > After securing their new grounds, Burying Hill ceased to be used for purposes > of > interment, and the remains of those who had been buried there were ultimately > removed to the new spot. Their number must have been considerable, but I find > no stone erected to the memory of a single one of those first victims of war > and > sacrifice. The living had too much to do to defend themselves to have time to > devote to the preparation of monuments for the perpetuation of the memory of > those who had fallen. So they rest with graves unmarked. > > There are a number of stones in the old portion of the Cemetery without any > inscriptions. It is probable that some of these mark the resting-places of > persons > who were slain or died of disease in the first decade of the settlement; and > there > can be little doubt that the spaces in the "Old Grounds" that are without > stones > are yet thickly strown with the remains of the early inhabitants of the place. > The writer (Rev. Saunderson) of this, while superintending the laying of the > foundation of the "Johnson Monument," as it is called, found a rough, flatish > stone > about two feet below the surface, inscribed, "Ambrose Tuttel 1757." The > inscription > was a mere scratch, and might have been made with any sharp piece of iron, and > yet it remained as plain to be read as when first put into the ground. As our > excavation was only about three feet it was not deep enough to disturb any > remains; but we paused as the thought came to us that all those apparently > unoccupied grounds were full of secret graves. > > On none of the oldest stones does the date extend back beyond 1756 - sixteen > years after the first settlement of the place. There are several that bear > date > 1757, and from that time the number yearly, especially subsequent to 1760 > had a rapid increase till considerable numbers were erected with each > succeeding > year. > > To the old Cemetery there have, within a very recent period, been two > additions: > the one, on the west, extending it to East Street, the other, on the north em- > bracing all the grounds to their present limits. The earliest burials in the > first > portion were in 1836, and there were none in the last till quite a number of > years later. > > The improvements in the Cemetery which now render it so pleasant, are of > comparatively recent date, having been made within the last quarter of a > century; > and owe their inception to Henry Hubbard, Jr. Esq., who, many will regret to > learn died at his home in Bedford, VA June 11, 1876. > > A call for a public meeting at the hotel was made Feb 7, 1853, signed by Mrs. > J. > DeForest Richards, Mrs. Emily A. Olcott and Mrs. J. J. Gilchrist, in which an > invitation was extended to all citizens and ladies of the place to assemble > at a > public tea party, and take into consideration the subject of improving the > grounds > of the Cemetery, and to devise means and take measures therefor. This > resulted > in a very large attendance, who were fully united in the object in view; and a > Committee was appointed to get up a festival for the whole town on the > following > 4th of July, for the purpose of obtaining means for their intended > improvements. > At this festival four hundred dollars was the sum obtained, and the following > persons were appointed a committee to expend it. > > Deacon Moses Putnam, Henry Hubbard, Jr., Silas P. Mack, Samuel L. Fletcher > Abram D. Hull, Mrs. J. DeForest Richards, Mrs. Emily A. Olcott, Mrs. Laura > Cushing, Mrs. Helen J. Tidd and Mrs. Theodosia Evans. > > The walks were laid out under the general direction of the committee, and the > evergreens that now so pleasantly shade them were set out by their mutual > agreeement. Abram D. Hull, Esq., was employed to set out the pines, but the > balsams that are seen in the yaard were set out by Deacon Moses Putnam > and were brought by him from Unity. > > I will merely say further that the town now yearly appropriates one hundred > dollars > for keeping the Cemetery in order. Money was appropriated in 1870 for > bringing > a fountain into the enclosure and the selectmen were appointed a committee > with > others to do it, but for some reason not known to the writer it has never > been done. > > CEMETERIES AT THE NORTH PART OF THE TOWN > p.708 > The village cemetery was the only burying place in town till 1792, at which > time > the town purchased and set apart for a burial place the old ground at North > Charlestown. At this time members of families belonging to the north part of > the town who had been buried in this cemetery, were disinterred and buried > there. > This continued to be the only cemetery at the north until 1852, when the > present > one was purchased by the town. This is a very pleasant spot of elevated > ground > lying about forty or fifty rods beyond the junction of the River road with > the main > road leading to Claremont (NH). It is pleasantly laid out and contains a > fountain > for which money was appropriated at the same time that the appropriation was > made for the village Cemetery. The Cemetery also contains a number of quite > tasteful monuments, among which we may instance those erected to Mr. Jesse > and George Farwell, Eliphalet Bailey, Artimesia Westcott and John Metcalf. > The Walker monument of brown-stone is also a very handsome structure. The > name of the Cemetery is HOPE HILL and one hundred dollars is yearly > appropriated for its care by the town. Much credit it due to Horace Metcalf, > Esq., > for many of the improvements connected with this pleasant cemetery. > The following from the stone erected to the memory of Thomas Swan, speaks for > itself: > "Thomas Swan d. Nov 23d 1772 in his 28th year. Children yet unborn will > reverence his name when they find by his last will he gave the town of > Charlestown > one hundred pounds, the interest of which to be appropriated to the sole > purpose > of keeping a school in that part of said town know by the name of the town > plot." > In connection with this gift came the Park now generally called from the > donar: > Swan Park. Little is known of Mr. Swan save that he was a very intelligent > young > merchant in Charlestown who died early. He was probably one of the younger > children of Rev. Josiah Swan the 2nd minister of old Dunstable but who after > leaving Dunstable became a celebrated teacher in Lancaster, Mass and in > Walpole, NH. > __________________________________________________________________ > Transcribe by Janice Farnsworth