ALSO ALL THE EPITAPHS IN THE ANCIENT BURIAL PLACE IN DEDHAM, TOGETHER WITH THE OTHER INSCRIPTIONS BEFORE 1845 IN THE THREE PARISH CEMETERIES. EDITED BY DON GLEASON HILL, PRESIDENT OF THE DEDHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MEMBER OF THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC, GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, DEDHAM, MASS.: PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE DEDHAM TRANSCRIPT. 1888. "He hath planted in New England, a vineyard in a very fruitful hill, which he hath fenced about with a Christian and godly government, and gathered out the stones, and built a tower in the midst of it, and made a wine-press, and did plant it with the choicest plants, and did send forth many faithful and skilful laborers thereunto, so to dress the vine that it might want nothing that might make it fruitful; and oh! that it could be said that it brought forth no wild grapes." [1672.] HER MUNIFICENT BEQUESTS TO OUR HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND PUBLIC LIBRARY, AND ALSO TO THE TOWN OF A LARGE PERMANENT FUND TO AID THE WORTHY POOR, WILL MAKE HER NAME A HOUSEHOLD WORD GENERATIONS TO COME WILL SPEAK HER PRAISE. DEDHAM RECORDS. CHURCH AND CEMETERY. INTRODUCTION. Two years ago, upon the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the incorporation of the Town, we published our first volume of Dedham Records from the Town Clerk's books of Births, Marriages, and Deaths-1635 to 1845. The records of the various churches in town contain a large quantity of valuable material not found upon the Town Clerk's records. These church records have been open to the public, but they were scattered throughout the several parishes, were not indexed, and few people have had the time or the patience to attempt to search these books and decipher their contents. In my report to the town, upon the publication of the first volume, I called attention to the records in the several parishes, and their importance to the town, together with the fact that, in many cases, these books were kept in the private houses of their custodians, in great danger of being lost or destroyed, and that steps should be taken to enable the town to have the benefit of the important information which they contain. At the last annual meeting, the town made an appropriation toward printing a second volume, which should contain records from the different parishes in town, of public interest, or supplementary to the first volume. Acting under the authority thus given, I have prepared and herewith present this second volume. It contains the records of public interest from four churches and three cemeteries, but only the first book of the First Church has been taken entire; from the other books the covenants, votes and general church records have been omitted, as outside the scope of this work. The First Book of the First Church is a very important document, and must be recognized as a valuable contribution to the ecclesiastical history of |