Here lie together the three eminent figures in Boston's ecclesiastical history between 1664 and the Revolution, men of great general learning, of emphatic temperament and of remarkable influence in the affairs of the age. Their history needs no recounting. They were buried with great solemnity. Six of the leading ministers formed Cotton Mather's pallbearers, while in the funeral procession walked the public dignitaries. The narrow streets were thronged, and the "windows were filled with sorrowful spectators all the way to the burying-place." Many of the numerous descendants of the Mathers also rest in this tomb. Cotton Mather, for instance, had fifteen children by the first two of his three wives. When the tomb was last opened sixteen years ago, for the interment of one of the Crocker family, the remains of generations of the family were found heaped in great disorder. The Hutchinson tomb, in the southeast corner, was built about 1711. Here were buried Elisha and Thomas Hutchinson, father and grandfather of the governor. Thomas Hutchinson, who died December 31, 1789, built at his own expense the first school-house in the North End. On the sandstone slab covering the entrance of tomb is beautifully carved the family coat of arms. Thomas Lewis purchased the tomb and the name of Lewis is engraved on this slab. Another notable stone is that commemorating the patriot, Capt. Daniel Malcom. It is of hard blue slate, well preserved, and bears the following inscription: Here lies buried in a Stone Grave 10 feet deep CAPT. DANIEL MALCOM MERCHT. who departed this life 1769 Aged 44 years. a true son of Liberty in oppofing the Revenue Acts The above is referred to in O. W. Holmes' "Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill." "You may bang the dirt and welcome, they're as safe as Dan'l Malcolm Ten foot beneath the gravestone that you've The stone grave, however, is built of brick. Malcom was a merchant, and his store on Fleet street was a favorite resort of the haters of the revenue acts. He was also a warden of Christ Church and vice-president of the Charitable Irish Society. In February, 1768, aided by friends armed with clubs, he smuggled in at night a cargo of sixty casks of wine from a vessel anchored five miles down the harbor. A little later he presided over a meeting of business men, at which it was resolved to import no more English goods, except those needed for the fisheries, for a year and a half. Some months afterward he was one of the leaders in the mob which resisted the seizure of John Hancock's sloop "Liberty" by the boats of the British frigate "Romney." He was decidedly obnoxious to the King's officers, and six years after his death the British soldiers made his tombstone a particular target, the bullet marks being very conspicuous. In the northwestern part of the ground is the stone of Capt. Thomas Lake, bearing the following inscription: Capt. Thomas Lake An EmineNet Faithfvll The story runs that the deep slit cut into the stone was filled with melted bullets taken from his body. The knives of relic hunters, however, have left no vestige of the lead. Captain Lake was a man of fortune, being one of the earliest proprietors of lands in Maine and New Hampshire an actively engaged in commercial pursuits. He commanded the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1662 and 1674. He served in the early part of King Philip's War, then departing for Arowsick Island, Maine, which he owned jointly with Captain Thomas Clarke. His body was not discovered until seven months after he had been slain, his fate being meanwhile unknown. Not far from the Lake stone is a large slate block preserving the memory of Nicholas Upshall, who died in August, 1666, aged about 70. He is notable as furnishing one of the good examples of religious toleration in the early days, and although a man of much property and influence, as well as a prominent member of the church, he fell a victim to the intolerance of his fellow townsmen. He owned land in 1637 from Hanover street to the waterside on the northeast side of Richmond street, and was the twenty-third original member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. His main offence was his kindness towards the Quakers, who were zealously prosecuted by certain authorities from Governor Endicott down. For bribing the jail-keeper to supply two imprisoned Quaker women with food he was fined £20 and banished. He resided in Rhode Island during the remaining six years of Governor Endicott's rule, and on his return gave the Quakers the free use of a room in his house, which for a long time subsequent was known as the "Old Red Lyon Inn." He is referred to as follows in the "History of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company": "Property, moral worth, public services, wife, children, friends, cannot preserve a man from the ruthless fangs of religious persecution. The respectable Quakers of the present day (Lynn) have recently reclaimed the remains of their former brethren from the old Quaker burying-ground lest rapacious hands of speculation should trespass further. Why do they not redeem the ashes of those who may be considered among the first martyrs of their sect?" In December, 1878, there was discovered among five stones closing the entrance to an old tomb one with the following inscription: "Recompense Wadsworth, A.M. First Master of ye Grammar Free School at ye North End of Boston. Aged about 25 years; Died June ye 9th, 1713." The establishment of this school was voted at a town meeting on March 11, 171112, and on March 9, succeeding, the selectmen were "empowered to introduce Mr. Recompense Wadsworth at the North End, and to allow him sixty pounds for one year." The young teacher died after teaching for six months in the new schoolhouse which was built on Bennet street in 1713. One of the most finely carved armorial bearings in the cemetery is that chiselled on the well-preserved slate stone over the Clark tomb near the main gate. The inscription reads: HERE LYES THE MORTAL PART of (William Clark Esqr.) An Eminent Merchant of this Town, and A Faithful and Affectionate Friend William Clark was one of the wealthiest ship-owners of the time and an original member of Christ Church. His brick mansion on the corner of Garden court and Prince street, later occupied by Sir Henry Frankland, the collector of customs, was among the finest in town. In the French wars he suffered the |