Schoolmaster Hill - Franklin Park

If you refer back to the map in the previous entry, this structure is labeled "The Arbor." It sits on top of Schoolmaster hill overlooking the golf course at Franklin Park. As you approach it, it has the feel of a British archeological site.



This was taken just inside the doorway shown in the picture above. The columns obviously once supported a roof.



Continuing through the structure, the low walls extend in the direction of Blue Hill avenue, with little step-down "balconies" on the right that face out over the meadow/golf course.



This is looking back to the "Arbor" walk. Apparently, this was intended to support rose arbors, but they were removed early on in the history of the park.


The view overlooking the golf course. God I hate golf. You can see a bit of the Blue Hills, but only the lower Quincy side. Trees and a rising grade to the south-east hide the rest of the Blue Hill range from sight.


At the end of the stone structure, this plaque honoring Ralph Waldo Emerson sits on a Roxbury puddingstone boulder. Frederick Law Olmsted named this hill Schoolmaster after the time Emerson spend living in a cabin on the site.

Mystery Solved... For What It's Worth

Richards, L.J. 1899 (copyright © 2000 by Cartography Associates)
David Rumsey Collection.

I'm reposting this map from my earlier entry on the lost Franklin Park reservoir. I said in that entry that I wanted to find out where the reservoir was, and today I took advantage of some nice weather to poke around Hagborne hill. Sure enough, I found a relatively level area with several manhole covers sitting strangely out of place in the woods. No doubt, that's the reservoir, marked by the "bourne" of "Hagbourne Hill" on the above map. There are picnic benches in various states of disrepair about the area, and a collection of metal trash barrels that are apparently kept there for the winter. If nothing else, the area seems to be a dog-walkers' paradise. Below is my manhole proof of location of the never-used reservoir of Franklin Park. Now I've satisfied my strange curiousity about the never-used, long-forgotten hole in the ground.


Does anyone wonder why there are manhole covers in the woods?


This is the only level land of this area in the "Wilderness" section of Franklin Park. There are a good 7-8 manhole covers within view of this picture. I assume the underground reservoir across much of the area.

Chinese On Trial

This is the kind of article that leaves me wondering whether I read it correctly. Newspaper articles from these years were not shy about describing suicides and terrible injuries, but sexual matters tend to be cloaked in euphemism. I expect that the reader was trusted to understand exactly what was being implied, but I find it difficult in this case to know whether I might be reading too much into the wording of the article. We have a 15 year old girl with a new baby, and an assault the previous year. Is that assault as in a kick in the pants, or is it something else? Hmmm... We do learn without doubt that there was a Chinese laundry on South street in 1921. We also see another case of Jamaica Plain boys trying to "rescue a prisoner." There seems to have been a lot of that going on before the days of portable radios.



Boston Daily Globe October 26, 1921


Chinese On Trial On Girl's Complaint

Assault by Laundryman and His Partner Alleged

Three Jamaica Plain Youths Fined for Attack on Officer


The West Roxbury Court, Judge Perrins presiding, was in session until 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, establishing a record for that court.

Woo Yee, a Jamaica Plain Chinese, was arraigned on charges of assault brought by a 15-year-old girl, who carried in her arms an infant born to her several weeks ago. She alleged that Woo Yee and Yeo Sam, Yee's partner in a laundry on South st, Jamaica Plain, assaulted her in 1920.

Lee Yam, a well-known Chinese of the West End, was brought to court by officers who had been misled by Yee Sam, now a fugitive from justice. Sam met with officers while they were searching for him and pointed out Lee Yam as the man named in the warrant. Yam was discharged.

The case against Woo Yee was carried over until today when the defence will present its case.

The girl said, during her testimony, that she visited Woo Yee several times voluntarily.


Arthur W. McLaughlin, 21; Mark Kelley, 19, and Joseph F. Vogel, 18, all of Jamaica Plain, were each fined $10 on a charge of assault of battery and $25 for attempting to rescue a prisoner. The charges resulted from alleged attacks on Special Officer Malcolm Campbell during a dance-hall disturbance two weeks ago. They appealed.

The Great Comb Caper

On May 1, 1900, police chased a man through the streets of Jamaica Plain, as described here. Perhaps inspired by that incident, just a few days later the boys of Call street decided to get in on the act, and chased four young men through the streets. Hilarity ensues. In the end, the chase was far more impressive than the crime.


Boston Daily Globe May 6, 1900


Hot Thief Chase.

Jamaica Plain Stirred Up Once More.

Four Men Followed by an Army of Yelling Youngsters.

Finally Apprehended and Placed in Cells.

They Tell a Queer Story of Their Experiences.

Admit They Stole From Boston & Maine Freight Car.


Once again Jamaica Plain was stirred up over the chasing of thieves by the police of that section when about 6 o'clock last evening, after another cross-country run, four men fell into the hands of the officers of the law. They are William Scholes, John Dwyer, Joseph Keller and Frank Costello.

Some boys playing on Call st. near the tracks of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railroad, saw four men walk along the tracks, and when a little beyond the Jamaica Plain station step out on to the bank. In a moment they lay down. The boys gathered to see the men go to sleep, as they supposed, on the railroad bank. One of them suggested that they tell the "cops," and the idea was at once approved by all the youngsters. They had gone but a short distance on their errand when they met officer William M. Frank, and they told him about "some fellers on the railroad bank."

As soon as the men saw the policeman coming they ran down the bank, jumped the fence to Call st and started to run. Frank dashed after them. He grabbed one, who proved later to be Frank Costello, and started for the station with him.

The other three men had run down Call st and turning into Everett st went up the hill. At their heels was a mob of 50 boys yelling like wild Indians. Up the hill they went, past some of Jamaica Plain's finest residents and through some intricate turnings on to Revere st. At the foot of Revere st is the police station and directly toward it the fleeing men were running. All along the route of the chase windows were opened by residents, startled by the racket, and excited voices were heard inquiring, "What's the matter?"

In the station house were Lieut Chase, Sergt Bruce and patrolman Berry. Their attention was attracted by the noise, and glancing out of the window saw the men coming down the hill pursued by the boys. Running out of the station they arrived at the street at the same time the men had reached that spot. Patrolman Berry grabbed Wm. Scholes and turned him over to Lieut Chase. Sergt Bruce captured Joseph Keller. There was only one remaining, and he turned down Maple pl and jumping over a fence got into Brown pl. But Berry was at his heels and soon had him. He proved to be John Dwyer.

When questioned at the station Scholes said he was 20 years old and his home was in Springfield. Dwyer gave his age as 20 and his home in Montreal. Cantello said he was 16 and lived at 224 Harrison av, Boston. Keller said his residence was at Peabody and that he was 21.

They told the police they had been working on cattle ships, coming across on the Kansas, which arrived in Boston last Monday. After leaving the boat they went over the road to Portland, Me. Thursday night they started back to Boston, walking to Portsmouth, N.H. At this place they were given permission by a freight brakeman to ride on his train. Soon after leaving Lynn the train stopped, either to leave or take on some more cars. One of them found a car open, and all four went in. Seeing a good-sized box there, they took it out and opened it. It was filled with combs. After dividing the spoils, they put the box back into the car. Then they went further back on the train, and getting onto another car, came to Boston, arriving yesterday morning.

When asked what they were doing out in Jamaica Plain, they said they were on their way to Hyde Park, where they expected to get lodgings at a police station over night. It was their intention to sell the combs later.

The men were placed in cells to await their trial Monday morning in the West Roxbury district court.

For some time past the section has been the field for a lot of petty thieving, house breaking, while families were away, and the like. The patrolmen have had strict orders to keep their eyes open for suspicious characters. That this is being done is evidenced by the fact that during the past week nine men have been arrested by the police of the division, and have proved to be important captures. Besides this a number of suspicious characters have been followed and driven out of the district.

Capt Brown is determined to clear the section of the house workers, and he is being ably supported by those under him.

Christ The King Ukrainian Catholic Church

Christ the King Ukrainian Catholic Church, 2008




I've been sitting on this article for a while, waiting to get a picture to post with it. I haven't been able to find a picture taken at the time it was built, so this will do. This is the youngest church by far to bless this site, but it won't be the last. In fact, it won't be the last Ukrainian church, because I've yet to post an entry for St Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox church in Forest Hills.

Christ the King church overlooks Forest Hills street, and backs to Franklin Park. Their wide street frontage opens up Forest Hills street, and keeps it from feeling too crowded.


Jamaica Plain Citizen July 10, 1952


To Break Ground For New Ukrainian Catholic Church.


Father Tom, pastor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Ukrainian Church of Boston, announces that the breaking of the ground ceremony which was to have been held two weeks ago but which was called off on account of rain will take place this coming Sunday afternoon, July 13, at 2:30 p.m. at 118 Forest Hills street, Jamaica Plain. Archbishop Richard Cushing, D.D. will preside and many of the Monsignori and Clergy of both the Western and Eastern Rites will attend.

The ceremony will begin with the chanting of the ancient Moleben-Litany to the Sacred Heart, under the great directress, Mrs. Helene Sydoriak Haire.

After the breaking of the ground ceremony there will be, according to the old Ukrainian custom, a picnic which will include Ukrainian food, singing and dancing.

Fr. Tom extends a cordial invitation to all who would like to attend.

Pauline Agassiz Shaw

I promised an entry for the wife of Quincy Shaw, and here I deliver. Pauline Agassiz Shaw was the daughter of Swiss scientist and Harvard professor, Louis Agassiz. As with the daughter, the father will require an entry of his own. Pauline Shaw was everywhere in the world of Boston philanthropy, subscribing to seemingly every cause. Her special interests were in education and the care of poor women and children. She was known as the "godmother of kindergarten" for her support of the institution in Boston. While Elizabeth Peabody was the "mother of the kindergarten movement," it was Pauline Agassiz Shaw's money that bankrolled the first kindergartens in Boston, and led to the city of Boston absorbing the classes into its school system. With the success of her kindergartens, she moved on to funding nurseries and later settlement houses to aid the entire family. Rather than summarize her career, I decided to post this article, which gives you a flavor of the time that would be lost in my translation. They certainly had a way with words in those days.

While a school in Jamaica Plain was named after her father, Pauline Agassiz Shaw was similarly honored by the city of Boston in Dorchester. There is a 1917 tribute to her available online here.







Boston Daily Globe May 14, 1905

Angel To Poor Children Of Boston

Mrs Pauline Agassiz Shaw, a Great-Hearted Woman.

Daughter of the Famous Naturalist Now Supports Entirely Five Day Nurseries in This City - Cost to Her Must be Many Thousands of Dollars Yearly - Babies Cared for and Mothers of the Tenements Helped in Various Ways - Boys and Girls Amused and Instructed.


"You sleepy still, Tony? You must rouse up, for mother will soon be coming for her baby."

The little chap of two summers sat up in the snowy white little crib and poked his chubby fists into his big black eyes - the beautiful eyes of the Italian race.

Directly across the narrow aisle formed by long rows of white beds was a fair-haired, blue-eyed little girl seemingly less than 2 years of age lying on her back under the snowy counterpane gazing in placid contentment at the ceiling over her.

"It's get-up time, Lucy," said the attendant, as she patted one of the child's flushed cheeks lightly. "Mother will be here soon."

"Me go home," said the child.

"Yes, you'll go home just as soon as mother comes for you. I suppose you are ready to go home, too, Sally."

This time the attendant stopped by the side of a little bed in which a jet-black little descendant of Ham had raised herself to one elbow and was eyeing the attendant and the visitor sleepily.

"Sleepy still, Sally? Well, if you are you just lay down and take another nap. Brother will not be here for you until 5 tonight. He said when he left you here this morning that he would have to go to East Boston after school, and that he would be an hour late in calling for you."

There were 30 or 40 of the little white beds in the room, and there was a child in every bed. Most of them seemed to be the children of foreign-born parents, but now and then one saw a child of undoubted American ancestry. Some of the children were "Just over" from Italy or Russia or Poland or Armenia or some other land across the seas and early discovering that Helen Keller's name of the "City of Kind Hearts" had not been inaptly applied to the city of Boston.

Boston had the deserved reputation of being one of the most philanthropic cities in America. Its "Directory of Charities" is a large-sized volume, and when one looks it over one is convinced that there is still a great deal of the milk of human kindness in the world and that the spirit of philanthropy runs high in Boston.

Its list of great-hearted men and women is a long and honorable one, and far up toward the top of the list stands the name of one woman who has for many years devoted her time and her money with unstinting generosity toward bettering the conditions of the poor children of the city, and helping their mothers to bear the heavy burdens that come to those of the tenements. This great-hearted woman is Mrs Pauline Agassiz Shaw, who stands at the head of the woman philanthropists of Boston.

The daughter of the great naturalist, Louis Agassiz, it was but a fulfilment of the law of heredity that she should be a woman of high ideals and unusual force of character. Nor was it to be wondered at that she should take a very great interest in the cause of education.

Mrs Shaw was one of the first women in Boston to recognize the value of the kindergarten as an educational force, and it was through her generosity that the first kindergartens for the children of the poor were established in this city. For 10 years Mrs Shaw supported at her own charge Kindergartens all over Boston at an annual expense of many thousands of dollars per year, for she bore the entire expense, including rent of rooms, salaries of teachers, etc. In time the school board of Boston became convinced of the high educational value of the kindergarten and included it in the school system of the city, thereby relieving Mrs Shaw.

Then Mrs Shaw gave her attention to the day nurseries, the first of which she had established in Boston in the year 1878, so that for nearly 30 years Mrs Shaw has carried on this form of benevolent and philanthropic work in the city. These days nurseries have gradually enlarged their sphere of usefulness until they have become social settlements in the scope of their work and influence.

Visitors to the late St Louis fair may have noticed a large number of photographs illustrating the work of these day nurseries or social settlements. These photographs attracted a great deal of attention particularly on the part of those interested in educational and philanthropic work. Some of the photographs are used in illustrating this article.

Mrs Shaw now supports entirely five day nurseries in Boston. They are located in the tenement house districts of the city. One is on Ruggles st in the same block in which that other philanthropic institution, the Ruggles-st church is situated; another is on North Bennett st, in the very heart of "Little Italy"; a third is in the thickly congested tenement house district of Albany st; the fourth is at Cottage pl in Roxbury and the fifth is in Cambridgeport.

Various names are given to these institutions. They are called day nurseries, neighborhood houses, children's houses, social settlements, and one grateful mother has been known to refer to them as "mother's blessings." They are very much alike in the general scope of their work, and all have been the means of social salvation to hundreds and even thousands of the poor of the city.

The cost of maintaining them is known only to Mrs Shaw and her secretary and general overseer of the work, Miss Laliah B. Pingree, but it is known that the aggregate expense per year must amount to many thousands of dollars - more, it is certain, than any other woman in Boston is spending in purely educational and philanthropic work. It is entirely a labor of love on the part of Mrs Shaw, and her sole reward is in seeing the beneficent result of her work.

Helpfulness to mothers and children is the keynote of this work, and this results in helpfulness to the home in general. Hundreds of the "little tots" in the tenement-house districts of the city have reason to rise up and call Mrs Shaw blessed.

When the writer of this article was on his way to the North Bennett-st day nursery he found himself completely "turned around" in the maze of short, narrow and winding streets to be found in "Little Italy" and he stepped into a shop to ask the proprietor to direct him to the day nursery.

"Don't know nothin' about no such place," said the shopkeeper who was intent on selling a yellow plush album with a gilt-edged mirror in the cover to a woman whose bare toes could be seen through the holes in her mud-covered shoes. Hitching her ragged shawl back to her shoulders by suddenly elevating both arms as if for flight on imaginary wings, the woman turned and said: "You mean the place where they keeps the little kids while their mothers is away at work?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, it's right on this street at the corner of North Bennett, and a God-blessed place it is for the kids and their mothers. I don't know what a woman living in the tenements I lives in would do if they didn't take care of her two kids there at the day nursery while she hustles cleanin' car winders for a livin' for 'em. Her husband's down on the island."

"You think then that the day nursery is a good thing?"

"Fine, and the lady that keeps it up is a ministerin' angel and it's a pity there ain't more like her. They does the square thing by the younguns there at the day nursery."

A visit to any one of Mrs Shaw's philanthropic institutions would confirm this statement if faithful and loving and wise care constitutes the "square thing" in the care of childhood.

As early as 7 in the morning the babies begin to arrive at the day nurseries, borne in the arms of the mother, the father or older brothers and sisters. There are no caste lines and no red tape in the receiving of children. The color line is unknown and the kinky-haired infant African, the shining black-haired Italian, the little blonde Polander and the dusky-skinned Armenian lie down in peace together in the big, clean crib room of the day nursery. They play together in harmony in the large, sunny playroom, with its wealth of toys and its atmosphere of cleanliness and cheeriness. There may be a little passage at arms now and then, but a child's anger, like its grief, is not for long, and harmony is soon restored by the ever-watchful teacher or attendant.

There is a kindergarten for the older children, and work rooms, game rooms and schoolrooms for still larger children, for the work is not limited to children of nursery age. It extends to the mothers themselves, and there are mothers' clubs and mothers' meetings of various kinds.

There are in the tenement house districts many mothers as ignorant as their children of the real duties of a mother. They are helplessly inefficient, and any one but Mrs Shaw and equally broadminded women would regard them as hopelessly so. Some of them know so little regarding the proper use of the needle that they cannot sew on a button properly or do the simplest repairing of their children's garments as it should be done. Willing as they may be, they do not know how to give their children intelligent home care.

The very little children are kept at the day nurseries from the time they are brought to the institutions in the morning until their parents of older brothers and sisters come for them in the evening, when the day's work of the school closes. In the meantime the children are cared for in the kindest and most intelligent way. They are given a good, nourishing dinner at noon, and after that they go to the crib room for the mid-day nap it is well for children to have until they are 5 or 6 years old. All their imperative little wants are well attended to, and the mother goes to her work in the happy assurance that her children are as well cared for as they would be in their own home. Indeed, she knows that they are receiving better care that it would be possible for her to give them.

Now and then the father of a motherless child brings the little one to the nursery to be cared for while he is away at work, and it is six in the evening before he calls for the child to carry it back to his dark and silent home. a whole volume of sorrowfully true incidents could be written in a history of any of Mrs Shaw's day nurseries, and a cheerier volume of equally true incidents could also be written regarding them.

The opportunities of these "Neighborhood Houses" are unlimited and the scope of their work has so broadened that it includes almost everything helpful to home life. The older children and the mothers carry into their own homes the helpful influences of the Neighborhood houses.

In a single one of these institutions 120 girls between the ages of 10 and 20 years meet once each week in nine different clubs. Instruction and amusement are very happily combined at these meetings.

There are also eight clubs with an aggregate of more than 100 boys as members. Sloyd, basket-weaving, chair-caning, gymnastics, games reading and a good deal of general recreation take up the time of these clubs.

As many of 30 mothers meetings have been held in a single year in some of these neighborhood houses. There have been talks, music, readings and a great deal of sociability helped along by light refreshments.

The educational influence of true work is invaluable, while no one can estimate the extent of its moral influence. In all this great "City of Kind Hearts" there is no more sympathetic heart than of Mrs Shaw,and no work more helpful to humanity than hers.

Jamaica Plain Lights Up?

From the date and the content of this short entry, I think we can guess that this request is for the first electric poles in Jamaica Plain. If so, it's intersting that Green street was considered as important as Centre and South by the company. For many years it's been a residential side street, little different from any other, but in 1890 it was a major business hub for the district. Of course, there were gas lamps before electricity came, but the electric lights would have made the gas lamps seem dim in comparison.

In an earlier post, I showed that there was no electric wiring in JP four years earlier, in 1886.




Boston Daily Globe March 11, 1890


Jamaica Plain Electric Poles.


A petition signed by Treasurer Siaz of the Boston Electric Light Company for the privilege of locating poles as follows: Forty-four on Centre street, 21 on Green street and 14 on South street in Jamaica Plain, and one each of Kneeland and Federal streets of the city proper. Referred to the committee on electric wires.

Alien Enemies

This short article only mentions Jamaica Plain in passing, but I though it was worth posting. Two wars against Germany in forty years must have caused a good deal of stress for the German community of Jamaica Plain. The natural tendency of immigrants to support the homeland would have put them under suspicion of disloyalty in this country. Unfortunately, issues of the Jamaica Plain News of these years are not in the collection of the Boston Public Library, so I have no more information to add to this little entry. In the past, I've seen references to the Boston Public school system removing German from the curriculum during both years. My mother took German at Jamaica Plain high school in the early 1940s, but it was not available when I went to Boston schools in the 1960s-70s.


Boston Daily Globe February 5, 1918


Alien Enemies Slow Conforming To Law

Less Than 500 Registered With Police Yesterday

Federal Statute Requires Their Names Feb 4-9, Inclusive


Less than 500 alien enemies in Greater Boston had registered with the police up to an early hour last evening under the Federal law which requires that between Feb 4 and Feb 9, inclusive, they shall appear before police authorities in cities and before postmasters in towns of less than 5000 population, provided they are 14 years of age or more, and give information concerning themselves besides submitting to fingerprints and furnishing four unmounted photographs.

Throughout the State, the registration work was taken up without much ceremony, in practically every place one or more officers being assigned to the work of taking the names, while the inspectors attended to the fingerprints and photographs.

A namesake of Kaiser Wilhelm, whose name is Karl Richard Wilhelm Maser, an employe(sic) of the Forbes Lithograph Company, did everything in his power to prove that his heart and conscience are right by helping the Chelsea police, without compensation, in registering Germans who were unable to speak or write English.

At Joy-st Station, one of the registrants was Paul Pigoras, 17, who told Capt Richard Fitzgerald that he was unable to supply the photographs on account of lack of funds, due to the fact, he said, that although he left Germany before the declaration of war by the United States, he has been unable to obtain work through the prejudice in America against his country.

Pigoras said that his home has been in freight cars, in which he has moved around a considerable part of the country, starting out in New Orleans. He did not know where his next meal was coming from and did not seem to be worrying a great deal about it.

Only a small proportion of the men in Germantown, the extreme end of the West Roxbury district, and in the vicinity of Boylston Station, in Jamaica Plain, another big German settlement, had been heard from up to last night, but the police are confident that there will be a widespread response when the terms of the law are better known.

In Quincy, a man far advanced in years appeared early in the day and in conversation with the police officials expressed regrets that he had not long ago become a citizen of the United States, which, he said, had been good to him ever since he came here in his youth.

At every police station, where registrants appeared, the officers reported that there was no evidence of hostility upon the part of any of the men who appeared. The majority of them, it is said, were of more than average intelligence, and able to read and write and speak English fluently.

Jamaica Plain's Lost Revolutionary War Cemeteries

This excerpt immediately follows the previous one in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. It tells the story of the three estates that were used as hospitals during the Revolutionary War, and where soldiers were buried. It seems as if the Hallowell property was also used as a cemetery by local people.

This article by the late Walter Marx suggests that the caskets from all three sites were reburied at Walter street, where a small number of headstones can be seen at the edge of the Arboretum. It seems unlikely to me that they would have been able to find all the graves without markers, so I suspect, as I said in the previous entry, that some might have been left behind. That's pure speculation, of course, but not unreasonable.






"There are three other places within the limits of Jamaica Plain where burials have been made.

In the summer of 1775, one or more regiments were stationed on the Plain, and many of the soldiers quartered in different houses, upon the inhabitants. (See Dr. Gray's Half Century Sermon.)

Three estates in the place were confiscated, and the houses standing on the used as hospitals; viz., Commodore Loring's Governor Bernard's and Capt. Benjamin Hallowell's. The Commodore's house, built in 1760, on the corner made by the intersection of Austin [Centre] and South streets, after having weathered the storms of 95 years, is at this day, taken in connection with its surroundings, hardly exceeded by any modern built mansion in its neighborhood. About a quarter of a mile back of this then hospital, the soldiers who died within its walls were buried.

Col. Henly, who had some charge over Burgoyne's captive army while at Cambridge, is recollected to have occupied the Loring house at that time.

It came next into the possession of widow Ann (Hough) Doane, who, in 1784, married David Stoddard Greenough, Esq. Their son, and only child, Col. David Stoddard Greenough, Esq, owned it on the death of his father. Col. David Stoddard Greenough, of the third generation, now owns and occupies it; he also having a son David Stoddard.

It is credible to the Greenough family that, through their several ownerships and occupancies, no violation of the graves of the revolutionary soldiers, on their grounds, has yet been allowed. The number of burials made cannot now be ascertained, from the mounds having become levelled by the rains of so many years, and by the tread of cattle feeding over them. But from the number of rude stones, probably taken from walls or picked up in the fields, and set up as head and foot stones, they may be estimated at thirty - or more.

The following inscription, pretty well executed for the time, was taken from the only headstone showing the mark of the graver's tool;

"Here lies ye Body of serg't Danl Niles of Easton, who Died Novr, ye 2nd A.D. 1775. Aged 41 years."

The Governor Bernard estate was situated on the westerly side of Jamaica Pond, having thereon a considerable extent of shore and a liberal share of front on Pond street. After the removal of the soldiers from the premises, the first remembered occupant was Martin Brimmer, Esq., who, after a long residence, died there in 1804. Capt. John Prince bought the estate in 1806, and in 1809 took down and removed the old house, a part of which had stood 141 years; and in which no doubt many bumpers of good wine had been drunk to the health of the several sovereigns of Great Britain, who had flourished during that period.

Some few years before his decease, Capt. Prince procured a road to be laid out and made through the premises, from Pond street to Perkins street; after the accomplishment of which, he divided the whole into good sized building lots, on several of which beautiful houses have since been erected.

The burial ground on the Bernard estate was near a small fish pond, on elevated ground, at some distance back from the buildings. The spot was ploughed many years ago; and it is said some of the coffins were disturbed in the operation. No one in the neighborhood remembers to have seen the ground before the ploughing, and therefore no estimate can be made of the number buried.

The Hallowell house, built about 1738, stands on a corner made by the intersection of Austin [Centre] and Boylston streets. It has lately been purchased by Dr. B.F. Wing, who has thoroughly repaired it, and, by the addition of one or more wings, has given it something more of quaintness than it previously exhibited.

Capt. Hallowell married a Boylston, and in the right of his wife held the above property; but his sympathies happening to be with the Royalist party, he left Roxbury in some haste for Boston in 1775, and thence took passage from England, where he passed the remainder of his life. While the Hallowell house was used as a hospital, the burials from it were made near the road, about forty rods [220 yards] from the house, on the way to Boylston street depot.

An octogenarian pair noted for their accurate recollections, who were born and have always lived near the Hallowell house, think the first occupant of the place, after the term of its hospital-ity, was a Frenchman, whose name was Fefabre; and that it was he who, to the astonishment and universal indignation of the neighbors, ploughed over and obliterated all marks of the graves. They likewise say that people who had set up marks whereby to distinguish the graves of their friends of kinsmen, and came after to remove them, returned home disappointed and in sorrow.

About the year 1789, Dr. Leprilete bought the premises and kept possession till after the decease of Capt Hallowell, when a son of his assumed the name of his mother's family - Boylston. This son, Ward Nicholas Boylston, presuming, or being advised, that the confiscation could hold no longer than his father's lifetime, came over, and in the name and right of his mother, laid claim to, and by process of law obtained the property, about the year 1800. It now belongs to Mr. Thomas Boylston, by the will of his grandfather, the late Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq. "

Necrology

This entry is taken from The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, by Henry Fritz-Gilbert Waters. The Jamaica Plain Burial Ground is the one behind the Unitarian Universalist church at Centre and Eliot streets. I've walked around the graveyard, and some of the stones listed must have been lost over the years. Also, some of the extant stones are now difficult or impossible to read. Names like May, Weld and Seaverns are well known to us, but of course the names we know are far fewer than those remembered.

The last two names come from other sites. Of course, before the church was built in Jamaica Plain, residents would either be buried in Roxbury proper or simply be buried on their own property. Another entry will cover three known Revolutionary War burial sites in Jamaica Plain. Those buried on their own farms is another matter. When the land was sold, did they dig up the family? Or are there still bones lying about Jamaica Plain? Did house-builders ever dig up caskets while digging foundations? It seems likely that there must be at least a few forgotten souls in the ground somewhere in the district.

Note: some of the type in the original book couldn't be copied directly here. The combination AE is shown here as separate letters. In one case, November is abbreviated Nov with a superscript r at the end. All can be seen in the online copy of the original linked above.



Inscriptions From The Jamaica Plain Burial Ground In West Roxbury, Mass, Being The Whole Number Therein Contained.

[Copied by Luther M. Harris, M.D.]


Samuel Keyes died Oct. 26, 1785, aged 9 weeks.

In memory of Mary Woods, Daught. of Mr George Woods & Wife, who died Apl. 17, 1795; aged 5 years and 6 months.

In memory of Mr. Sylvanus Woods, youngest son of Mr. George & Mrs. Dolly Woods, who died March 25, 1808; aged 17.

In Memory of Mr. George Woods, obt Octr 15, 1815, Aged 73 years.

George, son of Mr. Richard and Mrs. Mary Lethbridge, died Sept.21, 1818, aged 5 mo. 14 da.

In Memory of Mrs. Mary Lethbridge, wife of Mr. Richard Lethbridge, Who died Dec. 27, 1818, AEt. 32.

In Memory of Mrs. Martha Ellis, Wife of Mr. Amasa Ellis; Who Died Nov. 26, 1812.

Erected in Memory of Mrs. Mary Harris, Wife of Mr. John Harris, who died May 7, 1814, in the 57th year of her age.

In Memory ofo Mr. Robert Harris, who died April 8, 1826, AEt. 40.

In memory of William Henry Cobleigh, who died Aug. 21, 1836, aged 17 years and 10 mos.

In memory of Capt. Lemuel May, died Novr 19, 1805, AE. 67.

In memory of Miss Rebecca Goddard, Daughter of Mr. Samuel & Mrs. Joanna Goddard, who died March 26, 1798, in the 12th year of her age.

Erected to the memory of Mr. Lyman Springer, Who died Nov. 25th 1839, aged 32 years & 11 months.

In memory of Mrs. Roxina Lawrence, wife of Mr. Reuben Lawrence, who died Dec. 3, 1842, aged 36 years. Also Hannah S., daughter of Reuben and Rosina Lawrence, who died Mar. 7, 1841, aged 8 years.

In Memory of Mr. David White, who died April 28, 1816, aged 70 years.

Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Margaret White, who died July 18, 1841, aged 92.

Sacred to the Memory of Capt. Isaac Sturtevant of Roxbury, who died July 10, 1806, AE 66.

In memory of Mrs Rebecca Sturtevant, who died June 7, 1827, aged 69.

Sacred to the memory of Betsey S. Gregory, who died Jan. 4, 1834, aged 17 years.

Sacred to the memory of Sila Pierce, who died Oct. 13, 1837, aged 30.

Sacred to the memory of Mrs. Esther Weld, wife of Mr. Thomas Weld, who died July 1, 1811, aged 56 - and Mr. Thomas Weld, wo died May 12, 1821, aged 70.

In Memory of Mr. Samuel White, who died Sept. 8, 1793, AEtatis 52.

In memory of Thomas W. Seaverns, son of Josiah & Rebecca Seaverns, who died January 29, 1802, aged 4 months.

In memory of Mrs. Anna Winchester, wife of Mr. Gulliver Winchester, who died April 18, 1797, AEtatis 60.

Erected in Memory of Mr. Gulliver Winchester, who died Novr. 12, 1811, AEt. 79.

In Memory of Mr. Henry Winchester, who died June 12, 1801, AEtatis 40.

In memory of Mrs. Elizabeth, wife of Mr. William Holmes, who died Jan. 6, 1835, aged 50 years.

In Memory of Mr. Charles Stimpson, died Aug. 15, 1800, aged 27 years.

In Memory of Capt. John Gould, died Jan. 10, 1814, aged 41.

In Memory of Mr. Royal Gould, died July 13, 1822, aged 35.

Sacred to the memory of Mr. Lemuel Harring, Obit June 20, 1815, AE. 20.

John Payson died Jan. 14, 1819, aged 6 years.

[On a tasteful marble monument.] Passed into the Superiour State, June 9, 1832, Frederick Chandler, AEt. 40 years. Elizabeth N. Angus, Jan. 6, 1847, AEt. 53

In memory of Frederick, son of Frederick & Elizabeth Chandler, who died Dec. 14, 1830, aged 13 years.

In Memory of Mr. William Shepherd, who died Augt. 28, 1801, AEt. 38.

In Memory of Mrs. Elizabeth Child, wife of Mr. Phineas Child, who died Sept. 28, 1800, AE. 49.

Sacred to the memory of Abigail Child, dau. of Mr. Phineas and Mrs. Elizabeth Child, who died May 10, 1795, aged 6 years.

In memory of Mr Phineas Child, who died March 17, 1806, AE. 60.

In memory of Maria Vietch Cranch, AE. 22, died May 29, 1810, of a lingering and painful disease, which she bore with almost unexampled patience.

In Memory of Andrew Riddle, who died Dec. 14, 1830, aged 58 years.

In Memory of Jane Riddle, wife of Andrew Riddle, who died Sept. 18, 1890, aged 56.

In memory of John Riddle, who died July 24, 1836, aged 29 years.

Mrs. Margaret Smith died Sept. 25, 1812, aged 47.

Henry J., son of Morris and Esther Millet, died Aug. 24, 1836, AEt. 2 years.

In memory of Mrs. Zibiah Randall, wife of Mr. Abraham Randall, died Mar. 18, 1833, aged 78 years.

In memory of Mr. Abraham Randall, died Oct. 7, 1793, aged 14 months.

Mary Jemerson, died Aug. 31, 1839, aged 62 years - Louisa Jemerson died Oct. 15, 1844, aged 38 years. Wife and daughter of William Jemerson.

[A monument - on one side of the shaft is inscribed - ] A.P.H. died Apr. 3, 1836, aged 3 years and 9 months - J.W.H. died July 7, 1842, aged 2 years, children of Mr. Abraham and Mrs. Emily Hodgdon. [On another side] Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Emily Hodgdon, wife of Mr. Abraham Hodgdon, who died July 1, 1843, aged 41 years.

Sacred to the memory of John Fessenden, Esq., who died Nov 16, 1845, aged 75 years.

[Two monuments within an enclosure. On the shaft of one is inscribed - ] Mary Ashton died Dec. 15, 1840. [On the other - ] Sarah E.H. Ashton, wife of Benjamin Callender, died Feb. 3, 1848, aged 31 years.

[On a marble slab within an inclosure is inscribed] -

Williams.

Those flowerets fair, so lately given,
Have joined their parent Rose - in Heaven.

Ellen, aged 30.
J.W., 14 m.
J.S.W., 3 m.


[The two next inscriptions were copied from head stones standing in open fields.]

"In memory of Miss Sarah Druse, who died Dec. 23, 1792, aged 42 years."

[She was the housekeeper and intended wife of the late Dea. Nathl. Weld. She died of natural small-pox. The Deacon had her buried on his own ground, about 30 rods from his house.]

[On a marble slab standing in a field on the Boylston estate, about 20 rods from Boylston street.]

"In memoria Doctoris Ludovici Leprilete, Mass. Med. Soc., Locii, Nati Nante in Gallia, Oct. 10, Anno Domin MDCCL. Obiit carcinomate in glandula prostata, Julii die 29, MDCCCIV. AEtat suae LIV.
Celeberrimus in Chirurgia.
Hic Etiam, ejus filius solus Ludovicus Leprilete sepultus est, natus Jan. 12, Anno Domini MDCCLXXXV. Obiit Oct 30, MDCCXCII. AEtat suae octavo anno."