INSCRIPTIONS 
ON 
THE BRONZE TABLETS 
P 
RECENTLY PLACED ON THE GATES OF 
THE OLDER BURIAL GROUNDS IN 
BOSTON\ MASSACHUSETTS. 
PREPARED BY 
SAMUEL A. GREEN. INSCRIPTIONS 
ON 
THE BRONZE TABLETS 
RECENTLY PLACED ON THE GATES OF 
THE OLDER BURIAL GROUNDS IN 
BOSTON; MASSACHUSETTS. 
PREPARED BY 
SAMUEL A. GREEN. 
CAMBRIDGE: 
JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
(Mmijcrsttg IPrcss. 
1883. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society, May, 1S83. INSCRIPTIONS. 
I)r. Green, who was Mayor of Boston last year, presented 
copies of the inscriptions on the bronze tablets recently placed 
on the gates of the older burial-grounds in the city. He said 
that the first public suggestion of such memorials came from 
Alderman Stebbins, who introduced the order passed at a 
meeting of the Board of Aldermen, on Nov. 3, 1879; but it 
appears from the Proceedings (xvii. 132) that at least two 
months before this, Mr. Winthrop had suggested placing an 
inscribed tablet on the King’s Chapel burial-ground. This 
order authorized the Mayor to place suitable tablets at the 
entrance of certain burial-grounds, giving the names of said 
grounds, the dates of their establishment as well as the names 
of some of the most prominent persons buried therein; but for 
some reason it was never carried out. Last year, on January 
23, Alderman Stebbins introduced a similar order, and in com- 
pliance with it Dr. Green prepared the following inscriptions 
for the tablets, which have now been set up: — KING’S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND 
1630 
Here were buried 
John Winthrop 1649, 
GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS 
John Endecott 1665, 
John Leverett 1679, 
William Shirley 1771 ; 
William Phillips 1827, 
LIEUT. GOVERNORS OF MASSACHUSETTS 
Thomas Lindall Winthrop 1841 ; 
GOVERNORS OF CONNECTICUT 
John Winthrop 1676, 
Fitz-John Winthrop 1707 ; 
JUDGES OF MASSACHUSETTS 
Wait Still Winthrop 1717, 
Oliver Wendell 1818, 
Adam Winthrop 1743, 
Thomas Dawes 1825; 
MINISTERS OF BOSTON 
John Cotton 1652, 
John Oxenbridge 1674, 
John Davenport 1670, 
Thomas Bridge 1715. 
KING’S CHAPEL BURIAL GROUND 
1630 
Here were buried 
Jacob Sheafe 1658, 
John Winslow 1674, 
Mary Chilton 1679, 
a passenger in the Mayflower 
and wife of John Winslow, 
Major Thomas Savage 1682, 
Lady Andros 1688, 
Captain Roger Clap 1690, 
Thomas Brattle 1713, 
Professor John Winthrop 1776, 
James Lloyd 1831, 
Charles Bulfinch 1844. 6 
COPP'S HILL BURIAL GROUND 
1659 
Here were buried 
MINISTERS 
Increase Mather 1723, 
Samuel Mather 1785, 
Cotton Mather 1728, 
Andrew Eliot 1778 5 
and 
Thomas Lake, 
John Phillips, 
David Copp, 
Anthony Haywood, 
Nicholas Upshall, 
John Clarke, 
and others of the early inhabitants 
of Boston. 
On this ground were planted 
the British Batteries 
which destroyed the Village of Charlestown 
during the Battle of Bunker Hill, 
June 17, 1775. 
GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 
1660 
John Hancock, 
Within this ground are buried 
Samuel Adams, 
and Robert Treat Paine, 
Signers of the Declaration of Independence ; 
Richard Bellingham, 
James Bowdoin, 
James Sullivan 
GOVERNORS 
William Dummer, 
Increase Sumner, 
Christopher Gore ; 
Lieut. Governor Thomas Cushing ; 
and 
Chief Justice Samuel Sewall ; 
Ministers John Baily, 
Jeremy Belknap 
Samuel Willard, 
John Lathrop. 
and 7 
GRANARY BURIAL GROUND 
1660 
Within this ground are buried 
The victims of the Boston Massacre, 
March 5, 1770. 
Josiah Franklin and wife, 
(Parents of Benjamin Franklin) 
Peter Faneuil, 
Paul Revere; 
and 
John Phillips, 
First Mayor of Boston. 
ROXBURY BURIAL GROUND 
Here were buried 
Thomas Dudley 1653, 
GOVERNORS 
Joseph Dudley 1720; 
Chief Justice Paul Dudley 1752 ; 
Col. William Dudley 1743 ; 
John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, 1GOO, 
MINISTERS 
Thomas Walter 1725, 
Oliver Peabody 1752, 
Nehemiah Walter 1750, 
Amos Adams 1775, 
Eliphalet Porter 1838, 
Benjamin Tompson, Schoolmaster and Physician, 1714. 
and 8 
DORCHESTER BURIAL GROUND 
Here were buried 
GOVERNORS 
William Stoughton 1701, 
William Tailer 1732, 
MINISTERS 
Richard Mather 1669, 
John Danforth 1730, 
Moses Everett 1813, 
Josiah Flint 1680, 
Jonathan Bowman 1775, 
Thaddeus Mason Harris 1842, 
Major Gen. Humphrey Atherton 1661, 
William Pole, Schoolmaster, 1674, 
John Foster, First Printer of Boston, 1681, 
Isaac Royal 1739, 
James Blake, Annalist, 1750 
and Ebenezer Clapp 1881.