1630 Phipps Cemetery is One of the Oldest in Massachusetts

Buried in one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States, are Thomas Rand and his wife Sarah Edenden, who are my 9th great grand-parents. Phipps Cemetery in Charlestown, next to Boston, MA was established in 1630, and all the stones are in their original plots, none have been moved. Surrounding this cemetery is a locked iron fence and housing (apartments or condos?) on three sides. Fortunately, somebody will unlock the fence once you give them 24 hrs. notice. I was given the time slot between 8:45 - 2 on a Saturday. The photos below are of the tombstones, part of the cemetery, and surrounding apartments.

HERE LYES BURYE^D

THE BODY OF

THOMAS RAND

AGED 56 YEARS

DECEASED AUGUST

Y^e 4 1683

HERE LYES Y^e BODY OF

SARAH RAND WIFE

TO THOMAS RAND

AGED ABOUT 63 YEAR^S

^{DIED JUNE 26 1699}

Google Map

My blog with instructions to find who is buried in the old Boston cemeteries: http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2018/04/how-do-you-find-your-ancestors-in.html

Alphabetical listing of names: https://archive.org/details/alphabeticindext00bost

Map:  https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Phipps%20Street%20Map_tcm3-24968.pdf

Jeremiah Fitch, Half of his Cemetery Stone

Trying to find a certain cemetery stone in this small cemetery could be a hassle, if you didn't know where to look. This past Saturday, I was very lucky for the following three reasons. First, the leaves hadn't emerged, thus there were very few shadows. Although, I've been here many times, this was my first visit in early Spring. Second, this is a very popular tourist spot, many school groups, scout troops and regular tourists go through here to see where Paul Revere was buried, and other well-known people. Third, if you don't know where to look, it could be a problem, there is nobody to help you. However, I knew exactly where to look, thanks to a map I recently located online. I did a post, so you can find if your family member is buried in Boston.
SEE: How Do You Find Your Ancestors in the Boston Cemeteries?

The Boston Athenaeum is on the left. The backs to the above buildings are not entrances.

Jeremiah Fitch

Born:  5 May 1621, England

Died:  3 May 1692, Boston, Massachusetts

Relationship: He is my 7th great-granduncle.

The sun was facing me, so my photos were rather dark. I lightened them quite a bit. You can see Jeremiah's stone from a distance, below. Tremont Street is in front.

Another day, lots of leaves and people.

How Do You Find Your Ancestors in the Boston Cemeteries?

The Granary Burying Ground, Boston, MA

How does somebody go about trying to find a person in this cemetery? The Granary Burying Ground is one of the oldest in the United States, and perhaps the most historic. What about in the other cemeteries in Boston? Recently I discovered my 7th great granduncle was buried here. This cemetery is well known to me, as I recently wrote a post about Louisa May Alcott's father being this cemetery, and I took the above photo for the post. http://lifefromtheroots.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-did-louisa-may-alcotts-father.html

How was I ever going to find my Jeremiah Fitch? Not by walking around all day, that's for sure But it did take me much of the morning to find the PERFECT site to help you discover if your family members are buried in Boston. And, I am happy I won't have to waste time among the tourists! A special map for the tourists is shown at the bottom of this post.

The instructions are very simple, so I hope my example and additional words make it easy for you. The first link is https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/historic-burying-grounds-initiative It brings you to Search Historic Headstones, a very long page.

The above is almost impossible to read, so go to the link to read about the two options. I used option 1, shown below. https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/search-historic-headstones

To see if your surname is in this database, use the drop-down feature for Last Name, and choose the cemetery, but if you don't know which one, all individuals with that surname will show up in any cemetery. Nice feature. Since I knew the cemetery name, in figure 2, I have several choices.

OPTION 1

https://www.cityofboston.gov/Parks/HBGI/search.asp

 FIGURE 1 (find surname in drop-down box, and choose cemetery)

FIGURE 2, with results

Once you find the name and correct cemetery, write down the location number. In my example, the G stands for the Granary Cemetery, so I only needed to remember  B713 for Jeremiah Fitch. Below is a listing of the cemeteries, to get the map, you need to scroll below to the Site Maps section. This is a very long page, so I had to break it into several screen shots.

The Site Maps section shows two choices for the Granary Burying Ground, a right and a left. I chose Right, and got a rather large image of part of the cemetery. Once enlarged, you can see all cemetery numbers, and the layout including the street, and where the Boston Athenaeum is located. See at the bottom for map.

https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Granary%20Right_tcm3-27896.pdf

The first image is at 25% , and the 2nd at 67%

 The B section I am interested in, can be seen clearly below.

The initial website I found was at https://www.boston.gov/departments/parks-and-recreation/historic-burying-grounds-initiative
From this, I found the other links. Additional information is available, such as HOURS.