Originally published on September 17, 2020.

Our September 3rd article spoke about the deceased who were buried in the crypt of St Paul’s and then moved elsewhere. Additional research has revealed one of the reasons why indoor tombs were abolished in Boston. An article in the Boston Daily Globe, dated January 14, 1879, described the offensive odors of tombs, “ House Judiciary Committee gave hearing to petition of St. Paul’s Church.” described in detail the problem of the smells coming from the tombs. By 1914 that crypt space would soon be converted to what we now know as Sproat Hall. This brought up two questions for Nautilus News readers. Who were the deceased that were reinterred at Mount Hope Cemetery in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, and why is there only a single cross as a monument to the deceased?

The second question has a simple answer; a deed restriction! The lot was purchased with the following wording regarding monuments “This lot is sold subject to the condition that no individual headstones or markers are to be erected on the lot.” There are plenty of headstones in the adjoining lots, so it seems strange to not have markers for each individual grave in our lot. The Cathedral purchased Perpetual Care for the lot, so it might have been something as simple as not having to mow around all those headstones. We have no further information regarding this topic.

As for the first question, a May 1914 article in The Church Militant mentioned that 175 bodies remained and that 75 were claimed by the families and reinterred in other locations. The other 100 would be reinterred at Mount Hope Cemetery. The family names of those interred include; Allen, Babb, Brigham, Chapman, Clark, Cordis, Darling, Davis, Eaton, Eddy, Faulkner, Gregory, Hanson, Hayward/Hayword, Henry, Herbel/Herbert(sp), Hodgsden, Holbrook, Hovey/Honey, Hunter, Hunting, Jarvis, Jordan/Jorden, Kinsley, Lawton, Lin/Lind, Marden, McCoy, Merriam, Moussa, Pepper, Perkins, Pike, Prescott, Prowse/Prouse, Randall, Reed, Renouf, Richardson, Rude, Skinner, UNKNOWN, Warner, Washburn, Whipple, Willis, Woods.

We have a very complex Excel Spreadsheet with a lot of information about those burials. We are investigating how to best share this information.

Photos saved on Flickr.com.