West Parish Burying Ground, Newton, MA (River Street Cemetery)


West Parish Burying Ground, also known as River Street Cemetery, is an historic cemetery located at River and Cherry streets, Newton, MA. On December 13, 2004, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places – Site – # 04001221.
 
“About[1] the time of the settlement of the Rev. William Greenough, the first Minister of the West Parish, Colonel Nathan Fuller gave to the Parish one acre and a half of land, for a burying ground, situated about sixty rods north of the Meeting-house. His deed is dated September 21, 1781, and acknowledged January 28, 1782. “In consideration of his love and esteem for the Parish, he conveys it to their committee, their heirs and assigns, forever, for the sole use and improvement of the precinct, to be improved of, only as a burying place, for the repository of the dead in said precinct; bounded easterly by land of Nathaniel Greenough, north and west by land of said Fuller, and south by the town way, as the stone fence now standeth,” &c.* 

Colonel Nathan Fuller also gave £60 to the church and congregation, in April, 1785.

* West Parish Records.”

 

“West Parish Burying Ground.[2] — Col. Nathan Fuller gave to the West Parish one acre and a half of land for a burying ground, about the time of the settlement of the first minister, the Rev. William Greenough. It was situated about sixty rods north of the meeting-house. The deed of gift bears date Sept. 21, 1781.

In consideration of his love and esteem for the Parish, he conveys it to their committee, their heirs and assigns forever, for the sole use and improvement of the precinct, to be improved only as a burying place, for the repository of the dead in said precinct. Bounded easterly by land of Nathaniel Greenough, north and west by land of said Fuller, and south by the town way, as the stone fence now standeth.

Colonel Nathan Fuller also gave £60 to the church and congregation, in April, 1785.

The first tenant of the cemetery was a young woman who died of smallpox. The inscription on her headstone, which is about fifteen inches wide and two feet long, is as follows:

In memory of Jain Nottige, Daughter of Josiah and Jain Nottige, of Boston, who died of ye Small Pox, Nov. 7, 1777, Aged 17 years.

The first man buried here is John Barber. He kept tavern in the West Parish near the meeting-house, and set out the great elm tree before it in 1767. His widow married Captain Samuel Jenks, father of the late Rev. William Jenks, D.D.”

 

 

 

  1. Francis JacksonA History of the Early Settlement of Newton, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts: From 1639 to 1800 – With a Genealogical Register of its Inh[abitants] prior to 1800. By Francis Jackson (of Boston) a Native of Newton. Boston: Printed by Stacy And Richardson. 1854. page 74.

 

  1. S.F. Smith, D.D., History of Newton, Massachusetts. Town and Country, From its Earliest Settlement to the Present Day. 1830 – 1880. Boston: The American Logotype Company. 1880, page 277/8.