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

West Parish Burying Ground

HISTORY of this cemetery as quoted from the 1854 Francis Jackson Book as follows:

Francis Jackson, History of the Early Settlement of Newton, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts: From 1639 to 1800 – with a Genealogical of its Inhabitants prior to 1800, “of Boston, a Native of Newton”, Boston: Printed by Stacy and Richardson, 1854.

Page 74,

“About 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 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.*. [*West Parish Records]. Colonel Nathan Fuller also gave £60 to the church and congregation, in April, 1785.”