Tombstone Tuesday- Bill Family members at Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Boston

Polly Bill 30 August 1782

Joseph Bill 3 February 1748

Copp's Hill Burying Ground is the second oldest cemetery in Boston, dating from 1659. There are thousands of graves and 272 tombs, but many are unmarked or lost to the ages. It lies close to the Old North Church (made famous by Paul Revere and Longfellow's poem) and is a stop on Boston's Freedom Trail. From the burial ground you can overlook Boston harbor, Charlestown and Winthrop.


In the book Boston's Copp's Hill Burying Ground Guide there is a list of seven gravestones for the Bill family, but even though we have visited this cemetery several times we have only found these three stones. The Bill family lived in Boston, Rumney Marsh (now the town of Revere), and at Bill's Farm (now part of the town of Winthrop). I haven't found any direct ancestor's burial site from my Bill lineage, but these are all descendants of John Bill, born about 1598 probably in Wales, and died about 21 January 1638 in Boston.

For more information please see Boston's Copp's Hill Burying Ground Guide by Charles Chauncey Wells, Chauncey Park Press, Oak Park, Illinois, 1998.

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo