Tombstone Tuesday ~ Old North Beverly Cemetery

Last year we went to North Beverly looking for two old burial grounds.  We found the Dodge's Row Burying Ground, which was very, very well hidden (you can read all about that adventure HERE) and we saw the entrance to the Old North Beverly Cemetery but didn't have time to explore.  This past month we attended the Old Planter Reunion and one of the activities on the schedule was a tour of the Old North Beverly Cemetery.  We happily joined them!  It was well narrated by members of the Beverly Historical Society, who took the time to research the surnames of the attendees and featured some of the ancestors of these names on the tour.

This cemetery is difficult to find.  There is no sign, and it is not visible from the road.  There is no parking area, but the Second Congregational Church is nearby.   The North Beverly Cemetery is located right behind the church, but this is not the OLD original cemetery for the church.   Park at the church and then walk back along Conant Street towards Route 1A/Dodge Street (past two houses), and you will see the entrance gate.  The address for this gate is approximately 27 Conant Street if you are using a GPS.  There are two iron gates here.  Take the one that is located right against the wooden stockade fence of the house next door.

Entrance gate on Conant Street

Walk along the fence

The Old North Beverly Cemetery

Old Cemeteries, Abbott and Conant Streets, William J. Berry, 1901-4, page 4

In the archives at the Beverly City Hall you can find this old index and plot map for the Old North Beverly Cemetery.  There is a copy at the Beverly Public Library. 

Old Cemeteries, Abbott and Conant Streets, William J. Berry, 901-4, plan no. 4, page 8. 

The second church was established about 1715, and the oldest surviving gravestone here is for Joseph Herrick in 1717/18.   You will see as you walk around that the stones are not in good condition, although the graveyard is very well maintained.  Some of the gravestones have been saved by encasing them in concrete, such as Joseph Herrick's stone (below).  Joseph Herrick (1645 - 1717/18) is my 10th great grand uncle- I descend from his brother Henry Herrick (1640 - 1702).  

HERE LYES YE BODY

OF MR. IOSEPH HERRICK

WHO DIED FEBRY

YE 4TH IN YE 73 YEAR

OF IS AGE 1717 18

Another interesting gravestone belonged to Rev. John Chipman, the first minister at the second parish.  It was entirely in Latin, and located right next to the entrance of the burial ground.  He was married to Rebecca Hale as his first wife, and her stone was next to Rev. Chipman's gravestone.  Rev. John Chipman (1691 - 1775) is my 1st cousin nine generations removed.  His grandparents were John Chipman (1620 - 1709) and Hope Howland (1629 - 1684) and also my 9th great grandparents.  Hope Howland was the daughter of Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley.    Rebecca Hale was the granddaughter of Rev. John Hale (1636 - 1700), who was an important figure in the 1692 Salem Witch hysteria. Rebecca and Rev. Chipman had fifteen children together.  He married second to Hannah Warren, daughter of Joseph Warren of Roxbury.

I hope I transcribed the Latin correctly!  The stone was very legible. Rev. John Chipman was a Harvard graduate and according to the compiled genealogy The Chipman Family:  A Genealogy of the Chipmans in America, 1631 - 1920 by Bert Lee Chipman, 1920 via Internet Archive, he was "ordained Dec. 28, 1715 as pastor of the First Church in the precinct of Salem and Beverly now North Beverly, Mass... In compliance with Mr. Chipman's request the church ordained Rev. Enos Hitchcock pastor associate May 1, 1771."  He served until his death on March 23, 1775.  

Huie tumulo mandantur reliquiæ

Reverendi et admodum venerabilis
JOHANNIS CHIPMAN A M
Academiæ Harvardinæ alumni
Et fecundæ Ecclefiæ Beverlacenfis
Per annos quinquaginta novem et ultra
Paftoris fidelis
Vin mente folida et eruditione utili confpicui
Literarum facrarum peritia præcipue infignis
Verbum prædicando gravis et pungentis
Jefu religionis amore penetrati
Et præcepta ejus exemplo fuo alios docentis
Eccletiæ præfidendo vigilantis et integri
Toti gregi benevolentis et æqui
Bonos omnium fectarum ex animo complexi
Officiis mutuis focialibusq fungendo eximii
Domui fuæ omnis virtutis chriftianæ exemplaris
Profperis minime inflati
In adverfis patientifsimi
Qui longævitate faturatus
Firmifsima fpe beatæ immortalitatis
Animam effiavit
XXIII die Martii
Anno falutis humanæ MDCCLXXV
Ætatisq. fuæ LXXXV

There are some inscriptions in The Essex Antiquarian, Volume III, 1899 Pages 122 - 126.  Some of the stones transcribed in this journal article are not legible today. 

In the next few weeks I will feature more tombstones from this cemetery on "Tombstone Tuesday" here at my blog.  Stay tuned!

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Old North Beverly Cemetery", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 15, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/11/tombstone-tuesday-old-north-beverly.html: accessed [access date]).