Library Book

Still waiting for the Copp's Hill guide from the library. Went to check on it and they had a note that "something" was requested for me, but didn't know what or if the request had actually been processed! Put the request in again and am still waiting. Maybe I should have just ordered it off eBay, but I want to be sure my anscestor is mentioned in the book before I spend the money. Trying to be patient.....

Cotton Mather

I am still waiting for the book on Copp's Hill Burying Ground, so I went to my local library to see what they had on Cotton Mather. I found The Life and Times of Cotton Mather, by Kenneth Silverman. I am only about half way through this huge book, and I admit I have skimmed a few pages here and there, but so far it is very interesting. Cotton Mather was the son of Increase Mather and they were both very famous ministers in early Boston. They are both buried at Copp's Hill. I had a vague negative memory from my past reading of history that the Mathers were pretty brutal to the local Native Americans, mostly in an effort to convert them to the English language so they could convert them to their puritan form of Christianity. This book is very vague on that subject, though. While on the one hand, I think Cotton was a disturbed religious fanatic, on the other hand he tried to do what he thought was right and he did quite a bit of scientific research and wrote about it, those writings still survive as documentation of early New England nature, weather, landscape etc. What bothered me the most was that the fire and brimstone preaching of 300+ years ago is still alive and well in some of the evangelical churches today. I find that very frightening.

Copp's Hill/Who is Etta?

I searched on google and found a library that can get the book Boston's Copp's Hill Burying Ground Guide and I put in a request for it, so I won't have to buy it. Not sure how long it will take, but probably less than a week.

As for who is "Aunt Etta" in the picture: I searched the 1900 and 1910 Federal Census for Massachusetts and found Charles Lund Grammer with his wife Henrietta. He was my grandmother's father (William Dowe Grammer)'s brother. His wife could certainly have been called Etta, but they had no children in either census, so we still do not know if it was her, or who the children were. A mystery.

Copp's Hill Burial Ground - Freedom Trail

I was planning a visit to Boston recently to walk the Freedom Trail, so I included a stop at Copp's Hill Burial Ground. According to family research, my ancestor Joseph Grammer was buried there in 1832. The cemetery is in a beautiful spot, with views of the harbor and the Zachim Bridge and the old brick townhouses nearby. Because the trees were all leafed out, some of the view was obscured, but the spring or late fall would be a great time to visit. The British used this cemetery as a staging ground for their canons to shoot at Charlestown during the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, the stones are badly deteriorated and most were unreadable. It looked like the city tried to preserve as many as possible, even using the fallen stones as part of the stone walls around the grounds. It is not a very big area, but I had some impatient people with me, so I couldn't read every stone and I did not find Joseph Grammer. However, I saw on Amazon.com that there is a book called Boston's Copp's Hill Burial Ground by Charles Chauncey Wells. Here is the description of the book:

"This work chronicles Boston's 2nd oldest Cemetery on the North End and tells about the famous and interesting personages buried here. It includes a section on The Boston Tea Party of 1773, Revolutionary war soldiers buried here, finding missing North End residents, Boston's North End churches, the development of the modern funeral, 1985 gravestone inventory and detailed maps. It reprints a 1878 work by Wm. Whitemore on Copp's Hill epitaphs and is indexed. "

I am saving my pennies to order this to see if Joseph Grammer is mentioned and also to read about the interesting history of that place and time. Meanwhile, I will also be checking libraries to see if any of them have this book available.

Untitled Pictures of Ancestors

I have a picture of two women and three children in a formal pose, with no writing on it. I is a "tintype" and has deteriorated over the years, however, I had a copy made back in 1978, which is in pretty good shape, so at least the image has been saved. When my grandmother gave me this picture, she told me it was her Aunt Etta, her mother, a cousin, here, another cousin and that it was taken in 1906. When I shared this with my cousin Kevin, who is also researching the family, he asked "Who is Etta?" and "Who are the cousins?" I hadn't really thought about it, so I went to the library to use Ancestry.com and see if I could find out.