New Haven · Inscription transcriptions
New Haven tombstone inscriptions erected before 1800 · scan page 7
Uncorrected OCR. Name spellings, dates, symbols and column order may be wrong. Verify against the original scan. Dexter’s historical transcription covers legible pre-1800 stones in the crypt, the Green and Grove Street Cemetery. Bold type identifies crypt entries; OCR does not preserve that distinction reliably. Historical stone locations are not modern grave coordinates. Read with the 1914 corrections.
Searchable source text
FFkom the Papers of the N. H. Colony Hist. Soc, Vol. III. 1883.] INSCmi^TTONS ON TOMBSTONES IN NEW HAVEN. ERECTED PRIOR TO 1800. From the settlement of the town, in 1638, the central upper part of the present City Green was used as the common place of burial ; the latest interment being (it is believed) that of Mrs. Martha Whittelsey, who was buried by the side of her husband, the Rev. Chauncey Whittelsey, in Oc- tober, 1813. In 1797 the Grove Street Cemetery began to be used, the first interment being that of Mrs. Martha Townsend. In 1813 the present Center Church was placed on the Green, over the tombstones of about one hundred and forty persons, whose names are engraved on tablets in the vestibule. Between 1795 and 1831 most of the monuments on the Green were removed to the Gr6ve Street Cemetery, where they now are, some of them in private lots, and the re- mainder (about four hundred and seventy) ranged in approximately alphabetical order against the west and north walls of the enclosure. The oldest stone thus removed, which is now legible, is that erected in memory of Samuel Hodshon (or Hudson), who died August. 36, 1673. being, No. 403 in the following list; the only stone older than this, remaining in its original location on the Green, is that inscribed E. W.. and numbered 936 in the following enumeration. These pages include copies of all the legible inscriptions prior to 1800, now to be found in the Grove Street Cemetery, in the crypt under the Center Church, and on the neighboring Green. For the sake of easy reference the inscriptions from the crypt are printed in heavier type. The ari'angement of the names is alphabetical, with the partial excep- tion that parents and minor children are grouped together under the father's name. Prefixed to each inscription is an indication [within brackets] of the location of the original stone. The annotations are numbered according to the inscriptions to which they refer. The editor's task has been essentially lightened by the permission to make use of a careful and elegant transcript of the epitaphs in the Center Church crypt, made two years ago by Mr. Henry Trowbridge, Jr. Franklin B. Dexter, November, 1883.
Cite this page
Silent Grounds Collective, Church Burial & Death Records, CH-P009-0007. New Haven tombstone inscriptions erected before 1800, printed page not verified, PDF page 7. [Dexter, Franklin Bowditch], 1842- [from old catalog] ed; digitized copy contributed by The Library of Congress https://archive.org/details/inscriptionsonto00dext/page/n7/mode/1up Accessed September 8, 2026.
Historic U.S. publication before 1931; public-domain assessment based on publication date. Internet Archive does not necessarily provide an explicit license. Preserve publication and digitizing credits.
