Canton Corner Cemetery (Dan Keleher Collection)

Canton Corner Cemetery¹ 

In 1707, according to Daniel TV Huntoon, “the population of the precinct” had extended so far south that it was decided by the Dorchester Committee to locate a meeting-house on Packeen Plain [now Canton Corner], and it was deemed convenient and desirable to have a burial-place nearby. The Native American people who owned the land supposedly “cheerfully” relinquished all their interest in it, and the spot selected was “that portion of the present cemetery which lies nearly west of Central Avenue, and extends to within a few feet east of the only row of tombs in the cemetery; it is bounded on the north by Prospect Avenue and on the south by the Washington Street wall.” In 1716, Gilbert Endicott became the first person to be interred in the cemetery. Around 1791, George Crosman agreed to grant an addition to the Burying Place, as it was then known, next to his land. In 1816, Abel Wentworth became the first person to be interred in the Meetinghouse lot. The following year, Oliver Downes deeded one acre of land for the cemetery for $50. The “westmost” corner of this was reserved for the burial of foreigners and persons of color.

In 1837, a receiving tomb was built. In 1840, the First Congregational Church gave a quit-claim deed of the Old Meetinghouse Lot to the town for cemetery purposes. In 1848, the town purchased over nine and three-quarters acres of land from Oliver Downes’s heirs; at this time, the Aqueduct Company reserved its rights in the cemetery. The landscaping for the newly-acquired portion of the cemetery was aided by the Honorable Henry A. S. Dearborn, who founded the Forest Hills Cemetery. Dearborn’s expertise did not go un-noticed: according to Huntoon, “the beauty of our cemetery has become renowned throughout the State, and visitors who have traveled far and wide have expressed the opinion that it is the most beautiful rural cemetery in the country. The superintendents of city cemeteries have visited it, praised its natural advantages, and admired the wide view from Prospect Hill. To our own citizens, the cemetery has become a matter of pride. Many expensive and beautiful monuments have been erected within its precincts; the greensward has been carefully attended to; and the whole ground presents' an attractive and beautiful appearance.” In 1870, the town purchased ten acres of land from William Horton for cemetery purposes; this land adjoined the addition of 1848. Fourteen properly-inscribed tablets were erected to the memory of soldiers who died during the Civil War, whose graves had not been previously designated. A lot for these soldiers was also set aside. In 1876, the body of General Richard Gridley was reinterred in the cemetery, having been moved from the Gridley Family Graveyard; the town erected a monument in his honor. In 1882, the receiving tomb was rebuilt from G. Walter Capen’s designs. 

Resources¹

History of the Town of Canton, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, by Daniel T. V. Huntoon. 148, 153-165.