Cemetery Details
PO010 — PORTSMOUTH FRIENDS' CHURCHYARD
FEATURED CEMETERY PHOTO
Photo/Image Courtesy of Rhode Island Historic Cemetery Volunteers
Photo/Image Courtesy of Rhode Island Historic Cemetery Volunteers
| Cemetery Number | PO010 |
| Town | PORTSMOUTH |
| Cemetery Name | PORTSMOUTH FRIENDS' CHURCHYARD |
| Find A Grave | Go to Find a Grave |
| Graves List | Display Graves List |
| Location | HEDLY ST., CORNER OF WEST MAIN RD. |
| State | RI |
| Direction | N |
| Pole Number | 2 |
| Distance | 15 |
| Map Number | |
| Page Number | |
| Plat Number | |
| Deed Book | |
| Deed Page | |
| Size in Feet | 300 |
| Size in Feet | 200 |
| Inscriptions | 320 |
| Fieldstones | |
| Tombs | |
| Exist? | YES |
| Last seen date? | 2006 |
| Oldest | 1670 |
| Newest | 2004 |
| Enclosure | |
| Gate | |
| Terrain | hilly moderate |
| Comment | In 1692 Robert Dennis sold a plot of land four rods square to Matthew Berdin, William Wodell, and Gideon Freeborn, for a burial lot for the Portsmouth Society of Friends. It was a deed of gift "For the love I have to the truth and the people of God which are in scorne called Quakers" (Edwin West, "Portsmouth Before 1800"). The church and cemetery were described at length by Robert M. Bayles (RMB) in his "History of Newport County," 1888, II:679-681; "Beyond the meeting house, that is on the western side, in an enclsure of half an acre, surrounded by a neat and plain stone wall, sleep the forefathers of the Friends. A rigid plainness marks the spot. The older graves are marked only by unhewn slabs of native stone, devoid of any semblance of ornamentation, polish or inscription. It is only the later generation that have ventured to place smooth stones with inscriptions up them at the graves of their dead, and these, though neat and substantial, are mostly of the plainest sort." Bayles included a selection of transcriptions, mostly 19th century, all in the Quaker style, e.g., "9th mo., 17 d." rather than Sept. 17. Unfortunately only two stones were copied in "Rhode Island Tombstone Inscriptions, " circa 1900 at RIHS (ANON). The stones were again transcribed by Patricia Bodine for CETA 10 Apr. 1976 at which time the cemetery was active; the transcript was entered by John Sterling. Described but not recorded by Ian Kohl 1989. Church office phone: 401/683-0818; parsonage: 2232 East Main Road, phone 401/683-1109. The information on early burials (1670-1747) in this burial ground are from the Quaker records and are not marked with inscribed stones and may not even be in this yard. In 2006 Deb Gustafson photographed every gravestone in the cemetery. These pictures were then used to update the database to correct errors and add newer gravestones. Every stone was completely readable and only one was rated poor legibility. There are now 320 inscriptions on about 250 gravestone in the database. The 700 burials in the cemetery description is only an estimate with no real data to back it up. |
| Cemetery Location | |
| Cemetery Burial Map | N/A |
ADDITIONAL CEMETERY PHOTOS/MAPS
