| Cemetery Number | PO010 |
| Town | PORTSMOUTH |
| Cemetery Name | PORTSMOUTH FRIENDS' CHURCHYARD |
| Find A Grave (Opens in New Tab) |
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| 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 |
| Burials | 700 |
| Inscriptions | 320 |
| Fieldstones | |
| Tombs | |
| Exist? | YES |
| Last seen date? | 2006 |
| Newest | 2004 |
| Oldest | |
| Vandalism | N |
| Veteran | 4 |
| Pole | |
| 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. |
| Condition | good |
| Enclosure | |
| Gate | |
| Growth | grass-well kept |
| Terrain | hilly moderate |
| Cemetery Location |
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| Cemetery Burial Map |
N/A
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