The Old Burying Ground Article No. 3

From the St John Daily Telegraph

October 26, 1874

Author Unknown

J.W. LAWRENCE has kindly called our attention to an error which crept into our article in Saturday's issue. We were mistaken in stating the Rev. George BISSETT, the first Rector of St. John, was at one time Rector of Trinity Church, New York. The only church that he was connected to in America before he came here was that of Newport, Rhode Island. The person who was assistant minister of Trinity, New York and afterwards Rector of that Church was Rev. Charles INGLIS, D.D., who afterwards became Lord Bishop of Nova Scotia and the first Protestant Bishop of any colonial possession in either hemisphere. Anne INGLIS, his daughter, was the wife of Rev. George PIDGEON, the third Rector of St. John. She survived her husband nine years, dying at Halifax in 1827, aged 51 years.

Other monuments in the Old Burying Ground:

On its east side near the walk is a flat marble slab with this inscription:

Beneath this tomb lie interred the bodies of

Walter CHALONER, Esquire

formerly High Sheriff of Newport

then the British Colony of Rhode Island

and afterwards one of His Majesty's Justices

of the Peace for Kings County in the

Province of New Brunswick

who departed this life on

16th of November, 1796

also:

Ann CHALONER

his wife who died

the 16th day of April 1808

and of:

Eliza CHALONER

their daughter who died on

the 7th day of October 1814

also:

John CHALONER, Esq.

late Register of Deeds for the City

and County of Saint John

by whom the monument was erected

who departed this life on

the 11th day of April, 1827.

There is little to add beyond what the stone records. Mr. CHALONER was a grantee of lands in this city. His lot was on Prince William St. No. 59, the one immediately South of that on which the 'Daily Telegraph' stands.

A flat stone on the east side of the ground and not far from the centre walk marks the last resting place of a man who was, from 1795 to 1816, mayor of St. John, being the second incumbent of that office. It is greatly broken and defaced, and it is difficult to account for its condition except on the hypothesis that it has been purposely mutilated. The inscription on it is as follows:

Sacred to the memory of

William CAMPBELL, Esq.

a native of Argylshire, Scotland

upwards of twenty years

Mayor of city of Saint John

who died Feb. 10th, 1823

aged 81 years

universally and deeply regretted

Also:

Elizabeth CAMPBELL

his relict, who died

February 11th, 1824

aged 84 years.

Mr. CAMPBELL was a resident of Worcester, Mass. prior to the Revolutionary War. In 1775 a committee of that town appointed to watch and deal with the disaffected resolved to send him to the Provincial Congress at Watertown to be disposed of as that body or the Commander in Chief at Cambridge should think proper, it being judged highly improper that he should 'tarry and linger at Worcester'. He was at Boston in 1776 and embarked with the Royal Army at the evacuation. In 1783 he was at New York and one of the fifty petitioners for lands in Nova Scotia. He went to Halifax the same year where he remained until 1783 when he removed to this city.

The burial place of the third Mayor of the city of Saint John is scarcely one hundred feet removed from that of Mr. Campbell. It is on the north side of the centre walk and close to it. The monument was one of the old fashioned flat stones and remarkedly well preserved. Evidently his descendent's do not care to see their ancestor's grave defaced, for while Mr. CAMPBELL's monument is disgracefully broken that of Mr. ROBINSON is as almost as perfect as the day it was placed above his grave. The inscription upon it is as follows:

Sacred to the memory of

the Honorable John ROBINSON

late Mayor of this city, and

a member of His Majesty's Council

in this Province, who died on

the 8th Oct. 1828

in the 67th year of his age

During the Revolutionary War in America he served as Lieutenant in the Royal American Regiment raised by his father, Colonel Beverley ROBINSON, son of the Honorable John ROBINSON, President of the Province of Virginia, and, on the Peace of 1783, came to this Province where he married 1787, Elizabeth LUDLOW, daughter of the Honorable George D. LUDLOW.'

Close beside this stone is another similar construction, and equally well preserved, with the following inscription:

Sacred to the memory of

Frances DUNCAN

daughter of Thomas DUNCAN, Esq.

and relict of Honorable George D. LUDLOW

late Chief Justice of this Province

who died in this city on

the 16th day of October 1825

Aged 87 years.'

Mr. ROBINSON, who was father of Beverley ROBINSON, late Collector of Customs and Treasurer of this Province, was engaged in mercantile pursuits in New Brunswick after the war. Besides being Mayor of St. John, he was Deputy Paymaster General of His Majesty's forces, a member of the Council, Treasurer of New Brunswick and the President of the first bank chartered in the Province. Elizabeth ROBINSON, his wife, died in the south of France in 1828 while there for the benefit of her health.

George Duncan LUDLOW, his father-in-law, the first Chief Justice of the Province, belonged to New York and began life as an apothecary, but not liking the business afterwards studied law at which he had such success that, at the time of the Revolution, he was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court, and one of the foremost men in the Colony of New York. Being a loyalist in 1779 his house at Hampstead was plundered; and it is said that the judge himself escaped being made prisoner by getting upon the roof through the scuttle and hiding behind the chimney. In 1780 he was appointed Master of the Rolls and Superintendent of Police on Long Island. At the restoration of peace of 1783 he came to this Province. He was a member of the first Council formed in this colony and administered the Government as Senior Councillor; and he was the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He resided in Fredericton where he died on the 12th February, 1808. His wife, Frances, therefore survived him 17 years.

The second Chief Justice of the Province, the Honorable Jonathan BLISS is also buried at Fredericton, but the graves to his wife and son are in the Old Burying Ground. They are on a hill near the eastern walk, surrounded by an iron rail and well cared for. Their monuments bear the following inscriptions:

In memory of

John Worthington BLISS

eldest son of

Jonathan BLISS, Esq.

born 21st August, 1791

died 6th January 1810

Mary BLISS

wife of Jonathan BLISS, Esq.

daughter of Honorable John WORTHINGTON

of Springfield, Massachusetts

Born 7th March 1760

Died 17th April 1799 '

Jonathan BLISS was a resident of Springfield, Mass. and a graduate of Harvard of the year 1763. He was a member of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1768 and was prescribed under the act of 1778. He was appointed Chief Justice of this Province on the 28th June 1808 and he also became President of the Council. He died Oct. 1st, 1822, aged 82. Mr. WORTHINGTON, the father of Mrs. BLISS, was a very distinguished lawyer and a Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. A sister of Mrs. BLISS married the celebrated Fisher AMES.

End

From:

Daniel F Johnson: Volume 36 Number 257

Date : October 26, 1874

County : Saint John

Place : Saint John

Newspaper : The Daily Telegraph

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