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In regard to these notes and other matters, the writer is indebted to gentlemen in this city, of well-known literary and antiquarian tastes. Many more notes might have been added from these resources.

In regard to the antiquity of this Old Burial Place, and of others in Worcester, a few words may not be uninteresting. The most ancient Cemetery in this place, it is said, was north of the intersection of Thomas and Summer streets, and within the enclosure of the brick school house. It is supposed that the first person buried there was Miss Rachael Kellough, who died Dec. 15, 1717. After the number of deaths, subsequent to that date, had increased to twenty-eight, the Burying Ground on the Common was opened, and was the only one in use from about A. D. 1730 to 1795. As to its antiquity, see also further remarks in No. Four of the inscriptions. By the Town Records, it appears that at a town meeting, held May 15,1729, a vote was taken "that the Selectmen agree with some suitable person to dig graves for the future, as occasion may be," and that at a meeting Mar. 4, 1733-4, it was voted "that ye Selectmen do-as soon as may-state out a burying place and measure ye out Lines thereof that The town may know properly how to act Respecting ye fencing in ye same." These appear to be the first acts of the town on the subject of this Cemetery. The grounds on Mechanic Street were provided in 1795; the tract east of Washington Square in 1828, and others more recently.

It is hoped that the present collection, which was commenced from mere personal taste and curiosity, may prove somewhat interesting to the lovers of the quaint or to the antiquarian, and that it may in time prove valuable to those who shall come after us, when the very Cemetery itself shall have been destroyed, and the monuments and mounds and epitaphs shall have become obliterated and lost. W. S. B.

Worcester, July, 1848.

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A Note About These Pages

This is the total extent of what I currently have on cemetaries in Worcester.

I don't have a list of graves from any other cemetaries available.

I don't know how to find your long lost relatives online, etc.

Futher information on this subject can be probably be found at the Worcester Historical Society. I'm not a member, and don't know much about what they have, but I'm sure it's more than I have.