Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams was an American statesman, political philosopher, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States, he was a second cousin to President John Adams. Adams was born in Boston, brought up in a politically active family. A graduate of Harvard College, he was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics, he was an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, he became a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament's efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent. His 1768 Massachusetts Circular Letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system in 1772 to help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government's attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies.
Continued resistance to British policy resulted in the 1773 Boston Tea Party and the coming of the American Revolution. Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, at which time Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, convened to coordinate a colonial response, he helped guide Congress towards issuing the Continental Association in 1774 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution. Adams returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, where he served in the state senate and was elected governor. Samuel Adams became a controversial figure in American history. Accounts written in the 19th century praised him as someone, steering his fellow colonists towards independence long before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War; this view gave way to negative assessments of Adams in the first half of the 20th century, in which he was portrayed as a master of propaganda who provoked mob violence to achieve his goals.
Both of these interpretations have been challenged by some modern scholars, who argue that these traditional depictions of Adams are myths contradicted by the historical record. Samuel Adams was born in Boston in the British colony of Massachusetts on September 16, 1722, an Old Style date, sometimes converted to the New Style date of September 27. Adams was one of twelve children born to Samuel Adams, Sr. and Mary Adams in an age of high infant mortality. Adams's parents were devout members of the Old South Congregational Church; the family lived on Purchase Street in Boston. Adams was proud of his Puritan heritage, emphasized Puritan values in his political career virtue. Samuel Adams, Sr. was a prosperous church deacon. Deacon Adams became a leading figure in Boston politics through an organization that became known as the Boston Caucus, which promoted candidates who supported popular causes; the Boston Caucus helped shape the agenda of the Boston Town Meeting. A New England town meeting is a form of local government with elected officials, not just a gathering of citizens.
Deacon Adams rose through the political ranks, becoming a justice of the peace, a selectman, a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He worked with Elisha Cooke, Jr. the leader of the "popular party", a faction that resisted any encroachment by royal officials on the colonial rights embodied in the Massachusetts Charter of 1691. In the coming years, members of the "popular party" became known as Patriots; the younger Samuel Adams attended Boston Latin School and entered Harvard College in 1736. His parents hoped that his schooling would prepare him for the ministry, but Adams shifted his interest to politics. After graduating in 1740, Adams continued his studies, earning a master's degree in 1743. In his thesis, he argued that it was "lawful to resist the Supreme Magistrate, if the Commonwealth cannot otherwise be preserved", which indicated that his political views, like his father's, were oriented towards colonial rights. Adams's life was affected by his father's involvement in a banking controversy.
In 1739, Massachusetts was facing a serious currency shortage, Deacon Adams and the Boston Caucus created a "land bank" which issued paper money to borrowers who mortgaged their land as security. The land bank was supported by the citizenry and the popular party, which dominated the House of Representatives, the lower branch of the General Court. Opposition to the land bank came from the more aristocratic "court party", who were supporters of the royal governor and controlled the Governor's Council, the upper chamber of the General Court; the court party used its influence to have the British Parliament dissolve the land bank in 1741. Directors of the land bank, including Deacon Adams, became liable for the currency still in circulation, payable in silver and gold. Lawsuits over the bank persisted for years after Deacon Adams's death, the younger Samuel Adams had to defend the family estate from seizure by the government. For Adams, these lawsuits "served as a constant personal reminder that Britain's power over the colonies c
Adams, Massachusetts
Adams is a town in northern Berkshire County, United States. It is part of Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area; the population was 8,485 at the 2010 census. Nathan Jones purchased the township of East Hoosac at auction in 1762 from the state for £3,200. In 1778, the town was incorporated as Adams, named in honor of Samuel Adams, a revolutionary leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Much of the land had been subdivided into 200-acre lots; these were farms with frontage on the Hoosic River, which over time would provide water power for woolen, cotton and plastic mills. First settled in 1745, North Adams was part of Adams until the town split in 1878. Although there has never been a town of South Adams, the name was used prior to 1878 to specify the southern part of the town that had long had two primary centers, survives in the name of the South Adams Savings Bank, incorporated in 1869. Early settlers in the 1760s included a group of Quakers, many of whom migrated together from Smithfield, Rhode Island.
The Quaker civil rights leader and suffragist Susan B. Anthony was born in 1820 in Adams, her family lived there until she was six, they moved west into New York, moved again to western New York. Anthony's childhood home is operated today as a museum; the town's population declined from 1810 to 1820. The War of 1812 had the unintended result of stimulating development of the textile industry in the United States because British textiles were no longer available. In 1814, the Adams South Village Cotton Manufacture Company opened. With the construction of a number of mills on the Hoosic River, the demand for labor increased and Adams' population more than doubled to 4,000 between 1820 and 1835. Growth in both halves of Adams was stimulated by the opening of the Hoosac Tunnel in 1875, which connected these areas of the town. In the late 1800s, during the expansion of the cotton mills, four large brick buildings were constructed on Park Street: the P. J. Barrett Block, Jones Block, Armory Block, the Mausert Block, opposite the Town Hall.
They were used for retail offices. President William McKinley made two visits to the town, the second in 1897 to lay the cornerstone of the Adams Free Library, he was a friend of the Plunkett brothers, of the textile industry generally. In 1903, the town honored the assassinated president by erecting a larger-than-life statue beside the library. Berkshire Cotton became a major part of Berkshire Hathaway, its large factory in Adams was closed in 1958. Many textile jobs had moved South, as the industry relocated to states with lower wages and weak unions; the mill town's only major remaining mill, Specialty Minerals and processes limestone for calcium carbonate. This is used in antacids and food supplements, as well as paper whiteners and other industrial purposes. Since the late 20th century, the town has encouraged historic and destination tourism, part of a broader trend in the Berkshires, it has promoted its natural environment and outdoor activities, its proximity to the galleries and colleges of North Adams.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 23.0 square miles, of which 22.9 square miles is land and 0.077 square miles, or 0.33%, is water. The town lies along the valley surrounding its tributary brooks. Set between the Taconic Range to the west and the Hoosac Range of the Berkshires to the east, Adams includes the summit of Mount Greylock, elevation 3,491 feet above sea level; the mountain, located within the state reservation of the same name, is the highest point in Massachusetts, a waypoint on the Appalachian Trail, in the 19th-century inspired writers including Herman Melville. The town includes a corner of Savoy Mountain State Park. Adams is bordered to the north by North Adams, to the east by Florida and Savoy, to the south by Savoy and Cheshire, to the west by New Ashford and Williamstown. Massachusetts Route 8 is the primary north-south road through town, was signed as New England Interstate Route 8, which extended southward to Bridgeport, Connecticut.
The town is the northern terminus of Route 116. Freight rail once ran through the town, but is now converted to the paved Ashuwillticook Rail Trail; the town lies along the northern route of the Berkshire Regional Transit Authority. Regional bus service can be found in North Adams, as can regional air service at Harriman-and-West Airport; the nearest airport with international flights is Albany International Airport in New York. See also: Adams, Massachusetts As of the census of 2000, there were 8,809 people, 3,992 households, 2,431 families residing in the town. Adams is the third most populated town in Berkshire County, ranks 184th out of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts; the population density was 384.1 people per square mile, ranking it third in the county and 197th in the Commonwealth. There were 4,362 housing units at an average density of 190.2 per square mile, albeit packed into a small portion of lower-lying land. The racial makeup of the town was 98.02% White, 0.36% Black or African American, 0.08% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, 0.98% from two or more races.
Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population. There were 3,992 households out of which 26.9% had children under th
Legends & Lies
Legends & Lies is an American television series shown on Fox News Channel. Its primary executive producer is Bill O'Reilly; the show's premise is to present the history of notable people in documentary style, debunking inaccurate details that have entered pop culture mythology. The series features dramatizations of parts of the subjects' lives and exploits, as well as explanatory segments by historians and experts, O'Reilly himself; the show premiered in April 2015. Its normal broadcast schedule is on Sunday nights; each season of the series features an accompanying book co-authored by David Fisher and O'Reilly. Season 3 had its finale on June 10, 2018; the first season focused on the figures from the American Old West. The second season is about the patriots who helped shape America into a nation; the third season is about the American Civil War. One of the locations used for filming the second season was Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the premiere-weekend episodes, run back to back on Sunday, April 12, 2015, beat all other cable-news programs in its time slot and for the night overall in the Nielsen ratings.
Official page at FoxNews.com Legends & Lies on IMDb
1788 and 1789 United States House of Representatives elections
Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 1st Congress were held in 1788 and 1789, coinciding with the election of George Washington as first President of the United States. The dates and methods of election were set by the states. Actual political parties did not yet exist, but new members of Congress were informally categorized as either "pro-Administration" or "anti-Administration"; the first session of the first House of Representatives came to order in Federal Hall, New York City on March 4, 1789, with only thirteen members present. The requisite quorum was not present until April 1, 1789; the first order of business was the election of a Speaker of the House. On the first ballot, Frederick Muhlenberg was elected Speaker by a majority of votes; the business of the first session was devoted to legislative procedure rather than policy. In the 18th and much of the 19th century, each state set its own date for elections. In many years, elections were held after the legal start of the Congress, although before the start of the first session.
In the elections for the 1st Congress, five states held elections in 1788, electing a total of 29 Representatives, six held elections in 1789, electing a total of 30 Representatives. Two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, did not ratify the Constitution until November 21, 1789 and May 29, 1790 well after the Congress had met for the first time, elected representatives late, in 1790, leaving North Carolina unrepresented in the 1st session and Rhode Island in the 1st and 2nd sessions of a total of 3 sessions. Six seats were filled late because North Rhode Island ratified the Constitution late. One pro-Administration representative resigned and the seat remained open at the end of the Congress; this was the first special election to the United States House of Representatives. Delaware had a single representative; the election was held January 7, 1789. Under the law at the time, each voter cast two votes for representative, at least one of whom had to be from a different county. Georgia had a mixed at-large/district system for the 1st Congress.
Representatives were for three district-based seats. Maryland had a mixed district/at-large system similar to Georgia's. Under Maryland law, "candidates were elected at-large but had to be residents of a specific district with the statewide vote determining winners from each district." Massachusetts required a majority vote. This was necessary in 4 of the districts. In the fourth district, The first election in the district was in part a reflection of the rivalry between Hampshire and Berkshire counties. Berkshire was the less populous county, but four of the six candidates who received the most votes - Theodore Sedgwick, William Whiting, Thompson J. Skinner, William Williams - were residents of the county; the two Hampshire candidates were John Worthington. The first election did not reflect the fact that the two counties were centers of agrarian discontent and of support for Shays's Rebellion. Nor did it reflect the fact that in the state Convention the Hampshire delegates voted 32 to 19 and the Berkshire delegates voted 16 to 6 against ratification of the Constitution.
Only Whiting was regarded as a Shaysite and an Anti-Federalist, while the other five men were Federalists - and two of these - Worthington and Williams - had been virtual if not actual Loyalists during the Revolution. The issue of amendments to the Constitution was not raised during the first election in the district, but it became so important in the ensuing elections that Theodore Sedgwick, who opposed amendments, publicly promised to support them before the fifth election, which he won. In the fifth district, The only problem was whether Partridge could retain his post of sheriff of Plymouth County and accept a seat in Congress, as he had done in 1779-1782 and 1783-1785, he received a certificate from Governor Hancock on 10 January notifying him of his election. Partridge wrote three letters to the Governor. In the first, which he did not send, he refused the appointment, he accepted in the two following letters but explained that he would not take the seat if he had to give up his post as sheriff.
The issue of whether or not a state officeholder could retain a state post and still serve in Congress had been and would be raised in other states. On 12 February Governor Hancock asked his Council for advice about Partridge and about George Leonard, judge of probate in Bristol County, elected to Congress from the Bristol-Dukes-Nantucket District; the Council replied in writing the same day that it was'inexpedient' for a man to hold the office of judge of probate and a seat in Congress, but that it did not find anything in the state constitution which prevented a sheriff from being a member of Congress. The Council advised, that it would be inexpedient to introduce the practice of sheriffs being absent for long periods although Partridge'may at present be indulged' and take a seat in Congress'consistently with the safety of that county'; the next day Governor Hancock sent the Council's written reply to the legislature and asked for its advice. The two houses appointed a joint committee which wrote a report, approved and sent to the Governor on Monday, 16 February.
The legislature declared that if George Leonard continued to hold the office of judge of probate and took a seat on Congress, any future legislature would address the Governor authorizing him and the Council to appoin
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India company to sell tea from China in American colonies without paying taxes apart from those imposed by the Townshend Acts. American Patriots opposed the taxes in the Townshend Act as a violation of their rights. Demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company, they threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution; the Tea Party became an iconic event of American history, since other political protests such as the Tea Party movement have referred to themselves as historical successors to the Boston protest of 1773. The Tea Party was the culmination of a resistance movement throughout British America against the Tea Act, passed by the British Parliament in 1773.
Colonists objected to the Tea Act because they believed that it violated their rights as Englishmen to "no taxation without representation", that is, to be taxed only by their own elected representatives and not by a British parliament in which they were not represented. In addition, the well-connected East India Company had been granted competitive advantages over colonial tea importers, who resented the move and feared additional infringement on their business. Protesters had prevented the unloading of tea in three other colonies, but in Boston, embattled Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain; the Boston Tea Party was a significant event in the growth of the American Revolution. Parliament responded in 1774 with the Intolerable Acts, or Coercive Acts, among other provisions, ended local self-government in Massachusetts and closed Boston's commerce. Colonists up and down the Thirteen Colonies in turn responded to the Intolerable Acts with additional acts of protest, by convening the First Continental Congress, which petitioned the British monarch for repeal of the acts and coordinated colonial resistance to them.
The crisis escalated, the American Revolutionary War began near Boston in 1775. The Boston Tea Party arose from two issues confronting the British Empire in 1765: the financial problems of the British East India Company; the North Ministry's attempt to resolve these issues produced a showdown that would result in revolution. As Europeans developed a taste for tea in the 17th century, rival companies were formed to import the product from China. In England, Parliament gave the East India Company a monopoly on the importation of tea in 1698; when tea became popular in the British colonies, Parliament sought to eliminate foreign competition by passing an act in 1721 that required colonists to import their tea only from Great Britain. The East India Company did not export tea to the colonies. British firms bought this tea and exported it to the colonies, where they resold it to merchants in Boston, New York and Charleston; until 1767, the East India Company paid an ad valorem tax of about 25% on tea that it imported into Great Britain.
Parliament laid additional taxes on tea sold for consumption in Britain. These high taxes, combined with the fact that tea imported into the Dutch Republic was not taxed by the Dutch government, meant that Britons and British Americans could buy smuggled Dutch tea at much cheaper prices; the biggest market for illicit tea was England—by the 1760s the East India Company was losing £400,000 per year to smugglers in Great Britain—but Dutch tea was smuggled into British America in significant quantities. In 1767, to help the East India Company compete with smuggled Dutch tea, Parliament passed the Indemnity Act, which lowered the tax on tea consumed in Great Britain, gave the East India Company a refund of the 25% duty on tea, re-exported to the colonies. To help offset this loss of government revenue, Parliament passed the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, which levied new taxes, including one on tea, in the colonies. Instead of solving the smuggling problem, the Townshend duties renewed a controversy about Parliament's right to tax the colonies.
Controversy between Great Britain and the colonies arose in the 1760s when Parliament sought, for the first time, to impose a direct tax on the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. Some colonists, known in the colonies as Whigs, objected to the new tax program, arguing that it was a violation of the British Constitution. Britons and British Americans agreed that, according to the constitution, British subjects could not be taxed without the consent of their elected representatives. In Great Britain, this meant. Colonists, did not elect members of Parliament, so American Whigs argued that the colonies could not be taxed by that body. According to Whigs, colonists could only be taxed by their own colonial assemblies. Colonial protests resulted in the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766, but in the 1766 Declaratory Act, Parliament continued to insist that it had the right to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever"; when new taxes were levied in the Townshend Revenue Act of 1767, Whig colonists again responded with protests and boycotts.
Merchants organized a non-importation agreement, many colonists pledged to abstain from drinking British tea, with activists in New England promoting alternatives, su
Governor of Massachusetts
The Governor of Massachusetts is the head of the executive branch of the Government of Massachusetts and serves as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces. The current governor is Charlie Baker. Part the Second, Chapter II, Section I, Article I of the Massachusetts Constitution reads, There shall be a supreme executive magistrate, who shall be styled, The Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; the Governor of Massachusetts is the chief executive of the Commonwealth, is supported by a number of subordinate officers. He, like most other state officers and representatives, was elected annually. In 1918 this was changed to a two-year term, since 1966 the office of governor has carried a four-year term; the Governor of Massachusetts does not receive a mansion, other official residence, or housing allowance. Instead, he resides in his own private residence; the title "His Excellency" is a throwback to the royally appointed governors of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The first governor to use the title was Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont, in 1699.
The title was retained until 1742. However, the framers of the state constitution revived it because they found it fitting to dignify the governor with this title; the governor serves as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's armed forces. According to the state constitution, whenever the chair of the governor is vacant, the lieutenant governor shall take over as acting governor; the first time this came into use was five years after the constitution's adoption in 1785, when Governor John Hancock resigned the post, leaving Lieutenant Governor Thomas Cushing as acting governor. Most Jane Swift became acting governor upon the resignation of Paul Cellucci. Under this system, the lieutenant governor retains his or her position and title as "lieutenant governor" and becomes acting governor, not governor; the lieutenant governor, when acting as governor, is referred to as "the lieutenant governor, acting governor" in official documents. The Massachusetts Constitution does not use the term "acting governor".
The Massachusetts courts have found that the full authority of the office of the governor devolves to the lieutenant governor upon vacancy in the office of governor, i.e. there is no circumstance short of death, resignation, or impeachment that would relieve the acting governor from the full gubernatorial responsibilities. When the constitution was first adopted, the Governor's Council was charged with acting as governor in the event that both the governorship and lieutenant governorship were vacant; this occurred in 1799 when Governor Increase Sumner died in office on June 7, 1799, leaving Lieutenant Governor Moses Gill as acting governor. Acting Governor Gill never received a lieutenant and died on May 20, 1800, between that year's election and the inauguration of Governor-elect Caleb Strong; the Governor's Council served as the executive for ten days. Article LV of the Constitution, enacted in 1918, created a new line of succession: Governor Lieutenant governor Secretary of the Commonwealth Attorney general Treasurer and receiver-general State auditor When the governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the office of governor remains vacant for the rest of the 4-year term.
The lieutenant governor does not succeed but only duties as acting governor. However, if a vacancy in the office of governor continues for six months, the six months expire more than five months before the next regular biennial state election midway through the governor's term, a special election is held at that time to fill the vacancy for the balance of the unexpired 4-year term; the governor has a 10-person cabinet, each of whom oversees a portion of the government under direct administration. See Government of Massachusetts for a complete listing; the front doors of the state house are only opened when a governor leaves office, a head of state or the President of the United States comes to visit the State House, or for the return of flags from Massachusetts regiments at the end of wars. The tradition of the ceremonial door originated when departing Governor Benjamin Butler kicked open the front door and walked out by himself in 1884. Incoming governors choose at least one past governor's portrait to hang in their office.
Before being sworn into office, the governor-elect receives four symbols from the departing governor: the ceremonial pewter "Key" for the governor's office door, the Butler Bible, the "Gavel", a two-volume set of the Massachusetts General Statutes with a personal note from the departing governor to his/her successor added to the back of the text. The governor-elect is escorted by the sergeant-at-arms to the House Chamber and sworn in by the senate president before a joint session of the House and Senate. Upon completion of their term, the departing governor takes a "lone walk" down the Grand Staircase, through the House of Flags, into Doric Hall, out the central doors, down the steps of the Massachusetts State House; the governor crosses the street into Boston Common, thereby symbolically rejoining the Commonwealth as a private citizen. Benjamin Butler started the tradition in 1884; some walks have been modified with some past governors having their wives, friends, or staff accompany them. A 19-gun salute is offered during the walk, the steps are lined by the outgoing governor's friends and supporters.
In Jan
Granary Burying Ground
The Granary Burying Ground in Massachusetts is the city of Boston's third-oldest cemetery, founded in 1660 and located on Tremont Street. It is the final resting place for many notable Revolutionary War-era patriots, including Paul Revere, the five victims of the Boston Massacre, three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine; the cemetery has 2,345 grave-markers, but historians estimate that as many as 5,000 people are buried in it. The cemetery is adjacent to Park Street Church and across from Suffolk University Law School; the cemetery's Egyptian revival gate and fence were designed by architect Isaiah Rogers, who designed an identical gate for Newport's Touro Cemetery. The Burying Ground was the third cemetery established in the city of Boston and dates to 1660; the need for the site arose because the land set aside for the city's first cemetery—King's Chapel Burying Ground, located a block east—was insufficient to meet the city's growing population.
The area was known as the South Burying Ground until 1737, at which point it took on the name of the granary building which stood on the site of the present-day Park Street Church. In May 1830, trees were planted in the area and an attempt was made to change the name to "Franklin Cemetery" to honor the family of Benjamin Franklin, but the effort failed; the Burying Ground was part of the Boston Common, which encompassed the entire block. The southwest portion of the block was taken for public buildings two years after the cemetery was established, which included the Granary and a house of correction, the north portion of the block was used for housing. Tombs were placed near the back of the property. Puritan churches did not believe in religious icons or imagery, so the people of Boston used tombstones as an outlet for artistic expression of their beliefs about the afterlife. One of the most popular motifs was the "Soul Effigy," a skull or "death’s head" with a wing on each side, a representation of the soul flying to heaven after death.
This popular motif was one of the first early tattoos amongst young women placed on the lower back to protect them from demons. On May 15, 1717, a vote was passed by the town to enlarge the Burying Ground by taking part of the highway on the eastern side; the enlargement was carried out in 1720 when 15 tombs were created and assigned to a number of Boston families. Eleven large European elms fronted it on Tremont Street; the elms were planted in 1762 by Major Adino Paddock and John Ballard and reached ten feet in circumference by 1856. The walk under the elms was known as "Paddock's Mall," while the rest of the grounds were devoid of any trees at all; the first major improvement was undertaken in 1830, when a number of trees were planted around the grounds. The property was improved again in 1840 by the construction of an iron fence on Tremont Street; the fence was designed by Boston architect Isaiah Rogers at a cost of $5,000, half paid by the city and half by public subscription. Rogers designed an identical Egyptian revival gateway for Newport's Touro Cemetery.
In January 2009, a unknown crypt was discovered when a tourist on a self-guided tour through the cemetery fell through the ground into what appeared to be a stairway leading to a crypt. The stairway had been covered with a piece of slate which gave way due to advanced age; the crypt is structurally intact. It is the resting place of Jonathan Armitage, a Boston selectman from 1732 to 1733. Officials from the City of Boston announced in May, 2011 a $300,000 refurbishment project designed to repair and restore the historic site, including widening paths in the cemetery and providing new observation sites. $125,000 will be provided by the Freedom Trail Foundation and the city will pay the rest. Prominently displayed in the Burying Ground is an obelisk erected in 1827 to the parents and relatives of Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston and is buried in Philadelphia. Franklin's father was Josiah Franklin from Ecton, Northamptonshire and his mother was Abiah, born in Nantucket and was Josiah's second wife.
Constructed of granite from the Bunker Hill Monument quarry, the obelisk was constructed to replace the original Franklin family gravestones, in poor condition. The new memorial was dedicated on 15 June 1827; the second oldest memorial in the yard lies near the Franklin monument memorializing John Wakefield, aged 52 who died 18 June 1667. The reason for the seven-year gap between the establishment of the burying ground and the oldest memorial are unknown; the oldest stone is that of the Neal Children, carved by the'Charlestown Carver' dating to 1666. Near the Tremont Street entrance are the ashes of the American casualties in the Boston Massacre which occurred 5 March 1770; the grave markers were moved during the 1800s to be in straight lines, to conform to nineteenth century ideas of order, as well as to allow for more modern groundskeeping. Samuel Adams, signer of the Declaration of Independence Crispus Attucks, African-American victim of the Boston Massacre, in a common grave with the other four victims and Christopher Seider, a boy killed 11 days before James Bowdoin, prominent merchant, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts Rev Mather Byles, prominent minister and loyalist in Tomb No. 2.
