ARCHIVES

Graves of Dom Leonard Sargent and Dom John Hugh Diman

As we continue with our Archives series on “The Former Structures,” we look, for the month of November with its many memorials, into the collection of cemeteries scattered across the monastery property. Some of these sites are but partially identified, some documented and well preserved. They all speak of former times, reaching back decades and centuries, revealing some of the remarkable history that has traversed these hallowed grounds.

The theme that holds together our “Archives” series for this year is to explore “The Former Structures”: edifices, ways of life, community characteristics that were once very visible to those connected with this monastic community. We have thus looked at the Manor House area, with the former monastery building and the original school buildings, most of which no longer exist. In the second installment, we noted that our modern wind turbine in fact harkens back to earlier days, when the Sherman Mill with (or at times without) its four blades made wind power visible to the campus for several of its early decades. This month we take a slightly different approach. In honor of those deceased that we commemorate in the month of November, we make special note of the cemeteries on the monastic grounds. These burial sites hold the physical remains as well as the living memories of many of the former inhabitants of this area. The presence on our grounds of these revered sites thus serves as a reminder of our history and our heritage.

There are at least a half-dozen burial grounds on the extensive grounds of the monastery. Five of them are cemeteries that are clearly demarcated and attributed – included are those of the Chase family and the Anthony. The abbey’s property also contains the cemeteries of the Freeborn family and abuts a cemetery most likely of the Briggs family. And fifth, of course, the most recent of all of these – is the monastic cemetery. The four family names associated with these cemeteries contain the story of some of the earliest European settlers to the region. Such names find notable reference in Rhode Island history and governance, as well as within local history and lore. In addition to the named, there are the burial sites of the unnamed. The most well-known and historically indicated are the casualties of the Battle of Rhode Island, a significant engagement of the American Revolution which took part across large swaths of this property. Most notably, one hears of “Hessian Hole” and the Hessian troops supporting the British, many of whom perished in the area surrounding what came to be known shortly thereafter as “Bloody Run Brook.” There is also legitimate reason to consider the possibility of further, unmarked and unrecorded graves – those of indigenous peoples, and those of the slaves of the early colonials. Specific evidence of this is more general and regional, though the possibility of local burials cannot be excluded.
 

Freeborn family burial area, 1930’s

The Freeborn Cemetery. The Freeborn family’s burial grounds lie to the north of the School’s westernmost playing fields, adjacent to the footpath that winds down past the old dam to the railroad tracks. The stones are illegible and no longer readily visible, unless one intentionally seeks them out. Dom David Hurst made a rubbing of the last headstone to remain legible, though his rubbing has since been lost in monastic renovations and rearranging. Fr. David recorded the stone’s inscription as, “Joseph Freeborn, 1747.” Wikipedia provides some information on the earliest of the local Freeborns, who are linked to the foundation of the town: “William Freeborn (1594–1670) was one of the founding settlers of Portsmouth on Aquidneck Island (Rhode Island), having signed the Portsmouth Compact with 22 other men while still living in Boston. Coming from Maldon in Essex, England, he sailed to New England in 1634 with his wife and two young daughters, settling in Roxbury in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He soon moved to Boston where he became interested in the preachings of the dissident ministers John Wheelwright and Anne Hutchinson, and following their banishment from the colony during the Antinomian Controversy, he joined many of their other followers in Portsmouth. In Portsmouth, Freeborn was active in a number of minor civic roles, such as constable, member of the petit jury, and overseer of the poor, and also held the position of Deputy to the General Court for a year. He and his wife both died in 1670, five days apart. They had two daughters and one son, all of whom married and had families. Freeborn became a Quaker, and his death, and that of his wife, are recorded in the Friends' records.”

Anthony Family Cemetery

The Anthony Cemetery. The Anthony cemetery is located on the grounds presently under lease by the Aquidneck Club, and lies adjacent to the clay tennis courts near the Lookout building. The Anthony name is the only one still associated with an existing structure on the monastery grounds, the “Seth Anthony House,” currently used as faculty housing. During the Battle of Rhode Island, the home found itself situated in the midst of the battlefield and was used as a hospital. Of the Anthony name, a historical study of Rhode Island from the early 20th century notes that, “Anthony is one of the old and conspicuous families of Rhode Island, prominent in the Colonial and Commonwealth annals. Hon. John Anthony, the emigrant from England, served in various public capacities, representing Portsmouth, R. I., in the Colonial Assembly, and his son, Hon. Abraham Anthony, was many times honored with a seat in the General Court, and was at one time Speaker of the House of Deputies. Many of the name who later chose Providence as their field of action acquitted themselves in keeping with the records of their forefathers. The State is proud of her distinguished sons, the late Hon. Henry B. Anthony, journalist and statesman, and the late Hezekiah Anthony, of Providence, merchant and banker, who held a creditable place in that city's business life for over fifty years.”*

Chase Family Cemetery

The Chase Cemetery. The Chase Family cemetery is located near what is now the middle of the Aquidneck golf course. One will find it walking down the road from the Lookout, turning on to what is called “Monks’ Walk,” and continuing on that path for about two hundred yards. The cemetery is not far from the foundations that remain of an early homestead. The Chase family has remained a presence in Portsmouth for centuries. The “Portsmouth History Notes” website relates: “It is difficult to find information about many of our Portsmouth farmers, but a 1994 Newport Daily News article by R.E. Reimer on Mary Chase Hanks give us more information on both farmers. At the time Mary was growing peaches, pears, tomatoes, peppers, berries, flowers and corn and selling them at her ‘Stonewall Stand’ on East Main Road. Mary was using organic techniques and was quoted as saying, ‘I like natural things, the natural way of preserving life and doing things that’s going to help the other fellow.’ She didn’t use herbicides or insecticides. That was the Chase farm way since before the Civil War. Mary stated that the farm was once part of her great-great-grandfather Samuel Chase’s much larger farm. Frank Chase inherited part of that farm – around 18 acres of it from Quaker Hill to Bloody Run Brook.” These geographic details situate that property squarely on the present Abbey grounds.*

Historical marker

Rhode Island Cemetery 38. Rhode Island Cemetery 38, one of the many burial sites officially recorded and protected by the state, is found on the former Briggs property, acquired by the Abbey in recent years. The Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission indicates that it contains 18 burials. It tells us that, “Shelby Favreau and Patricia Bodine visited this lot 10 May 1975 for CETA. They found it overgrown with brambles and weeds, all stones worn down to between 2" and 8" with no visible inscriptions. No transcriptions known. This may be the Soule/Briggs Lot shown on the 1938 aerial photograph of the Portsmouth Abbey grounds.” Thus, while noting no discernible names, it tentatively associates the plot with the Briggs family. This is reasonable, as the Briggs name is present in Portsmouth history back into the 1600’s, and the Briggs family long owned the property surrounding the cemetery, until the parcels abutting the cemetery were acquired by the monastery. The land in that vicinity supported the Briggs farm, which included at one point the well-known Fairholm Dairy. From the “Portsmouth History Notes” site: “Are you old enough to remember the days when milk was delivered to your home in glass bottles? In the collection of the Portsmouth Historical Society is a calendar advertising the Fairholm Dairy. Located on West Main Road by Hedly Street, it was started by Mervin Briggs and later was run by family members. The dairy developed into a wholesale and retail establishment. As a family business, Mervin’s sons Barclay, Frederick II and Ernest Briggs all had roles to play. By 1970 it was operated by Mrs. Frederick Briggs and sons Frederick, David and Richard. (March 29, 2019)”*

The Unknown Burials:
The Indigenous, The Slaves, and The Hessians. The most ancient burial sites on these grounds remain unidentifiable. Of Native American burial grounds on the property, we have no clear historical record. Neither have any slave burial sites been identified. Concerning the former, it would not be surprising that the centuries of inhabitation in this region would have resulted in local burials. Concerning the burial of slaves, the continued discovery of various slave burial sites around the country certainly opens this possibility. The 1800 Rhode Island census lists twelve Portsmouth slaves, two of whom were included under the names Isaac Anthony and Benjamin Chase. Burials might have occurred from other circumstances, as the following story on a Rhode Island history website relates:

“The opening page of Rhode Island blacksmith ‘Nailer Tom’ Hazard’s diary includes an entry for June 21, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. At the time, the British occupied Newport. Hazard records a typical voyage of a flag, a transport vessel that was authorized to sail by American and British military authorities. The ship hauled off that morning from ‘Tom Robinsons whaf’ at Newport and anchored off Fort Point by nightfall. The next morning, they set sail again, and arrived off Warwick Point around sunset. A Black man, free or enslaved, it is not known, had died on board the vessel. A party rowed out from the ship toward the shore. Nailer Tom records the event in what would be the Quaker’s customary, terse, matter-of-fact manner: ‘George Coggishall, Negro man died on Board, we Buried him on the beach, the Son was in the clips.’ This small incident recorded during the colonial era is one of but many circumstances in which many Black individuals, considered mere property, were buried in innumerable, now anonymous places of Rhode Island and the rest of New England.” (Source: Robert A. Geake, “Long Buried and Forgotten: Finding Traces of Slavery in Rhode Island” (Small State, Big History) See also: Hazard, Caroline, ed., Nailer Tom’s Diary otherwise The Journal of Thomas B. Hazard of Kingstown, Rhode Island 1778-1840 (Boston, MA,: The Merrymount Press, 1930)

Marker for Bloody Run Brook

The most well-documented yet still unidentified burial sites come from the Battle of Rhode Island. The Portsmouth History Notes site says: “’Hessian’s Hole’ was the name commonly used for the burial ground of these German soldiers. You can find it on modern online maps, but there are debates about just where it is located. One possible location is on the grounds of Portsmouth Abbey. Other sources claim it is by the top of Lehigh Hill on route 114 where there is a look-out. According to the state database of historical cemeteries, ‘This cemetery is just south of one of the holes on the golf course on the edge of the woods. It is on land of Portsmouth Abbey – must get permission to visit. These are the graves of Hessian soldiers who died during the Revolutionary War.’ In addition to Hessians, there may also have been Americans buried in the area, as some certainly fell in battle there. Notably, The First Rhode Island Regiment, also known as the Black Regiment, repelled several attacks by the Hessians. The remarkable regiment was comprised of both slaves and freemen, and is commemorated in a memorial located on Route 114, not far from the road the town now calls Freeborn Lane.*

Monastery Cemetery

The Monastic Cemetery. Most recent is the monastic cemetery, located just inside the “Stone Pillar” entrance to the original access road to the Manor House. While this location may seem these days to be private and out of the central traffic areas of the monastery or school, when the site was chosen it was directly adjacent to what was essentially the principal entrance to the monastic grounds. While the archives have not revealed clear evidence of the thinking behind this choice, one may wonder if St. Benedict’s admonition, “Keep death daily before your eyes,” was not an influence. The cemetery includes the burial sites of our monastery’s founder, Dom Leonard Sargent, as well as the school’s founder, Dom John Hugh Diman. Sargent’s is the earliest date on the stones (d. 1944), the first monk interred there, thus the forerunner of the monastery both in life and in death. In addition to the beloved deceased of the monastic community, also buried there are several oblates of the community, including Ade Bethune, best known for her artwork in the Catholic Worker, as well as faculty members and friends of the community.


* NOTES:
Anthony Family:  Representative Men and Old Families of Rhode Island
Chase Family: Mary Chase
Briggs Family: Fairholm Dairy
Unidentified Burial Grounds: Small State Big History ;  Hessians Hole ; Black History