Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1905-12-07
THE BURIAL GROUND OF THE FREE
QCAKERS.

the living body from vanity and ponp
and circumstances and c,,ti,htiui. only
the .,nir, of the Inner Llxhi. there en-
tered "A like disregard OF the dead body
and the narrow cell in which it was
hcnccforth TO be corrupted into dust. All
tombstoncs and memorials of the kind
were looked upon as foolish or super.
1uous signs of vainglory and untoward
ness in the democracy Of death. Hence
il was that many, if not most OF the
Fighting tpuakers that wore buried in
their ground on the west side of Fifth
street were CONNIE morated nv no grave
stones, as Was the case, of course, in
most other Quaker burial grounds
And yet for many years past in fact as
far back as the ground can he remember
ed by even old men. il has not even had
the peace and scutiestercd silence of sim
plicity II used to he not uncommon to
see when looking through the gate on
Fifth street or over the wall on old Whita-
ker Row. n variety Of TN cans. played out
bushcl -hasket.. battered hats, broken bot
ties and dead cats At one time the boys
in the fifth ward WHO were d, idcd into
two hostile camps often made the Quaker
burial ground a rendezvous. notwithstand-
ing the many attempts of the neiChbors
10 frighten them away with stories OF
the ghosts that were to he seen over in
the northeast angle. There they would
play "prisoners' base" duck on davy,"
skinny" and base ball or tom ball,
with one of tho grave stones that were
there for the first and only lasc. About
this time of the year. when the grass and
leaves wer. dry. they would set up bon.
fires toward the close of the dav. and n
tremendous battle with stones and clubs
would be fought for the possession of the
grounds
II was never Known how many persons
were buried there. and seemingly. be-
cause of the small number of stones
they were few. Put the majority Law in
graves that were totally unmarked and
not even indicated by hllocks. The Free
Cuakcrs, as organized i'm their meeting.
were never very numerous, probably at
no one time rcpr. scnting more than one
hundred families The property had come
into their possession shortly after the
Revolution as a grant from the Common
wealth and in Connection with the meet
ing house which they had built at Fifth
and Arch streets in 1888. or, as they put
it Also on the tablet which may still be-
seen there, the year "of the Empire s.
In the course of the disrunton which
their desire to take IN arms in the Revo-
luton had caused among he DUAL .rs,
they had been disowned by the orthodox.
who remained neutral or non-comhatant.
they had lost all their privileges and
rights in the regular meeting, and in con-
sequence. they needed a burial ground
as we'll as "A meeting house. There was
a ready disposition among the triumph
liant wings to recognize their services and
| to hclp them in the construction of tie
meeting house. When the right of sepul-
ture at Fourth and Arch was asked by
them. it was refused. and they were vir-
tuallv treated as outcasts in all claims
made hv them to a sharing of the prop
.rty. The orthodox maintained that they
could. if they saw fit exclude from it
ANYBODY who was not in fellowship with
them. But in n memorial to the Assem-
bly or Legislature. the Free Ouakers
declared that "certain men among these
nconle have assumed and exercised q
nrctendcd righl to refuse. mr. to grant
az of n favor. at their discretion and
plea sure. the interment of the dead in
| the burvjn.. ground granted i'm common
to their and our ancestors" Of which
| Two contrastcd instances are alleged
one man who died in the service Of IN,
United states was denied the right OF
! hurnl "hecauac he had bo,nn arms
and been concerned in war" another
man. having no pretension of right. who
had been convicted of an ATTEMPT ia
brlbe the pilots of the State to CON.
duct the British feet into our barbor
Icondomned. hanged and buried in othe,
ground was long after taken up. and in.
TERED nv their order among M,
friends, Hence il was that in consideru.
tion of their LOYALTY the Assembly. or Leg
islature. granted to them for burial mr..
poscs eight pubiic lots on Fifth street
the whole forming a tract that extendof
more than onc-half Of the woy To Sixtt
street. IT WAS expressly r.cited i'm m,
act that this was done because of theh
attachment to the cause Of their county,
IN its hour of danger. One bv one mos
of the founders of the Free Meeting were
liz is believed. laid away there. a. we'll a,
some of their descendants. For i'm.
ltime after tho Free Ouakors had died on,
the gates of the graveyard we're seldom
Ionened for a coffin Ru, during tho Civi
i war. when soldiers of the Union wer,
fr,cras so,,o no tho hodies were c,rrie,
49,. -, 49,,