Evening star., 1949-11-06

upon to locate the site of an ole
burial ground in the far eastern
part of the city and, looking ur
his records, he found that the
persons who died from smallpo,
and were buried in the poorhouse
grounds. between Sixth and Sev.
erth, M and O streets NV, wert
transferred in 1852 to the ground.
at Nineteenth street between Z
and E streets. But when tht
scribe arrived on the ground where
excavations were being made very
little could be found Of those
buried here.
Up to the turn Of the centur,
body-snatching or grave-robbine
was more or less Of profitable
business, since few Of the grave.
yards, and in this case poorhouse
cemeteries, were hardly evel
guarded and it was easy to dis.
inter the dead. as was done ir
the case Of Beau Hickman.
For its age and its size it i
doubtful If any other place ha.
had a greater number of buria'
places than the Capital City and
as the city grew, the church anc
public cemeteries increased ir
number and size.
Holmead's Is Oldest
What might be considered the
oldest cemetery lays between Hol.
meads and Rock Greek. In tht
latter st. Pauls was founded ir
17i9, and the chances are that
burials took place there from
around that date, though the
dates upon the tombstones do not
run back nearly so far. The Hol.
meads came into this vicinity ir
1718. when James Holmead Sc.
cured a patent for land nearby
probably the same tract upor
which Anthony Holmead had hi!
home across from the s stree
property where once resided for
mer President Hoover.
IT, this is so, then 1t is probabl,
that Holmead's Cemetery. on the
block between Nineteenth ant
Twentieth streets and s street ane
Florida avenue N. w., was begur
about the same time as Rocl
Greek, but this is not certain, fol
| there seems no positive evidenc,
as to Just where James Holmeae
first resided.
In the beginning Holmeat
Cemetery contained but q small
piece Of ground. but when tn.
city was laid out. two public GENE.
teries were provided for, one callet
the Eastern Cemetery and tn.
other the Western Cemetery
generally called Holmead's.
Graveyard Became School
A very interesting account o.
this old cemetery appears In The
Star of October II, 1879. and Il
worth repeating. It reads:
"The act Of Congress, approved
March 3 last, entitled, An act tt
protect Holmead Cemetery. In thu
District Of Columbia, provide.
that all the right and title Of thu
United States to and in squar.
No. 100. the City of Washington
commonly known at Holmead''
Cemetery, be. and the same !!
hereby granted to and vested II
the District Of Columbia, ane
shall be used by said District 70,
! public school purposes. and 70
none other. The Commissioner
Of the District, or their successor
in office. may at any time sell an,
part or the whole Of said squar
but the proceeds Of such sale o
sales shall be exclusively investe'
in sites for public schools or Il
the erection or purchase Of schoo
buildings, and shall be used 70
no other purpose whatever. Blu
before making any disposition Q
the said square. the District Q
Columbia shall remove all tn
bodies remaining inferred thereil
to some suitable burial grount
together with all tombstones o
other monuments remaining a
the graves from which the bodie
are so removed :"
Dow for President
The first interment Of record L
Holmead's Cemetery is that 9
Robert Smith Of Boston, who wa
buried there on May 80, 1874. an
the list includes the names Q
many well-known families. Anon
the oddities. We are told, ther
once rested Lorenzo Dow, an &c
centric minister. who, with his wit
Peggy, preached in the marke
houses and handled crowds just a
was the practice many years age
Being nominated President by
/ TL2-o A/a~e a..