Thank you to user SomeonesAunt (48369973) and Erin (47263597) for tracking down the lack of a stone and the lack of an official cemetery record, back in 2014. Proving his burial place had to be determined a different way.
Main Burial source--"Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA," covering 1640-1850, by Waldo Chamberlain Sprague. Sprague died in 1961 (id 197651925). He was of a family in Middlesex County by the late 1700s, sufficiently religious to send a missionary to Honolulu circa 1820. A later generation then moved to the Boston area, Waldo's branch in the part of old mother Braintree that became the southern Boston suburb called Quincy. There, he became curios about local family histories, becoming a writing member of the NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society). Sprague is buried at Quincy's newer Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, not with Samuel at Quincy's older Hancock Cemetery.
Not finding stones for multiple Frenches in cemeteries that town records indicate should be there, Sprague instead found the diary of Rev. Samuel Niles. A consultant hired by the city circa 2007, many decades later, found the handwritten diary still existing. It's kept at a local historical society. The diary listed deaths of Niles' congregants, found them split, most burials at Elm Street, many of the others "at the North End", meaning at Hancock.
The fading but elaborate stone of Samuel's first wife still stands at Hancock. A "death's head angel", its "late Puritan" motif is a winged skull ("straight out of a horror movie"). That helps date her stone, clearly older than the differently colored, flatter, sturdier replacement stone from the mid-1800's, alongside the older one.
In contrast, Samuel has no marker remaining. Had the plan been to bury him alongside her, "when the time came?" Hancock Cemetery's office's list was drawn up at some point, maybe mid-1800s, probably when the replacement stones were issued. His stone was already absent? That would explain why he's not on the office's list of burials, but in Niles' diary.
======THEIR LOCATIONS=====
THE HANDWRITTEN DIARY'S PATTERN. Circa 2007, the modern town of Braintree (BraintreeMa.gov) hired their cemetery consultant to assist with historic preservation of Elm Street. The consultant found that Rev. Niles typically divided a burial page in his diary into two parts.
On one side, were those across the road from Niles' church. The consultant noted they were on newly purchased ground that would continue to be used as a pasture, livestock there causing more damage than seen at Hancock.
On the other side, were burials at the older "north cemetery". (By Sprague's time, the north one was re-named Hancock.)
An image put in the report showed Thomas French (bit-older brother), clearly on the Elm Street side. dated as deceased earlier, Sept. 2017, as the sickness began. We assume Sprague understood the pattern.
TYPED CONFIRMATION OF DIARY BURIALS. Confirmation was found in a manuscript, possibly one based on Rev. Niles' son's editing of the diary, as it includes some pages on the son marrying his RI cousin Sarah Niles and entering the ministry. It's archived by the Congregational Churches. Found early in 2024 by this writer, it was at a site called CongregationalLibrary.QuartexCollections.com. Its clearly typed pages, entitled "Braintree_CR1_Transcript", were found by searching for
"Transcription for "Samuel Niles journal, 1697-1777", then clicking on Viewer, to scroll through.
There's no index, so there's no searchable landing spot. Further, the images are OUT OF ORDER, not by date!
One must scroll through the viewer by hand and enlarge each page that looks like a list, not a poetic sermon, not a weather report or farming report, etc. The first page of burials is four pages AFTER a discussion of earthquakes in 1755, on Aug 18, milder ones felt in New England, chimneys falling in Boston, stone walls collapsing, vs. terrible ones abroad.
On a page with number 207 at the top is:
"An account of the persons buried in the buring[sic] place In the South part of Brantry[sic] near the Meeting house there."
NOTE: [Sic} means "Yes, they did spell it that odd way". All the talk abut Cambridge, Oxford, etc. did not change the fact that a dictionary and an atlas were future ideas, not yet invented.
There are no Frenches until the next image. Its burial list has numbered lines on the left side. These show two deaths in 1716, numbered as 1 and 2. The deaths jump drastically, to nine for 1717. His brother Thomas was one of those nine, on line 5. The church's Elder Wales is on the opposite side, as a 1718 burial, "at the North end" (Hancock).
That page ends with burial #14.
The next image does #15 through #30, local burials left, other cemeteries right. Many in 1718....
LEFT:
#18 "John French", Dec 23 [Samuel's eldest brother].
#19 "the wife of Thomas French" Dec 25 (the former Elizabeth Belcher, recent widow].
#21 "My Little Son Elisha" Jan 13 {Rev. Niles' son, a namesake would be born later].
#22 "My Negro Man- Cesar" Jan 16 [Rev. Niles' slave, presumed bought from RI, by Nathaniel Niles].
#25 "John Frenches[sic] Widow" Sep 30 [the former Experience Thayer]
RIGHT:
#10 "Samuel French- buried at the North End" October 15 1718
The date of Oct 13 is the a death date used by Sprague. Rev Niles's Oct 15 was the burial date, a few days later. Then followed, on the next pages, burials of many children, with multiple instances of twins, something Rev. Niles maybe found disturbing, trying to figure it out.
Later, he said "I was taken sick of a fever January 7, 1717, in a time of sore sickness among us in which many died but it pleased God to raise me up."
NOTE: Related church items were then found by searching at CongregationalLibrary.org, in its history section, for this phrase: "Braintree, Mass. First Congregational Church Records, 1697-1825." That pulls up the author as "Samuel Niles, 1674-1762"
Why Congregational? Predicting that King's chapels were about to be closed, Quincy's first church declared itself Unitarian (that is, not "trinitarian", instead "deist"). They added Universalist later to indicate that God let everyone be saved, did not put a fixed number in advance over heaven's door . The Congregational-leaning, would eventually start rejecting extremeness, as well, but still believed that God's personality had three aspects, the creator, the teaching son (the Word or Light), and the spirit, not just the deist/creator portion. The second- and third-authorized churches waited until later to call themselves Congregational.
(The phrase "Church of Christ" was much more modern, not seen in the older books, but would make clear they weren't deist only. Congregationals tended to be ethnically English, all of the church voting, while Presbyterian governing was more Scottish, elders elected to vote on the congregation's behalf. Many ministers were trained later to lead either type, letting congregations switch from congregational to elders when desired.)
=============================================================
From Sprague--
"Sgt. Samuel2 (John1) French, born Feb.22,1659/60
Died Oct.13,1718 - buried Oct.15 in Hancock Cem.- Diary of Rev. Samuel Niles.
Married 1st about 1687, Hannah or Anna Marsh, born Mar.-1662, died "Hannah" Feb.4,1711/12- town record (died Anna wife of Samuel & daughter of Alexander Marsh Feb.14,1711/2 aged about 50", gs., Hancock Cem.), dau. of Alexander & Mary (Belcher) Marsh.
Married 2nd "Samuel of Braintree" Nov.12,1713 at Milton, Elizabeth Clap, probably widow of Ebenezer Clapp of Milton, born -, died -, dau. of (-) Dickerman. Did she marry 3rd Nov.9,1720 Edward Dorr?
He was elected constable 1694, fenceviewer 1696, surveyor of highways 1703,1706,1711,1714, selectman 1709,1715,1716,1717, tithingman 1718, moderator 1718.
=================================================================
When describing his 1711 ordination at Braintree, Rev. Niles cited Samuel French as one of the church members already "in Full Communion" with the new congregation.
Most of Niles' burials were at the front of what is now the Elm Street Cemetery, said the consultant. Niles was a fairly new minister at the time, at the 2nd church of mother Braintree, across from the Elm Street Cem. (the 1st church is instead at the edge of Hancock).
Samuel's elder brother Dependence French was on the committee to finalize the land for the new burying ground, mis-identified in the consultant's report as "Independence French".
Samuel's first wife died in 1711, when Hancock was still the only authorized cemetery of old Braintree.
If Samuel had bought the lot for his first wife's burial, his plan might always have been to be buried beside her, even if inconvenient, needing to go uphill and over marshes to get there.
The typed summary shows Rev. Niles first wife as the first burial later, at Elm, said to be still a private burial, land not yet town- church owned. Her burial was in Feb, the year counted as 1715 if starting a new year later, as done with the old calendar, instead, in 1716 if starting a new year the modern way, on Jan 1.
2024, Research by JB, contributor 48697180
The spouse of JB is a descendant, many generations down, of Dependence French, by Dependence's grandson and great-grandson, the two called Abiathar French. They left the Braintree/Randolph area pre-Revolution, to go to Westhampton, in Berkshire County. Further descendants then made their way, very early, to Ohio, pre-War of 1812, then to lower Michigan, in its territory days, finally to the West Coast. Multiple ones not leaving for the West Coast were strongly opposed to slavery, so served on the Union side in the Civil War, some to marry newly arriving immigrants.
Thank you to user SomeonesAunt (48369973) and Erin (47263597) for tracking down the lack of a stone and the lack of an official cemetery record, back in 2014. Proving his burial place had to be determined a different way.
Main Burial source--"Genealogies of the Families of Braintree, MA," covering 1640-1850, by Waldo Chamberlain Sprague. Sprague died in 1961 (id 197651925). He was of a family in Middlesex County by the late 1700s, sufficiently religious to send a missionary to Honolulu circa 1820. A later generation then moved to the Boston area, Waldo's branch in the part of old mother Braintree that became the southern Boston suburb called Quincy. There, he became curios about local family histories, becoming a writing member of the NEHGS (New England Historic Genealogical Society). Sprague is buried at Quincy's newer Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, not with Samuel at Quincy's older Hancock Cemetery.
Not finding stones for multiple Frenches in cemeteries that town records indicate should be there, Sprague instead found the diary of Rev. Samuel Niles. A consultant hired by the city circa 2007, many decades later, found the handwritten diary still existing. It's kept at a local historical society. The diary listed deaths of Niles' congregants, found them split, most burials at Elm Street, many of the others "at the North End", meaning at Hancock.
The fading but elaborate stone of Samuel's first wife still stands at Hancock. A "death's head angel", its "late Puritan" motif is a winged skull ("straight out of a horror movie"). That helps date her stone, clearly older than the differently colored, flatter, sturdier replacement stone from the mid-1800's, alongside the older one.
In contrast, Samuel has no marker remaining. Had the plan been to bury him alongside her, "when the time came?" Hancock Cemetery's office's list was drawn up at some point, maybe mid-1800s, probably when the replacement stones were issued. His stone was already absent? That would explain why he's not on the office's list of burials, but in Niles' diary.
======THEIR LOCATIONS=====
THE HANDWRITTEN DIARY'S PATTERN. Circa 2007, the modern town of Braintree (BraintreeMa.gov) hired their cemetery consultant to assist with historic preservation of Elm Street. The consultant found that Rev. Niles typically divided a burial page in his diary into two parts.
On one side, were those across the road from Niles' church. The consultant noted they were on newly purchased ground that would continue to be used as a pasture, livestock there causing more damage than seen at Hancock.
On the other side, were burials at the older "north cemetery". (By Sprague's time, the north one was re-named Hancock.)
An image put in the report showed Thomas French (bit-older brother), clearly on the Elm Street side. dated as deceased earlier, Sept. 2017, as the sickness began. We assume Sprague understood the pattern.
TYPED CONFIRMATION OF DIARY BURIALS. Confirmation was found in a manuscript, possibly one based on Rev. Niles' son's editing of the diary, as it includes some pages on the son marrying his RI cousin Sarah Niles and entering the ministry. It's archived by the Congregational Churches. Found early in 2024 by this writer, it was at a site called CongregationalLibrary.QuartexCollections.com. Its clearly typed pages, entitled "Braintree_CR1_Transcript", were found by searching for
"Transcription for "Samuel Niles journal, 1697-1777", then clicking on Viewer, to scroll through.
There's no index, so there's no searchable landing spot. Further, the images are OUT OF ORDER, not by date!
One must scroll through the viewer by hand and enlarge each page that looks like a list, not a poetic sermon, not a weather report or farming report, etc. The first page of burials is four pages AFTER a discussion of earthquakes in 1755, on Aug 18, milder ones felt in New England, chimneys falling in Boston, stone walls collapsing, vs. terrible ones abroad.
On a page with number 207 at the top is:
"An account of the persons buried in the buring[sic] place In the South part of Brantry[sic] near the Meeting house there."
NOTE: [Sic} means "Yes, they did spell it that odd way". All the talk abut Cambridge, Oxford, etc. did not change the fact that a dictionary and an atlas were future ideas, not yet invented.
There are no Frenches until the next image. Its burial list has numbered lines on the left side. These show two deaths in 1716, numbered as 1 and 2. The deaths jump drastically, to nine for 1717. His brother Thomas was one of those nine, on line 5. The church's Elder Wales is on the opposite side, as a 1718 burial, "at the North end" (Hancock).
That page ends with burial #14.
The next image does #15 through #30, local burials left, other cemeteries right. Many in 1718....
LEFT:
#18 "John French", Dec 23 [Samuel's eldest brother].
#19 "the wife of Thomas French" Dec 25 (the former Elizabeth Belcher, recent widow].
#21 "My Little Son Elisha" Jan 13 {Rev. Niles' son, a namesake would be born later].
#22 "My Negro Man- Cesar" Jan 16 [Rev. Niles' slave, presumed bought from RI, by Nathaniel Niles].
#25 "John Frenches[sic] Widow" Sep 30 [the former Experience Thayer]
RIGHT:
#10 "Samuel French- buried at the North End" October 15 1718
The date of Oct 13 is the a death date used by Sprague. Rev Niles's Oct 15 was the burial date, a few days later. Then followed, on the next pages, burials of many children, with multiple instances of twins, something Rev. Niles maybe found disturbing, trying to figure it out.
Later, he said "I was taken sick of a fever January 7, 1717, in a time of sore sickness among us in which many died but it pleased God to raise me up."
NOTE: Related church items were then found by searching at CongregationalLibrary.org, in its history section, for this phrase: "Braintree, Mass. First Congregational Church Records, 1697-1825." That pulls up the author as "Samuel Niles, 1674-1762"
Why Congregational? Predicting that King's chapels were about to be closed, Quincy's first church declared itself Unitarian (that is, not "trinitarian", instead "deist"). They added Universalist later to indicate that God let everyone be saved, did not put a fixed number in advance over heaven's door . The Congregational-leaning, would eventually start rejecting extremeness, as well, but still believed that God's personality had three aspects, the creator, the teaching son (the Word or Light), and the spirit, not just the deist/creator portion. The second- and third-authorized churches waited until later to call themselves Congregational.
(The phrase "Church of Christ" was much more modern, not seen in the older books, but would make clear they weren't deist only. Congregationals tended to be ethnically English, all of the church voting, while Presbyterian governing was more Scottish, elders elected to vote on the congregation's behalf. Many ministers were trained later to lead either type, letting congregations switch from congregational to elders when desired.)
=============================================================
From Sprague--
"Sgt. Samuel2 (John1) French, born Feb.22,1659/60
Died Oct.13,1718 - buried Oct.15 in Hancock Cem.- Diary of Rev. Samuel Niles.
Married 1st about 1687, Hannah or Anna Marsh, born Mar.-1662, died "Hannah" Feb.4,1711/12- town record (died Anna wife of Samuel & daughter of Alexander Marsh Feb.14,1711/2 aged about 50", gs., Hancock Cem.), dau. of Alexander & Mary (Belcher) Marsh.
Married 2nd "Samuel of Braintree" Nov.12,1713 at Milton, Elizabeth Clap, probably widow of Ebenezer Clapp of Milton, born -, died -, dau. of (-) Dickerman. Did she marry 3rd Nov.9,1720 Edward Dorr?
He was elected constable 1694, fenceviewer 1696, surveyor of highways 1703,1706,1711,1714, selectman 1709,1715,1716,1717, tithingman 1718, moderator 1718.
=================================================================
When describing his 1711 ordination at Braintree, Rev. Niles cited Samuel French as one of the church members already "in Full Communion" with the new congregation.
Most of Niles' burials were at the front of what is now the Elm Street Cemetery, said the consultant. Niles was a fairly new minister at the time, at the 2nd church of mother Braintree, across from the Elm Street Cem. (the 1st church is instead at the edge of Hancock).
Samuel's elder brother Dependence French was on the committee to finalize the land for the new burying ground, mis-identified in the consultant's report as "Independence French".
Samuel's first wife died in 1711, when Hancock was still the only authorized cemetery of old Braintree.
If Samuel had bought the lot for his first wife's burial, his plan might always have been to be buried beside her, even if inconvenient, needing to go uphill and over marshes to get there.
The typed summary shows Rev. Niles first wife as the first burial later, at Elm, said to be still a private burial, land not yet town- church owned. Her burial was in Feb, the year counted as 1715 if starting a new year later, as done with the old calendar, instead, in 1716 if starting a new year the modern way, on Jan 1.
2024, Research by JB, contributor 48697180
The spouse of JB is a descendant, many generations down, of Dependence French, by Dependence's grandson and great-grandson, the two called Abiathar French. They left the Braintree/Randolph area pre-Revolution, to go to Westhampton, in Berkshire County. Further descendants then made their way, very early, to Ohio, pre-War of 1812, then to lower Michigan, in its territory days, finally to the West Coast. Multiple ones not leaving for the West Coast were strongly opposed to slavery, so served on the Union side in the Civil War, some to marry newly arriving immigrants.
