The Clifton Burying Ground is an early colonial cemetery located in

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, United States. It is a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

cemetery, and has the graves of four Rhode Island colonial governors.

Description

The Clifton Burying Ground is located in

where Golden Hill Street bends and becomes Thomas Street. The cemetery is named for Thomas Clifton, who gave the land to the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

for a burial ground in 1675, though some who are presumably buried here died much earlier than that. The cemetery has 168 known interments, including four colonial Rhode Island governors: Jeremy Clarke, Walter Clarke,

William Wanton William Wanton (September 15, 1670 – December 1733) was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving a short term prior to his death. He spent most of his adult life in the civil and military service of the colon ...

and

Joseph Wanton Joseph Wanton Sr. (15 August 1705 – 19 July 1780) was a merchant and governor in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations from 1769 to 1775. Not wanting to go to war with Britain, he has been branded as a Loyalist, but he remaine ...

. There is an inscription in this cemetery for Governor

John Wanton John Wanton (December 24, 1672 – July 5, 1740) was a governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving for six consecutive terms from 1734 to 1740. He was the son of Edward Wanton who was a ship builder, and who became ...

as well, but he has a marker in the

Coddington Cemetery The Coddington Cemetery is an early colonial cemetery located in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. It is sometimes called the Friends' Burial Ground, and has more colonial governors buried in it than any other cemetery in the state. Description The ...

on Farewell Street, and that is where he is likely buried. Neither cemetery has a governor's grave medallion for him, while this cemetery has medallions for all four of the other governors. The person with the earliest death date buried here is Governor Jeremy Clarke, who died in January 1652, and who has a governor's medallion, but no tombstone. If he is actually buried here, then he was likely moved from another location. The latest interment was for Sarah Howland who died in 1856.

Image gallery

Image:Clarke.Jeremy&Walter.graveMedalions.CliftonBurGnd.20110722.jpg, Governor's medallions for Walter Clarke and Jeremy Clarke in front of the gravestone of the former Image:Clarke.Walter.gravestone.CliftonBurGnd.20110722.jpg, Gravestone for Governor Walter Clarke Image:Wanton.FamilyTomb.CliftonBurGnd.20110722.jpg, Wanton family memorial Image:Wanton.William.GraveMedalion.110722.jpg,

governor's medallion Image:Wanton.Joseph.GraveMedalion.110722.jpg,

governor's medallion

References

Bibliography

* ''Online sources'' * {{coord, 41, 28, 59, N, 71, 18, 39, W, type:landmark_region:US-RI, display=title 1675 establishments in Rhode Island 17th-century Quakers Cemeteries in Rhode Island Quaker cemeteries

Description

Image gallery

See also

References

Bibliography