The Coddington Cemetery 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, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...
, 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
![Coddington](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Coddington.William.MemMkr.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg)
The Coddington Cemetery, located at 34 Farewell Street, is a very old colonial cemetery with 93 known interments, and has the largest number of interred colonial governors of any cemetery in the state. The six governors buried here are
William Coddington
William Coddington (c. 1601 – 1 November 1678) was an early magistrate of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and later of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. He served as the judge of Portsmouth and Newport, governor of Portsmouth ...
,
Nicholas Easton
Nicholas Easton (1593–1675) was an early colonial President and Governor of Rhode Island. Born in Hampshire, England, he lived in the towns of Lymington and Romsey before immigrating to New England with his two sons in 1634. Once in the N ...
,
William Coddington, Jr.
William Coddington Jr. (18 January 1651 – 5 February 1689) was an early governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, serving two consecutive terms from 1683 to 1685.
Biography
Coddington was the son of William Coddington ...
,
Henry Bull,
John Easton
John Easton (1624–1705) was a political leader in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, devoting decades to public service before eventually becoming governor of the colony. Born in Hampshire, England, he sailed to New England ...
and
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 ...
, all
Quakers. None of the six governor graves has a governor's medallion like those found at the gravesites of most other colonial governors. The first known interment in this cemetery was that of Mary Moseley Coddington, the wife of Governor William Coddington, who died in 1647, and the last interment was that of James Easton who died in 1796.
The cemetery has been designated as Rhode Island Historic Cemetery, Newport #9, and is located on Farewell Street between Baptist and Coddington Streets in Newport. Within the cemetery is a monument honoring Governor William Coddington, erected on the 200th anniversary of the founding of Newport. The monument reads:
THIS MONUMENT
Erected by the Town of Newport
on the 12th. day of May 1839 being
the second Centeniel
icAnniversary
of the settlement of this town:
To the memory of
WILLIAM CODDINGTON ESQ
That illustrious man, who
first purchased this Island
from the Narragansett Sachems
Canonicus and Miantunomo
for and on account of himself and
Seventeen others his associates
in the purchase and Settlement.
He presided many years
as chief Magistrate of the Island
and Colony of Rhode Island
and Died much respected and lamented
on the 1st day of November in
678
__NOTOC__
Year 678 ( DCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 678 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...
br>
ast line illegible
Image gallery
File:Coddington.Cemetery.interior.2.20110722.jpg, Cemetery, looking north with Farewell Street to right front
Image:Coddington.William.monument.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg, Gov. William Coddington grave marker
Image:Easton.Nicholas.monument.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg, Grave marker for Gov. Nicholas Easton and his son Peter
Image:Coddington.William.Jr.gravestone.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg, Grave marker for Gov. William Coddington, Jr.
Image:Bull.Henry.monument.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg, Grave monument for Gov. Henry Bull and his wives
Image:Easton.John.monument.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg, Slab marking grave of Gov. John Easton
Image:Easton.John.inscription.CoddingtonCem.20110722.jpg, Worn inscription on Gov. John Easton slab
See also
*
:Burials at Coddington Cemetery
References
Bibliography
''Online sources''
*
{{Authority control
1647 establishments in Rhode Island
Cemeteries in Rhode Island
Quaker cemeteries