Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 7.djvu/39

 AN ANCIKNT NECROPOLIS.

��27

��town, however, that, before adjourning, the meeting rescinded the first vote and made the return of a pittance to the minister who had served his fellow townsmen to a good purpose.

James Scales had a wife, Susanna, and a family of children. The old homestead, of which we have already spoken, ancl which stands but a few rods away northerly, was the first par- sonage, built for Mr. Scales by the town, and now owned by the descend- ants of the late Moses Rowell.

Beside being of versatile talents, James Scales was of unpretending mien, attached to a plain garb, and offended the fastidious by his genei'al homeliness of manner. Euried in the old cemetery on Putney's hill, his body lies in a forgotten grave, of no other than a traditional location some- where in the southwest corner of the yard.

THE FIRST DOCTOR.

Entering this ancient graveyard by the rude front gate which opens direct from the highway, and turning a few steps to the left, we come upon a cluster of mounds of the Clement family. Reading the inscriptions on the several slabs, we take particular notice of the following :

Dr. John Clement,

died

Nov. 20, 1804,

.a. 61.

��Molly,

, his wife, died

Feb. 12, 1817, .E. 72.

This is the simple record of the first physician in Hopkinton, together with that of his defunct spouse. Dr. Clem- ent was a resident, and perhaps a native, of Haverhill, Mass., before coming to this town, where he settled on Putney's hill, on a site a short dis- tance south of the burying-yard, on the other side of the road. A semblance of a foundation, almost obliterated by time and a collection of stones, alone remains of what was at first Dr. Clem- ent's abiding place in Hopkinton. He

��afterward, with a son, built a house a short distance west, on the road lead- ing from Hopkinton village to West Hopkinton. His wife was jirobably from Salisbury, Mass. They had nine children : John, Timothy, Phineas, Benjamin, and James ; Ruth, Polly, Sally, and Betsey.

Of the personal history of Dr. John Clement we know little. His practice was extensive, extending to no less than fourteen towns. His nature par- took of a genial and mirthful spirit.

TWO PIONEERS.

Moving onward directly from the gate toward the opposite side of this oblong field, which lies with its longest sides parallel to the highway, bearing slightly to the right, till we nearly cross the inclosure, we come to an ancient slab, with "shapeless sculpture decked," on which we slowly trace the following inscription :

here lies buried

the body of

Lieut. Aaron Klmb.all,

who died july

the 3oth, a. d.

1760, AND IN

THE 5 I ST YEAR

OF HIS AGE.

Proceeding a few steps further in

the same direction, we reach a second

and similar monument, inscribed thus :

here lies buried

the body of mr.

Jeremiah Kimball,

WHO DIED may

THE iStH, 1764,

IN THE 5 7TH YE.'VR

OF HIS AGE.

These slabs are notable as being the oldest obituary monuments in town, as well as for memorizing two represent- atives of one of the oldest Hopkinton families. The Kimballs were soon numerous among the early settlers. Of Jeremiah Kimball we knov/ very little. Aaron Kimball built one of the three forts that afforded protection and shelter to the people. Kimball's fort was about two miles east of the burying ground, on the road to Rumford (now Concord), being near the present

�� �