PARK AND CEMETERY. 
163 
Standing committee have adopted and in use at the pre- 
sent time. 
In 1872 a chapel building was erected at the entrance 
of the grounds, not as ornamental as it is useful. 
In the early days in fact down to 1815 and even 
later, biers were in use to carry the dead to a place of 
sepulchre. After this period a hearse was brought into 
requisition, and a sexton and hearse driver were appoint- 
ed, which practice was in vogue up to 1865 when the 
standing committee were authorized, by a special act of 
the general assembly, to appoint grave diggers and sex- 
tonSj>or hearse drivers, as occasion should require, and 
to fix their compensation. Any ‘^‘Interlopers” attempt- 
ing an interference were subjected to a fine of ten dollars, 
or imprisonment in the New Haven jail for a terir not 
exceeding sixty days. The association probably owned 
their own hearse, and were by these acts protecting 
their own interests. Whether this law still remains on 
the statute book or not, I do not know, but it is a dead 
ribbon or rosette. This scarf was considered as a 
perquisite (if we may so use the expression) for linen 
shirtings in those days was worth something. In many 
instances the custom of providing liberal libations of 
“toddy” was not forgotten. Mr. Bostwick well re- 
members the procession in the instance of the funeral 
of Eli Whitney and it was conducted in this manner. 
The funeral took place from the house now standing 
and occupied by Mr. Douglass, on the easterly side of 
Orange street, between Elm and Wall streets. 
Time would fail me to say all I would like to include 
in this history; so I must stop, and in closing will only 
enumerate some of the more prominent and noted men 
having a national history, whose graves you will find 
placarded as we drive through the grounds. 
The Hon. Roger Sherman, Connecticut’s signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, and the first mayor 
of New Haven, (and, by the way, Mr. President, the 
building we are now in stands on a part of his original 
1690. 1687. 
Crypt of the old Central Church on the Village Green, New Haven, Conn , showing the Preservalion of the Graves and Memoyrials of the 
Early Settlers. The stones on the left, under which are given the dates, mark the graves of Sarah 'I'rowbridge, mother, i6%, and Sarah 
Trow'bridge, daughter, i69o. 
letter if it does. In funeral processions I have myself 
seen the old-fashioned post stage coaches in line, public 
carriages then being very limited. 
In speaking of the introduction of the hearse, we 
are indebted to our formor esteemed fellow-citizen. 
Amos Bostwick, Esq., (now of New York city, who has 
been connected with Woodlawn Cemetery association 
over a quarter of a century) for the following imforma- 
tion. He tells us the first hearse was a crude, improvised 
affair, being simply a set of wheels with a platform (no 
top) wide enough to support a coffin; a black pall was 
thrown over it; then it was strapped on to the vehicle^ 
and in a funeral cortege the horse was led by the sexton, 
immediately followed by the pall-bearers, the clergy and 
sometimes the family physician on foot, wearing em- 
blems of mourning consisting of a white linen plaited 
scarf (the rule being of sufficient quantity for two shirt 
patterns). The scarf was worn over the right shoulder, 
crossing the breast and back and at a point just below 
the left knee the two ends were fastened with a black 
homestead.) . General David Humphreys, LL. D., one of 
General Washington’s aids in the war of the revolution; 
an ambassador to Portugal and Spain. A distinguished 
historian and poet. To him this country is indebted 
for the first importation of the Merino sheep, and An- 
drew Jackson, when president of the United States, had 
his wardrobe annually supplied from the products of 
General Humphrey’s mill. 
Yale college’s presidents, Clapp, Stiles, Dwight, Day, 
Woolsey and Porter, together with hosts of noted pro- 
fessors of that university, too numerous to mention in 
this short paper. 
Noah Webster, LL. D., author of the American 
dictionary and spelling book; his first draft made in 
1782, and no publisher found willing for a long time to 
publish it. Ashmun, the first colonial agent to Liberia. 
Jedediah Morse, D. D., the father of American geo- 
graphy, and his son was the inventor of the Morse 
telegraph. Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin 
Charles Goodyear, inventor of vulcanized rubber. 
