Mill Hill Cemetery Information

There are 120 markers in the Mill Hill Cemetery, as of July 2004

The first mention of the Mill Hill cemetery was in the Nantucket Registry of Deeds, Proprietors Records, Vol. 1, p. 228, 29th day of fifth month, 1805: "Voted that the Black People may fence in one acre of land where their Burying Place is and that the lot layers measure it to them." 3rd day of sixth month, 1805: "Then measured where the Black People's Burying Place is: from a rock to the southwest of where they have buried eastward 12 1/2 rods; from thence northward 12 1/2 rods; from thence westward 12 1/2 rods; from thence to the southward 12 1/2 rods to said rock; containing about one acre which was granted to the Black People to fence in for a Burying Place by the Proprietors as by a vote on record will appear."

From this we know that by 1805 this part of the common landland was already used as a burial site and it was granted by the Proprietors (not the town meeting or selectmen) to the "Black People," not to a church or other organization.

The first recorded reference is to "the Black People's Burying Place." A deed written two years later in 1807 for an adjacent piece of land refers to the cemetery as "the Burying Ground that Belongs to the Black People or People of Colour." It is often marked simply "Burying Ground" on plats and maps. Town records of burials and maintenance refer to it as "Colored Cemetery." On modern maps, it is usually referred to as "Mill Hill Cemetery."

Barbara White led a group of middle school students to record inscriptions in 2002. After providing the NHA with a copy of this data, Georgen Charnes and several volunteers entered it into a searchable database. The data was then checked, digital images were taken and added to the database. Later a Preservation Institute: Nantucket student (a program of architecture students who visit every summer) created a map of monuments, and that information was added to the database and again checked it in the field. A PDF of the original Barbara White Class data is available here.

Recently, a new marker was placed in at the site to honor it. Read more in the Nantucket Independent article.

Map of Markers | Directions to Cemetery | Searchable Database

Names on markers, Summer 2004, and location:

?, Mary (d. 1857) G- 3
Antone, Peter AD- 1
Bagwell, Charlotte (d. 1963) W- 3
Barber, John (d. 1853) AC- 4
Barber, Sarah Ann (d. 1835) AC- 5
Bennett, Olive F. (d. 1840) AB- 2
Berry, Mehitable (d. 1836) O- 2
Borden, Catherine E. (d. 1837) A- 9
Borden, Elizabeth A. (d. 1832) A- 3
Boston, A. E. (d. 1836) P- 4
Boston, Benajah (d. 1854) P- 3
Boston, Charles (d. 1833) Z- 6
Boston, Henry S. (d. 1844) O- 1
Boston, Lydia H. (d. 1838) R- 2
Boston, Lydia H. (d. 1854) P- 2
Boston, Olando H. (d. 1836) Z- 8
Boston, Phebe Ann (d. 1849) O- 3
Boston, Phebe G. Z- 4
Boston, Polly (d. 1813 or 1815) Z- 3
Boston, Sarah W. (d. 1816) Z- 7
Brown, Jeremiah (d. 1842) A- 8
Carter, D- 2
Carter, John D. (d. 1949) D- 6
Carter, Mabel P. (d. 1948) D- 7
Cooper, Arthur (d. 1853) V- 2
Cooper, Elizabeth H. (d. 1878) X- 1
Cooper, Lucy (d. 1866) V- 3
Cooper, Maria B. (d. 1885) J- 7
Cooper, Mary (d. 1826) V- 1
Correia, Anna (d. 1941) K- 4
Crawford, Ann W. (d. 1858) S- 4
Crawford, Dianna S. (d. 1860) S- 6
Crawford, J. E. (d. 1888) S- 5
Crawford, Mary B. (d. 1864) S- 1
Denison, Reuben S. (d. 1831) A- 2
Denison, Sarah Ann (d. 1834) A- 1
Douglass, Mary (d. 1834) Z- 5
Duckrey, D- 1
Duckrey, Isabel C. (d. 1995) D- 3
Duckrey, James H. (d. 1968) D- 4
Furman, Mary Tweedy (d. 1881) R- 1
Godfrey, Charles (d. 1871) N- 2
Godfrey, Juliana C. (d. 1868) S- 2
Grant, Charles A. (d. 1897) B- 3
Grant, Charles S. (d. 1948) B- 2
Grant, Freddie Lewis (d. 1885) B- 6
Grant, Mary (d. 1948) Missing-noted as existing in 2002
Grant, Rachel C. (d. 1945) B- 4
Grant, Ruth J. (d. 1985) B- 1
Grant, Willie H. (d. 1894) B- 5
Green, Lydia H. (d. 1880) J- 6
Harris, Fred K. (d. 1835 or 1837) A- 5
Harris, Mabel A. (d. 1949) N- 1
Harris, Samuel C. (d. 1834) A- 4
[illegible], [illegible] AA- 2
[illegible], [illegible] AC- 3
[illegible], [illegible] T- 1
[illegible], Nathaniel A. (d. 1803 or 1883) AC- 6
Johnson, Ann (d. 1813) K- 2
Johnson, James Augustus (d. 1813) K- 2
Johnson, Sarah W. Godridge (d. 1845) AB- 1
Jones, Anna M. (d. 1828) G- 2
Jones, Emily (d. 1829) G- 2
Jones, Henrietta D. (d. 1835) G- 2
Jones, Jacob (d. 1859) G- 1
King, Lurana (d. 1879) I- 1
King, William (d. 1848) I- 2
Lewis, Emma W. (d. 1917) M- 4
Lewis, Julia W. (d. 1892) M- 3
Lopes, Georgianna H. (d. 1944) L- 1
Lynch, Rachel E. (d. 1899) X- 2
Mayo, John C C (d. 1996) AA- 1
Michael, George W- 2
Morey, Lydia C. (d. 1844) A- 6
Mulford, Patience (d. 1868) Y- 2
Newell, Louis Philippe (d. 1862) J- 4
Pierce, Thomas L. (d. 1865) S- 3
Pina, Mattie B. (d. 1999) W- 1
Pompey, Edward J. (d. 1848) P- 1
Pompey, Hannah F. (d. 1824) Z- 2
Pompey, John (d. 1824) Z- 1
Pompey, Sampson C- 2
Pompey, Sampson D. (d. 1909) C- 3
Pompey, Susan B. (d. 1904) C- 1
Porte, Christina F. (d. 1895) J- 1
Porte, Christine F. (d. 1935) J- 9
Porte, Crawford N. (d. 1860) J- 5
Porte, Ellen M. (d. 1912) J- 8
Porte, Emma C. (d. 1949) J- 10
Porte, Ida R. (d. 1961) J- 11
Porte, William (d. 1866) J- 2
Porte, William C. (d. 1877) J- 3
Reed, Hiram W. L- 2
Robinson, Cecelia (d. 1860) M- 1
Robinson, John W (d. 1840) M- 2
Ross, Eunice F. (d. 1895) F- 1
Ross, Sarah (d. 1896) F- 2
Shorter, Phebe (d. 1858) I- 3
Simonds, Jos. K- 3
Smith, Florence C. (d. 1967) D- 5
Smith, Weltha (d. 1855) E- 4
Stevens, Elizabeth D. (d. 1915) L- 3
Swain, John (d. 1865) U- 1
Taseo, Sarah (d. 1846) A- 7
Voisinger, Florence (d. 1955) Y- 1
Warren, Hannah (d. 1835) A- 10
Wheeler, Ann H. Wood (d. 1864) E- 3
Wheeler, Calista C. (d. 1858) E- 5
Wheeler, Edward P. (d. 1836 ???) E- 6
Wheeler, Henry T. (d. 1847) E- 1
Wheeler, Jane C. (d. 1874) E- 2
Wheeler, Lucia A. (d. 1835) E- 8
Wheeler, Obediah F. (d. 1832) E- 7
Whippey, Mary N. (d. 1838) Y- 3
Wilkes, Edgar W. (d. 1953) Q- 1
Wilkes, Edgar Warren (d. 1892) Q- 2
Wilkes, Emma F. (d. 1948) Q- 3
Wilkes, Lucretia Collins (d. 1909) Q- 2
Wilkes, Merton Henry (d. 1894) Q- 2
Williams, Eliza Ann (d. 1812) K- 1
Williams, Rachel (d. 1883) I- 4
Wright, Joshua (d. 1937) H- 1
Wright, Sarah (d. 1860) AC- 2
Young, Dorothy (d. 1817 or 1872) AC- 1