Name/Title
Pepperell Park Cemetery Burial Book, 1822-1842Entry/Object ID
2025.11.1Scope and Content
Old notebook with a label attached on the cover: "The burials in this book were probably made in the cemetery in Pepperell Park - rear of Unitarian Church." Approximately 684 names listed between December, 1822, and October, 1842. See Web Link (below) for complete transcription and cross-referencing of town/city records, known headstones, diary entries, etc.
The notebook was started by George Sutherland (1793-1879) in December, 1822, then later taken over by Benjamin Hall (1786-1843) in July, 1830 (Hall lived on Common St. by the burial grounds). The notebook contains a list of names including burial dates (not death dates), ages, causes of deaths and other notes, including family connections. Most of the burials took place behind the Unitarian Church at Pepperell Park Cemetery in Saco (then called the "Old Burying Ground"), but some Biddeford burials are also listed. Several who's-who of local history appear in the book, including Spring, Cutts (the Cutts Family Tomb was on these grounds), Thornton, Jordan, Scamman, Cleaves, etc. This notebook was found among F. C. Deering's personal collections of local historical manuscripts. The cover label was likely created by Deering, including a handwritten note at the end of the book dated 1929.Context
In 1752, Sir William Pepperell of Kittery granted the citizens of Saco six acres of land for a meeting house, burying ground, and school. This site is now the location of Pepperell Park and the Governor John Fairfield School. The first known burial was three-year-old Hannah Jordan, daughter of Tristram and Hannah Jordan, on January 7th, 1756.
In 1798, the General Court of Massachusetts, through the dispersal of confiscated Pepperell lands, added nine more acres to the public domain. One acre was set aside for the construction of the First Parish Congregational Church at Beach and Main Streets.
With the opening of Laurel Hill Cemetery in 1844, many families of means relocated their ancestors to the new grounds, but burials in the “Old Cemetery” continued into the 1850s (a lone Civil War Veteran was buried in 1862, probably the last burial at the site). By the late 19th century, the site was neglected. In 1884, the City of Saco created Pepperell Park on the former trotting park and fairgrounds, adding a pond and a water tower. By 1885, the Biddeford-Saco Journal lamented that “the majority of those whose dear ones are buried there have not looked out for the graves in the least.”
By 1925, only about forty headstones were still visible behind the Unitarian Church and around the water tower. By 1960, damage was extensive; one observer noted that “there are only a few of the old slate stones left.” In 1962, the Governor John Fairfield School was constructed on the site of the old park pond.
In 1999, Diana Allen, a student at the University of Southern Maine, using known sources at the time, compiled a list of 138 names buried at the site. 25 names were traced to reburials at Laurel Hill Cemetery. That same year, the City of Saco, working with Dennett, Craig & Pate and drawing on Allen’s research, raised a memorial stone in Pepperell Park naming 113 individuals believed to be still buried there.
The Burial Book (1822–1842) dramatically expands this record. The notebook lists over 650 burials at the site in just a twenty-year span, confirming that the Old Cemetery was far more extensive than previously recognized. Combined with knowledge of burials dating back to 1759, the evidence suggests that hundreds upon hundreds of people —children, mill workers, people of color, immigrants, war veterans, and others of modest means—remain interred at Pepperell Park.Dimensions
Height
7-1/2 inWidth
6-1/2 inInterpretative Labels
Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
This notebook was started by George Sutherland (1793-1879) in December, 1822, then later taken over by Benjamin Hall (1786-1843) in July, 1830. It contains a list of approximately 684 names of individuals, along with their burial dates, ages, causes of deaths, and occasionally other notes, such as family connections. Most of the burials took place behind the Unitarian Church at Pepperell Park Cemetery in Saco, which was then called the "Old Burying Ground.” The names of 11 Revolutionary veterans are listed in the notebook, including Samuel Woodsum, who died of consumption in 1841 at the age of 86. His burial entry is listed on July 2, on the left hand page.
