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Lowell Historical Society Hosts Edson Cemetery Tour ~ Saturday May 4, 2013
Join the 45-minute walking tour!
Lowell Historical Society
Edson Cemetery Tour (s) with Kim Zunino
Saturday May 4, 2013 (Rain Date: Saturday May 18, 2013)
10:00am and 1:00pm
Meet at the front gates! Edson Cemetery had its beginnings in 1845 when 30 acres were purchased along Gorham Street. Officially known as Cemetery Yard # 3, it became Edson Cemetery in 1878 to honor its founder, Rev. Theodore Edson. Founded a few years after the opening of the expensive and exclusive Lowell Cemetery, Edson provided affordable burial space in the rapidly growing city. … Today Edson is the largest in Lowell, with 46 acres and 10,000 lot owners. Buildings include the 1883 Edson Chapel, designed by Lowell & Worcester architect Leroy J. Cherrington. The grounds include monuments from many of the city’s prominent clubs and fraternal organizations, such as the Elks and the Knights of Pythias. The most famous of the interred is Jack Kerouac, an American poet and author, but there are many other notable residents buried here, such as former slaves, women leaders, veterans and con men, that deserve to have their story told. Join the Lowell Historical Society on a 45-minute walking tour!
Hello,
We would like to visit Edson Cemetery to find our families graves. At present, we have not had any luck. We are looking for William H. Maddocks Sr m. to Elizabeth Kemp. and William H. Maddocks Jr. to Mary Lewis. Both these families lost little children in the 1840’s and 50’s.
Sarah Jane, Elizabeth, Mary. Their plot has to be along Gorham street because they are buried relatively close to when the cemetery opened. I would appreciate any help.
Thank you,
Georgia
My husband and I were able to find the graves of the 7 babies that died in our gr-gr-gr grandparents and gr-gr parents families. These William Maddocks Sr. and Jr. families mark the beginning of our family in Lowell and America. No one knew where these graves were. Since these grandfathers were both slaters we looked in the oldest section and found a cropping of slate graves. These weren’t it, so I turned behind me and saw a grave that had been laying flat on the ground for years. It has a sweet carving of Jesus and the little child with the scripture verse of “.let the little children come to me” on it. I think of the pain and hardships they must have endured. As a gift, the bottom of the grave was inscribed with, “the children of William and Elizabeth Maddocks, natives of Trowbridge, England”, we knew for sure this was our family. We visited some museums, history center and took the Changing Landscapes boat cruise. Our roots became very real for us. Later, we had supper at Cobblestones on Dutton Street.because our family lived at 70 and 56 Dutton Street for years.(probablly where the Masonic Temple now stands) .They saw the Cobblestones building being built in the 1850’s. We looked across the canal and saw how close they lived to their St. Anne’s Church, and it all made sense. What a great heritage it is to come from a Lowell family! What a great walk in Edson it was for us. We are going to have a small ceremony and fix the family gravestone.
We thank Joe Smith and Maina at Edson for their encouragement,
Georgia and Andy Maddocks