The Lynde Family Tomb

You might walk around the Lynde family tomb in the Charter Street Cemetery without giving it a second glance; many people seem to.  It is big, but plain, and there is no inscription anywhere, so you would have no way of knowing that there are, somehow, the remains of *eight* people, spanning three generations, entombed there.  And that one of them is connected to an important event in American history.   

The family patriarch, Benjamin Lynde, Sr., was a prominent lawyer and magistrate, born in Salem in 1666 and dying here in 1749.  He became Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (as would his son, Benjamin Junior, who is the real reason for our visit, and about whom more in a minute).

Benjamin Senior married Mary Browne (d. 1753, age 74); in addition to Benjamin Jr., the couple had another son, William.  William would die young at age 37 in 1752.      

Benjamin Junior married Mary Goodridge.  Their daughter, Hannah (1735-1792), was named after her great-grandmother on the maternal side.    

All of these folks are laid to rest in this tomb, and records indicate there are two more – a William Brown, with no “e,” who may be a relative of Mary, and a Primus Lynde, who died in 1787, with no age.  Primus was a “man” belonging to Benjamin Junior.  In other words, a slave.

Frank Cousins of course took a photograph pf the tomb:

Prof. Donna Seger of SSU has researched the women in the Lynde family, and her work is well worth your time.  I will refer you to her Streets of Salem blog, rather than just plagiarize her findings:

https://streetsofsalem.com/2019/03/03/the-lynde-ladies-of-salem/

The 250^th anniversary of the Boston Massacre was just last week, and Chief Justice Benjamin Lynde, Jr. presided over the trial of Capt. Preston and the redcoats accused of firing on civilians.  Three colonists were killed, and two more would later die of their wounds.  John Adams acted for the defense, winning acquittal for six of them; two others were convicted of manslaughter.  Those two claimed “benefit of clergy,” and were branded on the thumb. 

Lynde was described as “nervous,” and took extensive notes during the trial. 

Adams must have known that Salem was the Chief Justice’s hometown, as he would later remark:

”The Part I took in Defence of Cptn. Preston and the Soldiers, procured me Anxiety, and Obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested Actions of my whole Life, and one of the best Pieces of Service I ever rendered my Country. Judgment of Death against those Soldiers would have been as foul a Stain upon this Country as the Executions of the Quakers or Witches, anciently.”         
      

Lynde Street in downtown Salem is named after Benjamin Senior.  When you pass by, follow the sign down to the Gallows Hill Theater and take in the show.