NEWPORT HISTORICAL CEMETERY #: NT010 TRINITY CHURCH CEMETERY NEWPORT RI Location: 15 ft south of SPRING ST. at TEL pole # 14 300 burials with 224 inscriptions from 1704 to 1900 180 ft x 100 ft in good condition enclosed with a metal fence; sign missing Owner: Trinity Church, Queen Anne Square, Newport, RI 02840 (401) 846-0660 NOTE: "History of Newport County, Rhode Island," New York, 1888, ed. Richard M. Bayles: "The ancient burial place connected with Trinity church, on Church street, is an object of much interest. Several of the early pastors of the church lie buried here. Here may be found the ground of the French Admiral de Ternay, who died in 1780, and of many others who fought in the war of the revolution. On eight stones are found the arms of five families: Gidley, Wanton, Bell, Goulding, Gibbs, representing a few of the wealthy merchants of Newport in the last century." When Bayles wrote the description above, the cemetery had already been given a full chapter in George Champlin Mason's "Reminiscences of Newport," 1884, with good, early information on the gravestones (GCM). Mason provides many names that have since disappeared; his account is rich in biographical detail. The inscriptions were recorded again about 1900 by Jonas Bergner (1859-1936) in a beautiful ms at Redwood Library in Newport "Ye Grave Stones in Trinity Church Yard." This book contains complete transcriptions of the inscriptions, very careful pen and ink drawings of armorial carvings, some light pencil sketches of stones, and names of carvers when known. Although only the most cursory comparison has yet been made, names only from Bergner are coded JB. CETA volunteers drew stones & inscriptions in the late 1970s on cards in the possession of Edward W. Connelly, director of the project. These have been used to confirm or amplify inscriptions recorded summer of 1995 by John Sterling with help of passing tourists! These names are input with the code JES. For further information on those buried here, consult James N. Arnold's "Trinity Church Newport, Deaths and Burials," 10:537-544. It is worth noting that only a small percentage of members of the church are actually buried in this medium-sized lot. To illustrate this point, consider Ezra Stiles' record of some 188 deaths of Episcopalians during 1760 through 1764; of 39 remaining gravestones only four are here, most of the others at the Common Burial Ground (NT003).