Cranston Historical Cemeteries Commission

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The Cranston Historical Cemeteries Commission was established by the Cranston City Council and is a group of volunteers, appointed by the city, to locate, assess, document, and provide signage for Cranston’s historic cemeteries. Documentation of these cemeteries includes physical location, GPS Coordinates, cemetery description and condition, and gravestone information in photographic, electronic and hard format. All data will be compatible with the software and methods used by the Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission. The Commission will provide leadership for all volunteer citizens who wish to work with the commission in carrying out the maintenance and documentation of our historical cemeteries. The Commission will attempt to answer any questions from Cranston Citizens and others regarding the cemeteries and those buried within them. The Commission, with the help of volunteers, will strive to provide maintenance of the grounds, the repair and restoration of stones, walls, and fences as resources become available. We formally meet on the second Tuesday of each month (March thru November) at 6:30 p.m. at the Sprague Mansion located at 1351 Cranston Street. These meetings are open to the public for those who wish to bring an issue of concern to the Commission, to learn more about what we do, or to become more involved. Attendance at meetings is not necessary to volunteer with our group. It is only with the assistance of volunteers in our community that we can achieve our goals. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed their time and treasure to assist us and are excited to continue working with Cranston’s citizens in doing great work to improve our many historical cemeteries. If you are interested in volunteering with us, require community service hours, would like to learn more about Cranston’s cemeteries, or if you have any questions or concerns regarding Cranston cemeteries, please feel free to contact us by phone or e-mail. Thanks for your interest

STREETCARS AND HORSES ARE A DANGEROUS COMBINATIONCHARLES EMIL MARTIN1879-1917CR002POCASSET CEMETERY DYER AVENUECharles E...
09/22/2026

STREETCARS AND HORSES ARE A DANGEROUS COMBINATION
CHARLES EMIL MARTIN
1879-1917
CR002
POCASSET CEMETERY
DYER AVENUE

Charles Emil Martin was born in Boston, MA on January 13, 1879. He was the son of William and Carolina Martin. His father was a brakeman.

On November 6, 1902, Charles married Bertha Hunter Alger in Providence, R.I. Charles was a teamster. Sadly,Bertha passed away in 1908 of tuberculosis.

As reported in The Evening Bulletin on April 25, 1917:

MAN AND HORSE KILLED BY CAR; MOTORMAN HELD

Charles E. Martin was fatally hurt, a horse was killed and a wagon wrecked in collision with a south-bound electric car just before 5 o’clock this morning, opposite the Swiss Cleansing Company Plant, 675 Elmwood Avenue.

Medical Examiner Longfellow viewed the body later and said he found conditions which warranted turning the case over to Coroner Munro for an inquest. In the meantime, Motorman Frederick W. Stark, 4 Moulton Street, Cranston, is being held pending disposition of the case.

Mr. Martin was employed as a teamster by T.W. Waterman Company and was turning into the driveway across the tracks to the laundry plant, when the accident happened. Martin was thrown beneath the wagon and his skull was fractured. He was taken to the Rhode Island Hospital, where he died at 9:25 A.M.

The car struck the wagon full on the forward wheels and pushed it against a big tree while the horse was shoved ahead by the car some 40 feet before it became lodged under the front of the car.

According to the crew of the car it was going between 15 and 20 miles an hour while another witness told the police the car was travelling at a 25-mile-an-hour clip.

Motorman Stark told the police that Mr. Martin turned sharply onto the track and that he had no chance to avoid the crash. The car was backup up and the horse removed to one side to open the line and later it was removed by a rendering company.

There were no passengers in the car which was on its way to lay up at the Elmwood car house.

Charles Martin passed away at the age of 38 of a “compound fracture of the skull” and was laid to rest in a single grave ( #2864) at Pocasset Cemetery.

The outcome of the inquest could not be determined.

--September 2026 CHCC photo

“A FAMILY’S PLACE OF ETERNAL REST”STORY BY KELLY SULLIVANCRANSTON HERALDJULY 2, 2020In March of 1867, members of the Sto...
09/21/2026

“A FAMILY’S PLACE OF ETERNAL REST”
STORY BY KELLY SULLIVAN
CRANSTON HERALD
JULY 2, 2020

In March of 1867, members of the Stone family decided that their ancestors’ eternal sleep would continue someplace other than when it had begun over a century earlier.

The Hugh Stone Farm stood along Pontiac Avenue in Cranston. Many years before his death in 1732 at the age of 85, Hugh deeded a two-acre plot to his son John, who was employed as a wheelwright and chairmaker. There, John built himself a house and resided with his wife Hannah (Barnes), their three children, and Hannah’s nephew, who had been bequeathed to John by his brother-in-law Thomas Barnes for the period of time leading up to the boy’s twentieth birthday.

When Hannah died in 1712 at the age of 23, the boy was removed from John’s care and placed with an uncle on his mother’s side. Hannah was laid to rest there on the Stone farm and John later married again, taking Abigail Foster as his second wife.

Upon his own death in 1759 at the age of 84, John was laid to rest beside his first wife and father. Eighty-three-year-old Abigail joined them in the family lot the following year. Eventually, the family farm would number over 30 burials, set peacefully by the Pocasset River.

That spring of 1867, the bodies of John and his two wives were exhumed by the trustees of the estate, The remains were viewed, showing the skeletons to be in a perfectly preserved condition. Even Hannah’s hair, having been encased beneath nearly six feet of earth for over 150 years, was still neatly braided and coiled around her head.

The three bodies were reburied in North Burial Ground, a 110-acre cemetery and Providence’s first public burial ground. However, it would be more than a century before the rest of their family would join them.

During the summer of 1975, 30 bodies were removed from the Stone property and reinterred in the North Burial Ground. The remains were placed in five graves, six people being placed in each grave. A family monument and six fieldstones were also moved to the new resting place. Three months later another body exhumed from the farm followed suit.

Through the years, many families like the Stones, who had ancestors buried on private lands, have opted to unearth their family members and relocate them to more greatly protected areas. In those places they resume their eternal sleep, hopefully never needing to be disturbed again.

********************

CR027
HUGH STONE FAMILY LOT
CORNER OF PONTIAC AND CAPUANO AVENUES

About CR027......

Moved to North Burial Ground Providence on July 21, 1975 by Prada Funeral Home. The site consists of a monument and 6 field stones. 30 bodies were moved on July 1975 and placed in 5 graves (6 in each). One more was brought in Oct 1975 and placed into grave #1.

There was a family genealogy and papers from an 1866 family reunion in Cranston at the old farm (some say a family bible) in a steel box in a compartment in the monument put there in 1866. In 1975 when it was moved the box was opened to reveal a wad of wet paper. The gravestones were taken by Robert Allen Greene for safe storage in East Greenwich.

James Arnold recorded this lot in its original location 12 Sep 1891 (Vol 1, Pg ?) On the city property at Petteconsett Station, yard fenced with granite posts and iron rails, yard in fine order. Charles & Martha Benns recorded this lot in 1934, their #519

The oldest burial took place in 1712 and the latest in 1866.

For more information on CR027 click on the link below::
https://rihistoriccemeteries.org/newsearchcemeterydetail.aspx?ceme_no=CR027

DEACON ASA KING1738-1821REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERCR030KING-RANDALL LOTEZEKIEL STREET OFF OAKLAWN AVENUEDeacon Asa King w...
09/20/2026

DEACON ASA KING
1738-1821
REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIER
CR030
KING-RANDALL LOT
EZEKIEL STREET OFF OAKLAWN AVENUE

Deacon Asa King was a soldier in the American Revolution, in service during 1775, in General Nathaniel Greene's "Army of Observation". He was a petitioner in 1806 to form the Benevolent Baptist Society of Cranston. He was a charter member of the new organization and for many years a deacon. His first cousin, once removed, was Samuel Ward King of Johnston. Samuel was a surgeon on Commodore Lawrence's "Hornet" during the War of 1812 and subsequently became Governor of Rhode Island during the Dorr Rebellion.

In 1764, Asa married Mellisant Higinbotham, daughter of Dr. Charles Higinbotham, a pre-Revolutionary surgeon and leader in the founding of Cranston. Charles was also a first-rate Gatherer (tax collector). Asa and Mellisant's lifespan covered many important events in early history including two French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, the births of Cranston and the United States--and some of those old-fashioned Rhode Island winters.

They lived in the so-called Old Chimney House, probably built around 1700, which stood on the hillside east of "the road from Knightsville (Oak Lawn Avenue) to Sarles's Corner (Oak Lawn)-just beyond the present Dean Parkway at the southeast corner of South Hill Drive and Applegate Road. Asa and Mellisant reached their home by a road leading northeasterly up the hill from said Knighstville road from a point nearly opposite where the cemetery (CR030) now is. This entrance way continued past the house, through the farm, to old Sockanosset Road (Bretton Woods Drive).
You can still see traces of it at the Oaklawn Avenue end. Near the kitchen door was their water supply-- a spring (a bubbling spring, you may be sure!), the source of that little brook tricking down the slope, across Oak Lawn Avenue, on its circuitous journey to the sea.

--excerpts of story published in The Cranston Herald, April 9, 1953

************************
About CR030....
Located 15 feet north of Ezekiel St., 150 ft. west of Oakland Ave. and 150 ft. east of the Washington Secondary Trail. James Arnold recorded this lot 15 Mar 1891 (Vol 4, pg. 648) Between the railroad and the public road on the Oaklawn Road near the Turner's Mill estate a burial yard well protected and some care has lately been bestowed upon its preservation. Charles and Martha Benns recorded it in 1931, their #86.

There are said to be 52 burials here including one Revolutionary War soldier and two veterans of the Civil War. For the past several years this lot has been well-maintained by CHCC commissioner Dave Guiot.

For more information on CR030 click on the link below:
https://rihistoriccemeteries.org/newsearchcemeterydetail.aspx?ceme_no=CR030

--July 2023 CHCC photo

10 YEAR OLD SUCCUMBS TO INJURIESROBERT BATTYE BOOTH1895-1905CR002POCASSET CEMETERY DYER AVENUERobert Battye Booth was bo...
09/20/2026

10 YEAR OLD SUCCUMBS TO INJURIES
ROBERT BATTYE BOOTH
1895-1905
CR002
POCASSET CEMETERY
DYER AVENUE

Robert Battye Booth was born in Providence RI on January 22, 1895. He was the son of George and Dorothy (Cornwall) Booth. His father was a spinner at Pocasset Mills.

As reported in The Providence Journal on June 30, 1905:

KILLED BY FALL FROM TREE
Ten-Year Old Robert Booth of Thornton the Victim.
HE WAS PICKING CHERRIES.

Robert Booth, the 10-year-old son of George Booth, an overseer at Pocasset Mills at Thornton, was killed yesterday by a fall from a cherry tree near his home. A pile of stones under the tree caused a fracture of the skull, and the boy lingered several hours, and died early last evening.

Because someone shouted to the lad he hastened to leave the tree and slipped. The other boys escaped unhurt, but young Booth fell about 15 feet, striking on his head. He was rendered unconscious but revived shortly after he was taken to his home.

Dr. Ralph H. Shaw was called and after dressing the injury found the boy to be in good spirits, and there was every reason to believe that he would recover. A short time later, however, the boy lapsed into unconsciousness. Dr. Shaw was called again, and all skill was brought into play, but the youngster gradually sank and died about 7 o’clock.

The Booth family reside at Thornton in one of the houses of the Pocasset Mills. Robert was the only child and was an attendant at Thornton School. Yesterday there was no session and he had relief from studies and, with companions, started out to gather cherries. He was one of the boys to climb a tree a short distance from him home, and when the owner of the fruit saw them and shouted the boy was badly frightened and fell.

Robert, aged 10, was laid to rest in Pocasset Cemetery.

UNIMAGINABLE HORROR ALONG THE RHODE ISLAND COASTLINETHE HURRICANE OF 1938“TRIPLE FUNERAL RITES ARE HELD”Mother and Two D...
09/19/2026

UNIMAGINABLE HORROR ALONG THE RHODE ISLAND COASTLINE
THE HURRICANE OF 1938

“TRIPLE FUNERAL RITES ARE HELD”
Mother and Two Daughters Sacrificed Lives; Other Victims Buried.
THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
SEPTEMBER 26, 1938

The grim task of burying the hurricane dead in this State started yesterday with the burial of scores of victims.

Tributes accorded heroines were paid yesterday at the funeral of a mother and two daughters, hurricane victims, who sacrificed their lives because they were unwilling to desert a woman, physically unable to escape.

The funerals were those of Mrs. Ann (Wood) Buckley, widow of William Buckley, and two daughters, Mrs. Amy (Buckley) Charnley, wife of Thomas M. Charnley, and Mrs. Helena (Buckley) Petrie, wife of David G. Petrie. All were life-long residents of Olneyville and members of the Broadway Baptist Church. Despite announcement that the funeral services would be private hundreds of friends thronged the funeral home of J. Will Carpenter and Son, 1447 Westminster Street. Mrs. Buckley, Mrs. Charnley, who had been incapacitated by shock for several years, Mrs. Petrie and a third daughter, Miss Nora Buckley, were in a Quonset cottage when the storm struck.

All Refugees to Leave

Mrs. Charnley begged her mother and sisters to leave her and flee for safety. All refused to go. The women huddled about Mrs. Charnley in an attempt to protect her and were all close together when the gale lifted the structure from the posts on which it rested and spun it completely around. The cottage settled a hundred feet away from its original site, severely damaged.

Miss Nora Buckley regained consciousness in a field, unable to tell how she came to be there. Her hands were black and blue she assumes from her effort to hold a door which was slamming with the wind. She instituted the search of volunteers which resulted in finding the bodies of her mother and two sisters in the debris of the cottage.

The services for the three women were conducted by Rev. Wallace C. Sampson, pastor of the Broadway Baptist Church, and Rev. Earl H. Tomlin, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church and a former assistant pastor at Broadway Baptist Church. The burials were in Pocasset Cemetery.

Men of the families were in Providence at work and planned to go to Quonset for the night but were prevented by the storm.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Nora Buckley somehow managed to survive the ordeal and went on to live to the ripe old age of 94. She died on February 12, 1980 and was buried alongside her mother Ann and her sister Helena (Buckley) Petrie at Pocasset Cemetery.

GLADYS (WILLIAMS) BRAYTONHISTORIAN/TEACHER/AUTHOR1890-1990CR002 POCASSET CEMETERY DYER AVENUE Gladys W. Brayton, 99, of ...
09/16/2026

GLADYS (WILLIAMS) BRAYTON
HISTORIAN/TEACHER/AUTHOR
1890-1990
CR002
POCASSET CEMETERY
DYER AVENUE

Gladys W. Brayton, 99, of Old Spring Rd., a former elementary school teacher for the Cranston School Department, died March 7 at Kent Nursing Home, Warwick. She was the widow of Robert M. Brayton.

Born in Providence, a daughter of the late Clarence O. and Mabel (Kenerson) Williams, she had lived in Cranston since 1902. Mrs. Brayton was a direct descendent of Roger Williams. She was a well-known Cranston historian and for three years regularly contributed to the Cranston Herald's column "Cranston Echoes." For 30 years, she wrote a popular historical article for the Cranston Historical Society's monthly newsletter and the articles were then compiled
for a book, "Other Ways and Other Days." which is available at the central branch of the Cranston Public Library.

She was nominated "Woman of the Year" by the Cranston Business and Professional Women in 1975. April 27, 1976, was proclaimed "Gladys Brayton Day" by former Mayor James L. Taft Jr. She was the only woman to serve on the Cranston Bicentennial Committee. She was the first woman inducted into the Cranston Hall of Fame. In 1980, she received the Woman of Achievement Award from her alma mater, the former Rhode Island Normal School.

Gladys was a member of the Oaklawn Community Baptist Church and a charter member of the Oaklawn Grange. For many years she served as curator of the Cranston Historical Society. Her original research still forms the backbone of the Cranston Historical Society's archival records. She was an honorary member of the Warwick Historical Society and was a member of the Rhode Island and Western Rhode Island Civic Historical Societies.

A memorial service was held for Gladys on March 10, 1990 at the Oaklawn Community Baptist Church. She was buried alongside her husband at Pocasset Cemetery.

Just two weeks after her passing the Rhode Island State Senate passed a resolution authored by Cranston senators Jack Reed (D-Dist-12) and Thomas Izzo (D-Dist-13) expressing sympathy on her passing. "Mrs. Brayton was one of Rhode Island's most energetic and talented women," Izzo said. "She was not only a prolific writer, but also a wife, mother, school teacher and community leader. (Her death) will leave a void in the educational, literary and historical milieu and a deep void in the lives of her family, friends and associates."

In 1991, Gladys Brayton was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.

LEWIS JOSHUA PIERCENOTED BUILDER AND ESTEEMED PUBLIC SERVANT1867-1913CR002POCASSET CEMETERY DYER AVENUELewis Joshua Pier...
09/16/2026

LEWIS JOSHUA PIERCE
NOTED BUILDER AND ESTEEMED PUBLIC SERVANT
1867-1913
CR002
POCASSET CEMETERY
DYER AVENUE

Lewis Joshua Pierce was born in Adams County, Iowa in November, 1867. He was the son of Charles and Harriet (Whipple) Pierce. Lewis was educated in the schools of the county and spent the first 21 years of his life there before coming to Providence.

He immediately entered the employ of contractors, and his progress was rapid from that time on. At the age of 24, he was superintendent in charge of the construction of the Atlantic Mills in Olneyville and a year later he was in charge of the construction of the big cold storage warehouse on Kinsley Ave.

In 1896 he married Bertha Josephine Knowlton in Providence, R.I. They did not have any children.

In 1897 he started in business for himself. His business increased rapidly.

His first building of consequence was the new Young Men’s Christian Association at Bristol and then, in rapid succession, followed the Squantum Club, the factory of the American Tubing and Webbing Company on Gordon Avenue, the State Sanatorium at Wallum Pond, the Caesar Misch building, the plant of the New England Supply Company and many other factory buildings of note. He employed about 300 men.

Entering into politics in 1899 his rise there was almost as quick as his business success. He was elected a member of the Common Council from the Seventh Ward and served from January 1900 until March 1903, when he resigned. The next month, he became the Alderman from the same ward and served a little less than a year, when on January 14, 1904 he was elected Police Commissioner of Providence by the State Senate. He held that position until 1908.

Lewis Pierce died on February 13, 1913 at the age of 46 in Boston, MA of cerebral edema. He lived in Boston and at the time of his death he was the superintendent of construction of the new Children’s Hospital, near Harvard Medical School, since the previous summer.

Lewis Pierce was buried in Pocasset Cemetery with his wife and in-laws. There is no marker on the plot.

--Thanks to CHCC commissioner Dave Guiot for putting this story together.

09/15/2026

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