Robert Oliver circa 1700-1762 and Isaac Royall, 1672-1739
This stone for the Isaac Royall family marks the largest tomb in the cemetery.
no. 23776
The tomb was erected by Isaac Royall for his father, Willam Royal. Isaac died in July 1737 and, at his own desire, was interred with his father.
Isaac Royall was born in Maine, in 1672, the son of William and Mary Royall. Born to parents of modest means, Royall moved with his family to Dorchester, Massachusetts, when he was three years old. He became a merchant mariner and at 28, established a sugar cane plantation on the West Indies island of Antigua. He married Elizabeth Elliott 7 Jul 1697 in Charlestown, MA. He purchased the property now known as The Royall House and Slave Quarters in Medford, which his son inherited.
Here lyes the Body
of the Hon’ble ISAAC ROYALL Esq
who departed this Life in his Seat in Charlestown
June ye 7th Anno Dom’ni 1739 AEtatis 67.
He was a Gent’n of Superiour natural powers & great acquired knowledge
Civil affiable, courteous & Just to all Men
Dutifull to his Parents Kind to his Relations & Charitable to ye Poor
He was a faithfull Husband a tender Father, a kind Master, and a True Friend Delighted in doing good
He is highly esteemed & respected during his residence at Antigua which was near 40 years
no. 23777 photo, 2024
Robert Tracy Jackson. “History of the Oliver, Vassall and Royall Houses in Dorcheser, Cambridge and Medford.” The Genealogical Magazine, January, 1907, Vol. II, No. 1.1907.
“About 1737, Robert Oliver, a wealthy planter from Antigua [West Indies], settled in Dorchester. . . . . [William H. Whitmore cites records of purchases of land in Dorchester by Robert Oliver in 1738, and at later dates, and a petition by him in 1739 as a house owner to the town of Dorchester.] He brought a wife, Anne’, and one son Thomas, who became later the last Lieutenant-Governor of the Province of Massachusetts. . . . . Robert bought a number of pieces of land [in Dorchester], of which 30 acres had been the property of Comfort Foster; and on this homestead lot, he built in 1745, a fine mansion which took the place of a more modest house. [Pl. 1] . . . . Tradition records that he brought many black slaves with him, and dwells with scornful pity upon the fact that they carried burdens on their heads in ignorance of the proper use of a Yankee wheelbarrow.” (Stark). Three of his slaves, named Ann, Cambridge and Betty, are buried in the old North Cemetery in Dorchester. Trask comments on Oliver’s slaves, and their method of working.
The graves of these slaves are in the northwestern portion of the cemetery, near to what is now Columbia Road, formerly Boston St. Their positions are close together and are marked by three small slate head-stones. The epitaphs are worth recording as I believe they have not been previously published.
ANN A NEGRO CHILD
BELONGING TO Mr.
ROBERT OLIVER, & DAUGr. TO HIS
NEGRO NIMBO; AGED 2 Yrs.
DIED JUNE 1743.
CAMBRIDGE A NEGRO
BOY BELONGING TO
ROBERT OLIVER Esqr.
AGED 3 YEARS HE
DIED DECr. Ye 14, 1 1747
BETTY A NEGRO
SERVANT OF COL.
ROBERT OLIVER
DIED FEBy Ye 19, 1748. AGED
ABOUT 25 YEARS.
Robert Oliver,Esq., 2nd sop of Colonel Richard Oliver of Antigua married at St. Johns, Antigua, 3 Feb. 1722, Ann Brown, daughter of James Brown-of Antigua by Elizabeth his wife, which Elizabeth Brown, Widow married 2ndly in 1707, Isaac Royall of Antigua.’ Robert and Ann Oliver had children, James baptized 19 Feb. 1729-30 at St. Johns; Thomas born 5 Jan. 1733-4 at Antigua; Samuel, baptized 20 Jan. 1734-5 at St. Johns; Ann, baptized 22 Oct. 1724 at St. Johns [James, Samuel and Ann probably all died young]; Isaac, born 20 September 1738; Elizabeth, born 13 October 1741, and Richard, born 19th May 1744, the last three all in Dorchester. Robert Oliver’s wife died 20 December 1751, and he died 16 December 1762 (dates from Oliver, vol.2, and Dorchester Births, Marriages and Deaths). The Boston Post-Boy for December 20, 1762, has the following brief obituary. “Thursday morning last, died at his Seat in Dorchester, in the 63d Year of his Age, Col. Robert Oliver. A Gentleman of an extensive Acquaintance, remarkable for his Hospitality to All, was Kind to the Poor, and in his Military Character belov’d and esteem’d: his Family and Neighbors have met with a great Loss in this Bereavment. His Remains are to be interr’d Tomorrow at 3 o’clock in the Family Tomb at Dorchester.” (Stark).
‘Oliver, vol. 1, p. 76-77, vol. 2, p. 346-347. He gives records of both marriages from the Parish Register at St. John. In his book Mr. Oliver says that Robert Oliver was the third son of Colonel Richard Oliver of Antigua, but in a letter dated 5 April, 1905, Mr. Oliver wrote me that this was an error. It has been proved, he writes, since his book was printed, that Robert Oliver was the second, not the third, son of Col. Richard Oliver of Antigua.
Thomas Oliver, son of Robert, graduated from Harvard College 1753, taking the degrees of A. B. and A. M. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel John Vassall, Senior, of Cambridge in 1760 (Paige, p. 619), Thomas’s sister as stated marrying Colonel John Vassall the Second in the following year, thus making a double marriage between the two families. Thomas and Elizabeth Oliver had children, Ann, born 17 November 1763; Elizabeth, born 12 July, 1766, in Dorchester (Dorchester Births, Marriages and Deaths); Penelope, baptized 2 October, 1768, in Cambridge, where in the records of Christs Church are recorded the baptisms of all three children (Harris, in the Vassalls of N. E.). There were also three other children, Mary, Lucy, and Frances. Thomas Oliver’s wife Elizabeth died after he went to England and he married 3 June 1781 at St. Johns, Antigua, Harriet, only child and heir of the Hon. Byam Freeman of Antigua. By his second wife he had Harriet Watkins and Emily Freeman. (Oliver, vol. 3, p. 346-347.)
“Robert Oliver in his will gave his son Thomas, a suit of mourning, a ring and twenty shillings, and no more, because Thomas’s grandfather James Brown [father of Mrs. Robert Oliver, and first husband of Mrs. Isaac Royal] and his great-uncle Robert Oliver had already given him a greater estate than the father could.” (Stark).