Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of The Friends 2021 Vol. 2 | Page 6

“ In Mount Auburn , intended as the repository of the dead of successive generations , we should expect to find … tombs , monuments , and graves embodying the changing feelings and tastes of different periods .”
— Israel Spelman , 1875
Prentiss Cummings
( 1840 – 1917 ) President 1905 – 1917 / Trustee 1900 – 1917 Lot 5194 Vesper Ave
Born in Maine , Prentiss Cummings attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College . He received his degree from Harvard Law School in 1869 , where he was also a tutor in Latin . He later gained recognition for his translation of Homer ’ s The Iliad . He was U . S . district attorney in Boston , member of the Boston Common Council , representative of the Massachusetts General Court , and state senator . Cummings also served as president of the Cambridge Railroad Company .
As president of Mount Auburn , Cummings worked with Cemetery superintendent James C . Scorgie to propose regulations advocating for simplified memorials including rustic boulders and horizontal tombstones known as flat ledgers . When automobiles were allowed into the grounds in 1908 , the Cemetery upgraded the roads to accommodate them . During Cummings ’ tenure , Mount Auburn also purchased the Stone Estate near Coolidge Avenue and Grove Street .
William Lambert Richardson
( 1842 – 1932 ) President 1917 – 1918 / Trustee 1907 – 1932 Lot 1305 Lawn Avenue
William Richardson attended Harvard College and received an A . M . and M . D . from Harvard Medical School in 1867 . After medical service in the Civil War , he practiced obstetrics and became dean of the faculty of medicine of Harvard Medical School . An advocate for maternity care , he was affiliated with the Boston Lying-In Hospital , which provided care for indigent women and eventually merged into the Brigham and Women ’ s Hospital .
Richardson served as a trustee of Mount Auburn for twenty-five years and took over as president for one year , following the death of his predecessor Prentiss Cummings . During his tenure as trustee and president , the Cemetery constructed a greenhouse ; built a permanent fence on the west side ; and completed construction of the memorial overlooking Halcyon Lake for Mary Baker Eddy ( 1821 – 1910 ), founder of the First Church of Christ , Scientist .
Charles Almy
( 1851 – 1934 ) President 1918 – 1934 / Trustee 1917 – 1934
Charles Almy graduated from Harvard in 1872 . After receiving his degree from Harvard Law School in 1876 , he became Assistant U . S . Attorney for Massachusetts , served in the Massachusetts Legislature , and was appointed Justice of the 3rd District Court of Eastern Massachusetts . Almy was president of the Boy Scouts and worked to create a just probationary system for juvenile offenders . He was also a trustee of the Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge .
As president of Mount Auburn , Almy worked closely with employees , grounds personnel , and superintendent John F . Peterson to professionalize Cemetery practices . He appointed a landscape architect to oversee planting , replaced wooden shops and wagon sheds with new brick buildings to house modern mechanical equipment , and instituted a new accounting system . He was remembered as a familiar , kindly figure often seen walking the Cemetery grounds .
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