William Mumford (1641-1718) was married to Ruth Copp, daughter of William Copp, the early Boston settler for whom Copp’s Hill Burying Ground is named. William, his wife Ruth, his son William and daughter Mary are buried in Copp’s Hill. Mumford was one of the earliest professional gravestone carvers in the Boston region and apprenticed with the “Old Stone Cutter of Charlestown.”
Mumford is known for his gravestone’s side panels that contained gourds that looked remarkably like women’s breasts.
Nicholas Chatwell, 1700,
Burying Point Cemetery, Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA
The stone for John Mayhew, the oldest extant tombstone on Martha’s Vineyard, features heart shaped eyes.
Samuel Ruggles, 1692,
Eliot Burying Ground, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Elizabeth Pain, King’s Chapel Graveyard, Boston
Sources
Watters, David, Markers Annual Journal of the Association of Gravestone Studies, Vol. 2, 115-131.
Ludwig, Allan, Graven Images, 300
Forbes, Harriet, Gravestones of Early New England, 28-34
Gravestone Art: Skulls, Wings, and Other Symbols Web Site: htt ps://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=191735