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I have never seen this cemetery and the
only way that I know it exists is by looking through old records on
Billerica. I hope to find it sometime in the future once the weather
is more agreeable.
It seems that most of the victims, if not all, came from the next town over, Chelmsford. As to why they would bury Chelmsford people in Billerica and not Chelmsford, I have no answer. It could be that the victims were en route to or from Billerica and died from the disease during the trip and had to be buried fast due to the high contagiousness of smallpox. Who knows. The cemetery is supposedly located along the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks south of the High Street Bridge. There is a marker there that was erected in 1835 to the victims of the smallpox disease in 1811. This little cemetery was restored by the 1978 BSA Troop# 55. They are also the ones who provided this invaluable information on the cemetery. Below is a list of who died: Asa Frost Jr. : son of Asa and Rhoda who was also born in Chelmsford on May 29, 1790. Levy Frost: son of Ebenezer and Esther, born Sept. 25, 1772, also of Chelmsford. Eleazer Farmer: son of Simeon and Mary, baptized Feb. 1, 1767, also of Chelmsford. Sarah Hodgman Samuel T. Batcheller?: son of Joseph and Hannah (Trull). -Binny |
