Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 June 1917 — Boston's Historic Hill. [ARTICLE]

Boston's Historic Hill.

Copps hill was the most northerly of the three hills which were the distinguishing feature of Boston at the time of its settlement. At one time It was known as Windmill hill, from the fact that at one time a big mill stood on the summit. Later it was known as Snow hill. The name Copps hill is supposed to have come from William Copp, a cobbler, who lived on his own homestead near the hill. Copps hill was the second burying ground which was established in the town on the summit of the hill where the old mill had stood. It was first used for interments in 1660, and for a long time was known as the “Old North burying ground.” The oldest inscription it contains, dated August 15, 1662, purporting to commemorate the deaths of John Thwlng in 1620 and Grace Berry, in 1625, both some years before the founding of the colony, are thought to have been altered by some mischievous boy with his knife. It is related that the British soldiers, while occupying the burying ground as a military station, used the gravestones for targets and marks of the bullets were visible for years after the -revolution.