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All the United States Massachusetts Boston Chow Manderien's Grave
AO Edited

Chow Manderien's Grave

The final resting place of the first documented Chinese person in the United States lies in a Boston cemetery.

Boston, Massachusetts

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Panama George Lou
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The gravestone, facing Boylston Street   Auroratorealis / Atlas Obscura User
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About

In a cemetery in Boston Common, a simple grave marked with the name Chow Manderien is more significant than it might seem. The Central Burying Ground gravestone serves as documentation of the first Chinese person in the United States. 

In 1794, a Chinese teenager was brought on board the Union, a ship commanded by John Boit, Jr., a merchant sailor. The then-17-year-old was acting as Boit's servant. Onomastically, his name should be Zhou Libei, but "Chow Manderien" was a colloquial attempt to spell out his name.

According to the New England Historical Society, Boit's family helped pioneer trade between the U.S. and China after the end of the American Revolution. In 1794, at the age of 19, Boit Jr., sailed the world in the Union. Chow came on board in December of that year, when the ship arrived in Guangzhou. Not long after they returned to Boston, Chow died after falling from the mast of another vessel.

The headstone is engraved with the name "Chow Manderien" and a dedication that reads: “Here lies interred the body of Chow Manderien, a native of China, aged 19 years, whose death was occasioned on the 11th of Sept 1798 by a fall from the masthead of the ship Mike of Boston. This stone erected to his memory by his affectionate master John Boit Jr.”

Related Tags

History Immigration Graves Cemeteries

Know Before You Go

Enter from Boylston Street and follow the path until it fades away. The gravestone is directly to the left of the pathway. 

Community Contributors

Added By

Panama George Lou

Edited By

Auroratorealis, fasteddiez80

  • Auroratorealis
  • fasteddiez80

Published

December 23, 2021

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Sources
  • https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/death-of-chow-boston-harbor-1798/
  • https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17595369/chow-manderien
  • https://sentinelhillpress.com/2018/10/11/grave-tober-11-chow-manderien/
Chow Manderien's Grave
Boylston St
Boston, Massachusetts, 02116
United States
42.352894, -71.065934
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