Boston Tea Party participant from RI gets grave marker

(Courtesy: Kristin Harris/Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum)

by: Sarah Doiron

Posted: Aug 31, 2023 / 06:00 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 31, 2023 / 06:28 PM EDT

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A Providence man believed to have participated in the Boston Tea Party received a commemorative grave marker Thursday.

John Spurr was a carpenter by trade living in Dorchester when he took part in the historic protest, according to the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.

Spurr, who died in 1822 and is buried at Swan Point Cemetery, was gifted the grave marker ahead of the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. He is the 133rd known Boston Tea Party participant to receive recognition.

He is also the second and final Rhode Islander to receive a commemorative gravestone marker. The first went to Nicholas Campbell earlier this month, who’s buried at the North Burial Ground in Warren.

The Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum says Spurr first moved to Providence in 1777 and settled in the city permanently in 1783, after serving as an officer in the Continental Army throughout the Revolutionary War.

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