Daniel Davenport

Born in 1773 and dying in 1860, Daniel Davenport is identified in library records as the author of The Sexton's Monitor, and Dorchester Cemetery Memorial, published in Boston in 1845. The Library of Congress credits him with the work and notes that the dedication was signed by him.

Davenport is closely associated with Dorchester, Massachusetts. Local historical material from the Dorchester Atheneum describes him as sexton of the First Church in Dorchester and gravedigger at the Dorchester Old North Burying Ground. That background helps explain the focus of his writing: he gathered cemetery information, memorial inscriptions, and genealogical details that would have mattered deeply to local families.

Today, his book stands out less as a literary work in the modern sense and more as a valuable historical record. For listeners interested in New England history, old burial grounds, and the ways ordinary people helped preserve community memory, Davenport offers a small but vivid piece of 19th-century American life.