Mary Dean: Witness to the Revolution, Gravestone Restored
Updated: 4 days ago
Lot 141
Mary Withington Dean (1729-1803)
Mary Withington was born in Dorchester in 1729, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Blake Withington.
On January 26, 1747, Mary Withington married Benjamin Dean. Benjamin was born on July 17, 1717, the seventh child (of eight) and fourth son born to John Dean and Hannah Savil Dean. The marriage of Benjamin and Mary took place in Stoughton. Benjamin was a farmer.
Benjamin and Mary had four children: Benjamin Jr., born in 1750; William, born in 1751; Mary, born in 1754; and John, born in 1758. Benjamin Jr. and John each moved away from South Dedham.
When the alarm of April 19, 1775 went out, Mary’s husband, Benjamin, 58; her son, William, 24; and her son-in-law, Seth Morse Jr., 22, each answered the call. Both William Dean and Seth Morse Jr. served in the militia throughout the American Revolution.
Mary Withington Dean passed away on November 10, 1803. Her husband, Benjamin Dean, died on February 4, 1810.
The gravestone belonging to Mary Dean was badly damaged sometime before 1888, when, according to Dedham records, a survey of early memorials indicated her stone had been “broken off.” Old Parish Preservation Volunteers found only a fragment of her stone.
In 2025, OPPV commissioned artist Andrew Carr to recreate Mary Dean’s memorial. The existing fragment contained the characteristics of husband Benjamin Dean’s stone and they were likely carved by the same cutter. Using Benjamin’s stone as a template and a new piece of slate, Carr painstakingly recut Mary’s stone by hand using colonial-era tools. The stone has been installed in Old Parish Cemetery where Mary Dean is at last standing proud after more than 130 years!
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