Benjamin Seaver, Mayor of Boston

Benjamin Seaver (1795-1856) was the son of Benjamin and Debby Loud Seaver, and was

born and raised in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He was married to Sarah Johnson Seaver (1796-1865.) Seaver served as the thirteenth mayor of Boston, in 1852 and 1853. He had been a member of the Boston Common Council for five years, and at the time of his election was in business as an auctioneer. Seaver was mayor when the city voted to establish a public library, which was a major undertaking as previously there were only private library societies or the Harvard College Library. Seaver applied most of his efforts to keeping down the expenditures for municipal purposes. On his recommendation, the Board of Land Commissioners was established in 1853, in place of a joint committee of the City Council. It was also during his term as mayor that an act was passed that prohibited the burial of people, except in certain cases, within the city limits, which effectively ensured the success of the rural cemetery movement at Forest Hills Cemetery.

The Seaver Lot has a large obelisk, at the corner of Cypress and Larch Avenues.