Another Gore Roll Coat of Arms in Copp's Hill Burying Ground, Boston, Massachusetts

Two years before he died, Jonathan Montfort of Boston, Massachusetts, apparently consulted the Gore family about his coat of arms.

Two years later upon his death, and we find those arms (much obscured by the growth of lichen on the tombstone, but still identifiable) in Copp's Hill Burying Ground. This is the Tomb 59 tomb mentioned below.

The Copp’s Hill Burying Ground Guide, p. 24, tells us: “Mountfort Family. Tomb 17, built in 1711 on Hull Street for John Mountfort (Loc. W-13) and Tomb 59 for Jonathan (J-3a), built in 1724, represent the Mountforts, long a prominent North End family. They were sons of Edward Mountfort who fled political troubles in London in 1656. John (1670-1711), a cooper or barrel maker, later owned Mountfort’s Wharf and lived on Prince St[reet]. [John was a Member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (Boston, MA)], 1696. Jonathan was a wealthy but eccentric doctor,* owned a pharmacy, and was a founder and treasurer of the New Brick Church. It is highly probable that Joseph Mountfort of the Boston Tea party and later a cooper is buried in another Mountfort tomb located at J3a.”

Here is the non-armorial marker at Tomb 17 for John Mountfort and his son Benjamin Mountfort.

The Mountforts of Boston and of Portland all descend from Edmund Mountfort, a London merchant, who settled in Boston in 1656. The tombstone of his son John is in Copp's Hill churchyard Boston (1724) and bears the arms Bendy of ten Or and Azure [I believe that statement is incorrect; I could only find the Mountfort arms on the tomb of Jonathan], which arms belong to the Mountforts of Beanhurst Hall, Staffordshire and claiming descent from Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester. (Vermont, America Heraldica, p. 107)

There seems to be some confusion among the sources about which Mountfort is buried where in the burying ground, but a closer look at the marker for Tomb 59 clearly (well, as clear as anything else on the marker, given the overgrowth) shows the name "Jonathan Mountfort".

These arms are blazoned Or four bendlets Azure, and the crest shown in the Gore Roll, but impossible to make out here, is A lion's head Azure.

Burke’s General Armory notes a number of variants of these arms:

Montford: Azure four bendlets or.

Montfort, Baron Montfort, descended from Thurstan de Montfort, of Beldesert Castle, county Warwick, temp. Henry II: Bendy of ten or and azure.

Mountford of Radwinter, county Stafford and county Warwick: Bendy of ten or and azure, with the crest A lion's head couped azure.

Mountford of county Sussex: Or four bendlets azure.

Mountford of Willoughby-upon-Wold, Risley, and Wollaton, county Notts, noted in the Visitation of Notts, 1614, Bendy of eight or and azure, quartering Willoughby.

Mountfort of Beamhurst Hall, county Stafford, claiming descent from Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, Bendy or and azure, with the crest A plume of five feathers.

Wagner, Aspilogia II: Rolls of Arms of Henry III, p. 137, notes the arms in Glover's Roll of pers de Mountfort, bende d'or et d'azur. Piers de Montfort of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, succeeded his father Thurstan in 1216. He died at Evesham in 1265, and was succeeded by his son, Piers, who died in 1287.

Brault, Aspilogia III: The Rolls of Arms of Edward I, vol. II, pp. 298-299, notes the arms of: John de Montfort of Preston and Uppingham, d. 1296, blazoned in different rolls as Azure, four bends or (Collins' Roll, 1296), Azure, three bends or (Guillim's Roll, 1295-1305), and Bendy or and azure (Sir William le Neve's Roll, temp. Edward I); and John's father Piers de Montfort, blazoned as Bendy or and azure (in several rolls), and Azure, four bends or (Dering Roll, ca. 1280). He also states that he family name derives from Montfort-sur-Risle, southwest of Rouen in France.

I must say, that for such a comparatively simple coat of arms, that's a lot of minor variations! But sometimes, that is part of the fun of researching heraldry!

* There's got to be a good story there, but I haven't been able to find it. A Rootsweb page about Copp's Hill Burying Ground says: "Jonathan Mountfort was a wealthy physician and apothecary, his shop being long known as 'Mountfort's Corner,' and was of a decidedly eccentric temperament. He was one of the seceders from the New North Church in 1719, and helped build the 'New Brick' or 'Weathercock' Church, of which he was chosen treasurer." So we are told that he was eccentic, but not what behavior of his branded him so. Too bad; as I said, there's got to be a good story there.