A plaque set in a boulder reads:
""IN MEMORY OF
DEVID KENNISON
THE LAST SURVIVOR OF THE
"BOSTON TEA PARTY"
WHO DIED IN CHICAGO, FEBRUARY 24, 1852.
AGED 115 YEARS, 3MOS., 17 DA., AND IS BURIED
NEAR THIS SPOT. THIS STONE IS ERECTED
BY THE SONS OF THE REVOLUTION,
THE SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION,
AND THE DAUGHTERS OF
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION"
Note this website (
visit link) which asserts that Kennison was 85 when he died.
Another historical marker at the site reads:
"HIDDEN TRUTHS
The 1852 funeral for David Kennison was the most
elaborate Chicago had ever seen. The City paid all
expenses, and donated 2 cemetery plots , intending to
erect a monument on his grave. That never happened.
The legend of his exploits grew to unfeasible
proportions. His Boston Tea party fame , military
achievements, and his claim to have lived to the age
of 115 are disputed today. This boulder, installed
50 years after Kennison's death, is likely two blocks
north of the actual burial site in what was then the
Chicago City Cemetery.
This two-part project by Pamela Bannos continues on the
internet : (
visit link)