Read this excerpt from chapter 1 of the scarlet letter using comprehension strategies.

in accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of boston had built the first prison-house, somewhere in the vicinity of cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on isaac johnson's lot, and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old church-yard of king's chapel.

what is the meaning of this excerpt?