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THE FOUNTAIN INN 
 
 Agnes Surriage and 
 Sir Harry Frankland 
 
 A PAPER READ BEFORE THE 
 
 MARBLEHEAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY 
 
 DECEMBER 8, 1904 
 By NATHAN P. SANBORN 
 
 PRBSIDKNT OF THE SOCIETY 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 
 1905 
 
r^4- 
 
 
 MARBLEHEAD 
 N. A. LiNDSET & Co. 
 
 1905 
 
 ;>ifi. 
 
 N0\ 13 \M 
 
T> 
 
 HE picture of the Fountain Inn opposite the title 
 page was made for the Historical Society hy Thomas 
 Pitman, a native artist and a member of the society. 
 
 The site, the islands and the distant shore were all 
 sketched with an artist's skill, while standing upon 
 the premises. The house was then drawn where the 
 hidden foimdations plainly indicate that it should be ; 
 and the various details are made to harmonize with 
 the descriptions of the house as given in the sundry 
 divisions, subdivisions and executions that followed in 
 its brief history after the death of Nathaniel Bartlett, 
 the Innholder. 
 
 While we cannot vouch for its entire accuracy, w« 
 can say it does not differ in any particular from the 
 description given in the records. 
 
PREKACK. 
 
 The early history of Marblehead furnishes 
 abundant material for the writer and novel- 
 ist; in many cases the plain, unvarnished 
 facts read like fiction, and require no em- 
 bellishment to make them fascinating to the 
 reader. There were houses that were of im- 
 portance in their day, the location of which 
 is now uncertain. There were families, nu- 
 merous for several generations, whose names 
 have entirely disappeared from the list of 
 the inhabitants of the town. All serving to 
 make it easy for the novelist to spin and 
 weave a good story, located in Marblehead. 
 
 The story of the Fountain Inn and Agnes 
 Surriage has been told in poetry and in 
 prose ; notably by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes 
 and Edwin L. Bynner, each drawing upon 
 his imagination for incidents to fill up any 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 apparent void in the story; each succeeding 
 so well that his book has been widely read 
 by sympathizing and interested readers; and 
 as a result, hundreds of Marblehead visitors 
 annually search out the site of the Fountain 
 Inn, slake their thirst at the Fountain Well, 
 and enquire, '* How much of the story is 
 fact, and how much is fiction? " The follow- 
 ing paper is intended to give only well au- 
 thenticated facts. 
 
THE FOUNTAIN INN 
 
 AGNES SURRIAGE AND 
 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND 
 
 THE days of the Fountain Inn have 
 long since passed. No Hving person 
 remembers of ever hearing it said by 
 any one, not even by grandfather or grand- 
 mother, ''I remember the old Inn; I saw it 
 when I was a child. " 
 
 No attempt, as far as I know, was ever 
 made to describe the house, whether it was 
 grand or otherwise. The question is some- 
 times asked, ''Was there ever such a house 
 in Marblehead?" 
 
 The question would not be worth answer- 
 ing were it not for the fact that Agnes Sur- 
 
8 THE FOUNTAIN INN. 
 
 riage, an artless but pretty maid, the daugh- 
 ter of a poor fisherman, was once a servant 
 girl there. 
 
 It is nevertheless true the Fountain Inn 
 was no myth, but was a real, substantial, 
 hospitable, public house. One hundred and 
 seventy years ago it was the public house of 
 Marblehead. Strangers sought and found 
 entertainment there, as did some to the 
 manor born. 
 
 Our information is meagre, but it is reliable, 
 for it is drawn almost entirely from the 
 Essex Registry of Deeds, and that not thus 
 drawn is drawn from the rocks and the soil 
 of the site we are studying. 
 
 A few years ago the editor of the Essex 
 Antiquarian, in an excellent article on this 
 subject, gave us data that was new to most 
 of us, and was new because it was so old. 
 But it was a record on which we may rely. 
 
 In the free use of facts, wherever they 
 could be found, the following paper is pre- 
 sented. 
 
 On putting together the scattered frag- 
 ments, we find not a complete picture, but an 
 outline and a background of a house of the 
 
THE FOUNTAIN INN. 9 
 
 eighteenth century, picturesque and fasci- 
 nating to one who loves to study the history 
 of Colonial times. 
 
 Would it seem presumption on my part 
 if I were to attempt to describe the estate on 
 which the old hostelry stood, give in outline 
 a description of the house and a history of the 
 old Inn? It may seem so, but is it when we 
 have so clear an outline on the record, and 
 the site is within easy reach. 
 
 If I were to try my hand at it, I would say : 
 In 1720 on the plateau between Little Harbor 
 and the great bluff that now bounds Fountain 
 Park was the Bartlett homestead; and well 
 back toward the bluff and facing Little Har- 
 bor stood the Bartlett mansion, and between 
 the mansion and the harbor was the well, the 
 garden and the orchard. 
 
 When the mansion was first erected there 
 was in the center of the grass plot in front of 
 it a spring or a natural fountain where the 
 clear, cool, fresh water came bubbling to the 
 surface and was gathered in a little pool for 
 the use of the household and their neighbors ; 
 and that the water might not run to waste, 
 but rather be stored for use, a well was dug 
 
lo THE FOUNTAIN INN. 
 
 and for obvious reasons was called the 
 Fountain Well. 
 
 January 7, 1721, Nathaniel Bartlett, mar- 
 iner and innholder, who had dug and built 
 for himself a cellar in his father's orchard, in 
 front of his father's dwelling, and near Little 
 Harbor, received a deed of the land where he 
 had commenced to build, and before 1723, 
 when another piece of land was conveyed to 
 him, his house was completed and opened as 
 the Fountain Tavern; receiving its name 
 from the well that was near its southern 
 corner, over which was the sweep and in 
 which was the oaken bucket. 
 
 It seems to have been a house two stories 
 high with the end towards Little Harbor, the 
 front to the southwest, that is, facing the end 
 of the lane from Orne street, by which it is 
 approached; a front door in the center, and 
 containing eight rooms, there being one 
 "over the entry- way. " At about that time 
 the " Commoners, " according to their records, 
 began to hold their meetings at the Fountain 
 Tavern ; and from that time Nathaniel Bart- 
 lett was innkeeper until he died in 1749. 
 The estate was then divided. The south- 
 
THE FOUNTAIN INN. ii 
 
 easterly end was set off to Jane, his widow, 
 as her dower, with one-half of the woodhouse 
 and land adjoining. The remainder of the 
 estate was divided between his two daughters 
 and apparently the house ceased to be an inn. 
 But it was always known as the Fountain 
 Tavern. 
 
 In 1757 the northwesterly part of the 
 Fountain Inn passed into the estate of John 
 Riddan, the man from whom the First 
 Church purchased the land in Franklin street 
 where the meeting house stood. In 1789 
 Joseph Hinckley, merchant, (who owned the 
 ** Hinckley Building" at the corner of Wash- 
 ington street and ** Academy Lane") con- 
 veyed to Captain John Patten his interest in 
 the Fountain garden and the land thereto 
 adjoining on which the house called the 
 Fountain Tavern formerly stood. In 1828 
 the estate passed into the hands of Joshua 
 O. Bowden, in whose family it still remains. 
 
 What became of the old tavern, when or 
 why it was removed we cannot, at this time, 
 tell. 
 
 It is evident that it was standing in 1757 
 and that it was gone in 1789, and also that 
 
12 THE FOUNTAIN INN. 
 
 Nathaniel Bartlett was its landlord through- 
 out its history as a public house. 
 
 To-day the plateau is there and the Foun- 
 tain Well with its curb, but without the 
 sweep and the iron-bound oaken bucket. 
 The bluffs, the harbors, little and great, the 
 fort, the point of the Neck, the islands, and 
 the north shore, the bay and the limitless 
 ocean may all be seen, as in the palmiest day 
 of the Fountain Inn. It is as grand and 
 beautiful an outlook as ever came within the 
 range of mortal vision. Above the surface 
 of the ground no trace of the Fountain Inn is 
 to be seen ; but if you were to break the green- 
 sward in the orchard, and dig a little below, 
 you would find the foundation stones of the 
 old Inn. 
 
 Below I give the authority for some of the 
 statements already made as it appears in the 
 Essex Registry of Deeds : 
 
 " January 7, 1 72 1 , William Bartlett, Senior, 
 of Marblehead, yeoman and fisherman, and 
 his wife Sarah conveyed to their son Na- 
 thaniel Bartlett of Marblehead, mariner and 
 innholder, a small piece of land where his 
 cellar now is, in our orchard, before our 
 
THE FOUNTAIN INN. 13 
 
 mansion house at Little Harbor." (Bk. 39, 
 
 If. 15.) 
 
 "August 22, 1723, Nathaniel Bartlett, 
 Senior, of Marblehead, shoresman, executor 
 of the will of his uncle, Nathaniel Walton, 
 late of Marblehead, deceased, conveyed to 
 his cousin, Nathaniel Bartlett, Junior, of 
 Marblehead, mariner and innholder, a piece 
 of land on which the deceased's barn and 
 cow-house formerly stood where the grantee 
 'hath set up a new house.' " (R. D. bk. 
 41, If. 167.) 
 
 Nathaniel Bartlett died here while con- 
 ducting the tavern in 1749. His widow, 
 Jane, married secondly a Mr. Jackson, and 
 December 12, 1750, there was assigned to her 
 as dower "the southeasterly end of the 
 Fountain Tavern, so called, at the north end 
 of the town, with a small piece of garden of 
 about one pole in breadth, lying on the 
 westerly side of Thomas Bartlett 's land 
 there, and all the land lying at the southeast 
 end of the house the whole breadth thereof, 
 with the northeasterly end of the wood- 
 house, extending to the middle thereof, 
 (reserving to lie in common for the free and 
 
14 THE FOUNTAIN INN. 
 
 equal use of all parties concerned, the well 
 belonging to the homestead and all of the 
 land now lying on the southwest of the house 
 at the north end, and all entry and stairways 
 from the cellar to the garret and a passage- 
 way through the outer cellar doors and from 
 thence to all parts of the cellar)." 
 
 ** February 9, 1 750-1 the remainder of the 
 estate was divided among the heirs of Na- 
 thaniel Bartlett of Marblehead, innholder, 
 Mary, widow of Andrew Tucker of Marble- 
 head, mariner, and Widow Sarah Preble. To 
 Sarah Preble was assigned the northwesterly 
 end of the Fountain Tavern, near Little Har- 
 bor, with the chamber over the entryway 
 with the land exclusive of that assigned to 
 the widow" (R. D. bk. 94, If. 263), leaving 
 the remainder, the kitchen, dining-room and 
 chamber over, to Mrs. Tucker. 
 
 "March 20, 1 750-1, Mrs. Preble conveyed 
 her part to Nathaniel Baitlett." (R. D. 
 bk. 96, If. 107.) 
 
 "In 1756 the estate of John Riddan re- 
 covered a judgment against the estate of 
 Nathaniel Bartlett, Junior, and the north- 
 westerly half of the Fountain Inn and his 
 
AGNES SURRIAGE. 15 
 
 interest in the southwesterly portion. (Sam- 
 uel Rogers was occupying the premises at 
 that time.) The premises were set off to 
 the Riddan estate February 9, 1757. (R. D. 
 bk. 103, If. 201.) 
 
 "October 26, 1789, Joseph Hinckley of 
 Marblehead, merchant, and his wife Deborah 
 conveyed to Captain John Patten, mariner, 
 their interest in the Fountain garden and the 
 land thereto adjoining, on which the house 
 called the Fountain Tavern formerly stood, 
 except a small part thereof claimed by Mrs. 
 Rogers and others." (R. D. bk. 154, If. 
 
 I79-) 
 
 "January 8, 1792, Widow Deborah Bourn 
 
 of Marblehead conveyed her interest in the 
 estate to Captain Patten." (R. D. bk. 154, 
 If. 180.) 
 
 Agnes Surriage* was born in Marblehead 
 and was baptized April 17, 1726, by Rev. 
 Edward Holyoke, at that time pastor of the 
 Second Church. Her father was Edward 
 
 *The fourth in a family of eight children: Edward, baptized July 
 5, 1719; Mary, baptized January 14, 1722; Josiah, baptized April 
 5, 1724; Agnes, baptized April 17, 1726; Thomas, baptized May 5, 
 1728; John, baptized June 28, 1730; Hugh, baptized September 17, 
 1732; Isaac. 
 
i6 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 Surriage, a poor fisherman of Marblehead, 
 of whose ancestry we have no knowledge. 
 Her mother was Mary (Pierce) Surriage, a 
 daughter of Richard Pierce, New Harbor, Me., 
 whose family was brought to Marblehead at 
 the time of the King Philip War. She was 
 a granddaughter of the celebrated John 
 Brown, who settled at Pemaquid, now Bris- 
 tol, Me., in 1625, and bought of the In- 
 dians a large tract of land. John Brown 
 was a merchant of London of considerable 
 wealth, of great activity, and of good family; 
 shrewd in his business transactions and just 
 in his dealings. Agnes, at least on her 
 mother's side, was of good stock. 
 
 Sir Charles Henry Frankland was born in 
 Bengal, May 10, 1716, while his father. Sir 
 Thomas Frankland, was residing there as 
 governor of the East India Company's facto- 
 ry in that place. His mother was Elizabeth 
 (Cross) Frankland. He was a direct descend- 
 ant of Oliver Cromwell. He was the oldest 
 of seven sons, was educated in affluence as 
 the presumptive heir to the baronetcy and 
 the estates at Thickleby and Mattersea. 
 His family was one of the most ancient, (as 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 17 
 
 the name would indicate) wealthy and re- 
 spectable in the north of England. He was 
 Collector of the Port of Boston from 1741 to 
 1757, (receiving his commission from the 
 King in spite of Sir WiUiam Shirley's efforts 
 to obtain the same appointment). His 
 salary was one hundred pounds sterling and 
 perquisites. He belonged to the Church of 
 England; was a pew owner and regular con- 
 tributor to King's Chapel. 
 
 We cannot, in any degree, justify or palli- 
 ate Frankland's standard of morals during 
 the earlier part of his life. He tried to make 
 amends for it in his later years. 
 
 Marblehead in 1742 was authorized to 
 erect a fortification, now known as Fort 
 Sewall, for the defense of the harbor against 
 the French cruisers, and six hundred and 
 ninety pounds were appropriated by the 
 government for that object. The Collector 
 of the Port of Boston, in a general way, 
 superintended the erection of this fort. 
 
 During the summer Sir Harry Frankland, 
 then Collector of Boston, made a business 
 visit to Marblehead, which was then a flour- 
 ishing town and already a port of entry of 
 
i8 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 great importance, and sought entertainment 
 at the Fountain Inn. 
 
 While at the Inn his attention was at- 
 tracted by a beautiful girl, about sixteen 
 years old, who at the time was engaged in 
 scrubbing the floor of the hall near the stairs. 
 Her dress was scanty and poor and there 
 were neither stockings or shoes on her feet. 
 She was a waiting girl of all work at the Inn. 
 Though her garb was so poor and her em- 
 ployment so servile there was in her form and 
 features gleams of beauty that instantly 
 attracted the attention of the Collector. 
 
 One writer has said, " Her ringlets were as 
 black and glossy as the raven, her dark eyes 
 beamed with light and loveliness, her voice 
 was musical ; and she bore the charming name 
 of Agnes Surriage. " 
 
 Frankland, a young man of about twenty- 
 six years, called her to his side, and made 
 some kindly enquiries in relation to her 
 parents and gave her a crown, with which to 
 buy a pair of shoes. 
 
 Visiting the town again a little later in the 
 season, as on his previous visit, he drove 
 with his coach and four to the Fountain Inn. 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 19 
 
 While there, he saw Agnes again in her work, 
 as before, without stockings or shoes; and to 
 his inquiry why she had not purchased the 
 shoes she answered, " I have indeed, sir, with 
 the crown you gave me, but I keep them to 
 wear to meeting. ' ' The natural sprightliness 
 of her mind and the artlessness and modesty 
 of her ways, quite captivated the heart of 
 Frankland. He sought and gained permis- 
 sion of her parents to remove her to Boston 
 to be educated. 
 
 On her arrival in town Agnes was immedi- 
 ately given the best educational advantages 
 that the place then afforded, not only in 
 literature but also in whatever graces and 
 accomplishments were then thought requisite 
 to make a fashionable and perfect lady. 
 
 In acquiring a polite education, she did not 
 however lose the artless simplicity of her 
 childhood. She was industrious and pains- 
 taking in all her efforts and quickly mastered 
 the sciences placed within her reach. Thus 
 several years passed, during which Agnes 
 steadily pursued her studies under careful 
 and accomplished teachers. 
 
 In 1745 Frankland purchased of Mrs. Sur- 
 
20 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 riage a tract of land in Maine which had fallen 
 to her on the decease of her father, for which 
 he paid her the sum of fifty pounds. Mrs. Sur- 
 riage was at this time a widow, and poor. It is 
 probable that Frankland took this method 
 of assisting her, as there appears no evidence 
 that he ever made any use of his purchase. 
 
 In 1746, by the death of his uncle. Sir 
 Thomas Frankland, M. P., and one of the 
 lyords of the Admiralty, the baronetcy of 
 Thirsk devolved on Sir Harry as the nearest 
 blood relative, and he received the title of 
 Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Bart. 
 
 Not long after this time Agnes Surriage, 
 having finished her course of study and 
 grown into a beautiful and charming woman, 
 entered the family of Sir Harry Frankland, 
 which in the opinion of sedate and circum- 
 spect Boston was, without the matrimonial 
 bond, highly improper. A storm of just 
 indignation rose against such an alliance 
 which neither wealth, nor noble name, nor 
 official power, nor courtly manners could 
 allay. Therefore Frankland resolved to seek 
 a residence for himself and Agnes in the 
 seclusion of the country. 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND, 21 
 
 In 1 75 1, Rev. Roger Price, rector of King's 
 Chapel, an intimate friend of Frankland's, 
 had taken up an extensive tract of land in 
 Hopkinton, one of the most romantic towns 
 in Middlesex County, with the intention of 
 building a mission church for such Episco- 
 palians as had, or might, become residents of 
 the place. This circumstance, with the ex- 
 cellent soil and beauty of the scenery, induced 
 Frankland to select this town for his retire- 
 ment from the annoyance of the busy tongues 
 of Boston. 
 
 Accordingly he bought four hundred and 
 eighty acres of land in 1 751-2 in the easterly 
 part of the town. The tract Hes along the 
 southern and western slope of a hill called in 
 the Indian tongue, " Magunco, " (the place of 
 great trees). 
 
 On the southwestern slope of this hill Sir 
 Harry selected an eligible site, and erected a 
 commodious manor house and reduced more 
 than one hundred acres of his land to tillage ; 
 planted extensive orchards, built a costly 
 barn, one hundred feet long, surmounted by 
 a cupola; a granary which was set upon six 
 wrought, conicall^ freestone pillars which 
 
22 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 he had imported from England for the pur- 
 pose; and houses for his servants equal to 
 those of many of the farmers in the neigh- 
 borhood. 
 
 Horticulture being a favorite occupation 
 and one in which Agnes most heartily sym- 
 pathized, he introduced from England a great 
 variety of choice fruit trees, including apple, 
 pear, plum, peach, cherry, apricot, quince, 
 etc. His eye for beauty led him to set out 
 elms and other ornamental trees upon his 
 grounds and to embellish his walks with the 
 box, lilac, hawthorne and the rose. 
 
 Refined taste was manifested within doors 
 as well as without. The mansion was large 
 and strongly built. It stood at some dis- 
 tance from the road, and was approached 
 by an avenue cut through the chestnut 
 forest, and beautified by a flower garden 
 tastefully arranged in front. The spacious 
 hall, sustained by fluted columns, was hung 
 with tapestry, richly ornamented with dark 
 figures on a ground of deepest green, accord- 
 ing to the fashion of the times. The chimney 
 pieces were of Italian marble; cornices of 
 stucco-work and other costly finishing em- 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 23 
 
 bellished the parlor, ante-rooms and cham- 
 bers. 
 
 The grounds around the house were laid 
 out in the most artistic manner, with ter- 
 races and walks bordered with shrubs of many 
 kinds ; with arbors and cosy retreats in unex- 
 pected but beautiful and romantic places, 
 the great trees making this possible as it 
 would not have been where nature and time 
 had done less to aid them. 
 
 To this beautiful retreat, in the summer 
 of 1752, Frankland retired with Agnes Sur- 
 riage and a natural son, born in England, 
 named Henry Cromwell, then about twelve 
 years old. 
 
 Here it seems they spent their time in 
 directing the affairs of the plantation, upon 
 which not less than a dozen slaves were em- 
 ployed, in deer and fox hunting, in angling 
 for the speckled trout in the brooks nearby 
 and in reading their favorite authors. 
 
 While Frankland was engaged in the 
 pleasures of country life in Hopkinton he did 
 not neglect the duties of his office as Col- 
 lector of Boston, but scrupulously attended 
 to them. 
 
24 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 From the Hopkinton records of March 12, 
 1753, it appeared that the town voted to 
 grant Sir Harry Frankland's request in 
 respect to a road through the land that was 
 Jeremiah Hobbs' and also that £1. 8s. id. 
 be discounted from his rates by reason of his 
 being a churchman. 
 
 In the spring of 1754 it was found neces- 
 sary that Frankland should visit England to 
 attend to some matters relating to the set- 
 tlement of the estate of his uncle, Sir Thomas 
 Frankland. 
 
 Leaving the Custom House in charge of 
 his deputy, he, with Agnes Surriage, em- 
 barked for London where they arrived early 
 in the summer. But when he attempted to 
 introduce Agnes into the circle of his dis- 
 tinguished relatives, in spite of his solicita- 
 tions, she was treated with disdain; but Sir 
 Harry's devotion to her was in no degree 
 diminished by this. 
 
 Having finished his business in England, 
 Sir Harry, with his fair protegee, made a tour 
 of Europe, finally stopping in Lisbon, at that 
 time a popular and fashionable retreat. The 
 Kingdom of Portugal was at the zenith of its 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 25 
 
 prosperity, receiving large returns of gold 
 from its Brazilian possessions in America. 
 Here he hired and furnished a house and 
 entered into the gay round of fashionable 
 life. 
 
 From this time to the close of his life 
 the baronet kept a kind of journal or diary, 
 which is in the possession of the Massachu- 
 setts Historical Society. It is a rare and 
 curious duodecimo of about two hundred 
 pages, written in his own hand, and contains 
 an account of current expenses, items of 
 business, memoranda of estates, recipes, 
 proverbs, etc. 
 
 In 1755 Sir Harry visited England, sailed 
 June 3d on board the packet Hanover for 
 London and arrived at Falmouth, June 16; 
 came to his house in Clargis street, July 6. 
 In returning he set out from London, Sep- 
 tember 4th, by the way of Falmouth to 
 Lisbon. 
 
 One of the most violent and destructive 
 earthquakes of modern times took place 
 November i, 1755. The center of the shock 
 seemed to be a little to the west of Portugal, 
 but the agitation of the earth's surface was 
 
26 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 equal to seven and one-half million square 
 miles. The shock was felt all over Western 
 Europe, Northern Africa and even to the 
 West Indies. The most terrible destruction, 
 however, occurred at Lisbon, which was near 
 the center of the volcanic disturbance. 
 
 The city stands on the right bank of the 
 Tagus River, at this point about three miles 
 wide; and at that time was a crowded, costly 
 city, with dwellings, stores, churches, palaces, 
 built of white marble. It had in 1755 al- 
 most 250,000 people within its limits, and 
 was the residence of the richest king in Eu- 
 rope. The morning of that terrible day was 
 unusually fine. The golden light of the ris- 
 ing sun was diffused throughout the city, 
 across the valleys, upon the hilltops beyond, 
 and lighted up the river and the ocean that 
 laid before them like a sea of glass with a 
 brilliancy that could not be excelled. 
 
 It was All Saints' Day, a day of imposing 
 ceremony. The chiming bells were pealing 
 forth their merry notes; the streets were 
 crowded with carriages and people gaily 
 dressed, people of every class, moving toward 
 the various churches for the celebration 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 27 
 
 of high mass. At 10 o'clock, A.M., the bells 
 are silent ; ^the worshipers are kneeling at the 
 altars and the priests are proceeding with the 
 services, when suddenly a sound is heard like 
 thunder from the bosom of the earth; the 
 solid walls are shaking ; the terror of the peo- 
 ple is beyond description; nobody cried, it 
 was beyond tears. A moment afterward 
 another shock breaks the awful silence and 
 the fear is realized. The foundations of the 
 churches and palaces are loosened, the walls 
 and the towers rock to and fro, and with a 
 crash topple to the ground, burying nearly 
 thirty thousand of the affrighted people in 
 one common grave! the earth shakes and 
 trembles for the space of twenty minutes — 
 thirty churches and nearly all of the stores 
 and houses are in ruins — in many places the 
 streets are filled with the fallen stones and 
 timbers — the city itself is in ruins. 
 
 The King and his court, being at Belem at 
 the time, was saved. (Belem was about a 
 mile southwest of Lisbon.) Writing to his 
 sister. Queen of Spain, he said, "Here I am, 
 a King without a capitol, without subjects, 
 without raiment. ' ' 
 
28 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 Frankland had gone out upon the morning 
 of that fatal day in his court dress to witness 
 the celebration of high mass. He was riding 
 with a lady on his way, when the earth began 
 to rise and sink like a wave at sea, the w^alls 
 of the buildings totter, bend and break over 
 him, covering horses, carriage and its occu- 
 pants in the ruin. The horses are killed, and 
 his companion, in her agony, bites entirely 
 through the sleeve of his red broadcloth coat 
 and tears a piece of flesh from his arm. 
 While thus entombed Frankland made a 
 solemn vow that if he ever reached the outer 
 world again he would hve a different life, and 
 first of all atone for the wrongs he had done 
 his best friend and make Agnes Surriage his 
 lawful wife. It would now be no humiliation 
 for him, an EngHsh baron, to marry a poor 
 servant girl. 
 
 Meanwhile Agnes, who had rushed from 
 the house where she was, at the first warning 
 of danger, escaped harm, and set out in 
 earnest search for Sir Harry. Making her way 
 along the streets now filled in places with 
 smouldering ruins, she fortunately came to 
 the very spot where he lay buried. She 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 29 
 
 heard the smothered accents of his well- 
 known voice, and offered large rewards to 
 men to assist in his recovery. In the course 
 of an hour she had the inexpressible pleasure 
 of seeing him lifted from his living tomb. 
 He was carried to a place of safety, where 
 his wounds were dressed, and was then re- 
 moved to Belem. Faithful to his vow, a 
 priest was called to solemnize the rite of 
 marriage, and Agnes Surriage rises to take 
 the honored name of Lady Agnes Frank- 
 land. 
 
 Frankland seized his first opportunity to 
 return to England, and on his voyage thither, 
 there being a clergyman of his own church 
 on board, to make the marriage doubly sure 
 he had the ceremony again performed. 
 
 On his arrival he introduced the Lady 
 Agnes to his mother, who received her cor- 
 dially as a daughter ; and others of the family 
 recognizing her rank, her beauty and her 
 elegant manners, made up for past neglect 
 by a generous welcome and many special 
 tokens of esteem. 
 
 It was a strange freak of fortune, such as 
 the world seldom sees, that a servant girl, the 
 
30 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 daughter of a poor fisherman, should come to 
 move in the aristocratic circles of the Frank- 
 lands, Pelhams, Scarboroughs, Pitts and 
 Walpoles which at that time exercised such 
 influence over the destinies of the most pow- 
 erful empire in the world. 
 
 As soon as the condition of Lisbon would 
 permit, Frankland returned to that city and 
 resumed his journal, as follows: "April, 
 1756, records from the Second Church in 
 Marblehead, my wife was baptized by the 
 Rev. Mr. Edward Holyoke, the pastor of said 
 church, in name of Agnes Surriage. " " April 
 26 sailed from Belem to Boston on board the 
 ship Friendship, Captain Eleazer Johnson." 
 
 On Frankland 's arrival at Boston he in- 
 troduced to his compeers the lovely and 
 accomplished but once slighted Agnes Sur- 
 riage as Lady Frankland, who was at once 
 recognized as a star of the first magnitude in 
 the polished circles of the town. 
 
 In October of this year (1756) Frankland 
 bought of Thomas Greenough for ^1,200 
 sterling the celebrated Clark mansion on 
 Garden Court street and Bell Alley at the 
 north end of the town. This house was 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 31 
 
 erected by one of the wealthiest merchants 
 in Boston, and was intended to rival in 
 splendor the far-famed Hutchinson house 
 adjoining it. It was of brick, three stories 
 high, and contained in all twenty- six rooms. 
 To this elegant mansion, furnished with 
 regal splendor. Sir Harry introduced his 
 Lady, and here during the winter she pre- 
 sided over the elite of the court end of the 
 town as one of the most charming women of 
 that period. The summer of 1757 was 
 passed in their delightful home in Hopkin- 
 ton, where they enjoyed all of the pleasures 
 of a quiet country life, visiting Boston as 
 occasion might require, but not always 
 without incident, as we find the New Hamp- 
 shire Gazette, September 2, 1757, has the 
 following: ''Boston, August 20, i757- 
 Thursday last, as Sir Harry Frankland and 
 his lady were coming into town in their 
 chariot a number of boys were gunning on 
 Boston Neck (notwithstanding there is an 
 express law to the contrary) when one of 
 them discharged his piece at a bird, missed 
 the same, and almost the whole charge of 
 shot came into the chariot where Sir Harry 
 
32 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 and his lady were, several of which entered 
 his hat and clothes and one grazed his face, 
 but did no other damage to him or lady. ' ' 
 
 During the year 1757 Frankland's de- 
 clining health made him seek a milder cli- 
 mate than that of Boston, and as his resi- 
 dence in Portugal had made him well ac- 
 quainted with the language and commercial 
 regulations, he sought and obtained of King 
 George II an appointment as Consul General 
 of that Kingdom. On his appointment to 
 that office he ceased to be Collector of the 
 Port of Boston, and soon took passage for 
 Lisbon. 
 
 (From his diary.) "1758 sailed from 
 Piscataqua in North America for England in 
 the Mermaid man-of-war. Captain Alexander 
 Innis." 
 
 "July 4, 1759, attending to the duties of 
 my office in Lisbon. ' ' 
 
 "August 9, 1763, sailed from Lisbon in 
 the Hanover packet, Captain Sherburn, and 
 arrived at Falmouth on Wednesday, August 
 17," and from thence to Hopkinton. His 
 health continued to decline and soon, he, with 
 his lady and Henry Cromwell, took passage 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. ss 
 
 for Bath, England, for the purpose of enjoy- 
 ing the benefit of its mineral waters. 
 
 Though he left Lisbon in 1 763 he held his 
 office until 1767. 
 
 He died in Bath, January 11, 1768, aged 
 51 years, 8 months and i day, and was 
 buried at Ireston Church in the vicinity of 
 Bath. 
 
 The following monumental inscription 
 may be found high against the wall in the 
 nave of the church: 
 
 "To the memory of Sir Charles Henry Frankland of 
 Thirkleby in the County of York, Baronet, Consul 
 General for many years at Lisbon, from whence he 
 came in hopes of recovering from a bad state of health 
 to Bath where after a tedious and painful illness, which 
 he sustained with patience and resignation, becoming a 
 Christian, he died nth January, 1768, in the 52d year 
 of his life, without issue, and at his own desire lies 
 buried in this church. This monument is erected by 
 his affectionate widow, Agnes, Lady Frankland." 
 
 Sir Harry Frankland possessed more than 
 ordinary executive ability, a good and dis- 
 criminating judgment and accomplished and 
 graceful manners; his integrity was above 
 suspicion. He delighted in elegant literature. 
 
34 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 in the beauties of nature, in practical gar- 
 dening, and in social life ; and in his beloved 
 Agnes, refined and beautiful above her sex, 
 he ever found the liveliest sympathy and the 
 most cordial assistance. At heart, he was 
 ever true to his friends; as a neighbor, gener- 
 ous and kind; as a citizen, upright and 
 noble. 
 
 When Frankland returned to Hopkinton 
 after the earthquake he brought with him the 
 red broadcloth coat with its rent sleeve, the 
 bent and battered sword and scabbard he 
 had worn by his side and other relics of that 
 terrible day, and hung them along the tapes- 
 tried walls of one of the chambers of his 
 mansion. On each anniversary of his de- 
 liverance from that dreadful catastrophe he 
 entered this room, locked the door upon him- 
 self, closed the shutters, and in darkness and 
 silence spent the day. 
 
 In June, 1768, after her husband's death. 
 Lady Frankland returned from England to 
 Hopkinton and there remained until 1775. 
 She ever had the deepest affection for her 
 parents, her brothers and sisters and their 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 35 
 
 children. Her sister, Mrs. Swain, and her 
 children continued to reside with her. 
 
 The arrival of British troops in Boston in 
 1775 and the consequent action of the Col- 
 onists, rendered it necessary in many cases 
 for the Royalists to abandon their estates 
 and seek refuge among their friends. 
 
 Lady Frankland, leaving her mansion and 
 estate in Hopkinton in charge of her sister, 
 Mrs. Mary Swain, and her daughter, Mrs. 
 John Dupee, with Henry Cromwell and a 
 few trusty servants set out for Boston, tak- 
 ing the precaution to obtain permission of 
 the Colonial Congress. May 1 5, she received 
 from the Committee of Safety a permit to 
 enter Boston with her attendants and goods, 
 as follows : " Six trunks, one chest, three beds 
 and bedding, six wethers, two pigs, one small 
 keg of pickled tongues, some hay, three bags 
 of corn and such other goods as she thinks 
 proper." But regardless of her permit, her 
 carriage was stopped on the way by a party 
 of armed men under the direction of Abner 
 Craft and her person and goods held in cus- 
 tody, though she bore the following permit : 
 
36 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 "To THE Colony Guard: 
 
 "Permit Lady Frankland of Hopkinton, with 
 her attendants, goods and provisions above mentioned, 
 to pass to Boston, with the express orders of the Com- 
 mittee of Safety. 
 
 "Benjamin Church, Jr., Chairman. 
 "Headquarters, Salem, May 15, 1775." 
 
 As Mr. Craft, anxious to serve his country, 
 had captured the lady without regard to the 
 instructions of the Committee of Safety, he 
 was immediately ordered to appear before 
 the Provincial Congress to answer to the 
 allegations made against him in respect to 
 the detention of Lady Frankland. And 
 Congress resolved ' * that he should be gently 
 admonished by the President, and be assured 
 that the Congress was determined to retain 
 their power over the military." "Mr. Craft 
 was again called and the President politely 
 admonished him agreeably to the resolution 
 of Congress. " 
 
 It was then resolved "that Lady Frank- 
 land be permitted to go to Boston with the 
 following articles, viz. : Seven trunks, all 
 the beds and the furniture to them, all the 
 boxes and crates; a basket of chickens and a 
 bag of corn; two barrels and a hamper; two 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 37 
 
 horses and two chaises and all the articles in 
 the chaises, excepting arms and ammu- 
 nition; one phaeton; some tongues, ham and 
 veal and sundry small bundles, which arti- 
 cles having been examined by a committee 
 from this Congress, she is permitted to have 
 them carried in without further examina- 
 tion." 
 
 May 19th, Congress "resolved that Colonel 
 Bond be and hereby is directed to appoint a 
 guard of six men to escort Lady Frankland 
 to Boston with such of her effects as this 
 Congress have permitted her to carry with 
 her, and Colonel Bond is directed to wait on 
 General Thomas with a copy of the resolves 
 of this Congress." 
 
 Defended by a guard of six soldiers, Lady 
 Frankland entered Boston about the first of 
 June, and took possession of her house on 
 Garden Court street, where she was greeted 
 by her old friends, especially by General 
 Burgoyne, whom she had known in Portu- 
 gal. 
 
 From the windows of this mansion she 
 witnessed, in company with many others, 
 the thrilling scenes of the Battle of Bunker 
 
38 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 Hill, and aided with her own hands to assuage 
 the sufferings of the wounded. She soon 
 after, with Henry Cromwell, sailed for Eng- 
 land and resided in the Frankland family 
 until 1782, receiving the love and homage of 
 all who knew her. 
 
 In 1782 she was married to John Drew, 
 Esquire, a wealthy banker of Chichester. 
 Her life with him was brief, for taking a sud- 
 den cold and inflammation of the lungs ensu- 
 ing, she died April 23, 1 783, at the age of fifty- 
 seven years, and was buried in Chichester. 
 
 In the burial ground of St. Pancras Church, 
 Chichester, is a long series of epitaphs for the 
 Drews, the one at the end of their altar- 
 tomb being as follows : 
 
 Dame Agnes Frankland 
 
 Relict of 
 
 Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Bart. 
 
 and late wife of 
 
 John Drew 
 
 Died April 23, 1783, 
 
 Aged 55 years. 
 
 On the death of Lady Frankland the 
 estate in Boston came by will to her sister, 
 Mrs. Mary (McClester) Swain; then to her 
 son Daniel McClester, who devised it to his 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 39 
 
 uncle, Isaac Surriage* of Hopkinton. (The 
 house was torn down about 1832.) 
 
 While other estates of Loyalists were 
 forfeited, on account of difficulties that arose 
 in the minds of the Committee of Safety, 
 the Hopkinton estate was not confiscated, 
 there being at the time so many innocent 
 persons depending upon it. It continued 
 in the possession of Mrs. Swain, Mrs. Dupee 
 and her son until 1793, when it was sold by 
 Rufus Green Amory, Esquire, attorney for 
 Henry Cromwell of Chichester, England, to 
 whom it had been devised by will, to Dr. 
 Timothy Shepard of Sherbum for the sum 
 o^ ;^950- I^r. Shepard died in 1803 and left 
 the estate to his widow, who held it in pos- 
 session until her decease, June 22, 1857, at 
 the age of eighty-seven years. 
 
 In 1857, the estate reduced to about one 
 hundred acres, came into the possession of 
 Elias Nason. Unfortunately the house was 
 
 ♦September 5, 1768, Isaac Surriage married Ruhamak Pedrick of 
 Marblehead. He had followed the sea for many years; at length 
 settled in Hopkinton, purchased a farm of sixty-seven acres of John 
 Parker, April 22, 1784, where he died September, 1813. He was 
 short, thick set and pitted with smallpox. He also bought the 
 Rider and Tidd placee* 
 
40 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 burned by accidental fire, January 23, 1858. 
 After the accident Mr. Nason wrote : 
 
 "All is not lost; the well-constructed 
 double walls of stone still enclose the grounds ; 
 the terraces upon the sloping hillside; the 
 blocks of skilfully- wrought sandstone on 
 which the granary stood ; the lines of box in 
 the flower garden, now some ten or twelve 
 feet high; the avenue formed by Persian 
 lilacs, now grown into noble trees ; the snow- 
 ball; the buckthorn, pear and apple trees 
 scattered over the plantation; the lofty and 
 majestic elms that wave their huge branches 
 over the capacious green, falling by gentle 
 inclination to the road; these still remain, 
 attesting to the wealth and taste of the 
 original proprietor." 
 
 The house was rebuilt, but with not quite its 
 former elegance. That house, after the lapse 
 of less than fifty years, was destroyed by fire. 
 
 On the 2oth day of September, 1904, the 
 oldest* and the youngest members of the 
 Marblehead Historical Society made a pil- 
 grimage to this charming retreat. In a 
 lonely valley on the road from Hopkinton 
 
 * The President and his grandson. 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 41 
 
 to Ashland they stepped out of the electric 
 car and entered a path-way through the 
 woods. They found a well-trodden path 
 and in three or four minutes emerged from 
 the wood upon a field of some thirty acres, 
 the former garden of the Franklands. Across 
 this field in plain view was the site of the 
 Frankland house. They followed the path 
 across the field, ,and as they neared the 
 picturesque country road, on a little knoll at 
 their left, they saw what might have been the 
 foundations of two small cottages, perhaps 
 for workmen or servants. They crossed the 
 road and entered the driveway. There the 
 landmarks were very distinct. The drive- 
 way to the house passed around a spacious 
 grass plot and back to the road again. In 
 the center of the grass plot were the remains 
 of a stone and cement fountain, an oval 
 about six by eight feet, which may have 
 brought to Agnes' mind her early days at the 
 Fountain Inn. At the side of the drive- 
 way there were three immense elms, certain- 
 ly of an hundred and fifty years' growth and 
 undoubtedly planted by Sir Harry Frank- 
 land. On the right hand side of the way 
 
42 SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 
 
 was the cellar of the old mansion. Here is 
 distinctly shown the outlines of the old 
 house. The cellar wall remains almost in- 
 tact; the front and side steps, where the 
 "coach and four" were reined in for the 
 egress or the reception of the lord and lady 
 of the mansion or their guests, and the sleek 
 but impatient horses pawed the graveled 
 way; here, too, are the stone stairs to the 
 cellar, also the base of the chimneys, in one 
 of which a part of the fireplace still remains, 
 while the bricks from the fallen tops are 
 strewn about the cellar floor. There also 
 remains one section of the frame of the ex- 
 treme end of the kitchen wing, having passed 
 the ordeal of two fires; the posts, girt and 
 braces stand straight and firm, though 
 charred to almost a coal. It is all that 
 remains of the original Frankland house, but 
 is sufiicient to show that the house was 
 built in the most substantial manner. The 
 extension beyond, though charred within 
 from sill to ridgepole, is almost intact with- 
 out, but is evidently of a more modern build. 
 Standing on the lawn between the fountain 
 and the road is .pp^pi Xhe six "elaborately 
 
SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. 43 
 
 wrought" sandstone pillars brought from 
 England by Frankland on which to set his 
 granary, and lying upon the lawn in front of 
 the house is another. These pillars are 
 conical, of a diameter of about thirteen 
 inches at the base and seven at the apex, and 
 about three feet in height. 
 
 The large barn now standing on the prem- 
 ises is not the original, the one built by 
 Frankland, that was blown down in the 
 terrific gale. September 23, 181 5, and was 
 replaced by one not so capacious. 
 
 It is a charming place; charming in its 
 loneliness and desolation. Standing upon 
 this eminence you can see no human habita- 
 tion, and on that day there was not the song 
 of a bird or the chirp of a squirrel to be heard. 
 Looking across broad fields specked here and 
 there with the fragments of an orchard, a 
 decaying tree, a stump in the ground, a 
 clump of bushes, and up and down the grass- 
 grown and wood-lined road you see beyond 
 nothing but trees; trees on every side. It is 
 a beautiful spot; but its life and light went 
 out with the passing of Sir Harry and Lady 
 Agnes Frankland and the Fountain Inn. 
 
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