. Caul's (Catfjc bral Cfjc >itr of $aul's( Catltebral, anb 3)ts J7eigljl)orfjoob BY ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE, M.D. BOSTON RICHARD G. BADGER, PUBLISHER MCMXVI COPYRIGHT, I9l6, BY ROBERT MEANS LAWRENCE All Rights Reserved Made in the United States of America The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PA.QB I. THE SITE 13 Tremont Street 22 Avery Street 27 Hogg Alley 31 II. THE NORTH LOT 35 Robert Wyard, Bricklayer 37 John Wampas, Indian 39 Joshua Hewes 50 John Bushell, Printer 59 Thomas Bumstead, Coachmaker ... 65 Captain Levi Pease, Stage-coach Owner . 66 Nathan Bond, Merchant 78 Benjamin Callender, Tailor .... 80 John Osborn, Importer ...... 81 III. THE SOUTH LOT 83 James Johnson, Glover 85 George Burden, Shoemaker .... 86 Henry Webb, Merchant 87 Samuel Ballard 92 Purchase of a Site for Saint Paul's Church 94 The Vergoose or Goose Family ... 95 IV. THE CENTER LOT 103 Ten-Foot Strip 105 William Parsons, Emigrant .... 105 '5 CONTENTS Hezekiah Usher, Bookseller . . . . 107 John West, Secretary 113 Major-General Waitstill Winthrop . . 115 Francis Wainwright 118 Addington Davenport 119 Jonathan Williams 122 The Reverend Roger Price 129 Sheriff Stephen Greenleaf . . . . . 133 General Henry Jackson 135 John Coffin Jones 136 James Swan 137 Washington Gardens 141 Saint Paul's Church 144 The Masonic Temple 147 Recreation Facilities ...... 149 V. THE; LEVERETT LOT 155 Leverett's Pasture 157 Simon Lynde 159 John Hull, Mintmaster 160 Captain Ephraim Savage 163 Chief Justice Paul Dudley 167 James Williams, Cooper 168 James Pitts, Patriot . . . . . . . 168 Edward Durant I7 2 Jeremiah Smith Boies 174 Doctor Thomas Bartlett 176 VI. WINTER STREET LOTS 181 Doctor John Graham 183 6 CONTENTS CHAPTEE PAGE Doctor George Hay ward 183 Doctor John Homans 184 The North Corner of Tremont and Winter Streets 185 William Hudson, Senior . . . . . 186 Arthur Mason, Biscuit Maker .... 189 Anthony Stoddard, Linen Draper . . . 190 Edmund White, Merchant 191 Captain Edward Willis 192 Colonel Samuel Vetch 193 Lieutenant-Colonel Adam Winthrop . . 196 Thomas Oxnard 196 The Public Granary 198 John Williams, Inspector-General . . . 199 Hugh Percy 200 Travelers' Impressions of Boston . . . 207 Samuel Breck . . . . . . . . 210 John Andrews, Merchant 212 William Phillips 215 Other Winter Street Lots adjoining the Cathedral Site 216 John Eyre . ... , . . . . 218 Thomas Brattle 219 James Fosdick 222 John Goodwin . 224 The Reverend Samuel Willard .... 225 Giles Dyer, Deputy Collector .... 227 The Lot on the Westerly Corner of Winter Street and Winter Place 228 7 CONTENTS CHAPTEB Doctor Edward Ellis 229 Doctor Sylvester Gardiner 231 John Boies 235 Samuel Adams, Patriot 236 Isaiah Thomas, Printer 239 Colonel Samuel Swett 242 Other Winter Street Residents .... 244 Ezekiel Price, Secretary 248 Thomas William Parsons, Poet . . . 249 Blott's Corner 251 VII. TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS . . . "257 Daniel Maud 259 Edward Bromfield, Representative . . .262 Captain Adino Paddock 266 The Manufactory House 271 The Spinning Craze 273 Bumstead Place 276 The Haymarket and Vicinity .... 280 Temple Place 276 8 ILLUSTRATIONS Boston Common in 1809 .... Frontispiece From the Collections of the Bostonian Society FACING PAOB The Tremont Street Mall in 1843 .... 76 From the Collections of the Bostonian Society The Old Masonic Temple about 1870 . . . 148 View of a Part of Boston Common in 1768 . 282 From a water-color drawing in the Possession of the Concord Antiquarian Society THE SITE OF SAINT PAUL'S CATHE- DRAL, BOSTON, AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD I love this old place where I was born; the heart of the world beats under the three hills of Boston. . . . I never thought he would come to good when I heard him attempting to sneer at an unoffending city so respectable as Boston. After a man begins to at- tack the State House; when he gets bitter about the Frog Pond, you may be sure there is not much left of him. O. W. HOLMES. THE SITE OF SAINT PAUL'S CATHE- DRAL, BOSTON, AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD The Site DURING a period of nearly two centuries, from the founding of Boston in the year 1630 to the erection of Saint Paul's Church in 1820, the tract bounded by Tremont, Winter, West and Washington Streets was open land, consisting of gardens and pas- tures, dotted here and there with wooden dwelling- houses, barns, sheds, trees and orchards. It is our object to give some information, derived from all available sources, regarding the owners and occupants of the land in that vicinity. The streets which surround the above-mentioned tract were originally lanes, through which the early settlers drove their cows to pasture on the Common, or among "the blueberry bushes on Beacon Hill," and their location remains practically unchanged. It was a land of divers and sundry sorts, all about Masathulets Bay, wrote the Reverend Mr. Higge- son, in his New England Plantation, 1629; and at Charles River was to be found as fat, black earth as could be seen anywhere; while in other places in the 13 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE neighborhood the chief ingredients of the soil were gravel, clay and sand. A member of Governor Winthrop's Company wrote down some impressions of the peninsula soon after his arrival, and while the houses of the colonists were being built. He mentioned "goodly groups of trees ; dainty, fine, round, rising hillocks; delicate, fair, large plains; sweet, crystal fountains, and clear running streams that turn in fine meanders through the meads, mak- ing so sweet a murmuring noise to hear, as would ever lull the senses with delight asleep, so pleasantly do they glide upon the pebble-stones, jetting most jocundly when they meet." By way of contrast it may not be amiss to quote the words of another early emigrant, who returned to England in the Autumn of 1630, and who appears to have been discouraged at the prospect of wintering on the shores of Massachusetts, which he described as a hideous wilderness, possessed with barbarous Indians, very cold, sickly, rocky, barren, unfit for cul- ture, and "like to keep the people miserable." Captain Edward Johnson, of Woburn, in his Won- der-working Providence, thus describes the town of Boston, as it appeared to him during the period im- mediately following its founding: "Invironed it is 14 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD with brinous flouds, saving one small Istmos, which gives free access to the Neighbour Townes by Land on the South side; on the North-west and North- east, two constant Faires [Ferries] are kept for daily traffique thereunto. . . . The chiefe Edifice of this City-like Towne is crowded on the Sea-bankes, and wharfed out with great industry and cost, the buildings beautiful and large, some fairely set forth with Brick, Tile, Stone and Slate, and orderly placed with comly streets, whose continuall enlargement presages some sumptuous City. . . . "But now behold the admirable acts of Christ; at this his peoples landing, the hideous thickets in this place were such that Wolves and Beares nurst up their young from the eyes of all beholders, in those very places where the streets are full of Girles and Boys sporting up and downe, with a continued concourse of people." . . . In the year 1662 the Town authorities appointed eight watchmen for night service. They were in- structed "Silentlie but vigilantlie" to patrol the streets two by two, "a youth allwayes joyned with an elder and more sober person," and two to be always about the Market Place. If they saw any lights after ten o'clock at night, they were to enquire whether a warrantable cause existed therefor; and if they heard 15 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE a noise or disorderly carriage in any house, they were to ascertain the reason thereof. Should it prove to be a real disorder, as for example that men were dancing, drinking, or vainly singing, the watchmen were to admonish discreetly the offending parties ; and if this did not avail, they were to call the Captain of the watch, "who shall see to the redresse of it, and take the names of the persons, to acquaint authoritie therewith." 1 Edward H. Savage, in his Police Records and Recollections, stated that in the earliest days of the Colony, wolves and bears sometimes came into the Town and carried off young lambs and kids. Strag- gling Indians also paid nocturnal visits without eti- quette or scruple in regard to the ownership of per- sonal property; and there were moreover among the inhabitants, according to the above-mentioned au- thority, quite a number of rogues and thieves, a law- less element which so often thrives in new communi- ties. That hoodlums were in evidence at a much later period is apparent from the following official Notice : "Columbian Centinel "Novr. 30, 1799. "10 DOLLARS REWARD. . "WHEREAS complaints are made by several of the Lamp-Lighters of the Town, that they are often 1 Boston Town Records. 16 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD assaulted with stones and otherwise insulted by col- lections of Boys in the streets, while lighting the lamps in the several wards ; by which means their lives and limbs are endangered, and many of the Lamps also broken The Selectmen hereby invite the Inhab- itants to give their aid in preventing such dangerous outrages. . . . And they hereby offer a reward of Ten Dollars to any person who shall inform against any, who may wantonly break any Lamp belonging to the Town, on conviction thereof. "By order of the "Selectmen, "WILLIAM COOPER, "Town-Clerk." The newly-arrived colonists were apprehensive lest winter should surprise them before they could build their houses. At first the branches of neighboring trees afforded their only shelter. A few of them are said to have found refuge in caves, but no vestiges of such habitations have been found. Meanwhile they were building log cabins and cottages. But for many years after the founding of Boston, their habi- tations were mostly of flimsy construction, with thatched roofs. So economical were the first settlers, that Governor Winthrop reproved his deputy for nail- ing clapboards on his house, saying that he "did not well to bestow so much cost about the wainscoting, 17 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE and adorning his house, in the beginning of a Planta- tion, in regard of the public charges and for example." Mention is made in the Town Records, April 29, 1639, of "Mr. Robert Keayne's Mud Wall house." . . . John Josselyn, an Englishman, at the time of his second visit to Boston in 1663, thus wrote: The houses are for the most part raised on the sea- banks, and wharfed out with great industry and cost; many of them standing upon piles, close together on each side of the streets, as in London, and furnished with many fair shops. Their materials are brick, stone, lime, handsomely contrived, with three Meet- ing-houses or Churches, and a Town-house, built upon pillars, where the merchants may confer. In the chambers above they keep their monthly Courts. The town is rich and populous. On the south there is a small but pleasant Common, where the Gallants, a little before sunset, walk with their Marmelet-Ma- dams, as we do in Morefields, till the nine-o'clock bell rings them home to their respective habitations ; when presently the Constables walk their rounds to see good order kept, and to take up loose people. Mr. Edward Ward, of London, who visited Bos- ton in 1699, wrote as follows: "The Houses in some parts join, as in London; the Buildings, like their women, being Neat and Handsome. ... In the 18 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD Chief or High Street there are stately Edifices, some of which have cost the owners two or three thousand Pounds the raising. ... To the glory of Re- ligion and the Credit of the Town, there are four Churches, built with Clap-boards and Shingles, after the Fashion of our Meeting-houses. Their Churches are independent, every Congregation or Assembly, in Ecclesiastical affairs, being distinctly governed by their own Elders and Deacons, who in their Turns set the psalms; and the former are as busie on Sun- days to excite the people to a Liberal Contribution, as our Church-Wardens at Easter and Christmas are with their dishes to make a Collection for the Poor." This scurrilous writer affirmed that the site of New England's Metropolis was bought from the Indians by the first colonists for a bushel of wampum and a bottle of rum. Lobsters and codfish, he wrote, were so plentiful that they were regarded with contempt; and it was as much of a scandal for a poor man to carry such sea food through Boston's streets, as it was for a London Alderman to be seen transporting a groat's worth of herring from Billingsgate Market to his own house. The Royal Commissioners, sent over by King Charles II, to correct whatever errors or abuses they might find in the administration of Governor Richard 19 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Bellingham of Massachusetts, prepared in the year 1666 a description of Boston, which they described as the chief Town in the Country, and seated upon a peninsula in the bottom of a Bay, which is a good harbor and full of fish. . . . Their houses are generally wooden, their streets crooked, with little decency and no uniformity ; and there, neither months, days, seasons of the year, Churches nor Inns are known by their English names. Already at this time, after the lapse of a genera- tion since the arrival of Governor Winthrop and his company, Boston had made rapid progress in growth, wealth and beauty. The more pretentious houses were in the neighborhood of the market-place, where the Old State-House now is. But commodi- ous dwellings had also been built on Common Street and at the north end. The Town had a "half-rural, half-fortified and wholly prosperous appearance." 1 An idea of one type of domicile in Boston two centuries or more ago, may be had from a permit issued to James Brown in 1708, to erect a timber building for a dwelling-house, 39 by 20 feet, and 32 feet stud, with a flat roof, on his land at the south corner of Winter and Washington Streets, where * Eliza Buckminster Lee. Naomi, or Boston two hundred years ago. 20 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD Thomas Bannister had previously lived; "and for the better security thereof in case of fire, he will carry up the Northerly side of the said building with a Brick Wall extending two foot higher than the timber- work. And he will make Battlements on the roof thereto/' The lots on Tremont Street, fronting the Common, may once have served as a vantage-ground, whence the mischievous boys of the Town, in a spirit of play- fulness, could easily pelt the cows browsing on the historic training-field, with handy missiles. How else can one explain the following extract from the Town Records, April 30, 1657, wherein the Common ap- pears to have been credited with human sensibilities? "Whereas the Common is att times much annoyed by casting stones outt of the bordering lotts, and other things that are offensive; it is therefore ordered that if any person shall hereafter anyway annoy the Common by spreading stones or other trash upon it, . . . every person so offending shall bee fined twenty shillings." One may learn some interesting particulars re- garding the Boston of 1687 from the Narrative of a French Protestant refugee, from which we quote: 1 "There is not a house in Boston, however small may 1 The Historical Magazine. Vol. II. Second Series. 1867. 21 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE be its means, that has not one or two negroes. . . . You employ savages to work your fields, in considera- tion of one shilling and a half a day and board, which is eighteen pence. . . . Negroes cost from twenty to forty pistoles, provided they are skilful or robust; there is no danger that they will leave you; for the moment one is missing from the town, you have only to notify the savages, who, provided you promise them something and describe the man to them, he is right soon found. . . . Pasturage abounds here. An ox costs from twelve to fifteen crowns; a cow, eight or ten; horses, from ten to fifty crowns, and in plenty. There are even wild ones in the woods, which are yours, if you can catch them. . . . If our poor refugee brethren, who understand tilling land, should come thence, they could not fail of living very com- fortably and getting rich; for the English are very inefficient, and understand only their Indian corn and cattle." Tremont Street THE present Trea-mount or Tremont Street was early known as "the High-way," and its south- erly portion was hardly more than a rough wagon- road across the eastern border of the Common, when 22 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD the latter extended to Mason Street. One writer por- trayed it as a grassy lane, winding around the base of the cluster of three hills, which rose from the pen- insula, where the little trading town had been planted. In the latter part of the seventeenth century it was described as "the way leading from the mansion- house of the late Simon Lynde Esq. (in the neigh- borhood of Howard Street), by Captain Southack's, extending as far as Colonel Townsend's corner" (the northwest corner of Beacon Street). This thorough- fare was named Tra-Mount Street by the Town, May 3, 1708, and its official description was "the Way lead- ing from Melyen's Corner (the site of the present Tremont Building), near Colonel Townsend's, pass- ing through the Common, along by Mr. Sheaf's, into Frog Lane." The southerly portion received the name of Common Street, which it retained until 1844. The northerly part was called Long Acre in Provincial times. In early deeds Beacon Street was described as "the Lane leading to the Alms-house," which was built in 1662 at the head of Park Street. According to local historians, the low-lying por- tion of the Common, near Charles Street, was a marsh or swamp in the early days of the Town. It was therefore a natural habitat of those noisy batrachians, whose hoarse, guttural cries doubtless suggested the 23 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE name Frog Lane, which was changed to Boylston Street about the year 1809, in honor of the noted physician, Dr. Zabdiel Boylston. Frog Lane ran from the Liberty Tree on Orange Street to the marsh which bordered on the waters of the Back Bay. In 1732 it was described as leading from Welles's Cor- ner to the Sea at the bottom of the Common. Winter Street was first called Blott's Lane, after- wards Bannister's Lane. In 1708 it received its pres- ent name and was described as "the Way from Ellise's Corner, nigh the upper end of Summer Street, lead- ing westerly into the Common." In like manner West Street led "from Cowell's Corner in Newbury (now Washington Street) to the Common." Temple Place was known as Turnagain Alley, and its modern title was derived from the Masonic Temple, finished in 1832, which formerly adjoined Saint Paul's Church on the south. In the Division of Wards, in the year 1713, "Turn- again Ally" was described as being in Newberry Ward or Precinct. According to common report the streets of Boston follow the lines of the original cow paths. In a de- scription of the Boston of 1686, a writer refers to its main thoroughfare as "winding about like a huge serpent, its Head being by the Towne Hall, while its 24 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD Tail loseth itself somewhere on the Neck, near a league distant, where standeth the gallows." New- bury Street, which formerly was a part of the "High Waye toward Roxburie," was the only avenue from the peninsula to the mainland over the lonely and barren Neck, and was described in 1701 as "The street from ye corner of the House in ye tenure of Captain Turfrey" (probably on the corner of Essex Street), "nigh Deacon Eliot's Corner" (at Boylston Street), "leading into Town by the house of Samuel Sewall, Esq., as far as Doct. Oke's Corner." Dr. Thomas Oakes was a noted practitioner, a Harvard graduate and a Representative to the General Court. John Dunton, a witty and garrulous English bookseller, who visited Boston about the year 1686, expressed the opinion that Doctor Oakes was the greatest Es- culapius in the country. More than a century later, in 1800, Newbury Street led from "Mr. Morse's Cor- ner Store, head of Essex Street, to Dr. Jarvis's Cor- ner at the turning to Trinity Church." In 1824 it be- came a part of Washington Street. Boston became noted at an early period on account of the large number of its lanes and alley-ways; and there appears to have been a close affinity between them and the taverns and coffee-houses, where citi- zens of all classes were wont to resort. If only the 25 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ancient names of these modest thoroughfares had been retained, how much more of historic interest would be associated with them! Can it be seriously main- tained that Kilby Street is a better name than Mack- erel Lane, or that Prince Street is an improvement over Black Horse Lane? A portion of Broad Street was formerly Flounder Alley, and the present High Street was known as Cow Lane. Samuel Gardner Drake, the historian, deprecated the prevalent cus- tom of continually changing the names of streets. Oftentimes these changes appeared to have no better foundation than mere caprice. Whoever was re- sponsible, he wrote, for abolishing Pudding Lane in favor of Devonshire Street, should never again have been allowed to taste any pudding during his natural life! Salutation Alley, at the North End, derived its name from the Salutation Inn, whose sign represented two fashionably attired gentlemen in the act of greeting each other. Pig Lane was the ancient title of Parsons Street in Brighton, and Tileston Street at the North End was formerly Love Lane. 26 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD Avery Street IN the early years of the Colony, Avery Street was called Coleburn's Lane, after William Coleburn, who is mentioned in the Book of Possessions as hav- ing a house and garden on the northwest corner of Washington and Boylston Streets. He also owned a large tract at the South End of Boston, which was known as "Colbron's Field." Mr. Coleburn was prom- inent in town affairs, and served as a Selectman many years. Early in the eighteenth century the present Avery Street received the title of Sheafe's Lane, which it retained for about a hundred years. In the map accompanying the first Boston Direc- tory, in 1789, it is called "Sheep Lane," and in the Directory of 1805 it is described as leading from Newbury Street to the Hay Market Tavern. The Sheafe family was well known in New Eng- land. Henry Sheafe was a merchant, and the wharfinger of Hancock's Wharf, at the foot of Bat- tery Street. He was also the Keeper of the State Ar- senal. Early in the nineteenth century an ambitious owner of real estate in the vicinity petitioned to have Sheafe's Lane renamed a street, doubtless reasoning that the value of his property might thereby be in- 27 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE creased. 1 It was given the name of Avery Street in 1826. From the earliest days it has been so nar- row that vehicles with difficulty passed each other at any point. At length, in 1914, this contracted thoroughfare was widened from an average breadth of thirteen feet to about twenty-eight feet. . . . John Avery, Senior (1711-1796), had a dwelling- house, shop, barn and woodhouse on the south cor- ner of Newbury Street and Sheafe's Lane, afterward known as Avery's Corner. He was a native of Truro, on Cape Cod, where his boyhood was passed. After graduating at Harvard College in 1731, he went into business and became one of Boston's well-known merchants. He also was the owner of a distillery, and in the Assessor's "Taking Book" of 1780 he is styled a distiller. Mr. Avery was a Justice of the Peace for some thirty years. The following advertisement appeared in a Boston newspaper, May 24, 1761 : "A parcel of hearty, likely negroes, imported the last week from Africa, to be sold. Enquire of Capt. Wickham or Mr. John Avery, at his house, near the 'White Horse,' in New- bury Street." The White Horse Tavern was es- tablished as early as 1724, and its site adjoins the present Park Theater. . . . John Avery, the 1 The Bostonian Society's Publications. Volume V. 1910. 28 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD younger (1739-1806), Harvard College, 1759, after serving for several years as Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth, succeeded Samuel Adams as Secre- tary in 1780 and held that position for a quarter of a century. We quote again from the Town Direc- tories. In that of 1789 is to be found the name of John Avery, junior, Esq., Secretary of the State; Office in the Province House, in the room adjoining the Council House. In 1798 his office was in "the new State House, Beacon Street." . . . There appears to be no reason for associating, even re- motely, these good citizens of Boston with John Avery the pirate, whose depredations in the Red Sea and neighboring waters in 1695 were a source of alarm to mariners. As early as 1638 Samuel Maverick is said to have kept three negro slaves on Noddle's Island, now East Boston. In 1641 a statute of the Colony of Massa- chusetts Bay provided that there should never be "any bond slavery, villainage or captivity amongst us, unless it be lawful captives taken in just wars, as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us; and such shall have the liberties and Christian usage which the law of God, established in Israel concerning such persons, shall morally require; provided this exempts none from servitude, who shall be judged thereto by 29 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE authority." Slavery, however, continued to exist in the Colony and Province until the close of the Revolution. In 1754 there were in Boston nearly one thousand negro slaves of the age of sixteen years and over. In 1783 slavery was forbidden in Massachusetts by a decision of the Supreme Court, which ruled that the declaration in the State Constitution of 1780, that "all men are born free and equal," abolished slavery for all time. In reference to the traffic in slaves, many advertisements appeared in early Boston newspapers. For example, April 22, 1728: "Two very likely Negro girls. Enquire two doors from the Brick Meeting-house in Middle Street; At which place is to be sold Women's stays, children's good callamanco stiffned-boddy'd coats, and chil- dren's stays of all sorts, and women's hoop-coats; all at very reasonable rates." January 2, 1764: "To be Sold at Store No. 12, on the South Side of the Town Dock, Boston, cheap for Cash: 6 or 7 Hogsheads of simple Refin'd Loaf Sugar; also two Negro Men and one Negro Woman, who are not sold for any known Faults, and have been some Years in the Country." In June, 1765, a so-called White Negro was ex- 30 hibited at the sign of the White Horse, at the South End of the Town, "for about one shilling Starling the sight." From the Boston Evening Post, August 6, 1753: "A Gentleman wants to buy a Negro Fellow, about twenty years old, that can be well recommended for his Honesty and good Behaviour. Any Person who has such an one to dispose of, may have the cash down for him. "Enquire of the Printer." Hogg Alley IT is stated in Drake's History and Antiquities of Boston, 1856, that Avery Street was anciently called Hogg Alley, but this is doubtless incorrect. In the official Record of the Streets, Alleys and Lanes in Boston, which was issued in 1910, "Hogg Alley" is described as formerly connecting the pres- ent Washington and Tremont Streets, between Sheafe's Lane and West Street. Keith's Theatre was built in 1894 upon a portion of its site. In the Memorial History of Boston, Vol. IV, page 68, Hogg Alley is stated to have led from the north side of the Lamb Tavern (site of the Adams House) obliquely to the stables in the rear. In Bonner's map of 1722 it is plainly shown as a continuous thorough- ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE fare to the Common; and it appears in other maps of as late a date as the Revolutionary period. In a list of the names of Boston's thoroughfares, prepared under the direction of the Selectmen in the year 1701, Hogg Alley was mentioned as the "New Alley, be- tween Mr. Blyn's and Durant's, leading westerly with the Common." Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch, the noted conveyancer, wrote in one of his "Gleaner" Articles in the Boston Transcript, July 20, 1855, tnat Hogg Alley, then long since discontinued, ran from Washington Street, and formed a part of the Adams House estate and that next adjoining. ... It was officially described as leading from a point just south of the Lion Tavern (the site of Keith's Thea- tre) to Tremont Street, a little north of Sheaf's Lane. At a meeting of the Townspeople, September 6, 1763, a Committee was appointed to consider the best methods of removing the nuisance in the passageway leading from the main street to the Common, and called Hogg Alley. This Committee gave in their opinion at an ad- journed meeting, September 21, 1763, that this Alley was not a greater nuisance than such narrow Pas- sages generally are, and that the danger arising from horses and cows passing through the same might be prevented, if the Town thought proper to fix Turn- 32 AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD pikes at each end of the Alley. This was accord- ingly done. At a Town meeting, March 23, 1773, a Committee previously appointed made a Report that in pursuance of their trust they had visited Hogg Alley, and found that it had been for many years a great nuisance, owing to the alteration of the old natural course of the water, which used to run from Beacon Hill down to the Gate entering into the Common a little below "Sheriff GreanleafFs Garden," and that from thence there was a large water course running down and terminating in a Pond which bears near, south of the Frog Pond. The Committee further report that al- though Hogg Alley is mentioned in the Selectmen's List of the several Streets and Lanes of the Town in 1708, they do not find that it was ever claimed by the Town, or as a Town way; for in the year 1702 there was no such Alley, and one Durant then sold to Thomas Blin a parcel of land lying to the north of said Durant's property, called the Lamb. . . . "The Committee are of the opinion that the only proper way to carry the water from against Winter Street to the said Gate or near it, is to continue the paved gutter next the Mall, opposite Winter Street down to or near the Gate aforesaid, and there to con- duct the water under a Stone Bridge three feet wide across the Mall." 33 THE NORTH LOT THE NORTH LOT Robert Wyard, Bricklayer GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP and his as- sociates secured the peninsula by a grant from King Charles I under the Colonial charter, and also by purchase from the Indians, and from William Blackstone, the pioneer white settler, in 1634. The latter held his title by the right of possession. Early transfers of land were not recorded. The so-called Book of Possessions, dating from about 1645, contains a list of the land owners in Bos- ton at that period, and this is the Foundation of all titles to real estate within the town limits. Governor John Leverett, whose residence was on the site of the Sears Building, owned the lot on the south corner of Winter and Tremont Streets, measur- ing about 210 feet on the former by 130 feet along the Common, and then known as "Leverett's Pasture." One Robert Wyard of Hartford, Conn., a brick- layer, of good Scottish ancestry, bought the south- erly portion of this lot about the year 1664. This is the northern part of the Cathedral land. Wyard con- 37 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE veyed the property by warranty deed, duly recorded and witnessed by Gov. Winthrop, September 28, 1666, to John Wampas, an Indian, of Boston, for 78 sterling. It was thus described: "A certaine mes- suage or tennement, abutting westward on the Com- mon, north on land now or late of Hudson Leverett [son of the Governor], east on Alexander Baker, rope-maker, and south on John Cross; ... to- gether with the dwelling-house that standeth thereon ; as also all ffences, trees, gardens, wayes, waters and easements to the same anywayes belonging." From the Hartford Land Records, it appears that as early as the year 1639 Robert Wyard was the owner of 3^2 acres bordering on the Connecticut River, and abutting upon a thoroughfare known as "the road to the Ox Pasture." Wyard occupied a small frame house on his lot. He was a maker of bricks and tiles, digging his clay before the first of November, and turning it over in February or March, or about a month before he made it into bricks, which were 9 inches long by 2}4 and 4^ inches in thickness and breadth respectively. 1 These are approximately the dimensions of the standard-sized bricks of the present day, which were regulated by an English statute of the year 1625. 1 Walter K. Watkins: The Boston Budget and Beacon. Febru- ary 10, 1906. 38 THE NORTH LOT John Wampas, Indian THE fact that a portion of the Cathedral land de- rives its title from an aboriginal American, is of historic interest. His neighbors were all of Brit- ish birth and ancestry ; and while this Indian was still in possession of the estate, King Philip's War had begun, and members of his tribe, as allies of the Nar- ragansetts, were in arms against the colonists. Wam- pas claimed to be a Sagamore or petty Chief of the Hassanamesit Indians, a small tribe or subdivision of the Nipmucks. He also maintained that he was the rightful owner of a large tract of land in the so- called Nipmuck country. This region was mostly within the original limits of the Township of Mendon, Massachusetts, and here the Indians held reserved rights to hunt and fish. At a Court held at Natick in September, 1681, and presided over by Daniel Gookin, Senior, General Magistrate of all the Indian towns, several of the Nipmuck elders testified that they had known John Wampas from a child; that he was a son of their former associate "old Woampas," and had no more right to land in their country than any other common Indian. They admitted, however, that on account 39 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE of his acquaintance with English colonists, they had asked Wampas to "enquire after and endeavor to get settled and recorded the Indian title and right" to certain lands in the Nipmuck Reservation. But they denied having given him any authority to dispose of those lands. 1 However, Wampas and members of his tribe did convey to Joshua Hewes and other resi- dents of Boston, a tract eight miles square, compris- ing the present township of Sutton. And in May, 1704, the General Court confirmed to the purchasers their title to this land purchased from the Indians. Within the boundaries of the Nipmuck country, which stretched eastward from the Connecticut River to the border Settlements of the colonists, were some of the most fertile lands in Massachusetts. With the exception of a few families at Brookfield, no English people were living in that region when Philip's War began. The results of that war were disastrous to the Nipmucks, who deserved their fate according to the rules of war, "because they had treacherously risen up against those with whom they had been living in peace and amity. "Without giving warning, they came out of the 1 For additional details, see Lieutenant Joshua Hewes and Some of His Descendants, by Eben Putnam; 1913; a volume issued since this sketch was first prepared. 40 THE NORTH LOT forests and fell upon houses and settlements from which no provocation had proceeded. . . . The power of the Nipmucks was broken in Philip's War, and the whole region was opened to the colonists." 1 And among the latter there prevailed a feeling of deep-seated indignation, on account of the faithless- ness of the members of an Indian tribe, which had been previously friendly. John Wampas acquired a good knowledge of the English language, having in his youth attended the so-called Indian College at Cambridge, which was founded in 1664 by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England ; a philanthropic though unsuccessful enterprise, designed for the education of Indians. A small brick building on the grounds of Harvard College accommodated about twenty schol- ars. Owing to the small attendance, this building was soon given over to other uses, and a printing- press was established therein. It was taken down in 1695. Of the Indian youths who received instruc- tion there, some returned to their former mode of liv- ing, and others entered upon different callings. Wam- pas followed the sea for a time, being termed a mari- ner in legal papers. A few Indian scholars received instruction at a 1 Abijah P. Marvin. History of Worcester County, Massachu- setts. I. 15. 41 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE small Grammar School which was started in Cam- bridge about the year 1642, and was maintained for nearly half a century by the eminent teacher, Elijah Corlett. We quote from a contemporary tract en- titled "New England's First Fruits" : "And by the side of the Colledge a faire Grammar Schoole for the training up of young scholars and fit- ting them for Academical learning. . . . Master Corlet is the Mr. who hath very well approved him- self for his abilities, dexterity and painfulnesse in teaching and education of the youths under him." The site of this school was on the west side of the present Holyoke Street, about midway between Har- vard Square and Mount Auburn Street. The Indian race has had but one representative among the graduates of Harvard College, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, of the Class of 1665; the son of a petty chief, who lived at Holmes' Hole, Martha's Vineyard. He died of tuberculosis in the following year, at the age of twenty. John Wampas married the daughter of an Aspe- tuck chief, named Romanock, who was reputed to be a great warrior, and the "hero of many a fight with strange Indians." His home was at a place called Pawchequage, near the Hudson River, and a three days' journey from the waters of Massachusetts Bay 42 THE NORTH LOT over the old trails. The maiden name of his daugh- ter, the dusky helpmate of John Wampas, was Praske, but she was called Ann after her marriage. In 1660 Romanock made over to her a parcel of land in the Township of Fairfield, Connecticut. Wampas as- serted his right to the possession of this land in 1678, and applied to the General Assembly of Connecticut, and also to the Lords of the King's Council at Lon- don, for confirmation of his title thereto, but without success. In November, 1671, John Wampas, "Indian and Seaman," sold to Thomas Stedman of New London, Connecticut, Mariner, one hundred acres of upland and meadow, being a portion of a tract fourteen miles square appertaining to the said Wampas as his proper right and inheritance. This large tract lay between the townships of Marlborough and Mendon, in the Nipmuck country. It is a singular fact that although Wampas was said to have attended the Indian College in his youth, he appears to have been unable even to write his own name, and in its stead affixed his mark to legal docu- ments. His lands were said to have been an inheri- tance from his mother, a Nipmuck squaw and the wife of "Old Wampas," of whom mention has been made. His conveyance of various parcels of real es- 43 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE tate, duly recorded, shows that he had a proper right and title thereto, despite the assertions to the con- trary of some of his Indian acquaintances. Yet the validity of a title derived from a Red-skin was some- times questioned; and Sir Edmund Andros has been quoted as saying that the signature of an Indian was of no more value than the scratch of a bear's claw. According to the Boston Town Records, John Wamponi (alias Wampas), an Indian, and Ann Praske, daughter of the Chief Romanock, were mar- ried on the twenty-first day of May, 1661, by "Major" Humphrey Atherton. He was a son of Edmund, of Atherton Manor, in Lancashire, and was born at Preston in that County in the year 1609. The ancestral estate dates from the reign of King John, in the early years of the thirteenth century, when Robert of Atherton, Sheriff of Lancashire, lived there. The Atherton family held large tracts of land which were rich in stone quarries, coal mines and iron ore; they were prominent among the wealthy com- moners of England. Humphrey Atherton married Mary, daughter of John Wales, of Idle, a town of Yorkshire. He was said to have been barely fifteen years of age at the time of his marriage, his wife being about a year younger. They had twelve chil- dren, among them Rest, Increase, Thankful, Hope 44 THE NORTH LOT or Hopeful, Consider, Patience and Watching. The parents and their three eldest children came to Amer- ica about 1636, sailing from Bristol, England, in the ship James, and settled in Dorchester. Here he served as a Selectman thirteen years, and as a Repre- sentative nine years. In 1645 he was chosen one of the "wardens for the schoole," being thus a member of the first School Committee in America. He was much employed in negotiations with the Indians. Edward Johnson, the historian, in his Wonder- working Providences of Sion's Savior, wrote of him that "although he was slow of speech, yet was he downright for the business; one of cheerful spirit, and i'ntire for the Country." Humphrey Atherton was Captain of the Dorches- ter Train-band in 1644, and Commander of the Suf- folk Regiment in 1649. He was also a Captain in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and aft- erward held the highest military position in the Col- ony, that of Major-General. In dealing with the In- dians, while keenly appreciating their ignorance and debased condition, he showed great energy and firm- ness in time of war. One of General Atherton's sons, Hope Atherton, was a graduate of Harvard in 1665. He was a class- mate of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, of Martha's Vine- 45 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE yard, before mentioned as the only aboriginal gradu- ate of the College. Hope Atherton was the Chaplain of Captain William Turner's Company, which served during Philip's War. Another son, Consider Ath- erton, was a member of Captain John Withington's Company, which took part in the Expedition against Quebec, under Governor Sir William Phipps, in 1690. . . . On the afternoon or evening of September 16, 1 66 1, Major-General Humphrey Atherton reviewed some of his troops on Boston Common ; and while rid- ing homeward through the South End of the Town, in the darkness of the very early morn of the follow- ing day, his horse came into collision with a cow, which was lying in the road, and General Atherton was thrown to the ground and killed. The following anecdote exemplifies his courage and firmness of character : On one occasion he was sent with twenty men to interview an Indian Sachem named Pessacus, and to demand the payment of three hundred fathom of wampum which he owed the Colony. Pessacus was inclined to temporize and refused an audience to his would-be interviewers; whereupon General Atherton entered the chief's wigwam, pistol in hand, and dragged him out from among a large THE NORTH LOT number of his followers, threatening to kill any In- dian who should attempt to interfere. . . . Fol- lowing is his epitaph : "Here lies our Captain, and Maj r of Suffolk was withall; A Godly Magestrate was he, & Major Gen- erall. Two Troops of Horses with him here came, such worth his love did crave; Ten Companies of Foot also mourning march'd to his Grave. Let all that Read be sure to keep y e faith as he hath done. With Christ he lives now Crown'd, his name was Humphrey Atherton." 1 Neither by heredity, nor by early associations and environment, was Wampas fitted to become a law- abiding and exemplary citizen. He appears to have been of an irascible disposition; easily becoming in- volved in brawls and contentions. The Records of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts afford evidence of this. A son of Secretary Edward Rawson, Grindall Rawson, afterward the minister at Mendon, who preached to the Nipmucks in their own language, tes- tified "That on the twenty-seventh of September, 1677, being by Cambridge Meeting-House, by reason of an All-Arme then made, he heard John Wampass ask the people there whether they ever saw an Indian before. Whereto it being answered 'yes, twice,' then 1 William Dana Orcutt in Good Old Dorchester. 47 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE he in a surly manner said: 'and you shall feel them too;' and further saith not. Taken upon Oath the first day of October, 1677. Before me, Daniel Gookin, Sen r ." And again: "Information against John Wampas, Indian, that since he came out of England, about 4 months past, he takes to no employment, but travils up and downe in a vagrant, idle way, among English and Indians, vapouring of the great quantity of land he has; offering to sell that which is other mens' pos- session and improvement, both English and Indians. The said Wompas is a very disorderly person. . . . About the beginning of September he came to Natick, where he bought a barrel of cider, and got about 15 or 1 6 men and women, and drank it all out presently, whereby himself and all the rest were made drunk. He has upon a very small occasion used threatening speeches to some English, particularly to Mrs. Grace Oliver (the wife of Thomas Oliver, of Cambridge), at her own house. He hath escaped from prison, and is runne away upon October i, 1677." At a County Court held at Cambridge on the following day, being convicted of the above-named misdemeanors, and also of endeavoring to work discontent among the In- dians, "giving out expressions rendering him justly THE NORTH LOT to be suspected of conspiring with ye enemy against us," Wampas was ordered to stand committed until the next Court of Assistants, there to make answer for the same, and meantime he was sent to the Prison in Boston. Yet, in spite of his failings Wampas attained a certain distinction, both among the members of his tribe and in Boston, where he was well known. By nature intelligent and shrewd, having executive abil- ity, and being familiar with the language and usages of the colonists, among whom he lived in his home on the Cathedral Site, and with whom he had fre- quent business relations, Wampas appears to have conceived an exaggerated idea of his own importance, and to have partially yielded to his primitive savage instincts. At that time opportunities for conviviality seem to have been numerous in Boston, and Cotton Mather is reported to have said that almost every other house was a tavern. Drinking and smoking in houses of entertainment were carried to excess; and a statute provided that no one should take tobacco in any com- mon victualing-house, except in a private room; the object being to avoid giving offense to the inn-keeper or any guest. And every infraction of this statute involved the payment of half a crown in English 49 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE money. 1 Ann Wampas died in 1676. At that time her hus- band was imprisoned for a small debt, at London, England, as appears from a letter dated August 22, 1676, written by command of King George III, and signed by "Mr. Secretary Williamson." This letter was addressed to "our trusty and well-beloved Sir John Leveritt, Knt; Governour of Massachusetts Bay in New England," and represented that the said John Wampas owned lands in the Colony, which he had held for many years, having taken the oath of al- legiance as a British Subject. And the Secretary asks that Wampas be restored to his lands, or have liberty to sell them for his present relief. This petition was doubtless granted, for on June second, 1677, John Wampas, alias White, Seaman, sold his home lot, "Scituate near the trayning feild in Boston," to Joshua Hughes, cordwainer, and others of Boston, for 20, thus confirming a previous conveyance by his wife Ann to the same grantees. In the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, London, 1896 (Volume 10, Document 928), ap- pears the following: "March 14, 1679. Petition of John Wampas, alias White, an Indian and inhabitant of Boston. Became by marriage of Anne, daughter * The Bostonian. Vol. II., p. 19. 50 THE NORTH LOT of Romanock, late Sachem of Aspaluck and Susqua- nagh, on death of the said Sachem sole proprietor of the land on which Sutton in Connecticut is built. About 19 years since his father-in-law having deliv- ered up the possession of the lands to him, he sold part to Capt. Dennison and Amos Richardson of Ston- ington in Connecticut for the sum of about 530 sterling. "Is by the evil practice of Major Nathan Gold and others of Fairfield, kept out of his rights, and having gone to demand possession, was imprisoned in May last, whence he made his escape to New York, and is forced to come to England to seek relief." John Wampas, after being liberated from prison, returned to Boston in 1677. He appears to have been a rover by nature, and fond of adventure and excitement. And without doubt he had plenty of both. Yet he has received scant notice from his- torians. . . . Again visiting England, his death occurred in the Parish of Stepney, a metropolitan borough of the East End of London, in September, 1679. The Will of John Wampas, alias White, was proved on October first of that year. By it he divided his lands among certain of his Indian Friends; be- queathing portions also to George Owen of London, ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE chirurgeon; Edward Pratt, victualler, of Shadwell, a suburb of London, and John Blake of Plymouth, New England, husbandman. From Records of the Suffolk Probate Court, it ap- pears that Joshua Hughes was administrator of the estate of Ann Wampas. We quote from these Rec- ords (Vol. 12, page 10) : "The Deposition of Pru- dence Delany, aged eighteen years, testifieth that about halfe an hour before Anne Wampus was scalded, I heard her say that Joshua Hughes should have all the Estate she had when she dyed, and that shee wished shee had a thousand pounds for his sake, hee should have it, every farthing." Other depositions, of similar tenor, are on record, from which it appears probable that Hughes had served in the capacity of legal guardian of Ann Wampas. Joshua Hewes JOSHUA HEWES or Hughes, the next owner of the north lot, was a son of the emigrant, Lieut. Joshua Hewes, of Royston, Herts, England, who came over in 1633 and settled at Roxbury. The Bos- ton Records of the following year mention "Sargeant Hues Corne field neere Rocksbury gate." He was the 52 THE NORTH LOT original owner of the estate on Washington Street, opposite Vernon Street, where stood the famous Grey- hound Tavern for more than a hundred years previ- ous to the Revolution. Joshua Hewes, Senior, was Lieutenant of the Roxbury train-band, and became a wealthy merchant and importer of dry-goods and wearing apparel. John Eliot, the "Apostle to the Indians," who came over from England in 1631, lived alongside the Grey- hound Tavern, which was used as a recruiting sta- tion during the wars with the French and Indians. The following advertisement appeared in the Boston Gazette, April 20, 1741 : "To be seen at the Grey- hound Tavern, a wild creature, which was caught in the woods about eighty miles to the westward of this place, called a catamount. It has a tail like a Lyon; its legs are like bears', its claws like an eagle, its eyes like a tyger. He is exceedingly ravenous, and de- vours all sorts of creatures that he can come near. Its agility is surprising; it will leap 30 feet at one jump, notwithstanding it is but three months old. Whoever wishes to see this creature, may come to the place aforesaid, paying one shilling each, and shall be welcome for their money." The Greyhound Tavern was demolished early in 53 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE 1775, as a measure of military necessity. 1 On Au- gust 27, 1742, Sergeant Joshua Hewes was directed by the Town "to see to it that the people of Roxbury in every house or some two or more houses, joyne together for the breeding of salt peeter in some out- house used for poultry or the like, and to give them directions about the same." Before the year 1785 the only terra firma route from the Boston peninsula to Roxbury and other neighboring towns, was over the Neck, a narrow, low- lying strip of land, which was sometimes washed by the Spring tides, the water coming up to the knees of horses. Its middle portion was paved with cobble- stones from the adjacent beaches. The route of the old Boston Neck may be traced by following Wash- ington Street from Beach Street (a suggestive name) to Roxbury, the narrowest part being near Dover Street. 2 Wild fowl in abundance inhabited the marshes on either side, and sportsmen were wont to resort thither, until shooting was prohibited in 1713. In the first years of the Colony straying animals were a source of annoyance, and the law required that every man should "make his fences sufficient for 1 Stephen Jenkins. The Old Boston Post-Road. 1 S. A. Drake. Old Landmarks of Boston. 54 THE NORTH LOT all his planting-ground on the necke." Owners were held accountable for all damage caused by their un- ruly cattle. At a Town meeting, February 23, 1634, it was agreed by general consent that all barren cat- tle whatsoever (except draft animals), all weaned calves 20 weeks old, "weaned mayle kidds," and all swine above 10 weeks old, should be kept abroad from off the Neck. In winter especially this was a dreary and desolate place, and travel thereover was not without risks. To exemplify this we quote from the Boston News-Let- ter, February first, 1713: "On Friday night one Bacon, of Roxbury, going home in his slade with three horses, was bewilder'd in the dark; himself found dead with the cold; next morning one of the horses drowned in the Marsh, the other two not yet heard from." Monday, January 4, 1720: "On Wednesday Night last we had here a Flurry of Snow, with a Gust of Wind at South-East, wherein two Men on Horse-back going over our Neck, mist their Path; their Horses were Froze to Death. The men were also much Froze, and at last got to Mr. Miers's, and are likely to live." Samuel Mears was landlord of the George Tavern, which stood near the old boundary line between Roxbury and Boston. 55 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE There are many instances on record of people having lost their way on Boston Neck, which was also the resort of foot-pads, especially after nightfall. In the month of December, 1778, during a severe blizzard, William Bishop, of Cumberland, a Town in the northeastern corner of Rhode Island, was return- ing from Boston to his home with a team of two oxen and a horse, when he missed his way in the thick snow, while crossing the Neck, and floundered upon Lamb's Dam, where he and the animals perished from exposure. 1 In the early years of the eighteenth century the Neck was hardly more than a narrow tract of wilder- ness. The Boston News-Letter, July, 1713, contains this item: "On the fourth of July Captain Lamb killed a large Moose, upward of seven Foot long, at the back of his house in Roxbury." The Captain Lamb here mentioned was probably identical with Colonel Joshua Lamb, who owned the Bull Pasture, on the east side of the Neck, and not far from the George Tavern. He built "Lamb's Dam," near the present line of Northampton Street, as a protection to his marsh land. Many years aft- erward, during the Siege of Boston, this Dam was an X F. S. Drake. The Town of Roxbury. 56 THE NORTH LOT important strategic point. Among the larger fauna in the neighborhood of Boston at the time of Queen Anne's reign, wolves were numerous and bold; catamounts, lynxes, bears and foxes abounded in the region of the out-lying plantations. Moose were not uncommon within twenty miles of the Town, especially in Essex County. Thomas Morton, an English lawyer and adventurer, in his New English Canaan, 1637, described the "Elke, which the Salvages call a Mose" . . . "It is a very large Deare," he wrote, "with a very faire head, and a broade palme, like the palme of a fallow Deare's horn, but much bigger, and is 6 foote wide betweene the tipps. . . . He is of the biggness of a great horse." . . . And now, having wandered some- what from our subject in following Lieutenant Joshua Hewes to his home in Roxbury, we will retrace our steps over the Neck into Boston Town again. Joshua Hewes, the younger (1644-1706), was a native of Roxbury. He enlisted under the command of Major Thomas Savage and served for some months during the early part of Philip's War. His name ap- pears on the Boston tax-lists from about 1674 to 1691. Besides the estate now covered by St. Paul's Cathedral, he owned lands in the Nipmuck country. In the Town Records he is described as an innkeeper, 57 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE and in legal documents as a cordwainer. Rev. John Eliot said of him that "he came into the land a single man about the seventh month of the year 1633." He served about three months with Major Savage, and was a member of an expedition to Brook- field early in March, 1676. Where he lived during the greater part of his residence in Boston is not known; but it is probable that his home was in the neighbor- hood of the Mill Pond, near the present North Rail- way Station. No purchase or sale of real estate is recorded in his name until he became the owner of a portion of the present Cathedral land in 1677. He was a Deputy to the General Court from Roxbury, and a Selectman of that town. 1 The northerly lot remained in the possession of the Hughes family for nearly fifty years. The Will of Joshua Hughes, dated January 25, 1704, author- ized the widow to sell his "housing and land lying in ye Common or Training Field at the South end of Boston." His six children, Joshua, Samuel, Benja- min, Mary, Hannah and Sarah, were named as residu- ary legatees. The next conveyance is dated Febru- ary 15, 1725, when the several heirs sold the estate to John Bushell for 210. 1 Eben Putnam. Lieutenant Joshua Hewes. A New England Pioneer. 1913. 58 THE NORTH LOT John Bushell, Printer AT that time the owners of the Winter Street cor- ner lot were James Williams, James Fosdick, William Manley and Samuel Banister. To the last named also belonged the adjoining estate on the east, toward Washington Street; and John Bushell had bought the southerly lot the year before, so that he was the owner of almost the whole Cathedral Site. He was a housewright or builder, well-to-do but uneducated, as shown by the fact that he affixed his mark to legal papers. His son John Bushell, Jun r , began business as a printer in 1734. At that time Ellis Huske, the postmaster of the town, started a newspaper, the Boston Weekly Post-Boy, which was printed by Bushell, who afterwards became a member of the firm of Green, Bushell and Allen. The firm was dissolved in 1752, and Bushell soon after went to Halifax, N. S., then newly founded, where he established a press. He was the pioneer printer in Nova Scotia, and issued the Halifax Gazette, a weekly journal, printed on a half-sheet of foolscap paper. By the Will of John Bushell, Senior, dated April 5, 1731, he bequeathed to his wife, Rebecca, the north 59 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE lot, including the Dwelling-house then occupied by Joseph Shedd, with the yard and garden; also two negro servants, appraised in the inventory at 100, and all the household goods and moveables. . . . The Suffolk Probate Court, by a warrant dated Feb- ruary 4, 1747, authorized the division of John Bush- ell Senior's estate into three portions, and John Endi- cott, Joshua Blanchard, Stephen Greenleaf, Thomas Oxnard and Rufus Green were appointed to do this. The southerly portion, being more than half of the whole estate, was apportioned to the son, John. The heirs of Rebecca Williams, a daughter, received the westerly half of the house on the north lot, fronting on Common Street, with the yard lying before it, and also the southerly half of the garden. The rear por- tion of the house, including the kitchen, was assigned to Mary Bushell, another daughter, who also re- ceived the "northerly moiety or half part" of the gar- den. The somewhat complicated apportionment is made clear by a plan of the estate, duly recorded. Probably it was a serious responsibility to determine the relative values of parlor and kitchen. We have seen that members of the Bushell family acquired nearly all the land of the present Cathedral Site. Soon after the apportionment just described, John Bushell, Junior, sold to Timothy Green, Junior, 60 THE NORTH LOT of Boston, for 800 sterling, that portion of the estate which had been allotted to his sister Mary, including the kitchen, yard, garden, well and pump. Rebecca Williams' share of the property came next into the possession of Richard Collier, a brazier, who sold it, February 15, 1757, to Timothy Green, Junior, above mentioned. He was a great-grandson of Samuel Green, who arrived, a boy of sixteen years, with his parents and other relatives, about the year 1632. Samuel Green used to tell his children (of whom there were nine- teen) that for some time after landing on the pic- turesque wooded shore in the neighborhood of Cape Ann, in the early summer, he and several others were obliged to lodge in empty casks, which for a time were their only shelter. The family settled in Cam- bridge, where in after years he held the office of town clerk, and became the official printer for Harvard College. Still later he was regarded as the foremost of American printers, and many of his descendants were prominent as editors, publishers and book-mak- ers. He served as sergeant, ensign and lieutenant of the Cambridge military company, and was commis- sioned captain in 1689, when seventy-five years of age. We quote from an Article in the Boston News- Letter, January 4, 1733: "Samuel Green took such 61 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE great delight in the military exercise, that the arrival of Training-Day would always raise his joy and spirit ; and when he was grown so aged that he could not walk, he would be carried out in his chair into the field, to view and order the Company." From the Records of the Massachusetts Colony, in 1667, it ap- pears that Ensign Samuel Green, of Cambridge, printer, was allotted three hundred acres of land in the wilderness, north of the Merrimac River, on the west side of Haverhill. He attained the age of eighty-six years. Timothy Green, grandson of the emigrant, and son of Samuel, Junior, began business in Boston as a printer in the year 1700, and conducted a press there for thirteen years. His place of business was on Middle Street, now Hanover Street, in the north part of the town. In 1714 he removed to New London, having received an invitation from the Council and Assembly of Connecticut to become printer to the Governor and Company, at a salary of 50 yearly. This position he held for nearly forty years, and be- came the most eminent of contemporary American printers. He was noted, moreover, for his discretion in avoiding the publication of whatever might give offense, and for his tact in abstaining from contro- versy. He was by nature benevolent, and somewhat 62 THE NORTH LOT facetious, having a keen sense of humor, which was said to be characteristic of the Green family. Timothy Green, Junior, of Boston, also a printer, formed a partnership in 1727 with Samuel Knee- land, under the firm name of Kneeland & Green. The firm published for many years the New England Weekly Journal. The object of this paper, as stated in its first number, was in part to "entertain the Pub- lick every Monday with the most Remarkable Occur- rences of Europe; and to settle a correspondence with the most knowing and ingenious Gentlemen in the several Towns in this and the Neighbour Provinces, who may take Particular Care seasonably to Collect and send what may be Remarkable in their Town or Towns adjacent, worthy of Public." The first Bible printed in Boston was issued from the press of Kneeland & Green in 1749. Their part- nership was dissolved three years later, and Timothy Green, Junior, removed to New London, where he succeeded his father in business. After retaining the ownership of the north lot ex- actly five years, Timothy Green, Junior, of New Lon- don, Conn., sold it, February 15, 1762, to John Gill, a printer, who had served an apprenticeship with Sam- uel Kneeland, one of whose daughters he married. Gill was a Charlestown boy, and a brother of Hon. 63 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Moses Gill, afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Mas- sachusetts. He started business in 1755 with Benja- min Edes under the firm name Edes & Gill. Their office at first was near the Town House in King Street, and afterwards on Queen Street. They origi- nated the Boston Gazette and Country Journal, which later became famous for the sturdy patriotism main- tained in its columns. Its spirited political essays ar- rested public attention. For a long period it was the chief organ of the popular party, and through its me- dium James Otis, Samuel Adams, Dr. Joseph War- ren and other leading patriots addressed the people. John Gill was a thorough-going Whig, and had no sym- pathy with his Tory neighbors. He remained in town during the siege, and was imprisoned for a month in the Summer of 1775, "for printing treason, sedition and rebellion." He was taken to Boston Jail, which was then on Queen Street, formerly Prison Lane, the Court Street of to-day. His partner's son, Peter Edes, was a fellow-prisoner, accused of having fire- arms concealed in his house. They endured many hardships during their sojourn in this gloomy build- ing, behind whose portal the famed sea-rover, Captain William Kidd, was said to have been held captive in 1699. At a meeting of the Selectmen, May 16, 1776, Gill was drawn as a "Jury Man for the Court erected THE NORTH LOT for the tryal of Vessels that shall be found infesting the Sea Coast of America." This was afterward known as the Maritime Court. After the Evacua- tion of the town by the redcoats, Gill issued another newspaper, the Continental Journal, for several years. His death occurred August 25, 1785. Thomas Bumstead, Coachmaker THE succeeding owner of the north lot was Thomas Bumstead, who acquired the property November 30, 1769. His name appears as a mem- ber of Captain William Angier's Company, in Colo- nel Joseph Frye's Massachusetts Regiment, on duty at Fort Cumberland, Nova Scotia, in 1760, the year when Canada and her dependencies passed from the control of France to the British Crown. He was one of those who remained loyal at a time when "the in- subordination of the Garrison soldiers assumed a mu- tinous character." In the Autumn of 1760 all the French subjects and Indians in the surrounding ter- ritory sent deputations to Colonel Frye, acknowledg- ing their submission. Thomas Bumstead was at that time twenty years of age. He served during the Revolution as Captain of Ward Eleven Company of Colonel Henry Brom- 65 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE field's Regiment, and as Captain of the Matross Com- pany of the Boston Regiment, Suffolk County Bri- gade, in 1776. He was also Major of the "Brigade Train of Artillery," a militia organization. After the Evacuation of Boston, it was desired to clean the town, and a committee was appointed, of whom Ma- jor Bumstead was one, to go through the several wards, and have such houses cleansed and smoked, as were in need of it. He joined the Ancient and Hon- orable Artillery Company in 1764, and became Fourth Sergeant. Fifty-five years afterward, in September, 1819, the members of this organization, desiring to show their respect for Major Bumstead and other veteran members, paid him a standing and marching salute, after which all were invited into his house, to partake of refreshments. The famous "Burgoyne Bowl," which held ten gallons, was full to the brim, presumably with punch, and awaiting their arrival. After varied evolutions on the Common, the Company escorted Major Bumstead to Faneuil Hall, where the day was finished in "reciprocating good wishes for health, prosperity and happiness." His residence was on the corner of Bromfield Lane and Common Street. In 1782 he acquired the estate of another coachmaker, Adino Paddock, when the latter, who was a pronounced loyalist, left Boston 66 THE NORTH LOT nine months after the Battle of Bunker Hill. This estate was in Bumstead Place (opposite the Granary Burying Ground), which was named after the sub- ject of this sketch, who died May 8, 1828, at the age of eighty-eight years. Thomas Bumstead held the north lot for thirteen years, and transferred it, November 7, 1782, to James Foster, of Cambridge, card-maker, for 1000 in "law- ful silver money." At this time, the Winter Street lot, adjoining the corner, was owned by James Fosdick and others. The land of Dr. John Sprague abutted on the east and that of John Bushell's heirs on the south. James Foster was the owner of several farms in Cambridge and neighboring towns at the time of the Revolution. Captain Levi Pease, Stage-coach Owner T EVI PEASE (1739-1824) was the next owner -'of the north lot, having bought the estate from Foster, August 18, 1784. The Boston records give little information about him, but from other sources we have gleaned some interesting particulars. 1 1 Old Boston Days and Ways, Mary Caroline Crawford ; Stage Coach and Tavern Days, Alice M. Earle; The Old Boston Post- Road, Stephen Jenkins. 6 7 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE He was a native of Enfield, Connecticut, where his youth was spent. After his marriage he removed to the neighboring village of Somers, and at the begin- ning of the Revolution he was settled at Blandford, Massachusetts, where he worked as a blacksmith. He was commissioned adjutant of the Third Hamp- shire County Regiment of the Massachusetts Militia, April 23, 1776, and served 28 days in the autumn of that year with a detachment from his regiment, which marched to Ticonderoga, to reenforce the army at that point. Levi Pease was employed as a courier throughout the latter part of the war, carrying important letters and dispatches for General Lafayette and other offi- cers, by whom he was much esteemed on account of his faithfulness and honesty. He was intrusted with large sums of money, wherewith he bought horses, forage and supplies for the American army. Pease has been called the "Father of the Stage- coach" in this country. He was a promoter of trans- portation facilities, before the days of railroads, teleg- raphy, telephones and wireless messages, electric cars, automobiles and aeroplanes. At the end of the War he established a line of primitive stage-wagons be- tween Boston, Hartford and New York. He him- self drove one of these conveyances, starting in the 68 THE NORTH LOT autumn of 1783 from the Lamb Tavern, which stood on the site of the present Adams House. In the fol- lowing year the point of departure was the Lion Tav- ern, on the site of Keith's Theatre. And soon after- ward he bought a portion of the Cathedral land, and had there his own public-house, the "Boston Inn," so- called, and headquarters for his stage-coaches. The fare from Boston to New York was ten dollars, and the trip occupied about a week. The stage-wagons were roofed "boxes mounted on springs, usually con- taining four seats, which accommodated eleven pas- sengers and the driver. There were no side en- trances to the vehicle, so that any one getting in late had to climb over the passengers who had pre-empted the front seats. . . . The roads were poor, the stage uncomfortable, and the whole journey was tir- ing and distressing. ... In the summer the traveller was oppressed by the heat, and half choked with the dust; in cold weather he nearly froze." 1 A well-known citizen of Boston, who made the journey to New York by one of Pease's conveyances in 1784, wrote that the carriages were ramshackly affairs, and the harnesses were made largely of ropes. "If no accident intervened," he said, "we generally reached our destination at ten o'clock, and after a 1 Stephen Jenkins. The Old Boston Post-Road. 69 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE frugal supper went to bed, with a notice that we should be called at three in the morning, which gen- erally proved to be half -past two. Then whether it snowed or rained, the traveller must rise and make ready by the help of a horn-lantern and a farthing candle, and proceed on his way over bad roads, some- times being obliged to get out and help the coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire or rut. We arrived at New York after a week's hard travelling, wonder- ing at the ease, as well as the expedition of our jour- ney." The following advertisement appeared in the Massachusetts Spy, January 5, 1786: "The Stages from Boston to Hartford in Connec- ticut, set out during the winter Season, from the house of Levi Pease, at the sign of the New York Stage, opposite the Mall, in Boston, every Monday and Thursday morning, precisely, at five o'clock. These stages afford the most convenient and expedi- tious way of travelling that can possibly be had in America. Said Pease keeps good lodging for gen- tlemen travellers, and stabling for horses. . . ." When the coach was stranded in snow-drifts, Pease followed the custom of the time, shouldered the mail- bag, and toiled forward on snow-shoes to the next stopping-place. 70 THE NORTH LOT In 1794 Levi Pease removed to Shrewsbury, where he became proprietor of the hostelry previously known as "Farrar's Tavern," which had acquired distinc- tion as one of the numerous inns which afforded overnight shelter to George Washington during his official visit to New England in 1789, the year of his first inauguration as President. In an original poem entitled "The Stage-Coach," and inscribed to Mira, which appeared in the Massa- chusetts Magazine, October, 1796, some experiences of a traveller in those days are graphically described. " 'Twas now that hour when darkness deep Buried the world in silent sleep. Supine I lay, and blissful dreams Had finished all my hopes and schemes. Just had I sworn my life should be Sacred to friendship, love and thee ; That is to say, 'twas three o'clock, When at my chamber door a knock That mock'd a clap of rattling thunder, Burst Morpheus' grateful bands asunder, And with the rapid lightning's rage Hurl'd me, half craz'd, into the stage. There, squeez'd amid a silent throng Of rich and poor, and old and young, We soon drove off that peaceful plain Where Mira and the virtues reign." ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE When one reflects upon the discomforts of stage- coach travel in former times, as described in the fore- going lines, the superior conveniences of the modern railway afford a pleasing contrast. In the words of a recent writer: The development of what is known as the "brass-bed" train between the Metropolis and Boston "is evidence of an almost exacerbated anxiety to make the night transit endurable to overwrought, quivering creatures returning from New York to the shores of Massachusetts Bay." * The old Indian trails became well-trodden paths under the pressure of the white settlers' stout boots. Along these rugged ways lay the route of the post- riders. Next came rough cart-roads, which were afterward widened, and made available for light two- wheeled vehicles, such as chaises, sulkies, gigs and calashes. Madam Sarah Knight, who journeyed on horseback from Boston to New York in the year 1704, following quite closely the route of the present "Shore Line" railroad, described the roads as gen- erally poor, and unsuited for vehicles. There was little improvement until after the Revolution. Gen- eral Washington, on his visit to Massachusetts in 1789, commented on the roughness of the primitive thoroughfares. 'Harrison Rhodes in Harper's Magazine, January, 1916. 72 THE NORTH LOT In 1795, Isaac Weld, a British traveler, who made long stage-coach journeys in this country, related that the drivers would sometimes call upon the pas- sengers to lean to the right or left, all together, to prevent a possible upset in the deep ruts which were encountered. Early in the nineteenth century better methods of road construction were in vogue, largely through the influence of Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam, who introduced scientific principles and an improved system in this work. In January, 1797, Levi Pease and Company an- nounced that their facilities for accommodating the public had lately been improved at considerable ex- pense. New Mail Stages were provided, carrying six inside passengers with ease, and to their satis- faction; and the Company agreed that this number should not be exceeded, under penalty of ten dollars for each offense. "When this mode of conveyance is contemplated," the announcement read, "every man of business or pleasure must confess it to be the most easy, cheap and commodious that can be established. And when the enhanced price of every necessary of life is considered, every liberal mind will allow that the price of five pence per mile, with the usual rate of baggage, is but a reasonable compensation. They set out from Boston and New York every Monday, 73 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Wednesday and Friday, at eleven o'clock, and arrive at each of the above places in five days from the hours of departure in Winter, and three days in Summer." In March, 1798, Levi Pease and Company, Pro- prietors of the Mail and Old Line of Stages, which ran from Boston to New York, via Worcester and Springfield, informed the Public that they had re- moved their Stage Office in Boston, from the Sign of the Royal Exchange, to a few doors below, and directly opposite to the Fire Insurance Office and Custom House, in State Street, where seats were to be secured at any hour. Nathaniel Pease, the father of Levi, was a sailor. He was reported to have been lost at sea, and his wife married again. Then Nathaniel Pease returned to his home at Enfield. After one glance at the situa- tion, following the example of Tennyson's sailor hero, Enoch Arden, he went away again, and never reap- peared. . . . Captain Levi Pease was said to have learned the value of punctuality in business affairs from General Washington. 1 When the latter was at Cambridge in the early days *A. P. Marvin. The History of Worcester County, Massachu- setts. I. p. 803. 74 THE NORTH LOT of the Revolution, he wished to buy a pair of horses, and made an appointment with Pease, who had a fine pair to sell. The horse-trader was a few minutes late, and the Commander-in-chief did not wait for him. But the experience was a valuable one for the honest stage-driver, courier and tavern-keeper. The stage-driver was a person of considerable re- sponsibility in the community, and his opinions on topics of general interest were given due weight. How exhilarating was the sound of "the loud snap of the whip, which gave increased speed to the horses, as they dashed up in approved style to the stopping- place, where the loungers were collected to see the travellers, and listen to the gossip which fell from their lips. There were no telegraphs then, and but few railroads in the country. The papers did not gather the news so eagerly, nor spread it abroad so promptly as they do now; and items of intelligence were carried largely by word of mouth." 1 Captain Basil Hall, an English naval officer, who made long journeys in American mail coaches during the year 1827, wrote that these vehicles carried no outside passengers. He was of the opinion that the most expert harlequin that ever preserved his bal- * Samuel Abbott Green, M.D., Groton Historical Series, Vol. I, VIII, 14. 75 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ance, would find it difficult to avoid being pitched to the ground from the top of an American coach on any road which he had the good fortune to travel upon in this country. Captain Hall mentions some of the inconveniences of journeying in those days; the rough and hilly roads, the dilatory mode of changing horses, and the frequent stopping to water them. Often- times the stage was crammed full of passengers, and in summer the heat and dust were very trying. It was customary for the stage-drivers on the dif- ferent routes to call for passengers at their homes, and travelers expected that the railroad manage- ment would similarly accommodate them. Therefore the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company found it expedient in 1834 to issue the following public notice : "Passengers are not sent for by the Company, but seats are provided for all who apply at the Ticket- Office." The residence of Levi Pease was opposite the Mall or shaded Promenade, which was described in a num- ber of the Boston Magazine of the year 1784, as follows : "It is on the eastern side of the Common, in length 1410 feet, divided into two walks, parallel to each other, separated by a row of trees. On the outside of each walk is also a row of trees, which agreeably THE NORTH LOT shade them. The inhabitants of the town resort thither in the morning and evening of the warm sea- sons, for the benefit of the fresh air, and a pleasant walk. It is fanned with refreshing breezes from a part of Charles River, which extends around the bot- tom of the Common. From the Mall is a pleasing prospect, over the river, of the adjacent country. These circumstances, together with the handsome buildings within view, one of which is a superb edifice of stone, (the seat of the late Governour Hancock;) the hills that rise gradually on the western side; the cheerfulness of the well-dressed persons of both sexes, and the decent deportment of its visitors, all unite to make a walk in the Mall truly agreeable." Some fifty years ago a contributor to the Bulletin of the Essex Institute wrote feelingly of the good old days of stage-coach travel. "The stage-driver, the next best man to the minister, out of jail we have no longer. The old stage-houses are for the most part deserted, or stand 'with a kind of gloomy sturdiness' amidst the modern innovations which sur- round them. Never again shall 'the windows of the wayside inn, across the meadows bare and brown, gleam red with fire-light through the leaves of wood- bine hanging from the eaves, their crimson curtains rent and thin!' Never again, about its hospitable hearth, that well-known company of whips shall 77 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE gather for a parting pipe, when guests are dreaming, and the night-coaches are in. I see the stage-drivers now, in their quaint old chairs, whiffs of smoke curl- ing lazily about their cheerful, weatherbeaten, ruddy faces ; heavy, wet boots steaming on the hearth ; am- ple capes and top-coats flung dripping on the benches ; while they chat by turns, stir the fire, and laugh at the storm." These lines were written half a century or more ago. What a wonderful change has been wrought by the coming of the automobile! The chauffeur, a strange, new being, has succeeded the stage-driver of former days; the way-side inns have multiplied exceedingly, while the landlord is a more important personage than ever. Nathan Bond, Merchant ON June thirtieth, 1795, Captain Pease, for a con- sideration of 1330, sold the north lot to Nathan Bond of Boston, Gentleman and Merchant. It is interesting to compare former prices with the market value of the same lot to-day, which may be fairly estimated at $1,000,000. According to the statistics of the United States Direct Tax of 1798, the estate 78 THE NORTH LOT of Nathan Bond, owner and occupier, was assessed for $3,500. Jt is therefore worth at the present day about two hundred and eighty-five times its estimated value in the year above mentioned. It was then described as follows: "Brick and wooden dwelling-house, 3 stories, 29 windows; 6603 square feet of land; wood-house and barn; bounded South on Samuel Ballard, West on Common Street, North on Thomas Thompson and Luke Baker, and East on William Swett." Nathan Bond was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1772. He was chosen a "Clerk of the Market" in 1789. In an advertisement in the Independent Chronicle, on April twenty- third of that year, he of- fered for sale by auction at his store in Cornhill a lot of goods from Madras, including "chintzes, cali- coes, book-muslins, ginghams, cottons, sheetings, silks and saltpetre." The Selectmen's Minutes, under date of May 3rd, 1 798, contain a somewhat vaguely worded item, viz. : "Ordered that the Officer of Police inform Mr. Na- than Bond that the Selectmen direct that he stop in erecting a Building at the bottom of the Common. They do not at present order its removal, that Mr. Bond may have liberty to erect the same, if he thinks proper." It may be that the style of architecture of 79 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE the said building did not commend itself to the Town Fathers. The Columbian Centinel, March 9, 1799, had the following advertisement : "To be sold by Nathan Bond; the MANSION HOUSE, which he now occupies, situated in Common Street, opposite the Mall. It commands a beautiful prospect of the Common and New State House; It stands on high ground, and has the important ad- vantage of a good and Salubrious air. The lot measures in front 31 feet, and in depth, 213 feet; and has a large and convenient stable, measuring in length 70 feet." Benjamin Callender, Tailor ON April 30, 1799, Mr. Bond sold the premises to Benjamin Callender, a well-known tailor, of Bos- ton, and the owner of considerable real estate. After serving an apprenticeship under a trades- man named Copeland, Mr. Callender started in busi- ness for himself about the year 1770. At the begin- ning of the Revolution he removed, with his family, to Natick, but returned to Boston after the Evacua- tion. His shop was at first on Cornhill, now a section of Washington Street, and later he had a more pre- 80 THE NORTH LOT tentious establishment at Number 4 State Street, which was patronized by the aristocracy. It was said that no customer ever left his store in a dissatisfied frame of mind, because every one was sure to get his money's equivalent in smart attire. He pursued the even tenor of his way, without striving to make a noise in the world, and gained an enviable reputation for integrity, modesty and fair dealing. Mr. Callen- der was for some years leader of the choir of Brattle Street Church, until obliged to relinquish the position on account of increasing deafness. He was a per- sonal friend of Paul Revere, and with that distin- guished patriot helped to found, in 1795, the Massa- chusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, serving also as a member of its first Board of Directors. His house on Common Street was occupied from 1800 to 1810 by Seth Cole, a livery-stable keeper. Mr. Callender had five sons and three daughters, who were educated in the Boston public schools. He died in 1828 at the age of eighty- three. John Osborn, Importer JOHN OSBORN, of Boston, bought both the north and south lots, February 10, 1819, for $15,000, thus becoming owner of the larger portion of the 81 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE present Cathedral Site. Mr. Osborn received his edu- cation at the Public Latin School, and became a mem- ber of the Artillery Company in 1793. He was a wealthy merchant, whose specialty was the importation of glass and painters' colors. He had a store at No. I Long Wharf, a shop on Orange Street, now a part of Washington Street, and his residence was at the West End. He owned consid- erable land within the town limits, including the tract then known as the "Pear Orchard," bounded by Cambridge, Lynde, Green and Chambers Streets. In 1806 he bought a handsome residence on Mount Vernon Street, which he sold in 1809 to Mrs. Gibbs, widow of a well-known merchant, of Newport, R. I. Mr. Osborn died at Boston in 1819, at the age of 48 years. 1 It is an interesting fact that during the years from 1826 to 1830 the line of houses on Tremont Street between Saint Paul's Church and Winter Street was called "Saint Paul's Row." *In September, 1813, Mr. Osborn offered for sale at his store "a large and very extensive assortment of Paints, Painters' Brushes, Tools and Pencils, gum copal, Verdigrise, Linseed Oil, Spirits of Turpentine, Gold and Silver Leaf, English and Ameri- can Glue, Pumice Stone, Whiting, Water Cologne in boxes, and every Article generally called for in a paint store." THE SOUTH LOT THE SOUTH LOT James Johnson, Glover THE SOUTH LOT, having a breadth along the Common of about 40 feet, and extending east- erly 210 feet to the line of Mason Street, was granted by the General Court to James Johnson, a glover, in 1638. He was a deacon of the First Church in Bos- ton, and became a member of the Artillery Company, attaining the rank of Lieutenant in 1658. James Johnson was the original owner of the site of the Blue Bell Tavern, which stood on a marsh at the corner of the present Batterymarch Street and Liberty Square. It was afterwards known as the Castle Tavern. He also owned the site of the Green Dragon Tavern, on Union Street, near Haymarket Square. In ante-Rev- olutionary times this Inn was a favorite rallying- place of leading patriots. Paul Revere was one of a group of about thirty men, chiefly mechanics, who "banded together to keep watch on the British de- signs," and who were wont to meet at the Green Dragon Tavern. . . . In the early Boston records Mr. Johnson is de- 85 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE scribed as a leather-dresser. At a meeting of the Selectmen, March 17, 1643, Sergeant Johnson was requested "to take the oversight of the boyes in the galleryes, and in case of unruly disorders, to acquaint the Magistrates therewith." Some thirty years later, on April 28, 1673, Mrs. Abigail Johnson, the wife of Captain James John- son, was licensed to sell "Coffee, Chucaletto, and Syder." George Burden, Shoemaker IN the early days the adjoining lot toward West Street was owned by George Burden. He and his wife Ann had come over to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the ship Abigail in 1635. He was a shoe- maker, and together with his wife was admitted to membership in the First Church of Boston the follow- ing year. He took the freeman's oath in 1637. In company with many of his fellow-townsmen he be- came involved in the religious dissensions of that pe- riod, as an adherent of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, the leader of the so-called sect of the Antinomians in New England, and was sentenced by the Court to be dis- armed for heresy. The name of "our brother," George Burden, ap- 86 THE SOUTH LOT pears not infrequently in the Town records. On July 31, 1643, a grant was made to him and three others, of the whole of the Mill Cove, so called, which after- ward became the Mill-Pond by the construction of a causeway along the line of the present Causeway Street. This causeway was the successor of an old Indian foot-path along a more elevated portion of the salt marsh. The Mill-Pond was gradually filled in with material taken from Beacon and Copps Hills. This work was begun in 1807 and occupied nearly twenty-five years. 1 The original grant was made upon the condition that the grantees should erect and maintain one or more Corn Mills upon or near the premises. George Burden and the members of his family re- turned to England about the year 1652. Henry Webb, Merchant 'V T EXT to George Burden's lot, on the north cor- **? ^ ner of Tremont and West Streets, was a garden containing about one acre of land, belonging to Henry Webb, a native of Salisbury, England, who came over in 1638, and was admitted to the First Church in Bos- ton the same year. His wife, Dosabell or Dowsabell, *S. A. DiJce. Old Landmarks of Boston. 87 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE became a member in 1639. Mr. Webb held the office of constable for one term. He became a wealthy merchant, having also a large interest in some iron- works at Lynn, and considerable real estate. In his Will he bequeathed 100 to the Town for the benefit of the poor. "At a Townes-meeting upon Publick notice from house to house," July 9, 1660, it was or- dered that "the said 100 be improoved by the select men for the end aforesaid, in some building fitt for that end ; and that in case of fire hapning which may consume itt, the Towne shall reedify the like fabrick to the end aforesaid." Henry Webb also bequeathed to Harvard College a piece of land extending from Washington to Dev- onshire Streets, with the house thereon; the rent to be devoted to the "maintenance of some poor Scholars, or otherwise for the best good of the College." The Treasurer's Account-Book, under date, April 14, 1710, has this item: "Lett unto Mr. Wm. Payne, the College House, Mr. Webb's gift, for 99 years from 25 March, 1710, to pay 12 per annum." The estate is still in Harvard's possession. Until recently it was occupied by Messrs. Little, Brown and Company, Publishers. The early records of transfers of real estate in Boston are not complete. It is certain, however, that the south lot 88 THE SOUTH LOT came into the possession of one Richard Carter, who had also bought in 1646 of William Parsons the ad- jacent lot towards Temple Place, which consisted of one acre of land, bounded on the east by Robert Wing and Ralph Mason, the Lane (West Street) on the south, the Common west, and George Burden north. Richard Carter took the freeman's oath in 1639. His trade was that of a carpenter. At a general Town meeting on February 24th of that year, Richard Car- ter, sawyer, was granted a "great Lott at the Mount [Wollaston] for three heads there." In 1657 he subscribed i to the fund for building the first Town House in Boston, and in the following year was chosen a surveyor of highways. His lands between the present Winter and West Streets were known as "Carter's Pasture," and his home lot was on the site of the present Adams House. Richard Carter and Ann, his wife, transferred the premises, March 14, 1663-4, to John Cross, a brewer, of Boston. At a meeting of the Selectmen, holden March 26, 1666, John Crosse was ordered to attend to the "yoaking and ringing of the Swine belonging to the inhabitants of the town, and to asseize all for- feitures that shall arise by the Swine not being yoaked and ringed according to order." In March, 1686, he was appointed "Towne Cryer, 89 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE to be allowed 2d for what he cryeth at the metting- house; and what he Crye upp and downe from street to street is to be allowed 6d at a time; further the said John Crosse is ordered to cleare the streets of all Carron and other offencive matters." In November, 1670, he mortgaged the property to John Richards, "merchant-treasurer" of Harvard College, including the "new dwelling-house, with one other new house now erecting, together with all that piece or parcel bounded by the land of John Wampas, formerly Robert Wyard, northerly; and the land of Richard Carter, southerly; and butteth on the towne Comon westerly, and the lands of Anthony Harker and Isaac Goose, easterly/' No conveyance from John Cross appears to have been recorded. The next transaction involving this estate is dated February 22, 1724, when Joseph Miller of Portsmouth, in the Province of New Hampshire, yeoman, "for and in consideration of 300 in good, lawful, publick Bills of Credit," sold the same to John Bushell. An "Accompt of Rebeckah Scott, executrix of the Will of her former husband John Bushell," gives some information about house-rents in Provincial times. For example, John Lucas paid Mrs. Bushell 45, 9 shillings for twenty months' rent of the "front 90 THE SOUTH LOT end of the New House in Common Street," from No- vember, 1731 ; or at the rate of about $135 a year. Hugh Scott's rent for the "Back of the New House" for twenty months to December, 1733, amounted to a little over 66. And Kenelm Winslow paid 81 for the whole of the New House, for fifteen months to August, 1735, at an annual rate of about $325. In the Inventory of the estate of John Bushell, dated April 10, 1732, he is styled "Innkeeper." The dwelling-house, barn, yard and garden bought of Mil- ler, were appraised at 400; whereas the land and buildings of the north lot, bought of the Hughes heirs, were valued at 1000. It is evident that this region was distinctly rural in character, and so continued until long after the Revolution. Trees, gardens and pastures, pumps and wells, barns and woodsheds abounded, while close at hand, as now, was the beautiful Training-Field or Common, affording ample grazing-ground for the cattle. In 1747 John Bushell, Junior, inherited the south lot, it having been apportioned to him by a decree of the Suffolk Probate Court, before mentioned. In the following year, April 9, 1748, he made over to one Richard Collier, a brazier, this property, in- cluding "a certain old house or tenement and Land ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE with the edifices thereon, with the right and privilege in the Well and Pump, standing partly on the Land aforesaid." Samuel Ballard ICHARD COLLIER, after holding the property fourteen years, sold it, April 16, 1762, to Samuel Ballard, Gentleman. The latter's name appears fre- quently on the Town records. He was a graduate of the Boston Public Latin School. Joining the mili- tia early, he attained the rank of Captain, and also held the office of Constable. He was chosen a member of a committee of seventy citizens "to attend upon a General Walk or Visitation of the Town (January 13, 1747), and afterwards to Report the State of the Town." Many years later his name appeared in the Directory as a Hay-weigher, and in the Records as a "Hay-ward," an official whose duty it was to impound roving animals. At a Selectmen's meeting, April 26, 1786, "upon opening proposals for the hire of the Hay Engine, it appeared that Captain Samuel Bal- lard was the highest bidder, and the Selectmen, ap- prehending him to be a Person suitably qualified, they have agreed to Rent said Engine to him at the Sum he offers, viz.: 150, one shilling, per Annum." 92 THE SOUTH LOT His first wife was Elizabeth Pickering, who died in 1763. He married on November third of that year, Fear, daughter of Benjamin and Temperance (Dim- mick) Freeman of Harwich, and widow of Daniel Sears of Chatham, Massachusetts. Captain Ballard had considerable experience as a seafarer, having made a voyage to the north-west coast, the region of Behring Sea, in a sealing-vessel, the Belle George, and being absent about four years. He was a maker of mathematical instruments. Captain Ballard died in 1793, and by will devised the premises to a grand-daughter, Betsey Pope, a minor, daughter of Edward Pope. The widow, Fear Ballard, continued to occupy the house, which was described in 1 798 as a three-storied brick and wooden dwelling, with twenty-one windows. Drawings of this house, and of the adjoining one, owned by Benjamin Callender, on the present Cathedral Site, as they ap- peared in 1800, are to be seen in the Boston Public Library, Quarterly Bulletin, October, 1894. The grand- daughter of Captain Ballard, Betsey Pope, seems to have died early, leaving her father sole heir; for on February 10, 1810, Edward Pope of New Bedford, transferred the south lot and buildings to John Os- born, of Boston, who thus became the owner of both lots. 93 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Purchase of a Site for Saint Paul's Church AT a meeting of Subscribers to a fund for the erection of a new Episcopal Church in Boston, held at the old Court House, April 19, 1819, Messrs. Shubael Bell, William Appleton, Daniel Webster, George Sullivan, Francis Wilby and George Odin were chosen members of a Building Committee, and were authorized to buy a suitable lot of land for a site. In accordance with a vote passed two days later, the following notice appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser, April 24, 1819: "Wanted to purchase in Boston, in a central situa- tion, for the site of an Episcopal Church, a lot of LAND, of about 12,000 square feet." Proposals were to be addressed to Henry Codman, at his office, No. i State Street. After consideration of several other lots, whose titles proved defective, it was voted, May 18, 1819, to purchase Mr. Osborn's land, on Common Street. On May 20, 1819, John Osborn and wife Catherine conveyed by warranty deed to George Sullivan and William Shimmin, for a consideration of $15,000, all the land of the first named on Common Street, meas- 94 THE SOUTH LOT uring in breadth 73 feet, six inches, and having an average depth of 213*^ feet. On March 2ist, 1820, George Sullivan and wife, Sarah Bowdoin, transferred to David Sears "all the land in Common Street, under and appurtenant to the new Stone Church called Saint Paul's Church, now erecting." And on November 22, following, David Sears sold the above-named premises to the Proprie- tors of the said Church. No funds were paid the grantors at the time of conveyance, but the property was mortgaged back to them as security for the pur- chase money. The Vergoose or Goose Family ABOUT the year 1645, according to the Book of Possessions, Anthony Harker was the owner and occupant of an estate fronting on Newbury, now Washington Street, and extending westward 275 feet toward Tremont Street, including a large portion of the present Temple Place. Anthony Harker is be- lieved to have come over from England in the ship Griffin in 1633. He was an early member of the First Church in Boston and was described in its Record of Admissions as a man-servant of the venerable elder, Thomas Leverett. In legal documents he was styled 95 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE a "yeoman" and was admitted to freedom in 1636. In 1659 Anthony Marker sold for 30 to Peter Vergoose the northerly portion of his estate, includ- ing "his old dwelling-house, with the cleere moiety or halfe part of the yard, orchard and land thereto be- longing; bounded by the streete leading to Roxbury on the east, the land of Richard Carter on the west, the lands of Alexander Baker on the north, and the New House and other moiety of the said yard and orchard on the south." This lot, therefore, immedi- ately adjoined "Carter's Pasture" and the site of Saint Paul's Church, which occupied the space be- tween it and the Common. Peter Vergoose or Goose, alias Vertigoose, the emi- grant, a ship-joiner, came to these shores about the year 1656. His descendants were among the largest land-owners in Boston, and in spite of the handicap of a somewhat peculiar surname, the members of the Goose family were prominent and of excellent repute in the community. The property above-mentioned remained in their possession until 1768, when it was sold to Jonathan Amory. Isaac Goose (son of Peter), who was born in Eng- land about 1637, became an active and enterprising citizen of Boston and the owner of considerable real estate. Not long after coming of age, his father THE SOUTH LOT stated that he was "of competent stature either to go to prentice or to sea." He served as constable, and was wont to patrol the streets at night with Samuel Sewall, Captain of the South Company, and after- ward Chief Justice of the Superior Court, who lived opposite Isaac Goose on land now occupied by the main store of the Jordan-Marsh Company. Judge Sewall wrote in his Diary under date of March 12, 1685: "Watched with Isaac Goose and Sam Clark. Had a pleasant night. Gave each Watch twelve pence, to drink." And again, July 29, 1686: "I goe the Grand Rounds with Isaac Goose and Matthias Smith." The members of the night-watch were in- structed to enquire if there were warrantable cause for having lights burning after ten o'clock at night; and also to demand the reason for any noise or dis- order. Isaac Goose married (first) about 1667, Mary, daughter of Jonathan Balston, a ship-builder and sea- captain. She died in 1690, leaving 10 children. He married (second) July 5, 1692, Elizabeth (daughter of William and Anne Foster of Charlestown). They had six children, of whom the eldest daughter, Eliza- beth, was married, June 8, 1715, to Thomas Fleet, the printer, by Rev. Cotton Mather. Isaac Goose died November 29, 1710. His "housen and land" were 97 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE valued at 650. Thomas Fleet (1685-1758) was a native of Shrop- shire, England, and in his youth served an apprentice- ship with a printer at Bristol. Owing to political troubles, he emigrated to the new world in 1712, and made his home in Boston, where he established a printing-office on Pudding Lane, now Devonshire Street. Children's books, ballads and pamphlets were the chief early products of his press. In 1713 he oc- cupied a more pretentious brick building at the corner of Water Street and Cornhill (then the lower part of Washington Street). The sign of the "Heart and Crown" adorned the front of this building, which contained printing-of- fices and an auction-room, and served also as a domi- cile for the family. Thomas Fleet's mother-in-law, Elizabeth Vergoose, was believed by many to have been the original "Mother Goose," whose name has long been a house- hold word in America. Her lullabys and cradle-songs, as sung to her grandchildren, were said to have been collected and published by Mr. Fleet, as "Mother Goose's Melodies," in 1719. These rhymes are to be distinguished from the Fairy Tales written by Charles Perrault, and pub- 98 THE SOUTH LOT lished at Paris, France, in 1697. The latter form a classic work in the department of fairy lore, and bore the inscription "Tales of my Mother Goose." They included the well-known stories of "Little Red Riding- Hood," "Cinderella," "Blue Beard," and "Puss-in- Boots." The coincidence of titles appears to be purely accidental. In the year 1729, Elizabeth, widow of Isaac Ver- goose, and executrix of his estate, quit-claimed to Thomas Fleet, his wife and children, three dwelling- houses, with the land appertaining thereto, lying in Newbury Street, Boston, and being the ancestral es- tate. Thomas Fleet advertised in the Boston News-Let- ter, March 7, 1731, as follows: "This is to give Notice to all Gentlemen, Merchants, Shopkeepers and others, that Thomas Fleet of Boston, Printer (who formerly kept his Printing House in Pudding Lane, but is now removed into Cornhill at the sign of the Heart and Croivn, near the lower end of School Street), is willing to undertake the Sale of Books, Household Goods, Wearing Apparel, or any other Merchandize, by Vendue or Auction. The said Fleet, having a large and commodious Front Cham- ber, fit for this business, and a Talent well-known and approved, doubts not of giving entire Satisfaction to such as may employ him in it; he is hereby engaging 99 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE to make it appear that this Service may be performed with more Convenience and less Charge at a private House, well situated, than at a Tavern. And for farther Encouragement, said Fleet promises to make up Accompts with the owners of the Goods Sold by him, in a few days after the sale thereof." In 1736 Isaac Goose, Junior, was enrolled as a mem- ber of the "Prison Engine Company," under com- mand of Captain Bartholomew Sutton. This was the pioneer Fire Engine of Boston, and its station was removed in 1 744 from Prison Lane, now Court Street, to a shed in the rear of the old South Church. At that period there were seven of these engines in the Town. They were then called "Water Engines." Each was drawn by one horse and they were said to be capable of throwing a considerable stream of water to a height of twelve feet. Isaac Goose, Junior, served the town as a "Viewer of Boards and Shin- gles" for twenty-five years. The Boston family of Goose has been practically extinct since the beginning of the nineteenth century, although the name again appears in recent Directories. The late William H. Whitmore maintained emphat- ically that the Boston "Mother Goose" was a myth. It would be as absurd, wrote he, to place her among the eminent women of our country, as it would be to 100 THE SOUTH LOT put Jack-the-Giant-Killer in a list of famous Amer- ican Generals. This may be a rude shock to many imaginative people and children, who cherish the name of "Mother Goose," and hold fast to the tradi- tion that that illustrious woman was a veritable per- sonage who once lived in Boston, then a village by the sea, and that she was the author of those celebrated rhymes and jingles. ici THE CARTER LOT THE CARTER LOT Ten-Foot Strip INASMUCH as the width of the Osborn lot was deemed insufficient, the Building Committee of Saint Paul's Church voted, June 23, 1819, to pur- chase for $3,172, a strip of land, 10 feet wide and 211 feet in depth, adjoining the Osborn estate on the south, according to an agreement already made. This strip corresponds in part with the present covered passage-way leading from Tremont Street to the Shepard Norwell Company's store. One third part of the strip, its rear portion, is within the limits of the former possessions of Richard Carter, one of the early Townsmen. His lot was called "Carter's Pasture," and extended southerly as far as West Street. It included about an acre of land, and was conveyed to the said Carter by William Parsons, a "sley-maker," in 1646, by an absolute Deed, acknowl- edged before Governor John Winthrop. William Parsons, Emigrant WILLIAM PARSONS (1620-1702), of Salis- bury, England, was one of a goodly company of emigrants, who "shipt themselves at the towne of 105 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Hampton in the James, of London/' during the month of April, 1635. In the Custom-House clearance he was described as a "tayler," but when admitted to the Church in Boston nine years afterward, he was called a joiner. Mr. Parsons was admitted a townsman, March 31, 1645, an d became a member of the Artil- lery Company soon after. He was one of the early land-owners of Boston, his name appearing in the Book of Possessions. His residence was on the pres- ent Spring Lane, very near the ancient Spring-Gate or Common Spring, one of the chief sources of fresh water supply for the colonists. The spring was sur- rounded by a fence, and was approached through a gate; hence its name. After some years William Parsons revisited England, and during the Protector- ate of Oliver Cromwell he became associated with a small band of fanatics and would-be reformers, led by a misguided zealot named Thomas Venner, a wine- cooper of Boston. These men desired to abolish existing laws and institutions, and to substitute a sim- pler code, founded upon the law of Moses. At first they were adherents of Cromwell, but later turned against him. In furtherance of their purpose, they started a small rebellion in England, rallying about a banner which bore the motto, "For the Lord God and Gideon." This little band was defeated in Lon- 106 THE CARTER LOT don January 6, 1661, by soldiers of the Horse-Guards and Train-Bands. Almost all of them were either killed or taken prisoners, but Parsons managed to escape. It is on record in the Diary of Samuel Sewall that he "slipt away in the crowd/' Returning to Bos- ton, he made his abode there for more than forty years, serving as Clerk of the Market in 1669. He was licensed by the Selectmen in 1681 to sell wine and strong liquors out-of-doors, and the same privilege was enjoyed by him in later years. Such is a part of the strange history of one of the early owners of the Cathedral land. 1 Hezekiah Usher, Bookseller IN 1679 Mary Cowell, wife of Joseph Cowell of Boston, cooper, and daughter of Richard Carter, by virtue of a Power of Attorney from her husband, sold this pasture lot to Hezekiah Usher, the younger, of Boston. The Usher family was prominent in Massachusetts during the Colonial period. Hezekiah Usher, Senior 1 Affixed to the wall of a building on the north side of Spring Lane, near Washington Street, is a tablet inscribed as follows: "Here was the Great Spring, which for more than two Centuries gave water to the people of Boston." The Bostonian Society has set this tablet. 1907. 107 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE (b. in England, 1615), became a wealthy merchant, whose residence in 1638 was at the corner of Dunster and Winthrop Streets in Cambridge. He removed to Boston as early as 1645, and his name is to be found in the Book of Possessions as an owner of land within the Town limits at that time. In the Aspinwall No- tarial Records, under date of December 3, 1646, occurs the following: "Hezekiah Usher granted a gener 11 Realease unto Robert Saund rs for all accounts touching theire Copartnershipp &c from the begin- ning of the world unto the date thereof." Mr. Usher lived in a dwelling on the north side of King Street, now State Street, and opposite the Market Place, which was later the site of the Town House, and afterward of the Old State House. He was a public- spirited citizen, and as evidence of this fact we find his name in a list of donors to a fund for the erection of a new Town House, in 1657. Hezekiah Usher agreed to pay for this object "twentye poundes in Englishe goods or equivalent; proviso: yt ye market house bee erected in ye markett place, & a cunditt." The conduit was doubtless intended as a reservoir for water, but none was built at that time. Mr. Usher had the distinction of being the first bookseller in North America. The lower story of his domicile served as a shop, and the book-trade not 1 08 THE CARTER LOT being very brisk at that time, he dealt also in beef, furs, fish, grain, lumber and West Indian products. The first books made in this country were printed for him, and among the many which he published later was one entitled: "Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in either England," by John Cotton, 1656. Hezekiah Usher was one of the Founders and an influential member of the Old South Church, and his name ap- pears often in the Society's records. The Elders were wont at times to hold their meetings at his house. He was a Representative to the General Court, and served the Town as Selectman eighteen years. Joining the Artillery Company at the age of twenty-three, he at- tained the rank of Ensign. Mr. Usher was the agent of the "Corporation in England for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians in New England." * In 1658 he went to London as agent for the Commis- sioners of the United Colonies, and there bought a press, type and general printing outfit. The new press was set up in the following year, and was used by Samuel Green of Cambridge to print the Apostle Eliot's Great Indian Bible, which was finished in 1663. Hezekiah Usher died in 1676. As pertaining to the title of Carter's pasture, we quote from the Middlesex Probate Records, Volume 1 George E. Littlefield. Early Boston Booksellers. 109 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE 28, page 97 : "these premises, heretofore the estate of Hezekiah Usher, were conveyed by him, March 9, 1686, to Samuel Sewall of Boston, merchant, and Daniel Quincey, goldsmith, since deceased, by a con- ditional deed. And for the condition broken, pos- session of the said estate was recovered by law at the suit of the said Samuel Sewall and Anna Quincey, executrix of Daniel Quincey, and afterwards quit- claimed by them unto the said Bridget Usher." Hezekiah Usher the younger (eldest child of the bookseller), who became the owner of Carter's pas- ture in 1679, was born in Cambridge June 6, 1639. He early developed a taste for land speculation, in- vesting chiefly in mining properties which proved to be of little value. At the age of twenty-seven he married Bridget (Lisle) Hoar, widow of Dr. Leonard Hoar, President of Harvard College. She was a brilliant and fascinating woman. Her father, John Lisle, was one of the judges at the trial of King Charles I, a member of Cromwell's House of Lords, and a man of distinction under the Commonwealth. Her mother, Lady Alicia Lisle, was convicted of har- boring partizans of the Duke of Monmouth after the battle of Sedgemoor, and was executed at Winches- ter in September, 1685, at tne behest of the brutal Judge Jeffreys. The marriage was an unhappy one. no THE CARTER LOT Mr. Usher accused his wife of gross worldliness and extravagance, and she averred that he was not suffi- ciently orthodox in his religious belief. They sepa- rated in 1687, and she went to England, where she made her home for ten years. After her husband's death, she returned to Boston, and was a conspicuous figure in the social life of the Town for a quarter of a century thereafter. On June 20, 1679, Mr. Usher bought of Mary Wil- lard (widow of Major Simon Willard) about 400 acres at a place called Nonacoicus, in that part of Groton now within the limits of Ayer. One-quarter of this farm was sold by him May n, 1687, to Jona- than Tyng of Dunstable, together with all the "gar- dens, orchards, yards, lands, pastures, meadows, swamps, woods, underwoods, waters, watercourses, fishings, floodings, trees and ways thereto belonging." (Middlesex Registry of Deeds. X. page 49.) Mr. Usher was living on this farm when King William's War began. Much uneasiness prevailed in Groton and other frontier towns on account of the Indians. On August 10, 1689, the Governor and Council or- dered Captain James Parker, of the Groton Foot Company, to reenforce Hezekiah Usher's garrison at Nonacoicus with three extra men for its defense. On May 25, 1681, Mr. Usher bought another farm in ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE at a place called Cold Spring, in the northern part of Groton, "with all the mines and minerals of one kind or other, that may be found there." He was given liberty to dig, delve and make use of said land at his pleasure, and to pass and repass thereover on foot or horseback or with carts and teams of any kind. Dr. Samuel A. Green, the historian of Groton, has stated that the chief mineral found in that locality is marcasite, a form of iron pyrites, which has a lustrous appearance when polished, and was formerly used in the manufacture of articles for personal adornment. In later years Mr. Usher was accused of witchcraft and narrowly escaped imprisonment. He died at Lynn July n, 1697. His Will, which was dated Au- gust 17, 1689, a * Nonacoicus, is an interesting and unique document. A brief extract shows that it was written under the stress of bitter feeling: "One had better have a wife that had not been worth a groat than to have one that hath no love for him. ... I do not excuse myself altogether, but my love to my wife and admiring of her genteel carriage occasioned her and her complices to usurp that power over me, whereby I have been cunningly overreached and abused several ways." John Usher, a brother of Hezekiah, Junior, suc- 112 THE CARTER LOT ceeded his father in business as a bookseller in Corn- hill. He was Colonel of the Boston regiment, Judge of the Court of Pleas and Sessions, and Treasurer of the Colony under Sir Edmund Andros during the inter-charter period. Afterward removing to Portsmouth, he served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Hampshire for five years. In 1715 he made his home in Medford, where he owned and occupied the historic mansion later known as the Royall house. John West, Secretary IN the Spring of 1688 the Usher mansion was rented to John West, who occupied it for less than a year. He was an English merchant, and a former resident of New York, who had held various posi- tions of responsibility. At that time he was serving as Secretary to Governor Sir Edmund Andros, and as Assistant Register of the Suffolk Probate Court. The rule of Andros had become obnoxious to the peo- ple of Massachusetts, and both he and his subordi- nates were extremely unpopular with them, and were regarded as a "crew of abject persons." What es- pecially caused resentment was the fact that most of ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE these officials had been brought here from other Col- onies. It was the Governor's policy "to break down the power of the Puritan oligarchies in New England, and to weld them into one strongly governed State, which should be able to show a firm front to the en- croachments of the French." On the eighteenth of April, 1689, the populace in and around Boston rose in arms, and great excite- ment prevailed. Men and boys were seen running through the streets, brandishing weapons, and en- couraging each other to free themselves of an arbi- trary and tyrannical government. Andros and his followers were disarmed and imprisoned. The Gov- ernor was placed under guard in the house of John Usher, and later removed to the Castle, on the site of Fort Independence. John West and others were confined in the Town prison, and afterwards they too were removed to the Castle, there to remain in the custody of Captain Fairweather, subject to the King's pleasure. Finally, in obedience to an order from King Wil- liam, Andros and a number of his subordinates, in- cluding John West, were sent to England, sailing February 10, 1690. As an illustration of the popular feeling at that period, we quote from a Declaration of the Gentle- 114 THE CARTER LOT men, Merchants and Inhabitants of Boston and the Country Adjacent, April, 1689. It was stated therein that under the Government of Andros care was taken to load Preferments principally upon such Men as were Strangers to and Haters of the People. It was moreover plainly affirmed both by some in open Coun- cil, and by the same in private Converse, that the people of New England were all Slaves, and the only difference between them and negro Slaves was the fact that the New England people were not bought and sold as chattels in the market. And it was a maxim expressed in open Court by one of the Council, "that we must not think that the Priviledges of Eng- lishmen would follow us to the End of the World. . . . We were every day told that no Man was the owner of a Foot of Land in the Colony." 1 Major-General Waitstill Winthrop OOON after John West's imprisonment, the Usher ^ house was rented to Wait-Still Winthrop (1642- 1717), who occupied it about eight years. He was a son of Governor John Winthrop of Connecticut, and a grandson of John Winthrop, Governor of Massa- 1 An Account of the Late Revolution in New England, by Mr. Nathaniel Byfield, a Merchant of Bristol. "5 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE chusetts, and had been active in helping to bring- about the overthrow and deportation of Andros and his as- sociates. He entered Harvard College, but left the Institution before graduating, to engage in military service, and had a command in King Philip's War. In 1689 he became a member of the Council for the Safety of the people and Conservation of the Peace, and served for thirty years as Commander-in-chief of the Provincial Forces, with the rank of Major-Gen- eral. He was also Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and Judge of Admiralty. General Winthrop married (first) Mary, daughter of Hon. William Browne of Salem. He was a widower for many years. In Sewall's Diary, August 12, 1698, is this item: " 'Tis told all about the Town that Major Generall (Winthrop) courts Mary Howard." He did not marry again, however, until 1707, when Katharine, daughter of Captain Thomas Brattle, and the widow of John Eyre, became his wife. . . . Wait Winthrop inherited a marked taste for the science of therapeutics, in which he was well versed; and practised Medicine without recompense among his poorer neighbors long before the existence of free Dispensaries. To quote once more from the Diary of Judge Sewall: 116 "Wait Winthrop was the great stay and ornament of the Council; a very pious, prudent, courageous New England man." In 1716 he joined a company of Boston merchants, to whom the General Court had granted the monopoly of making salt. Their works were alongside of the Neck, towards Roxbury. Following is the translation of a portion of a curi- ous Latin epitaph. An old manuscript, believed to be in the hand-writing of Governor Winthrop, refers to its having been inscribed upon the Winthrop tomb : WAIT WINTHROP, ESQUIRE He was, alas! he was Of New England the Glory and Defence; The Light and Stay; Major-General of Massachusetts Colony; Of a noble yet peaceful disposition; And who for his Country and for peace could die ; President of the Council for the Province; Whose chief est care it always was that the Common- wealth might receive no damage; . . . Chief Judge, who paid an equal regard to Jus- tice and Clemency. . . . He was skilful in Physick; And being possessed of Golden Secrets, Indeed more valuable than Gold itself. And having obtained universal remedies, which Hip- pocrates and Helmont never knew, 117 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE All that were sick, wherever he came, He freely restored to Health; And made almost his whole study of Nature sub- servient to Medicine. Francis Wainwright FRANCIS WAINWRIGHT of Boston, a son of John and Elizabeth Wainwright of Ipswich, was the next owner of the Carter lot, having bought it of Bridget (Lisle) Usher, May 31, 1714, for 1,000. His emigrant ancestor, Francis Wainwright of Chelmsford, England, was one of the earliest settlers of Ipswich, Massachusetts. He distinguished him- self greatly during the war against the Pequot In- dians in 1637. On one occasion he pursued a band of the savages until his ammunition gave out, and then slew two of them with the butt of his musket, carry- ing away their heads as trophies of his valor. In later years, "by his diligence and sagacity in business, he became a wealthy, useful and respectable citizen." 1 Francis Wainwright of Boston was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1707, and a merchant. He served as constable in 1714, one of his duties being to col- lect assessments from the townspeople "for the sup- 1 J. B. Felt. History of Ipswich. THE CARTER LOT port of the Watch." His wife was Mary, the fourth daughter of Governor Joseph Dudley. Addington Davenport R. WAINWRIGHT mortgaged the Carter lot, December 28, 1720, to Addington Davenport, Thomas and Edward Hutchinson, et al. f who were trustees of a fund of 50,000, belonging to the Prov- ince, which was to be loaned to the inhabitants at five per cent Interest. Judge Addington Davenport was a son of Captain Eleazar Davenport, a mariner, whose wife was Rebecca Addington. His grandfather, Captain Richard Davenport, came over from Eng- land in the Abigail in 1628. He was ensign of the Salem train-band. When Governor John Endicott cut the Cross of St. George from the English flag, Captain Davenport gave the name of "True-Cross" to a daughter born that year. He was a promi- nent military man in the earliest years of the Colony, and was wounded in the Pequot war. He joined the Artillery Company in 1639. The first settlers built a fort of mud in Boston Harbor. This was on the site of the present Fort Independence. In 1643 it was rebuilt of pine trees and earth, and placed in charge of Captain Davenport. Later a small brick 119 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE castle was constructed, which was called Castle Wil- liam. On July 15, 1665, Captain Davenport was asleep in this building, his room being separated from the powder magazine by a slight partition, and was killed by lightning during a severe storm. 1 Judge Addington Davenport was born August 3, 1670. He graduated at Harvard in 1689 and traveled exten- sively in England, Spain and the West Indies. Re- turning to Boston, he became Clerk of the House of Representatives under the second Charter, of 1692, and Register of Deeds for Suffolk County. He was one of the founders of Brattle Street Church in 1699, a Selectman of Boston and a member of Governor Dudley's Council. In 1715 he was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court of Judicature. He was also one of the judges of a Court assembled at Newport in 1723, for the trial of pirates. His wife was a daughter of John and Elizabeth Wainwright, of Ipswich. The Reverend Addington Davenport, eldest of eight children of the preceding, was born in Boston May 1 6, 1701. (Harvard College, 1719.) He prac- tised law for some years, and was appointed Attorney General in 1728. Visiting England in 1732, he re- * History of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. 1.8 7 . 1 2O THE CARTER LOT ceived a Master's degree at Oxford, and took orders in the Church. Returning to Massachusetts, he served for three years as missionary at St. Andrew's Church in Scituate, and for a like period as assistant minister of King's Chapel. He became the first rec- tor of Trinity Church, Boston, in 1740, and held that office until his death in 1746. Thomas and Edward Hutchinson, two of the mort- gagees above-mentioned, were among the most influ- ential citizens of the Town. The former (171 1-1780) was the son of a rich Boston merchant, and a gradu- ate of Harvard in 1727, who held many important offices. He was Selectman, Representative, a mem- ber of the Council, Judge of Probate, and Chief Jus- tice of the Superior Court of the Province. He was also the author of a valuable History of Massachu- setts Bay. Mr. Hutchinson was the last royal Gov- ernor, being succeeded in 1774 by General Thomas Gage as Military Governor. He then went to Eng- land and became an adviser of King George III and the British ministry ; and in this capacity he uniformly counseled a policy of moderation in all dealings with the American Colonies. In 1775 he was elected to Parliament, where he opposed the notorious and op- pressive Boston Port Bill, "a measure for suspending the trade and closing the harbor of Boston during the 121 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE King's pleasure." Edward Hutchinson, of Boston, a half-brother of the Governor, was actively engaged in civic affairs during the first half of the eighteenth century. He held the positions of Constable, Selectman, member of the Legislature, Justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and Judge of Probate. He was also the Treasurer of Harvard College for thirty years, a Colonel in the militia, and Captain in the Artillery Company. His residence was opposite the head of Hancock's wharf on North Street, and was after- ward known as the North End Coffee House, where the Proprietor, David Porter, who had been a sea- rover during the Revolution, advertised in 1783 that "gentlemen shall be entertained in a genteel manner." Jonathan Williams JONATHAN WILLIAMS, the younger (1699- 1788), of Boston, wine-merchant, acquired posses- sion of the lot in question, May 28, 1739, together with the "brick wall thereon standing, and all the houses, barns, stables, fences, alleys, passages, wells and wa- ter-courses thereunto belonging." His father, Jona- than Williams, Senior (d. 1737), was keeper of the Granary, which then stood at the upper side of the 122 THE CARTER LOT Common, but was removed soon afterward to the foot of Park Street, where the Church now stands. The Granary was established in order that the poorer townspeople might obtain grain in small quantities at the lowest possible cost. ... At a Town meeting, March 8, 1730, it was voted that Mr. Jonathan Wil- liams be "alowed and paid out of the Town Treasury the sum of seventy pounds P r Annum for his service in managing the Grainery." And at a meeting of the Selectmen, May 23, 1733, he was appointed "to re- ceive the money due from the owners of the Cows going at large on the Common." The name of Jonathan Williams, the younger, ap- pears frequently in the municipal records. He had a wine-shop on Cornhill (the portion of Washington Street between School Street and Dock Square) where he also resided. He served the Town at different times as Clerk of the Market, Constable, Fireward and Visitor of the Schools. In the year 1767 there prevailed a period of economic depression, which was thought to have been largely due to the extensive employment of foreign products. Mr. Williams was one of a committee ap- pointed to "lessen the use of loaf sugar, men's and women's hats, gloves, snuff, mustard, clocks and watches, muffs, furs and tippets, fire-engines, china- 123 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ware," and divers other articles. He was in full sym- pathy and association with the leading patriots of those days. It was Jonathan Williams who presided, by unanimous election, at the great mass meeting of inhabitants of Boston and the neighboring towns, on November 29, 1773, called to devise measures to pre- vent the landing of chests of tea from British vessels then arriving in the harbor. This meeting, the largest ever assembled in Boston up to that time, met first at Faneuil Hall, and adjourned to the Old South Church, where Samuel Adams, General Joseph War- ren and John Hancock were among the principal speakers. A vote of thanks to Mr. Williams for his services on that occasion was afterward passed. Green and Russell's Boston Post-Boy and Adver- tiser, January n, 1762, has this notice: "Whereas there was taken out of the House of Jonathan Williams, in Cornhill, on the 23rd inst, two great-coats, one of his own wearing, a cloth coloured Drab; Whoever has taken them, and will return the first to said Williams, shall have the latter gratis, and no Questions asked." Similar notices were not uncommon in the newspa- pers of the Provincial era. For example, the follow- ing Proclamation appeared in an issue of the Boston News-Letter, of the year 1720: 124 THE CARTER LOT "Whereas some evil-minded persons, on or about the 22nd day of January last, being blindly led to fol- low the dictates of their own corrupt hearts, did seek, after a grope in the dark, for the sign of Mr. Samuel Tyley, one of the public Notaries of the Province, and having discovered the same, their distempered eyes could not bear the sight of it; because, (as is supposed) it was such a manifest sign of the power committed to him by the Government; so that their high-flying zeal exalted them above measure to reach up thereto, and by force and arms to pull down, carry away or de- stroy the same, contrary to law, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lord, the King; these are therefore to give notice that, if any persons shall give evidence against the malefactors, so as they may be convicted, such informers shall be generally rewarded for their good services." At a meeting of the Selectmen, January 26, 1715, "they being sensible of the great Perplexity that the Inhabitants of this Town Labour under, by reason of the Frequent Attempts Lately made of Robbery in several parts of ye Town," it was voted to petition the Governor and Council to issue a reward for the apprehension of the thieves, "and for the more effec- tual discovery of the Combination or Knotts of Rob- bers, with which the Town hath been of late dis- tressed." 125 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE The following advertisement appeared in a Boston newspaper, July 19, 1725: "Last Tuesday night some wicked and evil-minded person or persons broke into the Governor's Coach House, and maliciously broke the front glass of his Excellency's Chariot. Who- ever can give any intelligence to Mr. John Boydell at the Governour's house in Boston, of the Actor or Actors of so unheard of villainy, so as he or they may be brought to Condign Punishment, shall receive of him a reward of Ten Pounds." Here follows a Notice from the Boston Evening Post, October 29, 1753: "Lately lost in one of the streets of Boston, or on the Long Wharf, an Irish Stitch Pocket-Book, with about Thirty Pounds in Bills of the Old Tenor, and a great number of Papers and Accounts of no Use to any Body but the Owner of the Book. If the Per- son who has it('s) Possession, will return it to the Owner, with the Money and Papers, he or she shall be very well rewarded for their Trouble and Care. But if their Consciences shall suffer them to keep the Money, yet they are desired to contrive some way or other, that the Owner may have his Book and Papers again. N. B. They may throw it over the Wall into the Printer's Yard" 126 THE CARTER LOT A keen business rivalry appears to have existed between Mr. Williams and John Hamock, another wine-merchant, of Boston. This led to the publica- tion of spicy advertisements in several issues of a contemporary newspaper, as follows : Monday, January 15, 1750. "To be Sold Cheap by John Hamock, nigh the Town House, Boston; A Valuable Collection of the most nutritive Wines and other Spirituous Liquors, reserved out of all that was imported last Year; and quite different from the Stuff the Wine-Coopers Sell, which, I believe, tend rather to destroy Men's Lives than to Save them." Monday Jan'y 22, 1750. "To be sold at the Cheapest Rate by Jonathan Wil- liams at the Black Boy and But in Cornhill, Boston. Choice Vidona, George's, Pico or Fayal Wines, &c., well approv'd of by the best judges, and reckoned to be some of the best Wines of the Sort in Town. And notwithstanding the Mean & Base Insinuation of John Hamock in his late Advertisement, I doubt not will yet be esteem'd and prefer'd by all Gentlemen of Taste in Town and Country." January 22, 1750. "To the Author of the Post-Boy, "Sir, Tho' any Man of Common Sense must think that the Advertisement refer'd to by Mr. Jonathan 127 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Williams was intended as a Jest, yet I find (tho' mean and base as it is) he has been so weak as to take it to himself in another Shape, I must therefore beg Leave to quote the old Proverb to him, Viz. that 'there are many true Words spoke in Jest.' And another, that 'touch a gall'd Horse, and he'l winch.' "I believe he had better have been silent, and drank a Glass of good, nutritive Wine (if he has any such), than to have exposed his Bitterness and Folly in tak- ing Notice of it. "Your most humble Servant, "V. D." [John Hamock.] John Hamock or Hammock had a wine-shop on Shrimpton's Lane, now Exchange Street. He was approved and recommended by the Selectmen as an Innholder, and licensed to sell strong drink, August J 7 J 738. He was styled "Captain" in the Town Rec- ords. At a meeting of the Congregation of Christ Church, Boston, holden on Easter Monday, April 26, 1736, Mr. John Hammock was chosen a Vestryman and served as such seven years, and as warden four years. His name is inscribed on one of the bells within the steeple of the Church, in recognition of his zeal in obtaining funds wherewith to defray the cost of the chime. 128 THE CARTER LOT The Reverend Roger Price THE Reverend Roger Price (1696-1762), an English clergyman, with his family, occupied the spacious house on this lot and fronting on Common Street, for several years. The owner, Stephen Green- leaf, was a relative of Mrs. Price. This was one of the most pretentious estates at the south end of the Town, and in later years was known as the Wash- ington Gardens. After graduating at Balliol Col- lege, Oxford, in 1717, Mr. Price took orders in the Church of England. He then made a voyage to West Africa and accepted a position as Chaplain at Widdaw, on the coast of Guinea. While en route there he was relieved by pirates of most of his per- sonal belongings. He next visited the British West Indies, and served for a time as minister of Saint Ann's Parish, in Jamaica. Returning to England, he spent two years in retirement at Leigh in Essex. He then accepted an invitation to become the rector of King's Chapel, Boston, and was inducted into that office, June 25, 1729, with appropriate formalities, in accordance with the time-honored usage of the Church of England. After the reading of his license and cer- tificate of appointment, the wardens, vestry and mem- 129 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE bers of the congregation all left the church, where- upon Mr. Price locked himself in, and tolled the bell. Then, opening the doors, he formally received the Parish officers and people, who congratulated him on having possession of the church. 1 Mr. Price re- mained as rector for seventeen years. Toward the latter part of his incumbency, he became somewhat discontented, and wrote the Bishop of London that he "found the New England ministers too overbearing, and to want some balance." And again he wrote that his "parishioners were for the most part very haughty, and expect more compliance from a minister than is consistent with his character or comfort." He re- signed as rector in November, 1746, and took up his residence in the town of Hopkinton, Massachusetts, where he already owned a country place and consid- erable land. Here too was the favorite summer re- sort of some of his parishioners. At Hopkinton Mr. Price built a small church at his own expense, and ob- tained an endowment of 170 acres of glebe land, whose revenues contributed to its support. Soon after Mr. Price's arrival at Boston, the Right Reverend Ed- mund Gibson, D.D., Bishop of London, appointed him Commissary over the Episcopal Churches in New England, with authority to exercise spiritual jurisdic- 1 Annals of King's Chapel. 130 THE CARTER LOT tion. He was the only clergyman thus honored in the history of the English Colonies in America. In this capacity it devolved upon him to call conventions of the Episcopal clergy; and the first one was held in Christ Church, Boston, in September, 1738. Mr. Price returned to England with his family in 1753, and again made his home at Leigh, a small town in Essex, where he had a living. In March, 1780, the Hon. Oliver Prescott, of Gro- ton, Judge of Probate for the County of Middlesex, in response to a petition from the Selectmen of Hop- kinton, appointed Captain Gilbert Bench agent to care for four farms, so called "British property," lying in Hopkinton, and belonging to the estate of Mr. Price. The latter had found living in Boston very ex- pensive and "his situation very uneasy." In remov- ing to Hopkinton and founding Saint Paul's Church there, he hoped that it might serve as a sanctuary for persecuted Churchmen. He seems to have been an earnest and devoted minister, who had more- over a taste for country life. He occasionally hunted foxes in company with Sir Henry Frankland, Col- lector of the Port of Boston, who had a fine estate in Hopkinton, where he was wont to entertain his friends. And it does not appear that the Reverend Mr. Price lost caste in the community by reason of ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE his indulgence in field sports. The famous glebe land, instead of being a help, was for many years a hindrance. Until comparatively recent times, it yielded but little income, and paralyzed the incentive to give generously. People said, "Oh, there is the glebe, nearly 200 acres of land." As if any parish or rector could be supported by stones, timber, and a gravel pit, or lands gone to waste by neglect. 1 When Major William Price (a son of the Reverend Roger Price) returned to America in 1783, to recover his father's property, he found that the Hopkinton lands had been taken by the Town authorities; but as the Prices were neither Tories nor aliens, most of the land was regained. Major Price found that Saint Paul's Church at Hopkinton was occupied by an old woman named Fanning, and her daughter. The interior was as black as charcoal, there being no chimney. Various attempts to eject these intruders were unsuccessful, until it became necessary to remove the windows, a proceeding which enforced their departure, inasmuch as they were squatters, without any right or title to the Church property. *An Historical Sermon, by Rev. Waldo Burnett. This manu- script is preserved among the records of Saint Paul's Church in Hopkinton. 132 THE CARTER LOT Sheriff Stephen Greenleaf JONATHAN WILLIAMS and Martha, his wife, sold the Carter's pasture lot, August 25, 1742, to Stephen Greenleaf, merchant. And on May 28, 1754, the latter bought of Daniel Tent Tuckerman, "taylor," and Stephen Harris, baker, and Thankfull, his wife, all of Boston, a small parcel of land adjacent to the above-mentioned lot on the north, and including the westerly two-thirds of the lo-foot strip previously described, now a part of the Cathedral land. . . . Stephen Greenleaf, a son of the Reverend Daniel and Elizabeth (Gookin) Greenleaf, was born October 4, 1704. He was a Harvard graduate of the year 1723. (A.M., Yale, 1750.) After leaving College he ob- tained a position as clerk in a Boston store, but soon began business on his own account, and was for many years a successful merchant. He was one of a num- ber of "well-disposed Gentlemen in London, Boston and elsewhere," who responded in 1745 to an appeal from the wardens of Christ Church, Boston, and helped defray the cost of a "fine ring of bells" for that Church. This was the first chime of bells in North America. Mr. Greenleaf was the owner of a pew in King's Chapel, and was one of the subscribers 133 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE for a new organ, which was built in London in 1756. At a meeting of the Selectmen, October 31, 1748, he was appointed a member of Prison Fire-Engine Com- pany Number Seven. He was the sheriff of Suffolk County during the administration of the unpopular Governor, Sir Fran- cis Bernard, in the troublous times preceding the Rev- olution. When Governor Bernard arrived, coming by land in his stately chariot in August, 1760, Sheriff Greenleaf and other officials with a troop of horse- guards escorted him from Wrentham to Dedham, on the journey to his residence at the Province House in Boston. Being a staunch Royalist, Mr. Greenleaf remained in Town during the Siege, exercising the authority of his office within the lines. At this period a battalion of British troops was said to have been quartered on his fine estate opposite the Common. After the Declaration of Independence he resigned as sheriff, and remained in comparative retirement until his death at the age of ninety-one. In the inventory of his estate, dated February 13, 1795, the "Mansion House and land, near the Com- mon," were appraised at fifteen thousand dollars. In the summer of 1774, Earl Percy, who com- manded the troops sent to cover the retreat of Major Pitcairn's forces, on April 19 of the following year, 134 THE CARTER LOT was occupying a fine mansion belonging to John Wil- liams, Inspector-General of the Customs, on the north- erly corner of Tremont and Winter Streets. Earl Percy was therefore a near neighbor of Sheriff Greenleaf, and several regiments of the former's command were encamped on the Common at the time above mentioned. General Henry Jackson N March 9, 1796, the Reverend Doctor Samuel Parker (rector of Trinity Church, and after- ward Bishop of Massachusetts), William Scollay, Esq., and Abigail Howard, widow, all of Boston, ex- ecutors of the will of Stephen Greenleaf, sold the lat- ter's estate on Common Street to Henry Jackson. There were at least three persons of this name hailing from Boston in the last decade of the eighteenth cen- tury. The purchaser of the land above mentioned was General Henry Jackson (1747-1809), a distin- guished soldier of the Revolution. He was a son of Colonel Joseph Jackson, commander of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and Susannah Gray Jackson. General Henry Jackson commanded the Independent Company of Cadets, 1776-1778, and 135 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE recruited the so-called Boston Regiment, "which at once took high rank for its soldier-like appearance, and excellent discipline. This regiment demonstrated its valor on several hard-fought battle-fields." He was made a Brigadier-General after the Revo- lution, and was also Major-General of the Massachu- setts Militia from 1792 to 1796. General Jackson was the first Treasurer of the Society of the Cincin- nati, and a man of wit and gallantry. He was gen- tlemanly in manners, and eminently social in disposi- tion. At the end of the war he engaged in mercan- tile pursuits, and bought considerable land in dif- ferent parts of the Town. John Coffin Jones GENERAL HENRY JACKSON retained pos- session of "Greenleaf's Gardens" for a little more than two years, and transferred the property July 28, 1798, to John Coffin Jones and Joseph Rus- sell, the latter well-known as an auctioneer, in trust for Hepzibah Swan, wife of James Swan, of Dor- chester. John Coffin Jones was a graduate of Harvard in 1768 and became a prosperous merchant, whose resi- 136 THE CARTER LOT dence was on Hanover Street. He was one of the incorporators of the Canal Bridge Company, under whose supervision Craigie's Bridge was built in 1809. He was the owner of a pew in King's Chapel, and an honorary member of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Mr. Jones was also a mem- ber of the first Board of Managers of the Boston Dispensary in 1796, and a loyal friend of that Insti- tution. The following Notice appeared in a Boston news- paper Monday, May 22, 1786: "Married; on Thursday, nth inst, at Newport, John Coffin Jones Esq. of this town, Merchant, to the truly amiable and accomplished Miss Abigail Grant, Daughter of the late Alexander Grant Esq., a Lady of real merit, and highly qualified to render the con- nubial state desirable and supremely happy." James Swan JAMES SWAN, a native of Fifeshire, Scotland, came to Boston when quite young, and found em- ployment as a clerk in a counting-room on one of the wharves; living meanwhile at a boarding-house on Hanover Street. He soon became known as an ad- i vocate of the oppressed, a pleader for human free- 137 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE dom, and a determined opponent of the slave trade. He was one of the famous Boston Tea-Party of De- cember 1 6, 1773, whose members were disguised as Mohawk Indians. The personnel of this company was kept secret, but many years later Mr. Swan re- counted the particulars of their doings on that mo- mentous occasion, to Mr. Thomas C. Amory of Bos- ton, whom he met in 1830 at Paris, France. He told how they stove in the tea-chests and tumbled them into the waters of the harbor from on board the three British vessels. Then, "returning late to their abodes, they groped their way silently to bed. And when the next morning they arose as usual before day- break, their shoes contained a liberal quantity of the obnoxious herb; and at the breakfast-table smooches on their countenances were still visible." 1 Quiet reigned throughout the Town during that eventful evening, but there were merry hearts among the patriots. James Swan was with General Joseph Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and received a wound in the side. He was Secretary of the Board of War of Massachusetts in 1777, and later became Adjutant- General. At the close of the Revolution he held the rank of major in a cavalry corps. At about this 1 Mass. Historical Society's Proceedings. December 1873. 138 THE CARTER LOT time he married Hepzibah Clarke, heiress of a large estate, and soon after went to France, where he ac- cumulated a considerable fortune. Returning to Massachusetts, he invested extensively in landed property, and bought a fine country place in Dorches- ter. In 1798 he was occupying the mansion on Com- mon Street, Boston, which had been acquired by his wife that same year. This property was held in trust for him, and formed a part of one of the most valu- able estates in the Town at that period, being ap- praised at $15,000. Turn-again Alley (now Temple Place), which was then a cul-de-sac, served as a drive-way to the mansion-house. In a water-color of the year 1800, a brick wall is shown surrounding the estate, with a gate-way on Common Street. Mr. Swan soon revisited France, and again en- gaged in business ventures, which proved unprofita- ble. Through the dishonesty of his partners, and not on account of any fault of his own, he became in- volved in financial difficulties, and was confined in the Debtor's Prison at Paris, where he remained for twenty- two years, preferring to endure captivity un- justly rather than yield his principle. For his for- tune was ample enough to have secured his release. The Revolution of 1830 threw open the prison doors, but Mr. Swan did not long survive his freedom. 139 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE In personal appearance, he is said to have resembled Benjamin Franklin. 1 The Boston Gazette, March 13, 1772, contained the prospectus of a volume entitled: "A Dissuasive to Great Britain and her Colonies from the Slave Trade to Africa," by James Swan (then a youth of eighteen), a friend to the welfare of the Continent of America. "To be published by subscription; one pistareen for each book." In 1780 Mr. Swan bought a fine estate on Dudley Street in Dorchester, and entertained lav- ishly during his brief residence there. Many years after, in 1825, while her husband was in the debtor's prison at Paris, Madam Swan received General La Fayette at the Dorchester mansion. On this occa- sion she wore "a black silk gown, and a turban of black lace; her dress, even to the huge ruff, being Elizabethan in style." William Dana Orcutt, in Good Old Dorchester, gives a description of the Swan mansion, which was palatial in its appointments. Magnificent paintings there were, and costly family plate, said to have been stored in Colonel Swan's ships during the Reign of Terror. The tapestries and other rich furnishings were said to have formerly adorned the palace of the Tuileries, and to have been pur- chased by Mrs. Swan during her residence abroad. 1 William Dana Orcutt. Good old Dorchester. I4O THE CARTER LOT One apartment in the mansion was known as the "Marie Antoinette Room." On June 13, 1810, Mrs. Hepzibah C. Swan sold the fine old estate on Common Street to Harrison Gray Otis, a distinguished citizen, lawyer and orator of Boston. And the latter conveyed it, November 24, 1813, to William Sullivan, a son of Governor James Sullivan. He too was a worthy member of the legal fraternity, a scholar and staunch Federalist. Washington Gardens I" N the year 1815 the former Swan estate was leased * to John H. Shaffer, and under the name of the Washington Gardens became a popular resort for recreation and entertainment in summer. Concerts were given there twice a week. We quote from the Columbian Centinel, July 8, 1815 : "The Washington Gardens, near the Mall, have been numerously and fashionably resorted to, and all the arrangements found neat, elegant and orderly. The music has been excellent; the old favorites of the Town are nightly engaged in augmenting former gratification. . . . This rural retreat in the center of a populous Town affords an easy, rational and innocent recreation these fine summer evenings; having been visited and pat- 141 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ronized by some of our most respectable families and characters, and the decorum highly approved." The Washington Gardens extended about 300 feet on Tremont Street, and along West Street to the line of Mason Street. An amphitheater, afterwards known as the City Theatre, was built there in 1819. An ad- vertisement in the Boston Commercial Gazette, July 19 of that year, announced that the manager had em- bellished a part of the Circle with elegant settees, which were designed to "accommodate a proportion of respectable Ladies and Gentlemen, who may pre- fer them to the first Boxes." Seats were also parti- tioned off for "People of Colour" at 50 cents each. The performances included Various Sports of the Ring, with trained horses, acrobats, clowns, ballet and spectacular features. These entertainments seem to have been designed to afford diversion for the towns- people, without unduly taxing their intellectual fac- ulties. The Boston Daily Advertiser, in its issue of Sep- tember 13, 1819, had this announcement: "Washington Gardens. The Public are respect- fully informed that his Excellency the Governor and Suite intend honoring the Circus this evening; in con- sequence of which no pains will be spared on the part of the Managers to render the evening's amuse- ments particularly brilliant and splendid." 142 THE CARTER LOT John H. Shaffer, the lessee, first received an Inn- holder's license in July, 1814. And in February, 1820, the Selectmen gave him permission to produce Stage Plays, interludes and other theatrical enter- tainments "for profit, gain or Valuable Considera- tion" at his amphitheater near the Mall in the South End of Boston. Mr. Shaffer was a predecessor of Lorenzo Papanti as a teacher of dancing and deport- ment, and his restaurant was also a popular rendez- vous of the fashionable young men of the period. Competition was keen at that time among rival stage-lines on the route between Boston and Provi- dence, and finally one Company announced that it would carry passengers free and give them a good dinner at the end of the journey. The other Com- pany was not to be out-done, and offered similar in- ducements, plus a bottle of wine for each patron. Shaffer decided to accept this proposition and spent a week in riding to and fro between the cities, thereby acquiring a reputation for gaiety and shrewdness. 1 During the winter season of 1819-20 the old Usher mansion was used as a hostelry, and became a center of sociability and good cheer. In the meantime Saint Paul's Church was being constructed, and Mr. Shaffer 1 Alice Morse Earle. The Customs and Fashions of New Eng- land. 143 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE built a workshop on the grounds of the Washington Gardens, and leased it to Solomon Willard, the archi- tect of the building. The Usher house, which had been built in the year 1684, was taken down in I83O. 1 Saint Paul's Church THE Commercial Gazette of September 9, 1819, contains an account of the laying of the corner- stone of Saint Paul's Church, which overlooked the Washington Gardens on the north. On June 25, 1819, William Sullivan conveyed to William Shimmin and George Sullivan a piece of land, 211 feet deep and 10 feet wide, beginning at the dividing point on Common Street, between the estate formerly belonging to Stephen Greenleaf, Esq., known as the Washington Gardens, and the estate lately owned by John Osborn, Esq., "whereon an Episcopal Church is about to be erected," saving and excepting whatsoever right John H. Shaffer may have, in vir- tue of a Lease for ten years from the first day of May, 1819. . . . The final transfer whereby the Proprietors of Saint Paul's Church acquired the present Cathedral Site, 1 Walter K. Watkins : An Historic Corner. 144 THE CARTER LOT was dated November 27, 1820. At that time Wil- liam Shimmin and David Sears, Esquires, sold to the said Proprietors three parcels of land which had been separately acquired by them within a few months pre- viously from the several owners thereof. When Saint Paul's Church was erected, its neigh- borhood was wholly residential, and still somewhat rural in character. The location of those grass- grown lanes of early Colonial days, Tremont, Win- ter, Washington and West Streets, which bound the now densely built up Square, has never been changed. But how great the contrast in their use and appear- ance then and now! During business hours on fine week-days, the crowds and congested traffic in these thoroughfares present a scene of bustle and activity hardly to be paralleled elsewhere. The early settler may have had to turn aside to avoid an occasional cow on its way to or from the grazing-ground on the Common. But the modern Bostonian must be ever watchful, and exercise both physical agility and men- tal alertness in avoiding the throng of automobiles, trucks and other vehicles which are a source of dan- ger to pedestrians. The subways have indeed helped to relieve congestion somewhat, and the crossways policemen are useful as pilots, and render valuable assistance to bewildered wayfarers. 145 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE When Saint Paul's was opened for Divine Service in 1820, Boston was still under the town form of gov- ernment, though soon to become a city. Its popu- lation was about forty-three thousand, or approxi- mately one-sixteenth of the population of 1912. Be- sides eight Selectmen and a like number of members of the School-Committee, the list of Town officials included a Board of six Hay-wards or Hog-reeves, nineteen Surveyors of Boards and Lumber, thirteen Cullers of Dry Fish, five Cullers of Hoops and Staves, one Town Crier, one Pound-keeper and twenty Con- stables. There was also a Board of Fire-wards, con- sisting of thirty-two members, and fourteen fire-en- gine Companies with a membership of three hundred and sixteen men. Railways were not yet in opera- tion, and stage-coaches were the chief means of trans- portation for travelers. There were no less than forty-one different stage-routes from Boston to vari- ous points in New England, and to Albany and New York. Visitors from abroad oftentimes fail to appreciate the charm of Boston's winding ways ; and some have shown ingenuity in attempting to account for their origin. Conventions of cows, wrote one observer, were daily held within the now sacred precincts of the Com- 146 THE CARTER LOT mon, and the desultory roamirigs of these animals were popularly believed to have determined the swerv- ing lines of some of the town's highways. 1 Why, for example, should Winter Street, after run- ning northerly, 58^2 degrees west, for 128 feet, have formerly inclined abruptly 1^4 degrees further to the west? 2 . . . "Look here!" cried the author of the One Hoss Shay, soon after the electric cars appeared in the Hub's thoroughfares; "there are crowds of people whirled through our streets on these new-fashioned cars, with their witch broomsticks overhead if they don't come from Salem, they ought to and not one in a dozen of these fish-eyed bipeds thinks or cares a nickel's worth about the miracle which is being wrought for their convenience !" The Masonic Temple A PORTION of the Washington Gardens, name- * * ly, the lot on the north side of Turn-again Alley, now Temple Place, and Common or Tremont Street, was sold by William Sullivan, March 30, 1825, 1 Thomas F. Anderson. The New England Magazine. Febru- ary, 1908. 1 Official Maps of the Street-lines of Boston. By John G. Hales. 1819. 147 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE to the Master, Wardens and members of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons of Massachusetts. After sev- eral years the latter began the erecfion of a Masonic Temple on this site ; the corner-stone being laid Octo- ber 14, 1830. More than two thousand members of the Fraternity, carrying banners and other emblems of their Order, marched from Faneuil Hall to the site of the new building, where the ceremony took place amid the rejoicing of the friends of Masonry, and the satire and ridicule of its enemies. Some of the latter were stationed at street corners, to give expression to their disapproval. But, in the words of an eloquent orator, "the exalted character of the men who formed that procession, together with a just public sentiment, restrained and overawed the revilers, and they re- treated before the indignant gaze of outraged pro- priety." 1 The editor of the Boston Evening Tran- script, then newly founded, wrote in reference to this event, that almost impenetrable crowds of delighted citizens hovered around the members of the Frater- nity, in silence and stillness, as if determined to cheer and uphold them. And "the croaking raven of po- litical discord was hushed/' At that time the Ma- sonic organizations were viewed with prejudice by 1 Address of the Rev. Albert Case, Grand Chaplain of the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Massachusetts, November n, 1846. 148 THE CARTER LOT many, and the Fraternity was enduring the violent and unmerited attacks of public opinion. The new edifice was dedicated May 30, 1832; and after the formal exercises the members of the Boston Encamp- ment of Knights Templars assembled in Concert Hall, where a sumptuous banquet was provided. The tables groaned beneath the rarities of the season. Toasts, songs and jests passed merrily around, and harmony and good fellowship prevailed. The Masonic Temple was regarded as one of the chief architectural ornaments of the City. It had two lofty Gothic towers, of granite, 16 feet square, with battlements, surmounted by pinnacles. On September 25, 1857, the Temple was sold for $105,000 to the Federal Government, and became the United States Court House. Its site is now occupied by the new building of the well-known firm of R. H. Stearns and Company, which was founded in I847. 1 Recreation Facilities BESIDES the Washington Gardens, the citizens of Boston appear to have been fairly well pro- vided with means of recreation at this period. In 1 This account of the Washington Gardens estate was written before the publication of Mr. W. K. Watkin's Chapter entitled "An Historic Corner," in Days and Ways in Old Boston, 1915. 149 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE 1813 John Roulstone, who had been a stablekeeper in Essex Street, became the proprietor of a circus or riding-school in Haymarket Place, and this estab- lishment was maintained by him for several years. The Columbian Centinel of April twelfth, 1820, an- nounced that Mr. Roulstone was balancing between remaining in Boston and migrating to the South. "Let us detain him," pleaded the writer, "by sufficient pat- ronage ; there is hardly a physician in town, whom we could not better spare than Doctor Roulstone. For if one physician goes, others remain ; but we have but one master of the circus. The former may conduct us through disease to health ; but the latter, by forti- fying the system, prevents or counteracts the causes of disease. The satisfaction, the advantage and the security of riding on horseback, a noble exercise, are all greatly improved and increased by a few lessons in the circus." About a month after the appearance of the above notice, there arrived in town a Grand Caravan of liv- ing animals, which were exhibited in a building adja- cent to the Hancock house on Beacon Hill. As an additional attraction the proprietor announced that there would be "a first-rate performance on the sym- phonia, or ancient Jewish Cymbal." In July, 1797, public notice was given that a trained THE CARTER LOT elephant would shortly be exhibited in the neighbor- hood of Boston. According to the opinion of the cel- ebrated French naturalist, Count de Buifon, the ele- phant was declared to be the most respectable animal in the world. "In size," the notice read, "he sur- passes all other terrestrial creatures, and by his intel- ligence he makes as near approach to man, as matter can approach to spirit. . . . This most curious and surprising animal is on his way to this town, and will be exhibited at Cambridge on the day of Commence- ment. He eats thirty pounds' weight a day, and drinks all kinds of spirituous liquors. Some days he has drunk thirty bottles of porter, drawing the corks with his trunk." The Columbian Centinel, September 21, 1799, un- der the heading, "CURIOUS DISCOVERY," had the following Notice : "Numerous applications have been made by re- spectable Ladies and Gentlemen, to see a phenomenon, which in the opinion of naturalists, and from their account, is one of the most extraordinary which has yet been exhibited to gratify the curiosity of the pub- lic. A BIRD is living with a RATTLESNAKE on the most amicable terms, and they appear to have for each other a kind of friendship, though the Snake will swallow or destroy every other bird which is pre- sented to him. Its length is about four and a half ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE feet, and about five inches in circumference; is of a beautiful yellow, dark green, brown and black color. . . . Children may view it with safety, being con- fined in a strong wire cage. "It may be seen at Mr. Delisle's, opposite the Mall, near the Haymarket Theatre. "Admission, 1/6." There were several bathing establishments in Bos- ton in 1820. Two of these were alongside the Canal Bridge, now known as Craigie's Bridge, which dates from 1807. Erastus Farnum, the proprietor of one of them, advertised that ladies and gentlemen could be accommodated with cold or warm baths at their option, from an hour before sunrise until eleven o'clock at night. For those who could not swim, an opportunity was afforded to indulge in the healthy and pleasant recreation of the sea-water bath with perfect safety. Patrons were assured that no es- tablishment of a similar nature in the United States afforded advantages comparable with that of Mr. Farnum. Another bathhouse, very near the preced- ing, was kept by Jonas Tyler, who solicited the pat- ronage of all respectable, orderly and well-behaved persons. And inasmuch as other institutions of like nature had been visited by inconsiderate and disor- derly characters, he ventured to "tenderly admon- 152 THE CARTER LOT ish" any such that admission would not be granted them. . . . Even at this time, complaints were heard about the high cost of some of the staple commodities. A correspondent of the Centinel, who wrote over the signature, a Lover of Milk, thus queries: "How comes it that the important article of milk should now hold the same price which it did when butter sold at thirty cents a pound? Conversing with my Milk- man, he owned that it ought to be put down to five cents. Who are to blame for the extravagant price now given for this necessary of life, the Milk-sellers or the Milk-buyers?" This question appears to have remained unanswered, but the price of milk was soon after reduced to five cents a quart. 153 THE LEVERETT LOT THE LEVERETT LOT Leverett's Pasture IN the earliest Colonial times, the lot of land on the southerly corner of Tremont and Winter Streets, adjoining the present Cathedral property, was occu- pied by Robert Walker, who was an original member of the First Church in Boston, and also one of the founders of the Old South Church in 1669. I n h* 8 youth he followed the trade of a "linen-webster" or weaver, in Manchester, England. According to the Boston Town Records, March 25, 1639, it was "agreed that our brother, Robert Walker shall be the Cow- keep for this yeare ; and to have for every cow going on the Necke until the first of the nynth moneth a bushell of corne at Harvest, and a pecke of corne for every calf put to his keeping." . . . He had a house and garden on the north-west corner of Tremont and Boylston Streets, the present site of one of the sub- way buildings on the Common. In Judge Sewall's Diary (I, 179) Robert Walker is described as "a very good man, and conversant among God's New England people from the beginning." 157 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE No deeds were recorded during the "infancy of the Plantations," the titles of real estate resting solely upon verbal or written contracts. Probably as early as the year 1650, this corner lot became the property of John Leverett (as appears from the Book of Pos- sessions) and was then known as "Leverett's Pas- ture." His residence was on the site of the Sears Building. John Leverett served in Oliver Cromwell's army in 1656, and was for ten years Major General of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Governor from 1673 to 1678. He was said to have been created a knight by Charles II in 1676, but proof of this is lack- ing. Governor Leverett's epitaph which was in- scribed on a stone (now missing) in King's Chapel Burying Ground, Boston, read as follows: "N. E.'s Heroe; Mars His General; Vertue's Standard Bearer and Learning's Glory; Ye Faith- fully Pious and Piously Faithful; Subject to the Great Majesty of Heaven and Earth; Ye Experienced Souldier in Ye Church Militant; Lately Listed in Ye Invincible Triumphant Army of Ye Lord of Hosts; Ye Deservedly Worshipful John Leverett Esq.; Ye Just, Prudent and Impartial Governor of Ye Matta- chusetts Colony in N. E. ; who surrendered to the All Conquering Command of Death, March 16, Anno Dom: 167!." 158 THE LEVERETT LOT In the year 1664 Governor Leverett sold the south- ern part of his pasture to Robert Wyard, as previ- ously stated; this being the northerly portion of the Cathedral land. The corner lot had a frontage of 210 feet on Banister's Lane, the present Winter Street, and about 100 feet on Tremont Street. 1 This lot next became by inheritance the property of the Governor's son, Hudson Leverett (1640- 1694). He was Clerk of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1663, an< 3 Crier of the Court at Quarter-sessions in June, 1687. But his name does not appear in the Colonial Records in connection with any notable achievement, "a fact which appears al- most invariably to characterize the sons of very cele- brated men." 2 His son, John, became the eighth President of Har- vard College. In 1664 Hudson Leverett and Sarah his wife mortgaged the property to Simon Lynde, of Boston, merchant. Simon Lynde SIMON LYNDE (1624-1687), a native of Lon- don, England, was apprenticed to a merchant there at an early age, and afterwards engaged in mercan- 1 See the Fifth Report of the Record Commissioners of Boston, 1880. *The Leverett Memorial. 159 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE tile pursuits in Holland. Coming to New England in 1659, ne nrst lived near the Town Dock, and later became a resident of the West End of Boston, where a street now bears his name. He married, February 22, 1652, Hannah, a daughter of John Newgate, mer- chant, of Boston. Simon Lynde was appointed Con- stable in 1659, and was first sergeant in the Artillery Company. He also served as a member of Captain James Oliver's Company in Philip's War. In 1686 he received a commission as one of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace. Returning to England, he en- gaged in land speculation there. For about thirty years he was a prominent citizen of Massachusetts. The mortgage to Simon Lynde was discharged in 1669, and on October 7 of that year, Hudson Leverett mortgaged the property to John Hull, of Boston. John Hull, Mintmaster JOHN HULL (1624-1683) was a prominent gold- smith and silversmith, a native of Leicestershire, England, who came to America in 1635. He mar- ried Judith, a daughter of Edmund Quincy, Junior, whose father, the emigrant, was the ancestor of a dis- tinguished family. As a compliment to this Boston 160 THE LEVERETT LOT lady, a head-land on the west side of the entrance to Narragansett Bay, R. I., was named Point Judith. This picturesque cape, with its lighthouse, is a con- spicuous landmark from afar. To the patrons of the palatial steamboats of the Fall River Line, its name brings up visions of boisterous seas oftentimes en- countered in rounding it. John Hull was Captain of one of the Boston mili- tary companies in Philip's War, and attained the same rank in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany. He was also a Selectman of Boston for sev- eral years, and one of the founders of the Old South Church. Probably on account of his skill as an ar- tisan, Captain Hull was appointed mintmaster of the Colony by the General Court in 1652. The mint was set up in his own house in Sheafe Street. He it was who coined the first silver money in New England, the famous pine-tree shillings. He made a very advan- tageous contract with the authorities, being entitled to one shilling out of every twenty coined. When his daughter Hannah married Judge Samuel Sewall, she was said to have received from her father, as a dowry, a quantity of these silver pieces, whose weight was equal to her own ; and the amount must have been considerable, if we may believe Hawthorne's imagina- tive account of the wedding, in his "Grandfather's 161 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Chair." Judith Hull is there represented as a buxom and robust damsel, who had always fed heartily on pumpkin pies, doughnuts, Indian puddings and other Puritan dainties, and who was herself as round and plump as a pudding. On the wedding day, says the same writer, we may suppose that John Hull dressed himself in a plum-colored suit, whereof all the but- tons were pine-tree shillings. The buttons of his waistcoat were sixpences, and the knees of his small- clothes were buttoned with silver threepences. Before the establishment of a mint, the gold and silver pieces of foreign nations were current. But the colonists were often obliged to traffic by exchanging one commodity for another. Also in place of far- things they sometimes used small bullets, and instead of specie they employed wampum after the manner of the Indians. Four small beads, made of clam- shells, and strung together, were equivalent to a penny. Therefore, the colonists must have welcomed a coin- age of their own, and John Hull became a rich man. Apropos of the Indian money current in New Eng- land during this period, the name wampum was given to strings of beads made from the stems or inner whorls of certain sea-snail shells or whelks, which are still abundant along the coast. Wampum became a universal medium of exchange and judgments of the 162 THE LEVERETT LOT courts were made payable in shell money. The In- dians strung the beads on fibers of hemp, or on ten- dons taken from the flesh of their "forest meat." More than ten thousand beads were sometimes wrought into a single wampum-belt. Wampum was the Indian word for white, and the beads were com- monly of that color. Black beads were also current, however, and were made from portions of the shell of the quahog or cohog. John Hull was the owner of a large estate at Muddy River, now Brookline, consisting of three hundred and fifty acres, which included a large part of what is now Longwood. The site of his former house is near the Sears Church. This property was inherited by Judge Samuel Sewall and his wife. It has since been known as the Sewall Farm. Captain John Hull is said to have designed the figure of an Indian, which appears on the coat-of-arms of Massachusetts. Captain Ephraim Savage AMONG the subsequent owners of Leverett's pas- ture was Ephraim Savage (1645-1730), the third son of Major Thomas and Faith Savage. His mother was a daughter of Anne Hutchinson, the religious enthusiast and leader of the Antinomians in New 163 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE England. He was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1662, Captain in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company; Selectman and Town Clerk for many years, and also served in Philip's War. The General Court, at its session, May 5, 1676, ordered that "Sar- jant Ephrajm Sauvage doe march up with the pro- vission now sent and take the comand of the garri- son" at Quahog (now Brookfield, Mass.). After- wards he was made Ensign, and later Captain of the Company which his father had commanded. In July, 1690, he was commissioned Captain of a Company of men from Reading and neighboring towns, which formed a part of the forces under Gov- ernor Sir William Phipps in the disastrous expedition against Quebec, which was sent out by Governor Thomas Dudley. One of the Chaplains, Rev. John Wise, referred to him as "an honest and valiant Gent." During the assault upon the Citadel Ephraim Savage narrowly escaped capture. His vessel, with sixty men aboard, became unmanageable in a violent storm, and grounded near the shore. As the tide fell, it remained immovable upon a shoal. The French were quick to perceive his plight, and directed a sharp fire of musketry upon the vessel. The situation was critical, but the New-England- ers made a strong resistance, and returned the enemy's 164 THE LEVERETT LOT fusillade with vigor. With the flood-tide Sir Wil- liam Phipps' flag-ship came to their assistance; the enemy dispersed, and the bark floated off without material injury. In the summer campaign of the year 1707 Captain Savage was a member of the ex- pedition against Port Royal in Nova Scotia; where was a small fort, which was believed to be a rendez- vous of pirates and headquarters for illicit trading with the Indians. Two regiments were sent from Boston by sea, under convoy of a royal man-of-war and an armed vessel belonging to Massachusetts. The siege of Port Royal was futile, and the expedition returned ingloriously. . . . The Boston Fire of October, 1711, which de- stroyed a large part of the business section of the Town, started in an out>house on the premises of Captain Savage. A poor Scotch woman accidentally set fire to some oakum and other combustible ma- terial, and the result was an historic conflagration. Captain Savage was then living in a narrow street named Savage's Court, doubtless in his honor. The present title of Williams Court dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. Its popular, colloquial name is "Pie Alley," by reason of the number of cheap restaurants in that locality. From City Hall Ave- nue it leads through an Archway into Washington "55 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Street, where it emerges between Thompson's Spa and Gridley's Coffee-House. It has a uniform breadth of eight feet, ten inches. The sign of the Bell-in-Hand Tavern, with the date 1795, was still to be seen by the wayfarer in Pie Alley as late as 1914. Captain Savage was married four times. On the seventh of September, 1706, he conveyed to Paul Dud- ley, Esq., the younger, of Boston, the former Leverett estate, on the corner of Tremont and Winter Streets. It is described in the Deed as a parcel of pasture land lying in the Common or Training Field; bounded northerly with the land called Willis's Lane ; westerly with the Common; southerly by land of Joshua Hughes; and easterly by the house and land "now in the possession of John Hubbard." The lot measured 6 1 feet along the present Winter Street, and 100 feet along the eastern border of the Common, now Tre- mont Street. At about this period Boston was described as a prosperous, thrifty, country town. In 1720 an Eng- lish traveler, Daniel Neal, gave his impressions of the place. He found Boston conversation as polite as in most English cities and towns, many of its mer- chants having the advantage of a free intercourse with travellers from abroad. So that a gentleman from London would almost think himself at home in 166 THE LEVERETT LOT Boston, when he observed the number of people, their houses and furniture, their tables, dress and conver- sation, which were perhaps "as splendid and showy as those of the most considerable tradesmen in Lon- don." Chief Justice Paul Dudley AUL Dudley (1675-1751) was the fourth son of Joseph Dudley, Colonial Governor of Massachu- setts, and grandson of Governor Thomas Dudley. After graduating at Harvard in 1690, he went to London, where he studied law at the Temple. When in 1702 his father received from Queen Anne a com- mission as Governor, Paul Dudley, at the age of twenty-seven, became Attorney-General of the Prov- ince. This office he held until 1718, when he was appointed Associate Justice of the Superior Court, and afterwards became Chief Justice. He was a learned naturalist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. As a Judge he had the reputation of being impartial; "the stern enemy of vice; of quick apprehension, extensive knowledge and powerful elo- quence." He was the originator of the annual Dudleian Lec- tures on religious subjects at Harvard College. The ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE old mile-stones, marked "P. D.," which are still to be seen in Roxbury, are enduring reminders of his public-spiritedness. James Williams, Cooper T N the year 1724 Paul Dudley sold the Leverett -- pasture lot and a dwelling-house for 220 to James Williams of Boston, a cooper. His name appears in the Town Records, August thirty-first of that year, when it was ordered that "for Town Meetings there be Rong Bells but at three meeting houses ; Namly at the Old North, at the Brick, and at the New South ; x and that Mr. James Williams have notis of it." James Pitts, Patriot T N 1734 the estate fell by inheritance to James Wil- liams, Junior, a mariner, who sold a portion of it in 1740 to James Pitts (1712-1776), of Boston, who was a Harvard Graduate, Class of 1731. He became a rich merchant. Mr. Pitts was an ardent patriot in the years immediately before the Revolution. His wife was a daughter of the Hon. James Bowdoin, and 1 The New Brick Church was founded in 1718 at the North End. The New South Church dates from 1715, and its site was the so- called Church Green, in Summer Street. 168 THE LEVERETT LOT his three sons were zealous supporters of the Ameri- can Cause. James Pitts was a member of the State Council. His residence was on or near the site of the Howard Atheneum. Pitts Street, which extended from Green Street to the Mill Pond in 1733, was named Pitts Lane by the Town in 1788. Since 1820 it has borne its present title. The name of James Pitts appears in a list of citi- zens of Boston who kept one or more carriages in the year 1768. And in the inventory of his estate we find mention of one chariot, one old chariot on "slay" runners, one four-wheeled carriage, a sedan and a single-horse chaise. . . . Coaches, chariots, chaises, calashes and chairs were the pleasure vehicles com- monly used at this period. The pioneer hackney- coach made its appearance here in 1712, through the enterprise of Jonathan Wardell, the landlord of the Orange-Tree Tavern, on Hanover Street. The chariot of the eighteenth century had little resem- blance to the ancient Roman chariot. The former sug- gested a small Court or- State carriage, with a coupe body slung upon leathern braces. The caleche or calash was a two-wheeled, hooded gig, a type of ve- hicle still used in some parts of Canada. In regard 169 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE to pleasure vehicles in the eighteenth century, we quote from an Account of Boston in I74O. 1 "There are several families in Boston that keep a coach and pair of horses, and some few drive with four horses; but for chaises and saddle-horses, con- sidering the bulk of the place, they outdo London. The country carts and wagons are generally drawn by oxen, from 2 to 6 according to the distance of place, or burden they are laden with. When the la- dies ride out to take the air, it is generally in a chaise or chair, and then but a single horse; and they have a negro servant to drive them. The gentlemen ride out, here as in England, some in chairs and others on horse-back." In the opinion of this writer, whose name was Ben- nett, the country Inns in the neighborhood of Boston were only fairly good. They provided Indian corn, roasted, and bread made of Indian meal ; pretty good butter, but a very sad sort of cheese, and a sorry kind of Madeira wine. At a Town Meeting, June 22, 1757, it was ordered that "no slay shall be drove in the streets without Bells fastned to the Horses that draw the same. . . . Great dangers arising oftentimes from Coaches, Slays, Chairs and other Carriages on the Lord's Days, 1 Mass. Historical Society Proceedings, January, 1861. 170 THE LEVERETT LOT as the People are going to or coming from the sev- eral Churches in this Town, being driven with great Rapidity; and the Publick Worship being oftentimes much disturbed by such Carriages driving by the sides of the Churches with great force. It is therefore Voted and Ordered that no Coach, Slay, Chair, Chaise or other Carriage shall be driven at a greater Rate than a Foot Pace, on Penalty to the Master of the Slave or Servant so driving, the Sum of ten Shillings." Apropos of the vehicles used in Boston in the latter part of the eighteenth century, it may be of interest to give the toll-rates over Charles River Bridge, which was opened to public travel, June 17, 1786, with imposing ceremonies. Each foot passenger I copper. One Person and Horse 4 coppers. Single Horse-Cart, Sled or Sley 6 coppers. Single Horse and Chaise, Chair or Sulky. 12 coppers. Coaches, Chariots, Phaetons and Curri- cles 18 coppers. All other Wheel Carriages drawn by more than one Beast 9 coppers. Neat Cattle and Horses, passing the said Bridge, exclusive of those rode 2 coppers. Sheep and Swine, each dozen 6 coppers. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE The Columbian Centinel, February 22, 1797, had this notice. "As a Gentleman and his servant were returning to Boston on the Portsmouth road, 5 miles from this town, in an open chaise, they were turned over on purpose by a wild young man, and narrowly escaped with their lives. The gentleman, in being dragged along, lost a green morrocco pocket-book con- taining Bank Bills to Five Hundred and Fifty Dol- lars amount. Whoever has found the same, and will leave it at the Centinel Office, shall receive Thirty Dol- lars Reward." Edward Durant IN the year 1707 Edward Durant was occupying a house on this corner lot. His name appears in a list of inhabitants of Boston in 1695, and it was prob- ably his son, of the same name, who became promi- nent in Town affairs, at a somewhat later period. Edward Durant, the younger (1695-1740), was a blacksmith, of Boston, who served as a Constable and as a Clerk of the Market. He attained the rank of third sergeant in the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery Company. In 1728 the Selectmen granted his petition "for Liberty of building a Dwelling House of Timber in Winter Street," and this action was 172 THE LEVERETT LOT duly noted in the "Book for Recording Timber Buildings." In 1733 Mr. Durant was appointed a member of a Committee to receive proposals "touching the demol- ishing, repairing or leasing out the old buildings be- longing to the Town in Dock Square." Meetings of this Committee were appointed to be held each Thurs- day evening at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, on the corner of Mackerel Lane, now Kilby Street, and King, now State Street. This was one of the most noted among the ancient inns of Boston. Mackerel Lane wound along the shore line in early times. The house of William Hudson, Senior, stood on this cor- ner, and in 1643 a "Harbour of Boats" was con- structed in the salt marsh near by. Mr. Durant bought a large farm in Newton for 1800, and removed his residence thither. This farm, of ninety-one acres, was on the south- ern part of Nonantum Hill. In 1734 Captain Edward Durant asked leave to build a pew in the meeting-house at Newton, but his petition was not granted. He was described at this time as a very wealthy man from Boston, and the owner of three slaves. He served as a Selectman of Newton, and was a delegate from that town to the Provincial Con- gress at Cambridge in 1774 and 1775. 173 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Jeremiah Smith Boies T N 1791 one-half of the Leverett pasture lot became * the property of Jeremiah Smith Boies of Milton, Gentleman. The westerly boundary line extended from the corner of Winter Street along Common Street until it struck the dwelling-house of Levi Pease, which stood on the north lot of the Cathedral land. On the east side, towards Washington Street, was the land of Luke Baker. Jeremiah Smith Boies (1762-1851), son of James Boies, a native of Ireland, came to America at an early age, and took up his abode with a farmer at Medford, Massachusetts, who made a business of market-gardening. His produce was taken over the road to Charlestown Ferry, and thence to Boston. Mr. Boies, Senior, made several voyages to Ireland as supercargo of a merchant vessel sent over to bring back emigrants. And in 1770 he carried to England the first tidings of the King Street massacre in Boston. When, in the winter of 1775-6, General Washing- ton determined to build a fort on Dorchester Heights, he made a requisition for a large quantity of white birch-poles, for the manufacture of fascines; and 174 THE LEVERETT LOT many of these birch-poles came from the farm of James Boies in Milton. At night, on or about March 12, 1776, the fascines were transported in numerous teams to Dorchester Heights. The supervision of these teams devolved upon Mr. Boies, who accom- panied them on horse-back and took along his boy, Jeremiah Smith Boies, then thirteen years of age. The fascines were unloaded on the top of the hill, and the fortification hastily constructed, half-a-dozen cannon being mounted thereon. The British pre- pared to attack the fort on the following day, but a violent tempest prevented their doing so, and within a week they evacuated the town. After the lapse of seventy years, Jeremiah Smith Boies published some historical reminiscences, wherein he gave an account of his experiences on the memorable occasion above mentioned. 1 James Boies, the father, was the owner of a paper- mill adjoining the Neponset River, in what was then Dorchester ; now within the limits of Milton. During a portion of each day tide-water prevented the run- ning of the mill. When the latter was started in 1759 or thereabout, Mr. Boies employed a paper- maker, named Hazelton, who was attached to a Brit- 1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. VI. 255- 175 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ish regiment then stationed at Boston. Hazelton ob- tained a furlough, and superintended the starting of the mill; but soon after he rejoined his regiment, which was ordered to Quebec, where Hazelton fell in battle on the Plains of Abraham. Jeremiah Smith Boies was a Harvard Graduate, Class of 1783, and a trustee of Milton Academy. He inherited his father's milling interests, which he retained until 1801, when he disposed of them and removed his residence to Boston, where he lived for half a century, and became an Alderman under the City government. Doctor Thomas Bartlett MR. BOIES sold his house and corner-lot, June 1 8, 1792, to Ann Thompson, widow, of Boston. In 1798, Thomas Thompson, a merchant, owned and occupied the estate, a part of which he sold, July 16, 1821, to George Whiting, also of Boston. Afterward this portion was for many years the property and residence of Doctor Thomas Bartlett (1767-1856), whose house, number 132 Tremont Street, was the next door but one to Saint Paul's Church, on the north side. He first occupied this house in the year 1822, having previously lived in Somerset Street. He was a son of John and Tabitha (Kidder) Bart- 176 THE LEVERETT LOT lett, of Boston. His first wife, whom he married in 1794, was Mrs. Alice (Fitzpatrick) Wyer. She died in 1800, and he married at Brattle Square Church, Mrs. Hannah (Gray) Wilson. His brother, John Bartlett (1760-1844), was a prominent physician of Roxbury. He was one of the founders of the Massa- chusetts Humane Society and of the Roxbury Chari- table Society. Dr. Thomas Bartlett was a well-known and highly respected druggist, who was engaged in business for many years in old Cornhill, now a part of Washing- ton Street, at the sign of the Good Samaritan. This sign originally portrayed a Levite, who was repre- sented as "passing by on the other side." This was soon erased, however, because the artist had produced a portrait of the Reverend Dr. William Walter, rec- tor of Christ Church, in full canonicals and wearing a wig. And so accurate was the likeness that it was recognized at once by passers-by. In March, 1799, Doctor Bartlett advertised fresh drugs, electrical apparatus, dye-stuffs and perfumery, as for sale at his store. In September, 1800, he removed from No. 6 1 Cornhill to No. 13, directly opposite. Previous to this, when the Boston Dispensary was established, in 1796, Dr. Bartlett was appointed Apothecary, and the symbol of the Good Samaritan 177 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE was adopted by the Managers for their Institution, in accordance with his suggestion. But the original sign remained for many years in its old place, above the door of the Apothecary Shop in Cornhill. Later it became the property of the Dispensary. A beautiful sculpture, representing the same sub- ject, was given the Dispensary in 1839, by a provision of the will of Benjamin Dearborn, who was the chief benefactor of the Institution. It is to be seen above the delivery window of the Apothecary's room, on the entrance floor of the building in Bennet Street. This sculpture was carved in 1790 for Mr. Dearborn, by William Dearing at Portsmouth, N. H. A Catalogue of Drugs and Medicines for sale by Thomas Bartlett in 1795 includes the following arti- cles, and the list may be of interest as showing what were some of the popular remedies at that time. "Bateman's Pectoral Drops; Betton's British Oil; Duffy's Elixir; Dipple's Animal Oil; Godfrey's Cor- dial; Haarlem Oil; Hemet's Essence of Pearl; Ceph- alic Snuff; Honey Water; James's Analiptic Pills; Steer's Opodeldoc; Stoughton's Elixir Magnum Stomachicum; Speediman's Pills, and Turlington's Balsam of Life." Doctor Bartlett was a Vestryman of King's Chapel THE LEVERETT LOT for thirty-one years. He was also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. His per- sonality was imposing. He was six feet in height and his hair turned white at the age of thirty. Soon after his second marriage he visited France, and was present at a review of troops in Paris. On this occa- sion the first Napoleon was said to have been greatly impressed with his appearance. An excellent portrait of Dr. Bartlett, by Gilbert Stuart, is in the possession of his great-grand-daugh- ter, Miss Minna Bartlett Hall, of Longwood, Brook- line. The following lines are quoted from a notice which appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser, December 13, 1856: "Thomas Bartlett was a gentleman of the Old School. He was very generally known in our com- munity as a bright example of a virtuous, manly character. With an amiability of disposition and a natural suavity of manners were combined qualities of mind and heart that commanded the respect, as well as the warm regard of all with whom he came in contact. . . . "Retiring early from the business of a druggist, with a fortune very moderate, yet enough for his desires, he was known for many years only in the social walks of life. His venerable head and con- 179 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE spicuous white locks have often been the subject of pleasant comment from strangers of a new genera- tion." 1 80 WINTER STREET LOTS WINTER STREET LOTS Doctor John Gorham THOMAS and Nancy Thompson conveyed, July u, 1822, a lot on Tremont Street, between Saint Paul's Church and Dr. Bartlett's estate, to Dr. John Gorham (1783-1829; A.B., 1801; M.D., 1804, Har- vard). After studying abroad, he became Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the Harvard Medical School, and in 1816 he succeeded Dr. Aaron Dexter as Professor. His popular lec- tures on Chemistry were attended by mixed com- panies, among whom were many of "the most re- spectable ladies of the town." Dr. Gorham was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- ences. Doctor George Hayward IN May, 1829, William Minot and Luther Faulk- ner, the trustees of Doctor Gorham's estate, sold this property at public auction to George Hayward, M.D. (1791-1863), of Boston. His father, Dr. Samuel Hayward, was a surgeon in the American 183 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE army during the Revolution. The son fitted for col- lege at the Boston Latin School, and graduated at Harvard in 1809 at the age of seventeen. He took his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812, and established himself in Boston, where he had a considerable practice. In 1835 he was ap- pointed Professor of Surgery in the Harvard Med- ical School. He was at one time President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and a Fellow of the American Academy. Dr. Hayward conveyed his Winter Street house and land to the Boston Lying-in Hospital, June 15, 1837. Doctor John Romans OR many years the estate on the south corner of Winter Street was the residence of Dr. John Homans (1793-1868), a well-known practitioner, of Boston. He prepared for college at Andover, Massa- chusetts; graduated at Harvard in 1812, and began practice in the town of Brookfield, whose Repre- sentative in the Legislature he became. Following the advice of his former preceptor, Dr. John Gorham, he removed to Boston in 1829, and there attained success in his profession. He was President of the Massachusetts Medical Society for two years, and 184 WINTER STREET LOTS - ? delivered the anniversary discourse at its annual meeting in 1844, portraying therein the intellectual, moral and professional qualities which should char- acterize the "Good Physician." Dr. Homans served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Society of the Cincinnati. He married Caroline, daughter of Dudley and Eleanor (Clark) Walker. Of their twelve children, two be- came prominent among the physicians of Boston, Doctors Charles Dudley and John Homans. The North Corner of Tremont and Winter Streets AT a meeting of the Selectmen of Boston, April 2, 1637, this house-lot, adjoining land of Stephen Kinsley, a farmer, and the "garding-plott" of Daniel Maud, school-master, was granted to the wife of Richard Sherman, who was described as a planter. He had become a resident of Boston in 1634. The name of Elizabeth Sherman is associated with the so-called "Pig case" or "Sow-business," which amused and excited the townspeople. This is described at some length in Governor Winthrop's History of New England, II, 70. At the session of the General Court in 1642, he wrote, "There fell out a great business upon a very small occasion." 185 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE A stray white sow was brought to Captain Robert Keayne, a prominent citizen, who kept it in his yard, after unavailing efforts by the Town crier to find its owner. The sow was afterward claimed by Mrs. Sherman, and hence arose a controversy which lasted for nearly two years, and led to very important re- sults. No decision could be reached by the members of the General Court, who were divided into two fac- tions, about equal numerically. Hence originated the Senate and the House of Representatives of Massa- chusetts. This dispute between a rich citizen, afterward the Town's benefactor, and a poor woman, served for a time to excite ill feeling between the aristocratic ele- ment in the community and the common people. The public temper waxed warm, and the persistency shown on either side in this ludicrous case was said to exemplify "the inflexible will of man." William Hudson, Senior WILLIAM HUDSON, Senior, was one of the earlier owners of this corner lot. His name appears in the Town Records, August 15, 1636, when he and John Samp ford were chosen "Water Baylies, to see that no annoying things, eyther by fish, wood 186 WINTER STREET LOTS or stone, or other such like things, be left or layd about the seashore/' At a Town meeting, April 2, 1638, William Hudson was chosen cowkeeper for the ensuing year, and he was to have "for every cowe goeing upon the Necke a bushell of corne at harvest, and for every calfe put to his keeping, a peck of corne." In 1640 he received permission from the General Court to keep an Inn. Mention has been made of his estate in Mackerel Lane, now Kilby Street, where later stood the Bunch of Grapes Tav- ern, a popular resort of seafaring people, and noted as the best "punch-house" in Boston. William Hud- son, the younger, served with Cromwell's parliamen- tary army in England, having the rank of ensign in the company of Captain John Leverett, who later be- came Governor of the Massachusetts Colony. The latter's company was a part of the regiment com- manded by Colonel William Rainesborough, a former resident of Charlestown. Mr. Hudson, tiring of the service, soon after returned to Boston. In 1667 Captain William Hudson was licensed to "draw Beere and Wine for the yeare ensuing," and in 1669 he received permission to keep a "house of publique en- tertainment." The Town records show that he con- tinued in business as an Innkeeper as long as he lived. November 14, 1673, several persons were "ordered ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE not to make any fire in their Cooper shop chimnies, till they are sufficiently repaired to the satisfaction of the Selectmen, upon the penaltie of 205." And Cap- tain William Hudson's "Castell chamber chimny" was specified as being in an unsafe condition. The habitations and shops built by ithe early colonists were exceedingly primitive, and ill adapted to with- stand fire. The roofs were thatched, and the chim- neys were constructed of logs laid crosswise, the in- tervening spaces being filled with clay. In trying to offset the fire-risk, the Town Fathers had ordered, some years before, that every householder should provide a ladder of sufficient length to enable one to climb to the ridge-pole of his house ; and also "a pole of above 1 2-foot long, with a good, large swob at the end of it, that shall reach to the ridg of the house." An ordinance of 1654 provided that "if anye Chim- ney shall be fired soe as to Flame out att the topp, the owner thereof shall paye unto the town's treasurer, for the use of the towne, the sum of five shillings." William Hudson, "Vintner," sold his estate on the corner of Dock Square and Hudson's Lane (now Elm Street), in 1674, to John Wing, a shopkeeper, for 1000. The property consisted of one Mansion house standing "neere ye towne dock, comonly called and known by the name of the Castle Tavern; to- 188 WINTER STREET LOTS gether with the land, yards and garden thereunto belonging; also the brew-house, stable and all other out-houses and buildings standing upon the same." Arthur Mason, Biscuit Baker /CAPTAIN WILLIAM HUDSON of Boston, ^^ Vintner and Innkeeper, sold this Winter Street lot, December 31, 1662, to Arthur Mason (1631- 1708), who was styled a "Besket Baker" in the deed of sale. In a later conveyance he is called a "Bis- cake Baker." He was admitted a freeman in 1664, and served the Town as a Constable. Samuel G. Drake, in his History of Boston, describes him as a "blunt, honest Christian." Arthur Mason was a legal guardian of Jonathan Gatliffe, a sixteen-year- old boy, who was charged at a County Court in Cam- bridge, March 20, 1685, with "frequenting Harvard College contrary to law" by being present at a festive gathering in the room of Francis Wainwright, a member of the Junior class. As a constable Arthur Mason was resolute and fearless. On a Saturday night in January, 1666, Sir Robert Carr and Samuel Maverick, two of the Royal Commissioners, who had then recently been sent over from England by King Charles II, were having a 189 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE noisy revel, with some of their friends, at the Ship Tavern, or "Noah's Ark," a favorite resort of theirs, at the North End of Boston. They had already as- saulted one constable when Mason appeared and ordered them to be quiet. An altercation ensued, during which Mason told Carr that he would arrest the King himself if the latter were found disturbing the peace in Boston on a Saturday night. For these words the General Court sentenced Arthur Mason "to be admonished in a solemn manner" by the Gov- ernor; while Sir Robert Carr was summoned to ap- pear before his Excellency to answer for "riotous and abusive carriage" to one of his Majesty's officers, a constable of Boston. Anthony Stoddard, Linen Draper ANTHONY STODDARD was an occupant of the house on this corner estate when Arthur Mason bought it in 1662. He was admitted a mem- ber of the First Church in 1639, being described on its records as a "Lynning Draper." The same year he joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany. Mr. Stoddard was an influential citizen of Boston, and the founder of a distinguished family. He was married four times, and his son Solomon was 190 WINTER STREET LOTS the first librarian of Harvard College, in 1667. He had a shop on Shrimpton's Lane, the present Ex- change Street. At a Town meeting, March 18, 1644, there was "graunted to Anthony Stoddard liberty to make his Enterance out of the street into his Sellar, neere our Pastor's house, in such manner as was Graunted to James Oliver, and to open his shop-win- dow-board two foot into the street." In 1650 Mr. Stoddard was appointed Recorder of Boston, and he represented the Town in the General Court for twenty-two years. No man in his time, it was stated, had been chosen so often for like service. He was also a Selectman four years. Chief Justice Samuel Sewall in his Diary (1679) described Anthony Stod- dard as "the ancientist shop-keeper in town." Edmund White, Merchant EDMUND WHITE, of London, England, ap- pears to have been the next owner, although no record is found of any conveyance to him by Arthur Mason. He evidently was engaged in business in the Colony at an early period, for we learn from the Aspinwall Notarial Records that Edmund White of London, merchant, on January 30, 1639, appointed David Yale, also of London, his Attorney to have 191 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE charge of all such "summes of money, plantations, goods, cattle, merchandise, wares and comodities whatsoever as are due, oweing or belonging unto mee by or from John Woolcot of Newtowne alias Cam- bridge . . . or by any other person or persons in New England." Recorded, June 15, 1649. Captain Edward Willis - WHITE sold the Sherman lot (cotaining some 30,700 square feet) July 9, 1672, to Cap- tain Edward Willis of Boston, for 120, or at the rate of about two cents a foot ! The lot was fenced in, and was bounded on the South by "the lane going to the Common/' Willis's Lane, now Winter Street. No mention was made of any house on this land until later. Captain Willis asked leave of the General Court to build a wooden house in 1683, but for some unexplained reason he was "steadily refused." At a public meeting of the freemen of Boston, April 4, 1690, Mr. Edward Willis was chosen a Commis- sioner "to set the price of wheate to the white bread bakers for the yeare ensuing." 192 WINTER STREET LOTS Colonel Samuel Vetch THE next conveyance is dated April 18, 1712. Elizabeth Willey, widow, and Ruth Willey, only daughter and granddaughter of Edward Willis, were the grantors. Colonel Samuel Vetch (1668-1732) was the grantee, and paid 400 for the land and a dwelling-house thereon. He was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, December 9, 1668, the third son of William Vetch, "a godly minister and a glorifier of God in the Grass Market." 1 William Vetch was a Covenanter who fled to Hol- land with his two sons, Samuel and William. They completed their education at the University of Utrecht. Coming to America in 1699, Samuel be- came a trader at Albany, N. Y. In 1702 he removed to Boston, and three years after was sent to Quebec by Governor Joseph Dudley as a diplomatic agent. In 1708 he visited his parents in Scotland and then went to London, where he laid before Queen Anne and her ministers a plan for the conquest of Canada. His suggestions were approved, and he was des- patched on a war-vessel, with instructions to the Gov- ernors of the several Provinces. Arriving at Boston 1 International Review. Vol. XI. 1881. 193 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE in April, 1709, Vetch was active in making prepara- tions for a campaign against Nova Scotia. In the expedition of 1710 Francis Nicholson was com- mander-in-chief, and Samuel Vetch was Adjutant- General. The fleet of thirty-six vessels sailed from Boston with royal marines and colonial troops. Port Royal was taken, and Samuel Vetch became the first English Governor of Nova Scotia. After two years' service he again became a resident of Boston, and then it was that he acquired the Winter Street cor- ner lot. Mr. Vetch later returned to England, where he was living in 1719. Chief Justice Samuel Sewall wrote in his Diary that at about two o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, July 16, 1714, there was a great flash of lightning and a terrible clap of thunder, a bolt struck Colonel Vetch's house (that was bought of Captain Willis's heirs), and damaged "the end of the kitchen next Pollard's; split the principal Rafter next that end to the purloin ; Ript off the Clapboards, loosened many more; plough'd off the cieling of that end wall here and there in a Line; Lifted up the Sash window, broke one of the Squares; knocked down two boys that stood by the dresser. 'Tis the more Melancholick because Madam Vetch is just remov- 194 WINTER STREET LOTS ing thither, though the work of Transformation be not finished." Samuel Vetch and his wife Margaret sold this property, March 22, 1714, to Captain Thomas Steel (1664-1735) for 1050 in New England currency. He was a native of Renfrewshire, Scotland, and came to Boston when he was about twenty-one years old. He became a member of the Brattle Square Church in 1711. Rev. Benjamin Colman, its pastor, described Thomas Steel as an "Honour to the King- dom and Church of Scotland, where he was born and educated; a Gentleman of superior Wisdom and Vir- tue." Mr. Steel joined the Scots' Charitable Society in 1686, and was its President for eight years. He retained the Winter Street corner lot until 1722. Whether or not he made his residence there is uncer- tain, but in later years he occupied a dwelling on Hanover Street, where he had a bake-house. He also owned a farm in the town of Leicester, Massa- chusetts. Thomas Steel married a daughter of John Nelson, who was a prominent citizen during the Ad- ministration of Governor Sir Edmund Andros, and active in causing the latter's overthrow. 195 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Lieutenant-Colonel Adam Winthrop ADAM WINTHROP was the next owner, having bought the property of Thomas Steel, June 25, 1722, for 1250. Adam Winthrop, third of the name in Boston, was a great-grandson of Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts. His name appears often in the Town records with the prefix "Honourable." He was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1694; Lieu- tenant-Colonel of the Boston regiment; Representa- tive and Councillor; Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He also served the Town as a Con- stable, as a Clerk of the Market, and as an Inspector of the Grammar School. In 1708 he was chosen one of a committee "to draw up a Scheme of a Charter of Incorporation, for the Incouragement and better Government of the Town." The residence of Colonel Winthrop was at one time on Atkinson (now Con- gress) Street, which ran from Milk Street to Cow Lane, the present High Street. Thomas Oxnard "^k T EXT in the series of owners was Thomas * ^ Oxnard, who bought from Adam Winthrop, December 22, 1742, the same corner lot, formerly the 196 WINTER STREET LOTS estate of Samuel Vetch, and paid therefor the sum of 3600. Mr. Oxnard was from Durham, England, and came to Boston before 1737. He was a merchant and importer of foreign wares. In 1740 he was one of the promoters of the so-called "Silver Scheme," organized by an Association of Boston merchants, who issued their Notes, in opposition to the Land Bank or "Manufactory Scheme," for the purpose of furnishing a circulating medium, which was greatly needed at that time. Thomas Oxnard was a prominent Freemason. On March 6, 1744, he was installed as Provincial Grand Master of Masons in New England, being the third incumbent of that office. The first Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons in America had been estab- lished at Boston in 1733. The residence of Mr. Ox- nard was on Tremont Street, "at some distance back from the road; the lot on which it stood extending from Winter to the next street running parallel with it on the north." 1 This was a lane which followed the line of Hamilton Place. The latter is compara- tively modern, dating from 1806. Governor Sir Francis Bernard, whose official resi- dence was the Province House, is said to have occu- pied Mr. Oxnard's dwelling during a part of his ad- 1 New Eng. Hist, and Gen. Register. Vol. 26, page 4. 197 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ministration, which began in 1760 and lasted nine years. We have the testimony of Mr. Lucius Manlius Sar- gent, who stated that his mother once pointed out to him the room which she had occupied when visiting the Bernards. The Public Granary AN English gentleman, the Reverend Andrew Burnaby, who visited Boston in 1759, was the author of a volume entitled Travels through North America. He mentions therein the public Granary as one of the principal buildings in the South End of the Town, in the vicinity of the Cathedral land. Originally placed on the upper side of the Common, it was rebuilt in 1737 on the site now occupied by Park Street Church, on the corner of Centry Street (which led up to Beacon Hill) and Long Acre. It was established in order that the poorer inhabitants might obtain grain in small quantities at a moderate cost. The Reverend Mr. Burnaby, in an account of the inhabitants of the Province, stated that the gentry of both sexes were hospitable and good-natured. "There is an air of civility in their behaviour," he wrote, "but it is constrained by formality and precise- 198 WINTER STREET LOTS ness. Even the women, though easiness of carriage is peculiarly characteristic of their nature, appear here with more reserve than in the other Col- onies. . . . ' John Williams, Inspector-General ON the eighth of August, 1768, Thomas Oxnard, the younger, Edward Oxnard and others, heirs of Thomas Oxnard, Senior, all of Falmouth (now Portland, Maine), in the County of Cumberland, and Province of Massachusetts Bay, conveyed this prop- erty to John Williams, Esquire, of Boston. It in- cluded a dwelling-house, with yards, gardens, land and all appurtenances, "situate near the Common." John Williams was Inspector-General of the Customs, and a pronounced loyalist. It is probable that he was a tenant of Thomas Oxnard before he bought the latter's estate. In June, 1768, the sloop Liberty, belonging to John Hancock, Esq., arrived at Hancock's wharf from Madeira. The authorities decided to seize the vessel, claiming that a part of her cargo had been smuggled ashore in defiance of the Custom-house regulations. This exasperated the townspeople, and some of the officials, including Joseph Harrison, the Collector, 199 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE were maltreated. An angry mob broke several win- dows of John Williams's house. Hugh Percy THIS mansion was occupied by Lord Percy from the latter part of August, 1774, until the depar- ture of the British troops in March, I776. 1 Various other houses have been mentioned where he was sup- posed to have lived during the first two months of his sojourn in Boston. These include the residence of Gardiner Greene on Pemberton Hill, and the Han- cock House. Samuel A. Drake, in Old Landmarks of Boston, states that Lord Percy resided for a time with the widow of William Sheafe, a former Col- lector. She kept a boarding-house in Essex Street. The Williams house, with its beautiful gardens, was one of the most pretentious in that part of the Town. And its history is of unusual interest, because the list of its owners and occupants includes so many persons of quality and distinction. The winter of 1774-5 was a severe one. "The climate is ten times more inconstant than in England," Lord Percy wrote, "for I have been in the Torrid and Frigid Zone fre- quently in the space of 24 hours. At some times so *The Memorial History of Boston. Ill, 155. 20O WINTER STREET LOTS hot as scarce to bear my shirt; at others so cold that an additional blanket was scarcely sufficient." While occupying the Williams house, Lord Percy was said to have dispensed lavish hospitality to the British officers and loyalists of the Town. The latter undoubtedly fared well in Boston. A French traveler, who was entertained by General William Heath, wrote that the dinner, although sim- ple, was very good. There was no wine on the table, but the traveler was regaled with excellent cider, and was quite charmed with the "towdy," as he called it. For this classic beverage, consisting of rum, sugar and hot water, seemed to appeal to his fancy. Quite naturally Percy did not find the Boston atmosphere congenial, although he was said to have later become quite popular among the citizens. But his early impressions were not favorable. In a letter to a friend in England, written soon after his arrival in Boston, he said : "The People are the most design- ing, art full Villains in the World. They have not the least Idea of either Religion or Morality." In another letter he described the people as ex- tremely violent and wrong-headed; "so much so," he wrote, "that I fear we shall be obliged to come to extremities . . . one thing I will be bold to say, which is, that till you make their committees of cor- 201 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE respondence and congresses with other colonies high treason, you never must expect perfect obedience from this to the mother country. . . . This is the most beautiful country I ever saw in my life, and if the people were only like it, we should do very well. Every thing, however, is as yet quiet, but they threaten much. Not that I believe they dare act." l Again, on August 10, 1774, he said: "I am well with the people of Boston, even with the Selectmen. When the people come with complaints, I hear them with patience, and if they are just ones, I take care that they shall be immediately redressed, assuring them that we are come to protect the peaceable in- habitants, not to injure them; and that as we are de- termined to enforce obedience to the laws in other people, we shall be ever ready and desirous to be the first to obey them ourselves." In a letter to his father, August 15, he wrote: "I have got some tolerable chaise horses from New York. . . . But what I feel myself the most com- fortable in acquiring, is a good house to dine in; for we are all obliged to remain at other times, and sleep in camp. By this convenience I am enabled to ask the officers of the Line, and occasionally the Gentle- men of the Country, to dine with me. And as I have 1 The Memorial History of Boston. III. 56. 202 WINTER STREET LOTS command of the troops here, I have always a table of 12 covers every day. ... I have now quite a little army under my command, 5 Regiments and 22 pieces of cannon, with a proper number of the Royal Corps of Artillery to work them." 1 Earl Percy and his sturdy Northumbrian soldiers were said to have taken pride in braving the rigors of New England's climate, by remaining in camp on the Common after the cold weather had set in. As a protection from the wintry air they were provided with double tents, the intervening spaces being packed with hay. The light infantry were encamped on Beacon Hill, and the old South Church was occupied by a squadron of cavalry. There were also batteries on the Com- mon, at Fort Hill, and on the southern shore of Charles River, opposite Cambridge. 2 Earl Percy's father, the first Duke of Northumber- land (1715-1786), was one of the confidential ad- visers of George III, and a prominent supporter of his Prime Minister, John Stuart Bute. He was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1763 to 1765, and after- ward Master of the Horse. In 1764 the King ap- 1 Charles Knowles Bolton. Letters of Hugh Earl Percy. Bos- ton, 1902. 'Jared Sparks. The Library of American Biography. 203 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE pointed him ''Vice Admiral over All America." Hugh Percy, second Duke of Northumberland (1742-1817), who commanded the brigade, consist- ing of the Welsh Fusiliers and other regiments, which was sent to the relief of Major Pitcairn at Lexington, April 19, 1775, was at that time thirty-three years of age. He had served during the Seven Years' War, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and was pres- ent at the Battle of Minden, August ist, 1759. He later became an Aide-de-Camp to George III, with the rank of Colonel. Earl Percy was made a Major- General in July, 1775, and Lieutenant-General the following year. He returned to England in 1777. In 1784 he assumed command of the Second Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. Two years later he suc- ceeded to the ownership of the ancestral Percy estate at Alnwick, the county town of Northumberland. The freedom of this borough, according to a usage instituted by King John, was obtained by passing through a deep and miry pond, situated in the Town moor, on Saint Mark's Day. Percy had the reputa- tion of being a good landlord, and was accustomed to give frequent large entertainments. Moreover, he was said to have included dissenting ministers and tradespeople among his guests on these occasions. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1817, and 204 WINTER STREET LOTS was described as the "Most High, Puissant and Noble Prince, Hugh Percy; Duke and Earl of Northumber- land; Lord Lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum of the County of Northumberland; Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter. His son, Hugh Percy, became Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and was a liberal patron of science. During the years immediately preceding the Revo- lution, Boston was the most thriving town in North America. Its population in 1770 was about 20,000. Its name was the most important in British Colonial history. It built ships as cheaply as any place in the world, and carried merchandise for other Colonies, maintaining also a considerable trade with foreign countries, and especially with the West Indies. 1 As showing the lingering Puritanical sentiment re- garding Sunday observance, just before the Revolu- tion, the following communication, which was printed in the Boston Gazette and Country Journal, January 16, 1775, may be appropriately given here: "Roxbury, January 9th, 1775. Yesterday, although Lord's Day, Numbers of the Officers of the Army were Travelling our Streets, (with Scates either hung by their Sides, or open in their Hands) on their way 1 The Encyclopaedia Britannica. Eleventh edition. 205 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE to Jamaica Pond; (nearly five miles from the Boston Court House) where having arrived, they sported themselves in Scateing for Several Hours in open View of one of our Meeting-Houses, to the great Dis- composure and Grief of the Pious and Weil-Dis- posed; and setting an Example of Profaneness and Ir religion before the Young, too apt to be seduced by such Examples. "But such Practises are contrary to the Laws of God, the Laws of this Province, and one of the Arti- cles of War, with the last of which at least, it is sup- posed, those Gentlemen are acquainted. "It is expected that his Excellency, Governor Thomas Gage, to whom it is said Complaint will be made, will suppress such Profanation of the Sabbath in future, more especially as his Excellency was pleased, not long since, to issue a Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice and Immorality; which surely he will Discountenance in those immediately under his Command. (Signed) "AN INHABITANT." In regard to the observance of Sunday in New England at an earlier period, it may be appropriate to insert here the following extract from the Boston Town Records, August 4, 1712: "Whereas the Jus- tices of the Peace and Selectmen are informed of fre- quent Prophanation of the Lord's Day by Loose, vain persons, negros, etc., unnecessarily Travelling or 206 WINTER STREET LOTS walking to and from Boston and Roxbury, with neg- lect of Attending the Publick Worship of God in either place; it is therefore ordered that the Consta- bles of and within the Town of Boston, and every of them by Turns, do warn and appoint eight Meet and Sober persons, Inhabitants of the said Town, on Lord's Dayes to Ward on the Neck or High- way between Boston and Roxbury, at some con- venient place near the Line of Defence. Four of ye said persons are to give their Attendance there from Seven of the clock in the Morning until halfe an hour after twelve at noon; and then to be relieved by the other four, who are there to continue upon Duty until the Dusk of the evening. And such Constables are to Examine all Passingers, and to Restraine them from Disporting, Idle Walking, or unnecessary travel on ye Lord's Day." Travelers' Impressions of Boston ML'ABBfi ROBIN, who came to this country in 1781 with the French troops under Count Rochambeau, sent over to reenforce the American army, remarked that the observance of Sunday in Bos- ton was very rigorous, the most innocent pleasures, even, being forbidden. He wandered about the streets, 207 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE which seemed deserted. "If, perchance, one meets a friend," he wrote, "he does not dare to stop and speak to him. A Frenchman, lodging with me, took it into his head to play the flute ; the people gathered around, and would have committed some violence if the land- lord had not informed him of what was passing. One enters no house without finding everybody engaged in reading the Bible." Jacques Pierre Brissot de Warville, a celebrated French author, and Chief of the Girondists, who visited Boston in 1788, thus wrote of the towns- people: "They unite simplicity of morals with that French politeness and delicacy of manners which render virtue more amiable. They are hospitable to strangers and obliging to friends. . . . Music, which their teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolic art, begins to make part of their education. In some houses you hear the forte-piano. . . . Nothing is more charming than an inside view of a Church on Sunday. The good cloth coat covers the man; cali- coes and chintzes dress the women and children. One of their principal pleasures consists in little country parties. The principal expense of these parties is tea. Punch, warm and cold, before dinner, excellent beef, and Spanish and Bordeaux wines cover their tables; spruce beer, excellent cider and Philadelphia 208 WINTER STREET LOTS porter precede the wines." Not many years later, in August, 1797, a young American traveler, Robert Gilmor of Baltimore, who made a tour of New England, recorded some of his impressions of Boston. "It is a handsome town," he wrote, "filled with some well-built houses in general, and some very superb ones, though mostly of wood." He criticized the streets, however, as being poorly paved and without sidewalks for pedestrians. "The weather here," he continued, "is very uncertain; in the middle of some days the heat is intense, and towards evening it becomes cool enough to change the clothes of the morning. . . . The wind from the North West whistles down the streets, while my dress is of no avail against the chilliness of the blast. The people here don't seem to mind it, nor do they, I believe, feel any bad effects from such changes ; they call it pleasant, charming weather, and rise at five in the morning to plunge into the cold bath." 209 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Samuel Breck SAMUEL BRECK, the elder (1747-1809), a mer- chant, of Boston, was the next owner of the estate, which was conveyed to him by John Williams, July 7, 1780, for a consideration of twelve hundred guineas. Samuel Breck, Junior, in his Recollections, wrote that the mansion at that time showed signs of neglect, "having been occupied, as I have often heard, by Lord Percy. My father put it in excellent repair, and adorned the extensive gardens, in the midst of which it stood. For a city house the residence was remarkably fine, with an acre of ground around it, divided into a flower and kitchen garden. . . . The gardens were exposed to view through a palisade of great beauty, and were the admiration of every one." Mr. Breck, Senior, was described as a "gentleman of the old school, who was fond of entertaining dis- tinguished strangers." He was a Vestryman of King's Chapel, and a member of the General Court. During the Revolution he was a staunch patriot. Soon after the alliance with France, he received from the Ministry of Louis XVI an appointment as general agent in America for the French fleet. In 1792 he changed his residence to Philadelphia. We quote 210 WINTER STREET LOTS again from his son's Recollections: "My father was induced to remove from Boston in consequence of excessive and unequal taxation. Boston at that time had about eighteen thousand inhabitants. It had no watch, no lamps and no sidewalks ; and yet they taxed him because he made a show of great wealth by his generous hospitality to strangers." In Philadelphia Mr. Breck, Senior, served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of the United States. Samuel Breck, the younger (1771-1862), was born in Boston. When three years of age he was held in the arms of his nurse, to witness the Battle of Bunker Hill from some high ground near his home, which was then in the western part of the Town. He at- tended the Public Latin School. When his father occupied the Williams house in 1680, they became residents of the South End. He well remembered the old Beacon on the top of the hill, and related that around that pole he had engaged in many a fight with the boys of the North End. In December, 1782, he was sent abroad, and for four years attended a mili- tary academy at Soreze, in the south-west of France. He returned to Boston in 1787, and entered business there after another European trip and his coming of age. On Christmas Eve, 1795, he married Miss Jean 211 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Ross of Philadelphia, and removed to that city, fol- lowing his father's example. Here, alongside the River Schuylkill, in the region of the present Fair- mount Park, he bought a fine estate, which he named "Sweetbrier." Besides serving in the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Mr. Breck was a member of the National House of Representatives at Washington during four years. John Andrews, Merchant IN November, 1794, the Winter Street corner estate was bought by John Andrews, a hardware mer- chant, who had a store on Union Street. On March loth, 1790, the thanks of the Town were given him for "his good services as Selectman a number of years past." In 1792 he was appointed a member of a committee to take an account of the state of the Town with respect to the "Small Pox." Mr. An- drews was one of the merchants who remained in Boston during the Siege; and soon after the depart- ure of the British troops he entertained General Washington, "with his lady," and other officers, at dinner. In the early part of the Revolution Mr. Andrews was living in a house on School Street, near the 212 WINTER STREET LOTS Cromwell's Head Tavern, whose site was just above the Old Corner Book-Store. This house was after- wards the residence of Dr. John Warren. Mr. An- drews was described as small of stature and trimly attired. He wore white-top boots, and his hair was powdered. . . . At the time of the United States Direct Tax of 1798 the corner lot of Mr. Andrews, containing about 31,000 square feet of land, with the dwelling-house, out-kitchen, barn and wood-house, was appraised at $12,000. He and others are mentioned as Proprietors of "ye Duck Manufactory," by Frog Lane, where there were two large "Spinning Sheds." In consideration of one dollar, and the benefit de- rived from widening Winter Street, John Andrews conveyed to the "Inhabitants of the Town of Bos- ton," June 2 ist, 1804, a strip of land from the front of his garden. This strip was six feet wide, and ran from Common Street for two hundred and seven feet along W T inter Street. Mr. Edwin M. Bacon, in his interesting volume, Rambles around Old Boston, which was published after these sketches had been written, refers to Mr. Andrews as having been chiefly instrumental in sav- ing the rows of fine trees which ornamented the Great Mall alongside Tremont Street in 1776, whereby he 213 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE justly earned the gratitude of his fellow-townsmen. While the British troops were preparing to embark, they engaged in much wanton destruction of prop- erty. Mr. Andrews, in letters to a friend at Philadel- phia, has given a vivid description of the lawlessness which prevailed in Boston at that time. The soldiers had already sacrificed many trees on the Common for use as fuel during the siege, and on the morning of Evacuation Day they maliciously cut down several of the largest trees on the Mall. At the earnest remon- strance of the Selectmen, and especially of John An- drews, one of their number, General Howe forbade any further vandalism of this nature. In a letter dated August 31, 1774 (Mass. Histor- ical Society's Proceedings, volume 8, 1865), Mr. An- drews wrote as follows: "At Sun-set last evening I amused myself with a walk in the Mall, and could not but admire the subservient honors paid his Excel- lency (Thomas Gage, Military Governor), being at- tended by five or six field officers, and two or three aid-de-camps, with eight orderly sergeants at an awful distance in the rear. Parading up the street from Sheriff Greenleaf's, he met with Squire Edson (a mere plow-jogger to look at), one of the new refugee councilors. . . . His Excellency, after about ten minutes' earnest conversation with him, proceeded 214 WINTER STREET LOTS to Earl Piercy's, who occupies a house at the head of Winter Street, belonging to Inspector Williams. While he went in, his attendants of high and low degree, stood in waiting at the gate, like so many menial slaves." William Phillips IN July, 1815, Mr. Andrews sold the estate to William Phillips, the younger, for $26,000. William Phillips, the elder, was one of the leading merchants of the Town, a Deacon of the Old South Church, and a good patriot. He was one of the com- mittee of citizens who demanded of Governor Hutch- inson that the obnoxious tea should be sent back to England. He was also a State Senator, and the owner of a "Distill House" in Boston. Hon. William Phillips, the younger (1750-1827), who bought the Andrews estate, was Lieutenant- Go vernor of Massachusetts for eleven years, during the administrations of Governors Strong and Brooks. He was also President of the American Education Society and of the Boston Dispensary. In 1773 he visited Great Britain, and returned on one of the tea- ships. Lieutenant-Governor Phillips was said to have been very fond of retirement. Yet he was 215 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE highly esteemed as a public official. It appears that during Mr. Andrews's ownership the old mansion became a popular boarding-house. Governor Caleb Strong lived there during his second term (1812-1816), when the house was kept by a Mrs. Hatch. And John McLean, the well-known merchant and philanthropist, boarded there when Mrs. John Dexter was the landlady. 1 Not many years after its purchase by Mr. Phillips, the old house was taken down, and in its stead a block of five 4-storied dwellings was built, fronting on Tre- mont Street, together with a similar row of houses facing Winter Street. Other Winter Street Lots, Adjoining the Cathedral Site ON December 29, 1674, Hudson Leverett sold for 40 the westerly part of his land, fronting on the present Winter Street, and lying eastward of the Leverett Pasture corner lot, to John Man of Boston. This lot had a breadth of forty feet on Winter Street, and extended southerly one hundred feet to the land of John Wampas. John Man was an early resident of Boston, and one of the four "loaf-bread bakers" 1 S. A. Drake. Old Landmarks of Boston, page 307. 2l6 WINTER STREET LOTS in 1679. They petitioned the General Court to permit them to charge for their bread a price commensurate with the higher cost of grain. In early English rec- ords the name is generally written Man. Here, for instance, is an extract from the records of the market- town of Poole, a sea-port of Dorsetshire: "I, John Man, was marryed ye VI day of Auguste, 1525, yn ye XVII yere of ye Reyn of King Harry ye VIII, unto Elenor Whytt, dawther of Thomas Whytt." At about the time of the Revolution, most of the families of this name in America adopted the spelling Mann. In an old Account-Book kept by John Richards, the Treasurer of Harvard College, is this item : "July 25, 1672, Received of John Man in money 10 pr. order of mr. And 1 "- Belcher jun r - for i m Iron sold to said Belcher." John Man sold his Winter Street lot, May 16, 1684, to Samuel White, a prominent house-wright and military man of Weymouth. He supplied much war material for the Colony, and was a member of the General Court. When Sir Edmund Andros made his escape from the Castle in April, 1689, Captain Samuel White of Weymouth received an order from Gov- ernor Bradstreet to pursue and bring him back, which he did. In July, 1696, Governor Stoughton appointed hhn a member of a Committee to repair the fortifica- 217 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE tions in Boston Harbor. Samuel White was also the commander of one of several vessels moored in the harbor at that time, "in line of battle, to annoy the king's enemies, in case of an attack." x After having been the owner of this Winter Street lot for one day, Captain White sold it, May 17, 1684, to Nathaniel Oliver, "white-bread baker," John Eyre and Joseph Parsons, all of Boston ; the three sons-in- law of Captain Thomas Brattle. Of these, Nathaniel Oliver became a principal merchant of the town. He was an early member of the Old South Church, but joined the Brattle Street Church when it was founded. Mr. Oliver was a Representative from Boston in 1701. John Eyre JOHN EYRE was a son of Doctor Simon Eyre, who came from London to America in the ship Increase in 1635, and settled at Watertown, but re- moved soon after to Boston. By his Will, dated July 5, 1668, he gave to his youngest son, John, all his "booke manuscripts, mortars, scales and weights, stills, potts and glasses." John Eyre was a merchant and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artil- 1 The Memorial History of Boston, II, 103. 2l8 WINTER STREET LOTS lery Company. He was also active in the affairs of the Old South Church, a member of the General Court, and a Selectman of Boston. Mr. Eyre was also a member of the "Council for the Safety of the People and Conservation of the Peace" in 1689. In the Diary of John Marshall he is described as "a godly and choice-spirited man." Joseph Parsons was a merchant of Boston. He was admitted a freeman in 1690, and was a^member of the patriotic Council of War for the overthrow of Andros. Thomas Brattle THOMAS BRATTLE, who was the owner of a portion of this land in 1681 (Suffolk Deeds, XIII, 385), was one of the principal merchants of Boston, and was accounted the richest man in the Colony. He was a member of the Artillery Company, and the owner of large tracts of land in the wilder- ness, along the banks of the Kennebec and Merrimac Rivers. Some of this land he acquired from the Indians. He was active in Philip's War, and was the commander of several expeditions against the hostile tribes. He was appointed Cornet of the Suffolk 219 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Troop in 1670, and afterward became its Com- mander. . . . Thomas Brattle, Junior, was a Harvard graduate, class of 1676, and later served as Treasurer of the college for twenty years. He was the principal founder of Brattle Street Church, which received from him the first organ used in public worship in New England. From him, too, Brattle Street derives its name. Chief Justice Sewall wrote in his Diary that Thomas Brattle, the younger, was by birth and education a "Gentleman of the first order in the Coun- try." He had a marked taste for Science, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, to which he communicated Papers on astronomical subjects. He was, moreover, a liberal patron of letters and learn- ing. 1 In the Settlement of the Estate of Captain Thomas Brattle, October 15, 1685 (Suffolk Deeds, XVI, 64), his three sons-in-law made a tripartite Agreement or Indenture, whereby Joseph Parsons received as his portion this Winter Street lot, which included the dwelling-house "situate at the southerly end of the Town of Boston, neer unto the Comon or Trayning Field, with all the land belonging unto the same; in 1 The Memorial History of Boston, IV. 491. 22O WINTER STREET LOTS the present tenure and occupation of John Marion Junior." His father was a cordwainer, who settled first at Watertown, but removed to Boston before 1652. He was admitted to freedom that year, and later was one of the Selectmen. John Marion, Junior, served in a like capacity for eighteen years, and was one of the most influential citizens. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. At a meeting of the First Church of Christ in Boston, April 2, 1713, Deacon John Marion was chosen one of the "Seators" of the new meeting-house, and the disposal of seats and pews was left to his prudence and discretion. By permission of "the Major part of the Justices within the Town of Boston," Deacon Marion and others were authorized "to erect a timber dwelling- house for the ministry in Summer Street at the South End of the Town." Hudson Leverett transferred the easterly portion of his Winter Street land, January 7, 1674, to Ebenezer Hayden, "Slae-maker." He was a resident of Brain- tree, and the name of Abinezer Heiden appears more than once in the records of that town. Mr. Hayden was impressed as a trooper during Philip's War, and also served as a member of a Company under the com- 221 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE mand of Captain Thomas Brattle. Josiah Willard was a resident on this estate in 1724. He was a son of the Reverend Samuel Willard, pastor of the Old South Church; a graduate of Har- vard, Class of 1698. In June, 1717, King George I appointed him Secretary of the Province, and he held that office for thirty-nine years. James Fosdick A SUBSEQUENT owner was James Fosdick, who made his home on this estate in the early part of the eighteenth century. 1 He was a descend- ant of Stephen Fosdick, one of the early settlers of Charlestown; and a grandson of Samuel Fosdick, who was a captain in Philip's War. The wife of Samuel Fosdick was Mercy Pickett, a great-grand- daughter of Elder William Brewster, one of the Pil- grim Fathers. James Fosdick's "Double House on Winter Street" was appraised at 333 in 1776. In the partition of his estate, April 16, 1779, the westerly tenement, "with a privilege to the pump in the east- J On April thirteenth, 1721, James Fosdick of Boston received from the Town authorities a permit "to erect with timber a Building for a Dwelling-house, 39 feet in length, and 19 feet in width, at the upper end of Winter Street, near the Common, in the Room of an old Timber Building where he now dwells; on condition that he pulls down the said old Building." 222 WINTER STREET LOTS erly division/' was set off to the heirs of John Fos- dick. The easterly tenement was assigned to the heirs of Thomas Fosdick. Thomas Pons, a goldsmith and optician, became the owner of a part of this estate in 1780. His name appears in a list of the inhabitants of Boston ten years later, and according to the United States Direct Tax of 1798, Thomas Pons was occupying a house on the present Washington Street, near Summer Street. A person of the same name, hailing from Marble- head, served during the Revolutionary War as a member of Colonel Jabez Hatch's regiment. And in 1777 he was engaged in guarding military stores in and around Boston. Luke Baker, who was the next proprietor and occu- pant, was a merchant, whose place of business was on Cornhill, then a part of Washington Street. He bought the house and lot from Thomas Pons, May 13, 1789, for $400. Luke Baker had served in the army as a private in "General John Hancock's Inde- pendent Company," under the command of Lieuten- ant-Colonel Henry Jackson, and took part in the campaign in Rhode Island during the Spring of 1777. In the early Boston directories he is styled a shop- keeper, with residence at No. 10 Winter Street. On March 3ist, 1807, Luke Baker sold his home-lot to 223 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE George Trott, Junior, and John Bumstead ; and within a few months thereafter the former became sole owner of the estate, which he retained until after Saint Paul's Church was built. His father was a lieutenant in the militia and fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company. In May, 1776, George Trott, Senior, was chosen by the House of Representatives Major of an Artillery Company, which was raised for the defense of Boston, and was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Crafts. The name of George Trott, Senior, tobac- conist and truss-maker, with residence on South Ben- net Street, appears in the Town Directory of 1769. In that of 1816, George Trott, probably the younger, a merchant, was living at No. 10 Winter Street. John Goodwin JOHN GOODWIN, a brick-mason, was the owner of a lot on the south side of Blott's Lane, now Win- ter Street, and near the Common, in 1695. He and his wife Martha were for some years members of the Reverend Charles Morton's church in Charles- town. Later they were received into the Second or North Church of Boston, whereof the Reverend Cot- ton Mather was then pastor. In 1688 their four chil- 224 WINTER STREET LOTS dren showed symptoms of an acute nervous disorder, probably Saint Vitus's dance. As this occurred dur- ing the period of the witchcraft delusion in Boston, it was popularly believed to be due to diabolical agen- cies, and a poor woman named Goody Glover was charged with having bewitched the children, and was executed therefor. This celebrated case occasioned much consternation in the town. It is described at length in Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences, and by other writers of the period. The Reverend Joshua Moody, minister of the First Church, ex- pressed the public sentiment w T hen he wrote that the townspeople could not but think that the Devil had a hand in this case. The Goodwin children had been carefully trained and bore good characters. T 1i ey all recovered, and lived to mature age. John Good- win was described as "a grave man, and a good liver." He held some minor town offices, including that of "Surveighor of Chimneys" in 1695. The Reverend Samuel Willard AMONG the prominent citizens of Boston who were owners of lots in Blott's Lane, adjacent to the Cathedral site, was the Reverend Samuel Wil- lard. His father, Major Simon Willard, a native of 225 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Horsmonden, Kent, England, came to these shores about the year 1634, and was one of the first settlers of Concord, Massachusetts. He was a member of the General Court for many years. In 1642 he was appointed surveyor of arms, and "to exercise the mili- tary company at Concord." Later he was chosen Sergeant-major of Middlesex. After a residence of twelve years at Lancaster, he removed to Groton, about 1672. During Philip's War he was active in providing for the defense of the frontier towns against the Indians. Samuel Willard (1640-1707) was a native of Con- cord, Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard in 1659, and became a freeman in 1670. He began preaching at Groton four years later. The first church in that town was organized in 1662, and Mr. Willard was its first minister. Until a meeting-house was built, two years afterward, the people assembled at his house for worship. He continued in the ministry at Groton until the destruction of the town by the In- dians, and the consequent dispersion of the church there, March 13, 1676. He then came to Boston and was installed as colleague of the Reverend Thomas Thacher, pastor of the Old South Church. He was appointed Vice-President of Harvard College in 1701. The Reverend Samuel Willard was a prolific 226 WINTER STREET LOTS writer and an eloquent preacher. John Dunton, the English author and bookseller, who visited Boston in 1686, wrote of Mr. Willard as follows: "He's well furnished with Learning and solid Notion; has a Natural fluency of speech, and can say what he pleases. ... I darken his Merits if I call him less than a Walking Library." Mr. Willard had twenty-one children by his two wives: Abigail Sherman, a descendant of Lord Thomas Darcy, Earl of Rivers; and Eunice, daugh- ter of Edward Tyng, of Boston. Giles Dyer, Deputy Collector IN the year 1717, Giles Dyer, Gentleman, of Bos- ton, bought of Thomas and Samuel Banister, mer- chants, a lot on Winter Street, with dwelling-houses thereon, adjacent to the present Church property. Mr. Dyer's name first appears on the town records, February 23, 1673, when he was chosen block-keeper. At a meeting of the Selectmen, March 29, 1680, there was allowed Giles Dyer towards setting up the clock at the North Meeting-House, 5 ; "and for keepinge of both Clockes in good order and attendinge at ye old Meeting-house 4 yeares, 24; and y* at y e north end since it was last set up, 11." Mr. Dyer seems to 227 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE have been a skilled artisan, whose services were in demand ; but he does not appear to have had the bene- fit of a university education. Following is a copy of a bill which he presented to the officers of King's Chapel: "To my Labour for Making the Wather Cock and Spindel; to Duing the Commandements, and Winders; mor to Duing the gallerey and the King's Armes, fortey pounds, which I freely give." In later years Mr. Dyer held important positions in the community. Besides serving as a vestryman and warden of King's Chapel, he attained the rank of Colonel in the militia, and became Sheriff of Suf- folk County. He was also Deputy Collector of his Majesty's Customs, and a Selectman of Boston. In 1702 he was appointed one of a committee of three to provide thirty hundred-weight of bullets and five thousand flints for a Town stock; and in 1711 he served on another committee whose members were charged with the duty of making a "line of Defence across the Neck between Boston and Roxbury." The Lot on the Westerly Corner of Winter Street and Winter Place THIS lot was a part of the possessions of Robert Blott, who owned a tract extending from John Leverett's pasture land easterly for 276 feet to the 228 WINTER STREET LOTS highway, now Washington Street, where it had a frontage of 140 feet. 1 He came to Boston within a few years after its settlement. At a meeting of the Selectmen, March 29, 1658, Robert Blott was ap- pointed to "keepe the sheepe" during that year, and it was ordered that the owners of all sheep which were kept on the Common should deliver them to the said shepherd, and if any owner should fail to do this he was required to pay two-pence "for every sheepe to the shepheard for every dayes transgression." Two years later Mr. Blott was chosen Cow-keeper. His real estate, including the Winter Place lot, was inherited by his daughter Sarah, who married Ed- ward Ellis, a chirurgeon. Doctor Edward Ellis DR. EDWARD ELLIS, a native of Wales, mar- ried Sarah Blott in Boston, August 6, 1652, and was one of the early practitioners of the Town. In the Colonial Records there is to be found "An accompt of what is due Edward Ellis for the cure of Robert Munson and Geremiah Bumsted; the said Ellis being imploid therein by order of the Counsell, 13 Novem- ber, 1670. 1 Gleaner Articles. No. 6. 229 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE IT. for curing Robert Munson, his arm being broke, and his hand being wounded by shot ; in money 3. IT. For curing Gerimyah Bumsted, in money, 6." Dr. Edward Ellis and his wife Sarah had ten chil- dren. Robert Ellis, their ninth child, was appointed "chirurgeon for the Expedition to Port Royal," August 19, 1710. He became sole owner of the estate, as is shown by his will, which was proved in 1720. The name of Edward Ellis appears in a list of more than a hundred of the "Handycraftsmen" of Boston who petitioned the General Court in May, 1677, for protection in their several callings. They complained of finding themselves at a disadvantage owing to the frequent intrusions of "strangers from all parts, espe- cially such as are not desirably qualified . . . and many times the stranger drawes away much of the custome from his neighbour; whereby it has come to pass that several inhabitants that have lived comfort- ably upon their trades, cannot subsist, which is very pernicious and prejudicial to the Town." The Court appointed a Committee to look into the matter, but their report does not appear to have been placed on record. Samuel Banister appears to have been the next pro- prietor, although no deed to him is recorded. He was the second son of Thomas Banister, who be- 230 WINTER STREET LOTS came the owner of a part of the original home-lot of William Blackstone on the western slope of Beacon Hill. This property was known as "Banister's Gar- dens." Thomas Banister was a vestryman of King's Chapel. He was also one of several gentlemen who were empowered to manage the affairs of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent, in the year 1704. Samuel Banister sold his house and land, August 26, 1729, to Peter Luce of Boston, merchant, for 650. Mr. Luce was also a vestryman of King's Chapel, and a subscriber to the fund which was raised in 1730, when the first steps were taken for the for- mation of Trinity Church. Mr. Luce owned the estate for eighteen years, and sold it, August 30, 1747, to Sylvester Gardiner, of Boston. Doctor Sylvester Gardiner OYLVESTER GARDINER (1717-1786) was a ^native of South Kingston, Rhode Island. He was a great-grandson of Joseph Gardiner (one of the early settlers of Narragansett), and the fourth child of William Gardiner. He had his early schooling in Boston, and then devoted eight years to the study of Medicine in London and Paris. Returning to 231 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Boston, he at once became prominent as an accom- plished physician and surgeon. Dr. Gardiner had also an apothecary shop on Marlborough, now a part of Washington Street, at the Sign of the Unicorn. In 1750 he gave public notice that he had on hand and for sale a large stock of the freshest and best of all kinds of Drugs and Medicines ; and that he was prepared to furnish physicians and apothecaries in Town and Country with whatever they might need in the line of their Professions. The physicians of the New England Colonies de- pended chiefly upon this establishment for their med- ical supplies. In the autumn of 1745 the Town Clerk of Boston was ordered by the Selectmen to issue a warrant directed to the Constables, requiring them in his Majesty's name to warn all the citizens of the Town to convene at Faneuil Hall, in order to consider a Petition signed by a large number of the inhabi- tants, praying that some measures be taken to prevent Doctor Sylvester Gardiner's having a "Hospital House in said Town (as he purposes), for the Re- ception of Persons sick of Epidemical and Infectious Diseases." It appears, however, that Dr. Gardiner received permission to build such a hospital, which he main- tained for many years. . . . 232 WINTER STREET LOTS At a Town meeting, March 9, 1757, Dr. Gardiner presented a petition that the Town would lease to him for the term of thirty-three years "the marsh or sunken lands at the bottom of the Common, upon the terms he therein proposes, vizt, that he will Damm out the Sea From such Marsh and Lands, so that the whole may become dry and good Ground, the Town allowing him to Set the Fence near the Brow of the Hill, adjoyning to said marsh, running From South to North, and across a little Ridge or Hill that divides the north part of the Marsh from a Sunken pond below the powder house." 1 This petition was at first dismissed, but was after- ward granted; and the tract described was leased to Dr. Gardiner on the terms above mentioned. This land appears to have extended from the present Park Square northerly, and to have included a considera- ble part of the so-called Parade Ground of the Com- mon. 2 Dr. Gardiner served as a vestryman and warden of King's Chapel during a period of about forty years. Having greatly prospered in his profession, and having acquired a large fortune, he began to 'This was built about 1706 on the hill, where the Soldiers' Monument stands. 1 Town Records, May 12, 1752. 233 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE make investments in real estate, and gradually ac- quired immense tracts of land in Maine, which was then a part of Massachusetts, and especially in the region of the Kennebec River. He owned at one time no less than one hundred thousand acres. To him belongs the credit of founding, in 1760, the pres- ent city of Gardiner, where he built an Episcopal Church, many dwelling-houses, and several mills. This settlement in its early years bore the name of Gardinerston. Dr. Gardiner's house in Boston was frequented by the most prominent people of the town. At the out- break of the Revolution, his sympathies were with the mother country. He was one of the large number of Loyalists, who accompanied the British troops on their departure from Boston, March 17, 1776; and his name appears in the list of those who were formally proscribed as enemies of the new State, in 1778. His property was confiscated, and much of it was sold at public auction. Dr. Gardiner spent some years at Poole, Dorset, England, but returned to America, and made his home at Newport, Rhode Island. Under an "Act to provide for the payment of Debts due from the Conspirators and Absentees, and for the recovery of debts due to them," Richard Cranch and Samuel Henshaw, being the major part of the 234 WINTER STREET LOTS Committee authorized to sell the Estates of said Con- spirators and Absentees, and to give good and suffi- cient Deeds to the purchasers in the name and behalf of the Commonwealth, conveyed to John Boies of Boston, merchant, October 26, 1782, a parcel of real estate formerly the property of Sylvester Gardiner, Esq., Absentee, for the sum of 800." This estate had a frontage of about 51 feet on Winter Street, and a depth of 66 feet. It was bounded on the west by land of John R. Sigourney, and on the south and east by land of Doctor John Sprague. John Boies MR. BOIES was probably near of kin to Jere- miah Smith Boies, who became the owner of a portion of the Leverett Pasture lot in 1791, as else- where mentioned. The name was originally Du Boyce, and belonged to a French Huguenot family, one of whose members, the progenitor of the Boies family in America, fled to Scotland to avoid religious persecution. Thence he went to Ireland, and later came to this country. John Boies established a paper mill at the upper Fall of the Charles River in Waltham about the year 1785. The site of the mill and its surroundings 235 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE were very picturesque, and the region was known as Eden Vale. In the Autumn of 1795 Mr. Boies produced paper which was made of potato vines; and this was said to have been the first attempt to make paper out of a vegetable substance in Massachusetts. John Boies sold his manufacturing interests in Waltham to the Boston Manufacturing Company, who erected their first cotton-mill on the site of the old paper-mill in 1813; and in this mill the power-loom was used for the first time in America. The successful introduc- tion and employment of the power-loom in England dates from about the same period. 1 Samuel Adams, Patriot AFTER owning the estate about two years, Mr. Boies sold it, in the year 1784, for 1000, to the eminent patriot, Samuel Adams, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and afterward Governor of Massachusetts. Mr. Adams had been forced by the exigencies of the troublous ante-Rev- olutionary period to retire with his family to the country, abandoning his house on Purchase Street. During the Siege of Boston, that house became the 1 The Memorial History of Boston. IV. 84. 236 WINTER STREET LOTS abode of British officers. And when, after the Evac- uation in the early Spring of 1776, Mr. Adams sought to reoccupy his home, which was also his birth-place, it was found to be uninhabitable. The interior had been wantonly mutilated. Blasphemous writings had been cut in the window-panes, doors had been un- hinged and burned for fuel, and evidences of van- dalism were everywhere apparent. For several years thereafter the Adams family lived in retirement at Dedham. The mansion on the corner of Winter Place was a substantial, three-storied, wooden and brick struc- ture, which was still standing when Saint Paul's Church was built in 1820. Its clapboard sides had been painted yellow, but had become shabby and weather-beaten. The oaken front door was adorned with a brass knocker. The windows of the lower story were within two feet of the ground. Over the arch of the front entrance was a large bow-win- dow. The windows were mostly small, and accord- ing to the statistics of the United States Direct Tax of 1798, there were thirty- two of them. The houses above and below, on the south side of Winter Street, were similar in appearance, except that there were several small shops, one of which, adjoining Mr. Adams's house on the west, was a bakery. In The 237 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Life of Samuel Adams, by William V. Wells (III, 333), we find a description of the Adams home, as follows : "In the rear of the residence was a paved court- yard, and a garden adorned with flowers and shrub- bery. The interior was a model of neatness and thrifty house-keeping. The front door opened into a broad entry, from which a staircase with heavily- capped, twisted banisters led to the upper stories, and terminated near a bow-window on the second land- ing. There were two parlors, one of them being used by Mr. Adams as a sitting-room and library, and here he was wont to receive his more intimate friends." Tremont Street at that time was paved in the mid- dle only with cobble-stones procured from the neigh- boring beach. And this pavement was used by pe- destrians and the drivers of vehicles alike. Nothing, it has been said, better illustrates Boston's develop- ment than the evolution of Tremont Street from a series of narrow, crooked lanes and cow-paths to a metropolitan thoroughfare. . . . Many volumes containing old tax-lists, beginning with the year 1780, are kept in the basement of the Boston City Hall Annex. Under the heading "oc- cupation," some interesting particulars are given about tax-payers. The list for 1780 was printed in 238 WINTER STREET LOTS the ninth volume of the Bostonian Society's Publica- tions. In the volume for 1790 Samuel Adams is named as a "worthy of 1775," and Sheriff Stephen Greenleaf as an "old Gentleman." Isaiah Thomas, Printer ISAIAH THOMAS (1749-1831) was the proprie- tor of an estate on the south side of Winter Street, east of the home of Samuel Adams. He was a na- tive of Boston; the son of Moses and Fidelity (Grant) Thomas. His father was through life a "rolling- stone," having been successively a soldier, mariner, trader, farmer and school-master. The son used to say that his early education consisted of six weeks' schooling and no more. When seven years of age he was apprenticed to Zachariah Fowle, a Salem Street printer, who sold small books and ballads on the highways, as was the custom in those days. Mr. Fowle agreed to instruct his apprentice in "the art and mystery of a printer," and he had ample oppor- tunities for so doing, inasmuch as their association was maintained for eleven years. At the age of about eighteen Isaiah Thomas set out to seek his fortune, and obtained employment in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Portsmouth, N. H., and Charleston, S. C. He then 239 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE returned to Boston, and having become of age, he formed a partnership with Mr. Fowle, his former master, in 1770; and the new firm began the publica- tion of the Massachusetts Spy. Zachariah Fowle soon retired from the partnership, and Mr. Thomas continued to print and edit the Spy, which became a leading upholder of Whig principles, and was there- fore hostile to the government. Shortly before the opening of the Revolution, Mr. Thomas removed his printing office to Worcester, where he continued to publish the Spy, with some intermissions, for many years. Returning to Boston in 1788, he formed a partnership with Ebenezer T. Andrews, under the firm name of Thomas and Andrews. Mr. Thomas was the author of a History of Printing. He was the founder of the American Antiquarian Society, and its President for many years. Ebenezer Turell Andrews (1766-1851) owned the house, Number 15 Winter Street, and lived there for about twenty-five years. In his youth he was ap- prenticed to Isaiah Thomas, printer, then of Worces- ter, and for several years was an inmate of the lat- ter's household, as was the custom for apprentices in those days. At the age of twenty-one he was ad- mitted to partnership with Mr. Thomas, and their firm became well known throughout the country. Mr. 240 WINTER STREET LOTS Andrews was a public-spirited citizen, and was con- nected with various business enterprises, being one of the incorporators of the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company. He was also one of the found- ers of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, and of the Tremont Bank. His son, Wil- liam Turell Andrews, graduated at Harvard in 1812, being then seventeen years of age. He became Treas- urer of the College, and held other positions of trust. In January, 1789, the firm of Thomas and An- drews began the publication of the Massachusetts Magazine, or Monthly Museum of Knowledge and Rational Entertainment. The contents of this periodical were of a miscel- laneous character. For example, the issue of Janu- ary, 1791, included a biographical sketch of Gover- nor Bowdoin; an Article on Ashes for Manure; Es- says on Generosity and Internal Agreeableness ; an Account of the Creek Indians; Story of the Poor Lit- tle Greek; the General Observer No. XXI; Natural History and Description of the Tyger Cat of the Cape of Good Hope; Vanessa, or the Feast of Rea- son; the Bashful Man; the Matrimonial Creed; Franklin's Parable against Persecution ; On the Com- parative Advantages and Disadvantages of a Canal from Barnstable Bay to Buzzard's Bay; the Player 241 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE and his Wife; the Wounded Officer; Manners, Sump- tuary Laws, etc., of the early Inhabitants of New England; Compendium of Grecian Morality; Disser- tation on the Causes and Effects of Spasm in Fevers; on Revenge and Cruelty; Description of two Clocks, presented by the East India Company to the Emperor of China; Meteorological Imaginations and Conjec- tures, by Dr. Franklin; a Striking Piece of Ancient History; the Condemned Prisoner; Reflections, ad- dressed to the Head and the Heart ; further Thoughts on Sandwich Canal and the erection of a Light House at Clay Pounds; Monthly Review. Also an Ode on the New Year, 1791; Sonnet to General Lincoln; Lines to Eloisa, on her reading a Novel; Bacchus's Shrine ; Sonnet to Cruelia ; Elegy on a Village Swain ; Lines on taking a Pansy from beneath the Snow ; on hearing a Lady sing Fidelle, our Forefathers' song, written in 1630; extract from the Zenith of Glory; Stanzas inscribed to Lord Dorchester ; Epigram on reading a late Military Letter; and Rebus. Colonel Samuel Swett ANOTHER well-known owner of real estate in this part of Winter Street was Colonel Samuel Swett (1782-1866), lawyer, soldier, merchant and 242 WINTER STREET LOTS military writer. He was a native of Newburyport, where he attended a Grammar School. After gradu- ating at Harvard in 1800, he taught school in Rox- bury, and later studied law in the office of Judge Charles Jackson in Boston. Being admitted to the Essex Bar in 1804, he practised at Salem for several years. In 1810 he withdrew from his profession, be- came a resident of Boston, and a partner in the mer- cantile firm of W. B. Swett and Company. He was soon after elected the first commander of the New England Guards and, during the latter part of the War of 1812, he served as a topographical engineer on the staff of Major-General George Izard, being em- ployed along the northern frontier. In 1820, when Saint Paul's Church was finished, Colonel Swett was an Aide-de-Camp on the staff of Governor John Brooks. He married, in 1807, Lucia, daughter of Hon. William Gray, and had four sons and a daugh- ter, Lucia Gray Swett, who married Francis Alex- ander, a well-known portrait-painter. They became residents of Florence, Italy, where Mrs. Alexander was living in the year 1915, being then one hundred and one years old. Her daughter Francesca is an au- thoress, and a skilful delineator of Tuscan peasant life. Her work in this line was warmly commended by her friend, John Ruskin, the noted art critic. Colo- 243 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE nel Swett was a vestryman of King's Chapel, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. Among his more important writings on military subjects was an Account of the Battle of Bunker Hill. Other Winter Street Residents AMONG the townspeople, besides those already mentioned, who had residences or places of busi- ness on Winter Street toward the end of the eighteenth century, were John Fessenden and James Carter, school-masters. The latter was in charge of the Free Writing School, afterward known as the Centre Reading and Waiting School, which was at- tended by more than four hundred scholars. In August, 1796, Mr. Carter received permission from the Selectmen to accommodate himself with an- other house, and to let his former home, which was "too small for his growing family." Other residents of Winter Street at this period were William Donni- son, shop-keeper and Adjutant General; George Trott, merchant, and Lieutenant Colonel of the Massachu- setts Regiment of Artillery ; Ebenezer Farley, a mer- chant, and Samuel Cobb, Representative and Select- man for several years. Of trades-people there were 244 WINTER STREET LOTS quite a number, including John Roberts and Thomas Wilkinson, chaise-makers; Wheelock and Simmons, livery-stable; Edward and Samuel Russell, painters; Joseph Snelling, book-binder; John Mills, house- wright; John Long, cabinet-maker; Frederick Ockes and William Laugh ton, bakers. In 1810 John Chris- tian Rauschner, a Dane, occupied a house, number two, on the north side of the street. He was a mod- eler in wax, who attained marked distinction in his specialty. Rauschner appears to have been of a rov- ing disposition, and changed his residence often, hav- ing lived in Philadelphia, New York and Salem, Mas- sachusetts, being occupied with his work as an "artist in wax." Several of his miniature portraits are in the Essex Institute at Salem ; others are to be seen in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. . . .* Among the residents above mentioned were two bakers. There were no bread-wagons in Boston in those days. Loaves of bread were carried about in covered wheel-barrows, and were required by law to be of a specified weight. It was not uncommon for a Selectman to stop a wheel-barrow, and weigh the loaves on the spot. If found to be underweight, they were confiscated, and 1 Ethel Stanwood Bolton. Wax Portraits and Silhouettes. Bos- ton. 1914. 245 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE sent to the Alms-house. The writer of an Article in the Farmer's Almanack, May, 1837, advocated home-baking, on the score of economy, as follows: "Hark, 'tis the jingle of the baker's bells; hot bread, who buys? Have a care now, Mr. Sweetmouth, how you let this bill run up! Wheat-loaves, gingerbread, hot buns and seed-cakes, these are all very clever. But there is my Aunt Sarah's brown bread; sweet, pleasant and wholesome. Don't give it up for a cartload of muffins and jumbles. There is no discount on my Aunt Sarah's cooking. Give me a plate of her nut-cakes in preference to all the sweet-meats of the city. . . . Bread," continued this writer, "is called the staff of life, the main sup- porting food ; but this important article may come too dear. Let your good wife, then, have her own hands in the kneading-trough, nor heed too much the music of the baker's boy." According to English custom, the weight, price and measure of certain marketable articles were deter- mined by ordinance or assize, such as the "assize of bread and ale," which dates from the reign of Henry III in the thirteenth century. At a meeting of the Selectmen of Boston, Septem- ber 2, 1796, the text of the "assize of bread" was pub- lished for the instruction of bakers and Clerks of the 246 WINTER STREET LOTS Market. The duties of the latter included the inspection of weights and measures; and for the better protection of house-keepers, Clerks of the Market were charged to be vigilant in preventing all frauds and abuses which might arise. At the Selectmen's meeting above mentioned, the several bakers within the Town were ordered "to mark their Bread, which they bake for Sale, with the first letter of their Christian-Names, and with the first and last letters of their Sur-Names." Moreover, such bread as was not well baked, and loaves made of inferior flour, were liable to seizure by the authorities. The heaviness of a loaf was for- merly determined by Troy weight. In 1735 the stand- ard weight of a penny white loaf was three ounces and five penny-weights; that of a sixpenny wheaten loaf was somewhat over a pound. From the large number of New England bakeries in early times, and the penalties imposed for short- weight loaves, it appears that the house-wives did but little home baking. Among the various kinds of bread then in popular use, were simnels, 1 or cakes made of fine flour; cracknels, a kind of brittle, fancy biscuit; wastels, cakes of the finest quality, and cocket- 1 Alice Morse Earle: Customs and Fashions in Old New Eng- land. 247 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE bread, a less choice grade of wheat-bread; manchet, made from the whitest wheaten flour; cheat-loaves, of coarser quality, and buns made of sweetened bread, baked in small cakes. In later medieval times simnels were a luxury which none but wealthy persons of high rank could afford; and wastel-bread was a favorite among the well-to-do of the middle classes. Tourte, a kind of coarse cake, made of unbolted meal, was a staple ar- ticle of diet for the poor. During the reign of Rich- ard II, in the fourteenth century, bakers of tourte bread were not allowed to have a bolting-sieve in their possession. Sir Walter Scott, in The Monastery, describes Mysie, daughter of Hob the Miller, as having a com- plexion fair as "her father's finest bolten flour, out of which was made the Abbot's own wastel-bread." Ezekiel Price, Secretary EZEKIEL PRICE (1728-1802) was living in Winter Street in 1780 or thereabout, and in the list of tax-payers of that year, he is set down as a "scribe." Mr. Price was prominent in public life, and held various offices both under the Crown, and after the Revolution. He served as Secretary to 248 WINTER STREET LOTS Governors William Shirley, Thomas Pownall and Sir Francis Bernard. He was also clerk of the Court of Common Pleas under both Colonial and State rule. By profession he was a Notary Public and Insurance broker. Mr. Price was also active in town affairs, serving as a Selectman for about thirty years. His later residence was on Tremont Street, where the Bos- ton Museum afterward stood. During the Siege of Boston he lived with his family in Stoughton where he kept an Interesting Diary, which has been pre- served. Thomas William Parsons, Poet THOMAS WILLIAM PARSONS (1819-1891), American poet and translator, had his home at number 18 Winter Street. He took a six years' course at the Boston Public Latin School, and at the age of seventeen went abroad with his father, and spent the winter of 1836-7 in Italy, where he became an earnest student of Dante, a portion of whose Divine Comedy he afterward translated. This version was pronounced the most successful reproduction of the spirit and power of that great work, in the English language. His Hudson River was the noblest tribute which any stream on this Continent has ever re- 249 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ceived. 1 Mr. Parsons published a volume of poems in 1854. Although not a graduate of any university, he received from Harvard the degree of Master of Arts. He was a Fellow of the American Academy. In 1842, when Mr. Parson was living in Winter Street, Charles Dickens made his first visit to Bos- ton, and his impressions of the city were published in American Notes, which appeared not long after. That these impressions were favorable is evident from the following quotation : "When I got into the streets upon this Sunday morning, the air was so clear; the houses were so bright and gay; the sign- boards were painted in such gaudy colors ; the gilded letters were so very golden; the bricks were so very red; the stones were so very white; the blinds and area railings were so very green, the knobs and plates upon the street doors so marvelously bright and twinkling, that every thoroughfare in the city looked exactly like a scene in a pantomime. . . . "The white wooden houses in the suburbs (so white that it makes one wink to look at them), with their green jalousie blinds, are so sprinkled and dropped about in all directions, without seeming to have any root at all in the ground; and the small churches and chapels are so prim and bright and highly var- 1 Griswold's Poets of America, page 559. 250 WINTER STREET LOTS nished; that I almost believed the whole affair could be taken up piece-meal, like a child's toy, and crammed into a little box. . . . The City is a beau- tiful one, and cannot fail, I should imagine, to im- press all strangers favorably." Blott's Corner THE home of Robert Blott was on the south cor- ner of Winter Street (Blott's Lane) and New- bury, now Washington Street. This lot was owned successively by his son-in-law, Doctor Edward Ellis, and grandson, Robert Ellis, who was a "barber- chirurgeon." The property remained in the posses- sion of members of the Ellis family for more than fifty years. During the latter part of this period it was several times mortgaged. In 1727 there were living on the estate, as tenants, John Durant, who had a blacksmith's shop on the premises ; Joseph Simpson, a "clog-maker," and Anne Stone, retailer. In April, 1728, Mrs. Elizabeth Ellis, widow of Rob- ert Ellis and executrix of his will, conveyed the estate to Benjamin Pemberton, the younger. He was a grandson of James and Sarah Pemberton, who lived in Newbury township, Massachusetts. His father, Benjamin Pemberton, Senior, was a brewer, of Bos- 251 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE ton, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Ar- tillery Company. Benjamin Pemberton, Junior, was a member of the Board of Overseers of the Poor, of Boston. This was an important position, and those occupying it were uniformly citizens of high charac- ter and ability, who were elected by popular vote. In 1733 King George II appointed Mr. Pemberton Naval Officer of the Port of Boston. In compliance with this order, Governor Belcher removed his own son from that office in favor of the appointee. Ben- jamin Pemberton was also Clerk of the Superior Court of Massachusetts. By his will he left a be- quest, which is known as the Pemberton Fund, whose income is expended for the benefit of the Poor. A younger brother of Benjamin Pemberton was the Reverend Ebenezer Pemberton (1671-1717), Har- vard, 1691. He was pastor of the Old South Church, and a man of exceptional ability and learning. He was said to have lacked only vigorous health in order to have become famous. Dr. Joseph Sewall wrote of him that "few in these corners of the earth had been better acquainted with men and books." Benjamin Pemberton divided the Blott Corner es- tate into several parcels, and sold one of them in 1728 to Edward Durant the younger, blacksmith, of whom mention has been made. This lot was 100 feet 252 WINTER STREET LOTS deep, along Winter Street, with a frontage of 20 feet on Washington Street. In 1738 Mr. Durant conveyed the easterly half of his land, which included the original Blott's Corner, with a brick dwelling-house, and extended "so far west as to take in half the well and pump," to Samuel Brown of Worcester, a tailor. The latter trans- ferred the premises in the following year to Powers Marriott, of Boston, a shop-keeper. In 1752 Mr. Marriott sold this estate to John Spooner, a Boston merchant, in consideration of five shillings, lawful money ; to be held in trust for Sarah Weaver, a minor, and niece of Marriott's wife, Catherine. Sarah Weaver married first, in 1770, John Gooch, a mer- chant. His name appears as one of the signers of a petition to the inhabitants of Boston, in town meet- ing assembled, March 9, 1740, remonstrating against the practice of shooting pigeons from the tops of houses ; a practice which was "evidently attended with many bad consequences, such as exposing the houses to fire by the lighted wads falling on the shingles in a dry season; shooting through windows, and by the noise of the guns, robbing the aged, the sick, the weak and infirm, of the best part of their repose." Sarah (Weaver) Gooch married (2) in 1784, Eze- kiel Cheever, a namesake and great-grandson of the 253 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE celebrated master of the Boston Latin School, of whom Cotton Mather wrote that he had been "a skil- full, Painful, Faithful Schoolmaster for seventy years; and had the Singular Favour of Heaven, that tho' he had spent his life among Children, yet he was not become Twice a Child, but held his Abilities, with his Usefulness, in an unusual degree, to the very last. . . . And it was noted that when Scholars came to be Admitted into the Colledge, they who came from the Cheeverian Education, were generally the most unexceptionable." Of Master Cheever it was said that he left office at last without being tired, but simply because he was obliged to. And Chief Justice Sewall wrote of him that he taught school "skilfully, diligently, constantly and religiously. A rare instance of Piety, Health, Strength and Serviceableness. The Wellfare of the Province was much upon his spirit. He abominated Periwigs." At a meeting of the Magistrates and Selectmen (Governor Richard Bellingham and Major-General John Leverett being present), December 22, 1670, it was ordered that "Mr. Ezachiell Chevers" should be at the Governor's house that day seven-night to treat with them concerning the Free School. And at the 254 WINTER STREET LOTS adjourned meeting, December 29, it was ordered that Mr. Cheever be installed as head-master of the said school. And he, being present, accepted the position. Ezekiel Cheever, third of the name, was a Select- man of Charlestown from 1752 to 1755, and after- ward removed to Boston. He was an active partici- pant in the great mass meetings held in Faneuil Hall and the Old South Church, November 29 and 30, J 773> to remonstrate against the landing of the tea; and was appointed Captain of the Watch set to ob- serve the tea-ships. 1 In August, 1775, he was made Commissary of Artillery in the Continental Army. He was also Commissary in charge of Ordnance stores, and served nearly five years during the Revo- lution. In 1793 Sarah (Weaver) Gooch Cheever, widow of Ezekiel Cheever, conveyed the estate to her unmar- ried step-daughters, Sarah, Elizabeth and Abigail Cheever. After retaining the property for nearly ten years, they sold it, January ist, 1803, to John Parker Whit- well, a druggist, of Boston. He transferred, De- cember 16, 1814, to Mehitable Homans of Boston, 1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register. 38, 183, 1884. 255 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE widow, and guardian of John Thomas Philip Dumont, a minor, "the same premises now improved by me as an Apothecary Store." 256 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS Daniel Maud DANIEL MAUD was the owner of a lot front- ing on the roadway, now Tremont Street, and nearly opposite the site of the public granary, which was built a century later on the lot now occupied by Park Street Church. Mr. Maud was a graduate of Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, England (M.A., 1610). He was a dissenting minister, who was obliged to give up his English charge on account of non-conformity. He came to this country in the ship James in 1635, being then about fifty years old, and was admitted to membership in the First Church in Boston during October of the same year. On August 2nd, 1635, Mr. Maud was appointed a teacher in the Boston Latin School, and on the twelfth day of the same month, "at a general meeting of the richer inhabitants, there was given towards the main- tenance of a free school-master for the youth with us, Mr. Daniel Maud being now also chosen there- unto ; 259 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE The Governor, Mr. Henry Vane, Esq., X. The Deputy Governor, Mr. John Winthrop, X, Mr. Richard Bellingham, XL shillings. Mr. Willianf Coddington, XXX shillings. Mr. Winthrop, Jr., XX shillings, and many others." On the 1 7th of the second month, (April) 1637, it was voted that "Mr. Daniel Maud, schoole-master, shall have a garden-plott next unto Stephen Kinsley's house-plott, upon like Condition of building thereon, if neede bee." It does not appear, however, that Mr. Maud was the first school-master in the town; for at a meeting of citizens, in April, 1635, it was voted that "our brother Philemon Pormont be intreated to become a Schole-master for the teaching and nourtering of chil- dren with us." Mr. Pormont, or Pormort, accepted the office, and received the support of some of the prominent towns- people. He and his wife, Susan, had been admitted as members of the First Church in August of the preceding year. "Philemon Pormort," said Phillips Brooks in an anniversary address, "is hardly more than the shadow of a name. It is not even clear that he ever actually taught the school at all. A few years later, after the 260 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS Hutchinson excitement, he disappeared into the north- ern woods, and became one of the founders of Exeter, New Hampshire. Dim, half-discerned Philemon Por- mort, with the very spelling of his name disputed, with his face looking out upon us from the mist, merely serves to give a sort of human reality to that which would otherwise be wholly vague." It is not known whether Mr. Pormont retired when Daniel Maud began teaching; or whether the latter was his assistant for a time, and then his successor. But these appointments marked the origin of Boston's educational system, and the founding of its Public Latin School, the oldest and one of the most famous in the country. Harvard College, at first a "wilder- ness Seminary," had its beginning at about the same time. Mr. Maud was called a good man, of a serious spirit, and of a quiet and peaceable disposition. At the request of the citizens of Dover, New Hampshire, he became their minister in 1642. In the records of that town, August 1st of the same year, is the fol- lowing: "It is ordered that Mr. Dan 11 Maud, and Mary his wife, shall enjoy the house they now dwell in, during their lives, provided hee continue amongst us as Teacher or Pastor, if please God to call him to it." 261 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Edward Bromfield, Representative TN June, 1684, Edward Bromfield of Boston, "in ye Mattachusetts Colony in New England," became the owner of a piece of land, with a dwelling-house, "neer unto the Common or Trayning Field, and bounded northerly with the New Lane or way lead- ing from the Broad Street into the Common." This was called Rawson's Lane in 1708, Bromfield's Lane in 1751, and Bromfield Street in 1828. The dwelling-house stood upon the spot afterward occupied by the Indian Queen Tavern, a popular stage-house. This was also the site of the Bromfield House in recent times. Rawson's Lane was described as "leading from Briscow's Corner, in Malbrough Street, passing by Justice Bromfeeld's in to y e Comon." Edward Bromfield (1649-1734), who came to Bos- ton from England in 1675, was born at Hay wood House, the ancestral estate, in the parish of Boldre, and within the borders of the New Forest, not far from Lymington in Hampshire. He soon became an active member of the Old South Church in Boston; and to secure freedom from worldly noise and dis- tractions, he transformed the pasture behind his house 262 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS into a shady grove, and built therein a small Chapel or Oratory, where he was wont often to retire. Mr. Bromfield was a Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, Representative, and a member of the Council for many years. In 1706 he was one of a Committee to "examine and consider the state of the Almes and Worke House, and to make report to the next Town meeting of what they shall think proper for the man- agement thereof for the year ensuing." Mr. Bromfield was of a cheerful disposition, open- hearted and liberal in his views. His conversation was pleasant and instructive, without the least sign of pride or roughness. 1 By his Will he bequeathed to his wife, Mary Dan- forth Bromfield, his negro man named Thomas. To his son Edward he gave his best sword, and to his son-in-law, Thomas Cushing, his "second sword." His daughter Sarah received a table which came from Surinam, and a "bed and wrought curtains in the Chamber of my Brick House." During the period of Mr. Bromfield's activities in Town affairs, he was zealous in promoting the pub- lic welfare and safety. It seems appropriate there- fore to mention certain matters of interest to the cit- izens at that time. At a Town meeting, September l New England Weekly Journal, June 10, 1734. 263 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE 22, 1701, it was ordered that "whosoever shall at any time hereafter use the Exercise of Playing or kicking of football within any of the Streets or Land within the body of this Town, shall forfeit and pay the Sum of one Shilling for every Transgression of this order. Nor shall any person hereafter fire or throw any Squibb, Rocket, Serpent or other fireworkes. . . . Nor shall any person throw or heave any Snowballs or Stones at any person in the Streets, Lanes or Allyes of this Town." At the same meeting it was ordered that no negro, mulatto or Indian should carry any stick or cane "that may be fit for quarreling or fighting," within the Town limits, on penalty of a fine of five shillings. If found carrying a stick or cane having on the end thereof an iron ring, ferule, spear or nail, the penalty was ten shillings. At a somewhat later period Boston appears to have been overrun with dogs. At a general Town meet- ing, July ist, 1728, it was voted that whereas the "Great Number of Doggs keep in Boston is found to be very Detremental Thro' their Worrying, Chase- ing and Wounding the Cattle, Sheep and Fowles ; and Occasioning the Butchers to keep their Sheep Housed in the night, which is much to the Damage of this Town in General. Ordered that no person shall keep 264 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS any Dogg to go at Large within this Town of Bos- ton, above Ten Inches High." Edward Bromfield, Junior (1695-1756), a son of the preceding, filled many important offices. He was an eminent merchant, who stood high in the regard of his fellow-townsmen. His house, which was on Beacon Street, nearly opposite to the Boston Athe- neum, was "a little Church, where everything that had the appearance of vice was resolutely banished." In 1746 Mr. Bromfield served on a Committee whose members were instructed to wait upon his Excellency the Governor, and the Honorable Council, and to in- form them that the Town apprehended danger from the presence of large numbers of subjects of the French King, who were allowed freedom in the streets. About one hundred of these people were arrested by the Constables and taken to his Majesty's Gaol in Boston, but the High Sheriff of the County refused to receive them. Mr. Bromfield had a son, Edward the third (1723- 1745), who was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1742. 265 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Captain Adino Paddock ADINO PADDOCK (1728-1804), chaise-maker, owned a large portion of the land on the east side of Tremont Street, between the historic Winter Street corner lot and Rawson's Lane (now Bromfield Street), which was named after Edward Rawson, who was Secretary of the Colony for many years. Mr. Paddock bought the northerly part, which abutted on the Lane, from Thomas Gushing, merchant, in May, 1760; and within a few years thereafter, he purchased other lots, including a part of the estate of Edward Bromfield, which had been conveyed to the latter by Abigail Gillam in March, 1739. His home-lot was bought of William Lewis, merchant, in 1772. Here were a large dwelling-house, garden, yard, out-houses, a work-shop, barn, chaise-house, blacksmith's shop and sheds. Captain Adino Paddock (a lineal descendant of Zachariah Paddock, who came over in the May- flower while yet a minor) was the pioneer coach- builder in Boston. He also built "chairs," as the light one-horse chaises were called in those days. He served the town as a sealer of leather, and as a fire- ward. 266 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS Captain Paddock was a prominent military man. He joined the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany in 1762, and became Commander of the Boston Train of Artillery in 1768. He it was who gave to this part of Tremont Street the name of Long Acre, which, although never accepted officially, was long in popular use. The London Long Acre, a continuation of Great Queen Street, in the neighborhood of Covent Garden Theatre, is still a coach-building center. Cap- tain Paddock planted a row of fine English elms along the west side of Tremont Street, opposite his home. The Paddock elms stood there for about a century, when they had to yield to the march of progress. He was a radical Tory, and left Boston with the British soldiers and a large party of Royalists, in March, 1776. In the following June he sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for England, and later became a resident of the Isle of Jersey, where he held the office of In- spector of Artillery Stores. Captain Paddock was one of the large number of loyalist absentees, who were proscribed as enemies of the State in 1778. His land and buildings were con- fiscated, and were conveyed, July 12, 1780, to Thomas Bumstead, coach-maker, of Boston, by a committee authorized to sell the estates of "Royalist Refugees." This committee consisted of the following persons: 267 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE Caleb Davis, Thomas Dawes, Ebenezer Wales and Thomas Henshaw. 1 Paddock's Train of Artillery was noted for the excellence of its personnel; in its rank and file were many skilled mechanics, and a high degree of disci- pline was maintained. Its commander had received instruction in the autumn of 1766 from members of a company of Artillerymen, who were bound for Que- bec. Owing to the lateness of the season, they were obliged to spend the winter in Boston, making their headquarters at Castle William. Paddock enlisted the services of a number of German emigrants, who manned the drag-ropes. Their uniform included white frocks and hair caps, and they carried broad- swords. 2 The Company's gun-house was on the south corner of Tremont and West Streets. The nineteenth of May, 1766, was a day of gen- eral rejoicing in Boston, on account of the Repeal of the Stamp Act by Parliament. The patriot, John Hancock, entertained the "Genteel Part of the Town" at his mansion on Beacon Hill; and in front of the house he provided a pipe of Madeira wine for the re- galement of the populace. On the Common the Sons of Liberty had placed an obelisk, which was illumi- 1 Massachusetts Archives: "Revolution Royalists;" 1778-1784. * F. S. Drake. Life of General Henry Knox. 268 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS nated at night with 280 lamps. The guns of the Cas- tle boomed, drums were beaten, and Captain Pad- dock's Artillery Company fired a salute. The Massachusetts Gazette, May 22, 1766, con- tained the following Notice: "The Row of Trees opposite Mr. Paddock's Shop have of late received Damage by persons inadvert- ently breaking off the limbs of the most flourishing. The youth of both sexes are requested, as they pass that way, not to molest them ; those trees being planted at a considerable expense for an Ornament and Serv- ice to the Town. Not one of the trees was injured the Night of General Rejoicing, but last Night sev- eral limbs were broke off." And in the Boston Evening Post, August 26, 1771, this advertisement appeared: "A GUINEA REWARD will be given by the sub- scriber to any one who shall inform him of the Per- son or Persons that on Thursday night last cut and hacked one of the Trees opposite his House in Long Acre. ... It is hoped that all persons will do their Endeavour to discountenance such Practices. "Adino Paddock." The old trees of Paddock's Mall (wrote Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, in his Topographical Description of Bos- ton), with their thickly-set leaves, produced a most 269 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE grateful shade in front of the Old Granary Burying- Ground. They were a picturesque feature of Long Acre, and afforded protection in summer to the way- farers, who oftentimes were wont to pause a while in order to survey the quaint old tomb-stones, and the more pretentious sculptured tablets. These trees were imported from England by Cap- tain Paddock, and were planted about the year 1762. The largest of them stood next to the old Tremont House, and measured sixteen feet in circumference at its base, in 1860. At that time only eleven of the trees remained. They were removed in 1873. The Tremont Street Mall, always a favorite Prom- enade, appears to have been the scene of fashionable Sunday parades after the Revolution. The Massa- chusetts Centinel, May, 1785, had the following: "In the evening very few were in the Mall, though we fear that some were disappointed of their customary tour to that frequented place, upon account of a se- vere gust of wind. That many of the fair were detained from prin- ciple, and not the weather, we are inclined to believe is the cause; and that the happiness of our females is built upon a foundation more permanent than wind. We, however, commiserate the disappointment of 270 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS some, and wish the next Sunday may afford some gentler relaxation from divine service." The Manufactory House THE so-called Manufactory House was built by the Province about the middle of the eighteenth century on Long Acre Street, and with its grounds occupied the greater part of the present Hamilton Place. Its establishment was due to a remarkable popular demonstration known as the Spinning-Craze, which was traceable to the arrival in Boston of a Company of Irish Spinners and Weavers in the year 1718. Under the influence of this novel excitement, the women, young and old, rich and poor, high and low, flocked to the Spinning School, which was set up on the Common in the open air. Here the whirr of their wheels was heard from morning till night. Pre- miums were offered for the best work, and the en- thusiasts went about proudly clothed in the home- spun products of their own hands. The fashion was as short-lived as it was furious. 1 However, the growing interest in weaving and spinning, and the importance of the linen industry, led to the establishment of the Manufactory House; and to de- *The Memorial History of Boston, IV, 511. 271 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE fray the cost of its construction a tax was levied on carriages and other articles of luxury. A spinning- school was established therein, where any person who so desired was given free instruction. In 1768 the Manufactory House was rented by the Province, and was occupied by private families. It acquired prominence at that time, owing to an attempt by Colonel William Dalrymple, of the Fourteenth reg- iment of Regulars, to secure quarters therein for his soldiers. The tenants refused to vacate; whereupon Governor Bernard issued a mandate, which was served by Sheriff Greenleaf, ordering the surrender of the premises. This procedure was also without avail. Finally the Sheriff and some of his deputies gained entrance to the cellar, where they found them- selves prisoners. They were soon released by a squad of soldiers; and the Manufactory House remained in possession of the tenants. This was largely due to the energy and persistence of Elisha Brown, who caused the windows and doors of the building to be barred. His epitaph in the Granary Burying Ground is as follows : "Elisha Brown, of Boston, who in October, 1769, during 17 days inspired with a generous zeal for the Laws, bravely and successfully opposed a whole Brit- ish Regiment in their violent attempt to Force him 272 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS from his legal habitation. Happy Citizen, when called singly to be a Barrier to the Liberties of a Con- tinent." The building was used by the British during the Siege, and received its quota of wounded from Bunker Hill. The Massachusetts Bank, which was incor- porated in 1784, had offices here for several years. On a corner of the west end of the edifice, fronting on Long Acre, was portrayed in relief the figure of a woman, holding in her hand a distaff, emblematic of Industry. The building was taken down in 1806. This fine structure appears to have been a con- venient meeting-place for the members of various organizations. The Independent Ledger and Ameri- can Advertiser, Boston, October 6, 1783, contained this announcement : "The Fellows of the Massachu- setts Medical Society are hereby notified that a Meet- ing of the said Society will be holden at the Hall of the Manufactory House in Boston on Wednesday the fifteenth of October next at X o'clock A. M." The Spinning Craze THE Spinning Craze appears to have revived at intervals; for the Boston Evening Post, in an issue of Monday, August 13, 1753, gave an account 273 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE of a large gathering on the Common at that time: "Wednesday last being the meeting of the Society for encouraging Industry and employing the Poor, the Reverend Mr. [Samuel] Cooper of this town preached an excellent sermon before them and a vast assem- blage of other Persons of all Ranks and Denomina- tions, in the Old South Meeting-House. After ser- mon 453 Old Tenor was collected for the further promoting of the laudable undertaking. In the . afternoon about 300 Spinners, all neatly dressed, and many of 'em Daughters of the best Fam- ilies in Town, appeared on the Common, and being placed orderly in three Rows, at work, made a de- lightful appearance. The Weavers also (cleanly dressed in Garments of their own weaving), with a Loom, and a young man at work on a stage pre- pared for that Purpose, carried on Men's Shoulders, attended by musick, preceded the Society ; and a long Train of other Gentlemen of Note, both of Town and Country, as they walked in Procession, to view the Spinners; and the Spectators were so numerous that they were compared by many to one of Mr. White- field's Auditories, when he formerly preached here on the Common." 274 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS Bumstead Place "D UMSTEAD PLACE, so called from 1807 until *~* 1868, was named after Thomas Bumstead, who became the owner of Adino Paddock's estate. It ex- tended from Common Street, midway between Ham- ilton Place and Bromfield's Lane, easterly for a dis- tance of about 250 feet, and then turned northerly for about 125 feet into the latter thoroughfare. Thomas Bumstead owned and occupied a wooden dwelling-house on the south corner of Bromfield's Lane and Common Street. He also owned the north- erly part of the Cathedral land, and mention of him has been made elsewhere in this volume. George Cabot (1751-1823), merchant and leader of the Massachusetts Federalists, occupied for a time the house, number one Bumstead Place. He studied at Harvard, but left College at the end of his Sopho- more year, and went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of sixteen. Later he became a merchant, and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph Lee. They became large ship-owners, and were es- tablished in Beverly, which was then regarded by its residents as likely to become a great New England seaport. Mr. Cabot was Secretary of the Navy in 275 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE 1779, and United States Senator *rom 1791 to 1796. He was "only one of many, whose minds ripened into a peculiar flavor, and grew strong with a robust, masculine vigor in this school of the sea, which never failed to leave on its scholars the characteristic stamp of the quarter-deck, and a dash of salt water." 1 Temple Place E name Turnagain Alley was given by the Town to the present Temple Place in 1708. It was then described as "the Alley leading from y e Common easterly, on the north side of Madam Ush- er's house. "As indicated by its name, it was a blind alley, and as shown on Bonner's map of 1722, it ex- tended only about one-third of the distance from the Common to the present Washington Street. It re- mained a closed lane for two centuries after the set- tlement of Boston. The Masonic Temple was built in 1830, on the north corner of Turnagain Alley and Tremont Street; the name of the former being then changed to Temple Place. For about a week, however, in May, 1865, it was called Autumn Street. A flight of five steps led down through a twelve-foot passageway into Washington Street ; and for vehicle traffic Tem- 1 Hon. H. C. Lodge. Life and Letters of George Cabot. 276 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS pie Place might have appropriately retained its early name until it became a thoroughfare in 1864, when the steps were taken away and the passage-way widened by the removal of the adjacent buildings. Meantime, soon after 1830, when the Usher estate was divided into lots, Temple Place began to be built up with domiciles, which were occupied by a number of prominent citizens; it became part of a favorite residential district, and so remained until the period of the Civil War, when the streets of the newly re- claimed Back Bay lands began to be systematically developed. James Savage occupied the house, number one, Temple Place, on the south side, adjoining the flight of steps above mentioned ; removing there from Hay- ward Place as early as 1834. He was a descendant of Major Thomas Savage, a valiant soldier in Philip's War, who in 1663 undertook the construction of a Barricade enclosing the Town Cove, to protect the shipping against possible attacks by a foreign fleet. His forbears, Abijah Savage, and the latter's son, of the same name, were Harvard graduates of the years 1695 and 1723. James Savage attended the Derby Academy in Hingham, and the Washington Acad- emy at Machias, Maine. He too was a Harvard man (A.B., 1803), and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar 277 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE in 1807. He was the founder and president of the Provident Institution for Savings. Mr. Savage de- voted twenty years to the compilation of a Genealog- ical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England. He was said to have had no rival in the accuracy and extent of his knowledge of New England's history. In 1832, Thomas Handasyd Perkins (1764-1854), philanthropist and public-spirited citizen, built a house on the site now occupied by the Provident In- stitution for Savings, and there made his home. He gave his estate on Pearl Street to the New England Asylum for the Blind, which was renamed in 1829 the Perkins Institution, in honor of its chief bene- factor. . . . Thomas Lamb (1796-1887) bought the estate number five, Temple Place, in 1849. He occu- pied for many years one of the Somerset Street houses, which were demolished when the new Court House was built. Mr. Lamb was President of the Suffolk Savings Bank for forty-one years, and of the New England Bank for nearly as long a period. William Barton Rogers (1804-1882), geologist and savant, was a resident of Temple Place in the "six- ties." He was a native of Philadelphia, and came to Boston in 1853. Within a few years thereafter he became interested in a scheme for technical education, and largely as a result of his enterprise and zeal, the 278 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS Massachusetts Institute of Technology was founded, and he became its first President. Thomas Coffin Amory, the younger (1812-1889), Harvard, 1830, Counselor-at-Law, and a neighbor of Mr. Rogers, was a member of the Massachusetts Leg- islature, an Alderman of Boston, and President of the Board of Trustees of the City Hospital. Among the goodly number of citizens who sus- tained the reputation of this neighborhood for respec- tability, were Josiah Bradlee, a prominent merchant who occupied a house on the north corner of Tremont Street (where now stands the fine building of Messrs. R. H. Stearns and Company) ; Samuel Cabot, M.D., an able Surgeon, and Fellow of the American Acad- emy; and Nathaniel Hooper, who removed about 1857 from 17 Temple Place to lower Beacon Street, which then was becoming a popular residential district. Another Temple Place resident was the Reverend Alexander Hamilton Vinton, M.D., S.T.D. (1807- 1881), Rector of Saint Paul's Church, Boston, for fourteen years, and afterward rector of Emmanuel Church. He had also the charge of parishes in Phil- adelphia and New York, and was one of the most influential among his contemporary clerical brethren of the Episcopal Church. . . . The residence of Dr. George Hayward (1791- 279 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE 1862), Harvard, 1809, was on the premises now oc- cupied by the firm of Melvin and Badger, Druggists. He was a son of Dr. Lemuel Hay ward, a surgeon in the American Army during the Revolution, who lived opposite the White Horse Tavern. Dr. George Hay- ward was Professor of Clinical Surgery in the Har- vard Medical School, and one of the best known prac- titioners of his time. The Haymarket and Vicinity r ^ OWARD the close of the eighteenth century the * Haymarket occupied considerable space between Tremont and Mason Streets, including the land where- on Colonnade Row was built in 181 1. This land was originally a part of the Common. On the south cor- ner of Tremont and West Streets, now occupied by the Lawrence Building, stood a wooden, barnlike structure containing the Town Hay Scales; and be- hind it, on Mason Street, was a military laboratory. This latter building was afterward occupied as a car- riage manufactory by the firm of Frothingham, Wheeler and Jacobs. The public whipping-post, which was formerly on State Street, stood at one time near the site of the West Street gate of the Common. Close by were the pillory and stocks, which were mov- 280 TREMONT STREET NEIGHBORS able, being placed on wheels. They were used as a means of enforcing attendance at church, and as a punishment for various misdemeanors. 1 The Haymarket Theatre was built in 1796 on the southern part of the Haymarket, near Boylston Street, where the Tremont Theatre now stands. It was a huge, unsightly pile, somewhat after the soap- box style of architecture ; and although it was claimed to be the most spacious and convenient theater in America, it was a constant menace to the neighboring buildings on account of its liability to take fire. The first Boston Theatre, on the corner of Frank- lin and Federal Streets, had been opened about two years before, and the alleged motives for building a new theater were political intrigue and animosities. In 1796 intense partizan feeling and rivalry existed between the Federalists and members of the Jacobin party; and there existed also much jealousy and bit- terness among the managers and stockholders of the two theaters. "The presence of a supporter of the old theater at the Haymarket was regarded as a dis- loyal act. The rivalry continued until February 2, 1798, when the Boston Theatre was destroyed by fire." * 1 S. A. Drake. Old Landmarks of Boston. 2 The Memorial History of Boston, IV, 363. 28l ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE The new Play-house had a large auditorium, three tiers of boxes, and also a gallery and drawing-room. It was under the management of Charles Stuart Powell, an actor formerly connected with the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, and for a time man- ager of the Federal Street Theatre in Boston. The "Haymarket" was never a success financially, and the building was taken down in 1803. The lanes and pastures of the old South End of Boston have long since disappeared. No vestige of its rural aspect remains. Business blocks and de- partment stores surround Saint Paul's Cathedral, and cover the site of the Washington Gardens. But the Common is a sacred tract, to be preserved as a de- lightful heritage from the founders of the Colony; and the fair acres of the ancient Gentry Field, ever a source of pride and interest to the citizens, will con- tinue to be guarded with jealous care as one of the most famous of historic pleasure grounds. 282 Principal Sources of Information Boston Town Records. The Memorial History of Boston. S. A. Drake's Old Landmarks of Boston. Suffolk Registry of Deeds and Probate Records. James Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England. Records of the older Churches of Boston. Proceedings and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The New England Historical and Genealogical Reg- ister. J. L. Sibley's Harvard Graduates. Early Boston Directories. Genealogies and Family Histories. Files of early Boston newspapers. Poole's Index of Periodical Literature. Bostonian Society Publications. The Book of Possessions. Aspinwall Notarial Records. History of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Com- pany. Soldiers in King Philip's War. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolu- tionary War. Massachusetts Archives. The Encyclopaedia Britannica; Eleventh Edition. 283 ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL SITE "Gleaner" Articles, by Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch. A History of Boston, by Caleb A. Snow, M.D. Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association. Good Old Dorchester, by William Dana Orcutt. A Record of the Streets, Alleys, Places, etc., in the City of Boston. The Old Boston Post Road, by Stephen Jenkins. Memorial Biographies of the New England Historic- Genealogical Society. The History and Antiquities of Boston, by Samuel G. Drake. Various Town and County Histories. Rambles Around Old Boston, by Edwin M. Bacon, 1914. Days and Ways in Old Boston, edited by William S. Rossiter, and published by R. H. Stearns and Com- pany, 1915. Social Life in Old New England, Mary Caroline Crawford. Doctor Holmes s Boston, edited by Caroline Ticknor. Acknowledgments for assistance are due to Hon. Samuel A. Green, M.D., Walter K. Watkins, Esq., George A. Sawyer, Esq., Joseph F. Woods, Esq., Miss Annie H. Thwing, Rev. Anson Titus, Frank H. Manning, Esq., and many others. 284 INDEX INDEX Abigail, 86 Abraham, Plains of, 176 Adams House, 31, 32, 89, 246 Samuel, 29, 64, 124, 236, 239 Albany, 193 Alexander, Francesca, 243 Francis, 243 Lucia Gray, 243 American Army, 68, 207 Antiquarian Society, 240 Education Society, 215 Notes, 250 Academy, Fellow of, 279 Amory, Jonathan, 96 Thomas C., 138, 279 Ancient and Honorable Artillery Co., 45, 65, 66, 85, 106, 109, 119, 122, 135, 159, 160, 161, 164, 172, 179, 190, 218, 219, 221, 224, 244, 252, 267 Andrews, Ebenezer Turell, 240, 241 John, 212 William Turell, 241 Andros, Sir Edmund, 44, 113, 114, . "5..I95, 217 Animals in Queen Anne s time, 57 Antinomians, 86 Appleton, William, 94 Aspinwall Notarial Records, 108, 191 Atherton, Consider, 45, 46 Edmund, 44 Hope, 44, 45, 46 Major Humphrey, 44, 45, 46, 47 Increase, 44 Manor, 44 Rest, 44 Robert, 44 Thankful, 44 Patience, 45 Watching, 45 Atkinson Street, 196 Avery Corner, 28 John, 28 John, the Pirate, 29 John, the Younger,|28, 29 Street, 27 Ayer, in B Back Bay, 24 Bacon, Edwin M M 213 of Roxbury, 55 Baker, Alexander, 38 Luke, 79, 174, 223 Ballard, Elizabeth Pickering, 93 Fear, 93 Samuel, 79, 92 Balston, Jonathan, 97 Baltimore, 209 Banister, Samuel, 227, 230, 231 Thomas, 21, 227, 230, 231 Banister's Gardens, 231 Lane, 24, 159 Bank of the U. S., 21 1 Bartlett, John, 176, 177 Tabitha, 176 Thomas, 176 Bathing Establishments, 152 Batterymarch Street, 85 Battery Street, 27 Beach Street, 54 Beacon Hill, 13, 87, 198, 203, 231 on the Hill, 211 Street, 23, 29, 33, 265, 279 Belcher, Governor, 252 Bell, Shubael, 94 Bellingham, Gov. Richard, 19, 254, 260 Bell-in-Hand Tavern, 166 Bells, first chime in North America, J33 Bennett Street, 170, 178 287 INDEX Bernard, Sir Francis, 134, 197, 249, 272 Bible, first printed in Boston, 63 Bishop, William, 56 Black Boy and But, 127 Black Horse Lane, 26 Blackstone, William, 37, 231 Blake, John, 52 Blanchard, Joshua, 60 Blanford, 68 Blin, Thomas, 33 Block-keeper, 227 Blott, Robert, 228, 229, 251 Sarah, 229 Blott's Corner, 251 Lane, 24, 224, 225, 251 Blue Bell Tavern, 85 Blyn, Mr., 32 Boies, James, 174, 175 Jeremiah Smith, 174, 235 John, 235 Bond, Nathan, 78 Book of Possessions, 27, 37, 95, 106, 108, 158 Boston, Aldermen of, 279 defense of, 224 evacuation of, 66 first directory of, 27 freemen of, 192 homes in, 209 in 1663, 18 in 1666, 19 in 1686, 24 in 1699, 18 in 1720, 1 66 in 1792, 211 Siege of, 212 streets in, 209 Sunday in, 207 topographical description, 269 town officials in 1820, 146 type of buildings, 20 Atheneum, 265 Commercial Gazette, 142 Daily Advertiser, 94, 142, 179 directories, 223 Dispensary, 137, 177, 215 Evening Post, 126, 269, 273 Fire of 1711, 165 Gazette, 53, 64, 205 Jail, 64 Latin School, 261 Boston, Lying-in Hospital, 184 Magazine, 76 Manufacturing Co., 236 Museum, 249 Museum of Fine Arts, 245 Neck, 54, 56 News Letter, 54, 56, 61, 62, 99, 124 Port Bill, 121 Post Boy, 59, 124 Regiment, 66, 136 Tea Party, 124, 138 Theatre, first, 281 Transcript, 32 Weather, 209 & Worcester Railroad Co., 76 Bostonian Society's Publications, 239 Bowditch, Nathaniel I., 32 Bowdoin, Hon. James, 168 Boylston Street, 24, 25, 27, 157, 281 Dr. Zabdiel, 24 Bradlee, Josiah, 279 Bradstreet, Governor, 217 Brattle, Katharine, 116 Thomas, 116, 218, 219, 222 Thomas, Jr., 220 Street, 220 Street Church, 81, 120, 218, 220 Bread, assize of, 246 kinds of, 247 specified weights of, 245 Breck, Samuel, 210 Samuel, the Younger, 211 Brewster, Elder William, 222 Briscow's Corner, 262 Brigade Train of Artillery, 66 British Crown, 65 West Indies, 129 Broad Street, 26 Brighton, 26 Bromfield, Edward, 262, 266 Edward, the Younger, 263, 265 Edward, the Third, 165 Mary Danforth, 263 Sarah, 263 House, 262 Lane, 66, 262 Street, 262, 266 Bromfield's Regiment, 66 Brookfield, 40, 58, 164 Brookline, 163, 179 288 INDEX Brooks, Gov. John, 215, 243 Phillips, 260 Brown, Elisha, 272 James, 20 Samuel, 253 Browne, Mary, 116 William, 116 Buff on, Count de, 151 Building Committee, 94, 105 permit, 222 Bull Pasture, 56 Bumstead, Geremiah, 229, 230 John, 224 Thomas, 65, 267 Place, 67, 275 Bunch of Grapes Tavern, 173, 187 Bunker Hill, 67, 211, 244, 273 Burden, Ann, 86 George, 86, 89 "Burgoyne Bowl," 66 Burnaby, Rev. Andrew, 198 Bushell, John, 59, 67, 90 John, Jr., 59, 60, 91 Mary, 60, 61 Rebecca, 59 Bute, John Stuart, 203 Cabot, Samuel, 279 Callender, Benjamin, 80, 93 Cambridge, 48, 62, 67, 151, 192 Military Company, 61 Street, 82 Canada, 65, 169, 193 Canal Bridge, 152 Company, 137 Carr, Sir Robert, 189, 190 Carriages, 169 Carter, Ann, 89 James, 244 Lot, 105 Mary, 107 Richard, 89, 90, 96, 105, 107 Carter's Pasture, 89, 96, 105, 109, 1 10 Castle Tavern, 85, 188 William, 120, 268 Causeway Street, 87 Centre Reading and Writing School, 244 Gentry Field, 282 Street, 198 Chambers Street, 82 Charles River, 13, 77 Bridge, 171 Street, 23 Charleston, 239 Charlestown, 63, 222, 224 Ferry, 174 Cheeshahteaumuck, Caleb, 42, 45 Cheever, Abigail, 255 Elizabeth, 255 Ezekiel, 253, 254, 255 Sarah, 255 Sarah (Weaver) Gooch, 253, 254 Cheeverian Education, 254 Christ Church, 128, 131, 133, 177 City Hall Avenue, 165 Hospital, 279 Theatre, 142 Clark, Sam, 97 "Clerk of the Market," 79 Cobb, Samuel, 244 Coddington, William, 260 Codman, Henry, 94 Colbron's Field, 27 Cole, Seth, 81 Coleburn, William, 27 Coleburn's Lane, 27 Collier, Richard, 61, 91, 92 Colman, Rev. Benjamin, 195 Colonade Row, 280 Columbian Sentinel, 16, 17, 80, 150, 151, 153, i?2 Common, The, 13, 21, 22, 23, 24, 32, 33, 37, 38, 46, 58, 66, 76, 77, 80, 85, 89, 90, 96, 134, 135, 157, 166, 192, 198, 203, 214, 220, 224, 229, 233, 262, 271, 274, 280, 282 West Street Gate, 280 Spring, 1 06 Street, 20, 23, 66, 79, 80, 81, 94, 95, 129, 135, 144, 147, 174, 213 Commercial Gazette, 144 Concord, 226 Congress Street, 196 Connecticut, Council and Assembly of, 62 Continental Journal, 65 Cooper, Rev. Samuel, 274 William, 17 Copeland, 80 Copp's Hill, 87 289 INDEX Corlett, Elijah, 42 Cornhill, 79, 80, 98, 123, 177, 178,223 Cotton, John, 109 Court House, 278 Court Street, 64, 100 Co vent Garden, 282 Cow Lane, 26, 196 Gowell, Joseph, 107 Mary, 107 Co well's Corner, 24 Crafts, Lieut. Col. Thomas, 224 Craigie's Bridge, 137, 152 Cranch, Richard, 234 Cromwell, Oliver, 106 Cromwell's Head Tavern, 213 Cross, John, 38, 89, 90 Cushiiig, Thomas, 263, 266 Drugs and Medicines, Catalogue of. 178 Dudley, Gov. Joseph, 119, 167, 193 Mary, 119 Paul, 167 Paul, the Younger, 166 Thomas, 164, 167 Dudleian Lectures, 167 Dumont, John Thomas Philip, 256 Dunster Street, 108 Dunton, John, 25, 227 Durant, Edward, 32, 172, 252 Edward, the Younger, 172 John, 251 Dyer, Giles, 227 D Dalrymple, Col. William, 272 Davenport, Judge Addington, 119 Rev. Addington, 120 Eleazar, 119 Rebecca (Addington), 119 Richard, 119 True Cross, 1 19 Davis, Caleb, 268 Davey, Lord Thomas, 227 Dawes, Thomas, 268 Dearborn, Benjamin, 178 Dealing, William, 178 Dedham, 237 Delany, Prudence, 52 Delisle, Mr., 152 Dench, Capt. Gilbert, 131 Dennison, Capt., 51 Devonshire Street, 26, 88, 98 Dexter, Dr. Aaron, 183 Mrs. John, 216 Dickens, Charles, 250 Dispensary, 178 Dock Square, 123, 173, 188 Dogs, 264 Donnison, William, 244 Dorchester, 175 Heights, 174 train-band, 45 Dover Street, 54 Drake, Samuel A., 200 Samuel Gardner, 26, 189 East Boston, 29 Edes, Benjamin, 64 Peter, 64 & GUI, 64 Eliot, John, 53, 58 Eliot's Corner, 25 Ellis, Dr. Edward, 229, 251 Elizabeth, 251 Robert, 251 Ellise's Corner, 24 Elm Street, 188 Emmanuel Church, 279 Endicott, John, 60, 119 England, 14, 129, 194 Church of, 129 Essex Bar, 243 Institute, 77, 245 Street, 25 Exchange Street, 128, 191 Eyre, John, 116, 218 Dr. Simon, 218 Fairfield, 43 Fairmount Park, 212 Fairweather, Capt., 114 Faneuil Hall, 66, 124, 232 Fanning, Mrs., 132 Farley, Ebenezer, 244 Farmer's Almanack, 246 Farnum, Erastus, 152 290 INDEX Farrar's Tavern, 71 Faulkner, Luther, 183 Federal Street, 281 Theatre, 282 Federalist, 281 Fessenden, John, 244 Fire Engine, First, 100 regulations in 1673, 1 88 First Church of Christ, 85, 86, 87, 95, 157, 225, 259, 260 Fitzpatrick, Alice, 177 Fleet, Elizabeth, 97 Thomas, 97, 98, 99 Flounder Alley, 26 Football in 1701, 264 Fort Cumberland, 65 Hill, 203 Independence, 114, 119 Fosdick, James, 59, 67, 222 John, 223 Samuel, 222 Stephen, 222 Thomas, 223 Foster, Anne, 97 Elizabeth, 97 James, 67 William, 97 Fowle, Zachariah, 239, 240 Frankland, Sir Henry, 131 Franklin Street, 281 Freeman, Benjamin, 93 Temperance (Dimmick), 93 Free Writing School, 244 French Protestant refugees, 21 troops, 207 Frog Lane, 23, 24, 213 Pond, 33 Frothingham, Wheeler & Jacobs, 280 Frye, Col. Joseph, 65 Frye's Massachusetts Regiment, 65 Gage, Thomas, 121, 214 Gardiner, Joseph, 231 Dr. Sylvester, 231 William, 231 Gatcliffe, Jonathan, 189 Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, 278 General Court, 192, 210, 226 George Tavern, 55, 56 Gill, John, 63, 64, 65 Moses, 64 Gillam, Abigail, 266 Gilmor, Robert, 209 Gibson, Edmund, 130 Girondists, Chief of the, 208 "Gleaner" articles, 32 Glover, Goody, 225 Gold, Major Nathan, 51 Gooch, John, 253 Sarah (Weaver), 253 Good Samaritan, Sign of the, 177 Goodwin, John, 224 children, care of the, 225 Martha, 224 Gookin, Daniel, 39 Goose, Elizabeth, 97 Isaac, 90, 96 Isaac, Jr., 100 Mary, 97 Peter, 96 Gorham, Dr. John, 183 Granary, 122, 123, 198 Burying Ground, 67, 272 Grant, Abigail, 137 Alexander, 137 Fidelity, 239 Gray, Hannah, 177 Lucia, 243 William, 243 "Grass Market," 193 Great Mall, 213 Green, Bushell & Adam, 59 Green Dragon Tavern, 85 Rufus, 60 Samuel, 61, 62, 109 Samuel, Jr., 62 Samuel A., 112 Street, 82, 169 Timothy, 62 Timothy, Jr., 60, 61, 63 Greene, Gardiner, 200 Greenleaf, Rev. Daniel, 133 Elizabeth (Gookin), 133 Stephen, 60, 129, 133, 135, 144, 239, 272 Greenleaf's Garden, 33, 136 Greyhound Tavern, 53 Gridley's Coffee House, 166 Groton, in, 112, 226 Foot Company, in 291 INDEX H Halifax Gazette, 59 Hall, Capt. Basil, 75 Minna Bartlett, 179 Hamilton Place, 197, 271 Hamock (Hammock), John, 127, 128 Hampshire Country Regiment, Third, 68 Hancock, Gov. John, 77, 124, 199, 268 Hancock's Independent Company, 223 Wharf, 27, 122 Hanover Street, 62, 137, 169, 195 "Harbour of Boats," 173 Harker, Anthony, 90, 95, 96 Harris, Stephen, 133 Thankfull, 133 Harrison, Joseph, 199 Harvard College, 41, 79, 88, 122, 222, 226, 241, 243, 261, 279, 280 Indians at, 42 Medical School, 42 Square, 42 Hartford, 68, 70 Lane Records, 38 Hassanamesit Indians, 39 Hatch, Mrs., 216 Hatch's Regiment, 223 Haverhill, 62 Hayden, Ebenezer, 221 Haymarket, 280, 281 Square, 85 Tavern, 27 Theatre, 153, 281, 282 Hayward, Dr. George, 183, 279, 280 Dr. Lemuel, 183, 280 Hazelton, 175, 176 "Heart & Crown," 98 Heath, Gen. William, 201 Henshaw, Samuel, 234 Thomas, 268 Hewes (Hughes), Joshua, 40, 50, 52 Benjamin, 58 Hannah, 58 Lieut. Joshua, 50, 52, 53, 54, 57 Joshua (the Younger), 57 Joshua, 58 Mary, 58 Hewes, Samuel, 58 Sarah, 58 Higgeson, Rev. Mr., 13 High Street, 26, 196 "High-way, The," 22 Hoar, Bridget (Lisle), no Leonard, no Hogg Alley, 31 Holyoke Street, 42 Homans, Caroline, 185 Charles Dudley, 185 John, 184 Mehitable, 255 Hooper, Nathaniel, 279 Howard, Abigail, 13 Atheneum, 169 Mary, 116 Street, 23 Howe, General, 214 Hubbard, John, 166 Hudson, William, 173, 177, 186, 189 William, the Younger, 187 River, 249 Hudson's Lane, 188 Hughes, see Hewes Hull, Hannah, 161 John, 1 60 Judith (Quincy), 160, 162 Huske, Ellis, 59 Hutchinson, Anne, 86 Edward, 119, 121, 122 Thomas, 119, 121 Independent Chronicle, 79 Company of Cadets, 135 Ledger and American Advertiser, 273 Indian Bible, 109 College, 41 Queen Tavern, 262 Inns, Country, 170 Izard, Major General George, 243 Jackson, Judge Charles, 243 General Henry, 135 Lieut. Col. Henry, 223 Joseph, 135 Susannah Gray, 135 292 INDEX Jacobin Party, 281 Jarvis's Corner, 25 Johnson, Abigail, 86 Edward, 14, 45 James, 85 Jones, John Coffin, 136 Jordan Marsh Company, 97 Josselyn, John, 18 Keayne, Capt. Robert, 186 Keith's Theatre, 31 Kidd, Capt. William, 64 Kidder, Tabitha, 176 Kilby Street, 26, 123, 173, 187 King Charles I, 37 Charles II, 19, 190 George I, 222 George II, 252 George III, 50, 121, 203 Henry III, 246 John, 44 Louis XVI, 210 Richard II, 248 Street, 64, 108, 173 Street Massacre, 174 William, 114 William's War, in King's Chapel, 121, 129, 133, 179, 228, 231, 233, 244 Vestrymen of, 210 Kingsley, Stephen, 185, 260 Kneeland, Samuel, 63 & Green, 63 Knight, Madam Sarah, 72 Lafayette, General, 68 Lamb, 33 Capt. Joshua, 56 Tavern, 31 Thomas, 278 Lamb's Dam, 56 Lancaster, 226 Latin School, 211 Laughton, William, 245 Lawrence Building, 280 Leverett, Hudson, 38, 159, 160, 216, 221 John, 158, 228 Leverett, John, the Younger, 159 Capt. John, 187 Gov. John, 37 Maj. Gen. John, 254 Sir John, 50 Lot, the, 155 Thomas, 95 Leverett's Pasture, 37, 157, 163, 216, 235 Lewis, William, 266 Liberty Square, 85 Lion Tavern, 32 Lisle, Alicia, no John, no Little, Brown & Co., 88 Long Acre, 23, 198, 267, 273 John, 245 Street, 271 Wharf, 82 Longwood, 82 Love Lane, 26 Lucas, John, 90 Luce, Peter, 231 Lynde, Hannah (Newgate), 160 Simon, 23, 159 Street, 82 M Mackerel Lane, 26, 173, 187 Mall, The, 33, 70, 76, 77, 80, 152 Man, John, 216, 217 Manley, William, 59 Manufactory House, 271 Scheme, 197 Marblehead, 223 Marlborough Street, 43, 232, 262 Market, Clerks of the, 246 Place, 108 Maritime Court, 65 Marriott, Catherine, 253 John, Jr., 221 Powers, 253 Marshall, John, 219 Masathulet's Bay, 13 Mason, Arthur, 189, 191 Ralph, 89 Street, 23, 85, 142, 280 Masonic organizations in 1830, 148 Temple, 24, 147, 276 Massachusetts, 14 origin of Senate and House, 1 86 293 INDEX Massachusetts, Bank, 273 Centinel, 270 Charitable Mechanic Association, 81, 137 Gazette, 269 Hospital Life Insurance Co., 241 Humane Society, 177 Institute of Technology, 279 Legislature, 279 Magazine, 171, 241 Militia, 68 Spy, 70, 240 Mather, Rev. Cotton, 49, 97, 224, 254 Mather's Memorable Providence, 225 Matross Company, 66 Maud, Daniel, 185, 259 Mary, 261 Maverick, Samuel, 29, 189 Mayflower, 266 McAdam, John Loudon, 73 McLean, John, 216 Mears, Samuel, 55 Medfprd, 174 Melvin & Badger, 280 Melyen's Corner, 23 Mendon, 39, 43 Merrimac River, 62 Middle Street, 62 Milk, a Lover of, 153 Street, 196 Mill Cove, 87 Pond, 58, 87, 169 Miller, Joseph, 90 Mills, John, 245 Milton, 174, 175 Academy, 176 Minot, William, 183 Mint, First in N. E., 161 Moody, Rev. Joshua, 225 Morse's Corner, 25 Morton, Rev. Charles, 224 Thomas, 57 "Mother Goose," 98, 100 Mount Auburn Street, 42 Muddy River, 163 Munson, Robert, 229, 230 N Natick, 39, 48 Narragansetts, 39 Neal, Daniel, 166 Nelson, John, 195 Neponset River, 175 Newberry Ward, 24 Newbury Street, 24, 25, 27, 28, 95, 99, 251 Newburyport, 243 New England, 192 Asylum for the Blind, 278 Bank, 278 Guards, 243 Mutual Life Insurance Co., 241 Plantation, 13 Weekly Journal, 63 "New England's First Fruits," 42 Newgate, Hannah, 160 John, I 60 New London, 62, 63 Newton, 173 Newtone, 192 New York, 68, 70, 245, 279 Stage, 70 Nicholson, Francis, 194 Nightwatchmen, duties of, 15 Nipmuck Country, 40 Nipmucks, 39 "Noah's Ark," 190 Nonacoicus, in Nonantum Hill, 173 Noodle Island, 29 North Church, 224 End, 26, 190, 211 End Coffee House, 122 Lot, 35 Railway Station, 58 Street, 122 Northampton Street, 56 Northumberland, Duke of, 203 Nova Scotia, 65, 194 O Oakes, Dr. Thomas, 25 Ockes, Frederick, 245 Odin, George, 94 Oke's Corner, 25 Old Granary Burying Ground, 270 Landmarks of Boston, 200 South Church, too, 109, 124, 157, 161, 203, 215, 218, 219, 222, 226, 252, 262, 274 Oliver, Grace, 48 294 INDEX Oliver, James, 191 Nathaniel, 218 Thomas, 48 Orange Street, 24, 82 Orange Tree Tavern, 169 Osborn, Catherine, 94 John, 81, 93, 94, 144 lot, 105 Otis, James, 64 Owen, George, 51 Oxnard, Edward, 199 Thomas, 60, 196, 199 Thomas, the Younger, 199 Paddock, Adnio, 66, 266, 269 Zachariah, 266 Paddock's Mall, 269 Train of Artillery, 266 Papanti, Lorenzo, 143 Park Square, 233 Street, 23, 123 Street Church, 123, 198, 259 Theatre, 28 Parker, Capt. James, ill Rev. Samuel, 135 Parsons, Joseph, 218 Street, 26 Thomas William, 249 William, 89, 105 "Pear Orchard," 82 Pearl Street, 278 Pease, Levi, 66, 174 Nathaniel, 74 Pembroke, Benjamin, 251 Benjamin, the Younger, 251 Ebenezer, 252 James, 251 Sarah, 251 fund, 252 Hill, 200 Pennsylvania, Commonwealth of, 212 Pequot War, 118 Percy, Hugh, 134, 200, 210 Perkins, Institute, 278 Thomas Handasyd, 278 Pessacus, 46 Philadelphia, 210, 211, 245, 278, 279 Philip's War, 39, 40, 41, 57, 219, 221, 222, 226 Phillips, William, 215 William, the Younger, 215 Phipps, Gov. Sir William, 46, 164 Picketts, Mercy, 222 "Pie Alley," 165, 166 "Pig-case," 185 Pig Lane, 26 Pilgrim Fathers, 212 Pillory and Stocks, 280 Pitcairn, Major, 134, 204 Pitts, James, 168 Lane, 169 Street, 169 Point Judith, 161 Police Records and Recollections, 16 Pollards, 194 Pons, Thomas, 223 Pope, Betsey, 93 Edward, 93 Pormont, Philemon, 260 Susann, 260 Porter, David, 122 Port Royal, 194 Siege of, 165 Portsmouth, 178, 239 Powell, Charles Stuart, 282 Pownal, Gov. Thomas, 249 Praske, Ann, 43 Pratt, Edward, 52 Prescott, Oliver, 131 Price, Ezekiel, 248 Rev. Roger, 129 Major William, 132 Prince Street, 26 Printing, a History of, 240 " Prison Engine Company," loo, 134 Lane, 64, 100 Province House, 197 Provident Institution for Savings, 278 Pudding Lane, 26, 98 Purchase Street, 236 Q Quabog, 164 Quebec, 176, 193 Queen Anne, 193 Street, 64 Quincey, Anna, no Daniel, no Quincy, Edmund, 160 Judith, 1 60 295 INDEX R Rainesborough, Col. William, 187 Rambles around Old Boston, 213 Rauschner, John Christian, 245 Rawson, Edward, 47, 266 Grindall, 47 Rawson's Lane, 262, 266 Recreation Facilities, 149 Rents in provincial times, 90 Revere, Paul, 81,85 Rhode Island, Campaign in, 223 Richards, John, 90, 217 Richardson, Amos, 51 Robberies in Boston, 125 Roberts, John, 245 Robin, L'Abbe", 207 Rochambeau, Count, 207 Rogers, William Barton, 278 Romanock, 42, 43, 44, 51 Ross, Jean, 211 Roulstone, John, 150 Roxbury, 243 Charitable Society, 177 train-band, 53 Ruskin, John, 243 Russell, Edward, 245 Joseph, 136 Samuel, 245 Saint Ann's Parish, 129 Andrew's Church, 121 Paul's Church, 13, 144, 176, 224, 237, 243, 279, 282 Purchase of a Site for, 94 Vitus's Dance, 225 Salem, 243, 245 Street Printer, a, 239 train-band, 119 Salutation Alley, 26 Inn, 26 Sampford, John, 186 Sargent, Lucius Manlius, 198 Savage, Abijah, 277 Edward H., 16 Ephraim, 163 Faith, 163 James, 277, 278 Thomas, 57, 58, 163, 277 Savage's Court, 278 School Street, 123, 212 Schuylkill River, 212 Scollay, William, 135 Scot's Charitable Society, 195 Scott, Rebeckah, 90 Sir Walter, 248 Sears Building, 37, 158 David, 93, 95, 145 Second Church, 224 Selectmen of Boston, 79, 212, 227, 246 Sergeant Major of Middlesex, 226 Sewall, Farm, 163 Joseph, 252, 254 Samuel, 25, 97, 107, no, 116, 161, 163, 191, 194 Shaffer, John H., 143, 144 Sheafe, Henry, 27 Street, 161 William, 200 Sheafe's Lane, 27, 28, 31, 32 Shedd, Joseph, 60 Sheep Lane, 27 Shepard Norwell Company, 105 Sherman, Abigail, 227 Elizabeth, 185, 186 Richard, 185 lot, 192 Shimmin, William, 94, 144, 145 Ship Tavern, 190 Shirley, Gov. William, 249 Shrimpton's Lane, 128, 191 Sigourney, John R., 235 " Silver Scheme," 197 Simmons, Wheelock and, 245 Simpson, Joseph, 251 Skating in 1775, 205 Slavery in Mass., 29 Smallpox, 212 Smith, Matthias, 97 Smoking, statute regulating, 49 Snelling, Joseph, 245 Society for Propagation of the Gos- pel in N. E., 41, 231 Somers, Conn, 68 Somerset St., 176, 278 Soreze, France, 211 Southack, Capt., 23 South Bennet Street, 224 South End, 27, 46, 143, 198, 211, 221, 282 Lot, 83 296 INDEX Spinners and Weavers, Company of Irish, 271 Spinning-Craze, 271, 273 School, 271 "Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes," 109 Spooner, John, 253 Sprague, Dr. John, 67, 235 Spring Gate, 106 Lane, 106 Stagecoach, father of the, 68 drivers, 78 houses, 77 lines, 70 lines, competition between, 143 routes and rates, 73 Stamp Act, Repeal of, 268 State Constitution, 30 House, 20, 1 08 Street, 81, 108, 173, 280 Stearns, R. H. & Co., 149, 279 Stedman, Thomas, 43 Steel, Capt. Thomas, 195, 196 Stoddard, Anthony, 190 Solomon, 190 Stone, Anne, 251 Stoughton, Gov., 217 Strong, Gpv. Caleb, 215, 216 Stuart, Gilbert, 179 Suffolk County Brigade, 66 Regiment, 45 Savings Bank, 278 Troop, 219 Sullivan, George, 94, 95, 144 Sarah Bowdoin, 95 William, 144, 147 Summer Street, 24, 221, 223 Supreme Court, 30 "Surveighor of Chimneys," 225 Sutton, 40, 51 Capt. Bartholomew, 100 Swan, Hepzibah, 136 James, 136 "Sweetbrier," 212 Swett, Lucia Gray, 243 Col. Samuel, 242 W. B. & Co., 243 Tax lists, 238 Temple Place, 24, 89, 95, 147, 276 "Ten-Foot-Strip," 105 Theatre Royal, 282 Thacher, Rev. Thomas, 226 Thomas, Fidelity, 239 Isaiah, 239 Moses, 239 & Andrews, 240 Thompson, Ann, 176 Nancy, 183 Thomas, 79, 176, 183 Thompson's Spa, 166 Ticonderoga, 68 Tileston Street, 26 Toll rates, 171 Town directory, 224 hay scales, 280 house, 108, 127 house, first, 89 meeting, 170 records, 15, 16, 18, 21, 44, 128 regulations in 1701, 264 thanks of, 212 Townsend, Colonel, 23 Traffic regulations, 170, 171 Training Day, 62 Travels through North America, 198 Travelers' Impressions of Boston, 207 Tremont Bank, 241 Building, 23 House, 270 Tremont Street, 13, 21, 22, 31, 32, 37, 82, 87, 95, 105, 135, 142, 145, 147, 159, 166, i?6, 183, 185, 197, 213, 216, 249, 259, 266, 267, 268, 279, 280 Mall, 270 neighbors, 257 pavings, 238 Tremont Theatre, 281 Trinity Church, 25, 121, 135, 231 Trott, George, 224, 244 George, Jr., 224 Tuckerman, Daniel Tent, 133 Turfrey, Capt., 25 Turnagain Alley, 24, 147 Turner's Company, Capt. William, 46 Tyler, Jonas, 152 Tyng, Edward, 227 Eunice, 227 Jonathan, in 297 INDEX u Union Street, 85, 212 United States Direct Tax, 78, 223, 237 Usher, Bridget, no, 118 Hezekiah, 107 Hezekiah, the Younger, no John, 112, 114 Vane, Gov. Henry, 260 Venner, Thomas, 106 Vergoose, Elizabeth, 98 Peter, 96 Vernon Street, 53 Vetch, Margaret, 195 Samuel, 193, 195, 197 William, 193 Vinton, Alexander Hamilton, 279 W Wainwright, Elizabeth, 118, 120 Francis, 118, 189 John, 118, 120 Mary, 119 Wales, Ebenezer, 268 John, 44 Mary, 44 Walker, Dudley, 185 Eleanor (Clark), 185 Robert, 157 Walter, Rev. Dr. William, 177 Wampas, Ann, 43, 50, 52 John, 38, 41, 47, 89, 216 Wampum, 162 Ward, Edward, 18 Eleven Company, 65 Wardell, Jonathan, 169 Warren, Dr. John, 213 Dr. Joseph, 64 Gen. Joseph, 124, 138 de Warville, Jacques Pierre Brissott, 208 Washington Gardens, 129, 142, 144, 147, 149, 282 George, 71, 74, 174, 212 Street, 13, 20, 24, 25, 27, 31, 32, 53, 54, 59, 80, 82, 88, 95, -98, 123, 145, 165, 174, 177, 223, 229, 232, 251, 253 "Water Baylies," 186 Water Street, 98 Weaver, Sarah, 253 Weaving and Spinning, 271 Webb, Dosabell, 87 Henry, 87 Webster, Daniel, 94 Weld, Isaac, 73 Welles Corner, 24 West Africa, 129 End, 82, 160 John, 113 Street, 13, 24, 31, 86, 87, 89, 105, 142, 145, 268, 280 Wheelock & Simmons, 245 Whipping-post, 280 White, Edmund, 191 Samuel, 217 Horse Tavern, 28, 280 Whiting, George, 176 Whitmore, William H., 100 Wickham, Capt., 28 Wilby, Francis, 94 Wilkinson, Thomas, 245 Willard, Abigail Sherman, 227 Eunice, 227 Jonah, 222 Mary, in Rev. Samuel, 222, 225 Simon, in Major Simon, 225 Solomon, 144 Willey, Edward, 193 Elizabeth, 193 Ruth, 193 William Street, 79 Williams Court, 165 House, 211 James, 59, 1 68 James, Jr., 168 John, 135, 199, 210 Jonathan, 122, 124, 127, 133 Jonathan, the Younger, 122 Martha, 133 Rebecca (Bushell), 60 Willis, Capt. Edward, 192 Willis's heirs, 194 Lane, 166, 192 Wilson, Mrs. Hannah (Gray), 177 Wing, John, 188 Robert, 89 Winter Place, 229 298 INDEX Winter Street, 13, 20, 24, 33, 37, 59, 67, 82, 89, 135, 145, 147, 157, 159, 166, 172, 174, 184, 185, 189, 192, 194, 195, 197, 212, 213, 215, 2l6, 217, 2l8, 22O, 221, 222, 223, 235, 237, 239, 242, 244, 248, 249, 250, 251, 253, 266 Lots, 181, 216, 228 Residents, 244 Winthrop, Adain, 196 John, 17, 20, 37, 38, IDS, 115, 185, 196, 260 John, Jr., 260 Katharine (Brattle), Il6 Mary (Browne), 116 Winthrop Street, 108 Wait-still, 115 Winthrop 's Company, 14 Wise, Rev. John, 164 Withington's Company, 46 Woburn, 14 Wollaston, 89 Wonder Working Providence, 14, 45 Woolcot, John, 192 Worcester, 240 Wyard, Robert, 37, 90, 159 Wyer, Alice (Fitzpatrick), 177 Yale, David, 191 299 A 000676716 4