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ARMS  OF  WILSON, 

Of  Penrith,   Co.   Cumberland,  and   Wellsbourne,    Lincolnshire. 
Granted    I  586. 


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0. 


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^F^ 


The 

bostonirn 
Society 

Publications. 

Vol.  6 


Boston 
Old  Sthte  House 

<  .  ==3 

MCMX 


f 

73 


V,6 


CONTENTS. 


John  Wilson 9 

Frank  E.  B radish. 

The  Visit  of  the  West  Point  Cadets  to  Boston, 

1^21 53 

William  Clarence  Burrage. 

The  Middlesex  Canal 67 

Moses   Whitcher  Mann.^ 

Boston's  Last  Town   Meetings   and   First   City 

Election 89 

James  Mascarene  Hubbard. 

Documents  from  Originals  in  the  Society's  Col- 
lections, with  Annotations  .         .         .         .       121 

Wm.   T.  R.  Marvin. 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Wilson  Arms faces  title 

By  the  courtesy  of  Thomas  Minns,  Esq. 

The  John  Wilson  Memorial  Tablet  in  the  First 

Church  in  Boston 50 

From  a  Sketch  by   W.  P.  Bodwell. 

U.  S.  Military  Academy,  West  Point  .         .         54 

From  an  early  Print. 

Certificate  of  Stock,  and  Route  of   the   Mid- 
dlesex Canal 7© 

Canal  and  Railroad,  Wo  burn      .         .         .         .         72 

From  a  photograph. 

The  Granite  Arch,  Medford       .        .         .         .         74 

From  a  photograph. 

Old  Lock  Gates  at  North  Billerica  .         .         .         85 

From  a  photograph. 


JOHN   WILSON 

BY 

FRANK  E.  BRADISH. 


JOHN  WILSON 


A  PAPER  READ  BEFORE  THE  BOSTONIAN  SOCIETY,  COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 
OLD   STATE   HOUSE,  MARCH   10,  1908,  BY 

FRANK   E.   BRADISH 


iVER  memorable  by  us,  their  descend- 
ants, are  the  virtues  of  the  Puritans 
who  settled  New  England,  —  those 
brave  men,  full  of  faith,  who  went  out 
under  God's  guidance,  not  knowing 
whither  they  went :  but  while  the  enterprise  demanded 
of  them  all  the  sacrifice  of  comfort  and  safety,  there 
were  among  them  a  few  who  renounced  ease,  and 
luxury,  and  a  high  worldly  ambition.  Conspicuous  in 
this  small  class  was  the  Rev.  John  Wilson,  the  first 
Pastor  of  Boston.  Mather's  remark  that  "  he  was 
descended  from  eminent  ancestors "  voices  rather  the 
general  knowledge  as  to  his  influential  connections 
than  a  genealogical  fact. 


lO  John  Wilson. 

His  pedigree  runs  back  three  generations  to  a  respect- 
able stock  among  the  country  gentry.  His  earliest 
known  ancestor  of  the  Wilson  name  is  his  great-grand- 
father, William  Wilson  of  Penrith,  Co.  Cumberland,  who 
was  born  about  the  year  1490.  His  son,  William  Wil- 
son the  second,  was  born  at  Penrith  early  in  the  reign 
of  Henry  VHI,  and  removed  to  Lincolnshire  where  he 
acquired  a  considerable  estate.  He  established  his  place 
among  the  landed  gentry,  and  the  family  coat-of-arms 
was  confirmed  to  him  in  the  year  1586.  He  died  at  the 
home  of  his  son  in  Windsor  Castle,  and  was  buried  there. 
On  a  brass  plate  in  St.  George's  Chapel  is  this  inscrip- 
tion :  — "  William  Wilson  late  of  Wellsbourne  in  the 
County  of  Lincolne,  Gent,  departed  this  Lyfe  within  the 
Castle  of  Windsor,  in  the  Yeare  of  our  Lord  1587.  the 
27th  Day  of  August,  and  lyeth  buried  in  this  Place.'* 

His  son,  William  Wilson,  the  third,  the  father  of  the 
Rev.  John  Wilson,  was  born  at  Wellsbourne  in  1542, 
and  inherited  his  father's  ambition  and  the  ability  to  ac- 
complish it.  He  was  educated  at  Merton  College,  Ox- 
ford, taking  his  Bachelor's  degree  in  1564,  and  his 
Master's  degree  in  1570.  A  man  of  the  world,  he  un- 
derstood thoroughly  the  arts  by  which  men  rise,  and 
estimated  accurately  the  opportunities  of  his  own  posi- 
tion; every  friend  he  made  possessed  power  or  influence, 
and  whether  they  were  noblemen  or  commoners,  in  some 
mysterious  way  he  "grappled  them  to  his  soul  with 
hooks  of  steel,"  so  that  his  son  as  well  as  himself  long 


John  Wilson.  II 

reaped  the  rewards  of  his  social  skill.  He  utilized  the 
possibilities  of  matrimony  in  the  line  of  his  profession  by 
marrying  Isabel  Woodhall,  a  niece  of  Edmund  Grindall, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  descended  like  himself  from 
the  north-country  gentry.  The  advantages  of  this  pru- 
dent alliance  were  at  once  apparent ;  he  became  a  chap- 
lain of  the  Archbishop,  and  added  living  to  living,  — 
each  one  better  than  the  last.  He  was  Rector  of  Islip 
in  Oxfordshire,  and  of  Cliffe  and  of  Caxton  in  Kent ;  a 
Prebendary  of  Rochester  Cathedral  and  of  St.  Paul's  in 
London,  and  a  Canon  of  Windsor,  where  he  made  his 
home ;  he  was  also  a  devisee  and  legatee  under  the  Arch- 
bishop's will,  and,  as  a  part  of  his  legacy  was  in  books, 
his  academic  degrees  were,  perhaps,  not  empty  titles, 
but  indicated  considerable  scholarship  and  a  taste  for 
reading. 

John  Wilson,  born  at  his  father's  home  in  Windsor 
Castle  in  1588,  seemed  destined  for  a  brilliant  future. 
The  powerful  connections  which  so  often  freed  him  from 
the  oppression  of  the  Bishops  during  his  Puritan  career 
were  sufficient,  if  he  had  remained  a  High  Churchman, 
to  raise  him  to  any  dignity  to  which  he  might  aspire. 
Starting  far  up  on  the  ladder  of  preferment,  guided 
by  his  ambitious  father,  what  promotion  might  he 
not  expect  ?  Lands  and  livings  and  bishoprics,  — 
even  the  chair  of  his  great-uncle  at  Canterbury,  —  were 
within  his  reach  if  he  had  deemed  these  the  prizes  of  his 
high  calling.     From  his  birth   he   was  surrounded  by 


12  John  Wilson. 

scenes  and  events  adapted  to  stimulate  ambition,  and  to 
nourish  a  taste  for  luxury  and  display.  As  soon  as  he 
was  old  enough  to  leave  home  he  was  sent  to  Eton, 
within  sight  of  his  birth-place  and  only  a  short  distance 
away. 

Windsor  and  Eton  have  always  been  closely  united  in 
the  care  of  the  kings  who  founded  and  supported  them, 
in  the  affections  of  the  high-born  youth  who  are  edu- 
cated at  the  one  place  and  attend  upon  their  sovereign 
at  the  other,  and  in  the  verses  of  the  poets  to  whom 
their  natural  beauties  so  strongly  appeal. 

The  most  familiar  lines  in  which  these  two  places  are 
commemorated  together,  were  written  a  century  later 
than  John  Wilson's  time  by  the  most  learned  man  in 
Europe,  Thomas  Gray,  himself  an  Etonian. 

"  Ye  distant  spires,  ye  antique  towers, 

That  crown  the  watery  glade, 

Where  grateful  Science  still  adores 

Her  Henry's  holy  shade ; 
And  ye,  that  from  the  stately  brow 
Of  Windsor's  heights  the  expanse  below 
Of  grove,  of  lawn,  of  mead,  survey, 
Whose  turf,  whose  shade,  whose  flowers  among, 
Wanders  the  hoary  Thames  along 
His  silver-winding  way." 

At  this  school,  the  traditions  of  which  have  been  so 
highly  prized  by  generations  of  statesmen  and  scholars, 
John  Wilson  passed  his  boyhood's  years.     His  stability 


John  Wilson.  1 3 

of  character  was  recognized  when  he  was  appointed  a 
praeposter  while  he  was  yet  the  smallest  boy  in  the 
school,  and  although  the  fact  that  his  father  had  many 
powerful  friends  may  have  marked  him  out  for  public 
honor,  he  must  certainly  have  attained  a  good  rank  by  his 
scholarship  when,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  he  was  chosen  by 
the  Master  to  address  in  a  Latin  salutatory  the  Due  de 
Biron,  who  visited  Eton  while  ambassador  from  Henry 
of  Navarre  to  Queen  Elizabeth.  The  Duke  was  much 
pleased  with  this  address,  and  presented  three  golden 
angels  to  the  youthful  orator. 

That  unimpassioned  philosopher,  Mr.  John  Stuart 
Mill,  has  testified  to  the  elevating  influence  upon  his 
own  mind  of  a  short  residence  in  one  of  the  ancient 
confiscated  abbeys  of  England ;  what  then  must  have 
been  the  effect  on  an  emotional  nature  like  John  Wil- 
son's, of  spending  all  his  early  years  among  these  homes 
of  learning  and  of  majesty.  When  he  was  not  studying 
the  classics  at  Eton  he  was  at  home  in  Windsor,  rowing 
on  the  winding  river,  by  the  shores  where  Caesar's  war- 
horse  stamped ;  wandering  through  the  park  under  those 
wide-spreading  oaks  beneath  whose  shade  Edward  the 
Confessor  and  William  the  Conqueror  rode  together ; 
having  his  home  within  that  mighty  castle,  which  was 
even  then  the  most  superb  royal  residence  in  Europe. 
Living  thus  within  its  walls,  a  boy  would  become  famil- 
iar with  every  corner  of  the  huge  pile ;  in  his  imagina- 
tion all  its  legends  would  be  again  instinct  with   life ; 


14  John  Wilso7i. 

every   door   would    open    upon    some    grand,    historic 
event : 

•'  And  hark  !  the  portals  sound,  and  pacing  forth 
With  solemn  steps  and  slow, 
High  potentates  and  dames  of  royal  birth, 
And  mitred  fathers  in  long  order  go. 


"  Girt  with  many  a  baron  bold. 

Sublime  their  starry  fronts  they  rear ; 
And  gorgeous  dames,  and  statesmen  old 

In  bearded  majesty,  appear." 

The  daily  incidents  of  his  life  could  hardly  seem  com- 
monplace, for  the  windows  of  his  father's  house  looked 
across  the  Windsor  Terrace  over  that  incomparable  view 
which  has  been  the  dehght  of  generations  of  monarchs, 
and  every  day  he  would  attend  service  in  that  glorious 
church,  the  walls  of  which  are  encrusted  with  the  memo- 
rials of  heroes,  and  emperors  and  kings,  sheltered  by 
that  roof  which  is  at  once  the  admiration  and  the  de- 
spair of  architects.  Many  times  must  he  have  seen  the 
gorgeous  pageant,  when  the  Knights  of  the  Garter 
assembled  in  the  Castle  to  celebrate  in  his  own  chapel 
the  festival  of  their  patron,  Saint  George ;  when  the  sov- 
ereign, attended  by  the  most  distinguished  of  England's 
statesmen  and  peers,  clad  in  crimson  silk  and  cloth  of 
gold,  and  wearing  around  their  necks  the  great  emblem 
of  their  Order,  set  with  glittering  gems,  took  part  in 
that  stately  ceremonial,  so   foreign   to   our   republican 


John  Wilson.  15 

imagination,  —  the  procession  and  the  recession,  the 
king's  oblation,  with  his  slow  advance  to  the  chancel, 
his  train  constantly  increasing  as,  with  the  formal  pause 
and  salutation  at  each  stall,  the  knights  one  by  one  fell 
into  line,  until  the  whole  superb  company  was  moving 
slowly  toward  the  altar;  the  many  reverences  to  the 
altar  and  to  the  king,  —  the  dinner,  served  to  the  proud 
music  of  the  trumpet  and  the  drum,  —  in  which  it  was 
his  father's  duty  to  take  part. 

From  this  environment  of  pomp  and  splendor  John 
Wilson  was  removed  in  his  natural  promotion  as  an 
Etonian  to  that  other  loved  foundation  of  King  Henry 
VI,  King's  College,  Cambridge.  Upon  a  boy  of  schol- 
arly tastes  the  influence  of  university  life  is  very 
marked,  and  to  such  a  boy  as  young  Wilson  it  must 
have  been  stimulating  in  the  highest  degree.  The  cen- 
tury and  a  half  that  had  elapsed  since  the  pious  king  on 
February  12,  1441,  had  laid  with  his  own  hand  the  first 
stone  of  the  chapel  walls,  were  marked  by  the  greatest 
changes  in  social  and  political  life  that  appear  in  English 
history ;  Plantagenet,  Lancaster  and  York  and  Tudor  had 
passed  across  the  stage,  and  with  them  had  vanished 
into  oblivion  both  feudalism  and  despotism.  The  age 
of  political,  intellectual  and  spiritual  freedom  had 
dawned.  The  college  buildings  were  small  and  mean 
compared  with  those  that  had  hitherto  been  young 
Wilson's  home,  except  the  chapel,  the  work  of  the 
mighty  Tudor,  which  the  great  Elizabeth,  on  her  visit 


1 6  John  Wilson. 

in  August,   1564,  had   praised  as  "beautiful  above  all 
others  in  her  realme." 

*'  So  deemed  the  man  who  fashioned  for  the  sense 
Those  lofty  pillars,  spread  that  branching  roof, 
Self-poised,  and  scooped  into  ten  thousand  cells. 
Where  light  and  shade  repose,  where  music  dwells, 
Lingering,  and  wandering  on  as  loath  to  die ; 
Like  thoughts  whose  very  sweetness  yieldeth  proof 
That  they  were  born  for  immortality." 

High  and  noble  aspirations  filled  John  Wilson's  soul 
under  the  inspiration  of  these  surroundings,  and  the 
companionship  of  aged  scholars  and  ingenuous  youth. 
As  his  individuality  began  to  develop,  he  felt  that  he 
was  called  to  the  religious  life,  and  he  became  the 
centre  of  a  group  of  young  men  of  a  similar  mode  of 
thought,  who  met  in  his  rooms  for  religious  conversation 
and  prayer.  At  first  his  domestic  and  scholastic  train- 
ing prejudiced  him  strongly  against  the  Puritans ;  but 
study  and  inquiry  led  him  to  accept  their  views,  and  he 
began  to  question  the  authority  of  the  Established 
Church  as  expressed  in  its  form  of  worship.  For  this 
the  Bishop  threatened  to  expel  him  from  the  University, 
but  his  father  exerted  himself  through  his  friends,  and 
the  sentence  was  suspended  for  three  months.  This 
interval,  spent  in  consulting  celebrated  divines,  only 
fixed  him  more  firmly  in  his  opinions,  and  his  father 
therefore  withdrew  him  from  Cambridge  and  entered 
him  at  the  Inns  of  Court  in  London  to  study  law. 


John  Wilso7i.  17 

The  three  years  thus  spent  in  the  capital  were  not 
wasted ;  his  father  took  care  that  he  should  have  good 
introductions,  so  that  he  moved  in  the  best  society  and 
made  many  valuable  friends.  He  became  familiar  with 
all  the  life  of  the  greatest  free  city  in  the  world,  and  the 
illustration  of  certain  of  its  phases,  which  delight  us  in 
The  Fortunes  of  Nigel,  would  have  been  merely  realistic 
commonplace  to  John  Wilson. 

As  the  study  of  the  law  and  the  distractions  of  metro- 
politan life  did  not  weaken  Mr.  Wilson's  inclination 
toward  religion  and  theology,  his  father  reluctantly  per- 
mitted him  to  return  to  Cambridge  for  his  Master's 
degree,  which  would  have  been  denied  him  because  of 
his  Puritan  views,  had  not  the  written  command  of  his 
father's  friend,  the  Earl  of  Northampton,  Chancellor  of 
the  University,  subdued  the  scruples  of  the  Vice-Chan- 
cellor. Mr.  Wilson  obtained  his  degree,  but  he  chose 
to  make  his  residence,  not  at  the  royal  foundation  where 
he  had  been  bred,  but  at  the  new  Puritan  college,  Em- 
manuel. It  was  at  this  time  that  he  uttered  his  solemn 
resolution,  "  That  if  the  Lord  would  grant  him  liberty 
of  conscience  with  purity  of  worship,  he  would  be  con- 
tent, yea  thankful,  though  it  were  at  the  furthermost 
end  of  the  world." 

He  had  just  begun  to  preach  in  those  towns  in 
which  Puritanism  had  already  gained  a  footing,  when 
his  father's  life  ended  on  May  15,  161 5.  The  aged 
clergyman  blessed  his  offspring  in  patriarchal   fashion, 


iS  John  Wilson. 

as  they  knelt  in  succession  at  his  bedside.  With  John 
Wilson  was  "  that  vertuous  young  gentlewoman,  Eliza- 
beth, the  pious  daughter  of  Lady  Mansfield,  the  widow 
of  Sir  John  Mansfield,  the  Master  of  the  Minories,  to 
whom  he  was  just  betrothed.  To  him  his  father  said, 
*Ah,  John,  I  have  taken  much  care  about  thee,  such 
time  as  thou  wast  in  the  University,  because  thou 
wouldest  not  conform.  I  would  fain  have  brought  thee 
to  some  higher  preferment  than  thou  hast  yet  attained 
unto.  I  see  thy  conscience  is  very  scrupulous  concern- 
ing some  things  that  have  been  observed  and  imposed 
in  the  Church.  Nevertheless  I  have  rejoiced  to  see  the 
grace  and  fear  of  God  in  thy  heart;  and  seeing  thou 
hast  kept  a  good  conscience  hitherto,  and  walked  accord- 
ing to  thy  light,  so  do  still,  and  go  by  the  rules  of  God's 
holy  Word.  The  Lord  bless  thee  and  her  whom  thou 
hast  chosen  to  be  the  companion  of  thy  life.'  "  The 
Rev.  William  Wilson  was  buried  beside  his  father  in 
St.  George's  Chapel  in  Windsor  Castle,  where  he  had 
officiated  so  many  years,  and  over  his  grave  is  this 
inscription : 

"  Here  underneath  lies  interr'd  the  Body  of 
William  Wilson,  Doctour  of  Divinitie  and  Pre- 
bendarie  of  this  Church  by  the  space  of  32  Years. 
He  had  Yssue  by  Isabell  his  Wife  six  Sons  and 
six  Daughters.  He  dy'd  the  15th  of  May  in  the 
Year  of  our  Lord  1615.  of  his  Age  the  73.  beloved 
of  all  in  his  Life,  much  lamented  in  his  Death." 


John  Wilson.  19 

His  father's  death  removed  the  only  restraint  on  John 
Wilson's  religious  enthusiasm,  and  his  objections  to  the 
liturgy  of  the  Church  of  England  became  more  and 
more  pronounced.  He  was  repeatedly  silenced  by  the 
Bishops,  only  to  be  set  at  liberty  to  preach  again  by  the 
overpowering  influence  of  the  noblemen  whom  his 
father's  worldly  wisdom  had  made  his  fast  friends. 
Wearied  at  length  by  perpetual  interruption  of  the 
work  to  which  he  believed  God  had  called  him,  he  lis- 
tened readily  to  the  proposals  of  the  Adventurers  to 
America.  He  had  then  been  preaching  for  fifteen  years 
to  the  Puritans  in  the  small  towns  of  southern  England, 
and  he  had  a  wide  acquaintance  among  those  who  were 
to  populate  the  western  world ;  both  ministers  and 
people  admired  his  solid  character  and  enjoyed  his 
fervid  eloquence,  and  they  strenuously  urged  him  to 
remove  with  them  across  the  ocean  and  to  mould  the 
theological  form  in  which  the  young  empire  was  to  be 
cast. 

During  the  years  preceding  the  emigration  the  princi- 
pal problems  that  would  arise  in  America  were  discussed 
by  the  firesides  of  Old  England,  and  the  passionate 
earnestness  with  which  John  Wilson  supported  Win- 
throp  in  his  struggle  with  Vane  was  partly  due  to  his 
feeling  that  they  had  answered  all  the  questions  in- 
volved and  had  determined  the  course  of  their  conduct 
before  they  ever  left  their  English  homes.  He  did  all 
in  his  power  to  forward  the  plans  of  Winthrop  and  his 


20  John  Wilson. 

associates,  and  on  the  22d  of  March,  1630,  he  sailed 
with  them  from  Southampton,  leaving  behind  him  his 
wife,  who  preferred  a  luxurious  home  with  her  mother 
in  London  to  the  hardships  and  perils  of  the  ocean  and 
the  wilderness. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  now  forty-two  years  old,  and  his  had 
been  an  active  career ;  he  had  already  done  one  life- 
work,  when  he  left  the  land  of  his  birth  to  begin  an- 
other life-work  in  the  new  world.  The  voyage  was 
tedious  as  well  as  dangerous  ;  more  than  two  months 
they  were  tossed  on  the  Atlantic,  and  it  was  the  time 
of  the  summer  solstice  when  they  cast  anchor  in  Salem 
harbor.  There  they  were  heartily  welcomed  by  Endicott 
and  his  company  who  had  crossed  before  them,  but  the 
accommodation  was  inadequate,  and  the  location  did  not 
suit  their  taste,  so  they  decided  at  once  to  remove  to 
Charlestown,  where  a  beginning  had  been  made  the  year 
before,  and  five  days  after  they  had  disembarked  they 
started  southward. 

They  had  had  enough,  just  then,  of  travel  by  water, 
and  there  were  no  conveyances  by  land,  and  no  roads 
at  all  —  for  the  Indians  were  always  pedestrians  — 
and  only  Indian  trails  ran  over  the  hills  of  Maiden  and 
Charlestown ;  so  on  that  bright,  warm  day  at  the  end  of 
June,  they  tramped  on  foot,  led  by  Indian  guides,  over 
the  long,  rough  way.  The  climate  to  them  was  bracing, 
and  their  new  surroundings  were  full  of  interest,  as 
bearing  on  the  life  before  them.     The  conversation  of 


John  Wilson.  ai 

these  cultivated  gentlemen  on  their  toilsome  journey 
was  surely  not  of  Mammon  nor  of  worldly  aggrandize- 
ment, but  of  the  methods  by  which  the  settlement  of 
New  England  might  be  made  subsidiary  to  the  growth 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  this  "  in  choice  word  and 
measured  phrase,  above  the  reach  of  ordinary  men.'* 
These  were  not  the  men  whom  Lowell  has  pictured  as 

"  Stern  men  with  empires  in  their  brains, 
Who  saw  in  vision  their  young  Ishmael  strain 
With  each  hard  hand  a  vassal  ocean's  mane." 

Mr.  Isaac  Johnson  and  the  Rev.  John  Wilson,  both 
the  sons  of  worldly  and  ambitious  clergymen,  had  re- 
nounced every  conceivable  opportunity  for  political  dis- 
tinction ;  and  John  Winthrop,  the  successful  lawyer, 
had  deliberately  chosen  the  wilderness  rather  than  St. 
Stephen's  storied  hall  as  his  field  of  labor.  Neither  of 
them  meant  to  fritter  away  his  energies  to  found  a 
nation  which  should  return  again  to  the  confusion  and 
turmoil  of  European  politics,  and  boast  of  a  power 
wholly  material.  For  themselves  they  sought  only  free- 
dom for  spiritual  growth ;  whatever  advantages  might 
come  to  the  Commonwealth,  they  believed  would  be 
won,  "  Not  by  might,  nor  by  power,  but  by  My  Spirit, 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts." 

The  footpath  by  which  they  travelled  led  them  into 
the  mystery  of  the  primeval  forest,  which  rose  dense 
and  black  on  either  side,  enclosing  them  in  gloom,  save 


22  John  Wilson. 

when  a  gleam  of  flickering  sunshine  could  be  seen  far 
before  them  in  some  long  vista  through  the  trees.  At 
noon  they  stopped  for  lunch  in  a  sheltered  dell,  where 
the  thick  green  moss  made  for  them  a  luxurious  couch 
on  the  banks  of  a  little  stream  that  now  ran  swift  and 
clear,  dancing  over  sparkling  sands,  and  again,  driven 
from  its  natural  path  by  a  fallen  tree,  made  its  way 
around  the  obstacle  in  eddies  and  rapids  white  with 
foam.  Here,  lulled  by  the  soothing  babble  of  the 
brook,  or  by  its  musical  complaint,  they  took  their 
needed  rest  and  ate  their  simple  repast,  "  while  the  cup 
of  still  and  serious  thought  went  round."  The  country 
was  not  like  the  much-tilled  surface  of  Old  England,  but 
the  land  had  a  wild  beauty  of  its  own  in  the  awful  height 
of  the  mighty  trees  towering  into  the  sky,  in  the  liquid 
murmur  of  the  waters,  in  the  color  of  the  violets  and 
columbines  and  anemones  at  their  feet,  and  in  the 
delicious  perfume  that  is  found  only  in  the  damp  and 
silent  forest.  At  last  from  a  hill-top  they  caught  sight 
of  the  broad  and  crystal  river  gliding  gently  to  its  union 
with  the  ocean. 

Arrived  in  Charlestown,  the  leaders  lodged  in  a 
wooden  building  erected  the  year  before,  called  "the 
great  house,"  while  the  multitude  slept  in  tents  and 
huts  about  the  hill.  On  July  30th  they  kept  a  fast,  and 
after  their  plain  religious  service  in  the  open  air  under 
the  great  oak,  Mr.  Isaac  Johnson,  the  Rev.  John  Wil- 
son, Governor  Winthrop,  and  Deputy  Governor  Dudley 


John  Wilson.  23 

stepped  forward  and  signed  a  church  covenant,  which 
has  been  the  spiritual  corner-stone  of  the  churches  of 
Charlestown  and  Boston,  expressed  as  follows :  —  "In 
the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  obedience  to 
His  holy  will  and  divine  ordinances  —  We  whose  names 
are  here  underwritten,  being  by  His  most  wise  and  good 
providence  brought  together  into  this  part  of  America  in 
the  Bay  of  the  Massachusetts,  and  desirous  to  unite  into 
one  congregation  or  church  under  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
our  head,  in  such  sort  as  becometh  all  those  whom  He 
hath  redeemed  and  sanctified  to  Himself,  do  hereby 
solemnly  and  religiously,  as  in  His  most  holy  presence, 
promise  and  bind  ourselves  to  walk  in  all  our  ways  ac- 
cording to  the  rule  of  the  Gospel,  and  in  all  sincere  con- 
formity to  His  holy  ordinances,  and  in  mutual  love  and 
respect  to  each  other,  so  near  as  God  shall  give  us 
grace." 

On  the  27th  of  August,  after  another  fast,  John  Wil- 
son was  ordained  teacher  of  the  infant  church  by  im- 
position of  hands,  "but  only,"  says  Winthrop,  "as  a 
sign  of  election,  and  not  with  any  intent  that  Mr. 
Wilson  should  renounce  his  ministry  which  he  received 
in  England." 

Charlestown,  however,  was  as  little  suited  as  Salem  to 
the  needs  of  the  new-comers,  for  the  water  was  brackish, 
and  many  were  overpowered  by  sickness  and  death ;  so 
the  invitation  of  Mr.  Blackstone  soon  prevailed  upon  the 
survivors  to  cross  the  Charles  and  settle  on  the  penin- 


24  John  Wilson. 

sula,  where  were  good  springs  of  fresh  water.  In  Bos- 
ton Mr.  Wilson  was  again  ordained  to  the  ministry,  and 
became  the  ecclesiastical  ancestor  of  that  long  line  of 
holy  men  whose  eloquence  and  learning  have  adorned 
religion  in  that  city  down  to  our  day. 

Although  that  inexhaustible  fountain  from  which 
Spring  Lane  takes  its  name  was  the  inducement  to 
their  removal,  the  settlers  did  not  make  their  homes 
immediately  around  it.  The  centre  of  the  original  Bos- 
ton in  1630  was  the  same  as  the  business  centre  of  the 
city  in  1908 ;  that  is,  the  head  of  State  Street.  Just 
what  determined  this  choice  can  hardly  be  discovered. 
Very  likely  two  important  Indian  trails  intersected  at 
this  point,  one  on  the  line  of  Washington  Street  run- 
ning southerly  to  Roxbury  over  the  Neck,  and  the  other 
following  Court  and  State  Streets  easterly  from  Scollay 
Square  down  to  the  most  convenient  landing-place  on 
Merchants  Row.  Whatever  the  reason,  State  Street 
was  laid  out  of  double  width  at  its  westerly  end,  as  a 
market-place,  and  the  most  desirable  house-lot  facing 
upon  it,  having  Washington  Street  on  the  west  and 
State  Street  on  the  south,  was  assigned  to  the  beloved 
pastor,  John  Wilson. 

The  earliest  settlers  of  New  England,  in  their  choice 
of  locations,  seem  to  have  been  governed  by  a  desire  to 
keep  near  salt  water.  The  extent  of  the  land  that  has 
been  redeemed  from  the  sea  between  Merchants  Row 
and  Atlantic  Avenue  is  misleading  as  to  the  original 


John  Wilson.  25 

appearance  of  the  town.  The  shore  was  indented  by 
numerous  inlets,  so  that  many  places  that  are  now  high 
and  dry  were  then  covered  by  tide-water  twice  each  day. 
Mr.  Wilson's  yard  ran  down  to  the  water  at  Dock 
Square,  and  little  Johnny  Wilson,  afterwards  the  Rev. 
John  of  Medfield,  could  easily  skip  pebbles  from  the 
beach  at  the  back  gate  into  the  ocean. 

This  proximity  to  the  water,  although  a  valuable  in- 
cident to  the  estate,  required  perpetual  vigilance  on  the 
part  of  the  owner.  Butchers  settled  near-by,  and  fisher- 
men frequented  the  place,  and  had  to  be  often  ad- 
monished by  the  Town  for  befouling  the  shore  with 
their  by-products.  The  Town  Records  speak  in  general 
terms,  and  do  not  disclose  who  moved  the  authorities  to 
action,  but  on  many  a  summer  day  Mr.  Wilson  must 
have  conferred  with  his  neighbor.  Major  General  Gib- 
bons, over  the  fence  that  parted  their  gardens,  about 
the  nuisance  thus  left  under  their  noses,  agreeing  that 
butchers'  refuse,  left  when  "  Robert  Nash  did  kill 
beastes  in  the  streete,"  and  fish  thrown  out  in  the  hot 
sun,  formed  a  nuisance  which  the  town  fathers  ought 
to  abate. 

We  can  only  conjecture  what  sort  of  a  home  it  was 
which  John  Wilson  provided  for  his  wife  in  those  first 
six  months  that  he  passed  in  Boston  ;  probably  it  was  a 
mere  shelter  from  the  weather,  hastily  thrown  together, 
and  which  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Wilson  was  quite  justified  in 
refusing  to  enter.     Subsequently  he  built  a  better  house 


26  John  Wilson. 

about  where  the  Merchants'  Bank  is  to-day,  lying  '*  in 
the  eye  of  the  sun,"  and  after  each  successive  destruc- 
tion by  fire,  he  rebuilt  on  the  same  spot.  The  path 
through  his  garden  was  not  laid  out  at  all ;  it  merely 
straggled  in  a  zigzag  fashion  from  State  Street  back  to 
Dock  Square,  and  its  course  must  have  been  exceedingly 
irregular,  since  even  among  the  streets  of  Boston  it  was 
distinguished  as  Crooked  Lane.  Later  it  bore  the  name 
of  its  first  owner,  and  it  was  still  as  crooked  as  ever 
nearly  two  centuries  afterwards.  Finally  it  was  widened 
and  absorbed  in  the  extension  of  Devonshire  Street 
within  the  memory  of  those  now  living,  and  with  the 
disappearance  of  Wilson's  Lmie  the  minister's  most 
popular  memorial  passed  from  public  notice. 

For  many  years  after  the  settlement  there  was  no 
building  where  the  Old  State  House  now  stands,  but 
the  open  space  was  used  as  a  market-place  as  in  old 
English  towns,  and  the  Rev.  John  Wilson,  from  his 
front  windows,  had  an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  home 
of  his  brother-in-law,  Robert  Keayne,  the  founder  of  the 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Company,  who  lived 
on  the  southerly  corner  of  Washington  and  State 
Streets.  In  the  growth  of  the  town  this  immediate 
neighborhood  was  the  scene  of  constant  change ;  every 
day  something  new  was  brought  to  the  good  man's 
attention,  small  in  itself  but  acquiring  importance  from 
its  nearness ;  on  one  side  of  him  Anthony  Stoddard  was 
authorized    to    build    out    his    cellar-door    and    shop- 


John  Wilson.  27 

window  two  feet  into  the  street ;  on  the  other  side  John 
Cogan  was  ordered  to  clear  the  street  before  his  store, 
of  his  chests  and  boxes  piled  there,  and  to  secure  his 
cellar-door. 

In  front  of  Mr.  Wilson's  house  there  was  incessant 
commotion  in  the  market-place ;  for  in  the  earliest  years 
there  was  difficulty  in  preventing  the  citizens  from  using 
it  as  a  store-yard  for  timber  and  stone,  and  then  came 
the  designing  and  construction  of  the  Town  House. 
Like  many  market-houses  still  standing  in  England,  the 
building  was  supported  on  posts,  so  as  to  keep  an  open 
space  underneath  it  level  with  the  street,  where  the 
merchants  could  assemble  at  the  sound  of  the  bell,  to 
trade  in  open  market  in  the  mediaeval  fashion.  From 
time  to  time  very  small  portions  of  the  ground-floor  were 
closed  in  and  rented  by  the  town  as  shops  ;  how  keenly 
Mr.  Wilson  must  have  scrutinized  these  little  enclosures^ 
and  how  great  an  interest  he  had  in  the  cancellation  of 
the  leases  of  the  Widow  Howin's  shop  and  Richard 
Taylor's  shop,  and  in  the  setting  apart  of  the  easterly 
cellar  of  the  Town  House  as  a  watch-house,  perhaps  for 
the  detention  of  those  great  criminals  who  persisted  in 
kicking  foot-ball  in  the  streets,  contrary  to  the  town 
ordinance ! 

The  first  market-house  built  in  Boston,  and  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  street  around  it  and  of  the  neighboring 
houses  was  almost  a  reproduction  of  the  village  of  Wind- 


28  John  Wilson. 

sor,  and  Mr.  Wilson  returning  from  his  midnight  visit 
to  some  dying  parishioner,  as  Hawthorne  has  described 
him,  guiding  his  steps  by  a  lantern,  the  beams  of 
which,  as  it  swayed  to  and  fro,  gave  continual  variety  to 
the  prosaic  outlines  of  the  low  buildings  on  Court  Street 
and  Washington  Street  and  State  Street  by  the  magic 
of  light  and  shade,  might  well  have  dreamed  that  he 
was  again  surrounded  by  the  scenes  of  his  youth,  and 
passing  through  the  little  village  immortalized  by  Shaks- 
pere ;  all  the  while  unconscious  that  the  lantern's  rays 
formed  an  aureole  around  his  own  head  as  of  some  can- 
onized saint. 

Governor  Winthrop  had  chosen  a  large  lot  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  State  Street,  where  the  Exchange  Build- 
ing now  stands ;  next  to  Governor  Winthrop  was  Mr. 
Leverett ;  and  the  lot  on  the  southeasterly  corner  of 
State  and  Devonshire  Streets  was  appointed  for  the 
Meeting-house.  There  was  no  house  of  worship,  how- 
ever, until  the  second  summer  of  the  settlement,  when 
a  small  building  of  sticks  and  mud,  with  a  thatched  roof, 
was  put  up  on  the  present  site  of  the  Brazer's  Building. 
A  better  structure  was  soon  substituted  for  this  on  the 
same  spot,  but  the  more  zealous  of  the  congregation 
looked  back  with  regret  to  that  first  year  when  the  soul- 
stirring  sermons  of  Mr.  Wilson  were  preached  under  a 
tree  in  the  open  air,  —  and  John  Wilson,  it  should  be 
remembered,  formed  his  idea  of  the  proper  length  of 
sermons  at  Emmanuel  College,  under  Doctor  Chader- 


John  Wilson.  29 

ton  who  was  encouraged,  after  he  had  preached  two 
hours,  with  shouts  of  "Go  on.  Sir;  for  God's  sake, 
go  on  I " 

A  more  suitable  location  for  the  church  was  chosen 
ten  years  later,  in  1640,  when  the  lot  on  State  Street 
was  sold  and  a  new  Meeting-house  was  built  on  Wash- 
ington Street  opposite  State  Street,  —  quite  the  most 
conspicuous  and  dignified  position  in  the  town,  —  catch- 
ing the  eye  of  all  who  landed  where  Long  Wharf  is  now; 
for  the  market-place  was  entirely  open,  and  the  view  up 
State  Street  unobstructed  for  a  quarter  of  a  century 
after  the  settlement.  Even  this  building  was  a  plain 
structure  compared  with  the  beautiful  temple  in  which 
John  Wilson's  latest  successor  now  leads  in  public 
worship : 

"A  square-walled  church  devoid  of  a  spire, 
With  a  lofty  gallery  for  the  choir, 
Who  sang,  with  many  an  odd  inflection, 
Hymns  from  a  very  old  collection. 
There  was  a  pulpit  square  and  high, 
Massively  built  as  in  days  gone  by, 
With  a  damask  curtain,  dingy  red. 
And  a  winding  stair  that  upward  led. 
Pews  that  were  never  built  to  please 
Prosperous  saints  who  love  their  ease 
Stood  by  the  aisles,  with  sides  so  tall 
That  the  children  could  hardly  see  at  all." 

The  first  winter  in  Boston  was  one  of  suffering  and 
distress:    in   three   months   death    claimed   more   than 


30  John  Wilson. 

two  hundred  of  the  little  colony.  The  provisions  which 
they  had  bought  in  England  did  not  arrive,  and  the 
weather  was  extremely  severe.  They  all  lived  in  huts 
hastily  built  of  small  wood  daubed  with  clay ;  the 
wealthiest  were  obliged  to  feed  on  shell-fish  and  ground- 
nuts, and  "When  one  could  get  a  bowl  of  hasty  pud- 
ding, what  better,"  exclaims  Captain  Roger  Clap, 
"  could  one  ask  ?  " 

Far  from  being  discouraged,  however,  by  this  experi- 
ence, John  Wilson  sailed  in  the  spring  for  England, 
hoping  to  persuade  his  wife  to  return  with  him ;  but  she 
was  still  reluctant  to  leave  her  London  home,  and 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  his  entreaties.  His  westward  voy- 
age was  longer  than  usual,  and  his  parishioners,  fearing 
that  some  disaster  had  befallen  him,  appointed  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer  for  his  safety,  but  before  that 
day  arrived  he  sailed  into  the  harbor,  and  the  grateful 
Bostonians  turned  their  fast  into  a  service  of  thanks- 
giving. 

Twice  after  this  Mr.  Wilson  returned  to  England  :  — 
once  when  his  wife  consented  to  come  back  with  him, 
and  once  to  settle  some  family  inheritance.  While  in 
the  Old  World,  he  went  through  the  country  preaching 
the  reformed  doctrine  in  the  towns  so  familiar  to  him, 
and  confirming  the  resolution  of  those  who  were  inclined 
to  emigrate.  His  descriptions  of  life  in  New  England 
may  have  been  a  little  highly  colored,  but  to  him  they 
were  not  exaggerations,  for  he  deemed  the  hardships  of 


John  Wilson.  31 

the  raw  life  in  the  wilderness  as  not  worthy  to  be  men- 
tioned with  that  simple  worship  which  made  this  naked 
shore  to  him  an  ante-chamber  to  the  new  heaven  and 
the  new  earth. 

Without  doubt  he  revisited  the  scenes  of  his  early 
manhood,  and  at  Cambridge  expatiated  to  the  pious 
youth  studying  there  on  the  opportunity  for  useful- 
ness in  America.  His  most  attentive  audience  would 
be  found  at  Emmanuel  College,  founded  by  Sir  Walter 
Mildmay  to  strengthen  the  cause  of  Puritanism  only 
twenty  years  before  John  Wilson's  birth,  where  he 
had  completed  his  academic  course,  and  where  he  was 
still  remembered ;  and  who  could  have  attracted  his 
affectionate  regard  more  than  that  godly  young  man, 
John  Harvard,  who  was  already  inclined  to  the  religious 
life ;  so  that  from  John  Wilson's  enthusiastic  description 
of  the  freedom  of  thought  and  liberty  of  worship  in  the 
new  world  naturally  came  the  impulse  that  moved  John 
Harvard  to  face  the  perils  of  the  sea  and  the  hardships 
of  the  wilderness. 

Of  all  the  duties  which  Providence  appointed  to  Mr. 
Wilson  during  his  long  life  none  could  have  been  more 
wholly  pleasing  to  him,  more  free  from  alloy,  than  his 
share  in  the  organization  of  Harvard  College.  His 
position  and  his  attainments  and  his  relation  to  the  En- 
glish University  make  it  certain  that,  whoever  originated 
the  idea  of  a  college  in  New  England,  he  must  have 


32  John  Wilson. 

been  one  of  those  earliest  and  most  frequently  consulted 
about  it. 

How  great  must  have  been  his  joy  when  the  General 
Court  in  1636  voted  the  appropriation  which  made 
possible  this  great  project,  and  with  what  loving  care  he 
must  have  followed  the  successive  steps  when,  in  1637, 
the  site  of  the  new  college  was  fixed  at  Newtowne,  and 
in  1638  the  name  of  that  town  was  changed  to  Cambridge 
in  honor  of  the  university  town  in  Old  England.  The 
beginnings  of  the  new  college  in  the  wilderness  did  not 
seem  so  unpromising  to  John  Wilson  as  to  us.  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  are  now  adorned  with  many  fine  build- 
ings which  have  been  built  since  his  day,  and  the  past 
three  centuries  have  contributed  a  good  deal  of  that  an- 
tiquity which  causes  us  to  regard  all  their  halls  as  ven- 
erable ;  but  to  Mr.  Wilson  many  of  them  were  new,  and 
so  open  to  criticism  both  for  their  architecture  and  their 
location;  and  he  could  easily  imagine  that  a  college 
founded  in  America  might  in  a  few  years  rival  its  En- 
glish prototypes  in  the  number  and  splendor  of  its 
buildings. 

It  is  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  a  strong  bond 
of  intimacy  united  Mr.  Wilson  and  John  Harvard,  his 
successor  in  the  Charlestown  Church,  young  enough  to 
be  his  son,  and  freshly  graduated  from  "the  house  of 
pure  Emmanuel "  where  he  himself  had  spent  so  impor- 
tant a  part  of  his  own  academic  life.  Frequent  and  ear- 
nest must  have  been  their  consultations  over  the  welfare 


John  Wilson.  33 

of  that  church  and  of  the  new  college ;  undoubtedly 
Wilson  consoled  Harvard  in  his  last  hours,  and  together 
they  planned  that  bequest  which  has  made  the  name  of 
an  obscure  clergyman  one  of  the  most  august  names  of 
the  modern  world.  Very  appropriately  has  Mr.  Pierce 
placed  on  the  title-page  of  his  History  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity two  lines  from  Wilson's  Latin  Elegy  on  John 
Harvard : 

Me  commune  bonum,  praesertim  gloria  Christi, 
Impulit,  et  carae  posteritatis  amor. 

Wilson^  "  Eleg.  in  Joh.  Harvardum.' 

The  prejudice  of  the  colonists  against  the  liturgy  of 
the  Church  of  England  led  them  to  renounce  also  the 
authority  of  the  Bishops  and  Convocation ;  and  in  order 
to  preserve  in  America  that  uniformity  of  doctrine  so 
dear  to  all  theologians,  the  colonists  instituted  a  system 
of  visitation  by  the  elder  Clergy  and  the  more  pious 
magistrates.  It  did  not  last  many  years,  for  it  was  irk- 
some to  parsons  fond  of  smooth  bands,  and  smooth 
wigs,  and  smooth  faces ;  but  in  the  early  days  of  the 
colony,  John  Wilson  and  John  Eliot  and  John  Winthrop 
were  constantly  moving  about  from  settlement  to  settle- 
ment strengthening  the  faith  of  the  brethren,  and  dis- 
cussing with  them  knotty  points  of  doctrine,  and  laying 
hands  on  those  set  apart  as  public  teachers.  There  is 
hardly  a  town  in  the  colony  of  which  the  records  do  not 
show  the  presence  of  these  faithful  servants  of  God  at 


34  John  Wilson. 

the  ordination  of  their  earlier  pastors.  This  was  really 
an  arduous  duty,  for  to  the  interior  parishes  which  could 
not  be  reached  by  water,  the  journey  must  generally 
be  made  on  foot  over  rough  ways  and  in  all  kinds  of 
weather ;  but  these  men  felt  that  they  were  doing  God's 
work,  and  complaint  for  their  own  discomfort  was  the 
last  thing  they  thought  of. 

The  exigencies  of  the  times  obliged  our  earliest  clergy 
to  be  emphatically  members  of  the  Church  Militant. 
Although  they  had  abandoned  their  old  home,  England's 
foes  were  still  their  foes.  Every  sail  that  appeared  on 
the  horizon  might  be  the  forerunner  of  a  French  fleet ; 
so  they  built  a  fort  on  an  island  in  Boston  Harbor  as  a 
protection  from  invasion,  and  to  this  work  of  public 
defence  Rev.  John  Wilson  certainly  contributed  his  full 
share,  if  Johnson  is  right  in  saying  in  his  Wonder- 
Working  Providence:  "The  Castle  is  built  on  the 
North-East  of  the  Island,  upon  a  rising  hill,  very  ad- 
vantageous to  make  many  shot  at  such  ships  as  shall 
offer  to  enter  the  Harbor  without  their  good  leave  and 
liking."  "  The  Reverend  Doctor  Wilson  gave  bounti- 
fully for  the  furthering  this  Wilderness-work,  the  which 
was  expended  upon  great  Artillery,  his  gift  being  a 
thousand  pound."*     Another  authority  states  that  this 

*  Capt.  Edward  Johnson's  "  Wonder-working  Providence  of  Sion's 
Saviour  in  New- England :  "  p.  194.  For  a  description  of  Wilson,  partly 
in  the  quaint  "  poetry  "  of  Johnson,  see  the  same  work,  pp.  39,  40. 


John  Wilson.  35 

sum  was  given  by  Doctor  Edmund  Wilson  of  London, 
John  Wilson's  brother;  but  Johnson  probably  means 
that  this  money  virtually  came  out  of  the  Wilson  estate, 
as  John  was  Edmund's  heir.  Pynchon's  accounts  show 
the  curious  items  of  artillery  and  ammunition  for  which 
this  money  was  expended. 

While  they  planned  institutions  of  religion  and  learn- 
ing they  were  surrounded  by  numerous  and  deadly  foes. 
The  Pequods  saw  at  once  that  the  nomadic  and  civic 
modes  of  life  could  not  continue  side  by  side,  and  that 
the  slow  processes  of  time  favored  the  white  man,  and 
they  resolved  to  strike  while  their  enemy  was  weak. 
Beginning  along  the  shores  of  the  Sound,  this  bold  and 
enterprising  tribe  soon  spread  terror  throughout  Con- 
necticut and  Massachusetts,  and  the  two  colonies  re- 
solved to  combine  their  forces  and  to  take  the  offensive. 
While  their  levies  were  being  raised,  more  alarming 
news  and  pressing  calls  for  help  reached  Boston,  and 
it  was  determined  to  despatch  one  company  immediately 
to  the  southward.  In  thus  sending  its  militia  outside 
its  jurisdiction  the  authority  of  the  infant  State  must 
be  carefully  guarded,  and  therefore  one  of  the  magis- 
trates must  go  with  the  little  army  :  —  the  cure  of  souls 
must  not  be  neglected,  so  a  chaplain  must  accompany 
them.  "These,"  says  Winthrop,  "were  chosen  thus  in 
open  Court ;  three  magistrates  were  set  apart,  and  one 
was  designed  by  lot, — the  lot  fell  on  Mr.  Stoughton. 
Also  the  elders  set  apart  two  of  the  clergy,  Rev.  John 


36  Joht  Wilson. 

Eliot  and  Rev.  John  Wilson,  and  a  lot  was  cast  between 
them  in  a  solemn  public  invocation  of  the  name  of  God, 
and  the  lot  fell  upon  Mr.  Wilson."  To  those  early 
fathers  of  New  England,  John  Wilson  was  as  the 
prophet  Elisha  to  king  Joash.  Speaking  of  the  com- 
pany that  marched  from  Boston,  the  venerable  Hubbard 
says :  —  "  With  them  was  sent  that  holy  man  of  God, 
Mr.  John  Wilson,  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston, 
the  Chariots  and  Horseman  of  our  Israel,  by  whose 
Faith  and  Prayer  the  Country  was  preserved,  so  as  it 
was  confidently  believed  that  no  Enemy  should  break 
in  upon  a  Place  whilst  he  survived  ;  which  as  some  have 
observed,  accordingly  came  to  pass." 

Just  as  the  soldiers  were  starting  it  was  discovered 
that  some  of  the  officers  as  well  as  some  of  the  pri- 
vates were  still  '*  under  a  covenant  of  works."  The 
column  was  promptly  halted,  for  these  victims  of  error 
must  be  weeded  out  before  the  expedition  could  expect 
success ;  this,  of  course,  was  work  for  a  clergyman,  and 
the  chaplain's  duties  began  in  earnest  before  there  was 
any  fighting.  The  campaign  was  energetically  con- 
ducted, but  Mr.  Wilson's  share  in  it  was  much  abbre- 
viated, for  while  the  extermination  of  the  Indians  was 
going  on,  the  ruling  class  in  Boston  was  alarmed  by  the 
development  of  a  heresy  which  threatened  to  shake  the 
established  order,  and  the  chaplain  was  recalled  in  haste 
that  he  might  deal  as  sharply  with  mistaken  white  men 


John  Wilson.  37 

in  controversy  as  he  had  smitten  the  heathen  with  the 
sword. 

In  the  battle  of  ideas  and  of  words,  John  Wilson  was, 
of  course,  an  expert ;  even  his  amiable  disposition  was 
not  proof  against  the  spirit  of  the  time.  Religious  con- 
troversy was  as  the  breath  of  their  nostrils  to  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries ;  it  was 
the  intellectual  tonic  which  made  them  the  strong  men 
that  they  were.  As  we  look  backward  over  two  and  a 
half  centuries  the  distinctions  of  the  antinomian  contro- 
versy seem  shadowy  as  we  try  to  grasp  them,  and  usu- 
ally wholly  incomprehensible,  and  we  wonder  how  our 
ancestors  could  deal  so  sternly  with  those  who  had  been 
their  respected  and  beloved  neighbors;  for  we  forget 
that  to  the  men  of  1637  the  religious  question  was  all- 
important. 

It  is  a  waste  of  time  to-day  to  try  to  understand 
what  propositions  either  side  contended  for ;  they  seem 
to  us  to  fight  "  as  one  that  beateth  the  air,"  but 
their  acts  were  simple.  They  drove  out  of  the  colony 
those  who  would  not  conform  ;  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was 
banished,  and  Harry  Vane  was  deprived  of  office  and 
sufficiently  discouraged  to  insure  his  return  to  England. 
In  all  this  work  John  Wilson  took  a  leading  part,  for 
the  predominance  throughout  New  England  of  the  First 
Church  of  Boston  gave  to  its  pastor  a  primacy  of  dig- 
nity, if  not  of  authority ;  and  as  human  nature  does  not 
change,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  colonists  never  wholly 


38  John  Wilson. 

forgot  that  their  amiable  pastor  had  friends  at  home 
among  the  great  temporal  lords  who  had  never  yet 
failed  him. 

Into  the  political  contest  between  Vane  and  Winthrop 
Wilson  threw  himself  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  nature ; 
when  the  election  was  adjourned  to  Cambridge  he 
crossed  the  river,  was  one  of  those  who  forced  an  im- 
mediate decision,  and  as  the  situation  became  critical, 
he  determined  to  bring  to  bear  all  his  personal  and 
ecclesiastical  influence ;  climbing  into  a  tree,  and  bal- 
ancing himself  on  a  swaying  bough  above  their  heads, 
he  harangued  his  fellow-citizens  on  their  political  duties, 
and  helped  to  carry  the  hard-fought  election  for  his 
friend  Winthrop. 

The  friendship  of  Winthrop  and  Wilson  was  cemented 
not  only  by  their  joint  labors  on  questions  of  state-craft, 
but  also  by  their  association  in  many  good  works,  nota- 
bly in  their  kindness  to  Sagamore  John.  This  power- 
ful chief  ruled  the  tribes  at  Chelsea  and  Maiden,  and 
the  record  says  that  "  he  was  of  a  good  and  gentle  dis- 
position, and  listened  readily  to  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel."  When  the  small-pox  broke  out  among  these 
Indians  in  1633,  both  Winthrop  and  Wilson  continued 
their  ministrations,  and  when  the  sachem  himself  was 
stricken  they  visited  him  in  his  wigwam,  doing  what 
they  could  to  relieve  his  sufferings,  and  soothing  his 
last  hours  with  the  consolations  of  religion.     As  he  rec- 


John  Wilson.  39 

ognized  that  death  was  near,  Sagamore  John  gave  the 
final  and  greatest  proof  of  his  confidence  in  the  Chris- 
tian white  men,  by  intrusting  to  the  Governor  and  the 
Pastor  the  care  and  education  of  his  sons.  Johnson 
tells  us  that  these  two  good  men  took  the  Indian  youths 
into  their  homes,  and  brought  them  up  with  their  own 
families. 

Besides  his  visits  to  Chelsea,  Mr.  Wilson,  like  the 
other  leading  ministers,  frequently  visited  Eliot's  and 
Gookin's  settlements  of  praying  Indians,  conducting 
services  for  them  in  the  open  air,  advising  them  on 
questions  of  discipline,  and  solving  their  theological 
problems,  which  now  sound  so  grotesque  to  us.  These 
journeys  were  usually  made  on  foot,  and  the  highest 
talent  and  learning  in  the  colony  were  employed  in  this 
tiresome  work  ungrudgingly.  The  General  Court  itself 
could  have  had  no  more  accompHshed  counsellors  than 
the  poor  red-men  of  Nonantum,  when,  on  the  third  of 
March,  1647,  John  Eliot,  the  Apostle  to  the  Indians, 
John  Wilson,  the  first  Pastor  of  Boston,  and  Henry 
Dunster,  the  first  President  of  Harvard  College,  dis- 
cussing as  they  went  the  great  problems  of  divine  will 
and  human  destiny,  slowly  wound  their  way  by  the  In- 
dian trail  out  into  the  wilderness  as  far  as  Newton  to 
hold  a  lecture  there. 

As  to  the  appearance  of  John  Wilson  in  youth  or  age 
we  have  little  authentic  information ;  he  had  his  foibles, 
no  doubt,  but  personal  vanity  does  not  seem  to  have 


40  John  Wilson. 

been  one  of  them  ;  in  his  genuine  humiHty  he  refused 
to  allow  his  portrait  to  be  painted.*  Mather  says,  "  Even 
his  nephew,  Mr.  Edward  Rawson,  the  honoured  Secre- 
tary of  the  Massachusetts  Colony,  could  not  by  all  his 
entreaties  persuade  him  to  let  his  picture  be  drawn ;  but 
still  refusing  it,  he  would  reply,  *  What !  such  a  poor 
vile  creature  as  I  am  !  shall  my  picture  be  drawn?  I  say, 
no ;  it  shall  never  be.'  And  when  that  gentleman  in- 
troduced the  limner,  with  all  things  ready,  vehemently 
importuning  him  to  gratify  so  far  the  desires  of  his 
friends  as  to  sit  a  while  for  the  taking  of  his  effigies,  no 
importunity  could  ever  obtain  it  from  him."  But  he 
who  would  not  allow  his  likeness  to  be  taken  in  his  life- 
time has  had  the  singular  good  fortune  to  have  his  ap- 
pearance and  manner,  as  well  as  his  moral  qualities  so 
presented  on  the  printed  page  as  only  the  genius  of 
a  Rubens  or  a  Murillo  could  have  preserved  them  on 
canvas. 

Two  and  a  half  centuries  after  his  death,  Hawthorne, 
who  was  a  painstaking  antiquary  as  well  as  an  accom- 
plished writer,  embalmed  the  personality  of  John  Wil- 
son in  one  of  the  finest  descriptions  of  early  New 
England  life.  He  is  first  represented  as  leaning  over 
the  balcony  of  the  meeting-house  and  speaking  to  the 
unhappy  woman  on  the  scaffold  below,  and  appearing 
as  follows:  "The  reverend  and  famous  John  Wilson, 
the  eldest  clergyman  of  Boston,  a  great  scholar  like 

*  See  note  on  page  47. 


John  Wilson.  41 

most  of  his  contemporaries  in  the  profession,  and  withal 
a  man  of  kind  and  genial  spirit.  There  he  stood,  with 
a  border  of  grizzled  locks  beneath  his  skull-cap ;  while 
his  gray  eyes,  accustomed  to  the  shaded  light  of  his 
study,  were  winking,  like  those  of  Hester's  infant,  in 
the  unadulterated  sunshine.  He  looked  like  the  darkly- 
engraved  portraits  which  we  see  prefixed  to  old  volumes 
of  sermons." 

Later,  Hawthorne  describes  John  Wilson  in  the  Gov- 
ernor's house,  as  "the  venerable  pastor,  John  Wilson, 
whose  beard,  white  as  a  snow-drift,  was  seen  over  Gov- 
ernor Bellingham's  shoulder,  while  its  wearer  suggested 
that  pears  and  peaches  might  yet  be  naturalized  in  the 
New  England  climate,  and  that  purple  grapes  might 
possibly  be  compelled  to  flourish  against  the  sunny 
garden-wall.  The  old  clergyman,  nurtured  at  the  rich 
bosom  of  the  English  Church,  had  a  long-established 
and  legitimate  taste  for  all  good  and  comfortable  things  ; 
and  however  stern  he  might  show  himself  in  the  pulpit 
or  in  his  public  reproof  of  such  transgressions  as  that 
of  Hester  Prynne,  still  the  genial  benevolence  of  his 
private  life  had  won  him  warmer  affection  than  was 
accorded  to  any  of  his  professional  contemporaries." 

Our  most  authentic  information  about  John  Wilson's 
life  in  America  is  derived  from  Mather's  Magftalia, 
which  portrays  him  as  always  rejoicing  in  the  Lord. 
When  he  marched  against  the  Pequods,  he  went  "  with 


42  John  Wilson. 

so  much  faith  and  joy,  that  he  professed  himself  as 
fully  satisfied  that  God  would  give  the  English  a  vic- 
tory over  those  enemies,  as  if  had  seen  the  victory 
already  obtained."  "  Divers  times  his  house  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  which  yet  he  bore  with  such  a  cheerful 
submission,  that  when  one  met  him  on  the  road  inform- 
ing him,  *  Sir,  I  have  sad  news  for  you ;  while  you  have 
been  abroad  your  house  is  burnt ' ;  his  first  answer  was, 
*  Blessed  be  God  ;  He  has  burnt  this  house,  because  He 
intends  to  give  me  a  better ! '  "  "  Zeal  and  love,"  says 
Mather,  "  should  be  the  principal  strokes  in  a  picture  of 
this  good  and  great  man.  He  was  full  of  affection,  and 
ready  to  help  and  relieve,  and  comfort  the  distressed ; 
his  house  was  renowned  for  hospitality,  and  his  purse 
was  continually  emptying  itself  into  the  hands  of  the 
needy ;  from  which  disposition  of  love  in  him,  there 
once  happened  this  passage :  When  he  was  beholding 
a  great  muster  of  soldiers,  a  gentleman  then  present 
said  unto  him,  *  Sir,  I'll  tell  you  a  great  thing ;  here's  a 
mighty  body  of  people,  and  there  is  not  seven  of  them 
all  but  what  loves  Mr.  Wilson ' ;  but  that  gracious  man 
presently  and  pleasantly  replied,  *  Sir,  I'll  tell  you  as 
good  a  thing  as  that  ;  here's  a  mighty  body  of  people, 
and  there  is  not  so  much  as  one  of  them  all,  but  Mr. 
Wilson  loves  him  ! '  " 

There  is  a  peculiar  charm  in  a  character  that  starts 
with  an  upward  tendency  and  has  been  constantly  sub- 


John  Wilson.  43 

jected  to  careful  cultivation.  It  does  not  display  such 
striking  contrasts  as  that  of  the  man  who  after  a  youth 
of  error  turns  in  maturity  to  better  things,  and  then 
gives  proof  of  great  ability ;  but  it  possesses  a  smooth- 
ness and  an  even  ripeness  that  please  our  taste,  and 
there  is  the  certainty  that  it  will  always  present  those 
admirable  qualities  when  we  look  for  them.  Rev.  John 
Wilson  was  a  fine  specimen  of  carefully  trained  and  com- 
pletely ripened  character ;  from  childhood  he  showed  a 
natural  aversion  to  low  thoughts  and  vicious  conduct  ; 
he  tried  persistently  to  think  on  a  high  plane  and  to 
live  in  accordance  with  his  best  thoughts  ;  he  seemed 
to  be  born  with  a  predisposition  to  the  spiritual  life,  — 
to  be  one  of  those  who  were  in  the  poet's  mind  when 
he  wrote : 

"  Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting : 
The  soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting. 

And  Cometh  from  afar: 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 
And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 
But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home." 

For  John  Wilson  truly  the  things  which  are  seen 
were  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  were 
eternal.  By  the  time  he  came  to  America  his  devotion 
to  this  idea  had  reached  a  point  where  the  simplest  ac- 
cessories of  worship  seemed  to  interfere  with  the   free 


44  Johi  Wilson. 

communion  of  his  soul  with  its  Maker ;  to  him  the 
stately  ritual  of  his  native  Church  was  a  hindrance ;  the 
lofty  vaults  of  her  cathedrals  shut  him  from  heaven  ; 
the  melodious  thunder  of  the  organ  mingled  with  the 
harmonious  chant  of  the  choir  drowned  in  his  ears  the 
song  of  saints  and  angels  around  the  Throne.  Both  in 
England  and  America  he  had  so  kept  his  real  life  "  hid 
with  Christ  in  God,"  that  when  his  summons  came  he 
passed 

"  Like  one  that  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

John  Wilson  survived  his  wife  nine  years  ;  his  son 
Edmund,  a  graduate  of  Emmanuel  and  a  distinguished 
physician,  never  came  to  New  England,  and  died  in 
London  in  1657  ;  his  daughter  Elizabeth  married  Rev. 
Ezekiel  Rogers  of  Rowley,  and  died  childless  in  1650; 
his  son  John,  a  member  of  the  first  class  graduated  at 
Harvard,  was  pastor  at  Medfield,  and  was  the  ancestor 
of  the  long  line  of  those  who  bore  the  family  name  ; 
Mary,  his  youngest  child,  and  the  only  one  born  in 
America,  married  Rev.  Samuel  Danforth  of  Roxbury, 
and  through  her  twelve  children  is  the  ancestress  of  a 
numerous  posterity.  As  we  walk  the  streets  of  Boston 
we  may  meet  on  any  corner  some  aged  man,  some 
bright  young  girl,  or  some  baby  blinking  in  its  nurse's 
arms,  who  present  to  us  in  actual  life  and  motion  the 
lineaments  which  John  Wilson  thought  so  unworthy  to 
be  preserved  on  canvas. 


John  Wilson.  45 

During  his  last  illness  the  ministers  who  had  come 
together  from  all  parts  for  the  annual  election  for  the 
government  of  the  Colony,  held  their  weekly  meetings 
in  his  hospitable  house,  and  of  them  he  took  an  affec- 
tionate farewell,  giving  them  much  advice  on  matters 
then  occupying  their  attention,  and  afterwards  solemnly 
with  prayer  blessing  his  friends  and  attendants,  calling 
himself  an  unprofitable  servant  and  committing  himself 
to  the  mercy  of  God.  The  evening  before  he  died  his 
daughter  asked  him,  "  Sir,  how  do  you  do  ?  "  He  held 
up  his  hand  and  said,  "  Vanishing  things  1  Vanishing 
things  I  "  but  he  then  made  a  most  affectionate  prayer 
with  and  for  his  friends,  and  so  quietly  fell  asleep  on 
August  7th,  1667,  in  the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  age. 
Thus  expired  that  reverend  old  man,  of  whom  when  he 
left  England  an  eminent  personage  said,  '*  New  England 
shall  flourish  free  from  all  general  desolations,  so  long 
as  that  good  man  liveth  in  it,"  which  was  comfortably 
accomplished  ;  he  was  interred  with  more  than  ordinary 
solemnity. 

John  Wilson's  body  was  laid  in  the  little  burial-ground 
in  the  heart  of  our  city,  near  his  friend  Mr.  Isaac  John- 
son and  the  other  earliest  settlers  of  Boston,  and  he 
would  be  quite  satisfied  with  this  lowly  resting-place. 
If  pride  could  have  affected  his  spirit,  he  would  have 
stayed  at  home,  and  his  bones  would  have  been  laid 
within  those  historic  walls  where  the  dust  of  his  father 


46  Jolrn  Wilson. 

and  of  his  grandfather  mingles  with  the  dust  of  kings. 
There,  under  that  decorated  roof, 

"Where  through  the  long-drawn  aisle  and  fretted  vault, 
The  pealing  anthem  swells  the  note  of  praise," 

might  have  been  reared  for  him  too  a  stately  tomb  of 
gleaming  marble,  inscribed  with  the  titles  and  distinc- 
tions he  had  acquired,  and  reciting  all  the  virtues  he 
possessed  ;  but  he  chose  otherwise.  In  the  quiet  Parish 
Church  in  Boston  now  tenanted  by  the  same  religious 
society  to  which  he  ministered,  there  is  a  modest  tablet 
placed  on  its  walls  by  filial  piety,*  but  his  most  lasting 
memorial  is  far  grander  than  any  structure  of  which  the 
physical  senses  can  take  cognizance,  —  a  monument 
reared  by  genius  in  the  human  imagination  ;  so  long  as 
English  literature  shall  exist,  Hawthorne's  master-piece 
will  attract  all  thoughtful  and  cultivated  minds,  and  the 
romance  of  the  Scarlet  Letter  will  preserve  the  name 
and  worth  of  John  Wilson,  when  pompous  marble  and 
enduring  bronze  shall  have  crumbled  in  decay. 

*  Erected    by   Thomas    Minns,   Esq.,   a  descendant   of   Rev.   John 
Wilson  through  his  daughter,  Mary  Danforth. 


NOTE. 


The  portrait  in  the  possession  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  has  been  many  times  reproduced  by  engraving  as  the 
likeness  of  Rev.  John  Wilson,  but  its  authenticity  has  long  been 
questioned.  It  was  given  to  the  Society,  according  to  their 
records,  by  Henry  Bromfield,  February  i,  1798.  In  September, 
1867  {M.  H.  S.  Proc,  p.  41),  Doctor  John  Appleton  stated  his 
reasons  for  thinking  that  this  was  not  a  likeness  of  Rev.  John 
Wilson;  first,  —  because  the  work  bears  the  characteristics  of  a 
period  later  than  Wilson's  death  ;  second,  —  because  the  costume 
is  that  of  a  later  period ;  third,  —  because  it  seemed  to  have  been 
painted  in  Europe;  fourth,  —  because  Cotton  Mather,  who  had 
been  baptized  by  John  Wilson,  was  on  intimate  terms  with  Ed- 
ward Rawson,  who  was  supposed  to  be  the  first  owner  of  this 
portrait,  and  Mather  less  than  thirty  years  after  Wilson's  death 
recites  the  story,  probably  told  him  by  Rawson,  of  Wilson's 
emphatic  refusal  to  allow  his  picture  to  be  drawn,  even  at  the 
urgent  request  of  Rawson  himself.  John  Wilson,  the  younger, 
was  one  of  the  appraisers  of  Rawson's  estate,  and  we  may  assume 
that  if  he  had  found  a  portrait  of  his  father  there,  it  would  appear 
in  the  Inventory. 

In  December,  1 880  {Af.  H.  S.  Proc,  p.  264),  Mr.  Winthrop 
read  to  the  Society  a  letter  written  to  him  by  President  Quincy, 


48  John  Wilson. 

May  19,  1857,  which  had  escaped  the  files  of  the  Society  and  had 
apparently  been  overlooked  by  Doctor  Appleton.  In  this  letter 
Mr.  Quincy  states  that  this  "  portrait  of  the  Rev.  John  Wilson, 
the  first  Clergyman  of  Boston,  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Massachusetts  Historical  Society,"  had  been  presented  to  the 
Society  at  his  instance  by  Hon.  William  Phillips,  on  the  death 
of  Miss  Elizabeth  Bromfield  in  1 814.  "I  deem  it  proper,  there- 
fore, to  state  to  you,  as  President  of  that  institution,  that  the 
portrait  in  question  was  carefully  preserved  from  the  earliest 
times,  among  his  descendants  in  the  Bromfield  family,  certainly 
for  more  than  a  century."  Mr.  Quincy  remarks  that  Edward 
Bromfield  married  in  1683,  Mary,  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Dan- 
forth,  and  grand-daughter  of  Rev.  John  Wilson,  and  he  adds  that 
he  has  stated  these  facts,  "  that  there  may  be  no  longer  any 
doubt  concerning  the  authenticity  of  that  portrait." 

Rev.  John  Wilson  died  in  1667,  which  was  eighty-four  years 
before  the  birth  of  his  great-great-great-grandson,  Henry  Brom- 
field, the  donor  of  the  picture  ;  seventy-two  years  before  the  birth 
of  Henry's  sister,  Elizabeth  Bromfield,  of  whom  Mr.  Quincy 
speaks ;  and  one  hundred  and  five  years  before  the  birth  of 
President  Quincy,  who  was  himself  John  Wilson's  great-great- 
great-great-grandson ;  to  all  three  of  them  a  picture  much  later 
than  John  Wilson's  time  would  seem  ancient,  and  a  very  slender 
thread  of  tradition  in  their  youth  would  grow  into  a  strong  chain 
of  evidence  in  their  old  age. 

The  public  records,  however,  furnish  even  a  more  solid  basis 
for  Doctor  Appleton's  doubts.  The  Inventory  of  the  estate  of 
Edward  Bromfield,  the  emigrant,  was  taken  February  11,  1734-5, 
and  one  of  the  items  is  "  Dr.  Owen's  picture,"  valued  at  seventy 
shillings ;  no  other  portrait  is  inventoried. 

Dr.  John  Owen  was  a  distinguished  theologian,  whose  personal 
appearance  was  familiar  to  all  well-read  Puritans  of  that  time,  but 


John  Wilson.  49 

his  fame  had  not  entirely  overshadowed  in  Boston  that  of  Rev. 
John  Wilson,  whose  incomparable  services  to  the  founders  of 
New  England  were  still  fresh  in  the  memories  of  their  children. 
Had  Mr.  Bromfield  possessed  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Wilson,  his  execu- 
tor would  not  have  failed  to  exhibit  it  to  the  appraisers,  and  they 
would  certainly  have  named  it  in  the  Inventory  with  the  likeness 
of  the  great  Oxonian  ;  that  it  does  not  appear  in  that  list  proves 
that  Edward  Bromfield  did  not  own  such  a  portrait  at  the  time 
of  his  death.  Whether  the  picture  owned  by  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society  is  a  likeness  of  Dr.  Owen  is  not  germane  to 
the  subject  of  this  paper,  and  is  a  question  requiring  extended 
and  careful  investigation. 

Perhaps  some  outward  likeness  to  Rev.  John  Wilson,  certainly 
a  reproduction  of  his  kindly  and  genial  temper,  is  now  preserved 
at  the  White  House,  in  the  person  of  his  descendant,  William 
Howard  Taft,  President  of  the  United  States. 

The  Wilson  arms,  which  appear  on  the  frontispiece,  follow  those 
on  the  seal  attached  to  the  will  of  Rev.  John  Wilson,  as  illustrated 
in  the  Heraldic  Journal  (II:  182),  Boston,  1866,  where  the  late 
Augustus  T.  Perkins,  in  a  comment  on  them,  says  they  are  in  ac- 
cordance with  those  described  by  Burke.  With  his  statement, 
William  Berry,  for  fifteen  years  Registering  Clerk  to  the  College 
of  Arms,  London,  agrees,  in  his  Encyclopoedia  Heraldica,  or  Com- 
plete Dictionary  of  Heraldty  (II),  London.  They  were  granted 
March  24, 1586,  to  "Wilson  of  Penrith,  co.  Cumberland,  and  Wel- 
borne,  Lincolnshire."  The  blazon  is :  —  Per  pale,  argent  and 
azure,  three  lion's  gambs  erased,  fessways  in  pale,  counterchanged. 
Crest,  a  lion's  head  argent,  guttde  de  sang.  For  the  privilege  of 
using  the  armorial  plate  in  colors,  which  forms  the  frontispiece  to 
this  volume,  we  are  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Thomas  Minns, 
Esq.,  a  descendant. 


THE   JOHN    WILSON    MEMORIAL   TABLET 
In  the  First  Church,  Boston. 


THE  VISIT  OF 


THE  WEST  POINT  CADETS 


TO 


BOSTON,  1821, 


BY 


WILLIAM  CLARENCE  BURRAGE. 


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THE  VISIT  OF  THE  WEST  POINT  CADETS 
TO  BOSTON,  AUGUST,  1821 


A  PAPER   READ  BEFORE  THE  BOSTONIAN   SOCIETY,  COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 
OLD  STATE   HOUSE,  NOVEMBER   8,  188?,  BY 

WILLIAM  CLARENCE  BURRAGE 


lected  by  her, 


iHE  records  of  West  Point  were  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1834,  and  I  am 
indebted  to  Miss  Mary  Frazier  Curtis 
of  this  city,  for  permission  to  use,  in 
preparation  of  this  paper,  material  col- 
from  many  sources,  —  and  chiefly  from 
the  Diary  of  the  Hon.  John  H.  B.  Latrobe  of  Baltimore, 
an  Engineer  on  the  staff  of  the  Commandant  during  this 
trip. 

The  corps  of  Cadets  belonging  to  the  Military  Acad- 
emy at  West  Point,  numbering  upwards  of  235  officers 
and  men,  under  the  command  of  Maj.  William  Jenkins 
Worth,*    embarked   on    board   the   steamboats    "  Rich- 


♦  See  Note,  following  the  paper. 


54  The  West  Point  Cadets' 

mond"  and  "Fire  Fly,"  on  Friday,  July  20,  1821,  at 
three  o'clock,  and  arrived  in  Albany  on  Saturday  morn- 
ing. They  were  received  in  a  style  becoming  the  hos- 
pitality of  the  city  by  a  committee  of  five,  and  seven 
companies  of  State  troops  under  the  command  of  Major 
Williams,  Marshal. 

At  12  o'clock  they  marched  to  the  Capitol,  and  after 
a  parade  in  the  public  square,  were  received  in  the  As- 
sembly Chamber,  by  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  Officers 
of  the  State,  and  many  distinguished  men.  After  a  col- 
lation they  were  escorted  to  their  camp  grounds.  On 
Sunday  they  attended  service  at  St.  Peter's  Church,  and 
on  the  next  day  some  further  exercises  and  parades  took 
place. 

On  Wednesday  they  took  their  departure  and  began 
their  march  for  Boston  by  the  way  of  Lebanon,  N.  Y., 
and  Springfield  and  Worcester,  Mass.  I  will  not  de- 
scribe in  detail  their  stay  at  these  places,  simply  saying 
that  they  reached  their  first  halting  place,  Lebanon  (27 
miles),  the  same  night.  On  the  26th  they  marched 
through  the  Berkshire  hills  to  Lenox  ( 1 2  miles) ;  on  the 
27th  to  Chester  Factory  (20  miles) ;  on  the  28th  to 
Westfield  (19  miles),  arriving  on  the  morning  of  the 
29th  at  Springfield  where  they  rested.  August  ist  they 
left  Springfield  at  1 1  o'clock  at  night  for  "  Thomas's 
Tavern,"  near  Palmer  (22  miles) ;  thence  proceeding  to 
Leicester  (21  miles).  They  reached  Worcester  August 
3d.     The  following  day  they  went  on,  stopping  at  Fram- 


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Visit  to  Boston.  55 

ingham,  and  thence  marched  to  Roxbury,  where  they 
encamped  on  Faxon's  Hill,  opposite  Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dear- 
born's mansion.  Monday  afternoon  they  were  hand- 
somely entertained  by  Gen.  Dearborn,*  when  Capt. 
Samuel  Doggett*  with  the  Norfolk  Guards  acted  as 
their  escort.  They  were  received  in  Roxbury  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Selectmen  and  welcomed  to 
the  town  in  the  most  cordial  manner. 

On  Tuesday  morning,  August  7th,  they  marched  to 
"  the  southern  barrier  "  of  Boston,  "  on  the  Neck,"  where 
they  were  met  and  welcomed  by  the  Selectmen,  and  the 
Boston  Artillery  under  Capt.  Thomas  J.  Lobdell  fired  a 
salute.  They  were  then  conducted  to  their  place  of 
encampment  on  Boston  Common.  The  principal  part 
of  the  population  of  this  and  the  neighboring  towns 
filled  the  houses  and  thronged  the  streets  through  which 
the  corps  passed.  The  encampment  on  the  Common 
was  an  area  of  500  feet  square,  located  between  the 
Great  Elm  and  the  "  Old  Mall." 

The  coming  of  this  splendid  body  of  young  soldiers  to 
Boston  had  been  anticipated  with  great  pleasure,  and  at 
the  Town  meeting  held  on  Thursday,  June  15,  1821, 
the  citizens  voted  "That  the  Selectmen  be  requested 
to  adopt  such  measures  as  they  may  deem  expedient,  to 
show  proper  respect  to  the  United  States  Cadets  from 
West  Point,  when  they  shall  arrive  in  Town." 

*  See  Note  following  this  paper. 


56  The  West  Point  Cadets' 

The  wishes  of  the  citizens  were  evidently  carried  out. 
In  the  afternoon  of  Tuesday  a  collation  was  served  in 
honor  of  the  corps  in  Concert  Hall.  The  following  day 
they  were  feasted  in  the  "Odeon,"  and  later  a  very 
handsome  entertainment  was  given  them  in  Faneuil 
Hall  by  the  military  companies  of  Boston. 

The  President  of  Harvard  University,  by  direction  of 
the  Corporation,  invited  this  body  of  military  students  to 
visit  the  College.  This  invitation  was  accepted  on  Fri- 
day, August  loth.  The  corps  performed  various  mili- 
tary evolutions  with  their  accustomed  elegance,  address, 
and  skill,  and  then  partook  of  a  collation  in  the  Com- 
mons Hall.  The  Columbian  Centinel  of  that  date  said  : 
"The  state  of  this  fine  corps  is  such  as  the  best 
friends  of  our  country  would  wish,  and  fully  manifests 
the  advantage  of  giving  a  systematic  military  education 
to  those  who  are  designed  to  form  the  future  defenders 
of  our  Republic." 

On  Saturday,  August  i  ith,  the  Selectmen  in  behalf 
of  the  Town,  presented  the  Cadets  with  a  fine  stand  of 
colors.  A  battalion  of  companies  under  command  of 
Capt.  Martin  Brimmer,*  composed  of  the  "Rangers," 
the  "  Fusil eers,"  the  "  Boston  Light  Infantry,"  and  the 
"  Washington  Infantry,"  acted  as  escort ;  the  Selectmen 
with  the  colors,  the  Executive,  Legislative,  Judicial  and 
Muncipal  authorities,  officers  of  the  United  States  Army 

*  See  Note  following  this  paper. 


Visit  to  Boston.  57 

and  Navy,  and  invited  guests,  forming  in  procession, 
were  conducted  from  the  State  House  to  the  enclosed 
area  on  the  Common. 

Mr.  Williams,*  chairman  of  the  Selectmen,  in  present- 
ing the  colors  spoke  as  follows :  "  With  veneration  for 
the  institutions  of  our  fathers ;  —  with  particular  appro- 
bation of  the  military  school  under  your  charge  ;  —  with 
sentiments  of  high  respect  for  the  administration  of  our 
General  Government,  —  which  has,  and  I  trust  will  con- 
tinue to  foster  and  support  this  institution  to  the  honor 
of  our  country ;  —  and  in  conformity  to  the  spirit  of 
hospitality,  which  the  inhabitants  of  this  town  enter- 
tain toward  you  and  the  pupils  under  your  charge,  — 
I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  this  stand  of 
colors." 

There  were  two  colors,  —  one  of  white  silk,  painted 
by  Penniman,  with  a  figure  of  Minerva  and  the  symbols 
of  war,  and  bearing  the  motto :  "  a  scientia  ad  glo- 
RiAM  "  [To  Glory  through  Learning]  ;  at  her  side  were 
the  emblems  of  Wisdom,  with  the  military  and  naval 
banners  of  the  United  States.  The  other  was  maza- 
rine blue,  with  the  arms  and  motto  of  the  United  States, 
and  was  painted  by  Curtis.  Both  the  colors  were 
marked  "  presented  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town 

*  EUphalet  Williams  was  the  Chairman  of  the  Selectmen  at  this 
time,  and  his  associates  were  Messrs.  Daniel  Baxter,  Jonathan  Loring, 
Abram  Babcock,  David  W.  Child,  Samuel  Billings,  Jeremiah  Fitch, 
Robert  Fennelly  and  Samuel  A.  Wells. 


58  The  West  Point  Cadets' 

OF  BOSTON."  The  "  Sea  Fencibles  "  then  fired  a  salute 
of  fifty  guns. 

Major  Worth  among  other  remarks  in  reply,  said, 
"  This  sacred  emblem  of  our  country  will  never  be 
tarnished  by  the  Cadets,  individually  or  collectively,  and 
this  battalion  flag  will  ever  be  a  rallying  point,  whether 
in  defence  of  our  country's  honor,  or  in  pursuit  of  the 
science  essential  to  successful  war.  We  particularly 
recognize  on  this  occasion  the  genuine  expression  of 
attachment  to  the  government  and  its  institutions,  and 
an  approval  of  every  act  calculated  to  consolidate  its 
power  and  secure  its  protection.  Such  sentiments  are 
the  natural  growth  of  a  soil  where  the  spirit  of  liberty 
first  sprang  into  life.  I  assure  you  that  the  citizens  of 
Boston  shall  never  have  occasion  to  reflect  that  their 
kindness  and  confidence  have  been  misplaced." 

The  corps  next  passed  in  review  before  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, Gov.  John  Brooks,  and  then  formed  in 
column  with  side-arms,  and  marched  to  Faneuil  Hall, 
where  a  bountiful  repast  was  served  in  the  best  style 
to  more  than  seven  hundred  persons,  by  Mr.  Smith. 
The  chairman  of  the  Selectmen  presided.  Among  the 
toasts  proposed  were  the  following,  characteristic  of 
the  fashion  of  that  period  :  — 

By  Major  Worth :  "  The  civil  and  military  Chief  of  this 
Commonwealth ;  one  of  the  heroes  who  nobly  consummated 
in  the  field  that  which  sages  planned  in  Faneuil  Hall." 


Visit  to  Boston.  59 

By  Jeremiah  Fitch :  *'  May  the  happiness  of  the  people  be 
the  sole  ambition  of  their  rulers." 

By  W.  H.  Sumner  :  *  "  Military  discipline,  which  gives 
strength  to  the  muscles,  grace  to  the  body,  and  energy  to 
the  mind." 

By  George  Blake  :  "  West  Point,  Hercules  in  his  infancy : 
What  may  we  not  expect  from  the  achievements  of  his  man- 
hood." 

By  Hon.  Daniel  Webster :  *•  Faneuil  Hall,  the  Cradle  of 
Liberty :  It  never  rocked  sons  of  better  promise." 

By  Cadet  Holmes :  "  The  Town  of  Boston  :  The  first  to 
hoist  the  proud  banner  of  American  Liberty ;  we  believe  it 
will  never  desert  it." 

"  The  Memory  of  Gen.  Warren  :  whilst  the  eternal  hills 
remain  on  their  bases,  Bunker  Hill  shall  commemorate  his 
memory." 

The  ladies  were  also  remembered  :  — 

"  The  fair  daughters  of  Columbia :  May  they  never  give 
the  hand  or  yield  the  heart  to  any  but  the  friends  of  freedom 
and  their  country." 

On  the  following  day  the  corps  attended  service  at 
the  meeting-house  of  the  Rev.  John  Pierpont,  on  Hollis 
Street,  and  at  St.  Paul's  Church  heard  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Samuel  F.  Jarvis,  its  first  Rector ;  in  the  evening  they 
listened  to  the  Oratorio  of  Samson,  given  by  the  Handel 

*  See  Note  following  this  paper. 


6o  The  West  Point  Cadets' 

and  Haydn  Society.  On  this  occasion  Mrs.  Martin  was 
the  solo  singer,  and  in  the  passage 

"  Let  the  bright  seraphim  in  shining  row 
Their  loud  uplifted  angel  trumpets  blow,"  etc., 

her  voice  was  accompanied  by  Willis  of  the  Cadet  Band, 
who  gave  an  admirable  performance  on  the  keyed  bugle. 
On  Monday,  by  the  courtesy  of  Major  Thayer,  Superin- 
tendent of  West  Point  Academy,  a  grand  review  was 
held  before  his  Excellency  and  suite,  who  were  escorted 
by  the  Independent  Corps  of  Cadets  of  this  city,  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Adams  commanding. 

Judge  John  K.  Findlay,  a  Cadet  of  the  class  of  1824, 
spoke  at  the  Re-union  of  1881  as  follows :  — 

We  were  escorted  into  the  town  of  Boston  and  welcomed 
by  her  Selectmen,  while  their  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artil- 
lery Company  were  firing  salutes.  Every  Cadet  who  was 
on  this  march  must  have  the  most  lively  and  pleasant  re- 
membrance of  the  unbounded  hospitality  of  the  citizens  of 
Boston.  Cadets  walking  the  streets  would  be  captured  and 
generously  entertained.  Some  comrades  and  myself  experi- 
enced a  delightful  captivity  of  this  kind  at  the  house  of 
Major  Melville,*  a  venerable  Revolutionary  officer,  who 
talked  to  us  like  a  father,  and  treated  us  to  delicious  fruit 
grown  in  his  own  garden. 

The  great  event  of  the  march,  and  one  that  will  live  in 
my  memory  till  memory  shall  fail,  was  the  visit  to  the  second 
President  of  the  United  States.     Nothing  would  have  awak- 

*  See  Note  following  this  paper. 


Visit  to  Boston.  6i 

ened  half  the  enthusiasm  with  which  the  sight  of  this  vener- 
able man  inspired  me.  I  touched  the  hand  that  had  signed 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  I  heard  the  voice  (now 
feeble  from  age)  which  had  hurled  the  defiance  of  thirteen 
feeble  colonies  to  one  of  the  mightiest  powers  on  the  globe. 

In  a  volume  called  "  Figures  of  the  Past/'  by  Josiah 
Quincy,  are  the  following  words  :  — 

One  of  the  interesting  occasions  at  which  I  heard  Presi- 
dent Adams  speak  in  public  was  during  the  visit  of  the  West 
Point  Cadets.  This  was  an  event  of  considerable  magni- 
tude at  the  time,  the  corps  having  marched  all  the  way  from 
Albany,  which  indeed  was  then  the  only  way  to  come.  A 
fine  band  accompanied  them,  and  they  were  treated  with 
marked  hospitality  in  every  town  through  which  they  passed. 
Gov.  Brooks  declared  that  their  drill  was  perfect,  and  their 
handsome  commander,  Major  Worth,  seemed  to  the  ladies 
an  ideal  soldier. 

I  will  next  read  an  extract  from  Miss  Quincy 's  Jour- 
nal :  — 

Aug.  14,  182 1.  Our  coachman  seeing  the  little  fifer  of 
the  band  running  along  the  road,  told  him  to  *get  up  behind 
the  carriage,"  which  he  did,  and  our  military  footman  ex- 
cited some  attention.  The  Cadets  halted  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill,  to  refresh  themselves  at  the  brook,  after  their  seven 
miles'  march  from  Boston.  They  then  formed  in  order  and 
marched  past  the  house  with  colors  flying,  and  band  play- 
ing ;  they  halted  in  the  courtyard,  where  they  stacked  their 
arms. 


62  The  West  Point  Cadets' 

Mr.  Adams  stood  on  the  piazza,  the  Cadets  before  him, 
Major  Worth  at  his  side.  The  contrast  between  the  vener- 
able old  man  almost  87  years  of  age,  and  the  handsome 
young  officer  in  the  prime  of  life,  was  very  thrilling.  His 
voice  trembled  as  he  began  to  speak,  but  as  he  proceeded  it 
grew  stronger,  and  he  made  a  thrilling  and  excellent  speech. 
They  then  partook  of  a  collation  arranged  under  an  awning, 
making  themselves  comfortable  on  the  grass  and  under  the 
shade  of  the  horse-chestnut  trees,  many  being  so  fatigued 
that  they  fell  asleep.  We  showed  Major  Worth  the  portraits 
of  the  Adams  family,  and  also  that  of  Gen.  Warren.  The 
new  stand  of  colors  was  also  displayed  before  us,  and  the 
Major  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  induce  David 
Meniac,  the  Indian  Cadet,  to  speak  to  us,  but  he  was  too 
bashful.  After  various  military  movements  the  corps 
marched  off  to  the  tune  of  **  Adams  and  Liberty,"  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Milton,  where  an  entertainment  was  given  them 
in  the  old  mansion  of  Gov.  Hutchinson,  by  Barney  Smith, 
Esq. 

The  Cadets  returned  by  the  way  of  Charlestown  and 
Bunker  Hill,  striking  their  tents  at  the  latter  place  on 
Saturday,  August  i8th,  and  marching  through  Dedham, 
Walpole,  Wrentham,  Attleborough,  Pawtucket  and  Prov- 
idence, to  New  London,  where  they  took  a  steamer  for 
New  York,  planning  to  arrive  on  Tuesday  at  West 
Point. 

The  influence  on  the  militia  companies  of  the  State 
which  resulted  from  this  visit  was  very  marked.  During 
the  few  weeks  after   their  departure  the  Boston    City 


Visit  to  Boston,  63 

Guards,  one  of  the  famous  companies  of  Boston  in  its 
day,  was  chartered,  and  on  October  13,  voted  to  adopt 
the  uniform  of  a  gray  coat  —  later  trimmed  with  black 
and  gold,  —  white  pantaloons  and  a  cap  with  plume 
"after  the  fashion  of  the  West  Point  Cadets." 

The  Columbian  Centinel,  in  answer  to  some  captious 
remarks  of  a  New  York  paper  of  the  time  said  :  — 

We  know  not  which  had  most  reason  to  be  proud,  —  the 
Cadets,  or  the  men  of  Massachusetts.  Gov.  Brooks,  though 
seventy  years  of  age,  brought  fresh  to  our  minds  Washing- 
ton on  the  field  of  parade,  and  when  he  reviewed  them  on 
that  brilliant  day  it  was  the  second-best  sight  ever  beheld 
on  the  Common  of  Boston. 


NOTE. 


Brief  biographic  notes  on  some  of  the  gentlemen  mentioned  in 
the  preceding  paper  as  prominent  in  the  reception  of  the  Cadets 
will  be  of  interest.  The  leading  citizens  of  Boston  cordially  joined 
the  town  officials  in  extending  a  cordial  welcome  to  the  young 
soldiers. 

Major  William  Jenkins  Worth  was  born  in  Hudson,  Columbia 
County,  N.  Y.,  in  1 794.  He  was  Superintendent  at  West  Point 
1 820-1 828,  and  in  command  during  this  Visit.  He  had  served, 
while  still  a  youth,  in  the  War  of  181 2,  and  won  distinction  as 
a  soldier  in  the  Seminole  War,  and  later  in  the  Mexican  War. 
For  his  services  at  Monterey  he  received  the  rank  of  Major 
General  by  brevet.  He  died  May  7,  1849,  in  Texas.  A  statue 
has  been  erected  in  Central  Park,  New  York,  in  honor  of  his 
memory. 

Gen.  Henry  A.  S.  Dearborn,  an  eminent  citizen  of  Boston,  was 
the  son  of  the  distinguished  Gen.  Henry  Dearborn,  and  a  grad- 
uate of  William  and  Mary  College  in  1803.  By  profession  a 
lawyer,  he  held,  like  his  father,  many  positions  of  prominence, 
political  and  military,  and  was  President  of  the  General  Society 
of  the  Cincinnati  1848-51.  At  the  time  of  this  visit  he  was  Col- 
lector of  the  Port.     He  died  in  Portland,  Me.,  July  29,  1851. 


The  West  Point  Cadets    Visit  to  Boston.         65 

Samuel  Doggett  was  a  merchant  of  Boston,  residing  in  Rox- 
bury  in  the  later  years  of  his  life,  where  he  died  August  18,  1856; 
he  was  a  non-commissioned  officer  in  the  Ancient  and  Honorable 
Artillery  Company  in  the  year  following  the  visit  of  the  Cadets, 
and  was  much  interested  in  military  affairs. 

Hon.  Martin  Brimmer,  who  commanded  the  escort  which  con- 
ducted the  Cadets  to  their  camp  ground  on  Boston  Common,  was 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  class  of  1814.  In  college  he  com- 
manded the  famous  company  of  students  whose  standard  bore  the 
motto  Tarn  Marti  quam  Mercurio.  He  was  Captain  of  the  An- 
cient and  Honorable  Artillery  Company  in  1826,  and  in  1845  was 
Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  Independent  Company  of  Cadets  after 
its  reorganization.  He  was  Mayor  of  Boston  in  1843  ^"^^  1844, 
and  died  April  25,  1847. 

Major  Thomas  Melville,  who  was  long  known  among  the  older 
Bostonians  as  "  the  last  of  the  cocked  hats,"  from  his  adherence 
to  the  costume  of  his  ancestors,  was  bom  in  Boston,  Jan.  16,  1751, 
graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  (Princeton)  in  1769,  and  died  in  Boston, 
Sept.  16,  1832.  He  was  one  of  the  famous  "Tea-party,"  fought 
in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  as  an  aide  to  General  Warren,  and 
served  in  other  actions  in  the  Revolution.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  Naval  officer  of  the  Port  of  Boston,  and  held 
many  positions  of  responsibility  and  trust.  In  the  collections  of 
the  Bostonian  Society  is  preserved  his  "  old  three-cornered  hat," 
immortalized  by  Dr.  Holmes,  and  an  old  painting  of  his  residence 
at  the  West  End. 

Of  the  citizens  who  offered  sentiments  at  the  Banquet,  Jeremiah 
Fitch  was  one  of  the  Selectmen  of  Boston  in  1820  and  later,  and 
for  several  years  an  Overseer  of  the  Poor. 

Hon.  William  Hyslop  Sumner  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1 799. 
He  was  for  several  years  a  Representative  in  the  Legislature, 
and  served    the   town  on  many  important  committees,  including 


66         The  West  Point  Cadets    Visit  to  Boston. 

that  appointed  to  received  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
Hon.  James  Monroe,  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  Boston  in  1817. 
He  held  various  positions  in  the  militia  and  was  Adjutant-General 
of  the  State  from  1818  until  1834  when  he  resigned;  he  was 
Commander  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  at  the  time 
the  Cadets  visited  Boston ;  he  was  a  member  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society,  and  died  October  24,  1861. 

Hon.  George  Blake  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1789,  an 
eminent  lawyer,  and  U.  S.  District  Attorney  for  MassachUvSetts, 
and  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
He  delivered  the  Town  Oration  on  the  4th  of  July,  1795,  and  a 
Eulogy  on  Washington  before  St.  John's  Lodge,  both  of  which 
.were  printed.  He  served  in  both  branches  of  the  Legislature, 
was  an  Alderman  of  Boston  in  1825,  and  the  first  Democratic 
candidate  for  Mayor  of  the  city.     He  died  Oct.  6,  1841. 


THE  MIDDLESEX  CANAL 


AN    EIGHTEENTH    CENTURY  ENTERPRISE 


BY 


MOSES  WHITCHER  MANN. 


THE    MIDDLESEX    CANAL 

AN  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  ENTERPRISE 


A  PAPER  READ  BEFORE  THE  BOSTONIAN  SOCIETY,  COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 
OLD   STATE   HOUSE,  MAY   12,  1908,  BY 

MOSES  WHITCHER  MANN 


JHIS  first  decade  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury is  replete  with  great  enterprises; 
the  nineteenth  far  exceeded  those  pre- 
ceding in  inventions  of  utility,  while 
the  closing  of  the  eighteenth  marked 
the  establishment  of  a  national  government  within  whose 
borders  was  room  abundant  for  the  development  of  new 
enterprises  and  ideas. 

The  war  of  the  Revolution  ended,  men  turned  hope- 
fully to  the  arts  of  peace.  New  England  was  no  whit 
behind  her  sister  States,  but  all  felt  the  impoverishing 
effects  of  the  long  struggle. 

The  adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  with  the 
wise  administration  of  Washington,  gave  confidence  and 


yo  The  Middlesex  Canal. 

encouragement ;  and  the  men  who  had  laid  aside  the 
sword  proved  their  abilities  in  the  peaceful  callings  as 
well. 

The  slow  moving  stage-coach  at  infrequent  intervals 
was  the  only  public  mode  of  travel,  and  the  slower  mov- 
ing wagons  with  horses  and  oxen,  the  only  factors  in 
the  carrying  trade,  except  as  the  rivers  proved  highways 
of  communication  and  were  utilized  after  the  natural 
obstructions  of  rapids  and  falls  had  been  overcome. 
Could  the  men  of  to-day,  by  some  mysterious  happen- 
ing, be  placed  under  the  conditions  then  existing,  what 
a  different  world  it  would  seem,  and  doubtless  they 
would  better  appreciate  the  achievements  of  the  men 
of  that  day. 

Among  those* who  early  made  effort  in  public  improve- 
ments was  Judge  James  Sullivan,  afterward  Governor  of 
Massachusetts.  To  him  is  conceded  the  inception  of 
the  first  inland  waterway, — the  Middlesex  Canal.  Judge 
Sullivan  had  a  broad,  comprehensive  scheme :  first,  the 
connecting  of  Boston  harbor  with  the  Merrimack  river, 
this  to  be  followed  by  improvements  on  that  river,  and 
soon  with  connection  through  Lake  Sunapee  with  the 
Connecticut,  then  across  Vermont  to  Lake  Champlain 
and  so  northward  to  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Canada. 
Observation  and  experience  proved  that  a  single  horse 
upon  a  river's  bank  could  pull  a  load  in  a  boat  many 
times  greater  than  one  in  a  wagon  on  the  best  road,  and 
with  far  less  risk  to  conveyance  or  cargo.     Therefore  a 


BOSTON, 
of  the  Middlesex  Canal,  a  Certificate  of 


Received  of 


Shares  in  said  Canal,  nnmbered 


on  a  transfer  made  by 


T   T  ''1'  ■■!'  v  ''1'  'I-  'II'   'r  '<r  V  'T  V  't   m'  'm-  V  ''r  ''i*   'r  'm-  'i'   t  V   -I-  V'<w^ 


^  V  V  ^^  ?  ''1*  'l-  ''I' 


is 
If 

1 


"2 


•S^  5 
s  ^ 

^  I 

It 


n 


1 


The  Middlesex  Canal.  71 

canal  was  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  cheaper  trans- 
portation, at  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

Judge  Sullivan's  project  was  heartily  approved  by  Col. 
Loammi  Baldwin,  then  Sheriff  of  Middlesex.  He  was  a 
man  of  much  ability  and  influence,  and  made  a  careful 
canvass  of  the  situation.  A  company  of  gentlemen, 
seven  in  number,  all  residents  of  Medford,  united  with 
Messrs.  Sullivan  and  Baldwin,  in  a  petition  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court  for  a  charter,  which  was  granted  on  June  22, 
1793,  and  received  the  signature  of  Governor  Hancock 
on  the  same  day  —  almost  his  latest  act. 

This  charter  authorized  "  The  Proprietors  of  Middle- 
sex Canal,"  to  lay  such  assessments  from  time  to  time 
as  should  be  necessary  to  complete  the  canal.  Its  stock 
was  divided  into  eight  hundred  shares,  having  a  value  of 
twenty-five  dollars  each.  More  than  one-fifth  was  taken 
in  Medford,  which  town  was  at  first  designed  to  be  the 
southern  terminus.  By  additional  legislation  the  route 
was  extended  through  Medford  and  Charlestown  six 
miles  farther,  to  the  Charles  river,  and  the  plan  of  utiliz- 
ing the  Medford  ponds  and  Mystic  river  abandoned. 

Boston  capitalists,  among  whom  were  Cragie,  Barrel  1 
and  Gore  were  financially  interested  in  the  enterprise, 
which  in  1 803  had  cost  half  a  million  dollars,  —  no  in- 
considerable sum  at  that  time.  One-third  of  this  amount 
was  for  the  land  taken.  Thirteen  directors  managed  its 
affairs,  Judge  Sullivan  being  President  and  Gen.  John 
Brooks,  Vice-President. 


72  The  Middlesex  Caiml. 

From  the  first,  its  superintendence  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  hands  of  Colonel  Baldwin.  In  selecting  its  route, 
his  friend  and  neighbor,  Samuel  Thompson  of  Woburn, 
assisted  and  made  the  preliminary  survey.  Much  diffi- 
culty was  encountered,  owing  to  imperfect  knowledge  of 
engineering  and  the  lack  of  suitable  instruments.  It 
was  later  discovered  that  other  water  than  that  of  the 
Merrimack  must  supply  the  canal. 

After  the  arrival  of  Samuel  Weston,  a  noted  English 
engineer  and  better  equipped,  it  was  found  that  a  rise  of 
one  hundred  and  four  feet  from  tide-water  of  the  Charles, 
to  the  Concord  river  at  "Billerica  Mills"  (North  Billerica), 
was  to  be  overcome.  Thence  a  descent  of  twenty-six  feet 
must  be  made  to  the  Merrimack  at  Chelmsford,  where 
that  river  bends  abruptly  eastward.  The  Concord  could 
be  crossed  at  grade  and  furnish  an  unfailing  supply  of 
water  in  either  direction. 

Mr.  Weston  surveyed  two  routes  ;  one  northward 
from  Medford  Pond  up  the  Aberjona  valley ;  the  other 
westward  up  Horn  Pond  river,  and  uniting  in  Wilming- 
ton with  the  former,  at  Maple  Meadow  brook,  one  of 
the  sources  of  Ipswich  river.  To  effect  this,  a  wide 
detour  around  a  hill  was  made,  called  the  "Ox  bow." 
At  Horn  Pond  no  loop  could  be  made ;  the  "  bars  which 
they  could  neither  let  down  nor  remove,"  were  climbed 
by  five  locks.  Either  plan  was  feasible,  the  ascent  in 
either  case  the  same,  and  the  second  location  was 
chosen.      Forty   years   later,    the   railroad   utilized   the 


The  Middlesex  Canal.  73 

former  route,  as  more  practicable  for  its  construction 
and  operation. 

The  title  to  the  land  having  been  acquired,  ground 
was  broken  at  Billerica  by  Colonel  Baldwin  on  Sep- 
tember 10,  1794,  with  some  show  of  ceremony.  (The 
stockholders  were  broken  without  ceremony  later  on.) 
Steadily  the  work  progressed  as  funds  were  raised  by 
assessments  on  each  share  of  the  capital  stock,  till  in 
April,  1802,  the  water  flowed  into  the  canal  southward 
from  the  Concord.  On  Monday,  July  5,  the  formal 
opening  "as  far  as  Woburn  meeting-house"  was  cele- 
brated by  a  "  party  numerous  "  under  Colonel  Baldwin's 
supervision.  The  next  year  (in  April)  the  entire  length 
of  the  canal  was  in  operation,  ten  years  from  its  charter 
grant. 

In  its  course  of  twenty-seven  miles  there  were  eight 
levels  varying  from  one  to  six  miles  in  length,  and  sepa- 
rated by  sixteen  locks ;  while  five  others  provided  en- 
trance into  the  Merrimack,  Concord  and  Charles  rivers, 
and  at  Medford  into  the  Mystic.  Suitable  waste  weirs 
were  placed  contiguous  to  natural  water  courses,  while 
eleven  streams  of  varying  size  had  to  be  crossed,  and  all 
but  one  or  two  at  a  height  requiring  a  "  timber  trunk 
aqueduct." 

In  some  cases  the  elevation  was  but  slight.  At  the 
Shawsheen  river  the  grade  required  a  height  of  twenty- 
five  feet,  and  length  of  one  hundred  and  forty.  The 
Aberjona   (sometimes   called   Symmos'  river)  aqueduct 


74  T^he  Middlesex  Canal. 

was  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  —  the  longest  on 
the  route.  Over  the  Mystic  (a  tidal  stream),  the  trunk 
was  very  strongly  built,  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  feet 
long,  and  elevated  but  little  above  flood  tide. 

The  canal  was  spanned  by  over  fifty  bridges,  the 
larger  portion  being  "accommodation"  bridges,  connect- 
ing portions  of  an  estate  divided  by  its  waters ;  though 
the  highway  was  crossed  in  various  localities. 

The  course  of  the  canal  lay  through  the  beautiful 
estate  of  Hon.  Peter  C.  Brooks  in  West  Medford,  and 
about  1820  he  caused  a  granite  arch  to  be  erected  for 
his  "accommodation,"  a  thing  of  beauty  that  should  be 
"  a  joy  forever."  During  all  the  years  since  the  canal 
was  closed  it  has  thus  remained,  but  by  the  passing  of 
the  estate  into  new  ownership  its  permanence  has  been 
threatened. 

At  the  first  construction,  all  the  locks  save  the  three 
at  the  northern  terminal  were  built  of  wood.  Those 
three  were  of  dressed  granite,  and  said  to  be  excelled  by 
no  stonework  then  in  the  country,  while  the  timber 
foundation  of  the  lowest  one  was  built  of  a  double  layer 
of  oak  logs,  which  squared  twenty-four  inches.  The 
southern  terminal  was  at  "  Charlestown  mill  pond," 
which  lay  southward  from  the  present  Rutherford  Ave- 
nue at  Eden  Street,  the  canal  crossing  Main  Street 
where  is  now  the  great  Elevated  railroad  station. 

Tidal  gates  allowed  boats  to  enter  the  river,  while 
those  in  the  dam  where  is  now  Causeway  Street,  allowed 


The  Middlesex  Canal  75 

entrance  into  the  Boston  mill  pond.  Mill  creek  (now 
Blackstone  Street)  connected  this  with  the  harbor :  and 
thus  people  in  the  old  days  went  "  down  to  the  sea  in 
ships  "  from  the  north  country  by  an  inland  route,  with 
no  sea-sickness,  and  if  shipwrecked  could  usually  walk 
ashore. 

A  glance  at  the  map  will  show  how  Governor  Sulli- 
van's plan  secured  the  northern  New  Hampshire  trade 
for  Boston  instead  of  Portsmouth,  by  tapping  the  abrupt 
bend  in  the  Merrimack  at  Chelmsford,  the  canal  thus 
making  a  comparatively  straight  course,  and  avoiding 
ocean  transit  and  expense  of  reloading. 

As  has  been  said,  this  great  enterprise  of  the  eighteenth 
century  was  complete  and  open  for  business  in  1803,  and 
the  stockholders  naturally  looked  for  a  return  on  their 
investment.  But  ere  this  could  be  fully  realized,  much 
improvement  was  required  on  the  Merrimack,  in  the  con- 
struction of  locks  and  short  canals  around  its  various  falls. 

The  funds  for  building  the  canal  had  been  raised  by 
assessment,  but  in  this  case  the  promoters  resorted  to 
lotteries,  which  at  that  day  were  not  considered  disrep- 
utable. Some  very  facetious  advertisements  appear  in 
the  Columbian  Centinely  in  one  of  which  we  read,  "a 
little  sweet  oil  is  wanted  on  the  Amoskeag  Canal."  The 
lottery  tickets  for  this  lubrication  were  two  dollars  each, 
with  a  grand  prize  of  |> 8,000.  The  Amoskeag  Canal, 
when  completed,  made  way  for  the  manufacturing  city 
of  Manchester. 


y6  The  Middlesex  CanaL 

There  was  also  organized  a  kindred  corporation  (closely 
associated  with  the  Middlesex  Canal),  called  the  Merri- 
mack Boating  Company.  This  was  to  work  the  river, 
but  the  Canal  Company  put  $80,000  into  these  improve- 
ments ;  $50,000  went  into  the  work  at  Amoskeag  Falls, 
while  the  patient  stockholders  awaited  their  dividends. 

Lowell  was  yet  years  in  the  future,  and  the  Merri- 
mack tumbled  over  the  Pawtucket  Falls  as  yet  unhar- 
nessed, but  at  the  opening  of  the  Middlesex,  the  first 
Pawtucket  Canal  had  been  a  few  years  in  operation, 
affording  a  passage  around  them  for  boats  and  rafts. 
Lumber  and  wood,  country  produce  and  ashes,  formed 
the  principal  downward  freight,  while  the  stock  in  trade 
of  the  country  storekeepers  went  up  stream ;  but  not  all, 
for  the  competition  of  the  teamsters  still  continued. 
The  patient  stockholders  paid  in  the  last  assessment  — 
the  one  hundredth  —  and  after  nineteen  years  began  to 
see  some  return  in  a  dividend  of  $10.00  per  share. 

By  that  time  the  repair  bills  began  to  be  frequent,  for 
wood  is  perishable  material  in  locks,  bridges  and  aque- 
ducts. In  1808,  the  President,  James  Sullivan,  (then 
Governor  of  Massachusetts)  died,  and  also  the  superin- 
tendent, Baldwin.  John  Langdon  Sullivan,  a  son  of 
the  Governor,  was  placed  in  charge,  and  seems  to  have 
been  efficient  during  his  sixteen  years  of  administration. 

Just  here  it  is  well  to  recall,  that  while  steam  naviga- 
tion became  an  assured  fact  on  the  Hudson  the  preced- 
ing year,  even  the  genius  of  the  elder  Sullivan  did  not 


The  Middlesex  Canal.  fj 

foresee  the  railway,  with  its  locomotive  engine.  The 
younger  Sullivan  was  however  awake  to  the  need  of 
more  rapid  transit  and  greater  power  than  that  of  horses 
and  oxen,  and  naturally  turned  toward  steam.  Making 
many  experiments,  he  actually  applied  it  to  the  pro- 
pulsion of  boats  to  some  degree,  on  both  the  canal  and 
the  river.  He  soon  found  that  the  artificial  embank- 
ments of  the  canal  would  not  sustain  the  current  created, 
while  the  sunken  logs  and  rocks  in  the  river  were  a 
continual  and  effectual  menace.  Still  he  did  go  to  Con- 
cord, N.  H.,  with  his  steamboat  Merrimack  in  June  of 
1 8 19,  towing  loaded  boats  up-stream,  taking  the  Gov- 
ernor and  members  of  the  New  Hampshire  Legislature, 
as  well  as  another  party  of  over  two  hundred  persons, 
on  excursions  on  the  river.  He  also  left  a  record  of  the 
achievement,  which  may  be  found  in  the  public  prints  of 
the  time.  More  than  that,  the  very  engine  that  pro- 
pelled his  boat  was  the  invention  of  a  man  to  whom 
Fulton  (just  now  so  much  lauded)  was  indebted  for 
ideas,  and  who  successfully  propelled  a  boat  by  steam 
fourteen  years  before  the  Clermont. 

More  than  a  passing  interest  attaches  to  Sullivan's 
attempt,  for  could  steam  have  continued  in  use,  there  is 
reasonable  probability  that  the  Middlesex  Canal  would 
have  had  longer  lease  of  life,  and  perhaps  even  been  in 
operation  to-day. 

John  L.  Sullivan  brought  good  executive  as  well  as 
mechanical    talents   to   its   service,   issuing  a   code    of 


yS  The  Middlesex  Canal. 

"  Rules  and  Regulations  *'  by  which  all  employees  were 
governed,  and  centralizing  the  management  of  affairs. 
Through  his  entire  term  the  items  of  repair  were  heavy, 
the  Shawsheen  Aqueduct  renewal  costing  over  a  quarter 
of  the  year's  previous  receipts.  In  1824  Caleb  Eddy 
came  to  the  management.  He  made  no  change  in  the 
"  Rules,"  but  added  a  prohibition  of  the  use  of  "  a 
Signal  Horn''  on  Sunday,  when  near  any  house  of 
worship. 

Business  was  annually  increasing,  and  by  1831,  divi- 
dends had  risen  to  $2,0  per  share.  A  few  years  pre- 
vious, the  manufacturing  town  of  Lowell  had  arisen  at 
the  Pawtucket  Falls  on  the  Merrimack,  two  miles  below 
the  terminus  of  the  canal,  which  was  called  '*  Head  of 
Middlesex." 

Mr.  Eddy  had  been  directed  in  1830  to  survey  a  route 
for  a  branch  canal  to  the  Hamilton  Mills,  which  would 
shorten  the  distance  thereto  four  miles,  and  save  Paw- 
tucket tolls.  He  reported  the  plan  to  be  feasible,  but 
counselled  delay.  The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek,  for 
despite  the  remonstrance  of  the  canal  proprietors,  the 
General  Court  had  granted  a  charter  for  a  railroad  from 
Boston  to  Lowell,  and  work  was  in  progress  on  the 
same.  Mr.  Eddy  had  scented  the  coming  danger,  and 
in  his  report  had  remarked,  "  Railroads,  the  rivals  of 
canals,  are  yet  in  a  state  of  infancy.  In  the  minds 
of  many,  the  infant  will  expand  to  a  giant  form  and 
swallow  canals  and  turnpikes."      A   quaint    prophecy, 


The  Middlesex  Canal.  79 

truly ;  in  fact  Mr.  Eddy  was  a  past  master  in  the  use 
of  quaint  language. 

Nevertheless  business  increased,  the  canal  did  a  larger 
carrying  trade  than  ever,  and  numbered  its  coming  rival 
among  its  patrons.  Prof.  Dame  has  said,  "  The  strange 
spectacle  was  presented,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  of  a 
corporation  assisting  in  the  preparation  for  its  own  obse- 
quies." 

The  'stone  sleepers  on  which  the  iron  rails  were  laid 
were  boated  down  from  Tyngsborough  and  delivered 
at  convenient  points  along  the  line.  More  than  this  ; 
the  two  earliest  engines  (imported  from  England)  went 
up  in  parts  in  the  canal  boats  to  Lowell,  to  be  there 
assembled  in  the  machine  shops  of  its  rival,  the  "  Pro- 
prietors of  Locks  and  Canals."  This  was  the  Pawtucket 
Canal  Company,  and  was  really  the  power  that  was 
building  the  railroad. 

It  is  an  open  question  as  to  whether  or  no  the  Canal 
Company  realized  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  However 
this  may  have  been,  the  canal  had  to  be  kept  in  order. 
In  1827  the  Mystic  Aqueduct  was  renewed,  and  the 
next  year  that  across  the  Aberjona ;  the  former  was 
of  wood  with  granite  piers,  and  the  latter  entirely  of 
stone,  though  reduced  in  length  to  eighty  feet,  but 
increased  to  the  full  width  of  the  waterway.  This  latter 
was  a  massive  structure,  and  one  in  which  the  manager 
took  a  justifiable  pride.  He  said,  "  It  has  been  com- 
pleted at  a  cost  within  the  estimate,  and  will  need  no 


8o  TJie  Middlesex  Canal. 

repairs  for  a  hundred  years."  This  was  true,  but  how 
vain  are  human  calculations  —  sometimes  ! 

The  increase  of  business  demanded  enlargement  of 
the  taverns  at  the  various  locks;  that  at  Horn  Pond, 
because  of  its  picturesque  location,  became  a  noted 
pleasure  resort.  A  charming  account  of  a  select  pic-nic 
party  from  Boston,  at  which  Daniel  Webster  was  present, 
has  recently  come  to  our  knowledge ;  it  was  found  in  a 
lady's  diary  and  another's  letters.  By  them  the  pond 
was  called  "the  Lake  of  the  Woods,"  and  very  appropri- 
ately. 

The  canal  was  thirty  feet  wide,  and  its  water  three 
feet  deep,  —  sufficient  to  float  the  laden  boats  whose 
size  was  limited  by  that  of  the  locks  through  which  they 
passed.  Many  boats  were  owned  by  private  individuals, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Experiment,  from  Bedford,  N.  H. 
This  was  built  three  and  a  half  miles  from  the  Merri- 
mack, drawn  thither  by  forty  yokes  of  oxen,  and 
launched  amid  the  cheers  of  the  crowd  assembled  to 
view  the  novelty.  Its  fame  preceded  it,  for  its  arrival 
at  Boston  was  "  hailed  with  cannonading,"  and  an- 
nounced in  the  public  prints  of  the  day. 

The  Company  had  but  two  passenger  boats,  called 
"  General  Washington  "  and  "  Governor  Sullivan."  The 
speed  of  the  "  luggage-boats  "  was  limited  to  two  and  a 
half  miles  per  hour,  while  rapid  transit  was  attained  by 
the  former  at  the  rate  of  three  miles.  Rafts  of  logs 
were  allowed  to  proceed  at  the  rate  of  one  and  a  half 


The  Middlesex  Canal.  8i 

miles,  when  united  in  "bands,"  but  had  to  pass  the  locks 
singly.  None  but  the  regular  lock-tender  might  pass 
any  boat  or  raft  through,  under  a  penalty  of  ten  dollars. 
All  traffic  ceased  at  sunset,  unless  the  moonlight  was 
especially  favorable. 

The  boatmen  and  laborers  were  paid  from  $17  to  $21 
and  board  per  month,  though  some  received  $1.50  per 
day ;  but  all  deducted  from  their  bills  a  shilling  for  each 
meal  eaten  at  the  Company's  taverns.  The  items  of 
"rations,"  "allowance,"  and  charges  for  "washing" 
which  appear  in  those  old  accounts,  throw  light  on  the 
old  time  customs ;  as  does  also  a  certain  bill  of  wine, 
lemons  and  sugar  (IJ27.00)  for  the  "  Directors'  party." 
There  was  an  extra  charge  for  "  broken  tumblers,"  and 
also  an  item  which  at  this  remote  day  is  much  to  the 
credit  of  the  said  Directors,  viz:  ;^  14.00  credit  for  wine 
not  used,  and  returned.  A  more  modest  sum  appeared 
in  the  same  year's  account  (and  then  deemed  a  necess- 
ity), which  read  thus :  "  Rum,  found  the  men  at  the 
time  of  the  freshet  and  on  other  disagreeable  jobs, 
$1.50." 

Then  there  was  the  "  bounty  "  (about  two  shillings 
each),  for  the  killing  of  "musk  ratts."  The  boys  of 
those  days  did  a  good  business  in  trapping  the  "  ratts," 
as  after  submitting  the  entire  animal  to  the  nearest 
agent  the  skin  could  be  retained.  It  has  been  intimated 
that  not  all  for  whom  the  bounty  was  paid  were  caught 
within  the  prescribed  limits,  but    the  extermination  of 


82  The  Middlesex  Canal. 

the  rodents  was  needful,  for  they  damaged  the  embank- 
ment seriously. 

Each  boat-captain  had  a  "passport,"  furnished  him 
for  each  trip,  which  was  endorsed  by  the  lock-tenders  as 
the  boat  passed  them.  This  served  to  keep  the  latter 
at  their  places,  and  to  prevent  "  imposition  on  the  part 
of  the  boatmen."  These  were  a  jolly  set,  and  life  on 
the  old  canal  was  not  always  strenuous.  The  tow  path 
in  summer  became  a  favorite  walk  from  Boston  and 
from  the  several  villages  —  a  veritable  "Lover's  Lane." 
In  the  winter  the  pleasure-seekers  followed  the  bed  of 
the  canal ;  the  water  was  largely  drawn  off,  but  enough 
was  left  to  form  an  icy  pavement,  and  one  perfectly  safe. 
Without  exception,  every  man  with  whom  the  writer  has 
conversed  as  to  his  recollections  of  the  old  waterway,  has 
referred  with  pleasure  to  the  long  skating  trips  enjoyed 
upon  it.  The  boys  of  the  Boston  Latin  school  occasion- 
ally made  the  trip  from  Boston  to  Lowell,  and  return, 
in  an  afternoon  and  evening. 

When  the  railroad  was  opened,  its  competition  was 
speedily  felt  by  the  canal  proprietors,  whose  receipts  fell 
off  one-third.  The  railroad  was  soon  extended  to  Nashua, 
N.  H.,  and  another  reduction  was  the  result.  The  follow- 
ing year  the  income  was  insufficient  to  pay  the  running 
expenses,  and  the  gravity  of  the  situation  had  become 
apparent. 

The  dividends  had  been  kept  up  in  the  recent  years. 
Two  townships  in  Maine  near  Moosehead  Lake,  which 


The  Middlesex  Canal.  83 

had  been  granted  to  the  canal  proprietors  in  18 16,  had 
been  sold  and  the  proceeds  had  been  thus  applied,  but 
in  1 84 1  one  of  the  trusted  employees  disappeared  with 
$10,000  of  the  funds  of  the  canal  and  its  associate,  the 
Boating  Company: — i^3, 757-97  of  this  amount  belonged 
to  the  Middlesex  Canal.  In  the  quaint  language  of 
Caleb  Eddy,  the  defaulter  "  thought  it  was  better  to  be 
a  rogue  in  Canada,  than  an  honest  man  in  his  own 
country."  Mr.  Eddy  took  prompt  action  to  secure 
something  from  the  "  dwelling  house  and  canal  boats 
left  in  his  hasty  flight,"  but  probably  realized  little  from 
the  former  and  less  from  the  latter. 

Like  a  sensible  manager,  he  undertook  to  devise  a 
way  whereby  the  canal,  even  with  its  occupation  gone, 
might  still  be  useful.  Its  proprietors  were  debarred 
from  a  competition  by  the  legislative  action  alluded  to, 
or  they  might  have  put  rails  on  their  tow-path  and  had 
both  railw^ay  and  canal.  Mr.  Eddy  styled  that  charter 
clause  "  a  plunge  of  the  knife  to  the  hilt  into  the  rights 
of  the  canal,  and  a  coat  of  mail  for  the  Railroad."  He 
came  forward  with  a  plan  to  utilize  the  portion  between 
Billerica  and  Woburn  as  an  aqueduct,  to  supply  Charles- 
town  and  Boston  with  water.  From  Woburn  it  was  to 
be  conveyed  in  iron  pipes  to  Mt.  Benedict  in  Charles- 
town,  thence  across  Cragie's  Bridge  (near  the  site  of 
the  Charles  River  dam)  to  Boston. 

In  presenting  this  plan,  he  published  an  interesting 
and  highly  instructive  as  well  as  authentic  sketch  of  the 


84  The  Middlesex  Canal. 

canal,  supplementing  his  plan  for  water-supply  with 
estimates,  analyses  of  water,  and  opinions  of  eminent 
lawyers ;  and  urged  the  plan  upon  the  attention  of  the 
proprietors  as  the  one  most  feasible  by  which  to  save 
their  enterprise  from  wreck.  Nothing,  however,  came 
of  it.  This  was  in  1843,  ^^d  after  a  few  years  of  plucky 
but  profitless  competition,  the  operation  of  the  canal 
ceased  entirely. 

The  last  boat  passed  through  the  canal  in  April,  1852, 
just  fifty  years  after  its  partial  opening  to  Woburn.  Its 
charter  was  formally  extinguished  by  decree  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  October  3,  1869.  The  land  which  it 
had  occupied  was  sold  at  auction,  and  in  some  places 
has  since  undergone  radical  change  by  the  levelling  of 
embankments,  filling  the  channel,  and  the  removal  of 
bridges  and  locks.  In  Medford,  Summer  (first  called 
Middlesex)  Street,  and  Boston  Avenue  mark  its  course. 
In  Woburn  and  Winchester  fine  residences  are  erected 
on  its  site,  and  the  beautiful  Woburn  Library  overlooks 
its  old  channel ;  while  the  railroad,  after  climbing  the 
eighty-foot  rise  from  the  Aberjona,  and  pausing  for  forty 
years  (presumably  for  breath),  now  continues  northward 
by  the  same  route  which  the  canal  took  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century. 

The  construction  of  the  Mystic  Valley  Parkway  has 
obliterated  some  of  its  remains,  but  just  away  toward 
the  site  of  the  old  aqueduct  over  the  Aberjona,  the 
ancient  waterway  is  in  excellent  preservation.     Though 


The  Middlesex  Cartal.  85 

invaded  for  some  years  for  dwelling  purposes,  the  resi- 
dents and  their  houses  are  gone,  and  nature  has  dealt 
gently  with  its  relics,  as  the  tall  trees  witness. 

Through  Wilmington  and  Billerica  the  same  kindly 
hand  has  covered  its  banks  with  verdure  and  its  stones 
with  moss,  while  in  many  places  a  forest  has  arisen 
where  once  the  laden  boats  glided  along  and  the  horses 
and  oxen  patiently  plodded.  The  dressed  stone  of  the 
locks  at  Woburn  may  be  found  in  various  house-founda- 
tions by  the  observant  seeker ;  while  the  abutments  of 
several  aqueducts  still  remain  in  place,  grim  and  dark, 
silent  witnesses  of  the  arduous  labor  it  took  to  build 
them  over  a  century  ago.  For  a  half  mile  in  Wilming- 
ton, the  modern  trolley  car  rolls  along  on  the  ancient 
tow  path,  under  the  trees  that  have  grown  beside  it. 

The  pier  and  abutments  at  the  Shawsheen  river  are 
well  worth  a  journey  to  see.  Though  the  wooden 
trough  of  the  aqueduct  has  long  since  succumbed  to  the 
forces  of  nature,  the  same  silent  influence  has  invested 
the  granite  walls  (innocent  of  mortar  in  construction) 
with  a  dignity  that  impresses  the  beholder.  At  North 
Billerica  one  guard-lock  remains  with  its  gates,  and  con- 
veys the  water  to  the  wheel  pits  of  the  Talbot  Mills  ; 
while  a  little  below  is  the  ruin  of  the  lock  into  the  lower 
river,  with  a  fragment  of  the  gate  still  in  the  water. 

At  Middlesex  Village,  where  the  entrance  was  had 
into  the  Merrimack,  is  the  "  Hadley  pasture,"  once  a 
scene  of  activity,  as  the  boats  went  up  and  down  the 


86  The  Middlesex  Canal. 

three  steps  of  the  fine  stone  locks.  All  these  are  gone, 
but  the  little  office  of  the  collector  still  remains  on  the 
hill  beside  the  lock-site,  and  cows  graze  quietly  under 
the  trees  which  have  grown  in  the  excavation.  Far  dif- 
ferent is  the  change  near  its  old  southern  terminal  from 
the  quiet  canal  travel  to  the  strenuous  "  rush  hours  "  of 
the  Elevated  trains  at  Sullivan  Square. 

Beside  the  great  enterprises  designed  and  completed  in 
recent  years,  the  Middlesex  Canal  seems  small  and  insig- 
nificant. But  viewed  in  the  true  light  of  comparison 
with  the  appliances  and  means  then  existing,  it  will  be 
readily  seen  to  take  rank  with  them,  equal,  if  not  greater 
even,  in  magnitude  and  importance.  It  accomplished 
for  a  time  its  object,  bearing  no  small  part  in  the  pro- 
gress of  its  day,  owing  to  the  energy  and  perseverance 
of  Massachusetts  men ;  it  was  outstripped  in  public 
service  only  by  the  power  of  steam,  —  also  in  the  hands 
of  New  England  men,  —  and  contributed  substantially 
to  the  business  prosperity  of  Boston. 

During  the  early  years  of  the  canal's  decadence, 
three  inventions,  —  the  art  of  photography,  the  sewing 
machine,  and  the  electric  telegraph, —  came  into  use. 
These,  not  to  mention  others,  have  been  potent  factors 
in  the  nineteenth  century  development,  and  proved 
commercially  their  usefulness  ere  the  canal  was  aban- 
doned, and  in  a  way  that  Sullivan  and  his  contempo- 
raries little  dreamed  of.     The  giants  of  steam  and  the 


Tlie  Middlesex  Cajiai.  87 

wizards  of  electricity,  soon  to  wake  from  slumber,  were 
to  be  harnessed  for  the  service  of  mankind  the  world 
over  and  waters  under,  with  better  facilities  and  more 
abundant  means,  but  with  no  more  perseverance  than 
was  shown  by  the  pioneers  in  this  eighteenth  century 
enterprise. 

This  question  is  often  asked :  What  will  not  the  pres- 
ent century  develop  ?  Could  the  men  of  to-day  return 
at  the  close  of  this  century,  they  might  possibly  see  as 
much  to  surprise  them,  as  would  Governor  Sullivan,  his 
son  John,  or  Colonel  Baldwin,  if  they,  with  Caleb  Eddy, 
could  be  transported  some  night  by  canal -boat  into  Sulli- 
van Square.  We  might  even  hear  an  echo  of  quaint 
Caleb  Eddy's  philosophy  :  *'  Improvements  will  go  on 
while  man  has  mind." 


NOTE. 


A  "  CREEK  "  which  extended  from  the  harbor  on  the  east,  to 
Charles  River  on  the  west,  separating  the  northern  part  of 
Boston  from  the  main  peninsula,  was  utilized  as  early  as  1641 
for  conveying  merchandise,  and  subsequently  received  the  name 
of  Canal  Creek.  See  Bowen's  Picture  of  Boston,  p.  216(1838). 
It  is  often  mentioned  in  the  old  records:  July  5,  1631,  an  order  of 
the  Court  of  Assistants,  directed  it  to  be  "  cleared."  Its  entrance 
was  near  the  Town  Dock,  and  at  the  other  end  it  was  utilized  to 
form  a  tide-mill,  by  water  from  the  harbor,  retained  by  a  cause- 
way extending  westward  from  Charlestown  Bridge.  This  mill- 
pond  was  filled  up  in  1835,  largely  with  material  from  "  Cotton 
Hill,"  the  estate  of  the  late  Gardiner  Greene,  but  a  portion  was 
left  open  for  several  years  longer,  and  occupied  by  a  canal,  "  sub- 
stantially built  with  stone  walls,  and  of  sufficient  breadth  to  allow 
the  Middlesex  canal  boats  to  pass  each  other."    (Bowen.) 

These  boats,  "  with  their  cargoes  of  wood,  etc.,"  had  used  the 
mill-pond  while  waiting  for  discharge,  and  when  that  was  filled, 
utilized  this  canal  for  the  same  purpose.  Its  owners  seem  to 
have  included  many  who  were  interested  in  the  Middlesex  Canal, 
but,  so  far  as  we  can  learn,  it  had  no  other  connection  with  the 
latter,  the  terminal  of  which  was  on  the  other  side  of  the  Charles 
River. 


BOSTON'S  LAST  TOWN  MEETINGS 
AND  FIRST  CITY  ELECTION 


BY 


JAMES   MASCARENE   HUBBARD. 


BOSTON'S  LAST  TOWN  MEETINGS 

AND  FIRST  CITY  ELECTION 


A  PAPER  READ  BEFORE  THE  BOSTONIAN  SOCIETY,  COUNCIL  CHAMBER, 
OLD  STATE  HOUSE,  DECEMBER  9,  1884,  BY 

JAMES  MASCARENE  HUBBARD 


[ETWEEN  the  years  1784  and  181 5 
there  were  five  different  attempts  to 
secure  a  city  charter  for  Boston,  all 
of  which  failed  on  account  of  the  very 
strong  conservative  opinion  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  town.  In  1821,  however,  the  population 
having  increased  to  nearly  45,000,  and  the  number  of 
voters  being  over  7,000,  it  was  recognized  by  all  intelli- 
gent people  that  some  change  must  be  made.  "  When 
a  town  meeting  was  held  on  any  exciting  subject  in 
Faneuil  Hall,"  says  Mr.  Quincy  in  his  "  Municipal  His- 
tory of  Boston,"  "those  only  who  obtained  places  near 
the  Moderator  could  even  hear  the  discussion.     A  few 


92  Boston^ s  Last   Town  Meetings 

busy  or  interested  individuals  easily  obtained  the  man- 
agement of  the  most  important  affairs,  in  an  assembly  in 
which  the  greater  number  could  have  neither  voice  nor 
hearing.  When  the  subject  was  not  generally  exciting, 
town  meetings  were  usually  composed  of  the  Selectmen, 
the  town  officers,  and  thirty  or  forty  inhabitants." 

After  describing,  briefly,  the  system  of  the  town 
finances  which  were  under  the  sole  control  of  a  com- 
mittee of  finance  composed  of  the  Selectmen,  Overseers 
of  the  Poor,  and  Board  of  Health,  Mr.  Quincy  goes  on 
to  say  that  the  tax  which  they  "  proposed  was  often 
voted  at  a  town  meeting  in  which  the  members  of  those 
boards  themselves  constituted  a  majority  of  the  inhabi- 
tants present." 

For  these  and  other  important  reasons,  a  Committee 
was  appointed  at  a  town  meeting  held  October  22, 
1 82 1,  to  consider  the  subject  of  the  administration  of 
the  town  and  county.  The  members  of  this  Committee 
were :  John  Phillips,  William  Sullivan,  Charles  Jackson, 
Josiah  Quincy,  William  Prescott,  William  Tudor,  George 
Blake,  Henry  Orne,  Daniel  Webster,  Isaac  Win  slow, 
Lemuel  Shaw,  Stephen  Codman,  and  Joseph  Til  den. 
On  December  loth  they  made  a  report,  "but  did  not 
venture  to  go  farther  than  to  recommend  some  improve- 
ments in  the  government  of  the  town."  These  con- 
sisted simply  in  advising  that  a  body  of  [41]  Assistants 
should  be  chosen  annually  in  the  wards,  who  with  the 
Selectmen  should  form  a  Town  Council ;  and  that  the 


And  First  City  Election.  93 

town  should  form  a  county  by  itself,  with  a  view  to 
reducing  expenses  and  reforming  certain  abuses  in  the 
Courts. 

After  considerable  debate  the  report  was  recommitted 
to  the  Committee,  which  was  at  the  same  time  increased 
by  the  addition  of  one  person  from  each  of  the  twelve 
wards,  "with  instructions  to  report  a  system  for  the 
government  of  the  town,  with  such  powers,  privileges, 
and  immunities  as  are  contemplated  by  the  amendment 
of  the  Constitution  of  the  Commonwealth  [adopted  that 
year],  authorizing  the  General  Court  to  constitute  a 
city  government."  The  most  prominent  of  the  addi- 
tional members  then  chosen  appears  to  have  been  Maj 
Benjamin  Russell. 

On  Monday,  the  last  day  of  the  year,  the  Committee 
made  its  final  report,  which,  I  presume,  was  drawn  up 
by  the  Hon.  Lemuel  Shaw,  then  Senator  from  Suffolk 
County.  Faneuil  Hall  was  filled  on  that  and  the  two 
following  days  with  a  noisy  and  excited  assembly,  which 
debated  with  much  heat  but  with  general  good  humor 
the  various  provisions  of  the  report.  These  debates 
were  reported  very  briefly  by  all  the  papers  except  the 
Advertiser^  which  gave  a  detailed  and  at  times  a  very 
graphic  account  of  the  proceedings.  They  appear  to 
have  differed  but  little  from  those  in  an  ordinary  ward 
meeting  of  the  present  day.  The  familiar  cries  of 
"  Question  "  and  "  All  up,  all  up,"  constantly  resounded 
through  the  hall.     Unpopular  speakers  and  bores  were 


94  Boston's  Last  Town  Meetings 

unceremoniously  stamped  or  hissed  down,  notwithstand- 
ing the  efforts  of  the  Moderator,  Mr.  Francis  J.  Oliver, 
to  secure  an  impartial  hearing  for  each.  This  gentle- 
man won  universal  approbation  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  discharged  duties  which  are  described  as  **  very  ardu- 
ous and  perplexing."  "At  times,"  says  an  eye-witness, 
"a  stranger  on  entering  Faneuil  Hall  in  the  midst  of 
these  debates,  would  almost  fancy  himself  in  Bedlam, 
and  that  the  *  moon  had  come  nearer  the  earth  than  she 
was  wont,  and  had  made  some  men  mad.'  "  One  indi- 
vidual who  held  up  both  hands  in  voting  was  denounced 
and  promptly  arrested,  we  presume  by  the  constable, 
Mr.  Reed. 

There  was  a  tribune  for  speakers  in  the  south  gallery, 
but  I  infer  that  it  was  rarely  used.  The  report  was 
presented  and  the  obscure  or  doubtful  points  explained 
from  time  to  time  by  Gen.  William  Sullivan,  the  chair- 
man of  the  Committee.  The  Hon.  William  Tudor,  how- 
ever, appears  to  have  had  the  laboring  oar  in  securing 
its  adoption.  The  only  other  member  of  the  Committee 
who  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  debate  was  George 
Blake,  Esq.,  the  District  Attorney.  Mr.  S.  A.  Wells, 
one  of  the  Selectmen,  was  also  a  prominent  speaker. 
These  gentlemen,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  comprised  all  of 
the  more  intelligent  class  of  the  townspeople  who  took  a 
noteworthy  part  in  the  three  days'  proceedings  of  this 
last  of  the  great  town  meetings.  Most  of  the  other 
speakers  appear  to  have  been  not  unfairly,  though  irrev- 


And  First  City  Election.  95 

erently,  characterized  as  "  mushroom  town-meeting  ora- 
tors, and  weak  heads." 

The  proceedings  were  opened  by  a  motion  of  Mr. 
Tudor  that  the  final  question  should  be  taken  by  ballot 
on  the  following  Monday,  without  debate.  This  report, 
it  should  be  said,  had  been  printed  and  a  copy  left  at 
every  house  in  the  town.  This  motion  finally  prevailed, 
notwithstanding  the  opposition  of  those  who  apparently 
desired  to  defeat  the  whole  movement,  —  James  T. 
Austin,  Esq.,  being  their  principal  spokesman. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  the  first  day  was  occupied  with  de- 
bating the  singularly  unimportant  question  as  to  whether 
the  word  *  town  '  or  *  city  '  should  be  used.  Still,  the  Ad- 
vertiser in  one  of  its  short  editorials  probably  expresses 
the  feelings  of  a  great  many  who  clung  to  the  old  name. 
Mr.  Nathan  Hale  says  :  "  The  change  appears  to  us  to 
be  in  very  bad  taste,  and  what  is  of  more  importance, 

very  bad  policy It  is  not  a  mere  matter  of  fancy, 

but  of  serious  interest,  and  one  which  may  have  a  great 
effect  upon  the  future  quiet  of  the  Commonwealth." 
He  feared,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  that  the  jealousy 
which  the  country  towns  cherished  against  Boston, 
would  be  increased  by  its  taking  the  title  of  city.  The 
debate  began  by  the  simultaneous  rising  of  two  well- 
known  town  characters  of  that  day,  Samuel  Adams,  not 
the  Revolutionary  patriot,  I  hasten  to  say,  but  the  late 
town-crier,  and  Ebenezer  Clough.  The  latter,  a  Custom- 
house Inspector,  and  conspicuous  on  account  of  his  silver 


g6  Bostons  Last  Town  Meetings 

buckles,  prevailed  and  addressed  the  meeting  in  a  style 
of  eloquence  evidently  peculiar  to  himself.  He  began 
by  saying  that  "he  rose  in  behalf  of  his  native  town,  not 
as  an  orator  nor  a  college-learned  man,  but  as  a  plain, 
humble  citizen,  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-citizens.  If 
Demosthenes  had  lived  at  the  present  day,  he  would 
find  the  people  all  running  after  oratory.  Religion 
walks  out  of  the  pulpits,  that  oratory  may  walk  in.  *  O, 
Boston,  how  art  thou  fallen  ! '  "  With  this  preamble  he 
proceeded  to  oppose  the  change  to  a  city  government 
from  the  workingman's  point  of  view,  arguing  after  this 
manner :  "  Again,  sir,  some  gentlemen  carpenters  and 
mechanics  think  that  if  we  have  a  city,  the  mechanics 
will  not  be  able  to  come  in  from  the  country  and  get 
away  their  work  ;  but  they  will  find  themselves  mistaken. 
Again,  sir,  I  have  heard  gentlemen  coopers  say  that 
barrels  will  not  be  brought  in,  and  undersell  them.  But 
if  they  can't  be  brought  in,  won't  folks  go  out  and  buy ; 
and  will  that  give  you  your  price } "  Truckmen  were 
assured  that  the  tails  of  their  trucks  would  be  cut  off, 
and  their  trucks  changed  into  New  York  drays,  and  that 
as  every  driver  would  be  obliged  to  own  his  truck,  if  a 
man  should  fall  sick  his  family  would  starve,  since  he 
would  be  unable  to  employ  a  substitute.  "Who  then 
will  be  benefited  ?  "  he  concluded.  "  It  is  the  fat,  lazy 
men  who  are  too  proud  to  work.  I  think,  sir,  that  this 
report,  like  the  Hartford  Convention,  is  pregnant  of 
evils,  and  will  dissolve  in  smoke." 


And  First  City  Election.  97 

Mr.  Abraham  Quincy,  a  grocer,  urged  the  adoption  of 
the  term  *  city '  for  the  following  reasons,  which  I  take 
in  a  condensed  form  from  the  Galaxy,  edited  by  J.  T. 
Buckingham.  Because  "  the  Father  of  his  country 
stood  waiting  for  hours  on  the  Neck  when  he  visited 
this  town  in  '98,  and  there  was  nobody  to  receive  him." 
And  because  "  the  king  of  France  loaned  a  work  to  our 
Board  of  Health,  accompanied  with  superb  engravings 
on  the  yellow  fever,  together  with  an  engraving  of  the 
kine-pock  pustule."  He  was  answered  by  Mr.  Fitch 
Tufts,  a  distiller,  who  conceived  that  the  speaker  had 
attacked  the  dignity  of  the  town.  His  closing  words 
were,  that  he  hoped  "the  word  *town'  will  be  retained. 
It  was  music  in  his  ears.  Those  who  acted  in  the 
Revolution  were  clothed  with  dignity  as  a  garment ;  for 
they  wore  the  hats  and  cloaks  of  Hancock.  He  hoped 
the  people  would  not  barter  their  liberties  for  a  mess  of 
pottage." 

At  this  point  the  patience  of  the  audience  gave  out 
and  great  confusion  prevailed,  during  which  Mr.  Abra- 
ham Quincy  vainly  sought  to  speak.  Finally  a  hearing 
was  obtained  for  Mr.  Samuel  Adams,  wire-worker,  that 
is,  a  maker  of  rat-traps,  and  late  town-crier,  who  made  a 
characteristic  speech  amid  malicious  "  cries  of  Lotcder" 
although  the  orator  appeared  to  labor  excessively  at  his 
lungs.  His  opening  words  were,  "  Fellow  citizens,  you 
must  consider  me  as  on  the  brink  of  an  eternal  world," 
and  the  burden  of  his  speech  was,  "  Names  is  nothing. 


98  Bostoris  Last  Town  Meetings 

Only  let  us  have  Boston,  and  I  care  not  what  you  call 
it."  Later  on  in  the  debate,  which  from  this  time  took 
a  more  serious  turn,  he  "  rose  and  moved  that  the  word 

*  Boston '  be  added  to  the  word  *  city,' "  to  the  great 
merriment  of  the  assembly. 

After  some  very  sensible  words  from  Messrs.  William 
Sturgis,  Blake  and  Wells,  Maj.  Benjamin  Russell  argued 
in  favor  of  the  word  *  city  *  on  the  ground  that  the 
people  of  Boston  could  not  be  called  citizens  if  they 
were  inhabitants  of  a  town.  "The  word  citizens,"  he 
insisted  several  times,  "was  derived  from  the  term  city," 
—  a  remark  which  provoked  Mr.  Buckingham  to  an  edito- 
rial on  "Major  Russell's  Lecture  on  Etymology,"  begin- 
ning; "Ours  be  the  delightful  employment  to  rescue 
from  the  all-gormandizing  jaws  of  oblivion  this  learned 
and  elaborate  attempt  to  dispel  the  darkness  which  en- 
velopes the  etymology  of  the  word  citizen."     The  word 

*  city '  was  finally  agreed  upon  by  a  very  small  majority, 
after  the  house  had  been  counted  twice,  the  more  intelli- 
gent class  voting  to  retain  the  word  *  town.' 

The  next  question  was  "  whether  the  executive  officer 
shall  be  called  Intendant "  or  Mayor.  As  before,  the 
first  speaker  was  one  of  those  gentlemen  who  contrib- 
uted to  the  fun  without  adding  to  the  dignity  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, a  Mr.  Emmons,  described  as  a  "  fruit  seller, 
near  the  Post  Office,"  but  familiarly  known,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  as  "  Pop  "  Emmons.  His  remarks  were,  how- 
ever, drowned  in  a  chorus  of  shouts  and  hisses,  and  Mr. 


And  First  City  Election.  99 

Adams  made  a  fresh  appearance  in  the  character  of  a 
New  England  Dogberr)^  "He  was  opposed  to  the 
term  Mayor.  A  mare  is  a  horse,  and  he  had  as  lief  be 
called  a  horse  or  an  ass  as  a  mare.  He  preferred  the 
name  President.  There  was  dignity  in  the  sound.  He 
should  count  it  an  honor  to  be  called  President,  but  had 
he  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  the  riches  of  the  East,  he 
would  not  accept  the  office  to  be  called  a  Mare." 

After  this  point  was  settled,  the  meeting  debated  the 
question  as  to  whether  the  Aldermen  should  be  chosen 
at  large  or  by  districts.  General  Sullivan  explained  that 
the  question  had  been  discussed  a  great  deal  in  the  Com- 
mittee which  was  of  the  opinion  "  that  it  would  not  be 
expedient  to  have  one  Selectman  [Alderman]  for  each 
ward,  as  it  would  tend  to  divide  the  town  too  much 
into  distinct  portions."  The  views  of  the  Committee 
prevailed,  although  the  people  have  now  decided  in  favor 
of  the  latter  method. 

General  Sullivan  again  rose  to  explain  the  section  of 
the  report  providing  that  the  Mayor  should  be  chosen  by 
the  City  Council.  "He  was  always  reluctant  to  take  away 
privileges  from  the  people :  but  an  executive  officer  will 
necessarily  come  in  contact  with  the  inhabitants  ;  many 
will  be  offended ;  if  he  does  his  duty  he  will  not  be  re- 
elected, or  he  will  be  so  bending  as  to  be  unfit  for  re- 
election." The  second  Mayor,  the  Hon.  Josiah  Quincy, 
it  may  be  said  here,  was  re-elected  five  times  and  then 
declined  a  re-nomination.    "He  was  confident  we  should 


lOO  Boston's  Last  Town  Meetings 

have  a  more  efficient  officer  if  he  were  to  be  chosen  by 
the  City  Council.  It  is  intended  that  he  shall  be  imme- 
diately chosen  after  the  election  of  the  Aldermen  and 
Common  Council.  There  will  be  no  room  for  intrigue, 
for  these  persons  will  not  know,  except  the  day  previous, 
of  their  being  electors  of  the  Mayor."  He  was  not 
strenuous  on  the  matter,  however,  and  after  a  short 
discussion  the  question  was  decided  in  favor  of  a  choice 
by  the  people. 

A  large  part  of  the  remainder  of  the  sessions  was 
taken  up  with  debating  a  question  in  which  there  was 
the  keenest  interest,  and  in  which  the  public  sentiment 
was  so  nearly  equally  divided,  that  it  was  decided  in 
both  ways,  a  compromise  being  finally  reached  in  a  vote 
to  submit  it  separately  to  the  people  on  the  following 
Monday.  This  question  was,  whether  all  elections 
should  be  held  in  the  wards,  or  whether  the  State  and 
United  States  elections  should  continue  to  be  held  in 
**  General  Meeting  "  in  Faneuil  Hall,  the  municipal  elec- 
tions, only,  being  held  in  the  wards.  The  Committee,  I 
believe  unanimously,  supported  this  latter  method,  as 
did  the  bulk  of  the  Federalist  party,  constituting  the 
wealth  and  aristocracy  of  the  town.  The  Democrats 
or  Republicans  and  the  so-called  "Middling  Interest," 
composed  of  the  small  shop-keepers,  mechanics  and 
laborers,  were  in  favor  of  the  former  method,  and  I  can- 
not help  thinking  that  the  weight  of  argument  was  in 
their  favor. 


And  First  City  Election.  lOi 

On  the  one  hand  it  was  said  that  elections  in  Faneuil 
Hall  were  dignified  proceedings,  "  the  pride  of  the  town 
and  the  wonder  of  strangers,"  and  that  they  tended  to 
unite  the  people.  On  the  other  hand  those  in  favor  of 
ward  elections  declared  that  many  of  the  inhabitants 
"have  an  invincible  repugnance  to  crowding  through 
the  lines  of  noisy  vote  distributors  formed  at  the  doors, 
and  to  encounter  the  uproar  and  confusion  of  the 
scene  . .  .  that  much  time  was  wasted  in  going  to  Faneuil 
Hall,  and  that  many  mechanics  were  ashamed  to  go.'* 
As  the  irrepressible  Adams  puts  it :  "  Many  persons 
can't  attend  here.  For  instance  a  journeyman  who  is  in 
your  employ.  They  feel  so  delicate  in  your  employ, 
they  are  afraid  of  offending  you.  They  are  the  sinners 
[sinews]  of  the  State."  On  this  question  the  principal 
advocates  for  ward  elections  were  Messrs.  Wells  and 
George  Blake,  while  General  Tudor  fought  vigorously 
for  the  old-time  method. 

On  the  clause  authorizing  the  City  Council  to  sell  or 
lease  the  property  of  the  city,  the  perennial  solicitude 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Common  (which,  together 
with  Faneuil  Hall,  was  excepted)  was  expressed  by  Mr. 
Emmons  who  "rose  and  in  his  accustomed  style  of 
vehemence  and  emotion,  learned  in  the  school  of  the 
*  astute '  Kemble,  stated,  '  I  wish  you  all  a  Happy  New 
year.  I  hold  a  paper  in  my  hand  which  I  intended  to 
read,  but  it  is  so  plainly  on  the  tablet  of  my  heart  that 
—  away  with  paper  —  I'll  do  without  it."     After  a  few 


I02  Boston's  Last  Town  Meetings 

more  remarks,  the  Advertiser  reporter  says  that  "his 
fellow-citizens  manifested,  by  their  hisses,  decided  re- 
pugnance to  a  continuance  of  the  speaker's  argument,** 
and  he  was  with  some  difficulty  silenced  to  enable  Mr. 
Adams  to  say,  among  other  things,  that  "  a  new  set  of 
men  might  get  together  under  the  capacity  of  selling  city 
property  y 

Another  point  which  excited  some  interest  was 
whether  the  School  Committee  should  be  chosen  by 
the  City  Council  or  by  the  people.  The  former  method, 
which  was  that  proposed  in  the  report,  was  adopted  at 
one  session  and  voted  down  at  the  next.  The  right 
to  fix  the  number  of  Representatives  to  the  General 
Court  was  also  given  to  the  Council,  notwithstanding 
the  protest  of  those  who  desired  that  the  power  should 
belong  directly  to  the  people.  It  seems  that  the  legal 
limit  was  fifty  Representatives,  but  this  number  was 
rarely,  if  ever,  sent.  In  the  next  succeeding  election, 
for  instance,  twenty -five  was  the  number  actually  chosen. 
The  method  had  previously  been,  as  one  of  the  speakers 
said,  "  that  a  few  hundred  men  have  decided  in  caucus 
how  many  Representatives  we  should  send,  and  their 
recommendation  had  always  been  adopted.*' 

The  town  meeting  closed  with  a  heated  passage  at 
arms  between  Messrs.  James  T.  Austin  and  George 
Blake,  on  the  motion  of  the  former  that  the  Charter 
should  be  accepted  by  the  citizens  before  it  should  go 
into  effect. 


And  First  City  Election,  103 

Our  final  quotation  shall  be  from  a  speech  by  Mr. 
Adams,  whose  office  as  Town-crier  seems  to  have 
given  him  a  power  and  persistence  of  lungs  which  no 
cries  of  "  Question  "  could  overcome.  "  I  would  exam- 
ine the  act,"  he  exclaimed  ;  "Like  David  of  old,  I  would 
not  give  sleep  to  my  eyes  nor  slumber  to  my  eyelids 
until  I  had  pondered  it  well.  I  have  done  it,  have  lain 
awake  all  night  ruminating  on  these  here  things."  It 
is  rather  strange  that  Mr.  Austin's  sensible  motion, 
though  probably  made  with  a  view  to  defeating  the 
contemplated  change,  was  lost. 

The  question  as  finally  submitted  to  the  town  was 
divided  into  five  "Resolves."  ist.  Shall  there  be  a 
City  government .?  2d.  Shall  the  elective  United  States 
and  State  officers  be  chosen  in  wards  ?  3d.  Shall  the 
City  Council  decide  the  number  of  Representatives  ? 
4th.  Shall  the  Town  be  a  County  and  have  a  Police 
Court }  5th.  Shall  the  name  be  altered  from  Town  of 
Boston  to  City  of  Boston.?  These  "Resolves,"  with 
the  exception  of  the  fourth,  were  all  carried  on  the 
following  Monday  by  small  majorities  in  a  general  total 
of  4,818  votes.    The  fourth  received  4,557  votes. 

Had  the  proceedings  been  a  little  more  orderly,  and 
the  "mushroom"  orators  less  prominent,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  Town  organization  would  have 
been  retained  some  time  longer.  The  "  No  City " 
ticket,  it  should  be  said,  the  device  of  Mr.  Clough,  had 
upon  it  "  the  figure  of  a  beast  [evidently  intended  for  a 


104  Boston  s  Last  Town  Meetings 

mare\  with  four  legs,  lying  on  its  back,  with  its  heels 
upward,  each  of  which  was  secured  with  chains." 

The  next  step  was  to  secure  the  passage  of  an  Act 
through  the  General  Court.  This  was  not  accomplished 
without  considerable  difficulty.  The  Charter  was  drafted 
by  the  Hon.  Lemuel  Shaw,  and  a  bill  embodying  it  was 
introduced  into  the  Senate  on  January  30.  This  was 
passed  apparently  without  much  debate  on  February  12, 
although  with  an  amendment  "  providing  that  the  elec- 
tions of  State  and  United  States  officers  shall  be  holden 
as  heretofore  in  Faneuil  Hall,  instead  of  being  holden  in 
wards  as  proposed  by  the  bill."  The  decision  of  the 
town  on  this  point  was  thus  deliberately  reversed  on  the 
ostensible  ground  that  voting  in  wards  except  for  muni- 
cipal officers  was  unconstitutional. 

The  House  put  off  a  consideration  of  the  bill  till  the 
1 6th,  a  week  before  the  adjournment,  and  after  a  long 
and  desultory  debate  refused  to  accept  the  Senate*s 
amendment  and  voted,  63  to  61,  to  refer  the  bill  to  the 
next  General  Court.  At  the  next  session,  the  gentle- 
man who  had  it  in  charge,  General  Tudor,  moved  a  re- 
consideration of  this  vote,  which  was  carried,  as  was  also 
an  amendment  by  which  the  whole  question  of  voting 
was  to  be  again  submitted  to  the  people  to  decide  by 
ballot.  With  this  amendment  the  Senate  concurred,  and 
the  bill  was  passed  to  be  engrossed.  The  victory,  how- 
ever, had  not  yet  been  won.  On  the  day  before  adjourn- 
ment, the  bill  was  again  taken  up,  and  the  section  giving 


And  First  City  Election.  105 

to  the  Legislature  a  control  over  the  Charter  was 
amended.  In  this  the  House  now  refused  to  concur,  and 
again  voted  to  postpone  the  bill  indefinitely.  On  the  next 
day,  the  last  day  of  the  session,  this  vote  was  recon- 
sidered and  the  original  bill  was  sent  back  to  the  Senate, 
which  receded  from  its  position  but  at  the  last  moment 
added  a  new  amendment,  providing  that  the  Charter 
should  be  submitted  to  the  people  "to  be  accepted  or 
rejected  by  them  at  a  meeting  to  be  holden  within 
twelve  days  from  the  passing  of  the  bill."  In  this  the 
House  fortunately  concurred,  and  the  bill  finally  passed 
a  few  moments  before  the  Legislature  was  prorogued. 

The  day  appointed  for  voting  upon  the  acceptance  of 
the  Charter  was  March  4th,  and  the  contest  waxed  more 
furious  than  ever  in  the  intervening  time.  There  were 
numerous  appeals  in  the  papers  both  for  and  against  its 
acceptance,  as  well  as  several  public  meetings  for  the 
same  purpose.  I  confess  to  a  considerable  surprise  to 
find  that  many  of  these  meetings  at  this  time  were  held 
on  Sunday  evenings,  both  in  Faneuil  Hall  and  else- 
where. In  nearly  every  case,  however,  they  were  called 
by  the  Republicans  or  Democrats,  and  rarely  by  the 
Federalists. 

The  chief  opposition  to  the  Charter  was  aroused  by 
the  section,  which  remains  unaltered  to  this  day,  declar- 
ing that  nothing  in  the  Act  "  shall  be  so  construed  as  to 
restrain  or  prevent  the  Legislature  from  amending  or 
altering  the  same  whenever  they  shall  deem  it  expedi- 


io6  Boston's  Last  Town  Meetings 

ent."  This  was  thought  to  give  an  undue  power  to  the 
Legislature,  and  some  absurd  arguments,  as  that  "  if  the 
Charter  is  accepted,  we  may  have  as  Mayor,  possibly, 
some  worthy  gentleman  from  Berkshire,"  were  urged 
against  it.  Mr.  Hale,  in  an  elaborate  editorial  in  the 
Advertiser  on  the  morning  of  the  election,  advocated  its 
rejection  on  this  ground  of  undue  power ;  while  Mr. 
Buckingham,  in  the  Galaxy ^  objected  to  it  on  the  totally 
different  ground  that  the  City  Council  had  too  much 
power  in  fixing  the  number  of  Representatives.  In  his 
issue  for  March  ist,  together  with  a  serious  article  in 
which  this  objection  is  strongly  urged,  he  gives  "  Eleven 
reasons  why  it  ought  to  be  accepted."  Of  these  the 
sixth  and  eighth  are  as  follows  :  —  "  Because  the  Select- 
men invited  to  their  dinner  whom  they  thought  proper, 
omitting  others,  who,  from  long  experience,  were  much 
better  judges  of  good  eating  and  drinking Be- 
cause the  editor  of  the  Centinel  [Maj.  Benjamin  Russell], 
who  knows  every  things  and  can  guess  at  what  he  does 
not  know,  says,  the  Charter  will  not  suffer  by  a  com- 
parison with  any  other  act  of  incorporation  in  the 
United  States." 

The  Charter  was  accepted  by  a  majority  of  916  votes 
in  a  total  of  4,678.  The  second  question,  "Shall  the 
elections  for  State  and  United  State  Officers  be  holden 
in  general  meeting .?  "  was  decided  in  the  negative  by 
a  majority  of  926,  the  proposition  receiving,  says  Mr. 


And  First  City  Election.  107 

Hale,  "  the  undivided  support  of  the  Democratic  party, 
while  the  Federalists  were  divided  upon  it." 

This  important  decision  excited  a  more  than  local 
interest,  as  the  following  editorial  from  the  New  York 
Commercial  Advertiser  for  March  9th  shows.  "  Huzza 
for  the  City  of  Boston  !  —  We  are  glad  to  find  that  after 
another  sharp  contest  the  townsmen  of  Boston  have  de- 
cided that  henceforth  and  forever  hereafter,  they  will 
rank  among  the  citizens  of  the  earth.  Selectmen  are 
to  be  transformed  into  Aldermen,  Constables  into  Mar- 
shals, etc.,  etc.  It  will  now  be  necessary  for  some  of 
their  shipping  merchants  to  put  two  or  three  of  their 
vessels  into  the  Green  Turtle  commerce.  —  In  the  mean- 
time, before  the  arrival  of  the  first  cargo,  we  would 
recommend  the  new  Aldermen  to  take  a  trip  to  this 
city,  and  be  initiated  into  the  Hoboken  Turtle  Club ; 
and  also  to  take  lessons  of  our  worshipful  corporation, 
in  the  art  and  mystery  of  eating  turtle  soup  once  a 
month  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor'' 

From  this  time  to  the  "  second  Monday  of  April,"  the 
day  fixed  by  the  Charter  for  the  choice  of  the  new  City 
Government,  the  chief  point  of  interest  was  the  ques- 
tion, "Who  should  be  Mayor?"  Their  conception  of 
the  qualities  of  this  officer  was  fine  and  worthy  of  being 
noted.  I  make,  almost  at  random,  an  extract  from  one 
of  the  numerous 'editorials  and  letters  on  this  subject 
which  appeared  in  the  papers.  The  Commercial  Gazette 
says :  —  "  The  executive  office  of   Mayor  is  one  which 


io8  Boston's  Last   Town  Meetings 

will  require  much  energy  and  decision  of  character,  as 
well  as  abstract  ability.  He  must  not  be  a  time-server 
to  the  rich,  nor  bend  too  lowly  to  the  poor.  He  must 
not  be  a  politician  in  practice,  nor  an  intriguer  in  prin- 
ciple. Uncontrolled  by  interest,  unawed  by  faction,  he 
must  assume  a  firm  step,  and  have  an  eye  to  everything 
in  his  course.  He  should  be  taken  without  reference  to 
any  considerations  but  those  of  worth,  talent,  and  force 
of  character,  from  the  whole  community;  and  if  so 
taken  there  can  be  no  hazard  in  predicting  the  success 
of  his  career." 

Still  this  important  question  did  not  wholly  absorb 
the  public  attention.  The  people  at  the  North  End,  for 
instance,  were  now  determined  to  recover  the  political 
influence  which  they  appear  to  have  lost  in  late  years 
under  the  town  government.  This  is  very  evident  from 
a  communication  to  the  Patriot^  in  which  the  writer, 
after  enumerating  the  number  of  Firewards,  School 
Committee  and  Overseers  whom  they  propose  to  elect, 
adds  "besides  two  Aldermen,  this  being  the  number 
which  the  three  wards  are  entitled  to,  and  we  have  there 
also  as  fat  ones  as  any  in  the  city."  Then  additional 
officials  are  suggested,  as  a  City  Engineer  and  an  In- 
spector of  Signs.  This  officer  "  should  be  appointed  by 
the  School  Committee,  with  authority  to  rase,  burn  and 
destroy  all  signs,  sign-boards  and  shutters,  which  exhib- 
ited either  false  taste,  false  grammar,  or  false  spelling. 
As  the  avails  of  his  official  duties  would  furnish  a  large 


And  First  City  Election.  109 

family  with  fuel,  almost  as  long  as  the  Alexandrian 
Library  furnished  the  hot  baths  of  the  capital  city  of 
Egypt,  no  expense  would  be  incurred  for  such  an 
officer's  support."  The  author  of  this  suggestion  pro- 
ceeds to  give  instances,  such  as  "  Vittling  and  Storig," 
and  closes  with  a  practical  example  of  the  absolute  dan- 
ger of  such  signs  to  an  unwary  public,  in  that  "  No  long 
time  since,  an  invalid  gentleman  came  near  to  being 
thrown  from  his  horse,  which  took  fright  "  at  one  of 
these  signs.  I  hasten  to  add  that  this  truly  Boston 
horse  was  not  shocked  at  a  case  of  "  false  grammar  or 
false  spelling,"  but  at  a  case  of  "false  taste,"  in  a  poor 
picture. 

The  first  nomination  for  Mayor,  so  far  as  I  have  ob- 
served, was  made  in  the  Evening  Gazette  for  March 
19th.  "We  learn,"  it  says,  "with  great  pleasure,  that 
at  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  belonging  to  both  sides  in 
politics,  it  has  been  agreed  to  vote  for  the  Hon.  Harri- 
son Gray  Otis,  now  Senator  in  Congress,  as  Mayor  of 
this  City,  and  to  support  a  Board  of  Aldermen,  consist- 
ing of  a  due  proportion  of  each  political  party."  This 
paragraph  the  Advertiser  copies  and,  editorially,  heartily 
concurs  in  the  nomination,  "  provided  it  is  confirmed  by 
the  delegates  from  the  wards,  who  will  probably  be  as- 
sembled for  the  purpose  of  making  nominations  for  the 
important  city  offices."  The  statement  of  the  Gazette 
was,  however,  authoritatively  denied  in  the  issue  of  the 
Advertiser,     No   nomination   for   Mayor  took  place  at 


no  Bostons  Last  Town  Meetings 

this  meeting.  "The  gentlemen  there  present  merely 
voted  that  it  was  expedient  to  choose  a  certain  number 
of  Aldermen  from  the  party  which  is  in  the  minority  in 
this  town,  and  at  the  same  time  appointed  a  committee 
from  each  party  to  communicate  this  vote  to  the  consti- 
tuted authorities  of  their  respective  parties.  A  report 
of  a  joint  committee  of  the  two  parties  was  made,  recom- 
mending to  the  meeting  to  abstain  from  all  nominations 
whatever,  as  such  a  step  would  interfere  with  that  course 
of  proceeding  which  has  long  been  observed  in  this  town 
and  which  it  is  most  desirable  to  preserve.  This  report 
was  accepted  uttanimously !' 

In  the  Galaxy  for  March  29th,  Mr.  Buckingham  says, 
"We  have  already  heard  the  names  of  Messrs.  J.  Phillips, 
Lloyd,  Otis,  Quincy,  D.  Sargent,  and  Tudor,  mentioned 
as  suitable  persons  to  fill  the  office  "  of  Mayor,  and  then 
proceeds  with  much  force  to  state  his  preferences.  He 
does  not  deny  the  fitness  of  the  other  gentlemen  named, 
**  but,  if  a  public  life  of  the  most  undeviating  adherence 
to  principle — if  a  course  of  honest  and  independent  con- 
duct through  evil  report  and  good  report  —  if  experience 
in  the  deliberative  assemblies  of  the  State  and  nation  — 
if  courtesy  to  political  opponents,  and  the  exercise  of 
gentlemanly  deportment  to  all,  whether  high  or  low, 
rich  or  poor,  are  to  be  of  any  avail,  then  Mr.  Quincy  is 
pre-eminently  entitled  to  be  the  first  Mayor  of  the  City 
of  Boston."     The  main  interest  at  this  time,  however. 


And  First  City  Election.  iii 

was  in  the  State  election,  which  was  held  a  week  before 
the  municipal  election. 

On  the  28th  of  March,  the  last  town  meeting  was 
held  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Judge  Josiah  Quincy  being  Moder- 
ator. The  matters  acted  upon  related  to  the  House  of 
Industry  building  at  South  Boston,  and  a  new  school 
house  at  the  North  End.  The  last  "  General  Meeting  " 
was  held  in  the  same  place  for  the  State  election  on 
April  I  St,  the  polls  being  open  from  9  until  2  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  About  4,535  votes  were  cast,  of  which 
Gov.  John  Brooks  received  3,114. 

The  Federal  nominating  caucus  for  city  officers  was 
held  at  the  Exchange  Coffee  House  on  Thursday  even- 
ing, April  4th,  Hon.  William  Sullivan  being  Moderator, 
and  Samuel  Swett,  Esq.,  Clerk.  It  was  composed  of 
the  general  committee,  consisting  of  one  delegate  from 
each  ward  and  the  ward  committees,  "  who  were  invited 
by  the  general  committee  to  notify  twenty-five  citizens 
of  each  ward  to  attend  with  themselves  at  a  primary 
nominating  caucus."  Several  gentlemen  were  nomin- 
ated for  Mayor,  and  were  then  marked  on  prepared 
lists  with  the  following  result:  —  H.  G.  Otis  had  175, 
Josiah  Quincy  170  and  Daniel  Sargent  13.  Five  Fed- 
eralists, two  Democrats,  and  one  gentleman  repre- 
senting the  "Middling  Interest"  (Mr.  Joseph  Jenkins), 
were  nominated  as  Aldermen.  Mr.  Quincy 's  supporters 
were  greatly  chagrined  at  the  result  of  the  caucus 
and  openly  charged  his  opponents  with  unfair  dealings, 


112  Bostons  Last   Town  Meetings 

"  some  contending  that  persons  had  been  permitted  to 
mark  after  the  vote  had  passed  for  the  closing  of  the 
marking."  This  of  course  was  denied,  but  without  sat- 
isfying Mr.  Quincy's  friends,  and  the  next  evening  a 
caucus  of  the  citizens  of  the  "  Middling  Political  Inter- 
est '*  was  held  in  the  United  States  Court  Room,  and  he 
was  unanimously  nominated  for  Mayor.  To  the  great 
surprise  and  against  the  wishes  of  many  of  his  best 
friends,  he  consented  to  run.  The  Democrats  or  Re- 
publicans made  no  nominations  for  Mayor  or  Aldermen, 
and  but  for  this  unfortunate  and  ill-omened  split,  our 
first  Mayor  would  probably  have  received  a  unanimous 
vote. 

Shortly  before  this  the  town  had  been  divided  into 
twelve  new  wards,  and  it  may  be  of  interest  to  note 
where  the  caucuses  were  held.  Ward  i,  Salem  Street 
Academy.  2,  Church  in  Methodist  Alley.  3,  Oliver 
Hatch's  Hall,  Cross  and  Millpond  Streets.  4,  Wyatt's 
Hotel,  Court  Street.  5,  Parkman's  Market,  Cambridge 
Street.  6,  Schoolhouse  in  Derne  Street.  7,  Fenno's 
Hotel,  School  Street.  8,  Exchange  Coffee  House.  9, 
Gun  House,  Fort  Hill.  10,  Boston  Circus,  Mason 
Street.  11  and  12,  Pantheon,  Orange  Street.  The 
polling  places  were,  Ward  i.  North  School  House.  2, 
Church  in  Methodist  Alley.  3,  First  Baptist  Church  in 
Back  Street.  4,  Faneuil  Hall.  5,  Parkman's  Market. 
6,  Third  Baptist  Meeting  House,  Charles  Street.  7, 
New    State    House.     8,   Exchange    Coffee    House.     9, 


And  First  City  Election.  113 

Boylston  School  House,  Fort  Hill.  10,  Church  in 
Essex  Street.  11,  Pantheon  Hall.  12,  O.  Fisher's 
Building,  8  Washington  Street. 

The  election  took  place  on  Monday,  April  8th.  The 
respective  ward  meetings  were  opened  with  prayer  at  9 
o'clock.  There  was  apparently  no  regular  time  for  clos- 
ing the  polls,  but  this  was  done  at  the  option  of  the 
ward  officers.  The  registration  lists  had  been  prepared 
by  the  Assistant  Assessors  going  from  house  to  house 
and  taking  down  the  names.  It  was  proposed  by  some 
to  have  printed  ballots,  but  "the  invariable  usage  is  in 
favor  of  written  votes,"  and  these  were  probably  in 
most  instances  cast.  The  publishers  of  the  Commercial 
Gazette  announced,  however,  that  they  had  prepared 
printed  lists  of  votes  for  "  the  Federal  Republican  Elec- 
tors of  Ward  No.  8." 

On  the  evening  before  the  election  the  Democrats  at 
the  North  End,  unwilling  to  vote  for  either  of  two  such 
pronounced  Federalists  as  Messrs.  Otis  and  Quincy, 
nominated  Mr.  Thomas  L.  Winthrop  for  Mayor,  without 
his  knowledge  or  consent.  Monday  proved  to  be  a 
stormy  day,  and  the  vote  was  consequently  smaller  than 
that  on  the  preceding  Monday  at  the  State  election 
Both  the  Advertiser  and  Commercial  Gazette  had  edi- 
torials favoring  Mr.  Otis  and  vigorously  condemning 
the  course  of  Mr.  Quincy.  Not  only  did  he  not  receive 
the  regular  nomination,  says  the  former,  but  "  he  very 
lately  resigned  the  office  of  Speaker  of  the  House  of 


1 14  Boston's  Last  Town  Meetings 

Representatives to  accept  a  judicial  office,"  and 

he  had  been  "  the  most  zealous  and  active  opponent  of 
the  city  Charter."  Many  persons,  indeed,  expected  till 
the  last  moment  that  he  would  withdraw  from  the  con- 
test, rather  than  be  made  "  the  instrument  of  disunion 
and  disorganization  of  the  Federal  party." 

The  result  of  the  election  was  that  H.  G.  Otis  re- 
ceived 1384  votes,  Josiah  Quincy  1736,  T.  L.  Winthrop 
361,  George  Blake  157,  and  scattering  62,  and  there 
was  no  choice.  There  was  naturally  a  very  bitter  feel- 
ing on  both  sides,  Mr.  Otis's  friends  being  especially 
mortified  at  the  result,  as  Mr.  Quincy  drew  off  about 
five  or  six  hundred  Federal  votes,  or  just  enough  to 
defeat  him.  Both  candidates  that  same  day  withdrew 
their  names,  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Perkins  acting  for  Mr. 
Otis  in  his  absence. 

The  interest  which  this  indecisive  election  created 
in  the  country  is  shown  by  the  following  extract  from 
the  Philadelphia  Democratic  PresSy  which  I  quote  to 
show  how  high  party  feeling  ran  in  those  days.  After 
commenting  upon  the  political  record  of  the  two  candi- 
dates, it  goes  on  to  say  :  —  "  Upon  what  American  prin- 
ciples, upon  what  American  feeling  can  such  men  be 
worthy  of  the  suffrages  of  American  citizens  t  In  the 
memory  of  many  a  Bostonian  such  men  would  not  be 
tolerated  in  Boston.  They  would,  like  the  Tea,  be 
thrown  into  the  bay,  by  a  parcel  of  Indians,  or  they 
would  be  habited  in  such  suits  of  domestic  manufacture. 


And  First  City  Election.  115 

that  their  dearest  friends  would  shrink  from  their  em- 
braces." 

On  the  next  Friday  evening  a  meeting  was  held  at 
the  Exchange  Coffee  House,  the  Hon.  Thos.  H.  Perkins 
in  the  chair,  and  Colonel  Lyman,  Secretary ;  the  Hon. 
John  Phillips,  then  President  of  the  Senate,  was  nomi- 
nated. The  election  was  held  on  Tuesday,  April  i6th, 
and  Mr.  Phillips  was  chosen,  receiving  2467  votes  out 
of  2661.  Of  the  scattering  votes,  however,  39  were 
thrown  out,  because  the  word  "Honorable"  was  not 
prefixed  to  his  name. 

The  new  city  government  was  inaugurated  May  ist, 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  which  "  was  filled  to  excess,  and  many 
went  away  unable  to  obtain  seats  or  stand.  Two  of  the 
extensive  galleries  were  filled  with  ladies,  the  number 
estimated  at  1,200."  The  Rev.  Dr.  Thos.  Baldwin,  the 
senior  clergyman  in  the  city,  "  addressed  the  Throne  of 
Grace  in  prayer,"  and  Chief  Justice  Parker  then  admin- 
istered the  oath  to  the  Mayor-elect,  who  afterwards  ad- 
ministered it  to  the  Aldermen  and  the  Common  Council. 
The  Chairman  of  the  Selectmen,  Mr.  Eliphalet  Williams, 
delivered  to  the  Mayor,  besides  a  silver  casket  contain- 
ing the  new  Charter,  "the  ancient  Act  incorporating 
the  town  of  Boston,  together  with  a  continued  series  of 
municipal  records  from  the  year  1634  inclusive,  to  the 
present  period ;  also  all  the  title  deeds,  documents  and 
evidences  of  the  real  and  personal  estate  belonging  to 
the  inhabitants  of  the  City  of  Boston."     Mr.  Phillips 


Ii6  Bostons  Last   Town  Meetings 

then  made  a  short  address,  after  which  the  Mayor  and 
Aldermen  met  in  the  Board  of  Health  room,  and  the 
Common  Council  in  the  Selectmen's  room.  The  latter 
chose  the  Hon.  William  Prescott  as  their  Chairman,  and 
Thomas  Clark,  as  Clerk.  The  City  Council,  as  the 
whole  body  was  called,  then  met  in  convention  and 
elected  Samuel  F.  McCleary,  Esq.,  City  Clerk,  by  a 
practically  unanimous  vote. 

The  Common  Council,  it  should  be  said,  was  certainly 
a  very  notable  body  of  men  and  well  characterized  by 
Mr.  Phillips  in  his  inaugural  address.  "When  I  look 
around,"  he  says,  "and  observe  gentlemen  of  the  high- 
est standing  and  most  active  employments,  devoting 
their  talents  and  experience  to  assist  in  the  commence- 
ment of  this  arduous  business,  in  common  with  my 
fellow  citizens,  I  appreciate  most  highly  their  elevated 
and  patriotic  motives.  I  well  know,  gentlemen,  the  great 
sacrifice  of  time,  of  ease  and  emolument,  which  you 
make,  in  assuming  this  burden."  Among  the  forty-eight 
gentlemen,  to  whom  these  words  addressed,  were  Messrs 
Samuel  Parkman,  Robert  G.  Shaw,  William  Sullivan, 
Samuel  Appleton,  Thomas  Motley,  Jonathan  Amory, 
Patrick  T.  Jackson,  Enoch  Silsby,  Augustus  Peabody, 
William  Prescott,  John  Welles,  Jonathan  Davis,  James 
Perkins,  Peter  C.  Brooks,  Winslow  Lewis,  John  Howe, 
Cyrus  Alger,  John  French  and  Moses  Williams.  Would 
God  we  might  see  another  body  of  such  men  filling 
their  places  I     Of  these  it  may  be  noted  that  James  Per- 


And  First  City  Election. 


117 


kins,  Peter  C.  Brooks  and  Robert  G.  Shaw  were  unani- 
mously elected,  while  Samuel  Perkins,  D.  W.  Bradlee, 
John  Howe  and  John  French  lacked  only  a  very  few 
votes  of  the  whole  number  cast. 

The  Mayor's  address  closed  with  words  which  it  will 
be  well  for  this  generation  to  recall :  —  "I  invite  you  to 
unite  in  beseeching  the  Father  of  Light,  without  whose 
blessing  all  exertion  is  fruitless,  and  whose  grace  alone 
can  give  efficacy  to  the  councils  of  human  wisdom,  to 
enlighten  and  guide  our  deliberations  with  the  influence 
of  His  Holy  Spirit,  and  then  we  cannot  fail  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  our  fellow  citizens." 


NOTE. 


So  many  of  the  old  landmarks  have  been  changed  or  obliterated 
by  the  lapse  of  time  since  the  first  city  election,  it  may  be  well  to 
give  the  location  of  some  of  the  meeting  and  polling  places  men- 
tioned on  pages  112  and  113. 

"  Methodist  Alley "  was  the  approach  to  "  Ingraham's  Yard," 
and  is  now  known  as  Hanover  Avenue,  a  short  street  from  Han- 
over to  North  Street,  which  took  its  name  from  the  fact  that  here 
was  erected  in  1794-6,  the  first  Methodist  Meeting-house  in 
Boston. 

Oliver  Hatch  was  an  innholder;  his  tavern  was  on  Cross  and 
Millpond  Streets,  and  there  no  doubt  was  his  "  Hall."  "  Wyatt's 
Hotel "  was  perhaps  kept  by  Lot  Wyatt,  given  as  a  "  Victualler  " 
in  the  Directories  of  the  time.  In  1820-21  he  is  called  of  Salt 
Lane,  and  the  following  year  his  place  seems  to  have  been  in 
Williams  Court. 

"  Parkman's  Market,"  the  building  still  standing  on  the  corner 
of  North  Grove  and  Cambridge  Streets,  has  been  occupied  for 
various  purposes  since  it  ceased  to  be  a  market. 

The  exact  location  of  "  Boston  Circus,"  on  Mason  Street,  we 
have  not  ascertained,  but  very  probably  it  occupied  one  of  the 
sites  on  the  west  side,  where  a  few  years  later,  there  were  large 
stables.  In  1822,  the  "Pantheon,"  was  the  name  of  the  hall  in 
the  Boylston  Market  building,  on  the  corner  of  Boylston  and 
Washington  Streets,  that  part  of  Washington  Street  being  then 
called  Orange  Street  as  far  south  as  Dover  Street. 

The  "  First  Baptist  Church "  was  on  the  corner  of  Stillman 
and  Salem  Streets,  on  a  lot  occupied  by  that  body  for  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  "  Third  Baptist  Meeting 
House"  was  that  better  known  by  the  name  of  its  pastor,  the 
Rev.  Daniel  Sharpe,  who  served  from  1812  to  1853,  and  the 
"Church  in  Essex  Street"  stood  on  the  corner  of  Essex  and 
what  is  now  Chauncey  Street;  the  Society  was  founded  in  18 19, 
and  the  Rev.  James  Sabine  was  its  minister  at  the  time  of  the 
election. 


ORIGINAL  DOCUMENTS 


SELECTED  FROM  THE  COLLECTIONS 


OF  THE 


BOSTONIAN  SOCIETY. 


DOCUMENTS 


FROM  ORIGINALS  IN  THE  BOSTONIAN  SOCIETY'S 
COLLECTIONS.  WITH  ANNOTATIONS  BY 

WILUAM  T.  R.  MARVIN. 


jMONG  the  ancient  documents  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  the  Bostonian  Society 
are  several  relating  to  the  very  early 
days  of  the  settlement  of  the  town  of 
Boston.  One  of  these  is  a  contempo- 
rary copy,  attested  in  his  own  hand  by  Edward  Rawson, 
of  a  portion  of  a  deed  of  sale  of  land  on  State  Street,  on 
which  stood  the  house  where  Governor  Winthrop  lived 
for  many  years  before  he  occupied  *'  the  mansion  house 
on  the  Green,"  opposite  the  eastern  end  of  School 
Street.  This  portion  printed  below  has  special  interest 
to  our  Society,  as  it  gives  the  names  of  several  of  Win- 
throp's  neighbors,  and  the  location  of  their  homes,  —  all 


122  Original  Documents. 

of  them,  as  will  be  seen,  very  near  the  place  on  which 
the  Old  State  House  now  stands. 

Residence  of  Governor  Winthrop. 

A  Coppie  of  the  Contents  of  Richard  Hutchison's  Deed 

to  Mr.  Bre[nton] 

To  All  Christian  people  to  whom  theis  prefents  shall 
come  Richard  Hutchison  of  the  Cittie  of  London  within 
the  Comonwealth  of  Engl.  Jronmonger  &c. 

Wheras  Val.  Hill  Late  of  Boston  in  Neve  Engl,  afore- 
fayd  Merchant  by  his  Deed  of  Sale  bearing  date  the 
24**^  day  of  May  Sixteen  hundred  fourtie  &  nine  did 
giue.  Grant,  Bargain  &  Sell  vnto  the  abouemenconed 
Richard  Hutchifon  All  that  Mafsion  houfe  in  Boston 
formerly  the  howfe  of  John  Wenthrop  Senior  in  Boston 
Aforefayd  Efquire  with  all  the  Yards,  Orchards,  Gardens 
&  all  the  howfmg  thereon  Errected  (the  howfe  &  Gar- 
den then  in  pofsefsion  of  Cap*  Robert  Harding  Ex- 
cepted) with  all  the  Liberties,  priuiledges  &  Appurte- 
nances to  the  Same  in  any  wife  belonging  or  Appurtein- 
ing — being  bounded  with  the  Streete,  the  howfes  of  the 
Late  Cap^  Robert  Harding,  Will  Dauis  &  J°  HoUan  on 
the  North,  the  Coue  on  the  East,  the  Creek  &  m^ 
Steuen  Wenthropps  Marsh  on  the  South,  &  the  howfe 
&  Land  of  the  late  m''.  Tho:  Leuerit  on  the  West,  &c. 
&  Wheras  the  Sayd  Val.  Hill  within  the  bound  Above- 
menc5ned  fold  vnto  Will:  Philpote  A  parcel  of  land 
being  3  rodds  wide  &  4  rodds  long  &c  And  by  him 


Original  Documents,  123 

Afsigned  ouer  to  William  Brenton  of  Boston  Aforesayd 
&  bearing  date  the  22  day  of  May  16^0  : 

Now  Know  all  men  by  theis  prefents  that  for  and  in 
Consideracon  of  the  Suin  of  555^'  to  the  Abovemen- 
coned  Edw.  Hutchifon  Son  &  heire  Apparant  &  Agente 
&  Attorney  allso  vnto  the  Abovemenconed  Richard 
Hutchison  &  Mary  his  wife  &  haue  Abfolutely  Given 
Granted,  Bargained  Sold  &c  vnto  the  Sayd  Will:  Bren- 
ton his  heirs  &  Assignes  for  Euer  All  that  Manfion 
howfe  heretofore  the  howfe  of  the  Sayd  J°:  Wenthropp 
Senior  Esquire  &c.  Jn  witness  wherof  the  Sayd  Rich- 
ard Hutchison  &  Marie  his  wife  &  Edw.  their  Son  & 
heire  Apparent  &c  haue  herevnto  Set  their  hands  & 
Seales  this  first  day  of  March  One  Thowsand  Six  hun- 
dred Fiftie  &  Seuen. 

Signed  &  deliuered  by  the  Edward  Hutchison  &  A 

withinnamed    Edward  Scale 

Hutchison     the     day 

within   menconed 
in  the  prefence  of  vs 
Samuell  Hutchifon 
Anthony  Stoddard 
Edw.  Hutchifon  Senior 

This   Deed  Acknowledged  by  Edward   Hutchifon  this 
first  of  March  165I 

Before  me  Ric:  Bellingham  Dep^  Gou". 

Entered  &  recorded  this  3^  of  March  ^|f  J 

^  Edw.  Rawfon  Recorder. 


124  Original  Documents. 

The  document  closes  by  a  certificate  signed  by  Raw- 
son  that  "This  is  A  true  Copie  of  so  much  of  the 
originall  Deed  as  it  is  Recorded,  as  Attests,"  etc. 

From  the  original  deed,  which  is  printed  in  Suffolk 
Deeds,  III :  124-126,  it  is  evident  that  Winthrop's  es- 
tate covered  most  of  the  land  bounded  by  what  are  now 
Congress,  State  and  Kilby  Streets,  and  that  at  that  time 
the  water  of  the  harbor  came  nearly  or  quite  up  to  the 
lines  of  the  latter  street.  On  the  southerly  side  was 
"Mr.  Stephen  Winthrop's  marsh,"  and  a  "creek,"  pos- 
sibly the  outlet  of  the  famous  spring  which  gave  its 
name  to  Spring  Lane.  In  November,  1643,  Winthrop 
conveyed  to  his  son  Stephen  all  his  "  lott  or  parcell  of 
land  ....  called  the  Greene,  lying  by  the  Spring,"  on 
the  condition  that  the  Governor  and  his  wife  should 
have  the  use  of  one-half  of  it  and  the  buildings  to  be 
erected  thereon,  for  the  term  of  their  lives.  Thus  the 
two  parcels  of  land  very  probably  adjoined  each  other, 
but  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  establish  this  in- 
ference. 

The  land  described  in  the  deed  as  formerly  the  prop- 
erty of  Winthrop  was  sold  by  him  in  September,  1643, 
to  Valentine  Hill,  William  Tyng  and  eight  others.  Of 
these  purchasers,  Hill  acquired  a  certain  portion  on 
which  stood  Winthrop's  house,  with  its  gardens  and 
orchards,  which  he  sold  to  Hutchinson  in  1649  J  another 
parcel  of  the  same  estate,  containing  about  twelve  square 
rods,  he  sold  to  Willian^  Fhilpot,  who  in  turn  conveyed 


Original  Documents.  12$ 

it  to  William  Brenton.  In  1660  Brenton's  property  was 
next  west  of  Harding's  estate,*  and  in  the  deed  from 
Hutchinson  it  is  mentioned  that  the  "  mansion  house 
heretofore  the  house  of  John  Winthropp  Senior "  is 
included.  He  seems  to  have  previously  purchased 
another  portion  of  the  Winthrop  estate,  as  the  lot  ad- 
joining Holland's  property  on  the  south-east  belonged  to 
him  in  1656.! 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  trace  in  detail  the  subsequent 
ownership  of  this  land.  This  has  been  very  carefully 
done  by  Mr.  Frederick  Lewis  Gay,  in  a  paper  printed  on 
pages  86-90  of  the  Third  Volume  of  the  Transactions  of 
the  Colonial  Society  of  Massachusetts,  who  shows  that 
Winthrop's  residence  probably  stood  on  the  spot  now 
covered  by  the  main  hall  of  the  Boston  Stock  Exchange. 
Leverett's  estate  extended  from  the  south-easterly  cor- 
ner of  State  and  Congress  Streets  to  the  marsh  already 
mentioned.  Capt.  Harding's  was  the  south-east  corner 
of  State  and  Kilby  Streets.  John  Holland  was  his  next 
neighbor  on  the  west,  and  William  Davis  next.  While 
Philpot  owned  the  land  mentioned  in  the  deed  he  built 
upon  it  "  a  dwelling  house  and  a  Salt  house." 

Some  of  these  locations  are  indicated  by  a  deed  of 
Judith  Holland,  then  of  Dorchester,  called  in  1656 
"widow  of  John  Holland,"  who  April  24,  1657,  con- 
veyed her  land  **  bounded  with  the  streete  y*  leadeth  to 

»  See  Suffolk  Deeds,  V:  231.  t  Ibid.,  Ill :  15,  16. 


126  Original  Documents. 

the  great  wharf e  northwest,"  to  Thomas  Pecke  of  Bos- 
ton. In  this  deed  the  estate  of  William  Davis  is  men- 
tioned as  next  and  bounding  it  on  the  west,  and  that  of 
Brent  on  on  the  south-east  (thus  apparently  having  a 
front  on  what  is  now  Kilby  Street),  as  already  men- 
tioned. The  property  which  she  conveyed  was  about 
one-half  of  a  larger  estate  which  Holland  had  bought  of 
Francis  Smith,  and  later  sold  to  Capt.  James  Oliver, 
whose  ground  was  "next  to  the  water  on  the  east  part." 
The  latter  lot  seems  to  have  been  the  estate  mentioned 
in  Hutchinson's  deed  as  occupied  by  Capt.  Robert 
Harding  in  1657-58 ;  another  part  of  his  land  Holland 
had  sold  to  Davis,  as  will  be  seen  below,  but  as  the 
object  of  these  notes  is  only  to  show  the  residents  on 
this  part  of  State  Street  about  the  time  that  Winthrop 
was  living  there,  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  trace  the 
dates  of  transfers,  or  the  various  holders  of  titles.  Some 
biographical  notes  of  the  persons  named  in  the  deed 
may  be  of  interest. 

Richard  Hutchinson  was  a  brother  of  the  Rev.  William 
(husband  of  the  famous  Mrs.  Ann  Hutchinson),  and  of  John 
and  Samuel  Hutchinson,  sons  of  John,  of  Alford,  England. 
Nothing  has  been  found  to  show  that  he  was  ever  in  Boston. 
John  and  Samuel,  —  the  latter  one  of  the  witnesses  of  the 
deed,  —  were  members  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artil- 
lery Company.     Samuel  died  unmarried,  July  14,  1667. 

Valentine  Hill,  a  merchant  of  Boston  in  1636,  was  ad- 
mitted a  freeman  May  13,   1640,  and  the  following  month 


Original  Documents.  127 

ordained  a  deacon  of  the  First  Church.  He  was  a  public- 
spirited  man,  and  in  1641  one  of  the  grantees  of  the  Town 
or  Bendall's  Dock.  He  was  a  Selectman  1641  to  1647,  at 
which  time  he  lived  on  what  is  now  Washington  Street,  op- 
posite the  office  of  the  Boston  Globe;  this  estate  he  sold  to 
Capt.  William  Davis  about  1649,  and  removed  to  Dover, 
N.  H.  He  represented  that  town  in  the  House  of  Deputies 
1 65  2-1 65  5  inclusive,  and  again  in  1657,  and  died  there  in 
1661.  March  25,  1639,  "Brother  Valentine  Hill  [had  leave] 
to  build  a  fitting-house  and  a  shopp  upon  the  house-plott 
which  he  hath  bought  that  was  our  brother  M.  William 
Aspinwall's,  and  to  let  it  to  Francis  Lysle  Barber."  This 
place,  says  the  historian  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artil- 
lery Company  (of  which  Hill  was  a  member  in  1638),  was 
"  on  State  Street,  opposite  the  Merchants'  Exchange." 

Robert  Harding  came  in  Winthrop's  company  in  1630, 
and  was  one  of  the  earliest  members  of  the  First  Church  in 
Boston,  his  name  being  eleventh  on  the  Covenant  signed  at 
Charlestown,  Aug.  27,  1630.  He  was  Ensign  of  the  train- 
band under  Capt.  Underbill,  and  the  seventeenth  signer  of 
the  original  roll  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 
Company,  1637,  though  he  had  been  disarmed  shortly  before 
by  order  of  the  General  Court,  for  his  heterodoxy,  which  he 
seems  to  have  recanted,  as  he  was  again  received  into  the 
Church;  his  repentance  was  hardly  sincere,  for  in  1640  his 
love  for  the  anabaptist  doctrine  again  triumphed,  and  he 
went  to  Rhode  Island  and  was  one  of  the  Assistants  there  in 
1 64 1.  He  was  a  member  of  the  first  Board  of  Selectmen  in 
Boston  in  1634,  and  served  again  in  that  office  from  1637  to 
1 640,  with  the  exception  of  six  months ;  he  was  one  of  several 


128  Original  Documents. 

who  in  1636  loaned  the  town  Five  pounds  towards  building  the 
Fort  on  Fort  Hill,  and  the  same  year  was  one  of  "  the  richer 
inhabitants "  who  contributed  towards  the  support  of  "  the 
Master  of  the  Free  School,"  now  the  Boston  Latin  School. 
He  married,  May  18,  163 1,  the  widow  Philippa  Hammond, 
who  came  over  in  the  same  ship  with  him,  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  First  Church ;  his  second  wife,  whom  he  married 
Oct.  17,  1645,  was  Esther  Willis,  of  Hartford.  The  follow- 
ing year  he  returned  to  England,  and  in  1651  was  a  merchant 
in  London. 

William  Davis,  of  Boston  in  1643,  was  an  apothecary ; 
admitted  to  the  Church  July  28,  1644,  and  made  a  freeman 
in  1645  ;  "  A  man  of  wealth,  enterprise  and  discretion,"  he 
was  Selectman  of  Boston  1647,  1654-1661,  and  again  1670- 
1675  ;  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Old  South  Church.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  Com- 
pany, and  its  Captain  in  1664  and  1672,  and  held  various 
positions  in  the  military  service  of  the  Colony,  commanding 
a  troop  of  horse  in  Ninigret's  War.  He  was  also  a  Repre- 
sentative in  the  Legislature  from  Springfield  and  Haverhill, 
in  each  of  which  towns  he  seems  to  have  resided  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  period.  His  house  was  on  the  lot  next  west  of 
that  on  the  corner  of  Kilby  and  State  Streets,  which  he  had 
bought  of  Holland,*  where  in  Provincial  days  stood  the 
Bunch  of  Grapes  Tavern.  By  a  deed  dated  June  9,  1658, 
William  Davis,  "  now  resident  in  the  Island  of  Barbadoes," 
and  his  wife  Mary  granted  "  one  dwelling  house  ....  front- 
ing next  the  broad  streete  from  the  markett  place  [where 

«  See  Suffolk  Deeds,  III :  15,  16. 


Original  Documents.  129 

the  Old  State  House  now  stands]  downe  to  m*"  Webbs,  wharf e 
....  with  the  yard  and  well  belonging  to  sajd  house."  Mr. 
Bren ton's  lands  on  the  south-east  are  mentioned  in  the  same 
deed  as  adjoining.*  Davis  subsequently  returned  to  Boston. 
He  died  May  23,  1676,  and  was  buried  in  King's  Chapel 
Burial-ground. 

Mr.  Thomas  Leverett  was  the  Ruling  Elder  of  the  First 
Church  in  Boston.  He  resigned  his  office  of  Alderman  of 
the  borough  of  Old  Boston,  England,  in  1633,  and  arrived 
Sept.  4,  1633,  in  Boston,  in  the  "Griffin."  His  residence 
"  had  State  Street  on  the  north,  and  the  marsh  of  Mr.  Win- 
throp  on  the  south."  (Hist.  A.  and  H.  A.  Co.,  I,  p.  92.) 
After  his  death  this  house  was  occupied  by  his  son,  John, 
one  of  the  most  prominent  men  of  his  time.  That  part  of 
Congress  Street  north  of  Water  Street  was  long  known  as 
Leverett's  Lane,  in  honor  of  the  distinguished  father  and 
son. 

William  Philpot  was  of  Boston  in  1645,  ^'^d  is  called  a 
saltmaker;  he  was  admitted  to  the  Church  November  29th 
of  that  year.  He  married,  December,  165 1,  Mrs.  Ann, 
widow  of  George  Hunn. 

Bradstreet-Waldron  Charges. 

A  Chardge  drawne  vp  against  m'  Isaac  Wal- 

dron  of  Boston  Apothecary  for  his  Injurious  & 

reflective  speeches  and  bold  Affirmation^  in  his 

1st        chardging  the   wo^'pf^i   Symon    Bradstreet   Esq"" 

one  of  ye  Assistants  of  his  Maj*yes  Court  of 

»  Suffolk  Deeds,  III :  167,168. 


130  Original  Documents. 

Assistants  of  y*^  Jurisdiction  in  the  open  County 
Court  in  January  last  Contrary  to  truth :  saying 
that  the  sajd  m''.  Bradstreet  had  not  or  did  not 
p^sent  the  originall  bond  he  tooke  ag*  him  the 
sajd  Waldron  :  binding  him  over  to  that  Court 
to  Ans^.  for  his  mischarging  sends  (?)  all  "^sons 
as  Capt.  Tho.  marshall  Joell  Jenkins  &c  Againe 
&  Againe  saying  that  he  presumed  (?)  &  denied  (?) 
that  to  be  the  originall  bond  &c. 

2ly  In  his  bold  Affirmation  at  the  Sajd    County 

Court  the  same  time  of  his  tryall  that  what  he 
had  donn  was  by  the  Advise  &  order  of  sajd  m'. 
Bradstreet  or  els  he  had  not  Don  it  &c  and  this 
rejtterated  Contrary  to  truth. 

3ly  ffor  bold  &  reittirated  &  Abusive  refflection* 

againe  &  Againe  in  like  words  in  his  Reasons  of 
Appeale  from  the  Judgment  of  the  Sajd  County 
Court  to  this  Court  of  Assistants  Against  the 
Sajd  Worp^^  m^.  Bradstreet  before  the  Country 
thereby  Indeavoring  to  bespatte""  and  Asperse 
him  of  whom  this  Country  hath  had  so  long  ex- 
periens  of  Sincere  able  &  faithfull  adminstration 
of  Justice. 

Isaac  Waldron,  who  is  called  a  physician  by  Savage, 
probably  came  to  Boston  from  York,  Me.,  as  he  was  in  that 
town  in  1670  and  appears  in  Boston  in  1676  ;  he  died  in 
1683,  and  the  record  of  the  administration  of  his  estate  is  in 
the  Suffolk  Probate  Court. 


Original  Documents.  131 

Simon  Bradstreet  came  over  in  Winthrop's  company  in 
1630,  and  had  been  chosen  an  Assistant  before  leaving 
England.  He  was  almost  constantly  in  office,  filling  many 
positions  of  prominence  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  being  an 
Assistant  from  1668  to  1678,  and  the  following  year  was 
Governor.  This  fixes  very  closely  the  time  when  this 
"  Chardge  "  was  preferred,  no  date  appearing  in  the  docu- 
ment except  that  of  the  month.  As  Waldron  came  to 
Boston  in  1676,  and  Bradstreet  ceased  to  be  an  Assistant 
in  1678,  evidently  this  offensive  conduct  must  have  been 
in  1677  or  '78. 

Capt.  Thomas  Marshall  is  best  known  as  the  landlord 
of  the  Anchor  Tavern,  which  stood  on  the  west  side  of 
Saugus  River,  on  the  road  from  Salem  to  Boston,  where  the 
General  Court  allowed  him  "  to  sell  strong  water  to  travillers 
and  alsoe  other  meet  provisions."  This  he  continued  to  do 
for  forty  years.  He  received  from  Cromwell  a  captain's 
commission  in  the  Parliamentary  army.  He  joined  the 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery  in  1640,  and  in  1675  com- 
manded the  Lynn  company  in  King  Philip's  War.  He 
represented  Lynn  in  the  General  Court  six  times  between 
1659  and  1688,  and  in  1659  was  authorized  to  join  in  mar- 
riage such  persons  in  Lynn  as  conformed  to  the  legal  re- 
quirements, but  was  discharged  from  "officyating  in  that 
imployment"  in  1670,  because  of  his  "overmuch  credulity." 
Judge  Sewall,  in  his  Diary,  speaks  of  stopping  at  his  tavern 
in  1686.     He  died  Dec.  23,  1689,  aged  seventy-three. 

Joel  Jenkins  was  probably  of  Boston ;  his  will  (No.  1662 
in  the  missing  docket  of  the  Suffolk  Probate  Court)  was 
made  in  1688. 


132  Original  Documents. 

Daniel  Allen  to  Joseph  Dudley,  Esq^.  in  London. 

f  Mr.  Peter  Clark,  Q.  D.  C. 

Boston  Augs*  16  1683 
Dear  S*^ 

Wee  are  now  in  dayly  Expectation  of  Carey  by  whome 
hope  to  be  informed  of  yo*"  welfare  and  health  but  bad 
Effect  of  Randolphs  arrivall*  there  as  the  countryes  con- 
cerne,  is  much  feared.  about  a  week  agoe  governor 
Dungon  for  York  arrived  in  the  constant  Warwick  frig- 
att,  is  gone  home  over  Land  and  Governor  Cranefeildf 
with  the  commission'*s  for  the  Narrhaganset  province  in 
his  Comp^  intending  before  they  return  to  have  a  full 
report  of  the  place  and  claimes :  two  dayes  agoe  Dr. 
Rogersf  was  inaugurated,  and  our  Commencement  de- 
ferred till  Septemb'^.  and  being  at  Colledge  I  found 
Thomas  labouring  of  an  ague  w^^  is  there  almost  Epi- 
demic case  have  Since  given  him  a  dos.  of  Physick  and 
doubt  not  his  speedy  recovery :  we  have  no  newes  to 
offer  of  the  generall  court,  but  all  of  any  Reason  be- 
ing Sensible  of  the  desperatenes  of  our  Charter  wish 
for  a  Sessions  that  Some  of  the  lawes  which 
will  be  directory  to  a  new  constitution  to  make  our 

♦  Randolph's  "  arrivall "  in  England,  carrying  his  numerous  charges 
against  Massachusetts,  the  "  bad  Effect "  of  which  caused  the  fear  to 
which  the  writer  alludes,  was  on  May  28,  1683. 

t  Governor  Cranfield  spent  most  of  his  time  in  Boston  in  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1683.     (Palfrey,  Hist,  of  New  England^  III :  412.) 

X  President  of  Harvard  College,  168  2- 1684. 


Original  Documents.  133 

yoake  heavy  might  be  removed,  and  Expunged,  there 
is  nothing  yet  done  as  to  the  fifty  pounds  they  last 
Voted  for  you  neither  do  I  ever  Expect  to  receive  it 
the  treasurer  I  beleive  thinks  he  shall  be  aforehand  w*^ 
you,  and  being  zealous  that  our  patent  may  be  dam[.  .  .] 
they  are  wilhng  to  Save  the  money  if  they  can  ;  or  if 
you  have  no  more  interest  there  when  our  libertyes  here 
are  gone  you  will  altogether  faile  of  yo'^  Expectation  for 
I  beleive  nothing  but  opprobriums  will  be  thought  due 
to  Such  as  are  witnesses  to  their  losse ; . 

S^  I  sent  '^  Grenner  (?)  the  Coppyes  of  those  write- 
ings  you  sent  for  Authentick  and  Attested,  have  since 
wrote  to  Hawly  (?)  concerning  the  Survey  (?)  have  yet 
no  answer  now  again  am  sending  M""  Cordis  (?)  is  in 
readiness  and  I  hope  it  shall  speedily  be  accomplished : 
I  wrote  of  my  intentions  to  see  the  place  myself ;  but 
am  discouraged  having  been  lately  troubled  with  violent 
Haemorrhagia  pulmonum,  which  left  behind  it  some  ill 
symtomes,  beleive  the  Dr.  must  Cure  me  tho  thank 
god  I  am  in  very  competent  health  at  present :  Have 
made  some  progresse  in  the  Sale  of  the  goods  Sent  me 
and  doubt  not  giving  the  gentlemen  Satisfacton  unlesse 
unhappy  accidents  prevent,  forget  not  to  insert  here 
my  humble  thanks  for  yo""  paines  and  care  in  obligeing 
the  Cent"^  which  hope  will  be  continued  :  I  have  sent 
M""  Dingley  some  money  reed  of  Mrs.  Creenough,  but 
Mr.  Pigotts  busyness  is  not  like  to  be  issued  child  hav- 
ing lost  one  of   the  bonds  and  his  own  obligaton  for 


134  Original  Documents. 

two  cannot  be  proved  against  him  because  the  witnesses 
are  dead  and  he  will  not  own  it. 

Mr.  Lellond  lyes  dead  in  his  house  being  taken  sud- 
denly with  vomiting  and  flux  dyed  ye  14  instant : 
my  Bro^:  Wade  is  in  great  strait  about  his  Bretheren 
whome  he  meets  with  trouble  from ;  there  is  no  will 
but  an  old  one  in  which  he  makes  his  wife  and  son  Jon- 
athan Exeu^  gives  Jonathan  the  land  in  Engld.  and  the 
rest  to  be  divided  amongst  the  rest  here,  but  he  dare 
not  prove  it  wants  yo^  advice  greatly  Mr.  Stoughton 
being  sick  of  an  agew,  and  the  Governo''*  espousing 
Nats :  Cause  whose  insolence  to  his  Brother  is  matchles 
upon  that  Acct  (?)  there  will  be  unavoidably  law  suites 
before  full  settlement.  I  have  just  now  been  with 
Thomas  and  find  his  ague  hath  left  him  and  his  colour 
begins  to  returne,  having  missed  two  fitts :  S"*  I  am 
affraid  of  tediousnesse  else  would  enlarge  therefore  onely 
offer  Mr.  Hubbard  service  with  desire  of  your  Excuse 
for  not  writing,  because  he  would  not  burthen  you  ac- 
cept also  the  service  of  my  Sister  Dudley  wife  and  all 
friends  which  also  is  the  best  at  present  from  S^ 

Y"^  unworthy  much  obliged  Brother 
&  Servt.  Daniell  Allin. 


|]^  *  Bradstreet  was  then  Governor :  William  Stoughton  was  an  Assist- 
ant, 1671-86.  He  held  various  important  positions  in  the  Colony,  and 
was  a  supporter  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  and  one  of  his  Counsellors 
until  the  overthrow  of  the  Royal  Governor  in  April,  1689. 


Original  Documents.  135 

Col.  Thomas  Dungon  was  Governor  of  New  York,  where 
he  succeeded  Andros,  Sept.  30,  1683,  after  the  latter  had 
been  recalled,  and  Major  Anthony  Brockholst,  his  Lieuten- 
ant Governor,  had  temporarily  taken  his  place.  His  char- 
acter is  depicted  in  various  lights,  according  to  the  preju- 
dices of  his  personal  friends  or  his  enemies.  By  the  former 
he  is  called  "  a  man  of  integrity,  moderation  and  genteel 
manners,  as  well  as  a  patriot."  His  opponents  disliked  him 
because  he  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  for  his  attempt  to  secure 
the  Connecticut  Charter  and  make  that  Colony  a  part  of 
New  York  (see  Andros  Tracts,  I :  p.  127),  and  also  for  his 
course  in  reference  to  leasing  lands  at  Pemaquid.  In  the 
changes  following  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  he 
was  dismissed  from  the  offices  which  he  had  held  under 
Charles  II,  but  was  afterwards  created  Earl  of  Limerick. 

Edward  Cranfield,  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  family 
of  the  Lord  Monteagle  who  was  concerned  in  the  "  Gun- 
powder plot,"  was  Governor  of  New  Hampshire  when  Allen 
wrote,  having  been  installed  in  that  office  at  Portsmouth, 
October  4,  1681,  and  his  administration,  which  lasted  until 
1684,  was  peculiarly  oppressive.  He  disliked  the  people 
and  especially  the  ministers  of  "  the  Bostoners'  Colony."  In 
June,  1683,  he  wrote  to  England  that  "The  Bostoners'  prin- 
cipals in  matters  of  government  debauches  all  the  neighbor- 
ing Colonies,"  and  in  October  of  the  same  year,  speaking  of 
Harvard  College,  which  he  had  frequently  denounced  in  his 
letters  to  England,  he  advised  that  it  be  "  utterly  extirpated, 
for  from  thence  those  half-witted  philosophers  turn  either 
atheists  or  seditious  preachers,"  for,  said  he,  "I  utterly  des- 
pair of  any  true  duty  and  obedience  to  his  Majesty  until 


136  Original  Documents. 

their  College  be  suppressed  and  their  ministers  silenced." 
In  the  year  this  letter  was  written  Randolph  had  urged  the 
King  to  make  Cranfield  Governor  of  Massachusetts.  He  left 
the  country  in  the  winter  of  1684-85. 

The  Rev.  John  Rogers,  of  the  Class  of  1649,  "entered 
into  office"  April  10,  1682,  succeeding  President  Urian 
Oakes,  who  died  July,  1681.  Rogers  had  previously  been 
elected,  but  declined.  He  was  inaugurated,  as  appears  by 
Allen's  letter,  August  14,  1683,  and  died  in  office  July  2, 
1684.  Those  were  troublous  times  at  Harvard;  no  class 
graduated  in  1682,  and  only  three  received  their  degrees  in 
1683.  Dr.  Increase  Mather  of  Boston,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Torrey  of  Weymouth,  had  each  been  chosen  and  declined 
before  Rogers  accepted,  though  Mather  finally  consented  to 
take  the  position  after  the  death  of  Rogers. 

President  Quincy,  in  his  History  of  Harvard  University 
(1 :  38)  says,  "  At  this  period,  the  difficulty  of  finding  per- 
sons suitable  and  willing  to  accept  the  office  was  great." 
He  does  not  give  the  date  of  the  inauguration  of  Rogers, 
and  refers  to  his  administration  very  briefly.  The  same 
authority  remarks  that  "  the  political  and  religious  parties  of 
the  country  were,  during  [this]  time  in  a  state  of  excitement 
and  struggle."  These  facts,  of  which  we  have  a  glimpse  in 
Allen's  letter,  seem  to  give  sufficient  ground  for  the  delay  in 
inaugurating  President  Rogers. 


INDEX. 


1.    INDEX  OF  NAMES. 
II.    INDEX  OF  PLACES  AND  SUBJECTS. 


1.    INDEX  OF  NAMES. 


In  cases  of  well-known  public  men  the  Christian  name  is  given,  though 
it  may  not  always  appear  in  the  text. 


Adams,  John  6i,  62 

Lieut.-Col.  60 

Samuel  95,  96,  99,  101-103 
Alger,  Cyrus  116 
Allen,  Daniel  132,  134-136 
Amory,  Jonathan  116 
Andros,  Sir  Edmund  134,  135 
Appleton,  John  47,  48 

Samuel  1 16 
Aspinwall,  William  127 
Austin,  James  T.  95,  102,  103 

Babcock,  Abram  57 

Baldwin,  Col.  Loammi  7 1-73,  76, 

87 
Thomas  1 1 5 
Barber,  Francis  Lysle  127 

Barren, 7 1 

Baxter,  Daniel  57 

Bellingham,  Gov.  Richard  41,  123 

Berry,  William  49 

Billings,  Samuel  57 

Biron,  Due  de  13 


Blackstone,  William  23 

Blake,  George  59,  66,  92,  94,  98, 

loi,  102,  114 
Bowen,  Abel  88 
Bradish,  Frank  E.  9 
Bradlee,  D.  W.  117 
Bradstreet,  Gov.  Simon   1 29-1 31, 

134 
Brenton,    William    122,   123,   125, 

126,  129 
Brimmer,  Martin  56,  65 
Brockholst,  Anthony  135 
Bromfield,  Edward  48,  49 
Elizabeth  48 
Henry  47,  48 
Mary  (Danforth)  48 
Brooks,    Gov.  John  58,  61,  63,  71, 
III 
Peter  C.  74,  116,  117 
Buckingham,    J.    T.   97,   98,   106, 
no 

Burke, 49 

Burrage,  William  Clarence  53 


I40 


Index  of  Names. 


Carey, 132 

Chaderton,  Dr.  28 
Child,  David  W.  57 
Clap,  Roger  30 
Clark,  Thomas  116 
Clough,  Ebenezer  95,  103 
Codman,  Stephen  92 
Cogan,  John  27 

Cragie, 7 1 

Cranfield,  Gov.  Edward  132,  135, 

136 
Cromwell,  Oliver  131 

Curtis, 57 

Mary  Frazier  53 

Dame,  Prof.  79 
banforth,  Mary  48 

Mary  (Wilson)  44,  46 

Samuel  44,  48 
Davis,  Jonathan  116 

Mary  128 

William  122,  125-129 
Dearborn,  Henry  A.  S.  64 

Dingley, 133 

Doggett,  Samuel  55,  65 
Dudley,  Gov.  Thomas  22 

Mrs.  134 
Dungon,  Gov.  Thomas  132,  135 
Dunster,  Henry  39 

Eddy,  Caleb  78,  79,  83,  87 
Eliot,  John  ^iZ^  36.  39 

Emmons, 98,  10 1 

Endicott,  John  20 

Fennelly,  Robert  57 
Findlay,  John  K.  60 
Fitch,  Jeremiah  57,  59,  65 
French,  John  116,  117 
Fulton,  Robert  77 


Gay,  Frederick  Lewis  125 
Gibbons,  Maj.-Gen.  25 

Gookin, 39 

Cordis, 133 

Gore, 71 

Gray,  Thomas  12 
Greene,  Gardiner  88 
Greenough,  Mrs.  133 
Grindall,  Edmund  11 

Hale,  Nathan  95,  106,  107 
Hammond,  Philippa  128 
Hancock,  Gov.  John  71 
Harding,  Esther  (Willis)  128 

Philippa  (Hammond)  128 

Robert  122,  125,  127 
Harvard,  John  31-33 
Hatch,  Oliver  118 

Hawley, 133 

Hawthorne,  Nathaniel  28,  40,  41, 

46 
Hill,  Valentine  122,  124,  126,  127 
Holland,  John  122,  125,  126,  128 

Judith  125 
Holmes,  Cadet  59 

Oliver  Wendell  65 
Howe,  John  116,  117 
Howin  (Widow)  27 
Hubbard, 86,  134 

James  Mascarene  91 
Hunn,  Ann  ( )  129 

George  129 
Hutchinson,  Ann  126 

Edward  123 

John  126 

Mary  123 

(Mrs.)  37 

Richard  122-126 

Samuel  123,  126 

Thomas  62 

William  126 


Index  of  Names. 


141 


Jackson,  Charles  92 

Patrick  T.  116 
Jarvis,  Samuel  F.  59 
Jenkins,  Joel  130,  131 

John  (Sagamore)  38,  39 

Joseph  1 1 1 
Johnson,  Edward  34,  35,  39 

Isaac  21,  22,  45 

Keayne,  Robert  26 

Latrobe,  John  H.  B.  53 

Lellond, 134 

Leverett,  John  129 

Thomas  28,  122,  129 
Lewis,  Winslow  116 
Limerick,  Earl  of  135 

Lloyd, 110 

Lobdell,  Thomas  J.  55 
Loring,  Jonathan  57 
Lowell,  James  Russell  21 
Lyman,  Col.  115 

Mann,  Moses  Whitcher  69 
Mansfield,  Elizabeth  18 

I^dy  18 

Sir  John  18 
Marshall,  Thomas  130,  131 
Martin,  Mrs.  60 
Marvin,  William  T.  R.  121 
Mather,  Cotton  9,  40-42,  47 

Increase  156 
McCleary,  Samuel  F.  116 
Melville,  Thomas  60,  65 
Meniac,  John  62 
Mildmay,  Sir  Walter  31 
Mill,  John  Stuart  13 
Minns,  Thomas  46,  49 
Monroe,  James  66 
Monteagle,  Lord  135 
Motley,  Thomas  116 


Nash,  Robert  25 
Northampton,  Earl  of  17 

Oakes,  Urian  136 
Oliver,  Francis  J.  94 

James  126 
Ome,  Henry  92 
Otis,  Harrison  Gray  109-] 

114 
Owen,  John  48,  49 


"3. 


Parker,  Chief  Justice  115 
Parkman,  Samuel  116 
Peabody,  Augustus  1 16 
Peck,  Thomas  126 

Penniman, 57 

Perkins,  Augustus  T.  49 

James  116 

Samuel  117 

Thomas  H.  114,  115 
Phillips,  John  92,  no,  115,  116 

William  48 
Philpot,  Ann  ( )  [Hunn]  129 

William  122,  124,  125,  129 

Pierce, 33 

Pierpont,  John  59 

Piggott, 133 

Prescott,  William  92, 116 
Pynchon, 35 

Quincy,  Abraham  97 

Josiah  47,  48,  61, 91, 92,  99,  1 10- 
114,  136 
Quincy,  Miss  61 

Randolph,  Edmund  132,  136 
Rawson,  Edward  40,  47,  121,   123, 
124 

Reed, 94 

Rogers,  Elizabeth  (Wilson)  44 
Ezekiel  44 


142 


Index  of  Names, 


Rogers,  John  132,  136 
Russell,  Benjamin  93,  98,  106 

Sabine,  James  118 
Sargent,  Daniel  110,  iii 
Savage,  James  130 
Sewall,  Samuel  131 
Sharpe,  Daniel  118 
Shaw,  Lemuel  92,  93,  104 

Robert  G.  116,  117 
Silsby,  Enoch  116 
Smith, ,  Mr.  58 

Barney  62 

Francis  126 
Stoddard,  Anthony  26,  123 
Stoughton,  Gov.  William  35,  134 
Sturgis,  William  98 
Sullivan,  James  70,  71,  75,  76,  86, 

87 
John  Langdon  76,  77,  87 
William,  92,  94,  99,  11 1,  116 

Sumner,  William  Hyslop  59,  65 

Swett,  Samuel  iii 

Taft,  Pres.  William  Howard  49 

Taylor,  Richard  27 

Thayer,  Major  60 

Thompson,  Samuel  72 

Tilden,  Joseph  92 

Tudor,  William   92,  94,   95,    10 1, 

104,  no 
Torrey,  Samuel  136 
Tufts,  Fitch  97 
Tyng,  William  124 

Underbill,  John  127 


Vane,  Gov.  Harry  19,  37,  38 

Wade, 134 

Jonathan  134 
Waldron,  Isaac  129,  130,  131 
Warren,  Joseph  59,  62,  65 
Washington,  George  63,  66,  69 

Webb, 129 

Webster,  Daniel  59,  80,  92 
Welles,  John  116 
Wells,  S.  A.  94,  98,  1 01 

Samuel  A.  57 
Weston,  Samuel  72 
Williams,  Major  54 

Eliphalet  57,  115 

Moses  116 
Willis, 60 

Esther  128 
Wilson,  Edmund  35,  44 

Elizabeth  ( )  25,  44 

Isabell  18 

John  9-49 

John,  Jr.  25 

Mary  44 

William  10,  18 
Winslow,  Isaac  92 
Winthrop,   Gov.  John  19,  21-23, 
28,  33.  35'  38.  122-127,  129, 


131 

Robert  C.  47 
Stephen  122, 
Thomas  L.  w 


124 

3»  II 


Woodhall,  Isabel  1 1 

Worth,  William  Jenkins  53,  58,  6r, 

62,  64 
Wyatt,  Lot  1 18 


^^m^ 


II.    INDEX  OF  PLACES  AND  SUBJECTS. 


A  New  England  Dogberry  99 
Aberjona  River  72,73,  79,  84 
Albany  54,  61 

St.  Peter's  Church  54 
Alford,  Eng.  126 
An  Indian  Cadet  62 
Anchor  Tavern  131 
Amoskeag  Canal  75 
Amoskeag  Falls  76 
Ancient  and  Honorable  Artillery 

26,  60,  65,  66,  126-128,  131 
Attleborough  62 

Baltimore  53 
Barbadoes  128 
Bedford,  N.  H.  80 
Billerica  73,  83,  85 
Boston :  —  Artillery55 

Bendall's  Dock  127 

Boylston  Market  118 

Boylston  School-house  113 

Brazer's  Building  28 

Bunch  of  Grapes  Tavern  128 

Circus  112,  118 

City  Guards  63 

Common  55,  57,  63,  65,  loi 

Concert  Hall  56 

Cotton  Hill  88 


Boston  {confd)  : 
Crooked  Lane  26 
Essex  Street  Church  113,  118 
Exchange   Coffee   House,    iii, 

112 
Faneuil  Hall  56,  58,  59,  91,  93, 

94,  100,  loi,  105,  III,  112, 115 
Fenno's  Hotel  112 
First  Baptist  Church  112,  118 
First  Church  29,  36,  37,  46,  127- 

129 
First  Meeting-house  28,  29 
First  Methodist  Meeting-house 

112,118 
Fisher's  Building  113 
Fort  Hill  112,  113,  128 
Fusileers  56 
Great  Elm  55 
Gun  House  112 
Handel  and  Haydn  Society  60 
Hatch's  Hall  112 
Hollis  Street  Church  59 
Independent  Cadets,  60,  65 
Ingraham's  Yard  118 
King's  Chapel  Burying  Ground 

129 
Latin  School  128 
Leverett's  Lane  129 


144 


Index  of  Places  and  Subjects. 


Boston  {confd)  : 
Light  Infantry  56 
Localities  of  Ward  Rooms  112, 

113 
Location   of    Gov.    Winthrop's 

House  121-126 
Methodist  Alley  112,  118 
Mill-pond  75 
Old  South  Church  128 
Old  State  House  9,  26,  53,  69, 

91,  122,  129 
Pantheon  112,  113,  118 
Parkman's  Market  112,  118 
Presents  a  Stand  of   Colors  to 

U.  S.  Cadets  56-58 
Rangers  56 

Salem  Street  Academy  112 
Sea  Fencibles  58 
St.  John's  Lodge  66 
St.  Paul's  Church  59 
Supervision  of  Sign-boards,  108, 

109 
Third    Baptist    Meeting-house 

112,  118 
Town  Dock  88 
Washington  Infantry  56 
Webb's  Wharfe  129 
Wilson's  Gift  of  Artillery  34 
Winthrop's  Marsh  124,  129 
Wyatt's  Hotel  112,  1 18 
Boston  Newspapers ;  — 

Advertiser  95,  102,  106,  109, 113 

Globe  127 

Columbian  Centinel  56,  63,  75, 

106 
Commercial  Gazette  107,  113 
Evening  Gazette  109 
Galaxy  97,  106,  no 
Patriot  108 
Boston,  England  129] 
Bounties  paid  Trappers  81 


Cambridge  32,  38 

Harvard  College  31,  39,  44,  56, 
65,  66,  132,  135,  136 

Marti-Mercurian  Company  65 

Newtowne  32 
Cambridge,  England  15-17,  31,  32 

Emmanuel  College   17,  28,  31, 

32.  44 

King's  College  15 
Canterbury,  Eng.  11 
Caxton,  Eng.  11 
Charles  River  23,  71,  73,  83,  88 
Charlestown  20,  22,  23,  62,  71,  74, 
83,  127 

Bridge  88 

Bunker  Hill  59,  62,  65 

Church  32 

Mt.  Benedict  83 

Sullivan  Square  86,  87 
Chelmsford  72,  75 
Chelsea  38,  39 
Chester  Factory  54 
Cincinnati,  Society  of  64 
Cliffe,  Eng.  1 1 
Concord  73 
Concord,  N.  II.  77 
Concord  River  72,  73 
Cragie's  Bridge  83 

Dedham  62 

Democratic  Press,  Phila.  114 

Dorchester  125 

Dover,  N.  H.  127 

Eton,  Eng.  12,  13 

Framingham  54 

Gunpowder  Plot  135 

Hadley  Pasture  85 


Index  of  Places  and  Suhjectz. 


145 


Hamilton  Mills  78 
Hartford,  Conn.  128 
Haverhill  128 
Horn  Pond  72,  80 
Hudson,  N.  Y.  64 

Ipswich  River  72 
Islip,  Eng.  1 1 

King  Philip's  War  131 

Lake  Champlain  70 
Lake  of  the  Woods  80 
Lake  Sunapee  70 
Latin  Elegy  on  Wilson  33 
Lebanon,  N.  Y.  54 
Leicester  54 
Lenox  54 

London,  Eng.   11,   16,  20,  30,  35, 
44,  49,  122,  128 
St.  Paul's  1 1 
Lowell  76,  78,  79, 82 
Lynn  131 

Magnalia  cited  41 

Maiden  20,  38 

Manchester  75 

Maple  Meadow  Brook  72 

Massachusetts  Historical   Society 

48,  49,  66 
Medfield  25,  44 
Medford  71,  73»  74.  84 
Medford  Pond  72 
Melborne,  Eng.  49 
Merrimack  Boating  Co.  76,  83 
Merrimack   River  70,  72,  73,  75, 

76,  78,  80,  8s 
Mexican  War  64 
Middlesex  Village  85 
Middling  Interest   Party  100,  iii, 

112 


Milton  62 

Hutchinson's  Mansion  62 
Monterey,  Mexico  64 
Moosehead  I^ke  82 
Mystic  River  71,  73,  74,  79 

Narragansett  Province  132 

Nashua  82 

Nassau  Hall  (Princeton)  65 

New  London  62 

New  York,  72,  132,  135 
Central  Park  64 
Commercial  Advertiser  107 
Hoboken  Turtle  Club  107 

Newton  39 

Ninigret's  War  128 

Nonantum  39 

North  Billerica  72,  85 

Oxford,  Eng.  32 
Merton  College  10 

Palmer  54 

Passenger    Boats    on    Middlesex 

Canal  80 
Pawtucket,  R.  I.  62 

Canal  76,  79 

Falls  76,  78 
Pemaquid,  Me.  135 
Penrith,  Eng.  10,  49 
Pequod  Indians  35,  36,  41 
Portland,  Me.  64 
Portsmouth,  N.  H.  75,  135 
Providence,  R.  I.  62 

Rochester  Cathedral  1 1 
Rowley,  Eng.  44 
Roxbury  24,  44,  55,  65 

Faxon's  Hill  55 

Norfolk  Guards  55 


146 


Index  of  Places  and  Subjects. 


Salem  20,  23,  131 
Saugus  River  131 
Seminole  War  64 
Shawsheen  River  73,  85 
Signal  Horns  78 
Small -pox  among  Indians  38 
Southampton,  Eng.  20 
Springfield,  54,  128 
St.  Lawrence  River  70 
Symmes  River  73 

Talbot  Mills,  85 
Thomas's  Tavern  54 
Tyngsborough  79 

Walpole  62 
War  of  1812  64 


Warwick  Frigate  132 

Wellsbourne,  Eng.  10 

Westfield  54 

Weymouth  136 

William  and  Mary  College  64 

Wilmington  72,  85 

Wilson  Arms  49 

Wilson,  Portrait,  doubtful  47-49 

Winchester  84,  85 

Windsor,  Eng.  11-14,  27 

Castle,  10,  II,  18 

St.  George's  Chapel  10,  14,  18 
Woburn  72,  73,  83-85 
Worcester  54 
Wrentham  62 

York,  Me.  130 


% 


F         Bostonian  Society,  Boston 
73  Publications 

.1 

B88 
V.6 


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