IMAGINING BOSTON | BRAZIL | BRAZIL - MAKING OF A NOVEL | RIDING THE RAILS | MICHENER'S SECRET COVENANT | HOME
Boston Privateers, Pirates and Slavers
Privateer, Triangle Trade “Bostonians were the Phoenicians of their day." “Much of the wealth of socially eminent Bostonians was founded on privateering”
BSN: The importance of shipping c 1720 is shown by the fact that of the 216 persons listed as subscribers to the building fund of the Old North Church, 37 had the title of Captain. BSN: Slavery A letter from a Frenchman about 1690 says, “You may own Negroes and Negresses; there is not a house in Boston, however small may be its means that has not one or two.” The Boston NewsLetter from its beginning in 1704 was seldom without its ads of slaves for sale and rewards for capture of runaways, including “The Rev. Mr. Prince has a Negro woman about 20 years of age, well educated, accomplished in all manner of household business to be disposed of.” Dec 29, 1726. Cotton Mather’s congregation presented him with a Negro slave. When some of the members presented him with the slave “he rejoiced at Heaven’s smile.” 1700 25000 black slaves 1/10 US 1790 800,000 black slaves 1/5 US BS H47 Royall House, Medford…. As many as 27 slaves were housed here at one time, brought from the West Indies by Col Isaac Royall.. original structure was of brick and wood , 20 feet in width, length unknown, one story in height, The west wall only was of brick. It was used probably as a cook house and doubtless was in existence in 1732. That was demolished and the brick portion of the present building was erected two stories high with two rooms and a deep cellar under the whole. The lower room with its ample fireplace and brick oven was used as a kitchen where tradition says the food of the slaves was prepared, The third step in the evolution was the addition of the wooden portion of the present structure. A small portion of the cellar was partitioned off by a solid stone wall and lighted by two small windows one on each side. A doorway connects with the cellar under the brick part of the quarters. The cellar may have been used as a dungeon where the slaves were punished.” BSN: WHEREIN BOSTON WAS DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COLONIES: Emphasis on books and learning the chief difference from other colonies. Boston’s settlers were middle class people but were motivated by books and learning. They were extreme Protestant reformers. Called this a Bible Commonwealth. Established schools and libraries. By 1700 Boston was the greatest book printing and publishing city in the world except London. There was also a tremendous number of books imported. The Puritans read other things than controversial theology. They imported novels, poetry, history, but not drama. They read many books now prohibited as obscene. Boston was more distinctly English. It was a hard place to get to. Adverse winds and danger of icebergs. Boston was chosen because it was near the mouth of a river and easily defended. It was not a good spot for a future city because it had poor soil and no room for expansion. Boston was the “capital” of New England, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. Outstanding as a silversmithing center. Existing works made by men known to have been working here from 1650 to 1800 show that Boston had supported at least 250 during these 150 years. A survey made in 1913 of old church silver shows that of 2000 pieces made before 1825 1640 were made in America. = 80 per cent. Immigrants in the 18th century easily absorbed – those in the 19th not so. Boston at center of opposing forces from Lords of Trade in London x merchants and traders of Boston “A plantation of religion, not a plantation of trade,” John Higginson 1706: Cotton: “The Good Old Way” – decried the lessening of Puritan influence Post 1700 there emerged a group of men of wealth and property who began to replace the men of religion as the dominating force in Boston life Upper class women – leisure – servants – casting off Puritan ideals As men went to sea and traveled to other parts of the colonies – women began to take over their husband’s affairs, supervise their accounts and become more knowledgeable about financial matters and world affairs. (1692) Cotton Mather: ornaments for the Daughters of Zion.” Urging women to learn the affairs of housewifery and beside a good skill at her needle, as well as in the kitchen. 1690s…20 women listed as innkeepers in Boston = half the innkeepers at the time. Colonel Thomas Hutchinson: trading and shipping. Industrious, charitable, unaffected, unworldly, clannish. A straight-laced pious provincial, he read scriptures to his family mornings and evenings and devoted himself to trade and to the welfare of his kin and community. Thomas Hancock, whose father started out as a simple shipbuilder = $1,000,000 Thrift, hard-work, imagination, and increasing evasion of the navigation laws – men like Thomas Hancock, John Amory, James Bowdoin, Thomas Boylston (richest man in MA), Peter Faneuil 1699 Boston fleet of 200 vessels (New York 124) 1700 – 14 shipyards 1702 – Queen Anne + hostilities with France and Spain (privateering opportunities) 1700-1711 16 new bookstores 1705 The notorious John Quelch hanged at Boston with, June 30, with five of his men…Treaty of Peace had made his acts piratical. John Quelch was hanged, and his soul hurled into eternity on Friday, June 30, 1704. But for one of his ilk, it was a fitting punishment. One year earlier, he and his crew of rascally seamen had seized the brigantine Charles -- a fully-armed and well-provisioned privateer -- as she lay at anchor in Marblehead Harbor. With her gravely-ill captain, Daniel Plowman, locked aboard in his cabin, Quelch and his crew then set forth on a cruise that would line their pockets with gold and silver coins, earn them an unsavory reputation and ultimately an engagement with the hangman. And as chance would have it, the cruise that began at Marblehead also ended in its harbor. 1708 – 78 wharves along Boston and Charlestown waterfronts 1710 – Long Wharf at bottom of King Street projected 800 feet into harbor (1740) Long Wharf doubled in length “a fine wharf about half a mile in length” BS N77 “Nothing in Boston harbor stands out so prominently as did Long Wharf in the 18th century. State Street originally extended only to the slight rise of ground still discernible there, and wharves were built on the east side of Kilby Street, and during extremely high tides the water swept up the street as high as Merchants Row. In 1710, Oliver Noyes and several others financed the building of Long Wharf, an almost staggering undertaking in a city of 10,000 souls, The wharf was merely an extension of King Street into the harbor. 1710 – Capture of Port Royal D’Aulnay and La Tour x Acadia – outfitted ship for trading voyage in Boston. Dumped Boston crew members at Port Sable in dead of winter. Turned pirate. During the first half of the eighteenth century while piracy in the Atlantic was slowly passing into romantic memory and the sea lanes were becoming relatively safe, Boston experienced a “golden age” of shipbuilding. 1710 – 21 ships aggregate 1530 tons Boston = ½ of entire provinces output of 56, aggregate 1720 – 1724 700 ships 1714 – 1717 1,267 foreign-bound vessels = 518 to West Indies; 25 to Bay of Campeche; 58 to “foreign plantations;” 45 to Newfoundland; 43 to Europe; 34 Madeira; 143 to GB; 390 to the English colonies of North America; 11 for unknown parts. 1716 first Boston schooner, graceful and swift sailing, a pronounced departure from the traditional square rigger. 1720 Province owned 190 sailing/150 fishing boats 1732 Mr. Clarke’s shipyard in the North End = 500 ton ship, largest for some time 1741 BIBL Oldmixon, John The British Empire in America – “At one and same time, upon the stocks in Boston, 40 topsail vessels, 7,000 tons.” BIBL Life and Errors, John Dunton, London 1705 1740 King George’s War; MA Bay greater sacrifices in men and money than any other colony…on high seas, in actions in West Indies and various expeditions to invade French Canada…Boston suffered crippling losses in young soldiers and sailors War ended in 1748 but in six years, GB and France were at each others throats again – A stunning series of French victories weakened British defenses so severely that colonists expected an English surrender. William Pitt turned the tide of war. BS E156 Extracts from Captain Francis Goelet’s Journal relative to Boston, Salem and Marblehead 1746-1750: We learn that on King street below the Town House there was a tavern called the Bunch of Grapes kept by one Weatherhead. From Sept 30 to Oct 18 and from Oct 22 to Nov 7, Goulet was in Boston, and he gives in his journal each day’s proceedings. Nearly every day, more or less is said about drinking… October 30: went to the Ship, Weatherheads and to change, from thence went and dyned at Captain Wendell’s. Being his Majesties birthday the loyal healths were drank, we having an invitation from Mr. Thomas Pierson. Spent evening with him singing songs, drinking loyal toasts and being joined by the ladies, who showed their loyalty by accompanying us singing. I omitted at noon went to the Council Chamber in the Towne House where drank the Loyall toasts with the Lt. Gov, Council etc. Nov 5. Being now almost ready to sale, In determined to pay my way in time, which I accordingly did at Mrs. Graces at the request Mr. Heylegher and the other gentlemen gave them a good supper with wine and arack punch galore, where exceeding merry drinking toasts Singing roarering etc. until morning when could scarce see one another being blinded by the Wine Arack etc, we were in all about 20 in company. Nov 7. Drank a parting bowl on board my ship. Took my leave of them, cast loose from the wharf went under sail our Topsails with a fine breeze at SW>” “Capt Goelet’s experience in Boston shows that the good people had sadly departed from thye standard set by Gov Winthrop in the matter of “drinking of healths,” and that the statute on the subject had become a dead letter.” BS F4 Tuesday 18, 1755 same year as Lisbon quake; It began with a roaring noise like distant thunder. The shock came about a minute later. Prof John Winthrop of Cambridge says the bed on which he lay was tossed from side to side; the whole house was agitated; the windows rattled, the beams cracked. A great many chimneys were leveled with the roofs of the houses, while many more were shattered and thrown down. The vane upon Faneuil Hall was thrown down in the harbor the shock was felt by those on vessels as if they were beating on the bottom; immediately after the earthquake, large numbers of fish came to the surface, some dead and some dying 1748 Preponderance of clearances/entrances harbor = policy of merchants and sea captains to sell smaller craft in some foreign port at the end of the voyage, bringing back only the larger vessels.” Ships comprised one of the chief items of Boston’s trade with England and her colonial possessions – competition with London shipyards. 1741+ After this ship construction declined…1749 only 15 vessels in the Boston yards…move to smaller shipyards x absence of rigid inspection and need for heavy timber pushed the center of shipbuilding further north “Mosquito Fleet” – Small trading vessels to New York, PA Virginia, MD, Carolinas etc. –-riddled Navigation Acts and brought to Boston such varied and substantial maritime commerce that Edmund Burke called the Bostonians, the “Dutch in America” 1761 Entrances into Boston from other North American ports = 441/clearances = 357 …coastal traffic reached around 798 voyages Boston fishing fleet – 30 per cent of the total catch/main north-east distribution center Whaling 1720 + to 1745 x 10,000 barrels of whale oil for export 1717 – 1770 Few changes to Boston’s import trade 1760 Jacob Bailey to London descry. “in the midst of a most horrid confusion” 1758 Capture of Fort Louisburg and on to Quebec “With fall of Quebec began the history of the United States” (Parkman) 1760 March Rejoicing dulled in Boston by fire 300 buildings destroyes/1,000 people left homeless 1754-1763 Nine years of the French and Indian Wars played havoc with Boston economy: Ships lost to French at sea. Fisheries incomes cut. Firewood cost soared. People left for other towns. 1758 Bankruptcies reached record high Poor widows and orphans Treaty of Paris ended the war… Effect of these wars and local economic ruin as one cause of Revolution Timeline Background 1700 Massachusetts representative assembly orders all Roman Catholic priests to vacate the colony within three months, an action also taken by the New York legislature. Penalty for their being found in the colony is either life in prison or execution. 1700 (John Foster had established Boston’s first press in 1674)…By 1700 presses in Boston were producing more print than those in any English city except London 1700 Henrietta Johnson of Charleston SC is the first known woman painter in America 1700 Boston Stone brought from London – dated 1737. 1701 Capture of Captain Kidd marked the passing of the pirate era from the colonial trade. Kidd, at one time a wealthy New York landowner, tried and hanged at London May 23 1701 Society for the Propagation of the Gospel granted a charter by King William II… Between 1702 and 1783 society maintained 84 missionaries in New England etc. 1701 Yale founded as Collegiate School in Killingworth CT by Congregationalists dissatisfied with the growing liberalism of Harvard – Moved in 1745 to New Haven 1701 An anonymous writer calling himself “An American” publishes in London, An Essay Upon the Government of the English Plantations on the Continent of America, which includes a proposed plan for a union of the colonies. 1702-1713 Queen Anne's War (War of the Spanish Succession) England fights France and Spain for control of territory. English sack and burn St. Augustine. 1702 Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, an ecclesiastical history of America –Mather wanted to bring people back to the early spirit of Puritanism at a time when feelings against the clergy ran high because of witch burnings 1702 To combat delinquency in MA Mather forms the “Society for the Suppression of Disorders,” as sort of vigilante committee to keep an eye and ear open for swearing, blasphemy, and patronage of bawdy houses. 1702 First daily newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London. 1702 Anne becomes Queen of England 1703 Port wine becomes popular in England when the duties are lowered by a treaty between England and Portugal 1704 28-29 February. Deerfield, Massachusetts is destroyed by French and Indians, massacre 50 men, women and children and 100 residents are abducted, a consequence of Queen Anne's War 1704 Private Journal by Sarah Kemble Knight – a schoolmistress (Young Benjamin Franklin attended her school in Boston,) took a trip alone to NY and reported in her experiences. Book not published until 1825 1702 Boston News–Letter, first continuous Boston newspaper 1705. Laws restricting the travel of slaves and banning miscegenation are enacted in New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia (Virginia Black Code of 1705) All imported servants were to remain in lifelong servitude. Excepted were those who had been Christians in their native country or who had been free in a Christian country. This law limited slavery to blacks and confined almost all imported blacks to slavery. 1705 Massachusetts law against interracial marriage. Any minister performing such a marriage was fined $50. Prohibition remained in force until 1843. 1705 Robert Beverley, History of Virginia 1705 Thomas Odell of Boston counterfeited the $4 notes of MA and tried to pass them in PA. He was arrested and sentenced in Boston to a fine of $300 and a year in prison. 1706 Cotton Mather, The Good Old Way, a book that laments the declining Puritan influence in America. 1706 First lithotomy – surgical removal of stones from the bladder – performed by Zabdiel Boylston in Boston. 1707 John Williams, The Redeemed Captive, a best-selling captivity narrative recounting his abduction during the Deerfield raid. Also detailed attempts by the Jesuits to convert him. 1707 Unsuccessful expedition against Port Royal, Nova Scotia, as English expedition tries to capture Acadia 1707 Great Britain is formed by Act of union between England and Scotland. English and Scots sit in one parliament 1708 The Sot-Weed Factor, or a Voyage to Maryland. Satirical poem by Ebenezer Cook 1708 Thomas Brattle brought first organ to Boston for King’s Chapel 1708 French and Indians destroy colony at Haverhill, MA 1708 Saybrook Platform, or Constitution, is accepted by Connecticut Congregational churches. It brings them closer to the Presbyterian way of church organization and away from the democratic ideas of Massachusetts congregationalism. 1708 KATHARINE NANNY NAYLOR – THREE-SEATER PRIVY HAD BEEN CUT INTO CLAY AND LINED WITH BRICK; IN 1708 IT WAS SEALED WITH CLAY, PROVIDING A WET ENVIRONMENT THAT PRESERVED ITS CONTENTS. (? MEANING IT WAS CLOSED UP) 1710 3,000 German refugees from the Palatinate settle near Livingston Manor on the Hudson River in New York to produce naval stores. When the colony fails, the settlers go first to the Mohawk Valley (in New York) and finally to eastern Pennsylvania. 1710 New Englanders aided by British ships capture Port Royal from the French. It is renamed Annapolis Royal and part of Acadia becomes the British province of Nova Scotia 1710 Favorite non-alcoholic beverage was chocolate. 1710 Colonial fashion includes high heels and stiff stays (corsets.) Large curled wigs are worn by men and women. 1710 Colonial population in estimated at 357,000 1710 English South Sea Company founded. 1711 After 1698 Boston led the bookselling business with 30 stores by 1711 1712-13 Tuscarora Indian War in North and South Carolina 1712 First sperm whale captured by an American taken by Christopher Hussey of Nantucket. Changed the character of the Nantucket whaling business. Whalers had previously plied close to shore, seeking right whales. Thereafter they hunted in deep waters on longer voyages 1712 Negro slave uprising in New York results in the execution of more than 100 negroes 1712 Rev John Tufts of Newbury MA publishes a collection of psalm tunes with music. It is the first book of sacred music published in America 1712 In the last English trial for witchcraft, Jane Wenham is convicted but not executed. 1713 England's South Sea Company is allowed to transport 4,800 slaves per year into the Spanish colonies of North America. 1713 Old State House Built 1713 First American Schooner built by Capt Andrew Robinson at Gloucester 1713 King’s Chapel acquired an organ in a bequest from Thomas Brattle. Few organs in colonial churches since Puritan religious practice prohibited instrumental music. 1713 New York City prohibits children from sleighing and coasting in winter. 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ended Queen Anne’s War/war of the Spanish Succession. France ceded Hudson Bay Territory, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Great Britain. Agreed to a British protectorate over the Iroquois Indians. France kept Cape Breton Island and the islands of the St. Lawrence. 1714 Cotton Mather preaches a sermon in which he states his belief in the Copernican theory of the universe, which places the sun at the center and planets in orbit around it; the traditional or Ptolemaic view at that time held that all revolved around the earth. His sermon was unfavorably received by the Puritan moralist Judge Samuel Sewall, who considered the subject too controversial. 1714 First pipe organ used in a church in the colonies is played during an Anglican service in King’s Chapel, Boston. Its used was denounced by the Puritans who forbade instrumental music during service 1714 George I, elector of Hamburg, becomes King of England, succeeding Queen Anne 1715 Yamasee tribes attack and kill several hundred Carolina settlers. 1715 Cotton Mather “Nature and Nature’s God” – Deism, a rationalistic theology holding that the course of the universe demonstrates the existence of God, so no formal exercise of religion is necessary, made considerable headway in the colonies. Published in 1711, Characteristics of Men, Manner, Opinions and Times, by Anthony Ashley Cooper, third earl of Shaftsbury, had much influence in America – Later in the century men as prominent as Thomas Jefferson were deists. 1715 Jacobite uprising in Scotland, opposing King George I, ends in disastrous battles of Preston and Sheriffmuir. 1716 KATHARINE NANNY NAYLOR, dies / “Came to a suspicious end?” says note on website journal http://bluetarenterprises.com/journal/1996/1210.html 1716 South Carolina settlers and their Cherokee allies attack and defeat the Yamassee. 1716 Boston Light erected in Boston Harbor 1716 Edward Enstone runs a dancing school in Boston. He also sells and repairs a variety of musical instruments. 1717 First tomb built in Copp’s Hill burial ground 1718 French found New Orleans. 1718 Governor Spotswood of Virginia offers rewards for pirates – dead or alive. Aimed chiefly at Blackbeard who has a hideout in NC, it brings results. The governor’s men capture Blackbeard’s ship and bring his head back on a pole. 1719-41 The Boston Gazette 1720 Estimated population of colonies: 474,000. 1723 Benjamin Franklin leaves Boston for Philadelphia, a trip that he chronicles in his Autobiography.
LITTLE ENGLAND
Province House, Louisburg, Beacon Hill, French and Indian Wars 1704 – Boston News-Letter – first regular newspaper -- BSN: Boston Newsletter appeared in 1704 and continued for many years. It was anything but a sprightly sheet but the editor did let himself go in reporting marriages: January 7, 1726. At Deerfield, on Thursday last, by Re. Dr. Willard. Mr. Rufus Gunn to Miss. Betsy Ball. “The arms of cupid are but feathered darts. Shot from his bow at youthful hearts. But ah! What fate awaits us lovers all When Hymen holds a Gunn well loaded with a Ball.” In same issue: Mr. Joseph Brent to Mrs. Mary Bumpus After many a serious rumpus For she had bourn him two children Who had not had a father ‘till then.” On the 3rd instant, Rev Williams aged 79 years to Miss Polly Candle aged 14 years But een though witlings make a rout. And whims severely handle When life’s poor lamp is going out “‘Tis well to get a candle.” And finally: Mr. Stephen Bumfrey aged 76 , a revolutionary pensioner to Miss. Sarah Dewey aged 38 In 76 he fought and bled At 76 he woo’d and wed.” BS L 131 Province House: Peter Sergeant aimed to have one of the most pretentious houses in Boston. He was a man of importance and a judge in the witchcraft trials. He imported 88,000 Dutch bricks and built his house in 1667 and lived in it till his death in 1714. He had a frontage of about 100 feet on Washington, then High Street, and his property ran back about 300 feet. For years the present Harvard Place was known as Province House court. There was a large portico with an ornamental balustrade leading up to the main floor of the house from the garden on the Washington Street front. A paved driveway led to the house from Washington Street and brought visitors to a palatial doorway…In 1716 the Province bought the house from Sergeant’s heirs for the governor’s residence. Royal Arms placed over front door. The cupola was surmounted by a gilt bronze figure of an Indian with drawn bow and arrow. (BS E 77 Province House: 1888 “This little nasty and obscure locality, which formerly had an entrance through a narrow archway from Washington Street leading up through to Province Street is now one of the dirties and most unattractive courts in Boston, yet fifty years ago it was a place of residence for genteel families. Oliver Ditson, our wealthy music publisher used to live there, so also did equally respectable citizens, The court originally was the garden and outbuildings of the Province House, which was erected in 1689 and destroyed in 1851. There are many citizens who can remember the famous old house before the block of buildings erected in 1818 by David Greenough, who least the lot for 99 years. The old house in its decade was for years kept as a cheap boarding house, and finally as a lodging house and barroom by Tom Waitt, a very eccentric and original character… In 1851 the building was leased by Dr. J. P. Ordway, and converted into a Negro minstrel concert room. The arched passageway from Washington Street eventually became such a nuisance that it was closed up by the authorities. This court and Province street should be improved as at present they are a disgrace to the city) (BSN: Province House built by Peter Sargent, rich London merchant. Rented by assembly as official residence of governors. Nearly opposite Old South Church on Washington (High) Street. House was square and of brick. Three stories, gambrel roof and lofty cupola surmounted with the gilt-bronze figure of an Indian with drawn bow. Great stairway winds through the midst of the house by flights of broad steps. Carved balustrade-twisting and intertwining pillars, from top to bottom. Cupola an octagon with several windows, and a door opening on the roof.) (BS E46 “Residence of the governors of the province stood in Garden Court Square and was a substantial three story brick, double house with a garden of half an acre of so in the rear…House of Sir. Harry Faulkland stood on the same street…The floor of the drawing room was of various woods, wrought into fanciful figures and highly polished. The ceiling rested upon a heavy cornice supported by pilasters with gilded Corinthian capitals. The walls were wainscoted with panels extending from the baseboard to the cornice. Each of these panels was painted in oil colors , representing scenes from nature, done in the highest art.) BS N91 The Boston Stone was brought from England about 1700 at the time when the Painter’s Arms were procured for the same corner, in Public Alley of Marshall Street, off Hanover Street. It was used as a protection for the corner of the house against passing vehicles. When the present building was erected this ancient relic or a fragment of it was deemed worthy of a place in the wall, together with its old companion the grinder, which was found buried in the yard. Common Street was first distinctive appellation received by that part of Tremont from School Street to Boylston, or to copy the language of the record “from Melyne’s corner, near Colonel Townsend’s, passing through the Common, along by Mr. Sheef’s into Frog Lane.” It did not become Tremont Street until 1829. The name Long Acre was given to that part of the street between School and Winter by Adino Paddock. It came from that part of London in which the great plague originated, and which was noted for its mughouses. In London Long Acre is the scene of Matt Prior’s amours, when, after an evening with Swift, Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Pope, he would go and smoke a pipe and drink a bottle of beer with a common soldier. This name of Paddock’s was generally accepted, though we do not learn that it had any official sanction. (Drake) BIBL: Thomas Creese House, John Perkins Brown & Eleanor Ransom 1940 = The Old Corner Bookstore Among the few items available concerning Doctor Creese is mention in Sewall’s diary of him as a pallbearer at the funeral of James Penniman who “had been such a drunkard and idler that I went not to the funeral.” It was on the 2nd O October 1711 about 8 o’clock in the evening that a fire broke out in an Old Tenement within a backyard in Cornhill near to the First Meeting House, occasioned by the carelessness of a poor Scottish woman by using fire to a parcel of combustible rubbish, which soon raised to a great flame, and being a time of great drought and the buildings very dry, the Flames took hold of the neighboring houses, which were high and contiguous in that part, The fire made its progress throughout Cornhill on both sides of the upper parts of King and Queen Streets; the Town House and Meeting House and many fair buildings were consumed and several persons killed and burned.” Boston Newsletter for Oct 8, 1711. The kitchen and buttery, or pantry, would logically be in the back, or west part of the house, The kitchen occupied two bays on the south west corner of the building, with three windows and a door leading to the yard or garden. The dining room in the two bays on the corner of School and Washington Streets, This must have been a pleasant room, lighted as it was by four windows, two with an easterly and two with a southerly exposure. The area to the south of the chimney stack, between the kitchen and the dining room was probably a passageway containing a central window on the south wall and utilized for dishes and the like. The all important “Dutch” oven of the 18th century kitchen would then have been on the north side with the characteristic china closet in the dining room backed against it, Second floor – parlor would naturally be above the dinking room where the southeast exposure would insure full benefit if winter suns and summer breezes. Over the kitchen was in all likelihood the master bedroom connected with the parlor on the south by a small powder room or closet lighted from a south window. This bedroom might be reached either through a closer or by a small entry leading from the back stair hall to the north of the chimney stack. A small chamber with access from the hallway and possibly from the master bedroom would have been over the pantry, The fireplace in this room is still inexistence. The third floor is identical with that of the floor below, except that the slope of the roof narrows the rooms from east to west. The east bedroom would have windows on both the east (dormers) and south sides, and the west room, two dormers on the west and one south window, The backstairs led from the third floor to what was at first an open attic on the fourth floor….early use as a storage place for old chests, trunks and perhaps hung meats BS G 155 Old Corner Bookstore built in 1712….since 1828 it has been known as the Corner Bookstore. It stands on the ground where William Hutchinson built in 1634 the first house on Washington Street, then known as “the highway leading to Roxbury,” when School Street was called the lane to Sentries Hill” Dr Crease put up the present building in after the great fire of 1711, keeping a small apothecary shop on the ground floor. The first bookstore was kept by Carter and Henderson and in 1832 William B Ticknor came in after which the fame of the store grew apace. Hawthorne, Emerson and Holmes corrected their proof sheets here, chattered with other celebrities at the book counters or wandered into the sunny back yard, where more animated conversations could be carried on than in the quite bookstore. BSN: The Old North spire served for many years as a landmark for vessels. Corner stone laid in 1723 by Rev Mather Byles, then rector of King’s Chapel: “May the Gates of Hell never prevail against it.” Up to present writing they haven’t. Opened for services Dec 19 1723. Rev Timothy Cutler, rector. 32 Indian and Negro slaves in his congregation. Vinegar Bible presented to the congregation by George II in 1723. Capt Gruchy, a privateer, presented the church with four small statues captured from a French vessel in 1746, intended for a Catholic church in Canada. Gen Gage watched the burning of Charlestown from the steeple. Major Pitcairn was buried under the church as also was Lt Shea who died of fever. It is believed that the remains of Shea were shipped for burial in Westminster Abbey instead of Pitcairn. Mather Byles, son of the wit, was rector from 1768 to 1775. Eleven hundred persons are buried under the Old North, more than any other church in the country. BSN: From Boston Newsletter Sep 15, 1757 “Tuesday, in the afternoon, John Childs, who had given public notice of his intention to fly from the steeple of Dr. Cutler’s church. (The Old North) performed it twice; the last time he set off two pistols loaded, one of which he discharged in his descent; the other missing fire, he cocked it and snap’t it again before he reached the place prepared to receive him.” Whether this bird man had some sort of glider or merely flew down a rope is not known but the article says his performance led many people from their Business, he is forbid flying any more in the Town.” BSN: Boston Neck…the stem of the pear shaped town extended along what is now Washington St between Essex and Northampton. It was a macabre, dismal and dangerous passage, always marshy and sometimes under water. Its effect was in no way relieved by the presence of the gallows about where the so-called New York Streets now are. Wharves lined the south side of the neck. Carts passing along Washington Street often tangled with the bowsprits of ships tied up at the wharves.” BSN: Change Alley used to be called Damnation Alley. It was so narrow that two teams could not pass each other – hence the name. The town fathers passed a law: Teamsters when they shall meet on these narrow streets shall flip a coin to see which shall back out.” BSN: Province Street called Governor’s Alley until 1833…The original road to the stables at the rear of the old Province House. Franklin Ave, not to be confused with Franklin Street = alley that snakes from the back of City Hall to Court Street…Here was Daniel Webster’s first law office and here in 1718 was the printing office of the Boston Gazette, the second newspaper to be published in America. A little further down was the establishment of James Franklin. 1709 BS B48 The Crafts House on Huntington Avenue near the foot of Parker Hill built by Ebenezer Craft…His daughter Alice was remarkable not only for her numerous marriages, having successfully borne the names of Lovering, Lyon, Greenwood, Shield, and Winchester, but also for her longevity, as she died in 1783 at the age of 101. Madam Ann White, daughter of Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Ebenezer was an energetic woman of the old school, and habitually made her Sunday morning toilet over a pail of water for want of a looking glass, and then walked some five miles to attend a long day’s service….There is extant a bill of sale in 1739 of a slave owned by Richard Champion of Boston, a schoolmaster, for $100 sent Ebenezer Craft of Roxbury a negro girl named Dina, about 11 years old together with all her wearing apparel. Dina served the family 60 years, dying in 1803 aged 75. 1711 Much petty crime, robberies and assaults Slaves sold all over a town, scarce a house in town save the very poor without a slave every issue of Newsletter offered slaves for sale. 1711 Fire laid the central district in ashes. Burned for seven hours and could be seen 20 miles out to sea. Built new First Church and Town House 1712 BS B 20 State Street: A “waterside resort,” the Crown Coffee House was the first house on Long Wharf in 1712. On the south-west corner of Exchange Place and State Street stood the Royal Exchange Tavern, where in 1690, Chief Justice Sewall and Colonel William Phips had their famous dinner…(It was on State Street near the State House in August 1806 that Ben Austin, Jr. son of “Honestus” a well-known political pamphleteer was shot and killed during a political row by Charles Selfridge. Anthony Burns was marched down State Street on May 26, 1854…The extension of State Street from Chatham Row to Commercial Street occurred April 13, 1858. It was extended along the North Side of State Street block on the same date in 1858, and was extended to Atlantic Ave on March 27, 1876.) 1714 Long Wharf about 1/3 of a mile into the bay = King Street/ Bunch of Grapes/Baker’s Arms/ Black Boy a Grinding/Thriving Merchant Exchange/Exchange tavern 1716 Boston Light “ all commanding structure with tower of rough cut stone 1718, Nov Keeper George Worthylake sailing with wife and daughter near Noddles Island capsized and drown…BIBL The Lighthouse Tragedy, Benjamin Franklin, 13 Second keeper = Robert Saunders = drowned Early keepers = pilot + collector of fees = one penny per ton for ships in overseas trade/ five shillings annually for fishing vessels/two shillings for coasters on clearance only 1720: Five printing presses/ three newspapers “Moving pictures” = animated mills + ships Horse races in Cambridge Bear baiting on Bowling Green 1720: The town had the finest highway system in the colonies and a sewer system with the best drainage in America and England A gentleman from London would almost think himself at home in Boston. 1721 Dr. Zabdiel Boylston – smallpox inoculation – Cotton Mather’s house fire-bombed because of his support of Boylston 1723 Great Storm – regarded locally as the most violent of the century blowing up Feb. 24, 16 foot tide which loosened the walls of the lighthouse. 1723, summer Several Boston blacks committed a series of arsons and threatened to burn down the town Blacks publicly whipped for setting fires BS J125 1723 Old North Church… Its genesis seems to have been that the King’s chapel by 1722 was not large enough, that Copp’s Hill those days was virtually cut off from the rest of Boston, and was reached by a bridge where Hanover and Blackstone streets now intersect, and that divers persons prepared a subscription to build a new church. Cornerstone was laid on April 15, 1723 “a Negro woman gave 10d toward the building fund.” In 1724 “Thomas Wells was to “sett the gallery’s and keep the boys in order.” 1746 “John Childs flew from the steeple of Dr. Cutler’s church three times” ??? Boston in 1722 was nearly a week’s journey from New York and Philadelphia. It was not until 1772 that a line of stage coaches was established between Boston and New York and one did not have to travel far to find Indians. In the streets you saw the scarlet coast of the Kings soldiers and heard a speech that differed little from that of Bristol or London. Negroes were held in slavery, constant war of an unofficial sport was waged with French and Indians, and above all the power of the Congregational Church was great. In 1804 the steeple was blown down and restored in 1807 under supervision of Bullfinch. When Sunday School established in 1817, for a generation thereafter population little changed, but toward the 50s the tide of immigration was little felt. In addition to that as early as 1860 many families had removed from the North End of Boston to other parts of the city. Christ Church felt this. There had been in the 50s, a bitter feud in the parish between “proprietors” who owned pews and had the right the vote under the by-laws of 1724 and those who attended services but had no right to vote. Came the civil war and after that a period when the Christ Church went its own way. Encircled more and more by the foreign population of the North end, and with its parishioners more scattered than ever, the church has nevertheless held its head up. 1724 Bounty offered for the scalp of a Jesuit priest 1724 Pirates Archer and White hanged 1726 Hoop petticoats banned 1726 Pirate Fly hanged – “It is not to be doubted that there were many substantial merchants in Dr. Mather’s congregation who regretted the passing of Fly, for pirates were good customers and paid in silver and coin.” 1733 Grand Lodge of Masons at Bunch of Grapes Tavern on King Street 1739-48 England war x Spain 1740 Boston was the principal market of North America Numerous counting houses and warehouses shadowed the wharves Scores of sumptuous mansions lined King’s Street BIBL: Joseph Bennett, English Traveler of 1740: “A great many good houses, and several fine streets little inferior to some of our best in London, the principal of which is King’s Street; it runs upon a line from the end of Long Wharf about a quarter of a mile, and at the upper end of it stands the Town House or Guild Hall, where the Governor meets the Council and House of Representatives; and the several courts of Justice are held there also. And there are likewise several walks for the merchants, where they meet every day at one o’clock, in imitation of the Exchange of London, which they call by the name of Royal Exchange, too, round which there are several booksellers’ shops; and there are four or five printing houses, which have full employment in printing and reprinting books, of one sort or the other, that are brought from England and other parts of Europe. Wealthy ship owners and their wives Mansions at Boston/roomy country places at Milton, Cambridge or far-off Hopkinton. Derived pleasure from cruises along the coast or from trout fishing. Puritan habits in force early 1700s – Sunday travel x strolling along streets and mall taboo x all unnecessary conversation was forbidden x to a man the ship-owners were staunch churchgoers x some outsiders questioned the sincerity of conviction: “more religious zealots than honest men…though they wear in their faces the innocence of doves, you will find them in their dealings as subtle as serpents.” BIBL Edwin Lasseter Bynner …story of Agnes Surriage x Lady Frankland BS F 3…King’s Chapel… Cornerstone laid on Aug 18, 1740 -- Being unable to purchase any land from the jealous Puritans, Andros had boldly appropriated a corner of the burial ground. This aroused strong feeling in the community but the “barefaced squatters” were permitted to go unmolested…King’s Chapel was the representative of English pomp and royalty on the Puritan soil of MA and stood alike for the King’s crown and the bishop’s scepter. Bellemont, Dudley and Andros led the body of royalists who worshipped here, and the stately pews were filled with scarlet uniforms, snowy wigs and breeches. The attractive interior was in marked contrast to the barrenness of the typical NE meeting house. After the evacuation everything British was removed and the church was for a time known as Stone Chapel, which did not meet the popular approval and the old title was soon resumed. 1742 Faneuil Hall grasshopper made by Shem Drowne from sheet copper hammered by hand. In 1768, Thomas Drowne placed a new leg on the grasshopper, one of them having been broken off by the violence of the weather. In 1852 E Vinal improved his condition and appearance by lengthening his tail a trifle. The eyes are of silvered glass with gold backs and the legs are of sheet copper soldered to the body. In the interior of the figure has been placed a brass case containing all the Boston papers of March 26, 1889, money, cards of mayor and officials… 1889…a pair of eyes big as doorknobs, a new leg and a new coast of gold foil….Drowne family say when Shem was a small boy he became utterly discouraged with his repeated failures in NE and going out into the country he lay down to sleep in an open field like the nineteenth century tramp. He was awakened by a small boy chasing a grasshopper. He became interested in the sport and acquainted with the boy who was a rich mans son. The boy took him home to supper, the boy’s father adopted him and in later years, he presented Faneuil Hall with this grasshopper to mark the turning point in his life. BSN: Faneuil Hall – the grasshopper was the heraldic crest of Sir. Thomas Gresham, founder of the building in London after which Faneuil Hall was modeled. Sir Thomas was donor and founder of the Bourse and Exchange built in London in 1568. On each side of the tower was the crest of the founder, a huge grasshopper. At a time when few could read the grasshopper became a symbol for a merchant’s exchange and so was used in Faneuil’s building.” 1745 With fall of Louisburg, France sent a fleet of 111 ships against Boston. Great storms again came to Boston’s rescue and blew fleet off course BS L64 Boston Common… Whitefield, the great preacher reached Boston and preached to vast crowds on the common. 1746-1748 King George’s War ..trade with French continued. While Boston privateers were fighting to oust French from Canada, local merchants were supplying French and West Indies with all their needs. “Jew’s raft” “Flags of Truce” ships versus revenue cutters 1748 BIBL Boston Evening Post, August 29, 1748 – Privateer Bethel Azores report on a capture: “At daybreak we had the last of the prisoners secured (there were 110 of them), who were ready to hang themselves on sight of our six wooden guns and scarce men enough to hoist topsails.” Old County Court House—Court Street leading past the old Court House to the Old State House was anciently known as Prison Lane (here captain Kidd was confined 1699-1700) in chains. Here were imprisoned also the witchcraft victims. Old Court House erected in 1634. Grounds contained the residence of the jailer and the town’s powder house, which with its roof of straw must have been an inspiration to the inmates. For 25 years the public had unrestricted communication with prisoners through the bars of the windows of the old timber jail, but in 1659 owing to frequent escapes, a high board fence all around the jail garden. The civil service requirements for the jailer was that they should be of good standing in the church and dexterous at cutting off the ears of heretics and in wielding the cat of nine tails. A new stone jail in 1689, but old one stood in grounds. This old prison stood until 1767, having latterly served as the debtor’s prison.. …And then from 1708 until after the revolution as Queen Street… Here rises the gloomy old courthouse Doric Quincy-granite columns built in 1833-36 and famous for the bloody abolition riots in 1851 and 1854 when the place was surrounded by chains to keep off the insurgents. Phillips, Parkes and Higginson were indicted for their share in this attempted revolution. Here also occurred the dreadful Webster-Parkman trial. 1749 Spinning craze x 300 young spinsters and their spinning wheels. BSN: Citizens repaired to the Common for drunken orgies on Christmas until (1758) a law was passed “Any citizen of Boston caught celebrating Christmas in any way will be fined 5s. 1750 All stage plays and other theatrical entertainments banned – only repealed in 1797 New Exhibition Room in Broad Alley = Hawley Street = “moral lectures” Venice Preserved: one lecture in five parts to exemplify the dreadful effects of a conspiracy Macbeth: A dialogue on the horrid crimes of Mr. And Mrs. Smith – portrait of Hancock trampled BSN: Franklin – statue by Richard Greenough…who said in studying for the statue he found that the left side of the great man’s face was philosophic and reflective, and the right side was funny and smiling…The left profile if the portrait of Franklin the statesman, the right of Poor Richard.”
Social History/Howard: “In spring the hobblebush and the holly were in bloom with tiny flowers and berries, and during the late summer months the New England aster with its deep purple rays brightened the prim gardens. The elm, the hemlock, and the spruce stretched toward the sky, and their lean lithe limbs were almost imitative of the stalwart men who walked in their shade.”
IMAGINING BOSTON | BRAZIL | BRAZIL - MAKING OF A NOVEL | RIDING THE RAILS | MICHENER'S SECRET COVENANT | HOME
|
