The crooked & narrow streets of the town of Boston 1630-1822

Preface

HUXLEY was once asked by one of his pupils how much he should take for granted that his audience knew of the subject of which he was to speak, and the answer was, "Nothing." In writing on historical subjects, however, it is a different story. Every tolerably well-read person knows the salient facts of American history. Reference books are always at hand when the details of any given place or period are wanted. Therefore, in speaking of the streets of Boston, it will only be necessary to go rapidly and briefly over the few facts of how Boston came to be Boston. Many able writers have written books about the town, and the ground has been well covered; but in the following pages it is the object not so much to repeat the history of the town as to try to interest the present generation in the city in which they live, by telling them just where their ancestors lived and the neighborhood in which they were brought up. The history of each street has also been considered. Perhaps also those who, living at a distance, remember with affection the home of their fathers may value this record of them, for our ancestors are responsible for our lives, and their influence is still felt by us.

The books consulted have been chiefly the Colony records, and reprints of the early writers in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Prince Society. For the details of the town itself I have drawn on my own work, "Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1 630-1 800," now in the Massachusetts His-

PREFACE

HUXLEY was once asked by one of his pupils how much he should take for granted that his audience knew of the subject of which he was to speak, and the answer was, "Nothing." In writing on historical subjects, however, it is a different story. Every tolerably well-read person knows the salient facts of American history. Reference books are always at hand when the details of any given place or period are wanted. Therefore, in speaking of the streets of Boston, it will only be necessary to go rapidly and briefly over the few facts of how Boston came to be Boston. Many able writers have written books about the town, and the ground has been well covered; but in the following pages it is the object not so much to repeat the history of the town as to try to interest the present generation in the city in which they live, by telling them just where their ancestors lived and the neighborhood in which they were brought up. The history of each street has also been considered. Perhaps also those who, living at a distance, remember with affection the home of their fathers may value this record of them, for our ancestors are responsible for our lives, and their influence is still felt by us.

The books consulted have been chiefly the Colony records, and reprints of the early writers in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society and Prince Society. For the details of the town itself I have drawn on my own work, "Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1 630-1 800," now in the Massachusetts Hisviii PREFACE

torical Society, a work consisting of upwards of 125,000 cards giving details of the lives of the principal inhabitants, and 22 volumes of extracts from the Suffolk Deeds, where it will be found that every estate has been traced between 1630 and 1800, with the authority for each fact recorded. Boston has been a prolific field for writers of fiction. Hawthorne, Cooper, and many others have drawn on its people, streets, and houses for interesting stories which have attracted the imagination of children as well as of grown-ups ; but the true history is apt to be distorted, however pleasant the reading may be. Thomas Prince said, "A writer of facts cannot be too critical, it is exactness I aim at, and would not have the least mistakes if possible, pass to the world." Voltaire says, ''If the public cannot trust the ability or the honesty of the biographer, the sources of his information are not inaccessible. The public with a little extra trouble can verify the facts, even though the author does not assist it by cumbering his text with that annihilation of all interests, the perpetual footnotes."

A few notes will be found on page 245 referred to by small numerals in the text.

I am under obligation to those who have kindly lent me photo^^^phs from which copies have been taken. Mr. C. Park Pressey for those in the Halliday collection, the Walton Advertising and Printing Company, the Boston Evening Transcript, and the Boston Public Library. Also to Mr. I. A. Chisholm for his carefully drawn maps. To Mr. A. Marshall Jones I am deeply indebted for his interest in making this volume attractive.

Annie Haven Thwing.

6s Beech Gi en Street,

ROXBURY.

Contents

SECTION PAGE

Introductory i

I. The North End 26

Section I The North End

THE section of the town north and east of Mill Creek has always been known as the North End, and the location was considered of enough importance to be the first part of the town where in 1636 ways were ordered to be laid out. These were what later became Fleet, Richmond, Cross, and Union streets. In 1674 Josslyn called the North End "the most elegant and populous part of the town," but this must be taken with a grain of salt, though some of our most noted citizens have lived there. As a business section it was chiefly noted for its ship-building industry. A large proportion of its inhabitants were shipbuilders or mariners. Almost all of those who owned land on the shore were granted leave to wharf out before their property, and if not actual builders of ships they sent ships out on trade. Its ships won for the merchants those large fortunes that were made by many, until the wealth of the town, as well as its intellectual side — owing to its public schools and its proximity to Harvard College — won for it in truth as well as in name the capital of the state and of New England. The taverns were a necessary part of the life and many of these naturally were near the center of the shipping district to accommodate sailors and the officers of the ships.

When Winthrop and his companions came, the mill creek was a marsh, and July 31, 1643, the town granted to Henry Symonds, George Burden, John Button, John

Merry's Point

MAPS 81 U.CHISHOLM

SECTION n

GOVERNMENT & BUSINESS CENTRE

THE CROOKED STREETS OF BOSTON 27

Hill, and their partners, all of whom had house lots in the neighborhood, "all that cove on the northwest side of the causey leading towards Charlestown with all the salt marsh bordering thereon round about, not granted to any other, on condition that they will within three years erect one or more corn mills, and they are to make and maintain a gate of ten feet in breadth to open with the flood for the passage of boats into said cove. If they carry their mill into the marsh on the northeast end of goodman Lowe's house they have sixty feet in breadth granted to them. The town will not allow any other mill to be erected." This was the origin of the mill creek. The property changed hands many times, and finally, May 5, 1769, the committee appointed to look into mill affairs found that the grantees, soon after the grant was made, erected mills by the mill bridge between Gallop's Point and Bendall's Cove, maintaining the same for many years. The grant was to be void on their failing to maintain the mills. As the mills for many years past had been useless and wholly unimproved, and for several years past had been and now remained entirely demolished, the committee considered the estate to be forfeited. The proprietors were a few of them poor and needy. The committee took possession of the grist mills on behalf of the town, and March 13, 1770, the town voted that all the grain belonging to the town is to be ground at the new mills near the mill bridge now occupied by George Leonard. There were other mills on the other side of the mill pond, not far from Prince Street. December 25, 1782, a fire broke out near Charles River in the North Mills, which consumed the same, and a quantity of grain, cocoa and chocolate was destroyed.

Thomas Pemberton, writing of the town in 1794, says, "Contigious to the mill bridge in Middle Street is a grist mill at the mouth of the pond. At the bottom of it at the entrance of the causeway three mills more are constructed, a grist mill, a saw mill, and a chocolate mill. The original proprietors of the mills, sixty-four in number, are now reduced to eight. The ancient marsh, or the present mill pond, contains 42 1 acres. The name of the first miller was John Farnum. The manufacture of cards was begun before the Revolution. The principal factory is at Windmill Walk, contiguous to the grist mill at the mill bridge. The cards are cut by the operation of the windmill."

The bridge over the creek at Hanover Street was called "mill bridge," that at North Street, the "draw bridge." The northeast part of the town, separated from the other by a narrow stream, was cut through a neck of land by industry. In 1788 Thomas Makepeace and others were allowed to fill part of the mill creek, and in 1793 the Middlesex canal was extended into the pond. In 1824 Blackstone Street was laid out practically over the bounds of the creek. The mill pond extended from North Margin Street to South Margin Street with Causeway Street at one end and Haymarket Square at the other. The Mill Pond Corporation was formed in 1807, and soon after began to fill in the pond with the earth taken from Beacon Hill and Copp's Hill.

Causeway Street was a short way, in 1747, leading from Leverett Street to the flood gates, and called "Waldo Street" in 1798. In 1807 it was continued into the mill pond and called "Causeway Street."

At the extreme northeast corner of the North End is Copp's Hill, an elevation mentioned by William Wood, now reduced from its original proportions, as part of it was used to fill up the mill pond, and the abrupt descent on the north side considerably diminished. It was known

W K

Q ^ Q ^

s ^ w 2 as "Windmill Field" and "Mylne Field," as in August, 1632, the windmill was brought down from Cambridge because it would not grind there but with a westerly wind. At times it has been called "Snow Hill" and "Broughton Hill," but it is to William Copp, a shoemaker, who had his house and half acre in the mill field, bounding on Charles River, in what is now Prince Street, that we owe its present name. William Copp, a cordwainer as they were called in those days, was here as early as 1641 when he was fined for concealing money. He was probably an investor in the common stock, as he left one hundred acres beyond Braintree.

Thomas Broughton was a merchant who came from London in 1635 to Watertown. He was in Boston about 1650, and invested in land in various parts of the town, one estate at the end of Prince Street called "Centre Haven," where he was granted leave to wharf in 1654. He also bought land on the north side of the hill of William Phillips. In 1659 he sold off much of his land for the benefit of his creditors. He died in 1700, aged eighty-seven, and Sewall writes that he was once a very noted merchant. Much of his land came into possession of Joshua Gee, the famous ship builder.. One of the executions of the pirates took place on Broughton Hill, when, as Sewall says, the river was covered with boats filled with spectators.

The chief interest in Copp's Hill to-day lies in the Burying Ground, where many noted people who lived at the North End are buried, and where many quaint inscriptions are to be found. February 20, 1659—60, John Baker and Daniel Turell, blacksmiths, conveyed a piece of land to the town for a burying place. The entrance was on Charter Street. Turell was a large investor in real estate. In 1708 Judge Samuel Sewall and his wife

Hannah, who had inherited a pasture here from her father, John Hull the mint master, sold to Joshua Gee ''one rod square in which Mrs. Mary Thatcher now lyeth

buried." Judah Thatcher married Mary , who died

in 1708 and was buried as above. Their daughter Elizabeth married Joshua Gee, and for her second husband Rev. Peter Thatcher of Milton. In 1711 the Burying Ground was still further enlarged by a strip on Hull Street, bought of Sewall, "except the one square rod sold to Gee." This is still private property in the middle of the Burying Ground and owned by the heirs of Moses Grant.

A battery was erected on the hill by the British, from which Charlestown was shelled and set on fire at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill in 1775. Copp's Hill was to those at the North End what the Common was to those at the South, the playground and place of recreation.

In 1656-57 Snov^^hill Street was a highway newly laid out. Other designations that it bore were: "a narrow lane by goodman Copp's leading up the hill to Charlestown ferry"; "lane near Brough ton's hill"; in 1702—3, "a highway of 24 ft between the house of Daniel Travers and William Copp, touching on the north corner of Elder Copp's house"; in 1708 named "Snow Hill."

Hull Street was a strip of land which Sewall and wife conveyed to the town for a street in 1701, and it received its name at that time, one of the few which has survived the many changes. The south side was originally owned by John Shaw, who sold to William Phillips in 1650 and he to John Evered, alias Webb, in 1657. John Evered always added the "alias Webb" to his name, for as yet an undiscovered reason, except that Webb was a common name in Wiltshire, whence he came, and it was no doubt a family name. Jacob Sheaffe married Margaret, the only child of Henry Webb, and as administrator of his estate, she with her second husband, Rev. Thomas Thatcher, minister of the Old South Church, bought the land of Evered alias Webb. She left two daughters, Mehitible, the wife of Samson Sheaffe, and Elizabeth, the wife of Jonathan Corwin. Sheaffe sold out to Robert Gibbs, in whose pasture two streets were laid out, Sheaffe Street in 1714 and Margaret Street in 1 718 and both received their names in 1722. The whole estate embraced the land between Snow Hill, Salem, Hull and Prince Streets, except a few lots which had been sold on Prince Street.

On the south side of Hull Street, corner of Snow Hill and extending to Sheaffe Street, was the property of the Bounds; on Hull Street, the house of Ephraim Bound, the first minister of the Second Baptist Church, and on Sheaffe Street that of James Bound, where the church was organized and held its first services. On the south side of Hull Street was the house of Benjamin Galloupe, the grandson of John Gallop of North Street, who bought the house of Benjamin Lee in 1772. In 1775 it was occupied by British soldiers and was the headquarters of Gage at the battle of Bunker Hill. On the south side of Sheaffe Street, at the corner of Snow Hill, Edward Edes, a baker, bought land in 1798, and in 1791 he sold a twine factory to William Lambert and others.

At the point on the northeast side of Copp's Hill was established the first ferry to Charlestown. In 1631 Thomas Williams was allowed to set up a ferry on the Charlestown side. May 6, 1635, the Court ordered that "a ferry be set up on the Boston side by the windmill hill to transport men to Charlestown and Winnissimmet," and in January 1635—36 Thomas Marshall, cordwainer, was chosen by the town "for the keeping of a ferry from mylne point unto Charlton and Wynnyseemitt and to take for a single person 6d: for two 6d and for every one above 2d each."

Marshall lived just west of Mill Creek, and taking the shortest way to his daily work he skirted the mill pond, making a path which was later called ''Old Way," and followed the river bank to the point. In 1649 this path was ordered to be laid out a rod broad. Old Way is now discontinued, but along the river in 1708 it was called "Ferryway," and is now part of Commercial Street.

In 1648 Francis Hudson, an innkeeper, was also the ferryman, and complained to the Court that the passengers pressed into the boats and evaded their fare. He gave up his lease in 169 1. He had his house and garden at the point which was later called for him, "Hudson Point," and in 1652 he was granted liberty to wharf before his own ground on condition of leaving "a hieway of a rod and a halfe broad between the house and wharf." In 1684 he testified in regard to Blackstone's lot, then being about sixty-eight years old. Sewall records his death November 3, 1700, as one of the first to set foot on this peninsula. In 1734, William Parkman, Thomas Stoddard, John Greenough and others asked liberty to lay down and maintain good and sufficient ways for the landing of passengers from Winnissimmet at the Town Slip at the lower end of North Street (Hanover Street), which was granted, making two ferries to care for the increase of population and trade.

At the east corner of the North End, January 8, 1643-44, it was agreed that a fortification somewhere about Walter Merry's Point should be raised, but this was not done until March, 1646, when the inhabitants asked leave to erect a fortification themselves under the condition that they were not to be assessed for other fortifications until they had been reimbursed. This was called the "North Battery," now Battery Wharf. In 1706 the inhabitants proceeded to fortify the town for their better security and voted to carry out the battery one hundred and twenty feet. The Battery was repaired from time to time, and in 1 781 it was voted to sell it. Walter Merry was one of the early inhabitants, admitted to the church in 1633-34, and had his house and about one acre of ground at the point called for him. He was one of the first shipwrights and plied his trade until he was drowned in the harbor in 1657, and his family then removed to Taunton.

There were three principal thoroughfares running northeast and southwest through this section. North, Hanover and Salem Streets, with Prince, Charter, and shorter streets running at right angles, and Commercial Street at the extreme end bordering on the bay.

North Street was the first to be settled and the lots extended as a rule from the shore to Hanover Street, then only a field. According to the Book of Possessions the estates bordered on the bay or cove, but soon a way was laid out which divided the property. In 1636 WilHam Wilkes and others were ordered to "range their payles straight and to preserve a path a rod in breadth." In 1637 it was the highway next the beach. In 1643 "ordered that the highway of two rods shall be preserved on the beach from Edward BendalPs cove towards Gallop's Point." In 1650 "ordered that the highway formerly granted of a rod in breadth by the waterside from Gallop's Point to the battery (being interrupted by Mrs. Hawkins house) it shall turn up from the waterside through her garden and so by Mr. Winthrop's house between Major Bourne's and his garden, before Mr. Hollicks to the battery." In 1708 North Street had three names.

From the Conduit in Union Street to the lower end of Cross Street was called Ann Street; hitherto it had been "the street over the bridge over Mill Creek," "Conduit Street," or "Drawbridge Street." From Cross Street to the Sign of the Swan by Scarletts Wharf, Fish Street, which previously had gone by the name of "common way by the water side"; "street from the Sign of the Red Lyon to Halsey's Wharf"; "the fore street from the great drawbridge towards the North Church"; "street leading toward the North Coffee House"; "highway to Ship Tavern," etc., and called Ship Street from Scarletts Wharf to the Battery, which had various names similar to the above, — "highway to the battery"; "highway from the new Meeting House to the waterside unto the seaward," etc. All were called North Street in 1854.

For many years it was a great commercial center, famous for its wharves and taverns. At one time or another there were nine taverns of which we have some authentic record, besides several coffee houses.

Ship building was brisk ; shallops, sloops, hoys, lighters, pinnaces, barks, and ketches were some of the names given to the vessels built for fishing and trading voyages along the coast and with foreign countries. In 1698 Lord Bellomont writes: "Last year I examined the registers of all the vessels in the three provinces of my government and found belonging to the town of Boston in all 194 vessels. I believe I may venture to say that there are more good vessels belonging to the town than in all Scotland and Ireland, unless one should reckon the small craft such as herring boats." The Blessing of the Bay was the first vessel to be built in the colony, and this was built by Governor Winthrop and launched in Medford, July 4, 1 63 1. The first ship built in Boston was the Trial, built at the wharf of Major Nehemiah Bourne, and sailed on her first trial trip in August, 1642, with Thomas Coytemore of Charlestown as master.

Richard BeUingham had a grant of land in 1648-49, near the North Battery, which extended on both sides of North Street. Part of this was bought by Alexander Adams in 1662, and inherited by William Parkman and his wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Adams. Adams was a shipwright and in 1645-46 had leave to wharf before his property, which is the first we hear of him in the town. He died in 1677, having been master of a vessel as well as a builder.

Elias Parkman was the progenitor of the Parkman family in America. He was first of Dorchester and then removed to Windsor, Connecticut, and finally in 1657 he bought land in Boston in Battery

Street. He married Bridget , by whom he had

eight children, three of whom were born in Boston. He was a mariner by trade and was lost on one of his voyages, as in July 1662, his wife presented an inventory of his estate of thirty-seven pounds and fifteen shillings, saying he was supposed to be dead. His son William was a shipwright, and by his wife, Elizabeth Adams, had twelve children. Besides his land in North and Battery Streets, in 1716 he bought land of Lawrence Waters, on the north side of Hanover Street, between Commercial and Charter Streets, where in 1723 he had a house for sale and advertised to apply to him at the Sign of the Case of Drawers in North Street (Hanover Street). This estate remained in the family until 1778.

The Salutation Tavern was on the northeast corner of Salutation Street. James Smith acquired the land at an early date, and conveyed it to Christopher Lawson who sold it to William Winbourne in 1644. Winbourne sold it to John Brookings in 1662, and here he opened his tavern.

Elizabeth, the widow of Brookings, married for a second husband Edward Grove, and for a third William Green, and in 1692 William Green and wife conveyed to Sir William Phipps, presumably for investment. Spencer Phipps inherited, and after passing through several hands, in 1784 Jacob Rhodes bought the house formerly known as The Two Palaverers, the sign being of two gentlemen in cocked hats and smallclothes. It was a famous hostelry, and mentioned by Sewall in 1705-6. Just when it changed its name is not known, but it was called the Palaverers in 1757. Some of the innkeepers besides Brookings and Grove were, Samuel Tyley in 1711 ; Elisha Odling in 1712; John Langdon, Jr., 17 14, who in 1715 lets it to Odling again; Arthur Young in 1722; Samuel Green in 1731; Edward Drinker in 1736; William Campbell in 1764; Francis Wright in 1767; Thomas Bradford in 1782, and it was he who sold out to Rhodes in 1784.

William Beamsley had the next lot to Bellingham according to the Book of Possessions. He called himself a yeoman, and was admitted to the church in 1635. P^^t of his land came into possession of Sir Thomas Temple about 1664, when he mortgaged house and land. He first came to New England in 1657, when appointed by Oliver Cromwell governor of Acadia. He apparently came to Boston only as a matter of business, for we do not find him taking part in town affairs. In 1667 he bought Noddles Island, which he sold in 1671 to Henry Shrimpton. He sold his house on North Street in 1672, and died in London. His will, proved in Boston in 1674, left legacies to many friends and relatives.

A greater part of the estates of Anne Tuttle and Nehemiah Bourne, next in order according to the Book of Possessions, came into the Greenwood family. Bourne had his house and garden on the east side of North

Street, and it was here that the ship Trial was built. Bourne sold to George Davis, a blacksmith, in 1646, from whose heirs it was bought by Nathaniel Greenwood in 1673, and it was described as being "part of that yard where the sd Greenwood formerly hath and now doth build vessels." The location is near, or what is actually Union Wharf to-day. Nathaniel Greenwood was the first of his family in Boston. He died in 1684, aged fifty-three, and his children followed his profession of boat builder.

Next came Edward Bendall, whom we shall find owning land at the Dock and elsewhere. He had a large estate on both sides of the street, which he sold to Captain Thomas Hawkins in 1645-46. Hawkins was a mariner, and one of those who helped La Tour with means to proceed against his rival, D'Aulnay.

Two rival French governors of Acadia under Rasilli, as commander in chief, were La Tour, the professed Huguenot, who had under his command the part east of the St. Croix River, and D'Aulnay, of the "Romish church," who had that part west of the St. Croix. Their quarrels involved not only the inhabitants of Boston, but were a source of contention and expense to the General Court. The traders and merchants were anxious to extend their trade and favored one or the other as was best for their individual interest. The trouble began in 1633 by the French interfering with the trading posts of the English in Maine. La Tour came to Boston to get aid against his rival, and stayed a month, at the end of which time he was helped financially by merchants, especially by Edward Gibbons and Thomas Hawkins, and by ships and volunteers, to proceed against D'Aulnay. D'Aulnay, accusing the government for aiding La Tour, sent his agents, who during a short stay took up much time of the Court. Winthrop says, "Their diet was provided at the ordinary where the Magistrates used to diet in Court times and the Gk)vernor accompanied them always at meals. Their manner was to repair to the Governor's house every morning about eight o'clock who accompanied them to the place of meeting; at night either himself or some of the commissioners accompanied them to their lodging." D'Aulnay died about 1650, and in 1652 his widow married La Tour, thus settling all difficulties.

Hawkins was lost at sea in 1645, ^^^ his widow soon married John Fenn, and for a third husband, Henry Shrimp ton. Their house was on the southwest corner of Clarke Street. In 1657 William Phillips conveyed to Mary Fenn the house called "Noah's Ark," which her son-in-law had mortgaged and which had come into the possession of Phillips. Mary Fenn deeded it to George Mountjoy the same year, and in 1663 he sold to John Vial, under whom it became famous. In 1695 Vial sold to Thomas Hutchinson. In 17 13 it was known as the "Ship Tavern," heretofore "Noah's Ark," and was both above and below North Street. Vial kept a brew house near by, and his reputation extended across the seas. It was at this inn that Sir Robert Carr, one of the king's commissioners, in 1664 assaulted the constable, Arthur Mason, who went to the tavern expecting to find the commissioners, which would have been a breach of the law. Before he came, however, they had adjourned to a neighboring house. The Government demanded the appearance of Carr in court, but he refused to acknowledge their jurisdiction.

Next to the Bendall land was the house and garden of Thomas Savage. He came to Boston in the Planter, in 1635, age twenty-seven, a tailor by trade. He married, first. Faith Hutchinson, daughter of William and Anne, and in 1638 went with them to Rhode Island, but soon returned. He married for a second wife Mary, daughter of Rev. Zachariah Symmes, of Charlestown. He had seven children by his first wife and eleven by his second. He was almost always in public office as deputy, speaker, and assistant and prominent in military affairs. He commanded the forces in King Philip's war and died in 1682. His widow married Anthony Stoddard as his fourth wife.