/"-*. . • j;555t4rfk*- O /"-*. • % ^ *'^ y Q • A. ^^0^ : < o ' o -^ ^.^ ^'v^ "-^ %^^%^/ .N &' '% ^^ % FIFTH REPORT Record Commissioners. 1880. B, KEVISED EDITION. BOSTON; EOCKWELL AND CHURCHILL, CITY PRINTERS, No. 39 Arch Street. 188 7. /ti^P-^OFCorr/G;?^ 'Tx, , ...c\'^ V ' ' -rrj 1^ A ^/v"^ V C"/',/^^ {.b- PEEFACE TO SECOND EDITION. In republishing their Fifth Report, the Record Commis- sioners desire to renew the caution that this volume is to be regarded as a collection of valuable and interesting essays, for the correctness of which the reputation of the writer must be the guaranty. The opinions of the author were stated with the utmost frankness, the articles w^ere printed in one of the best known journals of the day, and the authorship was acknowledged from the commencement. In reprinting them, however, neither the city nor its agents are to be considered as endorsing the opinions of the author, or as dissenting from them. In one particular case, the seventy-eighth article, the Record Commissioners have cancelled one essay, which ap- peared in the former edition, from a scrupulous care to respect the sensibilities of those who felt aggrieved by Mr. Bow ditch's remarks. One article, marked 2*, of the series, which was over- looked in the first edition, has been recovered for this issue. Some errors of the press have been corrected, and the ap- pearance of the volume has been improved by additional spacing. A few more notes are given, and the number of pages is increased from a hundred and eighty in the first edition, to two hundred and twenty-two pages in this, though the contents remain the same, with the exceptions above noted. The Record Commissioners avail of this occasion to renew their expressed conviction of the great value of these contri- butions to our local history, and to record the flattering appreciation with which this volume has been received by our citizens. William H. Whitmore, William S. Appleton, Record Commissioners, City Hall, Boston, July, 1884. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Abticlb Paob 1. Blackstone's House ••••••...! 2. " 5 2*. " 8 3. Boston Common 12 4. King's Chapel Burying-Ground 14 6. The Barricado of 1672 20 fi. St. Paul's Church 23 7. The First Church 26 8. Novelties in Estates 29 9. Names of Streets 31 10. Chambers' Four-acre Pasture 34 11. Allen's Twenty-acre Farm 36 12. Zachariah Phillips' Nine-acre Pasture 38 13. Old Grants of Neck Lands 41 14. Copp's Hill 44 15. Old Bakers 46 16. Old Ropewalks 48 17. " 50 18. James Allen's Sixteen-acre Pasture 54 19. Jeremiah Allen's Pasture . . • 57 20. Buttolph's Eight-acre Pasture GO 21. Middlecott's Four-acre Pasture 63 22. Joshua Scottow's Four-acre Pasture 65 28. Bulfinch's Four-acre Pasture 68 24. Molly Saunders' Gingerbread 70 25. Southacks' Pasture and Tanyard 73 26. Reminiscences of Somerset Street 77 27. Ancient and Modern Law 79 28. The Spring House 81 29. "Valley Acre" 83 30. Cotton Hill 84 31. " 87 32. Peter Faneuil's House 92 33. Houses of Oxenbridge and Penn 96 34. James Davis's Pasture 99 35. Madam Haley's Daughter 102 36. Robert Turner's Great Pasture 104 37. Great men a century ago 107 38. Niceties of the Law 109 39. The Bovvdoin Estate 113 40. " Contempt of Court" 116 T ^1 City Document No. 105. Ajitiole 41. " Contempt of Court " j^a 42. Rogers's Estate * .^q 43. Allegorical * 12^ 44. " A Challenge to Z " * [ * '19,3 45. Beacon and the Thurston House 1^8 46. Hanging ! * ' 130 47. Beacon Hill ! .' * " 13> 48. Thomas Hancock ^ * T'- 49. The Monument * ' rw 60. Cook's Pasture ... * ' , < ^ 61. The Commonwealth's Rope-walk 24' 62. The State-House Lot * \ ' ' nl 63. Gov. Hancock's House ,. , 64. Thomas Bulfinch '.'!.' 156 65. John Hancock * 1-7 56. The Hancock Estate 67. Sewall's Elm Pasture 68. Streets on Paper ... ' ,„, 09. Conditions — Eaves 60. Frederick Tudor — R. G. Shaw . j-^ 61. Robert G. Shaw ^ ' ! ' ' 173 62. Uriah Cotting — Samuel Appleton ....*."" 176 63. Benjamin P. Homer ' ' „j. 64. John Callender 65. The Copley Estate ' ' ' IS" 66. East's Pasture .... 67. Richard Pepys' Estate * * ' -§9 68. The Banister Lot 69. The Copley Estate . . ' ,0, 70. " ^-^^ 71. " ''' 72. u l^S 73. Mt. Vernon Street ' ^^^ 74. Thomas L. Winthrop and John Phillips . . . . ] 207 75. Beacon Street •••• ^10 76. The Lowell Family '24. 77. The Swan Family ' * 91a 78. The Beacon-Street Fire . . * * " 99a Illustrative Docu.ments and Notes. 1. Alonzo Lewis's Notes on the Blackstone Lot .... 3 2. Odlin's Deposition *'*•••••. 5—10 3. Anne Pollard's Deposition .... 4. Title to King's Chapel . .' .' * * ' * ' ^ 6. Town Deed to King's Chapel . . ' * \ "Gleaner." vii Page 6. Deed to Angola, a Negro, for Saving Gov. Bellingham's Life . 23 7. Pudding Lane 31 8. James Barton 50 9. Kope-walks on the Public Garden 52 10. Eliot Street Laid Out 62 11. Reminiscences of an Old Bostonian 70 12. Valley Acre 83 13. Madam Haley 89 14. Note by Lucius M. Sargent 102 15. Brattle Square Church Case Ill 16. " " 115 ;7. '< " 124 18. Note on the Turner Family, by L. M. Sargent . . . .137 19. Inscriptions on the Old Beacon 153 20. Sewall's Gift to the South School 164 21. The Lowell Family 217 22. Col. Swan'a Book 218 PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Boston, Dec. 10, 1880. In their fourth report, dated Sept. 1, 1880, the Record Commissioners announced that the City Council had appro- priated the sura of five thousand dollars for the publication of historical documents relating to Boston. This was in con- formity with a suggestion of the Committee on Printing for 1879, and it is presumed that the grant will be continued annually. As already announced, the first of the volumes thus ordered is the present fifth report, and it contains a series of articles relating to the history of estates lying on or around Beacon Hill. These articles were contributed in 1855 to the "Boston Daily Transcript," by the late Nathaniel IngersoU Bowditch, under the signature of " Gleaner." Mr. Bowditch was confessedly the most learned conveyan- cer of the day. He was born at Salem, June 17, 1805, and was the oldest child of Dr. Nathaniel Bowditch, the distin- guished mathematician. In 1823, the year following the graduation of the subject of this sketch, his father removed to Boston, and Nathaniel studied law under the late Hon. William Prescott. From this time until his death, April 16, 1861, Mr. Bowditch was an honored and useful citizen of Boston, pursuing his chosen department of practice with un- rivalled skill, and accumulating treasures of information, of which but a small portion is here shown. In 1851 he printed a "History of the Massachusetts General Hospital," and in 1857 a collection of curious facts entitled "SuflTolk Surnames." The latter volume has been twice reprinted. In 1855 Mr. Bowditch began the interesting series of "Gleaner" articles, which aroused a lively interest among all conversant with the subject. Often a single article would call forth the reminiscences or comments of other writers, and the whole collection has been for years regarded as indis- X CiTT Document No. 105. pensable to any one who would write on that portion of our local history. Although the series terminated abruptly in the manner ex- plained on page 180 of this volume, enough had been written by Mr. Bowditch to make its republication a matter of pub- lic interest. When, therefore, the Record Commissioners re- ceived the munificent grant of the city, they at once selected these " Gleanings " as among the first documents to be issued. It will be seen that the portion of our territory covered by these notes is small ; but the articles are consecutive, and the treatment is exhaustive. Beacon Hill and its surround- ings are considered, every estate is scrutinized, and the proverbial dryness of antiquarian and legal discussions is relieved by anecdotes of the distinguished citizens who have lived upon this noted territory during the past two hundred years. It has seemed unnecessary to attempt annotations to the original work. Of course the twenty-five years which have elapsed have produced many changes ; but these matters are within the recollection of the present generation, which i? now to reperuse these sketches. The consent of the representatives of the family to this reproduction was given a number of years ago, and has been renewed at the present time. The commissioners have to announce that their sixth report is nearly completed, and that it will contain the Roxbury Land Records, together with the records of the First Church in Roxbury. It is intended that it shall appear among the city documents for 1880. Respectfully submitted, William H. Whitmore, William S. Appleton, Record Commissioners. "GLEANER" ARTICLES. I. HISTORICAL. Juhj 2, 1835. It is well known that when our forefathers first came to thia peninsula they found here a solitary settler, — Mr. William Black- stone. Thus the Charlestown records say : — Mr. Blackstone, dwelling on the other side of Charles River, alone, to a place by the Indeans called Shawmutt, where he only had a cottage at or not far off the place called Blackstone s Point, he came and acquainted the Governor of an excellent Spring there, withal inviting him and soliciting hira thither. Whereupon, after the death of Mr. Johnson and divers others, the Governor, with Mr. Wilson, and the greatest part of the Church, removed thither. Whither also the frame of the Governor's house was carried, when people began to build their houses against winter, and this place was called Boston. Mr. Drake, in his excellent " History of Boston," quotes this ex- tract, and remarks that " this place was not thought of for a town until Blackstone urged it." He thinks that Blackstone's Point was that afterwards called Barton's Point, at the northerly end of Leverett street, towards Charlestown, and adds: "His Point is more easily located than his house or his spring " and proceeds to suggest as not unlikely that these may have been near Poplar street. Now^ the exact location of Mr. BlacJcstone^ s homestead lot is as definitely fixed as that of the Mill-dam or Wester^i avemie. He made a deed to the inhabitants of the whole peninsula, retaining this homestead lot of six acres. By the town records of 1735, " the re- lease of Mr. Blackstone, the first proprietor of the town of Boston,'' is mentioned as " now on file in the town clerk's oflice." Tlie origi- nal, however, has never been seen by either of the historians of Boston, — Shaw, Snow, or Drake, — and is doubtless lost. Black- stone, wishing to live a more retired life and amid fewer neighbors, 2 City DocmiENx No. 105. subsequently sold this reserved lot ; but no deed from bim is found on record. In the course of time, therefore, its precise location became doubtful. It was, however, accidentally discovered by an investigation of my own. In May, 1829, I was examining the titles of the Mt. Vernon proprietors, claimed under John Single- ton Copley, the celebrated artist. I succeeded in tracing back his lot in part to a deed from one Richard Peyps and Mary his wife, of Ashon, Essex County, to Nathaniel Williams, by a deed not found on record, but expressly referred to as dated January 30, 1G55 ; and a deposition of Anne Pollard, in 1711 (Suffolk, Lib. 2G, p. 84), proves that Blackstone sold to Richard Pepys. In 1676 is recorded a deed of Peter Bracket and Mary his wife, late widow of said Williams (Suffolk, Lib. 9, fol. 325), conveying to her children, Nathaniel Williams three-quarters and Mary Viall one-quarter — all that messuage, with the barns, stables, orchards, gardens, and also that six acres of laud, be it more or less, adjoin- ing and belonging to said messuage, called the Blackstone lot, bnng the same which were conveyed to said Nathaniel by Richard Pepis, of Ashon, Essex County, and Mary his wife, as by their act, bear- ing date January 30, 1655, icill more fully appear. Mary Viall's one-quarter gets into said Nathaniel, who conveys the whole lot in 1709 (Suffolk, Lib. 24, f. 103) to Thomas Banis- ter as "an orchard and pasture, containing six acres more or less on the N.W. side of the common with the flats; the upland and flats being bounded N.W. on Charles river or a cove," etc.. etc., " Southerly on the Common." Blackstone's six-acre lot, therefore, was at the lower part of the south-westerly slope of Beacon Hill, or, according to the present monuments, it was at the bottom of Beacon street, bound' d sontherly toward the Common, and loesterly on the river. In other words, his fine taste led him, at the outset, to select for his abode the precise spot which is now the " Court-end " of the city. It must have been a sheltered and sunny enclosure of almost unrivalled beauty. Charles street was, in 1804, laid out along the water's edge, and, in the cellar of one of the houses easterly of that street (set off to the late B. Joy, one of the Mt. Vernon proprietors), is a copious spring, which was doubtless Mr. Blackstone's. Shaw, in his descrip- tion of Boston, p. 103, says: " Blackstone's spring is yet to be seen [1800] on the westerly part of the town, near the bay which divides Boston from Cambridge." I felt as proud of my delivery as a hen does that has laid an egg ; and it was the subject of much cackling on my part. An "Gleaner" Articles. 3 account of it will be found in the " Boston Courier " of that time. "The Sexton of the Old School" has also made it the subject of one of his later lucubrations in the "Transcript," I had every reason, indeed, to believe that the public mind was forever enlight- ened on this momentous topic. Judge, then, of my mortification, Mr. Editor, when I found the old erroneous surmises reproduced in a standard work by so careful and well-informed an antiquarian as Mr. Drake ! — my " pet " discovery wholly ignored by the very man of all others who should have known everything about it ! — my "credit" as clean gone as if I had been an original stock- holder in the " Vermont Central." July 3. Rev. William Blackstone. Mr. Editor : — I was highly pleased by the attempt of your ingenious correspondent in last evening's "Transcript," to fix the location of Rev. Wra. Blackstone's liouse and spring. This is a subject which, as is well known to some of your many intelligent readers, has for many years been one of more than mere curiosity with me. The conclusion, however, to which he has arrived, to his own satisfaction, is not altogether so to ours. Lot us examine. Mr. Blackstone sells land to Richard Pepys. In 1655, Pepys sells land to Nathaniel Williams. In 167G, Mary, widow of Williams, conveys to her children, Nathaniel and Mary, " a certain messuage," and " also that six acres of land adjoining and belonging to said messuage, called the '* Black- stone lot." In 1709, Nathaniel Williams, jr., sells to Thomas Barrister " an orchard and pasture, containing six acres, more or less. All this is clear and admissible. But it does not so clearly appear to us to be demonstrated that either Mr. Blackstone's house or his spring were on this land. Your correspondent says: "Blackstone's six-acre lot was on the south-western slope of Beacon street." Admit it; but that " six-acre lot" is described in the deed of 1709 as "an orchard and pasture." When Mr. Blackstone, in 1633, gave up his general claim to the township of Boston, fifty acres were reserved to him in severalty. (Snow's Boston, p. 50; Drake's Boston, p. 95.) The " six-acre lot " was no AoMht part of that fifty acres; but what evidence have we been presented with to prove to us that either Mr. Blackstone's " small cottage " or the "excellent spring" was there? Might they not have been, as Mr. Drake and others think, at the other extremity of the fifty acres, a tract con- siderably larger than the whole of Boston Common? There we find " Black- stone's," now " Barton's Point"; there we find a spring beneath a house in Poplar street, in which Mr. Drake formerly lived ; there we find "Spring street" and Spring-street court," which have been regarded as having been named in reference to " the excellent spring of fresh water." But there is no " point " on the " slope of Beacon street." I have no favorite theory to support in this matter, and only seek the truth; but my long habits of liistorical research have induced me to be cautious in 4 City Document Xo. 105. drawing hasty conclusions from partial premises. Perhaiis your intelligent correspondent can furnish us with something more deflnite and conclusive. Where are the deeds of the other forty-four acres? What if one of them refers to the precise locality? Alonzo Lewis. Historical. Mr. Editor: — When I observe anything in your paper marked or "headed" Historical, I always read, or intend to read it; and read with avidity the article so marked in to-day's (July 2d) " Transcript," signed Vermont Central. This note is to call the attention of that writer to a single fact ; premising by the way, that when I was a youngster I was often deceived by cackling ; and that I am pleased with the tone of his article, and glad he has taken the pains to investigate so closely respecting the home- stead of Mr. William Blackstone ; but in his eagerness to show where Mr. Blackstone's homestead was in 1G55, it does not appear to have occurred to him that it could have been elsewhere in 1G30. Now that this u-as the fact I am fully persuaded ; for all the early indications at, and immediately after, the first settlement of Winthrop's company on the Peninsula point to the locality of Mr Blackstone where Mr. Drake has fixed it, so far as he has pretended to fix it. What Mr. Shaw says about Mr. Blackstone's spring can, by no arguments that occur to me, be transferred from West Boston to the foot of Beacon street; for West Boston did not, in early times, include this locality, or certainly not generally. What was meant originally by West Boston was chiefly included between what is now Cambridge street and the Millpond and Barton's Point. This name was naturally enough given to that section by the North End people. In process of time it extended to the hill on the southerly side of Cambridge street. Therefore, that Mr. William Blackstone lived, in 1630, in the vicinity of his spring on Poplar street, is the deliberate opinion of Uhbs Condita. "Gleaner" Articles. TI. HISTORICAL. July 6, 1855. Mr. Editor : — Being at present confined to my house I am unable to refer to certain abstracts of my own, which I w(ill re- member, especially a deposition of Odlin, etc. Mr. Drake's his- tory, however (p. 530), supplies me with all I want, and proves, as I think, conclusively that Blackstone' s Point icas the six-acre lot which he reserved, and that his house stood on part of it. Mr. Drake speaks of the four depositions, in 1G84, of John Odlin, Rol)ert AValker, Francis Hudson, and William Lytherland, and he repre- sents them as saying that they had — Dwelt in Boston from the first planting thereof, and continuing so at this day (June 10, 1684) ; that in or about 1G34 the said inhabitants of Boston (of whom the Hon. John Winthrop, Esq., Governor of the Colony, was chief) did agree with Mr. William Blackstone for the purchase of his estate and right in any lands lying within the said neck called Boston ; and for said pur- chase agree that every householder should pay Gs., none paying less, some considerably more, which was collected and paid to Mr. Blackstone to his full satisfaction for his whole right, reserving only about six acres on the point commonly called Blackstone's Point on part whereof his then dwelling house stood; after which purchase the town laid out a place for a training field, which ever since and now is used for that purpose and for the feeding of cattle. Now, to my apprehension, nothing can make the matter clearer than the above extract from Mr. Drake's own history. If it had been printed in the part of the volume where his surmises are made in favor of Barton's Point, he could not, as it seems to me, have failed to be himself convinced of his mistake. The Common (which contains about 50 acres) was very probably the residue of the 50 oc?'es which had previously been granted to Mr. Blackstone, and which thus became revested in the town. One word of reply to Mr. Alonzo Lewis. Mr. Blackstone's cottage was doubtless a slight structure, and in 1709 had disap- peared ; but the trees which he had planted had grown, and were 6 City Document No. 105. an orchard, which of itself becomes a conspicuous monument, — since it is the only orchard shown on the most ancient plans of Bos- ton. That there were numerous other springs I admit. That there was an excellent spring on this spot so near the original shore that the fresh water bubbled forth and ran down the sand to sea, I was assured by an aged witness, now deceased, who was con- sulted as to the titles in that locality in the suits of the Overseers of the Poor against the Mount Vernon Proprietors. SUMMARY. Edward Johnson, in 1630, in his " "Wonder- "Working Provi- dence," writes : " One [on] the South side of the River, one a Point of Land called Blaxton's Point, planted Mr. "U^illiam Blax- ton." The Records show that " 1 April, 1G33, it is agreed that INIr. "William Blackstone shall have fifty acres set out for him near his house in Boston to enjoy forever." Blackstone sold the town, the following year, all said allotment except six acres, on part of which his then house stood — the aale not being restricted to the 44 acres, but including all his right in the peninsula. He received £30, raised by a town vote assessed Nov. 10, 1G34. The deposition of Odlin, etc., is a well-known historical docu- ment, which has often been printed in extenso. Blackstone probably removed from Boston in 1G35. It is, at any rate, certain from a publication in 1G41 that he had removed before that year. See Savage's "Wiuthrop. Annie Pollard proves that he sold his reserved six acres to Richard Pepys. This six-acre lot, " commonly called the Blackstone lot," is traced from Pepys to 1G55, through "Williams, to Banister, 1709, and through Copley to the Mount Vernon Proprietors — and it bounds S. on the Common, W. on the River. Now, as to the orchard planted by Blackstone. In a publica- tion of 17G5 it is stated that many of the trees still boie fruit. Bonner's plan of 1722, though it has no division lines marking the bounds of the Common, has an arrangement of trees in rows, i.e., an orchard, obviously in this locality. This orchard reappears in Price's plan of 1733. "Who can doubt that it was Blackstone's, Pepys', Williams', Copley's orchard? As to there being no Point at the foot of Beacon hill — all Bos- ton has been called in print " Blackstone's Neck," and the name of "Gleaner" Articles. 7 Blaekstone's Point may have been given to that projecting part of Boston which was nearest to his house. It is, however, a mere question of nomenclature, and does not at all affect the question of where Blackstone actually lived. Besides, no one can know that there was not some such projection of the original shore at the foot of Beacon hill as might with propriety be called a point. The whole space at the bottom of the Common, now used as a parade ground, and of which the level has been greatly raised witliin a few years, was doubtless at that time a mere marsh or beach, occa- sionally, if not always, covered by the full tides. If so the shore must have made a decided bend or sweep towards the east, imme- diately in front of Mr. Blaekstone's homestead lot. In other words, there must have been ix point thus formed. On the whole, I think the " point" is " settled" where Blackstone settled, and feel safe in changing my signature to Q. E. D. Historical. Mr. Editor: — Your correspondent, "Vermont Central," otherwise "Q. E. D." has expended much labor and many words to prove, what no one has called in question — what I admitted in my first article — and what I published, with much more, some twenty years ago. The ques- tion is not where Mr. Blaekstone's " then dwelling-house stood, in 1634:," but where did his "small cottage" stand in 1623, eleven years previous? This question has not been answered, much less "demonstrated." Alonzo Lewis. City Document No. 105. II.* July 9, 1855.^ Mr. Blackstone, like " Monsieur Toxsox," is come again. Mr. Editor: — Dul}' appreciatiuj the courtesy of Mr. Alonzo Lewis, who recognizes the " much labor and many words " which I have expended in trying to convince him, I can only express my regret at having wholly failed in my object. He avows himself an entire sceptic as to the " whereabouts " of Mr. Blackstone's " small cottage " in 1623. I might, perhaps, suggest that at that time it was " nowhere." At any rate, as we can hardly hope for much light as to its exact location from Indian traditions or contempo- rary Phjmouth annals, I think we may rest satisfied if we can ascertain where it was when Boston first began to exist, — in the 3'ear of " Urbs Condita," or A.D. 1630. Mr. Lewis admits the fact as stated and proved by me, that Mr. Blackstone's house, in 1634, and the six-acre lot on which itthen stood, were at the north- west corner of the Common. It may be that " some twenty years ago," he, as he states, somewhere published the same " and much more." It is certain, however, that Mr. Drake has not done so in his " History of Boston," a circumstance which induced me to write m}' first article. In charging me with having failed to make out my case, Mr. Lewis virtually assures me of bearing a false name (Q. E. D.), and of having resorted to "false pretences" — of argument and demonstration. To an indictment of any sort I am aware that it is very unfortunate to be obliged to reply under two names ; since he who resorts to an " alias " is almost always a rogue. But my original name (" Vermont Central ") being, through the miscon- duct of a namesake, justlj^ an object of much odium, I changed it. To prove that I did so " according to law," or, in other words, that I am legally entitled to my present name, I will NIB my pen and oflTer a suggestion or two. The Charlestown records, as we have seen, speak of Mr. Black- stone as having "a cottage" at " Shawmutt" when, in 1630, he invited our ancestors to come across the river and settle there. So iThis article was omitted in the first edition. — W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 9 that his " small cottage," whensoever built, appears to have been then extant. In 1633 the inhabitants of Boston set off to him 50 acres of land near "his house." They do not say "his new house," which would of course prove the existence of a prior structure, or " his noiu dwelling house," from which, possibly, ':hough not necessarily, the same fact might be inferred. No one supposes that the first houses built here were of large size, with modern conveniences. All were at first " cottages." There is no reason, then, to doubt that the " cottage " of 1 630 and the " house " of 1833 were one and the same. It can hardly be supposed, in- deed, that before getting a grant from the town he would have proceeded to erect a second dwelling. But the deponents in 1684 testify that in 1634 he sold to the town all his land except six acres, on part of which his then dwelling house stood, and that the town afterwards proceeded to lay out the training field, or Com- mon. Upon this little word " then " Mr. Lewis seems to take his stand. To his imagination it presents a preexistent dwelling house somewhere else. I am aware that a small word often varies extremely the meaning of a sentence. There is much virtue in an " if" or " but " ; and " no " is a host of itself. But, by all obvious and natural rules of construction, this "then" merely proves a non-existent dwelling house. It is as if these deponents in 1684 had said, " Mr. Blackstone retained six acres, on which, fifty years ago, his then dwelling house stood, which is now no, longer standing." Snow, in his histor}', though he, too, like Drake, mislocates the six-acre lot as being probably at Barton's Point, does not intimate any theory of d^/pZica^e dwelling houses. He saj^s : "Blackstone cultivated with success the six acres which he retained, and soon had a garden plot and an orchard near his cottage and spring." Until, then, I shall hear some good reason for believing that Mr. Blackstone built a " small cottage" in 1623 at Barton's Point, or elsewhere, and then another " house" in another place before any grant from the town to him, I shall feel entirely convinced that his " cottage" and his " house" were one and the same building — or that, if diflferent buildings, they were, yet, both erected on the same homestead lot, at the bottom of the Common. And for trial of this issue, on the evidence already presented, I submit myself to the " Transcript" and " my country." Q. E. D. 10 City Document No. 105. July 11. William Blackstone, his Orchard, Cottage and Spring. — I see a little discussion is going on — or off — I know not which— as to some of these things in your "Transcript." If you will look in your own band-box, you will find what seems to me quite as much to the purpose, and some things which may interest your inquiring friends. In 1849, March 14, 21, 28, April 4, 11, 18, 25, May 2 and 9, some industrious creature published in the " Trans- cript " nine consecutive numbers, all about William Blackstone, his orchard, cottage and spring. This writer's conclusions, so far as it was possible to form conclusions from such slender premises, seemed reasonable to me then, and they seem so now; and if those conclusions were errors, they were evi- dently not arrived at without labor. Numbers 7 and 8 of the series, published Marcli 28 and April 4, relate entirely to the orchard, cottage and spring. As to the whereabouts of Mr. Blackstone's cottage in 1G23, your friend Q. E. D. has hit the location exactly — it was ' ' nowhere." Whoever has the courage to dive for that will do a public service, while he is down, by looking round for the old lady's cottage, W. B.'s grandmother's, about which nothing has yet been ^^ demonstrated." Those who preserve the "Transcript" will find the whole subject, in the numbers referred to, treated at some length. The con- clusions, as to the location, are the same with those at which Q. E. D. has arrived. John Smith, the Elder.' * There is little to be added to the able argument of Mr. Bowditch, set forth in his two preceding articles, and afterwards forlified ia his 67th article, later on. A few facts have since been found which may be worth repeating. The depositions referred to are also here reprinted, as they are often cited, and are important items in our history. Aug. Id, 1GS7. Jndge Sewall wrote in his Diary (i, 186) : " Went into Water alone at Blackstone's Point." July 22, 1709. He wi-ote (Diary ii, 260) : " In the evening Mr. May hew and I bath ourselves in Charles River behind Blackstone's point." Snow (History of Boston, p. 427) says, "Mr. Blackstone's beach is incidentally mentioned in a latter part of the ancient records of the town than that referred to p. 51. [March 9, 1638.] His marriage also to Widow Sarah Stevenson, July 4, 1659, is recorded in its proper place. Gov. Endicote oflBciated on the occasion." As I have Snow's annotated copy, I find that this " later mention " is Feb. 27, 1643. The town records (vol. 2 of our Record Commissioucrs' Reports, p. 72) has the following entiy under this date : " William Colborou and Jacob Eliot are appointed to view a parcel of Land towards Mr. Blackstone's Beach which Richard Peapes desires to Purchase of the Towne whither it may be conveniently sold unto him." In the Book of Possessions Pcpyslot is not specifically recorded, but Jacob Leger, Robert Wing, and Jane Parker all al)uttcd on his lot, and it is easy to show where it was. The date of said Book ia now quite confidently assigned to A.D. 1645. — W. II. W. [Suff. Deeds, Lib. 24, fol. 106.] The Deposition of John Odlin aged about eighty two years, Robert Walker aged about seventy eight years, Francis Hudson aged about sixty six years, and William Lytherland aged about seventy six years, these Deponents being anticnt dwellers and "Gleaner" Articles. 11 inhbbitants of the Town of Boston in New EngH. from the time of the tiist planting and selling thereof and continuing so at this day do jointly testily and depose that in or about the j'ear of our Lord one thousand six hundred thirty and four the then present inhabitants of said Town of Boston (of whom the hono^''. John Wiuthrop Esq'. Governour of the Colony was Chief) did treat and agi-ce with M'. William Biack- stone for the purchase of his estate and right in any lauds lying within the said Neck of land called Boston, and for said purchase agreed that every householder should pay six shillings, which was accordingly collected, none paying less, some considerable more, than six shillings, and the said sum collected was delivered and paid to M'. Blackstone to his lull content and satisfaction, in consideration whereof he sold unto the then inhabitants of SJ. Town and their heirs & assigns for ever, his whole right and interest in all & every of the lands lying within said Neck, reserving only unto himself about six acres of land on the point, commonly called Blackstone's Point, on part whereof his then dwelling bouse stood, after which purchase the Town laid out a place for a Training Field, which ever since and now is used for that purpose, and for the feeding of cattle. Robert Walker and William Lytherland further testily that M'. Blackstone bought a stock of Cows with the money he received, as above, and removed and dwelt near Providence where he lined till the day of his death. Boston the lO'"" of June 1684. Then personally appeared John Odlin, Robert Walker, Francis Hudson and William Lytherland the four Deponents above named and made oath to this Deposition according to their respective testimony, before us. S. Bradstreet, Gov- ernour, Sam. Sewall, Assistant. Februaiy the 8"" 1708 Received and accordingly enti'ed and exam**, p Addington Davenport Regist'. [SufF. Deeds, Lib. 26, fol. 84.] The Deposition of Anne Pollard of Boston Widow aged about eighty-nine years. This Deponent Testifyeth aud saith, That this Deponents husband M'. William Pollard occupied and improved a certain peice or parcel of land scituate near the bottom of the Common at the Westerly part thereof in Boston aforesaid and bounded on the sea south west for many years, and that her said husband hired the same of Richard Peepy's late of Boston aforesaid Gen'", deceased who often told this Depo- nent, That he the said Peepy's bought the said land of M'. Blackstone, Clerk, formerly of Boston aforesaid. And further this Deponent saith. That the said Peepy's built a house thereon wherein this Deponent and her said husband dwelt for near fourteen years, during which time the said Blackstone used frequently to resort thereto, and this Deponent never heard any controversy between him the said Blackstone and the said Peepy's about the said land, but that the same was always reputed to belong to him as this Deponent understood. And she further says. That soon after the sale thereof as she supposeth the said Blackstone removed from this Town of Boston, and further saith not. Anne Pollard g Signum. Boston, December 26"' 1711. Jurat et Capt in Perpetuam rei memoriam die et anno prsedict. Cor nobis, Jer. Dummer, Addington Davenport, Just. Pacis unus Quor. December the 26'* 1711. Received and accordingly entred and examined. P. Addington Davenport Regist'. 12 City Document No. 105. ni. ANCIENT ITEMS. July 10, 1855. In 1676, after King Philip's war, Dr. Increase Mather, of Boston, " did by his letters procure a whole ship-load of provisions from the charit}' of his friends in Dublin." So that when Boston sent, by R. B. Forbes, Esq., a ship-load of provisions to Ireland, a few years since, it was but the paj-ment, without interest, of a debt contracted b}' our forefathers a century and three-quarters before. The debt is mentioned by Drake, but not its somewhat tardy dis- charge. Mr. Drake, in each page of his history, has, in the notes, preserved copies of the miscellaneous votes passed by the town in each year, these being generally of too trivial a character to justify an insertion in the text. Thus, under the year 1640, the following vote is recorded as passed March 30, viz. : " Ordered, That no more land be granted in the Town out of the open ground or common field, which is left between Sentry Hill and Mr. Colbron's end, ex- cept 3 or 4 lots to make up the street from bro. Robt. Walker's to the Round Marsh." On this vote he makes not a word of comment, and yet it was the origin of the Boston Common. Sentry Hill was Beacon Hill. Mr. Colbron's end or field extended from Wash- ington street back along Pleasant street and the water, and the street referred to is Boylston street. The Common originally reached to Tremont House, and indeed the little flower-garden at the S.E. corner was granted more than 190 years ago as a house-plat, out of that end of the Common. Rather a small-sized house-lot, by the way ! The granary and workhouse were ei'ected where the Park-street Church and houses now stand, the street leading by them having been called Sentry street. The Common originally extended to Mason street ; and the whole Colonnade Row block of houses was built on land sold oflT from it. On the other hand, its original dimensions were enlarged in 1780, by a purchase, from William Foster, of about two acres on Boylston street, east of the burying-ground, and between it and Tremont street. The Public Garden, was, and as I conceive still is, part of the Common, though "Gleaner" Articles. 13 divided from it by Charles street about 1804. Surely a vote to which Boston is indebted for this beautiful public pleasure-ground should have received from its historian at least one sentence of mention in his text. Mr. Drake does indeed mention in his text that on March 31, 1645, " there was purchased of Thomas Scotto for the use of the Town his dwelling-house, yard, and garden, for fifty-five pounds. [Cheap.] It was bounded on the north by land of Henry Messen- ger, on the east by Mr. Richard Hutchinson's, by the Common street south, and the burying-place west." But it would not have been amiss if he had added that this is the School-street estate, on which now stands the City Hall. Between this School-street land and the city land on Court street, on which formerly stood the prison and now stands the Court House, were intervening lots of Henry Messenger, etc., which have been subsequently acquired, so that the two estates are now united. And it would seem that of the original School-street land portions were subsequently sold off, on which were erected the brick buildings owned by the late John Lowell, Wm. Sullivan, etc., and which were again purchased at a much later day by the city, the land so repurchased being now laid out as ornamental enclosures in front of the City Hall. It is ob- servable that the west boundary of the deed of 1645 is on the burying-place. It was not until more than forty years after this period, under the administration of Andros, that the first Episcopal church, now known as King's Chapel, was erected on part of " the burying-place." Gleaner. 14 City Document ^o. 105. IV. KING'S CHAPEL BURYING-GROUND. July 12, 1855. Mr. Editor : — There is a well-knowu legal couundrum — " What is that which, when it has oace begun to run., never leaves off running?'* The answer is, " A statute of limitation." It, indeed, runs to some purpose. Its " might makes right." An unauthorized intrusion upon lands — a barefaced squat — it con- verts at last into a title., guarded by all the sacred majesty of law. Our citizens, as they pass by the chapel in Tremont street, see merely an ancient edifice, of fine proportions, belonging to one of our most wealthy and fashionable congregations, and in the bury- ing-ground adjoining they behold the resting-place of those who, from age to age, after having worshipped at that church., have, at last, been gathered together beside its hallowed walls. Nothing, however, can be further from the ti'uth of history. Isaac Johnson was one of the most distinguished of the founders of Boston. His wife, the Lady Arabella, nobly born and delicately nurtured, sunk at once under the fatigues and privations of her western voyage, and died at Salem, where she landed. The place of her burial is not known — " Yet still she hath a monument To strike the pensive eye, — The tender memories of the land Wherein her ashes lie." Her husband died shortly afterwards (September 30, 1630). The grave closed, as it were, at once over them both. It is tradition, derived from the late Chief Justice Sewall, that Mr. Johnson had chosen for his lot the great square between Washington, School, Tremont, and Court streets, and that, by his desire, he was buried at the south-west end of that lot, " which gave occasion for \.\\q first hurying-place of this town to be laid out round about his grave." It is, however, a matter of doubt where he was buried, and it does not appear that this whole square, or, indeed, any part of it, was ever actually granted to him. It is "Gleaner" Articles. 15 certain that, in the " Book of Possessions " (our Doomsday -book) ^ it is subdivided among several possessors. Thus, Richard Hutchinson is "Possessor " of the S.E. corner lot on Washington street ; the buryiug-place is located at the S.W. corner on Tremont street ; while, between them, comes the estate which, in 1G45, Thomas Scotto sold to the town (now the City Hall estate). Here, then, were buried those sturd}' champions of Puritanism, who, dreadiug and detesting the thraldom of the Church of Eng- land, had left the comforts and luxuries of the Old World, that they might worship God according to their own consciences ; who through life had looked with almost equal aversion upon Episco- pacy and Popery. The feeling that prompted Endicott to cut out the cross from the King's colors — however the policy of his act might be questioned — really pervaded almost all minds. Fleeing from persecution themselves, they thought that they had the right to drive forth from among them, even hy persecution, those sectaries who sought, under claim of like liberty of conscience, to worship God in modes which they judged erroneous. Here lie buried John Winthrop, " The Governor," d. 1649 ; " the famous, reverend and learned Pastors," John Cotton, d. 1652, John Davenport, d. 1670, and John Oxenbridge, d. 1674; Major Thomas Savage, d. 1681-2; Major Thomas Brattle, d. 1683, and others, their wise and brave contemporaries. Mr. Cotton's burial has been quaintly described as " the most grievous and solemn funeral ever known upon the American strand;" and an elegy is extant "on the Sudden and much Lamented Death and Expiration of that Worthy, Grave, Pious, and I-Cverj'way accomplished Hero, Major Thomas Savage, Esq'r." How would it have shocked these worthies on their death-beds could they have foreseen that their last resting-place was eventually to be desecrated by the intrusion of a hateful Episcopal edifice^ within which, in still later times, under Episcopal forms, what they would have regarded as the damnable heresy of Unilarianism would be inculcated ! In May, 1686, the first society of Episcopalians was formed. The old charter of the Colony having been annulled, and the politi- cal power being then in the hands of that denomination, on the arrival of Andros, in December of that year, they succeeded in com- pelling the Old South Society to permit them to use their building as often as occasion required Drake says: " How the (Episco- pal) Societ}' obtained the laud on which their church stood has 16 City Document No. 105. not been discovered ; * but it is not at all improbable that it was taken by order of Governor Audros out of the common burial-place which was given to the town by Mr. Isaac Johnson." It is cer- tain that it was built on part of that burying-place, — an appro- priation of the spot which could not have been obtained from the living except under duress, and wliich would have been utterly re- pugnant to the most cherished feelings of the dead. The act, in- * SomewLa: ^aLer Mr. Bowditch obtained some lijjht on this subject, and May 28. 1858, be published the following in the " Transcript " : — A QUESTION OF TITLE. Mr. Editor : — In an article printed in the Transcript, in 1855, I illustrated the doctrine of squat titles and titles by possession by the case of King's Chapel — a part of a public burying-ground taken from the town for an Episcopal church, in the times of Andros. I bad a list of all deeds indexed under the name of " Boston," and found HO deed recorded. I still believe that article entirely accurate as to the original edifice and the land under it. Within a day or two, however, my attention has been called to a deed indexed under the names of Thomas Hancock and others, to Henry Caner and others, but which is really a deed of the Selectmen of Boston to the wardens and vestry of King's Chapel in 1748 (Suflf., 76, f. 82), by which certain additional pieces of land are bought by said grantees for the enlargement of the church, and which deed of course recognizes the ownership by said wardens and vestry of the original lot. Think- ing that a religious society would feel i-elieved to learn that any part of their church and land had been bought and paid /or, I am happy to refer them to this old deed, which, not being indexed under the names either of " Boston " or " King's Chapel," would necessarily be overlooked by all who sought for it. Gleaneb. In a tract entitled " A Vindication of New Englana," printed in 1688, written probably by Rev. Increase Mather, we find these words relative to the Episcopalians of Boston : " Thus at their own charge they built an house ; but can the Towns-men of Boston tell at whose charge the land was purchased ? " From a letter of Judge Sewall's in Mass. Historical Society's Collections, 4th series, vol. viii., p. 517, it seems certain that the Council under Andros's administration took the land for the church- building. There was no legislature, then, and this act of the supreme authority of the colony could not be questioned. But there is also evidence that, as early as 1710, the town entirely acquiesced in the title of the 'iJhapel, and was willing to grant an enlargement of its bounds. There will be found in the Eighth Report of the Record Commissioners, on p. 74, the follow- ing:— " At a meeting of the Free holders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, duly qualified and warned According to Law, being convened at the Town-House the 14th of Octor 1710. A motion or Request in wiiteing being presented and distinctly Read at this meeting & is as followelh viz'. " The Request of the Hon"* Coll" Francis Nicholson together with the Ministers, " Church Wardens, and others of the Church of England in Boston Sheweth. " That the Church being too Small to accomodate the congregation and Strangers ♦'that dayly Increase. And are desireous to Enlarge the Same with the Approbation " of the Select men and Inhabitants, but wanting Ground on the North Side and East " End, Request that they may have a Grant of fifteen loot wide on the North Side " and Seventy four foot in Length. And ten foot at the East end of the Church in "Gleaner" Articles. 17 deed, could not, at first, have been regarded in any other light than as a flagrant wrong and insult. It is, however, now the source of one of the best titles in Boston, and is at least one good fruit of the tyranny of Sir Edmund Andros. According to the usual practice of reserving the most important matters for insertion in the postscript, I would mention that I, myself, witnessed on this spot a truly sacrilegious official act, " Length which is included in the S'' Seventy four foot. Resei-veing the Same Liberty " to all persons who have had any friends buryed in Said Ground which they En- " joyed heretofore. Which Request being granted Shall be ever Acknowledged &c." Voted, a grant to the S'' Gentlemen of their abovesaid Request." The deed from the town in 174S, quoted by Mr. Bowditch, is here reprinted in full, as it can hardly be abbreviated. — W. H. W. This Indenture made the tenth day of March, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred & forty eight, and in the twenty-second year of his Majestys reign between Thomas Hancock Esq". Middlecott Cooke Gent". John Steel Esq'. William Salter and John Tyng, Gentlemen, Samuel Grant, Upholder, and Thomas Ilill, Distiller, all of Boston in the County of Suffolk and Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- land and present Selectmen of said Town, on the one part, and Henry Canuer, Clerk, James Gordon, Shopkeeper, John Bov, Merchant, John Gibbius, Apothecary, Charles Apthorp, Esq'. Sir Henry Frankland, Baronet, Eliakira Hutchinson Esq'. James Smith, Merchant, George Cradock, .Jonathan Pue and Job Lewis Esqr". James Forbes, Merchant, Sylvester Gardiner, Physician, and Charles Paxton, Esq', all of Boston aforesaid, as the said Henry Canner is Minister, the said James Gordon ana John Box the Wardens, and the said Charles Apthorp, Sir Henry Frankland, Eliakim Hutchmson, James Smith, George Cradock Jonathan Pue, Job Lewis, James Forbes, Sylvester Gardiner, John Gibbins and Charles Paxton are the Vestry of King's Chappel in Boston aforesaid, on the other part: Whereas the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston in Town meeting legally assembled on Monday the eighteenth day of April last, did, in answer to the Petition of said Minister Wardens and Vestry of said Chappel, by their vote then passed impower the Selectmen afore- said to make a legal Conveyance in behalf of said town to the said Petitioners, (upon their first complying with certain terms and conditions therein mentioned and ex- pressed,) of a peice of land situate in said Boston, frontingon School street, extending thirty feet on said street from the east end of said Kings Chappel, and includes the Passageway into the Burying Ground and the Westerly part of the School house and of the laud thereto belonging, measuring thirty seven feet back from the said street, together with the old School house and other buildings belonging to it, being partly on the premises and partly on the Towns land adjoyning, to be removed when the town shall require it, at the expence of the Petit". ; also a strip of land thirty feel in length & four feet wide, extending from the northeast corner of the old Chappel upon a line with the north side of said Chappel, in order to erect thereon part of the walls of the propos'd New Church; also another strip of said wedth adjoyning to and turning upon a right angle with the former, thence running until it meets the larger peice herein first proposed to be granted, saving a passage way of six feet wide in the last mentioned strip thro' the walls of the new Church, in some convenient place between the said Northeast corner and the Chancel hereinafter mentioned, which entrance shall be at least six feet high, leading into a peice of burying ground belong- ing to the town, which peice measures twenty five feet North and South & twenty feet East & West ; also another peice of land in form of an half oval adjoyning Easterly 18 City Document No. lOo. perpetrated by the direction of a superintendeut of the City Burial Grounds, now deceased. Under the very windows of the Historical Society he caused many gravestones to be removed fiom their original position, and rearranged thera as edgest^ones by certain paths wliich he there laid out. The result is, that the tear of affec- tion and friendship may hereafter be shed, or the sigh of sentiment breathed, in a wrong locality; and perhaps the bones of a stranger upon the beforementioned parcels of land, & extending fifteen feet north and as much south from the middle of the Easterraost line thereof, and to extend ten feet further east in its extream distance from said middle point, being for the proposed Chancel : provided there shall be still left a passage way of at least eleven feet in the narrowest part between said Chancel & M'. Cooke's line into the burying ground, provided also that the bodies of those who shall be known to lye in the said strips of land or within the said half oval peice, shall be decently taken up and buried in some other part of the burying ground with the consent of their friends, & in such manner as they with the Selectmen shall agree to and direct, or where no friends appear, they shall be removed as the said Selectmen shall direct, at the charge of the Pet". ; also a priviledge to extend their new building over the aforesaid peice of burying ground lying to the northward of the present School house, and measuring twenty five feet by twenty as before express'd, provided they do not carry the floor of the church or otherwise incumber the same within eight feet of the surface of the earth as it now lies, and that no Monuments or Grave stones either within or without the buildin^r be destroyed, and if accidentaly broken in carrying on the work, be repaired at the charge of the Pet"., unless they shall agree with the friends of those who may lye buried in said peice of ground, or where no friends appear, with the Selectmen, to remove the bodies in manner as is herein provided for the other dead bodies bel'ore- mention'd; then and in such case that the Selectmen be impowercd likewise to con- vey to the Pet", said peice of burying ground and the entrance into it herein before reserved, which said terms and conditions were, that said Petitioners should procure and cause a legal title to be made to the Town of a certain peice of land over against the present Grammer School then in the occupation of the Widow Green and others, measuring thirty four feet and a half or thereabouts on School street, & ninety seven feet back more or less, bounded on the west by Col°. Wendalls land, and easterly on a passage way leading to the house where M'. Gunter now dwells, together with the priviledge of said passage way for ever; saving to the Petitioners a liberty of remov- ing if they saw good, the buildings then upon said land when required by the Select- men, said Petitioners likewise to erect upon said land a new School house, & finish the same in like decent manner with the present School house, to the satisfaction of the Selectmen, as by said votes reference thereto being had, may more fully appear. And Whereas the said Petitioners or some of 'em, in pursuance of said votes have since purchased the last described peice of land on the south side of School street, and by Deed conveyed the same to said Town of Boston, and also erected a new Brick School house thereon at their expcnce, which School house the Selectmen aforesaid have viewed, and judging the same to be complcatly finished, according to the Vote of the Town did by their vote pass'd the sLxth of March instant accept of the same accordingly. This Indenture therefore Witnesseth, that the said Thomas Hancock, Middlecott Cooke, .John Steel, William Salter, John Tyng, Samuel Grant and Thomas Hill, Selectmen as aforesaid, in consideration that the aforesaid peice of land on the south ■ide of School street aforesaid, has been convcj'cd to the Town of Boston, and a School house thereon eiected and compleatly finished at the expenee of the Peti- "Gleaner" Articles. 19 instead of an ancestor may be piously gathered and entombed anew by a descendant^ unsuspicious of so strange and inexcusable an outrage. In delightful contrast to this attempt to improve " The King's Chapel Burying Ground," let me refer yowY readers to a beautiful volume, in which it is described, hy Thomas Bridgman, published in 1853, and entitled " Memorials of the Dead in Boston." Gleaner. tioEers, as is aforementioned, have gi'anted enfeoffed conveyed and confirmed, and by these presents do pursuant to said Town vote fully and absolutely trrant enfeof convey and confirm unto the said lleniy Caner, James Gordon, John Box, John Gibbins, Charles Apthorp, Sir Henry Frankland, Eliakim Hutchinson, James Smith, George Cradock, Jonathan Pue, Job Lewis, James Forbes, Sylvester Gardiner and Charles Paxton, the severall peiccs or parcells of land and priviledge aforesaid that they the said Selectmen were impowered to convey by the said Vote; saving and always reserving unto the said town all such rights and priviledges as they are particularly express'd & reserved to the town in and by said votes. To have and to hold the said granted lands and priviledge (reserving as aforesaid) unto them the Henry Caaer, James Gordon, John Box, John Gibbins, Charles Apthorp, Sir Henry Frankland, Eliakim Hutchinson, James Smith, George Cradock, Jonathan Pue, Job Lewis, James Forbes, S}ivester Gardiner and Charles Paxton and to the successors of the said Minister Wardens & Vestry for ever, to & for themselves & the congrega- tion that usuallj' attend the Publick Worship of God in said place, and their only use and benefit for ever. In Witness whereof the partys to these presents have hereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals, the day and year first aforewritten. Thomas Hancock and a seal, Middlecott Cooke and a seal, John Steel and a seal, W". Salter and a seal, Sam'. Grant and a seal, Tho=. Hill and a seal. Signed sealed and delivered in presence of us, Ezekiel Goldthwait, Ezekiel Price. Suffolk ss. Boston March 10'''. 1748. The aforenamed Thomas Hancock, Middlecott Cooke, John Steel, William Salter, Samuel Grant, and Thomas Hill Selectmen &", person- ally appeared and acknowledged the within instrument to be their free act and deed, coram John Fayerweather Just'. Pacis. March 10"" 1748 Received and accordingly cntred and txamined. P. Ezekiel Goldthwait Reg'. 20 City Document No. 105. V. THE BARRICADO OF 1672. Juhj 13. 1855. Mr. Drake, in his " History of Boston," p. 394, says, under date of Sept. 5, 1G72 : " The fears of an invasion from the Dutch may have given rise to a stupendous project of fortifying the town. A circular wall was ordered to be erected, extending from one ex- tremity of the cove to the other, or its terminations were the Sconce, at the point noiv occupied by India ivharf, on the South, and Capt. Scarlet's wharf, at the foot of Fleet street, on the North." " The circular line to be built upon was to touch the channel at the nearest point before the town, and between the wall and the seaward ex- tremities of the wharves, built and to be built, one hundred feet space for vessels was to be left." "This great structure fell gradually into decay, and it has been long since any vestiges of it were to be seen. Its exterior was probably of wood. It went by the name of the Old Wharf as long as any of it remained." There are various inaccuracies in the above statements. It would hardly be proper to say that the Declaration of Independence may have been caused by the aggressions of the mother-country. The Sconce, or South Battery, which was one terminus of the structure (though I have not my plans to refer to), coincides, I believe, with Roive's wharf* rather than India wharf which it adjoins. The structure was not built on a circular line, but on a straight line or lines. It was the earliest large wharf erected in Boston. Long wharf did not exist till 1710. Central wharf and India wharf were built within the present century. Further, it was erected ivithout any reference to " touching the channel.'" And what is meant by the phrase " Between the wall and the seaward ex- tremities of the wharves built and to be built, one hundred feet * Foster's wharf bounds northerly on " Sconce " lane, 13 feet wide, laid out in 1673. On the northerly side of this lane is Rowe's wharf, of which part was conveyed to John Rowe in 17G4, by the executors of Jacob Wendell, and the residue (measuring 100 feet on Batterymarch street, now Broad street) was conveyed to said Rowe by the inhabi- tants of the Town of Boston, in 1785. (Suffolk, Lib. 181, fol. 258.) This was pari of the Old South Battery estate or Sconce. The name of Batterymarch street is derived from this battery, which bounded upon it. — [Note by the author."! "Gleaner" Articles. 21 space for vessels was to be left " ? The facts are, that the structure was a sea-wall, built across the mouth of the cove, with certain " gaps " or openings left for the passage of vessels. All the flats outside of this wall, to the channel, and also two hundred feet in width of the flats inside of it, or towards the town, were granted in fee simple to the individual undertakers who erected the struct- ure. And the various upland owners were restricted from wharf- ing out be3^ond a circular line, which was swept along the shore from one terminus of the structure to the other, which " circular line" ranged west of much of the present Commercial street, etc. The consequence was, that many conveyances of wharf-estates on this cove, for a century and a half, instead of bounding on " the sea," or "low-water mark," bound on " the cirmkirline," to which their right of wharfing out was thus restricted. Mr. Drake, recol- lecting that there teas a circular line somewhere, has erroneously tratisj erred it to the actual structure. The whole space between the " circular line " and the line of the two hundred feet of inside flats granted to the undertakers was to remain in common for wharfage, etc., and not merely, as Mr. Drake says, "a one hundred feet space." Mr. Drake speaks of this structure as having long since " ivholly ceased to exist." Down to the time of the erection of Central wharf, say forty years ago, a portion was standing, called the South Island wharf, on which were salt stores belonging to the proprietors of Long wharf. Over part of this Island wharf Cen- tral wharf was laid out. In digging for the foundations of that wharf branches of trees — part of the " primeval forest," with the bark still entire, were thrown up from the bottom of the original structure, with the stones in connection with which they had been sunk one hundred and forty years before. Another similar "island," lying north of the Long wliarf, was removed about twenty-five years ago for the purpose of making a channel or water passage in common for the wharves in the vicinity. And at this present time (1855) one of the chief wharves of the city, though now of course rebuilt, is itself but a part of the Barricado of 1672, viz., the T wharf. The neck of the T, connecting it with Long wharf, is a part of that structure, and the T itself still main- tains entire and enjoys its two hundred feet of flats inside, and all the flats outside towards the sea, — all, or nearly all, said flats being now covered by the present solid and substantial wharf. Here certainly is a very respectable " vestige " of this old enterprise. The name of this structure was "The Barricado," or "out 22 City Document No. 105. wharf." It only acquired the name of " The old wharf or wharves " by lapse of time, and probably after it had fallen into decay ; after it had got into the condition of an estate near the foot of State street, an ancient deed of which graphicallj- describes it as " a messuage now running to despair." It is as much a misnomer as if the South Society had been stated to have had the prefix " Old'' when it was first established. The Barricado grant gave to each "undertaker" a fee simple title, but it was upon the condition that he, his heirs and assigns, should keep in repair the part which he built. Breaches of this condition have graduall}' worked a forfeiture of almost all these titles, but the grant itself will always remain one of great historical intei'cst. It is perhaps the most anomalous exercise of power recorded in our local annals ; being utterly inconsistent with the prior vested rights of all the upland owners in that cove, who, by virtue of the Colony ordinance of 1641, as construed by the present conditions of our Supreme Judicial Courts already owned in fee simple all the flats to the channel. Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 23 VI. ST. PAUL'S CHURCH. July 14, 1855. Mr. Editor : — "We have seen that King's Chapel Church origi- nated in something like a "squat." There is one circumstance respecting St. Paul's Church equally peculiar, and perhaps not generally known even to those who worsliip there. At the beginning of all things Robert Blott is found to be " Possessor" of a tract of land, measuring 140 feet on the high- way, now Washington street, and extending in depth 276 feet along a cross street or lane, named from him Blott's lane, after- wards "Willis's or Banister's lane, now Winter street. Behind this lot, occupying all the residue of Winter street to the Common, was the possession of John Leverett, who is named as the westerly abutter of Blott in the " Book of Possessions." The northerly part of Leverett's possession, measuring 210 feet in front on Winter street b3' about 100 feet in depth, is tlie source of title to the blocks of dwelling-houses now standing thereon, four of which front on Tremont street, the others on Winter street. The southerly part of Leverett's Possession had been sold off, as early as 1664, to one Wyard or Wyre, though the deed is not re- corded. Thus, we find that "Hudson Leverett, alias John Leverett," mortgaged in 1664 an half an acre of ground, bounding on the street north, the Common west, the land now Goocbnan Wyre's W. (evidently a mistake for S.), and Goodman Blott's easterly. Robert Wyard and Sarah his wife convej' to John Wampas, an Indian,^ by warranty deed, dated January 28, 1666, recorded Sep- ' An instance of the holding of real estate by one of a class rarel.r so enriched in colonial days is recorded in Siiff. Deeds, Lib. viii, fol. 298. It is here cited at length as a suitable illustration of the times, the necessaiy punctuation being supplied. W. H. W. Depositions op Jvhes Penntman, John Clough, Junior, and Meneno, Negro, relative to [Angola]. James Pennyman, aged forty one years or thereabouts, sworne, saith that about foure years since, being in a shed that John Clough had sett up on a peece of land he had bought of Willia.n Talmage, joyning to the highway leading to Roxbury, at 24 City Document No. 105. tember 28, 1668, in Suffolk Deeds, Lib. o, fol. G90. a tract of land 210 feet deep and 32 feet broad, more or less, bounded W. on the his worke, y". late Richard Bellinghaui, Esq'. & then Governor, coming rideing by, called to this deponent & inquired of him whether he knew who had puld downe his fence ; y. deponent answered him he knew not, it was so universally donne, every one almost coming that way findeing it soe dirty would be pulling downe the fence to mend the highway ; at which the Governor seemed trobled, but sayd, " I thought it would have bin better, I have given Angola the Negro, a peice of my land fronting to the highway, of livety foot square, to him & his children for ever," upon which, the deponent answered him, " if your worshipp, now you are agiveing, will be pleased to give mec a peice, I would thank you and accept of itt." The Governor replyed, " thou never didst that for mee which hee hath done; he was the onely instrument that under God saved my life, comeing to mee with his boate when I was sunke in the liiver betwene Boston & Winisimct, severall years since, & layd hold of mee & got me into the boate ; he came in and saved my life, which kindnese of him I re- member ; and besides my giveing him fifty foot square of my land, to him & his, I shall see hee shall not want whilst I live." In which the deponent tould the Governor, that being hee had soe done & it was his pleasure soe to doe, or words to that efect, he might doe well to give him a Deed of Gift of it, for now the Law required that lands should be held liy Deed of Sale or Deed of Gift ; to which the Governor replyed, he resolved to give him a Deed for itt, but they two should not differ. And further the deponent saith that not long after hee was present on the place, & on the said Gov- ei-nor Bellinghams request did help on John Jaxson a Carpenter to lay it out; & held one end of the pole l)y which the said peice of fivety foot of land square was measured & layd out to the said Angola, by his order, as now it is fenced in ; & have bin injoyed by the said Angola ever since; the Governor then adding that hee gave the said peice of land to Angola & his heirs for ever, but so as not to be sould by his wife, in case shee should marry againe, from Angola's Children; & further saitb not. John Clough, Junior, aged forty seaven or thereabouts, deposed, saith that hee was present neere the place abovementioned in James Penniman's deposition, & at that tyme, & saw the late Governor Richard Bellingham Esq', on his bay horse sitting, & so discoursing w"" the said Penniman ; & heard the said Richard Bellingham Gov', so declai-e, that he had & did give the said Angola the said peice of land of fivety fool square, to injoy to him & his heirs for ever ; & in answere to the said Pennimans proposition of a Deed, heard the Governor to answere as above, adding, that hee use" {i.e., Cambridge street). Chambers laid out Chambers street, and in 1727 sold to Stani- ford a gore 14 feet on Cambridge street, 245 feet deep, lying E. of said street (Suffolk, L. 41, f. 214). After this he had left W. of Chambers street, a square tract of land, 320 feet wide on Cam- bridge street by 546 feet 4 inches deep on Chambers street ; bounded both N. and W. on Allen ; or, in reference to other streets since laid out, his pasture reached on Cambridge street to a point 70 feet W. of N. Russell street, while on Chambers street it reached a point 40 feet N. of Eaton street. Chambers died in Middlesex, 1743, devising to four grandchildren aaraed Russell. James Russell, acquiring the whole, conveyed "Gleaner" Articles. 35 to Thomas Russell, 1778 (Suffolk, L. 1G4, f. 281). Thomas Rus- sell, after selling off the northerly feet on Chambers street, con- veyed all the residue to Daniel Austin, Thomas K. Jones, and Thomas Clark, in 1794 (Suffolk, L. 178, f. 249). These grantees laid out F. Russell ^ street 40 feet wide, and Eaton street 36 feet wide, and divided the premises into 36 lots, — being a land specu- lation of quite venerable antiquity. In calling the street through this pasture Chamber street, the city has given it an absurd and insignificant name, in mutilations of the fair proportions of that to which it is really entitled. A robbery even of a single letter is criminal. Official restitution should immediately be made. Gleaner. ' I cannot explain the F. except as a typographical error. The deed does not mention these new streets by any name, but Russ"ell street is recorded on a list in A.D. 1800. Probably the author wrote iV. {i.e., North) Russell street, as that is the present name, aatl as he had used it in the preceding paragraph. — W. H. W. 36 City Document No. 105. XI. ALLEN'S TWENTY-ACRE FARM. July 23, 1855. Mr. Editor: — Resuming our walks from Bowdoin square into the pastures, we find that Chambers' pasture, in 1648, bounded north and in part also west on James Penn, the residue of the west line being on John Biggs ; while in the deed of 1695 to Chambers, Biggs has turned into " the widow Mynott," and Penn into ''James Allen." The town granted, in 1641, to John Biggs, IJ acres " of marsh land on centinel hill field," extending back from the front (f.e., Cambridge street) to a salt creek {which is now missing) . Biggs devised to his wife Mary, who married a Mynot [Minot], and on her death, in 1676, her lands came to her father, John Dasset, Sen., who, in 1696, joins with his son, John Dasset, Jr., in conveying six acres to James Allen, clerk. (L. 17, f. 237, etc.) These six acres extended south of Cambridge street, besides including the north of the street. James Penn was a man of the highest consideration in his day, — a ruling elder of the church. It is not strictly correct to say that he lived " at the Albion," but his mansion house was at that corner of Tremont and Beacon streets. He had an 18-acre past- ure in the new fields as early as 1648. Perhaps it was held under the grant referred to the town's order of 18, 3 mo., 1646. He died, and, by will dated in 1671, sa3's : " I give, etc., to Mr. James Allen all my pasture, being eighteen acres, more or less, lying be- tween Major Leverett and Captain Davis, to enjoy after my wife's decease forever." Now, Capt. Davis was the predecessor of Cham- bers, and Leverett owned the large estate extending from Green street to the water, through which Leverett street was laid out by his heirs. By these two sources of title, the farm now in question gets united in Rev. James Allen. He made a deed of settlement in 1706 (L. 23. f. 8), and in 1710 devised his lands in accordance therewith. By these instruments he vested in his son, John Allen, *' all that his tract of land or /a7*m, so called, containing by esti- mation 18 acres, lying in the new fields, which was devised to him " Gleaner" Articles. 37 by his uncle, James Penn, deceased, and two acres of his met*. lOw land, part of the purchase of John Dassett, lying next adjoining to the aforesaid farm or lands." It is very natural that Bigos' IJ acres should have grown a little. This 20-acre farm of John Allen embraced all the lands west, and also all north of Chambers' four- acre pasture, at the corner of Cambridge and Chambers streets, being situated between Cambridge street, south, the water, west, and the Leverett-street estates north and north-east. Allen ex- tended Chambers street northerly through his lands, bending round westerly towards the water, being a 30-feet highway, known for many years as " Allen's highway, or Wiltshire street," now merged in the name of Chambers street.* Accordingly an elegant plan of the Leverett-street lands, 1728, is recorded (Suff., L. 40, f. 9) the west and south-west lines of whicli, in all 1,406 feet 4 inches in extent, from Green street to the water, bound throughout on '•'■ Mr. John Allen's 30-feet highway." These lines indicate the exact bounds of the Allen farm in that direction, so that it included Blossom street, Friend street. Vine street, North Grove street, Bridge street. McLean street, late South Allen street, Allen street, formerly North Allen street. Poplar street, etc., the City Jail, the Medical College, the Hospital Grounds, etc. Tlie whole of his extensive trad, except only two acres, immediately fronting on Cam- bridge street, being the possession of Penn. The entire lower part of Cambridge street was a marsh, the shore at this point being deeply indented. As now filled up, the tract will probably be thirty acres at least ; and, besides this, Mr. Allen owned sixteen acres south of Cambridge street. The rope- walks, formerly on Poplar street, and those formerly constituting the boundary of the estates on Pinckney street, though so wideh' separated, were both on part of his one continuous tract of land. I think it certain, therefore, that Bev. James AlUn oivned a far larger part of the territory of Boston than was ever owned by any indi- vidual, unless, perhaps, we except one William Blackstone. And he, though he had a grant of fifty acres, only retained and cultivated six. And it may be safely asserted that Mr. Allen's deed of settle- ment, in 1706, passed a title to more lands than any other deed re- corded in Suffolk County. Gleaner. * I do not include the part of Chamber street which runs into Leverett street,formerly known as Gravel street, and laid out through Leverett's land. — [Note by the author.] .^8 City Document No. 105, XII. ZACHARIAH PHILLIPS' NINE-ACRE PASTURE. July 24, 1855. Mr. Editor: — At our last walk into the pastures, we had got stuck at the extreme eud of the north side of Cambridge street, in " a parcel of marsh gi'ound. lyiug in ye Centiuel Hill field, con- taining \h acres," etc., granted 27, 7, 1G41, to John Biggs, " bounded with ye salt water toward the north-west, with a salt creeke toward the north." If we now go into the " salt water," and .s^«m to the spot forming the present south corner of Cam bridge and Charles streets, we shall see, south-easterly of us, at the distance of 250 to 300 feet, an elliptical line of shore, no- where reaching within 100 feet of Cambi'idge street, and having a bend outwards towards the south, after which it again bends inwards. This north-west edge or slope of the " Centinel Hill," or Beacon HiiL was occupied by a pasture of nine acres, the lines extending over the flats, northerly, towards Cambridge street, and also westwardly towards the channel. This is '•'' Zachariah PhVlips' Nine-Acre Padure" a name which sounds as familiarly in my ears as " Pemberton square." This pasture extends from Cambridge street, southerly, along the water side, till it meets the " Blackstone six-acre lot " at the bot- tom of Heacon street. Its east line begins on Cambridge street, at a point 110 feet west of Grove street, and then runs straight nearly at right angles, slightly- converging towards Grove street, so that on the north side of Maj- street its distance from Grove stieet is reduced to 6G feet. This straight line continues about 8;32 feet from Cambridge street, or to a point 2fi6 feet south of May street; then there is a jog inwards of 140 feet; then it again runs south about 200 feet farther, and then westerly to the sea. These last lines are on Blnckstone or Copley ; the first long line is on the IG acres of James Allen. The earliest deed found is that of Samuel Cole to said Phillips, Dec. 80, 1(558 (Suffolk, L. 3, f. 194). It has a little twist in the points of the compass. It conveys nine acres, more or less, bounded north on Brown and on said Cole [afterwards Allen], i "Gleaner" Articles. 39 on the sea south and west, and on Nathaniel "Williams east and south. Williams owned Blackstone' s 6-acre lot. Phillips, in 1672, sells to John Leverett and Sarah, his wife (Suffolk, L. 8, f. 98). John Leverett died in 1678. In 1707, one-half of this pasture was assigned to the heirs of Hudson Lev- erett, who, in 1725, sold to Nathaniel Hubbard (Suffolk, L. 42, f. 65), and he to Nathaniel ByfieM in 1726 (L. 42, f. 71). The other half belonged to the six daughters of Governor Lev- erett, and, after mesne eouveyances, five-sixths became vested in Byfield in 1726 by deed (L. 42, f. 69), and he married the re- maining daughter, which got the whole title snugly unto him, since she "Dame Sarah Leverett, being minded to show regard, value, and confidence for and in said Nathaniel," conveyed to him her share, etc., 1718 (L. 37, f. 605). This pasture was divided into 59 lots, — Southack and May streets being laid out through it parallel to Cambridge street, and Southack street (now called "West Cedar street) being also laid out to run southerly along the shore. Two other streets. Hill street and Short street, were also laid out, ivhich many a modern house has now unconsciously covered over. I will not specify their exact location lest I should disturb those occupants whose " ignorance is bliss." West Cedar street haa at a later day been continued northerly from Southack street to Cambridge street. This old plan was never recorded. Hon. Na- thaniel Byfield sold off 7 of these lots, numbered 7 to 14, to Nathan- iel Kenney ; and then (apparently forgetting this deed, which merely included a lot 300 feet wide on Southack street, and thence extending westerly to the low water, widening as it went), for love to his three grandsons, Byfield Lyde, Francis Briuley, and George Cradock, makes a deed of gift to them of the whole pasture in 1729 (L. 44, f. 49). They appear to have made a verhal agreement to divide according to this plan, probably drawing lots from a hat instead of making a formal indenture ; it being " all in the fami'y." This process, however convenient at the time, has since caused much trouble to others, if not to themselves. At a later period most of the northerly water lots on this plan get united in Charles Bulfinch, and the southerly ones in Messrs. Otis, Mason, Joy, et aZ., or the Mt. "Vernon proprietors. The celebrated suits of the Overseers of the Poor against those proprietors were brought to recover some of the extreme southerly lots of this pasture. This debatable laud extended from a little west of Louisburg square to the water, ranging a little north of 40 City Document No. 105. Pinckney street, and reaching near Mount Vernon street. One Tilley had mortgaged these lots to Pemberton in 1747, who fore- closed in 1750, and devised to the Overseers in 1782. The pur- chasers of the Copley estate, or Blackstoue lot, in 1795, under a deed vrhich ran westerly towards the water ^ found a fence standing, fastened to an old powder house, which was proved to have been as far north as within twenty feet of Pinckney street. This fence erroneously continued to the water, and included nearly all the de- manded premises as part and parcel of the Copley lot. And as to the residue of the land sued for, the acts of the Mount Vernon proprietors in digging down the whole hill to a great depth in 1804, and laying out Charles street across the same, were held evidence of a good title by disseisin against all persons from whom, after such a lapse of time, a grant would be presumed. These suits, between thirty and forty in number, with a great arra}' of eminent counsel, were among the most important private actions ever de- cided in this county, and gave quite a celebrity to " Zachariah PhUiips' Pasture." Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 41 XIII. OLD GRANTS OF NECK LANDS. July 25, 1855. Mr. Editor: — In 1708 the town of Boston conveyed to Sam- uel Phillips, David Jeffries, Thomas Savage, William Clark, Wil- liam Payne, Benjamin Pemberton, Oliver Noyes, Habijah Savage, Elisha Cook, Jr., Thomas Bannister, Jr., and Benjamin Fitch, a tract of land and flats extending across the Neck from low-water mark to low-water mark (Suffolk, L. 24, f. 106). This deed gives no measures, but the grant extends from the pasture of John Bennett and land of Daniel Epes, as far south towards Roxbury as " 24 feet beyond the new pavement.'^ Not a very permanent monu- ment! It was really a grant of about 1,C00 feet in length. Its north line is the present Castle street,® and its south line stops a little short of Dover street. It was on the condition that the grantees should finish a highway (now Washington street), and "secure and keep off the sea," which, as it would seem, some- times washed across the land fi'om eaot to west. Three of these grantees (Habijah Savage, Bannister, and Fitch) released to the others, and in their stead Stephen Minot and John Noyes were admitted. And in 1709 a great indenture of division was made into ten lots, each of them measuring at low-water mark on the east side 97^ feet, and at low- water mark on the west side 94 feet 3 inches — the lines being slightly converging. The meas- ures on the east side of the street were 96 feet, and on the west side of the street 95 feet 4 inches. The indenture is recorded in Suffolk, Lib. 24, fol. 239. The premises thus divided, upland and flats, were probably/^?/ acres. This division is the source of all the modern titles within the extensive area which it embraces. It is a fact, though it will hardly be believed, that Castle street » It may be well to mention here that the land on the north side of Castle street and •west side of Washington street belonged to Daniel Epes. He bought it of William Paine, whose mother was Elizabeth Colbron, daughter of the first owner. Castle street is thus an important boundaiy, as Dea. Colbron's estate was very large, and no deed of dirislon is on record. See Sparhawk v. Bullard, 1 Metcalf, 95-108. — W. H. W. 42 City Document No. 105. was once known as Cambridge street. Thus, in the division of Stephen Harris' estate (Probate Records, 1774, Lib. 74, fol. 28), a lot is set off, bounded east on Orange street, north on Cam- bridge street. An interval of nearly eight}' years passed without any further grant of Neck lands. But in 1 785 the town conveyed to Stephen Gore and others a tract of land and flats 1,400 feet from north to south, extending 200 feet west of Washington street, and embrac- ing all east of that street to low-water mark. (Suffolk, Lib. 149, fol. 126.) Two of the original grantees, Nathaniel Davis and Joshua Farrington, give place to Edward Blake and Jeremiah Williams. The ultimate proprietors were Robert Davis, John May, Edward Blake, John Parker, Joshua Witherle, Benjamin Cobb, Jr., Stephen Gore, Nathaniel Curtis, Ebenezer Dorr, Amasa Davis, Jeremiah Williams, William Boardman, William Dall, and Caleb Davis. This grant was on the condition of erecting certain " barriers" for a like purpose of excluding the tide waters, and was, pei'haps, nearly if not quite as extensive as the first. An indenture of partition was made among these proprietors in 1778, dividing their land into 14 lots on both sides of Washington street, the general direction being b}' straight lines from low-water mai'k on the east side to the line of the town land, 200 feet west of the street. But, to avoid a bevel, every lot has a bend in its lines at about 70 feet from the street, which it thus meets at right angles. This bend has given a very peculiar appearance to all the buildings which have since been erected on this long range of lots. The indenture is recorded in Lib. 162, fol. 100. The area included in this division begins a few feet south of Dover street, and ex- tends a little beyond the estate of the late John D. AVilliams, whose well-known partialit}' for a particular color is still perpetu- ated in his green house and green store. A parchment plan of this division existed unrecorded for more than half a century', but is now bound in at the end of a modern volume (Lib. 491), being separated from the indenture to which it relates by 229 volumes. Beyond these lots, on the city lands, where we now find splendid dwellings and elegant public squares, there stood, year after year, on\y the gallows — that landmark of civilization — the traveller's guidepost at the entrance of a great metropolis ! One of its posts formed the boundary of "Colonel John May's lot," which words of ownership were accordingly painted on it. A wag added the words " and portion." Another anecdote is told of two friends, "Gleaner" Articles. 13 riding into town across the Neck, one of whom, looking signifi- cantly at this structure, jocosely observed to the other, "Where would you be now if everybody had their deserts?" The reply was, " I should be riding into town alone!" It is said that when Marshal Prince was executing the sentence of the law on four pirates, an eminent counsellor, now deceased, went from motives of curiosity to witness the spectacle, intending to preserve a strict incognito. The marshal, however, happened to discover him in the background, and utterly disconcerted him by calling out to the crowd, with a loud voice, " Make way, there ! make way for the Honorable Mr. O. ! " Mr. 0., though " born great," and though he had also himself " achieved greatness," doubtless felt that on this occasion he had "greatness thrust upon him." Gleaner. 44 City Document No. 105. XIV. COPP'S HILL. ' July 27, 1855. Mr. Editor : — One of the most ancient burying-grounds in Boston is that atCopp's Hill. It is made up of several parcels of land. The north-easterly part, measuring 294 feet on Charter street and 154 feet on Suowhill street, was sold to the town by deed of John Baiier and Daniel Turell, dated Februars' 20, lGo9, re- corded November 1, 1736, Lib. 53, fol. 154. After Hull street was laid out by Sewall and wife, tliey conveyed to Joshua Gee in 1708 (L. 25, fol. 174) " one rodd square in which Mrs. Margaret Thatcher now lyeth buried," bounded north by the buryiug-place, and on all other sides by their pasture, with no right of way ex- cept through the old burying-place. They, in 1711, "for the purpose of enlarging the burying-place," conveyed to the Select- men of Boston (Suffolk, L. 2G, fol. 97) a tract of land measuring 170 feet on Suowhill street and 180 feet on Hull street; in other word;?, extending the old south-easterly line of the burying-place straight through from Charter to Hull street. In this deed was an exception of the " rodd square sold to Gee." The consequence is, that in the midst of this burying-place of the town there is a small square lot, which is private property, the place of interment of a wealthy lady, who, while living, owned a large estate in this vicinity. The burying-ground has since been further widened on Hull street so as to include lots measuring 148 feet 10 on that street, originally sold by Sewall and wife to John Clark, Jr., in 172G ; Wm. Lee, John Jackson, and Thomas Jackson, in 1816. But mat ters so modern cease to be interesting ! A word or two about Mr. Gee and Mrs. Thatcher. Joshua Gee, boat-builder, owned a very large tract of laud and flats between Charter street on the north, Prince street south, Suowhill street east, and extending down the hill to the sea. He died in 1724. and his son Ebenezer dying in 1 730, the estate came wholly to Kev. Joshua Gee, who died in 1748, and the division of his estate in 1750 between his seven daughters and his son Joshua is one of "Gleaner" Articles. 45 the most important documents in the Probate OfSce. The Gas Company's works, Brown's wharf, etc., are held under it. This son died without issue, and the name of " Gee" thus became ex- tinct among us. In the suit of Rust vs. The Boston Mill Corpora- tion the locations of Mr. Gee's lands became important — and the growth of some of the boundaries and contents was amusingly commented upon by the late H. G. Otis (who on this occasion was, I believe, counsel in court for the last time) , as being a cir- cumstance which might naturally have been anticipated, as "Gee," in Greek, means the earth, i.e., land. Mrs. Margaret Thatcher was the wife of Rev. Thomas Thatcher. Her first husband was Jacob Sheafe, a man of note, who died in 1658. We find that a deed was made to Thatcher and wife by John Everedd, alias Webb,'" in consideration of £195 paid by her as administratrix of her former husband. It is dated July 5, 1666, recorded Suff., L, 5. f. 510. This deed included all the land be- tween Salem, Hull, Snowhill, and Prince streets, except certain lots on Prince street, which had been fenced in previously. Mrs. Thatcher died, leaving a daughter, Mehitable, wife of Sampson Sheaf e., and Elizabeth, wife of Jonathan Corwin. Sheale and wife sold to Robert Gibbs in 1697. On a division between the families of Gibbs and Corwin, two streets were laid out, commemorating the family name of Sheafe, the first husband, and Margaret., the Christian name of the ladj' herself. In regard to the right of way out of the "one rod square," it would seem that as to the occupant., at least, a right of egress is not so important from a place of interment as from a place of residence. And yet it appears that, after all, the venerable old lady, Mrs. Thatcher, must have walked^^ out of this lot, since I find among the inscriptions in the King's Chapel Buryiug-ground the follow- ing : — " Here hjeth interred the body of Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, formerly wife of Mr. J**ob Sheafe, and late ye wife of the Rever- end Mr. Thomas Thatcher, aetatis QS, obit 23d February, 1693." Who can tell, however? "To lie like a tombstone" is a proverb ; and the tombstones in that burying-ground have been shuffled about so much that on a question of locality of interment their authority is especially apocryphal. Gleaner. *' This is one of the rare cases of an hereditary alias. The two names are often nsed thus linked together, on our early records of the first generation. — W. II. W. "The author was mistaken about this supposed removal, as appears by Lis sub-se- yuent article, no. xxxiii. — W. H. W. 46 City Doclmext No. 105. XV. OLD BAKERS. July 30, 1855. Mr. Editor : — One of the earliest trades of civilized man is that of a baker. How soon it may have been divided into listinet branches among us I cannot state. But a centui-y ago there is re- corded a deed from a ^'' gingerbread baker." Presiding over his comparatively ^MXitr/o^s department, he probabl}' looked down with contempt on his humbler brethren who merely provided the plain " staff of life." It is certain that old times were golden times foi the bakers, and, doubtless, also for their customers, for there were no villanous adulterations in those days. At the time of the siege of Boston, Ebenezer Torre}', a baUer, removed to Sudbury or its vicinity, and died leaving an estate of over S100,000. After the Revolution (say seventy years ago), six of the wealthiest and most respectable citizens of Boston were bakers. Three resided at the North End, — Edward Edes, John White, and " Deacon " Tudor ; three at the South Eud, — Samuel Smith, John Lucas, and Edward Tuckerman. Mr. Edes has. I believe, left no male descendants living in Boston. The late Professor Webster was a grandson and namesake of Mr. White. Deacon Tudor owned a very valuable wharf estate ou Ann street, near Lewis street. This family still hold the highest social position in our community. The chief legatee of Mr. Smith married Joseph Head, Jr., Esq., and they removed from this city several years since. John Lucas left at his decease a very large estate, and made many public and private bequests. He owned a tract of land on Washington street, adjoining Lucas place. Mr. Tuckerman left several sons, who were distinguished merchants. His estate, as divided in 1819, included very valuable parcels in State street, etc., and especially an extensive tract of land on the west side of Washington street, embracing all Dover street. The late Col. Joseph May remembered when these bakers were in the liabit of going ou horseback to Philadelphia, with specie in their valises, behind them, to make their purchases of flour, which were sent home by packets. This journey generally occupied from two to "Gleaner" Articles. 47 three weiJa^, and they had notes up in church aslinj for Dioine pro- tection from its 2>erils. Shade of Molly Saunders, I invoke thee ! There have doubtless been fairer faces and more graceful forms than thine, but th}' gin- gerbread was matchless. Thou hast infused new vigor into the elastic step of the youthful dancer. The statesman, wearied with the cares of office, and the politician, burdened with the affairs of the Commonwealth, have found relief and solace from thy minis- trations. I have shaken hands with President Monroe, and even with President Pierce, but what were those glorious moments com- pared with one cake of thy "buttered gingerbread — price three cents ! " Thy praises have been on the lips of beauty, of youth, manhood, and age, fifty, aye, seventy years ago, as they are now upon mine. Thy name and fame have become " historical," and have reached from the village of Salem to the metropolis of New Eng- land. Such is the fitting reward of true genius and a life devoted to the sacred cause of humanity ! Milner's rusks were excellent, and Kdt, when he tries, can do a thing or two ; but thou hast ever been unapproachable ! Vainly do my aged heart and palate now yearn for thee and thy delicious handiwork ! Yet wilt thou forever remain associated with the most tender and cherished recollections of mj- childhood ! Verily thou wast a queen among the bakers of olden time ! Gleaner. P. S. — Don't you think, Mr. Editor, that the Salem papers will republish this obituary notice of the late Miss Saunders f 48 City Document No. 105. XVI. OLD ROPEWALKS. July 31, IS 5 5. Mb. Editor : — I fear that my subject will olvlige me to " spin a (ong 3'arn." The first rope-maker in Boston was John Harrison, A.D. 1G42. His exact whereabouts is not specifieve seen that the earliest deed in 1G58 bounds on Brown and ou Sanuel Cole, afterwards land of James Allen. Accordingly we find that James Brown, joyuer, conveyed to Josiah Cobham in 16G6 (Sdff., L. 5, f. 84) two acres, more or less, bounded south on Brattle, east on John Biggs, west on Phillips, north on the beach or river. [The water then extended up some distance east of the present end of Cambridge street.] Josiah, the son of this grantee, was dead in 1G91 ; and Josiah, 3d, his grandson, in 1697, sells to James Allen (Suff , L. 18, f. 21) "two acres of land on west side of Boston, late in the tenure of ray grandfather, Josiah Cobham, bounded south on land now or late of Thomas Brattle, Sen'r, east on John Biggs, now said Allen's, west on late Zachariah Phillips, and by the beach and river north- erly." [Cambridge street did not yet exist.] In tracing the title of the Allen farm on the north side of Cam- bridge street, we found a grant to John Biggs, in 1641, of 1| acres of vaax&\i for AO shillings {rather a loiv price for all the land from the water to within 70 feet of North Eussell street), which held out two acres. He also acquired 4 acres of upland adjoyning, and his inventor}^, in 1666, mentions " 4 acres of upland and 1|- acres of marsh, £120." I do not find the grant to him of these four acres, though in 1644 he had liberty to fence in his marsh, and " if any quantity fell within the said fence above his proportion, he is to allow the town for it." Perhaps, therefore, he fenced in these 4 acres at the same price. He devised to his widow, Mary, who married a Minot, and died, as we have seen, devising to her father and brother, John Dasset, Sen. and Jr., who sell to said Allen, 1696 (Suff., L. 17, f. 237), a piece of land containing 6 acres, more or less, bounded with said James, north (i.e , his land on the north side of Cambridge street, acquired under James "Gleaner" Articles. 55 Penn) , south and east on Nathaniel Oliver, west on Josiah Cob- ham. Of this purchase 4 acres only come south of Oambridge street. Samuel Cole, after the sale in 1658 of Zachariah Phillips' past- ure, retained a tract which he seems to have sold to Thomas Brattle ; but the deed is not recorded. In the inventory of Cole's estate (Prob. Rec, L. 5, f. 37) is this item : " A bill due from Mr. Brattle, £20." This I guess yvsis the purchase-money of this land. Brattle died in 1683, leaving seven children, and in 1684 (Suff., L. 13, f. 96) there was set off to his three sons-in-law, Nathaniel Oliver, John Ayre,'* and Joseph Parson, in right of their wives, "all that pasture-land lying in Boston near unto Gentry hill." A subdivision took place in 1685, by indenture (Suff., L. 13, f. 380 ; L. 16, f. 64), by which this pasture is assigned to Mrs. Oliver. Na- thaniel Oliver and Elizabeth, his wife, conve^^ed to James Allen, by warranty deed dated June 6, 1698 (Suff., L. 18, f. 180), ''eight acres, etc., bounded north on the highway and on land late of John Dassett ; east on Davy and on Mrs. Swett, late Thomas Kutolph ; south on the late Francis East and N. Williams ; west on laud late of Leverett, and on laud late of said Dassett." [East and Wil- liams owned the Copley lot on Beacon street ; Leverett owned Phillips' pasture.] Zacheus Bosworth^^ had lands in the Book of Possessions. As early as 1648 he owned 5 acres in the vicinity (see mortgage, Suff., L. 1, f. 92), and he died seized, devising the same to his son Samuel, in 1655. He sold off to Richard Cook the easterly 2^ acres, 1665 (Suff., L. 4. f. 320) ; and bj- deed not recorded, but ex- pressly referred to, he conveyed the westerly 2^ acres to Humphrey Davie^" (not the distinguished philosopher). Davie raoi'tgaged, in 1683 (Suff., L. 13, f. 72), tosecurea marriage settlement on his wife, " This name is more properly spelled Eyre, and should not be confounded with that of Ayer or of Ayres, both of which are found on our records. — W. H. ,W. '^ Our Humphrey Davie was, however, of some local importance. He was the fourth son of Sir John Davie of Greedy, Co. Devon, who was made a baronet in 1641. Humphrey came here, settled in Billerica, was an Assistant 1G79-1686, and died in 1689. His second wife was Sarah, widow of James Richards, of Hartford. By his lirst wife he had a son John, who married his step-sister, Elizabeth Richards, and lived at Groton, Conn., until 1703, when, by the death of successive cousins, he became the fifth baronet, and returned to Eug'land to enjoy the family title and estates. Zaccheus Bosworth, who is named in this article, also owned, by the Book of Pos- sessions, a lot of land on Tremont street, whereon afterwards Jacob Wendell built a house. Quite recentl,y, owing to a law in regard to the names of streets, the Street Commissioners have given the name of Bosworth street to Montgomery place. This court, for its end is blocked by a flight of stone steps leading to Province sti'eet, wa.« laid out in 1825, and must be on part of the Bosworth land. — W. II. W. 56 City Document No. 105. this 'tract called 4 acres, more or less (but which subsequently shrinks again to its true proportions), and the mortgage being fore- closed, his widow conveyed to John Davie ; and John Davie and Elizabeth, his wife, conveyed to James Allen, b}' warranty deed, May 11, 1699 (Suff., L. 19, f. 358), '''about two andan half acres of pasture, enclosed, bounded west on the late Samuel Coole (Cole), now said Allen's ; east on Richard Cook, since Elisha Cook ; north on land in the tenure and occupation of Joseph Belknap, Jr., and on land of said James, heretofoi*e Thomas Butolph ; south on Thomas Miller, now Samuel Sewall, with an highway as heretofore used." Now, these purchases of 2, 4, 8, and 2^ acres, make up together sixteen and a half acres, and constitute Allen's one continuous past- ure, on the south side of Cambridge street, next east of Zachariah Phillips* pasture. Gleaiteb. "Gleaner" Articles. 57 XIX. JEREMIAH ALLEN'S PASTURE. August 6, 1855. Mr. Editor : — We have shown that Rev. James Allen acquired, by four purchases, 16| acres on the south side of Cambridge street. By his deed of settlement in 1706, and his devise in accordance with it (1711), he vested in his daughter, Mrs. Wheelwright (as we have stated), the southerly seven acres; the whole of which (except the part thereof covered by three ropewalks on Myrtle street) gets united in the Mount Vernon proprietors ; the easterly portion by the deed of the children of Enoch Brown, in 1797, (Suffolk, L. 186, f. 232), and the residue or westerly portion \>y direct deed of the devisees of Jeremiah Wheelwright, son and heir of Mrs. Wheelwright, in 1795 (L. 180, f. 191). The easterly line of the Brown purchase is 77 feet west of Belknap street. The northerly tract, containing about ten acres, by the same deed of settlement and devise (1706-1711), was vested by James Allen in his son, Jeremiah Allen. He, about 1725, laid out the same into 87 lots, containing, generally, 4,000 feet each. Through the centre of the pasture he opened Centre street, and, at intervals of 200 feet on each side, other streets, called respectively Grove street and Garden street, — names doubtless then significant of the rural beauty of the spot. He also laid out at intervals of 240 feet, two cross streets, parallel to Cambridge street, viz., Southack street and May street. These two last streets are continued west into Zacha- riah Phillips' pasture, which was divided into lots at the same time ; the two plans being evidently made to conform to eact other. Neither of them was recorded. A large proportion of the lots of Mr. Allen remained unoccupied and unimproved by his grantees for very many years. This pasture begins on Cambridge street, 110 feet isle, Lioll, or Loyal. — W. H. W. " Gleaner " Articles. 61 married one Thaxter, and, after his death, Robert Guttridge. In 1 701 these heirs divided the whole pasture (Suff. ,L. 23. , f . 1 19), each having a lot of 2f acres ; the westerly part being assigned to Nicholas, the middle to Mrs. Belknap, and the easterly part to Mrs. Thaxter, or Guttridge. This pasture extended from Buttolph street to Hancock street, being about 430 feet in average width, and in depth back it measured about 625 feet to Myrtle street. In 1734, by indenture between the Belknap heirs and Mrs. Guttridge, Belknap street was hiid out (Suff., L. 49, f . 98) . On the west side of Mrs. Belknap's lot was a ropewalk, 24 feet wide, which Nathaniel Belknap sold to Thomas Jenner in 1 733 (L. 48, f. 179) ; sold in 1771 to Edward Carnes. It is a straggling ropewalk, which should have shown itself in m}' article on "OldRopewalks." South Russell street was laid out in 1737 (L. 54, f. 203) , through the middle of Nicholas's lot, by his heirs, Mary, wife of John Phillips, and Abigail, wife of Knight Leverett, or rather by their husbands. It was probably so named because it led in a southerly direction from Chambers' or BusseU's pasture, or opposite to North Russell street. Buttolph street was laid out along or across the extreme westerly line of this estate, and its easterly boundary includes the houses on the west side of Hancock street. The westerl}^ portion of this pasture, like that of Jeremiah Allen, became gradual!}- occupied by our " colored brethren." Thus a lot, no less than 88|^ feet wide by 117 feet deep, on the westerly side of Belknap street, bought by Ebenezer Storer in 1737, was conveyed by his executors to " Scipio." He is not styled in the deed " Africanus," but was no doubt lawfully entitled to that additional appellation. The deeds of this area show how exclusively the great names of antiquity are borne by this class of our fellow-citizens. Cato, Caesar, Pompey, Scipio, here figure on an humbler stage than of old, in company with "Cuff Buffum," etc. And among the "Dinahs" and " Phillises " occur other female names, which, though derived from bright colors, really indicate, at Jirst blush, the dark skin of the parties, viz., Olive, Violet, Rose, etc. Our city fathers, not being of opinion that " a rose bj' any other name will smell as sweet," have recently merged Belknap street into the less offensive name of Joy street. Buttolph street has not been disturbed, except that, with the usual official brevity, it has, like Elliot street, been cur- tailed of one letter,'^ and now figures as Butolph street. Hancock "Ml". Bowditch is, perhaps, over-critical in respect to Eliot street. That street, was laid out in 1740 through lands belonginij to the descendants of Jacob Eliot, who was one of the brothei-s of Rev. John Eliot, the *' apostle to the Indians." This fam ly, ib 62 City Document No. 105. street (so named from King John^ having before been named George street, for King Onorge) has always been occupied by white inhabitants, being the genteel end of Buttolph's pasture. Gleaner. all its branches, has always used the form " Eliot " ; but the Essex county Elliots or Elliotts, to whicli belonged the Boston ministers and oui' Mayor, Eliot, have varied tho spelHug at times. I annex an abstract of the indenture laying out Eliot street, and also that part of out Tremont street which crosses it. See, also, City Document No. 119, of 1879. " Nomen- clature of sueets." — W. H. W. " Lib, 69, fol. 63-5. — 4 June 1740. Indenture between Benjamin Eliot 1 sta«.:QngiHj . John Eliot ) ' Rev. Jacob Eliot of Lebanon, Windham co. Conn. ; w. of Jona. Willis of Boston, housewrij^ht, they four being the heirs of Jacob Eliot, mariner, dec*, on the one part Also John, Edward, Samuel & Jacob (Holyokes all), Maiy Ai-nold, Hannah Bun-ill, widows, & Sarah w. of John Eliot, stationer : — they seven being the heirs of Maiy Holyoke widow dec" — who was also an heir of Jacob Eliot & whereas the other sister & heir of Jacob E. was Abigail Davis who sold her i-ight to bro. Benjamin, now they desire to make a division Fii-st they lay out 2 streets at nearly right angles, one to run WNW from Orange street — to be called Eliot st ; the other to run SSW from Frog Lane to Hollis st, to be called Ilolyoke st : to be described as follows. Eliot St. to begin 21 inches from the S.E. corner of s* Jacob Eliot's house on Orange st. occupied first by Paul Collins, then by John Clark & now by Benj. Eliot, to run in a straight line WNW 906 feet till it reaches land lately bo't by s* John Eliot of Abigail Davis, widow — The sti-eet to be 30 ft wide. And as this 30 ft at the first point will run 7^ feet on the land of Joseph Henderson, late of Samuel Band, the 8'' H. has sold a strip to the town for a street. Holyoke street begins at the N.E. corner of land of W" Lambert in Frog Lane & runs fii-st through land of John Clough, next through the lands to be divided & then through land of Gov. Belcher till it falls into Hollis st." "Gleaner" Articles. 63 XXI. MIDDLECOTT'S FOUR-ACRE PASTURE. August 9, 1S55. Mr. Editor : — Our earliest deed of Scottow's pasture bounded on Jeremiah Houchia. His executors sell in 1677 (Suflf., L. 16, f. 297) "all that theire piece or parcel of land, situate lying and being in Boston, containing by estimation four acres, be the same more or less, being butted and bounded on the north by the highway, east by Mr. Simon Lynd, south by the land of John Turner, west by the land of Benjamin Gibbs." [Scottow had sold to Gibbs.] The grantees in this deed were Richard Middlecott and William Taylor. The latter died 1682, and his son and heir, of the same name, conveyed to said Middlecott, 1697 (Suff., L. 17, f. 351). Middlecott died 1704, and a division was made 1727 (L. 42, f. 175), by which a 40-feet street was laid out through the pasture, called Middlecott street, which name it retained many years. This pasture measured 310 feet, 8 on Cambridge street, and extended back on the west side 689 feet, on the east side 741 feet, and in the rear it measured 210 feet. The lots on the west side of Middle- cott street measured 130 feet on Cambridge street, and those on the east side 139.J feet on Cambridge street ; and at the rear end of the pasture the lots narrowed to 85 feet on each side of this new street. The street so laid out was 40 feet wide. Here then was one of the finest estates in the city, and this spacious avenue was appropriately named for one of its earliest owners. Houchin street would not have been quite the thing, but Middlecott street was unexceptionable, — a name agreeable both to the eye and the ear. It happened, however, that one Bowdoin, some 70 years ago, was placed by his fellow-citizens in that gubernatorial ducking-stool, in which the commander-in-chief is annually soaked while reviewing the " Ancient and Honorable Artillery." It also happened that he owned an estate on Beacon street. His devise (bearing the same name), in 1800, opened through this land a street in continuation of Mr. Middlecott's, and presto ! the whole street became Bowdoin street. Now, it cannot, of course, be suspected that the living Mr. Bowdoin named this street 64 City Document No. 105. for himself. The act would savor of ostentation. The selectmen, doubtless, thought that having accommodated Governor Hancock with a street, they ought in justice to do as much for his rival. In itself the change was as absurd as if a boy, having a fine kite with an excellent bob to it, should, because it had a ribbon or how added to it, be obliged to call the whole article by the name of this tail-piece. The partiality thus evinced for governors has not yet died out, though now, indeed, it rarely extends to such as are either officially or personally def uuct. But how appropriate would it be to confer the name of the governor for the time being, on the street in which he happened to live ! The visible splendor and dignity of our highest office would thus be greatly increased ; periodical changes in the names of streets would thus be brought about with even greater frequency, and in a less fitful and capricious^^ manner than at present. Mt. Vernon street would become Gardner street, etc. If such a rule should prevail, perhaps, in a few years, WintJirop square would succeed as the tJiird designation of Pemberton square, which has only had two names in twenty years. If it should be thought that in the event Winthrop place might lead to some confusion, that name, conferred in honor of a dead governor, could be ex- changed. It is the order of nature, indeed, that the dead should give place to the living. Besides, it is rather an equivocal com- pliment to name half of a court for anybody. Otis place and Winthrop place could both be named for Sir William Pepperell, through whose estate Otis place is laid out. They could together be called Pepperell square. Two birds would thus be killed by one stone ; and then in a few 3-ears the authorities could ignore the origin of the name, drop off the " ell," as they did in ElZiot street, and the residents would hail, in the dii'ectory, from Pepper square. The names of streets, however, are comparatively unimportant, since we seem in a fair way to lose the reality^ — several streets, as I learn by the papers, being at once used up by the Metropolitan Railroad. Gleaner. P.S. — Is it true that the mayor had a present of a snapplng- turtle, weighing fort}' pounds, to put into the Frog Pond? If so, I wish he would snap at our city functionaries for some of their proceedings. G. " This word is as given in certain corrections printed by Mr. Bowditch at the time W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 65 XXII. JOSHUA SCOTTOW'S FOUR-ACRE PASTURE. August 10, 1855. Mr. Editor : — At the last advices I hailed from the west side of Hancock street at the easterly end of Buttolph's pasture ; con- tinuing easterly a four-acre pasture of Joshua Scottow is next reached, which extends from Hancock street easterly 280 feet on Cambridge street, or to a point 52^ feet east of Temple street, and is in depth back, towards summit of Beacon Hill, 660 feet, or just below the line of Derne street. This estate was probably sold by Thomas Scottow to his brother Joshua, 27, 4, 1648. A mortgage by Joshua, discharged in 1665, mentions such a deed. Joshua Scottow conveyed to his son-in-law, Benjamin Gibbs, Jan. 10, 1670 (Suffolk, L. 7, f. 168). Colonel Benjamin Gibbs and Lydia, his wife, mortgaged the same to our old friend, Rev. James Allen, for £150, 1671, (Suffolk, L. 7, f. 192), who assigned it to Richard Wharton, by whom the mortgage was foreclosed, 1680 (L. 12, f. 329). Richard Wharton died 1691, and his administra- tor conveyed to Stephen Minot the south-west moiety, or two acres Nov. 24, 1697 (L. 18, f. 18), and to Isaiah Tay the north-easterly moiety or two acres, Nov. 23, 1697 (L. 18, f. 17). The whole pasture is thus described: " A pasture on the north-west side of Beacon Hill, containing about four acres,, bounded north-east on the late Jeremiah Houchin, now Richard Middlecott's, south-east on the late John Turner and Richard Cook, south-west on late Buttels {i.e., Buttolph's pasture), and north-west on the lane lead- ing to the pastures" ( i.e., Cambridge street). And here another " ropewalk " turns up, and one, too, of quite respectable size, viz., 44 feet 6 inches on Cambridge street, by 665 feet deep. It was sold off by Minot in 1731 to Samuel Waldo (Suff., L. 46, f. 170) from the easterly side of his allotment. Waldo's heirs soldoffto Joseph Ridgway in 1768 (Suff., L. 112, f. 105.) Now, the volumes 112 and 114 have been missing from the Registry of Deeds ever since the Revolution, — a most convenient circumstance for conveyancers, as it allows us to suppose all missing deeds to have been there recorded ; an hypothesis which, of course, cannot 66 City Document No. 105. be possibly disproved. I myself caused this deed to be re- recorded in 1834 (L. 383, f. 20). It embraced all except a 30- feet lot at the south eud, being 44 feet by 635 feet (3 inches. Across the west part of the old ropewalk was laid out a lane, 10 feet wide, noNV well known as Ridgway's lane. This ropewalk, and Jenner's ropewalk, which we found in Buttolph's pasture, added to those by Pearl, Pinckney, and Poplar streets, make together 14 ropewalks in Boston, lohich were probably " spmniay," ali at once, for a period of at least sixty years. Mr. Minot had retained almost all the lots on the east side of Hancock street, being throughout about 91 feet deep, to this old ropewalk on Ridgeway's lane. He died in 1732, and a great di- vision was made in 1733 among his heirs ; John Minot taking the north lot, of the moderate size of 217 feet, on Hancock street; George took the next lot of 159 feet wide; Christopher contented himself with only the next, 85 feet, on Hancock street ; while Peter brought up the rear with the south lot of 159 feet. All this long range of lots finally became vested in Jonathan L. and Benjamin Austin, from whom the modern titles of all the east side of Han- cock street, north of Derne street, are derived ; and this street should, I think, have been named for Scottow^ Wheatoyi, Minoty or Ausiin. Mr. Isaiah Tuy died, seized of his two-acre pasture, in 1730, and devised the same to his wife ; but the poor man forgetting to add the word '■'■ heirs" {probably from not emjiloying an attorney)^ the poor ivoman lost her pastures, and it went to collateral heirs of her husband. In 1737 partition deeds were made (L. 54, f. 235; L. 55, f. 80), by which a 30-feet street was laid out directly through the centre of the pasture, leaving on each side lots 52^ feet deep. This street is now Temp>le street. About half of the land on the east side of this street (say 330 feet deep from Cambridge street) was subsequently bought by Joseph Coolidge, Esq., and formed part of the garden of his noble mansion-house estate, which, alas ! has forever disappeared. Having now got into some of the best society m Boston, I like my quarters so well that 1 thiuk I shall stop and pass the night. I may, perhaps, hereafter advise you of m}' further journey' to the eastward. Gleaner. P.S. — As the city fathers eagerly listen to all proposals for changing the names of streets, I beg leave to ask that Temple stro'^t shoiild be changed to Tay street. A temple is a heathen "Gleaner" Articles. 67 building, which only by poetic license is applied to a Christian church. The present name was given to this street before it had any church in it, or as a mere matter of taste and fancy." Now, as the law prevented Mr. Tay from sepai'ating this estate from his family and name, it ought, at least, not to separate his name from the estate. Tay is a word so short that it will not probably be thought necessary (as in so many other cases) to strike out a letter. Though, if that should be thought desirable, the y might of course be omitted. The word itself is extremely musical. It occurs in the poet's lay, and rhymes can easily be found for it through all the letters of the alphabet. The only objection that occurs to me is, that to our Hibernian fellow-citizens it may suggest merely a well-known bevrage, instead of the ancient legal martyr, whose fate I wish thus to commemorate. '* Surely Mr. Bowditch must have forgotten that Gov. Bowdoin's daughter married Sir John Temple, hart., whose daughter married Lt.-Gov. Thomas Lindall Wiatljrop. Temple was a Bostoaian, by adoption at least, his father and grandfather having lived at the Ten Hills Farm, and was one of our most noted citizens. Doubtless this was the true source of the name of the street. In this connection I may add the wish that Mr. Bowditch had lived to protest against the change of the name of "Lindall street," which commemoi'ated a famous family here, to the unmeaning and misleading title of "Exchange place," in 1873. For nearly a century and a half Lindall's Line or street was known. — W. H. W". 68 City Document No. 105. xxin. BULFINCH'S FOUR-ACRE PASTURE. August 11, 1855. Mr. Editor: — You will remember that I was last in Middle- cott or Bowdoiii street, having entered Mr. Coolidge's garden from Temple street. He purchased the northerly lots on the west side of Bowdoiu street, 1791, 1795, and 1825, which gave his estate a total front on that street of 368 feet 3 inches. This house and gar- den was altogether one of the most beautiful residences which have existed in our city within my memory. It was laid out into lots in 1834, and no less than 28 dwellings were erected on it ; while a large parcel of nearly 5,000 feet, with u fine old tree upon it, was purchased and retained by the late Dr. Shattuck, for air, light, and ornament, for the benefit of his estate on the opposite side of Cam- bridge street. This, also, has just been covered with bricks and mortar. The Middlecott estate extendeil back from Cambridge street about 166 feet south of Allston street, that street (which was formerly known as Somerset place)., and also Balfinch place., 30 feet wide, having been both opened into Bowdoin street, through this pasture, and thence extended easterly into Bulfinch street. This leads us naturally to visit BulfincKs pasture. It seems to have been estimated as containing four acres. It measured north on Cambridge street 148 J feet, on the west side 874 feet, in the rear 74^ feet, then easterly 118 feet, and again south 23 feet, and then east again 673 feet to Cambridge street. It was devised in 1665 by John Newgate to his son-in-law, Simon Lynde [Lynde is named as east abutter in the deed of Middlecotfs pasture], and as early as 1687 was vested in his son, Samuel Lynde. Rather more than 100 years ago it became the property of Thomas Bul- finch. It remained in his family nearly 50 years, being finally dis- posed of in 1796-1797. The Revere House estate, 117 feet on Cambridge street, 184 feet on the west line, and 140 feet on Bulfinch street, was sold for the moderate sum of $7,000 in 1797, and for many years was the well-known and beautiful mansion-house of the late Kirk Boott, partner of the late William Pratt, under the firm of Boott & Pratt. "Gleaner" Articles. 69 It is rather remarkable that the private residences of both have ex- panded into hotels, — the latter having lived in the Pearl-street house. Mr. Boott's raausioii had a more venerable-looking ex- terior than its age justified, it having been originally built with brick soaked in a preparation of molasses, with the design of ex- cluding the moisture more effectually. When erected, Bowdoin square was the very centre and nucleus of aristocracy and fashion. Mr. Boott, indeed, had the offer of land in Beacon street, at a far less price per foot than he paid for this estate. Here resided the late Mr. Lyman (on the Baptist-church lot), the late Joseph Coolidge, Jr. (where stores are now about to be built) , the late Samuel Parkman, and various members of his family, including his daughters, the late Mrs. Edward Blake and the late Mrs. Robert G. Shaw, for whom were erected the two stone houses fronting easterly on Bowdoin square. Though the glory of this locality has now departed, as far as respects its private splendors, yet to the public these are more than replaced by a hotel, which, in its accom- modations and management, has no superior in the United States, or perhaps in the world. As you, yourself, however, live there, it is superfluous for me to enlarge on the ability and the courtesy of Parau Stevens. May his receipts never be less 1 Gleaner. P.S. — As in duty bound we first paid our respects together to Mr. Blackstone, and ate some of his apples. We then strolled through a couple of burying-grounds, and looked into two or three churches, half-a-dozen bakeries, and about sixteen ropewalks. We also walked from Castle street beyond the green store on the Neck, to see a hanging. We have inspected the hogs in Hog alley, the cows on the Common, the — I was on the point of writing — but I mean the mayor, in the City Hall. We went on a sailing party from the " Circular Line," and landed on "island wharves," built by the hand of man " to traverse guns upon," wliere, however, we found more salt than saltpeter. We have even ascended into the air to visit an estate or two. Butour chief excursion, now completed, has been from Bowdoin square, down one side of Cambridge street, and back again on the other side of the street to the point of departure. This we have made rather leisureh', stopping to chat with the neighbors as we went along. I have not myself thus far picked up much in these wanderings, though I will inform vou, in confidence, that I have received an anonymous promise of some of " Mollie Saunders' gingerbread." If itcomes, I shall indt'edfeol that I have " gleaned " to some purpose. In the meantime I dare say that I can get something almost as nice at the " Revere." Gr, 70 City Document No. 105. XXIV. MOLLY SAUNDERS' GINGERBREAD. August 13, 1855. Mr. Editor : — In my postscript to " Bulfinch's Pasture" I sug- gested a vague hope of receiving some of "Molly Saunders' gin- gerbrend." That hope has been fully realized. I have just got a loud note from the old lady. It is signed " Shade of Molly Saun- ders." But, though thus obviously coming from the spirit hind, it was accompanied by a basket filled with the "real article," — pre- cisely' as I used to eat forty years ago. Of this there can be no pos- sible mistake. Here, then, at least, is a '•'■ spirit communication" which cannot be explained away. It is most palpable alike to sight, touch, and taste. As you were the " medium " through whom this departed shade was apostrophized by me, a few cakes are sent to you in acknowledgment of your services in that capacity. If our deceased friend could be further persuaded to " impress" you and your readers with the receipt which she used while on earth, what an inestimable blessing would be thus conferred on mankind ! Gleaner. '"' P.S. — It appears that the old lady had to return Jiere to do the baking, and in her note to me she says, very feelingly, " I could not make it look just as it used to, for there is no wood and no ovens to be seen on airth now. I wouldn't live here again for nothing;." ^" Inasmuch as there 13 so little historical matter in this article, it has been thought admissible to print, as a note, an article which appeared at about the same date, and which is certainly worth presei-vation. It was printed in the Boston " Transcript " for August 2, ISiw. — W. 11. W. REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD BOSTONIAN. (1855, August 2.) To the Edi- tor of the Transcript: — Enclosed I send you a copy of a letter written in 1841, by Mr. D. Greenleaf of Quincy, to Mr. J. T. Ilayward, which accidentally came into my pos- session a short time since. It has occurred to me that there are some facts relating to the local history of Boston, that are to be found in the letter, which are new, and per- haps many would be interested by their publication. You can make such use of the letter as vou deem best. — A. M. H. " Gleaner " Articles. 71 QuiNCT, Octobei', 1841, Mr DEAR Sir : — I have read with pleasure Col. Perkins's reminiscences, and am glad he has rescued so many things from oblivion ; but as I am a few years in advance of our friend, I can look a little farther back, and rectify a few mistakes he has inad- vertently made, and add something' to the catalogue. 1st. Of the lower floor of the Town House — the two small offices — one was the office of the Superior Court, Charles Cushing, Clerk ; the other for the Court of Sessions and Common Pleas, Eze- kiel Price, clerk — both offices very shallow, being no deeper than the width of the. stairs leading to the Council Chamber. At the time he speaks of there was neither Senate or Governor, nor till 1780, when the State Constitution was adopted, and Gov- ernor Hancock elected. 2d. The Declaration of Independence was read by William Grcenleaf (my father) , then sheriff. Henderson was not sheriff till some years after. My father was so proud of that proclamation that he had the paper from which he read it framed and glassed, and it hung over his parlor fireplace as long as he was a house- keeper. As his voice was rather weak, he requested Colonel Crafts to act as his her- ald ; they stood together at the front of the balcony, and my father read a sentence, which was immediately repeated by Crafts, and so continued to the end, when was the huzza, as mentioned. There was an engine-house under the south-east corner. The lion and unicorn were burnt on the evening of the declaration on a bonfire, in front of the Bunch of Grapes, as were the king's arms from the Court-IIouse, and all signs bearing emblems of royalty that could be found. Ezekiel Price kept an insurance office before either Payne or Hurd, — I think in a building belonging to Col. P.'s father. I remember a Tory oration delivered from the balcony of the British coffee-house, by a surgeon of a British Regiment (Doct. Bolton). It was meant to ridicule the 5th of March orations, and was delivered immediatelj- after Mr. Hancock's or Dr. War- ren's second oration, and was alow, vulgar abuse of the Whig patriots of that day. The mainguard was paraded in front with fixed bayonets, and the music sounded a grand ihorus at the end of it. It was printed, and I had a copy till I removed to Quincy, when I gave it, with some other political pamphlets, to Rev. John Elliott, D.D., for the Massachusetts Historical Society. The first Custom-House under the TI. S. Government was in a building which makes the west side of the Exchange. The east side was Mr. Coburu's ; but there was a Custom-House before under the Staie gs^-ernmeut, and James Lord was the Collector. It was opposite the south-east corner of Faneuil Hall. Long wharf was commenced in 1710. North Batteiy wharf formerly belonged to the Town of Boston, and was sold to Jeffrey & Russell, and by them to Mr. Lyman. Brattle-street Church was built in 1772. The Old North Church was pulled down during the siege for fuel, as was the wooden fence round the Common. The Common lay open until the peace took place in 1783 or 1784; a subscription was then raised to replace it, Dr. Oliver Smith being the promoter of it. I lately (say wifliin five or six years) saw a paper printed in 1784, containing a list of the subscribers, — I think 234. I examined this list, and made out seven then living, — Capt. Barnard, Perez Morton, Thomas L. Winthrop ; Jos. May and Joseph Woodward are since dead ; and I believe Mr. John Marston and myself are the only survivors whose names were on the list. The Latin School, in School street, was kept by John Lord, the father of James, who was usher under his father, but never was principal. The father and son were of different politics ; the father was chosen one of the Mandamus Councillors, and the son carried off a prisoner by the British in 1776, and confined some time in Halifax. When exchanged, he was sent member to Congress from Massachusetts. lie delivered ihe orationln commemoration of the 5th of March. There was before the war a Latin School kept at the North End by Master Hunt, In addition to the taverns named by Col. P., I remember the Mitre Coffee House, at the North End, Green Dragon, Union Street, Yankee Hero, and General Wolf, Wing's lane (now Elm street), a large tavern 72 City Document No. 105. at the foot of Brattle street, kept by a Mr. Cooper, afterwards by Mr. King, and the Georjje tavern, on the neck, and several others of less note. There was a large reservoir for water, called the llat conduit, between the foot of Elm street and the old building corner of Ann street, I think about 12 feet square, covered with plank, and raised about 2j feet in the centre, and sloping both sides to within 6 inches of the paving ; and on Saturdays this platform was a meal-market. If a sudden rain came on, the bags of meal (by my permission) were brought into my store for shelter. The town dock then came up on the noith side of Faneuil Hall, a little above Mr. Faxon's store ; but the passage to it was so narrow at the foot of Merchant's row, that a swing l)ridge was placed there for the convenience of passengers to the north — the basin inside forming an octagon, and was generally filled by oystermen and Connecti- cut coasters. The fish-stalls were at the head of the dock. D. G. Mr. J. T. Hatwakd. "Gleaner" Articles. 73 XXV. SOUTHACK'S TWO-ACRE PASTURE AND TANYARI). August 14, 1855. Mr. Editor : — On Saturday last I was left at the Revere, tak- ing some refreshment, after our various excursions ; and then, after eating a little "gingerbread." I started off with renewed strength and spirits. Having previously visited some other of our city churches, I thought I would now look in upon one which stands on almost the extreme south end of Bulfiuch's pasture (as the Revere does at its north end). This pasture extended a few feet south of the south side of Ashburton place, so that it includes the whole front of the houses of W". T. Andrews and J. M. Beebe, to the average depth of 14 feet. The east line of the Mt. Yernon Con- gregational Church estate coincides exactly with the east line of this pasture, but on the weSt a small purchase was made from the Bowdoin estate. There are few more eloquent preacliers than the Rev. Edward N. Kirk, and he is duly appreciated by a numerous and attentive congregation. In the summer season, so many of our citizens, especially as it happens among the Unitarian and Epis- copal societies, retire into the country', that the churches of those denominations, if opened at all, present a clear case of only " two or three gathered together." Thus, out of 148 families belonging to King's Chapel, all are now absent except 12. But it is far otherwise with Dr. Kirk's society. Bnlfinch's pasture is truly admirably represented at both encU. It makes adequate provision alike for physical and spiritual wants. This pasture, as we have seen, after extending northerly 118 feet, made a jog outwards of 23 feet. Both these lines were on the estate of Cotton or Sewall, since of the late Gardiner Greene, who owned through to Tremont street a tract of land embracing the largest part of Pemberton square. Proceeding again northerly, the east line of Bulfinch's pasture is on land of Cyprian Southack, or more recently, of John Bowers, of Somerset. Accordingly, we find that H[oward street was ancienth' named Southack's court, for the former, and Somerset street was so named by the latter. This estate (next east of Bulfinch's pasture) contained two 74 City Document No. 105. acres. la the " Book of Possessions" is, P2dward Bendall, p. 53, another house and garden, together with two acres of land adjoin- ing, bounded on Sudbury street {i.e., Tremont street) east ; Robert Mears north ; John Cotton south and west. Bendall sells to DaddYeale, 1645 (Suffolk, L. 2, f. 48), whose attorneys convey to the use of Capt. John Wall, 1653 (/&.)• He died 1670, and his heirs, in 1678, convey to Edward Shippen (Suffolk, L. 11, f. 195). Shippen sells off to Benj. Fitch, 1702 (L. 38, f. 56), a certain tan- yard and land, bounded north on the highway leading to the Bowl- ing Green (i.e.. Court street), 48 feet by 156 feet deep. He sells to Andrew Mariner the next westerly lot, 48 feet on said street, 1691 (15, f. 167), and in 1702 sells all the residue to Cyprian Southack (Suffolk, Lib. 21, f. 14) : " All that messuage, contain- ing two acres, more or less, bounded on Sudbury street (i.e., Tre- mont street) east ; on land now or late of Sewall, south ; on land now or late of Samuel Lynde {i.e., BulQnch's pasture) west; and north on the way leading by the south side of the Bowling Green ; excepting therefrom the lots sold Mariner and the tanyard in the occupation of Russell." Southack sells off to Jonathan Armitage, 1718 (Suffolk, 33, f. 51), the remaining or westerly lot, 74 feet on Court street by 200 feet on the west line, so that this pasture measured 1 70 feet on Court street ; and he granted him a right in a new highway, 27 feet wide, laid out south of these lots, 1720 (Suffolk, L. 35, f. 51). This was Howard street. Southack's pasture, south of Howard street, was of an L shape, bounded north on that street 141 feet, west on Bulfinch's pasture 440 feet, south on Cotton or Sewall about 614 feet, east on Tremont row 103.3, then north on Robert Mears* possession, and east on other lands. Various changes of these boundaries were subsequently made. John Bowers bought, 1799-1800, a tract extending about 62 feet west of Somerset street, and 147 feet east of it; and a large portion, therefore, of his lands was wholly east of Southack's pasture. The most easterly of Bowers' lots was the Howard Athenceum. The rear wall of that estate is an embankment of at least 40 feet in height, showing the difference of level between it and the north estates on Peraberton square. The lots on both sides of Somerset street, from Howard street to the range of the north line of the estates on the north side of Ashburton place, are held under deeds from Bowers. On the east side of this street stands a block of two houses, built by Ebenezer Francis, Esq. (to which a third has been latel}' added). The northerly of these houses belongs to Dr. Charles T. Jackson, who recently received from the Sultan "Gleanek" Articles. 75 a aecoratioQ for the ether discovery. [It would seem that the Sultan had not heard of one Dr. Morton, whose office is in Tremout row.] The southerly house in this block has also had some distinguished tenants. It was first occupied by the late Uriah Cdtting, who, in the construction of India wharf and Central wharf. Broad street, and Cornhill, etc., etc., and especially by the stupendous enterprise of the Mill-dam or Western avenue, evinced an almost incredible genius, activity, and energy. His services, indeed, seem to be forgotten by the present generation. His very name is scarcely preserved except by his tombstone in the Granary Burying-ground. But our local historians, through coming ages, as the future shall more and more develop the results of his improvements, will grate- fully recognize his claims as the Chief Benefactor of Boston. Sub- sequently to his death this house was occupied by our fellow- citizen, William Ropes, a distinguished Russia merchant, whose vigorous old age still shames the degenerate manhood of many who are half a century younger than himself.''" Daniel Wehder became its tenant while he was in the full maturity of his glorious powers, before disappointment had darkened around him, and before he had ever uttered a word or done an act as a statesman which any of those hearts that most honored him could have wished unsaid or undone. Having been one of his warmest admirers, I will not say more than this of the dead; yet, believing that but for him the fugitive slave law — that accursed torch of civil dissension ! — would not now be throwing its lurid glare abroad through our land, I cannot say less. Abbott Lawrence next occu- pied this mansion, one whose entire career, both public and private, has reflected so much honor on our city, our country, and our age ; and whose precarious health, at this very moment, awakens such intense solicitude among ourselves, and has brought back echoes of regret from the other side of the Atlantic.''''' The Rev. Ephraim Peabody, of the King's Chapel, one of the most estimable and popular of our city clergymen, for several years resided here, and between these two last occupants came your humble servant. It was the home of all the early years of my married life, the spot where all my professional " gleanings " were used wp in " family expenses." I have always felt proud of having made one in so goodly a company. But I trust that I have ever jrWiliam Ropes died March 11, 1869. — "W.H.W. »2Abbott Lawi-ence died August 18, 1855. — W. H. "W. 76 City DoctnviENT No. 105. cherished a proper humility. Some years since the late Sheriff Summer, father of our distiuguished senator, delivered a lecture on the duties of "Sheritf." He remarked that in England the bolder of that office was entitled to the appellation of " High" ; "'• but," added he, demurely making a meek bow to his audience, and placing his hand on his heart, " it is not so in this country, and, in one instance at least, that title of honor is entirely declined." I would withdraw in an equally modest manner on the present occa- bIou. Gleankb. ** Gleaner" Articles. 77 XXVI. REMINISCENCES OF SOMERSET STREET. August 15, 1855. Mr. Editor : — Having fiuished my call at my own domicile, we will look in for a moment at the next door. One of the lots of the Bowers' estate, on which stand three new brick dwellings, directh' opposite the east end of Allston street, measured 80 feet on Somer- set street, and extended back over 215 feet on the south line. It was about thirty years the residence of Ebenezer Francis, who also purchased the adjoining mansion house of the late James Lloyd, south of it. On the rear o-f these lands (with some changes of boundary lines) stand his present mansion house at the north end of Pemberton square, and the two next houses on its west side. With the exception of these three estates all the lots in that square, and also all back of the same from Tremout row to Somer- set street, are held under deeds of Patrick T. -Jackson. On Mr. Francis' old mansion-house estate, at the corner corresponding with part of No. 10 Pemberton square, now occupied by R. M. Mason, Esq., stood a summer-house, on the very apex of the hill, seventy feet above even its present high level. The prospect from this building was one of ver}' great extent, and of the most varied beauty. Charlestown, and many an inland town besides, were in full view towards the north and west, while in front lay spread out before the spectator the thronged streets of the city, the masts of its shipping, the harbor dotted with its graceful islands, and beyond, in the extreme distance, might be seen Nahant, etc. Mr. Webster, while tenant of the adjoining estate, from time to time came here to gaze on this magnificent panorama/'^ On one occasion he had some friends at dinner, and was desirous that they should participate in this pleasure. Accordingly, the little ^3 It may be well to note here that I possess a large painting, by Salmon, represent- ing this view, executed early in the present century. The stantl-poiut is apparently on Sandv Hill, about on the line where Ashburton place now is, and in tlie immediate fore- ground is a summer-house, which I presume to be the one mentioned in the text. Aa en<'Taving was given in the " Memorial History of Boston," issued by J. E. Osgood &, Co., as the frontispiece to Vol. IV. — W. H. W. 78 City Document No. 105. gate was opened (the erection of which had been permitted for these visits) and a procession appeared, headed by a servant bear- ing a waiter with refreshments, and followed by Mr. Webster and his guests. It so happened that on that day a feather-bed had been taken to the summer-house to be opened and readjusted, and the process being in full operation at noon, the building had been left by the servants. Il was, of course, now found to be pre- viously occupied by an assemblage of feathers, which, aided by a high wind, at once fiew out to welcome their visitors. This unexpected reception was a source of much merriment. Chairs and a table were placed in the open air, and I have no doubt that both host and guests found new inspiration from the beauties of this glorious dining-room. To those who remember these estates as they then stood, the present neat and elegant buildings, and the quiet square which they surround, seem but a poor aud paltry substitute. The excavations made throughout this purchase by Mr. Jackson and his associates were absolutely frightful. The estate of Mr. Francis, towering up to such a height next to them, of course could not but greatly en- danger any buildings which might be erected beneath it ; and, indeed, it could not itself any longer be used with safety. So the summer-house passed away. When I was in college I had petitioned at the close of ray junior year for a room in Holworthy, instead of which I obtained one directly opposite to that which I already occupied. I was quizzed by a classmate, who suggested, as a consolation, the ease with which one of the " goodies " could remove my effects across the entry. An almost equally short and easy removal awaited me in after years as a householder ; since, on ceasing to occupy the man- sion of "glorious antecedents" in Somerset street, I was trans- ferred to, and still remain a tenant-at-will of, one of the new domi- ciles^^ under, or nearly under, that ancient summer-house. Gleaner. 24 Ml". Bowditch lived at No. 9 Pemberton square, the most northerly house on the west side. — W.H.W. "Gleaner" Articles. 79 XXVII. ANCIENT AND MODERN LAW. August 16, 1855. Mr. Editor : — The lovrer portion of Southack's pasture was known as Valley acre. Tims a deed of the Cotton, or Greene estate, after bounding north 311 feet back from Tremont street, continues the line 29^) feet fartJun- on the land formerly of Cyprian Southack, now of Mr. John Tyng, or Valley acre, A.D. 1758 (Suff., L 92, f . 52) . Mr. Drake somewhere speaks of Valley acre as iden- tical with or part of Pemberton square, which is like speaking of Mt. Tom or Mt. Washington as a valley. The lots of Mr. Bowers were probably measured by a line along the rising surface of Somerset street, and, of course, fell short. A suit arose for a gore of land under a deed which went 100 feet from Howard street " till it comes to the wall of a brick stable." The case was opened by Rufus G. Amory, Esq., for demandant. Chief Justice Parsons said, " Is the land sued for beyond the stable?"— " Yes, Your Honor." — " Well, then, gentlemen of the jury, you must bring in your verdict for the tenant." — " But, Your Honor, I wish to argue the point." — "I cannot hear any argument: momiments govern measurements. Call the next jury." The same principle, thus promptly announced, has just been ap- plied to another estate which happened to belong to the same party. But there is a marked difference between the two decisions. This last case ( '' Curtis us-. Francis" ) was in court from 1839 to 1855, and the point decided is, that uuder the rule o/ " monnmerds govern- ing measurements,'' a straight line in a deed nay be broken off in the middle and one jmrt detached from the other, even to the distance of 40 feet, said detached part thence to continue in a din'ction vary- ing 15 degrees from the course at the commencement. The line in Curtis vs. Francis began on Sea street, " at the south-west corner of Capen & Drake's wharf, and from said corner running in a direction of about, south, 60 degrees east, bounded north on Capen & Drake's icharf and flats to the channel or low- water mark." Now, to common apprehension, this seems to be one continuous line from street to channel. And in a previous case ( Dawes va. 80 City Document No. 105. Prentice ), where the language was, " from Purchase street to the eapsill of the wharf, about 114 feet, and from thence to run down to low-water mark," the Court say, " There is no change of course indicated, and the construction must be that the line below the wharf is to run the same course as the line of the loharf." And here again, to common apprehension, seems a decision perfectly in accordance with the natural construction which first suggests itself to the reader's mind. The Court, however, in Curtis vs. Francis, in effect sa}', " It is true that Drake's wharf is a monument as far as it goes ; but then Drake's fiats become a monument, and it appears to us tliat Drake and his neighbor mistook their lines of flats ; though the deed in question therefore shall be deemed to convey a gore of flats, which we really* think belonged to Drake, outside of his wharf, because the deed runs by the wharf ; yet, when the wharf ends, the line shall be deemed to hop off to what we consider the true line of Drake's flats, and thence run by that monument to the channel." These ancient grantors and grantees would, I think, be very much surprised if they knew that their one straight line had thus been transformed ; and this, too, by the application of one of the soundest rules of judicial construction. It would, almost, seem that, while the first case was decided rightly in fifteen minutes, the last one has been decided wrongly in fifteen years. Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 81 XXVIII. THE SPRING HOUSE. August 17, 1S55. Mr. Editor : — At the last advices 1 had fallen into some tan vats which I found on Court street, 122 feet east of Bulfinch street, and which extended 48 feet on that street. Escaping without any serious injury, I rearranged my toilette in some small lots of about 137 feet on Court street, and from 50 to GO feet deep, reaching to Stoddard's lane or street. All the lands east and south of this range of lots (extending to Tremont row, and on Loth sides of Howard street) became, in very early times, united in Simon Lynde, who thus unexpectedly turns up again. The extreme cor- ner of Tremont row and Court street was bought by him of Thomas Boyden and Hannah, his wife, in 16G2 ( Suftblk, L. 4, f. G 1 ) , bounded on said Lynde south, on SwJhury lane east and north. Now, Robert Somen was an original possessor, and we find deeds of John andlsrael Howen to said Lynde, 1GG2, 1GG3 ( Suff., L. 4, f. 71 and 141 ), conveying two-thirds and one-third of " all that land and ground late of my mother, Elizabeth Howeu, containing half an acre, bounded with Robert Mears south, and some part of it with the street ( i.e., Tremont street ) easterly and ci.stwardly, north and west with the house where said Simon now dwelleth, also a corner bounded west ivith the layid in occupation of Governor Endi- cott.'" We thus learn where to call on His Excellency. Lvnde died in 1G87, and we find a deed of Nathaniel Newgate, or Newdigate, and Sarah, his wife ( a daughter of said Lynde ) , con- veying, in 1694, this corner estate as messuage known by the name^of ''The Spring House." So that The Spring Hotel, at Watertowu, had an ancient predecessor in Boston. Hannah, the only daughter of Mrs. Pordage,'' married James Bowdoin, and in 1 748 an indenture was made to bar an entail of the part of said lands south of Howard street, and east of Southack's pasture [le., « Geor This phrase is a little obscure. In his next article Bowditch seems to trace all of BelUngham's_/ro/2< lots without touching Hull or Sewall. Probably he refers to the fact that Sewall bought part of Bclliaghara's back lot, Oct. 11, 1697 (Lib. 14, f. 439). It was adjoining to the hill formerly belonging to John Cotton, and was bounded north by Sewall ; east partly by Sewall, and partly by land belonging to the First Church, now occupied by Mr. John Bayley ; south by land lately of Humphrey Davie, and west by land lately of Capt. John Wing. It was about half an acre. — W. H. W. MADAM HALEY. August 23, 1855. Mr. Editor: — Your careful correspondent, and my veiy good friend, "Gleanot, is mistaken in his opinion that Patrick Jeflfrey, the second husband of Madam Haley, was a brother of Francis Jeffrey, the Scotch reviewer. Francis Jeflfrey was the son of George Jeffrey and Henrietta, daughter of John Loudoun. Their children were Margaret, Mary, Francis, John, and Marion.* John came to Boston, and joined his mercantile uncle Patrick, who l)ecame the husband of Madame Haley, f The maiden name of Madam Haley was Wilkes. She was the sister of the celebrated John Wilkes, of the North Briton, t My mother was an intimate friend of this lady, during her halcyon days as Madam Haley, and for some time after she became the victimized wife of Patrick Jeffrey, who treated her with great brutality, and to escape from whose persecution she finally returned, in comparative poverty, to England. There is a sequel to the history of this unhappy lady's residence here, which I have heard related more than once in our family circle, and which I suppose may be relied upon as correct. • Cockburn's Life of Lord Jefirey, Vol. 1, pp. 1 and 2. flbid., p.sa 90 City Docibient No. 105. Pemberton square was laid out in 1835, just twenty years ago. Had it been named Cotton place, for the old clergyman, it would have been thought that Mr. Jackson so named it because it was a distinguished manufacturer. If called Vane place, that name, Mrs. Haley had a daughter, who, against her mother's wishes, became affianced, and, in disregard of her menaces of repudiation, ultimately married to a physician of Boston named Brown. If I do not misremeraber, he had been a pupil of Dr. John Jeffries. He was quite respectable, but obscure and penniless. He had, I believe, ac- quired considerable notoriety by a dissertation on 3'ellow fever. After his marriage, Madam Haley kept her word, and obstinately refused to have any commerce with the daughter of her husband. They finally settled in London, where he became veiy respectably established in good practice. It must be here stated that the second mairiage of his sister was exceedingly otFensive to John Wilkes, and he was said to have expressed himself with inlempei-ate severity, and even with bitterness, in regard to her and Mr. Patrick Jeffrey. Unable to bear any longer the harsh and ungratefid usage of a brutal husband, whose promises to love and to cherish had less reference to her person than to her property, Madam Haley returned to England. On her aiTival in London she instantly repaired to the house of her brother, Mr. Wilkes, and sent in word by the servant that his sister, Mrs. Jeffrey, was at the door. After some delay, a chilling message was delivered : " Mr. Wilkes had once a sister in America, Mrs. Haley, hut he knows nothing of Mrs. Jeffrey." After this cruel repulse she I'etired to some private lodgings in the city. There is an old, homely distich — " A son is a 8on, till he gets him a wife — A daugliter, a daughter all the days of her life." The imputation conveyed in the first line I personally know to be false. With a few unnatural exceptions the averment in the second may be true. Ere long the tidings of tlie mother's arrival reached the ears of Mrs. Brown and her husbaud. They instantly repaired to the lodgings of this unhappy lady, — not to oppress her broken spirit and subdued and softened heart by a formal tender of their services, but im- pulsively to rush into her arms, to ask her forgiveness, to take her forthwith to their abode, to cheer her declining years, to m9,ke up for the time that had been lost, by re- doubling their efforts to make her happy ! In the home of this devoted daughter Madam Haley passed the rest of her days. During her residence here her town-house was on " Pemberton's Hill," and her countrj'-house on Milton hill, — the situation occupied subsequently by the Hon. Jonathan RusseU. Sigma. We sent a proof of the above to " Gleaner," who has furnished the following reply : — " I stated it merely as my belief ihaX Mr. Jeffrey was hrother of the Scottish Reviewer, and admit that " Sigma " is right in making him out an uncle. I cannot but i-egret that one who, by his conveyances, seemed so considerate as to ike right of the old lady in case she should survive him should have so brutally tried to break her heart and kill her off in his lifetime; thus, as it were, defeating the manifest intent of the instru- tnent he had executed." Gleaner. [Most Bostonians will remember that "Sigma" was the well-known signature of Lucius Manlius Sargent, who wrote many antiquarian notes for the " Transcript," a part of which were republished in 1856 under the title of "Dealings with the Dead. By a Sexton of the Old School." — W. II. W.] "Gleaner" Articles. 91 however spelt, seems to be associated with qualities of mind not the most respectable. Faneuil place would have become Funnel place. It was at first christened Phillips place, its southerly portion being held under deed of Jonathan Phillij^s to Mr. Jackson. But as there was a prior " Phillips place " within a few rods, old Mr. Pemberton was called in, who once owned on the extreme out- skirts of the square, at its north end. BelUngJiam place would have been much more appropriate, or even " St. Botolph's square," the old town of Boston, in England, deriving its name from this patron saint. A " jingo tree," the only one in this part of the country, was successfully removed to the Boston Common, by the Beacon-street mall, nearly opposite Mrs. Greene's present residence, where its dark, glossy foliage must often remind her of the departed grandeur and beauty of her old homestead. Gleaneb. 92 City Document No. 105. XXXII. FIRST CHURCH LOT, AND PETER FANEUIL'S HOUSE ON TREMONT ROW. August 22, 1855. Mr. Editor : — We have seen that Gardiner Greene's estate was made up of parts of the original possessions of Cotton and Belling- ham, and also the little Maud possession. Other portions had been sold off by Mr. Bellingham, and one of those became vested in Rev. John Davenport, who dying in 1G70, and his son John in 1676, the ultimate heirs conveyed for £170 to Robert Sanderson, Senior, Henry Alline, and Joseph Bridgham, deacons of the First Church of Christ in Boston, A.D. 1693 (Suff., 16, f. 133), "all that certain messuage or tenement, with the appurtenances and land thereto belonging, situate in said Boston, bounded at the east end with the street or highway leading from Prison lane (i.e.. Court street) up to the Common or training-field, on the west end, with land heretofore appertaining to Richard Bellingham, Esquire, de- ceased, of which this land hereby granted was once a part ; on the south side with the garden and land of the late Humphrey Davy," etc., the north boundary being in part on land of the late John Hull.=" This lot measured 68 feet in front, 62 feet in rear, 156 J feet on north line, 137i feet on south line. Its location is just about in the centre of the lots on Tremont row (south of the entrance to Pemberton square), and it includes the back portion of three estates on the east side of Pemberton square. It remained the property of the church for nearly a centurj-, being conveyed in 1 787 to Sampson Reed (L. 160, f. 166). It became the property of Wm. Phillipsin 1805, at a cost of $15,000. Upon this lot stood a most ancient- looking building, with windows of very small panes of glass." I *• Part by garden of Bobt. Howard, deceased, now appei-taining to Gabriel Barnon. — W. H. W. *' Shaw says that Gov. Bellingham's house stood on the spot where Faneuil built. But this seems an error, as the north lot of Bellingham (sold to the church) had the house on it, and the lot sold Davie is land only. Hence we may presume that this old house was Gov. Bellingham's, and that Davie built his own stone house, which he sold U)F*neuil.— W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 93 iiave heard it staled, and have reason to believe it true, that when it was pulled down a chair was made from some of its timbers for the late Hon. Judge Davis, as possessing great antiquarian interest under the idea that it was in this house that Sir Harry Vane so- journed. It was within one of being the right house ; but a miss is as good (or as bad) as a mile, in such matter. I trust that it has not been presented to and officially accepted by the Historical Society as a genuine article. Few who drop in at Mrs. Mayer's ^^ to take an ice have any idea how venerable is the source of her landlord's title. And I certainly regret the necessity of depriving so pleasant a locality of any of its ancient honors. Mr. Bellingham had still retained a lot 140 feet on Tremont street, 120 feet in rear, with an average depth of 325 feet — quite a pretty residuum. This he conve^'cd to our friend Huraprey Davy, 1663, by deed not recorded till after 47 3-ears (L. 25, f. 166). "A parcel of land being part of an enclosure lying and being in Boston between the old bwying-place highwa'/ cast, the land and orchard of Joshue Scottow south, the ground or orchard of Davis, widow, west, and the land of said Bellingham, being the other part of said enclosure, north." We met with Mr. Davie among the pastures south of Cambridge street, and by the same mortgage lo secure a marriage settlement, 1683 (L. 13, f. 72), and foreclosed, the title to both estates got vested in his widow. She conveys to her two sons, 1706-1710 (Suflf., 23, f. 9, 10), having at the last date picked up a third hus- band. And here I lake occasion to remark, that invariably, if a woman own a large landed estate, she is sure to keep getting mar- ried from time to time, as often as death affords an opportunity, thus making great embarrassments in tracing titles. These two Davies conveyed it for £800 to Andrew Faneuil, 1710 (L. 25, f. 168), with "a stone dwelling-house" thereon, who died in 1737, devising to Peter Faneuil, of immortal memory. On his death, in 1742, the inventory appraised his " mansion-house, garden, out- houses, and yard, at £12,375." So that it was doubtless a fine old mansion, worthy of such an owner, and such it continued to be during its whole subsequent occupancy by the Phillips family. In 1772 it became the property of John Vassall, who being an un- fortunate " conspirator," the Commonwealth pocketed £2,400 by ^ Mrs. Mayer's noted confectionery store was given up to other uses not long after this date. — W.H.W. 94 City Document No. 105. selling to Isaiah Uoane, 1783 (L. 141, f. 2). Wm. Phillips iiouglit it in 1791 (L. 1G9, f. 125). These two estates, thus united in William Phillips, embrace about the southerly two-thirds of Tremont row and all the houses whic-h frout north on Pemberton square. Wm. P/iiUips devised these estates to his son William, 1804, who died in 1827, devising them to his son .Jonathan; they, at this latter date, being appraised at $90,000. They were sold to Patrick T. Jackson, in 1835, for $115,000. He paid for the Greene estate $160,000 ; for the Lloyd or Jekyll estate, S42,000 ; for the Bordman estate, on Somerset street, S20.000 ; for the Bartlett or Lawrence estate, on Somerset street, S34.205. These different purchases, with the expenses of grading, etc., must have exceeded $400,000, — a speculation at that time of unexampled magnitude. We, however, have lived to see a sivgle individual (President Quincy), at the advanced age of more than 80 years, undertake with characteristic energy, and carr}' through to a most successful conclusion, a private enterprise, in which, however, he engaged solely from the most public-spirited motives, which involved at the outset, as the first cost of the land, an expenditure of $561,000, upon which land he has erected various elegant warehouses, thus far surpassing all the associated enterprises of the capitalists who, through the agency of Mr. Jack- son, bought and laid out Pemberton square.'* Gleaner. »* The reference is to Josiah Quincy, the earlier mayor of the name. Ue was the originator of the plan by which the great market was built, and the city became the owner of a wharf at the end thereof. When it was decided to sell this wharf, Mr. Quincy remonstrated inetfectually. He believed in its prospective value, and most unexpectedly, as he said, he became its purchaser at auction, tempted thereto by the low price. He offered it back to the city at cost the next daj', but the offer was declined. It is believed that the profit proved equal to his expectations. Mayor Quincy died July 1, 1864, aged 92 years. — W.H.W. " Gleaner " Articles. 95 XXXIII. THE HOUSES OF REV. JOHN OXENBRIDGE AND ELDER JAMES PENN. August 24, 1855. Mr. Editor: — Leaving the homestead of Peter Faneuil, on which every Bostonian must look with interest, we come next to the Pavilion and the Albion, or the estates at the corner of Tre- mont row and Beacon street. John Coggan, in 165y the wa\% you may remember that you veiy kindly presented me with a copy of your volume containing your aecount of the ether controversy. You, doubtless, remember that I praised it highly, and told you that I had no just notions of the powerful eflects of ether until I read your work, for the veiy first five pages put me asleep. One or two of your late articles in the " Tran- script," taken at bed-time, may, possibly, answer as well. How you keep yourself awake while writing them is a mystery to us all. You say that you and I are descended from a common ancestor, John Turner. I know it ; I am ^lad of it ; for I have always thought you a verv clever fellow, though as obstinate as the devil. This old gentleman — not the devil, but John Turner — was, as you say, a man of note in his time. His style was the Hon. Col. John Turner. Saltonstall in his history, and Felt in his annals, tell us, that this John Turner com- manded in the battle of [laverhill, so called, against the French and Indians, in 1708. He was my great-grandfather, born Sept. 12, 1671. I have heard my mother say, that her father, son of the Honorable John, for several years preserved some half-a-dozen scalps taken in that battle. The father of the Honorable John was John Turner, a merchant of Salem, born in 1644, and who died in 1680. This is the John Turner so often mentioned in the records of Salem, as the lessee of Baker's island for 1000 years. His house, in which he died, Oct. 9, 1680, was standing In 1835, at the corner of Essex and Beckford sti'eets. I am happy to have descended from such an- cestors; for they were the ancestoi-s of one of the greatest men of our country, and for whom it has ever been my pleasure to express the most cordial sentiments of affec- tionate respect — your honored father. It is at thispoint that you break loose from what I have always supposed, upon excellent authority, to be the true genealogy of the Turner family, anfi insist upon having a shoemaker your ancestor ; and you say that I do not believe in the shoemaker, but aspire to something ultra crepidam. No, my dear " Gleaner," I do not believe ia the shoemaker, but I do believe that, if we have a shoemaker for our ancestor, and you and I continue much longer to spin such long, drj', and hai'd-twisted yarns for the " Transcript," the public will be very sorry that we did not stick to the last. Upon the matter of ancestry 1 have ever been of the opinion expressed by Matthew Prior : — " Heralds and notles, by your leave, Here lie the bones of Matthew Prior, The son of Adam and of Eve ; Let Bourbon and Nassau go higher." The poor boy who replied to the inquiries of the police judge, that he never had any father and mothei", but was washed ashore, is more likely to find favor with the people than one who in our country makes a parade about his ancestors. 138 City Document No. 105. This matter can be of no possible interest to Ihe public ; but, since you bave dragged it in bj' the head and shoulders, there is no course left for me but to drag it out by the neck and heels. My mother, who died in 1813, at the age of seventy, was the daughter of John Turner, a merchant, who died in 1786, who was the son of the lion. John Turner, who died in 1742, who was the son of John Turner, who died in 1680, — all of Salem. I always understood her to say that the baptismal name John had been in her family for many gencrations,and that the ancestors of her grandfather came from Bar- badoes. Felt, iuhis" Annals of Saleui," edition of 1827, thus notices, under the date of October 6, 1690, the death of her great-grandfather : " John Turner had deceased lately. He was son of John Turner, merchant, who died at Barbadoes, 1668. * * * He also left children, John, Elizabeth, &c. He served as selectman. He was a respectable merchant. His estate was estimated over £6,788. His death was a public calamity." A copy of the church records in Salem, furnished me in 1845 by Henry Wheetland, Esquire, exhibits this entiy : " John Turner : his wife, Elizabeth, joined the church in Salem 19.9 {i.e., September 19) 1637 ; merchant, born at Barbadoes, where he died, 1668." Several years ago, my dear Gleaner, you suggested this fancy about the shoemaker. I gave you my views in writing ; a copy of my letter is now before me, concluding thus — " Si quid novipti rectius istis, Candidus imperii ; si non, his utere mecum." You never replied, and I supposed you were satisfied. And now you have broken out again, in the same spot. It must be the pustule maligne. To draw such things to a head and have done with 'em, I have heard that nothing was more effective than an application of shoemaker's (your ancestor's) wax. Y'ou claim relationship with Mrs. Puzzlem. You are right, no doubt of it. You must be a Puzzlem; for, with my best effort, I cannot find out your meaning in that paragraph. Your object, I think, must be to persuade the public that I am the writer of the Puzzlem letters, and ^hus shift the responsibility from your own shoulders. If you consider this just, you roust have a strange way of construing the golden rule. Very dry of late — especially your last thirteen articles. Very truly, your friend and kinsman, Sigma. Gleaner and Sigma.— Our well-known contributors are having a little corre- spondence together, as will be seen by reference to the first page. The former, having seen Sigma's communication, wrote the following: — '< Whether I was right in supposing that I stood in the shoes of Eobert Turner, ' shoemaker,' and in my consequent determination to stick to him like cobbler's wax, or whether 1 may lawfully go to Barbadoes for an ancestor, the public will not I robably think worth discussion. As to Mrs. Puzzlem, she evidently wishes to be incognita, and I certainly do not think it polite to raise a lady's veil without her permission. While, on the one hand, I am sure that no face resembling mine Avonld be found beneath it, I think that her general gait, air, and manner, notwithstanding her reil, prove that you and she were both rocked in the same cradle. I am delighted to learn that my ether pamphlet produced in any quarter a soothing effect. It had quite an initating influence in other cii-cles, which led to much denunciation and the copious ehediling of ink." "Gij^.aner" Articles. 139 XLIX. THE MONUMENT. September 15, 1855. Mr. Editor: — We left His Excellency John Hancock in 1793 dying seized of Beacon Hill. The Hancock title I should charac- terize exclusivel}' by words beginning with d. Its descents, devisers, deeds, divisions, and dowers, with its doubts, difficulties, and defects, make it the very d — 1. It is truly the SehastopoU I may, perhaps, say the St. Helena., of conveyancers. Questions of legal construction, of great delicacy, constantly occurring and seemingly never ending, and the most complicated and embarrass- ing legal proceedings, mark it out conspicuouslv above all other estates in Boston as the one most to be dreaded by a novice, who has just put up his sign, and announced to a confiding public that he is ready to examine titles. If he ever hears the last of it he will be more fortunate than myself. The late John R. Adan, who was an eminently liractical man, for years before his death adopted and acted upon the maxim that he would never examine a title that came through anybody named Sjjear, — a rule which, from analogy of name and reason, he extended to Sinir)'. I have seen him gravely decline a retainer, alleging this ground of action, though the Mr. Spear in question assured him that he was not of the family of Governor Hancock, and that his title would be found extremely simple. The Governor died without issue, leaving a widow, a mother (Avho, by a subsequent marriage, had become Mrs. Perkins), a brother Ebenezer, and twelve children of a deceased sister, two of whom successively married Samuel Spear. One of these wives of Mr. Spear left seven children, who each claimed l-252d part. So minute was the share of each, that on a partition, in 1819, of the Beacon-street lands, each of these children had a strip set off measuring less than 18 inches on Beacon street in width by 80 feet in depth. Three of them were females, and with dresses of the present dimensions they certainly would have found it impracti- cable ever to make an entry upon their lands. 140 City Document No. 105. Mt. Vernon street was laid out across the Hancock estate a few years after the Governor's death, in continuation of the lower part of the street, which had been laid out by the Mt. Vernon proprie- tors. Temple street stopped a few feet south of Derne street, or at the north base of Beacon Hill, which was the boundary of Tay's pasture. I do not propose to inflict upon you a detail of all the horrors and perplexities of this title. I will onl}' select a speci- men. A very elaborate partition was made in 1819 of this Beacon- Hill lot ; each of the said Spear children here getting a strip of land measuring less than two feet four inches on Mt. Vernon street by 60 feet deep.'' There was assigned to Thomas Hancock, a non compos son of Ebenezer Hancock and one of the devisees of Mrs. Perkins, a tract of 1 7,392 feet, being full half of the present reservoir lot. It was bounded west on land of the Commonwealth, north on land of Joseph Blake, east on the lot set off to Ebenezer Hancock, his father, south on other lots set off to said Ebenezer, to John, who was brother and guardian of said Thomas, and on a lot left undi- vided for the respondents — and, strange to sa}-, there was no way to get to it. Was the partition void? If valid, there was of course a way of necessity somewhere ; but over what lot? It would obviously nearly ruin the lot subjected to such easement. Shall it be over John's lot, whose duty it was to have protected his ward's rights? Or shall the residuary lot be destroyed? These pleasant interrogatories suggested themselves to me when I first made a professional acquaintance with this tille. Brick houses had been erected, and were owned and occupied bj* Charles G. Loriug, Charles P. Curtis, and Thomas B. Curtis, Esqs- ; and the city had bought and built a brick school-house behind these houses on the large lot of Ebenezer Hancock. The erection of the reser- voir has ended all difficulty as to an}- way of necessity, as this back lot became incorporated with the adjoining lands by which it was separated from Derne and Hancock streets. Before this event Thomas Hancock would have found it as hard work to make a legal entry into his large lot, as his young relations would have found in getting into their small ones. The above is a '■^sample brick " of this legal edifice. Mr. Tay's street was subsequently extended to Mount Vernon street. I understand that the name of Temple street was selected as one of the names in the family of Governor Bowdoin, whose ** By a note in the Transcript it seems these lots were 171 inches wide, and the Mou/it Vernon street land also then divided was 28 inches wide and sixty feet long. W, II. W ** Gleaner" Articles. 141 daughter was Elizabeth, Lady Temple, wife of Sir John Temple. He, as well as his father-in-law, was distinguished as a statesman and patriot. And we have seen that the heir in tail of the Bow- doin property was James Temple Bowdoin. So that His Excellency was accommodated with two streets, to say nothing of Bowdoin square, etc. And here I must be permitted to say a word or two more on the nomenclature of streets, upon which I have so often and, I fear, tediously dwelt already. Beacon street seems to have been so named because it did not lead to the beacon. Mount Ver- non street (as it ranged from east to west) was 300 feet nearer to it, and thus had a better right to have been so called. But Tem- ple street, as extended, actually hit the monument and knocked it over, and therefore was not named for it. The town conveyed to John Hancock and Samuel Spear, in 1811, the six rods square on which the monument stood, and all right in the highway leading to it, 30 feet by 60 feet (L. 238, f. 177), say 11, 600 feet, for the miserable pittance of 80 cents per foot ($9,300). The monument was then a substantial structure, with inscriptions on its four sides. These are still preserved at the State House. My locomotive powers are still somewhat limited, and I shall not, therefore, at present visit and copy those inscriptions."^ I trust that they will preserve for the remembrance of a grateful posterity the names of those who, when they erected it, meant that it should stand for ages ; and I regret that I cannot consign -to deserved in- famy the names of those who so disgracefully turned an official penny by selling it. Such persons would sell a family graveyard ! An intelligent merchant of this citv, who came here in 1787, a boy of 11 years old, remembers that this monument was not then erected. There was at that time a stone basement, on which rested four horizontal timbers crossing each other in the centre. From this centre rose as high a mast as could be procured, which was further supported by braces. It was surmounted by a tar-barrcl, which, being set on fire, in case of danger, was to be a beacon to the country around. There was an apparatus of ladders for as- cending to this tar-barrel ; but, fortunately, it was never fomid necessar}' to give this warning signal. The hill was of a very pe- culiar conical shape and the boys were accustomed to throw tlieir Dalls up as far as possible towards its summit, which rebounded from it as from a wall. My boyhood was passed elsewhere. It is one of my especial sources of regret that I never saw Beacon Hill. Gleaner. « These inscriptions are supplied later, under ai-ticle LIV. — W. H. W. 142 City Document No. 105. L. COOK'S 2i-ACRE PASTURE. September 17, 1855. Mr. Editor: — The British metropolis was once unpleasantly startled b}' the rumor tliat an aged libertine, the Duke of Queens- bury, daily recruited his exhausted and diseased frame by milk- bathiiig, and that the milk, after it had been thus used, was dis- tributed by the dealers among their customers. In asking you, Mr. Editor, to walk with me into the Beacon-Hill reservoir, I trust that we shall not cause a like alarm among the consumers of " Co- chituate." I fancy, indeed, that the visit will be found entirely harmless to them and to ourselves, since the neighbors assure me that it is quite a dry place, and that the reservoir is a massive f'ranite structure for holding water theoretically. We have already walked around most of its area. The main body of it is built on the Hancock title. On the north it iu eludes narrow parcels of land, derived from Joshua Scottow's four-acre pasture, which it would be a useless labor to trace back, step by step, to its parentage. On the west side, however, we meet with a strip 19 feet wide, which separated the Hancock estate from Hancock street. To this we will now direct our attention. In tracing the title of the IG^-acre pasture of Rev. James Allen, on the south side of Cambridge street, the south-easterly 2^ acres are found to have been bought b}- Mr. Allen of Mr. Davie, being the westerly moiety of a 5-acre pasture of Zacheus Bosworth. The east'irl}- moiety of that 5-acre pasture had been sold b\' his son, Samuel Bosworth, to Richard Cook, 16Go (Suff., L. 4, f. 320). These 2^ acres are bounded with Humphrey Davie westerly, with Thomas Buttolph, Sen., and Joshua Scottow's land north, with land of the widow Turner and of Thomas Miller [Millard] easterly, with land of Knight, with the highway and said Miller southerly, being the moiety of the land devised to me by my father. This tract extended westerly to a line 77 feet west of Belknap street, and easterly to a line 19 feet east of Hancock street. On the north it reached to the pastures of Scottow and Buttolph [i.e., "Gleaner" Articles. 14o to Myrtle street) , and on the south to the estates fronting on the Common, and to a "highway," of which particular mention is made below. Tliis Mr, Cook was progenitor of one of our first families. He died in 1671, and this land became the property of his son Elisha, who died in 1715, leaving two children, Elizabeth and Elisha, and on a division, in 1715 (Probate Records, 19, f. 287) , there was set off to Elisha " the pasture land adjoining Bea- con Hill ; bounded east on Joseph Thompson ; south on Jeremiah Allen, west on Bellcnap, north on Shrimpton." [Shrimpton owned Beacon Hill, Thompson owned on the Common, Belknap had suc- ceeded Buttolph, etc.] Elisha Cook, in 1731, sold off to John Daniels (45, f. 236) a strip of land bounded north on Williams 19 feet, south on my land 19 feet, east on Yeamans 361 feet 2, west hy the JiigJiway 361 feet 2. One Jacob Williams then owned the extreme lot of the Scottow pasture. So that Cook extended Hancock street through his pasture. It was at first called Turner street, and then George street. W. H. Montague, Esq., of this city, a few days since, showed me a plan^^ of the town taken in 1769, under the official patronage of Governor Burnett, which I believe to be unique and of great value. Its margin is filled up with details of much historical inter- est. On this plan is laid out George street, which begins and runs south from Cambridge street, and then makes a westerly jog in the general direction of Mt. Vernon street, and then runs into Bea- con street by the present Belknap street, the north part of the pres- ent Belknap street not being connected with this southerly part, so as to make one street, as at present. In other words, the north end of Hancock street and the south end of Belknap street, connected by a jog (in the neighborhood of Mt. Vernon street), then con- stituted one continuous highway from Cambridge to Beacon street, and the only one then existing. To my great delight there appeared on this plan an orchard, obviously the same one as on Bonner's plan of 1722. But, owing to its location in reference to George street, and the size of the plan, it became possible to fix its position very definitely. Tow- ards its south-easterly extremity was a house, and it is, I think, *"! do not understand this reference. Gov. Burnett an-ived here July 13, 1728, and died here Sept. 7, 1729. There was a map issued then and dedicated to hinj, but it does not show George street, with its jog. It gives a street where Hancock street now is. This map is i-eprintcd by Shdrtleff, and, on a small scale, in the " Memorial History," ii., 1. But in that history, ii., Ivi., is a reprint of an edition of Bonner's map, dated 1769, dedicated to Gov. Belcher, which shows George street as described in the text. — W. H. W. 144 City Document No. 105. clear, that this house and orchard were the estate of our friend Humphrey Davy, on the south-east end of Rev. James Allen's past- ure, the title to 1 4-5ths acres of which was finally derived to the IMount Vernon proprietors, under deeds of Enoch Brown's heirs. This accounts for the name of Davis's lane, which by Bonner's plan ran diagonally through what is now the State-House lot, and passed westerly along the south end of this Cook's pasture terminating at the Davy estate, or 77 feet west of Belknap street. If, there- fore (of which there seems to be no doubt) , this was the orchard planted by Mr. Blackstone, it was not retained by him in the C- acre reservation (which he made when he sold his 50 acres, etc., to the inhabitants), as the G-acre lot was wholly west and south- west of this locality, since this orchard must have been by Pinckucy and Mt. Vernon streets, beginning west of Belknap street. My pleasure at looking round in Mr. Blaekstone's orchard was somewhat damped by finding, on and near this 19-feet strip, another nest cf rope-walks. I really feel, indeed, that I owe an apology for introducing to your notice, at this late day, other edifices of this description, so inexcusably overlooked in my pre- vious gleanings. In my next article I shall show that one of them has attained to a position of higher honor, and been owned by proprietors of greater distinction than any other rope-walk to whij!: I have heretofore called your attention. Gleakeq "Gleaner" Articles. 145 LI. THE COMMONWEALTH'S ROrE-WALK. September IS, 1855. Mr. Editor : — In our last article we left in John Daniels, 1731, a tract of land (part of Cook's pasture) measuring 3G1 feet 2 on the east side of Hancock street, and 19 feet deep. The northerly portion of this land was sold off, and became the property of " Box and Austin" ; the southeily part was sold to Ebenezer Mes- senger, 1734, bounded east on Yeamans, south on the children of Eben and Rebecca Messenger (Lib. 48, f. 213). In 1743 Daniels conveyed to John Henderson 312 feet by 19 feet (Lib. G8, f. 32), who died in 1747 ; and on a division, in 17G2, there were setoff to Nathaniel Green and Annabell, his wife, in her right, "the rope- walks near Beacon Hill, now improved by H. Inches ; also the house and land, now occupied by Mr. Gain,. near the rope-walks" (Probate Records, Lib. GO, f . 194) . Green and wife convey to Gov- ernor Hancock in 1765 (Lib. 105, f. 222) 120 feet by 19 feet. Green died. His widow, of course, married again. Her second hus- band, Richard Boynton, died in 1795; and she, while a widow, sold to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in 1798 (Lib. 194, f. 74), the residue bounded westerly on Turner street, 192 feet, east on land lying between the premises and Beacon Hill, 192 feet, north on the late John Box, and south on land of which Governor John Hancock died seized. Elisha Cook, besides extending Hancock street througli his pasture, also extended Belknap street from the south line of his pasture, but not through it northerly, so as to connect it wholly with that portion of Belknap street which communicated with Cambridge street. To this was given the elegant name of Clap- board street. Cook sold otf to John Daniels a rope-walk, measur- ing on west side of Hancock street 25 feet, and extending back 261 feet, to laud of Wheelwriglit (who had succeeded Davy — 1736, L. 52, f. 152). Cook died seized of two other rope-walks, together measuring 44 feet on Hancock street, and extending back westerly about 270 feet. The}' bounded north on Myrtle .street, and on the division of his estate, accepted in 1763, they were 146 City Document No. 105. set off to Mar}', wife of Richard Saltonstall (Probate Records, Lib. 62, f . 262) . These three rope-walks west of Hancock street formed a barrier separating Clapboard street from the northerly part of Belknap street. At a later day the street was continued through them. Such extension had not taken place when the plan of 17G9 was made. All the lots west of Clapboard street became the property of Mason, Otis, etc., the Mount Vernon proprietors, except one small lot of 25 feet front and rear, the property of Middleton and Glapion. Pinckney street is opened through a portion of these lots ; and the present lines of Mt. Vernon street (formerly called in succession Olive street and Sumner street) cut off some of the southerly part of Cook's pasture. The title of many of these lots of Cook's pasture gets into Thomas Hancock. Thus Ebenezer Messenger conveyed to him, 1775 (Lib. 87, f. 76), a lot measuring 75 feet on the east side of Hancock street or Turner street, etc., partly held under Cook. Elisha Cook was a man of great wealth and high standing. He owned all the south side of State street from Kilby street to low-water mark, probabl}' of itself now worth all of a million of dollars ; also the large estates on School street, on both sides of Chapman place, which was long known as Cook's court. This rope-walk, east of Hancock street, was bought by the Com- monwealth, not, however, with any view of going into that business. It wa^ used as the residence of the Messenger of the State-House, there being a narrow dwelling-house erected on it, with a yard in front lying along the street. Here for many years lived Jacob Kuhn, the honest, vigilant, and courteous guardian of the neighboring official ediftce. It was he who, when a young lad, was passing along the Granar}' buryiug-ground, shortly after Mr. Adino Paddock had caused a row of young trees to be set out on the sidewalk. He took hold of one of these slender saplings, and thouglitlessly began to shake it (a feat, by the way, which ^vould now be of difficult performance). In a moment Mr. Paddock darted out from his house opposite, and served Mm as he had served the tree. Mr. Kuhn was the agent for collecting the bills of the old Aqueduct Corporation. He presented, on one occasion, a bill to the late Dr. Bowditch, which he paid accordingly. The next day Mr. Kuhn called and said, " In paying the bill yester- day you made a slight mistake." Dr. B said, "How can you tell what I gave you?" — "I always tear off the blank paper at the edge of the account, write on it the name of the party, and pin to that paper the particular bills in which it is paid. I did so ** Gleaner" Akticles. 147 with 3'our bill, and am sure that 3'ou made a mistake." Dr. B. said, "I am satisfied, and will cheerfully correct the error." — "But," said Mr. Kuhn, "the mistake is in your favor. You gave me a $50 bill instead of a $5. " Dr. B. then said, " It is delightful to me to meet with a man who is so exact and methodi- cal in his business habits, and who at the same time is so per- fectly upright. You must keep the Si"), and purchase some dress, etc., for vour wife, telling her, from me, that she ought to feel proud of her husband." The rope-walk now constitutes the westerly lateral support of the Beacon-Hill Reservoir, an edifice which cost half a million of dollars, A high destiny and worthy of its dignified ownership. No other rope-walk can ever hope to compete with this. Though the last, it is not the lea^^t, in our list of the rope-walks of Boston. Our graceful, conical hill, with the monument that surmounted it for its protection and embellishment, has long since ceased to exist. It is fitly replaced by the Beacon-Hill reservoir. The Roman aqueducts are among the grandest vestiges of ancient civilization. This structure will, to coming generations, be as noble a memorial of the genius, science, and enterprise of the present age.'" We have, indeed, lost a majestic pinnacle reared by the God of Nature ; but there has arisen in its stead a glorious creation of human wisdom and beneficence. Gleankr. P.S. — On applj'ing to James W. Baldwin, Esq., respecting the details of the reservoir building, a very elegant plan was cour- teously prepared for my use, by Mr. Richards, which, while it impresses me forcibly with the ingenuity of the arrangements, I find it impossible accurately and adequately to describe. The lateral walls are double, the outside one being over 3 feet thick, and the inner one being of varying width from 5 to 3 feet. The vacant space between them is over 7 feet in width from the base to about the height of the arches on Derue street. These two walls are united together at the top, and also at the bottom. The width of the Derne-street arches is over 20 feet in the clear. The depth of the foundation, and the height of the building, and the thickness of the immediate basin of the reservoir above the arches, I am unable to state. <' It is, however, ti-ue that, in 1883, the resei-voir has become a thing of the past. Being pronounced useless, the massive structure has been removed, and the land appropriated for the site of a Court-House. The next generation may see that build- ing also removed, if indeed it ever be erected. — W. H. W. 148 City Docxbient No. 105. LIT. THE STATE-HOUSE LOT. September 21, 1855. Mr. Editor: — In our Beacon-Hill researches we have already found the deed of John Turner to Col. Samuel Slirlmpton \n 1673 (L. 8, f. 329), embracing the east gore of the State-House lot, bounded " on the way leading up from the Training field to Gentry Hill on the east side," and " on land of said Samuel, westerly." We have also seen that the executrix of Robert Turner sold, in 1870, the Beacon-Hill lot behind the State-House, bounded south on Thomas Millard. He was an original possessor of land in this vicinity, having half an acre bounded with the Common south, Richard Truesdale west, Thomas Scottow east; and he bought in 1681 of Zacheus Bosworlh one acre, bounded with Edward Huchinson north, the Common south, Thomas Millard east, and said Zacheus west (Possessions, f. 76). In a deed of 1661 (L. 10, f. 212) a lot west of the State-House land is conveyed as bounded both east and west on Thomas Millard. Millard died in 1669. His inventory is " a small parcel of land lying on the side of the Century Hill and fronting the Common, £20." This small parcel was the whole of the State-House lot ex- cept the gore which had been bought of Turner. " John Lake and Thomas Blighe, administrators of Thomas Millard, gave posses- sion by turf and twig" of the premises, and also " of the land by Century Hill," to Samuel Shrimpton^ attorney of Alice Sxdft, sister, etc. of said Millard, Oct. 18, 1672 (L. 8, f. 308). On Feb. 23, 1673-4, the administrators acicnowledged that possession was so delivered because the estate had been recovered out of their hands. " The adjoining westerly lot is conveyed 1679 (L. 11, f. 212), as bounded east on land late of Millard, since in the tenure of Shrimplon." Now, I really hope that Col. Shrimpton dealt fairly with Miss Alice Swift, and did not keep to his own use that which he received possession of " by turf and twig," merely as her attorney. I am, however, unable to furnish any record evidence of his integ- rity in this matter. He must stand upon his general reputation, "Gleaner" Articles. 149 which was that of a man of honor. It is at any rate now too late for the good hidv to oust the Commonwealtli. Nor do I thinii: that Mr. DaA^y, whose lane used to run diagonally from the south- east to the north-west corner of this lot, can now disturb the territory by any ancient right of way to his pasture. In a former article we have referred to the deaths of Mr. Shrimp- ton, 1G98, and of his widow, Mrs. Stoddard, in 1713. We have seen that his grand-daughter, Elizabeth Shrirapton, married John Ycamans, 1720, and died, leaving a son, Shute Shrimpton Yea- mans, who, in 1742, joined with his father in leaving*^ an entail created by Mrs. Stoddard, and supposed to incUide this lot ; and we have also referred to his final deed (after his father's death) to Tliomas Hancock, 1752 (L. 81, f. 168). This deed was for the consideration of £220, lawful money of Great Britain. So that the State-House lot, and all north of it nearly to Derne street (excepting the town's lot, on the top f)f the hill), is l)eld under a deed of a century ago, at the cost of eleven hundred dollars. It would now be worth eleven hundred thousand dollars. A thousand- fold rise of value, even in a century, is very fair for such an old place as Boston. We have also seen the death of Thomas Hancock, in 1763, devising to his wife Lydia, nnd her devise in 1777 to Governor John Hancock, who died seized in 1793. Among the items in his inventory is " the pasture adjoining the garden and Beacon Hill, between the mansion house and D. D. Rogers, £3,000." In 1795 this pasture was conveyed to the inhabitants of Boston. Thus Mary Perkins (the mother of the Governor) conveyed her right for S4,444 44 (L. 180, f. 116); Ebenezer Hancock, his brother, made a deed precisely similar, for the same consideration (L. 180, f. 117) ; and the widow released her right of dower {lb., f. 118), etc. It is needless to enumerate any other conveyances. So that 60 years ago the whole State-House lot was valued at §13,333.33, or thirteen thousand dollars. It is described as " Governor Han- cock's pasture, beginning at south-east corner of his garden, and running easterly on Beacon street 243 feet 3 inches to the corner of a street or passage- wa}- leading up to Bacon hill, thence run- ning north on said passnge-way towards said hill 249 feet more or less, then running (>n a westerlj' course on another passage-way ^' Undoubtedly a printer's error for " barring an entail." The Shutes did so bar the entail by a lease and release to Ilcnry Caswell and Col. Estes Il-itch, at the time stated See Sutf. Deeds, Lib. 66, fol. 271, and the reference ante, p. 132 of this volume. — W. U. W. 1 150 City Document No. 105. leading round said Beacon Hill 235 feet 3 inches, to the north-east corner of the garden, then running on a line with the garden about 371 feet to the first bounds." These two passage-ways are the present Mount Vtrnon street, which runs north, and then bends at a right angle westerly. The conveyance from the town of Boston to the Coramonweallli is dated ISIay 2, 1795 (L. 182, f. 144). It is in consiileration of Jive shillings, etc., and is declared to be made " in fee-simple forever for the purpose of erecting buildings and finishing thereon a State House for the accommodation of all the legisbitive and executive branches of government, and such other public build- ings or oflSces, with their appurtenances, as may be necessary and conveni(!nt, and may be required for the suitable accommodation of the several departments of government." In tlie face of the manifest intention of this deed it is somewhat amusing to re- member the grave deliberations that have been held year after year about moving the seat of government somewhere else, and at the same time pocketing the proceeds of this estate, as the absolute property of the Commonwealth. Gleaker. "Gleaner" Articles. 151 LTTI. GOVERNOR HANCOCK'S HOUSE. September 25, 1855. Mr. Editor: — Next west of the State House, on "Governor Hancock's pasture," came His Excellency's mansion house and gar- den, being the large area between Beacon street, Belknap (or J03') street, Mt. Vernon street, and State-House lot. The original pos- sessor seems to have been Zacheus Bosworth, who, as we have seen, sold off in 1651 to Thomas Millard one acre (part of the State-House lot), bounded with the Common south, said Millard east, and said Zacheus west (Possessions, p. 76). By his will, dated 23, 5th month, 1655, proved August 30th, Bosworth devises to his "daughter Elizabeth 2 acres of land with a mare, or else the barn with a piece of land to it, to be laid out by my overseers." (Probate Records, 1, f. 112.) John Mors and Elizabeth, his wife, conveyed to Ricliard Knight and his brother-in-law, Jolin AVing, June 7th, 1661 (L. 10, f. 212), two acres of land in the Century field, formerly devised by Zacheus Bosworth to his daughter, the said Elizabeth, bounded on the Common south, on Thomas Millard east and west, on Samuel Bosworth north (Samuel Bosworth owned and sold Cook's 2^ acre pasture north of this laud), reserving a ten-feet way for Samuel Bosworth from the Common. Thus the Beacon-street end of Belknap street was at first a mere matter of private accommo- dation for Mr. Samuel Bosworth to cart ha}' off from his pasture. John Wing mortgaged his moiety to the worshipful John Richards, for the use of " the Major," Robert Thompson, of Lon- don, in 1677 (L. 10, f. 219), and Knight moi'tgaged his moietj' to the same worshipful grantee, in his own right, in 1679 (L. 11, f. 212), this deed bounding east on land late of Millard, since in the tenure of Samuell Sln-impton. Peaceable possession was given in 1684, so that the title became absolute. The worshipful John died in 1694 ; one item of his will is, "I give to Mr. John Alford, son of Benjamin Alford, all that piece or parcel of land lying near Beacon Hill, which I bought of Richard Knight, now in Ihe 152 City Document No. 105. occupation of said Beujamin, I having forraeil}' given it to his said son John, but he hath no deed of it." At the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, October Term, 1717, partition was had by John Alford of his moiety against Joseph Thompson, of London, as owning the other moietjs and the east- erly half of the land was set off to Alford. In 1732 he sells off a small lotto Ebenezer Messenger, 20 feet by 58 feet (Lib. 49, f. 248) in which is subsequently conveyed to Mr. Hancock. He conveyed, 1735, to Thomas Hancock (Lib. 51, f. 117) " a lot near Beacon Hill bounded south-east on the Common 135 feet 4 inches, south- west on Jolm Thompson, of London, 341 feet, north-west on the highway 155 feet, and north-east on Col. Samuel Shrimpton (i.e., the vState-House lot) 263 feet." For this lot of an acre on Beacon street, on which stands the stone mansion, Mr. Hancock paid £1,000 in good bills of the Provinces. The Thompson moiety tumbled about from heir to heir, under the English entail created by the major, to which I have referred in the case of his two-acre pasture by Somerset street. William Thompson, of Eltsham, England, the ultimate heir in tail, barred the entail in 1758 (L. 93, f. 124, 125), and, by Andrew Oliver, his attorney, conveyed to said Thomas Hancock, in 1759 (L. 93, f. 158), "all that tract of land set off to Joseph Thompson on partition with John Alford, in 1717,— October Term of the Court of Common Pleas, — measuring 135 feet southerly on the Common, and northerly in the rear 93 feet on Elisha Cook, west on land of Samuel Sewall, or a lane between it and the premises, and east on the lot set off to Alford." So that Mr. Samuel Bosworth's 10-feet alley had reacl)ed the dignity of being, perhaps^ a lane. It had not yet attained its full-grown glories as Joy street. And for this acre Mr. Hancock paid £150 sterling more. At these trifling prices Mr. Hancock acquired all the land west of the State-House to J03' street. He devised, as we have seen, in 1763, to his widow Lydia, who died in 1777, devising to her husband's nephew. Governor Hancock, who died seized in 1793 of this great estate thus cheaply acquired. Gleaner. TO GLEANER. September 24, 1855. SiK, — As you have ingenuously confessed in one of your articles that you never saw Beacon Hill, you will permit one who saw it often, and had, as a child, a familiar acquaintance with its dandelions and buttercups, to tell you something about it. It was, at my earliest recollection, in its full glory, surmounted by a graceful column, "Gleaner" Articles. 153 on whose top perched a gilded eagle, and on whose base were tho=e inscriptions which I am still young enough to go to the State-House to copy, as I mean to do, for this article before I have done. But let us go back to the time when the hill was as described by your ancient friend ; when there was, in place of the column, a stone basement, on which rested four horizontal timbers, crossing each other in the centime. From this centre rose a mast, holding on its top a tar-baiTcl, which in case of danger was to be set on fire, to be a beacon to the country round. This preparation was adaptea to a time of war, but it was happily never needed; when the war ended, the beacon was but a remnant of thir/gs that had been. Thus it remained till about four years after the war, when a young gentleman returned from Europe who had been passing a year in England, France, and Italy, led thither not by motives of business, but what was then unusual, by a love of art, particularly that art which, in a young community is the most practically useful, — Architecture. This young gentleman, Charles Bul- finch, was the son of that Bulfinch whose name, as the owner of the pasture, has found a place in some of your communications. On his return home he immediately begun to put in exercise those tastes for architectural impi'ovement which he had carried with him abroad, and nourished by all that he saw. The first idea that occurred to him was to remove the unsightly timbers of the old beacon from their conspicuous site, and replace them with a handsome column, i-eserabling at an humble distance those he had seen in London, Paris, and Rome. How the funds were obtained I do not know, but presume the method that has been so often used since was employed, and a subscription paper passed around ; and am equally well satisfied that in that case, as in later ones, the prime mover in the scheme had to take all the trouble and make up aU deficiencies himself. The monument, designed by Mr. Bulfinch, and built under his superintendence, bore on its pedestal tablets of slate, with inscriptions written by him. On two sides the principal civil and military events of the Revolution, with their dates, were in- scribed. On the third and fourth sides one read as follows : — To Commemorate that TRAIN of EVENTS which led to the AMERICAN" REVOLUTION, and finally secured LIBERTY and INDEPENDENCE to the United States, This COLUMN is erected by the voluntary contributions of the CITIZENS of Boston, ATDCCXC. AMERICANS ! While from this EMINENCE, scenes of luxuriant fertility, of flourishing commerce, and the abodes of social happiness, meet your view, Forget not those who by their exertions have secured to you these blessings. 154 City Document No. 105. The column stood till about the year 1808, when at last the suit between the Hancock heirs and the town was decided in favor of the foiTner, and it became certain that the hill must be dug down, with the exception of a limited space in the centre. It seemed useless for the town to retain this square pile of earth (for such it would liave been), bounded with perpendicular sides, and therefore it was sold to share the fate of the rest. This is, according to ray recollections, the reason why the town parted with what, if it could have been preserved entire, would have been, as you say, a unique and unrivalled ornament. But the times were hard, embarg'o and commercial restrictions had crushed the trade and damped the spirits of the community. The liberal and public-spirited individual throujjh whose agency the monument had been erected had fallen a victim to the derangements of the times, and, in the enterprise of Franklin place, had made shipwreck of his fortunes. No other stood ready to redeem the liill from its fate by buying up the Hancock claim, and the hill fell, and the monument disappeared, leaving only the tablets, which still meet the visitor's eye as he prepares to ascend to the lantern on the top of the State- House, a spot from which a view similar to that which used to be commanded from the top of Beacon Hill may still be seen, with its " scenes of luxuriant fertilitj-," etc. At my earliest recollection the appearance of the hill was this : a grassy hemi- sphere, so steep that one could with difficulty mount its sides, descending with a perfectly regular cun'e to the streets on the south, west, and north. On the east it had been encroached upon, and the contour was broken. Just opposite the end of Coolidge avenue, on Derne street, there was a flight of wooden steps, ten or fifteen in number, leading part way up the hill. After that one had to climb the rest of the way by aid of the foot-holes that had been worn in the surface, along a wide path worn bare by the feet, to the top, where there was also a space of some fifty feet square, worn bare of sod. In the midst of this space stood the monument. De- scending by the south side, one followed a similar rough gravel path to another flight of plank steps, leading down the level of Mt. Vernon street, and terminating at about the position of the front of Xo. 13 TSIount Vernon street, the first house of those facing south. The sport of batting the ball up the hill and meeting it again on its descent was played by some ; but it was not so easy a game as one would at first suppose, on account of the difficulty of maintaining one's footing on the hill-side, which was so steep as to require some skill even to stand erect on it. The appearance of the hill in winter I do not recollect ; but I think it must have been generally bai'e of snow, from its elevated position, and I do not recollect having even seen sleds used on it. But you can ask C. P. C, or T. B. C, or G. H K., or Dr. R., or Marshall F., and they can correct or confii-m my impressions on this point. T. B. [The Monument on Beacon Hill. — The account of the Beacon Hill monument, on the first page, will be read with much interest. A portrait of Mr. Charles Bulfinch, the gentleman alluded to, taken while he was in Europe, at the age of twenty-six, is now on exhibition at the Athenaeum. — Note in the Transcript.] From a careful copy of these inscriptions in the " American Magazine," ii., 47, (Boston, 1835), we supply the other two tablets. Those givei were placed respec- tivelv on the south and east sides. — W. H. W". (On the "West side.) Stamp act passed 1765, repealed 1766. Board of customs established 1767. British Troops fired on the inhabitants "Gleaner" Articles. 155 of Boston, March 5, 1770. Tea Act passed 1773. Tea destroyed in Boston, Dec. 16, 1773. Poi-t of Boston shut and guarded June 1, 1774. General Congress at Philadelphia, Sept. 5. Provincial Congi-ess at Concord, Oct. IL Battle at Lexington, April 19, 1775. Battle at Bunker Hill, June 17. WASHINGTON took command of the Army, July 2. Boston evacuated, March 17, 1776. Independence declared by Congress, July 4. JOHN HANCOCK, President. (On the North side.) Capture of Hessians at Trenton, Dec. 26, 1776. Capture of Hessians at Bennington, August 16, 1777. Capture of British Army at Saratoga, October 17. Alliance with France, Feb. 6, 1778. Confederation of the United States formed, July 9. Constitution of Massachusetts formed, 1780. BOWDOIN, President of Convention. Capture of British Army at York, October 19, 1781. Preliminaries of Peace, Nov. 30, 1782. Definitive Treaty of Peace, Sept. 10, 1783. Federal Constitution fonned, Sept. 17, 1787, And Eatified by the United States, 1787 to 1790. New Congress assembled at New York, April 6, 178&. WASHINGTON inaugurated President, AprU 30. Public Debts Funded, August 4, 1790. 156 City Document No. 105. LIV. THOMAS BULFINCH, ESQ. September 23, 1855. I am much gratified to have been in any way the cause of the interesting communication of T. B.* I was not aware tliat the monument on Beacon Hill was planned by the late Charles Bul- finch. He has, however, left a far more imposing specimen of his taste as an architect. The State-House was planned by him, though I have always been informed that the wings were originally designed to have been of greater length than the present, as com- pared with the centre and the dome. Whatever may be its architectural defects, however, it is a great ornament to our city, and produces a very striking and agreeable effect when first seen from a distance. The recent addition on its north side has made the edifice bulge out in that direction in a manner which the neighbors doubtless consider unsightly, however convenient it may be for the occupants, and however well it maj', on the whole, accord with the rest of the structure. (The stone embankment wall on the east side of the State-House has been the most costly item in our State expenditures. It was undermined by the frost, and had to be replaced in the most substantial manner. The estimates of this wall were, I believe, about $6,000. His Ex- cellency, in his message, incidentally suggested that the cost had somewJiat exceeded the estimate. It was, I believe, over $20,000.) I regret very much to see that there is any intermeddling with the foundations of the main building. Nothing indeed, now, even of the most fundamental character, is held sacred. I sincerely hope that the State-House will not share the fate of the monument. Gleaner. ♦See ante, page 152. — W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 157 LV. JOHN HANCOCK. September 28, IS 55. Mr. Editor: — As long as America shall continue to hold a piace among the nations of the earth the memory of John Hancock will endure. Few men during life have been more higlily lauded, or more bitterly assailed. To an entire disregard, and even a culpable neglect, of exactness in money matters, he united great liberality, botli public and private. While Harvard College was dunning him in vain for a settlement of accounts as its late treas- urer, he appropriated several hundred pounds sterling to purchase an elegant carpet and other articles in London, which he generously presented to that Seminary. And I suppose there is no doubt that eventually he repaid to it, at least, as much as the amount of his indebtedness. So remiss was he in regard to his own affairs that some very valuable real estate was actually taken from him under levy on execution. But his official signature nobly repre- sented Massachusetts on the most important document in the his- tory of our countr}'. James Bowdoin was originall}^ chosen a delegate to the first Continental Congress. It was a glorious post of duty and respon- sibility, — one which the whole previous and subsequent tenor of his life alike shows that he would not have ahunned or evaded. The avowed reason for declining was doubtless tlie true one, — the infirm state of his wife's health. [See address at Bowdoin College, 1849, by Robert C. Winthrop, a great-grandson of Governor Bow- doin.] Upon how slight a circumstance sometimes depends the gain or the loss of the highest prizes of life ! Mr. Hancock was chosen as his substitute, and achieved for himself that immortality which might otherwise have been his rival's. When the French fleet visited Boston a grand entertainment was given to its officers at the Governor's mansion. It was a breakfast, or, as it would now be called, a matinee. Believing that all good citizens would be glad to contribute, the Governor issued a summary order that all the cows on Boston Common should be milked to furnish supplies for the occasion. I am not aware that any action of trespass was ever brought against His Excellency for this truly arbitrary confiscation of i)rivate property. 158 City Document No. 105. These festivities on shore were reciprocated upon the water by our gallant allies. As the wife of His Excellency was seated at the table, on which was spread an elegant collation, on board the vessel of the French commander, he requested her (without any reason as- signed) to ring a small bell which he handed her, or to do some other slight act which he designated. She did so. This was the preconcerted signal for a general salute from all the guns of the fleet. She was startled alike out of her official dignity and per- sonal propriety by the deafening peal of artillery that iramediatelj' ensued. Governor Hancock thought that, as the Chief Magistrate of Massachusetts, it was not for him to take the first step, even when " The Father of our Country " visited us. He felt that his dignity, or, more properly, the dignity of the sovereign State which he represented, would be compromised b^' his making the first call, even on Washington. His Excellency, however, speedily dis- covered his mistake, and certainly took, or was supposed by the public to have taken, an ingenious mode of correcting it. Swath- ing liis limbs in flannels, — the victim of a sudden attack of the gout, — he caused himself to be carried to visit the President, who, whatever may have been his private convictions, could not hesitate to accept and excuse the tardy civilities of such a suffering invalid. Thus, singularly enough, it was by denying himself the use of his natural legs that His Excellency got upon his legs again in this matter of etiquette. Washington and his suite were detained several hours upon the Neck, and, the da^' being very chilly and disagreeable, many people became ill with what was called the " Washington cold." The President's dinner also grew cold (atS. S. Pierce's grocery store, °° at the corner of Tremont and Court streets) ; but a supplementary fish, of great excellence, being obtained at the last moment, was served up in the most approved and satisfactory' manner. The non-arrival of a fish once caused the despair and suicide of a French cook ; the arrival of this fish saved an American landlord, under even more desperate circum- stances, when he was doubtless making divers sentimental ejacula- tions, though he would not, probabh', at last have resorted to such a tragical proof of loj'alty. It is, however, due to His Excellency to state that he was really a frequent martyr to the gout. My informant, 80 years old, «• During the year 1883 this building has been at last torn down, to be replaced by a magnificent store, again occupied by Mr. Pierce. — W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 159 rememheis tliat on one occasion he opened the session of the Legislature by a speech delivered with great dignity and efTect, although from a seat which was almost a conchy his limbs being on this occasion wrapped in flannels, from the bona-fide necessities of the case. And it may be that such was the real cause of his dilatory call on Washington, the popular opinion to the contrary notwithstanding. When President Jackson visited Boston '" I was a young man, and had just discovered the delights of horsemanship. I had never been made to embrace mother earth by either of the various processes of stumbling, rearing, halting, or shying. These saddening experiences came later in life. Seized, therefore, with a fit of equestrian patriotism, I determined to join the calvacade which was to escort the city's guest from the Neck. I was mount- ed on a fine spirited horse, and we were duly formed in a line, in front of which the procession was to pass. Just as the Presi- dent was approaching us, the noise of the music and the shouts excited and alarmed my steed, and, after sundry demonstrations, which I, at least, regarded as very serious, he finally became quiet, with his tail exactly where his head should have been, and vice versa. In the earlier part of these performances I had great difficult}^ in preserving my own centre of gravity, and the specta- tors, to a man, lost their gravity at its conclusion. I was aware that by thus turning my back upon him I was treating the head of the nation with apparent discourtesy. But on reflection I became satisfied ihat my presidential visit had not proved more embarrass- ing and awkward to myself, or the source of more amusement and ridicule to lookers-on, than did Governor Hancock's visit to Wash- ington : and tLiat, with the best intentions, each of us was merely the unhappy victim of a little want of tact, and that I had one great advantage over His Excellency, viz., nobody knew who I was. Dorothy, the widow of Governor Hancock, survived him nearly 40 years, or till 1830. She married again, and is better known to us as Madame Scott. The whole of this mansion-house estate (except a triangular gore between Mount Vernon place and street) was assigned to her as her dower, as was also Hancock's wharf. Evicted fiom this latter very valuable estate as lately as 1817, under foreclosure of a mortgage made in 1774, for onl}- £1.650 1.3s. »i Jackson anived in Boston, June 21, 1833, and remained here five days. — W. H. W. 160 City Document No. 105. 5d., she attempted to obtain a new assignment of dower; but the Court refused it, because she had given her express assent to the original assignment (13 Mass. Rep., 162, Scott vs. Hancock). This is one of a series of perhaps a dozen lawsuits in our Reports relative to lands of Governor Hancock. I trust that for many a spring yet to come that old stone man- sion will continue to stand, *^ and the lilac-bushes to blossom in the green enclosure on which it fronts. Long life to its now aged proprietor, whose laudable pride of ancestry has hitherto preserved, for the gratification alike of the community and of himself, this interesting domestic memorial of the First Signer of the Declara- tion of Lidependerxe ! Gleaner. ^^ The demolition of this mansion to give place to two modern houses, a few years since, inflicted an iiTcparable loss upon the city. — W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 161 liVI. HOUSES ON HANCOCK ESTATE. October 1, 1855. Mr. Editor : — The estate of Governoi* Hancock on Beacon street and hill (say 3i acres) would now, undoubtedly, be worth a million and a half of dollars. It would not be interesting to the public, or professionally expedient, for me to enlarge on the non- compos proceedings, sales by guardians of minors, and by admin- istrators, executory devises, and sundry other like matters, which form the legal history of this spot. In 1815, Beacon street was widened by cutting off from this estate a strip, which was 17 feet wide at the State-House land, and 20 feet wide at a point 92 feet 6 from Belknap street. A plan is recorded in L. 250, f. 76. Mt. Vernon place and the 20-feet way behind it have been laid out through this land ; and Mt. Vernon avenue, or Hancock avenue (or Cato alley, as it has been jocosely called, from its affording a convenient access across the Common to and from the northerly end of Belknap street) , was laid out by mutual agreement between the Commonwealth and these proprietors. There is no other range of houses in Boston, that I know of, whose entire value depends on light, air, and prospect enjoyed merely by sufferance, i.e., over the land of the Commonwealth. Should that land ever be covered by buildings these residences would become houses on a ten-feet alley, and the name above suggested would then be signally appro- priate, as they would probably be occupied by the present denizens of the lower part of Belknap street. There now stand upon these Hancock lands many of the most desirable residences in the city. Thus, west of the Hancock man- sion, on Beacon street, are the four elegant dwellings of Samuel A. Eliot, of Mrs. Gardiner Greene, of Mrs. George Parkman, and of J. Bowdoin Bradlee. In the rear of these, on the south side of Mount Vernon place, are seven others, the corner one of which, on Belknap street, was owned and occupied by the late Hon. Theo- dore Lyman, the munificent founder of the first reform school in 162 City Document No. 105. the Commonwoalth. On the north side of saul place, and front- ing on Belknap and Mount Vernon streets, are six more houses ; the first owned and occupied by George VV. Lyman, Esq., who is, or was, also proprietor of several of the others. There are seven houses on the avenue or " alley." Back of the State-House, on the north side of Mount Vernon street, is an elegant block of seven costly residences, extending from Hancock to Temple street, all which, except a strip of the westerly house, come under this title. On the same street (easterly of Temple street) are two houses of smaller size and cost ; and on the east side of Temple street another block of eight houses of the same character. These two last ranges of houses cover, as we have seen, the site of the monument, and the chief part of the six rods square around it, there being only a small portion of it on the west side of Temple street. The result is, that on the Hancock estate, besides the State- House and most of the Reservoir, there have been laid out four or five streets or ways, on which stand, in all, say forty brick dwell- ing-houses. The grounds belonging to the old stone mansion house will eventually — I trust, however, at a distant day — afford space enough for three more as elegant residences as can be built in tlie city. A magnificent estate truly, and jet acquired by the ancestor of the Hancock family within about a century (1735, 1752, 1759), at a cost of £1,000 province currency, £150 sterling, and £220 lawful money of Great Britain ; and if " Inquirer " is right, as he probably is, in estimating the £1,000 at only §333^, the total cost would have been only slightly above two thousand dollars. In view alike of the two public edifices which have been erected on it, and of the distinguished public services of its former pro- prietor, it never has been and never can be surpassed in interest by an}' private estate within the limits of Boston. It is, indeed, a coincidence no less striking than agreeable, that on one and the same homestead should stand, as it were, side by side together, the edifice of our State sovereignty, and the mansion of him whose signature was first affixed to our national charter. Gleaneb. "Gleaner" Articles. 163 L.VII. SEW ALL'S ELM PASTURE. Octoher 4, 1855. Mr. Editor : — Who ever heard of " Sewall's Elm pasture," or of Coventry street, Sewall street, and Bishop Stoke street ? Some of your readers, who are in a state of ignorance on these points, may, perhaps, be glad to be enlightened. West of Bosworth's passage-way to his pastures, afterwards Belknap or Joy street, came a 5-acre pasture, derived under Rich- ard Truesdale and Thomas Millard. In Book of Possessions (f. 62) Richard Truesdale's possession is three-fourths of an acre, bounded on the Common south, Nathaniel Eaton north, Bosworth west, and Thomas Millard east. Thomas Millard's possession was half an acre, bounded with the Common south, Richard Truesdale west, Thomas Scottow east and north. Zacheus Bosworth's possession (f. 63) was two acres in the new field, bounded with the Common south, Richard Trues- dale east, Jane Parker west, Wm. Wilson and John Ruggles north ; also IJ- acres bounded with Thomas Millard south, James Johnson north, Edward Dennis east, and Richard Sherman west. Bos- worth, as we have seen, conveyed to said Millard one acre, bounded with Edward Hutchinson north, the Common south, Thomas Millard east, and said Zacheus west, October 10, 1651, — being part of the State-House lot, — and transmitted to his daughter the whole two acres of the Hancock laud west of the State House. For practical purposes, notwithstanding the de- ficiency of contents as stated in the Book of Possessions, the title is safe under the two following deeds to the whole laud there- by convej'ed : — Richard Truesdale and Mary his wife to Thomas Deane — deed May 14, 1667 (Lib. 5, i. 234). Three acres, more or less, bounded on the Common south, on Thomas Millard north and east, on Francis East west, on Thomas Brattle and Humphrey Davy north- westerly. Thomas Miller conveyed to said Deane, May, 1768 (Lib. 5, f. 249) , 3 acres bounded on the Common south-west, on Richard Cook, Humphrey Davy, and Thomas Brattle north-west, on the highway leading to Richard Cook's north-east [i.e., Joy street], and on said Deane south-westerly. 164 City Document No. 105. These two purchases would seem to be 6 acres, but Thomas Deane and Ann, his wife, sell the same to James Whetcomb, Feb. 11, 1672 (Lib. 8, f. 62) as five acres, more or less, bought partly of Truesdale aud partly of Miller, bounded south-westerly on the Common, on Cook, Deane, and Brattle north-west, on Francis East west, on the highway from Cook's to the Common north-east- erly. Whetcomb conveyed it to "Wm. Hawkins as early as 1678, and "Wm. Hawkins and Anna, his wife, conveyed to Ephraim Savage, 1690 (L. 15, f. 4G), as " formerly purchased by said Hawkins of Jamt'S Whetcomb." Ephraim Savage and Elizabeth, his wife, con- veyed to Samuel Sewall, April 2, 1692 (L. 15, f. 183), as five acres, more or less, bounded south on the Common 28 rods 9 feet, west on Francis East 27J rods, north on Cook, Davie, and Brattle 33 rods, aud east on the lane leading to Mr. Cook's 22J- rods. Hon. Samuel Sewall was husband of Hannah, daughter of Hull, the mintmaster. She died, and he mortgaged to Joseph Wads- worth, town treasurer, the west part of this pasture, in 1721 (L. 35, f. 201), to secure an annuity of £5, payable every 2d of April, " " for the use of the School at the South End of Boston of the upper End of Pond Street so called, whereof Ames Angier is now Writing Master, which School is not far distant from the Place where Mr. John Sanford, a Pious, Skilfull and Prudent man, formerly taught School, and whose Scholar the said Hannah was, and of whom, with Pleasure, she frequently made mention." Lest the residents on Beacon street should feel alarmed as to this rent charge of £5, I will mention that it was released bj' the town to his heirs. He married Mary, widow of Robert Gibbs, 1721 (Suffolk, Lib. 36, f. 59), and died seized of this pasture in 1729. This pasture maj' be set down as an investment of some of Mr. Hull's " shillings," though not made by himself personally. Con- sidering the number of them which Judge Sewall received with his wife, and which made him one of our wealthiest citizens, the donation above mentioned was not, in itself, a munificent endow- ment of our public schools, nor, viewed as a parting tribute of affection to the memory of the wife of his youth, when, in his old age, he was just taking another helpmate, can it be considered as involving any very lavish expenditure. Gleaner. B3 We have ventured to give an exact quotation from the original deed, at this place— W.H.W. "Gleaner" Articles. 165 LVIII. STREETS ON PAPER. October 8, 1855. Mr. Editor: — Judge Samuel Sewall died, as we have seen, in 1720. By the law, as it stood till^"* the eldest son took a double share. He left three children : Samuel, the eldest son ; Joseph ; Judith, the wife of William Cooper; and the four children of a deceased daughter, Elizabeth, wife of Grove Hurst, viz. : Mary, wife of William Pepperell, Jr. ; Elizabeth, wife of Charles Chauncy ; Hannah, wife of Nathaniel Balston ; and Jane, wife of Addington Davenport. These heirs selected referees to divide this pasture into lots, and they then drew for a choice, and executed mutual releases (1732) . There was laid out a 35 -feet street parallel to Beacon street, and 170 feet north of it, which street extended westerly from Bel- knap sti'eet 464 feet. There were also opened two streets run- ning northerly from Beacon street, 25 feet by 170 feet deep. The first of these was 160 feet west of Belknap street, and was called Bishop Stoke street; the other was 160 feet further west, and was called Coventry street. All these streets I consider to have been virtually, perhaps actu- ally, only streets on paper. They had no outlet into other lands, but merely served as access to the several lots into which this past- ure was divided. They have had no existence in fact, for cer- tainly the last 60 years. Part of Bishop Stoke street, indeed, now comes within the lines of Walnut street. " Sewall's elm pasture," which began as six acres and shrunk up to five acres, proved on survey, in 1732, to hold out only 4| aci'es. It measured 440 feet on the Common or Beacon street, and thence extended back, the easterly line diverging, and on the north forming a very irregular line on Allen's 16.^-acre pasture (afterwards Wheelwright's, and finally bought b}' the Mt. Vernon ^* Blank in the original. The act of March 9, 1784, continued the old Law, in case of intestacy. The act of June 8, 1789, repealed the clause, and made all the children share alike after January 1, 1790. The act of March, 12, 1806, and its successois have continued the practice. — W. 11. W. 166 City Document No. 105. Proprietors). Its greatest depth from Beacon street was at about the centre, where it measured 490 feet. Some idea of its general dimensions may be formed by considering that the present square between IJeacon, Belknap, Mt. Vernon, and Wnluut streets con- stitutes just about the easterly half of this pasture. Witliout going into the detail of the various deeds of these lots, the general result is, that all west of Wahiut street, as now laid out, gets united in John Singleton Copley, partly by deeds of Dr. Sylvester Gardner, in 1770, and partly by deed of John Williams, in 1773; there being intervening deeds by Peter Lucee, 1744; Benjamin Bagnal, 1744; Hon. John Erving, 1752; Nathaniel Cunningham, 1783,* and his son Nathaniel, 1701, These purchases of Copley included, also, a gore east of \V"alnut street, which was subsequently conveyed by him, 1800 (194, f. IIG), to Dr. John Joy, in whom all the other lots east of Walnut street likewise get united in 1791-1798. Great confusion exists among some of the series of deeds of this easterly moiety of the pasture, and in 1792 a deed was made to said Joy by John Williams, executor, for £100 (L. 171, f. 255), which was a mere pretended title. Some time after Mr. Joy had bought and paid for it, it is said that Mr. Williams asked him if he did not want to pay £100 more for another deed, and on Mr. Joy's asking what he meant, told him that he had still got as much title left as he had originally conveyed. This very deed, however (as affording a distinct basis of a possessory title) , became ultimately of great value ; since it quietly cured all informalities and deficiencies in the deeds of the true owners. A fine plan of this estate of Dr. Joy, in 1799, accompanies an indenture recorded Lib. 192, fol. 198. A small gore of land south of Mount Vernon street comes under Allen or Wheelwright. All the residue of Joy's laud is from Sewall's pasture. His whole lot finally measured 172 feet on Beacon street, 457 feet 4 inches on Walnut street, 305 feet 1 inch on Mount Vernon street, and 355 feet 3 inches on Joy street, being about 100,000 square feet. Gleaner. • This date is probably a misprint. — W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. 167 LIX. CONDITIONS — EAVES. October 11, 1835. Mr. Editor : — Titles to real estate forfeitable by breach of con- dition are by no means uncommon in Boston, beinpj, however, chiefly liehl under deeds made during the present century. Thus all North anrl South Market streets, Park street, Colonnade row, and a large proportion of all the lands on the Neck and elsewhere, conveyed by the city, are on condition. All Winthrop place is held under conditional deeds of George Bond. The large Barton Point estate is held under such deeds from the Barton Point Asso- ciation. The whole great area of the old Mill Pond lands was so conveyed. The lots upon Broad, India, and Central streets, with the other streets in that vicinity, wCre so conveyed by the Broad Street Association, or by individuals. The entire marginal lots, and many others, at East Boston are also subject to conditions. There is great inconvenience, as well as danger, from such titles. For instance, one large tract is conve3'ed at East Boston on condi- tion that no ferry shall be established. Fifty separate house-lots are sold off with warranty, making no mention of the condition, the parties supposing that it is inapplicable to any except the re- maining water-lots ; and yet a breach by this remaining owner might work a forfeiture of the whole original tract, and destroy the titles of his innocent grantees. In one court in this city, a tract, on which now stand seven dwelling-houses, is conve3'ed by one deed, with a like joint condition as to the style of building, — mak- ing each proprietor liable for the acts of half-a-dozen neighbors. And this is especially true of man}' of the city lands on the Neck. It not unfi-equently happens that the mention of the condition (even when made merely of the one particular lot) gets omitted in later deeds by mistake, and thus a party may ruin himself unconscioush' by some little violation. In Gray vs. Blanchard (8 Pick. Rep., 284) land was conveyed on the condition that " no windows shall be placed in the north wall of the house aforesaid, or of any house to be erected on the 168 City Document No. 105. premises withi i 30 years from the date hereof," and the breach of this condition forfeited the entire estate. How great a risk may be run from this cause will be apparent by considering the following adjudication : — In 8 Gushing, 150, Millet vs. Fowle, it was decided b}' the Supreme Court that the expression in a deed " four feet from the northerly side of the building,"- means four feet from the extremest pat of the building, and therefore from the eaves. In other words, that eaves, as they project over the front or side of a house, are the extremest part of that front or side of the building. Now, there are many long ranges of estates in Boston, where, for the purpose of uniformity, conditions were originally imposed, the breach of which would work a forfeiture. One of these condi- ons always prescribes the front of the houses (as that the front of every building erected shall be 6 feet or 10 feet back from the line of the street). The main walls are accordingly placed onthnt exact line. Under the above decision, if the eaves, or, as it would seem, even the window-sills or caps, project an inch, it works a for- feiture, because the extremest part of the front of the house must be at the distance prescribed. / verily believe, therefore, that every estate in Boston, which has heretofore been conveyed on such a condition {and the city are mak' ing such conveyances every day) , has been forfeited under the above decision. Or, in other ivords, that the above decision strictly carried out would defeat many hundred honest titles. It is undoubtedly a sound rule of law that in all cases of reasona- ble doubt a deed is to be construed most strongly agninst the grantor. This has been applied, and I think rightly, in an extreme case (Saltonstall vs. Long wharf), where a little store lot, 18 feet on State street, was conveyed, bounded east on the sea or flats, and the deed was held also to pass all the flats to low-ioater mark along the whole south side of Long wharf, because, b}^ the use of two words, one of which passed the flats, and the other which excluded them, a reasonable doubt arose as to the grantor's intent, making this rule of construction applicable. But it seems to me that in the class of cases above referred to there is no such reasonable doubt of the intent. The side — the front — the wall — of a house means the main, general line of such side, front, or wall, — not those little petty projections, such as window-caps or sills, alwaj's added for or- nament ; or the more indispensable eaves, required alike for the effect- ual support of the roof, and the symmetrical finish of the structure. I have thus far considered the above decision as erroneous on general grounds, and even assuming that the Court were correct in "Gleaner" Articles. 169 holding e^ves to be part of the side of the house over which they project. But Webster's Dictionary defines "eaves" to be " tlie edge or lower border of the roof of the building which overhangs the walls and casts off the water that falls on the roof." In like manner, Johnson and Walker's Dictionary, as improved by Todd, defines eaves as " the edges of the roof which overhang the house," (quoting Shakespeare for this meaning. I have not thought it necessary to consult any other lexicographical authorities. Under these dpfinitions^ of course, a line running 4 feet from the side of a building is not to be measured from the eaves, which are not a part of the side of the building, but of the roof. In other words, our Supreme Court, as lately as 1851, have decided that " eaves " in law means a part of a house wliolly different from what it means by the standard dictionaries of tlie English language. Within the past year, indeed, quite a number of elegant new houses on the Neck were found to be accidentally forfeited to the city because their bow-fronts projected over the prescribed line, and on application the forfeiture was released. Latterly conditions have justly become very unpopular, and restrictions are imposed instead. This is the case with Pemberton square, Edinboro' street, the South-Cove lots, etc., where the par- ties may enter and remove the building, or resort to equity to compel a specific performance of the agreement. Courts lean strongly against conditions, as is indeed abundantly proved by the late case of the Brattle-street Parsonage. While it seems by the case of Austin vs. Cambridgeport, etc. (21 Pick., 215), that if a condition be created by deed, the grantor may lawfully devise such interest, and a subsequent breach will give the estate to his devisee, such devise not being too remote, and therefore void. And yet in the latter case, where a testator, by one and the same instrument, first creates a like condition, and then devises his remaining right, such devise over is too remote, and therefore void, though to common apprehension the ultimate devise is exactly equally remote in each case ; and though wills are avowedly construed more tenderl}- and charitabl}', as to the intent of the testator, than deeds are, because they are often made in extremis and without the aid of counsel, and the use of inartificial language is therefore overlooked in view of the manifest general intent. A law passed prohibiting all conditions, or all forfeitures for breach of condition, would, I think, be a good one. Gleaner. P.S. — Worcester, in his new model dictionary, is as much behind the age as his predecessors. He defines " eaves " as " the cidges of the roof of. a house." 170 City Docujient No. 105. LX. FREDERICK TUDOR — R. G. SHAW. October 15, 1855. Mr. Editor : — Dr. Joy was desirous of getting a house in the country.! as more healthful than a town residence, and he selected this 1 jcalitj- as " being country' enough for him." There were, indeed, then but two houses west of the square, which he purchased — one of them occupied by Charles Cushing, Esq. ; the other by " Master " Vinal, both standing on the Copley estate. The bar- berry-bushes were flourishing over this whole area, as thej' now do on the hills of West Roxbury. And he was right in believing that nowhere else could he inhale purer breezes than those which were wafted across the Boston Common and the river that then washed its borders. There were then no noxious exhalations from the " Back Bay " ; and they do not, indeed, even now, reach as far as this favored spot. The prices paid by Dr. Joy were £100, £GG 13s. 4d., $500 and £337, or about S2,000. There now stand on this land twenty-two dwelling-houses, among which are many of the very finest in our whole city. Its whole present value cannot be less than half a million of dollars. Dr. Joy sold off all the westerly and most of the northerl3' portions, retaining for his own occupancy the south- east part of the estate, measuring 97 feet on Beacon street, and 254 feet 7 inches on Belknap street, now called Joy street. On this he erected a modest and graceful wooden dwelling-house, which was eventually removed to South Boston Point, where it is still, or was recently, standing, on land of Benjamin Adams, Esq. Here he lived till his death, in 1813. He left a widow, Abigail, and two children, Joseph G-. and Nabby ; and, in 1833, this reserved lot was sold by his heirs for §98,000, and upon it were erected three dwelling-houses on Beacon street and the four southerly houses of the block on Jo\' street. The corner estate on Beacon and Joy streets (land and build- ing) is supposed to have cost Israel Thorndike $90,000. It was subsequently purchased by the late R. G. Shaw for $50,000, and was the mansion-house estate occupied by him at his decease. It has been since bought by Frederick Tudor for $70,000, who still "Gleaner" Articles. 171 owns and occupies it. The adjoining house on Beacon street belonged to the late Samuel T. Armstrong, in whose mayoralty it was, I believe, that the iron fence was completed around the Com- mon, and whose signature, as Lt. Governor, gave validity to a new code of laws, the Revised Statutes of the Commonwealth, in 1836. The onl}- natural productions of New England, as has been well said, are ice and granite. It is to the wisdom and intelligence, and above all to the indomitable energy and perseverance, of Mr. Tudor, that the first of these articles has become a mine of wealth to the communit}', far more precious than the richest "placers" of California. It is, I believe, a favorite theory of political econo- mists that a nation is on the road to ruin when the value of its imports exceeds that of its exports. But the fallacy becomes manifest when a cargo of Mr. Tudor's ice — worth almost nothing here except the labor of collecting it — is sent abroad to the pant- ing and perspiring denizens of the tropics, or to refresh the natives of even distant India, and is there exchanged for a precious freight of costly spices and merchandise. I remember to have heard with much interest an account of the first shipment of ice to India, from the gentleman who went with it as supercargo. He described the naive astonishment of the natives as they took into the palms of their hands little particles of ice, and watched them slowly melt away, — the proceeding being apparently' conducted as cautiously as if they had been handling live coals, — and the formal entertainment given by the Governor General, Lord William Bentinck, as an appreciative acknowledgment to those who had thus placed within the reach of a great nation one of the most delightful luxuries of a bountiful Providence. All honor to Mr. Tudor for his great discovery! May his own prosperity always keep pace with the ruinous consequences which it has entailed upon New England." =" Without detracting at all from the remai-kable business enterprise shown by Mr. Tudor, it is proper to note that the field opened by him has since been closed. The introduction of ice into Calcutta was, indeed, a priceless benefit to the inhabitants, and for many years it was a prosperous business for Mr. Tudor and his successors. But the restless spirit of invention has discovered means of producing ice there at a less cost than that of importation from New England, and this particular traffic is a thing of the past. On the other hand, the demand for ice within our own territories has so increased that the business has developed beyond the wildest dreams of its originator. Mr. Tudor died Februaiy 6, 1S64, aged eighty years ; and his widow died March 9, 1884, aged sixty-nine years. — W. II. \V. 172 City Document No. 105. Nor was Mr. Shaw a less remarkable man in his wa}'. Ever extensively and actively engaged in commerce, cautious when he seemed to be most bold and daring, he displayed a uniform sagacity, which, in its results, was as advantageous to himself as it was to the community. The public spirit which he displayed through life was also manifested by munificent charitable be- quests and endowments, which will make his name known and honored long after the wealth that he won for his heirs shall have passed awa}'', and the memory of his useful career as a citizen shall be forgotten. Gleaner. ** Gleaner" Articles. 173 LXI. ROBERT G. SHAW. 'October 20, 1855. Mr. Editor: — My last article closed with a brief allusion to the late R. G. Shaw, Esq. It is well known that, before his death, he became a convert to spiritualism. While he showed his accus- tomed shrewdness in all business transactions, he yet implicitly believed that he had daily communications with deceased relatives, and derived from this belief the greatest satisfaction and consola- tion. That such a man should have arrived at such a result would of itself imply that he must have witnessed phenomena that tended. to justif}' it. These phenomena may, perhaps, be satisfactorily explained by another hypothesis. President Malian has recently published a very able volume, having this object, and in which he considers as incontestable the /ads testified to by so many credible persons, and many of which he had himself witnessed. Within the past year circumstances led me to take much inter- est in this subject. Designedly omitting to read anything in rela- tion to it, I determined to observe for myself. The use of a pencil to point at the letters of the alphabet having been suggested in some quarters as a source of unconscious error (inasmuch as a person may involuntarily pause longer upon the right letter than upon others, — a circumstance of which an intelligent and observing medium might take advantage), I latterly dispense with entirely, in the following manner : A printed card contained the letters of the alphabet in three lines of 8 letters each. I asked that the raps should be made 1, 2, or 3 for the line at which I was to look, and then, after a slight pause, that further raps should be made, from 1 to 8, for the particular letter meant in that line. The effect was as if the particular letter had been at once called out viva voce without an}' instrumentality of my own. I have in this way often obtained a series of pertinent and coher- ent answers to mental questions, without a single mistake, through a session of two hours. This demonstrated to my satisfaction that a power of thought-reading existed somewhere, residing in, or 174 City Document No. 105. proved l\v, the agency which caused the raps, whatever that agency might be. Whether this is a mesmericor a spiritual manifestation is the question discussed in Mr. Mahan's volume. He adopts the former theory. Whatever may be the true explanation the inves- tigation is one of intense and absorbing interest. As far as my own experience goes, the raps have always pur- ported to come from the spirits of deceased persons, in natural terms of relationship or endearment, and in their accustomed modes of expression ; sometimes from persons long since dead, who had not been in my thoughts for j-ears. I have never been able to get any as from living persons. Mr. Mahan, however, has a mass of testimony to the contrary. These raps (as from particular spirits) I have always found marked by individual peculiarities signally appropriate, and identifying them from all others, by loud- ness or gentleness, rapidity or slowness, by their prolonged or abrupt character. One spirit, indeed, always announced himself by a creaking corkscrew rap in the leg of the table, — thus distin- guishing himself from all others by as marked a characteristic as those which had made him preeminent among his fellow-men while living. I have sometimes said mentally, " Will all who have been present rap together?" and immediately there has ensued such a tuttoo of all these various raps as was truly astonishing, the corkscrew being clearly noticeable among and above them all. The mesmeric theory supposes that you get, as it were, a mere reflection of your own thoughts, belief, or wish, and in a vast majority of cases such is undoubtedly the fact ; but the answers which I have obtained have been sometimes wholly unexpected. Thus, one day last winter, I was passing through AVashingtou street, and inadvertentl3' went along the sidewalk of a building from which persons were breaking off masses of ice and frozen snow. One of these masses fell, and, hearing cries of warning, I shrank up close to the wall, and it just grazed my shoulder and elbow, and then shivered to pieces on the sidewalk. I felt that I had had a narrow escape from certain death. I was then on my waj' to Mr. Hay- den's, where I went immediately. No one else was present. I said mentally, " What happened to me as I was coming here?" The alphabet spelt out, " You came near being killed." — "How?" — " By a fall of ice from the roof of a house." — " How did it happen that it did not fall upon me and kill me?" The spirit purporting to respond was my father's. The answer began, '■'■ I prote — " I had supposed that it would state the act of mine which saved me ; but when it began with these letters I supposed it would be, "7 protest I don't knoiv." The arfswer actually given was, " I pro- "Gleaner" Articles. 175 iected you" — *' How ? " — "By slanting off the ice." This led to a series of questions and answers as to the power of spirits over matter, etc., etc. So, also, at a session in company with a distinguished clergy- man of this city, I asked of a certain " spirit," purporting to be present, whether a certain other was there also ; 1 rap, or no. " Can you get him? " 3 raps, or yes. " Do so, and as soon as he comes, both of you rap." In a few minutes their raps were heard accordingly. In the meantime another spirit was communicating, and had just finished a sentence with the word " oncle." I remarked aloud to my friend, " You see it is all right except one letter." I then turned to communicate with the spirit sent for. Immediately many raps were heard of the same faint and rapid character as those of my late correspondent. The medium said, " The one you have been communicating with wishes to say some- thing more." Wliereupon, resuming that communication, the alphabet spelt out " u," and then left off. I said " Proceed." 1 rap, or no. I said, "Is that all?" 3 raps, or yes. I reflected for a moment, and exclaimed, " Oh, you mean that u is the right letter where I said one letter was wrong? " Immediately affirma- tive raps came several times repeated. I said, " Then rap back- wards from the end of your communciations, once for each letter, till you get to the wrong letter, and I will strike it out and sub- stitute M." o raps then came, and I changed the o to w. I then said, "Is it now right?" and got the same cordial affirmative. When "?{" came^ I had not the dightest idea that it was to be a correction of'''' o." This exceptional class of cases is also discussed in Mr. Mahan's volume ; but, on the whole, I became satisfied that, although Mr. Shaw may have arrived at an erroneous conclusion, the premises upon which he acted were by no means a mere absurd delusion ; but that he, like myself, had witnessed a mystery of nature worthy of the most careful and exact scientific investigation. All my articles have been about land, and perhaps this brief visit to the spirit land may be allowable as one of the series. You will, I trust, at any rate, excuse me for what you may, perhaps, regard as mere idle speculations, unworthy even of a Gl BANEB. 176 City Document No. 105. LXII. URIAH COTTING— SAMUEL APPLETON. October 25, 1855. Mr. Editor: — The most westerly of the three houses ou Bea- con street built on the laud sold by Dr. Joy's heirs, in 1833, is that owned by B. C. Clark, Esq., an active and intelligent mer- chant, the author of an interesting pamphlet respecting Hayti, with which counUy he has extensive business relations."® West of his house comes a large lot which Dr. Joy in his lifetime sold to the late Uriah Cotting in 1806 (L. 21G, f. IG). It measured in front 75 feet on Beacon street, and extended 248 feet on Walnut street, widening in the rear to 104 feet. I have in a former article briefly alluded to Mr. Cotting, who lived and died in the house in Somerset street there spoken of. AVheu he made this purchase of Dr. Joy he supposed himself, and on reasonable grounds, to be one of the wealthiest of our citizens, and accord- ingly' began the foundations of a magnificent mansion, with a freestone front, occupying the whole site of the two houses be- longing to the late Samuel Appleton and the late Benjamin P. Homer. It would have surpassed any house even now existing among us, and at that time there was no edifice that could have borne the slightest comparison with it for splendor and elegance. The lower story was already constructed, when the embargo, followed b}' war, took place. Rents declined ; real estate fell exceedingly in value, and he found himself — comparatively, at least — a poor man. He at once took down the building, and selling off to Mr. Homer the westerly moiety of the land (and of other lands which he had bought behind it), he erected on the residue the elegant mansion now standing, and which he sold to Mr. Appleton for $30,000, in 1818 (L. 259, f. 244), the lot being 43 feet in front and 330 feet deep. His health soon afterwards began to fail, and he died of a rapid consumption in 1819 ; and such still continued to be the depressed state of all kinds of prop- erty that his estate eventually proved insolvent. B8 Mr. Clark died Nov. 16, 1863. His son, of the same name, is still Consul for Ilayti in this city. — W. H. \V. "Gleaner" Articles. 177 I will mention an anecdote relating to this house and to its original and recent ownership. On the death of the widow of Mr. Cotting, one of the most estimable and exemplary of women, which happened but a few j-ears ago. I published in the " Boston Courier " a notice of the services of Mr. Cotting, detailing various extensive improvements which he had planned and executed ; and 1 concluded by suggesting that perhaps some of our wealthy citizens, whose own fortunes had been increased by a participation in his enterprises, might be willing to contribute something to replace to his daughters a small annuity which their mother had hitherto received under the will of the late Edward Tuckerman, and which thenceforth ceased. The article was copied by another of our chief journals, and its closing suggestion approved. I waited first upon Mr. Appleton. He told me the circumstances of his purchase of this house, saying, "• I meant to deal at the time liberaliy with Mr. Cotting, and offered him the amount of what I thought its actual value, telling him that he might take six months to find any other purchaser who would give him more. In a few days, however, he came back and accepted the offer, admit- ting that nobody else was willing to give so much. He expressed his great satisfaction at selling it, and his obligation to me for what he himself considered a full and adequate compensation." Mr. Appleton did not end by saying, "• So you perceive that there is no reason why / should be thus called upon." " But," he said to me, " the estate is now worth more than double that price (perhaps $75,000), and I will head your paper with S500." This was more than I had hoped for, though 1 had never been refused by him in mj- life ; but, on the contrary, had always found him a most "cheerful giver." Another gentleman, who had been in- timately associated with Mr. Cotting, at once added his name for the same sum. Hon. David Sears and others subscribed various amounts in a like liberal spirit, and I was in the " full tide of suc- cessful experiment," when I received, from the 3'oung ladies interested, instructions to proceed no farther, lest that should be yielded to my solicitations which would not have been spontaneously offered as a tribute of respect for their father's memory. Mr. Cotting is buried in the Granary burying-ground. The forthcoming volume of Mr. Bridgman, in relation to this place of interment, will doubtless be as accurate in its facts and as beautiful a specimen of letter-press and typography as his similar volume on the King's Chapel burying-ground, and I cordially 178 City Document No. 105. advise all who are interested in "historical gleanings" to sub- seribe for it at once. I am glad that it will preserve in a perma- nent form what I feel indeed to be but a slight and inadequate tribute to the memory of perhaps the most distinguished citizen who has been laid to his rest in that field of death. Mr. Appleton died in this house, July 12, 1853, aged 87 years. In youth a village school-master, in manhood an eminent mer- chant, he found in acts of daily beneficence the best solace for the infirmities of age. Simple habits, uncompromising integrity, and a noble public spirit, won for him the confidence and regard of the community ; and death gently closed a life that had been pro- longed and blest by the kindest offices of domestic affection. He bequeathed a large part of his great wealth for purposes of litera- ture, science, charity, and religion. A mural tablet in the King's Chapel will appropriately record his virtues ; but to this spot, where he lived so long, happy in making others happy, — a spot hallowed by the grateful prayers of the widow and the orphan, — the annalist of Boston will point with pride as the home of Samuel Appleton. Gleaneb. Gleaner" Articles. 179 Lxni. HISTORICAL. Odoher 30, 1855. Mr. Editor : — In our last article we mentioned that Mr. Cot- ting sold to the late Benjamin P. Homer, in 1816, the south-west corner lot of Dr. Joy's land. It measured 32 feet on Beacon street, and 200 feet on Walnut street (L. 250, f. 283). He sold the rear lot, measuring G6 feet 6 inches on Walnut street, to N. P. Russell, Esq., 1814 (L. 243, f. 273), which also subsequently became the property of Mr. Homer. Mr. Homer had rather more than his share of the old streets. A strip of 15 feet in width of old Bishop Stoke street takes half the width of his lot, and old Sewall street runs across his I'ear. If these easements could now be enforced, his lot would certainl}- be sadl}- curtailed of its fair proportions. He was one of the " solid " men of Boston, and at his death, in 1838, was one of our oldest merchants. His will contained pro- visions which called for judicial construction, and there are at least three printed decisions in our reports growing out of it (2 Met. Rep., 194 ; 5 Met., 462, and 11 Met., 104). The Legisla- ture also have been appealed to, more than once, to cut the Gor- dian knot which the law could nt)t untie. One clause of his will was as follows: " And I do hereby expressly authorize and em- power my executoi's, or such of them as sJiall take upon themsdves the probate of this will, to sell and convey and execute good and sufficient deeds to convey all or anj' of my real estate." He appointed two executors, both of whom proved the will and assumed the trust ; but one of them immediately found that he had personal interests incompatible with this official position, and forthwith resigned his trust, and the other acted alone in the entire settlement of the estate, except only in this first act of proving the will. A statute expressly authorizing a resignation of an executor was passed March 24, 1843. The Court, in the case before them, did not find it necessary to consider the validity of this resignation ; but they did decide that, if the resignation was valid, the powe; of 180 City Document No. 105. sale could not be exerciser! by the other executor. In arriving at this result they adopted the strictest literal construction of the words, "take upon themselves the probate of this will," which might perhaps fairly and liberally have been considered as equiva- lent to " taking upon themselves the settlement of my estate^" or " those who shall be the acting executors of my will for the time being." For the testator certainly had little confidence in them both jointly and in each of them separately. Looking back upon the past professional anxieties and perplexities, though I certainly should not say that I wished that Mr. Homer had never lived (since that would have involved the loss of several pleasant young neighbors, belles of the rising generation), I can yet truly say that I have more than once wished that he was still living. On the rear purchase of Mr. Homer stood the house in "Walnut street, of which the late Dr. George Parkraan was tenant at the time of his murder. Posterity can hardly over-estimate the intensity of the excitement awakened in the community by his tragical fate, and by the judicial proceedings which ensued. If I should select the two occasions of a public character which I have found more deeply interesting than any others, I should refer, without hesitation, to the hour when the lovely and accomplished daughters of Professor Webster, sustained, as they obviously were, by an entire conviction of his innocence, gave with mingled calmness and sensibility their modest and touching testimony in his behalf ; and that more awful hour, when, nearly at the dead of night, we had assembled on the same spot to hear the verdict rendered, which consigned to an ignominious death oue who had been the instructor of our earlier days, and with whom we had since continued to be on pleasant terms of social acquaintance and friendship. The moon was shining serenely and bright as I went forth from that sad scene ; having looked for the last time on a fellow-being who, surrounded by the happiest domestic influ- ences and affections had yet justly forfeited his life ; not, how- ever, I was willing to believe, for a deliberate, preconcerted, and cold-blooded murder, but for an act, originally done, as I was persuaded, under the sudden impulse of deadly passion ; but which, when done, was concealed by a resort to the most fright- ful expedients of which we have any account in the annals of criminal jurisprudence. There was a redeeming grace in the final conduct of AVebster, which much softened the popular feeling against him ; when his appeal for executive clemency had been made, and made in "Gleaner" Articles. 181 vain ; when he knew that in a few brief days he must c(!ase to be numbered among the living, — he addressed a submissive and penitent letter to an amiable and excellent clergyman, the near relative of his victim, asking through him the par'^on of those into whose social circle he had brought such deep affliction. He asked him as a minister of the God of mercy to imitate his Divine Master, by showing mercy ; as a man to forgive a dying fellow- man, as he would himself hope to be forgiven. And he at last met his fate, not with the indifference of a hardened ruffian, but with a dignified self-possession, — a sustained fortitude and resigna- tion, such as only true repentance (it would seem) could have inspired. Gleaner. 182 City Document No. 105. LXIV. JOHN CALLENDER AND THE LAW. November 2, 1855. Mr. Editor : — The north-west corner lot, GO feet on Mount Vernon street, and 103 feet 6 inches on Wahiut street, was sold by Dr. Joy to John Callender, in 1802, and his heirs conveyed to him a lot adjoining (35 feet 11 inches on Mount Vernon street), in 1821. Mr. Callender was for many years the well-known clerk of the Supreme Court. In his younger days he was a person of much grace and elegance, and traditionally reputed to have been as good a dancer as one of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Chancellors. He was a person of much wit and hnmor. When the lull Court at Washington reversed a decision of Mr. Justice S:ory, by which he had claimed jurisdiction in cases of policies of insurance as being maritime contracts, he was dining with the Judge, and, doubtless quite to his annoyance, began to joke about the topic, playfully suggesting to him that he bad better bring a bucket of salt water into his court-room to sustain the jurisdiction. When Mr. Callender built his house the level of Walnut street was very many feet higher than at present. The authorities cut down the street, leaving him vp in the air. He was put to much expense in consequence, though his building did not actually begin to tumble into the pit, as Mr. Thurston's did. Like him he resorted to the law, and with the like success. The result was the source of anything but a placid demeanor on his part. Though himself a sworn officer of the law, I really believe that he was led to entertain serious doubts as to its being "■ the perfection of human reason." The north-east lot, bounded 120 feet on Mount Vernon street, and 100 feet 8 inches on Joy street, was sold by Dr. Joy, in 1802, to Anna Dummer Perkins, wife of Thomas Perkins, Esq., and daughter of WHliam Powell, Esq. She was sister of Mrs. Jona- than Mason, one of the original Mount Vernon proprietors. Dr. Joy, in 1805, also sold to her the next 30-feet lot on Joy street. On the latter lot stands the dwelling-house now occupied by Henry "Gleaner" Articles. 183 B. Rogers, Esq., whose wife was one of her daughters, and who is so well knowQ in this coinmuuity as connected with our chief chari- table and reformatory institutions, and who was some years since an Alderman of the city. On her original lot was erected a fine brick dwelling-house, of large and elegant proportions, in which she resided till her death, a smaller house being erected on the westerly side of the lot as the residence of another daughter, Mrs. F. C. Loring. The mansion house itself has just given place to three new dwellings erected by Wm. Gray, Esq. It is under a contract between Mr. Perkins and Mr. Thorndike that the block of houses on Joy place was set back from the street. 1 trust that my friend, Mr. Lewis W. Tappan, will not think me too personal in remarking that the whole front of his house and part of that of his southerly neighbor stand on and over the fee of old Sewall street. This need be no source of alarm or uneasiness. Indeed I am inclined to think that an ancient squat is rather better than any other title. There can be no question that from the beginning of the century to 1831, when Tyler vs. Hammoud was decided, the law, as before acted on and as then settled, would have given the soil and fee of this old street to the heirs of Judge Sewall. It is equally certain that in 1851, by the decision of Newhall vs. Ireson, it would have been held that the deeds to Dr. Joy, bounding, as the}' do, north and south on that street, each passed to him a good title to the centre of the street ; in other words, that his title had all along been perfect. Both these cases related to public highways ; but I am informed that in an unpub- lished case recently decided (Morgan vs. Moore) the Court adhered to the last decision, yet refused to apply it to private ways, so that, after all. Judge Sewall's heirs perhaps would again come uppermost. But, happily above and beyond all these fluctuating adjudications, there was a certain/ertce put up more than forty years ago by Dr. Joy, which no adverse claimant can now jump over or knock down. The doctrine that a deed bounding on a street, which is a visible, actual monument, reall}' runs to an imaginary legal line or monument in the centre of that street (a monument, by the way, which the Court in 1831 declared had never existeil, although in 1851 they sa^' it had always existed), seems to nw founded on a misconception of what a monument is. I believi' that the rule of " monuments governing measurements " is fouiuLMl on the idea that a deed should be construed by its language i : reference to actual visible landmarks, such as fences, walls, or streets. In 184 City Document No. 105. 1831, if a deed bounded by or on a public street, square, or com- mon, in each case it included no part of such street, square, or common. In 1851, the Court, in the exercise of their judicial dis- cretion, saw fit to decide that a deed bounding on a street should convey a fee simple title to the centre of the street. Why should not the same rule be applied to all public squares or areas ? Is it not, indeed, quite possible that a conveyance of land bounding on Boston Common may legally give to the grantees liberal j-ard- room in fi'ont of their lots, even to the centre line of the Common itself ? Such a decision would, a priori, be no more surprising than a change of doctrine which has already occurred in relation to abutters upon streets. Gleameb. "Gleaner" Articles. 185 LXV. THE COPLEY TITLE — ITS LARGE AREA. November 6, 1855. Mr. Editor : — In our walk down Beacon street we have now the greatest estate in Boston, or The Copley Title. This is made up of three chief divisions. The easterly portion is com- posed of the various lots which together constitute the westerly moiety of Se wall's Elm pasture. This portion is about 2 J acres, and is bounded east on Dr. Joy's land, now Walnut street. It extends on Beacon street more than 260 feet, including the stone mansion-house estate of Hon. David Sears, and a gore of the original garden lot of Mr. Otis, west of it. The westerly boundary of this portion is a line which meets Mount Vernon street at a point about 175 feet west of Walnut street, running diagonally through the lots on both sides of Chestnut street, wliich formerly belonged to Madame Swan's trustees. Next west of Sewall's Elm pasture came a 2|^-acre pasture of Francis East, also united m Copley. This extended on Beacon street to just about the east line of Spruce street, and the west boundary of East's pasture extended in a bevelling line to Mount Vernon street, which street it intersected a little west of the divi- sion line between the two elegant mansions of Messrs. John E. and Nathaniel Thayer. These pastures of Sewall and East were bounded in the rear by irregular lines extending into, and in some parts to or slightly beyond the north line of, Mount Vernon street. Finally comes the Blackstone six-acre lot. This bounds south on Beacon street to the original channel, which was many hundred feet west of Charles street, or about to the lowest long block of dwelling-houses now completed on the Mill Dam. On the east line it extended along East's pasture, and beyond it on land of Allen or Wheelwright, and to within a few feet of Piuckney street, to a point which is nearly in the range of the westerly part of the School-house estate, at the corner of Centre street : it thence extended along in the direction of Pinckney street westerly, so as to include all Louisburg square, till it met a line about 50 feet west of the west line of Louisburg square, where it was 186 City Document Xo. 105. bounded on the pasture of Zachariah Phillips, on which pasture it afterwards bounded northerly by a line running to the water. The dimensions of the southerly lots of Zachariah Phillips's pasture are so loosely given by the deeds that the extreme southerly line of that pasture and, of course, the extreme north line of the Blackstone, or Coplej' lot, cannot, perhaps, be stated with precision ; but it extended at least as far as, and probably north of, Mount Vernon street. And, as we have stated in an earlier article on Phillips's pasture, the Copley deed, which ran along towards the water by a line at most 20 feet south of Pinckney street, was made, by a certain ancient fence, and the possessory acts and claims under it, to run to the water, and to sweep across all these southerly lots of Phillips ; or, in other words, the Copley grant was extended by disseisin to a continuous north line, ranging but a few feet south of Pinckney street. The result is, that the estate held under John Singleton Copley embraces all that extensive territory between low-water mark on the west, the Common south. Walnut street east, and Mount Ver- non street north, as far as the east line of the house of William Sawyer, and then including that house and the land behind it, and all Louisburg square, etc., west of it. It extends, b3' a northerly line nearly coinciding with Pinckney street, to low-water mark. The 6 acres of Blackstone, the "2i of East, and the 2^ of Sewall, make a total of 11 acres of upland; and if to this we add the flats, a large portion of which have been filled up for over 40 years, there is a grand total of certainly not less than 20 acres, and, cov- ered as it now is with splendid private residences, it far surpasses in value even the magnificent estate of Governor Hancock, with its costly public edifices. Gleaner. "Gleaxer" Articles. 187 LXVI. EAST'S 2^ -ACRE PASTURE. November 9, 1855. Mr. Editor : — Before proceedmg to make any remarks on the particnlar houses standing upon the Copley lot, it will ])e more convenient to trace the several purchases made by him, and which were included in his sale to the Mount Vernon proprietors. We have already stated that he acquired the westerly moiety of Sewall's Kim pasture, or about 2.^ acres, by deeds, in ]770-i77o, swallowing up or fencing in all Coventry street and the westerly part of Bewail street. The westerly lots of this Sewall laud are included in the deed of Dr. Silvester Gardiner to Copley, July 5, 1770 (L. 117, f. 129), the bouudary being westerly, on land of bdid Copley, 4G7 feet 8 inches, aud north-west, on land of Jeremiah Wheelwright {i.e., the Allen pasture), 127 feet 4 inches. The earlier deeds of these same lots among the Sewall heirs, 1732 (L. 47, f. 192-194), bounded west on land of Banister. Now, next west of this Sewall laud came the oi iginal possession of Francis East, who must have owned as early as 1667, being named as anabuttor in a deed recorded in Lib. 5, fol. 234. In the town records is the following entry: "Julyl, 1678. In answer to the desire of Francis East to have recorded in the Towne book a tract of land containing about 3 acres, bounded with Capt. Brattle north [he sold to Allen. &c.] ; the towne's Common, south ; the land of Nathaniel Williams, west [i.e., the Blackstone lot], and the land of William Hawkins, Sen. (Haw- kins owned Sewall's Elm pasture), on the east, which ivas formerly a towne grant and no record appearing, having been long in pos- session of said East, now ordered that this record be made thereof." (Boston Records, Lib. 2, fol. 116.) It would seem that Francis East died, leaving a son Samuel, who died seized of this pasture in 1693. His widow, Mercy East, as administratrix under license of the Superior Court of Judicature, at term 1693, sold the same to Thomas Banister, by deed dated Nov. 24, 1694 (L. 17, f. 23), ^'- two acres and near an half hounded 188 City Document No. 105. east on Samuel Sewall, south on the Common, west on Capt. Nathaniel Williams (i.e., Blackstone lot), north on Nathaniel Oliver (who sold to Allen), measuring on the east side 26 rodd and 11 feet, on the south side 12 rodd 13 feet, on the west side 35 rodd and 1 1 feet, and on the north side 1 4 rodd and 8 feet." Sam- uel East, as eldest son of the intestate, released lo said Banister all his right by deed, indorsed on and recorded with the above. The definite measurements in this deed have enabled me to fix with precision the lines of this pasture, notwithstanding it comes in the centre of Copley's estate, and the westerly lot purchased by Copley has no measurements whatever. If this deed had given no measurements it could only have been a matter of " guess" what was the exact westerly boundary line of this pasture, or, in other words, the exact easterlj' line of Blackstone's 6-acre lot. Mr. Banister, the gi-antee in this deed, acquired also the Blackstone lot, making his whole ownership 8^ acres. And the title from him I shall trace down, after first getting that purchase into him, in a subsequent number. Gleaner. ' "Gleaner" Articles. 189 LXVII. HISTORICAL. November 12, 1855. Mr. Editor : — In our last article we traced into Thomas Banis- ter, in 1694, the East pasture of 2^ acres, bounded west on land of Nathaniel Williams. Now, we long since called upon William Blackstoue, and have seen that the town granted to him 50 acres, and that when he sold out to the town all his right in the same and in all lands on the peninsula, he retained to himself a 6-acre lot, which he subsequently sold to Richard Pepys, while the town, in 1640, passed a vote not to grant any more house-lots within certain limits ; the consequence of which vote was the Boston Com- mon, which was doubtless, in great part, the residue of the 50 acres granted to Blackstone. We have also referred to the cele- brated depositions of Odlin and others (and of Anne Pollard, 1711, L. 26, f. 84). From the deeds of Cole to Phillips, 1658, and of Phillips to Leverett and wife in 1672, of the Zachariah Phillips pasture in the rear, it is certain that in 1658 this 6-acre lot belonged to "Nathaniel Williams," and that, in 1672, it was "the occupa- tion of Peter Bracket, or other successors of Nathaniel Williams, deceased." In 1638 there is a town grant in the new field near Mr. Blackstone's (Records, f. 64, 27th 12th 1642.) William Colbron and Jacob Eliot are appointed to view a parcel of land toward Mr. Blackston's beach, which Richard Peapes [i.e., Pepys] desires to purchase of the Towne, whether it may be conveniently sold to him. (Vol.4, f. 6 .4) Richard Pepys and Mary, his wife, of Ashon, Essex Count}', conveyed to Nathaniel Williams, by act dated .January 30, 1655, expressly referred to in the deed of 1676, hereinafter men- tioned. Williams died, and his widow Mary married Peter Bracket before March 6, 1664 (see deed in 4, f. 264), and Peter Bracket and Mary, his wife, late widow of Nathaniel Williams, in consideration of her natural love to Nathaniel Williams, and Mary Viall, chil- dren of said Mary by her first husband, conveyed to them, three- quarters to said Nathaniel and one-quarter to said Mary, by deed of gift, April 14, 1676 (L. 9, f. 325), "all that messuage with 190 City Document No. 105. the barues, stables, orchards, gardens, and also that six acres of land, be it more or less, adjoining and belonging to said messuage, called the Blackstone lot, being the same which were conveyed to said Nathaniel by Richard Pepys of Ashon, Essex County, and Mary, his wife, as by their act, bearing date Jan. 30, 1G55, more fully will appear." There being no description in this deed, the land might be at Barton Point as well as at Beacon street ; but, independently of the depositions referred to, the deeds of the adjoining pasture of Zechariah Phillips in 1658-72 fix the lands of Nathaniel Williams in 1658, and in occupation of Peter Bracket, etc., in 1672, to be in this precise locality. I am sorry to say that I have never succeeded in getting Mrs. Viall's one quarter part into her brother b}' any deed on record. But, as few men are so depraved as to rob a sister, I am charitable enough to believe that he bought her out honestly, though he may have omitted to record his deed. At any rate, his present suc- cessors will probably feel that they are now, as a practical matter, reasonably safe under the following deed, viz. : — Nathaniel Williams, and Sarah his wife, in consideration of £130 in the present current money, conveyed to Thomas Banister yb warranty deeds Jan. 29, 1708-9 (L. 24, f. 103), all that his, the said William's, certain orchard and pasture laud, containing in the whole, by estimation, six acres, or thereabouts, be it more or less, situate, lying and being at the lower or north-westerly side of the Common, or Training Field, in Boston aforesaid, being en- closed and within fence, and the flats lying against the same down to low-water mark. The said upland and flats being butted and bounded on the northerly side in part by Charles river or a cove, and partly by the lands of John Leverett (^■.e., Phillips pasture) and James Allen, on whom also it abuts to the north-east, bounded easterly in part by land of the said James Allen, and partly by the land of the said Thomas Banister, {i.e. East's pasture ), and southei ly by the Common or Training Field, or however otherwise the same is bounded or reputed to be bounded ; together with all the trees, stones, fences, banks, ditches, waters, and water-courses therein or thereabout, and belonging thereto, rights, membei's, hereditaments, profits, feedings, privileges, and appurtenances thereof. Sevcnty-iwo dollars an acre for upland, with the flats thrown in, is rather (;heap for land on Beacon street, even 150 years ago Gleaner. Gleaner" Articles. 191 LXVIII. HISTORICAL. November 16, 1S55. Mr. Editor: — la 1709 we have seeu that Thomas Banister had purdiased both the East and the Blaekstone lots, making to- gether 8^ acres of upland. The name of " Mount Pleasant," so familiar to our Roxbury neighbors, was given also to this estate. I once saw a very large and accurate plan in the possession of the Mt. Vernon proprietors, made 60 or 70 years ago, which was entitled by the surveyor, in large and elaborate letters, a plan of "Mount Hoardam." This struck me as a very ingenious and modest way of conforming to the then popular nomenclature of the spot, without giving offence " to ears polite." Banister died, leaving a will dated Jan. 25, 1708-9, and codicil dated July 13, 1709 ; and his wife died in 1711. By his will he devises to bis three sons, Thomas, Samuel, and John, " and if either die without heirs lawfully begotten in wedlock, I will their share or proportion to the surviving sons or son and their heirs for- ever." Besides these three sons the testator left an only daughter, Mary, wife of Giles Dyer. John died without issue in Great Britain, June 30, 1714. Thomas died Sept. 12, 1716, leaving issue five sons and a daughter, and Samuel died without issue, Feb. 28, 1744. In 1713 Samuel and John had made Thomas their attorney (]j. 28, f. 151), who for himself, and "as such attorney," after the death of one constituent, and by deed not executed in the names of either constituent, conveyed to Giles Dyer (28, f.l52), who covenanted to reconvey on certain payments (lb., f. 153). Said Thomas, for himself, and " as attorney of Samuel," reciting the death of John, conveyed to said Dyer, Dec. 10, 1714 (L. 28, f. 242), other lands ; " also the one moiety or half part of all that tract or parcel of land in the town of Boston aforesaid, bounded easterly on the Common or Training Field, containing by estima- tion about eight acres, and known by the name of Mount Pleasant, in the tenui-e or improvement of John Langdon, butcher." Did he h.ave a slaughter-house on the premises ? 192 City Document No. 105. And Giles Dyer, reciting these two deeds of Thomas Banister to him, for £1,000 consideration conveyed to Samuel, June 21, 1717 (L. 32, f. 1), " all the housing lands, tenements and real estate granted and sold to me the said Giles Dyer in and by the said two deeds" (except other land). I am sorry to say that I find two mortgages of Samuel Banister, one for £250 in 1716 (L. 32, f. 1), the other for £200 in 1719 (L. 33, f. 261), both undischarged. He made a final mortgage for £1,850 to Nathaniel Cunningham by warranty deed, Dec. 28, 1733 (L. 48, f. 53), under a foreclosure of which the absolute title was claimed by Cunningham. The description in the deed to Cunningham was as follows : " All that his the said Samuel Banister's certain tract or parcell of land which is now improved as a garden, and enclosed within fence with the dwelling-house thereon standing, situate, lying and being at the lower or north-westerly side of the Comon or Training Field in Boston aforesaid, containing in the whole, by estimation, eight acres and an half or thereabouts, and be the same more or less, and the flatts lying against the same down to low- water mark. The said upland and flatts being butted and bounded as foUoweth, viz. : southerly or south-easterly on the Comon or Training Field ; on the north-westerly side in part by Charles river, or a cove, and partly by the lands of the late John Leverett, Esq., and Mr. James Allen, both deceased, their heirs or assigns, on whom also it abutts to the north-east, and easterly by land of the heirs or assigns of the late Samuel Sewall, Esquire, deceased, or how- ever otherwise butted and bounded," etc. Nathaniel Cunningham died, and by will, dated May 1, 1740, proved December 27, 1748, made his son Nathaniel residuary legatee, who was appointed administrator with the will annexed, and died in 1757, Peter Chardon being administrator. His inven- tory mentions "a house, land, and pasture at the bottom of the Common, occupied by Mr. Chapman and others, containing 8| acres, £250" (L. 53, f. 61). So that less than a century ago land in Beacon street (flats thrown in) was worth but 97 dollars an acre. Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 19b LXIX. [COPLEYS TITLE. — Continued."^ ' November 19, 1855. Mr. Editor: — We left in Nathaniel Cunningham, deceased, under the admioistration of Peter Chardon, in 1757, the 8^ acres of upland, with the flats, composed of the East pasture of 2J- acres and the Blackstone 6-acre lot. Under the will of the old owner, Thomas Banister, who had devised, in 1709, in tail to his three sons, with cross remainders on their death without issue, claims were repeatedly set up. Thus, in July, 1750, John Banister, Sam- uel Banister, and Wm. Bowen, and Francis, his wife, grandchil- dren of said testator, brought an ejectment against Cunningham, which was decided in favor of tenants ; and in August following the jury on appeal gave the same verdict. In February, 1753, the same demandants brought a writ of review before the Superior Court, and in August following the jury found a special verdict ; and in March, 1754, the Court, after a full hearing, gave judgment in favor of the tenants. In January, 1765, John Banister brought his writ of ejectment, which was carried to the Superior Court by demurrer, and dropped by his death, which took place Nov. 10, 1767. And now, during the lull that ensued, as is alleged, " on Jan- nary 18, 1769, Peter Chardon, Esquire, as executor of Nathaniel Cunningham, executed a deed of conveyance to John Singleton Copley of these premises." No such deed, however, is found on record ; and, more than that, the proceeds of the estate were not accounted for in the Probate Office by Mr. Chardon, as adminis- trator, with the will annexed. On March 29, 1769, John Banister, of Newport, brought an ejectment against Ephraim Fenno. At the Inferior Court of April, 1769, said Copley was vouched in as defendant, and the case was carried by demurrer to the Superior Court, and decided in Colpey's favor. The late Hon. Robert T. Paine, on January 31, 1809, gave his deposition in perpetuam for Messrs. Mason and Otis, in which he ""This title is supplied by me, as the original is styled simply " Historical." — W. H. W. 194 City Document No. 105. states that " in 1769 he was counsel for Mr. Copley in this last suit ; that he preserved a bundle of minutes, among which is the statement of title (of which the particulars are above noticed, in- cluding the mention of the deed to Coj^ley) , which he has no doubt was given him by said Copley or by Samuel Quincy, his counsel, and which he has no doubt is a true abstract of Copley's title as derived from Thomas Banister, and was prepared from the docu- ments to be used in said trial ; that he believed the question of title under Cunningham was vol in dispute^ but was acknowledged, and it was expected that the cause would turn upon the question of cross remainders, under Thomas Banister's will, and that the cause was determined in favor of Copley ; that he knew the premises in 17G0, and pastured his horse there; that Ruth Otis, wife of James Otis, was living in Boston, and he an eminent law- 3^er, knowing the demand of Banister, and arguing a case aris- ing under the same will, and that from and after the verdict of Copley, I always understood that the premises were his property till I heard that he had sold them, so that they came to the pos- session of Messrs. Mason and Otis " (221, f. 107). This Banister family owned a valuable estate on the south side of Winter street, which, from that circumstance, was long known as "Banister's Lane." It will be remembered, also, that the deeds of the westerly lots of Sewall's Elm pasture, bought by Copley in 1770, bounded west on this land, as then belonging to said Copley. It will also be remembered that there aie two volumes of deeds missing, in one of which we may charitably suppose Mr. Copley's deed to have been recorded. Another valuable tract of the Leverett-street lands, formerly belonging to the same Mr. Cunningham, is also held under a deed from Mr, Copley, in 1771 (L. 119, f. 191), though there is the same absence of any deed to him. This want of any record title in Copley, as to these whole 8 J acres, eventually proved a very serious source of trouble to his grantees. Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 195 LXX. COPLEY'S SALE IN 1795. Novemher 23, 1855. Mr. Editor : — We left John Siogleton Copley the owner in 1769-1773 of the whole three estates held under Sewall, East, and Blackstoue, making together 11 acres of upland with the flats ; there being this little omission, that he had no deed on record of 8^ acres out of the 11, with all the flats ; or, as perhaps it may be better stated, a record title to only the easterly 2^ acres out of 20 acres of upland and flats. Mr. Copley was the most dis- tinguished portrait-painter of America, uuapproached by any successor except Stuart. The exquisite satin of his ladies' dresses and delicate tints of his luscious fruits gave great additional value to paintings which have preserved, in the most life-like manner, for the delight of a distant posterity, the fair and intelligent faces, the lovely or manly forms, of a past generation. Mr. Copley removed to England, and Gardiner Greene, Esq., was his agent. Messrs. Jonathan Mason and H. G. Otis made a contract for the purchase of this estate, through the agency of Mr. Greene. When the deed was sent out for execution, Mr. Copley had ascertained that the State House was to be located near his estate, which, of itself, greatly enhanced its value ; changing its character from mere pasture land on the outskirts of Boston to a central estate, extremely desirable for residences. He felt that important information had been withheld from him and from hia agent, and refused to sign the deed. A bill in equity was brought to enforce the contract for sale. He probably found that there was no chance of escape, and the result was that he executed a letter of attorney to his son, — since Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst, — dated in October, 1795, which was recorded February 24, 1790 (L. 182, f. 182). A gentleman of this city, now among its senior members, mem- tioned to me a few daj^s since, that a lady, now deceased, once remarked to him that she attended a ball at the house of the late D. D. Rogers, before her marriage, and that young Mr. Copley 19G City Document No. 105. was present. That house, like all its neighbors, stood at some distance from the street, and was approached by a high flight of steps. On this occasion the same difficulty occurred as at Gov- ernor Bowdoin's dinner-party ; but, of course, a young lady in a ball-di'ess could not resort to the same mode of escape as did the guests of His Excellency. On the contrar}', notwithstanding the devoted services of her future husband, she made an involuntary and decidedly precipitate descent towards the street, — a circum- stance which had impressed this occasion distinctly on her memory. Mr. Copley's son and attorney came out to this country, having recently completed his professional studies, and said Coplej', " now of George street, Hanover square, in the Kingdom of Great Brit- ain, Esquire," acting by said attorney, for the consideration of $18,450 conveyed to said Mason and Otis by deed of release (reciting a previous lease for one year, being what is known as a conveyance of lease and release), dated Feb. 22, 1796, recorded in Lib. 182, fol. 184. No deed of any lands in Boston within a century will compare with this in importance. The description is, " All that tract or parcel of land situated in the westerly part of Boston aforesaid, bounded as follows : Southerly by a line abutting on the Common or training-field, running from the southern extremity of a fence erected by Dcjctor Joy ; easterly by the said fence of said Doctor Joy ; northerly by a line running from the northern extremity of the aforesaid fence ; north-westerly 85 feet or thereabouts, abutting on Olive street ; then by a line running south-westerl}^ 1 20 feet or thereabouts, abutting on land formerly belonging to Jeremiah Wheelwright, Esquire ; then by a line running north-westerly 220 feet or thereabouts, and abutting on land formerly belonging to said Wheelright; then by a line running north-westerly 217 feet, abutting on land formerly belonging to said Jeremiah Wheelwright; lastly by a line running north-westerly towards the water, together with all the flats lying before the same, down to low-water mark, &c., &c., or however the same may be butted or bounded." No reference to title, and no statement of contents. Taking into consideration the upland and flats both, this pur- chase is at a considerably less rate than $1,000 per acre. Indeed, I have very little doubt that it conveyed at least 13 or 14 acres of upland, since his description totvards the water being construed as meaning to the water, and being confirmed by a fence erected according, carried the line, as we have before stated, across the rear lots of Zachariah Phillips' pasture, and formed a basis of a "Gleainer" Articles. 197 dissesia title to quite an additional number of acres of upland and flats, though it also contained the germ of one of the most cele- brated and important lawsuits known in our day. Copley personally executed a confirmatory deed, with release of dower, dated April 17, 1797 (L. 191, f. 168), which is not acknowledged. It is made to Mason and Otis and Mr. Joseph Woodward, who for $5.00 released to them by deed in 1817 (L. 255, f. 246). The description in this deed from Copley is as above, except that tlie corner of Dr. Joy's fence is said to be 185 feet from George, or Belknap, street, and that said fence runs at right angles with the southerly line of said Joy's land on Beacon street. Thus it seemed that this great purchase was consummated in a manner satisfactory at least to the purchasers ; but there was further tribulation and anguish in store for them. The ligitation of the middle of the last century was to be again renewed on the same extensive scale, breaking out, however, iu a new spot, — the want of any deed to Copley. Gleaner 198 City Document No. 105. LXXI, [COPLEY'S SALE. — Continued.'^^ November 26, 1855. Mr. Editor : — As the law stood when Messrs. Masou and Otia made the Copley purchase, a " writ of right" to defeat a title might be brought by a claimant at any time within sixty years (Statute, 178G, ch. 13). On March 2, 1808, a statute was passed (Statute, 1807, ch. 75), that, from and after January 1, 1812, the sixty years should be reduced to forty ; and thus the law continued till January 1, 1840, when the Revised Statutes made a further change, by reducing the limitation of forty years to twenty years (with certain savings). All these changes are in the right direc- tion, — a remark by no means true of all recent legislation. The statute of 1807, above referred to, besides the change of the period of limitation, introduced also an entirely new provision, and one of great importance as a matter of public policy, and entii'ely equitable in its bearings, viz., the " betterment law," by which a party who had had six years' possession and had made valuable improvements, or " betterments," should, on failure of title, be entitled to compensation for his improvements. This betterment law was nominally asked for as being especially necessary in respect to lands in Maine ; but it was, in fact, in- tended to apply to the Copley estate. The proprietors were daily giving warranty deeds, and in case of an ultimate eviction the constantly increasing value of the lands would make the final measure of damages very severe to the warrantors, and it would be utterly ruinous to them if purchasers could come upon them also for the whole cost of their improvements. If this real object had been disclosed, the Legislature would have refused to rich posses- sors in Boston the protection which they readily granted to poor squatters in Maine, viz. : a wise enactment applicable alike in both cases. The provisions of the betterment law have since been further extended, so as to protect any person bu3'ingin good faitli, under a title believed to be good, and making immediate improve- « New title. — W.H.W. "Gleaner" Akticles. 199 ments. The strong motives of self-iuterest on the part of these proprietors, and tiieir adroit management, thus directly led to great improvements in the law of the land. These proprietors were doubtless well aware, from the beginning, of the want of any deed to Copley from Cunningham's administrator. And the same discovery was also seasonably made by his heirs-at-law. Suits were accordingly commenced to dispossess Copley's grantees, and great alarm and anxiety resulted tlierefrom. The late Abra- ham Moore, Esq., was by marriage nearly connected with the claimant, and Mr. Otis, availing himself of his personal good offices and assistance, at last succeeded in obtaining a full release. This, I have always understood, was effected without the slightest sus- picions of her counsel. I have been told, indeed, that Mr. Otis went into court, and in his blandest and most courteous manner moved that the suits should be dismissed. The opposite counsel naturally wished to know upon what specific grounds he made this unexpected motion. He suggested, in reply, the very conclusive one, of a full release in his pocket from the demandant herself. This, thougli not drawn up with the technical formalities of special pleading, proved probably as effectual a "rebutter" as was ever submitted to the decision of a court. The claimant, Susanna Cunningham, was understood to have made an agreement with George Sullivan, Esquire, and Mf. Mur- ray, b}' wliich they were to carry on the suits for her, and were to share largely in the expected " plunder." These gentlemen were fearful lest she should l)e tampered with, and took possession of her, keep- ing her secluded in Mr. Murray's estate on the North River, with as much vigilance as was shown of old in regard to the golden fruit in the garden of the Hesperidcs. But the fates were against them. The genius of Mr. Otis prevailed. Into this Eden the tempter entered as of old. The lady eloped from her lecful guar- dians^ as many a lady has done before and since ; and she parted at last, not indeed with her heart and hand, but with her tUle and estate, by an unconditional surrender. Those who had bargained for her claim thus lost their share of the expected profits, and had the pleasure of paying their own expenses. Everybody was pleased at their disappointment.^' Susanna Cunningham, of New York, in consideration of five dollars, quitclaimed to said Mason and Otis, and to Benjamin Joy, M It is but fair to state that the opinions expressed by Mr. Bowditch in these articles are entitled to only such weight as his character may give them. Their reproduction is necessarily without examination or endorsement. -- W. H. W. 200 City Docuivient No. 105. " all the right, title, interest, demand, or estate, which I have or may have by any wa^'s or means whatsoever, in and to a certain tract of land in Boston, containing by estimation 8i acres, bounded southerly by Beacon street, north-westerly on Charles River in part, and partly by land formerly of John Leverett and Mr. James Allen, north-east and northerly by land formerly of said Leverett, of James Allen, and Nathaniel Oliver, and easterly partly on land formerly of Samuel Sewall, now John Vinal's, and partly by land of said James Allen, together with all the flats lying before the same to low-water mark, or however the same may measure or be bounded, the said land being the same which said Mason and Otis, and Joy, or one of them, or persons claiming under them, or some of them, now hold in their actual occupation, and are the same lands conveyed to said Mason, Otis, and Joy by deed from John S. Copley to hold to them, their heirs and assigns, according to their own deeds, agreements and partitions among themselves." This deed is dated, acknowledged, and recorded August 17, 1812 (L. 240, f. 250). That was a happy day for these purchasers. They doubtless all slept the more soundly the next night than they had for some time. It is generall}' believed, however, that j^ue dollars does not express the exact sum paid to quiet this claim. It has been suggested that quite a number of thousands of dollars were really paid, and that even Mr. Moore had a very respectable fee for his services. It may, at least be safely said, as in the case of the State-House wall, " the cost somewhat exceeded the estimates." Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 201 LXXII. [COPLEY'S LAND. — CondMC?ed.«°] JVovemher 30, 1855. Mr. Editor : — The Copley purchase bounded in the rear almost wholly on Allen's pasture, large portions of which became also vested, as we have seen, in the same purchasers, partly by deed of Enoch Brown's heirs, and partly by the deed of the devisees of Jeremiah Wheelwright. In Lib. 192, fol. 198, is a great plan of all these purchasers, the dotted lines of which show the lines of the Copley deed, as claimed to run ; and from this survey it appears that these three purchases together gave the proprietors a tract of land bounded southerly on Beacon street, 850 feet 8 inches ; east- erly on Dr. Joy's land (or Walnut street), 457 feet 4 inches ; south on Dr. Joy's land (or Mt. Vernon street), 305 feet 1 inch; east- erly again on Belknap street, 236 feet 1 inch ; then north on one of the lots of Cooke's pasture, 77 feet ; easterly again on ditto, 83 feet 9 inches ; and then north by a general straight line to tlie water. This last line coincides with the rear line of the estates on the north side of Pinckney street, as subsequently laid out. On this plan appear the old powder-house, near the north-west corner of the tract, and two dwelling-houses fronting towards Bea- con street, near its south-easterly corner. One of these houses was formerly occupied by Copley. For several years they had been occupied; the first by Charles Cushing, Esq., and the other by " Master Vinal." The Cushing house is the source of title to the block now owned and occupied by Messrs. Nathan Appleton and Henderson Inches ; while " Master Viual " is represented by Hon. David Sears. One very observable fact is, that on this plan the lots of Zecha- riah Phillips's pasture, which should have been delineated at its north-westerly corner, do not appear. Not only is the Copley lot extended to the water, instead of towards the water, but the extreme north line of the whole plan, or the south line of the rope- walks of Swett, Farley, and Hammond, is extended beyond the west end of the rope- walks, in the same direction, to the water. s'-New title. — W.H.W. 202 City Document No. 105. In other words, the pasture bought of Wheelwright's devisees is mad& to sweep across these lots, precisely as the Copley estate is made to do; and this although the deed of Wheelwright's devisees did not pre- tend to run towards the loater, but bounded ivesterly on these Phillips lots. The lots of Zechariah Phillips's pasture, the existence of which is thus ignored on the plan, were likewise ignored in fact. The Latin maxim was acted on, — De non apparentibus et de non existantibus eadem est lex." As one and another of the owners of these lots came forward and claimed their rights they were settled with. Thus, Samuel Swett sold one lot in 1803 (L. 207, f. 115). The heirs of Tilley quitclaimed in 1814, etc. (L. 410, f. 155-156 ; L. 249, f. 13G), the lots subsequently sued for by the Overseers of the Poor, claiming under foreclosure of mortgage made by the ancestor ; and William Donneson conveyed one lot even as lately as 1828 (L. 338, f. 213). These proprietors also purchased very many of the water- lots of Zechariah Phillips's pasture, lying north of the range of their original purchase, so that they were separated from Cam- bridge street only by Mr. Bulfinch's land. The Mount Vernon proprietors were Jonathan Mason and H. G. Otis, each three-tenths, and Benjamin Joy two-tenths ; while the remaining two-tenths were held by General Ilenr}' Jackson, and more recently by Wm. Sullivan, as trustees of llepsibah C. Swan, wife of James Swan, Esq., and subject to her appointment. Va- rious partitions were made by mutual releases, by indentures of division, and by order of court. A partial division was made by the indenture recorded with the plan above referred to, on which appears, for the first time. Walnut street, Chestnut street, Mount Vernon street (west of Belknap street), and Pinckney street. The indenture laying out Louisburg square, etc., was made in 1826 (L. 312, f. 217, etc.). A large division of the lands, east and west of Charles street, etc., had been made in 1S09, by order of court, as per plan at the end of Lib. 230 ; and another, of the lands west of Charles street, and north of the Mill-dam in 1828, the plans being recorded at the end of L. 330. On the first old plan of L. 192, the sea came up to a point 850 feet west of Dr. Joy's fence, or to a point 143 feet east of the east line of Charles street. This would reach to the easterly corner of the house next east of Mr. John Bryant's, on Beacon street ; and accordingly, Mr. Bryant informs me, that when he dug his cellar he came to the natural beach, witii its rounded pebble stones, at the depth of three or four feet hAow the surface. The barberry bushes "Gleaner" Articles. 203 speedily disappeared after tliis Copley purchase. Ciiarles street was laid out through it, and lots sold off ou that street iu 1804. The first railroad ever used iu this country was here employed, an incline plane being laid, down which dirt-cars were made to slide, emptying their loads iu the water at the foot of the hill. It was not, however, until Mr. Otis himself became mayor that the final improvements of digging away May street and the adjoining lands, and reducing the hill to its present grade, were completed. Ou this occasion I remember one "black" tenement perched up in the air at least 15 feet above its old level. These final measures, though certainly important to the public convenience, happened also to be very beneficial to the Mount Vernon Proprietors, afford- ing another instance in which their interests and those of the com- munity, being identical, were advanced by one and the same instrumentality. Gleanee. 204 City Document No. 105. LXXIII. MOUNT VERNON STREET.'" December 4, 1855. Mr. Editor : — On the Copley estate live, or have lived, a large proportion of those most distinguished among us for intellect and learning, or for enterprise, wealth, and public spirit. I do not propose to be guilty of the impertinence of saying much about private individuals because they happen to live in a certain locality. I shall merely mention a few incidents and facts which occur to me. The easterly part of Copley's estate is, as we have stated, composed of 2| acres of Sewall's Elm Pasture. Sewall street, as laid out in 1 732, would extend west of Walnut street about 200 feet, and would destroy the out-buildings of about the first eight or ten houses on Chestnut street ; and, though Mr. Sears is one of the last of our citizens whom we would feel inclined to send to or put in " Coventry," I am sorry to say that Coventry street, as laid out in 1732, runs north from Beacon street 140 feet west of Walnut street, and would therefore pass directly through his elegant estate. The jMassachusetts General Hospital has two free beds for surgical cases to be forever supported from the income of Mr. Sears' bounty, who also contributed generously to the enlargement of its buildings in 18-46. Desirous that his children, during his life, should enjoy the benefits of his wealth, he has displayed towards them and their families a liberality unsurpassed in this community, while, at the same time, he has never overlooked or disregarded any just claims of the public. I should, therefore, be truly sorry that he should be rendered houseless by this venerable highway. The outstanding fee of or easements in these ancient streets will not, however, probably very seriously effect the present market value of any of these estates. The Mount Vernon Proprietors sold, in 1804, to Richard C. Derby, a lot measuring 73 feet on Chestnut street, and extending back on land of Otis 150 feet to Olive or Mount Vernon street, on which he erected a mansion-house fronting on Chestnut street, "New tide. — W.H.W. "Gleaxer" Articles. 205 which lie occupied for many j-ears. Mouut Vernon street, when actually laid out, proved to be about 165 feet from Chestnut street at this spot. There was consequently a gore of land on Mount Vernon street, in front of the stable built by Mr. Derby, on what he supposed to be the line of that street, and which the measure- ments of his deed did not cover. This surplus gore of land must have been peculiarly unsightly to the Mount Vernon Proprietors, as it kept constantly before them, probably, the only instance in which they had parted with more than they intended. This estate was sold in 1846 to the Messrs. Thayer, whose two freestone houses were erected fronting on this latter street. A remarkable change was thus wrought, since only a few 3'ears ago horses were groomed and carriages washed amid the litter of a stable, where are now two of the most lofty vestibules and magnificent drawing- rooms iu Boston. It has been said that an absent-minded fellow-citizen, when trav- elling, once bought his own boots. It is certain that two of our most intelligent citizens, formerl}- residing in Beacon street, deliber- ately bought their own houses. One of them had on various occa- sions spoken, about selling his estate, and a broker, one day, said to him, " Oh, it is very well for you to talk in this way. You dare not name a price which 3'ou will be willing to take." The owner, piqued by this challenge, instantly replied, " Yes, I will. I will take $50,000." — "I will give it," was the equally instant and appalling rejoinder. The owner, of course, could not refuse to sign a wantten agreement, thus making himself legally responsible. But the unwillingness of a member of his family to remove led him to propose a reference in regard to the question of damages, and the result was that he remained in his own house at the price of ten thousand dollars. He, as may be easibj believed, never offered it for sale again. After his death it became the property of Heuder- luon Inches, Esq. Another gentleman himself repented of a sale on toober second thought, and voluntarily rescinded the contract at the same cost. His house is now owned by William H. Prescott, the historian. Mr. Otis erected an elegant mansion on Mount Vernon street, which he occupied for some years. It was subsequently sold to the wife of Col. Benjamin Pickman, of Salem, for $29,500 (in 1805, L. 211, f. 156), who, altering his mind as to his intended removal to this city, sold it for $18,700 (in 1806, L. 217, f. 232), to John Orborn. It was for many 3'ears the residence of Mrs. Gibbs, widow of the distinguished Newport merchant, who bought 206 City Docibient No. 105. it of Mr. Osborn in 1809, for $28,500 (L. 230, f. 179; L. 234, f. 262), and her daughter, Miss Sarah Gibbs, became the owner, in 1828, at a cost of $25,950. Samuel Hooper, Esq., bought of hei in A.D. 1845, for $48,000 (L. 544, f. 233), and, after selluig off the house-lots on Pinckuey street, sold the residue for $70,000 to the Misses Pratt, in 1853. Though thus curtailed, it is still one of the finest private residences left in the city. East of this mansion is a block of buildings, erected 30 feet back from the street, under an agreement in A.D. 1820, imposing mutual restrictions between the late owners, Benjamin Joy and Jonathan Mason, deceased (L. 2G9, f. 304) ; and a like restriction in a deed of Mr. Swan's lot in 1832 (L. 358, f. 2). The first house in this block stands, indeed, partly on MissGibbs's lot, and was the residence of her brother-in-law. Rev. William Ellery Channiug, who has a world-wide celebrity as a theologian and philanthropist. On the west of this Otis mansion is a large lot, on which stand two houses fronting on Mt. Vernon street, besides smaller houses in the rear, fronting on Piuckney street. This was sold in 1805 to Charles Bulfijich (L. 214, f. 18), who in 1806 divided the front into two lots, by deeds (L. 215, f. 147 ; L. 217, f. 69). The east- erly of these two houses was built by Stephen Higginson, Jr., and is owned by William Sawyer, Esq., one of our oldest retired mer- chants, formerly a partner of the late Thomas Wigglesworth. With him resides his sister, Mrs. George G. Lee, the well-known author- ess. The other house was built and formerly owned and occupied b}' General David Humphreys, whose widow, a native of Portugal, at an advanced age, married a French Count Walewski (about A.D. 1830). At her request, the late Hon. John Pickering "gave her away," much to the amusement of his friends. He advised her to secure her property to her separate use. She, however, declined doing so, remarking: "It is delightful to us women to feel our- selves dependent for everything on the man we love." Her senti- mental bridal illusions were, however, speedil}^ dissipated, as in the similar case of Madam Haley. Her husband, doubtless, took a more matter-of-fact view of the ceremony, and perhaps was even then thinking of — this land. At any rate, she soon died, and this estate, converted into cash, was remitted to Paris (L. 351, f. 34; L. 373, f. 23), to replenish the finances of " the Count." Gleaner. "Gleaner" Articles. 207 LXXIV. THOMAS L. WINTHROP AND JOHN PHILLIPS. December 7, 1855. Mr. Editor : — The first clwelliag-house on Beacon street held under the Copley title is that at the corner of Walnut street, owned and occupied by the family of the late Thomas Dixon. By the great indenture of division in 1799 (L. 392, f. 198), it was assigned to Jonathan Mason, who, in 1804, sold the same to John Phillips (L. 208, f. 223). He died in 1823, and his heirs in 1825 conveyed to Thomas L. Winthrop, who died 1841, when his exec- utors conveyed to Mr. Dixon. This estate was, therefore, for many years in succession, the mansion-house estate of Mr. Phillips and of Mr. Winthrop. No office in this country is hereditary except, as it would seem, that of Register of Deeds, which, in this country, has been held by grandfather, father, and son (Henry, William, and Henry AUine), whose next immediate predecessor (Ezekiel Goldthwait) was the lineal ancestor of the wife of the present incumbent. This tenure, during four generations, of an elective office, indicates some sub- stantial merits as the basis of popular favor.* In like manner one of our earliest governors was John Winthrop. Another, equally distinguished, was James Bowdoin. The late Thomas L. Winthrop, a lineal descendant of the former, and who married the grand-daughter of the latter, was himself elected for seven succes- sive years (1826-1832) Lieut. -Governor of the Commonwealth. His son, the late Grenville Temple Winthrop, who some years since closed a retired life in a neighboring town, was formerly commander of that well-known corps, the Boston Cadets. On an intensely cold election day the company was not seasonably ready to attend upon his Excellency Governor Lincoln, at the conclusion * Mr. Goldthwait'3 first signature as Register is to a deed recorded Nov. 6, 1740, L. 60, f. 77, and his last to a deed recorded Jan. 17, 1776, L. 127, f. 31. It is a remark- able fact that both he and his immediate successor died in office blind. I shall gladly continue to vote for our present competent and courteous Register until he becomes Hind, — a disability which I sincerely hope will never befall him. I am convinced that while he has his eyes the public wiU not find a more faithful servant. [Authob'8 NOTB.] 208 City Document No. 105. of the services at the Old South Church. The undignified haste with which they left their snug quarters and pleasant refreshments at the Exchange Coffee House, and ran along the streets to over- take the Commander-in-Chief, afforded much innocent amusement ; but, as a breach of military etiquette, the indignity could not be overlooked. The result was a court-martial, and the proceedings led to a voluminous publication in two octavos, which a friend once playfully pointed out to me as " Wiuthrop's Works." Distinguished as was the late Lt. -Governor Winthrop in his lifetime, he will hereafter be better known as the father of a more distinguished son, Robert C. Winthrop, who, under tiie doctrine of hereditary descent, based upon merit, may well aspire to the same high position which has been so honorably filled alike by his paternal and maternal ancestors. However much our views may differ on the subject of slavery, I do not believe that the interests of the character of our old Com- monwealth would suffer at his hands. So, too, the late John Phillips, for ten successive years the President of our State Senate, and though selected, from his personal popularity, above all others, to be the first Mayor of Boston, will be— nay, is already — chiefly remembered as the father of Wendell Phillips. As an advocate in any event of disunion, I totally dissent from his views ; but much should be pardoned to an honest zeal in a righteous cause. As long as a slave shall tread upon that soil which of all others in the world seems especially consecrated to freedom, aye, long after that foul stigma shall have been effaced from our national char- acter, —as God, in his mercy, grant that it speedily may be, without civil dissensions and fraternal bloodshed ! — the classic erudition and the dignified eloquence of Sumner, the graceful delivery, the fervid oratory, the sometimes too impassioned de- nunciations of Phillips, will have made their names household words as among the foremost of those who in any age or country have vindicated the cause of oppressed and degraded humanity. I rejoice to believe that the coldness, the bitterness, the social proscription of to-day will be amply atoned for hereafter by the gratitude of a united, happy, and free people. It is a remarkable circumstance that the estate should have been derived by the great anti-slavery champion by regular conveyances from Jonathan Mason, one of the few Northern men whose votes established the Missouri Compromise. And nothing indicates more strongly the subsequent retrograde movement of the nation on this subject than the fact that we are now seeking, and probably "Gleaner" Articles. 209 seeking in vain, to procure even a restoration of this very compro- mise, which, when it was first forced upon us, was regarded with universal and unmitigated detestation. We bartered away our birthright, and have lost even the poor pittance for which we baigained. Gl£AN£B. 210 ' City Document No. 105. LXXV. BEACON STREET." December 11, 1855. Mr. Editor : — Next west of Lt.-Governor Wiuthrop's house is that of Hon. Nathan Appleton. As an associate of the late Francis C. Lowell and P. T. Jackson he participated largely in the creation of the great manufacturing interest of New England, and is probably now as well informed in relation to that subject as any one among us. As a member of Congress he was opposed to Henry Lee, who advocated free trade in opposition to " the Ameri- can system." In my father's household were four voters. He himself was a a warm partisan of Mr. A., but two of us "young Americans" could not be convinced by his arguments, and so the entire family turned out at the polls and exactly ueuti'alized each other. Mr. A. is a brother of the late Samuel Appleton, and the family name still preserves its ancient brightness. Of his two elder daughters one is married to the son and biographer of Sir James Mackintosh the Governor of St. Christopher's, the other to the poet Longfellow. At the last commencement of Harvard College, Mr. Appleton received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. "'3 Elizabeth wife of Charles Cushing, Esq., in 1796 acquired a lot 73 feet on Beacon street by 165 feet deep (L. 184, f. 90), and he purchased the adjoining 25-feet lot, 1804 (L. 210, f. 25). Their children conveyed in 1816 to Nathan Appleton and Daniel P. Parker (252, f. 69), who erected two elegant brick mansions. Mr. Parker was an active and successful merchant, and at his death owned one of the finest vessels in the port, to which he had given the name of his friend and neighbor, Samuel Appleton. He was for several years a trustee of the Massachusetts General c2New Title. — W. H. W. «Mr. Appleton died July 14, 1861.— W. H. W. "Gleaner" Articles. i^ll Hospital. He left one son, Henry Tuke Parker, and two daughters, the eldest of whom is the wife of Edmund Quincy. Mr. Gushing was a well-known citizen, — the Clerk of the Courts ; and the testimony of his son of the same name — a gentleman of intelligence and high standing — was of great importance to the Mt. Vernon Proprietors in the suits brought by the Overseers of tiie Poor. He remembered that Copley's fence joined on the old pow- der-house, thus establishing an ancient monument. Tne stone mansion of Mr. Sears was originally a much lower buikUng, having only one bow in the centre, instead of two bows or projections. It fronted on a yard or carriage-way, laid out on the easterly side of his lot. It was a very graceful and beautiful building, and a great ornament to the street. He subsequently erected an additional house on the east, covering the whole front of his lot, and also making radical changes in the original structure. On this lot of Mr. Sears, behind the old house, stood a barn, which was converted into a temporary hospital for the wounded British officers after the battle of Bunker Hill. When Mr. Sears was digging for the foundations of his house, the workmen came, at a depth of several feet under the surface, to a gigantic moccasined foot, perhaps 2j- feet long, broken off at the ankle, and carved from H kind of a sandstone not found in this vicinity, which he pre- sented to the Boston Athenaeum, where it now is — not. " Master Vinal" would doubtless be much gratified to find that his humble wooden house has attained to such high distinction in these later times. And even Mr. Copley would admit that the houses of Messrs. Sears, Parker, and Appleton have more than made good the two domiciles which are delineated in all the dignity of yellow paint, with doors, windows, and chimneys, on the origi- nal plan of the Mount Vernon Purchase (in Lib. 192). Except the old powder-house, we have seen that only these two houses appear on a plan of an estate containing a million of square feet, upon which now stand probably five hundred houses. After Mr. Otis had sold his mansion house on Mt. Vernon street, he removed to an elegant and spacious house which he erected on Beacon street, next west of Mr. Sears's, and here he lived till his death. His lot was 120 feet front by 165 feet in depth. The easterly portion was a fine garden. Land at last became so valu- able that he did not feel justified in retaining for a mere matter of sentiment this beautiful enclosure, which had long pleased all eyes, and decided to convert it to a more substantial use. He accord- ingly in 1831, sold the easterly part to Mr. Sears, foi $12,412.50 212 City Document No. 105. (L. 356, f. 227), vfho proceeded to erect a house, and on the west part Mr. Otis himself erected another. The bow of Mr. Otis's mansion house, which originally projected into the garden, still projects into this house, though this encroachment is ingeniously disposed of and concealed by its interior arrangements. When the houses were erected on this garden there was found what had the appearance of an old well, entirely filled up with beach sand. Its existence was before unknown. The foundations of the new buildings were constructed by arching it over. And perhaps, after many a year yet to come, it maj- again astonish the spectators. The mansion-house itself, after Mr. Otis's death, was conveyed to, and is now owned by Samuel Austin, by whom it has been thor- oughly renovated. There is, perhaps, on the whole, no more desirable residence in Boston. Mr. Austin paid for it the sum of $60,000. There probably has never lived in Boston any individual with finer natural endowments than Mr. Otis. Possessing a noble presence, a beautifully modulated voice, great readiness and self- possession, and a cultivated intellect, he has rarely, if ever, been surpassed in the divine gift of eloquence. Nor was he less agree- able and fascinating in the intercourse of private life. His brilliant repartees, his graceful compliments, his elegant, manners, made him as distinguished and successful in the social circle, as his talents and intelligence did at the bar and in all the business relations of a long and active life. A single anecdote will illus- trate his instant readiness : a friend and his wife were one day approaching him in the street. The wife noticed some derange- ment of her husband's dress, and stopped to adjust it. As Mr. Otis reached them, she turned round, and, struck with the faultless neatness of his costume, exclaimed to her husband, "There, look at Mr. Otis's bosom." Mr. 0. immediately bowed and said, " M ad-am, if your husband could look within this bosom, he would die of jealousy." Had Mr. Otis been less absorbed with the care of his own concerns and interests, there was no honor in the gift of his fellow-citizens which they would not have bestowed upon him by acclamation. He died in 1848, leaving three sons and one daughter. Several of his children had died during his lifetime, three of whom left issue. He had strong domestic affections, and the kindest feelings existed between him and those employed in his household. He rightly thought that that relation involved something more than mere service on the one side and wages on the other. I have heard "Gleaner" Articles. 213 him spoken of with great regard by one who for many years was a frequent inmate of his dwelling, employed in labors of needle- work. In his last will is the following item : " I give to Deborah Hastings, my faithful nurse, two hundred dollars, and a suit of mourning at the discretion of," &c., " handsome, suitable for her condition in life, and not too extravagant." Gleakeb. 214 City Document No. 105. LXXVI. THE LOWELL FAMILY." December 14, 1855. Mr. Editor : — There is uo name among us more entitled to honorable commemoration than that of Lowell. It has still one venerable living representative, — the survivor of a past generation, — Rev. Charles Lowell, D.D., who is father of the distinguished poet, James Russell Lowell, and of Mrs. Samuel R. Putnam, a lad}' as unaffected and pleasing as she is talented and learned. One of Dr. Lowell's brothers, the late Hon. John Lowell, was in early life at the head of the Suffolk Bar, and eventually the most distinguished agriculturist in New England. He was for many years a member of the Corporation of Harvard College, as his son John Amory Lowell is now. Another brother, the late Francis C. Lowell, devoted himself with the utmost enthusiasm to the estab- lishment and development of our manufactures. A great city sprang into existence, the future emporium of this branch of our national industry, and, by adopting his name, has gratefull}' recog- nized hi'i as its virtual founder. I have alluded in a former article to the rapid rise in value of lands in Boston. The same remarks are even more strikingly applicable to lands in Lowell. A single farm of 100 acres was bargained for at the outset (1819-22) at from $15 to $20 per acre. Nine out of the ten owners conveyed accordingly. The tenth died, and in the delay of getting license to sell to raise enough to pay his debts, the f of his ^V sold, in 1824, for $3,206.89. This sum paid all his debts, and a new license became necessary to sell for the benefit of his heirs, and their ^ of -j-V was sold for $4,742. When I was examining the titles in Lowell, in 1831, Mr. Kirk Boott informed me that this farm, without any improvements, could not be worth less than $15,000 per acre, — or, in otlier words, that its value had increased, in ten years, from about $1,500 to $1,500,000, or a thousand fold. •iNew title. — W.H.W. " Gleaner " Articles. 215 I was employed to examiue all the titles in Lowell, from the circurastauce that au iudividual was engaged in trying to discover defects, and to extort money from the Corporation. I one day received a note from Mr. Boott, that this person pretended that a valid claim existed for the whole of this farm, because, when it was conveyed, in 1782, by Benjamin Melvin, and Joanna, his wife (L. 84, f. 277), she was a minor; that both husband and wife had lived till within the past few years, and therefore her heirs were not yet barred. It of course became of great importance to find out whether or not she was a minor in 1782. I knew that there was a large trunk full of papers in the Probate Office, which had never been recorded, because the fees had not been paid. I deter- mined to examine every paper. In doing so I found her choice of a guardian in 1772, specif^nng her age to be then 15 j-ears, which proved conclusively that she must have been 25 years old at the time of her conveyance. I procured a certified copy of this docu- ment, and there was no more trouble or alarm on that subject. One very curious mistake of title I discovered and caused to be corrected, in regaixl to the valuable Hurd estate, then so called, since belonging to the Middlesex Company. It contained several acres, and was sold in 1827 for $55,000. In 1822 it belonged wholly to Thomas Hurd. He conveyed to his brother William in 1822 (L. 2-18, f. 388), one-half part of all my rights &c., in and to. These words were servilelj- copied in the two next deeds, each of which was intended to convey the lohole interest of the grantor. Thus William, instead of selling ^ sold ^ to Joseph Hurd in 1824 (L. 268. f. 208), and Joseph reconveyed to Thomas in 1826 (L. 268, f. 236), only ^ instead of the h which he supposed that he was selling. Three-eighths of the whole land were thus left out- standhig, merely from supposing that moiety had no meaning. I once met with a like curious defect in a title in Boston, caused by its being supposed to mean any fractional share whatever. A series of deeds conveyed one undivided moiety or quarter part ^ &c., which, on the rule of construing a deed, in ease of doubt, most strongly against the grantor, of course made him legally sell twice what he meant, and the later grantees were left in a forlorn and destitute condition. In L. 258, f. 233, of Suffolk Deeds will be found a case where a grantor sells four moieties of a parcel of land as being all that he owned himself, " and also all the right of my dearly beloved wife Abigail." At the death of Francis C. Lowell, in the year 1817, he left four children, — a daughter, who married her cousin, John Amory 216 City Document No. 105. Lowell, and three sons. One of these was John Lowell^ Junior. Possessing a considerable estate, he married a lady of large for- tune, who died leaving him two children. He purchased a house in Beacon street, part of the Copley lot, as an investment on their account. A guardian is only permitted to invest in real estate under previous license of Court. This had not been obtained. A question was raised, therefore, as to the allowance of the account. Both the children died by sudden and severe disease vrithin a few days, and the father, as heir of the survivors, became entitled to all the property' which had been held in trust for his late wife. By his will, dated Nov. 8, 1832, he established that admi- rable foundation, The Lowell Institute. He never married again ; but this document provides minutely for a possible wife and chil- dren, and, in default of any such immediate claimants, appropri- ates a moiety of all his estate to this public use. B}* a second codicil, dated April 1, 1835, "from the top of the palace of Louxor, in the French house at Thebes," he gives his final direc- tions as to this Lecture-Fund Trust. The time-defj^ing pyramids, by their massive grandeur, inspired Napoleon to address to his troops that stirring appeal which history will never allow to be forgotten. And the same associations perhaps led the American traveller to consummate, among the glorious remains of ancient Eg3'pt, a cherished purpose, of which the effects will, perhaps, be as enduring as the monuments of the Pharaohs. May the ever increasing intelligence of the citizens of Boston, through coming generations, be the appropriate memorial of his wisdom and philanthropy ! I remember but one other will which states any peculiar circum- stance attending its execution. The late Redford AVebster, father of Professor Webster, appended to his signature, in 1832, the following: "With Mr. P^liot's bad pen in the dark shop." Not- withstanding this trivial remark, the testator was a person of superior intelligence. Mr. Lowell's house has since his death become the property of his brother, Francis C. Lowell, who for several years ably presided over the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Companj', one of the largest of our moneyed institutions, and whose active services and read^- aid have been freely rendered to the charitable estab- lishments of our city. Their youngest brother, the late Edward Jackson Lowell, was a classmate of my own at Harvard College None who had previously borne the name were purer in character, more brilliant in talents, or governed by higher impulses and "Gleaner" Articles. 217 nobler views of life and duty. He died of consumption in 1829, one of the earliest taken and best beloved of our band of bi'others.** Gleaner. 63 So little has been printed concerning the Lowells, that the following genealogi- cal items may be useful : Percival Lowell, of an old family in Worcestershire, Eng., came to Newbury in 1639, with a son John, who had also already a family. John, Jr., was father of Ebenezer Lowell, whose son was the Rev. John Lowell, of Newbmy- port, who died in 1767. The last-named was father of Judge John Lowell (b. 1743, d. 6 May 1802), who had three wives. By his fii'st wife, Sarah Higginson, he had a son, John ; by his second wife, Susan Cabot, he had Francis 0. ; by his third wife, Re- becca Russell, he had Rev. Charles Lowell. Of these half-brothers, John married Rebecca Amory, and had .John Amory Lowell (who died 31 Oct. 1881), whose sons are John LoweU, the distinguished judge of the U.S. Court, who has just quitted the bench, and Augustus Lowell. Francis Cabot Lowell married Hannah Jackson, and had John (founder of the LoweU Institute), Francis C. Jr., and Edward J. Rev. Charles Lowell married Han-iet Spence, and had sons, Charles R., William K. T. S., Robert T. S., and James R . LoweU, now U.S. minister at the Court of St. James. W. H. W. 218 City Document No. 105. LXXVII. [THE SWAN FAMILY.] " December 18, 1855. ^ The Record Commissioners have omitted this article from the present edition at the request of Mr. Bowditch's representatives, as certain expressions therein con- tained were found to be open to contradiction, and possiljly would require explanation or retraction were the author living. A few matters of history may, however, be safely condensed into a note. The article treated mainly of the family of Col. James Swan and his wife, Mrs. Ilepsibah C. Swan. Col. Swan was in Paris at the time of the French Revolution, and there published, in 1790, a book entitled " Causes qui se sont opposees aux progres du Commerce entre la France et les Etats Unis de TAmerique En six Lettres addresses a Monsieur le Marquis de la Fayette. Traduit sur le manuscrit Anglais du Colonel Swan, ancicn Membre de la Legislation de la Rcpublique de Massachuset." This essay not only presents admirable statements on the feasibility of creating a vast commerce between these nations, but it shows the author to have been an ardent American, and a warm admirer of his native state. His plan touches many topics, and nothing is too trifling to be cited in support of his object. On one page he eulogizes spermaceti candles ; on another he relates the foolish objections made in France to the Introduction of labor-saving machines. He dwells with wonder on the fact that in France salted meats are practically prohibited, while he adds, •' the people of the United States eat such meats twice a day, and you know, sir, that amongst us the men are as healthy and robust as they are anywhei'C." He mentions that nearly every one in America wears English buttons called " Matthiewmans," made of white metal, and argues that a population of a million and a half will use annually 500,000 dozen, at a profit of 25,000 francs. Again, he prophecies that as, according to Dr. Franklin and Prof. Wigglesworth, our population will double in eighteen years, it will follow that in 1846 we shall have forty-nine millions of inhabitants and our imports will amount to about $200,000,000. He speaks of the great invention of James Rumsey, of Virginia, whose steam-vessels will carry all foreign products to the centre of America through the rivers which flow to the west, and sees in it the hand of Providence which gives this boon at the moment when it will be so beneficial. A perusal of the volume will certainly give one a high opinion of the zeal and ability with which Col. Swan endeavored to advance American interests. It seems that Mr. Swan engaged also in vai'ious enterprises in France, which proved unsuccessful, and that his creditors caused his detention for many years. It is said that they hoped thus to compel his wife to purchase his freedom, she having a large inherited fortune settled upon her before her marriage. It is also said that Col. Swan refused to allow any such ransom to be paid, and that he remained a nominal prisoner until his death in 1831, although the kindness of his relatives and friends made his sojourn as pleasant as possible. Mrs. Swan occupied a house in Chestnut street, and also a beautiful summer residence in Dorchester. " In the garden of this latter mansion is still to b ( seen the "Gleaner" Articles. 219 enclosure in which lies buried Gen. Henry Jackson, the original trustee who had charge of her property and affairs." She had a son who died without issue; two daughters, married respectively to John C. Howard and William Sullivan : and a third daughter married successively to John T. Sargent and Rev. Dr. Richmond. Numerous descendants remain through these female lines. — W. H. W. 220 City Document No. 105. Lxxvm. THE BEACON-STREET FIRE. January 11, 1856. Mr. Editor : — On Wednesday, July 7th, 1824, just before two o'clock, the bells of Boston rang an alarm of fire, and instantly a dense mass of black smoke was seen to overhang the entire cit}'. I have always been an amateur at fires. If the calamity must happen, I like to be present, to behold what sometimes proves to be a most magnificent spectacle. I was then a young man, — in my teens, — and hastening from 'Change to the corner of Park street, I saw at once that a most furious and destructive conflagration had commenced. The wind was blowing a hurricane from the north- west. When I reached the bottom of the Beacon-street Mall, a sti'eam of fire was pouring through the passage-way west of Mr. Bryant's house, from carpenter shops and other combustible premises on Charles and Chestnut streets. The flame was of the full width of the passage-way, and it was curling round into the front windows of Mr. B.'s house, which was then nearly finished and ready for occupancy. The out-buildings and fences of all that range of dwelling-houses were then of wood, so that the fire was also making its fearful approaches in the rear. I have never seen before or since, any similar occasion of a more appalling character. The hasty removal of household furniture, mucli of it being thrown from the windows, which were broken out for the purpose ; the panic of the occupants, as they and their children were obliged to fly, some at a notice of a few minutes ; the crackling of the flames, the intense heat, the falling of the walls of one dwelling-house after another, as the fire proceeded along the street ; the shouts of the firemen ; the mass of specta- tors filling the bottom of the Common and the rising ground in its centre, the jets of flame often springing over a space of several feet, the burning fragments borne aloft over our heads to remote parts of the city ; the magnitude of the danger which led to the covering with wet blankets of houses even as distant as Mr. Otis's and Mr. Sears's, — formed together an aggregate of sights and sounds which can never be forgotten. As those houses which at first were not thought in great danger, one after another, took fire and were consumed, owners who originally decided not to have tlieir furniture moved were at last obliged to remove it so hastily that much was ruined, and much "Gleaner" Articles. 221 more was necessarily left behiud. In some instances old family portraits and inherited articles of furniture, rendered invaluable by the associations of a lifetime, were thus reluctantly surrendered. On the other hand a tin-kitchen was saved, and its viands cooking for dinner were protected from the danger of being overdone. Extensive removals were made from several houses, which were eventually saved, as in the case of Mr. William Appleton's and others. The Common presented a curious medley of miscellaneous articles, the shabbiest household utensils side by side with ele- gant drawing-room carpets and ornaments. Bottles of wine which had not seen the light for twenty years were summarily decapi- tated without any ceremonious drawing of corks, and the Juno, or Elipse vintage was probably never quaffed with greater relish than when it refreshed the parched throats of the exhausted firemen. Other amateurs, without having their apology, imitated their example, and the scene assumed rather a bacchanalian character. One gentleman, desirous of withholding further fuel from this con- flagration, locked up his wine-cellar, and left its contents to be at least harmlessly consumed. Seven dwelling-houses on Beacon street, east of the passage-way, were burnt, besides the entire range of buildings between the passage-way and Charles street. The fire was at last success- fully checked at the house of the late Mr. Eckley. I sup- pose that it alwaj's happens that in a large fire somebody's policy has just expired. This was, I believe, the case with the late Mr. Henry G. Rice. To many besides him that was a very sad and discouraging day. Mr. Bryant had the advantage over his neigh- bors of not being incommoded by any furniture or family, as he had not yet taken possession. It is satisfactory to reflect that all the pecuniary loss then sustained has, undoubtedly, been much more than made good by the greatly enhanced value of real estate in that vicinity. And, independently of all the direct and per- petual advantages, of the most inestimable character, derived by our citizens from the Boston Common, it should never be forgotten that it was solely owing to the existence of this open space on this occasion that the entire southern portion of our city was not destroyed. The range of trees at the foot of the Beacon-street Mall rendered a truly important service. Suffering the flames of martyrdom, they died at their post of duty. A burning cinder lodged in my eye, causing a violent inflamma- tion, and bringing to an abrupt close my meditations on this striking spectacle, and a like inflammation of the same organ now •rings to a like abrupt close the speculations of Gleaner. 222 City Document No. 105. EDITORIAL NOTE." The closing lines of the last article may be classed among invol- untary prophecies ; for this proved to be the real close of this amusing and instructive series of notes. On January 4, 1856, Mr. Bowditch had pi'inted an article relating to Benjamin Joy, and especially noticing his sale of land to the McLean Asylum in Somerville. Certain expressions therein called forth a sharp letter from Mr. John B. Joy, a son of the gentleman criticised. Mr. Bowditch in reply disclaimed any intention to reflect upon the family, and was again assailed by Mr. Joy. This brought forth an answer, and then a last retort from Mr. Joy. It has not seemed best to reprint any part of this controversy. Unfortunately this trivial dispute seems to have entirely quenched Mr. Bowditch's willingness to continue his work, and the articles came to an abrupt conclusion. It will always remain a source of regret that the public was thus deprived of further information upon our local antiquities from one so competent to communicate it. W. PI. W. INDEX. INDEX. Adams, 170. Adan, 139. Albion, The, 36, 95, 96. Alford, 120, 121, 151, 152. Allen, 34, 36, 37, 38, 50, 51, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 65, 96, 97, 99, 119, 142, 143, 144, 165, 166, 185, 187, 188, 190, 192, 200, 201. Alley, Cato, 161. Hog, 32, 69. Alline, 26, 92, 207. Almshouse, 50, 96, 121. America, 87. Amory, 79, 96, 217. Andrews, 73. Andros, 13, 15, 16, 17. Angier, 164. Appleton, 176, 177, 178, 201, 219, 211, 221. Apthorp, 17, 19, 120, 121. Armitage, 74. Armstrong, 171. Arnold, 62. Aehon, 2, 189, 190. Aspinwall, 34. Athenaeum, Boston, 211. Howard, 74, 82. The, 96, 154. Atkinson, 32, 49, 60. Austin, 3 >, 51, 66, 110, 145, 169, 212. Avenue, Coolidge, 154. Hancock, 161. Mt. Vernon, 161. Squirrel, 32. Western, 1, 75. Avery, 31. Ayer, 55. Ayre, 55. Aylwin, 114. Ayres, 55. Back Bay, 27, 170. Bagnal, 166. Baker, 25, 44. Baldwin, 147. Balston, 165. Bangs, 135. ( Banister, 2, 6, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, } 193, 194. ( Bannister, 41. Barbadoes, 138. Barnard, 71. Barnes, 107. Barnon, 92. Barricade, The, 21, 22. Barrister, 3. Bartlett, 94, 100. Barton, 50. Barton's Point, 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 50, 167, 190. Battery, Old South Boston, 20. South, 20. Bayley, 85. Bay, The, 2. Beach, The, 54. Blackstone's, 10, 189. Beacon street Mall, 220, 221. Beck, 34. Beebe, 73. Belcher, 62, 143. ( Belknap, 60, 61, 143. I Bellknap, 66. Bell, 26. Bellingham, 24, 84, 85, 89, 92, 93, 95. Bellknap, see Belknap. Bendall, 24, 74, 84. Bennett, 41. Bentink, 171. Bigelow, 111. Biggs, 34, 36, 37, 38, 54, 60. Billerica, 55. Blackstone, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 37, 38, 39, 40, 69, 144, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 195. Blair, 49. Blake, 42, 69, 140. Bianchard, 167. Blantftine, 26. Blanton, 26. Blaxton, 6. Blaxton's Point, 6. Blighe, 148. Blott, 23, 25, 32. Boardman, 42, 94, 100. Bolton, 71. Bond 167. Bonner, 6, 50, 143, 144. Boott, 68, 69, 214, 215. Borland, 87. Boston, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 26, 27, 23,30, 34, 37, 41, 44, 46, 48, 63, 54, 55, 59, 62, 63, 66, 70, 71, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 03, 96, 97, 102, 106, 107, 126, 130, 132, 133, 139, 147, 149, 150, 154, 157, lo9, 161, 162, 164, 167, 168, 178, 179, 185, IhO, 191, 192, 194, 195, 196, 200, 205, 212, 214, 215, 220. Boston and Roxbury Mill Co., 53. Boston Cadets, 207. Courier, S, 177. East, 50, 167. Library, 30. Mill Corporation, 45. West 4. Bosworth, 55', 60, 104, 142, 14S, 151, 152, 163. Bowditch, 10, 16, 17, 50, 53, 60, 61, 67, 78, 82, 85, 89, 199, 218, 222. Bowdoin, 63, 67, 73, 81, 89, 107, 108, 112, 113, 114, 120, 121, 135, 140, 141, 146, 157, 196, 207. Bowen, 193. Bowers, 73, 74, 77. 79, 82, 100, 108. Bowling Greene, 74. Boyden, 81. Boynton, 145. Box, 17, 19, 145. Bracket, 2, 189, 190. Bradford, 50. Bradlee, 161. Bradstreet, 11,24. Brattle, 15, 54, 55, 163, 164, 187. Brattle street Parsonage Case, 111, 112, 117, 123, 124, 136, 169. Bridge, Draw, 50. Swing, 72. 225 226 City Document No. 105. Bridge, West Boston, 53. Biidgham, 92. Biidgman, 19, 177. Brimmer, 89. Bi-inley, 39. Broad street Association, 167. Bromfield, 108, 121. Brougham, 131. Brown, 38, 51, 54, 57, 90, 102, 130, 144. 201 Bryant, 20.', 220, 221. Building, Boston, 99. Brazier's, 27, 99. Joy's, 27. Mechanic's Association, 27. Union bank, 132. Bulfineh,29, 39, 6S, 70, 73, 74, 82, 85, 88. 105 107, 113, 153, 154, 156, 202, 2U6. Bullard, 41. > . . "• Burnett, 143. Burrill, 62. j Butolph, 56. i Buttolph, 34, 55, 57, 60, 62, 65, 66. 142. 143 Buttel, 65. ... Burial Grounds, City, 18. Burying-grouud, The, 12, 14, 17, 18, 52. King's Chapel, 19, 45, 98. 177. The Granary, 75, 146, 177. ^ The Public, 16. Burying-place, The, 13, 15, 44. Common, 16. T, » ,. Old, 44, 93. Byfield. 39. Cabot, 217. Cade, 51. Calcutta, 171. Calef, 50. California, 171. Callender, 182. Cambridge, 2. Carabridgeport, 110, 169. \ Caner, 1(3, 19. I Canuer, 17. Carues, 51, 61. Caswell, 149. Chambers, 33, 34, 36, 37, 60, 61. Channing, 206. Chapel, The, 14. Freeman Place, 108. King's, 13, 16, 17, 23, 73, 75, 178. Chapman, 192. Chardon, 192, 193. Charlestowu, 1, 77, 120. Chauncy, 165. Chelsea, 9'), 99. Church, Baptist, 69. Brattle St., 71, 116. Chauncy place, 28. of England, 15,16. Episcopal, 16. First, 2(5, 27, 85, 89, 95. First Episcopal, 13. First of Christ, 26, 92. Maverick, 5u. Mt. Vernon Congregational, 73, New, 17. New .Jerusalem, 114. Old North, 71. Old South, 208. Park Street, 12. Second, 27. St. Paul's. 23, 25. Trinity, 26. Circular Line, 20, 21, 69. City Council, 53. Hall, 13, 15, 27, 69. Jail, 37. J Clark, 35, 41, 44, 62, 176. I Clarke, 60. Clough,23, 21, 62. Cobb, 42. Cobham, 54, 55. Coburn, 71. Codman, 49. Coffin, 96. Coggan, 85, 95. Coiboron, 10. Colbron, 12, 41, 189. Cole, 38, 54, 55, 56, 189. College, Bowdoin, 114, 157. Harvard, 31, 95, 99, 124, 136, 157. 210. 214, 216. Medical, 37. Collins, 62. Colman, 82. Colpey, 193. Common, The, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 23 25 31,52,53, 69, 71,91, 92,95, 96, lul, 105! 106, 107, 120, 121, 132, 133, 143, 148 151 152, 157, 161, 163, 164, 165, 170, 171, 184 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 196, 220, Commonwealth, 47, 49, 93, 114, 120, 130, 133. 140, 145, 146, 149, 150, 161, 162, 171, 207, Conn., 55, 62. < Cook, 41, 50, 55, 56, 65, 105, 142, 143, 144. < 145,146,151,152,163,164. ( Cooke, 17, 18, 19, 31, 60, 104, 182. 201. Coole, 56. Coolidge, 66, 68, 69, 100. Cooper, 72, 85, 165. Copley, 2, 6, 38, 40, 55, 88, 166, 170, 185, 186. 187, 188, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199. 200, 201 , 202, 203, 204, 207, 211, 216. Cornhill, 75. Corporation, Aqueduct, 146. Boston Mill, 45. Corwin, 45. Cotting, 75, 176, 177, 179. Cotton, 15, 73, 74, 79, 82, 84, 85, 88, 89. 92. 97. 99, 100. ..,,,., Council Chamber, 71. County, Bristol, 100. Devon, 55. Essex, 2, 62, 189, 190. Suffolk, 17, 37. Windham, 62. Court, Common Pleas, 71, 152. End, 2. House, 13, 71, 84, 147. Inferior, 193. Inferior Common Pleas, 152. Probate, 5, 8. of Sessions, 71. St. James, 217. Superior, 71, 103. Superior of Judicature, 186. Supreme, 111, 112, 115, 116. 124, 12ii. 126, 16S. 169, 18:^. Supreme Judicial, 22. U. S. 217. Court, Bolt, 31. Cook's, 146. Southack's, 73. Spring-street, 3. Williams, 29. Cove, The, 20. Cradock, 17, 19, 39, 95. Craft's, 71. Creed y, 55. Crescent, The, 30. Cross, 25. Crowniushield, 97, 100. Cunningham, 166, 192, 193, 194, 199. Curtis, 42, 79, 80, 112, 115, 140. Cashing, 71, 126, 168, 170, 201, 210, 211. Dall, 42. Danforth, 82. Daniels, 143, 145. J Dasset, 36, 54. I Dassett, 37, 55. ■ Davenport, 11, 15. 92, 97, 165. Davie, 55, 58, 8>,92, 93, 96, 99, 142, 164. Davies, 34, 60, 93. Davis, 36, 42, 48, 49, 60, 62, 93, 95, 96, 99. Index. 227 Davy, 55, 92, 93, 95, 144, 145, 149, 165. Dawes, 79. Deane, 163, 164. Deblois, 96. Dennis, 163. Derby, 204, 205. Dexter, 53. Disbrow's Riding-schoo), 29. Dixon, 20". Doane, 94. Dodd, 130. Doe, 109. Donneson, 202. Dorr, 42. Dorchester, 218. Drake, 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 20, 21, 48, 49, 79, 80, 83. Dublin, 12. I Dumer, 33. I Dummer, 11. Dunton's Letters, 31. Dyer, 191, 192. East, 55, 163, 164, 185, 186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 193, 195. Eaton, 104, 163. Eckley, 121,221. Edes, 4i. ( Eliot, 10. 61, 62, 96, 97, 161, 189, 216. \ Elliots, 62. (Elliotts, 62, 71. Eltsham, 99, 152. Emmons, 31, 49. \ Endicote, 10. } Endicott, 15, 18, 82, 85. England, 55, 76, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 99, 102, 110, 125, 131, 152, 153, 195, 217. England, New, 11. England, Old, 84. Kpes, 41. Episcopalians, 16. Erving, 51, 89, 96, 107, 113, 166. Europe, 153, 154. Everedd, 45. Exchange, The, 71. Eyre, 55. ( Fairweather, 99, 105, 106. I Fayerweather, 19, 105, 107, l-'O, 121, 135. Faneuil,92, 93, 95. FaneuilHall, 71,72. Farley, 51, 201. Farrington, 42. Faxon, 72. Fayerweather, see Fairweather. Felt, 137, 138. Feuno, 193. Field, Gentry, 60. CentinelHill,36, 38. Centufv, 151. Common, 12. Gate, 32. New, 34, 36, 60, 104, 163, 189. Training, 5, 9, 11, 92, 120, 121, 132, 148, 190, 191, 192, 196. Fitch, 41,74. Five Points, The, 59. Flats, The. 2, 21, 22, 53, 79, 168, 186, 190, 192, 193, 195, 196, 200. Flats, Drake's, 80. Folsom, 131. Forbes, 12, 17. 19. Foster, 12. Fowle, 107, 168. France, 218. Francis, 74, 77, 78, 79, 80, 86, 89, 112, 115, 117. Frankland, 17, 19. Franklin, 218. Gain, 145. Garden, Public, 12. 52. J Gardiner, 17, 19, 187. I Gardner, 51, 96, 97, 166. Gas Cni'nnanv'a ^V;>>-!£3^ jj Gee, 44, 45. Gerrish,31,121. Gibbins, 17, 19. Gibbs, 45, 63, 65, 164, 205, 206. Glapion, 146. Goldthwait, 19, 207. Goodwin, 130. Gordon, 17, 19. Gore, 42. Granary, The, 12, 96. Grant, 17,18, 19, 111,125. Gr.iy, 49, 82, 167, 183. Great Britain, 88, 149, 162, 191, 196. ( Green, 18, 108, 145. { Greene, 73, 79. 88, 89, 91, 92, 94. 100, 161, ( 195. Green Dragon, 71. Greenleaf,>0, 71, 124, 125. Grotou, 55. Gunter, 18. Guttridge, 61. Haley, 85, 87, 89, 90, 102, 206. Halifax, 71. Hammond, 51, 88, 100, 126, 127, 183, 201. Hancock, 16, 17, 18, 19, 64. 71. 82, 110,114, 116, 123, 124, 125, 129, 130, 133, 134, 135, 136, 139, 140, 141, 142. 145, 146, 149, 151, 152, 154, 157, 158, 159, 100, 161, 162, 163, 186. Harris, 42, 82. Harrison, 48, 50. Hartford, 55. Hastings, 213. Hatch, 149. Hati, 176. Haverhill, 137. Hawkins, 164, 187. Havden, 109, 174. Hayward, 70, 72. Head, 46, 51. Hcaton, 104. Henchman, 136. Henderson, 62, 71, 119, 145. Ileyraan, 48. Higginson, 206, 217. Highway, The, 23, 24, 31, 34, 55, 63, 74, 85, 92, 105, 106, 107, 120, 121, 126, 132, 133, 143, 163. Highway, Allen's, 37. Hill, 17, 18, 19. 34. Hill, The, 4, 59, 89, 106. B.acon, 149. Beacon, 2, 6, 7, 12, 38, 65, 83, 84, 106, 120, 121, 127, 128, 132, 135,' 136, 139, 140, 141, 143, 145, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 154, 156. Bunker, 211. Centre, 105. Centcrie, 84. Centery, 104, 105. Centinel, 38. Centre, 105. Centry, 55, 132, 148. Centurie, 105. Ceivtury, 99, 105, 148. Copp's, 44, 98. Cotton, 84, 85, 107. Fort. 50. Fox, 52. Milton. 90. Pemberton's, 90. Ridge, 52. Sandy, 77. Sentry, 12. ( Hinckley, 107. I Hinfcley. 97. Hodges, 82. Holberton, 108. Hollich, 26, 27. Hollidge, 26. Hollinghead, 26. Holyoke. 62. ■Rnmor 17(5 ITO t^_ 228 City uocument No. 105. Hooper, 206. Hospital Grounds, 37. Houchin, 63, 65, 104, 105. House, Adams, 32. British Coffee, 71. Exchange Coffee, 31, 208. Mitre Coffee, 71. Club, 96, 97. Custom, 71. First Custom, 71. Powder, 40, 201, 211. Revere, 6S, 69, 73. Spring, 81. State, 104, 120, 121, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 141, 144, 146, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 156, 161, 162, 163, 195, 200. Town, 16, 71. Tremont, 12. Hover, 26. Howard, 92, 219. Uowo, 49. Howeu, 81. Hubbard, 30, 88, 100, 116, 117, 123, 124, 125. I Huchinson, 148. I Hulchiuson, 13, 15, 17, 19, 49, 104, 163. Hudson, 5, 10, 11, 60. Hull, 33, 84, 85, S9, 92, 164. Humphrey, 206. Huut, 71. Hurd, 71, 215. Hurst, 121, 105. Hutchinson, see Huchinson. Inches, 58, 145, 201, 205. India, 171. Ireland, 12. Ireson, 126, 183. Island, Bakers, 137. Castle, 123. Koddle's, 50, 95, 132. Wharves, 69. Ivers, 121. (Jackson, 27, 44, 74, 77, 78, 90, 91, 94, 98, J 100, 101, 114, 159, 202, 210, 217, 219. ( Jaxson, 24. James, 107, 119. .Jeffrey, 71, 85, 86, 87, 89, 90, 100, 102, 103. Jeffries, 41, 90, 95, 96, 102. Jekyll,82, 94. Jenner, 61. Johnson, 1, 6, 14, 16, 60, 130, 163, 169. Jones, 35, 110. Joy, 2, 27, 09, 166, 170, 176, 179, 182, 183, 185, 196, 197, 199, 200, 201, 202, 206, 222. Kane, 118. Kennedy, 103. Kenney, 39. Kent, 110, 111. King, '2. Kirk. 73. Knight, 142, 151. Kubn, 146, 147. Lake, 148. Lambert, 62. Lancaster, 121. Lane, The, 96. Banister's, 23, 194. Blott's, 23. Davis, 144. Frog, 3 1 , 62. Green, 3i. Lindall, 67. Prison, 84. 92, 95, 97. Puddiog, 31. Rixdgway's, 66. Ridge way's 66. Sconce, 20. Seven Star, 26. Shrimpton, 132. Stoddard's, 81. Lane, Sudbury, 81. Willis, 23. Wing's, 71. Langdon, 191. Lawrence, 75, 94, 100, 101. Lebanon, 62. Leblond, 89. Lee, 44, 206, 210. Leger, 10. Leverett, 23, 25, 36, 37, 39, 50, 55, 61, 104, 189, 190, 192, 200. Lewis, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 17, 19. Llgolt, 31. Lincoln, 207. Lincolnshire, 84. Lioll, see Loyal. Lisle, see Loyal. Little, Brown, &. Co., 31. Lloyd, 77, 82, 94, 100. Llovle, see Loyal. London, 31, 85, 90, 99, 102, 113, 130, 151, 152, 157. Longfellow, 210. Lord, 71. Loring, 140, 183. Loudoun, 89. Louxor, 216. Lowell, 13, 29, 87, 100, 131, 210, 214, 215, 219, 217. Lowell Institute, 216, 217. fLoval, 00. Loyall, 60. I Lioll, 60. X J Lisle, 60. \ Llovle, 60. Lyall, 60. Lyle, 60. tLysle, 60. Lucas, 46. Lucee, 166. Lyall, see Loyal. Lyde, 39. Lyman, 69, 71, 82, 161, 162. * Lynd, 63, 81. ) Lynde, 32, 68, 74, 85, 105, 107. Lyndhurst, 88, 195. Lyne, 105. Lysle, see Loyal. Lytherland, 5, 10, 11. Mackintosh, 131, 210. Mahan, 173, 174, 175. Maine, 198. Mariner, 74. K Marion, 26, 27. \ Maryon, 26. Marsh, Coggan's, 95. Round, 12, Rumney, 133. Marston, 71. Mason, 39, 53, 77, 88, 109, 146, 182, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 202, 206, 207, 208. Massachusetts, 71, 88, 112, 116, 118, 145, 157. Massachusetts General Hospital, 136, 204, 210. Hospital Life Insurance Co., 216. Mather, 12, 16, 84. Maud, 84, 85, 89, 92. Maverick, 60. May, 42, 46, Tl. Mayer, 93. Mayhew, 10. McLean Asylum, 222. McNeill, 49. Mears, 74, 81, 82. Melvin, 215. Messenger, 13, 136, 145, 146, 152. Metcalf, 41. Middlecott, 18, 63, 65, 63, 104, 105, 107, 113, 121. Middlesex, 34. Middlesex Company, 215. Index. 229 Middleton, 146. Mill-Dam, 1, 52, 75, 185, 202. Millard, 104, 106, 142, 14S, 151, 163. Miller, 56, 142, 163, 164. Millet, J68. Milner, 47. ^ Minot, 36, 41, 54, 65, 66. J Mynot, 36. ( Mynolt, 34, 36. MiS!