USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Annals of King's Chapel from the Puritan age of New England to the present day > Part 1
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Gc 974.402 B65foo v.2,pt.2 1784636
M. D.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01188 7137
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/annalsofkingscha22foot
840
ANNALS
OF
KING'S CHAPEL
FROM THE PURITAN AGE OF NEW ENGLAND TO THE PRESENT DAY
BY
HENRY WILDER FOOTE
Vol 2 PLZ
- IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. II.
BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1896
.
240
336
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL. 1784636
war darkened the land, and when treason had struck down our rulers.
But of all the picturesque contrasts in our annals, none is more striking than that between the last services under the older dispensation and the new era which began with James Freeman. The shadows of that past come back as we gaze into its mists. We see again the Royal Governor in his pew of state, hung with red curtains and raised several steps above the floor, as it stood under the south gallery; we recall the British officers of army and navy crowding here as honored guests; we hear the familiar prayers for King and Queen and royal family re- peated by loyal lips. The Church as it was seemed to be in some sense a part of the majesty of England. Then the sky lowers more and more, as the blind and senseless oppressions of the British ministry change a loyal colony to a people in rebellion. For a time the church brightens more and more with the uni- forms of the King's troops, as the town is changed into a gar- rison ; till, on a March Sunday in 1776, they hurriedly depart, never to return; and the dutiful prayers vanish, to become a dim vision of the ancient world, so different from ours. A large part of the congregation went also; and at their head went their aged rector, whose pride and life-work had been with unwearied pains to ensure the erection of the noble structure to which he bade farewell as he followed his convictions of duty to his King.1 But the Divine Providence had other designs than Dr. Caner knew; nor was he the only man who has not been fully taken into those inscrutable counsels. As Mr. Freeman tells us,2-
"There are Christians of various denominations in this place. The Congregational Churches (as they are usually called) form the greatest number. Besides these, there are three Episcopal societies, Two Ana- baptist, One Presbyterian, a society of Friends, the remains of a church formerly collected by Mr. Sandeman, and a number of persons who adopt the religious sentiment of Mr. Relly. All these various persuasions live together in the greatest harmony. A striking proof of the candour & liberality of the present age."
Of the structures occupied by these seventeen churches, six were of brick and ten of wood, King's Chapel being the only one of stone, - as it was probably, indeed, the only church edifice of stone in all the United States !
1 See his letter, ante, p. 305.
2 In the " rare pamphlet " referred to in the footnote on page 340, post.
337
THE INTERREGNUM.
In moulding this church for its work in the new and greater Boston which was to rise upon the foundation of the old, the young man who came here one hundred years ago was to play a great part. One of the most interesting episodes in the eccle- siastical history of New England is With sincerity yours. that which took place here at the close of the Revo- lutionary War. The whole chap- ter is closely as- sociated with the James Freeman name, and bears the enduring im- press of the char- acter, of James Freeman, the minister of this congregation for fifty-two years, and the leader in the theological change which altered the liturgy and doctrine of this ancient Church from that of the Church of England to the non-Trinitarian form which it has ever since retained.
At this period, when the parish was still in a somewhat dis- organized condition, no regular records appear to have been kept. It had, however, evidently been determined, as early as 1781, to resume regular liturgical worship here, as is evident from a notification to the Old South Society to that effect. What it was that changed their purpose until their later arrange- ment with Mr. James Freeman we are left largely to con- jecture. A letter, however, has been placed in my hands by a descendant of the gentleman to whom it was addressed, which may help to solve the enigma. It is addressed to Mr. Thomas Fitch /Oliver, of Salem, a graduate of Harvard College in 1775, - at that time a lay reader, and subsequently a clergyman, of the Episcopal Church, - and is as follows: -
My dear friend
BOSTON April 26. 1781
I am desired by Dr Bulfinch (the agent and representative of the pro- prietors of Kings Chapel) to request you to come to Boston immediately that some final agreement may be made between you and him, in his said capacity, respecting the matter which has been so long in agitation. You will be examined, or rather inquired of, respecting your belief in the various systems advanced by Calvin, Arius, etc., and it may be rather necessary to inform you what they believe, which is Calvinism a little VOL. II .- 22
338
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
tempered, - as I suppose the various systems of faith are equally unim- portant to that mind which has truth alone for its object - I should wish you to come as soon as possible.
Your friend, etc.,
THOMAS F. OLIVER Esq. of Salem.
J. HUGH.1
1 As we have been unable to get per- mission to see the original of this in- teresting and important document, it is impossible to determine whether or not an error was made in copying the signa- ture to it, as is strongly suspected. The name of "J. lIugh" does not appear upon the Boston Tax Lists in 1780 or 17SI, nor is it to be found at that date upon the Registers of King's Chapel, Trinity Church, or Christ Church, or in the Suffolk Registries of Deeds or of Probate.
It is reasonable to suppose that the writer of the letter was a friend of Mr. Oliver, an Episcopalian, and a person having affiliations with King's Chapel. The Harvard Quinquennial Catalogue shows us that the following named gen- tlemen graduated in the years prefixed to their names : -
1768 John Coffin Jones.
1769 Thomas Kast. James Winthrop.
1772 William Eustis.
1775 Thomas Fitch Oliver.
1776 Aaron Dexter. Christopher Gore.
1777 James Freeman.
1778 George Richards Minot.
1780 James Hughes.
1781 Charles Bulfinch.
1783 Harrison Gray Otis.
1786 John Lowell.
1792 William Sullivan.
1795 Francis Johonnot Oliver.
1796 James Jackson. Charles Pinckney Sumner. William Tudor.
1801 Robert Hallowell Gardiner.
All of these men were affiliated with King's Chapel.
The Boston Tax List for 1780 bears the names of the " Widow Hughes " and James Hughes, both residents of Ward 9, who, undoubtedly, were the widow and youngest son of Samuel Hughes, merchant, whose burial, at the age of 52,
is recorded in the Trinity Church Regis- ters, May 20, 1768. This record makes it certain that Sabine ( American Loyal- ists, i. 553) has confounded the father with his son of the same name, who was baptized at Trinity, Oct. 30, 1748, and whose brother, Peter Hughes, born in Boston, Dec. 26, 1746, is probably the person referred to by Sabine in the same work (ii. 533) among the " Fragments."
Mrs. Hughes was Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen Boutineau, the "only sur- viving Elder " of the French Protestant Church in School Street. Her sister Mary was married to Edward Dumaresq (see post, p. 363), Feb. 5, 1743, by Rev. André Le Mercier of the French Church. Her brother, James Boutineau, attorney- at-law, married Peter Faneuil's sister Susannah; was counsel for his son-in- law, John Robinson, in the suit brought against him for assault by James Otis in 1772; was one of the ten Mandamus Counsellors in 1774 who were sworn; fled to England with the Loyalists in 1776, lived in Bristol, and died before Feb. 20, 1784. His widow, while in Bristol, was in correspondence with her nephews in Boston - Edward Jones, son of John and Mary Ann (Faneuil) Jones, and James Hughes (H. C. 17So) -re- specting her estates In America, in 1784 and 1785 (Sabine's American Loyalists, i. 241-243). Mrs. Elizabeth Hughes died July 13, 1795, at the age of 79, leaving her estate equally to her son James (to whom she left, besides silver, "all the family portraits "), her daughter Ann, and the two children of her late daughter Mary, who had married Harrison Gray, Jr., Oct. 12, 1769.
James Hughes was baptized Nov. 4, 1759, at Trinity Church, with which the families of Boutineau and Hughes ap- pear to have connected themselves after the dispersion of the French Church, about 1748. During his four years resi- dence at Cambridge, Dr. James Free-
339
THE INTERREGNUM.
No record probably exists of Mr. Oliver's1 interview with the wardens, or of the reasons why this negotiation proceeded no further. It is perhaps not unlikely that the " Calvinism a little tempered " then believed here did not accord sufficiently with his more orthodox faith. In the summer of 1782 the proprie- tors definitely resolved to reoccupy the church for their own worship; and the settlement of Mr. Freeman as reader and as rector followed thereafter, with very important results in the history of the Church.
We have now arrived at a sort of station on our historical journey, where it is well to pause for a time and take a brief glance at the little town (for such it was) in which King's Chapel stood.
Boston had lost considerably in population during the forty years since 1742. In that year it had 16,382; in 1784, only 14,640. The difference in adult male population was still more surprising : in 1738, there were 3,395 ; in 1784, only 1, 141. This is explained, first, by the drain of the great expedition against Louisburg, in 1745, largely fitted out here, and by the whole cost of the old French war, " for the support of which, at one time, its real estate was taxed to the amount of two thirds its value." Then came the Boston Port Bill, the troubles before the Revo- lution, the Siege and the Evacuation, carrying off probably not far from two thousand Loyalist inhabitants; and then seven years
man, Judge Minot, and Charles Bulfinch (son of the Warden at whose request the letter to Mr. Oliver was written) were also there as undergraduates. The Rev. Thomas Fitch Oliver, it is true, had graduated the year before Hughes entered College, but it is highly im- probable that they were unacquainted. Oliver was a son of Judge Andrew Oliver (1731-1799) and grandson of Lieut .- Gov. Andrew Oliver (1707-1774), whose official relations with members of Mr. Hughes's family and prominent members of the Chapel congregation, at a period when social and official rank were so closely allied, furnish strong ground for believing that James Hughes, in writing to Mr. Oliver, would have addressed him as "My dear friend." It should also be remembered that Mr. Hughes was connected by marriage with a former assistant minister of King's Chapel, the Rev. Addington Davenport, - afterwards the first Rector of Trinity
Church, - whose second wife was Anne Faneuil, a sister of Susannah Faneuil who had married Mr. Hughes's maternal uncle, James Boutineau. The Burial Register of Trinity Church contains this entry : "1799 June 21. James Hughes, Esq., 41." Administration was granted on his estate, July 9, 1799; and the In- ventory includes " 1/3 of a pew in Trinity Church."
The facts here presented appear to us to afford cogent reasons for believing that the author of this letter was the Harvard graduate of 1780. Cf. ante, i. 480-481 ; Sargent's Dealings with the Dead, ii. passim ; Charles C. Smith's "The French Protestants in Boston" in Memorial History of Boston, ii. 249 et seq. ; Suffolk Probate Files, Nos. 20. 444, 21.063; Suffolk Deeds ; Trinity Church and King's Chapel Registers ; and Boston Records of Marriages and Marriage Intentions. - EDITOR.
1 See p. 393, post
340
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
of war, with business prostrate, and the men employed, many of them never to return, in warfare by land and sea. From a con- temporary description we copy the following: -
" Many of the Dwelling Houses are built of brick, but the largest part are of wood. They are in general three stories in height. Their quality is various : some of them are elegant, & others make but an indifferent appearance. Upon the whole, however, Boston, notwithstanding the crookedness of its Streets, & the irregularity of its Buildings (for two contiguous Houses are seldom found of the same height) does not strike the eye disagreeably. . . . The principal manufactures are Rum, Loaf- sugar, Cordage, Spermacati Candles, and Potash." 1
What a contrast between the little, quiet, picturesque town, with its quaint buildings and open spaces and gardens and free hill-tops, and this compact and stately city, stretching solidly over what were then marshes and berry-pastures, and housing over half a million souls! What a contrast between those few poor and scanty industries of the town, still weakened by its Revolutionary exhaustion, and the multiplied hive of industries of to-day !
The comparison is not less interesting between its ecclesiasti- cal condition then and now. The following scanty list shows us what was the state of things in 1784: -
CHURCHES.] First Church in Cornhill,2 founded 1630, is three stories in height, built of brick, with a light handsome steeple, supported by the roof. The upper galleries have been lately taken down, and, above the second range of windows a Corinthian cornice given, which supports four arches, which from each side of the walls, terminate in an oblong square in the centre. The lower galleries are supported by pillars of the Tuscan order. ¡ In this church there is a clock.
Second, or North Church, in North Square, founded 1650, was wholly destroyed by the British troops in 1775. The members are now united with the New Brick Church in Middle [now Hanover] Street. This Church stands upon a rising ground, has a decent steeple and a clock.
Antipædobaptist Church in Backstreet [now Salem Street] was founded 1665, and handsomely rebuilt in 1771.
1 Taken from a very rare pamphlet in the library of the Massachusetts Ilis- torical Society (published Sept. 1, 1784, and probably written by Mr. Freeman, as its authors' names are indicated in his own handwriting), entitled "Geographi- cal Gazeteer of the Towns in the Com- monwealth of Massachusetts." It is bound up in a volume lettered "Gookin
& Geography," and states (page 6) " 1718 houses in Boston." A manuscript note states, "No. of houses July, 1789, taken by actual enumeration - 2235."
2 Now Washington Street. The site is now (1895) occupied by the Rogers Building, nearly opposite the head of State Street.
341
THE INTERREGNUM.
South Church, in Marlborough [now Washington] Street, founded 1669, is a large and handsome brick building. The inside was entirely destroyed by the 17th regiment of British dragoons in 1775, and converted into a riding school. It was elegantly repaired in 1782. The lower galleries are finished with the Tuscan entablature and balustrade, supported by pillars of the same order. The second galleries are finished in the Dorick order complete, and a balustrade above the entablature. The pulpit window and ornaments are of the Corinthian order. The brick tower supports a handsome tall steeple, 180 feet in height. There is here one of the best clocks in America, executed by an ingenious clock-maker in Boston, and a large library of ancient books. The depredations of the regiment of dragoons proved fatal to a noble collection of historical manuscripts deposited in this library by Mr. Prince, author of the New- England Chronology.
[Then follows a description of King's Chapel. ]
The Church in Brattle Street was founded 1699, and rebuilt in brick, 1774. The inside is richly finished agreeably to the Corinthian order. The diameter of the columns is 2 feet, 2 inches at the base. From the entablature springs the arch over the centre. The pulpit of mahogany is the most elegantly finished work in the Town. The corners of the building outside, and of the tower, are of free stone rusticated. On the S. side is a portico of the Ionick order, of 8 pillars and pilasters. On the W. side of the tower is a large and elegant frontispiece of the Dorick order, over which is a Venetian window of the Ionick order. The tower, on which the steeple is to stand, is 90 feet in height.
Friends Meeting House, in Leverett Lane [Congress Street], founded 1710, is a small house built with brick.
New North Church, in North [Hanover] Street, founded 1714, is a spacious wooden building, with a tall steeple, supported by a tower.
New South Church, in Summer Street, founded in 1716, is a conven- ient wooden building, with a handsome steeple, finished agreeably to the Ionick order entire.
Christ Church, in Salem Street, the second episcopal church, founded in 1722, is a handsome brick building, with an elegant lofty steeple, in which there is a ring of eight bells and a clock. The first, second, and third stories are finished in the Tuscan, Dorick, and Ionick orders. Upon these the spire is supported. The balustrade of the first story finishes at each of the four corners in a pedestal, which supports an obelisk. The corners of the other stories finish with urns.
Presbyterian Church, in Long Lane [Federal Street ], founded 1730, is a neat wooden building, with a steeple in proportion.
The Church in Holis [sic] Street, founded 1732, is a commodious wooden building, with a decent steeple and a clock.
Trinity Church, in Summer Street, the third episcopal church, founded 1734, is a large wooden building. The circular arch on the inside is supported by square pillars of the Corinthian order. The capitals are
.
342
ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
gilded ; and it ought to be mentioned that they were thus enriched by the generous contribution of the ladies of the church. Beside the com- mon ornaments, in the chancel there are some very elegant paintings done by a masterly hand. This and the other two episcopal churches are furnished with organs.
West Church, in Lynde Street, is a well proportioned wooden build- ing. The steeple, which was executed with much taste, was taken down by the British troops in 1775.
The Church in Bennet Street, founded 1742, is a convenient wooden building.
The second Antipædobaptist Church, in Back [now Salem] Street, founded 1745, is a small decent wooden building.
The Church in School Street, founded 1748, is a small brick house built by the French protestants.
NUMBER OF INHABITANTS. ] By computation the Number of Inhab- itants in Boston is 14,640.
Among the persons who joined this Society after the Revolu- tion, we would particularly mention two, - the one, partly that we may record his narrow escape from sharing in the losses and ruin of the Loyalist members of this congregation; the other, because of the peculiarly close ties which bound him in the most intimate friendship with Dr. Freeman.
Pew No. 36 was taken in 1784 by Mr. JOHN AMORY. He was born in 1728, and was one of the leading merchants of Boston in the time before the Revolution, being in partnership with his elder brother.1 At the beginning of hostilities his " house owed their English creditors £30,000 sterling; and while their debtors here, from inability, or taking advantage of the times, paid, if at all, in a very depreciated currency, their whole debt was remitted in full, within the year." In 1774 it became im- portant that one of the partners should go to England, and Mr. Amory went, taking his wife with him. Her protracted illness, terminating in her death in 1778, prevented his return; he was considered a "refugee," and his property was put in se- questration. His brother, however, wrote to him that if it was confiscated he would share his own property with him. " His sympathies, it is said, were with his countrymen in their struggle for their liberties." He accordingly went over to the Conti- nent, and remained till just before the peace ; when, embarking for America, and not being able to come to Boston because of the " Banishment Act," he landed at New York, then held by
1 Jonathan Amory.
343
THE INTERREGNUM.
the British, and was there "forced to take the oath of alle- giance to the Crown." In 1784, on his petition, the Legislature of Massachusetts restored him to the rights of citizenship. He died in 1805.1 Some of his descendants are still members of this congregation.
So also are descendants of the other of whom we have to speak. GEORGE RICHARDS MINOT (H. C. 1778) was a class- mate and intimate friend of Mr. Freeman. The tie which bound them together was of no common degree of intimacy, and is affectingly shown by a memoir2 of Judge Minot written by his friend. He was Clerk of the Convention for ratifying the Federal Constitution, and he held other positions of honor and trust, for which the probity of his character seemed to mark him out. In 1800 he delivered a eulogy upon Washing- ton before the town of Boston. His History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay from 1748 to 1765 continued the narrative of Hutchinson.3
Among the congregation who remained after the British evacuation of Boston, and one of the most important members of it in the movements which resulted in Mr. James Freeman's settle- ment here, was Dr. THOMAS BULFINCHI, who had been a Vestryman from 1765 to 1776, and who was chosen senior warden in 1782, in which office he continued till 1795. He was a grand- The Bulfinch son of Adino Bulfinch, and the son of Dr. Thomas Bulfinch, an eminent medical practitioner here.4 The children of Elizabeth Bulfinch (daughter of the Warden), who married Joseph Coolidge, Esq., Sept. 20, 1796, are still members
1 These facts are chiefly taken from an article on the Amory family in the New-England Hist. and Gen. Register, x. 59-65.
2 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., viii. 86 et seq.
3 Eliot's Biographical Dictionary. See also pp. 364-366, post.
4 Dr. Thomas Bulfinch (Jr.) was quite a distinguished physician, who resided in Bowdoin Square. He was [1746] one of five graduates of Harvard College
between 1737 and 1750, who, many years after, received from the college the degree of M. D. pro honoris causa. (Dr. Samuel A. Green.) His father was born in 1694, married Judith Colman in 1724, and died in December, 1757: " He was a Gentleman whose knowledge Fidelity and Success in his Business ren- dered him an Ornament to his Profes- sion, as the Easiness and composure of his Behaviour, and the Agreeableness of
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ANNALS OF KING'S CHAPEL.
of this Society. Our honored friend, Mr. Thomas Bulfinch (H. C. 1814),- whose probity and courtesy made him " A Christian Gentleman " indeed, one who, after serving this Church as junior war- den and thus continuing the family tradition here, left at his death, in 1867, a void not to Any --- Bramheld St. be filled, - was the son of Dr. Bulfinch's son Charles, the eminent architect of the State House, the General Hospital, the Capitol of the United States at Washington, and other public buildings there. A few personal and family memorials of these and other names will be given further on.
The later story of Dr. Caner's life is told in the citations which follow, taken from the correspondence and other memoranda of the time: -
D .. Caner to the Secretary.
HALIFAX, May 10th, 1776.
I am now at Halifax with my daughter & ser- vant, but without any means of support except what I receive from the benevolence of the worthy Revª D: Breynton.1 Several other clergymen,
his Manners, made him Amiable in familiar Life. Ile was a tender Husband, an affectionate Father, a just and kind Master, and a constant and unshaken Friend. ITis Piety was sober and unaffected, his Temper humane and benev- olent ; his Ileart felt for the Distresses of others, and his Hands were ever ready to relieve them. He was a Lover of English Liberty, of good Order and Government, and in his family a Pattern of Economy and Hospitality; So that the Publick have Reason to Regret his Loss, not only as an excellent Physician, but as a good Citizen, whose Example was beneficial to the Community. His Remains were honorably interred Yesterday." - Newsletter, No. 2892, for Dec. S, 1757.
1 A portion of this letter has been given on page 305. Dr. Caner's house, " situated on the north side of the bury- ing ground, and lately," says Greenwood ( History of King's Chapel, 1833, p. 112), "taken down for the purpose of build- ing on the lot a new Savings Bank of stone, was of wood, rough-cast outside. In this house were the rooms of the Boston Athenaeum from 1810 to 1822." A heliotype view
of this building is in the Mass. Hist. Society's Proceedings, i. 470. The site is now owned and occupied by the Massa- chusetts Historical Society, and is numbered 30 on Tre- mont Street. In the accompanying view of that thoroughfare in 1800, it is desig- nated as belonging to Rufus G. Amory, a son of John Amory (ante, P. 342).
Levi Jennings, a member of this Parish and proprietor of Pew No. 73, was appointed to settle the estate of the Absentee, " IIenry Canner," Dec. 25,
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