USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > Century of town life; a history of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775-1887 > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 08190921 4
ISH
1
ス
1
-
. COL WILLIAM PRESCOTT® ON THE Heights of Charlestown TUNE 17, 1775. ª PAGE 82.
A
CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE:
A HISTORY OF
CHARLESTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS,
1775-1887.
WITH SURVEYS, RECORDS, AND TWENTY-EIGHT PAGES OF PLANS AND VIEWS.
BY JAMES F. HUNNEWELL,
AUTHOR OF THE HISTORICAL MONUMENTS OF FRANCE, THE IMPERIAL ISLAND, ETC.
BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 1888. H
Copyright, 1SS8, BY JAMES F. HUNNEWELL.
NEW YORK IRUOLI LIMATY 3960 A + -
Toun
F ns,
18 6
UNIVERSITY PRESS : JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE.
TO MY SON,
James Melville Dunnewell,
THIS HISTORY OF HIS NATIVE TOWN
IS DEDICATED.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE
Page
ix
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE 1
THE TOWN BURNED IN 1775 . 2
Its destruction, 6; extent of the fire, 8; losses, 11.
THE REBUILDING OF THE TOWN .
15
Its condition in 1785, 17; 1st bridge, 18; newspaper, 18; print-
ing, 20; and church, 20.
THE NEW TOWN 22
HISTORY, 1783-1834 24
Religious, 24; Politics, 30; Business, 31 (canal, 31; real estate, 32; manufacturing, 34; banking, 34).
CONDITION, 1834 .
35
HISTORY SINCE 1834 38
Religious, 38; Politics, 42; Business, 45 (railroads, 45; compa- nies, 48; Waverley House, 48; banks, gas, and water, 49).
PLACES OF PUBLIC WORSHIP, 1783-1887 . 50
INSTITUTIONS .
61
Benevolence, 61; fire societies, 64; military, 65.
OTHER PUBLIC BUILDINGS 67
Powder-liouse, 67; Convent, 69; Town Hall, 71; School-Houses, 72; Places of Amusement, 73.
MONUMENTS
74
Old Burial-Ground, 74; Bunker Hill, 79; soldiers', 82; statues, 82.
NATIONAL AND STATE INSTITUTIONS, etc. . 82
Navy Yard, 83; State Prison, 84; McLean Asylum, 85. OLD HOUSES 86
vi
CONTENTS.
Page 98
LIBRARIES and Literary Societies
SOCIAL HISTORY 104 PLAN OF THE VILLAGE OF CHARLESTOWN, 1638, (with a description) 109 PLANS OF THE TOWN burned in 1775 and afterwards rebuilt . . . 112
With a Survey of the lands and buildings in 1775 and since, and no- tices of occupants.
CLAIMS FOR LOSSES IN 1775 157
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE FIRST CHURCHI 175
ITS RECORDS, 1789-1832 193
Admissions, 191; Baptisms, 206; Marriages, 240; Deaths, 255.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 261
Before the Revolution, 262; BunkerHill, 265; since 1775, 269; Ad- dresses, Annexation, 269; Benevolent Institutions, Bridges, 270; Canal, Catalogues, 271 ; Churches, 272; Companies, Con- vent, 273; McLean Asylum, Memorials and Lives, 274; Mili- tary, 276; Newspapers (full list), 277; Schools, Societies, 278; State Prison, 279; Trials, 280; Works printed in the town, 1786-1836 (full list), 281; Authors, native and resident. 292.
INDEX 301
ILLUSTRATIONS.
1. STATUE OF COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT . Frontispiece. From a pen and ink drawing by H. Jackson, as also are 13, 16, and 26. To insure accuracy, all are based on photographed lines.
2. CHARLESTOWN IN FLAMES . Page 3 Reduced from Barnard's "England," folio, 1783.
3. VIEW OF BUNKER'S HILL .
8
From the "Gentleman's Magazine," Feb., 1790.
4. CHARLES RIVER BRIDGE
19
From the "New York Magazine," Sep., 1795 (differing in sky, boats, wharf, etc., from a view in the "Massachusetts Magazine," Sep., 1789).
5. MALDEN BRIDGE FROM BUNKER'S HILL . 20
From the "Massachusetts Magazine," Sep., 1790.
6. SPIRE OF THE MEETING-HOUSE OF THE FIRST CHURCH . 52 . With changes in the body of the house, proposed 1803.
7. ELEVATION OF THE SIDE OF THE INTERIOR, 1804 52
8, 9. PLAN OF THE PEWS ON THE FLOOR, 1804 52
10, 11. PLAN OF THE PEWS IN THE GALLERY, 1804 52
Both are before the alterations in 1804, and the six pages are reduced from drawings made at that time.
12. VIEW OF CHARLESTOWN, 1848 59
From a sketch made on Cambridge road.
13. THE POWDER HOUSE, 1887
67
14. THE TOWN HALL, AND WARREN PHALANX, 1838 71 From a lithograph of that date.
15. THE STATE PRISON, 1806
.
. 81
Reduced from a copper-plate then printed in Charlestown.
16. HOUSE OF JAMES RUSSELL, 1790-1866 80
17. NAVY YARD AND OLD HOUSES, 1826 .
91
18. HOUSE OF JAS. F. HUNNEWELL, 1887 . 96
From a photograph, drawn in ink by E. L. Dean.
viii
ILLUSTRATIONS.
19, 20. SKETCH OF CHARLESTOWN, 1638 . 109 Arrangement of the village, founded on the " Book of Possessions."
21. MAP OF THE WHOLE TOWN, 1794 113
PLANS OF ESTATES IN 1775, ETC.
22. I. The Square and Neighborhood, 114.
23. II. Town Ilill, Bow Street, etc., 129.
24. III. Main Street, Henley to Thompson, 142.
25. IV. thence to N. of Wood, 148.
Six pages, 19, 20, 22-25, from drawings by Jas. F. Hunnewell.
26. TOWER OF THE FIRST CHURCH, 1887 175
27. LIST OF CHURCH MEMBERS IN 1789 193
Reduced from the quarto page of Record by the Rev. Dr. Morse.
25. TITLE OF THE REV. THOS. SHEPARD'S "EYE SALVE," 1673 . 261 Probably the first work (except two almanacs?) written in Charlestown and printed in this country. From a copy owned by the writer.
In illustrating this volume the writer has continued a practice adopted by him for sev- eral other books that he has published or privatels printed. He has examined all that he could find (in some cases a large number) of the plates relating to the subject treated, and from them has reproduced what is best, or practicable, having some regard to age or rar- ity, more to excellence or interest, and most to accuracy. Of the illustrations here (28 full pages), 12 have been made for the work, 19 are from pen-and-ink drawings, 5 are from old and scarce plates, 2 from newer but not common, 1 is from Record, and 1 fron a title very rare in such fine condition. Nearly all the originals are in the writer's col- lection ; but the Record (27) belongs to the First Church, the plate of the Town Hall (14) to the Bostoniau Society (both copied by permission), one (16) belongs to the Charlestown Public Library, and one (17) is used by the courtesy of Mr. Edes. Five subjects are for accuracy based on photographed lines, and seven pages are from drawings by the writer (12, 19, 20, 22-25). At first he thought of reproducing a considerable number of wood- cuta, made in the course of the past fifty years, as the only existing representations of buil lings destroyed or altered ; but as some of the cuts are rudely engraved, and most of them are inaccurate, they are omitted. Everything given here (except curiosities, 2 to 5) can be relied on, even the view in 1848 (12), which, though it has little art, shows very closely the forms and positions of meeting-houses and prominent buildings as they then were. Views of Bunker Hill Monument are so numerous and good that none seem to be needed here. Of course more might be given, but the number is already liberal, the selection is careful, and the subjects are representative.
PREFACE.
T HIS book contains, first, a history of Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, from its destruction in 17751 to the present time, in which the characteristics of growth or action - about all for which this busy world has time -are shown unincum- bered by a great deal of detail. Next, there is a sketch, very hard to make, of the original town in 1638, and then, with more minuteness, a survey of the town burned, and of build- ings at that time and since on the ground, together with notices of occupants, - showing how the writer was obliged to work lot by lot through hundreds of estates and diversi- fied or complex accounts in order to make a simple statement of the limits of the fire and the nature and position of the losses. Following this are records, entire, and not extracts, important and hitherto unprinted, in regard to a great num- ber of the inhabitants from 1775 to 1832, continuing records (1632-1789) that he has already made public. Lastly, there is an addition to his Bibliography of the place (1880) with fresh matter, a list of native or resident authors, and another of all the books (107) and pamphlets (100) that he has yet
1 The history of the town before its destruction, as is well known, has been written, and by two authors who were ideals of what was desirable for their work. The Rev. Dr. Budington (pp. 39, 54) gave us the religious part, while the civil was presented by the Hon. Richard Frothingham, who was by family connected with the town from its settlement, and was for a long time active in its affairs. Both of them were fully acquainted and identified with it, and were widely known ; and the writer, as well as others, whose friends they had been from boyhood, felt a sad loss when they passed away.
Of the large territory formerly in Charlestown, but now Somerville, but little of the history is given in this book, as it is already prepared by another writer.
PREFACE.
found printed in the town through fifty years after the press was established there (1786-1836). To all this various mat- ter he has made an index referring to some 5,000 names, where in mentioning families with many persons he has ex- tended the division to their first initial.
Charlestown is perhaps a unique place in the country. While it has a history from 1629, at least, it was wholly re- built, except in its outer or inland parts, since the Declara- tion of Independence, and has since, by an annexation, ceased to be individual, and has, in one way, become that American rarity, a completed municipality. Hence it is, certainly to some extent, a representative of what that important member of the body politic, an American town, might or would be, when, also in a way, beginning and ending under the influ- ence of a century of the national life.
The writer's authorities are records, deeds, plans, private statements, the nearest complete collection of books and pamphlets about the place, and his own observation or long acquaintance. He has lived in the town and has known many of the people there through its course of change from mod- crate size and municipal individuality to doubled population and subordinate position as a part of a great city, and has seen many of the old, sometimes once large, families passing away. It is with interest in the familiar scenes and people that he writes their story, with an endeavor to be correct and just, to describe things as they have been or are, and to keep within limits that should protect what is private, in the last particular feeling, perhaps, more at liberty with his own than he would with what pertains to others. No one can write such a story without here or there some slip; but in only one book does a single error make a wicked Bible, and in all human books, and even in some criticisms on them, there will be errors about facts, as well as opinions on which there are disagreements. Sufficient care and labor have been spent by the writer to make him feel that confidence can be safely put in the present work. In one part, however, he is obliged to feel doubts, that is in regard to the Plan, 1638. It is an approximate one, - all that ever can be made, - for the early
xi
PREFACE.
descriptions and deeds are so vague or imperfect that nobody can now safely be positive, or be accurate except in a few particulars. Another exception must also, and partly for like reasons, be added in regard to the Survey, 1775; for while the writer feels sure about a large number of the many estates, about some he is in doubt, and generally has said so on the spot. Only one who has attempted to reconstruct from scat- tered materials a town burned over a hundred years ago can realize the difficulty of the work. The writer has, however, gained the end he proposed, that of learning closely the extent and nature of the town destroyed. In regard to any exact legal case about an old estate, the course to be taken is told on page 110; it is such as a business man would follow, for in such a case there is little in type on which he would rely.
It is easy, in one sense, to write about the place where one was born, and has lived, and known many people, and when memory and observation, or print and writing make one feel sure about a great deal. Yet in another sense it is hard to describe events and objects without offence or without a cer- tain exaggeration or vagueness apt to appear in local books,- to be obliged to compress, and to omit much, and yet to tell what the results, and monuments, so to speak, really are, so that some correct idea may be had of them ; to look at them, indeed, as from the outside, as the world might, and not through the confined range of a merely local vision.
Not only is it desirable, but in varying degrees it is impor- tant, that certain materials, or results of observations should be preserved, and those who can furnish them should at least try to do their part. Hence the writer feels that there is not only a reason for the present book on his native town, but that it properly accompanies other works on distant subjects that he has published. His first attempt at recording his observations was in what might be called only regions of ro- mance, but they included a great deal of real nature along with matter-of-fact antiquities, topography, and history, all made charming by the creations, as well as the genial char- acter and beneficent life of one of the world's great men of genius. "The Lands of Scott" was the result.
xii
PREFACE.
Enlarging, or changing, a systematic observation from a personal or romantic subject - important nevertheless -to the history of a people, the writer was led to examine the objects that form their most expressive records, - the re- ligious, civil, military, and domestic works that embody the thought and spirit of the ages. These, far more than some persons even dream, are of extreme value, for they show thic very essence, and most vivid and truthful expression, of his- tory. Yet precious as they are, many persons to whom they relate will take little care to save them. Our own country has not been excessively attentive to our scanty possessions. In another country the writer had seen the results of syste- matic efforts to preserve a great number of objects, some of them very large, making an admirable history of a nation
through nearly sixty generations. His " Historical Monu- ments of France," with extensive details and fuller descrip- tions of representative works, shows how her Commission for their preservation, already fifty years old, has, notwithstand- ing all mistakes, done noble service, and proved a model for England and America.
To those who speak the English tongue, and who are now spread throughout the world, the historic structures of the home-land are of even more interest. After many visits to a great number of these, the writer in a compact yet comprehen- sive way, showed their position both geographically and in the history of England from an obscure wilderness to world- wide rule. His " Imperial Island " (Boston), or "England's Chronicle in Stone" (London) not only shows this, but also may fairly stand as a trustworthy account of their condition and chief features, described from his own notes on the spot as they are to a great extent. As such an account of their subjects the three books will stand, and to them, based also on personal observation and helped by much illustrative ma- terial, is added the present volume.
On Charlestown ground there are few historie stones to save other than those in the old burial-ground. There are a few buildings and paintings, two or three public statues, and one great monument to be kept as long as possible. Our
xiii
PREFACE.
maternal political ancestor left us few old things to care for, except records that she was not allowed to handle. Yet in regard to her we can feel that former trials are past, that our ends were secured, and that, in a friendly spirit, we should now not dwell on the past, but recognize her immense value in the present and future of the world's civilization.
With a desire to tell the story of the Bunker Hill town since it arose a real Phoenix, and to help preserve what might be lost, the writer presents this book. If his words here prove, as they may, his final words about the old familiar place, they end with kind remembrance of it, and with the best of wishes for Charlestown.
NOTE. - The printing of this book was begun June 21, 1887, at page 109, and was continued to page 300. Page 1 was begun Sep. 20. Meanwhile subjeets for some addi- tional statements have appeared.
In regard to Bunker Hill, Lieut .- Col. H. N. Fisher has made and exhibited to the Bostonian Society (Oct. 11) a large and notable map of the town and the Battle, - an important addition to the topographical and military literature of the place and event. An immense panorama of the same subject has been painted, and will be exhibited.
Of detailed claims for losses in the town, June 17, 1775, the writer has seen (Jan. 26) that of Thad. Mason (see p. 131), the only one not examined when the survey (pp. 112- 56) was prepared. Mr. Mason had, painted throughout, a three-storied house, with a new porch (papered), and " six rooms and the staircase handsomely papered;" also a new barn, chaise-house (28 × 16), woodhouse (26 × 14), hogsty, henhouse, two sheds, ete., and a "Summer House on the Bank handsomly finished, papered & painted, with a Cellar under it ; " also in a garden about "30 fine thrifty fruit Trees as Cherries, Pears, Plumbs, Quinees, &c., & Currents eno to make 40 or 50 Gallons of Wine yearly." Be- sides furniture, etc., he lost "2 large painted Family Peices carv'd gilt Frames £4. 16. ; 10 metzinto Pictures, under Glass, gilt edg'd Frames a 5. 4 each - £5. 6. 8," and "28 Pictures painted on Glass gilt Frames a 3. cach - £4. 4." He also lost about 65 books (titles all given, 11 of them folios), but including scarcely anything of what is called Americana ; but there were also "ab: 200 Pamplets, as serm' &c. great Part of 'em val- uable a 4d cach," and " News Papers for 40 years past " (not valued). Ilis total esti- mate for his books and pamphlets was £10. 14. 8. (See pp. 14 and 98-100.)
The praiseworthy desire to make known interesting historic spots has led to the prep- aration, under the lead of Wm. Murray, of a tablet with an inscription that tells its own valued story : "HERE WAS BORN | SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE | 27 APRIL. 1791 | INVENTOR OF THE | ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH." The stone is to be on the front of his birthplace (see p. 149). There, says Dr. Prime, Dr. and Mrs. Morse " began house- keeping, shortly" after their marriage, "in a hired house on Main Street." In a work about the town the honors conferred on its distinguished native should be named. He was a member of the Historical Institute of France (Dec. 25, 1835) ; Royal Academy of
xiv
NOTE.
Fine Arts, Belgium (Jan. 12, 1837) ; National Institution for the Promotion of Science, Washington (Oct. 12, 1841) ; Archæological Society of Belgium (June 12, 1845), American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia (April 21, 1848) ; Royal Academy of Sciences, Swe- den (Oct. 3, 1838) ; and Société de Physique et d'Histoire Naturelle, Geneva, Switzerland (Dec. 20, 1866); Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston (Nov. 19, 1849); LL. D. by Yale College (Aug., 1846) ; Gold Medals from the American Institute (Oct. 18, 1842) ; Prussian for Scientific Merit (April, 1851); Great of Arts and Sciences, Wurtemberg (Feb., 1852); do. Science and Art, Austria (Aug., 1855) ; Order of Noble Exalted Glory, Sultan of Turkey (Jan. 22, 1848, his first decoration from a European sovereign); Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France (1856) ; Order of Dannebrog, Den- mark (Dec., 1856); Commander of the First Class, Order of Isabella the Catholic, Spain (May 11, 1859) ; Tower and Sword of Portugal (Sep. 20, 1860); and S. S. Maurizio et Lazare, Italy (March 31, 1864). For these and many more particulars see "Life of Sam- nel F. B. Morse, LL. D., Inventor of the Electro-Magnetic Recording Telegraph. By Samuel Irenæus Prime." 8vo. pp. xiii + 776. Plates. N. York, 1875.
To the Bibliography should be added the very interesting list of books given to Har- vard College, in 1638, by its founder, and printed in the "Bibliographical Contributions," edited by Justin Winsor (No. 27, 1888). "There were evidently over 300" volumes. Of the titles, sixty-five per cent are Latin, and all are much abbreviated in the list, which is headed : " Catalogus librorum quos dedit dominus Hervertus [Harvardus] Collegii hujus patronus."
Also, at the last moment, has appeared a work on one of the old and well-known fami- lies : " Memorial of James Thompson, of Charlestown, Mass., 1630-42, and Woburn, Mass., 1642-1682; and of Eight Generations of His Descendants. By Rev. Leander Thompson, A. M." 8° pp. 244 (2). 36 illustrations. Boston, 1887.
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
T HE first lessons in local history that the writer had were in his father's house, at what were called old ladies' par- ties, when several relatives, who were girls - one of them nine- teen years old - when the town was burned, used to spend the day with his grandmother. They had been intimate through long lives, and many a story of their early days they told. Memory brings back clearly that pleasant group, as they sat in their black dresses and quaint white caps, chatting, and now and then having their odd little laugh that in a sunshiny way lighted up their then wrinkled faces. Not a word of unkindly gossip was hicard, but they talked of things long past that they still well remembered, of the alarm when the British came back from Lexington, how women and children were rowed over Medford river, and how the red-coats looked in Main Street. What the old ladies said was undoubtedly quite as true as a good deal that we call history, and it was certainly much more interesting, -especially than some of the matter we compose from dry bits of record. They knew all the people, too, and could make them seem living if they were not. Their talk of them was far different from the poor little string of items and dates, some dubious, that forms what is called a genealogy. To the writer they then seemed of age beyond counting, and it was strange and entertaining that they could discourse in such ancient lore. But alas! there was no short-hand writing, or any note-taking; like their good selves, and the times and people they talked about, the most that they said has vanished, and they seem to flit by the desk where these lines are written,
1
2
A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
and mingle with shadowy scores and hundreds who in years past have been guests in the old house, and fill it with associ- ations to be cherished in silence.
Still, the writer's observation supplies much, and there is a good deal to be gleaned from written or printed statements or records, that, when sifted, and facts are used, and safe deduc- tions made, will help to a pretty full and true story. It is in- teresting to look at this material, to find what it amounts to, and, so far as we can, what the old town was just before and after the great fire in 1775, and then watch the growth to the present time. To do this, we had best at first look at the be- ginning of the town, and then take a somewhat careful survey of what there is about the ending of Provincial Charlestown.
THE TOWN BURNED IN 1775.
In trying to get some clear idea of the town burned by the British, June 17, 1775, - the first great material sacrifice of our countrymen in the war for our national independence, - the writer was at the outset led to find out what was the original village from which it grew, and thus to make a plan of it, - now the oldest part of the chief city of New England. In these two respects a survey of Charlestown has, as properly belongs to it, much more than a local interest.
The colonists under the Massachusetts Company were to be established on its territory. The place for the capital was chosen ; pioneers came to make ready for a large number of settlers ; and thus Charlestown was founded in 1629, and in July, 1630, many hundreds of English - men, women, and chil- dren, - were trying to live in huts and tents on or around the Town Hill, at the foot of which was the Great House, shelter- ing the Governor and his chief associates. Changes in plans followed. A large part of the people went to Boston, and a small population remained. Who were the persons, and where they were in 1638, is told us, although in a puzzling way, that the writer has tried to make clear by fitting the parts of a very disjointed account on a map he has drawn for his own help, and has put, with explanations, in this book (p. 109), where it may
4
ス
-
--
CHARLES T
BOSTON
11
View of The ATTACK on BUNKER'S HILL, with the
Burning' CHARLES TOWN
'Doporu by. M. Villar
Exgrend to lodge
3
THE TOWN BURNED IN 1775.
be of other service. So vague are the carly descriptions, and so imperfect the deeds remaining, that no human being can make the old lines exact, nor can even opinions always agree.
When we try to understand clearly what the town was on the morning of that memorable day in June, 1775, we find that there is a much greater puzzle before us than we would have thought before we tried. Every one who knew about it died long ago, and what is left us in black and white on paper is slight, indefinite, or mixed, and requires sorting.
Views printed or drawn, we might suppose would help us. If we look at those either of the town or the battle made near the time, we find them, nearly all, like those made by hundreds in England during the last century. They show certain feat- ures, but in a vague way, with slight regard to perspective or accuracy. An exceptionally good view - and it is good -is a sketch reproduced in the "Memorial History of Boston" (Vol. III.), but the scale is so small that we learn little from it about details of the town. An extraordinary view of the battle, in Cockings' " American War " (1781), re-engraved in much larger size in Barnard's "History of England" (1783), and the plate by Romans (Penn. Mag.), show a town ; but one as unlike Charlestown as it well could be. Indeed, of these, as of the few other views, we may say that we are glad we have even them, but that they are curiosities, now rare, rather than representations.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.