USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston notions; being an authentic and concise account of "that village," from 1630 to 1847 > Part 12
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' lic before the officers who were in pursuit of them, a ser- ' mon from the following words : take council; execute judg- 'ment ; make thy shudou as the night in the midst of the noon ' day ; hide the outcasts ; betray not him that wandereth ; let 'mine outcasts dwell with thee ; Moub, be thou a covert to then ' from the face of the spoiler."
RICHARD BELLINGHAM.
Gov. Richard Bellingham, who was one of the original patentees on the Charter for Massachusetts Bay in 1628, and in 1644 one of the board of Selectmen and held various useful offices in the gift of the people, rising to that of gov- ernor, died Dec. 7th, 1682, aged 80 years : he appears to have been a deservedly popular man, strongly in favor of the liberties of the people; he was by edneation a lawyer ; as a man he was benevolent, upright and active in business : as a christian he was devout, zealous and attentive to external forms : in polities he favored the democratic side, but in the church was a violent opposer of the new sects that contended for religious freedom ; he was sometimes subject to dejection and melancholy, and even mental derangement : his will left a large property for charitable and pions uses, but it was made in such a crude manner that after some years of dis- pute, the general court thought necessary to supply its defects by their own construction of it, and used the property to build a stone fort on Castle Island, in the place of the wooden one, which was burnt March 21, 1673.
See page 44 for another notice of him.
VARIETY.
Oa page 41, au allusion is made to the death of King Philip of the Narraganset tribe of Indians, and it may be of interest to preserve the address of the Indian who shot him : ". you have been one very great man, you have made many
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'a man afraid of yon, but so big as you be, I will chop you in pieces:" then, with a hatchet he severed the head of, which was sent to Plymouth : his hands were sent to Boston and his body denied the right of sepuliure.
Iu 1653 the first great fire occurred in Boston, according to the records, but at what time or at what place is not named, but it is supposed to have been near State St.
1690, Aug. 3d. A fire near the Mill bridge across the creek in Hanover Street consumed several houses, and the fire known as the fifth great fire happened Sept. 16th, near the old south meeting honse which was in great danger of being consumed; several houses were destroyed and a lad burned to death. 1691. The 6th great fire occurred on June 30th, at the King's head by Scarlett's wharf, north end, when several houses were consumed.
1702, March 11. A great fire near the town dock, three warehouses blown up to stop its progress : the destruction of property extensive, but not recorded.
GREAT FIRE. Oct. 2d, 1711. The prosperity of Boston now seemingly on a rapid increase received a severe check by a fire which commeneed in Williams' Court from the carelessness of a poor woman who suffered the fire " to catch the oakum she was employed in picking of; " all the houses on both sides of Washington St. from School St. to Dock Square were laid in quias: the first chuch was carly in danger : some sailors went up in the stee de to save the bell. and while engaged in that service, the stairs burnt away, the roof fell in and they all perished in the flames : all the west end of State St. with the Town house was destroyed and some destruction made in Pudding lane [ Devonshire St. . ] nearly one hundred houses were destroyed and one hundred and ten families deprived of their shelter : a large trade was carried on in these buildings and the merchandize burnt and destroyed was very extensive : the rubbish was used to fill up Long wharf.
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The houses after this fire were generally built with brick and of three stories. The First Church commenced rebuild- ing on the site of the old church in April, 1712, with brick and of three stories; in which they held a meeting May 3d, 1713: this house stood till Jul. 17, 1808; and the next meeting of the society was ! id : their new church in Chauncey place four days after wards.
FIRE WARDS. The general court at their next session, by law, created a Board of firewards consisting of ten; their badge of office was "a staff five feet in length colored red and headed with a bright brass spire, six inches long : " and the ongi ies were supplied with water by lanes formed of the citizens, pas-ing full buckets on one side and empty buckets on the other. The comt al-o, proposed rebuilding the town house : the Province to be at half the expense : the county of Suffolk one quarter, and Boston the balance : it was completed andl a town meeting held in it, March 8, 1714.
NEWSPAPERS.
1701. The first newspaper published in the colonies conun nivel ir Bo don ; it wa- printed on a half sheet of pot paper, with a small prea type. folio, and was entitled " The Boston News Letter. Published by authority. From Mon- day April 17, to Monday Apal 24, 1704."
John Campbell, a Seotelunan and bookseller was propri- etor: " Boston, printed by B. Green : Sold by Nicholas Boone at his sitop near the old meeting house : " at this time the e were liveusers of the press, and what was printed, was under their approval : the first mmnber had the following pro prins: " This News Letter is to be continued weekly, and all Per ous Irving any How-es, Lands, Tenements, Bonne, Ship, Vesel, Garde, Wares or Merchandise. &C. to be sold or lea, or Servants Runaway, or Goods Stoll or Lost. may have the same inserted at a Reasonable Rate;
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trom Twelve Pence to Five Shillings and not to exceed : who may agree with Nicholas Boone for the same at his shop next door to Major Davis' Apothecary in Boston near the Old Meeting House .??
" All persons in Town and Country may have the said News-Letter Weekly upon reasonable tearms, agreeing with John Campbell, Postmaster for the same."
1519, Dec. 21. The second newspaper issued in New England was the BOSTON GAZETTE, published for Win. Bicok- er who succeeded Campbell as Post Master : printed on half a sheet of printing paper, foolscap size, with a small pica type, folio, by J. Franklin, and was continued on a half sheet for several years, excepting at times it would be issued with some blank page or pages, owing to a serutiniz- ing power of " the licencers " of the press : as nothing could be issued but " by authority," in that age of surveillance to the ruling powers of the Crown.
1721, Aug. 21. A third newspaper entitled the NEW EN- GLAND COURRANT, appeared at this date, printed and published by James Franklin, ou a half sheet, crown-size printing pa- per, with a small pica type : huprint; " Boston, printed by 'James Franklin, in Queen St. where advertisements are 'taken ja : " supposed to have been at the Franklin Head, Court St. ; the Courant was mostly occupied with original essays, in which men in office and the clerical opinions of the day were attacked : they were written by a society of gentlemen, by some of the community called " a set of free- thinkers, " and by others . the Hell-fire chib : " it had warm advocates and zealous opposers, and at last drew the atten- tion of the government, and J. Franklin was imprisoned for a month, and forbidden to print it afterwards ; his brother Benjamin, who was author of many of those essays, issued it in his own name ; it continued to be published nearly six
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years, but Benj. Franklin left the establishment in 1723. For a notice of Be.j. Franklin see another page.
The fourth newspaper called the NEW ENGLAND WEEKLY JOURNAL came out March 20th, 1727, on a half sheet of Fools- cap, folio, Imprint; " Boston, Printed by S. Kaeeland, at the printing house, Queen street, where advertisements are taken in ; " the character of this paper was short literary essay's on miscellaneous subjects by a private society.
FORTIFICATIONS ON THE NECK. In 1710, defences were built across the neck, ofstone and brick for a foundation, with a parapet of sod-work with strong gates across the road, and known as the " Fortification Gates." A number of cannon were placed there.
POST OFFICE. Mr. John Hayward was appointed by the conrt " to take in and convey letters according to their di- rection ; " the office of Post Master was regulated by the colonial government until 1710, when an act of parliament established the office of Post Master General in New York, to form other offices were most convenient, and Campbell the Bookseller, was appointed for Boston: in 1711, a southern and eastern mail to Plymouth and Maine went once a week and a western mail to Cona. and N. York, once a fortnight.
LIGHT HOUSE. July, 17, 1715. The general comt voted " that there be a Lighthouse erected at the charge of the ' provinces, on the southernmost part of the Great Brewster, 'called Beacon Iland, to be kept lighted from sunset to 'sun rising."
WITCHCRAFT IN BOSTON 1687.
"An instance of the delegated power of the prince of dark- n. a. m . they believed. voured in the worthy family Late man and good liver at the north eid : he Ll tox: Pchilien, of ingenuous minds, relig- iously educated, and esteemed as without guile : the oldest
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daughter about 13 or 14 years of age, charged a washerwo- man with taking away some of the family linen ; the mother of the laundress, was of the wild Irish character, and a bad woman : she used abusive language to Miss Goodwin on ac- count of the charge, and soon afterwards Miss G. went into fits; which the people said were of a diabolic character: the other sister and her two brothers were soon taken the same way : all tormented in the same part of their body, although in different rooms and ignorant of each others complaint : their afflictions were only in the day time : their night was spent in sweet peace : they would faint at sight of the as- semblies catechism, Cotton's milk for babies, and some other godly books, but could read in Oxford's jests, Popish and Quaker books and in the common prayer without any ditli- culty : sometimes they would be deaf, then dumb, then blind, and then again all these together would come upon them : their tongues would be drawn down their throat, and then pulled out to their chiu : their jaws, nech, shoulders, elbows and other joints would appear to be dislocated and they made pitious noises as of being burned, beaten, cut with knives, and the marks of wounds were seen, or at least 'twas said they were seen .??
" The ministers of Boston and Charlestown, kept a day of Fasting and prayer in the troubled house, after which the youngest child made no more complaints : the others con- tinned in their atlietions; then the magistrates interposed, and the old woman was apprehended and brought before them on the charge of witchery; but she would neither deny nor confess, and appeared crazy : Physicians examined her and pronounced her compos mentis, and she was executed ; declaring at the scaffold that the children should not be released."
"The eldest daughter was taken into a ministers' family and for a while was orderly, but again went into fits : in time,
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the whole recovered a serene and pleasant behaviour ; grew up professors of religion and no discovery of fraud in the transactions could be made : an account of it was published with a preface by Mr. Baxter, who said, " the evidence is so 'convincing, that he must be a very obdurate saddusee, who ' will not believe : " Mr. Hutchinson says, "it obtained ' credit sufficient, together with other preparatives to dispose ' the whole country to be easily imposed upou by the more 'extensive and more tragical scene, which was presently 'after acted at Salem and other parts of the county of Essex."
ANCIENT RECORDS.
" 1633. The scarcity of workmen had caused them to raise their wages to an excessive rate, so as a carpenter would have three shillings a day, a laborer 2s. Gd., &c. and accordingly those who had commodities to sell, advanced their prices sometimes double to that they cost in England; so as it grew to a general complaint, which the court taking knowledge of, as also of some further evils which were springing out of the excessive rates of wages, they made an order that carpenters, masons, &c., should take but 25. the day and laborers but 18 pence : and that no commodity should be sold above four pence in the shilling more than it cost for ready money in England : the evils which were springing were, 1. many would spend their time idly be- cause they could get as much in four days as woubl keep them a week, 2. they spent much in tobacco and strong waters, &e., which was a great waste to the Commonwealth, which by reason of so may foreign commodities expended, could not have subsiste ! at this time but that it was supplied by the cattle and cora which were sold to new comers at very dear rates : viz. corn at 6s. the bushel, a cow at £20 yea, at £24, and £26, a mare at £35, an ewe goat £3 or £4." " 1634, Dec. 11. One Abigail Gifford, widow, being kept
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at the charge of the parish of Wilsden in Middlesex, near London, was sent by Mr. Ball's ship into this country, and being found to be sometimes distracted, and a very burthen- some woman, the Gov. and assistants returned her back by warrant on the 18th, to the same parish, in the ship Rebecca ;?? by which record it appears that sending paupers to this coun- try, had commenced at our earliest history; and although the number sent over to us, have yearly increased to the present time, it appears they have many more yet left.
" 1638, June 1. An earthquake at 3 or 4 o'clock, P. M., startled the inhabitants of Boston and the country : it came with a noise like thunder and continued for 3 or 4 minutes.
" Aug. 3, 1638, at midnight a hurricane from the south west, drove a ship aground at Charlestown and whirled over a windmill and occasioned other damage : the tide flowed twice in six hours abont Narraganset, and raised the tide 14 or 15 feet higher than the usual spring tides .??
BOSTON MARKETS.
There had been several ineffectual efforts made for estab- lishing a regular Market in Boston, and again on March 11th, 1734, the town voted, "to choose a committee to think of 'and assign three suitable places for erecting markets and ' the cost and charge thereof. April 24th, in town meeting, 'It is voted and ordered that three places be and hereby are 'at present assigned for the aforesaid market: " and £70 was paid out of the town treasury for building the three mar- ket houses : " a piece of land in Orange street [ Washington] 'over against the house and land of Thomas Dowse there 'measuring 70 feet is pitch'd upon for one of the places : ' That the town's ground or Open Space on the Town Dock 'or Wharf, commonly called Dock Square be another place: ' And that the Open Space before and about the Old North 'Meeting house is fixed upon and determined for the third
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' place, where the Market is to be kept and carried on." Clerks to each market were appointed : "Ordered, that eve- 'ry Day in the Week except the Lord's Day or other Days ' set apart by this Government for Religious Service, shall by 'a Market Day and that a Bell be daily rung at the Opening 'of the Market, which shall be at the Rising of the Sur ' through the whole Year; from which Hour till the Hour d 'One Post Meridiem, shall forever hereafter be deemed and 'held Market Hours : " on the 4th of June they were all opened at the ringing of the bell.
Many persons were greatly dissatisfied with this experi- ment, and in the course of three years the clerks were dis- continued : the south end market was converted into shops : the north taken down to be used in building a workhouse, and that at the town dock was demolished by a mob : the · inhabitants mostly preferring to be supplied by the offerings of the country people at their own houses.
FANEUIL HALL.
In 1740. Peter Faneuil, Esq., made an offer to build at his own expense, a complete edifice on the town's land in Dock Square ; the lower part to be improved "as a market ' house, provided that the town would pass a vote authorizing 'it, and lay the same under the proper regulations as should 'be thought necessary, and constantly support it for the said 'use." On July 14th, a town meeting was held, and a peti- tion presented with 340 signatures, praying the town to ac- cede to the proposal : a vote of thanks to Mr. F. was passed unanimously : but when the question was put, whether the town would authorize the work to go on, there were 360 nays to 367 yeas, being only 7 majority to accept the present of the Market Building as a gift from its gentlemanly donor: the work was commenced Sept. 8th, and completed in two years, and the key of said house delivered to the selectmen.
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EAST VIEW OF FANEUIL HALL.
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Sept. 10, 1742. " Whereas information was given to 'this town at their inceting in July, 1740, that Peter Faneuil 'Esq. had been generously pleased to offer at his own prop- 'er cost and charges, to ereet and build a noble and com- 'plete structure or editice to be improved for a market for ' the sole use, benefit and advantage of the town, provided ' the town of Boston would pass a vote for that purpose, and 'lay the same under such proper regulations as shall be ' thought necessary, and constantly support it for said use ; 'and whereas, at the said meeting it was determined to ac- ' cept of the offer or proposal aforesaid, and also voted that
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' the selectmen should be desired to wait upon Peter Faneuil ' Esq. and present the thanks of this town to him, and also to 'acquaint him that the town have by their vote, come to a 'resolution to accept of his generous offer of erecting a Ma- 'ket House on Dock Square according to his proposal. And ' whereas Peter Faneuil, Esq. has in pursuance thereof at s 'very great expense, erected a noble structure, far exceed 'ing his first proposal, inasmuch as it contains not only a 'large and sufficient accommodation for a Market place, but ' has also superadded a spacious and most beautiful Town ' Hall over it, and several other convenient rooms which may ' prove very beneficial to the Town for offices or otherwise. ' And the said building being now finished, has delivered ' possession thereof to the selectien for the use of the town : 'it is therefore voted, that the town do with the utmost grat- "itude, receive and accept this most generous and noble ' benefaction for the use and intentions it is designed for, 'and do appoint the Hon. Thomas Cushing [with eleven 'other gentlemen] to wait upon Peter Faneuil, Esq. and in ' the name of the town, to render him their most hearty ' thanks for so bountiful a gift, with their prayers, that this 'and other expressions of his bounty and charity may be 'abundantly recompensed with the divine blessing."
Another unanimous vote passed, that the Hall should be in all times hereafter known as Faneuil Hall, and it was also voted, that a full length painting of him should be executed at the town's expense and placed in the hall, and the select- men were charged with the commission, which was accord- ingly executed.
The building was of brick, two stories in height and measured one hundred feet, by forty. I was esteemed one of the best pieces of workmanship and an ornament to the towa. The hall would contain 1000 persons : On Tuesday evening, Jan. 13th, 1761, a violent fire broke out from a shop
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opposite Faneuil Hall on the north side, which consumed all the row of wooden buildings east, to the swing bridge : they belonged to the town and were leased to tradesmen. The whole wood-work of Faneuil Hadt building was totally con- sumed ; nothing was left but the bare walls : the weather was so extremely coll, people could hardly endie it: the fire swept over to the south side of the market, and consumed many of the buildings there : March 23d. the town voted, to repair the building and the Gen. Court granted a lottery for the purpose of defraying the expense thereof. The first meeting held in it after the repairs were made. and of the original size, was March 11th, 1763. The building was en. larged in 1805, when forty feet more was added to its width by a vote of the citizens, it then being twice the size of the original building, ground area. and about twenty feet more in elevation : the Market House then was not large enough for the applicants for stalls; a shed was erected on the north side for the sale of Vegetables, &c. the whole length of the building.
THE NEW FANEUIL HALL MARKET.
On the east of Faneuil Hall and on a line with that build- ing, the present capacious and noble structure was com- menced building Aug. 20, 1824, on the suggestion and plans made by the enterprising Mayor of Boston, the Hon. Josiah Quincy ; it is 535 feet 9 inches in length and 50 feet in width: the whole built of granite stone ; it has a centre building, with a dome, elevated 46 feet, entrances to which are on the north and south side : the main entrances to the build- ing, are oni the east and west : the whole floor of the market is brick, laid in cean it : and its area divided ino 125 seg- menis for stalls ; 16 Al mio i. veal. vegi on, poultry and lamb : 23 for port, butterand poultry: 41 of beer; 4 for butter and cheese; 10 lo.v.
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The east and west wings from the centre building, over the market department, are each divided into two halls, 44 feet and 173 feet in length by 17 wide : the expense of this great work was over one million of dollars : yet the accum lating fund or surplus averting from reais, de. beyond the legal rate of interest, will cover its cost in a few more years : the land on which this building stands was mostly reclaim. ed from the tide waters.
Dec. 9th, 1747, the Town House (State St.) took fre from the wood work under the heaith, and all of iss wooden ma- terial was consumed; the following year it was thoroughly repaired.
March 18th, 1700, Fire destroyed 299 buildings and prop- erty in Boston, to the loss of quarter of a million of dollars.
BRITISH AGGRESSIONS.
Canada was taken by the British in 1759 from the French, and the acts of Parliament after that time, were framed for more coercion on the trade of the colonies : during the next year 1760, the mercantile community were harrassed with the " Acts of Trade " as put in execution by the Custom House Officers, when 58 of the head merchants memorial- ized the general Court in opposition to the powers of the Crown and " against granting writs of assistance," to put in force the " Acts of Trade : " for a trial of the question before the Supreme Court to grant such powers, James Otis, Jr. Esq., being then Adiceate General in the Court of Admiralty, re- signed that office under the crown, and espoused the cause of the merchants to resist the Custom House writs of assist- ance ; history says, that " he burst forth as with a flame of fire in the force of his eloquence," which seemed to indicate that the principles of freedom and independence, were not to be controlled by kingly power; " that taxation without re-
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presentation was tyranny : ' if they were not to be represented in Parliament, they would not bear any of the expenses there- of: Oxenbridge Thacher, Jr. E.g., also exhibited great pow- ers of learning and eloquence, on the same side ; the court adjourned to consider the subject ; but at the close of that term, postponed a decision until the next session.
A final hearing on the subject was had before the Supreme Court of Judicature, by petition of the Onicers of the Customs for writs of assistance, on the 18th of November; when the court gave judgment in favor of the pretensions of the Crown and officers of the Customs.
The enforcing of the Stamp Act, was postponed for one year; until the King renewed his assent to it, on the 22d of March, 1755 : it consisted of 55 sections. A mutiny Act was also passed at that time, among other things, requiring the colonies to provide for the King's troops, whenever they were in their vicinity. The Legislature of Virginia was in session at the time the Stamp Act arrived. and " the noble Virginians were the first to assert their rights with a decent firmness, " by adopting the proposition of Patrick Henry to resist the pretensions of parliment to tax the colonies.
1765, the King signed the Stamp Act of Parliament, laying a duty or tax of half a penny to twenty shillings, on every piece of pareliment or paper, on which any thing should be written or printed : Andrew Oliver, Secretary of the Province, was appointed distributor of the S.amps : on the 14th of August, at break of day, an effigy of Oliver, and a Boot, (Lord Bute) with a devil peeping out of it with the Stamp Act in his hand was discovered suspended on Liberty tree, opposite the now Boylston market : business was laid aside for the day ; the officers of the government, could not appease the ire of the people, who in a large body proceed- ed to Kilby Street, where a building had been erected by
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