USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > Century of town life; a history of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775-1887 > Part 11
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tinctly state that the library was in the latter place. Mrs. Adams, in her letter of the 25th referred to (Familiar Letters, N. Y., 1876, p. 72), after writing of the wishes and efforts of individuals to get out of Boston (some of whom she names), adds : ""Tis certain they watch them so narrowly that they cannot escape. Mr. Mather got out a day or two before Charlestown was destroyed, and had lodged his papers and what else he got out at Mr. Carey's, but they were all consumed; so were many other people's, who thought they might trust their little there till teams could be procured to remove them." Bright men as were the Mathers, it would seem to have been difficult for any one even of thein, as a fugitive from beleaguered Boston, to have carried a large library across Charles River ; and if the books were previously sent to Mr. Cary's, they went to a house near the water-side. Richard Cary claimed £1,560. on real (10, p. 157), but only £75. on personal property (see further, pp. 5, 123), and the unusually large sum of £9. 12 for cartage, showing that a great part of the latter, as was generally the case in that neighborhood, was removed ; while John (287, p. 168) claimed only £78. personal, and the name of Mather does not appear in the list.
Furthermore, as is well known, a large number of books from the Mather library have long been owned by the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, and other specimens are in private collections. The writer may add that he has a few.
In June, 1775, there was a great deal of excitement around Boston, and as is apt to be the case at such a time, strange reports were current, some of which Mr. and Mrs. Adams heard. For instance, she wrote to him (18th), "The battle began upon our intrenchments upon Bunker's Hill Saturday morning, about three o'clock, and has not ceased yet ; and it is now three o'clock Sabbath afternoon." (Life of J. A., 1856, 1. 177.) After examining many details, the writer may here also add his belief that there are exaggerated estimates of certain losses by the burning of the town. It caused very great suffering, but, he thinks, less loss to art and liter- ature than some have supposed.
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LIBRARIES.
Swan-Hurd brick building (Plan I., 60), the latter a cosey apartment. By lot and sale the collection was dispersed March 21, 1842.1 There does not appear to have been in this library, even under the favorable conditions of its formation, any full collection of rare works about the town.
While the " Union " was, on a small scale, the Boston Athenaum of the town, the Mishawum Literary Association was its Mercantile Library. Founded Sep., 1851, it was after- wards, for years, the owner of a considerable Library of a popular nature, that was also, in time, dispersed.
The earliest practical attempt to establish a Public Library originated in a petition of citizens, Jan. 20, 1853, and in offers made (Jan. 22) by Hon. G. W. Warren ($500), and (Jan. 24) by James Hunnewell ($1,500). Conditions in the offer of the former seem to have prevented its acceptance. To the offer of Mr. Hunnewell no such objection appeared, but no answer to his letter conveying it was ever received by him, and the money was given to other objects. After a while the project was revived; a City Ordinance to establish the library was passed, June 4, 5, 1860 ; and a meeting for consultation fol- lowed, on July 14, together with a general subscription among the citizens. There had hitherto been no room as well fitted as desired for the library ; but, says the first report, " the re- cent erection of tlic Banking House of the Warren Savings Institution suggested a suitable place " for it. Of this Bank, four leading subscribers to the library fund were officers. A board of Trustees was chosen, afterwards elected annually ; T. T. Sawyer was chairman (and until annexation, 1873), four members were from the City Council, and five represented citizens at large. The first committee on the Catalogue (in- cluding acquisition of books) consisted of Richard Frothing- ham (a trustee 13 years), Jas. F. Hunnewell (8] years), and Francis W. Hurd (1 year). The librarian was Geo. S. Poole, brother of W. F. Poole, LL.D., highly distinguished in like office. In 1862, the library was opened (Jan. 7), the printed
1 A considerable number of the books were sent to the Hawaiian Islands by James Hunnewell, a shareholder, and the largest buyer at the sale (which he did not approve), and a fair number remain beside the writer.
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A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
catalogue was ready (Oct. 30), the number of volumes was over 7,000, of deliveries 58,612, and of takers 3,519 (all to Nov. 15). Five years later there were 9,897 volumes; 1,094 were rebound in 1867, 93 withdrawn, and 14 lost. Of borrow- ers there was a list of 8,352, and from the beginning the de- liveries amounted to 404,610. After annexation to Boston (1873) the library remained intact with its funds, in town where it belonged, and for this result Charlestown is much indebted to Dr. C. S. Cartee (librarian 1870-85), and Hon. T. T. Sawyer. Soon afterwards it was established on the sec- ond floor of the City Hall. The number of volumes Dec. 31, 1886, was 26,428, and of deliveries (1886) 65,977, while the funds had increased to $11,500, and the institution is flourish- ing. There is one department, that ought to have precedence in every town library, for which the writer urged contributions. It is that of all publications relating to the place, to the natives and residents, or issued by them. No one can tell what local or personal information can or will be sometime wanted or needed, and in the town library this should be found. It is disheartening to sec all the last novels in such a library, and no care for a copy of a memorial of one of the best old citi- zens ; to find the popular comic author from far away repre- sented, and not the books of a man who on the spot did good service long ago. Calls made on the public early in the sixties would, if in any general way responded to, have secured far more than they did. A little later the junk-dealer was very suc- cessful. A single pamphlet from each of two hundred persons (when 3,500 freely took out books), would have made a collec- tion that could be secured now only by great labor, if done by one person, as it now must be to become nearly the success then cheaply possible. Yet Charlestown, thanks to some good people, has come to have this department fairly supplied. No one need, however, to feel that there is not still room for more, no matter how old or obscure seems the book or the pamphlet.
The Sunday Schools have libraries such as the differing ideas of the owners suggest. In the High School there is a fair and useful collection, and books are also gathered by various Soci- eties and Lodges.
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LIBRARIES.
Of private collections it may be said that a large number of families or persons have their book-cases, for these are com- mon in New England. Of such collections long in a family, there are few in the town. The oldest of them known to the writer belongs to Miss Helen Hurd, who made it of service to him when he was writing his bibliography. Old pamphlets are preserved in it as they only are in a house occupied by one family for a century.
One can but feel a certain due restraint in mentioning the private effects of others ; still it may be allowable to say that the professional gentlemen have had their collections for their own special uses. The Hon. Richard Frothingham, in his pur- suits as editor, public man, and author, gathered a large num- ber of volumes and pamphlets, that are preserved by his family. While, for rarities, he often relied on those owned by the So- cieties of which he was a member, he was by no means without them ; yet he would probably have defined his as a working library. Another of our well known literary citizens, Mr. John Boyle O'Reilly, is also credited with having things good and interesting. As collectors (not putting them out of the pale as readers), Mr. A. E. Cutter has books in fine bindings, largely English literature ; and also in the sunshine of Monument Square, Mr. E. N. Coburn has a large collection of Americana. Mr. H. H. Edes has, in the same lines, had some of the good fortune that follows enterprise and enthusiasm.
Of the writer's library, a small foundation was laid over a hundred years ago, when some of his ancestors saved a few books. To these his father, starting about seventy years ago, made additions, including a number of volumes now scarce. Beginning in boyhood to save his gifts and purchases, the writer himself has slowly increased his collection with refer- ence to active or proposed uses, the nature of which is to some extent indicated by books that he has written. Naturally for such uses he would have not a few things that he has learned are hard to find elsewhere, and an interest in subjects and books combined has led him to obtain souvenirs of remarkable dispersed libraries, or former owners.
In connection with libraries, literary societies of the town
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A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
may be mentioned. Early in this century there were two Reading Societies, one at least of which became merged in the Union Library already described. Of what are called Reading Rooms, there was one connected with the Washing- ton Hall Association (1813) ; another, called the Bunker Hill Library Association, was incorporated in 1854, and this and a News Room in the Square were continued for years. All of them, it is said, were centres of local gossip. In 1829, a De- bating Society was formed by about 30 young men ; a Me- chanics Library Association, March 6, 1841, but of short duration ; and in 1853, the Mishawum Literary Association, already mentioned. During the second quarter of this cen- tury, there were throughout the State organizations that might be classed with the literary, and of which the town had its representative, a good one, long a favorite, -the Charlestown Lyceum, opened Jan. 5, 1830. Each winter, attended by a great deal of Charlestown, there was a course of lectures, many of which were by prominent writers and speakers, the Hon. Edward Everett giving an admirable start with his Ad- dress at the 200th Anniversary of the Arrival of Gov. Win- throp, delivered June 28, 1830. This was one of the few " centennials " in the town, not connected with Bunker Hill, that have been specially commemorated.
SOCIAL HISTORY.
The social history, important a part as it is of the history of a town, is seldom accurately written ; indeed, a great deal that is distinctive in its character, or even a simple detail of facts, is unrecorded. There is little or nothing, for instance, written or printed about the earlier parties where the local society was gathered, to tell how they looked, who was there, or what was done. Biographies and memoirs now and then tell something, but they are as apt not to be of use in this respect as they are in not giving accounts of what really shaped the lives of which they treat. It is a question, moreover, if private affairs, like characters in private life, are to be treated like matters of public
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SOCIAL HISTORY.
history ; still the annals of a place are incomplete without some account of its society, and a few remarks may be permitted.
General statements are perhaps all that can now be made about society in the town during the earlier part of the present century. At that time there appear to have been few families established for a long while in any one house (examples, p. 37), and styles of living, like the means, were simple (p. 37). Be- sides this lack of permanence, there was also that of numbers sufficient for any large social development; and furthermore great diversity of opinions and feelings existed, as is stated by President Dwight (Travels, 1821, I. 467), and in records (p. 26). Even external matters that helped to make later homes pleas- ant were wanting, as a longer time was required for trees and gardens to grow into fine condition.
A glimpse of earlier social life is given in a memoir of Judge Dana (p. 275), who lived in town from 1808 to 1813 (in the Kettell house, p. 92). " He kept a fine pair of horses, which, in the fashion of the day, he drove tandem in a gig. . . . Some- times a town-meeting, when political affairs were under discus- sion, would become so unmanageable that the moderator would resign, and Mr. Dana be sent for ;" and when Mrs. Dana gave a party " she baked about three times as much cake as was re- quired for her guests, because the married ladies were accus- tomed to bring to parties good-sized bags, and, on leaving, to revisit the supper-table and take home the bags well filled for the children." Some forty years later the writer lias seen a survival of this practice at " Temperance Levees," or suppers for charitable objects, given in the old Town Hall. Drinking hab- its, in varying degree, continued some time into the present century, so that it was hardly civil to receive a call, even from the minister, without an offer of a glass of something, -to the minister it would be wine. As late as 1818, a church council of 84 persons had at their dinner 9 decanters of brandy, etc., 40 bottles of wine, and 144 cigars, besides pipes (Hist. Harvard Ch., 169). The style of furnishing houses has already been mentioned (pp. 37, 38).
Fashions in dress (except official), as indeed they always have, followed, at some distance of time as well as of place,
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A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
those of town-life in Europe. A few of the earlier prominent men must have had an imposing look. Portraits show us Na- thaniel Gorham and Samuel Dexter in ruffled bosoms, and text (Mem., p. 275) informs us that Thomas Russell, nearly six feet high, appeared on Change in hair powdered and tied, a cocked hat, and a "sable-lined silk great-coat from Russia," while he carried "a gold-headed India cane." The minister wore powdered hair and small clothes, and in the pulpit, bands, and a very full black gown (as did his successors, the latter until 1871). Numerous officers of the Navy, connected with the Yard, wore more brilliant costumes than have been adopted since 1861; and the local militia, and, at a later period, the firemen, used brighter colors, and more of them, than they have of late. At the same time there was a great aversion to dis- tinetive dresses in most of the civil service, or occupations, and only in recent years have these become established, adding much to the usefulness and good looks of the police, postmen, and railroad staff.
Towards the middle of the century, and awhile after it, a good old practice was continued, or was revived. Children whose parents lived in the town, settled there also, and the re- sult was a fair amount of society attached to the place, and giving it character and attractiveness. How to keep near the old homes, and not how to get away from them, was then the question. Hence there were houses of parents and of children, and of many who were related or connected. Religious soci- eties to a considerable extent made social groups, and, although these differed, all were pleasant. As time passed there was less of this division, and more mingling. The town also at- tracted not a few whose value was felt in society as in other relations. There could, from these various causes, hardly have been a pleasanter period than for perhaps fifty years after 1830. A certain amount of fashion, along with a good deal that was quite as substantial and cared not much for it, has existed. Many handsome parties have been given, where, notably, or dis- tinctively, dancing and cards were the favorite entertainments.
Since society leaves slight record of itself, we should not fail to remember the ladies who certainly did quite as much to make
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SOCIAL HISTORY.
life pleasant, as did some of the men in politics who thus had their names put in type. Those who are familiar with the old town will recall, it may be allowable to say here, besides others, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Budington, Mrs. Henry Forster, Mrs. Glidden, Mrs. Hubbell, Mrs. John Hurd, Mrs. Geo. A. Kettell, Mrs. James Lee, Mrs. Henry Lyon, Mrs. Susan Pierce, and Mrs. Gco. W. Warren. In the Reports of Benevolent Societies, to which the Bibliography directs, and on the Records of the Churches, is a far longer list of names than can be given here of ladies who have also been distinguished in good works.
Among prominent visitors entertained in the town have been General Washington by Major Ben. Frothingham (p. 151), Prince Talleyrand by the Rev. Dr. Morse and some of his pa- rishiioners, General Lafayette by Colonel Jaques in 1825, and General U. S. Grant by the Hon. Geo. W. Warren. II. Da- vidson gave a handsome reception to General Jackson (who is said to have been unable to attend). James Hunnewell enter- tained (for some days) Haalilio when on his mission that se- cured the independence of his country ; and later the Princes Lot and Alexander, afterwards Kamehameha IV. and V. Queen Kapiolani, and the Princess Liliuokalani (1887), and (1871) the first Japanese minister to the U. S. (at one of his earliest dinners in N. E.) have been guests of the writer. Two very prominent societies, the Massachusetts Historical and the Amer- ican Antiquarian, have lunched with the Hon. Richard Froth- ingham (whose son, Thos. G., is one of the few in town who maintain his father's style of hospitality). Twice the latter society has lunched with the writer. Some of the notable balls of former days have been already mentioned (p. 118). What might be called the society of the older period may be said to have culminated in the " sociables " and " Shakespeares " during the winter of 1881-82, when nearly thirty parties, all pleasant, were given, making a season perhaps unique in the town. Since that time there have been great changes.
Associations having more or less of a social nature have ex- isted during a century past, but during the last twenty or thirty years their number and memberships have very much increased, so that a list of them with their officers fills no small space in
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A CENTURY OF TOWN LIFE.
the local papers where it is from time to time given. In each of the churches there is also an organization, or more than one, that is intended to bring the people together, and hence is social in character.
Unavoidable change must of course attend the growth of a population from comparatively small numbers of similar de- scent, most of whom knew each other, and where some families were large, to several-fold greater numbers, coming from many sources and having less in common. As the old semi-rural Main Street can never again exist, so also there cannot be, in the nature of things, the old and often intimately connected society. The moving out and the moving in that has continu- ally been going on, has carried away many who were valued, and has brought more not yet as familiar. Scattered widely are those who in some way have been connected with the old town, numerous enough to surprise one, - some, as the world goes, to find themselves better off, some who can count their days on its ground their best .. In the pendulous swing of Amer- ican movement, change after change has gone on, yet still there were those who lived in, and stood by, the old place, and faith in the country and people, along with what the past teaches, makes us feel that the future will not in this way differ.
In practical matters as well as in precious historic associa- tions, Charlestown has advantages. It is near business parts of Boston as well as to a great deal else, and has plenty of sun- light, good air, and drainage, besides a fair amount of firm land, put, as an old townsman said, where the Creator thought it should be. There is only one Bunker Hill in the metropolis of New England, and if the height where the embattled founders of the Republic stood life in hand, or fell ready sacrifice to so much that we hold priceless, is not prized and kept in due order, as it has been and is, another era than theirs and their children's comes for the country.
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PLANS OF CHARLESTOWN.
THE VILLAGE IN 1638.
T HE houses, grounds, and occupants are shown according to the Book of Possessions (1638), printed in the Third Report of the Record Commissioners of Boston, 1883. This Book is a record of the estates of the inhabitants acquired "by purchase, by gift from the town, or by allotments, as they were divided among them by a joint consent after the General Court had settled their bounds by granting eight miles from the old meeting-house into the country." (Hist. C., 66.)
With such means and authority it might seem easy to locate the houses and lands in the village close to the river opposite Boston ; but any one who begins afresh will encounter an uncommonly pretty puzzle, and can well agree with Mr. Frothingham (IIist., p. 2), that while the Book "is valuable so far as it goes," it "is exceedingly loose in description ;" indeed, as he adds (p. 66), that "many of the descriptions are so indefinite that it is difficult, if not impossible, to locate the lots." Measures of length are not given ; often there is not even a hint of the size of an arca; points of compass are some- times omitted, or repeated incorrectly on the same lot ; certain estates bound on possessions of persons who by the list possessed nothing, or nothing there; not a highway has its present name or exact line ; there is no geographical order ; two important pages were lost many years ago; and, to add a little more perplexity, the accounts of the lots are scattered promiscuously through the volume. Slight help is given by previous writers. Mr. Frothingham has, in a general way, located a very few of the houses. The "Estates " (1879) is only abbreviated copy from the Book, with few attempts at " the develop- ment of localities which it is proposed to chucidate " (p. 2), and then not always correct, though helping at a few points.
Making a map of streets as they are from three or four plans that were on a large enough scale, and marking them with black lines, in
110
THE VILLAGE IN 1638.
order that the Plan could be understood better, the writer has fitted the lots together (marked by dotted lines) according to the Book, referring by figures on each to the page where description is given, and joining the abutters as there named, and as copied also on the Plan. In some cases lines coincide, or nearly coincide, with existing estates; in other cases it would be very difficult, or impossible, to make them. If it is necessary to establish this identity in any case, the only course is to employ a good conveyancer and surveyor, quite possibly with the chance that they will be either well tried or quite baffled. This remark applies also to the second, and following, survey.
The Plan, as stated, shows the houses and occupants and their positions with some approach to order and correctness, and, it may be fairly considered, gives a much clearer idea than has yet been given of the oldest village on the central part of Massachusetts bay when it was nine years old.
A few particulars about the Plan and other parts of the town should be added. The position of "The Great House" built (1629-30) for Gov. Winthrop, and the earliest court and the meeting-house, and (1638) the tavern, is determined from deeds, and Leach's sketch (1780). The Parish Lands are from a plan made in 1835, and the probable place of the ministers' houses is deduced from their bounds. The Rev. John Harvard would probably have lived between them and Mr. Nowell, the first signer of the Covenant (1632); but the descriptions of his estate, like those of the ministers and of Major Wm. Phillips, are lost.
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