USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > Century of town life; a history of Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1775-1887 > Part 12
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At the north of the area in the Plan were three estates bounded S. W. by "the streete way," and N. E. by Back St., Geo. Bunker's [36, no. 21] "little house" and garden, Thos. Caule's garden [73, no. 2], and Robt. Leach's house and garden [72]. This was bounded N. W. by "Geo. Bunker's house," which the writer does not identify, and between his no. 21 and P. Pratt is land also undetermined. There seems to have been a nucleus of what was later called the Mill Village, half a mile north near the junction of Main, Eden and other streets, and another small group to suggest the later Neck Village. In the rural parts inland were scattered houses. At the cast there were on that side of the "back street " successively from near Henley St., Eliz. Cetcherall's house and garden [60], Wm. Dade's two acres [22], Ed. Converse's [11, no. 3] "acre and a haulfe of earable land by estimation " (a favorite way of measuring the " Pos- sessions "), and Sam. Carter's [15, no. 2] two acres of the like with
111
THE VILLAGE IN 1058.
a house. From the lower (right) corner of the Plan towards the present Navy Yard, there were, bounded S. E. by the harbor, John Beridge's [19] house and garden; next Will. Stidson's [56] house and two acres, N. E. were a highway (or Wapping St.) and a part of Back St., and then, side by side, S. E. on Wapping dock, Thos. Coytmore's [28] house and two acres, and Walter Palmer's [3]] house and two acres. Close by was Will. Brackenbury's [13, no. 3] house with half an acre. In the cast field, on "the highway towards mistick river," Geo. Bunker [36, no. 1] had two acres and a house, and S. on Wapping St. Will. Quick [70] had a house and garden, and Isaac Cole [76] also had a house and garden. Farther eastward, at "Sconce point," was a row of four estates, all S. E. on the harbor, beginning with Augustine Walker's lot [50] S. W. and N. W. on "the marsh," and continued by James Garrett's [51] house and garden, Steeven fforsdick's [70] house and garden, and Henry Larrence's [39] house and garden. N. of the latter two were Thos. Knowhor's [59] house and garden, and Thos. Moulton's [38] house and garden, the last N. on Wapping Street. There was a condition in Walker's [50] "reserving libertie of way sufficient for the servis of the ffort," and one in Garrett's [51] "not hindering the highway about the batterie." Reference is here made to the fortification ordered by the General Court, Sept. 3, 1634, to be "made att the poynte neere Robte Moul- tons, att Charlton" [Mass. Records, 1853, I. 124], and that, with one slight change of place, was maintained, chiefly at the expense of the town, until the Revolution [R. Frothingham, Hist. C., 98, who adds that "it was situated near Swett's wharf"].
The village extended along the westerly bank of Charles River from a point at the inner end of the harbor, and also around the Town (Windmill) IIill. Northerly from this hill there were only scattered houses. On the Plan are shown 45 houses (perhaps 2 more unlocated), 1 barn, 2 storehouses, and 2 malt or brew houses. Added in the above account, N. and E., are 17 more houses, making a total of 67 (or 69?) buildings, all of which were undoubtedly simple, while the streets or lanes were narrower than their modern representatives on the Plan. Gradually the village increased eastward, northward, and over the area shown in the Plan, until its destruction in 1775.
PLANS OF THE TOWN OF CHARLESTOWN
WHEN BURNED IN 1775, AND AFTERWARDS REBUILT.
ALTHOUGH the destruction of this town in 1775 was, up to that time, one of the most important events personally known to the people of Massachusetts, yet no exact account of it or of most of the things burned, or anything that can be called a plan or accurate near view, appears to be now known, or, indeed, ever to have existed. General statements of course there are; but in trying to form a clear idea of the extent and characteristics of the town, the writer found that it could only be obtained by a laborious examination and connection of such separate authorities as relate to the subject. These are, (1) the List of Claims for Losses made by a Committee in 1776, and printed herein, pp. 154-74; (2) a collection of 443 MSS., with details, often minute, of these losses; (3) a MS. "Account" among the "Lowell Papers," owned by the Mass. Historical Soc .; (4) a MS. " Plan of the new streets," etc., 1780, "surveyed by John Leach," at the office of the Secretary of State, Boston; (5) the deeds at the County Registry in Cambridge; (6) a Memorial of Citizens for compensation made to the 23d Congress, 1834; (7) details of various claims in the Massachusetts Archives, Vols. 138 and 139; and (8) the "Gene- alogies and Estates of Charlestown," 1880.1
No one of these, alone, gives any clear idea of the subject, or even of its details ; but they must be laboriously examined, compared, and arranged. The List of Claims (1) gives the amounts of losses on real and personal estate, but no details of houses, articles, or local position. The collection (2) enumerates buildings, in a few cases with great detail, but generally with little; also crops, fences, shop goods, and furniture, usually with particulars ; but gives, singularly, little topo- graphical information. In the Account (3) appear only names of owners or occupants of 76 houses, 41 " Barraks," and 102 " cellars," in all, 219 of these, or much less than the actual number of buildings (380 by church record), besides omitting a large part of the personal losses. The "Plan " (4) is a rough sketch, quite without scale, to
1 (1 and 2) are town property; (1) has been copied by the writer ; (3) has also been copied by him, and for permission to do so he is indebted to the courtesy of the Mass. Historical Society; (4) is open to the public at the State House, where a copy was made for the writer ; (5) is as stated above, and (6) can be found in libraries; (7) is also public, and (8) is a published work.
Cambridge
Cutters Track
North
M 670 68 2
Mistick river
Mistick Fonds
String Round
N.23W
Symons river
83.6.72
Meford .
Part of Boston Charles Bridge
Medford
Malden Bridge
Malden river
A Plan of Charlestown Surveyed in December 1794. and protracted according to the needle at the time of survey. the number of acres with" Charleston neck 344) acres without the neck 3940 $4.300 .... White island & at the east end. Malden Bridge 16 The whole of Mistick Fonds being about 200 acres are includedon the above measure, as also the Brooks creeks Y roads the double lines drawn through the Plan represent the roads - the adjoin- ing Jours are wrote in their proper places for further informa- tim must refer to the Plan all which is submitted by Samt. Thompson Scales 200 rods in one in inch. Surveyor.
Woburn
2test/Boston Bridge
Cambridge
Mistick river
113
THE TOWN IN 1775.
indicate changes proposed in the Square, and Water, Henley, and Main streets, only in part effected. Main St. is shown impossibly straight, and only meagre information is given by names or figures ; yet valuable evidence is found about the site of the "Great House." The deeds (5) afford the best of all available information, and yet sometimes leave the position of estates a puzzle. They are open to the public, and are admirably indexed and arranged. A portion of (6) will be found in (7), together with a moderate amount of curious detail. In regard to over three hundred estates the writer has ex- amined (8) and has found many clews and statements that he has used ; but the lack of topographical arrangement, and a scattering of details, makes it perplexing, and its references to losses are imper- fect. The recorded deeds (5) have no substitute.
Of maps or plans 1 of the town made later after the fire, there is one by Samuel Thompson, on a small scale, in MS.,2 dated Dee. 1794, showing the whole area, but no plan of the burnt district giving even available hints. The first real map of the streets, not made until 1818, was by Peter Tufts, but its scale is so small that it is of no help here, and furthermore some of its lines (as, for instance, the block bounded by Harvard, Bow, and Arrow streets) do not appear to be correct. It should be added that the early plans of the Battle of Bunker Hill, while very valuable about the field itself, which is care- fully shown, and while giving well the upper part of Main St. and some of the outer roads, are evidently imperfect in regard to the streets in the lower, or chiefly settled streets of the town. Ilere the Plan by Lieut. Page is the least imperfect; that of De Berniere might almost be called preposterous ; Smith's Plan (heliotyped in the writer's Bibliography of B. H.), the earliest American, is based on that of Page.
In drawing Plans of the burnt district of 1775 the writer has copied from several (fifty years or less old) that were of sufficient scale, although in this all of them varied, and has shown the district substantially as it is now divided, but on it the estates that then existed (many of which remain), some of which are accurately given, and others approximately, or with sufficient exactness for the purpose in view. In describing the estates he has named the occupants in 1775, and at the same time gives notes about their successors, and also about the buildings now or hitherto on the ground. It is,
1 The Town "Survey," 1767, is text only, but its items afford some help.
2 In the Massachusetts Archives, from which it was copied for the writer.
8
114
THE GREAT HOUSE.
indeed, such a survey as we wish some one had made in 1775, and one that may be of value in the future.
This survey we begin at lot 1, Plan I., the site of the "Great House " built (1629-30) for Gov. Winthrop, occupied by him, for sessions of the Court, as a place of worship, and then (1635) sold for £30. to Robert Long. In the Book of Possessions (p. 6) the estate is described as "one Roode and a haufe of grounde by estimation, more or lesse, scituate on the south of the mill hill, butting" S. E. and N. E. on the market place, N. by the meeting-house lane, and S. W. "by the high streete, with a dwelling house upon it and other aptinances." This house is believed to have stood until it was burned, June 17, 1775, and in it Robt. Long kept an Ordinary, or tavern, until his death (1663). It is hard enough to trace the ownership of this " Possession," but as it is the site of the earliest historic building within the present limits of Boston, we should make it an exception among the estates of the town, and briefly note how it was held. Robert Long's heirs sold the estate (1673) to "brother John Long," whose widow Mary sold (1704) "a small piece " to Henry Cookery, and (1711) "the great tavern" itself to her son Samuel. Of him Eben' Breed bought (1711) one half of the "old tavern" (1 C.). Mr. Frothingham says that "the estate [meaning all] remained in the possession of Mr. Breed's heirs [from 1754, when he died] until the town purchased it to form a part of the Square." But he owned only one half, and Charles Russell (1712-13) bought another half of the "3 Crane Tavern" (D.), which passed to Chambers Russell. Notwithstanding this, it is stated (G. and E., 626) that Mary Long devised (1720) the tavern, and left it (1729) to Samuel Long, and also (do., 864) that Sarah, widow of Samuel Long, who married Geo. Shore, left (1744) the "Three Cranes," occupied by John Gardner, to her husband; and furthermore that Brown (Thomas, do., 142, called Nath'l on p. 24), innholder, bought (1746) of Chambers Russell the "3 Cranes," and (1766) mortgaged it to the Ancient and Hon. Artillery Co., the discharge not being made until June 17, 1794. This not very lucid account of ownership is, however, clearer than the separate statements of the shape of the lots into which the Pos- session became divided. Even the exact site of the first Govern- ment building of Massachusetts Bay can hardly be determined until the exact position of a certain post in Mary Long's fence is known. Mr. Wyman says (p. 24) that the lot mortgaged in 1766 is the City Hall lot (Plan I., 2); but the deeds show that it could not have been, and the Leach sketch helps to solve the riddle, and also to prove the
Town Hill
PLAN I.
Parish
(or Church) I.and (# 1835). was bequeathed Mosby Richard Sprague.
Henley
(Hettorn St.)
--
Street
2
8
11
N
12
6
Main Street-
13
3
4
2
[Lane here and whole of I farther!]
The Meeting
-
A
in 1775, here ?]
15
Warren
31
Bow St.
B
1 £
16
1
30
37
29
D
C [Breed]
In 1775, the Courty Town House (combined) probably stood here.
Chelsea Street
34
40
[These Lines farther North in 17/5.]
20
19
21
39
Warren
Main
22
Bridge.
Street
Street
Joiner Street
36
27
R
26
24
25
Water
Street
42
-
33
----
18
28
1
Graves Jane
37
23
38
17
Charlestowne Square (Oct. 1836) from a Plan by A. Wardsworth, Oct.y. (extended N. from anotherplan)
14
Street
1
35
9
10
115
THE TOWN IN 1775.
correctness of Mr. Frothingham's statement that "the Great House stood wholly in the Square, and opposite " the centre of the present " Waverly House,"-a fact that he, it is very likely, had from per- sons who had seen the old building. Confused by the first remark, but guided by the last two named, the bounds in the deeds become comprehensible, and other divisions are explained.
In 1700 (deed, vol. 12, 656), Henry Cookery, "marriner," for £70., bought of (Maj.) John Cutler a "messuage,"- yards, gardens, or- chards, houses, etc. (1 A), -bounded (but without feet given) N. and E. on Mary Long, S. and W. "upon an alley or passage neer the public meeting house," and 1706 (deeds, vol. 14, 88), as an inn- holder, of Mary Long, "a small piece of ground" (1 B), for £40. (N. W. 54 on II. C .; S. E. 54 on M. L .; S. W. 30 on Town St .; N. E. 30 on land and garden fence of M. L.). In 1718 (vol. 19, 260) for £200. his heirs sold Wm. Wyer a lot (A), S. on street 29} ft .; W. on street from the meeting-house, 102} ft .; N. on alley near do., 23 ft .; E. on land of late Capt. John Long. David Wyer inherited (1747) of Wm. his father, house and shop bought of Cookery (1718), and sold (1755) to Jas. Russell, who sold (1759) to Richª Phillips, and he (1764) to Irene Prentice (died 1791), daughter of Rev. Thos., settled minister of Charlestown. The bounds, 1764, are within a few inches those of 1718, and are described similarly, with the added particular that N. is on alley at E. end of the meeting-house. Thus these lots, fronted by the Breed and Russell purchases (C. D.), together form a block that could only have stood "wholly in the Square," as is proved by the Leach sketch, quite out of scale and bearings as the block is there, and with figures of dimensions only in part agreeing with those in the deeds, yet there measuring only 5 % more area than in the guess-work of 1638.
The whole area of the Possession is now in the open space of the Square, and not a vestige of the buildings once on it remains above ground. Charred timbers, it is said, were dug up here years ago.
Close by the "Great House " stood the meeting-house of the town, and really the most important building there, in or before 1775. References to it are found, and its position, somewhere near the east end of the present City Hall, is known. Yet it is a strange fact, that an exact description of it and of its site does not appear to exist. In many other countries a building so identified with the religion of the people would not have thus perished from thought as well as from sight. The slightness of its material seems to have been a symbol of the really slight consecration it was felt to give the ground where
116
MARKET PLACE, NORTH SIDE.
it stood. In the losses it (467) was valued at £3,000. Near by stood the Court-house, valued (465) at £800., of the exact description and site of which, also, nothing has been found by the writer.
The most precise information we have about the sites of both these buildings is given by those who knew them. Dr. Bartlett (1813) says that the meeting-house stood on the Square (in front of 3, Plan I.), and the Court-house in front of the Russell estate (do., 28, 29), which may have been on 1 E. Judge Jas. Winthrop (1818). in connection with Gen. Dearborn's account of the battle refers to " the northern side of the Square, where the Court-house stood," adding that "after the destruction of the Town, the places of the Court-house and Meeting-house were cleared of the ruins to form the present Square." Their probable sites are indicated on Plan I.
On 2 appear to have stood the two houses of the ministers, valued (claim 470) £1,100., and long occupied by the pastors of the town, as well as by Rev. HULL ABBOT and Rev. THOS. PRENTICE. (As shown by a deed (1766) the former may have been on 1 E.). The latter owned real property elsewhere, and claimed (119) on it, or on something here. Neither of them appears to have lost much personal estate.
The other losses on 1 and 2 appear to have been in those of JOHN WYER (14), EPHRAIM BREED (48), and EBENEZER BREED (12).
Next north, and fronting the Square, is an estate, 3, sold (1785) by the widow MARY SCOTTOW. She stated (Coll. No. 2) that she lost her "Two Dwelling Houses adjoining together Near the Baek of the Meetinghouse," valued at £225. Matthew Bridge, who came from Lexington (Nov. 14, 1785), bought of her (1785) when the three-storied wooden house, now standing here, was new. Its front, elapboarded and painted brown, is about 36 ft. wide. As has been the case for over forty years the lower story is used for business and the upper part for tenements. In 1814 Eben! Baker, who had mar- ried Miss Bridge, lived here. She then inherited her father's large wooden house (Plan II., 44 A) on Harvard St., and probably then went to it. The estate is still held by the widow of her son, thus making one of the few instances now in town of an estate held by the same family for over a century. Besides personal acquaintance with the owners since the first Mr. Bridge, the writer knew the house well when a scholar in the "Classical School " kept in it by Dr. J. H. Holmes (1847 and earlier), and attended by boys of several well- known families. Changes are so great that as far as the writer is aware he has been for many years the only one of these scholars who has been a householder in the town.
117
THE TOWN IN 1775.
Adjoining is 4, a small lot owned perhaps fifty years by the family of Jos. AUSTIN, who claimed (16) for loss (house and shop), and inherited the land (1784). He soon sold (1785) to Thos. Powers, who sold (1792) to Nath. Gorham, whose "store" is here on a plan dated 1796. An old wooden building here, three stories high, has (1887) been replaced by a new brick store.
Next, at 5, is a plain red brick building, 43 ft. front, three stories high, and with a tall sloping and slated roof. The lower story has been occupied for many years by A. N. Swallow & Co., grocers, suc- cessors of the firm Sawtell & Jacobs in the same business. The upper part has been used by societies and for business. This estate contained the mansion of Edward Sheafe, sold after his death to Caleb Call, and by him, May 11, 1772 (for £393. 6. 8) to NATHAN- IEL GORHAM, who, Aug. 29, 1772, mortgaged it as "the house wherein I now dwell," to Jas. Bowdoin (for £200.). Mr. Gorham, who claimed (18) in 1775, died intestate in 1796, and his heirs (1813) sold the lot to Geo. Bartlett, who sold it in 1845. Long ago the house of Mr. Gorham (built after the conflagration) disappeared. It must have stood close upon the street, and could hardly have been a fine one, but it was for several years the residence of the citizen of the town who reached the highest official position attained by any of its natives. A long narrow strip of land behind, for many years used for stables, sheds, etc., extends to the open space on Town Hill.
Beyond is another long narrow estate (6) reaching to the same space. In 1772 Thos. Austin sold it to D. WAIT, who claimed (19) for loss (house, bakehouse, barn, shop, work and smoke house) in 1775, and whose heirs sold it in 1816. In 1796 his house appears to have been 34 ft. deep. The present building, quite different from the original, is of wood, three stories high, clapboarded, painted gray, and is used for business.
Next, and reaching to an alley to Town Hill, and up it to the open space, is a large estate (7) bought by SAM. SWAN, 1756, who claimed (20) for loss of house and barn. As a store it was sold to Caleb Swan (1796), who (1796) sold to Cotton Center, a grocer, who came from Woburn (Apr., 1785). He sold to R. Center, 1809-14, who (1818) mortgaged to I. Warren, and the latter's son, Geo. W., inherited it. The present owner is Rhodes Lockwood. On Town Hill are wooden dwellings, and on Main St. a modern style of apartment-house built of brick, five stories high, with stores on the lower floor, and three bay windows reaching up the other stories to the flat roof. This structure is developed from " Wash-
118
MAIN ST., NEAR THE SQUARE.
ington Hall," in which G. W. Warren arranged a large room for parties. The "Bachelors' Ball," given here by George T. Upham, Constantine F. Newell, and Walter Hastings, was one of the earlier, and was a fashionable event of the time. At the "ÆEthon " (1861) and Quadrille (1854) parties were also gathered many once well known in town. Subsequently the place had the experiences apt to befall its like. Among personal associations with this estate there are two that are very notable. Here probably lived, although for a short time, Rev. John Harvard, and here Judge Sewall visited.
The block (8, 9) bounded by the alley, Main St., and Henley St. was the home estate of Increase Nowell, first signer of the Church Covenant, who died 1655, and from whose widow it passed (1675) to Wm Hilton. In 1706 Eleazer Phillips bought the southerly part (40 ft. wide), and (1709) his son Eleazer inherited some of it (8). This son, who died 1763, was the only bookseller and publisher in the town before the Revolution, but the works issued by him (see p. 264) are now of great rarity. The end of the Phillips part on Town Hill was divided into two small estates, on one of which is a two-storied house built of split stone, now occupied by the Charlestown Free Dis- pensary. On Main St. there is a block of plain red brick buildings, three stories high, with stores below and dwellings, etc., above. The Leach sketch (1780) places on 9 "Doc. Graves," and the HEIRS OF CARY. (111) claimed "for Doc' Graves' house." (The same sketch puts "Austins " only at 8.) Three or four houses, apparently, were burned (1775) on this block. Main St. was (1767 ) here 27 it. wide.
At the corner of Henley St. and Main St. (10) now stands the large square building of the Warren Institution for Savings, three tall stories high, built of red bricks, with a brownstone front and brownstone "trimmings " elsewhere, and covered by a high so-called French slated roof with a broad flat top. It was built (1859) from designs by J. H. Rand, in no defined (but what is termed "modern ") style, and is one of the largest and most expensive business buildings ever on the peninsula. Here a house given to the town by R. Sprague was sold (1732) to S. HENLEY. After ownership by him and some of his heirs, his son SAMUEL held the estate and claimed (109) for losses in 1775. Mr. Henley's account of his house is one of the fullest descriptions that appears among thie claims, and is as follows : " A large Elegant Mansion House three Stories high painted inside and out in the Best manner the upper chambers all plasterd five Rooms on a floer with large Iron Backs in every Room and Chamber (but one), that in my Kitching weighª Better then Two hundred wait.
119
THE TOWN IN 1775.
The Best Room was finishª with very handsom Hangings which cost me about Twenty three pounds Lawful and Two Rooms with very good Paper. A very handsom Entry finished with Carv.d work, winscott and paper - five Chambers the Best Chamber a very good paper and a marble hearth that Cost Ten pounds Lawful, and each side the Chimney carvd work and winscott. A handsom Turit on said House with an Elictrick Wyer, long & large A very good Cellar under the whole House, with many plank petitions, Doars, and Locks, the House was finished in the best manner Two Rooms winscotted, Chair high Stone hearths and Jams. A Counting Room at the End of my House, cost me about forty pounds Lawful money. Shutters and Iron fastnings to all the windows in the House in the best man- ner - About three quarters of said House was built about Nine years before it was Burnt which I look upon to be worth at least Farthing £2,000. lawful money." Ile was distiller, trader, church-member, town treasurer, father of 20 children, and the richest man on the peninsula in 1775. He was enterprising, and, if stories of some old persons could be believed, he had a vigorous temper. His daugh- ter Elizabeth married Sir Grenville Temple, and was one of the very few natives of the town who had a knighted husband. After Capt. Henley's death (1795) the estate eventually stood in other names.
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