USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Christ Church, Salem Street, Boston : the Old North Church of Paul Revere fame : historical sketches, Colonial period, 1723-1775 > Part 4
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the said Doctor Timothy Cutler, Rector of the sd. Church for ye time being, et al.
(Suffolk Deeds, Lib. 40, Fol. 58)
CHRIST CHURCH : SALEM STREET : BOSTON
To the Glory of God in Memory of all those who by the Labour of their Hands laid the Foundation and built the Superstructure of this the second Episcopal Church erected in Boston
Thomas Tippin and Thomas Bennett Master Builders Ebenezer Clough and James Varney Stonemasons and Bricklayers First Stone laid April 15, 1723 Opened for Divine Service December 29, 1723
They need no Monument who build for God
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CHRIST CHURCH, BOSTON
" I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is; and thou holdest fast thy name, and hast not denied my faith."
Not for thy pomp and pride of place, Not for thy relics rare Of kings, and ministers of grace, Whose names thy vessels bear; Not for thy boast of high degree, Nor charms of gorgeous style, Hast thou been ever dear to me, O thou time-honoured pile !
But for thy constant truth, which still Preserves, from age to age Unmoved, through good report and ill, The Father's heritage; Which firmly as the hills remains, As years have o'er thee swept, And singly, 'mid apostate fanes, The ancient faith has kept.
THE REV. WILLIAM CROSWELL, D.D. Rector of Christ Church, 1829-1840
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THE OLD NORTH'S DEBT TO SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN
A FELICITOUS description of a promenade in Old London came from the pen of the late Reverend Dr. William H. Dewart, rector emeritus of Christ Church, Boston, supplementing a century of tra- dition and guesswork :
London, July 20, 1936.
You want a word about the grandmother of our venerable pile on Salem Street? Very well! Here goes!
You are coming out of St. Paul's Cathedral; you turn left towards the river; you walk through one of those narrow, crooked streets; in three or four minutes you come to Queen Victoria Street, almost along the river; and there you find a smallish Christopher Wren church, somewhat perched up twenty steps above the street. This building stands for two old churches destroyed in the Great Fire (1666). The sign board reads
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe with St. Anne, Blackfriars
You enter, and practically you are in the OLD NORTH - center aisle, side aisles, box pews, galleries, great east window, organ up in west gallery.
Fifty years ago, another rector of Christ Church, the Reverend Henry Burroughs, D.D., made this same pil- grimage on the same quest. The London correspondent of The Churchman in 1899 commented on this visit and reaffirmed the connection between the two churches. Then Dr. Duane, in his scholarly papers on the 175th anni- versary of Christ Church, retells the story. Finally an architect, Willard French, writing in the Architectural Record in 1906, says :
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St. Anne's, Blackfriars, is one of the ideal miniatures wrought by Sir Christopher Wren. The Old North Church is identical with St. Anne's.1 I believe it to be a fact - a most important fact, too - that we have right in the Hub, one of the finest examples of Sir Christopher Wren's mastery in architecture. To save the fee, our worthy sires secreted the fact. Therefore is there no record.
The writer adds that two of the original proprietors of Christ Church were former parishioners of St. Anne's.
It was after the great fire of London in 1666 that the two parishes of St. Anne, Blackfriars, and St. Andrew- by-the-Wardrobe were combined. St. Anne, being only a curacy, yielded supremacy in name to the larger and older church; and, in 1692, one church called “St. Andrew- by-the-Wardrobe with St. Anne, Blackfriars," was erected under the supervision of Christopher Wren. Here 2 the Church Missionary Society was organized in 1799, a more evangelical body than the historic Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which it supplemented but never supplanted. Here the first Sunday School in the City of London was opened in 1809, an- ticipating by only six years the Christ Church Sunday School opened in 1815 in Boston, -it, too, a "first."
The two parishes represented by the church with a dual name have their own histories: St. Anne within the province of Blackfriars was the chapel of the preaching order of Dominicans, and received its popular name from their sombre dress; St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a parish as old as the Norman Conquest, although when it was first so called is uncertain; but the King's storehouse, ; known as the Wardrobe, immediately contiguous to the church, was built in the 14th century.
Much more might be written about this probable proto- type of the most ancient house of worship in the City of
1 A moot question finally settled thirty years later by Norman Mor- rison Isham.
' The Churches of London, Volume II. By George Godwin.
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Boston. What we most wish to know is : Were Christopher Wren's plans procured for use in building Christ Church ?
In all but the architect's name, and that of the maker of the brass "branches" or chandeliers which must have come from the same hand as those in Trinity Church, Newport, Rhode Island, the records are complete. From the raising of the building fund, the purchase of the land on which no other building by man's hand has ever stood, the levelling of that land and carrying off the " durt," the price of a first stone at fifteen shillings from John Low "for Mr. Myles to lay" (which he accomplished as rector of King's Chapel, accompanied by the Gentlemen of his parish on April 15, 1723), the thousands of bricks dumped at Scarlett's Wharf, the loads of lumber from York, the raising of the beams and their "turpentiner- ing," the ribbing and roofing, the double-sashing of the many-paned windows, the building of the altar and a place for the books and "cushings," and, last but not least, the plentiful supply of cooling beer for the work- men, - all the thousand and one details which mean so much to the architect checking up his blue prints are recorded in precise detail for twenty-one years, the time it actually took to complete Christ Church within and without.
But whence came the plans referred to in the specifica- tions and estimates? If they were Wren's, one might hazard a guess that the versatile William Price might have been for something in the matter. Was not his father a Londoner ? And may he not have been one of the parishioners of St. Andrew's whom Mr. French hints at? In any event we are not in doubt about the spire erected in 1740, for William Price's bill for making the drawings for it are on file. To be sure, in one of his "draughts" he topped it off with a giant cross, when in truth it was Deacon Shem Drowne, of Faneuil Hall "grasshopper" fame, who fashioned the 116 pound
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e
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banner, the flower pot and flowers, the mysterious "blew " ball and the graceful five-pointed star which, though somewhat battered as to floral ornaments, still crown the spire. Until there is expert technical investigation, we shall still wander on the paths of speculation.
In the great Cathedral of our faith in London, if you would see a monument to its creator you are told to look around you. In the architectural gem which is Christ Church, I ask you, too, to look around you and read these names on pews in the north aisle :
Thomas Tippin 1724
Thomas Bennett 1724
Housewrights ? Carpenters and Joyners ? Cabinetmakers ? Yes, all that and more. They were the Master-Workmen of this church, who together wrought into conscious beauty, out of oak and maple and pine from the virgin forests of New England, this vaulted roof, these soaring columns, and panelled doors, that Holy Table, all to the glory of God and the upbuilding of His visible Church. Truly they builded better than they knew, and they built their own enduring monument.
The story ends on a sad note for St. Andrew-by-the- Wardrobe. The devastation around St. Paul's is enormous and specifically ends in tragedy for this lovely Wren church as the following correspondence shows.
Quotations from two London letters 1 tell us in detail what has happened. Gordon Robbins, writing in “Fleet Street Blitzkrieg Diary," says :
A little farther away on the other side of Printing House Square, another Wren church, held in affectionate esteem by journalists, was also destroyed. This was St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, to which the Times staff has repaired at intervals for special services.
Information furnished by Mr. Noel Jenkins adds a further note :
1 I am indebted to the English novelist, Angela Thirkell, for these bits of information in a letter dated May 3, 1944.
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For some time after it was burnt out its destruction was scarcely visible from the exterior, but now that the girders, etc., have been removed it shows clearly that what remains is just an empty shell.
Who will now come forward to rebuild some of the churches destroyed by the London blitz as did Wren after the great fire of 1666?
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THE FIRST VESTRY
A LTHOUGH the long rectorate of Dr. Cutler in Christ Church began on the last Sunday in De- cember, 1723, it was not until Easter Monday, April 6, 1724, that the parish was duly organized by the election of wardens and vestrymen. Between December and April the committee, which had been set up to raise funds to build the church, continued to carry on its affairs. It had plenty to do. There was work on the still unfinished church to be forwarded, especially on the brick tower and the half-finished interior. Slow-paying subscribers had to be prodded into paying- some even in England had made promises which had to be redeemed, for cash had to be provided to pay workmen and the rector's salary, which was only partly taken care of by the S. P. G .; and more pews, the great source of steady income, had to be sold and people found to buy them. It was a busy three months.
The first vestry book covering the years 1724 to 1802, a continuous vestry record of 78 years, begins as follows :
At a Meeting of a Congregation of Christ Church in Boston on Easter Monday the 6th of Aprill 1724
VOTED That there be chosen Two Church-Wardens and Eight Vestry-Men for this and the ensuing year And accordingly VOTED
Thomas Graves Esq' { be Church Wardens Anthony Blount 1
Henry Franklyn - John Corney
Edward Watts George Monk
John Gibbs North Ingham
Vestry-Men
Gillam Phillips Robt Temple -
Thus settled proceeded to Business.
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VOTED That the Contributions for ye future be received by the Church Wardens & their Assistants by going to the Pews and Gallerys.
2'dly .That Thomas Wells be appointed to Sett in the Gallerys and keep the boys in order that no Disturbance be in the time of Divine Service, and that Fifty two Shillings pr annum be paid him out of the Contribution.
VOTED That Church Wardens & Vestry be allways chosen by a written vote.
The record of the birthday of the parish is interesting, not only for what it tells but for what it leaves untold. Where was it held? Who made up the "Congregation " ? How were the names chosen? Did Dr. Cutler have any voice in the choosing? Not as much as he wished in the choice of wardens we may infer from a vestry vote of April 11th, 1726, which read:
VOTED: That it is convenient that the Doct" should nominate one church warden & the congregation the other.
In this parish pew owners are " proprietors," having only a life tenure on the pew and the right to vote in election of wardens and vestrymen and a voice in important matters affecting the parish such as the choice of rectors. The latter arrangement held until 1939, when it was voted that the bishop of the diocese should always be the rector of Christ Church.
For details concerning the composition of this first vestry I have asked Charles Knowles Bolton, author and antiquarian, for a quarter of a century senior warden, to add to our very meager knowledge of the men who made up the first vestry, to show its democratic make-up and a little of what part they played in the life of Boston Town.
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THE WARDENS THOMAS GREAVES
Judge Thomas Greaves, first warden of Christ Church, Salem Street, Boston, who spelled his name thus although it was pronounced Graves, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, September 28, 1683. His father of the same name, a tutor at Harvard, a physician and magis- trate, was the son of a rear admiral in the British Navy. The father died in 1697, leaving to his son a dwelling at Limehouse, England. Young Thomas was, as Mr. C. K. Shipton says in his admirable biography, “tainted by a love of the Book of Common Prayer." His play- mate was Timothy Cutler, later rector of Christ Church.
Thomas entered Harvard in the class of 1703. At that time the names of students were arranged according to social standing and he stands fifth in a class of four- teen. At the head of the list was Spencer Phips, nephew of the Governor. He and Spencer engaged in a series of escapades of which window smashing was the least offensive. Fines imposed by the college cost him " almost as much as his study and tuition," and Phips's fines are the largest on record.
After graduation he took up medicine as a profession and early in his career had two distinguished patients, John Usher, son of a lieutenant governor of New Hampshire, and Tutor Flynt, a famous " character " at Harvard. He dosed Usher with " emetics, physics, cathar- dics, cream tart, aniseed, clover, rhubarb, raisins and rose- mary," in spite of which John luckily survived. Flynt had a growth on one eye. Greaves's lotion nearly put it out and so affected the other eye that Flynt wisely abandoned his physician, and his eye recovered. Greaves was popular, however, and apprentices flocked to his door. When the famous Rev. Charles Wesley came to Boston in the au- tumn of 1736 he consulted Dr. Greaves about his "flux." The Doctor prescribed a "vomit " which helped him. Two
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weeks later Wesley records : "I vomited, purged, bled, sweated and took laudanum." This drained him of the little strength he had left. But surprisingly three days later he was better, although not able to walk. It should be said, to the Doctor's credit, that he would accept no fee from Wesley for his attentions.
Greaves found time to manage one of the three Charlestown ferry boats, and since trained lawyers were looked upon with suspicion he, a doctor, was appointed to the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex. In 1733 he was advanced to the Superior Court, and in 1738 went to the Supreme Court. Contemporaries praise his hu- manity and state that he was incorruptible. He had not "the wandering eye " nor "a light or careless gesture."
In 1722, when it was planned to build an Episcopal church at the North End of Boston, he and Anthony Blount became members of a committee to raise money. "His obstinate adherence to some superstitious conceipts of the Comon Prayer book," as Judge Sewall puts it, came to fruition at last. He had pew No. 28 on the south side of the center aisle, with Dr. Cutler's pew behind him and Edward Watts's diagonally in front. He served as senior warden 1724-25, and as a member of the vestry at various intervals between 1726 and 1739. He died June 19, 1747, and Dr. Cutler pronounced a eulogy. His first wife, Sybil Avery, died in 1721. His second, Ann Antram, widow of Edward Watts, whose back he must have looked upon in church for five years, he married in 1728. She died in 1737/8. His third wife, Phebe Pen- hallow, widow of Thomas Gross, whom he married a few months later, survived him.
ANTHONY BLOUNT
At the opening of the eighteenth century, Anthony Blount left his mother, Elizabeth, his sister Ann Hughes, and his nephews in Cork, Ireland, and came to Boston
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to set himself up in business as a tallow-chandler. He was admitted an inhabitant of Boston July 27, 1702, and on November 19th married Jane, daughter of Savil Simpson, a warden of King's Chapel. Soon after the marriage he had a dwelling in Cross Street, not far from Christ Church, and later acquired a home in Salem Street. He was an inveterate office holder, warden of King's Chapel 1710-1712, and a vestryman 1709-11, 1714-24. Blount had charge of workmen making repairs to the chapel, and gave generously to its enlargement. In town affairs he served as constable, tything man, scavenger and hog- reeve between 1712 and 1718.
When the new church at the North End was proposed, he served on a committee to raise funds, the land on which to build the church being bought in his name and later deeded to Christ Church. In 1724 he became junior warden, and succeeded Judge Greaves as senior warden in 1726, living, however, only a few months in office. His pew was on the north side of the south aisle near the front.
When several prominent members of King's Chapel emigrated to Hopkinton, among them his wife's father, he acquired land there, near the Framingham border, but does not seem to have left Boston, although his wife's niece Anne lived there, the wife of Roger Dench.
Jeremiah Bumstead in his Diary records on October 2, 1726: "About 4 in ye morning dyed Mr. Blount ye Chandler." He was buried from Christ Church on October 5, 1726.
Anthony's " dear and beloved wife " Jane then married Stephen Arnold, and went to live in Salem Street. In a twelvemonth they agreed to separate "for the mutua peace, comfort and tranquility of the said Stephen and Jane." This agreement was signed October 11, 1729. Anc here this chronicle comes to an end.
Miss Albina Carrillo Blount of Los Angeles, Cali
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fornia, descendant of Anthony Blount, visited Christ Church in 1934 and a card signed by her was placed in the ball of the weather vane which was then down for repairs.
THE VESTRYMEN HENRY FRANKLYN
Henry Franklyn, who became the first vestryman of Christ Church in 1724 and an officer of the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society which was founded the same day, was born June 24, 1692, the son of Henry, vintner, and Sarah (Johnson) Franklyn. Sarah was the grand- daughter of Elias Maverick. The father kept a tavern, moved in 1704 to a new place of business, and in 1710 was refused a renewal of his license. Nevertheless he served on the vestry of King's Chapel 1706-12, and contributed generously to the support of the organ. He died in 1713, leaving a widow, Margaret.
Henry the son, Boston merchant in King Street, was active at King's Chapel, serving on the vestry 1717-24 and as senior warden 1718-21. At this time he contributed toward building galleries and a pulpit. He then went to Christ Church, where he joined the vestry and had the pew in the extreme southeast corner.
Jeremiah Bumstead in his Diary records on July 13, 1725, "Mr. Franklin ye merchant dyed of a feaver aged about 30 years .. . one of the family of Dr. Franklin." He was buried two days later. Franklyn had married May 24, 1722, Hannah Cooper who later became the wife of Bartholomew Cheever, a mariner.
EDWARD WATTS
Edward Watts, innholder of Winnissimet, now Chelsea, was the son of an earlier Edward who had come from l St. Botolph's, Aldgate, London, with his wife, Rebecca
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Bellingham, and had died June 5, 1714. The inn passed to the widow Rebecca and on October 25, 1715, to the son Edward "alias Bellingham" Watts who was much engaged in public business. The younger Edward "re- newed the bounds" between Boston and Charlestown in 1717 and again in 1722-23. In 1725 he asked the General Court for twenty-two shillings for horse hire in the service of the Province.
Watts served on the vestry of Christ Church in 1724-25, was junior warden in 1726 and senior warden in 1727.
Edward Watts married January 8, 1715/16, Anne Antram. The same year, William Antram of Boston gave to him and Anne 19/30 parts of three farms in Winnissi- met, the Ferry Farm of 220 acres, the farm in possession of John Canter, 160 acres, and a third of 300 acres in possession of Abraham Townsend; also his right and title in the Winnissimet ferry. In September 1728, these lands were divided between Daniel Watts, Samuel Watts, and Thomas Greaves of Charlestown and Anne his wife. Anne Antram Watts became the wife of Judge Thomas Greaves after Watts died. He was buried from Christ Church on September 20th, 1727.
Edward Watts was a rich man. He had beautiful furniture, fine linen, pictures as well as books, much "plate," and many horses and cows. We can still see him as he walked the streets of Boston and Chelsea : a wig of stiff curls extending from his cap to his shoulders, a " ruffled shirt " partially covered by a lace cravat, silver buttons on his coat gleaming in the sun, a "silver hilted sword" at his hip, and a "silver headed Cain" in his hand. Behind him walked sedately his Negro man Prymus, and his Negro boy Jupiter. His Negro girls Phillis and Jenny were no doubt at home helping Mrs. Watts with the housework. There was also an Indian girl.
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JOHN GIBBS
John Gibbs, painter, stainer, is well known to students of heraldry, although he was not closely connected with families of that name who were prominent in other occupations. He had a tavern "nigh Roxbury Gate " in 1709, but gave it up " to move into the town." He applied for a license to sell strong drink the same year and was refused "as there are enough in town already." He was admitted a citizen in 1719.
Gibbs contributed to the enlargement of King's Chapel in 1712 but was not a communicant at that time. How- ever, he became a member of the vestry there the same year, and again in 1721-24. In those days coats of arms were put up in churches, and on gates to announce a death in the family. Gibbs painted a shield of Governor Burnet's arms in 1717 for which King's Chapel paid him £4-0-0. He then transferred his allegiance to the new church at the North End and became a member of the vestry in 1724, dying the next year. By his wife Mary, he had a son John who became even better known as an heraldic painter.
Jonathan Belcher, writing to his brother James in England in 1732, said: "about 30 years since came hither one John Gibbs, a house painter from [Cirencester, Gloucestershire] England. He dyed many years ago [1725], and has a son now living in this town, in good curcumstances, and a sober young man."
The son John married, in 1730, Martha, daughter of the Rev. Timothy Cutler, rector of Christ Church, and was for many years an office holder at the church.
GILLAM PHILLIPS
Gillam Phillips, Boston bookseller, was born in Pudding Lane, now Devonshire Street, October 4, 1695, the son of Samuel and Hannah (Gillam) Phillips. In 1714 he joined the Artillery Company and two years
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later was promoted a sergeant. He became interested in his father's business as a bookseller at about this time, and published in 1717 a little book by the Rev. Cotton Mather. Just what is meant by Judge Sewall in an entry in his diary for March 6, 1724/5, is not quite clear. He says that at the Council Board Colonel Townsend said the Council "was not in earnest to suppress Vice and therefore Gill Phillips was cleared." Gill was the abbrevi- ation of Gillam.
" Gill" married August 6, 1725, Marie, sister of the famous Peter Faneuil, and soon took his brother Henry (just out of Harvard) into the business. He had recently received a large legacy on the death of his father in 1720.
Then came the tragedy which darkened his life. His brother Henry had been drinking wine and playing cards with Benjamin Woodbridge at the Royal Exchange Tavern on the evening of July 3, 1728. They fell to quarreling and adjourned to the high ground on the common near the great elm. There Henry, although wounded, stabbed his antagonist, and with Gillam's help escaped early the next morning to France where he died in 1730, leaving an estate over which there was a long contention in the courts.
Gillam with others erected a paper mill in Milton Lower Falls about 1728, the first in New England. As a paper maker, a bookseller, and an occasional publisher of books, he lived quietly and well in Boston until his death October 17, 1770. His wife Mary was executrix of his will. He served on the vestry of Christ Church in 1724-27, was junior warden in 1728 and senior warden the next year. His pew was near the chancel, diagonally opposite Mr. Franklyn. Now it is No. 30.
A portrait shows him with dark blue eyes, a powdered curly wig falling upon his shoulders, a light brown suit with wide cuffs and no collar on the coat, white ruffles at the wrists, and a black cocked hat in his hand.
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CAPTAIN JOHN CORNEY
Captain Corney was perhaps a Frenchman, the name on the earlier records being spelled Curnay. In 1724 he had pew No. 7 in Christ Church, which was taken over in 1726 by Henry Laughton when he became a member of the vestry in place of Corney. The Captain was born about 1645, and on November 18, 1670, married Abigail Skillings of Gloucester, who died February 15, 1721/2, at the age of 70. He died May 3rd or 4th, 1725, aged 80, having been for one year in office.
After living for several years in Falmouth, Maine, he returned to Gloucester and then attended King's Chapel, Boston, contributing £5-0-0 in 1711 to the en- largement of the Chapel. Two years later he gave a small sum toward the upkeep of the organ there. It was probably his nephew John who was associated with Christ Church in later years and was buried from there in 1764.
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