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 6
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No information as to the donor coming to light, one thing remained. We might weigh one chandelier and, with the current price of brass around 1724, determine the value of the metal as a check on some entries for "brasses " delivered at various times to the church. One
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day I asked Mr. Keith, the genial custodian of our treasures, if this might be done. He replied, "Oh yes, they don't weigh much," so light and airy do they seem. When one tipped the scales at ninety-nine pounds, it was an easy matter to determine the cost of the metal, as brass in 1724 was selling at two shillings, six pence, the pound. I find in my notes that day, "Cost of brass in the Branches, approximately twenty-five pounds sterling." There the matter rested for two years.
Among the more than fifty thousand sightseers who yearly visit Christ Church, there appeared one day in 1938 the Reverend Philip Kirstead, fresh from research work at the London office of the Society for the Propa- gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. His casual remark that he remembered seeing a reference to some "candle- sticks" in the Cutler papers there, resulted in his courte- ously supplying the name of Dr. John W. Lydekker, archivist, who had assisted him in his researches.
Rectors of missions under the S. P. G. rendered more or less regular reports to the Society, and in 1727 Dr. Cutler dispatched to London.
A List of the Subscribers and of their Subscriptions toward the Building of Christ Church in Boston.
Through the courtesy of Dr. Lydekker, a photostat re- ceived from London reveals as a contributor
Mr. William Maxwell £ 45.
and two large brass branching Candlesticks valued each at £25 sterling 100.1
This settles once and for all the date and donor of the branches. It explains the charge of one shilling for porteridge which seemed inadequate for some two hun- dred pounds of brass, but compares favorably with the two shillings, four pence for the same service on the King's
1 Showing the difference in the value of Province money and sterling.
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Gift of Communion Silver which included heavy books and linens. It brings to light the name of one long for- gotten in our annals to whom credit is due and leads to the next question.
Who, then, was this William Maxwell, known only as one of a long list of benefactors and never mentioned in the church records as donor of a priceless possession of the church ?
From the annals of King's Chapel and the records of Christ Church, from vital statistics of Boston and of the New Brick Church, I have gleaned the following meager facts which it is hoped may be supplemented later.
In 1718, King's Chapel asked for a subscription from "well-disposed " persons for funds to build a gallery, a new pulpit, and to pave the street in front of the chapel. In the list of subscribers, "Capt. Maxwell and Watts" are set down for a joint contribution of ten pounds. When in 1722 money was being raised to build a second Episco- pal church in Boston, William Maxwell contributed forty- five pounds (note that the archives of the church made no mention of his contribution of the branches). Some time during the building of the church, he loaned the committee ten pounds to buy lumber, the loan being listed as "un- paid " on November 24, 1724.
That same year, Captain Maxwell purchased of Adam Winthrop, for seven hundred fifteen pounds, a large house with ample grounds on the east side of Salem Street nearly opposite Cooper Street. This dwelling, one of the oldest in Boston, was still standing in 1900, a swarming three-tenement house, but the garden in the rear had disappeared. By the purchase of a pew (No. 29), he became a proprietor of Christ Church, and at the Easter Monday meeting of vestry and proprietors on March 29, 1725, he was elected to the vestry. He served one year as vestryman, and during this time his loan of the previous year was settled on August 26, 1725,
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when William Maxwell receipted to Anthony Blount, warden, for "nineteen pounds in full for boards sent him in December last of the Use of the Church of England."
William Maxwell and Lydia Shute were married by the Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather on August 23, 1717. Of this marriage, six children were born, of whom the Christ Church records mention but three, -the baptism on May 24, 1724, of a son William, and March 19, 1726, of another son, James,1 both recorded by Dr. Cutler. Then something happened to disturb the relations of the family to Christ Church. On March 2, 1728/9, Lydia Maxwell was admitted to membership in the New Brick (Congregational) Church where a daughter, Mary, born March II, 1728/9, was baptized on March 16, and another daughter Elizabeth, born October 20, 1731, was baptized on October 24, 1731, by the Reverend Mr. Welsted, both as children of William and Lydia Max- well ( Baptismal Records, New Brick Church). The births of a daughter, Lydia, July 6, 1721, and a son, George, May I, 1725, are recorded in Boston Vital Statistics. I have found no further record of George who may have died at birth. Dr. Cutler, however, on July 9, 1737, enters under burials, "a daughter to William and Lydia Max- well," presumably the Lydia mentioned above, as the marriages of the other daughters are of record.
Two significant entries in the Christ Church records add to the mystery surrounding the family. On February 9, 1738/9, Captain Nathaniel Showers (name sometimes phonetically spelled Shoars) bought for fifty pounds "the pew formerly belonging to Capt. William Maxwell." The next day, February 10, 1738/9, the Wardens' Receipt Book records the last appearance of the Maxwell name in our annals.
1 Burial - James son to William & Lydia Maxwell aged 2 yrs. and 6 mos. July 5, 1729.
Christ Church Vital Statistics.
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Feb'y 10, 1738/9 Received of Edw Lutwyche Warden of Christ Church Thirty pounds In full for a pew belonging to my husband Capt. Wm Maxwell and when the title is found do promise to deliver up the same to the sd Lutwyche or his successor.
Lydia Maxwell.
With this receipt, the Maxwell name disappears from Christ Church records. Through the courtesy of the his- torian of the Second Church of Boston (the New Brick), a thorough search was made for any further reference to the Maxwell family and none was found.
The will of a William Maxwell, dated January 3, 1774, does not name wife "Lydia" but bequeaths the residue of the estate to his wife "Rosanna." The search now becomes a genealogical matter not pertinent to the history of the brass chandeliers.
It is my earnest hope, as historian of the parish fa- miliar with the records, that at no late date these chande- liers may be restored to their original appearance. I feel it is possible that, should the bronzing be removed, the name of the maker and possibly of the donor might appear. Some time during the 1912 restoration, the chandeliers were sent to a firm to be cleaned and the firm refused to remove what they called " the patina of time." The bill for the bronzing in 1884 is sufficient proof that the dead, dull appearance of these beautiful chandeliers is modern. This opinion has been confirmed by the archi- tects of the restoration.
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THE BRANCHES
One of the chandeliers, called " branches," given by Captain William Maxwell in 1724. Wax candles are still used for lighting. This drawing by Helen D. Foster made especially for this book
CHARITABLE SOC
SEAL
DAKLE
CREPE
OF THE BOSTON
OSI
SEAL OF THE BOSTON EPISCOPAL CHARITABLE SOCIETY
brawnly Etted. Achtin some a way impressions. Revised y Stein. Roberto jom a study y the original sial.
BOSTON EPISCOPAL CHARITABLE SOCIETY
E ASTER Monday, April 6, 1724, was a red-letter day in the calendar of the Episcopal Church in Boston, for it was the birthday of two Church organizations now well into their third century of con- tinuous service - the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society and the vestry of Christ Church, Boston.
It was not just a coincidence that these two events happened on the same day, for a group of Church of England sympathizers had been laboring long months to establish a second Episcopal church in Boston. The funds they had raised had sent a candidate to England for Holy Orders and built a church open for service in December, 1723; now they were about to reap the re- ward of their labors by electing the first wardens and vestry of the new church, thus making it a duly organized parish. This business concluded, these zealous Church- men, practical philanthropists as well as men of wide vision, turned their attention to the pressing needs of some of their fellow citizens, members of the Church of England who had seen better days, by organizing the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society.
The prime mover in this enterprise was the belligerent John Checkley,1 whose shop, the Crown and Blue Gate, was the rendezvous of loyal Churchmen. Writing to Dr. Bennet in London on June 15, 1725, he says : " In a short time I propose to send you an account of the charitable Society of the Church of England ... the laying of the foundation of ... which, (thanks to my good God) I am the happy tho' unworthy Instrument."
1 John Checkley, by Edmund F. Slafter (2 vols). Boston, 1897.
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There were 83 charter members contributing to form a fund on which to base their charities. By 1783, the fixed charge for admission to the Society was $5 and $5 annual membership, except for the clergy who paid no admission fee. By 1866, there was no admission fee and the annual dues were $10, and a life membership was increased from $50 to $100. At the 200th anniversary of the Society in 1924, the membership fee was increased to $15 and the life membership to $250, the present rate. Up to 1860, there had been 732 members. In 1724, when the Society was organized, Boston consisted of a town of 15,000 inhabitants and two Episcopal churches, one less than four months old. Subscribers were not limited, apparently, to members of the Church of England nor to residents in Boston.
The actual place of meeting on April 6, 1724, is not known; but let me quote from the Historical Address of Bishop Lawrence on the 200th anniversary of the Society :
On Easter Monday, 1731, began, true to the habit of English- men accustomed to the dinners of charitable and other guilds in · London, the series of annual dinners, which was broken only in the year of the Great Fire and during the War of the Revolution. Their first dinner, which was doubtless attended by the members in the full dress of periwigs, blue coats, brass buttons, white stockings and buckled shoes, was held in the " Orange Tree Inn near the head of Hanover Street."
The sidelight thrown on this place of meeting comes to us from the Memoir by the Rev. Isaac Boyle, D.D., who, writing in 1840, tells us that they wanted to go to the fashionable Royal Exchange Tavern but could not stand the high charges and so went to the less expensive Orange Tree Inn, kept by Mrs. Wardell.
The use of the funds collected by the Society is stated as follows in Article I of the By-Laws, and still continues in force :
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The aid of this institution shall be granted only for the relief of persons who are or have been members of the Society, and their families, the widows and minor children of persons who at the time of their decease shall have been ministers of an Episcopal Church within this Commonwealth, and of persons who belong to the Protestant Episcopal Church, and are or shall have been inhabitants of the City of Boston. . .
In 1793, applicants for aid must "have attended divine service at one of the Episcopal Churches at least two years."
Again we turn to the Christ Church records and find that on two occasions, at least, the Society loaned money to Christ Church, in 1740 and 1749. The first loan was at the rate of 6 per cent instead of the 10 per cent being paid elsewhere. Loans to churches were in force as late as 1798 and perhaps into the 19th century.
In 1784, the Society was incorporated and adopted a seal and a motto. One impression from the seal has been found in the Diocesan Library in a copy of the Con- stitution and By-Laws always presented to a new member. It is described by Dr. Boyle as "an indigent and wounded man, and a person, representing the Good Samaritan, pouring wine and oil into his wounds, with the motto Dare quam accipere."
At the annual meeting that year (1784), the sermon was delivered at Trinity Church by the Rev. Samuel Parker, D.D., who was elected president of the Society and served four years. Unfortunately, Governor Han- cock was unable to attend, but in 1786 the annual din- ner was attended by Governor Bowdoin; Lieutenant Governor Cushing; the Consuls of France and of Hol- land; the Rev. Nathaniel Fisher of Salem who preached the sermon; and Mr. Montague, later rector of Christ Church. Again, in 1788, the sermon was delivered at Trinity by Bishop Seabury, the company afterwards dining at the American Coffee House.
The annual dinners were great social affairs and in-
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cluded consuls of various countries resident in Boston and a sermon by some noted preacher whose fee of $15 was generally turned back to the Society.
One notable dinner was that held in Boston in 1874 on the 150th anniversary of the Society. The preacher was Bishop Clark of Rhode Island, one-time rector of Grace Church,1 Boston, who delivered the sermon in King's Chapel.
It was a most democratic Society covering a wide range of social conditions. The first treasurer was John Jekyll, Esq., Collector of His Majesty's Customs for the Port of Boston. There were shop keepers, artisans, and such distinguished Bostonians as three Colonial govern- ors; Peter Faneuil; Samuel Grainger, the noted school- master; Thomas Tippin and Thomas Bennett, carpen- ters, builders of Christ Church; Powers Marriott, the wig maker; Luke Vardy, innkeeper; the wealthy mer- chant, William Price; Robert Temple, Esq., the promoter of the North of Ireland emigration; and, in the 19th century, Joseph W. Revere and Shubel Bell, humanitarian and deputy sheriff of Suffolk County.
Bishop Lawrence writes that in 1881 he was present "at a great dinner of the Society, whereat eloquent speeches were made by Bishop Clark of Rhode Island, the Rev. Drs. John Cotton Smith of New York and Phillips Brooks of Trinity Church, Boston." It was a far cry from the Orange Tree Inn at the North End to the Hotel Vendome, which stands supported on piles in the center of what was, until sixty years ago, a broad basin of water, the Back Bay. We wonder if the quiet work of the Society in the last twenty years has pre- vented us from hearing about any social gatherings such as those described by Bishop Lawrence.
There are now, in Metropolitan Boston, 34 Episco-
1 Grace Church, Temple Street, now the First Methodist Episcopal Church.
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pal churches. Barring the twelve missions, this leaves 22 parishes where one might reasonably hope that at least one more person in each, knowing of the beneficent work of this Society, might be interested to become a member, either annual or life. If this great Society could carry on for 220 years through five devastating wars, surely many might think favorably of member- ship in the Boston Episcopal Charitable Society to aid "the widow and the orphan, the sick, the aged and in- firm, and those who, having once enjoyed the good things of life, were afterwards left to struggle with the evils of poverty." Bishop Clark's plea, that the good work which has for so many years been carried on through the agency of this Society should not be allowed to flag, has equal force today. Perhaps the following excerpt from a letter by one of the Society's officers will bring to the attention of many, a worthy addition to their charities :
" The membership is still restricted to one hundred, but at the present moment we need new members of both kinds badly. Our beneficiaries number forty and we have a number on our waiting list who must stay there until we have more funds. We have always tried not to broadcast the work of the Society from the house tops or advertise it in any papers, but again let me say that what we need mostly is an increase in the number of our members."
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par
1
THE CHRIST CHURCH CLOCKS
THE AVERY-BENNETT CLOCK
E XCEPT for the purchase of some communion ves- sels, there was no expenditure by the parish for anything resembling ornamentation for the in- terior of the church until August 18, 1727, when Thomas Bennett was paid twelve shillings for "making a Case for the Clock, stuff nails & work." That was for the clock which since June 2nd, 1726, has been on the front gallery of the organ loft, where for seven generations it has been a mute observer of over two centuries of alternating war and peace. So little has been known about the maker that he is listed in one clock book as "Avery, first name forgotten." But Richard Avery, who made a clock which has been in continuous use for over two centuries, was an artisan of no mean accomplish- ments and deserves to be remembered along with the previously unknown organ builder, William Claggett, both of whom have been made known to this generation by the Christ Church records.
Had it not been for some controversy about Richard Avery's bill the account of the way the church got the timepiece might not be known. On the 24th of April, 1732, the vestry
VOTED That the Acct Mr Richd Avery has sent in for a Time peice, that is now up in Christ Church, be invalid and of no Effect or Significancy; And that the Church Wardens Mr. Monk & Mr. Patten acquaint the Sd Avery with the Same.
In 1733 an unsigned document was sent to the war- dens and vestry. It reads as follows :
To ye Honorable Church of England Society: Your Humble Petisshiner prayith yt you will concider ye deplorable place I am
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in, and that is to grant me ye Ballance of ye account under written of ye timepeace in ye New Church and the repairs of yt in ye ould Church for Seven years ; and I humbly pray yt what ever you Worthey Gentlemen Please to alow me I begg ye favor that you will redeam ye Bible yt Mr Tomas Phillops 1 has taken from me with the time of my Children's Birth and a book of fisick and your Petissitioner Shall for ever Pray
June 2d 1726 Mr Watts and Mr Blun P Contrara Cr
Church Wardins a greed for a timepeace
£ sd
£ sd
Mr Georg Cradock 0 IO 0
To first Cost as Mr Hall's)
Mr Petter Fanouill
10 -
Book will Testifio 22
Mr Henery Wilton IO -
Mr George Monk
10 -
as for ye puting up and)
Mr Gill reamer
IO -
keeping I charg nothing)
Mr Josha Winock
10 -
Captn Mickall Van I
Captn Willm Harris I
Do John Foster
I
Do John Dotick
I
Mr Toms Emory
IO -
Edward Cliffoard
7 -
7:17:0
14: 3 .--
This is all I have Gatherd
This paper is endorsed by Francis Beteilhe, the vestry clerk who was sorting the church papers as
Richard Avery's a/c for Clock
Cash received of subscribers
£7 - 17 - 0
To his subscription 5 - 0 -0
To his free gift of the ballance 9 - 3 -0
22 - 0 - 0
What we know about Richard Avery, except that he made a clock that lasted for over two centuries, is meager. How his book of physic and the Bible with the record of the births of his children came into posses- sion of Thomas Phillips and whether he ever got them back we do not know.
His name appears as a charter member of the Boston
1 Thomas Phillips, vestryman of King's Chapel, a merchant who purchased some of the logwood sold for the benefit of Christ Church and whom the church voted to sue for non-payment.
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Episcopal Charitable Society, founded April 6, 1724, proof that he was then a resident of Boston and on October 25th, 1736, he gave "Security for his Daughter who came a Passenger with Capt. Crocker from Lon- don." Previously in 1727 he and Thomas folkes [sic] gave security to the town for "Martha Brown, Spinster from Eastham." Avery therefore was doubtless born in England, probably in London, but no purchase of prop- erty or a will is of record.
Early repairs to the clock were made by various clock makers, Rowland Houghton in 1731, Avery himself in 1738 and 39, and in 1747 Samuel Bagnall was paid " two pounds for mends Diall." All through the years the Avery-Bennett clock, as Mr. Bolton calls it in his Guide Book, has been kept in repair by competent hands. A memorandum in the Christ Church Chronicle for Jan- uary, 1916, states, "the back of the dial has a record of repairs made from 1783 to 1915. Simon Willard and Son, famous clockmakers, cleaned it in 1823 and 1829." Some ten years ago Mr. Walter M. Keith, then cus- todian, tells me that he took it apart and thoroughly cleaned it, and it still keeps excellent time.
Perhaps no one has been more affected by this ancient timepiece than the Reverend William Croswell, who lived for a time in an upper room in the church during his rectorate, 1829 to 1840, and was in the habit of going down into a pew for prayer and meditation in the silent watches of the night. Among loose papers found by his father after his death are the following lines :
" The ticking of yon ancient clock, That marks the solemn tread of time, Against my heartstrings seemed to knock."
So has the ticking of this clock, marking the centuries, impressed itself upon parishioners and visitors. Every rector of Christ Church for over two hundred years has timed his sermons by it; Robert Newman, lanterns in
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THE AVERY-BENNETT CLOCK Erected 1726
.. 41
JURI TREST
STEEPLE OF CHRIST CHURCH Erected 1806 From the original draacing by Jack Frost in 1935 Owned by Mrs. Samuel G. Babcock
hand on that fateful April evening in 1775, turned to it a watchful eye; Lafayette, visiting the church in 1824 to see the bust of his old friend Washington, must have gazed on it. To paraphrase the much quoted line of John Donne, the rector-poet, we might say :
For whom has not this clock ticked ?
THE STEEPLE CLOCK
As early as 1735, five years before the wooden spire was erected, there was talk of a clock for the steeple by allusions to "Parts of an old clock in a case, the gift of Captain [Cyprian] Southwack."
Nothing more seems to have been done about an out- side clock until November 16, 1736, when the vestry voted :
That ye Clock which Capt Southwack Gave to Christ Church, be finished with all Speed.
This was followed March 7th, 1749/50, by the payment of one pound, ten shillings "for drawing a petition to the town about the Clock." Later in the month a Mr. Brown was paid "for Cleaning and puting up the Clock &c as p his acct £118-6-0." But it was two years later before it was reported as "now up" and Mr. Burbank was paid " £5 O tenor Extraordinary for taking particu- lar care of the Clock & Ringing the Bells, next Lent to come etc."
A tower clock, often called the Town Clock in the particular section in which it was situated, was a constant source of expense and frequent applications to the town were made for payment for winding and keeping the clock in repair. Sometimes the petition was rejected by the town, but in 1766 the Commissioners' Records of the Town of Boston show that the town voted that year "to maintain the Old North Clock."
After the reopening of the church in 1778, Robert
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Newman was charged with "the care of the town clock in Christ Church steeple."
During the early years of the 19th century a notation in Dr. Eaton's Centennial Sermon states that "a large Clock was formerly in the tower, but having worn out and unfit for further use, it was sold for old iron etc. in 182 -. "
For the next fifty years there seems to have been no steeple clock. Views of the church dated 1817, 1855 and 1861 verify this but on Easter Monday, April 18th, 1870, there is a significant record by the parish clerk. It reads in part as follows :
. .. we have had a very prosperous year all things con- sidered. .. A few years ago we were continually borrowing wherever. we could get money; the last two or three years we have paid nearly Two Thousand Dollars if not more ; and we have a beautifull clock 1 on our church which is both usefull and ornamental, so that we may fairly say that Christ Church is on the way to better times.
Who made the clock and how much was paid for it are not stated in the records, but the favorable financial sit- uation would imply that there were sufficient funds to provide a clock, especially as the next year there is a ' notation in the proprietors' records that this was the first time that the parish had been out of debt.
The clock has four dials and formerly struck the hours, but since 1925, in order to save wear and tear on the bell, it has been silent. It is kept in order by the Fire Department of the City of Boston by firemen from the Salem Street Fire Station who regularly attend to it.
1 From descendants of old parishioners of Christ Church we learn these interesting details about the present steeple clock. A granddaughter of Margaret Richardson Bassett found among her aunt's papers this interesting item: "Mother and I have all day been interested in the clock being put in the steeple of the old North Church on Salem St. My aunt added: I believe it is the only one in Boston striking the half hour. The date was November 13th, 1869." This fixes definitely the date as 1869 and not 1870 as has usually been given for the erection of this clock.
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