USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Chelsea > Documentary history of Chelsea : including the Boston precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, vol 2 > Part 13
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1 MSS, Rec. of the Court, p. 164. Office of Clerk of Supreme Court, Court House, Boston,
2 Selectmen's Minutes, 1701-1715, Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xi. 65.
8 Ibid., 81-83. See also supra, p. 108, note 20.
.
124
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XXIV
end of North Street for over two and one half years. John Scollay, predecessor of Gyles as lessce of the ferry, was for many years before his death landlord of the Salutation Inn at the corner of Hanover Street and Salutation Alley. Presumably the ferry boats started, therefore, from the " water ways and Flatts belonging to the Salutation Tavern,"4 that is, from Atlantic Avenue near Salutation Alley, until the death of Scollay, in Sep- tember, 1707, when the seleetmen found it necessary to bring suit to recover possession of the earlier landing-place."
·
The slip at the foot of what is now Hanover Street dated, ap- parently, from the year 1678, as in June of that year the selectmen " Agreed with Thomas Atkins Carpenter to make a good and sub- stantiall wharfe & a slip therein of 8 foote broad to lead downe a horse without danger, betweene the wharfe of ye Widdowe HIett to the wharfe of James Nash, And to make the High way against the sd Wharfe suffitient and substantiall & conformable to the other high wayes adjoyninge, to be all finished and completed within 5 monthes after the date hereof." 6 February 23, 1677/8, the seleetmen leased Winnisimmet Ferry to Joseph and Benjamin Williams, who may have disposed of their rights, as in July, 1680, Franeis Hudson was in possession. Possibly during the lifetime of Robert Williams, Winnisimmet Ferry started from his land on
4 Boston Ree. Com. Rep., xxix. 216. See also the records of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace in February, 1704/5, when the seleetmen of Boston brought suit against some half-dozen or more residents for en- eroaehments on the " highway leading from the Draw bridge towards Win- niseimet Ferry," - that is, Ship Street, now Atlantie Avenue.
Supra, p. 104.
6 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., vii. 121; also pp. 64, 146, 195. The wharf of Edward Budd had formerly belonged to Eliphalet Hett, from whom it deseended to Nathaniel Parkman, whose widow conveyed it in 1702 to Edward Budd. ( Suff. Deeds, L. 20, ff. 530-533; L. 21, ff. 43-46.) Elipha- let Hett had purchased the land from Judith Douglas, widow, January 7, 1667/8. (Ibid., L. 15, f. 117.) William Douglas had purchased it, with land to the west, later owned also by Edward Budd, from Walter Merry, who signed the eonveyanee in behalf of himself and Thomas Anchor. The land was deseribed as lying between the lots of John Sweet and John Seabury. Seabury purchased his land of Walter Merry November 25, 1639. (Boston Ree. Com. Rep., ii. 43; also ibid., part ii. 46.) James Nash acquired this. (Suff. Deeds, L. 7, ff. 256-258; L. 13, f. 409.) The street deseribed in 1707 as leading from the Mill Bridge toward Win- nisimmet, was mentioned in 1650 as the "Crose way that Leads from the Water Mills unto the water side betwene Good Duglas and Water Merryes garden." (Boston Ree. Com. Rep., ii. 100.) Presumably it was the highway mentioned December 2, 1644, when the seleetmen voted to " pay unto Walter Merry 5s. for Feneing set up at the upp end of his garden by reason of the high way there." Ibid., 81.
-
125
APPENDIX
CHAP. XXIV]
Lynn (now Commercial) Street near Sliding Alley,7 and after 1678, from the town's slip at the foot of Hanover Street. It is certain that the landing-place was in this immediate neighborhood throughout this period, as frequent references are found in Suf- folk deeds to the " Street that leadeth from the Mill bridge towards Winnisiniet Ferry place," and to the Backstreet (Salem Street) " that leads from the water mill in Boston towards winmysimet ferry place." 8 The channel was nearer to the north end of the town than to the older settlement by State Street, where Long Wharf alone touched the channel." Only a short slip was necessary to enable ferry-boats to land at the north end at all tides.
The Pelitions of 1734 19
To the Jnhabitants of the Town of Boston May 8th. 1734 The Petition of Sundry. Jnhabitants of Boston Humbly Sheweth that Whereas upon the petition of Sundry Jnhabitants in May 1726 Seting forth the Great Deficulty attending ye present Land- ing place of Passengers from Winesimet to this place as ye Length of ye Way & Strength of the Tide & other Deficulties Together with the Great Convenience of Landing at the Lower End of North Street the prayer of the Petition was Granted Upon Condition ye petitioners Give Caution To ye Select men for the Tine being to maintain ye sd ways & pay a Consideration for ye Slip at ye End of sd Street which Condition hindred, & put a Stop to their pro- ceeding the reason of which Condition we Apprehend was because ye Sª Slip had ben Let before To ye Great prejudice of the Jn- habitants Especially To that Neighbourhood Who Apprehend they have a Right To it as ye Kings Highway & their only Communi- cation To ye Sea It is therefore Requested that ye Town would Reconsider that vote & Grant Liberty To Benjamin Fitch Thomas Stodard & Others To Lay Down (at their own Cost) Good & Sufficient ways in ye sd Slip To the Satisfaction of the Select Men Jt being now much inore needfull by Reason of the Inlargement of ye North Battery which will make the passage by It more Diffi- cult than before
Wm Parkman Thomas Stoddard John Greenough John Baker Jun! Joshmua Thornton
" Supra, p. 93; also petition of Thomas Ruck, Boston Rec. Com. Rep., vii. 8.
$ Suff. Deeds, L. 12, f. 312; L. 13, f. 212; L. 9, f. 235.
" See a plan of the line of the channel in Boston Harbour, 1714, Proc. Mass. Ilist. Soc .. vii. 477.
" Original Papers, ii. 97. City Clerk's Office, Boston.
126
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XXIV
To the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston Assembled May 8, 1734 The Petition of Sundry Jnhabitants of Boston Humbly Sheweth that Whereas there is a petiton of Sundry Jnhabitants for Liberty To Lay Down Ways for the ferry at the Lower End of North Street We whose names are hereunto Subscribed Desire it may be Granted. George Nowell (and 114 others).]
The Account of Elias Parkman 11
The Ferry Boat's Dr
1736
July 14 To 1 Pole dd Brinton 0 .. 1 .. 6
July 2 To 1 Oar 18ft: dd Mr Gyles 0 .. 9 .. 9
Augt 12 To 1 Mast for Mr Gyles's Boat & fitting 0.15 .. 6
To Making Harris's Boat's Mast 0 .. 6 .. 0
Dece: 8 To 1 Mast for Gyles's Boat 15/6 & 1 Sprcit 1 .. 0 .. 0
1736/7
March 2 To 3lb of Deck-nails for Munk's Boat 0 .. 6 .. 0
To 1 Pole dd Leach . 0. . 1. . 6
May 25 To 1 Sprcit dd Harris & 1 Boat-hook Staff 0 .. 7 .. 0
omitted To 21b of Deck-nails on Harris's Boat 0 .. 4 .. 0
& Nails at Mr Hubbards 3-10- 8
To 231b of Turpintine att 4d
0- 7- 8
Errors Excepe { Elias Parkman 7- 9- 7
The Account of Samuel Watts 12
The Ferry Boats
Dr
1736
Augt: 30 To a Road for Brintnalls Boat .
£3:17: 6
30 To the Blockmaker for Flyns Boat 3 : -
To Rigging for Ditto 3 -
To Expences to ye boat builders for Do: 3: 6
Sept 6 To Rigging for Brintnalls Boat . 5 - -
6 To Ditto for Gyles's Boat
6
13 To twine and Cloth for Ditto
2
20 To Rigging for monks Boat To a Block for Ditto
2
-
Octr: 4 To Smiths work for Gyles's Boat
19 To Rigging for Ditto
1
-
Nov : 19 To Cash pd for taking up Gyles' Boat when she whent a Drift
1:10
-
29 To Cash pd for a float
1:10 -
30 To Racks for Flyns Boat
1 : 3
30 To Rigging for Ditto
4
-
To the Boat builders for Ditto
2 -
Jan : 12 To Rigging for Gyles's Boat
11 : 1
-
2 :
6
1
-
" Chamberlain MSS., i. 143.
12 Ibid., 141, 145,
CHAP. XXIV]
APPENDIX
127
To the Sail maker for Ditto To Ditto for Ditto
2: 2: 0 5 -
2: 8 -
-
4
8 :15: 10
3: 6
£23:00: 2
To Mr Hoontons Bill
2:19: 2
To Colol Hatch's Accots for Gyles's Boat Sailes 31 :13 :
To an Anchor and Road for Leaches Boat . 4 : 11 : 4
To the making Up my Servants Wages 50 :10 : 4
£113 -
June 16 To Capt Fayweathers Bill for Rigging for Leach and Gyles . 2: 8: 3 To the Rent of the ferry on boath Sides to the first day of March Last . 30: 0: 0
£145: 8: 3
1737
A Conta
June 13 By Cash Received of Flyns Boat
£35 : 0: 3
14 By Ditto of Gyleses 33 : 3: 5
14 By Ditto of Leaches . 39 : 4: 6
16 By Ditto of Monks .
35 :16 : 5
£143 : 4:
Bala due to Watts
2: 3: 8
£145 : 4: 3
Boston June ye 16 : 1737 Errors Excepted Samuel Watts. 1737 June ye 17th : 13 Settled this aceot with the Owners of the Boatts and pd in full to Each other
[Winnisimmet Ferry in 1779 14
To the Gentlemen Selcet Men of the Town of Boston -
We the subscribers, in behalf of our selves & Brethren, who attend the Ferry Boats at Winnisimmet, do Humbly represent.
That the Ferry ways on the Boston side, are very much out of repair, to the great annoyance of Passengers & their Horses, inso- much that great Complaints are daily made, attended with threats to present the Town of Boston, for neglecting to repair the same -
In order to prevent any difficulties arising by such Complaints is the occasion of this our representation, that you may take the
13 [Supra, p. 113.]
14 Petitions filed in the City Clerk's Office, Boston.
June 14 To Rigging for Gyles's Boat To Mr Tillit the Sail makers accots for Mend- ing Flyns & Leaches Boats Sails . To paid Coopper the Smith for sundrys for flyns Boat
Leaches
1737 May 5 To Cash pd Abijah Lewes for going in Boat
128
HISTORY OF .CHELSEA [CHAP. XXIV
same into Consideration, and determine as you in Your Wisdom shall see meet We are Gentlemen,
Boston June 17th 1779 -
Your Humble Servts Joseph Oliver Richard Watts
John Oliver Samuel Watts Jn!
Abijah Lewis Tilston Clark 15
Proposals of Joseph Oliver of Boston, Ferryman; to the Gentle- nen Seleet men of the Town of Boston; for taking a Lease of the Winnisimet Ferry ways, respeeting that part which appertains to the Town of Boston, upon the following Conditions. -
ist That he proposes to take a Lease of the said ways, for the Term of 15 years, at the yearly Rent of one shilling Lawful Money ₹ Year :
2ª That he will put them under good repair to accommodate Passengers, both Foot & Horse, with the usual Carriages, which repair, he is well Convineed, will be attended with such an expenee, as will in the greatest probability last Thirty Years, so that at the expiration of said 15 Years, they will be left in good repair; and if he should be spared in Life, he may probably be a Tenant for the same hereafter :
3ª You will please to observe, That after sueh repairs are made, your proposer runs a great risque of being obliged to quit by the Enemy, or otherwise, & he thinks the said Lease ought in Justice to the proposer, to be made to him, his Heirs & assigns for the said Term of 15 Years
Boston Augt 10th 1779 - Joseph Oliver
(Endorsed on baek :)
That M: Oliver Lay down good & sufficient ways at Winnesimmit Ferry as good at Least as the ways at Charlestown Ferry to be judged. of by proper Workmen. Keep them in good repair & Leave them at the Expiration of Twelve 16 years in Like repair for this he to have the Improvement of the Ferry for that term of time without paying any thing for the Rent saving 1/ pr year & at that time to deliver up the ways to the Seleetm! withut requiring any thing from them 17
15 June 22, 1779, the selectmen appointed a committee of three to " enquire into the State and Circumstances of Winnesimit Ferry & Report to the Selectmen." (Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxv. 93.) July 26, 1779, the town gave the selectmen full power to act. (Ibid., xxvi. 72.)
10 Ten was cancelled and Twelve interlined.
17 This vote of the selectmen was recorded in the Selectmen's Minutes, under date of August 30, 1779, Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxv. 100.
129
APPENDIX
CHAP. XXIV]
To the Gent? Selectmen of the Town of Boston at their Chambers August ye 175 AD 1779 Sirs
You will find by looking into the Laws relative to Winnisim- met Ferry; that three Ferry-boats only are to be kept, one for Boston, & two for Winnisimet side of the Ferry
Therefore J presume, that neither you, nor any Person or Persons that may Apply to you to hire the Town's privilege in that ferry will pretend to keep two Ferry-boats. And as great Inconven- iences may arise & the publick as well as the subscriber be materi- ally injur'd by putting the Town of Bostons right into the hands of strangers. Therefore J should incline to hire that Right ; upon Condition, that for making and maintaining the Ways on Boston side, I shall be intitled to that Privilege, for the Term of fifteen years, and am your humble Servant Samuel Watts
Winnisimmel Ferry 1793-1802 18
To The Honorable the Senate and to the Hon- Commonwealth ¿ orable the House of Representatives of said of Massachusetts) Commonwealth in General Court assembled at Boston Jany 1802
Henry Howell Williams respectfully sheweth,
That in Consequence of an Order of Notice from this Court for all Persons interested to appear and Shew Cause against granting a Petition prefered by Augustus Holyoke and Others for the Erection of a Bridge from Charlestown to Chelsea. He begs leave to remonstrate against the same. Because the Ferry called Winnisimet is an antient Ferry & from Time immemorial & untill a very few years past was the most accustomed Ront from the Eastern parts of the State to the Capital; That since the building of Malden Bridge the Proprietors of said Ferry on the Chelsea side discouraged by the Loss they anticipated in Conse- quence of that undertakeing permitted the Ferry Ways to go to Decay to the great Injury of many Travellers who still frequented the same, untill your Remonstrant urged by the Request of many Citizens purchased the Estate to which the Ferry was appendant. at a great price, That he employed a large sum in repaireing & placing the above Ferry in an improved & Convenient State & your Memorialist is free to Acknowledge that he has derived a very Con- siderable income & emolument from his Labours & it is with regret that your Memorialist is obliged to add that by the proposed
18 Mass. Archives, papers filed with chap. 63, Acts of 1801.
VOL. 11. - 9
130
IHISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XXIV
Bridge, the Benifits arriseing from his sole Exertions under very disadvantageous circumstances, will be annihilated & the great Sums he has expended, be totaly Lost to him & his family; he would further suggest to this Honorable Court to Consider the Disadvantages that must result to him from this Bridge opening an easy Accomodation to the Idle & Disolate of the neighbouring Capital on Sundays, to divest the Labours of the Week by trav- erseing his fields and exposeing his Grounds to depradations
Wherefore to prevent these Manifest Injuries, he is compelled to sollicit the Protection of this Court & to pray that they will either reject the project of the Petitioners, or to subject them in Case the Legislature should grant their Petition, to make your remonstrant such a seasonable Compensation as may be justly adjudged upon a fair Inquiry, he is entitled to receive from a Set of Men who are contemplating the advancement of their own Interest, & Your Memorialist as in Duty bound shall pray &c Chelsea January 13th 1802 Henry Howell Williams.
The following is a True schedule of the Expences in Reparing the ferry ways together with the Expences of Boats & sundry Repares from time to time.
1793 & 9419 Cash pd for timber Labour Trunell wood & Stones £196. 6
1797 & 98 Cash pd Reparing by being blown up twice 36 -
1800
99 Cash pd new fittings & spikes Cash pd m. Hall mending puting on planks
3
The above is pd on Boston Side .
241
Cash paid Repares on Chelsea Side as follows - 1793 & 94 Cash pd for timber & Labour Trunell wood & Stones
583.16
Cash pd Saml watts his boat £75.3
Cash pd for Repares of boat & Anker . 15 -
90. 3
97 Cash pd for Repares at the End of tlie ferry ways. Rig, & bots . 10 -
Cash pd for 2 sale boats for ferry. . 97.10
Cash pd for new ferry boat 159
£940- 9
Contra Cr By 2 sail boats sold for 60
£880. 9 880- 0
Total Sum of what the ferry Cost me
as abov
£1121. 15
19 See Seleetmen's Minutes, 1787-1798, Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxvii. 204, 202.
6 -
131
APPENDIX
CHAP. XXIVI
The Anual Expence for keeping the boats in Repare Sales & Riging Calk- ing & Graving Blocks Oares & in short Every needfull amounts to about from 30 to 40 pounds pr Year The boats made in 1795 -2 boats £179 12.9
The within is a true 796 - Ditto
182 . 13 . 4
Coppy of the boats 1797 - Ditto
204.10. -
Earning for the
1798 -- Ditto
220 -
Years Specified
1799 - Ditto
236 -
Henry H. Williams
1800 - Ditto
240
owner
1801 - Ditto
269 -19 -4]
General Sumner's Description of the Ferry 20
Among the earliest recollections of my youthful days are the annal visits of the families of the different proprietors, and their intimate connections, to Mr. Henry Howell Williams, the tenant at the Island. This Mr. Williams was also the lessee, and after- ward the owner, of the ancient ferry between Boston and Winni- simet, the boats of which stopped at Noddle's Island on their passage from the one place to the other. We used to put up our horses in the barn of Mr. Fenno, who kept a grocery store and a house at the foot of Hanover Street, for the accommodation of passengers who erossed the ferry. The boats were old-fashioned, with sails and with drops on each side to admit the carriages. · which were drawn into the boats by hand, after the horses were taken out and led on board. They were so narrow that the car- riages stood across them, with their shafts projecting over the water. It was not often that carriages were taken over to the Island; but, as my grandfather Hyslop and his wife were aged persons, they usually crossed the ferry with theirs. When, from the state of the tide, the boat could not get to the wharf, nearly opposite the house, without grounding on the flats, it was neces- sary to land the passengers at the ferry ways, which were laid for that purpose from Smith's Head (where Weeks's wharf now is), into deep water towards the channel, which was only eighteen rods distant from that point. . . . The Rev. William Greenough of Newton, who had exchanged his interests in the Island with his brother David for an equal share of the Chelsea farm of four hun- dred aeres, the title to which came from the same ancestor, was always, with his family, a part of the company. He, in his turn, en- tertained the same party, once a year [in the old Newgate house ]. at Mr. Enstis's, the tenant of that farm, of which he was the chief proprietor. My father, not having any large possession of his own. at a convenient distance, to reciprocate the civilities of his kins-
20 Hist. of East Boston, 4-13.
132
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XXIV
men, invited them with their families and friends to a farm of his of about sixty acres, lying above Sumner's paper-mills in Dor- chester. . . . Although the party did not receive the generous supplies which Mr. Williams's table afforded of roast beef, oysters, and English porter, nor the china bowl full of punch that stood in the corner of the room, -to which the guests might help themselves before dinner, or when they pleased; nor the roast pig, fat mutton, chickens, and ducks, which Chelsea farm af- forded, yet the children did not lack a sufficieney of milk and eggs, and the party enjoyed themselves in the fields as well, prob- ably, as if the farmn had been capable of furnishing a more sump- tuous entertainment. .
No rent was taken for the numerous beds of oysters planted on the flats for the daily supply of the eity, other than that Mr. Wil- liams and the proprietors had the right to take as many oysters as they ehose. The proprietors exercised their right only at the time of their annual visit, and probably their respective families had a better supply of oysters the day afterward, than they had on any other day in the year.
After the reeent settlement at Chelsea by the Winnisimet Com- pany, it employed large ferry-boats, propelled by steam, instead of the two-masted sail boats which they had bought. They dis- continued the landing of passengers at Noddle's Island, which had now been purehased by the East Boston Company after Mr. Thomas Williams eeased to use it; but this was not until the East Boston Company had obtained from the eity the franchise of a ferry at a more convenient place to East Boston, and had set up their boats and established the ferry from Lewis' wharf, on the Boston side. The tenants of the Island had also a prescriptive right to land their own boats, to earry eattle over and baek, and here was the place of landing their milk eans for their Boston customers. They did not use the ferry merely in their passage to Boston; but they also used that part of it which lies between Noddle's Island and Winnisimet, in going to the Chelsea farm of four hundred aeres, which was near the Chelsea meeting-house, and, belonging to the same proprietors, was usually leased to the same person who hired the Island. The passages between the Island and both the termini of the ferry were then frequent and necessary. Although it interfered with their right, to land pas- sengers on the ferry-ways, the proprietors, receiving no notiec of the sale, mnade no serious objeetion to the grant by the eity, for a few thousand dollars, of the town landing in Boston, to the Win- nisimet Company, who, with their purehase of the farm owned by the Williams family at Chelsea, bought also the ferry and the
133
APPENDIX
CHAP. XXIV]
boats, of which their father, Mr. II. H. Williams, died the sole proprietor, he having grown rich by his position as tenant of Noddle's Island for the very unusual period of nearly forty years. Some time before his death he became purchaser of Governor Bellingham's very valuable and very extensive farm in Chelsea, at the ferry landing, and removed his family thither, leaving his son. Mr. Thomas Williams, his successor as tenant of the Island. This amiable gentleman, active, judicious, and enterprising, and his wife, who was the late Secretary Avery's daughter, will long be remembered by all who knew them. He succeeded his father and had the sole management of the Island Farm, and seemed to be as much interested in it as if it was his own. Having often heard the writer confidentially express his intent (whenever he could accomplish it) so to connect the Island with the city as to make it a part of it, he in his turn consulted him about the sale of his father's farm in Chelsea to the Winnisimet Company at the price which that company offered for it, apprehending, as he said, that it might be considered by the writer as an interference with his plans of improvement on the Island. No objection on that score being offered, but the building of a town, as it were, behind Noddle's Island, which lies much nearer to the city, being con- sidered rather advantageous to the Island than otherwise, Mr. Williams accepted, in behalf of the heirs of his father, the offer for their estate at Chelsea, and thus opened the door to the im- provements which the enterprising Winnisimet Company projected and put into execution.
13.4
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XXV
CHAPTER XXV
HIGHWAYS AND TOWN WAYS AND BRIDGES
W E are too far removed from the first settlement of the town to understand the life which the earliest comers lived. Many of them were men of education, contemporaries of Shakespeare, personal friends and co-laborers with Crom- well and Milton in the great work of reforming the English church and constitution, and competent for affairs of the greatest magnitude. But when they came to the wilderness, their time and thoughts were necessarily occupied by matters of but little interest to us. The regulation of cattle pastures, the yoking of swine, the erection of party fences, and the making of roads, though not very lofty matters, were of impor- tance to them. Three governors and a secretary of state settled a highway from Winnisimmet to Lynn, and much of the legis- lation of the General Court and of the town was devoted to similar matters.
I propose, therefore, to bring together what I find in the first hundred years respecting the building and repairing of the highways at Rumney Marsh. In no other way can we get so vivid an idea of what they cost. The ways at Winnisimmet and Rumney Marsh, as will be seen, were often before the General Court and the town of Boston, in whose care they were until 1739, when the town of Chelsea was set off. But if, as I suppose, the old road from Winnisimmet to Lynn and Salem, - the present Washington Avenue and the continua- tion thereof through Revere, - was the oldest county 1 road in Massachusetts, it was worth the attention it required; and more especially so, since it was the most direct road by which inhabitants of Essex, and travellers from the eastward, could reach Boston by land.
1 [It was called in the early records the " Country " road, presumably because it was laid out by a committee of the General Court.]
135
CHAP. XXV] HIGHWAYS, TOWN WAYS, AND BRIDGES
1639, December 3, at a Court of Assistants, or Quarter Court, held at Boston: "Boston, for defeet of their wayes between Powder Horne Hill & the written tree, is fined 20sh", & enjoyned to mend them./ " 2
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