USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Historical sketches of Brookline, Mass. > Part 3
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To return to the White estate. After the death of the venerable widow, who lived to an advanced age in the westerly part of the house, the property was let to any tenants who would occupy it without repairs, year after year, till some minor heirs should come of age; and thus deteriorating from year to year it became an unsightly nuisance, till it was separated into two sections and car- ried off, one part up Boylston Street and the other down to " the marsh."
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1634279. PUBLIC PLAY-GROUNDS.
It would have been a blessing to present and future generations if some wealthy and philanthropic person had bought the whole area occupied by these buildings and the stable and blacksmith shop, and bequeathed it to the town to be forever kept open as a public common. A breathing space for the neighborhood and a perpetual play-ground for the children, in any growing suburb like this town, thus secured, would be a nobler donation for all coming time than a hundred thousand dollars to Har- vard College. Is this thing never done by individuals because towns might do it but will not ? Whoever pro- vides a public play-ground for the boys is a benefactor to his race. Had ten such little parks in the course of a century past been secured to the densely populated portions of New York, or three or four to the north part of Boston, with grass, shade trees, and drinking fountains of pure water, who can doubt that the health, taste, and morals of the city would have been better promoted than by all the labors of the Tract Society ? *
Before the railroad was built, or White Place projected, there stood on the site of Guild's block two small an- cient houses, fronting on Boylston Street. One of these must have been one of the oldest houses in town. The sills were great oaken timbers from which there was a step down into the rooms on crossing the threshold, with- out entry or porch.
It was owned and occupied by Major Edward White, the father of Thomas White, and ancestor of many Brookline people of the same name, though spelled differ- ently by some descendants. He was major of militia in King George's service, and was an honored citizen of this town in those old days when Massachusetts was a colony.
* Since the above was written this town has secured two pieces of ground for public play-grounds.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
Major White owned three other houses near the one he occupied, all of which long since ceased to exist. One stood on the ground where Mr. Royal Woodward's house now stands, one where the shop of Beals & Jones stands, and one about where De Frees' dry goods store is located. The Major finally built and occupied, until his death in 1769, the house on Washington Street lately occupied by the family of our late respected townsman, James Bart- lett. We return to the one first spoken of, on the site of Guild's block.
This old house was occupied in Revolutionary times by a branch of the Aspinwall family. The other house was wholly remodeled about fifty years ago; and Mr. Elisha Stone, so long the undertaker and sexton of the town, occupied it for many years.
Behind this house were two very large trees and a well, with a curb and a " sweep," the long pole reaching high up into one of the trees. Both these houses, quite re- built, are now in White Place, the fourth and fifth on the left side. A little steep driveway went down from Boyl- ston Street to Washington Street between these houses and the row of trees which extended eastward, of which now there is but one left, -- the old buttonwood at the end of the bridge.
Under this row of trees were the hay-scales, the plat- form on a level with Boylston Street, and doors below on the north side. These mysterious doors were seldom open when we were straying by in our childhood, but when they were, we used to pause and look at the dark recess underneath from the opposite side of the street with something of the same feelings with which we might now approach the portals of the Mammoth Cave.
The meadow which we have before alluded to, which is now divided by the railroad, and includes White Place
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THE BROOK.
and Kerrigan Place and all the houses on the north side of Boylston Street from Guild's Block to the last men- tioned place, was, until about the time the railroad was projected, a green and open field. The beautiful brook which is now walled up alongside the railroad, then wound through grass and wild flowers at " its own sweet will," and coming out from the meadow through two arched openings in a low stone wall it spread itself along beside the street for a space at least twenty feet wide and more than twice as long, and then flowed under the road through a broad culvert. On the east side, where it came out, exactly where Mahoney's building stands, it was covered by the engine-house which the town built, after the old one at the foot of Walnut Street was torn down. This house was destroyed by an incendiary fire more than twenty years ago. The brook as it stretched along beside the road over a stony bottom, was clear and not very deep, and its sparkling water invited the great droves of cattle which came from Brighton on market days; and few drivers were so heartless as to hurry them through without allowing them to drink their fill. Often in our childhood we paused to note the eagerness with which they would plunge in at the upper end of this grand watering-place and their reluctance to leave it at the other. The railroad bridge and the street covers all the space the brook thus occupied, and the driveway to the depot is where the old roadway used to be.
The meadow before alluded to included a piece of grassy upland on the north side where now is White Place ; and here was one ancient little cottage, a quaint affair, half chimney and fire-place; it sat far back from the street and was approached by a grassy path through a turn-stile. This was one of Major Edward White's houses, and like the one he occupied had a well with a
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
sweep under an elm tree. It was whitewashed and half covered with woodbine. When White Place was planned this picturesque old cottage was removed and remodeled, its enormous fire-place and chimney furnishing bricks enough to build a basement story ; and it now stands, a commonplace affair, in the rear of Mahoney's building in front of the depot.
The brook in those days having plenty of room, often turned the meadow into a temporary lake, without in- truding into cellars and basements as of late, and in win- ter it made a fine skating-place for the boys. Alas, for the necessity which has turned this once beautiful stream into a common sewer. " To what base uses do we come at last ! "
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THE DEPOT GROUND.
CHAPTER III.
THE DEPOT GROUND. - THE DAVIS ESTATE. - SAMBO. - DANA TAVERN. - TOM COOK. - THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
0 N the spot where the railroad depot now stands, and on the vacant ground north of it, formerly stood the large square house now in the rear of the Colonnade Building. This house was built some time in the latter part of the last century by Mr. John Howe, father of the late John Howe, Esq., of this town. For many years Mr. Howe had a tannery south of his house, but he sub- sequently gave up this business and went into the lumber trade in Boston. The tannery was removed, and a gar- den occupied the place of it, until the place was invaded by the railroad.
The house stood upon a high bank shaded by large elm trees, of which the only vestige remaining is the for- lorn stump covered with woodbine, in front of the depot .* It was a very pleasant situation, and through the garden a small branch of the brook flowed. Here were fine fruit trees, and currant and gooseberry bushes.
The railroad tracks, the bare space south of them, and a part of Mahoney's building, cover the site of this gar- den, running back to where the turn-table is located. In front of the house the bank projected beyond the fence into the street, and as it was high and narrow on the top, outside the fence, no child passing by could resist the temp- tation to go up one side and down the other. A clump
* Even this has since been removed.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
of wild rose bushes grew on the top, outside the fence, and lilacs within. So a narrow little path was worn there, year after year, by many childish feet that have since grown old in treading our streets, or perchance wandered into steeper ways uncrowned with roses. This bank was re- moved to widen the sidewalk many years ago.
After Mr. Howe's day the house was let for so many years to a Mr. Marshall, that it became known as "the Marshall house " for a long time. Since then it has had countless tenants, among whom were the late David R. Griggs, Mr. Harrison Fay, and Mr. Twitchell, all of whom occupied it while their own houses were being erected.
The house was moved to its present location when the railroad was laid ont. The alterations in that vicinity have been so great, that could any former resident of Brookline, who had not seen the place since the railroad and the bridge were built, be brought unexpectedly to a view of it, he would not have the faintest idea of his whereabouts.
On April 24, 1847, the railroad was completed to this village and opened for travel. On that day, by the gen- erous courtesy of the directors of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, fourteen trains of cars were run free, and more than two thousand persons passed over the road. No accident occurred even of the slightest nature.
An account of the opening was written by S. A. Walker, then a resident of Brookline, for the " Boston Journal," in his usual glowing style.
Mr. B. W. Hobart, who was then well known to the people of Brookline, was appointed conductor, an appoint- ment which gave general satisfaction, and which office he filled till appointed to a more lucrative situation on the long route from Boston to Springfield. The rail- road was not continued beyond the depot in the village for several years, and therefore there being no necessity
,
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THE OLD COTTON HOUSE.
for a bridge, the old road and the watering-place beside it remained as we have before described it, a few years longer, excepting that White Place was begun, by the re- moval there of three houses which formerly stood below the depot.
The land north of the depot on the east side of the street as far north as Aspinwall Avenue, had not a single house upon it until within forty years, except the ancient house between Andem and Harrison places, nearly oppo- site the Catholic Church.
Probably few people among the present generation know anything of the great age and interesting history of this house, as, though in apparently good condition, it is one of the three oldest houses in town, dating back at least two hundred years.
In the early days, when this town, then called " Muddy River Hamlet," was apportioned out among certain resi- dents of Boston, a large tract was assigned to the Rev. John Cotton, the second minister of Boston. This in- cluded all the land from Muddy River as far west as where the estate of Mr. George B. Blake is now, and perhaps even farther; bordering on what is now Har- vard Street, then called the Newtown Road (Cambridge being called Newtown), and on what is now Walnut Street, called for many years "the Sherburne Road." This great tract of land the Reverend John Cotton prob- ably never used for aught else than a cow pasture, as there is no evidence that he ever made this place his resi- dence ; but he left this whole property to his heirs, Row- land and Thomas Cotton. Deacon Thomas Cotton built the ancient house now standing, above mentioned, about two hundred years ago, and subsequently sold it to Dea- con Ebenezer Davis, and took his departure to the then wilds of Connecticut. Deacon Davis was the son of
4
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
Ebenezer and Rachel Davis, who emigrated from Wales to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury, and settled in Roxbury. The parents died young, and left the farm to their son, whose only sister, Rachel, kept his house, though but a child of thirteen. Subse- quently Mr. Davis married a sister of Moses White of Brookline, and Moses White himself married Rachel. With this house was also transferred to Deacon Davis all the land from Harvard Street to Walnut Street, as far west as Cypress Street and School Street, though School Street was only a lane, and Cypress Street not even that. Whether Major Edward White, spoken of previously, purchased of the Cotton heirs, or of Deacon Davis, we have not been able to ascertain, but he was contem- porary with the first two generations of Davises, and his land was a corner of this great estate. Deacon Ebenezer Davis had a son of the same name, and this son still another, so that the name was perpetuated through three generations in this same house. The next descendant who inherited the homestead was Robert S. Davis, the father of the present bookseller of that name, now a resi- dent in Cypress Place.
During his lifetime, about seventy years ago, the house was thoroughly renovated and repaired, and the immense chimneys taken down, by which ample space was ob- tained for a pantry and bedroom. It would seem as if it must have been necessary for every man to own a brick-yard in those ancient times, when as many bricks were put into one stack of chimneys as would build a small modern house. Where they found clay enough, workmen enough, and time enough to accomplish such solid results, must forever remain among the mysteries.
Besides the chimneys which were rebuilt, this old house had also another built up from the ground, wholly
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DEACON EBENEZER DAVIS.
outside of the house, like a buttress, so that only the great fire-place opened into a room, in the style still to be seen in Maryland and Virginia. These chimneys were all laid in clay, instead of lime, and became unsafe as it crumbled with age, and when their reconstruction became · necessary other alterations were involved, and the but- tress-like chimney was dispensed with. Behind, and a little south of the house, was a large, long barn which in comparatively recent times was divided, one half being used to build the house with, which is now the next in the rear of the Davis house and occupied by Mr. Tyler, the other half was moved near to the depot, and was lately torn down. On the southeast, the brook now the sewer, formed the boundary of the orchard, and was so excellent a fishing place for smelts, that as we have been informed by one who well remembers, it was not uncommon for half a bushel of these little fishes to be taken there in a morning before breakfast.
Deacon Ebenezer Davis was, according to all accounts, an excellent farmer, and his estate was adorned with splen- did peach and cherry orchards, to say nothing of apple trees in great variety. He also ventured upon an experi- ment in horticulture, for those times, and raised the first musk-melons that were ever offered for sale in Boston market. It was a success, and gave him such a notoriety that his portrait was painted with a musk-melon under his arm. The picture was subsequently carried to England, where it is still preserved in a collection. Under it is written, " An American Farmer." A unique ornament would the portrait of this ancient farmer of Brookline be for our Public Library, or our Town Hall. In the rear of the old deacon's house and barn was a little house for negro quarters in the old days when slavery existed in Massachusetts ; and one old negro named Sambo, fig-
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
ured for many years in the experiences of this household. The deacon resigned his office in the First Church in 1770, and died in 1775, at the age of seventy-two. Sambo con- tinued to live in the family with the son and grandson of the deacon. There are many amusing anecdotes of his sayings and doings still extant among the descendants of the family. He seems to have been one of those curious combinations of wit and stupidity which are occasionally to be met with.
His master gave him a patch of ground to plant and cultivate as he pleased for his own profit. Sambo planted a goodly supply of beans, and when they came up, in true bean style, Sambo went to work, and with infinite labor re-set the whole of them with the beans under ground where he thought they belonged. He was the butt of so many jokes for this exploit that he was rather sensitive upon the subject of beans afterwards.
But Sambo had all the laugh on his own side some- times. Some blacksmiths, one first of April, seeing Sambo coming along the road from Boston, walking be- side his team, threw a hot horseshoe into the road, ex- pecting to find a victim. But the old fellow saw it fall and knew the joke was meant for him, so he quietly took his shovel from his load and tossed the horseshoe upon the top, and went on his way chuckling over the fact that they " did n't fool 'dis darkey dat time."
At another time this old servant accompanied the dea- con to Boston where he called to pay a lawyer who had transacted some business for him. Mr. Davis overpaid the lawyer, who, greatly to Sambo's indignation, refused to return any change, saying that he never returned money in such cases. There seemed to be no help for it and the matter was dropped, but Sambo revolved the subject over and over in his thick head, and " bided his time."
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SAMBO.
Some months afterwards he carried a load of melons to market, and as he stood retailing them on the street who should appear as a purchaser but this very lawyer .. He bought a water-melon, worth ninepence, and gave Sambo a dollar, which he serenely pocketed. "Where's my change ? " asked the lawyer, seeing it was not forthcom- ing.
" Hi !" said Sambo, " you gib massa no change, I gib you none," and he brought home the dollar.
Sambo lived in celibacy, and died when more than ninety years of age. It was winter when he died, and the ground was covered with deep snow. His body was car- ried to the Brookline Cemetery upon a pung, and laid near his old master.
Long afterwards, when the old chimneys were taken down, a stout silver spoon, marked with a quaint old " E. D." was found, with the handle bent double, and Sambo's agency in the matter was strongly hinted at by those who knew his faults as well as his virtues. " Requiescat " Sambo.
The third Ebenezer Davis who occupied the old house, married into the Aspinwall family, and had a son born there of the same name, who many years ago removed to the State of Maine, where he still lives.
Another son, I. Sumner Davis, was a minister, and still another, Thomas Aspinwall Davis, was for some time Mayor of Boston. Of him more will be said here- after.
The son Robert Sharp Davis, was named for two an- cestors of the same name on the maternal side, who had distinguished themselves in the old French and Indian wars. He married a granddaughter of one of our old Revolutionary patriots, Phinehas Stearns, of Watertown, who was one of the famous Boston tea-party. The son of
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
- this marriage, who bore the name of P. Stearns Davis, in honor of his plucky old ancestor, was born in the old house, and brought up in Brookline schools. He was sent elsewhere to finish his education, and then returned to his native town till his marriage, after which he re- sided in Cambridge.
When the Rebellion broke out, the blood of the brave old heroes burned in his veins and he could not rest. Day and night the conviction of duty was upon him, till finally a reluctant consent was wrung from those who loved him best, and he left home and a circle of devoted friends, for the battle-fields of Virginia. His honorable record as Colonel of the Massachusetts 39th Regiment prepared the way for his promotion, and he was soon distinguished as a Brigadier-general. On the 11th of July, 1864, he was killed by a rebel shell in front of Petersburg, and his distinguished name was added to the list of heroes and martyrs for liberty. On the day he took his farewell of his aged mother, she said to him, " My son, how can you want to go ?" He replied, " Mother, if I should live to see the end of this war without going and doing my whole duty for my country, I should never rest." And he went with her blessing.
His venerable mother still lives among us in an hon- ored and beautiful old age .* May the memory of what he was, ever be the consolation of all who are bereft of his loving care.
Another descendant of Deacon Ebenezer Davis, who deserves honorable mention, was Mr. Isaac Davis, born in the old house, and a resident there till his early man- hood, when he took up his abode in Roxbury, on land which he inherited from his father, and to which he added by purchase.
* This much beloved lady died May 4, 1874, at the age of nearly 89 years.
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MR. BENJAMIN DAVIS.
This worthy farmer was Town Treasurer of Roxbury for thirty years, and Representative to the State Legisla- ture for seventeen years. Miss Sarah Davis, a missionary to Burmah, a sister of General Davis, also born in the old house, will be mentioned in connection with the Bap- tist Church.
A few years after the death of Mr. Robert S. Davis, Senior, the family mansion, and what remained of the land near it which had not been disposed of to other pur- chasers, was sold by the heirs to Mr. Moses Andem, who resided here for several years.
After Mr. Andem's death, the house was occupied by Captain Isaac Taylor, till his present handsome residence was completed. Until this time the spacious yard in front of the old house remained ornamented with trees and shrubbery, and a straight gravel walk, bordered with the stiffest of fir trees, led from the street to the front door. Soon after, the two houses which now stand in front of it were built, and the old house was quite ex- cluded from a view of the street.
From that time to the present it has been occupied by various families, two at a time.
We will now cross the street to follow another branch of the Davis family. A son of Deacon Ebenezer Davis, born 1765, by the name of Benjamin, inherited as his portion of his father's large domain, all the land on the west side of Washington Street, beginning at the north side of White Place, and extending on that side as far as Cypress Street. He had built for his own use the house long known as " Mr. Benjamin Davis's old house," and married Elizabeth Baker of Roxbury, in 1791. On the opposite side he owned all the land from where Pan- ter's Building stands to School Street, extending across from Harvard Street to Washington Street. This was a high hill sloping down to the three streets above named.
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF BROOKLINE.
As new residents came to town one lot after another was sold off it, which we shall allude to hereafter.
This Mr. Davis, like his father, was a farmer. South of his house, where the shop of the Kenricks now stands, was an immense elm tree, said to be as large as the fa- mous Aspinwall elm. This tree was cut down, sorely to the regret of Mrs. Davis, because it shaded a desirable garden spot. Afterwards a row of elms which sprang from the seed of the old tree, grew along beside the wall ; and one which Mrs. Davis set out with her own hands grew to be the great elm which was cut down, on the corner of Davis Place, when the block of stores was to be built. The tree was not only the chief ornament of the neighborhood, but a grateful shade in a hot and dusty place, and its destruction was a public loss.
On the piece of ground above alluded to, was set out a peach orchard, which remained until within the recol- lection of the present Mr. B. B. Davis, his son, who with his own hands cut down the old peach trees, some of which were a foot in diameter, and over thirty feet in height. The same gentleman, to whom we are indebted for much valuable information, informs us that in his school-days there was such an abundance of peaches of fine quality raised in Brookline, that the boys had a standing permission to go into the orchards daily and carry off all they could eat, loading their caps and pock- ets, and that even then the hogs were turned in to de- vour the quantities of fruit which were left on the ground.
If by the result of any subtle chemical analysis of the soil, a happy experiment in horticulture could produce such an abundance again, there could possibly be found enough of the " rising generation " to take care of them all without calling in the swine.
DANA'S TAVERN. 49
The first Benjamin Davis died suddenly while in the prime of life, of lockjaw, caused by a cold taken by sit- ting upon the ground to rest during over-fatigue from mowing. His son, of the same name, occupied the house which he inherited ; and thus three generations of the same name occupied this house, as was the case with the one on the east side of the street.
In Revolutionary times, a part of a company of Con- necticut soldiers, who assisted in the siege of Boston, were quartered in this house, much to the discomfort of the excellent housekeeper, who used to tell in after years of their cutting up their rations of pork on her front stairs. The soldiers were subsequently removed to the barracks on Parker's Hill.
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