USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of Boston, the metropolis of Massachusetts, from its origin to the present period; with some account of the environs > Part 17
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" The town is not divided into parishes, yet they have three fair meeting-houses, or churches, which hardly suffice to re- ceive the inhabitants and strangers that come in from all parts. There is also a Town-house built upon pillars, where the merchants may confer : in the chambers above they hold the monthly courts. Here is the dwelling of the governour [Bellingham]. On the south there is a small but pleasant common, where the gallants, a little before sunset, walk with their marmalet madams as we do in Moor-fields, till the nine- o'clock bell rings them home to their respective habitations : when presently the constables walk the rounds to see good order kept and to take up loose people.'
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF MR. BELLINGHAM.
Gov. Bellingham, who from the time of his first arrival, in 1635, had been an inhabitant of Boston, died Dec. 7, 1672. He appears to have been a popular man, and was strongly attached to the liberties of the people. He was by education a lawyer. As a man he was benevolent, upright, and active in business : it is always mentioned as a singular part of his character, that he would never take a bribe. As a christian he was devout, zealous, and attentive to external forms. In politicks, he leaned rather to the democratick side, but in the church was a violent opposer of the new sects, that contended for religious freedom. He was sometimes subject to melan- choly and mental derangement, lived to the age of 80 years, and was the only surviving patentee named in the charter. His will left a large property for charitable and pious uses, but it was made in such a manner, that, after some years' dispute, the general court thought it necessary to supply the defects of it, by making a disposition of his estate themselves .*
THE OLD WHARVES.
We gather the history of the origin of the Old Wharf, so called, from the following documents :
' Boston, N. E. Sept. 10, 1673. Whereas the Honourable Council of this jurisdiction have lately recommended to the consideration of the selectmen of this town, the necessity of erecting a wall or wharf, upon the flats before the town, from the Sconce to Capt. Scarlett's wharf, or using some
* ' March 21. 1673, the castle, at the entrance of Boston harbour, being of timber, was burnt down by accident. A new fortress of stone was erected, said thento be a strong work.'
1
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
other means for securing the town from fireships, in case of the approach of an enemy, which the selectmen represented to the inhabitants, at a publick meeting, Sept. 5, 1673 ; and whereas the said inhabitants did on that day, by two publick votes, first deny to have the said work carried on at the pub- lick charge of the town, and secondly, did grant and give power to the selectmen, that they might order and dispose of the flats before the town, from the Sconce aforesaid to Capt. S.'s wharf for the better security of the town, as they shall think best-Now the aforesaid selectmen, having taken into their serious consideration the necessity of something to be done to the end aforesaid, and of some way of encouragement to such as shall undertake so great a work, do propound to the inhabitants of this town as followeth :
1. That a wall or wharf of wood or stone be erected from the said sconce to Capt. Scarlett's wharf, which is in length about 2200 ft. ; that it be made in breadth 22 ft. at bottom, and to be raised 6 feet high at the least, with all expedition ; and afterwards as soon as may be to add thereto in height, as shall be judged convenient for a breastwork to play guns on, which is supposed to be 14 or 15 ft. high in all, and so car- ried up to be 20 ft. broad at the top, to be made substantial and uniform, and continued and maintained at the cost and charge of the undertakers according to these propositions.
2. For encouragement hereunto the said selectmen of this town of B. in behalf of themselves and their successors in the office, do, according to the power committed to them, hereby order and declare, FIRST, that such of the inhabitants of this town as shall undertake and carry on the said work as above expressed, shall possess and enjoy, and hereby is granted to them, their heirs and assigns forever, all those flats that lie before the town, between the town and the said wall or wharf so to be built ; 200 feet whereof back towards the town, and next adjacent to said wall or wharf, shall be free for them the said undertakers to build wharves and warehou- ses upon as they shall see cause, proportionably in breadth to what they build on in the front : the remainder to be for dock or shelter for ships or vessels :
Except always, and it is hereby reserved to such of the pres- ent abutters or- borderers on the said flats, as shall come in undertakers of said w. or wh. and carry an end the. same in convenient time, with the rest of the u. that they shall have liberty of carrying out their present wharves, before their own land, in proportion with others about 100 ft. beyond the Hon. Gov. Leverett's and Mr. Alford's present wharves, and to improve it, for the best advantage of them, their heirs and assigns forever, as shall be staked out in a Circular Line, according to a plot or map now taken of the said cove :
------
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Reserving also to such others of the present abutters or borderers on the said flats, who refuse to join in the said wall or whf. aforesaid, liberty of egress and regress of vessels, and lying at their wharves for loading and unlading and graving before them. SECONDLY,
That the said u. and carriers an end of said w. or whf. shall, according to and in proportion to what they build in front, have right, unto all income, advantages and emoluments that may arise or accrue, by dockage or anchorage of any such vessels as shall harbour or be secured within the said cove, as also by fishing within the said cove, or in the mouth thereof, and all other liberties and privileges, which may arise by virtue of this grant of the selectmen, between the said wharf or wall, now to be erected, and the wharves and docks now bordering on said flats, or to be made as above expressed, except what is reserved as above. It is further ordered and declared, that no man shall subscribe or under- take for less than twenty feet of said wall or wharf.'
The foregoing propositions were signed by the selectmen ; forty-one persons very soon undertook the work in parcels from 20 ft. to 120 feet in front, and their agreement ' being read to the council Nov. 11, 1673, it was accepted.'
The circular line, mentioned in this document, is a very im- portant boundary at the present day. A question having arisen concerning it so soon as 1678, it was then, Oct. 28th, determined that the southernmost part of Capt. Scarlett's wharf is meant and understood to be the northerly bounds thereof, and the Sconce to be the southerly bounds, and ' from these two places lines to be run the nearest or shortest cut into the channel before the town, and the channel to be the eastern or easterly bounds, and the western or westerly to be 100 ft. without the Hon. Gov. Leverett's and Mr. Wm. Al- ford's wharf.' Gov. L.'s wharf was at that time the wharf on the south side of the bottom of State-street, and Mr. Alford's that on the north : the Long wharf has since been built be- tween them. Capt. Scarlett's wharf was that at the bottom of Fleet-street, and the Sconce was situated not far from the head of India wharf.
Stupendous as this undertaking was, for the period when it was projected, it was carried into execution, and the proprie- tors received an act of incorporation from the council of the. colony, May 11, 1681. Happily there never was occasion to employ the works for the ends for which they were designed ; no enemy having ever passed the castle. The profits from the concern were found so small, that the wharves were soon suf- fered to go into decay, and no trace is now to be seen of them. We have been favoured with the use of a plan, taken after Long-wharf was built, which exhibits the cove and all the 21
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
wharve's between the two extremities of the circular line, the out wharf crossing the Long at the T. with a ' gap or passage of 80 ft. wide into the cove' on the north side of the T, and another narrower gap on the south side of Long wharf.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Or fighte with mee, or lose thy lande, No better termes may bee.
Remains of Ancient Poetry.
WHATEVER concerned the welfare of the colony was deeply felt in Boston, and scenes were about opening in 1674, which kept alive the publick anxiety from that time, till the colo- nial government was settled under a new charter.
The Indians within the Massachusetts bounds were not sub- ject to one general sachem, hut divided into smaller cantons or tribes. These, one after another, had submitted them- selves to the jurisdiction of our government. There was the appearance of amity and good correspondence on all sides, and for forty years together, the people had suffered no great concern from fears of any irruption. But about the year 1670, suspicions were excited by some strange conduct on the part of the Indians, and measures of precaution were taken against them Philip, sachem of Mount Hope, was the chief who was destined to give the greatest annoyance. He was a man of high spirit, and could not bear to see the people of Plymouth colony extending their settlements over the domin- ions of his ancestors : and although his father had at one time or other conveyed to them all that they were possessed of, yet he had sense enough to distinguish a free, voluntary cov- enant from one made under a sort of duresse, and he could never rest until he brought on the war, which was to end in his destruction.
While Philip was making professions of peace and friend- ship, he was secretly laying a plot, that all the Indians should rise at once, in all quarters, in the spring of 1676, and drive the English entirely out of the land : but circumstances con- curred to bring on a rupture at an earlier period, that ended in quite a different result. In this contest the people of Bos- ton took a very efficient part. Philip's men made an attack on some persons at Swansey, on the 24th of June, 1675, and information being immediately brought to Boston, a company
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
of foot under Capt. Daniel Henchman, and a troop of horse under Capt. Thomas Prentice were despatched to their relief on the 26th. An eclipse of the moon, which happened that evening, produced fearful discouragements in this little army. Some melancholy fancies imagined that they saw an unusual black spot in her centre, resembling an Indian's scalp, and this brought to recollection other ominous signs. 'But after the moon had waded through the dark shadow of the earth, and borrowed her light again,' the two companies marched on and arrived at Swansey. within a quarter of a mile of Philip's dominions, some time before night on the 28th. A party of the Boston troop, unwilling to lose their time, made an excur- sion into the enemy's territory, but were compelled to retreat with the loss of one man, Wm. Hammond, killed, and one man, corporal Belcher, wounded.
The whole body of the forces (Mass. and Plymouth) made a sally the next morning, crossed the bridge that led to Mt. Hope, and drove the enemy before them,a mile and a quarter on the other side of it. 'Ensign Savage, that young martial spark,' says Hubbard, 'scarce twenty years of age, had at that time one bullet lodged in his thigh, another shot through the brim of his hat, by ten or twelve of the enemy discharging upon him together, while he boldly held up his colours in the front of his company.' Major Savage arrived soon with supplics and took the command : Capt. Edw. Hutchinson also came up shortly after, with reinforcements and further orders from Boston. A few skirmishes routed the Indians in that. quar- ter ; Philip fled to the western part of the colony, and some of our troops returned. Capt. Henchman started again from Boston, in November, with another company. Near to Men- don they heard of a party of Indians, and it was resolved to give them a camisado, as they called it, in their wigwams. The captain and his lieutenant, Philip Curtis, accordingly led their men out to the fight, but most of them flinched in the moment of need, and Capt. H. and Lieut. C. were left with only five men to finish the combat. The lieutenant and one man were killed, and the object of the excursion was lost.
The following winter was marked with numerous rencon- tres, in which the Indians were sometimes victorious and sometimes obliged to retreat. They, however, advanced to- wards Boston, and some of them expressed the hope, that they should yet see that town in ashes. What me will, me do, was their motto, and the people believed so much in its appropri- ateness, that they set a watch at the entrance of the town, and no Indian whatever, friendly or not, was allowed to enter unguarded. Next to Philip in insolence, there was a John Monahco, or One-eyed John, who had threatened hardest and boasted loud of what he should accomplish : but before
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ILISTORY OF BOSTON.
the year was closed, Philip himself was hunted to his dens, by Capt. Church, and shot by a friendly Indian ; and this John, ' with a few more bragadocios like him was taken, and was seen marching towards the gallows, through Boston streets, which he threatened to burn at his pleasure, with an halter about his neck, with which he was hanged at the town's end, Sept. 26, 1676.' Thus ended king Philip's war.
What the malice of the savages was not permitted to effect, took place through other means. On the 27th of November, the town was alarmed by the discovery of ' a sad fire, acci- dentally kindled by the carelessness of an apprentice, that sat up too late over night, as was conceived, which begun an hour before day, continuing three or four, in which time it burned down to the ground 46 dwelling-houses, besides other build- ings, together with a meeting-house* of considerable bigness. Some mercy was observed, mixt with the judgment, for if a great rain had not continued all the time, (the roofs and walls of their ordinary buildings consisting of such combustible matter) that whole end of the town had at that time been con- sumed.'
This is Hubbard's account in his ' Indian wars.' Hutch- inson says, ' it broke out about five o'clock in the morning, at one Wakefield's house, by the Red Lion.' The wharf, which opens next north of Richmond-street (late Proctor lane), was formerly called the Red Lion wharf, and from the number of buildings destroyed, and the names of persons mentioned in the town records, as interested in the improvements . after- wards made in the width and course of the streets, we infer that the fire extended from that lane as far north as Clark-street.t Great pains appear to have been taken that the new streets might be both wider and straighter than before, and the se- lectmen had as much difficulty to persuade the owners to give up an inch of ground then, as the city authorities now have. Some of the wooden houses now standing in Ann- street were probably built immediately after this fire. The house at the head of the slip below Richmond-street is thought by the occupant to be 150 years old. It is of two stories ; the second projecting about 18 inches over the first. There are houses in several parts of the town, built in the same style .; The fashion is said to have been introduced here
* The church met at Dea. Phillips' house, Dec. 3, and took measures for the erection of a new house of worship : it was ready in the course of the next year. No pew was to be built with a door into the street : and if the builder of the pew left the house, the pew was to revert to the church.
t Town Records, Jan. and Aug. 1677.
# The house on the north side of the New Brick meeting-house is a specimen of this struc- ture, and the one on the south side, at the corner of (late) Proctor-lane, is in the previous fashion of two low stories with a high, peaked roof : until late years it retained the ancient small glass windows with leaden sashes.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
from the country, where this structure was found expedient, to furnish protection from the assaults of the natives. This is not improbable ; but another opinion, that it was the fashion of the times and prevailed also in France at the same period, is quite as likely.
We do not find that the engine authorized in 1654 was ever obtained, but after this fire the town appears to have sent abroad for one.
Town Records, 1679. Jan. 27. 'In case of fire in the town, where there is occasion to make use of the engine lately come from England, Thomas Atkins, carpenter, is desired and doth engage to take care of the managing of the said engine, in the work intended, and secure it the best he can from dam- age, and hath made choice of the several persons following to be his assistants, which are approved of, and are promised to be paid for their pains about the work :- ' The persons who formed the first engine company, were Obadiah Gill, John Raynsford, John Barnard, Thomas Elbridge, Arthur Smith, John Mills, Caleb Rawlins, John Wakefield, Samuel Green- wood, Edward Martin, Thomas Barnard, George Robinson.'
The following record shows us the antiquity of their privile- ges. May 28, 1683. It is agreed that Ralph Carter and seven others, one man out of each company of the train bands, should take the care and charge of the water engine, to keep it in good order, and be ready upon all occasions to attend the use and service thereof, when the said Carter shall require it, or there be any noise or cry of fire breaking out in any part of this town : In consideration whereof, with consent of the sev- eral captains, they shall be exempt from training, and are to attend the said service upon the penalty the law prefixeth for not training.
Another ' terrible fire began about midnight, August 8, 1679, at one Gross's house, the sign of the Three Mariners, near the dock. All the warehouses and a great number of dwelling- houses, with the vessels then in the dock, were consumed. It continued till near noon the next day ; the most woful deso- lation that Boston had ever seen ; eighty odd dwelling houses and seventy odd warehouses, with several vessels and their lading consumed to ashes. The whole loss computed to be £200,000.' Hubbard says (N.E. 649) ' it was set on fire* by
* 1679, October 18. p. 242. Colony Records. Whereas the persons hereafter named are under vehement suspicion of attempting to burn the town of Boston, and some of their en- deavours prevailed to the burning of one house, and only by God's providence prevented from further damage : This court doth order that Edward Creeke and Deborah his wife, Hepzibah Codman, John Avis, John Easte, Samuel Dogget, Wm. Penny, Richard Heath, Sypron Jarman, and James Dennis, shall depart the jurisdiction and never return, and be kept in prison until ready for their departure.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
some malicious wretches, as is justly suspected, and half ru- ined the whole colony, as well as the town.' This devasta- tion occasioned such a demand for house timber, that the town petitioned the court to forbid its exportation for a time. It also increased the watchfulness of the people, and in some new regulations adopted, we find the singular one that a man should be stationed on each meeting-house during service on the sabbath day, to give the alarm in case of any fire being discovered.
A law was made about this time to prevent the erection of wooden buildings, and the houses and warehouses near the town dock, which were rebuilt after the great fire in 1679, were either constructed with brick, or plastered on the outside with a strong cement intermixed with gravel and glass, and slated on the top. They were two stories high, with a gar- ret in the high peaked roof .* One of them is yet standing, and is represented in the following plate.
ANCIENT BUILDING
AT THE CORNER OF ANN-STREET AND MARKET-SQUARE.
AB
VIEW FROM THE N. E. CORNER OF ELM-STREET.
" Mass. Ilist. Coll. 1. iv. 189.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
This, says a description furnished by a friend, is perhaps the only wooden building now standing in the city to show what was considered elegance of architecture here, a century and a half ago. The peaks of the roof remain precisely as they were first erected, the frame and external appearance never having been altered. The timber used in the building was principally oak, and, where it has been kept dry, is per- fectly sound and intensely hard. The outside is covered with plastering, or what is commonly called rough-cast. But in- stead of pebbles, which are generally used at the present day to make a hard surface on the mortar, broken glass was used. This glass appears like that of common junk bottles, broken into pieces of about half an inch diameter, the sharp corners of which penetrate the cement in such a manner, that this great lapse of years has had no perceptible effect upon them. The figures 1 6 8 0 were impressed into the rough-cast to show the year of its erection, and are now perfectly legible. This surface was also variegated with ornamental squares, diamonds and flowers-de-luce. The building is only two sto- ries high, and is about 32 feet long and 17 wide ; yet tradi- tion informs us that it was once the residence of two respect- able families, and the front part was at the same time occupi- ed for two shops or stores. The water of the dock flowed on the south and southwest sides of it, as represented on the plan for 1722. The principal apothecary' shop in the town was once kept there, and one part of it continues to be improved for the same business.
CHAPTER XXIX.
He's gone, and who knows how he may report Thy words, by adding fuel to the flame ? Expect another message more imperious, More lordly thund'ring than thou well wilt bear.
Samson Agonisles.
' IN the height of the distress of the Indian war, and while the authority of the colony was contending with the natives for the possession of the soil, complaints were making in Eng- land, which struck at the powers of government ; and an in- quiry was set on foot, which was continued from time to time, until it finally issued in a quo warranto and judgment there- upon against the charter.'
The compliance of the colony with the requisitions of the king had been slow and occasional, as necessity impelled, and whatever alterations they might make in their polity from rea-
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
son and conviction, of their own motion, they were not easily led to adopt the same when required by a sovereign, to whom they held themselves subject only according to their charter. There were different opinions in regard to the course, which the colony ought to pursue, and from this period we may date the origin of two parties, the patriots and prerogative men, the whigs and tories, between whom controversy scarcely in- termitted, and was never ended, until the separation of the two countries .*
A jealousy concerning their political rights infused itself into the people, and henceforward we discover in the acts of the Bostonians an increased sensibility to every shadow of encroachment upon their liberties, whatever may be its source.
Thus in April, 1676, in conformity to custom, the town chose by ballot Mr. John Hayward, to be nominated to the county court for the office of clerk of the writs. For reasons not as- signed on the town records, that court saw fit to disregard the nomination, and the town resented the affront at a publick meeting, on the 25th of August following.
' Then was presented a paper to the inhabitants, by Rich- ard Knight, in the name of himself and others of the town, to represent their dissatisfaction and grievance for a breach of their liberties and privileges, as they apprehend, by the Hon'd. County court's putting in another clerk of the writs than what was nominated by a major vote of the inhabitants, the 24th of April, 1676.
The question being put, whether the motion therein should be considered at this time, Resolved in the affirmative.
Secondly, it was voted, that Mr. Thomas Deane and Mr. John Fairweather join with the selectmen to represent the dissatisfaction and grievance of the inhabitants to the hon'd. county court, and humbly desire that their privileges and lib- erties, that do belong to the town, may be continued and enjoy- ed without any obstruction, and may have satisfaction in their present complaint.'
This was an evil of trifling moment, when compared with the troubles that awaited them, in common with their brethren of all New-England. That same summer, king Charles II. sent over to the colony, as bearer of despatches 'to the gov- ernor and magistrates of the town of Boston,' Edward Ran- dolph, a man who became infamous and hated by the people as a spy upon their liberties ; whose business it was, they said, to go up and down seeking to devour them. The court complied with the principal demands of the king, and sent agents (Wm. Stoughton and Peter Bulkley) to answer the complaints against them. Randolph returned upon their heels, and reported that
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