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 21
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The court interpreted their powers with regard to the ap- portionment of representatives so as to allow Boston four members in the house, which continued to be her number until the revolution in 1775.
CHAPTER XXXV.
"Just a stained stone,
To mark the spot so holy ouce, And with gray moss o'ergrown,"
THE Society of Friends and the French Protestant Church having both become extinct in Boston, we shall introduce in this place the information we have been able to obtain con- cerning their history. The denomination of Quakers took its rise in Leicestershire (E.) in 1644. The first that came to Boston were Mary Fisher and Anne Austin, who arrived from Barbadoes in the fore part of the 5th month, 1656. These
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
women were made prisoners on board the vessel; the books they brought with them were burnt, and they were taken to gaol and confined, as were seven others, in about a mouth after. Nicholas Upshall, an aged member of a Boston church, whose humane and tender feelings induced him to ap- ply to the gaoler for leave to furnish them with provisions, and even to purchase that liberty at the price of 5s. a week, was for thus doing and bearing his testimony, weeping, against the persecution of these people, fined 201. and banished the colony, though he was both a freeman and freeholder in the town. lle was permitted to return in about five years, and opened his house, and furnished a room in it, for the use of travelling Friends.
Such was the dread of the influence of this sect, that se- vere laws were immediately passed to prevent their entrance into the jurisdiction, on penalty of fines, stripes, and imprison- ment. This not proving effectual, it was enacted, that any Quaker found here should have one of his ears cut off for the first offence, and lose the other for a second, and have his tongue bored through with a hot iron for the third. Three quakers, Holden, Copeland, and Rouse, lost each his right ear under this law. by the hand of the hangman, in Boston prison, Sept. 16, 1658.
All this severity was of no avail; the persecutors seem to have been infuriated, and their fury drove the Quakers to acts of desperation. They still came into the colony : the court ordered some to be sold as slaves for the payment of their fines ! This frightened the particular objects of the order, and they were suffered to go to their own homes. The sect grew under all these disadvantages, and several families went over to it : the magistrates were more provoked, and the gen- eral court passed a law to banish all Quakers, not inhabitants, upon pain of death. Four persons suffered death at Boston by virtue of this law ; viz. Wm. Robinson, Marmaduke Ste- venson, Wm. Leddra, and Mary Dyer ; the last on the first of June, 1660. She had been conspicuous in Mrs. Hutchinson's controversy, and that probably aggravated her guilt. Her son came forward and plead for her pardon, but in vain. One of the officers under the gallows at the time of her execution, Edward Wanton, was so affected at the sight, that he became a convert to the cause of the Friends. The Quakers discov- ered, that this law was an exercise of power not authorized by the patent, and made such complaints to the king that no further execution of it ever took place : whipping at a cart's tail, through all the towns in their way out of the jurisdiction, was substituted for death.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
The first meeting of Friends in Boston, of which we have account, was at the house of Mr. Wanton, on the 4th of May, 1664, when a warrant was issued to apprehend the preacher, and report the names of his hearers to the governour. The spirit of persecution was kept alive and manifested itself in va- rious ways, after this. On the 9th of August, 1675, there were apprehended, at their ordinary place of meeting, Robt. Ed- mund, Edw. Shippen, John Soames, Jere. Debee, Geo. Dan- son, Miles Foster, Humphrey Hodges, Bridget Phillips, Thos. Scott, Wm. Neal, Eph. Stratton, Elizabeth Bowers (senior and junior), Geo. Walker. Twelve of these 14 were whipped ; the other two paid their fines. At the next meeting day, 15 were whipped, viz. the eight first above named, with Wm. Richard- son, Thos. Holburn, Rebecca Levy, Josiah Southwick, Wm. Mumford, Eliphalet [?] Stratton, and Anna Wilson. We have mentioned the names, to give the best account we can obtain, of the number of men Friends in and near Bostou at the time .*
Under the new charter, the Quakers, Baptists, and Episco- palians were placed on more equal ground with their neigh- bours, and some laws passed in 1692, exempting them from taxation. In 1694, the Quakers had a lot in Brattle-street, measuring 108 by 25 1-4 ft. for a meeting-house and burying lot, and built a brick house thereon 24 by 20 ft. which was se- cured to the society by Messrs. Mumford, Shippen, Soames, Wanton, abovenamed, and Walter Clark of Newport, and Wm. Chamberlain of Hull, 'to the only, sole, and proper use, for the service and worship of Almighty God, by the society or community of people called Quakers.' In 1708, it was con- cluded to sell the old meeting-house and build a new one, if leave could be obtained to build of wood; but in 1709 the committee, Walter Newberry, John Wing, and Thomas Rich- ardson, reported their disappointment in this respect, and it was therefore concluded to build of brick, a house of 35 ft. long and 30 ft. wide. This was the building lately standing in Congress street ; it is dated on the old plans of the town as if erected in 1710; the deed, however, by which the lot was conveyed to the society, June 10, 1717, speaks of 'the brick meeting-house lately erected thereon,' which would leave a doubt whether it was built so early. It was burnt in the
* For this and other information we are indebted to a venerable professor of the denomination, Town Records, 1678. Alex'r. Coleman, shoemaker, ' the Quaker that came into the third meet ing-house in a bloody coat,' is presented to the county court as a person unfit to abide here. At another time Tho. Newhouse went into a meeting-house with a couple of great glass bottles, and breaking them against one another, in the face of the congregation, said, Thus will the Lord breuk: you in pieces. Similar acts of imprudence are attributed to others : all which seem to be the re- sult of phrensy, induced by the equally senseless cruelty with which they were goaded.
ahae 9 88
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
great fire of 1760, and in the same year it was concluded by the yearly meeting to repair it, which was done. This build- ing stood till April 2, 1825, when it was sold for $160, and im- mediately afterwards demolished.
The Friends were never very numerous in this place. 'In the eleventh month, 1774, says our informant, ' I was in Bos- ton and visited every family, and took account of their names as follows : Eben'r Pope, John Pope, Sam'l Pope, Jas. Ray- mer, John Phillips, Eph. Silsbee, Nath'l Low, Ezra Collins, Ezra Curten, Daniel Silsbee, Josiah Gorham ; these eleven were all the members belonging to Boston meeting of Friends. I was at a monthily meeting there, which was small ; it was held alternately at Boston and Lynn or Salem; they were then in a declining state.' Their numbers diminished after that, and the meetings were discontinued by a regular vote in the year 1808. The burying ground had been undisturbed for eleven years, when the remains of 111 bodies were re- moved thence to Lynn for re-interment, in July, 1826.
The French church became embodied about the same time, but did not flourish so long as the Quakers. After hav- ing endured severe persecutions, the protestants in France were relieved from their distresses by the edict of Nantes, is- sued by Henry IV. in 1598. Lewis XIV. confirmed it in 1652, but soon after suffered its provisions to be violated .* The protestants were deprived of all offices, hundreds of their churches desolated, and at last, in 1685, the edict was formal- ly revoked, and multitudes were compelled by this act to flee from the country. Some sought shelter in England and Ireland : others directed their way to America, and some of these settled in Boston. Those who arrived here probably came in the summer of 1686, for contributions were taken on their behalf at Salem, in September of that year ; and we also find in Cotton Mather's MS. notes of sermons, under date of Sept. 12. and Oct. 7, minutes of discourses by a Mr. Laurie, from the tenour of which it is apparent that he was of the num- ber. Pierre Baudouin (the ancestor of the Bowdoin family) fled first to Ireland, and thence came to Maine in 1687, and soon after to Boston. The first notice we discover of the church in this place is in the Magnalia, (i. 86) where the au- thor enumerates among the churches in Boston, in 1696, ' a French congregation of Protestant refugees, under the pasto- ral care of Monsieur Daille.'t
* 'John Touton, a French doctor and inhabitant of Rochelle in France, made application to the court in behalf of himself and other protestants expelled from their habitations, on account of their religion, that they might have liberty to inhabit here, which was readily granted to them.' Hutch. vol. 1-Col. rec. 1662. p. 413.
t The records of this church are supposed to be in existence, but we have not been able to dis- cover them. A bible presented by Queen Anne is also mentioned in Mass. II. C. 1. iii. 264.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
M. Daille continued to be pastor of this church till his death, which took place on the morning of Friday, May 20, 1715. He was about 66 years of age ; ' a person of great piety, charity, affable and courteous behaviour, and of an exemplary life and conversation : much lamented, especially by his flock.' Monsieur D. had buried two wives, Esther- Latonice, who died Dec. 14, 1696, and Seike, who died, Aug. 31, 1713 ; and he left a widow, whose name was Martha. His will required, that his body should be ' decently inter- red' according to the discretion of his executor, Mr. James Bowdoin, ' with this restriction, that there be no wine at my funeral, and none of my wife's relations have any mourning clothes furnished them, except gloves.' All the ministers of the town, together with Mr. Walter, are presented with gloves and scarfs : his books are given to form a library for the church ; £100 for the benefit of the minister, and £10 to be put to interest, until the church should erect a meeting-house, when it was to be appropriated towards the expenses of the same. He remembers his brother 'Paul Daille Vaugelade in Amsfort in Holland,' and signs himself Daille, omitting his baptismal name of Peter.
From the above notice of a meeting-house, it appears that the French church, which once stood in School-street, on the lot next east of the Universal meeting-house, was not erected till after 1715. The lot had come into their possession, Jan. 4, 1705, by a conveyance from Mears to ' John Tar- tarien, Francis Breedon, Jean Depuis, elders of the said French church, in behalf of themselves and the rest of the congregation-being to erect and build a church upon for the use of the F. congregation in Boston, to meet therein for the worship and service of Almighty God, according to the way and manner of the reformed churches of France.' On the 7th of Feb. 1705, ' John Portree, F. Breeden, and John Dupee,' petitioned the selectmen for licence to erect a wood- en building for a meeting-house of 35 by 30 ft. on that piece of land. It was judged ' not convenient to grant the same, since they have the offer of the free liberty to meet in the new school-house, as they had for some years past done in the old, and that being sufficient for a far greater number of persons than doth belong to their congregation.' The brick building was probably erected in 1716 : it is mentioned by C. Mather in Jan. 1717.
M. Daille's successor was the Rev. Andrew Le Mercier, whose name is found on the town records in 1719. He pub- lished, a church history of Geneva, in 1732, from which it appears that he was educated in that country. This church did not increase in number sufficiently to enable them to
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
support the expenses of a separate house of worship and on that account the society was discontinued. On the 7th of March, 1748, the proprietorship of the house in School-street was transferred to several gentlemen as trustees of a new con- gregational church. The transfer was made by Stephen Boutineau, only surviving elder, Zach. Johonnot, Jean Ar- nault, John Brown, Andrew Johonnot, James Packonett, Wm. Bowdoin, Andrew Sigourney, members, and Mr. Le Mercier, the minister. Mr. Le M. after that resided at Dorchester, but removed again to Boston, and died here, March, 31, 1764, 'after a long indisposition of body, in the 72d year of his age.' One of his daughters and Mr. Z. Johonnot were joint executors of his will.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Buck. You are too senseless obstinate, my lord, Too ceremonious and traditional. Shakspeare.
THE seventh religious society formed in Boston was the fourth Congregational, or Brattle-street church. ' A number of good men,' says Dr. Thacher's century sermon, ' distin- guished for their liberality of thinking, as well as for their regard to the gospel and its ordinances, laid the foundation of this church.' The earliest date, at which we find them associated, is Jan. 10, 1698, on which day Thomas Brattle, Esq. conveyed to them a piece of land called Brattle's close, which makes part of the lot now in possession of the church. The grantees were Thos. Clark, Thos. Cooper, Benja. Wal- ker, Benja. Davis, Wm. Keen, Richard Draper, Wm. Harris, Zech. Tuthill, John Colman, Jos. Allen, John Kilby, John Mico, Thos. Bannister, Timo. Clark, Stephen Minot, Abr. Blush, Thos. Palmer, James Meers, Elkanah Pembroke, Addington Davenport.
'As to the doctrines of religion, these good men did not differ professedly from their brethren of other churches, while they thought that in some respects the religious practices of the day might be improved. Under these circumstances it was necessary for them to choose a minister, who agreed with them in sentiment,' and accordingly, in the spring of 1699, they sent a letter of invitation to Mr. Benjamin Colman, a native of Boston and graduate of Harvard College, who was then pursuing his studies in England. 'From an apprehen- sion that he might meet with difficulty in procuring ordination
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
here, they requested him to ask it of the ministers in London, who readily granted his desire, and the solemnity was atten- ded on the 4th day of August, after a publick lecture, at the meeting-house of the Rev. Mr. Christopher Taylor.'
On the first of the following November, Mr. Colman arri- ved at Boston ; and on the 17th of that month a publication appeared, with the title of ' A manifesto or declaration, set forth by the undertakers of the new church, now erected in B. in N. E.' in which, 'for preventing all misapprehensions and jealousies,' they say, ' we think it convenient to publish our aims and designs herein, together with those principles and rules we intend, by God's grace, to adhere unto.' 'On Tuesday, Dec. 12th, at a private meeting at Mr. Mico's house, after solemn calling upon God,' the eleven grantees first abovenamed, with Mr. Brattle and Messrs. John and Oliver Noyes, united to form the church, and ' declared their consent and agreement to walk together in all the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ.' The 24th instant, being Lord's-day, was agreed upon for their first meeting in their 'pleasant new-built church.' Mr. Colman preached on the occasion from 2 Chron. vi. 18. The ' Manifesto' and other ' miscar- riages,' which this society had ' fallen into,' gave so great of- fence, that some of the clergymen of the town refused to unite with them in the observance of a day of prayer ; but by some means, an accommodation took place prior to Jan. 31, 1700, when both the Mathers and Mr. Willard joined with them on a similar occasion.
The doctrines which this church espoused could not have been exceptionable, for they declare, ' we approve and sub- scribe the confession of faith put forth by the assembly of divines at Westminster ;' but they introduced some changes as to ' modes of order and discipline,' which probably were the cause of alarm and dissatisfaction. They adopted the custom of reading some part of the holy scriptures, and ' con- cluded to have the Lord's prayer used once in each season of publick worship.' The admission to full communion was deemed, by the first settlers of this country, as matter of great importance. The general opinion was, that none should partake of this privilege but such as were truly born of God. 'In order that the church might judge of this fact, a relation of his christian experiences, either written or oral, was required of every candidate for this privilege. This usage had degenerated into a matter of mere form, and such a similarity prevailed in these instruments, as gave too much occasion for ridicule. In this church. therefore, the practice was disused ; at least it was not required, while every one was left at liberty to do it.'
204
HISTORY OF BOSTON.
' In ancient days the choice of minister (as well as the choice of civil officers) was confined to those who were in full communion with the church. In this respect also they dif- fered from the general practice. "We cannot, say they, confine the right of choosing a minister to the communicants alone, but we think that every baptized adult person, who contributes to the maintenance, should have a vote in elect- ing."-But there were many men, some from a reverence to ancient institutions, and a convicton of their propriety, some from dread of innovation, and others from a fear that this new and popular society would diminish their own societies and lessen the influence they held, who exclaimed loudly against this new establishment, which they called, by way of deris- ion, the Manifesto church. Respectable and opulent as were the men who formed it, they found it difficult for a time to stem the torrent of publick opinion which ran strongly against them, and overcome the jealousy which their neigh- bours felt of being eclipsed by them .*
Following the order of time, we mention here that the By-laws of the town, which had been accumulating for seventy years, were put into order and renewed by a vote in 1701, and first published in a printed form in 1702.
The Seventh Great Fire happened in the year 1702, on the 11th of March, near the dock. Three ware-houses were blown up to stop its progress. The destruction of property was so extensive, as to be mentioned in official papers 'as a great loss to the town.'
In 1704 the first newspaper published in the English colo- nies in North America, appeared in Boston. It was printed on half a sheet of pot paper, with a small-pica type, folio, and was entitled,
R. E. Lumb. 1. The Boston News-Letter.
Published by Authority.
From Monday, April 17, to Monday, April 24, 1704.
The proprietor's name was John Campbell, a Scotchman, who was established here as a bookseller. The imprint is, " Boston ; printed by B. Green. Sold by Nicholas Boone,
* This church voted to dispense with the custom of singing the psalms in publick worship line by line, Dec. 20, 1699. Between 1717 and 1724 they had a singing society, which was the first in the town, that introduced singing by note .- Chh. Rec .- Mass. II. C. 2. iv. 301: Also Appendix, No. IV,
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
at his Shop near the Old Meeting-House." Green was Camp- bell's printer, and Boone was for some weeks his publisher .*
The first number contained the following prospectus :- ' This News Letter is to be continued Weekly ; and all Per- sons who have any Houses, Lands, Tenements, Farmes, Ships, Vessels, Goods, Wares, or Merchandizes &c. to be sold or Lett ; or Servants Runaway : or Goods Stoll or Lost may have the same Inserted at a Reasonable Rate ; from Twelve Pence to Five Shillings, and not to exceed ; Who may agree with Nicholas Boone for the same at his shop next door to MajorDavis's, Apothecary in Boston near the old Meetinghouse. ' All Persons in Town and Country may have said News- Letter Weekly upon reasonable tearms agreeing with John Campbell Post Master for the same.'
So early as Dec. 8, 1686, the inhabitants at Muddy river had obtained an order from the president and council, that said hamlet should henceforth be free from town rates to the town of Boston, and have the privilege of meeting ' annually to choose three men to manage their affairs.' The conditions were, that they should support their own expenses, erect a school-house, and maintain a reading and writing master. After the overthrow of Andros, the town of Boston disannul- led this order, by a vote, in March, 1690, ' that M. R. inhabi- tants are not discharged from B. to be a hamlet by them- selves, but stand related to B. as they did before the year sixteen hundred and eighty-six.' As the inhabitants there increased in numbers and in wealth, they were emboldened again to seek a complete separation. Accordingly, in March, 1701, they requested the consent of Boston, ' to be a district or hamlet separate from the town.' Instead of granting their request, the inhabitants of Boston rigorously exercised over them all the authority they possessed. Finding their appli- cation to Boston ineffectual, they resolved to apply to still higher powers. They therefore in June, 1704, petitioned the governour, council, and assembly. On this, the inhabitants of Boston had several meetings, warmly remonstrated against the petition, and represented the request as highly ingrate- ful in this people, after having experienced so many favours. Their petition was at this time rejected. They however per- sisted in their request, and in the summer of 1705, presented a petition to be incorporated, signed by 32 freeholders, which was finally granted, and the signature of the governour to the act incorporating them as a distinct town, by the name of
* At the time this paper was first published, and for many years afterward, there were licensers of the press. " Published by authority," I presume means nothing more than this -what appeared in this publication was not disapproved by the licensers .- Thomas' Hist. of Printing in America. įi. 191.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
BROOKLINE, was passed November 13, 1705. It is supposed that this name was adopted from the circumstance, that Smelt brook is a boundary between that town and Cam- bridge, and that another brook, which falls into Muddy river, is a boundary between it and Roxbury .*
OLD FRANKLIN HOUSE,
IN MILK-STREET.
VIEW FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE OLD SOUTH MEETING-HOUSE.
The year 1706 is memorable in the annals of Boston for giving birth to Benjamin Franklin. His parents were named Josiah and Abiah : his father ' was a native of England, where he was bred to the trade of a silk dyer ;' but after set- tling in Boston, he devoted his attention to the business of a soap and tallow chandler.
Franklin was born on the sixth of January, and is recorded as baptized on the same day, in the Old South church books.
* See the order of the P. and C. in Town Records, 1686. We are also referred (Mass. H. C. 2. ii. 142,) ' for this and all other information relating to the incorporation of Brookline, to a bundle of documents on file in the secretary's office of this commonwealth, under the date of 1705.'
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
From this circumstance some have inferred that he was born in the house, which lately stood where the Furniture ware- house now stands, in Milk-street, nearly opposite the south door of that meeting-house, and where it is known that his father lived at some period. But we have the testimony of his own declaration to a lady, now living, that the scene of his nativity was at the sign of the Blue Ball, corner of Union and Hanover-streets, where his father exercised his trade. The other house, however, having been more remarakble in its ap- pearance, and a drawing of it having been taken shortly before it was burnt (Dec. 29, 1810,) we have given it a place here.
We have no record of any attempt to change the form of . town government from that established in 1651 (see p. 138) until the year 1708. The seven Commissioners were annu- ally chosen during the old charter government, and the selec- tion was made from the most honourable among the inhabi- tants : the last choice was in August, 1691. On the 8th of Dec. 1708, the selectmen made the following proposals to the town, respecting a charter of incorporation.
' That the orders and by-laws of this town already made, for directing, ordering and managing the prudential affairs thereof, have not answered the ends for which they were made, and the principal cause thereof is a general defect or neglect in the execution, without which the best laws will signify little, and one great reason why they are no better executed, is the want of a proper head, or town-officer, or officers em- powered for that purpose, the law having put the execution of town orders into the hands of the Justices only, who are not town, but county officers ; and it cannot be expected that they should take the trouble and care, or make it so much their business,as a town officer or officers particularly appoint- ed or chosen thereunto must needs do, and indeed, for any body or society of men as a town is, to be vested with pow- er to make rules and by-laws for their own good regulation, and not have power to appoint and choose the head officer or officers, who shall have power to execute their own orders and by-laws, seems incongruous. And good order is not to be expected while it remains so ; for while a town grows more populous, it will stand in need of a more strict regula- tion. The selectmen do, therefore, propose that this town do now choose a committee of a considerable number of the freeholders and other inhabitants of the town to draw up a scheme or draught of a Charter of Incorporation, [or any other projection] for the encouragement and better govern- ment of this town, in the best methods as they shall think suit- able, and of the best and most suitable means for procuring and obtaining thereof, and to present the same to the town at their annual meeting.' Accordingly thirty-one of the most
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