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 5
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As the season grew late and the weather severe, those members of the church who belonged to Charlestown, found it inconvenient to attend worship in Boston. They therefore signified their desire to constitute a new society on. the other side of the river. The eleventh of October was set apart for seeking the direction of Heaven, and on the fourteenth, eigh- teen men and fifteen women were peaceably dismissed from their relation to the church. These afterwards elected Mr. Thomas James for their teacher, and formed the first congre- gational church in Charlestown.
Up to that period one hundred and fifty-one members, (of whom 94 were brethren and 57 sisters,) had joined the Boston church in full communion. In those days they had a distinction of offices in the church which, does not prevail among us. Mr. Wilson was at first ordained as teacher, and on the 22d of November he was chosen pastor. Mr. Thomas Oliver was also chosen ruling elder. They were both ordained in form ; the two deacons first imposing hands upon the elder, and then the elder and two deacons upon the pastor. The church made considerable effort to retain Mr. Eliot with them in the capacity of teacher. but were disappointed by his fixed resolution to settle at Roxbury.
Boston was now gradually assuming pre-eminence over the other towns. The court had resolved by general consent, in
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
October, that it was the fittest place for publick meetings of any in the bay, and ordered a house of correction to be built here, and also a house for the beadle, which was a corpora- tion officer, something similar to a sheriff. Considerable progress had been made towards the fortification of the town, by works on Fort Hill, which was then called Corn Hill, and the people had increased so rapidly that the land within the peninsula was not sufficient for their use. The right of improving several places, in the neighbourhood, for their cattle and the procuring of wood, had therefore been granted them. Another ferry had also become necessary be- tween this and Charlestown, and the wind mill had been brought from Watertown. The latter was a source of profit.
It would seem that Dudley did not witness this advance of Boston with perfect satisfaction. According to the agreement before mentioned, he with Mr. Secretary Bradstreet and oth- er gentlemen of note, went forward in the spring of sixteen hundred thirty-one, with their design to build at Newtown. The Deputy finished his house in a style which the Governour thought too expensive and showy, both on account of the hard- ness of the times, and of the example, which might lead others to undue extravagance. A wainscoting of clapboards con- stituted this offensive peculiarity. The Governour himself had also set up a house at Newtown, but in the course of the fall he had it taken down and removed to Boston, where he had resolved in future to reside. This step was no small dis- appointment to the rest, and occasioned some ill will between the Governour and Deputy. The latter accused the former of a breach of his promise to build at Newtown. The dis- content became so great that their mutual friends advised them to submit the subject to the opinion of several ministers. The Governour's answer to the accusation against him was, that he had fulfilled the words of his promise, having had a house up, and servants living in it by the day appointed. As to the removal of the house, he alleged that he perceived the other assistants did not go forward in building : and more- over, the people of Boston having been discouraged by the Deputy from removing to Newtown, had petitioned him, under all their hands, not to leave them, according to the promise he had made to them, when they first sat down with him at Boston. On these and similar explanations, the referees agreed that the Governour's conduct was in some degree ex- cusable, and he acknowledged himself faulty, so far as hey declared him to be so. They awarded that he should pay the Deputy twenty pounds towards his expenses in building, or else provide a minister for the people at Newtown, and contribute something towards his maintenance for a time. The Governour wisely chose to do the former, and remitted the
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
money. The Deputy was not behind him in complaisance, and returned the same with assurances that he was so well satisfied of the Governour's good will, that he should not have been tempted to accept it, if it had been a hundred pounds instead of twenty. Thus this difficulty terminated, and they afterwards kept peace and friendly correspondency together.
Fac simile of the Governour and Deputy's Signatures.
Jo : winthrop Tho: Druhy.
WOOD'S DESCRIPTION.
The rising importance of the Massachusetts colony carly attracted the attention of travellers as well as of statesmen, and perhaps the fair report of some of the former may have had as much influence in awakening the jealousy of the latter, as the misrepresentations of some disaffected persons are supposed to have had. William Wood, the author of New England's Prospect, has furnished us with the result of his observations in and about Boston in the year 1633. His descriptions are so accurate that they could hardly be amended, and the facts noticed by him are mostly corroborated by other accounts. They are therefore peculiarly entitled to a place here.
'First I will begin with the outmost plantation in the patent, to the southward, which is called Wichaguscusset [Wey- mouth.] This is but a small village, yet is well timbered and hath good store of hay ground .- Three miles to the north of this is Mount Wolaston, a very fertile soil, and a place very convenient for farmers' houses, there being great store of plain ground, without trees .- Six miles further to the north lieth Dorchester, which is the greatest town in New England, well wooded and watered, very good arable and hay grounds. The inhabitants of this town were the first that set upon the trade of fishing in the bay .- A mile from this town lieth Rox- bury which is a fair and handsome country town ; the inhab- itants of it being all very rich : a clear and fresh brook runs
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
through the town, and a quarter of a mile to the north is a small river called Stony River, upon which is built a water mill. Up westward it is something rocky, whence it hath the name of Roxbury. Here is no harbour for ships, because the town is seated in the bottom of a shallow bay; which is made by the neck of land on which Boston is built, so that they can transport all their goods from the ships in boats from Boston, which is the nearest harbour.
' This harbour is made by a great company of islands, whose high cliffs shoulder out the boisterous seas ; yet may ea- sily deceive any unskilful pilot ; presenting many fair openings and broad sounds, which afford too shallow water for ships, though navigable for boats, and pinnaces. It is a safe and pleasant harbour within, having but one common and safe en- trance, and that not very broad ; there scarce being room for three ships to come in board and board at a time ; but being once in, there is room for the anchorage of 500 ships. The seamen having spent their old store of wood and water, may here have fresh supplies from the adjacent islands, with good timber to repair their weather beaten ships.
'Boston is two miles N. E. of Roxbury. Its situation is very pleasant, being a peninsula hemmed in on the south side by the bay of Roxbury, and on the north side, with Charles river, the marshes on the back-side, being not half a quarter of a mile over ; so that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the wolves. The greatest wants are wood and meadow ground, which never were in this place ;* being constrained to fetch their building timber, and fire wood from the islands in boats, and their hay in loyters ; it being a neck, and bare of wood, they are not troubled with these great annoyances, wolves, rattlesnakes and muspuetos. Those, that live here upon their cattle, must be constrained to take farms in the country, or else they cannot subsist ; the place being too small to contain many, and fittest for such as can trade into England, for such commodities as the country wants, being the chief place for shipping and merchandize.
' This neck of land is not above four miles in compass, in form almost square, having on the south side, at one corner,
* Mr. Wood was wrong in asserting that ' wood was never in this place.' It had doubtless been the favourite residence of the natives for many years, and a considerable portion had been cleared by burning, as was their custom for the culture of corn ; hence it was sometimes called the plain neck, and compared with the surrounding country, covered with intermina- ble forests, it might, with propriety be called plain. There were, however, many large clumps left, sufficient for fuel and timber.' The growth was probably similar to that of the islands. Had the peninsula been wholly denuded of trees, even the temptation of Mr. Black- stone's spring of fresh water, could not have induced the first planters to settle at Shawmut on the approach of a rigorous winter .- Shaw,
--
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
a great broad hill, whercon is planted a fort, which can com- mand any ship, as she sails into the harbour within the still bay. On the north side is another hill, equal in bigness, whereon stands a windmill. To the northwest is a high mountain, with three little rising hills on the top of it, where- fore it is called
THE TRAMOUNT.
'From the top of this mountain, a man may overlook all the islands which lie within the bay, and descry such ships as are on the sea coast.
' This town although it be neither the greatest nor the rich- est, yet is the most noted and frequented, being the centre of the plantations, where the monthly courts are kept. Here likewise dwells the Governour. 'This place hath very good land affording rich corn-fields and fruitful gardens, having likewise sweet and pleasant springs. The inhabitants of this place, for their enlargement, have taken to themselves farm houses in a place called Muddy River, [Brookline] two miles from the town, where there is good ground, large tim- ber, and store of marsh land and meadow. In this place they keep their swine and other cattle in the summer, whilst the corn is in the ground at Boston, and bring them to town in the winter.
' Newtown [Cambridge] is one of the neatest and best com- pacted towns in New England, having many fair structures, with many handsome contrived streets : the inhabitants most of them are very rich .- Half a mile westward of this is Wa- tertown, a place nothing inferior for land, wood, meadows and water to Newtown. Within half a mile of this town is a great pond which is divided between the two towns, and di- vides their bounds to the northward. Both towns are on the north side of the river Charles.
' On the same side of that river is Charlestown, which is another neck of land, on whose north side runs Mystick river. At this town there is kept a ferry boat to convey passengers over Charles river, which between the banks is a quarter of a mile over, being a very deep channel. Up higher is a broad
VIHLOH LNVHVN
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
bay, being above two miles between the shores, into which run Stony river and Muddy river. Towards the southwest in the midst of this bay is a great oyster bank : towards the northeast is a great creek, upon whose shore is situated a small village [included within the bounds of Charlestown.] At the bottom of this bay, the river begins to be narrower, being but half a quarter of a mile broad.
' The next town is Mystick [Medford] which is three miles from Charlestown by land, and a league and a half by water. It is seated by the water side very pleasantly ; there are not many houses as yet. On the west side of this river the Gov- ernour hath a farm, where he keeps most of his cattle. On the east side is Mr. Craddock's plantation, where he hath a park impaled and keeps his cattle, till he can store it with deer. Here likewise he is at charges of building ships. The last year one was upon the stocks of an hundred tons; that being finished they are to build one of twice her burden.
' The last town in the still bay is Winnesimet [Chelsea,] a very sweet place for situation : it is within a mile of Charles- town, the river only parting them.
' The next plantation is Saugus [including Lynn] six miles northeast from Winnesimet. This town is pleasant for situa- tion, seated at the bottom of a bay, which is made on one side with the surrounding shore, and on the other side with a long sandy beach, which is two miles long to the end, whereon is a neck of land called NAHANT. Upon the south side of the sandy beach the sea beateth, which is a true prognostication, to presage storms and foul weather, and the breaking up of the frost : for when a storm hath been or is likely to be, it will roar like thunder, so as to be heard six miles. Upon the north side of this bay are two great marshes which are made two by a pleasant river which runs between them. At the mouth of this river runs up a great creek into that great marsh which is called Romney Marsh, and is four miles long and two miles broad, half of it being marsh ground, and half up- land grass without tree or bush.'
These descriptions were sketched before the fifteenth of August, 1633, on which day Wood set sail for England, and were published the next year accompanied with a curious map, engraved on wood.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
CHAPTER IX.
"Lands you may have, we value not the soil, Accounting tillage too severe a toil."
WHILE the people of Boston depended in good measure upon the productions of their farms and gardens for subsist- ence, their wants could not be supplied from the land within the peninsula, which did not originally exceed seven hundred acres. They were therefore allowed to extend themselves into various parts of the adjacent territory, and many of the places described in the extract we have just finished, were under the improvement of Bostonians. Conant's Island [Governour's I.] was granted to Gov. Winthrop for a nominal rent, and thus became a part of Boston, in April sixteen hundred and thirty-two. In the same year, that part of Chel- sea between Powder-horn hill and Pull-in point was assigned to Boston forever, and not a long time after, the whole of Win- nesimet was annexed. Brookline or Muddy river was owned and occupied by persons considered as belonging to Boston. As early as April 1634, Long Island, Hog and Deer Islands, were granted to Boston by the court for a nominal yearly rent, and convenient enlargement at Mount Wolaston was al- lowed to her inhabitants. They were allowed to cut wood on Dorchester neck, but the jurisdiction was to remain with Dorchester. Romney Marsh, Spectacle Island, and Noddle's Island were added before the end of sixteen hundred and thirty-six. These grants are recorded in the colony records, and it is probable the remaining Islands were occasionally annexed afterwards. At these several places, portions were allotted to every family in Boston according to their number and necessities.
The question has been asked, by what right did our ances- tors take and retain possession of the lands we inherit? The answer is as complete and satisfactory as such a case admits. So far as the King of England's title was concerned, the grant of the council of Plymouth to the six gentlemen and their asso- ciates, and the subsequent confirmation of the King, which empowered them and others to dispose of the lands to the best advantage, were considered sufficient to cancel his claim to property in the soil.
The Indians that formerly possessed these parts were few in number when our fathers arrived. A pestilence had not long
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
before carried off whole tribes in a manner almost in- credible. Of such as remained near Boston, the greater part were peaceably disposed, and Chicatabot, the reigning sa- chem, instead of repelling the settlers from his dominions by force of arms, administered to their comfort, and finally sold them this speck of his extensive territory for a valuable con- sideration. The evidence of the conveyance is found in a quit- claim deed of one of his grandsons : it is a very curious docu- ment, dated in March sixteen hundred eighty-five,* and we insert it for the satisfaction or amusement of the present inhabitants. At this distance of time, to be sure, there is no danger of disturbance from the descendants of Chicatabot ; still the peaceable and upright manner, in which our ancestors obtained a title to the soil, is not to be forgotten.
To understand the occasion of this and similar instruments drawn about the same period, it is necessary to anticipate the fact that the charter, or patent under which the Massachusetts colony held, was likely then to be vacated; and the people were told that in that case their title to their estates would be of no value. Besides, even if the vacating of the charter might not annihilate the rights acquired under it in legal form, it was said that the General Court had not made their grants of land under the seal of the colony. This was represented as a glaring defect, which possession and improvement could not supply. When the patent was annulled (of which official information was received July 2, 1685) and a new govern- ment established, writs of intrusion were brought against some of the principal persons in the colony, and the landholders were obliged to acknowledge the insufficiency of their title, and pay the fees for a new deed. Randolph, a notable char- acter, petitioned for half an acre of land, to be taken out of the common in Boston, and other favourites looked with a longing eye on some of the best estates, especially where the property was in a town or company : hence it was important to have in readiness every possible proof to evidence the rightful possession of the occupants.t
* See a copy of this Indian Quitclaim in Appendix No. I.
1 See Hutch. Ilist. i. ch. ill. There was no registry of deeds here before 1652.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
CHAPTER X.
. A gentleman that is very singular in his behaviour, .....
but his singularities proceed from his good sense .- Spectator.
THERE was another claim beside that of the Indians and the king of England, which the settlers at Boston were bound to satisfy. By right of previous possession, Mr. Blackstone had a title to proprietorship in the whole peninsula. It was in fact for a time called Blackstone's neck. How far he con- sidered himself the owner of the soil, and what agreement he made with Mr. Johnson when he invited him to cross the river, does not now appear. The records of the colony inform us that in April 1633, the court ordered fifty acres of ground to be set out for him, near to his house in Boston, to belong to him forever. This quantity amounted to at least a fourteenth part of the whole place, which shows that his rights as orig- inal possessor were not regarded altogether null. On the Boston records' under date of November 10, 1634, among other taxes assigned to William Cheeseborough the constable, and others for assessment and collection, we find a rate of thirty pounds to Mr. Blackstone : for what purpose it was levied will appear from the following
DEPOSITION.
The deposition of John Odlin, aged about Eighty two yeares, Robert Walker aged about Seventy Eight yeares, Francis Hudson aged about Sixty eight yeares, and Wil- liam Lytherland aged about Seventy Six yeares. These Deponents, being ancient dwellers and Inhabitants of the Town of Boston in New-England from the first planting and Setling thereof and continuing so at this day, do jointly testify and depose that in or about the yeare of our Lord One thousand Six hundred thirty and four the then present Inhabitants of said Town of Boston (of whome the Honour- able John Winthrop Esq. Governour of the Colony was chiefe) did treate and agree with Mr. William Blackstone for the purchase of his Estate and right in any Lands lying within the said neck of Land called Boston, and for said purchase agreed that every householder should pay Six Shillings, which was accordingly collected, none paying less, some considerably more than Six Shillings, and the said sume collected, was delivered and paid to Mr. Black- stone to his full content and Satisfaction, in consideration
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
whereof hee Sold unto the then Inhabitants of said Town and their heirs and assigns for ever his whole right and interest in all and every of the Lands lying within the said Neck Reserveing onely unto him selfe about Six acres of Land on the point commonly called Blackstons point on part whereof his then dwelling house stood ; after which purchase the Town laid out a place for a trayning field ; which ever since and now is used for that purpose, and for the feeding of cattell : Robert Walker, and William Lytherland farther Testify that Mr. Blackstone bought a stock of Cows with the Money he received as above, and Removed and dwelt near Providence where he liv'd till the day of his Death.
Deposed this 10th of June 1684, by John Odlin, Robert Walker, Francis Hudson, and William Lytherland according to their respective Testimonyc Before us S. Bradstreet, Governour. Sim. Sewall, Assist.
Precisely at what time Mr. Blackstone ceased to be an in- habitant of Boston we are not informed. His name appears once more in the colony records under date of April 7, 1635, when Nahanton was ordered to pay him two skins of beaver for damages done his swine by setting of traps. An allotment of fifteen acres at Muddy river was made to him by the allot- ters of Boston, in January 1638, and on the ninth of March in the same year, his name is mentioned for the last time, in des- cribing the boundaries of certain lots of lands. It is stated by one author* that he left Boston about that time, which cor- responds with the statement of another t that he lived in Bos- ton nine or ten years.
Mr. Blackstone was a very eccentrick character. He was a man of learning, and had received episcopal ordination in England ; seems to have been of the puritan persuasion and to have left his native country for his nonconformity. Johnson says he was here before the vernal of twenty-nine, which makes him to have come over with Mr. Endicott. Hubbard adopts the authority and tells us he began to hew stones in the mountains, wherewith to build, but when he saw all sorts of stones would not suit in the building, as he supposed, he betook himself to till the ground, wherein probably he was more skilled, or at least had a better faculty ; retaining no symbol of his former profession but his canonical coat. Mather is less rude, and allows him to have been a godly
* Backus Vol. i. 58.
+ Lechford, who wrote his 'Plain Dealing' in 1641. Hutch. 1. ch. i. v.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
episcopalian, though he was of a particular humour, and would never join himself to any of our churches, giving this reason for it : I came from England, because I did not like the LORD-BISHOPS ; but I cannot join with you, because I would not be under the LORD-BRETHREN."
He had been admitted to take the freeman's oath in May, 1631, before the order was passed, which restricted that privilege to church members only. He cultivated with success the six acres which he retained, and soon had a gar- den plot and an orchard, near his cottage and spring. These we take to have been situated in the neighbourhood of the present Alms House. The point, at which Cragie's bridge commences, is called, on the ancient plans of the town, Barton's point, and is the same referred to in the foregoing deposition.
It was not very long before Mr. Blackstone found that there might be more than one kind of nonconformity, and was virtu- ally obliged to leave the remainder of his estate here, and re- move a second time into the wilderness. We have no thought that 'he. was driven from Boston because he was an episcopal minister,' but a man may be very ill at ease in many a place where he may be allowed to stay by sufferance. Let the cause of his removal have been what it may, certain it is that he went and settled by the Pawtucket river, 'built a house and cultivated part of the land now comprising the Whipple farm in Cumberland,' Rhode Island.
The place to which he removed, the 'Attleborough Gore' of history, fell within the limits of Plymouth colony, in the records of which colony we find still farther memoirs of this respectable and memorable man. His name, however, does not occur in those records until the year 1661, when mention is made of a place ' called by the natives Waweepoonseag, where one Blackstone now liveth.' This was probably the aboriginal name of a rivulet, at present known as Abbot's Run, which is tributary to the Pawtucket. At this his new plantation he lived uninterrupted for many years, and there raised an orchard, the first that ever bore apples in Rhode Island. He had the first of the sort called yellow sweetings, that were ever in the world, and is said to have planted the first orchard in Massachusetts also.
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