USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > South Boston > History of South Boston : formerly Dorchester Neck, now ward XII of the city of Boston > Part 16
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Mr. Hawes possessed a mind rich in native re- 21
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sources, which, if it had enjoyed the benefit of carly and extensive culture, would have been brilliant as well as accurate and strong ;- a mind that might have enlightened, directed and controlled society.
His disposition was kind and pacific. His constant wish and prayer was, 'to live in love, and die in peace.' He wished to enjoy unmolested his own, and all his own. But I do not believe he knew, by experience, what it was to envy or repine at the good fortune of others.
Not only the kindness of his disposition, but his strength of religious principle, was evinced by his humble and devout gratitude to God for the pros- perity he enjoyed; and by the pleasure he experi- enced in seeing the prosperity and happiness of others. When sitting or walking alone, he appeared to be much engaged in devotion; for his grateful ejaculations were sometimes overheard. Of his moral integrity-that quality which is worth all others, piety to God only excepted, and without which even piety to God is but a name-it would be difficult to speak in terms too strong. As well as we all know that the love of money was his pre- vailing worldly passion, I do not believe that money would have tempted him, in any case, to be know- ingly guilty of a dishonest or dishonorable deed. In his temper he was rather quick and violent. But the facility with which his mind regained its wonted composure and serenity, was sufficient proof of the good discipline to which he had subjected it; for he suffered not ' the sun to go down upon his wrath.'
He was naturally retiring and unobtrusive. He sought neither influence, favor nor promotion, from any quarter ; nor was he disposed to obstruct the influence, favor or promotion of any, but kept on
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the even tenor of his way, 'and turned not to the right hand nor to the left.' He carefully and assidu- ously attended to his own concerns, without busying himself at all with those of others. Still he was neither morose in his temper, nor unsocial in his manners. He was always affable, in his plain, una- dorned way; and till reduced by his last sickness, which was merely the gradual infirmity of age, he retained in a high degree the use of his faculties and enjoyed the society and conversation of his friends.
With his many excellent points, some may imagine, perhaps, that he might have been a much more es- timable character, if he had been the generous, pub- lic-spirited benefactor of society while living. A moment's reflection, however, will convince us, that this was, in the nature of things, impossible. As he commenced life in extreme poverty, if he had been from the beginning, of a generous turn, he must al- ways have remained poor. He never could have accumulated enough to make himself a charitable benefactor. We must consider, that his character was formed, and the foundation of his fortune laid, at a period in the history of our country, when great fortunes were not made in a day ; and comparatively but few could possess the means of being extensively liberal with their property; when habits of the strictest economy and frugality were absolutely es- sential to every one's success in business. And be- sides, his wealth was never so great as to warrant a profuse and indiscriminate charity, in view of those extraordinary emergencies to which all are liable. But, though it was not to be expected, that in his circumstances, with his fixed habits of economy and frugality, he would come forward with liberal con- tributions to objects of general benevolence; still
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he was not insensible to the claims of actual want. He did not indeed ' sound a trumpet ' before him, or after him, to proclaim what he gave. But there are those, who, if it were necessary, might speak of his living charities, and refer to the records of his gene- rous deeds. He was, moreover, truly hospitable to all, as opportunity offered ;- to strangers as well as to friends, with such things as himself partook. It was a hospitality suited to the plainness and sim- plicity of former times; but evidently prompted by kind and generous feelings."
Joseph Woodward.
For more than thirty years the name of JOSEPH WOODWARD was so identified with the interests of South Boston, and his active energies so constantly employed to forward them, that his life and charac- ter are entitled to special notice. And besides, his character was peculiar and strongly marked. In it opposite extremes met, and acted in turn with great power. From his ficry and impulsive temper, when it was up, there was no escape. No matter when or where, his passion poured forth without measure and without stint. It came boiling hot and boiling over, without one cooling drop. This was a sad offset to his great good qualities, and brought against him the prejudice and dislike of those who did not know him
well enough to value his better naturc. His anger, if left to itself, soon cooled, and left him one of the kindest and most obliging of men. The exercise of his good feelings and benevolent disposition was alike free and unstinted. Friendly, hospitable, and public spirited, his best efforts were always ready to be put forth ; and he could not do too much, nor hazard too much, for an object, that had enlisted the quenchless ardor of his nature.
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Mr. Woodward's life was varied and eventful. He was born at Hingham, Mass., on the 15th day of November, 1758. This was soon after the departure of his father, Daniel Woodward, a sea-captain of that place, on his last voyage-a voyage on which he met an untimely fate, by the treachery and violence of the savages on the North West Coast of America. It was heart-rending news to the widowed mother, who with an older child, a daughter, was left in pov- erty to bewail her loss. She did not lack the warm sympathy of her neighbors and friends; and the oc- casion was a most affecting one, when shortly after the tidings of his father's death, the unconscious babe, the subject of this notice, was publicly present- ed for baptism.
Most of the years of Mr. Woodward's childhood were spent at Sherborn, with his maternal grand- father, Mr. Joy. There he was well cared for; still the society of indulgent grandparents, and of the older boys, his uncles, furnished not the discipline which his irritable and violent temper especially needed. And great allowance should be made for him, that he was not, at that forming period, under the constant and careful watch of discreet parents.
When old enough to carn his living, he was put to live with Dr. Chauncy, the eminent and venerable minister of the First Church in Boston.
This, Mr. Woodward considered the most fortu- nate occurrence of his life. The discernment of Dr. Chauncy soon discovered his good points-the ac- tivity and force of his mind, and the open frankness and kindness of his disposition-and brought them into exercise. And no doubt he did what could then be done to check the violence of his temper. To the last he cherished the highest esteem and reverence 21*
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for Dr. Chauncy. He regarded him as a father, and attributed all that was good in his own character to his influence.
In due time he left Dr. Chauncy, to learn the trade of a silversmith. He did not, however, continue long in that business after he was free. Trade had begun to flourish under the new form of government, and mercantile business seemed more congenial to the activity of his mind. For several years he was partner in business with the venerable T. K. Jones, late of Roxbury, but doing business in Boston, and their friendship continued till death. At this period of his life, Mr. Woodward visited Europe, once or more, and used to give a very interesting account of what he saw in the old world. His friend, Dr. Chaun- cy, gave him letters to gentlemen with whom he cor- responded in England, particularly the noted divine, Dr. Price, with whom he became well acquainted.
But we need not follow Mr. Woodward through the fluctuations of business. Like others he was sometimes successful, sometimes not. In carly life he married Jane Vincent, and had a family of four sons and three daughters, several of whom died be- fore him, and only one now survives. After residing several years in Boston, he removed to Quincy, then a parish of Braintree, and occupied a farm which he bought of Dr. Chauncy. The same was since, for many years, the residence of the late Hon. Thomas Greenleaf. He afterwards purchased a farm in Tewksbury, where he lived till he removed to South Boston in June, 1804. At that time, as he used to say, there were only seven houses and sixty-three inhabitants, on the original peninsula called Dor- chester Neck. In the autumn of 1803, Mr. Wood- ward came to Boston, went down to Wheeler's
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Point, at the foot of South street, mused on the pros- pect before him, and became convinced that Boston must soon spread in that direction.
Shortly after this, and without disclosing his pro- ject to a single soul, he bought of the late Abraham Gould, of this place, a tract of thirty acres of land, extending from the water on the north, along the west line of Dorchester street nearly to the Catholic chapel. This was done solely with the intent of getting Dorchester Neck annexed to Boston, and connected by a bridge in the direction of South street. He then made known his secret to the late Hon. Harrison Gray Otis, to Judge Tudor, Messrs. Jonathan Mason, and Gardiner Greene. These gen- tlemen thought so well of the project, that they lent it the aid of their wealth and station; and a petition to the Legislature of 1804, for the annexation and a bridge, was successful. The location of the bridge, however, was a subject of strong contention, as has been detailed in a previous chapter. A powerful opposition was organized at the South end, who con- tended that the utter ruin of their interests would follow, if the bridge went to Wheeler's Point. In this exigence, the best that could be done for South Boston was the building of the old, or South bridge, with a toll, and Front street, now Harrison Avenue, which was all reclaimed from the dead flats. And both were much more beneficial to the South end than to South Boston.
But Mr. Woodward yielded not to this defeat. He never lost sight of his first intent. And he neg- lected no opportunity to enlist the public feeling in its favor. Year after year, for a long course of years, a petition went up to the Legislature for a bridge to Wheeler's Point. And year after year
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the opposition, under the lead of the late Deacon Brown, a representative from the South end, pre- vailed. The tears of Deacon Brown, deprecating the ruin that awaited the South-end interest, were not to be resisted. But the determined energy and perseverance of old Jo. Woodward, as his adversaries contemptuously styled him, was to succeed at last. In 1827 the Legislature granted a free bridge to Sea street, and the present North bridge was built with- out delay, and made passable the following year, 1828. Those who were not personally witnesses to the facts, can have no just conception of the intrepid ardor and diligence, exhibited by Mr. Woodward, throughout that long and hard-fought struggle, or of the obloquy and reproach-the unsparing bitterness -not to say wanton and systematic abuse, which he suffered from the interested and powerful opposition to his great enterprise.
It is proper to add the testimony of the Hon. Mr. Otis, to the part taken by Mr. Woodward in behalf of South Boston. In a letter to the writer of this, dated October 12, 1836, Mr. Otis says of him, " He was the first person, who proposed to Mr. Mason and my other associates, to make the purchase of what is now South Boston, with the intent to unite it to the old town by a bridge. He was the first pro- jector of it, so far as I know. There can be no question that his heart and faculties were constantly devoted to the object of building up South Boston."
The last two years of his life, Mr. Woodward spent chiefly at Leominster, with his nephew, the late Charles W. Wilder, M.D., of that place. In a letter from thence, he says, "You well know all my pride has been in the prosperity of that part of the city." And again, he spoke but the literal truth
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when he said, in the same letter, "I have spent the best of my days, and all my little property, for the prosperity of that now flourishing part of the city." It is a fact, that a structure built across the flats nearly to the channel, to help on the project of a bridge, chiefly, if not wholly, at the expense of Mr. Woodward, and at a cost of $15,000, was all cut away and sent down stream by a nightly gang, led on by the most respectable South-enders.
Mr. Woodward was a competent and efficient Jus- tice of the Peace, and for twenty years the only one at South Boston. He took a deep and lively in- terest in the politics of the country, from the com- mencement of the revolution, and was intimately ac- quainted with the eminent statesmen and legislators of the day. The elder President Adams was his near neighbor, when he resided in Quincy. From the first he was deeply imbued with the spirit of our free institutions, and devoted to the best interests of his country. He was ready to act his part in scenes of broil and battle when they occurred. In December, 1773, when the British tea was destroyed, though only a youth of fifteen years, he was fired with the same enthusiasm as his elders, who took part in the measures which led to that event. And after the close of the war, when Mr. Jay's treaty with the British government became known, and a disaffected party paraded the streets of Boston with Mr. Jay hung in effigy, Mr. Woodward, at great per- sonal risk, hustled himself into their ranks, in the dusk of the evening, seized their standard, and bore it off in triumph.
Notwithstanding the violence of his nature, he was a man of strong religious feelings. He well under- stood the evidences of the Christian revelation, and
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had the firmest conviction of its truth. For many years he and his wife were members in the commun- ion of the First Church in Boston; and afterwards removed their relation to the Hawes Place Church, at South Boston. His residence with Dr. Chauncy made him acquainted with the ministers with whom that divine associated; and he was always a friend of the clergy, and fond of their society. He used to express himself in strong and most confiding terms of the parental character of God, and this confidence never forsook him. It enabled him to look forward with calmness to the closing scene, of which he al- ways freely but reverently spoke; and for which he patiently waited in the infirmity of his old age. He died at Leominster, on the 29th of June, 1838, in the 80th year of his age, and was buried at South Boston, the following Sunday, July 1st.
Such was Joseph Woodward, the founder of South Boston. His faults were too open to be concealed, and his good qualities too many and great to be forgotten.
Abraham Gould.
ABRAHAM GOULD resided at Dorchester Neck pre- vious to its annexation to Boston. His wife, Susan- nah Foster, was the daughter of James and Mary Foster, and a lineal descendant in the fifth genera- tion of Hopestill Foster, one of the earliest and most prominent settlers of Dorchester, and who was made a freeman in 1639. The ancestor, Hopestill, shared largely in lands in what is now called South Boston, and we find in the division of land among the proprietors, in the year 1718, his son James Foster's proportion was 70 acres, being about one- eighth part of the whole " Neck."
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The title to a large portion of this land passed to Mr. Gould by his wife, and by purchase in connexion with his brother-in-law, Benjamin Foster. The prin- cipal part of it was bounded as follows :- Easterly by the road leading from Dorchester to Castle Wil- liam, now called Dorchester street; southerly by an old road near the Catholic burying-ground, running westerly to a point near what is now called D street ; and from thence running northward by the "Brew- ery Field " to the sea.
Mr. Gould was born in Sudbury, Mass., in the year 1755, and died in South Boston, February 3, 1840. He had the respect of all who knew him, and will long be remembered as an honest and useful man. His wife died November 14, 1837, aged 70 years.
Cyrus Alger.
An obituary notice of Mr. ALGER appeared in the South Boston Mercury, in February, 1856, from the pen of the author of this work. It contains so much historical matter that it is deemed worthy a place here; and it now appears, with additions furnished by his only surviving son, FRANCIS ALGER, to whom we are indebted for the portrait by Grozelier (copied from a striking likeness by Alexander) inserted as the frontispiece to this volume.
Death of Cyrus Alger .- It is with feelings of no common regret that we record the death of one of our oldest, most beloved and influential citizens, Cyrus Alger, Esq., the well-known Iron-Founder of South Boston. Eight weeks since we announced the death of his son Cyrus, little thinking that so speedily the father would be called to follow. The decease of his son bore heavily upon Mr. Alger, whose health had not been very good for some time, and he suffer-
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ed, on the 10th of December, a stroke of paralysis, not very severe in its character, but, nevertheless, coming at a time when the mind was overcome with affliction, and the body worn down by anxiety, it ex- cited the apprehensions of his friends. He rallied somewhat, and was able to walk about the house until within a week of his death. He then became weaker, and spoke on Saturday for the last time, after which he seemed unconscious. On Monday, February 4th, at 93 o'clock, A.M., he gently and sweetly passed away, as though falling into a quiet sleep, in the midst of those whom filial affection had constantly drawn to his bed-side.
Thus has passed from earth a man whose name is more intimately identified with the history of South Boston, whose exertions have contributed more to raise her to her present position, whose perseve- rance and enterprise have done more to enhance her reputation and wealth, than can be said of any other.
Born in Bridgewater, Mass., Nov. 11, 1781, he attended school for a time in Taunton, and partially fitted for college. He afterwards entered the iron- foundry business with his father ( Abiezer Alger) at Easton. In his youth he was noted for his extreme swiftness at running and his great skill in jumping and wrestling, excelling in those sports all the young men in that section of the country. He was also noted as a famous horseman and gunner. Few were the sportsmen who could employ the rifle with such precision. In the year 1809, five years after old Mattapannock became a part of Boston, he came to South Boston at the solicitation of Gen. Winslow, with whom he formed a partnership and commenced the foundry business in a small building on Second street, near the sight of Russell's Glass House. Gen.
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Winslow, in about five years, transferred his busi- ness to his son, when Mr. Alger left the firm and erected on his own account a foundry on Fourth street, nearly opposite his late residence. The large building which stood at the corner of Foundry street and the Old Bridge, and which has been demolished within the past two years, was erected as a store- house for sand and iron, affording, from its position, a fine wharf privilege. The old foundry building still exists, being now an appendage to Alger's Forge on Dorchester Avenue. During the war of 1812, Mr. Alger had contracts with the Government for cannon balls, and manufactured a large number, for which he obtained very high prices. During the time of this war, the late T. H. Perkins was associ- ated with him as a silent partner.
In the year 1804, soon after the annexation of Mattapannock, the building of the Dorchester Turn- pike and the erection of the Old Bridge, the South Boston Association reclaimed the flats lying between what is now Fourth and Foundry streets and Dor- chester Avenue, by building a sca wall from the Old Bridge along the line of Foundry street, around the beach, to what is now Dorchester Avenue. They did little towards filling up, however, and finally sold to Mr. Alger the whole territory now lying west of Dorchester Avenue, between Federal-street Bridge and a line nearly as far south as Swan street, with the exception of a narrow parcel fronting on the Turnpike between Fourth and Swan streets. In this purchase, Mr. Alger was careful that his deed should take in all the flats in front of the sea wall to the channel, or low water mark; and thus he oh- tained many thousand feet, which he clearly foresaw would in time prove not the least valuable portion 22
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of his property. Jonathan Mason, the President of the Association, did not regard these flats as' of much value, and included them in the sale without any mis- giving, believing that Mr. Alger had given so liberal a price for the upland, that the Association could well afford to throw in the flats.
The speculation was a bold one, and Mr. Alger was laughed at for his presumption in buying such a parcel of land for the purpose, as he avowed, of making building lots. He repaired the sea wall, and began gradually to fill up the flats, having in his mind a plan the final success of which more than answered his expectations.
The South Boston Iron Company, of which he was the originator and principal proprietor, was incorpo- rated in 1827. In this were associated with him the late George C. Thacher, William H. Howard one of the present members of the Company, and the late Mr. Caleb Reed as Treasurer. He then began to improve the property, and taking the sea wall as the easterly boundary, built out a wharf near where Alger's Foundry now stands, and erected a Foundry building. Gradually these works were extended, : and at the same time Mr. Alger filled in, and laid out an elegant garden in the rear of his present resi- dence, and built up Fourth and Foundry streets to their present width. Lots for the Mechanics Bank Building and Barker's Building were sold, and affairs began to assume a new appearance. The "Field," as the hollow which so long remained within the tri- angle formed by Foundry, Turnpike and Division streets, was familiarly called, was not filled up until Mr. Alger sold to the Old Colony Railroad Company .a passage through his garden, and the whole of the land they own north of Fourth street.
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In the mean time improvements had been pro- gressing on Foundry street. The Sea street Bridge was built and presented to the city, Mr. Alger being one of the most prominent movers in the matter. Through his influence other shops were started, un- til finally the whole of the flats inside of the Com- missioners' line and west of Foundry street were filled in, and covered with machine shops and foun- dries. Alger's Foundry has also been gradually en- larged, until now it is one of the most perfect iron establishments in the United States.
Mr. Alger had contemplated returning to Easton when the success of his business would warrant a retirement from active life. He purchased a large farm there, erected the most costly barn in the country, and had laid the foundation of a dwelling-house, when an event occurred which he afterwards looked upon as the most fortunate one in his life, changing as it did all his plans. The barn, when full of hay and grain, was struck by lightning and entirely consum- ed, and was never rebuilt.
Mr. Alger was one of the best practical iron metal- lurgists in the United States. He succeeded, by a method peculiar to himself, in purifying cast iron, so as to give it more than triple the strength of ordi- nary cast iron; the process consisting in removing impurities from the metal while in a fluid state, and causing it to be much more dense. The method gave him a great advantage over other iron founders. It also gave him superior skill in the manufacture of cannon, and for many years he has been very largely employed in making guns for the United States Gov. ernment, his cannon having sustained most extraordi- nary endurance when subjected to extreme proof. The mortar gun " Columbiad," the largest gun of
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cast iron ever cast in America, was made under his personal supervision .* In the composition of fuses for bomb shells he also made great improvements, which have been adopted by the Government. He also first introduced and patented the method of mak- ing cast iron chilled rolls, by which the part subject to wear should be hard, while the necks remain unchang- ed as to hardness and strength-these being cast in sand, while the body is cast in a chill, or iron cylin- der. Until his time all the reverberatory furnaces for melting iron were made with hearths inclining from the fire, the metal thus running from the heat to- wards the throat of the chimney. He changed the form, so as to allow the iron to flow towards the flame where the heat would be the most intense. He was familiar with the methods of working the ores of iron, and with the operations of the crucible.
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