USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 16
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The site upon which the new meeting-house was to be placed had already become memorable in the history of the town. It was part of the estate, on the main street leading to Roxbury, upon which John Winthrop, the first governor, the American Nehemiah, as Cotton Mather calls him, lived and died, and was known as the Green. The Third Church ultimately came into possession of all this property, except the north corner, on the lane leading to the spring, upon which the mansion house stood. In the autumn of 1639 the governor was seriously embarrassed in his financial affairs, in consequence of the malfeasance of his bailiff in England, and in 1643 he found himself obliged to convey his mansion house, together with his farm in Charles- town called Ten Hills, to William Tyng and others,2 "for and in consideration of divers sums of money wherein he" stood "in- debted to them and divers others." The instrument was called an absolute deed of sale, but probably it was only a mortgage,
1 We learn of this designation by the ity, as all the other Congregational town of a site for the new meeting-house churches in Boston had done or were doing. from the Third Church Narrative. If the church had received a piece of land 2 The other grantees were Thomas Allen, Richard Dummer, Edward Gib- bons, Robert Sedgwick, Valentine Hill, Richard Russell, Benjamin Gillam, Ed- mund Angier, and Richard Parker. The deed was dated September 26, 1643. -- Suffolk Deeds, lib. i. p. 45. as a grant from the town, instead of pro- viding the necessary ground for itself, - a very unusual course in those days, -it would not have been harassed with vex- atious suits at law, when, two centuries later, it decided to move to another local-
I30
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
as two months later Governor Winthrop conveyed to his son Stephen, who was living in England and was an officer in the parliamentary army, "all that my lott or parcell of land in Boston aforesaid called the Greene lycing by the Spring," 1 not excepting the mansion house, or the land on which it stood.2
This corner, however, became permanently separated from the rest of the estate. In 1654 Stephen Winthrop sold it to Amos Richardson, who, in 1679, conveyed it to his son-in-law, Timothy Clarke.3 In the deed of 1643, from John Winthrop to his son Stephen, there is the following reservation : " Provided alwayes, that I the said John Winthrop and Margaret my wife may have and use one halfe of the said parcell of land called the Greene and one halfe of the buildings to be there uppon erected for the terme of our lives and of the longer liver of us, so as we shall not lett or dispose of it or any part thereof to any other." 4 From all this we are led to believe that the governor in his re- duced circumstances built a new house, much smaller than the mansion which he had been obliged to vacate ; that in this house he died ; that here dwelt the Rev. John Norton, and his widow after him ; and that this house became the first parsonage of the South Church. Dr. Wisner, writing in 1830, said that it "stood
1 Of Spring Lane Drake has given us a delightful sketch. It recalls, he says, " the ancient spring-gate, the natural fountain at which Winthrop and Johnson stooped to quench their thirst, and from which, no doubt, Madam Winthrop and Anne Hutchinson filled their flagons for domestic use. The gentlemen may have paused here for friendly chat, if the rigor of the governor's opposition to the schis- matic Anne did not forbid. The hand- maid of Elder Thomas Oliver, Win- throp's next neighbor on the opposite corner of the spring-gate, fetched her pitcher, like another Rebecca, from this well ; and grim Richard Brackett, the jailer, may have laid down his halberd to quaff a morning draft."
2 This deed was dated November 12, 1643, but it was not recorded until March 26, 1648, about a year before Governor Winthrop died. It was " for divers good causes and valuable considerations." - Suffolk Deeds, lib. i. p. 102.
3 In Colonel Stephen Winthrop's deed, February 20, 1654, the land is described as "one peece of ground towards the
streete of twenty-two ffoote and fiffty fower foote backwards lyeing and bound- ed westward to the streete that Goes from Boston to Roxbury towards the North East to the way Going to the Comon Spring, and on the South lyeth the said Colonells house and land." - Suffolk Deeds, lib. iii. p. 487 a.
In Amos Richardson's deed, Sep- tember II, 1679, the consideration men- tioned is his love and good-will for his beloved daughter Sarah. The property is described as lately in the tenure and oc- cupation of Sarah Pickering, and as bounded on the south east and south- west by "the land formerly Mr. John Norton's, now in the tenure and improve- ment of Mr. Samuel Willard." - Suffolk Deeds, lib. xi. p. 225.
In a plan of the Old South property made by Thomas Dawes in 1770, the depth of this corner lot (then owned by Stephen Deblois) is given as sixty-three feet, nine inches, on the south, adjoining the land of the church.
4 Margaret Winthrop, third wife of the governor, died June 14, 1647.
I3I
GOVERNOR WINTHROP'S ESTATE.
on the spot now occupied by the north end of South Row. It was of wood, two stories high, with the end towards the street." 1
On the 26th of March, 1659, Judith Winthrop, widow, and two others, executors of Stephen Winthrop, of Westminster, in the county of Middlesex, parties of the first part in a tripartite indenture, conveyed to the Rev. John Norton, "Teacher to the Church at Boston," for the consideration of two hundred pounds, lawful money, a house and about an acre of land, then in the tenure and occupation of Mr. Norton, bounded on the west by the highway from Boston to Roxbury; on the north by the ground of Amos Richardson, the highway there leading to the spring, and the ground late of William Tilly ; on the east by the ground late of William Hibbins and Robert Knight; and on the south by the highway to the seaside. John Leverett, then in London, was joined with Mr. Norton as a party of the second part in this indenture, and is mentioned with him in the receipt for the purchase-money of even date with the deed.2 We suppose that he acted as Mr. Norton's representative in the purchase of the property and in making payment for it. He afterward executed a release. The parties of the third part were William Davis, described as an apothecary, and Peter Oliver, as a baker, who were appointed attorneys to make delivery of the property in behalf of Colonel Winthrop's executors, and who gave possession of it to Mr. Norton, July 26, 1659, in the pres- ence of William Crowne, James Penn, James Johnson, Thomas Marshall, Richard Trewsdale, and Amos Richardson. Here Mr. Norton lived until his death in 1663,3 and here his widow was
1 In Mr. Dawes's plan of 1770, two gateways are shown on the front line of the church's land : one close to the south- ern boundary of the land of Gilbert De- blois, the other about half-way between this boundary and the north side of the meeting-house.
For the identification of the South parsonage with the house in which Gov- ernor Winthrop lived and died, see Sewall Papers, vol. ii. p. 418.
Mr. Prince, in the advertisement to the second volume of his Annals, says that he has lately received an authentic and valuable journal of events relating to the Massachusetts colony, from March 29, 1630, to January 11, 1648-9, “ all wrote with the said Governor Winthrop's own
hand, who deceas'd in the very house I dwell in the 26th of March after."
2 The witnesses to the deed and to the receipt were Samuel Bellingham, Edward Tyng, Samuel Bradstreet, George Peryer, scrivener, Thomas Massam, and Richard Marshall, "servant to said scrivener." Both documents are before us, as we write. Edward Tyng made oath to them, as a witness, before John Endicott and Simon Bradstreet, July 27, 1659, and they were recorded by Edward Rawson on the following day. Lib. iii. pp. 257-262.
3 Cotton Mather, in the Magnalia, speaks of " a worthy minister of the gos- pel, Mr. Samuel Willard, now living in the same house from whence Mr. Norton went unto ' that not made with hands.'"
I32
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
living when the troubles began which led to the formation of the Third Church.
When Samuel Sewall was in England, in 1689, he paid forty pounds to the heirs of Mr. Stephen Winthrop, to perfect the title to this property. We shall refer to this payment again.
Mr. Norton, by his will, gave to his wife a life interest in his house and farm at Ipswich, with reversion to his brother William. The estate in Boston he left to her absolutely, with the understanding between them, perhaps, that as they had no children, it should be dedicated to religious uses.1 All question as to where the new meeting-house should be built was promptly settled by Mrs. Norton's offer to the church of a portion of this estate. It was her desire and intention, no doubt, that the whole should come ultimately into the possession of the Third Church, but her first gift was somewhat less than one half of the property. She placed her contribution of land by the side of the money contributions of the brethren. The value of her gift at the time did not exceed the value of what was given by several others, nor would she for a moment have claimed that it entitled her to any consideration, or that it endowed her with any rights or powers, beyond and above the other contributors. Her motive and purpose in giving were precisely the same as theirs; the only difference between her and them was in the nature of what was given. Their money was paid into the treasury of the church, and came at once under its control and was altogether at its disposal. Her title to the land could not pass so easily ; it was necessary to vest it in somebody, and to define the uses for which it was to be held. These uses related exclusively to the Third Church ; and to secure them, she se- lected, not outside parties, but representative men within the In the Christian History, No. 9, April 30, 1743, the writer quotes a paragraph from Mr. Norton's Heart of New Eng- land Rent (Cambridge, 1659), and then says : -
" It is some pleasure to think that this remarkable Paragraph is now transcribed in his study, where 'tis probable it was written, Eighty four Years ago: And as he judiciously and piously observes, that It concerneth New England always to Remember the Purport thereof; It is also a Pleasure, that for the same Design we are now in Providence on this Oc- casion directed to revive it; and there-
with the Memory of this great Man : who was accounted one of the principal Glories of Boston and New England, for Piety, Wisdom Parts and Learning, in his Day." - The Christian History, vol. i. p. 66.
1 In Mr. Norton's inventory, which bears the signatures of John Leverett, William Davis, and Hezekiah Usher, and which amounts to £2,095, the Ipswich property is valued at £450, and the Bos- ton property at £300. Mrs. Norton was made sole executrix by the will, and. Edward Rawson and James Penn were appointed overseers.
I33
MRS NORTON'S FIRST DEED.
church. She did not appoint trustees for herself, but for the church, and so far as she was concerned her conveyance was not so much a deed of trust, as a deed of gift.1 She considered, no doubt, when she executed this first deed, that, in effect, she was conveying a portion of her land to the church, as such. When she made her will, eight years afterward, she bequeathed the remain- der, by name, to the Third Church, which had become a recog- nized organization. Can we suppose her purpose to have been to establish one kind of possession or ownership in the one case, and another kind in the other ?
The deed of 1669, conveying nearly half an acre, bounded on the south and west by what we know as Milk and Washington streets, was in the following terms : -
To all Christian people to whome these presents shall come I Mary Norton the relict widow and sole executrix to the last will and testa- ment of the late Reverend my deare and honoured husband Mr John Norton Teacher of the first church in Boston in the county of Suffolke in the colony of the Massachusets in New England send greeting Know yee that I the said Mary Norton for divers good causes a'nd con- siderations mee thereunto mooving and more especially for and in consideration of that endeared affection that my late deare husband in his life Time did beare and myself doe beare unto his and my assured friends Captain Thomas Savage Captain William Davis Mr Hezekiah Usher Mr Edward Rawson Mr John Hull Mr Peter Olliver Mr Joshua Scottow Mr Edward Raynsford Mr Richard Trewsdall and Mr Jacob Elliot all of the said Boston and in confidence of their faith- fulnes to performe that trust which I shall repose in them Have ab- solutely given granted alliened enfeoffed and confirmed and by these presents doe fully clearly and absolutely give grant allien enfeoffe and confirme unto them the above named Thomas Savage William Davis Hezekiah Usher Edward Rawson John Hull Peter Olliver Joshua Scottow Richard Treusdall Edward Raynsford and Jacob Elliot for the use and uses purpose and purposes hearafter mentioned con- ditioned and expressed one parcell of Land scittuate lying and being within the limitts of Boston Towne above named and is part of the Land that is adjoyning to my now mansion house the said given and granted premisses conteyning by estimation ffifty five Poles or perches more or lesse and is bounded from the corner post next Nathaniel Reynolds along the high streete leading from Roxbury to Boston seven length of Railes being seventy nine foote and a half from thence to the midle fence now standing and parting of orchard and that pasture sixe length of Railes from the Lane or streete leading to Mr Peter
1 It is indorsed by the scrivener, Mrs. Norton's Deed of Gift, 1669.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Ollivers and so back into the pasture ninety five feete the said sixe length of Railes Conteyning seventy one foote or thereabouts from thence to the dividing fence between the said pasture and Mr. Richard Peirce his garden one hundred foote and alongst the said fence this lane aforesaid sixty foote and from thence to the said corner aforesaid next the said Nathaniel Reynolds his dwelling house two hundred thirty eight foote and one halfe bee it more or less To Have and to hold the above granted premisses be the same more or lesse with all the priviledges and Appurtenanses to the same apperteyning or in any wise belonging unto them the said Thomas Savage William Davis Hezekiah Usher Edward Rawson John Hull Peter Olliver Joshua Scottow Richard Treusdall Edward Raynsford and Jacob Elliot and to such as they shall associate to themselves their heires and suc- cessors forever for the erecting of a house for their assembling them- selves together publickly to worship God as also the erecting of a dwelling house for such minister or ministers as shall bee by them and their successors from time to time orderly and regularly admitted for the Pastor or Teacher to the said church or Assembly and for the accommodation of the said dwelling house for the minister or min- isters as shall from time to time so be chosen as aforesaid and for accomodation of the meeting house with convenient passages of in- gresse egresse and regresse for the people that shall there from time to time assemble as aforesaid and for no other intent use or purpose whatsoever and I the above named Mary Norton sole executrix as above is expressed for me my heires executors and administrators doe covenant promise and grant to and with the said Thomas Savage William Davis Hezekiah Usher Edward Rawson John Hull Peter Olli- ver Joshua Scottow Richard Trewsdall Edward Raynsford and Jacob Elliot their and every of their heires executors administrators and assignes by these presents that I the said Mary Norton now am and att the ensealing hereof stand and be the true and propper owner of the above granted premisses and that I have good right full power and lawfull authority to give grant bargaine and confirme the same unto them the said Thomas Savage William Davis Hezekiah Usher Edward Rawson John Hull Peter Olliver Joshua Scottow Richard Trewsdall Edward Raynsford and Jacob Elliot their heires and suc- cessors for ever. And that the said Thomas Savage William Davis Hezekiah Usher Edward Rawson John Hull Peter Olliver Joshua Scot- tow Richard Trewsdall Edward Raynsford and Jacob Elliot and Com- pany which they shall associate to themselves and their successors shall and may at all times and from time to time for ever hereafter have hold possesse and enjoy all the above given and granted prem- isses to the use and uses intents and purposes as above is expressed without the lett deniall or contradiction of me the said Mary Norton my heires executors administrators or assignes or by any other person
I35
THE GREEN AND THE FIRST CHURCH.
or persons whatsoever having clayming or pretending to have or clayme my lawfull rights title or interest therein by from or under me or by from or under my late Reverend and deare husband Mr John Norton deceased or any of his estate or either of our heires executors administrators or assignes. In wittness hereof I the above mentioned Mary Norton have hereunto put my hand and seal this ffirst day of Aprill one thousand six hundred sixty and nine being the one and twentieth yeare of the reigne of our Soveraigne Lord Charles the Second of England Scotland France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith etc 1669
MARY (Seal) NORTON
Signed Sealed and Delivered after possession was given and taken of the within
granted premisses in the presence of us
D. HENCHMAN JOHN GREENLEFE SOLLOMON RAYNSFORD
Mrs Mary Norton within named freely acknowledged this instrument to be her owne act and deed and by her signed and sealed Aprill I 1669
Before THOMAS DANFORTH Assistant
B : 6 : folio : 26 :
Entered and Recorded word for word in the Booke of Records for deeds for the County of Suffolke this first day of Aprill 1669 As Attests EDWARD RAWSON Recorder
Thirty years before this, when the First Church was about to build a new meeting-house upon a new site, Governor Winthrop offered for the purpose the ground which the Third Church now decided to occupy. The centre of trade and traffic was at the head of the present State Street, near the meeting-house and the market-place, as it is in many old English towns to-day, and it was feared by some that to remove the church so far to the south as the Green would be injurious to the business inter- ests of the town. The alternative proposition was to take the land in Cornhill Square, belonging to Richard Harding.1 The arguments in favor of the Green have been preserved in a paper addressed to the governor and others, to whom the ques- tion at issue had been referred. Of this paper Drake says : " It is a very able performance, and it is difficult now to under- stand how the committee could come to a decision adverse to it." 2
1 Mr. Harding had been disarmed as one of the followers of Mrs. Hutchinson, and had removed to Rhode Island.
2 We print this paper here, as a part of the history of the site on which the Old South Church worshipped for more than
136
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
It was signed by Richard Tuttell, Jonathan Negus, John Gal- lop, John Mylam, Matthew Chaffie, James Johnson, John Oliver,
two centuries. The original is in the Boston Public Library.
To our Honoured Governour, and Rev- erend bretheren Mr. Colborne, Mr. Gibones, Mr. Keayne, and Mr. Ting, to whom the care of placeing the meet- ing howse for the best, and most pub- lique Advantage is committed.
With all due Acknowledgement of the power committed unto your Worship, and our Reverend bretheren together with your Worship, for the dispose of this Businesse, we who manifest our requests unto you by our names here underwrit- ten, have (as hoped not to want favoura- ble Acceptance with you ; so) conceived it unsafe for us to omitt any Opportunity for the publique weale of our Towne, which by our requests might any way be furthered, and least we should seeme weake, or wilfull in our motion, we desire your favourable consideration of some such Reasons as may conduce to helpe forward a right, and just determination of the matter.
The places in difference are princi- pally that of Mr. Hardings, and the Greene : we conceive that the Greene hath most fittnesse, and conveniency for the meeting howse, in two principall Respects. I. First because it hath singu- lar Accommodation to the Ayre, the want of free accesse whereof hath bin deeply found in the ould meeting-howse, mak- ing burdensome the ordinances, to many (specially weake) hearers by faynting their spirits in the Summer time when there is most concurse of people : and we fear a greater defect here of if the howse stand in Mr. Hardings ground where the easterly, and Southeast wind is much more debarred. If it be sayd Mr. Hardings is higher ground then the greene, and so more obvious to the Ayre, it is Answered, though it be higher (which is but little) yet this hath a farre greater Advantage for the aire by reason of the sudden descents of the earth neare to it, and it standeth open, ready to en- tertayne every coole breath of Aire in the summer, whereas the other place is
so mussled, and overtopped with chimnyes on every side allmost, that it playnly con- fesseth its owne disadvantage in com- parison. If it be sayd that howsing will in time be as neare to the meeting howse if it stand uppon the greene, as it is already in the other place : we An- swere, that needeth not, the place of it- selfe is large enough, though all men round about should build upon their pro- prietyes, and an inconveniency fore seene may better be prevented, then that which is allready extant, can be removed ; If it be sayd againe, that place of Mr. Hardings will have the Advantage in the winter, it is Answered, we can much more easily prevent cold then heat, be- sides the whole Towne breaketh the force of the cold northerly winds from the Greene.
2. Secondly we conceive if the meet- ing-howse stand upon the greene it will much promote the publique welfare, of our Towne, The greatest outward hope of our outward subsistance is by Trad- ing : Our Lands at mount Williston are (as it were) parted from us : other Lands belonging Lye far distant. Now we con- ceive the standing of the meeting howse upon the greene, will much helpe forward Trading, by procuring more convenient roome for Tradesmen, for by this meanes, as the market-place and wharfe, and waterside, will sufficiently commend the present situation of the howses of the merchants : so the meeting howse will commend the street toward Mr. Col- bornes end, and that which goeth to- wards the hills, if it stand upon the greene. And we hope our Esteemed brethren the tradesmen doe more Attend to the Enlargement of Trading (which now there is a good opportunity of) than some particular Advantage to them selves.
The cheifest reason which hath bin Alleadged to set it upon Mr. Hardings ground is, that it cannot be remooved out of the market place, without mani- fest injury to such as have built, and purchased much in respect to it.
I37
THE GREEN IN 1639.
John Davis, Edmund Jackson, Joshua Scottow, Nicholas Willis, George Burden, and Edmund Jackline. It begins with the following personal appeal to the governor : -
To our Honoured Governour.
The fruit of your Worships Liberall Disposition (which the God of all fulnesse will reward) in so freely offering the Greene to place the meeting-howse thereon causeth us, as thankefully to Acknowledge it;
Ans: we durst not petition to put injury upon so many helpefull, fayth- full, and Beloved bretheren, were we so convinced : we should crosse our former Principles of advancing mer- chandise, if we should put any just dis- couragements upon merchants : Say the standing of the meeting howse in the market place hath bin to the young beginnings of Trading as a nurse to a child, or as a prop to some tender plant, to uphold it from falling: yet once in seaven yeares, without the nurse, or prop, the child will goe, the tender plant will stand Alone, so are we perswaded that the Lord will not suffer any decay- ing in Trading to be found, or com- plained of by our bretheren, but that he who hath strengthened their hands, and wayes, will not withdraw his blessing from them though the meeting-howse stand a little further from them to helpe forward the same ends in another place. Now if it be manifest injury to them to remove it to the greene, for further and more Publique Advantage : then it should appeare that the right of placeing it here, or there belongeth to them: but it is the Townes right to order the placeing of their meeting howse for their best, and most Publique Advantage, and theirs not as Tradesmen, but as mem- bers of the church, and Towne, had the Towne ever promised, eyther that the merchants should have power to place the meeting-howse, or that it should for their encouragement stand in the market place, then it would be manifest injury to remoove it without their consent, but this never was, therefore it is no manifest injury done to them though it should be set upon the greene, why was it com- mitted to the whole Towne if they had not liberty to agree to set it any where
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