USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > History of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
175
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
Why is this the conduct of our Rulers? The answer is be- cause this prejudice against England has a tendency to sup- port the party in power more than any other expedient, as the truth, if known and understood by the people would oust from office and power and profit all those who have plundered the People of those men who have done and would continue to act for the good of the country.
Madison and his cabinet, Goddard thought, had 'got the affairs of the nation in such a scrape as will require the en- lightened wisdom of the Federalists to get them out. So much for electing Jackanapes to rule over us.'
On June 13, 1812, he read a newspaper 'which breathes much of war.' Two days later he attended a Boston town meeting which expressed disapproval of the warlike activities of the government. But on June 23, 'A Declaration of War arrived in Boston which has filled every one with astonishment at this madness of our Mis-Rulers. The calamity to our coun- try is not yet to be conceived of, time only will unfold what is to be the results.'
The diary denounces the expedition to Canada as an attack on harmless neighbors who had nothing to do with even the 'pretended' causes of the war. On August 30 it reports the bat- tle between the Constitution and the Guerrière, and the entry for the next day admits that there was some feeling of elation in Boston. Mr. Goddard went frequently to Boston, and while he and most of his neighbors seem never to have relaxed their intense dislike of the war and the government they held respon- sible for it, they acknowledged a kind of reluctant enthusiasm as often as the Americans achieved any success at sea.
FOR DEFENSE ONLY
Not until 1814 did the town of Brookline take any official notice of the war. There is a record dated September 8 which does not relate to a formal town meeting, but recounts defensive activities by the selectmen and some citizens.
About this time every Town on the Sea Coarst were ap- prehensive of a Visit from the British fleet and forces which had committed such wanton depredation in the southern States. Troops were daily assembling in and near Boston to
176
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
protect it from Invasion - about one third of the Militia in the Neighborhood were stationed in the forts in the Harbour Many Inhabitants of Boston and Charlestown were remov- ing their Valuable effects into the Country and securing for themselves a retreat in case of Invasion - It was in this state of things when the Selectmen and a few others being together - a subscription was Circulated among the In- habitants exempt from Military duty, Inviting them to Equip themselves with arms &c compleat for service, Enroll themselves as a company and choose their own Officers and be subject to no others authority in their duty but in case of Invasion and the remaining part of the Militia should be called of[f] endeavor to protect ourselves and assist others as the commander of the company should think proper - For this purpose a special Meeting was called at an Early day when the proposition was Unanimously accepted and the Officers chosen which were General Isaac S. Gardner, Captain, Major John Robinson Lieutenant and Capt Joseph Goddard Ensign - A meeting of the company was appointed at a short notice for Examination and Drill when there was Assembled and enrolled between Forty and Fifty Eight com- pleat for immediate service except one Bayonet and about half a dozen carterich boxes which were principly furnished by the following meeting.
A meeting on November 7 voted unanimously to tender the personal services of the inhabitants of Brookline, following the example of Boston, 'Towards fortifying the Harbour by throw- ing up two forts on the Heights of South Boston and Noddles Island which would completely command the Harbour of Boston and the waters on the South of Dorchester point.'
Any effort for defense, but no encouragement for the war except on the home grounds. Some of the town's militiamen had been drafted for service in Fort Independence, and since this was clearly a matter of home defense, it was looked upon with favor by the town meeting of December 7, 1814, which decided to award the men a total bonus of $320, less the value of provisions which the town had already furnished them. It does not appear how many of these soldiers there were, so the bonus to the individual cannot be arrived at.
This was the extent of Brookline's participation in a war
177
THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE
which the majority of her citizens regarded with the deepest disfavor. She had taken a stand for defense in 1775, and only defense mattered to her in 1812. Now the long struggle for independence was at an end, and men were eager to return to the productive pursuits of peace-time.
CHAPTER VIII INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE
THERE is not a great deal to be said about the industrial life of a community devoted primarily to homes. From the time of its pastoral beginnings, Brookline has had a minimum of industry and commerce within its limits, though its citizens have engaged, with more than normal good fortune, in those same pursuits in the wider world, and their success has ac- counted in large measure for the charm of Brookline as a place of residence.
Prosperity in commerce depends largely upon the oppor- tunities for trade; people must be able to receive their pur- chases, and disperse the goods they sell. Consequently, devel- opment of a flourishing commerce is intimately related to the development of means of transportation and communication - ships, highways, railways, and postal and telegraph services. The interest which men have in maintaining relations with their fellows accounts for their persistent concern with the improvement of streets and roads and means of correspond- ence.
Hence this chapter will attempt some account of the minor industries which have played a part in the history of Brookline, as well as of the more extensive interests of Brookline mer- chants, and the local efforts toward betterment of the ways of trade. For all of Brookline's apparent aloofness toward things commercial, her own long prosperity has inevitably resulted from the successes of many of her citizens in that direction.
VILLAGE INDUSTRIES
Even in the elementary economy of a frontier settlement, some processing of raw materials is essential before they can be used. Wheat and buckwheat and corn must be ground to pro- vide flour and meal, if the grains are to be useful for human consumption. Hence the grist mill is ordinarily the first sign of industry in an agricultural community, and so it seems to have been in Muddy River.
179
INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE
Griffin Craft who, as has been indicated, was probably the first white settler in the region, is supposed to have had an interest in a grist mill on 'Muddy River Brooke,' and pos- sibly also in a 'fulling leather miln.' In any event, a deed signed by his grandson, Samuel Crafts, and dated December 9, 1698, nine years after Griffin Craft's death, transferred a three- eighths interest in the grist mill and its lands, described as formerly the property of Griffin Craft. The same deed includes a similar interest in the fulling mill, a fact which suggests that it may have belonged to the same original proprietor.
Wool was spun and cloth woven in almost every colonial home, but fulling was a treatment requiring special equipment. The fulling mill therefore ordinarily played an early part in the economy of nearly every frontier village. Its function was as intimately related to essential clothing as that of the grist mill to essential food.
Another very early industry, which must have been a com- mercial venture quite unrelated to the immediate needs of the community, was a chocolate mill. No record of its origin or proprietorship remains, but the structure was located at the outlet of Willow Pond, which received the overflow from Jamaica Pond. When Miss Woods wrote in 1874, parts of a dam and flume were still to be seen there.
The chocolate mill was subsequently converted into a forge, and its water power used to run a trip-hammer in the man- ufacture of hoes and shovels. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, the forge was taken over by a man named Faxon, from Roxbury, who made some of the cannon used in the war.
It is not possible now to say whether the dam at the choco- late mill was built under some variation of the terms of an agreement signed by George Griggs in 1721, or whether the one referred to in that document was in connection with an- other venture. Griggs agreed with Joseph Craft and William Heath to 'build a dam adjoyning to muddi River Bridge,' but if it was erected at that site, it must later have been removed, without any record being made of the use to which it was put.
The first settlers in a wooded country may be content to erect crude, substantial homes of logs, but men of taste and a little prosperity soon require boards. Timbers and planks
180
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
may be hewn or hand-sawed, but such laborious devices are only preliminary to the establishment of a sawmill, which is one more of the basic industries of the frontier.
In Muddy River, this useful establishment was carried on by the euphoniously named Erosamon Drew, a native of Ire- land who married Bethiah, the daughter of Vincent and Eliza- beth Druce, and bought from his wife's parents a tract of sixty- four acres of wooded land near the present Newton line. There, on the brook which then served as the outlet of what was later called Hammond's Pond, Erosamon Drew built his sawmill, and like the inventor of the superior mouse-trap, saw his neighbors beat paths to his door. Indeed, in the course of lay- ing out improved highways, there was more than one intima- tion that ready access to the sawmill was an important con- sideration.
A somewhat later development, though it was also a funda- mental village industry, was the tannery owned by John Rob- inson and Enos Withington. As young men they are supposed to have been lured from Dorchester by the impressive preach- ing of the Reverend Joseph Jackson in Brookline. At any rate, they bought land from Robert Sharp in 1790, and established on the north side of Washington Street between Aspinwall and Corey Hills, the tannery that was to be carried on for nearly a century. Robinson married Withington's sister, and Withington himself in time turned from tanning to agriculture. Both lived to attain ripe years and marked honor in the com- munity.
COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE
It is easy to fall into the modern habit of assuming that those pursuits only are industries which are carried on in shops, whereas there seems in fact no justification for such a dis- tinction. The agriculture to which Brookline was devoted from its earliest days enjoyed at times the rank of a very im- portant industry.
A student of land utilization would point out that the devel- opment of a frontier follows a cycle that is fairly easy to recog- nize, and that its phases are readily followed in Brookline. In the beginning, this was 'marginal' land, inconvenient of access
181
INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE £
for the inhabitants of Boston, and used only as summer pasture for their stock. Then, as Boston grew and a shortage of land was felt on the peninsula, this grazing land was converted into farms. The next step came when the population of Boston became too large to be fed by the produce of gardens on the peninsula, and outlying farmers were able to dispose of their surplus to advantage. Quartering of British soldiery furthered this phase of the development.
During much of the time from the Revolution down to the Civil War, tillers of the soil in Brookline fed Boston, at a profit. No precise figures are available, but the general swing of economic history in New England helps to fix the period and the circumstances. About 1820 there began a movement of industry from homes to shops, and the foundations of the great mill towns were laid. This meant at once an increased ur- ban population to be fed, and a decreased rural population to raise the food, for the mill workers were largely recruited among the young people on the farms. Prices of farm products consequently rose, and agriculture entered upon a period of prosperity that finally waned only with the opening of lands in the west suited to large-scale cultivation with machinery.
There was thus a period when the Boston market derived a great portion of its earliest and choicest fruits and vegetables from the market gardens carried on in Brookline on the Craft, White, Corey, Davis, Jones, Stearns, Griggs, Ward, and Coolidge properties. That this trade must have begun very early is attested by the appointment of Edward Kibby as clerk of the market for Muddy River in 1662. It is highly im- probable that a market was held in the village as early as that, but Boston was already the market town for the hinterland, and every Thursday was market day, farmers driving in with their produce to the present site of the Old State House. Kibby was presumably appointed in order to give Muddy River representation at that market.
Charles H. Stearns has related an anecdote of one of Brook- line's leading truck farmers of the period between 1840 and 1860 when this business was at its height. George Babcock took special pride in the yoke of steers which won him re- peated first prizes at the Norfolk County Cattle Show in Ded-
182
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
ham, and in his early peas. On his property, north of Harvard Street, a hill rose abruptly not far from the road, leaving a narrow strip of land with southern exposure.
It was a sunny protected spot, and it was one of his ambi- tions to take in the first peas to Boston market and to have it recorded in the Boston Post .... It used to be a by-word among the farmers in the vicinity, perhaps prompted by jealousy, that Mr. Babcock used to go out on some mild Feb- ruary day with his men and make holes through the frost with a crowbar, to put in his seed peas, in order to ensure an early crop.
There seems also to have been a brisk traffic in the bulkier farm products within the town. What the trade was in grain and feed among neighbors we have no means of knowing, but on May 2, 1826, it was 'Voted to build the most approved Hayscale.' In 1842 there was an appropriation of three hun- dred dollars for new hay scales, which were ordered removed from Washington Street ten years later, to a new location to be chosen by the selectmen. In 1855, the selectmen were authorized to spend three hundred dollars to erect scales at Beacon and Harvard Streets, and new scales were ordered again in 1860. All of which is fair evidence that people were weighing things on those scales every day, and weighing them so that they might know the quantity of goods being bought and sold.
While streams flowed through the village, they might quench the thirst of untold thousands of cattle, and no one today be the wiser for it. But the streams were gradually diverted, and covered, and otherwise made inaccessible, and our only pos- itive evidence that there was an important movement of cattle on the hoof through Brookline to the Brighton slaughter houses as late as 1871, is the town's appropriation of five hundred dollars that year to provide watering places for them.
THE GREAT WORLD
But if, at home, Brookline's interests were simple and her commerce unpretentious, her part in the wide-flung trade of the greater world was both colorful and impressive. Some- thing has been told of the adventures of Dr. John Goddard
BABCOCK HILL AND POND Looking across to Harvard Street from Babcock Street
183
INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE
who sought, during the Revolutionary War, to go to Spain and buy supplies with which to set up an apothecary's shop. A letter written in Brookline in 1827 gives account of another family with commercial interests:
Mrs. Walley has twelve children one son in Smyrna in the midst of the Greeks & Turks one in South America & one who has just returned from Porto Cabello - he and his brother were merchants - the troops marched into their town & their store being the most comfortable one in the place - Bollivar took it for his own quarters - more of this when I see you.
Susanna, daughter of Captain Benjamin White, married Nathaniel Seaver who, before 1790, was engaged in world commerce. Their second son, Benjamin Franklin Seaver, died on a business voyage to South America. In 1792, Nathaniel Seaver, with his eldest son, also Nathaniel, a lad of sixteen, sailed on his ship Commerce from Madras for Bombay. The first mate was David Ockington, also a Brookline man.
Adverse winds drove them far off their course to a point midway on the southern coast of Arabia, while they believed themselves to be off the Malabar coast. Then the ship was wrecked, and they set out in open boats for Muscat, four hun- dred miles to eastward, but storms drove them ashore. Of the crew of twenty white men and seventeen Lascar sailors, three were drowned in landing, among them the younger Seaver.
The survivors were attacked by Arabs and robbed of all their possessions, even their clothing. Then began the long, almost waterless march along a desert shore toward Muscat, where eight white survivors arrived a month later. Nathaniel Seaver perished by the way, but David Ockington returned at length to Brookline. It was all a part of what a man must be prepared to meet if he would go out into the world to do business.
However, usual though it was for a merchant to go in per- son from time to time in his own ships, those whose business attained large proportions were increasingly obliged to devote themselves to executive direction from their offices ashore.
184
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
Successful administration required a wide and accurate know- ledge of commodities and markets, and a vast amount of atten- tion to detail, when orders must be issued anticipating con- ditions weeks or months in the future. Perhaps the merchant's problems can be no better understood than from two letters of Nathaniel Goddard, who has been mentioned heretofore. He was interested in South American trade with Chile, imported rice, China teas, and Calcutta goods, dealt on a large scale in Russia and Manila hemp, and had extensive other interests. When one of Mr. Goddard's captains sailed, he was told exactly what to do:
A MERCHANT'S ORDERS
Boston, September 23, 1817
To Capt. John W. Allen.
Sir: - You being master of the brig 'Governor Brooks' now in this harbor and ready for sea, it is my wish that you will improve the first fair wind and proceed to New Orleans with all possible despatch; on your arrival there you will please to deliver the articles of cargo on board on my ac- count to Messrs. Richardson & Fisk for sale and those on freight to the several consignees, they paying you freight on the same which you will please reserve to defray your port charges. You will employ Messrs. Richardson & Fisk to procure a balance of freight for the brig for some European port, which port you will be notified of on your arrival by letters which I shall forward to you and also to the above gentlemen in season for the purpose. I shall forward funds which with the proceeds of merchandise on board I shall request to have invested immediately in cotton and tobacco and shipped as occasion may require, respecting which I shall write the consignees from time to time; but you will bear in mind that I prefer a reasonable freight for the vessel at all times to shipping on my own account, and if one and one-half pence sterling per pound or upwards can be had without any loss of time for hard-pressed cotton, take this on freight to the exclusion of my property which may remain subject to my future disposal; but as a part of my present investment is ordered in tobacco, it may be necessary to decide immediately on discharging whether she can be filled up without loss of time, as in case I am obliged to ship a part
185
INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE
of my tobacco must go into the bottom of the vessel. Many vessels will be directly after yours, therefore you will see the importance of despatch and that some cargo is ready to go on board before all is taken out. You will be careful that neither officers nor men take any contraband goods on board or attempt to smuggle any article. You will also attend to and see that your business is properly attended to by the commission merchants you employ or who do the business of the brig, and that no commission is charged you on money advanced to pay disbursements, and in case you take pas- sengers find no wine nor spirits for their use. Should you at any time on your voyages visit any port in England or Ire- land and leave said port without any freight for any other part of the world, please to clear for the same port you ar- rived from. This saves half the tonnage or light money. When you return to the United States make your manifest and report for some other port than the one you arrive at; this will enable you to go to a second port without discharg- ing, if it is necessary in order to find a better market. You will, if in Europe and you receive no counter orders, cause to be remitted the proceeds of all your freights to Samuel Williams, Esq., Merchant, No. 13 Finsbury Square, London, for my account. You will keep me advised from time to time of the progress you make by every good conveyance by water to this place direct or via New York, and while in New Or- leans please to write by mail weekly.
Boston, September 24, 1817
Messrs. Richardson & Fisk (New Orleans)
Gentlemen: - Your Mr. Fisk has undoubtedly informed you of my intention of sending to your house my brig 'Gov- ernor Brooks,' John W. Allen, master, for a freight for Europe and also of forwarding funds by mail for the pur- chase of cotton and tobacco in addition to sundry articles on board and freight, which articles I wish sold and the amount also invested as hereafter requested, to wit: immediately on the arrival of the vessel I wish her put up for freight for Havre; my brother, Mr. William Goddard, and my nephew, Mr. Samuel Goddard, have agreed to ship a quantity of cot- ton in her and I have no doubt but they have forwarded funds and orders for purchasing it; if with this freight agreed
186
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
for a sufficient quantity of a fair rate of freight shall offer while discharging her outward cargo, you will commence loading and send her off without loss of time. In the mean- time and as soon as you receive this you will commence pur- chasing for my account without delay and continue as you shall be in funds until you complete a purchase of one hun- dred hogsheads all of the first quality of tobacco, provided the price shall not exceed seven cents per pound (and I hope it will be very much under). The balance of my funds in- cluding the proceeds of property on board invest in the first quality and no other of new cotton, and should this first qual- ity of new cotton be as low or lower than twenty-eight cents per pound at any time you may draw on me at sixty days sight for $5000 more and invest this also. I shall be pleased to find that you are able to anticipate the amount of the proceeds of merchandise on board to add to my other funds. I will enclose an invoice of this property that you may have some guide to dispose of it by. The sheetings are very good having been selected by one of the best judges in St. Peters- burg and cost an extra price, but the Ravens duck is as good if not superior to any ever imported into the United States and cost in Russia more than the common kind retails at here. The boards are a common kind and the mackerel also; the molasses hogsheads were picked up by a cooper and cost an extra price and I hope you will obtain one for them. The New England rum is as good as any and the barrels ought to be paid for, but in this particular you will have to con- form to the custom of the place. I shall forward funds to the amount of $20,000 as good safe opportunity may offer. The brig sailed for your city this day; I forgot to speak re- specting her, but will merely say that she is inferior to no one ever built. I think it is probable that the articles in my invoice would net me as much sold from the levee as in any way, with the exception perhaps of the duck sheetings and rum, and a part of them may sell as well. The report here is that tobacco can be had at five and a quarter cents per pound; I hope it may, but if not you may go as high as seven cents.
LEADERS IN COMMERCE
The eminent Cabot family came to Brookline just before the close of the eighteenth century, when George Cabot
'GREEN HILL,' THE GODDARD HOUSE ON WARREN STREET
Built about 1732 by Nehemiah Davis; afterwards owned by George Cabot and by members of the Higginson, Babcock, and Goddard families
187
INDUSTRY AND THE WAYS OF TRADE
bought the Green Hill estate on Warren Street. He was a brother-in-law of Captain Joseph Lee, under whom he first went to sea as cabin boy, experiencing a severe discipline which eventually qualified him for his own command. Later they became partners in the firm of Lee and Cabot, which for many years carried on a large trade with the West Indies, Spain, and the Baltic.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.