USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 34
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1759, Thirsday, ye 12 of July, this morning at Day Breaking we ware close in to Cape ann and very Calm : we ware close in upon A Ledge, but we out Boat and toed her of. The wind Breaz'd up, and we got into Boston at 4 clock, went Ashore and walk't all Round ye town. Log'd at Coz Isaac Ridgways & Sup'd there.
1759, Fryday, ye 13 July, this morning fine weather. Went on Board the Sloop & got my things all & put them on Board of Capt. Stocker to bring to Newbury : at 10 Clock Sot out for home. Din'd at Norards. Got as far as Salem. Log'd at Uncle John Knaps.
1759, Saterday, ye 14 July, this Morning by Daylite Some men from Newbury Cal'd us up, & we Sat out for home, & got home at one Clock. Had Roast Lamb for Diner; thunder shower afternoon, & here is ye End of ye Louisberg Champain. Same Day ye Lightning Struck Capt Gwyn house.
It will be noted that, on two occasions at least, the writer of the diary mentions the fact that he has sent home souvenirs from the captured city. Sunday, the thirtieth day of July, 1758, he writes, " Yesterday I put a gun on board of one Mc'hard sloop to carry home." And again, Sunday, June 17, 1759, he says : "one frigate, Capt. Beachem, Sail'd
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OULD NEWBURY
for Newbury. I put an Iron on board by David Coats." This last entry may possibly refer to the shipment, under the care of David Coats, of the iron shell that now surmounts the stone post at the corner of the streets previously named.
June 24, 1760, about one year after his return from Louis- burg, he purchased of his father, Nathaniel Knapp, Sr., one of the houses owned by him, and described in the deed of conveyance, as follows: "The dwelling house and land in New Lane, bounded southerly three rods on New Lane, easterly five rods on land of Stephen Moody, northerly three rods on land of Ambrose Davis, and westerly five rods on land of Nathaniel Knapp and Ambrose Colby " (book IIO, page 107).
In this house, Nathaniel Knapp, Jr., lived for many years ; and most, if not all, of his large family of children were born there. The adjoining house, occupied by his father, was taken down after the death (Feb. 12, 1776) of Nathaniel Knapp, Sr .; and the vacant space between Independent Street, as it was then called, and the residence of Nathaniel Knapp, Jr., was utilized as a garden plot.
The children of Nathaniel Knapp, Jr., and Mary (Mirick) Knapp were as follows : -
Jacob, born Nov. 22, 1757 ; lost with the privateer " Yankee Hero." Sarah, born April 3, 1760; died March 14, 1831.
Mary, born July 24, 1762 ; died Nov. 22, 1765.
Nathaniel, born Aug. 30, 1764; died Feb. 25, 1833.
Mary, born June 9, 1767.
Isaac, born May 23, 1769; died Dec. 2, 1770.
Elizabeth, born Aug. 25, 1771 ; died Feb. 12, 1831.
Isaac, born Jan. 25, 1774 ; died Dec. 22, 1849. Anthony, born April 12, 1776; died May 2, 1776. Anthony, born March 4, 1778 ; married Dolly Merrill.
Mary (Mirick) Knapp died May 29, 1779; and Nathaniel Knapp, Jr., married Judith Rolfe Nov. 26, 1780. She died June 28, 1790 ; and Mr. Knapp married, for his third wife, Patty Lurvey Feb. 16, 1794-5. He died July 6, 1816, and was buried on the southerly side of the Old Hill burying ground, near Pond Street. His widow died June 19, 1847.
489
NATHANIEL KNAPP
At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Captain Moses Nowell, of Newburyport, organized a military company, and started at eleven o'clock at night, immediately after the battle of Lexington, to join the Continental forces in the assertion of their rights and in the defence of their lives and fortunes. Benjamin Perkins was lieutenant of the company ; Paul Lunt, sergeant ; Caleb Haskell, drummer. The number of men in the ranks was one hundred and fifteen ; and among them was Jacob Knapp, then only eighteen years of age, son of Nathaniel Knapp and Mary (Mirick), his wife. The company returned to Newburyport after a brief service in the vicinity of Boston.
In the latter part of May, another company was organized, with Benjamin Perkins as captain. Jacob Knapp served in this company in the battle at Bunker Hill. One of his com- rades, Samuel Nelson, was slain in the battle ; and another, Jonathan Norton, was wounded, so that he soon after died of his wounds.
A few months later Jacob Knapp sailed in the privateer " Yankee Hero," from Newburyport, on a cruise to the West Indies for the purpose of intercepting English ships laden with merchandise or supplies for the army. The vessel car- ried twenty guns, and was manned by one hundred and seventy men, including fifty from the first families of New- buryport. After leaving the harbor on this unfortunate voyage, the vessel, officers, and crew were never heard from again.
Isaac Knapp, son of Nathaniel Knapp, Jr., came into pos- session of the house and land on the corner of Middle and Independent Streets by inheritance and by purchase from other heirs of the property. He was born Jan. 25, 1774, and married Betsy Hoyt July 7, 1802. The children by this marriage were as follows : -
Elizabeth, born July 31, 1805 ; married William Pritchard.
Mary, born Dec. 14, 1806; died Sept. 25, 1825. George W., born Dec. 12, 1808; died Sept. 11, 1836. Charles Hart, born April 5, 1810: died Feb. 12, 1821.
CORNER OF MIDDLE AND INDEPENDENT STREETS, NEWBURYPORT.
49 1
NATHANIEL KNAPP
James Nelson, born Jan. 13, 1814; four years mayor of the city of New- port, Wales, England ; died April 24, 1879.
Jackson, born Sept. 24, 1815 ; died Sept. 25, 1815.
Sarah, born March 12, 1818; married George Adams, of Portsmouth, N. H .; died in California March 31, 1873.
Isaac Knapp, wishing to commemorate the loyalty and patriotism of his father, Nathaniel Knapp, Jr., and his brother, Jacob Knapp, selected the iron shell sent home from Louisburg in 1759 as an appropriate memorial, and caused it to be placed on the stone post at the junction of the two streets where his father and brother formerly lived, and where it has remained to the present day.
July 8, 1848, Isaac Knapp sold to his brother-in-law, Will- iam Pritchard, the premises previously described (Essex Deeds, book 399, page 246). April 12, 1867, William Pritchard sold the land, with the buildings thereon, to Michael Murphy (book 723, page 256).
Soon after the last-named date the old house was removed and two double tenement houses erected on the site. The conveyances from Mary Murphy, widow of Michael Murphy, to her daughter, Mary A. Burgess, dated Sept. 17, 1885, recorded in book 1158, page 47, and from Mary A. Burgess to Mary V. Healey, wife of Dr. James J. Healey, dated October, 1891, recorded in book 1325, page 133, give the title to the property at the present time.
WOLFE TAVERN.
May 4, 1726, Jonathan Dole, of Newbury, saddler, sold Samuel Greenleaf, of Newbury, tailor, about ten rods of land, no buildings mentioned, for £25, bounded and described as follows : southerly on Fish Street or Greenleaf's lane, east- erly by land of Paul Shackford, northerly and westerly by land of the grantor (Essex Deeds, book 47, page 127).
Oct. 24, 1741, Samuel Greenleaf, of Newbury, tailor, sold William Davenport, of Newbury, carver, the above-described lot of land with dwelling-house thereon (book 82, page 22).
Aug. 5, 1743, Jonathan Dole, of Newbury, saddler, sold William Davenport, of Newbury, carver, a lot of land, con- taining nine rods, seventy-two feet, more or less, adjoining land of the said Davenport, and bounded on the south by land of the grantee, on the west by a way one rod broad (now Threadneedle alley), on the north by a way one and a half rods wide (now Inn Street), and on the east by land of the grantor. This deed was recorded Oct. 21, 1774, in the Essex Registry of Deeds, book 123, page 202.
For twenty years, William Davenport probably occupied the house purchased of Samuel Greenleaf in 1741 as a resi- dence for himself and family. In 1762, extensive alterations and additions were made, and the house was opened for the entertainment of travellers under the name of Wolfe Tavern.
William Davenport probably came to Newbury in 1738, when he was twenty-one years of age. He was a great- grandson of Thomas Davenport, who is recorded as a mem- ber of the church in Dorchester Nov. 20, 1640.
Ebenezer Davenport, son of Thomas Davenport, was born in Dorchester, April 26, 1661, where he lived and died. James Davenport, son of Ebenezer Davenport, was born in
493
WOLFE TAVERN
Dorchester March 1, 1693. He married, first, Grace Tileston, of Dorchester ; second, Sarah, daughter of Josiah and sister of Benjamin Franklin ; and, third, Mary Walker, of Ports- mouth, N. H. He was an inn-keeper and baker in Boston. Samuel A. Drake, in " Landmarks of Boston," says : --
The King's Head, another inn of "ye olden time " was at the north- west corner of Fleet and North Streets, by Scarlett's Wharf. It belongs to the first century of the settlement. It was burned in 1691, and re- built. James Davenport kept it in 1755, and his widow in 1758.
James Davenport had, by his three wives, twenty-two chil- dren. William, his eldest son, was born in Boston Oct. 19, 1717.
Rev. John Lowell, minister of the Third Parish in New- bury, officiated at the marriage of William Davenport to Sarah, daughter of Moses Gerrish, of Newbury, April 3, 1740. Eighteen months later, William Davenport bought the house and land on Fish Street, as previously stated.
William Davenport, in the early conveyances of real estate to and from him, is styled " carver." He undoubtedly found steady employment at his trade in Newbury ; for ship-build- ing was prosperous, and many vessels were annually con- structed within the limits of the town. An old bill, now in the possession of Mrs. Catherine (Davenport) Pearson, of Newburyport, seems to corroborate and confirm this state- ment, and to furnish conclusive evidence of his occupation at that date. The items of the bill are as follows : -
Dr 1748.
RALPH CROSS TO WM DAVENPORT.
June 8. To a Sea horshead 6 foot long 9. 0. 0
To fixing the same I. 4. 0
To 17 foot of tails @ 9/ per foot 7. 13. 0
To hair brackets . 3. 5. 0
To 2 Scrowels for the Raills 2. 0. 0
August
£23. 2.0
1752 To 4} days labour on bord Nathan! Newman 5. 12. 0
old tenor £28. 14. 0
Newbury Dect 24th 1755
To apeice of timber 13 feet long 6 I. thick & 18 I. wide.
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OULD NEWBURY
Ralph Cross was born in Ipswich in 1706. He removed to Newbury when quite a young man, and was for some years an efficient shipwright. April 7, 1733, he bought of Isaac Mirrick and Andrew Mirrick, both of Nantucket, a lot of land in Newbury, bounded by the Merrimack River north- erly, by the land of Captain Isaac Mirrick easterly, by a high- way of two rods wide southerly, fifty-five feet, six inches, and by ye land of Jonathan Sibly westerly, " it being the whole of ye 142 lott laid to Mr. John Kent, late of Newbury, deceased " (Essex Deeds, book 62, page 237).
In the month of September following, he bought of Jona- than Sibley upland and flats adjoining the previously de- scribed lot. On this land, near the foot of Lime Street, he established himself in business as a ship-builder ; and some years later his sons, Stephen and Ralph, continued the busi- ness in a yard of their own at the foot of Federal Street. The charges in the above bill are evidently for carving the figure-head, trail boards, etc., for a vessel built by Ralph Cross in 1748. Mr. Davenport was probably occupied as a ship-carver until the breaking out of the French and English War and the capture of Louisburg.
Nathaniel Knapp, of Newbury, in his diary, written at the second siege of Louisburg, says, under date of
Wednesday, 13 June, 1759, this Day there is 8 or 10 Sail of Ships ; one frigate Came in from Boston. Capt. Davenport is in one of them, and this afternoon I went on Board ye Ship to see Brother John Moody,* and he was well and all acquaintanc.
Two days later he wrote as follows : -
Friday, ye 15, this Day fair Weather, I was to work on ye Scooner of Dixons. 6 Ships Came in to Day. I was on Board Devenports Ship, a. . Brought John Moody ashore with me and Let him have six dollars.
Sunday, June ye 17th 1759 -.. . Capt Devenport Sail'd for Canada to day.
These extracts furnish satisfactory evidence that William Davenport arrived at Loui hurg nearly a year after its capt-
* John Moody was a son of Widow abeth (Gerrish) Moody, who was the second wife of Nathaniel Knapp, senior.
495
WOLFE TAVERN
ure by the English and American forces, and sailed June 17, 1759, with the expedition for the reduction of Quebec. The company, under the command of Captain Davenport, con- sisted of the following officers and men : -
William Davenport, Capt.
Privates (continued).
Thomas Sweet, Lieut.
13 Stephen Colby.
Gersham Burbank, Lieut.
14 Ezra Cluff.
Jonathan Merrill. Ensign.
15 Daniel Pillsbury.
Moses George, Sergt.
16 Joshua Morse.
John Moody, Serg't.
17 Samuel Huse.
Daniel Pike, Serg't.
18 Eleazar Burbank.
Matthew Pettingill, Sergt.
19 Enoch Bagley.
Joshua Colby, Corp.
20 Zachariah Beal.
Thomas Ford, Corp.
21 William Griffin.
Stephen Morse, Corp.
22 Jeremiah Pearson.
Daniel Poor. Corp.
23 Enoch Chase.
William Stevens, Drum.
24 Edmund Baily, Jr.
Privates.
I Luke Swett.
2 Joseph Woodman.
3 Thomas Barnard.
+ John Brock.
30 William Cheney.
5 Pall Coffin.
31 Nathaniel Brown.
6 William Matthews.
32 William Clarke.
7 James Ward.
33 Richard Sanborn.
8 John Caswell.
34 Zebediah Hunt.
9 Daniel Knight.
35 Michael Short.
Io Nathaniel Roby.
36 Sherborn Tilton.
II Richard Pierce.
37 Jacob Burrill.
12 Thomas Moody.
25 John Stevens. 26 Andrew Hilton.
27 Paul Pearson.
28 Nathan Peabody.
29 Samuel Wyatt.
38 Jonn Currier .*
Most of the men composing this company were natives of Newbury. In the list will be found the name of John Moody, sergeant, who was evidently the "brother John Moody " to whom reference is made by Nathaniel Knapp in his diary. The accidental meeting of these two Newbury men in the harbor of Louisburg is a noteworthy incident that serves to establish the historical fact that Captain Davenport went by the way of Boston and the river St. Lawrence to Canada.
* Massachusetts Archives, volu , pages 325 and 326.
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He was with his company on the Plains of Abraham Sept. 13, 1759, when General Wolfe was killed, and was present at the surrender of Quebec a few days later. At the expira- tion of his term of service he returned home, and filed with the proper authorities in Boston a pay-roll for wages due the men under his command, to which he made oath Jan. 31, 1760. Among the items included in a separate bill, rendered at the same time for expenses incurred by him during the campaign, is a charge of £2 4s. for "transporting my baggage from Newbury to Boston," and 12s. for " transport- ing self, men, & baggage to Nantasket."
In the spring of 1760, the French forces in Canada were evidently making preparations to recapture Quebec, and New England was again called upon to furnish men to resist the attack. In March, Captain Davenport enlisted eighteen men " for the total reduction of Canada," and in April four more for the same service. The names of the enlisted men on the first list are as follows : -
John Carr, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 21, son of John Carr.
Jeremiah Morse, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, ser- vant to Nathaniel Bartlett.
William Hills, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, servant to Joshua Baley.
Samuel Huse, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, grandson to Charles Chase.
John Davis, born in Andover, resident of Newbury, age 19, son to Mark Davis.
Isaac Mason, born in New Market, resident of Newbury, age 26.
John Owens, born in Wales, resident of Newbury, age 30.
James Martain, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 18, servant to Daniel Chute.
Simeon George, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, servant to Abraham Gallisham.
Daniel Lowell, born in Almsbury, resident of Newbury, age 18.
Stephen Coleby, born in Almsbury, resident of Newbury, age 19, servant to Moses Todd.
Enoch Chase, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, servant to Stephen England.
Henry Dow, born in Salisbury, resident of Newbury, age 19, servant to Nathan Allen.
497
WOLFE TAVERN
Robert Matthews. born in Canso, resident of Newbury, age 18, servant to Mark Haskell, Cape Ann.
John Leatherland, born in Ipswich, resident of Ipswich, age 17, son to Sarah Leatherland.
Leonard Harrison, born in Rowley, resident of Newbury, age 21.
Isaac Stickney, born in Rowley, resident of Newbury, age 19, son to Samuel Stickney.
David Haskell, born in Cape Ann, resident of Newbury, age 19, servant to Caleb Haskell.
The above-named persons appeared before Joseph Gerrish, Jr., commissary of masters and justice of the peace, March 14, 1760, and were duly accepted as able-bodied men.
The second list contains the following names : -
Isaac Baley, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, servant to Daniel Clarke.
Richard Tucker, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 18, servant to Dimond Currier.
Moses Pike, born in Newbury, resident of Newbury, age 17, son to Thomas Pike.
Stephen Danford, born in Bradford, resident of Bradford, age 21.
Isaac Baley appeared before Joseph Gerrish, Jr., Richard Tucker and Moses Pike before Joseph Coffin, and Stephen Danford before John Osgood, and were duly accepted for his Majesty's service (Massachusetts Archives, Muster Rolls, volume 97, pages 416 and 417).
There is no evidence that Captain Davenport again entered the service for a second campaign, although he was actively interested in procuring recruits for the re-enforcement of the English army.
The tradition that he gave his wife a guinea when he left Newbury in 1759 to join the troops assembled for the first attack upon Quebec, which she, by prudence and economy, was able to return to him unused when he reached home again, may be literally true ; but at the same time it must be remembered that, if he had only a guinea in ready money at his command, he was the owner of considerable valuable property, the income of which was probably at the disposal of his wife.
498
OULD NEWBURY
In 1762, to meet the demands of the travelling public, he converted his dwelling-house on the corner of Thread- needle alley and Fish Street (now State Street) into a tavern, and hung from a lofty pole a swinging sign, embel- lished with a quaint portrait of General Wolfe.
In the days of William Davenport the tavern was a popu- lar place of resort. Under its roof the hungry and thirsty found comfort, shelter, good suppers, and good wine. Satur- day evening, from all parts of the town, men came to the tavern to hear the news and to discuss politics, theology, and the state of the crops. During the winter months farmers from the surrounding country brought pork, butter, grain, eggs, and poultry to market, and gathered in the capacious bar-room at night, around the cheerful, blazing fire, to while away the time with mugs of flip and mulled cider. The land travel from Maine and the eastern part of New Hampshire passed through Newbury on the way to Boston; and Wolfe Tavern, or Davenport's Inn, as it was often called, soon became a famous resort.
The arrival and departure of the stage-coach brought reli- able information from distant places, while items of local interest were gathered from well-known and prominent men about town. Alice Morse Earle, in "New England Customs and Fashions," says : -
It must be remembered that our universal modern source of in formation, the newspaper, did not then exist. There were a few journals. of course, of scant circulation ; but of what we now deem news they contained nothing. Information of current events came through hear- ing and talking, not through reading. Hence it came to be that an inn- keeper was not only influential in local affairs, but was universally known as the best-informed man in the place. Reporters, so to speak, rendered their accounts to him ; items of foreign and local news were sent to him; he was in himself an entire Associated Press.
At the tavern, hot rum punch and egg toddy were inter- mixed with gossip of the day and vigorous political discus- sions. The modern doctrine of total abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquors had few advocates a century ago. In those good old times wine and strong drink were generally
499
WOLFE TAVERN
provided at funerals for mourning relatives as well as for joyous guests at the marriage feast ; and the courage and patriotism of those who stoutly resisted the encroachments of King George III. were evidently stimulated and encour- aged by frequent libations of punch and toddy.
A curious old bill, now in the possession of Mr. George Davenport, of Boston, a lineal descendant of William Davenport, well illustrates the customs and habits that prevailed just previous to the Revolution, and, indirectly, re- veals the means and methods adopted to arouse enthusiasm and create a public sentiment that would lead to the repeal of the odious Stamp Act. The items of the bill are as follows : -
Dr. Messrs. Joseph Stanwood & others Of the Town of Newburyport, for Sundry Expences at My House on Thisday Septr 26th A. D. 1765, at the Greate Uneasiness and Tumult on Occa- sion of the Stamp Act.
To William Davenport.
Old Tenor
Per Contra Cr
To 3 Double Bowles punch by Capt Robuds Order £3,, 7,,6 Capt Robuds for
£3,, 7,, 6
To 7 Double Bowles of punch
7., 7,,6
To Double Bowl of Egg Toddy . 14
To Double punch 22/6 Single bowl 11/3
1,,13,,9
To Double Bowl punch 22/6 Double bowl toddy 12 /
1,, 14,,6
To bowl punch 11/3 Bowl toddy 6/ 17,,3
To Double bowl Toddy 12/ bowl punch 11 /3
1,, 3,,3
To Double Bole punch 22/6 Nip Toddy 3/
1,, 51,6
To mug flip 5/ To a Thrible bowl punch 33/9 .
1,,18,,9
To Double bowl punch 22/6 To a Thrible bowl Ditto 33/9 .
2,, 16,,3 By Cash by Richard
To a Double bowl punch 22/6
1,, 2,,6
Favour £2,, 5,, 0
To a Double bowl punch 22/6
1,, 2,,6 By Cash by Coleby 1,, 2,, 6
2,, 16,,3 By Cash by Coleby 1,, 2,, 6
1,,13,,9
To a Double Bowl punch 22/6 to Double bowl Ditto 22/6 . .
2,, 5
To 6 Lemons 15/ to bowl of punch 11/3
1,, 6,,3 By Cash by Coleby £1,, 6,, 0
To 2 Double Bowles punch
2,, 5,, By Cash by Coleby
2,, 5,, O
To Double Bowl punch 22/6 bowl punch 11/3
1,,13,,9
To 2 Double bowles punch 45/ to bowl punch 11 /3 To Bowl punch 11/3 To bowl punch 11/3
2, , 16,,3
1,, 2,,6 By Cash by Coleby
0,,11,, 3
To the Suppers which were Cooked Hot .
2,, 5
£11,, 19,,9
To 8 Double Bowles punch after Supper .
Lawful money . £1,, 11,,11}
To Double Bowl Toddy 12/ Bowl punch 11/3
1,, 3.3
the 27th To Bowl of Egg Toddy 7/
7,
To 6 pintes and 1/2 of Spirits @ 10/ pr Point 3,, 51,
To a Breakfast of Coffee for Sd Company
2,, 5,,
£59,,17,,3
Lawful money .
. £7,,19,,7,,3
NEWBURYPORT, 28 Sept. 1765.
Erors excepted p. WILLIAM DAVENPORT.
To a Thrible Bowl punch 33/9 Double Bowl Ditto 22/6 .
To a Double Bowl punch 22/6 Bowl Ditto 11/3
By an order from
500
OULD NEWBURY
Coffin, in his History of Newbury, page 231, says : --
In Newburyport the effigy of a Mr. I- B-, who had accepted the office of stamp distributor, was suspended September 25th and 26th from a large elm-tree which stood in Mr. Jonathan Greenleaf's yard, at the foot of King Street (now Federal Street) a collection of tar barrels set on fire, the rope cut, and the image dropped into the flames. At ten o'clock P.M. all the bells in town were rung. "I am sorry to see that substitute," said a distinguished citizen of Newburyport : " I wish it had been the original." Companies of men, armed with clubs, were accustomed to parade the streets of Newbury and Newburyport at night, and to every man they met put the laconic question, "Stamp or no stamp." The consequences of an affirmative reply were anything but pleasant. In one instance, a stranger, having arrived in town, was seized by the mob at the foot of Green Street, and, not knowing what answer to make to the question, stood mute. As the mob allow no neutrals, and as silence with them is a crime, he was severely beaten. The same question was put to another stranger, who replied with a sagacity worthy of a vicar of Bray or a Talleyrand, " I am as you are." He was immediately cheered and applauded as a true son of liberty, and permitted to depart in peace, wondering, no doubt, at his own sudden popularity.
Sept. 30, 1765, the town of Newburyport voted that "the late act of parliament is very grievous, and that this town as much as in them lies endeavour the repeal of the same in all lawful ways, and that it is the desire of the town that no man in it will accept of the office of distributing the stampt papers, as he regards the pleasure of the town, and that they will deem the person accepting of such office an enemy to his country."
It is possible that the tumult and commotion of those memorable days, and even the inspiration of the resolve adopted by the patriotic citizens of Newburyport, may be traced to the influence of the punch prepared by Landlord Davenport for Joseph Stanwood and other worthy guests on the evening of Sept. 25, 1765.
In the early days of Masonry, St. Peter's Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons often met at Mr. Davenport's inn, and the Newburyport Marine Society for many years held its regular monthly meetings there.
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