USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Sketches of Boston, past and present, and of some places in its vicinity > Part 5
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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 | Part 32 | Part 33
The third Court of Assistants sat at Charlestown on the 28th of Septem- ber. The first General Court of the Colony convened at Boston on the 19th of October, every person being present who was free of the corpora- tion.
We will complete our picture of the settlement by mentioning some of the events of the year 1630, which, in its infant state, it was thought worth while to record.
" Oct. 25. The Governour began to discourage the practice of drink- ing toasts at table : so it grew by little and little to be disused.
" 1631. March 4. Nicholas Knopp was fined five pounds for taking upon him to cure the scurvy by a water of no value, which he sold at a very dear rate ; to be imprisoned till he pay his fine, or give security for it, or else be whipped, and be liable to any man's action, of whom he had received money for the said water.
"May 18. Election day at Boston; Winthrop and Dudley are re- chosen by general consent.
" July 4. The Governour built a bark at Mystick, which was launched this day, and called the Blessing of the Bay. In the course of the season this vessel made several coasting trips.
" 26. Monthly trainings are ordered."
It would be strange, indeed, to compare these incidents with those that now mark the progress of the times ; to contrast, for example, the build- ing of the little boat, the " Blessing of the Bay," the solitary instance of that year, with the annual productions of the teeming ship-yards that now line the banks of the Mystic, either in number or size,
" Your argosies with portly sail, - Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood, Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea " ; -
to set the single voyage to Rhode Island to trade for a hundred bushels of corn, by the side of that commerce which has peopled the wide waste of waters from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and now surrounds the globe with
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a constant procession of the white winged messengers of peace and plen- ty. We may observe, that in the above record we have a picture in little of the modern days in some respects. There was a temperance move- inent, and there was an election day, and, moreover, there was quackery ; but the most noticeable thing is the ordering of the monthly trainings.
This was the needful preparation for coming events ; the first manifes- tation of that military spirit, without which we should have inherited colonial submission, instead of national independence. The spirit of our fathers, happily, still shows itself in us in this, as in other respects.
The year of the foundation of the city closed with lamentations. Sev- eral persons of distinction died from sickness occasioned by the residence in Charlestown. The chief of these victims was Mr. Johnson, the most wealthy of the planters, and second to none in ability, piety, and devo- tion to the interests of the colony ; and his wife, Lady Arabella, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln.
Mr. Johnson has been called the father of Boston, he having persuaded the Governor to cross the river. He supplied many persons with the means of joining the colony, and bequeathed a portion of his large prop- erty (his estates lay in Rutland, Northamptonshire, and Lincolnshire) to the company. His lot in Boston was the square bounded by Tremont and Washington, Court and School Streets, in the southwest corner of which he was buried by his own direction, and such was the strong attachment he had inspired that people ordered their bodies to be laid near his; this gave rise to the present chapel burial-ground.
The death of Lady Arabella Johnson appears to have been regarded as an irretrievable calamity. She was the pride of the colony ; and among several other women of distinction who bravely encountered the perils of emigration, she was conspicuous for her devotedness. Her language to her husband places her in the class of those great and true characters from among whom the master-painter of the world has selected his im- mortal portraits.
'Whithersoever your fatall destinie shall dryve you, eyther by the furious waves of the great ocean, or by the many-folde and horrible dan- gers of the lande, I wyl surely beare you company. There can no peryll chaunce to me so terrible, nor any kinde of death so cruell, that shall not be much easier for me to abyde, than to live so farre separate from you.'
A true devoted pilgrim is not weary To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps ; Much less shall she, that hath love's wings to fly ; And when the flight is made to one so dear.
The danger of famine added to the other distresses of the colonists. Great suffering on this account was endured between the 24th of Decem- ber, when the winter set in, and the 5th of February, 1631, when Captain
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Pierce arrived in the ship Lion, laden with provisions, and relieved them from their apprehension.
In this ship came over the wife and children of Governor Winthrop, who were received with the first of those public celebrations since be- come so frequent, and the Rev. John Eliot. In February, 1631, occurred the first fire. On the 8th of May, 1632, a General Court was held in Boston, at which, after reelecting the Governor and Deputy, it was ordered that two men should be chosen from each town to confer with the Court of Assistants. This order was the first step towards a house of representa- tives. In August of this year, the congregation of Mr. Wilson, who had returned from England, began the erection of a house for public wor- ship, and one for the residence of their pastor; and in the autumn the first separate Congregational church was formed in Charlestown. At the same time a house of correction was built; a house for the beadle (the sheriff); and a fortification on Fort Hill, then Corn Hill, was carried rapidly forward. In these occurrences we witness the energy and decis- ion with which our fathers proceeded at once to organize the community, and lay the basis of a permanent settlement.
The original owner of the peninsula, Mr. Blackstone, either preferring solitude or having no sympathy with the colonists, removed from Boston, having received thirty pounds for his rights in the place. He was an eccentric person, and when urged to join one of the churches, declined, saying. " I came from England because I did not like the LORD BISHOPS ; but I cannot join with you because I would not be under the LORD BRETH. REN." His library, which contained one hundred and eighty six volumes, proves him to have been a man of culture, and Mather speaks of him as a 'godly Episcopalian.'
In September, 1633, Mr. Cotton, to the great delight of the people, ar- rived from England.
Trading was begun already, and so well established that Thursday was appointed market-day ; the first house of entertainment, and the first shop, were opened in Boston. We get an idea of the progress of the colony from the fact that even at this early period Mr. Cotton thought it necessary to preach against luxuries and expensive fashions. Gold and silver laces, girdles, hat-bands, embroidered caps, large veils, and large sleeves, were specially condemned by the Court; and a sermon of Mr. Cotton, in Salem, led to the entire disuse of veils by the women. This indicated the reign not only of comfort, but of luxury.
The government of the town was placed, from the beginning, in the hands of individuals selected for the purpose by vote, but the name of Selectmen was not given to thein till 1641.
In May, 1631, the fort was completed, and ordnance was mounted, and in the same year the first BEACON was set on the Sentry Hill to give notice to the country of any danger. This year was also marked by a
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resolution of the General Court, appointing a committee to draw up the first body of laws of the colony.
Ships continued to arrive from the mother country. During one week in May, six ships with passengers and cattle anchored in Boston. On the 6th of October, 1635, there arrived two other ships; in one of which was Mr. Wilson, the pastor of the Boston church, and in the other the famous Henry Vane. The celebrity of the latter, after his return to England, during the civil wars and the reign of Cromwell, as well as his conduct while here, give interest to that portion of the colonial history with which he was connected. At the time of his arrival he was only twenty three years of age, but such was his ability, and religious fervor, that he soon acquired a controlling influence in the affairs of the colony, and in May, 1636, was elected Governor. His administration was at first very satisfactory and popular, but towards the end of the year the people grew weary and discontented. About this time there occurred a schism in the church, which was attributed in some degree to the character of the Governor. A Mrs. Hutchinson, wife of a gentleman of good reputa- tion in England, who, after he came to Boston, served several times as a Representative of the town in the General Court, established religious meetings at her bonse, (in imitation of those held by the men), for the dis- cussion of sermons and doctrines. The meetings of the men had hitherto excluded the other sex.
Mrs. Hutchinson's meetings were well attended, and at first were ap- proved by the community ; but, as might have been expected, they soon resulted in the dissemination of distinctions and dissensions, and the dis- turbance of public and private peace. Mrs. Hutchinson only allowed two or three of the ministers to be sound men, under the covenant of grace ; the rest she condemned as under the covenant of works. Several new tenets were advanced by these enthusiasts ; one of which was that cer- tain persons might be favored with immediate revelations of the Divine will, which deserved to be regarded as equally sacred with the Scriptures themselves. Of course, Mrs. Hutchinson was one of those individuals who not only might be so distinguished, but actually had enjoyed Divine inspiration. Another one of those tenets was the personal union of the Holy Ghost with a justified person .. It was not long before private dis- agreements resolved themselves into open quarrels. On one side of the controversy were ranged Mr. Winthrop and Mr. Wilson ; on the other Mr. Cotton and Governor Vane. Precisely as in the controversies of the present day, differences of opinion engendered pride and angry feelings, and these in turn gave rise to bitter criminations that could neither be re. called nor forgotten. The most excited of the agitators, then, as now, assuined the most unquestionable right of judgment, not of the conduct alone, but of the thoughts and motives of their opponents, which they naturally found to be wholly censurable ; claiming for themselves a
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special portion, at the same time, of that charity that is not puffed up, that thinketh no evil, and, above all, that rejoiceth in the truth. After much difficulty, and unprofitable discussion, the church of Boston found itself opposed to all the other churches in the country, and ministers and magistrates everywhere arrayed against her. Finally the Court, in a formal manner, called in the aid of the clergy to assist in the extermina- tion of heresy. In the course of the conference growing out of this call, Mr. Peters, who seems to have been a man of courage as well as penetra- tion, took occasion to remind Governor Vane that before his coming the churches were at peace ; he counselled the Governor to remember that his own experience was too short to be trusted, and advised him to be- ware of the hasty and peremptory conclusions into which he was liable to be betrayed by his temper.
' No event in the history of Boston appears to have engaged the pas. sions of the people more than this Antinomian controversy, as it was called. At the next election Mr. Vane and his supporters were left entire- ly out of office, and the former, having completed the breach of inter- course between Governor Winthrop and himself, sailed for England in August, 1637. This departure deprived Mrs. Hutchinson, notwithstand. ing her revelations, of her chief support. She, however, continued her lectures, for which she found ample encouragement in the uproar and disturbance they created. A Synod was held at Newtown to purify Boston from heresy, which was unanimous in its recommendations of restoration to peace, but in vain. The General Court then took up the subject; several of the most offensive disturbers of the harmony of society were necessarily expelled, for it was now evident that it was their determination not to desist from agitation till they had produced a divis- ion of the colony. In 1633, on the 22d of March, Mrs. Hutchinson was "cast out of the church for impenitently persisting in a manifest lie." In the year 1612, she, and her family consisting of sixteen persons, were all, with one exception, killed by the Indians in the Dutch country, where she had removed. The exception was a daughter, carried into captivity.
The first military expedition of the colony was fitted out in 1637, against the Pequod Indians, which was successful. The Rev. Mr. Wil- son accompanied it, as chaplain, with much faith and joy. The year after this expedition, the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was formed, having at first the character of an association for improvement in military exercises.
In 1614, a separation took place between the deputies and magistrates, and the two houses sat apart, their proceedings being communicated to each other in a parliamentary way. This was the origin of our present Senate. The revolution going on in England now arrested the attention of the colonial government. The authorities here, acquiesced in the suc. cessive changes of government that occurred during the civil wars in
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England, and in 1614, an order was passed condemning any one who should attempt to make a party in favor of the king. Very soon after, a great tumult was raised by the seizure of a Bristol ship in the harbor, by the captain of a London ship acting under the authority of a commis- sion from the Parliament. This affair, in which may be discerned the first demonstration of the Boston spirit of liberty, and determination to maintain its chartered rights, owing to the prudence of the magistrates, terminated peaceably.
" In the beginning of the year 1619, Boston suffered a mournful loss in the death of Governor Winthrop. From the first moment of placing his foot on the peninsula he had been its firmest friend. His resolute perse- verance in opposition to Dudley's plan of establishing the capital at Can- bridge, laid the foundation of Boston's greatness, and the endeavors of Endicott and his party to obtain the same honor for Salem, were rendered unavailing through the wisdom and prudence of Winthrop. He was one of the earliest Selectinen, and frequently served on that board. In almost every event of any moment we find him bearing part, and except for one short period he was an oracle and favorite with the people. Or, as Cotton expresses it, he was their friend in all things by his counsel, a help for their bodies by physic, and in their estates by law.
'. He was a pattern to the people of that frugality, decency, and tem- perance, which were necessary in their circumstances, and even denied hinself many of the elegancies and superfluities of life, which he had en- joyed elsewhere. This he did, both that he might set others a proper ex- ample, and be the better enabled to exercise that liberality in which he delighted. His charity indeed was unbounded. He would often send his servants on some errand, at meal times, to the houses of his neighbors, lo see how they were provided with food, and if there was a deficiency would supply thein from his own table. He mningled with his sterner vir- tues a happy portion of well-timed wit."
His remains were deposited in the family tomb on the north side of the chapel burial-ground. His portrait is preserved in the Land-Office at the State House.
The death of Governor Winthrop may be marked as an epoch in the history of Boston.
The population of the town had greatly increased; the extension of trade had led to the construction of wharves and other improvements ; the public instruction of youth was instituted; and a regular system of police established.
With regard to the trade, it must excite not a little surprise to learn that even as early as this, the surplus produce of the land was sent to Virginia, the West Indies, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, and Madeira ; 10 exchange for which were received the fruits, wines, and manufactures of those countries. Mr. Hugh Peters is noticed in Winthrop's Journal
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as laboring with great success to promote the commercial spirit, especial. ly in Salem, which owed her first distinction to his counsel. But as the Bostonians of that period were strictly a church-going people, the most satisfactory idea of the advance of population will be furnished by the dates of the erection of the churches, a few of which may be given in chronological order.
The second meeting-house in the town was built at the head of the North Square, in 1649.
In 1669, a third house of worship was erected on the spot where the Old South now stands.
And by the close of the century (1693), the seventh religious society, which was the fourth Congregational or Brattle Street Church, was formed in Boston.
The first important event in the colony that followed the death of Governor Winthrop, was the death of Mr. Cotton. His body 'was most honorably interred, with a most numerous concourse of people, and the most grievous and solemn funeral that was ever known, perhaps, upon the American strand ; and the lectures in his church, the whole winter, were but so many funeral sermons upon the death and worth of this ex. traordinary person.' His memory did not receive so much attention from his contemporaries without his deserving it, for in the language of the " Old Men's Tears," he was in his life, light, and learning, the brightest and most shining star in their firmament. Others of the first settlers passed from the active scenes of life about this time ; among them Captain Keayne, who died as late as 1656. He was the father of the Great Artil. lery ; and is distinguished among the early benefactors of the town, a class of public-spirited and benevolent men for which Boston has been famous beyond all other places. His will contains bequests to Harvard- College, to his pastor, to the Artillery Company, to the poor of the church, and those of the town, for the foundation of a library, and to the free school
The year 1653 is rendered memorable by the first great fire. In the year 1655, Mrs. Ann Hibbins was tried, and in 1656 executed, for witchcraft. Her husband, who died in 1651, was an agent for the colony in England, for several years one of the Assistants, and a merchant of note in the town. The worst offence of this miserable old lady seems to have been, that the loss of property had so soured her disposition as to render her odious to her neighbors. This was the third execution for witchcraft in New England.
In 1657 - 9, the first town-house was built. An examination of the Probate records of this period shows that the inhabitants of the town were abundantly supplied with the elegancies and luxuries of life, in fur. niture, dress, the table, and in servants.
We have already observed that the people of this colony sympathized
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in the revolutionary movements in England, and notwithstanding that a very loyal address was sent out upon the restoration of the monarchy, the complaints, long before begun on account of independence of the colony, now found an opportunity to make themselves heard. . The result of this clamor was the appointment, by Charles the Second, of a commission to hear and determine all matters in dispute, and to restore peace to the country. Four commissioners arrived in July, 1664, with these powers, one of whom, Samuel Maverick, Esq., was an implacable enemy of the colony. One of them became involved in a quarrel with a constable, by the name of Mason, and so unfavorable was their report, that the king de- manded that five persons should be sent out to answer for the conduct of the colony. This was the apparent beginning of those troubles which ended in the Revolution, and of which Boston was the principal theatre.
In the interval between the next period of disturbance with the mother country, and this date, the Baptists, who had suffered fines, whipping, imprisonment, and banishment, for their faith's sake, obtained a finally permanent footing in Boston, for which they were indebted to the inter- ference of the government at home, and not to any liberality on the part of the descendants of the original settlers.
The death of Mr. Wilson, the first pastor of the First Church, occurred in 1667. He was in his seventy-ninth year. He left the reputation of an able, pious, amiable, and benevolent man.
In 1675, the Indian war with King Philip broke out, in which Boston necessarily took an active part. Several companies of horse and foot joined the body of Massachusetts and Plymouth forces, and contributed to the success of the campaign.
One of the Indian chiefs, John Monacho, or one-eyed John, had threat- ened to burn down the town ; but he was caught and hung at the town's end in September, 1676. In the same year, another great conflagration destroyed forty-three dwelling-houses, some other buildings, and a meet- ing-house.
In 1679, the first fire-engine was procured, and the first fire company organized, the meinbers of which were then, as now, exempted from training. Another terrible fire broke out at midnight, on the 8th of Au- gust of this year, and converted the town into a scene of desolation. Eighty and more dwelling-houses, above seventy warehouses, and several vessels with their cargoes, were consumed. The loss was estimated at £ 200,000, and it was supposed to be the work of incendiaries.
After this calamity, a law was made to prevent the erection of wooden buildings, either houses or stores.
The old house now standing at the corner of Ann Street and Market Square, a picture of which we give on the next page. is one of the few specimens which remain to us, of the architecture of that time. It was built in 1680, soon after this fire.
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" The peaks of the roof remain precisely as they were first erected, the fraine and external appearance never having been altered. The timber used in the building was principally oak, and, where it has been kept dry, is perfectly sound and intensely hard. The outside is covered with plas- tering, or what is commonly called rough-cast. But instead of pebbles, which are generally used at the present day to make a hard surface on the mortar, broken glass was used. This glass appears like that of com- mon junk bottles, broken into pieces of about half an inch diameter, the sharp corners of which penetrate the cement in such a manner, that this great lapse of years has had no perceptible effect upon them. The figures 1680 were impressed into the rough-cast to' show the year of its erec. tion, and are now perfectly legible. This surface was also variegated with ornamental squares, diamonds, and flowers-de-luce. The building is only two stories high, and is about thirty-two feet long and seventeen wide ; yet tradition inforins us that it was once the residence of two respectable families, and the front part was at the same time occupied for two shops or stores."
In 1681, the Council granted an act of incorporation to the projectors and proprietors of the old acharces ; one of the principal objects of which, so far as the town was interested, was protection against the ships of an enerny. that should succeed in passing the Castle. They were never re- quired for that purpose, and the profits arising from the undertaking were so small that the wharves were suffered to go to decay, and no trace of
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them is now to be seen. Those who are curious in such matters, must consult one of the old plans, to understand the nature of the project.
In 1684, another example was given by the freemen of Boston, of their desire and determination to resist to the utmost the attempts to deprive them of their charter and privileges, by passing a resolution at a town meeting urging the General Court not to submit to a quo warranto issued against the charter, which had been brought out by one Edward Ran- dolph, a man who had become infamous, and hated by the people as a spy upon their liberties. In 1631, this Randolph obtained a commission from the crown as collector and surveyor of the part of Boston, and appears not to have been permitted to exercise the duties of his office.
The fall of the old charter was followed by the appearance of Sir Edmund Andros, in 1686, with a commission from James the Second, con- stituting him Governor of the whole country, and empowering him to make laws and raise money, without any assembly, or the consent of the people.
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