USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Winthrop > The history of Winthrop, Massachusetts ; 1630-1952 > Part 10
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Then in 1753, a proposal of great importance was made. In 1720 it seems, Joseph Belcher Jr., a grandson of the Joseph Belcher who married Sara Bill, purchased the extremity of the Deane Winthrop estate-that part which included what is now Point Shirley but was then known as the Gut, or more formally, as the "Gutt Plein". This was an area of 140 acres of upland and beaches and 10 acres of marsh. In 1748, this property was sold to Thomas Pratt, who had visions of a great enterprise. The exact nature of his plans became known in 1752 when he con- veyed the property to a syndicate organized by Thomas Goldth- wait, who planned to establish an extensive fishery at the Point.
The news electrified Winthrop, for the members of the syn- dicate included men of prominence at Boston. Colonel Thomas Goldthwait, the leading spirit of the business, was merchant, selectman, commissioner of the Land Bank, representative to the General Court, truck master, judge of the court of common pleas and many things more. A man of great enterprise and undoubted ability, he was particularly prominent in the affairs of Chelsea and also was a leader in the fishing business. He was a paymaster for the Army at Crown Point and discharged the difficult task of settling accounts with some 4000 soldiers over a three year period. Later in life he became interested in the District of Maine where he was Captain at Fort Pownall, at the mouth of the Penobscot, justice of the Lincoln County Court, colonel of the Second Maine regiment and the first moderator of the first town meeting at Belfast. While in command at Fort Pownall in 1775, he allowed a British sloop of war, the Canceau, to dis- mantle the works. Boston did not approve of this at all and the Colonel was dropped from the rolls of the new Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as accused of being a Loyalist. Soon after, he sailed to England where he died in 1799.
Associated with him at Point Shirley was a half-brother, Ezekial Goldthwait, who was town clerk of Boston for 20 years and Suffolk County registrar of Deeds for thirty years more.
Next was John Rowe, of Rowe's Wharf fame, a noted patriot and Grand Master of the Grand Lodge, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, from 1768 to 1787. He was also a selectman of Boston. Then there was Henry Atkins, a Boston selectman, too; Nathaniel Holmes, a prominent businessman of Roxbury; John
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Baker, yet another Boston selectman; Ralph Inman, a wealthy Tory of Cambridge, James Pitts, an eminent Boston merchant; Thomas Greene, a leading Boston merchant; Thomas Hancock, uncle of John Hancock, an opulent Boston merchant and, later, John Hancock, one of Boston's great merchants and patriots- who took his uncle's place upon his death in the enterprise at the Point.
Seldom has a more distinguished group of men been directly concerned in the affairs of Winthrop. Boston, naturally, gave the syndicate every encouragement, leasing it Deer Island for additional space, for a period of years at a very nominal rental.
The company planned to build extensive warehouses, wharves, dwellings and the like to accommodate the large num- ber of families they anticipated employing. It was alleged shortly that the syndicate was paying more attention to the construction of "luxurious villas" at the Point for the leaders of the enterprise than they were in providing adequate quarters for the help. Be that as it may, in addition to the "villas", a church, a store, ware- houses, wharves and dwellings for the employees were con- structed on an ambitious scale. It is recorded that in 1775 the famous minister, Reverend Mathew Byles preached there. He was soon after denounced and proscribed as a Loyalist-as in- deed were many prominent and wealthy Boston men. It should be remembered, that with a few exceptions, of which John Han- cock was a shining example, many wealthy Bostonians, as in other American cities, had little to gain and much to lose in a Revolution. So they were either active as Loyalists, if they had the courage of their convictions, or else lukewarm and fence sitters so far as possible in dealing with the patriots who, as always has been the case in revolutions, were, so far as the rank and file went, farmers, clerks, fishermen and the like who had nothing to lose but their lives and liberty to gain.
By late summer of 1753, the company had its buildings fairly well readied for actual operation and in addition had hous- ing for 50 workmen and their families. So it was determined to encourage public relations by a grand "house warming" to which prominent and influential Bostonians were invited, together with their ladies. There is no record of any of the four families of Winthrop being invited, although they may have been. The offi- cials of the colony were all invited from Governor Shirley and his lady, on down to members of the General Court.
The Boston News Letter, September 13, 1753, printed the following news report, in part: "On Saturday last, His Excel- lency, Governor Shirley, did the Proprietors of Pulling Point the honour of dining with them at the said Point, where a very ele- gant entertainment was prepared for him; he was attended
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thither by the Proprietors of Pulling Point and a number of gen- tlemen of distinction from town; he was saluted with 15 guns from Castle William as he went down, and the same number when he returned; and was received at the Point with all the demonstrations of joy that so new a settlement was capable of. His Excellency expressed great satisfaction on finding so con- siderable an addition to that valuable branch of trade, the 'Cod Fishery', and he hoped the gentlemen concerned would meet with such success as to make ample returns for so noble an under- taking."
At the entertainment, the Proprietors, after securing "leave from his Excellency", gave the name of Point Shirley to what had been Pulling Point. This publicity in a sense backfired, as publicity often does, for besides encouraging investors to join the syndicate, it also made the Point a noted Summer resort-a quality it has continued to possess more or less, ever since that time, 200 years ago.
A later writer describing the affair was less prosy than the staid reporter of the News Letter. His account ran, in part: "We may imagine the rowing gallies crowded with rich costumes and gay uniforms, the saluting cannon from Castle William, the new buildings at the Point gay with flags, the stately courtesy of the reception, the ceremony of the banquet, the abundance of good cheer, the loyal and gallant toasts drunk in huge bumpers of port and Madeira, the convivial throngs around flowing punch bowls, and the flowery after-dinner speeches. ... "
Unfortunately, "it was apparent that the new company was not a success at first, as the Town of Chelsea (of which Point Shirley was then a part) voted to remit its taxes in 1753 and 1754."
But by 1755 the business was apparently prospering, for the residents of the Point that year were substantial enough to de- mand a share in the town government of Chelsea. Accordingly, Chelsea town meeting voted to increase the number of selectmen to five, including one from the Point. Thomas Goldthwait, who as managing director of the company, had taken up residence at the Point, was accordingly elected to represent the Point and he continued in office until 1763 when the organization virtually ceased operations.
But for the moment in 1755, the fisheries company was prosperous so, in addition to a selectman, the Chelsea town meet- ing also gave the Point the right to have a constable and a road surveyor from amongst the residents of the "furtherest East." Hard times soon returned to the fisheries enterprise and in 1758, the Boston Town Meeting passed a motion to inquire into the affairs of the company. Thereupon the Proprietors officially ac-
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knowledged that they were not doing as well as had been hoped. The reason advanced was that the company was prevented by the French war from sending fishing vessels out. Indeed, some of the company's vessels had been captured by the French off the Maine coast. However, the statement expressed the belief, that, once the war was over, the fishing company would be very prosperous. However, the reverse was true. The company was doomed to failure.
Just why the enterprise failed is not known. Contemporary critics laid the blame at the door of the proprietors, saying they were so fond of pleasure and good times they neglected the busi- ness. This is a common allegation, however, and seldom true. In this case it is particularly unlikely because the members of the company included many prominent business men who were out- standingly successful in other enterprises. Certainly men of such calibre would not permit their capital to be wasted in a venture given to pleasure rather than to sober labor. The buildings of the fisheries, being far too empty in 1759 were used in part to quarter troops while in 1762 and again in 1767, probably, ware- houses were made into barracks to house Acadians removed in that tragic exile from Nova Scotia. The persecuted French could hardly have been comfortable in the old buildings.
While the proprietors continued hopeful of resurrecting the business after its formal close in 1763, until about 1809, when the shareholders took the property in lieu of their investments, the Point continued to prosper as a summer resort. So well did it do in that respect that a Benjamin Wheeler, hopeful of build- ing a huge development on the Point, quietly acquired all the fisheries property from the individual directors and shareholders. He was a little ahead of his time.
One of the most prominent summer residents at the Point in the later part of the 18th century was Governor John Hancock, who built himself a villa next to the old brick house standing today on Siren Street. Here, as evidence, a friend at Boston sent a letter to Mrs. Hancock, addressing it "Att Point Shirley, via Apple Island."
In 1764, a violent and virulent epidemic of smallpox raged at Boston and struck the inhabitants with fear. The Governor and the Executive Council promptly named the Point as a site for a smallpox hospital and accepted the offer of the fisheries company to make use of their buildings. There was more non- sense than sense practiced in the care of smallpox then and the citizens of Chelsea, including no doubt the residents of the main part of Winthrop, cried out in horror at the idea. However, the following arrangement was finally agreed upon by Boston and Chelsea, by then a separate town: "March 7, 1764, We the sub-
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scribers, having hired Point Shirley of the Proprietors for an Innoculation Hospital, do oblige ourselves to pay to the town of Chelsea 18 pence lawfull money, for every person that shall be innoculated on said Pointe, on condition the said town do at their present March meeting Vote and Grant said Physicians liberty to innoculate on said Pointe, with the exception that the sum of two shillings be the amount paid to the town for each patient treated. ... " Rather elaborate and confusing rules and regula- tions, especially as there was more than one method of inocula- tion used. The medical way was primarily that of drawing a needle and thread through pustules on the body of an afflicted person and then drawing the same needle and thread through the arm of the person to be inoculated. Crude no doubt but it usually worked if the patient being inoculated did not die in the process. The other method of innoculation, much more popu- lar, is revealed by Chelsea town meeting making an appropria- tion of nine shillings and seven pence for rum for Richard Stowers of Worcester during his "last sickness of the Small Pox." Rum was then very cheap, perhaps a shilling a gallon, so it must have been well liked as a medical treatment.
The smallpox incident gave the summer resort business at the Point a case of poor publicity and many of the summer resi- dents lost interest in the Point. Then, gradually the families who had been employed at the fisheries moved away and from some 300 people in 1760, less than two families remained by 1780. The buildings fell into decay and soon collapsed. Such was the Point when the Revolution came along and because of its position commanding the entrance to the harbor, the Point once again entered the limelight.
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Chapter Seven THE TOWN OF CHELSEA
TO ROUND OUT the history of Pullen Point up to the Revo- lution, mention must be made of the development of the general area of which future Winthrop was a part.
As has been mentioned, Pullen Point, together with Rumney Marsh and Winnesimmit were a unit which was in turn a part of the Town of Boston. This group of two future cities and a town, was usually referred to as Rumney Marsh alone, or else was known as District 13 of the Town of Boston. After about a century of being a minor part of Boston, District 13 became restive and began seeking independence. The first petition for separation was filed in 1735 and was denied although the report of the committee appointed by Boston was complimentary enough: " ... We find that they (residents of District 13) are a very industrious people, growing in their substance and estates, and too valuable a member to be severed from the body. ... "
Undaunted, District 13 tried again in 1738 and were as promptly turned down by the Selectmen of Boston. Persistent, the leaders of the movement promptly petitioned the General Court and, lacking any real reason for separation, alleged that the storms of March prevented the residents of District 13 from attending the Boston town meeting-and thus they were being deprived of their liberties and being taxed without representa- tion. It was, patently, a flimsy reason and the committee of the legislature promptly tossed the petition out the window.
However, enough political manipulations were engineered to bring the petition onto the floor of the General Court, to over- ride the adverse committee report, and to pass the petition November 27, 1738. Officially, the new town of Chelsea was in- corporated with Pullen Poynte and Rumney Marsh included as part of the new corporation.
It seems as if the separation was not wise. The new town, covering comparatively a large area, was very thinly settled. What was more serious, it was mostly an area of farms and the properties of the farmers were inadequate to provide the muni- cipal services which Boston had provided. Nothing remained, however, but to organize a town government and on March 5,
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1739, a town meeting was held and officers elected. Among these was a member of the Floyd family and one of the Belchers.
It soon was evident that the assets of the new town of Chel- sea were inadequate to support a government and so, in 1742, Chelsea petitioned for the annexation to their corporation of Hog and Noddle Islands-which is now East Boston and Orient Heights. The petition to the General Court alleged that the area was necessary for the welfare of Chelsea and that the two islands were always considered part of District 13. Hence Chelsea was being unjustly deprived of an area which it legally owned. The General Assembly denied the petition with vigor. At the same time, Chelsea itself was split by a petition from the northern part of the new Town, the Pan Handle, who wished to secede and join the large and prosperous town of Saugus. The first petition from the Pan Handle was made in 1735 but the wishes of the residents there did not prevail until 1841.
Thus the new town of Chelsea or Winnesimmit as it was still called, failed to put itself on its feet, as is evident by petitions to the General Court praying for a reduction in valuations so as to lessen the burden of State taxes. The General Court apparently took the attitude that Chelsea had made its bed and must lie upon it.
The earliest census figures known of the new town are those of 1763, 29 years after its incorporation. Then there were but 54 dwellings and 70 families, and 419 people. Of these 195 were under 16 years of age; voters numbered 78, slaves 43; horses 49, oxen 61, cows 213, hogs 9, and sheep 1622. It is questionable if these figures, especially as to animals, are correct, for certainly 70 families would have more than nine hogs among them, as pork was one of the mainstays of colonial life. Possibly since taxes were based on livestock, the true number was not always reported-or else all but the pigs saved for breeding were killed off before the day for making assessments.
Indeed, the citizens commonly made a poor face whenever they went, hat in hand, to the General Court seeking abatement of taxes. Once Chelsea claimed: " ... that from the northeast to the south bounds of said township they lie exposed to the open ocean, whereby the rage of the sea destroys acres of the lands, and some of the best of the lands of said township are lost every year."
Twice specific reference is made to Pullen Point in these petitions. It was pointed out in 1749 that the town was being charged ten pounds for educating the children "living in those branches of the town called the Rocks and Pullen Point."
Again, Point Shirley's lamentable plight was described, in part as follows: "When the valuation was taken in 1772, there
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was a part of our town called Pleasant Point (which is a new name for Point Shirley), that then had about 20 good dwelling houses, some stores, warehouses and barns, and some vessels at that place for carrying on the fishery business, and there was in that part of the town some twenty families, and as many rateable polls, able to pay public taxes; all of said stores, warehouses, barns and vessels are lost and gone, and a great part of said dwelling houses are torn or fallen down, and those few, that remain, are so torn to pieces and out of repair that there is not any fit for the poorest people to live in, so that there are but two families, and two rateable polls, that are able to pay any public taxes there."
During this period, of about a hundred years, the center of the three towns to be, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, was at Revere Center, where the first church and the Town House were located at or near the corner of present Beach Street and School Street. The future City of Chelsea was inferior not only to Revere but to Winthrop, for it consisted most of this period of but four farms. Indeed, it was not until 1836, after the farms were taken in hand by real estate operators, that Chelsea began to grow. The four farms were purchased in part, the area broken up into streets and house lots and industrial sites, in the now familiar fashion. Chelsea began to grow so lustily that what had been for some 200 years the least of the three sections, soon be- came the greatest of them all-as it is today in point of wealth and population.
Back in the early days of Chelsea, Rumney Marsh was veri- tably the center of the town. Residents of Pullen Point, lest they sailed across the harbor to Boston, or made the endless trip by land way out through Harvard Square, went to Revere Center. Usually, although there was a road of sorts, around via Beach- mont and Revere Beach and up Beach Street, they went by boat, passing down Crooked Lane, as Belle Isle Inlet was then known, into Chelsea Creek and making a landing at the Old Tide Mill just off the Revere Beach Parkway near the gas tanks of the Suburban Gas and Electric Company. This must have been a very pleasant passage in those days for there were no roads to block passage, no sewers, no Suffolk Downs and no oil farms. It was a lovely, wide-open sweep of salt marsh, threaded by numer- ous creeks of clear water and inhabited in season by multitudes of wild fowl. The horrid fate which has overtaken Belle Isle Inlet and the wide marshes is of course, altogether a modern development, coming mostly in the early 30s of this century. The writer as a boy hunted and fished on the Winthrop and Revere Marshes, little knowing the abomination which was soon to befall his paradise.
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To return to municipal governments, Suffolk County, of which Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop are the component parts, has been established as a most unique arrangement, greatly to the advantage of Winthrop if not to the advantage of Boston tax-payers. This arrangement, to step out of chronological order for the moment, dates back to 1831, when the town of Chelsea (which then included Revere and Winthrop) was annexed to Suffolk County, which originally was what is now the City of Boston. At the moment the two cities and town to be which made up Chelsea had a population of 771, so the tax returns from the starveling town were insignificant. No City of Boston father then ever dreamed that within a century the town of Chelsea would become two cities and a town with a combined population of about 125,000 and would thus comprise a rich source of taxes.
Chelsea was indifferent, at least professedly so about the idea of joining Suffolk County and so was able to drive a bargain. In return for the loss of any share in the county tax returns, the area was to be forever relieved of any county taxation and would be given free county services. Of course Chelsea deeded to Suffolk all its property used for county purposes-but this amounted to very little, certainly.
Thus today, Chelsea, Winthrop and Revere are given a free ride in county matters. Of course we do not vote for the County officials, who are the Mayor and Councilmen of the City of Bos- ton. These officers have jurisdiction over all county matters, save county roads and bridges, which for lack of other officials, were made the responsibility of the County Commissioners of Middle- sex County. Thus Winthrop citizens, residents of Suffolk County, cannot vote for their own county officers but do vote for the Mid- dlesex County Commissioners. Only Yankees could have worked out such an arrangement.
This is particularly true in that, without a cent of cost, Win- throp, Revere and Chelsea now enjoy the delightful spectacle of seeing Boston pay for its police courts, jails and such public charges as fall to the account of Suffolk County. Of course, the City of Boston, long suffering from various maladministrations, extravagant political programs and the like, which have resulted in a terrific tax rate, every now and then seeks to have the con- tract broken and so tap the rich taxable resources of Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop. Perhaps it is unfair for the overburdened tax payer of Boston to support Suffolk County entirely. Certainly Boston is justified in seeking redress but, yet, a contract is a con- tract.
Several times, Boston has attempted to swallow Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop. This has consistently failed of being any- thing but talk, because Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea are per-
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fectly happy with the status quo. Then, again, Boston has sought to have the contract set aside as being against the public interest and so compel the now exempt area to pay its share of county taxes. This effort, so far at least, has failed. A third attempt by Boston is even simpler-to expel Winthrop, Revere and Chelsea from the County and then, since we cannot be left homeless for a county, to have us join Middlesex County. It is to be imagined that Middlesex County, one of the largest and most prosperous in the Commonwealth, while they might welcome Winthrop, has no great hunger for Chelsea and Revere. So this essay has also fallen down. What will be the eventual outcome is something of course that cannot be guessed but at present it seems unlikely that anything can be done to upset the contract written so lightheartedly in 1831.
During the late 17th century and in the 18th up to the Revo- lution, although Pullen Point remained what would be termed by modern standards, a sleepy village of farmers, there was con- siderable development, although growth was slow and small com- paratively. Of course Winthrop was isolated geographically and, even more limiting to its development, it was owned by three or four closely related families who were not hospitable to outsiders wishing to come to town. Land simply was not for sale. Thus we have the picture of Pullen Point, one which endured for many years, of Americans largely of English ancestry who lived very quietly and on the whole comfortably and happily, content with their lot.
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Chapter Eight WINTHROP UP TO THE REVOLUTION
ALTHOUGH BOSTON was so near that Winthrop could not escape the influence of the bustling life of what was then the largest town in the Americas, on the whole the Bills, Belchers, Floyds and Tewksburys lived just about as their grandfathers and great-grandfathers had done, asking little and expecting nothing much from outside their own family groups.
They had no church, no school and no store and depended upon each other whenever need arose. In single word, Win- throp was an island off to the north east of Boston and went its own way, content if not molested.
The houses were all well-built and comfortable by colonial standards, although modern Winthrop families would not want homes without running water, sanitary conveniences, electric lights and refrigerators, and the like, including of course oil burning furnaces. The old-timers were content with a spring within walking distance for their water supply, candles for lights and so forth, with only fireplaces for heat. Often the only fire- place in common use was the huge one in the kitchen; often the rest of the house was unheated and the idea of heated bedrooms just did not occur to anyone. Although wild game, save for sea fowl, was soon extinct, Winthrop tables were spread abundantly if in limited variety. In addition to sea food, the farms must have been productive for many a Winthrop farmer, starting out as a tenant, soon saved enough to purchase the property. Then, of course, Boston was only a hour's row or sail in good weather, so the luxuries and staples of the large town were available to any- one with produce to barter.
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