USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. II > Part 6
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Marsh.
Is Way To Roxbury
Shore Line.
PLAN D. (SOUTH END.)
William Wright before 1672. Suffolk Deeds, lib. xi. f. 84, has a plan of the division of Snow's estate, showing that as early as 1672 a lane ran from Boylston Street northeast, nearly on the line of the present Tremont Street. Mr. Whitmore says that between 4 and 5 was another lot, laid out by the town in 1665 to Richard Bellingham in compensation for land taken of him for the "highway toward Roxsberry."
5. Robert Walker, h. and g. March 30, 1639-40, the Common was reserved north of this, and excepting "three or four lots" (6, 7, 8, and 9) further down the way, when Robert Warbur: beyond 9 the line of the Common crossed the street and took in Park Square and some of the bordering lands. Walker died May 29, 1687; and Sewall (Papers, i. 179) says he was " a very good man and conversant among God's New England people from the beginning." Walker's lot was known as Foster's Pasture, when the town bought it in 1787. It is now nearly represented in the Deer Park.
10.
5.
(Boylston St)
xxxvii
INTRODUCTION.
6. William Briscoe, tailor, h. and g. ; granted 1639-40. 7. Cotton Flacke ; granted 1640 ; seems to have also been granted to Edward Goodwin, and later belonged to William Blantaine. Flacke signed his will, 1654, with a mark. It is given in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Oct. 1854, p. 353. His widow Jane sold the lot in 1658 to Thomas Clarke, who died in 1678, and his daughters, - Leah married Thomas Baker and Deborah married Nathaniel Byfield. One of John Sarril Baker's daughters married George Waldron, who in 1704 bought out the other heirs and in 1714 sold to Colonel Fitch, as stated below. Whitmore thinks Clarke also owned to the Marsh, taking in lots 8 and 9. 8. John Search, granted 1641. 9. Arthur Clarke, granted 1645.
The lots from 5 to 9 came in the next century into the possession of Colonel Thomas Fitch and his heirs. Fitch bought the lower part, in 1714, of George Waldron, when Edward Bromfield owned the upper part. Fitch's heirs, The Twitch Martha Allen and Andrew Oliver, inherited and added to the Fitch property to make them the owners of all the north side of Boylston Street. In 1757 Andrew Oliver, Jr, and his wife Mary sold the present burial-lot to the town; and having two years before bought the Allen share east of it, he sold that to William Foster in 1780, and Foster, in 1787, deeded the present deer-park and adjacent ground to the town. Sewall Papers, ii. 411.
And Olivez
And " Oliver Jun .
10. The Common. The question of the extension of the Common over the Round Marsh, where later the rope-walks were, is set forth in Gleaner Articles, p. 36, note. 11. Ralph Roote, h. and g. ; sold in 1660 to James Balston ; owned in 1702 by the Widow Rainsford. Beyond this, bounding on the Marsh (10), was William Salter, h. and g. He was the jailer. In '1689 this fell to his son Jabez ; in 1702 it was sold to John Barry, who in 1718 gave it to his nephew James Barry. This lot extended beyond Carver Street, and followed nearly the line of Pleasant Street in bounding on the Marsh.
12. John Cranwell, h. and g., with a rear lot. His brother sold it in 1652 to Margery, widow of Jacob Eliot, Sr. 13. Robert Walker, g .; the west part was owned by Thomas Baker and the east by Thomas Downes in 1674, when the Eliot heirs added it to No. 12; and in 1724 the Holyoke heirs sold the corner (Hotel Pelham) to William Lambert. 14. William Talmage, g. In 1706 his niece, Ann Flack, sold it to John Clough. It took in what is now Hotel Boylston. 15. Whitmore places here the gardens of Edward Belcher and Seth Perry, which in 1697 were owned by Francis Burroughs and Simeon Stoddard.
16. Elder Jacob Eliot, h. and g., with adjoining lands. After Eliot's death (see his will in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Jan. 1850, p. 53 ; also, 1876, p. 205) the
william folha
JaTob Selich
house-part of this estate passed to Deacon Theophilus Frary, who married Eliot's daughter Hannah. The annexed signatures of the children and son-in-law of the Elder are from a petition in approval of a memorial to the court, on file in the Probate Office. Frary died in 1700, leaving his estate to his three daughters, one of whom, Abigail, the wife of one Arnold, had an only child, Hannah, who married Samuel Welles, a merchant, whose autograph is here copied from a bill for furnishing presents to the Indians. The estate remained in the Welles family till it passed to Joseph C. Dyer, and from him to the Boylston Market Association. Their market-house was moved back eleven feet in 1870.
xxxviii
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
(Sewall Papers, ii. 23.) The adjacent lands fell to the second Jacob and other of the E proprilub franz Eliot heirs, one of whom allied with the Holy- okes, a daughter of the second Jacob marrying Elizur Holyoke, who became one of this South End neighborhood, and died in 1711. Eliot Street was laid out by these heirs in 1740 (see Whit- Jatob Elliot more's note in Gleaner Articles, p. 43), and also that part of Tremont Street which is between Boylston and Hollis streets, to be called Holyoke Street. (Sewall Papers, ii. 320.) This last, how- ever, must have been laid out before 1733, if the
Susanna elliot
John Clough
copy of Bonner's map bearing that date, in Mr. David Pulsifer's possession, is to be depended on. In this copy this part of Tremont Street appears with the name "Slough Street" written
Bolton Nov 6.754 capt- Errors Samuel Wells
in. The 1743 edition of the map gives it Clough Street, named, as Mr. Whitmore says, from John Clough, who lived where Hotel Boylston now is. The other designation
₹
Milk Street
annen
--
coupen
Olivers Dock :
ols Whar.
HAMA
Greenleafø ya
larshalls w Long |Wharfe
3 Rope Walks
AA
ZA
Long Ware II .
Wings Sh.Yd
Olivers Wharfe.
-
--
Battery Marth
3
Fort Hill
Rel
hars
S Battery.
FROM BONNER'S MAP, 1722.
. (Slough) was not inappropriate, as it will be seen by the map in Vol. I. that low, swampy lands existed between Eliot and Boylston Streets.
Old Wharfe .
Gares Sh Yd
-
Parmens .W
mitstabel Elliot
INTRODUCTION.
XXXIX
17. Garret Bourne, h. and g. 18. Owen Roe. 19. Richard Croychley, 2 a. ; for
Dinely heirs. 20. Richard Parker. 21. William Coleborne's field, from shore to shore, and extending to Castle Street, south ; cut afterwards by the extension, in 1664, of the main street (dotted lines), the way to Roxbury before that date following the shore. Here, upon what was later known as Hollis Street, upon land given by Governor Belch- er, who lived in the neigh- borhood, a small wooden meeting-house was built in 1732, in which Mather Beech S Byles was the first minis- ter. This building stood upon the present site of the church till 1787. Byles lived in a house whose A Orange Str site is partly covered by Tremont Street, opposite where Shawmut Avenue enters it. Belcher lived IA on the easterly side of the Main Street, on the lot between the present Har- vard and Bennett streets. (Drake's Boston, p. 585.) ATARANGAA - Belcher's mansion was bought in 1765 by Thomas Amory, the loyalist. For the grants south of Castle Street see Gleaner Articles, No. 13. FROM BONNER'S MAP, 1722. Rainford
22. William Davis, Sr. 23. Jacob Eliot, to which his widow Margery added in 1653. Mr. Whitmore says the Eliots owned finally all the lots between 23 and 16. 24. William Salter, I a. " Brother " Salter was allowed to set up a fish-house on the sunken marsh by the creek side, in 1650 ; and in 1678 his widow sold it to John Leverett, who had already, in 1675, a part of 22. According to Whitmore, the Leverett property fell probably to his son-in-law Elisha Cooke, who sold, in 1739-40, to George Tilley, who in 1744 says his land bounds east on Pleasant Street, then laid out.
From/Tonm H
One mile.
Orange Str
.
Fortification
Gallon
In the lower part of the plan, in the space between the "way to Roxbury " and the dotted lines, Mary, widow of William Salter, lived in 1680. The Eliot heirs owned on both sides of the line of Washington Street to the north and east of Salter, and a natural water-course would seem to have divided their lands, for in .1698 it is ordered that such a water-course be preserved between the wharves of Baruchiah Arnold (Frary's son-in-law) and Peter Welcome (Salter's son-in-law).1
1 The Editor has availed himself of memoranda kindly furnished him by Mr. Whitmore, in elucidating Plan D.
xl
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
PLAN E. 1. Abel Porter. Windmill Point is about where East Street joins Federal Street. 2. William Letherland, or Letherbee, h. and 1. 3. Thomas Grubb had a fish-
Fort PL.
Marshy Shore.
14.
2
S.
11.
18.
Massh
16.
10.
2.
Creek
19. (Milk St.)
20.
house hereabout in 1639, when Edward Grosse was given a house-lot " bounding towards the beach." 4. Matthew Iyons, brewer, h. He made his mark to his will, which is printed in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Jan. 1857, p. 36. 5. Edward Browne, h. and g.
6. Nicholas Baxter, h. 7. Richard Gridley, captain of militia, h. and 1. It
ichard grisly
was on this ground, after Purchase Street, then called Belcher's Lane. was laid out, that Captain Samuel Adams, the father of
Samuel adams
on the line of the present Gridley Street, Captain John Bonner lived. 8. John Harri- the patriot, lived ; and here, in 1722, the 3. latter was born, in a fine, commanding house overlooking the harbor. Adjoining 2. was his malt-house and other buildings. 1. Adams, the father, had bought the lot in 24. 1712, and a wharf on the water-front was long known by his name. East of this, son, h. He established on this lot the first rope-walk, about John Harrisons 1641. (Gleaner Articles, No. 16.) 9. William Davis, Sr., h. and 34 a. 10. Richard Gridley's pasture. It was in this pasture, which in Bonner's map is intersected by Gibbs's Lane, with Gibbs's wharf on the shore just north of it, that Colonel
PLAN E.
7.
22.
(Summer , St.)
6.
5.
(Nouch St )
Wind mill Pc.
(FORT HILL.)
21.
( High Sc.)
8.
xli
INTRODUCTION.
Robert Gibbs built his famous house, which surprised the colonial town by its costliness. His wife Elizabeth survived him.
Kutat gibbs 8 Felizabeth Gilze
11. The Fort. In 1644 land of Mr. William Hibbins was taken for the " breast-worke upon the Fort Hill ; " and also, same year, land of James Penn. 12. John Compton, h. and g. 13. Benjamin Gillom, h. and g. He was allowed to wharf out in 1647. Off this shore
Beniamin gillome
23 Imamin Sucre
the South Battery or the Sconce was built in the colonial times. 14. Benjamin Ward, h., I a. See probate papers in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1864, p. 154.
15. Ensign Edward Hutchinson, h. and y. 16. Na- thaniel Woodward, h. and g. 17. The present bend on Edward Hluhikingen Batterymarch Street, which was laid out in 1673. On the marsh to the northwest, on the corner of what is now Batterymarch Street and Liberty Square, stood a well-known ordinary. The marsh had been let by the town in 1656 to Captain James Johnson, and this site was conveyed by him to Thomas Hull ; and in 1673 Nathaniel Bishop lived here, and the house was known as "The Blue Bell," and was jointly tenanted the next year by Deacon Henry Alline and Hugh Drury. In 1692 it is called " The Castle Tavern," and Mr. Hassam thinks (N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., 1877, p. 329) it ceased to be an inn after 1707.
Aline
18. Valentine Hill's bridge, about where the present Liberty Square is, on the line of Kilby Street. There were other occupants round this shore (9 to 17) in 1649, when Hutchinson, Gillom, Ward, and Compton, and also Jonathan Balston, Thomas Smyth, Stephen Baker, and Richard Richardson, were allowed to make a highway over the marsh " to Mr. Hill's bridge."
19. Cart-bridge, mentioned 1658, as over the creek, by Peter Oliver's, and leading to Benjamin Gillom's. 20. Richard Fairbanks's pasture, 5 a. It was this pasture, east of the present Pearl Street, which Theodore Atkinson, not long after 1700, sold to Edward Gray, who built rope-walks on it in 1712. They are seen in Bonner's map in 1722. In 1732 a John Gray lane running parallel to the building was called Hutchinson Street, changed in 1800 to Pearl. A son, John Gray, succeeded to the business. Gleaner Articles, No. 16, traces the history of these rope-walk lots.
21. Robert Turner's pasture. 22. Ben- jamin Gillom, h. and lot ; his inventory in 1670 speaks of his estate on the shore as com- prising a dwelling-house, shed, and wash-house, valued at £360. It includes also part of a ship on the stocks, £398, - probably building at this point. See his family connections in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., July, 1865, p. 254. The present High Street is called in 1642 the highway already begun from Widow Tuthill's windmill to the Fort, twenty feet broad. 23. William Teft. 24. Thomas Munt. VOL. II. - f.
xlii
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
65.
V64.
Mill Cove.
74
70. 69.
68.
Shore
Marsh and Creek .......
.
-72."
71.
58.
62.
60. 59.
.
56.
51. 59.
55.
( Sudbury St.
1
Blackstone's Pt.
45. 44. 43. 31.
30.
24.
47.
12.
12.
48.
9.
12.
8 .
49.
8.
y.
39. 32.
29.
25.
23.
19.
·
6.
...
5.
18.
50
5
·
22.
39.
3.
16.
17.
V
20. 9
26.
2%.
28.
/
35 .
5%.
50.
Common.
52.
53.
.
10.
(Hanover St)
46. 40. 41.
#2.
19.
13
alors
(75 74024624I
2.
21.
/Beacon
St.)
.
38.37. 36.
73 .
71. 70. 69
68.
6%.
75.
(Cambridge St )
66.
63.
-
75. 76.
54
PLAN F. (BEACON HILL, ETC.)
6.
34.
22.
xliii
INTRODUCTION.
PLAN F. 1. Rev. John Wilson's garden-plot, divided by the street, when laid out in 1640 ; and the portion north of the street, in 1658, belonged to Elder James Penn, of the First Church, who devised the estate to his kinsman, Colonel Penn Townsend, whose ex- ecutor in 1750 sold it to Samuel Sturgis, and thence the title passed through John Erving, Gilbert de Blois, Nathaniel Coffin, and John Amory, to Samuel Eliot, and became his mansion estate. Gleaner Articles, No. 33.
2. John Cogan, 12 a. Cogan's executrix sold to Joshua Scottow, 1659, and he to Colonel Samuel Shrimpton, in 1670, and he in turn to John Oxenbridge, in 1671, who left it to his daughter, wife of Richard Scott, and they conveyed it to her sister's husband, Peter Thacher, in 1706. It then passed, in 1707, to Samuel Myles; in 1728, to George Cradock, and in 1733 to John Jeffries (son of the emigrant David Jeffries), from whom it passed to Samuel Eliot. Gleaner Articles, No. 33.
David Jeffries
John Jeffries
3. Richard Bellingham, garden plot, but afterwards his house lot, when he removed from Washington Street. In his will he speaks of this house and grounds, with a shop before it. The will was set aside, and is printed in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., July,
Richard Bellingham Gov Penelope Belingkan
1850, p. 237. See the notes to Mr. Deane's and Mr. Whitmore's chapters in Vol. I. Bellingham sold the south part of this lot, in 1663, to Humphrey Davie, whose heirs sold it, in 1710, with a stone house thereon, for £800, to Andrew Faneuil, from whom the estate descended to his nephew, Peter Faneuil, and later it was Humphry Davis owned by John Vassall. The north part was sold to the Rev. John Davenport, and after the death of his son John was, in 1676, conveyed to the First Church, and became the parsonage lot. The parish sold it, in 1787, to Sampson Reed. Both of these sections of the Bellingham estate were united when William Phillips successively purchased them in 1791 and 1805. There was about half an acre of Bellingham's lot, back of the other sections which Sewall added to the original Cotton estate. Sewall Papers, i. 61 ; Gleaner Articles, No. 32.
4. Daniel Maud, schoolmaster, h. and g. He removed to Dover, N. H., in 1642, and made his will in 1654. (N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1851, p. 241.) Hezekiah Usher next owned it, who sold it to Thomas Scottow, in 1645. " Gleaner" says it sub- sequently passed through Leblond, Erving, Brimmer, Bowdoin, Waldo, Walcott, Winthrop, till Gardiner Greene, in 1824, annexed it to his estate.
Jest Readily in the ford of Cotton 5. John Cotton, h. and g., 1/2 a .. and in rear I a., extending back as far as the Mount Vernon Church. (See Cotton's will in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1851, p. 240.) The estate passed to his widow, Sarah (subsequently married to Rev. Richard Mather of Dorchester), and to Cotton's son by this wife, - the Rev. Seaborn Cotton. Cotton (the father's) will shows that Governor Vane had built the south part of the house when he sojourned with Cotton, and had deeded it to Seaborn, to whom the father confirmed it. Later, it became by successive purchases the property of John Hull the mint-master, whose daughter Hannah married Samuel Sewall the judge, who occupied the estate still
xliv
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
later. Whitmore (Sewall Papers, i. 62, where, p. 63, the descent is traced in detail) says it was occupied in 1758 by William Vassall, who purchased it Sept. 11 of that year (N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1863, p. 115). In 1787 he conveyed it to Leonard V. Borland, who, in 1790, sold it to Patrick Jeffrey. Jeffrey had come to Boston and
SEafonME
Coton
Sara maffer Sam Sewall. Hannah Sewall William Nafall John Hull
had married a Madam Haley, a sister of the notorious John Wilkes ; he was an uncle of Francis, Lord Jeffrey. (See Gleaner Articles, Nos. 30 and 31.) In 1801 Somerset Street was cut through the estate, and Jeffrey sold the part west of the street to Asa Hammond in 1804; and the part east to Jonathan Mason, in 1802. In 1803 Gardiner Greene bought of Mason, and in 1824 he added the Maud lot (No. 4). Greene made the estate the most famous in Boston. In 1835 this and neighboring estates were sold to Patrick T. Jackson, and Pemberton Square was laid out.
6. Edward Bendall, h. and g., 2 a. This had Sudbury [Court] Street east, and took in Tremont Row and the centre of Scollay Square. Governor Endicott seems to have dwelt during the close of his life on a part of this lot, west of No. 8, leaving when he died, in 1665, a widow, Elizabeth, whom he had married in Everboth Enderatt 1630. Endicott's will is in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, 1861, p. 127. David Yale, a brother of Thomas, the founder of Yale College, had, in 1645, purchased of Bendall, who, holding theological views at variance with those of the magistrates, found it convenient to remove, leaving Thomas Lake and Thomas Clark power of attorney to sell the estate. Captain John Wall became the purchaser, and his widow sold it, in 1678, to Edward Shippen (Sewall Papers, i. 60), who sold, in 1702, a part to Cyprian Southack, who laid out South- Thanhuke ack's Lane in 1720 (Howard Street). The selectmen, in 1733, directed him to secure his hill, by rails or other- wise, that people may not be in danger. " Gleaner " places " Valley Acre " in the lower portion of Southack's pasture, referring to a deed of 1758, when it was the property of John Tyng. The part which came out on Tremont Row, south of No. 7, South- ack sold to John Jekyll, in 1724, whose heirs passed it, in 1768, to Dr. James Lloyd. It was on a part of the original Bendall lot, opposite the head of the modern Cornhill, that, in
John Coleiffs
Richard Henchman
1683-84, the free writing-school was built, the second in the town ; John Cole being the first master. Soon after 1700 Richard Henchman was the master. See Drake's Boston, 512.
xlv
INTRODUCTION.
7. Robert Meeres, h. and g. He was aged in 1666 when he executed his will (printed in N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Oct. 7, 1863, p. 345), and made his mark. This lot, in 1709, came to John Staniford, who sold it to Rev. Henry Harris, whose executors sold to James Pemberton, whose family name became in the end attached to Pemberton Square. "Gleaner " traces another part of the original lot to Dr. Samuel Danforth in 1785.
8. Robert Howen, 14 a. John and Israel Howen (presumably his heirs) sold it, in 1662-63, to Simon Lynde, who died in 1687, and his daughter Sarah was the wife of Nathaniel Newgate, who conveyed it, in 1694, under the name of "The Spring House."
9. Anne Hunne, widow of George Hunne, 12 a. This lot marks the site of the elegant mansion and grounds of the late Theodore Lyman, who purchased it in 1785.
10. John Newgate the hatter, h. and g., 34 a. His will, 1664 (N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., Oct., 1859, p. 333), left his house to his widow, Ann. (Also see Register, 1879, P. 57, for Newgate's family.) Westerly from this a tract belonging to Newgate fell, after his death in 1665, to Simon Lynde, his son-in-law; and then, in 1687, or earlier, to his son
Jagn Hungary Ann nowget That Bulfinch
Samuel Lynde. About the middle of the last century it became the property of Thomas Bulfinch, and remained in his family for fifty years. The Revere House marks the south end of Bulfinch's four-acre pasture, as the Mount Vernon Church marks the north end. Gleaner Articles, No. 23.
11. Henry Fanes, h. and g. ; between Howard Street and Court Street. 12. Valen- tine Hill's ground. A portion of this area lying on Cam- Henry fame bridge Street was, later, the Middlecott pasture (Gleaner Articles, No. 21), through which, in 1727, a street was laid out and called Middle- cott ; but when it was opened through to Beacon Street, in 1800, it was called Bowdoin Street. 13. Valley Acre, so called. See Mr. Bynner's chapter, Vol. I. 14. James Hawkins, hı. and g.
15. William Kirkby, h. and g. ; sold to James Hawkins. This, or the upper part of No. I, was the lot upon which, later, the Rev. James Allen, of the First Church, built his famous stone house, which, when taken down after the war of 1812 to give place to the dwellings erected by David Hinckley, and now constituting the Congregational House, was thought to be the oldest stone house in the town. Allen had married the widow of the younger John Endicott, Elizabeth, the daughter of the tanner Jeremy Houchin. Allen devised, in 1710, his mansion-house to his son Jeremiah, who dying in 1741 it came to his son Jeremiah, dying in 1755, when the title finally passed to his son James, who sold it to his brother Jeremiah, the high sheriff, who died in 1809. Gleaner Articles, No. 33.
16. Richard Sandford, h. and I a. This lot in the provincial days, having first fallen into the large estate of Robert Turner, belonged to Samuel Sewall, and later, in 1742, to Edward Bromfield ; and a fine old mansion, elevated much above the present level
Richard Sand ford Edro Bromfield
(where Freeman Place Chapel stands) was approached by stone steps, and distinguished by noble trees. This house was erected by the younger Edward Bromfield, who died here in 1756. His widow resided in it till 1764, when it was sold to her son-in-law, the Hon. William Phillips. (N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., 1871, P. 332 ; 1872, p. 38; Gleaner Articles, No. 37.) The ground in the rear of this Sandford lot, extending near to Ashbur-
xlvi
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
ton Place, is described by " Gleaner " (No. 34) as James Davis's two-acre pasture, whose widow Joanna, in 1677, conveyed it to her son, John Wing; and after some vicissitudes of title it became, in 1759, the property of Joseph Sherburne.
17. Robert Meeres. 18. Richard Parker. 19. Robert Turner. His lot enclosed the reserved six rods square in which the Beacon stood (Temple Street, nearly opposite the southeast corner of the Reservoir ; see plan in Mr. Bynner's chapter, Vol. I.), with a lane leading to it nearly on the line of the present short part of Mount Vernon Street. The beacon in 1790 gave place to the pillar which Charles Bulfinch erected, and which stood till 1808. "T. B." gave an account of it in the Boston Transcript, Sept. 24, 1855, which is reprinted in Gleaner Articles, p. 121. Bowditch's account of the transmission of this property, in his Gleaner Articles, Nos. 36, 37, 45, 47, 48, and 49, is quoted in part in Sumner's East Boston, p. 194, and in Wheildon's Centry Hill, p. 92. Robert's son
John inherited parts of the property, and sold a portion of the present State-House lot to Colonel Samuel Shrimpton, in 1673 ; and John dying in 1681, his executors sold two acres east of the lane to George Monk the innholder, and the top of the hill, about the reservation, to Colonel Shrimpton, who at his death, Feb. 17, 1697-98, devised the property to his wife Elizabeth, who subsequently married Simeon Stoddard; and when
Samuel Shrimpton Sim : Stod dard
she died, in 1713, this property was appraised at £150, and fell to her granddaughter, Elizabeth Shrimpton, who married John Yeamans, and then in time passed to Shute Shrimpton Yeamans, the son of John, and he conveyed it, in 1752, to Thomas Hancock, Thomas Hancock who then owned the land west of it, upon which he had built, in 1737, the famous mansion of the family, which disappeared in 1863. (For some account of this house see Mr. Bynner's chapter in this volume, and the view of it given in Vol. III. of this History, in connection with its Revolutionary associations.) A dispute about the limits of what was thus conveyed led to suits in court; but the Hancock heirs retained possession of all by right of continued use for pasturage. (See Gleaner Articles, No. 47, and Sumner's East Boston, pp. 196, 197.) That portion of the State-House lot not included in the Turner property is shown by Bowditch (Gleaner Articles, No. 52) to have come from Thomas Millard, who died in 1669, to Samuel Shrimpton, attorney for Alice Swift. It afterward passed, in 1752, to Thomas Hancock for £220. "So that the State-House lot and all north of it nearly to Derne Street (excepting the town's lot) is held under a deed of a century ago [in 1855] at the cost of eleven hundred dollars. It would now be worth eleven hundred thousand dollars." The Hancock pasture, as it was called after 1752, passing to Governor John Hancock in 1777, was, two years after the latter's death in 1793, conveyed to the town of Boston, and by the town the same year it passed for a nominal consideration to the State, to become the site of the Capitol. The mansion lot west of this Thomas Hancock began to acquire in 1735, and in 1759 he had increased it to include all the land west of the State-House lot to Joy Street. (Gleaner Articles, No. 53.) On that portion of the lot east of the passage to the Beacon, and fronting on the pres- ent Beacon Street, William Molineaux built, in the next century, a splendid mansion, having acquired the land in 1760, which had come down from Turner, through his sons-in-law John Fayerweather, Benjamin Alford, and John Alford. After Molineaux died, in 1774, the estate passed later to Charles Ward Apthorp, and was con-
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