USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880, Vol. III > Part 76
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According to the United States census, the population of Roxbury at different periods has been as follows (the figures for 1860 and 1870 do not include the population of West Roxbury) : -
1790
2,226
1840
9,089
1870 1880
34,772
1810
3.669
1850
18,373
78,799
1830
5,247
1860
25,137
588
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Roxbury is the native place of three of the generals of the Revolution, - Warren, Heath, and Greaton; and the birthplace or home of ten of the governors of the State, - Thomas and Joseph Dudley, William Shirley, Francis Bernard, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, Increase Sumner, William Eustis, and William Gaston. Besides the names already mentioned, those of the following eminent citizens should be noted: Gen- eral Henry Dearborn, and his son General Henry A. S. Dcarborn; Gencral William H. Sumner, and Admiral John A. Winslow of Kearsarge fame; Judge John Lowell, and his son John Lowell, Jr., a distinguished writer upon politics and agriculture ; Samuel and Franklin Dexter, William Whiting and Sherman Leland, prominent lawyers; Hon. John Rcad, Ebenezer Seaver, and Ward Nicholas Boylston, valuable citizens; Jonathan Davies, Eliphalet Downer, John C. Warren, and John Bartlett, skilful physicians and noted men; Gil- bert Stuart and Gilbert S. Newton his nephew, painters of celebrity; and. S. G. Goodrich, Lucius Manlius Sargent, Samuel G. Drake, and Epes Sargent, who have acquired distinction in the field of literature.
The events of the siege of Boston are the only ones of much historical importance which have marked the annals of Roxbury, no serious confla- gration or other grave public calamity having occurred within her borders. Her progress, owing to her geographical position and other favoring con- ditions, has been remarkably rapid of late years, and she must ere long contain within her ancient limits a large share of the city's population. The process of absorption and assimilation into the larger municipality is con- stantly going on, and is a matter of regret to those only whose local pride leads them to deplore the abdication of self-government and the lost identity of the old town, and who fear that even its name may be obliterated from the map. The inappropriate designation of Boston Highlands should be dropped, and its old and honored name of Roxbury restored.
Francia & Draky Frauci
1
CHAPTER XVII.
DORCHESTER IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
BY THE REV. SAMUEL J. BARROWS, Minister of the First Parish, 1876-80.
T' HE history of Dorchester for the last hundred years is not a history of striking events. From the external side it lacks brilliancy and in- cident, and may not be very picturesque; but the history of no New-Eng- land town could be written from its external side only. Beneath the staid, quiet, homely life of the last century there have always been deep currents of moral, intellectual, and religious force, which worked silently and persistently, and carried the life of the town with them. In critical times we see these forces breaking out with great vehemence; but, for the most part, they move on as noiselessly as the sap ascends the channels of the tree.
We may see by looking at such a town as Dorchester, and many other New England towns, how much growth may take place in ideas, morals, and the internal life of a community without greatly affecting its external institutions. It may be truly said of the New-England town, what seems rather paradoxical when applied to material things, -that it is larger on the inside than on the outside. Nevertheless, we soon distrust the perma- nence and reality of the spirit of progress unless we see it taking outward form and effect; and Dorchester can point to substantial embodiments of that spirit in its own history. It may be said, however, that in this town progress always struggled with a powerful conservative tendency which pre- vented it from advancing too hastily on the one hand, while it retarded sometimes that advancement which was necessary for its health. If the old settlers could wake up and see the town as it is to-day, they would recognize a vast number of changes. Would they be willing to admit that every change is an improvement?
In our last chapter1 we carried the history of Dorchester through the provincial period to the close of the Revolutionary War. We find the town, geographically and materially, just where it stood before, but with the old- time loyalty dirceted with increased fervor towards the new government to which it had transferred its allegiance, and which it had given so much of its
1 Vol. II. p. 357.
590
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
blood and treasure to establish. It is a fact to be noted, that whatever con- servatism Dorchester may have had in practical methods, it was always radical and progressive in its patriotism. Whenever the question of civil liberty came up, it was in the fore-front.
It has been noticed that Dorchester's jealousy of any interference with State rights and liberties led it to be suspicious and oppositive of the union of the colonics proposed in 1754; but when such a union was needed for the protection of the colonial liberties, the town was prompt and warm in its acceptance, and never wavered in its loyalty. In 1809, when Massachu- setts was greatly disturbed and excited, owing to the imposition of the em- bargo, and inflammatory meetings were held in various towns protesting against the course of the Government, Dorchester was firm in its support. It drew up a remonstrance, and saw " with the sincerest sorrow that a num- ber of towns were so lost to their national allegiance, and so heedless of the conflict which might result from the prosecution of their measures," that they had passed resolutions and presented petitions to the Legislature " highly insulting to the national authority, and appealing to the authority of the State to resist the laws of the Union on a subject exclusively within the constitutional authority of the Government of the United States. We consider," they add, " the union of the American States as the ark of our safety and the rock of our defence against invasion from without or violence from within. We will, therefore, cling to it as the last hope of our liberties." There was an apprehension in Dorchester that the motive of some of the leaders in that " uneasiness " was to demolish the republican government and to erect a hereditary monarchy on its ruins. " A system of this kind or any part of it," they said, " we are free to declare we will oppose to blood." If the views of the town upon the subject of State rights are not indicated with sufficient clearness in the preceding paragraphs, they are left beyond doubt in the paragraph which follows: " To resist by arms a law of our State Legislature of an interior and local nature would be treason against the Commonwealth. On such an occasion the inhabitants of this town would be found among the first to support the laws and repel the treason. It also cannot be less an act of treason against the National Gov- ernment to resist by force a law of theirs on the subject of national con- cerns, although unfortunately such resistance should be sanctioned by the State Legislature."
Surely here is a change from the suspicious spirit of 1754, when Dor- chester feared a union of the colonics as destructive to the liberty of the Statc. If such was the position of the town in 1809, we need not be sur- prised at the stand which it took in 1861. It is hardly necessary to say that during the war of 1812-14 the town, without distinction of party, used all its means to " defend its soil and repel the hostile invader."
A profound interest in the life and development of the nation, of which Dorchester was one of the first seeds, is a marked feature in its history; yet the local affairs of the town were never neglected. The arts of peace were
591
DORCHESTER IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
more sedulously cultivated than the arts of war. The public spirit, which was prompt to rally when the nation was in danger, manifested itself in the long years of peace and plenty. It is shown in all matters relating to public improvements, in the construction of roads, the care of the old cem- etery, the administration of the schools, and in a pious regard for the inter- ests of religion. While the town is anxious over the result of the embargo, it is seriously considering the question of "inoculation by cow-pox." We are impressed again with the importance of the ministerial function at this time. "The two reverend ministers of the town and the selectmen " were appointed a committee to return "a respectable answer" to the important and interesting letter addressed to them by the selectmen and committee of the town of Malden on this subject. The town afterward voted to ap- prove of the method, and to recommend it to the inhabitants of the town; and the ministers were requested to read these votes to the congregations the next Lord's Day after divine service. The doctors were asked to keep a register of those inoculated, and to return it to the town clerk; but other- wise they do not seem to have been consulted. The ravages of small-pox, which had visited Dorchester in previous years, may have hastened a deci- sion on this point.
In reading the town records we are struck by the thoroughness with which the committees did their duty. Dorchester evidently' seemed to them an important place; it was worthy of their best work. The reports on the condition of schools and on the general subject of education are models of conscientious and painstaking fidelity; and some of them, made within the last forty years, would bear re-printing for their broad and sensi- ble views. In another part of the town records we have from the com- mittee on roads a long treatise on the art of road-making, showing great practical knowledge of the subject, and written not only to interest the town ear, but to influence the town pocket. The excellent roads of Dor- chester to-day are not wholly owing to annexation.
The cause of education did not languish. The individual bequests to the school fund, already noticed in the first volume, were increased in 1797 by the gift of nearly ten acres of woodland from the Hon. James Bowdoin, son of Governor Bowdoin; and in 1803 by the gift of a lot of land containing about five thousand feet, from John Capen, Jr. Noah Clapp, town clerk, in a letter to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1792, says that up to that time more than thirty from Dorchester had been graduated at Harvard Col- lege, and that more than twenty of these had been preachers of the gospel, - a fact which shows that a close relation was assumed between education and religion.
In 1784 the town voted " that. such girls as can read in the Psalter be allowed to go to the Grammar School from the first day of June to the first day of October."1 This is the first vote in which provision is made for the public education of girls. Though there were dame-schools in which they
1 Town Records, iv. 79.
592
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
received instruction in sewing and reading and spelling, their attendance on the public schools seems to have been confined previously to one afternoon annually at the general catechising in the fall of the year, " where cach child was expected to answer two questions at least from the Assembly's catechism." 1 By the year 1803 there were four annual schools established. The town made a small yearly appropriation for their support, the salary of the teacher being about what a private soldier receives now in our army, - thirteen dollars a month and board. The annual appropriation for schools in 1812 was $2,700, and from 1820 to 1824, $2,300. The six school-masters then received $400 each, the income from school funds amounting to $257. In the years 1825 and 1828 the appropriation was $2,500; in 1830, $2,300. In 1857 the amount voted for schools in Dorchester was $23,622.98, or ten times as much as in 1830. The sum appropriated by the town for the pub- lic education of each child between the ages of five and fifteen was in that year (1857) $13.18. Dorchester stood in that respect the third in the Commonwealth, and the second in Norfolk County, - the towns of Brook- line and Nahant alone exceeding it. In 1869-the last year of Dorchester's life as a town - the appropriation for schools was $54,000.
A committee in 1827 reported it expedient to have a High School; but the report was not accepted, and final action was not taken until 1852, when an appropriation of $6,000 was made for the building and a central location selected, so that four fifths of the children of the town were within two miles of the school-house. Such a central location was necessary, as the town, in spite of loss of territory, was still nine miles long and two and a half broad,2 and contained eight thousand inhabitants. The High School was opened in December, 1852, when fifty-nine scholars were admitted. The first principal was Mr. William J. Rolfe, who was succeeded by Mr. Jona- than Kimball in 1856. Mr. Elbridge Smith is the present incumbent.
In the previous record the religious history of the town has been prac- tically synonymous with the history of the parish. It continued to be so until the early part of this century. With the increase of population other houses of worship became necessary. With larger toleration and growth in opinion, Dorchester, characterized for nearly two hundred years by remark- able religious unity, became the home of a variety of churches and sects.
The Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris succeeded the Rev. Moses Everett as pastor of the First Parish, and was ordained October, 1793. He was born in Charlestown, Mass., July 7, 1768; graduated at Harvard in 1787. He is well remembered by many of the old citizens of Dorchester and Boston for his genial nature, his sparkling wit, his aptness in the choice of texts and subjects, and the fountains of tears that were often unsealed in the delivery of his earnest and moving discourses. The shelves of Harvard College Library, of which he was librarian for a short time before going to Dorchester, bear many of his works, which attest his scholarship and the
1 History of Dorchester, p. 450. 2 Records, x. 610.
593
DORCHESTER IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
wide range of his studies in science, religion, and history. Dr. Harris was a prominent member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and he de- serves especial mention in this book because of his deep interest in the history of the town and of the church whose pastor he was for forty-three years. He did more than any one before him to collect and arrange the written, and to record the oral, traditions of the place and people.
Dr. Harris was succeeded by the Rev. Nathaniel Hall, who became associated with him as colleague in 1835, was made sole pastor in 1836, and
THADDEUS MASON HARRIS.1
held the office till his death in 1875, - a period of forty years. Mr. Hall's saintly character and his devotion to his calling were marked features of his effective but unpretentious ministry. He was succeeded by the writer of this chapter.
In a period of two hundred and fifty years the First Parish of Dorchester had but ten successive ministers; but from the settlement of Richard Mather, in 1636, to 1876, -a period of two hundred and forty years,-there were but seven successive ministers, with an average pastorate of thirty-four years each. There have been six deacons who have held office over forty years each. Deacon Ebenezer Clapp, the father of the present deacon of that name, held office for fifty-one years. Deacon Henry Humphreys, onc
1 This cut follows a miniature likeness owned ingham, D.D., with a long list of his publications, by his daughter, still living in South Boston. A is in 4 Mass. Hist. Coll., ii. See also Funeral memoir of Dr. Harris by the Rev. N. L. Froth- Sermon by Rev. Nathaniel Hall.
VOL. 111 .- 75.
594
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
of the present deacons, has served forty-eight years. Meeting-house Hill has been the site of the church building for two hundred and ten years. The society has had five meeting-houses, some of which have been previ- ously noticed. The present building dates from 1816, but has received various additions and improvements.
There is one very interesting feature about the history of the First . Parish, to which allusion was made on the two hundred and fiftieth anniver- sary of its formation, held June 17, 1880. It is, that, while from time to time there were controversies and agitations concerning practical measures, such as the introduction of a new hymn-book, or the change of the method of singing from "lining out" into singing by note, there is nothing in the his- tory of the church which shows just when it ceased to be Calvinistic and became Unitarian. The transition was silently and almost insensibly made.1
In 1806 the Second Church was formed at the south end of the parish, to meet the wants of the residents in that locality. The separation from the First Parish was very peaccably and affectionately made. Dr. Harris preached the dedication sermon of the new church. 2 When Dr. John Codman was ordained pastor in 1807, the sermon was preached by Dr. Channing. The property of the First Church and Parish was afterward divided between the two organizations and the subsequently formed Third Society, in proportion to the numbers of each.
The theological controversy, which the First Parish was sparcd, began soon after to rage with considerable violence in the Second Church. The theological councils that settled it could not allay the bitter feeling which was engendered, and which, though now extinct, continued for many years. As a result of this controversy, the Second Church allied itself with the Orthodox party, retaining its pastor, Dr. Codman. The opposing party withdrew and formed the Third Religious Society. Dr. Codman remained pastor of the Second Church till his death in 1847. The Rev. James H. Means was ordained and succeeded to the pulpit in 1848; and after a very successful pastorate of thirty years, marked also by eminent fidelity as a citizen of the town, he resigned in 1878. His successor, the present pastor, is the Rev. E. N. Packard.
The Third Religious Society, as already stated, was formed largely of members who left the Second Church of Dorchester. They built a meet- ing-house at the Lower Mills, which was dedicated in 1813, and was re- placed by another built in 1840.3
Up to 1817, or a period of one hundred and cighty-seven years, Con- gregationalism was the only church polity known in Dorchester, and for one hundred and seventy-six years had been confined to a single organization. In 1817 the uniformity of the church government was broken by the estab-
1 See Proceedings of the 250th Anniversary of key," " Madeira wine," and "gin for the sexton," the First Church and Parish of Dorchester, p. 118. as part of the approved expenses.
2 The bill of expenses of that dedication ser- vice is still preserved by the Second Parish, and it is interesting to note among the items, "whis-
8 [The succession of pastors of this church is given in Dr. Peabody's chapter in the present volume .- ED.]
595
DORCHESTER IN THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS.
lishment of a Methodist Episcopal Church, whose first building was dedi- cated May 6, 1818, and succeeded by another in September, 1829.1 The long roll of ministers which, in accordance with the Methodist system, this church has had, presents a strange contrast to the small number settled over the ancient church of the town.
A Baptist church was organized at Neponset in 1837; and another, -- the North Baptist Church, corner of Sumner and Stoughton streets, - in 1840. An Episcopal church-St. Mary's - was organized in 1847. In- stead of the single church existing at the beginning of this century, there arc now twenty-one churches in the Dorchester District; namely, ten Con- gregational, - five of which are Trinitarian, four Unitarian, and one Uni- versalist, - four Methodist, three Episcopalian, two Baptist, and two Roman Catholic.2
In the earliest years of its history the inhabitants of Dorchester found their chief occupation in fishing and farming and trading. Dorchester never developed great commercial importance, nor did it abound in manu- factures; yet the water-power on the Neponset River was very early util- ized, as was noticed in the first volume. The old grist mill was afterward followed by a fulling mill and a snuff mill. In 1727 a paper mill was established ;8 and as early as 1765 the manufacture of chocolate was begun, - the first made in New England. Dorchester chocolate is still known throughout the country for its excellence; and chocolate and paper mills have continued to be very important features of its industry.
A corporation of the proprietors of mills on Mill Creek and Neponset River was formed in 1798. Several tanneries were also located in the town, and the pits where some of them stood have not yet been filled up.
In later years, while commerce at Commercial Point has decreased, the manufactories have mainly centred at Neponset; while South Boston -- the district which Dorchester first ceded to the city of Boston - has be- come the site of many of the largest iron works in the country.4 What is still known as the Dorchester District, however, has been, and promises to remain for years to come, a place of residence for those whose occupation is in the city proper. A few of the old farms are left, but the majority have been cut up by streets and divided into building lots.
Dorchester has long been famous for its interest in horticulture. Dor- chester and Roxbury furnished all the presidents and treasurers of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the first twenty years after its formation. The Rev. Dr. Harris, Captain William R. Austin, William Clapp, Zebedee Cook, Elijah Vose, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, John Richardson, Samuel Downer, and Thaddeus Clapp are some among the living and the
1 [See Dr. Dorchester's chapter in this vol- ume. - ED.]
2 If we add South Boston, Washington Vil- lage, and Hyde Park, which were included with- in the Dorchester limits at the beginning of this
century, the comparative number of churches would be much increased.
8 [Sce Vol. II., p. 462. - ED.]
4 {See the chapter on " The Industries of Bos- ton," in Vol. IV. - ED.]
596
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
dead who have devoted themselves zcalously to the culture and improve- ment of fruits and flowers. Hon. Marshall P. Wilder has cultivated in his own orchard more than twelve hundred kinds of fruit; and on one occasion sent over four hundred varieties of the pear for exhibition.1
The love of the simple old colonial ways lingered long in Dorchester, and made it somewhat intolerant of modern inventions. The conservative character of the town was shown in its opposition to railroads. In 1842 a petition was presented to the Legislature for the privilege of building a railroad from Boston to Quincy, by any one of three routes. The town opposed it at a meeting, Feb. 2, 1842, saying : " A great portion of the road will lead through thickly-settled and populous parts of the town, crossing and running contiguous to public highways, and thereby making a per- manent obstruction to the free intercourse of our citizens from one part of the town to another, and creating great and enduring danger and hazard to all travel upon the common roads." The town suggested that, if it be built at all, it be built over the marsh. The representative of the town in the Legislature was instructed to use his " utmost endeavor to prevent, if possi- ble, so great a calamity to our town as must be the location of any railroad through it." A committee was appointed and counsel employed to oppose the petition before the Legislaturc. The town believed that "the property and the comfort, and perhaps the lives, of their fellow-citizens were deeply interested in the result of their remonstrance, and that the expenses of the ablest counsel were not to be considered when such interests were at stake." In 1844, when a petition was made for the formation of the Old Colony Road from Boston to Plymouth, and the petition for a road to Quincy was renewed, it was opposed again by the committee of the town; but opposi- tion was finally ineffectual, and Dorchester was eventually doomed to the " calamity " of having two steam railroads, with branch tracks. The nature of that calamity would receive a new interpretation to-day, if these roads for any reason should be abandoned.
The earnest and devoted patriotism which Dorchester showed during the two wars with Great Britain was repeated in the war of the Rebellion. It is hardly worth while to refer to the attitude of the town as expressed in the resolutions which it was prompt to pass at the outbreak of the war. A complete exhibit of what was really done would furnish more substantial testimony. From the report of Adjutant-General Schouler, it appears that Dorchester furnished one thousand three hundred and forty-two men for the war, which was a surplus of one hundred and twenty-three over and above all demands. . Of these, thirty-one were commissioned officers. From fig- ures furnished by Mr. N. W. Tileston, who has given much study to this subject, we learn that the whole amount of money appropriated and ex- pended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was $125,319.30. The amount received by the town from the State as State aid
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