USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The site of Saint Paul's Cathedral, Boston, and its neighborhood > Part 10
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porter precede the wines."
Not many years later, in August, 1797, a young American traveler, Robert Gilmor of Baltimore, who made a tour of New England, recorded some of his impressions of Boston. "It is a handsome town," he wrote, "filled with some well-built houses in general, and some very superb ones, though mostly of wood." He criticized the streets, however, as being poorly paved and without sidewalks for pedestrians. "The weather here," he continued, "is very uncertain; in the middle of some days the heat is intense, and towards evening it becomes cool enough to change the clothes of the morning. . .. The wind from the North West whistles down the streets, while my dress is of no avail against the chilliness of the blast. The people here don't seem to mind it, nor do they, I believe, feel any bad effects from such changes; they call it pleasant, charming weather, and rise at five in the morning to plunge into the cold bath."
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Samuel Breck
SAMUEL BRECK, the elder (1747-1809), a mer- chant, of Boston, was the next owner of the estate, which was conveyed to him by John Williams, July 7, 1780, for a consideration of twelve hundred guineas. Samuel Breck, Junior, in his Recollections, wrote that the mansion at that time showed signs of neglect, "having been occupied, as I have often heard, by Lord Percy. My father put it in excellent repair, and adorned the extensive gardens, in the midst of which it stood. For a city house the residence was remarkably fine, with an acre of ground around it, divided into a flower and kitchen garden. .. . The gardens were exposed to view through a palisade of great beauty, and were the admiration of every one."
Mr. Breck, Senior, was described as a "gentleman of the old school, who was fond of entertaining dis- tinguished strangers." He was a Vestryman of King's Chapel, and a member of the General Court. During the Revolution he was a staunch patriot. Soon after the alliance with France, he received from the Ministry of Louis XVI an appointment as general agent in America for the French fleet. In 1792 he changed his residence to Philadelphia. We quote
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again from his son's Recollections: "My father was induced to remove from Boston in consequence of excessive and unequal taxation. Boston at that time had about eighteen thousand inhabitants. It had no watch, no lamps and no sidewalks; and yet they taxed him because he made a show of great wealth by his generous hospitality to strangers."
In Philadelphia Mr. Breck, Senior, served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank of the United States.
Samuel Breck, the younger (1771-1862), was born in Boston. When three years of age he was held in the arms of his nurse, to witness the Battle of Bunker Hill from some high ground near his home, which was then in the western part of the Town. He at- tended the Public Latin School. When his father occupied the Williams house in 1680, they became residents of the South End. He well remembered the old Beacon on the top of the hill, and related that around that pole he had engaged in many a fight with the boys of the North End. In December, 1782, he was sent abroad, and for four years attended a mili- tary academy at Sorèze, in the south-west of France. He returned to Boston in 1787, and entered business there after another European trip and his coming of age. On Christmas Eve, 1795, he married Miss Jean
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Ross of Philadelphia, and removed to that city, fol- lowing his father's example. Here, alongside the River Schuylkill, in the region of the present Fair- mount Park, he bought a fine estate, which he named "Sweetbrier." Besides serving in the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Mr. Breck was a member of the National House of Representatives at Washington during four years.
John Andrews, Merchant
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N November, 1794, the Winter Street corner estate was bought by John Andrews, a hardware mer- chant, who had a store on Union Street. On March Ioth, 1790, the thanks of the Town were given him for "his good services as Selectman a number of years past." In 1792 he was appointed a member of a committee to take an account of the state of the Town with respect to the "Small Pox." Mr. An- drews was one of the merchants who remained in Boston during the Siege; and soon after the depart- ure of the British troops he entertained General Washington, "with his lady," and other officers, at dinner.
In the early part of the Revolution Mr. Andrews was living in a house on School Street, near the
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Cromwell's Head Tavern, whose site was just above the Old Corner Book-Store. This house was after- wards the residence of Dr. John Warren. Mr. An- drews was described as small of stature and trimly attired. He wore white-top boots, and his hair was powdered. . .
At the time of the United States Direct Tax of 1798 the corner lot of Mr. Andrews, containing about 31,000 square feet of land, with the dwelling-house, out-kitchen, barn and wood-house, was appraised at $12,000. He and others are mentioned as Proprietors of "ye Duck Manufactory," by Frog Lane, where there were two large "Spinning Sheds."
In consideration of one dollar, and the benefit de- rived from widening Winter Street, John Andrews conveyed to the "Inhabitants of the Town of Bos- ton," June 21st, 1804, a strip of land from the front of his garden. This strip was six feet wide, and ran from Common Street for two hundred and seven feet along Winter Street.
Mr. Edwin M. Bacon, in his interesting volume, Rambles around Old Boston, which was published after these sketches had been written, refers to Mr. Andrews as having been chiefly instrumental in sav- ing the rows of fine trees which ornamented the Great Mall alongside Tremont Street in 1776, whereby he
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justly earned the gratitude of his fellow-townsmen. While the British troops were preparing to embark, they engaged in much wanton destruction of prop- erty. Mr. Andrews, in letters to a friend at Philadel- phia, has given a vivid description of the lawlessness which prevailed in Boston at that time. The soldiers had already sacrificed many trees on the Common for use as fuel during the siege, and on the morning of Evacuation Day they maliciously cut down several of the largest trees on the Mall. At the earnest remon- strance of the Selectmen, and especially of John An- drews, one of their number, General Howe forbade any further vandalism of this nature.
In a letter dated August 31, 1774 (Mass. Histor- ical Society's Proceedings, volume 8, 1865), Mr. An- drews wrote as follows: "At Sun-set last evening I amused myself with a walk in the Mall, and could not but admire the subservient honors paid his Excel- lency (Thomas Gage, Military Governor), being at- tended by five or six field officers, and two or three aid-de-camps, with eight orderly sergeants at an awful distance in the rear. Parading up the street from Sheriff Greenleaf's, he met with Squire Edson (a mere plow-jogger to look at), one of the new refugee councilors. . . . His Excellency, after about ten minutes' earnest conversation with him, proceeded
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to Earl Piercy's, who occupies a house at the head of Winter Street, belonging to Inspector Williams. While he went in, his attendants of high and low degree, stood in waiting at the gate, like so many menial slaves."
William Phillips
I N July, 1815, Mr. Andrews sold the estate to William Phillips, the younger, for $26,000.
William Phillips, the elder, was one of the leading merchants of the Town, a Deacon of the Old South Church, and a good patriot. He was one of the com- mittee of citizens who demanded of Governor Hutch- inson that the obnoxious tea should be sent back to England. He was also a State Senator, and the owner of a "Distill House" in Boston.
Hon. William Phillips, the younger (1750-1827), who bought the Andrews estate, was Lieutenant- Governor of Massachusetts for eleven years, during the administrations of Governors Strong and Brooks. He was also President of the American Education Society and of the Boston Dispensary. In 1773 he visited Great Britain, and returned on one of the tea- ships. Lieutenant-Governor Phillips was said to have been very fond of retirement. Yet he was
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highly esteemed as a public official.
It appears that during Mr. Andrews's ownership the old mansion became a popular boarding-house. Governor Caleb Strong lived there during his second term (1812-1816), when the house was kept by a Mrs. Hatch. And John McLean, the well-known merchant and philanthropist, boarded there when Mrs. John Dexter was the landlady.1
Not many years after its purchase by Mr. Phillips, the old house was taken down, and in its stead a block of five 4-storied dwellings was built, fronting on Tre- mont Street, together with a similar row of houses facing Winter Street.
Other Winter Street Lots, Adjoining the Cathedral Site
O N December 29, 1674, Hudson Leverett sold for £40 the westerly part of his land, fronting on the present Winter Street, and lying eastward of the Leverett Pasture corner lot, to John Man of Boston. This lot had a breadth of forty feet on Winter Street, and extended southerly one hundred feet to the land of John Wampas. John Man was an early resident of Boston, and one of the four "loaf-bread bakers"
1 S. A. Drake. Old Landmarks of Boston, page 307.
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in 1679. They petitioned the General Court to permit them to charge for their bread a price commensurate with the higher cost of grain. In early English rec- ords the name is generally written Man. Here, for instance, is an extract from the records of the market- town of Poole, a sea-port of Dorsetshire: "I, John Man, was marryed ye VI day of Auguste, 1525, yn ye XVII yere of ye Reyn of King Harry ye VIII, unto Elenor Whytt, dawther of Thomas Whytt." At about the time of the Revolution, most of the families of this name in America adopted the spelling Mann. In an old Account-Book kept by John Richards, the Treasurer of Harvard College, is this item: "July 25, 1672, Received of John Man in money £10 pr. order of mr. Andr. Belcher junr. for I m Iron sold to said Belcher."
John Man sold his Winter Street lot, May 16, 1684, to Samuel White, a prominent house-wright and military man of Weymouth. He supplied much war material for the Colony, and was a member of the General Court. When Sir Edmund Andros made his escape from the Castle in April, 1689, Captain Samuel White of Weymouth received an order from Gov- ernor Bradstreet to pursue and bring him back, which he did. In July, 1696, Governor Stoughton appointed him a member of a Committee to repair the fortifica-
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tions in Boston Harbor. Samuel White was also the commander of one of several vessels moored in the harbor at that time, "in line of battle, to annoy the king's enemies, in case of an attack." 1
After having been the owner of this Winter Street lot for one day, Captain White sold it, May 17, 1684, to Nathaniel Oliver, "white-bread baker," John Eyre and Joseph Parsons, all of Boston; the threc sons-in- law of Captain Thomas Brattle. Of these, Nathaniel Oliver became a principal merchant of the town. He was an early member of the Old South Church, but joined the Brattle Street Church when it was founded. Mr. Oliver was a Representative from Boston in 1701.
John Eyre
TOHN EYRE was a son of Doctor Simon Eyre, who came from London to America in the ship Increase in 1635, and settled at Watertown, but re- moved soon after to Boston. By his Will, dated July 5, 1668, he gave to his youngest son, John, all his "booke manuscripts, mortars, scales and weights, stills, potts and glasses." John Eyre was a merchant and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artil- 2 The Memorial History of Boston, II, 103.
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lery Company. He was also active in the affairs of the Old South Church, a member of the General Court, and a Selectman of Boston. Mr. Eyre was also a member of the "Council for the Safety of the People and Conservation of the Peace" in 1689. In the Diary of John Marshall he is described as "a godly and choice-spirited man."
Joseph Parsons was a merchant of Boston. He was admitted a freeman in 1690, and was a member of the patriotic Council of War for the overthrow of Andros.
Thomas Brattle
T HOMAS BRATTLE, who was the owner of a portion of this land in 1681 (Suffolk Deeds, XIII, 385), was one of the principal merchants of Boston, and was accounted the richest man in the Colony. He was a member of the Artillery Company, and the owner of large tracts of land in the wilder- ness, along the banks of the Kennebec and Merrimac Rivers. Some of this land he acquired from the Indians. He was active in Philip's War, and was the commander of several expeditions against the hostile tribes. He was appointed Cornet of the Suffolk
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Troop in 1670, and afterward became its Com- mander. . . .
Thomas Brattle, Junior, was a Harvard graduate, class of 1676, and later served as Treasurer of the college for twenty years. He was the principal founder of Brattle Street Church, which received from him the first organ used in public worship in New England. From him, too, Brattle Street derives its name. Chief Justice Sewall wrote in his Diary that Thomas Brattle, the younger, was by birth and education a "Gentleman of the first order in the Coun- try." He had a marked taste for Science, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, to which he communicated Papers on astronomical subjects. He was, moreover, a liberal patron of letters and learn- ing.1
In the Settlement of the Estate of Captain Thomas Brattle, October 15, 1685 (Suffolk Deeds, XVI, 64), his three sons-in-law made a tripartite Agreement or Indenture, whereby Joseph Parsons received as his portion this Winter Street lot, which included the dwelling-house "situate at the southerly end of the Town of Boston, neer unto the Comon or Trayning Field, with all the land belonging unto the same; in 1 The Memorial History of Boston. IV. 491.
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the. present tenure and occupation of John Marion 'Junior."
His father was a cordwainer, who settled first at Watertown, but removed to Boston before 1652. He was admitted to freedom that year, and later was one of the Selectmen. John Marion, Junior, served in a like capacity for eighteen years, and was one of the most influential citizens. He was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. At a meeting of the First Church of Christ in Boston, April 2, 1713, Deacon John Marion was chosen one of the "Seators" of the new meeting-house, and the disposal of seats and pews was left to his prudence and discretion.
By permission of "the Major part of the Justices within the Town of Boston," Deacon Marion and others were authorized "to erect a timber dwelling- house for the ministry in Suminer Street at the South End of the Town."
Hudson Leverett transferred the easterly portion of his Winter Street land, January 7, 1674, to Ebenezer Hayden, "Slae-maker." He was a resident of Brain- tree, and the name of Abinezer Heiden appears more than once in the records of that town. Mr. Hayden was impressed as a trooper during Philip's War, and also served as a member of a Company under the com-
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mand of Captain Thomas Brattle.
Josiah Willard was a resident on this estate in 1724. He was a son of the Reverend Samuel Willard, pastor of the Old South Church; a graduate of Har- vard, Class of 1698. In June, 1717, King George I appointed him Secretary of the Province, and he held that office for thirty-nine years.
James Fosdick
A SUBSEQUENT owner was James Fosdick, who made his home on this estate in the early part of the eighteenth century.1 He was a descend- ant of Stephen Fosdick, one of the early settlers of Charlestown; and a grandson of Samuel Fosdick, who was a captain in Philip's War. The wife of Samuel Fosdick was Mercy Pickett, a great-grand- daughter of Elder William Brewster, one of the Pil- grim Fathers. James Fosdick's "Double House on Winter Street" was appraised at £333 in 1776. In the partition of his estate, April 16, 1779, the westerly tenement, "with a privilege to the pump in the east-
. 1 On April thirteenth, 1721, James Fosdick of Boston received from the Town authorities a permit "to erect with timber a Building for a Dwelling-house, 39 feet in length, and 19 feet in width, at the upper end of Winter Street, near the Common, in the Room of an old Timber Building where he now dwells; on condition that he pulls down the said old Building."
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erly division," was set off to the heirs of John Fos- dick. The easterly tenement was assigned to the heirs of Thomas Fosdick.
Thomas Pons, a goldsmith and optician, became the owner of a part of this estate in 1780. His name appears in a list of the inhabitants of Boston ten years later, and according to the United States Direct Tax of 1798, Thomas Pons was occupying a house on the present Washington Street, near Summer Street. A person of the same name, hailing from Marble- head, served during the Revolutionary War as a member of Colonel Jabez Hatch's regiment. And in 1777 he was engaged in guarding military stores in and around Boston.
Luke Baker, who was the next proprietor and occu- pant, was a merchant, whose place of business was on Cornhill, then a part of Washington Street. He bought the house and lot from Thomas Pons, May 13, 1789, for $400. Luke Baker had served in the army as a private in "General John Hancock's Inde- pendent Company," under the command of Lieuten- ant-Colonel Henry Jackson, and took part in the campaign in Rhode Island during the Spring of 1777. In the early Boston directories he is styled a shop- keeper, with residence at No. 10 Winter Street. On March 31st, 1807, Luke Baker sold his home-lot to
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George Trott, Junior, and John Bumstead; and within a few months thereafter the former became sole owner of the estate, which he retained until after Saint Paul's Church was built.
His father was a lieutenant in the militia and fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company. In May, 1776, George Trott, Senior, was chosen by the House of Representatives Major of an Artillery Company, which was raised for the defense of Boston, and was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Crafts. The name of George Trott, Senior, tobac- conist and truss-maker, with residence on South Ben- net Street, appears in the Town Directory of 1769. In that of 1816, George Trott, probably the younger, a merchant, was living at No. 10 Winter Street.
John Goodwin
J OHN GOODWIN, a brick-mason, was the owner of a lot on the south side of Blott's Lane, now Win- ter Street, and near the Common, in 1695. He and his wife Martha were for some years members of the Reverend Charles Morton's church in Charles- town. Later they were received into the Second or North Church of Boston, whereof the Reverend Cot- ton Mather was then pastor. In 1688 their four chil-
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dren showed symptoms of an acute nervous disorder, probably Saint Vitus's dance. As this occurred dur- ing the period of the witchcraft delusion in Boston, it was popularly believed to be due to diabolical agen- cies, and a poor woman named Goody Glover was charged with having bewitched the children, and was executed therefor. This celebrated case occasioned much consternation in the town. It is described at length in Cotton Mather's Memorable Providences, and by other writers of the period. The Reverend Joshua Moody, minister of the First Church, ex- pressed the public sentiment when he wrote that the townspeople could not but think that the Devil had a hand in this case. The Goodwin children had been carefully trained and bore good characters. They all recovered, and lived to mature age. John Good- win was described as "a grave man, and a good liver." He held some minor town offices, including that of "Surveighor of Chimneys" in 1695.
The Reverend Samuel Willard
A MONG the prominent citizens of Boston who were owners of lots in Blott's Lane, adjacent to the Cathedral site, was the Reverend Samuel Wil- lard. His father, Major Simon Willard, a native of
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Horsmonden, Kent, England, came to these shores about the year 1634, and was one of the first settlers of Concord, Massachusetts. He was a member of the General Court for many years. In 1642 he was appointed surveyor of arms, and "to exercise the mili- tary company at Concord." Later he was chosen Sergeant-major of Middlesex. After a residence of twelve years at Lancaster, he removed to Groton, about 1672. During Philip's War he was active in providing for the defense of the frontier towns against the Indians.
Samuel Willard ( 1640-1707) was a native of Con- cord, Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard in 1659, and became a freeman in 1670. He began preaching at Groton four years later. The first church in that town was organized in 1662, and Mr. Willard was its first minister. Until a meeting-house was built, two years afterward, the people assembled at his house for worship. He continued in the ministry at Groton until the destruction of the town by the In- dians, and the consequent dispersion of the church there, March 13, 1676. He then came to Boston and was installed as colleague of the Reverend Thomas Thacher, pastor of the Old South Church. He was appointed Vice-President of Harvard College in 1701. The Reverend Samuel Willard was a prolific
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writer and an eloquent preacher. John Dunton, the English author and bookseller, who visited Boston in 1686, wrote of Mr. Willard as follows: "He's well furnished with Learning and solid Notion; has a Natural fluency of speech, and can say what he pleases. ... I darken his Merits if I call him less than a Walking Library."
Mr. Willard had twenty-one children by his two wives: Abigail Sherman, a descendant of Lord Thomas Darcy, Earl of Rivers; and Eunice, daugh- ter of Edward Tyng, of Boston.
Giles Dyer, Deputy Collector
N the year 1717, Giles Dyer, Gentleman, of Bos- I ton, bought of Thomas and Samuel Banister, mer- chants, a lot on Winter Street, with dwelling-houses thereon, adjacent to the present Church property. Mr. Dyer's name first appears on the town records, February 23, 1673, when he was chosen block-keeper. At a meeting of the Selectmen, March 29, 1680, there was allowed Giles Dyer towards setting up the clock at the North Meeting-House, £5; "and for keepinge of both Clockes in good order and attendinge at ye old Meeting-house 4 yeares, £24; and yt at ye north end since it was last set up, fII." Mr. Dyer seems to
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have been a skilled artisan, whose services were in demand; but he does not appear to have had the bene- fit of a university education. Following is a copy of a bill which he presented to the officers of King's Chapel: "To my Labour for Making the Wather Cock and Spindel; to Duing the Commandements, and Winders; mor to Duing the gallerey and the King's Armes, fortey pounds, which I freely give."
In later years Mr. Dyer held important positions in the community. Besides serving as a vestryman and warden of King's Chapel, he attained the rank of Colonel in the militia, and became Sheriff of Suf- folk County. He was also Deputy Collector of his Majesty's Customs, and a Selectman of Boston. In 1702 he was appointed one of a committee of three to provide thirty hundred-weight of bullets and five thousand flints for a Town stock; and in 1711 he served on another committee whose members were charged with the duty of making a "line of Defence across the Neck between Boston and Roxbury."
The Lot on the Westerly Corner of Winter Street and Winter Place
T HIS lot was a part of the possessions of Robert Blott, who owned a tract extending from John Leverett's pasture land easterly for 276 feet to the
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highway, now Washington Street, where it had a frontage of 140 feet.1 He came to Boston within a few years after its settlement. At a meeting of the Selectmen, March 29, 1658, Robert Blott was ap- pointed to "keepe the sheepe" during that year, and it was ordered that the owners of all sheep which were kept on the Common should deliver them to the said shepherd, and if any owner should fail to do this he was required to pay two-pence "for every sheepe to the shepheard for every dayes transgression." Two years later Mr. Blott was chosen Cow-keeper.
His real estate, including the Winter Place lot, was inherited by his daughter Sarah, who married Ed- ward Ellis, a chirurgeon.
Doctor Edward Ellis
D R. EDWARD ELLIS, a native of Wales, mar- ried Sarah Blott in Boston, August 6, 1652, and was one of the early practitioners of the Town. In the Colonial Records there is to be found "An accompt of what is due Edward Ellis for the cure of Robert Munson and Geremiah Bumsted; the said Ellis being imploid therein by order of the Counsell, 13 Novem- ber, 1670.
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