USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The site of Saint Paul's Cathedral, Boston, and its neighborhood > Part 4
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'Harrison Rhodes in Harper's Magazine, January, 1916.
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In 1795, Isaac Weld, a British traveler, who made long stage-coach journeys in this country, related that the drivers would sometimes call upon the pas- sengers to lean to the right or left, all together, to prevent a possible upset in the deep ruts which were encountered. Early in the nineteenth century better methods of road construction were in vogue, largely through the influence of Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam, who introduced scientific principles and an improved system in this work.
In January, 1797, Levi Pease and Company an- nounced that their facilities for accommodating the public had lately been improved at considerable ex- pense. New Mail Stages were provided, carrying six inside passengers with ease, and to their satis- faction; and the Company agreed that this number should not be exceeded, under penalty of ten dollars for each offense. "When this mode of conveyance is contemplated," the announcement read, "every man of business or pleasure must confess it to be the most easy, cheap and commodious that can be established. And when the enhanced price of every necessary of life is considered, every liberal mind will allow that the price of five pence per mile, with the usual rate of baggage, is but a reasonable compensation. They set out from Boston and New York every Monday,
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Wednesday and Friday, at eleven o'clock, and arrive at each of the above places in five days from the hours of departure in Winter, and three days in Summer."
In March, 1798, Levi Pease and Company, Pro- prietors of the Mail and Old Line of Stages, which ran from Boston to New York, via Worcester and Springfield, informed the Public that they had re- moved their Stage Office in Boston, from the Sign of the Royal Exchange, to a few doors below, and directly opposite to the Fire Insurance. Office and Custom House, in State Street, where seats were to be secured at any hour.
Nathaniel Pease, the father of Levi, was a sailor. He was reported to have been lost at sea, and his wife married again. Then Nathaniel Pease returned to his home at Enfield. After one glance at the situa- tion, following the example of Tennyson's sailor hero, Enoch Arden, he went away again, and never reap- peared. . ..
Captain Levi Pease was said to have learned the value of punctuality in business affairs from General Washington.1
When the latter was at Cambridge in the early days
1 A. P. Marvin. The History of Worcester County, Massachu- setts. I. p. 803.
مصد التـ سـ
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of the Revolution, he wished to buy a pair of horses, and made an appointment with Pease, who had a fine pair to sell. The horse-trader was a few minutes late, and the Commander-in-chief did not wait for him. But the experience was a valuable one for the honest stage-driver, courier and tavern-keeper.
The stage-driver was a person of considerable re- sponsibility in the community, and his opinions on topics of general interest were given due weight. How exhilarating was the sound of "the loud snap of the whip, which gave increased speed to the horses, as they dashed up in approved style to the stopping- place, where the loungers were collected to see the travellers, and listen to the gossip which fell from their lips. There were no telegraphs then, and but few railroads in the country. The papers did not gather the news so eagerly, nor spread it abroad so promptly as they do now; and items of intelligence were carried largely by word of mouth." 1
Captain Basil Hall, an English naval officer, who made long journeys in American mail coaches during the year 1827, wrote that these vehicles carried no outside passengers. He was of the opinion that the most expert harlequin that ever preserved his bal- 1 Samuel Abbott Green, M.D., Groton Historical Series, Vol. I, VIII, 14.
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ance, would find it difficult to avoid being pitched to the ground from the top of an American coach on any road which he had the good fortune to travel upon in this country. Captain Hall mentions some of the inconveniences of journeying in those days; the rough and hilly roads, the dilatory mode of changing horses, and the frequent stopping to water them. Often- times the stage was crammed full of passengers, and in summer the heat and dust were very trying.
It was customary for the stage-drivers on the dif- ferent routes to call for passengers at their homes, and travelers expected that the railroad manage- ment would similarly accommodate them. Therefore the Boston and Worcester Railroad Company found it expedient in 1834 to issue the following public notice : "Passengers are not sent for by the Company, but seats are provided for all who apply at the Ticket- Office."
The residence of Levi Pease was opposite the Mall or shaded Promenade, which was described in a num- ber of the Boston Magasine of the year 1784, as follows:
"It is on the eastern side of the Common, in length 1410 feet, divided into two walks, parallel to each other, separated by a row of trees. On the outside of each walk is also a row of trees, which agreeably
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The Fremont Street. Mall in 1843
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shade them. The inhabitants of the town resort thither in the morning and evening of the warm sea- sons, for the benefit of the fresh air, and a pleasant walk. It is fanned with refreshing breezes from a part of Charles River, which extends around the bot- tom of the Common. From the Mall is a pleasing prospect, over the river, of the adjacent country. These circumstances, together with the handsome buildings within view, one of which is a superb edifice of stone, (the seat of the late Governour Hancock;) the hills that rise gradually on the western side; the cheerfulness of the well-dressed persons of both sexes, and the decent deportment of its visitors, all unite to make a walk in the Mall truly agreeable."
Some fifty years ago a contributor to the Bulletin of the Essex Institute wrote feelingly of the good old days of stage-coach travel. "The stage-driver,- the next best man to the minister, out of jail-we have no longer. The old stage-houses are for the most part deserted, or stand 'with a kind of gloomy sturdiness' amidst the modern innovations which sur- round them. Never again shall 'the windows of the wayside inn, across the meadows bare and brown, gleam red with fire-light through the leaves of wood- bine hanging from the eaves, their crimson curtains rent and thin!' Never again, about its hospitable hearth, that well-known company of whips shall
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gather for a parting pipe, when guests are dreaming, and the night-coaches are in. I see the stage-drivers now, in their quaint old chairs, whiffs of smoke curl- ing lazily about their cheerful, weatherbeaten, ruddy faces; heavy, wet boots steaming on the hearth; am- ple capes and top-coats flung dripping on the benches ; while they chat by turns, stir the fire, and laugh at the storm."
These lines were written half a century or more ago. What a wonderful change has been wrought by the coming of the automobile! The chauffeur, a strange, new being, has succeeded the stage-driver of former days; the way-side inns have multiplied exceedingly, while the landlord is a more important personage than ever.
Nathan Bond, Merchant
O N June thirtieth, 1795, Captain Pease, for a con- sideration of £1330, sold the north lot to Nathan Bond of Boston, Gentleman and Merchant. It is interesting to compare former prices with the market value of the same lot to-day, which may be fairly estimated at $1,000,000. According to the statistics of the United States Direct Tax of 1798, the estate
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of Nathan Bond, owner and occupier, was assessed for $3,500. It is therefore worth at the present day about two hundred and eighty-five times its estimated value in the year above mentioned.
It was then described as follows: "Brick and wooden dwelling-house, 3 stories, 29 windows ; 6603 square feet of land; wood-house and barn; bounded South on Samuel Ballard, West on Common Street, North on Thomas Thompson and Luke Baker, and East on William Swett."
Nathan Bond was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1772. He was chosen a "Clerk of the Market" in 1789. In an advertisement in the Independent Chronicle, on April twenty-third of that year, he of- fered for sale by auction at his store in Cornhill a lot of goods from Madras, including "chintzes, cali- coes, book-muslins, ginghams, cottons, sheetings, silks and saltpetre."
The Selectmen's Minutes, under date of May 3rd, 1798, contain a somewhat vaguely worded item, viz .: "Ordered that the Officer of Police inform Mr. Na- than Bond that the Selectmen direct that he stop in erecting a Building at the bottom of the Common. They do not at present order its removal, that Mr. Bond may have liberty to erect the same, if he thinks proper." It may be that the style of architecture of
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the said building did not commend itself to the Town Fathers.
The Columbian Centinel, March 9, 1799, had the following advertisement :
"To be sold by Nathan Bond; the MANSION HOUSE, which he now occupies, situated in Common Street, opposite the Mall. It commands a beautiful prospect of the Common and New State House; It stands on high ground, and has the important ad- vantage of a good and Salubrious air. The lot measures in front 31 feet, and in depth, 213 feet; and has a large and convenient stable, measuring in length 70 feet."
Benjamin Callender, Tailor
O N April 30, 1799, Mr. Bond sold the premises to Benjamin Callender, a well-known tailor, of Bos- ton, and the owner of considerable real estate.
After serving an apprenticeship under a trades- man named Copeland, Mr. Callender started in busi- ness for himself about the year 1770. At the begin- ning of the Revolution he removed, with his family, to Natick, but returned to Boston after the Evacua- tion. His shop was at first on Cornhill, now a section of Washington Street, and later he had a more pre-
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tentious establishment at Number 4 State Street, which was patronized by the aristocracy. It was said that no customer ever left his store in a dissatisfied frame of mind, because every one was sure to get his money's equivalent in smart attire. He pursued the even tenor of his way, without striving to make a noise in the world, and gained an enviable reputation for integrity, modesty and fair dealing. Mr. Callen- der was for some years leader of the choir of Brattle Street Church, until obliged to relinquish the position on account of increasing deafness. He was a per- sonal friend of Paul Revere, and with that distin- guished patriot helped to found, in 1795, the Massa- chusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, serving also as a member of its first Board of Directors.
His house on Common Street was occupied from 1800 to 1810 by Seth Cole, a livery-stable keeper.
Mr. Callender had five sons and three daughters, who were educated in the Boston public schools. He died in 1828 at the age of eighty-three.
John Osborn, Importer
TOHN OSBORN, of Boston, bought both the north J and south lots, February 10, 1819, for $15,000, thus becoming owner of the larger portion of the
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present Cathedral Site. Mr. Osborn received his edu- cation at the Public Latin School, and became a mem- ber of the Artillery Company in 1793.
He was a wealthy merchant, whose specialty was the importation of glass and painters' colors. He had a store at No. I Long Wharf, a shop on Orange Street, now a part of Washington Street, and his residence was at the West End. He owned consid- erable land within the town limits, including the tract then known as the "Pear Orchard," bounded by Cambridge, Lynde, Green and Chambers Streets. In 1806 he bought a handsome residence on Mount Vernon Street, which he sold in 1809 to Mrs. Gibbs, widow of a well-known merchant, of Newport, R. I. Mr. Osborn died at Boston in 1819, at the age of 48 years.1
It is an interesting fact that during the years from 1826 to 1830 the line of houses on Tremont Street between Saint Paul's Church and Winter Street was called "Saint Paul's Row."
1 In September, 1813, Mr. Osborn offered for sale at his store "a large and very extensive assortment of Paints, Painters' Brushes, Tools and Pencils, gum copal, Verdigrise, Linseed Oil, Spirits of Turpentine, Gold and Silver Leaf, English and Ameri- can Glue, Pumice Stone, Whiting, Water Cologne in boxes, and every Article generally called for in a paint store."
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THE SOUTH LOT
James Johnson, Glover
T HE SOUTH LOT, having a breadth along the Common of about 40 feet, and extending east- erly 210 feet to the line of Mason Street, was granted by the General Court to James Johnson, a glover, in 1638. He was a deacon of the First Church in Bos- ton, and became a member of the Artillery Company, attaining the rank of Lieutenant in 1658. James Johnson was the original owner of the site of the Blue Bell Tavern, which stood on a marsh at the corner of the present Batterymarch Street and Liberty Square. It was afterwards known as the Castle Tavern. He also owned the site of the Green Dragon Tavern, on Union Street, near Haymarket Square. In ante-Rev- olutionary times this Inn was a favorite rallying- place of leading patriots. Paul Revere was one of a group of about thirty men, chiefly mechanics, who "banded together to keep watch on the British de- signs," and who were wont to meet at the Green Dragon Tavern. . . .
In the early Boston records Mr. Johnson is de-
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scribed as a leather-dresser. At a meeting of the Selectmen, March 17, 1643, Sergeant Johnson was requested "to take the oversight of the boyes in the galleryes, and in case of unruly disorders, to acquaint the Magistrates therewith."
Some thirty years later, on April 28, 1673, Mrs. Abigail Johnson, the wife of Captain James John- son, was licensed to sell "Coffee, Chucaletto, and Syder."
George Burden, Shoemaker
N the early days the adjoining lot toward West Street was owned by George Burden. He and his wife Ann had come over to the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the ship Abigail in 1635. He was a shoe- maker, and together with his wife was admitted to membership in the First Church of Boston the follow- ing year. He took the freeman's oath in 1637. In company with many of his fellow-townsmen he be- came involved in the religious dissensions of that pe- riod, as an adherent of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, the leader of the so-called sect of the Antinomians in New England, and was sentenced by the Court to be dis- armed for heresy.
The name of "our brother," George Burden, ap-
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pears not infrequently in the Town records. On July 31, 1643, a grant was made to him and three others, of the whole of the Mill Cove, so called, which after- ward became the Mill-Pond by the construction of a causeway along the line of the present Causeway Street. This causeway was the successor of an old Indian foot-path along a more elevated portion of the salt marsh. The Mill-Pond was gradually filled in with material taken from Beacon and Copps Hills. This work was begun in 1807 and occupied nearly twenty-five years.1 The original grant was made upon the condition that the grantees should erect and maintain one or more Corn Mills upon or near the premises.
George Burden and the members of his family re- turned to England about the year 1652.
Henry Webb, Merchant
N EXT to George Burden's lot, on the north cor- ner of Tremont and West Streets, was a garden containing about one acre of land, belonging to Henry Webb, a native of Salisbury, England, who came over in 1638, and was admitted to the First Church in Bos- ton the same year. His wife, Dosabell or Dowsabell, 'S. A. Drake. Old Landmarks of Boston.
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became a member in 1639. Mr. Webb held the office of constable for one term. He became a wealthy merchant, having also a large interest in some iron- works at Lynn, and considerable real estate. In his Will he bequeathed £100 to the Town for the benefit of the poor. "At a Townes-meeting upon Publick notice from house to house," July 9, 1660, it was or- dered that "the said froo be improoved by the select men for the end aforesaid, in some building fitt for that end; and that in case of fire hapning which may consume itt, the Towne shall reedify the like fabrick to the end aforesaid."
Henry Webb also bequeathed to Harvard College a piece of land extending from Washington to Dev- onshire Streets, with the house thereon; the rent to be devoted to the "maintenance of some poor Scholars, or otherwise for the best good of the College." The Treasurer's Account-Book, under date, April 14, 1710, has this item :
"Lett unto Mr. Wm. Payne, the College House, Mr. Webb's gift, for 99 years from 25 March, 1710, to pay £12 per annum." The estate is still in Harvard's possession. Until recently it was occupied by Messrs. Little, Brown and Company, Publishers. The early records of transfers of real estate in Boston are not complete. It is certain, however, that the south lot
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came into the possession of one Richard Carter, who · had also bought in 1646 of William Parsons the ad- jacent lot towards Temple Place, which consisted of one acre of land, bounded on the east by Robert Wing and Ralph Mason, the Lane (West Street) on the south, the Common west, and George Burden north.
Richard Carter took the freeman's oath in 1639. His trade was that of a carpenter. At a general Town meeting on February 24th of that year, Richard Car- ter, sawyer, was granted a "great Lott at the Mount [Wollaston] for three heads there."
In 1657 he subscribed fi to the fund for building the first Town House in Boston, and in the following year was chosen a surveyor of highways. His lands between the present Winter and West Streets were known as "Carter's Pasture," and his home lot was on the site of the present Adams House.
Richard Carter and Ann, his wife, transferred the premises, March 14, 1663-4, to John Cross, a brewer, of Boston. At a meeting of the Selectmen, holden March 26, 1666, John Crosse was ordered to attend to the "yoaking and ringing of the Swine belonging to the inhabitants of the town, and to asseize all for- feitures that shall arise by the Swine not being yoaked and ringed according to order."
In March, 1686, he was appointed "Towne Cryer,
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to be allowed 2d for what he cryeth at the metting- house; and what he Crye upp and downe from street to street is to be allowed 6d at a time; further the said John Crosse is ordered to cleare the streets of all Carron and other offencive matters."
In November, 1670, he mortgaged the property to John Richards, "merchant-treasurer" of Harvard College, including the "new dwelling-house, with one other new house now erecting, together with all that piece or parcel bounded by the land of John Wampas, formerly Robert Wyard, northerly; and the land of Richard Carter, southerly; and butteth on the towne Comon westerly, and the lands of Anthony Harker and Isaac Goose, easterly."
No conveyance from John Cross appears to have been recorded. The next transaction involving this estate is dated February 22, 1724, when Joseph Miller of Portsmouth, in the Province of New Hampshire, yeoman, "for and in consideration of £300 in good, lawful, publick Bills of Credit," sold the same to John Bushell. .
An "Accompt of Rebeckah Scott, executrix of the Will of her former husband John Bushell," gives some information about house-rents in Provincial times. For example, John Lucas paid Mrs. Bushell £45, 9 shillings for twenty months' rent of the "front
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end of the New House in Common Street," from No- vember, 1731; or at the rate of about $135 a year. Hugh Scott's rent for the "Back of the New House" for twenty months to December, 1733, amounted to a little over £66. And Kenelm Winslow paid £81 for the whole of the New House, for fifteen months to August, 1735, at an annual rate of about $325.
In the Inventory of the estate of John Bushell, dated April 10, 1732, he is styled "Innkeeper." The dwelling-house, barn, yard and garden bought of Mil- ler, were appraised at £400; whereas the land and buildings of the north lot, bought of the Hughes heirs, were valued at £1000.
It is evident that this region was distinctly rural in character, and so continued until long after the Revolution. Trees, gardens and pastures, pumps and wells, barns and woodsheds abounded, while close at hand, as now, was the beautiful Training-Field or Common, affording ample grazing-ground for the cattle. .
In 1747 John Bushell, Junior, inherited the south lot, it having been apportioned to him by a decree of the Suffolk Probate Court, before mentioned.
In the following year, April 9, 1748, he made over to one Richard Collier, a brazier, this property, in- cluding "a certain old house or tenement and Land
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with the edifices thereon, with the right and privilege in the Well and Pump, standing partly on the Land ·aforesaid."
Samuel Ballard
R ICHARD COLLIER, after holding the property fourteen years, sold it, April 16, 1762, to Samuel Ballard, Gentleman. The latter's name appears fre- quently on the Town records. He was a graduate of the Boston Public Latin School. Joining the mili- tia early, he attained the rank of Captain, and also held the office of Constable. He was chosen a member of a committee of seventy citizens "to attend upon a General Walk or Visitation of the Town (January 13, 1747), and afterwards to Report the State of the Town." Many years later his name appeared in the Directory as a Hay-weigher, and in the Records as a "Hay-ward," an official whose duty it was to impound roving animals. At a Selectmen's meeting, April 26, 1786, "upon opening proposals for the hire of the Hay Engine, it appeared that Captain Samuel Bal- lard was the highest bidder, and the Selectmen, ap- prehending him to be a Person suitably qualified, they have agreed to Rent said Engine to him at the Sum he offers, viz .: £150, one shilling, per Annum."
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His first wife was Elizabeth Pickering, who died in 1763. He married on November third of that year, Fear, daughter of Benjamin and Temperance (Dim- mick) Freeman of Harwich, and widow of Daniel Sears of Chatham, Massachusetts. Captain Ballard had considerable experience as a seafarer, having made a voyage to the north-west coast, the region of Behring Sea, in a sealing-vessel, the Belle George,and being absent about four years. He was a maker of mathematical instruments.
Captain Ballard died in 1793, and by will devised the premises to a grand-daughter, Betsey Pope, a minor, daughter of Edward Pope. The widow, Fear Ballard, continued to occupy the house, which was described in 1798 as a three-storied brick and wooden dwelling, with twenty-one windows. Drawings of this house, and of the adjoining one, owned by Benjamin Callender, on the present Cathedral Site, as they ap- peared in 1800, are to be seen in the Boston Public Library, Quarterly Bulletin, October, 1894. The grand- daughter of Captain Ballard, Betsey Pope, seems to have died early, leaving her father sole heir; for on February 10, 1810, Edward Pope of New Bedford, transferred the south lot and buildings to John Os- born, of Boston, who thus became the owner of both lots.
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Purchase of a Site for Saint Paul's Church
A T a meeting of Subscribers to a fund for the erection of a new Episcopal Church in Boston, held at the old Court House, April 19, 1819, Messrs. Shubael Bell, William Appleton, Daniel Webster, George Sullivan, Francis Wilby and George Odin were chosen members of a Building Committee, and were authorized to buy a suitable lot of land for a site.
. In accordance with a vote passed two days later, the following notice appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser, April 24, 1819:
"Wanted to purchase in Boston, in a central situa- tion, for the site of an Episcopal Church, a lot of LAND, of about 12,000 square feet."
Proposals were to be addressed to Henry Codman, at his office, No. I State Street.
After consideration of several other lots, whose titles proved defective, it was voted, May 18, 1819, to purchase Mr. Osborn's land, on Common Street.
On May 20, 1819, John Osborn and wife Catherine conveyed by warranty deed to George Sullivan and William Shimmin, for a consideration of $15,000, all the land of the first named on Common Street, meas-
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uring in breadth 73 feet, six inches, and having an average depth of 2131/2 feet.
On March 21st, 1820, George Sullivan and wife, Sarah Bowdoin, transferred to David Sears "all the land in Common Street, under and appurtenant to the new Stone Church called Saint Paul's Church, now erecting." And on November 22, following, David Sears sold the above-named premises to the Proprie- tors of the said Church. No funds were paid the grantors at the time of conveyance, but the property was mortgaged back to them as security for the pur- chase money.
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