USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The site of Saint Paul's Cathedral, Boston, and its neighborhood > Part 8
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John Hull was the owner of a large estate at Muddy River, now Brookline, consisting of three hundred and fifty acres, which included a large part of what is now Longwood. The site of his former house is near the Sears Church. This property was inherited by Judge Samuel Sewall and his wife. It has since been known as the Sewall Farm. Captain John Hull is said to have designed the figure of an Indian, which appears on the coat-of-arms of Massachusetts.
Captain Ephraim Savage
A MONG the subsequent owners of Leverett's pas- ture was Ephraim Savage ( 1645-1730), the third son of Major Thomas and Faith Savage. His mother was a daughter of Anne Hutchinson, the religious enthusiast and leader of the Antinomians in New
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England. He was a graduate of Harvard, Class of 1662, Captain in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company; Selectman and Town Clerk for many years, and also served in Philip's War. The General Court, at its session, May 5, 1676, ordered that "Sar- jant Ephrajm Sauvage doe march up with the pro- vission now sent and take the comand of the garri- son" at Quahog (now Brookfield, Mass.). After- wards he was made Ensign, and later Captain of the Company which his father had commanded.
In July, 1690, he was commissioned Captain of a Company of men from Reading and neighboring towns, which formed a part of the forces under Gov- ernor Sir William Phipps in the disastrous expedition against Quebec, which was sent out by Governor Thomas Dudley. One of the Chaplains, Rev. John Wise, referred to him as "an honest and valiant Gent." During the assault upon the Citadel Ephraim Savage narrowly escaped capture. His vessel, with sixty men aboard, became unmanageable in a violent storm, and grounded near the shore. As the tide fell, it remained immovable upon a shoal. The French were quick to perceive his plight, and directed a sharp fire of musketry upon the vessel.
The situation was critical, but the New-England- ers made a strong resistance, and returned the enemy's
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fusillade with vigor. With the flood-tide Sir Wil- liam Phipps' flag-ship came to their assistance; the enemy dispersed, and the bark floated off without material injury. In the summer campaign of the year 1707 Captain Savage was a member of the ex- pedition against Port Royal in Nova Scotia; where was a small fort, which was believed to be a rendez- vous of pirates and headquarters for illicit trading with the Indians. Two regiments were sent from Boston by sea, under convoy of a royal man-of-war and an armed vessel belonging to Massachusetts. The siege of Port Royal was futile, and the expedition returned ingloriously. . .
The Boston Fire of October, 1711, which de- stroyed a large part of the business section of the Town, started in an out-house on the premises of Captain Savage. A poor Scotch woman accidentally set fire to some oakum and other combustible ma- terial, and the result was an historic conflagration.
Captain Savage was then living in a narrow street named Savage's Court, doubtless in his honor. The present title of Williams Court dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. Its popular, colloquial name is "Pie Alley," by reason of the number of cheap restaurants in that locality. From City Hall Ave- nue it leads through an Archway into Washington
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Street, where it emerges between Thompson's Spa and Gridley's Coffee-House. It has a uniform , breadth of eight feet, ten inches. The sign of the Bell-in-Hand Tavern, with the date 1795, was still to be seen by the wayfarer in Pie Alley as late as 1914.
Captain Savage was married four times. On the seventh of September, 1706, he conveyed to Paul Dud- ley, Esq., the younger, of Boston, the former Leverett estate, on the corner of Tremont and Winter Streets. It is described in the Deed as a parcel of pasture land lying in the Common or Training Field; bounded northerly with the land called Willis's Lane; westerly with the Common; southerly by land of Joshua Hughes; and easterly by the house and land "now in the possession of John Hubbard." The lot measured 61 feet along the present Winter Street, and 100 feet along the eastern border of the Common, now Tre- mont Street.
At about this period Boston was described as a prosperous, thrifty, country town. In 1720 an Eng- lish traveler, Daniel Neal, gave his impressions of the place. He found Boston conversation as polite as in most English cities and towns, many of its mer- chants having the advantage of a free intercourse with travellers from abroad. So that a gentleman from London would almost think himself at home in
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Boston, when he observed the number of people, their houses and furniture, their tables, dress and conver- sation, which were perhaps "as splendid and showy as those of the most considerable tradesmen in Lon- don."
Chief Justice Paul Dudley
P AUL Dudley (1675-1751) was the fourth son of Joseph Dudley, Colonial Governor of Massachu- setts, and grandson of Governor Thomas Dudley.
After graduating at Harvard in 1690, he went to London, where he studied law at the Temple. When in 1702 his father received from Queen Anne a com- mission as Governor, Paul Dudley, at the age of twenty-seven, became Attorney-General of the Prov- ince. This office he held until 1718, when he was appointed Associate Justice of the Superior Court, and afterwards became Chief Justice. He was a learned naturalist and a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. As a Judge he had the reputation of being impartial; "the stern enemy of vice; of quick apprehension, extensive knowledge and powerful elo- quence."
He was the originator of the annual Dudleian Lec- tures on religious subjects at Harvard College. The
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old mile-stones, marked "P. D.," which are still to be seen in Roxbury, are enduring reminders of his public-spiritedness.
James Williams, Cooper
I
[N the year 1724 Paul Dudley sold the Leverett pasture lot and a dwelling-house for £220 to James Williams of Boston, a cooper. His name appears in the Town Records, August thirty-first of that year, when it was ordered that "for Town Meetings there be Rong Bells but at three meeting houses; Namly at the Old North, at the Brick, and at the New South;1 and that Mr. James Williams have notis of it."
James Pitts, Patriot
N 1734 the estate fell by inheritance to James Wil- T liams, Junior, a mariner, who sold a portion of it in 1740 to James Pitts (1712-1776), of Boston, who was a Harvard Graduate, Class of 1731. He became a rich merchant. Mr. Pitts was an ardent patriot in the years immediately before the Revolution. His wife was a daughter of the Hon. James Bowdoin, and 1 The New Brick Church was founded in 1718 at the North End. The New South Church dates from 1715, and its site was the so- called Church Green, in Summer Street.
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his three sons were zealous supporters of the Ameri- can Cause.
James Pitts was a member of the State Council. His residence was on or near the site of the Howard Atheneum. Pitts Street, which extended from Green Street to the Mill Pond in 1733, was named Pitts Lane by the Town in 1788. Since 1820 it has borne its present title.
The name of James Pitts appears in a list of citi- · zens of Boston who kept one or more carriages in the year 1768. And in the inventory of his estate we find mention of one chariot, one old chariot on "slay" runners, one four-wheeled carriage, a sedan and a single-horse chaise. ... Coaches, chariots, chaises, calashes and chairs were the pleasure vehicles com- monly used at this period. The pioneer hackney- coach made its appearance here in 1712, through the enterprise of Jonathan Wardell, the landlord of the Orange-Tree Tavern, on Hanover Street. The chariot of the eighteenth century had little resem- blance to the ancient Roman chariot. The former sug- gested a small Court or State carriage, with a coupé body slung upon leathern braces. The calèche or calash was a two-wheeled, hooded gig, a type of ve- hicle still used in some parts of Canada. In regard
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to pleasure vehicles in the eighteenth century, we quote from an Account of Boston in 1740.1
"There are several families in Boston that keep a coach and pair of horses, and some few drive with four horses; but for chaises and saddle-horses, con- sidering the bulk of the place, they outdo London. The country carts and wagons are generally drawn by oxen, from 2 to 6 according to the distance of place, or burden they are laden with. When the la- dies ride out to take the air, it is generally in a chaise or chair, and then but a single horse; and they have a negro servant to drive them. The gentlemen ride out, here as in England, some in chairs and others on horse-back."
In the opinion of this writer, whose name was Ben- nett, the country Inns in the neighborhood of Boston were only fairly good. They provided Indian corn, roasted, and bread made of Indian meal; pretty good butter, but a very sad sort of cheese, and a sorry kind of Madeira wine.
At a Town Meeting, June 22, 1757, it was ordered that "no slay shall be drove in the streets without Bells fastned to the Horses that draw the same. . . . Great dangers arising oftentimes from Coaches, Slays, Chairs and other Carriages on the Lord's Days, 1 Mass. Historical Society Proceedings, January, 1861.
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as the People are going to or coming from the sev- eral Churches in this Town, being driven with great Rapidity; and the Publick Worship being oftentimes much disturbed by such Carriages driving by the sides of the Churches with great force. It is therefore Voted and Ordered that no Coach, Slay, Chair, Chaise or other Carriage shall be driven at a greater Rate than a Foot Pace, on Penalty to the Master of the Slave or Servant so driving, the Sum of ten Shillings."
Apropos of the vehicles used in Boston in the latter part of the eighteenth century, it may be of interest to give the toll-rates over Charles River Bridge, which was opened to public travel, June 17, 1786, with imposing ceremonies.
Each foot passenger . I copper.
One Person and Horse 4 coppers.
Single Horse-Cart, Sled or Sley 6 coppers. Single Horse and Chaise, Chair or Sulky. 12 coppers. Coaches, Chariots, Phaetons and Curri- cles 18 coppers. All other Wheel Carriages drawn by more than one Beast. 9 coppers. Neat Cattle and Horses, passing the said
Bridge, exclusive of those rode 2 coppers. Sheep and Swine, each dozen. 6 coppers.
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The Columbian Centinel, February 22, 1797, had this notice. "As a Gentleman and his servant were returning to Boston on the Portsmouth road, 5 miles from this town, in an open chaise, they were turned over on purpose by a wild young man, and narrowly escaped with their lives. The gentleman, in being dragged along, lost a green morrocco pocket-book con- taining Bank Bills to Five Hundred and Fifty Dol- lars amount. Whoever has found the same, and will leave it at the Centinel Office, shall receive Thirty Dol- lars Reward."
Edward Durant
TN the year 1707 Edward Durant was occupying a . house on this corner lot. His name appears in a list of inhabitants of Boston in 1695, and it was prob- ably his son, of the same name, who became promi- nent in Town affairs, at a somewhat later period.
Edward Durant, the younger (1695-1740), was a blacksmith, of Boston, who served as a Constable and as a Clerk of the Market. He attained the rank of third sergeant in the Ancient and Honorable Artil- lery Company. In 1728 the Selectmen granted his petition "for Liberty of building a Dwelling House of Timber in Winter Street," and this action was
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duly noted in the "Book for Recording Timber Buildings."
In 1733 Mr. Durant was appointed a member of a Committee to receive proposals "touching the demol- ishing, repairing or leasing out the old buildings be- longing to the Town in Dock Square." Meetings of this Committee were appointed to be held each Thurs- day evening at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern, on the corner of Mackerel Lane, now Kilby Street, and King, now State Street. This was one of the most noted among the ancient inns of Boston. Mackerel Lane wound along the shore line in early times. The house of William Hudson, Senior, stood on this cor- ner, and in 1643 a "Harbour of Boats" was con- structed in the salt marsh near by.
Mr. Durant bought a large farm in Newton for £1800, and removed his residence thither.
This farm, of ninety-one acres, was on the south- ern part of Nonantum Hill. In 1734 Captain Edward Durant asked leave to build a pew in the meeting-house at Newton, but his petition was not granted. He was described at this time as a very wealthy man from Boston, and the owner of three slaves. He served as a Selectman of Newton, and was a delegate from that town to the Provincial Con- gress at Cambridge in 1774 and 1775.
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Jeremiah Smith Boies
I
N 1791 one-half of the Leverett pasture lot became the property of Jeremiah Smith Boies of Milton, Gentleman. The westerly boundary line extended from the corner of Winter Street along Common Street until it struck the dwelling-house of Levi Pease, which stood on the north lot of the Cathedral land. On the east side, towards Washington Street, was the land of Luke Baker.
Jeremiah Smith Boies (1762-1851), son of James Boies, a native of Ireland, came to America at an early age, and took up his abode with a farmer at Medford, Massachusetts, who made a business of market-gardening. His produce was taken over the road to Charlestown Ferry, and thence to Boston. Mr. Boies, Senior, made several voyages to Ireland as supercargo of a merchant vessel sent over to bring back emigrants. And in 1770 he carried to England the first tidings of the King Street massacre in Boston.
When, in the winter of 1775-6, General Washing- ton determined to build a fort on Dorchester Heights, he made a requisition for a large quantity of white birch-poles, for the manufacture of fascines; and
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many of these birch-poles came from the farm of · James Boies in Milton. At night, on or about March 12, 1776, the fascines were transported in numerous teams to Dorchester Heights. The supervision of these teams devolved upon Mr. Boies, who accom- panied them on horse-back and took along his boy, Jeremiah Smith Boies, then thirteen years of age. The fascines were unloaded on the top of the hill, and the fortification hastily constructed, half-a-dozen cannon being mounted thereon. The British pre- · pared to attack the fort on the following day, but a violent tempest prevented their doing so, and within a week they evacuated the town. After the lapse of seventy years, Jeremiah Smith Boies published some historical reminiscences, wherein he gave an account of his experiences on the memorable occasion above mentioned.1
James Boies, the father, was the owner of a paper- mill adjoining the Neponset River, in what was then Dorchester ; now within the limits of Milton. During a portion of each day tide-water prevented the run- ning of the mill. When the latter was started in 1759 or thereabout, Mr. Boies employed a paper- maker, named Hazelton, who was attached to a Brit-
1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Vol. VI. 255.
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ish regiment then stationed at Boston. Hazelton ob- tained a furlough, and superintended the starting of the mill; but soon after he rejoined his regiment, which was ordered to Quebec, where Hazelton fell in battle on the Plains of Abraham. Jeremiah Smith Boies was a Harvard Graduate, Class of 1783, and a trustee of Milton Academy. He inherited his father's milling interests, which he retained until 1801, when he disposed of them and removed his residence to Boston, where he lived for half a century, and became an Alderman under the City government.
Doctor Thomas Bartlett
M R. BOIES sold his house and corner-lot, June 18, 1792, to Ann Thompson, widow, of Boston. In 1798, Thomas Thompson, a merchant, owned and occupied the estate, a part of which he sold, July 16, 1821, to George Whiting, also of Boston. Afterward this portion was for many years the property and residence of Doctor Thomas Bartlett (1767-1856), whose house, number 132 Tremont Street, was the next door but one to Saint Paul's Church, on the north side. He first occupied this house in the year 1822, having previously lived in Somerset Street.
He was a son of John and Tabitha (Kidder) Bart-
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lett, of Boston. His first wife, whom he married in 1794, was Mrs. Alice (Fitzpatrick) Wyer. She died in 1800, and he married at Brattle Square Church, Mrs. Hannah (Gray) Wilson. His brother, John Bartlett (1760-1844), was a prominent physician of Roxbury. He was one of the founders of the Massa- chusetts Humane Society and of the Roxbury Chari- table Society.
Dr. Thomas Bartlett was a well-known and highly respected druggist, who was engaged in business for many years in old Cornhill, now a part of Washing- ton Street, at the sign of the Good Samaritan. This sign originally portrayed a Levite, who was repre- sented as "passing by on the other side." This was soon erased, however, because the artist had produced a portrait of the Reverend Dr. William Walter, rec- tor of Christ Church, in full canonicals and wearing a wig. And so accurate was the likeness that it was recognized at once by passers-by. In March, 1799, Doctor Bartlett advertised fresh drugs, electrical apparatus, dye-stuffs and perfumery, as for sale at his store. In September, 1800, he removed from No. 61 Cornhill to No. 13, directly opposite.
Previous to this, when the Boston Dispensary was established, in 1796, Dr. Bartlett was appointed Apothecary, and the symbol of the Good Samaritan
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was adopted by the Managers for their Institution, in accordance with his suggestion. But the original sign remained for many years in its old place, above the door of the Apothecary Shop in Cornhill. Later it became the property of the Dispensary.
A beautiful sculpture, representing the same sub- ject, was given the Dispensary in 1839, by a provision of the will of Benjamin Dearborn, who was the chief benefactor of the Institution. It is to be seen above the delivery window of the Apothecary's room, on the entrance floor of the building in Bennet Street. This sculpture was carved in 1790 for Mr. Dearborn, by William Dearing at Portsmouth, N. H.
A Catalogue of Drugs and Medicines for sale by Thomas Bartlett in 1795 includes the following arti- cles, and the list may be of interest as showing what were some of the popular remedies at that time.
"Bateman's Pectoral Drops; Betton's British Oil; Duffy's Elixir; Dipple's Animal Oil; Godfrey's Cor- dial; Haarlem Oil; Hemet's Essence of Pearl; Ceph- alic Snuff; Honey Water; James's Analiptic Pills; Steer's Opodeldoc; Stoughton's Elixir Magnum Stomachicum; Speediman's Pills, and Turlington's Balsam of Life."
Doctor Bartlett was a Vestryman of King's Chapel
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for thirty-one years. He was also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. His per- sonality was imposing. He was six feet in height and his hair turned white at the age of thirty. Soon after his second marriage he visited France, and was present at a review of troops in Paris. On this occa- sion the first Napoleon was said to have been greatly impressed with his appearance.
An excellent portrait of Dr. Bartlett, by Gilbert Stuart, is in the possession of his great-grand-daugh- ter, Miss Minna Bartlett Hall, of Longwood, Brook- line.
The following lines are quoted from a notice which appeared in the Boston Daily Advertiser, December 13, 1856:
"Thomas Bartlett was a gentleman of the Old School. He was very generally known in our com- munity as a bright example of a virtuous, manly character. With an amiability of disposition and a natural suavity of manners were combined qualities of mind and heart that commanded the respect, as well as the warm regard of all with whom he came in contact. . .
"Retiring early from the business of a druggist, with a fortune very moderate, yet enough for his desires, he was known for many years only in the social walks of life. His venerable head and con-
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spicuous white locks have often been the subject of pleasant comment from strangers of a new genera- tion."
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Doctor John Gorham
T HOMAS and Nancy Thompson conveyed, July II, 1822, a lot on Tremont Street, between Saint Paul's Church and Dr. Bartlett's estate, to Dr. John Gorham (1783-1829; A.B., 1801; M.D., 1804, Har- vard). After studying abroad, he became Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Materia Medica in the Harvard Medical School, and in 1816 he succeeded Dr. Aaron Dexter as Professor. His popular lec- tures on Chemistry were attended by mixed com- panies, among whom were many of "the most re- spectable ladies of the town." Dr. Gorham was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sci- ences.
Doctor George Hayward
TN May, 1829, William Minot and Luther Faulk- ner, the trustees of Doctor Gorham's estate, sold this property at public auction to George Hayward, M.D. (1791-1863), of Boston. His father, Dr. Samuel Hayward, was a surgeon in the American 183.00
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army during the Revolution. The son fitted for col- lege at the Boston Latin School, and graduated at Harvard in 1809 at the age of seventeen. He took his medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812, and established himself in Boston, where he had a considerable practice. In 1835 he was ap- pointed Professor of Surgery in the Harvard Med- ical School. He was at one time President of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and a Fellow of the American Academy. Dr. Hayward conveyed his Winter Street house and land to the Boston Lying-in Hospital, June 15, 1837.
Doctor John Homans
F OR many years the estate on the south corner of Winter Street was the residence of Dr. John Homans (1793-1868), a well-known practitioner, of Boston. He prepared for college at Andover, Massa- chusetts; graduated at Harvard in 1812, and began practice in the town of Brookfield, whose Repre- sentative in the Legislature he became. Following the advice of his former preceptor, Dr. John Gorham, he removed to Boston in 1829, and there attained success in his profession. He was President of the Massachusetts Medical Society for two years, and
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delivered the anniversary discourse at its annual meeting in 1844, portraying therein the intellectual, moral and professional qualities which should char- acterize the "Good Physician."
Dr. Homans served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Society of the Cincinnati. He married Caroline, daughter of Dudley and Eleanor (Clark) Walker. Of their twelve children, two be- came prominent among the physicians of Boston, Doctors Charles Dudley and John Homans.
The North Corner of Tremont and Winter Streets
A T a meeting of the Selectmen of Boston, April 2, 1637, this house-lot, adjoining land of Stephen Kinsley, a farmer, and the "garding-plott" of Daniel Maud, school-master, was granted to the wife of Richard Sherman, who was described as a planter. He had become a resident of Boston in 1634. The name of Elizabeth Sherman is associated with the so-called "Pig-case" or "Sow-business,"which amused and excited the townspeople. This is described at some length in Governor Winthrop's History of New England, II, 70. At the session of the General Court in 1642, he wrote, "There fell out a great business upon a very small occasion."
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A stray white sow was brought to Captain Robert Keayne, a prominent citizen, who kept it in his yard, after unavailing efforts by the Town crier to find its owner. . The sow was afterward claimed by Mrs. Sherman, and hence arose a controversy which lasted for nearly two years, and led to very important re- sults. No decision could be reached by the members of the General Court, who were divided into two fac- tions, about equal numerically. Hence originated the Senate and the House of Representatives of Massa- chusetts.
This dispute between a rich citizen, afterward the Town's benefactor, and a poor woman, served for a time to excite ill feeling between the aristocratic ele- ment in the community and the common people. The public temper waxed warm, and the persistency shown on either side in this ludicrous case was said to exemplify "the inflexible will of man."
William Hudson, Senior
W ILLIAM HUDSON, Senior, was one of the earlier owners of this corner lot. His name appears in the Town Records, August 15, 1636, when he and John Sampford were chosen "Water Baylies, to see that no annoying things, eyther by fish, wood
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or stone, or other such like things, be left or layd · about the seashore." At a Town meeting, April 2, 1638, William Hudson was chosen cowkeeper for the ensuing year, and he was to have "for every cowe goeing upon the Necke a bushell of corne at harvest, and for every calfe put to his keeping, a peck of corne." In 1640 he received permission from the General Court to keep an Inn. Mention has been made of his estate in Mackerel Lane, now Kilby Street, where later stood the Bunch of Grapes Tav- ern, a popular resort of seafaring people, and noted as the best "punch-house" in Boston. William Hud- son, the younger, served with Cromwell's parliamen- tary army in England, having the rank of ensign in the company of Captain John Leverett, who later be- came Governor of the Massachusetts Colony. The latter's company was a part of the regiment com- manded by Colonel William Rainesborough, a former resident of Charlestown. Mr. Hudson, tiring of the service, soon after returned to Boston. In 1667 Captain William Hudson was licensed to "draw Beere and Wine for the yeare ensuing," and in 1669 he received permission to keep a "house of publique en- tertainment." The Town records show that he con- tinued in business as an Innkeeper as long as he lived. November 14, 1673, several persons were "ordered
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