USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Topographical and historical description of Boston > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55
511
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
five acres of Mr. John Salter (part of his inheritance from his father William, a mariner), and also other parts of several persons. Thus Mr. Samuel Bill became, as he thought, owner of the whole island. But here, as in other like cases, a pretended prior Indian claim turned up, and had to be quieted. It appears that the new claimant was Josiah, the son and heir of Josiah, other- wise called Wampatuck, late sachem of the Massachu- setts country. This distinguished individual says, in the language of the deed of release, where he uses the first person I, " for divers good causes and considera- tions me thereunto moving, & in particular for and in consideration of money to me in hand paid, before the ensealing of this deed, by Samuel Bill, of Boston, butcher, have with ye knowledge and consent of my wise men and councillors, William Ahaton, Sen' Wil- liam Ahaton, Jun" & Robert Momentaug, given, granted, sold, enfeoffed and confirmed, and by these presents do fully, freely and absolutely give, grant, sell, enfeoffe, convey and confirme unto the sª Samuel Bill his heires & assignes for ever one certain Island scituate in the Massachusetts Bay, commonly known and called by the name of Spectacle Island, in the present posses- sion of the same Bill, with all rights, privileges and appurtenances thereunto in any wise appertaining & belonging." The Indian covenants, in the deed, " that (according to Indian right & title) he is the sole owner and proprietor of the sª island," and therefore, with his three councillors, executes the same on the thirtieth of April, 1684. What the valuable considera- tion consisted of does not appear; but it is known that, after the purchase of other claims by Mr. Bill, he re- mained in full possession of it until his decease, on the
1
512
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
cighteenth of August, 1705, when it fell to his widow Elizabeth, by a provision of his will, which provided that she should enjoy its benefits during her widowhood, and at her decease it should go to his son Samuel. Mr. Bill also provided that, in case of the marriage of his widow, she should retain only her thirds in the real estate left by him. Mrs. Bill chose the latter alter- native, and on the twenty-second of March, 1705-6, married Mr. Eleazer Phillips of Charlestown. In con- sequence of this marriage, the estate of Mr. Bill was amicably divided, and two-thirds of Spectacle Island, as well as two-thirds of the seventy-six sheep and two cows, and the whole of two negro men, a boat, one old mare, and the family hog, together with sundry tools, were apportioned to Mr. Samuel Bill, the heir apparent, the whole value of his portion amounting to £444 18s. 8d. In the course of events, Mr. Phillips and his wife died, and the title became vested in Mr. Samuel Bill, in accordance with the will of his father. This Mr. Bill was denominated, in the old records, a victualler, and resident of the town of Boston, as his father and grand- father were before him. From this time the island re- mained in the possession of Mr. Bill (with the excep- tion which will be mentioned hereafter) until he sold it, on the eighteenth of March, 1729-30, to his brother Richard.
Early in the last century, our wise and considerate rulers began to think earnestly of establishing a quar- antine in Boston harbor; and for that purpose the Gen- eral Court of the province, on the eleventh of June, 1716, appointed a committee "to investigate a suitable place for the erecting a hospital for infectious persons, with minutes for an Act for that purpose." The com-
1
1
513
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
mittee attended to the duty assigned them, and on the twentieth of the ensuing November reported on the sub- ject, recommending, among other things, that an acre of land, with the necessary privileges. should be purchased at Squantum Neck. This part of the report was ac- cepted, and an appropriation was made of one hundred and fifty pounds for the object, and for the erection of the necessary buildings, Samuel Thaxter and William Payne, Esquires, being the committee to carry the order into effect. But on the eleventh of April, 1717, one hundred and five inhabitants of Dorchester, fearing the effects of having a pest-house so near them, remonstra- ted against the same; and another committee, with the same powers and instructions, and consisting of Adam Winthrop, William Payne, Samuel Thaxter, and Jona- than Dowse, Esquires, was appointed, and directed to use all convenient speed in selecting another place for the object. It was undoubtedly in consequence of this remonstrance, that, on the fifteenth of the following May, the philanthropic townsmen of Boston passed the following vote: "That the Selectmen be impowered to Lease out a piece of Land on Dere Island not Ex- ceeding one acre, for a Term not Exceeding ninety-nine years, to be improved for the Erecting an Hospital or Pest House there for the reception & entertainmt of sick persons coming from beyond the Sea and in order to prevent the spreading of Infection." It does not ap- pear that Deer Island was taken at that time for the purpose; but it is certain, that on the thirtieth of July of the same year (1717), Samuel Bill and his wife Sarah, for £100 in bills of credit, did convey to the treasurer of the province, Jeremiah Allen, Esq., a portion of land, " being part of the southerly end of Spectacle Island,
65
514
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
so called, and is bounded northerly by said Bills land, ten feet to the northward of the cellar wall lately built there, to erect a house on for the Province to entertain the sick, and is on the cleft or brow of the southerly head or highland of sª island forty-four feet wide, and from thence to run on a line about south-southwest ninety feet, where it is also forty-four feet wide, and thence to continue the line on the easterly side streight down to the sea, and from sª ninety feet on the westerly side to widen gradually on a streight line to the sea or salt water, where it is to be sixty feet wide, together with the liberty of landing on the southerly beach point, and thence to pass and repass to and from the said granted land."
The foregoing acts of the Provincial Legislature, Town Meeting of Boston, and Committee of the Gen- eral Court, were the first steps towards the establishment of the Boston Quarantine, which was so ably sustained by subsequent acts of the General Court. It is true that in the year 1701 an act was passed requiring se- lectmen to provide for persons sick with infectious dis- eases, and also impowering justices to prevent persons coming on shore from any vessels visited with sickness, as may be seen by examining the act itself, being the nineteenth chapter passed in the thirteenth year of Wil- liam the Third, 1701. To this an addition was passed on the fourteenth of February, 1717-18, which was the act required by the committee already mentioned above, and which is known as the fourth chapter of the fourth year of George the First. After stating that a conven- ient house had been provided by the province on Spec- tacle Island for the reception of such as shall be visited with contagious sickness, in order to keep them from
1
1
1
515
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
infecting others, the act provided that the keeper of the light-house and the commanding officer of Castle Wil- liam should notify all vessels coming near them, wherein any infectious disease is or has been, to come to anchor near the house, or hospital, at Spectacle Island, and that all infectious goods should be put into the hospital. All the repairs to the establishment, and whatever should be necessary for the accommodation of the persons de- tained, were to be provided for by the selectmen of Bos- ton, at the immediate expense of the province. Not- withstanding what has been expressed in the act alluded to, it appears that matters must have gone on slowly at the island, as an order was passed by the General Court on the tenth of December, 1720, "that the selectmen of the town of Boston be desired to take care for the fin- ishing of the Public Hospital on Spectacle Island, so as to make it warm and comfortable for the entertainment of the sick." From this time things went on well at the hospital; repairs, when needed, were made, and every- thing required for comfort was provided by the town, and paid for by the province. In January, 1735-6, a committee was appointed, and further impowered on the twenty-fourth of March following, for agreeing with the owners of any convenient place as they may think suit- able for removing the hospital to, in the harbor of Bos- ton. This committee, after being reminded of their duty on the twenty-fifth of November, reported on the second of December, 1736, that they had performed their duty, and recommended, "that the sum of five hundred and seventy pounds be granted and paid out of the public treasury to the Honorable John Jeffries, Esq., and the other selectmen of Boston, by them to be disposed of for the consideration purchase of a certain
516
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
island in the harbor of Boston, called Ransford's Island, lying between Long Island and the main land near the town of Hull, to be improved as a Hospital for the Province." At the same time Mr. Treasurer Foye was authorized to execute and pass a deed of sale to Richard Bill, Esq., of Boston, of all the right, title, and estate of the province in that part of Spectacle Island, with the buildings and appurtenances, where the hospital then was, on the receipt of the sum of one hundred and thirty pounds. On the thirteenth of December, 1737, the committee reported that they had built a hospital upon Rainsford Island; therefore, that upon Spectacle Island became of no use to the province, and was ac- cordingly sold to Richard Bill, of Boston, and conveyed to him by deed dated seventeenth February, 1738-39.
By the above mentioned conveyance, Mr. Bill came in full and absolute possession of the whole island, he having acquired the title of the remaining portion some time previous, as already stated, from his brother Sam- uel. On the second of February, 1741-2, he sold his whole interest in it to Edward Bromfield, Esq., a gentle- man of note at that time; and since then Spectacle Isl- and has not been improved for public use, but, with the exception to be mentioned, has reverted to the ordinary purposes of agriculture and pasturage, and occasionally for the convenience and entertainment of persons on pleasure excursions down the harbor.
When Mr. Bromfield purchased the island, there was upon its northern portion a house and barn and other accommodations. The house has recently been fixed up after a fashion, and put to a new business, unknown, until quite recently, to our community. A vessel styled after the proprietor, the Nahum Ward, plies frequently
517
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
between the island and one of the South Boston wharves, laden with a most remarkable cargo, which, when passed through certain processes of manufacture, yields a valuable return to an enterprising firm, al- though the island, in consequence of the manufactory, has ceased to be so much a place of resort as formerly. Although good Mr. Bromfield, when he got the island and assumed the mortgages upon it, may have supposed he bought a " dead horse," which would be of very little use to him, yet undoubtedly the present occupant thinks dead horses very valuable property, when put to legiti- mate uses in the way of trade.
The next island in course is Long Island, a descrip- tion of which should be attempted in the next chapter; but, for the purpose of keeping connected the subject of quarantine, the writer proposes to say a few words about Rainsford Island, which is easily reached from Spectacle by moving along a short distance through the western way. This passage, which can only be used by large vessels at high tide, branches off from the Main Ship Channel at Castle Island wharf, and runs in a south- southeast direction till it passes the southerly extremity of Long Island; then in a direction northeast by east between Long and Rainsford Islands, nearly to Gallop's Island; then southeasterly by the southerly side of George's Island; and then east-northeast to Boston Light House, at the mouth of the harbor.
CHAPTER XLI.
RAINSFORD ISLAND AND THE OLD QUARANTINE.
Old Quarantine Ground at Rainsford Island . . . Wilson's, or Lark Rock . .. Quarantine Rocks, Sunken Ledge, and Hangman's Island . . . Form and Di- mensions of Rainsford Island . . . Its Topography . . . Early History of the Island . .. Formerly under the Jurisdiction of Hull . .. Owned by Edward Raynsford . . . Sold to the Lorings of Hull in 1692 . . . Quarantine in 1736 . . . Rainsford Island selected and purchased in 1736 .. First Hospital erected . in 1737 ... Removal of Quarantine in 1852 ... Gallop's Island fitted for Quarantine Purposes in 1866 . . . Location of Hospitals . . . Rainsford Island as a Place of Resort . . . Traditions . . . Old Burying-Ground . . . The State In- stitutions on the Island abandoned.
STARTING from the northerly wharf of Spectacle Island, which, it will be remembered, projects westerly from the north peninsula, and pursuing for about a mile and a quarter a southeasterly course through the Western Passage, which bears various names, such as the Back Way and Western Channel, the reader will come to the southwest point of Long Island, south of which is situ- ated the Old Quarantine Ground, and little over a mile distant is Rainsford Island, which has also borne the names of Hospital Island and Quarantine Island. From this point he can proceed to Rainsford Island at any tide, by taking a northeasterly course through the Back Way between it and Long Island, and then a circuitous course around its northeastern head, by the way of Wil- son's or the Lark Rock, until he finds its wharf on its southerly side. At high tide, when the large shoal is covered with a sufficient depth of water, the wharf can
1 1
519
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
be reached by a shorter cut, directly from the southwest, without passing between it and Long Island; but this way is somewhat dangerous to inexperienced persons, on account of the Quarantine Rocks, Sunken Ledge, and Hangman's Island, lying in the extensive shoals just south of the Old Quarantine Ground; yet this last is, to those acquainted with the dangers, and well skilled in the way of avoiding them, the favorite approach to the island. Still another mode of approaching the island is through Broad Sound Channel by a very roundabout way.
Rainsford Island is about half a mile in length from east to west, and very narrow for its length. Its form is quite fantastical, and may be likened to a mink, with- out much stretch of the imagination, if the Point is taken for the head, and West Head and the numerous projections on its southern side for the legs. By the way of the channel it is seven and a quarter miles from the city, but the shorter passage measures a little less, perhaps shortening the distance three quarters of a mile. In a direct line from the end of Long wharf, southeast- erly, it is distant five miles and three quarters, while it may be reached on the ice, in cold winters, from South Boston Point, by a walk of four miles. It is supposed, by estimation, to contain eleven acres of ground. Its North Bluff, so called, where is situated the chief part of the land which in any degree is supplied with avail- able soil, is quite elevated, being about thirty-five feet above the mark of high water. At the western extrem- ity is a prominent point of land called Small Pox Point, east of which, and projecting southerly, is a bold prom- inence, which consists of a ledge of slate stone, and has from very early times been known as West Head. These
520
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
heads are connected with a narrow strip of beach, less than fifty yards in length, which in former times was frequently overflowed at high tides, but which is now in a measure protected from the influence of storms and surges by a sea-wall, which has been erected for the purpose at a great expense.
The early history of this island is not so definite as is desired. From what has been said in previous chap- ters, it is known that in the early days of the colony (about 1635), the General Court granted, as occasions demanded, the islands of Boston harbor to different towns, and also to individuals. Deer Island, Long Isl- and, Hog Island, and Spectacle Island were granted to Boston, Noddle's Island to Samuel Maverick, Govern- or's Island to John Winthrop, Thompson's Island to Dorchester by mistake, and then confirmed to David Thompson, the true claimant, and other islands to other proprietors, as will be seen hereafter. In some way Rains- ford Island came under the jurisdiction of the town of Nantasket, which, on the twenty-ninth of May, 1644, was named Hull, by the following order: "It is ordered, that Nantascot shall be called Hull." In all probability the grant was included in the following court order, passed on the second of June, 1641: "It is further or- dered, that the iland called Pedocks Iland, & the other ilands there not otherwise disposed of, shall belong to Nantaskot, to bee to the use of the inhabitants & fisher- men, so soone as they shall come to inhabite there." Be this as it may, it is certain that Elder Edward Raynsford was very early in the old colony days the undisputed pro- prietor of the island; and, for want of better evidence, it is believed that he had it of the town of Hull, and perhaps in accordance with the request of Mr. Owen
1
521
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
Rowe, a wealthy tradesman of London, and a member of the Massachusetts Company, who, on the eighteenth of February, 1635-6, wrote to Governor Winthrop, re- questing that "Mr. Ransford may be accommodated with lands for a farme to keepe my cattele, that so my stocke may be preserved." The chief use of the islands was for the pasturage of cattle; and, as Elder Rayns- ford had charge of those sent over by Mr. Rowe, it is not improbable that he obtained a grant of the island for the purpose.
The good old Elder lived to a respectable old age, having acquired a competent estate, with many children and grandchildren to share it; and after serving his day and generation, as some of the old chroniclers say, he died on the sixteenth of August, 1680, at the age of seventy-one years, leaving his estate to his widow and children, to be improved by the widow during her life, and to go to the children at her decease. She, good woman, survived her husband eight years and then died; for the gravestone in King's Chapel Burying- Ground tells us, that Mrs. Elizabeth Raynsford died on the sixteenth of November, 1688, aged eighty-one years. At her decease the property of the Elder was divided, and Rainsford Island, which at his death was valued at only £10, was assigned, together with other property, to the children of Captain William Greenough, of Boston, a noted shipwright, whose second wife Elizabeth, then deceased, was daughter of the Elder. Although these children, Newman and Edward Greenough, were living, Captain Greenough, their father, on the thirteenth of January, 1691-2, conveyed the estate in the island to "John Loring and Benjamin Loring, of Hull alias Nantasket, yeo-
66
522
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
men," for the sum of twenty-two pounds current money of New England. The description in the deed styles it, "a certain island commonly called or knowne by the name of Raynsford's Island, scittuate, lying and being between Pettock's Island and Long Isl- and in the Massachusetts Bay aforesaid, consisting of two hills of land parted with a beach between each other, which beach is sometimes overflowed at high water, being butted and bounded southerly by Pettocks Island aforesaid, northerly by said Long Island, easterly by the town of Hull afores'd, and westerly by a neck of land called Mannings Moone Neck," together with all "the beach, fflatts, stones, profits, privileges, timber trees, rights, comodities, heriditaments, emoluments, and appurtenances." Possession was given on the twenty- second of January of the same year. From the partic- ularity of the deed, it may be inferred that the slate stone at the West Head may have been put to some kind of use, as well as the timber trees and grass. From this time, for the space of forty-five years, the island re- mained in the possession of these Lorings and their heirs, until it was conveyed to the province, as will be seen hereafter.
In the preceding chapter the incipient stages of the quarantine establishment at Boston were briefly sketched, Spectacle Island affording a position for the commencement of the undertaking. After nearly twenty years' use of this locality, there was a feeling in the community that the right place had not been se- lected; Spectacle Island was too near the town, and was among other occupied islands; it had no good road near it for the anchorage of detained vessels, and was also suitable for pasturage, containing as it did about sixty
523
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
acres of good grass land. Therefore, on the twenty- second of January, 1735-6, a committee was appointed, who reported, on the second of December, 1736, as was before stated in the last chapter, for selling the land on Spectacle Island, and for purchasing Rainsford Island; and ££570 were appropriated for the purpose. In ac- cordance with the directions of the General Court of the province, the island was purchased, and a deed was passed on the seventh of December following, signed by John Loring and wife Elizabeth, Samuel Loring and wife Jane, Caleb Loring and wife Rebecca, Benjamin Loring and wife Elizabeth, John Loring, Jr., and wife Elizabeth, and David Loring and wife Hannah, all of Hull, conveying the same for the sum above mentioned, and with the same description as in the deed from Greenough to Lorings before given, with the following, "to be used and improved for a hospital for the said Province."
On the fourth of February, 1736-7, it was voted by the House of Representatives, and concurred in by the Council, "that Mr. Speaker and Mr. Cooke, with such as shall be joined by the honorable Board, be a committee to build a suitable and convenient House on Rainsford Island, lying between Long Island and the Main Land near the town of Hull, to be used and improved as a publick hospital for the reception and accomodation of such sick and infectious persons as shall be sent there by order." Governor Jonathan Belcher assented to the vote, and Hon. William Dudley, and Hon. Samuel Welles, councillors, were joined to the committee on the part of the council. The committee seem to have taken the matter in hand at once, for we find on the thirteenth of December, 1737, they made a report, a minute of
524
TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL
which was recorded, and an order passed in the follow- ing words: -
"A Report of a Committee of this Court lately ap- pointed for building an Hospital on Ransford-Island, showing they have built an House there of four Rooms on a Floor, four upright Chambers and convenient Gar- rets, and Cellars well-finished and a Well, and suitable Conveniences for the Reception of the Sick, as Occasion may be, dated, Boston, tenth of October, 1737, and signed William Dudley, in the Name and by the order of the Committee, was laid on the Table, Read and Or- dered, That the present Select Men of the Town of Boston be and hereby are fully authorized and ap- pointed a committee to treat with some suitable Person to keep the Hospital lately built by order of this Court at Ransford-Island for the reception of sick and infec- tious Persons, and that the said Person be desired and impowered to take all proper Care of such Persons as may be sent to the said Hospital, for twelve months next, and that the Committee agree with the Person for taking care of the sick, &c., for his Time and Service herein for the year; and that they render an Account of the Issues and Profits which may arise by the Produce on the Island the next season, to this Court in the Fall Session of the next year."
The members from the town of Boston were impow- ered on the nineteenth of December, 1737, to prepare a bill for regulating the public hospital on Rainsford Island, which they presented on the twenty-first of the same month, being an act in addition to the one passed in 1701. This seems to have met with some opposition, as it was not finally passed until the twenty-first of June, 1738. Since then various acts have been passed
1
525
DESCRIPTION OF BOSTON.
by the Provincial and State Legislatures on the subject of quarantine; so that Massachusetts may be now re- garded as having the best laws on the subject, as well as the best regulated establishment, in this country. Until the year 1852, when the State adopted a system of State Almshouses, Rainsford Island was used as a quarantine establishment; since then the city of Boston has been obliged to change its quarantine ground, and the new roads for this purpose are situated near Deer Island, the present residence of the Port Physician, the position having been selected at the time of the severe raging of the ship fever, in the summer of 1847.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.