USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Volume of records relating to the early history of Boston : containing Boston town records, 1814 to 1822 > Part 11
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Amos Binney Joseph Jones
Enoch Silsby William Howe
Isaac Harris Jonathan Whitney & Jeremiah Fitch Esq18.
were chosen Fire Wards, agreeably to a vote of the Town in March last, to increase the number of Fire Wards & to supply vacancies occasioned by the resignation of five Gentlemen who were Chosen at that Meeting.
122
CITY DOCUMENT NO. 128.
Voted, That the thanks of the Town be given to John Winslow, Benjamin Rich, Gedney King, Francis J. Oliver & William Harris Esqrs. for their faithful services as Fire Wards for many years past.
Rev'd John Pierpont was chosen one of the School Committee, in place of Benj". [207] West Esq" who has declined serving on that Committee.
Oliver Greary was chosen a Hogreeve and Hayward.
The Committee to whom was referred the report of the Board of Health for the Town of Boston, detailing the plan of a Burial ground which they propose to locate on the land now owned by the Town at South Boston, and which they intend to call the " Boston Cemetery " have attended to the duty Assigned them, & beg leave respectfully to report.
That on an examination of the Aforesaid report they find, that the principal subjects of it are not under the control of the Town, but the execution of which are delegated solely to that Board. By a law of this Commonwealth the Board of Health is fully invested with the requisite authority to carry their propos'd plan into operation, so far as it is practicable upon the land owned by the Town at South Boston, and appropriated for the interment of the dead : But that Board conceive that the land so appropri- ated is not of sufficient extent to admit of all the improvements and advantages, which are set forth in their report, they conse- quently thereon recommend the expediency of purchasing an addi- tional extent [208] of seventy thousand square feet of ground, adjoining that now owned by the Town.
This being the only branch of the report on which the Town has the power to act, the Committee have confined themselves to the consideration of the expediency of purchasing the land designated by the board of Health for the purposes specified in their report.
After a view of the premises, and a mature consideration of all the circumstances connected with the subject, the Committee were of opinion that the local position of the ground is not well chosen for the contemplated object; that its distance from the Center of the old Town is so great, that the burial of the dead would be attended with augmented inconveniences, and an increase of expense to the inhabitants generally, but more particularly to those of the northern sections of it; that during the inclement seasons of the year, it would at times be utterly impracticable to proceed to that situation for the intended purposes ; which in the opinion of the Committee, are insuperable objections against the situation of that site as a place for the interment of the dead from the Town of Boston.
123
BOSTON TOWN RECORDS, 1819.
They therefore were unanimously of opinion that it is inexpe- dient for the town to purchase the additional number of square feet of [209] ground recommended by the board of Health for the purposes stated in their report on this subject.
But the Committee having been informed by the President of the Board of Health that if the Town refused to purchase the land as recommended, that agreeably to the power with which the Board are by law invested, it is their intention to carry their plan into effect upon the ground owned by the Town at South Boston and located for a Burial Ground, by which procedure the inhabi- tants will be subjected to all the inconveniences that have already been stated.
To obviate, therefore, the difficulties and disadvantages pre- viously enumerated by having the burial Ground at so great a distance from the Center of the old Town, and in order that the plan of this Board of Health may be executed upon a field of sufficiently large [area ] to secure all its proposed advantages, & as the Committee considered the expense of the land to be of no com- parative consequence to that which the Board of Health intend to expend in its execution ; they deem it their duty for these reasons to recommend to the Town the expediency of purchasing three & an half acres of Land at South Boston for the purpose of locating a new Cemetery for the Town upon the plan stated [10] in the aforesaid report of the Board of Health, Provided it can be procured for that purpose within one fourth of a mile of the eastern extremity of South Boston Bridge, so called : and they further recommend, should the Town accept this part of their report, the appointment of a Committee to purchase said land for the Town on the best possible terms.
Benjn. Russell pr. Order.
Boston May 31. 1819.
The foregoing Report was read, and so far accepted as that it was voted, That,
Thomas Badger Samuel A. Wells and Henry Bass Esquires,
be a Committee, to ascertain at what rate (per acre) land can be purchased for, suitable for a Burial Ground at South Boston, and report at the Adjournment of this meeting.
A Communication from the Justices of the Court of Sessions, on the subject of erecting a new Prison, was read.
Whereupon it was Voted, That the Selectmen be a Committee to Co-operate with the Court in that undertaking. -
[211.] The following Report was read, accepted, ordered to be printed, and distributed for the information of the Inhabitants.
124
CITY DOCUMENT NO. 128.
Report,
Pursuant to a vote of the Town on the 11th day of June last, the School Committee soon after nominated and appointed three Gentlemen in each ward "To provide instruction for children between four and seven years of age, and apportion the expenses among the several Schools."- Of these gentlemen all but two accepted and have served. - The Board was organized on the 23ª day of June by choosing Thomas L. Winthrop Esq., Chairman, and James Savage Esq. Secretary .-
On the 2ª. day of July the board resolved, that the Committee of each ward " ascertain by personal inquiry, the number of Children between the ages of four & seven, state who do and who do not attend any school, as also those, whose parents are desirous of availing themselves of this right, and report the names and place of residence."-This was a very arduous duty, and the result of the inquiry was highly interesting to the board.
The number between four and seven years old, exclusive of about half of Ward Nº. 7. from which the Committee made no return, amounted to two thousand eight hundred & forty three .- Of these, though five hundred and thirty two only did not attend any school, thirteen hundred and thirty were desirous of instruc- tion at the new schools .- The number who attended no school was nearly double that of the return made the preceding year, but not larger than was expected to be found .- a comparison of the result, in each year, from all the Wards will assist us in judging of their correctness. -
[212.]
Wards
1817
1818
Nº. 1
57
46
2
52
86
3
26
45
4
9
-
14
5
8
20
6
20
37
7
7
34
8
6
29
9
13
72
10
6
2
11
23
46
12
56
101
Total 283
532
To provide instruction for that number the grant of money by the town was very liberal, and was indeed considered by the favourers of the experiment adequate to furnish schooling for seven or eight hundred children. -
But when we ascertained, that above thirteen hundred would demand the care of the board, it became a matter of great diffi-
125
BOSTON TOWN RECORDS, 1819.
culty to divide the sum granted in such a way as to approach nearest to a fulfilment of the vote of the town, with which a per- fect compliance seemed utterly impracticable. We could not satisfactorily arrange this difficulty before the 20th. of July.
As the pupils were of such tender age, they could not be required to go far from home; and schools must therefore be opened in sections of the Wards. - To insure health and improve- ment their number in each [213] school should be small; and to such an instructor as alone ought to be employed, the compen- sation could hardly fall short of two hundred dollars. - Rent, fuel, benches and other incidental charges might have reasonably been expected to exceed fifty dollars for each. But the Board were resolved to open twenty Schools, and we were of necessity stinted to that amount. - It was generally agreed by us, that the children in one school should not exceed forty five, and be confined if practicable, to forty. The money was divided by vote among the several Committees from the Wards, and schools were opened exclusively for such free scholars as the Committees received in every Ward but two. These two Wards were unit- edly allowed from our fund enough to maintain two schools, or one tenth of the whole ;- but it seemed expedient to the Commit- tee of that united District to agree with mistresses, having already established schools, to receive from the Committee an addition of pupils at a stated rate for each. Five teachers have been by them employed in this manner. The rate of ten cents per week, with allowance of two dollars for winter's fuel, for each child, making seven dollars & twenty cents a year, is now found to be much higher than that which the instruction in other Wards demanded, where the expense of each pupil has fallen short of five dollars.
Most of the Schools were opened [214] in August, and all by the first week in September & all have continued without inter- ruption. -
The calculations, even of such citizens as were most solicitous for the establishment of these schools, have all estimated too low the number of children for whom we find it necessary to provide instruction .-
Though a large portion, probably half of our people, would prefer to pay teachers of their own private selection for instruct- ing their children of such an age, and though the never tiring benevolence of many has provided schools for several hundred others, yet in every instance the schools opened by the board have been filled beyond the limit we desired to prescribe. - We should however observe, that several of the instructors, having daughters of age to afford assistance to their mothers, the Committees have been satisfied with permitting sixty, and in one instance seventy, in another eighty pupils in one school. In only two of those eighteen schools provided solely for the free instruction has the number been smaller than fifty, and on the second week of March, when our instructors returned all under their tuition, the amount was eleven hundred and eighteen. -
126
CITY DOCUMENT No. 128.
Large as this number will appear, the board are satisfied, that a considerable addition should the current year be provided for ; and from computation carefully made we conceive thirty two schools for such children will be needed.
[215.] At two hundred and fifty dollars each, a grant of eight thousand dollars would be requisite.
Two considerations, among several others more apparent, powerfully operate to produce, in the minds of the gentlemen of the board the year past, a conviction of the importance and necessity of this system of free schools for young children, which they wish to submit to the consideration of their fellow citizens. - The first is, that our schools have been constantly pressed to admit a number of children in every part of the town above seven years old, who, having been unable to acquire a little acquaintance with English reading or even the letters of our alphabet, are excluded from the public schools. This griev- ance we could not remedy ; but if the new Schools for children of younger age be continued, the evil will in a great measure soon be removed. - The second is, that very many children, whose parents are able in summer to afford them schooling at nine pence or a shilling per week, are deprived, in winter, (when fire money is asked by the instructors which the parents cannot easily pay) of all teaching, and so lose at that season all their former acquisition in letters. - Three private schools in one Ward, where the mistresses had twelve scholars each, have been by this defect, reduced, one to nine & the other two to six pupils each. - But the children for whom we have been required to pro- vide instruction have attended with remarkable punctuality, nor less in winter than in summer. -
[216.] The result of our experiment has certainly been en- couraging, and we confidently state that the improvement in all our schools has been far superior to our expectations. We found many parents, on our first inquiry, indifferent about sending their children to these schools, though they regularly attended no other. Perhaps mistaking the establishment for a charitable one, their pride revolted from acknowledging that they needed assistance, yet since the operation has proceeded, they have almost invari- ably desired admission for them. Of the children received, one half in some parts of the town, and one third in general were ignorant of their letters, of whom many can now read in the New Testament, and several from each school are prepared for admis- sion at the town grammar schools who must have been, we are confident, otherwise rejected.
In most of our schools the girls have been taught knitting or sewing as well as reading. The several Committees are by a regulation of the board required once a month at least to visit the schools under their particular care, and a return of the state of each is demanded at our quarterly meetings.
All which is submitted.
Elisha Ticknor, Benj. Austin, Tho. B. Wait, Nathan Webb, Tho. Baldwin, Henry Ware, J. Savage. -
127
BOSTON TOWN RECORDS, 1819.
[217.] Voted, That the School Committee be requested, to take into consideration the expediency of making any alteration in the Salaries of the Public School Masters, and report the result of their deliberations to the town at their next meeting.
Voted, That the Committee of Finance be requested to take into consideration and Report, the salary which ought to be allowed the Town Treasurer & Collector for the ensuing year.
Letters were read from James Prince & Isaac Winslow Esquires, by which it appeared, that the Committee chosen by the Town in March last "to examine the Report of receipts and expenditures made by the Committee of Finance in order to ascertain whether any savings or retrenchments may be made in the public expenses " - had declined the appointment. -
The article in the Warrant " to consider whether the town will increase the pay, which has been hitherto allowed to the Watch- men of the Town by the Selectmen." was taken up and after a short debate -it was Voted, That the Selectmen be directed to pay to each and every one of the men now employed, or who may be hereafter employed as Watchmen of the Town, the sum ef twenty-five cents a night in addition to what they now receive for their services. -
A motion was made to reconsider the vote-forty six voting in the affirmative & upwards of sixty in the negative; the motion was lost. -
Adjourned to Monday 21st June next - 10 o'clk A.M.
[218.] At a Legal Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, held at Faneuil Hall on Monday the 14th day of June, A.D. 1819 -10 O'Clock A.M.
Benjamin Russell Esq.
was chosen Moderator.
This Meeting was called, " To consider whether the Town will adopt any measures relative to the Petition of David Greenough and others, now pending before the Hon. General Court for an act to incorporate them by the name of the Dock Square C'or- poration, and authorize them to erect buildings for any purpose which they may think expedient in the vicinity of Dock Square and the Market, which subject is to be acted on by the Hon. Legislature on Wednesday the 16th. instant."-
The Petition of David Greenough & others to the Legislature, with the order of notice thereon, from the Honble. General Court to the Town being read. - The subject was taken up, considered,
128
CITY DOCUMENT NO. 128.
and after a short debate, the following votes were (nearly) unani- mously passed by the Town. - viz.
Voted, That the Selectmen of the Town of Boston be, and they hereby are requested [219] to represent to the Legislature, that the Petition of David Greenough & Thomas Motley, is injurious to the general interest of the Town, and pray that the petitioners have leave to withdraw their petition.
Voted, That the rights and interests of the Town would be inju- riously affected by the erection of any new Market in the vicinity of the old Market near Faneuil Hall by any individual citizens and for their private benefit; and that the Selectmen be a Com- mittee, to represent a suitable remonstrance to the Legislature of this Commonwealth against the Petition of Messrs. David Green- ough and Thomas Motley, which is now pending before that Hon- orable Body ; And in their remonstrance to pray, that in any act of incorporation, which may be granted to said Greenough & Motley upon their petition, or upon any other petition which may at any time hereafter be presented to them by said Greenough & Motley, or by any other persons on this subject, a restrictive clause may be inserted so as effectually to protect the rights and interests of the town from injury in this respect. -
Voted, That the Senators of the County of Suffolk, and the Representatives of this town in the General Court be requested, to oppose the grant of any [220] act of incorporation to Messrs. Greenough & Motley, which shall not contain a restriction upon them and their associates against erecting any new market in the vicinity of the old market near Faneuil Hall, or any other build- ing, which may be contrary to law.
Voted, That the Thanks of the Town be given to Benjamin Russell Esq. for his services as Moderator of this Meeting. -
Then the Meeting was Dissolved.
Monday June 21st. 1819 .- [221.]
Met according to Adjournment from the 31st. ultimo.
Samuel Adams Wells Esq.
was chosen a Fire Ward, in place of John Howe Esq. who declined serving in that office.
Mr. Levi Sherman, was chosen a Hogreeve & Hayward for the year ensuing.
129
BOSTON TOWN RECORDS, 1819.
The following Report was made by the School Committee. viz .-
The School Committee of the Town of Boston have attended to the subject, which was referred to them by the vote of the inhabitants on the 31st day of May, and respectfully Report.
That in the year 1816, the Salaries of the reading & writing Masters, which prior to that time had been eight hundred dollars per annum were raised to one thousand - And in consequence of the high price of the necessaries of life, a grant was made them of two hundred dollars which has been annually renewed to the present time .-
The Committee have had no reason [222] to suppose, that this was insufficient for their comfortable support, and they have the satisfaction to believe, that the Schools in general, are flourishing under the care of able & faithful teachers .- With respect to the Salary of the principal Master of the Latin gram- mar School, The Committee ask leave to observe, that it was fixed after much deliberation, and with a due regard to the qualifications, which the Master of that School ought to possess .- It was found impracticable without increasing the Salary, to induce a young gentleman of talents and scholarship, to forego the pros- pects which the learned professions opened to him, & to devote himself to the care of this School with the reputation of which his fame and his hopes in life should be identified .- The present Master having filled the office to the entire satisfaction of the public, the Committee are unanimously of opinion that, as he accepted the office after the Salary was raised, it ought not to be reduced, while he continues to merit their confidence and esteem. -In addition to the Latin & greek languages, the boys at the latin School are now taught such branches of the Mathematics & geography, with the Elements of Geometry & algebra, as are requisite for admission to Harvard College .- In consequence of the great [223] increase of the number of pupils, and of the particular alteration requisite in order to form them to habits of accuracy, in which all success in scholarship depends - and con- sidering too, that the standard of qualifications for admission to the University has been much elevated, the Committee have thought it necessary, to add an Assistant master, to increase the number of Ushers, and to hold out inducements to them, to con- tinue in the School for the term of three years at least, that the inconveniences arising from inexperienced Instructors might be avoided .- The Committee think they have reason to congratulate the town on the flourishing condition of this School, which they believe to be second to none in our Country, & they rely on the liberal spirit and enlightened views of the Inhabitants, who have ever been attentive to the education of the rising generation and
130
CITY DOCUMENT NO. 128.
to the best interests of their Country, to continue to afford it their protection and support.
By order of the School Committee, Turner Phillips, Chairman.
The foregoing report was read & accepted. -
The Committee appointed to ascertain the price of land for a, Burial Ground at South Boston, made a Report, which was not accepted ; - The subject was referred to the Selectmen and Board of Health, with full powers to make additions to the present Burial Grounds, if they should deem it necessary.
[224.] The Committee of Finance having been directed by a vote of the Town to take into consideration and report the Salary which shall be allowed the Town Treasurer & Collector for the ensuing year have attended the duty assigned them and Report. - That the Treasurer & Collector furnished the Committee with a statement of the expense of his office, amounting to $1160.82 on examining this statement some of the Committee were of opin- ion the sum charged for the Clerks Salary too high, as they doubted not 5 or 600 dollars would command the services of a person well qualified to discharge the duties of that office; in answer to this it was said, that in conversation with the Treas- urer on this subject he had observed "if the Town would take the responsibility of the Clerks conduct he was perfectly willing they should procure one at the lowest rate, but if he was to be responsible for his Clerks fidelity it was incumbent on him to employ one in whom he could place the utmost confidence, and to such a person he must give more than a common Salary."- It appears on the records of the Committee of Finance from the first appointment of the Town Treasurer & Collector it was their desire and intention he should receive $2,000 pr. annum for his services. - And the Committee were now unanimously of opinion that for [225] the able, diligent and faithful manner in which he has hitherto discharged the duties of his office, and which they doubt not he will continue to do, that he should receive that sum for the ensuing year, -- they therefore recommend that the town should vote the sum of three thousand one hundred dollars in full for the Salary of the town Treasurer and Collector for the ensuing year, and for Clerk hire, expenses of office, and pay of his dep- uties - this sum at the Salaries he now pays will not produce $2,000 - but the Committee are of opinion a reduction may be made in the Salaries of his Clerk or deputies as will reduce the expense of his office to $1,900. - which is respectfully submitted,
By order of the Committee, Turner Phillips, Chairman.
The foregoing Report was read and accepted - and Voted, That the sum of three thousand one hundred dollars, be allowed
131
BOSTON TOWN RECORDS, 1819.
& paid unto the Town Treasurer & Collector for the ensuing year, in full for his Salary, for Clerk hire, expenses of office & pay of his Deputies.
Upon the representation and exhibition of the doings and proceedings of Andrew Sigourney Esq. Treasurer & Collector of taxes of the Town of Boston the last year.
Voted, That the Town of Boston highly [226] approve of the conduct of said Andrew Sigourney Esq. in the said ofliees of Treasurer and Collector, and that he has faithfully and fully as was in his power completed the execution of his duty in said offices, to which he has been appointed as aforesaid, and that he be excused from all delinquency or default in not having effected the full and complete settlement of the taxes by him to have been received or collected according to law. -
Voted, That the Town Treasurer be authorized to borrow a sum not exceeding Seventy thousand dollars, if the same should be found necessary for the service of the town.
Voted, That there be allowed and paid unto the Hon. Thomas Dawes Esq. the sum of Seven hundred and fifty dollars for his Salary as Judge of the Municipal Court the present year.
Voted, That there be allowed and paid unto Thomas Clark, Town Clerk, the sum of One thousand dollars as his Salary the present year.
Voted, That there be allowed and paid out of the Treasury of the town of Boston, the sum of one thousand dollars to each of the [227] permanent Assessors of the town for the present year.
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