forty-six, and is buried on Copp's Hill with his first wife Mehitable
(Pierce) Scarlett. He married as a second wife Mary Wentworth. By the
first wife he had a daughter Mary (b. 1719), who married Jedediah Lincoln,
Jr., and by the second wife a son named Humphrey. When the son was a year
old, in 1735, two negro servants of Scarlett, by name Yaw and Caesar, were
indicted for attempting to poison the family one morning at breakfast, by
putting ratsbane or arsenic in the chocolate. Four months after Scarlett's
death his widow married William Ireland.
Richard Gridley, born in Boston in 1710, was apprenticed to Theodore
Atkinson, merchant, and later became a gauger. In 1735 he kept a tavern on
Common Street, now Tremont Street. Here by order of the General Court he
entertained four Indians, chiefs of the Pigwacket tribe, at an expense of
£40 "for drinks, tobacco, victuals, and dressing." Five pounds of this was
for extra trouble. The Committee thought the charges extravagant and cut
him down to £33 for their entertainment from June 28 to July 9. In 1738 he
took the _Golden Ball_. His fame in later years, at Louisburg and
elsewhere, as an engineer and artillery officer is well known.
Gridley was followed as landlord in 1740 by Increase Blake. He was born in
Dorchester in 1699 and married Anne, daughter of Edward and Susanna
(Harrison) Gray. Her parents are noted in Boston history for their
ownership of the rope-walks at Fort Hill. Blake, a tinplate worker, held
the office of sealer of weights and measures, and in 1737 leased a shop
of the town at the head of the Town Dock. He later lived near Battery
March, and was burned out in the fire of 1760.
In 1715 there was born in Salem John Marston. He married in 1740 Hannah
Welland, and by her had three daughters. In 1745, at the first siege of
Louisburg, he was a first lieutenant in the fifth company, commanded by
Capt. Charles King, in Colonel Jeremiah Moulton's regiment. His wife
having died, he married her sister, Mrs. Elizabeth (Welland) Blake. His
second wife died, and he married in 1755 Elizabeth Greenwood. He was
landlord at the _Golden Ball_ as early as 1757. In 1760 he purchased a
house on the southwest corner of Hanover and Cross streets, and later
other property on Copp's Hill. He is said to have been a member of the
"Boston Tea Party." During the Revolution he was known as "Captain"
Marston, and attended to military matters in Boston, supplying muskets to
the townspeople as a committeeman of the town. He continued to keep a
house of entertainment and went to the _Bunch of Grapes_ in 1775. There he
was cautioned in 1778 for allowing gaming in his house, such as playing
backgammon. He died in August, 1786, while keeping the _Bunch of Grapes_
on King, now State Street, and there he was succeeded by his widow in
retailing liquors. He left an estate valued at £2000.
Benjamin Loring, born in Hingham in 1736, married Sarah Smith in Boston in
1771. During the Revolution he kept the _Golden Ball_. He died in the
spring of 1782, and his widow succeeded him and kept the tavern till her
death in 1790.
From the inventory of her estate it appears that the house consisted, on
the ground floor, of a large front room and small front room, the bar and
kitchen, and closets in the entry. A front and a back chamber, front upper
chamber, and another upper chamber and garret completed the list of rooms.
On the shelves of the bar rested large and small china bowls for punch,
decanters for wine, tumblers, wine glasses, and case bottles. There also
was found a small sieve and lemon squeezer, with a Bible, Psalm, and
Prayer Books. On the wall of the front chamber hung an old Highland sword.
The cash on hand at the widow's death consisted of 4 English shillings, 20
New England shillings, 10 English sixpences, a French crown, a piece of
Spanish money, half a guinea, and bank notes to the value of £4: 10. In
one of the chambers was 8483 Continental paper money, of no appraised
value.
Benjamin Loring, at his death, left his share of one half a house in
Hingham to be improved for his wife during her life, then to his sisters,
Abigail and Elizabeth, and ultimately to go to Benjamin, the son of his
brother Joseph Loring of Hingham. The younger Benjamin became a citizen of
Boston, a captain of the "Ancients," and a colonel in the militia. He
started in business as a bookbinder and later was a stationer and a
manufacturer of blank books, leaving quite a fortune at his death in 1859.
His portrait is displayed in the Armory of the Artillery Company. A
portrait of the elder Loring (the landlord of the _Golden Ball_) shows
him with a comely face and wearing a tie-wig.
The Columbian _Centinel_ of December 3, 1794, had the following
advertisement:
For sale, if applied for immediately, The Noted Tavern in the Street
leading from the Market to State street known by the name of the
Golden Ball. It has been improved as a tavern for a number of years,
and is an excellent stand for a store. Inquire of Ebenezer Storer, in
Sudbury Street.
Mr. Storer acted as the agent of Mary, wife of the Rev. Benjamin Gerrish
Gray, of Windsor, N. S., who was the heiress of Mary Gooch, who resided at
Marshfield, Mass., at the time of her death. Mr. Gray was a son of Joseph
Gray of Boston and Halifax, N. S., a loyalist. Mary, the heiress, was a
daughter of Nathaniel Ray Thomas, a loyalist of Marshfield, who had
married Sally Deering, a sister of Mary Gooch of Marshfield.
The property was sold by Mrs. Gray, June 9, 1795, to James Tisdale, a
merchant, who bought also adjoining lots. It was at this time that the
_Golden Ball_ disappeared from Merchants' Row, where it had hung as a
landmark for about a century. Tisdale soon sold his lots to Joseph Blake,
a merchant, who erected warehouses on the site.
There was still an attraction in the _Golden Ball_, however, and in 1799
we find it swinging in Wing's Lane, now Elm Street, for Nathan Winship. He
was the son of Jonathan, and born in Cambridge. In 1790 he was living in
Roxbury. He died in 1818, leaving a daughter Lucy. He had parted with the
_Golden Ball_ long before his death.
In 1805 there was erected in South Boston a building by one Garrett
Murphy. It stood on Fourth Street, between Dorchester Avenue and A Street,
and here he displayed the _Golden Ball_ for five years, as his hotel sign.
Just a century ago, in 1810, for want of patronage, it became a private
residence. About 1840 the hotel was reopened as the South Boston Hotel.
From South Boston the _Golden Ball_ rolled back to Elm Street, and in 1811
hung at the entrance of Joseph Bradley's Tavern. From this _Golden Ball_
started the stages for Quebec on Mondays at four in the morning. They
arrived at Concord, N. H., at seven in the evening. Leaving there at four
Tuesday morning, they reached Hanover, N. H., at two in the afternoon, and
continuing on arrived at Haverhill, N. H., near Woodsville, at nine
Wednesday evening.
The next appearance of the _Golden Ball_ was on Congress Street, where at
No. 13 was the new tavern of Thomas Murphy in 1816.
Henry Cabot, born 1812, was a painter, and first began business at 2
Scollay's Building in 1833. He removed to Blackstone Street in 1835, where
he was located at various numbers till 1858, when he went to North Street.
He resided in Chelsea from 1846 till his death in 1875. The occupation of
this owner of the _Golden Ball_ was that of an ornamental sign and
standard painter. His choice of a sign was not according to the traditions
of his trade, and did not conform with the painters' arms of the London
Guild Company, which were placed on the building in Hanover Street by an
earlier member of that craft. It was no worse choice, however, than a
sign which some of us may recall as swinging on Washington Street, near
Dock Square, fifty years ago, "The Sign of the Dying Warrior, N. M.
Phillips, Sign Painter."
The _Golden Ball_ was the sign anciently hung out in London by the silk
mercers, and was used by them to the end of the eighteenth century. Mr.
Cabot's choice of a location to start his business life was more
appropriate than his sign, as in the block of shops, owned by the town,
connecting on the west side of the Scollay's Building, had been the paint
shop of Samuel, brother of Christopher Gore.
COFFEE URN USED IN THE GREEN DRAGON.
This interesting relic was given to the Bostonian Society during 1915. It
is a coffee urn of Sheffield ware, formerly in the _Green Dragon Tavern_,
which stood on Union Street from 1697 to 1832, and was a famous meeting
place of the Patriots of the Revolution. It is globular in form and rests
on a base, and inside is still to be seen the cylindrical piece of iron
which, when heated, kept the delectable liquid contents of the urn hot
until imbibed by the frequenters of the tavern. The _Green Dragon Tavern_
site, now occupied by a business structure, is owned by the St. Andrew's
Lodge of Free Masons of Boston, and at a recent gathering of the Lodge on
St. Andrew's Day the urn was exhibited to the assembled brethren.
When the contents of the tavern were sold, the urn was bought by Mrs.
Elizabeth Harrington, who then kept a famous boarding house on Pearl
Street, in a building owned by the Quincy family. In 1847 the house was
razed and replaced by the Quincy Block, and Mrs. Harrington removed to
High Street and from there to Chauncey Place. Some of the prominent men of
Boston boarded with her for many years. At her death the urn was given to
her daughter, Mrs. John R. Bradford, and it has now been presented to the
Society by Miss Phebe C. Bradford of Boston, granddaughter of Mrs.
Elizabeth Harrington.
[Illustration: MAP SHOWING LOCATION OF COLE'S INN, WITH WHICH HANCOCK
TAVERN HAS BEEN CONFOUNDED
Dotted lines indicate the present Williams Court (Pie Alley)]
IX.
THE HANCOCK TAVERN.
"As an old landmark the _Hancock Tavern_ is a failure. There was not an
old window in the house; the nails were Bridgewater nails, the timbers
were mill-sawed, and the front of it was of face brick, which were not
made even in 1800. At the time of the Revolution it was merely a four-room
dwelling house of twelve windows, and the first license ever given to it
as an inn was in 1790. The building recently demolished was erected during
the years 1807 to 1812."
With the above words, Edward W. McGlenen, city registrar, effectually
settled the question June 3, 1903, at a meeting of the New England
Historic Genealogical Society, as to the widely credited report that it
was in the _Hancock Tavern_, which for many years stood on Corn Court, the
members of the Boston Tea Party met, disguised themselves as Indians, and
from there journeyed to Griffin's Wharf, where they threw overboard the
obnoxious tea.
It was a special meeting of the society called to hear the report of a
special committee appointed "to consider the question of the circumstances
attending the formation and execution of the plans for what is known as
the Boston Tea Party." This committee was made up of men who for years
had been students of that very subject, and the result of their researches
is interesting and conclusive. William C. Bates was chairman, and his
associates were Edward W. McGlenen, the Rev. Anson Titus, William T.
Eustis, and Herbert G. Briggs. The members of the society were present in
large numbers, and Marshall P. Wilder Hall was well filled.
William C. Bates, as chairman of the special committee, spoke of the
endeavors of himself and colleagues to avoid ground covered by historians.
He said that places of rendezvous for the "Mohawks" are to some extent
known, for over half a dozen of the members have left to their descendants
the story of where they met and costumed themselves. The four Bradlees met
at their sister's house, corner of Hollis and Tremont streets; Joseph
Brewer and others at the foot of Summer Street; John Crane in a carpenter
shop on Tremont Street opposite Hollis; Joseph Shedd and a small party in
his house on Milk Street, where the Equitable Building now stands; and
James Swan in his boarding house on Hanover Street. In the testimony of
the descendants, down to 1850 at least, there was no mention of the
_Hancock Tavern_. The place of origin of the Tea Party and who first
proposed it are matters of considerable discussion. Many of the party were
members of St. Andrew's Lodge of Masons, which owned the _Green Dragon
Inn_, and the lodge records state that the meeting held on the night of
the Tea Party had to be adjourned for lack of attendance, "public matters
being of greater importance."
[Illustration: SHEFFIELD PLATE URN
Used in the Green Dragon Tavern, now in possession of the Bostonian
Society]
It is not surprising that so much secrecy has been maintained, because of
the danger of lawsuits by the East Indian Company and others. The members
of the St. Andrew's Lodge were all young, many under twenty, the majority
under thirty.
Mr. McGlenen's report as to his investigations was especially interesting,
settling, as it did, three distinct questions which had been undecided for
many years--the location of the inn of Samuel Cole, the location of his
residence, and the much mooted point as to whether the "Mohawks" met at
the _Hancock Tavern_ for the preparatory steps toward the Boston Tea
Party.
All three questions were based on a statement printed in the souvenir of
the _Hancock Tavern_, reading as follows:
On the south side of Faneuil Hall is a passageway through which one
may pass into Merchants' row. It is Corn court, a name known to few of
the present day, but in the days gone by as familiar as the Corn
market, with which it was connected. In the center of this court
stands the oldest tavern in New England. It was opened March 4, 1634,
by Samuel Cole. It was surrounded by spacious grounds, which commanded
a view of the harbor and its shipping, for at that time the tide
covered the spot where Faneuil Hall now stands. It was a popular
resort from the beginning, and was frequented by many foreigners of
note.
The seeming authority for these statements and others, connecting it with
pre-revolutionary events, said Mr. McGlenen, appears in _Rambles in Old
Boston_ by the Rev. E. G. Porter, pages 67 and 68, evidently based on a
newspaper article written by William Brazier Duggan, M.D., in the Quincy
Patriot for August 28, 1852, and to a novel entitled _The Brigantine_ by
one Ingraham, referring to legendary lore. None of these statements can be
confirmed. The confusion has been caused by the statement made many years
ago and reprinted as a note in the _Book of Possessions_, Vol. II, _Boston
Town Records_, that somewhere near the water front Samuel Cole kept an
inn; but Letchford's _Note Book_, the _Town Records_, and the _Suffolk
Deeds_ prove to the contrary.
Samuel Cole's Inn was kept by him from 1634 to 1638, when he sold out by
order of the Colony Court. He purchased a residence near the town dock
seven years later. It adjoined the _Hancock Tavern_ lot, and was bounded
on the west by the lot originally in the ownership of Isaac Gross, whose
son Clement kept the _Three Mariners_, an ale house which stood west of
Pierse's Alley (Change Avenue) and east of the _Sun Tavern_.
It is impossible to connect the _Hancock Tavern_ with any
pre-Revolutionary event. It was a small house, as described in the _Direct
Tax_ of 1798, of two stories, of two rooms each, built of wood, with
twelve windows, value $1200. It was first licensed in 1790, and the
earliest reference found in print is in the advertisement for the sale of
lemons by John Duggan, in the _Columbian Centinel_ in 1794.
As to Cole's Inn, from the records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Court,
it appears that Samuel Cole kept the first inn or ordinary within the town
of Boston. In 1638 the court gave him liberty to sell his house for an
inn. This he did, disposing of it to Robert Sedgwick of Charlestown, as
shown in Letchford's _Note Book_. The town records show that in 1638
Edward Hutchinson, Samuel Cole, Robert Turner, Richard Hutchinson, William
Parker, and Richard Brackett were ordered to make a cartway near Mr.
Hutchinson's house, which definitely locates Samuel Cole on the old
highway leading to Roxbury, _i.e._ Washington Street (_Town Records_, Vol.
II, Rec. Com. Report, p. 38).
The _Book of Possessions_ shows in the same report that Valentine Hill had
one house and garden bounded with the street on the east, meeting house
and Richard Truesdale on the north, Capt. Robert Sedgwick on the south,
and the prison yard west.
Major Robert Sedgwick's house and garden bounded with Thomas Clarke,
Robert Turner and the street on the east, Mr. Hutchinson on the south,
Valentine Hill on the north, and Henry Messinger west.
Valentine Hill granted, March 20, 1645, to William Davies, his house and
garden bounded on the south with the ordinary now in the possession of
James Pen (_Suffolk Deeds_, Vol. I, p. 60). This presumably is _Cole's
Inn_, then in the possession of Robert Sedgwick, and occupied by James
Pen.
The question of Cole's residence was easily settled by Mr. McGlenen, when
he read from deeds showing that in 1645 Valentine Hill sold to Samuel Cole
a lot of land near the town dock. Samuel Cole died in 1666, and in his
will left his house and lot to his daughter Elizabeth and son John. This
property is on the corner of Change Avenue and Faneuil Hall Square, and
is now occupied by W. W. Rawson as a seed store.
The _Hancock Tavern_ is a distinct piece of property. Mr. McGlenen read
from deeds which proved that the land was first owned by John Kenerick of
Boston, yeoman, and was first sold to Robert Brecke of Dorchester,
merchant, on January 8, 1652. It was again sold to Thomas Watkins of
Boston, tobacco maker, in 1653; by him in 1679 to James Green of Boston,
cooper; by him to Samuel Green of Boston, cooper, in 1712; and by him
willed to his sons and daughter in 1750.
The eastern portion of the original lot (that situated east of the one on
which the _Hancock Tavern_, just demolished, was located) was sold by
Samuel Green's heirs to Thomas Handasyd Peck in 1759. The _Hancock Tavern_
lot itself was then sold to Thomas Bromfield, merchant, in February, 1760.
The deed says: "A certain dwelling house, with the land whereon the same
doth stand." Bromfield in 1763 sold it to Joseph Jackson of Boston, who
owned it at the time of the Revolution, and disposed of it on August 19,
1779, to Morris Keith, a Boston trader. Morris Keith, or Keefe, died in
April, 1783, aged 62, leaving a widow and two children, Thomas and Mary.
The son died in 1784, the widow in 1785, leaving the daughter Mary to
inherit the property. The inventory describes Morris Keefe as a lemon
dealer, and the house and land in Corn Court as worth £260.
Mary Keefe married John Duggan, May 24, 1789, and in 1790 John Duggan was
granted a license to retail liquor at his house in Corn Court. This is
the earliest record of a license being granted to the _Hancock Tavern_,
so called. Mary Duggan deeded the property to her husband in January,
1795, a few weeks before her death. In 1796 John Duggan married Mary
Hopkins. He died April 21, 1802, leaving three children--Michael, born
1797; William, born 1799, and John Adams, born 1802. Mary (Hopkins) Duggan
then married William Brazier in 1803. He died ten years later.
The record commissioners' reports, No. 22, page 290, show the following
inventory for 1798:
John Duggan, owner and occupier; wooden dwelling; west
on Corn Court; south on Moses Gill; north on James
Tisdale. Land 1024 square feet; house 448 square feet;
2 stories, 12 windows; value $1200
Duggan's advertisement in the _Columbian Centinel_ of October 11, 1794,
reads:
Latest imported lemons--In excellent order, for sale, by John Duggan,
at his house, at the sign of Gov. Hancock outside the market.
His address in the Boston Directory for 1796 is: "John Duggan, lemon
dealer, Corn court, S. side market."
In 1795, Duggan, who is described as an innholder, and his wife deeded
this property to Daniel English, who, on the same day, deeded it back to
John, in order that he might have a clear title.
"From these investigations," said Mr. McGlenen, "I think it is clear that
as an old landmark the _Hancock Tavern_ is a failure."
The Rev. Anson Titus then made his report of personal investigations
relating to the Tea Party itself. He said that the only sure thing is
this--that something happened in Boston on the evening of December 16,
1773. Beyond this to make statements is dangerous. Details of the affair
were not subject of public conversation, because of the danger of
prosecution and legal action. It was at the very edge of treason to the
King. It is certain that there were a great crowd of visitors in Boston
that night from the country towns who had been informed of what to expect
and had come for a purpose. Secrecy was the word and obedience was the
command.
Mr. Titus quoted from the Boston papers of that time and from Gov.
Hutchinson's letters, but declared that it was impossible to learn of the
names of the actual members of the party. He said that the "Mohawks were
men familiar with the vessels and the wharves. It is generally recognized
that they were Masons."
"In conclusion, as we began," he said, "in 1908, as in 1822, very little
is known concerning the real participants of the Boston Tea Party. The
lifelong silence on the part of those knowing most of the party is most
commendable and patriotic. It was a hazardous undertaking, even treason,
and long after American independence was gained, if proof which would have
had the least weight in court had been found, there would have been claims
for damages by the East India Company or the Crown against our young
republic, which would have been obliged to meet them. The affair was a
turning point in the history of American liberty, and glad ought we all to
be that there is no evidence existing connecting scarcely an individual,
the town of Boston, or the province with the Boston Tea Party."
[Illustration: The Town of Boston before 1645
Showing the Streets Mentioned in the Book of Possessions
Outline traced from Bonner's Map 1722 Details token from the records Annie
Haven Thwing © 1914]
LIST OF TAVERNS AND TAVERN OWNERS.
This list is taken from Miss Thwing's work on the _Inhabitants and Estates
of the Town of Boston, 1630-1800_, in possession of the Massachusetts
Historical Society. There also may be found the authority for each
statement and further details. It does not include many inns mentioned in
advertisements in the papers of the eighteenth century, nor the names of
many licensed innkeepers whose hostelry had no sign.
The Colony records state that in 1682 persons annually licensed in Boston
to keep taverns and sell beer shall not exceed six wine taverns, ten
innholders, and eight retailers for wine and strong liquors out of doors.
In 1684, as this was not enough for the accommodation of the inhabitants,
the county court licensed five or six more public houses. In 1687 all
licenses for public houses to be granted only to those persons of good
repute, and have convenient houses and at least two beds to entertain
strangers and travellers. In Boston the approbation of the Treasurer must
be secured. The regulations of inns are given in detail in the records.
=Admiral Vernon=, see _Vernon's Head_.
=American Coffee-House=, see _British Coffee-House_.
=Anchor=, also called =Blue Anchor=, east side of Washington Street,
between State and Water streets (site of the Globe Building). In the _Book
of Possessions_ Richard Fairbanks (innkeeper) had house and garden here.
In 1646 he was licensed to keep a house of entertainment, and in 1652 sold
his estate to Robert Turner, who was licensed in 1659, and his widow
Penelope in 1666. His son John Turner inherited, and was licensed in 1667.
In 1680 George Monk on his marriage with Lucy, widow of Turner, succeeded.
Monk married a second wife, Elizabeth Woodmancy, who succeeded him in
1691, and kept the inn until 1703, when she sold the estate to James
Pitts. In 1708 a neighboring estate bounded on the house "formerly the
Anchor Tavern." From James Pitts the owners were Benjamin Bagnal, in
1724-25; William Speakman, 1745; 1746 Alice Quick, who bequeathed to her
nephew Thomas Knight in 1761; and Mary Knight was the owner in 1798.
=Bair=, Washington Street, between Dock Square and Milk Street. In 1722
Elizabeth Davis was licensed at the Bair in Cornhill. As she was the owner
of the Bear at the Dock this may have been a mistake.
=Bear=, see _Three Mariners_.