William Watson, the first postmaster of Plymouth, was the son of
John and Priscilla (Thomas) Watson, and was born in Plymouth, May 6,
1730, and graduated at Harvard in 1751. In addition to the office of
postmaster, he was appointed in 1782 naval officer for the port of
Plymouth, and in 1789 he was commissioned collector by Washington. In
1803 he was removed by Jefferson from both the office of postmaster
and collector, and died April 22, 1815. In 1765 he bought the lot
of land in Court street, on which the Old Colony Club house stands,
and there can be no doubt that he built the house now standing, and
occupied it until his death. After the death of Mr. Watson, the
estate was bought by my grandfather, William Davis, and occupied by
my uncle, Nathaniel Morton Davis from the time of his marriage in
1817 until his death, when its occupancy passed to his son, Col. Wm.
Davis.
The story of the life of the mother of Wm. Watson is full of romantic
interest. She was Priscilla Thomas, a daughter of Caleb and Priscilla
(Capen) Thomas of Marshfield. She became engaged to Noah Hobart, a
divinity student, who was at the time teaching school in Duxbury.
John Watson of Plymouth, who had married in 1715, Sarah, daughter
of Daniel Rogers of Ipswich, lost his wife, and not knowing of the
engagement of Miss Thomas, made through her father, an offer of
marriage. As Mr. Watson was a man of high standing and abundant
means, Mr. Thomas was favorably impressed by the offer, and said that
he would consult his wife and daughter. A family council was held,
into which Mr. Hobart was called, and it was finally decided with the
assent of Mr. Hobart, who was ready to make any sacrifice to secure
a happy establishment for life for one whom he sincerely loved, to
accept Mr. Watson’s offer. Thus with a tearful parting two loving
hearts were separated apparently forever. In 1729 John Watson and
Priscilla Thomas were married, and the first act of a new romance
of John and Priscilla was performed. In 1732 Mr. Watson died, and
at that time his son, Elkanah, was a nursing infant. At about the
same time the wife of Isaac Lothrop died, leaving also a nursing
infant. As the families were intimate, Mrs. Watson offered to nurse
Mrs. Lothrop’s infant with her own. The natural consequence of the
family relations was an offer of marriage from Mr. Lothrop, which
was unhesitatingly accepted. The alliance was an eligible one. Mr.
Lothrop was one of the Justices of the Court, and was possessed of
a large estate. The marriage took place in 1733, and he died April
26, 1750, having by a life illustrating the highest qualities of the
human character deserved the following inscription on his gravestone:
“Had virtue’s charms the power to save
Its faithful votaries from the grave,
This stone had ne’er possessed the fame
Of being marked with Lothrop’s name.”
In the meantime it may be interesting to learn what had become of
Noah Hobart, the old time lover. He in due time entered the ministry,
and was settled over the church in Fairfield, Conn. Though he had
never held communication with Priscilla by letter or otherwise, by
the wireless ways which lovers have, he had kept himself informed
of the varied scenes in her life. He knew of the death of her first
husband, and her second marriage, as well as the two families of
children which had grown up around her. He had heard also of the
death of her second husband, while with a wife and two children of
his own, a veil not wholly impenetrable obscured the remembrance of
his early days. About seven years after the death of Mr. Lothrop her
second husband, the wife of Mr. Hobart died, and after a becoming
period of mourning, his old love, which time had not obliterated,
speedily revived at the thought that both he and his early love were
free. Without delay he, as was the fashion of the time, drove in his
chaise to Plymouth, and presented himself as suitor at the Lothrop
mansion. It is unnecessary to disclose the interview. A further
sacrifice was needed before in the fullness of time God should join
together whom man had put asunder. She had promised her husband on
his death bed that as long as his mother lived, then eighty years
of age, she would like a real daughter care for her and promote her
happiness. Again there was a parting which seemed to be one forever.
On his way home Mr. Hobart stopped over night with his friend, Rev.
Mr. Shute of Hingham, and attended with him the next day a religious
service in the church held every Thursday, which was sometimes called
the Thursday lecture, and sometimes the Preparatory lecture. On their
way home from church a friend passed them on horseback, who said that
he had ridden from Plymouth. In answer to the inquiry for news in
the old town he said that just as he left he was told that old Mrs.
Lothrop was found dead in her bed that morning. It is needless to say
that the continuance of the journey to Fairfield was postponed, and a
return to Plymouth was made. After the funeral and a due publication
of the bans, the marriage took place under date of 1758, and the
seventeen years which she passed in Fairfield with her third husband,
were the happiest years of her life. Mr. Hobart died in 1775, and she
returned to Plymouth, where the remainder of her days was spent until
her death, June 23, 1796, in the 90th year of her age.
John Sloss Hobart, son of Rev. Noah Hobart, by his first wife, became
United States Senator from New York, and his daughter, Ellen, married
Nathaniel Lothrop, a son of Mrs. Hobart by her second husband, Isaac
Lothrop.
Returning to the old house where Davis building stands, of which in
my wanderings I have almost lost sight, its later occupants whom I
can remember were Capt. Woodward, the driver for many years of the
Boston mail stage, his son-in-law Bradford Barnes, John R. Davis and
George Churchill. All of these except Mr. Davis have been noticed
in other chapters. Mr. Davis was a ropemaker by trade, but when the
Robbins Cordage Company discontinued work he sought other means of
livelihood, chiefly that of restaurant keeper. He was a good man,
of a deeply religious spirit, who carried his religion into every
day life. He not only believed in the fatherhood of God, but also in
the brotherhood of man. It would have been impossible to provoke him
to the utterance of an angry or unkind word, and his kindly words
often appeared more kind with the touch of humor in which they were
uttered. His kindness of heart and gentleness of speech, and his
humor as well, were illustrated when a man after eating at his lunch
counter left without paying. Instead of running out to the sidewalk
and calling out to the man in the hearing of passers-by “to come back
and pay his bill,” he said in the mildest tone of voice, “Mr., did I
give you the right change?”
The house now occupied as a public house, and called the Plymouth
Tavern, was for many years identified with the family of Joshua
Thomas. He bought the house in 1786, and occupied it until his death,
January 10, 1821. He married in 1786 Isabella Stevenson, of Boston,
who continued to occupy it until her death. Few families displayed
more earnest patriotism than the family to which he belonged. His
father, Dr. William Thomas, born in Boston in 1718, practised
medicine in Plymouth many years, and died September 20, 1802. He
was on the medical staff in the expedition against Louisburg in
1745, and at Crown Point in 1758. He had four sons born in Plymouth,
Joshua, Joseph, Nathaniel and John. Joshua was born in 1751, and
graduated at Harvard in 1772. After some time spent in teaching, and
in theological studies, he became especially interested in public
affairs, and in 1774 was adjutant of a regiment of militia organized
in Plymouth County, in view of the threatening war clouds appearing
above the horizon. In 1776 he served on the staff of General John
Thomas on the Canadian expedition, in which General Thomas died, and
soon after returned home where he studied law, and henceforth devoted
himself to his profession. Having served as a member of the committee
of correspondence and as Representative and Senator, he was appointed
in 1792 Judge of Probate, and continued in office until his death.
He was also President of the Plymouth and Norfolk counties Bible
Society, the first president of the Pilgrim Society, and Moderator of
town meetings twenty-eight years. He lay on his bed of death during
the celebration of December 22, 1820, when Daniel Webster delivered
the oration, and John Watson was selected to preside on that
occasion. Judge Thomas had three sons, John Boies, 1787, William,
1788, and Joshua Barker, 1797. John Boies graduated at Harvard in
1806, and married Mary, daughter of Isaac LeBaron. He was a member
of the bar, a member of the Board of Selectmen, from 1831 to 1840,
inclusive, moderator of town meetings from 1829 to 1841, inclusive,
President of the Old Colony Bank and Clerk of the Plymouth County
Courts from 1811 to his death, December 2, 1852. William Thomas, the
second son of Joshua, graduated at Harvard in 1807, and was at the
time of his death, September 20, 1882, the oldest living graduate.
He practiced law in Plymouth, was in 1852 sheriff of the county, and
married in 1816 Sally W., daughter of John Sever of Kingston. Joshua
Barker, the youngest son of Joshua, was also a member of the bar,
but never practised. Though not fitted by temperament for the labors
of his profession, he was a man of culture, and a conversationalist,
whom it was always agreeable to meet. Much younger than his brothers,
he was always an indulged and petted son. I heard when I was young
of an amusing effort to send him to a boarding school. His father
and mother, with great reluctance, and only from a sense of duty,
decided to send him to a school known as the Wing school in Sandwich.
So they started one morning with their boy in a chaise, and a trunk
strapped to the axle. After leaving him in the hands of Mr. Wing
they regretfully bade him good-bye and left for home. They drove
into their yard, landing at the rear door, and going into the house,
found Joshua sitting by the fire, having ridden home on the axle and
entered the house at the front door before them. They were overjoyed
to see him, and embraced him with as much fervor as if he had
returned from a long term at school. He died in Plymouth unmarried,
March 7, 1873.
After the death of the widow of Judge Thomas, the house was occupied
for some years by Allen and S. D. Ballard as an eating saloon, with
lodging rooms to let. The Ballards were succeeded by Mr. Holbrook,
and under the name of the Central House it was occupied by Charles
H. Snell. Mr. Huntoon and Mr. McIntire and St. George and Manley
E. Dodge followed, who were succeeded by Mr. Shaw, Mr. Minchen,
and Bruce and Abbot Jones followed, and then Jones alone, who was
succeeded by McCarthy and Buckman, and the recent proprietor, Mr.
McCarthy. The name was changed to Plymouth Tavern by Mr. Bruce.
Joseph Thomas, a brother of Judge Joshua Thomas, born in 1755, was
in the early part of the revolution a Lieutenant of Artillery, and
later, Captain and Major. He died in Plymouth unmarried, Aug. 19,
1838. Nathaniel, another brother, born in 1756, was a Captain in
the revolution, and died in Plymouth, March 22, 1838. He married
in 1781 Priscilla Shaw, and second in 1796, Jane (Downs) widow of
Isaac Jackson. John, a third brother of Judge Joshua Thomas, born in
1758, was on the medical staff during the revolution, and after the
war settled in Poughkeepsie. Some of his descendants are living in
Cleveland, Ohio.
As long ago as I can remember the house next to the store of Moore
Bros., on the north was occupied by Benjamin Marston Watson, and was
built by him on a vacant lot in 1811. He was a son of John and Lucia
(Marston) Watson, born in 1774, and married in 1804 Lucretia Burr,
daughter of Jonathan Sturges of Fairfield, Conn. His only children
remembered by me were Lucretia Ann, who married Rev. Hersey B.
Goodwin, and was the mother of Professor William Watson Goodwin of
Cambridge; and Benjamin Marston. His son, Benjamin Marston Watson,
born January 17, 1820, graduated at Harvard in 1839, and married in
1846, Mary, daughter of Thomas Russell, and died February 19, 1896.
He was a lovable man, whose companionship I prized; a man of culture,
who enjoyed the friendship of Emerson and Alcott and Thoreau; a man
in whose presence ordinary ambitions appeared insignificant and mean;
a lover of nature with its fruits and flowers, who received in return
from nature’s hand congenial occupation and support.
Mr. Watson, senior, was a merchant in Plymouth, President of the
Plymouth Aqueduct Company, one of the founders of the Pilgrim
Society, and for many years its recording secretary. He was also
chosen treasurer of the Plymouth institution for savings at the time
of its organization in 1828, but declined a re-election in 1829. As a
boy I remember him well looking over into the trench of the aqueduct
and cleaning perch at a South Pond picnic and putting wood on the
parlor fire, in doing which he had a way inherited by his son of
standing with his limbs straight from feet to hips, and his body at
a sharp angle straight from hips to head without a lounge or a bend.
He died while on a visit to Fairfield, November 10, 1835. In 1845
his widow sold the house to William Thomas, who has been already
noticed, and it is now owned and occupied by his grandchildren,
children of William H. Whitman, who married his daughter Ann.
Captain William Bartlett, whose widow occupies the next house,
has been already noticed in connection with the loss of the bark,
Charles Bartlett, of which he was master. The house has, however,
other interesting associations. In the middle of the eighteenth
century it was owned and occupied by Ansel Lothrop. Mary Lothrop,
daughter of Ansel, had a son born in the house, who received the
name of his father, Elkanah Cushman, and was brought up and educated
by him. The son was at one time engaged in business as a member of
the Boston firm of Cushman & Topliffe, and lived in various places
in Charlestown, and in the north end of Boston. Among his places
of residence was a wooden house on Richmond street, now called
Parmenter street, between Hanover and Salem streets, and there
Charlotte Cushman, his daughter, was born, July 23, 1816. It is a
little singular that John Gibbs Gilbert, the distinguished actor,
should have been born six years before in an adjacent house. Mr.
Cushman attended with his family the Second Church on Hanover street,
between Richmond and North Bennet streets, of which Henry Ware, Jr.,
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Chandler Robbins were pastors before new
places of worship were found in Bedford street, and finally in Copley
Square. The site of the Cushman house is now occupied by a school
house erected in 1866, and named after the distinguished actress,
the “Cushman School.” Miss Cushman early displayed creditable vocal
talent, and was one of the choir in the Second Church. On Thursday
evening, March 25, 1830, she appeared at a concert given at No. 1
Franklin avenue, by Mr. G. Farmer, her music teacher, when she sung,
“Take this Rose,” “Oh, merry row the bonny bark just parting from the
shore,” and “Farewell, my love.” Until 1835 she continued to sing in
church, and in April of that year, while J. G. Maeder and his wife,
who was Clara Fisher, were producing English opera at the Tremont
Theatre, the contralto fell ill, and Miss Cushman was selected to
sing the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” in her
place. The next part she sang under the Maeders was Lucy Bertram in
“Guy Mannering,” and thus she was early brought into association
with the dramatization, in which she became famous. Being shortly
afterwards engaged to sing in English operas in New Orleans, she made
a sea voyage to that city, during which, as I have always heard,
she lost her voice in consequence of the change of climate. Rev. J.
Henry Wiggin, whose family were acquainted with the Cushmans at the
Northend, and to whom I am indebted for many of the facts in this
notice, attributes the loss of voice to the overstraining to which
she subjected it after her arrival in New Orleans. Further effort
as a singer was of course hopeless, and returning to New York she
served three years as a stock actor in the old Park Theatre, under
Manager Simpson. It is unnecessary to follow her distinguished
career further than to speak of one passage in it, which came under
my direct notice. During the winter of 1843 and 1844, which I spent
in Philadelphia, she was the lessee and manager of the Chestnut
Street Theatre, where I saw her repeatedly in Macbeth, Julia in the
Hunchback, Juliana in the Honeymoon, Queen Katherine, Meg Merrilies,
Oberon, Bianca in Milman’s Fazio; Lady Gay Sparker, Shylock and
Beatrice. In 1847 I saw her at the Haymarket Theatre in London, and
I remember how my patriotism was stirred by the rapturous applause
her acting elicited. During the Philadelphia winter, to which I have
alluded, Miss Cushman, with her father and a brother, whom she was
educating at the Pennsylvania Medical School, was a regular attendant
morning and evening, at the Unitarian Church, of which Rev. Dr.
Furness was pastor.
Miss Cushman had a younger sister, Susan, whose beauty presented a
marked contrast to her own masculine plainness. In early life Susan
married at the Northend a tailor by the name of Merriman, after whose
death Charlotte introduced her to the stage, and as Romeo to Susan’s
Juliet, played Romeo and Juliet in London one hundred nights. On the
9th of March, 1848, Susan married in Liverpool Dr. James S. Muspratt,
Professor of Chemistry, in that city, and died there May 10, 1859.
Charlotte Cushman died in Boston, February 18, 1876, and was buried
from King’s Chapel on Washington’s birthday.
Until 1858 a dwelling house stood on the south corner of Court
square, which in that year was removed for the purpose of widening
the square. All through my youth that house was owned and occupied
by Captain Joseph Bartlett. He bought the house in 1800, of
Nathaniel Thomas, having up to that time, after his marriage, lived
in Wellingsley on an estate which had previously belonged to his
father-in-law, Joseph Churchill. Captain Bartlett, through life,
kept up the Churchill farm, the entrance to which was through a gate
at Jabez Corner. Warren avenue, when it was laid out, followed the
cartway, which led through his farm. More than once Captain Bartlett
took me in his chaise over to his farm at Poverty Point, as it was
called, and I have a vivid recollection of the apples with which I
filled my pockets, and the sweet corn which the old gentleman gave
me to carry home to my mother. His chaise was one with an iron axle,
and its loud rattle in his comings and goings always indicated his
latitude and longitude. For many years he was an enterprising and
successful ship owner and merchant, and in 1803 bought the lot on the
north corner of Court square, and built and occupied the brick house
now occupied by William Hedge. His losses were so severe during the
embargoes and the war of 1812, that in 1820 he moved back to his old
home, and continued to occupy it until his death. He was a son of
Samuel and Betsey (Moore) Bartlett, and was born June 16, 1762, and
married in 1784, Rebecca Churchill, and had William, 1786, Rebecca,
Susan, 1795, Joseph, Augustus, John, Samuel, Benjamin and Eliza Ann.
He married second in 1821, Lucy, daughter of Charles Dyer, and died
March 4, 1835. His son, William Bartlett, married in 1814, Susan,
daughter of Dr. James Thatcher, and had Susan Louisa, 1815, who
married Charles O. Boutelle, Elizabeth Thatcher, 1818, John, 1820,
and Eliza Ann, 1825.
John Bartlett, son of William and Susan (Thatcher) Bartlett, became
distinguished in both commercial and literary life, and deserves a
special notice. He was born in Plymouth, June 14, 1820. When his
grandfather, Joseph Bartlett, removed in 1820 to his old home, his
son, William, the father of John, who had been occupying his father’s
house since his marriage in 1814, moved into the brick house and
kept it as a public house under the name of the Old Colony Hotel.
Exactly how long William Bartlett kept the house I have no means of
knowing, but he was succeeded in a year or two, by William Spooner,
who was in turn succeeded by Ezra Cushing until 1827, when the
house was bought by Nathaniel Russell, and became his residence. I
have a letter from Judge John Davis of Boston, dated September 23,
1820, to my grandfather, William Davis, disclosing a plan, proposed
by William Sturgis and others, friends of the Pilgrim Society, in
Boston, to purchase the house for a memorial edifice, dedicated to
the Pilgrims. The plan was to have it kept as a hotel, where meetings
of the society might be held, and dinners and balls provided for on
anniversary days. Judge Davis was opposed to the scheme, and finally
a committee of Boston gentlemen was appointed to aid the trustees
of the society in erecting such a memorial as might be agreeable to
them. The gentlemen appointed as the committee were Lemuel Shaw,
Francis C. Gray, Harrison Gray Otis, Isaac P. Davis, James Savage,
George Bond, Benjamin Rich, Francis Bassett, John T. Winthrop and
Nathan Hale.
Returning now to John Bartlett, who was born June 14, 1820, the year
in which at an unknown date his father moved into the brick house,
it is impossible to determine in which house he was born. He was
educated in the public schools of Plymouth, and was my schoolmate
and playmate. In the autumn of 1836 he entered the bookbinding
establishment connected with the University Bookstore in Cambridge,
of which John Owen was the proprietor. In the next year, 1837, he
became a clerk in the bookstore, and at once displayed remarkable
aptitude for the business. He was an extensive reader, and possessed
a wide knowledge of authors, and was soon recognized as an expert
in the preparation of books for the press. In August, 1846, Mr.
Owen failed, and he continued as clerk with his successor, George
Nichols, until 1849, when he bought out Mr. Nichols. In 1859 he
sold out his store to Sever & Francis, having published a number of
books for various authors. He had also published three editions of
his “Familiar Quotations,” the first of which was issued in 1856.
In 1861 he prepared a few books for publication, but transferred
them to Sever & Francis. In 1862 he served as volunteer paymaster
nine months on board Admiral Du Pont’s despatch boat. In August,
1863, he entered the publishing house of Little, Brown & Co., as
clerk, with the promise that at the expiration of eighteen months,
when the existing partnership would terminate, he would be taken
into the firm. In 1864 Little, Brown & Co. published the fourth
edition of his “Familiar Quotations,” and an edition de luxe of
“Walton’s Angler,” edited by him. In February, 1865, he became a
partner in the firm, and the literary, manufacturing and advertising
departments were assigned to him, all of which he retained during
his connection with the firm. In 1882 Little, Brown & Co. published
his Shakespeare “Phrase Book,” and in February, 1889, having been
several years senior partner, he retired from the firm in order to
complete his “Shakespeare Concordance.” The fifth and sixth editions
of “Quotations” were published by Little, Brown & Co., the seventh
and eighth by Routledge of London, and the ninth by Little, Brown &
Co., and Macmillan & Co. of London, and of all these editions, more
than two hundred thousand copies, have been sold.
In 1891 Macmillan & Co., of London, offered to publish his
“Shakespeare Concordance” at their own risk, and it was issued by
them in 1894. In recognition of his literary service, he was made in
1892 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 1871
was awarded by Harvard an honorary degree of Master of Arts, and in
1894, he was made an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
He married, June 4, 1851, Hannah, daughter of Sydney Willard,
Professor of Hebrew at Harvard from 1805 to 1831, and granddaughter
of Joseph Willard, President of Harvard from 1781 to 1804, and died
in Cambridge, December 3, 1905.
I have spoken of the occupants of the brick house on the north corner
of Court Square, before 1827, when it came into the possession of
Nathaniel Russell, who occupied it from that time until his death,
October 21, 1852. He was the son of John and Mercy (Foster) Russell,
and was born April 6, 1769, in the house on the west side of Main
street next north of Mr. Gooding’s watchmaker’s store, where his
father lived from 1759 to 1776. After reaching manhood he was engaged
for a time in business in Bridgewater, removing to Plymouth not long
after the year 1800, and occupying the house which until recently
stood on the lower corner of Middle street and LeBaron’s alley. About
1808 he removed to the house on the north side of Summer street next
to the house on the corner of Ring Lane, and made that his home
until he bought the house on the corner of Court Square. He was
extensively engaged many years in iron manufactures in connection
with William Davis and Barnabas Hedge, and after 1837, as the head of
the firm of N. Russell & Co. He was a man who always had at heart the
welfare of his native town, and joined in every movement to elevate
its social and moral condition. A Lyceum in 1829, of which he was
President; a Temperance Society at about the same date, with which he
was connected; a Peace Society in 1831, and affairs of the church,
of which he was a member, always commanded his aid and support. He
married, June 18, 1800, Martha, daughter of Isaac LeBaron, and had
Nathaniel, Mary Howland, Andrew Leach, Mercy Ann, Francis James,
LeBaron and Lucia Jane. He was always known in my day as Captain
Nathaniel Russell, having been commissioned by Governor Samuel Adams,
May 25, 1795, Captain in the Fourth Regiment, first brigade and
fifth division of the State Militia. Nathaniel Russell, Jr., born
in Bridgewater, December 18, 1801, graduated at Harvard in 1820,
and became associated with his father in business. He married, June
25, 1827, Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Robert and Betsey
Hayward (Thacher) Elliott of Savannah, Georgia, and died February 16,
1875. He will be further mentioned later.
Mary Howland Russell, born October 22, 1803, died January 12, 1862.
Andrew L. Russell, born May 16, 1806, graduated at Harvard in 1827,
and was engaged at one time in the dry goods’ jobbing business in
Central street, Boston, in partnership with William S. Russell, and
later with N. Russell & Co. in Plymouth. He married, May 3, 1832,
Laura Dewey, and, second, October 5, 1841, Hannah White, daughter of
William Davis, Jr. He has been already noticed in connection with the
rows of elms planted by him on Court street, which if not consigned
to death by the concrete sidewalks, will serve as a lasting memorial
of his service to his native town.
Mercy Ann, born August 16, 1809, died September 18, 1832.
Francis James graduated at Harvard in 1831, and died September 6,
1833.
LeBaron graduated at Harvard in 1832, and died August 19, 1889.
Lucia Jane, born November 22, 1821, married Rev. Dr. George W.
Briggs, November 5, 1849, and died November 1, 1881.
LeBaron Russell, above mentioned, studied medicine in Boston and
Paris, and established himself in Boston. Indisposed to active labor
in his profession, he devoted himself to literary pursuits, and by
his interest in the schools and charities of the city, led a useful
and beneficent life.
The house itself, so long identified with the Russell family,
deserves special notice. It is a fine example of the style of
domestic architecture which had its origin in the middle of the
eighteenth century. It has been suggested by some that it was
designed by Charles Bulfinch, but I lived from 1849 to 1853 in a
block of houses on Franklin street in Boston, designed by him, and
I remember nothing in their exterior or interior to suggest his
handiwork. I am inclined to think that it was modelled after the
designs of Peter Harrison, an English architect, examples of whose
work may be found in Salem, which were followed more or less closely
in later times in that city, and in Marblehead and Portsmouth.
Harrison came to Newport, R. I., in 1829, in the ship with Bishop
Berkley and Smibert, the distinguished portrait painter, and before
his death, which occurred in Boston, designed the Redwood library in
Newport, King’s chapel in Boston, and Christ’s church in Cambridge.
Symmetry and proportion were the characteristics of his work, and no
better illustration of these exquisite qualities can be found than
in his original efforts and their faithful copies. The beautiful old
porch of the house in question, rounded in shape and supported by
clover leaf columns, harmonizing with the windows beneath and above
it, was replaced by the present one about 1840.