THE QUINCY MANSION
Long years ago before our country was thickly settled, and when our
forefathers extracted from the soil a scanty living, the houses were
simple little ones, often built with only four rooms. It was in such a
house as this that William Coddington made his early home. It was
delightfully situated, close to the bank of Black Brook, and surrounded
by overhanging trees.
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVI.--The Quincy Mansion, Quincy, Mass.]
In 1635 William Coddington and his fellow associates received a grant of
five hundred acres at Braintree, now Quincy, Massachusetts, extending
from the old Dorchester line at Squantum to Howe's Neck, and about a
mile inland. This was a goodly tract of land, with level meadows that
promised good plowing. The next year, in the heart of the grant, Mr.
Coddington built a house that consisted of a large kitchen, a
living-room, and two chambers. Near him was a small colony of settlers,
including Reverend John Wheelwright, Anne Hutchinson, and Sir Harry
Vane. They composed a congenial group of free thinkers, who met often in
the Coddington kitchen to sit around the large open fireplace, while
they discussed religious views much more liberal than the Puritan's way
of thinking. Many of them, for holding these views, were banished to
Rhode Island.
Coddington did not live long after the house-building, and was succeeded
by Edmund Quincy, the first of the name to live in what is now known as
the Quincy homestead. He was a man of considerable wealth and
importance, coming here from Boston and bringing with him six servants,
which was considered a most pretentious establishment in those days. His
wife, named Judith, was a woman of great ability, and after the death of
her husband, managed the estate with good judgment. Her daughter, also
named Judith, married John Hull, the mint-master, and became the mother
of Hannah Hull. Hannah became the wife of Judge Samuel Sewall, and as
the story runs, received for her dowry her weight in pine-tree
shillings.
The second of the name of Quincy to occupy this house was also named
Edmund and afterwards received the title of colonel. He was a man of
dignified personality and forceful character and had held at various
times most of the important offices in the town. His death in 1698 was
followed by that of his wife, two years later, and the reins of
government fell into the hands of Edmund third, then a youth of twenty.
The responsibility made the latter a very thoughtful man. He became more
distinguished than either his father or his grandfather, passing nearly
his whole life in public service. It was this Edmund who, in his
twenty-first year, married Dorothy Flynt, the first Dorothy Q. of
history, and ancestress of all the other Dorothy Q's.
In 1706, as the house had become too small for the family, Quincy built
additions at the front of the old mansion, giving it its present
appearance. The rooms added were the present dining-room, the parlor,
and the chambers above these rooms. With the raising of the new part,
little attempt was made to have the dimensions match, so that the rooms
of the older building showed a different floor level from those at the
front.
Later on, a two-story ell was added near the brook, consisting of a
study and bedroom. These were occupied by Dorothy's brother, Henry
Flynt, who was the famous Tutor Flynt of Harvard.
Of the children born to Edmund, third, and Dorothy Q., two are well
known in history. Edmund, the fourth, who married Elizabeth Wendell and
became the father of the Dorothy Q. who married John Hancock, and the
Dorothy Q., "My Dorothy," as Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes called her, who
married Edward Jackson, and was the great-grandmother of the poet.
After the death of Judge Quincy, the house was not used as a permanent
residence by the family, for Edmund, who inherited it, had a fine home
in Boston. It was kept open, however, and used at frequent intervals as
a summer place. We read of large parties coming down by coach and
horseback from Boston, to be entertained at the Quincy mansion. Many a
pretty bit of romance has been enacted within these walls, and many a
famous traveler has found shelter in this house.
When the wedding of Dorothy Q. to John Hancock was planned, preparations
suitable for the important event were made, and a wall-paper was ordered
from Paris to be hung upon the walls of the parlor. This room was
destined not to be used, however, for the purpose intended. The
Revolution broke out and Hancock was forced to flee for safety to
Lexington. Here he was joined by his aunt, Madam Hancock, and Dorothy,
on the memorable "18th of April, '75." Dorothy, fearing the approach of
the Redcoats, desired to return to Boston, to seek refuge in her
father's house, but her lover knew only too well the hatred of the Tory
for the Quincy family that had been shown when a British soldier thrust
his rapier through the portrait of Dorothy Q., the niece of this
Dorothy, and he forbade the attempted journey. Wishing to assert her
independence and also to have her own way, Dorothy insisted, and a
lovers' quarrel ensued. Hancock and Samuel Adams were forced to make
their escape to Woburn, with Madam Hancock and Dorothy, who continued on
to Fairfield, Connecticut, taking up their abode in the family of
Thaddeus Burr. In consequence, the Quincy mansion did not see them again
for a long time. The patriot troops were stationed at Fairfield, and
Aaron Burr, meeting Dorothy, fell in love with her. He paid her such
serious attention that Madam Hancock became alarmed for the consequences
and sent to her nephew, explaining the situation.
John Hancock was a wise lover and wrote Dorothy immediately, asking her
if she had made him the hair chain promised and reproaching her for her
unfaithfulness, sending with the letter a box of silk stockings.
Dorothy, with little liking for his interference, continued her
flirtation with Lieutenant Burr; again Madam Hancock wrote to her nephew
in such a peremptory manner that during a recess of Congress he came to
Fairfield. Once there, he swept away all resentment, and Dorothy became
his wife on August 28.
Sir Harry Frankland, previous to this, came to the Quincy Mansion
bringing with him Agnes Surriage, and a merry house party spent part of
the time catching trout from the little black brook and cooking them in
the old kitchen fireplace.
Benjamin Franklin was also a visitor at this house, accepting the
hospitality shown him by Mr. Quincy, and sending in return a stove,
still shown in one of the chambers. A Flemish grape-vine was also sent
by him to the family; this took root and until a few years ago was in
thriving condition. Many other men of note came as visitors to this
noted mansion, including Lafayette, who was entertained here when he
returned to America after the Revolution.
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVII.--The Porch, Quincy Mansion.]
During the Revolutionary period, the house passed out of the hands of
the Quincy family. It has been recently restored by the Colonial
Dames of Massachusetts, who have brought back as far as possible its
old-time dignity. In the restoration, great care has been taken with the
furnishing. The central hall is entered through the colonial porch. It
is long and wide, wainscotted and showing above this an odd, colonial
paper, representing an English hunting scene. The baluster and
newel-post are hand carved and fine examples of the early work of that
period.
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXVIII.--Dining Room, Quincy Mansion, showing the
old Chinese Wallpaper.]
At the right of the hall is the dining-room, hung with a quaint Chinese
paper. This room shows high wainscot, wooden shutters, and the original
beams cased in. The furniture is all of that period, including simple
Dutch chairs, about 1770, with rush bottoms. The sideboard, too, is of
the seventeenth century, and on this is a knife box of the latter
quarter of this century. The corner buffet is about 1740, and unlike the
majority of these cupboards, is movable, instead of being fastened to
the walls. The table is a beautiful old Empire piece and a china closet
at one side containing several rare pieces, shows the shell pattern at
the top. The fireplace is tiled in blue and white Delft, dating back to
about 1750.
[Illustration: PLATE LXXXIX.--Kitchen, Quincy Mansion; Parlor, Quincy
Mansion.]
On the opposite side of the house is the parlor, which still shows the
old wall-paper intended to grace the wedding of John Hancock to Dorothy
Quincy. Here are Venuses and Cupids in vivid blue, with garlands of red
flowers, all as fresh as when first hung. The panel front of the
chimney-piece was recently removed, and the original fireplace, fifteen
feet wide, discovered. The back of this chimney is curiously bricked in
herring-bone pattern. Many interesting relics are kept in one of the
cupboards. There is a parasol which once belonged to Mrs. Hancock, a
shoe of a little son who died in childhood, a pipe filler which belonged
to John Hancock, Edmund Quincy third's baptismal robe and cap, and a
piece of the dress worn by Abigail Adams when she was presented at the
Court of St. James. On the wall hangs her portrait showing the same
gown.
[Illustration: PLATE XC.--Paper hung for Wedding of Dorothy Quincy,
Quincy Mansion.]
The chairs in this room are rare examples of Chippendale, 1791, and
Sheraton, the latter being one of the best examples of the master's
make, and showing the fan back design, which is more usually found in
the South, rather than in the North. Here, as in the dining-room, are
narrow shutters with hinged panels, which could be bolted and barred
against attacks of the Indians.
Back of the dining-room, and one step lower, is the old kitchen, built
in 1636, the most interesting room in the house, containing a great many
household articles of early colonial days. The broad, hand-hewn beams
bear the marks of the axe, and the great fireplace is flanked on one
side by larger brick ovens and on the other by a secret passage. Back of
the chimney is a ladder which leads to the secret closet above, also a
little dumbwaiter shaft, through which food and water could be sent to
the people in hiding.
In previous years, an underground passage led out of the kitchen to the
brook. Through this contraband goods were smuggled. The entrance to this
passage has now disappeared, so that the exact locality is not
definitely known.
The window glass was made at the first glass factory in America. This
was erected by a guild of Hollanders who had established themselves in
Quincy. The worthies of Quincy objected to the large families of the
emigrants, and they were driven out and moved to Maine. The first iron
foundry in this country was built beside this brook, which was sometimes
known as Furnace Brook.
[Illustration: PLATE XCI.--Chambers in the Quincy Mansion.]
Above the kitchen is the Coddington Chamber, named for the original
builder of the house and fittingly furnished with rare pieces of the
colonial period. Above this is a very low attic, lighted from the upper
panes of the chamber windows and reached by the secret passage behind
the chimney. At the further end of this attic is a trap-door connecting
with a second attic, through which one could escape by galleries below
the dormer windows, and thence reach the ground.
Across the hall is a smaller room known as the nursery. Tradition has it
that John Hancock concealed himself from the British in this apartment,
making use of the secret passageway. On one of the window-panes is
scratched with a diamond the initials, "J. H." and again in handwriting
similar to his: "You I love and you alone." In this room are preserved
the breakfast-table of John Hancock; a linen chest which belonged to the
wife of William Penn; various articles of clothing that at one time were
used by the Quincy family; a bed spread hand-embroidered on homespun
linen quilted by Madam Burr and used in her guest chamber when Dorothy
Quincy was staying at her house.
Over the dining-room is the Quincy room, so named from the fact that
many of the Quincy children, including the two Dorothys, were born
here. By a curious trick of fate, there still remains here a
nail-studded chest which once belonged to George III of England, bearing
the date 1790. One wonders, if the old chest could speak, whether it
would pour vituperations upon the heads of those who brought the
possessions of the tyrant to the colonies, to be stored in the Quincy
mansion.
Across the hall is the guest chamber with its canopied Field bed, and
the little trundle-bed underneath, used in the olden times for the
children of the family. The Franklin stove, presented by the inventor,
is also in this room. Opening from it, and approached by a second
staircase, we find the chamber of Tutor Flynt, here the recessed bed is
an interesting feature. The room is furnished with fine pieces of the
olden times.
Every room in this house contains mementoes of the days of long ago. The
house was one of the first to be built on American soil, and has
sheltered some of our most important citizens. To-day it reminds us of
the past, carrying us back to the earliest days of our country's
history.