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  _Curiosities of History:_

  BOSTON
  SEPTEMBER SEVENTEENTH,
  1630-1880.


  BY WILLIAM W. WHEILDON.


  _SECOND EDITION._


  "Ringing clearly with a will
  What she was is Boston still."
                      --WHITTIER.


  BOSTON:
  LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS.
  NEW YORK:
  CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM.
  1880.




  COPYRIGHT, 1880,
  BY WILLIAM W. WHEILDON.


  _Author's Address:_
  BOX 229, CONCORD, MASS.


  _Franklin Press:
  Rand, Avery, & Company,
  117 Franklin Street,
  Boston._




  AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
  _TO MY WIFE_,
  JULIET REBECCA WHEILDON,
  IN COMMEMORATION OF THE
  Fifty-first Year of our Married Life,
  _MAY 28, 1880_.

  WILLIAM W. WHEILDON.




INTRODUCTION.


It seems proper to say in offering this little volume to the public, that
no attempt has been made to exhaust the subjects of which the papers
respectively treat; but rather to enlarge upon matters of historical
interest to Boston, which have been referred to only in a general way by
historians and previous writers.--This idea rather than any determination
to select merely curious topics, has in a large measure influenced the
writer; and the endeavor has been to treat them freely and fairly, and
present what may be new, or comparatively new, concerning them, from such
sources as are now accessible and have been open to the writer. It is not,
however, intended to say that an impulse towards some curious matters of
history has not been indulged, and, indeed, considering the subjects and
materials which presented themselves, could scarcely have been avoided,
which was by no means desirable. Although it has been impertinently said,
that "the most curious thing to be found is a woman not curious," we
submit that curiosity is a quality not to be disparaged by wit or sarcasm,
but is rather the germ and quality of progress in art and science and
history.

It has been impossible to correct or qualify, or perhaps we might say
avoid, all the errors, mistakes, or contradictions, which have been
encountered in preparing these pages; and very possibly we may have
inadvertently added to the number. At all events, with our best endeavors
against being drawn into or multiplying errors, we lay no claim to
invulnerability in the matter of accuracy, or immaculacy in the way of
opinions; and we very sincerely add, if errors or mistakes have been made
and are found, we shall be glad to be apprised of them. There are errors
in our history which it is scarcely worth the while to attempt to correct,
although they are not to be countenanced and should not be repeated.

A period of two hundred and fifty years since the settlement of the town
includes and covers a history of no ordinary character, involving progress
and development, not merely of customs, manners and opinions, but of
principles, passions and government. The city is a creation, as it were,
by the art and industry of man; and, with the reverence of Cotton Mather
himself, we add, "With the help of God!" and we venture the comparison
that no change or growth, improvement or embellishment, is to be found in
the settlement or the city, that may not be paralleled in the growth,
advancement and elevation of its people: indeed, we go even farther than
this, the material progress to be seen around us, in all its multifarious
forms and combinations, item by item, small or great, is indicative only
of the advancement of the people, and marks the progress of moral, mental
and intellectual power--of art, science and knowledge.

We take this opportunity to acknowledge our indebtedness to several
friends for the loan and use of many rare and valuable works in the
preparation of this history, and in particular to Messrs. John A. Lewis
and John L. DeWolf, of Boston, and Mr. J. Ward Dean, of the N. E. His.
Gen. Society.




TABLE OF CONTENTS:


     I. Topography of Boston.                                         13
          The Peninsula.
          Two Islands.
          Anne Pollard.
          Curious Descriptions.
          The Mill Creek.
          Great South Cove.
          The North Cove.
          Boston Common.

    II. The Public Ferries.                                           27
          The Great Ferry.
          Order of Court, Nov. 1630.
          Lease to Edward Converse.
          Ferry to Winnisimmet;
          Grant to Harvard College.
          Bad "peag," money.
          Wampompeague.
          Judge Sewall over the Ice.
          Charlestown mother of Boston.
          Andros Revolution and Fires.
          Portsmouth Stage.
          Paul Revere crossing.

   III. The Boston Cornfields.                                        37
          Spragues at Charlestown;
          Dividing the Land;
          Corn from the Indians;
          Fencing the Fields, &c.
          The Cornfields and Pastures;
          The Granary.


    IV. Puritan Government.                                           45
          Authority of the Company.
          Ex post facto Laws.
          Punished for a pun.
          Fines and Ear-cropping.
          Whipping through three towns.
          Set in his own Stocks.
          Regulating the Dress of Women.
          The "Body of Liberties."
          Ward on Kissing Women.
          John Dunton on the Laws.


     V. Narragansett Indians.                                         57
          Murder of Mr. Oldham.
          Visit of Miantonomo to Gov. Vane, Treaty, &c.
          Narragansett Art.
          Coining money.
          Marriage of Children.
          Egyptian Custom.
          Marriage of Cleopatra.


    VI. Names of Places, Streets, &c.                                 62
          Curious Indian Names;
          Names of Streets, Taverns, &c.;
          Paddy Alley and William Paddy;
          Dates of the Streets and Lanes;
          Royal Names, Names of Patriots, Puritans and Union Names;
          Names of Taverns and Shops;
          Number of Streets and Wharves.


   VII. Persecution of the Quakers.                                   74
          Church Government and Civil Government.
          Interference of the King.
          Arrival of Quakers, 1656.
          Execution of Quakers.
          Order from the King, 1661.
          Hutchinson's Opinion.
          Triumph of the Quakers.
          Their Meeting House.
          Meetings discontinued.


  VIII. First Newspaper in America.                                   87
          First ever issued--in writing.
          Gazette in Venice, 1583.
          English Mercury, 1588.
          "Publick Occurrences" 1690.
          Legislative Interference.
          To cure the 'Spirit of Lying.'
          The Christian Indians.
          Massacre of French Indians.
          General character of the paper and its reading matter.


    IX. Curious Boston Lectures.                                      98
          History of Boston;
          "Boston's Ebenezer;"
          A Stone of Help;
          Widows and Orphans;
          Hope in God;
          Appeal to the Public Officers;
          Household Religion;
          Fanaticism and Declamation.


     X. Remarkable Proclamations. 1774-5.                            104
          _March 29_, War against France;
          _October 18_, On account of a Riot;
          _October 19_, War against Indians;
          _October 20_, Thanksgiving Day;
          _Nov. 2_, Rewards for Indian scalps;
          1745, _March 25_, For a Fast Day;
            "   _July 8_, Thanksgiving Day;
            "   _Sept. 6_, For a Fast Day;
            "   _November 22_, Sailor's Riot;
            "   _November 25_, Thanksgiving.


    XI. Popular Puritan Literature.                                  115
          An Earthquake in Boston;
          Deborah; a Bee;
          Popish Invasion of England;
          The Scotch Rebellion.


   XII. Revolutionary Proclamations.                                 126
          Gen. Gage's Administration;
          Shutting up of Boston Harbor;
          Election of delegates to Congress;
          General Gage's Proclamation;
          Against non-importation league.
          Remarkable Proclamation for the promotion of Piety and Virtue.
          Its Character and Observance.


  XIII. Curiosities of the Market.                                   131
          Supplies of Gov. Winthrop;
          Bartering for Furs;
          Scarcity of Provisions;
          Hunting, Game, Fish, &c.;
          Living in the Olden Time;
          Supplies for a British fleet.


  CONCLUSION.




[Illustration: Map of DORCHESTER, BOSTON and CHARLESTOWN, the Three
Peninsulas, showing their Bays and Coves, Castle Island, Roxbury and
Cambridge.]




I.

TOPOGRAPHY OF BOSTON.


THE ORIGINAL PENINSULA.

There is a line of Cowper to the effect that "God made the country, and
man made the town;" and there is probably no more striking evidence of the
truthfulness of the axiom than is to be found in the history and growth of
Boston, between the years 1630 and 1880, confirming in a remarkable manner
Capt. Wood's prophecy concerning the town, in 1650: viz., "whose
continuall inlargement presages some sumptuous city." The original
territory which has formed the basis, so to speak, of Boston proper, was a
peninsula, and appeared like two islands, or, by the continued operation
of the sea, was likely to become so. Its distinguishing feature