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Home , Jonathan Corwin, Samuel Shute, Spencer Phips, Thomas Dawes, William Dummer, William Shirley

The Province House and its Occupants

By WALTER KENDALL WATKINS

Edited by RICHARD M. CANDEE

HE way to Roxbury, as Wash- by the familial greetings of a letter from ington Street was called in the Sergeant to “Bro. Corwin, Bro. Jona- T first century of ’s history, than and Bro. Browne” for John and was bordered north of West Street by the and William Browne homes of some of the principal settlers. who married their sister Hannah Corwin. South of the Town House (the Old State noted in his Diary for House) was the South End of the town December 23, 1681 “two of the chief during these years, while the land behind Gentlewomen in Towne dyed, . . . viz. the remained Mrs. Mary Davis and Mrs. Eliza. Sar- pasture for a century more. The west gent (sic) .“* His second marriage, in side of Washington Street was an excel- 1682, was to Elizabeth, daughter of lent location for a house on the main Henry Shrimpton. street, with a fine prospect of the harbor In 1690 the deacons of the Old South and its islands. Church met at Judge Sewall’s house to The first great Boston fire destroyed arrange for documents and deedsrelating these homes on January 14, 1653, to the church to be placed in a chest and among them that of William Aspinwall, depositedin Mr. Sergeant’s house “it be- town recorder, which stood near the ing of brick and convenient.” Sewall present junction of Washington and also notes, after a hailstorm of April 20, Bromfield Streets. Half way between As- 1695 that the hail broke 480 quarrels of pinwall’s house and School Street was the glass in his new house and as many in home of Thomas Millard with its garden that of Mr. Sergeant’s. and orchard in the rear. Millard’s burned During the governorship of the Earl property came into the hands of Samuel of Bellomont, who arrived in 1698, Ser- Shrimpton, a large landholder who sold geant was prevailed upon to give up his it on October 2 I, 1676 to Peter Ser- home and occupy a house across the geant, merchant of Bost0n.l street. In the best chamber of the Ser- This land had a frontage of eighty-six geant house, as Sewall tells us, Governor feet on the street and of seventy-six feet Bellomont swore in the Judges on July in the rear, with a depth of two hundred 25, 1699 and treated the Council and and sixty-five feet. On this Site Sergeant, other gentlemen with refreshments in a former merchant of a Lanca- November. Confirmation of Governor shire family, erected a housein I 679. Bellomont’s rental may be found in the Here Peter Sergeant brought his first Provincial records. The General Court two wives, both daughters of prominent merchants. First, was * Massachusetts Historical Society Collec- tions, Fifth Series, VI: I 3. Hereafter reference Elizabeth Corwin of Salem, as indicated to the Diary of Samuel Sewall will be indicated 1 Suffolk County Deeds, VI11:309, X:144. by dates in the text alone.

95 96 Old-Time New

passeda resolve on March 23, 1700, that Boston society, taking an active part in the rent was to be paid out of the treasury town and provincial affairs. As a town of the province, and on August 5 pay- constable in 1674, he was an accuser of ment of X120.16.8 was allowed at the Governor Andros and was named as a rate of ~IOO per annum for fourteen and Councillor under the second charter in a half months. Sergeant also received 1692. He served on the council until 220.3.0 for “dead rent of the house he 1703, when he was negatived by Gov- hired of Wm. Gibbins for nine months at ernor , and again from the rate of f25 per annum” and 2+.6d. 1707 to his death in 1714. The last six for mending the windows of his own months of his life were marked by ill house.a health, as Sewall’s journal attests. On On November I 4, I 700 Sewall notes October 5, 1713 he was “confin’d to his that Madam Elizabeth Sergeant was en- house.” By December several ministers tombed. Nearly a year later, October 9, were praying for him and on January 14, I 701 he records, “Peter Sergeant Esqr. I 7 13/14 Sewall notes “Mr. Sargeant is marries my Lady Mary Phips.” The so weak that he keepshis chamber.” next day Sewall and other gentlemen On January 20, I 7 14, Sewall visited visited the bride and groom, supping on Sergeant who spoke passionately against roast beef, venison, pastry, cake and Messrs. Dudley and Nowell’s arbitration cheese.The Sergeants were living in the concerning his second wife’s portion of bride’s house, the Governor Phips man- her brother’s estate. He also desired Sew- sion at the corner of Salem and Charter all “to deal honestly as to a Stable he had Streets. bmlt” for f 60. “I have many times ask’d This marriage, Sergeant’s third, lasted for the Writing I gave him, the Agree- lessthan five years. Once again, Sewall’s ment,” Sewall noted, “that I might take Diary comments, “My Dame Mary a Copy of it: But it caiiot yet be found.” Phipps, Lady Sargeant, alias Phipps, dies The inventory taken of Sergeant’s estate about Sun-Rise” on January 20, 1706. lists this as interest in stable and pasture A consolation visit on January 26 by the land of Samuel Sewall near and adjoining diarist adds to our knowledge of Ser- land lately Peter Sergeant’s, for term of geant’s age : years yet to come, as per agreement of Sewall and Sergeant.4 I visit Mr. Sargeant,who takesmy visit very On February 12, 1714, “The Storm kindly, tells me my Lady would have been 59 years old next March, and that he was two of Snow is so violent that Mr. Jno. Rob- months older. erts gives notice Mr. Sargeant’s Funeral will not be today.” The next day Sewall Sergeant’s fourth and final marriage, to also records that he was “Laid in his Mehetable Cooper, was duly recorded by Tomb in the New Burying place [Gra- Sewall on December 18 of that year. On nary] awhile before Sunset.” December 23, 1706, he commented, “I Sergeant’s will ordered all his house- visit Mr. Sargeant and his Bride; had Ale hold goods to be delivered to his widow and Wine.” and that no appraisal be made of them, As these marriages suggest, Peter reserving from these a silk canopy bed Sergeant was a prominent member of in the tapestry chamber. His widow was

’ GeneralCourt Records, VII ~64. 4 Sufolk County Probate Records, 18 ~79. The Province House and its Occupants 97

allowed to dwell in the house one year if Joseph Prout, treasurer of the town of she did not remarry, and the house was Boston, and to their successorsin the of- bequeathed to his nephew and executor, fices of treasurers forever. The transac- Thomas Sergeant, and other related tion with numerous heirs in different heirs. In his absence, Thomas Palmer parts of England was not actually com- and William Hutchinson were to act as pleted until I 7 I 7, but a previous lease executors.5 gave the Province early possession.The In this capacity they placed the fol- only other expenditure on the house in lowing advertisement in the Boston I 7 16 was f33 for the hangings of two News-Letter for May I 6-23, I 7 I 5 : rooms and two large looking glasses.6

A large fair Brick House formerly the Mansion When Governor Shute arrived in Bos- House of Peter Sergeant, Esq. Deceased, with ton on October 4, I 7 I 6, he was sixty- Out Houses and Gardens thereunto belonging, three years old. A man of military train- Together with a Lease of a Pasture, Coach- ing, he was not well disposedto the op- House and Stable near adjoining, for a term position of the General Court over his of years, is now to be sold by Thomas Palmer Esq’ and Mr. William Hutchinson, Executors salary, his rights as Governor and Com- in Trust for the said Estate. mander. in Chief of the militia, or the auditing of the Province accounts. Yet At this time the General Court was in spoke highly of the new need of an official residence for the gov- governor, who “appears to have a sin- ernor of the Province. Richard Coote, gular Goodness of Temper, with a Dis- second Earl Bellomont, had been the position to do good reigning in him,” ad- first provincial governor to occupy the ding “Our Governor was a person of Province House. Phips, Stoughton and Excellent Spirit, and I always thought he Dudley had been New Englanders and studied the welfare of the Countrey more occupied their own mansions as gover- than anyone person in it.“’ nors. The appointment of Colonel Elisha Shute, on his arrival, stayed at Paul Burgess in March 17 14/15 presented Dudley’s house for a week, going to the the same situation which had confronted Province House on October I 3, I 7 16. the Lords of Trades and the Provincial In his speech to the General Court on Assembly on Bellomont’s arrival, the November 7, 1716, he said: necessity of a governor’s residence. An- other appointment for Burgess delayed I was also to recommend to you the Building of the matter for a year, until a House for the Governor j but I am prevented from it, by your having provided a very good was named in his place. One, for which I return you my Thanka A committee under Captain Nathaniel Noyes was appointed to report on a resi- As an official residence, the Province dence for Governor Burgess. It recom- House served many functions. On No- mended the purchase of the Sergeant vember 29, 1716, during Shute’s first house and the General Court voted month in ofice, Sewall and other town X2,300 for the property. The house and fathers prevailed upon him not to attend land was conveyed to Jeremiah Allen, 6 Journal of The House of Representathes, treasurer of the Province ; Jeremiah I :16, 167. Dummer, treasurer of Suffolk County; ’ Ibid., p. 175. 5 Ibid. 8 Ibid., p. I 30. 98 Old-Time a public ball, but a year later on January Court gave orders for extensive repairs 7, I 7 I 8, Sewall notes that the governor (see article by Fiske Kimball). On April had a ball at his own house that lasted 8, 1720, Sewall had written that Gov- until three in the morning. The Council ernor Shute “saw two [swallows] out of frequently met at the Province House and his casement in the Turret this morn- the judges also met there on a special oc- ing.” In the I 727 alterations ordered by casion when Elisha Cooke was dismissed the General Court, the “Lanthorn or as Clerk of the Superior Court of Judica- Cupola” on top of the house, having ture for being an enemy of the King and grown very weak, was to be well and Governor. As Cooke lived on the east sufficiently repaired and made strong side of Cooke’s Court, off School Street with new doors and sash windows. (later Chapman Place), he and the gov- Burnet arrived with his family and ernor must have cast many baleful numerous servants on July 13, 1728. glances from the rear windows of their As the Province House was not yet com- houses. pleted, the entourage occupied the resi- As with the previous occupants of the dence of Elisha Cooke. He seems to have house, Sewall was a frequent visitor. His been occupying the Province House by last visit to Governor Shute on January October 22, 1728, when Sewall “Went I 6, I 7 22 was to present a ring made by to his Excellency’s [Governor Burnet] Captain Winslow, the Boston goldsmith, and carry’d home his Excellency’s Jew- valued at 35 shillings and three pence and all.” His occupation was to be brief, how- inscribed “Post tenebras Lucem.” On ever, as the New England Weekly Jour- this occasion Shute received him “in Mr. nal for September 8, 1729 reported:

Sergeant’s Counting Room.” Governor Last Tuesday, Governor Burnet was taken ill Shute sailed for England on December at his house in Boston, of a feverish Distemper 31, 1722. Within a week of his depar- which threw him into a degree of coma and ture, the Lieutenant Governor, William last night at 25 after 10 expired in his 4znd year. Dummer, moved into the Province House and occupied it until Governor The cost of the funeral was i1,80o, paid Burnet arrived in the summer of 1728. bv the Province. This included mourning During the last two years of Shute’s clothes for the Governor’s household, residence, necessary repairs to the Prov- mourning rings and gloves for prominent ince House were made under the super- officials and Boston residents who took vision of Edward Winslow, Sheriff of part in the funeral, and wine for the Bos- Suffolk County. Sheriff Winslow con- ton Regiment who discharged the guns tinued to supervise the repairs made dur- of the Castle and Battery. ing the occupations of the house for The inventory of Burnet’s estate dis- nearly a quarter of a century, for which closes objects of a man with wide inter- he was allowed f3 a year. The expenses ests. He was of a literary and scientific for 1721 and 1722 amounted to X60 in bent, publishing in 1724 an essay on depreciated money, while various small Scriptural prophecies and contributing sums during Dummer’s occupation were astronomical observations to the Royal paid to Boston craftsmen. Society. Thus, listed in his inventory were With the appointment in I 727 of a magic lantern valued at f I, and a large Governor William Burnet, the General telescope with micrometer at f 7.10.0. The Province House and its Occupants

His interest in music is indicated by a his nose was two or three inches from large bass violin, two treble violins, a brads he was driving and that he had to harpsicord, a clapsicord, double courtell, have a boy helper finish the work. De- bassoon, and a large violin or tenor fiddle. spite this, Forrester asked 7s. 9d. a day, His inventory also listed Southack’s map, while others got 4s., although he finally , four plans of Boston, a bargained for 28s. a week. A similar case prospect of , and a prospect of of his work on a ship’s cabin resulted in Boston. The plans and prospect views an arbitration and Forrester was forced were those of William Burgis dedicated to deduct ;E2 from his bill. During Bel- to Burnet. Being of Scottish descent, cher’s first year in the Province House, Burnet also had “9 Gouff” or golf clubs Forrester’s work included : and an iron valued at 4s. each for a total putting up a large place in the yard for hold- of f2. As his property was sold at auc- ing sea-coals, putting syde . . . to the dresser tion, it would be interesting to know who and shelves in the kitchine, making a large continued this game in Boston.’ bottle rack to stand by the pump, cutting out a cart way in ye fence by ye coach-house and The Province House was occupied in making a door for it, making a case for the rapid succession by in large jack in ye great kitchine, making several I 729 who was superseded by William small slips for chamber doors, boarding the Tailor. was commis- hen-house, putting up several pieces of boards cut out in pigeon holes over the little house, sioned governor in January, 1730, but mending two doors, on[e] by the little house did not arrive from England until August the oyr by ye hen-house, putting on a plaind of that year. Born in Cambridge, Massa- board on each. mendinP cellar doors, nailling chusetts, in 1682, he met the future on hinges, maiing seve&l large bolts’& latches George I while in Europe, which led to [ ?] of white walnut, making up one incloser in ye front cellar wt a door to it, making a door his appointment as governor while in En- in the gang-way in the cellar, making a spout gland as the colony’s agent. Just before for the sink, putting on 3 or 4 locks, making his return to his native Massachusetts, the a beacon-rack about 5 foot by 6 foot close up General Court appropriated several hun- to the ceiling in ye kitchine dred pounds for more repairs to the Prov- as well as many other large and small ince House. jobs about the pr0perty.l” Among the most interesting bills sub- The next year Forrester was paid for mitted for this work, were those of Rob- putting up a joist over the dresser to hang ert Forrester, joiner. His numerous ac- pewter covers on, taking down the bacon- tivities about the building from 1720 to rack and framing it smaller for the lesser 1740 record the changes made to the kitchen, putting up more pigeon holes house. Certainly, the number of Forres- against the fence, and making general ter’s bills suggests that the Province House repairs to the cellars. His bill for work provided him with an ample income. performed in 1733 included cleaning all From other sources, however, his prices lo MasracrZusetts Archives, Vol. 244, folio were often in contention. The repairs he 289. The many continuing bills for the work made to Henry Dering’s house and shop done to the Province House are all to be found were questioned when Dering testified on the microfilm copies of volumes 2.44 and that Forrester was so nearsighted that 245 in the State Archives in the Statehouse, to which the student is directed for the following 9 Suffolk County Probate Records, z 7 :34 I. specific references in the text. 100 Old-Time New England the lamp beacons and putting in wicks, of Belcher’s residence. In 1736 Edward filling them with oil, lighting and extin- Pell charged 22 shillings for priming and guishing them, as well as making a painting a mantlepiece. Thomas Gouge framed horse 12 feet long for liquors, submitted a bill in 1737 for painting cutting a door in the middle and making eleven yards of wainscot bright red and two doors, a step into the back kitchen, eight yards lead color, while James two doors in the upper front chamber, Young whitewashed five ceilings at IO closet in the back chamber, taking down shillings each as well as two chambers, the old gutters and making new ones like Great Entry, two small rooms below, the open boxes. He also put a new rack over back staircaseand entry, and the kitchen the kitchen chimney for spits, a plank staircaseand entry. He also set 25 Hol- I o feet long before the large disheson the land tiles at 8 pence each. Among dresser, a door on the arch where the Young’s work the next year was the re- candles lay, doors with boards on each moval of a stone chimney, taking down side of the arch in the wine cellar, shelves an iron chimney back, and the building of in the buttery cellar, as well as planing a new kitchen chimney of brick. In I 737 window shutters in two south chambers, he charged 17 shillings for “whitewash- making a new six-paneled gate, making a ing and spotting” the kitchen, while in place for asheswith sliding doors in front I 738 and 1739 coloring and spotting the and a place for sea coals in the cellar. large kitchen cost as much as 26 shillings. During the same year, brickmason James For the new kitchen chimney in 1736 Young was paid for building a stove on Forrester made “a new mantlepiece which to dress victuals and a large oven. about IO or I I foot long with a shelve His bill for materials, besides brick and and Cornish.” He also provided a brass mortar, included a half dozen tiles at 9 lock on the great parlor door and one for shillings and two dozen tiles at 12 shil- an upper chamber door, and fenced the lings. yard about the coach house and kitchen Extensive accounts for work on the garden. His bill in 1737 included build- Province House during Belcher’s occu- ing a place at the end of the house for pancy resulted from yearly expenditures broken bottles, a new front for the pantry for continual alterations and repairs. On cupboard, a new box for the pulley June 30, 1734 the General Court or- weight of the kitchen door, and two dered that the stepsgoing up to the Prov- weather boards for the’ balcony door. ince House be handsomely railed with an More important, perhaps, for the subse- iron rail fence. The iron fence was made quent appearance of the building, in July, by Henry Tinsdale, while Nathaniel I 737 he raised scaffolding “att ye north ,Emmes furnished two stone bases and end of ye house, nailing sparsto ye brick set the iron postsand rails with lead. Ed- wall to clapboard on” and repeated the ward Pell was paid for priming and same process on the south end of the painting 38 yards of iron banister, while building. John Gibb was paid for supplying a pearl The multitude of bills for large and color paint for the banisters and rails. small alterations to the Province House During the I 730s a number of bills for continued during the term of Belcher’s painting suggest the interior decoration successor, . Shirley, an .

The Province House and its Occupants 101

Englishman who had practiced law in painting work on the top of the house. Boston for the previous seven years, was Ten years later, however, in the spring commissionedas Governor in May, I 74 I of I 75 I a new roof was needed and the and moved into the Province House the General Court appropriated 2300 for following summer. He found the house this and other repairs, adding f 100 the newly whitewashed as of March, I 741, next year. John Kneeland whitening eight rooms The renovations of the also ef- and ceilings, six closets,coloring and spot- fected several masonry alterations. In ting the kitchen, two large stairways and 1741 Robert Balls was paid for 2,200 two small ones, and blackening the back bricks and workmen’s board for five of a chimney. In October Samuel Robin- weeks, Michael Homer was paid for son submitted a bill for work done at the work on the hearths and chimneys. In Province House, including “New Tack- February, 1743, Samuel Heath pulled ing the paper hanging above in the cham- down a wing of the chimney in the hall ber & New papring one roome below and built a stone chimney in the same. stairs” with four rolls of painted paper He also set 98 Dutch tiles and altered the suppliedby Daniel Henchman. flue of an oven. In another bill Michael Lady Shirley in July, I 74 I had the Homer was paid for setting 24 Dutch kitchen chimney cleaned to prevent it tiles and for plastering and mending a smoking, and perhapsit was she who was chimney. Despite the change to sashwin- most responsible for much of the new dows in earlier renovations, some old redecoration. In October Samuel Cutts casements must have survived in part of painted the front lower room light blue, the building, as Joseph Wakefield fur- as well as a front chamber the same color, nished 13 quarrels of crown sashsquares while the green chamber was decorated of glass and soldered them into a case- with more than six yards of vermillion, ment. a back chamber and the counting room Shirley was one of the ablest of the painted pearl color, a back lower room colonial governors, and during his occu- painted with 59 yards of wainscot color, pation of the Province House he planned and the iron rails and front fence painted military operations such as Louisburg in white for a total cost of f I 28. 1745, for which his term is famous. It The Shirleys’ redecoration was not was also here that Washington visited limited to painting and papering. In Au- him in I 756 on his first visit to Boston. gust, I 741 the General Court received Absent in England and France from a committee report recommending a new 1749 to 1753, the house was probably kitchen floor and new floors for rooms occupied by , lieutenant adjoining the kitchen, new stairs into the governor and a native of Rowley who chambers and the cellar, and that the top was nephew and heir to Sir William of the house and barn have something Phips. Spencer Phips administered the done to prevent their leaking. James government again in 1756-1757 and Fosdick was paid for some slating and died in office on April 4, I 7 5 7. Samuel Cutts was paid for priming four It was during Phips’s occupancy that pair of triangles made by James Simpson, the General Court, in 175 I, appropri- carpenter, and for I I yards of white ated f 400 to rebuild the coach house and 102 Old-Time New England stable with brick. The history of this por- tween the properties seven and a half tion of the property must be traced back feet high and one hundred and four feet to the seventeenth century to clarify its long.ll relationship to the Province House. Sam- Thomas Pownal, who succeededShir- uel Sewall owned a pasture on the upper ley when Phips died in I 757, was born side of what was later Governor’s Alley, in Lincoln, England and educated at now Province Street. From 1705 to Cambridge University. He was Lieuten- 1708 he leased it with a stable to Mr. ant Governor of New Jersey in I 755 and Nicholas Roberts. Sewall referred to it his term in Massachusettswas short, end- for a quarter of a century to the end of ing in 1760. He was followed by Sir his life as “my Lord’s stable.” It had been Francis Bernard, whose term of office occupied by the Earl of Bellomont and from 1760 to 1769 included the begin- was the building built by Peter Sergeant nings of the . The referred to in Sewall’s last visit with Stamp Act and its repeal, the landing of Sergeant. He charged fq rent per year; British troops in 1768, and the affair of in I 7 I 6 the Province paid Sewell f 32 for the sloop Liberty all sent various groups the rent of the pasture for the previous to the Province House to interview the eight years. From I 7 I 7 to I 7 24 Captain Governor. Jonathan Pollard paid f8o for eight Bernard’s daughter Julia, says, in her reminis- years’ “rent for my Lord’s Stable.” cences, that the Province House was his official In 1728 the Province paid f 90 for residence or government house. She says they rent of a coach house that Governor had a great number of servants, both black and Shute had used for the six years previous white. A public day each week, a dinner for gentlemen, and a drawing-room in the after- at fig per year. In 1731, f750 was ap- noon, when all persons of either sex who wished propriated by the General Court for the to pay their respects were introduced; various purchase of Sewall’s tract of land near refreshments about and some cards. . . . “My the Province House with the stables and father though not tall, had something dignified buildings for the Governor’s coach, and distinguished in his appearance and man- ners. He dressed superbly on all occassions. My chariot, horsesand furniture to be deeded mother was a tall and a very fine woman. Her jointly to Jeremiah Allen, Province dresses were ornamented with gold and silver Treasurer, Samuel Checkley, County and ermine and fine American sable. My father Treasurer, and Joseph Wadsworth, had a pleasant house in Jamaica Plain, chiefly built by himself, and we generally moved to Town Treasurer. With the exception of it in May.“l2 a six-foot passagewaywhich became Gov- ernor’s Alley and a part of the pasture Thomas Hutchinson, who had acted sold to Edward Bromfield in 1733 by as Lieutenant Governor after Pownal Sewall’s heirs, it was this property for and Bernard, was commissioned Gov- which the General Court appropriated ernor in November, 1770. He lived, funds in I 75 I for rebuilding in brick. In however, in his own house in North 1763 they voted to sell the west side of the Province stable yard and in I 765 sold I1 Journal of The House of Representatives, +I‘ :266. William Dennie, who abutted the prop- l*Annie H. Thwing, The Crooked and erty on the west, a strip of land if he Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston (Bos- would build a stone and brick fence be- ton, 1920), pp. 155-156. The Province House and its Occupants 103

Square. He was superseded by General Henry Jackson. He in turn sold to , who arrived in May, Stephen Higginson and Samuel G. Per- 1774. During the Siege of Boston, the kins. It was finally conveyed to Major Province House was occupied by Gen- James Swan, who had been a long time eral Gage and later by Lord Howe. It is French prisoner, and in 1798 consisted this period of the house’s occupation that of the brick stable 54 feet by 22 feet, one Nathaniel Hawthorne sketched in the of wood 30 feet by 15 feet, and a chaise “Province House Legends” of his Twice house 30 feet by 14 feet. The lot was Told Tales. valued at $4,000 and fronted 60 feet on After the evacuation of Boston, the Rawson’s Lane and 139 feet on Gov- house was used by the state government, ernor’s Alley.13 especially for the Secretary and Trea- Under the same resolve the Province surer. In 1776 it was occupied by the House was sold to John Peck for $4,000 Committee on Accounts. In I 778 the and an agreement to pay an additional General Court ordered the Board of $12,000. He faulted in the larger pay- War to permit Peter Boyer and his fam- ment and reconveyed the property to the ily to occupy any part not used for public State for his original down payment in purposes, for which he paid rent. Boyer I 799. In I 798 the building was occupied was the treasurer of the town of Boston by Peleg Coffin, State Treasurer. The and was connected with the Committee United States Directory for that year de- on Accounts. In 1779 , scribed the building as a three-story brick State Treasurer, was authorized to oc- dwelling, covering 2,442 square feet, cupy the house for an office and for his with forty windows. Coffin occupied the family, he paying a reasonable rent and house until I 80 I when he was succeeded reserving a room for the Committee to by Jonathan Jackson as Treasurer, who settle accounts of the State. He resided held the office until 1806. The house was there until 1783, when Thomas Ivers advertised to be leased for a year in the became State Treasurer. During the oc- New England Chronicle of July 7, I 806. cupancy of Alexander Hodgdon, from In 1809 Joseph Bradley, who had kept 1787 to 1792, it became necessary to ac- a boarding house in Brattle Street in commodate other officers and the Coun- 1805-1806, was using the Province cil. In 1789 John Avery, Jr., State House for the same purpose and was suc- Secretary, had the room adjoining the ceeded by Thomas Adams. In that same Council Chamber; Hodgdon had the year Benjamin Crombie, who had kept room under the Council Chamber, and a tavern at the Sign of the Ship in Salem town treasurer Peter Boyer had the room in 1803, also opened a boardinghouse over the Council Chamber. in the Province House. The Columbiun By a resolve of the General Court on Centinel for June 29, 18 I I advertised: February 16, 1795, Edward Hutchinson The friends of invention and economy are Robbins, and Charles hereby notified that there has been erected in Bulfinch were made a committee author- the Province House kept by Mr. Benjamin ized to sell part of the Province House I3 A Report of the Record Commissioners of Estate to pay for the building of the new the City of Boston, Containing The . . . Direct State House. This they did by selling to Tax of 1798 (Boston, 1890), p. 90. 104 Old-Time New England

Crombie a new and usefull Cooking Apparatus, quality of its liquors. As described by which combines two very essential objects, viz., Hawthorne in these years, he was testy economy in erecting when compared with the and irritable and the subject of many Rumford or any other plan heretofore known, and in the using an actual saving of more than practical jokes. half the fuel generally made use of, the same In 185 I the property was leased by fire keeps a large oven hot for baking at the Doctor J. P. Ordway and the interior same time keeps 30 to 60 gallons of water boil- torn out and made into “Ordway Hall.” ing, &c., &c. Entertainments given by the Ordway The July 27, 1811 issue of the same Brothers included such exponents of Ne- newspaper advertised, “The Roxbury gro minstrelsy as the Bryants, Pell, and Brook&e Stage will run as usual Trowbridge, Eph Horn, the Morris from Brook&e to Bostolz. A Slate will be Brothers and others. On Tuesday eve- kept for the reception of Passengers ning October 25, 1864 a fire gutted the names, at the Province House, No. 24 interior, leaving only the walls. The Marlboro Street in Boston. . . .” building was then turned into an office In 1820 the boardinghouse was kept building. by R. Barnum and in 1825 it was taken In December, 1876 Mrs. Emily W. by Temperance Cook and her sister Appleton presented to the Massachusetts Mercy. According to tradition, they were Historical Society the copper molded In- two masculine-looking old maids from dian weathervane which had surmounted Cape Cod. Their boarders were mostly the cupola of the Province House. It was skippers of vesselsfrom that region and said to have been made by Shem Drowne, they were well looked after. “On cold who made the grasshopper on Faneuil wintry nights the landladies used to warm Hall. The 48-pound Indian figure was their beds with warming pans and then, made of two sheetsof copper hammered in guileless simplicity, tuck them up for into a mold, soldered lengthwise and had the night in good old fashioned style.” glass eyes. It had been in the possession The sisters were succeeded in 1835 by of Doctor John Collins Warren, Mrs. Thomas Wait, who kept the house Appleton’s father, since the alterations of known as the “Old Province House” as I 85 I which completely altered the build- a drinking place which was noted for the ing for an amusement hall. FIG. 4. THOMAS T. WATERMAN: MEASURED DRAWING OF THE NORTH WALL Recorded 1922. FIG. 5. THOMAS T. WATERMAN: MEASURED DRAWING OF THE EAST FRONT WALL Recorded 1922.