HISTORICAL WALKING TOURS | BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
  • Freedom Trail Tours
    • In The Footsteps of Paul Revere
    • Freedom Trail Audio Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • Paul Revere's Neighborhood
    • Paul Revere's Row to Charlestown 4/18/1775
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • Reverend Larkin's Horse
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park
  • Boston's Racial History - Ante-Bellum

                   Who's Who in Colonial Boston

1/28/2017

2 Comments

 
The extent of Colonial Boston’s town structure is quite the eye-opener to a 21st Century citizen.  We have attached the town register collated by Robert Francis Seybolt.  There are some well known and highly influential citizens listed on the registry.

How about John Rowe again?   Listed as a “fireward” in 1769.  Additional “esquires” with notable assignments were;
  •  John Hancock, Selectman, resume well known.
  • Joseph Belknap Overseer of the Poor, a credible witness deposed on the Boston Massacre.
  • John Singleton Copley, Clerk of the Market.  Famous portrait painter and Tory.
  • James Otis, Moderator, “taxation without representation is tyranny.”
  • Samuel Adams.  (note, there is no Esq. after his name).
  • John Gray, Surveyor of Hemp and Flax.  The owner of Gray’s Rope Walk, site of the pre-Boston Massacre brawls.  Learn more about the importance of hemp and rope to Colonial Boston here. (Read from the seventh paragraph, for an overview of the three ropewalk brawls immediately befoe the Boston Massacre).
 
The title of “Esq” appears after several distinguished names.  In the 20th Century, it was a suffix used to designate lawyers that passed the bar exam.  It meant nothing of the same in the 18th Century.  It was a very elevated acknowledgment of a person’s position in life.  We could not find an exact standard for the title that permitted others to refer to you as Esquire.  Paul Revere sought this acknowledgment his entire life.  Often it drove him into industries and positions that he felt would elevate him, such as Coroner of Boston, printer of the currency, Grand Mason of the Freemasons, colonel of the artillery, a provider of copper to the U. S. Navy and express rider for the Continental Congress.  It simply was not enough for Paul to earn the respect of the upper class. 

We might suggest that the number of town citizens assigned to a function was indicative of its importance. Firewards seemed to point to the constant threat of fire on the well-fare of Boston.  For an overview of Boston’s eleven major fires click here to visit our blog. 
​
Have some fun researching the several other functions; Fence Viewers, Sealers of Leather, Informer About Deer, Clerks of the Market and  Cullers of Staves. After the libel trial of John Hancock, a function of Purveyor of Madeira Wine should have been added.
Picture
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        John Hancock’s Admiralty Trials End Feb 1769

1/25/2017

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January 31, 1769, John Rowe’s Diary Entry Mostly About Yesterday’s Fire at the Jail 398 days before the                              Boston Massacre

1/22/2017

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--------------Too Many Boston Fires--------------

1/19/2017

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An Elaboration on John Rowe’s Part in the Boston                        Tea Party December 16, 1773

1/15/2017

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John Rowe, of Rowe’s Wharf fame, was an avid tea drinker and owned one of the three tea ships, the Eleanor.  He is quoted by several participants at the Old South Meeting House the night of the Party, “perhaps salt water and tea will mix tonight”.    John Rowe kept an extensive diary with 2,294 entries. Here is his entry for the night of the tea party; perhaps intentionally defensive.

Dec. 16. — I being a little unwell staid at home all day and all the
evening. The Body meeting in the forenoon adjourn'd untill afternoon.
Broke up at dark. Several things passed between JNIr. Rotch^ and them.
A number of people appearing in Indian dresses went on board the three
ships Hall, Bruce, and Coffin (sic); they opened the hatches, hoisted out the
tea, and flung it overboard ; this might, I believe, have been prevented.
I am sincerely sorry for the event. Tis said near two thousand people
were present at this affair.[iv]  (See an image of the original entry below.)

Other estimates suggest 7,000 people surrounded the three tea ships that night while 100-125 Colonial Mohawks did their deed.

John Rotch, owner of the other two ships and contents, attended the Old South Meeting House, rode to Governor Hutchinson at his Milton home and tried desperately to save his tea.  The Governor did not act.  Sam Adams did.
​
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January 11, 1769, Wednesday, the British Soldier is Offered Meat in Lieu of Hard Currency 418 days to                                the Boston Massacre

1/12/2017

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January 10, 1769, Tuesday, The British Army Seems to Have Run Out of Hard Currency 418 Days before the                                 Boston Massacre

1/10/2017

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January 7, 1769, The Admiralty Court Case Against John Hancock Closed the Court Room from the Public. 422 Days before the Boston Massacre

1/7/2017

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   January 6th,  1769, Boston Overwhelmed by                                                   Strangers

1/6/2017

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Samuel Gridley Howe: A Very Complex Member              of the Secret Six that financed John Brown

1/6/2017

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        Fifth of Six Articles about those that Financed                      John Brown - Samuel Gridley Howe


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  • Freedom Trail Tours
    • In The Footsteps of Paul Revere
    • Freedom Trail Audio Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Tour
    • Boston Civil War Tour
    • The Boston Massacre Lesson Plan
    • Paul Revere's Neighborhood
    • Paul Revere's Row to Charlestown 4/18/1775
    • The Boston Massacre per the Pennsylvania Gazette
    • Paul Revere Lesson Plan
  • Revere Bells Index
    • The Stickney Revere Bell Listings of 1976
    • Paul Revere Bell of Beverly
    • Revere Bells in Boston >
      • Paul Revere Bell Old South Meeting House
    • California's 2 Paul Revere Bells
    • Paul Revere & Son's Bell Westborough Massachusetts
    • Falmouth, Massachusetts
    • Revere Bell Fredericksburg VA
    • Revere Bell Hampton NH
    • First Parish Church of Kennebunk
    • Revere Bells in Maine
    • Revere Bell in Mansfield
    • Revere Bell of Michigan
    • Revere Salem Mass Bell
    • Roxbury First Unitariarn Universalist Church and their Revere Bell
    • Revere & Son Bell, Savannah Georgia
    • Singapore Revere Bell
    • Tuscaloosa Bell >
      • History of the St John and Leavens Patriarchs
      • Samuel St John Jr Estate Genealogy
      • Authenticating the Revere Tuscaloosa Bell
      • Joshua B Leavens Last Will and Testament
      • 20th Century Tuscaloosa bell
    • Revere Bells Lost in Time
    • Revere Bells Washington DC
    • Revere Bell in Wakefield, Mass
    • Revere Bells Woodstock VT
  • Bostonians
    • Edward F Alexander of The Harvard 20th Civil War Regiment
    • Polly Baker
    • John Wilkes Booth
    • The Mad Hatter, Thomas, Boston Corbett who Killed John Wilkes Booth
    • Richard-Henry-Dana-Jr
    • James Franklin
    • Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences
    • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
    • William Lloyd Garrison
    • USS Thomas Hudner DDG116
    • Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere
    • Amos Lincoln
    • King Philip
    • Mayor's of Boston
    • Mum Bett & Theodore Sedgwick
    • James Otis
    • Paul Joseph Revere
    • Reverend Larkin's Horse
    • John Rowe >
      • John Rowe's Diary Entries
      • John Rowe's Dinner Party
      • John Rowe and the Jail Fire
      • Hang John Rowe?????
      • John Rowe the Fisherman
      • Joh Rowe's Tea Ship
    • Be Proud to be Called a Lucy Stoner
    • Rachel Wall , Pirate
    • Paul Revere the Coroner of Boston
    • Deborah Sampson
    • Who was Mrs. Silence Dogood?
    • Dr. Joseph Warren's Dedication
  • History Blog
  • Lilja's of Natick
    • Lilja Brothers Military History
    • Lilja's Family Album
    • Memorials and Tributes to the Five Lilja Brothers
    • Lilja Family Tree
    • Lilja Historical Family Tree Documents
    • Lilja References
  • Collage of Boston
    • 4th of July Parade, Bristol RI
    • Boston Harbor
    • The Customs House
    • Forest Hills Cemetery
    • Georges Island
    • Nonviolent Monument to Peace - Sherborn
    • The Battle Road
    • Skate bike and scooter park
    • Cassin Young & USS Cassin Young
    • MIT
    • Historic Charles River
    • The Roxbury Standpipe on Fort Hill
    • John & Abigail Adams National Park
  • Boston's Racial History - Ante-Bellum