Faneuil Hall where George Washington oil portrait by Gilbert Stuart and portrait of Peter Faneuil by Henry Sargent both donated to the City of Boston on July 4th 1806 by Samuel Parkman is also displayed.
Often referred to as “the home of free speech” and the “Cradle of Liberty,” Faneuil Hall hosted America’s first Town Meeting. The Hall’s vital role in revolutionary politics had not been part of its original plans, but it became home to an intricate collection of events that shaped the nation’s history. Built by wealthy merchant Peter Faneuil as a center of commerce in 1741, this is where the Sons of Liberty proclaimed their dissent against Royal oppression. Faneuil Hall has served as an open forum meeting hall and marketplace for more than 270 years and has continued to provide a forum for debate on the most consequential issues of the day.
It was at Faneuil Hall in 1764 that Americans first protested against the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act, setting the doctrine that would come to be known as “no taxation without representation.” Gatherings to protest the Townshend Acts, the Redcoat occupation, and the Tea Act would follow.
THE GRASSHOPPER The most famous weathervane in Boston is Faneuil Hall’s golden grasshopper. Peter Faneuil commissioned the grasshopper from acclaimed craftsman Shem Drowne, whose weathervane also tops the Old North Church. Tradition has it that the weathervane was used during the War of 1812 to spot spies. Anyone who did not know the answer to the question “what is on top of Faneuil Hall?” in those days invited suspicion.
LAND OF THE FREE Twenty four times a year, between 300 to 500 new citizens take the Oath of Allegiance at Faneuil Hall and are sworn in as new citizens.
SHOP-TIL YOU DROP Don’t mix up historic Faneuil Hall with Faneuil Hall Marketplace – the bustling commercial center located just behind historic Faneuil Hall. The series of restored 19th Century buildings is the most visited location in Boston.
Faneuil Hall – Boston National Historical Park
617-242-5642
Open Daily 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Closed: Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Day
Historical talks every thirty minutes, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. www.nps.gov/bost www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/
Samuel Parkman commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint a full length oil portrait of U.S. President George Washington, which Samuel later gifted to the Town of Boston on the 30th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1806 where the painting hung in the Faneuil Hall and now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The painting by Gilbert Stuart is of George Washington ,in Dorchester Heights, full-length in uniform, standing by a white horse, holding his bridle in his left hand and his chapeau in his right.
This oil painting is approximately 9 feet tall by 6 feet wide.
The full-length Washington, on the other side of the great painting, is a Gilbert Stuart. It, also, was presented to the town by Samuel Parkman, in 1806. :
Samuel Parkman commissioned Gilbert Stuart to create this life sized oil painting than hung at Faneuil Hall (see above the bottom right side painting) that now is on display at The Boston Museum of Fine Art.
See this Video at the 1:56 minute mark filmed at Faneuil Hall in Boston where the George Washington Oil Painting by Gilbert Stuart hung at the time. (shame on Mitt Romney’s “liberal views”) :
George Washington as seen in Faneuil Hall see above the bottom right painting.
GILBERT STUART’S 1796 OIL PAINTING/PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON APPEARS ON EVERY US $1 DOLLAR BILL (SEE BOTH BELOW)
Peter Faneuil donated by Samuel Parkman
The namesake to Boston’s celebrated Faneuil Hall, Peter Faneuil (1700-1743) was a wealthy Bostonian who made his fortune as a merchant in the slave trade. He was born in New Rochelle, New York, and moved to Boston as a young man to join his uncle in the shipping business, which he eventually inherited. While Faneuil had a reputation for living well, he was also known as a considerate employer and a generous public benefactor. In 1740, he offered to build Boston a public market house; it was finished a few months before his death and was subsequently named “Faneuil Hall” in his honor. John Smibert (1688-1751), Faneuil Hall’s first architect, painted a posthumous portrait of Peter Faneuil to be hung in the original hall. This painting was damaged in the great fire of 1761, but was rehung in the next incarnation of the hall. This particular painting had another run of poor luck when it was further damaged in a 1775 demonstation by patriots against members of the Faneuil family – who had lost much of their popularity when they joined the British evacuation of Boston. Smibert’s portrait of Peter Faneuil was then copied by Henry Sargent (1770-1845) in 1807, in order to preserve the likeness of the deteriorating original. This is the painting that is displayed today, a gift to Faneuil Hall by Samuel Parkman.
Hanging over the public gallery in Massachusetts House of Representatives under the surname Parkman is the Sacred Cod fish symbolizing the importance of the fish industry in the early Massachusetts economy. It was given to the House in 1747 by a Boston merchant.
Sacred Cod Fish rests under the surname of Parkman
The Sacred Cod is a carving of a codfish an Atlantic cod that rests in the chamber of the Massachusetts House of Representatives under the surname of Parkman. The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the U.S….The Cod that currently hangs in the building is actually the third one to be carved. The first was destroyed in a fire in 1747, the second during the Revolutionary War. Alexander Parkman was a Lieutenant & Minute Man in the American Revolution.
The American Revolutionary War , also known as the American War of Independence, was a war between Kingdom of Great Britain and revolutionaries within 13 colonies, who United States Declaration of Independence as the United States in 1776…The current cod was crafted around 1784 by an unknown artist.
The Atlantic cod is a well-known seafood belonging to the family Gadidae. It grows to two metres in length…..It represents the importance of the fishing. Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. By extension, the term fishing is also applied to hunting for other aquatic animals such as various types of shellfish as well as squid, octopus, turtles, Edible frog and some edible marine inverteb…industry in the early history of the state.
Cod are very abundant in the waters surrounding Massachusetts.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States….and in 1974 it was chosen as the official state fish.
The Sacred Cod sculpture measures five feet long and is carved out of pine.
Pines are Pinophyta trees of the genus Pinus, in the family Pinaceae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authors accept anything from 105 to 125 species…..
Tristram Coffin was the American progenitor of the Coffin Family who was also a co-owner/founder of Nantucket.
Tristram Coffin, Sr. was 1 of 8 original owners of Nantucket Island in 1659 for 2 beaver hats and 30 pounds sterling (coins). The 8 had purchased Nantucket from The Mayhews.
Trystram Coffin Sr.’s sister, Mary Coffin married Alexander Adams, who’s daughter Elizabeth Adams married William Parkman, parents of Reverend Ebenezer Parkman.
William Parkman (Elizabeth Adams & William Parkman, Mary Coffin & Alexander Adams, are all 4 buried @ Copp’s Hill Cemetery in Boston).
Tristram Coffin, Sr., Mary Coffin Adams, Alexander Adams and Elias Parkman, Sr. were all four Immigrants from England:
1686 Oldest House and Mary Gardner Coffin This portrait, attributed to the Pollard Limner, depicts Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767). Mary Gardner was born on Nantucket and married Jethro Coffin, grandson of Tristram, in 1686. Their home, built later that year, is still standing on Nantucket. Now known as the Oldest House, it is owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. The Coffin/Gardner marriage symbolized the end of an early conflict in Nantucket society involving their families that was known as the “half-share revolt.” John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket’s early governance. Coffin represented the “full-share” men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin’s death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.
All 20 of the early Settlers of Nantucket as listed on the two monuments above are kinfolk. For more information about the two Nantucket Early Nantucket Settlers monuments above including their family trees see this link of 72+ Immigrants :
Sir William Coffin (1495-1538) was a Devonshire courtier under King Henry VIII having joined the royal household in 1515 as a gentleman of the Privy Chamber.
That which Coffin became known for was an incident that occurred while he was traveling northwards to Derbyshire, and came by Bideford church and cemetery. In the cemetery there was a group of people standing around, not part of a ceremony of any kind so William Coffin stopped to find out what was happening. The situation was that a corpse had been brought to the church to be buried, along with the people who had come to gather for the ceremony, however the priest was refusing to perform the funeral. In payment for the priest to perform the burial rites they required payment from the deceased’s estate, and in this case it was the cow that belonged to the deceased man as he was poor, but the dead man’s friends would not give the cow up. After being told this William found the priest and ordered him to perform the funeral service as it was his job, but the priest still refused to do it without payment. At this, William ordered the people who were gathered there to grab the priest and put him into the hole that had been dug for the corpse and that dirt be thrown in on top of him. The priest continued in his refusal until the man was nearly fully buried in the earth when at last he conceded.
Such treatment of priests was not acceptable, even during the period of the Dissolution, and William would have expected to receive punishment for this incident, and even perhaps have been executed for such a crime against a man of God. King Henry VIII was informed of the incident and as a result William was summoned before Parliament. For anyone else this would not have ended well, anyone else would have ended up in the Tower or executed. However, Sir William had a number of friends in the House as well as at court and they were loyal to him and he avoided punishment. In fact, he turned it around and brought to Parliament’s attention the negative consequences of priests demanding payment (mortuaries) for church services. He drew the attention of the matter away from his personal actions onto the wider situation of the bad behaviour of clergymen. As a result of this, an Act was passed soon after which stopped practices including mortuaries.
Tomb of Margaret Coffin – 1539 +
His presence at court is first recorded when William attended the King in Guisnes in 1519 and took part in the tournament, and later at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.
In 1529 he became a Member of Parliament for Derbyshire, despite him being born in Devonshire, due to his wife Margaret Dymoke, daughter of the Hereditary Royal Champion Sir Robert Dymoke, having connections to that county; her first husband was Derbyshire man Sir Richard Vernon of Haddon Hall.
In 1533 William Coffin was the Master of the Horse at the coronation of Anne Boleyn and throughout her reign as queen, as well as that of Jane Seymour. He also became the steward of Queen Jane’s manors of Standon and Hitchin in Hertfordshire. In this office, on the 17th October 1357 William received the official surrender to the Crown of the Hitchin Priory from the Prior, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
On the 18th October 1357 William Coffin was knighted, however he did not get to enjoy this position for long as on the 8th December 1538 Sir William had died of the plague.
William and his wife had no surviving children, therefore his heirs were his wife Margaret and his nephews William Coffin the elder, William Coffin the younger and Richard Coffin. Margaret remarried again shortly after to Richard Manners in 1539.
St Mary’s Church, Standon
Sir William is buried in the church in Standon, commemorated by this inscription;
"Here lies William Coffin, Knight, sometime of the privy chamber with his sovereign Lord King Henry the eighth, Master of the Horse unto queen Jane the most lawful wife unto the aforesaid King Henry the eighth, and high steward of all the liberty [and] manor of Standon in the county of Hertford, which William deceased the eighth day of december Anno domini 1538, [in] the thirtieth year of the reign of King Henry the eighth"
Details from Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin: left: arms of Coffin; right: entwined initials “RC”, two sets in spandrels of canopy
Easter Sepulchre monument to Richard Coffin (1456-1523) of Heanton Punchardon and Portledge, Alwington. North wall of chancel, Heanton Punchardon Church
Sir James Coffin 1551 – Detail of James Coffin monumental brass,[6] Monkleigh Church.
16th century mural monument to a kneeling knight, featuring heraldry of the Coffin family. Monkleigh Church, high up on north wall of chancel. Monumental brass depicting a bearded knight, said to represent James Coffin (d.1566)[6] kneeling in prayer, surrounded by heraldic escutcheons depicting the arms of Coffin: Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or
Arms of Coffin family, lords of the manor of Monkleigh: Azure, three bezants between eightcrosses crosslet or, and right as seen on 16th century Coffin mural monument in Monkleigh Church, with a crest of a bird of some variety
Inscribed slate mural monument to Jane Coffyn (d.1646), Monkleigh Church, west wall of north transept. Inscription: “Resurgimus” (we will rise again) “Jane the eldest childe of John Coffyn Esqr wife of Hugh Prust, gent, 13 Mons” “who w(i)th her chrisome son(n)e was buried nere this place the first of July 1646”.
“A mayde a wife in wife and right accord,
She liv’d she di’d true servant of the Lord.
Aetatis suae 27” (of her age 27). At the top is a heraldicescutcheon showing the arms of Prust impaling the arms of Coffyn.[nb 1]
The Manor of Monkleigh was a mediaeval manor centred on the village of Monkleigh in North Devon, England, situated 2 1/2 miles north-west of Great Torrington and 3 1/2 miles south-east of Bideford.
Descent of the manor
The Domesday Book of 1086 records Monkleigh as Lege, the ninth of the 79 holdings in Devon as tenant-in-chief, of Robert, Count of Mortain(c. 1031–1090) the half-brother of William the Conqueror. His tenant at Monkleigh was a certain Alured, modernised to Alfred. Before theNorman Conquest of 1066 it was held by the Saxon Ordulf, thought to represent the Anglo-Saxon name “Ordwulf”.[1]
During the reign of King Stephen (1135-1154) the manor of Monkleigh was granted by its then holder “Alfred the Butler”, together with his other estates of Frizenham (in the parish of Little Torrington.[2]) and Densham (in the parish of Woolfardisworthy[3]), to Montacute Priory.[4][5]
Coffin
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a lease of the manor of Monkleigh was granted by the crown gratis on 26 August 1540 for the term of their lives to James Coffyn of Alwington and Anne his wife[7] It was valued at £21 11s 6d per annum, but unusually no charge was made for the grant. As is recorded in the text of the royal grant Anne was the widow of Sir George St Leger of Annery,[8] the chief estate within the manor of Monkleigh.
James Coffin was the second son of John Coffin of Portledge, in the parish of Alwington. He was still living in 1551 when he was mentioned in the will of his eldest brother Richard Coffin (d.1555) of Portledge. The Coffin family is one of the most ancient of Devon families. Tristram Risdon (d.1640) stated: “Alwington…the manor whereof hath been in the name of Coffin even from The Conquest“.[9]
On 11 June 1544 the crown granted the manor of Monkleigh, subject to the life interest of James Coffin and his wife, to Sir John Fulford of Dunsford and Humphrey Colles of Barton, Somerset, along with other grants of property. For Monkleigh manor they were charged £194 3s 4d, representing 10 years’ purchase of its annual value. They were also granted Monkleigh Woods for £29 13s 6d, representing 20 years’ purchase[10] Fulford and Coles paid the purchase price in full on 2 June 1544 and just one week later obtained royal licence to alienate to James Coffin of Alwington, the life tenant.[11]
A small monumental brass of a kneeling knight exists in Monkleigh Church high up on the north wall of the chancel, affixed to a stone tablet on which are sculpted several heraldic escutcheons of the arms of Coffin (Azure, three bezants between eight crosses crosslet or)[12] impaling arms of their heiresses. Pevsner suggests a date for the brass of 16th. century and that the stone tablet on which it is now affixed was originally part of a now lost 16th. century monument.[13]
The next member of the Coffin family recorded by the heraldic visitations of Devon to have a connection with Monkleigh Church is John Coffin (1593-1622) of Portledge. John was Richard Coffin’s great-grandson.[14] Three of John’s daughters were married in Monkleigh Church, between 1645 and 1657.[15] A mural monument exists in Monkleigh Church, in the north transept, to his eldest daughter Jane Coffin (1593-1646),[16] who in 1645, aged 26, married in Monkleigh Church to Hugh Prust[17] (1614-1650)[18] of Annery,[citation needed] within the parish of Monkleigh. She died the next year, as her mural monument records,[citation needed] and her husband died five years later without progeny,[19] when his heir to Annery became his younger brother Lt-Col.Joseph Prust (1620-1677) of Annery.”[20]
John Coffin’s son and heir was Richard Coffin (d.1700) of Portledge, Sheriff of Devon in 1683, who in 1648 married his third wife Dorothy Rowe in Monkleigh Church.[15] His son and heir by this third wife was John Coffin (1649-1704) of Portledge, who was baptised at Monkleigh. He left no progeny and eventually his heir became his heir became his great-nephew Rev. John Pine-Coffin (1735-1824), the grandson of his eldest sister Dorothy Coffin (b.1651) and her husband Edward Pyne of Eastdowne.[21][nb 2] Later in about 1823 his son and heir Richard Pine-Coffin (1770-1833)[23] sold some land in his manor of Monkleigh to John Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (d.1842) for part of the course of the Rolle Canal between about the Ridd limekilns to the Beam Aqueduct, following the left-bank of the River Torridge.[24]ColonelRichard Geoffrey Pine-Coffin (1908-1974) DSO & Bar, MC, born at Portledge, was a parachute officer of the British Army during World War II. The Pine-Coffin family until recently still possessed the advowson of Alwington Church, making it one of the most ancient lineages in Devon, albeit more recently via a female line, although the mansion of Portledge was converted into a hotel some time before 1959[25]and the estate of Portledge was sold in 1998, due to a dispute with the Inland Revenue.[26]
Within the manor and parish of Monkleigh is located the former historic estate ofAnnery. The post-Dissolution lords of the manor of Monkleigh had their main residence elsewhere outside the parish at Portledge, Alwington,[27] and thus Annery was the most important seat within the manor and the successive holders of it had their own chapel within the parish church, at the east end of the south aisle, known as the “Annery Chapel”.[13]
Tristram Coffin (or Coffyn)[fn 1] (ca. 1609 – 2 October 1681) was an
Immigrant to Massachusetts from England. In 1659 he led a group of investors that bought Nantucket from Thomas Mayhew for thirty pounds and two beaver hats.[2]He became a prominent citizen of the settlement. A great number of his descendants became prominent in North American society, and many were involved in the later history of Nantucket during and after its heyday as a whaling center.[3] Almost all notable Americans with roots in Nantucket are descended from Tristram Coffin, although Benjamin Franklin was an exception.[4]
Tristram Coffin was born to Peter and Joanna (Kember) Coffin and baptized in the parish of Brixton near Plymouth, England, on 11 March 1609/10.[1] He belonged to the landed gentry.[5] He married Dionis Stevens in 1630 and they were to have nine children, the first five born in England. Coffin was a Brixton church warden from 1639 to 1640, and was a constable in 1641.[6]
Charles I inherited the throne of England in 1625 and initiated a long struggle with his parliament, which wanted to abolish bishops from the House of Lords and limit the king’s powers. Things came to a head when Charles raised his royal standard at Nottingham in August 1642, and England soon descended into Civil War(1642–1651).[5] Tristram Coffin’s only brother John received a mortal wound at Plymouth fort, although it is not known exactly when or even which side he was fighting on.[7] Perhaps for reasons associated with these political upheavals, Tristram Coffin decided to leave his estates in England and emigrate to the new world.[8]
Tristram Coffin sailed to Boston in 1642 with his wife and children, his two sisters and his mother. For a short time he ran an inn in Salisbury, Massachusetts.[1] He then moved to the new settlement of Pentucket, now Haverhill, Massachusetts. His name appears on a deed dated 15 November 1642 recording the sale of the land for the settlement by the local American Indian people. He is said to have used a plow that he had made himself to cultivate the land.[9] It was here that his last four children were born.[6]
In 1648 he left the farm and moved to Newbury, Massachusetts. Here he operated a ferry across the Merrimack River and he and his wife ran a tavern. In 1653 his wife was “presented” for selling beer above the legal price of two pennies per quart. However, she was acquitted when it was found that her beer was much stronger than the ordinary.[10] Coffin sold the inn and ferry in 1654 or 1655 and moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, where he signed himself “Tristram Coffyn, Commissioner of Salisbury”.[11]
Jethro Coffin House, built in 1686 for Jethro Coffin, Tristam Coffin’s grandson, and now the oldest house on Nantucket
Tristram Coffin and other Salisbury investors bought Nantucket island from Thomas Mayhew on 2 July 1659.[12] The purchase price was 30 pounds plus two beaver hats made by his son, also called Tristram. Coffin was the prime mover of the enterprise and was given first choice of land. In 1659 he settled near the western end of the island near Capaum pond.[6] His sons Peter Coffin, Tristram Coffin Junior and James Coffin also received land on the island.[13] Soon after settling, Tristram Coffin purchased the thousand-acre Tuckernuck Island at the western end of Nantucket. On 10 May 1660 the sachems conveyed title to a large part of the island to Coffin and his associates for eighty pounds.[14] He built a corn mill in which he employed many of the local Native Americans, and he employed others on his farm.[15]
In 1671 Coffin and Thomas Macy were selected as spokesmen for the settlers, going to New York in 1671 to meet withGovernor Francis Lovelace and secure their claim to Nantucket.[6] As the most wealthy and respected of the settlers, Coffin was appointed chief magistrate of Nantucket on 29 June 1671.[16] In 1677 he was again appointed chief magistrate for a term of four years.[17]
Tristram Coffin died on 2 October 1681 at the age of 76.[1] During the years before his death, he had bestowed much of his property on his children and grandchildren.[18] He was buried on his property on Nantucket Island.[6] At his death he left seven children, 60 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. One of his grandchildren calculated that by the year 1728, the number of his descendants was 1582, of whom 1128 were still alive.[19]
Several of his descendants achieved prominence. His daughter Mary Coffyn Starbuck became a leader in introducing Quaker practices into Nantucket.[20] A grandson, James Coffin, was the first of the Coffins to enter into the whaling business.[21] A poem by Thomas Worth written in 1763 says six Captains named Coffin were sailing out of Nantucket.[3]Sir Isaac Coffin (1759–1839) served during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars and became an admiral in the British Royal Navy.[22] He founded a school on the island in 1827 to educate descendants of Tristram Coffin – which included almost all the children on the island – with emphasis on nautical skills.[23]
Some branches of the Coffin family were prominent in New England, grouped among the so-called Boston Brahmins.[24]For example, Elizabeth Coffin, daughter of a wealthy merchant from Nantucket, was mother of the prominent Massachusetts industrialists Henry Coffin Nevins andDavid Nevins, Jr..[25]Charles A. Coffin (1844–1926) born in Somerset, Massachusetts, became cofounder and first President of General Electric corporation.[26]Some retained the family links to Nantucket after the whaling industry had collapsed and many people had left the island. In the eighth generation, Elizabeth Coffin(1850–1930), an artist, educator and Quaker philanthropist, was known for her paintings of Nantucket and for helping revive Sir Isaac Coffin’s school with a new emphasis on crafts.[27] Among the ninth generation, Robert P. T. Coffin (1892-1955) was an American Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1936 for his book of collected poems called “Strange Holiness”.
Beck, Bill (1989). Light across the prairies: an illustrated history of Northwestern Public Service Company. Northwestern Public Service Co. ISBN0962363510.
* Tristram COFFIN was born in 1609 in Brixton Parish, Devon, England; christened on 11 Mar 1609 in Brixton Parish, Devonshire, England; died on 2 Oct 1681 in Nantucket, MA; buried in Maxey Pond Burying Ground, Nantucket, MA.
Tristram COFFIN married Dionis STEVENS in ABT 1630 in Brixton Parish, Devon, England. They had the following children: Peter COFFIN (b. 1631), Tristram COFFIN Jr. (b. 1632), Elizabeth COFFIN, James COFFIN (b. 12 Aug 1640), Mary COFFIN (b. 20 Feb 1645), ♥ John COFFIN Lieut. (b. 13 Oct 1647), Stephen COFFIN (b. 11 May 1652).
BIRTH: Tristram was the 1st of 6 children born to his parents.
EVENT: Tristram inherited real-estate, rents, lodging, food, a personal income and personal property upon the death of his father, Peter Coffin. In his Will, dated 21 Dec 1627 and proved 13 Mar 1627/8 Peter leaves Tristram the following; “…Item I give and bequeth unto Tristram Coffyn my Sonne one feather bedd pformed my best brasen panne and my best brasen crocke. Item I give and bequeth unto Johan Coffyn my wife y issues pfitts and comodities of all my lands tenements & hereditaments wth y sayd Parish of Brixton dureing her widdowhood she yeelding & paying therefor yearly unto the said Tristram my sonne his heirs and assignes the summe of Fifty shillings of lawful English money at y four usual feasts of the year and also sufficient meate drinke & clothes and convenient lodgings unto y sayd Tristram according to his degree and calling dureing her Widowhood…Item I doe give unto Sonne Tristram All my lands rents reversions services & hereditamts with the appurtenances whatsoever sett lying & being wth in the sayd Parish of Brixton or elsewhere wthin y sayd County of Devon…Item All y rest of my goods chattels and cattells nor before given nor bequethed I doe give and bequethe unto Johan Coffyn my wife…”{D5}
IMMIGRATION: Fourteen years after his father’s death: Tristram Coffin came to New World in 1642 with wife, Dionis; their 5 small children; his widowed mother, Joan Thember; and 2 unmarried sisters.{D2}
HOME:
The family first settled in Haverhill, then removed to Newbury in 1648, then to Salisbury, before moving to Nantucket in 1659.
“He soon bought land up the Merrimac River. The Indians had rights, but were willing to sell; their chief, Passaconaway gave his consent and there was a deed passed between which involved 14 miles along the river for 3 Pounds and 10 Shillings. That area became Haverhill, MA. He later went back to Newberry, MA, bought land, put in a ferry with an inn. Then he later got a good buy on a big grant near Dover. It was woodland on the Cochecho River. With his sons he established a lumber mill as he never wanted to hold land alone. Tristram had lost faith in England in the quarrels between king and parliament. His land holdings in England dried up. In a talk with Thomas Mayhew he found Nantucket was available; so he approached Edward Starbuck, Thomas Macy and Isaac Coleman as the core of a company which bought Nantucket for 30 pounds and 2 beaver hats. With the lumber mill, they started a small ship building project. That was very convenient to ship materials to Nantucket…”{D2} Also consult, History of Nantucket by Alexander Starbuck and The Coffin Saga by Will Gardner.
The early settler’s lots on Nantucket were about 1,000 feet on a side, while some were quite irregular in shape. Tristram’s house lot was a tract bounded on the north by Cappam Harbor. He called this region Northam or Cappamet. The spot where his house was placed is marked by a stone monument. {D4}
LIVELIHOOD: Tristram was an entrepreneurial businessman involved with land trading, a lumber mill, ship building, shipping, salvaging wrecked ships and commercial fishing. In general, the early families on Nantucket gained a livelihood through a combination farming and fishing related enterprises.
ORGANIZATIONS: Tristram was Chief Magistrate of Nantucket ca 1671-1673. He held a second term as Chief Magistrate in 1777.{D1}
HISTORICAL EVENTS:
A feud broke out amongst the early settlers of Nantucket. On one side, the Coffin’s and their friends, on the other side, the brothers Richard and John Gardner and their friends. The feud is thought to have developed from the divergent temperaments of Tristram and Capt. John Gardner. Tristram was a natural leader, but had tendencies to be irritable and despotic. Capt. John Gardner was a man of physical courage, rugged honesty and democratic in his dealings, traits that gained him public confidence. {D4}
The estrangement between the Coffin and the Gardner families ended soon after Tristram’s death in 1681. Tristram’s eldest grandson Jethro and Jethro’s brother, Edward, married Mary and Anna Gardner. After 1681, James, another grandson of Tristram, married Love Gardner and later married, Ruth Gardner. Six other children of Richard Gardner married grandchildren of Tristram Coffin, among these, Tristram’s grandson, Samuel Coffin, married Richard Gardner’s daughter, Miriam and became my direct ancestors.{D1)
[Image above: Tristram & Dionis Coffin’s house (? or Tristram Coffin,Jr.’s house – see link below), originally built by Tristram as a simple structure in about 1654, at 15 High Road in Newbury Massachusetts. The house is well-preserved and is a New England historic site owned by the Historic New England museum. The house is often featured in books about Colonial American architecture. This public domain photograph was taken circa 1907.Added by: Cindy K. Coffin 6/06/2009]
[Image at left: Hearth in Tristram Coffin house, Newbury, MA.]
Early in 1659 Tristram went to Martha’s Vineyard where he took Peter Folger the Grandfather of Benjamin Franklin as an interpreter of the Indian language and went to Nantucket to ascertain the temper of the Indians and the capabilities of the island so that he could report to the citizens of Salisbury. At Martha’s Vineyard he entered into preliminary negotiations with Thomas Mayhew for the purchase of the island before visiting it. After his visit to the island he made additional arrangements for its purchase and returned to Salisbury where his report upon the condition of the island, the character of the Indians and the advantages of a change of residence, was laid before his friends and associates. A company was organized for the immediate purchase of the whole island allowing Thomas Mayhew to retain a one-tenth portion with some other reservations. Several meetings of the
purchasers were held at Salisbury and general rules for the government of the island were adopted.
[Photos above: Marker locating the previous site of Tristram Coffin’s home by Capaum Harbor, by 1989 a land locked pond near the ocean, on Nantucket Island.]
Among the eight original owners of Nantucket island, he became the most prominent. He was granted first choice of land and in 1659, he settled on the eastern slope of what is now called Trott’s Hills, near Capaum Pond, toward the western end if the island. He was a leader among the first settlers and was
often asked by other inhabitants to transact important public business. He and Thomas Macy were the spokesmen for the settlement and were selected by the settlers go to New York and meet with Governor Lovelace and secure their claim to the Island in 1671. His letters to the Colonial Government of New York are preserved in the Archives of the Department of State at Albany. He built a corn mill and employed many Native Americans who were the aboriginal inhabitants of the island.
BURIAL: Tristram Coffin, Richard Gardner, Edward Starbuck and presumably their wives and others are buried at the old Maxey Pond Burying Ground. A 6+ foot high “Early Settlers Monument” stands at the site with the inscription: “Erected AD 1881 By A Descendant of the First Settlers of Nantucket in Memory of Those Whose Remains Are Buried on this Hallowed Spot Where stood the First Church Gathered Here 1711 Since Removed to where it Now Stands as the vestry of the First Congregational Society…”. The monument also is inscribed with the names of ten early settlers, including those mentioned above. The settlement and church /burial ground at Maxey Pond/Capum Harbor was, in the early days of the settlement, called “Sherburne”. Sherburne was located about two miles west of the present town of Nantucket.
DOCUMENTS:
1. The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA., p. 81.
2.”The Anderson Story”, by Mrs. C. J. Davis, Mrs. Cora May Boots and others, printed in 1968.
3. Tristram Coffin’s vital statistics are verified by a 6+ foot tall grave yard monument at Maxey Pond Burying Ground, Nantucket,MA.
4. Nantucket Lands and Land Owners Vol. 2., Bulletin No.1., by Henry Barnard Worth, Published by the Nantucket Historical Assn., 1901.
5. Early Settlers of Nantucket by Lydia Swain Mitchell Hinchman. The original may be found in the District Registry attached to the Probate Division of the Court of Justice of Exeter (in the Arcdeaconry Court of Totnes), England.
Individual source: The Anderson Story, by Mrs. C. J. Davis, Mrs. Cora May Boots and others, printed in 1968. A 67 page genealogical record of the Anderson family from John & Elizabeth Horney Anderson, ca 1800 to 1968.
* Dionis STEVENS was born in 1613; died on 6 Nov 1684 in Nantucket, MA.
Dionis Stevens was daughter of Robert, Esquire of Brixton, England.
EVENT: The records indicate that the Coffin, Starbuck and Macy families found their environment in Massachusetts Bay, far from congenial. Each had their own peculiar problem. Macy had been arrested and charged with violating town regulations see below) , and so had Coffin’s wife, Dionis. It is likely that the family was ready to move to a more liberal neighborhood when the opportunity to settle on Nantucket Island arose.{D1}
In 1683 his wife Dionis was presented at Court for selling beer for 3 cents a quart. The law provided that inn keepers should always be provided with good wholesome beer of four bushels of malt to the hhd., to be sold at not above two cents a quart under a penalty of 40 shilings. It was proved on the testimony of
Samuel Mooers however that she had put six bushels of malt to the hhd. and was accordingly discharged because she had kept the proportion good, After this, Tristram returned to Salisbury and became a County Magistrate.
DEATH: Dionis survived her husband and died on Nantucket Island; however, accounts of her death place the date variably at 16 Oct 1676 and 6 Nov 1684.
DOCUMENTS:
1. Nantucket Lands and Land Owners, Vol. 2., Bulletin No.1., by Henry Barnard Worth, Published by the Nantucket Historical Assn., 1901.
Individual source: The Coffin Family by Louis Coffin, 1962, Nantucket Historical Society, Nantucket, MA.
Portledge Manor, The house sits on the edge of Bideford Bay, looking out over the Bristol Channel. The parish of Alwington, Devon, England and the surrounding area was given to the Coffin family by William the Conqueror, as part of a reward for loyalty and service during the Norman Conquest. Most of the current house dates from the 17th century, but parts of it have stood since the reign of King Henry III, circa 1234 .
Parkman Plaza marks the beginning of the Boston Freedom Trail on Tremont street at the Boston Common. The Boston Common was founded in 1634 and is America’s oldest park. The Freedom Trail is two and a half miles long.
Freedom Trail Visitor Center at Parkman Plaza at the Boston Common.
Parkman Plaza was named after Dr. George Parker Jr. who, upon his death in 1908, donated $5 million for the preservation of Boston Common and other city parks. Located on Tremont street, Parkman Plaza marks the beginning of the Boston Freedom Trail. The plaza’s Visitor Center provides free maps for following the historic walking tour of Boston and a red line painted on the ground marks the trail. In 1961, three statues were dedicated to Parkman Plaza, meant to depict three traits of Bostonian life. The statues create a semi circle around the plaza. On the south side of the plaza, a statue of a young boy on his knees, hands lifted to heaven depict Boston’s religious roots. The west side has a statue of a man drilling for industry. The north side is labeled learning shows a young boy sitting on top of a globe, reading a book.
The Parkman Bandstand is the second monument in Boston Common dedicated to Dr. George Parkman Jr., benefactor who donated $5 million to the preservation of Boston’s parks. Parkman Bandstand is located on the eastern side of Boston Common. It was erected in 1912 and restored as recently as 1996. Today, Parkman Bandstand is used as a gathering point, a social venue, and a spot for political rallies. In 2007, Barack Obama spoke from Parkman Bandstand during a presidential primary. Annually, the Boston Freedom Rally is held at Parkman Bandstand, the second largest rally calling for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company puts on free plays from Parkman Bandstand, drawing as many as 100,000 theater-lovers into the park every summer. Daniel M Parkman, Sr visiting circa 2000.
Parkman House – 33 Beacon Street – Boston – Mayor’s Official Reception Hall
Parkman House – Boston – 33 Beacon Street
Daniel M Parkman, Sr visiting circa 2000.
Here lived and died George Francis Parkman 1823-1908 Remembered with enduring gratitude by the City of Boston for his bequest of a $5 million fund that secures for-ever the maintenance and improvement of the Boston Common and other public parks (Boston Common is America’s oldest Park founded in 1659). The Parkman House is next to the gold domed Boston State Capital Building (as seen at the far right center photo above & aerial photo of State Capitol the Parkman House is to the left see below).
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, together with Department of Neighborhood Development Director Sheila Dillon, Chief of Economic Development, John Barros, members of Boston Main Streets and community members, celebrate the Boston Main Streets volunteers and businesses of the year at the 20th Annual Boston Main Streets Award Ceremony, held at the Parkman House in Downtown Boston. Published on Jun 29, 2016
The Parkman Bandstand was named for one of the Common’s greatest benefactors, George Francis Parkman Jr., who died in 1908 and left $5 million for the care of the Common and other city parks. The bandstand was originally dedicated in 1912 and was restored in 1996. It still hosts small events such as midday concerts, theatrical productions, weddings and speeches (Obama in 2007).
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Storming Fort Wagner, SC
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw died during the Civil War. He was the first American to serve as Colonel of a regiment of 1,000 black soldiers during the Civil War. The penalty was death if caught by the Confederate Soldiers. Shaw’s story was made into a movie called “Glory” staring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw’s Grandmother was a Parkman, Elizabeth Willard Parkman. Monument designed by Augustus St. Gaudens who designed USA Double Eagle $20 gold coin (see below) – see movie “Glory” (above). This monument is located directly across the street from the gold domed Boston Capital Building.
The second photo is @ the Biltmore, Asheville, NC that was owned by the Vanderbilt’s who were associates of JP Morgan, Carnegie & the Peabody families. Governor Chub Peabody was Gov of Mass in 1962. Chub’s Mother was Mary Parkman Peabody who was jailed during a sit-in @ a racially segregated restaurant in St. Augustine, FL. Later Martin Luther, King, Jr. recognized her efforts.
Agustus St. Gaudens Double Eagle $20 Gold Coin – World Record Holder for a single coin set @ $7.5 million dollars @ auction in 2002. (St. Gaudens was the sculpture and designer of “The Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Memorial @ The Boston Common – above)
Samuel Parkman (August 22, 1751 – June 11, 1824) and Sarah Rogers had five children: Elizabeth (1785), Francis (1788), George (1790), Samuel (1791), and Daniel (1794). Samuel Parkman had also had six children by his previous marriage to Sarah Shaw.[2] Samuel Parkman, George’s father and family patriarch, had bought up low-lying lands and income properties in Boston’s West End.[3] He also founded and was part owner of the towns of Parkman, Ohio and Parkman, Maine.[4][5] His sons from his first marriage oversaw theOhio properties, while his second set of boys were responsible for the Maineparcel. Samuel’s daughters inherited wealth as well. The most notable was George’s sister Elizabeth Willard Parkman, whose spouse Robert Gould Shaw (1776 – 1853), grandfather of Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863, Union Army colonel during the American Civil War), grew his wife’s share of the fortune to become the senior partner in the most powerful commercial house in a city glutted with the proceeds of the China Trade.[6]
The eleven Parkman scions united in marriage with the Beacon Hill families of Blake, Cabot, Mason, Sturgis, Tilden, and Tuckerman. Of his eleven offspring, Samuel chose George as the one to administer the Parkman estate.[7]
Gov Endicott Chub Peabody 1962-1964 – Mother Mary Parkman –
Governor Endicott Chub Peabody 1962-64 (oil portrait hangs in Governors Office @ State Capitol Building Boston)
Mary Parkman Peabody (Civil Rights Activist) Mother of Governor Endicott Chub Peabody 1962-64
Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody’s statement regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas,Texas.
****
Vice Presidential Nomination Speech Former Johnson administration employee Gov. Endicott Peabody addressed the Democratic National Convention to advocate the adoption of a Constitutional amendment allowing for the popular election of the U.S. vice president. Gov. Peabody nominated himself for the position, to nominally compete with Gov. Clinton’s vice presidential choice Sen. Albert Gore. – 1992
This oil painting above hangs in the Governors Office in the gold domed Boston State Capital Building. It was front page news around the country on April 1, 1964 when the governor’s 72 year old mother, Mary Parkman Peabody, was arrested at the Ponce de Leon Motor Lodge in St. Augustine, Florida for attempting to be served in an integrated group at a racially segregated restaurant. This made Mrs. Peabody a hero to the civil rights movement, and brought the efforts in St. Augustine—the nation’s oldest city—to national and international attention. The story of her arrest is told in many books including one by her arrest companion Hester Campbell, called Four for Freedom.
An All-American star defensive lineman for the Harvard football team, he was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He was a grandson of the founder of the Groton School and Brooks School, also named Endicott Peabody. He ran for political office unsuccessfully in Massachusetts several times. In 1962 he was elected Governor, upsetting Republican Governor John Volpe by 4,431 votes out of over 2 million cast. He served a single two-year term, but in 1964, was defeated in the Democratic primary by Lieutenant Governor Francis X. Bellotti. In 1966 he ran for a seat in the United States Senate and lost by a wide margin to then-state Attorney General Edward Brooke. Also during the United States presidential election, 1960 he coordinated John F. Kennedy’s Presidential campaigns in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire[1]
Parkman Surname arches over the Sacred Cod Fish – since 1747
Hanging over the public gallery in Massachusetts House of Representatives under the surname Parkman is the Sacred Cod fish symbolizing the importance of the fish industry in the early Massachusetts economy. It was given to the House in 1747 by a Boston merchant. The sir names that encircle the hall are of the families that were pillars of the community at the time the State Capitol Building was constructed in Boston.
Sacred Cod Fish rests under the surname of Parkman
The Sacred Cod is a carving of a codfish an Atlantic cod that rests in the chamber of the Massachusetts House of Representatives under the surname of Parkman. The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the U.S….The Cod that currently hangs in the building is actually the third one to be carved. The first was destroyed in a fire in 1747, the second during the Revolutionary War. Alexander Parkman was a Lieutenant & Minute Man in the American Revolution.
The American Revolutionary War , also known as the American War of Independence, was a war between Kingdom of Great Britain and revolutionaries within 13 colonies, who United States Declaration of Independence as the United States in 1776…The current cod was crafted around 1784 by an unknown artist.
The Atlantic cod is a well-known seafood belonging to the family Gadidae. It grows to two metres in length…..It represents the importance of the fishing. Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. By extension, the term fishing is also applied to hunting for other aquatic animals such as various types of shellfish as well as squid, octopus, turtles, Edible frog and some edible marine inverteb…industry in the early history of the state.
Cod are very abundant in the waters surrounding Massachusetts.
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States….and in 1974 it was chosen as the official state fish.
The Sacred Cod sculpture measures five feet long and is carved out of pine.
Pines are Pinophyta trees of the genus Pinus, in the family Pinaceae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authors accept anything from 105 to 125 species…..
Video News Release of the 2011 Installation of an 1801 Paul Revere Bell to the steeple of Boston’s historic Old South Meeting House, a museum and National Historic Landmark where the Boston Tea Party began. For more information, visit http://www.osmh.org.
Samuel Parkman (above) also commissioned Gilbert Stuart to do an oil portrait of George Washington that is displayed today at The Boston Museum of Fine Arts (see page one of http://www.ParkmanGenealogy.wordpress.com )
Paul Revere – Patriot & Silver Smith
Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride – The British Are Coming !
Paul Revere’s house in Boston
Old South Meeting House – Boston – Mass
Old South Interior
Paul Revere Bell @ Old South
Old South Plaque
Old South – National Register Historic Landmark – plaque
Old South is on The Freedom Trail (as is Copp’s Hill Cemetery where William Parkman is buried)
Paul Revere & Son – Cannon Foundry Trade Card
“Paul Revere Ride” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow – Statue
Paul Revere Statue @ Old North Church Boston
The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere – One if by land two if by Sea – The British are Coming
1801 Paul Revere Bell @ Old South
Boston Mayor Menino & James Storrow @ Old South
Emily Curran Ex. Dir. @ Old South
Raising @ Old South
On display @ Old South
On display @ Old South
The new bell wheel @ Old South
Raising @ Old South
Contrast of old bell and modern sky scraper @ raising @ old South
Samuel Parkman Donated a Paul Revere Bell to Reverend Ebenezer Parkman’s Westborough Church (Sam was Eb’s son)
Paul Revere Bell Returns to Boston
Here’s the moment we were all waiting for! The 1801 Paul Revere bell was lifted to the steeple of Old South Meeting House on Sunday, October 16, at 2pm! Thanks to the teams at Northland Restoration, Marr Eqiupment Company, Wendell Kalsow and Associates, and The Clock Shop. And, of course, our most heartfelt thanks to the Storrow Family and to Jeff Makholm for their generosity.
One of 46 surviving bells made by Paul Revere’s foundry before his death found a new home at Boston’s Old South Meeting House, the famed place where the Boston Tea Party began. The 876-pound Paul Revere bell, made in 1801, was acquired from the First Baptist Church of Westborough, Massachusetts. The bell was connected to the original 1766 tower clock and will once again ring out the hour as it did in Colonial Boston.
A Paul Revere Bell comes to
Old South Meeting House
ON JUNE 24, 2011, AN 1801 PAUL REVERE BELL WAS CAREFULLY
lowered from the belfry of the white clapboard First Baptist Church of
Westborough and placed on a truck to begin a journey to its new home
in Boston: the Old South Meeting
House. 210 years earlier, the same
bell had made the reverse journey
from Boston to Westborough in the
back of a horse-drawn wagon.
Old South Meeting House presents The story of this remarkable bell began with Samuel Parkman, one of Boston’s wealthiest merchants. Parkman had grown up in Westborough as the 12th child of the Reverend Ebenezer Parkman. His father had served as Westborough’s minister for 58 years as the small Puritan parish grew into a thriving New England village. Samuel Parkman had gone on to make a fortune in real estate and in 1801, at the age of 50, he decided to commission a bell for the town’s meeting house.
To order a fitting new bell, Samuel Parkman went to the foundry of Boston patriot and silversmith Paul Revere, at the corner of Foster and Lynn Streets in the city’s North End. Paul Revere had opened the foundry in 1788, and his earliest cast iron items were window weights, grates, firebacks and stove components. By 1792, he went on to make cannons and his first church bell. By 1801, he had mastered the art of bell casting and his Boston bells were the pride of New England.
A Bell Raising Celebration October 14-16, 2011
Join us for activities and programming honoring the On August 14, 1801, Mr. Parkman paid $389.33 for an 876 pound bell, the 48th church bell created by Paul Revere’s Bell and Cannon Foundry. Revere often brought his clients to the yard of his Charter Street house to test their new bells. One can imagine the dapper Parkman and the craftsman Revere standing next to a freshly polished bronze bell hearing its solemn tone for the first time. (FALL 2011 • VOLUME)
Although bell casting was a
small part of Revere’s foundry
operations, it was far more
complicated than simple
ironworking. Memoranda
books, correspondence, and
bank books from the foundry
outline in great detail the
daily operations of this
unique enterprise. The Revere
Company made over 900 bells
of all sizes from 1792 through
the 1840s, from hand bells
weighing a few pounds to
massive church bells weighing
over 2000 pounds.
Church
bells were the most difficult to
cast, often weighing more than
500 pounds. They were cast
from bell metal, a particular
hard form of bronze usually
made of 78% copper and
22% tin.
Church bells were vital to
the community as a means
of communication and were
held in the highest esteem as
technological and auditory
wonders. No two church
bells ever sounded the same,
and some towns came to
recognize the unique tone of
each church’s bell.
As historian
Robert Martello writes in
Midnight Ride, Industrial
Dawn, with the production of
bells, “Revere could serve his
religion, his society, and his
bank account at the same time.”
In 1801, no steeple, belfry, or
other structure penetrated the
sky of Westborough above the
height of an average roof. In
order to accept the generous
gift of a new bell, the town
added a steeple to their
meeting house, the first home
of the Paul Revere bell.
The people of Westborough
came to rely on their bell in its
very first years of service in the Old Meetinghouse. The
bell was rung on the Sabbath
at 9:30 am and again when the
minister walked to the pulpit
to begin services. In 1807 the
town voted to ring the bell
each night at 9 pm in service
to the wider community.
The
Paul Revere bell was used
first by the First Church of
Westborough, then by the
First Baptist Church, and over
the years, both congregations
moved the bell to a series
of structures. The bell was
sold to the Baptist Society in
December of 1849 for a sum of
$173.00, less than half of what
Mr. Parkman paid in 1801.
In 1938, a forceful hurricane
blew the steeple off of the
First Baptist Church on West
Main Street, tossing the steeple
and its bell into the cemetery
across the road. The well-made
bell was unharmed.
In October, the bell will be
lifted into the belfry of Old
South Meeting House and
carefully connected to a
finely crafted new bell wheel
and the historic 1766 Gawen
Brown tower clock by a team
The bell is delivered to its new
home, Old South Meeting House,
on June 25, 2011.
The generous support of the
Storrow Family has ensured
that the 1801 Paul Revere
Bell originally created for
Westborough has found a
permanent home at the Old
South Meeting House. The
bell has been on exhibit at
Old South Meeting House all
summer, visible for a limited viewing.
The
1801 Paul Revere Bell will
begin a new chapter in its
storied life, ringing from the
tower of one of Boston’s most
famous historical sites. For the
first time in over 135 years, a
bell will ring out from the Old
South Meeting House once
again, recreating the sounds
of colonial Boston for millions
who pass by today.
Paul Revere @ First Baptist Church Westborough
(The restoration team gets a close look at the headstock,
which supports the bell and attaches it to its wheel.)
(The bell is lowered from the belfry
of the First Baptist Church in
Westborough on June 23, 2011.)
This video chronicles the removal of the 1801 Paul Revere bell from the First Baptist Church of Westborough, Massachusetts, on its journey to a new home at Old South Meeting House in Boston, Massachusetts.
Scenes were filmed by OSMH staff on June 23, 2011.
Featured music by The Beggar Boys.
The last time the Paul Revere Bell rang in Westborough, Mass before trip to Boston’s Old South Meeting House
Westborough Paul Revere Bell is Bound for Boston
Historical bell to ring out in revered revolutionary gathering place.
By Trish Reske Email the author June 9, 2011
The 876-pound bell originally cast by silversmith and patriot Paul Revere will soon be taking a historic ride from the First Baptist Church belfry in Westborough to its new home at the Old South Meeting House in Boston.
Known as the place where the Boston Tea Party began in 1773, the landmark Old South Meeting House has operated as a non-profit museum since 1877 and continues to be a thriving public gathering space for freedom of speech. The First Baptist Church has reached an agreement with Old South Meeting House on the purchase of the bell.
“We’ve been working on restoration of the Meeting House Tower and its magnificent 1766 Tower Clock,” said Emily Curran, executive director at the Old South Meeting House. “As part of that restoration we had very much wanted to return a bell to the tower. Old South Meeting House has not had a bell since 1876, for over 100 years. We had started to make plans to have a new bell cast, when we heard about the historic bell in Westborough. It’s very exciting.”
According to the Westborough Historical Commission, the Westborough bell is one of only 26 bells known to be cast by Paul Revere himself, and one of only ten whose whereabouts have been documented to date.
“The Westborough bell is older than the bell that’s currently at the Paul Revere house,” remarked Paula Skogg of the Historical Commission. “If it can’t stay in Westborough then this is the very best place it could possibly be going, back to Boston to the oldest clock tower in the country,” she added.
While details of the moving and installation of the bell are still underway, the hope is to move the bell to Boston within the month.
“As a museum and historic site, we are very mindful of the unique history of the Westborough Paul Revere Bell, and will preserve both the bell and its history here in Boston for generations to come,” said Curran. She added that the Old South Meeting House plans to invite the people of Westborough to special events that will celebrate the bell and its history.
Once installed in the restored tower, the Tower Clock will strike the bell hourly, ringing out in the streets of Boston.
“This bell is really going to be heard by a huge number of people. It will be well-loved and well-used,” said Curran.
“It’s like returning Paul Revere to Boston in the form of the bell,” said Dave Nelson, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the former First Baptist Church. “It’s going to be an important moment in Westborough history as well as Boston.”
*Calculated relationship
Burial: Copps Hill Burying Ground
Boston
Suffolk County
Massachusetts, USA
Created by: Thomas A Hawkins
Record added: Feb 27, 2004
Find A Grave Memorial# 8449256
John Parkman, son of William and Elizabeth Parkman buried in Gloucester
Birth:
unknown
Death:
Mar. 27, 1727, At Sea
Died Mar. 27, 1727
He was the son of William and Elizabeth Parkman, of Boston and master of a brig belonging at Boston. He died on his return voyage from the West Indies, he drowned at Normans Woe. He was aged 30 years at the time of his death [aged 33 years per gravestone inscr.]. (Vital Records of GLOUCESTER, MA to the end of the year 1849).NOTE: Family links have been added at the request of other members. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of any of these links as in most of the cases there is no marker proving burial at the indicated location. Use them in your research at your own risk.Family links:
Parents: William Parkman (____ – 1730) Elizabeth Adams Parkman (1660 – 1746)Spouse: Abigail Fairfield Parkman (1698 – 1777)**Calculated relationship
Note: Stone is buried too deep to read dates. Dates given by member from Gloucester VR
Ebenezer Parkman was born in Boston, Sept. 5, 1703. His father
was Wm. Parkman, who in 1680 married Elizabeth Adams, also of Boston. She is buried on Copp’s Hill— dying on the 13th of April, 1746. Wm. Parkman had died sixteen years earlier, Nov. 30, 1730.
He was born in Salem, where his father Elias had settled, in 1658.
This Elias, born in 1635, was also the son of Elias Parkman, who
had come among the earliest settlers to New England, and grand-
son of Thomas Parkman, of Sidmouth, Devon, England.
Ebenezer Parkman was admitted to Harvard College in 1717,
when he was fourteen years old, and graduated in 1721. The
next year he taught school in Newton, living with the brother Elias,
whom he mentions in the first part of the Journal. This brother
VI INTRODUCTION.
was a mastmaker, and in 1728 an advertisement appears in a local
paper : —
“April I. Mr. Henrj’ Richards wants to sell a parcel of likely negro boys
and one negro girl, arrived from Nevis, and were brought from Guinea. To be
seen at the house of Mr. Elias Parkman, mastmaker, at the North End.”
As the Rev. Ebenezer purchased a slave boy, Maro, in August of
that year, it is very possible that he vi^as one of this “parcel.”
Maro lived only a little more than a year at the Westborough par-
sonage, and Mr. Parkman writes under date of Dec. 6, 1728 : ” Dark
as it has been with us, it became much Darker abt ye Sun Setting.
The .Sun of Maro’s life Sat. The first Death in my Family! God,
enable me to see thy Sovereign mind and comport with his holy
Will.”
This brother Elias and his wife are both buried on Copp’s Hill, dying in 1741 and 1746.
Mr. Parkman’s son Elias was undoubtedly named for this favorite
brother, and indeed most of his children bore the names of his
brothers and sisters— Mary, Elizabeth, William, Sarah, Susannah,
Alexander, Samuel, John, and Elias being names common to each.
BOSTON, America’s oldest (1650s) and most historic cemetery at Copp’s Hill (USA): Let’s go for a walk around Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, which is a historic cemetery in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1659, it was originally named “North Burying Ground”, and It contains more than 1200 marked graves, including the remains of various notable Bostonians from the colonial era into the 1850s. Enjoy!! Vic Stefanu, vstefanu@yahoo.com
This short film shows Copp’s Hill Burial Ground (or Burying Ground),which was founded in 1659 in Boston, Massachusetts. The video also depicts Old North Church where Paul Revere was notified by lantern that the British were coming. In the distance is the Charles River, Boston Harbor and the Zakim Bridge. Also seen in the Puritan Cemetery are the graves and tombs of Cotton Mather, Increase Mather, 17th Puritan Christian ministers and Prince Hall, founder of the African American Masons, named after him.
Name: William Parkman
Sex: M
Birth: 29 MAR 1658 in Salem, Essex, MA
Death: 28 NOV 1730 in Boston, Suffolk, MA
Note:
The Bostonian Society Publications, Volume: 11
Author-Bostonian society, Boston.
Publisher: Boston State House, 1884
pg. 99
Among the apprentices who received their education in shipbuilding from Alexander Adams was William Parkman. He was the son of Elias Parkman and his wife Sarah Trask, and the grandson of Elias and Bridget Parkman, who came to Dorchester in 1633.
William Parkman was born in Salem, Mass., March 29th, 1658. On May 18th, 1680, he married Elizabeth Adams, the daughter of Alexander Adams. After his
pg. 100
marriage, he sometimes went with his father on voyages to Curacao and elsewhere, but he lived with his father- in-law, built vessels in the same shipyard with him, and in the end succeeded him in the business. Could we trace the other twenty-nine apprentices, no doubt we would find some of them in the shipbuilding business ; for in the latter part of the seventeenth century there were sixteen shipyards in Boston.
In the later years of his life William Parkman devoted most of his time to the manufacturing of masts for ships, and we then find him referred to as a mast merchant. He died of apoplexy, November 28th, 1730, and was succeeded in the business by his son, William Parkman, who was so prominent in the New North Church, and was one of its first elders, and who, on September 2d, 1743, became the Presiding or Ruling Elder. He lived in the house on Ship Street which had been the home of Alexander Adams.
William Parkman and his wife, Elizabeth Adams, had twelve children, one of whom was the Rev. Ebenezer Parkman of Westborough, the father of Samuel Parkman, the rich merchant of Boston, from whom came the Parkman millions.
The house in which Alexander Adams, and later the Parkmans lived, was for years called the ” Ancient Mansion,” sometimes the ” Ancient Parkman Mansion,” because William Parkman, a grandson of William and Elizabeth Parkman, finally bought out all the other
pg. 101
heirs. It was a large square wooden house, and was located on Ship Street, although some records state that it was on Battery Street. In the early days however there was no Battery Street, although there was a Battery Alley, which was also called Battery Lane. The location of the house was, therefore, apparently on the corner of Ship Street and Battery Lane, which in time came to be called Battery Street. The mansion remained in the possession of the Parkman family till about 1880, and stood all the time from the days of Alexander Adams to that date, with the front door opening at the side on the yard, and the shingles growing blacker and blacker, and never putting on the modern fashion of paint. It was then sold and made into a store, but in 1894 Battery Street was widened, and the house which had been the home of Alexander Adams, of William Parkman, and of Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, gave way to the spirit of improvement and was no more.
Genealogy of the early generations of the Coffin family in New England
Authors-Silvanus Jenkins Macy, Nathaniel Wheeler Coffin, William Sumner Appleton
Publisher-David Clapp & Son, 1870
pg. 2
vi. Mary, b. in England; in. Alexander Adams; had five children : Samuel, b. in 1656, John, Mary, Susannah, and Elizabeth, who m. William Parkman, of Boston.
In 1775 this house was occupied by British troops, the Gallop [or Galloupe] family retiring to Saugus. During the Battle of Bunker Hill General Gage made this his staff headquarters,—a convenient place for the purpose, being near his battery yet somewhat under cover of the hill. Mr. William Parkman remembers hearing his grandmother, who lived near by at the time, often speak of this house as having been occupied, on that eventful day, by “old Gage,” as she called him. Several other persons have confirmed the tradition.
Murder of Dr. George Parkman – Harvard Alumnae – 1849
At 33 Beacon Street is the George Parkman House, its gracious facade hiding more than a few secrets. One of the first sensational “trials of the century” involved the murder of Dr. George Parkman, a wealthy landlord and Harvard benefactor. He was bludgeoned to death in 1849 by Dr. John Webster, a Harvard medical professor and neighborhood acquaintance who allegedly became enraged by Parkman’s demands that he repay a personal loan. At the conclusion of the trial, the professor was hanged; he’s buried in an unmarked grave on Copp’s Hill in the North End. Parkman’s son lived in seclusion in this house overlooking the Common until he died in 1908. The building is now used for civic functions. PBS TV produced a documentary about this murder that is for sale. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/murder/
The Teeth & Cast above of Doctor George Parkman murdered @ Harvard:
Dr. George Parkman – “The Pedestrian”
Called “The Pedestrian” by one Boston newspaper, Dr. George Parkman was famous for his regular daily walks through town to collect rent and loan payments. He did not even own a horse, though he could have easily afforded one, coming from one of the richest families in Boston. His habits were so regular that when he failed to meet his wife for lunch November 23, 1849, it was impossible to imagine anything but foul play. Equally impossible to imagine was that the perpetrator was someone from his own social class. When his killer was found to be a former Harvard classmate and current Harvard professor, it became a society crime with a public following to rival America’s greatest celebrity murders.
Date: November 23, 1849
Location: Cambridge, MA
Victim: Dr. George Parkman
Cause of Death: Stabbing
Accused: Dr. John White Webster
Synopsis:
Dr. George Parkman was a man of regular habits. Every day he could be seen walking through Beacon Hill and Boston’s West End where he owned a number of rental properties. His daily routine was so predictable that his neighbors said they could set their watches by the sight of his gaunt figure rushing past. Every afternoon at 2:00 pm he met his wife for lunch. When he failed to keep this appointment on Friday, November 23, 1849, and did not return home that evening, his family suspected foul play.
That afternoon he had planned to see Dr. John Webster, a professor of chemistry at the Harvard Medical College, to discuss repayment of a loan. Dr Webster had been borrowing money, putting up his possessions as collateral. He had borrowed money from Robert Gould Shaw, Parkman’s brother-in-law and business partner, using his mineral collection as collateral. Parkman was livid when he learned this because he had already loaned Webster money against the same mineral collection.
George Parkman and John Webster were both members of Boston’s privileged class—the class that would later be called “Boston Brahmans”— and had known each other since childhood. They had been classmates at Harvard, graduating two years apart, and Parkman had helped Webster get his position teaching there. But in appearance and attitude the two could not have been more different. Parkman was tall and slender, while Webster was short and stout. Parkman was energetic, but austere and frugal to the extreme; Webster, though somewhat dull as a professor was amiable and fond of food, drink and good company. Terrible at managing money, Webster was constantly in debt; a growing concern with three daughters approaching marrying age. He owed more than $2400 and his annual salary was $1200.
Parkman had studied medicine in Europe with a particular interest in mental illness. He returned to Boston anxious to implement his ideas on treatment of the mentally ill. Though he helped organize and finance the McLean Hospital, he was passed over for the office of director. Devastated by the rejection, Parkman gave up medicine and took over the family business in real estate and lending.
Dr. Parkman was last seen at the Harvard Medical College that Friday. On Saturday his family printed flyers offering a $3000 reward for information leading to his discovery. Dr. Webster came forward and confirmed that he had met with Dr. Parkman on Friday and had, in fact, paid off one of his loans.
After meeting with Parkman, Dr. Webster had supper at a restaurant and went home. That evening went with his family to a party where he enjoyed himself with his neighbors, playing whist and discussing the affairs of the day, including the disappearance of Dr. Parkman. In the days following Parkman’s disappearance here was nothing unusual in Dr. Webster’s behavior, with on exception. Webster had a long discussion with the Ephraim Littlefield, the janitor at the medical college, concerning Dr. Parkman’s visit to the college on November 23. It was more than the two men had spoken in the twenty years of working at the same college. He also gave Littlefield a turkey for thanksgiving, something he had never done before.
Littlefield and his wife lived in an apartment next to Dr. Webster’s laboratory. He made a small salary cleaning the professors’ labs and offices, which he augmented by supplying professors and students with corpses for dissection. It was not clear whether he purchased the corpses from “resurrectionists” or dug them up himself.
What Littlefield remembered about November 23 was that Dr. Wagner had kept his laboratory door locked all afternoon and that the fire in his furnace was so hot it could be felt through the wall. Littlefield was in the laboratory when the police came to question Dr. Wagner and noticed that the door to his privy was locked. When the police asked what was behind the door Wagner directed their attention elsewhere.
Access to the privy was shared by the dissecting room next door. It had an opening to brick vault below the basement of the building and was used to dispose of body parts when the students were finished dissecting. Littlefield was convinced that Dr. Wagner had murdered Dr. Parkman in his laboratory chopped him up and disposed of the pieces in the privy. Working on Thanksgiving Day and the day after, while his wife kept lookout, Littlefield took borrowed tools into the crawlspace under the basement and chipped threw several layers of brick on the privy vault. When he finally broke though and shone a lantern through the hole, he saw a man’s pelvis with genitals still attached and part of a leg. He knew the students had not been dissecting that week; it had to be Dr. Parkman.
Marshal Turkey of the Boston police was notified of the find and the marshal brought a contingent of policemen to the college. They extracted the body parts from the vault and searched Dr. Wagner’s laboratory finding charred bones in the doctor’s furnace and more body parts in a tea chest in a room adjoining the laboratory. The body parts were shown to Dr. Parkman’s wife who identified them as her husband’s remains from some markings on the skin and the extreme hairiness of the body.
The police went to Dr. Wagner’s home and he agreed to accompany them to the Harvard Medical School to answer some more questions. They took him instead to the Boston jail where he was arrested for the murder of Dr. Parkman.
Trial: March 19, 1850
The trial of Dr. Wagner received national and even international coverage, taking on the characteristics of the celebrity trials of the 20th Century. 60,000 Bostonians came to the courthouse to view the trial and they were admitted to the courtroom in ten minute shifts.
The prosecution had the daunting task of proving that the remains found at the medical college were, in fact, those of Dr. Parkman. A number of doctors testified that the remains were consistent with a man of Dr. Parkman’s age, height and build, and that they were not the remains of a dissected corpse. Dr. Nathan Keep, Parkman’s dentist, testified that a piece of dental work in the jawbone found in Wagner’s furnace was, without a doubt, made by him for Dr. Parkman. The first time human remains were identified in court by dental work.
The defense countered with doctors and dentists of their own who testified that the body could not be conclusively identified and that there was nothing unique in Dr. Parkman’s dental work.
The most damaging witness for the prosecution was Ephraim Littlefield who told of overhearing Dr. Parkman angrily demand payment from Dr. Wagner. He testified that Wagner had later asked about the privy vault, whether it was possible to shine a light on what was in it. Littlefield responded that it was not, because the gasses put out the flame. And Littlefield related all of the events and suspicions that led him to investigate the vault.
At 8:00pm on March 30, 1850 the jury began deliberation; shortly after 10:00 they returned with a verdict. Dr. Wagner was found guilty and sentenced to hang.
Verdict: Guilty
Aftermath:
The defense filed a writ of error, claiming the judge’s instructions to the jury were biased. The writ was denied. Webster asked for a full pardon and that was denied as well.
As the date of Dr. Wagner’s execution approached, the community – in Boston and beyond – was still divided as to his guilt. Boston authorities received letters from around the country from people opposed to hanging a man on circumstantial evidence and those generally opposed to capital punishment.
In a bid for clemency, Dr. Wagner admitted to killing Dr. Parkman but in self-defense, not premeditation. Parkman, he said, had become violently angry over the loan on the mineral collection and Wagner picked up a stick and fought him off. Had he intended to commit murder, Wagner said, he certainly would not have done it at the college.
Though petitions were circulated to commute his sentence, the request was refused. On August 30, 1850, Dr. Wagner was publically hanged. The fall broke his neck and he was dead within four minutes. He was buried in Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, in an unmarked grave to discourage grave robbers.
The case had such notoriety that when Charles Dickens came to America, one of his requests was to visit the room where George Parkman was murdered.
Derastus Clapp is most noted for his role in the arrest and prosecution of John White Webster for the murder of George Parkman. Derastus was America’s first was head of the first city detective bureau in the United States,located in Boston, Massachusetts.
Parkman, Samuel & U.S. President George Washington @ Boston Museum of Fine Art – 1806
Daniel M Parkman Sr visiting Boston Museum of Fine Art circa 2007
Samuel Parkman commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint a full length oil portrait of U.S. President George Washington, which Samuel later gifted to the Town of Boston in 1806 where the painting hung in the Faneuil Hall and now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The painting by Gilbert Stuart is of George Washington ,in Dorchester Heights, full-length in uniform, standing by a white horse, holding his bridle in his left hand and his chapeau in his right.
The full-length Washington, on the other side of the great painting, is a Gilbert Stuart. It, also, was presented to the town by Samuel Parkman, in 1806. :
Samuel Parkman commissioned Gilbert Stuart to create this life sized oil painting than hung at Faneuil Hall (see above the bottom right side painting) that now is on display at The Boston Museum of Fine Art.
See this Video at the 1:56 minute mark filmed at Faneuil Hall in Boston where the George Washington Oil Painting by Gilbert Stuart hung at the time. (shame on Mitt Romney’s “liberal views”)
Faneuil Hall where George Washington oil portrait by Gilbert Stuart donated to the City of Boston on July 4th 1806 by Samuel Parkman is also displayed.
George Washington oil portrait by Gilbert Stuart donated on 4th July 1806 by Samuel Parkman at Faneuil Hall – see above painting at bottom right.
GILBERT STUART’S 1796 OIL PAINTING/PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON APPEARS ON EVERY US $1 DOLLAR BILL (SEE BOTH BELOW)
(see page 3 of this blog “Sarah Francis Lightner Brownlee” for other ties to George Washington & Thomas Jefferson mentioned below)
GEORGE WASHINGTON & THOMAS JEFFERSON LINKS TO NATURAL BRIDGE, VA:
Some believe George Washington came to the site in 1750 as a young surveyor on behalf of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.[4] To support claims that Washington surveyed the area, some tour guides claim the initials “G.W.” on the wall of the bridge, 23 ft. up, were carved by the future president. Legend also has it that George Washington threw a rock from the bottom of Cedar Creek over the bridge. In 1927, a large stone was found, also engraved “G.W.” and bearing a surveyor’s cross, which historians accepted as proof that he indeed surveyed the bridge.[5]
Thomas Jefferson purchased the bridge (@ Natural Bridge,VA) for $2.40 from King George III. He also built a cabin there while he was president.
The starting point of the Freedom Trail, Boston Common is the oldest park in the country founded in 1634. It also contains the Parkman Bandstand, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Memorial and the starting point of the Freedom Trail at Parkman Plaza (see below).
Boston Common – Boston Pops July 4th Celebration Fireworks
Boston Common Memorial Day 37,000 American Flags
Boston Common Aerial over Parkman Bandstand
Established in 1634, Boston Common is America’s oldest public park. Puritan colonists purchased the land rights to the Common’s 44 acres from the first settler of the area, Anglican minister William Blackstone. The price was 30 pounds, and each homeowner paid him six shillings. The pasture then became known as the “Common Land” and was used to graze local livestock until 1830. A town shepherd was paid “two shillings and sixpence per head of cowe” to tend townspeople’s livestock.
Also referred to as a “trayning field,” over 1000 Redcoats made camp on the Common during the British occupation of Boston in 1775. It was from here that three brigades of Redcoats left to make the fateful trip to Lexington and Concord.
Boston Common was a place for celebration as well; bonfires and fireworks celebrated the repeal of the Stamp Act and the end of the Revolutionary War. Boston Common has, and continues to, serve a higher purpose as a place for public oratory and discourse. Here, during the 20th century, Charles Lindbergh promoted commercial aviation; Anti-Vietnam War and civil rights rallies were held, including one led by Martin Luther King, Jr.; in 1979 Pope John Paul II gave Mass to a gathered crowd and in 2007 presidential primaries Obama spoke. Today, Boston Common is still open for all to enjoy.
Paul Revere statue
Christmas Tree lighting
COMMON CRIMINALS The Common was a site for Puritanical punishments, home to a whipping post and stocks. Pirates, murderers, and witches were hanged from the tree known as “The Great Elm,” now gone. Mary Dyer and three other Quakers were also hanged on the Common for their beliefs. A statue of Mary Dyer now stands on the Massachusetts State House lawn.
Swan boat rides, cherry blossoms and weeping willows at the pond.
HOSTESS HANCOCK As the Governor’s wife, Dorothy Quincy Hancock was obliged to entertain 300 naval officers during a visit from Admiral D’Estaing’s French fleet in 1778. Facing a shortage of milk, she improvised and sent servants to the Common to milk the community cows. If the Hancocks felt free to take from Boston Common, it was because they also added to it. Hancock provided a large cask of Madeira wine and a fireworks display for the celebration held on the Common in 1765 for the repeal of the Stamp Act, and built a bandstand on the Common in 1771.
The starting point of the Freedom Trail, Boston Common is the oldest park in the country. The park is almost 50 acres in size. Today, Boston Common is the anchor for the Emerald Necklace, a system of connected parks that winds through many of Boston’s neighborhoods. The “Common” has been used for many different purposes throughout its long history. Until 1830, cattle grazed the Common, and until 1817, public hangings took place here. British troops camped on Boston Common prior to the Revolution and left from here to face colonial resistance at Lexington and Concord in April, 1775. Celebrities, including Martin Luther King Jr., Pope John Paul II, and Gloria Steinem (advocate of the feminist revolution), have given speeches at the Common.
Crisscrossed daily by busy Bostonians and countless visitors, America’s oldest park is more than a green oasis in a metropolitan city. It is a piece of ancient landscape which has belonged uninterrupted to the people of Boston since 1634. Purchased as land set aside for the common use of townspeople, it still serves this purpose and is one of the most popular Boston Attractions for relaxing and enjoying nature.
It was first a cattle grazing ground and, until 1817 in rigid Puritan Boston, an ancient elm on the land was used for public hangings. In 1756, a portion of the land became a public burying site, the Central Burying Ground. Throughout the 18th century, the Common was the center of public events surrounding the Revolution. It was here Colonial militia mustered, and where ordinary people gathered to celebrate victories over the restrictive policies of the crown, or to hang effigies in protest of those policies. In 1768, as tensions mounted between the colonies and Britain, the British Redcoats occupied the Common for eight years for use as an encampment.
Boston Common 1969 Vietnam War Peace Rally
During the Civil War, it was the place of anti-slavery protests, recruitment rallies and the mustering of departing regiments. In the turbulent 1960s, thousands gathered for anti-war protests and for civil rights rallies, one of which was addressed by Dr. Martin Luther King. In 1979, during the visit of Pope John Paul II, 400,000 stood in the rain for the first Papal Mass held in North America.
Almost four hundred years later, families come to this treasured remnant of 17th century Boston for leisure – to stroll, jog, skate on the Frog Pond, and play in the ball fields. Visitors come to walk through the venerable historic grounds where memorials, monuments and plaques tell the story of the multitude of ways in its remarkable over 375 year history the Common has served the people. Click here for more information about things to do near Boston Common.
Parkman Plaza marks the beginning of the Boston Freedom Trail on Tremont street at the Boston Common. The Boston Common was founded in 1634 and is America’s oldest park. The Freedom Trail is two and a half miles long.
Parkman Plaza was named after Dr. George Parker Jr. who, upon his death in 1908, donated $5 million for the preservation of Boston Common and other city parks. Located on Tremont street, Parkman Plaza marks the beginning of the Boston Freedom Trail. The plaza’s Visitor Center provides free maps for following the historic walking tour of Boston and a red line painted on the ground marks the trail. In 1961, three statues were dedicated to Parkman Plaza, meant to depict three traits of Bostonian life. The statues create a semi circle around the plaza. On the south side of the plaza, a statue of a young boy on his knees, hands lifted to heaven depict Boston’s religious roots. The west side has a statue of a man drilling for industry. The north side is labeled learning shows a young boy sitting on top of a globe, reading a book.
The Parkman Bandstand is the second monument in Boston Common dedicated to Dr. George Parkman Jr., benefactor who donated $5 million to the preservation of Boston’s parks. Parkman Bandstand is located on the eastern side of Boston Common. It was erected in 1912 and restored as recently as 1996. Today, Parkman Bandstand is used as a gathering point, a social venue, and a spot for political rallies. In 2007, Barack Obama spoke from Parkman Bandstand during a presidential primary. Annually, the Boston Freedom Rally is held at Parkman Bandstand, the second largest rally calling for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company puts on free plays from Parkman Bandstand, drawing as many as 100,000 theater-lovers into the park every summer.
Parkman House – 33 Beacon Street – Boston – Mayor’s Official Reception Hall
Parkman House – Boston – 33 Beacon Street
Here lived and died George Francis Parkman 1823-1908 Remembered with enduring gratitude by the City of Boston for his bequest of a $5 million fund that secures for-ever the maintenance and improvement of the Boston Common and other public parks (Boston Common is America’s oldest Park founded in 1659). The Parkman House is next to the gold domed Boston State Capital Building (as seen at the far right center photo above & aerial photo of State Capitol the Parkman House is to the left see below).
Mayor Martin J. Walsh, together with Department of Neighborhood Development Director Sheila Dillon, Chief of Economic Development, John Barros, members of Boston Main Streets and community members, celebrate the Boston Main Streets volunteers and businesses of the year at the 20th Annual Boston Main Streets Award Ceremony, held at the Parkman House in Downtown Boston. Published on Jun 29, 2016
The Parkman Bandstand was named for one of the Common’s greatest benefactors, George Francis Parkman Jr., who died in 1908 and left $5 million for the care of the Common and other city parks. The bandstand was originally dedicated in 1912 and was restored in 1996. It still hosts small events such as midday concerts, theatrical productions, weddings and speeches (Obama in 2007).
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Storming Fort Wagner, SC
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw died during the Civil War. He was the first American to serve as Colonel of a regiment of 1,000 black soldiers during the Civil War. The penalty was death if caught by the Confederate Soldiers. Shaw’s story was made into a movie called “Glory” staring Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick. Colonel Robert Gould Shaw’s Grandmother was a Parkman, Elizabeth Willard Parkman. Monument designed by Augustus St. Gaudens who designed USA Double Eagle $20 gold coin (see below) – see movie “Glory” (above). This monument is located directly across the street from the gold domed Boston Capital Building.
The second photo is @ the Biltmore, Asheville, NC that was owned by the Vanderbilt’s who were associates of JP Morgan, Carnegie & the Peabody families. Governor Chub Peabody was Gov of Mass in 1962. Chub’s Mother was Mary Parkman Peabody who was jailed during a sit-in @ a racially segregated restaurant in St. Augustine, FL. Later Martin Luther, King, Jr. recognized her efforts.
Agustus St. Gaudens Double Eagle $20 Gold Coin – World Record Holder for a single coin set @ $7.5 million dollars @ auction in 2002. (St. Gaudens was the sculpture and designer of “The Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Memorial @ The Boston Common – above)
Samuel Parkman (August 22, 1751 – June 11, 1824) and Sarah Rogers had five children: Elizabeth (1785), Francis (1788), George (1790), Samuel (1791), and Daniel (1794). Samuel Parkman had also had six children by his previous marriage to Sarah Shaw.[2] Samuel Parkman, George’s father and family patriarch, had bought up low-lying lands and income properties in Boston’s West End.[3] He also founded and was part owner of the towns of Parkman, Ohio and Parkman, Maine.[4][5] His sons from his first marriage oversaw theOhio properties, while his second set of boys were responsible for the Maineparcel. Samuel’s daughters inherited wealth as well. The most notable was George’s sister Elizabeth Willard Parkman, whose spouse Robert Gould Shaw (1776 – 1853), grandfather of Robert Gould Shaw (October 10, 1837 – July 18, 1863, Union Army colonel during the American Civil War), grew his wife’s share of the fortune to become the senior partner in the most powerful commercial house in a city glutted with the proceeds of the China Trade.[6]
The eleven Parkman scions united in marriage with the Beacon Hill families of Blake, Cabot, Mason, Sturgis, Tilden, and Tuckerman. Of his eleven offspring, Samuel chose George as the one to administer the Parkman estate.[7]
Samuel Parkman commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint a full length oil portrait of U.S. President George Washington, which Samuel later gifted to the Town of Boston on the 30th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July 1806 where the painting hung in the Faneuil Hall and now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The painting by Gilbert Stuart is of George Washington ,in Dorchester Heights, full-length in uniform, standing by a white horse, holding his bridle in his left hand and his chapeau in his right.
The full-length Washington, on the other side of the great painting, is a Gilbert Stuart. It, also, was presented to the town by Samuel Parkman, in 1806. :
Samuel Parkman commissioned Gilbert Stuart to create this life sized oil painting than hung at Faneuil Hall (see above the bottom right side painting) that now is on display at The Boston Museum of Fine Art.
See this Video at the 1:56 minute mark filmed at Faneuil Hall in Boston where the George Washington Oil Painting by Gilbert Stuart hung at the time. (shame on Mitt Romney’s “liberal views”) :
George Washington oil portrait by Gilbert Stuart donated on 4th July 1806 by Samuel Parkman at Faneuil Hall – see above painting at bottom right.
GILBERT STUART’S 1796 OIL PAINTING/PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WASHINGTON APPEARS ON EVERY US $1 DOLLAR BILL (SEE BOTH BELOW)
(see page 3 of this blog “Sarah Francis Lightner Brownlee” for other ties to George Washington & Thomas Jefferson mentioned below)
GEORGE WASHINGTON & THOMAS JEFFERSON LINKS TO NATURAL BRIDGE, VA:
Some believe George Washington came to the site in 1750 as a young surveyor on behalf of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.[4] To support claims that Washington surveyed the area, some tour guides claim the initials “G.W.” on the wall of the bridge, 23 ft. up, were carved by the future president. Legend also has it that George Washington threw a rock from the bottom of Cedar Creek over the bridge. In 1927, a large stone was found, also engraved “G.W.” and bearing a surveyor’s cross, which historians accepted as proof that he indeed surveyed the bridge.[5]
Thomas Jefferson purchased the bridge (@ Natural Bridge,VA) for $2.40 from King George III. He also built a cabin there while he was president.
Samuel Parkman, m. first Sarah Shaw, 1773, second Sarah Rogers, 1784; subsequent history unknown; given to the Museum by the collector Pauline Revere Thayer.
The Jared Coffin house, a historic mansion in the heart of Nantucket, is a rich landmark with ties to the sea that lines its sandy shores. Built in 1845 by Jared Coffin, one of the most successful ship owners during the island’s prime whaling days, this splendid three-story mansion was constructed in the center of town as his family’s residence. It was the first such ‘mansion’ ever built on the New England island.
In 1846, a fire destroyed a third of the community. The Jared Coffin House withstood the flames and still stands tall today. In fact, the brick walls and slate roof of the Jared Coffin House resisted the fire and helped stop its spread.
In 1857 Eben W. Allen built a three-story addition that containd sixteen bedrooms, which was connected to the north side to the Swain House. In 1961 it was completely restored by the Nantucket Historical Trust and later was reopened as the Jared Coffin House. Presently the hotel is comprised of thirty rooms in the main building and thirteen rooms in the Daniel Webster building, located next door.
Since it was erected, Jared Coffin House serves as a centerpiece of the Nantucket Historic District. It has become the essence of Nantucket lodging: historic and majestic, yet welcoming and charming. It brings together the best of Nantucket, past and present.
Based upon the incredibly true yarn = story, (Nathaniel Philbrick’s book The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex), that inspired Moby Dick by Herman Melville. In 1819, a crew of Nantucket whalers including members of theCoffin family set sail for Hawaii to attempt to harvest 2,000 barrels of whale oil by the Nantucket Sleigh Ride and are attacked by a great white sperm whale that rams and sinks their ship. The crew set out 2,000 miles from land in 3 life boats and end up starving to the point of cannibalism.
The Essex, an American whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, sank after a sperm whale attacked it in the Pacific Ocean in November 1820. Having lost their ship, the crew of the Essex attempted to sail to South America in whaleboats. After suffering from starvation and dehydration, most of the crew died before the survivors were rescued in February 1821.
In retelling the story of the crew’s ordeal, Philbrick utilizes an account written by Thomas Nickerson, who was a teenage cabin boy on board the Essex and wrote about the experience in his old age; his account was lost until 1960 but was not authenticated until 1980 before being published, abridged, in 1984. The book also utilizes the better known account of Owen Chase, the ship’s first mate, which was published soon after the ordeal.[1]
Owen Coffin (1802 – 1821) was a teenaged sailor aboard the Nantucket whaler Essex when it set sail for the Pacific Ocean on a sperm whale-hunting expedition in August 1819. In November the next year, a whale rammed and breached their hull in mid-Pacific, causing Essex to sink. Following months in a small whaleboat, members of the near-starving crew finally concluded a member must be sacrificed. They drew straws, which Coffin ‘lost’, and he was shot and eaten.
Owen Coffin (August 24, 1802 – February 2, 1821) was a teenaged sailor aboard the NantucketwhalerEssex when it set sail for the Pacific Ocean on a sperm whale-hunting expedition in August 1819, under the command of his cousin, George Pollard, Jr. In November the next year, a whale rammed and breached the hull of Essex in mid-Pacific, causing Essex to sink.[1]
The crew of Essex escaped in small whaleboats, with sufficient supplies for two months, but were not rescued within that time. During January 1821, the near-starved survivors began to eat the bodies of those who had died. When even this resource ran out, the four men remaining in Pollard’s boat agreed to draw straws to decide which of them should be slaughtered, lest all four die of starvation. Coffin ‘lost’ the lottery, and was shot and eaten. The captain volunteered to take Coffin’s place but Coffin refused, saying it was his ‘right’ to do so that the others might live.
Coffin was the son of Nancy (Bunker) and Hezekiah Coffin.[2]
The title song of the 1971 album Nantucket Sleighride by American rock band Mountain is titled in full “Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)”. While there is no evidence that the song is specifically about Coffin or the ship Essex (and the lyrics are in parts obscure in meaning), it is written from the point of view of a sailor on a ship undertaking a “three-year tour… on a search for the mighty sperm whale”, and co-writer Felix Pappalardi, in an interview for the British music weekly Sounds (issue dated November 20, 1971), confirmed that the Owen Coffin in the dedication was the one from the Essex tragedy.
The ordeal of the whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little–known documents-including a long–lost account written by the ship’s cabin boy-and penetrating details about whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime disaster. An intense and mesmerizing read, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon.
For many of us, identifying some of the basic facts of Cushing’s history is easy. For example, the school was chartered in 1865, and it was coeducational from the start. But what precipitated this charter? How did this school on the hill come to be, and who decided it would be so? Whether you know the answers, have a faint idea, or are completely perplexed, let us take you back in time and get you up to speed.
The year is 1850, and Thomas Parkman Cushing has drafted his last will and testament. A successful Boston merchant and Ashburnham native, Cushing bequeathed to his wife and family what one would consider typical in a will such as money, securities, and valuables. Following seventeen items of directing personal assets, Cushing’s will makes extensive plans for the future of his Ashburnham estate.
“…I am particularly desirous of using a portion of the estate with which God has blessed me, for the promotion of so important an object as that of improving the education, and thus of strengthening and enlarging the minds of the rising and future generations. Hoping that others having similar views and opinions, will hereafter co-operate with me towards effecting the same great and desirable end: my Will, therefore, further is, that two schools or seminaries of learning, shall be established and forever continued in my native town of Ashburnham, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; entirely distinct, and separated by a quarter of a mile – the one for males of over ten years of age, and the other for females of over ten years of age…”
Following this declaration, Cushing’s will outlines the foundation and endowment of the schools, as well as the wish that “…the Trustees hereinafter named, shall apply for, and obtain from the Legislature of this Commonwealth, a suitable Act of Incorporation or Charter, under which all the business and affairs of the schools herein founded may be conducted forever.”
With a vision in mind, Thomas Parkman Cushing was most detailed with his plans for the school, be it plans for a “suitable library” or “ample grounds for the exercise and recreation of the pupils of each school.” One mention in particular rings true today with the Academy as we know it: “The building for the school for males to have a tower, a clock, and a bell weighing no less than two thousand pounds.”
Cushing’s will further dictated careful consideration in terms of the teaching that would occur within the school’s walls.
“And I would further suggest, that inasmuch as character is founded upon the modes and habits of thinking, in each individual, it should be a distinguishing feature of the schools herein established, that all the scholars of both sexes, should be carefully trained to think rightly and systematically upon the objects and principles which are to influence and govern them during their subsequent lives. Perhaps this cannot be better effected than by frequently requiring from each of them compositions on all important subjects; thus whilst they are displaying their thoughts freely and unreservedly to, and under the supervision of able and judicious Instructors, they will form opinions and characters which will constitute them intelligent, wise, leading and useful members of society.”
Thomas Parkman Cushing died in 1854. After the ten years had passed in which he directed that trust funds should increase and accumulate for the establishment of the school, the Trustees applied for a charter. It was granted in 1865.
“There is hereby established in the town of Ashburnham an institution of learning by the name of the Cushing Academy, for the purposes set forth in the said will of Thomas P. Cushing… [The trustees] are hereby incorporated into a body politic and corporate be the same name forever, with all the powers and privileges requisite for carrying into full effect the provisions of said will, and with all the powers, rights, and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in the sixty-eighth chapter of the General Statutes, and other acts in addition thereto, and in this act, not inconsistent with the provisions of said will.”
While Cushing was very much in favor of coeducation – a pioneer of his time – his desire wasn’t overly so. While two separate campuses were directed by Cushing’s will, the available funds would not allow for such plans. Separate entrances into the single academic building were as far as the Trustees could take this notion.
Today, Cushing Academy is still going strong. While Thomas Parkman Cushing may not have foreseen the wonderful growth and development that have evolved on campus and within the institution, the vision he saw is one that remains clear centuries later.
“…It is my opinion that the stability of our Laws, and the safety of our Government, the right direction of our Republican Institutions, the preservation of virtue, and of good morals: and, in short, the well-being and happiness of society, depend in a great degree upon the general diffusion and practical and useful knowledge among the people…”
This portrait, attributed to the Pollard Limner, depicts Mary Gardner Coffin (1670-1767). Mary Gardner was born on Nantucket and married Jethro Coffin, grandson of Tristram, in 1686. Their home, built later that year, is still standing on Nantucket. Now known as the Oldest House, it is owned and operated by the Nantucket Historical Association. The Coffin/Gardner marriage symbolized the end of an early conflict in Nantucket society involving their families that was known as the “half-share revolt.” John Gardner and Tristram Coffin were key figures in Nantucket’s early governance. Coffin represented the “full-share” men, or original founders of Nantucket, while Gardner was one of a group of tradesmen who came to work on the island but received only half-shares. Bitter debates between the full-share and half-share parties raged on Nantucket about land rights, who could hold public office, and the future directions for the island. A tentative compromise between the two factions was reached in 1678, but it was not until Coffin’s death in 1681 and the eventual marriage of his grandson into the Gardner family that a full resolution of this conflict occurred.
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Parkman Genealogy 