Soldier's Memorials of Jamaica Plain

I finally got around to doing something I've been planning for a long time. I've put the soldier's memorials of Jamaica Plain on to a Google map to show their locations. Photos of the memorials can still be seen here. You'll need to zoom in to see the markers - at least until I figure out why I can't get a map of Jamaica Plain to show up here.



View Jamaica Plain Veteran's Memorials in a larger map

Veteran's Day Addition

William E. Canary Memorial, Centre street and South Huntington Avenue.




I just found another veteran memorial today, and since Veteran's Day has just passed, I figured I'd feature it rather than just add it to the existing veteran's memorial entry. I'll add these photos there as well. William E Canary served in the 101st Infantry Division, and lost his life at St. Mihiel, France, September 12th, 1918.

Colonial Megabucks!

Boston Evening Post July 20, 1761.

These are to inform the Publick

That the managers of the Roxbury lottery are now rolling the sixth class in order to draw the same on Wednesday the Fifth Day of August next; at which time they propose the Drawing said Class shall commence at the School House near Jamaica Plain in Roxbury; and such Persons as are desirous of being present at Drawing may give their Attendance at Time and Place accordingly. --- And as there are but few tickets remaining in the Managers Hands, those persons that incline to be Adventurers must buy speedily or they may be excluded. Tickets may be had of

Green & Russell in Boston

Roxbury, July 17, 1761.

Ward's Pond

Ward's Pond, Summer 2008 (click on photos to see larger images).

Ward’s Pond sits on the border of Jamaica Plain and Brookline, just north of Jamaica Pond and within Olmsted Park, one of the long links in Boston’s Emerald Necklace of parks. None of the surviving local histories or memoirs of Jamaica Plain we rely on mentions Ward’s Pond or its namesake. Perhaps the fame of Jamaica Pond overshadowed its much smaller neighbor, but as is so often the case in local history, once we start digging we unearth fascinating new stories.

First map showing Ward's Pond name - 1859.


J.Ward appears on 1852 map.

Ward’s Pond sits near the head of the Muddy River, so called, although the river was never more than a stream. It is now within a park along the Brookline Boston border, but for over 250 years was in private hands. The first map to show the name Ward’s Pond was published in 1859. The same map shows no Wards living near the pond, but two Wards are shown along Muddy River to the north. J.O. Ward is shown just south of today’s Riverway on the Brookline side, and H.S. Ward is to the east at the corner of what we now call Huntington and South Huntington avenues. An 1852 map shows a J. Ward living along Muddy River in the same area as well. With these initials go to by, we can begin to connect this Ward family to the pond that memorializes their name.

John Ward the first was born in 1626 in London and emigrated to this country. His son and grandson, Edward and Samuel the first, were born in Newton. John the second, son of Samuel, was born in 1748 in Natick, and in 1771 married Roxbury girl Martha Shed. In 1788, John – now a blacksmith – bought 44 acres of land along Muddy river from his brother-in-law James Shed. The deed gives us little to locate the precise boundaries of the lot, but it was bounded by the town line, and by land of Peleg Heath, which puts it somewhere between Muddy River and the Heath street/South Huntington avenue area. The deed also specifies that the sale is exclusive of the old mill, which may have been the old colonial grist mill that still, at that time, drew off Jamaica Pond water near Ward’s Pond to drive its wheel.

Portrait of John Ward. (Courtesy of Dean S. Bird)

Through 1805, John Ward would continue to buy land in the area from the Shed family. There are no mentions of a pond, but property boundaries on the Road to Worcester and the Road from Watertown tell us that he was buying land on the road where today’s Huntington avenue and Brookline’s Boylston street meet – we would also call it Route 9. This was the very edge of Roxbury, and directly adjacent to the old Brookline settlement of Punch Bowl, now known as Brookline Village. We can imagine that land near the village of Punch Bowl and along the busy road from Boston to the west would have made a good location for a blacksmith shop. In 1804 and 1805, John again enters the records, taking payment from the Boston Aqueduct Corporation for allowing them to lay pipe over his land. This would be the route that Jamaica Pond water would follow on its way to satisfy a thirsty Boston.

John and Martha Ward had eight children, Of those, only two daughters and one son are recorded as having survived to adulthood. Samuel, who would inherit the property, was born in September of 1772. Unlike his father, Samuel became a farmer. Samuel appears in an 1818 newspaper article reporting on a Brighton cattle show. In a plowing match on a fine October day, a yoke of oxen owned by Samuel Ward of Roxbury was awarded second prize. The story notes that farmer Ward’s team pulled the famous plow made by Jeffe Warren of Dedham. Roxbury farmers were leaders in the agricultural improvement movement of the time, so it should be no surprise that a Roxbury man was using the latest in plow technology. We also find Samuel Ward’s farming prowess cited in a history of Boston published in 1881. It states there that “The farm of Samuel Ward now belonging to the Brookline Land Company, was famous fifty years ago for its Roxbury Russet apples, often producing a thousand barrels a year; and also for cherries, of which he sent to market forty to fifty bushels daily in the season, and occasionally he dispatched a four-ox team to Providence with seventy-five bushels.”

Samuel Ward had married Joanna Bird in 1799. Joanna bore 14(!) children, few of whom are recorded to have survived to adulthood. Already mentioned are Henry Shed (H.S.) Ward and James Otis (J.O.) Ward, whose initialed names appear on the 1859 map discussed above. Henry actually died in New Hampshire at 37 in 1844. His share of the old estate would pass to his brother James, who survived him by 11 years.

James Otis Ward.

The life of James O. Ward takes us away from Jamaica Plain, but is worth remembering. As told by Dean S.Bird, a descendent on both the Ward and Bird side of the family, James Ward traveled to New York to sell the produce of his father’s farm. Remaining in New York, he became a successful businessman. After first running his own chandlery business, supplying ship owners and seaman with all their various needs, he then purchased his own ships and became a trader between New York and the West Indies. His son, James Edward Ward, founded the Ward Line, one of the largest steamship lines of its era.

Ward property plan, 1845.

When James O. Ward died in February of 1855, flags in New York harbor flew at half mast. In March of 1860, the executor of his estate sold 80 acres of land along Muddy River for $83,000 to the Brookline Land Company. The property plan shown here was drawn in 1845, and shows the Ward Farm at the time. Most of the estate at that time was in Brookline, but the name Ward’s Pond is recorded for the first time, and the pond itself sits inside the town of Roxbury. To the north, the farm extends to today’s Riverway at Brookline Village.

So now we know: the Wards lived on the old Roxbury/Brookline border, more Roxbury than Jamaica Plain residents. They did once own the land surrounding the eponymous pond, and left their name to one of Jamaica Plain’s small jewels on Boston’s Emerald Necklace.

Special thanks go out to Dean S. Bird for his many contributions to this article: family genealogy, stories, and portraits. The portrait of Samuel Ward shown here has been passed down through the Ward and Bird families, and is owned today by Dean.

Sources:

Massachusetts Spy, October 28, 1818. Brighton Cattle Show article.

The Memorial History of Boston; including Suffolk County, Massachusetts 1630-1880. Vol. 4. Samuel Ward farming citation.

Suffolk County Registry of Deeds:

162:16 – 1/8/1788. James Shed, 44 acres to John Ward.

Norfolk County Registry of Deeds:

22:61 – 7/27/1804; 22:196 – 1/7/1805. John Ward, rights to lay pipe to Boston Aqueduct Corporation.

285:1 – 3/1/1860. Estate of James O. Ward, 80 acres to John Wetherbee Jr., broker, for Brookline Land Company.

Jamaica Plain Historical Society Tour - Stony Brook

Abt Hall - Jamaica Plain Neighborhood House.


I'll be leading this week's Saturday tour of the Stony Brook neighborhood. We'll start at the Stony Brook Orange Line T station and work our way down to Green street. I'll be talking about the changes in the district, from the time that wolves prowled the forest through the coming of the railroad and the settlement of German immigrants in the area. We'll visit James Michael Curley's church and the old Haffenreffer brewery complex - now the home to Sam Adams beer.

Tour starts at 11:00 AM, weather permitting, and is free. Come by and say hello.

Moses Day - the Man and the Street

Moses Day house at Cross and Heath streets (underlined in red). (H.F. Walling 1859).



Moses Day house, on Day street near Heath street. (Bromley, 1884.)




Sewell & Day Cordage Co. Between Parker street and Huntington avenue. (Bromley, 1884)


Jamaica Plain's Day street runs north from Centre street at Hyde Square towards Heath street. It originally connected with Heath street, but now stops where Minden street connects a block short of Heath street. Day, Centre and Heath streets all date far back into Jamaica Plain history, and all may originate to the 1662 Roxbury laying out of streets that gives us the earliest recorded street date. In 1825, another common date for street acceptance in Roxbury, the road between Centre and Heath streets was given the name Cross street (as shown on the 1859 map above).

So how did Cross street become Day street? The answer comes from the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds. In May of 1848, Benjamin Sewall and Moses Day, partners in Sewall and Day Cortage Company, purchased 8 acres of land from Joseph P. Shaw, then of New Orleans. In time, Day would buy part of the lot, with his house already built upon it, from his partner Sewall. In April of 1868, Cross street was renamed Day street, in honor of one of Roxbury's leading businessmen - along with owning the ropeworks, Day bought and sold land in Roxbury.

The second map above, from 1884, shows the Day house, then owned by his heirs, on a much smaller lot. The bottom map, from the same year, shows the Sewall and Day Cordage Company, between Parker street and Huntington avenue. Note the long, narrow building along Parker street. That was the rope walk, a traditional part of every rope factory. The longer the rope walk, the longer was the rope that could be made in one piece. Rope walks appear in Roxbury maps from the early/mid-19th Century. They were a fire hazard because of all the dry hemp and hot tar they contained, and the smell of tar made them unattractive as well. The newly filled land that makes up today's Fenway district was just the place to put a rope walk. Note that the 1884 map shows Sewall and Day owning land across Huntington avenue as well. That land would become the Museum of Fine Arts property soon after.

Sewall and Day opened their ropeworks in 1835. Day himself is noted for having modified the spinning jenny to assemble rope yarns in 1841. At a time when Boston ships carried a large share of American sea-going freight, rope-making would have been a critical industry for the area, and any improvement in manufacture would have given advantage to Boston's overseas traders.


Resources: American Heritage.com - Ropemaking
Norfolk County Registry of Deeds:

180:101 - 5/10/1848 Joseph P. Shaw to Benjamin Sewall and Moses Day
310:198 - 12/2/1862 Benjamin Sewall to Moses Day (part of same lot).

How Creighton Street Got Its Name

Creighton street development plan - 1859.


Bromley Atlas, 1884.



Creighton st. 1895 (David Rumsey Collection).


As a follow-up to an earlier street name post, I've done some digging and added Hyde Square's Creighton street to the list of known street name origins. As so often happens in local history, I came about the source of Creighton street's name in a roundabout way. I was investigating the Blessed Sacrament Church property, which once was the site of the Withington Tavern. Phineas Withington sold the tavern and 3 acres of land to Phillip Wentworth for $6000 in 1805. The second map above, dated 1884, shows Elizabeth Wentworth still in posession of the property. It was Elizabeth who led me to the Creightons.

Addendum (9/29/09) In browsing the History of the First Church in Roxbury, I learned that after Phineas Withington sold his inn to Phillip Wentworth, he opened another inn on Naushon Island during the War of 1812.

The property plan at the top of the entry shows the Halsey Homestead Sites in 1859, with Creighton street in place - if only in the imagination of a surveyor. Notice the difference between the property plan and the 1884 map. On the 1859 plan, there were house lots laid out on either side of Creighton street. Twenty-five years later, Elizabeth Wentworth owned all the land on the east side of Creighton street. In fact, a deed search shows that Elizabeth purchased lots 22-27 in December of 1859, the same year the plan was drawn.

But what of the Creighton name? Elizabeth purchased the six house lots from Thomas Lloyd Halsey Creighton. In one bold stroke, we connect the Halsey name to Creighton - it's not often that it's that clear cut. Thomas Creighton was a Halsey, and his antecedent, Thomas Halsey, had owned the same land when Withington sold his tavern to Phillip Wentworth in 1805.

Unfortunately, Thomas Halsey's presence in Roxbury at the turn of the 19th Century has so far eluded my grasp. Thomas Lloyd Halsey was born in either Boston or Newburyport Massachusetts (depending on sources) in 1750, and died at Providence, Rhode Island in 1838, at 88 years old. Thomas had seven children, including another Thomas, who served as Consul to Buenos Aires during the early 1800s, and Harriet, who married Commodore John Orde Creighton, USN. They had six children, including Admiral Johnston Blakeley Creighton and Thomas Lloyd Halsey Creighton, whom we've already met. Various deeds list all six Creighton siblings as owner of the old Halsey estate.

That leaves me with two mysteries: how did the Halsey's get from Roxbury to Providence, where Harriet, mother of Thomas Lloyd Halsey Creighton, was born and died? And how did the children of Harriet - rather than Harriet's siblings - end up owning the property?

Unfortunately, I've been unable to nail down Thomas Halsey himself. A Thomas Halsey arrived at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 1630s, but he moved on to New York, settling on Long Island. Online sources all point to that earlier Thomas Halsey, and leave us wondering where our Thomas came from, and how his family ended up in Providence.

As a bonus to our Creighton exploration, I can tell you that Commodore Creighton served in the Mediterranean, where his notorious temper involved him in multiple cases of abuse of seamen and near-mutinies. If Creighton street was named for the man, and not for the family, then it carries an interesting origin indeed. Beatings, whippings, petitions to Congress and charges brought against the man bring us back to a time when naval service - and sea-going life in general - was closer to slavery than our modern ideas of military service. An online search for John Orde Creighton will tell the tale for those interested.

You never know where you'll end up when you start digging into the most prosaic of local history topics.



Sources:

Thomas Lloyd Halsey genealogy
Thomas Lloyd Halsey papers
History of the First Church in Roxbury

Norfolk County Registry of Deeds:

23:85 - 6/11/1805: Phineas Withington to Phillip Wentworth.
283:82 - 12/30/1859: T.L.H. Creighton to Elizabeth Wentworth.

Jamaica Plain's Little Ireland

Plan of the south portion of the Greenough estate - August, 1850.


Keyes street extension - east of the railroad tracks.


Five generations of Greenough inhabited Jamaica Plain, between 1783 and 1924. The original 50 acre estate stayed in the family until the third generation of Greenoughs began developing the estate and selling off property. I'm focusing here on the south-most portion of the property, which was developed by the eldest sibling, David S. Greenough the third. The plan above shows Carolina avenue, Starr street (later Call street), Lee street and Keyes street. Keyes street later became McBride street (discussed here), and it's Keyes street that we'll be looking at today.

The name Keyes comes from John Keyes, who purchased the south-most end of the Joshua Loring property at the same time as the Greenoughs aquired the larger, northern portion. The Keyes property ran from the edge of this plan - the McBride/Boynton street back yard border - south towards Forest Hills, and probably included today's Boynton, Hall, Rosemary, Spalding and Anson streets. Keyes was a tanner, and ran a tannery somewhere on the site.

While this and other plans of the Greenough property show house lots with frontage of 90 feet and more, the lots of Keyes street were mostly a uniform 50 feet wide. Before the 1840s and the development of Green street, Jamaica Plain was dotted with estates of an acre and larger, so Keyes street was clearly aimed at a different market than the Boston businessmen who had settled into the Jamaica Pond area. In fact, as the list of buyers below shows, Keyes street was laid out to provide homes for the Irish laborers who had flooded into Jamaica Plain in the immediately preceding years. These small lots for the Irish immigrants were put on the far edge of the Greenough property, away from Centre street, Jamaica Pond and the northern part of the Greenough estate, which would be sold off in much larger lots to wealthier buyers.

The second plan shows Keyes street extension, on the Washington street side of the railroad tracks. This was the location of the Jamaica Plain Gas Company, which provided the fuel for the gas lamps of the community until bought out by Boston Gas at the end of the 1800s. They actually produced gas on the site from coal, as I've discussed here. At least one lot on this plan appears on the list below, so I've added this plan for completeness.

Going down the list of buyers below, the first thing that jumps out at me is that most of them appear to have already lived in the town of West Roxbury (which existed from 1851-1874). Most of those probably lived in Jamaica Plain, rather than the less populous Roslindale or today's West Roxbury district. So if the Irish just arrived in Jamaica Plain in the 1840s, and this was one of the first developments of housing for lower income workers, then where had they been living before they bought these lots? My guess is that many of the listed laborers probably lived in on the existing Yankee estates as live-in handymen. The 1850 Census lists many such Irish in Jamaica Plain, women as servants and men as laborers. They may also have lived and worked on the farms that still operated of the outskirts of the community, such as those near today's Morton street and Franklin Park. There are house builders, carpenters and masons among the buyers, a blacksmith and a plasterer. Edward Ward, the plasterer, got his lot by virtue of his wife Mary, who purchased the land in her own right, free and clear of her husband's interference. You'll often see the generalization that women had no legal independence during this era, but deeds such as this one show otherwise.

With the Gas company at one end of Keyes street and the horse car barns soon to come to South street (1858). Keyes street was well situated to serve as the new Irish district of Jamaica Plain. Over time, the neighborhood would extend north to Carolina avenue and south to new streets along South street. It's no accident that the first Catholic church in Jamaica Plain was built a block from Keyes street and next door to the horse-car barns and the jobs they provided. Where the Irish went, the church followed.






August, 1850 - Peter Dolan, Roxbury - Lot 9.

September 1851 - Daniel Sweet, Roxbury, Housewright - Lot 60.

October 1852 - Michael Dunlavy, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 6.

October 1852 - Patrick Condray, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 7.

January 1853 - William O. Farrell, housewright - Lot 11.

May 1853 - John D. Neif, Blacksmith - Lots 1 & 2.

June 1853 - Michael Harney, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 5.

October 1853 - John Mahar - Lot 3.

October 1853 - Patrick Fahy, Yeoman - Lot 12.

October 1853 - Edward Dolan, West Roxbury - Lot 4.

March 1855 - Michael Mulry, West Roxbury - Lot 22.

November 1856 - Lawrence Kelly, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 6.

December 1856 - Thomas Byrne, West Roxbury, Stone layer - Lot 13.

June 1857 - Patrick Comerford, West Roxbury, Carpenter - Lot 17.

July 1857 - Mary Ward, wife of Edward, of West Roxbury, Plasterer - Lot 16. ("Sole and separate use and free from the interference and control of her husband.")

August 1857 - Patrick Lawler, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 15.

August 1857 - Henry and Elizabeth McDonald - *** Lots 1,2,3.

February 1858 - Thomas Harney, West Roxbury - Lot 18.

July 1858 - Martin Seaver, West Roxbury - Lot 20.

May 1859 - Richard Corcoran, West Roxbury - Lots 58 & 59.

May 1859 - JP Gas Co. - *** Lot 4 plus a passageway.

May 1859 - Peter Dolan, West Roxbury - Lot 1.

May 1861 - James Gatlety, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lots 41 & 42.

February 1862 - James Dolan, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 57.

May 1863 - Henry Land, Weymouth, Merchant - Lots 44 & 45.

July 1863 - Patrick Gavin, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 46.

October 1866 - Thomas Cunningham, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 47.

October 1866 - Michael Shanahan, West Roxbury. Laborer - Lot 45.

December 1867 - Patrick Condray, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 54.

March 1868 - Roddy Doyle, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 53.

December 1869 - James Gately, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 43.

September 1870 - John and Patrick Devine, West Roxbury, Laborers - Lot 51.

October, 1870 - Michael Donnely, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 54.

September 1872 - John Corbett, West Roxbury, Laborer - Lot 53.



Source: Norfolk County Registry of Deeds.

Jamaica Plain Historical Society Tour - Sumner Hill

This week's tour features Sumner Hill. We start at the Loring-Greenough house and walk up Greenough avenue to the home of General William H. Sumner, who built the first house in this part of the old Greenough estate. This tour features some great architecture plus the fascinating people who lived there. We have an industrialist, a suffragist and the mother of a Confederate hero.

Tour starts at 11:00 AM at the Loring-Greenough house, weather permitting, and it's free, as always. And as an added bonus, I'll be leading this tour, so come by and say hello.


For more info, go here.

Who is that street named after?

I did my best to list the people that streets are named after. As you approach the end of the 19th Century, it gets harder to figure out who the streets are named for - I'm guessing that most of them were not long-time residents. Thus, no Sheridan, no Hall, no Dunster or Dane streets. No doubt I've missed some easy ones. Unfortunately, no one kept records of who named the streets, or how the names were chosen.



Achorn circle - Edgar Achorn, lawyer, lived along South st.

Amory st - Amory estate.

Ballard st - Ballard family owned land along South st.

Beethoven st - German composer.

Bismark st - German politician.

Boylston st - Nicholas Ward Boylston, owned land from Centre street back to the railroad tracks.

Brewer st - Sarah Brewer lived in the house at the corner of Brewer and Thomas streets.

Brown terrace - land owned by A.S. Brown, businessman.

Burroughs st - William Burroughs laid out road.

Bussey st - Benjamin Bussey - owner of the Arboretum land during early 1800s.

Call st - John M. Call had an estate near Green street train station.

Child st - probably Abner Child - owned land across South street - sold the land for St Thomas' church.

Eliot st - John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians, gave the land on either side for the Eliot School.

Goldsmith place - Benjamin Goldsmith owned a house along Centre st and a slaughterhouse set
back from the road.

Goldsmith st - Benjamin Goldsmith owned a farm along Centre street where the Arborway and the Arboretum are now.

Goodrich rd - Samuel Goodrich, pen name Peter Parley, lived across Centre st.

Greenough ave - D.S. Greenough developed the street from his family's estate.

Hagar st - Daniel Hagar was principal of the Eliot school during the mid-1800s, lived in the area.

Harris ave - Luther Harris, doctor.

Heath st - Heath family, including General Heath, Revolutionary war.

Holbrook st - Amos Holbrook had a house and farm along Centre st beside the Unitarian church.

Hopkins Road - named in 1926 for Sabina Hopkins McCourt, mother of Francis M. McCourt (1886-1956) who purchased and developed the street and surrounding lots (added from comments).

John A. Andrews - Mass. Civil War Governor

Lamartine st - French poet, friend of Samuel Goodrich, whose estate was part of Lamartine street.

Louder's lane - Louder family.

Marlou terrace. - A portmanteau name from Marie and Louis Mahn, owners of the land later subdivided into the street.

May st - May family - John May, settled the land in the 1600s.

McBride st - deceased WW I soldier

Meehan st - Patrick Meehan, builder, developer owned land.

Mozart st - Austrian [German] composer. Commenter Eeka points out that Mozart was Austrian. The Germans of Jamaica Plain may have seen him as one of their own.

Newsome park - George Newsome bought estate, moved the old house and developed the street.

Parley ave - Author Samuel Goodrich had estate on site.

Parley vale - Same as above.

Paul Gore st - Gore family owned land along Centre street at site of road.

Perkins st - James Perkins purchased Pinebank land in early 1800s along Connecticut road,
named Perkins street in 1825.

Peter Parley rd - Pseudonym of author Samuel Goodrich - built a house here, but never lived in it.

Prince st - Capt.John Prince bought the old Governor Bernard estate along Jamaica Pond, developed the road between Pond and Perkins streets.

School st - land surrounding School st between Stony brook and Walnut avenue was donated to the Roxbury public school - later Roxbury Latin - by Daniel Bell.

Seaverns ave - Luther Seaverns owned land the fronted on Centre street where Seaverns ave. is now.

Starr lane - Daniel Starr, blacksmith, had a shop set back from Centre street here during the early 1800s. Starr lane was probably a right-of-way to get to his property. His wife actually bought the land in her own right.

Thomas st - Hugh Thomas and wife donated land to the Eliot School.

Walter st - Rev Walter, first pastor of 2nd Roxbury parish.

Warren sq - land formerly owned by Dr John Warren.

Weld avenue - Weld family owned Arboretum land until 1802, and much of Forest Hills after that.

Weld Hill st - Weld family.

Wyman st - Wyman family owned land here.