Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

by William T. Davis

In an earlier chapter I gave a list of the streets, squares, lanes and alleys, which existed in my boyhood, with the promise to say something concerning the changes, which they had gone through, and the houses and people and incidents associated with them. I have since taken a passing glance at Court, Main, Middle and North streets with the intention of referring to them again. In my treatment of Water street I have dwelt in detail on its buildings and occupants.

The next street in order is Leyden street, the most interesting of all the streets, associated, as it is with the first winter of the Pilgrims, with the Common House, the store houses, and the seven cottages, which with their walls of plank, their roofs of thatch, and windows of paper, served as hospitals for the sick and shelter for all. How far east and west the original street extended is conjectural. It is probable that on the west it extended at least as far as the fort, which in 1622 was built near the top of burial hill, and that within a year or two habitations for single families were constructed on both sides of the street. The easterly end of the original street is more doubtful. It must be remembered that what we call ropewalk pond was a part of the harbor, a broad cove or bay with a wide entrance extending from a point on the south near the southerly corner of the present foundry, to a point on the north near the southerly end of the Electric Light building. It is probable that this cove extended so far west that it felt the flow of the tide for some distance above the present arch of Spring hill. It will therefore be seen that this bay furnished an excellent boat harbor protected from the ocean blasts, and, being in close proximity to the store houses, was undoubtedly used as a landing place for boats, plying to and from the Mayflower during her stay in the harbor.

In view of these conditions it is probable that the original street extended no farther east than the narrow way which may still be seen on the easterly side of the house with a brick end opposite the Universalist church, a way which is referred to in ancient deeds, and which in my opinion led to the landing place, and was used by the Pilgrims in reaching or leaving their settlement by water. The first official laying out of Leyden street was made in connection with Water street in 1716, and is entered in the town records under date of February 16, 1715-16 old style, or February 26, 1716 new style. It is signed by Benjamin Warren, John Dyer, John Watson and Abial Shurtleff, selectmen, and reads as follows: “Then laid out by us the subscribers, Town Wayes (viz) as followeth A street Called first street beginning att a stone sett into ye Ground att ye Corner of Ephraim Coles smiths shop, from Thence to rainge East 21 Degrees northerly To John Rickard’s Corner bounds at The brow of The hill, & from thence To a stone att ye foot of the hill on the same Rainge The sd street is: 40: ffoots in Weadth att The bounds first mentioned, and to carrey its width till it comes to The Northerly Corner of Capt. Dyer’s house There being a stone sett into ye Ground & from Thence To Rainge East Two Degrees Northerly To a stone sett into the Ground att The foot of The hill a little above Ephraim Kempton’s house being the westerly corner bounds of the way That leads over the Brook and from Thence Northeast: 16: Degrees Easterly 40: foots to A stone sett into The Ground a little above John Rickard’s upper Ware house, and from Thence To Extend Northeast: 6: Degrees Northerly one hundred and Three foots to a stone sett into ye Ground being 16 Degrees Southeasterly 30 foots from a stone sett into ye Ground at ye foot of the hill Neere or upon The Sootherly Corner of John Ward’s land on ye westerly side of The Way That leads To ye New street Thence from sd stone To Extend Northeast 5 Degrees Northerly 29 foots To another stone sett in ye Ground in John Wards land & from Thence To Extend North 20 Degrees Easterly To a stone sett into ye Ground att ye North East Corner of Mr. John Watson’s cooper’s shop, and from Thence to Extend North 7 Degrees Easterly to a stone and poast sett into ye Ground above Thomas Dotyes Coopers shop, and from Thence to Extend North 21 Degrees westerly to a stone and poast sett in ye Ground above Thomas Doten’s cooper shop, and from Thence to Extend North: 25: Degrees Westerly to a stone and stake sett into ye Ground Within The easterly corner bound of new street said stake and stones being West, & eleven Degrees Northerly 36 foots from the Northerly part of A Grat Rock yt lyeth below ye Way The sd Way from ye stone att ye foat of ye hill neere the Southerly Corner of John Ward’s land is: 30: foot in width Till it comes to ye stake and stones at ye Easterly Corner of ye New streete.” This laying out is especially interesting as mentioning Plymouth Rock.

A part of the smith shop of Ephraim Cole, at the corner of which the above laying out began, is still standing, and may be seen in the rear part of the express office on the corner of Main street. The corner of John Rickard’s land was at a point on the stone wall opposite the middle of the alley next to the house of Wm. W. Brewster. Capt. John Dyer’s house stood where the brick end house stands, and the Ephraim Kempton house stood about thirty or forty feet from the present street on the lot now occupied by Mr. Blackmer’s stable. It is probable that the land in front of the house was kept open, and that the way across the brook began at the corner of the narrow way above mentioned just below the Dyer house, and crossing the open space diagonally, passed east of the Kempton house to the fording place. All through my boyhood the Kempton house was occupied by Mrs. Wm. Drew, who married for a second husband in 1833, Isaac Morton Sherman, the father of Leander L. Sherman, formerly the janitor of the Central Engine house. Its removal many years ago marked one of the changes which have occurred in Leyden street within my recollection.

Until, perhaps twenty-five or thirty years ago, there was an ancient footway leading from Cole’s Hill at a point nearly opposite the south front of the house of Henry W. Barnes, next to the Universalist church, to Leyden street, directly opposite to the way to the fording place above mentioned. That footway doubtless ante-dated the opening of a way between Cole’s Hill and the water, and served to enable those who were occupying lots on North, then New Street, to make a short cut over the hill to Leyden street, and thence to either the boat harbor landing or across the ford to the south side of the settlement.

The John Rickard land referred to in the laying out of Leyden street included all the land between LeBaron’s alley on the west, Leyden street on the south, and the footway on the east, and extended to Middle street. It was occupied for one hundred and eighty-seven years by a house built in 1639 by Robert Hicks, which was taken down in 1826, when the Universalist Church was erected on its site. If it were standing today, as it stood when I was four years of age, it would be the oldest house in New England, and invaluable as a relic of the Pilgrims. It was reached by a path or private way leading from Leyden street, and this way was never laid out as a public way until 1827, after the Universalist church was built. A picture of this house may be seen in Mr. Wm. S. Russell’s Pilgrim Memorials, where in accordance with tradition it is called the Allyne house, after Joseph Allyne, who never owned it, but merely occupied it a short time as a tenant. It is often the case that a passing and perhaps trifling incident fastens on a spot or house a name, which has no rightful claim. I remember an illustration of this, which made Hon. Isaac L. Hedge very indignant. He was born in the house now occupied and owned by Wm. R. Drew on Leyden street, and lived there until he was married, the house remaining in the possession of his father until his death in 1840, and of his mother until her death in 1849, and of their heirs until 1854, when it was sold. For a short time after 1854, before it was sold to Mr. Drew, Zaben Olney occupied it as a hotel. Mr. Hedge became entirely blind, and employed John O’Brien to take his arm and walk with him about the streets. One day in walking down Leyden street he said: “Where are we now, John?” “Right by the old Olney house,” John replied. Alas! “how soon are we forgot.” The names of the wharves are gone, and Jackson, Hedge, Davis, Nelson and Carver have given way to Long, Pilgrim, Atwood, Millar and Craig, to be christened again by succeeding owners and occupants.

So far as the bounds of Leyden street are concerned, there has been no change in my day except the widening mentioned in a previous chapter at its junction with Water street. The changes in houses have been numerous. The Turner house above the old blockmaker’s shop and Turner’s Hall, has been removed, and its site occupied by the Electric Light Co. Nearly in front of it, a little below, near the westerly end of the blacksmith’s shop of Southworth and Ichabod Shaw was a public well, on which the neighborhood relied for good drinking water. The aqueduct water delivered through wooden logs from questionable sources, led our people to depend largely on pumps or wells. These were scattered all over the town, either public or private, and even to the private wells householders were permitted free access. There were public wells at the foot of North street, and below the bank at the foot of Middle street, and there was the town pump at the foot of Spring hill. Besides these there were the county well, a well between the old Lothrop house and Judge Thomas’ house opposite the head of North street, another between John Gooding’s and Dr. Bartlett’s houses on Main street, another in the yard of Capt. Wm. Rogers on North street, another in the rear of Jacob Jackson’s house on what is now Winslow street, which was known as Jacob’s well, and there was still another near the sidewalk on Sandwich street, opposite the Green, between the Elkanah Bartlett and Rogers houses. The wells on North street and below Middle street were liable to be fouled by drains, and their water was not used for drinking or cooking. Before the introduction of South Pond water, the whalemen and fishermen filled their water casks at a pump in the yard of John Tribble’s paint shop on Water street. But the well in Leyden street was the one to which I was often sent when a boy with two pails and a hoop to get our daily supply.

There was another old house near the so-called Allyne house, which I well remember. It stood on the bank with its front door on what is now Carver street, nearly opposite the easterly side of the house of Henry W. Barnes, and was reached by the way from Middle street. It was for many years owned and occupied by Wm. Holmes, the father of the three captains, Samuel Doten, Truman Cook and Winslow Holmes, and after his death, by his daughter Hannah, the wife of Laban Burt. It was taken down forty or fifty years ago. The Universalist church, and the parsonage east of it, stand on land bought of Barnabas Hedge in 1826, with the agreement on the part of Mr. Hedge that the bank opposite the church, which still belongs to his heirs should never be built on. The Universalist Society was incorporated in 1826, and the church was dedicated December 22, in that year. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Rev. David Pickering of Providence. On the afternoon of the same day, Rev. James H. Bugbee was ordained pastor, the ordaining sermon being preached by Rev. John Bisbee of Hartford. Between the time of the organization of the church, March 10, 1822, and the ordination of Mr. Bugbee, Messina Ballou and Rev. Mr. Morse and others, preached to the society in one of the town halls. Mr. Bugbee was followed by Albert Case and Russell Tomlinson, who resigned in 1867, and was followed by A. Bosserman, Alpheus Nickerson, George L. Swift, A. H. Sweetzer and W. W. Hayward and others remembered by my readers. The parsonage house was at one time owned by Jeremiah Farris, and its sale by him to Roland Edwin Cotton, unaccompanied by whittling or dickering, was somewhat characteristic of the purchaser. Mr. Farris meeting Mr. Cotton in the street one day was asked by him what he would sell his house for next to the Universalist church. Mr. Farris named a price, taking care to name one high enough to allow for a discount, and Mr. Cotton, without taking breath, promptly said, “Too much by half, I’ll take it.”

The house next above the Universalist church, long known as the Marcy house, reminds me of a gentleman at one time its occupant, who for many years filled a large space in the social and official life of Plymouth, and performed elsewhere distinguished service in behalf of the state. Jacob H. Loud, born in Hingham, February 5, 1802, graduated at Brown University in 1822 and after studying law with Ebenezer Gay of Hingham, was admitted to the bar at the Common Pleas Court in Plymouth in August, 1825, and at once began practice in our town. His first office was in the building at the corner of Spring Hill and Summer street, which was taken down a few years ago, from which place he moved in 1827 to No. 3 Town Square, then called Market Square, which afterwards became the post office when Bridgham Russell was appointed postmaster in 1832. He married May 5, 1829, Elizabeth Loring Jones of Hingham, and occupied for a time the Marcy house above mentioned. From there he changed his residence to the house next below Mr. Beaman’s undertaking rooms on Middle street, but in 1832 he bought a part of the Lothrop lot opposite the head of North street, and built and occupied the house now owned and occupied by Mrs. F. B. Davis. After the death of Beza Hayward, Register of Probate of Plymouth County, which occurred June 4, 1830, he was appointed to succeed him, and held office until 1852. In 1853, 1854 and 1855, he was chosen by the legislature state treasurer. From 1855 to 1866 he was president of the Old Colony Bank, State and National, Director of the Old Colony Railroad from 1845 to 1850, and again from 1869 until his death, Representative in 1862, Senator in 1863 and 1864, State Treasurer again by a vote of the people from 1865 to 1871, and actuary of the New England Trust Co. of Boston until his retirement in 1879. In 1871 he bought the house now owned and occupied by Father Buckley, and occupied it during the summer months until his death, which occurred in Boston, February 2, 1880.

The next house built by James Bartlett, Jr., in 1832, has been referred to in a previous chapter. It occupies a part of the land given by Bridget Fuller and Samuel Fuller, the widow and son of Dr. Samuel Fuller of the Mayflower, in 1664, to the Church of Plymouth for the use of a minister. The easterly boundary of the land was the middle of the alley, long known as LeBaron’s alley. The house which up to 1832 stood on the site now occupied by the house built by Mr. Bartlett, was built by Lazarus LeBaron, and in my boyhood was occupied by Dr. Isaac LeBaron, the grandson of Lazarus. Land for the alley was thrown out by Lazarus LeBaron and James Rickard, the owner of the adjoining estate, and was laid out as a town way, September 7 and 10, 1832. At the time of the Fuller gift there was a house standing on the lot which was once owned by Rev. John Cotton, the pastor of the First Church, and which afterwards was displaced by the house built by Lazarus LeBaron.