Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

by William T. Davis

The Warren house on the corner of North street was occupied as long ago as I can remember by Henry Warren, the son of James Warren, of the revolution, whose wife was Mercy Otis, sister of James Otis, and who lived in the house in question. Mr. Warren was born in 1764, and married in 1791 Mary, daughter of Pelham and Joanna (White) Winslow. He was the collector of the port from 1803 to 1820, and died July 6, 1828. He had two daughters and seven sons. Of these James died young, and Mary Ann died unmarried. Marcia married in 1813, John Torrey, and was the mother of Henry Warren Torrey, late professor of history at Harvard. Winslow, born in 1795, graduated at Harvard in 1813, and fitting himself for the practice of medicine settled in Plymouth, where as early as 1831 he became a partner of Dr. Nathan Hayward. His office was for some years at the corner of North street, and there in 1832 I was examined by him as chairman of the School Committee for admission into the High School. He married in January, 1835, Margaret, daughter of Dr. Zacheus and Hannah (Jackson) Bartlett, and after the death of Dr. Bartlett, which occurred December 25, 1835, he moved into his office and occupied it until his death, June 10, 1870. Dr. Warren was not only learned and skillful in his profession, but was also a man of mental culture, familiar with the world’s affairs, and decided in his opinions on the great questions of the day; a man of moral culture, conscientious to the last degree; a man of social culture, a true gentleman. Pelham Winslow Warren, born in 1797, graduated at Harvard in 1815, and from 1822 to 1831 was the clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, holding also in 1829 the office of collector of the port of Plymouth, and living in the Warren house. During the last few years of his residence in Plymouth he was the superintendent of the Sunday school in the old church. The general lessons given by him I remember well. They were not mere platitudes, such as are often addressed to children, but interesting and instructive in language adapted to young minds on the handiwork of God in sea, earth and sky. Under his ministrations I became for the first time conscious of a power to think. When the Railroad Bank in Lowell was incorporated he was appointed its cashier, and lived some years in that city. When he retired from the Bank he removed to Boston, and engaged in the banking and brokerage business until his death. He married at Clark’s Island in 1825, Jeanette, daughter of John and Lucia (Watson) Taylor, and died in Boston, October 6, 1848.

Charles Henry Warren, born September 29, 1798, graduated at Harvard in 1817. He studied law with Joshua Thomas of Plymouth and Levi Lincoln of Worcester, and settled in New Bedford first as a partner of Lemuel Williams, and later of Thomas Dawes Eliot, and from 1832 to 1839 was District Attorney for the five southern counties of Massachusetts. In 1839 he was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas Court, continuing on the bench until 1844, when he removed to Boston and associated himself with the law firm of Fiske and Rand, composed of Augustus H. Fiske and Benjamin Rand. He appeared as counsel for the defendant in the memorable trial of Rev. Joy H. Fairchild, charged with adultery, and secured his acquittal. Experiencing premonitions of heart disease he abandoned practice, and in 1846 was chosen president of the Boston and Providence railroad, remaining in office until 1867. He was president of the Massachusetts Senate in 1851, and president of the Pilgrim Society from 1845 to 1852. He married Abby, daughter of Barnabas and Eunice Dennie (Burr) Hedge of Plymouth, and died in Plymouth, June 29, 1874. As no monument or stone marks the place of his burial, I think it proper to say that the bodies of both himself and wife were deposited in the Warren tomb.

Richard Warren was born in 1805, and in early manhood embarked in business in Boston and failed, settling with his creditors for a percentage on their claims. He afterwards removed to New York, where he engaged successfully in an auction commission business, confined chiefly to cargo sales of teas, sugar, coffee and other importations. As soon as his recuperated financial condition warranted, he discharged principal and interest the old indebtedness from which he had been formally released. He was president of the Pilgrim Society from 1852 to 1861, and the two great celebrations of the anniversary of the embarkation of the Pilgrims on Monday, the first of August, 1853, and Tuesday, the second of August, 1859, owe their inspiration largely to him. He married first Angelina, daughter of Dr. Wm. Pitt Greenwood of Boston, and sister of Rev. Francis Wm. Pitt Greenwood of King’s Chapel, and second, Susan Gore of Boston, and died in Boston, April 12, 1875.

George Warren, born in 1807, in early manhood made several voyages as supercargo in the Havana and Russia trade. The ship Harvest belonging to Barnabas Hedge, in which I think he sailed when bound with sugar, to Russia, would put into Plymouth to obtain a clean bill of health before completing her voyage. He afterwards went to New York and formed a partnership with Ebenezer Crocker, a native of Barnstable, under the firm name of Crocker & Warren. The firm owned the following ships: Alert and Talisman, commanded by Capt. Gamaliel Thomas of Plymouth; Queen of the East, commanded by Capt. Truman Bartlett, Jr., of Plymouth; Raven, commanded by Capt. Bursley of Barnstable; Archer, commanded by Capt. Henry, and the Skylark, commanded by Capt. Bursley. Capt. Thomas made seven voyages to Calcutta and California in their employ, and Mr. Warren told me once that his accounts were always so complete and accurate that he could settle with him a nine months’ Calcutta voyage in fifteen minutes. In the great fire which occurred in New York, December 23 and 24, 1835, which burned six hundred and seventy-four houses between lower Broadway and the East River, Crocker & Warren had five hundred bags of saltpetre stored in a warehouse burned, and the cause of repeated explosions which occurred, was for a time a mystery, leading to the often repeated question—will saltpetre explode? It was finally determined that while saltpetre alone is not explosive, the carbon furnished by the burned bags formed an explosive mixture. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Barnabas and Eunice Dennie (Burr) Hedge, and died in New York, November 20, 1866.

Edward J. Warren, born in 1809, was in business in New York many years, a part of the time associated with his brother Richard. Of ready wit and quick eye, and with a familiarity with prices he was one of the most attractive and efficient salesmen in New York. He married Mary, daughter of Wm. G. Coffin, the official head for many years of the Massachusetts land office, and died in New York April 27, 1872.

Soon after Henry Warren died, Madam Warren removed to Boston and lived some years on Allston street, but later returned to Plymouth and occupied successively until her death, the house on Middle street, next to Mr. Beaman’s undertaking rooms, and the house on Main street, where the new bank building stands. In 1833 Dr. Isaac LeBaron moved into the Warren house, and in 1836 occupied the apothecary’s shop, which Dr. Warren had vacated. I not only remember the gilded pestle and mortar over his door, but also the sugar baker’s molasses, which he kept in stock furnished to him by the father or brother of his wife, who owned a sugar refinery in Leverett street, Boston. Almost as dark colored as tar, and nearly hard enough to cut with a knife, it was like the witch’s gruel, “thick and slab,” and those who now eat buckwheat cakes with honey or syrup, have little idea how good they were eaten with that sugar baker’s molasses. Dr. LeBaron died January 29, 1849.

At various times the Warren house was occupied by Mrs. Wm. Spooner, the family of Capt. Wm. Bartlett, and in still later times by the Young Men’s Literary Institute, the Public Library, the Custom House, and stores of Wm. Babb, John Churchill, Pratt & Hedge, James C. Bates, Davis and Whiting, N. M. Davis, Edgar Seavey, Allen Holmes and Edward Baker and Allen T. Holmes. Among the transient residents were Mrs. Ann Boutelle, widow of Dr. Caleb Boutelle, and her daughter Anne Lincoln, boarding with one of the permanent families in the house. The south front chamber is hallowed in my memory, for there on the 5th of December, 1835, Anne Lincoln Boutelle, one of my playmates and schoolmates, died in consumption, one too sweet and pure and frail to tread the rough paths of life. I saw her a day or two before she died, with a little table by her bed side laden with gifts of fruit and flowers, which loving friends had sent, and to which I added my own. I never go into the printing office, which includes the chamber in which she died, without recalling her saintly face, her saintly voice, and her saintly spirit, joyous at the thought of journeying home. A memorial of her life and character was published, written by Mary Ann Stevenson, a niece of Mrs. Judge Joshua Thomas, a copy of which if one can be found, I am anxious to obtain.

The Odd Fellows’ lot on the corner of Main street and Town Square, included as long ago as I can remember the sites of two houses, one on Main street and one on the square. In this chapter only the occupants of the former will be considered. In 1829 there were two stores on the lower floor facing Main street, and two tenements above. The store on the corner was occupied by Salisbury Jackson, who removed in 1835 to a store, which he had fitted up in his house on the south side of Leyden street. He was succeeded by Joseph Cushman, who has been already noticed.

Mr. Cushman was succeeded by J. M. Perry, agent, and Mr. Perry by Henry Orson Steward and Eleazer C. Sherman in the grain business. Mr. Steward, who previously was a member of the firm of Steward and Alderman, carrying on a dry goods store on Leyden street, came to Plymouth from Connecticut, and married Bethiah, daughter of Samuel West and Lois (Thomas) Bagnall. He finally removed from Plymouth, and after a second marriage, died in Framingham. Mr. Sherman later carried on the business alone, removing to a store at the head of Hedge’s wharf, where he remained as long as he continued business in Plymouth. He later became a wholesale dealer, receiving in Plymouth and Boston constant shipments of corn, which were sold in the various markets of the state. He was President of the Old Colony Bank for a time, a member of the executive council, and finally, until his death, President of the Commonwealth National Bank in Boston. He was a son of Levi and Lydia (Crocker) Sherman of Carver, and was born in 1817. He married first Louisa Jane Gurney of North Bridgewater, now Brockton, and second in 1878 Mary L. (Perkins) Thayer, widow of Edward D. Thayer of Boston, and died in Boston.

Mr. Sherman was succeeded by Thomas Loring, who occupied the store many years. Mr. Loring was son of Ezekiel and Lydia (Sherman) Loring of Plympton, and married Lucy, daughter of Jonathan Parker of Plympton, and died in Boston a few years ago.