Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

by William T. Davis

Captain William Bartlett, whose widow occupies the next house, has been already noticed in connection with the loss of the bark, Charles Bartlett, of which he was master. The house has, however, other interesting associations. In the middle of the eighteenth century it was owned and occupied by Ansel Lothrop. Mary Lothrop, daughter of Ansel, had a son born in the house, who received the name of his father, Elkanah Cushman, and was brought up and educated by him. The son was at one time engaged in business as a member of the Boston firm of Cushman & Topliffe, and lived in various places in Charlestown, and in the north end of Boston. Among his places of residence was a wooden house on Richmond street, now called Parmenter street, between Hanover and Salem streets, and there Charlotte Cushman, his daughter, was born, July 23, 1816. It is a little singular that John Gibbs Gilbert, the distinguished actor, should have been born six years before in an adjacent house. Mr. Cushman attended with his family the Second Church on Hanover street, between Richmond and North Bennet streets, of which Henry Ware, Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson and Chandler Robbins were pastors before new places of worship were found in Bedford street, and finally in Copley Square. The site of the Cushman house is now occupied by a school house erected in 1866, and named after the distinguished actress, the “Cushman School.” Miss Cushman early displayed creditable vocal talent, and was one of the choir in the Second Church. On Thursday evening, March 25, 1830, she appeared at a concert given at No. 1 Franklin avenue, by Mr. G. Farmer, her music teacher, when she sung, “Take this Rose,” “Oh, merry row the bonny bark just parting from the shore,” and “Farewell, my love.” Until 1835 she continued to sing in church, and in April of that year, while J. G. Maeder and his wife, who was Clara Fisher, were producing English opera at the Tremont Theatre, the contralto fell ill, and Miss Cushman was selected to sing the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s “Marriage of Figaro” in her place. The next part she sang under the Maeders was Lucy Bertram in “Guy Mannering,” and thus she was early brought into association with the dramatization, in which she became famous. Being shortly afterwards engaged to sing in English operas in New Orleans, she made a sea voyage to that city, during which, as I have always heard, she lost her voice in consequence of the change of climate. Rev. J. Henry Wiggin, whose family were acquainted with the Cushmans at the Northend, and to whom I am indebted for many of the facts in this notice, attributes the loss of voice to the overstraining to which she subjected it after her arrival in New Orleans. Further effort as a singer was of course hopeless, and returning to New York she served three years as a stock actor in the old Park Theatre, under Manager Simpson. It is unnecessary to follow her distinguished career further than to speak of one passage in it, which came under my direct notice. During the winter of 1843 and 1844, which I spent in Philadelphia, she was the lessee and manager of the Chestnut Street Theatre, where I saw her repeatedly in Macbeth, Julia in the Hunchback, Juliana in the Honeymoon, Queen Katherine, Meg Merrilies, Oberon, Bianca in Milman’s Fazio; Lady Gay Sparker, Shylock and Beatrice. In 1847 I saw her at the Haymarket Theatre in London, and I remember how my patriotism was stirred by the rapturous applause her acting elicited. During the Philadelphia winter, to which I have alluded, Miss Cushman, with her father and a brother, whom she was educating at the Pennsylvania Medical School, was a regular attendant morning and evening, at the Unitarian Church, of which Rev. Dr. Furness was pastor.

Miss Cushman had a younger sister, Susan, whose beauty presented a marked contrast to her own masculine plainness. In early life Susan married at the Northend a tailor by the name of Merriman, after whose death Charlotte introduced her to the stage, and as Romeo to Susan’s Juliet, played Romeo and Juliet in London one hundred nights. On the 9th of March, 1848, Susan married in Liverpool Dr. James S. Muspratt, Professor of Chemistry, in that city, and died there May 10, 1859. Charlotte Cushman died in Boston, February 18, 1876, and was buried from King’s Chapel on Washington’s birthday.

Until 1858 a dwelling house stood on the south corner of Court square, which in that year was removed for the purpose of widening the square. All through my youth that house was owned and occupied by Captain Joseph Bartlett. He bought the house in 1800, of Nathaniel Thomas, having up to that time, after his marriage, lived in Wellingsley on an estate which had previously belonged to his father-in-law, Joseph Churchill. Captain Bartlett, through life, kept up the Churchill farm, the entrance to which was through a gate at Jabez Corner. Warren avenue, when it was laid out, followed the cartway, which led through his farm. More than once Captain Bartlett took me in his chaise over to his farm at Poverty Point, as it was called, and I have a vivid recollection of the apples with which I filled my pockets, and the sweet corn which the old gentleman gave me to carry home to my mother. His chaise was one with an iron axle, and its loud rattle in his comings and goings always indicated his latitude and longitude. For many years he was an enterprising and successful ship owner and merchant, and in 1803 bought the lot on the north corner of Court square, and built and occupied the brick house now occupied by William Hedge. His losses were so severe during the embargoes and the war of 1812, that in 1820 he moved back to his old home, and continued to occupy it until his death. He was a son of Samuel and Betsey (Moore) Bartlett, and was born June 16, 1762, and married in 1784, Rebecca Churchill, and had William, 1786, Rebecca, Susan, 1795, Joseph, Augustus, John, Samuel, Benjamin and Eliza Ann. He married second in 1821, Lucy, daughter of Charles Dyer, and died March 4, 1835. His son, William Bartlett, married in 1814, Susan, daughter of Dr. James Thatcher, and had Susan Louisa, 1815, who married Charles O. Boutelle, Elizabeth Thatcher, 1818, John, 1820, and Eliza Ann, 1825.

John Bartlett, son of William and Susan (Thatcher) Bartlett, became distinguished in both commercial and literary life, and deserves a special notice. He was born in Plymouth, June 14, 1820. When his grandfather, Joseph Bartlett, removed in 1820 to his old home, his son, William, the father of John, who had been occupying his father’s house since his marriage in 1814, moved into the brick house and kept it as a public house under the name of the Old Colony Hotel. Exactly how long William Bartlett kept the house I have no means of knowing, but he was succeeded in a year or two, by William Spooner, who was in turn succeeded by Ezra Cushing until 1827, when the house was bought by Nathaniel Russell, and became his residence. I have a letter from Judge John Davis of Boston, dated September 23, 1820, to my grandfather, William Davis, disclosing a plan, proposed by William Sturgis and others, friends of the Pilgrim Society, in Boston, to purchase the house for a memorial edifice, dedicated to the Pilgrims. The plan was to have it kept as a hotel, where meetings of the society might be held, and dinners and balls provided for on anniversary days. Judge Davis was opposed to the scheme, and finally a committee of Boston gentlemen was appointed to aid the trustees of the society in erecting such a memorial as might be agreeable to them. The gentlemen appointed as the committee were Lemuel Shaw, Francis C. Gray, Harrison Gray Otis, Isaac P. Davis, James Savage, George Bond, Benjamin Rich, Francis Bassett, John T. Winthrop and Nathan Hale.

Returning now to John Bartlett, who was born June 14, 1820, the year in which at an unknown date his father moved into the brick house, it is impossible to determine in which house he was born. He was educated in the public schools of Plymouth, and was my schoolmate and playmate. In the autumn of 1836 he entered the bookbinding establishment connected with the University Bookstore in Cambridge, of which John Owen was the proprietor. In the next year, 1837, he became a clerk in the bookstore, and at once displayed remarkable aptitude for the business. He was an extensive reader, and possessed a wide knowledge of authors, and was soon recognized as an expert in the preparation of books for the press. In August, 1846, Mr. Owen failed, and he continued as clerk with his successor, George Nichols, until 1849, when he bought out Mr. Nichols. In 1859 he sold out his store to Sever & Francis, having published a number of books for various authors. He had also published three editions of his “Familiar Quotations,” the first of which was issued in 1856. In 1861 he prepared a few books for publication, but transferred them to Sever & Francis. In 1862 he served as volunteer paymaster nine months on board Admiral Du Pont’s despatch boat. In August, 1863, he entered the publishing house of Little, Brown & Co., as clerk, with the promise that at the expiration of eighteen months, when the existing partnership would terminate, he would be taken into the firm. In 1864 Little, Brown & Co. published the fourth edition of his “Familiar Quotations,” and an edition de luxe of “Walton’s Angler,” edited by him. In February, 1865, he became a partner in the firm, and the literary, manufacturing and advertising departments were assigned to him, all of which he retained during his connection with the firm. In 1882 Little, Brown & Co. published his Shakespeare “Phrase Book,” and in February, 1889, having been several years senior partner, he retired from the firm in order to complete his “Shakespeare Concordance.” The fifth and sixth editions of “Quotations” were published by Little, Brown & Co., the seventh and eighth by Routledge of London, and the ninth by Little, Brown & Co., and Macmillan & Co. of London, and of all these editions, more than two hundred thousand copies, have been sold.

In 1891 Macmillan & Co., of London, offered to publish his “Shakespeare Concordance” at their own risk, and it was issued by them in 1894. In recognition of his literary service, he was made in 1892 a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; in 1871 was awarded by Harvard an honorary degree of Master of Arts, and in 1894, he was made an honorary member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He married, June 4, 1851, Hannah, daughter of Sydney Willard, Professor of Hebrew at Harvard from 1805 to 1831, and granddaughter of Joseph Willard, President of Harvard from 1781 to 1804, and died in Cambridge, December 3, 1905.

I have spoken of the occupants of the brick house on the north corner of Court Square, before 1827, when it came into the possession of Nathaniel Russell, who occupied it from that time until his death, October 21, 1852. He was the son of John and Mercy (Foster) Russell, and was born April 6, 1769, in the house on the west side of Main street next north of Mr. Gooding’s watchmaker’s store, where his father lived from 1759 to 1776. After reaching manhood he was engaged for a time in business in Bridgewater, removing to Plymouth not long after the year 1800, and occupying the house which until recently stood on the lower corner of Middle street and LeBaron’s alley. About 1808 he removed to the house on the north side of Summer street next to the house on the corner of Ring Lane, and made that his home until he bought the house on the corner of Court Square. He was extensively engaged many years in iron manufactures in connection with William Davis and Barnabas Hedge, and after 1837, as the head of the firm of N. Russell & Co. He was a man who always had at heart the welfare of his native town, and joined in every movement to elevate its social and moral condition. A Lyceum in 1829, of which he was President; a Temperance Society at about the same date, with which he was connected; a Peace Society in 1831, and affairs of the church, of which he was a member, always commanded his aid and support. He married, June 18, 1800, Martha, daughter of Isaac LeBaron, and had Nathaniel, Mary Howland, Andrew Leach, Mercy Ann, Francis James, LeBaron and Lucia Jane. He was always known in my day as Captain Nathaniel Russell, having been commissioned by Governor Samuel Adams, May 25, 1795, Captain in the Fourth Regiment, first brigade and fifth division of the State Militia. Nathaniel Russell, Jr., born in Bridgewater, December 18, 1801, graduated at Harvard in 1820, and became associated with his father in business. He married, June 25, 1827, Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Robert and Betsey Hayward (Thacher) Elliott of Savannah, Georgia, and died February 16, 1875. He will be further mentioned later.

Mary Howland Russell, born October 22, 1803, died January 12, 1862.

Andrew L. Russell, born May 16, 1806, graduated at Harvard in 1827, and was engaged at one time in the dry goods’ jobbing business in Central street, Boston, in partnership with William S. Russell, and later with N. Russell & Co. in Plymouth. He married, May 3, 1832, Laura Dewey, and, second, October 5, 1841, Hannah White, daughter of William Davis, Jr. He has been already noticed in connection with the rows of elms planted by him on Court street, which if not consigned to death by the concrete sidewalks, will serve as a lasting memorial of his service to his native town.

Mercy Ann, born August 16, 1809, died September 18, 1832.