Category: 19th Century
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The People in the Pews: Josiah Calef
To move us into the 19th century, we’ll examine the life of Josiah Calef, a Bostonian who owned pew #38 at Old North in 1807. Many of the previous people we’ve included in this article series lived during the 18th century, but pews were purchased and owned up until 1912 so all of them were owned and…
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The People in the Pews: Mehitable Mash
Peter Mash was born in Germany in 1783, immigrated to the United States at the turn of the 19th century, and moved to Boston where he worshipped at Old North and owned Pew #39. Peter married Mehitable Wattles in 1834 and lived with her until 1838. One day that year he informed her he was…
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Chief Petty Officers Visit Old North and Samuel Nicholson
Each year a specially selected group of newly commissioned Chief Petty Officers (CPOs) participate in Heritage Week at Charlestown Navy Yard. During this weeklong training cycle, the USS Constitution’s crew teaches the CPOs time-honored maritime traditions such as 19th-century boarding pike drills, War of 1812-era gun drills using a 24-pound naval long gun, and line…
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The People in the Pews: Francis Shaw
Francis Shaw, who owned Pew #16 in the eighteenth century, was the great-great-grandfather of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Francis Shaw was born in Boston on March 29th, 1721. He attended Old North Church in the mid-eighteenth century, serving as a Junior Warden from 1760-62 and as a Senior Warden from 1763-66. In November of 1744,…
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The People in the Pews: The Vassalls
Major Leonard Vassall, the owner of pews #10 and 11, was born in Jamaica in 1678. Before he moved to Boston in the early 1720s, he owned several large sugar plantations with enslaved labor in his native Jamaica. He was a staunch Episcopalian, became a member of Old North, and was elected warden in 1727.…