Category: People of Old North
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Old North’s Sexton: Then & Now
Late in the evening of April 18th, 1775, two lights briefly appeared from the steeple of the Old North Church. Across the Charles River, about thirty riders mounted horses and disappeared into the countryside, warning minutemen throughout Massachusetts of marching British soldiers heading towards Lexington and Concord. The following battle marked the start of the American…
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Longfellow, Anglo-Saxons, and Paul Revere
Twenty-two years before he wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned an article for the July 1838 issue of The North American Review. [i] Nothing would indicate that this piece was particularly special: the index simply lists a review of several publications pertaining to Anglo-Saxon literature, a dictionary included; most items were five or more years old; the…
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The People in the Pews: Owen Richards
In the spring of 1768, John Hancock’s vessel, the Lydia, pulled into Boston Harbor after a transatlantic voyage. Suspected of smuggling tea and other cargo, the vessel became a target for two customs officials, Owen Richards and Robert Jackson. When the captain of the vessel informed John Hancock of their arrival, he instructed the captain to…
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The People in the Pews: Capt. Arthur Savage
In 1716, Arthur Savage displayed the first exotic animal to set foot in the American colonies. He exhibited a male lion at his Brattle Street home where a hand-painted sign declared, “The Lion King of beasts is to be seen here.” Such a royal and commanding African animal surely would have attracted throngs of colonists…
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Tim Wenrich Accepts Good Neighbor Award
Tim Wenrich, Sexton of the Old North Church, was recently presented with the Good Neighbor Recognition Award on behalf of the North End / Waterfront Residents’ Association (NEWRA). Recognition Committee Chair Janet Gilardi presented him with the award. The monthly award is voted by NEWRA’s Executive Committee and given to local businesses, organizations, and property…
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The People in the Pews: Gillam Phillips
The connections between families in 18th century Boston and subsequently their connections to Old North Church are truly fascinating. Take Gillam Phillips for instance. Through his life journey, he can be connected to Cotton Mather and Peter Faneuil, AND an illegal sword duel started by his brother Henry. And yes, he attends Old North Church…
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Change Ringing Bells: What, How and Why
As a newbie here at Old North, I saw the church bells before I understood them. They are beautiful and impressive—and between two fairly precarious flights of “stairs” that we can’t let visitors climb (that should give you a sense of what I mean by precarious. And “stairs.”) It wasn’t a good time to wonder…
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The Wardens’ Wands
Just inside the entrance of the Old North Church stand two white poles with strange gold pine cones on top. The casual observer might pass them right by and not even notice them, but they played an important role in the history of the Church. These are the Wardens’ Wands, and they are placed right…
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Rebecca Reed and the Ursuline Convent
Rebecca Theresa Reed was born in 1813 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. She was raised Protestant and attended Christ Church in the City of Boston (Old North Church) with her family in the early 19th century. Although the Reed pew records can’t be located, city records indicate that Rev. William Croswell (vicar 1829-1841) acknowledges her as a member of his…
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The People in the Pews: The Wells Family
With all the marrying, death, remarrying, job switching, and political positioning that occurred in the 18th century, it’s no surprise how interconnected a small town like Boston was. Captain Francis Wells, who owned pew #49 and attended Old North Church with his family in the mid-1700s, serves as an example of someone with diverse professional experience…