Category: People of Old North
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Bon Voyage, Rev. Byles
On March 17, 1776, the Rev. Mather Byles, Jr. second rector of the Old North Church, sailed from Boston to New Brunswick, accompanied by the remaining Anglican clergy in Boston, all British troops, and many British loyalists. Byles served as rector as Christ Church in the City of Boston from 1768 until April 18, 1775.…
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The People in the Pews: Lynde Walters, Jr.
Q. How is the Old North Church tied to the production of newspapers in the 19th century?A. Through a man named Lynde Walters, Jr., who attended Old North and owned pew #45. (His father, Lynde Sr., also attended the church and served as a junior warden in 1804.) So who was Lynde Jr.? Like many upstanding…
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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: Theodore Roosevelt
On December 29, 1912, the date that happened to be the 189th anniversary of its first service, a newly restored and refurbished Old North Church opened for the first time since the spring of that year. Over 1,000 people filled the pews, aisles, stairways, and entryways to hear the words of Bishop William Lawrence, the rector…
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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.…
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The People in the Pews: Capt. Daniel Malcolm
Capt. Daniel Malcolm was born in Boston in the 1720s. He lived on Fleet Street and attended the Old North Church. He served as a Junior Warden and owned two pews, #4 and #25, during his lifetime. He had a reputation for being a smuggler by British authorities. On Sept. 24, 1766, Deputy Collector of…