Dorchester Historical Society

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2094

Postcard. Caption on front: Von Ting I Know, Mine Friends in Dorchester Shtick to Me Like Bulldogs Yes.  Postmarked Dorchester Center Station June 10, 1919. With one-cent stamp.  A pennant card.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2093

Scan of framed image owned by the Dorchester Historical Society of Amos Upham with note b. March 11, 1789; m. Dec. 28, 1819; picture taken May 1858, and scan of framed image owned by the Dorchester Historical Society of Abigail Upham with note b. January 24, 1789; m. Dec. 28, 1819; picture taken May 1858, both by McElroy.

Amos Upham came to Dorchester in 1817, purchased a tract of land and established a grocery store at the place now known as Upham’s Corner, which he carried on for the rest of his life. He was prominent citizen. He was married December 28, 1819, to Miss Abigail Humphreys, daughter of Deacon James Humphreys, of Dorchester. They were the parents of four children: James H.; Charles Amos, born March 10, 1822; Abigail, who died at the age five and half years; and Amos, Jr., who died in Philadelphia when about thirty-two years old. Amos Upham, the father, was an active member of the old fire department. He was a Free Mason and member of the First Church of Dorchester. His death took place January 25, 1872. His wife died December 19,1878.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2092

Codman Square 1960.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2091

The Franklin Park Waiting Room for the trolleys was located at the corner of Blue Hill Avenue and Columbia Road.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2090

The Booth Cutler house was located at about 384-386 Washington Street on the north side of Mother’s Rest. It was occupied for a short time in the 1860s by Edwin T. Booth, the famous actor, son of Junius Brutus Booth and brother of John Wilkes Booth.  John Wilkes Booth visited there The house was a Dorchester landmark for nearly a century and was later tenanted by Rev. Elijah Cutler. In 1916 it was torn down, and in 1928 the Greenwood Church Community House was built at that location.

Source:
Berry, Lawrence F. Greenwood Memorial Church … Dorchester: The Author, 1936.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2089

Captain Frederick William Macondray, 1803-1862.
After eight years of training as a seaman William set off on the first great adventure of his young life. At the age of 18, still under the care of Captain Austin he began his longest journey as Clerk and Fourth Officer on the Sailing Ship Panther on a two year voyage to California to collect hides and tallow. Among his jobs was keeping the Log of every detail of the voyage.

One year after the eventful trip on the Panther the young Macondray was assigned in charge of a vessel, and received the title of Captain, by which he was known for about forty years. Soon after his  marriage in 1831, he set sail for China on the sailing vessel “The Hamilton”. He lived in Macao (a Portuguese colony, in Southern China) for 8 years. He was the manager of a receiving storeship, loading tea etc. on to ships at the mouth of the Pearl River. Macao is 35 miles west of Hong Kong (which was founded in 1844, 14 years later). His receiving storeships was DeCourcey, Forbes & Co.
The health and education of his growing family made it necessary for Captain Macondray to take his family back to Massachusetts. One can picture the exhausting and heroic return journey, with three small children, on that sailing ship, traveling across the Pacific, around the tempestuous Horn, and up the coast of South America for a journey of more than 2 months. The children were then: Lucy aged 7, William, 6, and Lavinia, 5. Once settled in Massachusetts two more children were born, Frederick and Martha.

Captain Macondray purchased a lovely home in Dorchester, a property called “Rosemont,” built about 1800.. Back of the house, on the crown of the hill (commanding a noble view of the harbor) of Wollaston Heights, Quincy, the long chain of hills around by Canton, Roxbury, Cambridge, the Tri Mountain, the beautiful islands in the bay, and so completing the circle back to the starting point, was built a Chinese Pagoda, which was the wonder of all, and to see which, many pilgrimages were made. It was many feet high, and made a magnificent observatory. A summer house, the remains of which are still standing, was built farther down the hill. We must not forget to mention a large stone ice house built in the side of the hill. About 1849 Captain Macondray sold the house and large estate to Mr. Edward King of Boston and went at once to California for his health, he being a great sufferer from asthma.

For a fuller story of his life, you could check this link

http://www.dorchesteratheneum.org/page.php?id=531

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2088

Mayflower School

Scan from Landmarks in the Old Bay State by William R. Comer. Norwood: Published by the Author, 1911.  This building was at Dorchester Avenue near Crescent Avenue, and seems to have been known also as the Crescent Avenue School and the Harbor View School.  It was built by the town before annexation and was absorbed into the Boston Public School system.
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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2087

Samuel Turell Armstrong (April 29, 1784 – March 26, 1850) was a U.S. political figure. Born in 1784 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, he was a bookseller in Boston, and among other works published a stereotype edition of Scott’s family Bible, which was widely circulated. He became a Deacon of the Old South Church, where he fortuitously discovered the original manuscript of the third volume of Governor John Winthrop’s History of New England.

Orphaned at the age of thirteen, Samuel Armstrong attended public school and worked as a printer’s apprentice in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He operated his own printing business and became a Deacon of the Old South Church, where he fortuitously discovered the original manuscript of the third volume of Governor John Winthrop’s History of New England.

Mr. Armstrong entered politics as a Representative in Massachusetts General Court, serving in that body from 1822-1823 and in 1828-1829. He was elected Lieutenant Governor, serving from 1833, until Governor John Davis’ resignation to leave for the U.S. Senate in 1835. He served as the Governor of Massachusetts between 1835 and 1836.

Because Whig party leader, Daniel Webster supported Edward Everett for the governorship, when Armstrong ran for reelection he lost badly to both Everett and perennial gubernatorial candidate Marcus Morton. Armstrong continued in his successful printing business, being elected Mayor of Boston in 1836 and to the Massachusetts Senate in 1839.
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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 2086

Henry Austin Clapp was born July 17, 1841.

On August 12, 1862, halfway through his law studies at Harvard, Henry Clapp sent a letter to the officers of the Harvard Corporation, informing them that he resigned his place as proctor, having enlisted with the nine-months men in the New England Guards Regiment.

By the beginning of October, rumors of departure spread through the ranks of the Forty-fourth, although whether the intended destination was the Potomac or New Orleans or North Carolina was anybody’s guess. Northern morale had been boosted the previous month by the bruising defeat inflicted on Lee’s army at Antietam in Maryland. Was the Forty-Fourth to join McClellan’s army to wipe out the rebels in Virginia once and for all? On October 17 a soldier got a glimpse of a staff officer’s box marked “New Berne,” and orders on October 20 confirmed the fact. The Forty-fourth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was bound for North Carolina.

Soon after his return from North Carolina, Clapp began to contribute articles, chiefly book reviews, to the Boston Daily Advertiser. By 1868 the paper employed him as dramatic and musical critic, and he wrote articles for a number of other magazines and newspapers as well. His astute observations on Boston’s theatrical performances gained him a reputation as one of the three or four most influential American dramatic critics of the late nineteenth century. In 1885, building on the enthusiasm instilled by William Rolfe at Dorchester High School thirty years earlier, Clapp began a series of lectures on Shakespeare’s plays. He was invited to repeat his talks many times in the years that followed. A collection of his writings was published as Reminiscences of a Dramatic Critic in 1902, the same year that he became chief dramatic critic for the Boston Herald.

for more information about Henry Austin Clapp, his family and Dorchester in the 19th century, visit

http://www.dorchesteratheneum.org/page.php?id=676

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com

If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org