Boston Diary - June 1

Before I get started on the events of the day, let me just say that this is my 800th post! It's too bad it's not the 4th of July here in Boston. I'd be able to have all sorts of fireworks along the Charles River to celebrate that!

I went to the early service at Trinity Church this morning. I discovered the early service lacks music, and I really missed that element of worship! I, however, chose to go to an early service so that I could head out to Ipswich.

I purchased a Charlie Card at the Copley Square T station. I put more value on it than I needed for this trip because the lady at the station told me that you could use the Charlie Cards on the commuter rail. I found out that you couldn't when I got to the North Station. I immediately knew that I was going to have more riding that I'd possibly need on this trip so I'm going to have to come up with a bunch of extra trips to make up for it!

I took the green line from Copley Square to the North Station where I grabbed some coffee at Dunkin Donuts while waiting on the commuter rail (purple line) to arrive which would take me to Ipswich, the home of some of my ancestors.

I did an awful lot of walking around town. They didn't seem to have any type of local public transportation or tours. In order to go to some of the places I wanted to see, I'm going to have to rent a car or bike. Considering how out of shape I am, I think a bike would be a better option. I did see a lot of the town though.





Many of the town's early settlers are buried in the Old Burying Ground. The cemetery dates back to 1634, and I had ancestors there as early as 1632. You may be able to tell that the stones are in varying stages of readability. It's amazing how well-preserved some of the stones actually are. I did not spot any of my ancestors' graves; however, my feet were dying and I just couldn't walk much by the point I made it to the cemetery. I was also a little afraid to depart from the path in that particular cemetery without checking with the historical society to make sure it was okay. I did see the graves of many names that I recognized from reading about the area though.

This is a view as I'm walking from the T stop into the heart of Ipswich. Sorry about the power lines, but I'm too lazy to edit them out!

This is a view over the side of the Choate Bridge. The bridge, which dates to 1764 is the oldest stone arch bridge in continuous use according to the tourist literature.

Whipple House dates to 1677. I have distant aunts and uncles who married some of the Whipples, but I don't know if they lived in this house or not. I just haven't researched the Whipple connections.

A very nice lady who lives in the Whipple house told me that I should walk up County Street to Green Street even though it wasn't part of the "walking tour." This is one of the gorgeous views on that street. There were also many historic homes on the street, and I really loved these views of the Ipswich River along it.

This is the Perkins house. This house dates to the 1860s and is, therefore, a little late to have belonged to one of my direct line ancestors. The builder was probably a distant cousin thoug

I found this sign very interesting simply because I had an ancestor who was imprisoned by Governor Andros and sent to the Tower of London for a time. I appreciated the memorial to this earlier "American Revolution."
Lunch was at the Choate Bridge Pub. I had seen a recommendation on Lara's blog for this place. I decided that I needed to try the lobster roll since I'd never had one. It was very tasty, and it's a lot easier to eat lobster when someone else has already cracked it and gotten the meat out for you!

These are some of the historic homes on High Street. I believe that the white home is dated 1658; the red home is 1666; the yellow home is 1769. (I looked at my single pictures of them for the dates.)

I had really planned to stay in Ipswich until the 6:00 train; however, my feet were worn out before the 3:00 one so I went to the T station and waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. It arrived about 40 minutes late. (Actually the outbound train arrived about 45 minutes late at the time ours was supposed to depart so we knew it would be late.) Apparently there had been a fire right along the tracks between Chelsea and Lynn that held them up. The good news is that our fare for the return trip was free because it was so late.

I went back to the hotel and rested my feet a bit. I looked at some reviews on Yelp.com and discovered that the tapas place across from my hotel had excellent reviews so I had the evening meal at Tapéo. I had Pechuga Rellena (chicken with asparagus and goat cheese), chicken empanadas, and for dessert a very tasty flan! I didn't take pictures so I won't torture you with those!

I plan to read and relax this evening because I have another special adventure for tomorrow since the NEHGS library isn't open on Mondays!

There's a Thief Among Us . . .

When I was browsing Google Books, I ran across a snippet view book that contained information on my Perkins family. The snippet appeared to be pretty interesting so I decided to order the book via interlibrary loan. The book was Richard P. Gildrie's The Profane, the Civil, & the Godly: The Reformation of Manners in Orthodox New England, 1679-1749 (University Park, Penn.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994). What I found on pages 40-42 was a very interesting story about the wife of my seventh great grand uncle. Her father-in-law John Perkins, quartermaster, ran one of the two licensed taverns in Ipswich. By the late 1670s, he was "retirement age" as we'd say now so he'd turned the operations of the tavern over to his son Abraham and the farm to his son Luke. Luke's wife was named Elizabeth. Her maiden name is usually seen as Jaquith or Jaques. She had quite the reputation (or lack of it). Apparently she didn't really care that much for her in-laws. She had quite a tongue and used it against her mother-in-law as often as she could. [You can find an account of one trial and some of the comments in Dow's Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts via Google Books beginning around page 89 of the March 1681 proceedings.] Luke's wife Elizabeth apparently spent quite a bit of time around the inn and tavern. She gained a reputation for paying more attention to other men in the community than to her own husband. However, the thing that really caught my attention was that in September 1683, she "stole three pounds in cash and goods" from the room of a Boston trader who was staying at the inn. She must have had tastes for the finer things in life as most of the items she took involved either silk or lace. Some of the items listed were "satin ribbons, stockings, a silk hood, a lace handkerchief, a lace cap, a silk neckcloth, and a pair of "fall" [hairpieces]." She did serve a brief prison term before being released after paying a hefty fine, court costs, and damages. It makes you wonder how many of the inn's guests over the years had items go missing during their stay.

"Imprisoned by Andros"

That phrase caught my attention as I was studying an article (pages 97-103) from a July 1899 (vol. 3, no. 7) issue of The Essex Antiquarian which gave an account of my Andrews line. I found the article entitled "Descendants of John Andrews of Ipswich" through my research membership at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, utilizing their online collections. In this account, the progenitor of this particular branch of Andrews, Lt. John Andrews, born about 1618, is said to have been "imprisoned by Andros." The Andros in question is, of course, Edmund Andros who was governor of the Dominion of New England from 1686-1689. It appears that my Andrews family were among the majority of people with whom he was not popular. I was curious about why he was imprisoned and found the answer in Google books. In The Memorial History of Boston: Including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880 edited by Justin Winsor, vol. II, The Provincial Period, (Boston: Ticknor & Company, 1881), page 10 tells us that the town of Ipswich "had refused in open meeting to comply with the law and to levy the new taxes." John Andrews, along with five other men who were town leaders, were imprisoned under charges of high misdemeanors. It appears they ended up with a rather stiff fine after the trial. A very interesting account of this can also be found by scrolling down to John Andrews' name near the bottom of this Forsythe Family web page.