Plymouth memories of an octogenarianDavis, William T. (William Thomas)
History
Plymouth memories of an octogenarian
Davis, William T. (William Thomas)
Plymouth (Mass.) -- History
Edward J. Warren, born in 1809, was in business in New York many
years, a part of the time associated with his brother Richard. Of
ready wit and quick eye, and with a familiarity with prices he was
one of the most attractive and efficient salesmen in New York. He
married Mary, daughter of Wm. G. Coffin, the official head for many
years of the Massachusetts land office, and died in New York April
27, 1872.
Soon after Henry Warren died, Madam Warren removed to Boston and
lived some years on Allston street, but later returned to Plymouth
and occupied successively until her death, the house on Middle
street, next to Mr. Beaman’s undertaking rooms, and the house on Main
street, where the new bank building stands. In 1833 Dr. Isaac LeBaron
moved into the Warren house, and in 1836 occupied the apothecary’s
shop, which Dr. Warren had vacated. I not only remember the gilded
pestle and mortar over his door, but also the sugar baker’s molasses,
which he kept in stock furnished to him by the father or brother of
his wife, who owned a sugar refinery in Leverett street, Boston.
Almost as dark colored as tar, and nearly hard enough to cut with a
knife, it was like the witch’s gruel, “thick and slab,” and those who
now eat buckwheat cakes with honey or syrup, have little idea how
good they were eaten with that sugar baker’s molasses. Dr. LeBaron
died January 29, 1849.
At various times the Warren house was occupied by Mrs. Wm. Spooner,
the family of Capt. Wm. Bartlett, and in still later times by the
Young Men’s Literary Institute, the Public Library, the Custom House,
and stores of Wm. Babb, John Churchill, Pratt & Hedge, James C.
Bates, Davis and Whiting, N. M. Davis, Edgar Seavey, Allen Holmes and
Edward Baker and Allen T. Holmes. Among the transient residents were
Mrs. Ann Boutelle, widow of Dr. Caleb Boutelle, and her daughter Anne
Lincoln, boarding with one of the permanent families in the house.
The south front chamber is hallowed in my memory, for there on the
5th of December, 1835, Anne Lincoln Boutelle, one of my playmates and
schoolmates, died in consumption, one too sweet and pure and frail
to tread the rough paths of life. I saw her a day or two before she
died, with a little table by her bed side laden with gifts of fruit
and flowers, which loving friends had sent, and to which I added my
own. I never go into the printing office, which includes the chamber
in which she died, without recalling her saintly face, her saintly
voice, and her saintly spirit, joyous at the thought of journeying
home. A memorial of her life and character was published, written by
Mary Ann Stevenson, a niece of Mrs. Judge Joshua Thomas, a copy of
which if one can be found, I am anxious to obtain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account