"During the siege of Boston, Chelsea formed the extreme left of the line of circumvallation; and on the south-eastern slope of Mount Washington stands the house of Robert Pratt, which occupies the site of an earlier house at which Washington lunched when inspecting the lines." In closing this sketch, the writer wishes to give credit to the Honorable Mellen Chamberlain, an honored resident of Chelsea, for information relating to the early history of the town, which he has kindly furnished, and to the researches embodied in his valuable article, "Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, Pullen Point, and Chelsea, in the Provincial Period," printed in the second volume of the Memorial History of Boston, published by James R. Osgood and Company, in 1881. It is not difficult to predict the future of Chelsea. Situated as it is on navigable waters, with an extensive waterfront, near to the metropolis of New England, and already the site of many important industries, prosperity awaits it. Time alone can tell whether, like its namesake in the Mother-Country, it becomes absorbed in the neighboring and growing city, or develops into a great manufacturing suburb, like Newark and Patterson. [Illustration] [Footnote 3: Date of Act, January 10, 1739. Chelsea, as every Englishman is aware, is the name of a suburb of London, where are situated the great national hospitals of Great Briton. It was in existence as a village as early as A.D. 785, but was long since absorbed by the expanding city.] * * * * * JOHN WISWALL, THE OBJURGATORY BOSTON BOY. John Wiswall, a "young man with somewhat original objurgatory tendencies," was not of the meaner sort of families. His grandfather, John Wiswall, then some eighty-three years old, ever took an active interest in the church and social affairs, first in Dorchester, and afterward in Boston. Mr. Savage says that he was a brother of Thomas Wiswall, a public-spirited man of Cambridge, Dorchester, and Newton; but John Wiswall was ruling elder of the First Church, Boston, made so the third month, fourth day, 1669, the day John Oxenbridge was ordained pastor. He also was one of the town's committee to act with the selectmen, to receive the legacy of Captain Robert Keayne, in 1668. "Elder Wiswall died, August 15, 1687, aged eighty-six years."