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Boston Gaol (Massachusetts)
The Boston Gaol (1635–1822) was a jail in the center of Boston, Massachusetts, located off Court Street, in the block bounded by School, Washington and Tremont Streets. It was rebuilt several times on the same site, before finally moving to the West End in 1822. Prisoners included Quakers, "witches," pirates, murderers, rebels, debtors, and newspaper editors. History "Opened in 1635, the Boston Gaol served as Massachusetts' sole prison for eighteen years. ... As settlers fanned out into the wilderness, organizing new townships as they went, local facilities for incarceration sprang up elsewhere." The Boston Gaol sat on Prison Lane (1634–1708), which became later known as Queen Street (1708–1788), and then Court Street (from 1788). Around 1689, "the old stone gaol on Prison Lane ad... outer walls ... of stone three feet thick, its unglazed windows barred with iron, 'the cells partitioned off with plank, the doors covered with iron spikes, the passage-ways like the dark val ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States. Boston is one of the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leverett Street Jail
The Leverett Street Jail (1822–1851) in Boston, Massachusetts served as the city and county prison for some three decades in the mid-19th century. Inmates included John White Webster. Notorious for its overcrowding, the facility closed in 1851, when inmates were installed in the nearby, newly built Charles Street Jail, also in the West End. History Begun around 1819, the "new gaol in Leverett-street" opened in 1822. Prior to that time, many had recognized the previous town jail (since the 1630s located off Court Street) as inadequate. In 1823, "on inspecting the common jails of the city, in Leverett Street, it was found that, of the two stone prisons there situated, one was amply sufficient for all the usual exigencies of the courts of justice. It was determined, therefore, to convert the other into a house of correction, and employ the inmates in the adjoining jail-yard in hammering stone and like materials." Thus "there were two separate prisons within the same enclos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Job Shattuck
Job Shattuck (February 11, 1736 – January 13, 1819) was a British colonial soldier during the Seven Years' War and a member of the Massachusetts state militia during the American Revolutionary War. He first served with the British in the 1755 Battle of Fort Beauséjour. He was later active at the Siege of Boston in 1776 and then in preparing defenses at Mt. Independence and Ft. Ticonderoga later that year. Following the cessation of the American Revolution Shattuck returned to Massachusetts where he was the largest landowner in the town of Groton. He was a key figure in the nation-defining 1786–87 farmers' revolt known as Shays' Rebellion, leading forces that shut down a state court in Concord. He was arrested in late 1786 on charges of treason, but was pardoned in 1787 by Governor John Hancock. Early life in Groton and military service Shattuck was born in the rural central Massachusetts town of Groton in 1736, not long after the final Indian raids and skirmishes that ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre (known in Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain as the Incident on King Street) was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles. The event was heavily publicized as "a massacre" by leading Patriot (American Revolution), Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 in order to support crown-appointed officials and to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid tense relations between the civilians and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry and verbally abused him. He was eventually supported by seven additional soldiers, led by Captain Thomas Preston, who were hit by clubs, stones, and snowballs. Eventually, one soldier fired, prompting the others to fire without an order by Preston. The gunfire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Preston (British Army Officer)
Thomas Preston (1722) was a British officer, a captain who served in Boston in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He commanded troops in the Boston Massacre in 1770 and was tried for murder, but he was acquitted. Historians have never settled whether he ordered his men to fire on the colonists. Preston was originally from Ireland; his people were among the Protestants settled there. Boston Massacre Preston was a captain of the 29th Regiment of Foot, part of the British garrison in Boston under the overall command of Thomas Gage. He was present at the Boston Massacre (known as the Incident on King Street by the British) on 5 March 1770, when British troops fired on colonists of the city, after an aggressive mob had confronted the troops and thrown snowballs, clubs, and rocks at them. Captain Thomas Preston showed up on the scene to help the other troops. Charges were brought against him and other soldiers, but he was acquitted in a trial held in Boston, Massachusetts. Future Unite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Mein (publisher)
John Mein (b. Edinburgh, Scotland; d. London, England) was a Boston, Massachusetts, bookseller and publisher in the time before the American Revolution. Mein started Boston's first circulating library, and with his business partner, John Fleeming, Mein published the Loyalist newspaper, the ''Boston Chronicle'', the first semi-weekly in New England. Early years Mein, son of John Mein, was born in Edinburgh where he received a good education before entering the bookselling business. In 1754, he apprenticed to Edinburgh bookseller, John Trail, and in 1760, he became Burgess and Guild Brother of Edinburgh. In 1761, Mein advertised a variety of children's books, and in November 1763, he announced that he would give up his business the following year. Career Mein emigrated to Boston in October 1764 with a large quantity of books and linens. With Robert Sandeman (nephew of Robert Sandeman the theologian), Mein opened a store advertising English and Scottish prayer books, and beer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Franklin (printer)
James Franklin (February 4, 1697 in Boston – February 4, 1735 in Newport, Rhode Island) was an early American printer, publisher and author of newspapers and almanacs in the American colonies. James published the '' New England Courant'', one of the oldest and the first truly independent American newspapers, and the short lived ''Rhode Island Gazette''. Early years James was an older brother of Benjamin Franklin and the son of Josiah Franklin, a chandler and businessman from Ecton, Northamptonshire, England, and Abiah Folger Franklin, who came from a family of Nantucket Puritans. In addition to James, their children included: John (1690–1756), Peter (1692–1766), Mary (1694–ca. 1730), Sarah (1699–1731), Ebenezer (1701–1702), Thomas (1703–1706), Benjamin (1706–1790), Lydia (1708–1758), and Jane (1712–1794). James had seven other siblings from his father's earlier marriage. James married Ann Smith, who came from a Purit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Kidd
William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder and piracy. Kidd had captured a French ship, commanded by an English captain, as a prize. He had been commissioned by the Crown as a privateer for this expedition, but the political climate of England turned against him in this case. Some modern historians, for example Sir Cornelius Neale Dalton, deemed his piratical reputation unjust and said that he was acting as a privateer. Documents found in the early 20th century in London court papers supported Kidd's account of his actions. Life and career Early life and education Kidd was born in Dundee, Scotland prior to October 15, 1654. While claims have been made of alternate birthplaces, including Greenock and even Belfast, he said himself he came from Dundee in a testimony given by Kidd to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Alden (sailor)
Capt. John Alden Jr. (ca. 1626 or 1627 – homepages.rootsweb.com; accessed January 20, 2019.His gravestone, which used the and the Annunciation Style of enumerating years with , recorded his death as having occurred on March 14, 1701/2: "Here lyeth ye body of John Alden Senior aged 75 years deceased March ye 14 1701/2". See also |
Sarah Wildes (Salem Witch Trials)
Sarah Wildes (née Averell/Averill; baptized March 16, 1627 – ) was wrongly convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials and was executed by hanging. She maintained her innocence throughout the process, and was later exonerated. Her husband's first wife was a member of the Gould family, cousins of the Putnam family, the primary accusers, and court records document the family feuds which led to her persecution. Family Sarah was one of seven children born to William AverellWilliam is known to have spelled his name, Averell, with a second "e", notably in the signature on his will, although his children and descendants often spelled the name Averill. He was also called "Avery" in some town records, and some of his descendants settled on that variation of the surname. and Abigail Hynton, immigrants from Chipping Norton, England who settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. William was a bailiff in Chipping Norton in 1634, and Ipswich town records first mention him in 1637, which br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports trading commodities in early American history. It is a suburb of Boston. Today Salem is a residential and tourist area that is home to the House of Seven Gables, Salem State University, Pioneer Village, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Salem Willows Park, and the Peabody Essex Museum. It features historic residential neighborhoods in the Federal Street District and the Charter Street Historic District.Peabody Essex announces $650 million campaign WickedLocal.com, November 14, 2011 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging (14 women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea, and at least five people died in jail. Arrests were made in numerous towns beyond Salem and Salem Village (known today as Danvers), notably Andover and Topsfield. The grand juries and trials for this capital crime were conducted by a Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692 and by a Superior Court of Judicature in 1693, both held in Salem Town, where the hangings also took place. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of colonial North America. Only fourteen other women and two men had been executed in Massachusetts and Connecticut during the 17th century. The episode is one of Colonial America's most no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
