William Blackstone Bostons First Inhabitant

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332038176
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (381 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book William Blackstone written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from William Blackstone: Boston's First Inhabitant For several years previous to the first settlement of Boston, in September, 1630, William Blackstone, its earliest European inhabitant, occupied by himself what formed for long afterwards the principal part of it, and which was then known as Shawmut. It comprised an area of about eight hundred acres, since more than doubled by accessions from the sea that surrounded it, the whole, with much besides annexed to our city from the country round about, now crowded with population. Blackstone, a man of learning, an ordained minister of the Church of England, and, consequently, a graduate of one of its universities, unwilling to conform to ecclesiastical requirements which his conscience disapproved, had come to America "to get from under the power of the lords bishops." Here he dwelt, solitary and alone, raising his apples and roses, and reading his books, of which he had a plentiful supply. His solitude was unpleasantly disturbed in the summer of 1630 by the arrival at Charlestown, across the river, of Winthrop and his company, under their patent of March 4, 1629.Their lives in peril from disease engendered by exposure and privation, and aggravated by the impurity of the water, he generously invited them over to share with him the more salubrious spot he inhabited, and which abounded in springs. Cheerfully yielding up to them the greater part of his possessions, he was contented himself to retain fifty acres, and six more adjacent, whereon stood his house. Our story intimates how it chanced that, a few years afterwards, "finding he had fallen under the power of the lords brethren," he surrendered the larger lot and all his rights within the then narrow neck of land connecting the peninsula with Roxbury. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.