The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees

The Romance of Old New
England Rooftrees, by

Mary Caroline Crawford This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere
at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,
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Title: The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees
Author: Mary Caroline Crawford
Release Date: May 30, 2007 [EBook #21645]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Little Pilgrimages
The Romance of Old New England Rooftrees
By

Mary C. Crawford
Illustrated
[Illustration]
Boston L. C. Page & Company Mdcccciii

Copyright, 1902 by L. C. Page & Company (Incorporated)
All rights reserved
Published, September, 1902
Colonial Press Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
* * * * *
[Illustration: SIR HARRY FRANKLAND. (See page 48)]

FOREWORD
These little sketches have been written to supply what seemed to the
author a real need,--a volume which should give clearly, compactly,
and with a fair degree of readableness, the stories connected with the
surviving old houses of New England. That delightful writer, Mr.
Samuel Adams Drake, has in his many works on the historic mansions
of colonial times, provided all necessary data for the serious student,
and to him the deep indebtedness of this work is fully and frankly
acknowledged. Yet there was no volume which gave entire the tales of
chief interest to the majority of readers. It is, therefore, to such
searchers after the romantic in New England's history that the present
book is offered.
It but remains to mention with gratitude the many kind friends far and

near who have helped in the preparation of the material, and especially
to thank Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., publishers of the works of
Hawthorne, Whittier, Longfellow, and Higginson, by permission of and
special arrangement with whom the selections of the authors named,
are used; the Macmillan Co., for permission to use the extracts from
Lindsay Swift's "Brook Farm"; G. P. Putnam's Sons for their kindness
in allowing quotations from their work, "Historic Towns of New
England"; Small, Maynard & Co., for the use of the anecdote credited
to their Beacon Biography of Samuel F. B. Morse; Little, Brown & Co.,
for their marked courtesy in the extension of quotation privileges, and
Mr. Samuel T. Pickard, Whittier's literary executor, for the new
Whittier material here given.
M. C. C.
Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1902.
* * * * *
"All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses."
Longfellow.
"So very difficult a matter is it to trace and find out the truth of
anything by history."
Plutarch.
"... Common as light is love, And its familiar voice wearies not ever."
Shelley.
"... I discern Infinite passion and the pain Of finite hearts that yearn."
Browning.
"'Tis an old tale and often told."
Scott.

* * * * *
Contents
Page
Foreword iii
The Heir of Swift's Vanessa 11
The Maid of Marblehead 37
An American-Born Baronet 59
Molly Stark's Gentleman-Son 74
A Soldier of Fortune 90
The Message of the Lanterns 104
Hancock's Dorothy Q. 117
Baroness Riedesel and Her Tory Friends 130
Doctor Church: First Traitor to the American Cause 147
A Victim of Two Revolutions 159
The Woman Veteran of the Continental Army 170
The Redeemed Captive 190
New England's First "Club Woman" 210
In the Reign of the Witches 225
Lady Wentworth of the Hall 241
An Historic Tragedy 251

Inventor Morse's Unfulfilled Ambition 264
Where the "Brothers and Sisters" Met 279
The Brook Farmers 293
Margaret Fuller: Marchesa d'Ossoli 307
The Old Manse and Some of Its Mosses 324
Salem's Chinese God 341
The Well-Sweep of a Song 356
Whittier's Lost Love 366
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page
Sir Harry Frankland (See page 48) Frontispiece
Whitehall, Newport, R. I. 31
Agnes Surriage Pump, Marblehead, Mass. 39
Summer House, Royall Estate, Medford, Mass. 63
Royall House, Medford, Mass.--Pepperell House, Kittery, Maine 66
Stark House, Dunbarton, N. H. 79
General Lee's Headquarters, Somerville, Mass. 94
Christ Church--Paul Revere House, Boston, Mass. 104
Robert Newman House, Boston, Mass. 110
Clark House, Lexington, Mass. 118
Dorothy Q. House, Quincy, Mass. 123

Riedesel House, Cambridge, Mass. 145
House Where Doctor Church Was Confined, Cambridge, Mass. 149
Swan House, Dorchester, Mass. 164
Deborah Sampson Gannett 170
Gannett House, Sharon, Mass. 188
Williams House, Deerfield, Mass. 193
Reverend Stephen Williams 204
Old Corner Bookstore, Site of the Hutchinson House, Boston, Mass.
214
Old Witch House, Salem, Mass. 225
Rebecca Nourse House, Danvers, Mass. 229
Red Horse Tavern, Sudbury, Mass. 242
Governor Wentworth House, Portsmouth, N. H. 246
Fairbanks House, Dedham,