Order item B573
FORMAT: ELECTRONIC ONLY (CD ROM)
Two books with a total of 882 pages, have been converted to PDF files and
burned on a CD-ROM disk, viewable using the software program Acrobat Reader
which is included on the disk. The text is NOT searchable, however each book
is fully indexed with names and locations. The disk is available for
$14.95 + $3.99 shipping & packing charge (Add $1.00 S&P for each additional volume ordered).
INTRODUCTION TO "A History of Boston"
The City of Boston owes its origin to a spirit
of civil and religious liberty, which was excited to action by the persecutions
that prevailed in England, during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth, and Kings James
and Charles the First. Most of those who can properly be considered as first
settlers arrived here, and in other parts of New-England, prior to the year
sixteen hundred and forty-three. By that time, it is computed, the number of
emigrants amounted to twenty-one thousand two hundred souls, or thereabouts.
Had this multitude been composed of barbarian hordes, who, in their
wanderings for sustenance, might have chanced to light upon this fair theatre in
its wild and savage state, we should have had no interest in tracing their
history. The wilderness they found, would have remained a wilderness still, and
their descendants have been dancing yet to the orgies of [Indian Gods] Woonand and Mannit, or
listening to the powaws [sic, powows] of Hobbamoc and Kiehtan. Not so with us: the hand of
refinement has beautified the charms of nature; monuments of art in our own
habitations and in the temples of our God, a thousand endearments and ten
thousand privileges enjoyed, invite us on every side to inquire into the
character of the men that have preceded us, and to review the steps in which our
fathers and ourselves have been led from infancy to our present state. To do
this is the object we have now set before us; and we are animated to the work by
the persuasion, that a familiar acquaintance with the story of our early times
will tend to generate in the reader "a love of country of the best
complexion, and of the highest order; a love of country chastened and improved
by elevated sentiments and dignified examples;" while the recapitulation of
events more recent may serve to gratify the pride, which springs from a
consciousness of having borne a part in transactions worthy to be recorded.
PREFACE TO "A History of Boston"
This edition of the History of Boston
comprises the text and notes of the first, with some corrections and additions
to bring the account of the City down to the present time. The reader may expect
to find in it some notice of the persecutions, which drove the first settlers of
New-England from their native country, and some brief sketches of the
settlements that were made or attempted to be made, in various parts of the
United States, before the arrival of Governor Winthrop and the company under
him, which laid the foundation of Boston. There taking up our subject, I have
endeavoured to select from the mass of records, which numerous hands have left
to us, those facts which appear to have excited any great or lasting interest
among the inhabitants of this metropolis; such especially as exhibit most
strongly the esprit du corps which has rendered them illustrious for their
devotion to the cause of humanity, of learning, and of civil and religious
liberty.
In my own mind our history divides itself into six principal
epochs; the first terminating with the deaths of Winthrop and Cotton; the
second, with the loss of the old charter and the reception of the new, in 1692;
the third, at the arrival of Gov. Bernard, in 1760; the fourth, with the war of
the Revolution, in 1783; the fifth, with the adoption of the city charter; and
the events that have occurred since that period constituting the sixth and last.
On each of these epochs I have bestowed a share of attention, sufficient, I
trust, to make the volume somewhat instructive to many and somewhat entertaining
to all.
It was my aim in composing this work, that it should be minutely
accurate and scrupulously correct, and I therefore almost invariably adopted the
words of the recorder or contemporary historian, and gave most of my
descriptions precisely as I found them, whenever I could ascertain their
correctness. To this circumstance, the great variety in the style of the
language which is employed, may in some measure be imputed: and the reader can
easily distinguish, without more marks of quotation, whatever is mine. The
emendations [changes], which my friends have proposed, are made either in the
body of the work or in the notes to the articles in the index. The plan I have
pursued comports best with the circumstances under which the present edition is
published, and also with that I have in view, should the public patronage call
for another in my day. In the mean time, I shall feel myself under obligation to
all who may take interest enough in the work, to furnish information, which may
contribute to its improvement in any respect.
CALEB H. SNOW.
Boston, November, 30, 1827.
LIST OF NAMES WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES IN "
The
Pilgrims of Boston"
Isaac Johnson
Memoir of Governor Bowdoin
Memoir of Lieut.-Governor Cushing
Memoir of Governor Bellingham
Memoir of Governor Dudley
Memoirs of the Wallet Family
Memoir of Governor Leveret
Memoir of Uriah Cotting
Memoirs of the Ministers of the Old South Church
Memoir of Dr. Joseph Eckley
Memoir of the Rev. John Bacon
Memoirs of the Amory Family
Memoir of Governor Increase Sumner
Sketch of the Sumner Family
Names of those deposited in Governor Sumner’s Tomb
Some account of the Hyslop Family
Pedigree of the Direct Line of Gov. Sumner
Memoir of Dr. Jeremy Belknap
Letter from Dr. Thaddeus William Harris
Memoir of Edmond Montfort
Memoir of Captain Barnabas Binney
Memoirs of the Bass Family
Letter from Rev. Dr. Samuel Sewall
Memoirs of the Sewall Family
Memoirs of the Parker Family
Memoir of Arthur Mason
Memoir of Abraham Perkins
Governor Christopher Gore
Edward Bumstead
Memoir of Elizabeth Poole
Memoir of Rev. Thomas Baldwin
Memoir of Elisha Brown
Memoir of Edward Pierce
Memoir of Judge Wadsworth
Victims of the Boston Massacre
Memoir of Andrew Johonnot
Memoir of Abraham Lee
Memoir of the Hunt Family
Memoirs of the Cabbot Family
Memoirs of the Child Family
Memoirs of the Pemberton Family
Memoir of William Trask
Memoir of Peter Faneuil
Memoir of General Joseph Warren
Memoirs of the Russell Family
Lines by Mrs. D. Ellen Goodman
Memoirs of the Butler Family
Memoirs of the Philips Family
Memoirs of the Minot Family
Memoirs of the Lowell Family
Memoirs of the Clark Family
Memoir of Deacon Luther Clark
Memoirs of the Brattle Family
Memoir of Dr. [Josiah] Franklin
Memoir of Benjamin Franklin
Memoirs of the Holmes Family
Memoir of Lieutenant James Torrey
Memoirs of the Hale Family
Memoir of Lieutenant-Governor Gray
Memoirs of the Loring Family
Memorials of the Codman Family
Memoir of George Felt
Memoir of Rev. John Baily
Memoir of Lieut.-Gov. William Dummer
Memoir of George Blake
Memoir of Governor John Haynes
Descendants of Captain William Greenough
Memoirs of the Tappan Family
Memoirs of the Shaw Family
Memoirs of the Thorndike Family
Memoirs of the Palfrey Family
Memoir of Humphrey Barrett
Memoir or Edmund Geeenleaf
Memoir of Governor [John] Hancock
Monument at Bloody Brook
Memoirs of the Lathrop Family
Questions or comments?
Return to GoldenWest Marketing homepage
© 2008
GoldenWest Marketing, all rights reserved