Page 334

CHAPTER XXIII

A BOSTON FAMILY TAKES REFUGE IN CHELMSFORD. -- THE TOWN OF BOSTON AFTER THE SIEGE

      THE dew of only one night had moistened the little grave in Granary Burying-Ground where Robert and Mary Rand had laid their first-born to rest, when the sorrowful couple were aroused by the message, "The Regulars have marched out into the country to destroy the stores as it is supposed."
      For nearly eleven months the people of Boston had suffered the hardships of the blockade. To be sure, the sympathetic patriots throughout the continent had ministered to them. South Carolina had sent two hundred barrels of rice, and promised eight hundred more. Wilmington, N.C., had sent two thousand pounds currency. Connecticut had sent over her flocks of sheep. All New England towns had shared their crops with their neighbors in Boston. Maryland and Virginia had contributed liberally. George Washington had headed a subscription paper with his personal gift of fifty pounds. The settlers beyond the Blue Ridge had contributed from their scant supply,

Page 334

and sent it over the mountains to the distressed and suffering in Boston. And with these repeated donations had come words of sympathy and cheer. The ministers of Connecticut had written, "The taking away of civil liberty will involve the ruin of religious liberty also." The people of Brooklyn, Conn., the home of General Israel Putnam, had written, "Your zeal in favor of liberty has gained a name that shall perish but with the glorious constellation of Heaven." Yet notwithstanding all this aid, there was suffering and untold anxiety in the blockaded town. It was not confined to the poor by any means. "The warehouses of the thrifty merchants were at once made valueless; the costly wharfs, which extended far into the channel, and were so lately covered with produce of the tropics and with English fabrics, were become solitary places; the harbor, which had resounded incessantly with cheery voices of prosperous commerce, was now disturbed by no sounds but from British vessels of war." No one could go in and out his own door without being scrutinized by the British guards that patrolled the streets of the town. Even the sorrowful group that had made its way on the 17th of April to the burying-ground had been under the watch of the soldiers of the king. The grief of the Rand family naturally led them to be more sympathetic for the wounded and dying who were brought in to Boston in the night of April 19;

Page 336

but they were avowed patriots, and consequently not in harmony with the officials whose movements had occasioned the distress, and they could do but little for the sufferers.
      The Rands were "well connected and well to do," but in this exigency were poor even in their wealth. Robert Rand, the head of the Boston family, was born in 1719. He was a descendant from Robert Rand of Lynn, who in 1692, by a vote in town meeting, was granted the right to sit with six other aged men in the pulpit. Mary, his wife, was daughter of William Simpkins, a jeweller and silversmith of considerable distinction. They were married on June 3, 1773, and had but just completed a year in a home of their own when the port of Boston was closed. Believing that an Englishman's home is his castle, the Rand family maintained their position until the infections that followed the army made it dangerous to health and life, when it was decided that Mrs. Rand should leave the town. A good many had gone to Chelmsford, and availed themselves of the hospitality bountifully extended to all; and a home was found there for Mrs. Rand through the influence of her physician, Dr. Danforth. The change was made by his advice, and he naturally took steps to a her in leaving the town. The restrictions in regard to the amount of goods taken away were very annoying to this family, for they had an abundance; but Mrs. Rand

Page 337

in disguise presented herself for a permit. She had a suspicious trunk, which she refused to allow out of her sight, and this led the sentinel to oppose her going; but Dr. Danforth's son Tom, a family friend, yet a Tory, interfered with seeming roughness of manner, and said, "Let the old woman go;" and she was allowed to leave the town. The contents of the trunk was chiefly gold coin, which was used by her for her own comfort, and in dispensing to the comfort of others who had fled from the blockaded town under less favoring circumstances. There was one memento, however, which the sorrowing mother could not leave behind in the deserted home. It was more precious to her than the coin which it accompanied; for it so vividly reminded her of the little one who had borne her name for a few short months and passed away, and whose silent resting-place was now at the mercy of the enemy. This memento was only a pincushion, on which the mother read, "Welcome, little stranger, to Boston, though the port is blocked up, 1774."
      Chelmsford was truly a patriotic town, and her people were continually sending supplies, as were those of other towns, to the sufferers who were obliged to remain in Boston; while those who made their temporary home in Chelmsford were as comfortable as kind, sympathetic patriots could make them. The slightest report of movements in Boston was eagerly scanned, and the news of

Page 338

the evacuation brought cheer to them all. The Rand family hoped to be soon re-established in their own home, but the army had left an entailment of disease which required the most vigilant

[Photo - "Rand Pincushion"]

attention and severe restrictions in order to eradicate it. In July, 1776, the selectmen passed an order that people going out of town must carry a certificate from the medical authorities proving that they had been "smoked and cleansed," and

Page 339

were free from all possibility of infection. The repeated outbreak of the smallpox, and general disarrangement of affairs, prevented individuals from returning for many months. Among them was Mrs. Rand. The year 1777 had come before this lady again welcomed her friends around the family hearth-stone in Boston. But the cradle left tenantless was again occupied; and there was recorded in Chelmsford, "Born December 14, 1776, Mary, daughter to Robert and Mary Rand of Boston."
      Boston seemed to the returning family a very different place from that which they had left. Many of their neighbors who adhered to the king had fled with the army and could not return, while those who espoused the patriots' cause, and remained in the country, found it the work of months and years to restore their homes and public buildings to as good condition as they were in when the army of the king took possession of the town; and the old burying-grounds bear silent testimony to the devastations of the army of the king.
      Four children grew up together in the home of Robert Rand, but only three of them could claim Boston as their birthplace. They were prominent among the families of the enterprising merchants, and popular in the best society of the town.
      But a few months after the little stranger was welcomed to the Rand family at Chelmsford, there was a son born in the Fitch tavern at Bedford;

Page 340

and he was called Jeremiah, after his father and grandfather. The war for independence was still being carried on, and much of local military interest centred in this Jeremiah Fitch tavern. It was very natural that the namesake of the father should be early impressed with the story of the morning of April 19, 1775, and of his father's experience as sergeant of Bedford minute-men at Concord, and in the running fight of that day. These early impressions were never forgotten, but were often the subject of conversation by the old harth-stone and in the busy world.
      The family plan had been that Jeremiah should be trained to agricultural pursuits, and succeed his father on the farm, which was carried on in connection with the business of a country tavern. But the boy had no inclination in that direction, and at the age of fourteen years left home, and went to Charlestown with a capital of twenty cents, and unaided by any one set to work to procure employment. He soon secured a situation with Mr. Samuel Ruggles, and from that time relieved his parents from all pecuniary assistance. While in Charlestown the young man had constantly before his eyes the redoubt on Bunker Hill, and the hastily made graves of those who were companions in arms with his father when the Lexington alarm called them from their homes.
      The success of the country boy, Jeremiah Fitch, while in Charlestown, made a way for him to cross

Page 341

over to Boston, where he soon set up business for himself, but by the failure of his patrons he was involved in embarrassments; yet with the determination befitting a son of a hero of April 19, '75, young Jeremiah struggled on until he had fully extricated himself.
      He was always esteemed for straightforwardness and integrity in his dealings; for nearly a score of years he was a director of the Union Bank and for the Mercantile Marine Insurance Company. For many years he was a member of the Board of Health, retiring in 1821 to beconn a member of the last Board of Selectmen of the town of Boston; in 1824 he was a member of the Common Council, and in the following year an Overseer of the Poor of the City of Boston.
      It was his conduct in adversity that won for him friends who offered capital and other assistance, with which he made his way to fortune. But he never forgot his early associations. The old tavern where his father served the minute-men on the morning of April 19, 1775, was sacred to him; and he cherished the hearthstone by which he had been cradled during the war. His delight was in ministering to the comforts of his parents and friends of his youth.
      As a successful, enterprising merchant of Cornhill, he met the beautiful young lady, Mary Rand; and on May 10, 1804, they were married in Boston by Rev. William Emerson, who, having left his

Page 342

Harvard parish, had already made a decided impression as a dignified pastor of the First Church of Boston.
      The united efforts of the young couple were rewarded with marked success; public honors were justly conferred upon the merchant by his associates and fellow-townsmen. He occupied many positions of trust within the gift of the voters of Boston; and as a mark of respect for the son of Old Bedford, the name of Pond Lane was changed to Bedford Street, which it now bears.
      While in the midst of his flourishing business as an importer of dry goods, the second war with England came on. This brought vividly to mind the trying experiences of the Fitch and Rand families during the Revolution.
      Having kept in family possession the old home at Bedford, Jeremiah Fitch had a safe retreat there; and he recorded under date of September, 1814, "My family removed to Bedford in consequence of the war, moved my goods from the store the same day. Returned September 29, after about three weeks." Jeremiah Fitch repeatedly manifested his loyalty to his native town. His sentiments rebelled against the common use of the cannon-ball which, fired from the patriot camp of Cambridge, struck the Brattle-street Church during the siege of Boston. Mr. and Mrs. Fitch were attendants at this church; and being a member of the standing committee, he succeeded

Page 343

in having the ball, that had done duty for many years as a weight at the front gate of a neighbor's residence, returned, and embedded in the front wall of the edifice, where it was kept so long as a reminder of the months when Gage's army was hemmed in by the Provincials.
      The record of this worthy couple is with that of the truly successful of the world. The name

[Photo - "Slippers of Mary Rand"]

Mary Rand has been faithfully continued through successive generations; and among the family treasures are a silver tankard made by William Simpkins the silversmith for his daughter Mary when she married Robert Rand; the pincushion which marked the advent of the first Mary to the Rand family during the siege; the slippers and a sample of the dress worn by Mary Rand when she married Jeremiah Fitch; five generations of samplers, and other tangible reminders of two families worthy to be perpetuated in the annals of Boston and Bedford.

Table of Contents