1761 - A deed transferring ownership of a "tenement" in the heart of Boston located between entrances to Faneuil Hall and the Great Town Dock

Boston, 1761. Unbound. Very good. This three-page transfer of property on a bifold paper sheet measures 18" x 15" unfolded. The document is dated 30 July 1761. Payment was completed and the deed recorded at the Suffolk County Records of Deeds on 1 September 1761. In nice shape. Some storage fold splits have been neatly repaired with archival tape or tissue; one split along part of the centerfold of the first leaf has not been mended.
As noted in the document, this sale transferred ownership of a "tenement" between the entrance to Fanuel Hall (Boston's central market) and the Great Town Dock of Boston.

It reads in part:

"Elisha Byles of Boston within the County of Suffolk . . . Sends Greeting. Know ye that said Elisha Byles for & in Consideration of ye Sum of Eight Hundred Pounds Lawfull Money . . . well & truly paid by Caleb Blanchard of Boston aforesd Shopkeeper . . . Have & by these presents Do full & absolutely Grant Bargain Sell . . . Convey & Confirm . . . All That Certain Tenement or Dwelling house and land under & to the same belonging situate lying . . . at the Corner between Ann Street & Union Street near the head of the Great Dock being butted and bounded Southerly [by] Conduit Street now called Ann Street, westerly by the Street leading from the Town Dock to the Water Mill Called Union Street. . . . Northerly by ye land formerly in the Occupation of Henry Tomson & now in the possession of Joseph Scott . . . & Easterly by land formerly in the Possession of Edward Jackson, and now in the Possession of Samuel Wells. . .. Signed and Delivered Elisha Byles / Mildred Byles . . . Before me Belcher Noyes Justice Pease. . .."

This area is mentioned in the National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form for Fanuel Hall: "In 1770 the town decided 'that the Passage Way [Conduit] leading from the North part of Faneuil Hall Market into Ann Street and Union Street, is so narrow as often times to obstruct the passing of Carts, Trucks, and other Carriages thereby endangering the Limbs and Lives of the Inhabitants and is a public Nuisance. . .."

. 18th century "tenements" were not the squalid crowded apartments we think of today. Rather, they were usually single-family dwellings that included gardens and yards. Count de Rochambeau described these American houses as "built of brick, and wood . . . regularly and well provided with windows and doors. The . . . frame is light, covered on the outside with thin boards, well plained, and lapped over each . . . generally painted with a pale white colour, which renders the prospect much more pleasing. . .. The roofs are set off with balconies. [They are a] point of neatness and salubrity."

Elisha Byles, the seller, was known as a "a good farmer, and most acceptable citizen, and deacon in the Congregational church." He was also approved to sell "spirituous liquor."

The buyer, Caleb Blanchard, purchased the property to be used for a wholesale and retail business. He has been described as "a savvy marketer who aimed for maximum exposure by advertising in multiple newspapers." City records show that from his shop on Union Street, adjacent to Faneuil Hall (which had been gutted by fire shortly before he purchased this property), Blanchard sold "a Large and Compleat Assortment of Goods, both English & India" including chinaware, paper, cocoa, sugar, tobacco, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloth, clothing, shoes, hats, and much more. One of Blanchard's mercantile neighbors was John Hancock who also operated a nearby store on the east side of Faneuil Hall that also sold a variety of products: "English and India goods, also choice Newcastle Coals and Irish Butter." Hancock's famous Counting House, today the Chart House restaurant, was just as close, a short walk down the Long Pier.

Belcher Noyes, who witnessed and certified this sale, graduated from Harvard College in 1727 as a physician. He practiced in Boston and served as a justice of the peace for Suffolk County in the 1770s.

(For more information, see "Colonial Houses" at the Chronicles of America website, Shurtleff's Historical Description of Boston, The Huntington Family in America, and "Caleb Blanchard" at The Adverts 250 Project website, and Bacon's Boston: A Guide Book, all available online.)

A nice testament to the ongoing transition of the heart of Boston from a residential to a commercial neighborhood. Scarce. At the time of listing, nothing similar is for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub shows only three contemporary records of sale have appeared at auction: two to John Hancock and one for a bakery located about a mile inland to the northeast. OCLC shows only two more inland deeds are held by an institution, one in North Square and one in Dorchester,

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