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site of the home of Samuel Adams, on the corner of Winter Street and Winter Place, and the other, the finest tablet yet placed in Boston, to commemorate the destruction of the tea, December 16, 1773.

The home of Samuel Adams was a three-story wooden house fronting on the street, with an L, and in the rear a garden. A substantial looking building, built early in the eighteenth century and originally painted yellow, in its later days it had taken on a dingy and weather-beaten appearance. Its front door, ornamented with a

Street had formerly been known as Blott's Lane and Bannister's Lane; and in the early part of the century the houses on the same side of the street were of a similar style to that of Mr. Adams, with the exception of a few small shops, one of which, a barber's, stood next to Mr. Adams's residence and between it and Tremont Street. On pleasant days, in his declining years, Mr. Adams's erect figure, a little above the medium height, in tie wig, cocked hat, buckled shoes, knee breeches and red cloak, would be seen in front of his domicile.

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brass knocker, was surmounted over its arched entrance by a bow window. A single step admitted to the broad entry, from which heavily capped banisters led to the upper stories. On the ground floor, with their windows descending to within two feet of the ground, were parlors, one of which was used as a library by Mr. Adams. The parlor was spacious, having a large fireplace, with its huge brass andirons and its surrounding of blue tiles. On the walls were paintings of Mr. and Mrs. Adams and pictures of prominent Americans. The thoroughfare which is now known as Winter

The Tea Party tablet was unveiled on the one hundred and twentieth anniversary of the deed of which it marks the site, at the corner of Pearl Street and Atlantic Avenue. The inscriptions for tablets placed up to this time were written by Francis Ellingwood Abbot, Ph. D., historian of the society.

On February 22, 1894, in the Old South Meeting-house, fine framed photogravures of Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Washington, known as the Athenæum portrait, were presented to the school children of Boston, in behalf of the society, by Rev. Edward

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AND-IN THE WORDS OF WEBSTER THE
HEADQUARTERS OF THE REVOLUTION
TO MARK A SITE FOREVER MEMORABLE AS
THE BIRTHPLACE OF AMERICAN FREEDOM

THIS TABLET IS PLACED BY THE
MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY OF SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
AUGUST 19 1892

Everett Hale. Every public school
building in the city received a copy of
this portrait; and the society con-
tinues the work from time to time, as
new buildings are completed and oc-
cupied. Over eleven hundred dollars.
was spent in this way; and the
hearty appreciation on the part of
teachers, pupils and public of a fine
example thus set for all our cities
made it one of the most popular
acts in the history of the society.
To assist in the making of patriotic
citizens is one of the most pleasing
of all the obligations incumbent
upon a public-spirited organization.

Mc

On March 15, 1895, the society held a public meeting in the Old which South Meeting-house, on occasion Mr. Edward W. Glenen delivered his lecture on "Paul Revere and the Nineteenth of April," illustrated by numerous stereopticon views. On March 28, 1895, the city government was petitioned to pass an ordinance that the flags belonging to the city of Boston should be displayed upon

the public buildings and grounds annually on the fourteenth day of June, this being the anniversary of the adoption of the Stars and Stripes as the national ensign of the United States. This ordinance was passed and approved by December Mayor Curtis, 30, 1895; but an order was passed by the city government at its meeting in March, pending a report from the committee on ordinances, that the flag should be displayed June" 14, 1895, which was done, this being the first official recognition in Boston of the birthday of our national emblem. Special exercises were also held in all the schools of the city, while the press gave its enthusiastic support by calling public attention to the anniversary. On January 20, 1896, the board of managers in behalf of the society sent a petition to the representatives of Massachusetts in Congress, to use their efforts to adopt a bill preventing the use of the national ensign as an advertising medium.

April 2, 1898, a tablet was placed on the façade of the American House, on Hanover Street, Boston, to mark

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LOVING CUP PRESENTED TO THE SOCIETY BY COLONEL WILLIAM L. CHASE.

brick throughout, the roof being slightly curved. Every indication furnished satisfactory evidence, and left no doubts, if any existed, that the great organizer of the Revolution was laid to rest in the Checkley tomb. Samuel Adams Wells, grandson of Samuel Adams, made the following memorandum, which appears in the appendix of a volume of poems by John Witt Randall, great-grandson of Adams:

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the site of the home of General Joseph Warren. The tablet measures twentyfour by thirty-six inches, and the inscription for it was written by Dr. Samuel A. Green, secretary_of_the Massachusetts Historical Society. Warren lived here from 1770 up to the time of his death at Bunker Hill.

On the one hundred and twentythird anniversary of the battle of Lexington, that "glorious morning for America," the Sons of the Revolution gathered about the tomb of Samuel Adams in the old Granary Burying Ground. For ninety-five years the spot where the mortal remains of Samuel Adams were laid away had been unmarked, and almost unknown, at least to a large proportion of the citizens of Boston. On March 26, 1898, by order of the trustees of the cemetery department of the city, the tomb was opened for purposes of identification, though it was well known that Samuel Adams was buried in the Checkley tomb, the property of his wife. It was necessary to remove the earth to about the depth of three feet before the two stone slabs which lay across the short flight of steps leading down into the mouth of the tomb could be reached. The tomb was found to be in excellent condition, perfectly intact, constructed solidly of

"Samuel Adams was buried in the Checkley tomb, which adjoins the westerly sidewalk of Tremont Street in Boston. His bones were gathered into a box by his grandson and deposited in a corner of the vault. "Teste, S. A. WELLS."

The rugged granite boulder with its tablet of bronze is in perfect keeping with the ancient character of the old burying ground, in which it has found a permanent abiding place. No other form of memorial would have been so appropriate, and the selection was a happy one, typifying as it so well does the bold and firm nature of the man whose illustrious memory it guards. Placed at the head of the flight of steps leading down to the entrance of the tomb, it was unveiled with simple but impressive speech, and presented to the city which Samuel Adams loved so well.

In the same line of tombs, but on the opposite side of the entrance to the old Granary and equally distant from it, interred in the Longley tomb, repose the remains of the fiery orator and ardent patriot, James Otis. The proofs of this fact are so interesting in themselves that perhaps no "Consolations of Solitude," by John Witt Randall, Boston, 1856, page 253.

apology is needed for recording them in this connection at some length. That the location of the burial place of James Otis, one of the great leaders in the Revolution, should have been forgotten for over half a century, seems almost incredible; but many circumstances tended to veil it from public knowledge. For many years queries have appeared in the daily press and historical publications asking for information on the subject. Conjectures were made that he was buried at West Barnstable, where he was born, while many have believed that he was buried at Andover, where he was killed by lightning; and this latter supposition was strengthened by the fact of his request shortly before his death to be buried on a knoll directly in the rear of Mr. Osgood's house at Andover. Local historians had looked in vain for any clew that would lead to solution of the mystery. But by collating probate records, family history gathered from various sources, and the traditions of one family connected with the Cunningham family, of the generation contemporary with James Otis, the tomb

in which were interred the remains of the Hon. James Otis, the distinguished patriot of the Revolution, was finally discovered. Thomas Bridgman, who wrote a book of epitaphs of the Granary Burying Ground, does not mention the name of Otis. The bronze tablets on the iron gates do not record the fact that James Otis is buried within the grounds. But our records are conclusive that James Otis was buried in that burying ground after his remains were brought from Andover to his dwelling in Boston, and the funeral cortêge that marched from the house to the ground was one of the largest ever beheld in Boston. In the records of St. John's Masonic Lodge of Boston is recorded the fact that James Otis was made a Mason in the year 1752, and was a member of that lodge. This lodge escorted his remains to the tomb. The newspapers published at the time of Mr. Otis's death and funeral furnish but meagre accounts. The Boston Gazette or Country Journal under date of Boston, May 26, 1783, says:

"We hear from Andover that last Friday Evening the House of Mr. Isaac Osgood

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MEMORIAL TO SAMUEL ADAMS, GRANARY BURYING GROUND, BOSTON.

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