Boston 1775

I’ve written before about how Henry Howell Williams came from a wealthy, well-connected Roxbury family. Close relatives married member...

On 25 Feb 1792, the U.S. House of Representatives recorded receiving: A petition of Henry Howell Williams , praying compensation for injurie...

For more than a week now I’ve traced Henry Howell Williams ’s quest for compensation after the Battle of Chelsea Creek in May 1774 destroye...

In 1787, the Confederation Congress was meeting in New York , at City Hall and the Fraunces Tavern (shown here). When Henry Howell Willi...

After listing more than £3,600 of property lost on Noddle’s Island in May and June of 1775, Henry Howell Williams presented that document t...

To bolster his request for compensation after the Battle of Chelsea Creek, Noddle’s Island estate owner Henry Howell Williams assembled se...

By 1787, Henry Howell Williams had been reestablished on Noddle’s Island for about three years. Having stayed in Massachusetts throughout...

The message from Thomas Chase quoted yesterday makes clear that in 1780 Henry Howell Williams still felt he had a claim to “the Soil” of ...

As soon as the siege of Boston ended, the Massachusetts government moved to fortify Noddle’s Island and other spots in Boston harbor. On...

In his 1858 History of East Boston , William H. Sumner wrote, “I think [ Henry Howell Williams ] was a quartermaster-sergeant in the army ”...

On 12 June 1775, as quoted earlier , Henry Howell Williams petitioned the Massachusetts Provincial Congress for relief since his farm on ...

The major fighting over Noddle’s Island, later elevated with the name of the Battle of Chelsea Creek, took place on 28 May 1775. Provincia...

Within two weeks of seeing the provincial army destroy his house and farm on Noddle’s Island during the Battle of Chelsea Creek, Henry How...

Henry Howell Williams lost more property in the Battle of Chelsea Creek than anyone else but the Royal Navy . Williams held the lease fo...

Yet another outcome of the Battle of Chelsea Creek was the destruction or removal of various agricultural resources on Hog Island and Noddl...

As discussed yesterday , Henry Howell Williams ’s oversaw what was probably the biggest farming operation in Boston harbor in 1775. He was...

For the last third of the eighteenth century, Henry Howell Williams (1736-1802) leased Noddle’s Island in Boston harbor for farming . Wil...