Joseph Barrell (merchant)
Encyclopedia
Joseph Barrell was a merchant in Boston
, Massachusetts
in the 18th century. During the American Revolution he owned ships commissioned as privateers
, such as the Vengeance, ca.1779. In 1792 Barrell was "elected to the board" of Massachusetts branch of the newly established Bank of the United States
, along with "George Cabot
, Jonathan Mason Jr.
, ... and Fisher Ames
."
Around 1787, "a group of merchants led by Bostonian Joseph Barrell, having read the account of Captain Cook
's third voyage, believed that great profits could be made by trading sea-otter furs, highly prized in China, for tea and other wares. They financed and arranged the venture of the ship Columbia Rediviva
, commanded by John Kendrick
, and the sloop Lady Washington
, under Robert Gray, to sail around the Horn
to the American northwest coast and trade for sea-otter furs, thence to Canton to trade the furs for tea and other wares, then homeward around the Cape of Good Hope
and back to Boston. The Columbia thus became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe, leaving Boston on September 30, 1787, and returning on August 9, 1790. While this voyage was not profitable, the Columbia immediately set out on a second, more successful voyage under Gray which lasted until 1793. The voyages of the Columbia established the trade pattern for the Boston-northwest coast-China-Boston trade
, spearheaded by Boston merchants."
In civic life, Barrell was appointed to an official town committee in 1789 to plan festivities in honor of George Washington
's visit to Boston. Along with the Boston selectmen, the committee was charged with "devising the most suitable ways for the inhabitants of this town to express their affection and respect to President Washington."
In 1764 Barrell married Anna Pierce (ca.1744-1771), "known to her contemporaries as Nancy Barrell;" their children included Joseph Barrell Jr. (1765-1801). After Nancy died, he wed Hannah Fitch;; children included Hannah Barrell (1773-1842). Joseph later married Sarah Webb.
in Boston and built a lovely garden that was quite famous. By 1791, the Revd William Bentley
was able to write in his diary: 'Was politely received at dinner by Mr Barrell.... His garden is beyond any example I have seen. A young grove is growing in the back ground, in the middle of which is a pond, decorated with four ships at anchor, & a marble figure in the centre. The Chinese manner is mixed with the European in the summer house which fronts the house, below the flower garden. Below is the hot house. In the apartment above are his flowers more freely admitted to the air, & above a summer house with every convenience. The squares are decorated with marble figures as large as life.'" The gardens extended "back to Franklin Place
."
in Charlestown (now Somerville
), where he created a ferme ornée
- a new concept which combined a working farm with a beautiful landscape."
"In 1793, he asked Charles Bulfinch
, a family friend, to design a country house on the side of a hill looking down across the river, over Boston, and on out into the harbour beyond. This was one of Bulfinch's first commissions, and the innovative design and resulting beauty of the house helped establish his reputation as an architect of great talent and creativity. The new place was called 'Pleasant Hill', and it too became very famous because of the magnificent house Bulfinch had created and the lovely gardens around it. The gardens here were terraced down the slope to a 'wilderness' of poplar trees and a small pond stocked with fish.' Anna (Eliot) Ticknor recalled visiting there as a child and described her experience this way: 'He gathered his friends ... to take fruit and coffee, and wander about the grounds. A vision of one such scene lives in my memory, but only a pencil like Watteau's could place it before the comprehension of others.... I walked, with my beautiful mother, through long alleys shaded by fine trees, with wide flower-beds on either hand, so radiant in color that one might almost have thought a rainbow had been thrown there.... Seen through the vista of sixty years a glow still lingers on the scene.'"
"It was Mr. Barrell's ambition to create an ideal country seat, adorned with all the accessories of lawns, trees, gardens, terraces, greenhouses, fish-ponds, dove-cotes, poultry-yard, stable, coach-house, a well-stocked barn, and an attractive boat-house. And here he was able to carry out his magnificent plan. All the resources of Nature and Art were combined to make Pleasant Hill -- as it was then called -- the most complete and sumptuous residence in the suburbs. The choicest plants were imported from Europe, and gardeners to take care of them. Elms and poplars lined the winding avenues in different directions."
He retired around 1794, passing on his business to his son, Joseph Barrell, Jr. At Pleasant Hill Joseph Sr. experimented with gardening and agriculture, publishing his ideas. "In his "Reflections on Agriculture" of 1789, Barrell proposed that agriculture must be seen not only as the starting point of all civilization but as its culmination as well; he had retired from a prosperous career in the East India trade to devote all his energies to experimental agriculture and improvement of his estate. "'It is a fact somewhat remarkable,' he wrote, 'that men should have returned to the exercise of Agriculture, the first of the arts, only after they had successfully tried all the rest.'"
John Singleton Copley
painted portraits of Barrell, and his wives Anna and Hannah. Barrell also commissioned furniture from cabinetmaker John Cogswell.
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in the 18th century. During the American Revolution he owned ships commissioned as privateers
Privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers...
, such as the Vengeance, ca.1779. In 1792 Barrell was "elected to the board" of Massachusetts branch of the newly established Bank of the United States
First Bank of the United States
The First Bank of the United States is a National Historic Landmark located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania within Independence National Historical Park.-Banking History:...
, along with "George Cabot
George Cabot
George Cabot was an American merchant, seaman, and politician from Boston, Massachusetts. He represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate and as the Presiding Officer of the Hartford Convention.-Early life:...
, Jonathan Mason Jr.
Jonathan Mason (politician)
Jonathan Mason was a Federalist United States Senator and Representative from Massachusetts during the early years of the United States....
, ... and Fisher Ames
Fisher Ames
Fisher Ames was a Representative in the United States Congress from the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts.-Life and political career:...
."
Biography
As a merchant Barrell imported goods from overseas. For instance, the Hannah, commanded by William Haydon, sailed in May 1780, probably from Amsterdam, loaded with cargo for Barrell in Boston: "German steel, ... china ware, earthen pots, house brushes, spices, linens, velvets, writing paper, children's toys (among the rest a furnished kitchen valued at over six florins), wafers, flat-irons, tea and tea-kettles and window-glass." Barrell's notable wealth also derived from his activities as "contractor to the French fleet."Around 1787, "a group of merchants led by Bostonian Joseph Barrell, having read the account of Captain Cook
James Cook
Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...
's third voyage, believed that great profits could be made by trading sea-otter furs, highly prized in China, for tea and other wares. They financed and arranged the venture of the ship Columbia Rediviva
Columbia Rediviva
Columbia Rediviva was a privately owned ship under the command of John Kendrick, along with Captain Robert Gray, best known for going to the Pacific Northwest for the maritime fur trade. The "Rediviva" was added to her name upon a rebuilding in 1787...
, commanded by John Kendrick
John Kendrick (American sea captain)
John Kendrick was an American sea captain, both during the American Revolutionary War and the exploration and maritime fur trading of the Pacific Northwest alongside his partner Robert Gray.-Early life:...
, and the sloop Lady Washington
Lady Washington
Lady Washington is a ship name that is shared by at least 4 different small wooden merchant sailing vessels during two different time periods. They should not be confused with USS Lady Washington. The original sailed for about 10 years in the 18th century. A somewhat updated modern replica was...
, under Robert Gray, to sail around the Horn
Cape Horn
Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island...
to the American northwest coast and trade for sea-otter furs, thence to Canton to trade the furs for tea and other wares, then homeward around the Cape of Good Hope
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.There is a misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa, because it was once believed to be the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. In fact, the...
and back to Boston. The Columbia thus became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe, leaving Boston on September 30, 1787, and returning on August 9, 1790. While this voyage was not profitable, the Columbia immediately set out on a second, more successful voyage under Gray which lasted until 1793. The voyages of the Columbia established the trade pattern for the Boston-northwest coast-China-Boston trade
Old China Trade
The Old China Trade was the name given to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghsia in 1844...
, spearheaded by Boston merchants."
In civic life, Barrell was appointed to an official town committee in 1789 to plan festivities in honor of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
's visit to Boston. Along with the Boston selectmen, the committee was charged with "devising the most suitable ways for the inhabitants of this town to express their affection and respect to President Washington."
In 1764 Barrell married Anna Pierce (ca.1744-1771), "known to her contemporaries as Nancy Barrell;" their children included Joseph Barrell Jr. (1765-1801). After Nancy died, he wed Hannah Fitch;; children included Hannah Barrell (1773-1842). Joseph later married Sarah Webb.
Summer Street residence, Boston
"In 1784, Joseph Barrell, ... [an] immensely wealthy merchant, bought a house on Summer StreetSummer Street (Boston)
Summer Street in Boston, Massachusetts extends from Downtown Crossing in the Financial District, over Fort Point Channel, and into South Boston...
in Boston and built a lovely garden that was quite famous. By 1791, the Revd William Bentley
William Bentley
William Bentley was an American Unitarian minister, scholar, columnist, and diarist....
was able to write in his diary: 'Was politely received at dinner by Mr Barrell.... His garden is beyond any example I have seen. A young grove is growing in the back ground, in the middle of which is a pond, decorated with four ships at anchor, & a marble figure in the centre. The Chinese manner is mixed with the European in the summer house which fronts the house, below the flower garden. Below is the hot house. In the apartment above are his flowers more freely admitted to the air, & above a summer house with every convenience. The squares are decorated with marble figures as large as life.'" The gardens extended "back to Franklin Place
Franklin Place
Franklin Place, designed by Charles Bulfinch and built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1793-95, included a row of sixteen three-story brick townhouses that extended in a 480-foot curve, a small garden, and four double houses...
."
Pleasant Hill residence, Charlestown (built 1793)
"Wishing for more land to try new gardening styles and modern farming techniques, Mr Barrell purchased, over a period of several years, 211 acres of land across the Charles RiverCharles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
in Charlestown (now Somerville
Somerville, Massachusetts
Somerville is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located just north of Boston. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 75,754 and was the most densely populated municipality in New England. It is also the 17th most densely populated incorporated place in...
), where he created a ferme ornée
Ferme ornée
The term ferme ornée as used in English garden history derives from Stephen Switzer's term for 'ornamented farm'. It describes a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. During the eighteenth century the original ferme ornée was Woburn Farm, made by...
- a new concept which combined a working farm with a beautiful landscape."
"In 1793, he asked Charles Bulfinch
Charles Bulfinch
Charles Bulfinch was an early American architect, and has been regarded by many as the first native-born American to practice architecture as a profession....
, a family friend, to design a country house on the side of a hill looking down across the river, over Boston, and on out into the harbour beyond. This was one of Bulfinch's first commissions, and the innovative design and resulting beauty of the house helped establish his reputation as an architect of great talent and creativity. The new place was called 'Pleasant Hill', and it too became very famous because of the magnificent house Bulfinch had created and the lovely gardens around it. The gardens here were terraced down the slope to a 'wilderness' of poplar trees and a small pond stocked with fish.' Anna (Eliot) Ticknor recalled visiting there as a child and described her experience this way: 'He gathered his friends ... to take fruit and coffee, and wander about the grounds. A vision of one such scene lives in my memory, but only a pencil like Watteau's could place it before the comprehension of others.... I walked, with my beautiful mother, through long alleys shaded by fine trees, with wide flower-beds on either hand, so radiant in color that one might almost have thought a rainbow had been thrown there.... Seen through the vista of sixty years a glow still lingers on the scene.'"
"It was Mr. Barrell's ambition to create an ideal country seat, adorned with all the accessories of lawns, trees, gardens, terraces, greenhouses, fish-ponds, dove-cotes, poultry-yard, stable, coach-house, a well-stocked barn, and an attractive boat-house. And here he was able to carry out his magnificent plan. All the resources of Nature and Art were combined to make Pleasant Hill -- as it was then called -- the most complete and sumptuous residence in the suburbs. The choicest plants were imported from Europe, and gardeners to take care of them. Elms and poplars lined the winding avenues in different directions."
He retired around 1794, passing on his business to his son, Joseph Barrell, Jr. At Pleasant Hill Joseph Sr. experimented with gardening and agriculture, publishing his ideas. "In his "Reflections on Agriculture" of 1789, Barrell proposed that agriculture must be seen not only as the starting point of all civilization but as its culmination as well; he had retired from a prosperous career in the East India trade to devote all his energies to experimental agriculture and improvement of his estate. "'It is a fact somewhat remarkable,' he wrote, 'that men should have returned to the exercise of Agriculture, the first of the arts, only after they had successfully tried all the rest.'"
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley
John Singleton Copley was an American painter, born presumably in Boston, Massachusetts, and a son of Richard and Mary Singleton Copley, both Irish. He is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects...
painted portraits of Barrell, and his wives Anna and Hannah. Barrell also commissioned furniture from cabinetmaker John Cogswell.
See also
- Board Alley TheatreBoard Alley TheatreBoard Alley Theatre was an illegal theatre in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 18th-century. Also called the New Exhibition Room, it was located in Board Alley in the Financial District. Although some in town supported the theatre, others vehemently opposed it...
(Boston), supported by Barrell - Columbia RedivivaColumbia RedivivaColumbia Rediviva was a privately owned ship under the command of John Kendrick, along with Captain Robert Gray, best known for going to the Pacific Northwest for the maritime fur trade. The "Rediviva" was added to her name upon a rebuilding in 1787...
, a ship partly owned by Barrell - Federal Street TheatreFederal Street TheatreThe Federal Street Theatre , also known as the Boston Theatre, was located at the corner of Federal and Franklin streets in Boston, Massachusetts. It was "the first building erected purposely for theatrical entertainments in the town of Boston."-History:The original building was designed by Charles...
(Boston), supported by Barrell - Franklin PlaceFranklin PlaceFranklin Place, designed by Charles Bulfinch and built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1793-95, included a row of sixteen three-story brick townhouses that extended in a 480-foot curve, a small garden, and four double houses...
(Boston), built on land owned by Barrell
Further reading
Works by Barrell
- (Attributed to Barrell). Tit for tat; t’other side; or, Bounce-about: Tis true old Bounce, there was of late, in public hall, a grand debate. Boston: Sold at Edes’s printing-office, in Cornhill, 1782.
- To the Public. American HeraldAmerican HeraldThe American Herald was a newspaper in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, published by Edward Eveleth Powars and Nathaniel Willis.-Variant titles:* The American Herald: and the General Advertiser The American Herald (1784-1790) was a newspaper in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, published by...
, 10-30-1786. - Culture of Potatoes. Newburyport Herald, 05-13-1803.
Works about Barrell
- Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed. Boston in 1775: Letters from General Washington, Captain John Chester, Lieutenant Samuel B. Webb, and Joseph Barrell. NY: Historical Printing Club, 1892.
- Edward Pierce. Diary of John Rowe. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Second Series, Vol. 10, 1895; p.11+.
- Edward G. Porter. Demolition of the McLean Asylum. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Second Series, Vol. 10, [Vol. 30 of continuous numbering] (April 1896); p.548+
- Drake. Historic mansions and highways around Boston. 1900.
- Frank C. Brown, 'The Joseph Barrell Estate, Somerville, Massachusetts: Charles Bulfinch's First Country House', Old-Time New England (January 1948), pp. 52-62.
- Dean A. Fales, jun., 'Joseph Barrell's Pleasant Hill', Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, vol. XLIII, Transactions 1956-63, pp. 373-90.
- Anne E. Bentley. The Columbia-Washington Medal. Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Vol. 101 (1989), p.120-127.
- D. C. Lai. Barrell of Lunatics: Places Associated with the First Public Demonstration of Ether Anesthesia. Park Ridge, IL : Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, 2003. (Reviewed by P. G. Berthelsen in 2004: http://bja.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/92/2/300)
External links
- WorldCat. Barrell, Joseph 1739?-1804
- Silhouette portrait of Barrell, circa 1790. Mass. Historical Society.
- Archives of American Art. Jedidiah Morse papers, 1793-1932
- Worcester Art Museum. John Singleton Copley biography
- Massachusetts Historical Society. The Columbia and Washington Medal
- MFA Boston. Mrs. Joseph Barrell (Hannah Fitch), about 1771, by John Singleton Copley, American, 1738–1815
- Massachusetts Historical Society. Winthrop Sargent Papers