Quincy House, c. 1770, Quincy, MA: Meet the Remarkable Quincy Family - History Bites: New England

This country estate overlooking Quincy Bay transports visitors to the Revolutionary War era and tells the story of a woman's work to preserve her family's history more than 100 years later. Revolutionary leader Colonel Josiah Quincy built the house in 1770. He and his family played key roles in the social and political life of Massachusetts for generations, producing three mayors of Boston and a president of Harvard. According to Historic New England, which manages the Quincy house, the Quincy family was as well known in the 19th century as the Kennedys are today. Each of the Quincy's shown here were named Josiah. Seated on the left is Josiah Quincy III, who served as mayor of Boston and president of To his immediate right is Josiah Quincy IV, an author and also mayor of Boston. On the far right is Josiah Phillips Quincy, an author, and the baby, Josiah Quincy V, grew up to be the third mayor of Boston to bear the name. In the 1880s, Eliza Susan Quincy made her life's work to document the significance of her family's home. Among her many accomplishments was to persuade relatives to return heirlooms so that the house could be a repository of Quincy family history. Edmund Quincy was the first member of the family to arrive in the region as a colonist in 1633. The political and economic root of the Quincy family's power, notes Historic New England, emerges from the early acquisition of and profit from indigenous lands and the bureaucratic management of indigenous populations in the greater Boston region. By the early 18th century, Edmund Quincy III served on several committees that oversaw the annexation of additional indigenous lands in the region. His son, Josiah Quincy, was able to inherit much wealth and land, allowing him to build this mansion on the estate in the late 18th century. Quincy house's architectural details included Chinese fretwork balustrade and classical portico. The original estate encompassed several hundred acres and the house was surrounded by fields and pasture overlooking Quincy Bay. Edmund Quincy's descendants prospered through the centuries and Colonel Josiah Quincy was no exception. This house was his third home and what was then known as Braintree, the first two were destroyed by fire. By the time Colonel Quincy moved into his third residence, he was about 60 years old and had already lived a long and distinguished life. He was born around 1710, graduated from Harvard College in 1728, and started working as a merchant in Boston. Josiah married Hannah Sturgess in 1733. Not long after they married, they had their first son, Edmund, followed by three more children. In 1748, a ship named the Bethel, owned by Quincy's firm, was successful in fooling a Spanish ship with valuable cargo to surrender. The owner of the Bethel divided the $300,000 prize. With this prize, Colonel Quincy was able to live a comfortable life and purchase many luxurious items for his estate. The painting, set in Arlington, Massachusetts, was done early in the artist's career, not long after he was discharged from the Union Army. The painting depicts the daughters of Francis Peabody, co-founder of the banking firm Kidder Peabody and Company, with the family's recently constructed Gothic Revival home in the background. In the 1750s, Colonel Quincy continued to be engaged in business, which included a glass factory and one that produced spermaceta candles, which was an expensive form of lighting made from a waxy substance extracted from the heads of sperm whales. Quincy was also a justice of the peace. A young John Adams, also a resident of Braintree, tried cases before him. A rare example of an 18th century Germanic art form found in New England, this cut paper valentine was a gift to Maria Sophia Kemper, who married an English soldier, John Morton, later a hero for his support of the Patriots' cause during the Revolution. The valentine was discovered in Maria's belongings after her death by her granddaughter, Eliza Susan Quincy. Dated 1752, it is one of the earliest known documented American valentines. The entrance hall contains Chinese furniture, similar to the pieces that Eliza Susan Quincy tells us that came from the family home in Boston. Colonel Quincy's third son, Josiah Jr., was born in 1744. A graduate of Harvard, he was admitted to the bar in 1766, thus beginning his professional legal career just as revolutionary fervor began in Boston, and it wasn't long before he became an outspoken patriot, publishing regularly, although anonymously, in the Boston Gazette. In a published essay from October 1768, Quincy demonstrates his passion for the Patriot cause. Oh my countrymen, what will our children say when they read the history of these times? Should they find we tamely gave away the most invaluable earthly blessings? If we have one tender sentiment for posterity, if we would not be despised by the whole world, let us in the most open, solemn manner swear we will die if we cannot live free men. In the midst of his active work as a lawyer and published patriot, and the growing tension in the city, Josiah Jr., in 1769, married Abigail Phillips, the daughter of a prominent merchant. Abigail shared her husband's political sympathies. In 1770, Josiah Jr. and John Adams made the unpopular decision to defend the British soldiers who had taken part in the skirmish that became known as the Boston Massacre. Josiah Jr.'s older brother, Samuel Quincy, prosecuted the case, an action that forced the Quincy brothers to defend positions they actually opposed. The soldiers were ultimately acquitted, an action, according to Historic New England, that proved the justice of the Massachusetts laws and fairness of the courts. A sitting room in the late 19th century, this space at the Quincy house was a good spot to watch visitors approach down a long carriage drive planted with majestic elms. This is an intricately carved Chinese ivory pagoda consisting of 12 open floors, each containing numerous people in a wide variety of courtly pursuits. The base is inlaid with colored ivory beads. In 1774, Josiah Jr. secretly boarded a ship in Salem Harbor bound for England. His primary goal was to encourage a peaceful settlement to the dispute with England. While in London, Quincy met with Americans, including Benjamin Franklin and members of the British government, including the Prime Minister, Lord North. In March 1775, Quincy, after falling ill, prepared to return to Boston. One month later, as the ship was within three days off Cape Ann, Massachusetts, Josiah Quincy Jr. died. He was only 31 years old. Quincy's repeated wish that he live long enough to meet with Samuel Adams or Joseph Warren in his final statement, recorded by a seaman, suggests, according to Historic New England, that he was delivering critical intelligence. However, the information entrusted to Quincy died with him. Even if he had lived, it may have come too late, as American and British blood had been shed a week earlier in the battles at Lexington and Concord. Regarding the portrait, the Colonial Society of Massachusetts points out that it is particularly remarkable for its candid treatment of Quincy's disability, strabismus, a crossed or turned eye. The artist, Gilbert Stewart, made no effort to disguise the disability, which adds to the dignity and courageous quality of the portrait. This ring memorializes Josiah Quincy Jr. The inscription reads, oh save my country, which were purportedly his last words. According to Eliza Susan Quincy, Josiah's father, Colonel Josiah, wore this ring throughout his life. Shortly after the death of his brother, Josiah Jr., Samuel Quincy departed for England, never to return. Samuel was the lone loyalist in the Quincy family. My political character with you may be suspicious, Samuel wrote, but be assured, if I cannot serve my country, which I shall endeavor to the utmost of my power, I will never betray it. Samuel would spend almost the rest of his life in Antigua. In 1789, he and his second wife decided to return to England in the hope of improving his health. Unfortunately, like his brother Josiah, he would die at sea. By the end of April 1775, with hostilities having broken out in Boston and beyond, there was little more that Colonel Josiah Quincy, then 65 years old, could do than to observe the upheaval. The monitor at the top of his house afforded a clear view of shipping lanes in and out of Boston Harbor, and the Colonel apparently spent hours watching troop movements. On October 10, 1775, Colonel Quincy scratched, Governor Gage sailed for England with a fair wind into one of the windows of the monitor roof. Colonel Quincy would continue to share what he saw in the harbor in letters to John Adams and George Washington. That pane of glass was carefully preserved by the family and is on display in the Quincy House today. When Colonel Quincy died in 1784, the house was passed to his young grandson, Josiah Quincy III. Born in 1772, Josiah would go on to lead a distinguished life dedicated to public service. He would serve as a United States Congressman, Mayor of Boston, and President of Harvard, a post that he held for 16 years. By this time, the family's influence in their hometown had grown so large, notes Historic New England, that part of Braintree was renamed Quincy in their honor. Josiah Quincy III and his family would use Quincy House as their summer home. During his public and academic career, he entertained many distinguished visitors at Quincy House, including Lafayette, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, James Monroe, Daniel Webster, and Commodore Matthew Perry. Josiah Quincy III died in 1864, leaving life tenancy of the house to his unmarried daughters, Eliza, Abigail, and Maria Abigail, who died in 1893, the last Quincy family member to live in the house. This room reflects the way it may have looked in the mid-1800s when it was used by Josiah Quincy III and his wife, Eliza. The daughter of Josiah III and Eliza Susan Morton Quincy, she was a respected historian and recorded the history of the Quincy family, and described firsthand historic events and social occasions, many of them at the Quincy homestead. Her eyewitness accounts include the 1815 Proclamation of Peace at the end of the War of 1812, and the Boston visit of Lafayette in 1824. The decoration is known as Japanning, and it was done in imitation of Asian lacquer furniture. Colonel Josiah Quincy originally owned the piece. It was rescued from house fires on two separate occasions before 1770. Josiah's great-granddaughter, family historian Eliza Susan Quincy, wrote the story of this high-chest survival on a small paper label, which she pasted inside a drawer.