David Clapp (Jonathan, Nathaniel, Nicholas), 1720-1787
No. 2420 David Clapp House
from The Clapp Memorial. Record of the Clapp Family in America … Ebenezer Clapp, compiler. (Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1876), p. 221
David, youngest son of Deacon Jonathan and Sarah (Capen) Clapp, and brother of the preceding, was born Nov. 11, 1720, in the house near the Five Corners, and which was afterwards destroyed by fire, May 15, 1784. He was a steady and exemplary man; was a cordwainer by trade, and also a farmer. The portion of the estate of his father which fell to him by the deed of division with his brother Jonathan, in 1746, comprised one half the house already alluded to, part of one barn, and about four and a quarter acres of land adjoining—together with various tracts of land at Great and Little Neck and Powow Point (So. Boston), the latter amounting to ten or twelve acres, and an interest in undivided lands in Stoughton. He was married June 20, 1754, to Ruth Humphreys, daughter of Samuel Humphreys, of Dorchester. During that year he disposed of most of the parcels of land above named, and in May, 1755, his interest in the old homestead was sold to his brother Noah for 99 pounds.
In the same month and year he bought of Thomas and Sarah Kilton a tract of 12 ½ acres, embracing most of the northeasterly side of Jones’s Hill so-called, being part of the estate, as the deed says, “that our Hond. Grand-Father Jonathan Jones, late of Dorchester Decd, Died Siezed and Possessed off.” The amount paid for it was 146 pounds 13s. 4d. It fronted on Stoughton and Pleasant Streets, from nearly opposite the southerly end of Sumner Street, south-easterly to land then belonging to Dr. Gillam Tailer, afterwards the estate of Judge Everett, and now of the widow Nathan Appleton. It included the hill south-westerly from the street to its highest points, the present boundary in that direction being Sawyer and Thacher Avenues recently laid out. The hill itself affords a commanding view of the city of Boston, three miles distant on the north, of its harbor, and of Dorchester Bay. Persons living at the time the famous Whitefield went through this part of the country, in 1740, said that his voice was once heard by them on the side of the hill when he was preaching on Boston Common. It was also a conspicuous place for some of the demonstrations which were called forth in the exciting times preceding the Revolution. On ploughing up a portion of its surface about the time of the second war with England, there were brought to light the charred remnants of the bonfire which was known to have been exhibited there after the repeal of the stamp act in 1765. A house stood at the foot of the hill, near the extreme southeasterly corner of the lot, on the southerly side of what is now Pleasant Street, in the bend near the east end of Stoughton Street. His marriage taking place the same year of the purchase, he at once occupied this house; here all his children were born, and here he died.
It descended to his son Samuel, and was burnt down in 1804, taking fire either accidentally, or, as was strongly suspected, by the hand of an incendiary. Another house was put up in its place by his son Samuel, and is the one now standing and occupied by Samuel’s grandchildren. In 1781, financial embarrassments, occasioned in part by the war then near its close, rendered necessary the sale of a portion of this land, and four acres of it on the northwesterly side, from the street in front to the top of the hill, were sold, for 45 pounds, to Col. Ebenezer Clapp who already owned land adjoining it on the west. On the lot thus sold now stands the large house of the heirs of the late George C. Thacher and the brick house of Charles A. Green, while near by Everett Avenue ascends the hill from Stoughton Street, with houses on each side. On the death of David Clap, his landed estate was divided equally between his three sons, David, Samuel, and Seth, the oldest declining to receive the double portion then allowed by law, and two of these portions still remain in the hands of his descendants. In the inventory of his estate, the whole lot is called about nine acres, and is appraised at 85 pounds.
In the year 1777, David Clapp was drafted as a soldier to join the regiment appointed as a guard to Gen. Burgoyne’s army, then prisoners of war at Cambridge. His son David, then in his eighteenth year, offered himself as a substitute for his father, and was accepted.
David Clapp, Senior, is represented as of a cheerful disposition. Near the close of his life he was afflicted with a painful affection of the knee, and a despondent state of mind was said to have been induced thereby. He died Aug. 17, 1787, in the 67th year of his age. His wife died April 13, 1773.
Children of David and Ruth (Humphrey) Clapp:
Hannah, b. May 22, 1755; d. unmarried, April 21, 1831, aged 76 years.
Sarah, b. Aug. 19, 1757; d. unmarried, Sept. 13, 1839, aged 82 years. She was of a lively and cheerful disposition, remarkably active, and made herself useful and companionable in the families where she passed her life—first, in that of her aunt Sarah Leeds, then, in those of James Robinson and his son Stephen Robinson, afterwards in that of Thomas Lyon, all of Dorchester.
Elizabeth, b. Dec. 17, 1758; d. unmarried, Jan. 23, 1819, aged 60 years. Hannah and Elizabeth lived with their brother David.
David, b. Nov. 30, 1759; d. May 15, 1846, in his 87th year.
No. 7477 David Clapp, 1759-1846 from The Clapp Memorial
Ruth, b. April 21, 1761; d. unmarried, April 13, 1815, aged 54 years. The last years of her life were passed in the family of Judge Moses Everett.
Abigail, b. Dec. 28, 1763; d. unmarried Aug. 9, 1814, aged 51 years.
Samuel, b. June 13, 1766; d. July 17, 1830, aged 64 years. He inherited the middle one of the three lots into which his father’s landed estate was divided, including the homestead and dwelling house. He m. Nov. 27, 1801, Ann, daughter of Christopher Capen, of Canton, Mass. In July, 1804, his house was destroyed by fire, but was replaced by another in the same year. He was a cooper by trade, and his business in this line was small. His wife survived him, and died April 13, 1853, aged 82 years, 6 months. Children:
Anna Larkin, b. Nov. 11, 1850; d. May 16, 1872, in her 67th year; m. Oct. 10, 1835, William Harris, a printer, of Boston, b. in Middletown, Conn., who died Dec. 22, 1865. Two children, Samuel and Anna, lived to grow up, and now (1875) occupy the place of the old homestead on Pleasant Street, and retain the land which has come down to them from their great-grandfather, David Clapp.
Samuel Capen, b. April 1, 1810; d. Oct. 28, 1831, aged 21 years. He was a school-fellow of the author of this Memorial, and our relations were of the most intimate kind. He was a young man of true Christian character, without display, modest and humble, yet true to every call of duty. He had a passionate fondness for music, both vocal and instrumental. He served his time in Boston at the printing business, and died of consumption just as he was entering upon responsible manhood. A small book, containing some of his writings and a memoir by his minister, the Rev. Dr. Harris, of Dorchester, was printed soon after his death. The Sunday after his burial Dr. Harris preached an appropriate discourse from the words—“There was a young man carried out, the only son of his mother and she was a widow.”
Seth, b. Nov. 2, 1767; d. March 8, 1836, aged 68 years. In 1793, he m. Sally Hawes, who d. Dec. 19, 1826, aged 53 years. Mr. Clapp was a carpenter by trade. At the time of the burning of Samuel’s house in 1804, Seth was living with him and both were therefore deprived of a home. While Samuel was rebuilding on the old spot, Seth also commenced improving his own adjoining lot on the South-east by the erection of a dwelling house, but on so large a scale and with such limited means that the house, scarcely finished, was sold at auction the next year, 1805, and bought by John Amory Esq., for $6000, including the three acres of land which was inherited by Seth. Mr. Amory lived in the house the remainder of his life, and some of his family occupied it till 1868, when it was sold to the present occupant, John S. Lyons, who married Sarah Olive Clapp. Seth afterwards lived in various places in the lower part of the town—was industrious, a good workman at his trade, but never made up the pecuniary losses of his early life. Child:
Sarah, b. March 20, 1794; m. in 1841, Thomas Lyon, he being then about 83 years old and she 47 years. She was his second wife, his first being Sarah Clapp. After Mr. Lyon’s death, she m. Jan. 1, 1849, Josiah Davenport, in Dorchester, but then belonging to Needham, where they are both still living. Her recollection of old residents and ancient localities, in the lower part of Dorchester, are fresh and reliable, and much information from her has been received.