James Blake, 1688-1750, surveyor and sun-dial designer

illus twenty-five divisions  23766

James Blake was an early surveyor described as having outstanding abilities. He is particularly remembered for the notable “Plot of the Twenty five Divisions” that he produced in 1730. He was called “The Annalist,” because he maintained a comprehensive record entitled Blake’s Annals of Dorchester, in which he noted public events, details of his own wide-ranging public service, and records of his surveys. He held many public offices in Dorchester. He served as a Selectman, Assessor, Proprietor’s Clerk and Town Treasurer from 1724 to 1748. In 1743 he was a member of the Committee for building the meeting house. He also maintained the Dorchester Town Records. James was a successful Farmer, he developed the same land at Dorchester Neck that his great grandfather William Blake was granted.  James was skilled in the construction of sundials. One of the dials he had made was the ancient wall sundial formerly seen on the old Town House at the head of State Street in Dorchester [possibly this meant to say Boston]. One of the dialing instruments he had made, are among the Blake Papers in the New England Historical and Genealogical Society.

 

Silvio A. Bedini. “The History Corner: James Blake 3rd (1688-1751) The Poetic Surveyor of Dorchester, Part 1.” Professional Surveyor, July 2003, vol. 23, no. 7

see also Early Colonial Property Mappin in Poetry by Matthew Edney. https://www.mappingasprocess.net/blog/2019/8/12/early-colonial-property-mapping-in-poetry

Edney gives the text of the poem that was published on A Map or Plot of the Twenty-Five Divisions of Land (formerly Dorchester, now Stoughton) 1730

Upon our needle we depend,
In ye thick woods our course to know
Then after it ye chain Extend
For we must gain our distance so.

Over ye hills, through brushey plains,
And hidious swamps where is no track,
Cross rivers, brooks, we with much pains,
Are forc’d to travil forth & back.

Briars & thorns our Flesh Doth tear,
And stubborn brush our Garments rend,
Our instruments need much Repair,
labour and toil our spirits spend.

Sometimes with heat we are oppresed:
Then flys and serpents they annoy us;
Sometimes for cold we have no rest;
And sudden heats & colds destroy us.

Our fare is mean, our suffering great
Amidst all which our [blank] must keep
And work come right our lines run strait
All plotted be before we sleep

When weary steps has brought us home
And needle, chain have some respite
scale and dividers in use come
To fit all for next morning light

And though we’re carefull in ye same
As hast[e] & obstacles will yeild
Yet after times they will us blame
When rough wild woods are made a Field.

Three of ye Gentlemen Improv’d
Did not survive ye Work in hand
one quickly after was removed
Through mercy all ye Rest yet stand.

May we our generation serve
According to God’s holy will
And from his precepts never swerve
Labour to do our duty still

And all be ready for our death
That when so ere our change will be
We may with joy resign our breath
And from our labours Rest may we

May 8th. 1730.

Professional Surveyor

July 2003 Volume 23 Number 7

 The History Corner: James Blake 3rd (1688-1751) The Poetic Surveyor of Dorchester, Part 1

Silvio A. Bedini

The annals of early American settlement are filled with names of countless surveyors, among whom were occasional adventurous, heroic, and innovative practitioners of the art. An early surveyor described as having outstanding unusual abilities was James Blake 3rd (a.k.a. James Blake, Jr.) of Dorchester, Massachusetts. He was self styled “The Annalist,” because he maintained a comprehensive record entitled Blake’s Annals of Dorchester, in which he noted public events occurring in the region, details of his own wide-ranging public service, and records of his surveys. It was a title by which he became known locally.

Descended from John Blake, “Gentleman, of Little Baddow, County of Essex, England, who had been the first of four generations living in that county, the grandfather of the subject of this account was William Blake (1594 – ?) who emigrated to New England in 1630 with his wife and children. His father, Deacon James Blake 2nd (1623-1700), was among the earliest residents of Dorchester, having emigrated from England in 1635. He became very active in the community’s public affairs, serving as constable, town selectman, Elder of the church, and Deputy to the General Court. He died in Dorchester on June 28, 1700. In his last will and testament he bequeathed to his eldest son, James 3rd, ” … All my land at Dorchester Neck adjoyning to his house that he dwells in.” Dorchester Neck is now South Boston. To his second son, John, he left his own dwelling, known locally as the Blake House. It had been built in about 1651, and is one of the two oldest buildings in Boston, and it is now a history museum. It is recorded that when the building was moved to Edward Everett Street, it was the first historic structure known to have been moved to avert demolition.

James Blake 3rd was born on April 30, 1688 in Dorchester, the eldest son of James and Ruth (Batchelder) Blake. He was married to Wait Simpson of Boston and they were parents of eight children, of whom five survived. As his father before him had been, virtually the whole of the mature life of James 3rd was devoted to public service, as was reflected in the Town Records of Dorchester and in the many survey plans that he produced of lands in Dorchester and neighboring towns. These plans, in addition to one of the dialling instruments he had made, had been deposited originally in the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society. They are now among the Blake Papers in the New England Historical and Genealogical Society.

Held Many Public Offices
Over the course of years, Blake 3rd occupied a number of public offices in Dorchester. He served as a Selectman, Assessor, and Town Treasurer for twenty-four years, from 1724 to 1748 inclusive, and in 1743 he was a member of the Committee for building the meeting house. He maintained the Dorchester Town Records, in which was reflected the range of his public service. As he wrote in his Annals:

“I have in that time wrote in the second Book of ye Town Records, 208 pages, which finishes the Book; and have begun the third Book of Records, & wrote therein 119 pages; besides making Tables for both of the two first Books of Records, in an intire Book by itself. I have also in the Treasurer’s business made, begun, & wrote out two large folio Books of Accompts, Containing about 224 folios or 448 Pages each; and the major part of the Third Folio Book of about ye same bigness. Besides large Bundles of Tax Lists, Tables to make Rates by, Warrants for Town Meetings, Divisions of ye Highways, Plans of Land sold by ye Town, &c. All which is more, I suppose, by many times over, than any one man before me has wrote & done for the Town.”

James Blake 3rd also was a successful farmer, developing part of the same land at Dorchester Neck that had been granted to his great-grandfather, William Blake. His valuation in the Dorchester tax list for 1727, made when he was 39 years of age, was impressive. It included “1 house, 24 acres land, l horse, 7 cows and 2 swine.” In addition to his other talents, Blake was said to have been well versed in astronomy. This was confirmed by an insert he had added to his cadastral map of Dorchester, and confirmed as well as by a letter found among his papers. It was written by a young man inquiring whether Blake would again take him (after the haying season) to learn the science of astronomy. Blake also was skilled in the construction of sundials, of which he produced a number. One of the dials he had made was the ancient wall sundial formerly seen on the old Town House at the head of State Street in Dorchester. Or, the reference may have been to the wall sundial on the Old State House, formerly designated the Old Town House, at the head of Boston’s State Street.

Seven years after the first settlement in 1630 of the community of Dorchester, a grant of land south of the Blue Hills known as the Dorchester Waste Lands, was made to the proprietors of Dorchester, not to the town, so that Dorchester then extended to the then still undetermined Colony Line and close to Rhode Island. At one time it included Milton, Stoughton, Sharon, Canton, and Foxborough, as well as itself. It also contained a hill called Dorchester Heights southeast of Boston, the fortification of which resulted in the evacuation of Boston by the British on March 17, 1776. In 1868 the former town became a ward of the city of Boston.

The “Twenty-five Divisions”
In 1713 the town proprietors, known as the Dorchester Proprietors, were owners of the wild lands in the territory now comprising the communities of Stoughton, Sharon, and Canton. These lands remained uninhabited until late in the seventeenth century, during which period such persons to whomever they were assigned or sold, became the lawful owners. Thus was established a system of small freeholds. In 1713 the Proprietors were incorporated as a distinct body, and thereafter the town of Dorchester had nothing further to do with their affairs. It was at that time that a survey was ordered of the lands that remained unsold and undivided south of the Twelve Divisions, and which were to be known thenceforth as the “Twenty-Five Divisions.” These lines were run parallel to the old Braintree line, and were approximately a half mile distant from each other. The towns included, at least partly, in the area covered by the map of the Twenty-Five Divisions were Canton (which formerly was the first precinct of Stoughton), Sharon (the area which was formerly the second precinct of Stoughton, Stoughton (which formerly was the third precinct of Stoughton), Avon, Foxborough, and a part of Plainville lying south of the old Dedham Line. Only a small portion of these lands presently are included in the town of Canton. The earliest map of the territory that is now known as Canton as a town was produced in 1696 and 1697 and was known as the “Map of the Twelve Divisions.” It was produced by John Butcher during a survey on which he had spent forty-five days and on which Thomas Vose spent fifty-three days.

In 1713 Blake reported in his Annals, “This year Majr. Robert Spur, Roger Billing, Capt. Oliver Wiswell, Capt. Thos. Tileston, & Capt. Sam.l Paul, Committee, & James Blake Jun.r Surveyor, began in ye month of May to measure ye Cedar Swamps, &c. This year ye Proprietors, Incorporated into a distinct Body from ye Town, And ye Colony Line Run & Settled by ye Gen. Court.”

Blake “the Annalist” was well known in his region in his time as a land surveyor, and he produced an actual survey of the whole of the then-extensive town of Dorchester. The earliest record of surveying by Blake was of the road leading by the property of Deacon Silas Crane property and through the land of Dr. John Sprague and Isaac Royall by the Royall House to the country road. It was an ancient road, having been laid out in 1704 by Blake and Samuel Capen of Dorchester, and described in 1763 as the road “leading by Deacon Silas Crane’s and through Dr. John Sprague’s land, and Isaac Royall’s by the Royall House to the country road.” The road is not far from the boundary line between the towns of Canton and Milton leading from modern Washington Street to Green Street. It begins nearly opposite Blue Hill Street, upon a level tract of land which since 1769 when Colonel Doty came from Plymouth to Canton, has been known as Doty’s Plain. For many years it was known as Woods Lane because Edward Wood lived in a house upon a corner of the lane. In 1881 it was changed to Royall Street.

In addition to his many other public responsibilities, Blake was Proprietor’s Clerk for the owners of extensive tracts of land in the town of Stoughton, In 1726, he recorded in his Annals:

“Punkapaog or ye South Precinct with ye Lands beyond it in ye Township of Dorchester, were sett off a Township by themselves, by ye name of Stoughton, leaving Dorchester but a small Town, being narrow, and but about 9 or 10 Miles in length, ye upper part being woodland and unsettled; which before was about 35 miles in length, & in some places 6 or 8 miles wide; the length being Reckoned from Dorchester Neck to Angle-Tree, as ye Road goeth.”

These maps, contained in the two volumes of the original records of the Proprietors of Dorchester, now much worn, are preserved in the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds in Dedham.

Many of Blake’s invaluable plans of the lands in this town of Stoughton were extant as late as mid-century, but they have been missing since early in the nineteenth century. They were judged to be not only fine specimens of artistic skill but also correct in execution. In cases of litigation, relative to the early boundaries of lots in his native town, his plans were judged to be of the highest authority. More than a thousand folio pages of his Town Records have survived.

(To be continued)

Silvio Bedini is an Historian Emeritus with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., author of more than 20 books, and a Contributing Writer for the magazine.

 

The History Corner: James Blake 3rd (1688-1751) The Poetic Surveyor of Dorchester, Part 2

Professional Surveyor Magazine – August 2003

Silvio A. Bedini

James Blake, Jr. (1688-1750) of Dorchester, Massachusetts, who identified himself as “The Annalist,” possibly to distinguish himself from other members of the family bearing the same cognomen, was a colonial surveyor who also served in many public offices of his community throughout his adult life. He produced many surveys of lands in Dorchester and adjoining towns. He was said to have been knowledgeable about astronomy and he constructed a number of sundials which were used in the region.

 

Blake is particularly remembered for the notable “Plot of the Twentyfive Divisions” that he produced in 1730. It was based partially on the earlier map made by Butcher, but also contained information from additional surveys that Blake had made between the years 1716 and 1720. In addition to the divisions, it contained much additional information in the form of addenda, several of which are of considerable interest.

(For clarity, the text of each addendum follows.)

First is an explanation of the map and its purpose:
A MAP or PLOT of the Twentyfive Divisions of Land (so called because a Single Division or each Proprietors Proportional part which was determined before the Quantity of Land to be laid out was known, doubled Twentyfive times to take up all the Land that was to be laid out) late in ye Township of Dorchester and now in the Township of Stoughton, it being part of that Land commonly called Dorchester New Grant beyond the Blew-hills: Ordered by the Proprietors of the Common Lands in Dorchester in ye Year of Our Lord 1713 to be laid out: And in ye Year 1714 a Committee of Twelve Men , viz. Mr. Samuel Capen, Capt. Sam.l Paul, Lieut. Sam.l Clap, Mr. Ralph Pope, Mr. John Tolman, Capt. Roger Billing, Mr. Jeremiah Wales, Mr. Thomas Lion, Mr. Philip Withington, Mr. Edward Foster, Mr. Nash Butt, Mr. Eben.r Mausley were chosen to perform and to work: And in ye Year 1715 Mr. John Robinson was chosen in ye room of Mr. Foster who refused : and also James Blake Jun.r. was added to ye Committee. In the beginning of ye Year 1716 the Com.tee began the s.d work Three of them at a time changing by Course generally every Week, first taking the Survey of the whole, and then Proceeded in ye Spring & Fall Seasons to lay out the Lots, which were all (or near all) finished by ye end of the Year 1717. In the Year 1718 the Additional Lots to ye Twentyfive Divisions (so called) being Granted by the Proprietors and ye same Com.tee Appointed to lay them out they proceeded in ye work, and finished all ye Lots that are contained in this Plot in ye Year of 1720.

A supplement to the foregoing stated:
This Plot was made by the Order of the Proprietors Wrought by the Scale of 20 of Gunters Chains or 80 Rods to an Inch. By James Blake, Jun.r Surveyor … Finished May 8th, 1730 …

Another notation in the margin explained:
THERE are Several of the Additional Lots and some of the original Twenty-five Division Lots that are not in the Plot; they being laid out in the Wast Land (so called) among the Twelve Division Lots; of which there are generally Particular Plots and the Scituation of them may be seen in the Plot of the Twelve Divisions. They were generally Such Lots as were not drawn or were allowed and Granted after the rest of the Lots were drawn, and so had no Number prefixt to them; and were laid out after those Lots with numbers … These Lots were not all finished untill the Year 1724.

Blake also informed the users of the map that:
The Divisions round the edges of the Map are Miles and Quarters: the large Divisions that are numbered being Miles and the lesser Divisions Quarters of a Mile …

Blake also provided:
An Explanation of the Plot for the more ready Understanding and finding some things in it …

The Twentyfive Division Original Lots Extend as far as number 53: and also those Lots that are marked with Letters (they being some Lots that were omitted in ye Draught, or admitted by the Proprietors after the Lots were Drawn) belong to ye Original Lots.
The Additional Lots begins at Number 54, and where the same Name is twice mentioned in ye same Lot the original Lot is laid in with the Additional Lot… .
Where any of the Original Lots are wholly wanting in this Plot in ye place where they should lye according to their Number, or where any part of a Lot is wanting they are at the desire of the Owners laid out in ye wast (or comon ) land among the Twelve Divisions Contiguous to their other Lands, and may be seen in ye Twelve Division Plot. All ye Additional Lots that have Numbers prefixt to them are laid out in this Plot, except ye last which is Number 86, and that with those that are without Number are laid out in the Common Land among the Twelve Division Lots… .
The Parellel Lines between which ye Lots are laid out, are endevoured to be run at half a mile & 4 Rods distance from each other, but ye 4 Rods is not reckoned in ye Measure of the Lots. The course of ye Parallel Lines is about South 27-1/2 degrees East (variation of ye Needle excepted) and the Land between those Parellels is called in ye Proprietors Records Ranges of Lots, & are numbered from one to 36, beginning next to Brantrey Line. The Parellel Lines are marked on ye Trees with one or two s upon ye runing sides of ye Line: the Quadrature Lines besides ye s upon ye Runing Lines, are marked with the Number of the Lots on ye other two sides …
What is contained in any Lot more than is spoken of in ye Records is given in by ye Com.tee as allowance for bad Land. The Corner Bounds of the Lots , or where there is an Angle, are marked with 3 or more heaps of Stones (where it could be done) Shewing how ye lines proceed every way from the corner, as in ye margin. The heaps are about two or three Rods asunder … Where the Corners are not so marked it is mentioned what ye Bounds are in ye Plot of ye Lot …

The 25 Division Lots are drawn with Black & not Shaded; the Cedar Swamps are drawn in Black and Shaded with Black, the Meadow bottoms & Land sold in ye time of ye laying out of 25 Divisions or in ye time of the laying out of ye Cedar Swamps & Meadow-bottoms to pay Charges, are drawn in Red & Shaded with Yellow; the old Farms formerly Granted and laid out, or Sold, or Twelve Division Lotas are drawn in Blew & Shaded with Green; the Roads & lesser Paths are drawn in Black & Shaded with Black; the Brooks & Rivers are drawn in Blew & not Shaded … There are Particular large Plots of ye Cedar Swamps & Meadow-bottoms & many of ye old Farms that Show all their Bounds, ye Courses & length of their Lines, &c.

One of the inserts confirms Blake’s interest in and knowledge of astronomy:
Concerning the Variation of the Needle,
In the Year 1709 Mr. Thomas Brattle wrote upon ye Box of his Needle which I now have, that the Variation was 10 Degrees to ye Westward of ye North. In ye Year 1710 Mr. Owen Harris and my Self by two Observations in ye Same Day one by ye Sun’s Amplitude and ye Other by Ye Sun’s Azimuth made ye Variation to be about 9-1/2 Degrees to ye West. About ye Year 1720 Col. Thaxter and Col. Dudley being Sent by ye General Court to Run a Due West Line from Angle Tree allowed 10 Degrees for Variation, which at that Time was Doubtless near ye Truth …

It was apparent that Blake was familiar not only with the subject of astronomy but also that he and Owen Harris had made celestial observations together. Harris was described in various sources as “an Ingenious Schoolmaster in Boston,” who in 1723 had assisted the Boston physician Thomas Robie (1689-1729) in making observations of the Transit of Venus that had occurred in that year. Blake also was personally acquainted with Robie, who had given him his own compass needle.

Astronomical observations made by Thomas Brattle (1658-1713) were incorporated by Isaac Newton in his Principia, and observations of solar and lunar eclipses that he had sent to the Royal Society of London were published in its Philosophical Transactions. The communications to the Royal Society of Chief Justice Paul Dudley (1675-1751), including reports of New England earthquakes, also were published in the Philosophical Transactions.

A most unusual insert featured on this cadastral map is a remarkable poem on the subject of surveying (see right column). A facsimile copy of the Plot of the Twentyfive Divisions was produced in June 1895 by Frederic Endicott. Whether he also copied the style of the handwriting of the original is not known.

In March 1749, nineteen years after he had produced his cadastral map, at the age of sixty-one, he recorded in his Annals:
“In November last, I relapsed into a Chronical Disease, I have laboured under for above 30 years; occasioned at first as I conclude by over heats, Wet & cold, in my laying out ye wild & unimproved Lands belonging to ye Proprietors of this Town. I have been brought near unto ye gates of ye Grave, and am yet but weak & low, and have been ever since confined to my Room. And how it will still please God to deal with me, I know not, but pray that I may have Grace to yield not only sincere active obedience to his Will, but also passive obedience; and that he will fit & prepare me for his good Will & Pleasure.”

Blake remained in poor health from that time until his death, which took place on December 4, 1751. Blake had made his last will and testament two years earlier when he was complaining about his “Chronic Disease.” It included bequests to each surviving son and daughter, each bequest described in great detail:
“To Waite my well beloved Wife,” he gave “the Use and Improvement of one Third part of my Real Estate during her natural Life, and the one third part of my Personal Estate (not hereafter particularly mention’d & given away,) forever. I also give her over & above her third part of my Personal Estate, One Feather Bed & Beding, which she shall Choose; and I also give her one Cow which she shall choose and the Hay for the said Cow to be Cut & Made, and brought home to the Barn, free of Cost.”

Blake’s surveying instruments subsequently were acquired by one of his descendants and namesake, James Edward Blake, who was also a surveyor. Son of Jonathan and Patty Blake, James Edward Blake was born in 1817 on the farm in Warwick his grandfather had purchased in 1781, and lived there until 1855 when he sold the farm and moved west to Granville, Illinois. He was a professional surveyor and owned the instruments that formerly belonged to James Blake (the Annalist) of Dorchester. It was reported that the surveying compass continued to be used until 1850 when it was replaced by a more modern instrument. Also surviving at that time were Blake’s brass scales and protractor.

Upon our NEEDLE we depend,
In ye THICK WOODS our COURSE to know
Then after it ye CHAIN Extend
For we must gain our DISTANCE so.

Over ye HILLS, through BRUSHEY PLAINS,
And HIDEOUS SWAMPS where is no TRACK,
Cross RIVERS, BROOKS, we with much PAINS,
Are forc’d to travel forth & back.

BRIARS & THORNS our Flesh Doth tear,
And Stubborn BRUSH our Garments rend,
Our INSTRUMENTS need much Repair,
LABOUR and Toil our Spirits Spend.

Sometimes with HEAT we are oppressed;
Then FLYS and SERPENTS they annoy us;
Sometimes for COLD we have no rest;
And Sudden HEATS & COLDS destroy us.

Our FARE is MEAN, OUR suffering GREAT
Amidst all which our [course?] must keep
And work come RIGHT lines run STRAIT
All PLOTTED be before we sleep.

When WEARY STEPS has brought us home
And NEEDLE, CHAIN have some respite
SCALE and DIVIDERS in use come
To FIT all for next morning light.

And though we’re CAREFUL in ye same
As HAST & OBSTICLES will yield.
Yet after times they will us BLAME
When ROUGH WILD WOODS are made a Field.

THREE of ye Gentlemen Improv’d
Did not SURVIVE ye WORK in hand
ONE quickly after was removed
Through Mercy all ye Rest yet Stand.

May we our GENERATION serve
According to God’s holy WILL
And from his PRECEPTS never Swerve
Labour to do our DUTY Still.

And all be ready for our DEATH
That when so ere our CHANGE Shall be
We may with JOY resign our BREATH
And from our LABOURS Rest shall we.
—May 8, 1730.