Roxbury, Massachusetts
Norfolk county. This town is joined to Boston by a neck of land, over which are broad and pleasant avenues. Between the centre of each town is about 3 miles. The surface is rocky and uneven, with a strong soil in a high state of cultivation. It displays a great degree of agricultural taste and skill, and abounds in country seats and pleasure grounds. That part of this town bordering on Jamaica pond, 4 miles S.W. from Boston, is exceedingly pleasant. This town and Boston were incorporated the same year, (1630;) and nothing but municipal regulations divide their interests and feelings. Population, 1810, 3,669; 1820, 4,135; 1830, 5,247; 1837, 7,493.
The first hourly coach from Boston commenced running to this town in 1827. There are now a large number continually running between the two places, and not less than 250,000 persons pass annually. Since that time, others of a similar kind have been established to Charlestown, Cambridge, Dorchester, &c., and tend greatly to promote the public convenience.
The manufactures of Roxbury consist of leather, nails, hats, chairs, cabinet ware, pig iron, spirits, &c.: annual value, about $300,000.
The Rev. John Eliot, the justly celebrated "Apostle to the Indians," was settled in Roxbury in 1632. Mr. Eliot imbibed the true spirit of the gospel, and his heart was touched with the wretched condition of the Indians. He learned their language and translated the scriptures into it. This would seem the business of a life, when the sense of the simple expression, "Kneeling down to him," is conveyed in the Indian language by Wutappessttukqussunnoowchtunkquoh, a word that would puzzle a Demosthenes to pronounce, without an extra pebble stone in his mouth. Mr. Eliot was remarkable for his indefatigable labors and charities; he endured hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and went to his reward in 1690, aged 86.
This was the birth place and residence of the patriot Joseph Warren. Dr. Warren was born in 1740. He graduated at Harvard college in 1759. He was an ardent lover of his country, and sensibly felt the weight of her oppressions. Four days previous to the battle of "Bunker Hill," he received a commission in the army of Major general. He was within the entrenchment, and was slain on that hallowed spot, just at the commencement of the retreat. Dr. Warren was an able statesman, an eloquent orator, a man of uncompromising integrity and undaunted bravery. General Warren was the first officer of rank that fell in that glorious contest for liberty. His death shed a gloom throughout the country: he was exceedingly beloved for the mildness and affability of his deportment, and for the virtues of his private life.
