The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1905-12-22

HISTORY OF A FAMOUS OLD ELM
DESTROYED BY THE WIND.

This Celebrated Tree, Believed to
HIVE Existed Before the Settlement
of the City. Was Blown Down In
the Great Storm of 1876.
Feb. 10, 1876, was Il sad day for To-
,al historians iii Boston, for the news
papers announced the next day that at
about { o'clock the previous evening
he old elm on Boston Common had
been destroyed by great storm which
swept over the city at that time. So
many cuIogieS, both oral and written,
were delivered Oh this most ancient Of
BoSton's landmarks, and it was real
lied that connecting link with the
remote past was gone forever.
1t is not known when the tree began
t. grow, but an old Boston tradition
WAS that the wife of Thomas Hancock,
the eminent merchant who was Lydia
IIcnchman before her marriage, claim
ed that her grandfather, Hezekiah
Henchman, planted the tree when he
was boy. This would have made the
tree just 200 years old ut the time of
its destruction.
1t is probable that some Of the many
persons on record as being publicly
executed Oh Boston Common looked on
the fair world for the last tine when
standing beneath its branches, for 1t
was one of the largest trees, II not the
largest, i'll the town, and it stood on
its outskirts, and also in 1I22 it must
have been Il prominent object in Bos-
ton, for Bonncr's map of the town.
published i'll that year, shows 1t as a
feature.
In 1925 the first recorded measure
ment of the old elm showed its di-
mansions to be as follows: Height, TO
feet; circumference, Il feet 8 inches at
> feet inches from the ground, and
the extreme diameter of the branches
was Sc feet. At this time it was said
OF the tree that this pride of our Com
mon is pronounced by judges to be as
handsome in form as 1t is large III size
and venerable i'll age, and it may be
worth the remark, Notwithstanding all
the buffeting it has received from
storms and hurricanes for more than
u century it's original beauty and SYM
mctry have not been impaired, al
though it has at times lost many Of its
branches"
The tree was accurately measured by
the city engineer of Boston in 1855, and
it was found that it was considerably
larger than i'll 1925. its height being
figured at seventy-tiye feet. This
showed that it was still growing in its
extreme old age.
The first serious damage the tree re-
ceived was in 1882. when the largest Of
its limbs was SO rent aSunder that
three branches rested ON the ground,
but at much cost and labor they were
replaced i'll their former positions and
held together by iron rods and bolts.
The great gale in June, 1860 injured
the tree to such an extent that its for
mer symmetry was destroyed, and at
this time the cavity in the trunk was
filed with several loads of material.
On one Of the branches which were
torn off at the time 100 rings were
counted, which indicated the great age
of the tree.
The opening of the centennial year Of
the republic. 1876. found the tree alive,
but decrept, and it would probably
have been decorated on Evacuation
day and the Fourth of July, but, as
stated ut the beginning Of this article,
Feb. 10 saw its destruction.
The old elm fell at III o'clock in the
evening, its trunk pointing toward the
Park Street church, and the force Of
the fall shattered the trunk, while the
branches were scattered in every di-
rection. The melancholy news spread
like wildfire through the city, and soon,
despite the storm, the fallen monarch
was surrounded by relic hunters. Arm
ed with saws. hatchets and knives,
they quickly detached pieces Of the
branches to preserve as souvenirs. Per
sons were seen in the theaterS laden
with boughs, and it was a common
sight that evening to see men in the
streets carrying limbs several feet in
length and as large around as stove
pipe. Much of the tree was made into
, veneer, and one book at least Of local
history has on its back cover a large
veneer from the tree, bearing on its
face lifelike engraving Of the same.
So passed the old elm, and Boston
mourned for its passing.
Dr. Jerome V. c. Smith, mayor of
the city in 1854. showed his interest in
the old elm by having the tree care
fully pruned and cleaned, and he
caused to be placed around it an orna-
mental iron fence, octagonal in shape.
On the entrance gate was attached an
oval tablet bearing the following in
scrlption:
THE OLD ELM
This tree has been standing here for
an unknown period 1t Is believed to have
existed before the settlement of Boston,
being full grown in 1922; exhibited marks
OF old age in 1892 and was nearly destroy
ed by II storm in 1892 Protected by an
iron Enclosure in 1854.
]. V. C. SMITH, Mayor.
Soon after the falling Of the old elm
young tree of the same species was
planted in the center Of the H. .'lOSuGe.
and today it has attained large and
sturdy growth. Coming generations of
BostonianS may be familiar with Il
tecond old elm OIL Boston Common. but
it will always be the first old elm
which witnessed. very possibly, the
first settlement of Puritan Boston in
1630.-Boston Budget.