Man discovers connection to Boston’s Old North Church, donates piece of American history
WBZ
By Samantha Chaney
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BOSTON (WBZ) — The historic North End of Boston holds centuries of stories throughout American history. For Harry Bulkeley, one visit 20 years ago, revealed a deeply personal connection.
“The only way I can describe the sensation is that it was like I was walking up to a hot radiator,” he said.
While walking through Paul Revere Mall during a visit to his daughter at Harvard, Bulkeley felt an inexplicable pull toward a house behind the Old North Church.
Master mason of Old North Church
There, he spotted a plaque bearing the name “Ebenezer Clough,” his six-times great-grandfather, who had been the master mason of the Old North Church.
“I had no idea he lived there,” Bulkeley said.
The name matched the first entry from 1719 in his family’s 300-year-old Bible, a record that predates formal birth and death certificates.
“You know, back then in the 18th century, since there weren’t a lot of birth records and there wasn’t a city hall to keep track of who was living and who was dying, you used the family bible,” he said.
Historic records in 300-year-old Bible
The records were written on pages between the Old and New Testament.
“One of my favorite entries was June 17, 1775,” Bulkeley said, “and it said, ‘This is the day that the Regulars burned Charlestown.’ That’s actually the Battle of Bunker Hill.”
Last year, Bulkeley and his family decided to donate the Bible to the Old North Church, ensuring that this piece of American Revolutionary history was accessible to the public. “Some records are personal… but then there are other things that rightfully belong to everybody,” he said.
Now, his family’s legacy lives on where it began more than three centuries ago, on the same grounds of the Old North Church.
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