The Cathedral History Committee is carrying out the historical research and reporting called for by the 2020 Diocesan Convention Resolution on Reparations, examining the cathedral’s ties to the transatlantic slave trade, the early history of the land upon which the cathedral is built, the indigenous people who lived here, and how the land came to be claimed by the church.
This research was understood as essential preparation for understanding our spiritual, relational, and economic complicity in the perpetuation of racism, being able to lament and confess the specific ways we have done harm, and preparing to discern what reparations we are called to make. Read the full report here.
BACKGROUND
St Paul’s was founded in 1819 and its building consecrated in 1820, long after the Commonwealth ruled slavery unconstitutional (1781). Because slavery was outlawed in Massachusetts at this time, none of the founders were themselves slaveowners, nor were any of its congregants enslaved persons.
Columns OF THE CATHEDRAL
The most specific and definite benefit from slavery we have found so far is that the sandstone used for the columns of the building, among other elements, was quarried by enslaved persons. A letter in our archives from William Appleton to founding rector, the Rev. Jarvis, seems to indicate that the parish saved $8 per ton by choosing sandstone sourced from Virginia instead of Connecticut, where the Virginia quarry is known to have used slave labor.
This sandstone was not just used for the columns, but also for all the sandstone trim: the column bases, the capitals, the pediment, the pieces that were supposed to be carved for the figures of St. Paul preaching to King Agrippa and Bernice, and the trim around the name of the church. The sandstone was shipped rough cut and carved in place by Solomon Willard.
We have not yet found a record of the final construction cost of the sandstone additions, so we cannot yet determine what such savings would mean in 2021 dollars.
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Our archives list ten founding proprietors of St. Paul’s. William Appleton and David Sears bought the most pews, according to the pew ownership index. Appleton wrote in his diary that he and Sears were the wealthiest members of the congregation. We cross-referenced the family names of the proprietors with mid-century references to Boston aristocracy and found no other prominent names.
William Appleton (1786 - 1862) began life with a modest inheritance and grew to prominence and wealth through trading, ship-owning and banking. Appleton’s early trading (as noted in diary excerpts, published 1922) was between England and US, with no recorded trips to either West Indies or Africa, although US destinations include Charleston SC. Charleston slave manifests show no vessels owned by Appleton.
We do not know for sure if Appleton did or did not engage in unrecorded trade involving enslaved persons. But it appears that it would have been difficult for Appleton, a relative newcomer based in a larger port (Boston vs Bristol RI), to have the connections needed to carry off evasion of the law on the scale attributed to the DeWolf family in Traces of the Trade. It is said that MA was second after RI in involvement in slave trading even after 1808.We have not found evidence that Appleton as an individual was involved with this, but we continue to research the possibility.
Appleton also served as treasurer of his cousin Nathan Appleton's textile mill in Lowell, MA, a venture which benefited tremendously from the low cost of cotton produced in the South through the labor of enslaved persons. In 1832, he became president of the Boston branch of the Second Bank of the United States, and served until 1836. In 1841, he established William Appleton and Company, which engaged in trade with China. Appleton served in Congress, first as a Whig and then as a Constitutional Unionist, a short-lived third party, dedicated to preserving the union and avoiding debates over slavery.
David Sears (1787-1871) inherited a fortune gained by his father through privateering during the Revolutionary War and the subsequent China trade when that route was opened to Americans. Although we have no evidence of the Sears family having enslaved people, we are aware that the “China trade” generally connects someone to shipbuilding and exploitation of labor. The Sears family’s story is common to 19th Century Boston, one of protected privilege and inherited wealth.
Sears developed a consequential financing scheme related to pew ownership that perpetuated generational wealth transfer and actively segregated poor and African American worshippers. The Sears family’s story is common to 19th Century Boston, one of protected privilege and inherited wealth.
BLACK BOSTONIANS IN THE EARLY CONGREGATION
We have found only one person of color who was a member of St. Paul’s Church in the pre-Civil War era. William Vassal is separately listed as a “Colored Man” on an archived “List of Adult persons within the cure of St. Paul’s Church Boston. June 15th, 1825.”
NEXT STEPS
Read more about the History Committee’s next steps in the full report linked at the top of this page.