Matt Teuten
A Colonial Home in a Bustling Seaport
Robert Howard, a wealthy Boston Merchant, purchased the house in 1681. Though it would change hands many times, it has always remained in the same place on North Square. Located in Boston’s densest and oldest neighborhood – the North End – the house was situated in a hub of innovation of sorts for its day. The neighborhood served as a home and workplace for many skilled artisans, tradesman, and merchants. By the mid-1700s the house was a modest dwelling compared to the large mansions of Boston’s elite. Nonetheless, it was a perfect home for an aspiring middling family.
The Most Famous Residents – The Revere Family
Revere himself was the son of a French immigrant father and a mother descended from the earliest settlers of New England. Revere apprenticed to his father where he learned the highly skilled trade of gold and silver smithing. When Revere purchased the house on North Square, he was already a war veteran, a master silversmith, a husband, and a father of five children. Revere’s wife Sarah managed the household and cared for the children while Paul handled the family business. Revere only had to walk a short distance away to get to his workshop located on the North End waterfront.
Sarah Revere died in 1773 from complications of giving birth to her eighth child. Paul Revere remarried a few months later to a woman named Rachel Walker. Rachel played a critical in continuing to manage a growing household. She and Paul had another eight children together while she continued to raise and nurture her stepchildren. Sadly, because of such high mortality rates in the colonial period, only six of Sarah’s children and five of Rachel’s children survived into maturity. Of those eleven, only five children survived their father.
