business to become a pirate. He went out to Madagascar, where 

 it is reported that he died in his own bed. He was buried with 

 the rites of the Church of England in his own watermelon patch. 



James Halsy II 



James Halsy II (1695-1767), a mathematical instrument maker, 

 was born in Boston on April 10, 1695, the son of Nathaniel and 

 Hannah (Gross) Halsie. The parents had been married by the 

 Reverend Cotton Mather in June 1693.^^ In 1716 young James 

 Halsy was a member of the Artillery Company, and by 1720 he 

 had the rating of 4th sergeant. He held town offices and was one 

 of the founders of the New Brick Church of Boston. On May 30, 

 1717, he married Anna Gutridge (Goodrich). Ten years later, on 

 September 22, 1727, he bought a house and land on North Bennett 

 and Tileston Streets from Hugh Hall, a merchant; at the same time 

 he deeded to Hall some land and a house adjacent to the latter 

 on the southwest side of Green Street. On January 5, 1837, he 

 deeded to his aunt(.''), a single woman named Huldah Gross, a 

 house and land on Ann Street that he had inherited from Thomas 

 Gross, his grandfather. Several more real estate negotiations were 

 recorded in the course of the next few years. In October 1740 he 

 purchased a house and land on the north side of North Bennet 

 Street from John Endicott; in January 1741 land on the east side 

 of North Bennett Street; and in November 1748 half of the house 

 and land of Edward Pell, adjacent to Huldah Gross, on Cross 

 Street; finally, in October 1753, he purchased land on Tileston and 

 North Bennett Streets from John Grant.^^ 



Halsy died on January 2, 1767, at the age of 72. In his will 

 dated May 1, 1766, and probated January 2, 1767, by which his 

 wife Anna was the executrix of his estate, he left her the income 

 of his real and personal estate. He apparently was survived by 

 three daughters and a son, also named James Halsy. He divided 

 his real estate in Boston amongst his daughters, and to his son he 

 left land in New Hampshire.^^ 



The only known surviving instrument bearing James Halsy 's 

 name is a wooden surveying compass (fig. 41) in the collection 



*' Savage, op. cit. (footnote 2), vol. 2, p. 341; "Joseph Halsy," in Thwing 

 Catalogue, and "Cotton Mather" in Record of Marriages, Massachusetts His- 

 torical Society. 



*^ Land deeds listed in Thwing Catalogue, Massachusetts Historical Society. 



^^ Massachusetts Historical Society, Inventory L.450, S.P.R. 92.505. 



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