12 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



1784; of the United States branch Bank at its organi- 

 zation, in 1792, and of the Charles river bridge cor- 

 poration in 1 785. He lived on one of the finest estates 

 in Boston, fronting on Summer street, with the man- 

 sion standing at the present northerly part of Otis 

 street, near Winthrop square. He had a farm of 53 

 acres, part of which was in Charlestown and part in 

 Cambridge, and at one time he owned the Craigie 

 estate in Cambridge, now familiarly known as the 

 home of Longfellow. When in 1784 (the war being 

 ended) the Continental congress decided to sell on the 

 stocks the new 74 gun frigate, the first ever built in 

 Boston, he was appointed as the agent to conduct the 

 sale. When the frigate Constitution was launched in 

 1797, though he was no longer living, it was deemed 

 worth the while to make record that the bottle of 

 Madeira wine, with which the ship was christened, 

 came from the cellar of Thomas Russell. 



Joseph Barrell (1739-1804) was a leading mer- 

 chant. He had a store on the town dock near Faneuil 

 Hall, and sold West India and other foreign goods. 

 He was first on the list of directors of the United 

 States Bank, and the pioneer in opening the North- 

 west coast trade. His ships, the Washington and the 

 Columbia, were the first to round Cape Horn in that 

 enterprise, and the latter was the first vessel that ever 

 crossed the bar of the Columbia river in Oregon, 

 whence the river gets its name. He, also, had a fine 

 estate on Summer street, which he improved by filling 

 up the bog in the rear, which had existed from the 

 beginning, near what is now Franklin street, and laid 

 out a garden and fish pond. In 1792 he built a brick 

 mansion at Charlestown (now Somerville) on the 

 premises now known as the McLean Asylum, where 

 he owned 170 acres of land. The building is in use to 



