Site of James Watkins' Home

The approximate site of Watkins' Home on 7 Crescent Place. The street and building no longer exist.

NPS Photo/Woods

Quick Facts

Location:

7 Crescent Place

Significance:

James Watkins aided freedom seekers.

OPEN TO PUBLIC:

No

While boarding at 7 Crescent Place, printer James Watkins aided two freedom seekers.¹ The Boston Vigilance Committee reimbursed Watkins on October 29, 1855 for providing assistance to Thornton Tolever and later on March 17, 1856 for boarding Albert Brown.²

In addition to helping freedom seekers, Watkins served as a  leader of the Liberty Guards, an unsanctioned Black militia group.³

James Watkins boarded Albert Brown according to the Vigilance Committee's Account Book. (Credit: Account Book of Francis Jackson, Treasurer The Vigilance Committee of Boston).

Footnotes

1. Boston Directory, 1856 (Boston: Published by George Adams, 1856), 346, Boston Athenaeum, “Accident,” Boston Herald, January 31, 1854.
2. Account Book of Francis Jackson, Treasurer The Vigilance Committee of Boston, Dr. Irving H. Bartlett collection, 1830-1880, W. B. Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives, 36, 48, https://archive.org/details/drirvinghbartlet19bart/page/36/mode/2up. 
3. “First Public Parade of the Liberty Guard,” Boston Herald, November 17, 1857; “Parade of the Liberty Guards,” Boston Courier, August 1, 1859.