King Caesar Barn Lectures

This Thursday, July 10 is the first lecture in the King Ceasar Summer Barn Lecture series. Patrick Browne, the Excutive Director of the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society will speak on the founding of the Duxbury Rural Society in 1883 and acquaint you with the founders and describe their earliest projects, including the exhumation of Myles Standish. This lecture will take place in the King Caesar Barn. Refreshments are served at 10 a.m. Lecture begins at 10:30am. Tickets are available at the door for $5.

The Season has begun . . .

The official summer season is upon us and the historic King Caesar House is now open for tours. Guided tours are offered Wednesday through Sunday from 1 - 4pm. The address of the house is 120 King Caesar Road, Duxbury, MA. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for Seniors/Students and members are always free. Hope to see you sometime this summer.

A Little History

Ezra II went into business with his father in 1798 and the name of the company became E. Weston and Son. In 1831 Ezra II built six vessels, ships and brigs, one being the Eliza Warwick of 530 tons, which was a large vessel for those days.

Captain Arthur H. Clark, a reliable maritime historian, wrote "Ezra Weston was the most famous of the old-time Boston ship-owners. The Westons were easily the largest ship-owners of their time in the United States, and not only built but loaded their own vessels"

If all the vessels built and owned by the Westons from 1800 to 1842 were to have sailed in a column, with only a ship's length between them, they would have formed a line four miles long. There were 21 ships, one bark, thirty two brigs, 35 schooners and 10 sloops.

Ezra II broadened his firms activities until he was almost a self contained industry. He owned timber lands of oak and pine for use in his shipyard. The ships were provisioned with vegetables, beef and park from Weston farms, fish caught by his schooners were salted and sent back out for use as an article of commerce. The Weston rope walk, spar yard, sail loft, blacksmith shop and forge were all part of keeping his fleet afloat.

The Wife - Jerusha Bradford Weston

Jerusha Bradford was born to Colonel Gamaliel and Sarah Bradford on January 30, 1770. She was almost two years older than Ezra Weston II. Colonel Bradford, having served in the French and Indian War, was a greatly respected man. As a colonial magistrate before the outbreak of the Revolution, he found himself in a difficult position. Duxbury citizens, for the most part, favored the patriot cause. Bradford was one of the few in Duxbury who took a loyalist position being loath to spite the British crown officials who had appointed him. This standpoint soon became uncomfortable, and Bradford, along with fellow magistrate Briggs Alden, offered a public recantation of their position and an apology on September 14, 1774. Fully espousing the patriot cause, Bradford later became Colonel of the 14th Massachusetts Regiment in the Continental Army.

The Colonel owned a large, 90 acre farm that straddled Tremont Street. It would one day be divided between three of his sons, Jerusha’s brothers Gamaliel, Jr., Daniel, and Gershom. All three were successful master mariners. Two of them worked for Ezra Weston I—Daniel in charge of the brig Rising Sun in 1797, Weston’s first square-rigged vessel, and Gershom as master of the schooner Flora in 1810. The three brothers built houses on their father’s farm simultaneously in 1808. The King Caesar House was constructed at the same time. The four houses exhibit certain identical features and details, mostly in the interior and exterior moulding, indicating that all four may have been constructed by the same craftsmen.

The marriage of Ezra Weston II and Jerusha Bradford took place on June 2, 1793. To commemorate the occasion, Ezra I commissioned artist Rufus Hathaway, an itinerant painter from Taunton who would one day settle in Duxbury, to paint portraits of his son and daughter-in-law. Hathaway, not a trained artist, painted in a rough, primitive style. The portraits were nonetheless a fine symbol of status. Very few in post-Revolutionary Duxbury could afford such an extravagance (the Winsors and Westons were the only Duxbury families who employed Hathaway). The portraits were likely a point of pride, but they provide only a vague impression of what the Westons actually looked like. Jerusha, about 24 is shown in a stylish silk gown, holding a small bouquet. Ezra II, about 22, sits with letter in hand, a quill next to him indicating the clerical nature of his duties.

Jerusha had to wait 16 years after her marriage for the construction of a house of her own. From 1793 until the completion of the King Caesar House in 1809, she resided in her father-in-law’s house on Powder Point. With only Ezra I and his wife Salumith living there, there was room enough for the young couple, and eventually their family too.

Jerusha gave birth to five children in the old house. Three of them would be lost before the new house was built, Maria at age 9, Ezra III at age 8 and Jerusha at 19 months. The two daughters died within a month of each other, and so it has been suggested that a contagious illness was to blame. The surviving sons, Gershom Bradford Weston (born in 1799) and Alden Bradford Weston (born in 1805) were soon joined by Ezra Weston IV who was their only child born in the King Caesar House in 1809. These three were raised by Jerusha on the Weston estate.

Of Jerusha’s life and personality, very little is known. It seems none of her letters have survived. The only scrap of her handwriting in evidence is her signature on a receipt. Her role in managing the Weston household and the complexities she undoubtedly experienced in being the wife of King Caesar must have been challenging. Unfortunately, this facet of the story cannot be explored in depth.
According to notes jotted by her son Alden for a family genealogy, she was

...lively and sociable. In youth she had red hair which changed to brown. Was good natured and obliged, was in fact such as a woman ought to be. Was fond of the society of young persons, was a good housekeeper, latter part of her life suffered much from sickness, liver complaint, was neighborly and charitable.

Her portrait by Rufus Hathaway, Alden added, was “not very good.” According to tradition, Jerusha was fond of flowers. One of the few shreds of idyllic ornamentation on the industrial property was a large, oval-shaped garden. It was inharmoniously situated on the west side of the house with the tarhouse and ropewalk as its backdrop. Jerusha took pains to have rare perennials imported from afar. One of these immigrants survived until the late 19th century, though the garden was long derelict by that time. The Knapp family discovered the curious flower when they occupied the estate in 1886. It was found to be a rare iris reticulata, probably brought to Mrs. Weston from the shores of Turkey.

Sadly, one of the better documented details of her life is the prolonged illness leading to her death on October 11, 1833. She was cared for, in large part, by her niece Elizabeth Bradford, daughter of her younger brother Gershom. The Bradford daughters (there were four of them) and the Weston sons would always be close. Elizabeth wrote to her sisters, two of them in Ohio at the time, about their aunt’s worsening condition. "I am sorry Aunt Jerusha is so sick.” Lucia Bradford wrote back, “She must be very sorrowful, I should think. She always liked to go out so much."

As to his emotions during the ordeal, King Caesar is silent, save one line. Wrapping up a letter to the master of the brig Minerva on September 6, 1833, King Caesar writes, “…You no doubt will be on the lookout for something [a cargo] for the ship. There is nothing a doing in Boston. My wife is very sick. Yours, E. Weston.” A perfunctory remark? Not so when considered in context. This line is the only mention, in all of Weston’s letters, of his personal life. It is significant that his wife’s illness is even mentioned. A few months after Jerusha’s death, Ezra II purchased a small black book for scribbling notations. Folded in the back is a small piece of embroidery, probably by Jerusha, which he carried with him for years.

The House

King Caesar House - 1882

The house which Ezra Weston II could finally call his own was the centerpiece of an awe-inspiring estate on Powder Point. The property had undergone many changes since his grandfather Eliphas Weston first put up a house there in 1738. A peculiar blend of country manor and industrial complex, the estate had no clear division between home and workplace. Almost immediately, the King Caesar House held a certain aura for the community and would breed as many myths as the man.

King Caesar House - Present Day

Surrounded thus by the sounds of men working, machinery turning, barrels and bales being hoisted onto schooners, Ezra Weston II’s wife, Jerusha Bradford Weston, set about keeping house. There is little documentation pertaining to the domestic life of the Weston family beyond the existing physical evidence in the house.

The Businessman - Ezra Weston II

Old King Caesar, the legend went, had owned the largest fleet of merchant ships in the country, perhaps even the world. He built them right here in Duxbury, launching them into a shallow harbor in which their keels scraped the mud. King Caesar had everything he needed right in this little town: a shipyard, a farm, a sailcloth mill, a blacksmith shop, the ropewalk. Even Daniel Webster had said he was the greatest merchant of the time.

Ezra Weston I established a small shipyard in 1764 along Duxbury’s marshy shore. His success, his character, and his audacious designs for the community would earn him the nickname of “King Caesar.” The title passed to his son, Ezra Weston II, who built and lived in the striking mansion now known as the “King Caesar House.” Father and son, both with different priorities defined by their times, built up a commercial enterprise that became one of the most important in the Commonwealth, by far the largest mercantile operation on the shore of Plymouth County in its day.

The Weston firm is almost absent from New England maritime history. In the 19th century, the Westons received some passing mention, usually repeating the claim to fame bestowed on them by Daniel Webster. In a speech delivered in Saratoga, New York in 1841, Webster said, "I live on the seacoast of New England, and one of our nearest neighbors is the largest ship-owner, probably, in the United States. During the past year he has made what might suffice for two or three fortunes of moderate size.”[i]

Certainly the Weston firm was bringing in a great fortune. And their fleet was indeed considerable. In the year when Webster was speaking, the Westons had just launched what was referred to as New England’s largest merchant ship up to that time. They operated a fleet of 14 vessels totaling 4,531 tons. Determining whether this was, in fact, the largest fleet afloat in the United States at that time is difficult. But suffice it to say, their fleet was significant.
The casual “largest shipowner” title is tacked to Weston in a number of histories, including that of Massachusetts historian Henry Howe who wrote, “Lloyds of London listed more than a hundred ships owned by Ezra Weston, making him one of the largest ship owners in the world.” Indeed, the firm built or otherwise acquired at least 110 vessels. This is a bit misleading because they naturally did not operate all at once, but over the course of three generations. But, again, determining whether or not any other American firm surpassed this accomplishment prior to 1850 is difficult and to some extent irrelevant. Gaining an understanding of the scope of their achievements within a greater historical context, however, is key.[ii]

The Westons’ relative absence from the history books, aside from offhand mentions such as these, is puzzling. A large part of the problem is lack of documentation. There are essentially no personal papers surviving. We have little or no insights on either King Caesar’s personal opinions, family lives, private observations or emotions.

[i] Quoted in Weston, Edmund B. In Memoriam: Hon. Gershom Bradford Weston and Deborah Brownell Weston, (Published by Edmund B. Weston, 1916), p. 13.
[ii] Howe, Henry, Massachusetts, There She is—Behold Her!, (Harper & Brothers, 1960) p. X.

The King Caesar House

The King Caesar House was built in 1808 for Ezra Weston, II and his wife, Jerusha Bradford Weston. Weston, like his father, was known as “King Caesar” for his worldwide preeminence in shipbuilding and shipping during the early 19th century. Lloyd’s of London recognized him as the largest shipowner in America, and this judgment was confirmed by Daniel Webster in a speech in 1841. From this house, King Caesar presided over an empire which encompassed a fleet of about 75 merchant ships, a ten acre shipyard, a farm, and a large work force of sailors, carpenters and laborers.

The house stands as a fine example of Federal period architecture, built with careful attention to detail and characteristic of skilled ships’ carpenters such as Ezra Weston employed. The front rooms, both upstairs and downstairs, remain practically unchanged from the original construction of 1808.

The house currently displays a fine variety of artifacts from the Federal period. Especially notable are superb wallpapers in the two front parlors, which were imported from France for this house. These rare scenic papers attributed to DuFour were restored by a team of experts from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Opposite the house, the massive stone wharf at which the Weston ships were once rigged and fitted reaches out into Duxbury Bay. Nearby were located the spar-soak and shipyard establishment of the Westons on either side of the Bluefish River inlet. The wharf, formerly the focus of a bustling industry, is now a landscaped park named for Dr. Henry C. Bumpus, a noted scientist and president of Tufts College, who lived in the house from 1937-1945.

The house was lived in by Weston descendants until 1886. At that point it was purchased by Frederick B. Knapp and became part of the campus of the Powder Point School for Boys. In the 20th century, the house was owned by a succession of distinguished Duxbury families until 1965 when it was purchased by the Duxbury Rural and Historical Society.