Note 19 — INTRODUCTION.

John Rowe, a prominent merchant and patriotic citizen of Boston, died February 17, 1787; aged 72 years. He was many years a Selectman, Overseer of the Poor, and representative to the General Court, and was chairman of the committee chosen June 16, 1779, to fix the prices of merchandise, and to bring to punishment all offenders against the act against monopoly and forestalling. He was a member of the First Lodge of Freemasons, Boston, in 1740; master of the same Lodge in 1749, and fifth Provincial Grand Master in 1768. When, in 1766, Rowe was proposed for representative, Samuel Adams artfully suggested another, by asking—with his eyes on Mr. Hancock's house—"Is there not another John that may do better?" The hint took, and the wealth and influence of Hancock were secured on the side of liberty. Rowe's mansion,—subsequently that of Judge Prescott, father of the historian,—stood on the spot lately occupied by Dr. Robbins' church, in Bedford Street. A wharf and street once bore the name of this true friend of his country, but the wharf alone retains the title. Since 1856, Rowe Street has been absorbed in Chauncy Street.