Date: May 8, 1769
Pursuant to a Note of the Town of Boston at their Annual Meetings the 4[th] of May last desiring the Selectmen to visit the several publick Schools in the Town and to invite such Gentlemen to accompany them therein as they should think proper & to Report thereon—
We the Subscribers accordingly attended the Service on Wednesday the 6th Day of July last accompanied by the following Gentlemen viz.—
The Honble. James Bowdoin Esq
Thomas Hubbard Esq
Harrison Gray Esq
John Irving Esq
Thomas Fl[ ]er Esq
James Pitts Esq
James Otis Esq
The Representatives of the Town
The Overseers of the Poor—
The Rev. Ebenezer Pemberton
Mr. Samuel Mather
Mather Byles D. D.
Andrew Eliot D. D.
Samuel Cooper D. D.
Mr. Samuel Blair—
Mr. Penuil Bowen
Mr. Simeon Howard
Mr. John Lothrop
Mr. John Walley
Mr. Treasurer Jeffries
Samuel Sewall Esq
Mr. Timothy Newell
William Phillips Esq
Benjamin Austin Esq
Mr. William Coffin Jun
Mr. John Edwards
Mr. James Perkins
Jonathan Simpson Esq
Dr. Myles Whitworth
Dr. Joseph Warren
Capt. Nathaniel Greenwood
Mr. William Davis
John Scollay. Esq
Samuel Adams Esq
Coll. Thomas Marshall
Majr. James Cunningham
William Homer. Esq
Thomas Danes. Esq
Mr. John Milo Wendell
Samuel Quincy Esq.
And found the South Grammar School had 141 Scholars, the North Grammar School 55 Scholars; the South Writing School 205 Scholars; the North Writing School in Queen Street 260 Scholars; all in good Order—
Voted, that the above Report be accepted, and that the Gentlemen the Selectmen be desired to visit the publick Schools the Year ensuing, and invite such Gentlemen to accompany them as they may think proper—
Source: Records of the Town of Boston, Reel 5
Commentary: Joseph Warren participated in civic life as an appointee to committees of the Town of Boston, Massachusetts House of Representatives, and Sons of Liberty. This item documents his participation as one of a large committee of leading citizens charged with performing an annual oversight of the Boston public schools. New England civic life could be notable for the extent to which important decision making and executive functions were the result of teamwork and committees.
Many names of fellow committee members are recognizable to modern historians as Massachusetts businessmen, clergymen, lawyers, political office holders, and Masons. The scope of Joseph Warren’s intersecting circles of friends, acquaintances, Masons and patients was large.
The committee’s census of students totaled 661 out of a total Boston population around 15,000. Even with formal public school attendance limited to Caucasian boys, the extent of basic literacy among the general population was notable by comparison both with other American provinces and within the British Empire. Some girls, and even the very exceptional slave, could be home schooled by an encouraging family or through diligent self-study. Daughters of Liberty writers like Phillis Wheatley, Mercy Otis Warren, and Abigail Adams, demonstrate that such exceptions could achieve an impressive level of mastery of literary form, content, insight, and creativity. Miss Mercy Scollay, a daughter of Boston Selectman and merchant John Scollay, may have been such a woman.
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