04/30/2020
As the quarantine continues and our current projects in Boston remain on hold, today we received an email about one of our previous posts from December 5, 2018.
During our restoration of the Hooper Mansion (448 Beacon St. Back Bay), we removed 100% of the original slate from the building and replaced in kind. We discovered a piece of slate engraved ‘BILL DONOVAN NOV 11, 1889’. We shared our discovery on the post below, which stimulated a lot of community engagement.
Here’s the email:
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Hello,
This email is regarding the 'Bill Donovan' etching that your team found on one of the original slate roof tiles of 448 Beacon St. when you were working on it a few years back. My understanding is that the roof was being reconditioned/replaced and someone stumbled upon that etching - almost like a roofer signing his work. William Donovan, a roofer in Boston in the 1880s, was the brother of my great-great grandfather.
The reason I'm reaching out to you is that I was contacted about a year ago by one of the tenants of 448 Beacon St looking for more information on this 'Bill Donovan.' They found me because I have William Donovan in my family tree on Ancestry.com. I've had a little time recently due to this pandemic and was doing some additional research on him. I randomly found a link to a Facebook post on your company's page with the whole story of how it was found, so I thought I would write to share some info I have on him. He is the only roofer named William Donovan in Boston around this time (looking through old Boston directories), so it's pretty likely that this is the guy.
William Donovan was born in Bangor, Maine in 1855 to Jeremiah and Margaret Donovan. Jeremiah was a ships carpenter and would travel between Boston and both Falmouth and Bangor. The family moved to Boston (by way of Lowell) in about 1860, where they lived somewhere around the current South Station/Chinatown area. By 1870 they were living in South Boston. At this point William seemed to go off and live in a series of boarding houses downtown and in South Boston. I've looked pretty carefully and it doesn't look like he ever had a family. He died at age 39 on January 8th, 1895 of tongue cancer.
I told some of my extended family and they all thought is was the coolest story of how the slate tile was found!
His older brother Jeremiah (our direct ancestor) was also a slate tile roofer, getting into the trade in 1868 when he was 18. Perhaps they were working this job together at 448 Beacon St. Jeremiah eventually rose pretty high in Boston roofing and was once the president of the Boston Building Trades Council in the early 1900s.
I walked by that building a few months back just to see it and it looks stunning! Great job!
Best,
K. Donovan
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How cool is that!
With a lot of our projects involving the restoration of historical buildings, we find the building history very interesting. We actively work with local Historical Commissions to replace 'in kind' to preserve the architectural integrity of the building.
This made our day! We are hoping to resume business later this month, the Boys Are Ready to Roll
Stay Safe.
Check this out! During the removal/replacement of the slate roof at 448 Beacon St. we discovered this engraved piece of slate located on the turret reading 'Bill Donovan Nov 11, 1889'.
This piece of slate has been exposed on the roof for over 129 years. It appears as though Bill Donovan was a Irish roofer who was employed by B. D. Whitcomb & Co. when the company built 448 Beacon St. in 1889-1890.
This piece of slate will be framed and kept in the lobby of the building to commemorate the building's deep history
Please share this post around the Boston community. May be a long shot, but it would be awesome to track down family descendants of this gentleman to share these findings
