Dear Tom, I have read your material as well. Wow, I didn't realize that Jake felt so strongly about Boland. Its like he read only genealogical material and obits. Of course, he has read much more. He knows more about this stuff than I do, but still I can't help but think he must be related. I saw some maps today. There was, on the 1829 map, a pond where Pond Street would be. By 1844 the pond was gone. I suspect Boland did lay out Temple St. as it was unnamed but present in 1829, but did not buy the land from Temple to Vernon Sq. until the purchase in 183? (you've got a copy of the sale). Still he made money on it. I guess I was under the impression that he got in earlier. 1844 directory says Levi Lincoln and Rejoice Newton were officers of a Worcester bank. I would like to learn more about the land deals that took place 'round about the time the canal was coming into play (>1824). but... One sheet you gave me says Boland's school "was called St. James Seminary after a time." I am not so sure. There was probably more of a connection than the church lets on (his school served the same community, possibly before the Christ's Church basement school), and less than his descendants think. The same source says a subscription paper was circulated (doesn't say Boland did this), and that he build the first building and gave it to Holy Cross. This sounds funny. I thought he gave it to the Bishop or to Fitton as the college simply isn't until Fenwick brings in the Jesuits (of course he could have built the first building for the Jesuits, too). Mt. St. James Seminary's first building is credited to Boland. Donated too. But no land, yet. I am still willing to keep-up that sign if Boland donated any land or even sold any at a loss to anyone. The Fr. McGrail paper is fantasy, conjecture and has a twisted timeline (It is what it is, not a scholarly report). He used the same reference material you have, and I don't trust those sources. I think Boland's crew did drain the pond and fill the space and Boland may have gotten rich selling the new land. If he kept some men employed making improvements to this land, I give him credit, it was a good financial decision. As for Powers' paper; he makes a good argument. I can't find any purchase of land on Bogachoag Hill under Boland's name. I don't know where he got that, the rest ... too glowing. The man was a contractor/builder, why does it impress everyone that he built the first church here or railway there. Powers' says he "created the community's first ethnic settlement," the paddy camps were nothing to brag about, the first tenements (Boland's the landlord) were nothing to write home about either. Except for the fact that these people were Irish and home was no better, and about to get much, much worse. What bothers me is Boland's treatment of the new-to-america Irish (not limited to the famine Irish, his trouble with labor dates to at least 1845), his wife's feelings toward them (expressed in letters to her brother), and the fact that he had lace curtains (I imagine). That community Boland created was divided. To be despised by a Yankee was akin to being despised by an Englishman, a badge of honor, but these immigrants were being exploited by Irishmen and they knew it. Have you ever heard of Irish Alztimers?...You forget everything but the grudges. I am (just trying to keep the grudge alive), John