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Early Rehoboth
RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN
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Gc 974.402 R26b v.III 1149671
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01101 2884
May 6, 1948.
Miss Martha Peebles From Olive B. Wearill
With Happy Memories of School Days
EARLY REHOBOTH
& 1620, 99
O
TISOCIE
KLAO 10
AL
EST
Courtesy of Henry L. Shattuck, Esquire
MAJOR THOMAS SAVAGE
Commander-in-Chief of the Massachusetts Military Expedition to Mount Hope, Plymouth Colony, from 26 June to 19 July 1675.
Major Savage's first wife was a daughter of Ann (Marbury) Hutchinson. In the Antinomian troubles at Boston he was disarmed, and in 1638, moved to Aquid- neck, Rhode Island, where he was one of the first settlers. He soon returned to Boston and lived in the north end of the town near the northerly corner of North and Fleet Streets. He was a tailor and had a shop near Edward Gibbons' house.
This illustration is from a life portrait painted in 1679 when Major Savage was 73 years old. Beneath the arms, in the upper right-hand corner, is the inscription " Æta :73:ANº. 1679."
Early Rehoboth
Documented Historical Studies of Families and Events in This Plymouth Colony Township
By RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN
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VOLUME III
PRIVATELY PRINTED REHOBOTH, MASSACHUSETTS 1948
COPYRIGHT 1948 BY RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America by THE RUMFORD PRESS, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
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1149671
To my son RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN, JR., A.B., M.S. who writes scientific books AND To my daughter MARJORIE BOWEN MUNSTERBERG, A.B. who writes more entertaining novels
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Tyson_P
Other books by the author:
EARLY RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL MONEY AND ITS COUNTERFEITING, 1647-1726. THE PROVIDENCE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AND ITS SIGNERS, 1651-2. EARLY REHOBOTH, VOLS. I AND II.
Books in preparation:
EARLY REHOBOTH, VOLS. IV AND V. DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF REHOBOTH. LIFE OF REV. SAMUEL NEWMAN. DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF SWANSEA.
Chapter VI in this book is reprinted, with additions and corrections, from an article contributed by Mr. Bowen to THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, to which acknowledgment is made.
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CONTENTS
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CHAPTER I-NEW SOURCE MATERIAL FOR KING PHILIP'S WAR 1 Gov. John Easton's Narrative, 1675-Two letters, 1676, from Rev. Noah Newman to Rev. John Cotton-John Kingsley's letter, 1676, to the minister of the Church at Hartford-Letter, 1676, from the Council at Hartford to the General Court at Boston.
CHAPTER II-DEACON PHILIP WALKER, POET . 25 Captain Perse and his Courageous Company, a poem-The Stratagem of the Indians-The First Smile of God in this Land, a poem.
CHAPTER III-THE MASSACHUSETTS MILITARY EXPEDITION TO MOUNT HOPE
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A history of the twenty-four days' campaign under the command of Maj. Thomas Savage-Two letters, 1675, from Richard Smith to Gov. John Winthrop-Two letters, 1675, from Roger Williams to Gov. John Winthrop-Two letters, 1673 and 1675, from James Cudworth to Gov. Josiah Winslow-Letter, 1675, from Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas to Gov. Josiah Winslow-Letter, 1676, from Wil- liam Harris to Sir Joseph Williamson.
CHAPTER IV-KING PHILIP'S TWO ESCAPES . · A history of the pursuit-Letters, 1675, from Lieut. Peter Hunt and Rev. Noah Newman to Capt. Daniel Henchman -Letter, 1675, from Rev. Noah Newman to Lieutenant Thomas-Letter, 1675, from Lieutenant Thomas to Cap- tain Henchman-Letter, 1675, from Captain Henchman to Gov. John Leverett-Two letters, 1675, from Lieutenant Thomas to Gov. Josiah Winslow-Letter, 1675, from Richard Smith to Gov. John Winthrop.
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CHAPTER V-RICHARD WRIGHT 113
A study of an important Massachusetts Bay man who was a leader in the Seekonk settlement of 1643.
CHAPTER VI-CAPTAIN GEORGE WRIGHT 131
A study of his flights through Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Rhode Island colonies; Gravesend, Westchester, and final settlement at Flushing, Long Island, New Netherland.
CHAPTER VII-REHOBOTH DEEDS 151
Excerpts of deeds recorded in Plymouth Colony and in Bristol County, Massachusetts Colony, from 1640 to 1705.
INDEX .
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate Page
I. Photograph of the life portrait of Maj. Thomas Savage, owned by Henry L. Shattuck, Esquire. Frontispiece
II. Photograph of the life portrait of Gov. Josiah Winslow, in the gallery of the Pilgrim Society opposite III. Facsimile of John Kingsley's letter to the minister of the Church at Hartford, Conn. 21
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IV. The Deacon Philip Walker house, from a photograph taken about 1860 . opposite
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V. Facsimile of five stanzas of Deacon Philip Walker's poetry and autograph. 29
VI. Photograph of the life portrait of Gov. Joseph Dudley, in the gallery of the Massachusetts Historical Society opposite VII. Map of Tiverton, R. I., and Fall River, Mass., showing the Pocasset Swamp opposite
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VIII. Photograph of the life portrait of Gov. John Leverett, in the gallery of the Essex Institute . .
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. opposite 80 IX. Facsimile of a part of Mr. Noah Newman's letter and letter of Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas, written to Capt. Daniel Henchman on 30 and 31 July 1675 90
X. Facsimile of Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas' letter to Gov. Josiah Winslow, dated 11 Aug. 1675 93
XI. Facsimiles of twenty-six autographs, principally of men engaged in King Philip's War 100
XII. Map showing the Nipsachuck country, in the north of the town of Providence, where King Philip was de- feated on 1 Aug. 1675 opposite 106
XIII. Autographs of Richard Wright and his sons-in-law, Wil- liam Sabin and James Clark, signed to the Rehoboth compact, 1644 . 130
XIV. Facsimile of the first Plymouth Colony Seal, reproduced from the title page of the General Laws of New-Pli- mouth, printed in 1685. Courtesy of the Harvard Law School Library . 1
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PREFACE
This volume on Early Rehoboth is the third of several, the mate- rial for which is drawn largely from the manuscript of the writer's Documentary History of Rehoboth which he has in preparation. These volumes are intended to supplement the latter, for within its limits, it would be impossible to give the various subjects the ex- tended study accorded them in this series. These studies are based on a collection of material found in the more than three thousand pages of original records transcribed by the writer over a period of many years.
Students of King Philip's War history will find much new and valuable source material in the first four chapters of this volume, principally in original letters here published for the first time. In the first chapter, we learn that King Philip's War was started on 23 June 1675 by John Salisbury, a boy of about twenty years of age, when at the order of his father, William Salisbury, he shot and killed an Indian at Swansea. Also, a letter written by Noah Newman, here first published, gives an account of the Roger Williams' meeting with the Indians when they burned Providence on 29 Mar. 1675.
The next chapter presents, for the first time, the extensive and interesting writings of Philip Walker, a heretofore unknown early Rehoboth poet. Written during King Philip's War, his poetry adds much to our knowledge of the period. Among other incidents recorded is his graphic description of the heretofore unknown cruel Indian murder of Thomas Man's wife Rachel and her infant child at Swansea on 24 June 1675.
Chapter III is a brief history of the 1675 Massachusetts Military Expedition to Mount Hope, Plymouth Colony. This was the largest offensive army assembled in New England up to that time. This chapter lays the foundation for the following chapter which gives the most comprehensive history yet published on King Philip's escape from the Pocasset Swamp; the pursuit by Rehoboth, Provi- dence, Taunton, and Stonington men, reinforced by the Mohegan Indians; the fight at Nipsachuck, Providence, on 1 Aug. 1675; and the subsequent escape from Capt. Daniel Henchman, the preven- tion of which would have ended the Indian War within a few weeks after its inception.
Chapter V is a study of Richard Wright, an important Massa- chusetts Bay man who was also a leader in the Seekonk settlement, and shows the unofficial backing that settlement had from Massa- chusetts Bay. The following chapter is a study of that doughty soldier, Capt. George Wright, a resident of several different colonies and the heretofore unknown progenitor of the Long Island family of that name. This study discloses a much closer connection be- tween the Rhode Island towns and the western end of Long Island
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Preface
and New Amsterdam in the middle of the seventeenth century than has hitherto been suspected.
The last chapter contains excerpts of all the Rehoboth deeds recorded in Plymouth Colony, and in Bristol County, Massachusetts Colony, for sixty-five years, from 1640 to 1705-an unusual list of great value.
Many different spellings of the same name will be found in this book. The reason for this is that the spellings as printed are ver- batim transcripts of the original records. The importance of retain- ing these original spellings is perhaps best illustrated in the case of Thomas Cooper of Rehoboth. In 1644 he signed his name "Thomas Coop", and the following year John Winthrop, Jr., wrote the name "Thomas Coop". In the Rehoboth records the name is recorded only once as "Thomas Coop", and for many years after as Thomas Cooper.
Fully documented, this volume is intended as a source book, not only for genealogists and students of Rehoboth history, but also for students of Bristol County, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island Colony, Town of Providence, and southern New England history in general. The writer has taken great care in its preparation, but with the thousands of names and dates involved it is too much to expect that no errors will be found.
In a reference work of this kind, an accurate name index is of paramount importance. Containing some 1,900 different names, the index has been checked twice and no effort has been spared to make it as accurate as possible. The writer is indebted to Miss Olive B. Weavill for its preparation.
RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN
Rehoboth, Massachusetts,
15 November 1947
CHAPTER I
NEW SOURCE MATERIAL FOR KING PHILIP'S WAR
It is a serious reflection on American historical scholarship that no history worthy of the name has yet been written on King Philip's War, although nearly two and three-quarters centuries have since elapsed. This war differed from all other wars in that it was a fight to extinction between the Indians and the English, the end of which ushered in one of the most important eras in the history of early New England.
To attain its full measure of importance and value, the ideal his- tory of King Philip's War must be a detailed personalized history in which every single recoverable prime source record is utilized in order not only to record the military movements of this war, but to bring out in full clear detail the individual action and local back- ground of that frightful drama of Indian war-whoop, sudden attack, flaming dwelling-houses, and atrocious massacres, all accompanied by the spectre of starvation for those fortunate enough to survive.
Above all, the ideal history of this war must be completely docu- mented in order that we may have once and for all time an accurate and dependable source foundation work from which the serious work- ing student of history may continue to build and by further original research and study increase our factual knowledge of this war.
For the Massachusetts military part of an ideal history, Rev. George Madison Bodge in his excellent Soldiers in King Philip's War (3rd Ed., 1906),* has collected a tremendous amount of valuable military source material drawn from the original account books of John Hull, Treasurer-at-War of Massachusetts Colony, now in the New England Historic Genealogical Society, consisting of lists of officers, soldiers, military committees, scouts, and others engaged in the war. This book will save the historian many hours of grueling research.
It is not enough simply to mention the name of the company com- mander and be content with the statement that a half dozen men were killed. We must know the names of these men and something about the detail of their lives, for in these frontier towns where the war was fought, every able-bodied man, whether minister, capitalist, or servant, took his musket and fought for his life. We must know all about these men for many of them were undoubtedly of far more importance than the company captain whose name is so carefully preserved.
During the last century many narrative histories of King Philip's War have been written, and while these are extremely interesting
* To the student of history, this work is indispensable and, in the writer's opinion, ranks next in value to those of Mather, Hubbard, and Church. It will be hereafter cited as Bodge.
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and entertaining, they hardly deserve the name of histories, for most of them are little more than historically misleading story books. The reason for all this is quite simple. These later writers have been content to follow the outline pattern of King Philip's War as written during the progress of the war by the two contemporary historians, Rev. Increase Mather* of Boston and Rev. William Hubbardt of Ipswich, and to fill in with details from Capt. Benjamin Church's Narrative as told to his son Thomas in 1717, some forty years after
*"A brief History of the Warr with the Indians in New-England, (From June 24, 1675 when the first English-man was murdered by the Indians, to August 12, 1676 when Philip, alias Metacomet, the principal Author and Beginner of the Warr, was slain.) Wherein the Grounds, Beginning, and Progress of the Warr, is summarily expressed. Together with a serious Exhortation to the In- habitants of that Land, by Increase Mather, Teacher of a Church of Christ, in Boston in New- England. . . . Boston, Printed and Sold by John Foster over against the Sign of the Dove. 1676" [John Carter Brown Library].
The second edition, under the same title, was printed in London for Richard Chiswell, at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church-Yard, according to the Original Copy Printed in New-England 1676 [John Carter Brown Library].
The third edition, 187 years later, was published at Boston, 1862, by Samuel G. Drake under the title of King Philip's War, to which was added a history of the same war (published in London, 1702), by Cotton Mather, son of Increase. Mr. Drake added an introduction and notes to the text . This is a very valuable book and the only one we have in which the two histories, written by father and son, are found side by side for comparison. Drake also carried the original pagination so that there is no difficulty in checking with the original work. As original copies of this Mather history are very scarce and are only to be seen in the important libraries, the Drake edition is used in this volume of Early Rehoboth, hereafter cited as Mather's Brief History (Drake Ed., 1862).
Mather also printed another history in Boston, 1677, titled "A Relation of the Troubles which have happened in New-England by reason of the Indians there, 1614 to 1675".
Increase Mather, son of Richard of Dorchester, was b. 21 June 1639; graduated, Harvard College, 1656. Cotton Mather of Boston, eldest son of Increase, is the author of the Magnalia, in seven books, published in London, 1702.
t "A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, from the first planting thereof in the year 1607 to this present year 1677. But chiefly of the late Troubles in the two last years, 1675 and 1676. To which is added a Discourse about the Warre with the Pequods in the year 1637. By W. Hubbard, Minister of Ipswich. ... Published by Authority. Boston: Printed by John Foster, in the year 1677" [John Carter Brown Library].
The second edition was published in London under the following title: "The Present State of New-England. Being a Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, from the first planting thereof in the year 1607, to this present year 1677: But chiefly of the late Troubles in the two last years 1675 and 1676. To which is added a Discourse about the War with the Pequods in the year 1637. By W. Hubbard Minister of Ipswich. [quotation from Exodus] London: Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside, near Mercers-Chappel, and at the Bible on London-Bridg 1677" [John Carter Brown Library].
This second and best edition of Hubbard is today very scarce and difficult to find except in the larger libraries. While the writer was preparing this note a catalogue arrived from an English bookseller offering a copy of this London edition (mistakenly calling it the first) for $500.
The third edition of Hubbard's History, a copy of the first Boston edition, was published at Boston in 1775, followed by editions at Worcester, 1801; Norwich, 1802; Stockbridge, 1803; Danbury, 1803; Brattleborough, 1814; and Roxbury, 1865. This 1775 Boston edition is a very inaccurate copy of the original and has many omissions and transpositions, and the later editions up to 1865 are poor copies of this inaccurate 1775 copy.
In 1865 Samuel G. Drake brought out the 9th edition of Hubbard's History from the original London edition, carefully revised and annotated with copious notes. This Drake edition is used in this volume of Early Rehoboth, and hereafter cited as Hubbard's Narrative (Drake Ed., 1865).
William Hubbard of Ipswich, son of William of the same, b. in England; d. in 1704; freeman 1653; ordained 17 Nov. 1658; colleague with Thomas Corbett whom he excelled in mildness of tempera- ment; m. Margaret only dau. of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers. Had John, b. 1648; Nathaniel, Margaret (m. John Pynchon), and perhaps others; was in highest esteem; called, in absence of Increase Mather, to preside at [Harvard] commencement as several years before he had been honored by the General Court with grant of money for his history. In 1694 he gave dissatisfaction to his parish by choice, late in life, of a second wife Mary, widow of Samuel Pearce [Savage's Gen. Dict., vol. II, p. 486].
#"Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip's War which Began in the Month of June 1675 as also of Expeditions More Lately Made Against the Common Enemy and Indian Rebels, in the Eastern Parts of New England With Some Account of the Devine Providence towards Benj. Church Esqr. By T. C. Printed by B. Green, Boston, in the year 1716" [John Carter Brown Library]. Original copies of Church's history are now very scarce and are to be found only in the larger libraries.
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the war was ended, when Captain Church was an old man of nearly eighty years. To these records were added various "tradition" stories many of which have no basis in fact.
As the years passed and more histories were written, the later his- tories became the product of "library search" and we have the familiar example of historians writing histories from other historians' histories and perpetuating all the early errors with no attempt to get on a firm factual foundation by doing original source research. The same thing has been repeated over and over again in all depart- ments of history. When Francis Baylies wrote his excellent His- torical Memoir of New Plymouth in 1830, he had to obtain his mate- rial from original sources for none of these records were in print. In his preface he said that he quoted no authorities "for there were none". The publication of his history ended for many years all further original research in Plymouth Colony, as succeeding his- torians found it far easier to quote Baylies than to do the tiresome research necessary in sources.
With a full knowledge of the slavish and almost sole dependence of later historians on the contemporaneous histories of the two ministers, Increase Mather and William Hubbard, it becomes of prime importance to examine these two works critically and with great care in order to determine their exact historical value.
While this Indian war was being fought in four colonies, the Mather and Hubbard histories were being daily written, principally from word of mouth brought to Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, by couriers from the various points of action in the four colonies. Due to the general state of turmoil throughout the country, the long distances involved, and the difficulties of communication, there was little opportunity or time to check these reports in detail with the records of the various colonies. This was especially true in the case of Mather who had printed his history in Boston, sent a copy to Eng- land where it was set in type and the second edition published be- fore the end of 1676, within a period of three and one-half months after the end of the war.
The two books of Increase Mather and William Hubbard are not, in the strict meaning of the word, histories of King Philip's War. Rather they are "narratives", as both writers truthfully called them, and represent a continuous job of reporting the progress of the
The second edition of Captain Church's history was printed at Newport, R. I., in 1772, by Solomon Southworth, publisher of the Newport Mercury. This is a very inaccurate transcript of the original work. Unfortunately, all the later editions, with the single exception of that of 1865, are copies of this Newport edition and consequently are not to be trusted by the historian. These editions are: Boston, 1825, 1827 (2); Exeter, N. H., 1829; Boston, 1829; Boston, [?] 1835; Exeter, N. H., 1836, 1839, 1840, 1843; - , 1845; New York, 1845; Cooperstown, 1864; Hartford, -- , 1851, 1854; New York, 1859, 1860 [Sabin No. 12,998]. Also, Boston, 1865 [Sabin, No. 12,976].
Incidentally, four years after Solomon Southworth printed Church's history, in 1772, he buried his press and type and six days before the British occupied Newport, in 1776, fled to Rehoboth where he continued printing on a press obtained from John Waterman of Providence [Brigham's History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, vol. II, p. 908].
Mr. Henry Martin Dexter reprinted at Boston, 1865, an exact transcript of Captain Church's original 1716 edition, to which he added numerous foot notes. This is a valuable work and is the only copy of the original 1716 edition on which the historian can safely depend. It is used in this volume of Early Rehoboth, hereafter cited as Church's Entertaining History (Dexter Ed., 1865).
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war from day to day, recording the names of troop commanders in the different engagements, the number of English and Indians killed, and such details of house burnings, Indian atrocities, etc., as were carried back to Boston by horseback riders from the different forest frontiers. In other words, both ministers were the prede- cessors of our present-day war correspondents.
Mather, with all the advantage of being located at the Boston news center, was not an efficient reporter. His reports are dull and colorless in spots and lack the detail and forcefulness of Hubbard's. In working with his book the historian is frequently conscious that whenever Mather lacked exact details and facts, he resorted to that same scriptural verbosity which was to reach its height and flower in his son Cotton Mather's Magnalia, of which James Sav- age said that "in three whole folio pages of double columns, by his multifarious nothingness, he gives less than six lines of facts" about Rev. Samuel Newman of Rehoboth.
Mather's history was at best a hurried work. He knew that William Hubbard was also writing a history and that both would be printed by John Foster, Boston's only printer. He rushed his manuscript to the printer first, and although the war did not end until mid-August 1676, John Foster had Mather's first Boston edi- tion off his press soon enough that year for Mather to send a copy to England by way of the slow sailing vessel of those days to arrive in ample time for a second edition to be printed in London before the end of the same year, 1676.
Of the two ministers, William Hubbard, under the handicap of living in Ipswich, a long day's horseback ride from the news center at Boston, was by far the better reporter for he had a natural "news instinct" not possessed by Mather, and furthermore had that other essential requisite of the star reporter, namely, the ability and will- ingness to do plenty of leg work in order that his reports might be as detailed as possible.
Due to Mather's monopoly of John Foster's press, Hubbard had several months longer than Mather in which to revise his history. He made many changes and additions to his Boston edition of 1677, all of which appear in the London edition of the same year. The five New England editions are copies of the first Boston edition, with the exception of the 5th (Drake) edition, which is a copy of the Lon- don second edition. Consequently, to have the full benefit of Hub- bard's latest corrections, the student of history must use either the original London edition or the annotated Drake edition of 1865.
At Boston, 29 Mar. 1677, a committee of the General Court licensed William Hubbard's History of the Indian War and ordered it imprinted. On 11 Oct. 1682 the General Court in grateful "thank- fulness" ordered the Treasurer to pay Rev. William Hubbard £50 for a second history .* No other early Massachusetts writer was so singularly honored.
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