Plymouth church records, 1620-1859, Part 1

Author: Plymouth (Mass.). First Church
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: [Boston, The Society
Number of Pages: 595

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Plymouth church records, 1620-1859 > Part 1

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US 905.01MAS COL Plymouth church records, 1620-1859. HARVARD LAW LIBRARY APE0747

3 2044 031 754 286

HARV

ACADE

TAS

ONY

HARVARD LAW LIBRARY

GIFT OF

Estate of Mrs. Jamies B. Ames

Received MAR 2 1 1928

PUBLICATIONS

The Colonial Society of Massachusetts

COLLECTIONS

Committee of Publication

FRED NORRIS ROBINSON ALBERT MATTHEWS HENRY HERBERT EDES GEORGE LYMAN KITTREDGE CHESTER NOYES GREENOUGH

Cuitor of Publications ALBERT MATTHEWS

ingrand, for. The Colonial. Lordy of Massachusets from the painting attributed to Robert Walker

...

. -

: 1.

. ٠٠٠

PUBLICATIONS

The Colonial Society of Massachusetts

VOLUME XXII

COLLECTIONS

Printed at the Charge of the George Farmer Leberett Fund

Society

1630 - 1620

Colonial

+1692.189

BOSTON , PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY 1920

The Winthersity Bress : JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

MAR 2 1 1928 Etale , hus Gimen .

i =

PLYMOUTH CHURCH RECORDS

1620-1859

- -

PART I

115

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PREFACE

PAGE

INTRODUCTION

LISTS OF:

Pastors

Associate Pastors

Elders

Deacons

lüi

Meeting-houses

liv

Offshoots from the Plymouth Church

liv

BIBLIOGRAPHIES:

Pastors and Associate Pastors

Ordination and Funeral Sermons

Ixi

OFFICERS OF THIS SOCIETY, 1 SEPTEMBER, 1920

RESIDENT MEMBERS

lxiv

HONORARY MEMBERS

Lxvi

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS

Ixvi

PLYMOUTH CHURCH RECORDS:

Volume I, 1620-1732:

Part I, 1620-1680, by William Bradford and Nathaniel

Morton:

Preface, 1680, by Nathaniel Morton

History of the Plymouth Church, 1620-1680, by

William Bradford and Nathaniel Morton

Dialogue, 1648, by William Bradford

115

Part II, 1667-1699, by John Cotton

142

Part III, 1703-1723, by Ephraim Little

190

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Part IV, 1724-1732, by Nathaniel Leonard:

Church Transactions, 1724 224

Church Members, 1724-1732 227

Church Transactions, 1724-1726 230

Baptisms, 1724-1726 231

Church Transactions, 1726

232

Baptisms, 1726-1728

234

Church Transactions, 1726-1727

235

Baptisms, 1728-1729

236

Church Transactions, 1728 237

Church Members, 1728-1732

238

Church Transactions, 1728-1731

239

Baptisms, 1730-1731 240

Church Transactions, 1731 241

Baptisms, 1731-1732

242

Church Transactions, 1731-1732

243

Books owned by the Church

247

Part V, 1682-1693, by John Cotton.

249

Volume II, 1732-1799, by Nathaniel Leonard and Chandler Robbins:

Church Transactions, 1732-1795 285

Deaths, 1760-1798 390

Baptisms, 1732-1787

429

Church Members, 1760

468

PART II

Volume II, 1732-1799, continued:

Dismissions, 1771-1796 471

Church Members, 1760-1797 471

Baptisms, 1788-1798 477

Church Transactions, 1795-1797

486

Marriages, 1760-1798 492

Persons that have owned the Covenant, 1732-1770 . 510

Church Transactions, 1797-1798 512 .

Dismissions, 1737-1756 521

Church Members, 1732-1756

521

Volume III, 1799-1859, by Chandler Robbins and James Kendall: Church Transactions, 1799-1853 533

Baptisms, 1799-1859

604

Deaths, 1799-1807

620

;

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

Church Members, 1799-1857

634 Marriages, 1799-1822

643

Dismissions and Recommendations, 1804-1833 655 Deaths, 1808-1859

656

Marriages, 1823-1859

695

Church Transactions, 1852-1859

710

INDEX

721

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PART I

PORTRAIT OF EDWARD WINSLOW

PAGE

Frontispiece

From the painting in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, attributed to Robert Walker

SECOND MEETING-HOUSE, PLYMOUTH, 1683-1744 .

xlviii

From a drawing of unknown date in the possession of Arthur Lord, Eaq.

HANDWRITING OF NATHANIEL MORTON

From the Plymouth Church Records, Volume I, Part I

TITLE-PAGE OF JOHN ROBINSON'S A IVSTIFICATION OF SEPARATION

FROM THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND, 1610

118

From a copy in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, owned by the First Church

TITLE-PAGE OF THOMAS CARTWRIGHT'S COMMENTARII SUCCINCTI &

DILUCIDI IN PROVERBIA SALOMONIS, 1617

128

From a copy in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, owned by the First Church

HANDWRITING OF JOHN COTTON

142

From the Plymouth Church Records, Volume I, Part II

PORTRAIT OF JOSIAH WINSLOW

156

From the painting in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, attributed to Robert

Walker

HANDWRITING OF EPHRAIM LITTLE

190

From the Plymouth Church Records, Volume I, Part III

HANDWRITING OF NATHANIEL LEONARD

224

From the Plymouth Church Records, Volume I, Part IV

THIRD MEETING-HOUSE, PLYMOUTH, 1744-1831

288

From a drawing of unknown date in the possession of Arthur Lord, Esq.

HANDWRITING OF CHANDLER ROBBINS

390

From the Plymouth Church Records, Volume II

xii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PART II

PAGE

PORTRAIT OF CHANDLER ROBBINS Frontispiece From a miniature in the possession of Chandler Robbins, Esq.

PORTRAIT OF JAMES KENDALL

538.

From the painting by Chester Harding in the possession of Arthur Lord, Esq.

HANDWRITING OF JAMES KENDALL 542 From the Plymouth Church Records, Volume III

VIEW OF TOWN SQUARE, PLYMOUTH, ABOUT 1828 578 From the drawing by Benjamin Parris Bartlett in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth

FOURTH MEETING-HOUSE, PLYMOUTH, 1831-1892 584 From Dr. James Thacher's History of the Town of Plymouth, 1832

PORTRAIT OF GEORGE WARE BRIGGS. 596 From a photograph taken on his eightieth birth-day, 10 April, 1890

PORTRAIT OF EDWARD HENRY HALL 718 From a photograph by Notman

PREFACE

TOLUMES XXII and XXIII, now completed, contain the T first three volumes of the original records of the First Church in Plymouth. The printing of these volumes has been undertaken in cooperation with the New England Society in the City of New York.

Of the material here presented, only a portion has hitherto appeared in print. The first of the three original volumes consists of five parts, each separately paged. A considerable portion, but by no means all, of the first part was printed in 1841 by the Rev. Dr. Alexander Young in his Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers; and the second part of the first volume has been printed in the Mayflower Descendant. But the third, fourth, and fifth parts of the first volume, and all of the second and of the third volume, are now published for the first time. It is believed that no more important contri- bution to the ecclesiastical history of New England has been made than will be found in these volumes.

For the Introduction, the Society is indebted to one of its members-Mr. ARTHUR LORD. The Editor is under obliga- tions to Mr. William Bradford Browne and Mr. George Ernest Bowman for genealogical information kindly furnished by them.

Three sets of photostatic reproductions of the first three original volumes of the Plymouth Church Records have been made : one for this Society; one for the Massachusetts His- torical Society ; and one for Mr. Arthur Lord, who intends to deposit it in Pilgrim Hall.

The University Press : JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.

MAR 2 1 1928 Etale hus Gimen.

...

PLYMOUTH CHURCH RECORDS 1620-1859

PART I

115

xvi

INTRODUCTION

Graciouss worke in erecting so many Churches of Christ in this wildernes; But it was Judged by some that were Judicious that I was too sparing and short in that behalf; The consideration wherof put mee on thoughts of Recollecting somthing more prticularly Relateing to the Church of Plymouth."

Animated by that purpose and undismayed by the loss of his manuscript by the great fire in Boston in 1676, he writes, "I did once againe Repaire to the studdy of my much honored Vncle, William Bradford Esquire deceased." In that storehouse of original material, with the manuscripts of the Governor before him and with the records of town and colony to him a familiar story, he under- takes the work. Boy and man he had lived in Plymouth for fifty- seven years on terms of closest intimacy with many a member of the Mayflower company who had welcomed him on his arrival in 1623. Oficial records, family tradition, and personal acquaintance with members, elders and ministers of the Pilgrim Church made him the best equipped man in all the colony to write the story of that church during the three quarters of a century which had passed since its feeble beginnings in its English home. When Dr. Alexander Young published his Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers in 1841, the importance of these church records to the student of Pilgrim history amply justified the high tribute that learned annalist paid them when he wrote: "It takes precedence of every thing else relating to the Pilgrims, in time, authority, and interest. It will be found to con- tain a detailed history of their rise in the North of England, their persecutions there, their difficult and perilous escape into Holland, their residence in that hospitable land for twelve years, the causes which led to their emigration, and the means which they adopted to transport themselves to America." 1

Dr. Young was the first historian to note the real authorship of the narrative in the records, a fact put beyond all doubt by the mar- ginal note of Morton, "This was originally pened by Willam Brad- ford Gou" of New Plymouth." The first volume also contains Governor Bradford's first "Dialogue or the sume of a Conference between som younge men borne in New England and sundery An- cient men that came out of Holland and old. England Anno dom 1648," giving an account of many of the English Independents and

· 1 P. vii.

xvii

INTRODUCTION

of the meaning of the term Separation, as understood by the leaders of the movement, and also the memoir of Elder Brewster, written by Bradford, and some letters from Robinson and others of the Pilgrim company.

In the towns and villages of Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, where these counties bordered nearest together, this church was formed "and as the Lords ffree people Joyned them- selues (by a Covenant of the Lord) into a Church estate in the ffellowshipp of the Gospell to walk in all his wayes made knowne or to be made knowne vnto them according to theire best endeauors, whatsoeuer it should Cost them." The covenant which bound them was as simple as the burdens which oppressed them were severe.

Their first pastor was Mr. Richard Clifton, "a Graue and Reuerend Preacher," who held that office from the organization of the church in 1606 until he was succeeded by John Robinson, some time his colleague. William Brewster was their first elder, and John Carver, their first Governor, was chosen deacon of the church while in Holland as early as 1617.

It is unnecessary to repeat here the story set forth in full in these records, since the publication of Bradford's History of the Plymouth Plantation, which Morton freely used in these records and in part followed verbatim, has made the story of their lives, labors, and sufferings as familiar as a household tale. It is the ecclesiastical history rather than the political, economic and social record of the Pilgrims and their successors at Plymouth which is mainly preserved in these volumes and may justify an Introduction.

. When the time for the Pilgrims' departure from Leyden came, it was decided that as the greater number of the Leyden church were to stay behind, it was the duty of the pastor, John Robinson, to remain, and for the elder, William Brewster, to go with those who were to find a new home in the New World. It was also "agreed on by mutuall consente and covenante, that those that went should be an absolute church of them selves, as well as those that staid;" for they feared that in such a dangerous voyage and a removal to such a distance it might come to pass that they should never meet again. But this agreement was made with the proviso that "as any of the rest came over to them, or of the other returned upon occasion, they

xviii

INTRODUCTION

should be reputed as members without any further dismission or testimoniall." 1 Technically the date of the foundation of the First Church in Plymouth may be considered as 1620.

John Robinson, the scholarly and pious leader of this independent movement, must be regarded as the true founder of Independency or Congregationalism. His views as expressed in his later writings show a breadth and liberality and toleration which deeply impressed not only the members of his own church but exercised a wide in- fluence in the religious thought of the time. It was undoubtedly true, as Edward Winslow admitted, that Robinson "was more rigid in his course and way at first, then towards his latter end."? When he exhorted the Pilgrims "If God should reveal any thing to us by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it as ever we were to receive any truth by his Ministry,"" he compelled the con- viction and impressed upon his hearers the thought that there was more light yet to come.

Looking at the ecclesiastical history of this church in its earlier years in Holland and admitting the influence which the Dutch toleration exerted, one cannot fail to be impressed with the accuracy of the statement of Edward Winslow that "the foundation of our New-England Plantations was not laid upon Schisme, division, or Separation, but upon love, peace, and holinesse."" The Pilgrims undoubtedly were strict Calvinists. The fact that their great reli- gious leader and teacher Robinson was "terrible to the Arminians" was a source of pride and gratification. Their religious dogma and their church polity was clearly and authoritatively stated by William Perkins and John Robinson, the two great leaders of the religious thought expressed in this independent movement.

William Perkins, a Cambridge graduate and voluminous writer, and whose works were more numerously included in Brewster's library than those of any other theologian, had gathered into six principles the foundation of Christian religion. In a catechism en- titled "The Foundation of Christian Religion, gathered into sixe Principles. As it is to be learned of ignorant people, that they may

1 Bradford, History, i. 98.

' Winslow, Hypocrisie Unmasked (1916), p. 93.

· Id. p. 97.

' Id. p. 93.

xix

INTRODUCTION

be fit to heare Sermons with profit and to receiue the Lords Supper with comfort," these six principles of Perkins are as follows:

Ist. There is one God, Creator, and Gouernour of all things, distin- guished into the Father, the sonne, and the holy Ghost.

2nd. All men are wholly corrupted with sin through Adams fal, & so are become slaues of Sathan, and guiltie of eternall damnation.

3rd. Jesus Christ the eternal Sonne of God, being made man, by his death vpon the Crosse, and by his righteousnesse, hath perfectly alone by himselfe, accomplished all things that are needfull for the saluation of mankind.

4th. A man of a contrite and humble spirite, by faith alone ap- prehending and applying Christ with all his merits vnto himselfe, is justified before God, and sanctified.

5th. Faith commeth onely by the preaching of the word, and in- creaseth dayly by it: as also by the administration of the Sacraments, and praier.

6th. All men shall rise againe with their own bodies, to the last judgement, which beeing ended, the godly shall possesse the kingdome of heauen: but vnbeleeuers and reprobates shall be in hell, tormented with the diuell and his angels for euer.1

Robinson wrote an Appendix to these principles in the form of a Catechism, containing forty-six questions and answers. He defines a church as "A company of faithful and holy people, with their seed, called by the Word of God into public covenant with Christ and amongst themselves, for mutual fellowship in the use of all the means of God's glory and their salvation," and limits its number so that it shall not exceed such a number as may ordinarily meet to- gether in one place for the worship of God. He defines the offices of ministry in the church to be -

1. The pastor (exhorter), to whom is given the gift of wisdom for exhortation. 2. The teacher, to whom is given the gift of knowledge for doctrine. 3. The governing elder, who is to rule with diligence. . . . 4. The deacon, who is to administer the holy treasure with simplicity. 5. The widow or deaconess, who is to attend the sick and impotent with compassion and cheerfulness;

and states the outward works of the church's communion with Christ as -

1 Works (1608), pp. 1, 2.

INTRODUCTION

1. Prayer. 2. The reading and opening of the Word. 3. The sacraments. 4. Singing of Psalms. 5. Censures. 6. Contribution to the necessities of the saints.1

The church polity and the church dogma of this Pilgrim church are authoritatively stated in the catechisms of Perkins and of Robinson, and the catechism used as late as Mr. Cotton's ministry (1669-1697) was the catechism of William Perkins, though it was during Mr. Cotton's pastorate that a change was made (in 1678) to the Assembly's shorter catechism.2

The first definitive declaration of the faith and church polity of the Pilgrims is found in the document in the Public Record Office at London, signed by John Robinson and William Brewster and first printed by Mr. George Bancroft in 1857, which reads as follows:

Seven Articles which ye Church of Leyden sent to ye [Privy] Coun- cell of England to bee considered of in respeckt of their judgments occationed about theer going to Virginia Anno 1618.

1. To ye confession of fayth [the 39 Articles of Religion of 1562] published in ye name of ye Church of England & to every artikell theerof wee do wth ye reformed churches wheer wee live & also elswhere assent wholy.

2. As wee do acknolidg ye doctryne of fayth theer tawght so do wee y fruites and effeckts of ye same doctryne to ye begetting of saving fayth in thousands in ye land [of England] (conformistes and reform- istes) as ye ar called wth whom also as wth our bretheren wee do desyre to keepe sperituall communion in peace and will pracktis in our parts all lawfull thinges.

3. The King's Majesty wee acknolidg for Supreame Governer in his Dominions in all causes and over all parsons, and yt none maye de- cklyne or apeale from his authority or judgment in any cause whatso- ever but yt in all thinges obedience is dewe unto him, either active, if y thing commanded be not agaynst God's woord, or passive yf itt bee, except pardon can bee obtayned.

4. Wee judg itt lawfull [morally right] for his Majesty to apoynt bishops, civill overseers, or officers in awthoryty onder hime in ye sev- erall provinces, dioses, congregations or parrishes, to oversee ye Churches and governe them civilly [secularly] according to ye Lawes of ye Land,

1 Works (1851), iii. 427, 429, 431.

· Cf. pp. 145, 154, 172, 175, 178, below.

INTRODUCTION

untto whom ye ar in all thinges to gyve an account & by them to bee ordered according to Godlyness.

5. The authoryty of ye present bishops in ye Land [of England] wee do acknolidg so far forth as ye same is indeed derived from his Majesty untto them and as ye proseed in his name, whom wee will also theerein honor in all things and hime in them.

6. Wee beleeve yt no sinod, classes, convocation or assembly of Ecclesiastical Officers hath any power or awthoryty att all but as y" same [is] by y" Magestraet geven unto them.

7. Lastly, wee desyer to geve untto all Superiors dew honnor to pre- serve ye unity of ye speritt wth all feare God, to have peace wth all men what in us lyeth & wheerein wee err to bee instructed by any.1

Whether the purpose in subscribing to this declaration was mainly to minimize the differences between the Leyden church and the Church of England, in order to secure the necessary permission to go beyond the seas and found an English colony, or whether there is some distinction to be drawn between the ecclesiastical and civil authority of the bishops, which they recognized, and qualifies a literal construction of the language, is not clear. Winslow in his Hypocricie Unmasked, quotes Robinson as saying -

And to that end . . . I should be glad if some godly Minister would goe over with you, or come to you, before my comming; For . .. there will bee no difference between the unconformable Ministers [the Puritan Anglican clergy] and you, when they come to the practise of the Or- dinances out of the Kingdome.2

To the same effect is the brief and simple statement in the letter of January, 1618, signed by Robinson and Brewster, as follows:

Touching the Eclesiastical minnestry Namely - of Pastours for teaching Elders for Ruleing and deacons for distributing the Churches Contribution as alsoe for the two sacraments Baptisme and the Lords supper wee doe wholly and in all points agree with the ffrench Reformed Churches, according to theire publick confession of ffaithe though some smal differences. The oath of Supremacie we shall willingly tak if it be Required of vs if that Convenient satisfaction be not giuen by our takeing the oath of Allegience.3

1 2 Collections New York Historical Society, iii. 301-302.

" P. 98.

" See p. 36, below.

xxii

INTRODUCTION

The oath of Supremacy acknowledged the king to be "the supreme head of the Church of England," and the oath of Allegiance was an oath of " submission and obedience to the king as a temporal sovereign independent of any other power upon earth."

Although the imperious necessities of the situation made it neces- sary for the members of the Mayflower company to form themselves into a body politic for the administration of civil affairs, no occasion existed for a formal organization of a new church. The plan adopted in Leyden was entirely adequate to their needs and they had hoped that the pastor and the rest of the church might soon follow them to their new home. The death of Robinson in Leyden on March 1, 1625, prevented that consummation of their hopes which they de- voutly wished. From time to time other members of the Leyden church came to Plymouth until in 1629, at the charge of the Plym- outh brethren, thirty-five families were finally transported to Plymouth at the cost of about five hundred pounds sterling.

The result of this removal and the union that year with others who had been members of Mr. Lothrop's church in England, was that the First Church at Plymouth about this time "became pretty numerous and flourishing, although in regard of Ministry it was low with them," as stated by Mr. John Cotton in his Account of the Church of Christ in Plymouth.1

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Plymouth church records, 1620-1859, Part 1

Author: Plymouth (Mass.). First Church Publication date: 1920 Publisher: [Boston, The Society Number of Pages: 595

Author: Plymouth (Mass.). First Church
Publication date: 1920
Publisher: [Boston, The Society
Number of Pages: 595