USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Registers of probate for the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1639-1799 > Part 1
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Gc 974. 401 Su2h 1893784
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
:
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 8049
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/registersofproba1639hass
REGISTERS OF PROBATE 1.
FOR THE
1 COUNTY OF SUFFOLK,
MASSACHUSETTS.
1639-1799.
BY
JOHN T. HASSAM, A.M.
CAMBRIDGE: JOHN WILSON AND SON. University Press. 1902.
1893784
SUFFOLK REGISTERS OF PROBATE.
REPRINTED FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR MARCH, 1902.
SUFFOLK REGISTERS OF PROBATE.
AT the meetings 1 of the Massachusetts Historical Society held in May, 1898, and March, 1900, I gave some account of the Recorders, Clerks, and Registers of Deeds for the County of Suffolk, beginning with the year 1639, when the office of Recorder was first created, and ending with the year 1900.
I purpose now to present the result of some researches con- cerning the Suffolk Registry of Probate, and those who have administered it from the year 1639 to the year 1799.
Under our first charter. in the carly colonial period, tlc Registry of Probate and Registry of Deeds were both under a single official, styled the Recorder. The Recorders were suc- ceeded by the Clerks, and finally, under our second charter, by the Registers of Probate and the Registers of Deeds, each of these Registries then having its own executive officer, separate and distinct from the other, as in our own day.
Stephen Winthrop was the first Recorder. He held the office from 1639 to 1644, and was succeeded in the Probate Office by the following Recorders, Clerks, and Registers of Probate : -
William Aspinwall, 1644-1651.
Edward Rawson, 1651-1670.
Freegrace Bendall, 1670-1672, 1673-1676.
John Davenport, 1676.
1 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., XII. 203-250; XIV. 34-104. These papers were afterward reprinted, with some additions, chiefly in the foot-notes, as part of the introductions to Lib. X. and Lib. XI. Suffolk Deeds.
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Edward Randolph,1
1686.
Daniel Allin,
1686, 1687.
Thomas Dudley,
1686-1689.
Joseph Webb,
1690-1692.
Isaac Addington,
1672, 1673, 1676-1686. 1689, 1690, 1692-1702.
But as they all held a like official position in the Registry of Deeds, it will be unnecessary to add anything here to what has already been said concerning them in the first mentioned paper, where a full account of them may be found.
When Isaac Addington, November 19, 1702. retired from the office of Register of Probate to become Judge of Probate, he was succeeded by Paul Dudley.
PAUL DUDLEY. 1702-1715.
Paul Dudley,2 son of Governor Joseph Dudley and grandson of Governor Thomas Dudley, was born in Roxbury, September 3, 1675, and was baptized there 5. 72 1675.
Paul Dudley
His father, when presenting him for admission to Harvard College, in a letters dated April 20. 1686, to the Rev. Increase Mather, then Acting President of the College, says : -
" .. . I have humbly to offer you a litle sober & well disposed son, who though very yong, if he may have the favour of admittance, I
1 During the Inter-Charter period, when Edward Randolph was Register and Secretary, the Probate Records were, in part, attested by John West, Deputy Secretary. Under the first charter, some of the earlier records were attested by Increase Nowell, Secretary of the Colony.
2 History of the Dudley Family, by Dean Dudley, I. 521-531; New England Historical and Genealogical Register, X. 130, 337, 343, XXIII. 287, XXXIV. 155, XLI. 303; Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk County, Bench and Bar, I. 638; Memorial History of Boston, II. 351, 428, IV. 572, 609; Report of the Third Annual Meeting of the Governor Thomas Dudley Family Association, he'd in Boston, October 15, 1895. The address of the Rev. Francis B. Hornbrooke delivered at that meeting has been reprinted in the New England Magazine, XIX. 634.
8 4 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., VIII. 484, The Mather Papers. See also Ibid., VIII. 656, for a letter dated May 17, 1686, of John Cotton ( Harvard College, 1678), then Librarian of the College; to Acting President Mather in relation to Paul Dudley's admission to College.
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hope his learning will be tollerable; & for him I will promise that by your & my Care, his own Industry, & the blessing of God, his Mother, the Vniversity shall not be ashamed to allow him the place of a son at seaven years end. I pray you will please to appoyut a time when he may wayt on you to be examined, which his Brother Thomas 1 may prepare him for "
He was graduated in the class of 1690, perhaps the youngest Bachelor of Arts in all the long line of Harvard Alumni.2 He took his second degree in 1693.
In the Act for the Incorporation 3 of Harvard College in
1 Thomas Dudley (Harvard College, 1685), the eldest son of Governor Joseph Dudley, was born in Roxbury February 26, 1669-70; and was appointed June 2, 1686, one of the Clerks for Suffolk County. See Early Suffolk Recorders, by John T. Hassam, in 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., XII. 244, and in the Introduction to Suffolk Deeds, Lib. X.
In addition to what is there stated concerning him the following anecdote may be of interest : -
" When MY Thomas Dudley, the eldest son of the late Govr Dadley, was at the Inns of Court a candidate for the practice of the law, and at a certain time at- tending a court in Westminster Hall, the chief judge observ'd this young student as he was taking his notes with uncommon care & diligence, and after calling for the notes of several seargents and barristers, he askt this young gent" for his, and in open court did him the great honour of saying his was the best account of all the pleadings in the causes. This I tell you to prick up your emulation. But still to do greater honour to this young gent", he returned to his country a much better (& most excellent) Christian from the Temple than when he went to it ; and this of all things is most worthy of your imitation." ( Letter of Governor Belcher to his son Jonathan Belcher, Jr., Belcher Papers, I. 51. See also 1b.l., II. 124 for another version.)
Governor Dudley in a letter (Winthrop Papers, V. 520) dated Cowes. Isie of Wight, December 23, 1700, to Panl Dudley, then at the Middle Temple, London, says : -
" Your brother was here but three yeares and wanted neither learning nor repute when he returned."
For approximate date of the death of Thomas Dudley, see Governor Dudley's letters in Winthrop Papers, V. 513-515, and Sewall's Diary, I. 455.
2 Sibley ( Harvard Graduates, III. 6, note) says: "I recollect only two alumni of Harvard University who were younger when they graduated than Cot- ton Mather. Paul Dudley, born 3 September, 1675, was fourteen when he took his first degree, 2 July, 1690; and Andrew Preston Peabody, D.D., LL.D., born 19 March, 1811, was fifteen when he graduated, 31 August, 1826."
See also " Harvard's Youngest Three," by Eliot Lord in the New England Magazine, XIII. 639.
3 Acts of 1697, Ch. 10, $ 1; Province Laws, I. 288.
The election of President Leverett was a turning point in the history of Har- vard College. It was a bitter disappointment to the Mathers, father and son, and as Governor Dudley was largely instrumental in bringing it about, they
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1697, he was one of the fourteen Masters of Arts who were constituted Fellows of the College.
In the same year, 1697, he went to London,1 entered upon the study of the law in the Middle Temple,2 and was called to the Bar.
His father having while in England received the appoint- ment of Captain-General and Governor in Chief of the Prov- inces of Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire, returned home after an absence of twelve years, arriving in Boston June 11, 1702. The son had already preceded him.
never forgave him for it. At the inauguration, January 14, 1707-8, the Governor delivered the care of the College into the hands of the new President. " A l'salmi was sung (Chorago D. Paulo Dudleio) and the Gloria Putri closes the whole." (Sibley's Harvard Graduates, III. 186). Judge Sewall (Diary, II. 208) also gives an account of it.
At a meeting of the Overseers, November 12, 1718, Paul Dudley seems to have acted with the party opposed to President Leverett. (Sewall's Diary, III. 203.)
Judge Sewall (Diary, II. 355) tells us that at Commencement July 2. 1712, " Mr. P. Dudley set the Tune: At Gloria Patri, our L' Govr stood up, alone."
1 His father, who after the overthrow of Andros had been compelled to go to England in 1690, writes from Cowes to his wife in New England, ander date of June 24, 1697 (Winthrop Papers, V. 515), he being then Deputy Governor of the Isle of Wight : -
" If Paul be coming towards mee, he shall be welcom ; if you have otherwise disposed him at the Coledge and he have a fellowship there, I will be content, though I know not whether an employment that way will be so agreable as the law might be. Let him take care of your affayres at home, especially referring to your orchards."
See Records of the First Church, Cambridge (I. 23), for a letter of recommen- dation, dated June 24, 1697, from the First Church, Roxbury, with which Paul Dudley provided himself when "purposing, by the will of God, a Voyage into England."
He may have first sailed to Spain, for in his " Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves & Souls of Men," he says : -
"I my self being at Coruna in Spain in the year 1697. saw more than an hun- dred Men and Women passing thro' that City on a Pilgrimage, to the Shrine of some noted Romish Saint, at tiro or three hundred Miles distance from their own Habitation."
2 Winthrop Papers, V. 519.
Governor Belcher, who had frequent occasion to deplore the extravagance of his son Jonathan Belcher, Jr., who had spent upward of £833 for the year ending August, 1732, he being then engaged in the study of the law at the Temple writes : -
" Judge Lynde & Judge Dudley tell me they never exceeded £ 120 str in one year while at the Temple, & Mr Dudley was a Govr's eldest son. However, I know the world is more extravagant now a days." And again : "The times may be alter'd, and extravagance now more fashionable & tyrannical ; yet the differ. ence is vast." (Belcher Papers, I. 85, 185, 263.)
TT
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Judge Sewall, in his Diary,1 writes : -
" July, 6. [1702] . .. In the Afternoon Paul Dudley esqr. is Apointed the Queen's Attorney."
He held the office of Attorney-General until November 22, 1718, when he resigned it to take his seat on the bench, a Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature.
At a Council 2 held at Cambridge, November 19, 1702, His Excellency nominated Isaac Addington to be Judge of Probate for the County of Suffolk and
" Paul Dudley EsqE for Register of Wills and Adminstrations &e! within the same County of Suffolk,"
and he held the office until 1715, when he was succeeded by Joseph Marion.
At a previous meetings of the Council June 30, 1702, he
1 Sewall's Diary, II. 59; Council Records, III. 348.
In addition to this appointment, which was made by the Governor of the Pror- ince, Dudley held also from Queen Anne a royal commission as Attorney-General. It was dated Westminster, April 22, 1702, and is printed in full in 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., XII. 51.
See Mr. Goodell's paper on the Attorneys-General and Solicitors-General of Massachusetts in 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., X. 285.
There are many references to Attorney-General Paul Dudley in Sewall's Diary. Under date of May 23, 1704 (Diary, II. 102), Judge Sewall says that on his return from Salem : " Refresh at Lewis's, where Mr. Paul Dudley is in egre pursuit of the Pirats."
And John Chamberlayne in a letter dated Westminster, England, February 10, 1704-5 (Winthrop Papers, V. 546), to Governor Dudley. compliments " Mr Att : Gen : vpon his obliging letter to me, as well as of his rich wife & the fine things spoken at the pyrats tryals, admired by Mr Blathwait & every body."
For an account of the pursuit and capture of these pirates, their trial, convic- tion, and execution, see Sewall's Diary, II. 103-111. See also Publications of the Colonial Society, III. 71.
It was while on circuit at Plymouth, after the adjournment of the Court. in the leisure hours of the evening of April 1, 1714, that there took place between the Judge and the Attorney-General, that curious discussion on the Resurrection. a fragment of which Judge Sewall has carefully preserved for us ( Diary, II. 480).
Under date of October 24, 1726, - after the Attorney-General had himself become a Judge, - in reply to an invitation from Thomas Robie, of Salem, Judge Sewall (Letter Book, II. 215), writes : -
"I apprehend the Providence of GOD calls me off from any further labours in riding the circuit . . . If you please to entertain Judge Dudley in my room, 'twill please me. His Honour will be very good Company."
2 Council Records, III. 388.
3 Ibid., III. 339.
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had been nominated and appointed a Justice of the Peace for Suffolk County.
The work of welding together and consolidating the British Empire, and bringing its outlying parts into closer relations with the Crown, essential as that work was, went on under our second charter, in the midst of such difficulties and per- plexities that the lot of a Royal Governor was far from being an enviable one.
The Dudleys were of the prerogative party, and the un- popularity of Governor Dudley was fully shared by his son Paul.
A bitter attack on Governor Dudley was made in a pamph- let entitled " A Memorial of the Present Deplorable State of New England," etc., which is supposed to have been prepared here, perhaps by the Rev. Cotton Mather, and sent to London, where it was printed in 1707. This was followed by an able defence of the Governor entitled " A Modest Enquiry," etc. " By a Disinterested Hand," London, 1707. A renewed attack was made in " The Deplorable State of New England," etc.,1 a pamphlet printed in London in 1708.
In the third of these pamphlets there was printed a letter of Paul Dudley 2 which was thus introduced : " His Son Paul,
1 These three very rare pamphlets were reprinted in the Introduction to Sewall's Diary, Vol. II.
2 Sewall's Diary, II. 109 *. See also New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XIX. 167.
Sir Henry Ashurst in a letter to Wait Winthrop ( Winthrop Papers, VI. 133), dated Kensington, September 16, 1704, thus refers to it: " I haue inclossed you a chois leter of Mr D. son's heer, by wch you may see how true hee is to the interest of his countray."
In a postscript he adds : " I pray sho Cos. Sergant by my directions, & also Mr Mathers, Mr Dud. leter, and any of the papers, but not my generall leter to yor bro."
The Rev. Cotton Mather in a letter (1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., III. 132) dated January 20, 1707-8, to Governor Dudley says : "We have long since had sent over to us, your son's letter to a kinsman, which declares your good will to the charter, expressed more ways than one."
And the Rev. Increase Mather in a letter of the same date ( Ibid., III. 126) to Governor Dudley says : "Your son Panl's letter, dated January 12, 1703-4, to W. Wharton, seems to those that have read it, to be nothing short of a denon- stration, that both of you have been contriving to destroy the charter privileges of the province ; and to obtain a commission for a court of chancery, alias a court of bribery. A gentleman in London gave ten pounds for that letter, that so his friends in New England might see what was plotting against them."
More than thirty years after the feud between the Mathers and the Dudleys.
للـــ
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(the great Instrument of his Oppressions) Writes over to his
Governor Belcher, intent upon injuring Paul Dudley, with whom he also had quarrelled, was endeavoring to get into his hands an original letter written by Dudley. He thus refers to it in his own letter to Thomas Coram, dated Boston, October 29, 1739 (Belcher Papers, II. 233) : -
" I shall write M' Newman a letter on purpose to obtain from him (if possible) Paul the Preacher's letter to J. D."
In a letter dated Boston November 20, 1739 (Ibid., II. 494), Governor Belcher desires his son Jonathan Belcher, Jr., then in London, to procure the original letter from Mr. Dudley to Mr. Dummer.
Governor Belcher in a letter dated Boston, November 20, 1739 (Ibid., II. 247), to Henry Newman, says : -
" This comes to ask after your health & is under Mr Belcher's cover, & he is order'd to deliver it into your own hands, to pray you to let him have the letter dropt in your lodgings, being from Mr Dudley to M' Dummer, now deceas'd. It can be of no service to you, but may be considerably so to me, and as it shall alwayes remain a secret how it came to my hands, I fully depend you will show me a new instance of your sincere respect by letting me be possest of it."
Governor Belcher, in a letter to Thomas Coram ( Zhid., II. 334), dated Boston, October 25, 1740, referring to the reception of Coram's letters to the Speaker and the Secretary, and the disposal of them made by the House of Representatives and the Council and the votes concerning them obtained by Paul Dudley, says : -
"I think you are bound in honour to find out some way of making an answer and to expose him publickly, which you may be able to do by advising among your friends and mine, and the better to inable you, I put in this packet a book call'd The Deplorable State of New England, where you'll find a vile letter wrote by this man to his cousin in England to put him upon indeavouring to take away the charter of this countrey. This letter might go into one of the publick prints with proper animadversions upon it, & you might send a number of 'em that each member of the Assembly might have one. This wicked attempt of his is almost lost and forgot by the present generation, but the revival of it I beleive woud do his business, & I have no reason to think but that he is the same man still in heart & principle."
In another letter to Coram (Ibid., II. 524; Belcher's Letter Book, V. CO), dated Boston, November 14, 1740, he says : -
" The Pamphlet I sent you, in which is his fine Letter, may help to paint him in his Colours . . . If the Executors to M' Dummers will could obtain the Original Letter, it would be a great point gaind, and if they pursue it heartily, it would fright him to think of a Bill in Chancery, do all you possibly can to get it."
In a letter to Henry Newman, dated Boston, November 15, 1740 (Belcher Papers, II. 524 ; Belcher's Letter Book, V. 74), Governor Belcher charges him with injustice in withholding " the Letter, wrote by ME P. Dudley, to the deces'd M: J. Dummer." See also Belcher Papers, II. 394.
In a letter dated Boston, September 1, 1741 (Ibid., II. 411), after he had been superseded as Governor, he writes again to Henry Newman : " As things are circumstane'd I shall wave saying anything more at present upon the subject of the vile letter wrote by P. D. to the late J. D."
The Thomas Coram here mentioned was Captain Thomas Coram, the founder of the Foundling Hospital, London. At its gates, facing the street, stands his statue by Marshall. In a vault beneath the Chapel he lies buried. His portrait by Hogarth hangs in the gallery of the hospital.
A letter written by him to the Secretary, dated London, April 5, 1740
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Friend in London, a Letter, wherein are these following Words."
" wherein are contained many reflections on the conduct of the Honble Paul Dudley Esq! and on the memory of the Hon'de Nath! Byfield Esqr dec " was not received into the Council Files, there appearing nothing to support the allegations and reflections contained therein (Council Records, X. 375, June 17, 1740).
The Speaker of the House of Representatives received likewise a letter of the same date, and the House voted, May 29, 1740, that it was " unworthy the Notice of this House, save their Displeasure, and that therefore the aforesaid I.etter be delivered by the Speaker to the said Paul Dudley, Esq ; that so he may the better have his Remedy against the Author of the same." (Journal of the House of Representatives, A. D. 1740, p. S.)
Belcher and the Mathers evidently refer to the same letter of Paul Dudley.
It will be noted that Governor Belcher speaks of a letter to " J. D.," to " M" Dummer " to " his [Dudley's] cousin in England." The pamphlet of 1708 says " his Friend in London." The letter itself reads " Dear Kinsman."
Such are the ramifications of our early New England families, owing to re- peated intermarriages, fruitful in children to marry and be given in marriage in their turn, that it would perhaps be rash to assert, without further investigation, that there was no blood relationship between Paul Dudley and Jeremiah Dum- mer. There was, indeed, a relationship by marriage, William Dummer. the brother of Jeremiah, having married Catharine Dudley, a sister of Paui Dudley. But this marriage was solemnized in 1714, long after the letter above printed was written.
Taking everything into consideration, we may be permitted to doubt if Jere- miah Dummer was the one to whom that letter was written.
This doubt is more than justified when we learn that Jeremiah Dummer was not in London at the date of that letter. He had received the degree of Philoso- phice Doctor at the University of Utrecht in 1703, and had returned hanie. Sew. all (Diary, II. 92) tells ns that " Dr. Jer. Dumer preaches," January 16. 1703-4. in Boston. At Commencement at Harvard College, July 15 following, " Dr. Dumer rose up and in very fluent good Latin ask'd Leave, and made an oposition." (Ibid. II. 111.)
Mather speaks of the letter as written to "W. Wharton." Now William Wharton was a kinsman of Dudley, and he was in England at this time. Yet if "a gentleman in London " - perhaps Sir Henry Ashurst - " gave ten pounds for that letter " and sent it - presumably the original letter and not a copy - to New England, how did it happen to be " dropt in [Mr. Newman's] lodgings " ?
The indented note on page 9 of the pamphlet of 170S (Sewall's Diary, II. 102*) reads : " See P. Dudley's Original Letter to Mr. W. Wharton Printed at London with some Necessary Queries."
There are in the Library of the British Museum two copies of the London pamphlet of 1707. They are both perfect copies, whole and unmuntilated. Neither of them contains any letter of Paul Dudley to W. Wharton. If still another pamphlet - containing another letter of Paul Dudley, or the same letter with certain annotations - is referred to in the indented note, nothing is known at the British Museum of such a publication, and the Library has no copy of it.
After much research and considerable correspondence I have been unable, so far, to obtain any further light on this subject. Perhaps future investigations may lead to something more definite and satisfactory.
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"Boston, 12th Jan. 1701.
Dear KINSMAN,
I Confess I am Ashamed almost to Think, I should be at Home so long, and not let you know of it, till now. Tho' after all, a New-England Correspondence is scarce worth your haring. . . . I Refer you to * Mr. . . . for an Account of every thing, especially about the Government, and the Colledge; both which, are Discoursed. of here, in Chimney Corners, and Private Meetings, as con- fidently as can be. If there should be any Occasion, you must be sure to stir your Self and Friends, and show your
* Sec P. Dudiey's Original Letter to Mr. W. Wharton Printed at London with some Neces- sary Queries.
Affection and Respect to my Father, who Loves you well, and Bid me Tell you so. . .. This Country will never be worth Living in, for Lawyers and Gentlemen, till the CHARTER IS TAKEN AWAY. My Father and I sometimes Talk of the Queen's Establishing a COURT OF CHANCERY in this Country ; I have Writ about it, to Mr. Blathwayt: If the Matter should Succeed, you might get some Place worth your Return ; of which I should be very Glud. If I can any ways Serve you or your Friends, Pray Signify it to (Dear SIR)
Your Affectionate Friend,
and Humble Servant,
PAUL DUDLEY."
Paul Dudley was one of the few trained lawyers of the early Provincial period, and notwithstanding party rancor and in spite of the vituperation showered upon him by political opponents, his great abilities and many accomplishments com- pelled the admiration and respect of the entire community.
He lived first in Boston, where he took a prominent part in town affairs. He was chosen Moderator of various town meet- ings 1 and served on several important committees.
At a town-meeting held in Boston December 27, 1708, it was voted that
" a Committee be chosen to draw up a Scheme or draught of a Charter of Incorporation (or any other projection) for the Incourragement and better Governm' of this Town,"
1 Boston Town Records, II. 305, 339, 344.
He served on Committees also -
"To prevent damage by the Sea's wasting away ye neck." (December 19, 1709. Town Records, II. 306.)
On the surrender of the " Lease of ye Town Dock, or Bendalls Dock." (March 13, 1709-10. Ibid., II. 311.)
" To consider and prepare what they Shall think proper to be layd before the Town." (March 13, 1710-11. Ibid., II. 323.)
" To Treat wth Dr Cook Abt his Incroachmt on King street." (March [April] 3, 1711-12. Selectmen's Minutes, II. 40.)
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