USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Boston notions; being an authentic and concise account of "that village," from 1630 to 1847 > Part 10
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"1684, Jan. 21. At a meeting of the freemen of this town upon lawful warning, upon reading and publishing his maj- esty's declaration, dated 26th of July, 1683, relating to the quo warranto issued out against the charter and privileges claimed by the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England. It hath been put to vote, whether the freemen were minded that the General Court should
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make a full submission and entire resignation of our charter and privileges therein granted, to his majesty's pleasure, as intimated in the said declaration now read ; the question was resolved in the negative, NEMINE CONTRADICENTE."
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Increase Mather was at this town meeting, and made a spirit stirring speech ; there is no doubt but the vote of the town was then the spoken thoughts of a vast majority of the people of the colonies : yet the legislature was divided on this point : Gov. Bradstreet and a major part of the Assist- ants voted not to contend in law, but to submit to the pleas- ure of the King : the representatives after a fortnight's de- liberation, refused to give concurrence to that vote ; and a letter of attorney was sent to a suitable person to appear and answer in behalf of the colony.
The court of King's Bench was the court from which the Quo warranto proceeded and at which court the agent was to appear, but without any notice, the case was removed to another court and a seire farias was issued against the colony from the court of chancery, on the 16th day of April, which was not received until the return day had expired : by means of which, judgment was given against the colony on the 18th of June, 1684, subjeet to an appearance and defence on the next term, without their being heard or receiving timely notice to appear ; thus fell the good old charter.
King Charles II., died Feb. 6th, 1685, which occasioned such a crowd of business there, that the colonies had a little respite from the din and clank of political chains being pre- pared for them. King James II., was proclaimed with great ceremony in Boston, on the 20th of April. As soon as he was settled on his throne, he sent a commission to Colonel Joseph Dudley to take the goverment of New England up- on him, and appointed him a new council of his majesty's own choosing, and Wm. Stoughton as deputy President. Mr. Dudley received it by the Rose Frigate, (the first noticed
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as arriving in Boston Harbor,) on the 15th of May, 1686, and it was made public on the 24th, when the president and council met in form.
Mr. Dudley and council, considered themselves appointed to preserve the affairs of the colony from confusion until a governor should be appointed and a rule of administration be more fully settled : the former laws were revised and put in force for the time being with the general consent and ac- quiescence of the citizens and the affairs were thereby reg- ularly conducted.
Mr. Dudley was President but a short time. Sir Edmund Andros, who had formerly been governor of New York, ar- rived Dec. 19th, 1686, with a commission from King James HI. dated July 3d., constituting him governor of the whole country, and empowering him with four of his council to make laws, and raise money without a general assembly or any consent of the people ; he landed in Boston Dec. 20th, and was escorted by 60 red coats, to Mr. Gibb's house on Fort Hill. It was soon discovered that all his plans and aims were tyrannical : many of his council left their seats ; a few only living in or near Boston attended regulary ; and some of those complained that he had always three or four of creatures ready to say yes or no to every thing he proposed as suited him, after which no opposition was allowed. It was not long before the case of some who apprehended themselves oppressed, came up for consideration, and one of his Council told them " they must not think the privileges 'of Englishmen would follow them to the ends of the world;"' this sounded an alarm though the country, not soon to be forgotten.
The people endured insolence and privations innumera- ble under the new government yet they were generally
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quiet : James II. was a Catholic and was desirous that the government of Eng. should be dispensed under that power, but his daughter Mary, thwarted his design by wedding William, Prince of Orange, who during the confusion among the people, landed an army on their shores and com- pelled James to flee for his life from the Kingdom ; seating himself on the throne of the father of Mary-his wife : the news of this sudden event, reached Boston in April, 1689 : as Sir Edmund Andros, here, was exercising kingly powers in behalf of James II. the bearer of that news, was thrown into prison without bail or mainprize; Andros issued his mandate against the authority of King William and Queen Mary, charging all the people of the colonies to resist their power by land and by sea : but he was mistaken in the strength of his proclamation ; for that very month, he, with some of his most obnoxious council, with the captain of an English frigate, then in Boston harbor, were seized by the populace and imprisoned, and there retained many weeks : in Feb., 1690, most of them were forced to return to England.
Simon Bradstreet who was Governor from 1679 till 1686 was called to the chair of State as President; although then being upwards of 80 years of age :- Isaac Addington was appointed Secretary and Wait-Still Winthrop, commander of the militia. From 1686 to 1689 the colony was controlled by Andros, as lord of the soil, without acknowledging any of the previously chartered rights of the colony ; and during that time, the people were drawn into a disastrous war with the French in Canada; reference to which is made in another part of this volume. Gov. Bradstreet died at Salem, March 27, 1697, aged 91 years. Isaac Addington died March 19, 1715, aged 70 years. Wait-Still Winthrop, was son of Gov. John Winthrop of Con. : born at Boston, Feb. 27, 1612, died at Boston, Sept. 7, 1717, aged 75 years
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RETROSPECTION-THE EMIGRANTS OF 1630.
The derided and oppressed dissenters from the doctrines and faith of the Church of England, harrassed with the power of the officers of the Crown and of Church Bishop, ventured with all their earthly possessions to flee into this wild and uncultivated country : here the forest beast and Savage held supreme umpire, and the terrors of the British laws were but escaped, to endure for a season, at least, the expected horrors of a death by the tomahawk, or by the glower but more fearful one by starvation : they left their paternal soil in a panoply of hope, that here they could wor- ship the God they adored, according to their own conscien- tious principles ; and they were a brave, self-enduring body of christian men and women : for the love of their religion they did come, and on that principle alone this new para- dise was founded which is now the admiration of mankind.
The pioneers in great undertakings often become a sacri. fice to their own daring experiments, and it is a duty de- volving on those who may enjoy the benefits resulting from their great achievements for good, through a vista of years, to hold their memory sacred, and to embalm it within the tablets of the mind with those of a kind parent or a friends' beneficence.
The emigrants to Plymouth in 1620, lost more than half their number by want, sickness and death, within six months after landing there : the settlement at Salem in 1628, and that at Charlestown in 1629, proved equally as unfortunate ; for less than half their number were alive and well, a few months afterwards : the many bound-help of the wealthy Salem emigrants, whose ship-passage cost £20 each, were freed, for their employers could not feed them : during the inclement winter season of these then wild re- gions, we can realize that a mere tent for a covering, and the earth for a resting place with a paucity of food and
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nourishment, that the human frame would rapidly become feeble and die : that more of them, or even all, were not cut off, is cause for grateful feelings with the people at this time : here they planted the standard and the seedling germs of morality, religion, justice, equal rights and equal laws; which their descendants, in preserving, defending and extending to future generations, will honor themselves, in doing that honor to the brave band of their forefathers.
The settlement of Boston in 1630, was attended with many disheartening circumstances : Lady Arbella Johnson, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, Eng. and wife of Isaac Johnson, died in Aug. of that year, and was buried at Sa- lem : she was an accomplished and beautiful woman, the pride of the emigrants; and her decease caused heartfelt sorrow to all classes of the people : Isaac Johnson was son of Abraham Johnson, of Clipsham, Eng., and was chosen an assistant May 13, 1629 ; he was the idol of the people : wealthy and generous, a christian man and a judicious mag- istrate ; (see also page 53) the loss of his beloved partner with other important concerns preyed rapidly upon his sys- tem, and he died Sept. 30, 1630 : two more assistants; Mr. Pincheon and Coddington lost their estimable wives, and Dr. Gager, Richd. Garrett, and Edwd. Rossiter, with many others, died that year.
The deprivations of the emigrants is recorded by Roger Clap in these words : "Oh, the hunger that many suffered 'and saw no hope in the eye of reason to be relieved : flesh 'of all kind was a rare thing and bread so very scarce, that ' sometimes, I thought, the very crumbs of my father's table 'would have been sweet to me."
The ensuing winter set in early, and the harbor was frozen over Dec. 24th ; the cold so intense, that it was with great exertions the people were kept from freezing : provis- ions became so scarce that clams, muscles and shell fish
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became luxuries, and ground nuts and acorns were used as bread : on the 5th of Feb. 1631, the ship Lion entered the harbor of Boston, loaded with provisions from London, and the hearts of the people were made glad, and to rejoice once more, with the necessaries, if not the comforts of life. The ship Lion returned to London, April 1st, with Rer. John Wilson, who left here to escort his wife over; the pastoral desk was thereby vacant till November, when the Rev. John Eliot assumed the office : Mr. Wilson with his lady returned, May 26, 1632.
REV. JOHN COTTON.
John Cotton was born at Derby, Eng., Dec. 4, 1585 : his father Rolland Cotton was a respectable lawyer and had a goodly, godly housewife : the son was admitted into Trinity College, Eng., at the age of 13 years : proficiency in his studies early procured him an invitation to Emanuel Col. lege, where he rose regularly to head lecturer and catechist: he became so thoroughly conversant with the Hebrew lan- gnage as to freely converse in it: he was also an adept sebolar in the Greek and Latin.
Mr. Cotton pursued his studies for the ministry with indifference it not repulsive feelings, till he was aroused by the forewaraings of the Rev. Wm. Perkins : these he resisted for three years, and lived that time in the jovialities of youthful pastime : he then became a serious believer in the doctrines of Calvin, and soon after that, commenced preach- ing : the wits of his college expected a splendid oration or harangne, but in the place of wit, he gave them reproofs which serionsly operated on their minds.
In 1612, Mr. Cotton being 28 years of age, settled in Bos- ton. Eng. and continued his ardnous duties there, for twenty years ; effecting an extensive reformation throughout the
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town : but after the government of the English church came into the hands of Bishop Laud, divisions arose in his parish, when a dissolute fellow informed against him and his society, for not kneeling at the sacrament ; MI. Wilson was cited therefor, before the high commissioners court : he concealed himself for a time in London, in preference to being confined in the King's jail or suffering a worse fate ; and came to this country at the age of 48, in company with Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone, Sept. 4, 1633 : causing the peo- ple to rejoice in the arrival of three great necessities, viz. Cotton for clothing : Hooker for fishing, and Stone for build ing.
Mr. Cotton being invited to preach to the students of Har- vard University ; on crossing the ferry, a bleak and stormy time for that purpose, took cold, causing inflamation on his lungs, attended with asthmatic affections : he occasionally held forth from the sacred desk after that, but grew more feeble ; and on the 23d of Dec. 1652, he died the death of an effective and revered shepherd in the vineyard of the Lord, and was mourned for by the people as if they could not be comforted. He was settled as colleague with Rev. John Wilson, Oct. 10, 1633, and was 19 years in Boston, N. E., as one of the brightest minds in literature, theology, and as a moral examplar. He was buried in King's Chapel burying ground.
Mr. Cotton's appearance was peculiarly impressive : a complexion clear : in size rather short, with full limbs : in his youth his hair was brown, but in advancing years it be- came perfectly white ; his eye flashed with the keenest rebuke or smiled with a cheering power; his voice was clear and audible ; being heard distinctly in the largest hall ; he generally devoted twelve hours every day to study and composition ; and wrote his sermons with great care, although he sometimes preached extemporaneously.
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He lost his first wife previous to his removal to this coun- try, by whom he had no children ; and his second wife Sarab came with him ; she had three sons and three daughters the eldest danghter Sarah, and youngest son Roland, died of the small pox, in 1649 ; the next daughter Mrs. Eggington, died a few years afterwards, and the youngest became the wife of Increase Mather; Seaborn, the eldest son, born on the passage here, in Aug. 1623, died April 19, 1686, aged 52 :- John, born March 18, 1020. died. Sept. 18, 1699, aged 59. The descendants of Res. John Cotton are numerous.
GOS. JOHN ENDICOTT.
John Endicott was from Dorchester. Eng., and arrived at Salem in Sept. 1728; he was an assistant nine years : Dep. Gov. five years; Gov. fifteen years; and Maj. Gen. four years : he removed to Boston in 1644, and was chosen Gov. that same year ; he was again chosen in 1649, and while in that office, associated with the other officers of the state in denouncing long hair as unbecoming and unmanly, fit only for the appearance of Indians or Russians: he was also effective in passing a law against wearing boots, as a waste of leather and a useless expense : and a law also against dancing, as causing extravagance and show : he lived on Pemberton hill : died March 15, 1665, aged 76 years, leav- ing a legacy of £4 to the poor of the town.
The winter of 1637-1638, was an extremely severe and distressing season to the inhabitants of Boston ; snow four and a half feet deep covered all the land from Nov. 4th. till March 23, and they were suffering for want of fuel : Jan. 13, thirty men started for Spectacle Island to cut wood, and the next night a violent N. E. storm raged, and for two days fol- lowing a strong wind from N. W. : the harbor froze solid, all but the channel, through which twelve of the men made
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for the governor's garden (Fort Warren) ; seven others in a skiff were carried with the ice to Broad Sound, and there kept among the Brewster rocks for two days without food or fire ; one of whom died, and the rest of them had their hands and feet badly frozen ; so unfortunate were the citizens at that time, that the place acquired the appellation of " The Lost Town."
THE MILITARY.
The Puritans placed a great value on the services of the citizen-soldiers, and every method for strengthening that right arm of defence, and for their correct discipline, they were prompt to adopt ; their law of 1631 was as follows : it is ordered that every man who finds a musket, shall always have ready one pound of powder, twenty bullets and two fathoms match, [gun locks were not then in use] under penalty of 10s. and that every Captain shall train his com- pany every Saturday.
The following extract from Jolison, who was a Captain, evinces the military and patriotie spirit of the time, and some of his zealous admonitions may not be useless, even at the present day.
" You shall with all diligence provide against the malig- 'naut adversaries of truth; See then you store yourselves 'with all sorts of weapons of war; furbish up your swords, 'rapiers and all other piercing weapons. As for the great ' Artillery * wait on the Lord Christ, and he will stir up 'friends to provide for you and in the mean time, spare not 'to lay out coyne for powder, bullets, match, and all kinds 'of instruments for war ; see that with all diligence you en- 'courage every soldier-like spirit among you, for the Lord
" The Rev. Mr. Cotton, soon after, gove £1000 for the purchase of Can- hon
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'Christ intends to achieve greater matters by this little hand- 'ful than the world is aware of.
'And as for you who shall be preferred to highest places 'in New England regiments, cause your captains and other 'inferior officers to be diligent in their several places : let ' faithfulness to the cause in hand, courage, activity and skill, ' have the pre-eminency of honors : for though it may seeme 'a mean thinge to be a New England souldier, yet some of 'you shall have the battering and beating down the over- ' topping towers of the hierarchy ; lieutenants, ensigns and ' serjeants, exceed not your places till experience, skill and ' true valor, promote you to higher honor, to which you shall ' be daily aspiring."
The following description of a training, is by Dunton.
" It is their custom here, for all that can bear arms, to go 'out on a training day. I thought a pike was best for a 'young soldier, and so I carried a pike-'twas the first time : 'I was ever in arms. Being come into the field, the captain ' called us all into our close order, in order to go to prayer, 'and then prayed himself. And when the exercise was ' done, the captain likewise concluded with a prayer. Sol- 'emn prayer on the field upon a training day, I never knew ' but in New England, where it seems it is a common cus- 'tom. About three o'clock our exercise and prayers being 'over, we had a very noble dinner, to which all the clergy ' were invited.
Mr. Wm. Hibbins, was a considerable trader by sea, and fared well in purse for many years, but his usual good for- tune did not always attend him ; he met with many losses which reduced his floating capital : he died in 1654 : his widow Mrs. Ann, could not graciously bear these reverses in
Note. At page 63, Gov. H. Vane is considered as only 21 years of uge, but probably he was 23.
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her greatest enjoyments, and in a little time she became a perfect fret and scold : her neighbors on Water St. offended at her railings, were desirous of removing her from their proximity ; as she owned her house, they could not accom- plish that by any common management, so they charged her with being a witch, as the most effectual method of stilling her tongue : on this charge she was brought to a jury trial, who united in a verdict of guilty ; but that, the presid- ing magistrate would not receive ; for the reason, probably, of viewing the charges as the offspring of ill nature and malice : her enemies being baffled in this attempt, made great exertions to bring the case with all the popular clam- or and prejudice they could muster, before the House of Representatives ; here they succeeded, and that honorable body condemned the poor old woman to a death by the hangman, as being a witch ; in 1655 that sentence was put into execution : the strongest point of evidence in the case, was, that two of her persecutors being in the street, talking together, she said they were talking about herself, which was an acknowledged fact : on this point was her condem- nation fixed.
The people were so weak or evil minded, as to hunt the dead body accurately over for tetts, and rummage her boxes and chests for puppets, images and charms, but none could be found of either shape or character : at least nothing in our history has as yet been discovered inducing the mind to any other conclusion.
In the year 1631, July 30, Mr. Ludlow, digging for the foundation of his house at Dorchester, found two pieces of French money, one of which was coined in 1596 ; they were at the depth of a foot in the earth :- It is related that in 1616, a French ship was cast away on the Massachusetts
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coast, or captured through stratagem, by the natives : there were many persons on board, and they were divided among several Indian Sachems .; in 1619, but two of those prisoners were alive : one of whom had learned the Indian talk, and reproved the savages for their barbarities ; telling them that God would some day surely destroy them : a Sachem en- quired, if his God, that he talked so much about, had as many men as there were Indians present; and if he thought he could kill all the Indians; on being informed that God could easily destroy them all, he mocked, and de- "'. rided the idea, and said, there were so many, God could not kill them : one of the Frenchmen was with the Pokano- ket tribe, and the other with the Massachusetts : Capt. Dormer redeemed them from bondage, and restored them to their country : all the French crew had been put to death but three or four; and these were preserved, only to be sent from one Sachem to another, to make sport : the two - pieces of money found by Mr. Ludlow, probably came in that French ship.
NORTH EAST STORM.
" 1640, 10th mo. Dec. 15. One [person] of Roxbury, sending to Boston his servant maid, for a barber chirurgeon to draw his tooth, they lost their way on the road, and were not found till many days after; and then the maid was found in one place and the man in another, both of them frozen to deathı."
" 1641, 9th mo. Nov. 12th. Mr. Maverick of Nottles Island, who had been formerly fined £100, for giving enter- tertainment to Mr. Owen and one Hale's wife, who had escaped out of prison, where they had been put for notorious suspicion of adultery," received some mitigation of that penalty.
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COL. ETHAN ALLEN.
The following authentic anecdote although not precisely in its place is esteemed too good to let slip.
In 1781, Allen was taken prisoner by the British in their successes in New Haven, and carried to England : he was there treated with marked attention and respect, and an offer made by the British minister, to be vested with a Vice- roy over the colony of Vermont, with unusual priviledges, if he would use his influence with his countrymen, to stop the then existing revolution : Sir, said that stern hero, with a contemptuous smile, you put me in mind of a certain per- sonage renowned in sacred history, who on one occasion took the redeemer of all mankind to a high mountain, and pointing out the principalities and kingdoms of the earth, offered to him the whole, if he would bow down before him ; but every principle of polity forbade that, for the poor devil was a vexatious spirit, without owning an iota in the prom- ised land.
THE QUAKERS.
The religious sectarian denomination of Quakers arose, in the county of Leicestshire, England, in 1644: the first arri- val in Boston of any of that religious faith, was Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, June 5th, 1656; these women were made prisoners on board the vessel they came in, and soon after- wards confined in jail, as also were seven others about a month after, and the books they brought with them publicly burned ; Nicholas Upshall, an aged and humane christian, applied to the jailor for leave to furnish them with food and even paid 5s. per week for that privilege ; he was fined £20 and sentence of banishment from the jurisdiction passed against him, although he owned a considerable estate on Richmond Street, was a church member and a freeman : he fled to Plymouth and tarried there six years, when his sentence of banishment was released : he returned to Boston
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and immediately prepared a room in his house for the use of Friends : yet laws were passed to prevent their entrance within this jurisdiction, accompanied with penalties of fine, public whipping and imprisonment : these were scon fol- lowed with a law decreeing a forfeit of one car for a first offence and another ear for a second ; and under this law three Quakers had their right ear taken off on Boston com. mon, in 1658, by the public executioner. [See page 36.]
Their persecutors seemed more like infuriates, bereft of reason ; for having left their own patrimony on account of the severe persecutions by the English church against prot- estants, it would rationally be supposed that similar move- ments among any conscientious class of God's worshippers would be, by them, dealt kindly with : but instead of a holy and kind feeling toward those similarly situated emi- grants, they ordered some of the Quakers to be sold as slaves, for the payment of the fines inflicted on them for being such : this severity had the effect of increasing their number, for some of the puritan families went over to them and embraced their religious creed.
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