USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Cape Cod, the right arm of Massachusetts : an historical narrative > Part 7
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was committed to prison and remained three days, at the end of which time he relented, found the required sureties, and was released. Mr. Nickerson, in other transactions, had shown himself to be possessed of a litigious disposition and a temper of some acerbity, but he does not appear to have been entirely without provocation in these transactions of the court. In 1674, Monnamoit, which had been for nine years "within the liberties of Yarmouth," together with Satucket, was included within the township of Eastham.
The fisheries early attracted the attention of the colonists. The Commissioners of the United Colonies, in 1659, recom- mended to the several general courts, to regulate the taking of mackerel, "conceiving that fish to be the most staple commodity of the country." The Cape fisheries, both cod and mackerel, were of the first importance, and the fishery privileges became a matter of contention between eager rivals. "Strangers" were taxed by the court for the privilege of "fishing at the Cape," and other enactments were made, which will be set forth in a chapter devoted to the subject.
The Indians of the Colony of New Plymouth, engaged themselves to fidelity to the English, the 10th of April, 1671, and subscribed to the agreement "hy some of the chief of them," at the Court held in Plymouth the 7th of June of the same year. This engagement was entered into doubtless, in consequence of the threatening attitude of Philip, whose conduct had already begun to excite suspicions in the minds of the colonists. Several Cape sachems were among the subscribing parties, among them the mark of John Quaqaquansuke, of Paomett, John Quason Taswott, of Monnamcick, his mark; of Sachemus and Little Robin and Wahoonettshunke; the mark of Sabatubkett ; Katemet,
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alias Sampson of Nobscussett; Katemet, alias Katenat, of Mattacheesett, his mark; and "Sampson of Nauset is sick and is not come;" "Humphrey of Wcequahutt, is not come." The need of strengthening good relations between the English and the neighboring Indians was felt and appreciated at this time. It will be seen that this foresight and precaution of the fathers was not at fault, and that they stood in sore need of all the aid and friend- ship that were available, in the dark times which had already begun to cast their shadow over the land.
In 1673 Gov. Thomas Prence died, and was succeeded by Josias Winslow. Gov. Prence was of a stern, unyielding and austere temperament. In his dealings with the Quakers he was severe and uncompromising, evincing no sympathy with those who presumed to differ from him and his associates, in matters of belief. Theologically, he was a Puritan, rather than an Independent. Toleration and independence of thought were not permitted in the slightest degree. On the other hand, it ought to be said to his credit, that Gov. Prence's enlightened views and policy on the subject of popular education were in advance of the times, and reflected credit upon his administration.
Upon his accession to the government, Mr. Winslow reversed the policy of his predecessor in the treatment of the Quakers. This showed progress on his part ; for in the earlier stages of this controvery, while an assistant of the governor, he had evinced much repugnance to these sectaries, and appeared to be partially in sympathy with Gov. Prence and his other associates. It is to his credit that he retraced the false steps with which he started. A result of the new policy of the government was the restora- tion of James Cudworth and Isaac Robinson to their rights as freemen-men whose services, particularly those of
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Cudworth, proved of the highest value and importance in the terrible struggle near at hand.
The history of the early Quaker persecution in this county presents the spectacle of the magistrates of the colony on one side and the body of the people of the Cape on the other. This dark, pathetic and saddening story will be told in a separate chapter.
CHRONOLOGY OF EVENTS, 1650-1672.
1652. Capt. Standish was appointed to rectify the bounds between Barnstable and Sandwich .- The wife of Tristram Hull of Barnstable was warned by the Court to desist from hindering the servant of Samuel Mayo from performing faithful service to her master .- The town of Sandwich was presented for not having a common stock of powder and shot .- Jonathan Hateh of Barnstable was presented for furnishing an Indian with a gun and ammunition, but "cleared."-Mr. Prince of Eastham, Mr. Howes of Yarmouth, John Chipman of Barnstable, and Richard Bourne of Sandwich, were appointed to receive from these several towns "the oil of the country."
1653. Josias Hallet and Thomas Gage of Yarmouth were presented by the court "for profaning the Lord's day, by putting forth to sea from Sandwich harbor on the Lord's day," and fined.
1654. A vessel belonging to Mr. Samuel Mayo, of Barnstable, employed in conveying the goods of Mr. Leverich from Sandwich to Oyster Bay, Long Island, was seized by the authorities of Rhode Island. Commissioners were appointed by the Plymouth authorities to look into the matter, and the act was disavowed hy the govern- ment .- Wm. Chase, of Yarmouth, presented for driving a yoke of oxen on the Lord's day, in time of exercise, about five miles .- Mashan- tampaine, sachem of Yarmouth, was accused of " stealing a gun, and that his dogs injured the cattle of the inhabitants," and that "he had in his possession a chest of tools," the inference being that they were not his. On the first charge he was acquitted; on the last two, inquiry was ordered, and we hear no more of the matter .- Sandwich was presented for not providing stocks and whipping posts; also for not having a full complement of arms. Eastham was presented for not having a pound .- It appearing that injury had been done by horses to to the Indians' corn at Manomet, it was ordered that the damage must - be paid, and Mr. Freeman was authorized to have the matter properly adjusted .- The bounty on wolves was ordered to be paid, as follows: Barnstable 9, Yarmouth 6, Sandwich 4, Eastham 4.
1657. A controversy between the sachem Yanno, or Janno, and the inhabitants of Yarmouth, about the title to lands, was referred to
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John Alden and Lieut. Southworth, who decreed that the title of the inhabitants shall be confirmed, aud that the sachem shall have paid to him six coats, six pair small breeches, ten hoes, ten hatchets, two brass kettles and one iron kettle.
1658. The town of Sandwich voted to authorize Thomas Tobey to pay 15 shillings to the Indians for every wolf killed by them.
1659. James Skiff, chosen by the town of Sandwich for deputy, was rejected by the court, on account of his proclivities in favor of the Quakers.
1661-2. Rev. John Smith and others of the Barnstable church, having seceded and formed themselves into another and distinct society, a council of neighboring churches was held, which disowned the seced- ers, renouuced fellowship with them, and called upon the churches to do the same.
1662. The rates for public charges were as follows: Sandwich, 10 pounds, 2 shillings, 0 pence; Yarmouth, 10 pounds, 2, 0; Barnstable, 11 pounds, 2, 0; Eastham, 8 pounds, 2, 0.
1663. Kenelm Winslow, Jr., of Yarmouth, was fined 10 shillings "for riding on the Lord's day," although he pleaded necessity .- Mr. Hinckley, Thomas Dexter, Jr., and Constant Southworth, appointed to settle the bounds between Sandwich and Plymouth .- It was ordered "that Sacconessett shall, for the present, belong to Barnstable."
1665. Robert Harper was publicly whipped by order of the court, "for disturbing public worship in Sandwich and Barnstable;" and Richard Willis was set in the stocks "for ribaldry." These persons persisted in going to the places of public worship, and "bearing their testimony" while the services were progressing.
1668. Francis, sachem of Nauset, was fined 10 pounds, "for uncivil and inhuman words to Capt. Allen, at Cape Cod, when cast away." -- General military musters were ordered to be held on the second Wednesday of the ensuing year, at Plymouth, Yarmouth and Taunton.
1671. Certain persons in Hull petitioned the government "for permission to fish at Cape Cod for mackerel, they having discovered a new method of fishing with nets by moonlight."
1672. The laws, hitherto in manuscript only, were, for the first time, printed and distributed to the towns of the colony .- Seecunk and his two sons, who claimed to have inherited Scorton Neck in Sandwich, of their father, sold "the end next to Barnstable, or the Sandy Beach," etc. "to some Barnstable men."-Succonessett was authorized by the court "to make good and wholesome orders" for its government and security.
CHAPTER VII. THE EARLIEST QUAKERS.
Appearance of the first Quakers -- Repressive Statutes-"Thomas Hinckley's Law"-Holden and Copeland whipped at Barnstable - Barlow's Appointment as Marshal-Proseention of Sandwich people for harboring Quakers-Cndworth and Isaac Robinson disfranchised for defending them-"The Inward Light" the basis of Quakerism-Cape Quakers neither abusive nor indecent-No legal warrant for their persecution.
HE Quaker persecution, which left so dark a blot upon the generation in which it transpired, cannot in any considerable degree reflect upon the citizens of the Cape communities, where these events occurred, and the responsibility for which rests with the colonial authorities, urged and goaded on by the ruling classes of Massachusetts Bay. "The people called Quakers," but who themselves took the name of "Friends," began to trouble the Puritans of Boston and Massachusetts Colony about the year 1656. In July of that year, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin arrived in Boston from England. No law forbid their coming, and no proof of the character of these women or of their purposes was in the possession of the authorities. They were immediately, without arraignment or examination, imprisoned and treated with the greatest indignities. A month later, eight others of this sect arrived from London. They were also imprisoned, and the books which they brought were confiscated and destroyed. Sentence
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of banishment was passed upon them, and the masters of the vessels which brought them, were required to carry them out of the colony. Then followed repressive laws, resulting in fines, scourgings, imprisonments, and the hanging of four persons, including one woman.
Owing to the fierce persecution which the Quakers encountered in Massachusetts, many of them crossed over into the more tolerant region of the Plymouth jurisdiction ; the first town in which they were found in considerable numbers being Scituate. The great body of the people, including Mr. IIatherly and Mr. Cudworth, while not accepting their religious theories, tried to shield them from persecution. But these brave and liberal men only drew upon themselves the indignation and censure of the author- ities. The Commissioners of the Colonies, one of which - the powerful colony of Massachusetts Bay -was the leading factor, recommended the several colonies to pass and enforce more stringent laws for the suppression of heresy. The Plymouth colony hesitated, but finally complied. It was at first attempted to accomplish this purpose by enforcing a law passed some years previous, which provided "that if any neglect the worship of God in the place where he lives, and set up a worship contrary to God and the allowances of this. government, to the public profanation of God's holy day and ordinances, he shall pay 10 shillings." The effort to enforce this law failed, because the offender must be convicted of doing all these things, in order to become liable to the penalty provided. Gen. Cudworth states the curious fact, that in March, 1658, a court of deputies was called, when, after passing sundry acts relating to the Quakers, they contrived to make this law efficacious by quietly erasing the word "and" in the act, and substituting "or" therefor; which, being disjunctive instead of conjunc-
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tive, made both branches of the act operative. This alteration, says Cudworth, though made in 1658, stands upon the record as the work of 1651, and was enforced to the letter against the Quakers .* This law which was referred to in some of the writings of the time as, "Thomas Hinckley's law," was understood to have been drafted by Mr. Hinckley when he was a deputy, to meet another class of cases, and he was no more responsible than his associates for its changed and obnoxious form.
The additional laws passed in Plymouth colony, in accordance with the suggestions of the Commissioners, though less severe than those enacted by Massachusetts, were yet violative of the rights of conscience and hospitality. They required any one bringing Quakers into the colony to return them from the place whence they came, under a penalty of 20s. per day after giving warning; forbade entertaining them under a penalty of £5 every day, or of being whipped; required that any one knowing of the presence of a Quaker should inform the authorities, and that such Quaker, when apprehended, should be sent to jail until he should pay the cost of his imprisonment and transportation ; that any such persons holding Quaker meeting be fined 40s. each for every speaker, and 10s. for hearers who were heads of families, and 40s. for the owner of the place of meeting; that strolling Quakers be sent to the House of Correction ; that their books and writings he subject to seizure ; that those entertaining Quakers be subject to a fine of £5, or be whipped; that such persons coming into any town be committed to jail, and enjoined to depart out of the government, in default of which to be whipped ; that any person permitting a Quaker meeting in his house, be publicly whipped or pay £5; that no Quaker be admitted
*Cudworth's Letter to Brown, 1658.
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as a freeman; that freemen who became Quakers or encouragers of them, should lose their freedom; that their horses might be seized by any person who should deliver them over to the constable, and that the same should be liable to be forfeited to the use of the government ; that any one bringing in or becoming a guide to a Quaker, shall be fined £10. These inhuman statutes, enacted at different periods from 1657 to 1661, were modified or repealed, and others enacted in their place, as the circumstances seemed to the court to demand.
These prohibitions and penalties did not, however, deter the people from extending offices of Christian hospitality to all who sought them in their distress, and thus incurring the displeasure of the government. As early as 1657, two Friends, Christopher Holden and John Copeland, landed at Rhode Island, and going thence to Martha's Vineyard, where Mayhew, the Indian missionary, caused them to be conveyed to the mainland, they set their feet upon the Cape soil at Succannesset, Aug. 20, of that year, and proceeded at once to Sandwich. Events which had preceded their coming had prepared the way for the reception of the doctrines preached by them. There was a considerable number in this town who were unsettled in their church relations, who were doubtful of the propriety of stated preaching, and who believed it the duty of Christians, without human ordination, to exercise their own gifts in the ministry. In consequence of the prevailing unsettlement of opinion, the minister, Mr. Leverich, had left his flock and gone to Long Island. The preaching of Holden and Copeland was hailed with feelings of satisfaction by those who found but little food in stated preaching or forms of worship. Not less than eighteen families in Sandwich were on record the next year as professing Quakerism. The fires of persecution were at
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once kindled. Complaint was made, in 1657, against several persons for meeting on the Lord's days at the house of Wm. Allen of Sandwich, "and inveighing against ministers and magistrates, to the dishonor of God and the contempt of government." Jane Sanders and Sarah Kirby of the same town, "for disturbance of publie worship, and for abusing the minister," were sentenced to be publicly whipped. It was further ordered that Nicholas Upsal, alleged instigator of all this disturbance, "be carried out of this government by Tristram Hull, who brought him." This was a case of great hardship. Upsal was an old man, a member in good standing of the Boston church. An eye-witness to the cruelties practised upon the Quakers who first came over, he entered his protest against these transactions. He was arrested, fined £20, and banished from the colony, on the charge of having "reproached the magistrates and spoken against the law." Thus banished, he went to Plymouth, but there the people were forbidden to entertain him. A Cape man, who was transiently there, had compassion on his sufferings, and took him under his protection, as far, at least, as Sandwich, The hospitality of the people was not denied him, and hence his entertainers and benefactors were followed by the penalties of the law. Wherever he went his persecutors followed him. In the language of the poet Whittier, applied to another, he could say :
"My life is hunted; evil men Are following on my track; The traces of the torturer's whip Are on my aged back."
Other persons in Sandwich were arraigned for entertaining Quakers, and for language implying censure of the govern- ment, and admonished and fined, according to the degree of their.offence. In the following March, Peter Gaunt, Daniel Wing, Ralph Allen, Jr. and William Allen, of Sandwich,
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were arraigned for "tumultuous carriage at a meeting of Quakers," were convicted, admonished and fined. A considerable number of citizens of that town were summoned before the court to give a reason for not taking the oath of fidelity to the government, and answered that they held it unlawful to take an oath; and they were also fined. So general was the dissatisfaction with the government in Sandwich that the constable, William Bassett, reported that he was opposed in the execution of his office, and was unable to collect the rates or the fines levied on the Quakers, Cudworth stating that almost all of that town adhered to the new sect. At a subsequent court, the marshal was ordered to levy a fine of 40s. upon William Allen for permitting a Quaker meeting in his house, and Lieutenant Fuller of Barnstable, for speaking reproachfully of the court, and for saying the law enacted about ministers' maintenance was "a wicked and devilish law, and that the devil sat at the stern when the law was enacted," was fined 40s. Extraordinary excitement everywhere prevailed ; and it is not strange that a class thus proscribed and persecuted should say many extravagant things, and perform some acts which do not meet the requirements of the canons of good taste. It would hardly be surprising if persons in their situation were guilty of greater offences than a mere breach of the laws of politeness.
In this posture of affairs, the court resorted to the expedient of creating an officer for the especial purpose of enforcing the laws against heresy, with jurisdiction extend- ing over the towns of Sandwich, Barnstable, and Yarmouth, in which the local authorities, to their everlasting honor, refused to act. For this office they appointed George Barlow, a man who, by his character and conduct in office, brought disgrace upon the law, if that were possible, and
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certainly upon the government whose creature he was. Barlow set about his work with a zeal which commended his fitness for the business upon which he was engaged. June 23, he arrested Holden and Copeland, the two Quaker preachers, while on their way to the meeting in Sandwich. They had been sentenced to banishment from the colony on the second of February preceding, and had been whipped at Plymouth, subsequently, for not complying with the order of the court. Barlow carried them before the selectmen of Sandwich, who had been appointed in the absence of a magistrate to witness the execution of the law. They, "entertaining no desire to sanction measures so severe towards those who differed from them in religion, declined to act in the case." Barlow kept the prisoners in his house six days, and then carried them to Barnstable, before Thomas Hinckley, one of the magistrates, and assistant of Governor Prence. After an examination, they were tied to an old post and thirty-two cruel stripes were laid upon their naked backs. There were many spectators present, one of whom, in the anguish of her spirit, exclaimed, "How long, Lord, shall it be, ere thou avenge the blood of thine elect?" And afterwards, bewailing herself, added, "Did I forsake father and mother, and all my relations, to come to New England for this? Did I ever come to New England for this? Who could have thought it?" It was indeed a day of humiliation for Barnstable.
Other repressive measures were resorted to. Sundry citizens of Sandwich, the greater part of whom, if not the whole, were Quakers, having petitioned the court for a redress of their grievances, the governor and his associates, at a court held at the house of Mr. Richard Bourne, assumed that they had not been legally admitted as inhabitants, and, therefore, refused them all redress, notwithstanding that
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they had lived there and occupied their estates from the earliest time, and were actually townsmen, though perhaps not technically freemen. They were, therefore, forbidden, at a session of the court held in October, to act in any town-meeting, or to claim any privileges as townsmen. By this decision nearly one-half of the Sandwich Quakers were disfranchised. At the same court, eleven Sandwich men were fined £5 each, for refusing to take the oath of fidelity. The proceedings at this conrt were turbulent and disorderly in the extreme. The Quakers, it must be admitted, were irritating in their demeanor and disrespectful to the magistrates, nsing language which no court at this day would submit to or allow to be used, withont commit- ting the offenders for contempt. Governor Prence and Mr. Winslow also appear to poor advantage in the accounts which have been preserved of their demeanor on this occasion. Bishop states that the latter "showed much vehemence and fierceness of spirit" against the Quakers, " sometimes starting up and smiting the table with a stick, then with his hand, then stamping with his foot, saying he " could not bear it;" "Let them have the strapado." But the court did not proceed to the extreme of inflicting corporal punishment; the fines and disabilities which followed were, however, severe, and bore with great hardship upon their victims. During this trial, Mr. Hinckley and Capt. Willet, who were associate magistrates, seem not to have indulged in controversy with the accused, and thus escaped the denunciation of these sharp-tongued controver- sialists.
In December following, Barlow was ordered by the court to proceed to Manomet to apprehend all Quakers who came into the country by sea at that place, and to seize their boats and tackle, and bring the Quakers before a magistrate. At
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the same time a summons was sent for James Skiff, one of the most substantial citizens of Sandwich, "to answer to such things as shall be objected against him, in regard to traducing the law about refusing to take the oath of fidelity." Mr. Skiff was subsequently rejected as a deputy from Sandwich for his utterances against the proceedings in relation to these transactions.
Barlow's inclinations and activity seem to have led him in the direction of East Sandwich, where the thrifty and industrious husbandmen resided, and where he could levy upon the produce of their fields and herds. This he did without any compunction or any apparent feeling of compassion for the sufferers. William Allen's fines amounted to £86, 17s., £40 for twenty meetings at his house, £4 for attending meetings in other places, £5 for entertaining Quakers, £25 for refusing to take the oath of fidelity, £1 for refusing to take off his hat in court, and the balance for expenses. In payment for these fines 18 head of cattle were taken from him, 1 mare, 2 colts, besides other goods. These distraints were made by Barlow at different times. Allen was nearly ruined by these spoliations, and having ventured into the jurisdiction of Massachusetts was also arrested and thrown into jail. His house, lands, a cow "left out of pity for his family," and a little corn were all that remained. Barlow appeared on the scene to make additional distraints. He was drunk and brutal. He seized the corn, the cow, and a bag of meal, which a kind friend had just brought from the mill. This was insufficient for his greed. He seized the copper kettle, the only one remaining, and then mockingly addressing Mrs. Allen, said, "Now Priscilla, how will thee cook for thyself and thy family ? thou hast no kettle." She meekly replied, "George, that God who hears the young ravens when they cry will
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