USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 10
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ates for the place which they after- wards called New-Haven. On the 25th of October, 1639, he was cho- sen governor of the infant Colony, to which office he was annually re- elected till his death, Jan. 7, 1658, a period of more than eighteen years. See Hubbard's Hist. N. E. 317, 329 ; Mather's Magnalia, i. 136; Win- throp's Hist. i. 228, 237, 259, 405 ; Trumbull's Connecticut, i. 95-100, 231; Kingsley's Cent. Discourse at New-Haven, pp. 11, 75; and Ba- con's Hist. Discourses, pp. 109, 354.
2 Roger Ludlow was the brother- in-law of Endicott, and came over with the west-country people, Ros- siter, Warham, Maverick, Roger Clap, &c., in the Mary & John, which sailed from Plymouth March 20, and arrived at Nantasket May 30, thirteen days before Winthrop's ar- rival at Salem. He was one of the first settlers of Dorchester, and was re-elected Assistant until 1634, when he was chosen Deputy Governor.
III. 1630. Feb. 10.
124
THE LAST COURT IN LONDON.
CHAP. an Assistant in the room of Mr. Samuel Sharpe, who III. by reason of his absence had not taken the oath. - 1630. And lastly, upon the petition of Humphry Seale, Feb. 19. the beadle of this Company, the Court were content and agreed to give him twenty nobles for his year's salary ending at Christmas last ; which is to be paid by Mr. Aldersey, the Treasurer, out of the joint stock.1
In the Colony Records, under date Nov. 7, 1632, it is stated, "There is one hundred acres of land granted to Mr. Roger Ludlowe, to enjoy to him and his heirs forever, lying be- twixt Musquantum Chapel and the mouth of Naponsett." He removed with the first emigrants to Windsor, in Connecticut, of which town he may be considered the founder ; in 1636 was chosen an Assistant of that Colony, and in 1639 Deputy Governor, to which office he was several times re-elected. In 1637 he was out in the Pequot war, with Stoughton and Mason, in pursuit of Sassacus. In 1639 he removed to Fairfield, and in 1654 went to Vir- ginia, where it is supposed he died. Trumbull says, "He appears to have been distinguished for his abil- ities, especially his knowledge of the law, and the rights of mankind. He rendered most essential services to this Commonwealth ; was a princi- pal in forming its original civil con-
stitution, and the compiler of the first Connecticut Code, adopted in 1649, and printed at Cambridge in 1672. For jurisprudence, he ap- pears to have been second to none who came into New-England at that time. Had he possessed a happier temper, he would probably have been the idol of the people, and shared in all the honors which they could have given him." See Mass. Col. Rec. i. 95, MS. ; Trumbull's Connecticut, i. 64, 103, 109, 177, 218; Hubbard's N. E., p. 165; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 35, 43, 98; Winthrop's N. E., i. 28, 132, 233, 235.
1 Here Secretary Burgess's re- cord ends. He stayed behind, and never came over. The remainder of the Records is in the handwriting of Simon Bradstreet, who was the first Secretary after their arrival in New-England. See Ed. Johnson, in Mass. Hist. Coll. ii. 87, and Col. Rec. MS. i. 55.
125
WINTHROP'S COMPANY AT SOUTHAMPTON.
At a Meeting of Assistants at Southampton,1 March CHAP. III. 18th, 1629. Present,
MR. GOVERNOR,
MR. HUMFREY,
1630.
SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALL,
MR. NOWELL,
March 18.
MR. JOHNSON,
MR. PINCHION,
MR. DUDLEY,
MR. GOFFE.
It was ordered, and concluded, by erection of hands, that Sir Brian Janson, Kt.,2 Mr. William Coddington, and Mr. Simon Bradstreet,3 gentlemen,
1 Southampton is situated at the head of an estuary running up from the Isle of Wight, called the South- ampton Water. It was from this same port that the Pilgrims sailed in the Mayflower and Speedwell, in July, 1620. See Chronicles of the Pilgrims, p. 89.
2 Governor Winthrop, writing to his son John " from aboard the Ar- bella, riding at the Cowes, March 22, 1630," says, " There is newly come into our Company, and sworn an Assistant, one Sir Brian Janson, of London, a man of good estate, and so affected with our society, as he hath given £50 to our common stock, and £50 to the joint stock." Winthrop's Hist. N. E., i. 367.
3 Simon Bradstreet was the young- est of the Assistants who came over with Winthrop, being at this time only 27 years of age. He was born in March, 1603, at Horbling, in Lin- colnshire, of which town his father was a Nonconformist minister, and was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, of which his father had been one of the first fellows, and there took the degree of A. B. in 1620 and of A. M. in 1624. He was for some time steward of the Earl of Lincoln, and afterwards served the Countess of Warwick in the same capacity. Before leaving
England, he married Ann, daughter of Thomas Dudley, another of the Assistants, she being at this time only 16 years of age, and after her death he married the sister of Sir George Downing. He served the Colony as Assistant, Secretary, Agent in England in 1662, Commis- sioner for the United Colonies, and Governor, in 1679, when in his 76th year. After the deposition of An- dros, in 1689, he was chosen Presi- dent of the Council of Safety, when in his 87th year, and then again Go- vernor, which office he held till the arrival of Sir William Phips with the new charter in 1692. He lived to be the Nestor of New-England, having been born at the beginning of the century in 1603, and wanting but three years of completing it. He died March 27, 1697, at Salem. The Latin inscription on his monu- ment is printed in Mass. Hist. Coll. vi. 288. "Oct. 3, 1632, there is sixty acres of meadow ground granted to Simon Bradstreet in the marsh ground against the Oyster Bank ;" and May 14, 1634, five hundred acres more are granted to him. See Col. Rec. i. 93, 118, MS. ; Mather's Magnalia, i. 126; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 18, 219, 323, 382, ii. 13, 105; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxviii. 247, 249.
1
126
WINTHROP'S FLEET AT COWES.
CHAP. shall be chosen in the rooms and places of Assistants III. of Mr. Nathaniel Wright, merchant, Mr. Theophilus 1630. Eaton, and Mr. Thomas Goffe, of London, merchants.
March 18. Sir Brian Janson was sworn an Assistant before the Governor and Mr. Dudley the same day.1
23.
March 23d, 1629.
Mr. William Coddington, Mr. Simon Bradstreet, and Mr. Thomas Sharpe, being formerly chosen As- sistants, did now take the oath of Assistants before the Governor, Mr. Dudley, and other Assistants.
1 Joshua Scottow, in his " Nar- rative of the Planting of the Massa- chusetts Colony, anno 1628," printed at Boston in 1694, says, page 13, "Some of their choice friends, as the Reverend Mr. Cotton and others, went along with them from Boston, in Lincolnshire, to Southampton, where they parted, and he preached his farewell sermon." This infor- mation he may have received from the venerable Simon Bradstreet, to whom he dedicates his book, and who was then living at the advanced age of 91. We know that Cotton did deliver a sermon, entitled " God's Promise to his Plantations," in 1630, and that it was printed the same year ; but whether it was preached at Boston to his parishion- ers who were then coming over, (among whom were Dudley and Coddington,) or at Southampton, may be a question. That it was at the latter place, as stated by Scot- tow, is rendered probable by a state- ment of Dr. Samuel Fuller, the physician of New-Plymouth, who, writing to Governor Bradford from Charlestown, June 28, 1630, soon after the arrival of Winthrop's fleet, says, " Here is a gentleman, one Mr. Coddington, a Boston man, who told me that Mr. Cotton's charge at
Hampton was, that they should take advice of them at Plymouth, and should do nothing to offend them." See pp. 16 and 48, and Mass. Hist. Coll. iii. 75.
Hubbard states, p. 125, we know not on what authority, that " Mr. John Winthrop, the Governor of the Company, at a solemn feast amongst many friends a little Lefore their last farewell, finding his bowels yearn within him, instead of drinking to them, by breaking into a flood of tears himself, set them all a weeping, with Paul's friends, while they thought of see- ing the faces of each other no more in the land of the living." Mather, in the Magnalia, i. 69, mentions the same circumstance, deriving it, doubt- less, from Hubbard's MS. See also Ed. Johnson's Hist. N. E., ch. 12.
" Here is a fleet of fourteen sail, furnished with men, women, child- ren, all necessaries, men of handi- crafts, and others of good condition, wealth and quality, to make a firm Plantation in New-England, between 42 and 48, north latitude ; but stay at Southampton and thereabouts till May, to take 260 kine, with other live cattle, &c." Howes, Continu- ation of Stow's Annals, quoted in Prince, p. 270.
127
THOMAS DUDLEY CHOSEN DEPUTY.
At a Court of Assistants aboard the Arbella,1 March CHAP. 23, 1629. Present, III.
MR. JOHN WINTHROP, Governor,
MR. WILLIAM CODDINGTON,
1630.
SIR RICHARD SALTONSTALL,
MR. THOMAS SHARPE,
March 23.
MR. ISAAC JOHNSON,
MR. WILLIAM VASSALL,
MR. THOMAS DUDLEY,
MR. SIMON BRADSTREET.
Mr. John Humfrey, (in regard he was to stay behind in England,) was discharged of his Deputy- ship, and Mr. Thomas Dudley chosen Deputy in his place.2
1 The Arbella, formerly the Ea- gle, a ship of 350 or 400 tons, man- ned with 52 seamen and 28 pieces of cannon, was at this time riding at Cowes, a well-known anchoring- ground near the Isle of Wight, and in the vicinity of Portsmouth. Here she remained till Monday, the 29th, when she proceeded to Yarmouth. See note 1 on page 93, and Win- throp's Hist. i. 1, 367.
2 This is the last record of the Massachusetts Company in England. Winthrop, with a fleet of four ships, the Arbella, the Talbot, the Am- brose, and the Jewel, sailed from Cowes, March 29, and from Yar- mouth, in the Isle of Wight, April 8. Passing through the Needles, on the 9th they were off Portland, and on the 10th over against Plymouth, and in sight of the Lizard. On the 11th they passed Scilly, and took their departure. They made land on the American coast June 6, were within sight of Cape Ann on the 11th, cast anchor inside of Baker's island on the 12th, where they remained over Sunday, and on the 14th warped ship into the inner harbour of Salem. Winthrop kept a minute journal of the voyage, which is printed at the beginning of his History. The fleet that brought over Winthrop's com- pany consisted of fifteen ships, and the number of persons was not far from 1500. " What must we think,"
says Hutchinson, i. 19, " of persons of rank and good circumstances in life bidding a final adieu to all the conveniences and delights of Eng- land, their native country, and ex- posing themselves, their wives and children, to inevitable hardships and sufferings, in a long voyage across the Atlantic, to land upon a most inhospitable shore, destitute of any kind of building to secure them from the inclemency of the weather, and of most sorts of food to which they had been always used at their former home ? The sickness and mortality which prevailed the first winter, they did not foresee." A nobler body of men never left their native soil to colonize a new land. What does Bancroft mean (Hist. U. S. ii. 455,) by " the Puritan felons that freight- ed the fleet of Winthrop "? Let him who would understand the char- acter of these men, read the admi- rable Address delivered by Gov. Everett at Charlestown in 1830, on the Second Centennial Anniversary of the arrival of Gov. Winthrop. - It was in reference to the persecu- tion and exile of such men, that Milton, writing in 1641, said, " What numbers of faithful and freeborn Englishmen, and good Christians, have been constrained to forsake their dearest home, their friends and kindred, whom nothing but the wide ocean, and the savage
128
THE COMPANY'S RECORDS.
CHAP. deserts of America, could hide and III. shelter from the fury of the bishops. . O if we could but see the shape of 1630. our dear mother England, as poets are wont to give a personal form to what they please, how would she appear, think ye, but in a mourning weed, with ashes upon her head, and tears abundantly flowing from her eyes, to behold so many of her children exposed at once, and thrust from things of dearest necessity, because their conscience could not assent to things which the bishops thought indifferent ? Let the astrolo- ger be dismayed at the portentous blaze of comets and impressions in the air, as foretelling troubles and changes to States ; I shall believe there cannot be a more ill-boding sign to a nation, (God turn the omen from us !) than when the inhabitants, to avoid insufferable grievances at home, are enforced by heaps to for- sake their native country." Prose Works, i. 37, (Symmons's ed.)
These RECORDS of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New-England, before the bringing over of the Charter by Gov. Winthrop, now for the first time printed from the original manuscript in the archives of the Common-
wealth, are for the most part, in good order and preservation. This is especially true of by much the larger and more important portion of them, kept after the organization of the Government and the choice of Officers, May 13, 1629, when Wil- liam Burgess was chosen Secretary, whose handwriting is very distinct and legible. The preceding por- tion, kept by the first Secretary, John Washburn, who wrote an exe- crable hand, is considerably mutila- ted on the edges, particularly the lower edge, by the constant wear and tear of two hundred years and more. One leaf, too, at least, if not more, is missing, as stated on page 66. Still, torn and tattered though it be, it is a most interesting and invaluable relic ; and the Record, taken as a whole, constitutes an authentic history, such as no other Colony, ancient or modern, pos- sesses, of its origin and foundation. The copy of this Record in the Land Office is inaccurate and worthless. Great pains have been taken to se- cure entire correctness in the copy from which this is printed, by a mi- nute and patient collation of it with the original manuscript, at long in- tervals of time, and by different eyes and hands.
GOV. CRADOCK'S LETTER
TO
CAPTAIN ENDICOTT.
-
9
CHAPTER IV.
CRADOCK'S LETTER TO ENDICOTT.
WORTHY SIR AND MY LOVING FRIEND,
ALL due commendations premised to yourself CHAP. IV. and second self, with hearty well-wishes from myself and many others, well-willers and adventurers in Feb. this our Plantation, to yourself and the rest of your 16. good company, of whose safe arrival being now thoroughly informed by your letters, bearing date the 13th September last, which came to my hands the 13th this instant February, we do not a little rejoice ; and to hear that my good cousin, your wife, were perfectly recovered of her health, would be ac- ceptable news to us all; which God grant, in his good time, that we may.1
1629.
Meanwhile I am, in the behalf of our whole Com- pany, (which are much enlarged since your depart-
I She did not live long ; for we find by Gov. Winthrop's Journal, that Endicott was married again, August 18, 1630, to Elizabeth Gib- son. The unscrupulous Morton, in his New English Canaan, chap. 18, intimates that the first wife was kill- ed by the quackery of Dr. Fuller,
the physician of New Plymouth, who we know visited Salem on pro- fessional duty in the time of prevail- ing sickness there. "Dr. Noddy did a great cure for Capt. Littleworth. He cured him of a disease called a wife." See note on page 32, and Winthrop's N. E., i. 30.
132
MORE COLONISTS COMING OVER.
CHAP. ure out of England,)1 to give you hearty thanks for IV. your large advice contained in this your letter, which 1629. I have fully imparted unto them, and farther to cer-
Feb. 16. tify you that they intend not to be wanting by all good means to further the Plantation. To which purpose, (God willing,) you shall hear more at [large from] them, and that speedily ; there being one ship bought for the Company,2 of 1003 tons, and two others hired, of about 200 tons each of them, one of 19, the other of 204 pieces of ordnance; besides, not unlike but one other vessel shall come in company with these; in all which ships, for the general stock and for particular adventures, there is likely to be sent thither 'twixt 2 and 300 persons, (we hope to reside there,) and about 100 head of cattle. Wherefore, as I wrote you in a letter5 sent by Mr. Allerton,6 of New-Plymouth, in November last, so the desire of the [Company] is, that you would en- deavour to get convenient housing fit to lodge as many as you can against they do come ; and withal what beaver, or other commodities, or fish, (if you have the means to preserve it,) can be gotten ready to return in the foresaid ships ; likewise wood, if no better lading be to be had ; that you would endeav- our to get in readiness what you can, whereby our ships, whereof two are to return back directly hither,
1 Endicott left England about June 20, 1628. His instructions were dated London, May 30. See pp. 13, 30, 43; Prince's Annals, p. 249 ; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 9.
2 This was the Lion's Whelp, a vessel of 120 tons.
3 This is obliterated in the MS. I have restored it from Prince, An- nals, p. 253, who quoted the letter
before it was mutilated. Felt, Annals of Salem, i. 47, errs in saying 200. 4 Erased in the MS., but restored from Prince. Felt, ibid. errs in calling it 10.
5 served.
This letter has not been pre-
6 See an account of Isaac Aller- ton in the Chronicles of Plymouth, p. 195.
133
COMMODITIES TO BE SENT HOME.
may not come wholly empty. There hath not been CHAP. a better time for the sale of timber these two seven IV. years than at present, and therefore pity it is these 1629. Feb. 16. ships should come back empty, if it might be made ready that they need not stay for it; otherwise, men's wages and victuals, together with the ships', will quickly rise too high, if to be reladen with wood, and that the same be not ready to put aboard as soon as the ships are discharged of their outward lading. I wish also that there be some sassafras1 and sarsa- parilla sent us, as also good store of sumach, if there to be had, as we are informed there is. The like do I wish for a ton weight at least of silk grass, and of aught else that may be useful for dying, or in physic ; to have some of each sent, and advice given withal what store of each to be had there, if vent may be found here for it. Also I hope you will have some good sturgeon in a readiness to send us, and if it be well cured, 2 or 300 firkins thereof would help well towards our charge.
We are very confident of your best endeavours for the general good, and we doubt not but God will in mercy give a blessing upon our labors ; and we trust you will not be unmindful of the main end of our Plantation, by endeavouring to bring the Indians to the knowledge of the Gospel ; which that it may be the speedier and better effected, the earnest desire of our whole Company is, that you have a diligent and watchful eye over our own people, that they live unblamable and without reproof, and demean them- selves justly and courteous towards the Indians, thereby to draw them to affect our persons, and con-
1 See Chronicles of Plymouth, p. 130, note 3.
134
THE CONVERSION OF THE NATIVES.
CHAP. sequently our religion ; as also to endeavour to get IV. some of their children to train up to reading and con- 1629. sequently to religion, whilst they are young ; herein Feb. 16. to young or old to omit no good opportunity that may tend to bring them out of that woful state and condition they now are in ; in which case our prede- cessors in this our land sometimes were, and, but for the mercy and goodness of our good God, might have continued to this day. But God, who out of the boundless ocean of his mercy hath showed pity and compassion to our land, he is all-sufficient, and can bring this to pass which we now desire, in that coun- try likewise. Only let us not be wanting on our parts, now we are called to this work of the Lord's ; neither, having put our hands to the plough, let us look back, but go on cheerfully, and depend upon God for a blessing upon our labors ; who by weak instruments is able, (if he see it good,) to bring glo- rious things to pass. Be of good courage, go on, and do worthily, and the Lord prosper your en- deavour.
It is fully resolved, by God's assistance, to send over two ministers, at the least, with the1 ships now intended to be sent thither. But for Mr. Peters,?
1 " At the least, with the " is re- stored from Prince.
2 Hugh Peters, (or Peter, as he himself uniformly spelt his name,) was born at Fowey, in Cornwall, in 1599, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of A. M. in 1622. Upon leaving the University he came to London, and was appointed lecturer at St. Sepulchre's. Towards the close of 1629, when Laud, (" our great enemy," as Winthrop calls him, ii. 31,) began his persecution
of the Puritans, he went to Holland, and {became pastor of an Independ- ent Church at Rotterdam, having for a colleague the celebrated Dr. William Ames, whose wife and children, after his death in 1633, came to New-England, bringing with them his valuable library. Pe- ters was one of the earliest members of the Massachusetts Company. In May, 1628, he subscribed £50 to the joint stock of the Plantation, and he was one of the fourteen who signed the first instructions to Endi-
135
HUGH PETERS.
he is now in Holland, from whence his return hither CHAP. I hold to be uncertain. Those we send you, shall IV. be by the 1 approbation of Mr. White, of Dorchester, 1629. Feb. 16. and Mr. Davenport. For whatsoever else you have given advice, care shall be taken, (God willing,) to
cott, Sept. 13, 1628. It appears from pages 69 and 70, that he at- tended the courts of the Company held on the 11th and 13th of May, 1629, three months after the date of this letter. Of course he must have come over, for a season, from Hol- land. After remaining six years in that country he came to New- England Oct. 6, 1635. Gov. Win- throp, speaking of his arrival, says, " amongst others came Mr. Peter, pastor of the English church in Rot- terdam, who, being persecuted by the English ambassador -who would have brought his and other churches to the English discipline-and not having had his health these many years, intended to advise with the ministers here about his removal." Dec. 21, 1636, he took charge of the Church in Salem, being the fourth minister, Higginson and Skel- ton having died, and Roger Wil- liams having left in Nov. 1635. Winthrop calls him " a man of a very public spirit and singular activ- ity for all occasions," and says that " he went from place to place labor- ing, both publicly and privately, to raise up men to a public frame of spirit." In 1641, Aug. 3, he was sent with Thomas Weld, the minister of Roxbury, as agent of the Colony to attend to its interests in the mo- ther country, and " to congratulate the happy success there." Neither of them returned. During the civil wars Peters made himself active and conspicuous. In 1641 he was "chap- lain to the train," and secretary to Cromwell. In 1649 he was chap- lain to the Parliamentary forces sent against the rebels in Ireland, and one of the Triers of preachers, and in 1651 was one of the commissioners for amending the laws. At the Re-
storation he was apprehended as a regicide, although he had not been one of the King's judges, was tried, condemned, and executed Oct. 16, 1660. After his death, his wife, whom he had married in New-Eng- land, and who had been insane, re- turned to this Colony, and was sup- ported by a collection of £30 a year until 1671. Gov. John Winthrop, of Connecticut, married a daughter of Hugh Peters. - The common ac- counts we have of Peters, Vane, Cromwell, and their associates, are from the pens of bigoted royalists and churchmen, like Clarendon. A new and more favorable view of Cromwell has recently been given to the world by the ingenious editor of his Letters and Speeches. I have been favored with the perusal, in manuscript, of a very able vindica- tion of the character of Hugh Peters, from the pen of a recent successor of his in the First Church in Salem, the Rev. Charles W. Upham, of whose Life of Sir Henry Vane, in the fourth volume of Sparks's Amer- ican Biography, Mr. Grahame, the historian of the United States, re- marks, " New-England has now re- paid Vane's noble devotion by the best memoir of that great man, that has ever been given to the world." It is hoped that Mr. Upham's Life of Hugh Peters may soon be pub- lished. See Winthrop's Hist. i. 65, 169, 173, 176, ii. 24, 25, 31 ; Hutch- inson's Mass., i. 9, 98; Carlyle's Cromwell, i. 164, 186, 370; Mass. Hist. Coll., vi. 250-254, 285, xxviii. 248; Monthly Repository, (London,) xiv. 525-532, 602-607; Peters's Last Legacy to his Daugh- ter, (1661,) p. 99.
. 1 " Shall be by the " also restor- ed from Prince.
136
THE PLANTING OF TOBACCO.
CHAP. perform the needful, as near as we can, and the times IV. will permit ; whereof also you may expect more 1629. ample advertisement in their General Letter,1 when Feb. God shall send our ships thither.
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