USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 14
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1 The duplicate of their first letter was sent by the Talbot. See page 166.
that is preserved in the first book of the Suffolk Registry of Deeds, and from which we have printed the let-
2 It is this second copy, probably, ter. See page 166.
173
JOHN ENDICOTT APPOINTED GOVERNOR.
ple to the natives there.1 To which purpose we CHAP. desire you, the Governor, to advise with the Coun- VI. ~ cil in penning of an effectual edict, upon penalty to 1629. be inflicted upon such as shall transgress the same ; May 28. which being done, our desire is, the same may be published, to the end that all men may take notice thereof, as also that you send a copy thereof unto us by the next return of the ships.
We have, sithence our last, and according as we then advised, at a full and ample Court2 assembled, elected and established you, Captain John Endicott, to the place of present Governor in our Plantation there, as also some others to be of the Council with you, as more particularly you will perceive by an Act of Court3 herewith sent, confirmed by us at a General Court,4 and sealed with our common seal ; to which Act we refer you, desiring you all punctu- ally to observe the same, and that the Oaths5 we herewith send you, (which have been here penned by learned counsel, to be administered to each of you in your several places,) may be administered in such manner and form as in and by our said Order is particularly expressed ; and that yourselves do frame such other Oaths, as in your wisdoms you shall think fit to be administered to your Secretary or other officers, according to their several places respec- tively.
1 See page 159.
2 This Court was held April 30, 1629. See page 66.
3 This Act of Court, establishing the government in New-England, is preserved, and is printed at the end of this letter. See also pp. 68, 78.
4 The four quarterly meetings, or general assemblies of the Company,
authorized by the Charter, were called Great and General Courts. Hence the origin of the title by which the Legislature of Massachu- setts is still designated.
5 These oaths are preserved, and are printed in a subsequent part of this volume. See also page 69.
174
ALLOTMENT OF LAND TO THE ADVENTURERS.
CHAP. VI.
1629. May
28.
We have further taken into our consideration the fitness and conveniency, or rather a necessity, of making a dividend of land, and allotting a proportion to each adventurer, and otherwise ; and to this pur- pose have made and confirmed an Act,1 and sealed the same with our common seal, to the particulars whereof we refer you, desiring you with all conve- nient expedition to put the same in execution ; and for your better direction in the allotment, we have herewith sent you (as by our last we promised) a list of all the several adventurers, and of the sum by each of them adventured,2 desiring that upon the dividend each adventurer may have his allotment of land ; as also such others as are no adventurers, coming in person at their own charge,3 and the ser- vants of adventurers sent over to reside upon the Plantation, may have such a proportion of land allot- ted unto and for them as by our said Order is ap- pointed. And whereas divers of the Company are desirous to have the lands lie together,4 we holding it fit herein to give them all accommodation, as tend-
This Act will also be found at 1 the end of this letter. See also pp. 74-78.
2 The following is a list of the names of the adventurers in May, 1628. The first two subscribed £100 each, and the rest £50 each : -Sir Richard Saltonstall, Knt., Isaac Johnson, Esq., Mr. Samuel Aldersey, John Venn, Hugh Peter, John Humfrey, Thomas Stevens, George Harwood, John Glover, Matthew Cradock, Simon Whet- combe, Francis Webb, Increase Nowell, Mr. A. C., Richard Tuff- neale, Richard Perry, Joseph Of- field, John White, Joseph Caron, Thomas Adams, Richard Davis, Abraham Palmer, William Darby,
John Endicott, Daniel Hodsen, Ed- ward Ford, Daniel Ballard, Thomas Hewson, Andrew Arnold, Richard Bushord, Richard Young, George Way, Richard Bellingham, Job Bradshaw, Joseph Bradshaw, Henry Durley, Thomas Hutchins, Charles Whichcoyt, George Foxcroft, Wil- liam Crowther, Nathaniel Mans- trey. Several of these names have not occurred in the Company's Re- cords, and of these two we know came over, Richard Bellingham and Abraham Palmer. See Felt's Sa- lem, i. 509.
3 The Brownes were of this class. See pages 61 and 168.
4 See page 69.
175
THE NAMES AND CONTRACTS OF THE COLONISTS.
ing to the furtherance of the Plantation, do pray you CHAP. to give way thereunto for such as shall desire the
VI. same, whether it be before a dividend be made ac- 1629. cording to our direction, or at the time of the allot- May 28. ment to observe the same course.
You shall also receive herewith the copies of all the several agreements made with the servants and others sent over in the three last ships for account of the Company, together with their several names, for your better direction in employing them in their several places according to those agreements ; as also the names of the servants of such particular members of the Company as went over in the said ships ; desiring you that a due register be taken and kept, from time to time, of all the persons formerly sent over, or that shall hereafter come to the Planta- tion, both of the names, and quality, and age of each particular person, and for or by whom they are sent over.1
We send you also herewith a particular of all the goods and cattle sent in those forenamed ships, as also of what goods, cattle, or other provisions we now send upon2 these three ships, viz. the May- flower,3 of Yarmouth, William Peirse master, the Four Sisters, of London, Roger Harman master, the Pilgrim, of London, William -Wollridge master ; amongst which we have remembered you, the Gov- ernor there, with certain necessaries promised by our last ; 4 and if in aught we have been now wanting,
1 The agreements, lists of names and registers, mentioned in this pa- ragraph, are not preserved.
Upon used for in, as on p. 176.
vessel that brought the Pilgrim Fa- thers to Plymouth in 1620. See Chronicles of Plymouth, pp. 99, 108, and Savage's Winthrop, i. 1.
3 The Mayflower is the renowned 4 See page 156.
176
THE INDIANS' LANDS TO BE PURCHASED.
CHAP. we shall, upon notice from you, see the same sup- VI.
plied by our next.1
- 1629. Whereas in our last we advised you to make com- May 28. position with such of the salvages as did pretend any title or lay claim to any of the land within the terri- tories granted to us by his Majesty's charter, we pray you now be careful to discover and find out all such pretenders, and by advice of the Council there to make such reasonable composition with them as may free us and yourselves from any scruple of intrusion ;2 and to this purpose, if it might be con- veniently done, to compound and conclude with them all, or as many as you can, at one time, not doubting but by your discreet ordering of this business, the natives will be willing to treat and compound with you upon very easy conditions.
We pray you, as soon as these ships are discharg- ed, to cause a particular to be taken and sent us at their return for England, of the names of all such persons as come upon them to remain in the country ; a's also a note of the cattle and all manner of goods, of what kind soever, landed out of them, with the several marks, and names of the owners thereof. The like whereof we desire to receive from you of the former three ships, viz. the George, Talbot, and Lion's Whelp ; to the end we may compare the same with the invoices here, and receive freight, if any be omitted.
The charge we are at in sending over servants for the Company is very great, the recompense whereof
1 We have no other General Let- ter from the Company ; and proba- bly. none was written. The transfer of the Charter and Government to
the Colony the next spring rendered further instructions unnecessary.
2 See page 159.
177
FAMILY REGISTERS TO BE KEPT.
(under God) depends upon their labor and endeav- CHAP. ours ; and therefore our desire is that you appoint a
VI. careful and diligent overseer to each family, who is 1629. to see each person employed in the business he or May 28. they are appointed for. And to the end both your- selves there and we here may from time to time have notice how they employ their time, we have sent you divers paper books, which we pray you to distribute to the said overseers, who are to keep a perfect re- gister of the daily work done by each person in each family ; a copy whereof we pray you send unto us once every half year, or as often as conveniently you may. But if you conceive that the said register may be too much to write particularly every day, we de- sire that a summary may be taken thereof, at the least every week, registered in the book kept for that family, and at each week's end the same to be examined and subscribed by two, three, or four such discreet persons as you shall think fit to appoint for that purpose.
And for the better governing and ordering of our people, especially such as shall be negligent and remiss in performance of their duties, or otherwise exorbitant, our desire is that a house of correction 1 be erected and set up, both for the punishment of such offenders, and to deter others by their example from such irregular courses.
Richard Claydon,2 a wheelwright, recommended unto us by Dr. Wells to be both a good and painful workman, and of an orderly life and conversation,
1 Thus early was this useful and necessary institution contemplated, if not established, in the Colony.
2 In his contract, on page 61, he is called a carpenter, and is to in- struct in the trade of a ploughwright.
12
178
RICHARD INGERSOLL, OF BEDFORDSHIRE.
CHAP. our desire is, that upon all occasions he may have VI. your furtherance and good accommodation, as you 1629. shall find him by his endeavours to deserve; to May 28. whom, as to all others of fitness and judgment, let some of our servants be committed, to be instructed by him or them in their several arts, &c.
There is also one Richard Haward and Richard Inkersall,1 both Bedfordshire men, hired for the Company with their families, who we pray you may be well accommodated, not doubting but they will well and orderly demean themselves.
Our Governor, Mr. Cradock, hath entertained two gardeners, one of which he is content the Com- pany shall have use of, if need be ; and we de- sire that Barnaby Claydon,2 a wheelwright, may serve Mr. Sharpe for our said Governor here, or
1 Richard Ingersoll remained at Salem, where he received from the town, April 6, 1635, two acres for a house lot, in 1636 eighty acres more, and Dec. 23, 1639, twenty acres of meadow in the great meadow. - " The 16th of 11th mo. 1636, it is agreed that Richard Inkersell shall henceforward have one penny a time for every person he doth ferry over the north ferry, during the town's pleasure." He died in 1644, leav- ing a widow, Ann, and three sons, George, John, and Nathaniel, and four daughters. It appears from his will, which was witnessed and pro- bably written by Gov. Endicott, and from the inventory of his estate at- tached to it, that, at the time of his death, he was a substantial farmer, owning two houses, 203 acres of land, and a large number of cattle. His son Nathaniel was chosen dea- con of the church at Salem Village, (Danvers,) Nov. 24, 1689, and at the same time was lieutenant, and inn-holder, and took an active part
in the witchcraft delusion in 1692. His great grandson, Nathaniel, mar- ried Bethiah Gardner in 1737, and had nine children, one of whom, Mary, married Habakkuk Bowditch, and was the mother of the late Dr. Bowditch, the eminent mathemati- cian, the author of the Practical Navigator, and the world-renowned commentator on La Place. . What a contrast between the sphere and the influence of the two extreme links in this long genealogical chain -between the humble ferryman who transported the first settlers of Naumkeak over North River, and the great pilot who by means of his invaluable book steers the ships of a nation round the globe ! - Numer- ous descendants of Richard Ingersoll are living in Salem, and also in Gloucester, and all the children of Dr. Bowditch bear the honorable surname of the ancient ferryman. Records of the Bowditch family, MS.
2 Brother of Richard. See p. 61.
179
THE PLANTERS FROM DORSET AND SOMERSET.
some other person in lieu of him that may give him CHAP. VI.
content.
Some things we are desired by Mr. Whyte,1 the minister, to recommend unto your care, viz. that you would show all lawful favor and respect unto the planters that came over in the Lion's Whelp out of the counties of Dorset and Somerset ; that you would appoint unto William Dodge,2 a skilful and painful husbandman, the charge of a team of horses ; to appoint Hugh Tilly and William Edes for servants to Sir Richard Saltonstall ; to give approbation and furtherance to Francis Webb3 in setting up his saw- mill ; and to take notice that all other persons sent over by Mr. Whyte are servants to the Company, whatsoever he hath written to the contrary, this be- ing now his own desire.
The charge of these three ships now sent, though every man that hath any private adventure in them is to pay for his particular, yet the hazard of profit and loss by the freighting of them all, and men's wages and victual, with victual for the pas- sengers, is to be borne one half by the Company's general stock, and one half by the Governor and his partners their private stock ; so is also the fishing to be returned by them, as the salt sent in them is.
1 See notes on pages 16 and 26.
2 William Dodge lived at Salem, on Bass river, or Cape Ann side ; and when that part of the territory was incorporated as Beverly, he was chosen, Nov. 23, 1668, one of the first selectmen of the new town, and was one of the founders of the church there in 1667. It was probably his son, William Dodge, jr., who was out in King Philip's War, and Jan. 21, 1676, saved the life of his friend
and killed two Indians. See Hub- bard's Indian Wars, p. 59; Stone's Hist. of Beverly, p. 15; and Farm- er's Gen. Register.
3 Francis Webb was one of the adventurers, and a member of the Company. He subscribed £50 to the joint stock in May, 1628, and his name occurs at six of the courts in the preceding Records. Felt, i. 171, errs in putting his name among the colonists. See pp. 69 and 174.
1629. May 28.
180
TOOLS AND MATERIALS FOR SHIP-BUILDING.
CHAP. VI. Wherefore we pray you, when your ships are dis- chaged, if any surplus shall be in victuals that they 1629. can spare, as also of other provisions, that was pro- May 28. vided for the passengers' accommodation, let the same be equally divided, one half to the Governor there for the Company, the other half to Mr. Samuel Sharpe for the use of Mr. Cradock, our Governor, and his partners. All provisions for the fishing at sea is here equally borne in halves. So are all the provisions for shipping of all the cattle in these three ships ; and accordingly we desire the deals and cask may be divided there.
The provisions for building of ships, as pitch, tar, rosin, oakum, old ropes for oakum, cordage and sail- cloth, in all these ships, with nine firkins and five half-barrels of nails in the Four Sisters, are two- thirds for the Company in general, and one-third for the Governor, Mr. Cradock, and his partners ; as is also the charge of one George Farr,1 now sent over to the six shipwrights, formerly sent. Our desire is, a storehouse may be made, apt for the provisions of the shipwrights and their tools, whereof Robert Moulton2 to have the chief charge, and an inventory to be sent us of all the tools, the new by themselves and old by themselves, that are sent over for the use of the said shipwrights, or any of them, in these and the former ships ; in like manner of all provisions any way concerning shipping ; to the end we may here examine and find that the Company may be duly charged with their two-thirds parts of the
1. George Farr was a farmer at Lynn in 1630, was admitted a free- man May 6, 1635, and died in 1661, leaving eight children, and a widow,
Elizabeth, who was buried March 11, 1687. See Lewis's History of Lynn, p. 27.
2 See pages 94 and 161.
181
FISHING-VESSELS TO BE BUILT ON SHARES.
charge, and no more, and the Governor likewise and CHAP. VI. his partners with one-third part, and no more ; and -
1629. May 28.
our desire is, that these men be kept at work together, adding to their help such of the Company's servants as you shall find needful, and proportionably one half as many of Mr. Cradock's, which course we hold most equal ; and that accordingly as any ves- sels be built, first that both parties may be accom- modated for the present occasion ; but so soon as three shallops shall be finished, two of them to be set out for the Company, by lot, or as you shall agree there to make an equal division, and one for our Governor and his partners ; with whose agent, Mr. Sharpe, if you shall think fit to agree upon equal terms, either in thirds or halves, to fish together, when you shall have vessels fitting, or for setting any other design forward that may conduce to the good of all parties, the charge to be borne indifferently by each party proportionably, we leave to your care and good discretions, desiring and heartily praying that love and unity may be continued without any heart-burning. And as our Governor1 hath engaged himself beyond all expectation in this business, not only in his particular, but by great sums disbursed for the general, to supply the wants thereof, so our desire is, that you endeavour to give all furtherance and friendly accommodation to his agents and ser- vants there, not doubting but you shall find them likewise ready to accommodate the Company in what they may, the Company standing in need of their help.
1 Matthew Cradock. See note 2 on page 137.
182
THE CATTLE SENT OVER FOR THE COLONY.
CHAP. VI.
1629. May 28.
The cattle1 now and formerly sent have been all provided by the Governor, excepting three mares that came out of Leicestershire ; but as well those, as all the rest, are agreed upon to be shipped, the one half at the charge and upon the adventure of the general Company, the other half for the Governor and his partners. And because all occasions shall be avoided of just exceptions in their division, it is agreed the division shall be made after the arrival there; that so whatsoever it shall please God to send thither in safety, a division may be then made there- of by lot, or in such equal manner as you, the Gov- ernor there, and Mr. Sharpe, shall hold to be in- different. And in case Mr. Samuel Sharpe should be sick or absent, the Governor's desire is, that Henry Haughton2 supply his place herein, and in other his occasions there.
And as in our former,3 so now again we especially desire you to take care that no tobacco be planted by any of the new planters under your government, unless it be some small quantity for mere necessity, and for physic, for preservation of their healths ; and that the same be taken privately by ancient men, and none other ; and to make a general restraint thereof, as much as in you is, by persuading the old planters to employ themselves in other business, ac- cording to our example, and not to permit that any tobacco be laden there upon our ships.4
1 The George had on board, when she sailed, thirty cows, twelve mares and some goats; and thirty cows and ten mares were expected by the ships that were now sent.
Henry Houghton was the first ruling elder of the church in Salem,
and died in the winter of 1629-30, leaving one child. See Prince's Annals, pp. 263, 271 ; Hutchinson's Coll. p. 51.
3 See page 146.
4 See pages 136 and 146. To- bacco derives its name not from the
183
TOBACCO NOT TO BE PLANTED.
Since the above written, we have, upon further CHAP. consideration, resolved that the charge of the six VI. fishermen sent over in the Lion's Whelp, and three1 1629. more now sent by our Governor, should be borne, May 28. two-thirds by the general Company and one-third by Mr. Cradock and partners ; the like for salt and other necessaries for fishing. In consideration where- of, and for that they will have a like interest in the shallops, our desire is, that the benefit of their labor,
island of Tobago, nor from Tabaco, a province of Yucatan, but from the forked tube through which the na- tives of Hayti inhaled its fumes into their nostrils. It was sent from America into Spain and Portugal by Hernandez de Toledo in the year 1559. Jean Nicot, ambassador from France to the court of Lisbon, in 1660, transmitted the seeds of the plant to his sovereign, Catharine de Medici ; and hence it derived the popular title of the Queen's Herb, and the Ambassador's Herb, and its botanical name of Nicotiana. On its first introduction into Europe, nu- merous and extraordinary medicinal virtues were ascribed to it, as may be seen in Monardes and Frampton. It appears to have been brought into England by Ralph Lane and his companions on their return from Virginia in 1586, and to have be- come fashionable there among the young gallants, and even the ladies of the court, by the example of its use set by Sir Walter Raleigh. King James, however, on his acces- sion to the throne, blew his " Coun- terblast to Tobacco," and in 1604 issued a commission to restrain the consumption of it, by laying a duty on it of 8s. 8d. a pound, and prohib- iting its use by " persons of mean and base condition," and confining it to "the better sort." In 1620 he issued another Proclamation, in which, after declaring his " dislike of the use of tobacco, being a weed of no necessary use," he forbade
the planting of it in England, and the importation of it, except by per- sons licensed for the purpose, and then only from Virginia and the Sommer Islands, -a Proclamation which was renewed by Charles I. in 1625, and followed by another in 1634, in which he assumed the sole preemption of it, and appointed a commission to manage the monop- oly. The planting of tobacco in England is still prohibited by law, and the import duty is about 1200 per cent. - In 1638, it was ordered by the General Court of Massachu- setts, that " no man shall take any tobacco within ten poles of any house, or near any barn, corn, or hay-cock, as may occasion the firing thereof, nor shall take any tobacco in any inn, except in a private room there, so as neither the master of the said house, nor any other guest there, shall take offence thereat." See Oviedo, Sommario della Natu- rale et Generale Historia dell' In-
die Occidentali, lib. v. cap. 2, in Ramusio, iii. 113; Frampton, Ioy- full Newes out of the New-found Worlde, fol. 34-45 ; Bigelow's Me- dical Botany, ii. 171-199 ; Raleigh's Works, i. 73-77, (Oxford, 1829) ; Rymer's Fædera, xvi. 601, xvii. 190, 233, 621, 633, 668, xviii. 19 ; Mass. Colony Laws, p. 146, (ed. 1672.) p. 194, (ed. 1814.)
1 Two of these were subsequently dismissed by the Governor, and did not come over ; as will be seen here- after.
184
IMPLEMENTS FOR FISHING SENT OVER.
CHAP. both in fishing and otherwise, (the trade of beaver VI. excepted, in which, if you use any of these fishermen 1629. May as seamen, you must recompense their labors by 28. other men to supply their place,) be equally divided, two-thirds for the use of the general Company, and one-third for our Governor, Mr. Cradock, and part- ners, proportionably. And for such others as are to be assisting to these men in their fishing, you are to appoint two-thirds of them to be of the general Com- pany's servants, and one-third of the servants of Mr. Cradock and his partners accordingly.
The charge of the freight of these three ships, their men, victuals, &c., will stand us in about £2400; and their freight outward will nothing near countervail that charge. Wherefore we pray you to ease it what you may by sending us returns in fish or other lading ; and we desire you to give them all expedition, for otherwise their monthly pay, being about £400 per month for these three ships, will soon swallow up the gains we shall make of anything they may bring home from thence.
We have now sent by these three ships twenty- nine weight of salt, viz. eleven weight in the May- flower, fifteen in the Four Sisters, and three weight in the Pilgrim, together with lines, hooks, knives, boots, and barrels, necessary for fishing ; desiring our men may be employed either in harbour or upon the Bank1 to make use thereof for lading our ships ; wherein we desire you to confer and advise with Mr. Peirce, who hath formerly fished there. And if you
1 Of Newfoundland, which, very early after the discovery of the coast of North America, became a favor-
ite place of resort for the fishermen of Europe.
185
SHIP-BUILDING IN THE COLONY.
send the ships to fish at the Bank, and expect them CHAP. not to return again to the Plantation, that then you VI. - send our bark,1 that is already built in the country, 1629. May 28. to bring back our fishermen, and such provisions as they had for fishing, viz. of salt, if any remainder be, as also of hooks, lines, knives, boots, and barrels, which to them will be of no use, their fishing being ended, but may be of use to you upon all occasions.
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