USA > Massachusetts > Chronicles of the first planters of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, 1623-1636 > Part 27
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the Colony. See Col. Rec. i. 86 ; Savage's Winthrop, i. 56; Morton's New-English Canaan, book iii. ch. 25; Mass. Hist. Coll. xxix. 244.
1 See note 2 on page 321.
2 See Winthrop, i. 79, 96, 104; Hubbard, p. 160; Williamson's Maine, i. 252.
3 Abraham Shurte, or Shurd, or Short, came over to the shores of Maine as early as 1625, as the agent of Gyles Elbridge and Robert Ald- worth, in which year he purchased the island of Monhegan for them,
and afterwards resided at their plan- tation at Pemaquid. See Savage's Winthrop, i. 61, 79, ii. 177; Wil- liamson's History of Maine, i. 694 ; Hazard's State Papers, i. 315; Hutchinson's Coll. p. 114.
Anthony Dix arrived at Ply- mouth in the Anne, in the summer of 1623. In Dec. 1638, he was cast away, in a bark of thirty tons, upon the head of Cape Cod. See Chron- icles of Plymouth, p. 352, and Win- throp, i. 287.
363
CAPT. STONE KILLED BY THE PEQUOTS.
me with his own mouth. These men fled eastward, CHAP. and Bull himself got into England; but God destroy- XVIII. ed this wretched man. There was also one Capt. 1633. Stone,1 about the year 1633 or 1634, who carried himself very proudly, and spake contemptuously of our magistrates, and carried it lewdly in his conver- sation. For his misdemeanour, his ship was stayed ; but he fled, and would not obey authority ; and there came warrants to Dorchester to take him dead or alive. So all our soldiers were in arms, and senti- nels were set in divers places ; and at length he was found in a great cornfield, where we took him and carried him to Boston ; but for want of one witness, when he came to his trial, he escaped with his life. He was said to be a man of great relation, and had great favor in England ; and he gave out threatening speeches. Though he escaped with his life, not be- ing hanged for adultery, there being but one witness, yet for other crimes he was fined, and payed it ; and being dismissed, he went towards Virginia. But by the way putting into the Pequot country, to trade with them, the Pequots cut off both him and his men, took his goods, and burnt his ship. Some of the Indians reported that they roasted him alive. Thus did God destroy him that so proudly threaten- ed to ruin us, by complaining against us when he came to England. Thus God destroyed him, and delivered us at that time also.
About that time, or not long after, God permitted 1636. Satan to stir up the Pequot Indians to kill divers
1 The murder of this man, Capt. the Pequot War. See Winthrop, John Stone, in 1633, by the Indians, i. 104, 111, 122, 148. was one of the principal causes of
364
THE PEQUOT WAR.
1636.
CHAP. XVIII. Englishmen, as Mr. Oldham,1 Mr. Tilly,2 and others ; and when the murderers were demanded, instead of delivering them, they proceeded to destroy more of our English about Connecticut ; which put us upon sending out soldiers, once and again, whom God prospered in their enterprises until the Pequot peo- ple were destroyed.3 See Mr. Increase Mather's Relation of the Troubles which have happened in New- England by reason of the Indians, from 1634 to 1675. I say nothing to you of the late war,4 but refer you to the histories in print. Thus was the Lord pleased to deliver us at that time also, and to put a fear and dread of us into the hearts of the Indians round about us ; and many of them did voluntarily put themselves under the government of the English.
It also pleased God to put it into the hearts of 1646. some of our worthies, to consider that one end of our coming hither was to preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the Indians,5 for the saving of God's elect, and for the bringing into Christ's kingdom those that were as in highways and hedges. Some did therefore set themselves to learn the Indian lan- guage, and so taught them to know God and the Lord Jesus Christ, whom they never knew or heard of before, nor their fathers before them, and to know themselves, namely, their misery by nature and by reason of sin. Among others, the principal was that
1 John Oldham. See note 1 on page 169.
2 John Tilley. See Winthrop, i. 200.
3 See note 2 on page 306.
4 Philip's War, which broke out in June, 1675. See Hubbard's In-
dian Wars ; Increase Mather's Brief History ; Church's History of King Philip's War ; Mather's Magnalia, ii. 485-499 ; Callender's Hist. Disc. pp. 126-136 ; Grahame, i. 346-351. 5 See note 2 on page 258.
365
JOHN ELIOT, OF ROXBURY.
reverend man of God, Mr. John Eliot,1 teacher of the CHAP. church of Christ at Roxbury ; whose great labor and
XVIII. pains in catechising, preaching the word, and trans- 1646. lating the Bible into the Indian language, God has blessed, I doubt not, to the converting of many among them. " He that converteth souls shall shine as the sun in the firmament." O how glorious will the shining of that star be in heaven ! I rejoice to think of it.
Furthermore, know ye, that God wrought wonder- fully for our preservation, when men abroad (and doubtless some at home) endeavoured to overthrow our government, and prevailed so far that Commis- sioners were sent from England hither with such 1665.
1 John Eliot was born in 1604, about November, as Prince sup- poses. His birth-place is unknown. Cotton Mather says, "it was a town in England, the name whereof I can- not presently recover." He was educated at Jesus College, Cam- bridge, where he took the degree of A. B. in 1622. After leaving the University, he was for some time an assistant in a school kept by the Rev. Thomas Hooker, (afterwards of Hartford, Conn.) at Little Bad- dow, near Chelmsford, in Essex. But the tyranny of Laud, which drove Hooker into Holland, led Eliot to flee to America ; and he landed at Boston, Nov. 3, 1631. Wilson, the minister of the Boston church, being at this time absent in England, Eliot was invited to officiate in his place, which he did for a year, till Nov. 5, 1632, when he was estab- lished teacher of the church in Rox- bury, where he continued till his death, May 20, 1690, at the advanc- ed age of 86. Eliot is chiefly known for his indefatigable labors in preach- ing the Gospel to the natives, which obtained for him the deserved title of The Apostle to the Indians, and for his arduous work of translating
the whole Bible into the language of the Massachusetts Indians. "Since the death of the Apostle Paul," says President Everett, " a nobler, truer and warmer spirit, than John Eliot, never lived ; and taking the state of the country, the narrowness of the means, the rudeness of the age, into consideration, the History of the Christian Church does not contain an example of resolute, untiring, successful labor, superior to that of translating the entire Scriptures into the language of the native tribes of Massachusetts ; a labor performed, not in the flush of youth, nor within the luxurious abodes of academic ease, but under the constant burden of his duties as a minister and a preacher, and at a time of life when the spirits begin to flag." His wife's name was Anna, and his sons, John and Joseph, were ministers of New- town, Mass., and Guildford, Conn. Sce note 2 on page 258 ; Winthrop, i. 64, 93, ii. 303-5 ; Mather, i. 474- 532; Prince, pp. 378, 408; Hutch- inson, i. 162, 211 ; Grahame, i. 281- 88; Mass. Hist. Coll. viii. 5-35, xxviii. 248 ; Francis's Life of Eliot, in Sparks's Am. Biog. vol. 5.
366
THE COMMISSIONERS FROM ENGLAND.
CHAP. power and authority that doubtless put themselves XVIII. (and too many among us) in hopes that they had at- 1665. tained their ends. They proceeded so far that they set up a Court, appointed the time and place, and gave out their summons, yea, for our then honored Governor and Company personally to appear before them. But the Lord our God was for us, though troubles were very near. He stirred up a mighty spirit of prayer in the hearts of his people. This poor country cried, and the Lord heard, and deliv- ered them from all their fears. And the Lord put wisdom and courage into the hearts of his servants, then sitting in the General Court, to give such An- swers and to make such a Declaration, published by a man appointed, on horseback, with the trumpet sounding1 before the Proclamation, to give the people notice that something was to be published, - which was done in three several places in Boston, -that it put an end to their Court, and (through God's good- ness) to our troubles at that time about that matter.2 And as our Court did assert our privileges granted unto us by Patent, and did adhere thereto, so our God hath hitherto continued the same unto us : Blessed be his glorious name ! I humbly beg of God that he will in mercy continue those privileges unto you and yours in your generations, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.3
1 See Hutchinson's Mass. i. 246. 2 See Hutchinson's Mass. i. 230- 256, 535; Hutchinson's Coll. 390, 407-425 ; Chalmers's Annals, pp. 386-389 ; Grahame's Hist. United States, i. 331-342.
3 Roger Clap was a prominent citizen of Dorchester, both in civil and military affairs, and was captain
of Boston Castle from 1665 to 1686, in which year he removed to Bos- ton. In the Records of the General Court, Oct 19, 1664, I find the fol- lowing order . " The Court judgeth it meet to grant Capt. Roger Clap £4, to be paid him by the Treas- urer for his service in laying out the southern line of our Patent." He
367
ROGER CLAP'S MEMOIRS.
was .married, Nov. 6, 1633, to Jo- anna Ford, of Dorchester, England, who, with her parents, came over in the same ship with himself. He died Feb. 2, 1691, in his 82d year, and was buried in King's Chapel grave-yard, where his grave-stone may still be seen. A full account of his children and descendants may be seen in the first number of the Collections of the Dorchester Hist. and Antiq. Society. The family of Clap is still among the most nume- rous and respectable families in that ancient town, and one of the name at least (Ebenezer Clapp, jr.) cher- ishes the memory of the fathers, and is imbued with the true antiquarian spirit.
In Prince's list of the manuscripts which he used in compiling his An- nals, he mentions "Capt. Roger Clap's Account of the ancient affairs of the Massachusetts Colony." This he obtained from James Blake, jr., of Dorchester, and caused it to be
printed in 1731. I happen to pos- CHAP. sess Prince's own copy of that edi- XVIII. tion, which contains his marginal corrections and annotations, and in which he has, by marks and num- bers, rearranged the whole compo- sition, so as to make the parts suc- ceed each other in chronological or- der, which was not the case in the manuscript. This he seems to have done with reference to a new edition of the work. This arrangement I have adopted, it being a manifest and decided improvement. I have also omitted whatever is not of a historical character ; since Clap's exhortations to his children, and his account of his religious experiences, though excellent in their way, do not fall within the plan of this work, and would swell the volume beyond its assigned limits. The Memoirs were probably written not long after 1676, for on page 364 the author speaks of " the late war," by which he means Philip's War, which broke out in 1675, and lasted about a year.
THE CHARLESTOWN RECORDS.
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24
CHAPTER XIX.
THE EARLY RECORDS OF CHARLESTOWN.
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH, having (in the reign of our CHAP. sovereign lord, James, by the grace of God King of XIX. England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of 1614. the Faith,) made a discovery of some parts of Amer- ica, lighted, amongst other places, upon the opening betwixt Cape Cod and Cape Ann, situate and lying in 315 degrees of longitude, and 42 degrees 20 min- utes of north latitude ; where, by sounding and mak- ing up, he fell in amongst the islands, and advanced up into the Massachusetts Bay, till he came up into the river between Mishawum, (afterwards called Charlestown,) and Shawmutt, (afterwards called Boston ;) and having made discovery of the land, rivers, coves, and creeks in the said Bay, and also taken some observations of the natures, dispositions, and sundry customs of the numerous Indians, or na- tives, inhabiting the same, he returned to England ;1
1 Captain Smith, in the summer of 1614, ranged along the coast of New-England, in a small boat, with eight or nine men, from the Penob- scot to Cape Cod, and in 1616 pub-
lished his Description of New-Eng- land, which is reprinted in Mass. Hist Coll. xxvi. 95-140. The map is prefixed to vol. xxiii. of the same Collections. See note 1 on page 19.
372
ENDICOTT AND HIS COMPANY.
CHAP. where it was reported, that upon his arrival, he pre- XIX. -
sented a map of the Massachusetts Bay to the King, 1614. and that the Prince, (afterwards King Charles the First,) upon inquiry and perusal of the foresaid river, and the situation thereof upon the map, appointed it to be called Charles river.
Now upon the fame that then went abroad of the place, both in England and Holland, several persons of quality sent over some at their own cost, who planted this country in several parts ; but for want of judgment, care, and orderly living, divers died. Others, meeting with many hazards, hardships, and wants, at length being reduced to great penury and extremity, were so tired out, that they took all opportunities of returning to England ; upon which several places were altogether deserted, and left. Only some few that, upon a better principle, trans- ported themselves from England and Holland, came 1620. and settled their Plantation a little within Cape Cod, and called the same Plymouth, notwithstanding all their wants, hazards, and sufferings, continued seve- ral years in a manner alone; at which time this country was generally called by the name of New- England.
At length, divers gentlemen and merchants of London obtained a patent and charter for the Mas- sachusetts Bay, from our sovereign lord King Charles the First, gave invitation to [such] as would trans- port themselves from Old England to New-England, to go and possess the same ; and for their encour- agement, the said patentees, at their own cost, sent over a company of servants under the government of Mr. John Endicott ; who, arriving within this Bay,
373
THE THREE SPRAGUES, BROTHERS.
settled the first Plantation of this jurisdiction, called CHAP. Salem; under whose wing there were a few also that XIX. [did] settle and plant up and down, scattering in 1628. several places of the Bay ; where, though they met with the dangers, difficulties, and [wants] attending new plantations in a solitary wilderness, and so far remote from their native country, yet were they not long without company ; for in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred twenty-eight, came over from England several people at their own charge, and arrived at Salem. After which, people came over yearly in great numbers ; in [torn off ] years many hundreds arrived, and settled not only in the Massachusetts Bay, but did suddenly spread them- selves into other colonies also.
Amongst others that arrived at Salem at their own cost, were Ralph Sprague,1 with his brethren, Rich- ard2 and William,3 who, with three or four more, by joint consent and approbation of Mr. John Endicott,
1 Ralph Sprague was the eldest of the three brothers, and by occu- pation a farmer. Their father, Ed- ward Sprague, is said to have been a fuller, of Upway, in Dorsetshire, England. Ralph is supposed to have been about 25 years old when he came to this country. He was a prominent and useful man in Charles- town, one of the founders of the church there in 1632, one of the se- lectmen several years, in 1630 the first constable, in 1639 lieutenant, and a representative in 1637, and eight times afterwards. He died in 1650, leaving a widow, Joanna, four sons, and a daughter. In 1639, the General Court granted him 100 acres of land, "he having borne difficul- ties in the beginning." See Froth- ingham's Charlestown, p. 21 ; Bud- ington, pp. 33, 184.
2 Richard Sprague was a mer- chant. He was one of the founders of the church in Charlestown in 1632, a selectman several years, and a representative of the town from 1659 to 1666. He died Nov. 25, 1668, leaving a widow, Mary, but no children. See Frothingham, p. 22 ; Budington, pp. 33, 184.
3 William Sprague was the young- est of the three brothers. In 1636 he removed to Hingham, where he died Oct. 26, 1675, leaving a widow, Millesaint, and eleven children. The Spragues of Bridgewater are de- scended from him. See Frothing- ham, p. 22; Lincoln's History of Hingham, p. 45 ; Mitchell's History of Bridgewater, p. 306 ; Hosea Sprague's Genealogy of the Sprague family.
374
THOMAS WALFORD, THE SMITH.
CHAP. XIX. Governor, did, the same summer of anno 1628, un- dertake a journey from Salem, and travelled the 1628. woods above twelve miles to the westward, and lighted of a place situate and lying on the north side of Charles river, full of Indians, called Aberginians.1 Their old sachem being dead, his eldest son, by the English called John Sagamore,2 was their chief, and a man naturally of a gentle and good disposition ; by whose free consent they settled about the hill of the same place, by the said natives called Mishaw- um ; where they found but one English palisadoed and thatched house,3 wherein lived Thomas Walford,4 a smith, situate on the south end of the westernmost hill of the East Field, a little way up from Charles river's side ; 5 and upon surveying, they found it was a neck of land, generally full of stately timber, as was the main, and the land lying on the east side of the river called Mistick river, (from the farm Mr. Craddock's6 servants had planted, called. Mistick, which this river led up unto ;) and indeed generally
1 " The Abarginny men," says Edward Johnson, "consisted of the Massachusetts, Wippanaps, and Tarratines." See Mass. Hist. Coll. xii. 66.
2 See note 4 on page 306.
3 See page 349.
4 How or when Walford came to Mishawum, is unknown. He pro- bably remained there but a few years ; for, at a General Court held April 12, 1631, " Thomas Walford, of Charlton, is fined 40s., and is en- joined, he and his wife, to depart out of the limits of this Patent before ·the 20th day of October next, under pain of confiscation of his goods, for his contempt of authority and con- fronting officers, &c." A month afterwards, he was fined £2, which
"he paid by killing a wolf." He removed to Piscataqua; but still seems to have been an object of dis- trust, for, Sept. 3, 1633, " it is or- dered that the goods of Thomas Walford shall be sequestered and remain in the hands of Ancient Gen- nison, to satisfy the debts he owes in the Bay to several persons." He died in 1657. See Col. Rec. i. 71; Savage's Winthrop, i. 53; Bel- knap's New-Hampshire, pp. 28, 57, (Farmer's ed.) ; Adams's Annals of Portsmouth, pp. 18, 394 ; Froth- ingham, pp. 23, 84.
5 Probably on the south side of Breed's Hill, a short distance from the water. See Frothingham, p. 24. 6 See note 2 on page 137.
375
THE FIRST SETTLERS OF CHARLESTOWN.
all the country round about was an uncouth wilder- CHAP. XIX. ness, full of timber.
1629.
The inhabitants that first settled in this place, and brought it into the denomination of an English town, were in anno 1628 as follows, viz., Ralph Sprague ; Richard Sprague ; William Sprague ; John Meech ;1 Simon Hoyte ;1 Abraham Palmer ;? Walter Palmer ; Nicholas Stowers ;3 John Stickline ;1 Thomas Wal- ford, smith, that lived here alone before ; Mr. [blank] Graves,4 who had charge of some of the servants of the Company of Patentees, with whom he built the . great house5 this year, for such of the said Company
1 Of John Meech, Simon Hoyt, and John Stickline, or Stickland, nothing is known except that the two last were admitted freemen May 18, 1631. See Winthrop, ii. 361, 362.
2 Abraham Palmer was a mer- chant, and a member of the Compa- ny in England. He was one of the fourteen who signed the instructions to Endicott, May 30, 1628, and in the same month he adventured £50 in the joint stock. He probably embarked with Higginson, and came to Charlestown with Graves, in 1629. He was an active and in- fluential citizen, and filled the offices of town clerk and selectman. He was one of the two deputies from Charlestown at the first General Court held in 1634, and five times afterwards. He was a sergeant in the Pequot War, and did good ser- vice in the swamp fight. He re- moved to Barbadoes, where he died about 1653, leaving a widow, named Grace. See note 2 on page 174; Hutchinson's Mass. i. 9; Mass. Hist. Coll. xv. 122, xviii. 146; Frothingham's Charlestown, p. 22. 3 Nicholas Stowers .was herds- man in 1633. His duties were "to drive the herd forth to their food in the main every morning, and to
bring them into town every evening, and to have fifty bushels of Indian corn for keeping the milch cows till Indian harvest be taken in." He died May 17, 1646, leaving a widow, Amy, and five children. See Froth- ingham, p. 23.
4 See note 2 on page 152.
5 " April, 1633. Agreed and concluded by the inhabitants, that the sum of .£10 be collected of the said inhabitants, and be paid to John Winthrop, Esq., Governor, and the rest of the gentlemen interested in the great house built in anno 1628, by Mr. Graves and the Company's servants ; which is for the purchase of the said house, now the public meeting-house in this town; all which was accordingly done." It continued to be used as a place of public worship till 1636, when a. new church was built " between the town and the neck." The great house was afterwards used as a tav- ern, or ordinary, and in 1711 was called "The Great Tavern." It was probably destroyed when the town was burnt by the British, June 17, 1775. It stood wholly in the Square, opposite the lane by the " Mansion House." See Frothing- ham, p. 96 ; Budington, pp. 35, 195.
376
GRAVES LAYS OUT THE TOWN.
CHAP. as are shortly to come over,1 which afterwards be- XIX. came the meeting-house ; and Mr. [blank] Bright,2 1629. minister to the Company's servants.
By whom it was jointly agreed and concluded, that this place on the north side of Charles river, by the natives called Mishawum, shall henceforth, from the name of the river, be called Charlestown; which was also confirmed by Mr. John Endicott, Governor.
It is jointly agreed and concluded by the inhabit- ants of this town, that Mr. [blank] Graves do model and lay out the form of the town, with streets about the Hill ; which was accordingly done, and approved of by the Governor.
It is jointly agreed and concluded, that each inha- bitant have a two acre lot to plant upon, and all to fence in common ; which was accordingly by Mr. [blank ] Graves measured out unto them.
Upon which, Ralph Sprague and others began to build their houses, and to prepare fencing for their lots, which was afterwards set up almost in a semi- circular3 form on the south and south-east side of that field laid out to them, which lies situate on the north-west side of the Town Hill. 4
1 " The Charlestown Records here mistake in placing this in 1628; for Mr. Graves comes not over till 1629. And as by Deputy Governor Dudley's Letter (p. 319,) there was a great mortality among the English at the Massachusetts Colony, in the winter of 1629-30, so by Capt. Clap's account, (p. 349,) there was but one house and some few Eng- lish at Charlestown in June succeed- ing." Prince, p. 261.
3 Hence the street on which these houses were built is called Bow-street.
4 The Town Hill has been much reduced in height since the first set- tlement. In 1646 it was ordered that it "should lie common to the town forever," and in 1648, that " no more gravel should be digged or fetched from it." Yet in 1782 large quantities of gravel were taken from it. See Frothingham, p. 94,
Francis Bright. See note 3 on and Mass. Hist. Coll. xii. 168. page 316.
377
AN INDIAN CONSPIRACY.
Walter Palmer1 and one or two more shortly after CHAP. began to build in a straight line upon their two acre XIX. lots on the east side of the Town Hill,2 and set up a 1629. slight fence in common, that ran up to Thomas Wal- ford's fence ; and this was the beginning of the East Field.
About the months of April and May, in the year 1630. of our Lord 1629, there was a great design of the April Indians, from the Narragansetts, and all round about and May. us to the eastward in all parts, to cut off the English ; which John Sagamore, who always loved the English, revealed to the inhabitants of this town. But their design was chiefly laid against Plymouth, (not re- garding our paucity in the Bay,) to be effected under pretence of having some sport and pastime at Ply- mouth ; where, after some discourse with the Gov- ernor there, they told him, if they might not come with leave, they would without. Upon which the said Governor sent their flat-bottomed boat (which was all they had,) to Salem, for some powder and shot. At which time it was unanimously concluded by the inhabitants of this town, that a small fort should be made on the top of this Town Hill, with palisadoes and flankers made out ; which was per- formed at the direction of Mr. [blank] Graves, by all hands of men, women and children, who wrought at digging and building till the work was done. But that design of the Indians was suddenly broke up, by
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