USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Chelsea > Documentary history of Chelsea : including the Boston precincts of Winnisimmet, Rumney Marsh, and Pullen Point, 1624-1824, vol 1 > Part 63
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8 Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 1, ff. 116-274; printed in Boston Rec. Com. Rep., x. 1-54.
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[CHAP. XIX
wronging of others," ? he had in his former wills set apart two hundred pounds for any man or woman, in Old England or New, who could make it justly appear that he had wronged them, that they might have full satisfaction allowed themn; but having lived seventeen or eighteen years in New England, and none such having appeared, he dropped that clause from his present will.
He thought " of the want of some necessary things " for the town of Boston, " as a Market place & Cundit, the one a good helpe in danger of fyre," the want of which had been found by sad experience, " the other usefull for the country people that come with theire provisions for the supply of the towne," that they might "have a place to sitt dry in and warme both in cold raine & durty weather," and " a place to leave theire 'corne or any other things safe " that they could not sell, till they came again, also " some convenient roome or too for the Courts to meete in both in Winter & Sumer, & so for the Townes men & Commissioners," 10 also "in the same building or the like . . . a convenient roome for a Library & a gallery or some other handsome roome for the Elders to meete in," also a room for an Armory, a room for " Devines & Schollers," and another for merehants and masters of ships. He mentioned free schools and the college, and made bequests for both.
To Robert Keayne is due the eredit of first suggesting and giving some portion of his estate for a market, water supply, town house, public library, and the like, which in after years added to the safety, health, intelligence, and reputation of the
º See Capt. Keayne's Sow, Transactions of Col. Soc. of Mass., i. 392. [Also Savage, Winthrop, i. 314-317; ii. 69-72; A. B. Ellis, Hist. of the First Church in Boston; Records of Court of Assistants, ii. 124.]
10 " For the necessary, full & suiteable repaire of the Toune or Court House in Boston, founded by the late Capt Robert Keayne, it is ordered by this Court, that the selectmen of Boston shall & hereby are desired & impowred as a comittee to see to & order the same wth all convenient speede, the chardge whereof is to be borne & defrajed the one clere halfe by the Tresurer of the country, one fowerth part thereof by the Tresurer of ye county of Suffolke, & the other fourth part by the Tresurer of the toune of Boston." Mass. Col. Rec., iv. pt. ii. 351. This was in October, 1667. The site of the building was the same as that of the Old State House. See Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., iii. 337; also Old State House Memorial (1882), p. 26 et seq., for interesting facts as to Captain Robert Keayne and his will, by William H. Whitmore. [Sewall, Diary, i. 160.]
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CHAP. XIX] ROBERT KEAYNE'S ESTATE
city. He not only devised his estate to lay the foundation of a library, but he also gave "my 3 great writing bookes wch are intended as an Exposition or Interpretation of the whole Bible, as also a 4th great writing booke in which is an exposi- tion on the Prophecy of Daniel of the Revelations & the Prophecy of Hosea not long since began."
If the town did not undertake the works mentioned in his will, then the sums set apart for them were to go to the college, and in respect to this contingent bequest his views were sen- sible and as in other ways in advance of his age, for his desire was that his gift should not be improved about buildings or repairs, but for the " helpe of such poore & hopefull scholl's whose parents are not comfortably able to maintaine them there for theire dyett & learning." If the town did not build a handsome room for a library, his books were to go to Harvard College.
It is obvious from his will that Captain Keayne was much at his farmhouse at Rumney Marsh, for there he kept books in which were entered accounts of his stock, the cows killed for his own use, such as died by casualties, and others that were destroyed by the wolves. These and other matters are more fully set forth in the following extracts :
" At my ffarme . .. is a pticul' accott of all my Cattle & other things & what increase comes of them from yeare to yeare, what of them I sell away or kill for my owne use, as also what of them dyes by casualty or are lost by the wolves, & how many remaines of all sorts ev'y yeare with there ages prizes & worth taken ev'y spring or beginning of the New yeare by wch you will see what · liveing Cattle I have, of oxen, Cowes, Calves, horses, swine & in whose hands they are to require them, these with the Inventory booke of my estate before mentioned will be a good direction & great help to you when you come to take an Inventory of my estate & to value the pticulrs thereof in wch also I doe use to sett downe the value of the Cattle at lesse then they are worth & then they would yeald if I were to sell them or to putt them off one by one, there is also the pticulrs of my ffarme & the value of it.
" There is also at my ffarme a long paper booke bound in parch- ment, such a one as my Inventory booke in my closet at Boston w-ch I mentioned before, wch booke I comonly keepe in that roome at my ffarme wch I keepe locked up for my owne use, in vrch is the pticul's of the charges & profitts that I make of my
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[CHAP. XIX
ffarme ev'y yeare with an accott of the Corne & Apples & Butter & Cheese that is made & where they are with some debts therein due to me & some other accotts to be Kept & pused.
" There is at iny ffarme also many printed books both great & smale, Divinitie, Hystory, Millitary bookes & that I made use of there & some written Sermon bookes both in my Closet & Chamber there. There is also some Plate as a Silver Porringer, a Sacke Bowle, a silver hot water cup, 3 silver spoones yt were kept for our owne use there, in a little boxe in my closet, there is also in my standidge at the ffarme weh hath a locke & a key to it, some silver & peage in one of the private or seereet boxes of the same & this I keepe in my closet there & these things are besides all the bedding sheets linnen houshould stuffe dary vessells carts &c."
Captain Keayne's son Benjamin, born in London, came over with his father in 1635. He married before June 9, 1639, Sarah, daughter of Governor Thomas Dudley, and had a daughter named Anna. Major Keayne lived some time at Lynn, but went to England with his wife about 1645. Not- withstanding her high lineage and connection her career was scandalous. He repudiated her; he died in 1668,11 and she in 1659. Their daughter Anna was provided for in the will of her grandfather, Captain Robert Keayne, who said, " my desire & request is to all my overseers that in case my son Benjamine should dye before his daughter Hannah Keayne should be of age to enjoye hir owne estate that they would be assistant to my wife hir Grandmother, in there best counsell
11 [August 5, 1668, Nicholas Paige presented to the County Court "an Inventory of mr Benjamin Keayne's Estate heere in New England." From this it has been assumed by Savage and others that he died in 1668. Yet in January, 1683/4, in the petition of Captain Nicholas Paige and Anna his wife (daughter of Benjamin Keayne) to be appointed executors of Captain Robert Keayne's estate, it is stated that Benjamin Keayne " deceased before the sd Testator," that is, before March 23, 1656. When the executorship of Captain Robert Keayne's estate was transferred by his widow to Edward Lane in 1657, mention was made of " ye late Major Benjamin Keayne." In the petition of Edward Lane, in 1659, to be relieved of the executorship of Captain Robert Keayne's estate he esti- mated the legacies he was to pay to Anna Keayne and others according to a proviso in the will, which came in force if Captain Keayne's son dicd before him. Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 5, f. 131; Savage, Winthrop, i. 315; N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., xxxi. 105; Suff. Deeds, L. 4, f. 167; Chamber- lain MSS., iii. 179; Mass. Archives, B. 15. p. 212. Benjamin Keayne's will was dated in London, October 16, 1654; it gave his estate to his daughter, Anna Keayne. (Dean Dudley, Hist. of the Dudley Family, 73.) ]
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CHAP. XIX]
& advice to dispose of hir for hir future education & learning, unto some such wise & godly M's or family where she may have hir carnall disposition most of all subdued & reformed by strict discipline & also that they would shew the like care & assistance in seasonable time to provide some fitt & godly match proportionable to hir estate & condition that she may live com- fortably & be fitt to doe good in hir place & not to suffer hir to be circumvented or to cast away hirselfe for want of counsell & watchfullnes upon some swagering gentleman or others that will looke more after the enjoying of what she hath, then live- ing in the feare of God & truc love to hir." 12 The result did not correspond with the pains taken. Her first husband, Edward Lane,13 was succeeded by Nicholas Paige, who died in 1717.
Such were the persons whose conduct gave rise to animad- version, and whose interest in the Keayne farm was the subject of protracted controversy. In Captain Keayne himself we find the elements of a mixed character. He was sagacious, farsighted, and public-spirited above the average of his con- temporaries, but unless unjustly suspected, as he always claimed, his love of gain led to extortionate dealing with his
12 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., x. 21.
13 Edward Lane, a merchant, came in the Speedwell from London, 1656, aged 36. He bought the estate of Robert Harding in 1657. [The estate was conveyed to him in 1651. On the same date, describing himself as of the city of London, merchant, he gave a power of attorney to his loving friend William Brenton to sell it. Suff. Deeds, L. 1, ff. 319, 321.1. Dec. 11, 1657, he married Anna, daughter of Benjamin Keayne; and had Anna, born October 5, 1660, who died June 27 following; and Edward, born February 20, 1661/2. [Edward, only son of Nicholas and Anna Paige, died in Leyden, Holland, November 1, 1680. N. E. Hist. and Gen. Reg., xxiii. 267-269. In 1665, Anna Keayne Paige acknowledged that her children, though recorded in Boston as of Edward Lane, were not his children. Suff. Early Court Files, No. 2233.] The next year he sold his estate at Malden to Richard Dexter, and died not long after. [He secured this farm by execution against Samuel Eldred for the delinquent rent of the Keaync farm. In December, 1663, after he had privately separated from his wife, and deeded her Captain Keayne's mansion house in Boston, he transferred the title to the rest of his estate, including a mortgage on the land in Malden, and the estate of Captain Keayne in Boston and Rumney Marsh, to Elder John Wiswall and Richard Cooke. His estate before his marriage in 1657 was variously estimated by Captain Keayne's widow and Richard Cooke at from £500 to £1800. He died January 12, 1664/5. (Deposition of James Oliver, Suff. Early Court Files, No. 2233, vol. xxvii. p. 69.) ] His widow married Nicholas Paige.
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customers; and once at least he was before the General Court to answer, and unsuccessfully, that charge. But upon the whole he maintained a high place among the colonists.
His son was most unfortunate in his marriage with Governor Dudley's daughter, who led him a miserable life until at last he was obliged to repudiate her. Nor did her daughter, as Mrs. Anna Paige, escape the animadversion of the Great and General Court on account of certain passages in her life. But the Keayne farm, apart from the personal interest of its owners, has a history which entered into the politics of the times, and especially the revocation of the first charter. This I now relate. When Captain Robert Keayne's granddaughter became marriageable she found a suitor, not ineligible, it is presumed, in Edward Lane, a young Englishman who had been in the country only a few years. Before the marriage Edward Rawson, William Brenton, Edward Hutchinson, and James Johnson, friends of the parties, November 24, 1657, drew up a paper proposing the terms on which the said Edward Lane " might take upon him ye place of Executor to ye last will & testament of Rob! Keayne ye grandfather to secure to himselfe what possibly may be such part of his intended wives portion, as in case she should dye before she attaine ye age of eighteen yeares by ye sd will is otherwise disposed of & likewise reape ye advantage yt may be had in such over plus of houses & lands as may be made over & above what they are vallued at in ye Inventory yt ye sª Anna ye grandmother might be freed from such trouble as inavoidably would fall upon her should she continue Executrix & receive such meet recompence for ye benefit of Executrixship as is just & equal." 14
Four days later, 28th November, 1657, in pursuance of the foregoing recommendation of friends, Madam Anna Keayne and Edward Lane entered into an agreement, [which has been printed in Suffolk Deeds, L. 3, f. 77].15
14 Chamberlain MSS., iii. 179.
15 [The discovery of new material among the Suffolk and Middlesex Court Files, in the Massachusetts Archives, and elsewhere, necessitates a reconsideration of this case, and a new method of treatment. The docu- ments are exceedingly voluminous and technical, as well as in some cases scandalous. Judge Chamberlain's text is given as he left it, omitting long documents that have appeared elsewhere in print. The place where every
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Edward Lane married Anna Keayne, December 11, 1657, but he did not prosper, and failed to keep his contract,16 for within eighteen months after marriage he was before the General Court. May 28, 1659, is the following : 17
" The buisnes respecting Mr Edward Lane & Mrs Anna Keajne, Sen , being referd to the consideration of a comittce , to be indif- ferently chosen by themselves, wch Mrs Keayne, Sen, not consent- ing to , the Court judged it meete to proceede to nominate the sajd committee, & doe appoint Mr Richard Russell, Mr Edward Col- lins, Capt Eliaser Lusher, Capt Thomas Clarke, & Capt Wm Dauis a comittee to act in the case, according to the Courts order & instruccons, wch is as folt: ... Yow, or the major part of yow, arc hereby authorized and impowered by this Court to assemble y"selves together at Boston the twentieth day of July next, then & there to consider of all such things as shall be necessary for the dischardge of the trust committed to yow by the Court, referring to the case aboue mentioned, vizt, to call for Capt Robert Keaynes will & inventory, together wth what writtings, contracts, evidences, &c, haue from time to tjme binn made betweene the partjes afore- sajd, as also by warrant, if neede be, to call for both parties, & such wittnesses as cann testify in the case, & the sajd wittnesses to examine, vpon oath, in any thing weh yow shall see necessary herein, & to yor vttermost power & endeavors to make a loving & amicable agreement, if it may be, to mutual sattisfaction of the sajd Mr Lane & Mrs Anna Keajne, thereby to prevent further trouble to this Court, or, if otherwise, to prepare the case, so farre as yow cann, for a further hearing, & to make a true representa- tion of the same to ye next session of this Court."
October 16, 1660, Mrs. Anna Keayne, Sr., became the third wife of Samuel Cole, by whose name she will here- after be known.18 The Arbitrators doubtless made their
document may be found is indicated. A résumé of the case is given in an appendix to chap. xxi., also the papers in one suit. The suit chosen is of especial interest, as it followed immediately upon the revocation of the Colony's Charter and the appointment of Joseph Dudley, as President, was dependent upon that event, and was the first instance in which an action of ejectione firmae was tried in a Massachusetts court. A complete file of papers has been preserved.]
16 [See the appendix.]
17 Mass. Col. Rec., iv. pt. i. p. 369. [Infra, note 23.]
18 Savage. But a year earlier she is spoken of as Mrs. Cole in an order of the General Court, October 18, 1659.
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report, though I find nothing of it, as it was the basis of the following order of October 18, 1659: 19
" In the Case now dependinge between mr Edward Lane and Mris Anna Cole Late wife to Capt Robt Keane, The deputyes Con- ceiue that as the Case rep'sents it selfe it is not Capeable of a prsent Issue by this Court although the Court should last much longer, but doe therefore.Judge that a Comittee be Chosen & empowred by this Court to put a finall Issue thereto, & to that end are hereby Authorized to examine the Acco of the sd Lane, what hath bin by him received & also how much he hath Necessaryly dis- bursed or expended in paying Legacyes, building or repayring the houses & how much the Estate hath bin advaunced by such expences, as also what else hath bin layd out in any other way refferinge to the estate, & the same to Allow & approue off so farr as they shall se it Just & equall & so farr as the sd Lane shalbe Creditor to the estate to determine & conelude, not only how much he shall be allowed, but also in what It shalbe payd, & the same to sett out apprise & deliuer vnto him, & this Court doth Judge the sd Lane is disingaged off all his bonds & obligations between him & the sd Mris Cole, referring to his executorshipp And that he is also discharged of his executorship respectinge the estate of the sd Capt Keane And It is left to the ouerseers of the Will to Nominate such others in his Roome as they shall Judge meet & shal be approued off by this Court, to pay Such Legaeyes as are yet vnpayd, & to take Charge of the estate to se it be disposed off accordinge to the will of the Testator, & the Charge of this & the former Comittee to be payd out of the estate, the Com. to be Chosen by the whole Court meet together, the deputyes haue past this desireinge the Consent of or honord magists heerto 4 (9) 1659 William Torrey Cleric.
The magists Consent not Edward Rawson Seerety. 4 (9) 59 Voted by ye whole Court 2º Edw Rawson Seerety."
" The whole Court mett together, by theire vote, ordered, -
1. First, that Edward Lane shallbe pajd sixe hundred & fifty pounds sterling in marchantable beife, porke, pease, wheate, barley, and Indian corne, of each proportionable, or otherwajes to his sattisfaction.
10 [The orders were passed at the October session, but not on the open- ing day of the Court. As the draft of the first order, preserved in Mass. Archives, vol. B. 15. p. 214, gives the action of both houses, it is substi- tuted for the final record printed in Mass. Col. Rec., iv. pt. i. p. 391.] 20 [As the two houses disagreed, they met in joint session. The next order in the text follows the last immediately in the Mass. Col. Rec .; the precise date of its passage is unknown.]
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2!y That Edward Lane shall receive of Sarjant Eldred the two yeares rents for the farme & stocke at Rumney Marsh.
3!y That he shall haue all the rents of the houses in Boston for two yeares, which will be expired the seventh of December next, the house Mrs Cole liues in excepted, and also that good securitje be giuen him for the payment of the sixe hundred & fifty pounds aboue expressed, and also that Samuel Eldreds securitje he hath and is to giue may be for the securitje of his rent for the two yeares rent aboue expressed; and it is further ordered, that the aboue mentioned sixe hundred and fifty pounds be pajd Mr Lane, in such pay as is aboue mentioned, once wthin sixe moneths, & in case it be not pajd wthin yt time, he shallbe allowed vse for ye same to ye end of other sixe months, & in case it be not pajd wthin twelve months, it shallbe lawfull for the sajd Edward Lane to sell two thirds in the new house, and two thirds in the old house & yards, and sattisfy himself the sajd some of sixe hundred & fifty pounds as abouesajd, the sajd two thirds of the sajd houses & yards being made ouer as his securitje for the payment of the same; and it is ordered, that the sajd Edward Lane forthwith deliuer vp all the lands & houses, bookes of accompts, bonds, bills, · & all other writtings, stocke of catle, & what else he hath in his possession belonging to the estate of the sajd Capt Keayne, to the ouerseers ; and it is ordered, that Mrs Cole forthwith bring into this Court & deliuer vp all the bonds wherein Mr Lane stood bound to the sajd Mrs Cole, formerly Kcayne, to be cancelled; so also that the secretary bring in the bond of a thousand pounds that the sajd Edward Lane stands bound to him & Capt Johnson for Anna Keaynes, Jun, joincture." 21
" The ouerseers of Capt Keaynes will are heereby empowred to take the estate into theire hands, & to sell or dispose thereof, for speedy payment of the legatjes, according to the will, as they shall judge & determine, provided theire determination be approoved by Major Atherton, Mr Russell, Mr Danforth, Major Hauthorne, Mr Stoddard, & Left Cooke, or the major part of them, who are appointed by this Court as a comittee to joyne wth the ouerseers in interpretation of the will respecting legacies to his relation[s] ; & the conclusion agreed on by the major parte of the ouerseers & of the sajd comittee shall be a finall issue of all causes or actions that haue or may arise concerning legacjes bequeathed by the sajd will." 22
21 Mass. Col. Rec., iv. pt. i. 392.
22 Ibid., 395. [The date in the margin of record is November 12, 1659. Both orders were "Voted by ye whole Court." Mass. Archives, B. 15. p. 215.]
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Things were all going wrong, for the same day it is recorded that
" On the desire of Mrs Anne Kcayne, Junior, the Court doth also appoint Mr Symon Bradstreet & Major Geni Dennison to be her guardians, & Mr Edward Lane, who was formerly allowed, is hereby dischardged, and enjoyned to give an account of his aeting as guardian during his continuance, and to retourne all papers & writings belonging vnto the sajd Mrs Anne Keayne in refferene to hir ffathers will." 22
Some mystery is wrapped up in these orders. The marriage settlement seems to have been set aside, and the estate thereby given to Edward Lane reealled and revested in the overseers with power to sell the same for the payment of debts and legacies. Lane was discharged of his bonds, deelared entitled to repayment of sums expended for the estate, and on the desire of Mrs. Anna Keayne, junior, to whom was given her maiden name, he was removed as her guardian, and others appointed. The General Court annulled the marriage,23 but. the parties eame together again, and I find no other evidenee of it than appears in the foregoing entries. In the record below, November 12, 1659, she is called Anna Keayne instead of Anna Lane:
" In consideration of the late Capt Robert Keaynes libberall guifts to the country in his will, the whole Court mett together voted, that Mrs Anna Cole, the late relict of the sajd Capt Robert Keajne, and Anna Keayne, the grandchild, shall haue fiue hundred acres of land a peeee lajd out to them & theire heires where it is to be found." 24
Mrs. Cole's five hundred aeres were, October 16, 1660, laid " in the wildernes, on the westerne side of Merremaeke Riuer,
22 Mass. Col. Ree., iv. pt. i. 395. [The date in the margin of record is November 12, 1659. Both orders were " Voted by ye whole Court." Mass. Arehives, B. 15. p. 215.]
23 [ The marriage was annulled by the Court of Assistants. The ease eame before the General Court by petition from Edward Lane, because after the annulling of the marriage the widow of Captain Keayne deelined to release Lane from the business agreement by which he assumed the executorship of her husband's estate.]
Mass. Col. Ree., iv. pt. i. 410, 443, 444.
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CHAP. XIX]
at Sowheaganucke "; and Anna Keayne's 25 not far away, " at a place called by the Indians Quoquinnapasskessanahnoy."
[Conveyance from Edward Lane to Thomas Brattle and Robert Gibbs in trust for Anna, " now Reputed wife to me the Said Edward Lanc," of the mansion house of Captain Keayne in Boston, December 2, 1663, printed in Suffolk Deeds, L. 4, f. 167.]
December 14, 1663, Edward Lane, failing to meet his en- gagements in respect to the payment of legacies, conveyed the Keayne estates to Richard Cooke and John Wiswall, by a deed,26 which gave rise to innumerable law suits lasting for forty years. Cooke and Wiswall, the grantees, elaimed an absolute fee in Captain Keayne's estates, and fought the battle on that line. If Captain Keayne's will gave the fee of the Rumney Marsh farms to his wife, she could have con- veyed it to Edward Lane, as she seems to have agreed to do in the marriage settlement of her granddaughter, 28th November, 1657; but a cursory reading of the will leaves the impression that she had only a contingent interest in the estates, in no case extending beyond her own life, and that was the view taken by Colonel Nicholas Paige, and henee the long war upon which we are entering.
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