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 64
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The following entry gives earliest intimation that the con- test had begun; and in this, as in the Bellingham suits, we shall be perplexed by loss of records. Apparently Nicholas and Anna Paige had begun a suit for the estates conveyed to Cooke and Wiswall in 1663 in trust, as they elaimed, by the deed above cited.27 In the controversy between Colonel Paige and Cooke and Wiswall, which resulted in the defeat of the latter, it is to be remembered that their title, whether good or bad, legal or merely equitable, was derived from Edward Lane, and that his title seems to rest on conditions unperformed.28 May 23, 1666. " In answer to the peticon of Richard Cooke, the Court graunts his request, i.e., liberty to put in his ans" to Mr Nicholas Paige, & Anna, his wifes, declaration in writing
25 [ According to the record she was " Mrs. Anna Lane." Ibid., 444. For the significance of this grant, see the appendix. ]
26 [Omitted because printed in Suff. Deeds, L. 4, f. 191.]
27 Suff. Deeds, L. 4, f. 191.
28 See the creditor's statement, infra, p. 649.
648
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XIX
to this Court." 29 Edward Lane had died, and Mrs. Anna Keayne Lane had married Nicholas Paige; 30 but precisely what this suit was about I am unable to say, doubtless respect- ing the Keayne estates.
At the same term of the court and on the same day,31 is this entry :
" Whereas Anna Page, the wife of Nicholas Page, was indicted at the last Court of Assistants for adultcry, & by reason of disa- greement of bench & jury, the case was brought to this Court for further trjall, & vpon full hearing of the case, the Court found hir guilty of much wickednes , but vpon a motion from hirself, the Court gaue hir opportunity to make acknowledgment of such hir great offences wch were charged vpon hir, which accordingly she hath donne to the satisfaction of this Court, who doe hereby declare their acceptation of it, so as she make the like acknowl- edgmt in open Court when called thereto; that as the Court hath secne the fruits of her repentance, so it may be declared to others also. The sajd Anna Page came into the Court, & openly made acknowledgment, in like manner, to the Courts acceptance, who ordered that Mrs Page pay the charge of the witnesses, & so is discharged." 32
The General Court became weary of her affairs, for October 10, 1666, appears the following:
" In answer to the peticon of Mrs Anna Page, referring to the estate of Mr Robert Keayne & the disposure thereof, hauing con- sidered the actings of this Court thereabouts, but more especially a fynall determination therein transacted by a comittee of this Courts deputing, of vnbyassed persons joyning wth the ouerseers, this Court judgeth it not suiteable to reuive troubles to the Court therein, & wherein Mr Lane, deceased, hath binn injurious to the peticoner , his former indulging the same may be a sufficient ground of buriall therein; but in case of any non performance of the solem agreement mentioned in any article thereof, an in- feriour judicature may be applyed vnto, referring to a legall pros- ecution therein." 33
29 Mass. Col. Rec., iv. pt. ii. 302. [Suff. Early Court Files, No. 2233.]
30 Infra, p. 656.
31 [Ordinarily the votes of the General Court were recorded as of the opening day of the session. Occasionally the date of passage was given in the margin of the record, but it was not given in this instance.]
32 Mass. Col. Rec., iv. pt. ii. 309.
33 Ibid., p. 327. [For the agreement cited here, see vol. ii. p. 59; also p. 62.]
649
ROBERT KEAYNE'S ESTATE
CHAP. XIX]
The estate of Captain Robert Keayne was not easily settled, and the legatees did not get their money; conseqently the overseers or executors made the following petitions : 34
To the Hon!d Gen !! Court now Assembled at Boston. The Petition of the Overseers of the last Will and Testament of Capt Robert Keyne :
Humbly Shewes
Whereas ME Edward Lane late of Boston vpon a Contract of Mar- riage with Mrs Anna, the Granchild of Capt Robert Keyne, did Cov- enant with Mrs Anna the Relict & Executrix of ye last Will of ye Said Capt Keyne to take into his Possession ye whole Estate of ye said Capt Keyne and to discharge and pay all ye Debts and Legacics bequeathed in ye said Will, as by the Said Covenant may more fully appeare, but afterwards , (not haueing performed ye Same) upon the Nulling of ye Said Marriage; he obtained by ye Judgmt of this Honrd Court a Release and Discharge from the Said En- gagemts and Covenant, yet detayned the Said Estate in his Possession, divers Debts and Legacyes being vnpaid, and after a Second Coming together of ye Said Edward and Anna, without the advice and Consent of the Overseers of Capt Keyne's Will; the Said Overseers with ye advice and Consent of a Committee of ye Genrtl Court, did agree that ye Said Lane should Continue Seized of the Said Estate to the only end that the Will of the Deccased might duely be Executed, and all debts and Legacyes paid, for the performance whereof the Said Lane was to giue Security to ye Said Overseers as may appeare by ye Articles of agreemt more at large; Notwithstanding which the Said Lane hath neither giuen Security, nor discharged all ye debts and Legacies according to his Covenant, and ye Expresse Condition of his being betrusted with the Said Estate; But on ye Contrary hath as wee are informed by a fallacious Deed Conveyed the Said Estate to Leift Cooke and Deacon Wiswall , who now stand Seized thereof, and haue refused to deliur the Same vnto us, or to giue Bond for ye payment of all Debts and Legacies yet due; whereby wee, ye Overseers are vtterly disinabled to discharge the trust Comitted to us, by the Will of ye Said Capt Keyne, and haucing Endeavord other wayes, are necessitated to Craue ye Justice of this Honrd Court to possesse us of the Said Estate, only Conditionally Conveyed to the Said Lane, weh Conditions not being performed by the Said Lanc, the Said Estate of right belongeth vnto our dispose, as wee Conceiue by the Will of ye Testato!, and by an
34 Mass, Archives, vol. B. 15. p. 107.
650
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XIX
Aet of this Court; for the Ends & uses expressed in ye Said Will; Wee therefore humbly Craue the Patience & favour of this Hon'd Court to take ye p"misses, and what wee haue further to alleadge into yo! Serious Consideration, and to take Such Order therein, that ye true meaning and will of ye deceased who Soe leb- erally bequeathed to Publique vses may be fulfilled; and his Relations may not be jniured, wch is ye whole trust Comitted to us ye Overseers and ye only desire of.
In answer to this pet. the Dep- utyes Coneciue that if their be any artieles of agreement broken as aboue exprest the petrs are at libertie to proseeute the same in any of of Courts of Judieature, With refferenee to the Coneurreenee of of honord magists herein 17th: 3ª 1667
Yo! Petition's
Simon Bradstreete.
Daniel Denison
John Wilson Senior.
Edw : Rawson
James Johnson
William Torrey Cleric.
These recitals throw light upon the changing relations of Edward Lane and Anna Keayne. Several things are notiee- able in regard to this petition. It was not extended on the records of the General Court.35 It reeites a faet unknown to genealogists, - that the order of the Court under date Octo- ber 18, 1659, above eited, was based upon a "nulling of the marriage " between them. The petitioners take the ground that the eonveyanee by Edward Lane to Cooke and Wiswall, in 1663,36 being upon condition unperformed, was inoperative, and that the estates revested in them by order of Court. The reply of the Court, as we have seen, was that if Cooke and Wiswall had not kept their agreements, the law was open. This brings us to 1667, where the ease rested until, in January, 1683/4, its second stage opened. During this interval, Cooke and Wiswall apparently held the Rumney Marsh farms as their own estate. 37
35 [ This was the reply of the House of Deputies; there is no evidence that the Magistrates took action upon the petition.]
86 Suff. Deeds, L. 4, f. 191, as above cited.
37 Among the early tenants of the Keayne farm were Sergeant Samuel Eldred, 1657 to 1659 (supra, p. 645), and " Benjamin Mussey & others," in 1663. Keayne's allotment was bounded westerly by Charlestown; but apparently he acquired lands within that town (now Everett), occupied by " Richard Dexter of Molden " (Suff. Deeds, L. 4, f. 191), and perhaps later owned by Nicholas Paige. [See supra, note 13. Richard Dexter's farm did not pass to Nicholas Paige. For other tenants on the Keayne farm, see infra, p. 663.]
651
APPENDIX 1
CHAP. XIX]
APPENDIX 1
[The Chamberlain Family of Rumney Marsh
JOHN CHAMBERLAIN, tenant on the Dudley farm, died December 27, 1721, in the sixty-seventh year of his age.1 Presumably he was . a son of Edmond Chamberlain,2 by his wife Mary Turner, whom he married at Roxbury, January 4, 1646/7, as in February, 1656/7, Edmond and Mary Chamberlain had a son John aged about three years.3 " Mary, wife to Edmund Chamberlain of Chelmsford," died at the house of Samuel Ruggles in Roxbury, December 7, 1669,4 and he married June 22, 1670, Hannah (Winter) Burden or Birditt,5 widow of Robert Birditt of Malden, where he lived on the Birditt farm, which adjoined that of Way and Ireland in Rumney Marsh. April 1, 1678, Edmond Chamberlain resigned this farm to Thomas Birditt, his wife's eldest son,6 and October 17, 1678, he described himself as of Roxbury.7 He died at Woodstock,
1 Gravestone at Revere.
2 A genealogy of the family of Edmund Chamberlain, compiled for Judge Chamberlain by Harrison Ellery, is preserved in the book entitled Chamberlain and Hasey Genealogies (MSS.) in the room containing the Chamberlain Collection in the Boston Public Library. In accordance with a suggestion of Judge Chamberlain material has been drawn from it for this appendix.
3 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., xii. 330.
4 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., vi. 179. According to the record returned to the clerk of Middlesex County by Samuel Adams, clerk of Chelmsford, she died Decemher 6, 1669.
5 Malden Vital Records; also handed to the clerk of Middlesex County hy the clerk of Chelmsford.
6 Middlesex Court Files, April term, 1678. In 1672 and 1674 Edmund Chamberlain of Malden rented marshland helonging to the estate of Gov- ernor Bellingham. Supra, pp. 427, 451, note.
Middlesex Deeds, L. 8, f. 121. He with his wife Hannah hy this deed conveyed to James Russell of Charlestown a house and 92 or 97 acres of land in Chelmsford, the homestead adjoining land of Thomas Chamber- lain, Sr. Octoher 22, 1656, Edmond Chamberlain of Chelmsford, planter, conveyed to William Baker of Billerica a house and 112 acres of land in Billerica that had been conveyed to him September 19, 1656. It was one twelfth of a farm of 1600 acres sold by Thomas Dudley to Isaac Learned, Thomas Chamberlain, and James Parker of Woburn February 28, 1651/2, and was bounded on the northeast by land belonging to William Chamber- lain. Middlesex Deeds, L, 1, ff, 197, 208; L. 3, f. 318, June 11, 1656, Mary,
652
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XIX
then a part of Suffolk County, now of Connecticut, May 8, 1696,8 and administration on his estate was granted to his widow Hannah July 28.º Apparently he lived in Woburn, Chelmsford, Malden, Roxbury, and Woodstock.
March 22, 1689/90, John Chamberlain of Malden was admitted a freeman. In 1695 he was granted six acres by Malden; in 1701 his name was on the tax list for Rumney Marsh, where he was taxed for two polls, onc horse, two oxen, six cows, thirty sheep, and one hog, and for lands valued at £12 a year. In 1702, he held a "farme at twenty pound Rent a year." 1º Nicholas Paige mentioned him as the tenant on the little farm in Feb- ruary, 1702/3.11 Administration on the estate of John Cham- berlain of Rumney Marsh, husbandman, was granted to his son John, January 16, 1721/2.12 According to the inventory of his estate, and his administrator's account, he hired a farm of Paul Dudley, Esq., and owned six acres of woodland in Malden.13 His estate amounted to £238 : 11 : 2. His wife's name was Hannah. He had the following children :
1. John.
2. Margaret, married at Malden March 6, 1711/2, Samuel Wilson.
3. Hannah, born August 15, 1681; 14 presumably was married by Rev. Thomas Cheever to John Cole, May 7, 1705.
4. Edmund.
5. Mary, born at Malden, December 5, 1686 ; 15 possibly married to Daniel Whittemore by Rev. Thomas Cheever, January 22, 1718/9.
6. Sarah, born at Malden, November 25, 1688; presumably married to John Stower of Charlestown by Rev. Thomas Cheever, December 20, 1720, and died at Malden, October 2, 1730.
Deacon John Chamberlain (John (2) Edmund (1?) ) of Rum- ney Marsh died December 30, 1753, aged seventy-five years.16 As
wife of Edmond Chamberlain was received into the church of Chelmsford from the church in Woburn. 2 Proc. Mass, Hist. Soc., xii. 325,
8 Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 11, f. 210,
Ibid., L. 11, f. 186.
10 Corey, Malden, 378. Boston Rec. Com. Rep., x. 148, 143. Samuel Townsend, who paid £40 rent in 1672, was taxed for a farm of the rental value of £30.
Suff. Deeds, L. 21, f. 410.
12 Suff. Prob, Rec., L. 22, f. 356.
13 Ibid., ff. 384, 625. " To Rent paid Paul Dudley Esq. £34."
24 Wyman, p. 197 ; " of John and Hannah, Malden,"
15 Malden Vital Records; Wyman, 1022,
10 Gravestone at Revere.
653
APPENDIX 1
CHAP. XIX]
early as 1715 he was tenant of the Newgate farm; presumably he suceeeded Thomas Marable in 1710. In 1726 he purehased land at Pullen Point, and removed thither in 1734 or earlier.17 He and his wife Hannah joined the church at Rumney Marsh, June 16, 1717, and his first five children were baptized July 21, 1717. He was chosen deaeon in June, 1720. May 10, 1705, he was married to Hannah, daughter of Lieutenant Joseph Hasey.18 She died October, 26, 1727, in her forty-sixth year.19 Presumably he married (2) Mary Jarvis, June 11, 1728.20 January 25, 1754, his widow Mary was appointed to administer on his estate.21 The children of John and- Hannah Chamberlain were:
1. Sarah, born at Malden Mareh 14, 1705/6 ; 22 married April 6, 1725, to Joseph Halloway (or Hallowell) by Rev. Thomas Cheever.
2. Abigail, born at Malden February 24, 1707/8; married May 12, 1730, Thomas Eustaee of Winnisimmet.23
3. Elizabeth, born September 26, 1710; 2ª died December 12, 1721.25
4. Hannah, born November 10, 1712; married January 11, 1740/1, to David Burnap of Hopkinton by Rev. Thomas Cheever.26
5. Mary, born Mareh 5, 1714/5; married January 2, 1734/5, to John Hasey.27
6. John, born March 9, 1716/7; died April 29, 1717, aged seven weeks.28
7. Rachel, died Mareh 30, 1718, aged fifteen days.28
8. Susanna, baptized November 15, 1719; married January 11, 1742/3, John Sargeant of Malden.
9. Lydia, baptized November 19, 1721; died August 18, 1722.28
10. Lois, baptized October 13, 1723; died Oetober 4, 1725.28 October 9, 1755, the following heirs agreed to the distribution
11 Supra, pp. 168, 169, 194.
18 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxviii. 8; supra, pp. 233, 234.
19 Gravestone at Reverc.
20 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxviii. 142.
21 Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 48, f. 661.
22 Malden Vital Records.
23 Supra, p. 367.
24 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxiv. 67.
25 Gravestone at Revere.
28 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., xxviii. 339; according to the record in Chelsea, January 1, 1741.
27 Supra, p. 243.
28 Gravestone at Revere.
.
654
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XIX
of the estate of Deaeon John Chamberlain: Mary Chamberlain, the widow, Sarah Haluel ( Hallowell), Abigail Eustes, David Burnap in behalf of his wife Hannah, John Sargeant in behalf of his wife Susanna, and as guardian to the heirs of Mary (Hasey) deeeased. On the division of the widow's thirds the following signed as heirs February 12, 1783: Susanna Sargent, Joshua Cheever for Abigal Eastes (Eustace), Samuel Floyd, Joshua Cheever for Hannah Burnett (Burnap) .2º
Edmund Chamberlain (John (2) Edmund (1?) ) was married June 3, 1703, to Margaret Doutey by Rev. Thomas Cheever. July 16, 1722, John Chamberlain was chosen guardian by his nieees Hannah, aged about eighteen, and Ruth, aged about fifteen, and appointed guardian of Margaret, aged about thirteen, daughters of his brother Edmund Chamberlain, late of Rumney Marsh.3º Presumably Ruth married Matthew Mallet of Charlestown July 31, 1729, and Margaret, Nathaniel Townsend of Lynn, Deeember 9, 1736.31
Samuel Chamberlain was aeeidentally killed at Rumney Marsh in 1706. At an inquest on October 3, in the fifth year of Queen Anne's reign, William Ireland, Joseph Hasey, John ffloid, John Brentnall, Elisha Tuttle, Jonathan Tuttle, William Hasey, Thomas Prat, John Center, Jr., Joseph Lewis, John Lewis, John Tuttle, Jr., Abraham Hasey, Nicholas Bayly, and Stephen Larabe " upon their. Oaths do say, That the said Sam11 Chamberlain in Climing a tree to get Walnuts fell from the tree upon the ground which fall was the Caus of his Death." 32
Jaeob Chamberlain died at Rumney Marsh September 15, 1734, in the forty-fourth year of his age aeeording to the grave- stone at Revere. Mr. Harrison Ellery wrote: " He was a eord- wainer and I am inelined to think that Jaeob Chamberlain of Roxbury was his unele 33 and that he may have gone there to live with him. I have no positive proof that he was the son of John and Hannah Chamberlain of Malden, but eireumstanees lead me to think he was without doubt his son." Judge Chamberlain dis- sented. January 12, 1713/4, Jaeob Chamberlain of Roxbury was
29 Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 50, f. 637; L. 82, ff. 320-322.
30 Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 22, ff. 608-610. Presumably this was the soldier of 1710 from Malden. Corey, Malden, 684. Mr. Harrison Ellery assigned Edmund, son of Edmund, to Woodstock, where July 19, 1713, 2734 acres were laid out to an Edmund Chamberlain. Boston Rec. Com. Rep., vi. 60.
31 Malden Vital Records.
32 Suff. Early Court Files, No. 6922.
33 It is supposed that Jacob of Roxbury was a son of Edmund. He was
a cordwainer.
-
655
.
CHAP. XIX]
APPENDIX 1
married by Rev. Thomas Cheever to Abiel Hasey.34 They owned the covenant at Roxbury in December, 1714. She was admitted to full communion at Roxbury in February, 1716, he at Rumney Marsh February 9, 1723/4. In 1730 he purchased the farm of Jonathan Tuttle.35 In 1733, he was constable and tax eolleetor for the distriet of Rumney Marsh. His widow was appointed admin- istratrix of his estate; 36 she sold the farm, and removed with her family to Hopkinton, Mass. Possibly she was the Mrs. Chamber- lain who died there in April, 1793, " the oldest person in the town above 95." She was baptized October 20, 1695. The children of Jaeob and Abigail Chamberlain were:
1. Sarah, born December 10 (?), 1714, in Roxbury; married David Burnap of Hopkinton.
2. Martha, born January 19, 1717/8, in Roxbury; married Benjamin Wood at Hopkinton August 4, 1737.
3. John, admitted to the church in Hopkinton in 1741; married Mary Wood March 14, 1744/5; died at Jaffrey, N. H., in 1792, aged 72.37
4. Jacob, married Lydia Mellen in 1747; died at Danville, Vt.38
5. Samuel, baptized at Chelsea June 7, 1724 ;· married Martha Mellen at Hopkinton March 2, 1748/9 ; removed to Concord, N. H., living in a part of the town that then belonged to Loudon; repre- sented Loudon and Canterbury in the State Legislature in 1777 and 1778; removed to Peaeham, Vt., in 1797; died in 1802.38 Judge Chamberlain was his great-grandson.
6. Elizabeth, baptized September 18, 1726; married Nathaniel Hasey.39
7. Phebe, born September 4, 1728; baptized September 8; was alive in 1735.40
8. Edmund, born October 11, 1730; baptized November 22; married Mary Caryl at Hopkinton in 1757; lived later at Roek- ingham, Vt .; died at Lunenberg, Vt., about 1810.38
9. Nathaniel, born October 27, 1732; baptized November 5; living in 1735.
10. Abiel (a son), born October 7, 1734; lived in Loudon and Canterbury, N. H .; died at Peaeham, Vt.]
24 Supra, p. 242. She wrote her name Abihail.
35 Supra, p. 223.
36 Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 32, f. 28. The inventory and the account of the administratrix are in L. 32, ff. 26, 28, 521.
37 Family Bible; Hopkinton records as copicd by Judge Chamberlain.
28 MSS. Account of the Chamberlain family by William Chamberlain, 1820.
39 Supra, p. 243.
Suff. Prob. Rec., L. 32, f. 28.
656
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XIX
APPENDIX 2
.
Colonel Nicholas Paige
Col. Nicholas Paige, found in Boston 1665, eame from Ply- mouth, Devonshire, a merchant; married Ann, daughter of Ben- jamin Keayne, and granddaughter of Captain Robert Keayne, whose large landed estate in Revere beeame her property. [He was in Boston as early as 1660, but in England with Anna Keayne Lane in 1665.] Her history is given in the text.
[He engaged in foreign trade, and apparently was not over serupulous in' his observanee of the laws. In 1674, with Riehard Wharton and others, he was eensured by the General Court for partieipation in a privateering venture, which had been without the authority, if not directly contrary to the orders of the magis- trates in Boston.1 In June, 1680, Edward Randolph reported in Boston harbor " a Pink of 60 tun riding at an Anchor, loaden with Logwood belonging to one Nieholas Page of this Towne, he gave noe bond pretending he was bound for New found land, and soe got a passe from the Govr. it was ordered that if I went aboard that Pink I should be knoek'd at head, and I beleive it, for I have been threatned by Paige." 2 The Governor, Simon Bradstreet, was his wife's unele. Nine years later, on June 5, 1689, Randolph reported that the keteh Salisbury, of which Paige was the owner, "loaden with Tobaeeo arrived at Boston from Maryland without a Certificate " and " with her Load- ing of Tobaeeo, Saild from Boston to Glaseow direetly without En- tring into Bond." 3 He was a man of energy, and there are many references to his eommereial ventures, and the difficulties arising from them, in the Massachusetts Archives and the records of the Suffolk eourts. As a resident of Boston he was eensured some three or four times for nuisances or eneroaehments on the street.4 As a man of property the burden of the eonstable's office was laid upon him in Mareh, 1673/4. He held no other office by gift
1 Supra, p. 441.
2 Prince Society Publ., Randolph Papers, iii. 71, 72.
3 Ibid., v. 39.
4 Boston Rec. Com. Rep., vii. 100, 194, 221; xi. 7.
-
1
657
APPENDIX 2
CHAP. XIX]
of the town. Joseph Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, and Major Gen. Denison were uncles by blood or by marriage of his wife, and notwithstanding the blot on his youth because of his immoral relations with Mrs. Anna Keayne Lane, Sewall's diary shows that he shared the social life of the town.]
June 27, 1675, Nicholas Paige was appointed Captain of Dra- goons to accompany Major Thomas Savage in the expedition to Mt. Hope, in King Philip's War. He went to Narragansett, re- turned to Boston with Major Savage, and disbanded his men. There is no account of his further service in this war." [Shortly after the initiation of the Dudley and Andros régimes he is men- tioned as Lieutenant Colonel, instead of Captain Paigc.] He afterwards became Colonel of the Suffolk regiment; in 1693, a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and in 1695, its Commander. He was active in the deposition of Gov- ernor Andros in 1689. [Under date of May 15, 1686, Sewall wrote in his diary, " Govr Hinkley, Major Richards, Mr. Russell and Self sent to by Major Dudley to come to Capt. Paigc's, where we saw the Exemplification of the Judgment against the Charter with the Broad Seal affixed." 6 How Captain Paige and his wife profited by this change of government to obtain possession of the farm at Rumney Marsh is shown elsewhere. A month later, June 19, 1686, President Dudley and the Council sent to the govern- ment in England the names of eight men whom they deemed fit appointees for the Governor's Council in place of the four who had declined to serve. The name of Nicholas Paigc was the fourth on the list. He was not appointed. March 26, 1684, Edward Randolph, overlooking for the moment apparently the commercial irregularities which he had reported in 1680, sug- gested Nicholas Paige among others to the Archbishop of Can- terbury as a fit appointee on a commission to inspect the accounts and proceedings of the Governor and Company for Evangelizing the Indians in New England, and the Corporation of Harvard College; he did not suggest Paige for the Council in his letter of September 2, 1685.]7 In July, 1689, Lt. Col. Nicholas Paige contributed £20 "towards erecting a Church for God's worship in Boston, according to the Constitution of the Church of England as by law Established." 8 [This list, dated July, 1689, is en- titled : " A memorandum of sure, honest, and well-disposed per- sons that Contributed their assistance for and towards erecting,"
5 Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, 85.
Sewall's Diary, i. 137.
" Prince Soc. Publ., Randolph Papers, iii. 288-290; iv. 85, 86, 44.
8 Foote, Annals of King's Chapel, i. 89. VOL. I .- 42
658
HISTORY OF CHELSEA
[CHAP. XIX
etc. The contributions were inade earlier. The name of Lt. Col. Nicholas Paige is the second on the list, he and Benjamin Bulli- vant being the heaviest contributors. Only six men subscribed ten pounds or over. His name does not appear elsewhere in the history of King's Chapel; it was not in the list "of the con- tributors towards pews," dated in May, 1694.
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