USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume II > Part 21
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(I) William Pinchon, or Pynchon, as the name is generally indexed and according to his autograph, but spelled "Pinchon" in all the colonial records of Massachusetts, was born at Springfield, Essex, England, about 1590, son of John and (Orchard) Pynchon, and great-grandson of Nicholas Pynchon, a native of Wales and sheriff of London, 1532. Will- iam Pynchon married Anna, daughter of Will- iam Andrews, of Twiwell, Northamptonshire. He was a man of wealth, had been educated at Cambridge and became interested in the Amer- ican colonies, being one of the original patentees of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. In 1629 a charter was granted to the patentees and their associates in England, establishing a corporation and making the associates a body politic with power to establish a government over a pro- posed colony to be formed in the new world, the laws so created to be "not repugnant to the laws of England," and giving the colonists the privilege to "repulse and exclude" all per- sons whom they should believe to be undesir- able as settlers. The patentees met and elected Matthew Craddock governor, having previ- ously planned a form of government, and in
Guil. Pynchon, Aimg Effigies Dolin. Anno Dom 1657 Ætat. 67
William Pynchon. De
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1628 they sent John Endicott, one of the patentees, to Salem with a party of Puritans with powers to govern the colony in subordina- tion to the governor and company in London. Craddock declining to serve on October 30, 1629, they elected John Winthrop governor, and from this time William Pynchon was a regular attendant and advisor at the meetings in London, and was one of the eighteen assist- ants to the governor. He is named in the charter of the colony both as a patentee and assistant, the charter having been granted unto the council established at Plymouth, in the county of Devon, on the third day of Novem- ber, in the eighteenth year of the reign of James, and the instrument was signed by Walseley, March 4, 1628-29, and he is record- ed as being present at the meeting held May II, 1629, and also at the meeting of assistants held at Southampton, March 18, 1629-30, but his name not appearing at the meeting on the "Arbella" he evidently came to New England by another ship. He was chosen assistant at the first general court held at Charles Towne, August 25, 1630, and he was treasurer, 1632- 34 ; assisted in founding Roxborough, and was prominent in organizing the First church in that town. He was fined for non-attendance at the meeting of the general court, September, 1630. He engaged in the fur trade with the Indians and had a great control over the savages, who during his stay in Roxborough treated him with great respect. He was a large owner of the stock of the colony and was granted valu- able patents for extensive tracts of land in the Connecticut Valley by Charles I. Besides his wife, who died in Roxborough, in 1630; his son John, born in Springfield, England, in 1621 ; his daughter Anne and her husband, Henry Smith, who became a prominent figure in the enterprises carried on in the Connecticut River Valley; his daughter Margaret, who after her arrival married William Davis, a druggist in the town of Boston, and Mary, his youngest daughter, who married Captain Elizur Holyoke, were members of his family, both in Roxbury and Agawam. Before leav- ing Roxborough he married as his second wife, Frances Sanford, of that town. The general court, at a meeting held March 3, 1635-36, granted a commission to William Pynchon "to govern the people of Connecticut for the space of one year, in view of the great removal of our long friends, neighbors, freemen and members of the town of Newtowne, Dorches- ter, Watertown, and other places, who are re- solved to transplant themselves and their
estates unto the River of Connecticut, there to reside and inhabit." The commissioners ap- pointed by the general court besides William Pynchon governor, were Roger Ludlowe, Esq., John Steele, William Swaine, Henry Smith, William Phelps, William Andrew Warner, and these commissioners, or the "greater part of them," were given definite powers. His last appearance at the general court as a citizen of Roxborough was September 8, 1636. He led his small company through the wilderness to Agawam river, opposite where it unites with the Connecticut, and there founded the town of Agawam and proceeded to make the colon- ists comfortable and happy in their new sur- roundings. His first care was for the church. He understood in 1638 that his settlement was under the jurisdiction and within the territory of Connecticut Colony, and he was a delegate to the legislation of that colony, but his views did not agree with the majority of the governing body, and he rebelled and withdrew from that government and asked the general court of Massachusetts Bay to reassume jurisdiction. To this end the general court of June 2, 1641, gave him the following commission : "Its now hereby ordered that Willi. Pinchon Gent. for this yeare shall hereby have full power & authority to govern the inhabitants at Spring- field & to heare & determine all causes and offences both civil & criminall that reach not to life, limb and banishment, according to the lawes established, provided that in matters of weight or difficulty, it shal bee lawfull for any party to appeal to the Court of Assistants at Boston, so as they psecute the same according to the order of the court; provided also that these tryalls bee by the oathes of 6 men untill they shall have a greater number of inhabitants for that service." The same court appointed him with his son-in-law, Mr. Smith, to set out five hundred acres of land, granted to Sir Rich. Saltonstall Knight, below Springfield if it fell within his patent. He was the principal owner of the patent and his estates embraced thous- ands of acres and he erected saw and grist mills and encouraged agriculture and the build- ing of houses and barns and clearing the rich lands. He was elected assistant by the general court and took the oath of office, May 14, 1644, and again in 1646-47-48-49, and in May, 1649, was excused from further attendance at the general court in Boston for that session in order to carry out duties devolving on him in Springfield. He was again chosen assistant May 22, 1650, when Thomas Dudley, Esq., was elected governor, John Endicott, Esq.,
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deputy governor, and he is recorded as Will- iam Pinchon, Esq., Gent., the first assistant named. The same year he visited England and while there passed through the press his much discussed book "The Meritorious Price of Man's Redemption," in which he contro- verted the Calvanistic view of the atonement. He brought copies of this book to Boston and it was regularly published in London. The ministers in Boston and Salem on reading the book were shocked at its contents and loudly condemned it and laid its contents, as inter- preted by them, before the general court, and it was pronounced heretical and dangerous and the author was summoned to appear forthwith and either own or disclaim the authorship. The most intelligent and impartial account of the proceeding of the general court in the matter will be gained through a transcript of the proceedings which will immediately follow, the writer of this article inserting here the fact that the orders of the court were fully carried out and a copy of the book was publicly burned in the Market Place, Boston, and that the book has disappeared from circulation in its original form, only three copies being known to exist, one being in the British Museum, one copy was owned by Mr. H. S. Sheldon (deceased), of Suffield, Connecticut, and one by a private book collector in New York City ; the identity of this owner we have been unable to discover. At a meeting of the general court of May 26, 1652, following this incident, passed an act making the denial of the Holy Scriptures as being the words of God, a crime punishable by death or banishment.
General Court of the Colony of the Massa- chusetts Bay in New England, October 15, 1650
"The Court having had the sight of a book lately printed under the name of William Pinchon of New England, Gentlemen, do judge meet first that a protest be drawn fully and duly, to satisfy all men that this court is so far from approving the same as that they do utterly dislike it and detest it as eronius and dangerous ; secondly that it be sufficiently answered by one of the reverend elders ; thirdly that the said William Pinchon, gent. be sum- moned to appear before the next general court to answer for the same ; fourthly, that the said book now brought over, be burned by the executioner, or such other as the magistrate shall appoint ( the forty being willing to do it) in the Market Place in Boston, on the morrow, immediately after the lecture."
October 16, 1650 "The General Court now
sitting at Boston in New England this 16th of October, 1650: There was brought to our hands a book written (as was therein sub- scribed) by William Pinchon, in New England, Gent. entitled 'The Meritorious Price of our Redemption, Justification, Etc. Clearing it from some common errors Etc.,' which book was brought over either by a ship a few days ago since, and containing many errors and herecies, generally condemned by all orthodox writers that we have met with. We have judged it meet and necessary ( for vindication of the truth so far as in us lyeth) as also to keep and preserve these people here committed to our trust and care, in the true knowledge and faith of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and of our redemption by him, as likewise for the clearing of ourselves to our Christian brethren, and others in England where this book was printed and is dispersed, hereby to protest our innocency, as being neither parties nor privy to the writing, composing, printing or divulg- ing thereof, but that on the contrary, we detest and abhor many of the opinions and assertions therein as false, erroneous and heretical, yea, 'and whatsoever is contained in the said book which are contrary to the Scripture of the Old and New Testament, and the general received doctrines of the Orthodox churches, extant since the time of the last and best reformation, and for proof of our sincere and plain mean- ing therein, we do hereby condemn the said book to be burned in Market Place at Boston by the Marshall, which was done accordingly ; and do propose with all convenient speed to convent the said Mr. William Pinchon, before authority to find out whether the said William Pinchon will own the said book as his or not, which, if he doeth, we propose, God assisting, to proceed with him according to his demerits, unless he retract the same and give full satis- faction, both here and by some second writing to be printed and dispersed in England. All which we thought needful for the reasons above alleged, to make known by this short protestation and declaration. Also we further propose, with what convenient speed we may, to appoint some fit person to make particular answer to all material and controversal pass- ages in the same book, and to publish the same in prints, that so the errors and falsities therein may be fully discovered, the truths cleared, and the minds of those who live and seek after the truth confirmed therein."
"It is ordered that the declaration published yesterday. concerning the book subscribed by the name of William Pinchon of New Eng-
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land. Gent. shall be agreed by the secretary and sent to England, to be printed there."
It is ordered that Mr. John Newton of Ips- wich be entrusted to answer Mr. Pinchon's book.
It is ordered that Mr. William Pinchon shall be summoned to appear before the next Gen- eral Court of Elections, on the first day of their sitting, to give his answer to the book printed and published under the name of William Pinchon in New England, Gent, entitled, "The Meritorious Price of Redemption, Justi- fications, Etc. and not to deport without leave from the Court." The contradictory members of the General Court, who voted against the declaration made October 15, 1650 were : Will- iam Hawthorne, Speaker of the Deputies ; Jos. Hills, Henry Bartholemew, Richard Walker, Edward Holyoke, Stephen Kingsley, and in the session of the Court, Oct. 16, 1650, after passing the declaration and protest of the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, resolved by the unanimous vote by the Court that the reasons mentioned by the contradiscenting brethern of the Deputies should not be recorded or kept in file, thus disrespecting the law as it stood in regard to records of this Court.
On May 8, 1651, the General Court has this record :
"Mr. William Pinchon, being summoned to appear before the General Court according to their order, the last session, made his appear- ance before the Court, and being demanded whether that book which goes under his name, and there presented to him, was his or not ; he answered for the substance of the book, he owned it to be his.
"Wherefore the Court, out of their tender respect for him offered him liberty to confer with all the reverend elders now present, or such of them as he should desire and choose. At last he took it into consideration, and re- turned his mind at the present in writing under his hand, viz: According to the Court's ad- vice, I have conferred with the Reverend Mr. Cotton, Mr. Norrice and Mr. Norton, about some prints of the greatest consequence in my book, and I hoped have so explained my mean- ing to them as to take off the worst construc- tion, and it hath pleased God to let me see that I have not spoken in my book so fully of the prize and merit of Christ's sufferings as I should have done ; for in my book, I call them but trials of his obedience, yet intended thereby to amplify and exalt the mediatorial obedi- ence of Christ as the only meritorious price of
man's redemption. But now at present I am much inclined to think that his sufferings were appointed by God for a further end, namely, as the due punishment of our sins by way of satisfaction to divine justice for man's re- demption.
Subscribed your servant in all dutiful re- spects, Boston, May 9, 1651.
William Pinchon."
"The Court finding by Mr. Pinchon's writ- ing given to the Court that through the bless- ing of God on the pains of the reverend elders to convince him of the errors in his book that he is in a hopeful way to give satisfaction, and therefore at his request, judge it meet to give him liberty, respecting the present troubles of his family, to return home some day, the next week, if he pleases, and that he shall have Mr. Norton's answer to his book with him, to consider thereof, that so at the next session of the court, being the 14th of October next, he may give all due satisfaction as it is hoped for and desired, to which session he is hereby enjoyned to make his personal appearance for that end.
For as much as there is a present necessity that some care be taken respecting the case of Springfield, they being at present destitute of any magistrates or others to put issue to such causes and differences as shall or may arise among them, upon their request it is ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, that Mr. Henry Smith of Springfield aforesaid for this year ensuing, or till the Court shall take further order, shall hereby have full power and authority to govern the inhabitants of Springfield, and to hear and determine all cases and offences, both civil and criminal, that read not life, limb or banishment, according to the laws here established; provided that in all matters of weight and difficulty it shall be lawful for any party to appeal to the Court of Assistants at Boston, so that they prose- cute the same according to the order of the Court ; provided also that their trials be by the oaths of six men if twelve cannot be had for that service ; and the said Mr. Smith hath power to give oaths, and send constables as shall be legally chosen, and to examine wit- nesses, as any magistrate may do. This was delivered to him, and he took his oath accord- ingly.
Mr .. Henry Smith, of Springfield, being a member of this court upon his request, "having urged occasion to return home is dismissed from further attendance or the service of this Court for this session."
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On October 24, 1651, the judgment of the Court in Mr. Pinchons case was suspended to May next, and it was also ordered that the answer to Mr. Pinchon's book, written by Mr. John Newton should be sent to England to be printed.
The church in Springfield was greatly dis- turbed by the action of the general court and the ministers of Boston, and Colonel Pinchon feeling himself unjustly persecuted and evi- dently disgusted by the action of his long time colleagues in the boards of assistants, he de- cided not to appear before the body again, after having been unsuccessfully called in October, 1651, and again in May, 1652, and with his wife, his minister, the Rev. John Moxon, his son-in-law, Henry Smith, and probably his daughter Anne he arranged his affairs in Springfield, turning the management of his large estate over to his son, John, and bidding farewell to his people who truly loved him for his kind consideration for him in the past, and especially for preserving the peace with the Indians that they had thus far en- joyed, he departed from Springfield and the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, in Septem- ber, 1652, and took ship for England.
On October 19, 1652, his son, John Pinchon, together with Elizur Holyoke and John Parker were sworn in as a board of commissioners to administer the government of the town of Springfield and these commissioners were em- powered by the general court on May 18, 1653, to administer the freeman's oath and at the same time they confirmed John Pinchon as lieutenant and Elizur Holyoke as ensign in the local militia, and deferred the confirma- tion of Henry Smith as captain until his re- turn from Europe.
On reaching London, Colonel Pinchon made his home in Wraisbury, near Windsor, where he passed his closing years in the employment of a handsome income from his American estate. His wife died on his English estate at Wraisbury, England, October 10, 1657, and he survived her five years, the date of his death being October 29, 1662. He devoted his time after his return to England to theological writing, and he lived in entire conformity with the Church of England. His second book, "The Jewish Synagogue" was published in England in 1652 followed by "How the First Sabbath was Ordained" 1654; "The Meritori- ous Price of Man's Redemption, or Christ's Satisfaction Discussed and Explained" ( 1655). which was a rejoiner to the book of the Rev. John Norton on the same subject, published
in London by order of the general court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay and a copy of which rejoiner is preserved in Harvard University library. His last book, "The Cove- nant of Nature Made with Adam" was pub- lished in London in 1662.
(II) John, son of Colonel William and Anna (Andrews) Pynchon, was born in Springfield, his father's country seat in Essex, England, in 1621. He came with his father's family to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, lived in Roxburgh or Roxbury, as later known, and was a member of the small colony led by his illustrious father, through the wilderness, to the mouth of the Agawam river and found- ed a town on the west bank of the Connecticut river in 1636. He was doubtless educated by his father and the Rev. John Moxon, minister of the first church organized at Agawam, and early became attached to the militia, organized to protect the little band of settlers. He was married October 30, 1644, to Amy, daughter of George Wylbys, provisional governor of the Colony of Connecticut and on which estate at Hartford the large oak tree stood, in the hollow of which the Charter to the river towns and known as Connecticut, granted by Charles II. to John Winthrop (second) in 1662, was hid in October, 1687, and through this device on the part of the people, the charter con- tinued to be recognized as the supreme law of the colony for one hundred and twenty-nine years, save the short tyrannical rule of Sir Edward Andros, deposed on the fall of James II. On the departure of his father to England in 1652 he assumed charge of his extensive estates and large financial interests, and was about the same time given the responsiblities of the welfare of the Colonists, for the six- teen years so successfully carried on by his father. He was appointed by the general court one of three resident commissioners of Spring- field to administer the government of the time, the others being his brother-in-law, Elizur Holyoke, and the other his friend and neigh- bor, John Parker. This commission was given by the court, October 19, 1652, and this com- mission annulled the commission given to Mr. Henry Smith in May. 1651. These commis- sioners were also empowered by the court the May following to administer the freeman's oath, and Mr. John Pinchon was at the same time confirmed as lieutenant of the local mili- tia, of which his brother-in-law, Henry Smith, was captain, and as Captain Smith was in Europe, having sailed with Colonel Pinchon in 1652, the command of the company fell
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on him. As chairman of the commission, he reported to the general court on October 17. 1654, the action of the commission in survey- ing and laying out the plantation and town- ship of Navtucke, and the court approved the report and reappointed the commissioners to continue to act at Springfield in accordance with the commission formerly granted to Mr. Henry Smith. His duties were enlarged by the general court of May 14, 1656, when that body authorized him, together with Elizur Holyoke to examine and take testimony in a charge of capital crime against a citizen of Springfield, and ordered that if they found the crime to be capital to cause the offender to be sent at once to Boston to answer to the court of assistants. Before the general court of May 28. 1659, he joined in a petition for the laying out of a new town, ten miles square, forty or fifty miles west of Springfield, and about two-thirds of the way to Fort Aurania, which petition was granted and the same court granted a commission to "Capt. John Pinchon, Left. Holiocke and Mr. Samuel Chapin" to administer justice in Springfield with the powers of a country court and being in attend- ance at the general court of May 11, 1659, as a deputy, Capt. Pinchon took the oath of office as magistrate and he was empowered by the general court to administer the oath to the other two of the commission and he was also authorized by the court to solemnize mar- riages. At the session of the general court of May II, 1659, "Captain John Pinchon, Left. Holyhoke, Deacon Chapin, William Holton and Richard Lyman" were made a committee to lay out the bounds of the town of Norwottocke on either or both sides of the river. The gen- eral court of November 12, 1659. granted him one thousand acres of land; four hundred acres as reimbursement for moneys disbursed by his father, Colonel William Pinchon, and the balance upon other considerations of ser- vice rendered, provided that the land be not laid out in more than two parcels, and not hinder a plantation already granted to another. He served as deputy from Springfield to the general court, 1659-65. He was the first jus- tice of the court of common pleas and court of sessions held in Springfield, and in 1660 he built what became known as the "garrison house," the first brick building erected in the Connecticut Valley which, owing to its sub- stantial construction, was used as a refuge of the settlers in the Indian wars, and when Springfield was destroyed by the savages in
1675, the only families that escaped were sheltered within its walls, and the only build- ing left standing after the torch had been applied by the Indians was this garrison house. On August 9, 1664, Captin Pinchon was order- ed to reduce the Dutch at Marhatoes and on L Island, and his exploit gave him the rank and title of major and he was thereafter known as Major Pinchon, and after addressed as "Wor- shipped Major." He laid out the towns of Northampton, Hadley, Hatfield, Deerfield, Northfield and Westfield, and during the King Philip's war, 1675-76, held the rank of colonel, and he commanded the First Regiment of Hampshire county militia. His influence and the respect held by the Indians for his father had enabled him to hold the tribes of western Connecticut and Massachusetts in peace ful rela- tions with the whites, but when King Philip with his warlike allies from the Narragansett made war upon the settlements of Middlesex, Worcester, and Hampshire counties he was forced into aggressive methods of contract, and after several towns in the valley had been threatened, including Brookfield, Deerfield, Hatfield, Hadley and Springfield, and the three first named destroyed, he made a stand at Hadley and was with his regiment, keeping off the Indians, infesting it on every side, when he received an imperitive summons from his home in Springfield to hasten to the pro- tection of that chief town, which summons he immediately obeyed, carrying with him those he could of the people of Hadley who had escaped fire and the tomohawk of the Indians. As he marched his regiment and his refugees down the main street, a scene of horror and destruction met his gaze as he rode at the head of his troops. As he passed the house of Miles Morgan, he found it a heap of ruins as he did all others, on both sides of the street, and the mills and barns, back from the street were either blazing or smouldering furnaces of fire. Ahead he saw the garrison house which sheltered his family, the only remaining building standing, while his barns, mills and outbuildings were in ruin. Within his house, he found his family safe, and all the women and children who were able to gain access to its hospitable doors safe. Over thirty dwelling houses and as many barns filled with corn and hay had been destroyed. This was October, 1675, and we copy a letter written by Colonel Pynchon to his son Joseph, then in London, England, immediately after the burning of the place, to better show the destruction wrought
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