USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol I > Part 14
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" ' I send you a leaf from the vine, which still flourishes in luxurianec, which, I am sorry to say, resembles our own natives of the woods a little too strongly ; something beside I also send you, which savors as little of the muse's inspiration as the vine in question does of foreign extraction ; but, if poctical license can find affinities for the latter, I trust your goodness will extend its mantle over the infirmity of the for- mer. **
" Lines by Mrs. L. Huntley Sigourney, t on visiting a vine among the
* Dr. Abiel Holmes, a native of Woodstock, Connecticut, son of Dr. David Holmes, a graduate of Yale college, in 1783, was pastor of a church in Midway, Georgia, from 1785 to 1791, and was settled at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1792, and pastor there till 1832 ; his first wife was daughter of President Stiles, of Yale; his second, daughter of Judge Oliver Wendell, and mother of Dr. O. W. Holmes, a noted author. He died at Cambridge, June 4, 1837, aged seventy-three.
+ Mrs. Sigourney, formerly Lydia Huntley, was born at Norwich, Connecticut, in 1791 ; was the only child of her parents. She was married to Charles Sigourney, a merchant, of Hartford, in 1819. Her husband encouraged her literary taste. She wrote, with extraor- dinary ability, both prose and verse. She moved to Hartford in 1815, and afterwards made
EARLY HISTORY OF OXFORD. 153
ruins of the French fort at Oxford, Massachusetts, supposed to have been planted by the Huguenots, who made settlements at that place when they fled from their native country, after the Revocation of the Ediet of Nantes, in 1685 :
POEM.
" Say, did thy germ e'er drink the fostering dews Of beauteous Languedoc ?- Didst thou unfold Thy latent fibre 'neath the genial skies Of smiling Rousillon ?- or fragrant hang In purple cluster from some fruitful vine Of fair Rochelle ?- Perchance thy infant leaves Have trembled at the bitter sigh of those Whom Tyranny oppressed, or shuddering caught That silent tear which suffering Virtue sheds In loneliness-that tear which witnesseth To the high Judge. Not by rash, thoughtless hands Who sacrifiee to Baeehus, pouring forth Libations at his altar, with wild songs Hailing his madden'd orgies, wert thou borne To foreign elimes-but with the suffering band Of pious Huguenots didst dare the wave, When they essay'd to plant salvation's vine In the drear wilderness. Pensive they mark'd The everlasting forest's gloomy shade, The uneultur'd vale, the snow-invested heath, Traek'd by the vengeful native; yet to rear Their temple to the Eternal Sire, and pay Unfetter'd homage to His name were joy ; Though on their hymn of praise the desert howl'd, The savage arrow seath'd them, and dark clouds Involv'd their infant Zion, yet they bore Toil and afflietion, with unwavering eye Fix'd on the heavens, and, firm in hope sublime, Sank to their last repose. Full many a son Among the noblest of our land looks back Through Time's long vista, and exulting claims These as his sires. They sleep in mouldering dust. But thou, fair Vine, in beauteous verdure bloom'st, O'er Man's deeay. Wooing thy tendril green
that place her residence, She visited Europe in 1840, and died at Hartford, June 10, 1865. She published fifty-six distinct works, and contributed more than 2,000 articles, in prose verse, to different periodicals,
11
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Springs the wild rose, as if it fain would twine Wreaths for its native soil. And well it may ; For here dwell Liberty and laurel'd Peace, Lending to life new lustre, and with dews Etherial bathing Nature's charms. The child Of Poverty feels here no vassalage, nor shrinks From Persecution's scourge. The simplest hind- Whether he homeward guide his weary team Beneath the evening star, or whistling lead To pastures fresh, with morn, his snowy sheep- Bears on his brow, in deepen'd characters, Knowledge is power. He, too, with filial eye Uncheck'd, undim'd, marks blest Religion come, In simple mildness, binding on the heart Her laws of love, gilding each gather'd cloud Of varied sentiment, that o'er the dust Of earth's low confine hangs, with beams serene, From that bright sun which shall hereafter blend All fleeting shades in one effulgent smile Of immortality."
It has been shown that their first minister, who resided with them many years at Oxford, was Rev. Daniel Bondet, who, with most of this small colony, fled to Boston, where they continued a number of years a distinct body, having a relig- ious society of their own. Rev. Mr. Bondet soon left them and settled at New Rochelle, in New York, as has been re- lated; but, previous to his leaving this people, they had arranged for another pastor, the Rev. Peter Daillie.
Mr. Daillie had for several years been the pastor over the French church at New Paltz, in Ulster county, New York, which had been established the 22d of January, 1683; from this date to the time of his leaving for Boston, in 1696, he had divided his services between the church at New Paltz and the French church at New York, having served there thirteen years, before his removal to Boston .*
* See Historical Sketch of the Church at New Paltz, by their present pastor, the Rev. Charles H. Stitt, D. D.
Some of the Huguenot families which composed this settlement came from the Palatinate
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Dr. Cotton Mather, in giving an account of the Christian congregations in New England, in the year 1696, mentions, among the churches in the town of Boston, a French congre- gation of refugees, under the pastoral care of Monsieur Dail- lie. Mr. Snow, in his " History of Boston," refers to this pas- sage in the " Magnalia," and says it is the first notice of the French church. This was the year the French colony aban- doned Oxford. Thus it appears that Rev. Mr. Daillie com- menced his pastorate directly after he left New Paltz ; and it is probable that Rev. Mr. Bondet was waiting a mission among the Indians again, and that those of his French parish- ioners, who came from Oxford, joined with those residents of Boston in worship under Mr. Daillie.
The French church, during the lifetime of Rev. Peter Daillie, worshipped in one of the large school-houses. They had purchased a lot on School street for a church, January 4, 1704. Their deed is from James Mears, hatter, to John Tartarian, Francis Bredan, and John Dupee, elders of the French church, in consideration of the sum of £110 cur- rent silver money of New England; all that tract or parcel of land bounded northerly by school-house land, so called, where it measures in front forty-three and a half feet, easterly thirty-six feet, westerly eighty-eight and a half feet, southerly thirty-five and a half feet, to erect and build a church upon, for the use of the French congregation in Boston aforesaid,* to meet therein for the worship and service of Almighty God, according to, the way and manner of the Reformed churches in France. On the 7th of February, 1705, John Portrec, Francis Bredan, and John Dupee, petitioned the selectmen for
in Germany. Some came here as early as 1660. They sympathized with their Dutch asso- ciates, who were always tolerant in matters of religion.
The main body of the members of this settlement at New Paltz, came in 1677, when they bought by deed from the Indians, this beautiful secluded region among the mountains on the west side of Hudson river, about seventy miles from New York city.
* See C. Mather's Magnalia, vol. I, chap. VII, pp. 90; also Snow's History of Boston, p. 200.
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license to erect a wooden building for a meeting-house, of thirty- five by thirty feet, on the aforesaid piece of land. It was judged not convenient to grant the same, since they have the offer of the free liberty to meet in the new school-house, as they had for some years past done in the old, and that being sufficient for a far greater number of persons than doth belong to their con- gregation. A brick building was probably erected in 1716 ; it is mentioned by Cotton Mather in January, 1717 .* This church stood on their land on School street. The descend- ants of the founders of this house (says Mr. Pemberton, " the late respected antiquary of Boston"), as they formed new con- nections, gradually dropped off. Those who remained were few in number, and the support of a minister was an expense they could not well continue.t
The Rev. Mr. Daillie's death was announced to the public by a notice in the Boston News Letter, the first newspaper pub- lished in the English colonies in America (the first issue of this paper was on the 24th of April, 1704 ; it was published by John Campbell, a Scotchman, who was a bookseller, and the post-master of Boston #), and was as follows :
"Boston, May 23d, 1715 .- On Monday morning last, the 20th current, died here the Rev. Mr. Peter Daillie, pastor of the French congregation, aged about 66 years. He was a person of great piety, charity, affable and courteous behavior, and of an exemplary life and conversation, much lamented, especially by his flock, and was decently interred on the Lord's Day evening, the 22d instant."
"By his 'Will' he required that his body should be decently interred, according to the discretion of his executor, Mr. James Bowdoin, with this restriction, that there be no wine at his funeral, and no mourning to his wife's relations, except gloves. All the ministers of the town, to- gether with Mr. Walter, were presented with gloves and scarfs. His books were given to form a library for the church and £100 for the benefit of the minister, and £10 to be put to interest until the church should erect a meeting-house, when it was to be appropriated towards the ex-
* See Snow's History of Boston, p. 201.
t See Mass. Hist. Collections, vol. II, 3d series, p. 63.
# See Thomas's History of Printing, vol. II, p. 191.
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pense of the same. He remembered his brother, Paul Daillie, Vangel- ade, in Amsfort, in Holland, and signs himself 'Daillie,' omitting his baptismal name of Peter."
He was buried in the Granary burying-ground in Boston (fronting on Tremont street). His grave is nearly in the cen- tre of the yard. The memorial stone at the head of the grave has the following epitaph :
"Here lies ye body of ye Reverend Mr. Peter Daillie, Minister of the French Church in Boston, Died ye 21st of May, 1715, In the 67th year of his age."
Rev. Peter Daillie had buried two wives. His first wife, Esther Latonice, died, December 14, 1696. His second wife, Seike, died, August 31, 1713; and he left a third, a widow, whose name was Martha.
The graves of his wives are near his own, and around these graves are many others, apparently French-Basset, Mian, Garrett, Paliere, Sabin, Berrey, etc.
Three paces distant from Rev. Mr. Daillie's grave is that of Josiah Franklin, the father of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. In- scribed on the memorial stone is :
"J. F., born 1655, d. 1744. A. F., born 1667, d. 1752."
Rev. Mr. Daillie's successor was the Rev. Andrew Le Mer- cier, whose name is found on the town records in 1719. He published a church history of Geneva, in 1732, from which it appears that he was educated in that country. His church did not increase in numbers sufficiently to enable them to sup- port the expense of a separate house of worship, and on that account the society was discontinued.
On the 7th of March, 1748, the proprietorship of their meeting-house on School street was transferred to several gen- tlemen as trustees of a new Congregational church. This
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transfer was made by Stephen Boutineau, only surviving elder, Zach. Johonnot, Jean Arnault, John Brown, Andrew Johon- not, James Packonett, William Bowdoin, Andrew Sigourney, members, and M. Le Mercier, their minister. The Rev. M. Le Mercier. after this, resided for a time at Dorchester, but returned again to Boston, and died there, March 31, 1764, in the seventy-second year of his age. One of his daughters and Mr. Z. Johonnot were executors of his " Will."
A large folio Bible, in French, with a commentary, was presented to this French Protestant church by Queen Anne.
This was purchased at the sale of the late Dr. Byles' library, and it is said now to be in a library in Boston, retained as a curious relic of the ancient French Protestant church formerly in that city.
In tracing the history of the Brick Meeting-House, before mentioned, that was erected by these French Protestants, it appears that they sold it to a Congregational society for £3,000, for the sole use of a Protestant church, of which the Rev. Andrew Crowell was pastor; installed in 1748. He died, April, 1785, aged seventy-seven.
This house was next used as a Roman Catholic chapel. Mass was first performed in it, November 2, 1788, by a Romish priest. The Rev. John Thayer, a native of Boston, having embraced the Roman Catholic religion, and received orders at Rome, began his pastorate over the first Roman Catholic society in that city, in 1790. In 1792 the Rev. Dr. Francis A. Matignon arrived at Boston, and, in 1796, was joined by Rev. John Cheverus, afterwards Bishop of Montauban, in France. Upon their united application to the Protestants, a generous contribution was made; a lot was pur- chased in Franklin place, and a Roman Catholic church built on the same, which was dedicated in 1803 .*
* Sec Mass. Hist. Collections. vol. II, 3d series, pp. 63-64 ; also see Snow's History of Boston, pp. 201-202.
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The French meeting-house on School street was taken down, and a Universalist church built near the place where it stood. It is curious to note the difference in religious faith of those who have worshipped on the ground of this old French Protestant church. It is remarkable that this church, built by French Protestants, who had fled their country from the persecution of the Roman Catholics, was the first to receive the Roman Catholics who fled from France through the per- secution of the Jacobins; and, furthermore, that the same Roman Catholics who were noted for their persecution of the Protestants, should, through the aid for which they appealed to them, be enabled to buy the ground and to erect the first Romish church in the Puritan city of Boston .*
The following, relating to the memorial stones which desig- nated the place of interment of the Rev. Peter Daillie, in the Granary burying-ground, appeared in the Boston Transcript, of June 4, 1860 :.
"It appears that for many years the place of Rev. Mr. Daillie's burial was lost by means of the removal of the head-stone to the grave, by some means not known, and by the covering up of the foot-stone by accumulations of earth.
"But both have recently been discovered and restored to their former positions, and now mark, as they were first designed, the last resting- place of the remains of this noted and once much-respected minister of the exiled Huguenot residents of Boston."
* See Pemberton's Description of Boston, Mass. Hist. Society Collections, vol. III, 1st series, p. 264 ; also, Snow's History of Boston, pp. 340-418.
The Catholic church on Franklin place received the name of " The Church of the Holy Cross," and was dedicated, September 29, 1803, by Bishop John Carroll, of Baltimore, the first bishop in this country, consecrated to the office, August 15, 1790; died in 1815. The Catholics of Boston and vicinity were formed into a diocese in 1808; John Cheverus, consecrated bishop, November 1, 1810, translated to Montauban, thence to Bordeaux, and made Cardinal Archbishop, and died, July 19, 1836. Right Rev. Benedict J. Fenwick, consecrated, Novem- ber, 1825, died, August 11, 1846. Right Rev. Bishop Fitzpatrick, consecrated, March 24, 1844, died, February 13, 1866. Right Rev. Joseph Williams, D. D., consecrated, March 11, 1866, is present bishop. Rev. John Thayer bequeathed by his will money for the erection of an Ursulin convent, which was erected adjoining the church on Franklin place, for the education of female Catholic children.
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"DISCOVERY OF ANOTHER RELIC OF THE PAST.
" The grave of Pierre Daillie, the beloved minister of the old French church, established in Boston by the Protestant refugees who sought protection in America after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, has long been an object of search by those who have held the name and memory of this excellent man in high respect.
" Not many weeks ago, the humble foot-stone, which in part served to denote the last resting-place of this estimable pastor, was accidentally discovered in the Granary Burial-Ground, where, for many years it had been entirely hidden from view, being covered by the soil and sods of that sacred inclosure.
" It can now be seen, restored to public view, scarcely two rods from the entrance-gate to that cemetery, at one of the corners formed by one of the numerous by-paths and the main avenue of the yard. But the head-stone is not there.
" It has remained for another accident to disclose, this morning, the hiding-place of the much-sought-for memorial, which the friends of deceased had placed at his grave to designate the exact spot of his interment. While laborers were employed in excavating a cellar on the old Emmons estate in Pleasant street, now in the possession of Dr. Drew, they suddenly struck upon the stone, which, for some unknown reason, had been removed to that remote place."
The inscription was found to be the same as that herein- before described.
The following is a partial list of the French Protestants who arrived in New England about the time of the Revoca- tion of the Edict of Nantes. This list refers principally to those who settled in this vicinity ; the greater part removed to the colonies further south, part to New York, but the larger number settled in South Carolina.
NAMES.
Rev. Daniel Bondet, Rev. Peter Daillie, and Rev. Andrew Le Mercier, the three ministers of these exiles, while main- taining a separate organization of the French Protestant church ; Andrew Sigourney, Andrew Faneuil, Benj. Faneuil, and Peter Faneuil, who is believed to be the son of Andrew Fanenil ; Gabriel Bernon, the factor and principal assistant of
.
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the New Oxford Plantation ; Isaac Bertrand du Tuffeau, the agent of Gabriel Bernon, and one of the first that settled at Oxford ; Pierre Jermon, Abraham Sauvages, Philip Emger- land, Jacques Montier, Mourret Ancien, Jean Rawlings, Peter Chardon, John Johnson, Charles Johnson, John Maillet, Elie Dispeau, Jacques Dupont, Rene Grignon, Peter Canton, Jean Beaudoin, Francis Bredan, John Tartarian, Andrew Johon- not, Zachariah Johonnot, John Arnoult, John Packenett, William Beaudoin, Paul Cronillet, John Evans, John Barbet, Stephen Beautineau, Pierre Beaudoin, who arrived at Fal- mouth, Casco Bay, now Portland, and soon removed to Boston, De Paix Cazaneau, Gabriel Le Boytelux, Pierre Chasseleup, Ober Jermon, Bereau Caine, Anthonie Olivier, Lazarus Le Barron, James Bowyer, Elie Beaudinot, Mian, Garrett, Pa- liere, Sabin, Berrey, Germaine, John Dupe, Peter Shumway, and others.
There are many descendants of these French exiles that have maintained in New England and in other parts of this coun- try positions of honorable distinction.
A descendant of Pierre Beaudoin, the Hon. James Bow- doin, became Governor of Massachusetts, and was a patron of science and literature.
A descendant of Elie Beaudinot became one of the Presi- dents of the Continental Congress under the Articles of Con- . federation ; he was the Chief Director of the United States Mint at Philadelphia, ten years, from 1795 to 1805, and is con- sidered the father of the American Bible Society, and was its first president.
A descendant of Benjamin Faneuil, Peter Faneuil, has per- petuated his name as the benefactor of the town of Boston, in the gift of "Faneuil Hall." It was finished entirely at his expense, and the keys presented to the town authorities, Sep- tember 10, 1742.
At a meeting in this hall, held on the 13th of September,
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1742, a vote of thanks was moved by the Hon. John Jeffries, as follows :-
" Whereas, Peter Faneuil has, at a very great expense, erected a noble structure, far exceeding his first proposal, inasmuch as it contains, not only a large and sufficient accommodation for a market, but a spacious and most beautiful town hall over it, and several convenient rooms; as the building is now finished, and he has delivered possession thereof to the Seleetmen for the use of the town, it is therefore voted that the town do, with the utmost gratitude, receive and accept this most gener- ous and most noble benefaction, for the use and intention it is designed for; and do appoint the Hon. Thomas Cushing, Esq., the Moderator of this meeting; the Hon. Adam Winthrop, Edward Hutchinson, Ezekiel Lewis, and Samuel Waldo, Esqrs., Thomas Hutchinson, Esq. ; the Selectmen of the town of Boston, and the Representatives to the General Court; the Hon, Jacob Wendell, James Boudoin, Esq., Andrew Oliver, Esq., Captain Nathaniel Cunningham, Peter Chardon, Esq., and Charles Apthorp, to wait upon Peter Faneuil, Esq., and, in the name of the town, to tender him their most hearty thanks for so beautiful a gift, with their prayers that this and other expressions of his bounty and charity may be abundantly recompensed with the divine blessing."
In addition to this vote, the citizens passed another, that the hall should be called Faneuil Hall forever, and that the portrait of Faneuil should be painted at full length and placed therein.
On the 14th of March, 1744, a vote was passed to purchase the Faneuil Arms, carved and gilt by Moses Deshon, to be fixed in said hall.
Mr. Pemberton, the antiquary, says that previous to the Revolution, the portraits of Mr. Faneuil, General Conway, and Colonel Barre, were procured and placed in this hall. It is supposed they were carried off by the British, when they evacuated the town, during the Revolution .*
It appears that General Conway was a member of Parlia- ment, and earnestly opposed the Stamp-Act, so odious to the people of the town of Boston, and for this he was paid this mark of honor.
* See Snow's History of Boston, p. 235; also, Mass. Hist. Soc. Collections, vols. II and III, 1st edition.
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Colonel Isaac Barre was of French descent, although born at Dublin, Ireland, in 1726, and dying there, July 1, 1802. His father was a French refugee, the same as the ancestor of Faneuil; but the honor of placing his portrait in this hall was not on this account, but for his remarkable im- promptu speech in the British Parliament in favor of the American colonies, in reply to Charles Townsend, who sup- ported the measures for taxing these colonies, as follows : He insisted that the colonies had borne but a small portion of the large expenditures for carrying on the late war (the war for the acquisition of the French possessions in America), but had obtained by it immense advantage at a vast expense to the mother country. He then continued :
" And now, will these American children, planted by our care, nour- ished up, by our indulgence, to a degree of strength and opulenee, and protected by our arms, grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy burden under which we lie ?"
As he sat down, Mr. Barre rose, and excitedly replied as follows :
"They planted by your care! No, your oppression planted them in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uneultivated, inhospi- table country, where they exposed themselves to almost all the hard- ships to which human nature is liable; and among others, to the eruel- ties of a savage foe, the most subtle, and I will take upon me to say, the most formidable of any people upon the face of God's earth. And yet, actuated by principles of true English liberty, they met all hardships with pleasure, compared with those they suffered in their own country from the hands of those who should have been their friends. They nourished by your indulgence ! They grew by your neglect of them. As soon as you began to care for them, that care was exercised in sending persons to rule them, in one department and another, who were perhaps the deputies of deputies of some members of this house, sent to spy out their liberties, to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them. Men whose behavior, on many occasions, caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them; men promoted to the highest seats of justice, some who, to my knowledge, were glad, by going to a foreign country, to escape being brought to a bar of justice in their own. They protected by your arms! They have nobly taken up arms in your de-
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fense, have exerted a valor amidst their constant and laborious industry, for the defense of a country whose frontier was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little savings to your emolument.
" And, believe me-remember, I this day told you so-the same spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first will accompany them still. But prudence forbids me to explain myself further. God knows I do not at this time speak from motives of party heat.
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