USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of Boston, the metropolis of Massachusetts, from its origin to the present period; with some account of the environs > Part 2
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Under these circumstances the puritans could expect no amelioration of their condition during her reign : they there- fore looked forward with anxious hopes, to the probable ac- cession of King James, who, having been bred a puritan, they anticipated would redress their wrongs. Elizabeth died on the 24th of March, 1603, and James came to the throne only to disappoint these hopes. He had hardly been king a year before a proclamation was issued, in which he ordered the puritan ministers either to conform by a given day, or dispose of themselves and families some other way. He was determined to be rid of them, and to sanction his own will, procured the opinion of several judges, that it was lawful to deprive such ministers as would not conform, that it was not necessary to furnish one accused, with a copy of his charge, and that it was treasonable to frame petitions and collect nu- merous signatures to the same, as the puritans had done. Af- ter these determinations, the Archbishop, Bancroft, resumed fresh courage and pursued the nonconformists without the least compassion. The most trifling causes furnished ground for the prosecution of the laity, and three hundred of the clergy were either silenced, or deprived, or excommunicated, or cast into prison, or forced to leave their country, by the end of the year 1604.
A considerable number of religious people had left Eng- land, in the time of Mary's persecutions, and some of them returned on Elizabeth's accession. We have detailed suffi- ciently the reception they met, and we behold them now reduced to the alternatives of stifling their consciences or quitting their homes. Among those who preferred the latter, we perceive a company, to whose unwavering attachment to pure and undefiled religion we are indebted for the settlement of our country. In the spring of 1603, the persecution grow- ing still hotter, the Rev. John Robinson with a church under his care removed into Holland and settled at Leyden .* They had not long been there, before they found themselves en- countered with many inconveniences : they felt that they were neither for health, nor purse, nor language, well accom- modated, but the concern which they most of all had, was for their posterity. They could not, with ten years' endeavours, bring their neighbours to any suitable observance of the Lord's day, without which they knew that all practical relig- ion must wither miserably : their children left them, some be- coming soldiers, and others sailors; in a few years more their
* Their first attempt to escape was made at Boston, in Lincolnshire, where they were seiz- ed and searched, rifled of their money, books, &c. and then committed to prison. After a month's confinement the greatest part were dismissed, but seven of the principal men were detained and bound over to the assizes .- Hutch. ii. app. No. 1.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
descendants would be Dutch, and their church extinct. These and other reasons they considered deeply, and after much de- liberation took up the resolution, under the conduct of Heav- en, to remove into AMERICA .*
CHAPTER II.
The world was all before them, where to choose Their place of rest, and Providence their guide. Milton.
AT the time when that resolution was taken, very little was known of the state of this part of America. Columbus, who was a Genoese, had discovered the West Indies in 1492, un- der Spanish patronage. In the spring of 1497. John Cabot, a Venetian, obtained a commission from Henry VII. under which he made a voyage from England, and discovered the continent of North America, in the latitude of forty-five de- grees. He proceeded first northerly to the sixty-seventh de- gree, and then returning coasted to the south as far as Florida. The southern continent was found by Columbus in 1498. The first voyage from France to America was made in 1524, by Verrazano, a Florentine. By these voyages and discover- ies, the princes of the several states, which authorized them, fancied themselves to have acquired the rights of territory and jurisdiction. The Spanish and French made various settlements in the course of a century. On the part of the English little or nothing seems to have been done, until Sir Walter Raleigh attempted the colonization of Virginia, be- tween 1584 and 1607, when Jamestown was established. An effort was made to plant a colony near the mouth of the river Kennebeck, under the auspices of some very able persons, about the year 1607, but the severity of the winter and the loss of their storehouse by fire disheartened them, and the men took advantage of the first shipping to return to England, the next year. A settlement was commenced at Newfound- Jand in 1610, and in 1614 some Dutch adventurers built a fort at Albany, and laid the foundation of that city, and of New-York.
Massachusetts Bay, the bottom of which forms the harbour of Boston, had not been much explored previous to that time. Twelve years before, Bartholomew Gosnold, the first English- man who came in a direct course to this part of America,
* Magnalia.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
sailed from Falmouth in March, and made some part of the eastern coast on the 14th of May. Before this, the usual route had been by the Canaries and the West Indies. He did not enter the bay, but steered directly from Cape Ann to the opposite headland, to which he gave the name of Cape Cod, from the multitude of that sort of fish, which abounded there.
In the year 1614, the celebrated traveller and navigator, Capt. John Smith, sailed from England with two ships under his command. He explored the coast from Manhegan, an island near Penobscot river, to Cape Cod. This trip he made in a boat with eight men, for the purpose of bartering with the natives, and making such discoveries as might be of fu- ture advantage to his employers, and his country.
Speaking of these parts, he says, I have seen at least forty several habitations upon the sea coast, and sounded about five-and-twenty excellent good harbours. Of all the four parts of the world, I have yet seen uninhabited, could I have but means to transplant a colony, I would rather live here than any where ; and if it did not maintain itself, were we but once indifferently well fitted, let us starve. Here are many isles planted with corn, groves, mulberries, savage gardens and good harbours. The sea coasts, as you pass them, show you all along large cornfields and great troops of well proportioned people .- Massachusetts, in particular, he calls the paradise of these parts, notices its high mountain, and its river which doth pierce many days' journey into the entrails of that country. But (adds he) the French having remained here near six weeks left nothing for us to examine. On his return to England, he formed a map from his rough draught and observations, which he presented to Prince Charles ; who was so well pleased with his description of this new discovered region, that he gave it the name of New- England. In this map, Smith gave names to the most re- markable places on the coast, none of which are retained- among others he gave the name of Boston to Agamenticus.
This voyage was completed within the period of six months, and produced a clear profit of fifteen hundred pounds to the principals. Doubtless the spirit of commercial enterprise was more powerfully excited by this substantial result, than by the high coloured and wonderful description which the Cap- tain gave of the country.
When Smith embarked for London, he left his largest ship under the command of Thomas Hunt, to load her with fish for Spain. Hunt, when he was ready to sail, enticed into the ship twenty-seven Indians from Patuxet and Nauset (since Plymouth and Eastham) under pretence of trading with them. Immediately he seized upon the poor innocent creatures and
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stowing them under his hatches, carried them off to Malaga, where he sold a number of them for twenty pounds a man. This atrocious act enraged the Indians, but was eventually of some service to the settlers, as we shall have occasion to men- tion.
During a number of years after this, the coast was annually visited by vessels, mostly fitted out by merchants, for taking fish, and trading with the Indians for furs. Of these voyages we have little information. No attempt was made to estab- lish a plantation within the bay till 1620, when a permanent settlement was made at Plymouth.
The company which we left in Leyden, at the close of our last chapter, furnished the interesting band that made this settlement. With mutual embraces and many tears, they took leave of their pastor and sailed for Southampton, in Eng- land, where they were to meet another vessel prepared for the same expedition. On Wednesday the 6th of September, 1620, they loosed from Plymouth, and after many difficulties, in boisterous storms, upon the ninth of November, by break of day, they espied land, which proved to be Cape Cod. It was not their intention to have come so far to the northward. They therefore made some attempts to proceed towards the Hudson, but the wind proving contrary, were compelled to stop. Being thus thrown upon a coast where their patent gave them no right or power, and some strangers, who had joined them from London, disputing the authority of the Gov- ernour and assistants, they did, as the light of nature itself directed them, forthwith form themselves into a body politic, by a solemn contract to which they subscribed their names.
This first of American constitutions was in the following form :- " In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord king James, by the grace of God, of G. B. France and Ire- land king, defender of the faith, &c. having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the christian faith, and honour of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the end aforesaid-and BY VIRTUE HEREOF, to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, or- dinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony. In witness whereof, we have hereunder subscribed our names. Cape Cod, eleventh of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord K. James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, A.D. 1620."
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
Having adopted this measure, they proceeded to the choice of Mr. John Carver for their Governour, and on the same day sent ashore fifteen or sixteen men well armed, to look for a convenient spot for their intended residence. Their first and second search was unsatisfactory ; and it was not till the 16th of December, that the ship arrived and anchored in the harbour of Patuxet, where the pilgrims at length took up their abode, and named the place New-Plymouth .*
CHAPTER III.
" Welcome, welcome, Englishmen !"
Samoset.
THE winter, which lay before these pilgrims, though not se- verely cold, proved a doleful one, on account of the sickness and deaths among their number ; but the spring favourably advanced more early than usual. They had seen only very few of the natives, and met with no one near enough to hold any communication, until, on the 16th of March 1621, they were suddenly alarmed by the appearance of an Indian, who presented himself fearlessly, and in broken English, gave them a friendly salutation. His name was Samoset ; a saga- more, or lord of Moratiggon he. 'He had a bow and two ar- rows : he was a tall straight man : the hair of his head was black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all. He asked some beer, but we gave him strong water, and bis- cuit, and butter, and cheese, and pudding, and a piece of mal- lard, (roast duck,) all which he liked very well.' Their visitor gave the party much useful information, and they sent him, the next day, on a message to their Indian neighbours. Through him they had frequent intercourse with small parties of the sav- ages, and at last he brought and introduced to them Squanto, Squantum or Tisquantum, the only surviving native of the place they had taken possession of. Squanto was one of the twen- ty, that Hunt had carried to Spain, and had found his way in- to England, where he received kindness, which he was now disposed to requite. Our new comers found him very faith- ful to them, on most occasions, as long as he lived, serving them in their expeditions as a guide, mediator and interpreter.
Before the expiration of a year from the time of their land- ing, the people at Plymouth had, by kind dealing and prudent.
. * Winslow's Journal in Mass. Hist. Coll. 2. ix. 40.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
management, induced nine of the Indian sachems to sign a treaty with them, and acknowledge submission to king James. This gave them sufficient confidence in the peaceable disposi- tion of the natives, to justify their undertaking to explore the country, farther than had before been done. One of the first excursions for this purpose was a voyage to the Massachusetts,* in which they discovered the harbour of Boston. The fol- lowing relation gives us the fullest account of that voyage, and being written by one of the party, deserves a place in his own words, as a specimen of the minuteness with which they recorded all occurrences.t
'It seemed good to the company in general, that though the Massachusetts had often threatened us, (as we were in- formed) yet we should go amongst them, partly to see the country, partly to make peace with them, and partly to pro- cure their truck. For these ends the governours chose ten men, fit for the purpose, and sent Tisquantum, and two other savages, to bring us to speech with the people, and interpret for us.
' [On the 18th September 1621, being Tuesday] we set out about midnight, the tide then serving for us ; we, supposing it to be nearer than it is, thought to be there the next morning betimes : but it proved well near twenty leagues from New- Plymouth. We came into the bottom of the bay, but being late we anchored and lay in the shallop, not having seen any of the people. The next morning we put in for the shore. There we found many lobsters, that had been gathered togeth- er by the savages, which we made ready under a cliff. The captain sent two sentinels behind the cliff, to the land- ward, to secure the shallop, and taking a guide with him, and four of our company went to seek the inhabitants, where they met a woman coming for her lobsters ; they told her of them and contented her for them. She told them where the people were : Tisquantum went to them : the rest returned, having direction which way to bring the shallop to them.
' The sachem, or governour of this place, is called Obba- tinewat, and though he live in the bottom of the Massachuset Bay, yet he is under Massasoyt. He used us very kindly ; he told us he durst not remain in any settled place, for fear of the Tarentines. Also the squaw sachem or Massachusets queen was an enemy to him. We told him of divers sachems that had acknowledged themselves to be king James his men, and if he also would submit himself, we would be his safe- guard from his enemies ; which he did, and went along with us to bring us to the squaw sachem.
* Originally the name of the Indian nation inhabiting Boston and its vicinity.
i Mass. Ilist. Coll 2. ix. 57.
# Supposed to have been Copp's bill.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
' Again we crossed the bay, which is very large and hath at least fifty islands in it, but the certain number is not known to the inhabitants. Night it was before we came to that side of the bay where this people were,-that night also we rid at anchor aboard the shallop. On the morrow we went ashore all but two men, and marched in arms up the country. Having gone three miles, we came to a place where corn had been newly gathered, a house pulled down, and the people gone. A mile from hence, Nanepashemet their king in his life time had lived. His house was not like others, but a scaf- fold was largely built, with poles and planks some six foot from ground, and the house upon that, being situated on the top of a hill.
. Not far from hence, in a bottom, we came to a fort built by their deceased king, the manner thus : there were poles some thirty or forty foot long, stuck in the ground as thick as they could be set one by another, and with these they enclo- sed a ring some forty or fifty foot over. A trench breast high was digged on cach side : one way there was to go into it with a bridge. In the midst of this palisado stood the frame of an house, wherein being dead he lay buried.
' About a mile from hence we came to such another, but scated on the top of an hill ; here Nanepashemet was killed, none dwelling in it since the time of his death. At this place we staid, and sent two savages to look the inhabitants, and to inform them of our ends in coming, that they might not be fearful of us. Within a mile of this place they found the wo- men of the place together, with their corn on heaps, whither we supposed them to be fled for fear of us, and the more, be- cause in divers places they had newly pulled down their hou- ses, and for haste in one place had left some of their corn, covered with a mat, and nobody with it.
' With much fear they entertained us at first, but seeing our gentle carriage towards them, they took heart and entertained us in the best manner they could, boiling cod and such other things as they had for us. At length with much sending for, came one of their men, shaking and trembling for fear. But when he saw that we intended them no hurt, but came to truck, he promised us with his skins also. Of him we inquired for their queen ; but it seemed she was far from thence, at least we could not see her. Here Tisquantum would have had us rifled the savage women, and taken their skins, and all such things as might be serviceable for us : for, (said he) they are a bad people, and have oft threatened you : but our answer was, were they never so bad, we would not wrong them, or give them any just occasion against us ; for their words, we little weighed them, but if they once attempted any thing against us; then we would deal far worse than he desired. Having well spent the day, we returned to the shallop, almost
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
all the women accompanying us to the shore. We promised them to come again to them, and they us, to keep their skins.
' Within this bay, the savages say there are two rivers ; the one whereof we saw, having a fair entrance, but we had no time to discover it. Better harbours for shipping cannot be than here are. At the entrance of the bay are many rocks ; and in all likelihood good fishing ground. Many, yea, most of the islands have been inhabited, some being cleared from end to end, but the people are all dead or removed. Our victual growing scarce, the wind coming fair, and having a light moon, we set out at evening, and through the goodness of God, came safely home before noon the day following,' with a considerable quantity of beaver and a good report of the place, wishing we had been seated there.
In the spring of 1622, another voyage was made from Plym- outh to the Massachusetts, but from the accounts we have of it, we gain no particular description of the places visited. The fisheries in these parts soon increased greatly, thirty to sixty vessels sometimes coming in the course of a season.
In May, 1622, Mr. Thomas Weston, who was one of the adventurers at first engaged in the foundation of Plymouth colony, but afterwards deserted it, sent over two ships with 50 or 60 men, at his own charge, to settle a plantation for him. They resorted to the place afterwards called Weymouth, but the dissolute conduct of the people soon reduced them to pov- erty and distress, and the company was broken up, the follow- ing year. Another attempt by Captain Gorges to settle a plantation at the same place also failed. Early in 1624, Mr. David Thompson, Gent. a Scotchman who the year before had begun a plantation about Pascataqua (near Portsmouth N. H.) on account of a mercantile concern, either disliking his place or his employers, removed down into the Massachu- setts Bay. There he possessed himself of a fruitful island (now Thompson's island, belonging to Dorchester,) and a very desirable neck of land, which were afterwards confirmed to him by the General Court. Not long after this, several of the Plymouth people, among whom was Mr. Roger Conant, removed and settled themselves at Nantasket, (Hull) at the en- trance of the Massachusetts bay, where a building had before been set up, to accommodate those that traded with the na- tives.
The only remaining party, which it seems necessary to mention, is that which was brought in 1625, by Captain Wol- aston, and left at a place not far from Weston's, in what is now called Braintree, but was for some years considered a part of Boston. He located them in the northerly mountain- ous part of the place, which he named Mount Wolaston. This enterprise was a speculation of his and three or four partners, who brought with them a number of servants, with
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
suitable provisions, and other requisites to raise a plantation : and they might have effected their purpose well enough, had it not been for one Thomas Morton, a master of misrule, that some time had been a pettifogger of Furnival's Inn, (a law- school in Holborn, London,) and possibly might have brought some small adventure of his own or other men's, with the rest. The Captain and his chief partner, having gone with part of the company, to Virginia, Morton in their absence made the remainder merry one night, and persuaded them to turn out the lieutenant, who had been left in command. This counsel was easy to be taken, as suiting well the genius of the young men, and so, with Morton at their head, they spent their time in cating, drinking and dancing right merrily about a may-pole : and as if they had found a mine or spring of plenty, they changed the name of the place to Merry-Mount .* This school of profaneness was broken up, soon after a regu- lar government became established in Massachusetts.
Having thus glanced at most, if not all of the prior settle- ments and attempts to settle in these parts, we are now pre- pared to speak of the origin and proceedings of the compa- ny of the Massachusetts Bay.
CHAPTER IV.
Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the 'Merican strand. Herbert in Gookin.
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THE death of King James took place on the twenty-seventh day of March, 1625, and he was succeeded in the throne, by his son Charles the First, who committed the government of the church to men of arbitrary principles, passionately fond of the established rites and ceremonies, and disposed to press the observance of them with rigid exactness. Neither learn- ing, nor piety, nor diligence and success in his profession, nor any other qualification could save a man from ruin, that scru- pled conformity to the injunctions of the bishops. The king had put the reins into their hands, and they drove on so furi- ously, that the whole nation groaned under their tyranny, till, at last, the very name of bishop grew odious to the people : and when they could get rid of their tyranny no other way, they were forced to draw their swords in defence of their lib- erties, whereby the kingdom was involved in a civil war.t
' Hubbard's Hist. of N. E. p. 103.
Neal.
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HISTORY OF BOSTON.
This being the melancholy state of affairs, the Rev. John White, minister of Dorchester, England, encouraged by the success of the Plymouth colony, projected a new settlement in the Massachusetts bay. He had prevailed with Roger Conant, a most religious, prudent, worthy gentleman, to make a beginning as early as the year 1625. He removed from Nantasket, first to Cape Ann, and thence in the course of the fall of 1926, to Naumkeag, Salem. Mr. Conant's companions were soon disheartened, and mostly quitted the place ; but he was urged by Mr. White to remain, with assurances, that if he and three honest men more would yet stay upon the spot, he would procure a patent for them, and send them over friends, goods and provisions. ' Well,' says the Magnalia, ' it was not long before the Council of Plymouth, in England, had by a deed bearing date March 19th, 1627-8, sold unto some six knights and gentlemen about Dorchester, that part of New-England, which lies between a great river called Merrimack and a certain other river there called Charles. But shortly after this, Mr. White brought the said honourable persons into an acquaintance with several other persons of quality, about London ; who associated with them, and joint- ly petitioned the king to confirm their right by a new patent, which he did on the 4th of March, in the fourth year of his reign.' This patent, or charter, constituted the associates and all others who should be admitted free of the association, one corporate body politick, by the name of the Governour and company of the Massachusetts bay in New-England, whose jurisdiction was to extend in breadth, from three miles north of any and every part of the Merrimack, to three miles south of any and every part of the Charles river, including all lands within the space of three miles to the southward of the southernmost part of the Massachusetts bay, and to reach in length from the Atlantic ocean to the South sea. Their general business was to be disposed and ordered by a court composed of a Governour, Deputy Governour, and eighteen Assistants .*
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