History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register, Part 4

Author: Paige, Lucius R. (Lucius Robinson), 1802-1896
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Boston : H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton
Number of Pages: 778

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 4

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2 Sec chapter xv.

8 Edmund Lockwood had been ap- pointed Constable by the Court, May 9, 1632, and John Benjamin, May 29, 1633 ; but James Olmstead was the first person elected by the inhabitants to fill that of- fice, which was then of great honor and importance.

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changed. Hitherto, all the legal voters had met, from month to month, to manage their public affairs. Power was now delegated to a few individuals, at first styled " Townsmen," and afterwards " Selectmen," to transact " the whole business of the town," until the next November, when a new election might be had.1

Feb. 3, 1634-5. " At a general meeting of the whole town, it was agreed upon by a joint consent, that seven men should be chosen to do the whole business of the town, and so to continue until the first Monday in November next, and until new be chosen in their room : so there was then elected and chosen John Haynes, Esq., Mr. Symon Bradstreet, John Taylcott, William Westwood, John White, William Wadsworth ; James Olmsted, Constable.

" It is further ordered, by a joint consent, [that] whatsoever these Townsmen, thus chosen, shall do, in the compass of their time, shall stand in as full force as if the whole town did the same, either for making of new orders, or altering of old ones.

"Further, it is ordered, that whatsoever person they shall send for, to help in any business, and he shall refuse to come, they shall have power to lay a fine upon him, and to gather [it].

" Further, it is ordered, that they shall have one to attend upon them, to employ about any business, at a public charge.

" Further, it is ordered, that they shall meet every first Mon- day in a month, at [ ] in the afternoon, according to the former [order]."

Another important board of officers was elected, at the same meeting : -

" Also, there was then chosen, to join [with] James Olmsted, Constable, John Benjamin, Daniell Denison, Andrew Warner, William Spencer ; which five, according to the order of Court, [shall] survey the town lands, and enter the [same in] a Book appointed for that purpose.2

1 Perhaps the term of service was thus proved, or enelosed, or granted by special limited in anticipation of the proposed removal of many inhabitants.

2 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 116. April 1, 1634. "It was further ordered, that the consta- ble and four or more of the chief inhabi- tants of every town (to be chosen by all the freemen there, at some meeting there), with the advice of some one or more of the next assistants, shall make a survey- ing of the houses, baekside, cornfields, mowing ground, and other lands, im-

order of the Court, of every free inhab- itant there, and shall enter the same in a book (fairly written in words at length and not in figures), with the sev- eral bounds and quantities by the nearest estimation, and shall deliver a transeript thereof into the Court within six months now next ensuing; and the same, so en- tered and recorded, shall be a sufficient assurance to every such free inhabitant, his and their heirs and assigns, of such

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

" It is further ordered, that these five men [shall] meet every first Monday in the [month] at the Constable's house, in the forenoon, at the ringing of the bell."

estate of inheritance, or as they shall have in the New Towne," and, more familiarly, in any such houses, lands, or frank-tene- ments."

The book thus prepared, called " The Regestere Booke of the Lands and Houses

the "Proprietors' Records," is still pre- served in the office of the City Clerk. The record was not finally closed until Feb. 19, 1829.

CHAPTER IV.

CIVIL HISTORY.

THE projectors of the New Town had hitherto suffered two grievous disappointments : the officers of the government had not generally become inhabitants, according to the original agreement ; and so great was the disparity in commercial ad- vantages, that it early became manifest that the New Town could not successfully compete with Boston as the great mart of trade. No reasonable hope, therefore, could be entertained that this should become the principal city of the colony. In other re- spects, the enterprise appears to have been eminently successful. The hope expressed by Dudley, that men of ability might be at- tracted hither by the advantages offered, had been gratified ; for so early as 1633, Wood wrote concerning them : " the inhab- itants, most of them, are very rich and well stored with cattle of all sorts." A reasonable proportion of the rulers resided here. Dudley remained Deputy Governor until May, 1634, when he became Governor, and the next year was an Assistant. Brad- street was constantly an Assistant ; and Haynes, at the first elec- tion after his arrival, was elected as an Assistant, and the next year, 1635, Governor. Moreover, the New Town had become the seat of government ; and, for aught which appears to the contrary, it might have retained that distinction, if the principal inhabitants had not removed.1

1 The first three Courts of Assistants were held at Charlestown in August and September, 1630; after which all the courts were held in Boston until May, 1634. The Assistants had even voted, Oet. 3, 1632, " It is thought, by general consent, that Boston is the fittest place for public meetings of any place in the Bay." Yet when Dudley was elected Governor, in May, 1634, the courts, both general and partienlar, were transferred to New Town, and were there held ex-

elusively until May, 1636. Then they returned to Boston ; then to New Town again in April, 1637, until September, 1638, when they became permanently fixed at Boston.

Dr. Holmes, writing in 1800, says, " In some of the first years, the annual election of the Governor and Magistrates of the Colony was holden in this town. The peo- ple, on these occasions, assembled under an oak tree, which stood on the northerly side of the Common in Cambridge, a lit-

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

All these advantages, however, were not satisfactory. The dis- appointment and uneasiness found vent in words. One memor- able example is preserved : "At the court of assistants," says Winthrop, Nov. 3, 1635, " John Pratt of Newtown was questioned about the letter he wrote into England, wherein he affirmed divers things, which were untrue and of ill repute, for the state of the country, as that here was nothing but rocks, and sands, and salt marshes, etc. He desired respite for his answer to the next morning ; then he gave it in writing, in which, by making his own interpretation of some passages and acknowledging his error in others, he gave satisfaction."1 This letter, probably written in the previous year, is not known to exist; but the " answer," which sufficiently indicates its nature, is on rec- ord : -

" The answer of me, John Pratt, to such things as I hear and perceive objected against me, as offensive in my letter. First, generally, whatsoever I writ of the improbability or impossi- bility of subsistence for ourselves or our posterity without tempt- ing God, or without extraordinary means, it was with these two regards : first, I did not mean that which I said in respect of the whole country, or our whole patent in general, but only of that compass of ground wherein these towns are so thick set together ; and secondly, I supposed that they intended so to remain, be- cause (upon conference with divers) I found that men did think it unreasonable that they or any should remove or disperse into other parts of the country ; and upon this ground I thought I could not subsist myself, nor the plantation, nor posterity. But I do acknowledge that since my letter there have been sundry places newly found out, as Neweberry, Concord, and others (and that within this patent), which will afford good means of subsist- ence for men and beasts, in which and other such like new plan-

tle west of the road leading to Lexington. The stump of it was dug up not many years sinee."- Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., vii. 9. This was probably the tree mentioned in a note to Hutchinson's Hist. Mass., i. 61 : At the election in 1637, the party of Mr. Vane, fearing defeat, refused to proceed, until a certain petition had been read. Mr. Winthrop's party protested against delay. And it is said that " Mr. Wilson, the minister, in his zeal gat up upon the bough of a tree (it was hot weather and the election like that of Parliament men

for the counties in England was carried on in the field), and there made a speech, advising the people to look to their ehar- ter and to consider the present work of the day, which was designed for the ehus- ing the governor, deputy governor, and the rest of the assistants for the govern- ment of the commonwealth. His speeel was well received by the people, who pres- ently called out, election, eleetion, which turned the seale."

1 Savage's Winthrop, i. 173, 174.

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tations, if the towns shall be fewer and the bounds larger than these are, I conceive they may live comfortably. The like I think of Conecticott, with the plantations there now in hand ; and what I conceive so sufficient for myself, I conceive so suffi- cient also for my posterity. And concerning these towns here so thick planted, I conceive they may subsist in case that, besides the conveniences which they have already near hand, they do im- prove farms somewhat further off, and do also apply themselves to and do improve the trade of fishing and other trades. As concerning the intimation of the Commonwealth builded upon rocks, sands, and salt marshes, I wish I had not made it, because it is construed contrary to my meaning, which I have before expressed. And whereas my letters do seem to extenuate the judgment of such as came before, as having more honesty than skill, they being scholars, citizens, tradesmen, &c., my meaning was not so general as the words do import ; for I had an eye only to those that had made larger reports into England of the country than I found to be true in the sense aforesaid. And whereas I may seem to imply that I had altered the minds or judgments of the body of the people, magistrates, and others, I did not mean this in respect of the goodness or badness of the land in the whole plantation, but only in point of removal and spreading further into other parts, they afterwards conceiving it necessary that some should remove into other places, here and there, of more enlargement ; and whereas I seem to speak of all the magistrates and people, I did indeed mean only all those with whom I had any private speech about those things. And as for the barrenness of the sandy grounds, &c., I spake of them then as I conceived; but now, by experience of mine own, I find that such ground as before I accounted barren, yet, being manured and husbanded, doth bring forth more fruit than I did expect. As for the not prospering of the English grain upon this ground, I do since that time see that rye and oats have pros- pered better than I expected ; but as for the other kinds of grain, I do still question whether they will come to such perfection as in our native country from whence they come. And whereas I am thought generally to charge all that have written into Eng- land by way of commendation of this land as if what they had written were generally false, I meant it only of such excessive commendations as I see did exceed and are contrary to that which I have here expressed.

" And as concerning that which I said, that the gospel would

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

be as dear here as in England, I did it to this end, to put some which intended to come hither only for outward commodity to look for better grounds ere they look this way. As for some grounds of my returning, which I concealed from my friends for fear of doing hurt, I meant only some particular occasions and apprehensions of mine own, not intending to lay any secret blem- ish upon the State. And whereas I did express the danger of decaying here in our first love, &c., I did it only in regard of the manifold occasions and businesses which here at first we meet withal, by which I find in mine own experience (and so, I think, do others also), how hard it is to keep our hearts in that holy frame which sometimes they were in where we had less to do in outward things, but not at all intending to impute it as necessary to our condition, much less as a fruit of our precious liberties which we enjoy, which rather tend to the quickening of us, we improving the same as we ought.

" This my answer (according with the inward consent and meaning of my heart) I do humbly commend to the favorable consideration and acceptance of the Court, desiring in this, as in all things, to approve myself in a conscience void of offence towards God and man.

" JOHN PRATT.

" Of this answer of John Pratt before written, voluntarily by him made, as we are witnesses, so we do also join with him in humble desire unto the Court, that it may be favorably accepted, and whatever failings are in the letter in regard of the manner of expressions (which may seem hardly to suit with these his in- terpretations), we do desire the indulgence of the Court to pass over without further question.

" PETER BULKELEY. JOHN WILSON. THOMAS HOOKER.

" Whereas John Pratt of Newe Towne, being called before us at this present Court, and questioned for a letter which he wrote into England, dated -, wherein he raised an ill report of this country, did desire respite till the next day to consider of his answer, he hath now delivered in this before written, which, upon his free submission and acknowledgement of his error, the Court hath accepted for satisfaction, and thereupon pardoned his

CIVIL HISTORY.

said offence, and given order that it shall be recorded, and such as desire copies thereof may have the same.

" JOHN HAYNES, GovT., WILLM. CODDINGTON,

RICH : BELLINGHAM,

WILLM. PINCHON,

JOHN WINTHROP,

ATTERTON HOUGHE,

THO: DUDLEY,

INCREASE NOWELL,

JOHN HUMFRY, SIMON BRADSTREETE." 1

This Mr. Pratt was a physician in the New Town, or Cam- bridge, for several years. He and his wife were drowned near the coast of Spain in December, 1646, as related by Winthrop.2 He was not the only dissatisfied person, though less cautious than others in expressing his feelings. As early as May, 1634, this spirit of dissatisfaction became so general among the inhabitants of the New Town, that they proposed to abandon their compara- tively pleasant homes, and to commence anew in the wilderness. The ostensible reason for removal was the lack of sufficient land. The town was indeed narrow, but its length was indefinite. The limit of eight miles northwesterly from the meeting-house was not fixed until March, 1636 ; and it does not appear how far the land was previously occupied in that direction. But the westerly line of Charlestown was established, March 6, 1632-3 ; and it seems to have been understood that the whole territory between that line and the easterly bounds of Watertown was reserved for the use of New Town, however far those lines might extend into the country. But the people appeared impatient of such narrow limits. At the General Court, May 14, 1634, " Those of New Town complained of straitness for want of land, especially meadow, and desired leave of the Court to look out either for enlargement or removal, which was granted ; whereupon they sent men to see Agawam and Merrimack, and gave out that they would remove, etc." 3 Early in July, 1634, "Six of New Town went in the Blessing (being bound to the Dutch plantation,) to discover Connecticut River, intending to remove their town thither."4 In the following September, the same subject was again brought before the General Court. The record is very brief ; but the particulars related by Winthrop are of so much interest that they may well be quoted in full : -

Sept. 4, 1634. " The General Court began at New Town, and continued a week, and was then adjourned fourteen days. -

1 Mass. Rec., i. 358-360.

2 Savage's Winthrop, ii. 239.

8 Savage's Winthrop, i. 132.

4 Ibid., i. 136.

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

The main business, which spent the most time and caused the adjourning of the Court, was about the removal of New Town. They had leave, the last General Court, to look out some place for enlargement or removal, with promise of having it confirmed to them, if it were not prejudicial to any other plantation ; and now they moved that they might have leave to remove to Con- necticut. This matter was debated divers days, and many rea- sons alleged pro and con.

" The principal reasons for their removal were, 1. Their want of accommodation for their cattle, so as they were not able to maintain their ministers, nor could receive any more of their friends to help them ; and here it was alleged by Mr. Hooker, as a fundamental error, that towns were set so near each to other. 2. The fruitfulness and commodiousness of Connecticut, and the danger of having it possessed by others, Dutch or Eng- lish. 3. The strong bent of their spirits to remove thither.

" Against these it was said, 1. That, in point of conscience, they ought not to depart from us, being knit to us iu one body and bound by oath to seek the welfare of this commonwealth. 2. That, in point of state and civil polity, we ought not to give them leave to depart : - being we were now weak and in danger to be assailed ; the departure of Mr. Hooker would not only draw many from us, but also divert other friends that would come to us ; we should expose them to evident peril, both from the Dutch, (who made claim to the same river and had already built a fort there,) and from the Indians, and also from our own state at home, who would not endure they should sit down without a patent in any place which our king lays claim unto. 3. They might be accommodated at home by some enlargement which other towns offered. 4. They might remove to Merimack or any other place within our patent. 5. The removing of a candlestick is a great judgment, which is to be avoided.

" Upon these and other arguments the Court being divided, it was put to vote; and, of the Deputies, fifteen were for their departure, and ten against it. The Governor and two Assistants were for it, and the Deputy and all the rest of the Assistants were against it, (except the Secretary, who gave no vote ;) whereupon no record was entered, because there were not six Assistants in the vote, as the patent requires. Upon this there grew a great difference between the Governor and Assistants and the Deputies. They would not yield the Assistants a nega- tive voice, and the others (considering how dangerous it miglit

CIVIL HISTORY.

be to the commonwealth if they should not keep that strength to balance the greater number of the Deputies) thought it safe to stand upon it. So when they could proceed no farther, the whole Court agreed to keep a day of humiliation to seek the Lord, which was accordingly done, in all the congregations, the 18th day of this month : and the 24th the Court met again. Before they began, Mr. Cotton preached, (being desired by all the Court upon Mr. Hooker's instant excuse of his unfitness for that occasion.) He took his text out of Hag. ii. 4, etc., out of which he laid down the nature or strength (as he termed it) of the magistracy, ministry, and people, viz. - the strength of the mag- istracy to be their authority ; of the people, their liberty ; and of the ministry, their purity ; and showed how all of these had a negative voice, etc., and that yet the ultimate resolution, etc., ought to be in the whole body of the people, etc., with answer to all objections, and a declaration of the people's duty and right to maintain their true liberties against any nnjust violence, etc., which gave great satisfaction to the company. And it pleased the Lord so to assist him and to bless his own ordinance, that the affairs of the Court went on cheerfully ; and although all were not satisfied about the negative voice to be left to the magistrates, yet no man moved anght about it, and the con- gregation of New Town came and accepted of such enlargement as had formerly been offered them by Boston and Watertown ; and so the fear of their removal to Connecticut was removed." 1

This " enlargement," however, was not permanently satisfac- tory. The inhabitants of New Town again manifested "the strong bent of their spirits to remove." It does not appear when they received permission of the General Court. Perhaps the lib- erty granted in general terms, May 14, 1634, was held to be suf- ficient. It seems certain that a considerable number of them went to Connectient before Sept. 3, 1635 ; for on that day Wil- liam Westwood, a New Town man, was " sworn Constable of the plantations at Connecticut till some other be chosen." 2 But the general exodus was several months later. Under date of May 31, 1636, Winthrop says : " Mr. Hooker, pastor of the church of New Town, and the most of his congregation, went to Connecti- cut. His wife was carried in a horse-litter ; and they drove one hundred and sixty cattle, and fed of their milk by the way." 3 Their possessions in New Town were purchased by Mr. Shepard

1 Savage's Winthrop, i. 140-142.

2 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 159.

8 Savage's Winthrop, i. 187.

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

and his friends, who opportunely arrived in the autumn of 1635 and the following spring and summer.

The reasons assigned for this removal seem insufficient to jus- tify it ; or, at the least, insufficient to require it. As to their in- ability to maintain their ministers, it should be observed that at the same session when this reason was alleged, New Town was rated as high as any other town in the colony.1 The real want of accommodation for cattle and for an additional population may be estimated from the facts that, at this time there were probably less than one hundred families here, containing from five hundred to six hundred persons ; and, supposing them to have sold one half of their cattle to their successors, their herd may have con- sisted of about three hundred. Including the land then offered by others and accepted by them, their territory embraced Cam- bridge, Arlington, Brookline, Brighton, and Newton. After making all needful allowance for improvements in agriculture, one might suppose here was sufficient room for somewhat more than a hundred families, with their flocks and herds.

Another reason is mentioned by Winthrop, namely, " the strong bent of their spirits to remove." The particular pressure which occasioned this " strong bent " he does not describe. But Hubbard, writing before 1682, when many were living who heard the discussion, intimates what that pressure was : "The impulsive cause, as wise men deemed and themselves did not altogether conceal, was the strong bent of their spirits to remove out of the place where they were. Two such eminent stars, such as were Mr. Cotton and Mr. Hooker, both of the first magnitude, though of different influence, could not well continue in one and the same orb." 2 Again he says : " A great number of the plan- ters of the old towns, viz., Dorchester, Roxbury, Watertown, and Cambridge, were easily induced to attempt a removal of themselves and families upon the first opportunity offered ; which was not a little advanced by the fame and interest of Mr. Hooker, whose worthi and abilities had no small influence upon the people of the towns forementioned."3 The opinion thus expressed by Hubbard, was adopted by Hutchinson, nearly a hundred years later : " Mr. Hooker and Mr. Cotton were deservedly in high esteem ; some of the principal persons were strongly attached to the one of them, and some to the other. The great influence which Mr. Cotton liad in the colony inclined Mr. Hooker and his

1 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 129.

2 Coll. Mass. Ilist. Soc., xv. 173.

8 Ibid., xvi. 305, 306.

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friends to remove to some place more remote from Boston than New Town. Besides, they alleged, as a reason for their removal, that they were straitened for room, and thereupon viewed divers places on the sea-coast, but were not satisfied with them." 1 Trumbull suggests that political rivalry was mingled with cleri- cal jealousy. Of John Haynes he says : " In 1635 he was chosen Governor of Massachusetts. He was not considered in any respect inferior to Governor Winthrop. His growing popularity, and the fame of Mr. Hooker, who, as to strength of genius and his lively and powerful manner of preaching, rivalled Mr. Cotton, were supposed to have had no small influence upon the General Court in their granting liberty to Mr. Hooker and his company to remove to Connecticut. There it was judged they would not so much eclipse the fame, nor stand in the way of the promotion and honor of themselves or their friends." 2

Very probably such jealousies and rivalries had some influence upon the removal of Mr. Hooker and his friends. It is known that Winthrop and Haynes differed in judgment upon public policy, the former advocating a mild administration of justice, and the latter insisting on " more strictness in civil government and military discipline," as Winthrop relates at large, i. 177-179. The Antinomian controversy, which did not indeed culminate until a year or two later, had commenced as early as 1635; in which Hooker and Cotton espoused opposite sides, and were among the most prominent clerical antagonists. Up to the period of the removal, it seemed doubtful which party would prevail. Both parties were zealous; both lauded their own clergymen, and spoke harshly of their opponents. It is not sur- prising, therefore, that Cotton and Hooker should feel that their close proximity was irritating rather than refreshing. On the whole, I think, " the strong bent of their spirits to remove " was not altogether caused by lack of sufficient land or by straitness of accommodations.

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History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register, Part 4

Author: Paige, Lucius R. (Lucius Robinson), 1802-1896 Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Boston : H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton Number of Pages: 778

Author: Paige, Lucius R. (Lucius Robinson), 1802-1896
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Boston : H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton
Number of Pages: 778