History of East Boston; with biographical sketches of its early proprietors, and an appendix, Part 7

Author: Sumner, William H. (William Hyslop), 1780-1861. cn
Publication date: 1858
Publisher: Boston, J. E. Tilton
Number of Pages: 883


USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > East Boston > History of East Boston; with biographical sketches of its early proprietors, and an appendix > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > East Boston > History of East Boston : with biographical sketches of its early proprietors, and an appendix. > Part 7


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1 Winthrop's Journal, Vol. I. * 27, note.


2 Mass. Hist. Coll. 3d Series, Vol. III. p. 377.


71


MAVERICK'S PARENTAGE.


1630.]


him went over Thomas Dudley, Isaac Johnson, Esquires; Mr. John Wilson, Mr. George Phillips, Mr. Maverich, (the Father of Mr. Samuel Maverich, one of his Majestie's Commissioners) Mr. Warham Ministers."


There can be no doubt that the " Mr. Maverich" here spoken of is the Rev. John. It will be remembered, that the Rev. Mr. Warham came in the same vessel with the Rev. Mr. Maverick, and that both were ministers, with which Josselyn's account agrees. Most, if not all, of the other persons mentioned by Josselyn, came over in other ships of the fleet, of which the Mary and John was the pioneer, and brought the Dorchester ministers. Roger Clap's narrative, from which quotations have been made on previous pages, corroborates this view of the subject; as also does the reliable "Annals of Dorchester," reprinted by the Dorchester Antiquarian and Historical Society in 1846, from the original manuscript of the author, James Blake, who died in 1750. The accuracy and veracity of Mr. Blake are proverbial, and " this work was for many years the principal authority for all the early accounts published of the town of Dorchester." The ages of the two men also favor this view, if any thing was necessary in addition to the positive assertion of Josselyn, who was his contemporary, and probably spoke from personal knowledge. Rev. Mr. Maverick was advanced in life when he came to this country, as he died, in 1636, at about the age of sixty ;1 consequently, he was born about 1576. Samuel Maverick was born, as we have seen, about 1602, or when the Rev. John was twenty-six years of age. These figures, therefore, bear strong evidence on the question ; and, indeed, there is no room for reasonable doubt on the subject. In addition to this, the fact that all of the name of whom we have any knowledge should settle so near to each other in the vicinity of Boston is strong presumptive evidence that they were connected by family ties.


Samuel Maverick came to New England some years before his father; but the precise date cannot be ascertained. It is evident that he was in the country, and doubtless located on


. Winthrop, I. * 181.


.


72


HISTORY.


[1629.


Noddle's Island, before the arrival of Winthrop in 1630, for Winthrop made his house a stopping-place on the 17th of June, 1630, on his excursion from Salem "to the Mattachusetts " 1 (meaning the country lying around the inner bay, Boston har- bor), the same excursion on which he met the party from the Mary and John. Savage thinks that he came in 1628 or 1629,2 and Drake also places his name on the list of those who were here as early as 1629.3 Importance enough has not been attached to the adventurers who came to Massachusetts Bay before the arrival of Winthrop. They are far more numer- ous than we have been accustomed to suppose. The fishing vessels along the coast were very many, and isolated settlements were commenced in different places. As early as 1626, we find mention made of planters at Winnisimet, who probably removed from some of the other plantations ; 4 and perhaps were of the Gorges company. The conjecture that several of the scattered settlers in and about Boston Harbor came over with Robert Gorges is a reasonable one. They lived gener- ally within Gorges' Patent, whose intended colony was Epis- copalian, and Maverick, Blackstone, Walford, and Thomp- son were of this faith.5 That Samuel Maverick was at Nod- dle's Island in 1629 is evident from Johnson, who says, the planters in Massachusetts Bay at this time (1629) were Wil- liam Blackstone, at Shawmut (Boston), Thomas Walford, at Mishawum (Charlestown), Samuel Maverick, at Noddle's Island, and David Thompson, at Thompson's island (near Dorchester).6


1 Winthrop, I. * 27.


2 Ibid. note. Oliver's Puritan Commonwealth, p. 419, says that " the arri- val of Winthrop found Samuel Maverick, a clergyman of the Church of Eng- land, already settled on a flourishing plantation at Noddle's Island." This call- ing Samuel Maverick " a clergyman, &c.," is only one of the many unaccount- able errors in that remarkable book. The writer could only have made this statement from a superficial knowledge of the man and the family, and doubt- less mistook Samuel for the Rev. John of Dorchester, although it seems strange how this could have been done.


3 Drake, Hist. Boston, p. 57.


4 Hutchinson, 2d London Ed. Vol. I. p. 8.


5 Drake, Hist. Boston, p. 50, note.


6 Johnson's Hist. New England, ch. 17; Young's Chronicles, p. 150, note.


73


MAVERICK'S RESIDENCE.


1628-30.]


Farmer also locates him there at that time, but probably upon the same authority. He says that he " lived at Noddle's Island, the settlement of which he commenced in 1628 or 1629." 1


The learned editor of the Genealogical Register, in a notice of a book,2 in which an effort is made to establish the theory that Roger Conant was the first governor of Massachusetts, says : " Who will say that Mr. Samuel Maverick did not begin his set- tlement on what is now East Boston, a year before the arrival of Conant ? His settlement was not only never abandoned, but it was far more substantial than that at Cape Ann or Salem before the arrival of Governor Endicott. Now, for aught we can see to the contrary, a descendant of Governor Maverick has as good right for his ancestor's title as the descendants of Conant." 3


That very excellent authority, Prince's Chronology, says, under date of 1630 : " On Noddel's Island lives Mr. Samuel Maverick, a man of very loving and courteous behavior, very ready to entertain strangers; on this island, with the help of Mr. David Thompson, he had built a small fort with four great guns to protect him from the Indians."4 This extract shows that Maverick had then been in the country long enough to have established a reputation for hospitality, and for " loving and courteous behavior," which could only have been accom- plished by a residence of some time continuance. Edward Johnson, who was one of Winthrop's company, says, that "on the north side of Charles River, they landed near a small island, called Noddle's Island, where one Mr. Samuel Mavereck was then living, [1630,] a man of a very loving and courteous behavior, very ready to entertain strangers, yet an enemy to the reformation in hand, being strong for the lordly prelatical power. On this Island he had built a small fort with the help of one Mr. David Thompson, placing therein four murtherers to protect him from the Indians." 5 That the reader may not


1 Farmer's Register of First New England Settlers, p. 192.


? The Landing at Cape Anne, etc., by John Wingate Thornton. Boston, 1854.


3 Gen. Reg. Vol. IX. p. 94.


4 Prince's Chronology, p. 309.


Young's Chronicles, p. 322, note; Snow's Hist. Boston, p. 31.


7


74


HISTORY.


[1628-30.


misapprehend the character of these "murtherers" as inhabi- tants of the Island, we have the authority of Phillips, in his " New World of Words, or Universal Dictionary," printed in London in 1706, that " Murderers, or Murdering Pieces " were " small cannon either of Brass or Iron, having a Chamber or Charge consisting of Nails, old Iron, &c., put in at their Breech. They are chiefly used in the Forecastle, Half Deck, or Steerage of a Ship, to clear the Decks, when boarded by an Enemy ; and such Shot is called a Murdering Shot." The same signi- fication is given by Smith, who speaks of " a ship of one hun- dred and fortie tuns and thirty-six cast Peeces and murderers." 1 How or when those early settlers, Maverick, Blackstone, Wal- ford, and others came over is uncertain ; there is no record accessible to enable us to settle the date. Maverick may have come in one of the fishing and trading vessels which frequented the coast for a number of years prior to the settlement of the Bay, or he was probably one of those who accompanied Robert Gorges to settle his patent.2 Eliot says, "he seemed to have in view trading with the Indians, more than any thing else." 3 It is safe to record his settlement here as early as 1629, and probably as early as 1628 (although he was not taxed in that year for the brief campaign against Merrymount) ; and that his residence, his locus in quo, was on Noddle's Island in 1629 and 1630 is made certain from Johnson, Prince, and Young above quoted. Our earliest accounts, then, of Samuel Maverick, as taken from those authors who have become classic, represent him as a whole-souled, generous, hospitable man, of warm impulses and courteous behavior, a royalist and Episcopalian, living in a strongly fortified residence on Noddle's Island. Such is his character and such his location when he first appears upon the page of history.


But Maverick's early connection with this country was not


1 History of Virginia, etc. Richmond Ed. II. p. 208. Breech loading guns have been considered as a modern invention ; but here, as in many instances, if we do not mistake the purport of the definition, a modern invention is but the revival of something well known in former times.


2 Felt's Eccl. Hist. p. 137; Winthrop's Journal, Vol. I. * 27, note.


3 Eliot's Biog. Dict. p. 316.


75


THE FREEMAN'S OATH.


1631-2.]


limited to Noddle's Island; for we find that in 1631, he, with. others, had a patent for lands in Maine, under the president and council of New England. These same premises were also given to him by deed, in 1638, by the council of New England and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. The supposition that Maverick was one of those who came over to settle the Gorges patent (not improbable, with Robert Gorges, in 1623), gains plausibil- ity from the fact that he held this land at so early a period under Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and that a "plantation " was actually there commenced. It does not appear why Maverick made choice of Noddle's Island for his residence, rather than his lands on the banks of the " Agamenticus ;" but it is reason- able to suppose that the few settlers in the vicinity of Boston, Episcopalians, and the probability that Massachusetts Bay would be the soonest colonized of any part of the New Eng- land coast, influenced him in locating his abode. The fact that he owned land in Maine as early as 1631 is rendered certain from a deed, which our in- vestigation has brought to Finde Gorges light in the York county (Maine) records. This deed is of sufficient im- portance in its names and dates to justify its inser- tion in the Appendix.1


Among " the names of such as desire to be made freemen " on the 19th of October, 1631, is that of Samuel Maverick ; 2 but he was not admitted until -two years after that time, although he had been in the country before the arrival of Win- throp and his company, and, of course, before the arrival of the charter. He took the freeman's oath, alone, on the 2d of October, 1632,3 although not a member of the church. The reason of this delay is not apparent. Whether he was pre- vented by his business in trading along the coast, whether he intentionally postponed it, or whether the colonial govern-


1 See Appendix, C.


Ibid. 366, 367.


2 Mass. Records, Vol. I. p. 79.


76


HISTORY.


[1631.


ment was unwilling to admit an avowed Episcopalian, does not appear. Hutchinson, usually correct, is in an error when he says : " Mr. Maverick, being in the colony at the arrival of the charter, was made a freeman before the law, confining freedom to such only as were members of the churches, was in force, but, being an Episcopalian, had never been in any office." 1


Eliot, in his Biographical Dictionary, page 317, following Hutchinson probably, makes the same mistake. It is not so surprising to find the error repeated by the author of the Puri- tan Commonwealth. He says that these privileges (i. e. rights, citizenship, voting, etc.) were conferred before " that monstrous alteration of the charter," the "church-member act, " was adopted. The general court records must be taken as authority on all points therein treated. At the time Mr. Maverick made application, there seems to have been no general rule adopted as to citizenship, although there was before he was admitted. More than a hundred persons applied for admission on the same day with him, and it doubtless became apparent that some system must be adopted, especially as the freemen had just acquired the political trust of " chuseing Assistants." 2 At that critical period, when a government was being formed, it was important to have some effectual restriction upon the crowds who claimed the rights of citizenship, in order that, from the mass of emigrants of all classes and conditions in society, unknowing and unknown, a proper selection might be made of those suitable to control the affairs of the colony. With this end in view, the court of assistants not only denied to some the rights of citizenship, but even of inhabitancy, and ordered some to be sent back to England, "as persons unmeete to inhabit heere." Upon these considerations, by an act passed on the 18th of May, 1631, "to the end the body of the Commons may be preserved of honest and good men, it was ordered and agreed that for time to come, noe man shal be admitted to the freedom of this body polliticke but such as are members of some of the churches within the lymitts of the same." 3


1 Hist. Mass. Bay, Vol. I. p. 145.


3 Ibid. 87.


2 Mass. Records, I. 79.


77


THE FREEMAN'S OATH.


1630.]


This precaution, which at a first glance might appear rigid and bigoted, upon investigation vindicates itself by every con- sideration of safety and justice, and as a measure necessary to self-preservation. Then follow upon the records, " the names of such as tooke the oath of freeman," the first list of freemen to be found in the records. Samuel Maverick's name is not among them, and he was not admitted until about a year and a half afterward, as before stated, when he was allowed to take the freeman's oath, although not a member of any church " within the lymitts," and known as a strong Episcopalian.


It is more than probable, that any doubts which might have been entertained by the Puritans as to the propriety of admit- ting a churchman were in the end overcome by the well- known characteristics of the man, his intimate business rela- tions with the governor at that time, and his prominence in the colony as an active promoter of the general cause, and eminent by his generous hospitalities. An article on ecclesiastical his- tory in the Historical Collections says on this point : " Mr. Maverick, who had fixed his tent on Noddle's Island, and pos- sessed considerable property when the banks of Charles river were settled by our fathers, had been declared a freeman, though an Episcopalian, which shows they were less rigid when they first came over than they were afterward." 1


Josselyn mentions that Winthrop and his company went first to Noddle's Island; and this is, doubtless, one of the many instances where Maverick exercised his public hospitalities in entertaining the new-comers, weary with the long and tedious voyage, at his fortified house.


Says the quaint old writer : -


" The Twelfth of July (June ?) Anno Dom. 1630. John Winthrop, Esq; and the assistants, arrived with the Patent for the Massachusetts, the passage of the people that came along with him in ten Vessels came to 95000 pound; the Swine, Goats, Sheep, Neat, Horses, cost to transport 12000 pound, beside the price they cost them; getting food for the people till they could clear the ground of wood amounted to 45000


1 Mass .. Hist. Coll. Vol. IX. pp. 47, 48.


7


78


HISTORY.


[1630.


pound; Nails, Glass, and other Iron work for their meeting and dwelling-houses 13000 pound; Arms, Powder, Bullet, and Match, together with their Artillery 22000 pound; the whole sum amounts unto One hundred ninety two thousand pound. They set down first upon Noddles-Island, and afterward, they began to build upon the main." 1


Immediately following the above quotation is a sentence which curiously illustrates the rigor and watchfulness with which our ancestors commenced their civil and social system ; and, in the particular instance given, it is by no means certain but that such a system might be adopted with good effect in our own day. The passage is this :-


" In 1637, there were not many houses in the Town of Bos- ton, amongst which were two houses of entertainment called Ordinaries, into which, if a stranger went, he was presently followed by one appointed to that Office, who would thrust himself into his company uninvited, and if he called for more drink than the Officer thought in his judgement he could soberly bear away, he would presently countermand it, and appoint the proportion, beyond which, he could not get one drop."


'The " Observations," after speaking of the landing of " Win- throp" and his associates in July, 1630, says: "The Eagle was called the Arabella,2 in honor of the Lady Arabella, wife to Isaac Johnson Esq; they set down first upon Noddle's Island, the Lady Arabella abode at Salem." 3


Maverick was engaged in commerce at an early date, and identified himself with the efforts to promote the success of the colony. Although opposed in religious sentiment, he joined with Governor Winthrop and Governor Thomas Dudley in trading expeditions, a circumstance which shows that he pos- sessed the confidence of the new settlers, and that he was a man of enterprise and energy in the colony. It is more than


1 Josselyn's Account of Two Voyages to New England, p. 172, or Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. III. 3d Series, p. 326.


2 See an interesting note in Drake's Hist. Boston, p. 70, on this name Ara- bella.


3 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. III. 3d Series, p. 377.


79


TRADE.


1630.]


probable, that, from his previous residence in the country, he had an acquaintance with the coast and with the different set- tlements, and for this reason was a valuable aid to Winthrop and his company. He was a man of much importance in those days of small things ; and was associated with the pri- mates of the colony, not in the civil rule, but in affairs of a commercial character.


In Thomas Dudley's letter1 to the Countess of Lincoln, it is stated : " About the end of October, this year 1630, I ioyned with the Governour & Mr. Mavericke in sendinge out our pin- nace to the Narragansetts to trade for to supply our wants, but after the pynace had doubled Cape Codd, she putt into the next harbour shee found, and there meetinge with Indians who showed their willingness to Truck, shee made her voyage their and brought vs 100 bushells of corne at about 4 s. a bushell which helped vs somewhat. From the coast where they traded they saw a very large island,2 4 leagues to the east which the Indians comended as a fruitefull place full of good vines and free from sharpe frosts, haueing one only entrance into it, by a navigable river inhabitted by a few Indians, which for a trifle would leaue the Island, if the English would sett them vppon the maine, but the pynace haueing noe direction for discovery, returned without sayling to it, which in 2 hours they might haue done. Vppon this coast they found store of vines full of grapes dead ripe, the season beeing past whether wee purpose to send the next yeare sooner, to make some small quantitie of wine if God enable vs, the vines growinge thinne with vs & wee not haueing yett any leasure to plant vineyards." On the 14th of March, 1632, " the bark Warwick (undoubtedly named in honor of the Earl or Countess of Warwick, firm friends of the colony), arrives at Nantasket, and the 19th at Winesemet, having been at Piscataquack and Salem to sell corn which she


1 Force's Historical Tracts, Vol. II .; Young's Chronicles, p. 301; Mass. Hist. Coll. VIII. 6. Prince says (Annals, 323), "1630, Octr. The Gov. D. Gov. and Mr. (Samuel) Maverick join in sending out our Pinace to the Narragan- setts to trade for corn to supply our wants."


2 Prince, in his Chronology, p. 323, says: "This is no doubt the island of Aquethneck, after called Rhode Island."


80


HISTORY.


[1635.


brought from Virginia." And again we find that in "1632, April 9. The Bark, Warwick and Mr (S) Maverick's Pin- nace, go out, bound to Virginia, no doubt for corn."


In 1635, Maverick went to Virginia to purchase corn, stock, etc., and remained there nearly a year, during which time Moses Maverick paid rent for Noddle's Island, having charge of it for Samuel while absent. Winthrop, in a letter to his son,1 says : " It hath been earnestly pressed to have her [the Blessing] go to Virginia for Mr. Maverick and his corn; but I have no heart to it at this season, being so perilous both to the vessel (for worms) and especially the persons. I will never have any that belong to me come there if I can avoid it; but Mr. Mayhew hath taken order the Rebecca shall go, if she can be met with."


And afterwards, in his Journal,2 he says : "Samuel Mav- erick, who had been in Virginia near twelve months, now returned with two pinnaces and brought some fourteen heifers, and about eighty goats (having lost above twenty goats by the way). One of his pinnaces was about forty tons, of cedar, built at Barbathes, and brought to Virginia by Capt Powell, who there dying, she was sold for a small matter. There died in Virginia (by his relation) this last year above eighteen hun- dred, and corn was there at twenty shillings the bushel, the most of the people having lived a great time of nothing but purslain etc. It is very strange, what was related by him and many others, that, above sixty miles up James River, they dig nowhere but they find the ground full of oyster shells, and fishes' bones etc .; yea, he affirmed that he saw the bone of a whale taken out of the earth (where they digged for a well) eighteen feet deep."


A letter is on record, which illustrates the confidence placed in him in business matters. The following is " A Copie of a Letter sent by Captaine William Jackson to Mr Samuel Mavericke," viz .: -


"SIR,-I would intreate you that if I should not come for New


1 Appendix to Winthrop's Journal, p. 465.


2 Aug. 3d, 1636, Vol. I. p. * 191.


81


TRADE.


1635.]


England that you would be pleased to demand of Mr Richard Parsons the summe of one hundred and sixty pounds sterling wth a fourth part of what Voyage he hath made if he haue not giuen Account to my Atturneys at Providence & a fourth part of a certaine Frigot called the John; And likewise there is one Captaine Growt, and Captaine Breame and Mr. John Win- shawe wch hath promised to be heare the next Spring wch is indebted vnto me the summe of two hundred pounds sterling wch is to be payed in New England, & likewise I left a smale Vessel at Providence wch is to send her goods to New England if it please God she do take any purchase I am to haue sixe Eights for the Vessel & Vittailing : And likewise I left at St Christophers wth my Atturney betwixt fourty and fifty thousand weight of Tobacco wch he did promise to bring or send to you in New England wch if he do I would intreate you to receive for my Vse; either in Whole or in part as he can get it into his hands.


" My Atturney in St Christopher is Captaine William Eppes ; & my Atturneyes at Providence is Mr Fountaine & Mr. Evenn Morgan the Secretary wch if Mr Parsons do take any purchase and do come from thence you may demand the Covenants wch is betwixt him & me for the fourth part of what I haue wth him : And likewise one Mr Steward is master of the other smale Ves- sel wch is called the Boune Voyage wch is to bring or send such goods as she shall take to New England ; and there to give an account of what shall belong vnto mee.


" Likewise I have sent you Mr. Parsons bond, and Captaine Growte, Captain Breames and Mr. Winshawes Bond, and a Bond of one Captaine Powels wch if he come for New England tth a Voyage I would intreate you to demand the money of him, but if he should come and haue made no Voyage I would that you should not demand it of him; so wishing you good health I take my leave and Rest.


" Your loveing frend


This 20th of 7 ber 1640.1


WILLIAM JACKSON."


1 Suffolk Deeds, Vol. I. p. 30.


82


HISTORY.


[1645.


Maverick also had business transactions with the noted La Tour, as appears from an " Indenture of a fraightmt made 14 Jan. 1645, betweene Charles of St. Steven Knight senor de la Tour of the one- part & Samuel Maverick for & in behalfe of the Right Worp Sir David Kirke, Knight one of the Lords Proprietors of New foundland & Governor thereof of the other part Witnesseth that the sd Sam1 Maverick in behalf of sd Kirke hath let vnto freight vnto the said Mosieur la Tour a certaine Vessell called the Planter burden 35 tunns of thereabout, for a voyage in her to be made vppon the coast of Lacadie betweene the Capes of Sable & Britton & for the time of 3 months &c. [the vessell to be properly furnished & sª La Tour to pay sª Maverick for sª Kirk & half of all the furs & Merchandise he shall get by trade wth the Indians &c] 'Divers Gents & Merchts my frends on consideration of my present poore dis- tressed condition haue been pleased for my support to furnish mee wth a quantity of goods to trade wth the Indians (in this my intended voyage in the Planter) [amounting to abt £500 sterling] - engaging to pay sd Maverick in furs &c to that amt 6 days after his return. 19 Jan 1645.




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