USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 15
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 15
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 15
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 15
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts, including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant, 1629-1864 > Part 15
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1634.
Hon. JOHN HUMFREY, with his wife, the Lady Susan, a daugh- ter of the Earl of Lincoln, arrived in July. He brought with him a valuable present from Mr. Richard Andrews, an alderman of London, consisting of fifteen heifers, at this time valued at more than eighty dollars each. One of them was designed for each of the eight ministers, and the remainder were for the poor. He went to reside on his farm at Swampscot, which had been laid out by order of the Court. It consisted of five hun- dred acres, " between Forest river and the cliff." The bounds extended " a mile from the seaside," and ran "to a great white oak by the rock," including " a spring south of the oak." The spring is on Mr. Stetson's farm, [and the " old oak " stood about a furlong north of the spring. It was standing when the first edition of the History of Lynn appeared, and Mr. Lewis pleaded for it in these pathetic strains :
O spare the tree, whose dewy tears Have fallen for a thousand years ! Beneath whose shade, in days of old, The careful shepherd watched his fold ; On whose green top the eagle sate, To watch the fish-hawk's watery weight; And oft in moonlight by whose side, The Indian wooed his dusky bride !
It speaks to man of early time, Before the earth was stained with crime, Ere cannon waked the peaceful plains,
When silence ruled her vast domains,
O, as you love the bold and free. Spare, woodman, spare the old oak tree!
[In his second edition, the old oak having disappeared, Mr. Lewis tartly exclaims : "But, alas ! the old oak, the last of the ancient forest of Lynn, has been cut down. Some people have no sentiment."
[But it seems beyond dispute that Mr. Lewis was wrong in locating Mr. Humfrey in what is now Swampscot. He owned an extensive tract of land there, but resided, I am satisfied, on the east side of Nahant street, having, in that vicinity, quite an extensive farm, his windmill being on Sagamore Hill. See p. 201.
[Timothy Tomlins was appointed overseer of the "powder and shott. and all other amunicon," in the Saugus plantation.]
On the 3d of September, the Court ordered, "That Mr. Ed- ward Tomlins, or any other put in his place, by the Commis- sioners of War, with the help of an assistant, shall have power to presse men and carts, for ordinary wages, to helpe towards makeing of such carriages and wheeles as are wanting for the ordinances."
On training day, Captain Turner, by the direction of Colonel Humfrey, went with his company to Nahant, to hunt the wolves. This was very pleasant amusement for training day.
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1635.
1635.
Though an agreement had been made by Thomas Dexter with the Indian chief, for the proprietorship of Nahant, yet the town evidently regarded it as their property ; as will appear by the following extracts from the Town Records, preserved in the files of the General Court:
January 11. "It is also voted by the freemen of the towne, that these men underwritten shall have liberty to plant and build at Nahant, and shall possess each man land for the said purpose, and proceeding in the trade of fishing. Mr. Humfreys, Daniel How, Mr. Ballard, Joseph Rednap, Timothy Tomlins, Richard Walker, Thomas Talmage, Henry Feakes, Francis Dent."
January 18. " It is ordered by the freemen of the towne, that all such per- sons as are assigned any land at Nahant, to further the trade of making fish, That if they do not proceed accordingly to forward the said trade, but either doe grow remiss, or else doe give it quite over, that then all such lotts shall - be forfeited again to the towne, to dispose of as shall be thought fitte."
The dissensions which had commenced in Mr. Bachiler's church at an early period, began again to assume a formidable appearance. Some of the members, disliking the conduct of the pastor, and " withal making a question whether they were a church or not," withdrew from the communion. Mr. Bachiler requested them to present their grievances in writing, but as they refused to do that, he gave information that he should proceed to excommuncate them. In consequence of this, a council of ministers was held on the 15th of March. , After a deliberation of three days, they decided, that although the church had not been properly instituted, yet the mntual exer- cise of their religious duties had supplied the defect.
The difficulties in the self-constituted church, however, did not cease with the decision of the council, but continued to increase, until Mr. Bachiler, perceiving no prospect of their termination, requested a dismission for himself and his first members, which was granted.
The celebrated Hugh Peters, who had just arrived in America, was next employed to preach, and the people requested him to become their minister ; but he preferred to exercise the duties of that office at Salem. He was a very enterprising man, but seems to have been much better adapted for a politician than a minister. He was a great favorite of Johnson, the Woburn poet, who thus alludes to his preaching, and to the difficulties at Lynn :
" With courage Peters, a soldier stout, In wilderness for Christ begins to war; Much work he finds 'mongst people yet hold out ; With fluent tongue he stops phantastic jar."
He returned to England in 1641, and unhappily became in- volved in the ambitious designs of Cromwell - preached the funeral sermon over the " gray discrowned head " of the unfor
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1635.
tunate Charles the First -and was executed for treason, on the 16th of October, 1660. [It is stated in the European Magazine, September, 1794, that while the monarch was being conveyed from Windsor to Whitehall, Peters rode before him, crying out, every few minutes, " We 'll whisk him ! we 'll whisk him, now we have him! Were there not a man in England besides him- self, he should die the death of a traitor !"] Peters left "A Father's Legacy to an Only Child ; " written in the tower of Lon- don, and addressed, "For Elizabeth Peters, my dear Child." He says, "I was the son of considerable parents from Foy, in Cornwall. I am heartily sorry I was ever popular, and known better to others than to myself. And if I go shortly where time shall be no more, where cock nor clock distinguish hours. sink not, but lay thy head in his bosom who can keep thee, for he sits upon the waves. Farewell."
"I wish thee neither poverty nor riches, But godliness, so gainful, with content ; No painful pomp, nor glory that bewitches, A blameless life is the best monument!"
[The sentence of Peters was, that he be carried back to prison, thence be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution, there hung by the neck, be cut down while alive, have his entrails taken out and burned before his eyes, his head cut off, his body quartered, and thus divided be disposed of at the royal pleasure. His head was set on London Bridge.]
It was the custom in those early days to have an hourglass in the pulpit, by which the minister timed his sermons. A painter of that day made a picture in which he represented Mr. Peters turning an hourglass and saying, "I know you are good fel- lows; stay and take another glass !" [But the picture was by an English painter, and intended for ridicule.]
The standard borne at this time was a red cross in a white field. This emblem was not congenial to the feelings of Mr. Endicott, and he ordered it to be cut out from the banner at Salem. This occasioned much dissatisfaction among the people, and a committee from each town was appointed, in May, to consider of the offence. They judged it to be " great, rash, and without discretion," and disqualified him, for one year, from bearing any public office.
May 6. " There is 500 acres of land, and a freshe Pond, with a little Island, conteyning about two acres, granted to John Humfrey, Esqr., lying between north and west of Saugus ; pro- vided he take no part of the 500 acres within five miles of any Town now planted. Also, it is agreed that the inhabitants of Saugus and Salem, shall have liberty to build store howses upon the said Island, and to lay in such provisions as they shall judge necessary for their use in tyme of neede." The land thus laid M*
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ANNALS OF LYNN - 1635.
out was around Humfrey's Pond, in Lynnfield, and was nearly one mile in extent.
A fearful storm occurred on 16 August. It is thus spoken of: "None now living in these parts, either English or Indian had ever seen the like. It began in the morning, a little before day, and grew, not by degrees, but came with great violence in the beginning, to the great amazement of many. It blew down many houses, and uncovered divers others. It caused the sea to swell in some places, to the southward of Plymouth, as that it rose to twenty feet right up and down, and made many of the Indians to climb into trees for their safety. It threw down all the corn to the ground, which never rose more. It blew down many hundred thousand of trees." A vessel was wrecked near Thacher's Island, and twenty-one persons lost. Mr. Anthony Thacher and his wife, ancestors of Rev. Thomas Cushing Thach- er, afterward minister of Lynn, were the only persons saved. [And in September a severe hurricane took place, the wind being first at the northeast, and then veering to another quarter. It produced " two tydes in six howres."]
This year brass farthings were prohibited, and musket bullets were ordered to pass for farthings.
Many new inhabitants appear at Lynn about this time, whose names it will be well to preserve.
ABRAHAM BELKNAP - had two sons, Abraham and Jeremy ; and from him descended Dr. Jeremy Belknap, the historian of New Hampshire.
JAMES BOUTWELL - a farmer - freeman in 1638, died in 1651. His wife was Alice, and his children, Samuel, Sarah, and John.
EDMUND BRIDGES - came over in July, 1635, and died in 1686, aged 74. The name of his wife was Mary, and he had sons John and Josiah. He was the second shoemaker in Lynn. [He appears to have been a blacksmith, not a 'shoemaker, unless the shoemakers of those days were expected to shoe horses as well as men. Possibly, however, he may have filled a double calling. In May, 1647, the Court ordered that "Edmº Bridges for his neglect in shooing Mr Symonds horse, (when he was to come to Corte, ) should be required by warrant from this Corte to answere this complaint, & his neglect to furth" publike ser- vice, at ye next County Corte for yt sheire to heare & determine ye case, & yt returne be made to ye Gentall Corte of ye issue thereof." Mr. Bridges came over at the age of 23, in the James, from London. He had three wives. The first was named Alice, the second Elizabeth, and the third Mary. And he had eight children. His son Hachaliah was lost at sea, in or about 1671.]
EDWARD BURCHAM - a freeman in 1638, clerk of the writs, in 1645. In 1656 he returned to England. [But he came back, as may be inferred from the following from the Court records,
151
ANNALS OF LYNN-1635.
11 Oct. 1682. "In ans' to the petition of Wm. Hawkins, it ap- pcaring that Edward Bircham, late of Lynn, deceased, had a tract of land granted him by the toun of Lynn, to the quantity of thirty acres which doth not appeare to be lajd out in any other part of the toune bounds, this Court doth order, that Capt. Richard Walker, Capt. Elisha Hutchinson, and Mr Andrew Mansfeild, be requested, and are by this Court impowred, to make further inquiry into sajd matter and to cause the tract of land mentioned in the petition to be measured by a surveyor of lands, and to make report thereof at the next General Court." Mr. Burcham had a daughter Frances, who married Isaac Willey, 8 June, 1660.]
GEORGE BURT - came to Lynn in 1635, and died 2 Nov. 1661. He was a farmer, and the value of his estate was £144.4.9. He had three sons; George, who went to Sandwich, in 1637; Hugh, born in 1591; and Edward, who removed to Charlestown. [In 1652, the Court granted to Edward a patent "to make salte, after his manner," for ten years, on condition that he followed the employment; and desired of the people of Gloucester that he might "set doune his saltworke at the very cape, where there is both wood and water fitting for that worke."
HENRY COLLINS - was a starch maker, and lived in Essex street. He embarked in the Abigail, of London, 30 June, 1635. In 1639 he was a member of the Salem Court. He was born in 1606, and was buried 20 Feb. 1687, at the age of 81. His wife Ann was born in 1605. His children were, Henry, born 1630; John, b. 1632; Margery, b. 1633; and Joseph, b. 1635, and his descendants remain. [I think this settler must have been the same individual who is by some genealogists called Henry Colesworthy. The son John was lost by shipwreck, in 1679. His wife Abigail survived him, and to her administration was granted in June, 1680. His estate was valued at £365 1s. 6d. He left twelve children, several of whom were quite young. A son Samuel, had " a good trade of a gunsmith."]
JOHN COOPER - embarked in the Hopewell, of London, April 1, 1635. He was born at Oney, in Buckinghamshire, in 1594. [He was one of the eight original undertakers in the Long Island settlement.]
TIMOTHY COOPER - was a farmer, and died in March, 1659. His children were, Mary, Hannah, John, Timothy, Dorcas, and Rebecca.
JENKIN DAVIS- was a joiner, made a freeman in 1637 and died in 1661. His wife was named Sarah, and he had a son John. [This Jenkin Davis was too vicious a person to be allowed a place in such honest company. Mr. Lewis was rather inclined to veil the dark features in the characters of the set- tlers; a propensity which, though generous toward rogues might
152
ANNALS OF LYNN-1635.
not always prove just to others. Mr. Humfrey had employed and befriended Davis, in various ways, and had such confidence in him that when he went to the West Indies he placed his little daughters at board in his family. How his confidence was met may be gathered from the following, which appears on the Colony Records, 14 June, 1642: "Jenkin Davies, for his abuse- ing the forenamed Dorcas"- Mr. Humfrey's daughter, then only nine years old -" was ordered to be severely whiped at Boston on a lecture day, and shalbee returned to prison till hee may bee sent to Linne, and there to be seuerely whiped also & from thencefourth shalbee confined to the said towne of Linne, so as if hee shall at any time go fourth of the bounds of the said towne, (wthout licence of this Cort,) & shalbee duly convict thereof, he shalbee put to death ; & also hee shall weare a hempen roape apparently about his neck dureing the pleasure of this Cort, so as if hee bee found to have gone abroad at any time wthout it, hee shalbee againe whiped, & furth", if hee shalbee duely convicted to have attempted any such wickedness (for wch bee is now sentenced) upon any child after this present day, hee shalbee put to death; and hee is to pay forty pounds to Mr Humfrey for abuseing his daughter." But the Court allow him, 17 October, 1643, upon his wife's petition, liberty to leave off his rope till they require him to resume it. John Hudson, another vicious person, who had been employed by Mr. Hum- frey, had a severe punishment awarded him, by the same Court, for a similar offence. Likewise Daniel Fairfield, who seems to have been, if possible, worse than the others, his villany extend- ing also to Sarah Humfrey a younger sister of Dorcas. The extreme youth of these misses, rendered the crime the more aggravated, certainly in a moral sense ; yet the Court seem not to have deemed Dorcas entirely blameless, as the record adds : " Dorcas Humfrey was ordered to bee privately severely cor- rected by this Cort, Mr Bellingham & Increase Nowell to see it done." The conduct of these abandoned men towards his two little daughters, must have been a crushing blow to Mr. Hum- frey. God certainly gave him a full share of affliction, and he seems to have received his chastisements in a christian spirit. There is, indeed, far too much evidence that society here, at that time, was in no manner exempt from the keener sufferings attendant on irreligion and vice. The careless reader might be , led to a false estimate of the state of morals by the occasional boastings of those who were desirous of having it appear that above all places on earth, Virtue here accomplished her perfect work. There were far too many, in whom the purified faith had not wrought a purification of heart. However unwelcome may be the task of unvieling the dark features of the time of which he speaks, the historian, if he would be faithful, must meet
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ANNÁLS OF LYNN-1635.
it unshrinkingly. One may falsify as well by suppressing a part of the truth as by straight-forward lying.]
JOHN DEACON - was the first blacksmith at Lynn, and in 1638 had 20 acres of land allotted to him.
EDMUND FARRINGTON - embarked in the Hopewell, of London, 1 April, 1635, with his wife and four children. (Record in West- minster Hall, London.) He was a native of Oney, in Bucking- hamshire, and born in 1588. He was a farmer, and had 200 acres of land, part of which was on the western side of Federal street, where he lived, and part on the western side of Myrtle street. In 1655 he built a corn mill on Water Hill, where a pond was dug, and a water course opened for half a mile. [See, however, page 235.] He died in 1670, aged 82. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, and she was born in 1586. His children were, Sarah, born in 1621; Martha, b. 1623; John, b. 1624; Elizabeth, b. 1627, and married John Fuller, in 1646. He also had a son Matthew, to whom he gave half his corn mill, " except the tole of my son ffuller's grists, which is well and duly to be ground tole free, during the life of my daughter Elizabeth."
JOSEPH FLOYD - lived in Fayette street. In 1666, he sold his house and land to "Henry Silsbee of Ipswich," for thirty- eight pounds, and removed to Chelsea. His land is described as bounded " west next the town common, and east next a little river." The "town common" then meant the public lands in Woodend; and the " little river " was Stacy's Brook.
CHRISTOPHER FOSTER - embarked in the Abigail, of London, 17 June, 1635. He was a farmer, was admitted a freeman in 1637, and lived in Nahant street. He was born in 1603. His wife Frances was born in 1610. His children were Rebecca, born in 1630; Nathaniel, b. 1633; John, b. 1634.
GEORGE FRAILE- died 9 December, 1663, [leaving one son and two daughters. His widow, Elizabeth, was appointed ad- ministratrix of his estate, which amounted to £184.4.] His son George was accidentally killed, in 1669, " by a piece of timber, of about fifteen hundred weight, rolling over him."
EDMUND FREEMAN - was born in 1590, and came to Lynn in 1635. He removed to Sandwich in 1637, and was an Assistant of Plymouth colony in 1640. His children were Elizabeth, Alice, Edmund and John. Mr. Freeman presented the colony with twenty corslets, or pieces of plate-armor.
DENNIS GEERE- came from Thesselworth to Lynn, in 1635. He was born in 1605, and his wife Elizabeth was born in 1613; His children were Elizabeth and Sarah. He died in 1635 and gave, by his will, £300 to the colony.
NATHANIEL HANDFORTH - was a haberdasher, from London, and lived on the north side of the Common. He was buried, 13 September, 1687, aged 79.
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1635.
RICHARD JOHNSON - came over in 1630, and lived with Sir Richard Saltonstall, at Watertown. He was admitted a freeman in 1637. He came to Lynn the same year, and settled as a farmer, on the eastern end of the Common. He died in 1666, aged 54. His children were Daniel, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Abigail. His descendants remain. [Abigail married a Collins, and Elizabeth a Tolman. His estate was appraised at £368.17.6.] PHILIP KERTLAND - was the first shoemaker known at Lynn. His name is from the German Cortlandt, or Lack-land; and I think it was afterward changed to Kirkland. He was from Sherrington, in Buckinghamshire, and in 1638 had ten acres of land allotted to him by the town. He had two sons, Philip, born in 1614, and Nathaniel, born in 1616, who embarked on board the Hopewell, of London, William Bundock, master on the first of April, 1635. The two sons remained at Lynn five years, and in 1640 went to form the new settlement of South- ampton, on Long Island. Nathaniel returned to Lynn, married, and had three children; Nathaniel, Sarah, and Priscilla. He was buried 27 Dec. 1686, aged 70. [In an article on the gene- alogy of the Kertland family of the United States, by Rev. F. W. Chapman, published in the New England Historical and Ge- nealogical Register, 14th volume, it is stated that the Kertlands of this country are supposed to have descended from Na- thaniel Kertland, of Lynn, who is reputed to have resided, pre- vious to his emigration, in Silver street, London. He had one son, John, who removed to Saybrook, during his minority, and was adopted by Mr. John and Mrs. Susanna Wastall. They having no children, made him their sole heir, as appears by a will, dated in 1672. It is quite certain that there was a Nathan- iel Kertland in Lynn, who had a son John, though Mr. Lewis does not appear to have been aware of the fact. This John went to Saybrook, and there married and reared a large family. And from him descended several eminent persons; among them Rev. Daniel Kertland, who was a minister at Norwich, and father of Rev. Samuel Kertland, the well-known missionary to the Oneida Indians, and who was father of the distinguished John Thornton Kertland, president of Harvard University. And Rev. Dr. Samuel K. Lothrop, of Boston, is a grandson of Rev. Samuel, the missionary. By what follows, it would seem that there was also a John Kertland here, a brother of Philip, the first shoemaker. And it will also be seen that Mr. Lewis failed to obtain a very perfect knowledge of the family of which he was speaking. In Salem Court files, 17 July, 1659, is found the following testimony of John Kertland, aged about 52: "I often hard my brother, Philip Kyrtland, say oftimes that his wife shouald hane all that hee had to dispose of, so long as she live, and to my best remembranc, he gave £15 to his dafter Mary
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ANNALS OF LYNN- 1635.
and ten pounds to his dafter Sara, and ten pounds to his dafter Susanna, and ten pounds to his dafter Hanna; this to be given to them at ye day of marriag, the land not to be sould so long as she lives." And William Harcher, of Lynn, aged 65, or thereabout, deposed " that when Philip Kertland was going to see," he told him in substance as above. The name of the Cap- tain of the Hopewell, by the way, was Bundock, not Burdock, as it is sometimes printed, and as Mr. Lewis himself had it.]
The following is from the Essex Registry, 14 October, 1659 : " Know all men by these presents, that I, Evan Thomas, of Bos- ton, being about to marry the widow Alice Kertland of Lynn, do engage to and agree not to sell or alienate her now dwelling house and land."
THOMAS LAIGHTON - was a farmer; a freeman in 1638; lived in Franklin street. He was a representative in 1646, and town clerk in 1672. He died 8 August, 1697. His children were, Thomas, Margaret, Samuel, Rebecca, and Elizabeth. [I have strong doubts as to the propriety of following the lead of Mr. Lewis in the spelling of this name. The public, records, to be sure, display considerable ingenuity in the multiplied variations of the orthography. But he himself wrote his name Laughton. A fac-simile of his autograph is here given, as carefully traced from his Thomas Laughton Signature of Thomas Laighton. signature as witness to the will of Thomas Newhall, the elder, made in April, 1668. Laighton Bank takes its name from this settler ; also Laighton street.]
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT-freeman 1636, died 1646. He came from London, and the name of his wife was Anne.
RICHARD LONGLEY - a farmer, had two sons; William, clerk of the writs in 1655, and Jonathan.
THOMAS MARSHALL (Capt.) - came to Lynn in 1635. He em- barked in the James, of London, on the 17th of July, and soon
* Hon. James Savage. The public are greatly indebted to this gentleman for his intelligent annotations of Gov. Winthrop's Journal, and for his valuable researches in the manuscript records of England. [And I take the opportu- nity to add, that to the Genealogical Dictionary of Mr. Savage I am greatly indebted. That work bears evidence of remarkable fidelity and skill. And the magnitude of the labor would have been sufficient to appall any one not endowed with more than ordinary industry and perseverance. The readiness with which the author expresses a doubt, where one exists, gives additional assurance of his uncompromising determination to avoid misleading, if possi- ble. Such a course is really refreshing in view of the faithless multitude who are in the evil habit of fortifying uncertainty by positiveness. And the resolu- tion with which he unveils the little romances of such authors as unscrupu- lously make detours from the straight and narrow way of truth, to gather flowers for the adornment of their narratives, while it cannot be more aptly characterized than in the orthography of his own surname, certainly merits the highest commendation.]
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