USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 16
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 16
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 16
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 16
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 16
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64
NICHOLAS POTTER - was a mason, and had sixty acres of land. [Mr. Potter appears to have become much interested in the Iron Works, after their establishment, but removed to Salem, in 1660. He was twice married, his second wife being a daugh- ter of John Gedney, of Salem. He made a will, 10 Oct. 1677, appointing his father-in-law sole executor, and in it mentions six children by his first wife, namely, Samuel, Benjamin, Sarah, Mary, Hannah, and Bethia. He also had children by his second wife. Eight days after the date of his will, he died. The in- ventory of his estate gives, in amount, £206.11. He must have had the confidence of the people, while in Lynn, for in 1646, he was licensed by the Court to " draw wine," in accordance with the desire of the town, expressed in a vote passed at a public meeting.]
OLIVER PURCHIS - freeman in 1636, representative in 1660, town clerk in 1686. [He was elected assistant in 1685, but " declined his oath."] He removed to Concord, in 1691, and died 20 Nov. 1701, aged 88 years.
RICHARD SADLER - a farmer; a freeman in 1639; came from Worcester, England. He lived by the great rock near the junc- tion of Walnut and Holyoke streets. He was a member of the Salem Court in 1639, and clerk of the writs in 1640. He had a N
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son Richard, born in 1610, who returned to England in 1647, and was ordained 16 May, 1648. [It was Mr. Sadler himself who became a preacher. He went home in 1646 or '7 and was ordained, at the date mentioned, at the chapel of Whixall, in Shropshire. But he was afterward advanced to a better living, at Ludlow, from which he was ejected, at the Restoration. Mr. Lewis does not state the time of his death, nor give any date from which his age might be inferred. But Calamy says he died in 1675, aged 55. The age, however, seems to be wrongly stated; for if he were born in 1620, as must have been the case if his age was 55 in 1675, it is hardly probable that he would have been appointed to the important public positions he held from 1639, onward, as long as he remained here. In 1639 he was made a freeman. That might have been, it is true, had he been but 19 years old, for youths of 16 could take the oath and perform the duties of freemen, with the exception of voting for magistrates, and with one or two other disabilities. But in the same year, he was appointed, with John Oliver and Robert Keayne, "to run the bounds between Boston and Linn," and . likewise made a member of the Salem Court. For the last two appointments, a person of nineteen years was certainly rather young. And then again, taking Mr. Lewis's statement that "he had a son Richard, born in 1610," in connection with the state- ment of Calamy that he died in 1675 at the age of 55, we have the rather uncommon occurrence of a son being born ten years before his father. The experienced Farmer, too, is not exempt from entanglement in the matter. He, no doubt on the author- ity of Calamy, gives the age of Mr. Sadler, at the time of his death, in 1675, as 55; and adds that the preacher who was or- dained at Whixall, in 1648, was perhaps his son. But if he himself was only 28, at the time of the ordination, is it likely that he had a son old enough to be a settled preacher ? The fact probably is, that Mr. Sadler himself was born in 1610. The error making him 55 instead of 65 at the time of his death, in 1675, might easily have occurred; and some author, not imagin- ing that he could have become a preacher himself, benevolently supplied him with a son to fill the sacred office. Savage says Mr. Sadler went home in 1646, as fellow-passenger with John Leverett, Gov. Sayles, of Bermuda, and many others, of whom were the malcontent Dr. Child, Thomas Fowle, and William Vassall. And he does not seem to doubt that Mr. Sadler him- self was the preacher ordained at Whixall. The complications here exhibited very well illustrate the perplexities that constant- ly beset the path of one engaged on a work like the present. And if now and then a misstatement should be made or.a wrong conclusion drawn, is it very wonderful? For something more regarding Mr. Sadler see under date 1638.]
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THOMAS TOWNSEND - was a farmer, and lived near the Iron Works. He died 22 Dec. 1677. His sons were John, Thomas, Henry, and Richard. Some of his descendants remain, others were among the first settlers of the towns on Long Island.
1636.
Mr. Bachiler had been readily dismissed from his pastoral charge, in the expectation that he would desist from its exercise, or remove from the town; instead of which, he renewed his covenant with the persons who came with him from England, intending to continue his ministrations. The people opposed this design, as its tendency would be to frustrate their intention of settling another minister ; they therefore complained to the magistrates, who forbade his proceeding. Finding that he disregarded their injunctions, and refused to appear before them, they sent the marshal to compel him. He was brought before the Court of Assistants, at Boston, in January, and was discharged, on engaging to leave the town within three months.
Whoever has attentively read the lives of the early ministers of New England, as written by the Rev. Cotton Mather, must have noticed that they are all represented to have been men of uncommon learning, piety, and worth. This may be imputed partly to the embellishments of his pen, and partly to the fact that they were born and educated in the bosom of the church, and in the best universities of Europe. We are greatly indebted to Mr. Mather for his account of those ministers ; but we should have been far more grateful to him, if he had been more partic- ular with regard to dates and facts respecting the subjects of his biography, instead of devoting so much time and space to the worthies of Greece and Rome; for we could easily have pre- sumed his acquaintance with ancient history and the classics, without so ostentatious a display of it. In his life of Mr. Cob- bet, he has given us but one date with certainty -the rest have been supplied by my laborious research. Mr. Bachiler he did not notice, and the following sketch of his life is the first which has ever been offered to the public.
The Rev. STEPHEN BACHILER was born in England, in the year 1561, and received orders in the established church. In the early part of his life he enjoyed a good reputation; but being dissatisfied with some of the ceremonies of the church, and refusing to continue his conformity, he was deprived of his permission to perform her services. The church has been much censured for her severity ; and all uncharitableness and persecu- tion are to be deprecated; but in simply ejecting her ministers for nonconformity, after they have approved her mode of wor- ship, and in the most solemn manner possible engaged them- selves in her service, the church is no more censurable than all
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other communities, with whom the same practice is common. On leaving England, Mr. Bachiler went with his family to Hol- land, where he resided several years. He then returned to London, from which place he sailed, on the ninth of March, 1632, for New England. He arrived at Lynn on the sixth of June, having in his company six persons, his relatives and friends, who had belonged to his church in Holland. With them, and the few who united with them, he constituted a little church at Lynn, without any of the ceremonies usual on such occasions. He continued his ministrations here for about three years, with repeated interruptions ; but he never had the support or the affections of the great body of the people. He was admitted a freeman on the 6th of May, 1635, and removed from Lynn in February, 1636. He went first to Ipswich, where he received a grant of fifty acres of land, and had the prospect of a settle- ment ; but some difficulty having arisen, he left the place. In the very cold winter of 1637, he went on foot with some of his friends, to Yarmouth, a distance of about one hundred miles. There he intended to plant a town, and establish a church; but finding the difficulties great, and "his company being all poor men," he relinquished the design. He then went to Newbury, where, on the 6th of July, 1638, the town made him a grant of land. On the 6th of September, the General Court granted him permission to settle a town at Hampton. In 1639, the inhabitants of Ipswich voted to give him sixty acres of upland, and twenty acres of meadow, if he would reside with them three years; but he did not accept their invitation. On the 5th of July, he and Christopher Hussey sold their houses and lands in Newbury, for " six score pounds," and removed to Hampton. There a town was planted, and a church gathered, of which Mr. Bachiler became the minister. The town granted him three hundred acres of land, and he presented them with a bell for the meeting-house, in 1640. Here he was treated with respect, and in 1641, he was appointed umpire in an important case of real estate between George Cleves and John Winter. Dissensions, however, soon commenced, and the people were divided between him and his colleague, Rev. Timothy Dalton. He was also accused of irregular conduct, which is thus related by Governor Winthrop:
"Mr. Bachiler, the pastor of the church at Hampton, who had suffered much at the hands of the bishops in England, being about eighty years of age, and having a lusty, comely woman to his wife, did solicit the chastity of his neighbor's wife, who acquainted her husband therewith ; Whereupon he was dealt with, but denied it, as he had told the woman he would do, and com- plained to the magistrates against the woman and her husband for slandering him. The church likewise dealing with him he stiffly denied it; but soon after, when the Lord's supper was to be administered, he did voluntarily con- fess the attempt."
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For this impropriety, he was excommunicated by the church. Soon after, his house took fire, and was consumed, with nearly all his property. In 1643, he was restored to the communion, but not to the office of minister. In 1644, the people of Exeter invited him to settle with them; but the Court laid their injunc- tion. In 1647, he was at Portsmouth, where he resided three years. In 1650, being then eighty nine years of age, and his second wife, Helena, being dead, he married his third wife, Mary ; and in May was fined ten pounds, for not publishing his intention of marriage, according to law ; half of which fine was remitted in October. In the same year, the Court passed the following order, in consequence of their matrimonial disagree- ment :
"It is ordered by this Court, that Mr. Batchelor and his wife shall lyve together as man and wife, as in this Court they have publiquely professed to doe; and if either desert one another, then hereby the Court doth order that the marshal shall apprehend both the said Mr. Batchelor and Mary his wife, and bring them fortliwith to Boston, there to be kept till the next Quarter Court of Assistants, that farther consideration thereof may be had, both of them moving for a divorce ; and this order shall be sufficient order soe to doe; pro- vided, notwithstanding, that if they put in £50, each of them, for their appear- ance, with such sureties as the commissioners or any one of them for the county shall think good to accept of, that then they shall be under their baile, to appear at the next Court of Assistants ; and in case Mary Batchelor shall live out of the jurisdiction, without mutual consent for a time, that then the clarke shall give notice to the magistrate att Boston, of her absence, that farther order may be taken therein."
Soon after this, in 1651, Mr. Bachiler left the country and returned to England, where he married his fourth wife, being himself ninety years of age, and his third wife, Mary, being still living. In October, 1656, she petitioned the Court, in the follow- ing words, to free her from her husband :
"To the Honored Governor, Deputy Governor, with the Magistrates and Deputies at the General Court at Boston :
" The humble petition of Mary Bachelor sheweth - Whereas your peti- tioner, having formerly lived with Mr. Stephen Bachelor, a minister of this Collany, as his lawfull wife, and not unknown to divers of you, as I conceive, and the said Mr. Bachelor, upon some pretended ends of his owne, hath trans- ported himself unto ould England, for many yeares since, and betaken him- self to another wife, as your petitioner hath often been credibly informed, and there continueth, whereby your petitioner is left destitute, not only of a guide to her and her children, but also made uncapable thereby of disposing herselfe in the way of marriage to any other, without a lawful permission ; and having now two children upon her hands, that are chargeable unto her, in regard to a disease God hath been pleased to lay upon them both, which is not easily curable, and so weakening her estate in prosecuting the means of cure, that she is not able longer to subsist, without utter ruining her estate, or exposing herself to the common charity of others; which your petitioner is loth to put herself upon, if it may be lawfully avoided, as is well known to all, or most part of her neighbors. And were she free from her engagement to Mr. Bach- elor, might probably soe dispose of herselfe, as that she might obtain a meet helpe to assist her to procure such means for her livelyhood, and the recovery N* 11
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of her children's health, as might keep them from perishing; which your petitioner, to her great grief, is much afraid of, if not timely prevented. Your petitioner's humble request therefore is, that this Honored Court would be pleased seriously to consider her condition, for matter of her relief in her free- dom from the said Mr. Bachelor, and that she may be at liberty to dispose of herselfe in respect of any engagement to him, as in your wisdomes shall seem most expedient ; and your petitioner shall humbly pray.
MARY BACHELER."
No record appears that the Court took any order on this petition ; nor are we informed whether the lady succeeded to " dispose of herselfe," in the manner which she seems to have had so much at heart. It is to be hoped, however, that her request was granted, for the woman had undoubtedly suffered enough for her lapses, as the reader will probably agree, when he shall have read the sentence, which may serve to clear up at least one of the mysteries in this strangest of all the lives of our early ministers. In the records of York, on the fifteenth of October, 1651, is the following entry : "We do present George Rogers and Mary Batcheller, the wife of Mr. Stephen Batcheller, minister, for adultery. It is ordered that Mrs. Batch- eller, for her adultery, shall receive 40 stripes save one, at the first town meeting held at Kittery, 6 weeks after her delivery, and be branded with the letter A." In the horrible barbarity of this sentence we blush for the severity of the punishment, rather than for the crime. The husband and his erring wife have long since gone to their last account, and their errors and follies must be left to the adjustment of that tribunal which we hope is more merciful than the decisions of men. Mr. Bachiler . had, undoubtedly, many virtues, or he would not have had many friends, and they would not have continued with him through all the changes of his varied life. Mr. Prince says that he was " a man of fame in his day, a gentleman of learning and ingenu- ity, and wrote a fine and curious hand." It was on his separa- tion from the church at Lynn, with his subsequent misfortunes, that Edward Johnson wrote the following lines :
"Through ocean large Christ brought thee for to feed His wandering flock, with 's word thou oft hast taught ; Then teach thyself, with others thou has need; Thy flowing fame unto low ebb is brought.
"Faith and obedience Christ full near hath joined ; Then trust in Christ and thou again mayst be Brought on thy race, though now far cast behind ; Run to the end and crowned thou shalt be."
Mr. Bachiler died at Hackney, near London, in 1660, in the one hundredth year of his age. He had four sons and three daughters. Theodate married Christopher Hussey, and re- moved to Hampton. Deborah married John Wing, of Lynn, and removed to Sandwich. The third daughter married a San-
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born; Francis and Stephen remained in London; Henry went to Reading; Nathaniel removed to Hampton, where, in 1656, he married Deborah Smith, by whom he had nine children. After her death, he called on widow Mary Wyman, of Woburn, and offered himself. She discouraged his hopes because he had so large a family. He replied, "It was the first time he had ever known a woman to object to a man because he got chil- dren; he was going to Boston on business, and when he re- turned he would call for her answer." He called as he promised, she became his wife, and presented him with eight more children. Among the descendants from the Rev. Stephen Bachiler, may be mentioned the Hon. Daniel Webster. [Ebenezer Webster, the grandfather of Daniel, the distinguished statesman, was born at Hampton, 10 October, 1714, and married, 20 July, 1738, Susanna Bachilor, who was probably a descendant of Rev. Stephen, through his eldest son, Nathaniel, who lived at Hampton, and of whom Mr. Lewis tells the foregoing curious anecdote. But I find it elsewhere stated that he had three wives.
[In Morgan's Sphere of Gentry, printed in 1661, may be found Mr. Bachiler's coat of arms. It consists of a plough, beneath which is a rising sun; or, to use the technical language of heraldry, vert a plough in fesse and in base the sun rising or. The author calls it the coat of "Cain, Adam's son," and says it " did appertain to Stephen Bachelor the first pastor of the church of Ligonia, in New England; which bearing was an- swerable to his profession in plowing up the fallow ground of their hearts, and the sun appearing in that part of the world, symbolically alluded to his motto, sol justitia exoritur." Does not " the church of Ligonia," mean the church of Lynn -an attempt being made to Latinize the name of the town ? Another work on heraldry gives the name Livonia; but this is, no doubt, a misspelling. Where the witty old author speaks of the plough as answering to Mr. Bachiler's profession in breaking up the fallow ground of their hearts, he might have passed on to the sun's office of warming and rendering fruitful the broken ground. There is, however, no very pleasing compliment in the reference to "Cain, Adam's son." Yet the author takes occasion to note, here and there, a comforting fact that seems to have become suddenly established in his mind, with or without connection with the matter in hand. Witness the following which appears as a marginal note : " Women have soules." And this seems to have been proved to his satisfaction by the first temptation, for he says, "had she not had a precious and rational soul the Devil would never have attempted her." This is plausible, but it might be argued that he only operated on her as an instru- ment for the destruction of her husband. And he seems inclined to give the evil one more credit for his sagacity, than Eve for
.
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her integrity, by asking, " indeed how could she withstand such temptation that did intice her to curiosity and pride, the com- mon sin of all their sex to this day ?"
[The reader's attention is here solicited for a moment to the singular spectacle brought to view in the affairs of Mr. Bachiler. While pastor of the church at Hampton, he is charged with having solicited the chastity of a neighbor's wife; yet the church at Exeter, knowing the fact, invite him to settle over them. Did they discredit the charges, or consider the offence not worth weighing? In 1650 he marries a woman who proves to be an adultress, leaves her, and petitions for a divorce. This the government refuses, and going farther, orders that they "shall lyve together as man and wife." Now what is to be thought of a government that compels a thing so revolting and so unne- cessarily cruel? From all the circumstances I am led to the conviction' that the whole truth does not appear; that extenu- ating facts are concealed ; that there was a settled determination to make his continuance here uncomfortable, to say the least. The truth is, he had ventured to question the right of the civil authorities to supremacy in spiritual affairs. And that was enough to excite their indignation. The proof of his moral delinquencies, however, seems sufficient. It would be a bold step to attempt to discredit Winthrop; though it may not be unreasonable to suggest that, considering his ire towards those who were inclined to any thing like active opposition to the ruling powers, he might not have examined with sufficient severity the slanders which Mr. Bachiler's enemies put in circu- lation. Not only did Mr. Bachiler oppose the incipient union of church and state, but he also espoused the interests of New Hampshire when they clashed with the assumptions of the Bay Colony. And that was enough to bring a heavy load of fuel to the fire. And, furthermore, as is well known, his colleage at Hampton, Mr. Dalton, was strongly set in the Massachusetts interest, and virulently opposed to his associate. Mr. Bachiler was evidently an opponent not easily overcome; was well edu- cated; an adept in controversy ; strong willed. He was a sin- ner, but greatly sinned against. And he probably had little more sympathy in the colonial councils than Williams, Hutchin- son or Wheelwright.]
The dissensions in the churches at Salem and Lynn, and the scarcity of provisions, occasioned a fast to be proclaimed, which was observed on the 21st of February.
On the third of March, the Court enacted that each town should have power to regulate its own affairs; to set fines on offenders, not exceeding twenty shillings ; and to choose a num- ber of " prudential men," not exceeding seven, to order their municipal concerns. This was the legal origin of those officers
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since called Selectmen ; though some of the town's had similar officers before. They were at first chosen for only three months; and the town of Lynn continued to choose seven, until the year 1755, when the number was reduced to three. They also had a number of officers, called tythingmen, because each one was set over ten families, to observe their conduct, and to report any violation of the public order.
Mr. Timothy Tomlins was licensed as a retailer, "to draw wine for the town of Saugus." [He was also licensed to " keepe a house of intertainement."]
Mr. John Humfrey and Capt. Nathaniel Turner were appointed by the Court to lay out the bounds of Ipswich.
Mr. Humfrey built a windmill on the eastern mound of Saga- more Hill, which was thence called Windmill Hill.
A Court was established at Salem, to be held quarterly, for the benefit of that and the adjacent towns. The judges con- sisted of a magistrate, and several freemen, selected from each town, by the General Court. This year there were four, of whom Capt. Nathaniel Turner was one, [and Mr. Humfrey an- other.] The first session commenced on the 27th of June. A fine of ten shillings was imposed on Thomas Stanley, the con- stable of Lynn, for not appearing ; and a record, made in Sep- tember, says, "Now it is in corn, in William Wood's hands." [Captain Turner was also appointed one of a valuation com- mittee, raised preparatory to the levying of a tax on the several plantations.]
The Rev. SAMUEL WHITING arrived from England in June, and was installed pastor of the church at Lynn, on Tuesday, the 8th of November. The Council remained two days, and found much difficulty in organizing a church; which was composed of only six members, besides the minister. The following is a copy of the original church covenant transcribed by me from a leaf of a pocket Bible belonging to one of the ministers :
" The Covenant of the First Church of Christ in Lynn.
" We do give up ourselves to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as to the only true and living God; avouching God the Father to be our father; embracing the Lord Jesus Christ as our only Savior, in all his offices, prophet- ical, sacerdotal and regal; depending on the blessed Spirit of Grace to be our Sanctifier, Teacher, Guide, and Comforter, and to make effectual application of the redemption purchased by Christ unto us; promising by the assistance, and through the sanctifying influences of that Blessed Spirit, to cleave unto this one God and Mediator, as his covenant people. We believe the revelation God hath made of himself, and our duty, in his word, to be true ; and through grace strengthening, we promise to comply with the whole will of God, so far as he shall discover it to us. We promise, by the assistance of Divine Grace, to walk before God in our houses, in sincerity of heart; that we will uphold the worship of God therein ; endeavoring to bring up all under our inspection, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We shall endeavor the mortifica- tion of our own sins, and we covenant to reprove sin in others, as far as the rule requires ; promising in brotherly love to watch over one another, and to
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