USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 18
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[Thomas Halsye. Mr. Halsye was one of the Long Island settlers who went from Lynn. He remained many years at Southampton, and was the richest man in the place. He had much influence, and was active in establishing the Connecticut jurisdiction. In 1664, he was a representative. In 1666, his wife, or possibly the wife of his son Thomas, was murdered by a drunken Indian. And that was the only Indian murder com- mitted in the Southampton colony. The murderer was promptly surrendered and executed.
[John Elderkin. Mr. Elderkin seems to have removed from Lynn soon after these land allotments were made. He became a sojourner in divers places. In 1651 he was at New London, and there built the first church and the first mill. He finally settled at Norwich, in 1664, and there likewise built the first church and the first mill, and died 23 June, 1687. He had two wives and several children. His widow died at the mabure age
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of 95, in 1716, at Norwich. While at Lynn, Mr. Elderkin owned the mill which previously belonged to Mr. Howell.
[Richard Brooks. This settler arrived in 1635, and was then 25 years of age. He came in the Susan and Ellen. In 1650 he went to Easthampton, being one of the first settlers there.
[Francis Godson. This individual was a laborer, or crafts- man. On the Colony Records, 5 Aug. 1634, appears this entry : " Frauncis Godson hath bound himselfe in xl. for his psonall appearance att the Court to be holden in Octobr nexte to an- swer for breach of an order of Court in takeing to greate wages, &c." It will be remembered that the wages of mechanics and laborers were regulated by the Court.
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[Richard Wells. Mr. Wells removed to Salisbury, where he became a prominent citizen, and a deacon in the church. He died 12 July, 1672.
[Jeremy Howe. This was a son of Edward Howe, and he came over with his father, in the Truelove, 1635. He removed to New Haven, where he reared a family. Jeremiah Howe, one of the first settlers of Wallingford, in 1670, was probably his son, though at that time but about 20 years old. He died in 1690.
[Richard Longley. A singular dispute arose respecting this grantee, a William Longley, or Langley, claiming that he was the person intended. By the records, it appears that at the Court held at Ipswich, 26 March, 1661, Andrew Mansfield, aged " about thirty eight yeares," made affidavit that he had been an inhabitant of Lynn, "aboute two or three and twentye yeares," and that William Longley came at the time he did, and " by him selfe and familye" had remained an inhabitant, having bought a house and land; that about 1649, this William Long- ley, at a general town meeting, demanded that his portion of land should be laid out, according to the town records; that " the Records were vewed and therein was found 40 acores granted to one Richard Longlye; but his name being William, and not Richard, as alsoe sum asking the sª Longlye whether hee had pd for the Laying it out; he Answering that he had not," the majority voted that it was not his. Mr. Mansfield also testified that Longley had been called by the name of Langley, and that he never knew an inhabitant of Lynn " called Longlye or Langlye, but this William Longlye and his ffamilye." Clement Coldam and Hugh Burt, at the same Court, gave simi- lar testimony, Coldam declaring-"the sd W. Longley did in my hearing demand his proportion of land according to a former grant, and this demand being at a generall Town Meeting, some present answered that if he, the sª Longley, could prove Landes to be granted to him by the Towne, he might have it, or else nott; some present granting that there was land granted to
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Richard Langley, but none to William Langley ; further, this deponent, being an Inhabitant of the Towne of Linn before William Longley came into the sª Towne, and many years after, affirme that the sayed Longley was for many years caled Langh, and nott Longley, and is frequently so called vnto this day ; neither hath this deponent knowne any Inhabitant of Linn called by the name of Langley or Longley but onely this William Long- ley and his ffamiley." On the question of laying out the land to William Longley, however, the town voted in the negative. But it is a little remarkable that at the " generall towne meet- ing" at which his petition was considered, there should not have been numbers who really knew whether he was the person intended in the distribution, which was made but twelve years before. It is difficult to conclude that the town was deter- mined to withold the land, right or wrong, or that the petitioner was fraudulently endeavoring to gain it by boldly claiming what he knew was intended for another. It seems, however, on the whole, pretty well established, though there remained room for doubt, that William was intended. Yet it must be added, that there was a Richard Longley in some part of Lynn, in 1636, who had two sons, William and Jonathan. He may have left town before the distribution and without the deponents' having any knowledge of him. In conclusion of the mysterious mat- ter, it must be remarked that William Longley, the petitioner, finally recovered a judgment, in the Court, for the land, or forty pounds in money. And it was out of this affair that the charge of perjury which John Hathorne made against Andrew Mansfield and William Longley, grew; an accusation which, in its turn, produced a jar between the legal and ecclesiastical powers. See under dates 1662 and 1663. It was a small mat- ter but it kindled a great fire.
[Thomas Talmage, jr. This is thought to be the same Lieut. Talmage, of New Haven, who was killed in the savage attack on Schenectady, 8 Feb., 1690, though he must then have been ripe in years.]
Though the 8680 acres of land thus laid out among 100 fam- ilies, comprised the best portion of the plantation, the people thought they had not sufficient room, and petitioned the Court for more. On the 13th of March, "Lynn was granted 6 miles into the country ; and Mr Hawthorne and Leift. Davenport to view and inform how the land beyond lyeth, whether it be fit for another plantation or no." The land laid out by this order was for many years called Lynn End, and now constitutes the town of Lynnfield. The Court afterward very prudently or- dered that the Governor and Assistants should "take care that the Indians have satisfaction for their right at Lynn."
The preceding winter was extremely severe, the snow con-
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tinuing from 16 November to 4 April, and the spring was so cold that the farmers were compelled to plant their corn "two or three times."
On the first of June, between the hours of three and four in the afternoon, there was an earthquake. It shook the whole country very heavily, making a noise like the rattling of coaches, and continued about four minutes. The earthquake was very great ; people found it difficult to stand, and furniture and chimneys were thrown down. Other smaller shocks occurred for several weeks after. [This appears to have been the first earthquake noticed by the settlers. It seemed to proceed from the northwest, and began with a noise resembling the roar of distant thunder.
[The celebrated Military Company, which has continued in existence to this day, and is now known as the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, was formed on the first of June. Daniel Howe, of Lynn, was chosen lieutenant. And two other Lynn men, Edward Tomlins and Nathaniel Turner, became members at the same time. And from time to time during the long period from that day to the present our townsmen have been found in the ranks. The early settlers did not come for purposes of conquest, and were accompanied by no military force; the common means of defense, indeed, seem to have been grudgingly supplied by the Directors. There were few among the first immigrants, possessing skill in the arts of war, for they especially prided themselves on being followers of the Prince of Peace. It soon, however, became apparent, that in retaining their foothold here, they would occasionally be compelled to resort to carnal weapons; that guns as well as catechisms would be called in requisition ; that whatever might be the views of the government at home, or their own views, on political doctrine or abstract questions of right, the natives, in their rude conceptions of justice, would view them as intruders or occupants at sufferance. And having the shrewdness to per- ceive that with adequate preparation the battle would be half won, they speedily set about perfecting some sort of military organization. Train-bands, as they were called, were presently formed in every considerable settlement, officered by the most experienced and fearless. And these held themselves in readi- ness to do their utmost for defense. But under a system so inadhesive it was seen that much force must be wasted through diversity of organization and mode of discipline. It was there- fore thought advisable that a company should be formed at Boston, embracing members from the various sections, which . should operate as a sort of regulator in military affairs, and a school for instruction in tactics. Action was soon taken; a charter was obtained; and on the first Monday of June, 1638,
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the renowned Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company was formed.
[In the charter, it is called the " Military Company of the Mas- sachusetts." But having soon obtained field pieces, it began to be called the Artillery Company, or the Great Artillery, As late as 1691, Cotton Mather, in his election sermon, calls it the Artillery Company. In 1708, however, Mr. Danforth, in the title-page of his sermon, prefixes the word "Honorable." Fi- nally, in 1738, Dr. Colman, who preached the centennial sermon, gives the full title, "Honorable and Ancient Artillery Company." The charter granted privileges to the Company, and it was fos- tered with much solicitude. There were some, however, who viewed the new institution with distrust, fearing that it might prove the germ of a power that would subvert or endanger the liberties of the people. Indeed there was some difficulty in ob- taining the charter, on the ground that several of the proposed members were known adherents of Mrs. Hutchinson.
[At the organization, Robert Keayne, an eminent merchant of Boston, was elected Captain. He was father of Benjamin Keayne, who lived a short time at Lynn, and of whom some particulars may be found under date 1645. Daniel Howe, as before stated, was elected lieutenant. He was a Lynn man, and an officer of the train-band here. Such was the beginning of this famous military Company, and it yet continues in health- ful existence. The elections are still made on the first Monday of June. And the pleasant holiday of Artillery Election con- tinues to be honored by a sermon, and a dinner. And the Gover- nor dispenses the commissions from his seat on Boston Common.
[It is not now known whether the Company had a uniform at the time of its organization. There is a tradition, however, that they soon appeared in enormous white wigs. Dr. Colman, in his centennial sermon, before alluded to, remarks, " The captains awed their families and neighbors by their gravity and piety, as well as frightened their enemies by their boldness and firm- ness. The natives trembled when they saw them train, and old as well as young stood still and reverenced them as they passed along in martial order." Though they do not inspire precisely such feelings, as they parade, at the present day, they yet re- ceive marked attention. And may the venerable organization flourish through centuries to come. A list of the members from Lynn will appear among the tables at the close of the volume.
[This year, some of the Pequot captives were sent to the West Indies and sold for return cargoes of cotton, tobacco, and negroes. And this was the beginning of negro slavery here. Along in the next century large quantities of rum were shipped from New England to the coast of Africa and exchanged for
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negroes, some of whom were carried into the southern colonies · and others disposed of here. It is not easy to determine pre- cisely what the real feelings of our puritan ancestors were regarding negro slavery. To judge from the occasional Court orders, it would appear that for the most part it was entirely discountenanced or existed only in a greatly modified form. But from other sources are derived hints that it was favored, in some of its most inhuman features. In 1641, the Court declare, by a general act, that "There shall never be any bond slaverie, villianage, or captivitie amongst us, unless it be lawfull captives taken in just warres, and such strangers as willingly selle them- selves or are sold to us. This exempts none from servitude who shall be judged thereto by authoritie." This is very loose. What is to prevent the existence of negro slavery, under the clause " such strangers as selle themselves or are sold to us " ? And under the clause "lawfull captives taken in just warres," where stand the poor Indians ? In 1701, the people of Boston passed a vote, desiring their representatives to use exertions to encourage the in-coming of white servants and to put a period to the enslaving of negroes. Judge Sewall writes, 22 June, 1716, " I essayed to prevent negroes and Indians being rated with horses and cattle, but could not succeed." There were 4.489 slaves in Massachusetts, in 1754. It was not, in reality, till 1783, that slavery came to an end in the state, though there were some Court orders professedly aimed at its extinguish- ment, at a much earlier date. The following appeared as an advertisement in the Boston News Letter, in August, 1742: " A negro woman to be sold by the printer of this paper; the very best negro woman in town,- who has had the small-pox, and the measles, - is as healthy as a horse, - as brisk as a bird, and will work like a beaver."]
A settlement was this year begun at Hampton, in New Hamp- shire, by Rev. Stephen Bachiler, Christopher Hussey, and four- teen others, most of whom had been inhabitants of Lynn.
Many farmers pastured their cows in one drove, and watched them alternately. When it came to Mr. John Gillow's turn, an ill-minded man detained him in conversation till the cows strayed into a field of corn, where two of them ate so much that they became sick, and one of them died. It happened that these two cows belonged to the man who had occasioned the mis- chief, who complained of Mr. Gillow before the Court of Assist- ants, at Boston, 7 September. As it was proved that the man had boasted of having designed that the cattle should stray, the case was decided in Mr. Gillow's favor.
On the sixth of September, Mr. John Humfrey sold to Eman- uel Downing, of Salem, " the 2 ponds and so much high ground about the ponds, as is needful to keep the Duck Coys, privately
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set, from disturbance of ploughmen, herdsmen, and others pass- ing by that way, which he may enclose, so as to take not in above fifty acres of the upland round about the same." These two ponds were probably Coy and Deep ponds, near Forest river. In the Registry, at Salem, where the above is recorded, Mr. Humfrey is called of Salem; but that is not a copy 'of the original grant. In early time, the deeds were not recorded literally, but only a sketch of them was entered by the clerk. A common form of beginning deeds then was, "To all Christian People." One deed is recorded, which commences thus - " To all Christian People, Fishermen, and Indians."
1639.
Among those who promoted the settlement of New England, ..*** were several of the name of Lewis. Some of them were in : the country at a very early period, but the name first appears at Lynn, this year. I have copious memoirs of this family, from which I shall make a few brief extracts, that I may not be like the poet described by Leyden, who
"Saved other names, and left his own unsung."
When the whole country was a wilderness, Thomas Lewis came from Wales to establish a plantation. He made his first visit to Saco, then called by the Indians, Saga-dahock, in 1628; and on the 12th of February, 1629, received the following grant, a copy of which was preserved in the archives of Massachusetts. To all Christian People, to whom this present writing indented shall come:
The Council for the Affairs in New England ... in consideration that THOMAS LEWIS, Gentleman, hath already been at the charge to transport him- self and others to take a view of New England . .. for the bettering of his experience in the advancing of a Plantation, and doth now wholly intend by God's assistance, to plant there, both for the good of his Majesty's realms and for the propagation of the Christian Religion among those infidels; and in consideration that the said Thomas Lewis, together with Captain Richard Bonython, and their associates have undertaken, at their own proper costs and charges, to transport Fifty Persons thither, within seven years . . . have given all that part of the Maine Land, commonly called and known by the name of SAGADAHOCK ... containing in breadth, from northeast to southwest, along by the Sea, Four Miles in a straight line, accounting seventeen hundred and three score yards, according to the standard of England, to every mile, and Eight English Miles upon the Maine Land, upon the north side of the River Sagadahock . . . He and they yielding and paying unto our Sovereign Lord, the King, one fifth part of gold and silver, one other fifth part to the Council aforesaid.
This deed was signed by Edward Gorges; and the Rev. Wil- liam Blaxton, of Boston, was named attorney for the Council. This grant included 32 square miles, and comprised the whole of the town of Saco. Thomas Lewis died in 1640. Judith, his eldest daughter and heiress, married James Gibbins.
William Lewis was descended from a very respectable
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family in Wales. His descendants enjoy great satisfaction in being able to trace their descent from a very high antiquity. He came to Boston in 1636. In the year 1640, he and his wife Amy are recorded by Rev. John Eliot, of Roxbury, as attend- ants at his church. In 1653, he became one of the proprietors of the pleasant inland town of Lancaster, on the Nashua river, and was the third person in regard to wealth among the settlers of that town. He died 1 Dec. 1671. He had eight children ; 1. John, born 1 Nov. 1635. 2. Christopher, b. 2 Dec. 1636. 3. Lydia, b. 25 Dec. 1639. 4. Josiah, b. 28 July, 1641. 5. Isaac, b. 14 April, 1644. 6. Mary, baptized 2 Aug. 1646. 7. Hannah, baptized 18 March, 1648. 8. Mordecai, born 1 June, 1650. His son John returned to Boston, and built a house on land which his father had purchased of Governor Richard Bellingham.
[At this point Mr. Lewis gives his own lineage thus :
William Lewis, of Wales, and Amy his wife, had children, John,
Christopher, Lydia, Josiah, | Isaac1, of Boston, Mary, Hannah, Mordecai.
Isaac Lewis1, of Boston, married Mary Davis, and had children, Mary, Isaac2 of Boston, Joseph, John, Abraham.
Isaac Lewis2, of Boston married Hannah Hallett, and had chil- dren, Isaac, John, Hannah, William, Abijah, Mary, |Nathan, of Boston, Joseph.
Nathan Lewis, of Boston, married Mary Newhall, and had chil- dren, Lois, Nathan, John, Thomas, David, Henry, Benjamin, IZachariah, of Lynn, Stephen, William.
Zachariah Lewis, of Lynn, married Mary Hudson, and had chil- dren, "ALONZO, of Lynn, the historian, Irene, Mary, William.
[But since Mr. Lewis traced his pedigree additional facilities for genealogical research have been secured, and many doubtful points determined. It now seems quite clear that the first of the two Isaacs named was not a son of William of Wales; and that the following, is a correct pedigree :
[John Lewis, of Malden, by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Abraham Browne, of Watertown, had Isaac, who, by his wife Mary Davis, had Isaac, of Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), who, by his wife Hannah Hallett, had Nathan, of Boston, who by his wife Mary Newhall, had Zachariah, of Lynn, who by his wife Mary Hudson, had ALONZO, the historian. " ... it must be ob- served," says Savage, in speaking of the first Isaac, " that this Isaac is by Lewis, in History of Lynn, made son of William of Roxbury [or Wales] ; and the historian asserts that his grand- father Nathan was grandson of this person. But court records, as brought out in the invaluable History of Watertown, by Bond, p. 125, show the contrary."]
EDMUND LEWIS - was one of the early proprietors of Water- town, and was admitted a freeman, 25 May, 1636. On the 14th P
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of October, 1638, he was one of the committee appointed to lay out the lands in that town. He came to Lynn in 1639, and was the first settler in Lewis street. . He died in January, 1651. The name of his wife was Mary, and his children were John, Thomas, James and Nathaniel. His descendants remain.
George Lewis came from East Greenwich, in the county of Kent, England. He was at Plymouth, in 1633. He removed to Scituate, and afterward to Barnstable. He married Sarah Jenkins, in England, and had nine children, of whom Joseph and John were killed by the Indians, in the war of 1675. Dr. Winslow Lewis, of Boston, descended from this family.
On the 14th of January there was an earthquake.
[There was an unusual drought in the early part of this year. Scarcely any rain fell between 26 April and 4 June.]
Another grant of land was made to the town, by the General Court, on the ninth of September. "The petition of the Inhab- itants of Lynn, for a place for an inland plantation, at the head of their bounds is granted them 4 miles square, as the place will affoard; upon condition that the petitioners shall, within two years, make some good proceeding in planting, so as it may be a village, fit to contain a convenient number of inhabitants, which may in dewe time have a church there; and so as such as shall .remove to inhabit there, shall not withall keepe their accommodations in Linn above 2 years after their removal to the said village, upon pain to forfeit their interest in one of them at their election; except this court shall see fit cause to dispense further with them." The settlement thus begun was called Lynn Village, and included Reading, South Reading, and North Reading. [The land was purchased of the Indians for £10.16, and the deed signed in 1640, by Sagamore George, his sister Abigail, and one or two others.]
Two other settlements were this year begun by people who removed from Lynn; one at Barnstable, and the other at Yar- mouth.
The General Court allowed the town fifty pounds to build a bridge over Saugus river, and fifty shillings annually to keep it in repair. They forbade the people to spread bass or codfish upon their lands, as they had been accustomed to do, for the enrichment of the soil. A tax of one thousand pounds was laid, of which the proportion of Lynn was £79.19.9. On the third of December, the Court laid a fine of ten pounds upon the town, for not maintaining a watch against the Indians.
The following order, passed by the General Court for the regulation of women's dresses, will be interesting to my lady readers. "No garment shall be made with short sleeves; and such as have garments already made with short sleeves, shall not wear the same, unless they cover the arm to the wrist; and
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hereafter no person whatever shall make any garment for women with sleeves more than half an ell wide;" that is, twenty-two and a half inches. Our early legislators were anxious to keep the minds, as well as the persons, of their women "in good shape." It seems that in 1637, the ladies of Boston were accus- tomed to meet for social improvement; on which Governor Winthrop remarks, "That though women might meet, some few together, to pray and edify one another, yet such a set ; assembly, where sixty or more did meet every week, and one "woman in a prophetical way, by resolving questions of doctrine, and expounding scripture, took upon her the whole exercise, was agreed to be disorderly, and without rule." [The alarm of the Governor at the power and success of Mrs. Hutchinson is conspicuous. If women had been allowed greater sway than they were, in those early times, some things might have been better managed. One cause of the harsh tone of the whole economy of the period is to be looked for in the restricted influence of the gentler sex.] What would they have thought in these later times, when women write books, and supply our pulpits. It might have been well for human welfare, if our legislators had always been as harmlessly employed, as when they were cutting out dresses for the ladies.
[John Oliver, Robert Keayne, and Richard Sadler, were ap- pointed to run the bounds between Boston and Lynn.
[At the same Court, Lynn was fined 10s. for "their bad wayes," and admonished to mend them by the next Court. There is something a little equivocal in this ; but highways are probably intended. At the December Court, she was fined 5s. for want of sealed weights, and 5s. for not giving in a transcript of her lands.
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