USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Saugus > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynnfield > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 28
USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Lynn > History of Lynn, Essex county, Massachusetts: including Lynnfield, Saugus, Swampscot, and Nahant > Part 28
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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
[This year closed with gloomy apprehensions touching the impending storm of savage retribution.] .
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1675.
This year we find mention made, in the records of the Society of Friends, of the sufferings of that people, in consequence of their refusal to pay parish taxes. In reference to George Oaks, who appears to be one of the first who embraced the doctrines of George Fox, in Lynn, is the following record : " Taken away for the priest, Samuel Whiting, one cow, valued at £3." Oth- ers afterward suffered for refusing to perform military duty, or to pay church rates, by having their cattle, corn, hay, and do- mestic furniture taken away.
On the 29th of August, there was "a very great wind and rain, that blew down and twisted many trees." (Bible leaf.)
The year 1675 is memorable for the commencement of the great war of Pometacom, called king Philip, sachem of the Wam- panoag Indians, in Plymouth county and Rhode Island, just one hundred years before the war of the independence of the United States. Pometacom was a son of Massasoit, but was more war- like than his father. Perhaps he had more cause to be so. As we have received the history of this war only from the pens of white men, it is probable that some incidents that might serve to illustrate its origin, have been passed unnoticed. It com- menced in June, and some of the eastern tribes united with the Wampanoags. One of the causes of their offence, was an out- rage offered by some sailors to the wife and child of Squando, sagamore of Saco. Meeting them in a canoe, and having heard that young Indians could swim naturally, they overturned the frail bark. The insulted mother dived and brought up her child, but it died soon after.
[Considerable alarm was felt, even in this quarter, so powerful and determined did the Indians appear, in this, their last great struggle.] The military company in Lynn, at this time, was commanded by Capt. Thomas Marshall, Lieut. Oliver Purchis, and Ensign John Fuller. The troops from Massachusetts, which went against the Indians, were commanded by Major Samuel Appleton. [The following answer of the Court, despatched in October, to a letter of the Major General, will give a glimpse of the existing state of feeling. "Sr: Wee received your letter dated at Lynn, 23th instant, and haue perused the particculs inclosed, wch still present us wth sad tjdings (the Lord haue mercy on us) toucheing the performance of yor promise to Ma- jor Pike in your designe to rajse what force you can to resist the enemys head quarters at Ausebee. Wee approove of it; only wee presume your intelligence that the enemy is there is vpon good grounde. Wee cannot give yow particular orders, but leaue the management of this affayre to yor prudenc and assistance of Almighty God, not doubting yor care in leaving
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sufficient strength to secure the frontjer tounes of Norfolke and Essex, least the enemy should visit them when the fforces are abooard. Wthout doubt, if their squawes and pappooses, &c. be at Assabee, and God be pleased to deliver them into our hands, it would be much for our interest. As for your personall march- ing, it will be acceptable, if God inable to psecute it."
[Solomon Alley and Benjamin Farnell, of Lynn, were among the slain at Bloody Brook, having been in Lathrop's command.]
Fifteen men were impressed at Lynn, by order of the Court, on the 13th of November, in addition to those who had been previously detached. Their names were Thomas Baker, Robert Driver, Job Farrington, Samuel Graves, Isaac Hart, Nicholas Hitchens, Daniel Hitchens, John Lindsey, Jonathan Locke, Charles Phillips, Samuel Rhodes, Henry Stacey, Samuel Tarbox, Andrew Townsend, and Isaac Wellman.
On the 19th of December, says the Bible leaf, there was "a dreadful fight with the Indians." This was the great swamp fight, at South Kingston, R. I., when eighty white men, and more than three hundred Indians, were killed. Mr. Ephraim Newhall, of Lynn, was one of the slain. [The following affida- vit was signed by Thomas Baker, and sworn to, at Lynn, 8 June, 1730, before Theophilus Burrill, justice of the peace, and is recorded in Middlesex Registry. "The deposition of Thomas Baker, of Lyn, in the county of Essex, aged about 77 years, Testifieth and saith, That I, being well acquainted with one Andrew Townsend of Lyn aforesaid, for more than 55 years since, and do certainly know and very well Remember that the sª Andrew Townsend was a soldier in the Expedition to the Narragansett under ye Command of Capt. Gardner, and that he was in ye sª Narragansett fite and in sª fite Rec'd a wound, in or about the year 1675."]
Wenepoykin, the sagamore of Lynn, who had never been in deep friendship with the whites, went and united with Pometa- com. He probably had some causes of offence which have been left unrecorded. Indeed, the thousand little insults, which the men of his race have ever been in the habit of receiving from. white men, and which must have been felt by his proud mind, might have been sufficient cause for his conduct. As a poetess has well said :
Small slights. contempt, neglect, unmixed with hate, Make up in number what they want in weight.
Two of the descendants of Nanapashemet, whose names were Quanapaug and Quanapohit, living on Deer Island, had become Christians by the names of James and Thomas. These united with the whites, and became spies for them, for which they were to have £5 each; for which cause the Wampanoag sachem
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offered a reward for their death, but they survived the war. Several anecdotes of their cunning are preserved by Mr. Drake. At one time, when they were taking him to Pometacom Quana- paug escaped by his skill. Quanapohit, also, came accidentally upon six of his armed enemies, whom he put to flight, and plun- dered their wigwam, by turning round and beckoning, as if he were calling his company.
1676 ..
The war with the Indians was prosecuted by both parties with the most determined vigor and cruelty. Many towns were burnt and many of the inhabitants put to death. Great num- bers of the Indians also were killed, and those who were taken prisoners were most cruelly sold for slaves to the West Indies, against the earnest entreaties of some of the principal officers. At last, Philip was pursued to a swamp, near his residence, at Mount Hope, and killed, on the morning of Saturday, the 12th of August. After his death Annawon, Tispaquin, and others of his chiefs and warriors, submitted themselves, on the promise that their lives would be spared; but they were unmercifully put to death. From the expressions of some of them, it is probable that they did not wish to survive the destruction of their nation.
Thus fell Philip, the last great king of the Wampanoags- the last formidable enemy of the English. Like Sassacus, he foresaw the destruction of his nation ; but he was at first friend- ly to the white people, and wept when he heard that some of them had been killed. The pen of the historian will do justice to his patriotism, and the harp of the poet will eulogize him in strains of immortality.
Tradition, legend, tune, and song, Shall many an age that wail prolong ; Still from the sire the son shall hear Of that stern strife and carnage drear.
Wenepoykin, who had joined with the Wampanoags, was taken prisoner, and sold as a slave to Barbadoes. He returned in 1684, at the end of eight years, and died at the house of his relative, James Muminquash, at the age of 68 years. The tes- timony of Tokowampate and Waban, given 7 October, 1686, and preserved in Essex Registry of Deeds, declares, that " Sagamore George, when he came from Barbadoes, lived some time, and died at the house of James Rumneymarsh." The old chief, who had ruled in freedom over more than half the state of Massachu- setts, returned from his slavery, sad and broken-hearted, to die in a lone wigwam, in the forest of Natick, in the presence of his sister Yawata.
A law had been passed, prohibiting the friendly Indians from
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going more than one mile from their own wigwams. On the 25th of October, the Court agreed that they might go out to gather " chesnuts and other nuts in the wilderness," if two white men went with each company, whose charges were to be paid by the Indians.
The injuries which the Indians received in the early history of our country, cannot now be repaired; but the opportunity is afforded for our national government to manifest its high sense of magnanimity and justice, and to evince to the world that re- publics are not unmindful of honor and right, by redressing any wrongs which the existing red men have received, and by pro- viding for their welfare, in a manner becoming a great and pow- erful nation, which has received its extensive domains from a people who are now wandering as fugitives in the land of their fathers. Such conduct, it may reasonably be expected, will receive the approbation of heaven; and it cannot be supposed, that He who watches the fall of the sparrow, will regard its neglect with indifference.
[John Flint, of Salem, shot a hostile Indian at the end of Spring pond, in Lynn, as appears by the record of an examina- tion before William Hathorne, 9 October. The next year, for causing the death of a white man, he was convicted of man- slaughter. He was a soldier in Philip's war.]
The leaf of the Bible says, there was " a great sickness this year."
1677.
[Lynn gave £4.13, for the relief of captives from Hatfield; Salem, £4.7.
[In the Salem court files is the following: " An inventory of ye estate of Teague alias Thaddeas Braun, who was impressed a soldier of Lynn for the Countreys service and was sent from Lynn ye 22nd June, 1677, and was slayne in the fight at Black- point, as we are informed, on ye 29th of June, 1677."]
The following letter was addressed by Mr. Whiting to Increase Mather, 1 October, 1677.
"Reverend and Dear Cousin: I acknowledge myself much engaged, as to God for all his mercies, so to yourself for your indefatigable labors, both in our church here, and in your writings, which of your love you have sent to me from time to time; and especially for your late book which you sent to me, wherein you have outdone any that I have seen upon that subject. Go on, dear cousin, and the Lord prosper your endeavors for the glory of his great name, and the good of many souls. And let me beg one request of you, " that you would set pen to paper in writing an history of New England, since the coming of our chief men hither; which you may do, by conferring with Mr. Higginson, and some of the first planters in Salem, and in other places ; which I hope you may easily accomplish, having, by your diligence and search found out so much history concerning the Pequot war. And the rather let me entreat this favor of you, because it hath not been hitherto done by any in W
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a polite and scholar like way; which, if it were so done, would glad the hearts of the Lord's people, and turn to your great account in the last and great day of the Lord Jesus. Thus commending my love to you and your loving con- sort, with thanks to you for your kindness to me and my son, when we were last with you at your house, beseeching the Lord to bless you and all yours ; not knowing how shortly I must put off this earthly tabernacle, I rest,
SAMUEL WHITING.
[The General Court order, 10 October, that " 10 barrels of cranberries, 2 hhds. of special good samp, and 3000 cod fish," be sent as a present to the king.]
At this time there was but one post office in Massachusetts, which was at Boston. On the 3d of December, the Court of Assistants appointed John Hayward postmaster for the whole colony.
On Thanksgiving day, the 4th of December, happened one of the greatest storms ever known. in New England. It blew down many houses and many trees ..
1678.
This year, Samuel Appleton, Jr., took possession of the Iron Works, by a grant in the will of William Payne, of Boston. ' On the 9th of June, Thomas Savage sued an old mortgage which he held on the property, and Samuel Waite testifies, "There is land, rated at Three Thousand acres of Iron Mill land." In 1679, Mr. Appleton had possession of three fourths of the Iron Works, valued at £1500. The law suits respecting the Iron Works were protracted to a tedious length, and papers enough are preserved in the Massachusetts archives, respecting them, to form a volume.
The Selectmen, or, as they were called, " the Seven Pruden- tial men," this year, were Thomas Laighton, Richard Walker, Andrew Mansfield, William Bassett, Nathaniel Kertland, John Burrill, and Ralph King.
The price of corn was two shillings a bushel.
[Thomas Purchis, senior, died 11 May, aged a hundred and one years, as stated by his widow and son in a petition to the Salem court. He had not long resided in Lynn, having been among the Maine settlers. It seems hardly possible that he can have been the same individual mentioned by Mr. Lewis under date 1640, though he may have been here for a brief period, about that time. Somewhere between 1625 and 1629 he located in Maine, and engaged in the fur trade. He had lands on the Androscoggin, and sold to Massachusetts, 22 July, 1639, a por- tion of the territory on which Brunswick now stands, of which place he was the first settler. In 1635, he was one of Gorges's Council ; subsequently he held the office of sole Assistant to the Colony Commissioners ; and was a Justice under Archdale, in 1664. In 1675, his house was attacked by hostile Indians, and
1
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pillaged. He then removed to Lynn. I have seen it suggested that he may have been a brother of Oliver Purchis who was so long an active and conspicuous man here. But I think it could not have been so. About seven months after his decease, his widow married John Blaney.
[Thomas Laighton was empowered by the Court to join such persons in marriage as had been duly published, provided one at least resided in Lynn.]
The first meeting-house of the Society of Friends, says an old record of one of their members, " was raised on Wolf Hill." [This site was on Broad street, nearly opposite Nahant. The first Friends' meeting, in this vicinity, is supposed to have been held, this year, in a house that stood on Boston street, a little west of Brown's pond.]
The people of Reading petitioned the General Court, on the 3d of October, that the alewives might be permitted to come up to Reading pond, as before ; that they might find no obstruc- tion at the Iron Works, but "come up freely into our ponds, where they have their natural breeding place ;" which was granted.
Thomas Dexter, Jr., and Captain James Oliver, administrators of the estate of Thomas Dexter, prosecuted the town of Lynn, on the 26th of November, at Boston, for the recovery of Na- hant. The jury decided in favor of the town. This was a review of the case decided 1 September, 1657, against Mr. Dexter.
1679.
In the number of the early ministers of New England, there were few who deserved a higher celebrity, for the purity of their character, and the fervor of their piety, than the Rev. Samuel Whiting. His name has been frequently overlooked by biographers, and little known and estimated even in his own parish. He has no stone erected to his memory, and the very place where he was buried is known only to a few.
Dust long outlasts the storied stone, But thou - thy very dust is gone.
[Since Mr. Lewis wrote the above, William Whiting, Esq., the eminent lawyer, who is a descendant, has erected a fitting monument to his memory. It is a simple granite shaft, inscribed with his name, and the dates of his birth and decease. It is on the westerly side of the path leading from the front gate-way, in the Old Burying Ground, near the western end of Lynn Common.]
This is another instance of the truth of the observation, that men are indebted to the poet and the historian for their remem-
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brance to after ages. An honorable memorial of the deserving dead is one of the rewards of goodness, and the very desire of remembrance is itself a virtue. We naturally love the idea that we are remembered by others, and that our names will be known beyond the circle of those with whom we shared the endearments of friendship. It is sweet to think that we have not altogether lived in vain; to persuade ourselves that we have conferred some slight benefit on the world, and that posterity will repay the pleasing debt by mentioning our names with ex- pressions of regard. It is not vanity, it is not ambition; it is a pure love of mankind, an exalting sense of right, that twines itself around every virtuous and noble mind, raising it above the enjoyment of worldliness, and making us wish to prolong our existence in the memory of the good.
Rev. Samuel Whiting was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, England, on the 20th of November, 1597. His father, Mr. John Whiting was mayor of the city, in 1600; and his brother John obtained the same office, in 1625. Having completed his studies in the school of his birthplace, young Samuel entered the uni- versity at Cambridge, where he had for his classmate, his cousin, Anthony Tuckney, afterward Master of St. John's College, with whom he commenced a friendship, which was not quenched by the waters of the Atlantic. He received impressions of piety at an early age, and loved to indulge his meditations in the retired walks of Emanuel College. He entered college in 1613, took his first degree in 1616, and his second in 1620. Having received orders in the Church of England, he became chaplain in a family consisting of five ladies and two knights, Sir Na- thaniel Bacon and Sir Roger Townsend, with whom he resided three years. He then went to old Lynn, where he spent three years more, a colleague with Mr. Price. While at that place, complaints were made to the Bishop of Norwich, of his non- conformity in administering the services of the church, on which he removed to Skirbick, one mile from old Boston. There the complaints were renewed, on which he determined to sell his possessions and embark for America. He remarked, "I am going into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord, and I will not leave a hoof behind me." The beauty, piety, and harmony of the church, in our own time, induce us to wonder why a pious man should have objected to her services. But the church, at that period, demanded more than is now required ; and the dissenters, by their repugnance to those ceremonies and requisitions which were excessive, were driven to revolt against those forms which were really judicious.
Mr. Whiting sailed from England in the beginning of April, 1636, and arrived in Boston on the twenty-sixth of May. He was very sick on his passage, during which he preached but
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one sermon. He observed that he would "much rather have undergone six weeks imprisonment for a good cause, than six weeks of such terrible sea sickness." He came to Lynn in June, and was installed on the eighth of November, at the age of thirty-nine. He was admitted to the privileges of a freeman on the seventeenth of December. His residence was nearly oppo- site the meeting-house, in Shepard street. He had a walk in his orchard, in which he used to indulge his habit of meditation ; and some who frequently saw him walking there, remarked, " There does our dear pastor walk with God every day." An anecdote related of him, will serve to illustrate his character. In one of his excursions to a neighboring town, he stopped at a tavern, where a company were revelling. As he passed their door, he thus addressed them: "Friends, if you are sure that your sins are pardoned, you may be wisely merry." He is re- puted to have been a man of good learning, and an excellent Hebrew scholar. In 1649, he delivered a Latin oration at Cam- bridge, a copy of which is preserved in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He employed much of his leisure in reading history ; and he could scarcely have chosen a study more indicative of the seriousness and solidity of his mind. He possessed great command over his passions, was extremely mild and affable in his deportment, and his counte- nance was generally illumined by a smile. He was chosen moderator in several ecclesiastical councils, and appears to have been generally respected. In his preaching, he was ardent and devoted; but he was less disposed to frighten his hearers by wild and boisterous efforts, than to win them to virtue by mild and persuasive eloquence.
In the latter part of his life, Mr. Whiting was afflicted by a complication of disorders, and endured many hours of most ex- cruciating pain. But his patience was inexhaustible, and his strength enabled him to continue the performance of the public services till a very advanced age, in which he was assisted by his youngest son, Joseph. A short time before his death, he presented to the General Court a claim for five hundred acres of land, which he had by deed of gift from his brother-in-law, Mr. Richard Westland, an alderman of Boston, in England, who had loaned money to the colony of Massachusetts. As the claim had been some time due, the Court allowed him six hundred
acres. [As this petition recounts several interesting facts, and withal so faithfully exhibits the meek and pious spirit of the venerable man, we insert it entire. The signature is a fac-simile, as carefully traced from the original, which is still in good pre- servation in the state archives. The tremulous hand indicates age and infirmity ; and he lived but a few months after the petition was drawn.
W*
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The humble petition of Samuel Whiting, senr, of Lyn, sheweth, that whereas your petitioner upon my comeing to New England, which is now about forty three years since, had per deed of gift of my kinde brother in law, Mr. Richard Westland, of Boston, in England, alderman, in consideration of his disbursement of fifty pounds of lawful money of England, in way of loan to this colony, then low, and in its beginning, which sum the said Mr. Westland did deliver and pay unto some of ye chief agents of this patent then, which was some years before I left England, they promising him a compensation with a farme of five hundred acres of upland and meadow, convenient and nigh within the Bay ; I say, the wholl interest in the premises by fair deed and gift, by the gentleman himself freely given to myself and wife and our heires forever, as without fallacie I doe averr and testify before God and your honoured selves, being a dyeing man, and goeing out of this world, and shortly to appear before the Lord Jesus, ye Judge of all.
My humble request, and the last petition I shall ever make application of to this honorable assembly is, that haveing been so long in the country, and as long in ye work of the Lord, and God haveing given me issue, whom I am shortly to leave, haveing little, of a considerable estate I brought, left for them, that your honors would pleas to grant to myself and my heirs, that wh. per ye free gift of my brother is our right, viz, five or six hundred acres of land and meadow, wh. hath been my due about this forty years, although never motioned but once to this assembly, nor should have now been insisted on, could I in conscience of God's command and duty to mine as a father, be silent, and soe they lose their right in what belongs to them; or if I could die with serenity of soule upon consideration of the premises, should I neglect to use this meanes of an humble remonstrance.
I doe therefore humbly reitterat my request, wherein I mention nothing of use or for forbearance so long time past, dues and donations, only the 5 or six hundred acres, that my children may inherit what is righteously their owne, and yours to grant, and which I hope will not be denyed, beeing of itselfe so just to be requested, and so most equitable and just to be granted.
Thus begging the Lord's presence to be amongst you, and his face to shine on this your court, the country, and churches, that we may be saved, and that ye choice blessing, divine wisdom, councell and conduct, may preside in all things, I leave the whole matter to your honored selves, and yourselves with the Lord.
Your humble petitioner, friend ever, and servant for Christ's sake, though ready to depart dieing.
this 23 of April ann. 1679.
Samuel Juhiting
Witnesses -
Henry Rhodes, Samuel Cobbet.]
Mr. Whiting made his will on the 25th of February, 1679. He commences thus : " After my committing of my dear flock unto the tender care of that great and good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ." He gave his son Samuel, at Billerica, his house and four hundred acres of land at Dunstable, valued at £362, and fourteen acres of marsh, at Lynn; and his son Joseph, his dwelling-house, orchard, and eight acres of marsh, at Lynn. And he remembered his other children. His money and plate amount- ed to £77.2; and his whole estate to £570.15.6. He died on the 11th of December, 1679, at the age of 82; having preached at Lynn, forty-three years.
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