History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 24

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 24

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CAMBRIDGE.

Indians. When the General Court finally decided, by the advice of all the highest military leaders, that an Indian company should be raised and put into the field, and carried ont the order, with Capt. Samuel Hunting as the captain, onr arms first began to pre- vail and the hostile Indians to lose heart. An at- tempt, also at Cambridge, was made to impart a lib- eral education to some choice Indian youths; Mr. Eliot proposed and the London Society were pleased to try the experiment. Many youths were started upon the course, but few survived the training to enter the colleges. Most of them died from confinement or changed habit of diet, or got disheartened by their unequal competition with Englishmen. There were two very promising youths from Martha's Vineyard, named Joel and Caleb. Joel, the most hopefnl of these, when within a few months of taking his degree, went home for a brief visit, and on the return passage the vessel was wrecked off Nantucket Island and Joel was drowned. Upon the Triennial Catalogue of Harvard College, in the year 1665, appears the name of the only one of these Indians ever graduated- "Caleb Cheeshabteaumnck, Indus." Caleb, not long after he took his degree, died at Charlestown of con- snmption. The history of the Indians of Cambridge closes really with the end of the Nonantum Colony and its merging in Natick. The latter continued as an Indian town from 1651-1762. Thomas Waban, son of the first Waban, was fairly well educated and was town clerk for many years. Thomas Waban, Jr., was his son, and both joined in a deed to Samuel Umpatowin in 1719. The church was formed in 1660, and was broken up in 1716. In 1749 the Indian population of the town was 166. In 1797 it was twenty, and in 1826 none were left.

Besides Rev. Mr. Eliot and Major Gookin, the prin- cipal men engaged in this effort to Christianize the Indians lived in Cambridge, so that the town may well deserve its distinction as the seat of America's first and greatest University. The General Court appointed one of the English Magistrates to join with the chief rnler of the Indians in keeping a higher court among them ; and this court had the power of the usual Connty Court. The first magistrate ap- pointed was Daniel Gookin, in 1656; and for about three years of his absence, soon after, Major Hnm- phrey Atherton was appointed; bnt he dying at the end of that time, Major Gookin was again appointed, and served until the abrogation of the Colonial Char- ter, in 1686. The record of a court held by him among the Indians at Wabquissit in 1674, illustrates his course of proceeding.

Mr. Eliot preached a sermon, and " then I began a conrt among the Indians. And first, I approved their teacher, Sampson, and their constable, Black James, giving each of them a charge to be diligent and faith- ful in their places. Also 1 exhorted the people to yield obedience to the gospel of Christ, and to those set in order there. Then 'published a warrant, or

order, that I had prepared, empowering the constable to suppress drunkenness, Sabbath-breaking, especially pow-wowing and idolatry ; and, after warning given, to apprehend all delinquents, and bring them before authority to answer for their misdemeanor ; the smaller fanlts to bring before Wattasacompannm, ruler of the Nipmuck country ; for idolatry and pow-wowing, to bring them before me,"

It may be of interest to add, that the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Indians has held its organization to the present, having, heen active, more or less, in dispensing the funds among the remnants of the New England tribes; and nearly always, I think, the directors have been chiefly resi- dents of Cambridge, and worthy successors of Eliot and Gookin.

CHAPTER III.

CAMBRIDGE -(Continued).

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

BY REV. ALEXANDER MCKENZIE, D.D.

THE founding of Cambridge was a part of the great religions and political movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It was a Puritan movement, having its rise in England, but accomplishing its chief work in this western continent. Our own emi- nent historian has written: " Civilized New England is the child of English Puritanism. The spirit of Puri- tanism was no creation of the sixteenth century. It is as old as the truth and manliness of England." Another of our historical writers has given it as his judgment that if it had not been for Puritanism po- litical liberty would probably have disappeared from the world ; and that the time of Cromwell's triumph was the critical moment of history.

It is not necessary to trace the course of events which the name Puritan suggests. The connection of our own history with it can be briefly told. The authority of the Church of Rome had been renounced, but there came in its place the authority of the Church of Eng- land. Ecclesiastical government was vested in the King and the nobility. They rnled, and the people were expected to submit. The statutes were many and explicit, and there were enough martyrdoms to prove their force. "The truth and manliness of Eng- land " could not render an unbroken assent and an unfailing obedience. Many refused to be content with the transfer of authority and the advantage which had come with it. They wanted a larger refor- mation. From the nature of their demand they were called Puritans. Their demands were broad and were steadily enlarged. Liberty, reform, purity, re- ligion mark the progress of their thought and the in- crease of their purpose. For the most part, they pro- posed to remain in the national church, there to

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

work for its improvement. To what they deemed wrong they would not consent, but they would not separate themselves from the church which they loved and in which they had all the rights to which any were entitled. Against them was turned the force of State and Church. The Court of High Commission was set up for their harm and the cruelty of the English Inquisition directed against as good and loyal men as England ever knew. Clergymen were de- posed, imprisoned, killed. Against Englishmen such methods have never prevailed. Violence failed of its end when it encountered such men. When James came to the throne the Puritans hoped for better things. They appealed to him for a truer Sabbath, a shorter liturgy, better music in the churches, and for ministers who should combine ability, fidelity and integrity. The King granted them an interview at Hampton Court and replied to them in terms which left no hope. "If this be all your party have to say, I will make them conform, or I will harry them out of this land, or else worse." That was in 1604. In 1605 Thomas Shepard was born.

There was nothing good to be looked for in Eng- land. Was there any hope beyond its shores? Some thought so and crossed to the Low Countries. Some concealed themselves and waited. Some had already left the National Church. As early as 1567, perhaps, there was "the Privye Church in London." About 1580 there was a permanent Congregational Church of Englishmen. The new churches had their own teachers and conducted their own affairs. The Congre- gational Church at Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, with Clyfton, Robinson, Brewster, and Bradford, removed to Amsterdam and Leyden, and finally crossed the wide sea and found a sanctuary and a home, and made an illustrious record of faith and devotion.

Yet, in 1620, only a few of the Puritans were Pil- grims. But their principles were gaining power. The contests with James during his troubled reign increased the force of the people as against the au- thority of the King. His methods were not suited to win approbation. "I hear our new King hath hanged one man before he was tried. "Tis strangely done." Four years before James disappeared the Court of High Commission renewed its severity and made it more certain that liberty must consent to exile. Buckingham sought to beguile men whom he could not suppress, and hindered their action by the hopes he aroused. By degrees they came to see that all this meant nothing; more and more, there was talk of making a New England. John White, rector of Trinity Church in Dorchester, on the Channel, proposed to the ship-owners to found a settlement on these shores, that the sailors who came here might have a home when they were not at sea, so that their spiritual interests might be cared for when they were far from the churches. Not very much came of the project, which perhaps meant more than was avowed. Soon men of means were planning a colony here.

They obtained the charter under which Massachusetts lived for fifty-five years, and other ships sailed "into the West as the sun went down." Naumkeag was settled and became Salem. The charter said nothing of religious liberty. It is probable that the colonists thought they could secure this by sailing three thou- sand miles, and that the government thought it could be prevented, however far away. Four weeks from the arrival at Naumkeag the colonists formed them- selves into a church, assenting to a covenant and or- daining a minister. It does not appear that they at first intended to leave the Church of England. But they had come "to practise the positive part of church reformation, and propagate the Gospel in America," and this was the form which their wisdom approved and their position demanded. If they had not formally anticipated this, they were, at least, prepared for it. Here was another Congregational Church upon our coast.

The Puritan spirit continued to assert itself in Eng- land. In 1629, Aug. 26th, John Winthrop and eleven others entered into an agreement at Cambridge, "be- neath the shadows, and, perhaps, within the very walls of that venerable University, to which New England was destined to owe so many of her brightest luminaries and noblest benefactors "-" Upon dne con- sideration of the state of the Plantation now in hand for New England, . it is fully and faithfully agreed amongst us, and every one of us doth hereby freely and sincerely promise and bind himself, on the word of a Christian, and in the presence of God, who is the searcher of all hearts, that we will so really endeavor the prosecution of this work, as, by God's assistance, we will be ready in our persons, with such of our several families as are to go with us, and such provisions as we are able conveniently to furnish ourselves withal, to embark for the said Plantation by the first of March next, at such port or ports of this land as shall be agreed upon by the Company, to the end to pass the seas (and in God's protection), to inhabit and continue in New England." There were certain provisions which prudence dictated, but which proved no impediment, and in 1630 they came in the "Arbella" to Salem, bringing their charter, and with it the government of the colony .. Before the close of that year seventeen vessels had crossed from the Old World to the New, and a thousand persons had come in them. The new colonists found much distress at Salem, from sickness and scarcity of food. After less than a week for rest and inquiry, Winthrop set out with a party to find a place of settlement which would be open to them and more promising. Mishawum, or Charlestown, was fixed upon as the capital town, and on the 30th of July, 1630, a church was organ- ized with a covenant, and on the 27th of August the Reverend John Wilson was chosen teaching- elder and solemnly set apart for his sacred office. Mr. Wilson had been for several years a minister in the Church of England, but had been suspended aud si- .

CAMBRIDGE.

lenced for non-conformity, and was ready to identify himself with those who were seeking a larger liberty. There was difficulty in securing a good supply of water at Charlestown, and many of the church moved across the river. Among these were the Governor, the minister, and other leading men. In this way the Church became the First Church in Boston, of which " some have been heard to say, they believed it to be the most glorious church in the world."

It is well to ask who these men were who were thus making a permanent political and ecclesiastical estab- lishment on this continental Western Reserve. There can be no better witness than our own historian, Pal- frey. He quotes the words of "the prejudiced Chal- mers ": "The principal planters of Massachusetts were English country gentlemen of no inconsiderable fortunes ; of enlarged understandings, improved by liberal education ; of extensive ambition, concealed under the appearance of religious humility." For himself he writes in a more genial temper : "The Puritanism of the first forty years of the seventeenth century was not tainted with degrading or ungraceful associations of any sort. The rank, the wealth, the chivalry, the genius, the learning, the accomplish- meuts, the social refinements and elegance of the time were largely represented in its ranks." "The lead- ing emigrants to Massachusetts were of the brother- hood of men who, by force of social consideration as well as of intelligence and resolute patriotism, moulded the public opinion and action of England in the first half of the seventeenth century." "In pol- ities the Puritan was the liberal of his day." "They will live in history," said another eminent citizen, " as they have lived, the very embodiment, of a noble devotion to the principles which induced them to es- tabiish a colony, to be 'so religiously, peaceably and civilly governed' as thereby to incite the very heathen to embrace the principles of Christianity."

Such were the men who began the ecclesiastical history of the Massachusetts Colony to which New- town belonged. The circumstances under which they came here have been already alluded to, yet it is just to let one of their own number speak. John Winthrop had been chosen Governor before he left England. He was then forty-two years old, a scholar, a statesman, of good rank and generous property. "Commanding universal respect and confidence from an early age, he had moved in the circles where the highest matters of English policy were discussed by men who had been associates of Whitgift, Bacon, Essex and Ce- cil." He has left a statement of " Reasons to be con- sidered for justifieinge the undertakers of the intended Plantation in New England, and for incouraginge such whose hartes God shall move to ioyne them in it." These reasons need not be given here in full ; yet they should be read, that we may know what purposes and thoughts moved those into whose labors we have entered. A few points may be cited here,

" 1. It will be a service to the Church of great conse-

quence to carry the gospel into those parts of the world.

" 2. All other churches of Europe are brought to desolation, and our sinnes, for which the Lord be- giunes allreaddy to frowne upon us and to cutte us short, doe threaten evil times to be coming upon us, and whoe knowes but that God hath provided this place to be a refuge for many whom he means to save out of the generall callamity ?

"3. This land growes weary of her inhabitants.

"4. The whole earth is the Lord's garden, and he hath given it to the sonnes of men; . . . why then should we stand striving here for places of habita- tion, etc .? and in the mean time suffer a whole continent as fruitful and convenient for the use of man to lie waste without any improvement ?

"6. The Fountains of Learning and Religion are soe corrupted as (besides the unsupportable charge of their education) most children are perverted, cor- rupted and utterlie overthrowne by the multitude of evill examples, etc., etc.

" 9. It appears to be a worke of God for the good of his Church, in that he hath disposed the hartes of soe many of his wise and faithful servants, both min- isters and others, not only to approve of the enter- prise, but to interest themselves in it, some in their persons and estates, others by their serious advise and helpe otherwise, and all by their praiers for the weal- fare of it."

Having considered this general statement of the motives and sentiments of the leading minds which were first here, we are prepared to take up our local history. But we must return to England to find the beginning of our church life. The early history of Cambridge, much more than the later, centres in a few men, whose personal character and teaching gave form to the thought and action of the churches. This was especially true at the beginning and war- rante, indeed requires, a presentation of the men who were the leaders. Cambridge was peculiar in having had a double beginning, under the guidance of meu of special eminence.

The first man to be named was Thomas Hooker, who was born in Leicestershire, England, in 1586. He was a graduate and fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Of his youthful promise Cotton Mather makes this record : "He was born of parents that were neither unable nor unwilling to bestow upon him a liberal education; whereunto the early, lively sparkles of wit observed in him did very much en- courage them. His natural temper was cheerful and courteous ; but it was accompanied with such a sen- sible grandeur of mind as caused his friends, with- out the help of astrology, to prognosticate that he was born to be considerable." He began to preach while he was connected with the university. He pursued his ministry at Chelmsford and had great success in it. An incident which has been preserved

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

illustrates his fervor. He preached from time to time in his own county, and one of the chief bur- gesses of the town of Leicester, who was for some reason greatly opposed to him, set a company of fiddlers to play in the church-yard to counteract and break up the preaching. But the preacher's voice was strong and clear, and was easily heard above the noise of the hostile strings. The burgess found himself listening to the preacher and went to the church-door that he might hear hetter, and was won by the earnest minister and made a friend of the faith which he had striven to oppose. Results of this kind were of small account to those who were ruling the church in their own interests. Mr. Hooker was a firm ad- herent to the doctrines of the Church of England, but to some of its ceremonies he could not conform. He was too conspicuous to be tolerated in his dissent, when obscure men were sent to the prison and beyond. In 1630 Mr. Hooker was silenced for non- conformity by a spiritual court in session at Chelms- ford. It is a testimony to the man that forty-seven ministers of the Church of England sent to the Bishop of London a petition in his behalf, in which they bore witness "that they knew Mr. Hooker to be orthodox in his doctrine, honest in his life and con- versation, peaceable in his disposition, and in no wise turbulent or factious." It was of no avail. The decree had been signed and sealed. But he con- tinued to labor for the religious welfare of the com- munity in private ways. Even this he could not pursue. He had been ordered to appear before the Court of High Commission, and put under a bond of fifty pounds. His friends advised him to forfeit the bond and avoid the perilons trial. They paid the bond and he crossed over to Holland, where for three years he carried on his ministry. For a part of the time he was associated at Rotterdam with the Rev. William Ames, who was abroad for the same reasons which had exiled Hocker. Mr. Ames is re- ported to have said that " he had never met a man who was equal to Mr. Hooker as a preacher or a learned disputant." But he was not willing to re- main in a strange and foreign land. At that time the Puritan emigration was going forward, and among those who had gone out seeking after a country of their own were many who knew Mr. Hooker and ap- preciated his greatness. Some had been under his ministry. There was a strong desire that he should go with them across the sea and be their teacher in the New World. He regarded this as a divine call. It was enforced by the impossibility of remaining in England. He had returned, but the officers of the law were at once in pursuit of him. He decided to accede to the request which had been made. He kept out of the public view as much as he could until July, 1633, when he sailed from the Downs. Even then he was constrained to hide himself until the ship was well out at sea. After a voyage of six weeks the ship reached Boston Harbor.

other passengers who were to be honorably prominent here-John Cotton, who at once was chosen teacher of the First Church in Boston ; and Samuel Stone, who was to be Mr. Hooker's associate through all his ministry in New England. The voyage must have been interesting. The men enfoyed their liberty and improved it. There was a sermon every day, and usually three. To Mr. Cotton a child was born, who, after his baptism in Boston, was named Seaborn. The name has a quaint look in the Latin Quinquen- nial of Harvard College, with the class of 1651,- Marigena Cotton. It is the second name in the list, which indicates the rank of the father. It is said that there was no playfulness among the Puritans, but it is at least in tradition that the people, said re- garding the ministers who came in the " Griffin," that three great necessities would now be supplied, for they had Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building.

The ministers were warmly welcomed, and with good reason. They were an accession of strength. The colonists at that time were "men of eminent capacity and sterling character, fit to be concerned in the founding of a State." Dr. Palfrey has finely said : "In all its generations of wealth and refine- ment, Boston has never seen an assembly more illustrious, for generous qualities or for manly culture, than when the magistrates of the young colony welcomed Cotton and his fellow-voyagers at Winthrop's table."

Samuel Stone was born at Hertford, in England, and was educated at Emmanuel College. He was for a time a minister at Towcester, in Northamptonshire, where his ability and industry were conspicnous. But he could not yield a full conformity to the ceremonies of the Established Church, and it seemed to be good to him, as to so many others, to seek a more open country. His connection with Mr. Hooker was a fortunate one for them both. Those who had invited Mr. Hooker to be their minister preceded him. They began to make their settlement at Mount Wollaston, in what is now the town of Quincy, where Captain Wollaston had come, with some thirty or forty persons, a few years before. But in Governor Winthrop's journal, under the date of August 14, 1632, we have this entry : "The Braintree company, which had begun to sit down at Mount Wollaston by order of court, removed to Newtown. These were Mr. Hooker's company." It is supposed that they were called the Braintree Company because they came from Braintree, a town about forty miles from London. What Newtown was at that time will be learned from another part of this history. But the coming of these settlers was a nota- ble addition to its numbers and character. The set- tlement had begun in 1631. There was a project for a town which should be the seat of government for the colony. In the judgment of the Governor and assistants and others " it was a fit place for a beautiful

There were two | town." The project was not carried out, but the new

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town was a place of importance and had the promise of growth. The town was carefully laid out and made a good appearance. A visitor early described it as "one of the neatest and best compacted towns in New England, having many fair structures, with many handsome contrived streets. The inhabitants most of them are very rich and well stored with cattle of all sorts." There were very few persons here, but there were men of force and enterprise among them, and they were destined to permanence and renown. How many came from the Braintree Company cannot be told. But there was a notable growth, so that in 1632 there were nearly a hundred families in the town. But there was no church here and no minister, and there is no record of public religious services. But Prince's Annals for 1632 tell that in " this year is built the first house for public worship at Newtown (after called Cambridge), with a bell upou it." The records of the town do not mention this house, but there is an agreement in December, 1632, "that every person under subscribed shall meet every first Monday in every month, within the meeting-house, in the afternoon, within half an hour after the ringing of the bell." The meeting-house was on the west side of Water, (now Dunster) Street, near its intersection with Spring, now Mt. Auburn Street. The site is marked by a stone in the foundation of the modern building now upon the ground. It must have been small and plain. There is no description of it, but the church erected about the same time in Boston had mud-walls and a thatched roof. An order had been passed that in Newtown no man should " build his chimney of wood, nor cover his roof with thatch." It is probable that the house here was of logs. Many years after its erection a vote was passed in town-meeting that the church should be repaired "with a four square roofe, and covered with shingles." It was a startling change to those who were accustomed to the cathedrals and stately churches of England, to come into these dark and narrow walls. It was a part of the price they paid for the liberty they sought, and they were not the men to complain of the terms. They were equal to the demands of their place and their work.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 24

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034