USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > History of Newbury, Mass., 1635-1902 > Part 12
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This is to entreat the honored court not to be offended because of my non-appearance. It is not from any slighting the authority of this honored court, nor from feare to answer the case, but I have bin for some weeks past very ill, and am so at present, and notwithstanding my illness, yet I, desirous to appear, have done my utmost endeavour to hire a horse, but cannot procure one at present. I being at present destitute have endeavoured to purchase but at present cannot attaine it, but I shall relate the truth of the case as my answer should be to ye honored court and more cannot be proved nor so much. On a rainy morning there came to my house Edward Wharton and three men more; the said Wharton spoke to me saying they were traveling eastward and desired me to direct them in the way to Hampton, and asked me how far it was to Casco bay. I never saw any of ye men afore except Wharton, neither did I require their names, or who they were, but by their carriage I thought they might be quakers and told them so, and therefore desired them to passe on their way, saying to them I might possibly give offence in entertaining them, and as soon as the violence of the rain ceased (for it rained very hard) they went away and I never saw them since. The time that they stayed in the house was about three quarters of an hour, but I can safely affirm it was not an houre. They spake not many words in the time, neither was I at leisure to talke with them for I came home wet to ye skin immediately afore they came to the house and I found my wife sick in bed. If this satisfie not the honored court I shall subject to their sentence: I have not willingly offended. I am ready to serve and obey you in the Lord. THO MACY.#
* Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. iv., part I., p. 308.
t Previous to 1648 " Thomas Macy was granted an house lot of five acres on the neck over the great River." (Proprietors of Newbury Records, vol. ii., p. 39.)
# This letter, by order of the governor and council of the State of Massachusetts, was delivered to the Hon. Barker Buswell, of Nantucket, June 13, 1831. It was destroyed by fire, with other valuable documents, when the Nantucket Athenaum was burned in July, 1846. A copy of the original letter is in the Massachusetts Archives, vol. x., p. 255.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
Notwithstanding this humble apology the General Court or- dered November 12, 1659, "That Thomas Macy pay as a fine the some of thirty shillings and be admonished by the Gouernor "; and Edward Wharton, who accompanied the Quakers and piloted them from place to place, was ordered "to be whipt wth twenty stripes & comitted to prison." *
The severity and injustice of this sentence induced Thomas Macy, a few months later, to abandon his home in Salisbury, and remove, with his wife and children, beyond the jurisdiction of the colony to the island of Nantucket, then a part of the Province of New York, where he lived for the remainder of his life.t
May 22, 1661, the law providing for the punishment of " heretics and blasphemers " was again amended and made still more stringent. Quakers not having a legal settlement in the colony were liable to be seized by constables, " stripped naked from the midle upwards, & tyed to a carts tayle & . whipped throh the towne." # In this manner they were taken from town to town, and condemned to imprisonment or death, if they ventured to return.
Some of the prominent Quakers residing in London, aroused by these acts of cruelty, sought and obtained an audience with King Charles II., and induced him to issue the following man- damus, addressed to " John Endicot, Esq., and to all and every other Governour or Governours of our Plantation of New England " : -
Trusty and Well beloved, we greet you well. Having been informed that several of our Subjects among you, called Quakers, have been and are imprisoned by you, whereof some have been executed and others (as hath been represented unto us) are in Danger to undergo the Like: We have thought fit to signify our Pleasure in that Behalf for the future, and do hereby require that if there be any of those people called Quak- ers amongst you, now already condemned to suffer Death, or other
. Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. iv., part I., p. 407.
t He, with Tristram Coffin, Christopher Hussey, R. Swain, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, Thomas Barnard, John Swain, William Pile, and others, formed a company for the purchase and settlement of the island of Nantucket, then inhabited by a tribe of Indians. (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. ii., p. 340.) "The Exiles," a poem by John G. Whittier, is founded on this incident in the life of Thomas Macy. (See Whittier's Complete Poetical Works, Cambridge edition, p. 14.)
# Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. iv., part II., p. 2.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
Corporal Punishment, or that are imprisoned or obnoxious to the like Condemnation, you are to forbear to proceed any farther therein: but that you forthwith send the said Persons (whether condemned or im- prisoned) over to this our Kingdom of England, together with the re- spective Crimes or Offences laid to their charge, to the End that such Course may be taken with them here, as shall be agreeable to our Laws and their Demerits. And for so doing these our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge. Given at our Court at Whitehall the 9th day of September, 1661, in the thirteenth Year of our Reign .*
This mandatory letter, or order from the king, was in- trusted to Samuel Shattuck, a Quaker of Salem, who was then in England, having been banished from the colony on account of his obnoxious religious views. When Shattuck arrived in Boston, he was admitted to the council chamber in the gover- nor's house. He evidently neglected or declined to remove his hat when brought face to face with the governor.
" Off with the knave's hat!" An angry hand' Smote down the offence; but the wearer said
With a quiet smile, " By the King's command I bear his message and stand in his stead."
In the Governor's hand a missive he laid, With the Royal arms on its seal displayed ;
And the proud man spake as he gazed thereat, Uncovering, " Give Mr. Shattuck his hat."
He turned to the Quaker, bowing low : " The King commandeth your friends' release.
Doubt not he shall be obeyed, although To his subjects' sorrow and sin's increase.
" What he here enjoineth John Endicott, His loyal servant. questioneth not. You are free ! - Gun g unt the spirit you own May take you from us to parts unknown." t
The letter from the king was read to the deputies and mag- istrates of the General Court, November 27, 1661; and the following order was then adopted : -
Although wee hope & doubt not but that if his Majty were rightly in- formed he would be farre from giving them [the Quakers] such favor,
* Ecclesiastical History of New England, by Joseph B. Felt, vol. ii., p. 282.
t " The King's Missive," by John G. Whittier.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
or weakening his authority here so long & orderly settled, yet that we may not in the least offend his Majty, the Court doth hereby order & declare that the execution of the laws in force against Quakers as such so far as they respect corporall punishmt or death be suspended until this Court take further order .*
June 28, 1662, the king, in reply, notified his " loyal sub- jects in New England " that certain laws and ordinances " con- trary and derogatory to his authority and government " must be annulled or repealed. He also declared " that such as desire to use the Booke of Comon Prayer & performe their devotions in the manner established in England " should be allowed that privilege, "& that all persons of good & honest liues & con- uersations be admitted to the sacrement of the Lords Supper, according to the Booke of Comon Prayer & their children to baptisme. Wee cannot be understood hereby to direct or wish that any indulgence should be granted to those persons comonly called Quakers, whose being [ ] inconsistent with any kind of government. Wee have found it necessary, by the advice of our Parliament here, to make sharpe lawes against them, and are well contented that you doe the like there." +
With this assurance from the king that severe measures, adopted for the government and control of Quakers, would not be annulled by Parliament, the General Court, October 8, 1662, revived the law passed in May, 1661, with some modi- fications, providing that Quakers should be whipped through not more than three towns, and that the number of stripes to which they should be subjected should be limited by the magistrates.
Under the provisions of this law the following order was issued by Capt. Richard Waldron, magistrate at Dover : -
To the constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury, Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Windham, Linn, Boston, Roxbury, Dedham, and until these vagabond Quakers are out of this jurisdiction.
You and every of you are required in the Kings Majestys name to take these vagabond Quakers, Anna Colman, Mary Tompkins and Alice Ambrose, and make them fast to the carts tail, and drawing the
* Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. iv., part II., p. 34.
t Ibid., vol. iv., part II., p. 165.
# [bid., vol. iv., part II., p. 59.
.
.
149
THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
cart through your several towns, to whip them upon their naked backs not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them in each town, and so convey them from Constable to Constable till they are out of this jurisdic. tion, as you will answer it at your peril, and this shall be your warrant.
Per me RICHARD WALDRON.
At Dover, dated Dec. 22, 1662 .*
In Dover, Hampton, and Salisbury the above order was executed ; but in Newbury, Walter Barefoot, afterwards deputy governor of the Province of New Hampshire, put a stop to the further punishment of "these vagabond Quakers," and sent them out of the colony, claiming that under the law they could not be whipped in more than three towns.
Two of the Quakers named in the above order, Mary Tompkins and Alice Ambrose, visited Newbury on their way to Dover, and were then entertained by John Emery, as appears from the following statement :-
Edward and George Preston, and Mary Tompkins and Alice Am- brose, alias Gary, passed eastward to visit the seed of God in those parts, and in their way through Newbury, they went into the house of one John Emery, (a friendly man,) who with his wife seemed glad to re- ceive them, at whose house they found freedom to stay all night, and when the next morning came, the priest, Thomas Parker, and many of his followers came to the man's house, and much reasoning and dispute there was about truth ; but the priest's and many of the people's ears were shut against the truth. And in the time of their discourse, the wind striving in Mary Tompkin's stomach, making some noise, she hav- ing received no sustenance for the space of near forty eight hours, one Joseph Pike, after they were departed the town, said "she had a devil in her."
After a while the priest perceiving that the battle might be too hard for him, rose up and took the man of the house and his wife out of doors with him and began to deal with them for entertaining such dangerous people. They replied they were required to entertain strangers. The priest said it was dangerous entertaining such as had plague sores upon them. Which the woman hearing began to take the priest to do for saying such false, wicked and malicious words but he hasted away. Mary Tompkins called him to come back again and not to show him- self to be one of those hirelings that flee and leave their flocks behind them, but he would not turn : and a while after most of the People de- parted : and when Ipswich Court came thither he was had and fined for Entertaining the Quakers.t
* New Hampshire Provincial Papers, vol. i., p. 243.
+" New England Judged," by George Bishop (edition, 1702), p. 400.
150
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
It appears from an examination of the papers on file at the court-house in Salem that the grand jury on the thirty-first day of March, 1663, presented John Emery for entertaining Quakers, and also for inviting neighbors to come to hear them. May 5, 1663, the case was referred to the next court for settlement .*
The following depositions indicate that John Emery had on several occasions entertained Quakers, and asserted his right to supply them with food and lodging regardless of the restric- tions and penalties imposed by the General Court : -
The testimony of Henry Jaques aged about 44 years saith that I heard Joseph Noyes say that after that time that the Quakers had their meeting at John Emerys that he saw two Quakers at John Emerys house, and John Emery bade ym welcome, and further saith that I heard Joseph Noyes say that John Emery had entertained Quakers, both to bed and table, after the time they had their meeting at John Emerys house, and this he testified before the church at Newbury, and farther I do testify that I heard John Emery and his wife say that he had entertained Quakers and that he would not put them from his house, and used argument for the lawfulness of it.
Sworn in Court, May 7, 1663 Before ROBERT LORD, Clerk.t
HENRY JAQUES.
The Deposition of John rolfe, being about the age of 28 years, this Deponent saith that where as John Emery senior did afirme before the honoured Court that he had not entertained any quakers in his house since that time that the meeting was there when Mr parker was sent for & came to them. I Doe testifie that I being at John Emerys, Sr house about 3 weeks after that time did see two Quakers there & I herd him say to them & som others that were there yt Joseph noyce came to his house & told him that there were two quakers coming towards his house & wisht him not to entertain them; he sayd if they came to his house they should be welcom & he would not forbid them; there they were when I cam in & there I left them. I was there upon occasion neare an houer & there were prsent in goodman Emerys house, wil Ilsley, sen, & John Muselwhite.
Sworne in Court at Ipswich 7 May, 1663
p me ROBERT LORD, Cleric.t
The Deposition of Joseph Noyes aged 26 years : This Deponent saith yt as he was agoing to Goodman Emeries, senior, he overtook two women Quakers, and supposing they would call at ye house of ye fore- mentioned John Emmery, he desired him not to entertain ym. But
* Salem Court Files, vol. ix., leaf 13. t Ibid., vol. ix., folio 10.
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15I
THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
whilst he was in discourse, they came into ye house and there staid until he went away. Goodman Emmery was in ye chamber (as he knows because he yn upon an occasion called out to his wife) his wife being in ye same room with ye Quakers. Ys was after ye meeting of ye quakers at his house wn Mr Parker was yr. Farther he had understood by those yt wr eye witnesses yt two men quakers wr yr entertained very kindly to bed and table & John Emmerie shook ym by ye hand and bid ym wel- come : Ye substance of ys, he, or his wife in his presence told him, and owned it (according to his best remembrance) more yn once. This also ws severl days after ye meeting above said.
Taken upon oath 24, 4, 1663 before me SIMON BRADSTREET .*
What disposition was made of this case is uncertain. There is no evidence in the records of the courts held at Ipswich, Salem, and Boston that a verdict was rendered for or against the defendant. March 31, 1663, John Emery was fined four pounds for entertaining Dr. Henry Greenland, "a stranger " not having a legal residence in the town of Newbury ; and that sentence probably led the author of " New England Judged," and other writers since that date, to assert that he was fined for entertaining Quakers.
SUBSCRIPTIONS IN AID OF HARVARD COLLEGE.
September 8, 1636, the General Court appropriated four hundred pounds for the establishment of a school or college at Newtowne (now Cambridge); and in 1638 the Rev. John Har- vard bequeathed one-half his property and his entire library for its encouragement and support.
In 1642, overseers were appointed; and November 13, 1645, the General Court ordered the deputies of the several towns to recommend that "one peck of corne, or 12d in money or oth' comodity be sent to ye Treasurer for the Colledge at Cambridge " from every family in the colony.t
In 1650, " the President and Fellows of Harvard College" were incorporated, and a charter granted under the seal of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.
October 19, 1652, the General Court ordered the inhabi-
* Salem Court Files, vol. ix , folio 10.
t Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. ii., p. 86.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
tants of the several towns in the colony to choose one or more persons to solicit subscriptions for the support of the college, and to render an account of the same to the governor and deputies at the next session of the court .*
Many towns responded promptly to this appeal, and prom- ised to contribute in proportion to their means. A few asked for further time.
Newberry hath p'mised ye sum of £15.0.0 Salisbury will return in two months Salem will give answer to ye committee in 2 months
Wenham subscribes the sum of £6.10.0
Reading subscribes the sum of £16.13.0
Haverhill will give answer in two months
Lin will give (to be pd next year) 6.0.0 Hampton subscribes ye sum of 17.19.0 Rowley subscribes the sum of 38.0.0
Boston, Roxbury, Ipswich, and other towns, with more wealth and resources, pledged larger and more substantial sums.t
The collection of the money, however, seems to have pro- ceeded with considerable difficulty, the total receipts falling far short of the promised contributions. The Rev. Henry Dunster, president of the college at that date, gives the various amounts received from the towns in Essex County, as fol- lows : -
Lynn
£1. 0.0
Newbury £1.10.0
Salem
0. 0.0 Salisbury 0. 0.0
Ipswich
5. 0.0 Hampton 0. 0.0
Gloucester
0.12.0 Andover 0. 0.0
Rowley .
7. 8.7
Haverhill 0. 0.0
May 15, 1654, the General Court again ordered the towns that had not contributed to the support of the college to ap- point some suitable person to receive subscriptions, and for- ward them to Increase Nowell, a member of the Court of Assistants, "in order that the work of the college may not be retarded."
* Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. iv., part I., p. 101.
t Massachusetts Archives, vol. Iviii., p. 23.
# History of Harvard University, by Josiah Quincy, vol. i., p. 456.
.
153
THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
In answer to this appeal some of the towns responded with small gifts and contributions. Among these gifts were a number of sheep, a pewter flagon, a fruit-dish, a sugar-spoon, and sums of money from five shillings to five pounds.
In 1669, the financial condition of the college was extremely discouraging. The buildings were old and out of repair. Better and more commodious accommodations were needed, and its invested funds amounted to less than one thousand pounds.
In this emergency, John Cutt, Richard Cutt, and Joshua Moody notified the General Court that the inhabitants of Portsmouth would contribute sixty pounds annually for seven years, "to be improved by the overseers of the college for the advancement of good literature there." *
Donations and contributions to be used in the construction of a new library building were urgently solicited by friends of the institution in every town in the colony.
Lynn
subscribed
£20. 0.0
Gloucester subscribed
£5. 0.0
Ipswich
66
60. 3.2
Andover
66
12.10.0
Rowley
66
40. 8.5
Wenham
66
4.11.5
Newbury
יר
21. 4.0
Haverhill
66
18.10.6
Marblehead
66
8.19.6
Bradford
9. 3.0
Salisbury
17. 0.0
Beverly
13. 0.0
Topsfield
6. o.o t
The collection of these subscriptions was delayed, however, from year to year ; and the selectmen of delinquent towns were at length ordered, May 19, 1680, by the General Court to provide for their payment before September 3, 1680, under penalty of twenty pounds.
At a meeting of the selectmen of Newbury, held February 6, 1679-80, " Joseph Pike constable and Daniel Lunt were chosen to gather the rest of the contribution for the Col- ledg." #
Work was begun on the library building, otherwise known as Harvard Hall, in 1672; but, owing to the delay in the col-
· Massachusetts Colony Records, vol. iv., part II., p. 433.
t History of Harvard University (Quincy), vol. i., p. 508.
# Town of Newbury Records, vol. i.
154
HISTORY OF NEWBURY
lection of subscriptions, it was not completed until ten years later. It was destroyed by fire in 1764, and with it the most valuable library and philosophical apparatus in America.
Subsequently Nathaniel Carter, Tristram Dalton, Jonathan Jackson, Rev. John Lowell, and Patrick Tracy, of Newbury, with other friends of the college in Boston, Salem, Gloucester, and elsewhere, contributed books and money to repair the loss the college had sustained; and the General Court ap- propriated the sum of two thousand pounds toward the cost of rebuilding Harvard Hall.
LEATHER DRESSERS.
Nicholas Easton, who came with the first settlers to New- bury in 1635, was probably the first person who carried on the business of tanning in the town. He owned a dwelling- house, with the land under and adjoining the same, on the north bank of the river Parker, and lived there until 1637, when he was disfranchised by the General Court, and soon after removed to Rhode Island. Richard Dole, a dealer in hides and leather, purchased the property, and continued in business there until 1705 .*
After the settlement of the new town in 1646, repeated ef- forts were made to induce some competent leather dresser to establish himself in trade in the vicinity of the "trayneing green."
At a meeting of the ffreemen April 19, 1649 There was granted that Job Clements should have that freehold that the Towne bought, formerly being William Berry his ffreehold, to remaine, abide and continue to him & his heyrs forever, conditionaly yt he live wth us heere in Newbury exercising his trade four years, or as long as he shall live wthin that Tearme, and also let the shoemakers of this Towne have the first proffer or the forsaking of his leather making him as good pay as others.t
This offer did not prove acceptable to Mr. Clements, and he decided to remain in Haverhill, where he was then residing.
November 10, 1663 Leift Pike proposed for his brother Thomas Turvill for an acre of land near some spring (so that it do not prejudice
*"Ould Newbury," pp. 17 and 18.
t Newbury Proprietors' Records, vol. i., p. 49.
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THE SETTLEMENT AT MERRIMACK RIVER
the Towne) for to set up tanning of Leather & Richard Kent & Henry Short were appointed to look out a convenient place neere some spring .*
March 14, 1663-4, at a general meeting of the townsmen " It was voted that there should be an acre of land given to Thomas Turvill between George Littles & Henry Jaquesses provided he follow his trade of Tanning, and in case he leave it in seaven years he shall resigne it up to the Towne, the Towne paying to him all necessary charge he bestows upon it, but hereby they grant him no freehold." *
In 1664, Richard Knight and William Titcomb " laid out to Thomas Thurvill according to the grant of the town an acre of land on the way to the mill." *
On account of physical inability to support himself at his trade the selectmen were ordered September 19, 1670, to send Thomas Turvill to his " kinsman," Henry Short, to be maintained at the expense of the town until his death.
January 24, 1671-2, he conveyed to Ensign Greenleaf and Caleb Moody, selectmen of the town of Newbury, the land that he had received from the town, upon condition that he carry on the trade of leather dresser. Being unable by weak- ness to perform the condition agreed upon, and feeling obliged to call upon the town for aid and support, he relin- quished his right and title to the land in part payment of the charges that had been, and were to be, incurred for his benefit .*
November 27, 1675 the Selectmen Reckoned with Henry Short for keeping Tho : Turvill & there was due to him fourteen pounds & seaven shillings the last day of November .*
Ten years later John Bartlet was a tanner of hides at Bartlet's Cove. In an agreement made March 19, 1686-7, Samuel Bartlet and John Bartlet mention a way "from the north west side of the Cove to the Bark house then standing." t The business was continued in that locality for nearly two centuries.
Anthony Somerby, grandson of the first schoolmaster of
*Town of Newbury Records, vol. i.
t Recorded in May, 1694, by Henry Short, town clerk.
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HISTORY OF NEWBURY
Newbury, was a leather dresser in the vicinity of the "New Pond and Trayneing Green."
Anthony Somerby having proposed to the town for three rods square of Ground at a place commonly known by the name of Gladdings spring, so as may be Convenient for Dressing of leather. The towne by vote granted said proposition viz: The land proposed for, to the said Anthony Somerby .*
Tristram Coffin and Henry Short, lot-layers, "according to a grant of the town of March 8th, 1696-7," laid out on the eleventh day of March following, "to Anthony Somerby a piece of ground of three rods square lying at a place com- monly known by the name of Gladdings spring t bounded by the common or undivided land of Newbury on every side. Bounded with a small rock at every corner." #
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