History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 56

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

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" And when I had more seriously considered of the beauty of the place, with all her fair endowments, I did not think that in all the known world it could be paralleled; for so many goodly groves of trees, dainty, fine, round, rising hillocks, deli- cate, fair, large plains, sweet crystal fountains, and clear running streams, that twine in fine meanders through the meades, mak- ing so sweet a murmuring noise to hear as would even lull the senses with delight asleep; so pleasantly do they glide upon and, hand in hand, run down to Neptune's Court to pay the yearly tribute which they owe to him as sovereign Lord of all the springs. Contained within the volume of the land [are] fowls in abundance, fish in multitudes, and [I discovered], be- sides, millions of turtle-doves on the green boughs, which sat pecking of the full, ripe, pleasant grapes that were supported by the lusty trees, whose fruitful load did cause the arms to bend ; while, here and there dispersed, you might see [also] lilies of the Daphnean tree, which made the land to me seem Paradise ; for in mine eye t'was nature's master-piece,-her chiefest mag-

azine of all, where lives her store. If this land be not rich, then is the whole world poor !"

Going back to England he was eager to return to America ; for not only was he fascinated with the country as a sportsman and lover of nature, but he confidently believed that a most profitable trade with the savages might be opened. Meanwhile Weston's enterprise came to a miserable end the following spring. Morton apparently, though not wholly with- out means, was unable to organize an expedition of his own. He might naturally have applied to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who through all these years was laboring to bring about emigration to New England. But Sir Ferdinando had just before failed completely in his effort to support his son Robert's colony, nor could he have felt very kindly towards any one who had been connected with Weston. Indeed, through Weston, he was then in serious trouble at court ; for the former had obtained leave to send certain muni- tions of war to New England and had then sold them to the French. For this act Sir Ferdinando, as head of the council for New England, had " suffered a shrewd check" from King Charles' ministers, and been or- dered to arrest the offender. An associate of Wes- ton's could hardly, therefore, have expected to receive aid from Gorges ; nor indeed does Morton now appear to have been in any way connected with him. He had consequently to find other associates. This he succeeded at last in doing, and he is next heard of sailing into Boston Bay in June, 1625, in company with a number of adventurers, chief among whom was a Capt. Wollaston. The party had come over with a body of articled servants, intending to establish a plantation and trading-post. Of Wollaston, the man who gave to Quincy its first English designation, nothing, not even his Christian name, is known. Among the Plymouth people he bore the reputation of being " a man of pretie parts" and of " some emi- nencie," and it is possible that he may be the same person who Capt. John Smith in 1615 met as Lieut. Wollaston, serving under one " Capt. Barra, an English pirate, in a small ship, with some twelve pieces of or- dinance, about thirty men, and near all starved." Whensoever and howsoever he came by his means, in partner in the company of which Morton was also a member ;' and, presumably under the guidance of the latter, they found their way into Boston Bay. Wes- sagusset, and the old stockade and buildings erected there three years before by Weston's people, they found occupied by what remained of the Gorges colony, which had now been there nearly two years. The new-comers had necessarily to go elsewhere. They

the pebble stones, jetting most jocundly where they do meet, | 1635 Wollaston had sufficient to be the principal

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

accordingly sat down at a point called by the Indians Passonagessit, and ever since known as Mount Wol- laston. The exact site of the house they built-the first house erected in Quincy-cannot be identified ; but tradition places it on the southwestern slope of the hill and not far from its summit, at a point where in recent years a few coins and the charred remains of ancient timbers turned up in the soil told that some edifice, of which no record remains, once had stood. In any event, it was in this vicinity that the adven- turers established themselves ; nor for their purposes was the place badly chosen. They had come to trade. They meant to hold active commercial intercourse with the Indians, and Passonagessit was not only a favorite gathering-point of the Massachusetts tribe, but it stood in plain view of the entrance to the harbor. No ship could come in without being seen from thence. It had but one drawback,-there was no deep water. Then as now Quincy Bay was but a tidal inlet. But further out, among the islands, there was excellent anchorage, and Wollaston and his associates evidently thought that a boat communication between their trading depot and the shipping would answer every purpose.

ing with him a portion of the articled servants, and leaving one of his associates, Rasdell by name, in charge of the plantation, he set sail for Virginia. There, if he did not find a place of settlement more to his taste than Passonagessit, he did find a ready mar- ket for those he brought with him, and he is said to have sold them, or rather his right to their labor un- der his contracts, on terms quite satisfactory to him- self. He then sent back orders to Rasdell that he should put another of the associates, one Fitcher, in charge, and himself come to Virginia, bringing with him more of the servants. These also seem to have been sold. It was evident that the plantation at Pas- sonagessit was to be broken up.

This did not meet the views of Morton. How large an interest he himself had in the venture is not known. It was probably small ; and he could more- over have been looked upon with little favor by the other partners, for it was he who by his glowing ac- count of the country had got them into their troubles. But Morton liked New England, and he evidently did not desire to go back to old England. At the time it was said that he could not go back there : that, in fact, he had been implicated in a murder, and had

During what remained of the summer of 1625 the fled the country. Later, warrants certainly were out party were busy providing themselves with shelter against him. And yet there is no evidence in sup- port of the charges, for though he was afterwards sent back to England under arrest, he never seems to have been tried ; and, if he had committed the hein- ous crimes of which he was accused, they would seem to have been forgotten before he was arraigned to an- swer for them. But of Morton's earlier life not much 1 is known. He seems to have had an education of some sort ; for, though he could not write English, he was fond of quoting Latin, and he had a little knowledge of the law. Indeed, he called himself " of Clifford's Inn, gent .; " but that he ever really studied law, or had any recognized standing at the London bar, is most improbable. An ingrained Bo- hemian and sportsman, he had come to New England to enjoy himself, and at the same time to make money ; and it was of very little consequence to him how he did either one or the other, provided only he did both. and laying out a plantation. Passonagessit was almost an island. On its northern side was a salt water creek, flanked with marshes and soon lost in the tan- gled swamps of the neighboring upland ; while to the south and west was a broad basin, which emptied and filled with every tide, and about this lay other marshes reaching nearly across to the creek at the north. These marshes were thick with liquid mud, and nearly impassable from a dense growth of cedar and under- brush. Across them ran a few gravel ridges, afford- ing the only practicable connection between Passona- gessit and the upland., The peninsula itself, it has already been seen, had some years before been cleared of forest growth. It had then become the burial- place of the sachem Chickatabot's mother, over whose grave two great bear-skins had been stretched until some wandering explorers presently despoiled it of them. While thus abandoned the place had again become covered with a young forest growth, which was now to be cleared away and the soil made ready for the seed.

The summer could hardly have sufficed for the work of preparation. The winter which ensued seems to have satisfied Wollaston. Before it was over he had evidently made up his mind that there was small profit and no pleasure for him in New England. So, early in 1626, he prepared to go elsewhere. Tak- sold. He then suggested that, if he were at the head

He accordingly saw with much disfavor every ar- rangement made to break up the plantation. Mean- while, supplies were running short, and a spirit of general discontent prevailed. Of this Morton took advantage, and gradually instilled into the minds of the few servants who were left the suspicion (for which there was undoubtedly excellent ground) that it would be their turn next to go to Virginia and be

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of the plantation, they might all dwell there together 1 Maremount, which, while it bore evidence to Mor- ton's latinity, was certainly descriptive of the place, situated as it was close to the shores of the bay. But in that name there is nothing which in any way sug- [ gests a translation of Passonagessit, a word supposed to mean simply some spot near to a small peninsula.1

as equals, and not only enjoy life, but derive large profits from planting and trading. Exclusive of Fitcher, there were but seven men now left. All of these Morton seems to have won over, and at last Wollaston's deputy was thrust out of doors, and left to shift as best he could. He betook himself to | Morton was a humorist. In selecting a name there Wessagusset, and thence found his way to Plymouth. Neither he nor Wollaston are again mentioned, nor do they seem to have made any attempt to re-establish themselves at Passonagessit.

Morton remained undisturbed at the head of the establishment there, and he proceeded to make good his promises as respects both profit and enjoyment. With the Indians he was evidently the most popular of white men, for not only did he buy their furs on the most liberal terms, but he admitted them to the free life and noisy revels of the trading-post. The English of those days, apart from the Puritan classes, were a rude, roistering, hard-drinking race, loose in the relations of the sexes, and coarse in thought and speech. Morton was no Puritan. It followed accord- ingly that he and his men soon began to establish trading-post relations with the savages, both men and women, such as were at a later day common enough, but which up to that time had been unknown, at any rate in New England. This recklessness culminated with the spring of 1627 in a proceeding which has passed into history.

May-day was then a great English merry-making. It came on what is now the 11th of the month, so that the season was considerably more advanced than it is under the reformed calendar. There was also about the anniversary much of the coarseness and loose morality of the time. It was by no means the sweet, simple anniversary, devoted to innocent dancing about a pole wreathed with garlands of freshly-gath- ered wild-flowers, which the modern imagination has been wont to depict. On the contrary, it partook of the Roman worship of Flora ; it was a sort of satur- nalia. Not without cause, therefore, did the Puritans view it with disfavor. Yet each recurring season the fishermen on the New England coast were wont to erect these poles at their stations, making merry about them as with noisy games and drunken revelry they greeted the return of spring.

It has already been mentioned that Morton was something of a scholar. Up to that time the place where he and his companions lived had apparently been known only by its Indian name. He now re- solved to formally christen it, and selected May-day of 1637 for so doing. He says that he translated the name Passonagessit. The new name he fixed on was |

is little doubt that he had a play upon words in his mind. Maremount and Merrymount were convertible. With him and in one place it was the former ; at an- other place and among his companions it was the latter.

The new name being decided upon, it was "re- solved," as Morton says, to have it

" Confirmed for a memorial to after ages in a solemn man- ner, with revels and merriment after the old English custom. [So they] prepared to set up a maypole upon the festival-day of Philip and Jacob, and therefore brewed a barrel of excellent beer, and provided a case of bottles, to be spent, with other good cheer, for all comers on that day. And upon May-day they brought the maypole to the place appointed with drums, guns, pistols, and other fitting instruments, for that purpose ; and there erected it with the help of savages, that came thither of purpose to see the manner of the revels. A goodly pine-tree of eighty foot long was reared up, with a pair of buck's horns nailed on somewhat near unto the top of it, where it stood as a fair sea mark for directions how to find out the way to Mare- mount. . . . They had [also] a poem in readiness, which was fixed to the maypole, to show the name confirmed on the plantation. There was likewise a merry song made, which was sung by a chorus, every man bearing his part, which they per- formed in a dance, hand in hand about the maypole, while one of the company sang and filled out the good liquor, like Gany- mede and Jupiter."

The poem, as he saw fit to call it, which Morton composed for this occasion, and the rollicking chorus to which his company danced round the maypole, are doubtless among the earliest efforts of the New Eng- land muse. Yet they certainly are not its earliest effort. Not only were Governor Bradford and his wife given to verse-making, but at least four years before Morton exercised his gifts at Mount Wollas- ton the Rev. Thomas Morell had wiled away a winter's tedium at Wessagusset in the composition of an elaborate Latin poem. It is not necessary, there- fore, to here reproduce Morton's efforts, which can always be found in his book. They are only curious now ; and, though at the time the Plymouth people roundly denounced them as scandalous and even lewd, it is not easy for modern readers to find in them much rhythm or any sense. They seem harmless enough, but doggerel.

Had Morton and his companions been content with field-sports and the writing of verses, there is no reason to suppose that they might not have set up a

1 See New English Canaan (Prince Soc. Ed.) 15, n.

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

new maypole at Mount Wollaston with every re- curring spring, and sung and danced round it to their hearts' content. Doubtless he would have greatly scandalized his neighbors at Plymouth, and they might have gone even to the length of remonstrating with him because of his carnal practices. But they were a quiet, forbearing people, with little that was aggressive about them, and it is not likely that they would have thought of a recourse to force. fortunately for Morton, his maypole and verses were but amusements. He had a very distinct eye to business. Not only was he fully alive to the large profits then and since to be made out of the fur trade, but in carrying on that trade he was restrained by no scruples. The furs came from the interior, brought by Indians. Through Indians only could they be procured, and towards the Indians accordingly Morton adopted a policy which was natural enough for him, but which none the less imperiled the safety of all the settlers on the coast. In exchange for their furs he gave the savages fire-arms and ammunition. Up to that time guns had never been found in the hands of New England Indians. The French on the coast of Maine and the Dutch in New York had begun to traffic in them, and in 1622 the practice had been forbidden by royal proclamation ; but in Massachusetts the bow, the knife, and the hatchet were the only weapons ever met with in the savage's hands. Of fire-arms he stood in mortal dread ; and to this fact the Plymouth colony had owed its preservation. But now the red men had begun to grow familiar with the new weapons, and they were eager to possess them. When it came to trading, beads and colored cloth and hatchets no longer had their former attraction. They were very well, but two things the Indians coveted more,-weapons and spirits,-fire-arms and fire-water. For these they would give anything they possessed or could procure. The trade in spirits was scandalous ; but the English were a drunken race, and they had few scruples on that score. Morton carefully denied that he ever sold the Indians liquor. Yet they took part in his revels, and there cannot be much doubt that they had their share of the good cheer then provided. He does not deny that he used them as huntsmen, putting guns into their hands and teaching them their use. They proved apt pupils also. They knew just where to look for wild animals, and how best to ap- proach them. They were fleet of foot and quick of sight. Knowing how to use the fire-arms, and seeing how deadly as weapons they were, the savages became crazy to own them.

So, in cheap exchange for their furs, Morton gave

the Indians all the guns he could spare, and, his avarice being now excited, he sent to England for a larger supply. He proposed to go into the business systematically. His establishment also acquired a reputation-a bad one, it is true, but still a reputa- tion-among the masters of the numerous vessels which then each year traded along the coast. They more and more frequented Boston harbor. Merry- Un- | mount thus " began to come forward," as Morton himself expressed it, and so elated was he by his suc- cess that he even extended his operations to the coast of Maine, where, in the summer following the erection of the maypole, he seems to have established a sort of branch trading-house on Richmond Island, close to the entrance of Casco Bay. Things, indeed, seemed to be moving prosperously with the remnant of Wol- laston's company, and those of them who had put their trust in Morton doubtless began to feel that they were justified by the event. They looked for- ward to an undisturbed life, in which ever-increasing profit would be combined with pleasant license.

They reckoned without their host. To the whole coast from Plymouth up to Portsmouth, Merrymount became not only a nuisance, but a dangerous nuisance. Upon that coast there were not then many inhabited places ; but there were a few. Plymouth was the most populous, and at Plymouth there may have been some two hundred souls in all, dwelling in two score houses encircled by a stockade half a mile in circum- ference. There was a smaller settlement at Wey- mouth, only a mile or so away from Merrymount, and scattered families lived at Thompson's Island, Shaw- mut, as the peninsula of Boston was called, and Charlestown and South Boston. There were a few more, traders chiefly, at Hull and upon Cape Ann, and near where Portsmouth now is. These people had come to New England to stay. They were living here with their wives and their children. And now Indians with guns in their hands were prowling through the woods. As yet they were in search of game only ; but it could not be long before they real- ized their new power. Behind the little settlements, and between them, lay the vast, impenetrable wilder- ness, in regard to which the settlers knew nothing. The Massachusetts Indians were a weak, broken remnant ; but who knew what other tribes occupied the inter- ior ; nor could any one divine the conspiracies which might there be forming, ready to burst when least expected. The situation was alarming enough at best ; the sense of the vast unknown doubtless made it more so, and Morton's proceedings were fast ren- dering it unendurable. The instinct of self-preserva- tion whispered that something must be done, and that

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quickly. Either the Merrymount trade in fire-arms must be stopped, or the country abandoned.

The remedy for the evil was not equally clear. So far as Morton's immediate neighbors were concerned in case of a trial of strength, he, with his Indian allies, was probably a match for them all. His white re- | the prisoner at once to Plymouth. He, with a fine tainers were likely also to increase in number, for, as the ill repute of the Merrymount plantation spread, it would inevitably become the place of refuge for all the outcasts and runaways on the coast. The ships which yearly came there were manned at the best with a rude, lawless set of fellows ; and such of these as the others would not tolerate were the very ones most likely to find their way to Mount Wollaston. The danger, therefore, was an ever-increasing one. | If it was to be dealt with at all, it must be dealt with at once and summarily.

Under these circumstances, how great the common terror was may best be seen from the fact that it brought together all the settlers on the coast. This seems to have been in the early spring of 1628. The result of the meeting was that the Plymouth author- | coolness and determination apparently had its effect, ities were asked to take the matter in hand. A letter was accordingly drawn up and sent to Morton, after being jointly signed. It was friendly in tone, but in it Morton was enjoined to forbear his evil prac- tices. An answer was requested by the messenger who bore the missive. The result of the interview was far from satisfactory. Morton sent back word to the Plymouth magistrates that they were meddling in things which in no way concerned them, they having no jurisdiction over him or his plantation ; further, he intimated that it was his intention to deal with the Indians as he saw fit.

Yet a second time Morton was sent to. And now they bade him be better advised. for the country could not bear the injury he was doing it. He was reminded also of the royal proclamation of 1622 forbidding the sale of fire-arms to savages. This | Plymouth. Thence he was presently sent to the-Isles of Shoals, where he was put on an outward bound vessel and carried to England.

second admonition led to no more satisfactory results than the first. Morton denied that King James' proclamation was law ; and, with many oaths, warned the messengers that if any came to molest him they must look to their own safety, for he would be pre- pared to defend himself.

This took place in May, 1628, and in the early days of June Capt. Miles Standish was sent up from Plymouth to Boston Bay, to summarily suppress the Mount Wollaston nuisance. He had with him eight men, and he evidently acted in full understanding with Morton's neighbors, who apparently, in attempting the arrest, wanted to take advantage of the fact that nearly all the Merrymount company were then gone

into the interior in search of furs. Indeed there were but three in all left at the plantation. Standish found Morton at Wessagusset, whither he had gone, as he says, " to have the benefit of company," and there arrested him. It was not convenient to remove

assumption of surprise and innocence, asked to know the reason of the violence to which he was subjected, and the names of those who had made charges against him; and when his captors declined to enlighten him on these points, he stood with much dignity on his rights as an Englishman, demanding that he should at once be set at liberty. Paying no attention to this, Standish made his arrangements to pass the night at Wessagusset. The prisoner was well guarded ; but a violent thunder-storm came up before morning, and in the midst of it he succeeded in making his es- cape, getting safely back to Merrymount. There he made preparation for resistance. In the morning Stand- ish and his party appeared. Walking directly up to the door of the house, they demanded to be let in. Their

for of the three defenders of the place one at least was frightened, while another, in the endeavor to stimulate his courage, had got hopelessly and help- lessly drunk. Morton thus had only himself to de- pend on. None the less he maintained a bold front, and to the demand that he should surrender returned a scoffing reply. Standish then went to work to force in the door ; whereupon Morton sallied out, followed by his single tipsy retainer. The struggle that fol- lowed was brief and ludicrous. Morton's gun, which he had aimed at Standish, was knocked up by one of Standish's party, and at the same time the staggering follower succeeded in running " his own nose upon the point of a sword that one held before him as he entered the house." This was the only blood spilt, and Morton was now secured and safely carried to

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 56

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534