History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 21

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 21

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).

At this time the colony, according to John Smith, consisted of " one hundred and eighty persons, some cattle and goats, but many swine and poultry and thirty-two dwelling-houses." He adds, " The place it seems is healthful, for in these last three years, not- withstanding their great want of most necessaries, there hath not one died of the first planters." In the lat- ter part of the year 1624 Winslow sailed again for England in the " Little James," and returned in 1625. On his return he reported loss of confidence

....

3 Anthony Annable. 4

Alice Bradford 1

Edward Burcher

John Jenney Goodwife Flavell

Thomas Morton, Jr. 1 Francis Sprague .. 3

Edward Bompasse 1 William Bassite.

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

in the enterprise on the part of the adventurers, and the debt of the colony to be fourteen hundred pounds. In the year of his return Standish, taking advantage of the return of a fishing vessel, went to England " to obtain a supply of goods and learn what terms could be made for a release." In 1626 he returned with the news of the death of both Robinson and Cushman, that of the former at Leyden, March 1, 1625, and reported that he had hired one hundred and fifty pounds at fifty per cent., which he had ex- pended in the most needful commodities. In the same year Mr. Allerton went also to England with orders " to make a composition with the adventurers upon as good terms as he could (unto which some way had been made the year before by Capt. Stand- ish), but yet enjoined him not to conclude absolutely till they knew the terms and had well considered of them ; but to drive it to as good an issue as he could and refer the conclusion to them." He returned in 1627, having hired two hundred pounds at thirty per cent., and concluded the following agreement with the adventurers, subject to the approval of the colony :

" To all Christian people, greeting, &c. Whereas at a meet- ing the 26th of October last past diverse and sundrie persons whose names to the one part of these presents are subscribed in a schedule hereunto annexed, Adventurers to New Plimouth in New England in America were contented and agreed in consid- eration of the sume of one thousand and eight hundred pounds sterling to be paid (in manner and forme folloing) to sell and make sale of all and every the stocks, shares, lands, merehan- dise, and chatles whatsoever to the said adventurers and others, their fellow-adventurers to New Plimouth aforesaid any way accruing or belonging to the generalitie of the said adventurers aforesaid ; as well by reason of any sume or sumes of money or merchandise at any time heretofore advertised or disbursed by them or otherwise howsoever ; for the better expression and setting forth of which said agreemente the parties to these presents subscribing doe for themselves severally and as mueh as in them is, grant, bargain, alien, sell, and transfere all & every the said shares, goods, lands, merchandise, and chatles to them belonging as aforesaid unto Isack Allerton, one of the planters resident at Plimouth afforesaid assigned and sent over as agente for the rest of the planters there and to such other planters at Plimouth afforesaid as the said Isaaek, his heirs and assignes at his or their arrivall shall by writing or otherwise thinke fitte to joyne or partake in the premises, their heirs & assignes in as large, ample, and beneficiale manner and forme to all intents and purposes as the said subseribing adventurers here could or may doe or performne. All which stocks, shares, lands, &c., to the said adventurers in sevorallitie alloted, apportioned or any way belonging the said adventurers doe warrant & defond unto the said Isaaek Allerton, his heirs & assignes, against them their heirs and assignes, by theso presents. And therefore the said Isaack Allerton doth for him, his heirs and assigns, cov- enant, promise, and grant too and with the adventurers whose names are hereunto subseribed, their heirs &c., well & truly to pay or cause to be payed unto the said adventurors, or five of them which were at the meeting afforsaid nominated & de- puted, viz., John Pocock, John Beauchamp, Robert Keano, Edward Basse, and James Sherley, merehants, their heirs, &c.,

too and for the use of the generallitie of them the sume of eighteen hundred pounds of lawfull money of England at the place appoynted for the receipts of money on the west side of the Royall Exchaing in London by two hundred pounds yearly and every year on the feast of St. Migchell, the first paiment to be made Anno 1628, &e. Allso, the said Isaack is to endeavor to procure & obtaine from the planters of New Plimouth afore- said securitie by severall obligations or writings obligatory to make paiment of the said sume of eighteen hundred pounds in forme afforsaid, according to the true meaning of these presents. In testimony whereof to this part of these presents remaining with the said Isaack Allerton, the said subscribing adventurers have sett to their names, &e. And to the other part remaining with the said adventurers the said Isaack Allerton hath sub- scribed his name the 15 November, Anno 1626, in the 2 year of his Majestie's raigne."

After a prolonged consultation it was decided to approve the agreement, and the debt of eighteen hun- dred pounds to the adventurers, together with a debt of six hundred more to other parties, was assumed by William Bradford, Miles Standish, Isaac Allerton, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, John Howland, John Alden, and Thomas Prence, together with James Sherley, John Beauchamp, Richard Andrews, and Timothy Hatherly, four of their friends among the adventurers. By the following instrument the trading rights of the colony were assigned to these gentlemen as security for their assumption of the debt :

" ARTICLES OF AGREEMENTE betweene the collony of New Plim- oth of the one partie and William Bradford, Captain Myles Standish, Isaaek Allerton, &e., on the other partie, and shuch others as they shall thinke good to take as partners and under- takers with them concerning the trade for beaver and other furrs and commodities, &c. ; made July, 1627.

" First, it is agreede and eovenanted betweexte the said par- ties that the afforesaid William Bradford, Captain Myles Stan- dish, and Isaack Allerton, &c., have undertaken, and doe by these presents covenant and agree to pay, discharge, and ac- quite the said collony of all the debtes both due for the pur- chass or any othor belonging to them at the day of the date of these presents.

"Secondly, the above said parties are to have and freely in- joye the pinass latly built, the boat at Manamett, and the shal- lop ealled the Bass-boat, with all other impliments to them belonging that is in the store of the said company ; with all the whole stoek of furrs, bells, beads, corne, wampumpeak, hatchetts, knives, &c., that is now in the storre or any way due unto the same uppon accounte.

"Thirdly, That the above said parties have the whole trade to themselves, their heires and assignes, with all the priviloges thereof as the said eollonie doth now or may use the same for six full years, to begin the last of September next insuing.

"Fourthly, In furder consideration of the discharge of the said debtes, every severall purchaser doth promise and oove- nante yearly to pay or causo to be payed to the above said par- tios during the full terme of the said six yoares three busholls of corne or six pounds of tobacco, at the undertaker's ehoyso.

" Fifthly, The said undertakers shall duroing the afforesaid terme bestow fifty pounds per annum in hose and shoose, to bo brought over for the eollonie's use, to be sould unto them for corne at six shillings per bushell.

"Sixthly, That at the end of the said torme of six yearos the

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

whole trade shall returne to the use and benefite of the said collonie as before.

"Lastly, if the afforesaid undertakers, after they have ac- qnainted their friends in England with the covenants, doe (npon the first returne) resolve to performe them, and under- take to discharge the debtes of the said collony according to the true meaning and intente of these presentes, then they are (upon such notice given) to stand in full force; otherwise all things to remaine as formerly they were, and a true accounte to be given to the said collonie of the disposing of all things ac- cording to the former order."

Thus was the connection of the colony with the mer- chant adventurers dissolved. The guarantors of the debt at once took steps to develop the trade whose monopoly they had secured; and after familiarizing the inland tribes with the use of wampum, which they introduced as a circulating medium, their opera- tions in furs and other commodities, which they shipped to England, became sufficiently large to en- able them to liquidate the debt within the specified time. The wampum used by the Pilgrims, specimens of which are preserved in Pilgrim Hall, was made from the purple and white parts of the quaw-haug shell, round, about a sixteenth of an inch thick, and a little more than a quarter of an inch in diameter, with a hole in the middle for stringing on strings of bark or hemp, the purple and white alternating on the string, the purple of double the value of the white, and the whole rated at five shillings per fathom. On such a currency the foundation of the commercial prosperity of New England was laid. Without it, it is possible that the effort at coloniza- tion would have been a failure. It is difficult to imagine the desperate condition from which at this period the colony succeeded in extricating itself. Less than three hundred strong, surrounded by savages and the forest, sheltered by thatched huts from the winter's cold, insufficiently clothed and fed, looking out from their windows on the graves of husbands and wives and parents and children, borrowing money in England at an interest of fifty per cent., and bur- dened with a debt larger per capita than our national debt at the close of the war; at this critical period, the very turning-point in their enterprise, when merely worldly men without trust in God would have faltered, and merely religious men without trust in themselves would have abandoned themselves to prayer, they brought into play those practical traits of character which their life in Holland had devel- oped, and consummated an act which will ever be considered one of the miracles of history. From this time forth the colonization of New England was an assured success. The cement in which its founda- tions were laid had hardened, and the safety of the structure to be reared was secured.

The connection of the Pilgrims with the adventur- ers, though one of necessity, was interwoven with annoyances and embarrassments. They were a body of men far from homogeneous in their character, en- tering into the enterprise with various purposes and motives. Some were men of religious instincts, hoping to aid in the conversion of the heathen tribes of the New World, and some were speculators, eager to secure large profits from what they believed to be a good investment. Of the men religiously inclined not all, nor a majority, were in sympathy with the Pilgrims. Only a few occupied the advanced ground of separatism on which the colonists stood ; most of them were still adherents to the church, hoping while they converted the heathen to exert a restraining in- fluence on the schismatic movements of the Pilgrims themselves. To the influence of the latter was un- doubtedly due the effort to keep Robinson separated from his departed flock, and the attempt to substitute pastoral leaders more conservative than him to guide the footsteps of the growing colony. Indeed, to them were due, with the exception of the feeble and unsuc- cessful movement on the part of the Council for New England to make Robert Gorges Governor, all the ob- stacles emanating from England, which until the latest days of the colony the Pilgrims were obliged to cn- counter. King James, under whose reign their enter- prise had been undertaken, had died without even a recognition of the colony ; Charles had come to the throne and gone to the block almost in ignorance of his extending empire across the seas; while Cromwell, a Puritan himself, took Winslow, a leading Pilgrim, into his confidence and service and imposed on him duties of responsibility and trust. There was still another class, however, among the adventurers, neither religious devotees nor speculators, composed of men who cared as little for the conversion of the heathen as for the inordinate profits of trade,-who probably thought little of the purification of the forms of the church, or of their abandonment, or even of their importance and value,-men undoubtedly of large means, but generous hearts, such as are seen to-day in our own communities combining all the qualities of broad, liberal, honest, square-dealing, sympathetic, manly merchants,- and this was the class, represented by Sherley and Hatherly and Beauchamp, which when once embarked in the scheme of colonization discov- ered the quality of the men they were assisting, and through evil and through good report adhered to their cause, and looked upon the gain to a noble body of self-sacrificing men as a satisfactory complement to what was a loss to themselves. Whatever may be said of the adventurers and their dcalings, it must be

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

finally acknowledged that their connection with the Pilgrims proved the bridge of safety across which civilization made a successful march from the Old to the New World.

CHAPTER III.

LIFE OF THE COLONY-TOWN GOVERNMENT-SEC- OND PATENT-DEATH OF BREWSTER.

BEFORE proceeding further with a history of the affairs of the Old Colony, it may be well to allude to several published works to which reference has been made in these pages. The first is that called Mourt's " Relation." It was written somewhat in the form of a journal by two or more persons in Plymouth, and contains a diary of events from the arrival of the " Mayflower" at Cape Cod, Nov. 9, 1620, to the return of the "Fortune," Dec. 11, 1621. It has long been an accepted theory that Bradford and Winslow were the authors, and the " Relation" has often been called Bradford and Winslow's "Journal." It contains an address to the reader signed G. Mourt, in which he says, " These ' Relations' coming to my hand from my both known and faithful friends, on whose writings I do much rely, I thought it not amiss to make them more general." The " Relations" being anonymous, it was natural that they should have taken their name from the editor and been called Mourt's " Relation." Dr. Young was the first to suggest the theory that Mourt was an abbreviated form of Mourton or Morton, and that George Mor- ton, who came to Plymouth in the " Ann," in 1623, is the only person to whom the initials and the words in the opening address ("as myself then much desired and shortly hope to effect, if the Lord will the putting to of my shoulders in this hopeful business") will apply. Following the address is a letter " to his much respected friend J. P.," signed R. G. The recipient of the letter was undoubtedly John Peirce, as antiquarian students generally suppose, but it is not easy to adopt the theory of Young, Dexter, and others, that the letter G was a misprint for C, and that Robert Cushman was the author. It must be remembered that Cushman came to Plymouth in the " Fortunc," arriving Nov. 9, 1621, and sailed in her on his return on the 11th of the next month. As Cushman was a stranger in the colony and a passen- ger in the vessel which carried the ". Relation" to England, the letter of which the following is a copy bears, as the reader will sce, internal evidence throwing serious doubts on this theory :

" GOOD FRIEND :

" As.we cannot but account it an extraordinary blessing of God in direeting our course for theso parts, after we caine out of our native country,-for that we had the happiness to be pos - sessed of the comforts we receive by the benefit of one of the most pleasant, most healthful, and most beautiful parts of the world,-so must we acknowledge the same blessing to be mul- tiplied upon our whole company, for that we obtained the honor to receive allowance and approbation of our free possession, and enjoying thereof under the authority of those thrice honored persons, The President and Council for the affairs of New Eng- land, by whose bounty and grace in that behalf all of us are tied to dedieate our best service unto them, as those under his Majesty that we owe it unto, whose noble endeavors in these their actions the God of heaven and earth multiply to his glory and their own eternal eomforts.

"As for this poor Relation, I pray you to accept it as being writ by the several actors themselves after their plain and rude manner. Therefore, doubt nothing of the truth thereof. If it be defective in anything it is their ignorance that are better ac- quainted with planting than writing. If it satisfy those that are well affected to the business, it is all I care for. Sure I am the place we are in and the hopes that are apparent cannot but suffice any that will not desire more than enough. Neither is there want of aught among us but company to enjoy the bless- ings so plentifully bestowed upon the inhabitants that are here. While I was writing this I had almost forgot that I had but the recommendation of the Relation itself to your further consider- ation, and therefore I will end without saying more, save that I shall always rest

"Yours in the way of friendship, R. G. " FROM PLYMOUTH IN NEW ENGLAND."

It is not only clear that such a letter must have been written by one who was one of the original com- pany in the " Mayflower," and who still remained in Plymouth after the departure of the " Fortune," but no one besides one of the writers would have spoken of " this poor Relation," or attributed its defects to the ignorance of those who were better acquainted with " planting than writing." It is a serious charge against Cushman to declare him to be author of such a statement against Winslow, whose use of language in the " Relation" itself shows him to have been a man of education and culture. There was a Richard Gardiner among the " Mayflower" passengers who was living at the time of the division of lands in 1624, and, notwithstanding the statement of Brad- ford in his history, made, perhaps erroneously, twenty-five years afterwards, that he became a sea- man and returned to England, it is more probable that he was the author than Cushman. If a mis- print is within the limits of possibility, it would be more likely to point to Richard Clarke, another of the " Mayflower" passengers, as the unknown writer.

The authorship of the above letter is important, because, if not attributable to Cushman, the writer must have shared with Bradford and Winslow the authorship of the " Relation" itself. That part of the work called a "Journal of the beginnings and

in 0

it.

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.

proceedings of the English Plantation," is attributed to Bradford, and probably correctly so. With as un- doubted correctness, the second paper in the " Rela- tion," concerning the journey to " Packanokick," is attributed to Winslow. It betrays a familiarity with the use of language and a facility of expression which are found in no other Pilgrim writer. The third and fourth papers, concerning expeditions to Nauset and Nemasket, have the characteristics of neither Bradford nor Winslow, and may, with some consider- able reason, be attributed to the unknown writer. Again, in the fifth paper, concerning a voyage to Mas- sachusetts, the style of Winslow is seen, and the claim that he was its author is undoubtedly correct. The two remaining papers are signed with the initials "E. W." to one, and " R. C." to the other, and were written by Winslow and Cushman.

The "Relation" was first printed in London, by John Bellamie, in 1622, and enjoys the distinction of being the corner-stone of American literature. Surely no claim can, with justice, be made in behalf of the writers in Virginia, all of whom, whose writings were printed in England before this period, were merely temporary sojourners in the land. Until 1841, when Dr. Young reproduced it in his " Chron- icles," it was never reprinted in a complete form. In 1865 the first reissue was made under the intelligent and careful editorship of Henry Martyn Dexter, in which, as he says in his introduction, " the endeavor has been made to follow exactly the first copies in style of type, paging, and identity of embellishment, in all of which particulars neither pains nor expense has been spared to render it worthy of the confidence and favor of connoisseurs. Every caption, initial let- ter, and ornamental heading has been engraved in fac-simile from the original, and the only defect in the reproduction is, that the copy-thanks to the su- perior capabilities of the modern press-is a great deal more splendid than its modest prototype ever was in all the glory of its freshness."

Cushman's sermon, already alluded to, was delivered in the Common House during his short visit in Plym- outh, and was also printed in London in 1622. Original copies of this sermon are in existence, as well as of Mourt's "Relation." Mr. Cushman was not a clergyman, and the title of sermon, according to our acceptation of the word, is incorrectly applied to it, though it was delivered from the text, 1 Cor. x. 24: " Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth." Dr. Young states that he found in a tract, printed at London, 1644, entitled " A brief Narrative" of some church courses in New England, the following allusion to this sermon: "There is a

book printed called A Sermon preached at Plymouth, in New England, which, as I am certified, was made there by a comber of wool."

In 1624 a book entitled " Good News from New England," written by Edward Winslow, was published in London, "showing the wondrous providence and goodness of God" in the preservation and continuance of the Plymouth Plantation, " together with a Rela- tion of such religious and civil laws and customs as are in practice among the Indians, as also what com- modities are there to be raised for the maintenance of that and other Plantations in the said country." In 1646, " Hypocrasie Unmasked," also written by Ed- ward Winslow, was published in London, containing a relation of the proceedings against Samuel Gorton, together with an answer to the slanders and falsehoods promulgated by him, "whereunto is added a brief Relation of the true grounds or cause of the first planting of New England."

The " History of Plymouth Plantation," by Wil- liam Bradford, has had an eventful career. After having remained in manuscript for more than two hundred years, it was first printed by the Massachu- setts Historical Society in 1856, under the editorial care of Charles Deane. The history covers a period from the formation of the Pilgrim Church to 1646. After the death of Bradford, Nathaniel Morton had access to, and used, the manuscript in the preparation of "New England's Memorial," and it was subse- quently made use of by Prince and Hutchinson, in 1736 and 1767 respectively. In 1705 it was in the possession of Maj. John Bradford, a grandson of the Governor, and was borrowed by Thomas Prince, while preparing his " Annals," and deposited by him in the New England Library in the tower of the Old South Church. From that time nothing was known of the missing manuscript until 1855, when John S. Barry, at that time engaged in writing a history of Massachusetts, borrowed from a friend a small volume entitled " A His- tory of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America," in which he found passages bearing the marks of Brad- ford's style, which the author credited to a manuscript history of the Plantation of Plymouth, in the Fulham Library. Upon application to the Bishop of Oxford by Joseph Hunter, of London, at the request of Mr. Deane, the Fulham manuscript was found to be the long-lost history, and an exact copy was at once se- cured by the Historical Society for publication. How it found its resting-place in the English library no one knows. It is thought probable, however, that during the siege of Boston, when the Old South Church was used as a riding-school by the British, it was abstracted, and falling into the hands of some

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

one who appreciated its value, was saved from the destruction to which much other material in the library was doomed.

The " New England's Memorial," by Nathaniel Mor- ton, was published in Cambridge, in 1669, by Sam- uel Greene and Marmaduke Johnson. It contains a history of the Plymouth Colony to near the date of its publication. The following extracts from the Old Colony Records are interesting as showing the part taken by the colony in the publication of this valu- able work. At the court held on the 5th of March, 1667, it was ordered " that whereas a certain Indian appertaining to our jurisdiction is now in hold att Boston for matter of fact, and that there is probabilitie of a tender of some land for his ransome from being sent to Barbadoes, that in case the said land be ten- dered to acceptance that it shall be improved and ex- pended for the defraying of the charge of the printing of the booke intitled ' New England's Memoriall."" On the 3d of June, 1668, it was ordered " that twenty pounds be improved by the Treasurer for and towards the printing of the booke intitled 'New England's Memoriall,' and it was likewise recommended to the several towns of the jurisdiction by their deputies to make a free and voluntary contribution in money for and towards the procuring of paper for the printing of said booke." On the 7th of July, 1668, it was ordered " that with reference to the printing of the booke intitled ' New England's Memoriall,' the Treas- urer indent with the printer for the printing thereof; and to improve that which is or shall be contributed thereunto with the sume of twenty pounds ordered by the Court to that end, and the sume of five pounds more if he shall see cause, the said twenty-five pounds to be out of the countreyes stock ; and to indent with Mr. Green to print it if he will do it as cheap as the other, and for the number of coppyes, to do as he shall see cause." And on the 3d of July, 1669, it was ordered " that the Treasurer, in the behalf of the countrey, is to make good a barrel of merchantable beefe to Mr. Green, the printer, att Cambridge, which is to satisfy what is behind unpayed for and towards the printing of the book called ' New England's Mem- oriall,' which barrel of biefc is something more than is due by bargain, but the Court is willing to allow it in consideration of his complaint of a hard bargaine about the printing of the book aforesaid." A second edition was published in Boston, in 1721, by Nicholas Boone, to which was added a supplement by Josiah Cotton, of Plymouth. In 1772 a third edition was published in Newport by Solomon Southwick, and about 1820 a fourth edition, with the supplement by Cotton, by Allen Danforth, of Plymouth. In 1826

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 21

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706