History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 239

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 239

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" PLYMOUTH, June, 1653.

" I, Josias Wampatuck, do acknowledge and confess that I have sold two trnets of land unto Mr. Timothy Ilatherly, Mr. James Cudworth, Mr. Joseph Tilden, Humphrey Turnor, Wil- liam IIateh, John Hoar, and James Torrey; for the proper nse and behoof of the inhabitants of tho town of Seituate, to be en- joyod by them according to the truo intents of the English grants. The ono pareel of such land is bounded from the mouth of the North Rivor, as that river goeth to the Indian Head River, upon a straight line unto the middle of Aecord Pond ; from Ae- eord Pond, by tho lino set by tho commissioners as tho bouuds betwixt tho two jurisdictions, until it mot with the line of the land sold by mo unto tho sharors of Conihassett, aud ns that line runs, between the town and the shores, until it cometh unto the sea; and so nlong by the soa unto tho mouth of the North River aforesaid. Tho other parcel of land, lying on the easterly sido of the North Rivor, begins at a lot which was sometime the Innd of John Ford, and so to run two miles southerly, as the Rivor runs, and a milo in brondth towards the east, for which parcol of land I do acknowledge to have received of the men whose names are before montioned, fourteen pounds in full sut- isfnetion, in behalf of the inhabitants of the town of Scituate as nforesaid ; and I do hereby promiso and engago to givo such furthor ovidenco before the Governor as the town of Seitnate shall think meet when I um thereunto required, in witness whereof I havo hercunto set my hand in presence of

" NATHANIEL MORTON. " JOSIAS WAMPATUCK.

"EDMUND HAWKS.

" SAMUEL NASHI.

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1143

HISTORY OF MARSHFIELD.

above specified for the said lands, and that he had not given them another, which deed was burnt in presenee of the court. " NATHANIEL MORTON, Sceretary."

The first deed was undoubtedly given before the grant of the Two Miles to Scituate was made. and the subsequent purchase of that tract rendering an- other conveyance necessary. it was probably thought best to include both purchases in a new deed and de- stroy the old one. At a later period Wampatuck conveyed the remaining part of his possessions within the present boundaries of Marshfield by the following deed :

" To all to whom these presents shall eouie. Jo-ias Chicatabut aliss Wampatuck. Indian Sachem. sen deth greeting :

" Know ye that I. the said Josias, for good considerations me thereunto moring, have given. granted, bargained. and sold. and hy these presents do bargain. sell. give, grant, aline, and confirm and make over all my right, title, and interest in or unto a'l ani singular the lands contained within the township of Marshfield in the jurisdiction of New Plymouth in New England in America, together with all the woods, waters, meadows, marshes, mines, and minerals, and all and singular the benefits, privileges, immunities, and profits thereunto ap- pertaining unto my very good frien ] Major Josiah Winslow, in the behalf of himself ani the rest of the inhabitants and pro- prietors of the aforesaid town. from me. my heirs, executors, and assigns forever, for a valuable consideration to me in hand paid, wherewith I d, acknowledge myself to be fully satisfied, and for the same do acquit and set them free from all future claiuis and demande respecting the premises, only reserving to myself and my men free liberty of bunting with our guns ( not setting traps , and also for fowling anl fishing and liberty to fell now ind then a tree for canoes : and for the true performance hereof and of the particulars herein me respecting, I do hereby firmly bind and oblige myself, my heirs. executors, and assigns for- erer. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 14th day of October. A.D. 1665.

" The mark of " JOSIAS IO CHICATABIT " & a seal.

" Signed, sealed, and deliverel in pre-enee of

·· WAWAYANNUMMA. " The mark of

·· MACHIPPO, INDIAN."

It is needless to enter into any detailed account of the early settlers within the limits of this sketch. Particulars concerning them and their families may be found in the " Memorials of Marshfield," by Miss Marcia A. Thomas, to which the reader is referred. The most distinguished of these settlers, as is well known. were the Winslows,-Edward, John, Josiah, and Kenelm, and William Thomas. Of the Winslows, Edward came in the " Mayflower" in 1620; John in the " Fortune" in 1621 ; Kenelm came in 1629 ; and Josiah came in the " White Angel" to Saco in 1631, and after a short residence in Scituate, removed into Marshfield. They were brothers, and their father, Edward Winslow, lived in Droitwich, in England,

who was the son of Kenelm, of Kempsey, and after- wards of Worcester, where he died in 1607.

Edward, the English aneestor of the Winslows, and probably the only son of Kenelm, married, it is supposed, Eleanor Pelham, of Droitwich, and had a son, Richard, about 1586. He married, for a second wife. in 1594, Magdalene Ollyver, and had Edward (1595), John (1597), Eleanor (1598), Kenelni (1599), Gilbert (1600), Elizabeth (1602), Magda- lene (1604), and Josiah (1606). According to tra- dition Edward, who was the oldest son, having mar- ried in Leyden, in 1618, Elizabeth Barker, joined the Pilgrims, as a recent convert to their faith, having in his travels fallen within the sphere of their influ- ence, and became a most important factor in their enterprise of colonization. By his first wife, who died soon after the landing, he had no children surviving infancy ; and he married, in 1621, Susanna, the widow of William White, by whom he had Edward and John, before 1627; Josiah, 1628; Elizabeth, who married Robert Brooks ; and George Curwin. His life in the colony was full of activity and usefulness. He was one of the exploring party which landed from the shallop on Plymouth Rock, Dec. 11-21, 1620; he submitted himself, as a hostage, in the hands of the Indians during the negotiation of the treaty with Massasoit, in 1621; in the same year he visited Massasoit, at his cabin at Pokanoket, for the purpose of exploring the country and cultivating the friendship of the great chief; in 1623 he again visited that sachem, then dangerously ill, and restored him to health ; in the same year, he visited England as an agent of the colony, and, after a six months' absence, returned in the "Charity" in 1624, bringing provi- sions and clothing and the first stoek of cattle ever in New England. In 1625 he was chosen one of the assistants of the Governor, in which office he was continued until 1633, when he was chosen Governor, and during his term of serviee as assistant he un- dertook business excursions to the Penobseot, Ken- nebee, and Connecticut Rivers. In 1635 he was again sent to England as an agent of both the Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies. In 1636 he was again chosen Governor, and for the third time in 1644. In 1643 he was chosen one of the commissioners of the United Colonies, and in 1646 undertook another embassy to England to answer the complaints of Samuel Gorton and others, who had charged the colonists with religious intolerance and persecution. As an author he enjoys the distinction with Bradford of laying in "Mourt's Relation," printed in London in 1622, the foundation of Amer- ican literature. At a subsequent day he published a

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

narrative of the settlement and transactions of the col- ony of Plymouth, entitled " Good News from New Eng- land, or a Relation of Things remarkable in that Plan- tation," and other papers relating to Pilgrim history. In 1654 he received from Cromwell the appointment of commissioner to arbitrate and determine the value of English ships seized and detained by the king of Denmark in 1652, and in 1655 was appointed by the Protector one of three commissioners to superintend the operations of the military and naval forces sent to the Spanish West Indies under Admiral Penn and Gen. Venable. While performing the last service he died on the 8th of May, 1655, and was buried at sea with the honors of war.

John Winslow, the next younger brother of Ed- ward, eame to Plymouth, as has been stated, in the " Fortune" in 1621, and married, in 1627, Mary, daughter of James Chilton, who came in the " May- flower." It is doubtful whether he ever occupied the land granted to him in Marshfield. In 1657 he removed to Boston, and there died in 1674. Kenelm Winslow, the next younger brother of Edward, ac- cording to Miss Thomas, settled on a gentle eminence by the sea, near the extremity of a neck of land lying between Green's Harbor River and South River. He married Widow Eleanor (Newton) Adams, and had Kenelm (1635), who removed to Yarmouth ; Ellen (1637), who married Samuel Baker, of Marsh- field ; Nathaniel (1639), who married in 1664 Faith, daughter of John Miller, of Yarmouth, and suc- eeeded to his father's homestead; and Job (1641), who removed to Swansea. He was a prominent man in the town, representing it often in the General Court, and died in Salem in 1672. Gilbert Winslow, the next younger brother of Edward, eame also in the " Mayflower," but returned to England after 1624, and there died in 1650. Josiah, the youngest brother, according to Miss Thomas, settled on a lawn extending from the more elevated lands of his brother Kenehm, southerly to the northern banks of Green's Harbor River. It was fortunate for Marshfield that the serviees of so intelligent a man were available. As town elerk for many years, he has handed down to the present generation the fullest and most satis- factory records of the early days which the writer has ever seen. Time and continued use have some- what defaced and mutilated them, but, under a com- mendable vote of the town, they have been admirably copied, and, together with the later and current records, reflect the highest eredit on the citizens of the town and their successive elerks. Mr. Winslow married, in 1637, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Bourne, and had Elizabeth (1637), Jonathan (1638),

Mary (1640), Margaret (1641, who married John Miller), Rebecca (1632, who married John Thatcher, of Yarmouth ), Hannah (1644, who married William Crow), and John Sturtevant. He died in 1674, and was probably buried in the old burial-ground of the First Church, incorrectly called by many the Winslow burial-ground.

William Thomas, whose grant of about fifteen hun- dred acres has already been described, is supposed to have been born in 1573, and came from Yarmouth in the " Marye and Ann," perhaps in 1636, with a son, Nathaniel, born in 1606. He is first mentioned in the records in the proceedings of the Court of As- sistants, under date of Oet. 6, 1636, where it is en- tered that " John Winslow hath turned over the ser- viee of Edmund Weston for two years, beginning the last of May next ensuing, to Nathaniel Thomas, in the behalf of his father, Mr. William Thomas, in con- sideration of ten pounds sterling, the said William being further to give the said Edward six pounds per annum and fourteen bushels of eorn at the end of the said two years, and what else the said John should make good by his covenant." He seems to have been included in the list of freemen entered in the records of March 7, 1636/7, and yet his name is in- cluded in a list of eight entered Dec. 4, 1638, as having been admitted as freemen and sworn on that day. In January, 1640/1, he received his grant, and in the records of the court of the 1st of March, 1641/2, he is ealled of Marshfield, and on that day was chosen an assistant, to which office he was annu- ally chosen until his death, in 1651. Mr. Thomas has been repeatedly called one of the merehant adven- turers by whose aid the Pilgrims were enabled to un- dertake their voyage and successfully accomplish their seheme of colonization. This, however, is extremely doubtful. No list has been preserved of the adven- turers of 1620, while on that of their successors, who in 1626 carried on further negotiations with the Pil- grims, it is not to be found. It is more probable that he was a Welsh gentleman, of ample means and an adventurous spirit, who shared the passion of the age for colonization, and sought new and fresh fields for activity and enterprise. In the church records of Plymouth he is spoken of as " that Godly gentleman" who went with others from Plymouth to Marshfield, and Nathaniel Morton, the secretary of the colony, says, in speaking of his death, in 1651, " This year Mr. William Thomas expired his natural life in much peace and comfort. He served in the place of magis- tracy divers years ; he was a well-approved and well- grounded Christian, well read in the Holy Scriptures and other approved authors ; and good lover and ap-

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HISTORY OF MARSHFIELD.

prover of godly ministers and good Christians, and one that had a sincere desire to promote the common good both of church and State." He died of consumption, and was honorably buried at Marshfield. His grave- stone still standing in the old burial-ground bears the following inscription :

" Here Lyes What Remains of William Thomas. Esq. One of The Founders of New Plymouth Colony Who Deed In ye Month Of August. 1651, About ye 78th year of His Age."

His son, Nathaniel, who was thirty years of age when he came to Plymouth, in 1636, was also a con- spicuous man in the very earliest days of Marshfield, and during a time when fears were entertained of Indian attacks he was appointed by the court town's captain. From him, the only son of William, at least on this side of the ocean, there are many de- scendants living in Marshfield and Plymouth, and other parts of the Old Colony. There is another Thomas family, of which Gen. John Thomas, of Kingston, of Revolutionary fame, was a conspicuous member, descended from John Thomas, of Marsh- field. in no way connected, as far as is known, with William Thomas, who came an orphan of fourteen years in the ship " Hopewell," in 1635, and, falling under the care and protection of Edward Winslow, became finally his steward. The two lines of descent from William and John became at one point con- nected by the marriage of Gen. Thomas, the third in descent from the first John, with Hannah, who was daughter of Nathaniel Thomas, the fifth in descent from William. The descendants from John also are to be found perhaps as numerous and as widely scat- tered as those of William.

The William Thomas estate descended through his son. Nathaniel, his grandson, Nathaniel, his great- grandson. Nathaniel, his great-great-grandson, John, finally to Nathaniel Ray Thomas, who was the only son of John and a noted loyalist, who died at Wind- sor, in Nova Scotia, in 1787. At the request of the loyalists of Marshfield, of whom there were three hundred, a company of the Queen's Guards, com- manded by Capt. Balfour, was sent to that town to protect them from annoyance, and was quartered in the house of Mr. Thomas. It was the same house which was afterwards owned and occupied by Daniel Webster, and up to the time of its destruction by fire, a few years since, its cellar contained the wine-closets constructed by Capt. Balfour for the use of himself and officers. Mr. Thomas was a mandamus coun-

selor, and in the month of July, 1774, a large body of citizens from various towns gathered round his house to compel him to resign his commission. His ab- sence from town protected him from insult, and after- wards the presence of the Queen's Guards effectually shielded him. While the troops were at Marshfield he and his family were lodged with the family of Dr. Isaac Winslow in the Winslow house, still standing at the corner of the roads a short distance south of the Webster estate. On the evacuation of Boston, in 1776, Mr. Thomas went to Nova Scotia. Mrs. Thomas, who was the daughter of Henry Deering, of Boston, remained at the homestead with her children, and saved her share of the estate from the confisca- tion which befell it. After the war she joined her husband in Nova Scotia with all her children except Johu, and died in Windsor in 1810, at the age of seventy-eight. That part of the estate which was saved from confiscation came into the possession of John Thomas, the only child of Nathaniel Ray, and of him it was bought, in 1832, by Daniel Webster. Of the original estates of Edward Winslow and Wil- liam Thomas, comprising two thousand seven hundred acres, Mr. Webster had bought before his death about fifteen hundred. Nearly on the dividing line between these estates Mr. Webster stood in the open air on the 24th of July, 1852, three months before his death, and addressed for the last time a public assemblage. He addressed his neighbors and friends, who had gathered in large numbers to receive him, and, as both his last public utterance and a testimony to the love and affection in which he held the spot which had been his home and those among whom he had so long lived, it deserves a place in this narra- tive :

"FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS: It is now about twenty years that I have been in the midst of you, passing here on the side of the sea, in your vicinity and presence that portion of every year which I have been able to enjoy from the labors of my profession and the cares of public life. Happy have they been to me and mine, for during all that period I know not of one unkind thing done or an unkind word spoken to me or those that are ncar and dear to me. Gentlemen, I consider this a personal kindness, a tribute of individual regard. I have lived among you with the greatest pleasure and satisfaction. I dcem it a great piece of good fortune that, coming from the moun- tains, desirous of having a summer residence on the sea-coast, I came where I did and when I did. Many when they come down through these pine woods, and over these sandy hills, to see us, wonder what drew Mr. Webster to Marshfield. Why, gentlemen, I tell them, it was partly good sense, but more good fortune. I had got a pleasant spot, I had lands about me diversified, my fortune was to fall into a kind neighborhood, among men with whom I never had any difficulty, with whom I had entered into a sort of a well-understood covenant that I would talk with them on farming and fishing, and of neighbor- hood concerns, but I would never speak a word to them or they

1146

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

to me on law or politics. They havo kept their sido of the bargain and I have kept mine.

" Friends and neighbors, the time in which you off'er mo this welcome is not inappropriate. I am not much longer to bo awny from you for any purpose connected with public life or public duty. The place which I now ocenpy in the councils of the nation must, of course, cre long be vacated by me, and may bo vacated very shortly. There is an end to all human labors and human efforts. I am no longer a young man. I am thank'ul that I have a good degree of health and strength, and hope to enjoy your noighborhood and kindness, and the pleasure of seeing you often, for somo years to come, if such may be the pleasure of the Almighty.

" Accept, gentlomen, from the depth of my affection for you all, my warm acknowledgments that you come here with coun- tenances so open and frank to give me this assurance of your regard. I return it with all my heart. I say again, my prayers are that the Almighty Power above may preserve you and yours, and everything that is near and dear to you in prosperity and happiness."

In just three months from that day, on the 24th of October, he died, and on the 27th he was buried in the old burial-ground adjoining his estate. His stone bears the following inseription, that part of it which is an extract from the Scriptures having been inserted at his own request, and the remainder being a statement of his own :

" Daniel Webster, Born January 18, 1782, Died October 24, 1852. ' Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.'

Philosophical argument, especially that drawn from the vastness of the Universe, in comparison with the apparent insignifieance of this globe has some- times shaken my reason for the faith which is in me; but my heart has always assured and reassured me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be a Divine Reality. The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a mere human production. This belief enters into the very depth of my conscience. The whole history of man proves it."

In speaking of the earliest settlers of Marshfield Peregrine White, the first-born child of New Eng- land, must not be overlooked. As is well known, he was the son of William White, one of the " May- flower" passengers, and was born in the harbor of Provincetown. His mother, Susanna White, beeame the second wife of Edward Winslow, and he removed with his father to Carswell, his Green's Harbor estate. He married Sarah, daughter of William Bassett, and settled on an estate given to him by his father-in-law, situated between North and South Rivers, not far from their union. His estate was the whole or a part of the one hundred aeres granted to Mr. Bassett by the eourt on the 6th of April, 1640. In 1637

he was one of thirty volunteers, as is stated in the records, " to assist them of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut in their wars against the Pequin Indians in revenge of the innocent blood of the English, which the said Pequins have barbarously shed and refuse to give satisfaction for." In 1642 he was made "ancient bearer" of the forees under the eom- mand of Capt. Standish, raised for the wars; in 1651 was propounded as a freeman, and in 1673, when he was styled Capt. White, he was chosen one of the council of war. He held various town offices, and was twice ehosen a deputy to the General Court. His death oceurred on the 20th of July, 1704, and he is supposed to have been buried by the side of bis mother in the old burial-ground. His son, Daniel, who died in 1724, and his daughter, Merey, the wife of William Sherman, who died in 1739, were buried in the grave-yard adjoining the present First Congrega- tional meeting-house. The estate owned and oeeupied by him has always remained in the White family until after the recent death of Miss Sybil White, when in the settlement of the estate it was sold.

The town records as copied begin with the date of Sept. 27, 1643. Those of the first three years after the ineorporation are not in a condition to be read. At the date above mentioned the Pequot war was going on, and there being more or less fear of Indian invasion, "it was agreed that there be a constant wateh in the township,-that is to say, in four different quarters,-at Edward Winslow's, at Mr. William Thomas', at Mr. Thomas Bourne's, and the fourth at Robert Barker's. Edward Winslow, Lieut. Na- thaniel Thomas, Josiah Winslow, and William Brookes have charge there ; that Robert Carver, John Rouse, Edward Bumpus, and Edward Winslow and families be of the guard under Edward Winslow ; James Pit- ney, Mr. Thomas' family, and Mr. Buckley's under Lieut. Nathaniel Thomas ; that Mr. Bourne's family, Robert Waterman, John Bourne, Roger Cook, John Russell, Luke Lilly, Kenelm Winslow, and James Adams be under Josiah Winslow ; that Gilbert Brookes, Nathaniel Byram, Robert Barker, William Bardin, John Barker, Mr. Howell, and Edward Bourne be under William Brookes ; that a guard of two at least be maintained out of these, and that a sentinel be maintained all day at the place of guard ; that for fourteen days at least every man shall lodge in his clothes with arms ready at his bedside ; that in ease of an alarm at night from any other township every guard discharge only one piece, but if in our own town then two pieces."

This extraet has a special value as showing the pre- eise number and names of the families in the town,

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HISTORY OF MARSHFIELD.

and the dangers which attended its settlement. All other persons beside those here mentioned, to whom grants of land had been made, were in 1643 either non-resident owners or had sold their estates. On the 9th of October. at a meeting specially called, Kenelm Winslow and Josiah Winslow were chosen deputies to represent the town in the October General Court. In the preceding years, after the incorporation of the town, in 1640. William Thomas and Thomas Bourne were deputies in 1641. Thomas Bourne and Kenelm Winslow in 1642. and Josiah Winslow for the June Court in 1643. and Kenelm Winslow and Robert Waterman for the August Court. In April, 1644, Kenelm Winslow and Thomas Bourne were chosen, and John Dingley and Robert Barker for the next year; in July, 1644, Josiah Winslow and Robert Waterman ; in November, Kenclm Winslow and Robert Waterman ; in August, 1645, William Thomas and Nathaniel Thomas ; in October, William Thomas and Thomas Bourne ; in December, Josiah Winslow and Robert Waterman; in March, 1646, Josiah Winslow and Robert Waterman; in October, William Thomas and John Russell; in December, Josiah Winslow and Robert Waterman; and in the suc- ceeding years annually as follows :

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 239

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