USA > Massachusetts > History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Vol. I > Part 3
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The number recorded as "already joined with them " in 1637 is twenty-four, includ- ing three named in the charter ; the name of Nathaniel Duncan not appearing on the roll until 1638. They are as follows : Robert Keayne, Robert Sedgwick, Joseph Weld, Thomas Savage, Daniel Howe, Thomas Huckens, John Oliver, Joshua Hewes, Samuel Cole, Israel Stoughton, John Underhill, Nathaniel Turner, William Jennison, Richard Morris, Edward Gibbons, William Spencer, Robert Harding, Thomas Cakebread, John Holman, Richard Collicot, Joseph Pendleton, Edward Tomlins, Nicholas Upshall, and Edward Johnson.
The above-named founders of the Company merit our first and especial attention. They will be considered in the order in which they signed the roll; but after 1637-8, the members will be briefly sketched, their names each year being arranged alpha- betically.
Captain Robert Keayne (1637) deserves grateful recognition as the founder of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, and merits its reverential respect and gratitude. His name is first on the roll, and stands first in the charter. He was born at · Windsor, England, in the year 1595, and was the son of John Keayne, a butcher. After having served an eight years' apprenticeship with John Heyfield, of Birchinlane, at London, beginning on the 9th of March, 1606, he was admitted to the freedom of the Merchant Tailors corporation on the 17th of April, 1615. He joined the Honourable Artillery Company of London on the 6th of May, 1623.
Robert Keayne (1637) came in the "Defence " from London to America, in the year 1635, when he was forty years of age ; his wife Ann was thirty-eight, and their son Benjamin was sixteen years of age.
"Marriage Licenses Granted by Bishop of London 1598 to 1639. [1617] XVIII Junij Ich daie appeared Robert Kayne of St. Michaell, in Cornehill, London Mrchan- tayler and a batchelor aged XXIIIJty yeres or thereabouts and at his owne gov't and did allege that he intendeth to marie wth one Anne Mansfeild maiden aged xxJty yeres or thereabouts the daughter of - Mansfeild late of Henly in the Countie of Buck, gent. dec. long since. And then appeared Wm Jackson curate of St. Michaells aforesaid and testified of his owne knowledge that Mrs- Mansfeild of Henley aforesaide, widdowe mother of said Anne is privie and consentinge to this intended marriage, etc .; St. Michaell.
"CHRISTENED. - 1618, May 14, Benjamin Kaine, son of Robt and Ann Kaine. 1620, June 15, John Kaine, son of Robert and Ann Kaine. 1622, May 9, Joseph, son of Robart and An Keayne. 1624, Oct. 18, John, son of Robart and Ann his wife.
" BURIED. - 1621, Mar. 27, John Kaine, son of Robt. and Anne Kaine. 1625, Jan. 16, John, son of Robart and Ann Keayne. 1626, Mar. 28 Joseph, son of Robert and Ann Keayne. 1633, Feb. ro, - Mansfield, mother of Mrs. Cane in Bergin (Birch- ing?) Lane." I
Capt. Robert Keayne (1637). AUTHORI- TIES: Winthrop's Hist. New Eng .; New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1852, 1877, etc .; Boston Daily Globe, Dec. 24, 1893, C. W. Ernst; Mem. Hist. of Boston; Report of Boston Rec. Com., 1634-1660; same, Miss. Papers, Vol. X .; Savage's Gen. Dict .; Whit- man's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
"17 July 1635. Theis vnder written names are to be transported to N. England inlarged in the Defence p'red pr Cert. from the ministers and Jus-
tices of their Conformitie and ht they are no sub- sedy man - Robert Keayne 40: Ann Keayne 38: Ben. Keayne 16." - London Records.
"The first military commander in Braintree was Capt Robert Keayne who was sent from Boston to organize and drill them for proper duty." - Hist. Braintree and Quincy. Pattee, 1878, p. 358.
1 Communicated to Essex Institute Hist. Coli's, Salem, April and September, 1891, by Henry F. Waters.
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He located as a tailor in a house, which was his shop and his residence, on the southeast corner of State and Washington streets. On that corner, in provincial times, Daniel Henchman (1675) kept his well-known book shop; and in it Henry Knox was brought up. Nicholas Boone kept a book shop on that lot, in the early part of the eighteenth century. Captain Keayne (1637) soon became, by his industry, energy, and capital, a leading colonist. He was orthodox in his religious faith, though not illiberal, and he was a devoted adherent of Governor Winthrop. He became the owner of several pieces of land, by grant and by purchase, one of them being a tract of over three hun- dred acres at Rumney Marsh, now in the town of Revere. He did not confine himself to the limitations of his trade, but availed himself of every opportunity to make an invest- ment which promised to be profitable. Shrewd and successful, he was soon regarded as sharp at a bargain, and, although one of the leading spirits in town and colony affairs, he was publicly rebuked for his offences. They were, First, Inasmuch "as he was a pro- fessor of religion," he should not strive to make money. Second, Inasmuch "as he was a man of eminent ability," he should not strive to make money. Third, Inasmuch " as he was already wealthy, and had but one child," he should not strive to make money. Fourth, Inasmuch " as he came over for conscience' sake," he should not strive to make money. Fifth, Inasmuch " as he had already been warned by church elders against money-making, and had promised with tears, to strive not to do so," he should the more strive not to make money ; he should curb his financial ability and turn the guineas away from his own till. The General Court, therefore, sentenced Mr. Keayne (1637) to pay two hundred pounds ; but the magistrates regarded the fine as too heavy and the matter was finally compromised by his paying eighty pounds, receiving a respite for the remainder. After the General Court had tried Mr. Keayne (1637), found him guilty of extortionate charges and fined him, the First Church of Boston called him to account. Appearing before the pastor and his fellow-church-members, he acknowledged with tears, as he had done in the court, his covetous and corrupt behavior, and offered as an excuse that he had been misled by adopting as business rules : "Ist. That if a merchant lost on one commodity, he might help himself in the price of another : 2nd, That, if through want of skill or other occasion, his commodity cost him more than the price of the market in England, he might then sell it for more than the price of the market in New England."
The Rev. John Cotton, in the next Thursday lecture, reviewed Mr. Keayne's (1637) defence, and cited other false principles of trade, after which he laid down the following business rules : " Ist. A man may not sell above the current price : i. e. such a price as is usual in the time and place, and as another (who knows the worth of the commodity) would give for it, if he had occasion to use it, as that is called current money which every man will take, etc. 2nd. When a man loseth in his commodity, for want of skill, etc. he must look at it as his own fault or cross and therefore must not lay it upon another. 3rd. Where a man loseth by casualty at sea, or, etc., it is a loss cast upon himself by Providence, and he may not ease himself of it by casting it upon another ; for so a man should seem to provide against all providences, etc., that he should never lose : but where there is a scarcity of the commodity, there men may raise their price, for now it is a hand of God upon the commodity, and not the person. 4th. A man may not ask any more for his commodity than his selling price, as Ephron to Abraham, the land is worth so much."
When the church took up the case for decision, an earnest debate is said to have
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ensued, some members desiring to have Mr. Keayne (1637) excommunicated, while the majority thought an admonition would be sufficient. Mr. Cotton stated the causes which required excommunication, deducing them from Ist Corinthians v. 11.
" But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat."
" The point now in question was, whether these actions did declare him to be such a covetous person, etc. Upon which he showed that it is neither the habit of covetousness (which is in every man in some degree), nor simply the act, that declares a man to be such ; but when it appears that a man sins against his conscience, or the very light of nature, and when it appears in a man's whole conversation. But Mr. Keayne [1637] did not appear to be such, but rather, upon an error in his judgment, being led by false principles ; and besides he is otherwise liberal as in his hospitality and in church communion, etc." In the end, therefore, the church consented to an admonition.
Another absurd clamor raised against Mr. Keayne (1637) has been humorously chronicled by General Henry K. Oliver (1837), who was one of his successors in the command of the military company which he founded. It seems that a curly-tailed speci- men of "the swinish multitude " had been found " going at large," in the streets of Boston, and had been " rooting" in premises outside her proper domain. Hungry, vagrant swine are dangerous quadrupeds. To stop annoyance and prevent danger, the beast was impounded in Captain Keayne's sty with a bristly sister, and due notice was given by the town crier that the owner of the vagrant hog might prove property, pay styage, and take the animal to its rightful place. Divers inquirers came, but no claimant. At the end of a year from the time of impounding, during which interval the two had fared well, the captain relegated his own animal to the knife and the pork-barrel. Then there suddenly came forward one widow Sherman, who proved as great a thorn to Captain Keayne (1637) as his bitterest enemy could wish. Widow Sherman proclaimed that she had lost a hog, and that not the living but the slaughtered hog was hers. The whole town was roused into a tumult, and the case, urged on by a rival tradesman, was brought before the elders of the church, who after strict examination and due trial discharged the Captain. Appeal was made by the widow to the civil court, and again the Captain was triumphantly acquitted, recovering costs and forty pounds damages for slander. The widow still pressed her suit, and her case came up in the Great and General Court. It was debated for seven days, at the end of which time, the matter was sent to referees, General Gibbons (1637) and Colonel Tyng (1642), both of whom were members of the Artillery Company. It seems that they most sensibly permitted the thing to die of its own folly, the kind-hearted defendant remitting his right to damages.
Two years after, Captain Keayne (1637) was elected a deputy from Boston, and served as such four of the five next following years, 1645-50,1 in which station his activity and usefulness were alike conspicuous. This act of his townsmen certainly indicates that he still retained their confidence and unimpaired respect. In fact he was, above contradiction, a most earnest man and practical benefactor, turning his gains into a beneficent direction, and doing as much, if not more, than any other man of his day and locality, for the town, the church, the schools, and the colony. Nor were his enemies
1 Capt. Keayne was also a member of the General Court during 1638 and 1639, and was chosen speaker of the House of Deputies for the first day of sitting, Oct. 7, 1646. - Records of Col. of Mass. Bay.
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unwilling to accept his generous donations. He gave fifty pounds for the benefit of the poor identified with the very church which had persecuted him.
Captain Keayne (1637) must have been a man of untiring industry. In addition to his private business and his public duties, he was a regular attendant on the Sunday services and the Thursday lectures, often taking notes of what was said in a short-hand, probably of his own invention. There is in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society a small volume of these manuscript notes, entitled, " Mr. Cotton our Teacher. His Sermons or Expositions upon the Bookes of the New Testament, 1639." Another " volume contains the substance of expository discourses delivered in the First Church, Boston, on Lord's Day afternoon from 1643 to 1646, by Rev. John Cotton. Also, The Substance of a Sermon by the Senior Pastor, Rev. John Wilson, Mo. 2-20-1645. Like- wise, The Substance of a Sermon by Rev. Mr. Cobbet - Probably of Ipswich or Boston N. E. Mo. 5-13-1645-afternoon. It is 73×53 inches, has 482 pages, bound in leather, and once had two brass clasps. In it is written in his own handwriting, 'Robert Keayne of Bost : New England his Booke 1643, price 6d.' This second volume is in the Library of the Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence. Each page is closely written." 1
When the colonists began to see the necessity for having military organization upon which to depend in case of invasion by foreign or native foes, Mr. Keayne (1637), remembering his London training, suggested the establishment of a similar institution in the home of his adoption. Through his superior military knowledge, his expenditures of money and his persistency, he succeeded in establishing the Company upon such a permanent basis that it became one of the solid institutions of Boston. He was a public spirited and liberal citizen, and his benefactions were large, considering his wealth. He gave two hundred and fifty pounds to Harvard College ; a like sum for a town library in Boston, and two hundred and fifty pounds for introducing pure water into his neighborhood. He thus aided the introduction of water, by artificial means, for the use of the people of this peninsula. He was active on the " 23rd of the 11th moneth, 1635," " in raysing of a new Worke of fortification upon the Forthill," and " at a general meeting of the richer inhabitants," Aug. 12, 1636, he contributed liberally " towards the maintenance of a free school master." He supported with his means and influence every cause that was intended to secure benefits for the people. Not a picture of this " first citizen " has ever been found, after unwearied search ; in fact, he died without leaving a trace behind, except his benefactions, as set forth in his last will and testament.
This interesting document, which filled one hundred and fifty folio pages, was " all in his own hand." A transcript of it extends from page 116 to page 264, Vol. I. of the Records of Suffolk County. It is printed in Vol. X. [Document 150-1886] of the Reports of the Record Commissioners of Boston, and occupies fifty-three pages, containing about fifty-one thousand words. The following extracts will give an idea of its style, legacies, and provisions. The original spelling is not preserved : -
"I Robert Keayne, citizen and merchant tailor of London by freedom, and by the good Providence of God now dwelling at Boston in New England in America . . . do therefore now in my health make, ordain and declare this to be my Last Will and Testa- ment. .
1 Letter of Capt. A. A. Folsom (1867).
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" First and before all things, I commend and commit my precious soul into the hands of Almighty God : ... As for my burial I shall not desire any great outward solemnity to be used further than that which shall be decent and civil as becomes Chris- tians : Knowing that extraordinary solemnities can add nothing to the peace or benefit of the deceased, yet having been trained up in Military discipline from my younger years, and having endeavored to promote it the best I could since God hath brought me into this country and seeing he hath been pleased to use me as a poor instrument to lay the foundation of that noble Society of the Artillery Company in this place, that hath so far prospered by the blessing of God as to help many with good experience in the use of their arms and more exact knowledge in the Military Art and hath been a nursery to raise up many able and well experienced soldiers that hath done since good service for their country, therefore to declare my affections to that exercise and the society of soldiers, I shall desire to be buried as a soldier in a Military way."
He then provides for his debts, for an inventory of his estate, and divides the prin- cipal part of his property between his wife and son. He sets apart two hundred pounds, that " if any man or woman, young or old, in Old England or New, could justly challenge or make it appear by good proof or reason that I had in anything unjustly wronged or defrauded them, that they might have full satisfaction allowed them. . .
" I, having long thought and considered of the want of some necessary things of public concernment which may not be only commodious but very profitable and useful for the Town of Boston, as a Market place and conduit, the one a good help in danger of fire, ... the other useful for the country people that come with their provisions, . . . also to have some convenient room or two for the Courts to meet in both in Winter and Summer, and [al]so for the townes' men and Commissioners of the town, also . . . a convenient room for a Library and a gallery or some other handsome room for the Elders to meet in and confer together. ... Then in the same building there may be also a room for an armory to keep the arms of the Artillery Company and for the soldiers to meet in when they have occasion."
Captain Keayne (1637) then makes a donation of three hundred pounds for a market-house, one hundred pounds for a "Granere," and books for the beginning of the library. Having provided, by a legacy, for refreshment for the elders when they meet and confer, he continues : -
" And if a convenient, fair room in one of the buildings before mentioned be sequestered and set apart for an Armory and the meeting of the Artillery, if there it be thought convenient or if some other place be provided for that use more convenient, with the officers of that Company's advice, I am not strict for the very place so they have content in it, though yet I think the very heart and securest part of the town (and no out or by place) is the most fit for a Magazine for Arms because of the danger of surprising of them, the place that they now use will be fit, to scour and tend the arms in and the other to lay them up and keep them in, which will be a comely sight for strangers to see and a great ornament to the room and also to the town where the soldiers may arm themselves every time they go to exercise, such a place being provided, I give and bequeath five pounds for the encouragement of that Company to be laid out in pikes and bandoleers for the use of such soldiers of that Company that live in other towns. . . .
" Item I give and bequeath further to this Artillery Company of Boston five pounds more towards the erecting of a platform planked underneath for two mounted pieces of
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ordnance to stand upon, a greater and a smaller, with a shed of boards raised over it, to keep them dry and preserve them from sun and weather and this to be raised in the most convenient part in the training place in Boston where it shall be most fit for that use and where at a convenient distance against some hill or rising ground there may be a good butt or kind of bulwark raised of earth that may receive the shot of those pieces and may be free from endangering any that may unexpectedly pass by or behind the butt in case they should overshoot, which butt may be cast up or digged at the bottom of a hill without any charge by the Company themselves, in two or three of their training days and my end in this is, that the Company may be trained up, (or so many of them as desire it) in the use, exercise and experience of the great ordnance as they are in their muskets that they may learne how to traverse, load, mount, level and fire at a mark, &c. which is as needful a skill for a soldier as the exercise of their ordinary arms. I suppose the Country will willingly lend the Company two such pieces for so good a use as this is, if the town itself hath none such to spare and will give them a barrel of powder or two to encourage them, to begin a service that will be so singularly useful for the country, the bullets will be most of them found and saved again if the hill or butt against which they shoot be not so low and narrow that they over- mount and shoot aside at random, now as many of that company or others which desire to learn that art of gunnery (so needful for every Captain and officer of a Company to be experienced in) they may enter their names to be scholars of the Great Artillery and to agree that every one that enters his name may give so much for entry and so much a year afterwards as you do at the Artillery which money will serve to lay in provision of powder, shot, spunges, budge-barrels, cannon baskets and some allowance to the Mr. Gunner that shall take pains to instruct them, if there cannot be some skilful and sufficient man found, that will think the honor of the place to instruct such a society in so noble a service recompense sufficient that they have an opportunity not only to exercise their own skill, but to do good to the country and to willing scholars that so thirst after experience as we see the Capt and rest of the officers of the small Artillery do freely expend their time to instruct others in the best skill themselves have attained, and look at it as reward enough that their pains are accepted and the company edified by it, besides there being many ship masters and gunners that resort to this country who have good skill in this art, the Company I doubt not upon their request might have their help sometimes and direction herein and he that is chosen to this place may have the title of the Capt of the great Artillery or Mr. Gunner and there may be a time appointed once in a week or fortnight for the scholars to meet to spend two or three hours, either forenoon or afternoon for their instruction in it. Now all that meet cannot expect to make every one a shot apiece or but one man two shots at one time and the rest may observe as much by the manner of their performing it as if they had done it themselves, and for further encouragement to help on this exercise besides the five pounds given before towards the platform and the other five pounds for pikes, &c. . . .
" I give and bequeath two heifers or cows to the Captain and officers of the first Artillery Company to be kept as a stock constantly and the increase or profit of these cows yearly to be laid out in powder or bullets, &c., for the use of the exercise of the great Artillery, only the stock at no time or the value of it not to be diminished and these to be delivered to the Capt that shall have the command of that company or whom himself and officers shall appoint when the platform and butt is finished, and two
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pieces mounted thereon, with all materials thereto belonging fit to exercise with, when a Master or Captain of the great Ordnance is chosen, a convenient company of soldiers entered for scholars as between ten and twenty and all things settled in a good posture for the beginning and continuance of that exercise, but if the Artillery Company shall neglect to accomplish this before expressed above two years after my decease, then these three legacies, viz. both the five pounds and the two cows to be void and to be to the use of my executor, but if the things before mentioned be accomplished and this new company do go on as I desire it may then my will is that the Capt with the consent of the Company may appoint some able man either of the Company or otherwise that shall give bond to my executors or overseers for these two cows or the value of them at the time of delivery that the stock shall be preserved and the increase or benefit of them only to be disposed of for the use of this new Company and if this Company should break off and not continue their exercise then the two cows to be returned to my executor or some of my overseers for his use or the just value that they were worth at the time of their first delivery, now any man that shall have the cows to keep will be willing to give such a bond if the Company order it so, in case that exercise should fall to the ground, for the two first five pounds I desire no bond nor any returns of it though the Company should not continue very long, I would make it my dying request to our first Artillery Company (if there shall be such a Company in being when it shall please God to take me out of this miserable world) many know what my earnest endeavors and desires hath been to promote and encourage what I could since the Lord hath brought me into this country and my desires have not been altogether frustrated for out of this small Company the Lord hath raised up many a well experienced soldier that hath done good service and hath been of good esteem both here and in our native country and therefore my grief is the more to see this sometime flourishing and highly prized Company that when the country grows more populous this company should grow more thin and ready to dissolve for want of appearance but some are weary and thus think they have got experience enough so the most begins to neglect but my request is that the entries, quartridge and fines for late and non-appearance (which last hath been too long neglected) and will not be well with the Company till it be taken up again especially seeing the greatest part of that Company consists now of men in our own town and we never had better nor more constant appearance than when fines were duly taken may be preserved and kept in stock to lay out in powder, arms, ban- doleers for the use of the Company and in canvas to make resemblance of trenches, half moons, redoubts, forts, &c., Cannon baskets and such like necessary implements for some special military service that might be performed once or twice a year, which would be a singular help to the ordinary exercise and would add much not only to the encouragement but to the experience both of officers and soldiers in some military exercises which without such helps as these cannot be taught nor performed, and these moneys would be far better employed and to the greater satisfaction and content of the Company in such things than to be wasted and spent in eating and drinking and needless invitations as it hath been a long time both to my own and to the grief and offence of several of the company which hath occasioned some to leave the Company and others unwilling to pay their quartridge, seeing the whole stock is still consumed and the Company rather in debt than otherwise which hath been a chief thing to hinder many other profitable exercises for want of means to bear the charge of them and will in time be the overthrow and dissolution of the Company if it be not prevented,
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