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 37
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
The streets, of different widths (sometimes the same street bearing different names in different places), were paved with round beach stones. There were neither street- lamps nor sidewalks, but hitching-posts were numerous, and nearly every large house had its horse-block in front for convenience in mounting and dismounting. The cows of many of the freeholders were pastured on the Common, while others owned pasture- lands, orchards, and gardens on the road leading to Cambridge. There were in the centre of the town several large and handsome villas, surrounded by gardens, and one which eclipsed the others had just been completed by Peter Sergeant, a wealthy mer- chant, on land which he had purchased of Col. Samuel Shrimpton (1670). This edifice, afterward known as the Province House, was built in the most substantial manner, and the elaborately-wrought iron-work of the balustrade, over the front entrance, contained the initials of the owner, and the date, thus : " 16 P. S. 79."
Mr. Sergeant died on the 8th of February, 1713-4, and his widow married, May 12, 1715, her third husband, Simeon Stoddard (1675). He died on the 15th of October, 1730, in his eightieth year. She survived him eight years.
When she married Mr. Stoddard (1675), she had no further use for the house erected by Mr. Sergeant, for her new husband had one as desirable, and the estate was purchased by the province.
The new members recruited in 1679-80 were : Samuel Bridge, Edward Bromfield, Nathaniel Byfield, John Cotta, John Foster, Francis Foxcroft, Obadiah Gill, Robert
252
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1679-80
Jones, Charles Lidget, Benjamin Mountfort, Joseph Parsons, William Pollard, Samuel Ravenscroft, Samuel Sewall, Thomas Smith, William Sumner, James Townsend, and David Waterhouse.
Samuel Bridge (1679), of Boston in 1671, a carpenter, was admitted a freeman in 1672. Between 1673 and 1701, he was elected or appointed to town office during fourteen years ; also, being a member of Capt. James Hill's (1677) company, he was chosen a tithing-man in 1686, 1690, 1693, and 1696. He also worked at his trade for the town, and served on special committees, the last service being in 1713, to inspect the town in regard to the observance of the by-law for keeping ladders at each house. Mr. Whitman (1810) says he was "of Charlestown." If he was the son of William and Persis (Pierce) Bridge, of Charlestown, he was born Aug. 19, 1647.
His will (Suffolk Wills, Vol. XX., folio 123) mentions five daughters and two sons. The latter, Benjamin and Ebenezer, joined the Artillery Company in 1711 and 1717 respectively.
Edward Bromfield (1679), of Boston in 1675, son of Henry, was a merchant, whose name is perpetuated by the thoroughfare, Bromfield Street, in Boston. He was the father of Edward (1732), one of his Majesty's council, and was a man of . " great integrity and singular piety." He was a member of the Old South Church, and died June 2, 1734, aged eighty-six years. His tomb is in the King's Chapel Burial- Ground.
In 1684, he is recorded as a member of Capt. Savage's (1674) military company, of Boston. Refusing to serve as constable in 1686, he was fined " accordinge to lawe." He was chosen commissioner for the town, Aug. 24, 1691, and representative in 1693, 1694, and 1695 ; also selectman in 1694 and 1695.
The New England Journal, at the time of his decease, said, "Edward Bromfield [1679] was born at Haywood House, the seat of the family, near New Forest, in Hamp- shire, in England, on Jan. 10, 1648-9, and baptized in the neighboring church, at Chancroft, on Jan. 16 following ; served his apprenticeship in London ; soon after, took a trading voyage to Jamaica, and afterwards to New England, whither he came in 1675 and finding this then very religious country agreeable to his pious genius, soon chose it for his own, and to live and die among us, and in the trade of merchandise.
" He served his town in many offices. Even in the time of our old charter, he was one of the commissioners of the peace, and trial of civil actions under ten pounds. In May, 1703, chosen into the council, and from that time annually elected till. 1728,
Samuel Bridge (1679). AUTHORITY : Boston Records.
" [1717, Saturday] Nov 30. Sam. Bridge died last night; was at work on Monday last. . . . Tues- day Dec. 3. P. M. I go to the Funeral of Mr. Sam! Bridge, Col. Townsend was one of the Bearers; Six Councillers follow'd the Relations. . . . The Aer was grown very Cold, and snow'd before we got to the grave." - Sewall Papers, Vol. III., pp. 150, 152. Edward Bromfield (1679). AUTHORITIES : New Eng. Ilist. and Gen. Reg., 1859, 1871, 1872; Boston Records; King's Chapel Burial-Ground, by Bridgman, p. 255; Resolves, etc., of Mass. Bay, Vol. VII.
" Yesterday in the afternoon, died the Hon.
Edward Bromfield, Esq., in the 86th year of his age; who for many years was one of his Majesty's Coun- cil, a gentleman of great integrity and singular piety. Ile was buried on Thursday the 6th [of June ] follow- ing [1734]. ]le was the third son of Henry Brom- field, Esq. . . . and was born at Ilaywood Ilouse, Hampshire, England, Jan. 10, 1648-9; served his apprenticeship in London; came to America in 1675. Ile was annually elected of the Council of Massachusetts from 1703 to 1728. . . . Ile was twice married : Ist, about 1678, to Mrs. Elizabeth Brad- ing: 2d, to Miss Mary Danforth, daughter of Rev. Samuel Danforth, of Roxbury." - New England Journal, June, 1734.
253
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1679-80]
when, being in the eightieth year of his age, his growing infirmities released him from public business. He joined the church of the reverend and famous Mr. Doolittle, about the seventeenth year of his age, entered into a special acquaintance with the renowned Mr. Baxter, and other eminent confessors of Christ ; closely attended their ministry with great delight through all the difficulties of the then reigning persecution.
" Not long after his coming over, he joined himself to the [Old] South Church in this town, and has been therein a distinguished ornament. His heart was especially set for the propagation of the gospel in ignorant places, supporting ministers of low salaries, maintaining charity schools for children, and helping poor and hopeful scholars to academical learning.
" He turned the pasture behind his house into a very shady grove; and in the midst he built an Oratory, where, even in the most flourishing circumstances, and height of business, he would several times a day retire, that he might turn his eyes from beholding vanity. His temper was very active, cheerful, open-hearted, free and liberal. He made every one always easy about him, unless he had to do with bold transgressors, and then he rather wished their reformation than their punishment. In the education of his children he was exceedingly careful."
Edward Rawson, the colonial secretary, bought property of Theodore Atkinson (1644), and through the land was laid out Rawson's Lane. This name was changed, in 1796, to Bromfield Lane, which in 1829 became Bromfield Street, in memory of Edward Bromfield (1679), who "lived on the southerly side about half way up, where later the Bromfield House stood. This site was afterwards occupied by the Indian Queen Tavern."
Nathaniel Byfield (1679), of Boston in 1674, a lawyer, son of Rev. Richard Byfield, was born at Long Ditton, Surrey County, England, in 1653. He was the youngest of twenty-one children. He came to Boston in 1674, and married, in 1675, Deborah, daughter of Capt. Thomas Clarke (1638). April 25, 1676, he sent the following petition to the Governor and council : "The Petition of Nathaniel Byfield Humbly showeth, That your petitioner is a stranger in the country & lately married, & is now Prest to go out to war against the Indians. And whereas the law of God is plain in Deut. 5, that when a man hath taken a new wife he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business, but he shall be free at home one year, Your petitioner doth humbly request the favor of your Honours to grant him the Priviledge and benefit of the said law & to grant him a discharge from the present service." His second wife was Sarah, youngest daughter of Gov. Leverett (1639). His first wife died in 1717, his second in 1730, and he died June 6, 1733.
He became a proprietor, and among the first settlers, of Bristol, in Plymouth Colony, for which he was representative in 1691, and for the United Province in 1692, being also speaker of the House in 1693. He was representative from Boston in 1696, 1697, and 1698, a member of the council in 1699, and for thirteen years afterward prior to 1729 ; and six other years, between 1713 and 1724, he was elected but negatived by the Governor. He served as a special justice of the Superior Court by appointment in 1727, 1728, and Jan. 11, 1732-3. He was appointed judge of the inferior Court of Common Pleas, in Bristol County, Aug. 7, 1701, which he resigned in 1724, after nearly
Nathaniel Byfield (1679). AUTHORITIES : 1774; Whitman's Hist. . 1. and II. A. Company, Boston Records; Whitmore's Mass. Civil List, 1630- Ed. 1842.
X
254
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1679-80
a continuous service ; was register of probate of Bristol County nearly twenty years, between 1702 and 1729, and was appointed for one year, from June 19, 1697, commis- sioner of import and excise. He obtained a commission as judge of the vice-admiralty for the provinces of Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, which he received in April, 1704, and continued in that office until 1715. In 1729, he was reappointed to that office. In 1715, he went to England, to endeavor to supplant Gov. Dudley (1677). Having been reproved by the Governor, in council, for some alleged errors in judicial proceedings, he was ever after in opposition to him, which Gov. Dudley (1677) revenged by negativing his election as councillor. Being a favorite of Gov. Belcher, Mr. Byfield (1679) and Elisha Cooke, Jr. (1699), were appointed by the Governor, Dec. 29, 1731, judges of the Court of Common Pleas in Suffolk County, in the places of Col. Hutchinson (1670) and William Dudley removed. He was constable of Boston in 1678. On the Boston town records, 1699-1701, he is called " Captain." He was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1682, and its lieutenant in 1699. In 1702, he was commissioned colonel of a regiment embracing all the militia of Bristol County. The distinguished Indian fighter, Benjamin Church, was his lieutenant-colonel, and Ebenezer Brenton, major.
John Cotta (1679), of Boston, a tailor, became a freeman in 1671. He married Mary Moore in 1668, and died Nov. 20, 1723, aged seventy-seven years. In 1665, May 29, John Cotta (1679) "was fined 10s for opeing shop, contrary to Towne order." In 1680, he was a member of Capt. Savage's (1674) company, of Boston, was a constable in 1685, and a member of the military in 1691. Mr. Whitman (1810) says he was active in the revival of the Artillery Company in 1690, and held a commission in the militia. His son, John, joined the Artillery Company in 1698. John Cotta (1679) was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1692.
John Foster (1679), of Boston, was an eminent merchant from Aylesbury, Bucks County, England, and was admitted a freeman in 1682. He joined the Artillery Com- pany immediately after his arrival, and became very prominent in the affairs of the Company from 1690 to 1695. He was of the Council of Safety in 1689 ; was repre- sentative for Portsmouth in 1690; one of Gov. Dudley's (1677) councillors ; named in the charter of William and Mary in 1692; one of the first council under it, in which office he continued until his death, Feb. 9, 1710-I.
He is mentioned in the Boston town records, the first time, March 15, 1679-80, when, being elected constable, he was fined for refusing to serve ; and was selectman in 1690, 1691, and 1692. On the 7th of December, 1692, he was appointed a justice of the inferior Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County, and served in that office until
John Cotta (1679). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; Savage's Gen. Dict.
" [1723] Novr 23 Mr. John Cotta, the father, is buried." - Sewall Papers, Vol. III., p. 327.
John Foster (1679). AUTHORITIES: New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1863; Boston Records; Whitman's Hist. A. and HI. A. Company, Ed. 1842. "Seventb-day Feby 3, 1710-II. Col Foster was taken with an Apoplectick Fit as he was at the privat house about S M. When he staid long they call'd, none answered; so they burst open the door, and found him fallen down and Speechless. . . .
" Febr 9. Seventh-day, between 11 and 12 M. Col John Foster expires. His place at the Council Board and Court will hardly be filled up. I have lost a good Left-hand man. The Lord save New England. Now just half the Counsellours mentioned in the Charter are dead. .
"Thorsday Feb 15. John Foster Esqr is en- tombed. . .. Scarfs and Rings, Escutcheons. All of the Council had Scarfs: . .. many great Guns were fired." - Sewall Papers, Vol. II., pp. 299, 300.
jogar
1
255
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1679-80]
his decease. He is called "Capt." in the Boston town records, 1696-8, and Mr. Savage says he was colonel of the Boston regiment, "a wealthy merchant, and of a most fair and unblemished character."
Francis Foxcroft (1679), of Cambridge, originally settled in Boston. He is said to have been the son of Daniel, who was mayor of Leeds, York County, England, in 1665, and he arrived in America about that time. He married, Oct. 3, 1682, Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Gov. Danforth, and had two sons, both of whom graduated at Harvard College. On the death of Gov. Danforth, Mr. Foxcroft (1679) removed from Boston to Cambridge, and occupied the Governor's homestead, which had been conveyed to him. He was a man of wealth and energy, and served the state in various offices. He died at Cam- bridge, Dec. 31, 1727, aged about seventy years.
Rev. Lucius R. Paige, D. D., in the History of Cambridge, says, "Mr. Foxcroft [1679] was a justice of the peace under Andros, and upon his warrant Winslow [1692] was committed to prison for announcing the revolution in England. A few days after- ward he exchanged places with Winslow [1692], and became himself a prisoner with Andros and his adherents." He was soon after released, and April 20, 1689, he was confined in Gov. Danforth's house for one week, when he was set at liberty.
He represented Dunstable in the General Court in 1693 ; was judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Middlesex County from 1709 to 1719, and judge of probate from 1708 to 1725.
Henry Flint, in the preface to the funeral sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Appleton, thus sketches Francis Foxcroft (1679) : "He was a gentleman by birth, of a worthy family in the north of England, where he received a good school education. He was bred a merchant, and was very expert and skilful, as well as very just and upright in all his business. His natural powers were extraordinary ; his acquired knowledge of various kinds was so too ; his virtues were great and eminent. His generosity, prudence, sincerity, justice towards men, and piety towards God, were conspicuous to those that knew him. His temper indeed was sudden, and mnade almost uncontrollable by the violence of the gout and pain he was such an uncommon instance of ; but this was his burden and lamentation. He was a person of grave and austere countenance and conversation, mixed with much of the gentleman and the Christian."
At a meeting of the selectmen of Boston, July 27, 1713, Francis Foxcroft (1679) . is recorded as a captain. He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1683, and is probably the Col. Foxcroft (1679) who commanded a regiment raised for fighting the Indians. He is called " Colonel" on the records of King's Chapel, Dec. 20, 1703.
Obadiah Gill (1679), of Boston, a shipwright, eldest son of John, of Boston, first appears on the Boston town records in November, 1673. He held a town office in
Francis Foxcroft (1679). AUTHORITIES: Boston Records; New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1853, 1854, 1861, 1875, 1879, 1880; Annals of King's Chapel, p. 105; Paige's Hist. of Cam- bridge; Hurd's Hist. of Middlesex Co., pp. 29, 30.
" [1727-8] Jan 4 Thorsday, Col. Francis Fox- croft was inter'd at Cambridge." - Sewall Papers, Vol. III., p. 389.
Obadiah Gill (1679). AUTHORITY : Boston
Records.
"[1687-S] Wednesday, Feb. 8, Obad. Gill ... is fined by Judge West - Marks for refusing to
lay his hands on the Bible in Swearing." - Sewall Papers, Vol. I., p. 202.
" March 30, 1688. Obadia Gill . .. is by a Writt from the Sheriff imprisoned, because he paid not the 13s. 4d which he was fined, Feb 8, for not laying his Hand on the Bible. . . .
"He paid the fine, and Ly not in Prison one night." - Sewall Papers, Vol. I., p. 208.
" Here lieth buried ye Bodi of Obodiah Gill Deacon of ye North Church in Boston Aged 50 years, decesed January ye 6-1700." - From Copp's Hill Burial-Ground.
256
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1679-80
1676, and in 1678 was a member of the first engine company in town. In 1680, he was a member of Capt. John Richards's (1644) military company in Boston. He was both highway surveyor and constable in 1682, and, besides holding other offices, was selectman in 1691, and continuously thereafter until 1701. The inventory of his estate was returned to the probate court April 1, 1702. He was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1691.
Robert Jones (1679), son of Robert, of Hingham, was probably born in England. In 1644, the family removed to Rehoboth, remained a few years, and then returned to Hingham. Robert Jones (1679) did not return to Hingham, but probably settled in Swansea. He married Anna, daughter of John Bibble. He was killed by the Indians June 24, 1675. Robert, Sr., in his will, mentions the children of his deceased son, Robert (1679).
Charles Lidget (1679), of Boston, son of Peter Lidget, "a rich merchant," of Boston, was born in that town, March 29, 1650. He married (1) Bethiah Shrimpton and (2) Mary Hester, of London. He is called a colonel, by Hutchinson, I., 374, at the downfall of Andros and his government, upon whose side Mr. Lidget (1679) prominently acted. He was one of the founders of King's Chapel, and his name, " Captaine Lydgett," appears on the record of the first meeting, June 15, 1686, with Mr. Luscomb's (1678) and Mr. White's (1678). Mr. Foote, in Annals of King's Chapel, says, " April 26, 1687, he was an assistant justice of the Superior Court, with Dudley as chief-justice."
He sailed for England in February, 1689-90, and died in London, July 13, 1698.
Benjamin Mountfort (1679) arrived at Boston in the ship " Dove," from London, in 1675. He was about thirty years of age. He was a strong Episcopalian and Royalist, and was one of the founders of King's Chapel. He was a member of its first vestry, and, in 1690 and 1696, one of its wardens. He was an uncle of John Mountfort, who joined the Artillery Company in 1697. Benjamin was an affluent and influential ship- owner. He built his warehouse on the site of the present granite building, corner of Change Avenue and Faneuil Hall Square, which became known as "Mountfort's Corner."
He married Rebecca Foster, of Dorchester. They had no children, and he willed his entire property to his wife. His will, executed Oct. 21, 1713, was proved Sept. 7, 1714. His remains were buried in King's Chapel Burial-Ground.
Joseph Parsons (1679), of Boston, merchant, married Bethia Brattle, daughter of Capt. Thomas (1675). They had four children, all of whom died young ; the mother herself dying July 4, 1690, ten days after her last child died.
Mr. Parsons (1679) was a member of the patriotic council for the overthrow of Andros in 1689, and was made a freeman in March, 1690.
Of Joseph Parsons (1679), the father, after the death of the last of his family, nothing has been learned, except that he was alive in 1720.
Robert Jones (1679). AUTHORITIES : Sav- age's Gen. Dict .; Lincoln's Hist. of Hingham.
Charles Lidget (1679). AUTHORITIES : New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1879, 1880, for letters of Charles Lidget (1679) and Francis Foxcroft (1679); Annals of King's Chapel.
Benjamin Mountfort (1679). AUTHORITIES : Annals of King's Chapel, pp. 93, 123; King's Chapel Burial-Ground, by Bridgman, p. 319.
Joseph Parsons (1679). AUTHORITIES : Sav- age's Gen. Dict .; Harris's Descendants of Thomas Brattle.
257
HONORABLE ARTILLERY COMPANY.
1679-80]
William Pollard (1679), of Boston, son of William, an innholder, was born in Boston, March 20, 1653. He also kept an "ordinary," licensed in 1690. He was the father of Capt. Jonathan Pollard (1700), and grandfather of Col. Benjamin (1726) ; was a member of the Old South Church, and soldier in King Philip's War. He died in 1690.
Samuel Ravenscroft (1679), of Boston, married Dionysia, daughter of Major Thomas Savage (1637). Mr. Foote, in Annals of King's Chapel, says he was, in 1689, one of the wardens of King's Chapel, which prevented his two youngest children being baptized at the Old South Church, to which he had belonged, and where his three eldest are recorded. He, too, was imprisoned in the revolution of 1689, and soon, after uniting in a loyal address to King William, moved from Boston. He was one of the founders of King's Chapel, and his name appears in the records of the first meeting, June 15, 1686. He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1682, and ensign in 1686.
Samuel Sewall (1679), of Boston, bookseller, was born at Bishop-Stoke, England, March 28, 1652. He came to New England in 1661, and graduated at Harvard College in 1671. In a letter written in 1720 to his son, who had made some inquiries respect- ing the genealogy of the family, he wrote : "Mr. Henry Sewall, my great-grandfather, was a linen-draper in the city of Coventry, in Great Britain. He acquired a great estate, was a prudent man, and mayor of the city. Henry Sewall, my grandfather, was his eldest son, who, out of dislike to the English hierarchy, sent over his only son, my father, Mr. Henry Sewall, to New England, in the year 1634, with neat cattle and provisions suitable for a new plantation. On March 25, 1646, Richard Saltonstall joined together in marriage my father and my mother, Mrs. Jane Dummer, - my mother about nine- teen years old. 'Your fathers, where are they?' In 1674, I took my second degree at Harvard College, and Mrs. Hannah Hull, my dear wife, saw me when I took my degrees, and set her affections on me, though I knew nothing of it till after our marriage, which was Feb. 28, 1675-6. Gov. Bradstreet married us."
It has been asserted in history and in romance, that when Mr. Sewall (1679) married Hannah Hull, on the 28th of February, 1675-6, her father requested her, after the ceremony, to stand on one side of his large scales, while he placed bags of shillings on the other side, until she was weighed down. The scales have been handed down, and grace a continental collection in Newbury ; but modern iconoclasts say that the story originated in an ingenious computation of the weight of the sum which the bride actually received as her dowry. "From this marriage," remarks Quincy, "has sprung the eminent family of the Sewalls, which has given three chief-justices to Massachusetts, and one to Canada, and has been distinguished in every generation by talents and virtues of its members."
William Pollard (1679). AUTHORITIES : Savage's Gen. Dict .; Hill's Hist. of Old South Church.
Samuel Ravenscroft (1679). AUTHORITY : Foote's Annals of King's Chapel.
Samuel Sewall ( 1679). AUTHORITIES : Hill's Hist. of Old South Church; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842; Atlantic Monthly, Feb- ruary, 1880; Memoir of Samuel Sewall; New Eng.
Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1847, p. 105, with portrait; Sewall's Diary and Papers.
" [1712] Monday, May 5. I lay a stone at the South-east Corner of the Town House and had engraven on it S. S. 1712." - Sewall Papers, Vol. II., p. 346.
" The first Court was open'd in the New Town- house," April 27, 1713. - Sewall Papers, Vol. II., p. 379.
258
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND
[1679-80
Samuel (1679) attended school at Badesley, England, and later at Rumney. Arriving in Boston in 1661, not yet ten years of age, he proceeded to Newbury, and con- tinued his studies under the tutorship of Rev. Thomas Parker, graduating in 1671. His original intention was to enter the ministry, and therefore he studied divinity, commenced preaching, and thought of settling at Woodbridge, N. J .; but his plans were changed, possibly by his fortunate marriage to Hannah Hull, daughter of Capt. John Hull (1660), the goldsmith and mint-master.
He was admitted to be freeman in 1678, and almost immediately began his public career. In the Records of the Town of Boston, he first appears, March 15, 1682-3, as one of a committee to draw up instructions for the deputies for the General Court. He was captain of a Boston military company from 1684 to 1693, and was major of the regiment in 1695-6. He was chosen assistant in 1684, 1685, and 1686. He served the town in various offices, and on many special committees. He visited England in 1688 and in 1689; the old charter having been revived, he was again assistant. He was a member of the old council in 1689, and also of the new, from 1692 to 1725, being the last survivor of the first-named councillors. In May, 1692, he was appointed one of the judges for the trial of persons charged with witchcraft. Nineteen of the persons arraigned before this court at Salem were executed. At a public meeting in the Old South meeting-house, on Fast Day, Jan. 14, 1697, the minister read publicly a note from Samuel Sewall (1679), - the latter standing in the congregation while Rev. Mr. Willard read it, - acknowledging the writer's guilt in the decisions of the court, and asking the pardon both of God and man.
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.