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 5
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King Philip was soon again on the war-path, and he persuaded the different tribes to engage in hostilities under his direction, the Dutch supplying them with arms and ammunition. The frontier settlements were broken up, and military skill and courage could avail but little against the tactics of a skulking foe. In the spring of 1675-6, Major Savage (1637) was again commissioned as commander of the Massachusetts troops, his instructions closing with these words, "Thus committing you to God desiring his presence with & protection over you, wee Remaine." That year King Philip was killed in the famous "Swamp Fight," and it was estimated that during the summer upwards of two thousand Indians were killed or taken prisoners. The colonists, during the same time, lost twelve captains and more than six hundred men; twelve towns were entirely ruined, and six hundred houses were burned, nearly a tenth part of all in New England.
Major Savage (1637), during the remainder of his long and useful life, was a promi- nent member of the Artillery Company, in which he did duty for forty-five years, and he lived to see it increase and flourish beyond the most sanguine expectations, when he aided in its first establishment. He was junior or second sergeant in 1639 ; senior or first sergeant in 1640; lieutenant in 1641 and 1645, and was captain in 1651, 1659,
X
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1668, 1675, and 1680, occupying that office the last time after he was seventy-three years of age. Nor was this all. "Five [six] of Major Savage's sons," says Whitman, " were members, and their posterity have many of them not only followed the military example of their ancestor, but have succeeded to his military honors. The same badge of commander, 'a leading staff' or 'pike,' which was five times graced by the hand of Major Savage [1637], has been transferred by the Chief Magistrate of the Colony, or Province, to a son once, to a grandson once, to another grandson three times and to a great grandson once, in addition to the ' half pike' he twice bore as Lieutenant, which each " of the above-mentioned descendants " bore before he was elected as commander. Although the standard was not entrusted to his care as 'Ensign' yet several of his descendants have had charge of it."
Major Savage (1637) died Feb. 15, 1681-2,1 aged seventy-five years, and was interred in the burial-ground now adjacent to King's Chapel. His will, dated June 28, 1675, " the day he marched to the war," and proved Feb. 23, 1681-2, appointed John Hull (1660) and Isaac Addington (1652) "overseers," and his sons, Thomas (1665), Ephraim (1674), and Ebenezer (1682), executors. The inventory of his estate, includ- ing several parcels of land, amounted to £3,447 8s. 7d., and his debts to £644 8s. 6d. Included in the inventory was a "Scotch Boy," valued at £14.
An elegy was published "On the sudden and much Lamented Death and Expiration of that Worthy, Grave, Pious, and Every way accomplished Hero, Major Thomas Savage Esq'r."
Snow, in his History of Boston, p. 143, describes a colonial mansion, which Mr. Whitman quotes as describing Mr. Savage's home : -
"'We find in the principal houses a great hall, ornamented with pictures and a great lantern, a velvet cushion in the window-seat, which looks into the garden. On either side is a great parlor or study. These are furnished with great looking-glasses, Turkey- carpets, window-curtains and valance, pictures and a map, a brass clock, red leather-back chairs, and a great pair of andirons. The chambers are well supplied with feather-beds, warming-pans, and every other article that would now be thought necessary for comfort or display. The pantry is well filled with substantial fare and dainties, prunes, mar- malade, and Madeira wine. Silver tankards, wine cups, and other articles of plate, are not uncommon ; the kitchen is completely stocked with pewter, copper and iron utensils.'"
Daniel Howe (1637), of Lynn, was the fifth signer of the roll of the Artillery Company. His name is spelled "Haugh " on some of the Company's old records, but he had been commissioned as Daniel Howe, in 1630, as lieutenant of a train- band at Lynn, commanded by Richard Wright, which had two iron cannon called " sakers "; and he appears as Daniel Howe (1637), "owner of sixty acres of upland and meadow," in the Lynn Book of Possessions. He, as Daniel Howe (1637), also held several town offices. He was admitted a freeman in 1634, and was a representa- tive from Lynn to the General Court in 1636 and 1637. In April, 1636, he was com- missioned by Gov. Vane as lieutenant commander of "the trained band in Sagus," as
Daniel Howe (1637). AUTHORITIES: Lewis's Hist. of Lynn; 250th Anniversary of the Settle- ment of Lynn; Whitman's Hist. A. and II. A. Company.
" " Major Savage's grave-stone in the chapel
ground says - ' Died February 15, 1681-2.'" - Whitman's Hist., p. 38.
" 1681. Feb. 15. Major Thomas Savage one of ye lay-magistrates dyed aged 76. He died Sud- denly. - Bradstreet's Journal.
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that part of Lynn where he resided was then called. May 17, 1637, he was transferred to be second in command of the "Castle at the island," and in November following was " enjoyned to traine the Company at Linn."
He was probably a husbandman, yet he ploughed the deep, for he was the master of a vessel which in 1640 conveyed a colony of forty families, who found them- selves "straightened " in Lynn, to Scout's Bay, on the western part of Long Island, where they purchased land of Mr. James Forrett, agent of Lord Stirling, and agreed with the Indians for their right to ownership. On receiving information of this, the Dutch laid claim to that part of the island, on account of a previous purchase from the Indians, and they sent men to take possession by setting up the arms of the Prince of Orange, on a tree. The emigrants from Lynn, disregarding the claims of the Dutch, cut down the trees and began to build. Lieut. Howe (1637) took down the Prince's arms, and instead thereof an Indian drew a very "unhandsome " face. This conduct highly incensed the Dutch Governor, William Kieft, whom Mr. Irving in one of his humorous works has characterized by the appellation of "William the Testy," but whom Mr. Hubbard calls "a discreet man." On the 13th of May, the Governor sent Cornelius Van Ten Hoven, the secretary, the under-sheriff, a sergeant, and twenty-five soldiers, to break up the settlement. On arrival, they found eight men (with a woman and an infant), who had erected one cottage and were engaged in building another. Six of the men were brought before the Governor. They were exam- ined under oath, then put into prison, where they remained until an answer was received to the letter written in Latin, which the Dutch Governor sent to the Governor of Massachusetts. To this Mr. Winthrop replied, in the same language, that he would neither maintain the Lynn people in an unjust action nor suffer them to be injured. On the reception of this reply, the Dutch Governor liberated the men, after they had signed an agreement to leave the place. They accordingly removed more than eighty miles, to the eastern part of the island, where they purchased land of the Indians, and planted a town, which, in remembrance of the place in England from which they originally sailed, they called Southampton. Lieut. Howe (1637) subsequently moved to New Haven, Conn., where he died.
Lieut. Howe (1637) was elected to the office of lieutenant of the Company in 1638. Savage's edition of Winthrop gives a copy of Lieut. Howe's commission as lientenant of the Lynn train-band. It is probably a sample of commissions issued in those days, and is as follows : .-
" 1636, 16th 4th mo.
" To Lieutenant Howe, of Sagus, and to the military officers and company there :
" Whereas we have formerly given you command of the trained band in Sagus, we do hereby require you to see them duly exercised according to the orders of the court, and we do also require you, the military company there, that you diligently attend with your complete arms, at such times and places as your said Lieutenant shall appoint, and that all you, the officers and soldiers of the said company, be obedient to all such commands as by authority of this place or order from us you shall receive from him, so you may be well trained and fitted for such future service as you may be called unto ; hereof not to fail.
" HENRY VANE, Governor,
" Jo. WINTHROP, Deputy."
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Thomas Huckens, or Huckins (1637), the sixth signer of the roll of the Artillery Company, had lived in or near Boston, but settled early at Barnstable. Thomas Hutchins is mentioned by Hutchinson as being one of the assistants elected in England on the 13th of May, 1628. Probably he came to America soon after. He was ensign of the Artillery Company in 1639. Having moved to Barnstable, he married, in 1642, Mary Wells, by whom he had several children, and among them was Mary, who married Samuel Storrs, the progenitor of the Storrs family in America.1 Mary (Wells) Huckens died July 28, 1648, and Nov. 3 following, Mr. Huckens (1637) married Rose, widow of Hugh Hillier, of Yarmouth. The late Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, Ex-President of the United States of America, was a descendant of Ensign Thomas Huckens (1637).
Ensign Huckens (1637) was a member of the board of selectmen, in Barnstable, eight years ; represented that town in the Colonial Court eight years ; a grand juryman in 1655 ; was licensed to retail wine and strong water, March 1, 1653, and was licensed as an innkeeper, June 1, 1663. He was appointed collector of the excise duty, June 5, 1667, and collector of ministers' rates, June 7, 1670. He was elected a member of the Council of War in Plymouth Colony, June 5, 1671 ; was auditor of colony accounts in 1669, 1670, and 1672 ; and in the expedition against the Indian Fort, in what is now Kingston, R. I., in December, 1675, he was commissary of the Plymouth Colony forces.
He was one of the number who went to England, and under the command of Col. William Rainsburrow (1639) fought in the army and cause of Parliament. More fortu- nate than some of his comrades, he returned to America.
He perished at sea, with his son Joseph, Nov. 29, 1679.
John Oliver (1637), the seventh signer of the original roll of the Artillery Com- pany, son of Elder Thomas Oliver, came in the " William and Francis," March 9, 1632, from London, and arrived at Boston, June 5 next following, being then sixteen years of age. Thomas Oliver and family came from Bristol, England. The Elder died June I 1658, " being ninety years old."
John Oliver (1637) united with the First Church in Boston in 1633, and became a freeman May 14, 1634. His father settled in Boston on what is now Washington Street, opposite the head of Water Street. That was John Oliver's first home in Boston. He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Newgate, of Boston, by whom he had five children, only two of whom grew up. One of these, John, joined the Artillery Company in 1680. Four sons of Elder Thomas Oliver were members of this Company; John joined it in 1637 ; James, in 1640; Peter, in 1643, and Samuel, in 1648.
John Oliver (1637) was a member of the General Court in 1637 and 1638, -a colleague of Capt. Keayne (1637), and consequently a member when the charter of the Company was granted. He was junior sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1638, and senior sergeant in 1639. His business was probably that of surveyor, as in his will he refers to his "geometrical instruments. In 1641, " the 26th of the 5 moneth," "Our
Thomas Huckens (1637). AUTHORITIES : Plymouth Colony Records; Savage's Winthrop; New Eng. Ilist. and Gen. Reg., 1848; Notes of Barnstable Families, Vol. II., Barnstable, 1890.
John Oliver (1637). AUTHORITIES: Savage's Gen. Dict .; Savage's Winthrop; New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1849, 1858, and 1865; Boston Rec. Com., 1634-1660; Whitman's Hist. A. and II. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
For bis will, made 25(6) 1641, proved 11(7) 1647, see New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1849, p. 266. There was another John Oliver, either a brother or a nephew of Elder Thomas, in Boston, afterward of Newbury. It is difficult to discriminate between them. In the Appleton Memorial, the will of John (1637) is assumed to be that of John Oliver, of Newbury. The latter died in Newbury in 1642. ' Genealogy of Storrs Family.
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brother John Oliver is chosen Treasurer for the Towne, and to keep the Towne's booke." He served as a selectman of Boston from 31st of 3d mo., 1641, to 26th of 10th mo., 1645. He determined to enter the ministry, and graduated at Harvard College in 1645.
Early in 1640, "a motion was made by such as have farms at Rumney Marsh, that our Brother Oliver may be sent to instruct their servants, and to be a help to them because they cannot many times come hither, nor sometimes to Lynn, and sometimes no where at all."- Kane's MSS., quoted Savage's Winthrop, Vol. I., p. 395.
He instructed the settlers at Rumney Marsh but two years, for he died April 12, 1646. Hull (1660) wrote of him, "Died, April 12, 1646, Mr. John Oliver, one of chosen parts, endued with a variety of able gifts for the generation; but God took him away in his youth, to the saddening of very many godly hearts and threatening of the rising generation."
A malignant fever prevailed among the colonists in the spring of 1646. " It swept away some precious ones amongst us, especially one Mr. John Oliver, a gracious young man, not full thirty years of age, an expert soldier, an excellent surveyor of land, and one who, for the sweetness of his disposition and usefulness through a public spirit, was generally beloved and greatly lamented."
Elizabeth (Newgate) Oliver married, March 14, 1648-9, Edward Jackson, of Cam- bridge. She died Sept. 30, 1709, aged ninety-two years.
Joshua Hewes (1637), or Hughes, the eighth signer of the roll of the Artillery Company, came to America, the church records say, " a single man," about September, 1633, probably in the ship "Griffin." He settled in Roxbury on his arrival, and was admitted a freeman March 4, 1633-4. He married (1) Oct. 8, 1634, Mary Goldstone, of Watertown, who died Aug. 23, 1655 ; and (2) Feb. 11, 1657, Alice, widow of John Crabtree, of Boston. He was granted two hundred and eighty-eight acres in Roxbury, and in December, 1644, liberty was “graunted to Jasper Rawlines to make use of a rood of upland for the making of Brickes at the Easterne end of Sargeant Hues (1637), his Corne field neere Rocksbury gate." - Boston Records, 1634 60. The " gate" was at the old boundary between Roxbury and Boston.
Joshua Hewes (1637) was the original owner of the estate opposite Vernon Street, where the famous Greyhound tavern stood. He was a merchant of activity and wealth, and " held many responsible trusts both public and private." In 1641, he represented Roxbury in the General Court ; was lieutenant of the Roxbury train-band ; was sent with two others in March, 1648, to inquire about the complaints against Gorton's Com- pany at Warwick, over which Massachusetts wished to have jurisdiction, and he was engaged in the settlement of Wickford, whither he removed in 1662. He returned to Boston in May of the year next following, and died Jan. 25, 1675-6, aged sixty-six years. He was senior sergeant and assistant clerk in the Artillery Company in 1638 ; first sergeant in 1653, and ensign in 1654.
Joshua Hewes (1637). AUTHORITIES : Drake's Ilist. of Roxbury; Savage's Gen. Dict .; Report of Boston Rec. Com., 1634-1660; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
"Joshua Hues came into the Land a single man; about the 7th month of the year 1633, & joyned to the church about halfe a yeare after, his wife
being the daughter of - Gouldstone came the next summer & aboade at Watertowne, where she was adjoyned to the church: & in the Sth month 1634 he married her, and she was then recom- mended to our church. . . " - Rev. John Eliot, in Roxbury Church Records, printed in Vol. VI., Reports of Boston Rec. Com.
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Mr. Drake, in his History of Roxbury, p. 162, says, " Quite recently an old grave- stone was dug up by workmen excavating for the post-office extension in Post-Office Square, upon which was this inscription : 'Here lyeth ye Body of Joshua Hewes aged 66 years. Departed this Life ye 25 day of January 1675.'"
Samuel Cole (1637), the ninth signer of the roll of the Artillery Company, immigrated to New England with Winthrop in 1630, and was made a freeman in October of that year. In March, 1633-4, he opened the first "ordinary," or inn, in Boston, on the west side of what is now Merchants Row, midway between State Street and Faneuil Hall. Miantonomah, the Indian chief, was entertained there by Gov. Vane in 1636, and among the guests of the following year was Lord Ley, Earl of Marlborough, who declined the proffered hospitality of Gov. Winthrop, saying, "that he came not to be troublesome to any, and the house where he was, was so well governed that he could be as private there as elsewhere." Longfellow, in his John Endicott, makes Samuel Cole (1637) say : -
" But the Three Mariners is an orderly house Most orderly, quiet and respectable. And have I not King Charles' Twelve Golden Rules, all framed and glazed, Hanging in my best parlor? "
"Samuell Cole and his wife Anne (dead since) " are recorded Aug. 27, 1630, as members of the First Church in Boston. He was a selectman of Boston from 1653 to 1657 inclusive. " 13 of 10" 1652, "Mr. Samll Cole " with two others, "wear Chosen for to receive the severall Sums of mony which any in this Towne will underwrit towards the mayntinance of the president and fellowes or pore Scollers of Hervert Colledge."1
He brought a wife, Anne, from England, but she soon died. How many children they had is uncertain. His second wife was widow Margaret Green. In a deed made by Samuel Cole, Oct. 26, 1653, there is no wife's signature, but in another, dated Dec. 25, 1658, his wife, Margaret Cole, makes her mark, " M." His second wife having died, he married, Oct. 16, 1660, Ann, the widow of Capt. Robert Keayne (1637). His will, dated Dec. 21, 1666, was proved Feb. 13, 1667.
He was a special assessor in 1634, was one of those disarmed by order of the Gen- eral Court in November, 1637, and must have been one of those who recanted. He was also one of the " richer inhabitants" who contributed to the maintenance of a free schoolmaster, Aug. 12, 1636.
In the list of freemen, he has the prefix " Mr."; we may therefore infer he was a highly respectable man. He is the first member of the Company who appears without a military title prefixed.
Samuel Cole (1637). AUTHORITIES: Report of Boston Rec. Com., 1634-1660; New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1861 (will); Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842; Sav- age's Gen. Dict .; Drake's Landmarks of Bos- ton.
" Samuel Cole set up the first house for com-
mon entertainment." - Winthrop's History of New England, Vol. I., p. 125.
In May, 1638, Samuel Cole (1637) and Robert Long (1639) were fined by the General Court " 20S each for selling beer at 2d a quart." - Colony Rec. Second Report of Boston Rec. Com., p. 113.
PEQUOT FORT.
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Israel Stoughton (1637), the tenth signer of the original roll, was one of the first English emigrants who settled the town of Dorchester, where he was admitted a freeman in 1633. He was one of the representatives from Dorchester to the General Court in 1634 and 1636, and was an assistant from 1637 to 1644 inclusive, serving as the latter when the charter of the Artillery Company was granted. He was the first captain of the Dorchester train-band in 1636, and in 1637 was selected by lot as the leader of an expedition sent by Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, against the Pequot Indians. Before his arrival, Capts. Mason and Underhill (1637) had carried one of the Pequot strongholds by storm, slaughtering nearly all the inmates. The survivors were sent into the West Indies to be sold into slavery, or experienced a similar fate in Boston. He resigned his office of captain May 13, 1640, and in October of the following year was chosen sergeant-major of Col. Winthrop's regiment. He resigned this place Oct. 17, 1643.
Edward Everett said, in his oration in Dorchester, July 4, 1855, that Col. Israel Stoughton (1637) was " a citizen of energy and public spirit. Unlike modern legislators, who, without distinction of party, are accused of looking out for the loaves and fishes for themselves, worthy Col. Stoughton provided them for others. He built the first tide- mill for grinding corn, and established the first weir for taking fish in the colony." Israel Stoughton (1637) had liberty granted "to build a mill, wear and bridge over Naponsett River and is to sell alewives he takes there at five shillings the thousand." - Col. Rec., 1., 114.
He was elected captain of the Artillery Company in 1642, and in 1644 he went to England, ostensibly "about his private occasions," but he was commissioned soon after his arrival as lieutenant-colonel in Rainsburrow's Parliamentary regiment. He died at Lincoln, in England, in 1645, having made a will in London, July 17, 1644, which was proved in Boston in 1646, by which he gave three hundred acres of land to Harvard College.
" Col. Stoughton was among the leading and influential men in the early period of the colony. He gave great offence to the Court, in 1634, by the publication of a book wherein he affirmed the power of the Governor to be but ministerial, and other- wise opposed and slighted the power of the magistrates. He was called to account for the offence, and although he had the modesty to confess his fault, and desired that the book might be burned, he was disabled for three years from bearing any public office." - Farmer. His disability was overlooked or removed, for in December, 1636, he was again deputy, and was chosen assistant the following spring. In his will, he names his sons : Israel (1645), the eldest ; William (Har. Coll., 1650), who presided as chief justice at the trials of the witches, and John. There were several daughters - names not mentioned.
John Underhill (1637), the eleventh signer of the original roll of the Artillery Company, was an Englishman who had seen service in the Netherlands and had been brought over by Winthrop, in 1630, "to train the people in military discipline." He
Israel Stoughton (1637). AUTHORITIES : New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1853-1878; Mather's Magnalia, Vol. II .; Winthrop's Hist. of New Eng., Vol. I .; Ifist. of Dorchester, by Antig. and Hist. Soc .; Whitman's Hist. A. and II. A. Company.
A letter of Col. Stoughton's (1637), in regard to the Pequot difficulty, is given in Winthrop's His- tory, Savage's Ed., Vol. I., pp. 479-481, written at Pequid " 2d day of the 6th week of our warfare," probably Aug. 14, 1637.
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was a member of the First Church in Boston, and was admitted a freeman May 18, 1631. His wife Helena joined the church Dec. 15, 1633. He was one of the select- men of Boston in 1634, and the same year a member of the General Court. In 1636 he organized the Boston train-band, which he exercised every Tuesday afternoon, on the Common or in connection with the Roxbury train-band, on a training-field which was the eastern portion of the triangle bounded by what are now Washington, Eustis, and Dudley streets. Capt. Underhill never held any office in the Artillery Conpany, prob- ably because he was principally engaged in Indian wars or on account of his religious and irreligious troubles. He was a typical trooper, fond of a glass of spirits, a pipe of tobacco, and the society of the gentler sex, and although he was a member of the First Church, he was a sad reprobate, only tolerated because of his military experience.
Capt. Underhill (1637) was one of the sympathizers with the doctrine of Mrs. Hutchinson, and, being banished from Boston, he took refuge in Dover, N. H. There he obtained the appointment of Governor.1 He soon became involved in a religious controversy and returned to Boston, where, while making a confession of his manifold sins, he was made "to sit on the stool of repentance in the church, with a white cap on his head." This scene of humiliation occurred on the 3d of August, 1640, when, we are told, " he came again to Boston, and on a lecture day, after the sermon, in presence of the congregation, standing upon a form, in his worst clothes, without a band, a foul linen cap pulled close to his eyes," he, who was so fond of "bravery of apparel," with deep sighs and abundance of tears, laid open his wicked course, his adultery, his hypocrisy, his persecution of God's people, and especially "his pride and contempt of the magistrates." He justified all the punishments imposed upon him, and dwelt with great pathos on the terrors of excommunication; how he had lost all his pretended assurance, being delivered over to the buffetings of Satan, and the horrors of despair. "He spoke well," says Winthrop, an eye-witness of the scene, " save that his blubberings interrupted him, and all along discovered a broken and contrite heart." 2
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