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 58
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William Lee (1720). AUTHORITY: Boston Records.
Daniel Pecker (1720). AUTHORITIES: Bos- ton Records; Pilgrims of Boston.
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May 22, 1722, he signed the covenant of the New Brick Church. He was active in the militia, serving as captain for several years. In 1729, he was lieutenant of the Artillery Company.
He died Oct. 2, 1750, aged sixty years, and was buried in the Granary Burial- Ground. His will, dated June 7, was proved Oct. 16, 1750.
James Pecker (1720), of Boston, "in his will," says Mr. Whitman (1810), " is styled wharfinger." He was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1727. He was active in the formation of the New Brick Church in 171', but had previously been a member of the Old South Church. He served the town as hog-reeve in 1719, constable in 1721, and clerk of the market in 1725 and 1731.
Nov. 19, 1711, he, with Nathaniel Goodwin (1711) and Benjamin Goodwin, was appointed to survey a chimney, said to be defective and dangerous. Jan. 24, 1715-6, he laid a sewer, ninety-five feet in length, from the common sewer in Prince Street to his cellar drain in Salem Street. June 27, 1717, the selectmen granted permission to " Mr James Pecker and his Bro. Mr. Benj. Edwards, to build a tomb on the Southerly side of the North burying ground." In 1717-8, he is mentioned as one of the trustees for the proprietors of the common sewer, which ran through Prince Street as far as the lower end of Snow Hill Street, and thence into the Mill Pond. The distance was seven hundred and ninety feet. Among those who made use of this sewer were, James Pecker (1720), James Tileston (1711), Robert Gutteridge (1694), Capt. John Pecker (1733), and John (1691) and William Clough (1695).
He died at Boston, April 30, 1734, after a lingering sickness. He was highly respected, and " very much lamented."
Inventory, two thousand eight hundred and seventy-three pounds.
Samuel Rand (1720), tailor, of Boston, son of "Sergeant " Thomas and Sarah (Edenden) Rand, was born May 3, 1679. He married Sarah Paine, Jan. 20, 1703, at Boston. They had eleven children, of whom the seventh, William, an apothecary and army surgeon at Louisburg in 1745, joined the Artillery Company in 1732. Capt. Samuel (1720) died in 1748, his will of Jan. 9 being proved Feb. 21. "His gravestone," says Mr. Whitman (1810), " was recently standing in the Granary ground."
He was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1723, lieutenant in 1731, and active in the militia of Boston, in which he attained the rank of captain. He became a member of the Old South Church, Feb. 26, 1720-I.
Capt. Samuel Rand (1720) was a constable in 1713 and 1718; tithing-man in 1728, and scavenger in 1729. His location is approximately determined by the records. In 1714, the selectmen appointed a committee - William Paine (1691), Nathaniel Goodwin (1711), and William Dawes -to estimate a brick partition wall between George Cabot's and Samuel Rand's (1720) property, " on the northerly side of King [State] Street in Boston "; and March 8, 1714-5, Samuel Rand (1720) was assessed for repairs on the pump, corner of the present Court and Washington streets, and was again assessed for the purpose, April 18, 1733.
Liberty was granted him, March 30, 1724, to build a tomb on the south line in the South burial-place. It was numbered " 25."
Samuel Rand (1720). AUTHORITY : Boston Records.
James Pecker (1720). AUTHORITY : Boston
Records.
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Samuel Sewall (1720), of Boston, son of Stephen and Margaret (Mitchell) Sewall, of Salem, was born in Salem, Nov. 24, 1689. Jonathan (1718) was a brother of Major Samuel Sewall (1720). They were nephews of Judge Sewall (1679).
He was active in town affairs, and though not an officer of the town, he served on the most important committees : regulation of porters, 1734; better supply of wood, 1737 ; building the workhouse, 1737 ; relief in paying representatives, 1737 ; on retrench- ment in town expenses, 1739 ; building bridge over Charles River, 1739, and against firing guns on house-tops, 1740-1, etc. He was an officer in the militia, major of the Boston regiment in 1733, and captain of the Artillery Company in 1734. He was appointed justice of the peace, Dec. 9, 1731, and was reappointed Jan. 9, 1735-6.
Erasmus Stevens (1720) was a carpenter, of Boston. He was a viewer of shingles and measurer of boards and lumber from 1716 to 1720 inclusive, and constable of Boston in 1722. July 15, 1725, Erasmus Stevens (1720) and Grafton Feveryear (1717) gave bond in the sum of one hundred pounds on account of John Swinerton, admitted an inhabitant. Mr. Swinerton was from Salem, and July 26 was allowed " to keep a school to instruct reading and writing within this town." June 7, 1738, Mr. Stevens (1720) appeared before the selectmen and said that Mr. Charnock, sealer of cord-wood, "is often out of town and does not attend to that employment." He asked for another person to be appointed.
He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1724, its lieutenant in 1739, and was one of the "substantial mechanics" who founded the New North Church in 1714.
The record of the Artillery Company for 1720 is as follows : -
" April 5, 1720. The Rev. Mr. Edward Holyoke was chosen to preach the Election Sermon and he desired to be excused.
" May 20. 1720. The Rev Mr. Thomas Symmes of Bradford was chosen to preach the Election Sermon. Accepted by him."
Rev. Edward Holyoke, who was invited to deliver the anniversary sermon before the Company in 1720, but declined to do so, was a son of Elizur and Mary (Eliot) Holyoke. He was born June 26, 1689, and graduated at Harvard College in 1705. On the 25th of April, 1716, the new meeting-house in Marblehead having been built, the Second Congregational Church in that town was organized, and Mr. Holyoke was ordained as its minister.
May 30, 1737, he was chosen to fill the office of president of Harvard College, made vacant by the death of President Wadsworth. At first his church strenuously objected to letting their pastor go, but, "after several meetings for prayer and confer- ence," consent was granted, and he removed to Cambridge. When some of the people were asked how they could give their consent to part with the services of so amiable, distinguished, and exemplary a man and minister, they replied, "Old Barnard prayed him away." Rev. Mr. Barnard preached the Artillery sermon in 1718. Rev. Mr. Holyoke continued in the office of president of Harvard College nearly thirty-two years.
Samuel Sewall (1720). AUTHORITY : Boston Records.
" [1691] April 13 To Salem, visit little Sam Sewall [1720], my name Sake." - Sewall's Diary.
Erasmus Stevens (1720). AUTHORITY : Bos- ton Records.
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Rev. Thomas Symmes, who delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1720,1 was a son of Rev. Zachariah Symmes, pastor at Rehoboth and afterward at Bradford. He was born Feb. 1, 1677-8, and graduated at Harvard College in 1698. He married Elizabeth Blowers, daughter of Pyam Blowers, of Cambridge, and sister of Rev. Thomas Blowers, of Beverly, Mass. She died April 6, 1714, and March 28, 1715, he married Hannah Pike, who died Feb. 1, 1718-9, and for his third wife he married, Jan. 19, 1720-1, Eleanor Moody, who died Oct. 6, 1725.
Rev. Zachariah Symmes, pastor of the church at Bradford, having become aged and infirm, the church voted, about 1705, to engage an assistant for their pastor. While invitations to candidates were being extended and declined, Rev. Mr. Symmes died upon the twenty-second day of March, 1707. The son, Rev. Thomas Symmes, who had been preaching in the neighboring town of Boxford, was about leaving that parish. He was born in Bradford, studied five years at Cambridge after gradnation, and had preached near Bradford for several years. He was therefore familiar with the parish his father so faithfully served. June 14, 1708, he preached there by invitation, and Nov. 24, 1708, it was voted by the town that Rev. Thomas Symmes be ordained and settled over the Bradford parish. He retained that relation until his decease, Oct. 6, 1725, when he was buried by his father's side.
Rev. Mr. Symmes's character and gifts are vividly described by the late Hon. John B. D. Cogswell, in the History of Essex County. He says, "Increase Mather praised him. He was attractive personally, from good looks, high spirit, accomplishments, varied learning, impetuosity. He had a fine voice, and was a good singer." When the Artillery election sermon, which he preached in 1720, was printed, Rev. Mr. Colman, of Boston, wrote a preface to it, wherein he said, "May it prove as profitable in the reading as it was in the hearing; the preacher was unto us a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instruement."
The officers elected were : Habijah Savage (1699), captain ; Francis 1721-2. Parnell (1713), lieutenant ; Benjamin Emmons, Jr. (1698), ensign. Thomas Chamberlain (1714) was first sergeant ; John Goldthwait (1720), second sergeant ; Grafton Feveryear (1717), third sergeant; John Eliot (1714), fourth sergeant, and James Hill (1717), clerk.
No recruits joined the Artillery Company in 1721.
May 12, 1721, a committee was appointed by the town to draw up instructions for the representatives of the town of Boston. On May 22 the committee reported, presenting ten instructions, which were approved by the town. The committee appointed May 12 was as follows: Ezekiel Lewis (1707), William Paine (1691), John Marion (1691), Thomas Cushing (1691), Ebenezer Clough, Nathaniel Green (1722), and Edward Hutchinson (1702). The report is given in full in the Report of the Record Commis- sioners of Boston, City Document No. 137, pp. 154 and 155. The first instruction is, that the representatives "Indeavor to maintain all our Civel Rights and Properties
1 " [1720] June 6. Monday . .. Mr Symes Preaches an Excellent Sermon, which was a great Refreshment and Comfort to me as to the afflicted estate of that church of God. I went not to Dinner,
because a feast is made for Laughter. Excused it to lhe Lt. Gov. afterwards, who invited me as Captain." - Sewall Papers, Vol. III., p. 257.
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against any Incroachments upon them." They advise, subsequently, that acts be passed encouraging trade, husbandry, and manufactures ; the raising of good winter wheat, and of flax, granting a premium for each ; the manufacturing of flax, offering a reward for the best linen in each county. They advise the assertion of the colony to their right in and to Piscataqua River, and against the payment of Mr. Belcher the thousand pounds sterling which he claimed.
The seventh instruction declares, " That whereas in the late printed remarkes on the Bills against Riots &c, the Town of Boston Seems to be asperced as if they were inclined to Riots & Tumults, where as we presume, that the people of this Town & Province may Justly Claim the title of being as Loyal, Peacable and Desirous of good order as any of his Majesties Subjects whatsoever, &c."
Eighth, that they choose in all elections, those that have shown "a tender regard for our Charter Privileges & Prefer the publick before their Privat Intrest."
Ninth instruction is for some effectual law to prevent the spread of infectious dis- ease, and the last opposes the granting of any more public lands, either to any particular persons for their use, or to a number of persons for a township, till Boston and other towns have had their proportion allowed. The report is signed by five of the committee, all of whom were members of the Artillery Company in 1722.
The instructions show a just appreciation of the condition and needs of the youth- ful colony, and give wise and pertinent counsel to the representatives in the General Court. At the town meeting, held Aug. 2, 1721, the same committee was elected to instruct the newly-chosen representatives, three of whom, out of four, were members of the Artillery Company : John Clark, Elisha Cooke (1699), William Clarke (1703), and William Hutchinson (1703). The instructions given a second time by this committee are also given in the same City Document, pp. 156 and 157. The preamble is note- worthy as showing the public esteem of the four representatives : -
"To John Clark, Elisha Cook Esq [1699] Mr William Clarke [1703] and William Hutchinson Esq [1703]
" Your known Loyalty to King George & Sincere attachment to the Succession in the Illustrious House of Hannover your Hearty Loue to your native country, Your Singuler value for the Liberties & Properties of this People, your Chearfull and unanimous Concurrence to promote our best Intrest, and your approved Integrity in those Publick Stations wherein you haue bin Employed having fixed the Eyes of this Town on & Determined their choice off you as proper persons to Represent them in the next General Assembly, &c."
The principal instruction offered is, "That you be not deterred by any frowns or threats from maintaining, what in you lies, our Charter privileges as well as the honour, dignity & privileges of the Honourable House of Representatives and preserving the just & laudable usages & customs, &c."
The lamp of loyalty to the colony and charter rights was kept burning by the town meeting until the flame burst into the fire of the Revolution. No citizens were so prominent, as representatives and advisers, in the first century of the colony, as members of the Artillery Company were. They lighted the lamp, refurnished its supply, enlarged its flame, and were girded for the various conflicts between royalty and the colony.
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The record of the Artillery Company for 1721 is as follows : -
"June 1 5 1721. The Rev'd Mr. Thomas Prince was chosen to preach the Artillery Election sermon and the commissioned officers were desired to request it of him. Accepted by him."
"October 2ª [1721]. The General Assembly at their last Session did forbid all Training and Trooping in this Town for this year, by reason of the vast numbers of People exercised with the small pox : Therefore the Artillery Company did not appear in Arms this day."
Rev. Thomas Prince delivered the Artillery election sermon in 1721. He was a son of Samuel and Mary Prince, of Hull and Middleboro. His mother was a daughter of Gov. Hinckley. Rev. Thomas Prince was born in May, 1687, and graduated at Har- vard College in 1707. "He was," says Mr. Savage, " the assiduous annalist, whose service in perpetuating evidence relative to our early history exceeds that of any other man since the first generation."
Soon after his return from a protracted sojourn in England, he became pastor of the Old Sonth Church, and colleague with Rev. Joseph Sewall, who preached the Artillery election sermon in 1714. Mr. Prince was ordained Oct. 1, 1718, and preached his own ordination sermon, "which," says Dr. Chauncy, " no ordinary man could write." "No name," says the Old South Memorial, " on the list of Old South pastors remains in greater honor and brightness to-day than that of Thomas Prince." He died Oct. 22, 1758, aged seventy-two years.
The officers elected were : Thomas Smith (1702), captain ; Samuel 1722-3. Barrat (1717), lieutenant; Edward Pell (1714), ensign. Nathaniel Cunningham (1720) was first sergeant; James Hill (1717), second sergeant ; Nathaniel Green (1722), third sergeant ; John Eyre (1718), fourth sergeant, and John Cookson (1701), clerk.
The Indians were instigated by the Jesuit Ralle to begin the fourth Indian war. He resided at Norridgewock, on the Kennebec, and was slain Aug. 12, 1724. The French in Canada favored the Indians, but did not openly engage in the war. The prin- cipal attacks of the Indians were directed against the towns in Maine and New Hamp- shire. The towns in Massachusetts suffered less. The war commenced in 1722, and continued about four years. The expenses of Massachusetts from May, 1722, to May, 1726, were about two hundred and fifteen thousand pounds, in province bills, of which amount three fourths was on account of the war. The larger portion of this war expenditure was for Maine. A treaty of peace with the eastern Indians was signed at Boston, Dec. 15, 1725, and was ratified at Falmouth, Me., Aug. 5, 1726. A present of three hundred pounds was made to the Indians, not long after.
" Last week [June 19]," says the New England Courant, Oct. 22, 1722, “ one of the chiefs of the Mohawks lately come to town, died at the Royal Exchange Tavern in King street and was magnificently interred on Friday night last. A drawn sword lay on the coffin, and the pall was supported by six captains of the militia. The gentlemen of the Council followed next the corpse and then the Justices of the town and the commis-
' Probably an error for April.
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sion officers of the militia. At last followed four Indians, the two hindermost (whom the government had appointed to attend him in his sickness) with each a pappoose at her back."
The new members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1722 were : Richard Bulkley, James Fosdick, Thomas Foster, Nathaniel Green, Samuel Greenwood, Joshua Loring, Obadiah Procter, Robert Procter, Simeon Rogers, Joseph Russell, Zechariah Thayer, Benjamin White, and Joseph White.
Richard Bulkley (1722), mariner, son of Capt. Joseph and Joanna (Nichols) Bulkley, was born in Charlestown, Oct. 9, 1695. He married, Sept. 20, 1728, Mary Noyes. He was elected constable of Boston in 1726, but declined to serve and paid the fine, and served as an assessor from 1730 to 1748 inclusive. In 1719, he lived in Henchman's Lane, now Henchman Street. He was bondsman for Capt. Daniel Pecker (1720), collector in the sum of eight thousand one hundred pounds in 1734, and again in 1736. By virtue of his office, he made the general walk or visitation of the town, with the justices and others, for several years.
He was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1725, and captain in the militia. He died May 21, 1767, aged seventy-two years, and was buried in Copp's Hill Burial- Ground.
James Fosdick (1722), of Boston, son of John and Sarah (Bligh) Fosdick, of Boston, was born July 28, 1687. His sister, Sarah, married Jeremiah Belknap (1711). Lieut. James (1722) married (1) Phebe Manley, April 27, 1710, who, dying Sept. 12, 1713, was buried in the Granary Burial-Ground ; (2) April 7, 1715, Sarah Lewist, of Boston. She died Nov. 12, 1721, in Charlestown. Lieut. James Fosdick (1722) served as constable of Boston in 1719.
The estate of Lieut. Reynolds (1658) on Milk Street (a part of which Josiah Franklin had liberty to use in 1692) came into the possession of Lieut. Nathaniel Reynolds, Jr. (1681). His widow sold it to John Fosdick, father of James (1722). Mr. Shurtleff says the property was divided in February, 1745-6, " between his two children, James Fosdick1 [1722], gentleman, and Sarah, the wife of Jeremy Belknap [1711]." The former received the Milk Street estate, from whom it came into the possession of the Foster heirs.
He was first sergeant of the Company in 1725, and its lieutenant in 1740. The will of James Fosdick (1722), made in 1773, speaks of his advanced age. It was proved in 1776.
Thomas Foster (1722), of Boston, was a son of Thomas (1701). Sept. 19, 1738, Thomas Foster (1722) became a member of the engine company on Summer Street, near the Trinity Church. He was also a member in April, 1741. He was assay- master for ten years, from 1748 to 1757 inclusive. May 15, 1759, he was one of a committee
Richard Bulkley (1722). AUTHORITY : Bos- ton Records.
James Fosdick (1722). AUTHORITIES : Bos- ton Records; Shurtleff's Topog. Des. of Boston, p. 624.
Thomas Foster (1722). AUTHORITY : Boston Records.
1 Mr. Whitman (1810), in his history of the
Artillery Company, calls Mr. Fosdick (1722) a paver. James Fosdick, the paver, is first mentioned in the Records of Boston, April 7, 1742, when he and Mr. Thornton proposed to the selectmen in regard to paving Orange Street. The paver was James Fosdick, Jr., son of Lieut. James (1722), of the Artillery Company. The latter seems to have been a gentleman of means and leisure.
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chosen by the town " to consider in what manner it will be best to repair, or to raise, the brick wall in the South Burial place, on the back of the Workhouse, & the expence of doing the same and report at next town meeting." When he made the visitations of the town in February, 1747-8, in February, 1748-9 and 1750-1, also in 1751-2, his name has the prefix "Mr.," but the last time he is named in the Boston Records, in 1763, he is called " Deacon Thomas Foster [1722]."
He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1725.
Nathaniel Green (1722), of Boston, son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Green, was born in Boston, Nov. 27, 1698. He married Elizabeth Taylor, June 27, 1729. He was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1722. His will, made in July, 1736, was proved Nov. 5, 1737.
Samuel Greenwood (1722), merchant, of Boston, son of Samuel and Elizabeth Greenwood, was born in Boston, Aug. 15, 1696, and graduated at Harvard College in 1709. He was a captain in the militia. Aug. 8, 1717, he married Mary, daughter of Benjamin Fitch. Samnel, Sr., died in 1721. He was prominent in town office, and Samuel (1722) seems to have taken up his father's town duties, offices, and honors. Capt. Samuel Greenwood (1722) served as tithing-man in 1720, and was annually elected an overseer of the poor from 1725 until 1740. Upon the death of his father, Mr. Samuel Greenwood (1722) - he is called "Captain " after 1727 -received per- mission, July 30, 1722, to build a tomb on the southeast side of the North burial-place.
In 1735-6, Capt. Samuel (1722) was chairman of a committee which reported to the town a more effectual method of watching the town. He visited the public schools with the clergy and others, and also made, from 1734 to 1739, the annual visitation of the town, with the justices and others. On the day of his death, Feb. 22, 1741-2, the selectmen granted permission to Samuel Greenwood, Esq. (1722), Capt. John Goldthwait (1720), and others, "to erect a Meeting-house at the head of Bennett Street at the Northerly part of Boston."
The meeting-house above mentioned stood on the south corner of North Bennet and Hanover streets, and was erected by friends of Rev. Samuel Mather, when he received his dismission as pastor from the "Old North," where he had preached for nine years. Mr. Mather preached in this house until his decease, in 1785, when it was sold to the Universalists, and was occupied by the First Universalist Church of Boston, Rev. Mr. Murray, pastor. The meeting-house was therefore called the Mather-Murray Meeting- House.
He died Feb. 22, 1741-2, and his will, in which he is called a "shipwright," was proved March 23 following.
He was lieutenant of the Artillery Company in 1724.
Joshua Loring (1722), son of Joseph and Hannah (Leavitt) Loring, was born in Hingham, Sept. 21, 1688. He resided in Boston, and married Elizabeth Dawes.
Obadiah Procter (1722). He married Margaret Gardner, Aug. 24, 1699. Obadiah Procter (1722) served as a tithing-man in 1706, and was that year a member of a military company in Boston; was clerk of the market in 1716, and constable in 1718. On the 18th of July, 1706, he was notified that he must forbear keeping any
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fire in any of the chimneys of the house in which he dwells, until they have been rebuilt or repaired. He contributed, Jan. 9, 1713, five pounds towards the enlargement of King's Chapel. He resided near the corner of Court and Washington streets, in 1718.
Robert Procter (1722).
Simeon Rogers (1722), son of Joseph and Elizabeth Rogers, was born in Boston, Feb. 18, 1698-9. He is also called Simon on the Company records. Simeon Rogers does not appear on the town records, but a Simon Rogers was clerk of the market in 1720, and constable of Boston in 1725. He was, from 1730 to 1734, - probably longer, - the landlord of the celebrated George Tavern.
Joseph Russell (1722), printer, of Boston, son of Joseph (1699) and Mary Russell, was born in Boston, Dec. 12, 1687, and married, July 12, 1716, Elizabeth Walley. She was born May 4, 1693. He was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1725, and was a captain in the militia.
Zechariah Thayer (1722), leather-dresser, of Boston, was a son of Nathaniel and Deborah Thayer. He married Mary -. Nathaniel (1734) was a son of Zechariah's brother, Cornelius Thayer.
June 30, 1712, Zechariah Thayer (1722) was granted by the selectmen a license as a retailer in Newbury, now Washington, Street. His place of business in 1733 was near the town-house, as he was taxed that year for repairs on the town pump, standing in Cornhill. He served as hog-reeve in 1710; tithing-man in 1714 and 1720; constable in 1715, and as scavenger in 1721 and 1722. He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1723.
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