USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. I > Part 14
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The clergymen who signed this memorial were Edmund Browne, John Ward, Samuel Whiting, John Allin, Thomas Thacher, Sr., John Higginson, John Sherman, Thomas Cob- bett, Seaborn Cotton, Thomas Shepherd, Samuel Phillips, William Hubbard, Antipas Newman, Samuel Torrey, Samuel Whiting, Jr.
We have said that the composition of the House of Deputies 1 [Gen. Court Records, vol. iv. part ii. pp. 489-492.]
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
had been changed very materially since the preceding session. The memorialists could not have desired a more full and com- plete vindication than that which they now received in the reply to their address. It was in these words : -
Upon consideration of the petition of sundry of the reverend elders declaring the deep and afflictive sense of some votes passed in May 1670, in the House of Deputies (upon the return of part of a Com- mittee chosen by the honored Court to inquire into the causes of God's displeasure,) which they conceive to reflect great reproach and scandal on the ministry in general, and that demonstrated by an act referring to the Third Church in Boston, wherein some in particular are characterized as abettors in the constituting that church, and thereby rendered as the troublers in our Israel, and as the Achans, &c., being an act infringing of church and gospel liberties, and the free exercise of all ordinances by churches within themselves, &c., although it must be asserted that the acts of this honoured Court, being the supreme authority, are not liable to question by any, and that free de- bates are the indubitable right of the said Court, yet, forasmuch as in an hour of temptation such acts may pass in our Court as may, according to principles of religion, prudence and state interest, be reviewed, and upon mature deliberation rectified, -in this case the Court conceives it duty to declare that forasmuch as several expres- sions in the said transactions have an appearance of the justness of the complaints in the said petitions, and that they may not leave any just ground of grievance in the hearts of the reverend elders, nor their ministry be made ineffectual by that anti-ministerial spirit that too much runs through the country, the Court orders and declares, that the said papers referring to that case are to be accounted useless, and not to be improved against the reverend elders as the cause of God's displeasure against the country, or to be made public. And whereas many have taken liberty in an irregular way to publish the secrets of the Court in that case, we do declare such are to be account- able according to the nature of the fact.
The Court doth further declare, that they know no just cause of those scandalizing reflections contained in the said papers indefinitely against magistrates, elders and churches, either in reference to the new church of Boston or otherwise, and therefore, till they be further informed, must judge them innocent, and unduly calumniated and misrepresented, and do hereby profess and declare with the reverend elders in their address, that we do adhere to the primitive ends of our coming hither, retaining the sober principles of the Congregational way, and the practice of our churches in their present and most athletic constitutions.1
1 [Gen. Court Records, vol. iv. part ii. pp. 493-495.1
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III
SEVENTEEN DEPUTIES DISSENT.
This action, of course, was not unanimous. Seventeen depu- ties entered their dissent from it in the following paper : 1-
Boston June 1671
We whose names are here subscribed doe desire our dissents may be Entred (according to the libbertye the lawe gives us) with refference to the Voates that have passed in the Affirmitive this present Courtt relateing to the Addresse of the Elders
RICHARD WALDERN ANTHONY STODDARD RICHARD BEERES
EDW. JOHNSON EDWARD HUTCHINSON JOHN WAYTE
SAMUELL SMITH
PETER TILLTON SAMLL WHEELWRIGHT
HUMPHRY DAVIE
HENRY BARTHOLMEW
RICHARD COOKE
DANIELL FFISHER
THOMAS CLARKE THO: CLARKE
OLIVER PURCHIS
JOSHUA FFISHER 2
The Rev. Dr. Wisner, in commenting upon these events in his Historical Discourses, says : -
Thus the new church, and its friends through the colony, achieved a public and final triumph : a triumph to be regretted, as involving the consummation of a wide and pernicious departure from the primitive Gospel discipline of the New England churches ; to be rejoiced in, as conferring the rights of freemen to many who had been unjustly deprived of them, and laying the foundation of all the good to be effected, in the hands of Providence, by this church.
1 Mass. Archives, vol. x. p. 201.
2 The following is a list of the Deputies of 1671. We give the names as spelled in the General Court Records. Those who voted against the report are marked in italics, members of the Third Church in small capitals.
Mr Edmond Batter, Mr. Ilen Bar- tholmete, Salem ; Capt Jno Allen, Mr Wim Stiltson, Charles Town ; Capt Roger Clap, Left Jno Capen, Dorches- ter ; Capt Tho Clarke, Mr Antho Stod- dard, Boston ; Capt Isack Johnson, Rox- bury; Capt Hugh Mason, Left Rich Beers, Water Toune ; Mr Edw Oakes, Mr Joseph Cooke, Cambridge ; Leift Olliver Purchis, Lynn ; Capt Jno Apple- ton, Left Sam Appleton, Ipswich ; Mr Jno Richards, Mr Tho Clarke, Newbery ; Left John Holbrooke, Weymouth ; Capt Joshua Hubbard, Hingham ; Capt Timo Wheeler, Concord ; Left Joshua Fisher, Ensig Dani Fisher, Dedham; Capt WM DAVIS, Mr Geo Colton, Springfeild ; Mr
Sam Dolton, Hampton ; Mr Rich Swan, Rowley ; Capt Richard Bracket, Brain- try; Capt Richard Walderne, Left Rich Cooke, Dover ; Mr Humphrey Davy, Capt Edwy Johnson, Wooborne ; Mr Elias Stileman, Portsmouth ; Capt Nath Saltonstall, Ilaverill ; Capt John Waite, Maulden ; Left Wm Clarke, Mr Wm Holton, Northampton ; Left Sam Smith, Mr. Peter Tilton, Hadley ; Capt To SAVAGE, Andover ; Capt Edw Hutchin- son, Kittery ; Mr Arthur Angier, Scar- borow; Capt JOHN HUIL, Westfeild ; Mr Nico Broune, Redding; Mr THO BRATTIE, Lancaster ; Mr Tho Fiske, Wenham ; Mr HEZEKIAH USHER, Billi- rekey ; Mr Sam Wheelewright, Yorke ; Mr Wm Sarjant, Glocester ; Mr Tho Hincksman, Chelmsford.
It is noticeable that William Clarke and William Holton, of Northampton, who signed Mr. Russell's memorial in 1670, did not put their names to the paper dissenting from the report of 1671.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Whether or not we can fully sympathize with the excellent pastor in all the regret which he expresses at the consummation of what he calls a departure from the primitive discipline of the New England churches, and in his estimate of the results which followed the adoption of the half-way covenant, we can heartily rejoice with him in the victory which was gained for the cause of religious liberty ; and we see occasion for congratulation to the Third Church, that in this early conflict for freedom and for the right, the honor of the front rank and of the most exposed position was accorded to its fathers and founders.
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11-
CHAPTER III.
1669-1674.
ORGANIZATION.
T HE Brethren which came off from the First Church in Boston, New England, and laid the Foundation of the Third Church, partly on May 12. 1669, partly on May 16. 1669 were those underwritten : " 1
William Davis, Hezekiah Usher, John Hull, Edward Rayns- ford, Peter Brackett, Jacob Eliot, Peter Oliver, Thomas Brattle, Edward Rawson, Joshua Scottow, Benjamin Gibbs, Thomas Savage, Joseph Rock, Theodore Atkinson, John Wing, Richard Trewsdale, Theophilus Frary, Robert Walker, John Alden, Benjamin Thurston, William Salter, John Morse, Josiah Belcher, Seth Perry, James Pemberton, William Dawes, Joseph Davis, Joseph Belknap.
We will give a brief account of each of these brethren, in the order in which their names stand on the church register : -
William Davis : apothecary ; artillery company, 1643 ; free- man, 1645 ; joint commissioner with John Leverett to the Dutch governor of New York, 1653 ; captain of the artillery company, 1664, 1672; commander of a company in the Indian wars ; rep- resentative. "A man of wealth, enterprise and discretion." His first wife was Margaret, daughter of William Pynchon,2 of
1 The register of the Third Church 2 For a sketch of William Pynchon, opens with this heading.
see Andover Review for September, 1886.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Springfield ; his second, Huldah, daughter of the Rev. Zech- ariah Symmes, of Charlestown, was living in 1670, but died before the wives of the seceding brethren gained admittance to the new church. William Davis died May 24, 1676.
Hezekiah Usher: merchant, bookseller; member of the ar- tillery company ; representative. "He was agent for the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians ; and it was through him that types and paper were procured, by which Green, at Cambridge, printed the great Indian Bible in 1660-63." He went to London for this purpose in the winter of 1657-58. His second wife, Elizabeth, was a daughter of the Rev. Zechariah Symmes. She died while the church stand- ing of the wives of the dissenting brethren was in a state of suspense. His third wife, Mary, daughter of William Alford, became a member of the Third Church in 1675, and after his death, in 1676, married the Rev. Samuel Nowell. His son, Hezekiah, married Bridget, widow of the Rev. Leonard Hoar.
John Hull : silversmith, mint-master, and treasurer of the colony ; captain of the artillery company, 1671, 1678 ; assistant, 16So to 1685.1 His wife, Judith, was a daughter of Edmund Quincy, the emigrant. Their only child, Hannah, married Samuel Sewall in 1675. John Hull died in 1683. Mrs. Hull became a member of the Third Church in 1674, and died in 1695.
Edward Raynsford : came in the fleet with Winthrop; a brother of Lord Chief Justice Raynsford, the immediate suc- cessor of Sir Matthew Hale ; 2 "one of the substantial men in the town, and is often mentioned in its history ;" deacon in the First Church. His wife, Elizabeth, and his daughter, Ranis,
1 Cotton Mather, in his Life of the Rev. John Wilson, says : "Beholding a young man, extraordinarily dutiful in all possible ways of being serviceable, unto his aged mother, then weak in body, and poor in estate, he [Mr. Wilson] de- clared unto some of his family what he had beheld ; adding therewithal, I charge you to take notice of what I say ; John Hull (for that was his name) shall grow rich, and live to do God good service in his generation ! It came to pass accord- ingly, that this exemplary person, became a very rich, as well as emphatically a good man, and afterwards died a magis- trate of the colony."
2 Lord Campbell says of Sir Richard Raynsford : " He was a man of good family, fair estate, decent character, and agreeable manners, with a sufficient por- tion of understanding and learning to keep him above contempt. Descended from the Raynsfords of Raynsford, in the county of Lancaster, he was of a branch of the family settled at Dullington, in North- amptonshire. His relations were strong Cavaliers, and he himself entertained in his heart a thorough hatred of Round- heads." According to Hull, he was a bitter enemy of the latter. Ile became lord chief justice in 1676, and was suc- ceeded by the infamous Scroggs.
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THE FOUNDERS OF THE CHURCH.
wife of Josiah Belcher, became members of the Third Church in 1674. He died in 16So. "An island in the harbor still preserves in its name the record of his former ownership." His wife died in 16SS.
Peter Brackett : artillery company, 1648 ; representative for several years for Braintree, and afterward for Scarborough. His last wife, Mary, widow of the first Nathaniel Williams, became a member of the Third Church in 1674. He died in 16SS.
Jacob Eliot : son of the first Jacob, who was brother of the Rev. John Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians ;" "captain, in high esteem ;" selectman ; deacon for a short time in the First Church, in which his father had been ruling elder. He mar- ried Mary (Powell), widow of William Wilcox ; she became a member of the new church, with the wives of the seceding brethren, in 1674. He died in 1693. She survived until 1707.
Peter Oliver: son of Thomas Oliver, who came to New Eng- land in 1631, and was ruling elder in the First Church from 1632 until his death in 1657. Peter Oliver was an eminent merchant ; he was chosen captain of the artillery company in 1669, when the excitement about the new church was at its height. He died April 11, 1670, - the first on the long roll of the Old South membership to enter into the fellowship of the " church of the firstborn " above. His wife, Sarah, daughter of John Newdigate, became a member of the Third Church in 1674, and died in 1692.
Thomas Brattle : merchant; representative; one of the wealthiest men of the day. His son, Thomas, who owned the covenant in 16So, was treasurer of Harvard College from 1693 to 1713. His wife, Elizabeth, was daughter of William Tyng ; she joined the new church in 1672. He died April 5, 1683. Mrs. Brattle died very suddenly, at the marriage of Daniel Quincy and Anna Shepard, which was solemnized at her house, November 9, 1682.1
Edward Rawson : came to New England in 1637, and settled in Newbury, where he was chosen town clerk and representa- tive; removed to Boston, 1650,2 and was secretary of the colony from that year until 1686. He was the agent in New England
1 The Old South has in its possession the tombstone of Ann, or Anna, Quincy, sister of Daniel Quincy, mentioned in the text. She died at the house of her uncle (by marriage), John Hull, Sept. 3, 1676.
2 Edward Rawson sold land in New- buryport, in 1651, to William Pillsbury, to whose descendants it still belongs. The house now standing on it, No. 265 High Street, was built in 1700.
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
for the first Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, from 165 I perhaps until his death. He died August 27, 1693. His mother, Margaret, was a sister of the Rev. John Wilson, first minister of the First Church. His wife, Rachel, became a member of the Third Church in 1674, and died in 1677.
Joshua Scottow : came from England 1 with his mother, Tho- masine Scottow, who joined the First Church in 1634 ; ensign in the artillery company in 1657; captain in the militia ; a mer- chant of high standing ; a great proprietor, after Philip's war, at Scarborough, where he was captain of the garrison and magis- trate. He died in 1698.2 His wife, Lydia, and his five daugh- ters, Elizabeth, Lydia, Rebecca, Sarah, and Mary, became members of the Third Church.3
Benjamin Gibbs : merchant; artillery company, 1666; cap- tain in Philip's war. He married Lydia, daughter of Joshua Scottow ; after his death, she became the wife of Anthony Checkley, merchant and attorney-general, and, later, of William Colman.
Thomas Savage : born in Taunton, Somerset, England. Came to Boston in the Planter in 1635, at the age of twenty-seven.4 He married, in 1637, Faith, daughter of William and Ann Hutchinson, and, as was natural, he became an carnest follower of Mrs. Hutchinson, and of her brother-in-law, the Rev. John Wheelwright. He was one of those who were ordered by the General Court, November 20, 1637, to surrender their arms,5
1 Mr. Scottow came from the east coast of England, probably from Norfolk. Scothowe signifies " the lot or portion on the hill," and this describes the little Norfolk village which, six or seven hun- dred years ago, gave its name to the family of De Scottowes, who were the lords of the manor there, and patrons of the living.
2 The tombstones of Joshua Scottow and John Alden have recently been placed in the portico of the present meeting- house of the Old South, in Boylston Street, and on Sunday evening, October 26, 1884, addresses were made, which have been published, giving an account of these and other prominent members of the church in the past.
3 Thomas Scottow, son of Joshua, graduated at Harvard College in 1677. In his will he called himself a "chirur-
geon." Ile lived in Scarborough for some years, and a letter of his, calling for re- inforcements against the Indians, dated September 26, 1689, and addressed to Benjamin Church, is in the Mass. Ar- chives. He made his will in London, November 14, 1698, and it was proved there September 4, 1699.
4 In the Historical Catalogue of the Old South Church -following Dr. Wisner - Thomas Savage, Jr., instead of his father, is named as one of the founders.
5 The entire membership of the First Church, with the exception of Mr. Wilson, Governor Winthrop, and a few others, were in sympathy with Mrs. Hutchinson. Four of those who were disarmed under the order of 1637 lived to be founders of the Third Church, - Edward Raynsford, Thomas Savage, John Sanford, and Wil- liam Salter. The fathers of Peter Oliver
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THE FOUNDERS.
and he joined William Coddington and others in the purchase of Rhode Island, removing thither in 1638, but returning to Boston after a few months. From this time he was almost con- stantly in public office, and was especially prominent in the military affairs of the town. He was one of the original mem- bers of the artillery company, and five times was chosen its captain. " Representative, speaker, assistant, noted as a stanch soldier," says his descendant, Mr. James Savage.1 His first wife died in 1652, and in the same year he married Mary, one of the numerous daughters of the excellent minister of Charles- town, Mr. Symmes. She came into the membership of the new church in 1674. Her second husband was Anthony Stod- dard, who died in 1687 ; she survived until 1710.
Joseph Rock : freeman, 1652; merchant. He married Eliza- beth, daughter of John Coggan, who brought him a good estate. She became a member of the Third Church in 1674. His second wife, Mary, was a daughter of the Rev. John Wilson, of the First Church, and widow of the Rev. Samuel Danforth, of Roxbury. Joseph Rock died in 1683 or 1684. .
Theodore Atkinson : felt-maker; came from England with John Newdigate ; artillery company, 1644; he died in 1701. His second wife, Mary, daughter of the Rev. John Wheelwright, and widow of Edward Lyde, joined the Third Church in 1673, and died in 1712. Her sister, Hannah, was the first wife of Anthony Checkley.
John Wing : son of Robert Wing, who came in the Francis, 1634 ; artillery company, 1671, and captain, 1693. "He was a very thrifty man," and owned a good deal of real estate "near the midst of the town." He died in 1703. His wife, Jehosheba, daughter of James Davis, joined the Third Church in 1670.
Richard Trewsdale : called, on joining the First Church, 1634, "servant to our teacher, John Cotton ;" butcher ; freeman, 1635 ; was chosen deacon in the First Church in 1650.2 He and Jacob Eliot were also among the proscribed members, in what has been called the New England coup d'état.
1 Thomas Savage and Jeremiah Houchin were delegates from the First Church to the Synod of 1662, together with the elders.
2 The Trewsdales were a family of respectability in Lincolnshire. In 1309, when the first stone of the steeple of St. Botolph's Church was laid, there was,
according to Stukeley, a " Sir John Trues- dale, then parson of Boston." In 1642, the Trewsdale family was taxed in Freis- ton, a hamlet three miles from Boston. Although Richard Trewsdale held a de- pendent position when he first came to the colony, he must have been a man of ability and character, or he would not have been chosen deacon in the First Church. His name has the prefix of Mr. in Mrs. Norton's first deed of trust.
IIS
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
was not one of the dissenting brethren at first; but as the controversy went on, he was led to espouse their cause. He died in 1671, leaving a wife, Mary, whose name does not appear on the rolls of the Third Church.1
Theophilus Frary : came from England with his father, John Frary, one of the first settlers of Dedham and of Medfield ; cap- tain of the artillery company, 1682 ; representative. "During more than thirty years, he was frequently called to serve the town as selectman and in minor offices, to arbitrate in the divi- sion of estates, and to be feoffee, to hold in trust property for others." He died in 1700. His first wife was Hannah, daugh- ter of the first Jacob Eliot. She joined the church in Dedham, 1656, and became a member of the Third Church, Boston, in 1674; she died previously to 1690, in which year Mr. Frary was married by Judge Sewall to Mary (Allen), widow of Nathaniel Greenwood.
Robert Walker : freeman, 1634. He died in 1687, at which date Judge Sewall writes : "He was a very good man, and con- versant among God's New England people from the beginning." His wife, Sarah, became a member of the Third Church in 1674, and died in 1695. Their son, the Rev. Zechariah Walker, preached for a time at Stratford, and afterward at Woodbury, Connecticut.
John Alden : eldest son of John Alden and his wife, Priscilla Mullens, both of whom came to Plymouth in the Mayflower, in 1620. He was a shipmaster, and sailed for several years in the employ of John Hull. A leading and much-respected citizen. He married for his second wife, in 1660, Elizabeth, daughter of William Phillips, and widow of Abiel Everill, who became a member of the Third Church in 1674. She died in 1696, and her husband in 1702.
Benjamin Thurston : freeman, 1665. He died in 1678 (No- vember 10), and Judge Sewall then speaks of him as one of his " special friends." His wife was Elishua (sometimes called Elizabeth), daughter of Robert and Sarah Walker. She became a member of the Third Church, with her mother and others, wives of the dissenting brethren, in 1674.
1 In Mary Trewsdale's nuncupative will, proved November 26, 1674, there are bequests as follows : Harvard College, £40; the Rev. Thomas Thacher, £5; the poor of the First Church, £5; the
Third Church {10; Mrs. Maria Mather, £5; Mr. Seaborn Cotton, £5; the Rev. John Cotton, £5; the town of Boston, £5. A nephew, Richard Trewsdale, died in Roxbury in 1677.
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THE FOUNDERS.
William Salter : admitted to membership in the First Church, 1635 : freeman, 1636; shoemaker. He owned Spectacle Island, in Boston harbor. He died in 1675. His wife, Mary, became a member of the Third Church in 1674.
John Morse : freeman, 1669. One of the original proprietors of Mendon, where lands were assigned to him in 1667 and 1668. He died in 1678 or 1679. His wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Zaccheus Bosworth, joined the Third Church in 1670. The name of her second husband was Button.
Josiah Belcher : son of Gregory Belcher, of Braintree, and afterward of Boston ; married Ranis, daughter of Edward Rayns- ford, who survived him. He died in 1683.
Seth Perry : artillery company, 1662; freeman, 1666; tailor. His wife, Dorothy, daughter of Michael and Abigail Powell, joined the Third Church in 1670, and died in 1711.
James Pemberton : freeman, 1648; brewer, near the town clock. He died in 1696. His wife, Sarah, became a member of the Third Church in 1674, and died in 1709.
William Dawes : came to New England in 1635 ; first settled at Braintree ; freeman, 1646; moved to Boston about 1652, and bought an estate in what is now Sudbury Street; mason and builder. He died in 1704, and Judge Sewall records of him: "A good old man, full of days, is got well to the end of his weary race." His wife, Susanna, daughter of John Mills, of Braintree, became a member of the Third Church in 1674.
Joseph Davis: we know nothing of him, except that probably he married Sarah Chamberlain, in Roxbury, in 1670. He was perhaps the youngest of the dissenting brethren. Sarah Davis owned the covenant in 1680.
Joseph Belknap: artillery company, 1658; freeman, 1665. "Took dismission to Hatfield, there lived in good esteem from 1682 to 1696, then came back to Boston, and died, 14 November 1712, aged eighty-two." He married Ruth, daughter of Peter Brackett.
Two other men, John Tappan and John Sanford, should be mentioned among the founders of the Third Church, although, for some reason which we cannot explain, their names do not appear in the list of members. They both signed a letter, as we shall see, addressed by the church to Mr. John Hull, upon his departure for England late in the year 1669.1 John Tappan,
1 Edward Alline signed the letter to ing for dismission (see ante, pp. 27, 28), the First Church, August 10, 1668, ask- but his name does not appear in the list
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HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
who was a felt-maker or hatter, died September 14, 1678. His wife, Mary, who afterward married Dr. William Avery, joined the church in 1674, with the wives of the other dissenting brethren. John Sanford, a schoolmaster, died February 10, 1676-7, and left property to the church. His wife, Sarah, became a member in 1676.
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