USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > History of the Old South church (Third church) Boston, 1669-1884, Vol. III > Part 26
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We do not intend, in these pages, to condemn the fathers for the course which they took with the Quakers ; there are others who are ready enough to remind us of all the motes which floated in their eyes. At the same time, we have no intention of justifying them. There was a wide difference of opinion among themselves as to what it was right and best to do under the trying circumstances. Cotton Mather said, in reference to the policy which had been pursued : " If any man will appear in the vindication of it, let him do as he please ; for my part, I will not. I am verily persuaded, these miserable Quakers would, in a little while, (as we have now seen) have come to nothing, if the civil magistrates had not inflicted any civil penalty upon them."
Dr. Ellis says that the most offensive and extravagant of the eccentricities of deportment in individual Quakers occurred after the harshest severity of the treatment of them had been much relaxed. It is at this point that the strange and painful narra- tive runs into the history of the South Church. Samuel Sewall says in his diary, July 8, 1677: "In Sermon time there came in
1 The Puritan Age and Rule in Mass., by George E. Ellis, pp. 448, 449. Mass. Archives, vol. x. p. 246. The petition is in the handwriting of that stalwart and uncompromising conservative, Anthony Stoddard, and in the signatures we see a strange commingling of the men who ten years later were to be on opposite sides in the controversy between the First and Third churches : Anthony Stoddard, Nathaniel Duncan, John Wil-
son, William Colborne, James Penn, Edward Raynsford, Robert Walker (?), Thomas Bumstead, Thomas Clark, The- odore Atkinson, William Dinsdale, Thomas Snow, John Hull, William Davis, James Johnson, Nathaniel Wil- liams, Henry Powning, John Evered, alias Webb, Hezekiah Usher, Thomas Marshall, William Hudson, William Salter, Henry Phillips, Thomas Savage, John Newgate.
·
219
A QUAKER DISTURBANCE.
a female Quaker, in a Canvas Frock, her hair disshevelled, and loose like a Periwigg, her face as black as ink, led by two other Quakers, and two other followed. It occasioned the greatest and most amazing uproar that I ever saw." They were ar- rested ; and, on the day following, Mr. Bradstreet issued an order to the keeper of the prison, directing that they should be detained until legally discharged. The order began : " Whereas there was one man and four women, Quakers, committed to prison yesterday, being the Lord's day, for making an horrible disturbance, and affrighting the people in the South Church in Boston, in the time of the public dispensing of the Word, where- by several women, as I am informed, are in great danger of miscarrying," etc. The principal actor in this disturbance was Margaret Brewster, who came from Barbadoes. She had sent what she called " A Warning from the Great God of Heaven and Earth to the Rulers and Magistrates of Boston, in New England, that they put not in practice that cruel law they have made concerning swearing." Thinking herself commissioned to denounce judgment upon the people for their sins, she went, as William Coddington wrote to Ralph Fretwell, August 16, "into Thacher's meeting, in sackcloth, with ashes upon her head, and barefoot, and her face blacked. With her was Lydia Wright of Long Island, and Sarah Miles and Elizabeth Bowen Jr, and John Easton Jr. who took her riding clothes and shoes when she went into the house. The fourth of this month," continues the letter, " they were called before the Court at Bos- ton, and she was sentenced to be whipped up and down the town with twenty lashes and the three maids were to follow the cart."
At the trial the magistrate asked Margaret Brewster, " Are you the woman that came into- Mr. Thacher's meeting-house, with your hair frizzled, and dressed in the shape of a devil?" She answered, "I am the woman who came with my hair about my shoulders, ashes upon my head, my face colored black, and sackcloth upon my upper garments." Increase Mather says that one of the women who had been frightened by her died in con- sequence.1
1 Cotton Mather says of Mr. Thacher : " He was one very watchful over the souls of his people, and careful to pre- serve them from errors as well as vices : but of all errors, he discovered an antip- athy unto none more than that sink of
all errors, Quakerism. . . . When he heard of any books left by the Quakers in any houses of his neighbourhood, he would presently repair to the houses, and obtain those venomous pamphlets from them: for which, that the wolves
220
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
Mrs. Norton made her last will and testament August 20, 1677, and died a few months afterward, in her seventy-sixth year. John Hull says in his diary : January 10, "Mrs. Mary Norton fell speechless. 17th She died, and, 21st was interred in her husband's tomb." Her will was admitted to probate on the Ist of February, and was as follows : -
In the name of God Amen, The Twentyeth day of August in the yeare of our Lord, One Thousand Six hundred Seaventy and Seven, I Mary Norton of Boston in the Collony of the Massachusetts, in New England Relict Widdow of Mr. John Norton Sometime Teacher of the Church of Christ in said Boston, being of Competent . bodyly health, and of sound and perfect memory, praysed be the Lord for the same, doe make this my last will and Testament in manner fol- lowing (that is to say) ffirst I commend my Soul to God who gave it, and my body to the Earth to be buryed in such decent manner as to my Executors hereafter named shall be thought meete and convenient, and as touching such worldly Estate as the Lord hath Lent mee, my will is that the same shall be imployed and bestowed as hereafter in and by this my will is expressed.
Imprimis, I doe hereby revoake and make void, all wills by me for- merly made, and declare and appointe this my last will and Testament. Item I will that all debts I justly owe, to any manner of person or persons whatsoever, shall be well and Truly paid in convenient time after my decease by my Executors hereafter nam'd Item I give and bequeath unto Third Church of Christ in Boston, my now dwelling house with all the land belonging to the same, as it is scittuate neere the Third meeting house in Boston aforesaid, with all Proffitts priviledges Rights and appurtenances whatsoever to the same belonging or apper- tayning, for the use of the ministry in the said Church successively forever, And my will further is, that the said Third Church, or some person or persons in their behalfe shall be possessed of the said house and Land, with the Rights and appurtenances, at and Ime- diatly after my Decease, for the reasons following First Because many of the particular members of the said Third church have bene large contributors to that meeting house, and Church treasure, barked more at him than at many other men, and would sometimes come with their faces hideously blacked, and their garments fearfully torn, into his congre- gation, whereby the neighbours were frighted unto the danger of their lives, is not at all to be wondered at."
The founders of New England "knew that liberty in the hands of feeble-minded and unreasoning persons (and all the worse if they are honest) means nothing
else than the supremacy of their particular form of imbecility; means nothing less, therefore, than downright chaos, a Bed- lam-chaos of monomaniacs and bores. What was to be done with men and women who bore conclusive evidence to the fall of man by insisting on walking up the broad aisle of a meeting-house in a costume which that event had put for- ever out of fashion ? " - James Russell Lowell, Among my Books.
22I
MRS. NORTON'S WILL.
from whence they issued Secondly because of the great Charge that the brethren of the said Third Church have bene at in build- ing their meeting house. Thirdly, because I conceive it will prove inconvenient for a minister to live so neere a meeting house, where he doth not preach,1 Provided alwaies that the said Third Church or some person or persons in their name and behalfe, pay or cause to be paid unto the first Church of Christ in Boston, the full and Just summe of One hundred Pounds of Lawfull money of New Eng- land, within the space of one yeare next after my decease, and my will is that the payment of the said summe and tender thereof be made at or in my now dwelling house Item I Give and bequeath unto my Couzen John Norton, the summe of Twenty pounds to be paid unto him within one yeare next after my decease Also I give unto my said Couzen John Norton the use of all my said Late husbands bookes Provided he give sufficient security to the sattisfaction of my Executors that the said bookes shall not be sold nor carryed out of this Country,2 also my will is that in Case my said Couzen John Norton, shall have a Son or Sons, that shall be fitted for the worke of the ministry, that then such Son or Sons shall also have the use of the said bookes, to them and their heires, the like Security remayning, that the said bookes be not sold from the family, But in case my said Couzen, John Norton, shall dye without any Son, who shall be fitted for the worke of the ministry my will is that then the said bookes shall be divided equally, and that one halfe part of them shall be delivered for the use of Har- vard Collidge at Cambridge, and the other halfe part of them to be to the use of these five ministers and their children who shall be brought up to the worke of the ministry, Namely Mr. Phillips of Rowley Mr. Torrey preacher at Weymoth, Mr. Josiah Flint preacher at Dorchester Mr. George Shove preacher at Tanton,3 Mr. Noah Newman preacher at Rehoboth. And my will is, that if Either or any of the Said Min- isters dye without a Childe, that shall be brought up to the worke of the ministry, that then such bookes given unto him or them, as afore-
1 [This confirms our supposition that Mr. Thacher lived near the First Church meeting-house, and had to pass its doors in going to his own.]
2 [The word " cousin " is here used for " nephew." John Norton graduated at Harvard College in 1671, in the same class with Samuel Sewall, Peter Thacher, and Thomas Weld; he married Mary, daughter of Arthur and Joanna Mason, was minister of the Hingham church, and died October 3, 1716. The library bequeathed to him consisted of 159 folio volumes, and 452 quarto, octavo, and duodecimo.]
3 [For an account of the Rev. George Shove, third minister of Taunton, and successor there of the Rev. Nicholas Street, see Emery's Ministry of Taun- ton, vol. i. pp. 171-176.
Mr. Shove married for his second wife, February 16, 1675, Hannah, widow of Thomas Walley, Jr., and sister-in-law of the Hon. John Walley, of Boston ; she died in 1685. Of his death, April 21, 1687, Sewall says in his diary: "Mr. George Shove was a principal Light in those parts | Taunton], and the death of their Saint George at this time calls for special mourning."]
222
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
said, shall be return'd to my Executors or the Survivors of them, to be distributed to such poore Schollars, or ministers, as they shall see meete. Item I give and bequeath, unto my Sister Mrs. Lucy Norton, my Silke gowne and Petticote Item I give and bequeath, unto Grace Clarke, the wife of Thomas Clarke of Ipswich, Mary Harris of Mid- letowne Anne Clap wife of Nicholas Clap of Dorchester, all my wearing apparrell, that I shall Leave undisposed of, to be equally divided between them, And that Mrs. Rawson Wife of Mr. Edward Rawson, shall see and order the said Devision to be made betweene them. Item I give and bequeath, unto my Couzen Edmund Fernely of Westcreting hall in the County of Suffolke in England, to his brother Thomas and to his Two sisters Elizabeth and Mary, the summe of Tenn pounds in New England money apiece, to be paid unto them or their order in New England within one yeare next after my decease Item I give unto Mrs. Mary Willard wife of the late Major Willard, the summe of five pounds in money And to old Mrs. Broughton five pounds Item to Mrs. Sarah Leverett, wife of the now Governor John Leverett, the summe of fifty Pounds, Also to Mrs. Tabitha Bowler of Virginia five pounds to buy her a peece of plate, Item I Give to James Peirce of London, Chirurgeon, the summe of Thirty pounds in New England money, Also to Mr. Peter Thacher and Ralph Thacher fifty shillings apeice in Moneys Also to Mr. Rawson the elder Tenn pounds, to my brother Mr William Norton Twenty Shillings to Mr. Thomas Norton Twenty Shillings, to Mr. Eliott the Elder Twenty Shillings, to Mrs. Mary Danforth of Roxbery Twenty Shillings, and to Major Generall Dennison forty Shillings, Also I Give Severall Small Legacies to sundry persons, whose names I have communicated unto my faithfull friend, Mr. John Hull of said Boston, which I neede not here perticulerly insert, Item I Give and make over by these pres- ents, all my deeds and other writings that Concerne my said house and Land, in said Boston, unto Capt John Hull, and Mr. Jacob Elliott, all of Boston aforesaid, as Trustees for the said Third Church of Christ in Boston, for the end and use before declared Item my will is that if there be anything doubtfull, or that may be variously inter- pretted in this my last will, that the same shall be decided, resolved and finally determined by the major part of my Executors hereafter named. Item my will is that if either my brother William Norton, or either or any of his Sons, shall Trouble or molest my Executors, or Legatees, by Suites of Law or otherwise whereby they shall be dam- nified, then the dammage shall be made good, to such party or par- tyes, out. of the books that I have ordered unto my Couzen John Norton And farther my will is that my Executors detayne the Same, untill the said Trouble (if any be) shall be fully issued, Also my will is, That if Either or any of my Legatees, give Trouble to my Execu- tors or other Legatees in any thinge relating to the Legacies given, in
223
MRS. NORTON'S ESTATE.
and by this my last will and Testament, That then the said Legacy given to such person or persons shall utterly cease, and he or they shall have no benefitt, by this my last will Item I Give and bequeath, the full remainder of my Estate, that is undisposed of in and by this my last will, unto my Executors hereafter named, to be equally divided betwene them. Item I do hereby nominate, constitute, authorize and appointe John Leverett Esquire now Governor of the said Massa- chusetts Collony, Mr. Edward Rawson Secrettary Capt John Hull Treasurer of said Collony, and Mr. Jacob Elliott of said Boston the Executors of this my last will and Testament. In Witnesse whereof, I the said Mary Norton have hereunto sett my hand and seale the day and yeare first above written
MARY NORTON and a Seale.
Signed and Sealed, and what is Contayned in these foure pages, was published by the above named Mary Norton as her last will and Testament in the presence of us, Seven words in the Eighteenth line, and Three words in the Twenty fifth line, being first oblitterated in the Third page
SAMUEL SEWALL DANIELL QUINSEY JOHN ALCOCKE JOHN HAYWARD scr.
Samuel Sewall and Daniell Quinsy made Oath in Court pro Febry 1677 that they were present and did see Mrs. Mary Norton Signe and Seale, and her publish this Instrument to be her last will and Tes- tament, and that then she was of a disposing minde to their best un- derstanding
Attested p
IsA ADDINGTON
It seems to have been understood between Mrs. Norton and the leading men in the Third Church that this church was to be in effect residuary legatee under her will ; that it was to come into possession, at her death, of her house and the remainder of the land ; and that it was to assume the payment of her funeral expenses, of whatever bills were then duc, and of certain lega- cies.1 It is possible that both she and the church expected that her property, independently of the real estate, would be larger than it proved to be on the settlement of her affairs. We have
1 John Hayward wrote to john Hull, to speake to the deacons to pay me ten on a scrap of paper which lies before us, February 16, 1677 : " Please to remember
shillings which was promised for draw- ing Mrs. Norton's will."
224
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
the papers and accounts before us, many of them in the hand- writing of John Hull, and the inventory, certified to by Thomas Savage and Henry Alline. "The old dwelling-house," that is, the house, not including the addition which had recently been built, " and that part of the land that is yet undisposed of," was valued at $400, lawful money of New England ; the library at £200; debts due to the deceased at £200 ; and there were personal effects of nominal value. The only available asset was the money due to the estate. The papers show that the executors, or Mr. Hull, who transacted the business, collected £206.17.6, and that against this they or he disbursed for funeral expenses, outstanding bills, and part of the legacies £207.1.8. There remained the legacy of £100 to the First Church, of £40 to members of the Ferneley family in England, and of £30 to Mrs. Norton's nephew, James Peirce or Pearse, of Lon- don, all which the deacons of the Third Church discharged, as against the value of the house and land which came to them under the will.1 But there had been other disbursements made by them, amounting with these legacies to £500 at least, as appears from an instrument executed in 1687 by Edward Raw- son, Joshua Scottow, and Jacob Eliot, which we shall presently give in full, and in which, as a consideration moving Mrs. Nor-
1 Mr. Hull collected from Robert Brimsden and Enoch Greenleaf
£206.17.6
He disbursed
For funeral expenses 67.12.II
" mourning for John Norton 13. 5. O
sundry bills 20. 3. 9
legacies . 106. 0. 0
£207. 1. 8
The legacies paid from the estate were as follows : -
Mrs. Sarah Leverett 50. 0.0
Mrs. Rachel Rawson IO. 0.0
Mrs. Mary Willard. 5. 0.0
Mrs. Mary Broughton 5. 0.0
John Norton 20. 0.0
Ralph Thacher 2.10.0
Peter Thacher 2.10.0
Daniel Denison 2. 0.0
Martha Ofield 2. 0.0
Mrs. Mary Danforth I. O.O
Mrs. Ann Eliot I. O.O
Mrs. Batt I. O.O
Mrs. Jane Pole 1.0.0
Mrs. Mary Greenleaf I.O.0
William Norton . I.O.O
Elias Corlett I.O.0
£106.0.0
One of Mr. Hull's memoranda is as follows : -
Leagicies to Pay for Mrs. Mary Nor- ton which the ch. must repay
To Abyel Stiles 1.0.0
To Mrs. Lack. Symonds I.O.O
To Mr. Edmund Fernly . 10.0.0
Thomas Fernly . 10.0.0
Eliz Fernly . 10.0.0
Mary . 10.0.0
Tabitha Bowler 5.0.0
James Peirce
· 30.0.0
Thomas Norton 1.0.0
To I ch. of Boston I 00.0.0
£178.0.0
Ben Davis a debt he saith · 3.18.4
Rhoda Porter for candles . . 14.0
.
non of foto tisk marry is full of alegam givenby my Sister nations lost will viz horny spriceings by man this gik of may. 167 8.
William Morfon
Boston ortop. 22.1678. BEN of form Hula money in frite of alagary given mely romy Honored Short mrs Mary Nochon de raged theform of Twanty Porm
allie for money font by me to my fair don't mnich Insurcycharrived theform of Iren Janin Sixteen shillings bothwhich I now arrive cfortto form Hace as withes Franz Presunto Put the day abevigo Mr Jffin Norton Acknowled.
= for the Receipt next above- written to be his Act & Deed June 2 3. 165, ohn. Norton Before me Sam Sewall ABilt.
Brid of form Hull many fora laga my Brother Malph Thacker five & I formy felfest. Como in file by me Peter Thacker
Mr. Peter Thacker Acknowledge the Receipt next above- Sakramb : 3 - 1678 Before me John Richards Assist - written to be his At & Deed .
Thay I. 1684
Bershid of formule a Ligary given meby wol Many Norton Dersafted Usz fifty Porno mimony this 230 of scramb? 1678 ) pay kan in freely man
Mrs. "Sarah Leveret Acknowledged the Receipt next above-
written to be her iet & Deed: Before mes on" s",forn leverett." April, 21.1684.
iganEs.
Benived of atrastules Jard Clic for & in Behalte of the frest church of ef no Boston ana indian Pound in money being in file of a Ligary givenby the lastwice of Mrs Many Norton unto these first chniech weaker y ale ine
(,, i knife free unto
-Sony, cibles
baskwith of M. Hlavy Norton unto the
ist
wittnije Hire umro Samt milano Peter Bruket
souve, collins Pourous of the first church in Burton
mr. Robert Sanderfon, and mr Henry Alline, Deacons
of the First Church of christ in Boston perforzaly appearing, Ac. = knowledge the Receipt next above- written to be their Ait & Deed and that in confirmation there of they did subscribe their Names, and affix their Seals Taken before me
april ? BenH@ Boston. 13. July 1685. 0 Recorded with the Records of wills. 16:13. pago . 497. with a reference to mat Mary Norton her will i yt fame booke. pag2. 497 GOAddingConfere
ceres
.
225
MRS. NORTON AND THE THIRD CHURCH.
ton to convey her real estate to the Third Church, mention is made of " disbursements for her in repayring her dwelling house, and afterwards taking downe six chimneys and building new in their place etc, errecting a new end and addition to the said dwelling house, paying and discharging severall debts and legacies which shee had resolved by her last will and testa- ment should be paid, in all to the value of five hundred pounds at least, as in the deacons bookes of accounts do appeare." From this statement, it appears that the Third Church paid at various times to Mrs. Norton and to her estate five hundred pounds, New England money, against the gift by her, at various times, of property for which her husband, in 1659, paid two hundred pounds sterling. This, however, was not all. When Samuel Sewall was in England in 1689, he " paid forty pounds to the heirs of Mr. Stephen Winthrop, for releases of Meeting- house Ground " and his own warehouse.1 The church, there- fore, paid for the land which came into its possession all that it was worth at the time, and perhaps considerably more. In say- ing this, we do not desire to detract in the slightest degree from the credit of Mrs. Norton as one of the founders and benefac- tors of the Third Church. She was warmly attached to the men and women with whom she had cast in her lot, and to the principles for the sake of which she and they had seceded from the old church. She intended, no doubt, to make a contribu- tion as valuable as that of any other founder, and whether or not her intention was literally fulfilled, she deserves honorable and grateful remembrance from the membership in every gen- eration. As we have already said, she would never have thought of claiming for her gift any consideration beyond and above that accorded to the gifts of John Hull, Thomas Savage, and the other founders of the church ; certainly, she never would have consented to the imposition for all time upon the Third Church, with which she was in full sympathy, of conditions which she did not lay upon the First Church, by whose recent
1 Sewall Papers, vol. i. p. 286.
On the return voyage from England Sewall wrote in his diary, concerning this payment, November 20, 1689: "If it should Please God, who is Righteous in all his Ways, and Holy in all his Works, to put an End to my Life be- fore I come to Boston, my Desire is . that the Money laid out with the
Winthrops, on account of the Land the South Meeting House stands on, be given the persons concerned, that so I [who? ] have done them no good, may doe them no hurt. Provided no damage happen by a Bond I have given the Winthrops, or one of their Husbands, a Copy of which is in my Papers."- Ibid., vol. i. p. 282.
226
HISTORY OF THE OLD SOUTH CHURCH.
action she had been much aggrieved. To this latter church she bequeathed one hundred pounds, to be used according to its discretion ; upon what she gave or intended to give to the former, she could not have wished to keep a mortmain grasp for all time. We should not have thought it necessary to be thus explicit on this subject, if it had not become the habit of those outside the church and congregation, who from time to time seek to meddle in the direction of its affairs, to invoke the name of Mary Norton, and to make her liberality a pretext for their interference.
Mr. Willard was admitted to the membership of the South Church February 12, 1677-8, and was installed as colleague pastor, or teacher, a few weeks later, March 31. No particu- lars of the installation services have come down to us. He was a son of Simon Willard, one of the first settlers of Concord, - a very prominent man in the colony. Samuel was born in Concord, January 31, 1640, and graduated at Harvard College in 1659. On the 13th of July, 1664, as we learn from the Rox- bury Church Records, a church was gathered at Groton, and he was ordained as its minister.1 He had been preaching there for several months, and the town had voted "That Mr. Willard, if he will accept it, shall be their minister as long as he lives, which Mr. Willard accepts, except a manifest Providence of God appeared to take him off." Such a providence appeared in 1676, when, on the 13th of March, the village was destroyed by the Indians, and the little flock was dispersed.2 Mr. Wil- lard came to Boston, and we hear of his beginning to preach almost immediately at the Third Church, of which his father had been from the first a steadfast friend. Of his removal hither, Mr. Pemberton said in a funeral sermon, preached thirty years later : -
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