USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > History of the town of Plymouth, from its first settlement in 1620, to the present time : with a concise history of the aborigines of New England, and their wars with the English, &c. > Part 7
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
60
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
[1623
the product was necessarily thrown into the common stock .- By the articles of agreement with the merchant adventurers in ' England, the personal services of the planters, and of their wives and children, were estimated at a stipulated rate, and to make common stock with property advanced, either by them or their adventurers. But this year it was judged advisable to change the system and create an individual interest, by allow- ing every family the product of its labor to its own particular use. Each family to have a certain parcel of land in propor- tion to its numbers, on the condition only of a certain portion of the corn set apart at the harvest for those who were engaged in public business and for the fishermen. This arrangement operated as a stimulus to individual industry, and a larger quantity of corn was planted this year than before. Among the passengers who arrived in the two ships, the Ann and the Little James, in July and August, were Timothy Hatherly, George Morton, and John Jenney, with the wives and children of some who had arrived before. By these, letters were re- ceived from their agent, Mr. Cushman, and from the adven- turers. Mr. Cushman writes 'Some few of your old friends are come; they come dropping to you, and by degrees; I hope ere long you shall enjoy them all.' The adventurers write, 'Let it not be grievous to you, that you have been instruments to break the ice for others, who come after with less difficulty; the honor shall be yours to the world's end. We bear you always in our breasts, and our hearty affection is towards you all, as are the hearts of hundreds more, which never saw your faces, who doubtless pray for your safety as their own.'
These new comers were extremely affected with the misera- ble condition of those who had been almost three years in the country. An interview with old friends under such suffering circumstances was truly appalling. 'The best dish we could present them with,' says governor Bradford, 'is a lobster or piece of fish, without bread, or any thing else but a cup of fair spring water; and the long continuance of this diet, with our labors abroad, has somewhat abated the freshness of our com- plexions; but God gives us health.'
First Jury .- It appears from the following ordinance, that this little band of exiles duly appreciated the privilege of trial by jury :
'It is ordained, this 17th day of December, A. D. 1623, by this court, then held, that all criminal facts, and also all mat- ters of trespass and debts between man and man, shall be tried by the verdict of twelve honest men, to be impannelled ay au- thority, in form of a jury upon their oaths.'-Colony Records.
61
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
1624]
Under August 14th of this year, Mr. Prince places the fourth marriage in the settlement, governor Bradford to Mrs. Alice Southworth. This is taken, it is said, from the governor's re- gister. A more particular account will be given under the year 1657.
On the 10th of September, the Ann sailed for London, on company account, laden with clapboards, and all the beaver and other furs which had been collected at Plymouth. Mr. Edward Winslow went passenger in the Ann, ' to inform how things are,' says governor, Bradford, 'and procure what we want.'
1624 .- The colonists had hitherto appointed but one assist- ant to the governor; but the present year, by the request of Mr. Bradford, four others were added, and to the governor was given a double vote. Governor Bradford on this occasion strongly recommended a rotation in the office, alleging that if it were any honor or benefit, others beside himself should par- take of it; if it were a burden, others should help to bear it. But he was, notwithstanding, re-elected, and repeatedly af- terwards.
On the request of the people to the governor that they might have some land for permanent use, instead of the accustomed assignment by annual lot, he gave every person an acre for himself and his family, as near to the town as was convenient .*
Edward Winslow, having been sent to England the last year, as an agent for the colony, on his return home brought three heifers and a bull, which were the first neat cattle brought to Plymouth. The settlers were destitute of milk the first four years. Mr. Winslow was absent but six months, and brought with him provisions and clothing.
When we consider the sequestered situation of our puritan fathers, and their privations and sufferings, it is scarcely credi- ble that a spirit of enmity should subsist against them on the other side of the Atlantic. But such was, the fact; a division among the adventurers took place, a party of them were dis- satisfied with the affairs of the colonists; groundless calumnies were. urged against them; and it was determined, if possible, to prevent Rev. Mr. Robinson and the remainder of his church from coming over, alleging that their narrow scheme of reli-
* The particular location of these lots to each individual family respectively, may be found in Judge Davis's edition of the Me- morial and also in Hon. Mr. Baylies' Historical Memoir, vol. i. page 257.
6
62
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
[1624
gious polity was unfriendly to a trading establishment. With Mr. Winslow, one John Lyford, a preacher, but a man of loose morals, was sent over by some of the adventurers. This man, on his first arrival, saluted the planters apparently with great reverence and humility, bowing and cringing in a very unbecoming manner, and even wept when blessing 'God that had brought him to see their faces.' The governor treated him with all respect, and admitted him into his councils with Elder Brewster, and others. He soon desired to be received into fellowship with their church, making a confession of his faith, and a humble acknowledgment of his former sinful courses, and blessed God for the opportunity of disburdening his conscience, &c. It was not long before he was observed in close intimacy with one John Oldham, a man of turbulent and restless spirit, and the mischievous effects of this association soon became manifest. They diffused a factious spirit among the more vicious part of the populace, who could be brought in opposition to the colonists, and in aid of their enemies in Eng- land. Lyford was observed to be much engaged in writing letters to go by the return ship to England, and was not very careful to conceal a knowledge of their contents from those whom they most concerned. It was even boasted openly, among the confidants of Lyford and Oldham, that their letters would effect a change of affairs at Plymouth. The governor, apprehensive that these letters would be productive of evil consequences, should they reach their destination in England, thought himself bound to intercept them. He went on board the vessel in the harbor, and, on representing to Capt. Wil- liam Pierce, the commander, his suspicions, it was agreed that the letters should be unsealed, as the welfare of the colony was doubtless deeply involved in the issue. A scene of perfidy was now disclosed, making it evident that they were scheming a total subversion of the civil authority, and of the church gov- ernment, that the affairs of the colony might devolve on themselves. Their letters were filled with base invective, and false accusations against both church and state in the new colo- ny. The governor deemed it proper to take copies of these letters; but of some of the most palpably obnoxious, he re- tained the originals, and replaced them with copies. The breaking the seals of private letters may always be justified, when for the purpose of detecting a treasonable correspond- ence, which may affect the ruin of a community. Amongst the Lyford letters was one to John Pemberton, a minister well known to be inimical to the colony, and in this letter were en- closed copies of a letter from a gentleman in England to Mr.
63
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
1624]
Brewster, and of another from Mr. Winslow to Rev. Mr. Robinson. These two copies were taken from the original sealed letters by Lyford, when on board the ship while laying at Gravesend bound to America.
Governor Bradford remained silent respecting the informa- tion which he had obtained, but kept a strict watch over the conduct of the culprits, that their adherents and their designs might be more clearly discovered. Oldham soon became obstreperous, refusing to comply with his military duty, when, according to rule, called on to watch. He even insulted the captain and attacked him with a knife, and ranted furiously against all who attempted to quiet him. He was imprisoned, and a slight punishment being inflicted, he made confession and was released. Soon after this, Lyford, with his accompli- ces, proceeded to extremity, in defiance of the ruling authority, and without consulting the governor, church, or elder, set up a public meeting apart on the Lord's day, and attempted to ad- minister the sacrament. In this crisis of affairs, the governor summoned a court of the whole company, and preferred his charges against Lyford and Oldham. With audacious face they denied the charges, and required proof. On this extraor- dinary occasion, governor Bradford expatiated on the princi- pal objects and views of their migration here, the toils and sufferings to which they had been subjected, that they might enjoy the ordinances of God in freedom and quietness. In adverting to the case of Lyford, he reminded him that he had not participated in those sufferings, nor in the expense, but was sent over, and, with his large family, received kindly and supported at much expense; and now to plot against them and seek their ruin, was most unjust and perfidious. Lyford still denied the charge, and pretended not to understand the language addressed to him. The governor could no longer withhold the overwhelming truth. The letters from his own hand were now produced, and where is the man with sufficient effrontery not to be utterly confounded? Oldham began to be furious, and to rage bitterly that their letters had been inter- cepted. He endeavored to excite a mutiny among the people, exhorting them to show their courage, that now was the time to side with him in open rebellion, and he would stand by them. But he gained not a man; all were confounded and even the seditiously disposed were quelled through fear. The governor now proceeded to reprove Lyford for his base hypocrisy and treachery; in abusing his friends, in breaking the seals of pri- vate letters and taking copies; and at this time he caused Lyford's letters to be read to the whole company. He was
64
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
[1224
next reminded of his confession when admitted to church- fellowship, and his saying at that time that he did not hold himself a minister till he could have a new calling for that pur- pose, and yet, now he had drawn a party aside, and, without acquainting the governor or the church, was about to adminis- ter the sacrament, by virtue of his former calling. He only replied, that many persons had complained to him of abuses, but the persons he named denied his assertions. At length the miscreant, with eyes streaming with tears, confessed 'that he feared he was a reprobate, and that his sins were so great that God would not pardon them; he was "unsavory salt," and that he had so wronged them that he could never make them amends ;' confessing ' all he had written against them was false and naught, both for motive and manner.'
Both of these men were convicted, and the court sentenced them to be expelled from the plantation. Oldham was to depart immediately, though his wife and family had liberty to tarry all winter, or till he could remove them comfortably. Lyford had liberty to tarry six months, and the governor intended to remit his punishment, if his repentance proved sincere. He acknowl- edged that his sentence was just, far less than he deserved, and afterwards confessed his sin before the church with tears in abundance. He acknowledged that he had slanderously abused the people, expecting that a majority would side with him, and that he should gain his point; and he now blessed God that his designs were frustrated. He confessed himself to be actuated by pride, vain glory and self-love; that his eyes and his ears were shut against all good; and that if God should make him a vagabond on the earth, as was Cain, it would be just. Such was the apparent sincerity of these professions of sorrow and repentance, that many ' tender hearted persons' had pity and compassion on him, and he was again permitted to teach, and some were willing to fall on their knees to have his sentence remitted.
Can it be credited, that in less than three months after his conviction, and before the term of his probation had expired, notwithstanding all his tearful confessions before God and the church, he should be found guilty of a new offence? He actually wrote another slanderous letter to his abettors in England, but the person to whom it was entrusted delivered it to the governor. John Oldham departed from Plymouth to Nantasket, and Lyford accepted of an invitation to be the minister of Cape Ann. At the annual election in March, 1625, Oldham returned to Plymouth, in violation of his sentence the last year, which prohibited his return without the consent of
65
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
1624]
the Governor. He behaved again in such a factious and abu- sive manner, that his own associates were ashamed to be seen in his company, and it became necessary to confine him, till some punishment could be prepared for him. He was made to run the gauntlet through a double file of armed men, and each man was ordered to give him a blow as he passed, with the butt end of his musket, saying at the same time, 'go and mend your manners; ' he was then conducted to his boat, which lay at the water's side for his departure.
Oldham afterwards applied himself to trade at Nantasket, with commendable industry and good success. He undertook a voyage to Virginia, and, while in imminent danger of ship- wreck, his mind was deeply impressed with a sense of his evil course of life, and he made many confessions and promises of amendment, if God should spare his life, and these vows he verified by a more correct course, insomuch, that the people of Plymouth permitted him to come into the place, whenever it might be convenient. Some time after, while on a trading voyage at Block Island, having some contention with the In- dians, he fell a sacrifice to their barbarity. As to Lyford, Mr. Winslow, while in England, made such disclosures of his con- duct when in Ireland, as could not fail to confound his best, friends and adherents; and among the adventurers he was finally condemned, as unfit for the ministry. After suffering many disappointments and troubles, he went to Nantasket, then to Salem, and afterwards to Virginia, where he sickened and died. The affair of Lyford and Oldham is narrated by Secre- tary Morton, in language of great severity if not prejudice, and some suggestions of caution in its perusal are found in other authors.
Captain Smith's statistical account of Plymouth, at this period is thus condensed in Prince's Chronology. 'At New Plymouth, there are now about 180 persons, some cattle and goats, but many swine and poultry; thirty-two dwelling houses; the town is impaled about half a mile in compass. On a high mount in the town they have a fort well built of wood, lime and stone, and a fair watch-house; the place it seems is healthful, for in the three last years, notwithstanding their great want of most necessaries, hath not one died of the first planters: and this year they have freighted a ship of 180 tons. The general stock already employed by the adventurers to Plymouth, is about seven hundred pounds.'
In the same ship which brought Mr. Lyford to Plymouth, came a carpenter and a salt maker, both sent by the adven- turers. 'The carpenter,' says governor Bradford, ' is an honest 6 *
66
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
[1625
and very industrious man, quickly builds us two very good and strong shallops, with a great and strong lighter, and had hewn timber for two ketches; but this was spoilt; for in the heat of the season of the year, he falls into a fever and dies, to our grief, loss and sorrow.' The salt maker he describes as one ignorant, foolish, and self-willed, and who produced nothing. On the 5th of August, Mr. Thomas Prince, who was afterwards governor, was married to Miss Patience Brewster, being the ninth marriage which had been solemnized in the colony.
1625 .- Great dissensions having prevailed among the mer- chant adventurers in London, and being under considerable pe- cuniary embarrassments, the company this year, 1625, dissolved, and the major part of its members relinquished all interest in the affairs of the company, and left the colonists to provide for themselves. The colonists were, this year, so successful in their crops of Indian corn, that they were overstocked, and, wishing to convert part of it to some profit in trade, and having no other vessels than two shallops, they laid a deck on one of them, and sent her, laden with corn, to Kennebeck. Although the shallop was provided with a deck amid-ship to keep the corn dry, yet the men were exposed to the weather without shelter. Having no seamen for the service, Mr. Winslow and some of the ' old standards,' performed this voyage, in a tem- pestuous season, on the approach of winter. They disposed of the corn to advantage, and returned with seven hundred pounds of beaver, besides other furs, and at the same time opened a profitable trade for future occasions.
The merchant adventurers at London sent two ships on a trading voyage to New-England; on their return they were laden with dry fish and furs; the smaller ship was towed by the larger till they reached the English channel, when, being cast off, she was captured by a Turkish man of war and carried into Sallee, where the master and his men were made slaves. In the larger ship, Capt. Miles Standish went over as agent in be- half of the plantation, in reference to some affairs depending between them and the adventurers. He providentially escaped the fate of those in the other vessel.
1626 .- In April of this year, Capt. Miles Standish returned from England. He was the bearer of tidings which occasion- ed universal grief and sorrow. It was the death of the Rev. John Robinson, the beloved pastor of the Leyden and Ply- mouth church. Mr. Robinson died at Leyden, March 1st, 1625, in the fiftieth year of his age. A greater loss could not have been sustained in their circumstances. A particular de- tail of the character of this great and good man will be found under the head of Ecclesiastical History, in this volume. After
67
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
1626]
his death his son, Isaac, with his mother, came over to Amer- ica, and settled at Barnstable. Mr. Prince observes, he was a " venerable man whom I have often seen." He lived to the age of ninety and left male posterity in the county of Barnsta- ble. The Rev. John Robinson who was many years after min- ister of Duxbury, was born in Dorchester from another family, and graduated at Harvard college in 1695. Another instance of death very afflictive to the colonists, was announced by captain Standish. It was Mr. Robert Cushman, one of their most valued friends. Mr. Cushman had resided in England since his return from Plymouth in 1621. He was a man of estimable character, and rendered essential service to the col- onists. When at Plymouth in 1621, although a layman, he preached a sermon ' on the sin and danger of self-love.' This was the first sermon ever preached in New England : accord- ing to tradition, the spot where it was delivered was the com- mon house of the plantation, on the southerly side of Leyden street. It was printed in London in 1622, and afterwards re- printed in Boston, in 1724. Another edition was published at Plymouth in 1785, with an appendix, giving some account of the author. In 1822, this celebrated sermon was again pub- lished at Stockbridge, with the appendix.
In governor Bradford's letter-book, a fragment of which is preserved, is a letter from four of the adventurers written eighteenth December, 1624, said by Governor Bradford to be in Mr. Cushman's hand-writing. It gives much insight into their affairs, especially relative to their connexion with the ad- venturers, and evidences the good sense and excellent spirit of the writer. He wrote about the same time to Governor Bradford. In the same letter-book, is a copy of Governor Bradford's reply, dated June 9th, 1625, probably sent by Capt. Standish. In his letters to Governor Bradford, Mr. Cushman expresses a hope of coming to them in one of the next ships. His son Thomas, at that time a youth, whom he brought with him in the Fortune, in 1621, was then in the family of governor Bradford. 'I must entreat you,' says he in his last letter, ' to have a care of my son as your own, and I shall rest bound unto you.' The request, we can have no doubt, was sacredly re- garded. This son became a useful member of the society in which he was nurtured from childhood. He was chosen ruling elder of the church in 1649, after the death of Elder Brewster. He married Mary, a daughter of Mr. Allerton, and died 1691, aged eighty-four. A tombstone was erected to his memory in 1715, by the church and congregation at Plymouth. He left several children. One of them, Isaac, was the first minister of Plympton. His widow survived till 1699. She is the person
68
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
[1627
mentioned by Hutchinson, vol. ii. p. 408, as the only one of the first comers surviving in 1698. Descendants from this respectable stock are numerous, especially in Plympton, Dux- bury and Middleborough.'-Memorial. In the will of Elder Thomas Cushman, dated October 22d, 1690, he mentions his sons Thomas, Isaac, Elkanah and Eleazer. Also his wife Mary, and his daughters Sarah Hook, and Lydia Harlow .- His sons Thomas, Isaac and Elkanah, settled in Plympton and died there, and probably Eleazer also.
1627 .- For greater convenience of trade, the Plymouth colonists this summer built a small pinnace at Manomet, a place twenty miles to the south of Plymouth, (Buzzard's Bay,) to which place they transported their goods. Having taken them up a creek within four or five miles, they carried them over land to the vessel, and thus avoided the dangerous navigation around Cape Cod, and made their voyage to the southward in far less time, and with much less hazard. For the safety of their vessel and goods, they also built a house, and kept some servants there, who planted corn, raised hogs, and were always ready to go out with the bark, and this became an establishment of some importance. In the time of the late war with Great Britain, the editor of the Memorial says, he had an opportunity to witness at Sandwich a revival of this mode of conveyance, to which the inhabitants of Cape Cod found it convenient to resort for the purpose of avoiding the risk of capture by the enemy's cruisers on the coast.
At this period the colonists received numerous letters from their affectionate friends and brethren at Leyden. They were sorrowing under the irreparable loss of their beloved pastor, and pining with little hope for a re-union with their christian brethren at Plymouth. They were poor and dejected, and the society was hastening to a dissolution. The event of a re- union was equally desirable on the part of their friends at Ply- mouth. Governor Bradford and his associates were determined to make every possible effort to effect the object; no pecuniary sacrifices were deemed too great. Mr. Allerton had been sent several times, as agent to London, to negotiate a settlement of all pecuniary concerns with the company of adventurers, and to solicit assistance in behalf of the Leyden church. He re- turned in the spring of this year, after a successful execution of his commission, and was so fortunate as to purchase all the inter- est of the company of adventurers for the planters at Plymouth.
This year it was deemed expedient to distribute portions of land to each person, allotting to each twenty acres of arable land, five acres in breadth by the water side and four acres in length, in addition to the acre of homestead and garden plot,
69
HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH.
1627]
formerly allotted. There was also a division of the cattle and goats. In the edition of the Memorial, by Judge Davis, page 389, will be found a particular allotment of cows and. goats to individual families, and by that list the state of several families may be determined. The division of cows and goats took place soon after the connexion of the Plymouth settlers with the company of merchant adventurers in England was dissolved .- In 1624, Mr. James Shirley, merchant of London, and one of the adventurers, a warm friend to the pilgrims, gave a heifer to the plantation to begin a stock for the poor. In 1638, the townsmen of New Plymouth met at the governor's, all the in- habitants from Jones's river to Eel river, respecting the disposi- tion of the stock of cows given by Mr. Shirley. The amount of the stock was very considerable, and a respectable commit- tee was appointed to dispose of the same. In one of his let- ters, this benevolent gentleman says, ' If you put off any bull calves, or when they grow to bigger stature, I pray let that money's worth purchase hose and shoes for the poor of Ply- mouth, or such necessaries as they may want; and this I pray make known to all.' 'All this gentleman's letters,' observes the editor of the Memorial, 'exhibit the most estimable disposi- tion. When Plymouth shall distinguish its streets and public places with the name of ancient worthies, that of Shirley should not be forgotten.'
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.