USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Shirley > History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts, from its early settlement to A.D. 1882 > Part 63
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Second .- The sustaining of his claims, by a legal process, seems to give force to the supposition that William, and not Richard, was the ancestor of the Longleys of Groton and Shirley, and that if there was a Richard he was of another family.
In 1638 the settlers of Lynn made a division of their lands among the grantees, and when the name of Richard Longley came up, there was no one of the name to respond, but a William Longley came forward and declared himself the true claimant, though by mis- take, or from some cause, the name of Richard had been substituted for that of William. The case that grew out of this mistake was tried at a court held at Ipswich, March 26, 1661, and the claim of William Longley was then and there sustained. The testimony in the case is here copied from the New-England Genealogical Register, vol. 7, pp. 188-9.
" Andrew Mansfield, aged about thirty-eight years, testifieth that he hath been an inhabitant of the town of Lynn about two or three and twenty years, and the same year the said Mansfield came to live at Lynn,
*
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HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
William Longley came to be an inhabitant of Lynn, also, and hath ever since by himself and family been an inhabitant of the said town and bought house and land there, and a little while after his coming to Lynn town, the town of Lynn distributed several of their lands to the inhabitants of the town, and that William Longley made a demand of said town about eleven or twelve years since, at a general town meeting to lay him out his proportion of land according to the town record, the records were viewed, and therein was found forty acres, granted to one Richard Longley, but his name being William and not Richard, and some asking the said Longley whether he had paid for the laying it out ; he answered that he had not, the vote passed in the negative by the major part ; also that the said Longley hath been called by name Langley, but have never known any inhabitant of Lynn called Longley or Langley but this William Longley and his family.
"Sworn in court held at Ipswich, the 26 of March, 1661. "ROBERT LORD, Clerk."
" Clement Coldham, of Gloster, in a case of difference depending between William Longley of Lynn and the said town of Lynn, saith that he this deponent hath known the above named Longley to have been an inhabitant of the town of Lynn, for about twenty and three years, and that about the time of the said Longley's coming to the said town, or shortly after, there was a grant and distribution of land proportionably to all the present householders, inhabitants of said town of Lynn ; also that about twelve years since the said W. Longley did in my hearing demand his proportion of land according to a former grant, and this demand being at a general town meeting, some present answered that [if] he, the said Longley could prove lands to be granted to him by the town he might have it or else not ; some present granting that there was land granted to Richard Langley, but none to William Longley: further this deponent being an inhabitant of the town of Lynn, before William Longley came to the said town, and many years after, affirm that the said Longley was for many years called Langh, and not Longley, and is frequently so called unto this day ; neither hath this deponent known any inhabi- tant of Lynn called by the name of Langley or Longley but only this William Longley and his family.
"Sworn in court held at Ipswich the 26 of March, 1661. "ROBERT LORD, Clerk." .
" Hugh Bert, aged seventy years or thereabouts, saith that he this deponent having been an inhabitant of the town of Lynn for about five and twenty years, doth testify, etc. [similar to Coldham] ; further this deponent testifieth that the said William Longley about twelve years since, did come into a public town meeting at Lynn and did there demand his proportion of land according to the record in the town book, the which being searched and found to be written Richard Longley, they cast it in the negative by the major part.
"Sworn in court held at Ipswich, the 26 of March, 1661.
"ROBERT LORD, Clerk."
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APPENDIX.
It would seem, from this testimony, that the name of Richard was written by mistake for William. It appears, also, that William Longley was there as early as 1637 or 1638, and that Coldham was there before Longley came, and that he never knew any resident of Lynn of the name of Longley or Langley but William and his family. Hence the error of making Richard Longley the first immigrant and the ancestor of the New England race of Longleys is attributable to this mistake in the town records of Lynn.
"And yet," as Lewis says in his Annals of Lynn, "it is a little remarkable that at the 'generall towne meeting' at which his [W. Longley's] petition was considered, there should not have been numbers who really knew whether he was the person intended in the distribution which was made but twelve years before. It is difficult to conclude that the town was determined to withold the land, right or wrong, or that the petitioner was fraudulently endeavoring to gain it by boldly claiming what he knew was intended for another. It seems, however, on the whole, pretty well established, though there remained room for doubt, that William was intended. Yet it must be added, that there was a Richard Longley in some part of Lynn, in 1636, who had two sons, William and Jonathan. He may have left town before the distribution, and without the deponents having any knowledge of him."
.
Thus much from the Annals of Lynn. It is, however, strange that if there had been a Richard Longley in Lynn within twelve years, that no one then knew of his whereabouts, and that one of another given name could recover judgment, in the court, for land that belonged to another.
Third .- Although, for the above mentioned reasons, we cannot endorse the generally received opinion of the Longley origin, without a doubt, it has been somewhat difficult to ascertain the true relation of such origin. According to the town records of Groton, William Longley died there Nov. 29, 1680. From the same source we learn that he became a resident there as early as 1661, and probably removed there from Lynn about that time. He was admitted a free- man March 14, 1638, and as subsequent events prove, became a grantee of Lynn at or about that time. His residence in Lynn was continued for twenty-two years, and there, it is presumed, the most of his children were born. Wyman, in his " Charlestown Genealogy and Estates," gives the following names: 1. John; 2. Mary, who married Samuel Leman in 1666; 3. Sarah, who married (first) Thomas Rand, in 1679 : she married (second) Benjamin Watts, in 1701. He also had a son, William, Jr., who, with the most of his family, was slain in Groton, by the Indians, in 1694, when the Groton settlement was,for a time broken up. Wyman supposes that he had children born at Groton. He was married in England, and according to Wyman's account, the name of his wife was Joanna, and other evidence is at hand to prove that her name was Joanna Goffe, and that she was a sister of Thomas Goffe, who was Deputy-Governor of the Massachusetts Company, that received a grant from the crown, March 19, 1628.
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HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
All readers of New England colonial history know the position · assumed by Goffe in securing and sustaining the colonies. He was a member of both the Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Com- panies, according to Palfrey's History of New England, Nelson's History of Waltham, and Drake's History of Middlesex County. He is mentioned in Gov. Winthrop's Diary and History of the Colony, Vol. 1, pp. 9 and 14. And in the appendix of Vol. 2 it is stated that Goffe was a merchant of London, and chartered some of the ships that brought over Gov. Winthrop and his party of emigrants in 1630, by which he lost heavily, as appears from an entry in Gov. Winthrop's diary, Oct. 29, 1630.
His family position was such as to show his patrician birth, else he could not have been elected deputy-governor of the company. Matthew Cradock, who was a wealthy merchant, was chosen gov- ernor, and both were sworn into office, March 23, 1629.
From whatever family, therefore, William Longley descended, it is certain that his was an elevated position, when measured by English custom, from the fact that his wife was a sister of Deputy-Governor Goffe.
The fact of this kinship is placed beyond doubt by the testimony following, from minutes of the General Court, preserved at the state- house in Boston :
" March 1, 1734. A petition of Robert Rand of Boston, sailmaker, showing that his great uncle, Thomas Goffe, Esq., Deputy-Governor of the Company, for settling the late colony of the Massachusetts Bay, was at great expense in bringing forward and planting the said colony, and after large adventures here, he took a voyage for this country, but died on the passage, and never received any gratuity from the Planters or Settlers, nor any person for him; that the petitioner's grandmother was a sister to the said Mr. Goffe, and that he is eldest son to her daughter ; praying that forasmuch as the colony was greatly benefited by the experience and estate of the said Mr. Goffe, and never received anything therefor, and the petitioner being reduced to low and necessitous circumstances, that the court, of their compassionate consideration, would make him a grant of some of the unappropri- ated land of the Province, for reasons aforesaid."
"April 16, 1734. A petition of Robert Rand of Boston, as entered the first of March last, and referred, read again, and ordered that the petitioner have liberty, by a surveyor and chainmen, under oath to lay out one thousand acres of some of the unappropriated lands of the Province and present a Plot thereof to this court within. twelve months, for confirmation."
"July 3, 1734. A Plot of one thousand acres of land laid out to satisfy a grant of this court made to Robert Rand, in April last, lying on the east side of the Merrimac River, to the northward of little, Cohass Brook, great Cohass River running through the same, was presented for allowance, etc."
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APPENDIX.
"Dec. 5, 1734. R. Rand sold the above to his brother, Dr. Wm. Rand, an apothecary, for £500. Middlesex Deeds, Vol. 70, p. 165."
This goes to show that Joanna Goffe was the ancestress of the New England Longleys.
An esteemed friend, a descendant of William Longley who settled at Groton in 1661, sent me a pen and ink sketch of the Longley arms, here inserted, which she copied from Vol. 98 of the Chetham Society's publications at the Boston Athenæum. In relation to it she wrote : " From that book I learn that it was first used by Roger de Penul- bury of the manor of Penulbury, Lancashire, about the early part of the thirteenth century, and is now extant on a grant of a manor to his son. The manor of Penulbury passed by marriage to the Pest- wich family, and in the same manner to the early Longleys, seated at Langley, parish of Middleton, and at Agecroft, in Lancashire, which manors of Penulbury and Agecroft were a part of the inheritance of the four daughters, co-heirs of Sir Robert Longley, who married Cicely, daughter of Sir Edmund Trafford, and was the last of the oldest and main line of the Longleys, dying about 1567.
"This device of the cockatrice, sable, with golden beak on a white shield, (argent, a cockatrice sable, beaked or,) was undoubtedly used by the main family, and also by some of its branches, certainly by those settled about Manchester, of whom three, named William Longley, were rectors of the church of Pest- wich, and a letter of John, son of the last, dated 1616, is printed in Vol. 96, p. 27, Chetham Society's publications, and was sealed with a cockatrice, quar- tered with two other coats. The last rector of Pestwich was a zealous Puritan, and connected with several Puritan preachers in the neigh- borhood of Manchester, of whom was Edmund Longley, minister of Oldham in 1587, and James Longley, vicar of Leyland in 1611."
The fact that this same device has been seen with some of the old families of New England,-descend- ants of William Longley and Joanna (Goffe) Longley,-is presumptive evi- dence that he descended from the English Longleys above named.
To one branch of this family Thomas Longley belonged, who was born in 1370, died in 1437, and was Bishop of Durham, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor of England, etc. His device is thus described :
" LONGLEY CREST .- An arm couped at the shoulder, resting on the elbow, holding a sword in pale, enfiled with a savage's head couped. PALE of six, silver and green, by division attenuated."
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HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
BB. ( See page 532.)
Eleazer Melvin, the father of Mrs. Joshua Longley, and his brother, David Melvin, were among the patriots of Concord during the dark days of Indian and French wars. At that fierce and obsti- nate battle, fought May 8, 1725, at Pigwacket, both of the Melvins were engaged. Thirty-three white men were attacked by over forty Indians, and after a most bloody engagement, the white men remained masters of the ground, and the Indians were killed and dispersed. Out of the thirty-three white men that went into the battle, twelve were killed, three were mortally wounded, nine were wounded but were able to march, and nine were unhurt, among whom were the two Melvins.
"The war of the Austrian Succession opened in 1744. Its crown- ing glory was the capture of the stronghold of Louisburg, by an army of farmers and fishermen. To that army Concord sent Captain David and Lieutenant Eleazer Melvin, both survivors of Lovewell's fight, and a dozen more. The Captain was wounded, and, after twenty years of hardship and peril came home to die." He died Nov. 18, 1745. His brother Eleazer kept bright the family record. Returning from the successful siege, he went back to his old business of Indian scouting, and led a company, in 1746, to join the expedition against Canada, and made what was called " the long march," into the very borders of the enemy's country. The next year he was stationed with fifty men, at Northfield, to protect the frontier. In 1748 he recruited a new company of rangers, mainly from his native town, and through the spring of that year he was at Fort Dummer, near Brattleborough. With eighteen men he started from that post on a scout through the woods, to Crown Point. When he reached Lake Champlain two canoes came in sight, and though he was but a mile distant from the enemy's fort, he imprudently permitted his men to fire upon them. He retreated ; but on the banks of the West River, where Londonderry now stands, was overtaken by one hundred and fifty Indians. He was himself surrounded and had his belt cut by a flying hatchet, but finally succeeded, with twelve men, in reaching Fort Dummer. He lived to command a company in Governor Shirley's expedition against the French forts and settlements in Maine, and died soon after his return. He died Oct. 18, 1754. See Drake's History of Middlesex, p. 384. See also Shattuck's History of Concord.
CC. (See page 668.)
Miss Willard was a descendant of Major Simon Willard, who came from England to America in 1635, and who was the ancestor of all or the most of that name who have been scattered . over New England and all the states of the Union. She was a great-grand-daughter of Henry Willard, who was the fourth son of Major Simon. She was born in Lancaster in 1 740. She lived with a married sister,-Mrs.
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APPENDIX.
James Johnson, at Charlestown No. 4, when the Indians made a raid upon that town and carried the Johnson family into captivity. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and their three children-the eldest was but six years of age-Miriam Willard, and two of their neighbors who hap- pened to be with them, were forced to journey through a pathless wilderness, to St. Francis, in Canada. From there they were carried to Montreal, where they were sold to the French. Miriam was soon redeemed, and as she had no means of returning home at once, she became a resident in the family of the Lieutenant-Governor, where she remained two or more years and supported herself with her needle. During her residence with the French she was treated with uniform kindness, and she left the Governor's house with regret, in which the family participated, she receiving from that family the gift of four crowns.
She, with her sister, Mrs. Johnson, and her two youngest children, after having been in captivity nearly four years, sailed for England, as the only means by which they could gain their New-England home. They landed at Plymouth. From thence they sailed to Portsmouth, and thence to New York, by the way of Cork, Ireland. Miss Willard, through the aid of friends, found her way to Hartford, Conn., and from thence she went to her former home at Charlestown No. 4 ; but at the time of her marriage she was living in Harvard.
In her march to Canada, after the fatal night of her captivity, she was so young that her captors did not bind her during the night, as they did their male captives, but simply required her to lie upon the ground, while an Indian lay upon either side of her, with cords passed over her body and under theirs, so that the least stir on her part would arouse them. She testified, however, to their modest and correct deportment during her continuance with them, though entirely subjected to their control.
The periods of her short yet eventful life may be thus summed up : Born at Lancaster, 1740; carried into Indian captivity, Aug. 31, 1754; returned to her home, 1758; married Rev. Mr. Whitney of Shirley, 1762 ; died at Shirley, 1769, aged twenty-nine years. She had no children.
Her sister, Mrs. Johnson, who was her fellow-captive, was twice married, and had fourteen children, thirty-nine grand-children, and four great-grand-children. In closing the interesting narrative of her captivity and subsequent life, Mrs. Johnson said : "Instances of longevity are remarkable in my family. My aged mother, before her death, could say to me : 'Arise, daughter, and go to thy daughter, for thy daughter's daughter has got a daughter ;' a command which few mothers can make and be obeyed."
EE. ( See page 675.)
This closet-hiding was an excellent device for the time, as the door was entirely concealed from outside view by the chest of drawers that was placed before it. Had the woman been discovered, her life
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HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
would have been endangered, if not sacrificed, by the mob, exasper- ated by passion and rum to deeds of direst ruin.
A Shaker, of a later date, has endeavored to commemorate the event of "Mother's" incarceration by a poetical description, which he has entitled
" MOTHER'S CLOSET.
" And this is the place which was Mother's dark prison All one dreary night, when this cottage was new ; The wicked surrounding till morn had arisen, To smile on the wilderness glittering with dew.
" The history told me has oft been repeated ; But now its impression is vividly mine ;
A dreadful imprisonment, though it defeated The purpose of men in their cruel design.
" We shrink from the thought of the dread suffocation, To these narrow limits confined for the night,
While rioters threaten with fierce indignation, Whose programme the angels of darkness indite.
"But Mother was cheered by the visions of glory, Which need not the light of the sun's piercing ray ; To no human creature can words tell the story- The vision of God is perpetual day.
" As once in Gethsemane 'angels' attended The Savior of men, in the hour of his grief, So here Mother Ann was by heaven befriended,- The breath of God's Paradise brings her relief.
" Yet have we not looked with undue satisfaction On that witty thought, or that presence of mind, By which she was kept in this painful inaction, Thus cast into prison with friendly design ?
" She knew that her life to her children was dearest, And might in God's providence thus be secured ; But were not her sufferings among the severest Of all persecutions that Mother endured ?
" The scene is so dreadful, a sad contemplation The visitor fills with sensations of grief ;
A long dreary night in that dread situation- What angel of mercy did bring her relief ?
" How different the mansion she then was preparing For those who were seeking her life to destroy ; How unlike the message that she was declaring,- The news of redemption, glad tidings of joy.
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APPENDIX.
" What manner of men with pretensions to honor, Could this little cottage the whole night surround ?
' That woman !' they cry, 'and our hands are upon her, Or your habitation shall come to the ground !'
" But now a petition is sent by a sister : * ' My babe at my home for this meeting I left ; Permit me to go ; ' and they could not resist her, Unless of humanity wholly bereft.
" By this honest plea was her exit effected, And word to the proper authorities sent, Who, knowing that all should by law be protected, In duty were bound such abuse to prevent.
" One thing I am happy to learn from tradition, That no delegation was sent from this town ; Some three or four others, in that expedition, Must share all the fame of these 'men of renown.'
" The rioters, trusting to non-intervention, Knew not the despatches the sister conveyed, Which straightway exposed this protracted convention, And brought the strong arm of the law to their aid.
"' The earth helped the woman ;' so John had predicted ; By ' powers that be,' it was ordained of God; The officers came and the plot interdicted, And Mother was rescued from their cruel rod.
" Her life, it is said, they were sworn to destroy it, Unless her new doctrine she then would suppress ; But this could not be, and now thousands enjoy it; And her blessed mission the world shall confess.
" What must they have thought, when the whole 'delegation ' Were fed by her order, whose life they design ? When friendly hands furnish a gen'rous collation,- 'Twas surely a strange invitation to dine !
"' What means '-they enquire-' this riotous meeting, Surrounding this dwelling the whole night, of course ? Now men, in the name of the commonwealth, greeting : We bid you disperse, or the laws we enforce !'
" The rioters leave with pretended submission, But Mother soon tells you of 'visions of blood ;' They follow the elders while yet on their mission, The dragon resolving to pour out his flood.
*Molly Randall.
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HISTORY OF SHIRLEY.
" Our unyielding heralds of peace and salvation By these cruel men were to Harvard pursued ; And now they are treated as 'foes to the nation ; ' -- What language can picture the scene that ensued !
" But let us not shrink from rehearsing the story, For ages, their history this will declare, How meekly they suffered and gave God the glory, For counting them worthy his message to bear.
" A chosen committee report resolutions, Well cheered by the crowd, 'That the two English priests, For doctrines adverse to their church institutions, Be faithfully scourged, and then fully released.'
" Who could but think of the day when our Savior Beneath the vile scourge was commanded to bleed ? Like Silas and Paul did their righteous behavior Prove these holy messengers martyrs indeed.
"' James Whittaker first may prepare for the sentence,'- For he was chief speaker, and mighty in truth ; His eloquent preaching of faith and repentance Was rapidly gaining American youth.
" Art thou an American? Listen, my brother : A people who fled from oppression and fear, They should be the last to oppress one another, Where freedom of thought is accounted so dear.
" O Liberty ! sacred to millions uncounted, Thy standard has risen since that fearful hour ; What bitter affliction thy cause hath surmounted ;-- God grant that the earth may acknowledge thy power.
" On thy sacred principles men could then trample, And cruelly scourge by the public highway, The servants of Jesus, whose holy example Was proving the dawn of millennial day !
" By choice of a man in his full strength and vigor, Who toils until weary, then rests to renew The blows he inflicted, with unsparing rigor ; In number the stripes must have been 'not a few.'
" The story I've heard as all parties have told it, On both sides, at least, it is just to remark, So painful the scene should you chance to unfold it, You scarcely can draw the sad picture too dark.
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APPENDIX.
" But let us forbear, and here leave to the reader The sad contemplation of good Elder James ;- The call was then made, ' William Lee, the chief leader,' And thus to the multitude Father proclaims :
""' I will not be bound to that tree like my brother, But kneel down and suffer what God lets you do.' Which done, they commence, just the same as the other, And all were expecting the same would go through.
" The brethren and sisters were held by that party ; For each claimed a preference in sharing the blows ; Such ardent affection, so pure and so hearty, From true Christian feeling undoubtedly flows.
" The envy was raised, at beholding such union, To those missionaries who cheerfully bled ; But little they thought that the bonds of communion Were sealed and cemented by blood which they shed. .
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