USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plymouth > Lives of the governors of New Plymouth, and Massachusetts bay; from the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1620, to the union of the two colonies in 1692 > Part 10
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Besides the complaints of Gorton and his company, Governor Winslow was especially instructed to answer the charges of a want of religious freedom in Massa- chusetts, and denial of civil privileges to such as were not church-members, preferred against that colony, by Robert Child," William Vassall, and others. In answer to the charge, that the Massachusetts government was intolerant and arbitrary, he was specially instructed to
* Robert Child was a physician, and had taken his degree at the University of Padua, in Italy. Ile came to this country partly with the view of exploring the mines ; purchased the patent of Richard Vines of Saco, in 1645; was un- successful in his mining speculations ; afterwards became embroiled in political controversy, in Massachusetts, and was fined and imprisoned for sedition. Ile went to England in 1617, and never returned. Major John Child, who accont- panied Vassall to England, was his brother. Winthrop says, " he was major of a regiment in Kent." See page 126.
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sav, that " we have four or five hundred express laws, as near the laws of England as may be ; and where we have no law, we judge by the word of God as near as we can." And in reference to the well known objections in Massachusetts to the scheme of a general govern- ment for New England, he was instructed to assert for that colony their absolute power of government, as given to them by their charter .*
Governor Winslow had several hearings before the commissioners for the affairs of New England, among whom were the Earl of Warwick and Sir Henry Vane, both zealous Puritans, and friendly to New England, by whose influence, doubtless, the colony escaped censure.
The times had greatly changed, and the Puritans being in power in England, Mr. Winslow had great advantage in this business, from the credit and esteem which he enjoyed with that party. We have no account of the particulars of this agency, but only in general, that "by his prudent management he prevented any damage, and cleared the colony from any blame or dis- lionour."
But Massachusetts was not alone in her dread of the advance of sectarism. Rhode Island had been excluded from the league on account of her toleration of what was deemed to be heresy, and a better understanding of the true principles of liberty was at the same time struggling manfully for a foothold in New Plymouth. Governor Winslow, in a letter to Governor Winthrop, dated "24 (9th) 1645," laments in the following strain the pre- valence of a spirit of toleration in New Plymouth, which had already gained over a majority of the deputies, and
* Savage's Winthrop, ii. 300.
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three of the assistants: "The sum of it was, (says he,) to allow and maintain full and free tolerance of religion to all men that would preserve the civil peace, and sub- mit unto government ; and there was no limitation or exception against Turk, Jew, Papist, Arian, Socinian, Nicolaitan, Familist, or any other, &c. But our Gov- ernor and several of us having expressed the sad consequences would follow, especially myself and Mr. Prence, yet notwithstanding it was required, according to order, to be voted.' But the Governor would not suf- fer it to come to the vote, as being that indeed would eat out the power of godliness, &c. By this you may see that all the troubles of N. E. are not at the Massa- chusetts."*
William Vassall, mentioned above, was of Scituate ; a man somewhat in advance of the age in which he lived, in his views of civil and religious liberty.t He was one of the agents sent to England in 1646, with complaints against the Massachusetts colony. Soon after his arrival there, a pamphlet, purporting to have been written by Major John Child, and no doubt prepared with the con- currence if not assistance of Vassall, was published, under the quaint title of ". Vew England's Jonas cast up at London," &c .- a small quarto, of 22 pages, printed in London, in 1617. In a postscript to this pamphlet,
* Hutchinson's Coll. relative to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 154.
t William Vassall was one of the first assistants of Massachusetts, chosen in England ir. 1620, and came over in 1630, in the fleet with Winthrop. He soon after returned to England ; but came back in 1635, and settled in Scituate in the colony of New Plymouth, where he remained until about 1650, when, having laid the foundation of several large estates in the West Indies, he re- moved to Barbados, and died there in 1655. Hutchinson says he was a man of pleasant and affable manners, but always in opposition to government both in Massachusetts and Plymouth.
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Major Child attacks the book published by Winslow against Gorton, (" Hypocrisie Unmasked,") and charac- terises him as "a principal opposer of the laws of Eng- land in New England."#
Winthrop characterises Vassall as "a man never at rest but when he was in the fire of contention." Mr. Winslow, who held the pen of an able controversialist, was of course not long in preparing a keen and pungent answer, vindicating the colony, and repelling the accu- sations of his assailant; and, as if the remark of Gov- ernor Winthrop respecting Vassall had suggested it, he gives his pamphlet the title of "New England's Sala- mander, discovered by an irreligious and scornful Pam-
* The title to Major Child's pamphlet, was probably suggested by the follow- ing circumstances. The Rev. Mr. Cotton, at his Thursday lecture in Boston before the sailing of the ship, in which Major Child and Mr. Vas-all had taken passage to London. preached from Cant. ii. 15: " Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines," &c. ; and in his uses took occasion to say, that he advised the shipmaster, that if storms did arise, to search if they had not in any chestor trunk any Jonas on board, which if you find, I do not advise you to throw the persons overboard, but the writings. Storms did arise : and some of the pas- sengers remembering Mr. Cotton's sermon, a woman from among them came from between deeks about midnight, to Mr. William Vassall, who lay in the great cabin, (but for the present was in the stecrage doorway looking abroad, ) and carnestly desired him, if there were any Jonas in the ship it might be thrown overboard. Hle asked her why she came to him? and she said, because it was thought he had some writings against the people of God. But he answered her that he had nothing except a petition to Parliament that they might enjoy the liberty of Eng- lish subjects, and that could be no Jonas. After this she went into the great cabin to Mr. Thomas Fowle, in a like distracted manner, who told her he had nothing but a copy of the petition, which himself and others had presented to the Court at Boston ; but that if she and others thought that to be the cause of the storm, she and they might do what they would with it. So she took and carried it between decks, to them from whom she came, and they agreed to throw it overboard; but they had many great storms after that. After their arrival at London, the report of an astonishing miracle was spread abroad, viz : the saving of the ship and passengers by throwing the petition to Parliament overboard; whereas " it was only the copy of a petition to their own Court at Boston ; and the petition to Parliament was still in the ship, together with another copy of that which was thrown overboard, and were as well saved as their lives and other goods, and are here to be seen and made use of in convenient time." [See tract (imperfect) in II Mass. Hist. Coll. iv. 107.]
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phlet, called New England's Jonas cast up at London. S.c., owned by Major John Childe, but not probable to be written by him," S.c. London, 1647, 29 pp. sm. 4to .*
The civilization of the Indians, and their conversion to the Christian religion, were objects which the people of the colonies never lost sight of; and in this great and good work, Mr. Winslow was, from principle, very zeal- ously engaged. While in England, he employed his in- terest with the members of Parliament, and other gen- tlemen of quality and fortune, to erect a corporation there for the prosecution of the design. For this pur- pose an act of Parliament was passed, incorporating a society in England " for propagating the Gospel in New
England."* The commissioners of the United Colonies were constituted a board of correspondents, and distri- butors of the money, which was supplied in England by charitable donations from all the cities, towns, and pa- rishes, in the kingdom.t By the influence and exer- tions of both these respectable bodies, missions were supported among the Indians of New England ; the Bible and other books of piety were translated into the Indian tongue, and printed for their use; and great pains were taken by several worthy ministers and other gentlemen to instruct the Indians, and reduce them to a
* See traet in III Mass. Hist. Coll. ii. 110.
* Hazard, ii. 146. The charter of this Society bears date July 27, 1649. In aid of the forination of the Society, a tract was published by Governor Winslow, in London, in that year, entitled " The Glorious Progress of the Gospel amongst the Indians in New England," &c. It was dedicated by Winslow to the Parlia- ment, and contained some introductory remarks from his pen. The rest of the pamphlet consisted of three letters from Eliot, and one from Mayhew, with an appendix by J. D. [John Downam or John Drury. ] This tract is reprinted in III Mass. Hist. Coll., iv. 69.
t Hazard's Collection, i. 636.
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civilized state. Under the auspices of this Society, the celebrated John Eliot undertook his apostolic and suc- cessful labors among the Indians of Massachusetts, aided in the great work by the two Mayhews, the younger Cotton, and others. Of this corporation, which he had done much to establish, Mr. Winslow continued during life to be an active and successful member in the promo- tion of its interests in England.
The various employments of Governor Winslow in England, on behalf of the colonies, and his own high character, had given him a standing such as no other New England man enjoyed at this time. His abilities were acknowledged by the party then paramount in England, and he found so much employment there and elsewhere, that he never returned to New Plymouth. Judge Davis, in a note to Morton, (p. 261,) says : Mr. Winslow was one of the commissioners appointed to de- termine the value of the English ships seized and de- stroyed by the King of Denmark, and for which resti- tution was to be made, according to the treaty of peace made with the Protector, April 5, 1654. The com- missioners were required to meet at Goldsmith's Hall, in London, in the month of June; and, in case they should not agree by a certain day in August, were to be shut up in a chamber, without fire, candles, meat, or drink, or any other refreshment, until they should agree. Of course, an order so peremptory and so characteristic of the times as this, would be likely to be effectual, and accordingly we do not find that the commissioners had any difficulty in coming to an agreement.
When Oliver Cromwell ( 1655) planned an expedi- tion against the Spaniards in the West Indies, and sent
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Admiral Penn and General Venables to execute it, he appointed three commissioners to superintend and di- rect their operations, of which number Winslow was the chief; the other two being Richard Holdrip and Ed- ward Blagge .* Their object was to attack St. Domingo, the only place of strength which the Spaniards at that time had in Hispaniola. It has been remarked, that . Cromwell well understood the character of Mr. Wins- low, when he placed him at the head of this commission ; for both commanders and many of the officers employed in the expedition, were strongly suspected of cherish- ing a loyal attachment to the House of Stuart, and of nourishing a secret dislike to the Protector. He there- . fore placed in this responsible situation, one whom he could trust.t
The commanders disagreed in their tempers and views, and the control of the commissioners was of no avail. The troops, ill-appointed and badly provided, were landed at too great a distance from the city, and lost their way in the woods. Worn out with hunger and thirst, heat and fatigue, they were routed by an incon- siderable number of Spaniards ; six hundred were slain, and the remnant took refuge on board their vessels.
To compensate as far as possible for this unfortunate event, the fleet sailed for Jamaica, which surrendered without any resistance. But Mr. Winslow, who par-
* Hume, chap. Ixi. Two interesting letters of Winslow, written from Bar- badoes, March 16 and 30, 1654-5, are preserved in Thurloc's State Papers, iii. 249, 325. In the first, his opinion of oaths is thus expressed : " Our want of com- missioners is very great . . . . I bescech you, in case any be sent, let us have men of such principles as will neither scruple to give or take an oath. For my part, I look upon an oath as an ordinance of God, and as an essential part of government, the very bond of society, yea, so necessary, as without it, the magis- trate will not be able to determine between man and man."
+ Baylies, ii. 20.
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took of the chagrin of the defeat, did not live to enjoy the pleasures of victory. In the passage between His- paniola and Jamaica, the heat of the climate threw him into a fever, which, operating with the dejection of his mind, put an end to his life, on the eighth of May, 1655, in the sixty-first year of his age. His body was com- mitted to the deep, with the honors of war, forty-two guns being fired by the fleet on that occasion.
The following well meant but inelegant verses, were written by one of the passengers on board the ship in which he died :
" The Eighth of May, West from 'Spaniola shore, God took from us our Grand Commissioner, Winslow by Name ; a man in Chiefest Trust,
Whose Life was sweet, and Conversation just ; Whose Parts and wisdom most men did excel ; An honor to his place, as all can tell."*
Before his departure from New England, Governor Winslow had made a settlement on a valuable tract of land in Marshfield, to which he gave the name of Cares- well, probably from an ancient castle of that name, nine miles from Stafford, in Staffordshire, a family seat of the Vanes, ancestors of the Earls of Darlington and West- moreland.f
Governor Winslow was twice married. His first wife, Elizabeth, as has already been stated, died in March, 1621. His son, Edward, who came over with him, is supposed to have died about the same time. By his second wife, Susanna, who was the widow of William
* Morton's Memorial, 143.
1 In Speed's Great Britain, (b. i. ch. 35,) Carsicall is named as one of the thirteen ancient castles in Staffordshire ; and Bowen (Univ. Geog., i. 225,) places Careswell among the chief seats of the nobility of the county. The Marshfield estate, which for many years remained in the Winslow family, has recently passed into the possession of the Hon. DANIEL WEBSTER.
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White, and to whom he was married in May, 1621, he had a daughter Susanna, and probably others. His only son by this marriage, Josiah Winslow, became a distin- guished man in the colony ; was a magistrate, governor, and commander in chief of the forces of all the colonies of New England, in the war of 1675 with the Indians. He died in 1680, at the age of 51 .*
Edward Winslow was the eldest of a family of five sons and three daughters, the children of Edward and Magdalen Winslow, of Droitwitch, in England. Ed- ward was born 19 Oct. 1595, John in April, 1597, Ely- nor in April, 1598, Kenelm 29 April, 1599, Gilbert in Oct., 1600, Elizabeth in March, 1601, Magdalen 26 Dec. 1604, and Josiah in Feb. 1605.
John, the eldest brother of Edward, came over in 1621, in the ship Fortune, and was married at New Ply- mouth, sometime prior to 1627, to Mary Chilton, daugh- ter of James Chilton, one of the first emigrants in the Mayflower. The tradition in the family, confirmed by a writing left at her death by Mrs. Ann Taylor, in 1773, the last grand-child of John Winslow, is, that Mary Chilton "was the first female who set her foot on the American shore." This may refer either to the landing at Cape Cod, where, as is mentioned by Belknap, "the women went ashore to wash their clothes;" or, to the landing at Plymouth. The descendants of John Alden claim for him the honor of having been the first to leap upon Plymouth Rock ; but the tradition is best received, which accords that feat to the adventurous maiden. John Winslow resided in Plymouth till about 1656. His children were mostly, if not all, born there. His oc-
* See Memoir of Josiah Winslow.
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cupation was that of a merchant; and he held different Inunicipal offices in Plymouth. In 1661, with Antipas Boies, Edward Tyng, and Thomas Brattle, he purchas- ed the colony lands on the Kennebeck river, for £400 sterling, and they were afterwards well known as the " Plymouth Company in Maine." His place of resi- dence was in the north part of ancient Plymouth, called " Plain Dealing." This estate was sold to his son-in-law, Edward Gray, about the time of his removal to Boston, and was, by the latter, disposed of to the Ply- mouth colony in 1662, who purchased it as a residence for Governor Prence. John Winslow died in Boston in 1674, aged 78 years; his wife, Mary Winslow, died in Boston in 1678. Their children were, six sons-John ; Isaac, who married a Parnell; Benjamin; Edward ; Jo- seph; and Samuel, who died at Boston in 1680; and five daughters-Sarah, whose first husband was Miles Standish, Jr., second, Tobias Payne, ancestor of the Paines of Boston, and third, a Mr. Middlecot ; Susanna, who married Robert Latham ; Mercy, who married Ar- thur Harris; Ann, who married a Le Blond, of Boston ; and Mary, who married Edward Gray, of Plymouth, died in 1663, leaving two or three daughters and one son. One of these daughters married Nathaniel South- worth in 1671. Mr. Southworth bought the estate of "Plain Dealing" in 1677, but in after years removed to Middleborough, and there died, leaving three sons and several daughters.
It is said that John Winslow, eldest son of John, brought the Prince of Orange's declaration from Nevis to New England, in' Feb. 1689, for which he was im- prisoned by Sir Edmund Andros. From the eldest son
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John, (through John, son of the latter,) it is supposed that the family of the late General John Winslow, of Boston, is descended .*
Edward, the fourth son, it is thought, had a first wife in Plymouth before he left that place. His second wife was Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter of Anne Hutch- inson, celebrated in the history of Massachusetts for her religious zeal, persecution, banishment, and tragical death in 1643, (being słain by the Indians on Long-Island with her family of sixteen persons, except one daugh- ter.) Edward Winslow died in Boston in 1682, aged 48 years; his wife Elizabeth, in 1728, aged 89. The deaths of the other children of John Winslow, except . Samuel, who died in 1680, are not known. The chil- dren of Edward and Elizabeth were, Edward and four daughters, of whom Susanna married an Alden, supposed to be a son of John Alden, commander of the Province
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* Brig. Gen. John Winslow was born in Boston, 29 Sept. 1753, and bred a merchant. At the age of twenty-two, he entered the Revolutionary Army, as Deputy Paymaster General, with the rank of Lieutenant, in the Northern Depart- ment. He joined the army at Quebec, under Gen. Montgomery, and was in the battle. June eth, 1727, he received a commission as Captain of Artillery and was placed under the command of Maj. Ebenezer Stevens, late a Major General in New York. He was in the battle which resulted in the capture of Burgoyne, and one of those who took the account of the stores, &c., found in his camp; and also had the charge of many prisoners. He was afterwards sta- tioned at West Point, and White Plains. When the American Army was re- treating, under Gen. Wooster, from Quebec, and the enemy close upon their heels, he saved the public chest, and lost his own baggage, and wardrobe, as val- uable as those of any officer in the line. He was thus left destitute of clothing, not having sufficient to change his linen for thirty-five days. He received, on the settlement of his accounts as Paymaster-the footing of which was $865,700 -- a certificate from the Paymaster General, wherein his conduct was highly ap- proved ; and, it was said, he was almost the only Paymaster who had faithfully accounted for the public money. Hle was at the battle of Ticonderoga, and when the army, under Gen. St. Clair, retreated from that place, he again saved the books and property entrusted to his care, and lost most of his own. He ob- tained an honorable discharge, in Nov. 1778 ; was afterwards a brigadier general of militia and held various civil trusts. He died 29 Nov. 1819.
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Sloop, who, being accused of witchcraft during the witch mania of 1692, suffered imprisonment fifteen weeks in Boston. Another daughter, Mrs. Ann Taylor, died in Milton, in 1773, aged 94-and was the last surviving grand-child of John Winslow and Mary Chilton.
Edward, son of Edward, and grandson of John, was born in 1669; married Hannah Moodey, daughter of Rev. Joshua Moodey, minister of the first church in Boston, a zealous opponent of the witch mania, and who suffered for it by being obliged to leave his church. Edward Winslow had a family of nine sons and two daughters. His eldest son Joshua, and youngest, Isaac, were two of the principal merchants in Boston, from 1730 to 1768. One of his sons, John, also lived in Bos- ton till 1775, and removed to Dunstable, where he died in 1778, aged 88.
Two of his sons, William and Samuel, were in the commissariat department at the siege of Louisburg in 1745, and both died there. The youngest daughter of Edward Winslow, by a second wife, Elizabeth, married Richard Clark, an eminent merchant of Boston; and a daughter of the latter married John S. Copley, the cele- brated painter. Their descendants are in England, Canada, and Boston. Edward Winslow was a gold- smith; he was a Colonel of the Boston Regiment, and first sheriff of the County of Suffolk ; from about 1722 to 1742, his residence was in State street, the estate since the site of the Tremont Bank. He died in Boston in 1753, aged 84.
Joshua Winslow, great grandson of John Winslow and Mary Chilton, married Elizabeth Savage, and had a family of sixteen children. He died in October, 1767.
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Isaac Winslow, brother of the aforesaid, married Lucy Waldo, daughter of Brigadier General Samuel Waldo ; his second wife was Jemima Dubuc. He had by the first wife eleven children, and two by the last. He was a loyalist, having been appointed a mandamus counsellor in 1774. He died in New York, in 1777 .- His descend- ants are principally in Boston, but many are also in England.
Edward, the eldest son of Joshua, and great-great- grandson of John Winslow and Mary Chilton, became a clergyman of the Episcopal church, after some opposi- tion from his friends, (having by them been destined for the Congregational ministry, and to escape from whose control he betook himself for a while to commerce, ) and succeeded Dr. Samuel Johnson at Stratford, Ct. From 1764 to 1777, he was Rector of Quincy; but as, on the Revolution opening, he could neither con- sent to omit, nor yet safely read, the prayers for the King, he resigned, and removed to New York city. Here he died suddenly, while ascending the steps of his house, on his return from a funeral, Oct. 31, 1780, aged 59, and was buried under the altar of St. George's church. From him are descended those of that name in North Carolina. Joshua, a younger brother, was a mer- chant, married a daughter of Commodore Loring, and died in Boston in 1775. His descendants are all in Eng- land.
Margaret married Colonel Benjamin Pollard, Sheriff of Suffolk, and many of their descendants are now living in Boston. Isaac, the youngest, born in 1743, was edu- cated for a profession, but abandoned this and became a merchant. His first wife was a daughter of the Rev.
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John Sparhawk, of Salem, ancestor of the Sparhawks of New Hampshire; his second wife was Mary Davis, daughter of Benjamin Davis, of Boston, by whom he had six sons and two daughters. He died in Boston in 1793. His descendants are in Massachusetts, New York, and South Carolina .*
Kenelm Winslow, the second brother of Governor Winslow, was at Plymouth before 1633. He married Helen, daughter of John Adams, of Plymouth, in 1634; he had lands in Yarmouth, in 1640, died whilst on a visit at Salem, and was buried Sept. 13, 1672, at the age of 73.t From him are descended the families settled in Yarmouth, and in Maine. Oliver Winslow, who set- tled at Scituate, in 1730, was of the third generation from Kenelm Winslow, and had a son Oliver, who was killed in the French war of 1758, a son who settled at Nobleborough, Maine, and a son Nathaniel, who inherit- ed the bold spirit of his distinguished ancestors. He entered the revolutionary army in 1776, rose to the rank of major, and distinguished himself in the southern ex- peditions.į
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