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 11
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Gilbert Winslow, third brother of the governor, came over in the Mayflower; went to Pascataqua, after the set- tlement was commenced there; and the tradition is, that he went from thence to England, and never returned. It does not appear that he left any family in New Hampshire. The only taxable person bearing the name of Winslow, resident in that province in 1732, was Sam- uel Winslow of Kingston, probably a son of Samuel
. Thacher's Hist. Plymouth, 94.
+ Marshfield Records.
: Deane's Scituate, 390
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EDWARD WINSLOW.
Winslow, who was killed by the Indians at that place in 1710.
Josiah, the youngest brother of the first Governor Winslow, resided in Scituate in 1637, and was after- wards of Marshfield. He died in 1674, aged 69.
Of the sisters of Governor Winslow, Elizabeth died in January, 1604, and neither of them ever came to New England .*
A fine portrait of Governor Edward Winslow is in possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, where other family pictures have been deposited by one of his descendants. The picture of Governor Winslow was painted in London, in 1651, when he was in the 57th year of his age.
The device on the seal used by Governor Winslow, represents a pelican feeding its young. As an emblem of paternal affection, it is placed in connection with the names of some of the most distinguished of the pilgrims, whose regard for posterity prompted to their great en- terprise, and influenced them to a firm endurance of many hardships, dangers and sorrows.t
* For additional genealogical notes, see Memoir of Josiah Winslow, in the subsequent pages of this volume.
t Davis' note to Morton, 463.
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IV. THOMAS PRENCE.
THE fourth governor of the colony of New Plymouth, was THOMAS PRENCE, who was a native of Lechlade, a small parish in Gloucestershire, England, on the north side of the river Thames, where his father and grand- . father resided. He was born in the year 1600. His father was of the proscribed sect of the puritans, or sepa- ratists from the Church of England, and to avoid the per- secution which every where followed the non-conform- ists, in his native land, he is supposed to have gone with the early emigrants to Leyden. We have no accounts of the family after reaching that city, or of the education, or . early pursuits of Mr. Prence. But from the fact that he brought a respectable patrimony to America, we are led to infer that his family were in easy circumstances, and that they were voluntary exiles, on account of a faith which was dear to them, rather than needy adventurers, seeking to mend their fortunes in a strange land.
Mr. Prence came to America in 1621, in the ship Fortune, which arrived at New Plymouth in November, being at that time in the twenty-second year of his age. In the same ship, beside others of note in their day, came Robert Cushman, the distinguished and always effi- cient friend of the colony; John Winslow, the elder brother of Governor Winslow; and William Hilton, who afterwards commenced the settlement of New Hamp- shire, and who wrote by the return of the Fortune a glowing account of New Plymouth, in which he says, exultingly, " We are all freeholders; the rent-day doth
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not trouble us; and all those good blessings we have, of which and what we list in their seasons for taking."* In a short time after his arrival, Mr. Prence was chosen one of the assistants, and became an active and ulti- mately an influential man in the affairs of the colony.
Public office in the days of the pilgrims, was little sought after. It presented neither a prize to tempt the cupidity of the unworthy, nor a source of corruption from any patronage attached to it. The unworthy were thus kept from seeking it, and the people were unwil- ling to trust any but the wisest and best men. Governor Bradford, who had served the colony from 1621 to 1632, esteemed it a mark of the popular favor to be relieved in the following year, and when Winslow, who suc- . ceeded him, declined a re-election in 1634, he again urged the choice of another than himself. But who should be the man? CARVER, and BRADFORD, and WINSLOW, had successively filled the office. The next upon the list of the first-comers by the Mayflower, was the venerable WILLIAM BREWSTER; but he was the ruling elder of the church, and civil and ecclesiastical offices were among the puritans deemed incompatible. ISAAC ALLERTON, who by his character and standing was well fitted for the chief magistracy, had left the colony. The excellent SAMUEL FULLER, their first physician, with twenty-three more of the forty-one who signed the Compact of 1620. had fallen before the pestilence ; and of those who remained, STEPHEN HOPKINS, MILES STAN- DISH, and JOHN ALDEN, were the most prominent individuals. Hopkins was then one of the principal
* See Hilton's Letter, in Smith's " New England's Trials," No. 2, Vol. II, Force's Collection of Tracts.
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magistrates; and Alden seems, like him, to have been content with the burthens of the same office, which he shared for more than forty years, outliving all the other signers of the compact. Captain STANDISH, the hero of the settlement, was beginning to feel the infirmities of age, and possessed a temper too natural to his profession to fit him for the duties of the chief magistracy.
The Fortune had brought a new accession of esti- mable men to the colony, who were received with wel- come, and the standing and qualifications of Mr. Prence, caused him to be selected from among their number, as the successor of Governor Winslow, in 1634.
Previous to this time, settlements had been formed at Duxbury, to which the families of Alden, Standish, and Collier, had removed; and before the year 1635, Mr. Prence appears to have removed to the same place. The regulation existing at this time required that the Governor should reside in Plymouth, and the people, when the next election took place, returned to their old favorite, Governor Bradford. Mr. Prence was however at the same time chosen assistant, and served as such during twenty years, when not filling other and more im- portant offices.
The colony of New Plymouth at this time possessed trading establishments upon the Connecticut and Kenne- beck, which were sources of profit, but they not unfre- quently caused embarrassment and collision. A short time after Governor Prence entered upon his office, he was annoyed by intelligence of violent proceedings at both these points. A man of the name of Stone, a West Indian of St. Christopher's, by intoxicating the Gover- nor of the Dutch fort on Connecticut river, obtained his
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leave to take a Plymouth bark, which was lying there at anchor. The master and most of the men being on shore, he succeeded, and after weighing her anchor set sail for Virginia, but some Dutch sailors, who had received kind treatment at Plymouth, discovering his design, pursued him with two vessels, and soon after recaptured the bark.
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Stone afterwards going to Massachusetts, was served with a process, and for the purpose of a compromise, he went to Plymouth. In a dispute with the governor, he was so transported with rage that he attempted to stab him, but was prevented by the vigilance of the gov- ernor's attendants.
An act of violence was also perpetrated at Kennebeck, within the limits of the Plymouth patent. A pinnace belonging to Lord Say and Sele, and commanded by one Hocking, sailed from Pascataqua into the Kennebeck, and he attempted to pass up the river for the purpose of trading with the natives. Two of the magistrates of Ply- mouth being there, forbade him; he persisted, and declaring that "he would go up and trade with the natives in despite of them, and lye there as long as he pleased," went on.
The Plymouth men pursued him in a boat, and after entreating him to depart, and receiving nothing but " ill words " and positive refusals, finding his pinnace at anchor, two of them went in a canoe, cut one of the ca- bles, and attempted to cut the other ; Hocking threatened to shoot them; they defied him, and persisted; he fired, and killed one. The pinnace having come up, with five or six men on board, they fired on Hocking and killed him.
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At the general court at Boston, ( May 15, 1634,) up- on complaint of a kinsman of Hocking, John Alden, one of the Plymouth magistrates, who was present at this transaction, but at that time in Boston, was arrested and held to bail, "and withal (says Governor Winthrop) we wrote to Plymouth to certify them what we had done, and to know whether they would do justice in the cause, (as belonging to their jurisdiction, ) and to have a speedy answer," &c.
This was a high handed transaction on the part of the authorities of Massachusetts, and naturally caused much excitement among the people of Plymouth. Gov- ernors Bradford and Winslow, Mr. Collier, and the pastor of the church, were obliged to go to Boston and hold conferences with the authorities there, before the diffi- culty could be adjusted. Governors Winthrop and Dudley appear to have interested themselves in the exculpation of Plymouth, and the indignity offered to this colony by the illegal arrest of one of her magistrates, was overlooked, and soon forgotten. The power of the younger colony, which was destined ulti- mately to swallow up the older, was already beginning to be felt.
Prior to the year 1634, although the governor and assistants were the only magistrates in the colony, it does not appear that they possessed the power of a judicial court. They had no jurisdiction in civil actions, and in criminal offences, they could only ' bind over' the accused to appear at the general court. In 1633, a few laws, such only as appeared to be of the most urgent necessity, were established. But as the settlements expanded, it soon became obvious, that a code of laws must be adopt-
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ed; and the year 1636, may be considered the date of the establishment of a body of organic laws in New Plymouth.
On the 15th of November, at a court of Associates, the following declaration was ordered :
" We, the associates of New Plymouth, coming hither as free-born subjects of the State of England, and en- dowed with all and singular the privileges belonging to such, being assembled, do ordain that no act, imposition, law, or ordinance, be made or imposed upon us, at the present, or to come, but such as shall be made and im- posed by consent of the body of the associates, or their representatives legally assembled, which is according to the liberties of the state of England."
Whether the laws of England which preceded this order were renounced, is equivocal ; but the authority of English laws, " at present, or to come," was by this de- claration renounced by the whole body of the associates, and Parliament was denied the right of legislating for New Plymouth. This order, (says Baylies, ) is the first American Declaration of Rights, if not of Independence, and the laws which followed, became necessary for the protection of the people and the preservation of the gov- ernment .*
The time of the annual election was fixed for the first Tuesday of June, when a governor and seven as- sistants should be chosen, " to rule and govern the plan- tation within the limits of this corporation," and the election was confined to those who had been admitted as freemen. The qualifications required to constitute a freeman, were, to be twenty-one years of age, of sober
· Bayleo' Hist. New Plymouth, i. 229.
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and peaceable conversation, orthodox in the fundamen- tals of religion, and to possess a rateable estate of the value of twenty pounds. All these were pre-requisites, before any person could be admitted to the oath pre- scribed to be taken by freemen.
The duties and powers of the governor, were de- fined by law; but the office seems to have given to the incumbent little more than the privilege of acting as chairman of the court of assistants, or of the general court-the honorary station of being the official head of political society. He was destitute of the power of appointing any of the officers of the government, or even of nominating them ; and of course he had no patronage, or any mode of securing influence, excepting what arose from the weight of his personal character. He could call the assistants together, for the purpose of advising with them in council, and in voting his voice was double; but the assistants could refer all matters to the general court, which the governor was obliged to summon if they required it, and his duty in that court was confined to the statement of the questions upon which they were to act. The power of arrest was giv- en to him, but no further than to restrain the offender, until his offence could be investigated, either by the court of assistants, or the general court. The power of examining suspicious persons, and of intercepting letters, was given, probably in consequence of the memorable attempt of Lyford and others to subvert the government of the colony in 1624 .* It can scarcely be conceived, at this day, how a government could be ad- ministered with such limited authority in the executive.
* See page 85, of this volume.
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The personal influence of the governor must have sup- plied the want of legal power.
The want of power in the governor, was not sup- plied by the greater powers of the assistants. They were to advise the governor, and were restrained from 'betraying council.' They presided in the examina- tion of offenders in public court, 'and had a voice in censuring.' One of them, by the consent of the others, on the nomination of the governor, could discharge the executive duties in his absence, and their power of arrest was similar to that of the governor.
Within this narrow circle was confined the authority of the assistants. In a factious society, this power would have been constantly defied and contemned; but the col- onists were a sober, moral, and religious, in fact, a well regulated family, loving and obeying their magistrates, with an affection and reverence like that which children render to their parents; and the influence of the clergy was a powerful support to this paternal government, which depended so little on physical strength, and so much on the moral force of opinion.
Prior to the year 1636, there appears to have been no secretary to the colony, and the records were kept by the governor. The code adopted at that period was preceded by the declaration, before referred to,t styled " General Fundamentals" in therecords. A certi- ficate signed in Dec. 1775, by John Cotton, the recorder at Plymouth, referring to this declaration, says- " The above act stands in front of three manuscript law books, in 1636, 1658, and 1660, and of two printed ones, in 1671
* See Baylies, i. 229-235.
t Sec pages 76 and 119, of this volume.
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and 1685. In the year 1636, Plymouth colony first formed or perfected their body or code of laws, they being before governed by transient regulations or oc- casional laws."# To the manuscript book of 1636, other laws were added from time to time; and when any of the former were altered or repealed, this was done by the simple process of making interlineations or erasures, instead of passing additional acts! In 1658, the laws were revised, and entered in another book, and they were published, not by printing, but by the preparation of copies in manuscript by the secretary, equal in number to the number of towns in the colony. Into this book the laws passed afterwards were copied, until 1664, · when there appears to have been another revision, and a third book of laws was made, similar to the former. This contains all the laws passed from that time till 1682. The laws, which thus existed in three separate manu- script volumes, have been bound in one, and are preserv- ed. When the first printed edition was ordered in 1671, another revision was made, but the manuscript of this no longer exists.t
In 1637, Governor Prence was particularly active in raising a corps of volunteers to assist Connecticut and Massachusetts in the expedition against the Pequot In- dians, which resulted in the utter overthrow and exter- mination of that tribe. The names of thirty-nine men, who offered to go on that service, are on record, and the document has the following caption : "The names of the soldiers that willingly offer to go upon the service
* Baldwin's sermon at, Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1775. Hazard's Coll. of Pam- phlets, in Force's Library, Washington, D. C.
t III Mass. Ilist. Coll., ii. 265.
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with Mr. Prence and the Lieutenant, voluntaries."# The Pequots were a warlike tribe, not inferior in courage to any in the New World. They inhabited the territory now occupied by the towns of New-London, Groton and Stonington, in Connecticut. Foreseeing the ultimate extinction of their race, from the advance of the English, this tribe, heretofore hostile to the Narragansetts, now proposed to join them in an effort to exterminate the whites. Fortunately for the colonists, the Narragansetts refused the alliance, and the Pequots, more exasperated than discouraged by their refusal, commenced hostilities alone. They surprised stragglers, and scalped them, and plundered and burnt the neighboring settlements-until the infant colonies, particularly Connecticut and Massa- chusetts, by a vigorous effort, succeeded in overpowering and destroying the tribe. The troops raised in Plymouth, fifty-six in number, were placed under the immediate command of Capt. Standish, but the war was over before they reached the scene of action. The Pequot nation had ceased to exist.
In 1638, Mr. Prence was again elected to the office of governor. It appears that he accepted the office with considerable reluctance, and made it a condition that he should not be compelled to remove from Duxbury. Dur- ing his administration, in that year, a severe and exem-
* By " the Lieutenant," William Holines is intended, afterwards promoted to the rank of major, who became a freeman of the colony in 1633, and was appointed in 1635, with Capt. Standish, to teach the Train bands of Plymouth and Duxbury. Major Holmes hved at Scituate, and died in 1649, without a family. He was the leader of the Plymouth party, who, in defiance of the Dutch authorities of New Amsterdam, took possession of the territory on Con- nectieut river, and erected the first house in Connecticut, at Windsor, in Octo- ber, 1633. See page 113, of this volume ; compare also Holmes, i. 228, and Trumbull, i. 35.
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plary act of justice was exhibited, in the condemnation of three colonists, for robbing and mortally wounding an Indian.
It appears that four young men of Plymouth, who were servants, absconding from their masters, attacked a solitary Indian at Pawtucket, near Providence, but with- in the limits of New Plymouth, and after inflicting upon him a mortal wound, robbed him of a quantity of wam- pum, and fled to Providence. Complaint was made to Roger Williams, by the Indians, who were greatly alarm- ed, and he called upon the authorities to have "justice donc." Roger Williams was particularly anxious that the natives should behold in the prompt and signal pun- ishment of these offenders, an example of the justice of the English, and Gov. Winthrop of Massachusetts, whose advice had been solicited, considered it a matter in which the whole country was interested. Governor Prence and the authorities of New Plymouth promptly institut- ed the necessary investigation. One of the criminals fled to Pascataqua, where he was protected, and finally escaped out of the country. The others were tried, con- demned, and executed, in presence of many of the natives, who had assembled at New Plymouth. This execution has been cited as an undeniable proof of the stern sense of duty which was cherished by the Pilgrims. To put three Englishmen to death for the murder of an Indian, without compulsion, or without any apprehension of con- sequences, (for it does not appear that any application was made on the part of the Indians for the punishment of the murderers,) denotes a rigor in the administration of justice, unusual in new settlements, especially in con- troversies with the natives. It stands in our annals with-
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out a parallel instance ; the truth of the fact is vouched by all our early historians, and it was probably not with- out its reward ; for the Indians, convinced of the justice of the English, abstained from all attempts to avenge their personal wrongs, by their own acts, for many years.
In 1643, we find Mr. Prence actively engaged in pro- moting a new settlement at Nauset, or Eastham. Eight towns had been settled within the limits of the colony during the first twenty years, but Nauset, now thought to be a very favorable spot, had been overlooked. The people of Plymouth became alarmed at these frequent removals from among them. Many persons had already left the town, and now, when others of the most respecta- ble among them desired to remove, it became a serious question with the church, whether it were not better for the whole body to remove at once to another place, than thus to be weakened and insensibly dissolved. Meet- ing after meeting was held, and, after much controversy, it was finally agreed by the whole body that they would remove together, on condition that they could find a place sufficient for their accommodation.
A committee, at the head of which was Mr. Prence, was now sent to Nauset, to make examination. Their report was against the feasibility of removing to that place. They purchased, however, the contiguous lands, belong- ing to the natives ; and the Plymouth people finally gave up the project of removing the seat of government, and consented that those who desired to begin a plantation at Nauset, should be permitted to, do so. Mr. Prence and his associates now obtained a grant of lands at Nau- set, and went resolutely forward with their new . planta-
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tion. These persons were among the most respectable inhabitants of Plymouth. The church regretted their departure, viewing herself as a mother grown old and for- saken by her children, if not in their affections, yet in their company and personal assistance .* But however the emigration might have been lamented at that time, it was productive of good to the colony ; and eventually led to the settlement of all the lower part of the county of Barnstable; in consequence of which the Indians there, who from their numbers were a formidable body, were overawed and their good will obtained, and they were prevented from joining in hostilities against the Eng- lish, in the wars which afterward occurred.
In 1654, Mr. Prence, then one of the board of assist- ants, went to the settlement which had been formed on the Kennebeck patent, and, under authority of parliament,. pursuant to directions of the court at New Plymouth, organized a government, Thomas Southworth, son-in- law of Governor Bradford, being appointed agent or governor. He summoned a meeting of the inhabitants at Merry-Meeting Bay, and some sixteen persons attend- ed and subscribed the oath of fidelity to the government of New Plymouth.t Seven years afterwards, the colony disposed of this patent to a private company for four hun- dred pounds sterling.į
* " And thus was this poor Church left like an ancient mother, grown old and forsaken of her children, though not in their affections, yet in regard of their bodily presence and personal helpfulness, her ancient members being inost of them worn away by death, and those of latter times being like children translated into other families, and she like a widow left alone to trust in God. Thus she that had made inany rich became herself poor."-Plymouth Church Records, i. 45.
t Hlazard's Coll. i. 583-586.
: See p. 133, of this volume.
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On the death of Governor Bradford, in 1657, Mr. Prence was chosen his successor. There seemed to be an obvious propriety in this selection. Mr. Prence had held that office as early as 1634, and once afterwards, and had been constantly in public employment. No one stood before him in the public estimation, excepting per- haps, Bradford and Edward Winslow, and with them he . certainly appears to have shared the confidence of the peo- ple, and the highest offices of the government. As both these respectable men were now deceased, there could have been but little hesitation in giving him the station of which he was not deemed unworthy, when they were living. He was accordingly annually chosen to the chief magistracy, from this time forward, for sixteen years, until his death, which occurred in 1673.
The law, as has already been stated, required the gov- ernor to reside at Plymouth ; but there was a special dis- pensation made in favor of Governor Prence until the year 1665. In October of that year, "the country saw reason to desire and request his removal into the town, for the more convenient administration of justice." Gov. Prence now removed to Plymouth, and took possession of a place, provided for him by the government, which he occupied until his death. It was nearly two miles from the centre of the town, on the road leading towards Boston-and was called Plain-Dealing, the former resi- dence of John Winslow, and afterwards of Edward Gray, of whom it had been purchased by the colony. The governor's salary was at the same time established at fifty pounds per annum, and it was stipulated that he should receive that sum annually as long as he continued to be governor of the colony.
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