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 15
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JOSIAS WINSLOW.
addition to his military and civic distinctions, he had ac- quired that of being the most accomplished gentleman, and the most delightful companion in the colony ; and the attractions of the festive and social board at Careswell, were not a little heightened by the charms of his beauti- ful wife.
Mild and tolerant himself, he witnessed with regret the movements of that fierce spirit which would not tole- rate the liberality, and was blind to the wisdom of Cud- worth, Robinson, and others; and he had the address to restore them to the confidence of the people, at a period when the curse of the age, the spirit of religious bigotry, was maddened by opposition, and armed with conscious power.
Persevering, frank, bold, and resolute, he encoun- tered the hazards of popular displeasure, with the same fearlessness that he did the ambushes and bullets of the savages-and he was successful.
Such was the heart, and such the spirit which ani- mated the feeble frame of Josias Winslow. His health, never good, was much impaired by fatigues and exposure in the Narragansett campaign ; after the war was over it rapidly declined, and he sunk into his grave at the age of fifty-one, in the fullness of his honors, and with his mental faculties unsubdued by disease, and unimpaired by age. This bright picture of his character has its shades ; his courage bordered on rashness, and his easy temper sometimes exposed him to the machinations of the unworthy .*
Governor Winslow died on the 1Sth December, 1680, in the fifty second year of his age. The expenses of his
' Baylies' History of New Plymouth, Part IV. 8-10. Thacher, 139.
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funeral were directed to be paid from the public treasu- ry, "in testimony of the colony's endeared love and af- fection to him."#
Governor Winslow married Penelope, daughter of Herbert Pelham, Esq. of Boston, an assistant in the gov- ernment of Massachusetts, a gentleman of ancient family, connected with the ducal house of New Castle. Mr. Pelham took an early interest in the settlement of New England, and came to Boston in 1645. He was an as- sistant in Massachusetts, from 1646 to 1649, when he
* Tradition furnishes the following anecdote ; At the funeral of Governor Winslow, Rev. Mr. Witherell, of Scituate, prayed " that the Governor's sun might be made half equal to his father." The Rev. Dr. Gad Hitchcock, on the same occasion, observed, "that the prayer was so very reasonable, that it might be hoped that God would grant it, but he did not."
An elegy on the death of Governor Winslow, written by Elder William Witherell, of Scituate, when eighty years old, has been preserved. The f ..!- lowing extracts mark the character of the poem, the whole of which may be found in Deane's History of Scituate, 395.
" How many dangers hath this gentleman,
In's He ese iped, both by sea and land ! Fort lights, Should, Quicksands, Quagmires, Boggs and Sloughs, Enough to plange an hundred strong teamed Ploughs, Yet he brake through ; but now we see him have Mir'd and stuck fist in a dry upland grave. The Pitcher that went uft whole to the well, Comes home al last, crack'd like a broken shell.
Our Court of Justice ate in widowhood ; The Judge rrrested-B.ile will do no good. Judges are staves of States, when such stayes fall, Il bodes the weak 'ning of the Judgment Hall. Isaiah ii. 2. Fumewhat above thrice compleat seven years since, Plymouth With Food Mee Benford, Win-low, Prince, Three sintid Pilots through this Wilderness, To conduct Pagrin.s : all three called p'undress
Upon the top of P'is 4 ; while we here Deu. riziv. 4, 5, 6. La ht Pilotles, do without compass steer.
Thrice honored Bul re, Eller4, People all, Come and lament this m'ately C'rdar's fall, Cut down at's light, full moontule blest with shine Of Royal favour, and (no doubt) Divine ; Freighted with trens of honour. Every man At's best estate 14 altogether vain. Psalm xxxix. 5."
Judge Davis, in a note to Morton, remarks, that "this performance cannot but be regarded with tenderness, when we look at the signature, " Mastes posuit, William Witherell, Octogenarius."
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returned to England. He was of the same family with Thomas, Lord Pelham, who on the death of John Hollis, Duke of New Castle, 15 July, 1711, succeeded that no- bleman in his titles and estates. Penelope Pelham, a sister of Herbert Pelham, was the wife of Governor Bel- lingham of Massachusetts. In the will of Herbert Pel- ham, dated at London, January 1, 1673, proved March 13, 1677, he is called of Ferrers, in Bewers Hamlet, in the county of Essex. His lands in Cambridge, Water- town, Sudbury, and elsewhere in New England, were given to his son Edward Pelham; and his personal pro- perty, in this country, to that son and his daughter Pene- lope Winslow, who survived her husband .*
Isaac Winslow, the only son of Governor Winslow, born in 1671, was eminently distinguished, having sus- tained the chief places of power and honor in the colony, as chief military commander under the governor, and for several years Chief Justice of the Inferior Court of Com- mon Pleas, Judge of Probate of Wills, and one of his Majesty's Council for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, for more than twenty years, and for several years Presi- dent of that body. This gentleman possessed a truly noble spirit, was much given to hospitality, and univer-
* She died, in 1703, aged 73. A late tourist into the Old Colony, describes his visit to the seat of Mr. Winslow's family, in Marshfield, and to other mem- orable places, in that vicinity, in a manner that is creditable to his taste and feeling. Speaking of the family portraits, that of Josias Winslow, he says, is " evidently by the hand of a master, and his beautiful bride makes one of the group. She appears about twenty, and her costume is more modern than that given to other females of that period, of greater age. Her head-dress is of great simplicity. The hair parted on the top, and falling in ringlets on each side of her temples and neck; the countenance bespeaks gentleness and intel- ligence." [Alden Bradford, in Boston Commercial Gazette, 3th November, 1826.] The Winslow portraits are now in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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sally beloved. He died at his seat in Marshfield, De- cember, 1738, in the 68th year of his age.
His eldest son, a young gentleman of great promise. by the name of Josiah, engaged in military service, re- ceived a captain's commission, and was killed in battle, with thirteen of his company, after a most gallant resist- ance against a superior force of French and Indians, in the war of 1721.
General John Winslow, the eldest of the surviving sons of Isaac, was a distinguished and successful com- mander. In 1740, he commanded a company in the ex- pedition against Cuba, and afterwards rose to the rank of Major General in the British service.
In 1755, an expedition against Nova Scotia was un- dertaken by the British Government. The boundaries were unsettled-the English claiming to the St. Lawrence, the French restricting them to the peninsula of Acadia. The French were in the occupancy of the disputed ter- ritory, and had erected forts to defend it. To dispossess them, was the object of the expedition, which was placed under the command of Colonel Monckton. The troops, which were mostly drawn from Massachusetts, were placed under the immediate command of Lieutenant Col- onel John Winslow, through whose personal influence and exertions nearly two thousand men had been raised for the expedition. He conducted the campaign with great skill. The two French forts were captured, with scarcely any loss on the part of the conquerors, and the whole Province completely reduced, chiefly through the enterprise and good conduct of Colonel Winslow. To him was also entrusted the difficult and ungrateful task of removing the French neutrals, who were all expelled
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from Nova Scotia. Previous to commencing the cam- paign of 1756, against Crown Point, General Abercrom- bie sent for General Winslow, and to him was to have been entrusted an attack on Ticonderoga, which was sus- pended by orders from Lord Loudon, in consequence of the disaster at Oswego. In 1756, he commanded at Fort William Henry, on Lake George. He was also a coun- sellor of the Province. He died at Marshfield in 1774, at the age of 73 .*
General John Winslow left two sons, Pelham and Isaac. Pelham was an attorney at law and a leading citizen in Plymouth, but being a loyalist, became obnox- ious to popular resentment, and found it necessary to resort for safety to the British camp. He joined the Brit- ish army soon after the battle of Lexington, received a major's commission, was soon after appointed a commis- sary, and after continuing some years with the troops in New York, died at Flushing, Long Island, in 1783. His widow, originally Joanna White of Marshfield, returned to and died at Plymouth, May 1, 1829, aged 84.
Isaac was of the medical profession, and resided on the paternal estate at Marshfield, where he died in 1819, aged S1 years. . He married the daughter of Dr. Stock- bridge of Scituate. His only son John, an eminent law-
* Gen. Winslow was remarkable for his skill in horsemanship. He im- ported a valuable horse from England, and it was among his greatest delights to be mounted on his favorite animal. On a certain occasion, a number of gen- tlemen of Plymouth formed a party with Gen. Winslow, for a pleasure excur- sion to Saquish, in Plymouth harbor, and to return to dine in town. While there, Winslow fell asleep; the other gentlemen silently withdrew, and pur- sued their journey. When he awoke and found himself deserted, he mounted, and daringly plunged his steed into the channel, swam him across, more than half a mile, from whence he rode into town, making the whole distance but six miles, while his companions were riding fourteen miles. On their arrival, they were astonished to find the General seated in the tavern, prepared to greet them with a bowl of punch. Thacher, 142.
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yer, died at Natches, Mississippi, in 1820, where he had removed on account of his health.
Edward, the younger brother of General John Wins- low, was an accomplished scholar, and a gentleman of' fine taste. He resided in Plymouth, and together with his son, filled the offices of clerk of the court, Register of Probate and collector of the port. Being a professed royalist, he removed to Halifax with his family, soon after the commencement of hostilities, where he died, June 8, 1784, aged 72 years. The ceremonies at his funeral were in a style to confer the highest honor and respect on his memory. In consequence of his removal, his estate in his native town was confiscated, but every branch of his family was by the British Government amply pro- vided for during the remainder of their lives. His son, Edward Winslow, Jr., was also an intelligent and accon- plished gentleman; he graduated at Harvard College in 1765. He was one of the founders and most active members of the Old Colony Club, and his address on the 22d of December, 1770, was the first ever delivered on the Pilgrim anniversary. Being friendly to the royal cause, he joined the British at Boston before the war commenced, and was afterwards appointed a Colonel in their service. He subsequently filled the offices of King's Counsellor, and Justice of the Supreme Court in New Brunswick, and died at Frederickton, in May, 1815, aged 70 .*
* There are yet in existence some relics belonging to the Winslow family. A sitting chair which was screwed to the floor of the cabin of the Mayflower : for the convenience of a lady : it is known to have been in the possession of Penelope Winslow, who married James Warren. This chair is now in posses- sion of a direct descendant from Peregrine White. A watch purse, composed of sinall beads, which was made by Penelope Pelham, while on her voyage to America. A curious ring, which contains the hair of governor Winslow ; and a pearl spoon. Thacher, 1.14.
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VI. THOMAS HINCKLEY.
THE family of HINCKLEY was originally from the county of Kent, in England. At a small parish in that county, called Egerton, John Lothrop, the pastor of the church, had embraced the faith of the puritans, and in 1623, renounced his orders in the church of England, and removed to London. He was followed by some of his parishioners, amongst whom was Samuel Hinckley, the father of Governor Hinckley. Mr. Lothrop, in 1624, became the second pastor of the first congregational church gathered in London, on the plan of that of Mr. Robinson, at Leyden. The church held their meetings privately, and escaped the vigilance of their persecutors for some time; but at length, in April, 1632, they were discovered by the pursuivant of the Archbishop, holding a meeting for religious worship at a house in Blackfriars. Forty-two of them were apprehended, and eighteen only escaped. Mr. Lothrop, with twenty-four others of his congregation, were imprisoned for about two years, when all but himself were released upon bail. Arch- bishop Laud obstinately refusing to pay any attention to his requests, Mr. Lothrop petitioned King Charles I., and was set at liberty, in April, 1634, on the condition offered, which he readily embraced, of departing from the kingdom. He now embarked for Boston, with about thirty of his church and people, where he arrived September IS, 1634, in the ship Griffin. On the 27th of the same month, he proceeded, with his friends, to Scituate, where a considerable settlement had already
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THOMAS HINCKLEY.
been made by "the men of Kent," who gladly received Mr. Lothrop as a former acquaintance .*
Mr. Hinckley was one of those who accompanied Mr. Lothrop to Boston, and settled at Scituate. He was admitted a freeman in 1637, and in 1639 removed to Barnstable. Some of the first settlers of Scituate and Barnstable, were men of education and easy fortune, who had left homes altogether enviable, save in the single cir- cumstance of the abridgment of their religious liberty. The "men of Kent," are duly celebrated in English his- tory, as men of gallantry, loyalty and courtly manners. Vassall, Hatherly, Cudworth, Tilden, Hinckley, and oth- ers had been accustomed to the elegances of life in Eng- land. They were men eminently qualified for transact- ing not only the municipal concerns of their settlements, but for taking an active and leading part in the govern- ment of the colony.
THOMAS HINCKLEY was born in 1621, and came to New England soon after his father had made a settle- ment at Barnstable. The mere recital of the various public duties he was called upon to perform, some of which were the most arduous and responsible, as well as the highest in the government, is sufficient to shew that he was a man of more than ordinary ability and influence.
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+ Mr. Lothrop was educated at Oxford, as appears from Wood's Athena. Oxonienses. Morton says, " he was a man of a humble spirit, lively in dispen- sation of the word of God, studious of peace, willing to spend and be spent for the cause and church of Christ." lle was twice married. Four sons came with him from England : Thomas, who settled at Eastham, where his son Thomas was born in 1640, then at Barnstable ; Samuel, at Norwich, or New London, Conn .; Joseph, at Barustable : and Benjamin at Charlestown, Mass. Barna- bas, and John, were born in this country, and settled at Barnstable. The Rev. Mr. Lothrop died in Barnstable, 8 Nov., 1653. His descendants are numerous Mr. John Lothrop, of Boston, who wrote the memoir of the minister of Bara- stable, published in II Mass. Hist. Coll., i. 163, was a descendant.
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THOMAS HINCKLEY.
In 1645, he was first elected a deputy from Barn- ¿table, and he was again elected in 1648, and at several subsequent periods. In 165S, when Mr. Cudworth, and Mr. Hatherly, two of the most excellent men in the colony, were proscribed and driven from office, on ac- count of their opposition to the rash measures against the Quakers, Mr. Hinckley, falling into the popular cur- rent, was chosen one of the assistants, and continued in that office by successive re-elections until the year 1681. At the election in 1680, Mr. Hinckley was specially designated as deputy governor, in consequence of the ill health of governor Winslow, whose death was appre- hended, and the extreme age of Mr. Alden,* who, as first assistant, would have succeeded to the chair, when vacant. In June, 1681, following the death of Josias Winslow, Mr. Hinckley was chosen governor, in which office (excepting for the short period of the rule of An- dros, when he was a counsellor, ) he was continued until the separate existence of the colony of New Plymouth . was terminated by its incorporation with Massachusetts, under the charter of 1692. Upon that event, he was named one of the counsellors of the province of Massa- chusetts Bay, under the new charter.
The people of New Plymouth had for many years been anxious on the subject of obtaining a charter from the crown, similar to that of Connecticut. They held only under their patent from the Council of Plymouth>
* John Alden was one of the pilgrims of the Mayflower; settled at Dux- bury in 1640; was representative, 1641 to 1649; an assistant of the colony under every administration, except that of Governor Carver-in all, 42 years. He married Priscilla, daughter of William Mullins, by whom he had right chil- dren. He died 12 September, 1657, aged 89. A memoir, written by President Alden, one of his descendants, is contained in Alden's American Epitaphs, iii. 261.
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which had no powers of sovereignty, and which had long since ceased to exist. They had all along felt that they were at the mercy of the King, who might, at any time, justify the dissolution of their charter, under the forms of his prerogative. They had consequently adopted a course of policy, which was designed to propitiate, as far as possible, the royal favor, and had received frequent assurances from Charles the Second, that a charter should be granted.
The perils of the Indian war had been scarcely passed through, leaving the colony comparatively weak, when dangers of another character began to menace its existence: Massachusetts on the one hand, and New York on the other, were intriguing for the appropriation of New Plymouth to themselves. The former colony had on more than one occasion shown a disposition to extend her borders. The conquered country of Mount Hope, was originally included within the limits of the Plymouth jurisdiction ; and notwithstanding its complete separation from Massachusetts and contiguity to Ply- mouth ; notwithstanding it had been conquered princi- pally by the prowess of the people of this little colony, the government of Massachusetts endeavoured to wrest it from them, and to obtain a grant of its lands from the King. Rhode Island, too, which had not even participa- ted in the war, preferred a claim to the lands ; and John Crown, of Nova Scotia, alledging an obsolete claim of his father on the bounty of the King, nearly succeeded in obtaining the patent ; but the monarch finally granted the lands to Plymouth. This was the only royal grant made in New England of lands conquered from the Indians, and was made in consequence of these conflicting claims.
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THOMAS HINCKLEY.
In the controversy about Mount Hope, Governor Winslow, at the close of his administration, had found it expedient to cultivate the friendship of Edward Ran- dolph, afterwards so odious throughout New England as the tool of Andros, and who had already obtained an un- enviable notoriety in Massachusetts .* Governor Hinck- ley, well aware of the tortuous paths which marked all approaches to the royal ear, also kept up a good under- standing with Randolph, who engaged to do every thing in his power to obtain the charter.
In September, 1681, General Cudworth was sent to England, as the agent for the colony. But dying not long after his arrival, he effected nothing, and his papers were lost. The royal displeasure was now manifested against Massachusetts; the quo warranto had issued against that colony; and the people of Plymouth were more than ever in suspense between their hopes and fears. They had already incurred the displeasure of the people of Massachusetts, by what was looked upon as a timid and time-serving policy; and now, they were threatened with the mortification of finding all their professions of loyalty disregarded by the King, whose favor they had been so anxious to secure. Mr. Blaithwait, of the Plantation Office in London, on the 27th September, 1683, address-
* Randolph, in a letter dated 20 Jan., 1680, to Governor Winslow, says- " I am received at Boston more like a spy, than one of his majesty's servants. They kept a day of thanks for the return of their agents ; but have prepared a welcome for me, by a paper of scandalous verses, all persons taking liberty to abuse me in their discourses, of which I take the more notice, because it so much reflects upon my master, who will not forget it." The " scandalous ver- ses," to which Randolph alludes, are to be found in Farmer and Moore's Hist. Coll., iii. 30. Randolph was the most inveterate and indefatigable of those in- triguing men who found access to the royal ear of Charles If , with complaints against the colonies. On this mischievous business, he made no less than eight voyages in nine years across the Atlantic. He died in the West Indies.
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ed Governor Hinckley, as follows: "I must deal plainly with you. It is not probable anything will be determined in that behalf until his majesty do see an issue of pro- ceeding in relation to the Massachusetts colony, and that upon regulating their charter, that colony be brought under such actual dependence upon the crown as becomes his majesty's subjects. From hence it will be, that your patent will receive its model; and although you may be assured of all you desire, yet it will be expected that, in acknowledgment of so great favors, such provisions may be inserted as are necessary for the maintenance of his majesty's authority."
Anxious, if possible, to keep alive an interest in the royal bosom, the general court, in November, 1683, for- warded another address, wherein they congratulated his Majesty upon his deliverance, in answer to their prayers they hoped, from the late horrid conspiracy; and they had appointed the fifteenth instant for a day of solemn thanksgiving, for the salvation of his Majesty's royal per- son from that and other hellish conspiracies .* They go on to pray his Majesty's favor in granting them a char- ter, having sent over a true copy of their patent from the council of Plymouth. Randolph writes to the governor of Plymouth, the fourth of March following, that he had presented the address with the necessary amendments, to his Majesty in council, that it would be printed, was gra- ciously received, and that they would find the benefit of it, in the settlement of their affairs. Upon the death of Charles II., they were distinguished by James II., from
* Reference is here made, probably, to the attempt to assassinate Charles II., at the Rye House Farm, near Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, on his way fro !!! Newmarket, called the Rye House Plot.
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the other colonies, by a letter under his sign manual, (26 June, 1685,) acquainting them with his accession to the throne, the great things the parliament had done, the de- feat of Argyle, and the landing at Monmouth, and the care taken to prevent his success; all to prevent any false and malicious rumors that might be spread among his Majes- ty's subjects at that distance. An address was sent to the King, upon his accession, taking notice of the assur- ances they had received from his royal brother, and praying that his Majesty might fulfil them. This was their last effort,* prior to the revolution of 1689.
Governor Hinckley took a deep interest in the efforts of the Society for propagating the Gospel among the In- dians. The labors of Eliot and the Mayhews had pro- duced good fruits, and it appears from a statement drawn up in 1685, by Governor Hinckley, that the number of christianized Indians in the colony had increased.t The duties which this new relation of christian amity between the natives and the English, imposed upon the govern- ment, were sometimes onerous. Governor Hinckley, in the statement above referred to, says-"Their manner is not to accept any to be praying Indians or Christians, but such as do, before some of their magistrates or civil rulers, renounce their former heathenish manners, and give up themselves to be praying Indians; neither do they choose any other than such to bear any office among them. They keep their courts in several places, living so far distant one from another. Especially the
* Hutchinson's Colony of Massachusetts Bay, 314.
t According to the statement forwarded by Governor Hinckley to the cor- poration in England, there were at this time in the colony 1439 praying or christian Indians, besides boys and girls, under twelve years of age, which were supposed to be more than three times that number.
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