USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Marshfield > Memorials of Marshfield, and guide book to its localities at Green Harbor > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
This is the substance of Maj. Bradford's statement to the Rev. Mr. Cotton of Plymouth, respecting the sickness and death of Alexander, and is, doubtless, more authentic than the account thereof by Dr. I. Mather of Massachusetts Colony. Would that we could erase on the pages of the Old Colony's history, the fact that his innocent nephew, son of Philip, and grandson of Massasoit, the true friend of our exiled fathers, was sold by their ungrateful successors into slavery.
" Wo! for the red man's wail Sweeps o'er New England's hills ; It rides her haughty ocean gale, And tones her forest rills ; One jarring echo in those grand old strains That ne'er can die along her hallowed plains."
MRS. CASS.
-
22
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
Gov. Josiah Winslow reached every elevation at- tainable, both civil and military, in his native col- ony, and in history he stands preeminent for the tolerance of his spirit, the mildness and courtesy of his manners, and the hospitality of his home. "He deceased at Careswell, 18 Dec., 1680, and was bur- ied on the 23d, at the colony's expense, in testi- mony of its endeared love and affection for him." His widow, Penelope Pelham, survived him 23 years, having deceased, 7 Dec., 1703. In person she was strikingly beautiful. A portrait of her, taken in early life, is in preservation.
Isaac Winslow, Esq., was the only son who ar- rived at manhood, of Gov. Josiah Winslow. He m. Sarah, d. of John and Elizabeth (Paddy) Wensley of Boston, 11 July, 1700. She was a descendant of Gov. Prince, his d. Rebecca, who m. Edmund Free- man, being her great-grandmother.
Their children were Josiah, b. 1701, H. C. 1721. He was killed by the Indians, in the memorable battle at St. George's River, Maine, 1 May, 1724. The preceding day opened with a beautiful morning and Capt. Winslow, commander of the fort, with 16 men in two whale boats proceeded down to the Green Islands in Penobscot Bay, a place of resort of the Indians for fishing and fowling. They did not on that day however, meet with any of these sons of the forests. "On the following, while ascending the river, they fell into a fatal ambush of these red men cowering under its banks. They permitted
23
FAMILY SKETCHES.
Winslow to pass and fired into the other boat com- manded by Harvey, which was nearer the shore. Harvey fell. Winslow observing the exposure of his companions, though out of danger himself, hastened back to their assistance. In an instant he was surrounded by thirty canoes, filled with threefold that number of armed savages. They made a deter- mined and gallant defence, and when nearly all his comrades had fallen, extremely exhausted and with a fractured thigh, his shattered bark was set to the shore; waylaid here, he fought a savage hand to hand, then resting on his knee shot one ere they could finish their death work on him. Thus fell, in the morning of his life, this son of Green Harbor, the intrepid Winslow, and all his brave companions except three friendly Indians who were permitted to live to tell the sad tale. Isaac and Sarah Winslow had also, John, b. 1702, m. Mary Little ; Penelope, b. 1704, m. James Warren, 1724; Elizabeth, b. 1707, m. Benjamin Marston of Salem, 1729; Anna, b. 1709, died at Boston, 1723; Edward, b. 1714, m. Mrs. Hannah Dyer and resided at Plymouth ; he being a loyalist removed to Halifax, N. S., early in the American Revolution, where he died, 1784, aged 72. His posterity have enjoyed high official distinctions in that Province.
The Hon. Isaac Winslow, like his ancestors, was a distinguished military character, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and Judge of Probate. He de- ceased, at the seat erected by himself, December, 1738. "He was much given to hospitality and
24
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
universally beloved." His widow, Mrs. Sarah Wins- low, d. 1753, aged 80.
John, his eldest surviving son, succeeded to the Careswell estate; he m. Mary, dau. of Capt. Isaac Little, of Pembroke, 1725. In military affairs, at least, he followed in the footsteps of his fathers. He was Colonel in the expedition to Nova Scotia, 1755, and Commander in Chief at Fort William Henry, on Lake Erie, 1756. His children were, Pelham, b. 1737, m. Joanna White,-he was in the royal interest, at the commencement of the revolu- tionary struggle and resorted to the British for pro- tection,-he died on Long Island, 1776; Isaac b. 1739, m. Elizabeth, dau. of the elder Dr. Stockbridge of Scituate, 1763, and secondly, Fanny Gay of Hingham,-he was a distinguished physician in his native town, where he deceased 1S19, aged SO, and was the last of the name who permanently resided at the Careswell mansion,-his grandson, Isaac Wins- low of Boston, is the only adult male descendant of the name, of this branch of the Winslow family in New England. Gen. Winslow deceased at Hing- ham, where he m. secondly, a widow Johnson, 1774; entombed at Marshfield.
As the name of Col. John Winslow is associated with the removal of the Acadians from Nova Scotia, and as enquires are often made respecting this lam- entable outrage on an innocent people, we subjoin, for the information of such, a few extracts respecting the same, from standard historical works :-
25
FAMILY SKETCHES.
"Nova Scotia, under the name of Acadia," was originally set- tled by the French. In 1713 it was ceded to Great Britain, when many of the French inhabitants removed to Canada. Those who chose to remain were permitted to retain their possessions and allowed "Freedom to worship God" according to their own religious belief, upon taking an oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britian, with an understanding that they were not to be requested to bear arms against the French or Indians. This acquired them the name of French neutrals. After the com- mencement of the settlement of Halifax, 1749, the Governor required them to take the oath of allegiance again, without any of the previous qualifications. This they objected to, as contrary to the conditions upon which their fathers agreed to settle under the British Government, saying, should they undertake to aid in suppressing the Indians the savages would pursue them with unre- lenting hostility, and that to bear arms against their country was repugnant to the feelings of human nature. They therefore requested to know if they might have permission to sell their lands and effects. They were told in reply, "That by the treaty of Utrecht, one year was allowed them for disposing of their property, which period having elapsed they could neither part with their effects nor leave the province." As a preparatory measure they were disarmed, their records, title-deeds and other papers taken from them, and after the Massachusetts troops under Col. Winslow had taken Beau Segour, &c., the provincial gov- verment secretly resolved to remove the whole body of the neutrals from the country.
The reasons offered in justification of this cruel and unjust measure, were, that the Acadians had refused to take the oath of allegiance without the qualification above named, and that they had furnished the French and Indians intelligence, quarters, &c. The execution of this resolution was confided to Col. Winslow. He issued a proclamation requiring the French inhabitants in the various settlements to appear at several specified places on the same day. One portion was to assemble in the Church, at Grand Pre, Sept. 5th, 1755, at 3 P. M. In accordance with this summons, four hundred and eighteen able bodied men entered the church at
3
26
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
the appointed time and the doors were shut. The colonel then addressed them :- " That the duty he was then upon was very disagreeable to his make and temper, as he knew it must be griev- ous to them, &c. It was not however for him to animadvert, but to obey his orders," and he proceeded to inform them that "their lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds and live stock of all sorts, were forfeited to the crown, with all their other effects saving their money and household goods and that they were to be re- moved from the province."
The whole number who were entrapped in this way at Grand Pre, and other places, with those who were hunted and taken from their hiding places in the depths of the forests, were 7,000. The sufferings of these unfortunate and injured people in the circumstances of their removal, in their passage to this country, and in their separate and scattered condition here, cannot well be conceived. From the enjoyment of a competency, and in many instances affluence, in the beautiful prairies which they had diked out from the sea and made fruitful and luxuriant fields, they were at once reduced to abject poverty, and obliged to depend in their dispersion in a strange land on public charity. All suffered, but not alike. The case of one Rene Le Blanc was peculiar. He had been a notary public in Nova Scotia. While in the service of the government, he was taken by the Indians, carried to a French fort and there held in captivity four years. In a petition of the neutrals sent to Pennsylvania, to the King, it was said of him :- " Father Le Blanc was seized, confined and brought away among the rest of the people, and his family, consist- ing of 20 children and about 150 grandchildren, were scattered in the different colonies. He was put on shore at New York, with only his wife and two youngest children, in an infirm state of health; from whence he joined three more of his children at Philadelphia, where he died without any more notice being taken of him than any of us, notwithstanding his many years' labor and deep sufferings in your majesty's service." The removal of the Acadians, in the way it was effected, is considered an act of great cruelty and injustice. It was the infliction of a terrible punish- ment on a whole community, most of whom were innocent, for
1
27
FAMILY SKETCHES.
the misconduct of a part. Well has it been said, that the reasons of state upon which it was sought to be justified, "were never more cheaply urged nor more odiously triumphant." Col. Wins- low, in a letter to the Governor of Nova Scotia, dated Grand Pre, Aug. 30, 1755, says, "As to poor father Le Blanc, I shall, with your Excellency's permission, send him to my own place." What prevented his coming to Green Harbor does not appear. The family who filled the place intended for him bore the name of Mitchell. To this family, Gen. Winslow and his descendants were ever uniformly kind; we well recollect the last living mem- bers of this family and the pensive gentility of their deportment. They were torn from an affluent home, and it is said a member in after years returned in the vain search of treasure hidden by them beneath their native soil. Their blood courses the veins of respectable families bearing other names, both in Massachu- setts and Connecticut ; among others, are included those of Drew, Peters, Winslow and Thomas.
The town of Winslow, Me., incorporated 1771, xx was named in honor of Gen. John Winslow. The original grantees bore the old colony names of Brad- ford, Otis, Winslow, Taylor, Howard and Warren.
Kenelm Winslow, b. at Droitwich, England, 1599, followed his brothers, Edward, Gilbert and John, to New England, about 1630; he m .- Ellen, widow of John Adams, 1634, supposed to have been the Ellen Newton of the Pilgrims, (Mrs. Adams had two sons, John and James, and a dau. Susan, when she last married.) They settled on a gentle eminence by the sea, near the extremity of a neck of land lying between Green Harbor and South Rivers. This tract of the township was considered the Eden
28
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
of the region. It was beautified with groves of majestic oaks and graceful walnuts, with the under- ground void of tangled shrubbery. A few of these groves were standing within the memory of man, but all have now fallen beneath the hand of the woodman.
The . children of Kenelm and Ellen Winslow were, Kenelm, b. 1635, removed to Harwich, Cape Cod ; Ellen, b. 1637, m. Samuel Baker ; Nathaniel, b. 1639, m. Faith Miller, and succeeded to the homestead of his father; Job, b. 1691, removed to Swansea or Freetown. Kenelm Winslow often rep- resented the town in the court of the colony. He died at Salem, and was buried there, 1672. His widow deceased 1681, aged 83 years.
Nathaniel Winslow and Faith Miller m .. 1664; had Faith, b. 1665; Nathaniel, b. 1667, m. Lydia Snow ; James, b. 1669; Gilbert, b. 1673, m. Mercy Snow; Kenelm, b. 1675; Eleanor, b. 1677, m. John Jones; Josiah, b. 1681, d. 1682. The homestead of Kenelm Winslow, sen., passed, after the decease of Nathaniel, his son, to Kenelm, his son, who m. Abigail Waterman; then to their son Kenelm, wh m. Abigail Bourn of Barnstable, whose son Kenelm "as the last resident of the family name thereon. He removed to Kennebec County, Me., where he recently deceased. The families of this name, both in Lincoln and Waldo Counties, are, with perhaps others, descended from Kenelm Winslow, sen. On this estate remains, in fine preservation, one of the
.
29
FAMILY SKETCHES.
most ancient dwelling-houses in the township, now the residence of Capt. Asa Waterman.
Capt. Nathaniel Winslow, b. 1667, agreeable to a day-book of his, commanded, early in the last cen- tury, the sloop Seaflower, engaged in freighting oak wood from Careswell Creek to Boston. The price then at Careswell was seven shillings per cord. This was consigned to Philip Haskins, wharfinger, Mr. Bird and Mr. Archer, at an advance of seven shillings per cord. This post of maritime command, we suppose, was as high as the charge of a clipper ship to California is at the present time.
Josias Winslow, youngest brother of Gov. Edward Winslow, was born at Droitwich, Eng., 1605, and arrived in the colony with his brother Kenelm. He settled on a lawn extending from the more elevated lands of his brother Kenelm, southerly, to the north- ern banks of Green Harbor River. He was often employed in offices of public trust, was chosen town clerk in 1646, which office he filled until his de- cease, a period of nearly thirty years. He m. Mar- garet, dau. of the venerable Thomas Bourn. They had, Elizabeth, b. 1637; Jonathan, b. 1638; Mar- garet, b. 1640; Rebecca, b. 1642; Susanna, b. 1644; and Mary, b. -.
Josias Winslow d. 1674. Margaret, his widow, d. 1683. Their only son, Jonathan, d. 1676, aged 38; leaving a son John, b. 1664, m. Mary, and had William, b. 1718, Eleanor, b. 1709, and Faith, 1706. 3*
30
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
John, the last named, alienated the home of his fathers, it is said, from fear ; fancying from its lawn- like lands, and their contiguity to the sea, that it would eventually sink beneath its storm-stirred waves. He removed either to Bristol County or the south part of the County of Plymouth. His fears never became a reality ; the estate yet remains above the level of the ocean, and has been owned successively by four generations of the descendants of the senior William Ford.
Returning to the ancestor of this branch of the New England Winslow family, we find one of his daus. m. to William Crow of Plymouth, another to John Miller of Yarmouth, a third, Rebecca, m. 1661, to John Thacher, also of Yarmouth, and Mary, m. 10 June, 1670, to John Tracy, who was one of the first proprietors of Norwich, Conn. In the History of Norwich, by Miss Caulkins, she is named as a stately and beautiful woman. She deceased 1721. Her dau. Elizabeth, b. 1698, m. Samuel Backus, 1716, who deceased 1740, leaving her a widow, with eleven children. One of this number was the dis- tinguished Baptist clergyman and church historian, the late Rev. Isaac Backus of Middleborough, Mass. Appended to a sermon preached by him on the occasion of her decease, is a letter written by herself, dated Norwich, 4 Nov., 1752. In this she gives a graphic description of her own and her son Samuel's imprisonment, together with others of her venerable associates, for refusing to pay rates for the
in
31
FAMILY SKETCHES.
support of a ministry they could not conscientiously approve, and from whose church fellowship they had withdrawn. On the preceding 15 October, on a dark rainy night, she was taken from her home and orphaned family to prison, in which she was im- mured thirteen days. She writes, "Jesus was in the midst of the furnace with me, and though I was bound, yet I was loosed." Her son-in-law, Gen. Jabez Huntington, without her knowledge or con- sent, cancelled the debt thus claimed.
The lawgivers of the Old Colony are entitled to the grateful remembrance of their daughters, that no like persecutions are found written on their books.
WHITE.
Resolved White came to New England in the Mayflower, 1620, with his Pilgrim parents, Mr. William White and his wife Susanna. He was born near the time they resolved to seek a new home in the wilds of the Western world, and re- ceived his name from that circumstance. He is supposed to have been six years of age at the time of the Mayflower's arrival. He m. Judith, dau. of Mr. William Vassall of Scituate, and settled firstly on an estate granted him in that town. In 1662 he removed to Marshfield ; here he owned a farm on North River, which he sold to John Rogers, 1670. He owned another on South River Brook, on which he probably resided after leaving Scituate. In 1672
32
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
he exchanged this farm with Samuel Baker, for his, which is said in the deed is "adjoining," situated "over against Mount Skirgo." No entry of his ever alienating the last named is to be found on the records of Marshfield. Resolved White was a freeman of Salem, 1679-80, and was living in 1684. The date and place of his decease is unknown. His farm which he received of Samuel Baker, in exchange, must, from its locality, have been the estate which the four children of Thomas Ford divided, 1769 and 1761, calling it the homestead of their * honored father. Its present owners are Ichabod Wadsworth, Peleg Kent and others.
The children of Resolved and Judith White were, William, b. 1642, d. at Marshfield, 1695; John, b. 1644; Samuel, b. 1646, removed to Rochester, Mass. ; Resolved, b. 1648, d. 1670; Ann, b. 1649; Eliza- beth, b. 1652; Josiah, b. 1654; and Susanna, b. 1656. Mrs. Judith White d. 1670.
There was, early in the last century, a John White, residing in Salem, who was b. 1696, and d. 1781. He m. Rebecca Flint. They were grandparents of the late Joseph White of Salem, whose tragic death, April 6, 1830, at the age of 82, is well known. This Joseph White stated to his niece, Mrs. Eliza Story White of Boston, from a manuscript letter of whose is derived this information, that his grandsire, John, b. 1696, told him there were three distinct families of the name of White in Salem. We have no trace of Resolved White's son John, and he may have been father or grandfather of John, b. 1696.
33
FAMILY SKETCHES.
There has been a tradition in this family that they were of Mayflower descent.
Peregrine White, son of Mr. William and Mrs. Susanna White, was born on board the Mayflower, in Cape Cod Harbor, November, 1620, and derived his name from their peregrinations, and was the first native-born New Englander. He came to Green Harbor, with the family of his stepfather, Gov. Edward Winslow, after 1632. He m. Sarah, dau. of Mr. William and Elizabeth Bassett, passengers in the Fortune, 1621. He settled on an estate, given him by his father-in-law, lying between North and South Rivers, not far from their united outlet to the ocean. This tract was early granted to Mr. Bassett by the freemen of the colony.
The children of Lieut. Peregrine White were, Sarah, b. October, 1663, m. Thomas Young of Scituate, 1688, and deceased 9 August, 1755, in the 92 year of her age. "She enjoyed her senses and health in good measure till towards her end, and left four sons surviving."
Daniel, the eldest son of Peregrine White, suc- ceeded to the paternal farm; . m. Hannah Hunt, 1674, d. 1724, leaving seven sons, from whom the family name has been extensively spread. He, Peregrine, had also sons Jonathan and Peregrine, who removed to Middleborough, Mass., and Silva- nus, who deceased before his father. His youngest dau. was Mercy, who m. William Sherman, 1697, d. 1739. Peregrine White was often chosen to offices of trust in the township. In 1660 and in
34
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
1673 he was representative to the General Court. He figured considerably in military affairs from his youth. Of the forces raised in the colony, 1642, commanded by Capt. Standish, Peregrine White is called the "auncient bearer." He was called Lieut. White until 1673, when he was chosen one of the Council of War, and afterwards styled Capt. White. "He d. of a fever, 20 July, 1704, vigorous and of a comely aspect to the last." Mrs. Sarah White, his widow, d. 22 Jan., 1711.
The homestead of Peregrine White is owned by John A. and Sybil White, of the sixth generation from the Mayflower Pilgrim. A part of their dwelling-house was erected by his son Peregrine.
The following beautiful lines having been fur- nished expressly for this work by the talented authoress, it is deemed an appropriate place for their insertion at the close of the sketch of this family :-
PEREGRINE WHITE.
BY MISS L. H. SIGOURNEY.
'Tis bleak and wild on old Cape Cod, 'Mid the fierce November gale,
While there the little Mayflower roamed With a lingering stranger's sail ; And close a fair young creature clasped Her helpless infant's form,
And cheerily sang, 'mid the chilling blast, "Oh! a mother's heart is warm."
35
FAMILY SKETCHES.
'Twas wintry cold on Plymouth beach Where the log-reared cabins rose, 'Mid frowning rocks and howling storms And the shaft of Indian foes, 'Mid dearth of bread and thick'ning graves,- Yet hark to the tuneful song That soothed the wail of a lonely babe,- "Oh! a mother's heart is strong."
She slept-and beside her pallet low A being seem'd to stand, Who chang'd the gloom of the dreary scene With a wave of his spirit hand, Spread cultur'd fields with golden corn, Bade pleasant mansions rise, And streets with busy people throng, And church-spires woo the skies.
While moving on thro' Marshfield's vales, 'Mid the balm of her summer breeze, With a peaceful smile on his honor'd brow A fair old man she sees ;- Full many a change in the Mother Land, From the cottage to the throne, As well as here, in this younger sphere, That reverend sire hath known.
King James, the pedant, hath found a tomb ; King Charles at Whitehall bled; Stout Cromwell held his twelve years' rule And slumbered with the dead; The second Charles with gibe and jest His royal realm surveyed ; The second James in panic haste Fled from the wreck he made.
36
MEMORIALS OF MARSHFIELD.
William and Mary hand in hand The sceptre's sway sustain'd ; Queen Ann, the last of Stuart's line, In regal splendor reign'd ; Seven sov'reigns from their palace proud Had Death, the Spoiler, swept,-
Yet still his course erect and calm New England's first born kept.
Then soft the guardian spirit said, As he took his parting flight, "Yon sage of fourscore years and fair, With locks so silvery white, Is he you bear with love and care- Your baby-Peregrine White."
And the mother's heart was glad that day From the dream that had cheer'd the night.
ADAMS.
John and James Adams were sons of the Pilgrim John Adams and his wife Ellen. They probably came to Green Harbor with their mother, who m., after the decease of her first husband in 1633, Kenelm Winslow, Esq.
James Adams m. Frances, dau. of Mr. William Vassall, 1646. They had Anne, Richard, Mary and Margaret. They resided on a farm, on the Marshfield side of North River, nearly opposite Mr. Vassall's, the father of Mrs. Adams. They worshiped with the second church in Scituate, and their children were carried thither for baptism. "James Adams died at sea, on board the good ship called the James, of
37
FAMILY SKETCHES.
London, 16 Jan., 1651." Did his widow Frances m. John Rogers?
John Adams, Jr., son of the primitive John, m. Jane James, 1654. He dwelt near Mount Skirgo, an elevation on the Marshfield bounds of the forest which lies between this town and Pembroke. They had Joseph, Martha, and perhaps others. Joseph m. Alice Dingley ; and had, Joanna, b. 1705; Abigail, b. 1709; Lydia, b. 1713, m. Elnathan Fish of Kingston, 1739; Alice, b. 1716, m. John Allen, 1758; and Huldah, b. 1720, d. 1749. Joseph Adams d. 1750, aged 83, and Alice, his widow, d. 1762, aged 82. The name has long been extinct in Marshfield.
VASSALL.
Mr. William Vassall, the father of Mrs. Resolved White and Mrs. James Adams, was probably the most wealthy of the Plymouth colonists. He came to New England with Gov. Winthrop, 1630, and returned the same summer. In June, 1635, he reembarked for New England in the ship Blessing, Joseph Lecester, master, accompanied by his wife Ann, and his children, Judith, Frances, John, Ann and Mary, ranging from one to sixteen years of age.
"The Vassalls were of Italian origin. They came to London in the reign of James and Charles the First, and possessed great wealth and influence in that city." They also held immense estates in New England and the West Indies.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.