USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Memorials of the dead in Boston; containing exact transcripts of inscriptions on the sepulchral monuments in the King's Chapel burial ground, in the city of Boston. > Part 6
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A voyage of seven weeks brought them, on the 4th of Sep- tember, to Boston, which town, Hutchinson remarks, was said to have been so named from Mr. Cotton, whom they cyjweted to join them. Some of the most prominent and val- uable citizens of Boston, from personal attachment to Mr. Cotton, followed him in his involuntary removal to New Eng- 1.ını.
Hle here continued his habits of severe labor. He allaved the rising difficulties in the plantation, and, says Hutchinson, " is supposed to have been more instrumental in the settle- mint of their civil as well as ecclesiastical polity than any other person." In the year 1636, Lord Say and Sal enclosed in a confidential letter to Mr. Cotton prasals from himself,
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Lord Brooke, and other persons of quality, as conditions of their removing to New England. Mr. Cotton replied to the letter, " What your Lordship writeth of Dr. Twisse, his works de scientia media, and of the Sabbath, it did refresh me to reade, that his labors of such arguments were like to come to light ; and it would refresh me much more to see them here ; though (for my owne particular) till I gett some release from some constant labors here (which the church is desirous to procure), I can get little or noe opportunity to reade anything, or attend to anything, but the dayly occurrences which presse in upon me continually, much beyond my strength, either of bily or mind." He then considers at length some of the principles involved in their proposals, and thus concludes : " I have delivered an answer to the rest of your demands accord- ing to the mindes of such leading men amongst us as I thought meet to consult withall, concealing your name from any, except two or three," - referring, probably, to Winthrop and Dudley, and perhaps Bradstreet or Bellingham. These papers, preserved in full in the appendix to Hutchinson's history, are a compendium of his political principles. They manifest the general opinion, both in England and the Colony, that he was the man, the presiding spirit in founding our civil and religious institutions, the essential principles of which are the peculiar blessings of our country. JouN CARVER, the First Governor of the First Republic in America, with Cushman, Brewster, and their associates, had established the precedent at Province- town, November 11, 1620.
Having been requested by the General Court to assist in compiling a body of fundamental laws, he presented a model, at a session in 1636, understood to have been the work chielly of himself and Mr. Bellingham. The historian, Hutchinson, says that he had seen " the first draught of the law by Mr. Cotton." This was not adopted; but another, supposed to be the joint labor of Mr. Cotton and Sir Henry Vane, embody- ing the same general principles, was printed in London in 1641. In the same year, some of the principal men in both
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houses of Parliament intended to have sent a ship to convey Mr. Cotton to England ; but, from the delay of Oliver Crom- well and others in writing to and entreating him and a few leading colonists to return to aid in public affairs, and from the rapid development of the revolutionary events, his accept- ance of the invitation was prevented.
Ilis influence was briefly impaired during the Antinomian controversy ; but the anonymous narrative of those troubles, entitled, " A short story, by one that was an eye and ear wit- ness," is now known to have been written by Gov. Winthrop, and is referred to by Mr. Savage in language which it merits. The Res. Thomas Weld, who reluctantly wrote the preface to that pamphlet, says, in apology, " I should have been loath to have revived them [the troubles] on earth ; but, considering that their names are already in print, without any act of mine, and that the necessity of the times calls for it," "and being earnestly pressed," " I therefore in a strait of time, not hav- ing had many hours, have drawn up the following Preface," to which he affixed his name. "The phamplets of this age," wrote his contemporary, Thomas Fuller, " may pass as records with the next, because publicly uncontrolled ; and what we laagh nt our children may beleive. Such seurrilous, scandal- uns papers do more than conceivable mischief; they cast dirt on the faces of many innocent persons, which, dried on by continuance of time, can never after be washed off."
That Mr. Cotton was not in advance of his age, as to the principles of toleration, is too evident. "The doctrine of per- svntion. in case of conscience, maintained by Calvin, Beza, Cotton, and the ministers of New England," then held sway in all Christendom, with rare exceptions. -- Neal's Puritans, New York ed., I., 371.
Whiting, Clarke, Norton, Hubbard, Mather, Hutchinson, Ehot, Allen, Savage, MeClare, and minor writers, have com- memorated his life. A list of his published works is given in Fartson's History of the First Church in Boston. " He was a good llebrician, a critic in Greek, and could, with great
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John Coffin Bones.
facility, both speak and write Latin, in a pure and elegant Ciceronian style ; and was a good historian." "His library was great, his reading and learning answerable, himself a liv- ing and better library." "He had a clear, neat, audible voice, easily heard in the most capacious auditory." His cont- plexion was fair, sanguine, clear; his hair was once brown, " but, in his later years, as white as the driven snow." " In his countenance was an inexpressible sort of majesty, which commanded respect from all that approached him." He was of medium stature, and inclined to corpulency. He was dis- tinguished for his hospitality.
While crossing the ferry, to preach at Cambridge, he took cold, and died December 23, 1652, in his 58th year; and on the 29th was carried on the shoulders of his fellow-ministers from his dwelling on Tremont-street and deposited in a brick tomb in this burial-ground. Funeral sermons were delivered by the Rev. Richard Mather, Rev. John Davenport, and by the clergy generally, on his death. There were "funeral poems in abundance." "New England mourned for her loss." The genealogy of his family may be found in the New Eng- land Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. I., pp. 164-166, vol. VI., pp. 20, 21, and in Bridgman's Copp's Hill Epitaphs, p. 202.
Among his descendants in the female line are the names Byles, Brooks, Bradbury, Bourne, Cushing, Everett, Frothing- ham, Grant, Gookin, Hale, Jackson, Lee, Mather, Swett, Storer, Thayer, Thornton, Tufts, Tracy, Upham, Walter, Wil- liams, Whiting, and. many others.
J. W. T.
JOHN COFFIN JONES. (p. 85.)
John Coffin Jones was born at Newbury, of most respecta- ble parentage, in the year 1740, and graduated at Harvard College in.1768, at the age of 18. Very soon after, he engaged in active business with Mr. Thomas Lee, then one of the most
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distinguished merchants of Boston : aud, before he was of age, went to Europe, where he remained some time, transacting very extensive mercantile operations for the interest of the house of which he was the junior partner.
At an early period of life he was an active member of that leading class of citizens who were liberal in the acknowledg- ment and promotion of merit, to whose notice he was recom- mended by his uncommon talents and activity, added to the advantages of education he had enjoyed. As far as personal feelings were concerned, he was always averse from public trusts; but, in those times of political troubles in which he lived, such men were not to be spared from the publie service. He was successively prevailed on to represent the city in the house of representatives, the county in the senate (of which, for some time, he was the president), and the commonwealth in the convention held at Annapolis, in 1786, which devised measures that finally led, three years afterwards, to the adop- tion of the federal constitution. Of the august assembly which adopted that compact for this state he was an influen- tial and active member. In both houses of the legislature he was one of the most prominent bodies in couneil and in debate. Nor was his publie vigilance confined to the places of legislation. In those sad days of poverty and distraction, his influence with merchants assigned to him a place of essen- tial service to the commonwealth.
At the time of the rebellion in the western counties, in 1784, when the public chest could not sustain the expenditures necessary for the expedition sent to maintain the laws, and the liberality of the merchants of Boston was appealed to, to save the state from anarchy, the liberality with which they answered the call was aseribed to no one's agency so mueli as to that of Mr. Jones, whose wisdom, firmness, and true patriot- ism, in those critical times, availed so much to arrest the storm that the'n threatened to make waste of their fair heritage.
As long and as far as Mr. Jones would consent to be'advanced in office by the suffrages and influence of his fellow-citizens,
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Stephen Hall Binnep.
these were not only cordially offered, but were pressed upon his acceptance; and, while he remained in office, there were few men whose counsel had equal weight in the guidance of public opinion, or whose instrumentality was so important in the management of publie measures.
Nothing but the sense of a citizen's duty prevailed on him t.) take office, or retain it ; he had no personal ambition of the kind, and the knowledge of this, perhaps, contributed not a little to the extraordinary reliance which was placed on his judgment.
As long as he was accessible, his counsel in public exigen- cies did not cease to be sought, which he always expressed with an utter disregard of personal consequences.
His method in his own affairs extended itself to exactness and punctuality in his relations with others; and such was the confidence placed in his judgment and fairness, that, at one time, it was said that more controverted questions of business were decided by his arbitration than by sentence of the Supreme Judicial Court; which statement, if literally taken, may appear extravagant; still it shows the impression which was entertained of the extent of the agency of this kind.
The high sense of the character at which he aimed seemed stamped on his whole demeanor, in which might be read a perfect antipathy to whatever was base and narrow. His form and aspect and manners became the station he had won.
The steady vigor of his intellect remained with him to the last, and the power of his creet and firm mind rose above and held itself distinct from the infirmities of mortal nature.
J. C. J.
STEPHEN HALL BINNEY, (p. 73.)
Son of Hon. Jonathan Binney, member of II. M. council, Halifax, N. S., and his first wife, Martha Hall, of Boston. Jonathan Binney was born in Hull, Mass., January 7, 1724-5;
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Stephen Wall Binney.
a merchant in Boston, 1746; he left Boston after the death of his wife, and settled in Halifax, N. S., where he died, October 8, 1807. From him and his second wife, Hannah Newton, descended the numerous Nova Scotia Binneys, many of whom are now in offices of eminence in England ; one of them, a grandson of Jonathan, the Right Rev. Hibbert Binney, D. D., is now Bishop of Nova Scotia. Hon. Jonathan Binney was son of Thomas, born in Hull, 1687, and wife, Margaret Bin- ney. Thomas was a son of John and Merey Binney, who set- tlod in Hull, Mass., abont 1680, and probably came from Hull, England, or vicinity, as Thomas Binney, of Hull, England, in 1850, states " that the family have buried in Worksop, Not- tinghamshire, England, near Hull, from two hundred to two hundred and fifty years, and where the Duke of Norfolk owns Worksop Manor. Some of the Binneys went early to Amer- ica."
All the Binneys in America trace to John and Mercy Bin- ney, of Hull, Mass., in 1680; among whom are John, a pros- Jerons merchant, and Amos Binney, navy agent, -of Boston, who were born in Hull. See tomb in Copp's Hill Burying- ground. Also Hon. Horace Binney, II. U. 1797, I.L. D., the distinguished jurist of Philadelphia, Pa., born in 1780, son of Dr. Barnabas Binney, B. U. 1774, an eminent surgeon in the Revolutionary war, born in Boston in 1751, settled as a physi- cian in Philadelphia, and died in 1787. His widow married, in 1791, the celebrated Dr. Marshall Spring, of Watertown, Mass., whose son, Marshall Binney Spring, died in 1825. Mary, a daughter of Dr. Binney, married Hon. Lucius Man- lius Sargent, of Boston, so well known by his writings. Dr. Barnabas Binney was a son of Capt. Barnabas Binney, born in Hall, Mass., 1722 or 3, and wife, Avis, daughter of Wm. Engs, Boston. Captain B. was a wealthy merchant in Boston, and resided on his large estate in "Seven Star Lane," opposite Church Green, Summer-street, and where he also had a store. Hle owned a plantation in Demerara, where he died, about 1774. Half of his tomb - No. 85 Granary Burial-ground,
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Henry Prentice.
Boston - is now owned by IIon. Horace Binney, of Philadel- phia, and one-half by the Stillman family, Capt. Binney hav- ing given half of it to Rev. Dr. Stillman, of Boston. It was previously owned by Deacon J. Gibben.
The arms used by Jonathan Binney, of Halifax, and deseend- ants, are, Crest, a stag's head and antlers, ppr. The shield contains two bars, with three martalets in each bar, supposed to have connected with the Earls of Iladdington (Hamilton). The seal of Hon. Horace Binney is, Crest, an ostrich, with a key, or., in its beak. Shield, or., with two bars, sa., two scollop shells in each bar. Motto, "Tiens ta Foy."*
CAPT. HENRY PRENTICE. (p. 12S.)
Capt. Henry Prentiss was born in Ilolliston, Mass., March 17, 1749; died in Medfield, Angust 31, 1821. Ilis remains were deposited in his tomb, in King's Chapel Burial-ground, Boston. He was son of Rev. Joshua Prentiss, who was born in Cambridge, Mass., April 9, 1719, and was, for forty-five years, pastor of the Holliston church, till his death, May 21, 1804, æ. 81. Ile was son of Deacon Henry Prentice, born in Cambridge, 1693, died, æ. 85, in Holliston. Henry was son of Solomon Prentice, Sen., who was born in Cambridge 23 : 7 : 16-16, and died July 24, 1719, &. 73. Ile was son of Henry Prentice, " Planter," in Cambridge, Mass., before 1640, with his second wife, Joan, - his first wife, Elizabeth, having died in 1643. He was Freeman in 1050. Some of the name altered their name to Prentiss in 1760.
Capt. Henry Prentiss married Ruth, daughter of Capt. Jon- athan Freeman, Boston, 1775. Capt. P. was in the Revolu- tionary army, all the war, at Cambridge, Long Island, and Trenton ; was a prominent man in Boston, in his day ; a mem- ber of the memorable " Tea Party," in 1773 ; overseer of the
* From an extensive MS. History and Genealogy of the Binney Family, by C. J. F. Binney, Boston.
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poor of Boston, 1784 ; member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, 1786; a sea-captain, 1780; and a mer- chant in Poston. le built one of the first stone houses in Boston, in Hanover-street; was owner of the Fresh Pond property, Cambridge. There is an excellent portrait of him, in 1791 .*
BRINLEY. (p. 44.)
This is an old English family, which can be traced back for very many generations. It is not designed to do this, but merely to connect the name of the first settler of the family in this country with his immediate progenitor in England. In the middle aisle of the church at Datchet, near Windsor, is a tombstone with this inscription :
THOMAS BRINLEY, EsQ.,
Auditor-General of the Revenues of King Charles ye First and Second. Born in the City of Exon. Married Ann Wase, of Pettworth, in Sussex, by whom he had five sons and seven daughters.
In the language of a letter written by one of his sons, he was " a great sufferer for his loyalty to his prince. For obey- ing his commands to come to Oxford to him, he had all his estate that could be found seized, and an order issued from the then Parliament to apprehend his person ; he was forced to abscond for nearly four years, until his majesty, King Charles the Second, came to England, Anno 1660, when he was pos- sessed of his office again. He was with his majesty in his exile all the time. Being ancient, above seventy years old, he died in less than a year," &c. It appears, then, that he was born about the year 1591, and died in 1651, at the age of 70. There is no evidence that all of his twelve children sur- vived him ; the inference is to the contrary, as no tradition
* From "The Prentice Family, by C. J. F. Binney, Boston, 1851."
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is preserved, known to the writer, of but five of the daughters and one son, as follows :
Jat. Rose Brinley, married Giles Baker, Lord of the Manor of Riple, in Kent.
2d. Another daughter, whose Christian name is not known to the writer, married William Coddington, Esq.
3d. Amother daughter, whose Christian name is also un- known, married Nathaniel Sylvester, Esq.
4th. A fourth daughter, named Grisell, was christened at St. James' church, Clerkenwall, January 6, 1635-6.
5th. Another daughter married Richard Hackle, Esq., who left two sons, both of whom died young.
There is no information of the sons of Thomas Brinley, with the exception of Francis, whose name is intimately connected with the early history of Newport, in Rhode Island.
FRANCIS BRINLEY,
son of the Auditor, was born in 1632. In consequence of the losses sustained by his father, for faithful adherence to the royal family, " he accepted a grant either of lands or office in the island of Barbadoes. The climate was not suited to his habits and constitution, and he came early to Rhode Island, with money in his pocket. He was much respected in his day. Business led him frequently to England. He was, as it were, the organ of intelligence and remittance between the colony and the mother country. Upon his return, on one occasion, from England, he came unexpectedly into the quar- terly town-meeting, theu in session : 'whereppon (says the Record) all the Freemen rose.'" (Redwood Library Address, by the late Hon. William Hunter, of Newport.)
He wrote a history of the transactions of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and the King's Province, that is, Narragansett, which may be found in the Massachusetts Historical Collec- tions, Ist Series, 5th volume, page 216. It is dated October 26th, 1709. He went to Newport fourteen years after its set- tlement, which was in 1638 ; from that time until his deevase
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(which was in 1719, at the age of 87), he took an active and important part in the transactions of the town and province.
Hle married Hannah Carr, of Newport. Their children were Thomas and William. William, the second son, died in the prime of life, in the year 1693.
THOMAS BRINLEY,
son of Francis, was born in Newport, R. I. On arriving at manhood, he removed to Boston, where he became a promi- nent merchant. He was a member of the Ancient and Hon- orable Artillery Company in 1681, and was "a founder of King's Chapel." In the year 1684 he went to England, where he married Mary Apthorpe. He died of small-pox, in London, in 1693, leaving a widow and three children, - Elizabeth, Francis and William.
Ist. ELIZABETH, his oldest child. She came to this country with her brother Francis, and married William Hutchinson, Esq., who graduated at Harvard College in the year 1702. She was living in 1755, but the date of her death is unknown. Her husband died while quite young. They had two children, Shrimpton and Francis ; the latter graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1736.
21. WILLIAM, the second son of Thomas, died in London, at the age of 13.
3d.
FRANCIS BRINLEY,
the oldest son of Thomas, was born in London, in the year 1600, and was educated at Eton College. His grandfather,- Francis Brinley, of Newport, - having lost his wife and his son William, invited the widow of his son Thomas to bring her children, Elizabeth and Francis, to this country, and engaged to make the latter his heir. She complied with the invitation, and he fulfilled his promise. They came from England in 1710. Francis Brinley, the grandson, did not establish himself at Newport, but created a house in Roxbury. after the model of the family mansion at Datehet, in England,
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Brinley.
but on a smaller scale, in which he lived until his death. The house is now owned and occupied by J. Bumstead Esq. Franeis Brinley married Deborah Lyde, of Boston, April 13th, 1718. She was a daughter of Edward and Catharine Lyde, and granddaughter of the Hon. Nathaniel Byfield, Judge of the Court of Admiralty, and Sarah, his wife.
Francis Brinley left five sous and two daughters.
THOMAS BRINLEY,
the eldest son of Francis, was born at Roxbury, graduated at Harvard College in 1744, and established himself in Boston as a merchant. His residence was in Harvard-street. He was a mandamus councillor. " His name," says Sabine, "appears among the one hundred and twenty-four merchants and oth- ers who addressed Ilutchinson at Boston, in 1774 ; and among the ninety-seven gentlemen and principal inhabitants of that town who addressed Gage in October of the following year. He was proseribed under the act of 1778, and is supposed to have died in banishment, having gone from Boston to Halifax in 1776, and to England the same year." (Sabine, p. 176.) It may be remarked, in this connection, that "of nearly two hundred loyalists that were banished by the government of Massachusetts, upwards of sixty were graduated at Harvard College. And of the five judges of the Supreme Court of that province, at the commencement of the difficulties, the Hon. William Cushing alone was of patriot principles." (Curwan's Journal, &e., by Ward, p. 23.)
Thomas Brinley, after his arrival in England, became a member of the "New England Club," which was formed in London in 1776 by several loyalists of Massachusetts, who agreed to meet and have a dinner weekly, at the Adelphi, Strand. Among the members were Gov. Hutchinson, Samuel Sewall, John S. Copley, John Amory, Robert Auchmuty, &e.
On the 25th of January, 1749, and while a resident of Bos- ton, he married his cousin, Elizabeth Cradock, daughter of George Cradock, a merchant in London, and afterwards in
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Boston, and a direet descendant of Sir Matthew Cradock, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Company.
Elizabeth, the wife of Thomas, died in London, in the spring of 1793. He died October 7, 1784, aged 58. They left no children.
FRANCIS BRINLEY,
second son of Francis, of Roxbury, established himself on the family estate at Newport, R. I. On the 12th of November, 1754, he married Aleph, daughter of the Hon. Godfrey Mal- bone, of Newport. Mr. Brinley's house was on the spot where the " Bellevue Hotel " now stands ; he was owner of a large adjacent real estate.
In a burying-ground attached to Trinity Church, in New- port, is a monumental stone, with this inseription :
"Sacred to the memory of Francis Brinley, who died April 23d, 1816, in the 88th year of his age, and Aleph, who died December 26th, 1800, aged 72 years."
They had four sons and three daughters, namely :
Ist. FRscis, born October 6, 1755, graduated at Cambridge College in 1775. He studied medicine with his uncle, Dr. William Hunter, of Newport. He died at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, in 1787, ummarried.
21. THOMAS MALDONE, second son of Francis, born October 30, 1756, died October 26, 1758.
34. Edward, born November 12th, 1757 ; died at Perth Andmy, N. J., September 8th, 1851, aged 94. His first wife was Janet, daughter of James Parker, Esq., of Perth Amboy, boru in 1767, married June 17th, 1792, and died December 18th, 1804, aged 37. Their children were four daughters and one son.
Ist. GERTRUDE ALEPH, born May 26, 1794; married the Rev. Edward Gilpin, of Annapolis, Nova Scotia ; died January 17, 1845.
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21. ELIZABETH PARKER, born February 18th, 1796 ; married the Rev. Job T. Halsey, of Perth Amboy.
3d. Maria Margaret, born 224 May, 1801 ; died in 1806.
4th. Catharine Sophia, born March, 1804.
5th. Francis William, born May 26, 1798; late collector of the customs at Perth Amboy, where he resides.
The second wife of Edward Brinley was Mary Johnst m (daughter of Dr. Johnston, a surgeon in the British army). They were married April 10th, 1807. She died at Perth Am- boy, in July, 1836. Their children were,
Ist. Edward Littlefield, born 21 February, 1808; a mer- chant in Philadelphia.
21. Mary Gibbs, born April 27, 1814 ; died at Newport, June 8th, 1844.
Mr. Edward Brinley enjoyed uncommon health during his long life, the greater part of which he passed in his native place, Newport. He was a zealous churchman, and an aceom- plished gentleman ; his mind and high spirits remained unin- paired to the last. His death is thus noticed in the " New York Churchman " :
" In Perth Amboy, N. J., September 8, in the 95th year of his age, Mr. Edward Brinley, for several years one of the wardens of St. Peter's Church, in that city. He was born in Newport, R. I., and was descended from an ancient English fam- ily, one of his direet ancestors having been ' Auditor General " of Charles the First, and, after the Restoration, having held the same office under Charles the Second. He had resided in Perth Amboy for the last seventeen years of his life, and ended his days in the midst of that circle of relations and friends who were nearest to him by the ties of nature. Never, prob- ably, was there a more remarkable instance of physical vigor and mental consciousness than were exhibited by this venera- ble man to the last. Although the snows of almost a century of winters had silvered his locks, yet death seemed to approach him with tardy and reluctant steps, as if his long continuance here in the flesh but rendered the dissolution of his body the
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