USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 4
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While acting as clerk, he still retained his seat as deputy ; and in November, 1645, he was appointed commissioner "to see people joyne in marriage in Newbury, during the pleasure of the Court." The full text of this appointment reads as follows : -
In Anst to ye peticon of ye Towne of Newbery Edward Rawson is Appointed & Authorized by this Courte to marry such as are published according to ye order of ye Courte & during ye Courts pleasure.
This entry was made by Rawson himself in the records of the House of Deputies, book 3, page 84. He probably continued to serve as clerk of the lower house until he was elected secretary of the colony, May 22, 1650.
Soon after his election to this office he removed with his family to Boston, where he resided during the remainder of his life, frequently visiting Newbury on matters connected
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EDWARD RAWSON
with his own personal affairs or official duties. When Agnes, the wife of Deacon Richard Knight, of the First Church in Newbury, was accused of extravagance in dress, Edward Rawson was induced to write to one of the magistrates at Salem as follows : -
Honorable Sir,
An honest godly man, a friend of mine in Newbury, whose name is Richard Knight, whether of ignorance or wilfulness by some neighbour, is presented for his wife's wearing of a silk hood, supposing he has not been worth two hundred pounds. It being a grievance to him, who is advanced (in years) to be summoned to a court, that never useth to trouble any, at his request I thought fit to inform on my owne knowl- edge his estate is better worth than three hundred, and therefore I desire you would, as you may, forbeare, in your warrant, to insert his name in it, it may be; if not, at least that you would take private satis- faction of him in your chamber, which he can easily give you, or any, in a moment. Not else at present, but my service to you and Mr Symon Bradstreet.
Your friend and servant,
EDWARD RAWSON.
Now at Newbury, the fourteenth of August, 1653 .*
For thirty-five years Edward Rawson was annually elected secretary of the colony. May 15, 1686, Edward Randolph arrived in Boston, bearing a commission to Joseph Dudley as president, and sixteen others as councillors of New England, until a governor-in-chief should be appointed by the king.
Rawson drew up and signed the resolves adopted by the General Court in answer to the charges and accusations brought against the colonial government ; and this was, prob- ably, his last official act.
Upon the restoration of the old charter in April, 1689, Rawson was not reinstated in office. His age probably pre- vented him from taking an active part in opposition to the administration of Governor Andros. He died, honored and respected, Aug. 27, 1693, aged seventy-eight, at his residence in " Rawson's Lane," Boston, now Bromfield Street.
Several of his sons went to England, and settled there.
* Coffin's History of Newbury, page 58.
REBECCA RAWSON.
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EDWARD RAWSON
Two of his daughters died young, and four were married in Boston. Rebecca Rawson, whose portrait accompanies this sketch, was the sixth daughter and ninth child of the secre- tary. She was the heroine of a romantic tale that Whittier has made attractive and interesting in the volume entitled " Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal in the Province of Massachusetts Bay." She was born May 23, 1656, and was tenderly nurtured and carefully educated. She became en- gaged, and in due time married Thomas Rumsey, a young man from England, of respectable appearance and pleasing address, who pretended to be Sir Thomas Hale, Jr., the nephew of Lord Chief Justice Hale.
The following affidavits, taken from Coffin's History of New- bury, page 398, give the details of this unfortunate marriage : ---
The testimony of Theodore Atkinson and Mary, his wife, inhabitants of Boston, in New England, saith : -
That about the 3rd month in ye year 1678 Thomas Rumsey came to me and tendered his service to me for one year to work with me, and he told me that he was a Kentish man, and that his father lived near Canterbury, and that he was a yeoman, and had an estate of about £400 a year, and also that his father died when he was but young, that his father's estate did fall to him at his mother-in-law's decease, and also he pretended that he came over to New England upon the account of religion, and farther he hired himself with me for a year, for to attend my business and to keep my book of accounts and for the gathering in of my debts; but, when he had been about a month with me, he pretended he was one that had been highly bred, but he would not say farther what he was, but about 5 months after he came to me then he told me his father was a Knight and a Baronet, and that his mother-in-law was a Lady. So he lived and carried himself, pretending he was highly bred, that I, the said Atkinson, did not set him on work, because he promised me he would satisfy me for what charges and expenses ... about him ; but a little time after he came to me he began to discover himself, so as his religion did seem to wear away, and before the year was expired he changed his name and said his name was Hale, and professed he had been a great traveller in ye Streights for about two and twenty months, and that his mother was called the lady Hale, and paid him his money by bills of exchange from time to time, that she was a Lady that had £300 per annum of her own that she brought with her, and that his father had about £800 a year, and a vast estate, which he durst not, nor would not, mention lest he
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should be laughed at, and not believed, that all his father's estate after his mother's decease was his, those and such like unheard-of stories as those, in which is not the least shadow of truth (as the deponents are informed) and as the deponents now perceive, he made use of as a delusion to put a cheat on Mr. Edward Rawson, of Boston, aforesaid, to accomplish his abominable villainy and deceive of his daughter, Mrs. Rebecca Rawson, whom he was married unto by a minister of the gospel on the first day of July, 1679, in the presence of near 40 wit- nesses.
The other paper gives the sequel of the story in the follow- ing words : -
Thomas Rumsey pretended to be Sir Thomas Hale, Jr., nephew of Lord Chief Justice Hale, made a respectable appearance, appeared to be well acquainted with Lord Hale, and, being a person of a very hand- some address, paid his devoirs to Rebecca Rawson, who was accounted one of the most beautiful, polite, and accomplished young ladies in Boston, and had the vanity to think herself suitable to make the young lord a wife. Accordingly, they were married, and, handsomely fur- nished, sailed for England, and safely arrived. She went on shore in a dishabille, leaving her trunks on board the vessel, and went to lodge with a relation of hers. In the morning early he arose, took the keys, and told her he would send the trunks on shore, that she might be dressed before dinner. He sent the trunks up, and she waited impa- tiently for the keys till one or two o'clock, but, he not coming, she broke open the trunks, and, to her inexpressible surprise, she found herself stript of everything, and her trunks filled with combustible mat- ter, on which her kinsman ordered his carriage, and they went to a place, where she stopt with her husband the night before. She en- quired for Sir Thomas Hale, Jr. They said he had not been there for some days. She said she was sure he was there the night before. They said Thomas Rumsey had been there with a young lady, but was gone to his wife in Canterbury, and she saw him no more. Having learned many curious works, such as painting on glass, she thought her- self able to support herself; and on her return to America she was swallowed up by the earthquake at Port Royal in America.
She embarked for Boston, by way of Jamaica, in a vessel which belonged to one of her uncles. While the ship was at Port Royal, in Jamaica, just ready to sail for Boston, the great earthquake of June 9, 1692, occurred. The ship was dismantled and wrecked, and all the crew and passengers lost, with the exception of the owner of the vessel, who hap-
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EDWARD RAWSON
pened to be on shore completing the settlement of his ac- counts, and so escaped to tell the tale.
The portraits of Edward Rawson and Rebecca Rawson, now in the possession of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, No. 18 Somerset Street, Boston, were discovered nearly fifty years ago by Reuben Rawson Dodge, of East Sutton, now Wilkinsonville, Mass., in the old Rawson house at Quincy. They had been handed down through Mr. Dodge's grandfather, Ebenezer Rawson, and the family of Judge Dorr, of Mendon, for at least five generations. On the portrait of Edward Rawson is plainly inscribed " Natis, 1 5th April, 1615 - ÆEtatis suæ 55, 1670," the exact date of his birth and the probable date of the painting. The name of the artist is unknown.
Both of these portraits were engraved and published with the memoir of Edward Rawson and the genealogy of the Rawson family in 1849. Through the kindness and courtesy of Mr. Dodge, who collected and arranged most of the mate- rials for that volume, copies of these steel engravings have been made, and are published in connection with this sketch of the life and early home of the second town clerk of Newbury.
Among the men prominent in public affairs in this vicin- ity, previous to 1650, none were more frequently honored with public office than Edward Rawson ; and the large tracts of land granted to him indicate that he was a man of some considerable wealth, and contributed largely to the financial support of the new settlement. Nearly six hundred acres of meadow and upland were laid out to him. The grant originally extended from the Merrimack River to the easterly side of Turkey Hill, and was covered for the most part with a thick growth of forest trees. Subsequently a portion of this land was exchanged for three hundred acres on the westerly side of Turkey Hill along the banks of the Arti- choke River. The low, level marshland in that neighbor- hood, above the upper bridge over the Artichoke, is still known as Rawson's meadow.
An entry in the Proprietors' Records for the town of New-
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bury, undated, but evidently made during the year 1638, states that
There was granted to Edward Rawson, in lieu of his resigning his two hundred acres formerly granted unto him at the birchen meadow, two hundred acres of upland on this side Artichoke river, with all the meadows on both sides of that river & one hundred acres of upland more on the other side of the river, to enjoy to him & his heirs forever.
Another grant, without date, is also recorded as follows :-
To Mr Edward Rawson forty acres of upland as it is laid out, in length one hundred and sixty Rods, in breadth forty Rods, and Bounded by the Common on the North side and West end, John Moulton on the South side, and the way Lift by the Towne, of four Rods broad Joyning to Merrimack River on the East.
Evidence that this grant extended to the Merrimack River is clearly shown by reference to a deed from Tristram Coffin to Lionel North, dated April 12, 1659, and recorded at Salem (Ipswich Deeds), book I, page 645, which conveys
Forty acres of upland as it hath been laid out and given him in pos- session, situate, lying & being in Newbury aforesaid, being part of the farme formerly granted by the town of Newbury unto Mr Edward Raw- son, being halfe the four score acres which I, the said Tristram Coffin, lately purchased of the above named Mr. Rawson & the east side of the above said four score acres being bounded with the land of William Moody on the west, Merrimack river over against Mr. Carr's iland on the north, the way to the ferry on the east, and the way to Artichoke river on the south, with all & singular ye profits, wood, timber or under- wood privilidges & appurtenances thereunto belonging.
The dwelling-house connected with Mr. Rawson's farm was on the westerly side of the country road, now High Street, and near the head of Woodland Street. This house, with forty acres of land under and adjoining the same, was sold soon after his election to the office of secretary of the colony. The terms and conditions of the sale are named in the following deed : ----
5 1
EDWARD RAWSON 36870
Know all men by these presents that I, Edward Rawson, late of New- bury in New England, Gent., for & in Consideration of One hundred pounds paid by William Peelsbury of Dorchester, yeoman, in hand fifteen poundes and by Security bearing date with these presents in manner & forme to be paid as in the Same more largely appeareth, Have Given, Granted, bargained & Sold, & by these presents doe give, grant. bargain & Sell unto ye said Wm Peelsbury & his heirs all that my dwelling house as it is Situated in Newbury, with forty acres of upland be it more or less to ye Same adjoyning, with Garden & fences to ye same belonging as it is now encompassed about with the Comon at one End, the highway at the other, John Pemberton land, and the land of Henry Sewall, junr., of one side and the land of Wm Elusy on the other side, with Tenn acres of meadow, taking it in any One place of ye sd Rawson's meadow, together with ye bushes to be accounted part from ye Sides of ye upland to ye river, with liberty for Comonage For Tenn Cowes, pt of ye sd Rawson's liberty in the Cow Comon & so pro- portionable privilege if Ever the Comon be stinted in all other, the Cow Common, as in the Towne booke of Newbury, is granted to ye said Rawson, to Have & Hold all the above mentioned premises to him the Said Wm. Pilsbery & his heirs forever from the day of ye Date hereof ; & the Said Edward Rawson doth hereby Engage to Warrantize the Sale of all the above mentioned premises Against all men Whatsoever Claym- ing in, by, from or under him, his heirs or assigns forever. In Witness Whereof I have Hereunto Set my hand & Seale This thirteenth day of December, 1651.
EDWARD RAWSON, & a Seale.
Signed, Sealed and delivered in the presence of us,
ANTHONY STODDARD JOHN WISWALL.
Entered and recorded 3 January, 1651.
EDWARD RAWSON, Recorder.
This Deed of Sale was acknowledged by Mr. Edward Rawson to be his act and deed to ye use of William Pillsbery, whereunto Mrs Rachel Rawson, ye wife of ye sd Edward Rawson, gave full Consent hereunto & renounced all right of Dowry hereunto this first of ye 11th mo., 1651. before me.
WILLIAM HIBBINS.
Examd. STEPHEN SEWALL, Reg'r .*
* Essex Deeds, book 13, leaf 94.
PILLSBURY HOUSE, 1700-1889.
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EDWARD RAWSON
William Pillsbury removed with his family to Newbury, and took possession of his newly acquired property early in the spring of 1651-2.
At his death in 1686 he left the house and land to his son, Job Pillsbury, who continued to occupy it until about the year 1700, when he built a new house on the same land, only a few rods distant. In his will dated August, 1716, he gives his share in the new house to his son Daniel, and his old house and shop to his son Josiah. The latter son sold his part of the property to his brother Daniel ; and, after an interval of a few years, the old Rawson house, being out of repair, was taken down.
A photographic view of the domicile erected for the con- venience of Job Pillsbury and his family in 1700 is given on the opposite page, the front yard originally being open to the street. It was a quaint-looking building, containing two rooms on the lower floor, one on each side of the great chimney which occupied the centre of the house, and two chambers above, about twenty feet square, and over all a large attic. The two-story L at right angles with the main house was built in 1782; and the projection, covered with shingles, next the street was added at a later date for a kitchen, with a shed for the baiting of horses attached. Not- withstanding its great age, the house was in a good state of preservation when it was destroyed by fire July 4, 1889.
It was owned and occupied by some member of the Pills- bury family from the date of its erection in 1700 until the . death of Joshua Pillsbury in the latter part of the year 1887, except a brief interval when it was rented to David Emery, who with his wife, Sally Smith, from Crane-neck Hill, made it a house of public entertainment. During the War of 1812, when smuggling in every form was boldly carried on in sea- port towns, "Emery's tavern was a noted depot and safe deposit for the illicit trade, and often every hiding-place in the house and barns would be filled with contraband articles."
Joshua Pillsbury, returning from Boscawen, N.H., to which place his father had removed some years previously, married a daughter of Captain Samuel Rolfe, and then started house-
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keeping in the old house. There he with his wife and children lived ; and there he died, the last survivor of them all. Pending the settlement of his estate, the house was left vacant for several months. Taking advantage of this fact, it was set on fire at night by some evil-disposed person or per- sons, and totally destroyed.
Another house has recently been erected on the same spot, of the same dimensions and the same general style of archi- tecture.
"The overhanging eaves, the projecting story, the small- paned windows of different sizes, irregularly placed," the low ceiling, and wide rooms with hard-wood floors and open fire- places have all been restored. The new house stands to-day an exact counterpart of the old one built nearly two centuries ago on land William Pillsbury bought of Edward Rawson in the year 1651. Two grand-daughters of Joshua Pillsbury, Misses Emily A. Getchell and Ellen P. Getchell, now own and occupy the house and land.
THE FERRY AT CARR'S ISLAND.
In September, 1638, the General Court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay granted Simon Bradstreet and his asso- ciates liberty to begin a plantation north of the Merrimack. Early in the spring of 1639 a company was organized to locate the roads and make a division of the land. The Gen- eral Court named the plantation Colchester (Sept. 4, 1639), but the year following (Oct. 7, 1640) changed the name from Colchester to Salisbury.
At the first meeting of the proprietors, George Carr, ship- wright, who had lived at Ipswich for some years previously, was granted a house lot of three acres ; and at a general meeting of the freemen of the town held July 3, 1640,
It was Ordered yt George Carr shall have the Iland where he now dwells : as well Marsh as upland, it being the greatest Iland wthin the Towne bounds in the river Merrimack; wth his 3 Acre house Lott more or less lying upon the est of Mr Winsley house lott & upon the weast of Mr ffrancis Doues house lott for the whole of his first Di- vision.
It appears from subsequent action of the General Court that this island, as well as " Ramme Island, Deare Island, and Eagle Island," were not then considered as within the territorial limits of the town of Salisbury.
For at least five years after the settlement of the town there was no legally established ferry across the Merrimack, although it is probable that transportation by the way of Carr's Island was somewhat frequent, as "the highway lead- ing to the ferry" is mentioned in the records as' early as 1639.
At a county court held at Ipswich on the 24th of Septem- ber, 1644, the following order was passed :-
CARR'S ISLAND-OLD HOUSE AND FERRY LANDING.
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THE FERRY AT CARR'S ISLAND
George Carr is appointed to keepe ye ferrie att Salisbury att the Iland where hee now dwelleth for ye space of three years, Pvided yt hee finde a suffitient horse boate, & giue diligent attendance.
The ferries are as followeth vnder :
ffor a Man prsent pay 3ª
for a horse 8d
for great cattle 8ª
Calues & Yearlins 3ª
goates 2ª
hoggs 3ª
If p'sent pay bee not made yt hee must booke any ferries, then a penny a peece more. If any bee forced to swimme over a horse for want of a great boate, they shall pay nothing .- Massachusetts Archives, volume 121, page I.
The provisions of this order authorize the collection of certain sums for ferriage, if paid cash down; but, if they are charged on account, "then a penny a peece more."
Before the expiration of the three years' limit named in the grant cited above Tristram Coffin, of Newbury, was authorized by the General Court to keep a ferry on the New- bury side, " when the interest of George Carr shall be deter- mined "; that is to say, when the rights and privileges con- ferred by the county court at Ipswich shall have terminated. The order adopted May 26, 1647, reads as follows : -
The Corte doth grant Tristram Coffin to keepe an ordinary at New- bury, & to retayle wine, paying according to ordr; & also he is granted liberty to keepe a ferry on Newberry side, ovr Merrimack, when the interest of George Carr shall be determined, & Georg Carr shall have librty to keepe his boate going on Salsberry side .- Massachusetts Colony Records, volume 2, page 194.
There being some uncertainty in regard to the jurisdiction of the General Court over several islands in the river, a formal petition was presented to the deputies; and under date of May 10, 1648, it is recorded : -
Upon the petition of the towne of Salsberry the Corte conceive it meete that the little iland in Merrimack be reserved for the Countryes
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use, & the greater iland to be given to the towne of Salsberry, reserv- ing a sufficient high way for passage of men & cattle & that the towne may have liberty to keepe a ferry on their side .- Massachusetts Colony Records, volume 2, page 246.
The little island referred to in the above order was after- ward called "Ramm Iland"; and the greater island, over which a highway was reserved for the passage of men and cattle, is now known as Carr's Island. It does not appear from the records of the General Court that the right of pass- ing to and fro over this island has ever been surrendered ; and, undoubtedly, this old roadway is still under the control of the State. The marks and bounds that made it a well- defined public way are now nearly obliterated, but its general direction and most prominent features can still be pointed out. A few granite posts set here and there along the line of this old thoroughfare are needed, in order to insure the identification and preservation of this important historic land- mark.
June 29, 1648, the town of Salisbury appointed a commit- tee to attend to the " settling of the fferry," as provided for by the vote passed by the General Court in the preceding month of May. On the 18th of December following " it was Ordered that M' Carr should have the ffery for fourteene yeares ; uppon the termes agreed on by those men appointed to dispose of the fferry."
Having thus secured the exclusive right to maintain a ferry on the Salisbury side, Carr next applied to the General Court for the privilege of ferrying passengers to and from the New- bury side of the island, as he had formerly been allowed to do. This request was not granted; but, nevertheless, the court voted May 2, 1649 :-
In answere to the petition of George Carr, the Corte doth conceive it meete that the petitioner shall have the free use of Ram Iland so long as he doth or shall dilgently attend & serve the country, in keeping of the ferry between Salsberry & Newberry; & liberty is granted him, as occasion shall pesent, to fetch any passingers from Newberry side, & Mr. Coffin hath liberty to fetch any passingers also from Salsberry side,
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THE FERRY AT CARR'S ISLAND
as occasion shall be, that so the country may surely be served .- Massa- chusetts Colony Records, volume 2, page 265.
Evidently, this decision was not satisfactory ; for Mr. Carr presented a second petition during the same session of the court, asking for exclusive control of the ferry. Final action upon this petition was postponed until the next meeting of the " Courte at Salisbury," which was duly authorized to de- termine and settle the question as "may best tend to the ease of the country."
Nearly a year later the troublesome question was disposed of by the following decree of the court, entered at Salisbury, April 9, 1650 :-
Whereas by an ordr of ye Gen" Court bearing date May, 1649. It is left to ye Determination of ye next Court to be held at Salisbury for ye setling & Disposing of ye ferry there, according to weh order ye said Court at Salisbury Doth thus Dispose of ye said Ferry, first yt It shall Remain as it is att this present in disposeing of ye Town of Newbury & ye town of Salisbury for some space of time, viz. Until there be a Bridge made over from ye main to Mr. Carr's Island over ye northernmost branch of Merrimack River. And Whereas George Carr doth here undertake & Promise in ye Open Court for himselfe, his heirs & assigns. to make a sufficient bridge five foot wide, with three strong Rails on either side from one end of ye Bridge to ye other, wth Sufficient Causways in height above ye high water mark, Joyning to Each end of ye Bridge ye Causeways not Exceeding Six Rods at both (ends) That passengers may pass & Repass drie to & from ye Bridge; and ye same Bridge ye said George Carr, his heirs & assigns, shall continually maintain in good Repair, for & in Consideration whereof this Court doth settle & Dispose ye whole ferry on both sides ye River to ye sd George Carr. his heirs & assigns, from such time as ye said Bridge shall be Built & Finished & so long as it is sufficiently maintained & repair'd & no Longer. Provided always that in case ye bridge be in Decay (20) days without being repair'd if ye season will permit, notice being given him under ye hand of some Magistrate of ye Decay of it, Then the said Ferry shall return again to Newbury & Salisbury as it is now at present. And .ye sd George Carr Doth farther Engage himselfe, his heirs and assigns, to keep sufficient boats for ye use of ye Ferry While at any time ye Bridge shall be in repairing as before Express't, and at all times for ye southermost ferry so as no Damage Come to ye Country nor any particular person by ye Default of him ye said George Carr, his servants or Tenants, & for the prizes as it was last Concluded of at Ipswich
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