USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Dedham > Proceedings at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Dedham, Massachusetts, September 21, 1886 > Part 3
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250TH ANNIVERSARY.
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ceived the name of Charles, for Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I. of England. It was an era of commercial activity, and the Massachusetts Com- pany embarked in the fur trade and cod fisheries. They obtained their franchise under the Great Patent of New England, which was granted by the Crown in 1620, just about a month before the "casual landing " of the Pilgrims.1 In 1624 the Company sent over fifty vessels to engage in the fisheries; but these enterprises proving unprofitable, they were soon abandoned. The father of the Massachusetts Colony was the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, England, a Puritan divine, though a Conformist. It was he who first conceived the idea of planting a colony here for commercial purposes. When these were abandoned, he turned his attention to colonists of another sort. He succeeded in enlisting in his plan the co-operation of certain Puritan Non-con- formists, men of character and intelligence, who saw in the project of a new colony the way opened for relief from their distressing position as non- conformists to the liturgy of the Anglican Church. Among the six new patentees, representing the body of one hundred and ten other members of the com- pany, was Captain John Endicott, a stanch Puritan, who was sent over to Salem with a small colony in 1628. This was the first impulse of the new emi- gration. On the 4th of March, 1629, a new charter was obtained directly from the Crown, which granted
1 Archeologia Americana, p. 15.
:
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to the company the territory lying between the Merrimack and three miles north of it, and the Charles and three miles south of it; and what was of greater import to the future colony, besides the territorial grants and some commercial privileges, it also conferred the powers of government. This was the colony charter under which Massachusetts "grew and waxed strong in spirit" for more than sixty years. John Winthrop was chosen governor, and active preparations were immediately begun for colonization in force, with a scrupulous care to the wants and contingencies of a new plantation. It was now decided to remove the seat of government, which had hitherto been in England, and to transfer the charter to New England. Governor Winthrop, accompanied by about twenty members of the com- pany, bearing the charter, arrived on the " Arbella " in Salem harbor, April 11, 1630. It was the "Ar- bella," and not the " Mayflower," that first brought to Massachusetts Bay a royal charter which gave the guaranties of local self-government, and which may be said to have foreshadowed the future inde- pendence of the people of Massachusetts.
These events were the beginning of a coloniza- tion which, regarding both the numbers and charac- ter of the colonists, is without a parallel in history. In the next fifteen years nearly three hundred ships brought more than twenty-one thousand people to the shores of Massachusetts Bay.1 These colonists
1 Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence (Poole's ed.), p. 31.
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had come with a common, well-defined purpose, under the ample protection of a royal charter; they had brought all their worldly substance, and they had come to stay. These were the men who moulded the civil government and ecclesiastical system which were peculiar to Massachusetts. But they were not only the unconscious builders of a great Common- wealth; they were the progenitors of a race now numbered by millions, scattered through this broad land, whose pronounced religious character and opinions were distinctly impressed upon their de- scendants to the third generation, and which have not yet wholly ceased to exert their power.1
History does not justify the conclusion that all this great company of settlers were impelled by exclusively religious considerations. The same powerful impulse towards colonization was felt in England by Churchman, Romanist, and Quaker, as well as by Pilgrim and Puritan; and not only in England, but in France and Spain, Holland and Sweden. It seems like a prophecy of our com- posite American civilization that, at not long inter- vals of time, along the coast from Maine to Florida, settlements were made by Europeans of different tongues and creeds. Doubtless not a few of the passengers in the ships of the Massachusetts Com- pany had in their minds the fur trade and the fisheries. Perhaps more were allured by the dream of proprietorship in broad acres, which has always
1 See Preface to Dr. Palfrey's History of New England.
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made America seem a promised land to the Euro- pean. But after all that can be justly said of these diversities in the purposes of the Massachusetts colonists, still the historical fact remains unaffected, that the leading idea of the controlling minds of the company, not distinctly avowed in England for prudential reasons, but none the less profoundly entertained and acted upon, was to plant a colony here, where they might worship God in their own way, in the company exclusively of those having the same mind and faith, without let or hindrance from any external civil or ecclesiastical authority, or molestation from any person whatsoever.
The Puritans have been frequently misunderstood, and so they have been the subjects both of indis- criminate eulogy and undeserved censure. They were not religious enthusiasts or political dreamers. They did not seek to divorce the Church from the State. They did not mean to provide here a refuge for men of any creed who might come to them through discontent or fly to them from persecution. Toleration was an unknown word in their time, and they are to be judged by the standards of thought in their own time. At home in England they had belonged to the Established Church, and they never renounced its communion. Before coming here, they had never become a sect under a distinctive name. But they were members of a powerful and growing party in the Anglican Church, which sought to carry out the Reformation according to the principles and
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practice of the continental reformers. Almost a hundred and fifty years before Luther, nearly the same doctrines that he taught had been maintained in England by Wycliffe.1 But the English reforma- tion had progressed slowly, with serious reverses, under different dynasties. The continental refor- mation had been more rapid and complete. During the persecutions many of the Puritan clergy in the reign of Queen Mary had taken refuge in Germany and Switzerland. In the city of Geneva they had be- come disciples in the school of John Calvin, and had embraced not only his theological dogmas, but his church polity and simple forms of worship. The powerful influence of Calvin's teachings had been widely felt in England. From the middle of the six- teenth century, the controversy about ceremonies and vestments had proceeded. But when finally the arm of the civil power of the kingdom was stretched forth to enforce conformity to the liturgy under heavy penalties, and the non-conforming clergy were deprived of their livings, their position became dis- tressing and insupportable. With them compromise was impossible ; their alternative was either conform- ity or voluntary expatriation, and they reluctantly chose the latter. They parted with sorrow from the land and homes they loved, so that they might freely enjoy their simple forms of worship beyond the sea.2
1 Hallam's Constitutional History, vol. i. p. 57.
2 The authorities for the view of the character and purposes of the Massachusetts Colonies here presented, are the " Planter's Plea," by Rev. John White, London, 1630, partly reprinted in Young's " Chroni-
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Of such men as these were the founders of Ded- ham. Their English homes were chiefly in the eastern counties of England, - Suffolk, Essex, and Norfolk. Few, if any of them, were known to each other before coming here. They found at Water- town a temporary resting-place, but there was no room for them in that crowded settlement. They were forced to find homes elsewhere. Robert Feake, a relative of Governor Winthrop, and a prominent man at Watertown, was the first signer of the Cov- enant, and had an allotment of land; but he never removed here. The leader of the pioneers was Edward Alleyn, a man of capacity and education. The authorship of the Town Covenant, to which at different times the signatures of one hundred and twenty-five men were affixed, is to be attributed to him. It is a document which embodies the general purposes of the plantation, which are expressed with
dignity, simplicity, and brevity. The names of all the pioneers who actually came here cannot be pre- cisely stated ; but among them, besides Mr. Edward Alleyn, were John Dwight, Richard Everard, Abra- ham Shaw, Samuel Morse, Philemon Dalton, Lam- bert Genere, John Gay, and John Ellis. All these were signers of the petition, and removed here from
cles of Massachusetts ; " Palfrey's " History of New England," vol. i. chap. iii .; the learned monograph on the Massachusetts Company, by Samuel F. Haven, in the " Archeologia Americana ; " and the chapter on the Puritan Commonwealth in the " Memorial History of Boston," by Dr. George E. Ellis, where the authorities are collated, and the whole subject is comprehensively and judicially treated.
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Watertown. The prayer of the petition to the General Court was that the town be distinguished by the name of Contentment, or otherwise as the Court should please. The Court inserted the name of Dedham. While we have no definite historical evidence why this name was given, we may draw the obvious but satisfactory inference that there were some of the settlers who had lived in Dedham, England. It is supposed that John Dwight, John Page, and John Rogers were of this number.1 It is not improbable that there were others, as little is now known concerning the places of their nativity. That it was a favorite idea with the Colonists thus to perpetuate the names of their English homes, is well known. A glance at the map of Essex and Suffolk, England, will show how many names were repeated in Essex and Suffolk in the Massachusetts Colony.
Dedham in England is a delightful, but quiet town, in the valley of the Stour, a small river which divides Essex from Suffolk. It lies about fifty-seven miles northeast from London, and some four miles from Manningtree station. It is rarely found on the maps. It lies in the midst of a sheep-grazing country; and, formerly, a source of prosperity to its people was the manufacture of wool on hand-looms. It is a quiet, picturesque place now, where artists go for sketches; and the scene of a recent English mag- azine story was laid there.2 In the description there
1 Worthington's History of Dedham, p. 31.
2 The Deadleigh Sweep, Cornhill Magazine, 1886.
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given, one may easily find points of resemblance between our Dedham and its English prototype.
It consists of one broad street of old houses, some plaster and timber with acute gables toward the street, and of brick mansions erected between the reigns of Queen Anne and George IV .; of a stone church of the fifteenth century, with a stately tower, and encrusted with mural tablets ; of an assembly- room with a Doric portico, and of a red brick gram- mar-school with moulded brick pediments, cornices, and picturesque windows, and a cricket-ground be- hind, shadowed by giant elms.
Although the signers of the petition may be re- garded as the nominal founders of the town, yet out of the nineteen, only eight were long identified with it, or had any permanent influence in its organiza- tion. The rest either removed or died soon after the beginning of the town. But in 1637 the com- pany received new and important accessions to its principal men, who came here directly from Eng- land. Among these were John Allin, Eleazer Lusher, Michael Metcalf, Anthony Fisher, Daniel Fisher, and Francis Chickering. These, with those already here and others who followed soon after, are to be regarded as the efficient founders of the town.
We find, in the records, surprising evidence of the energy and foresight of these men in organizing the settlement. They went about the work of forming a civil society with the certainty of instinct. It must be remembered that as yet there were no
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general laws of the Colony to regulate their interests or to direct them in their affairs. The first code of colony laws, known as the Body of Liberties, was not passed until 1641. But they had brought with them a strong endowment of that common-sense which has been said to be the source of the com- mon law of England. They had been trained to a knowledge of the great underlying principles of civil society. They had only to transplant here in the wilderness such laws and customs as would serve their purpose, but these were derived from a civilization which had been the growth of centuries. They knew the difference between organic law and municipal regulations. The Town Covenant was their constitution. It declares that none were to be received unless they were probably of one heart with them. It provides for a settlement of differ- ence by reference to two or three others. It im- poses the duty of every man owning land to pay his share of taxes, ratably with other men. It an- nounces the purposes of the settlement to be "a loving and comfortable society." This was sub- scribed by every townsman as he was admitted, dur- ing many years. But they also passed many muni- cipal regulations in the beginning. Great care was taken that no unfit person should be admitted. One ordinance declared that every man should give in- formation of what he knew concerning any man in town, before he should be admitted "into the soci- ety of such as seek peace and ensue it." No propri-
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etor could sell his lands without the leave of the company. The purpose of these ordinances was to keep off "the contrary-minded." In the division of lands, they granted each married man a home lot of twelve acres, and each unmarried man eight acres. These were all surveyed, and an instrument of title given, which was duly recorded. They reserved a common tillage-field in which every man's share was defined. They laid out herd-walks or common pastures where all cattle might feed. They pro- vided for the maintenance of fences and the keep- ing of swine, horses, and cattle. As early as 1637, a long ordinance was passed for the establishment of highways. All rivers and ponds, except those en- closed by lands of one owner, were to be kept from being appropriated, and for the use of the inhabi- tants for "fishing or otherwise as occasion may require." It will be observed, in these ordinances, how the common weal was made paramount to every private interest. In 1644 they granted lands for a school fund, and they raised {20 to pay the school-master. They set apart the training-field, and organized the train-band, which had a weekly exercise in the beginning. At first they were em- ployed the greater portion of their time in public business, and after three years they delegated to seven men all powers except granting lands and admitting townsmen. These were the first Select- men of Dedham. In all these ways they showed how much more they thought of building up a com-
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fortable society than of building comfortable cot- tages for themselves. No sooner had they reared their rude cabins in the forest than their thoughts were turned to converting it into a settlement where all might enjoy the blessings of civilized life.
The subject uppermost in their thoughts was the gathering of a church. At first they worshipped under one of the large trees east of Dwight's Brook, or Little River.1 They began to build a meeting- house in 1638, but it was not finished until 1646. It was placed on this spot, after some difference of opinion, as the record runs, " in loving satisfaction to some neighbors on the East side of Little River." Mr. Allin has left a minute and graphic history of the formation of the church, now preserved on the church records, written by his own hand. To the founders it was a great and solemn work, to be under- taken with the utmost care and deliberation. They spent a whole winter in conferences, that they might become acquainted with "each other's gifts and graces." It was first proposed that the members of the Watertown church of their own number should lay the foundation, but this was declined. Then they began the delicate and trying duty of determining who among themselves "were meet for the work." After a day of fasting and prayer, "every one laying aside all ambitious desires of being taken into the work, and overmuch bashfulness in refusing the same, they should willingly submit themselves to
1 Lamson's Historical Discourses, 1838, p. 7.
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the judgment of the whole company to be taken or left as ordered by the rule of the Gospel," six were agreed upon by common consent. But they could not so easily agree upon the others. There was no shrinking in their scrutiny. They were no respect- ers of persons. It was "judgment laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet." Edward Al- leyn himself had given some offence, and he was required to wait for further testimonies from friends in England. Anthony Fisher had a false confi- dence. Joseph Kingsbury was too much addicted to the world, and Thomas Morse was dark and un- satisfying in his religious experience, though his life was innocent. Finally, Edward Alleyn and John Hunting were accepted; and on the 8th of November, 1638, having obtained the consent of the Governor and Magistrates and sent a letter to the elders of the neighboring churches, and after spend- ing the previous day in fasting and prayer, the first church of Dedham and the fourteenth in the Colony, in the words of Mr. Allin, " was made a spiritual house." Another severe trial awaited them in the choice of a pastor. Mr. Thomas Carter, a signer of the Covenant, was thought of; but he was called to Woburn. Mr. John Phillips, an eminent divine, formerly rector at Wrentham, England, was much desired; but he declined. The choice finally fell on Mr. John Allin as pastor and John Hunting as ruling elder. At the ordination, although the el- ders of the other churches were present, they took
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no further part than to extend the right hand of fellowship. The laying on of hands was done by members of the church, and in this service they followed the usage of other churches in the Colony. These proceedings had an intense and absorbing interest for these earnest-minded men, and give us a good insight into their characters. Beneath their quaint forms of speech, it is easy to see how tena- ciously they held to their rule of discipline and faith, and how rigidly they applied to themselves the same rule that they did to others, in determin- ing fitness for church-membership.
The planters in their petition had desired that the name of Contentment should be given to the town, but to them this did not signify the content- ment of repose or inaction; on the contrary, they exhibited a remarkable energy in forwarding public enterprises. In their need of a corn-mill, they sought for an eligible site where they might build a dam for water-power. Some quick eye discovered that East Brook, which ran to the Neponset, would give the needed fall, but not sufficient water. The sources of this brook were about three fourths of a mile from Charles River, and lower than the bed of the river. The problem then was to unite the waters of the Charles and of East Brook. No sooner was the plan conceived than it was determined to execute it. On the twenty-fifth day of March, 1639, the town ordered that the channel be dug at the com- mon charge, " that it may form a suitable creek unto
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a water-mill, that it shall be found fitting to set a mill upon, in the opinion of a workman to be em- ployed for that purpose." This required the cut- ting of a channel twenty feet wide for three fourths of a mile, and a further widening of the channel of East Brook. Who were employed in this work cannot be discovered, but the canal was dug and a dam and mill built upon it as early as 1640. It was undertaken without any aid or authority from the General Court; and so far as is known, it was their own right arms that accomplished the work. This was an enterprise of no small proportions, and its benefits to the town have been far reaching. For two centuries it furnished power for a saw-mill and a grist-mill. Since the beginning of the present cen- tury there have been five mill-dams on the stream, and extensive cotton and woollen mills, with other manufactories. To-day it is the source of the great- est industrial enterprise of the town, and is the best existing monument of the energy and foresight of the settlers.
Another work showing their practical forethought was undertaken in 1652. At the beginning of the settlement, what is now called " Dedham Island" was a neck of land containing about twelve hundred acres, around which Charles River flowed with a slight fall in its course, a distance of nearly five miles in an irregular horse-shoe bend. There was a distance of only two thirds of a mile across the meadows at the heel of this bend, and here the
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upper and lower channels of the river are distinctly visible. On this neck was a herd-walk, and perhaps some houses. The damage to the meadows by the waters remaining upon them was felt by the settlers to be serious, as it has been by every succeeding generation of riparian owners. Accordingly they conceived and executed the plan of cutting a creek or ditch through " Broad Meadows," thus uniting the upper and lower channels of the river. The purpose of this creek was to permit the overflow of water in times of freshets through this artificial channel, instead of allowing it to accumulate along its natural and circuitous course below. This chan- nel still exists; and though much obstructed, if it were cleared there is no reason to doubt it would fulfil the purpose of its projectors.
But the enterprise of the Dedham settlers was not confined to the immediate neighborhood of the vil- lage. Almost at the beginning their attention had been drawn to the beautiful and extensive mead- ows at Bogastow, afterwards Medfield. Edward Alleyn had a grant of three hundred and fifty acres there before his death in 1642. In 1651 Medfield was made a new town, with Mr. Wheelock, of the Dedham church, as its church teacher. It was therefore an offshoot from the Dedham set- tlement. They had also found the fine ponds and lands at Wollomonopoag, afterwards Wrentham. In 1671 it was voted that a plantation be set up there. They had some negotiations with Philip of
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Mount Hope as to his claims of title; but the settle- ment went forward, and hither went their sons and sons-in-law to find their new homes. The affairs of the new plantation for a time were directed by Ded- ham men, and so it may be regarded as peculiarly a child of Dedham; but in 1673 it was made a sep- arate town under the name of Wrentham, given, no doubt, by reason of Mr. Allin's connection with Wrentham, England.
These new settlements had been planted within the territory of the original grants to the Dedham proprietors. They planted another settlement, a hundred miles away in the wilderness. In 1651 the General Court, with the assent of the Dedham proprietors, had granted two thousand acres of land for the Indian town at Natick. A dispute after- wards arose respecting the boundaries of this grant, which was the subject of a lawsuit that resulted substantially in favor of Natick. To compensate Dedham, the Court granted to the proprietors eight thousand acres of unlocated lands, wherever in the colony they might select them. Accordingly they sent out messengers to make explorations. The " chestnut country," near Lancaster, was reported to have good land, but hard to cultivate, and there were not enough meadows. John Fairbanks, an enterprising explorer, informed the Selectmen of some good land twelve miles from Hadley; and he, with Lieutenant Daniel Fisher, was sent out to find it, and they returned with the report of a good land.
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This was Pocumtuck, the present town of Deerfield. Whoever has seen the lovely valley where old Deer- field lies, with the broad interval and the graceful sweep of the river around it, must applaud with enthusiasm the choice of the Dedham explorers. In 1670 the proprietors assembled at Dedham, laid out the town in lots, and selected a site for the meeting-house. All the proprietors were Dedham men, excepting Captain Pynchon, of Springfield, and four others. In 1672 further orders were passed for organizing the settlement. But the remoteness of Pocumtuck rendered its becoming a separate town inevitable. The shares of the proprietors were finally sold, and Deerfield became a separate town in 1682.
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