USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Registers of probate for the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1639-1799 > Part 2
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2 Boston Town Records, II. 299.
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and Dudley was one of the thirty-one freeholders and inhab- itants who constituted that Committee.
At a town-meeting 1 held in Boston, March 11, 1711-12, he was chosen one of the Selectmen.
At a town-meeting 2 held in Boston, March 9, 1712-13, he was again chosen one of the Selectmen, but declined to serve.
He published his Objections to the Bank of Credit3 in 1714.
As early as 1706, when it was thought that Isaac Adding- ton, then Secretary of the Province, was about to die, Gov- ernor Dudley wrote the following letter : 4-
" BOSTON, 15 Febr. 1705-6.
HONORABLE S!, - Besides my other letters wherewith I have troubled you, this is upon the perticular ocasion of M' Secretary Addington, who has been long in service here, the most diligent servant her Majesty has in America ; but he is lately much indisposed and I dowt will not live long. I humbly ask your favour for my son, Paul Dud- ley, that in case I should further advise that M' Secretarye's service is ended, which yet I heartily desire may last long. that he may stand in your favour for that office. Tho' there is no salary to be had, the fees are worth sixty or seventy pounds per annum, and will assist him. His atturney general's place is not worth to him twenty pounds per anum, tho' he drudges at it, as well as his other law. And I should be glad my self to be honored to be your deputy auditor, and should serve it carefully. I hope, notwithstanding what I write, M. Addingtons life & health.
I am S! your Honours most faithful humble servant. J. DUDLEY."
This appointment was not made, for Addington unex- pectedly recovered and continued in office for nine years longer. After his death, however, which occurred March 19, 1714-15, the Governor appointed,5 March 26, 1715, Addington
1 Boston Town Records, II. 335.
2 Ibid., II. 339.
3 J. Hammond Trumbull (Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, New Series, III. 291) says that " Of nearly thirty pamphlets and tracts printed from 1714 to 1721, inclusive, for and against a private bank or a public bank, the emission of bills of credit, and paper-currency in general, this of Mr. Dudley's was the first, and is in some respects the ablest."
See also Ibid., New Series, XI. 76: New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XIX. 166-168 ; Currency and Banking in the Province of the Massachu- setts-Bay, by Andrew McFarland Davis, II. 87-90.
$ Winthrop Papers, V. 551.
5 Council Records, VI. 335; Mass. Archives, XLVIII. 427; Boston News Letter, April 18, 1715.
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Davenport and Paul Dudley Commissioners to take care of the seals and the office until the appointment of the new Sec- retary. Samuel Woodward, the new Secretary, arrived in Boston September 22, 1715, and was sworn in on the 24th of that month.
Another unsuccessful attempt of Governor Dudley is thus chronicled by Judge Sewall : 1-
April 7, 1715. "Gen Council p. m. Gov' propounds Mr. Paul Dudley for Judge of Probat. Ten No's ; Eight yea's, as the Gos" told them."
Still another effort to advance the fortunes of Paul Dudley is recorded by Judge Sewall : 2 -.
" Satterday, Feb! 8 [1717-18]. Afterward Mr. Belcher [ Governor Belcher] enter'd into discourse about the Nomination and Apointment of Officers to be next week propounded, that Paul Dudley esqr. might be Chief Justice ; and I put in Col. Hutchinson's Room, that place being near as profitable. Gov! would do nothing to displease me. Mr. Dudley would be Chief Justice or nothing : was of a good Family. Capacity, his Country had yet done little for him."
This prospect does not appear to have pleased Judge Sewall. for he adds : --
"I desired a day or 2. to Consider of it. He desired it might be between the Gov! , himself and me."
Notwithstanding "Mr. Dudley would be Chief Justice or nothing," the Council Records 3 under date of November 20, 1718, record the fact that
" Paul Dudley Esq' [was appointed ] one of ye Justices of the Su- periour Court of Judicature & throughout this Province,"
1 Sewall's Diary, III. 45.
Judge Sewall's apprehensions (Ibid., III. 105) seem to have been aroused on the arrival, October 5, 1716, of Governor Shute to succeed Governor Dudley. When the signal gun announcing his coming was heard, the Judge and the other mem- bers of the Committee " Go aboard the Ship under sail. . . . and Congratulated the Governour's safe Arrival. The Depts had invited him to Col. Tayler's to lodge, till he went into his own house. They say his Excel's Answer was, He engaged in London to lodge at Mr. Pant Dudley's. ... The Governour's going to Mr. Dudley's makes many fear that he is deliver'd up to a Party. Deus arertat Omen ! "
2 Sewall's Diary, III. 167.
8 Council Records, VI. 623.
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and it was not until January 24, 1745-6, long after Judge Sewall had passed away, and on the death of Chief Justice Lynde, that Paul Dudley was appointed Chief Justice.1
He was chosen, May 30, 1718, a member of the Council,2 and he held his seat until 1736, except in the year 1730. In 1737, 1739, and 1740 his election was " negatived " by Gov- ernor Belcher.
He continued to live in Boston - and he is described in deeds and other instruments as " of Boston " - until about the time of the death of his father in 1720, when he removed to Roxbury.3 There he played a conspicuous part in the affairs of the town, serving on committees and acting as moderator of various town meetings.4
At a town meeting 5 held in Roxbury May 17, 1738. he was chosen a Representative to the General Court, but thanking the town for the respect paid him, he declined the honor.
At a town meeting 6 held May 14, 1739, he was again chosen a Representative, and this time he accepted. The House elected him its Speaker, but the Governor not con- senting, another was chosen Speaker in his stead. He was re-elected the following year, 1740, and again in 1741, a Representative" from Roxbury.
1 Council Records, XI. 553; Boston News Letter, January 30, 1746.
2 General Court Records, X. 230; Boston News Letter, June 2, 1718 ; Belcher Papers, II. 264, 265, 267, 300, 317, 333, 508.
3 The Boston News Letter of September 25, 1721, contains the following : - " ROXBURY. September 19th. 1721
Last Night about the Middle of the Night, the House of Paul Dudley Esq ; in Roxbury, was broke open, and from thence stole and carryed away, viz. A pair of Silver Candlesticks of Mr. Dummer's make, a Silver-hilted Sword, Silver Spurs, and Silver Buckles, Three or Four small Silver Tea-Spoons : a Bever Hat, a light Perriwig ty'd up, almost New ; A gray broad Cloth Coat, trim'd and fac'd with black, half worn, half a dozen Holland Shirts, Three Shifts, Four Muslin Neckcloths, and a pair of English Mens Shoes, rosted Soles. Whosoever shall apprehend and take up or stop and secure the abovesaid things, or any of them, so that they may be conveyed to the abovesaid Owner at Roxbury, shall be well Rewarded, and necessary Charges paid."
Samuel Sewall, Jr., in his Notes (Sewall's Letter Book, II. 303) says : "July 17th. [1722] Judge Dudleys House Raised," and Judge Sewall (Diary, III. 319) January 22, 1722-3, when he went to Roxbury Lecture, "Visited Mr. Dudly and wish'd him joy of his new House."
4 Roxbury Town Records, I. 328, 337; II. 22, 24, 28, 43.
5 Ibid., II. 56.
6 Ibid., II. 61 ; Boston News Letter, May 17, 1739.
7 Roxbury Town Records, II. 67, 70, 71. He was one of a Committee ap- pointed by the House July 17, 1741, to prepare a new edition of the Province Laws. (General Court Records, XVII. 3, 19.)
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He was one of the Feoffees of the Roxbury Latin School. and when the old school house, which had gone to decay, was replaced by a new one in 1742, he " was pleased to bestow, for the use of said school, a good, handsome bell." 1
Some of the old milestones, marked with the initials P. D .. erected by him in Roxbury, are still to be seen ; but the stone bridge built by him over Smelt Brook, for which he received the thanks of the town and which was named " Dudley's Bridge," 2 has long since disappeared.
He was appointed,3 September 9, 1721, by the Governor and Council, one of the Commissioners to meet the Five Nations at Albany.
He had always shown a scholarly interest in the Indian languages, and a valuable letter$ dated Chilmark, March 20, 1721-2, to him on that subject, apparently in response to some inquiries of his, is still extant. It was written by Experience Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard, a most competent authority for he had "an hereditary interest in the apostolic mission to the Indian," and had been "in childhood a play-mate with the Indian children." As he himself says, " I learnt the In- dian Language by Rote, as I did my mother Tongue, and not by Studying the Rules of it as the Lattin Tongue is comonly Learned."
Dudley was elected, November 2, 1721, a Fellow 5 of the
1 History of the Grammar School in Roxbury, by C. K. Dillaway, p. 64; " The Roxbury Latin School," by the Rev. James De Normandie, in the New England Magazine, XVIII. 388.
2 At a town meeting held in Roxbury, March 7, 1710-20 ( Roxbury Town Records, I. 305), the following vote was passed : -
" Voted that the Select men are desired to Return thanks to the Honourable Paul Dudley Esq! for Building the upper Stone bridge over Smelt brook in the town street, And that henceforward it be Called by the name of Dudleyes Bridge."
3 Council Records, VII. 306, 424.
In 2 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., VIII. 243, there is an Account of the Names and Numbers of the Five Indian Nations in Alliance with the Government of New York and under the Protection of the Crown of Great Britain, "taken from a memorandum of Paul Dudley's Esq. who had it at Albany in October, 1721 when an agent of the Province of the Massachusetts to treat with the five nations abovementioned. Copyed 3d of Nov. 1721."
4 This letter of Experience Mayhew was printed, with an introduction by the late John S. H. Fogg, M.D., in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register for January, 1885, (XXXIX. 10).
See also " English Definitions of Indian Terms. From Paul Dudley's Papers," by J. Wingate Thornton (1 Maine Hist. Soc. Coll., V. 425).
5 Thomson's History of the Royal Society, Appendix, XXXV. See also New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XL VI. 117.
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Royal Society of London, and he communicated a number of papers to the Transactions of that Society.
The following letter 1 to John Chamberlayne, also a Fellow of the Society, is interesting in connection with this subject: -
" DEAR SIR,
About twenty dayes since I wrote a large Letter to our Brother Newman by Capt. Clark wherein I have taken particniar notice of Professor Brandts noble History of the Reformation in Holland &c. and of Your merit in translating it to which I shall add no more in this than to say how much our College is obliged for Yr. repeated Favours of that kind and that the book is making all the hast it can thither. But I believe his Excellency will arrest it in the way for his own read- ing on my commendation. I am mightily pleased to hear you think of adding to Your Version of the Lord's prayer and Hope to have the Honour of casting in at least a Mite into Your great and rich Treasury. But then it must be upon Condition or as Lawyers phraze it in their Conveyances, provided alwayes that in Your next Edition you doe new England and our famous Eliot justice in Expunging Virginia and make the title of that Version as it ought to be Nov-anglia Ex Versione Celeberrimi Elioti. I beseach you not to forget it. The Version I now send you has not the Conclusion of the Lord's prayer for what reason I know not, it is just as the Jesuit who is a man of some Learn- ing rendred and Taught it to the Eastern Indians and You need not scruple to put it among the Number ; I shall Endeavour in a few Months to send you another Version in the pequot or Moheeg Language. They are a considerable Tribe of Indians to the westward of Boston as the Kennebeck are towards the Eastward. During the time our Indian Hostages and the Interpreter were at Boston I composed a small Nomen- clature to which I have added some Remarks on the Indian Language with an Account of some of their manners and Customs with my Opin- ion of their Origine or first Migration. But I dare not send it for fear You should first laugh at me yourself and then expose me to others. I shall very speedily send the Society some curiosities of Our Rattle- snakes which I believe you have not Yet met with. But they are frozen at present. I have lately been at Albany, which is a small City
1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XIX. 20-22.
Mr. William S. Appleton, who communicated this letter to the Register, adds that Chamberlayne " was ' distinguished as a lingnist,' which is abundantly proved by the work of which Dudley writes, viz. 'Oratio Dominica in Diversas Omnium fere Gentium Linguas versa,'" etc. etc., published in 1715. " It con- tains versions of the Lord's Prayer in about one hundred and fifty languages or dialects, including three of the Indians of North America. The one which dis- pleased Dudley is described in the preface as, ' Virginianam ex Bibliis Cantabrigite impressis.'"
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in the Government of New York and situated upon Hudson's River above fifty Leagues from the sea. You will easily find it in any Map of North America ; There I met with a French Trader and a Man of good sence Just come in from Canada ; he gave me a very particular acco't of the famous Falls of Niagara & assured me He had seen them at seaven different times. I have chosen to draw it up in a paper by itself that so you may the better communicate it if You think it deserves that Honour; I wish I had met with it before I sent You Kellugs Voyage to Missasippi that so I might have Joyned them together. However this of Niagara may serve as an Appendix to that of Missa- sippi : as I remember I desired You to present the Latter to the society in Generall & in speciall to professor Halley. But whoever it was or wherever it is, this of Niagara must follow it. I shall endeavour to gratifie Dr. Mead with some of the poyson-wood. But as to More Experiments our People don't much care for making them, if I have not been particular eno in my acco't of that matter you must tell me what further satisfaction the Doctor wants. But in Generall as to its poysonous Quality and Operation viz by the scent and touching, I can have many declarations of it Offer'd upon Oath if need be. I am afraid I have tired you with this long Letter and Yet I cant put an End to it untill I have with abondance of Thanks and Respect acknowledge Your last kind Letter under Mr. Newman's Cover, & the many honours You are confering upon me & especially of allowing me to be Sr.
Yr. mos affectionate humble servant PAUL DUDLEY:
Roxbury, new England, 20th Jan. 1721-22. Superscribed. - Copy to Mr. Chamberlayne about Niagara and Indians Lord's prayer. 1721 Jannary."
He was one of the proprietors of Leicester in 1713, and when the Town of Dudley 1 was established by Act of the
1 The First Book of Records of the Town of Dudley is thus inscribed : -
" The Gift of Paul Dudley Esq' to the town of Dudley Roxbury the 17th of Novem' 1732."
There was given to the town of Oxford, for the use of the minister, a library of books contributed, some of them as early as 1719, by Paul Dudley, the Rev. Ben- jamin Wadsworth, and other gentlemen of Boston and its vicinity. Some of these books are now in existence. One "is entitled ' Hexapla,' or commentary on Romans. On the back of the title-page is written 'Roxbury 34 July 1736. For the use of the Parish Library in Oxford New England the Rev Mr. Cambel being the present minister
Given by Paul Dudley.'"
Paul Dudley also gave a volume by William Morice, Esq.
The Rev. John Campbell in his book published in 1743 " acknowledges his in- debtedness to this collection, and adds : 'T'he Honorable Judge Dudley devised
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General Court, February 2, 1731-2, he was one of the largest landowners.
In 1736 he was one of the Prince Subscribers.1
The Boston News Letter of January 31, 1751, contains the following notice of his death : --
" Last Friday Evening died at his Seat in Roxbury, in the 76th Year of his Age, the Honourable PAUL DUDLEY, Esq; Chief Justice of His Majesty's Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, &c. within this Province."
The Boston News Letter of February 7, 1751, contains the following : 2 -
"ROXBURY, February 2. 1750,1.
Yesterday, with great Decency and Respect, were interr'd here the Remains of the Honourable PAUL DUDLEY, Esq; Chief-Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature, Sc. within this Province : A Gentleman not more distinguished by his high Station, than by his eminent Virtues and great Abilities, so long and happily employ'd for the Good of the Public.
He was born at Roxbury in the Year 1675, was the Grandson of THOMAS DUDLEY, Esq ; one of the first Governors of the Massachusetts Colony, and the eldest surviving Son of the late Governor DUDLEY, to whose Estate, as he was principal Heir, so he inherited a large Share of those superior Talents that enrich'd the Mind of that great and accom- plish'd Gentleman. At the Age of eleven Years he was found qualified for an Admission into Harvard-College, where he proceeded Batchelor of Arts in the Year 1690, and Master of Arts in the Year 1693. Soon after which he went over to England, and was enter'd a Student in the Inner-Temple. After he had finished his Studies there, and had been
this liberal thing and sednously promotes it among Gentlemen. The Donors' names are in a Catalogue of the Books, in perpetuam Doni memoriam ; I hope their Names will be in everlasting Remembrance with the Lord.'" (Daniels' History of Oxford, 104 and note.)
1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, VI. 192, XIII. 159; Memorial History of Boston, II. 562.
2 This obituary notice was written by Chief Justice Stephen Sewall, Dadley's successor as Chief Justice. It was afterward reprinted in separate form. Chief Justice Stephen Sewall must not be confounded with Chief Justice Samnel Sewall, his uncle, to whom we owe the invaluable Diary. See also Eliot's Biographical Dictionary, 150-161.
Samuel Curwen, the Loyalist, who was graduated at Harvard College in 1735 and who has left us a most interesting Journal, kept by him when in exile in England, writes, under date of July 4, 1775, that he saw at the King's Bench, London, Lord Mansfield and Mr. Sergeant Wedderburne.
" Lord Mansfield's manner is like the late Judge Dudley's, of Massachusetts. His peering eyes denote a penetration and comprehension peculiarly his own."
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called to the Bar, he return'd to his native Country, to the Service of which he had early devoted himself.
As his natural Endowments were uncommon, so he had abundantly furnished his Mind by great Reading and close Study. His Knowledge (far from being confin'd to the Law) was great in most Parts of Liter- ature : He was well versed in Natural Philosophy ; an honourable Proof of which was his being a Member of the ROYAL SOCIETY : He had thoroughly studied Divinity : And in History, both civil and sacred, he had scarce an equal. These were some of the Accomplishments which so well qualified him for public Service, which was the constant Business of his Life.
Upon his Return to New England he was appointed Attorney-General for the Province, and for several Years he served the Public in that Capacity. He was some time a Representative for his native Town in the General Court; and sate for many Years at the Council-Board; In all which important Offices he acquitted himself with great Fidelity and Honour. But it was in the Seat of Justice he was most generally known, and therefore most admir'd. To that he was advanced in the Year 1718, being then appointed one of the Justices of the Superior Court, of which, upon the Death of the Honourable Judge LYNDE, he was commissionated the Chief-Justice : and in this high and important Station he served the Province till his Death. Here it was that he display'd so eminently his admirable Talents, especially his quick Apprehension, his uncommon Strength of Memory, and extensive Knowledge ; and at the same time his great Abhorrence of Vice, together with that impartial Justice which neither respected the Rich, nor countenanced the poor Man in his Cause. Thus while with pure Hands and an upright Heart he administred Justice in his Circuit through the Province, he gain'd the general Esteem and Veneration of the People. As his Presence always commanded Respect, so it might justly be said of him that he scatter'd Iniquity with his Eyes, which struck with Awe the most daring Offenders. When he spake, it was with such Authority and peculiar Energy of Expression, as never fail'd to command Attention, and deeply impress the Minds of all who heard him ; and his Sentiments of Law and Evidence in all Causes before the Court, had generally a determining Weight with those who were charged with the Trial of them.
The Powers of his Mind retain'd their Vigour to a remarkable Degree in his advanced Age; though he labor'd under great Indisposi- tions of Body : These were often heavy upon him while attending the Business of the Court, which perhaps occasioned his discovering some Impatience, when Arguments at the Bar were drawn out to a great Length, and his expressing himself with some Appearance of Severity : But if hereby he he gave any Disgust in public, he made full Amends for
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it in private ; where all who enjoy'd his Company were charm'd with his entertaining and polite Conversation : For, with all his other Accom- plishments, he had naturally a most happy Turn for Conversation ; in which he always shew'd the Gentleman, the Scholar, and the Christian.
As he early made a Profession of the Christian Religion, so he was ever careful to adoru it by a suitable Conduct in the several Relations of Life. He always express'd a tender Concern for the Interests of his Country, both civil and religious, and greatly lamented any ill- boding Aspects upon either. He was a Friend and P'atron to Men of Learning and Religion, especially to the Clergy, to whom he always shew'd a particular Respect. The Interests of our College he tenderly regarded while he lived ; and at his Death he enrich'd it by a generous Donation.
All who had the honour of an acquaintance with him and his Family, knew him to be one of the most tender Husbands, a kind indulgent Master, a good Neighbour, and an affectionate Friend. As in his own House his Behaviour was truly exemplary ; so he was an eminent Pattern of just Deportment in the House of GOD: His unaffected Gravity and devout Attenion, while engag'd in Divine Service there, shew'd him to be what he was at Heart, a Man of real Religion. This Religion was his Support and Comfort in the Hour of Death. He had the Exercise of his Reason during the whole of his Sickness ; and all along discover'd that Humility, Patience, Charity and Confidence in his GOD and SAVIOUR, which one would wish to see in a dying Friend.
His vertuous Consort, (to whom he owed no small Part of the Happiness of his Life, ) was one of the Daughters of Colonel Joux WAINWRIGHT of Ipswich. By her he had several Children, who all died in their Infancy. This Lady still lives to deplore her great Loss, and mingle her Tears with those of the Public."
He was buried in the Dudley Tomb 1 in Roxbury.
In his will dated January 1, 1750, probated February 15, 1750, he gave to Harvard College £133. 6. 8 to be appropri- ated as he should direct. And by another instrument he after- ward ordered the yearly income of that sum to be applied toward supporting an anniversary sermon or lecture to be preached at the College once every year on certain topics selected by him.
This is the " Dudleian Lecture " which is still given accord- ing to his will.
1 1 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., XX. 212.
Historic Burial Places of Boston and Vicinity ; Old Roxbury Burial Ground, in Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, New Series, VII. 404.
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By his wife, Lucy Wainwright,1 whom he married in Ips- wich, September 15, 1703, he had several children 2 who died in infancy.
His portrait 3 and that of his wife are in the possession of Dudley Richards Child, of Boston.
He was the author of the following works : -
Objections to the Bank of Credit Lately Projected at Boston. Be- ing a Letter upon that Occasion, to John Burril, Esq ; Speaker to the House of Representatives for the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, in New-England. Better is a little with Righteousness, than great Revenues without Right. Boston : Printed by T. Fleet, in Pudding- Lane, near King-Street. 1714.
An Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves & Souls of Men. Revel. XVIII. 13. With an Application thereof to the Church of Rome. Added, an Excercitation on Numb. XXXII. 10, 11, 12, with an occa- sional Meditation on I. Sam. XXIII. 11, 12. By a Gentleman. Boston in N. E. Printed by B. Green. 1731.
and the following papers in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London : -
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