USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Registers of probate for the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1639-1799 > Part 6
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1 In Suffolk Court Files CCCCXVI. 27-29, there are several depositions cou- cerning a personal encounter February 23, 1749 50, of John Payne with " Benjamin Pemberton of Boston aforesaid Esq! & Naval Officer of Our Province of the Massa- chusetts Bay " in consequence of remarks made by Pemberton concerning the fees paid for "a Pass Captain [Solomon] Davis had Lately had from his Honour Liev! Governour Phips ; for his Brigantine to Pass the Castle on Sunday." Payne " within the Courthouse in Boston aforesaid with force & Arms a Violent As- sault on ye Body of the said Benjamin committed Struck him Diverse Grevious blows on his face and other Parts of his Body." See also CCCCXI. 32, CCCCIV. 55, and CCCCXIX. 65.
2 Memorial History of Boston, II. 562; New England Historical and Genea- logical Register, VI. 196.
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JOHN SHIRLEY.
1754, 1755.
John Shirley was a son of Governor Shirley.1
At a Council 2 held in Boston January 25, 1754, His Excel- lency was pleased to nominate
John Shirley
" MẸ John Shirley to be Register of Wills &cª in the County of Suf- folk, in the room of Andrew Belcher Esq","
to which nomination the Council advised and consented.
At a Council 3 held September 20, 1754, John Payne was appointed Register
"in the Room of John Shirley Esq! for the Space of three Months from this Time, or untill the Return of the said John Shirley in Case it be before three Months be expired."
Payne was again appointed Register January 11, 1755.
"for the Term of two Months, Provided the said John Shirley be absent so long." 4
At a Council 5 held March 28, 1755,
" His Excellency intimated to the Council that John Shirley Esq! had resigned his Office of Register of Wills for the County of Suffolk ; And then nominated "
John Payne and John Cotton in his stead.
1 William Shirley, afterward Governor Shirley, arrived in Boston October 27. 1731. "Mr Shirley arriv'd here 27 in the evens, and made me a short visit. and din'd with me yesterday . . . I shall heartily recommend him (as a pleader) to the Courts of the several counties in this and the neighbouring Province, and to the Superiour Judges in their Circuits." (Governor Belcher's letter October 29, 1731, to Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons. Belcher Papers, I. 21.)
"Mr Shirley is got safe to us with his good lady & family." (Governor Belcher's letter November 20, 1731, to Henry Newman. /bid., I. 60.)
Shirley succeeded Belcher as Governor, his commission bearing date May 25, 1741.
2 Council Records, XII. 321.
3 Ibid., XII. 357.
Ibid., XII. 378.
5 Ibid., XII. 394.
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The Boston Gazette of September 3, 1754, says : 1 -
" On Saturday last JOHN SHIRLEY, Esq ; Son of His Excellency our Governour, arrived here from Falmouth in Casco Bay,"
and he gave an interesting account of the expedition of Lieu- tenant-Colonel Preble, with the forces under his command, to the head waters of the Kennebec.
" His Excellency was in good Health when Mr. Shirley left him, and proposes to be in Town, with the Gentlemen who attend him, in: about ten Days Time."
These repeated absences from his duties in the Probate Office were caused by his employment in other public affairs. He recruited men for his father's regiment and received a com- mission as Captain.
The following November he was in New York, as appears by a letter 2 written by him to Governor Morris, of Pennsyl- vania, on the 19th of that month, and he was then about to return to Boston.
In another letter3 to Governor Morris, dated Boston, May 29, 1755, he refers to the preparations then making for the expedition to Niagara.
" Dear Sir :
I should not sleep quiet on my Bed was this Express to go away without a line from me, to give You a short Acco' of our Proceedings. The Nova Scotia Troops sail'd not 'till four days after our Return hither ..
We go on as fast as I expected in our particular Expedition, & this Province & Connecticut Seem near ready to march their Men towards Crown Point. Our Regiment will begin to move in Companies from hence to Providence, where Transports are ready to receive 'em, by this day Week, & they are to proceed directly to Albany, without de- barking at New York ..
1 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXII. 406; 1 Collec- tions Maine Historical Society, VIII. 230; see also Boston News Letter, Septem- ber 5, 1754. The Boston Gazette of September 10, 1754, announces : -
" Yesterday about Noon, the Province Sloop, Thomas Sanders Master, arrived before Castle William, after a very short Passage from Falmouth in Casco-Bay, with His Excellency our Governour, and several Gentlemen attending him. on board ; at which Place His Excellency has for some Time past resided, and where His Presence was peculiarly wanted, in managing the important Affairs of the Province on our Eastern Borders."
2 Penn. Archives, II. 199.
3 Ilid., II. 302.
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This is possitively all my time will allow me to say to You at present, for my father takes up every Moment of it, & I imagine, if I was not his Son, as he is now a Major General, he would declare me his Aid de Camp ; but you know how nice he is in providing for those weh all ye World beside provide for first . . .
I am wth the warmest Affection, D' Sir, Your Oblig'd & most Obedient Servant,
JOHN SHIRLEY.
. . . My father & myself dont move from hence before three Weeks, every body else goes wth ye Regiment."
In a letter1 to Governor Morris, dated Oneida Carrying Place, August 12, 1755, he informs him : -
". . . I have little of News to add since my father's last letter to You, inclosing Copies of his Orders to Col. Dunbarr, whose Retreat is tho't by many here to be a greater Misfortune than the late Gent Brad- dock's unhappy Defeat. What Dishonour is thereby reflected upon the British Army ! . . .
We left Albany the 24th of July & wth great Difficulty got here not till ye Sth Instant, the Water being excessively low . . .
We go from hence tomorrow, & expect to be at Oswego in 4 days afterwards. Col. Mercer will be six days behind us, & we can't have less than six more to fit out from Oswego after he joins us, so that we shan't be before Niagara 'till the 1st Week in ye next month. . . . My father has been so good as to declare me one of his Aid-de-Camps. . . .
If you will promise to excuse Blots, Interlineations & Grease (for this is wrote in ye open Air upon ye head of a Pork bb1 & 20 People abot me) I will begin another half sheet."
In another letter 2 to Governor Morris, dated Oswego, July [August] 20, 1755, he says : --
" I wrote to you about Six days ago from the Great Carrying place. We got here safe the day before yesterday, & expect Col. Mercer will be here by the 24th, with the last of everything b'longing to the Ex- pedition. . . . I find this Express is just going; We must, I perceive, stay here 10 days longer."
In a letter 3 to Governor Morris dated Oswego, September 8, 1755, he writes : -
" Dear Sir,
I am much oblig'd to You for yo' two letters dated 21st & 21th Aug', & for the hint you have given my father concerning my being
1 Penn. Archives, II. 387. 2 Ibid., II. 881. 8 Ibid., II. 402.
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sent home wth his Dispatches. My father is now in Conference wth the Indians, & has given me your three last Letters to answer for him, wch I am sorry for, as I can't wth Propriety answer that part of yo" last weh relates to me ; but he has that high Opinion of your Judg- ment, that I look upon myself now, as sure as if I had his Promise of it : however, I sh" have been glad to have seen what he would have said to You upon it. I have put into his Letter all the News concern- ing ourselves wch I tho't was proper for him to mention : You therein see how difficult a Navigation is from Schenectady hitler. Col. Mer- cer was 26 days coming here & some of the 9 Pounders are still upon a Rift a Mile from hence, where they bilg'd the Battoes. The French have found means to alter the Indians vastly ; they were much our friends before, but they are now so troublesome, it is a difficult matter to live in the same place. . . . The Conference is just ended & the Indians have declar'd in a seeming hearty Manner, that they will be true to him, my father, & follow him where ever he goes. They are cer- tainly a most necessary and useful set of People to have wth us, but then they are by far ye most troublesome in the World. . . . Nobody holds it out better than my father & myself. We shall all of us relish a good House over our heads, being all incampt except the General & some few field Officers, who have what are call'd at Oswego, houses, but they would in other Countries be call'd only Sheds, except the fort where my father is, Adieu, Dear Sir, I hope my next will be directed from Frontenac.
I am ever wth a most sincere Regard,
Yours most Affectionately,
JOHN SHIRLEY.
Oswego, 10 o'Clock at Night,
in a Wet Tent, Sep! 8th, 1755.
P.S. . ..
Ten o'Clock at Night, Sept. 11th.
. . . We have now only S days Bread, Pork & Beef enough, but no Rum or Pease; & what makes this ye more provoking is, that these Provisions have been ready for us in Abundance these two Months at least."
In a letter 1 to Governor Morris, dated Oswego, September 22, 1755, he says : -
" Dear Sir,
I am set down in hopes I may have a Minute to write to You in. By my last I inform'd You that we were going to Cadaraqui, or Fron- tenac, & so it was then determin'd by the General in his own Mind ; We have since had further Intelligence from Niagara, wch has alter'd
1 Penn. Archives, II. 423.
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him, & it was Yesterday determin'd in a Council of Warr to go as soon as possible upon the Attack of the last mention'd Place: The Council unanimously agreed to every thing wch was propos'd by the General. . . .
If our Provisions come up we may set off in five days. This day finishes all our Bread & flour in Store, but we have in Sight some Battoes, wch I hope will deliver a large Quantity of the Articles most wanted; & as both Men & Officers are pick'd, I dare say we shall give a good Acct of ourselves. . . . All I am uneasy about is our Provi- sions Our Men have been upon half Allowance of Bread these three Weeks past, & no Rum given to 'em; We have many ill . . . more Officers in proportion ill than men. .
My father yesterday call'd all the Indians together & made 'em a Speech on the Subject of Gen' Johnson's Engagem', wch he calculated to inspire them wth a Spirit of Revenge, & it had the desir'd Effect. for at night, in feasting upon a Bullock wch he order'd 'em upon the Occasion, they roasted in their way, &' eat the Gov' of Canada, had a grand Warr dance, & shew'd a Spirit quite Satisfactory to all of us. . . .
You know how my father employs every body who are near him. he makes me write all his Letters. . . . I will not again appologize for my unintelligible Scrawls, but am, wth the sincerest Regard & Affection.
D' Sir, Your most Oblig'd & faithfull Humble Servant.
JOHN SHIRLEY."
The Boston Gazette of Monday, November 24, 1755, con- tains the following : -
" New- York, November 17.
Wednesday last arrived here in a Sloop from Albany, Capts. Shirley and Morris, of Shirley's Regiment, and Capt. Ascaugh, Commander of one of the Vessels of War on Lake Oswego, where we are told. Colonel Mercer is left " in command.
The Boston Gazette of Monday, December 1, 1755, an- nounces : -
" We hear from New - York, that Yesterday Morning was sev'night. about Six o'Clock, departed this Life, Mr. John Shirley, youngest Captain in the Regiment under his Father General Shirley, and one of his Aid de Camps."
Governor Morris, writing to Governor Dinwiddie of Vir- ginia, in a letter 1 dated Philadelphia, November 29, 1755, says : -
1 Penn. Archives, II. 531.
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" My Heart bleeds for M! Shirley. He must be overwhelmed with Grief when he hears of Cap! Jolin Shirley's Death, of which I have an Account by the last Post from New York, where he dyed of a Flux and Fever that he had contracted at Oswego. The Loss of Two Sons in one Campaign scarce admits of Consolation. I feel the anguish of the unhappy Father, and mix my Tears very heartily with his. I have had an intimate Acquaintance with Both of Them for many Years, and know well their inestimable Value."
Governor Morris, in a letter1 dated November 27, 1755, writes to General Shirley : -
" Permit me, good sir, to offer you my hearty condolence upon the death of my poor friend Jack, whose worth I admired, and feel for him more than I can Express. His good sence and sweetness of temper made him generally beloved, and few men of his age had so many friends. Your affliction is truly great, to be deprived of two such sons 2 in one year, is a loss uncommonly heavy, and would bear down any man not fortified with the same firmness of mind, and resignation to the divine will that you are. "
JOHN COTTON.
1755-1775.
John Cotton, son of the Rev. Nathaniel Cotton 3 (Harvard College, 1717), of Bristol, Rhode Island, and great-great-grandson of the Rev. John Cotton, minister of the First Church of Boston, was born March 25, 1728, in Bristol, Rhode Island.+
After the death of his father. his mother, left a second time a widow, removed with her children to Boston, and in the record of the admission of John Cotton to Harvard College,5
1 Penn. Archives, II. 524.
2 William Shirley, another son of Governor Shirley, was killed " in the Action on the Banks of the Monongahela the 9th Day of July, 1755" at the time of Brad- dock's defeat. He was General Braddock's secretary. "Poor Shirley was shot thro' the Head." (Letter to Governor Morris from Captain Robert Orne, aid-de- camp, who was himself wounded in the action. Penn. Col. Rec., VI. 488-480.)
3 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, I. 165; Munro's History of Bristol, Rhode Island, p. 219.
4 Bristol, Rhode Island, Vital Statistics, p. 71.
5 Harvard College Faculty Records, I. 197.
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his residence is given as Boston. He was graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1747.
At a meeting of the Council 1 held in Boston March 28, 1755, the Governor announced the resignation of John Shirley as Register of Wills, etc., and then nominated
" M: John Payne & M: John Cotton to be Joint Registers of Wills &cª within the County of Suffolk,"
and the Council consented.
John Cotton was also Deputy Secretary of the Province for many years.
He was chosen, April 23, 1757, Collector2 of the Duty of Excise upon Tea, Coffee, and China Ware for the County of Suffolk.
He was a farmer 3 of the Excise for the County of Suffolk on Tea, Coffee, and China Ware in 1764, and he was to receive the duties on these articles at his house in Sudbury Street.
He was Clerk of the Commissioneis + to settle the New York line in 1766.
In the Massachusetts Archives there is a letter from Lieu- tenant-Governor Hutchinson, dated August 12, 1770. in which he says : " Mr Belcher is upon his last legs and cannot con- tinue many weeks," that the place of Register of the Court of Vice-Admiralty cannot be worth more than £ 100 a year, " which nobody in England of any credit would accept of, especially when the Officers of the Court of Admiralty are so unpopular " that he, Hutchinson, had taken the liberty to write to Sir Edward Hawke in behalf of Mr. Cotton, etc.
The letter 6 of Hutchinson to Sir Edward Hawke? is dated August 14, 1770, and is as follows : -
" Sir
M' Belcher the Register of the Court of Vice Admiralty is in a desperate state of health and his Physicians think cannot continue many weeks. The business of his Post has always been done by a Deputy.
1 Council Records, XII. 394.
2 General Court Records, XXI. 554.
3 Suffolk Court Files, DXCVII. 1-11; Mass. Archives, CXX. 662, 673-675 ; Boston News Letter, April 19, 1764, et seq.
4 Mass. Archives, VI. 323-325.
5 Ilid., XX VI. 535.
6 Ibid., XXVI. 535.
7 Sir Edward Hawke was then first lord of the admiralty.
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صل الدا
الدار
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From the best judgment I can make the whole fees do not exceed One hundred pounds sterling p' Annum. If there was a probability that a person proper for such an Office would leave England at a time when the Officers of that Court meet with so much trouble from the prejudices and peverseness of the People, I would not presume to ask the Office for any person in America. M' John Cotton who has been many years Deputy Secretary for the Province and Register of Probate for the County of Suffolk, both which places are worth to him but about one hundred pounds sterling and the first very precarious depending not only upon the principal for the continuance of it but upon the House of Repre- sentatives for any grant or allowance, has been attached to Government and serviceable as far as his Sphere would admit. If you have any other person in view I may not expect this favour for him ; if you have not, I beg leave to mention him as qualified for it and to ask it as a favour to myself he being half brother to my late wife, and having been many years one of my family.1
Rt Honble : Sir EDWARD HAWKE."
Governor Hutchinson 2 writes to Sir Francis Bernard under date of May 23, 1771 : -
" By the death of M' Cooke Clerk of the Court I wished to have provided for M: Cotton but I find Goldthwait the other Clerk averse to it and he gives this reason that the place requires so constant attendance that it is not possible he should hold that and the Deputy Secretary' place also. While I was considering Price the Deputy Register of the Admiralty made Interest with Hill Dana Avery and the Justices of that Faction and got himself appointed Clerk to the Sessions with Gold- thwaits privity and connivance . . . I would have recommended MI! Cotton as Deputy to your Son in the Admiralty if it had been vacant but I believe Price is more used to the business and though he has not used me well I am not willing to deprive him of anything he enjoys. The Marshalls place in the Admiralty if he could be the principal, would
1 Governor Hutchinson married, May 16, 1734, Margaret, daughter of William Sanford (Harvard College, 1711), of Newport, Rhode Island, and Grizzell (Sv)- vester) Sanford, his wife. William Sanford died April 24, 1721, and his widow married (intentions published, January 20. 1721-2) for her second husband the Rev. Nathaniel Cotton, of Bristol, Rhode Island. He died July 3, 1720, leaving her again a widow.
John Cotton was a son of Grizzell (Sylvester) Cotton by her second husband, and he was therefore half brother to the wife of Governor Hutchinson.
Margaret Sanford Hutchinson died March 12, 1753, and Governor Hutchinson never married again. (Rhode Island Historical Magazine, VII. 800 ; The Sanford Family. Diary and Letters of Thomas Hutchinson, by Peter Orlando Hutchinson, I. 49; Life of Thomas Hutchinson, by James Kendall Hosmer.)
2 Mass. Archives, XXVII. 169.
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make him I believe fifty or sixty pounds a year and would be worth taking and with what he has just give him a living . . . I am told Captain Hallowell has wrote in favour of one Shipard who has a place of Tide Surveyor in the Customs. I could wish for Cotton but ain not known to My Lord Sandwich . . . I would make application to Lord Sandwich and ask it as a favour to myself as well as a reward to M' Cotton for having done all which his Sphere would admit of for the service of Government if I had been as well known to his Lordship as I was to Sir Edward Hawke . . . I had the honour of spending a day at Sir Hans Sloans in 1741 when he shewed his Collection to Lord Sandwich but I dare say he has no remembrance of me.
I confine this Letter to this Subject
I am Dear Sir Your faithfull humb' Ser'
Sir FRANCIS BERNARD Bart "
Governor Hutchinson in a letter 1 dated Boston, September 23, 1771, to the Earl of Sandwich says : -
"My Lord
There being no person within the Prov. authorized to act as Mar- shall of the Court of Vice Admiralty pursuant to the powers given me in such cases by His Maj. Comission I appointed one W" Shep- pard to act in that Office but intimated to him that his continuance in it would probably be short & that he would be superceded by some person Comissd by the Lords of the Admiralty. The business & emolu- ments of the Office are so very small that no person will come from Eng! for the sake of that Office only. For more than 30 years it was held by M' Paxton who enjoyed another place in the Govt at the same time. If your Lordship shall think proper to appoint any person in the Prov- ince I beg leave to recomend M' John Cotton who for several years past has been Deputy Secretary & has behard well in the late disorderly times. I have My Lord some self interest in this recomendation M' Cotton being half brother to my late wife. This would not induce me to name an unfit person to y' Lordship. MI Cotton stood well wo & Francis Bernard & I have heard him express a desire to give him some addi- tional Office what he has not affording him necessary support."
Governor Hutchinson in another letter - dated May 27, 1772, says : -
" My Lord
M' Wm Sheppard the acting Marshal in the Court of V Admiralty died the 17 Inst. It was necessary the place should be immediately
1 Mass. Archives, XXVII. 232.
2 Ibid., XXVII. 337.
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filled & I have appointed M' John Cotton to act as Marshal until the Marshal who is in England shall appoint a new Deputy. . . . If your Lordship shall think it expedient to avoid any dispute at present upon this point I shall be ready to continue my Comission to M' Cotton or to give a Commission to any other person M' Howard may prefer as his Deputy." 1 ...
Governor Hutchinson in a letter 2 dated Boston, October 1, 1772, writes : -
" Sir,
Immediately after the receipt of your Letter I sent for M' Cotton & delivered him your Commission to be recorded in the Registry of the Admiralty but soon after he returned it to me, the Judge de- clining to cause it to be recorded, or to receive it or to admit your deputations because it does not appear upon the Commission or by in- dorsement that you have qualified yourself for the Trust by taking the Oaths to the Government.
I endeavoured to find some expedient to prevent sending back the Commission but to no purpose. . . . I have told ME Cotton he is to consider himself as your Deputy so far as to be accountable to you for one half the profits notwithstanding this accident and as much as if the Deputation sent him had been without exception & he expects it. It will be necessary notwithstanding to renew the Deputations and to date them after the date of the Oaths for the prejudice is so strong against the Court of Admiralty that not only every legal objection but every cavil will be made against the doings of the Officers."
At a town meeting 3 held in Boston, June 27, 1774. a " Mo- tion for Censuring & annihilating the Committee of Correspond- ence " was made. It was thought by many that the Committee had gone too far and had exceeded its powers. The merchants took sides against it. After a long and heated debate, which lasted all day and part of the next, the motion to censure was "put and pass'd in the Negative." The dissentients, however. made a "publick and solemn Protest against the Doings of the said Committee, as such, against the Solemn League and Covenant aforementioned, and against the Proceedings of the
1 The Boston News Letter of May 21, 1772, announces the death of William Sheppard, Esq., Marshal of the Court of Admiralty, and further : " His Excel- lency the Governor has been pleased to appoint John Cotton, Esq ; to the Office of Marshall of the Court of Admiralty."
2 Mass. Archives, XXVII. 547.
3 Boston Town Records, V. 522; Diary of John Rowe, 2 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., X. 86.
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Town so far as they have adopted the illegal Proceedings of the said Committee of Correspondence." This protest 1 was dated June 29, 1774, and bore the names of many of the fore- most citizens. John Cotton, who, as Governor Hutchinson says, was " attached to Government," and who " behaved well in the late disorderly times," signed the Protest, and so ranged himself on the side of the Government and against the popular party.2 But he did not live to take an active part in the im- pending struggle. He died in Boston during the siege.
The Massachusetts Spy of July 26, 1775, contains the following : --
" By a person of undoubted veracity, who came out of Boston, last Thursday se'nnight, by permission of Gen. Gage, we learn that . . . several of the tories had caught the distemper from the troops and died, among whom it is said, are Edson, Winslow, Hutchinson and Cotton."
And in its issue of August 16, 1775, the Spy publishes a let- ter of William Brattle,3 written in Boston, and dated Saturday, August 5, 1775, in which he says : -
" Mr. Cotton and eldest son are dead of the flux."
The date of his death was July 15, 1775, as appears by the entry in the Cotton Family Bible.4
John Cotton married in Boston, October 5, 1755, Mary
1 Boston News Letter, July 7, 1774 ; Force's American Archives, 4til Series, I. 400 ; 1 Proc. Mass. Ilist. Soc., XI. 392.
2 Sabine's Loyalists of the American Revolution, I. 337 ; Memorial History of Boston, III. 176.
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