USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Registers of probate for the county of Suffolk, Massachusetts, 1639-1799 > Part 8
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To " take into Consideration a late law of this Commonwealth intitled ' An Act to prevent the spread of of Contagious Distempers.'" (March 12, 1798. Buid., IX. 60.)
To consider " What steps shall be taken to prevent dead Carcasses being thrown into the Mill Pond " and "To prevent the Sale of Oysters in the Summer Months." (March 12, 1798. Ibid., LX. 63.)
1 Council Records, XV. 43.
2 1 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., XI. 141 ; Diary of John Adams. I. 218.
3 Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, VI. 51 n .; History of Printing in America, by Isaiah Thomas.
Memorial History of Boston, II. 404; III. 133, 134, " The Press of the Pro- vincial Period " and " The Press of the Revolution," by Delano A. Goddard.
William Cooper contributed to the Boston Post-Boy and Advertiser of March 24, 1760, an account of the Great Fire of 1760. It has been reprinted in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (XXXIV. 288).
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In the Massachusetts Archives 1 there is the following letter from the Governor, Sir Francis Bernard, to Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Hutchinson : -
" BOSTON July 20th 1769 Sr
As I am going to leave the Province I think it proper to inform you that after the Death of the late King, the Council advised me to appoint M' John Cotton & M' William Cooper to be joint Registrars of the Court of Probates in the County of Suffolk they being then in the same Office : but that upon some Doubts of the form of such Appointment it was deferred for some time. In this Interval I discovered that Mr Cooper was so unfit to bear any Commission under the King. that I determined not to compleat this Appointment in Regard to him: but having no Objection to the nomination of M' Cotton, I should have made out a Commission to Irim if I had not doubted of the Propriety of sep- arating Persons named by a Joint Vote of Approbation : but I intended to have settled this Matter with the Council by the first Opportunity. In the mean Time the Faction which has harrast this Country by set- ting them in Opposition to the King & Parliament (in which Faction M' Cooper was known to bear a principal Part) had gained so much Ground and created a general Intimidation amongst good Men who desired to be quiet, that I could not find a proper Opportunity to pro- pose this matter to the Council. I therefore left the Office to be executed under the former Commission, which appointment must be understood to continue while it was acquiesced in by the Judge. But being now leaving the Province I think it necessary to inform your Honour that there is no Commission of the Office of Registrar of the Court of Probates for the County of Suffolk granted by me since the Death of the late King; and therefore the Place. as I understand. is still vacant and remains to be filled up ; and I must add that M' Wil- liam Cooper is (in my Opinion) a most unfit Man to serve the King in any Office whatsoever.
I am with great Regard S' Your most obedient humble Servant
The Honorable Lieut Gov' HUTCHINSON."
FRA BERNARD
The massacre in King Street took place on the night of March 5, 1770. At the meeting2 of the inhabitants which was held in Faneuil Hall the following morning. William Cooper acted as Moderator until the Selectmen could be sum-
1 Mass. Archives, XXV. 321.
2 Boston Town Records, V. 211.
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moned, they being then in consultation with the Lieutenant- Governor in the Council Chamber.
The minutes of the Tea Meetings 1 in 1773 are in the hand- writing of William Cooper.
He was Secretary of the Committee of Safety,2 Clerk of the Committee of Correspondence 3 for Boston and Clerk also of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety.4
The following is a copy of a Royalist Handbill & which was distributed among the British soldiers in September, 1774. It is addressed "To the Officers and Soldiers of his Majesty's Troops in Boston."
" It being more than probable that the King's Standard will soon be erected, from rebellion breaking out in this province, its proper that you soldiers, should be acquainted with the authors thereof, and of all the misfortunes brought upon the province, the following is a list of them, viz. - Mess. Samuel Adams, James Bowdoin, Dr. Thomas Young, Dr. Benjamin Church, Capt. John Bradford, Josiah Quincy. Major Nathaniel Barber, William Molleueux, John Hancock, William Cooper. Dr. Chauncey, Dr. Cooper, Thomas Cushing, Joseph Greenleaf, and William Denning. The friends of your King and Country, and of America, hope and expect it from you soldiers, the instant rebellion happens, that you will put the above persons immediately to the sword, destroy their houses and plunder their effects ; it is just they should be the first victims to the mischiefs they have brought upon us.
A Friend to Great Britain and America."
1 These Minutes were printed in 1 Proc. Mass. Hist. Soc., XX. 10, from papers belonging to the Overseers of the Poor of the City of Boston.
2 The Committee of Safety was chosen October 27, 1774, by the Provincial Congress. (Journal of the Provincial Congress, 85.)
3 The Committee of Correspondence was appointed in town meeting Novem- ber 2, 1772, on motion of Samuel Adams. (Boston Town Records, V. 373.)
4 Boston Town Records, VI. 44.
The Records of the Boston Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety from May to November, 1776, have been printed in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXX. 380, 441 ; XXXI. 31, 290; XXXII. 44; XXXIII. 23; XXXIV. 14, 167, 251. The Resolve of the General Court authorizing its election was passed February 13, 1776. William Cooper was chosen Clerk of this Committee May 21, 1776.
At a town meeting held in Boston August 29, 1776 (Boston Town Records, VI. 62) ten new members were elected " in the Room of those who have re- signed, or look'd upon by the Town, as ceasing to be Members of said Com- mittee, since their being chose Representatives," William Cooper being one of those whose places on the Committee were thus filled.
5 New England Historical and Genealogical Register, XXI. 60.
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The last Boston town meeting1 of which we have any record, before the siege, was held in Faneuil Hall, April 3. 1775. After disposing of certain matters, it was adjourned to April 17th, but there is no record of this adjourned meeting.
The Selectmen," however, met on April 19th, - the day of the battle of Lexington, - but their records also end abruptly, and there is no official account of their proceedings.
No town meetings were held in Boston during the siege. There is a gap in the Town Records.3 The civil government came to an end. The Town Clerk left the town and cast in his lot with the Revolutionary party.
But the Provincial Congress sitting at Watertown passed a resolve 4 July 5, 1775, directing William Cooper, Town Clerk of Boston, to notify the freeholders and others who were in- habitants of Boston, but were then dispersed, to meet at the Meeting House in Concord, on the 18th day of July, to choose a representative to a Great and General Court to be convened in Watertown July 19, 1775, " as the choice of representatives for that purpose, in legal town meeting, convened, in the com- mon and ordinary way, is, at present, utterly impracticable," it appearing to this Congress that " the good people of the town of Boston, though at present in a dispersed state " should be represented in that Assembly.
Notifications of this meeting signed by " William Cooper Town Clerk of Boston " were printed in the newspapers outside of Boston. The Boston News Letter, that stanch supporter of the Government, in its issue of July 13, 1775, thus com- ments on one of these notices : -
1 Boston Town Records, VI. 30.
2 Boston Selectmen's Minutes, XV. 89.
3 The Boston Gazette of June 26, 1775, printed at Watertown, has an "authenticated Copy of the Agreement between General Gage and the Town of Boston," a report of the proceedings at a meeting of the inhabitants held April 22, 1775, - three days after the battle of Lexington, - but there is no official record of such a meeting. Henry Alline, Junr., who was afterward Register of Deeds for the County of Suffolk, acted ou this occasion as Town Clerk pro tempore. After several adjournments of this meeting the inhabitants having de- livered up their arms, General Gage finally issued an order allowing such of them as were so inclined to remove from the town with their families and effects. This order bears date April 27, 1775. A list of the names of those " who lodge their Arms with the Selectmen," in accordance with this agreement, " & also of the Number by each delivered," may be found in the Report of the Record Com- missioners (XXIX. 321). See also Memorial History of Boston, III. 76.
4 Journal of the Provincial Congress, 450.
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"Some have been wondering of late at the peaceableness of this Town ; it is to be hoped that their surprize will now cease, when they find that Mr. Cooper, and the rest of our Town-meeting folks have adjoruned [sic] to Concord."
After the General Court met at Watertown, " the dispers'd Inhabitants of Boston " were again called upon to choose a Representative to that body, for the remainder of the session, in place of Samuel Adams, who had been elected to the Coun- cil.1 And they were " notified and warned" in a notice dated Watertown, August 25, 1775, signed " WILLIAM COOPER. Town-Clerk of Boston" and published as the former notice had been, " to assemble at the Meeting House in Watertown " Sep- tember 5, 1775, for that purpose.
The result of this election was that William Cooper was de- clared chosen a Representative from the Town of Boston.2
It does not appear how many alleged inhabitants of Boston took part in these out-of-town meetings; but inasmuch as the civilian population, shut up within the town, is said to have been at the beginning of the siege 6573, we may safely assume that these ambulant " town meetings," outside the lines, were far from being formidable in point of numbers. They seem, however, to have answered the purpose of their ingenious in- ventors and promoters.3
Having in this way become a member of a House of Repre- sentatives, so constituted, William Cooper speedily began to take a prominent part in its deliberations. . He was chosen,
1 Journal of the House of Representatives, 95. 97, August 22, 28, 1773: Massachusetts Spy, Angust 30, 1775; Boston Gazette (printed at Watertown). September 4, 1775.
2 Journal of the House of Representatives, 107; Boston Gazette (printed at Watertown), September 11, 1775.
3 Other so-called " town meetings" for the Town of Boston were held in Watertown, during the siege, from time to time, when it suited the interests of their promoters, notices of them appearing in the newspapers of the day and an " audience of supposable Bostonians " at " Watertown Meeting House " March 5. 1776, listened to the " spirited Oration " of the Rev. Peter Thacher on the " Horrid Massacre of the 5th of March 1770," and it was "received by them with the greatest Applause." A record of this last meeting, however, which was styled a " Meeting of the Freeholders & other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston. at Watertown," is to be found in the Boston Town Records, VI. : 3. See also Memorial History of Boston, III. 96 note; Boston Gazette (printed at Water- town) September 11, 1775, November 13. 1775, November 20, 1775; Massachusetts Spy, September 20, 1775, December 8, 1775, February 16, 1776; Boston News Letter, December 14, 1775; New England Chronicle, February 22, 1776.
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September 29, 1775, its Speaker pro tempore,1 and he was active on many of its Committees.
1 Journal of the House of Representatives, 128; Boston Gazette (printed at Watertown), October 9, 1775.
Some of these committees were as follows : -
" To settle such Accounts of the Committee of Supplies, as yet remain unset- tled." (September 20, 1775, October 17, 1775. Journal of the House of Repre- sentatives, 108, 171.)
To bring in a bill for regulating the militia of the Colony. (September 20, 1775; December 5, 1775. Ibid., 118, 16.)
He was chosen December 14, 1775, Chairman of the Committee of the whole House to consider the Militia Bill. (Ibid., 42.) See also Ibid., 159, 169, 236.
To consider the Resolve of Congress forbidding the Sale of English Goods after October 10 next. (September 27, 1775. Ibid., 121.)
To consider the expediency of fitting out a number of Armed Vessels. (Sep- tember 28, 1775. Ibid., 125.)
To examine the bonds of the Nantucket petitioners and see if they be sufficient. (September 29, 1775. Ibid., 127.)
" To wait on his Excellency General Washington, and consult him on the Ex- pediency of fitting out Armed Vessels, and to enquire if any Powder can be spared for that Purpose." (September 20, 1775. Ibid., 128.)
To "consider and report a proper Method wherein to bring Dr. Church before this House." (October 17, 1775. Ibid., 171.)
On " A Petition of William Greenleaf, in Behalf of the Overseers of the Poor of Boston, praying the Sum of One Thousand Pounds, to enable them to purchase Winter Stores for the Support of said Poor in Salem Hospital." (October 20, 1775. Ibid., 177.)
" To enquire into the State of the Treasury." (October 21, 1775, December 5, 1775. Ibid., 184, 16.)
For "selecting such Resolves of the Congresses of this Colony as are proper to be printed." (October 23, 1775. Ibid., 189.)
" To direct proper Refreshments for the Gnards that shall attend Dr. Church." (October 27, 1775. Ibid., 200.)
" To wait on General Washington this Evening, and desire him to defer giving Orders " concerning obtaining Muster Rolls of the several Regiments raised by this Colony. (October 31, 1775. Ibid., 215.)
"To bring in a Resolve to remedy the difficulty under which the County of Suffolk are labouring thro' want of a Goal." (November 9, 1775. Thid., 252.)
" To consider what Precautions are proper to be taken to prevent the spread- ing of the Small-Pox by Means of Persons coming ont from the Town of Boston, and what Provision is requisite to be made for transporting into the Country such Persons as may come out, who are unable to transport themselves." (November 10, 1775. Ibid., 258.)
To procure a number of copies of the Resolve supplying the army with wood. (December 2, 1775. Ibid., 11.)
" To bring in a Bill for the further Emission of Bills of public Credit." (Deceni- +
ber 5, 1775. Ibid., 16.)
He reported December 9, 1775, concerning " Plates for striking off a new Emission of Bills," and he was ordered " to bring in a Resolve for agreeing with Mr. Rerere." Paul Revere had made a proposal for printing the bills. ( Ibid., 28; Mass. Archives, CXXXVIII. 271.)
" To take into Consideration the State of the Poor of Boston, lately come out,
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At a Council held in Watertown, August 24, 1775,
and also a Letter from the Committee at Point-Shirley." (December 6, 1775. Journal of the House of Representatives, 17.)
"To take into Consideration the Conduct of Mr. Rand . . . a suspected l'er- son." (December 8, 1775. Ilid., 25.)
" To take into Consideration a Letter from Thomas Crafts, jun. informning that the Small-Pox has broke out in two Families that are brought out of Boston, and that they are in great need of Fire Wood." (December 11, 1775. Ibid., 32.)
" To bring in a Resolve for the Purpose of establishing Committees of Corre- spondence in the several Towns in this Colony." (December 15, 1775. /bid., 45.)
"To consider a Letter from the Committee of the County of Fuirfur, in Vir- ginia, and a Letter from General Washington, inclosing it, relative to a Sum of Money sent to him for the suffering Poor of Boston." (December 16, 1775. /bid., 46.)
"To consider a meet Grant to the President of Harvard-College." (Deceniber 26, 1775. 1bid., 75.)
"To bring in a Resolve for raising the Price of Hay." (January 15, 1776. Ibid., 147.)
" To consider what further is necessary to be done for supplying the Army with Hay." (January 15, 1776. Ibid., 148.)
"To consider the necessity of raising a Company of Matrosses to defend the Fortresses erected in the Town of Marblehead." (January 17, 1776. Ibid., 162.)
To consider "a Resolution of the American Congress passed January 20, 1776." (January 19, 1776. Ibid., 175.)
" To confer with his Excellency General Washington at large, on the subject of raising a Regiment for reinforcing the Army in Canada." (January 20, 1776. Ibid., 176.)
" To bring in a Resolve for raising the Regiment to go into Canada." (January 21, 1776. Ibid., 178.)
" To Revise the several Resolves of this Court relative to Salt-Petre, and report what is proper further to be done." (January 22, 1776. Ibid., 186.)
" To bring in a Bill for regulating the Commencement and Prosecution of Civil Actions " (January 29, 1776. Ibid., 222.)
" To consider the State of the Ordnance, &c. at Falmouth." (February 7, 1776. Ibid., 254.)
On the 18th of March, 1776, - the day after the evacuation of Boston by the Royal forces, - " the honorable William Cooper, Esq ; Speaker pro. tem. being absent," the House appointed another to act in his stead.
" Mr. Speaker Cooper" and others were appointed a committee March 19. 1776, " to go into Boston, and make Enquiry into the State of that Town, with respect to the Small-Pox, to direct the removal of any infectious Persons, and to take such Measures to prevent the spreading of that Distemper as they may think proper." (Ibid., 18.)
" Mr. Speaker Cooper " was on the committee appointed March 23, 1776, " to provide a dinner for his Excellency General Washington, and the other General Officers, with their Suits, the Council, the Speaker, and the Ministers of Boston." (Ibid., 36.)
" To repair to the Town of Boston, and there take, or canse to be taken, just and true Accounts of said Houses and Real Estates, Personal and other moveable Effects, the Property of the before-mentioned Mandamus Counsellors, and others, to commit the Charge and Care of said Estates and Effects to such suitable l'er- sons as they may judge proper, and to make Report of their Proceedings hereon." (March 23, 1776. Ibid., 37.)
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" William Cooper was Nominated to be Register of Probate for the County of Suffolk to which Nomination his Majesty's Council did advise & consent." 1
He held this office until 1799 when he resigned and was succeeded by Perkins Nichols.2
At a Council 3 held in Watertown September 8, 1775, " William Cooper Esq!" was appointed a Justice of the Peace for Suffolk County.
The following letter + from Thomas Cushing, the Revolu- tionist Judge of Probate," to William Cooper, dated Philadel- phia, October 23, 1775, is of interest : -
"To lay before the Court a particular Sketch of the Harbour of Boston." (March 25, 1776. Journal of the House of Representatives, 40.)
" To repair to the Town of Boston, and to take or cause to be taken a just and true Inventory of all the Estates, . . . belonging to such Persons as have departed the said Town." (March 25, 1776. Ibid., 40.)
" To wait on his Excellency General Washington, and request, as this Colony is greatly weakened by the Destruction of our Fortifications and warlike Stores by our Enemies, and will be more so on the removal of the Continental Army, as a large Proportion of the Men and Arms therein are from this Government, that he would further consider the exposed State of this Colony ; and if it is consistent with the general Interest, he would continue here six Regiments of the Conti- nental Troops, and two Companies of the Train of Artillery, for the Defence thereof, instead of the three or four Regiments his Excellency informed this Court he intended to leave." (March 25, 1776. Ibid., 42.)
" To report a Form of Beating Orders and Inlisting Papers for the Regiment raised to fortify Boston." ( April 10, 1776. Ibid., 108.)
" To consider what Number of Artillery Men it is Expedient to raise for the Service of this Colony." (April 13, 1776. Ibid., 120.)
" To bring in a Resolve for appointing a Committee of War." (April 20, 1770. Ibid., 194.)
" To bring in a Resolve impowering of the Committee for fortifying Boston, to hire a further Number of Men, not exceeding two Hundred." (May 2, 1776. Ibid., 237.)
To consider " sundry Matters proposed by the Committee for fortifying the Harbour of Boston. (May 4, 1776. Ibid., 245.)
On the "Report of the Committee appointed to consider what is proper to be done to promote the raising Col. Whitney's Regiment." (May 4, 1776. Ibid., 245.)
1 Council Records, XVII. 43; Massachusetts Spy, October 20, 1775; Boston Gazette, October 9, 1775.
2 Council Records XXXIII. 185, 190.
The Columbian Centinel of Wednesday, November 27, 1799, announces : -
" PERKINS NICHOLS, Esq. is appointed Register of Probate for the County of Suffolk, in the room of Wy. COOPER, Esq. resigned."
3 Council Records, XVII. 90; Massachusetts Spy, October 13, 1775; Boston Gazette, October 2, 1775.
4 4 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., IV. 364.
5 Thomas Cushing may be called the Revolutionist, to distinguish him from Foster Hutchinson, the Loyalist Judge of Probate. The Court House for the
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" DEAR SIR, . . .
I am obliged to you for the inquiry you made at Dedham, for a house for me; should be glad to govern myself by the opinion of the County, as to the place of holding the probate, provided at this difli- cult time I can be accommodated with such a place as will be agreeable to them. If I had been so happy as to have seen you before I left Watertown, I doubt whether it would have been proper for me to have signed any blank letters of administration, or letters of guardianship, before I had my commission, and more than a month before, by law, I could have entered upon the discharge of the office I was appointed to : for, if you will recollect, you will find. that, by the law that was made by the General Court upon this occasion, none of the new appointments were to take place till after the 20 of September last. This matter I considered before I left Watertown, or else should certainly have seen you previous to my departure, and have signed the papers you mention, which I am sensible, could it have been done with any propriety, wouldl have been for the ease of the County. I am much surprised that any persons among us should just now think of dividing the County, espe- cially at this very critical time, when we have so many other matters of the greatest magnitude to engage our attention. Such a thing was never attempted in any other County, without first notifying every town in the County of such an intention. Can the inhabitants of Boston, (the shire town, whose interest it so nearly affects.) in their present distressed, dispersed state, attend to a question of such moment ? Cer- tainly not. And will the inhabitants of the other Towns in the County take the advantage of this their distress ? or if they would, will the General Court attend to them at such a time ? Certainly not. . . . I cannot as yet form any judgment when I shall be able to return. Many interesting and important matters demand my attention and presence here. As, therefore, I shall be necessarily detained here for some time,
County of Suffolk was in Boston, and there, in the care and custody of John Cotton, the Loyalist Register of Probate, were all the files and records of the Probate Court, and there they remained during the siege. After the death of the Loyalist Register, Judge Hutchinson took them into his own custody and, on the evacuation of Boston by the Royal forces, carried them with him to Halifax. where they were safely kept during the whole of the Revolutionary War.
Thomas Cushing, the Revolutionist Judge, and William Cooper, his Register, were both appointed August 24, 1775, at Watertown, by the " Major Part of the Council " styling themselves " His Majestys Council," " The Places of Governor and Lieutenant Governor being vacant." A foundation for these and other appointments had been in some sort laid by the passage by the same General Court which met at Watertown July 19, 1775, of an act for removing all officers, both civil and military belonging to the Colony of Massachusetts Bay claiming under any appointment by any Governor, Lieutenant Governor, &c, of the Prov. ince of Massachusetts Bay. All to cease and determine from the 19th Sept. 1775 next. (Chap. IV., Acts of 1775; Conneil Records, XVII. 43; Boston Gazette. October 9, 1775; Massachusetts Spy, October 20, 1775.)
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I have no objection that, during my absence, you should take guardian and administration bonds, in particular cases, where you may find it necessary ; and I doubt not you will take special care and caution, that in all such cases the bondsmen are good and sufficient. Let me know whether it is necessary for me to return home immediately. . . . I con- gratulate you upon your late promotion as Speaker. [When] my friend is honored and meets with the approbation of his countrymen, I partake of the pleasure, and am always highly gratified.
THOMAS CUSHING.
The Honorable William Cooper, Esq."
The first town meeting 1 in Boston after the siege was held in the " Old Brick Meeting House," March 29, 1776, - just twelve days after the evacuation of the town by the Royal forces, - and William Cooper was again elected Town Clerk for the ensuing year.
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