USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Sketches about Salem people > Part 4
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In 1639 he was granted 550 acres on the Ipswich River, most of which is now in Topsfield. It was con- cerning this farm that in 1648 Winthrop wrote to his son that "Mr. Endecott hath found a copper mine in his own ground. Mr. Leader hath tried it." The find was of such importance that Endecott at once petitioned the General Court to establish the bounds of the 550 acre lot, but it was not until 1658 that the bounds were finally established. Endecott's attempt at mining copper was the earliest record of such mining in North America by Europeans although undoubtedly copper had been mined by the Indians in various places.
In 1651 Endecott petitioned for the grant of a wood lot in the neighborhood of the copper mine in order that he might work it with greater ease, and in his petition he states that he had been already to some charge for finding and melting copper ore and was still in prosecu- tion of bringing it to perfection by sending to Sweden and Germany for persons well skilled in the art to assist him. He was accordingly awarded three hundred acres of wood land near Blind Hole where he intended to set up his works, on condition that he set them up within
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seven years. There is some doubt as to whether these three hundred acres were ever really assigned to him. Richard Leader of the Lynn Iron Works was arraigned in 1651 for reproaching Governor Endecott, the court and the church in Lynn. In their first excitement the court fined him two hundred pounds, which was later reduced to fifty pounds, and then later, he making acknowledg- ment, the fine was remitted. Whether this dispute with Endecott was concerning the copper mine is uncertain but at any rate the operation of the mine by Endecott was never sufficiently lucrative to be continued and was finally abandoned. It was said to have been near the properties now owned by Mr. Duncan Phillips and Mr. Thomas Sanders.
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In 1655 Endecott was granted Catta Island, of about two acres off Marblehead Harbor, which later became Cat Island and is now known as Children's Island. In 1658 there was an award to John Endecott "for his great serv- ice" of one fourth of Block Island, which he had visited in his Indian campaign. This he sold in 1660 to John Alcock. He also owned various other farms and proper- ties, including Broad Fields, so called, lying to the south of Broad Street cemetery and between it and the South River. His will gave the Orchard Farm to his son Zer- rubabel and most of his remaining property was given to his widow for life and then to the sons, the older son John having a double portion, but because by his will he stated that any property given to his two sons should pass to the longer liver of them unless there were children, his will was contested by the older son, John, Jr., prob- ably through the influence of his wife, as her father, Jere- miah Houchin, appeared for the contestant and showed that as John Endecott, Jr., had no children and was in poor health his wife would have nothing upon his decease. After some litigation the General Court allowed the will but directed that John's wife should enjoy for her life any property in which her husband was to have a life estate under the will of his father. It was further directed that if the personal effects given to the Gov- ernor's widow should turn out to be worth more than eighty pounds that the balance should be divided between
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THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF JOHN ENDECOTT
the two sons, the older son having a double portion. John Endecott, Jr., willed all of his property to his wife, who he said "hath carryed herself a lovinge, helpfule and painefull wife unto me." Zerrubabel divided most of the Endecott property after the death of his widow among his five sons and five daughters, who grew up to maturity.
From the first, Endecott had always treated the neigh- boring Indians with the greatest consideration, following his instructions from the company that "if any of the salvages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endea- vour to purchase their title that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion." The Rev. John Higginson said that when he came over with his father in 1629 the Indian Village was on the North side of North River, near "Si- monds'." The depositions of Richard Brackenbury and Humphrey Woodbury already referred to, and the deposi- tion of William Dixey especially mention the great kind- ness of the Salem settlers to the neighboring Indians, especially those of the Agawam tribe, many times pro- tecting them from the attacks of Indian enemies.
In 1660 John Endecott, Jr., desired that the court confirm a deed of land given him by "Old William," an Indian. The court thought it not suitable for them to take such power unto themselves. They remarked, how- ever ; "Considering the many kindnesses that were shown to the Indians by our honored Governor (Endecott) in the infancy of these plantations for pacifying the Indi- ans, tending to the common good of the first planters in consideration whereof the Indians were moved to such a gratuity unto his son, we do hereby judge meet to give the petitioner four hundred acres of land."
In 1643 a pinnace of about thirty tons was blown up near Castle Island in Boston Harbor and five men were killed and three wounded, to which Endecott makes refer- ence in a letter to Governor Winthrop- "I heare you have great sights upon the water, seen between the Castle and the towne, men walking on the water in the night, ever since the shippe was blown up; or fire in the shape of men there are verie few do believe it, yet here is a
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great report to it, brought from thence the last day of the week." He does not expressly say whether he be- lieved in these sights or not but it manifests the general superstition of the times.
HIS LATER SERVICE AS GOVERNOR
In 1636 it was provided that certain councillors should be elected for life and Winthrop, Endecott and Dudley were thus honored but such action was unpopular and three years later their authority was cut down and it was provided that they should not have any standing as magistrates unless they were also chosen at the annual election.
In 1645 Endecott was elected Sergeant-Major-General in Massachusetts, the highest military office in the colony. He had previously held a commission of colonel in the first regiment formed in Salem, Saugus, Ipswich and Newbury in 1636. In 1646-1649 he was a Major-Gen- eral; and in 1646-7-8 he was a Commissioner, and in 1658 President of the United Colonies of New England which included Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven. From 1641 to 1643 he was Deputy Gov- ernor under Governors Bellingham and Winthrop. In 1644 Endecott was elected governor and John Winthrop Deputy Governor.
After the meeting of the long parliament in England the Puritans became so strong at home that emigration almost entirely ceased, and while during the ten years after Winthrop arrived up to 1640 about 21,000 English had emigrated in nearly three hundred vessels and at a cost of approximately Two Hundred Thousand pounds sterling, during the next century and a quarter thereafter it is believed that the tide of emigration turned back towards England for, according to Hutchinson, "more had gone from hence to England than had come from thence hither." Nor was there any other emigration of consequence until Boston was almost two hundred years old.
On the death of Governor Winthrop in 1649 Endecott was again chosen Governor, to which office he was annu- ally re-elected until the time of his death in 1665, with
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the exception of the years 1650 and 1654 when he held the office of Deputy Governor under Dudley and Belling- ham, respectively.
The years of his governorship were eventful years in the history of the colony as well as of the mother country, for the execution of Charles I, the succession of Crom- well and the restoration of Charles II took place while he was at the helm of public affairs, and the difficulties of his office were very great. His constant re-election showed that his people regarded him as the man best qualified to act as governor during this troublesome period. Had he possessed less integrity or courage or had he been of a vacillating mind, the consequences might have been disastrous. The colony with great wisdom acknowledged allegiance to Cromwell and to the parliament only so far as was necessary to keep up appearances and avoid giving offence, but no further, and they were careful to indulge in no marks of disrespect to the memory of the late king.
After Cromwell had conquered Ireland he undertook to devise a scheme of keeping its subjects in subjection with as little expense to the English treasury as possible, and bethought himself of the Puritans across the water who had proved their courage by the strictest tests. He accordingly suggested that the New England Puritans emigrate to Ireland, but his suggestion was not favorably received because Endecott, to whom it was addressed, believed that the people were much better off where they were; yet he was desirous of not giving any offence to Cromwell and therefore wrote him in behalf of the Gen- eral Court that "while they would not hinder any fami- lies or persons removing to any parts of the world where God called them but that they were enjoying health, plenty, peace, the liberty and ordinances of the gospel and an opportunity for spreading the knowledge of it among savages; and that, content with these blessings, they had no desire to change their abode."
Under Endecott's administration in 1652 a mint was established for the coining of shillings, sixpence and three- pence. No other of the American colonies ever presumed to coin metal into money. It was, however, passed over
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by Cromwell and parliament and continued after the restoration for more than twenty years, although clearly against the law of England.
In 1655 Endecott removed from Salem to Boston upon the request of the General Court, that he might do so "if his own necessary occasions would permit." Although the reasonableness of this request must have been appar- ent to him because of the great difficulty and delay occa- sioned by going from Salem to Boston in those days, yet he severed his connection with Salem with the greatest regret. His residence in Boston was in what is now known as Pemberton Square. Although Endecott moved to Boston in 1655 he and Mrs. Endecott did not dissolve their connection with the Salem Church until Novem- ber, 1664, but a few months before his death.
HIS ANTAGONISM TO BAPTISTS AND QUAKERS
In 1644 a law was passed punishing by banishment anyone who should openly or secretly speak against the orthodox doctrine regarding baptism, and three Baptists, John Clark, Obadiah Holmes and John Crandall, com- ing from Rhode Island to visit a member of their Church in Lynn, were arrested. Clark was fined twenty pounds, Holmes thirty pounds and Crandall five pounds, in de- fault of which they were to be whipped. Clark having asked by what law he was punished, the penalty not be- ing that prescribed by the ordinance of 1644, relates that Endecott "stept up to us and told us that we had denied Infants Baptism, and being somewhat transported broke forth, and told me I had deserved death and said he would not have such trash brought into this jurisdiction." Crandall was released on bail and someone paid Clark's fine, but Holmes having refused to pay or allow anyone else to do so for him, was whipped with thirty strokes with a three corded whip on his bare back.
The trouble with the Baptists was of slight conse- quence compared with that which so shortly followed with the Quakers, whose ideas and acts were such as to be especially repugnant to the leaders in Massachu- setts. Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, the first two Quakers to arrive in Boston, came from Barbadoes in July, 1656.
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Endecott being away at the time, Deputy Governor Bellingham arrested them and kept them confined in jail for four or five weeks and then shipped them back to Barbadoes. A few days after their departure eight more Quakers arrived from London and were accorded similar treatment, Endecott saying to them, "Take heed you break not our Ecclesiastical Laws for then ye are sure to stretch by a halter." After some weeks of confine- ment they also were shipped back to England. The Mas- sachusetts General Court passed a law fining the Master of any ship who should bring known Quakers to Massa- chusetts one hundred pounds and directing that the Quakers should be committed to the House of Correc- tion, severely whipped, kept constantly at work and not permitted to speak to anyone. The following year a band of Quakers went to Rhode Island. Massachusetts author- ities remonstrated, to which the Rhode Island people re- plied with great shrewdness that the Quakers did not desire to remain at any place where they were not opposed by the people, "but with all patience and meek- ness are suffered to say over their pretended revela- tions and admonitions, nor are they like or able to gain many hereto their way; surely we find that they delight to be persecuted by civill powers, and when they are soe, they are like to gain more adherents by the consent of their patient sufferings, than by consent to their perni- cious sayings ; and yet we conceive, that their doctrines tend to very absolute cuttinge downe and overturninge relations and civill government among men, if generally received."
The Rhode Islanders were better judges of human nature than those from Massachusetts because as it turned out the Quakers were not anxious to stay in Rhode Island, for they there met with no opposition, but they were extremely desirous of getting a foothold in Massachu- setts where their coming was violently opposed. The Massachusetts authorities ordered them banished and to make doubly sure that they would stay away, provided that if they returned after banishment they should suffer death, believing fully that this terrible penalty would keep them from returning. Endecott begged the Quakers to
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keep away, saying earnestly that he did not desire their death. They did not know the people with whom they had to contend, for stubborn and persistent as were the Puritans, the Quakers were even more insistent in hav- ing their own way. The government was fighting an unequal battle against people who either because of reli- gious emotion or conscientiousness did not fear death. In speaking of Quakers we only think of the quiet and non- resistent people who have been so known in recent years, but those of the seventeenth century were fighters, and the authorities did not know the measure of Quaker per- tinacity, for they arose in congregations to denounce the clergy and the methods of their worship and entered courts to attack the magistrates. Thomas Newhouse inter- rupted the service at the Old South Meeting House by smashing two glass bottles exclaiming "Thus will the Lord break you all in pieces." They hooted at the Gov- ernor as he walked the street. One woman appeared on the streets in a gown made of sack cloth. Another exhib- ited herself with her face smeared with grease and lamp black. Deborah Wilson of Salem and Lydia Wardell of Newbury went through the streets of their towns naked, to indicate their disregard of Puritan law. They dis- claimed all allegiance to any government not in the charge of men of their own principles. Many Quakers were whipped, imprisoned or banished, one branded, three had their right ears cut off, and four were put to death.
The sufferings and death of these people created a strong public sentiment in their favor, and in the trial of Christison, who had been banished and threatened with death if he returned, which he did, nevertheless, there was such division among the magistrates that there was great doubt whether they would vote the death penalty. Endecott pounded the table and attacked the other magis- trates for what he thought was their lack of courage, saying "I could find it in my heart to go home (meaning to England). You that will not consent, record it," as he put the question a second time to vote. "I thank God I am not afraid to give judgment"; and promptly sen- tenced Christison to death, but the sentence was never executed. Soon after an order was received from King
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Charles, dated September 9, 1661, directing that there should be no further proceeding against the Quakers and that such as were under charges should be sent to Eng- land for trial. The message was borne by Samuel Shat- tuck, a banished Massachusetts Quaker. Upon reading the message Endecott said, "We shall obey his Majesty's command." All that were imprisoned were released. For this act Charles II has always received great credit, yet three years afterwards he wrote to Governor Endecott; "We can not be understood to direct, or wish that any indulgence should be granted to persons commonly called Quakers whose principles being inconsistent with any kind of government, we have found it necessary, with the advice of our Parliament, to make a sharp law against them here, and we are content that you do the like there."
ORDERED TO PURSUE THE REGICIDES
Charles II sent to Endecott a warrant for the arrest of Colonels Walley and Goffe on the ground that they were regicides and concerned in the execution of his father. Endecott, to whom it was transmitted, could do no less than appear to interest himself in the King's behalf, which he could do with less reluctance because he knew there was small likelihood that his order for their appre- hension would be carried out. Two young men recently come from England, Thomas Kellond and Thomas Kirk, received from him a commission to prosecute the search in Massachusetts. That they were zealous Royalists gave evidence to the home government that the search would be made in good faith, but as they were strangers, unac- quainted with the roads and with the habits of the coun- try and betrayed themselves by their deportment where- ever they went in New England, assured Endecott that they would make their quest in vain. In this Endecott was not mistaken because neither Walley or Goffe were ever apprehended and both lived for many years under assumed names.
In 1660 Charles II was restored to the crown and in 1661 Endecott, fearing that it would not be safe to longer delay proclaiming him King, called the General Court together for the purpose and wrote to the Earl of Clar-
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endon, at that time Lord High Chancellor, explaining his efforts to capture Colonels Walley and Goffe, and stated that the King had been proclaimed "by our secre- tary in the best form we were capable of to the great rejoicing of the people, expressed in their loud acclama- tions ; 'God save the King. . '-which was no sooner ended, but a troop of horse, four foot companies, then in arms, expressed their joy in their peals; our forts and all our shipps and our Castle . . thundered out their joy."
In 1664 Charles II sent a couple of ships of war to Boston with about four hundred troops, under Colonel Richard Nichols, together with three commissioners to look after his affairs in the new world. Colonel Nichols took his ships to New Amsterdam and captured that important town. He then returned to Boston where the Commissioners held meetings. The charter and the dupli- cate seemed to be in danger and were given into the keep- ing of four trusty persons to be disposed of by them as the safety of the colony required, it being without doubt their intention to preserve the charter at all hazards, but as Endecott and the magistrates handled the matter with great shrewdness months were fretted away to no pur- pose. Presently the Dutch beginning war against Eng- land the matter was forgotten and the charter was saved for a number of years more.
LAST YEARS
In 1664 the King's secretary was instructed to say that as "Mr. Endecott is not a person well affected towards his Majestie's person and government, his Majestie would take it well if the people would leave him out from the place of Governor." It is possible that this request would have been entirely disregarded, but the question did not come to an issue because, in the quaint language of the day we are told, that, "Old age and the infirmities thereof coming upon him, he fell asleep in the Lord on the 15th of March 1665, at the age of 77, and was with great honor and solemnity interred in Boston on the 23rd of the same month."
The record of the General Court of May 25, 1665, is
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as follows: "The Court judgeth it meete in remembrance of the good service of the late John Endecot, Esqr. Gou- nor, and the condition of his relict, to order the Treas- urer of the country to discharge the charge of wine, cakes, toombe, and pouder expended on the late funerall of the late Gounor, & that Mrs. Endecot, his relict, be paid and satisfied out of the country treasury one hundred and sixty pounds by equall proportions, by the Treasurer, in fiue yeares the whole; sixty pounds whereof was in con- sideration of hir expence of seventy pounds in mourn- ing cloaths for hirself, children and family." In 1670 it appearing that the property of Governor Endecott's widow was not sufficient for her support, her annuity of thirty pounds was continued during her widowhood.
While it is true that Endecott had accumulated con- siderable real estate, most of it was unproductive, and he gave so much of his time to public affairs that his income must have been very limited, for when he was governor his salary was only one hundred pounds a year. Hull's diary, written at the time of his death, says:
"Our honored Governor, Mr. John Endicott, departed this life ;- a man of pious and zealous spirit, who had very faith- fully endeavored the suppression of a pestilent generation, the troublers of our peace, civil and ecclesiastical, called Quakers. He died poor, as most of our rulers do, having more attended the public than their own private interests."
His death was greatly lamented and the fact that he had served as Governor sixteen years in all, longer than any other person who ever held that office in Massachu- setts, and five years as Deputy Governor, shows the high esteem in which he was held by the people of his own time. He had been longer on the soil than any other important person, coming as an advance guard of the great Puritan migration and enduring the famine and sickness of the first few winters which so devastated the early inhabitants. Hired in England to begin the planta- tion, he by his energy and efficiency as well as his busi- ness judgment, so laid the foundations that he lived to govern a strong and successful colony.
The period of Endecott's governorship after the death
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of Winthrop were years of great growth, prosperity and development for Massachusetts, during which time her trade and population increased and her boundaries were extended to include parts of what are now Rhode Island, New Hampshire and substantially the whole of the State of Maine. Endecott denied the right of Parliament to meddle with the charter, and during Cromwell's adminis- tration Massachusetts practically maintained the relations of an independent state. His dealings with Charles II were also handled with great tact, and Palfrey well says: "This energetic pioneer and soldier, trained as he had been by an instructive experience and companionship of more than twenty years, was recognized as the leader re- quired for those stirring times and he was not discharged from the chief magistracy often enough to suggest that it was not intended to be vested for life."
Although he may have been guilty of occasional impru- dences, no one ever accused him of deception or coward- ice or of managing public affairs to his own private gain. The difficulties of the last part of his public career were great, and while he was unquestionably wrong in his treat- ment of the Baptists and the Quakers, yet his viewpoint was of the seventeenth century, with that dread of reli- gious dissension which was shared by all those in author- ity during the age in which he lived, for in those days religious disputes often led to political revolutions. As the governor approached the close of his life how proud must have been his reflections and how his heart must have throbbed with pleasure as he looked back remember- ing the day of his first landing in Naumkeag with his little band of Puritans, and then viewed with satisfac- tion the great colony which had arisen upon the founda- tion of the little settlement which he had established.
He, more than any other leader, typifies Puritanism, and stern and austere though he may have been, yet in those days a strong hand was needed to control the wheel of state. The people knew that under Endecott their affairs would be managed with no other object in view than what he honestly believed was best for their welfare and John Endecott is entitled to be gratefully remem- bered by the people of Massachusetts.
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