USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > Sketches about Salem people > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27
Thomas Dudley, who was steward to the Earl of Lin- coln, became his patron. Dudley possessed executive ability and had rescued the Earl's estate from insolvency. Bradstreet was a member of Dudley's family and learned from this patron the business of stewardship. Later, when Dudley removed to Boston, England, Bradstreet suc- ceeded him in his office as steward and was later called into the service of the Countess of Warwick. While liv- ing in the Dudley family he fell in love with the daughter, Anne Dudley. She wrote of herself :-
But as I grew up to bee about fourteen or fifteen, I found my heart more carnall and sitting loose from God, vanity and the follys of youth take hold of me.
About sixteen the Lord layd his hand sore upon me and smott mee with the small-pox. When I was in my affliction, I besought the Lord, and confessed my Pride and Vanity and he was entreated of me, and again restored me.
Pride and vanity are more or less associated with a fair face. It is not known if smallpox left a permanent mark on the features of Anne Dudley. For a time at least the disease deformed her countenance. This apparently troubled her lover not in the least, for he insisted upon an early marriage as soon as she was able to leave the sickroom. Perhaps the Lord recompensed his constancy by restoring his wife to her former loveliness. The mar- riage was happy. The first two years of their married life were spent in England. After their removal to New
3
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
England, Anne Bradstreet began to write poetry. A book of her verses was published under the title, "The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung up in America, by a Gentlewoman in Those Parts." President Rogers of Harvard said that "twice drinking of the nectar of her lines left him welter- ing in delight."
While living in Ipswich, she wrote a "Letter to her Husband, absent upon some Public employment."
My head, my heart, mine Eyes, my life, my more, My joy, my Magazine of earthly store. If two be one as surely thou and I, How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lie?
Again she wrote :-
If ever two were one then surely we, If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me ye women if you can. I prize thy love more than whole Mines of Gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
When their first child was born she wrote :-
It pleased God to keep me a long time without a child, which was a great grief to mee, and cost mee many prayers and tears before I obtained one, and after him gave mee many more of whom I now take the care.
Again, in regard to her children :-
I had eight birds hatcht in one nest, Four Cocks there were, and Hens the rest ; I nurst them up with pain and care, Nor cost, nor labour did I spare, Till at the last they felt their wing, Mounted the Trees, and learn'd to sing.
Soon after the marriage of Simon Bradstreet and Anne Dudley, Thomas Dudley and other eminent Puritans met at Cambridge and decided to join in a migration to New England, provided the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company and the government established under it could be transferred to that country. Bradstreet threw in his lot with the Puritan Adventurers. He and his wife em- barked with Governor Winthrop in the early spring of
4
THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET
1630, in the "Arbella." Mr. John Humphrey, who was the Deputy Governor, and one of the Assistants, resigned. Thomas Dudley was elected Deputy Governor and Simon Bradstreet was elected Assistant. The office of Assistant was similar to that of a director in a modern corporation. The Assistants are often called Magistrates in the old records. Bradstreet held this office for forty-eight years.
The ship which brought over Winthrop and his associ- ates had been named the "Eagle," but was rechristened "Arbella" in honor of Lady Arbella, daughter of the Earl of Lincoln, who had married Mr. Isaac Johnson and came over in this ship. Before leaving England and while waiting for favorable winds, some of the ladies went on shore and washed their linen, because the "Arbella" did not carry enough fresh water to permit wash-days. The Bradstreets joined the group of gentlefolk who dined with Lady Arbella in the great cabin. The size of the great cabin is not recorded. The ship could carry, besides her crew, about thirty passengers.
On June 12, 1630, the "Arbella" anchored in Salem Harbor. Thomas Dudley wrote after their arrival :-
We found the Colony in a sad and unexpected condition, above eighty of them being dead the winter before; and many of those alive, weak and sick; all the corn and bread amongst them all, hardly sufficient to feed them a fortnight.
Discouraged by the outlook at Salem, the newcomers, leaving the ladies at Salem, set out to explore the Charles and Mystic rivers, and finally joined the settlement at Charlestown. The water-supply at Charlestown being brackish, they removed to Boston. Finally Cambridge was settled upon, and here, at the beginning of winter, the Bradstreets first unpacked their household belongings and attempted to create a home. Their house was a cabin situated on what is now Harvard Square. The winter was passed in misery and privation. The people lived for a part of the time upon clams, mussels, ground- nuts and acorns. In February, 1631, their stock of meal was exhausted on the day that a ship arrived with pro- visions from England. At the end of the first winter, the worst was passed.
5
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
A letter written March 15, 1631, to William Pond, by his son, an emigrant, gives an idea of the hardships en- dured by the settlers during the first winter. They were ravaged by disease. The necessities of life were scarce and prices exorbitant. The writer complains that he had only water to drink, and intimates an intention of return- ing to England unless his father sends him a hogshead of unground malt for beer-making. He wrote :-
Peple her ar subjecte to deisesese, for her have deyeid of the scurveye & of the burninge fever neye too hundreid & ode; beseide as maney leyethe lame & all Sudbrie men ar ded but thre & three women & sume cheildren, & proviseyones ar her at a wondurfull rat. Wheat mell is xiiijs a bushell, & pese xs, & mault xs, & Einder seid wheat is xvs & thare other wheat is xs. . . . If theis ship had not cume when it ded we had bine put to a woondurfule straughte, but thanckes be to God for sendinge of it in. I reseyvied from the shipe a hogseite of mell, & the Governor tellethe me of a hundreid waight of chese the wiche I have reseyveid parte of it. I humblie thancke you for it. . . . Tharefor, lovinge father, I wolld intret you that you woolld send me a ferckeine of buttr & a hogseit of mault on- ground, for we dreinck notheinge but walltre. . . . Her is no clothe to be had to mack no parell, & shoes are at 5s a payer for me, & that clothe that is woorthe 2s 6d a yard is woorthe her 58. So I pray, father, send me fouer or five yardes of clothe to mack us sume parell, & lovinge father, thoue I be far distante from you yet I pray you remembure me as youer cheield, & we do not know how longe We may subseiste, for we can not live her witheought provyseyones from ould Eingland. Therefore, I pray don not put away youer shope stufe, for I theinck that in the eind, if I live, it must be my leveinge, for we do not know how longe theis plantatyon will stand, for sume of the magnautes that ded uphould it have turned off thare men & have givene it overe. Beseides, God hath tacken away the chefeiste stud in the land, Mr Johnson & the Ladye Arabella his wife, wiche was the cheifeste man of estate in the land and one that woold a don moste good. . . .
We ware wondurfule seick as we cam at sea, withe the small poxe. No man thought that I & my leittell cheilld woolld a liveid. My boye is lame & my gurell too, & thar deyeid in the sheip that I cam in xiiij persones.
When Ipswich was settled, Thomas Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, and their families were the leading inhabi-
6
THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET
tants. Bradstreet lived in Ipswich from 1635 to 1644. The site of his dwelling on High Street is marked by a boulder.
In 1638 the General Court gave license to Mr. Brad- street and others for a plantation at Merrimac. This was the beginning of Andover. Bradstreet was the only mem- ber of this settlement who possessed any considerable prop- erty. He first lived in a log cabin until the new house was completed, which was the admiration of all. This house was burned in 1666, but was duplicated shortly afterwards as nearly as possible, and still stands, suggest- ing the possibility of a large hospitality. It faces south, is two full stories high in front, with a sloping roof and a low story at the back. Massive timbers form the frame, and the enormous chimney is in the centre. The fire- places were originally almost rooms in themselves. These have been reduced in size. Some of the walls are wain- scotted and some papered. At the east of the house is a deep hollow through which flows a brook. Beyond the brook rises a hill, on the slope of which the meetinghouse once stood.
Both Simon and Anne Bradstreet were persons of edu- cation and refinement. They hated living in a cabin and longed for the amenities of life. As soon as possible they constructed a house suitable to their means and station. They collected a library of some eight hundred volumes in the fine house at Andover, and mourned its loss in the fire which destroyed these books together with family portraits, heirlooms, and furniture brought from Eng- land. New fashions and fine clothes found their way to Andover from overseas. The family dressed with as much elegance as the tastes, good sense, and religious prin- ciples of the household permitted. A Catholic missionary has left this description of the Governor at a later period : "An old man, quiet and grave, dressed in black silk, but not sumptuously."
According to the standards of today, the personal be- longings of a man of property in the seventeenth century were meagre. It is to be noted that in the will of Brad- street's second wife she left less than a dozen pieces of
7
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
silver. Her table furnishings were mostly of pewter and earthenware. There is mention of linen and napkins, but no spoons appear in the will. Her wardrobe and house- hold furniture are disposed of, piece by piece, to relatives and friends. The whole will covers less than one page of paper. We may infer from contemporary accounts that there was no dearth of good things to eat and drink on the Governor's table. These were prepared and served by negro slaves. He mentions two in his will, and his second wife, in hers, gives freedom to a slave, Sarah. The Governor's portrait shows a well-nourished gentleman, although his neighbors say he was abstemious in the tak- ing of food and drink. As he reached the age of ninety- four and never had a twinge of gout, this estimate is prob- ably correct.
Both husband and wife were sweetly reasonable. They pondered upon and discussed their reactions to the cir- cumstances of their new environment. They were un- sympathetic with the rough life and brutal judgments of their Puritan neighbors. Speaking of her emigration to America, Anne Bradstreet wrote:
After a short time I changed my condition and was married, and came into this country, where I found a new world and new manners at which my heart rose. But after I was con- vinced it was the will of God, I submitted to it and joined the church at Boston.
Here we have the record of a rebellious heart condemn- ing the new world and new manners, and its reconcilia- tion to both. There was nothing in the experience of this loving pair which justified heresy-hunting, hanging Quakers and witches, or a belief that the theocratic oligarchy in Massachusetts, of which they were a part, was a gift from Heaven of sovereign power to sovereign men. They knew that many of the clergy were puffed up with vanity and swollen with the conceit of being vessels of the Lord and therefore infallible. So far as the Brad- streets could see, this was a hard world, and their Puritan associates made it harder for those who disagreed with them in doctrine, yet all things were in the hands of Providence. They did not know why the way was rough
8
THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET
and lined with failures; but as they believed it was the will of God, they submitted, joined the church at Boston, and so far as their broad, sympathetic, and catholic spirits permitted, kept in step with the leaders of their genera- tion, sometimes urging them on, often trying to hold them back.
After forty years of happy wedded life, Anne Brad- street died in the Andover homestead. Simon Bradstreet mourned her loss longer than most Puritan husbands. Four years after her death, at the age of seventy-three, he married the widow of Captain Joseph Gardner of Salem, whose husband had been killed in the attack on the Narragansett fort during King Philip's War. Pos- sibly this second match was not glorified by the romance of love. Bradstreet was a magistrate, a member of the Council of New England, and was to become Governor. He needed a housekeeper and a lady to preside at his table. Marriage was the only solution.
After his marriage to Mistress Gardner, he lived until his death in a house which stood near the present site of the Armory on Essex Street, Salem. The property be- tween the Hawthorne Boulevard and St. Peter Street had belonged to Emmanuel Downing, and the house where Bradstreet died was the property of Bradstreet's second wife, who was the daughter of Emmanuel Downing and a sister of Sir George Downing. On the day of his death, the General Court was in session, and "In consideration of the long and extraordinary services of Simon Brad- street, late Governor, voted one hundred pounds toward defraying the charges of his interment." He was buried in a tomb in the northwesterly corner of the Charter Street Burying-ground.
Chief Justice Sewall in his diary wrote :-
March 27, 1697 . . . About 10. at night Govr Bradstreet dyes ; which we are told of March 29th at Cambridge. ..
Sixth-day, Apr. 2, 1697 . . . ride to Salem. It rain'd most of the way. . . . From about two post meridiem, the wether clear'd and was warm. About 3 was the Funeral; Bearers, Mr. Danforth, Major Gen. Winthrop, Mr. Cook, Col. Hutchinson, Sewall, Mr. Secretary : Col. Gedney and Major Brown led the
.
9
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
Widow; I bore the Feet of the Corps into the Tomb, which is new, in the Old Burying place. .
Three Volleys, but no Great Guns, by reason of the Scarcity of Powder. Came home comfortably in the Sunshine.
Upon her death, the second Mrs. Bradstreet was buried in the same tomb. Years ago there were two stories circulating in Salem about the desecration of this tomb. One story was to the effect that someone went through the form of enforcing a mechanic's lien to recover a small amount he had expended in repairing the tomb, and that the tomb was sold to one Daniel Hawthorne, who threw out the Governor and his lady to make room for his own remains and those of his wife. The other story recounts how a Salem Board of Health employed a stupid fellow to clear up the ancient burial-places. This man thought he was hired as an interior decorator, and among other tombs, cleaned out and whitewashed the inside walls of the Bradstreet tomb. The actors in both fables accom- plished the same result.
These rumors of desecration caused an inspection to be made by a committee of the city government of Salem. They found a strong brick arch over the vault, and three or four feet of dirt between the arch and the underpinning of the monument. The vault is entered on the easterly side by a flight of steps. Some twelve or fifteen bodies have been buried there. The last was that of Miss Susan Ingersoll. She was a friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the mistress of the House of the Seven Gables. Her re- mains rest in an iron coffin. No one knows the original owner of this tomb. Judge Sewall says that it was new when Governor Bradstreet was buried. Very likely it was presented as a burial-place for the Governor and his lady, and was afterwards used by the families of the various owners. The hospitality of a tomb was not un- known in ancient days.
In the seventh volume of the Acts and Resolves of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, page 548, there is a note by Mr. Abner C. Goodell to this effect: "After reposing in the tomb for about a century, the Governor's remains were removed and the tomb was sold to Colonel Benjamin
10
THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET
Pickman by the selectmen of Salem. By Pickman it was subsequently conveyed to Hawthorne." Even if the tomb was sold, why the removal of the governor's remains after so many years ? It is improbable that the governor's rest- ing-place was ever disturbed except by the hand of time. The Latin epitaph on the slab covering the monument became illegible and has been restored. The first descrip- tive word in the epitaph is "Armiger"-armor-bearer. When this word occurs after a proper name and in the same line, it is usually translated as "Esquire." Its po- sition and original meaning suggest that it is here used to convey the idea of a gentleman and soldier.
Simon Bradstreet was an Assistant from 1630 to 1678. The inscription on his tomb says that he was a Senator. He was a member of that chamber of the General Court which finally was called the Senate. The separation of the Legislature of Massachusetts into two chambers makes an interesting story. It grew out of a lawsuit concern- ing Mrs. Sherman's pig. Mrs. Sherman had a pig and a boarder. The boarder appeared in Boston as the rep- resentative of English merchants, to solicit orders and undersell the local traders. Captain Keayne, one of the magistrates, championed the cause of the Boston shop- keepers and was influential in putting the boarder out of business. The boarder cherished a grudge against Captain Keayne. One day he saw Mrs. Sherman's pig wander into the Captain's front yard at the corner of State and Devonshire streets in Boston. The Captain discovered the pig and drove it out with some display of temper. The boarder, on several other occasions, steered the same pig into the same yard. Finally the Captain seized the pig, cried it through the town as a stray, and, as it was not claimed, killed it in the fall and added it to his larder. The boarder, who had watched events, reported to the widow, as a rumor, what had become of her pig, and suggested that she call upon the Captain and verify the story. The call was made and the Cap- tain admitted he had eaten the pig. The widow lodged a complaint of larceny against the Captain. He was tried, acquitted, and sued the widow for defamation of
11
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
character. He was awarded large damages and the widow appealed to the General Court. Here began political trouble which led to the division of the General Court into two chambers.
Under the charter the affairs of the Colony were to be managed by a Governor, a Deputy Governor, and a Council of eighteen Assistants, to be elected annually by the freemen of the company. They were empowered to make such laws as they liked for their settlers, provided they did not contravene the laws of England. Later, representatives elected by the towns were added to this Council. The Assistants and the local representatives sat as one chamber. When the pig case was heard, the ma- jority of the Assistants voted in favor of Captain Keayne, and the majority of the representatives in favor of Mrs. Sherman. As the representatives outnumbered the As- sistants, Mrs. Sherman had a small majority in the total vote. In some way the case was settled, but as an out- growth of this controversy, the legislature was divided into two bodies, and thereafter all laws had to be passed by the concurrent vote of both chambers. It is not known how Bradstreet's vote was recorded; probably in favor of Mrs. Sherman.
The inscription on the tomb in the Charter Street Burying Ground enumerates some of the offices held by Simon Bradstreet. The slab which covers the tomb is probably too small to name all his honorary positions. Besides being Governor, Deputy Governor, and an Assis- tant, he was at one time Secretary of the Colony, and at a critical period its agent in London. One important public service was rendered by him as a member of the Federal Commission. He served on this Commission twenty-six years, sometimes its president.
In 1642 Simon Bradstreet and other representatives from the Massachusetts Colony were appointed "to treat with our friends of Connecticut, New Haven and Plym- outh about a confederacy between us." This federation was formed and was known as "The United Colonies of New England." Articles of Confederacy were drawn up under date of May 19, 1643. It was agreed that in
12
THE WORSHIPFUL SIMON BRADSTREET
everything concerning the common interests of the four colonies, the authority of the Federation was to be exer- cised by Commissioners. This governing body was made up of two commissioners from each of the four colonies. It acted in an advisory capacity to the general courts in the various colonies. During King Philip's War it assumed extraordinary duties in connection with the conduct of hostilities. This New England confederacy is often re- ferred to as the forerunner of the federation of the United Colonies and of the United States of America. It had its share in preparing men's minds in New England for a greater federation.
During the first few years the political history of Mas- sachusetts was mainly a conflict between the theocratic and democratic spirit inherent in Protestantism. Accord- ing to the charter all important matters of government were to be determined by the General Court, which was a meeting of the stockholders, or, as they were called, freemen of the corporation. The privilege of voting was limited to stockholders. Only twelve stockholders had come to New England in 1630, and all had been made magistrates. When the first General Court convened in October, 1630, this number had shrunk to eight. This small group of rulers was confronted with a demand from a hundred or more of their fellow settlers to be admitted. as freemen. The magistrates admitted them on the under- standing that the Assistants and not the freemen should make the laws, elect the Governor, and that the Assistants should hold office during good behavior. This left the freemen only the right to select new Assistants when vacancies occurred. These conditions were in violation of the charter.
In 1632, the Assistants voted a tax for fortifications. Against this levy the town of Watertown protested, on the ground that "it was not safe to pay monies after that sort for fear of bringing ourselves and posterity into bondage." When the next General Court met, the en- larged body voted that the Governor and Assistants should be elected every year, and that every town should elect delegates to act with the Assistants in levying taxes. In
13
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
1634, various delegates from the towns met in Boston and demanded to view the charter. A view was granted, and when the General Court met a few days later, the depu- ties demanded their rightful share in the government according to the charter, and that the General Court, con- sisting of the Assistants and deputies elected by the free- men in the towns, should alone have the right to levy taxes and make laws. The legality of this demand could not be denied. Representative government was thus es- tablished, but the rule of the theocracy was not broken. What appeared to be a republic in principle was still an oligarchy in fact. The freemen admitted were never more than a small part of the population. None but church members were allowed to become freemen. Admission to membership in the church was controlled by the clergy. Church members elected all the officers outside the towns, and the clergy, through their control of the electorate, were able to establish their system of laws, and upon their action, and their action alone, rested everything. This continued until the charter was forfeited.
The Puritan fathers had no intention of establishing democracy in New England. Governor Winthrop said there was no such government in Israel and that "it is. amongst civil nations accounted the meanest and worst of all forms of government." Reverend John Cotton agreed with Governor Winthrop. He said : "If the people be governors who shall be governed ?" Although the Puri- tans were opposed to democracy, there were principles and practices in Puritanism which led to its development.
The Bible was the word of God, from which was to be deducted the will of God by the application of pure rea- son. The appeal to reason was a dominant note in Puri- tanism. A correct belief, which was a matter of free will, was the basis of man's eternal salvation. If he selected a formula not acceptable to Providence, he was forever damned. We little realize the agonies of the Puritan fathers in their struggle with the problem of free will and the consequences of a failure of reason to guide them to the haven of a saving faith. They made decisions under a terrible pressure of fear.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.