USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > The History of Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, 1836 > Part 6
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" Know all men that I Wamsetta, alias Alexander, chief Sachem of Pokanokett, for divers good causes and valuable considerations me thereunto moving, have bargained and sold unto Captain Thomas Willet, of Wannamoisett, all those tracts of land situate and being from the bounds of Rehoboth ranging upon Patuckett unto a place called Waweypounshag, the place where one Blackstone now sojourneth, and so ranging along to the said river unto a place called Messanegtacaneh and from this upon a straight line crossing through the woods unto the uttermost bounds of a place called Mamantapett or Wading river, and from the said river one mile and a half upon an east line, and from thence upon a south line unto the bounds of the town of Rehoboth. To have and to hold unto him the said Captain Willet and his associates, their heirs and assigns for- ever; reserving only a competent portion of land for some of the natives at Mishanegitaconett for to plant and sojourn upon, as the said Wamsetta alias Alexander and the said Thomas Willet jointly together shall see meet ; and the rest of all the land aforementioned, with the woods, waters, meadows, and all emoluments whatsoever to remain unto the said Thomas Willet and his associates, their heirs and assigns forever. Witness my hand and seal this eighth day of April, in the year 1661.
" The mark of A XA Wamsitta alias Alexander,
his seal [L.s.]
"Signed, sealed and delivered in presence of John Browne, jr. Jonathan Bosworth,
John Sassaman, Interpreter.
" April 10th, 1666. Witnesseth these presents, that Cap- tain Thomas Willet above said hath and doth hereby resign, deliver and make overall and singular the lands above mention- ed, purchased of Wamsitta alias Alexander, chief Sachem of Pokanokett, according unto the bounds above expressed, with all and singular the benefits, privileges, and immunities thereunto appertaining, unto Mr. Thomas Prence, Major Josias Winslow,
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
Capt. Thomas Southworth, and Mr. Constant Southworth, in the behalf of the Colony of New Plymouth. In witness where- of he doth hereunto set his hand and seal.
"THOMAS WILLET. [L.S.]"
"Signed, sealed and delivered
in presence of
Daniel Smith,
Nicholas Peck."
" 6th, 7th mo. [September] 1661. Lieutenant Hunt and Joseph Peck were chosen to view the damage in the Indians' corn upon Kickamuet neck, and Consumpsit neck, and to give the town notice of it."
The 14th of the 9th mo. [November] 1661. " Lieutenant Hunt and William Sabin were chosen to confer with Mr. Wil- let to know what he hath done about the north side of the town in the behalf of the town."
27th of the 12th mo. [February ] 1661. Samuel Luther was permitted to be a sojourner to buy or hire.
" Plymouth, 1661. It is ordered by the Court that the ward of Rehoboth shall extend unto Sowamsett * and unto all the neighbours there inhabiting, as to the constable of Rehoboth, his execution of his office, as occasion shall require, which he is required by his orders to do and perform, as well there as in any other part of that constablericke." [Plym. Col. Rec. vol. III. p. 234.]
" The 28th of the 5th mo. [July] 1662. It was voted that John Woodcock should have two rods of land to build a small house on for himself and his family to be in on the Lord's day, in some convenient place near the meeting-house; and Good- man Paine and Lieutenant Hunt were chosen to see where the most convenient place for it might be."
December 16th, 1662. A fine of 1s. 6d. was ordered to be imposed on those who neglected to attend town-meeting.
During this year the town was afflicted with the loss of one of its most influential and useful inhabitants, Mr. John Brown. He died April 10, 1662,+ at Wannamoiset. The following notice is made of him by Morton in his "New-England's Me- morial " [pp. 295, 296, 297]. " This year Mr. John Brown ended this life ; in his younger years travelling into the low coun-
* Bristol or Barrington,-probably the former.
t Rehoboth Town Records of deaths and burials,
V
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
tries, he came acquainted with, and took good liking to, the rev- erend pastor of the church of Christ at Leyden, as also to sun- dry of the brethren of that church: which ancient amity induced him (upon his coming over to New-England) to seat himself in the jurisdiction of New Plimouth, in which he was chosen a magistrate ; in which place he served God and the country several years ; he was well accomplished with abili- ties to both civil and religious concernments, and attained, through God's grace, unto a comfortable perswasion of the love and favour of God to him ; he, falling sick of a fever, with much "serenity and spiritual comfort, fell asleep in the Lord, and was honourably buried at Wannamoiset near Rehoboth, in the spring of the year abovesaid." He was first elected to the office of assistant in Plymouth Colony in 1636, which office he ably filled for seventeen years. He was also one of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England from 1644 to 1655. The mention of this latter fact may serve to show in what estimation he was held in the colony, when we recollect that only two per- sons were chosen from each colony to that office. He was made a freeman of the colony of Plymouth in 1634 .* He was one of the original proprietors of the town, and owned large estates in land both at Rehoboth and Wannamoiset. Mr. Brown was a friend to religious toleration, and was the first of the Plym- outh magistrates who expressed scruples as to the expediency of coercing the people to support the ministry. He was a man of talent, integrity, and piety, and his death was deeply felt through the whole colony. James Brown, who also was assis- tant in 1655, and lived at Swansey, was his son.
" July 3d, 1663. It was voted by the town to send a letter to Samuel Fuller of Plymouth, that if he will come upon trial according to his own proposition, the town is willing to accept of him ; and in case the town and he do accord, the town is wil- ling to accommodate him in the best way they can for his encour- agement."
" It was also voted and agreed that his mother should be sent to, to see if she be willing to come and dwell amongst us, to attend on the office of a midwife, to answer the town's necessi- ty, which at present is great."
Mr. Fuller was a physician residing at Plymouth.
At the same town meeting, Goodman Searle was accepted as an inhabitant, and a home lot voted to him.
* Baylies' Hist. Mem. of Plym. Col. vol. II. p. 201.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
In this year the town experienced a severe loss in the death of their learned and venerable pastor, the Rev. Samuel New- man. He died on the 5th of July, 1663.
" The manner of his death," says Elliot, " was peculiar. He had a certain premonition of it, and seemed to triumph in the prospect of its being near. He was apparently in perfect health, and preached a sermon from these words, Job. xiv, 14, " All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come." In the afternoon of the following Lord's day, he asked the deacon to pray with him, saying he had not long to live. As soon as he had finished his prayer, he said the time was come that he must leave this world. But his friends seeing no immediate signs of dissolution, thought it was the influence of imagination. But he turned round, saying, "angels do your office," and immediately expired .* This may appear like other marvellous circumstances related in the Magnalia, but it is handed down by persons not connected with that author, and was as much confirmed as any report depending upon tra- dition : and it is said that accounts of the death of Mr. New- man were written at the time and sent to England, as well as propagated through the towns of New-England."
He was born at Banbury, (Oxfordshire) England, in 1600, of a family "more eminent and more ancient," says Mather, " than most in the realm of England." At the age of sixteent he entered the university at Oxford, where he received his edu- cation. He commenced his ministry in England ; but, being a puritan, the molestations of the Episcopal clergy compelled him to no less than seven removes in his own country, and finally to his eighth and last remove, to America. He came to New- England in 1636 or 1638.1 He spent some time at Dorches-
" A tradition of this circumstance still exists in Rehoboth, which says, as he pronounced the words, " Now ye angels of the Lord do your duty ; " he turned and fixed his eyes on a particular part of the room, as though he saw the angels present.
f Wood's Athena et Fasti Oxonienses, 3d ed. 4to. London, 1817, with ad- ditions by Philip Bliss, Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford, vol. III. p. 648. See also note A, Appendix, where all that is said by Wood concerning Newman is transcribed.
# Judge Davis, in his edition of the Memorial, p. 217, says that Mr Newman came to New-England in 1636, and was admitted a freeman in 1638. In a Chronological and Topographical account of Dorchester, furnished by Dr. Harris, of that place, {Mass. Hist. Coll. ix. 191, 1st Series,] it is stated that Mr. Newman was in the list of church members of that town in 1636. All the other authorities,-Mather, Elliot, Holmes, Neal, &c. place his arrival in 1638.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
ter ; removed to Weymouth in 1639,* where he preached about four and a half or five years ; and thence, at the close of the year 1643 or the commencement of 1644, emigrated with a majority of his congregation to Rehoboth, where he passed the remainder of his life.
He was a hard student, an animated preacher, and an excel- lent and pious man. He was ardently beloved by his people, and his death was long and deeply lamented.
He compiled a Concordance of the Bible,-a herculean labor,-the thirdt in English that ever was published, and which far surpassed either of the two that preceded it. The first edition of this Concordance was published at London, 1643,¿ in folio. After his removal at Rehoboth, he revised this Concordance and greatly improved it, using in the evening, according to President Stiles, pine knots instead of candles. This edition was published at London, in 1650. A third edi- tion was published at London, in 1658, in a thick folio. || It contains an advertisement to the reader, by Daniel Featly, and another by W. Gouge. These three editions of Mr. Newman's Concordance, which were published during his lifetime, bear his name; but another edition was published soon after at Cam- bridge, considerably improved, which took the name of the " Cambridge Concordance,"§ which title it has since borne.
* See Appendix to Rev. Mr. Bent's sermon at the dedication of the North meeting-house in Weymouth. The notes there found were prepared by the Hon. Christopher Webb, who has in preparation a history of Weymouth, and to whose kindness I acknowledge myself indebted, in this history.
t See Preface to Cruden's Concordance, and also of Newman's Concordance, 3d edition fol. Lond. 1658.
# Judge Davis in his notes to Morton's Memorial says 1640 : I have follow- ed Wood, who gives 1643.
Il I have seen no mention of this edition by any writer. I found a copy of it in the Athenaeum Library, Boston. It is a very thick folio, bearing the name of " NEWMAN'S CONCORDANCE " staniped on the back. The title page says, " A large and compleat Concordance," &c. by " SAMUEL NEWMAN, now teacher of the Church at Rehoboth in New-England." [For the title-page see Appendix, note B.] This Contains a Concordance of the Apocrypha, which is written separately, and placed in the end of the volume.
§ Cruden. in the preface to his Concordance, published at London in 1738, and dedicated to the Queen of England, appears to have been ignorant that Newman's Concordance was essentially the same as the Cambridge Concord- ance, the latter only a more improved edition of the former. Speaking of the various English Concordances that had preceded his, he says the first was by Marbeck, in 1550, and referred only to chapters; the second by Cotton, in 1631 : the third, by Mr. Newman, " more complete ; and lastly we have had one published under the title of the Cumbridge Concordance." An author of a life of the Rev. Hugh Peters, (the Rev. Samuel Peters, L.L.D ) erroneously states that Cruden wrote his Concordance at Rehoboth, and that it was the first Concordance ever written in the English tongue. [See Appendix, note C.]
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
Thus, as Mr. Newman, while living, is said to have been fraudu- lently deprived of all pecuniary advantage * from so laborious a work; so, when dead, even the author's more common but less substantial recompence of " a name" seems also to have been denied him.
He is honourably mentioned by Anthony Wood in his " Ath- enæ et Fasti Oxonienses ;" and Mather, in his " Magnalia," passes the highest encomiums on his learning, industry, and piety. " He loved his church," says the latter, "as if it had been his family, and taught his family as if it had been his church. He was a hard student, and as much toil and oil as his learned name-sake, Neander, employed in illustrations and commenta- ries upon the old Greek, pagan poets, our Newman bestowed in compiling his Concordances of the Sacred Scriptures : and the incomparable relish which the Sacred Scriptures had with him, while he had them thus under his continual rumination, was as well a mean as a sign of his arriving to an extraordinary measure of that sanctity, which the truth produces. But of his family dis- cipline there was no part more notable than this one ; that once a year he kept a solemn day of humiliation with his family, and once a year a day of thanksgiving ; and on these days he would not only enquire of his household what they had met withal to be humbled, or to be thankful for, but also he would recruit the memoirs of his diary." Hospitality was a marked trait in his character ; " and I can tell," says Mather, " when he entertained angels not unawares," referring, probably, to the scene of his death, which has been related.
It is to be regretted that the diary and papers of this learned and excellent man were unfortunately lost. Mather was able to recover a fragment only, which will be given entire.
" Notes or markst of grace, I find in myself; not wherein I desire to glory, but to take ground of assurance, and after our apostle's rules, to make my election sure, though I find them but in weak measure.
1. I love God, and desire to love God, principally for him- self.
2. I desire to requite evil with good.
3. A looking up to God, to see him, and his hand, in all things that befall mne.
" A matter of tradition.
t This extract is italicised precisely as found in the Magnalia.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
4. A greater fear of displeasing God, than all the world.
5. A love of such christians as I never saw, or received good from.
6. A grief when I see God's commands broken by any person.
7. A mourning for not finding the assurance of God's love, and the sense of his favour, in that comfortable manner, at one time as at another ; and not being able to serve God as I should.
8. A willingness to give God the glory of any ability to do good.
9. A joy when I am in christian company, in Godly con- ference.
10. A grief, when I perceive it goes ill with christians, and the contrary.
11. A constant performance of secret duties, between God and myself, morning and evening.
12. A bewailing of such sins, which none in the world can accuse me of.
13. A choosing of suffering to avoid sin."
Mather concludes his sketch of Mr. Newman with the fol- lowing Latin epitaph :
" Mortuus est Neander Nov-Anglus,
Qui ante mortem dedicit mori,
Et obiit eâ morte, quæ potest esse, ars benè moriendi."
The posterity of Mr. Newman were very numerous; and some of his lineal descendants, bearing his name, are found in the lists of the present inhabitants of the original town of Reho- both .* Antipas Newman, the minister of Wenham, who mar- ried, in 1658, Elizabeth, the daughter of Governour Winthrop, and died Oct 15, 1672, is supposed to have been his son.t Noah Newmant was also his son. He succeeded his father in the ministry, in March, 1668, and continued therein till his death, April 16, 1676. He married Joanna, § daughter of Rev. Henry Flint, one of the first ministers of Braintree (now Quincy.) Her mother was Margery Hoar, sister of Rev. Leonard Hoar, third President of Harvard College. The chil- dren of the Rev. Noah Newman were, Henry, born Nov. 10,
* Deacon Sylvanus Newman, of Seekonk, is a lineal descendant of the Rev. Samuel Newman.
t Allen's Am. Biographical and Historical Dictionary. Farmer's Register.
# Several writers have stated this as probable ; but I find traditions sufficient- ly strong and clear to assure me of the fact.
§ Farmer's Register.
8
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
1670, Samuel, born Aug. 22, 1672, and Sibil, born March 31, 1675. Samuel Newman, probably the oldest son of the Rev. Samuel Newman, lived at Rehoboth. He married Basheba Chickering, Dec. 6, 1659, and had eight children ; Mary born Jan. 3, 1660, Basheba, born Jan. 19, 1661, Samuel, born Feb. 21, 1662, David, born, Nov. 1, 1665, John, born July 1, 1668, Hopestill, born July 19, 1669, Mary, born Nov. 7, 1670, An- tipas, born March 29, 1673. Hope, (or Hopestill,) a daughter of the Rev. Samuel Newman, was born at Weymouth, Nov. 29, 1641. She was married to the Rev. George Shove, a native of Dorchester, and third minister of Taunton, and died March 7, 1674, leaving three sons and two daughters.
Mr. Newman was interred in the burying ground south of the Congregational meeting-house in Seekonk. But
" Not a stone Tells where he lies."
A few rods south of the " Proprietors' Tomb" are two stones, one standing erect, the other lying horizontally upon four stones fixed perpendicularly in the ground, bearing the names of two females of the name of Newman, of an early date; and beside them are two heaps of stones, raised, apparently, to sup- port flat stones upon the top, a fragment or two only of which re- main : here, it is conjectured, repose the ashes of the first two ministers of Rehoboth, Rev. Samuel and Rev. Noah Newman. The horizontal stone remaining is inscribed with the name of Mrs. Basheba Newman, deceased, August 8, 1687, the wife of Deacon Samuel Newman. [President Stiles' Literary Diary. Wood's Athen. et Fast. Oxon. iii. 648. Magnal. iii. 387-392. Holmes' Am. Annals, i. 332-333. Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. ix. 191, 1st Series. Morton's Mem. ed. by Judge Davis, 217, 297-8. Allen's Am. Biog. & Hist. Dic. and Elliot's Biog. Dic. Farmer's Register of the First Settlers of New-Eng- land. Mass. Hist. Coll. vii. 187, New Series. Baylies' Hist. Mem. of Plymouth Colony, i. 316, ii. 196, 209, 211. John- son's Wonder Work. Prov. chap. x. 127. Pref. to Cruden's Concordance. Pref. to Newman's Concordance, 3d ed. Lond. 1658, fol. Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, 3 vols. 8vo. ii. 315. Neal's Hist. of New-England, vol. II. chap. viii. p. 341.]
In September, 1663, " At a meeting of the church and town, it was concluded that Mr. Zachariah Symes should have forty
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTHI.
pounds for this year, and his diet at Mrs. Newman's besides. At the same time Stephen Payne, senior, and Lieutenant Hunt were chosen to go down to his friends, to use means for the set- tling of him with us for this present year."
November 2, 1663. " At a town meeting lawfully warned, those men whose names are here following and appended, were chosen and empowered by the town, either to buy Joseph Peck's house and house-lot, and to set up an addition to it, to make it fit for the ministry, if they judge it convenient for such a use, or to build a new house upon the town's lands, whether they in their wisdom shall judge to be most convenient : Good- man Payne, John Allen, sen., Lieutenant Hunt, Mr. Browne, Anthony Perry, Goodman Walker, Thomas Cooper, jr., Henry Smith."
" At the same time it was voted, that a rate should be made to raise charges for to build a house for the ministry, when the townsmen shall call for it ; and that the price of corn for the carrying on of the building of the public house shall be,- Indian corn at 3s., rye at 4s., and wheat at 5s .; and what cattle are paid towards it is to be good at May-day next, or therea- bouts, all horse kind and hogs being excepted against."
Nov. 25, 1663. Voted, that Alexander, the Irishman, a brickmaker, should be freely approved among us, for to make brick, and that he should have free liberty to make use of the clay and wood on the commons for that purpose."
At the same time, "it was voted and agreed upon, that, whereas God by his providence hath lately taken away from us our dear teacher, yet out of his goodness and mercy hath brought amongst us Mr. Zachariah Symes, whom we honour and respect ; yet with reference to the place we live in, we judge it expedient to look out for another godly, able minister to labour with him in the work of the ministry, and therefore do accept of Mr. Willet's proposition, as to embrace any opportu- nity that Providence shall guide him to for that end."
June 20, 1664. It was voted, " that the public house, in- tended for the ministry, shall be set on the west side of the run, in the middle of the common, being the place appointed for a teacher's lot, being six acres."
December 20, 1664. Four pounds and seventeen shillings were voted, being the sum which Captain Willet agreed to give Philip for growing corn in the neck, and that Captain Willet should agree with Philip for the year ensuing.
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
" January 24, 1664, [1665 .* ] At a town meeting upon public notice given, it was agreed by vote, that the former power that was granted to Mr. Willet, for to procure an able minister to assist Mr. Symes in the ministry, was further confirmed to him by the town."
May 22, 1665. " Sam, the Indian that keeps the cows, was admitted by the town as an inhabitant, to buy or hire house or lands if he can, in case the Court allow it."
" This," says Baylies, " is believed to have been the first and only instance of an Indian resident among the English, who was admitted to the rights of citizenship within this colony."
Whether or not this vote was " allowed by the Court " we are not informed.
May 22, 1665. " John Lowell was admitted by the town to buy or hire house or land if he can."
June 6, 1665. The town voted to pay the Governour their proportion of £50 ; also, that there be a standing council, three in number, with the Governour, and that this council be renewed yearly.
April 18, 1666. It was voted by the town, " that the late purchasers of land upon the north side of our town shall bear forty shillings in a rate of £5, and so proportionable in all other public charges."
" It was also voted that there shall be a three railed fence set up and maintained, between the late purchased land on the north side of the town, to be set up on all the end of the plain from Goodman Buckland's lands to the Mill river; and every man that is interested in said purchased lands to bear an equal pro- portion in the aforesaid fence according to their proportion of lands."
" Voted also to make choice of a committee for the settling and stating of the late purchased lands on the north side of our town, viz : whether such as at present seem questionable are true proprietors of the aforesaid lands : and the committee cho- sen were Capt. Willet, with the townsmen, and those that stand engaged for the payment of the aforesaid purchased lands."
This committee reported, April 23d.
It was also voted by the town, "that Mr. Goodman Martin shall enjoy a spot of fresh meadow that lies on the north side of the town, lying at the end of the Great Plain, during his life and his wife's, and at their decease to return to the town."
* New Style
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HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
" At the same time it was agreed between the town and Capt. Willett, that for the forty acres of meadow that he is to have to his farm, on the north side of the town, he is, by agreement made with the town, to have high Squisset and low Squisset ; and the bounds of the said Squisset meadows to be according to the sight of the surveyors, the day that they laid out his farm, that is, Henry Smith and William Carpenter ; and he is also to have a piece of meadow at the Seven Mile river, near unto the going out at the highway, and six acres of meadow at the Ten Mile river, and what there wants of the six acres in quality is to be made up in quantity ; the said six acres of meadow on the Ten Mile river lies by the old highway as we go into the bay."
" April 23, 1666. The committee that was chosen by the town, April 18th, 1666, at a town meeting, for the stating and settling of the late purchased lands, upon the north side of our town, the aforesaid committee being met together, this twenty- third of April, we see cause that there shall be seventy-six whole shares and equal purchasers in the aforesaid lands, and six per- sons that have half shares, which we see cause to add to the seventy-six whole shares, so that the whole number of shares amounts to seventy-nine shares."
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