USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Gloucester > The book of the three hundredth anniversary observance of the foundation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at Cape Ann in 1623 and the fiftieth year of the incorporation of Gloucester as a city > Part 13
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Very few places in this new world can point to a settlement of three hundred years; fewer still can point to a permanent settlement covering that length of time. The people of Gloucester and all Massa- chusetts have abundant cause for a celebration that shall add dignity, honor and fame to the splendid history of the fine old city. In the contemplation of such a record, our citizens may find the noblest in- spiration for adherence to the elemental virtues of the past. On this anniversary our citizens may well journey to Gloucester to rejoice with its citizens in the history which has been so honorably written, and return to their homes with new resolution to meet present day
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tasks with the courage and fortitude that has characterized the gen- erations which have gone."
CHANNING H. COX.
In introducing Mr. Bates, whose address was closely followed, Mr. Russell said :
We are particularly favored in the selection and acceptance which has been received for the delivery of the Anniversary oration by a distinguished son of the Commonwealth, an orator notable and renowned as Governor of the Commonwealth in official succession to the first Governor, Roger Conant, who presided over the destinies of the colony while located at Cape Ann. The gentleman who will address you has been for more than a quarter of a century an adopted citizen of Cape Ann and we feel that he is indeed one of us. We extend to him a cordial welcome and it is with great pleasure that I have the honor of presenting to you the Honorable John L. Bates, Ex-Governor of Massachusetts.
ADDRESS OF HON. JOHN L. BATES THREE-HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF GLOUCESTER AND THE
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF INCORPORATION AS A CITY.
In the history of Gloucester the year 1623 is a date of much significance, but when does the story of Gloucester begin, and where is its record to be found? Surely the beginning was not in 1623, but far back in the dim past, when calendars were unknown and when God alone was there and wrote his records on shores and seas and rocks eternal: when the Creator was building the universe, was separating the land and the sea and pushing up Cape Anne from the depths of the waters; when he was working with his great tractors, the mighty glaciers, and with them was grinding down the mountains and with those same tractors was conveying the ground-up-mountains far into the oceans and piling up there, as moraines, the banks and the shoals that far below the surface were to become the homes of fish without number yet not too far below for adventurous man to reach them with seines and nets, and trawls, and lines. Thus he built the foundations for the fishermen's homes at Cape Anne, and at the same time he built the fish farms far off the shore, in the midst of the sea, to be cultivated and of blessing to man as soon as he became ad- venturous, hardy and courageous enough to go out and put forth the efforts and undergo the labors necessary to take possession.
After the building of this Cape Anne and of the banks in the sea, age after age was to pass before the race of men appeared
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who had the wisdom and the courage and the grit to make the history of Gloucester. Tell me when God built the foundations, and I will tell you when the story of Gloucester begins. Tell me when men first began to develop independence, and courage, and wisdom, and the desire to worship God, and I will give you the second date in Gloucester's history.
For a century preceding the settlement at Cape Anne there was strife and turmoil throughout England and Europe, resulting from the discussions of religious questions, unprecedented in history. No Christian land was free from the controversies, which became acute and bitter everywhere. It was the era of the Reformation. Men sought to reform the church and to redeem it from the errors into which it had fallen. Various sects arose and volunteered to revise the creed of all who differed from them. Martin Luther hurled his defiance at Rome, and a large part of Germany followed after him. John Calvin, learned refugee, from among the mountains of Switzerland, by his great intellectual and moral power, led the thoughts of men of various tongues into new paths of religious simplicity and severity. So violent became the disputes that the aroused passions and bigotries of men brought strife among nations and divided peoples.
There was civil war in Germany. King Philip of Spain sent his armies "in defence of the faith" against the Netherlands. When those who are determined to "defend the faith" meet those determined to "maintain liberty of conscience" there is no com- promise. The Great Armada, 130 ships of war, was fitted out not only to bring the Protestant Netherlands back to the Catholic Church, but also to punish France and to overthrow England, whose queen was giving support to the people of the Netherlands in their brave resistance. But rocks and storms overthrew the Armada, thus determining the downfall of the power of Spain and making possible the laying of the foundation of Britain's coming empire of the sea and the greatness of her commerce. Sweden was drawn into the Thirty Years War with Germany and Austria, and there seemed no end to the conflict.
In England Henry VIII, in the early part of the sixteenth century, placed himself at the head of the church and caused Parliament to pass acts destroying the authority of the Pope and his influence in the kingdom. There were long days when men knew what was martyrdom for their faith. Under Elizabeth, the nation had progressed, but discussion was not ended. James I
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came to the throne in 1603, and he reigned until 1625. Be- lieving his kingly power to be derived directly from God, he was naturally devoted to the Episcopal Church of England, in which the king was head. The Reformers, who through the decades had been coming out of the Catholic Church, were known as Lutherans in Germany, as Presbyterians in Scotland, and as Puritans in England. King James was opposed to the Presby- terian Church of Scotland, and also was determined to suppress the Puritans in England.
The Puritans themselves were divided. There were those determined to be entirely separated from the English Episcopal Church and hence called Separatists or Independents, of whom were the Pilgrims, and there were those who sought reformation within the church and to still remain a part of it, and these, the moderate Puritans, were the settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Of those who promoted and occasioned finally the settle- ment of this Colony, Hubbard says that they consulted together about settling some plantation in New England,
"Upon the account of religion, where such as were called Nonconformists might, with the favor and leave of the King, have a place of reception if they should transport themselves into America, there to enjoy the liberty of their own persuasion in matters of worship and church discipline, without disturbance of the peace of the king- dom."
During the whole of the reign of King James I the mutter- ings of the English revolution were in the air, Cromwell, un- recognized, was in the offing.
These conditions in England led men with tender consciences and confirmed opinions to look for a land where they might enjoy, not the luxuries that appeal to the flesh, but liberty to serve God. Those who subsequently settled at Plymouth had gone to Holland for refuge and been kindly treated, but they longed for a land which should be their own and where their children could be brought up among those who spoke the English tongue.
As we look back at the wonderful faith of the Pilgrim and the Puritan it seems almost as though we could recognize that in the providence of God a land had been reserved for just such people, hidden away-far off in the waters of the earth.
There are traditions that to America had come the Welshman in the tenth and eleventh centuries and made settlements. But all
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that they did and all that they were, if they ever came, is lost and buried in the past. The Norsemen also came, and we are satis- fied that they visited our New England coast many centuries ago, but they left no mark here, and America had to be rediscovered when Columbus came in the name of the king and queen of Spain. Spaniards, because of that, claimed dominion over a large part of the new world-Mexico and Central and South America. They looked for conquest and the wealth of Mexico and the south was coveted by them. The cold lands of the north, with their com- paratively few and poor inhabitants did not appeal to them. The French explorers had come to the north. The Cabots, under the authority of England, had made their voyages to that part of America in which we live, and England had made her claim to the territory by reason of their discoveries. Frenchmen had settled in Canada, Spaniards to the south and the Dutch on the Hudson, and in 1607 the English, with rather poor material but a great leader, had made a settlement at Jamestown; but that which we call "New England" still lay unpossessed save by the few savages who had survived the plague and who never had a history and never made progress.
Gosnold visited these shores in 1602 and tells us that the fish were so plenty in what is now called Massachusetts Bay that "they pestered his ships." To Cape Cod he gave its name, and he attempted a settlement on the islands on the south of the Cape, but his settlers rebelled and would not stay. Had you been on this knoll in 1606 you would have seen sailing into this harbor, Champlain. He called it Le Beau Port, and no observing mariner or landsman from that day to this has looked upon this harbor in the sunshine and not been impressed by its rare beauty. Cham- plain sailed away.
Captain John Smith, rugged, full bearded, Christian warrior, came here in 1614. He subscribed himself :
"So I rest, to Christ and my country a true soldier and faithful servant."
That this tribute to himself was justified is shown by the encomium paid him by the Clerk of the Council of Jamestown, Va., when Smith was leaving that settlement to go back to Eng- land by reason of the injuries that he had received in an ex- plosion. Referring to him the clerk wrote:
"He made justice his first guide and experience his sec- ond; ever hating baseness, sloth, pride, and indignity,
HON. JOHN L. BATES, LL. D. Anniversary Historical Essayist
CHARLES A. RUSSELL, Esq. Chairman Literary and Historical Ex- ercises Committee GEORGE B. STEVENS Chairman Music Committee
DANIEL O. MARSHALL Secretary Literary and Historical Ex- ercises Committee PERCY MacKAYE Anniversary Poet
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more than any dangers ; he never allowed more for him- self than his soldiers with him, upon no dangers would he send them where he would not lead them himself."
His exploits in Turkey and Africa and in the wilds of North America have interested the boys of England and America for generations.
Leaving his ships to fish on the Coast of Maine, with a few of his men in a small boat he explored the shores, the bays, the rivers and the coves of New England. He made a map, copies of which are still preserved, and attempted to name all the promi- nent features of the New England coast. Tragabigzanda was the name that he applied to our cape in grateful memory of the Turkish lady who had saved him in one of his times of greatest peril, but when he submitted his map to the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Charles, and asked that the prince should con- firm the names that he had applied or should re-name such as he liked, the prince concluded that "Tragabigzanda" was not suf- ficiently Christian to warrant its confirmation, and so the name of the cape was changed to Cape Anne.
Captain John Smith not only made his map, but he traded with the natives and carried back with him thousands of skins of animals as well as a good store of fish. He became New Eng- land's great publicity agent. "Of all the four parts of the world," he wrote, " that I have yet seen not inhabited, I would rather live here than anywhere." He had named this section New England. He urged the possibilities of this land as a land where another England might be developed. He offered his services to plant a colony here. He told of the wonderful fishing opportunities, of a climate delightful and pure, of fertile soil, of savages mild,-waiting to trade and to be Christianized. He urged that the glory of Eng- land and the advancement of the faith all required the settlement of New England. He ridiculed those who had claimed that the country was so cold and barren that it could not support planta- tions or peoples. He urged upon his English countrymen the possibilities of wealth in the fisheries. He showed how Holland had built her pre-eminence upon the same kind of industry. He ad- dressed his communications to the authorities. He spoke from experience, but the results were slow in appearing. The Pilgrim and the Puritan and the New England of today all owe much to him. He was indeed the discoverer of New England. He was its
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champion and its promoter. He was entitled not only the Pres- ident of Virginia but also the Admiral of New England.
As the result largely of Smith's earnest advocacy, English merchants sent their vessels over here to fish. There were some forty of them came here in 1622 to fish and to return, but not to make a settlement. The Pilgrims in Holland knew these things. They knew of the success of the colony in Virginia, and in their great faith they determined to come to this land not with the prime object of founding a state, but to find a refuge for them- selves and for their posterity where they could worship God in accordance with their convictions. Their success, although limit- ed for the first two or three years, was further urged by John Smith as proof that his projects for the settlement of New Eng- land were feasible.
Urged on by that other great advocate of the settlement of New England, the Rev. John White, the merchants of western England, and particularly those of Dorchester, finally recognized the advantage that would accrue to their fishing expeditions if there was here in New England a settlement where the extra men could be left to spend the winter working on plantations and pre- paring supplies, and in 1623 they fitted out an expedition to found such a settlement.
An increasing number of vessels were coming here each year to fish, and generally they carried double the number of men necessary to man them, in order that they might have sufficient men to do the fishing within the limited season when they arrived at the fishing grounds.
I have spoken of John White. He was known as the Patriarch of Dorchester and was a "moderate Puritan," and through his labor and preaching effected great reforms in the character of the inhabitants of Dorchester, "for knowledge caused piety, and piety bred industry, so that a beggar was not to be seen in the town." In recognition of his great part in influencing the enterprise that caused the settlement here, he is often referred to as the Father of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
It is now generally recognized that the Planter's Plea, which was published anonymously in England in 1630, was written by him. This work gives us the most definite and trustworthy history of the early settlement of Massachusetts Bay. In it the author states the objections commonly urged at that time in England to the planting of colonies, and then most skilfully and logically
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shows why those objections are untenable. His argument applies particularly to the settlements that he is urging ought to be made in New England. To the objection that colonizations were being advocated to provide a place for those opposing the established church he replies :
"Of the intention of our planters in this voyage to New England necessity may press some, novelty draw on others, hopes of gain in time to come may prevail with a third sort ; but that the most and most sincere and godly part have the advancement of the gospel for their main scope I am confident. That of them some may entertain hope and expectation of enjoying greater liberty there than here in the use of some orders and ceremonies of our church it seems very probable."
Of the motives and purposes actuating those who promoted the settlement here, he further tells us, that in 1623 some western merchants who had previously engaged in fishing and barter in these parts, conceived that a colony here would advance their business; their fishing ships were double manned, the spare men could be left behind with provisions and employed in building and in planting corn, which, with fish, fowl and venison, would furnish them food; that it would advantage not only their own fishermen but
"the rest of our nation that went thither on the same errand. Not only by fresh victual, but that all and more by the benefit of their minister's labor, that they might enjoy during the fishing season."
The company raised three thousand pounds for the enterprise, and expected that fund to last five years. They bought a small ship of 50 tons, for which they paid three hundred pounds. But the voyage was undertaken too late, a month or six weeks, in fact, later than the other fishing trips, and when they arrived at the fishing grounds the fish were lacking and so the master passed "into Massachusetts Bay, to try whether that would yield him any." He found more there "than he had reason to expect." He left his spare men behind him "in the country by Cape Anne," returned to a late and consequently bad market in Spain, and then home. We are told that the voyage, including the cost of the ship, had cost eleven hundred pounds, and the receipts had been only two hundred.
In 1624 the company concluded to add to their fleet by the
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purchase of a ship of 140 tons. The new vessel was not suitable for the business and had to be made over, and this again delayed the start, but finally, over a month behind, both vessels went to "Massachusetts Bay" but "sped very ill" and found little fish. The big ship returned with only a third part of a load, and contrary to orders went to England instead of going to Bordeaux, and the company had to incur the extra expense of hiring another ship to take her small cargo of fish to market. When, however, the vessels returned to England in 1624, they left 32 men-the first year they left only 14 on Cape Anne. This second trip cost twenty-two hundred pounds, and the proceeds were only five hundred.
In 1625 they sent a third vessel with the other two; the new vessel being one of 40 tons and carrying kine with other provisions. The expense of fitting out this trip was two thousand pounds and in order to meet it the merchants had to borrow one thousand pounds. The big ship sprang aleak and had to go back for re- pairs and it was again late before the voyage was resumed; but she had "a good and intelligent skipper" who did not attempt to reach Cape Anne, but stopped at Newfoundland and took more fish than the vessel could carry. But there was war with Spain, and this again made the market poor, so that instead of realizing two thousands pounds, as the fish would have been worth in an ordinary market, they were sold for less than eleven hundred pounds. It is interesting, however, to note that the Newfound- land fish that the big ship took back sold at six shillings four pence a hundred, while the New England fish which had been taken by the smaller ship brought ten shillings a hundred. Financially the project was a failure. Even the price of ships had gone down since they had been bought, and vessels which cost them twelve hundred pounds the company sold out for four hundred and eighty. The company gave up the undertaking, yet, notwithstanding its losses, it made arrangements for those of the settlers who wished to come home, which some of them did.
In the city of Salem, on a huge boulder, there stands in the eternal bronze a massive statue of Roger Conant, styled on the tablet "The first settler of Salem." The company that financed the first settlement at Cape Anne had called Roger Conant to be its governor in 1625, and from this fact he has some- times been called the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Roger Conant had been in the Plymouth Colony, but he with others had not found it hospitable because he did not agree with their ideas of rigid separation. He was a man, however, of
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religious thought, a sober and prudent gentleman and he wisely administered the affairs of the settlement. His arbitration of the dispute, between Myles Standish with his Pilgrim army and Captain Hewes with his fishermen, over the ownership of the fishing stage on this spot is commemorated by the tablet upon the neighboring boulder.
When the merchants gave up the enterprise, Roger Conant and some others decided to stay. John White, over in England, promised him help through the obtaining of a patent and through the sending of new men and supplies; and Conant, moving his habitation from Cape Anne to Naumkeag, where the land seemed better for cultivation, remained, and declared he would remain, notwithstanding "the perils to his life," even though all the others should abandon the settlement and go to Virginia as some pro- posed. We know the names of only three of those who went with him from this place to Naumkeag, or Salem. They were John Woodbury, John Balch, and Peter Palfrey. White attests that these men were all "known to be honest and prudent men."
The men who stayed the first winter at this place numbered only fourteen. There were no comforts and certainly no luxuries. Existence here must have been a struggle. Surrounded by a wil- derness of water and a wilderness of land, these men exhibited a courage, a lion-heartedness, that commands our admiration. The settlement at Jamestown had been made by scores of people, that at Plymouth was a goodly company of a hundred, but here were only fourteen. The next winter there were thirty-two, but still the number was small and the opportunity to build a community limited. They constructed buildings, but they had no homes for it takes more than buildings to make homes. Under such condi- tions what shall we say of the heroism of Conant, and Woodbury, and Balch, and Palfrey, and the few others who when the op- portunity was offered to return declined so to do, although they knew that the chance of any future support of their settlement from England was exceedingly uncertain? Not until 1628 did they receive the promised reinforcements which put the settle- ment upon its feet and made the success of the Massachusetts Bay colony assured.
It is to be noted that Mr. White in the Planter's Plea states that the colony thus continued at Salem was upon "the old founda- tion." The men from Cape Anne became active and valuable citizens at Salem. They held many offices, including that of Deputy in the General Court. Woodbury seems to have been
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something of a philosopher. Of him it is said that, although he was an Episcopalian, as soon as he realized that "no Episcopal form of worship would be allowed in the colony, he made up his mind that nothing should bar him from worshipping God in what- ever church the spirit moved the Puritans to establish in the new world."
It has been truly said without the aid of their descendants the Puritan achievement would have been harsh and incomplete. What we celebrate today is not merely the coming of the early settlers, but the work of three hundred years of their descendants, for the perfection of the work of the settlers is only to be found in that which has been accomplished in the three hundred years by those who followed them here.
It would be interesting to dwell on the story of the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony, the Province and the Commonwealth that succeeded it, their share in the building of the nation and in all that has come therefrom in the wonderful history of our nation, in all of which, as a part of the foundation, the settlement here was an important factor; but we must confine ourselves to the story of the city that has here taken the place of the original settlement of the fourteen men.
Whether or not all the settlers left this place in 1626 we do not know, the probability is that from 1623 to the present time there have always been white men here. In 1630 or 1631 a settle- ment was made at Annisquam, and in 1633 there were not only settlers on this territory but we are told that they "met and carried on the worship of God among themselves, read the Word of God, prayed to him, and sung psalms." The place did not grow rapidly, but in 1642 it had been duly incorporated as a town under the name of Gloucester, from the old cathedral city of Gloucester, England, whence many of the settlers had come. Time would fail to tell in detail the story of the growth of the town. We must content ourselves with only glimpses of what it has accomplished, for towns, like men, are to be judged by their deeds and not by their years.
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