USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Scituate > The early planters of Scituate; a history of the town of Scituate, Massachusetts, from its establishment to the end of the revolutionary war > Part 19
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 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. Vol VI Page 81.
232
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
of the trouble in the Narragansett country. i Here he remained until peace was secured, only now and then visit- ing home to encourage new enlistments by his own example, voice and presence. After the close of hostilities he was appointed to distribute Ireland's bounty to the sufferers in that war, and was one of a committee to make sale of the Indian conquest lands, and the division of those at Showa- mett, Assonet, Agawam, and Sippecan, which were awarded to the individual soldiers for their services. He was again made an Assistant, serving from 1674 to 1680, and was a. Commissioner of the United Colonies in 1678 and 1681.
In 1680 he was appointed with Governor Winslow and Thomas Hinckley, then Deputy-Governor, to prepare an address to Charles II in regard to the enlargement of the civil and religious liberties of the Colonists. On September twenty-eighth of that year; the draft of this committee was adopted and this vote passed :-
"The Generall Court, taking into their considera- tion, the many favors wee have received from the Lord the year past, in the continuance of our peace, a con- siderable measure of health in our tabernacles, and the great blessing we have had upon the labours of our hands and the fruits of the earth, with the injoyment of our liberties both sacred and civil, through the mercy of our God and the favor of our prince, do propound the twentieth day of October next ensuing to be cel- librated as a sollemne day of thanksgiving, by all the congregations in this collonie, wherein we may present our joynt praises to our good God for these and what- ever other mercyes wee doe injoy, requesting grace at his hands to walke in a holy improvement of them, to his glory and our eternall good.
Thought meet to allow unto our honored Governor and Deputy Governor, to each of them the sume of six
¡ Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts. (London Ed. 1768) Vol. I, Page 287.
233
JAMES CUDWORTH
pounds, in compensation of their charges expended, and care and paines taken, in the collonies behalfe, in and about the late addresse of our collonie to his ma- jestie, our dread sov'n. &c.
And unto the honored Major Cudworth the sume of three pounds, in such like respects." i
On June 7, 1681 Cudworth was chosen Deputy Governor. Yet a still greater honor was in store for him. In Septem- ber of that year, while holding this office, he was made agent of the colony and dispatched to London to cooperate with William Blathwayt in obtaining from the Crown a new charter patterned after that of Connecticut. In this Charles had repeatedly encouraged them. Its accomplish- ment was very near to their hearts. Only a man in whose diplomatic ability and honesty they had the utmost confi- dence would be chosen for such a mission. Cudworth was selected not alone because he possessed these qualities, nor because the Court sought still further to make amends, but because the embassy required a man who was at the same time patiently persistent and untiring. On September 15, 1681, before he sailed, he made his will # which was proved and allowed July 7, 1682, as follows :-
"In the name of God, Amen.
The 15th day of September 1681, I, James Cudworth of Scituate in the Jurisdiction of New Plymouth in New England, being of sound and perfect memory, praise be Given to God for the same, and Knowing the uncertainty of this Life here on earth, and being Desirous to settle things in order, Doe make this my Last Will and Testament in Maner and form follow- ing: That is to say, first and principally I commend my soul unto Almighty God my Creator and my body to the earth from whence it was taken; To be buried in such Decent manner as to my executors hereafter
Plymouth Colony Records Vol. VI, Page 52.
Plymouth Colony Records (Wills) Vol. IV Part 2, Page 8.
234
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
named shall be thought meet & convenient; and as touching my worldly estate as the Lord in Mercye hath put me; my will and meaning is, the same shalbe em- ployed and bestowed as hereafter by this my will is expressed. And first I doe Revoak, Denounce, Dis- claim and make void all wills and testaments by me formerly made; and declare and appoint this My Last will and Testament and Noe other. First of all I will that all those Debts and Dutyes as I owe in Right and Conscience to any maner of person or persons whatsoever, shalbe well and duly contented and payed or ordained to be payed within Convenient time after my decease by my Executors hereafter Named; my mind and will is that after severall expenses and debts being payed I give and bequeath all the rest of my estate reall and personall to be equally divided amongst my children into six parts or shares; my oldest son James Cudworth he to have a double share with what he hath already received; my son Israell to have one-sixth part with what he hath already Received; my son Jon-
athan he is to have one-sixth part or share. My daughter Maryes four children Israell Whitcomb, Ro- bert, James and Mary I give to them one sixth part or share of my estate to be equally divided betwixt them; I give to my daughter Hannah Jones one-sixth of my estate and my mind and will is that Israel Whitcomb and Robert Whitcomb and James have their portions payd them in Current Country pay when each of them shall attaine the full age of twenty-one years and Mary Whitcomb at the age aforesaid or day of marriage. And my mind and will is that my sonnes enjoy and possess all my lands; my eldest son James two thirds; Israel and Jonathan both of then one third; and my mind and will is that what the Moveables fall short of making good, Joannah's portion and the four grand- children's portions, then that my sonnes Make it Good out of their estate, and I do ordaine and appoint my
235
BICGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
three sonnes James, Israel and Jonathan the joynt exec- utors of this my last will and testament."
JAMES CUDWORTH
In presence of
Thomas Hiland
Richard Curtis
Arriving in London, he sought out the colony's friend and agent at Court, William Blathwayt, and delivered a letter from Governor Hinckley. It is probable that Cud- worth himself did not appear at Court. He had time only to pen a letter to Governor Hinckley at Barnstable when he was stricken with the small pox and died. f
* Deane says: page 250. "It appears that General Cudworth did not proceed to England on his mission until the summer of 1682." This error is refuted by a number of well authenticated facts. Governor Hinckley writing to Blathwayt May 26, 1682, re- fers to a letter sent the latter "per hand of Major James Cud- worth" (Mass. Hist. Coll. Hinckley Papers) -- Fourth Series, Vol. V. page 65; and in another dated November 18, of the same year he writes :-- "Since mine of the 26th of May last unto you per Mr. Dudley, I received a letter by way of Barbadoes, from Major James Cudworth, our then Deputy-Governor, (of which I had only then heard, as I then signified to you) wherein he acquainted me of his safe arrival, in London; and being writ immediately on his arrival, had not then opportunity to inform me what progress was made in the business of our patent committed to your trust, hoping that per first ship hither bound, he should be enabled to give us some good account thereof; But, so it pleased God, that (to our grief) the next news we heard was of his death; which, being so sudden, we doubt he had not fit opportunity to present himself before the King and Council in our behalf, by your help and advice nor to render to yourself some small testimony of our grateful respects for your trouble, and pains about our concern."
(Ibidem page 74.)
Again, the records of the General Court fail to disclose the at- tendance of Deputy-Governor Cudworth at any meeting of that body save one, the first.
Finally, the will itself is conclusive. At the time when Deane states that he was on his way to England in the summer of 1682, his children were dividing his estate among themselves as he him- self had directed in that instrument.
236
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
JOHN SAFFIN
John Saffin was born f at Woolverston in the County of Somerset, England. The exact date is uncertain nor is that of his coming to Scituate known. Deane, (page 335) says that he was a Selectman here in 1653. This office, however, was not created until 1666 and Saffin at no time held it in Scituate. Abner C. Goodell, Esq., in an article read at a meeting of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts held in March 1893 places him here 1645-7, which is prob- ably correct. His farm adjoined that of John Hoar near Little Musquashcut # Pond. He was a remarkable man in many ways. Although most of his acts which obtained notoriety and his service in public office were after he had left Scituate, no history of the town during the colonial and provincial periods is complete without an extended notice of him. He always owned land here, was a Coni- hasset partner in 1673 and even after his removal from Scituate to Boston, the General Court of Plymouth granted that he and his partner Mr. Richard Wharton, should "have a peculiar libertie to themselves and other ptenors to improve such pyne, spruce, and cedar timber as groweth on our country commons, for the producing of rosen, turpentine and mastick x x X for the tearme of ten years from June 15, 1671."
His first marriage was to Martha, the daughter of Capt. Willett of Plymouth. It was solemnized at Plymouth, December 2, 1658 and Saffin brought his bride to the farm near Mann Hill, just after the ceremony. Here five of his eight sons were born. Thomas, the second son, born in 1664, was sent as a youth to England, presumably for an
¡ A deposition recorded in Suffolk Probate Records Vol VI Page 356, taken in an action to which Saffin was a party states that he was born in 1634. This is manifestly an error. In 1646 he was one of the witnesses to the deed from Timothy Hatherly to Rev. Charles Chauncey and the Conihasset partners, a service which a boy of twelve would not have been called upon to perform. į Written also Musquashteck, meaning in the Indian tongue, "the place of red wood."
237
JOHN SAFFIN
education. He was stricken with small pox while living in London in 1687, and died. The epitaph f carved upon his head-stone in the churchyard of Saint Stepney, has attracted much attention in later years;
"Here Thomas Saffin lies interred: Why? Born in New England, did in London die; Was the third # son of eight, begat upon His mother Martha by his father John: Much favor'd by his Prince, he 'gan to be But nipt by death at the age of twenty-three; Fatal to him was that we small-pox name; By which his mother and two brethren came Also to breath their last, nine years before, And now have left their father to deplore The loss of all his children with his wife Who was the joy and comfort of his life.
Deceased June 18, 1687."
Saffin was not much in the public eye during his resi- dence in Scituate. He was evidently intent upon clearing his farm (he bought that of his neighbor, John Hoar, in 1660), and rearing his sturdy sons. His knowledge of the law § was infrequently called into use by his neighbors and there are to be found but three instruments, evidences of transactions in Scituate, which he probably drew T. To a limited extent also, he litigated on his own account. One John Lewis, a servant of Mr. William Vassall, became in- debted to him. When he sought to collect, the servant had departed. As on such occasions, Saffin had "recourse to Plymouth." He brought his cause of action to the attention of the General Court at Plymouth and on the sixth day of March 1654 it was ordered that "Whereas John Lewis,
See the "Spectator" for October 24, 1712. Second.
§ It has been said that he had been educated for the bar.
Hatherly to Chauncey et als. Plymouth Colony Records, Vol.
XII Page 158. John Hanmore to Joseph Tilden Ib. Page 168.
John Williams to Humphrey Johnson Ib. Page 202.
238
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
sometimes servant to Mr. William Vassall of Scituate, is de- parted the government indebted to John Saffin and others, and hath left some goods in the hand of William Parker of Taunton, the Court doth order, that the said goods shalbee for the satisfying the debts he owed to the said John Saffin att his departure." In 1653 he was a defendant with Rev. Charles Chauncey, Anthony Eames of Marshfield and Sam- uel Jackson of Scituate in a suit brought by Thomas Hyland and his son against all of the above-named. Jackson and Hyland had entered into a written agreement, probably drawn by Saffin, the nature of which does not appear, and Rev. Mr. Chauncey, Anthony Eames and Saffin had subscribed to it as witnesses. Viewed from the standpoint of the plaintiffs it must have been an important agreement and its breach fraught with most dire consequences, for they say in their complaint to the Court: "By subscribing to and publishing the same. x x x x the said Hie- lands are both damnified and the said Thomas Hieland Junier, his life is endangered." The damage was set at two hundred pounds and a trial was had before a jury com- posed of the Elder and younger Winslow, Philip Delano and George Partridge of Duxbury, Ephraim Morton and James Browne of Plymouth and other men of consequence and prominence in the Colony. The jury found for the defendants. It is not however, to be learned that because thereof, the life of son Hyland was thereafter jeopardized. He and his father were mulcted in costs "which came to 14s, the clarkes, marshalls, and juries encluded." At the same sitting Jackson brought his action against the Elder Hyland alleging his damage to be five pounds for the refusal to perform the same agreement. The same jury tried this case and also found for the defendant- the plaintiff in the former case. Thus were the defendants in each action cleared and justice satisfied; but the end was not yet. It remained for the "charges" to be determined and the costs taxes. Here is the way in which the damni- fied Hyland bettered his adversary.
239
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
"the charges came to, s d
Item, to the jurye
06:06
Item, the clarke
02:00
Item, to the marshall
00:06
Item, 3 witnesses, 4 daies a piece
18:00
27:00
In 1660 Saffin went to Virginia and for a short time en- gaged in trade there. This is shown by :- "A writing of protestation appointed to bee recorded as followeth :--- " t
"The occation of our coming into this harbour of Plymouth is this : that by crosnes of wind and weather, we haveing beat so long to gett into Verginnia, till all our victualls were soe neare spent that we had not bin able to subsist, had not wee mett with a shipp which spared us a little victualls; soe after that wee beat so longe till that victualls and our water was very near spent and still the winds kept contrary; and finding our- selves soe fare to the eastward, and no hope of giting into Verginnia, were in hope to get to Monhatoes, but could not and soe were forced to come to this place to recruite, the wind still hanging westerly; and soe doe intend, after wee have taken in such necessaries as wee want, to sett sayle, God willing, the first opportunite of wind and weather, for our intended port in Vergin- nia, according to the orders of Mr. John Saffin."
His sojourn in Virginia may have been for the purpose of engaging in the tar and resin trade which he afterward conducted in Boston. He removed from Scituate to the latter town in 1670-71 and it is said, while successfully conducting a respectable mercantile business, he engaged
+ Plymouth Colony Records Vol III Page 212.
240
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
with other Boston merchants in importing negroes from Guinea. # #
New England Hist. and Gen. Reg. (1877) Vol. XXXI. Pages 75 and 76.
He was not opposed to slavery. When, upon the death of his father-in-law Capt. Willett, he became his administrator, there came into his possession a negro slave named Jethro, who was captured by the Narragansetts during Phillip's War. The Indians were planning an attack upon Taunton on July 11, 1676, when Jethro understanding the Indian tongue and discovering their purpose, escaped to give such timely warning of the plot, that the enemy was driven off and the town saved.
Hubbard's Indian Wars, Vol. 1, page 256 note.
Judge Sewall gives a different account of the happening .. Writ- ing in his diary under date of July 1, 1676, he says "Mr. Heze- kiah Willet slain by Narragansets, a little more than Gunshot off from his house, his head taken off, body stript, Jethro, his niger, was then taken; retaken by Capt. Bradford, the Thursday fol- lowing. He saw the English and ran to them. He related Phillip to be sound and well, about a 1000 Indians (all sorts) with him, but sickly; three died while he was there. Related That the Mount Hope Indians that knew Mr. Willet, were sorry for his death, mourned, kombed his head, and hung peag in his hair.
Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (Fifth Series) Vol. V Page 14.
It is probable that Hubbard's version is the correct one, inas- much as Judge Sewall was entering in his Journal only the re- ports and rumors which reached Boston, (Ibidem, note page 15.) and in view of what followed at the Plymouth Colony Court in November following, when Jethro's ultimate freedom was pro- vided for :---
At a General Court held before Governor Josiah Winslow, John Alden, Thomas Hinckley, William Bradford, Constant Southworth, James Browne and James Cudworth on Nov. 1, 1676.
"In reference unto a negro named Jethro, taken a prisoner by the Indians and retaken againe by our army, which said negro appertained to the estate of the successor of Capt. Willet, deceased, our General Court have agreed with Mr. John Saffin, administrator of the said estate, mutually, that the said negro doe forthwith betake himself to his former service, and to remain a servant unto the successors of the said Cap- tain Willett, untill two years be expired from the date hereof, and then to be freed from and sett at libertie from his said service, provided also, that during the said terme of two years, they doe find him meat, drink and apparell fitting for one in his degree and calling, and at the end of his said service, that he goe forth competently provided for in reference to appar- ell." Plymouth Colony Records Vol. V Page 216.
This agreement between the Court and Saffin concerning the
241
JOHN SAFFIN
It was some years after taking up his domicile in Boston that Saffin's § abilities began to be publicly noticed. On March 13, 1682 he was appointed with the Selectmen of the town, Anthony Chackley and Samuel Sewall, a committee to draw up instructions for the deputies of the town to the General Court. This was an important trust. It was a practise that had been originally adopted in the Massachu- setts Bay Colony and was followed in Plymouth for a cen- tury. To this duty the best men of the locality were always called. Judge Cushing, Ephraim Otis, Deacon Wil- liam Turner, Nathaniel Clap, Israel Vinal, Jr., and Anthony Waterman frequently performed a like service in Scituate during the trying years from 1770 to 1776.
In 1684-5 Saffin was made a deputy to the General Court from Boston, second in choice to Isaac Addington who afterward sat with him as Chief Justice in the Superior Court of Judicature. In 1686 he failed of the nomination, but was successful at the polls and elected speaker, the last person to hold that office in the Colonial House of Repre- sentatives. There is no better evidence of the esteem in which he was held and the implicit confidence that was placed in his honesty and courage, than the action which was taken by the General Court upon the arrival of Sir Edmund Andros in that year. The coming of this royal Governor was attended with deep apprehension and dread upon the part of the people of the Bay Colony in particular. They feared for their land titles, their liberties and their cherished institutions. Just before the House was proroqued that they might save such vestige of their rights as would possibly be serviceable after the charter of the col- ony had been vacated through the agency of Andros, this order was passed :---
freedom of Jethro can mean nothing else than that it was given as a reward for the service in warning the inhabitants of Taunton, which Hubbard says Jethro performed.
Records of the General Court of the Colony of Mass. Bay (1854) Vol V Page 516.
242
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
"May 20, 1686. Ordered by this Court, that Sam- uel Nowell, Esq., Mr. John Saffin, and Capt. Timothy Prout be a comitee for a repository of such papers on file with the Secretary, as referr to our Charter and negotiations from time to time, for the security thereof. with such as referr to our title of our land, by pur- chase of Indians or otherwise; and the Secretary is ordered accordingly to deliver the same to them." t
While he was living in Boston Saffin was buying lands in the vicinity of Swansea being one of the purchasers of Mount Hope (Bristol). While attending to his business there he was arrested by Increase Robinson a constable upon a warrant dated August 19, 1682, which ordered the con- stable to collect a rate of ten pounds alleged to be due from Saffin to the Colony, but said by him to be excessive. The latter refused to pay, and the constable imprisoned him. Saffin brought his complaint to Governor Hinckley and the Assistants the next year. Upon the jury sat his old Scituate neighbors Nathaniel Turner and John Barker; but both Court and jury were against him. The verdict was for the constable with the costs of suit. # This action of the Colony Court in justifying and upholding this im- prisonment of a man of Saffin's standing for the non- payment of a tax aroused the people of both colonies. Edward Randolph, who was about to visit England, was so disturbed lest knowledge of this action, coming to the at- tention of the King and Parliament, should serve to further the purpose of the Crown to curb the Colonies, (which crys- tallized three years later in the appointment of Andros as Royal Governor), addressed Governor Hinckley most se- riously in the letter which follows:
"Nober. 24th, 1683
Sir,-I am not a little concerned to find that not only the complaint that the Quakers in your Colony are whipped and fined for not marrying according to your
Records of the General Court of the Colony of Mass. Bay (1854) Vol V Page 516.
Plymouth Colony Records Vol VII Pages 263 and 264.
243
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
law, but that you have countenanced the late arbitrary, and till now unheard-of, proceedings against Mr. Saf- fin, by imprisoning him, with other illegal practices; all which will fall very heavy upon you particularly; for unless you had assented, no man durst venture upon such methods; and assure you nothing could so much impede the getting-out of your patent as this. For thus will the Lords of his Majesty's Council argue, that if you have no grant or power to govern (for all you can pretend to by your grant from the Earl of Warwick, is only the soil in your Colony, and no color for government) : so that you have very much exposed yourself. I am now going for England; and would be very glad to be instructed what answer to make when these matters are laid before the lords, and backed with undeniable proofs which will be here made and taken.
Sir, I write not this out of friendship to Mr. Saffin, -I am sorry that you have given him such advantage against you, -- but to assure you that I cannot omit to show my respect to that Colony whereof I am a mem- ber; and therefore, in great friendship, advise that you send me down your narrative of the matter, and also empower me, by the seal of the Colony, to appear on your behalf. I would gladly have this matter accom- modated; and, for the future, let me entreat you not to appear to gratify one party to wrong your own judgment, and to give occasion of such reflections as must be made by all impartial men upon your govern- ment. You may send your papers to Mr. Shrimpton, who will take care to convey them to me, if gone for England; but, if you had rather engaged Mr. Jesson, you have your liberty.
I am, sir, your assured loving friend and country- man,
ED. RANDOLPH
244
THE EARLY PLANTERS OF SCITUATE
Saffin himself did not take his arrest as seriously as Randolph and some of the others. He continued to quar- rel with the raters over the large valuations which they put upon his property at New Bristol and Swansey, though he was much interested in both those municipalities. He was apparently friendly with Governor Hinckley, who sat in judgment upon him when suits over the collection of these assessments were brought before the Court. The fol- lowing letter shows both this friendliness toward and respect for the Governor, as well as his interest in Swansey.
"Boston, 29th, May, 1685
Sir :-
I was in some hope to have seen your honor at our election at Boston; but Providence having ordered otherwise, I presume upon your favor, by these, to certify your honor, that matters at Swansey, relating to the settlement of the Rev. Mr. Tho. Barnett, are in sore travail (and though nigh unto the birth); yet, if not furthered by the inhabitants (called the Town) are in great conflict with those called the Church, who by their restless and indefatigable industry increase their party, and, notwithstanding their specious pretensions of respect to Mr. Barnett, do all that possible they can to oppose the town in their proceedings towards his settlement; so that, by the strenuous endeavors of the one party, and the supineness and indefference of some of the other, Mr. Barnett is discouraged, and the Ana- baptists get ahead; being confident (and that not with- out ground), that, if they can now put by Mr. Barnett, they shall never be troubled with any such encounter again, but go on in their heady high-mindedness without control.
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.