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 20
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The sum is this, sir; The town are just now about weathering the point; and, if a fresh gale of the favor and justice of the court do but fill their sails, they will soon bear away large; otherwise they will run to leeward, and be exposed to unavoidable shipwreck.
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JOHN SAFFIN
I understand the town are making their address to the Honored Court, by which your Honor will understand the matter more particularly; and your wisdom will be sufficient to direct as the matter doth require, which is humbly implored by-
Your honor's most humble servant, and a well-wish- er to the interest of Christ, as in all places, so now more especially in the town of Swansey.
JOHN SAFFIN
Soon after the death of his second wife in 1687 he mar- ried Rebecca, the daughter of Rev. Samuel Lee, who had come to Boston with Andros, and thereupon he moved to Bristol. Here he was once again in the Old Colony and became immediately identified with its progress. He was chosen a deputy to the General Court in 1689 and 1691. 'At the sitting of that body in the former year he, with nine others, was fined twenty shillings apiece for not appear- ing thereat or disorderly departing therefrom. At a later day the fines were remitted, "it being the first offence in that kind."
When in 1685, the Plymouth Colony was divided into counties, Bristol was made the shire town of the county bearing that name. The county officers were appointed under the charter of William and Mary and Saffin was made the first Judge of Probate. f He served in this office until his appointment as a judge of the Superior Court in 1701. After the amalgamation of the two colonies, he was chosen a member of the Council, and held both offices, until he was negatived by Governor Dudley to the latter, in 1703. He held his position upon the Superior Bench but for a short time. Governor Washburn # says of him:
"From some memoranda left by Judge Sewall, Mr. Saffin's qualifications were not the best suited to the place which he was called to fill, and intimations
Washburn, Judicial History of Mass. page 269.
Ibidem.
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are pretty distinctly given that he was guilty of tamper- ing with Jurors, using influence to obtain improper testimony upon the trial of causes, and equivocating, when charged with dishonorable conduct in which he had been detected. How much of this was true need not now be determined."
It is hardly fair to Judge Saffin to condemn him thus harshly upon loose memoranda left by Judge Sewall. t That diarrhoetic diarist was wont to record in his journal, not only the gossip, rumors and happenings of the time but his own petty and daily annoyances and troubles as well. His relations with Saffin had always been amicable up to the time when he attacked the latter for his pro-slavery beliefs and practices, in the pamphlet entitled "The Selling of Joseph." Saffin's spirited reply may have had some- thing to do with the animadversions of which Governor Washburn speaks. It is well known that Sewall did not hesitate to speak harshly of those who thwarted his desires, aspirations or purposes. That Saffin was determined, disputatious and in the declining years of his life, some- times fierce and violent, is true. He quarrelled with the amiable lady who was his third wife and refused to live with her. This brought down upon his head a scathing letter from his brother-in-law Cotton Mather; but in all the reproachful sentences of that communication no charge is made that he was dishonest. It is not readily to be believed
Sewall had always heretofore been friendly with Saffin and when at Bristol was his guest. On September 12, 1698, he enters in his diary "In a case of Saffin vers. Curtis, which Capt. Byfield was concerned for Curtis, Jury brought in for Curtis-Capt. By- field with a remarkable Air, thank'd the Jury for their Justice and sentence. For their Justice, and with a voice a little lower said, He had none before. I told him he deserved to be sent to prison. He disown'd the words, and alleged; He said he had none to thank anybody for. Mr. Cook seconded me. Mr. Danforth heard not. Capt. Byefield declin'd. Rain hindr'd our sitting out that day. So after dinner at Mr. Saffin's, not knowing better how to bestow my time. Look'd on Mr. Saffin's Books &c" and "Sept. 21, 1699, Governor invites me to dine with him at Mr. Clark's. Mr. Saffin lodges with me."
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that the man who had been chosen in time of stress as the keeper of the most cherished possessions of the Colony, be- came at a later period a pettifogger and jury fixer.
Among the men of consequence at Bristol when Saffin moved to that part of the Plymouth Colony, were Capt. John Walley and Nathaniel Byfield. They were large land owners there; each had been a deputy to the General Court and prominent in the public service. Together they sought to sell lands to prospective settlers to create a "town of trade" at Bristol; and had made many promises of public improvements. Saffin was equally well known and prom- inent when he took up his abode there. It was not long before these men clashed. Some of the land owned by Walley and Byfield had been purchased by Saffin. In 1683 he erected a fence along the west side of Mount Hope Neck and Swansey River. Walley and Byfield requested its removal, which was denied. They thereupon, with Steven Burton and Nathaniel Oliver, sued Saffin
"for his setting up, or causing to be sett up, or refusing to remove or take away, a certain fence, or soe much thereoff as stands upon land of the said Walley, Byfield, Burton and Oliver which fence is between the gate that is towards the west side of the necke and Swansey River, and takes in the bounds sett between the land of Mount Hope and the town of Swansey by a committee formerly appointed for that end; notwithstanding wee in our sales to said Saffin, reserved two rod in width, having reserved the like bredth acrose the necke, to be improved for an hieway, if wee see need thereof, which fence goes crose the said two rodd and takes in severall rodds in length, preventing us for laying out a way to- wards the river and taking in the said fence the bounds sett between Swansey and us, which is a defamation to our title to said land &c &c.t"
The plaintiffs prevailed and thus began a feud which
Plymouth Colony Records Vol VII Page 270.
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lasted for seventeen years. Other suits were brought and other acts done by Walley and his associates which not only angered Saffin personally but prompted him to take up the cause of the townspeople of Bristol whose interests were likewise jeopardized by the sharp practices of these land owners. Saffin inveighed vigorously against the pro- prietors. Finally he published a manuscript monograph entitled, "The Original of the Town of Bristol or a True Narrative of the First Settlement of Mount Hope Neck." In it he told many truths. It was perhaps more the manner of the telling than the truth itself, which so angered Walley and Byfield that they went to the Courts with it. The matter was heard by William Stoughton, Lieut. Governor Isaac Addington afterward judge, and John Leverett, son of the Governor of that name, as arbitrators. The award was against Saffin t. By it he was required to sign and publish a retraction. This recantation is worthy of a place in any chronicles of the time, as showing not only the author's pertinacity, but the boldness with which he still flouted his accusations against the objects of his first attack :-
"Whereas I, who have heretofore subscribed, am enjoyned by an award of arbitration dated 7th of July, 1696, given under the hands and seals of the Hon. William Stoughton, lieutenant governor, Isaac Ad- dington, Esq., and John Leverett, M. A. Fellow of Harvard College, to make a retraction and acknowl- edgement in writing under my hand of supposed ill treatment wrong and injury offered to Major John Walley and Captain Nathaniel Byfield, two of the first purchasers of Mount Hope Neck, by sundry reflec- tions in a manuscript entitled "the Original of the Town of Bristol, or a true narrative of the first settlement of
¡ Bailey, in his Memoir of Plymouth Colony says that the allegations in Saffin's pamphlet "probably had some foundation in fact: but were much exaggerated through the spleen of the accus- er." Vol II Page 62.
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JOHN SAFFIN
Mount Hope Neck &c.", which was made in behalf of the inhabitants of said town, who for divers years have complained and groaned under the grievances therein mentioned.
Now in order thereunto, I do hereby own and de- clare unto all mankind, that if breach of promise to a person or people, in a matter of great concernment, be no evil; if the chopping and changing of the town commons to the great prejudice of the town; obstruct- ing and stopping up several ways leading to men's lands (some of them that have been enjoyed above thirty years without molestation or disturbance) to be . tolerable, and not a nuisance strictly prohibited by the laws of our nation, then I am exceedingly to blame in charging with evil so doing. If the granting of land upon good consideration, and upon the same, promising to give a deed for the confirmation thereof, but delay- ing it, and after eight or nine years quiet possession by the grantee, these grantors give a deed of the sale of the same lands unto others; if this, I say, be just and righteous dealing, then &c; if the taking up and divid- ing amongst themselves, and converting to their own private use in farms and great pastures, the most of a considerable number of one hundred and twenty-eight house lots and ten acre lots, which were by the four first purchasers i in their grand articles under their hands and seals proposed, designed and accordingly laid out, and declared to be for the encouragement, use, benefit, and accommodation, of so many families to build upon and settle on Mount Hope Neck, (besides farms and bigger parcels of land) to make a town of trade as they were enjoyned by the Court at Plymouth; I say if these actions of theirs be not prejudicial and injurious to the inhabitants of the town of Bristol, then I have done them wrong in saying or writing so.
+ Walley, Byefield, Burton and Oliver.
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If the wilful suffering a certain water mill, (built for the town's use) to fall and go to decay and utter ruin for by ends and sinister respects, not repairing it themselves nor suffering others to do it, who have also some rights in it, be not a wrong and abuse to the town, said purchasers making it first a great argument of encouragement for our men to come and buy land of them to settle, in order to a town of trade as afore- said, which is at large set forth in their said articles, and backed with many specious pretences and verbal promises never fulfilled; now if these things are right and just, then &c.
Again, if it be not an unrighteous thing in Major Walley, to take and receive £10 of the town of Bristol, and also many days work of them, promising and en- gaging himself for the same, to make a bridge over a certain creek in a way that should lead to said mill, but never performed it, nor returned the money again, but instead thereof hath stopped the way as aforesaid; I say if such doing and actions be just and right, then I have done them wrong in saying or writing to the contrary.
And further, if the making a deed by three of the first purchasers for the dividing of sixteen of the re- mainder of the one hundred and twenty-eight house- lots amongst four of them pretending that Captain Nathan Hayman was then and there acting with them, as if he were alive, and did act and do as they did in all respects, (excepting subscribing his name) for which he left blank or space giving under their hands and seals that on the twenty-seventh day of June, 1690, if the said Nathan Hayman did with them personally oblige himself, his heirs &c., in the same manner as they did, three or four times mentioned in the said deed, whereas the man was dead and in his grave eleven months before, I say if these and such like, strange actions and doings before mentioned, (all
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
which they have either owned, or have proven to be done by them,) be warrantable legal, just and right in the sight of God, or according to the laws of the nation, then do I hereby own and humbly acknowl- edge that I have done the said Major John Walley and Captain Nathaniel Byefield much wrong and in- jury in rendering their said actions in my said narrative to be illegal, unjust, and injurious to the town of Bristol in general, and to myself in particular, for which I am sorry.
I confess, I might have spared some poetical notions and satyrical expressions which I have used by way of argument, inference or comparison, yet the sharpest of them are abundantly short of those villifying terms and scurrilous language which they themselves have frequently given each other, both in publique and pri- vate, generally known in Bristol.
But above all I am heartily sorry that it is my un- happiness to differ so much in my apprehensions from the honorable gentlemen, the arbitrators, for whom I have always conceived and retained an honorable es- teem and veneration, that I would even put my life into their hands; the truth whereof may appear by this late submission of mine, otherwise I should not have ex- posed myself as I have done.
JOHN SAFFIN"
During the time the hearings were being had before the arbitrators Saffin was sitting in the General Court at Ply- mouth with Byefield himself also a co-deputy from Bristol. From 1693 to 1699 he also sat in the Council. He was again elected to that body in 1703, but the Governor having the veto power over the choice of the electorate, and Dud-
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ley, t the Chief Executive at the time being an ardent opponent of Saffin, he was negatived. The controversy which gave Saffin his greatest prominence was that of Rex. v Adam mentioned in the note. It was the occasion of the publication by Judge Sewall of a memorial entitled "The Selling of Joseph." Sewall says of the feelings which prompted its publication :-
"Having been long and much dissatisfied with the Trade of Fetching Negroes from Guinez; at least I had a strong inclination to write something about it; but it wore off. At last, reading Bayne, Ephes. (Paul Baynes "Commentary on the First Chapter of the Ephesians") about servants, who mentiones Blacka- moors; I began to be uneasy that I had so long neglected doing anything. When I was thus thinking, in came Bro'r Belknap to show me a petition he intended to present to the General Court for the freeing a Negro and his wife, who were unjustly held in Bondage. And there is a Motion by a Boston Committee to get a Law that all Importers of Negros shall pay 40s pr head, to discourage bringing of them. And Mr. C. Mather resolves to publish a sheet to exhort Masters to labour their Conversion. Which makes me hope that I was called to God to Write this Apology for them; Let his Blessing accompany the same." #
An examination of the text of the pamphlet, as well as the fact that Saffin answered it in a "Brief and Candid
¡ Dudley pretended to be very much shocked and incensed over the fact that in 1701, Saffin, then a Judge of the Superior Court of Judicature, sat in the case of Rex. v. Adam, the defendant be- ing a negro slave of Saffin's whom he sought to press into the service of one Thomas Shepherd a tenant of one of his farms at Bristol. Such a course, while justly censurable, was not regarded at that time as tainted with the least impropriety. Lynde, Sewall and the other judges of the day, themselves not infrequent litigants did likewise without criticism. At the time of the affront to Gov. Dudley in the so-called Carter's case his son Paul then attorney General acted on behalf of his father and the latter addressed private communications to all the judges concerning it.
# Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (Fourth Series) Vol. VI Page 16.
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JOHN SAFFIN
Answer to the late Printed Sheet, entitled 'The Selling of Joseph' " attest the fact that Judge Sewall had Adam's case in mind when he publicly expressed his views upon slavery. On September 11, 1701, this entry occurs in his diary.
"Mr. Saffin tampered with Mr. Kent, the Foreman, at Capt. Reynold's, which he denyed at Osburn's. Conived at his Tenant Smith's being on the Jury, in the case between himself and Adam (a negro) about his Freedom:"
While he is thus condemning Saffin, even after that gen- tleman's denial, he is unmindful that he himself had already published, in the neighborhood from which jurors for that trial were to be drawn, and at which he would sit, a brief for the defendant.
The action itself was of comparative insignificance. The attention which it attracted was great. At the foundation of it was the following agreement signed by Saffin June 26, 1694.
"Bee it known unto all men by these presents That I, John Saffin of Bristol in the Province of Massachu- setts Bay in New England, out of meer kindness to and for the encouragement of my negro man Adam, to go on cheerfully in his Business and Imployment by me now put into the Custody, Service and command of Thomas Shepherd my Tenant, on Boundfield Farm in Bristol aforesaid, for and During the Terme of Seaven years from the Twenty-fifth day of March last past 1694-fully to be compleat and ended or as I may oth- erwise see cause to imploy him. I say I doe by these presents of my own free & voluntary Will and pleasure, from and after the full end & expiration of seven years beginning on the Twenty-fifth day of March last past, and from thence forth fully to be compleat and ended, Enfranchise clear and make free my sd negro man Adam, to be fully at his own Dispose and Liberty as other free men are or ought to be, according to all true Intents & Purposes whatsoever. Always provided
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that the sd Adam my servant do in the meantime go on cheerfully, quietly and Industriously in the Lawfull Business that either myself or my assigns shall from time to time reasonably sett him about, or imploy him in, and doe behave and bear himself as an Honest true and faithfull servant ought to doe, during the Tearm of Seven years as aforesaid. In Witness Whereof I the sd John Saffin have hereunto sett my hand and seal this twenty-sixth day of June 1694. In the sixth year of their Majestic Reign.
JOHN SAFFIN (Seal).
Signed, Sealed & Delivered in the presence of Rachel Brown X her marke Rich'd Smith
Samuel Gallop
This instrument above written was Entered in the First book of Wills and Inventoryes page the last November 15th 1694-by John Cary Recor. *
Saffin claimed, and afterward offered evidence tending to prove, that during the term of his service with Shep- herd, Adam had been "very disobedient, turbulent, outrag- eous and unruly" toward Shepherd; that he had attacked him at different times with a knife, an axe and a pitchfork, had beaten his children and so violently carried himself, that he was forced to get rid of him. He was put to work upon the fortification of Castle Island in Boston Harbor, then in progress, under Capt. Clark but proved as refractory there as on the farm at Bristol. He attacked that functionary with a shovel, and, in the language of the deponents who wit- nessed the assault, Capt. Clark "might have been grievously mischiefed thereto; butt the Deponents with some others ran into the rescue of the Capt. but the sd negro was so furious and outragious and putt forth so great strength that it was so much as Six or Seven of us could do to hold and
Suffolk Probate Files.
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restrain him." Saffin, thereupon ordered Adam back to Bristol. He refused to go, saying that he was free. He appealed to Judge Sewall. The latter sent for Saffin, who appeared before him and Judge Addington. Sewall, whose anti-slavery pamphlet had already been published, severely criticised his judicial associate, Saffin, and producing the release, signed by the latter, advised him to give the negro his liberty. Addington concurred in this; but Saffin insisted that the terms of the release had not been complied with by Adam, and caused the negro to be arrested. He was convicted; but, because there was some doubt in the minds of the members of the Court as to the form the judgment should take, and also some disagreement or mis- understanding between Saffin and themselves as to whether or not Saffin should promise to keep the negro in the country, the judgment was suspended. At the same term Adam presented a petition for his enfranchisement. Upon this the Superior Court provided him with two Attorneys, Thomas Newton and Joseph Hearne, ruled that the petition should be heard by the Inferior Court and "that the Petition- er in the mean time be in peace until the Coming of the Justices" (of that Court). Adam thereupon brought suit against Saffin in the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County, but upon the return of the writ therein it was abated for the reason that both parties being domiciled in Bristol, it should have been brought in that County. Adam endeavored to appeal but failed. Thereupon Saffin renewed his threat to send his unruly servant out of the province and Newton, one of his attorneys, filed the following petition.
"To the Honorable the Justices of her Majesties Superior Court of Judicature held at Boston for the County of Suffolk being ye 8th day of May 1703.
Thomas Newton of sd Boston humbly showeth That Whereas your honors at the Superior Court of Judicature, held at Boston for the said County on the first Tuesday of November now last past, upon the petition of Adam a negro, late slave of John Saffin,
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Esq., for his freedom appointed the sd Thomas Newton and Mr. Joseph Hearne, attorneys for the sd Adam, and that in order thereunto the sd attorneys should commence an accon for him agt the sd John Saffin at the then next Inferior Court of Comon Pleas to be held at Boston for sd County, for the Tryall of his liberty; and the sd Thomas Newton and Joseph Hearne accord- ingly brought an accon for the sd Adam agt the said John Saffin at the inferior Court of Comon pleas held at Boston on the first Tuesday of January last, where the said accon was dismissed and an appeal to this Court thereupon denyed And forasmuch as the sd Adam dayly pursues your subscriber for the Tryall of his said liberty the sd Adam being dayly threatened by the said Mr. Saffin to be sent out of this province into forreigne parts to remaine a slave during life.
Your subscriber humbly prays your honors will be pleased to take the premises into your consideration, and give such further directions therein as to your honors shall seem meet.
And your subscriber will ever pray &c
(Signed)
THO. NEWTON"
Now note the remarkable decree entered by the court of which Judge Sewall was a member upon this petition which sought merely "directions." It does not appear that Saffin ever had notice of it and the decree fails to recite that there was a hearing.
Upon Reading the Petition of Mr. Thomas Newton relating to Adam negro, late Slave to John Saffin, Esq., That notwithstanding the former Order of this Court i he is pursued by Mr. Saffin as his slave and has en- deavored to support him beyond sea. # Its therefore
There was no former or other order. The judges claimed and Saffin denied that he had made a promise not to remove Adam from the province.
¿ There was no evidence of this. It was the mere statement .. of the attorney.
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JOHN SAFFIN
considered by the Court That Adam negro be in peace untill by due process of Law he be found a Slave."
It is hardly to be expected that Saffin would rest con- tent with this judgment. He appealed to the Legislature. That body on June 3rd 1703 ordered "That the matter be heard before the next Court of General Sessions of the Peace for Suffolk." A trial in this Court was had, and Adam again convicted. Once more he appealed, this time to the Court whereon sat Judge Sewall who had roundly berated Saffin # in chambers for his action toward his servant, and Major John Walley, his enemy of Bristol, since then elevated to the bench. The jury found for Adam and the court accepted the verdict. Apparently not dis- heartened or defeated, Saffin again appealed to the Legislature § and was again "Referred to the law." He did not do so. For three years he had been before the courts in an endeavor to obtain what he honestly believed to be his rights.
In the trials before the Inferior Court his servant had been convicted. He had been justly criticised for sitting in judgment upon the negro upon the latter's appeal, although Saffin himself would not admit the righteousness of the censure. He had been accused of tampering with the jury and had quarrelled with his associates upon the bench over the entry of judgment on that jury's verdict. He had re- peated the trial before a court in which sat two of his vio- lent opponents, and had failed. The lower branch of the
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