USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > The first century of Dummer Academy. A historical discourse, delivered at Newbury, Byfield Parish, August 12, 1863. With an appendix > Part 7
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" Dummer's rejoinder, January 19, 1725, states that if Rale had con- fined himself to his duties as a Christian teacher within the French domin- ions, Vaudreuil's complaint had been just. But he was an incendiary among the Indians, stimulating them to fight the English and burn their possessions ( 'as appears,' says the Lieut. Gov., 'by letters and manuscrips of his which I have') and had shown himself more than once at the head of Indian troops. He was slain in the heat of action, taking part with the open and avowed enemies of the English; and, under such circum- stances, his death furnished no just ground of complaint. Dummer reminded the French Governor that the Rev. Mr. Willard of Rutland was killed while in the peaceful discharge of his duties at home, and his scalp car- ried to Quebec in triumph; an act which should silence all accusations about the death of the French priest."
III -PAGE 14. MR. DUMMER'S WILL.
That short clause of the Governor's Will in which he devised for the foundation of a school, a comparatively small portion of his large estate, -a clause, which through all these years has served to keep his memory fresh and green, -imparts an interest to the document, which it would not otherwise possess. But apart from this, some of its provisions are highly characteristic and instructive. The instrument was executed June 28, 1756. The witnesses were Peter Johonnot, Gregory Townsend, and Ezekiel Price. The executors named were Hon. John Wheelwright, Andrew Oliver Esq. -afterwards Lieut. Governor of Massachusetts during those angry years which ushered in the war-and Ezekiel Goldthwait. There are two codi- cils, one dated Aug. 23, 1758, the other April 28, 1759. The will was approved Nov. 6, 1761. The bulk of the property was given to his nephews and nieces, children of his widowed sister Anna Powell. To Mrs. Powell he gave £533, 6s, 8d, with certain lands in Boston, "commonly called the Equivalent lands." To Jeremiah Powell, his mansion-house, the pew in
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VIII.
APPENDIX.
THE WILL.
which he had so long sat under the preaching of Mather Byles, his horses, chariot, and other running carriages and the household stuff, together with 900 acres of land in North Yarmouth. Other Boston property was given to the brothers and sisters of Jeremiah, who, with him were made residuary lega- tees. To Harvard College £66 13s. 4d. for the library, and £133 6s. 8d, the interest to go to the Professors of Divinity and of Mathematics. To the old brick church ( Foxcroft and Chauncy ) and to his own church £26, 13s, 4d each, the interest to go to the ministers. To the poor of these two churches and also to the poor of Byfield Parish, each £6, 13s, 4d. To individuals as follows : his "kinsman," Nathaniel Dummer, £26, 13s, 4d; his "kinsman," William Vans, £13, 6s, 8d, and the same sum to his "kinswoman," Mary Oulton. The sum of £13, 6s, 8d was also given to each of the following persons: Alexander Skene Esq., formerly Secretary of the Island of Barbadoes; Capt. John Larrabee, Lieut. of Cas- tle William; Rev. Thomas Foxcroft, Charles Chauncy, Samuel Mather, Mather Byles, and Ebenezer Pemberton. His gold watch, gold snuff-box and silver plate went to the Powells. "To each of the ministers of the gospel within the town of Boston, that lead in divine service on Lord's Day, and unto Rev. Mr. Abbot and Rev. Mr. Prentice of Charlestown," he gave a gold ring worth twenty shillings.
One item of this Will makes reference to business transactions which had taken place more than forty years before, and evinces a regard for honesty and justice, as admirable as it is rare. One can imagine as he reads it, how the thought of that little outstanding account had, at times, troubled the good Governor for half a century. The executors are directed to pay the sum of £53, 6s, 8d to the heirs of Col. William Burt, late of the Island of Nevis, deceased, with this explanation: "inasmuch as I think there may be near that sum due from me to his estate, including interest for the whole time, having wrote to his executors whilst I lived in Eng- land for an account, but could not obtain any from them of my effects in sd Burt's hands, nor have I ever heard from them since." I commend it to future classes in the Academy, as a good lesson both in figures and in morals, to ascertain what was the original amount on which our vener- able Founder cast the interest of fifty years.
Not less characteristic is the disposition which he made of his servants, and his provision for their support. Let the following item bear witness. "I do hereby manumit and set free my negro servants, and do give unto my negro man Peter, twenty six pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence lawful money, which same sum I will and order to be put and paid into the hands of Dr. Jona. Pierpont of Newbury to be by him used and im- proved for the best advantage and profit of my sd negro man." The same sum was left to each of the other two negroes, and the Powells ( John, Jeremiah and William) were requested to give security to Boston and Newbury, in case the manumission should make such a step necessary. The codicil of 1758, confirmed the manumission, and made a different ar- rangement for Peter, requiring that he should be comfortably maintained by the nephew Jeremiah, to whom he left the £26. This it will be remem- bered was before the subject of holding slaves had become in New Eng- land, a matter of agitation and of censure.
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IX.
APPENDIX.
RICHARD DUMMER.
THE DUMMERS.
Something more of the early Dummer history than is contained in the brief outline of the Discourse, has been collected and preserved by Savage and Coffin. We learn that RICHARD, the pioneer, born 1599, was the second son of John; that he came to America in the 'Whale,' and that he had, probably, been connected with that 'Company of Herdsmen' who had projected a settlement at Sagadahoc. In 1633, he built a mill in Roxbury. The next year, to please Mary, his wife, he moved into Bos- ton, and in 1636 planted himself and his Penates in the woods which then shaded the borders of the Quascacunquen. On the small fall at the head of its tide, he, in concert with John Spencer, built that same year, a grist-mill. Of the 1200 acres round the 'Falls' which were set apart for the pasturage of the herds, Mr. Dummer had 300. But this enter- prise, as appears from the record of the Court, suffered severely through the negligence of Thomas Coleman, who came over to take care of the cattle, and abused his trust. While we are sorry to record this of the patriarch Thomas, it is pleasant to believe that no such charge can be brought against any of his posterity. Of Richard Dummer's wealth in the cattle line, some idea may be gained from the fact that in addition to the facilities furnished by his own extensive domain, he was entitled in 1642 to keep more than sixty cows in the common pasture. Soon after he was disarmed, he went to England, coming back in 1638, with his brothers Stephen and Thomas. - The church quarrel to which allusion is made, be- gan as early as 1645, and lasted almost thirty years. The ministers Par- ker, Noyes, and Woodbridge, all of them Oxford scholars, and as good as they were learned, had adopted opinions in regard to church govern- ment, that were widely variant from the democratic creed of Puritan in- dependency. They seem, indeed, to have returned, in part, to the eccle- siastical principles of the very hierarchy, whose exactions had driven them into banishment. That such claims should be resisted by men who had left pleasant homes in Old England and settled in a wilderness to avoid the pressure of priestly power, is not strange. In the long and sharp controversy the church seems to have been about equally divided, and the numerous descendants of those staunch old Newbury men, may know, if they wish it, on which side their ancestors stood. The opposition was led by Edward Woodman, a very decided man of much ability. In 1670, Richard Dummer and Richard Thorla, in their capacity of Ruling Elders, sent to Mr. Parker, a missive, suspending him from all official acts in the Church, except preaching, -and this sentence was ratified by the signa- tures of forty one church members.
I know nothing so evincive of the tremendous importance which was then attached to questions of opinion and of religious liberty, -nothing that so fully reveals the sturdy and the stubborn character of those men who founded our New England, -as the history of their controversies. During the long Newbury contest, ministers, magistrates, and judges -the highest in the land-earnestly, but vainly interceded with the contending parties. Councils were summoned and sat for days, and finally the legal and legis-
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APPENDIX.
THE MANSION HOUSE.
lative tribunals had to take up the matter. I must refer those who wish to know more of this famous war, to Dr. Popkins' historical sermons, and to Mr. Coffin's documentary abundance. By his first wife, who died, proba- bly, soon after the remove to Newbury, Mr. Dummer had one child, Shubael, born 1636, graduate of Harvard 1656, who preceded 'Faithful Moody' as the minister of York, and was killed by Indians in 1692, while mounting his horse and at his own door. In 1643, Richard Dummer married Mrs. Frances Burr, whose first husband, Rev. Jona. Burr, had been the Rector of Rickinghall in Suffolk, and when silenced by Laud, came over and was colleague of Richard Mather at Dorchester. By the second wife Richard Dummer had ( 1645 to 1659 ) Jeremiah, Hannah, Richard and William. He also received and brought up Mrs. Burr's four children, educating Jonathan, at Harvard, ( 1651 ) who died while a surgeon in Phips' expedition. The princely old man died Dec. 14, 1679. His wife outlived him not quite four years.
Richard Dummer's brother Thomas, is said by Coffin to have settled in Salisbury. Stephen's children were Mehitabel and Jane, and their mother was Alice Archer. His farm of 300 acres at the Birchen Meadows, was sold ( 1651 ) by his agent Henry Short. The price was twenty one pounds and the purchasers were Thomas Brown and George Little.
IV -PAGE 16. THE MANSION HOUSE.
While he was acting Governor, Mr. Dummer lived, of course, in the official residence at Castle William, under the efficient protection of its guns and garrison, with his chaplain resident, and with a retinue, both civil and military, suited to his vice-regal position. His style of living afterwards, as a wealthy but private citizen of Boston, may be conjectured from one or two items of the Will.
Few who have seen his country house in Byfield, will deny that there is a dignity in the ancient structure, rarely found in dwellings of more re- cent date. Above its two stories, which are of good height, rises a lofty and steep roof with dormer windows, while the gable ends of stuccoed brick, ascending still higher, and forming, with the chimnies, a sort of battlement, impart to the edifice something of a turreted aspect. The circular door- head remains as of old, but the vines and their carved clusters, that once adorned the side posts, have disappeared. The black mulberry before the house and the great elm directly behind it, both of which must be older than the school, are fit attendants on the venerable mansion. The elm, however, I am sorry to say, is a very different thing from what it was when my boys used to study and talk up in its branches, or play under its shade. As I look now at its mutilated form and diminished glory, it seems a sympathetic emblem of the decayed Academy.
Owing to the narrowness of the structure its interior is neither roomy nor convenient. One of the chambers, certainly, perhaps two of them, had tapestried walls in the Governor's time. But it is not to be supposed that the textures which hung there came from the looms of the Gobelins. The sitting-room, ( a space nearly cubical with sides about twelve feet
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XI.
APPENDIX.
THE DUDLEY FAMILY.
square ) the parlor and the hall were wainscoted. Of the sitting-room, as it was, no trace remains, but the parlor and hall retain their identity. In the spacious attic, four rude chambers, finished probably in Moody's day, must be well remembered by every boarder of the Mansion House. Behind the wainscoting-up and down in the partitions -between floors and ceilings- and all along under the eaves of this ancient edifice, an army of rats had their homes, paths, and play grounds. The noise they made at times was so great, and so much beyond their supposed capacity, as to cause serious alarm to persons of tremulous nerves who were unacquainted with the place and its habits. The old house was undoubtedly in danger of an evil name, on account of these noisy frollickers, and has, I believe, but just escaped the reputation of being haunted.
The want of suitable accommodations has been felt by every occupant of the house who had a large family. Dr. Allen insisted that some ad- dition should be made, and the Trustees chose a Committee to contract for building it. But just at that point the Doctor went off, and the scheme fell through. A dozen years later, I proposed to the Board to knock away the old brick shed, which since the days of Gov. Dummer's black Flora, has been used for a kitchen, and to shove into its place the old "academy," then standing near by, empty and idle. Although they decided against it, I still think it would have been a better appropriation than that which was made. Parts of the interior were materially altered in 1837, but with an actual diminution of room. There can be little doubt that the money which has been expended in changing, repairing, and refitting it, would have sufficed to put up a larger and much more commodious structure.
V-PAGE 18. THE DUDLEY FAMILY.
As JOSEPH DUDLEY died in 1720, he could not have made many visits at his daughter's summer residence. This able man was born in 1647, graduated at Harvard, served as an officer in Indian warfare, went to Eng- land as agent for his native Province, came back, President, ( under the new order), of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and soon afterwards became Chief Justice. In 1689 he visited England the second time, re- turning shortly after, as Chief Justice of New York. Three years later, he again went over, and, this time, stayed longer. As a member of the House of Commons, he could not be otherwise than active and distinguished. What were his duties as Lieutenant Governor of the little Isle of Wight, is not so easily imagined. It was as the royal Governor of Massachu- setts that he returned in 1702. The troubles of his administration sprang chiefly from his persevering endeavors to carry out the instructions of the Crown. He had great abilities for good, and did excellent service, but, unfortunately, was too much of a courtier to suit those stiff old republi- cans. The following tribute to Dudley's merit in one important matter, is found in Quincy's History of Harvard College. Referring to that clause in the Act of 1707, which gave a charter to the College, he says, it "had, probably, its origin in the depths of Dudley's own mind, and is marked
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XII.
APPENDIX.
THE DUDLEY FAMILY. THE
TYNGS.
with boldness and sagacity eminently characteristic of him." And again- "Of all the statesmen who have been instrumental in promoting the inter- ests of Harvard College, Joseph Dudley was most influential in giving its constitution a permanent character."
As the first Gov. Dudley was more than seventy years old when his son Joseph was born, the uncles and aunts of Katharine Dudley, on her father's side, had for the most part, passed away before she saw the light. She was yet in England, a little girl of seven years, when her venerable and illustrious uncle, Gov. Simon Bradstreet, died in Salem at the age of ninety five. The poems of her accomplished Aunt ANNE, she, of course, had read, and was proud, no doubt, of her kinship with the "Tenth Muse," who had found her Parnassus and Helicon among the hills and woods of America. Her Aunt MERCY's husband, the Rev. John Wood- bridge, of Andover and Newbury, who was teacher, preacher, and civilian - learned, able, and versatile, -lived to the same age with Bradstreet, dying two years before him. Both uncles had many children, and these, with the grand-children, who were more nearly coeval with Kate Dudley, must have formed a very large circle of the highest respectability. - Her aunt PATIENCE - a less fruitful vine-was the wife of Maj. Gen. Daniel Denison of Ipswich, for years the highest military officer in the Colony. Their only son John, by his wife Martha Symonds, a daughter of the Deputy Governor, was father of John, who married into the Saltonstall family ; - and their only daughter, Elizabeth, became the wife of John Rogers, the fifth President of Harvard College-the progenitor of clergy- men, I know not how many, -and having himself come down by lineal as well as clerical descent, from the great martyr whose name he bore. Yet this pedigree, pleasing and honorable as it is, and universally as it has been accepted and proclaimed among the Rogerses, finds small credence with Mr. Savage, who has about as much mercy in dealing with our old family traditions, as Niebuh showed towards the time-sanctioned fictions of Roman history. In regard to the Rogers family, I will only add, that President Leverett, who, in company with Gov. Shute, spent a night at Mr. Dummer's house in Byfield, had for his first wife, Mrs. Dummer's cousin, Margaret Rogers. - Of her aunt DEBORAH, who married Jonathan Wade of Medford, I know nothing, and of her aunt Sarah, wife of Major Benjamin Keayne, the less said the better. - To the same distinguished clan belonged the Dudleys of Exeter-a prolific branch-children and grand-children of her uncle SAMUEL, whose wife Mary was a daughter of the first Governor Winthrop. She had also an uncle PAUL, younger than her father, a Boston merchant, who married a daughter of Gov. John Leverett. The maternal relatives of Madam Dummer were less numerous than the Dudleys, but not less conspicuous in their day and generation. Her aunt HANNAH TYNG, as the wife of Habijah Savage, became connect- ed with a family of military distinction, and which was not without its heroes. After the death of Habijah, she married Maj. Gen. Daniel Gookin -co-worker with John Eliot, and like him, a fast friend of the poor In- dian. Another aunt, EUNICE TYNG, married Samuel Willard, a learned divine and author, minister of the "Old South" in Boston, and acting
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APPENDIX.
THE TYNG FAMILY. DUDLEY ATKINS TYNG.
President of Harvard College, -who, by his two wives had a score of children, as the tradition runs, -though on this point, Savage is sceptical, and only allows us a dozen. Of this family was the "Good Secretary," Josiah Willard, who outlived his cousin Katharine only a year. Aunt DELIVERANCE TYNG had for husband, Daniel Searle, a rich Boston mer- chant. The uncle, Col. EDWARD TYNG, was a man of large estate, who figures in the political and martial annals of the time. After the reduc- tion of Nova Scotia, he was appointed Governor of Annapolis, the ancient capital of that province, but had the misfortune to be taken, while on his way, by a French war vessel, and died a captive in France. In the well- managed provincial expedition of 1745, which resulted in the capture of Louisburg, his son EDWARD commanded that part of the naval force which was furnished by Massachusetts. This gallant officer died the same year with his cousin Katharine Dummer. William, the youngest of the Com- modore's children, afterwards Col. WILLIAM TYNG, and Sheriff of Cum- berland, was 18 years old when Mrs. Dummer died. Col. Tyng was a loyalist in the Revolution, and sacrificed to his fidelity a landed property in Boston, which a hundred million dollars could not purchase now. In the city of New York, while the war lasted, it was his constant care to look after and to relieve his suffering countrymen, confined in the prisons there, and he was instrumental in saving the life of his townsman, Edward Preble. After several years of exile, the noble-hearted man came back and spent his last days in Gorham, Maine.
It may be a gratification to know how our distinguished alumnus and Trustee, Mr. DUDLEY ATKINS TYNG, was connected with these two fami- lies, both whose names he bore. His grandmother, Mary Dudley, men- tioned in the discourse, had for her second husband, Capt. Joseph Atkins, an Englishman, who, after a varied experience in the British navy and in the colonial merchant service, settled in Newbury, where he died in 1773, in his 93d year, having outlived his son Dudley, and leaving his grandson of the same name, then a lad of thirteen. He was left without means, but friends came forward to carry him through college, and in due time, he was admitted to the Bar. Soon after this he was so unfortunate as to receive a legacy. Mrs. Winslow, sister and heir of James Tyng, saw fit to bequeath to him a thousand acres of poor land in the town of Tyngs- borough, on the simple condition that he should assume and wear a name, which its former proprietors had vainly endeavored to perpetuate. So he took on the "Tyng"-and, after a few years of most unprofitable hus- bandry, was glad to be quit of the whole concern - having spoiled, mean- while, a professional career, which would have been better than a dozen farms.
VI-PAGE 34. MASTER MOODY.
MOODY was an uncommonly early riser. With the first dawn of sum- mer mornings, and long before light in the shorter days, he might always
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XIT.
APPENDIX.
MOODY AND THE FRENCHMAN. MOODY AND PREBLE.
be found in his school-room, deep in study. To be the first one up, seemed a matter of pride with him wherever he was. During his later visits in Boston, when many of his pupils had become men of eminence or of wealth, their morning slumbers were not unfrequently broken by their old master's thundering rap and loud summons.
The story of the dancing master's abrupt introduction to Dummer School, given by Col. Swett at the centennial celebration, unaccompanied by the expressive action of the venerable narrator, can only be half told. In those days, dancing, it would seem, was not regarded as a sin. A native of France, who had been engaged to teach the boys that graceful art, came on the ground, and Mr. Moody accompanied him to the school room with a view to introduction. Having reached the open door, Moody made signs to Monsieur that he should pass in. The polite Frenchman shrugged his shoulders, and declined to go first. Moody insisted that he should precede, and he persistently refused. At last, the Master's patience gave way, and seizing the poor man by the collar of his coat and the slack of his trowsers, he projected him far into the room.
As might be expected, there are several versions of the Moody and Preble story. However variant the tradition in circumstantial respects, there can be no question as to the main fact. According to Sabine, the Mas- ter's ire on this occasion was kindled by the doleful tale and bloody aspect of a boy whom Preble, in a contest out of doors, had struck too hard. Sidney Willard, in "Memories of Youth and Manhood," professes to give the story as told by Moody himself; and it runs thus: "I heard him relate with great gout, an anecdote of a conflict with Preble, in which both were heroes, though the rightful master acknowledged himself vanquished. Preble was standing by the fire-place or stove of the school room, in violation of a rule, and was ordered peremptorily to take his seat; but not obeying, the master, provoked by the delay, approached him angrily, seized the shovel, and by his attitude with the weapon, threatened to break the boy's head. 'But the boy,' said Moody, 'neither flinched nor winked; he disarmed me; I looked him full in the face-and exclaimed, -' Preble, you are a hero.'" This would seem to be authentic, and yet I am constrained to doubt its accuracy. Sabine's account, which assigns a different cause and a differ- ent place for the transaction, was derived, doubtless, from the late James Deering of Portland, who was Preble's schoolfellow in Byfield, and after- wards his brother-in-law, and his account in the main agrees with the tra- dition, as I used to hear it. The dauntless boy was undoubtedly in his seat at the time, and the deep indentation made in the desk cover by the single blow of the shovel, remained in attestation of the scene, years after the name of EDWARD PREBLE had become a word of terror to the law- less corsairs of Barbary, and the pride and boast of his own countrymen.
The following extracts from Professor Willard's "Memories," are full of interest :
"I remember him as a frequent visitor at President Willard's, from my early school-boy days to the time of his death, at the close of the year 1795. He generally arrived late in the afternoon, on horseback, rode
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APPENDIX.
MOODY AT CAMBRIDGE. MOODY A PREACHER.
into the yard, called for the male servant, gave him directions for the care of his horse, brought his portmanteau into the house, and entered the par- lor, as he well knew, a welcome guest. After tea, if he was not disposed to sally forth on a visit to others of his former pupils, he would call for bootjack and slippers, and robe himself in his study gown and belt; as much as to say, 'I'll now have a good cosey time.' If an enterprising fit seized him, he would call upon the Professors, and, if so inclined, sum- mon them to supper at the President's. It is a remarkable fact that not only the President, but the three academical Professors, Pearson, Webber and Tappan, had all been his pupils; and being himself a bachelor, he was proud to reckon these, who in their early years had received from him their mental discipline and paternal care, as his children. With like pride he enumerated many others: Theophilus Parsons, Edward Preble, and a long catalogue.
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