USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the colonial period. 1492-1692 v. I > Part 17
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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
Salem was already well supplied with inhabitants; and, as it " did not suit for the capital town," the extension of the area of settlement towards the Bay was advised.2 Jun. 17. Hence, three days after the arrival of Governor Winthrop, he with others, sailed " up the Mistick," which he found "a good place," and spending one night with the hospitable Jun. 19. Maverick, he returned at the end of two days by the way of Nantasket, where a difference between Capt. Squeb and the passengers of his ship was amicably adjusted.3 A sec- ond party following the first, "to approve or dislike their judgment," found a place which suited them better, " three leagues up Charles river ;"4 and the removal from Salem July 10. being resolved upon, in July most of the emigrants landed . at Charlestown ; the Governor and several of the principal men dwelt in the "Great House; " the multitude set up cottages, booths, and tents, about the Town Hill ;5 and during the summer, public worship was held in the open air, under the shade of a venerable oak, where Mr. Wilson, afterwards minister of Boston, and Mr. Phillips, afterwards of Watertown, regularly preached.1
* 1 Dudley's Lett., 12-13 ed. 1696; Lett., 13. This was not a land jour- Smith, in 3 M. H. Coll. 3. 40; ney, as Hubbard represents it. N. E. Gen. Reg., 2. 240 ; Drake's Prince, Chronol .; Chron. Mass., 312; Dudley's Lett., 13. Boston, 132 .- Bancroft mistakes in saying nearly two hundred servants were liberated.
* Prince, Chron. ; Hubbard, 134; Mather, 1. 72; Dudley's Lett., 13.
2 Winthrop, 1. 32-3; Dudley's
6 Chas'n. Rec's., in Chron. Mass., 378; R. Clap, in ibid., 351; Froth- ingham's Hist. Chas'n., &c.
1 Clap, in Chron. Mass., 351. Buddington's First Ch., Chas'n., 35
193
DISTRESSING MORTALITY.
But the arrival at Charlestown was to no scene of gaiety CHIAP. and pleasure. The length of the passage had engendered VII. much sickness, and the want of provisions brought the mis- 1630. eries of famine. Dr. Fuller, of Plymouth, who was present, writes : "The sad news here is, that many are sick and many are dead. The Lord in mercy look upon them ! I can do them no good, for I want drugs, and things fitting to work with."1 The settlers at Dorchester participated in these sufferings ;2 at Salem a like distress prevailed ; 3 " senseless trees and echoing rocks" resounded with the cries of the perishing and famishing ; and the courage of Gov. Win- throp, whose goodness and fortitude were signally dis- played amidst the want and wretchedness which so gener- ally prevailed, alone saved his companions from utter despondency, and inspired hope on the brink of despair. With an unsubdued spirit he wrote his wife, who was detained in England: "I praise the good Lord, though we see much mortality, sickness and trouble, yet, such is his mercy, myself and children, with most of my family, are yet living and in health. We may not look at great things here. It is enough that we shall have heaven, though we should pass through hell to it. ... I thank God, I like so well to be here, as I do not repent my coming ; and if I were to come again, I would not alter my course, though I had foreseen all these afflictions." 4
The deaths which occurred were many and appalling. The venerable Higginson deceased soon after the arrival of Winthrop, in the hour of his departure the future pros- perity of New England, and the glories of its many churches, floating in cheering visions before his eyes.5 The wives of Pynchon and Coddington, two of the Assistants,
1 Letter, in 1 M. II. Coll., 3. 76. See Buddington, 35, and Fro- thingham's Chas'n.
' R. Clap, in Chron. Mass., 351-2; Johnson, in 2 M. II. Coll., 3, 125. 17
3 Dudley's Lett., in Chron. Mass., 325 ; Felt's Salem.
4 Winthrop, 1. 352-3.
5 Morton's Mem., 78; Bancroft, U. S., vol. 1.
... ...
194
DISPERSION OF THE SETTLERS .!
1
CHAP. and of Phillips and Alcock, died during the summer. But VIL. the loss most deeply felt, and which spread an unusual 1630. gloom over the colony, was of the Lady Arbella, wife of Isaac Johnson, Esq., who, "coming from a paradise of plenty and pleasure in the family of a noble Earl- dom, into a wilderness of wants," and unable "to stem the tide of these many adversities of her outward condi- tion," died at Salem, leaving her husband, "a holy man and wise," " so overwhelmed in a flood of tears and grief, Sep. 30. that about a month after," he also died "in sweet peace, to the extreme loss of the plantation, of which he was an eminent benefactor."1
Sep. 20. On the 20th of September, William Gager, "a right godly man," and a skilful physician, died ; Mr. Rossiter, Oct. 23. another of the Assistants, died the next month ; and before Dec. the end of December, two hundred, including those lost on the passage, had gone to the grave.2 The want of good water was an additional grievance. None but running springs were thought suitable for a town, and only a brack- ish spring by the sea-side had yet been discovered.3 Hence a further dispersion of the colonists took place; and Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Phillips, and others, settled at Watertown ; Mr. Pynchon and others settled at Roxbury ; Mr. Dudley, Mr. Bradstreet, and others settled at New- town ; others went to Lynn; others to Mistick ; and there being an excellent spring at Shawmut, near the residence Sep. 7. of Blackstone, by his invitation, before the death of Mr. Johnson, 4 a number of persons removed thither, who
1 Winthrop, 1. 40; Dudley's Lett., Ch. Chas'n., says some went in 14-16; Johnson, in 2 M. HI. Coll., 2. 87 ; Hubbard, 132-3.
2 Winthrop, 1. 40, 44; Dudley, 16, and in Chron. Mass., 319; Hutchinson, 1.25.
3 Chas'n Rec's., in Chron. Mass., 379-80; Hist Chas'n., 42, &c.
4 Mr. Buddington, Ilist. First
August, in which he is probably right; yet Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., 2. 88, says October; and Hubbard, 134, says November. But the Mass. Rec's., 1. 75, say the name was given the town in Sep., and hence it must have been settled by some before that date.
.
195
CONTINUED DISTRESS.
were followed by Gov. Winthrop, Mr. Wilson, and others, CHAP. and laid the foundation of Boston.1 Thus the settlement
VII. ~ of several towns was commenced ; and to those who came 1630. after, this dispersion, though regretted at the time, was a benefit by giving more opportunity for choice in the selec- tion of an abode.2
Meanwhile several of the ships which had brought the emigrants to America were preparing for their return ; and, as the sufferings of the colonists were great, over a hundred persons, becoming disheartened, left the country. Mr. Revel, Mr. Vassall, and Mr. Bright went back in the Lyon ; and with Capt. Peirse, her commander, arrange- ments were made for speedy supplies.3 The departure of these vessels, and the removal of many to Piscataqua, sen- sibly diminished the number of mouths to be fed ; and in a voyage to the South of Cape Cod, a quantity of corn was Oct. obtained, which afforded a temporary relief.
Before the last of December, winter set in with great Dec. 24. severity ; and many distressing accidents occurred during its raging storms.4 Nor did the coldness of the weather nor the frequent fasts of the people entirely check the inroads of disease ; for the death of a daughter of Mr. Sharpe, a Jan'y., " godly virgin," amiable and accomplished, and of a daugh- 1030-1. ter of Mr. Ruggles, who, though but eleven years old, went to the grave in full " faith and assurance of salvation," are chronicled among the saddening events ; as also the death
Mar. 15, . 1630-1. of the wife of Mr. Skelton.5
Before Spring, the " wolf of famine " was at the door ; "clams, muscles, ground nuts and acorns," became the chief
1 Dudley, 14, and in Chron. Mass., 313; Chas'n. Rec's., in ibid., 381; 2 M. H. Coll., 4. 202-3 ; Loring's Hund. Orators.
2 Dudley's Let., 13-14, and the Chas'n., Rec's .; also Hubbard, 134-5. 3 Winthrop, 1. 448; Dudley's Lett. 15, and the Chas'n. Rec's .; Hubbard, 140.
4 Winthrop, 1. 46-9, 57, 65; Dudley, in Chron. Mass., 322-3, 338-9; Josselyn, in 3 M. H. Coll., 3. 377.
' Dudley, 22, and in Chron. Mass., 327, 329, 339; Morton's Mem., 83-4.
196
A FAST APPOINTED.
CHAF. dependence of many who had been accustomed to the com- VII. forts of luxury ; and even these palliatives of hunger
1630-1. were difficultly obtained. With intense anxiety, therefore, was the return of Mr. Peirse awaited ; and with agonizing despair did fathers and mothers look out upon that wild and sullen waste of waters surging before them, straining their eyes to catch a glimpse of the much wished for sail. But day succeeded to day, and weck to week, with no signs of its appearance. The provisions of all were spent. The Governor's last bread was in the oven. And the prospect before all was death in its most appalling and ghastly form.1
Feb. 6. In the midst of this distress, a fast was appointed ;2 when lo! " He who delights to appear in the greatest extremities, and to magnify his mercics by the seasonable- ness of them, gave this pious people sweet experience of the faithfulness of his promise : 'Before they call, I will answer, and while they are speaking, I will hear ; '" - for Feb. 5. the very day before the fast was to have been held, the Lyon arrived at Nantasket, laden with provisions, and Feb. 9. bringing twenty-six passengers; and four days after, she came to anchor before Boston, where she " rode very well, notwithstanding the great drift of icc." In gratitude for this mercy, the fast was changed into a thanksgiving, Feb. 22 which was celebrated throughout all the colony with ardent rejoicing.3
Such was the bitter experience of the first year of colo- nial life in the Bay. Happily for the people, the Indians did not molest them. An alarm from the Narragansets preceded their arrival ; but Sagamore John revealed the plot, and prevented its execution.4 The apprehension of
Sep. 28, 1630.
1 Johnson, Mather, &c. 22-4, and in Chron. Mass., 330-2; Hubbard, 139; Trumbull's U. S., 1. 92. Sce Orders in Council, in
2 Hutchinson, 1. 28, mistakes in saying the fast was appointed for Feb. 22. That was the day of N. E. Gen. Reg., 8. 135. thanksgiving.
+ Chas'n. Rec's., in Chron. Mass.,
* Winthrop, 1. 49-56 ; Dudley, 377; Frothingham's Chas'n., 25.
197
CONDUCT OF THE INDIANS.
hostilities led to a tax for military purposes,1 and to the CHAP. plan of a fortified town near Boston, as a retreat in case VII. of an assault ;2 and in the following spring, it was provided Mar. 22, by law that every person, in every town, magistrates and 1630-1. ministers only excepted, should be suitably armed.3 A false alarm at Watertown,4 led to the establishment of a night watch at that place and at Dorchester ;5 a " court of guard " was likewise ordered on the neck between Boston and Roxbury, and at Charlestown ; and "monthly train- ings" were instituted in all the principal towns.6
But the chiefs inclined to peace rather than to war. March and Chikatabot, with his " sannops and squaws," visited Bos- April, 1631. ton, and presented the Governor with a hogshead of Indian Corn;" from the banks of the "Quonehtacut" came Wahgin- Apr. 4. acut, a Mohican sagamore, to solicit a plantation of the English as a bulwark against the Pequots; 8 the son of July. Canonicus, the great sachem of Narraganset, brought offerings of friendship; 9 and Miantonomo himself came to Aug. 5, the settlement, with a number of his followers, remained 1632. over Sunday, and attended public worship. 10
Yet some hostile demonstrations were made. There was an alarm from the Mohawks, who were at war with the Nipmucks; 11 an incursion of the Tarratines upon sagamore John, near Lynn; 12 a broil between the Plymouth people, and some of the Narragansets; 13 an alarm of the presence August, 1632. of Indians at Brookline; 14 one or two murders were com- mitted at the Eastward ; 15 and suspicions being entertained Sept., 1632.
May, 1631. August, 1631. April, 1632.
1 Mass. Rec's., 1. 77.
2 Winthrop, 1. 45-6; Dudley's Lett. 14; Hubbard, 135-6; 1 M. H. Coll., 7. 9.
3 Mass Rec's., 1. 84.
4 Winthrop, 1. 59; Dudley's Lett.
5 Mass. Rec's., 1. 85.
6 Winthrop, 1. 64; Mass. Rec's., 1. 85,90.
7 Winthrop, 1. 58, 64.
8 Winthrop, 1. 62.
9 Winthrop, 1. 70. 10 Winthrop, 1. 103; Hubbard, 144.
11 Winthrop, 1. 66.
12 Winthrop, 1. 71, 73; Hubbard. 145; Johnson, 2 M. H. Coll., 3. 126; Lewis's Lynn, 75-6. 13 Winthrop, 1. 87, 89.
14 Winthrop, 1. 105. 15 Winthrop, 1. 75, 106; Mass. Rec's., 1. 95.
17*
198
AN EXCURSION TO PLYMOUTH.
CHAP. of a general plot of the Indians against the English, the VII. colonists were " mustered : " but this muster, alas ! rather ludicrously betrayed the lack of thorough military disci- pline, and the presence, on the part of some of the soldiers, of that questionable species of courage alluded to by the poet:
" He that runs away, May live to fight another day."1
Sept., 1633.
Fortunately, a messenger being sent to the three prin- cipal sachems, the alarm was quieted ; and the small-pox breaking out soon after, sweeping off the natives with fright- ful rapidity, and desolating whole tribes, they were too much weakened to think of war; and the unwearied atten- tion and kindness of the English to them in their agonizing distress, though it could not avert from them the shafts of disease, infixed in their minds feelings of gratitude for these favors, and remorse for their treachery, and attached them more firmly to those who had proved by their deeds their pacific intentions and Christian compassion.2
Jan., 1631-2. Previously, excursions were made into the wilderness around Boston ; 3 and to cultivate friendship with the Pil- Oct. 25, grims, a visit was made to the settlement at Plymouth, by 1632. Governor Winthrop, Mr. Wilson, and others. Proceeding to " Wessaguscus" by water, thence, on the ensuing day, the party journeyed by land, pursuing the Indian trail through Scituate, Hanover, Pembroke, and Kingston ; and, as a mark of respect, the visitors were received without the town by Governor Bradford, Elder Brewster, and others, and conducted with due formality to the residence of the former, where they were "kindly entertained, and
127; Chas'n. Rec's., in Chron. Mass. 386-7; Morton's Mem., 92. 1 Winthrop, 1. | 106-7; Mass. 80-1; Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., 3. Rec's., 1. 75. 2 Winthrop, 1. 137-8, 142-3; Hubbard, 191-5 ; Cotton's Way,
1
199
ACCESSIONS TO THE COLONY.
feasted every day at several houses." Tarrying over Sun- CHIAP. day, and partaking of the Lord's Supper, at the close of the VII. afternoon service a question was propounded, to which the 1631. pastor, Mr. Smith, first spoke briefly ; then Roger Williams "prophesied ;" next Governor Bradford spoke; and after him Elder Brewster, and " some two or three more of the congregation ; " and, at the request of Elder Brewster, Governor Winthrop and Mr. Wilson closed the discussion. Before the dispersion of the assembly, Dr. Fuller, the dea- con, reminding the congregation of the duty of contribu- tion, " the governor and all the rest went down to the deacon's seat, and put into the box, and then returned.1" On the journey home, Governor Winthrop was conveyed over Ludham's Ford " on a man's back," 2 and after an absence Oct. 31. of seven days, the party reached Boston, much pleased with their trip. 3
The accessions to the colony in 1631, were but few. The principal new comers were the Rev. John Eliot, after- wards distinguished as the Apostle to the Indians, and the wife of Governor Winthrop, with his eldest son, and other of his children. The popularity of the Governor was pleas- ingly testified on this occasion, by the liberal presents of Nov., provisions which he received from his neighbors, who seemed 1631. to vie with each other in crowding his larder with "fat hogs, kids, venison, poultry, geese, partridges, &c., so as the like joy and manifestation of love had never before been seen in New England." 4
1 Comp. Lechford's ' Plain Dealing,' in 3 M. H, Coll., 3; Baillie's Dissua- sive, 30; Hubbard, 65. The latter remarks, of the "custom of the prophesying of private brethren," that it " was not observed afterwards in any of the churches of New Eng- land besides themselves, the minis- ters of the respective churches there not being so well satisfied in the way thereof, as was Mr. Robinson. The
elders likewise of the said churches, or the most judicious and leading among them, as Mr. Cotton, &c., that were not absolutely against the thing, were yet afraid that the wan- tonness of the present age, would not well bear such a liberty, &c."
2 See the author's list. Hanover, and Deane's Scituate.
3 Winthrop, 1.108-10.
+ Winthrop, 1. 76-80.
.
-
200
ARRIVAL OF THE GRIFFIN.
CHAP. VII. In 1632, and 1633, the arrivals were more numerous ; and the Rev. Mr. Wilson, the first pastor of the church in Boston, returned from his visit, and Mr. Richard Dummer, Rev. Mr. Welde, Mr. Timothy Hatherly, and Mr. Codding- ton and wife, were added to the list of settlers in the Bay.1 A little bark of thirty tons, called the "Blessing of the Bay," one of the earliest vessels built in Massachusetts, · had been constructed at Mistick for Governor Winthrop, and had taken a trip to the South ; and in the fall of the Oct., 1632. first of these years, she returned, having visited the Indians on Long Island, and the Dutch settlement at New York, where her Captain enjoyed the distinguished honor of hold- ing a personal interview with the renowned " Wouter Van Twiller," that "robustious beer barrel on skids," whose imperturbable gravity and unutterable ponderings are duly immortalized by " Diedrick Knickerbocker." 2
Sept. 4, 1633.
·
The most important arrival of these years, was of the Griffin, with two hundred passengers, including eminent ministers, and eminent laymen, some of whom with diffi- culty succeeded in escaping from England, so strict was the surveillance of the Court of High Commission. John Haynes, for one year Governor of Massachusetts, and for several years Governor of Connecticut ; a native of Essex, in England, and an occupant of the elegant seat called Copford Hall; a gentleman of liberal mind, and unas- suming judgment ; pacific in his temper, and spotless in his life ; who, by his ability as a legislator, the integrity of his heart, and the ripeness of his judgment, endeared him- self to all, and is worthy to be named in connection with John Winthrop ; Atherton Hough, a prominent Assistant in the Massachusetts Colony ; and Thomas Leverett, the ruling elder through life of the church of Boston, were among the laymen : - and John Cotton, a native of Der-
1 Winthrop, vol. 1. ' Winthrop, 1. 69, 72, 134; IJub- bard, 171-2.
201
COTTON AND HOOKER.
byshire ; like Winthrop the son of a Puritan lawyer ; a CHAP. graduate of Trinity College ; precocious in youth, and dis- VII. V tinguished in manhood for the brilliance of his talents, and the fervency of his manner, joined to a remarkable mildness and gentleness of temper which won for him an enviable reputation ; one whose suavity of deportment, pro- foundness of learning, and evidently progressive tendencies, notwithstanding his hatred of heresy, and his enmity to democracy, gave him an ascendency in the church, and an influence in the state, which might have been dangerous in a person of less elevated character ; and whose prudent counsels, humble deportment, and rare powers of concilia- tion harmonized conflicting opinions, moderated the violence of the spirit of controversy, and guarded safely the inter- ests of the colony amidst the storms and perils which it subsequently encountered ; Thomas Hooker, the Light of the Western Churches, and the rich pearl which Europe gave to America, a prodigy of learning, and an eloquent orator ; and Samuel Stone, the worthy pastor of the church at Hartford ; were among the ministers ; - and the arrival of the last three gave rise to the pithy saying, that "the God of heaven had supplied the colonists with what would in some sort answer their three great temporal necessities : Cotton for their clothing, Hooker for their fishing, and Stone for their building." 1
In spiritual affairs, ever first in the minds of the Puri- tans-" it being as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron without a fire "2- good progress was made in the four years following their arrival in New England. The church at Boston, the third in order of time in the colony, 1690.
July 20,
1 Scottow's Narr., 23; Mather, 1. 392-5. For more extended notices of these gentlemen, see Mather, Hutchinson, and Trumbull; Young, in
Chron. Mass .; Savage, on Winthrop; Emerson, Hist. First. Ch., &c., &c.
2 Johnson, in 2 M. H. Coll., 7.40.
202
THE COLONIAL CHURCHES.
CHAP. was gathered at Charlestown about three weeks after reach- VII. ing that place ; and two years later the Church at Charles-
Nov. 2, 1632. town, the seventh in the colony, was separately organized.1 July 30, The Church at Watertown, the fourth in order of time, 1630.
organized at the same date as that of Boston, was involved in difficulties for a season, in consequence of the "heresies " of its pastor, and one of its elders ; but these were soon settled, and peace was restored.2 The church at Lynn, June 8, the fifth in the colony, was also involved in difficulties with 1632. Mr. Stephen Batchelor, and a new church was gathered in 1636, of which Samuel Whiting, of Boston, in Lincoln- shire, one of the worthiest ministers of those days, was chosen pastor.3 The churches at Roxbury, under Messrs. Welde and Eliot ; at Dorchester, under Messrs. Maverick and Warham; and at Newtown, under Messrs. Hooker and Stone, were at peace. That at Salem was agitated by the controversy with Mr. Williams ; but of this we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
1650. 1636. to
Nine churches at least were in existence in the Massa- chusetts Colony before 1636; and before 1650, twenty were added to the number, making twenty-nine in all,4 over most of which "godly ministers" were settled, of respectable talents, and commanding influence, who were as "burning and shining lights" in the propagation of their own system of " Orthodox faith," and zealous in sup- pressing heretical opinions, and in laboring to preserve the unity and purity of the churches of the land.
Since those days, what changes have taken place !- changes, to some, pregnant with evil ; - changes which the
' Winthrop, 1. 36-9 ; Morton's Mem., 84; Hubbard, 185-8; Em- erson's Hist. First Church, Bos'n. ; Buddington's Hist. First Ch., Chas'n., Frothingham's Chas'n., &c., &c.
2 Winthrop, 1. 70, 81, 97, 113; Hubbard, 142-3, 187; Mather, 1. 141; Francis's Hist. Wat'n.
3 Winthrop, 1. 187, 210-11; Hub- bard, 191-4 ; Lewis's Lynn, 78-9. An excellent notice of Mr. Whiting may be seen in Lewis, 160-6.
+ Savage, on Winthrop, 1. 114, the best authority on these matters with which we are acquainted.
+
203
THE SPIRIT OF TOLERATION.
far seeing hail with joy. Churches and sects have multi- CHAP. plied and increased ; creeds and opinions have been essen-
VII. tially modified ; and, though the Episcopal Church may boast that it has " made no change,"1 out of this conflict of Puritan intellect has sprung that spirit of toleration, which is shedding abroad its beneficent influences ; and a warmer, and a more comprehensive Christian charity, is not only weaving into kindlier union the various branches of the great Christian Church, but is extending its roots through all grades of society, prompting philanthropy to succor the needy, reform the vicious, instruct the ignorant, relieve the oppressed, and lift up the down-trodden, the outcast, and the despised ; and infusing into the great heart a more vigorous life, which will hereafter, we doubt not, lead to still nobler attainments, in the diffusion of intelligence, civilization, and the yet inexhausted blessings which the gospel of Christ has in store for the world as it becomes better fitted to receive and enjoy them.
1 Coit's Puritanism.
CHAPTER VIII.
SETTLEMENT OF CONNECTICUT. THE PEQUOT WAR.
CHAP. VIII.
THE government of the Massachusetts Colony, for the first four years following the transfer of the Charter, was committed to the hands of the excellent Winthrop, than whom, perhaps, no one better qualified for the office could well have been selected. But the wisest and best find that life is not all sunshine, and that popular favor is often inconstant. Among the hundreds who had emigrated to America, there were not wanting some of a factious temper, with whom liberty might casily degenerate into licentious- ness. Nor were there wanting ambitious minds, cager for political preferment, and anxious to hear their own names
"Swell the trump of future fame."
In the management of such a body of men, exulting in their escape from the oppressions of the mother country, and luxuriating in the sense of newly acquired freedom, it would not be strange if some errors were committed, or if those prejudices were awakened, which are easily induced by conceived assumption of authority in magistrates, or conceived encroachments upon civil and spiritual rights. Such assumptions were supposed to have been made ; and, attributing to Mr. Winthrop a desire to perpetuate his incumbency of the office he held, the freemen, full three May 13, hundred and forty in number, 1 resolved to make their 163-1. power felt in electing a new Governor.
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.