USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Charlestown > The history of the First church, Charlestown, in nine lectures, with notes > Part 15
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sense, this be true or not. But I am persuaded that no spot con- tains the ashes of men, whose principles were more elevated, whose beneficence was more genuine and extensive, or whose piety was more sincere and active. If you are not sprung from the loins of kings, and a titled aristocracy, it is a higher glory that you are the sons of " sires that have passed into the skies." The nobility of your ancestors was not "the accident of an accident," but something wrought out by themselves, the native product of their own hearts and minds. They were ennobled by the gifts of God's grace. You are justly proud of the memories of yonder hill ; but there are also ante-Revolutionary memories. You have reason to be proud of another hill, where the ashes of your fathers repose-slain indeed, but slain by a conquered enemy. They sleep in Jesus. With them may it be your lot to sleep ; and with them your blessedness to rise !
NOTES.
NOTE 1, page 10.
ARRIVAL OF WINTHROP.
WINTHROP sailed from Yarmouth at the Isle of Wight, April 8, 1630, on board the Arbella, in company with three other ships, the Talbot, the Ambrose, and the Jewel. The Arbella was a ship of 350 tons, manned with 52 seamen and 28 pieces of ordnance, and was com- manded by Capt. Peter Milborne. These four arrived at Salem-the Arbella, June 12; the Jewel, June 13; the Ambrose, June 18, and the Talbot, July 2. The rest of the fleet, seven other ships, viz .: the May Flower, Whale, Hopewell, William and Francis, Trial, Charles, and Success, not being ready to accompany the four above-mentioned, set sail from South Hampton in May, and arrived at Charlestown or Salem, between the Ist and 6th of July. These are the ships men- tioned in the following letter, written by Winthrop to his wife, " from aboard the Arbella, riding at the Cowes, March 28, 1630," which I have transcribed from Savage's edition of Winthrop's Journal, for the information it imparts; but still more, for the beautiful illustration it affords of the writer's domestic character.
" My faithful and dear Wife :
" It pleaseth God, that thou shouldest once again hear from me before our departure, and I hope this shall come safe to thy hands. I know it will be a great refreshing to thee. And blessed be his mercy, that I can write thee so good news, that we are all in very good health, and, having tried our ship's entertainment now more than a week, we find it agree very well with us. Our boys are well and cheerful, and have no mind of home. They lie both with me, and sleep as soundly in a rug (for we use no sheets here) as ever they did at Groton ; and so I do myself, (I praise God.) The wind hath been against us this week and more ; but this day it is come fair to the north, so as we are pre- paring (by God's assistance) to set sail in the morning. We have only four ships ready, and some two or three Hollanders go along with us. The rest of our fleet (being seven ships) will not be ready this sen- night. We have spent now two Sabbaths on ship-board very comfort- ably, (God be praised,) and are daily more and more encouraged to look for the Lord's presence to go along with us. Henry Kingsbury hath a child or two in the Talbot sick of the measles, but like to do
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well. One of my men had them at Hampton, but he was soon well again. We are, in all our eleven ships, about 700 persons, passengers, and 240 cows and about 60 horses. The ship which went from Plymouth carried about 140 persons, and the ship which goes from Bristowe carrieth about 80 persons. And now (my sweet soul) I must once again take my last farewell of thee in Old England. It goeth very near to my heart to leave thee ; but I know to whom I have com- mitted thee, even to him who loves thee much better than any husband can, who hath taken account of the hairs of thy head, and puts all thy tears in his bottle, who can, and (if it be for his glory) will bring us together again with peace and comfort. Oh, how it refresheth my heart, to think, that I shall yet again see thy sweet face in the land of the living !- that lovely countenance, that I have so much delighted in, and beheld with so great content ! I have hitherto been so taken up with business, as I could seldom look back to my former happiness ; but now, when I shall be at some leisure, I shall not avoid the remem- brance of thee, nor the grief for thy absence. Thou hast thy share with me, but I hope the course we have agreed upon will be some ease to us both. Mondays and Fridays, at five of the clock at night, we shall meet in spirit till we meet in person. Yet, if all these hopes should fail, blessed be our God, that we are assured we shall meet one day, if not as husband and wife, yet in a better condition. Let that stay and comfort thy heart. Neither can the sea drown thy husband, nor enemies destroy, nor any adversity deprive thee of thy husband or children. Therefore I will only take thee now and my sweet children in mine arms, and kiss and embrace you all, and so leave you with my God. Farewell, farewell. I bless you all in the name of the Lord Jesus. I salute my daughter Winth. Matt. Nan. and the rest, and all my good neighbors and friends. Pray all for us. Farewell. Com- mend my blessing to my son John. I cannot now write to him ; but tell him I have committed thee and thine to him. Labor to draw him yet nearer to God, and he will be the surer staff of comfort to thee. I cannot name the rest of my good friends, but thon canst supply it. I wrote, a week since, to thee and Mr. Leigh and divers others.
" Thine wheresoever,
"Jo. WINTHROP."
Our Charlestown records say that Winthrop and his company, amounting to about 1,500 persons in all, were brought over in twelve ships. Prince supposes that the Mary and John, which sailed from Plymouth, March 20, and arrived May 30, at Nantasket, was one of the twelve. Gov. Dudley, in his letter to the countess of Lincoln, says that seventeen ships arrived in New England during the year 1630, " for the increase of the plantation here ; but made a long, a trouble- some, and a costly voyage, being all windbound long in England, and hindered with contrary winds after they set sail, and so scattered with mists and tempests that few of them arrived together."
"We began to consult of the place of our sitting down," says Dudley, " for Salem, where we landed, pleased us not."
" And to that purpose, some were sent to the bay, to search up the rivers for a convenient place; who, upon their return, reported to have found a good place upon Mistick ; but some other of us, seconding
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these, to approve or dislike of their judgment, we found a place liked us better, three leagues up Charles River ; and thereupon unshipped our goods into other vessels, and with much cost and labor, brought them in July to Charlestown ; but there receiving advertisements (by some of the late-arrived ships) from London and Amsterdam, of some French preparations against us, (many of our people brought with us being sick of fevers, and the scurvy, and we thereby unable to carry up our ordnance and baggage so far,) we were forced to change coun- sel, and for our present shelter to plant dispersedly, some at Charles- town, which standeth on the north side of the mouth of Charles River ; some on the south side thereof, which place we named Boston (as we intended to have done the place we first resolved on); some of us upon Mistick, which we named Meadford ; some of us westward on Charles River, four miles from Charlestown, which place we named Water- town ; others of us two miles from Boston, in a place we named Rox- bury ; others upon the river of Sawgus, between Salem and Charles- town : and the Western men, four miles south from Boston in a place we named Dorchester. This dispersion troubled some of us, but help it we could not, wanting ability to remove to any place fit to build a town upon ; and the time too short to deliberate any longer, lest the winter should surprise us before we had builded our houses. The best counsel we could find out was to build a fort to retire to, in some con- venient place, if any enemy pressed us thereunto, after we should have fortified ourselves against the injuries of wet and cold."
It will appear from an attentive reading of the above account, that Charlestown was not the site, which was selected either by the first or second exploring party. Governor Winthrop was probably of the first party. He says, under date of Thursday, June 17, " We went to Mattachusetts, to find out a place for our sitting down. We went up Mistick River about six miles." The next party, who were sent, as Dudley says, " to approve or dislike the judgment" of the first, found a place they liked better, three leagues up Charles River. Mr. Savage says that this place was Charlestown, supposing that Dudley represents the mouth of Charles River at the outer light-house. But this suppo- sition is inconsistent with Dudley's narrative, in which he gives as a reason for their settling at Charlestown and other places, their inability through sickness to go so far as the place they had selected, three leagues up Charles River. Besides, he describes Charlestown as " standing on the north side of the mouth of Charles River." Prince supposes that this place, described as " three leagues up Charles River," was " at the place whence the Dorchester people were ordered to remove," which was afterwards called Watertown.
It is certain, therefore, that Charlestown was not, as has been sup- posed, the place fixed upon by the colonists for their first settlement. And it is apparent, also, that the precise date of the landing and set- tlement of Winthrop and his companions in Charlestown, cannot be determined. Governor Everett, in his address delivered before the Charlestown Lyceum, calls the 28th June, 1830, N. S., the second centennial anniversary. This date is derived probably from that given by Winthrop, June 17; but the day corresponding to this, would be June 27, not 28; and besides, this date refers to the exploration of the Mistick, not to the settlement of the town by Winthrop and his com-
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pany. The nearest approximation to the date of the latter event which can be reached, is that given by Prince, who says, " it seems as if the fleet arrived at Charlestown July 10, by Mr. Wilson's yearly allowance out of the public treasury beginning on that day."
NOTE 2, page 10.
THOMAS WALFORD.
As this individual was the first white inhabitant of Charlestown, it may be interesting to learn what may be known respecting him.
He appears not to have lived amicably with the new settlers, for in April, 1631, he was " fined £10, and enjoined, he and his wife, to depart out of the limits of this patent." In the following month, he was fined &2, and " he paid it by killing a wolf;" and in the following September, it was ordered that his goods be sequestered, " to satisfy the debts he owes in the Bay to several persons." After this, he became a valuable citizen of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he is mentioned as being one of the trustees, or wardens of the church property.1
NOTE 3, page 10.
THOMAS GRAVES.
DR. MORSE says that this gentleman, whom he calls Thomas Greaves, but whose name is spelt Graves on our town records, was the son of John Greaves, and was born in Ratcliffe, England, June 6, 1605, and was the ancestor of the Greaves family of this place. Others have supposed that there was another Thomas Graves, and there are many things to favor this opinion. There was a Mr. Graves who was mate of the Talbot, when Ifigginson came over, and one of the mates of the Arbella, when Winthrop came, and who subsequently became master of a vessel, and of whom Winthrop says in his journal, under date of June 3, 1635, that " he had come every year for these seven years." Prince says that the Thomas Graves, who desired to be made a free- man in 1630, afterwards became a rear-admiral in England. Now the Mr. Graves who " had charge of the servants of the company of Pat- tentees," before Winthrop's arrival, is spoken of as " a person skillful in mines of iron, lead, copper, mineral salt, and alum, fortifications of all sorts, surveying, &c." and speaks of himself as a traveller, who had been in Hungary ; it would seem, therefore, the more natural conclu- sion, that the Mr. Graves of whom Winthrop speaks, was the one appointed rear-admiral by Cromwell, " for his bravery at sea, in cap- turing a Dutch privateer, under great disadvantages."
1 Savage's Winthrop, I. p. 53. 2 Hist, Coll. V. p. 220.
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Thomas Graves married Katharine Coytmore, the daughter of Thomas and Katharine Coytmore of this town ; they were admitted to the church October 7, 1639. Their son Nathaniell was baptized November 5, 1639. Their son Thomas was born 1638, but his bap- tism is not recorded. He graduated at Harvard College, 1656, and settled in this town as a physician. He was a representative of the town in 1677 and 8, and judge of the county court. He died May 39, 1697. The Rev. Mr. Sewall of Burlington, has kindly furnished me with the following interesting extract from his ancestor's manuscript journal. " June 1, 1697. I go to the funeral of my tutor, Mr. Thomas Graves. Bearers were, Capt. Byfield, Mr. Leverett ; Capt. Sprague, Capt. Hammond ; Mr. James Oliver, Mr. Simon Bradstreet. Charles- town gentlemen had gloves ; Mr. Danforth had none that I observed. Mr. Graves was a godly learned man, a good tutor, and solid preacher ; his obstinate adherence to some superstitious conceits of the Common Prayer book, bred himself and others a great deal of trouble ; yet I think he kept to the church at Charlestown as to his most constant attendance, especially on the Lord's day. Has left one son by Mr. Stedman's daughter. My tutors are gone, the Lord help me to do worthily while I stay here, and be in a readiness to follow after!" Mr. Thomas Graves was admitted to the church, September 17, 1665.
Dr. Graves' son Thomas, was born September 28, 1683, (his baptism is recorded on the 30th September, 1683, as the son of Mr. Thomas Greaves and Sarai his wife) graduated at Harvard College, 1703, suc- ceeded his father in the practice of medicine in this town, and besides filling the offices his father sustained, became judge of the supreme court. He died June 19, 1747. His daughter Katharine became the wife of the Ifon. James Russell, and mother of the IIon. Thomas Russell.1
It may be interesting in this connection, to append an extract from a letter written by Mr. Graves, the engineer, 1629, giving a description of the country in its natural state, and published with Mr. Higginson's " New England's Plantation," in London, 1630.
Mr. Higginson, writing of the condition of the plantation at the time he wrote, 1629, says, " there are in all of us about three hundred, whereof two hundred are settled at Salem, and the rest have planted themselves at Massachusetts Bay, beginning to build a town there, which we do call Cherton, or Charlestown."
Mr. Graves, writing at this time, says, " Thus much I can affirm in general, that I never came in a more goodly country in all my life, all things considered. If it hath not at any time been manured and hus- banded, yet it is very beautiful in open lands, mixed with goodly woods, and again open plains, in some places 500 acres, some places more, some less, not much troublesome for to clear for the plough to go in, no place barren but on the tops of the hills ; the grass and weeds grow up to a man's face, in the low lands and by fresh rivers abundance of grass and large meadows without any tree or shrub to hinder the scythe. I never saw except in Hungaria, unto which I always parallel this country, in all our most respects, for every thing that is here either
1 See Dr. Morse's sermon occasioned by the death of Hon. Thomas Russell, 1796. p. 22.
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sown or planted prospereth far better than in Old England. The increase of corn is here far beyond expectation, as I have seen here by experience in barley, the which because it is so much above your conception I will not mention. And cattle do prosper very well, and those that are bred here far greater than those with you in England. Vines do grow here plentifully laden with the biggest grapes that ever I saw, some I have seen four inches about, so that I am bold to say of this country, as it is commonly said in Germany of Hungaria, that for cattle, corn and wine it excelleth. We have many more hopeful com- modities here in this country, the which time will teach to make good use of. In the mean-time we abound with such things which next under God do make us subsist ; as fish, fowl, deer, and sundry sorts of fruits, as musk-melons, water-melons, Indian pompions, Indian pease, beans, and many other odd fruits that I cannot name ; all which are made good and pleasant through this main blessing of God, the health- fulness of the country, which far exceedeth all parts that ever I have been in ; it is observed that few or none do here fall sick, unless of the scurvy, that they bring from aboard the ship with them, whereof I have cured some of my company only by labor." 1
The enthusiasm of the immigrant under the excitement of novelty, and before the trials of a new country have been experienced, is suf- ficiently apparent in the above. It reminds us of the highly colored representations of life in the West, sent back to us by some of the early emigrants.
It is very possible that Governor Dudley alluded to this letter of Mr. Graves, when he spoke of " honest men out of a desire to draw over others to them, writing somewhat hyperbolically of many things here." 2
NOTE 4, page 11.
REV. FRANCIS BRIGHT.
Tms clergyman was trained up under the Rev. Mr. Davenport, and was a Puritan, but probably more disposed to conform to the church of England than many with whom he found himself associated here. He arrived in Salem in the Lion's Whelp, June, 1629, and in consequence of a disagreement in judgment with Messrs. Higginson and Skelton, his associates, came to Charlestown. He remained here, however, but
1 1 Hist. Coll. I. p. 124. The Historical Collections give only an extract from this letter, and this is all I have ever met with.
In the " Bibliotheca Americana Primordia," published 1713, by White Kennett, there is a notice of this letter as belonging to that library. "' A coppie of a Letter from an Ingineer sent out to New England written to a friend in England, A. D. 1629, giving an Account of his landing with a small company at Salem, and thence going and making a settlement at Massachusetts Bay, and laying the Foundation of a Town, to which the Governour gave the name of Charlestown, with a pleasing description of the exceeding Pleasantness and Fruit- fulness of the Country, and of the civility of the natives.' In one sheet MS. {Ex dono Rev. Alexandri Young, S. T. B.]"
* See the extract from his letter to the Countess of Lincoln, quoted Lecture I. p. 19.
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little more than a year, when he returned to England. Johnson speaks of Mr. Bright and Mr. Blackstone, as two that began to hew stones in the mountains, for the building of the Temple; but when they saw all sorts of stones would not fit in the building, as they supposed, the one betook him to the seas again, and the other to till the land, retaining no symbol of his former profession, but a canonical coat.1
NOTE 5, page 11.
TOWN RECORDS.
THE facts mentioned in the Lecture, respecting the settlement of the town, have been derived from our Town Records. These records, says Prince, page 250, were written by Increase Nowell. But if they were originally written by him, they were subsequently copied ; for the handwriting in which they now appear, continues down to November 25, 1661. This fact may account for the obvious mistake which appears in them, by which the landing of Winthrop is said to have taken place in 1629, and all the events of that period are antedated a year. The time, however, which the records fix for the arrival of the Spragues, 1628, is confirmed by Prince, page 250.
But notwithstanding this error, which is that of the transcriber probably, these early records are exceedingly interesting and valuable; and I have, therefore, copied out a few pages, leaving blanks for the words that are effaced, and enclosing in brackets those which I was able to decypher only in part.
" Captain John Smith, having (in the reign of our sovereign Lord James, by the grace of God, king of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith) made a discovery of some parts of America, lighted amongst other places upon the opening betwixt Cape Cod and Cape Ann, situate and lying in 315 degrees of Longitude, and 42 degrees 20 minutes of north Latitude, when, by sounding and making up, he fell in amongst the Islands, and advanced up into the Massachusetts Bay till he came up into the River between Mishawum (afterwards called Charlestown) and Shawmut, (afterwards called Bos- ton) and having made discovery of the land, Rivers, Coves and Creeks, in the said Bay, and also taken some observations of the natures and dispositions and sundry customs of the numerous Indians, or Natives inhabiting the same, he returned to England, where (?) (it was re- ported that) upon his arrival, he presented a map of the Massachu- setts Bay to the King ; and that the Prince, (afterwards king Charles the first) upon enquiry and perusal of the foresaid River, and the situ- ation thereof upon the map, appointed it to be called Charles River.
" Now, upon the fame that there went abroad of the place, both in England and Holland, several persons of quality sent over [several] at
1 Wonder Working Prov. ch. 9. Hubb. ch. 19. Prince's Chron. 257-261.
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their own cost, who planted this country in several [parts]; but for want of judgment, care, and orderly living, divers died ; others meet- ing with many hazards, hardships, and wants, at length being reduced to great penury and extremity, were so tired out, that they took all opportunities of returning to England, upon which several places were altogether deserted ; and [ ] only some few that upon a better prin- ciple, transported themselves from England and Holland, came and settled their Plantation a little within Cape Cod, and called the same Plymouth.
" Notwithstanding all their wants, hazards, and sufferings, [ ] several years in a manner alone, at which time this country was gener- ally called by the name of New England.
" At length, divers gentlemen and merchants of London, obtained a patent and charter for the Massachusetts Bay, (from our Sovereign Lord, King Charles the first) gave invitation to [ ] as would, (transport themselves from Old England to New England,) to go and possess the same ; and for their encouragement, the said Pattentees, at their own cost, sent over a company [of ] servants, under the government of Mr. John Endicott, who, arriv[ing] within this Bay, settled the first Plantation of this jurisdiction, called Salem; under whose wing there were a few also that settle and plant up and down, scattering in several places of [the] Bay, where, though they met with the dangers, difficul- ties, and [ ] attending new plantations, in a solitary wilderness, and so far remote from their Native Country, yet were they not [left] without company ; for in the year of our Lord one thousand six hun- dred twenty-eight, came over from England, several people at their own charge, and arrived at Salem, after which, people came over yearly in great numbers. In [ ] years, many hundreds arrived, and settled not only in Massachusetts Bay, but did suddenly spread them- selves into other colonies also.
" Amongst others that arrived at Salem, at their own cost, were Ralph Sprague with his brethren, Richard and William, who, with three or four more, by joint consent, and approbation of Mr. John Endicott, Governor, did, the same Summer of Anno 1628, undertake a journey from Salem, and travelled through woods about twelve miles to the westward, and lighted of a place situate and lying on the north side of Charles River, full of Indians, called Aberginians ; their old Sachem being dead, his eldest son, by the English called John Sagamore, was their chief, and a man naturally of a gentle and good disposition, by whose free consent they settled about the hill of the same place, by the said natives called Mishawum, where they found but one English pal- lisadoed and thatched house, wherein lived Thomas Walford, a smith, situate on the south end of the westernmost hill of the east field, a little way up from Charles River's side ; and upon surveying, they found it was a neck of land generally full of stately timber, as was the main, and the land lying on the east side of the river, called Mistick River, from the farm Mr. Craddock's servants had planted, called Mistick, which this river led up unto, and indeed generally all the country round about was an uncouth wilderness, full of timber.
" The Inhabitants that first settled in this place, and brought it into the denomination of an English town, were in Anno 1628, as follows, viz:
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