History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 12

Author: Hazlett, Charles A
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 1390

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by the leading settlers, which sets forth among other grievances that "five or six of the ritchest men of this parish [meaning of course those who had become prominent under the power of the Massachusetts] have swaied & ordered all offices both civill and military at their pleasures; none of yor Honos peticonrs, though Loyall subjects, & some of them well acquainted with the Laws of England, durst make any opposition for feare of great fines or long imprisonment, & for want of estates could not peticon home to his Matie for relief, which the contrary party well knoweth, have kept us under hard servitude and denyed us in our publique meeting the Common prayer, Sacramts, and decent buriall of the dead, contrary to the Laws of England." They also plead that they have been denied the benefit of free- men, that their lands have been taken away from them, and their grants dis- owned. Another petition about the same time asserts, "to theire great greife" that the sway of the Massachusetts has kept them from the good they expected, and so prays that they may be joined to the province of Maine, so "that they may be goved by the knowne lawes of England, and enjoy the use of both the sacramts wch they have been too deprived of," and they particularly mention Joshua Moody, Richard and John Cutt, and a few others, who were evidently leaders of the Puritan party and stanch upholders of the Massachusetts. By the year 1677, however, the Puritan influence had so far overcome the Church of England power that a petition with many names and much weight appears against any change, saying that they voluntarily subjected themselves to the Massachusetts government, and have not repented of it, that it has been a long-enjoyed and desired benefit which they fear to lose. "Wee are men yt desire to fear ye Lord & ye King, & not to medle with them yt are given to change, as well knowing what confusions, distractions, & Damage changes of governmts are not unusually attended with."

The most effectual petition, however, was probably one from Mason and Gorges, praying for a governor for the province of Maine and New Hampshire, on account of the injustice of the Massachusetts, "their violent intrusion and continued usurpation." This petition was received the 9th of January, 1677, and, as we have seen, the commission of President Cutt was sent out in December, 1679.

Claim of the Mason Heirs .- While all the intrigues and animosities in regard to the rule of the province were going on, another element of dis- turbance and angry feeling was thrown into this colony, the claim of the Mason heirs. It was, perhaps, the shadow of this impending difficulty which persuaded some to seek alliance with the Massachusetts, thinking thereby to gain their favor in the courts. Mrs. Mason, soon after her husband's death, was discouraged at the constant outlay required by the settlers, and gave up the whole enterprise. It was but natural, as she heard of the colony's growth and of a more stable government, to assert her claim to this region, and to seek some return for the great outlays Mr. Mason had made. But a few years of neglect would inevitably make vast changes in a new settle- ment even with the most honorable stewards and laborers, and in the midst of such conflicting grants there was easy opportunity for fraud of every kind, while the very accumulation of unpaid wages would in a brief period make the settlers feel they had earned all the possessions. As a matter of history,

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it was fifteen years before we find any protest from the attorney of Mrs. Mason against cutting timber on her lands along the Pascataway, and eighteen years before the first petition of Joseph Mason to the magistrates and deputies of the General Court in Boston, relating the expenses Mason had been at under the Laconia patent, and praying for some redress against the encroach- ments upon his property by the inhabitants of Strawberry Bank. Of course, each year, as the prosperity of the settlement increased, the more determined grew the heirs of Mason to recover their estate here, and in the lapse of time the statements of his expenditures were greatly exaggerated, and the necessity of maintaining their case led to the most bitter accusations and the most intense feeling on all sides, and what was at first a simple claim was aggra- vated by an appeal to all the political and religious interests which had been aroused just at that period both in England and in this settlement. In March, 1674-75, Robert Mason, the grandson and heir of John Mason, asserts his title to New Hampshire. He rehearses in a long petition the history of the settlement, the expenses of Mason, the unfaithfulness of the agents, the inability to recover anything through the General Court of Massachusetts, and his own vain attempts and costs to recover his estates here. Then, again, as the hope strengthened that his Majesty would appoint a president for New Hampshire, the claims of Robert Mason are reasserted at great length, with the added argument of a royal and church interest and fidelity from the beginning, and rehearsing the unjust laws which had been passed to confirm to the colonists the lands upon which they have been settled for years with- out any attempt at alienation, and what he himself had expended. Of course these claims were met by counter claims and charges, and all the fault was surely not on one side. As early as 1676 we find the depositions of several old settlers, whose testimony cannot all be worthless, and who on oath "doe affirm that Capt. John Mason did never settle any government nor any people upon any land called ye province of New Hampshire, on the south side of Piscatqa River, either by himselfe or any of his agents to this day. And whereas Mr. Robert Mason, his grandchild, by his petition to his maty charges ye governors of ye Massachusetts or ye Bostoners, as he calls them: ffor tak- ing away their govermt in a way of hostility; burning of their houses and banishing their people out of their dwellings, they doe affirme the same to be positively false." This fruitful source of discord embittered the whole colony long after the appointment of the first president.

The First Church .- The early religious interests of the Piscataqua were all centered in the Established Church of England. All those of any promi- nence were of that faith, and of course the settlers they sent over were of the same, and in the inventories of goods belonging to them we find provi- sions for that worship which doubtless was observed at Little Harbor and at the "Great House," which stood on what is now the corner of Court and Water streets; but it was not until after the death of Mason that we find them taking any steps for the erection of a church. On the 25th of May, 1640, we find the grant of the glebe land in Portsmouth as follows : "Divers and sundry of the inhabitants of the Lower end of Pascataquack, whose names are hereunder written, of their free and voluntary mind, good will and assents, without constraint or compulsion of any manner of person

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or persons, have granted, given, and contributed divers and several sums of money towards the building, erecting, and founding of a parsonage house with a chapel thereto united, as also fifty acres of glebe land which is annexed and given to the said parsonage." We find in this same grant the names of the first church wardens and that Mr. Richard Gibson has been chosen to be the first pastor. This first church was erected near where the Universalist Church now stands, and probably in the year 1638, for there is a tradition that Gibson preached and baptized in it in the month of August of that year. His salary was £60 and a house was to be built for him.

Richard Gibson .- Richard Gibson was educated at Magdalen College, Cambridge, from which he took the degree of A. B. in 1636, and in that year appears as the minister of a colony at the Saco River, to which he had been brought by Mr. Trelawney. In seeking for some further information con- cerning this clergyman, Rev. James DeNormandie was brought into corre- spondence with an aged gentleman residing at Ham, Plymouth (England), Mr. Collins Trelawney, a descendant of the one who had a grant of land near Portland, and who cherishes a hope that it is not too late to recover the estates which belong to his family in that region, including the whole city of Portland, a far more gigantic scheme and forlorn hope than the attempt of the Mason heirs.

The ministry of Gibson appears not to have been one of perfect peace, for in the Maine "Records" we find him complaining against a man for calling him a "base priest." and he says that he is much disparaged thereby in his ministry; so that it is evident the Episcopal settlements here and along the coast of Maine were not without some elements of Puritanism, as, on the other hand, in the Massachusetts there constantly came to the surface some elements of Episcopacy. Mr. Gibson, between the years 1638 and 1642, preached at the Saco settlement, at the Shoals, and at Strawberry Bank. In the latter year he was summoned by the General Court of Massachusetts for the crime of marrying and baptizing at the Isle of Shoals according to the ritual of the Church of England. Winthrop's account of the matter runs thus: "At this General Court appeared one Richard Gibson, a scholar, sent some three or four years since to Richmann's Island to be a minister to a fishing plantation there belonging to one Mr. Trelawney, of Plimouth, in England. He removed from thence to Pascataquack, and this year was entertained by the fishermen of the Isle of Shoals to preach to them. He, being wholly addicted to the hierarchy and discipline of England, did exercise a ministerial function in the same way, and did marry and baptize at the Isle of Shoals, which was soon found to be within our jurisdiction."

Gibson wrote to the minister at Dover, asking for help in opposition to the jurisdiction of the Puritans; but they were stronger in the contest, and he answered the demand of the marshal, and in 1642 appeared before the General Court. Either because the court recognized the fact that it had no authority in the case, or because he submitted himself to the favor of the court with the determination to leave the country, he was dismissed without fine or imprison- ment, and soon after. This was one of the first fruits of the efforts of the Puritans to settle a country where freedom to worship God as he pleased should be every one's privilege.

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Gibson is everywhere spoken of as accomplished and scholarly, but no gifts nor graces could count for anything while he was an open defender of the England Established Church.

Pulpit Supplies .- Soon after the union with the Massachusetts we find in those records this item: "It was ordered that the elders should be desired · to take the care of the inhabitants of Strawberry Bank into their considera- tion and then help for providing a minister for them." One was soon found, who, being a Puritan, it was easy for Winthrop to consider "a godly man and a scholar,"-a Mr. Parker, of Plymouth,-but he was not an ordained clergyman. After his departure we find one after another supplying for a short time, the Episcopal element heartily and voluntarily contributing to their support rather than have no services, and this continued until the year 1658, when the long and eventful ministry of Joshua Moody begins.

The Cutt Brothers .- Some time before 1646 there came from Wales three brothers, Robert, Richard, and John Cutt, who were to have a large influence in all the affairs of this colony. Major Cutt, a descendant, when at the siege of Louisburg, met an English officer by the name of Cutts, and upon becom- ing acquainted, they found they had sprung from the same family; so there- after the major added an s to his name, as did all the descendants of the family in Portsmouth. Robert settled at Great Island, and was a strong Episcopalian and royalist. Richard settled first at the Shoals, and became owner of most of Star Island in its day of greatest prosperity, and after making his wealth removed to Portsmouth and was interested in all its affairs. John settled in Strawberry Bank, where he came into possession of the Great House, and was a merchant of prominence, honor, and esteem. At the time of his prosperous business course the principal part of the town was built about the Point of Graves.

A New Meeting-House .- On the 27th of August, 1757. John and Richard Cutt, with Pendleton, Seavey, and Sherburne, were commissioned by the town to build a new meeting-house, not now a chapel, but still the term warden is employed. The settlement was so widely scattered and embraced such a great reach of territory that it is not surprising there was even at this date some difference of opinion as to where the new church should be located. After a long discussion and the appointment of referees to hear the reasons of all parties, the following conclusion was reached: "Wee whose names are under written, being deputed to consulte and determine the difference betweene the inhabitants of Portsmouth concerning the placinge of theire meeting-house, upon the arguments aledged on either side doe judge and alsoe conclude all reasons weighed that it is upon all respects considered the meatest and most commodious place to erect a meeting-house is the little hill ajoyninge to Goodman Webster's poynt." The tradition has it that Good- man Webster kept a place of entertainment, and in that day the location of the meeting-house near by might be judged not altogether without its con- veniences. Doubtless the importance of New Castle and the travel by that road had something to do with determining the situation; at all events the new meeting-house, the second place of worship in Portsmouth, was built on that "little hill" just beyond the South Mill Bridge, on "the crotch of the roads" (as an old record has it) leading to the pound and Frame Point, or

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what is now just by the parting of the roads leading to New Castle and the South Cemetery, while the old chapel was converted into a house for the minister. Of this building there is a description minute enough to recon- struct it, and to this came the inhabitants from the wide domain of the town without any too tender regard for distances or for storms, from Rye, Green- land, New Castle, and Warrington, to hear the word and tell the news.

Pews and Seating .- In the increasing prosperity of the settlement the new meeting-house was soon filled to overflowing, and we find a record in 1660 that the selectmen, in order to regulate the confusion occasioned by the crowd, "placed the women in their seats as commodiously as the room will afford." From time to time leading parishioners were granted permis- sion to build, at their own cost, seats or pews for themselves in various parts of the house, seats and pews of varying length and breadth, so that the aisles, or alleys as they were called, ran among the seats, and it was not until 1693 that the pews were made according to one regular order. We find the choice of a sexton to ring the bell and make clean the meeting-house for £4 a year; and a man engaged by the town at 20 shillings per annum "for to look after the demeanor of the boys at meeting"; and a vote that five or six persons should have liberty "to build a pair of stairs up to the west- ward beame within the meeting-house, and a pew upon the beam," for their own use and at their own charge; that "strangers are not to be discommodious to the meeting-house"; and that no boys should be suffered to sit on the stairs or above stairs, and that no young men or young women offer to crowd into any seat where either men or women are seated.

Early Laws and Rulers .- After the erection of New Hampshire with a royal province, under President Cutt, we trace the operations of an estab- lished and authoritative government through the acts of a general assembly. We find it framing a code of laws, comprising sixteen "capital," twenty- seven "criminal," and forty-five "general laws." Here is what constituted drunkenness in that day: "By drunkenness is to be understood one yt lisps or falters in his speech by reason of overmuch drinke, or yt staggers in his going, or yt vomits by reason of excessive drinking, or yt cannot, by reason thereof, follow his calling." Here is the law against scandal or malicious gossip, or the dealers in false news: "That wt p'rson soever, being 16 years of age, or upwards, shall wittingly or willingly make or publish any lie wch may be tending to ye damage or hurt of any p'ticular p'son, or wth intent to deceive & abuse ye people with false news or reports, shall be fined for every such default Ios., and if ye p'tie cannot or will not pay ye fine, then he shall sit in ye stocks as long as ye court shall thinke meete: & if the offenders shall come to any one of Councill & own his offense, it shall be in ye power of any one of ye Council aforesd to execute ye law upon him where he liveth, & spare his appearance at ye court; but in case when ye lie is greatly p'nicious to ye Comon Weall, it shall be more severely punished, according to ye nature of it." See Hoyt's "Notes on Laws of New Hampshire."

President Cutt died in 1682, and was succeeded temporarily by his deputy, Richard Waldron, a prominent and active man in the colony, and a zealous friend of Massachusetts, until the appointment and arrival of Cranfield as lieutenant-governor and commander-in-chief, and with powers greatly exceed-

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ing any of his predecessors. His commission begins thus, "Whereas our colony of the Massachusetts (alias Massathusetts Bay), within our dominion of New England, in America, hath taken upon themselves to exercise a govern- ment and jurisdiction over the inhabitants and planters in the towns of Portsmouth, Hampton, Dover, Exeter, and all others ye towns and lands in our Province of New Hampshire, lying and extending itself from three miles northward of Merrimack River into the province of Maine, not having any legal right or authority so to do, the said jurisdiction and all farther exer- cise thereof we have thought fit by the advice of our Privy Council to inhibit and restrain for the future. * Now know ye, that we, reposing especial trust and confidence in ye prudence, courage, and loyalty of you, the said Edward Cranfield, Esq., out of our especial grace, certain knowledge, mere motion, have thought fit to constitute and appoint you our lieutenant- governor and commander-in-chief of all that part of our province of New Hampshire," etc. His commission has also these words, "and above all things we do by these presents will, require, and command you to take all possible care for the discountenance of vice and encouragement of virtue and good living, that by such example the infidels may be incited and desire to partake of the Christian religion; and for the greater care and satisfaction of our said loving subjects in matters of religion, we do here by will, require and command that liberty of conscience shall be allowed unto all Protestants, and that such especially as shall be conformable to the rites of the Church of England shall particularly be countenanced and encouraged." This is the exception which is always understood with liberty of conscience, especially to favor our own, and such an exception gives unbounded liberty of perse- cution to a narrow and bigoted official. In "liberty of conscience" and a desire to establish it there is not anything to choose between Puritan and Episcopalian in this period of excited controversy; neither knew what it really meant, each claimed it only so far as it suited his own interest or prejudices ; so history everywhere gives a partial and false impression by the emphasis which the writer lays upon the injustice done to those with whom he happens to sympathize. In the "Notes on the Laws of New Hampshire," above quoted from, we find (page 10) this passage: "The Rev. Mr. Moodey, the only minister in Portsmouth during the administrations of Cutt and Cranfield, refused to baptize the children of some of his parishioners accord- ing to the ceremony of the English Church, though often and earnestly requested." Liberty of conscience seems to have been interpreted by him to mean intolerance of any conscience but his own. Yet no one who has read the history of this period with any freedom from bigotry would venture to say there was any less intolerance on the part of Cranfield, while, if enlightenment of conscience by a pure and noble life could be counted upon, Moodey was by far the more acceptable life.

Governor Cranfield left the province in May, 1685, and was succeeded for a short time by Walter Barefoote, his deputy, until the commission of Dudley in May, 1686, and he in turn was followed by Andros from Decem- ber, 1686, to April, 1689. Then for a period of eleven months the province was without any government until it was reannexed to the province of Massa- chusetts on the 19th of March, 1690. During this period, as is shown by

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the careful paper of Mr. Charles W. Tuttle on "New Hampshire without Provincial Government," the attacks of Indians, especially the tragedy at Dover, in which the venerable Richard Waldron, one of the most prominent men in these settlements, and a number of the inhabitants were slain, and the dangers from the French revealed the weakness and insecurity of these sepa- rate colonies, and forced them for self-protection to join with the Massa- chusetts, under whose rule the Piscataqua remained until Samuel Allen was commissioned as governor of the province, August 13, 1692. His son-in- law, Usher, was appointed with him as lieutenant-governor, a man, as we shall see, particularly objectionable to the people on account of his arbitrary interest and action in the Mason claims. Partridge, the Earl of Belmont, Dudley, and William Vaughan successively administered the government of this province, either as governors or lieutenant-governors, until the com- mission of John Wentworth as lieutenant-governor, signed by the distin- guished Joseph Addison as secretary of state, was published to the province, on the 7th of December, 1717, and the more settled history, government, and prosperity of the province begins, as well as the longer reigns of its rulers.

John Wentworth was the son of Samuel Wentworth, the first of the name in Portsmouth. He lived on the south side of what is called Puddle Dock. At that time the vicinity of the Point of Graves was the business part of the town, and in 1670 is the record that Samuel Wentworth was licensed with "libertie to entertain strangers and sell and brew beare." In 1727 the town granted permission to build a bridge over the cove or dock, now called Liberty Bridge, but at that time the cove extended farther into the town, so that at high tide boats passed over Pleasant Street to the South Creek or mill-pond by the Universalist Church.

CHAPTER IX

PORTSMOUTH-(Continued)

The Mason Claims-Theological Movements-Early Clergymen-Cranfield and Moodey-Imprisonment of Moodey-Mr. Moodey's Interest in Har- vard College - His Death - The Ministry of Rogers - The Half-way Covenant.

Mason Claims .- During all this period, to the government of which we have briefly referred, and even to a much later date, the petitions and efforts of the Mason heirs were fruitful of the most constant and serious disturb- ance to the province, and of course with a legal if not an equity claim. In 1681 we find a petition, signed by most of the prominent settlers, setting forth that "the great matter of difficulty now amongst us is referring to Mr. Mason's pretensions to the propriety of the lands we possesse, some countenance to his clayme whereunto he hath gotten in yor Majtys Commission under the broad Seal, which we cannot but thinke has been by inderect meanes and untrue informations (in wch he abounds) obtained. Wee are informed yt he has no authority, Authentique, Originall, or Duplycate, of any grant for the soyle, nor hath he in any measure attended the scope of such grant (if any such had been made to him), viz .: the peopling of the place and enlarg- ing yor Majtys Dominions, both which have been vigorously attended by the present Inhabitants. The vast expense of estate is mostly if not merely a pretence. An house was built in this province, but the disbursements laid out were chiefly in the Neighbouring Province of Meyn, on the other side of the River, and for carrying on an Indian Trade in Laconia, in all wch his grandfather was but a partner, however he would appear amongst us as sole proprietor." The petition states at length how Mason has tried to substantiate his claims by the signatures of persons of no influence or account in the province, and adds, "These subscribers are the generality of the whole province, yt are householders and men of any principles, port, or estate."

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History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and representative citizens, Part 12

Author: Hazlett, Charles A Publication date: 1915 Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold Number of Pages: 1390

Author: Hazlett, Charles A
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Chicago : Richmond-Arnold
Number of Pages: 1390