USA > New Hampshire > The history of New-Hampshire > Part 6
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28
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1640.
The people of Dover and Portsmouth during all this time had no power of government delegated from the crown ; but finding the necessity of some more determinate form than they had yet enjoyed, combined themselves each into a body politic after the example of their neighbors at Exeter. The inhabitants of Dover, Oct. 22. by a written instrument, signed by 41 persons, agreed to submit to the laws of England, and such others as should be enacted by a majority of their number, until the royal pleasure should be known.1 The date of the combination at Portsmouth is uncertain, their first book of records having been destroyed in 1652, after copying out what they then thought proper to pre- serve.2 Williams, who had been sent over by the adventurers, was by annual suffrage continued governor of the place, and with him were associated Ambrose Gibbons and Thomas Warnerton* May 25. in quality of assistants. During this combination, a grant of fifty acres of land for a glebe was made by the governor and inhabitants+ to Thomas Walfordi and Henry Sher-
(1) Hubbard, MS. Hist. (2) Portsmouth Records.
* Warnerton had been a soldier. Upon the division of Mason's stock and goods he carried his share to Penobscot, or some part of Nova-Scotia, where he was killed in a fray with the French inhabitants. 1644. (Hubbard.)- [Winthrop, Hist. N. E. ii. 178, gives the circumstances of his death, and Mr. Savage has added a valuable note pp. 177, 178, which serves more fully to develope the character of Warnerton, or Wannerton as spelled by Winthrop.]
t This grant is subscribed by
Francis Williams, Governor, John Landen, 1
Ambrose Gibbons, Assistant, William Jones,
Henry Taler,
John Jones,
Renald Fernald,
William Berry,
John Crowther,
John Pickerin,
Anthony Bracket,
John Billing,
Michael Chatterton, John Wall,
John Wotten,
Nicholas Row,
Robert Pudington,
Matthew Coe,
Henry Sherburne,
William Palmer. Portsmouthı Records.
(1) [Adams, Annals of Portsmouth, 395, has this name Lander. The name of Wotten above, he reads Wolten.]
# [Thomas Walford was among the earliest emigrants to the Massachusetts colony. He was found at Charlestown in 1628, by those who went from Sa- lem, in the summer of that year, to settle that place. He occupied an " En- glish thatched house pallisadoed," and was employed as a smith by trade. He removed to Pascataqua within a few years, where he appears to have acquired a considerable estate for those days, as his property at the time of his death, in 1657, was inventoried at £1433 3 8. He possessed some influence, and served in several offices of responsibility. Jane Walford, supposed to be his wife, fell under the censure of dealing in witchcraft, and a prosecution [prob- ably the first, and perhaps the only one of the kind in New-Hampshire,] was instituted against her, in 1657, which Mr. Adams supposes was dropped, as twelve years afterwards, she brought against her prosecutor an action of slan- der, and obtained a verdict of five pounds, and costs of court. Mr. Walford probably left descendants as the name continued many years in the eastern parts of the state. From this early artisan of New-England, a mechanic's News Room, lately established at Charlestown, Massachusetts, has received the name of " Walford hall." See Hubbard, Hist. N. E. 220 .- Hutch. Hist. Mass. i. 17 .- 2 Coll. Mass. Ilist. Soc. ii. 163 .- Coll. of N. H. Hist. Soc. i. 255 -257 .- Savage, Notes in Winthrop, i. 44, 53 .- Adams, Annals of Portsmouth, 26, 38, 39, 40, 395.]
29
SETTLEMENTS.
1640.]
burne,* church-wardens, and their successors forever, as feoffees in trust ;1 by virtue of which grant the same land is still held, and being let on long leases, a considerable part of the town of Ports- mouth is built upon it. At this time, they had a parsonage house and chapel, and had chosen Richard Gibson for their parson, the patronage being vested in the parishoners. Gibson was sent from England as minister to a fishing plantation belonging to one Tre- lawney. He was "wholly addicted to the hierarchy and disci- " pline of England, and exercised his ministerial function" ac- cording to the ritual.2 He was summoned before the court at Boston for " scandalizing the government there, and denying " their title ;" but upon his submission, they discharged him without fine or punishment, being a stranger and about to depart the country. After his departure, the people of Portsmonth had James Parkert for their minister,3 who was a scholar, and had been a deputy in the Massachusetts court. After him, they had
(1) Portsmouth Records. (2) Gov.Winthrop's Journal, MS. [Vol. ii. p. 66, Mr. Savage's edition.] (3) Portsmouth Records.
* [Henry Sherburne, it appears from a deposition found among the old colony files of Massachusetts, was born about the year 1612. He therefore, if the same who is mentioned in the text, must have come to New-England before he was 20 years of age. He was the deputy of Portsmouth to the Gen- eral Court of Massachusetts in 1660, and was living in 1665, and probably at a later period. The Sherburne family in New-Hampshire has been a distin- guished one from the earliest settlement of the state. Capt. Samuel Sher- burne, of Portsmouth, a worthy officer who was killed by the Indians at Mac- quoit, is named in this history, sub anno 1691. Samuel Sherburne, who graduated at Harvard College in 1719, was a merchant of Portsmouth. Hen- ry Sherburne was appointed a mandamus counsellor in 1728, and died 29 De- cember, 1757, aged 83. Henry Sherburne, born in 1710, graduated at Harvard College in 1728; was engaged in mercantile business ; was elected represen- tative of Portsmouth twenty-one years in succession, from January, 1745; was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1755 to 1766, when he was ap- pointed counsellor by mandamus. In 1765, he received the appointment of Justice of the Superior Court of Common Pleas for the province. He died 30 March, 1767, in the 58th year of his age. (Adams, in Annals of Portsmouth, 220, 221, gives an account of his character.) Joseph Sherburne was appointed a counsellor of the province in 1733, sworn into office, 1 January, 1734, and died 3 December, 1744, aged 64. John Sherburne, the fourth counsellor of the name, received his appointment the year before the revolution commen- ced, and served only one year. He died 10 March, 1797, in his 77th year. John Samuel Sherburne, Judge of the U. S. District Court for the New- Hampshire District, is of this family.]
t Governor Winthrop gives this account of him and his ministry. (1642. 10 mo :) " Those of the lower part of Pascataquack invited Mr. James Par- " ker of Weymouth, a godly man [and a scholar] to be their minister. He, " by advising with divers of the magistrates and elders, accepted the call, and " went and taught among them, this winter. and it pleased God to give great " success to his labors, so as above forty of them. whereof the most had been " very profane, and some of them professed enemies to the way of our church- " es, wrote to the magistrates and elders, acknowledging the sinful course " they had lived in, and bewailing the same, and blessing God for calling them " out of it, and earnestly desiring that Mr. Parker might be settled amongst " them. Most of them fell back again in time, embracing this present " world." 1 He afterward removed to Barbadoes and there settled. (vide Hutchinson's Collection of papers, p. 155 and 222.) Hutchinson supposes him to have been minister of Newbury, mistaking him for Thomas Parker.
(1) MS. Journal. [Vol. ii. p. 93 of Mr. Savage's edition.]
30
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1640.
one Browne ; and Samuel Dudley,* a son of Deputy Governor Dudley ; but these were only temporary preachers, and they did not obtain the regular settlement of a minister for many years.
Four distinct governments (including one at Kittery on the north side of the river) were now formed on the several branches of Pascataqua. These combinations being only voluntary agree- ments, liable to be broken or subdivided on the first popular dis- content, there could be no safety in the continuance of them. The distractions in England at this time had cut off all hope of the royal attention, and the people of the several settlements were too much divided in their opinions to form any general plan of government which could afford a prospect of permanent utility. The more considerate persons among them, therefore thought it best to treat with Massachusetts about taking them under their protection. That government was glad of an opportunity to re- alize the construction which they had put upon the clause of their charter wherein their northern limits are defined. For a line drawn from east to west, at the distance of "three miles to the " northward of Merrimack river and of any and every part there- " of," will take in the whole province of New-Hampshire, and the greater part of the province of Maine, so that both Mason's and Gorges's patents must have been vacated.1 They had already in- timated their intention to run this east and west line, and presum- ing on the justice of their claim, they readily entered into a nego- tiation with the principal settlers of Pascataqua respecting their
incorporation with them. The affair was more than a year 1641. in agitation, and was at length concluded by an instrument
Apr. 14. subscribed in the presence of the general court, by George Willys, Robert Saltonstall, William Whiting, Edward Holyoke, and Thomas Makepeace, in behalf of themselves and the other partners of the two patents ; by which instruments, they resigned the jurisdiction of the whole to Massachusetts, on condition that the inhabitants should enjoy the same liberties with their own peo- ple, and have a court of justice erected among them. The prop- erty of the whole patent of Portsmouth, and of one third part of Oct. 8. that of Dover, and of all the improved lands therein, was
reserved to the lords and gentlemen proprietors, and their heirs forever.
The court on their part consented that the inhabitants of these towns should enjoy the same privileges with the rest of the colony, and have the same administration of justice as in the courts of Salem and Ipswich ; that they should be exempted from all public charges, except what should arise among themselves, or for their own peculiar benefit ; that they should enjoy their former liber- ties of fishing, planting and selling timber ; that they should send
(1) Massa. Records.
* Dudley settled at Exeter in 1650, and died there in 1683, aged 77. " He was a person of good capacity and learning." Fitch's MS.
31
SETTLEMENTS.
1641.]
two deputies to the general court ; and that the same persons who were authorized by their combinations to govern them, should continue in office till the commissioners named in this order should arrive at Pascataqua. These commissioners were invested with the power of the quarter courts of Salem and Ipswich, and, at their arrival, they constituted Francis Williams, Thomas Warner- ton and Ambrose Gibbons of Portsmouth, Edward Hilton, Thom- as Wiggin and William Waldron of Dover, magistrates, who were confirmed by the general court .*
By a subsequent order, a very extraordinary concession was made to these towns, which shows the fondness that
government had of retaining them under their jurisdiction. 1642. A test had been established by law, but it was dispensed Sept. 8. with in their favor ; their freemen were allowed to vote in town affairs, and their deputies to sit in the general court though they were not church-members. 1
The people of Dover being left destitute of a minister by the sudden departure of Larkham, who took this method to avoid the shame which would have attended the discovery of a crime simi- lar to that for which Knollys had been dismissed, wrote to Massa- chusetts for help. The court took care to send them Daniel Maud, who had been a minister in England .; He was an hon- cst man, and of a quiet and peaceable disposition, qualities much wanting in all his predecessors.2 Larkham returned to England, where he continued to exercise his ministry till ejected by the act of uniformity in 1662, from Tavistock in Devon. He is said to have been "well known there for a man of great piety and sin- "cerity," and died in 1669, ÆE. 69.3 }
(1) Hubbard's MS. [Winthrop, Hist. N. E. ii. 92. Savage, Winthrop, ii. 92.] (2) Matlı. Mag. (3) Calamy's account of ejected ministers, p. 24.]
* [Hubbard says, " on Sept. 24, 1641, the inhabitants on the south side of Pascataqua, both at Dover and Strawberry-Bank (since Portsmouth) were de- clared to belong to the Massachusetts jurisdiction, and in pursuance thereof, a committee was chosen to order matters accordingly." Hist. N. E. 372.]
t [Daniel Maud came to New-England as early as 1635, in which year, on the 25 October, he was admitted freeman by the Massachusetts colony. He was employed while at Boston as a schoolmaster. He was the minister of Dover about thirteen years, and died in 1655.]
# [1642. The visit of Darby Field to the White Mountains should be placed under this year. The season of the year, when this visit was made is deter- mined by the following note, among the chronological items in the Rev. Sam- uel Danforth's almanac for 1647. " 1642. (4) [i. e. June] The first discovery of the great mountaine (called the Christall Hills) to the NW. by Darby Field." The expedition was deemed so important and atttended witli so much labor and fatigue, that it may be proper to give Gov. Winthrop's account of it entire.
" One Darby Field, an Irishman, living about Pascataquack, being accom- panied with two Indians, went to the top of the White hill. He made his journey in 18 days. His relation at his return was, that it was about one hun- dred miles from Saco ; that after 40 miles travel, he did, for the most part as- cend, and within 12 miles of the top, was neither tree nor grass, but low sav- ins, which they went upon the top of sometimes, but a continual ascent upon rocks, on a ridge between two valleys filled with snow, out of which came
32
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE. [1642.
The inhabitants of Exeter had hitherto continued their combi- nation ; but finding themselves compreliended within the claim of Massachusetts, and being weary of their inefficacious mode of government they petitioned the court, and were readily Sept. 8. admitted under their jurisdiction. William Wenborne, Robert Smith, and Thomas Wardhall were appointed their mag- istrates ; and they were annexed to the county of Essex.1 Upon this, Wheelwright who was still under sentence of banishment, with those of his church who were resolved to adhere to him, re- moved into the province of Maine, and settled at Wells, where his posterity yet remain. He was soon after restored, upon a slight acknowledgment, to the freedom of the colony, and removed to Hampton, of which church he was minister for many years ; un- til he went to England where he was in favor with Cromwell. But, after the restoration, he returned and settled at Salisbury, where he died in 1680.2 *
(1) Mass. Records. (2) Hubbard's MS. [pp. 351, 365-368 of the printed copy.]
two branches of Saco river, which met at the foot of the hill, where was an In- dian town of some 200 people. Some of them accompanied him within 8 miles of the top, but durst go no further, telling him that no Indian ever dar- ed to go higher, and that he would die ifhe went. So they staid there till his return, and his two Indians took courage by his example and went with him. They went divers times through the thick clouds for a good space, and within 4 miles of the top they had no clouds, but very cold. By the way, among the rocks, there were two ponds, one a blackisli water, the other reddish .- The top of all was plain about 60 feet square. On the north side there was such a precipice, as they could scarce discern to the bottom. They had nei- ther cloud nor wind on the top, and moderate heat. All the country about him seemed a level, excepting here and there a hill rising above the rest, but far beneatlı them. He saw to the north a great water which he judged to be about 100 miles broad, but could see no land beyond it. The sea by Saco seemed as if it had been within 20 miles. He saw also a sea to the eastward, which he judged to be the gulpli of Canada : he saw some great waters in parts to the westward, which he judged to be the great lake which Canada river comes out of. He found there much muscovy glass. They could rive out pieces of 40 feet long, and 7 or 8 broad." Winthrop, Hist. N. E. ii. 67, 68. Field again visited the mountains about a month afterwards, in company with five or six persons. At this time, they brought away some stones which they supposed were diamonds, but which proved to be crystal. It is to be regret- ted that the other " relation, more true and exact," to which Gov. Winthrop refers as subsequent, is not to be found in his History. There have been ma- ny accounts of the White Mountains published in the periodicals of the day, the most satisfactory of which may be found in the N. E. Journal of Medicine and Surgery, for January, 1816, vol. v. 321-338, and in Farmer and Moore's Collections for April, 1823, vol. ii. 97-107.]
* [Rev. John Wheelwright died 15 November, 1679, at an advanced age, and probably between 80 and 90 years, as he is said to have been at the Uni- versity with Oliver Cromwell, who, when Wheelwright, while in England, waited upon him after he became Protector, declared to the gentlemen then about him, " that he could remember the time when he had been more afraid of meeting Wheelwright at foot-ball, than of meeting any army since in the field, for he was infallibly sure of being tript up by him " (Mather, in Appx. to iii. vol. Belknap, 225.) Mr. Wheelwright came from Lincolnshire to New- England in 1636. Soon after his arrival, he preached a sermon at Boston, which, being considered by the magistrates as " tending to sedition," occa- sioned his banishment from the colony in November, 1637. Mr. Savage who has seen the sermon, says, in Winthrop, i. 215, "that it was not such as
33
SETTLEMENTS.
1644.]
After his departure from Exeter, an attempt was made by the remaining inhabitants to form themselves into a church, 1644. and call the aged Stephen Batchelor to the ministry, who had been dismissed from Hampton for his irregular conduct. But the general court here interposed and sent them a solemn May 29. prohibition, importing " that their divisions were such that
" they could not comfortably, and with approbation, proceed in so "weighty and sacred affairs," and therefore directing them "to " defer gathering a church, or any other such proceeding, till they "or the court at Ipswich, upon further satisfaction of their recon- " ciliation and fitness, should give allowance therefor."! *
(1) Massa. Records.
as can justify the court in their sentence for sedition and contempt, nor pre- vent the present age from regarding that proceeding as an example and a warning of the usual tyranny of ecclesiastical factions." There is a copy of the sermon in MS. in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society .- The following exhortation from it is copied by Mr. Savage. "Thirdly, let us have a care, that we do show ourselves holy in all manner of good conver- sation, both in private and public ; and, in all our carriages and conversations, let us have a care to endeavor to be holy as the Lord is ; let us not give occa- sion to those that are coming on, or manifestly opposite to the ways of grace, to suspect the way of grace ; let us carry ourselves, that they may be ashamed to blame us ; let us deal uprightly with those with whom we have occasion to deal, and have a care to guide our families and to perform duties that belong to us ; and let us have a care that we give not occasion to say, we are liber- tines or antinomians."
Mr. Wheelwright, on his banishment, came to New-Hampshire and settled Exeter as has been stated in the text, having obtained from several Indian Sagamores, by purchase, a tract of territory thirty miles square-" lying with- in three miles on the northern side of Merrimack river, extending thirty miles along by the river from the sea side, and from the said river to Pascataqua pa- tent, thirty miles up into the country north west, and so from the falls of Pascataqua to Oyster River, thirty miles square every way." From Exeter he went to Wells, in Maine, where he remained, some time, but being releas- ed from his sentence of banishment, he went to Hampton in 1647, where he ap- pears to have remained until 1654, and perhaps later. He was in England in 1658, but returned to this country after the restoration, and succeeded Rev. William Worcester at Salisbury. His will, made 25 of May, 1679, names his son Samuel, who lived at Wells, his son-in-law Edward Rishworth. his grand- children Edward Lyde, Mary White, Mary Maverick, William, Thomas and Jacob Bradbury, to whom he gave his estate in Lincolnshire, in England. and his lands and tenements and personal property in New-England. Two of his daughters were living when Mather wrote the letter in Appx. to iii. vol- ume of Belknap, already cited.]
* [After this, the town of Exeter did not settle a minister until 1650. The town records show the contract to have been made with Rev. Samuel Dudley on the 13 of May, that year. He then, in consideration of the stipulated sal- ary, &c. " agreed to come and inhabit at Exeter, to be a minister of God's word to the people there, until such time as God should be pleased to make way for the gathering of a church, and then he is to be ordained Pastor and Teacher according to the ordinance of God-and was not to leave till death or some more than ordinary call of God otherways." MS. Note communica- ted by Hon. Jeremiah Smith, LL. D.
Rev. Samuel Dudley was born in 1606, and probably came to New-Eng- land with his father in 1630. He resided a short time at Cambridge, then at Boston, and removed to Salisbury as early as 1641, and represented that town in the General Court, at the March and May sessions in 1644. His first wife, who was Mary, daughter of Gov. Winthrop, died at Salisbury, 12 April. 1643. He afterwards married a second and third wife, by all of whom he had as many as fifteen children. His eldest son, Thomas, graduated at Harvard
7
34
HISTORY OF NEW-HAMPSHIRE.
[1644.
Such a stretch of power, which would now be looked upon as an infringement of christian liberty, was agreeable to the princi- ples of the first fathers of New-England, who thought that civil government was established for the defence and security of the church against error both doctrinal and moral. In this sentiment they were not singular, it being universally adopted by the re- formers, in that and the preceding age, as one of the fundamental principles of their separation from the Romish church, and neces- sary to curtail the claims of her Pontiff, who assumed a suprem- acy over " the kings of the earth."*
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CHAPTER III.
Observations on the principles and conduct of the first planters of New-Eng- land. Causes of their removal. Their fortitude. Religious sentiments .-- Care of their posterity. Justice. Laws. Theocratic prejudices. Intoler- ance and persecutions. .
A UNION having been formed between the settlements on Pas- cataqua and the colony of Massachusetts, their history for the succeeding forty years is in a great measure the same. It is not my intention to write the transactions of the whole colony during that period ; but, as many of the people in New-Hampshire had the same principles, views and interests with the other people of New-England, I shall make some observations thereon, and in- tersperse such historical facts as may illustrate the subject.
In the preceding century the holy scriptures, which had long lain hid in the rubbish of monastic libraries, were brought to public. view by the happy invention of printing ; aud as darkness vanish- es before the rising sun, so the light of divine truth began to dis- sipate those errors and superstitions in which Europe had long
College in 1651, and died 7 November, 1655, aged 21. Several of his sons were active useful men, and their descendants have been numerous in this state.]
* [Under this year, 1644, Governor Winthrop (Hist. N. E. ii. 177) speaks of " the contentions in Hampton as grown to a great height." "The whole town was divided into two factions, one with Mr. Batchellor their late pastor, and the other with Mr. Dalton their teacher, both men very passionate, and wanting discretion and moderation. Their differences were not in matters of opinion but of practice. Mr. Dalton's party being the most of the church, and so freemen, had great advantage of the other, though a considerable par- ty, and some of them of the church also, whereby they carried all affairs both in church and town according to their own minds, and not with that respect to their brethren and neighbors which had been fit. Divers meetings had been both of magistrates and elders, and parties had been reconciled, but brake out presently again, each side being apt to take fire upon any provoca- tion. Whereupon Mr. Batchellor was advised to remove, and was called to Exeter." It was then that the General Court of Massachusetts interposed as related in the text.]
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