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Saturday, December 28, 2013

17th century Quaker Persecutions New Bedford, MA




From History of Bristol County, Massachusetts Part One

Among the orders of the court concerning the Quakers was the following:
"If any person or persons called Quakers, or other such like vagabonds, shall come into any town in this government, the marshal or constable shall apprehend him or them, and upon examining, so appearing, he shall whip them, or cause them to be whipped, with rods so it exceeds not fifteen stripes, and to give him or them a pass to depart the government, and if they be found without the pass and not acting thereunto they shall be punished again as formerly; and in case the constable shall be unwilling to whip them, and cannot find any one to do it, they shall bring them to Plymouth to the under-marshal, and he shall inflict it."
Another regulation says, "Whereas, by order of court, all free men of this corporation, as Quakers, or such as encourage them, or such as speak contemptuously of the laws thereof, or such as are judged by court grossly scandalous, as liars, drunkards, swearers, shall lose their freedom in this corporation."



1651. Ralph Allen, Sr., and wife, George Allen and wife, and William Allen are presented with others for uot attending public worship according to law. Arthur Howland, for not attending public worship. This Arthur seems to have been a troublesome fellow to the strict Puritans of the colony. Ralph Allen and Richard Kirby are fined five pounds, or to be whipped, for vile sketches against ordinances. Richard Kirby info

1655. Sarah Kirby sentenced to be whipped for divers suspicious speeches.(sister Jane Landers also in court with her but no record of punishment)

1656, Sunday. Persons for meeting at the house of William Allen are summoned to answer for the misdemeanor.

1656. Sarah Kirby whipped for disturbing public worship.




1657. Arthur Howland, for permitting a Quaker meeting in his house, and for inviting such as were under government, children and others, to come to said meeting, was sentenced by the court to find securities for his good behavior; in case he should refuse he is fined four pounds. He refused to give bonds, and was fined. "The said Arthur Howland, for resisting the constable of Marshfield in the execution of his office, and abusing him in words by threatening speeches, is fined five pounds." And again, Arthur Howland, for presenting a writing in court, which said writing, on the reading thereof, appeared to be of dangerous consequences, he owning it to be his own, and for making known the said writing to others, was sentenced by court to find securities for his good behavior. We have now another Howland upon the stage.

1657. "Henry Howland, for entertaining a meeting in his house, contrary to order of Court, is fined ten shillings." And still another, Louth Howland, "for speaking opprobriously of the ministers of God's word, is sentenced to set in the stocks for the space of an hour or during pleasure of Court, which was performed and so released paying the fee."

1657. Ralph Allen, Jr., and William Allen being summoned, appeared to answer for a tumultuous carriage at a meeting of the Quakers at Sandwich ; their being admonished in that respect were cleared, notwithstanding irreverently carrying themselves before the court, coming in before thein with their hats on, were fined twenty shillings apiece.




Here is the case of the whipping and fining before spoken of,—

1658. H. Norton and John Rouse were sentenced to be whipped for coming into the jurisdiction contrary to call. The sentence was executed. "The same day performed," is the language of the record, and the under-marshal requiring his fees they refused to pay them, and they were again returned to prison until they would pay.

1658. William Allen is fined forty shillings for entertaining Quaker meeting. About this time there was a part added—demanded, as says the record— because, among other things, "of the letting loose as a scourge upon us those gangrene-like doctrines and persons called Quakers." 



1659. We now find upon the records the following: "The Court taking notice of sundry scandalous falsehoods in a letter of Isaac Robinson's tending greatly to the prejudice of this government and incouragement of those commonly called Quakers, and thereby liable according to law to disenfranchisement, yet we at present forbear the sentence until further inquiry."

1660. Daniel Butler for rescuing a strange Quaker was sentenced to be whipped. Joseph Allen fined ten shillings for attending a Quaker meeting. Here wehave some wholesale operations,—twenty-five persons were fmed ten shillings eaeh for attending Quaker meeting, and among them were Joseph, Benjamin, William, and Matthew Allen, Richard Kirby and Richard Kirby (2d), and Daniel and Obadiah Butler. For more family info  Howland-Kirby papers

1661. The obstinate Howlands are again introduced. Henry Rowland for entertaining a Quaker meeting in his house is twice fined four pounds. Loeth Howland breaks the Sabbath and is fined ten shillings.

1662. Another Howland Sabbath-breaker. Samuel Howland, having no meal in the house, went to the mill and took home his grist. Fined ten shillings, or the whip.

1664. Arthur Howland is again in difficulty. But it is not for new heresy of opinion that he is brought before the magnates of the land. The following is the record: "Arthur Howland, for inveighling Mistress Elizabeth Prince and making motion of marriage to her, and prosecuting the same contrary to her parents' liking and without their consent and directly contrary to their mind and will, was sentenced to pay a fine of five pounds, and to find securities for his good behavior, and in special that he desist from the use of any means to obtain or retain her affections as aforesaid." He paid his fine, a pretty heavy one for those days, and gave the bonds required by the sentence of the court. "Arthur Howland acknowledges to owe unto our sovereign lord the king the sum of fifty dollars; John Duncan, the sum of twenty-five dollars; Timothy Williams, the sum of twenty-five dollars. The condition that whereas the said Arthur Howland hath disorderly and unrighteously endeavored to obtain the affections of Mistress Elizabeth Prince, against the mind and will of her parents. If, therefore, the said Arthur Howland shall for the future refrain and desist from the use of any means to obtain or retain her affections as aforesaid, and appear at the court of His Majesty, to ho hnlden at Plymouth the first Tuesday in July next, and in the mean time be of good behavior towards our sovereign lord the king and all his liege people, and not depart the said court without license, that then, etc."
The next year we find him again before the court, and again coming under a solemn agreement no further to offend in the premises.

Some Future Family Quaker Pictures 

Picture Jim Gresela Contact jgrasela@comcast.net

Abraham H. Howland served as the first mayor of New Bedford, Massachusetts. A leading Quaker businessman of the time, he was elected shortly after the incorporation of New Bedford in 1847. A man of esteem and wealth, he lived in the prominent neighborhood of County Street in New Bedford.

             Picture Above of Henrietta Howland Green aka the “Witch of Wall Street” 

             Picture Above Howland Triple Portrait George Howland & Sons



Monday, December 23, 2013

The Best Farm in Knox County, Illinois Phelps Family

A Share from Brian T Phelps and The Phelps Genealogy Group 
The Phelps family emigrated to the western frontier of the United States and arrived in western Illinois in 1836.


The entire table set. The pieces are silver plate, which has worn off in several locations, of slightly varying styles, and appear to be from two manufacturers. The coffee server is engraved, "Table Sett Awarded by the Illinois State Agricultural Society to Mrs. A. N. Phelps 1871."

For many years, the silver coffee server with the elephant ear handles and the delicate spout graced the top of the buffet in my grandmother's formal dining room. Usually wrapped in plastic to ward off tarnish, I never saw it used. My grandmother told me only that it had been won as a prize at a fair. As a child, I could only stare curiously and try to imagine the kind of county fair that would give away such a curious thing as a prize.

During World War II, many Californians feared they would be invaded by the Japanese. This fear was so strong within our family that they buried the treasured silver coffee and tea service at their cabin in the mountains outside Los Angeles. The service remained hidden there for a number of years until after the war, around 1953, when my grandmother took possession of it.


1870 section map of Sparta Township, Aaron Noble Phelps' farm is located northeast of town in the highlighted section. (Illustration from Atlas Map of Knox County, Illinois, Andreas, Lyter & Company, Davenport, 1870, 91 pages. Scanned by Todd Walter. Courtesy the Knox County, Illinois Genealogy & History ILGENWEB project.)

Hidden From the Japanese—The Premium for Best Farm


A. N. Phelps
"Mr. Phelps was born in Westfield, Mass, September 9, 1819. He came, with his mother and his two sisters, to Galesburg Illinois in 1836. The amount of his worldly possessions at the time was enough to buy a box stove and a cow, valued at $30. The eldest daughter Seraphina Princess Mary Phelps, 19 Jan 1815 - 12 Dec 1891), became Mrs. George M. Avery of Galesburg, and the youngest Sybelana Pillary Phelps the wife of Benjamin Kilbourn, of Wisconsin. The mother died of Galesburg, November 23, 1855. The father, Aaron Noble Phelps, had died previous to the family's moving west, at Westfield, Mass., in March 1830. He and his wife Miss Clarissa Root (1788 - 29 Nov 1855) were married in 1814. Their only son, A.N. Phelps, and Mrs. Sarah Jerusha Adams (5 Apr 1823 - 10 Sep 1890) were married March 29, 1947, and moved to their present home in 1856, which has since taken the premium already mentioned." ("History of Knox County", p. 836)

Located three miles Northwest of present city limits at edge of Henderson Grove 2 Nehemiah West's residence 3 Hugh Conger in main part Loren Foundcd in 1836 Prof NH Losey's residence Conger and John West in addition 4 Riley Root and sifter Mrs Clarissa Phelps Eli Farnham and Lyman in succession 5 George Avery and his mother 6 Deacon Goodell's residence 7 Jor1n and his father 8 Mr Lewis residence J Unidentified 10 CS Colton's store 11 CS ton's residence 12 School house 13 Rev GW Gale's residence 14 John Kendall's residence Rev John Water's residence lb HH May's residence


Seraphina Phelps 1883 from the Meriweather Society
Picture of Seraphina and Sybelena Phelps
George Avery (1802-1887) of Galesburg, Illinois

From The Averys of Groton: Genealogical and Biographical, Volume 2 Homer De Lois Sweet
George, fourth son of William Thomas Avery and Phcbe Throop: married, Jan. 24, 1839, S Princess Mary
Phelps, d. Aaron Noble Phelps and Clarissa Root, d. Dec children: 12, 1891 : Aaron was a colonel in the war of 1812;
511 Robert Henneman, born Jan. 7, 1840.
512 John Thomas, b. Dec. 25, 1841, md. Flora E. Olmsted.
513 Mary, born Aug. 13, 1844, md. Rev. William R. Butcher.
514 Cyrus Minor, b. Jan. 19, 1846, md. Minnie E. Bartholomew.
515 Phebe Throop, born Dec. 21, 184b, still single.
516 George, junior, born April 9, 1854.
517 Frederick, born Oct. 15, 1857, died Nov. 25, 1860. Resides Galesburgh, 1ll.

Col. William Thomas Avery (1819-1880)
From US Gen Net email ilcoknox@usgennet.org

GEORGE AVERY, one of the oldest and most highly esteemed citizens of Kox County is Mr. George Avery, of Galesburg. He was born in Columbia County, N.Y., Dec. 2, 1802. His parents, William and Phebe (Throop) Avery, were of New England ancestry, although slightly tinged with foreign blood.
Phebe Throop
The former died in the east when our subject was a young man. They had a family of eight children—George, Nathan, Clarissa, Hyde T., William T., Deborah, John T., and Cornelia. Nathan was a physician, and married a Miss Rivers of Tennessee. Both are deceased, leaving one son, William T., who has served in Congress from Tennessee. Clarissa married Silas Churchill and both she and her husband are deceased. They left a family of five children, three boys and two girls. Both Hyde T. and William T. are also deceased, the latter dying in Indiana. Deborah married John Kendall, the celebrated thermometer-maker of New Lebanon, N.Y., where they now reside; three daughters have been born to them. John T. married Sarah Whiting, and resides in Cleveland, Ohio, and has a family of five boys and two girls. Cornelia became the wife of William Ball, and is living in New York.

Alternating the duties of a farm life with attendance at the common school, our subject passed his younger life in the vicinity of New Lebanon, N.Y. Early manhood found him possessed of a very fair English education. He was about 34 years of age when he came west, and the year 1836 found him upon the ground now occupied by the city of Galesburg. Indeed he was one of the first members of that society known as the Early Settlers’ or Pioneers’ Association, the object of which was to found a Christian College. It will be highly proper in this connection to speak of him as one of the most enterprising, industrious and active workers that ever entered Knox County.

The farm on which he lived up to 1867 was that piece of property which he purchased in the beginning, joining the corporate limits of the village, and he has come as near witnessing every step of the growth of this place as any living man. In the year last named (1867) he turned his farm over to his sons and retired to private life. Through a citizenship of full half a century, mingling daily with people who so rapidly settled around him, transacting business with hundreds, aye, with thousands in the aggregate, it is remarkable that not once in his life has he ever been summoned to court to answer the complaint of any man. He began life a poor boy, and has since inherited nothing except the reward that always eventually descends to the industrious and persevering. He was so fortunate as to add to his possessions a wife of many worthy attributes and a helpmate in its truest sense, one of those women whose price is above rubies. Together they have labored, and age finds him possessed of an ample competency. He was active among the early railway organizations of this place, and in fact all public enterprises of merit ever found in him a substantial friend and a strong advocate.

When Mr. Avery came to this county, the trip was made by the usual overland route, requiring eight weeks’ time to make it. A gentleman by the name of Col. Mills brought a colored boy about 12 years of age with him from New York. Mr. Mills dying, his widow requested Mr. Avery to take charge of the boy, which he did and was compelled to pay taxes upon him the same as he did upon his horses. Mr. Avery, being a strong Abolitionist, wrote back to New York for the boy’s free papers, to show that he was not taxable property.



Mr. Avery’s marriage was celebrated Jan. 24, 1839, in Knox County, when he was united in holy matrimonial bonds with Miss Seraphina Princess Mary Phelps, a native of Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Col. Aaron N. and Clarissa (Root) Phelps, natives of Westfield, Mass. The Phelps family is one of the oldest in New England. William and George Phelps landed in America May 30, 1630, coming from England on the ship “Mary and John”, commanded by Capt. Squibb. Aaron N. Phelps was a colonel in the War of 1812. Mrs. Avery was born Jan. 19, 1815 and was the eldest of a family of three children. The others, who are deceased, were Mrs. Sybelana Kilbourn and Royal A. N. Mrs. Avery came to this county in 1836 with her mother, her father having died six years before. They settled in what is now Galesburg, where the mother died in 1856.


Mr. and Mrs. Avery have had born to them seven children, as follows: Robert H., President of the Avery Corn-Planter Company of Peoria; John T. a farmer of Rio Township, this county; Mary, now Mrs. Rev. William R. Butcher of Wataga; Cyrus M. of Avery & Co. of Peoria; Phebe T. now living at home; and George, a farmer of Kansas. Fredrick Arthur died when about three years old. Robert H., the eldest son, married Miss Sarah P. Ayers; they are the parents of five children—Minnie E., Fredrick A., Sadie T., Cornelia, and Ellen K. Robert enlisted in Co. A, 77th IL Vol. Inf. in 1862, and served until the close of the war. He was taken prisoner and placed in Andersonville prison, where he remained for about eight months. He is the inventor of the Avery Corn-Planter, as well as other useful implements, and owns a controlling interest in the factory at Peoria. John T. took to wife Mrs. Flora Olmsted. Mary became the wife of Rev. William R. Butcher, and they have five children—Harry E., Mary Z., Etha, William, and Irene. Cyrus M. married Miss Minnie E. Bartholomew, and to them have been born three children—Elvira P., George L, and Grace O. George married Miss Ada Wood, and they are the parents of three children; the name of the only one living is Edith L. Cyrus M., who is now Secretary of the Avery Corn-Planter Company, graduated from Knox College, standing No. 1 in his class.

Mr. and Mrs. Avery are consistent, sympathetic Christians, and are connected by profession of faith with the First Church of Christ. Mr. Avery is a stanch Republican and Prohibitionist

Photo by Jim Harris Hope Cemetery Galesburg Knox County Illinois, USA
Plot: Lot 48

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Edward John Phelps Lawyer, Politician, Educator Vermont

A Share for my Phelps Group on FB Compiled from several sources. 

Edward John Phelps was born in Middlebury, Vermont June 18, 1822, the eldest in a family of nine sons and two daughters. Son of Samuel Shether Phelps (1793 - 1855) and Frances Shurtleff Phelps (1792 - 1825)  Children with 2nd wife  Electa Saterlee Oct 23 1825. d. of Judge James Saterlee. Samuel Shether b. April 6 1828, m. Charlotte Stone. He d. 6 Sept  6 1856. Daniel Webster b. Feb 12 1830, m. Gertrude Johnson. Settled Chicago, Ill. Theodore Willis b Dec 31 1831, d. Aug 24 1832. Frank b. May 2 1834. Egbert b. Dec 8 1835. Helen Marra b. May. 1 1840. Harriet Eliza b Feb 6 1845

Edward married Mary Haight (1827 - 1909) August 1846, daughter of Hon. Stephen Haight of Burlington. Of this marriage are surviving two children: Mary Phelps m. Horatio Loomis, of Burlington and Charles Pierpont Phelps married January 1893 25 Lillian Graves d. of Rev. Gemont Graves of Burlington, Vt., but was divorced from her in 1906. January 11, 1908, he married in Philadelphia, Minnie Woodbury Braithwaite, daughter of George Moe Braithwaite

Samuel S. Phelps
Photo from Jen Shoots Find A Grave Francis daughter of Benoni Shurtleff and Nancy Farrar Shurtleff

From  Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 1 

Edward Phelps, great-grandfather of Edward J. Phelps, was an extensive landowner and was a representative in the general court of Connecticut. His son, John Phelps, was a Revolutionary war soldier, and became a wealthy and influential citizen of Litchfield, Connecticut.
Samuel Shethar Phelps, father of Edward John Phelps, was a man of great ability, and was in his day one of the most distinguished jurists and men of affairs in the state. As was remarked by the Rev. Dr. Mathew H. Buckham. "the list of important public offices held by him would seem to justify the scriptural name he bore, probably a family name in the Puritan times, Shethar, 'one of the wise men who knew law and judgment.'"* A graduate of Yale in 1811, he settled in Middlebury, Vermont, in 1812; was a member of the general assembly from 1821 to 1832, of the council of censors in 1827, and of the governor's council in 1831. He was judge of the state supreme court, 1831-38, United States senator, 1839-51, and was appointed to fill a vacancy in that body in 1853-54. On the bench he was held in the highest esteem for his ability, legal learning and integrity. In the halls of Congress, and before the people, in the bitterest days of the slavery agitation, he earnestly deprecated the measures adopted by the Freejoil party, and advocated a conservative and constitutional policy of non-interference with slavery. His wife was the widow of Francis Shurtliff, of Middlebury, and a woman of unusual beauty of person and character.

Simeon E. Baldwin, Edward J. Phelps The Green Bag 213-214 (1900)
He graduated from Middlebury College at age 18, and went on to study law at Yale University. He was admitted to the bar in 1843, and began the practice of law at Middlebury, but moved to Burlington in 1845.
Phelps served as the second comptroller of the United States Treasury from 1851 to 1853, and then practiced law in New York City until 1857, when he returned to Burlington.
In 1880, Phelps was the Democratic candidate for governor of Vermont. Phelps was a founder of the American Bar Association (ABA) and served as its president in 1880-1881. After his tenure as president of the ABA, Phelps taught law at Yale University as the Kent Professor of Law until his death. Phelps also lectured on medical jurisprudence at the University of Vermont, 1881-1883, and on Constitutional Law at Boston University, 1882-1883.
He served as minister to Great Britain from 1885 to 1889, and in 1893 as Senior Counsel for the United States before a Paris tribunal to adjudicate the Bering Sea controversy. Phelps died at New Haven, Connecticut. Source: Phelps
 
Grave photo by Barb Destromp Greenmount Cemetery Burlington Vermont, USA

From Harper's Weekly March 24, 1900
The Late E. J. Phelps EDWARD JOHN PHELPS, who died on March 9, at New Haven, came of exceptionally vigorous and effective American stock. The founder of the family in this country was William Phelps , colonist, Puritan, and justice of the first
court held in Connecticut, who came from England in 1630, and founded the town of Windsor in Connecticut. The list of his descendants who turned out to
be men of distinction is long and notable. One of them, Edward, was a member of the General Court of Connecticut in 1744-5, and a large landholder. His son John, a Revolutionary soldier, was the father of Samuel S. Phelps, jurist, member of Congress, and United States Senator from Vermont. He in turn was the father of Mr. Phelps who has just died.

Edward J. Phelps , born in Middlebury, Vermont, in 1822, was graduated at Middlebury College in 1840, spent a year at the Yale Law School, continued his law studies with Horatio Seymour, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. In 1845 he moved to Burlington, where he practised his profession. For about three years, until 1854, during President Fillmore's administration, he was the second Comptroller of the Currency. From that time until 1885, though active in public life as an orator and a lawyer, he held no public office, but devoted himself to law, and to services more or less closely allied to that profession. In 1880 he lectured on medical jurisprudence in the University of Vermont. In that year, too, he was president of the American Bar Association, and the unsuccessful candidate of the Vermont Democrats for Governor. In 1881 he became Kent Professor of Law at Yale.
Though a man of proved capacity and scholarship, and of wide and distinguished reputation as a lawyer, when President Cleveland, in 1885, appointed him minister to Great Britain he was not widely known outside of his profession, so that the appointment occasioned surprise. Its wisdom was amply justified. He proved an exceedingly competent, acceptable, and successful representative of the United States, and as a minister was very popular abroad, and sincerely respected by the more discriminating of his own countrymen. He, and his wife as well, during their stay in London, contributed in a very important degree to the work in which Mr. Lowell had preceded him, and which Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Bayard continued, of bringing the British and the American peoples into more cordial and sympathetic relations. It is on the marked success of his career in London that Mr. Phelps 's reputation as a public man chiefly rests. That success was attained by very solid qualities, of learning and character, joined to attractive personal traits, sound judgment as to men and the merits of disputed questions, and social gifts of unusual charm. When he came back from London, Mr. Phelps resumed work at Yale, where, in 1887, a professorship of law was established for him by Mr. J. S. Morgan. 


Leonard M. Daggett, The Yale Law School

He continued to perform its duties up to the time of the illness which ended his life, finding leisure also for various important writings on constitutional and governmental subjects, and for the expression of his views from time to time on pressing matters of public policy. In 1893 he was appointed senior counsel of the United States in the Bering Sea controversy, and made the closing argument for the American side before the Court of Arbitration in Paris. Later, as a distinguished American, his good offices were engaged to assist the settlement of the dispute which arose with Lord Dunraven over his attempt to capture the America's cup.

Mr. Phelps lived part of the year at New Haven, but never gave up his residence in Vermont. He strongly disliked wars, condemned Mr. Cleveland's Venezuela message, and opposed the war with Spain and the expansion policy which followed it. To the free-silver mania and the candidacy of Bryan he was also unalterably opposed from the start, so that the closing years of his life found him one of the considerable number of Democrats who were strongly disaffected to all existing political conditions. 

Edward John Phelps
[Between 1844 and 1860]
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D. C.

Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, in a 1953 talk to law students at the University of Virginia (which appears in a 1953 issue of the Virginia Law Review) recounts how Edward J. Phelps was expected to be named as a Justice of the Supreme Court:
When Chief Justice Waite died, if a poll had been taken among lawyers and judges to determine the choice of a successor, I don't suppose a single vote would have been cast for Melville W. Fuller, certainly outside Chicago. Indeed, he was not Grover Cleveland's first choice. It was widely believed that a man named Edward J. Phelps of Vermont would become Chief Justice. He was a leader of the bar. He was an eminent man. He'd been Minister to Great Britain. But 1888 was a time when the so-called Irish vote mattered more than it has mattered in more recent years. Edward J. Phelps, as has been true of other ministers and ambassadors to Great Britain, made some speeches in England in which he said some nice things, believe it or not, about the British people. Patrick Collins, a Democratic leader, the then mayor of Boston, felt that that wouldn't do. A man who says nice things about the British can't possibly make a good Chief Justice of the United States. And since Patrick Collins was a powerful influence in the Democratic party, he advised President Cleveland that if he sent Phelp's name to the Senate, the chances of confirmation might (not be very bright. Phelps's name was not sent to the Senate.

Felix Frankfurter, From Fuller to Stone—Chief Justices I Have Known, Supreme Court Historical Society Yearbook, 1980 Supreme Court
Harper's Weekly
April 4, 1885 (p. 222)
THE FOREIGN MINISTERS.

The successor of Mr. James Russell Lowell at the court of St. James is Mr. Edward J. Phelps, of Burlington, Vermont, a lawyer in the front rank, and a son of a Senator. Though several times the Democratic candidate for the Governorship of his State, Mr. Phelps never held public office until his confirmation as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Great Britain. His friends speak of his appointment as eminently fit; one of them, ex-Governor Holbrook , of Vermont, a stanch Republican, said to a reporter: "I think it is as good a Democratic appointment as could have been made in this country. He is a courteous gentleman of unquestioned ability and integrity, and a pleasing orator." Mr. Phelps bears a striking personal resemblance to Mr. William H. Vanderbilt. His manner is dignified and urbane,
his conversation abounds in wit, and his aptitude for social duties at the court of St. James is perfect. His lectures for the last two years before the law students of Yale College have been received with unusual attention, and no instructor connected with the institution is more popular or respected. He will do much toward preserving the fine traditions associated with the scholarly and cultivated Lowell. 

HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS.
  From the Vermonter Volume 4-5
The death of Hon. Edward J. Phelps removes from active life an illustrious American whose fame was world wide. His loss is mourned in two continents and universal regret is expressed in foreign courts as well as throughout our own country. Vermont is proud of her departed lawyer, statesman and diplomatist who won such marked distinction in professional circles and public life and whose career and services reflected so great credit on the Green Mountain State. Mr. Phelps was a man of courtly manner, of cultivated taste, of wide reading, of keen and independent judgment, a brilliant and accomplished speaker and an able writer.

Edward John Phelps, was born in Middlebury, Addison county, Vermont, June 11, 1S22. He was the son of Hon.. Samuel Sheathar Phelps, who graduated at Vale College in 1811; settled in Middlebury in 1S12; represented the town in the General Assembly, 1S21-32; was a member of the council of censors of Vermont, 1827; a member of the governor's council, 1831; Judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, 1S31-3S; and was United States senator, 1S39-51 and 1853-4. The family traces its lineage in the direct line from William Phelps, who emigrated from England to America in 1630; founded the town of Windsor, Connecticut; and was a magistrate, and an important member of the Connecticut Colony. Edward Phelps, the great grandfather of Edward J., was a large land-holder and a representative in the General Court of Connecticut. The grandfather of Edward J., John Phelps, was a wealthy citizen of Litchfield, Connecticut, and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The subject of this sketch entered Middlebury College at the age of fourteen years and graduated in 1840. Selecting the law as his profession he pursued legal studies at the Yale Law School, 1S42-43, and with Hon. Horatio Seymour of Middlebury. He was admitted to the Bar at the December term of the Addison county Court in 1S43, and commenced practice in Middlebury, removing thence in 1845 to Burlington, Vermont, which has since been his home. In 1S51 he accepted the office of second comptroller of the United States Treasury, unexpectedly tendered to him by President Fillmore, and held it throughout the remainder of Mr. Fillmore's administration, at the close of which he resigned it, though urged by President Pierce to retain it. Returning to Burlington he resumed practice and speedily attained a leading position, both as advocate and counsellor. lie was prominent as a counsel in the litigations of the Vermont railroads, which for over a quarter of a century largely occupied the attention of the State and Federal courts. He represented the city of Burlington in the constitutional convention of 1S70, which inaugurated the biennial system of elections, and made other important changes in the constitution of Vermont. In 1877 he presided with admirable grace and dignity at the centennial celebration of the Battle of Bennington, which was graced by the attendance of the President of the United States and many men of national distinction. In 1SS0 he received the unsolicited nomination of the Democratic party of Vermont for governor, and received a larger vote than has been cast for a Democratic candidate for that office in the last generation. In 1SS1 he accepted the Kent professorship of Law at Yale College, and in 1SS2 he was lecturer on constitutional law in the Boston University. He was president of the American Bar Association in 18S1. In 1SS5 the most important position in the diplomatic service, that of minister to the Court of St. James, was tendered by President Cleveland to Mr. Phelps, and was filled by him for four years with an ability and success that will be long remembered on both sides of the Atlantic. At the close of his term as minister to England Mr. Phelps resumed his chair at Yale University, devoting attention at times to a few important cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Phelps was selected at one time by President Cleveland for a place on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States; but the opposition of some leading Irish politicians to the appointment, and fear of losing the Irish vote in the approaching election, induced Mr. Cleveland to abandon his choice and give the place to another man. In 1893 he was by the appointment of President Harrison, one of the counsel for the United States before the Behring Sea Tribunal of Arbitration, at Paris, and made the leading argument for the United States government before that important tribunal. The letter of Mr. Phelps defining the issue between sound currency and free silver coinage, in the presidential campaign of 1896, was one of the chief factors in determining the result of the succeeding national election. Many of Mr. Phelps' addresses, legal arguments and important papers have been published, among which may be mentioned an address on "Chief Justice Marshall, and the Constitutional Law of his time," before the American Bar Association, 1S79; address on "Changes in Statute Law," before the same, 1881; "The Law of the Land," an address before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution, 1886; "Rights of American Fishermen and Construction of the Treaty with Great Britain," 1887; "Relation of Law to Justice," address before the South Carolina Bar Association, 1890; Oration at the Dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument, 1891; and "The Monroe Doctrine," address before the Brooklyn Institute of Aits and Sciences, 1896. He was the author of various magazine articles on constitutional and public questions and on literary topics.

He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws by Middlebury College in 1S87. Yale conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts in 1SS1. In 1887 the Edward J. Phelps professorship of law at Yale was endowed in his honor by J. S. Morgan.
Professor Phelps resided in New Haven only during the winter and spring terms of the college year, and claimed Vermont as his residence.
In August, 1S45, Mr. Phelps was married to Mary, daughter of Judge Stephen Haight of Burlington. Four children were born to them: Edward Haight, an eminent civil engineer, deceased; Francis Shurtleff, who died young; Mary Haight, wife of Horatio Loomis; and Charles Pierpoint Phelps, banker of Boston.
Mr. Phelps died in New Haven, Conn., March 9, of pneumonia. Funeral services were held in Battell Chapel,
March 11, President Dwight of Yale College officiating. The remains were subsequently taken to Burlington, where, on March 13, the last sad rites were observed at St. Paul's Church. Bishop A. C. A. Hall of the diocese of Vermont officiated, assisted by Rev. George Y. Bliss and Rev. Gemont Graves.

The honorary bearers were: Governor E. C. Smith. Gen. J. G. McCullough, of Bennington; Hon. B. F. Fifield, of Montpelier; President M. H. Buckham, Col. LeGrand B. Cannon, Prof. H. A. P. Torrey, Mayor Robert Roberts, Col. B. B. Smalley and John A. Arthur, of Burlington. Charles E. Allen, Esq., had charge of the arrangements. Judge Francis Wayland, dean of the Law School, and Prof. A. M. Wheeler represented Yale University.
The remains of the distinguished lawyer and diplomat were laid to rest in the Green Mount Cemetery, overlooking the beautiful Winooski valley and almost within the shadow of the monument erected in honor of Ethan Allen.

Poetry
Edward J. Phelps, "The Ballad of Essex Junction," in Paul S. Gillies, The Law and Vermont Literature: A Drive-By, 22 Vt. B.J. & L. Dig. 11, 12 (August, 1996)
Writings
J.G. McCullough (ed.), Orations & Essays of Edward John Phelps, Diplomat & Statesman (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1901)
Addresses
E. J. Phelps, The Law of the Land: Address Delivered Before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institution at the Opening of Its Session November 1886 (London: Harris & Sons, 1887)
_________, A Sketch of the Life and Character of Charles Lindsay: Read Before the Vermont Historical Society (Albany, New York: J. Munsell, 1866)
_________, Address on the Life and Public Serrvices of the Hon. Samuel Prentiss: Delivered Before the Vermont Historical Society, at Montpelier, Oct. 26, 1882 (Montpelier: Watchman & Journal Press, 1883)
_________, International Relations: Address Before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University June 29, 1889 (Burlington: Free Press Association, 1889) 
Bibliography
Matthew H. Buckham, The Life and Public Services of Edward John Phelps; an address delivered before the Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings (Burlington, Vermont, 1901)
Francis Parsons, Six Men of Yale (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1939)

Thomas Davenport Inventor & Genealogy

I am adding this post compiled from several sources for My Davenport Group 
Thomas Davenport, inventor, was born in Williamstown, Vt., July 9, 1802; son of Daniel and Hannah (Rice) Davenport Collection Papers a descendant in direct line of the Davenport family conspicuous in the early annals of the New Haven Colony and Thomas Davenport of Dorchester, MA  His father died in 1812, and in 1816 Thomas was apprenticed to a blacksmith with whom he continued until 1823. He acquired his education by committing to memory the contents of a few books as he worked at the forge. He began business for himself in Brandon, Vt., in 1823 and in 1827 he was married to Emily Goss, (pic below) a great-granddaughter of Jonathan Carver, the celebrated American traveller.

In 1833 his attention was drawn to the subject of electro-magnetism by witnessing an exhibition of the power of one of Professor Henry's electro-magnets, at the Penfield iron works, Crown Point, N.Y. He purchased the magnet and on his return home began experimenting. With his one magnet as a model he constructed a number of others, and in a few months, by laboriously working out the principle, common to every successful electric-motor, of repeated changes of magnetic poles, he succeeded in moving a wheel about seven inches in diameter at the rate of thirty revolutions per minute. He improved his invention until he produced a much larger machine which ran with great rapidity, and which he exhibited in 1835 at the Rensselaer institute in Troy, and at the Franklin institute in Philadelphia. Soon afterward he built a small circular railway, the first electric railway on record, which he exhibited in several cities.

In 1837 his invention was patented, and a company was formed in New York city for the manufacture of electro-magnetic engines and the prosecution of further experiments. By the dishonesty of an agent the company failed, and from his own slender resources he continued his experiments. In 1840 he began the publication of a paper called The ElectroMagnet, printed on a press propelled by one of his electric machines. The want of pecuniary means compelled him to suspend operations and in 1842 he returned with his family to his home in Brandon, Vt. Up to 1842 he had built over a hundred machines of different styles and construction. His only source of power was the primary battery and he had practically accomplished all that could be done, until the dynamo came into use forty years later.


                                                    Picture  Thomas Davenport Marker 
In the course of the eighteen years of his labors Davenport's experiments covered a wide field. He early discovered that power might be transmitted to a distance by a wire, and he sent telegraphic messages long before he had ever heard of Professor Morse, whose acquaintance he afterward made in New York. He discovered the helix principle, built some engines on that principle, and had it patented in England. After his return to Vermont he removed to a farm in Salisbury, where he began experimenting in sound as affected by the electric current. He applied the current to the strings of a piano, thus prolonging the tones at the will of the player. For this invention he had just filed his caveat in the U.S. patent office when he was stricken with his last illness. His greatest work, however, was the rotary electric motor, of which Franklin L. Pope in the Electrical Engineer (1896) said: "If this [Davenport's] patent, which expired in February, 1851, were in force today, it is not too much to say that upon a fair judicial construction of its claim, every successful motor now running would be embraced within its scope." Mr. Davenport died in Salisbury, Vt., July 6, 1851.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor
From Mr H S Davenport, nephew of Thomas Davenport
"Many of his models never left his shop and were but little known even at the time of their construction. They were only made to show to how many uses the power could be applied, and also to work from on a larger scale, if he could get pecuniary aid to do so. The different models which interested me most, at .the several times I was in his shop, were a trip-hammer, a turning lathe and a machine for doubling, twisting and reeling cotton or silk, all at the same time. A circular frame fitted with two intersecting tracks, on which four miniature cork images glided around, he called his "puppet-show." He was naturally of a retiring disposition, but when waked up was very strong in argument. His two favorite subjects were nature and electro-magnetism. He considered magnetism the most important element in the creation of the universe and thought it would be, in its destruction. Magnetism kept the heavenly bodies in their places, and if that failed everything would be turned to chaos. He could see in every rock of the earth the battery of which it was composed. So also in the animal kingdom, the bones, muscles, and blood constituted a complete battery, which exercised a repulsive or attractive force with respect to another organism of the same kind. He was a great lover of fun and exceedingly fond of a joke. On one occasion he received an order from a party in Chicago for half-a-dozen bottles of electricity. He said he knew by the tenor of the letter that it was intended as a joke, and he accordingly replied that he bottled up his wrath for such would-be ignoramuses as he was, but had no electricity for him."

This image shows about two dozen people at the Thomas Davenport Memorial tablet. There are several buildings in the background of the photograph. See HO189 - HO191 for more photos of the tablet. This a treelined street with a sidewalk. There is a car parked on the street. There is a stack of lumber in the foreground.

                                                       From The Indicator Otis
The Vermont Blacksmith Who Invented the Electric Motor
In the little hamlet of Forestdale, Vermont, sixty years ago, one Thomas Davenport made the green hills ring with the rhythmic blows of his hammer on the anvil as he labored as a blacksmith in the most humble circumstances. Only a few weeks ago several of the foremost electrical men of the day. representing the greatest electrical society in the country, and a large number of New Englanders, gathered at the little mountain village to honor the site of the old blacksmith shop, for it was there that Davenport began his electrical discoveries which brought about the motor as we know it today.

Thomas Davenport was born in Williamstown in 1802 and his untimely death occurred at the age of 49 years. Davenport's father died when the lad was barely ten years old and at the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to the blacksmith trade at Forestdale, three miles from Brandon, Vermont. The boy's education was very meager but one day he chanced upon a few scraps from a scientific work treating with the "galvanic magnet" of Henry, and soon after this he secured a magnet and made a battery of his own.
In one corner of the little blacksmith shop Davenport set up a bench for his little laboratory. Here he began his first experiments with electricity which were later to make his name famous throughout the world. From the first his struggles were pathetic and bitter.
Poverty stood as a gigantic barrier between him and success, and upon one occasion it was necessary for his young wife to sacrifice her silk wedding dress to supply insulating material for the new motor. It was a Heavenborn flash of insight which revealed to the young inventor the availability of power from an electro-magnetic source; and, although he had to work entirely with batteries, the generator being still undiscovered, his success in this field was truly wonderful.
When Davenport came upon the scene Faraday and Henry had already done their great work and the principles of the electric generator and the electric motor had been clearly perceived and enunciated. Yet there were no real motors before Davenport's time, and had the dynamo been known his work would have been carried to instant fruition. Davenport and others much later failed because they had no ready source of cheap power, and because the reversibility of the motor was unknown. Energy produced by battery is at least twenty times as costly as that produced by coal through the medium of a steam engine and dynamo. All the electrical parts except telegraphy were held back by the absence of cheap power. When Davenport told the great Joseph Henry that he proposed to build his motors up to one horsepower, the cautious philosopher warned him to "go slow," and hinted that electricity could not compete with steam. 

While a few termed the inventor a crazy crank to try to harness lightning, he was most ably supported by such men as Professor Turner, of Middlebury College; Mr. Ransom Cook, of Saratoga Springs; Mr. Orange A. Smalley, of Forestdale; President Eaton, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; General Van Rensselaer, of Troy; and Prof. Joseph Henry.It was in the corner of the old blacksmith shop that Davenport produced the first successful electric motor, and even before Vermont had a mile of steam railroad Davenport was successfully operating a model electric road which ran on a circular track, the embryo of the magnificent electric railways of today. 


Davenport's minature electric railway was almost a perfect model of the railway systems now in use. He advocated the central station methods of developing power, using the rails for the return circuit and the motor drive. Ill luck, however, seemed to pursue the inventor to the very day of his death. From Vermont he moved to New York to be nearer the financial centers, for he sorely needed money to carry out his experiments and inventions. Once all his models and apparatus were destroyed by fire and at another time they were lost in a shipwreck. Davenport tried by every known method to raise money for his work. He gave exhibitions and lectured and finally established the first electrical technical journal which was even printed by electricity.
Broken in health and in dire poverty he returned to his native state where he died July 6th, 1851.
Living he struggled against adversity, dying he had not a dollar to his name and for many years his very name was almost forgotten while the entire world was enjoying the fruits of his years of toil and study. Today this modest simple son of Vermont stands forth as one of greatest inventors the world ever saw.—Electric News Service.  Thomas Davenport Grave Pine Hill Cemetery Vermont 


Frances Burchard Wadhams, daughter of William Luman and Emeline Loretta (Cole) Wadhams, was born 2 November, 1838, in Wadhams Mills, N. Y. She was educated at a private school in Essex, N. Y., and at the Smith and Converse Female Seminary in Burlington, Vermont. She married 2 August, 1860, George Daniel Davenport, of Salisbury, Vt. He was born in Brandon, Vt., 22 July, 1832, son of Thomas and Emily (Goss) DavenportPicture of George Daniel Davenport Grave @ Pine Hill Cemetery Vermont

George D. Davenport was prepared for college in Brandon, Vt.. and entered Middlebury College in 1852, graduating in 1856. During his college years he spent his vacations in teaching, and continued in this vocation after graduation. He entered the service of the Government as a volunteer in theFifth Vermont Regiment in 1861, enlisting as Orderly Sergeant of his Company. He was soon promoted to a Lieutenancy, and then to the Captaincy of the same Company. With his regiment, he served in the Army of the Potomac with the Sixth Corps. In the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, he received a wound from which he died on the 12th of the same month. He was an able officer and a brave soldier. During the Civil War, Mrs. Davenport lived in Washington, D. C., and was frequently with her husband in camp.

GEORGE DANIEL DAVENPORT, son of Thomas and Emily (Goss) Davenport. Born in Brandon, Vt., July 22, 1832. Prepared for College in Brandon Academy. Principal, Academy, Sherbrooke, Canada, 1857-1858. Professor in Church School for Boys, Hamden, Conn., 1859-1860. Private, Company H, Fifth Regiment, Vermont Volunteers, Sept. 2, 1861; First Sergeant, Sept. 16, 1861; First Lieutenant, Company G, Nov. 22, 1861; Captain, Company B, Dec. 2, 1862-1864. Married Frances Birchard Wadhams, Aug. 2, 1860. Delta Kappa Epsilon. — A. B.[class of 1856] Died on the field from wounds received in the battle of the Wilderness, May 12, 1864. (from the Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont 1800-1915, compiled by Edgar J. Wiley, pub. by Middlebury College, 1917)

Willard Goss Davenport (pic below) born May 9, 1843 died Oct. 14, 1919 in Detroit, Michigan married Mary C. Backus Davenport (1849 - 1931) daughter of Charles Backus and Mary Palmer Mansfield Davenport



The Rector of Emmanuel Parish, Rev. Willard G. Davenport, fought in the Fifth Regiment of Vermont
From Vermont Historical Society
At the close of Dr. Buckham's address, the President of the Society introduced Rev. Willard G. Davenport, as follows:
We are now to listen to a sketch of the life of a Vermonter too little known to fame, though as we shall see, he is entitled to a place in the list of the World's great inventors. I am glad that this Society may have a part in the endeavor to rescue his name from the comparative obscurity which outside of a limited circle has rested upon it. He had two sons who marched to the front in 1861, when the best young life and blood of our State was hurrying to the front to form the living wall which guarded the Union from disruption. One of these, Captain George Davenport of the 5th Vermont, was killed in the bloody battle of the Wilderness. The other, Lieut. W. G. Davenport, was wounded once at Fredericksburg and again in the battle of the Wilderness. After the close of the war he took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and is now the worthy rector of the Church of that denomination in Anacostia, D. C. I have the honor to introduce to you Rev. Mr. Davenport. After Mr. Davenport had finished the reading of his paper, the following resolutions were offered:
By Hon. B. F. Fifield:
Resolved, That the Vermont Historical Society express to Matthew H. Buckham, President of our University, its sincere appreciation of his able, scholarly and discriminating address on the character and work of the late Edward J. Phelps and request him to supply a copy of his address for the purpose of its publication in the Proceedings of the Society.
By F. W. Baldwin Esq.:
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be and hereby are given to the Rev. Willard G. Davenport for his original and valuable contribution, not only to our local history but also to the history of invention and of science ; and that he be requested, with a view to its publication in the Proceedings, to supply the Society with a copy of his paper on the work of Thomas Davenport of Brandon.
By Mr. J. C. Houghton:
Resolved: That the President appoint a Committee of two members to secure the necessary resolution from the Legislature, now sitting, for the publication of the Proceedings of the Society, including the Address by President Buckham on Edward J. Phelps and the paper by the Rev. Willard G. Davenport on Thomas Davenport of Brandon.


George William Davenport, clergyman; b. Brandon, Vt., Aug. 14, 1870; s. Willard Goss and Mary Converse (Backus) Davenport: ed. Washington (D.C.) High Sch., St. Paul's High Sch., Baltimore, Md.; Hobart Coll.. Geneva, N.Y.; Gen. Theol. Sem., New York: m. Brandon, Vt.. Sept. 24, 1897, Jennie Piatt Briggs. Deacon, 1893, priest, 1896, Episcopal Ch.; in charge St. John the Baptist Ch., Baltimore, 1896; curate St. Matthew's Ch., New York, 1896-7; rector Ch. of the Resurrection, Richmond Hill. N.Y., 1897-1900, Ch. of the Redeemer, Astoria, N.Y., 1900-3, St. James Ch., Danbury, Conn., since 1903; chaplain Coast Arty., C.N.G.: mem. Sch. Bd., Danbury. Republican. Mason. Home: Fairview Av., Danbury, Conn. From Who's who in New England: A Biographical Dictionary of Leading Living Men and Women of the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut 

Photos from Vermont Historical Society
From William B. Davenport -- Kit # 7181 Thomas of Dorchester Line

Thomas Davenport (abt. 1615 England - 1665 MA) & Mary (abt. 1620 - 1691 MA)

Charles Davenport (1652 MA - 1720 MA) & Waitstill Smith (1658 MA - 1747 MA)
Thomas Davenport (1695 MA - ?) & Mary Woodward (1695 MA - ?)
Lemuel Davenport (1739 CT - 1818 VT) & Deborah Barrows (1739 MA - ?)
Daniel Davenport  (1764 MA - 1812 VT) & Hannah Rice (1767 VT - 1844 VT)
Amos Davenport (1793 VT - 1863 VT) & Lauretta Stockwell (1797 VT - 1885 VT)
George Davenport (1822 VT - 1912 VT) & Eleanor Smith (1830 VT - 1907 VT)

Birge Walter Davenport (1861 VT - 1939 MN) & Wilhelmina G. Swanson (1869 Norway - 1924 MN

Sunday, December 15, 2013

John Wheelwright - Sidney Sussex, Cambridge - helped found Exeter, NH and Wells, Maine

A Great Share from John Tepper Martin writer, publisher, economic consultant and teacher about how govt economic policies and global business trends interact at the U.S. and local level. He is also Principal of CityEconomist and Publisher of Boissevain Books LLC. Melissa Berry included some links and pictures.

I have been hard at work looking for and seeking to aggregate the contributions of Oxford and Cambridge alumni to the pre-Revolutionary (colonial) era in the United States.
So far I have much information on Oxonians from the states between Florida and New York, and little on the Cambridge contingent. But the Cambridge alums, thin on the ground, mostly settled in the New England area, which helps fill in the lack of data on the contributions of Oxonians on the New England colonies..

John Harvard, of course, gave his library to help start the college after which he is named. My general observation is that the Cambridge colonists tended to be more disputatious, and had a difficult time of it. They say that Cambridge tended to grow martyrs and Oxford did them in. Certainly Rev. John Wheelwright was an outspoken person of the kind (Socrates, Jesus, the Apostles) whose lives are ended by the people in charge. I say that in admiration.

(Oxford men, and before the American Revolution they were of course all men, tend to live and die -- whether or not they visit their properties in North America -- comfortably. The Oxonians who played a part in the formation of the United States tended to be concentrated in the eight colonies between New York and Florida, and in many cases they started by owning the whole colony or a big piece of it.)

John Wheelwright (c.1592–1679) was an alumnus of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He helped found Exeter, NH and Wells, Maine, thereby covering two more colonies/states. He was also a figure of note in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  Genealogy on Wheelwright & family

As a controversial Puritan clergyman, Wheelwright helped establish religious liberty in all the colonies by bravely asserting his dissent from conventional doctrines of the day. He was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over the issue of faith vs. good works, during the era that includes the "Antinomian Controversy".   See Diary of Anne Hutchinson
The minority view, espoused by John Wheelwright and his brother-in-law's wife Anne Hutchinson, following Reverend John Cotton, was that one can be saved only by grace (not solely by one's own effort but through the grace of God). They believed that the "covenant of grace" means that common rules of morality are not binding. In simplest terms -- someone with faith will not go to hell for something he/she does or fails to do. Faith prevails over good works. The contrary view is that deeds matter, that faith is not enough and that one must earn one's place in heaven by good works.

On April 3, 1638, Rev. John Wheelwright signed a deed with the Squamscott tribesmen, effectively creating the Town of Exeter, New Hampshire.From Exeter Historical Society 




Wheelwright's bravery helped make the colonies a place where dissent was permitted.

Born in Lincolnshire, England, to a well-off family, Wheelwright earned the B.A. (and after some years, the M.A.) degree at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge where he excelled in sports. Oliver Cromwell was a college contemporary, something that proved useful for a few years many years later when Wheelwright returned to England for a visit.

After being ordained in 1619, Wheelwright became vicar of the parish in Bilsby, Lincolnshire until 1629, when he was removed for the sin of “simony” (after Simon Magus, who was accused of this during the time of the Apostles), i.e., selling sacred things such as church positions.

So in 1636, the same year another Cambridge man was helping to start up Harvard College, Wheelwright left New England for friendlier faces in Boston, where his brother-in-law's wife, Anne Hutchinson, was getting noticed. He joined Hutchinson as a follower of Rev. John Cotton and his "covenant of grace" theology, by which one is saved by grace alone. Under attack by other Puritans, they charged that the colony's clergy and government officials were guilty of espousing a "covenant of works", i.e., a belief that people can be saved by good works alone, without faith.

From Marker #32 Revolutionary Capital 



Since Hutchinson and Wheelwright were in a minority, it will be no surprise that they were banished from the Massachusetts Bay colony by the religious and civil authorities they attacked. Anne Hutchinson went to Rhode Island, where she founded the town of Portsmouth, where I went to school in 1955-1958. Wheelwright and some followers voyaged north with their possessions during the winter of 1637–1638. In April 1638 they established the town of Exeter in what was then the Province of New Hampshire. However, Massachusetts authorities kept hounding him, and activated a claim on the lands where his group had established their community. Wheelwright had to move on to Wells, Maine.

Wheelwright's order of banishment was eventually retracted. He moved his community to Hampton, then part of Massachusetts and later part of New Hampshire. In 1654 his followers helped him get the complete vindication from the Massachusetts Court.

Headstone Maine Memory