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Friday, February 28, 2014

The Jacobs Family & Salem Witch Trials 1692

From The Archives Salem Witch Trials


Warrant v. George Jacobs Sr.
To: The Constables in Salem.
You are in theire Majests names hereby required to apprehend and forthwith bring before vs. George Jacobs Sr of Salem, And Margaret Jacobs the daughter of George Jacobs Junr of Salem Singlewoman Who stand accused of high suspicion of sundry acts of witchcraft by them both Committed on sundry persons in Salem to theire great wrong and Jnjury and hereof faile not. Dated Salem May 10th. 1692.

From Salem Town Records, Volume II, page 269
Pasture of the Northfield Men. This tract of common land was leased for one thousand years to John Green, John Leach (son of Richard Leach) and John Bachilder, all of Salem, Feb. 1, 1677.1 John Tompkins, John
Waters, sr., John Foster and George Jacobs, all of Salem, husbandmen, appear to have been the owners in 1677.1 Though it is probable that some division of this tract of land was made in fact, a legal partition was not made until March 2, 1707, when John Leach, Samuel Leach, John Batchelder, Jonathan Batchelder, Josiah Batchelder, John Foster, John Waters, Richard Waters, Nathaniel Tompkins, Joseph Jacobs (in behalf of his father George Jacobs) and Samuel Foster agreed to divide it.2 This was done March 27, 1708.

From SALEM WITCHCRAFT
With an Account of Salem Village and A History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects

No account has come to us of the deportment of George Jacobs, Sr., (c.1620–1692) at his execution. As he was remarkable in life for the firmness of his mind, so he probably was in death. He had made his will before the delusion arose. It is dated Jan. 29, 1692; and shows that he, like Procter, had a considerable estate. Bartholomew Gedney is one of the attesting witnesses, and probably wrote the document. After his conviction, on the 12th of August, he caused another to be written, which, in its provisions, reflects light upon the state of mind produced by the condition in which he found himself. In his infirm old age, he had been condemned to die for a crime of which he knew himself innocent, and which there is some reason to believe he did not think any one capable of committing. He regarded the whole thing as a wicked conspiracy and absurd fabrication. He had to end his long life upon a scaffold in a week from that day. His house was desolated, and his property sequestered. His only son, charged with the same crime, had eluded the sheriff,—leaving his family, in the hurry of his flight, unprovided for—and was an exile in foreign lands. The crazy wife of that son was in prison and in chains, waiting trial on the same charge; her little children, including an unweaned infant, left in a deserted and destitute condition in the woods. The older children were scattered, he knew not where, while one of them had completed the bitterness of his lot by becoming a confessor, upon being arrested with her mother as a witch. This grand-daughter, Margaret, overwhelmed with fright and horror, bewildered by the statements of the accusers, and controlled probably by the arguments and arbitrary methods of address employed by her minister, Mr. Noyes,—whose peculiar function in these proceedings seems to have been to drive persons accused to make confession—had been betrayed into that position, and became a confessor, and accuser of others. Under these circumstances, the old man made a will, giving to his son George his estates, and securing the succession of them to his male descendants. But, in the mean while, without his then knowing it, Margaret had recalled her confession, as appears from the following documents, which tell their own story:—

"The Humble Declaration of Margaret Jacobs unto the Honored Court now sitting at Salem showeth, that, whereas your poor and humble declarant, being closely confined here in Salem jail for the crime of witchcraft,—which crime, thanks be to the Lord! I am altogether ignorant of, as will appear at the great day of judgment,—may it please the honored Court, I was cried out upon by some of the possessed persons as afflicting them; whereupon I was brought to my examination; which persons at the sight of me fell down, which did very much startle and affright me. The Lord above knows I knew nothing in the least measure how or who afflicted them. They told me, without doubt I did, or else they would not fall down at me; they told me, if I would not confess, I should be put down into the dungeon, and would be hanged, but, if I would confess, I should have my life: the which did so affright me, with my own vile, wicked heart, to save my life, made me make the like confession I did, which confession, may it please the honored Court, is altogether false and untrue. The very first night after I had made confession, I was in such horror of conscience that I could not sleep, for fear the Devil should carry me away for telling such horrid lies. I was, may it please the honored Court, sworn to my confession, as I understand since; but then, at that time, was ignorant of it, not knowing what an oath did mean. The Lord, I hope, in whom I trust, out of the abundance of his mercy, will forgive me my false forswearing myself. What I said was altogether false against my grandfather and Mr. Burroughs, which I did to save my life, and to have my liberty: but the Lord, charging it to my conscience, made me in so much horror, that I could not contain myself before I had denied my confession, which I did, though I saw nothing but death before me; choosing rather death with a quiet conscience, than to live in such horror, which I could not suffer. Where, upon my denying my confession, I was committed to close prison, where I have enjoyed more felicity in spirit, a thousand times, than I did before in my enlargement. And now, may it please Your Honors, your declarant having in part given Your Honors a description of my condition, do leave it to Your Honors' pious and judicious discretions to take pity and compassion on my young and tender years, to act and do with me as the Lord above and Your Honors shall see good, having no friend but the Lord to plead my cause for me; not being guilty, in the least measure, of the crime of witchcraft, nor any other sin that deserves death from man. And your poor and humble declarant shall for ever pray, as she is bound in duty, for Your Honors' happiness in this life, and eternal felicity in the world to come. So prays Your Honors' declarant,

Margaret Jacobs."

The following letter was written by this same young person to her father. Let it be observed that her grandfather had been executed the day before, partly upon her false testimony.

"From the Dungeon in Salem Prison.

"August 20, 1692.

"Honored Father,—After my humble duty remembered to you, hoping in the Lord of your good health, as, blessed be God! I enjoy, though in abundance of affliction, being close confined here in a loathsome dungeon: the Lord look down in mercy upon me, not knowing how soon I shall be put to death, by means of the afflicted persons; my grandfather having suffered already, and all his estate seized for the king. The reason of my confinement is this: I having, through the magistrates' threatenings, and my own vile and wretched heart, confessed several things contrary to my conscience and knowledge, though to the wounding of my own soul; (the Lord pardon me for it!) but, oh! the terrors of a wounded conscience who can bear? But, blessed be the Lord! he would not let me go on in my sins, but in mercy, I hope, to my soul, would not suffer me to keep it any longer: but I was forced to confess the truth of all before the magistrates, who would not believe me; but it is their pleasure to put me in here, and God knows how soon I shall be put to death. Dear father, let me beg your prayers to the Lord on my behalf, and send us a joyful and happy meeting in heaven. My mother, poor woman, is very crazy, and remembers her kind love to you, and to uncle; viz., D.A. So, leaving you to the protection of the Lord, I rest, your dutiful daughter, Margaret Jacobs."

A temporary illness led to the postponement of her trial; and, before the next sitting of the Court, the delusion had passed away.
The "uncle D.A.," referred to, was Daniel Andrew, their nearest neighbor, who had escaped at the same time with her father. She calls him "uncle." He was, it is probable, a brother of John Andrew who had married Ann Jacobs, sister of her father. Words of relationship were then used with a wide sense.
Margaret read the recantation of her confession before the Court, and was, as she says, forthwith ordered by them into a dungeon. She obtained permission to visit Mr. Burroughs the day before his execution, acknowledged that she had belied him, and implored his forgiveness. He freely forgave, and prayed with her and for her. It is probable, that, at the same time, she obtained an interview with her grandfather for the same purpose. At any rate, the old man heard of her heroic conduct, and forthwith crowded into the space between two paragraphs in his will, in small letters closely written (the jailer probably being the amanuensis), a clause giving a legacy of "ten pounds to be paid in silver" to his grand-daughter, Margaret Jacobs. There is the usual declaration, that it "was inserted before sealing and signing." This will having been made after conviction and sentence to death, and having but two witnesses, one besides the jailer, was not allowed in Probate, but remains among the files of that Court. As a link in the foregoing story, it is an interesting relic. The legacy clause, although not operative, was no doubt of inexpressible value to the feelings of Margaret: and the circumstance seems to have touched the heart even of the General Court, nearly twenty years afterwards; for they took pains specifically to provide to have the same sum paid to Margaret, out of the Province treasury.



She was not tried at the time appointed, in consequence, it is stated, of "an imposthume in the head," and finally escaped the fate to which she chose to consign herself, rather than remain under a violated conscience. In judging of her, we cannot fail to make allowance for her "young and tender years," and to sympathize in the sufferings through which she passed. In making confession, and in accusing others, she had done that which filled her heart with horror, in the retrospect, so long as she lived. In recanting it, and giving her body to the dungeon, and offering her life at the scaffold, she had secured the forgiveness of Mr. Burroughs and her aged grandfather, and deserves our forgiveness and admiration. Every human heart must rejoice that this young girl was saved. She lived to be a worthy matron and the founder of a numerous and respectable family.

George Jacobs, Sr., is the only one, among the victims of the witchcraft prosecutions, the precise spot of whose burial is absolutely ascertained.

The tradition has descended through the family, that the body, after having been obtained at the place of execution, was strapped by a young grandson on the back of a horse, brought home to the farm, and buried beneath the shade of his own trees. Two sunken and weather-worn stones marked the spot. There the remains rested until 1864, when they were exhumed. They were enclosed again, and reverently redeposited in the same place. The skull was in a state of considerable preservation. An examination of the jawbones showed that he was a very old man at the time of his death, and had previously lost all his teeth. The length of some parts of the skeleton showed that he was a very tall man. These circumstances corresponded with the evidence, which was that he was tall of stature; so infirm as to walk with two staffs; with long, flowing white hair. The only article found, except the bones, was a metallic pin, which might have been used as a breastpin, or to hold together his aged locks. It is an observable fact, that he rests in his own ground still. He had lived for a great length of time on that spot; and it remains in his family and in his name to this day, having come down by direct descent. It is a beautiful locality: the land descends with a gradual and smooth declivity to the bank of the river. It is not much more than a mile from the city of Salem, and in full view from the main road.

From New England Magazine Volume 6

                                   Site of Beadle Tavern

The Jacobs Family. The history of the Jacobs family in connection with the witchcraft persecutions is peculiarly interesting. George Jacobs, Sr., George Jacobs, Jr., and his wife Rebecca and daughter Margaret, were all accused. The old man must have been about seventy years of age or more, for he had long, flowing white hair. He lived on a farm in what was then known as Xorthfields, and in Salem rather than Salem Village, but on territory now included in the town of Danvers.
The exact site was near the mouth of Endicott or Cow House River, the first of the three rivers one crosses in driving from Salem to Danvers. Jacobs was evidently a man of some property, and probably a good average citizen; but, like most of the others who fell under suspicion of witchcraft, and for that matter, many of their neighbors, he had had a little trouble which brought him into court. The records show that in 1677 he was fined for striking a man. His son, George, Jr., three years earlier, was sued by Nathaniel Putnam to recover the value of some horses that he had chased into the river, where they were drowned. The court found against Jacobs. On the tenth day of May, 1692, Hathorne and Corwin issued a warrant "to the constable of Salem," directing him to apprehend George Jacobs, Sr., of Salem, and Margaret Jacobs, daughter of George Jacobs, Jr., of Salem, single woman. On the same day, Joseph Neal, " constable for Salem," returned that he had apprehended the bodies of George Jacobs, Sr., and Margaret Jacobs. They were taken to Salem that day, and the examination of the old man was begun at once.


After some preliminary questions and the usual " sufferings" of the afflicted, the report continues, Jacobs saying:

"1 am as innocent as the child born tonight. I have lived 33 years here in Salem. "What then? —If you can prove that I am guilty I will lye under it. Sarah Churchill said, last night I was afflicted at Deacon Ingersoll's, and Mary Walcott said, it was a man with 2 staves. It was my master.

"Pray do not accuse me. I am as clear as your worships. You must do right judgements. "What book did he bring you, Sarah? —The same book that the other woman brought. "The devil can go in any shape. "Did he not appear on the other side of the river and hurt you? Did not you see him? — Yes, he did.

"Look there, she accuseth you to your face, she chargeth you that you hurt her twice. Is it not true? — What would you have me say? I never wronged no man in word nor deed.

"Here are 3 evidences. — You tax me for a wizzard. You may as well tax me for a buzzard. I have done no harm.

"Is it not harm to afflict these?—I never did it. "But how comes it to be in your appearance? — The devil can take any license.


"Not without their consent.— Please your worships, it is untrue, I never showed the book I am silly about these things as the child born last night.

"That is your saying. You argue you have lived so long, but what then, Cain might (have) lived so long before he killed Abel and you might live long before the devil had so prevailed on you. — Christ hath suffered 3 times for me.

"What three times? — He suffered the cross and gal —

"You had as good confess (said Sarah Churchill) if you are guilty.

"Have you heard that I have any witchcraft?

"I know that you lead a wicked life.

"Let her make it out."Doth he ever pray in his family?

"Not unless by himself.

"Why do you not pray in your family?—I cannot read.

"Well you may pray for all that. Can you say the Lord's prayer? Let us hear you.

"He might [missed?] in several parts of it & could not repeat it right after many trials.

"Sarah Churchill, when you wrote in the book you was showed your master's name you said. — Yes sirr.



Trask House

"Well, burn me or hang me I will stand in the truth of Christ. I know nothing of it."

This examination, begun on the 10th, was suspended for some reason before completion, and finished on the nth. On that day the accusing girls were present in full force. Among them was Sarah Churchill, who gave positive evidence against the prisoner. Subsequently, Sarah Ingersoll deposed.

"That seeing Sarah Churchill after her examination, she came to me crying, and wringing her hands, seemingly much troubled in spirit. I asked her what ailed her. She answered she had undone herself. I asked in what. She said in belying herself and others in saying she had set her hand to the devil's book whereas she said she never did. I told her I believed she had set her hand to the book. She answered and said, no, no, no. I never, I never did. I asked her then what made her say she did. She answered because they threatened her, and told her they would put her into the dungeon and put her along with Mr. Burroughs, and thus several times she followed me up and down telling me she had undone herself, in belying herself and others. I asked her why she did not deny she wrote it. She told me because she had stood out so long in it, that now she durst not. She said, also, that if she told Mr. Noyes but once she had set her hand to the book, he would believe her, but if she told


the truth, and said she had not set her hand to the book a hundred times he would not believe her."

George Herrick testified that in May he went to the jail and searched the body of Jacobs. He found a tett under the right shoulder a quarter of an inch long. He ran a pin through it, but "there was neither water, blood, nor corruption, nor any other matter, and so we make return." The following document is also among the papers:

"wee whose names are under written having received an order from ye sreife to search ye bodyes of George Burroughs and George Jacobs wee find nothing upon ye body of ye above sayd Burroughs but wt is naturall but upon ye body of George Jacobs wee find 3 tetts wch according to ye best of our judgements wee think is not naturall for wee run a pinn through 2 of ym and he was not sincible of it one of them being within his mouth upon ye inside of his right cheak and 2d upon his right shoulder blade and a 3d upon his right hipp. Ed Welch sworne John Flint jurat Will Gill sworne Tom West sworne Zeb Gill jurat Sam Morgan sworne John Bare jurat. demnation the sheriff's officers went to his house and seized all his goods, and even took his wife's wedding ring. The jury found Jacobs guilty, and he was sentenced to the gallows, and executed on August 19.' After his con1 Jacobs was buried on his farm in Danversport, where his grave may be seen at this day. The remains were exhumed about 1864. examined, and redeposited in the earth, where they had lain for nearly two centuries.

In the mean time, warrants were issued, on May 14, for George Jacobs, Jr.




Site of John Procter's House, Peabody. and his wife Rebecca Jacobs escaped. When the constables took Rebecca she had four young children in her home. Some of them followed her on the road, but being too young to continue far, they were left behind, and cared for by the neighbors. Rebecca Jacobs was kept in irons eight months, then indicted and brought to trial on January 3, 1693. She was promptly acquitted. In the mean time touching petitions had been presented to the chief justice by the mother, and to Governor Phips, praying for her release. They were of no avail. The woman was kept in a dungeon, half fed and uncared for beyond what was necessary to sustain life, through the long winter months. Her treatment was in keeping with that of other victims. In cruelty and barbarity it must be frankly said that it finds parallel only in the acts of the savages of the forests.
Margaret Jacobs, to save herself from punishment, acknowledged that she was a witch and testified against her grandfather, and also against Mr. Burroughs. Find a Grave by Nareen


Isles of Shoals Tragedy 1902 Oceanic Hotel Star Island

Photo permission of R Stearns Family Collection Note Not for Copy
 
The day before the incident The Portsmouth Herald printed "the drowning season is at hand" (July 16 1902) Picture from Saturday, July 19, 1902 Paper: Boston Herald (Boston, MA) Page: 12

From A chronicle of the history of the Shoals with many photographs from a former UNH Special Collections librarian Rutledge, Lyman V. The Isles of Shoals in Lore and Legend. Barre, MA: Barre Publishers, 1965; Boston: Star Island Corporation, 1971. Also see Vaughn Cottage

Two photo ads from Libby Foster DeYoung of her ancestors Mary Marshall and Eva Marshall

Captain Frederick Miles, a local fisherman, (age 48) who resided with his wife and eleven children at 2 Hunkings Street, Portsmouth, had been engaged many seasons to take out sailing parties at the Shoals.  The summer of 1902 he was so employed by Mr. Charles J. Ramsdell, manager of the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island.  Miles operated an Ipswich Bay whale boat, well known locally as a reliable sailing craft for small parties.  The Ipswich Bay was usually about twenty feet long (one account says the Miles boat was only seventeen feet, but that is incredible) rigged with two masts and sails.  The loose footed foresail was somewhat higher and larger than the mainsail.  The boat was decked over bow and stern, and was heavily ballasted with stone and iron.  “There was room amidship for six or ten passengers– no more,” says an expert writing for the Boston Journal.  Miles had no record of accident or careless conduct, and Mr. Ramsdell had complete confidence in his ability and judgement.
By his own account Captain Miles had taken out a small party which included Mr. Dingley, son of the elate Gov. Dingley of Maine, in the early afternoon, and on returning them to Appledore was handed a message informing him that a party was waiting at Star.  Mr. William Roger Greeley, a guest at the Oceanic says he was a member of the party which had just been out, and in a communication dated 1958 says “We were sailing in a whale boat owned and operated by local fishermen, when my uncle, Hon. George P. McLean, Governor of Connecticut, noticed a black cloud in the south and asked the ‘captain’ to make haste to the wharf to escape a squall.  He said there was no danger, but my uncle insisted.  As soon as we got out of the boat a party of fourteen or fifteen–the head waiter, a fine young college student, and a dozen or more waitresses got in over my uncle’s protest.” Mr. Greeley did not know, however, that five waitresses refused to go, much as they desired to join the party.  Ella Adams, Helen Twombly, Nellis Collins, Nellie Raitt and Hattie Gilmore stayed on the pier and watched the others sail off in gay laughter. Skipper Miles said, “I never sailed a jollier party than these young people…I said to them, “Where do you want to go, girls?” and they told me just to sail around the islands and not to go too far out.” There was brisk breeze from the southeast, so the Skipper headed northwest, intending to keep within the lee of the islands, and as he and came up the west coast of Appledore young Oliver Adams, brother of Ella who had stayed behind, and two other sisters who were on the boat, shouted and waved to turn back, but the party sailed on and cruised for nearly an hour to the north and east of Appledore.
The Rev. Charles E. Park watched the whole performance from the piazza of the Oceanic, and after more than fifty years revived his memory of it in a note for our “Living History.” He says:
“A young fisherman had offered to take them for a sail; and probably it was up north toward Boon Island.  On their return they were surging merrily along, close-hauled on the port tack to a brisk southwest breeze.  The girls were all ranged along the port gunwale to offset the list of the boat….As they opened up the harbor between Appledore and Star, so they could see the steam-boat pier, there was the steamer just in, and bringing another batch of delegates.  Very soon they had to go about on the starboard tack in order to shoot up into the (Appledore) harbor.  This was just what the girls wanted, for now, with the boat listing to port they could all crowd over to the starboard side and get a perfect view of the passengers leaving the steamer, not 50 feet away.  And then it happened.  The boat slipped into the lee of the steamer; and wind pressure on the sail was cut off; the boat righted with a jerk, and because all the weight was on the starboard side, she kept right on listing to starboard until water was pouring, green and heavy, over the gunwale.  Being well ballasted to make her stiff when on the wind, she sank like a plummet.”

The Rescue: It seems from various descriptions that the entire list of seventeen, including the skipper were carried down by the suction of the rapidly descending boat.  No one was caught in the rigging, and no one fell beneath the hull.  The skipper said: “My god, girls, it’s all over–we are all gone!” I yelled; and that was the last I saw of any of the party.  As the boat sank we were all drawn under by the terrible whirl and suction, but as the craft struck the bottom the air in her forced me up to the surface again.  I presume that the others also came to the top of the water, but I did not see any of the party. I was down for more than a minute, I should judge, and when I saw blue sky was some distance from where we went under.  Luckily a large soap box which had been in the boat was floating by and I put my arms around it.  This was my salvation as I cannot swim a stroke, although I have worked on the water for more than thirty years.  I drifted shoreward and soon reached the rocks, which bumped and brusied me to some extent.  I was taken from the water in an unconscious condition by two fishermen and carried to the hotel.” Oliver Adams was first to reach the floundering victims.  He said: “Lemuel Davis and I were near the Appledore Hotel when the party started out, and we waved them to turn back, but the boat kept on.  They had been out about an hour when we saw the flaw strike the boat a good blow and over she went.  With all possible haste Davis and I ran to the shore and launched a dory.  The breakers were coming high and strong, but we got out there first.  Davis had the oars and I never thought we would get to the drowning girls.  It was an awful suspense.
“When we got to where she went down all were bunched.  I grasped two of the girls, not knowing who they were and rowed rapidly to shore.  I kept their heads out of the water as best I could, but it was a hard job to go through the breakers.  We were about fifteen yards from the shore wehn I was thrown out of the boat, but still kept my hold on the girls…After a time we succeeded in reaching dry land, and then we turned our efforts to resuscitating the two girls.  It was then for the first time that I discovered that one of them was my sister Ena.  I did not know that she was in the boat…After fully half an hour we succeeded in restoring Miss Haggerty… My sister was undoubtedly dead when she reached the shore…” “The last I saw of Alward and Farrington they were struggling and trying to hold several of the girls above water.  Both were expert swimmers, but they could not hold out in such a sea against the odds.”

Steamer Sam Adams, which had just discharged her passengers at the dock now made for the rescue with only her Skipper, Charles Allen, and engineer, Peter Peterson aboard.  They threw a line to one girl who proved to be Lillian Bresnahan, and drew her aboard, but the second was too feeble to hold on, and sank.  Winds and waves were driving the steamer onto the rocks, so she had to pull away from shore, and rescued no others. By this time the waters were in tumult.  Fishermen from Star and Smuttynose came in doreis to join the frantic efforts of the Appledore boys.  These boats, bobbing like corks on the choppy sea managed to recover eight floating victims.  These were brought to shore where the whole population of the Islands was reaching out for them, and Drs. Warren and Richter were directing fruitless first aid.  The bodies were carried on cots to the music room of the Appledore Hotel, and placed in a silent row for identification by friends and relatives from Star– nine in all, five missing, somewhere under the still savage waves. Word had been cabled to Coroner Edward E. Shapleigh of Kittery and Undertaker H. W. Nickerson of Portsmouth who left Portsmouth at about 9:15 on the steamer Merryconeag.  After the bodies were identified they were carried on mattresses to the waiting Merryconeag and taken to Portsmouth where they were to be claimed by relatives. The next day (July 18) Michael E. Hurley was summoned to undertake the recovery of five missing bodies.  He assembled his own diving equipment and early Saturday morning, with John Ford of Dover as tender, went down to explore the ocean bed.  He found the whale boat intact, and announced that Skipper Miles had not been at fault in handling his sails.  Some had said he failed to free his sails in making his tack, and it was a tight sail which caused the boat to capsize, but Hurley found no tight sail.  One at a time he discovered the sunken bodies, at a depth of about sixty feet, but it was not until the next afternoon that all had been recovered.  Some faces were still recognizable, but others had been disfigured by the ravages of fish.  All were taken to Portsmouth to join their silent companions, and wait to be taken home. Guests at both hotels asked for no service on the evening of the tragedy.  Appledore recovered more quickly after the last victim had been taken to mainland, and the seas were calm once more.  But the Oceanic could not be reconciled.  Guests came from their rooms next morning in silence and seemed confused as they entered the dining room where only a handful of waitresses with haggard faces were there to serve them.  Out of twenty-two, sixteen were absent, fourteen never to return to their accustomed places.  Orders were given with choked voices if at all.  Many had no heart for eating but would rise without words and return to their rooms.
Days passed and new hands came to serve, but memory lingered long over those dark hours. Dr. Park speaks for them all in his later review: “You say, why begin your reminiscences with so sad a story?  Had you been an ardent Shoaler at that time could you have forgotten it?  Could you have attended a single session for the next fifty years without at least once during the week recalling that fearful tragedy?” Picture from Harvard Crimson Article H Coleman Farrington 

Roster of the Missing
Ena Adams, Portsmouth, NH
May Adams, Portsmouth, NH
Winfred A. Alward, Frederickon, NB
Catherine H. Bowes, Saxonville, MA
Elizabeth A. Bowes, Saxonville, MA
Bessie A. Chase, Malden, MA
Henry C. Farrington, Cambridge, MA
Laura Belle Gilmore, Exeter, MA
Bertha Graham, Danvers, MA
Isabelle Kauska, Cambridge, MA
Eva L. Marshall, Haverill, MA
Mary E. Marshall, Haverill, MA
Minnie McDonald, Cambridge, MA
Anna E. Sheehan, West Medford, MA


 Springfield Republican (Springfield, MA) Issue: 98 Page: 7

Oceanic Hotel Star Island 


The Voyage To Massachusetts

From  "Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony"



"Before you come," wrote Rev. Francis Higginson, the first minister at Salem, "be careful to be strongly instructed what things are fittest to bring with you for your more comfortable passage at sea, as also for your husbandry occasions when you come to the land. For when you are once parted with England you shall meete neither markets nor fayres to buy what you want. Therefore be sure to furnish yourselves with things fitting to be had before you come: as meale for bread, malt for drinke, woolen and linnen cloath, and leather for shoes, and all manner of carpenters tools, and a great deale of iron and steele to make nails, and locks for houses, and furniture for ploughs and carts, and glasse for windows, and many other things which were better for you to think of there than to want them here."[1]  Elsewhere the good pastor set down "A catalogue of such needfull things as every Planter doth or ought to provide to go to New England" in which he enumerated the necessary victuals per person for the first year, viz.:

"8 Bushels of meale, 2 Bushels of pease, 2 Bushels of Otemeale, 1 Gallon of Aquavitae, 1 Gallon of Oyle, 2 Gallons of Vinegar, 1 Firkin of Butter; also Cheese, Bacon, Sugar, Pepper, Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon, Nutmegs and Fruit."

The household implements listed were: "1 Iron pot, 1 Kettel, 1 Frying pan, 1 Gridiron, 2 Skellets, 1 Spit, Wooden Platters, Dishes, Spoons and Trenchers."


Mr. Higginson listed in detail the food supplies required per person for a year, including a good variety of spices; and also the clothing for a man, which included a Monmouth cap, a suit of canvas, a suit of freize, a suit of cloth, four pairs of shoes, three shirts and three falling bands, a pair of blankets, a coarse rug and seven ells of canvas with which to make a bed and bolster. The settler must also bring with him a complete armor, with a long piece, sword, bandoleer and ammunition, tools for cultivating the soil and for working wood, and also household implements—a limited equipment, comparable with the kit packed by the scout or mining prospector of more recent times.



On looking backward over the span of three centuries, Time lends an enchantment to these Puritan forefathers of present-day Massachusetts. Worshiping descendants have placed halos about their heads and the hardships of life during the early years have been magnified to the extent that these independent-minded Englishmen have become types of suffering fortitude—martyrs to the noble cause of free religion and self-government. That is a long tale, however, carrying with it many qualifications, and cannot be enlarged upon here. In what follows, it should always be borne in mind that aside from the Dutch at New Amsterdam and the small colony of Swedes on the Delaware, it was English stock that settled the American colonies and that these men and women brought with them a background of generations of English life. Their standards of living, manner of working their trades and natural aptitude for barter and commerce were all modeled upon English life and customs. It was only natural that this should be so. The ships crossed the Atlantic at comparatively frequent intervals and their holds came filled with all kinds of necessities and luxuries required by English standards of living—foodstuffs, fabrics and implements which the shops of London, Plymouth or Bristol could supply and which could not be produced by the American settlements. To obtain these refinements of life the colonists required only money or merchandise. Lumber,raw or manufactured, salted fish, beaver and peltry, plantation-built vessels and other products of the colonies, could be easily converted into the comforts of English life for sale in the shops across the Atlantic.
Picture from Little Acorns


The Rev. Francis Higginson (pic below) came over in the Talbot, a ship of three hundred tons burden, which was armed with nineteen guns and carried a crew of thirty men. She brought over one hundred passengers. Sailing with her was the ship George of three hundred tons, in which came fifty-two passengers and a stock of cattle, twelve mares, thirty cows and some goats. From the original records of the Massachusetts Bay Company in New England we learn what food supplies were shipped on board the Talbot for the American voyage. The amount was supposed to be sufficient for one hundred and thirty-five men for three months. As a matter of fact, the voyage from Gravesend to the anchorage in Salem harbor occupied sixty-eight days.



The ship carried 22 hogsheads of salted beef, 12,000 of bread (biscuits), 40 bushels of peas, 20 barrels of oatmeal, 450 pounds of salt fish, 10 firkins of butter and 1,200 pounds of cheese. To wash down this food they took on board 6 tons of water, 45 tons of beer, 20 gallons of brandy, 20 gallons of Spanish wine (Malaga and Canary), 2 tierces of beer vinegar and 20 gallons of olive oil.[2] During the voyage two died of smallpox, including a blasphemous seaman. A child died of consumption and a dog fell overboard and could not be recovered. The rest came through and reached Salem harbor in a good state of health.

The Massachusetts Bay Company seems to have maintained a "company store," in the modern phrase, at which the colonists might obtain clothing, fabrics, foodstuffs and supplies of all sorts. When Governor Endecott came over in 1628, the Company sent extra clothing sufficient for one hundred men including three hundred suits of clothes, four hundred shirts and four hundred pairs of shoes. Two hundred of the suits of clothes consisted of doublet and hose made up of leather, lined with oiled skin leather, and fastened with hooks and eyes. The other suits were made up of Hampshire kerseys, the doublets lined with linen and the hose with skins. There were a hundred waistcoats of green cotton bound about with red tape, a hundred Monmouth caps, at two shillings each, five hundred red knit caps, milled, at five pence each, and one hundred black hats, lined in the brows with leather. This store supplied the natural wear and tear of headgear among the hundred men. The stock contained four hundred pairs of knit stockings, ten dozen pairs of Norwich garters, three hundred plain falling bands, two hundred handkerchiefs and a stock of sheer linen with which to made up other handkerchiefs. Scotch ticking was supplied for beds and bolsters, with wool to put therein. The blankets were of Welsh cotton and fifty rugs were sent over to place over the blankets, while mats were supplied "to lye vnder 50 bedds aboard shippe."[3]



During the ten years that followed the settlement of the Massachusetts Bay, a continuous flow of emigration from England crossed the Atlantic in all kinds of available sailing craft.[4] The passage usually cost £5 per person and this included provisions provided by the ship such as "salt Beefe, Porke, salt Fish, Butter, Cheese, Pease, Pottage, Water-grewell, and such kinde of Victualls, with good Biskets, and sixe-shilling Beere; yet it will be necessary to carry some comfortable refreshing of fresh victuall. As first, for such as have ability, some Conserves, and good Clarret Wine to burne at Sea; Or you may have it by some of your Vintners or Wine-Coopers burned here, & put into Vessels, which will keepe much better than other burnt Wine, it is a very comfortable thing for the stomacke; or such as are Sea-sicke: Sallat-oyle likewise, Prunes are good to be stewed: Sugar for many things: White Biskets, and Egs, and Bacon, Rice, Poultry, and some weather-sheepe to Kill aboard the Ship: and fine flowre-baked meates, will keepe about a weeke or nine days at Sea. Iuyce of Lemons well put up, is good either to prevent or curre the Scurvy.[5] Here it must not be forgotten to carry small Skillets or Pipkins, and small frying-panns, to dresse their victualls in at Sea. For bedding, so it be easie, and cleanly, and warme, it is no matter how old or coarse it be for the use of the Sea: and so likewise for Apparrell, the oldest cloathes be the fittest, with a long coarse coate to keepe better things from the pitched ropes and plankes. Whosoever shall put to Sea in a stoute and well-conditioned ship, having an honest Master, and loving Seamen, shall not neede to feare, but he shall finde as good content at Sea, as at Land.[6]



The Mayflower shipped 15,000 brown biscuit and 5,000 white, that is, hard bread, i.e. crackers; also smoked or half-cooked bacon, as it came from the smokehouse, which was much liked with the biscuit and when fried was considered a delicacy. Haberdyne (dried salted codfish) was also a staple article of diet; also smoked herring. Potatoes were practically unknown at that time and the store of cabbages, turnips, onions, parsnips, etc., soon ran short and gave way to boiled mush, oatmeal, pease puddings, etc. Their beer was carried in iron-bound casks.

When passengers came aboard vessels bound for New England in those early days, how did they stow themselves and their possessions? The Mayflower had a length of about 110 feet and measured about 244 tons. It was originally intended that she should carry ninety passengers, men, women and children, but when the Speedwell put back, twelve of her passengers were taken aboard, and two boys were born during the voyage. The ship also carried a crew of twenty to twenty-five men, and officers and petty officers, about sixteen in number, would bring the total of those aboard to one hundred and forty or more. Goats, pigs, and poultry occupied pens on the upper or spar deck and in the boats carried there. Small sleeping cabins were provided for the ship's officers and the more important passengers; most of the company slept in narrow bunks, in hammocks, and on pallet beds of canvas filled with straw, placed on the deck beneath the hammocks. The crew bunked in the forecastle. The chests and personal possessions of the passengers were stowed below on the lower deck where the food, water and ship's stores were kept. On the Arbella, Governor Winthrop's ship, the male passengers lodged on the gundeck and four men were "ordered to keep that room clean."


The ship Whale, in 1632, brought thirty passengers, including Mr. Wilson and Mr. Dummer, all in good health, and seventy cows of which they lost but two. The ship Regard of Barnstaple, 200 tons, arrived in 1634, brought twenty passengers and about fifty cattle. The ship Society of Boston, N. E., 220 tons, with a crew of thirty-three men, arrived in 1663, with seventy-seven passengers. A notable example of fortitude is found in the voyage of the sloop Sparrow Hawk, that sailed from London in 1626 for Virginia and having been blown off her course was wrecked on Cape Cod.

She was only forty feet in length, had a breadth of beam of twelve feet and ten inches, and a depth of nine feet, seven and one-half inches. Bradford in his History records that she carried "many passengers in her and sundrie goods ... the cheefe amongst these people was one Mr. Fells and Mr. Sibsie, which had many servants belonging unto them, many of them being Irish. Some others ther were yt had a servante or 2 a piece; but ye most were servants, and such as were ingaged to the former persons, who also had ye most goods ... they had been 6 weeks at sea, and had no water, nor beere, nor any woode left, but had burnt up all their emptie caske."[7] And this happened in the month of December!




In those days cooking on shore was done in an open fireplace. On shipboard, the larger vessels were provided with an open "hearth" made of cast iron sometimes weighing five hundred pounds and over. More commonly a hearth of bricks was laid on deck, over which stood an iron tripod from which the kettles hung. More crudely still a bed of sand filled a wooden frame and on this the fire was built, commonly of charcoal. On the ship Arbella, in which came Governor John Winthrop and his company, in 1630, the "cookroom" was near a hatchway opening into the hold. The captain, his officers and the principal men among the passengers dined in the "round house," a cabin in the stern over the high quarter-deck. Lady Arbella Johnson and the gentlewomen aboard dined in the great cabin on the quarter-deck. The passengers ate their food wherever convenient on the main deck or in good weather, on the spar deck above. Years later, a new ship lying at anchor in Boston harbor was struck by lightning which "melted the top of the iron spindle of the vane of the mainmast" and passing through the long boat, which lay on the deck, killed two men and injured two others as "they were eating together off the Hen-Coop, near the Main Mast."

The ship supplied each passenger with a simple ration of food distributed by the quartermasters, which each family or self arranged group of passengers cooked at a common hearth as opportunity and the weather permitted. Of necessity much food was served cold and beer was the principal drink. John Josselyn, Gent., who visited New England in 1638, records "the common proportion of Victualls for the Sea to a Mess, being 4 men, is as followeth:

"Two pieces of Beef, of 3 pound and ¼ per piece.

"Four pound of Bread.

"One pint ¼ of Pease.

"Four Gallons of Bear, with Mustard and Vinegar for three flesh dayes in the week.

"For four fish dayes, to each Mess per day, two pieces of Codd or Habberdine, making three pieces of fish.

"One quarter of a pound of Butter.

"Four pound of Bread.

"Three quarters of a pound of Cheese.

"Bear is before.

"Oatmeal per day, for 50 men, Gallon 1. and so proportionable for more or fewer.

"Thus you see the ship's provision, is Beef or Porke, Fish, Butter, Cheese, Pease, Pottage, Water gruel, Bisket, and six-shilling Bear.

"For private fresh provision, you may carry with you (in case you, or any of yours should be sick at Sea) Conserves of Roses, Clove-Gilliflowers, Wormwood, Green-Ginger, Burnt-Wine, English Spirits, Prunes to stew, Raisons of the Sun, Currence, Sugar, Nutmeg, Mace, Cinnamon, Pepper and Ginger, White Bisket, or Spanish Rusk, Eggs, Rice, Juice of Lemmons, well put up to cure, or prevent the Scurvy. Small Skillets, Pipkins, Porrengers, and small Frying pans.

"To prevent or take away Sea sickness, Conserve of Wormwood is very proper."[8]




The settler also must take with him a supply of food to answer his needs on reaching Massachusetts, and it was advised that enough for the space of a year might be required in which case each person should be certain to have in store 8 bushels of meal, 2 bushels pease, 2 bushels oatmeal, 1 gallon brandy, 1 gallon oil and 2 gallons vinegar. Sugar could be had in New England as the Colonial vessels were bringing it from the West Indies in the way of trade, but spices, necessary to the English diet, must be brought from England.

John Josselyn, writing in 1638, listed the following articles as necessary equipment for every family coming to New England, viz.:

Bellows £0 2 0
Scoop 0 9
Great pail 0 10
Casting shovel 0 10
A sack 2 4
Lanthorn 1 3
Tobacco pipes
5 broad howes 10 0
5 narrow howes 6 8
5 felling axes 7 6
2 hand saws 10 0
1 whip saw 10 0
1 file and wrest 10
2 hammers 2 0
2 augers 1 0
Wheels for a cart 14 0
Wheel barrow 6 0
Canoe 3 0 0
Short oak ladder 0 10
Plough 3 9
Axle tree 0 8
Cart 10 0  [11]3 shovels 4 6
2 spades 3 0
2 broad axes 7 4
6 chisels 3 0
3 gimblets 0 6
2 hatchets 3 6
2 frows 3 0
2 hand bills 3 4

Nails of all sorts 2 0 0
3 locks and 3 pr. fetters 5 10
2 curry combs 0 11
Brand for beasts 0 6
Hand vise 2 6
100 wt. spikes nails and pins (120) 2 5 0
2 pick axes 0 3 0
Chain and lock for a boat 2 2
Coulter (10 pound) 3 4
Pitch fork 1 4
Plough share 2 11


Household implements for a family of six persons, viz.:

1 iron pot 0 7 0
1 great copper kettle 2 0 0
1 small kettle 10 0
1 lesser kettle 6 0
1 large frying pan 2 6
1 small frying pan 1 8
1 brass mortar 0 3 0
1 spit 2 0
1 grid iron 1 0
2 skillets 5 0
Platters, dishes and spoons of wood 4 0


The above prices are estimated costs in England and the freight on the same would be reckoned at the rate of half a ton per person.

The vessels which carried the great emigration to New England between 1630 and 1640 were of small tonnage and the passenger accommodations on board were limited in space and barren of creature comforts. Small wonder that the health of many of the first settlers, shaken by the passage at sea, paid toll to the severity of the New England climate—the biting cold of the winter and the heat of the summer days to which they were unaccustomed.

"It was not because the Country was unhealthful, but because their bodies were corrupted with sea-diet, which was naught, their Beefe and Porke being tainted, their Butter and Cheese corrupted, their Fish rotten, and voyage long, by reason of crosse Windes, so that winter approaching before they could get warme houses, and the searching sharpnes of that purer Climate, creeping in at the crannies of their crazed bodies, caused death and sickness."[9]

The ship Talbot, on which Mr. Higginson sailed, brought over one hundred passengers and thirty seamen. She measured nearly[12] eighty-six feet in length and had a depth of hold of eleven feet. By present-day measurement she was about two hundred tons burden. The space between decks, where the passengers slept and spent much time during the dreary voyage, was so low that a tall man could not stand erect, and whenever a severe storm arose, so that the ports and hatches must be kept closed, the air below deck in time must have become intolerable. Such a storm arose when the Talbot was thirty-three days out and "ye wind blew mightily, ye sea roared and ye waves tossed us horribly; besides it was fearfull darke and ye mariners made us afraid with their running here and there and lowd crying one to another to pull at this and yt rope."





These small emigrant ships of the seventeenth century, besides men, women and children, brought over much livestock housed in temporary pens and shelters built amidships. The long boat or pinnace was also carried on board, all of which left little room for movement about the deck. But these three hundred tons ships were traveling palaces when compared with some of the smaller craft that boldly ventured across the Atlantic. Barks, ketches, pinks and other small vessels of less than fifty tons burden were common. In 1635, a "small Norsey bark" of twenty-five tons reached Boston. She was bound for Connecticut, but a stormy voyage had forced her to seek safety in Boston harbor. This vessel, little over thirty feet in length, brought over fourteen passengers, including two women, with their household goods.


FOOTNOTES:


[1] Rev. Francis Higginson, New-Englands Plantation, London, 1630.
[2] Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol. III, p. 12.
[3] Transactions of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol. III, p. 6.
[4] Between 1630 and 1643,198 ships brought over 21,200 passengers.—Edward Johnson, Wonder Working Providence, London, 1654.
John Josselyn, coming to New England in 1638, mentions in his journal of the voyage sighting or speaking thirteen vessels between the Scilly Isles and the New England coast.
[5] Anti-scorbutics were very necessary for the long voyage. John Josselyn during his first voyage (1638) writes that a young man, a servant to one of the passengers, "was whipt naked at the Cap-stern, with a Cat with Nine tails, for filching 9 great Lemmons out of the Chirurgeons Cabbin, which he eat rinds and all in less than an hours time."
[6] William Wood, New-Englands Prospect, London, 1634.
[7] William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, Boston, 1856.
[8] John Josselyn, Two Voyages to New England, London, 1675.
[9] Wood, New-Englands Prospect, London, 1634.
[10] Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, Vol. I.
[11] Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, Vol. I.
[12] Mourt's Relation, Boston, 1841.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

GILMAN CHENEY

From Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men


The postal, passenger, and express cars, representing respectively government, corporate, and private enterprise, constitute a trinity which has annihilated space and made possible the business progress of the last fifty years. The third is the creature of a few men, among whom the Cheney brothers of New Hampshire are most conspicuous.

Their grandfather, Deacon Tristram Cheney, was one of the early settlers of Antrim, he having come from Dedham, Mass., in 1769, and located near the Hillsborough line. His son Jesse, who married, first, Miss Blanchard, of West Deering, and, afterwards, Deborah Winchester, of Hillsborough, located his homestead near Cork Ridge, on what is known as the Dimond Dodge place, where there were born to him nine children, of whom Benjamin P., James S., and Gilman are the three who have made "Cheney's Express" a familiar phrase in every city and village in New England and Canada.


Gilman was the fifth child. He was born January 25, 1822, and until he was eighteen years of age worked at farming in the vicinity of his native town. At that age he had a little knowledge of books, a strong constitution, and an abundant stock of courage and ambition, with which he left home to make a place for himself in the business world. For the next ten years he was slowly gathering capital, experience, and knowledge of men and things in the cotton-mills of Nashua, Newburyport, and Manchester; and, while filling his place to the satisfaction of his employers, he could not find there the opportunity he wished, and, in search of a wider and more promising field for action, went to California. Here he crowded three years very full of adventure and business success, and then returned to assist his brothers in extending the express system, which was then in its infancy. He was assigned to the Canadian division, and, establishing his headquarters at Montreal, he gave himself heartily to the work, and has since been thoroughly identified with the enterprise. His position is that of superintendent of the Canadian Express Company, which covers the territory and controls the express business between Detroit, Mich., and the seaboard at Portland, Halifax, and St. John's, and also an ocean route by the Allan line of steamships to Europe. He is also largely interested in the American and Wells & Fargo express companies. Pictures Cheney Mills






The home of Mr. Cheney is in Montreal, where he extends a warm and princely welcome to hosts of friends, and especially to those who were fortunate enough to have known him in his boyhood days in New Hampshire. He married Mary Ann Lincoln Riddle, daughter of James Riddle, Esq., of Merrimack. His only child, William G. Cheney, was born October 12, 1858.


Mr. Cheney has been a very successful man. The enterprise with which his name is identified has grown great and strong. It has made its owner rich, it has given employment to thousands of men at remunerative wages, and it has made it easier and more profitable for others to do their business. He deserves all the good things he has received, for he is a true man. In every relation of life, in boyhood and manhood, in business and pleasure, he has challenged only the affection and admiration of those interested in him. His integrity is inborn, his good-nature never fails, and his energy never tires. He never disappoints his friends; and he has no enemies.

Below Benjamin P Cheney



Friday, February 21, 2014

Dr John Clark{e} Newbury MA


  Gift of Sarah W. Pickering and Hepsie S. Howard to the Boston Medical Library, 1901

In 1635 Dr. John Clarke moved to Newbury MA and is listed as one of the first settlers. In 1638 the town “granted that Mr. Clark, in respect of his calling, be freed and exempted from all public rates so long as he shall remayne with us and exercise his calling among us.” Coffin's History of Newbury, states: "The tract of land which was set apart as the place for pasturing these cattle was near the falls of Newbury. Of this land, Mr. John Spencer had a mill lot of fifty acres, Mr. Richard Dummer three hundred acres, Mr. Henry Sewall five hundred acres, Mr. John Clark four hundred acres. In town records Clark is listed among those who "had contributed fifty pounds into the common stock was granted 200 acres, and every person who had transported himself and family to New England at his own expense was entitled to 50 acres. More records note in November 1637, that Dr. John Clark was granted a farm "of 400 acres, next to Mr. Sewalls at the mouth of Carte Creeke."

Dr. Clark married Martha Saltonstall, sister of Sir Richard Saltonstall of Boston, and had two children, John and Jemima, the latter of whom married Mr. Drew.

According to America Volume 6 a general town meeting held in Newbury September 28, 1638, the following action was taken: "It was granted that Mr. Clark, in respect of his calling, should be freed and exempted from all publick rates either for the town or the county so long as he shall remain with us and exercise his calling among us.'' The General Court of the colony (the Legislature) September 6, 1638, granted to Seimon Bradstreet and Captain Daniel Dennison of Ipswich, John Clark and Christopher Batt, of Newbury and others liberty to begin a Plantation at Merrimack." The location on the north side of the Merrimac River was selected early in the spring of 1639, where a settlement was commenced and the place named Salisbury.


Clark was the first regularly educated physician to live in New England. In Medicine in American Art author Stefan C. Schatzki notes that Clark promoted progressive and scientific methods of agriculture and introduced improved breeds of farm animals. He maintained his Plymouth farm for many years. However, by the mid-seventeenth century, it became apparent that Boston was destined to become the central city of the new colony, and Clark moved there in 1650. He married Martha Saltonstall, a member of a family that was to be politically active in Massachusetts into the twentieth century, and a perusal of the family records of mid seventeenth century Bostonians confirm that Dr. Clark was the chosen physician of the leading families of early Boston.

Clark also improved breeds of farm animals horses, cattle, etc. Some of the horses he introduced were long known throughout New England as "Clark's breed." He maintained for many years a large farm at Plymouth, Mass. During the years 1644-5 the people of Newbury were confronted with some vital problems concerning their future as a town. In January, 1646, at a general town meeting of the citizens Dr. Clark was appointed on a committee composed of eight to address all issues.

Clark received a patent from the general court of Massachusetts on an invention for sawing wood and warming houses with little cost, and it is said that his stoves mark an era in the history of New England.

A little tidbit on Clark

Sarah Wolcott. Born ca 1636 in Watertown, MA. Sarah died on 12 Mar 1675/6 in Plymouth, MA.
On 1 Mar 1659[/60] Sarah married William Clark, son of Thomas Clark (1599-24 Mar 1697) & Susannah Ring (ca 1611-), in Plymouth, MA.58 Born ca 1634.16
William first married Sarah Wolcott, second Hannah Griswold, and third Abiah Wilder.
William and Sarah
    “lived in a garrison house by Eel river, which was surprised by the Indians on a Sunday, March 12, 1676, while he was at church. His wife, several of his children, and some other persons, eleven in all, were killed in this attack, which is said to have been the only serious one ever made on the settlement. A son of William Clarke, named Thomas, was left for dead, but afterwards recovered, and had a silver plate but over his exposed brain, by the celebrated surgeon Dr. John Clarke, of Boston. He ever afterwards was known as ‘Silver-headed Tom.’
    “In July 1676, two hundred Indians surrendered themselves to the Plymouth Governor, and were pardoned, with the exception of those who had been concerned in the slaughter at Clarke’s garrison at Plymouth; these were put to death.—Baylies’ History

Clark was a member of the Scots Charitable Society
Great Resource  The Descendants of Nathaniel Clarke and His Wife Elizabeth Somerby of Newbury, Massachusetts: A History of Ten Generations, 1642-1902 by George Kuhn Clarke
Records of the descendants of Hugh Clark: of Watertown, Mass. 1640-1866 By John Clark
Below is the grandson of John Clark 

JOHN CLARK
Born 1667, died 1728, aged 60.

Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University: Cambridge, Massachusetts, Vol 3

John Clark, M. A., physician, Boston, born at Boston, 27 December, 1667, according to the family record, and not 27 January, 1668, as Farmer and Savage say, was brother of the second wife of Cotton Mather, and eldest son of Doctor John Clark (whose wife was Martha, daughter of John Whittingham), and grandson of Doctor John Clark, who came from Newbury, Massachusetts, to Boston, and whose wife was Martha, sister of Sir Richard Saltonstall. In June or July, 1691, he was admitted to the Second, or Old North Church, in Boston. June 7, 1700, he was made Justice of the Peace. From 1708 to 1714, and from 1720 to 1724, he was Representative from Boston.

He became a leading politician of the "popular partv," at the head of which were the Cookes, H. U. 1657 and 1697, and opposed the granting of a fixed salary to the Governor. In 1720 he was chosen Councillor, and Governor Shute interposed his negative.

In 1709 and 1710 he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Again, in the fall of 1720, the same year that Governor Shute interposed his negative on his election as Councillor, he was chosen Representative from Boston.

Hutchinson says he "was a person of many valuable qualities, and obnoxious, only, for being strongly attached to Mr. Cooke, and having been a great supporter of the cause" of the popular party.

In 1721 the House again chose him Speaker. "To prevent a negative, . . . they projected a new form of message directed to the governor and council jointly, to acquaint them 'that John Clarke, Esq; is chosen speaker of the house and is now sitting in the chair.' This was undoubtedly a very extraordinary contempt of the governor." William Payne, H. U. 1689, a brother by marriage to Cooke, was appointed clerk in place of John White, H. U. 1685, who was dropped for no other reason than because "his most intimate friends . . . were strongly attached to the governor." "The governor was more wroth than upon any occasion before. He came to council, in the afternoon, and sent immediately for the house, no doubt, with an intent to dissolve the court. He had several faithful advisers about him and, whilst the house were preparing to come up, he sent a message to stop them and to let them know he accepted their choice of a speaker."
While the legislature was in session at Cambridge, in November, 1721, "Mr. Hutchinson, one of the members for Boston, was seized with the small-pox and died in a few days. The Speaker, Mr. Clarke, was one of the most noted physicians in Boston, and, notwithstanding all his care to cleanse himself from infection after visiting his patients, it was supposed, brought the distemper to his brother member, which so terrified the court, that after the report of his being seized, it was not possible to keep them together and the governor found it necessary to prorogue them." Clark was continued in the office of Speaker till 1724. From that time till his death he was a member of the Council.

April 25, 1691, according to Greenwood, but 30 April, says Savage, he married Sarah, born 29 November, 1669, daughter of Jonathan and Mary (Oliver) Shrimpton, by whom he had all his eight or nine children: Mary, born 12 February, 1692; Sarah, 17 September, 1693, both died young; Martha, 25 March, 1695; John, 15 December, 1698, died 6 April, 1768, father of John, H. U. 1772; Sarah, again, 18 January, 1704; Martha, again, 26 June, 1706; Sarah, again, 7 May, 1708, married Professor Isaac Greenwood, H. U. 1721, and died at Portland, Maine, 23 May, 1770; Elizabeth, 27 February, 1710, married Robert Hale, H. U. 1721; besides a second Mary, probably in 1700. His first wife died 20 November, 1717, and he married a second wife, 10 April following, Elizabeth Hutchinson, who died 2 December, 1722. On July 15, 1725, he took for a third wife Sarah, widow of President Leverett, who had been widow of William Harris, daughter of Richard Crisp, and died 24 April, 1744, the wife of the Reverend Benjamin Colman, H. U. 1692.

According to the New England Weekly Journal of 9 December, 1728, Clark died on the preceding "Friday Evening," 6 December, 1728, "a Gentleman belov'd and valu'd for his Worth and Usefulness." Sewall's Journal and the inscription on his monument date his death 5 December, agreeing with the Boston News-Letter of 12 December, that he died on "Thursday Night after a long Indisposition."

Judge Sewall wrote to Reverend S. Stoddard, 10 December, 1728: "Dr. John Clark died last Thursday night abt 6 or 7 a'clock. I am apt to think the drawing in of that very Cold Air was the cause of his sudden death. He went into his Garden in the morning and suppos'd the Aer refresh'd him; afterward he went to his daughter Allen's; by & by he stole away to his neighbour Morris, just across the Street. When his Grandson Allen went to call him home he perceiv'd that he limp'd. At his entring his own kitchen, his family saw that the right side of his mouth was drawn awry, and all that side was defective; at which they were exceedingly amazed; and put him into a warm bed. His wife and one of his daughters were at Lecture, not foreseeing any such Change. He was my beloved Physician."


Clark bequeathed all his surgical instruments to his son John. In his inventory is mentioned the picture of old Doctor Clark, which is without doubt that of his grandfather, now belonging to the Massachusetts Historical Society, and of which there is a lithograph in Thacher's Medical Biography. The Latin inscription on his monument is published in T. Bridgman's Epitaphs from Copp's Hill Burial-Ground, and an epitaph by Thacher.

"Reliquiae
Joannis Clarke Armig laudatissimi senatoris et medicinae doctoris probitate modestia 
et mansuetudine praeclari terram reliquit Decern 5 1728 astat. 62
Nomen et pietas manent post funera."
"He who among Physicians shone so late,
And by his wise Prescriptions conquered Fate,
Now lies extended in the Silent Grave,
Nor him alive would his vast Merit save.
But still his Fame shall last, his Virtues live,
And all sepulchral Monuments survive:
Still flourish shall his name; nor shall this stone
Long as his Piety and Love be known."
Clark belonged to a family of medical antecedents and traditions, being himself of the third generation in a direct line of John Clarks, all physicians, and followed by a line of four more John Clarks, equally direct, also all physicians,— covering a period of more than a century and a half, and including seven generations of the same name.
E. Washburn, Historical Sketches of Leicester, 9, 11. W. H. Whitmore, Massachusetts Civil List

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Joseph Cartland House Newburyport, Quaker Ties and John Greenleaf Whittier



New Addition! A story from "The Fisherman" published in 1895-- the Big Cat sent in from Gertrude Whittier Cartland:
























According to "The North End Papers" by Oliver B. Merrill and Marge M Motes the heirs of John H. Spring sold the house to Joseph Cartland in 1876. Cartland's cousin, John Greenleaf Whittier (picture below age 49) was a constant presence and he spent his last winter here.

  
By Augustine Jones (Principal of Friends' School, Providence, R. I.) in American Friend. The most important contribution which any community makes to the world is the character and influence of its eminent men. And the same is true of religious denominations. Joseph Cartland, one of the most distinguished members of the Yearly Meeting of Friends for New England, during nearly half a century, deceased at Newburyport, Mass., Sixth month in, 1898, in his 89th year. Portraits below of Joseph and Gertrude Cartland 
                                        
                                 

He was born at Lee, N. H., in the Second month, 1810. It is believed that this town received its name from Lee, in Scotland, on the banks of the river Cart, whence John Cartland, the great-grandfather emigrated early in the last century, settling in Lee, N. H., and building the house, which is still in possession of the family. New Hampshire has been prolific in notable men, with sterling character, as firm and rugged as her own mountains, resting like them upon sure foundations. These she has nurtured to noble manhood and excellent citizenship. Joseph Cartland, like so many other American boys, received his early education in the common schools of his native State, and advanced instruction in a private school at Lee, kept by Dr. Timothy Hilliard, a noted teacher. He became a student at Friends' School, Providence, R. I., in 1830, at the age of twenty, where he continued two years. His brother, Moses A. Cartland, who won distinction as an instructor, became a member of the faculty, and remained in the institution until 1835. Joseph returned to Lee in 1833, his father being deceased, to take care of affairs at the homestead, and continued this service until his brother Jonathan was old enough to take his place. He then gave his attention to teaching, assisting Moses at one time in the Clinton Grove Boarding School, at Weare, N. H., and later in a private school at Lee. The educational influence of these schools has been recognized throughout New England. This result was not due so much to new methods of instruction, to endowment, for educational appliances, as to the tact and personal influence of the teachers themselves, who were possessed with rare gifts for training and guiding youth, and for character molding.
The friendship and affection which bound Whittier to his Cartland cousin often found expression, but perhaps nowhere with more pathos than in his lines to the memory of Moses A. Cartland at his decease:
"In love surpassing that of brothers,
We walked, Oh friend, from childhood's day;
And looking back o'er fifty summers,
Our footprints track a common way."

Religion is always the enduring basis of genuine character, and therefore claims the first consideration in the study of a human career. The Cartland homestead was blessed with a Friends' meeting-house all its own, where the family and neighbors regularly met to worship God. The service was simple, with nothing to detract from or interrupt personal communion with God himself, through Jesus Christ his Son. The influence of these meetings could not fail to train the religious thought to deep meditation, and introspection, to create an independence and individuality which required little outward means for religious growth, its reliance being solely upon Him who is the Bread of Life. Thither in 1825 came William Foster, the philanthropist, traveling in the ministry, and his visit was memorable in influencing the life of Joseph Cartland at about fifteen years of age. Thither also came David Sands and other eminent ministers, stimulating his religious aspirations and awakening his attention to the principles of the Society into which he had been born, securing his loyalty evermore to these simple interpretations of primitive Christianity.
He was engaged in mercantile business with his relative, Isaac Wendell, at La Grande, near Philadelphia, when about thirty-five years of age, where he continued a number of years, and his intellectual and spiritual life took a strong coloring from his environment here which it exhibited ever afterwards.
In 1849 he was elected to the faculty of Haverford College, Pa., where he continued until 1853, discharging some of the duties of President, as that office did not then exist in the institution. He was very efficient, and created here, as everywhere, a multitude of lifelong friendships.


He was married in 1855 to Gertrude E. Whittier, who was then Principal of the Girls' Department of the Friends' School (see below) at Providence. This most congenial union continued more than forty years, during which their names were inseparable in public thought and speech, while their lives seemed to blend into graceful harmony.


Joseph and Gertrude W. Cartland became the Principals of Friends' School in 1855, which at once advanced to a higher grade under their leadership. The quality of instruction was improved, and the course of study and graduation of classes established, which have continued ever since. The new impulse in the direction of higher education emanating from them was felt throughout the Society in America. Other men have since entered into their Tabors. This prosperous work was destined after a brief period of five years to be terminated by sickness. They continued to reside in Providence for about twenty years, and then after spending one winter with their cousin, John G. Whittier, at his home in Amesbury, they settled permanently near him in Newburyport. In the summer of 1881, Whittier spent several weeks with them at Intervale, N. H., and continued to be their summer companion among the hills during the remaining eleven years of his life.
This home at Newburyport will be forever memorable to those who were familiar with it. It had especial attraction for members of the Society of Friends, who were possessed of culture the world over, because here was to be found not only the most interesting literary association, but instinct with essential Quakerism. The writer himself passed a night here in 1887 in company with two eminent English Friends, one of whom remarked that he had found here more than almost anywhere else in America the comfort, repose, and simplicity of a true English home.
Joseph Cartland, in advanced life, had witnessed a great change in the Society of Friends in two generations. He had early seized the fundamental thought of Friends with love and admiration, and found little to admire in a movement which seemed, in his estimation, to be retrogading. Joseph Cartland retained to the end of life his remarkable, upright, manly carriage and intellectual vigor, with the same critical instinct and thoughtfulness, examining new literature which lay along the lines of his faith and discharging sacred trusts in it? distribution for the up-building of Zion. During the anti-slavery conflict in this country he was faithful in his efforts to create a public opinion in favor of Emancipation, and the cause of Peace and International Arbitration always claimed his deep and active interest. He regards age as "opportunity, no less than youth itself, though in another dress," and that, "as the evening twilight fades away, the sky is filled with stars invisible by day." He was in communion with that Divine Spirit which sends the " Gulf Stream of Youth into the Arctic region of our lives." Surely, "the path of the Just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." His gentle, courtly manners, emanating from his real life within, attracted universal attention. Whoever met him was impressed with his generous greeting, and with that chivalric spirit, which, by its genial warmth and sweetness, drew to him the loving notice of all. "E'en children followed, with endeavoring wile And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile." Joseph Cartland had a strong interest in metaphysical studies, and dearly loved generalizations ample and rich, covering all subordinate parts. He was an earnest student of the Holy Scriptures and a firm believer in Christian doctrines of his own Society, but his reading included the writings of the best minds of his age.


GROUP AT STURTEVANT'S, CENTRE HARBORGertrude Cartland at Whittier's left, Mrs. Wade and Joseph Cartland at his right. Mrs. Caldwell, wife of Whittier's nephew, at his left shoulder.