“NOTHING SAVES P[LYMOUTH] BUT THE ROCK”

As we plodded along, either by the edge of the ocean, where the sand was rapidly drinking up the last wave that wet it, or over the sand-hills of the bank, the mackerel fleet continued to pour round the Cape north of us, ten or fifteen miles distant, in countless numbers, schooner after schooner, till they made a city on the water. They were so thick that many appeared to be afoul of one another; now all standing on this tack, now on that. We saw how well the New-Englanders had followed up Captain John Smith’s suggestions with regard to the fisheries, made in 1616, — to what a pitch they had carried “this contemptible trade of fish,” as he significantly styles it, and were now equal to the Hollanders whose example he holds up for the English to emulate; notwithstanding that “in this faculty,” as he says, “the former are so naturalized, and of their vents so certainly acquainted, as there is no likelihood they will ever be paralleled, having two or three thousand busses, flat-bottoms, sword- pinks, todes, and such like, that breeds them sailors, mariners, soldiers, and merchants, never to be wrought out of that trade and fit for any other.” We thought that it would take all these names and more to describe the numerous craft which we saw. Even then, some years before our “renowned sires” with their “peerless dames” stepped on Plymouth Rock, he wrote, “Newfoundland doth yearly freight near eight hundred sail of ships with a silly, lean, skinny poor-john, and cor fish,” though all their supplies must be annually transported from Europe. Why not plant a colony here then, and raise those supplies on the spot? “Of all the four parts of the world,” says he, “that I have yet seen, not inhabited, could I have but means to transport a colony, I would rather live here than anywhere. And if it did not maintain itself, were we but once indifferently well fitted, let us starve.” Then “fishing before your doors,” you “may every night sleep quietly ashore, with good cheer and what fires you will, or, when you please, with your wives and family.” Already he anticipates “the new towns in New England in memory of their old,”– and who knows what may be discovered in the “heart and entrails” of the land, “seeing even the very edges,” &c., &c. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

13,000 BCE

About 15,000 years ago the last age ended with average temperatures rising by several degrees Centigrade. A glacier dumped a boulder that would eventually be freighted with identity-politics significance as “The Plymouth Rock.” The Near East experienced a corresponding northerly migration of monsoon rains, resulting in a kind of “Garden of Eden” in Jordan, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. OUR MOST RECENT GLACIATION HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1564

June 30, Friday (Old Style): René de Laudonnière had disembarked near present-day Jacksonville, Florida, to build a fort north of St. John’s Bluff named Fort Caroline. He heard twenty native musicians who were “blowing hideous discord through pipes of reed.” The French brought musicians to play the violin, spinet, fife, trumpet, and drums for both military and social occasions.1 Their spinet was the first keyboard instrument brought by Florida settlers, and the first on the American eastern seaboard. On this day the first recognizable Thanksgiving festival –by white people that is– was held in the New World. This was not in what would become Massachusetts but in what eventually would become Florida — it was held not in Plymouth but in this Fort Caroline. It was not held by the famous Puritans who had obtained freedom from English Protestant religious persecution but by these ignored Huguenots who were fleeing from French Catholic religious

1. With this group, also, was an artist named Jacques Le Moyne. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET persecution. (So much for what you were taught in high school!) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1608

On the Virginia coast, some Dutchmen were building Powhatan a house in Gloucester near Werawocomoco.2 READ ABOUT VIRGINIA

Meanwhile, in England, the Separatist congregation in the village of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire in rural England, led by William Brewster and the Reverend Richard Clifton, emigrated to Amsterdam in order to escape harassment and religious persecution. The next year they would move to Leiden, where, enjoying full religious freedom, they would remain for almost 12 years. In 1617, discouraged by economic difficulties, the pervasive Dutch influence on their children, and their inability to secure civil autonomy, the congregation would vote to emigrate again, this time to America. Through the Brewster family’s friendship with Sir Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the London Company, the congregation would secure two patents authorizing them to settle in the northern part of the company’s jurisdiction. Unable to finance the costs of the emigration with their own meager resources, they would negotiate a financial agreement with Thomas Weston, a prominent London iron merchant. Fewer than half of the group’s members would, however, elect eventually to leave Leiden. A

2. The reconstructed chimney of that house now stands in “Powhatan’s Subdivision” at Wicomoco. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET small ship, the Speedwell, would convey them to Southampton, England, where they were to join another group of Separatists and pick up a 2d ship. After some delays and disputes, the voyagers would regroup at Plymouth aboard the 180-ton Mayflower. This vessel would begin its historic voyage on September 16, 1620, with about 102 passengers — fewer than half of them from Leiden. After a 65-day journey, these “Old Comers”3 would sight Cape Cod on November 19th. Unable to reach the land they had contracted for, they would anchor on November 21st at the site of Provincetown. It was because they had no legal right whatever to settle in this region that they would need to draw up a compact creating their own government. The settlers soon discovered Plymouth Harbor, on the western side of Cape Cod Bay, and make their historic landing on December 21st;

the main body of settlers would follow along after them on December 26th. The Mayflower Compact In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, 3. They knew themselves as “Old Comers” rather than as the “Pilgrim Fathers.” Although the term “Pilgrim” had been applied by William Bradford to the Leiden Separatists while they were in the process of leaving Holland, the Mayflower’s passengers would not be characterized as “Pilgrim Fathers” until the year 1799 — considerably outside this emigration timeframe. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620. There followed the signatures of 41 of the 102 passengers, 37 of whom were members of the “Separatists” who were fleeing religious persecution in Europe. This compact established the first basis in the new world for written laws. Half the colony would not survive the 1st winter but the remainder would persist and, eventually, more or less, some of them, prosper.

“The capacity to get free is nothing; the capacity to be free, that is the task.” — André Gide, THE IMMORALIST translation Richard Howard NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970, page 7 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1613

Nathaniel Morton was born in England, the eldest son of George Morton. He would come across to the New World with his father and mother as members of the Scrooby Congregation during 1623, and during 1635 would become a freeman and get married with Lydia Cooper, who would bear Remember Morton during 1637; Mercy Morton; Lydia Morton; Elizabeth Morton born on May 3, 1652; Joanna Morton born on November 9, 1654; and Hannah Morton; besides Eliezer Morton and Nathaniel Morton who would die in early youth so that descent in the male line would fail. He would have the benefit of all the MSS of Governor William Bradford, his uncle, and would compile the well known “NEW-ENGLANDS MEMORIALL,” of which the 5th edition would be illustrated by Judge Davis. He would be secretary of Plymouth Colony from 1645 until his death.

Edwin Morton of Plymouth would be one of his violinist descendants. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1616

Captain John Smith’s A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND, based on his 1614 explorations on land and on his coastal survey, was printed in London. The volume advocated the missionary position:

CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE WORTHY is that person to starve that heere [sic] cannot live; if he have sense, strength and health: for there is no such penury of these blessings in any place, but that a hundred men may, in one houre [sic] or two, make their provision for a day: and he that hath experience to manage well these afaires [sic], with fortie [sic] or thirtie [sic] honest industrious men, might well undertake (if they dwell in these parts) to subject the Salvages [sic], and feed daily two or three hundred men, with as good corn, fish and flesh, as the earth hath of these kindes [sic], and yet make that labor but their pleasure: provided that they have engins [sic], that be proper for their purposes. Who can desire more content, that hath small meanes [sic]; or but only his merit to advance his fortune, then to tread, and plant that ground he hath purchases by the hazard of his life? If he have but the taste of virtue, and magnanimitie [sic], what to such a mind can be more pleasant, then [sic] planting and building a foundation for his Posteritie [sic], gotte [sic] from the rude earth, by Gods [sic] blessing and his owne [sic] industrie [sic], without prejudice to any? If he have any grain of faith or zeal in Religion, what can he doe [sic] lese [sic] hurtfull [sic] to any; or more agreeable to God, then [sic] to seeke [sic] to convert those poore [sic] Salvages [sic] to know Christ, and humanitie [sic], whose labors with discretion will triple requite thy charge and paines [sic]? What so truely [sic] sutes [sic] with honour and honestie [sic], as the discovering things unknowne [sic]? erecting Townes [sic], peopling Countries, informing the ignorant, reforming things unjust, teaching virtue; and gaine [sic] to our Native mother- countrie [sic] a kingdom to attend her; finde [sic] imployment [sic] for those that are idle, because they know not what to doe[sic]: so farre [sic] from wronging any, as to cause Posteritie [sic] to remember thee; and remembring [sic] thee, ever honour that remembrance with praise? Consider: What were the beginnings and endings of the Monarkies [sic] of the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Grecians, and Romanes [sic], but this one rule; What was it they would not doe [sic], for the good of the common-wealth, or their Mother-citie [sic]? For example: Rome, What made her such a Monarchesse [sic], but only the adventures of her youth, not in riots at home; but in dangers abroade [sic]? and the justice and judgement [sic] out of their experience, when they grewe [sic] aged. What was their ruine [sic] and hurt, but this; The excesse [sic] of idlenesse [sic], the fondnesse [sic] of Parents, the want of experience in Magistrates, the admiration of their undeserved honours [sic], the contempt of true merit, their unjust jealosies [sic], their politicke [sic] incredulities, their hypocriticall [sic] seeming goodnesse [sic], and their HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET deeds of secret lewdnesse [sic]? finally, in fine, growing only formall [sic] temporists [sic], all that their predecessors got in many years, they lost in few daies [sic]. Those by their pains and vertues [sic] became Lords of the world; they by their ease and vices became slaves to their servants. This is the difference betwixt the use of Armes [sic] in the field, and on the monuments of stones[sic]; the golden age and the leaden age, prosperity and miserie [sic], justice and corruption, substance and shadowes [sic], words and deeds, experience and imagination, making Commonwealths and marring Commonwealths, the fruits of vertue [sic] and the conclusions of vice. Then, who would live at home idly (or thinke [sic] in himselfe [sic] any worth to live) only to eate [sic], drink, and sleepe [sic], and so die? Or by consuming that carelesly [sic], his friends got worthily? Or by using that miserably, that maintained vertue [sic] honestly? Or, for being descended nobly, pine with the vaine [sic] vaunt of great kindred, in penurie [sic]? Or to (maintaine [sic] a silly shewe [sic] of bravery) toyle [sic] out thy heart, soule [sic], and time, basely, by shifts, tricks, cards, and dice? Or by relating newes [sic] of others [sic] actes, sharke [sic] here or there for a dinner, or supper; deceive thy friends, by faire [sic] promises, and dissimulation, in borrowing where thou never intendest to pay; offend the lawes [sic], surfeit with excesse [sic], burden thy Country, abuse thy selfe [sic], despaire [sic] in want, and then couzen [sic] thy kindred, yea even thine owne [sic] brother, and wish thy parents dead (I will not say damnation) to have their estates? though thou seest [sic] what honours, and rewards, the world yet hath for them will seeke [sic] them and worthily deserve them. I would be sorry to offend, or that any should mistake my honest meaning: for I wish good to all, hurt to none. But rich men for the most part are growne [sic] to that dotage, through their pride in their wealth, as though there were no accident could end it, or their life. And what hellish care do such take to make it their owne [sic] miserie [sic], and their Countries [sic] spoile [sic], especially when there is most neede [sic] of their imployment [sic]? drawing by all manner of inventions, from the Prince and his honest subjects, even the vitall [sic] spirits of their powers and estates: as if their Bagges [sic], or Bragges [sic], were so powerfull [sic] a defence, the malicious could not assault them; when they are the only baite [sic], to cause us not to be only assaulted; but betrayed and murdered in our owne [sic] security, ere we well perceive it.... I have not beene [sic] so ill bred, but I have tasted of Plenty and Pleasure, as well as Want and Miserie [sic]: nor doth necessity yet, or occasion of discontent, force me to these endeavors: nor am I ignorant what small thanke [sic] I shall have for my paines [sic]; or that many would have the Worlde [sic] imagine them to be of great judgement, that can but blemish these my designes [sic], by their witty objections and detractions: yet (I hope) my reasons with my deeds, will so prevaile [sic] with some, that I shall not want imployment [sic] in these afaires [sic], to make the most blinde [sic] see his owne [sic] senselesnesse [sic], and incredulity.... HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET I assure my selfe [sic] there are who delight extreamly [sic] in vaine [sic] pleasure, that take much more paines [sic] in England, to enjoy it, then I should doe [sic] heere [sic] to gaine [sic] wealth sufficient: and yet I thinke [sic] they should not have halfe [sic] such sweet content: for, our pleasure here is till gaines [sic]; in England charges and losse [sic]. Heer [sic] nature and liberty affords us that freely, which in England we want, or it costeth [sic] us dearely [sic]. What pleasure can be more, then (being tired with any occasion a-shore) in planting Vines, Fruits, or Hearbs [sic], in contriving their owne [sic] Grounds, to the pleasure of their owne [sic] mindes [sic], their Fields, Gardens, Orchards, Buildings, Ships, and other works, &c. to recreate themselves before their owne [sic] doores [sic], in their owne [sic] boates [sic] upon the Sea, where man, woman and childe [sic], with a small hooke [sic] and line, by angling, may take diverse sorts of excellent fish, at their pleasures? And is it not pretty sport, to pull up two pence, six pence, and twelve pence, as fast as you can hale [sic] and veare [sic] a line? He is a very bad fisher, cannot kill in one day with his hooke [sic] and line, one, two, or three hundred Cods: which dressed and dryed, if they be sould [sic] there for ten shillings the hundred, though in England they will give more then [sic] twentie [sic]; may not both the servant, the master, and marchant [sic], be well content with this gaine [sic]? If a man worke [sic] but three dayes [sic] in seaven [sic], he may get more then [sic] hee [sic] can spend, unlesse [sic] he will be excessive. Now that Carpenter, Mason, Gardiner, Taylor, Smith, Sailer[sic], Forgers, or what other, may they not make this a pretty recreation though they fish but an houre [sic] in a day, to take more then they eate [sic] in a weeke [sic]: or? if they wil [sic] not eate [sic] it, because there is so much better choise [sic]; yet sell it, or charge it, with the fisher men, or marchants [sic], for any thing they want. And what sport doth [sic] yeeld [sic] a more pleasing content, and lesse [sic] hurt or charge then angling with a hooke [sic], and crossing the sweete [sic] ayre [sic] from Ile to Ile, over the silent streames [sic] of a calme [sic] Sea? This included a copy of the Map of New England which he had presented to Prince Charles, son of King James I, “humbly entreating his Highnesse hee would please to change their barbarous names for such English, as posteritie might say Prince Charles was their God-father....” Among the twenty-nine places the prince would rename was Accomack, given the new name of Plimoth, later marked on the map as New Plimoth. Smith at first gave the name Cape Trabigzanda to the first cape north of Boston, Charatza Trabigzanda having been his mistress in Istanbul, and Prince Charles would redesignate this as Cape Anne. Smith would offer his services to the Separatists at Leiden who were planning to emigrate to America, but they would hire Myles Standish instead, apparently because he asked for a lesser fee. It would appear that there would be a copy of Smith’s map showing the location of Plymouth aboard the Mayflower, for Smith would comment wryly in the TRUE TRAVELS, ADVENTURES AND OBSERVATIONS that he would publish in London in 1630 that the “Brownists of England, Amsterdam and Leyden, [who] went to New Plimouth, whose humorous [fanatical] ignorances, caused them for more than a yeare, to endure a wonderfull deale of misery, with an infinite patience; saying HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET my books and maps were much better cheape to teach them, than my selfe....” CARTOGRAPHY

Smith’s 1616 map of New England would be republished in 1635 in a German edition. By this point Smith’s royal patron, Prince Charles, would determine to rename the Quinobequin, which Smith had been calling the Massachusetts River, in honor of himself:

Henry Thoreau would jot in his Canadian Notebook that although the map created by John Smith in 1616 and displayed on a following screen:

is by many regarded as the oldest map of New England ... there is a map of it made when it was known to Christendom as New France, CARTE GÉOGRAPHIQUE DE LA NOUVELLE FRANSE ... 1612, from his [Champlaine’s] observations between 1604 and 1607; a map extending from Labrador to Cape Cod and westward to the Great Lakes, and crowded with information, geographical, ethnographical, zöological, and botanical. He even gives the variation of the compass as observed by himself at that date on many parts of the coast.

The settlements by English colonists along this Charles River subsequent to 1616 are shown in the following 1635 update: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1620

December 18, Monday (December 8, Friday, Old Style): The intrusives and the indigenes 1st encountered one another (unless, that is, there had been prior observations by the Patuxet, which had gone undetected). The intrusives then coasted round, and ran in under the lee of Clark’s Island in Plymouth Harbor, in a north-easter that evening.

Next to the fugitives whom Moses led out of Egypt, the little shipload of outcasts who landed at Plymouth are destined to influence the future of the world. The spiritual thirst of mankind has for ages been quenched at Hebrew fountains; but the embodiment in human institutions of truths uttered by the Son of Man eighteen centuries ago was to be mainly the work of Puritan thought and Puritan self-devotion. ...If their municipal regulations smack somewhat of Judaism, yet there can be no nobler aim or more practical wisdom than theirs; for it was to make the law of man a living counterpart of the law of God, in their highest conception of it. — James Russell Lowell, 1913, THE ROUND TABLE

As Henry Thoreau would record the event in his journal in August 1851 while bumming around on the coast, “On Friday night Dec 8th o.s. the Pilgrims exploring in the shallop landed on Clark’s Island (so called from the Master’s mate of the May Flower) where they spent 3 nights & kept their first sabbath.”4 BOSTON HARBOR “MOURT’S RELATION” Clark’s Island5 Sunday night On Friday night Dec 8th o.s. the Pilgrims exploring in the shallop landed on Clark’s Island (so called from the Master’s mate of the May Flower) where they spent 3 nights & kept their first sabbath. On Monday or the 11th o.s. they landed on the rock. This island contains about 86 acres and was once covered with red cedars which were sold at Boston for gate posts– I saw a few left –one 2 ft in diameter at the ground –which was probably standing when the pilgrims came. Ed. Watson who could remember them nearly 4. It is believed that the name of the 1st mate of the Mayflower was Thomas Clark. 5. Clark’s Island: Bear in mind, Thoreau was “a-botanizing” here on the grounds of another former racial concentration camp for Christian Indians like the one on Deer Island in Boston harbor. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET fifty years –had observed but little change in them. Hutchinson calls this one of the best islands in Mass. Bay. The Town kept it at first as a sacred place –but finally sold it in 1690 to Sam. Lucas, Elkanah Watson, & Geo. Morton.... Mr Thomas Russel –who cannot be 70 –at whose house on Leyden st. I took tea & spent the evening –told me that he remembered to have seen Ebeneezer Cobb a nat. of Plymouth who died in Kingston in 1801 aged 107 who remembered to have had personal knowledge of Peregrine White saw him an old man riding on horse back –(he lived to be 83)– White was born at Cape Cod harbor before the Pilgrims got to Plymouth– C. Sturgis’s mother told me the same of herself at the same time. She remembered Cobb sitting in an arm chair like the one she herself occupied with his silver locks falling about his shoulders twirling one thumb over the other– Russell told me that he once bought some primitive woodland in P. which was sold at auction the bigest Pitch pines 2 ft diameter –for 8 shillings an acre– If he had bought enough it would have been a pasture. There is still forest in this town which the axe has not touched says Geo. Bradford. According to Thatchers Hist. of P. there were 11,662 acres of woodland in ’31. or 20 miles square. Pilgrims first saw Bil. sea about Jan 1st –visited it Jan 8th. The oldest stone in the Plymouth Burying ground 1681 (Coles? hill where those who died the first winter were buried –said to have been levelled & sown to conceal loss from Indians.) Oldest on our hill 1677 In Mrs Plympton’s Garden on Leyden st. running down to Town Brook. Saw an abundance of pears –gathered excellent June-eating apples –saw a large lilack about 8 inches diameter– Methinks a soil may improve when at length it has shaded itself with vegetation. Wm S Russel the Registrer at the Court House showed the oldest Town records. for all are preserved –on 1st page a plan of Leyden st dated Dec. 1620 –with names of settlers. They have a great many folios. The writing plain. Saw the charter granted by the Plymouth Company to the Pilgrims signed by Warwick date 1629 & the box in which it was brought over with the seal. Pilgrim Hall– They used to crack off pieces of the Forefathers Rock for visitors with a cold chisel till the town forebade it. The stone remaining at wharf is about 7 ft square. Saw 2 old arm chairs that came over in the May flower.– the large picture by Sargent.– Standish’s sword.– gun barrel with which Philip was killed – – mug & pocket-book of Clark the mate– Iron pot of Standish.– Old pipe tongs. Ind relics a flayer

a pot or mortar of a kind of fire proof stone very hard–

only 7 or 8 inches long. A Commission from Cromwell to Winslow? –his signature torn off. They talk of a monument on the rock. The burying hill 165 ft high. Manomet 394 ft high by state map. Saw more pears at Washburn’s garden. No graves of Pilgrims. Seaweed generally used along shore– Saw the Prinos Glaber inkberry at Bil. sea. Sandy plain with oaks of various kinds cut in less than 20 yrs– No communication with Sandwich– P end of world 50 miles thither by rail road– Old. Colony road poor property. Nothing saves P. but the rock. Fern-leaved beach– EDWARD WINSLOW KING PHILLIP PLYMOUTH ROCK OLIVER CROMWELL MYLES STANDISH HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET TIME Magazine, at the end of 1991, got this picture from the Granger Collection to use to illustrate their Columbus Special about how certain strange and divisive people are now insisting on the celebration of American diversity:

“MOURT’S RELATION” The Patuxents were not altogether mistaken about the Pilgrims HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET December 19, Tuesday (December 9, Saturday, Old Style): The intrusives remained on Clark’s Island in Plymouth Harbor, presumably refitting their broken mast, etc. MAYFLOWER HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET December 20, Wednesday (December 10, Sunday, Old Style): The intrusives kept the Sabbath on board the Mayflower moored at Clark’s Island in Plymouth Harbor.

ON THE SABBOTH DAY WEE RESTED 20 DECEMBER 1620 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET December 21, Thursday, (December 11, Monday, Old Style): The intrusives landed on the coast side of Cape Cod Bay and did a little exploring there. As Henry Thoreau would record the event in his journal, “On Monday or the 11th o.s. they landed on the rock. This island contains about 86 acres and was once covered with red cedars which were sold at Boston for gate posts– I saw a few left –one 2 ft in diameter at the ground –which was probably standing when the pilgrims came. Ed. Watson who could remember them nearly fifty years –had observed but little change in them. Hutchinson calls this one of the best islands in Mass. Bay.” CLARK’S ISLAND BOSTON HARBOR “MOURT’S RELATION” MAYFLOWER

December 22, Friday (December 12, Tuesday, Old Style): The intrusives started back from the continental coast toward where the Mayflower was moored out at the tip of Cape Cod, and presumably reached there during the day or evening.

When the people we would come to term “Pilgrims” stepped onto the sands at Plymouth, we find in the manuscript of William Bradford’s OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION which is now at the Massachusetts State House no indication of any particular boulder upon which they were stepping ashore. Incidentally, the Pilgrims, landing at Plymouth, were relying on a book by John Smith.6

December 25, Monday (December 15, Friday, Old Style): The Mayflower weighed anchor for Plymouth, but could not reach that harbor and was obliged to turn back toward the refuge offered by Cape Cod.

December 26, Tuesday (December 16, Saturday, Old Style): The intrusives dropped the anchor of the Mayflower inside Plymouth Beach.

6. A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND, based on his 1614 explorations on land and on his coastal survey, printed in London in 1616.

CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET December 27, Wednesday (December 17, Sunday, Old Style): The intrusives kept the Sabbath aboard the Mayflower moored inside Plymouth Beach.

December 28, Thursday (December 18, Monday, Old Style): The intrusives landed from the Mayflower and did some exploration of contiguous areas of the mainland, returning to their ship for the night.

A RELATION OR JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PLANTATION SETTLED AT PLYMOUTH IN NEW ENGLAND (1620/21 attributed to Edward Winslow and William Bradford): Thursday, the 28th December, so many as could went to work on the hill where we purposed to build our platform for our ordnance, and which doth command all the plain and the bay, and from whence we may see far into the sea, and might be easier impaled, having two rows of houses and a fair street. So in the afternoon we went to measure out the grounds, and first we took notice how many families there were, willing all single men that had no wives to join with some family, as they thought fit, that so we might build fewer houses, which was done, and we reduced them to nineteen families. To greater families we allotted larger plots, to every person half a pole in breadth, and three HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET in length [83 by 492 feet], and so lots were cast where every man should lie, which was done, and staked out. We thought this proportion was large enough at the first for houses and gardens, to impale them round, considering the weakness of our people, many of them growing ill with cold, for our former discoveries in frost and storms, and the wading at Cape Cod had brought much weakness amongst us, which increased so every day more and more, and after was the cause of many of their deaths. (MOURT’S RELATION (London 1622), ed. by Dwight B. Heath (Bedford, Mass, Applewood, 1963), p. 42.)

December 29, Friday (December 19, Tuesday, Old Style): The intrusives again went ashore, for a 2d expedition, and returned to their ship for the night. MAYFLOWER HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET December 30, Saturday (December 20, Wednesday, according to the Old Style dating system then in use):

The intrusives went ashore a 3d time, and some settled near Burial Hill and town Brook for the night while others stayed aboard the Mayflower. The “Old Comers” (as they knew themselves, although we term them the “Pilgrim Fathers”) decided to settle on the beach at a location variously known as Ompaam or Accomack or Patuxet. They renamed this place “Plymouth.”7 “MOURT’S RELATION”

In the manuscript of William Bradford’s OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION which is now at the Massachusetts State House, we find no mention of any particular boulder upon which they stepped ashore.

PLYMOUTH ROCK

7. A sketch by William Bradford entitled “The meersteads & garden plots of which came first layed out 1620” is the only known map of the earliest town layout. The original sketch was found bound into the front of a manuscript volume entitled PLIMOUTHS GREAT BOOK OF DEEDS OF LANDS ENROLLED FROM ANO 1627 TO ANO 1651. The first part of this volume is in the handwriting of Governor Bradford, as is the map. The volume now comprises Volume 12 of the Plymouth Colony Records: DEEDS, &C. VOL. 1 1620-1651. The sketch in question shows seven lots, which face “the streete” and are bisected by a “high way.” The lots are located on what Bradford terms “The south Side,” “The north Side” being essentially bare. The lots on the south side above the highway carry the names Peter Brown, John Goodman, and Mr. Wm Brewster while those below the highway carry the names John Billington, Isaak Allerton, Francis Cooke, and Edward Winslow. HDT WHAT? INDEX

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VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

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1621

Men were “frolicking in ye street” of Plymouth, “at play openly; some at pitching ye ball and shuch-like sport.” BASEBALL

A RELATION OR JOURNAL OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PLANTATION SETTLED AT PLYMOUTH IN NEW ENGLAND (1620/21 attributed to Edward Winslow and William Bradford): Tuesday the 9th of January, was a reasonable fair day, and we went to labor that day in the building of our town, in two rows of houses for more safety. We divided by lot the plot of ground whereon to build our town. After the proportion formerly allotted, we agreed that every man should build his own house, thinking that by that course men would make more haste than in working in common. The common house, in which for the first we made our rendezvous, being near finished wanted only covering, it being about twenty feet square. Some should make mortar, and some gather thatch, so that in four days half of it was thatched. Frost and foul weather hindered us much, this time of the year seldom could we work half the week. (MOURT’S RELATION, p. 44)

March 16, Tuesday (March 7, 1620 or 1620/1621 old style):

[A] certain Indian came boldly among them and spoke to them in broken English.... His name was Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose name was Squanto.... HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Samoset came down to the Plymouth shore shouting “Welcome, Englishmen! Welcome, Englishmen!”

Samoset was a sagamore of an Algonquian tribe that resided at the time in southeast Maine. He had been visiting headman Massasoit. He had picked up his English words from white fishermen near Monhegan Island off the coast of southeast Maine. He was described by the Brownists and “Old Comers” in this manner: “He was a man free in speech, so far as he could express his mind, and of a seemly carriage.... He was a tall straight man, the hair of his head black, long behind, only short before, none on his face at all.” He was the first indigenous American “real estate man” to “sell” a piece of “New England” to a group of European HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET intrusives.

WALDEN: I had more cheering visitors that the last. Children come PEOPLE OF a-berrying, railroad men taking a Sunday morning walk in clean WALDEN shirts, fishermen and hunters, poets and philosophers, in short, all honest pilgrims, who came out to the woods for freedom’s sake, and really left the village behind, I was ready to greet with, –“Welcome, Englishmen! welcome, Englishmen!” for I had had communication with that race.

SAMOSET

We trust that he had clear title to the land he sold, as clear title as the cheerful people who came out to Walden Pond to visit with Henry Thoreau as recorded above, and that the local escrow agency and title company had done a full title search and certification prior to the closing.8

This visitor informed the English-speakers of the presence in the general area of yet another English-speaking native, name of Squanto or Tisquantum.

In the evening their native informant seemed reluctant to depart, though his presence was making the whites decidedly nervous. When they tried to put him aboard the Mayflower for the night, they found that the surf was too high to get their rowboat off the beach, so he wound up lodged in the home of Stephen Hopkins, and of course under a most careful watch. THE HOPKINS FAMILY

March 17, Wednesday (March 7, 1620/21 Old Style): At Plymouth, the intrusives sowed some garden seeds. MAYFLOWER

Samoset left the white settlement at Plymouth for the red settlement at Sowams (the present-day Warren, Rhode Island).

8. Squanto, the Patuxent hero of the official Thanksgiving story taught in our government’s “public schools,” had already several years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth been considering himself to be more or less the adopted red son of the explorer John Weymouth (not Captain George Weymouth). When these new whites arrived, he welcomed them as Weymouth’s people. However, the Pilgrim racism proved to be far stronger than Squanto’s lack of it. As the only educated and baptized Christian among the Wampanoag, he would be seen by the Pilgrims merely as a serviceable instrument of God set in the wilderness to provide for their survival as His chosen people, and a dispensable red man. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

With the wind coming for a change from the east, John Carver took a party and inspected the great ponds inland from their settlement (was their destination the “Billington Sea” that John Billington had sighted?).

March 18, Thursday (March 8, 1620 or 1620/1621 old style): Samoset returned to Plymouth accompanied by “five other tall proper men.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET March 21, Sunday (March 11, 1620/21 Old Style): At Plymouth, the white intrusives observed their Sabbath. MAYFLOWER

Their native American guests departed from Plymouth.

March 22, Monday (March 12, 1620 or 1620/1621 old style): At about noon, Samoset returned to Plymouth, bringing Squanto. Later, across a creek, the Massasoit and 60 men appeared. For a time, neither side was willing to approach the other. They did, however, manage to exchange presents, and words of good will were translated by Squanto and Samoset. Then Edward Winslow of the Brownists crossed the creek and allowed himself to be taken as hostage, and then Massasoit and twenty warriors crossed the creek without weapons and allowed Captain Myles Standish to take six or seven of them as hostages. After these preliminaries, the peace negotiations would be continued over food and drink in a house then under construction, on a green rug on which three or four cushions had been placed. One of the things that were agreed upon was that, in any future visits by one race to the other, all weapons would be cached prior to the approach to a settlement. For security, all such approachers were to be defenseless. (All the while, an observer noted, Massasoit “trembled for fear.” The natives had been through all this before with the white people; they were well aware of the ever-present possibilities of kidnap and being taken aboard ship to be sold elsewhere as slaves.) That night Samoset and Squanto remained, under careful guard again of course, and the next day at noon Squanto showed the settlers how they could tread out eels with their feet and catch them with their hands. He caught as many “as he could well lift in one hand,” perhaps 40 or 50 pounds of sustenance.

The “Brownists” and affiliated “New Comers” made use of the available interpreters to enter into the necessary HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET agreement with the natives of the shore “that neither he nor any of his should injure or do hurt to any of their people.” When the sachem departed to his village Sowams, some 40 miles away, this interpreter remained with the intrusives to become the hero of the official Thanksgiving story taught in our government’s “public schools.” Few schoolchildren learn that he had already several years before the Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth been to Spain once and England twice. Even those who see the Walt Disney movie of his life and watch him apparently jump a horse from a dock onto a sailing ship only learn of one of those adventures. When these new whites arrived, he welcomed them as the people of his “white father” John Weymouth, but white racism would prove far more pervasive than red lack of it. As the only educated and baptized Christian among the Wampanoag, he would never be seen by the Pilgrims as anything more than as “a special instrument sent of God” (this phrase is from Governor William Bradford’s diary) — a serviceable tool, red and dispensable, which had been positioned in that wilderness merely to provide for their own survival as His chosen people.

Mr. Bradford, headman of the intrusives, parties with Mr. Massasoit, headman of the indigenes:

To supplant the above partying in our national imagination, TIME Magazine used the following image from the Granger Collection to illustrate their Columbus-Day special issue, which was all about how certain strange and divisive people are presently insisting on the celebration of American diversity. The image they selected is one of those pious representations of a pious event that almost certainly never happened, done in a manner

“MOURT’S RELATION” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET that makes this fictional event into an important part of our national heritage, something for our boys to die for:

The “First” Thanks Giving Story

All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.

TURKEYS There is every reason to believe that the Pilgrim Thanksgiving was culturally inspired by a Wampanoag harvest tradition. Here Edward Winslow describes a Wampanoag ceremony: “The Wampanoag would meet together and cry unto him [the Creator] ... sing, dance, feast, give thanks.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET As part of the celebration, headman Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe put his mark upon a peace treaty with the Brownists and “Old Comers”. According to MOURT’S RELATION, the agreement with Massasoit was as follows: • That neither he (Massasoit) nor any of his people should injure or do hurt to any of our people. • That if any of our tools were taken away, when our people were at work, he should cause them to be restored; and if ours did any harm to any of his, we would do like to them. • If any did unjustly war against him, we would aid him; if any did war against us, he should aid us. • He should [tell] his neighbors confederates of this, that they might not wrong us. • That when their men came to us, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them, as we should do our [weapons] when we came to them.

March 23, Tuesday (1620, Old Style): Ousamequin Yellow Feather (Massasoit) and Quadequina made a treaty with Plymouth. Hobomok moved with his family to Plymouth.

March 26, Friday (March 16, 1620 or 1620/1621 old style): While the white intrusives were engaged in another meeting at Plymouth to arrange for their common defense from the indigenes, Samoset was sighted walking steadily toward them. MAYFLOWER

March 27, Saturday (March 17, 1620 or 1620/1621 old style): This was a fair day. Samoset finally got the hint, took up his presents, and went away. MAYFLOWER

March 28, Sunday (March 18, 1620 or 1620/1621 old style): From the viewpoint of the white intrusives, this was a reasonably fair day. Samoset returned with five other natives, who wanted to engage in barter. This being the Sabbath, the intrusives could not engage in such activity, and so they sent the five away, but Samoset claimed to be ill and would not depart. MAYFLOWER HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET July 12, Monday (July 2, Old Style)-July 17, Saturday (July 7, Old Style): Edward Winslow, Stephen Hopkins, and Squanto went from Plymouth to visit the indigenous settlement of Pokanoket, getting as far as Namasket and the weir which the natives had constructed on the Titicut River. At Sowams (present-day Warren, Rhode Island), they offered presents to the Massasoit (Samoset had gone back to Maine). Ignoring the treaty they had

only recently made, the white men took with them into the village their firearms, and, once in the village, they discharged them, terrifying everyone. (It seems already to have been implicitly recognized that the whites, being so vastly superior in power on account of their command of firearms, did not need to remember their promises.)

“As the star of the Indian descended, that of the Puritans rose ever higher.” — Tourtellot, Arthur Bernon, THE CHARLES, NY: Farrar & Rinehart, 1941, page 63 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET At the time it seems there was nothing in the village for them to eat:

WALDEN: When Winslow, afterward governor of the Plymouth Colony, PEOPLE OF went with a companion on a visit of ceremony to Massasoit on foot WALDEN through the woods, and arrived tired and hungry at his lodge, they were well received by the king, but nothing was said about eating that day. When the night arrived, to quote their own words,– “He laid us on the bed with himself and his wife, they at the one end and we at the other, it being only plank, laid a foot from the ground, and a thin mat upon them. Two more of his chief men, for want of room, pressed by and upon us; so that we were worse weary of our lodging than of our journey.” At one o’clock the next day Massassoit “brought two fishes that he had shot,” about thrice as big as a bream; “these being boiled, there were at least forty looked for a share in them. The most ate of them. This meal only we had in two nights and a day; and had not one of us bought a partridge, we had taken our journey fasting.” Fearing that they would be light-headed for want of food and also sleep, owing to “the savages’ barbarous singing, (for they used to sing themselves asleep,)” and that they might get home while they had strength to travel, they departed. As for lodging, it is true they were but poorly entertained, though what they found an inconvenience was no doubt intended for an honor; but as far as eating was concerned, I do not see how the Indians could have done better. They had nothing to eat themselves, and they were wiser than to think that apologies could supply the place of food to their guests; so they drew their belts tighter and said nothing about it. Another time when Winslow visited them, it being a season of plenty with them, there was no deficiency in this respect.

EDWARD WINSLOW Our historians seem never to have made any linkage between this unavailability of food, and the fact that the white visitors had just been guilty of ignoring the agreement into which they had only recently entered, to wit: • That when their men came to us, they should leave their bows and arrows behind them, as we should do our [weapons] when we came to them. Here’s something amusing (or not) — a snide 1899 illustration “The Palace of Massasoit”: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

July 15, Thursday (July 5, Old Style): Stephen Hopkins and Edward Winslow met many sachems (native leaders), witnessing some of the local sports, etc.

July 16, Friday (July 6, Old Style): Stephen Hopkins and Edward Winslow got up early and started out for Plymouth with totally empty bellies. They made it as far on this day as the native weir near Matepyst.

July 17, Saturday (July 7, Old Style): Stephen Hopkins and Edward Winslow arrived back in Plymouth wet, weary, and somewhat the worse for wear. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET August: The Nauset returned John Billington, Jr. to the English colonists. Ousamequin Yellow Feather (the Massasoit) was attacked by the Narragansett; Conbatant tried to incite the Americans against the English but failed when the English supported the Massasoit. The Narragansett sent peace offers to Plymouth. Epenow made peace with Plymouth.

After the First Comers made peace with the Massasoit, another Wampanoag named Hobomok, who could speak some English, had come to live just outside the walls of Plymouth. At this point William Bradford described him as follows: And there was another Indian called Hobomok, a proper lusty man, and a man of account for his valour and parts amongst the Indians, and continued very faithfully and constant to the English till he died.

September 18, Tuesday (Old Style): Captain Myles Standish and Englishmen from the Plymouth settlement under John Endecott 1st visited the peninsula which was known as Shawmut “Place Where You Find Boats” in the Mayflower’s shallop, accompanied by Squanto and 3 Plymouth natives as guides and interpreters, starting at midnight and rowing the entirety of the next day and arriving too late in the evening to attempt a landing and eventually putting ashore “under the cliff” — which presumably would have been the beach at the foot of Copp’s Hill. They found a pot of lobsters and indulged themselves, and then when a native woman came up and remonstrated with them for taking her lobsters, they recorded that they “contented the woman for them.” “MOURT’S RELATION” BOSTON HARBOR BOSTON

September 19, Wednesday (Old Style): After rowing all day, the party of visitors from the Plymouth settlement arrived in Boston Bay too late in the evening to attempt a landing. BOSTON HARBOR

September 20, Thursday (Old Style): The party of visitors from the Plymouth settlement landed the Mayflower’s shallop at Squantum in Quincy, and then toward nightfall they crossed over to what eventually would become the site of Charlestown.

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE HISTORIAN TYPICALLY SUPPOSES NOW TO BE THE WHY OF THEN. THE REALITY IS VERY MUCH TO THE CONTRARY, FOR NOW IS NOT THE WHY OF THEN: INSTEAD, THEN WAS THE HOW OF NOW. ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THIS IS THAT HISTORIANS WHO ANTICIPATE OFFEND AGAINST REALITY. A HISTORY WRITTEN IN THE HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET LIGHT OF SUBSEQUENT EVENTS AMOUNTS TO SPURIOUS MAKE- BELIEVE. TO DO A GOOD JOB OF RECORDING HISTORY, ONE MUST BECOME IGNORANT (OR FEIGN IGNORANCE) OF EVERYTHING THAT WE NOW KNOW TO HAVE FOLLOWED.

November 9, Friday (Old Style): The Fortune arrived at Plymouth just a few weeks after the First Thanksgiving. Its passenger list has been established, on the basis of the 1623 Division of Land, by Charles Edward Banks in PLANTERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH, by Robert S. Wakefield in the Mayflower Quarterly, and by Eugene Aubrey Stratton in PLYMOUTH COLONY: ITS HISTORY AND ITS PEOPLE, 1620-1691: MAYFLOWER Adams, John Bassett, William Elizabeth Bassett, wife Beale, William Brewster, Jonathan Briggs, Clement Bumpas, Edward Cannon, John Connor, William Cushman, Robert Thomas Cushman, son Deane, Stephen Delano, Phillip Flavel, Thomas son Flavel Ford, Mr. Martha Ford, wife Martha Ford, daughter John Ford (born on November 10th, the day after arrival) Hicks, Robert Hilton, William Morgan, Benedict Morton, Thomas Nicholas, Austin Palmer, William William Palmer, son Pitt, William Prence, Thomas Simmons, Moses Statie, Hugh Steward, James Tench, William HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Winslow, John Wright, William

November 23, Friday (November 13, Tuesday, New Style): Arrival at Plymouth of the Fortune from England, bringing Robert Cushman with 35 colonists.

December 21 (December 11, Tuesday Old Style): Edward Winslow prepared some materials and a letter to be sent with the Fortune to George Morton in England. ...we have built seven dwelling houses and four for the use of the plantation and have made preparations for diverse others.

December 23 (December 13, Thursday Old Style): The Fortune set sail from Plymouth for its return trip to England.

Winter: Plymouth Governor “Bah-Humbug” William Bradford granted two men permission to not work on Christmas Day. Then the governor actually caught them tossing a ball back and forth! He confiscated their ball and informed them that they could remain in the colony only if they were “better instructed.”

Christmas arrived on the American continent with the first Europeans, but the festivities of those days would not be recognizable as Christmas celebrations today. Originally a combination of the Roman Saturnalia feast in honor of the birth of the Sun and fourth-century Christian celebration of the birth of the Son, Jesus, Christmas arrived in the “New World” from Christian Europe as a rowdy, drunken, feasting sort of holiday.9

9. Baker, Lisa B. CHRISTIANITY, SECULARIZATION, AND CHRISTMAS IN THE UNITED STATES 1850 AND TODAY. Religious Studies/Sociology Senior Thesis for Professors Gary Herion and Ed Ambrose, May 1999 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1622

January: Due to a miscommunication, the Narragansett threatened Plymouth. Plymouth issued a counter-challenge. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1623

The Narragansett of the bay of Rhode Island were drawn into in a prolonged war with the Mohawk during which Pessacus, an important sachem, would be killed. By the time the Narragansett were free to deal with the English at Plymouth, the white intrusives would have become firmly established there, and in addition large numbers of Puritans would be settling at Massachusetts Bay. MASSACHUSETTS BAY

Emmanuel Althem, a visitor to Plymouth, wrote: It is well situated upon a high hill close unto the seaside.... In this plantation is about twenty houses, four or five of which are very fair and pleasant, and the rest (as time will serve) shall be made better. And this town is in such manner that it makes a great street between the houses, and at the upper end of the town there is a strong fort, both by nature and art, with six pieces of reasonable good artillery mounted thereon.... This town is paled about with pale of eight foot long, or thereabouts, and in the pale are three great gates.... And lastly, the town is furnished with a company of honest men.... Only without our pales dwells one Hobomok, his wives and his household (above ten persons), who is our friend and interpreter, and one whom we have HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET found faithful and trusty.

BETWEEN ANY TWO MOMENTS ARE AN INFINITE NUMBER OF MOMENTS, AND BETWEEN THESE OTHER MOMENTS LIKEWISE AN INFINITE NUMBER, THERE BEING NO ATOMIC MOMENT JUST AS THERE IS NO ATOMIC POINT ALONG A LINE. MOMENTS ARE THEREFORE FIGMENTS. THE PRESENT MOMENT IS A MOMENT AND AS SUCH IS A FIGMENT, A FLIGHT OF THE IMAGINATION TO WHICH NOTHING REAL CORRESPONDS. SINCE PAST MOMENTS HAVE PASSED OUT OF EXISTENCE AND FUTURE MOMENTS HAVE YET TO ARRIVE, WE NOTE THAT THE PRESENT MOMENT IS ALL THAT EVER EXISTS — AND YET THE PRESENT MOMENT BEING A HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET MOMENT IS A FIGMENT TO WHICH NOTHING IN REALITY CORRESPONDS.

John Oldham arrived in the Plymouth colony. This man would become the 1st recognized “coaster,” that is, the 1st to ply the trade of sailing a small boat up and down the shoreline carrying produce and news to link the scattered settlements. Oldham would fall out initially with the Pilgrim authorities, and afterward with the Puritan authorities, and would be characterized as “a Man soe [sic] affected with his owne [sic] opinion, as not to bee [sic] removed from it.” Coasting had become his way of keeping out of sight of the “Elders.”

While looking for favorable fishing grounds, a group from the Plymouth colony arrived at what would eventually become Gloucester harbor on Cape Ann. At the present spot of Stage Fort Park, they erected their first fish-drying “stages,” and established a small and temporary settlement. Later that year, immigrants of the Dorchester Company from England permanently settled in the area, naming their settlement Gloucester after the town in England.

Forsaking the communalism of their Mayflower Compact, the First Comers assigned each family its own parcel of land. They would find that this appeal to private greed “made all hands very industrious.”

When their corn supply was exhausted, the settlers at Plymouth survived on ground-nut tubers.

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET January 13, day: John Pory had left Plymouth at the end of August 1622 and had then been on board the Discovery when it had stopped by that settlement en route to England from Virginia at the end of his 3-year term as Secretary to the Governor and Council of Virginia. In a letter written on this day he described the Plymouth settlement for the benefit of the Earl of Southampton: ...the harbour is not only pleasant for air and prospect, but most sure for shipping, both small and great, being land-locked on all sides. The town is seated on the ascent of a hill, which besides the pleasure of variable objects entertaining the unsatisfied eye, such is the wholesomeness of the place (as the Governor [William Bradford] told me) that for the space of one whole year of the two wherein they had been there, died not one man, woman or child.... [he includes a description of the abundance of eels] ...In April and May come up another kind of fish which they call herring or old wives [alewives] in infinite schools, into a small river [Town Brook] running under the town, and so into a great pond or lake of a mile broad, where they cast their spawn ... into another river some two miles to the northeast of Plymouth [a stream running from the Smelt Pond to Plymouth Bay, entering it at the mouth of the Jones River, about two miles northwest of Plymouth] ...Within two miles southward from their plantation do begin goodly ponds and lakes of fresh water, continuing well nigh twenty miles into the land, some with islands in them, the water being as clear as crystal, yielding great variety of fish. ...Now concerning the quality of the people ... their industry as well appeareth by their building, as by a substantial palisado about their [town] of 2700 foot in compass, stronger than I have seen any in Virginia, and lastly by a blockhouse which they have erected in the highest place of the town to mount their ordnance upon, from whence they may command all the harbour.10 READ ABOUT VIRGINIA

July: Hobomok witnessed Plymouth’s prayers for rain, prayers which apparently brought to an end a six-week drought, and became intrigued by the powers of this Christian religion.

Per John Camden Hotten’s EMIGRANT ANCESTORS (1874), after the vessels Anne and Little James had parted company at sea the Anne had arrived at Boston harbor during the latter part of June, with the Little James arriving some week or ten days later. At this point the Anne and the Little James came to anchor at the Plymouth beachhead, bringing new settlers along with many of the wives and children that had been left behind in Leyden when the Mayflower had departed in 1620.

Among that boatload of people was Robert Bartlett, who would get married in 1628 with Mary Warren, daughter of Richard Warren. They would produce Benjamin Bartlett, and then in 1638 would produce Joseph Bartlett, and in addition there would be 6 daughters: Rebecca Bartlett who would get married n December 20, 1649 with William Harlow; Mary Bartlett who would get married on September 19, 1651 with Richard Foster, and then on July 8, 1659 would remarry with Jonathan Morey; Sarah Bartlett who would get married on December 23, 1656 with Samuel Rider of Yarmouth; Elizabeth Bartlett who would get married on December 20, 1661 with Anthony Sprague of Hingham; Lydia Bartlett who would be born on June 8, 1647 and get married with James Barnaby and then get married with John Nelson of Middleborough; and Mercy Bartlett who would be born on March 10, 1651 and get married on December 25, 1668 with John Ivey of Boston. This passenger Robert Bartlett was of the first purchase of Dartmouth, and would die in 1676 at the age of 73. His 10. THREE VISITORS TO EARLY PLYMOUTH: LETTERS ABOUT THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND DURING ITS FIRST SEVEN YEARS BY JOHN PORY, EMMANUEL ALTHAM, AND ISAACK DE RASIERES, edited by Sydney V. James, Jr. (Bedford MA: Applewood, 1963) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET widow Mary Warren Bartlett would remarry on October 24 either in the year 1692 or in the year 1699 with Thomas Delano.

The George Morton who was arriving was not the son of the infamous Thomas Morton of Merry Mount yet, no doubt, he was a relative of that numerous family and perhaps a brother of the 2nd Thomas Morton. He had been born at Austerfield in Yorkshire and had been baptized on February 12, 1599.

He arrived at Boston and then Plymouth in the Ann with a wife Juliana Carpenter Morton whom he had married at Leyden on July 23, 1612, a daughter of Alexander Carpenter, and four or five children counted with Experience Mitchell for 8 in the 1624 division of lands, including his eldest son Nathaniel Morton, son John Morton, son Ephraim Morton, daughter Patience Morton, daughter Sarah Morton, and Thomas Morton, Jr., the son of Thomas Morton of the Fortune. Edwin Morton of Plymouth would be one of his violinist descendants.

The ship’s list of passengers was: Annable, Anthony (settled in Scituate) Jane (Momford) Annable, wife Sarah Annable, daughter Hannah Annable, daughter Bangs, Edward (settled in Eastham) Bartlett, Robert Buckett, Mary Brewster, Patience (a daughter of Elder Brewster) Brewster, Fear (a daughter of Elder Brewster) Clarke, Thomas (his gravestone is the oldest on Plymouth Burial Hill) Conant, Christopher Cooke, Mrs. Hester (Mahieu) Jane Cooke, daughter Jacob Cooke, son Hester Cooke, daughter Dix, Anthony Faunce, John Flavel, Goodwife (probably Mrs. Elizabeth Flavel, wife of Thomas Flavell of the Fortune) Flood, Edmond Fuller, Mrs. Bridget (Lee) (apparently the wife of Dr. Samuel Fuller) Godbertson, Godbert or Cuthbertson, Cuthbert (a Hollander rather than a Pilgrim) Sarah (Allerton) (Vincent) (Priest) Godbertson, wife Samuel Godbertson, son Sarah Priest, step-daughter Mary Priest, step-daughter Hatherly, Timothy Heard, William Hicks, Mrs. Margaret (with her children below; family of Robert Hickes of the Fortune) Samuel Hicks, son Lydia Hicks, daughter HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Hilton, Mrs. William (with her children below; William Hilton had sent for them before his death) William Hilton, son Mary Hilton, daughter Holman, Edward Jenny, John (Why wasn’t he on the list, was he a man of color? He had “liberty, in 1636, to erect a mill for grinding and beating of corn upon the brook of Plymouth”) Kempton, Manasseh Long, Robert Mitchell, Experience (would marry Jane Cooke, daughter of Francis Cooke of the Mayflower) Morton, George (paterfamilias; family below) Juliana Morton, wife Nathanial Morton, son (afterwards the 1st Secretary of Plymouth) John Morton, son Ephraim Morton, son Patience Morton, daughter Sarah Morton, daughter Morton, Thomas Jr. (son of Thomas Morton of the Fortune) Newton, Ellen Oldham, John Mrs. Oldham, wife Lucretia Oldham, sister Palmer, Mrs. Frances (wife of William Palmer of the Fortune) Penn, Christian Pierce, Abraham Pratt, Joshua Rand, James Rattliff, Robert Mrs. Rattliff, wife Snow, Nicholas (settled in Eastham) Southworth, Alice (widow, formerly named Carpenter, would remarry as the 2nd wife of Governor William Bradford) Sprague, Francis (settled in Duxbury) Anna Sprague, wife Mercy Sprague, daughter Standish, Mrs. Barbara (would become the 2d wife of Captain Miles Standish) Tilden, Thomas (Ann?) Tilden, wife child Tilden Tracy, Stephen Wallen, Ralph Joyce Wallen, wife Warren, Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Warren, daughter HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Elizabeth Warren, daughter Ann Warren, daughter Sarah Warren, daughter Abigail Warren, daughter Mr. Perce’s two servants

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE HISTORIAN TYPICALLY SUPPOSES NOW TO BE THE WHY OF THEN. THE REALITY IS VERY MUCH TO THE CONTRARY, FOR NOW IS NOT THE WHY OF THEN: INSTEAD, THEN WAS THE HOW OF NOW. ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THIS IS THAT HISTORIANS WHO ANTICIPATE OFFEND AGAINST REALITY. A HISTORY WRITTEN IN THE LIGHT OF SUBSEQUENT EVENTS AMOUNTS TO SPURIOUS MAKE- BELIEVE. TO DO A GOOD JOB OF RECORDING HISTORY, ONE MUST BECOME IGNORANT (OR FEIGN IGNORANCE) OF EVERYTHING THAT WE NOW KNOW TO HAVE FOLLOWED.

September: Emmanuel Altham, one of the merchant adventurers who had invested in the New Plymouth Company, had sailed to the New World as captain of the Little James, the pinnace which the Company sent to Plymouth for fish and fur trading. During this month he wrote to his brother, Sir Edward Altham: ...And now to come more nearer to that I intend to write of, and first of the situation of the place — I mean the plantation at Patuxet [the native name for Plymouth]. It is well situated upon a high hill close unto the seaside, and very commodious for shipping to come unto them. In this plantation is about twenty houses, four or five of which are very fair and pleasant, and the rest (as time will serve) shall be made better. And this town is in such manner that it makes a great street between the houses, and at the upper end of the town there is a strong fort, both by nature and art, with six pieces of reasonable good artillery mounted thereon; in which fort is continual watch, so that no Indian can come near thereabouts but he is presently seen. This town is paled about with pale of eight foot long, or thereabouts, and in the pale are three great gates. Furthermore, here is belonging to the town six goats, about fifty hogs and pigs, also divers hens. And lastly, the town is furnished with a company of honest men, that do, in what lies in them, to get profit to the adventurers.11

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project 11. THREE VISITORS TO EARLY PLYMOUTH: LETTERS ABOUT THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND DURING ITS FIRST SEVEN YEARS BY JOHN PORY, EMMANUEL ALTHAM, AND ISAACK DE RASIERES, edited by Sydney V. James, Jr. (Bedford MA: Applewood, 1963) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET In another letter Altham would communicate that “without our pales dwells one Hobomok, his wives and his household (above ten persons), who is our friend and interpreter, and one whom we have found faithful and trusty.” He would return to England in 1625 after a year on the Little James, and would then make a 2d voyage to New England later that year to seek employment in the colony at Plymouth, but this effort would be without success. Later he would join the East India Company, in which he would have a brief successful career, dying in India during January 1635/36. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1624

Elizabeth Alden (Pabodie) was born to John and Priscilla Alden, as the 1st child of the Old Comers to Plymouth to actually be born on the soil of this New World (the exact day of her birth is not on record).

In a later timeframe the Reverend William Hubbard would have his own imitable comments on this “lustre of years” in the history of New England.

CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

READ HUBBARD TEXT Chapter XIII. Mr. Weston’s Plantation of Wasagusquasset. Chapter XIV. The necessities and sufferings of the inhabitants of New Plymouth, during their first lustre of years: their Patent, how and when obtained. Chapter XV. The Council established at Plymouth, in the County of Devon, for the ordering the affairs of New England, and their proceedings with reference thereto. Chapter XVI. The addition of more Assistants to the Governor of Plymouth Colony, with some passages most remarkable there, in the years 1624, 1625.

The Plymouth colony had acquired a salt maker. It would take them a little while to see through this fellow’s screen of words, and recognize that “he could not do any thing but boyle salt in pans.”

Production of a Ton of Salt:

Fuel Location Source of fuel and salt Method used Fuel (Tons)

1600 Tyrol brining and wood gathering campfire 4 wood on 100,000 sq/m woodland

1650 Jutland Ocean water ash extraction 14 peat

1700 East Coast Ocean water open pan 6 coal of England

1700 Cheshire Brining open pan 1 coal

1950 Germany 20 kw/hr vacuum pan 0.2 coal

1950 Switzerland 200 kw/hr vacuum pan 0.02 coal compression still

1950 Mediterranean 100 sq/km of flat impermeable solar pan 0 solar pan area at ocean tide level energy HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Sir Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount Saint Albans wrote in his APOTHEGMS about the production of cold or ice by artificial means: “Ice,” declared Thoreau, in a majestic passage in WALDEN, “is a fit subject for contemplation.” He was of course referring to natural ice, and its harvesting from the lake near his woodland retreat, but when in 1624 Francis Bacon wrote that “the Producing of Cold is a thing very worthy of the Inquisition” he meant the production of cold or ice by artificial means. Before he died in 1626, victim of a chill brought on, tradition has it, as a result of collecting snow with which to observe its preservative effects on a chicken, Bacon knew that scientific “inquisitions” into the production of ice by artificial means had been successful, although he himself had not actually performed the experiment. In DE AUGMENTIS SCIENTARUM, completed in June 1622 and published the following year, he alluded to “the late experiment of artificial freezing” and to how “salt is discovered to have great powers of condensation.” Again, in his last work, SYLVA SYLVARUM, posthumously published in 1627, he mentions “Salt put to ice as in the producing of the Artificial Ice.” The “late experiment” alluded to by Bacon was probably one demonstrated in 1620 by Cornelius Drebbel, the Dutch-born inventor who was given rooms in Eltham Palace, financially subsidized by James I, and in return entertained his royal master with all manner of ingenious inventions and demonstrations, some of them being held at the time to pertain rather more to the black arts than was respectable or acceptable. Self-regulating ovens, thermometers, a submarine boat, a thunder and lightning machine, an instrument of perpetual motion, and a camera obscura were just a few of the inventions, by no means all of them original, but always expertly adapted, which Drebbel constructed and demonstrated. The one Bacon was referring to seems to have been an early attempt at an air-conditioning device, and quite a successful one. The King, who had requested the demonstration, chose a hot summer day, and attended the show in the Great hall at Westminster. Drebbel’s device reduced the temperature in the hall to such a degree that James and his attendants fled, shivering.

ice HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET White people settled on the peninsula of Nantascot, renaming it Point Allerton and naming their settlement Hull. These folks were establishing a trading and fishing post basically because some of them were being

kicked out of the Plymouth settlement. John Oldham had come over in 1623 on the Anne, but as the head of a separate group of ten rather than as part of the general company, and his group’s contribution to Plymouth had been to take part in the general military effort and to pay into the treasury one bushel of corn per year per person. The Plymouth authorities had forbidden this group to do any trading with the natives. In this succeeding year, when the Reverend John Lyford, an Anglican, arrived from England, he aligned himself with the Oldham group and officiated at an Anglican baptism. When the authorities found out about this illicit ceremony Olham and Lyford were ordered to leave Plymouth, Oldham being told to make himself scarce on the next bus. He and others, including Roger Conant, therefore established the place of their exile on this Nantasket peninsula. BOSTON HARBOR POINT ALLERTON

In this 1624-1627 timeframe, Plymouth would be becoming involved in the wampum trade to the southward. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Late in the year, in London, Captain John Smith abstracted material from what is now referred to as “MOURT’S RELATION”, or A RELATION OR IOURNALL OF THE BEGINNING AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENGLIFH PLANTATION FETTLED AT PLIMOTH, IN NEW-ENGLAND, BY CERTAINE..., describing the initial experiences of the “Old Comers” at their Massachusetts Bay settlement of Plymouth, into his THE GENERALL HISTORIE OF VIRGINIA, NEW-ENGLAND, AND THE SUMMER ISLES. Here is the Virginia coast as graven by William Hole:

Smith offered a secondhand description of New Plymouth. Whoever provided him with his information, it could not have been Edward Winslow, for his source had to have knowledge of the fire that had burned some of the houses on November 5, 1623 and Winslow had already left for England on the Anne on September 10, 1623: At New-Plimoth there is about 180 persons, some cattle and goats, but many swine and poultry, 32 dwelling houses, whereof 7 were burnt the last winter, and the value of five hundred pounds in other goods; the Town is impaled about half a mile in compass. In the town upon a high Mount they have a fort well built with wood, loam and stone, where is planted their Ordnance: Also a fair Watch-tower, partly framed, for the Sentinel ... they have made a saltwork, and with that salt preserve the fish they take, and this year hath fraughted [filled] a ship of 180 tons. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

June: George Morton, who had come to Boston in the Ann during 1623 with his wife Julian Carpenter Morton and four or five children and had resided in the Plymouth Colony, died. His widow Julian Carpenter Morton would remarry with Manasseh Kempton, and is thought to have been a sister of Governor William Bradford. She would die at the age of 81 on February 19, 1665. The children were Nathaniel Morton; Patience Morton, who married during 1633 with a fellow-passenger John Faunce, father of the celebrated Elder Faunce; John Morton, born during 1616; Sarah Morton, born during 1618, married on December 20, 1644 with George Bonham; and Ephraim Morton. This George Morton has been presumed to have been in 1622 the editor of the tract “MOURT’S RELATION”, or A RELATION OR IOURNALL OF THE BEGINNING AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENGLIFH PLANTATION FETTLED AT PLIMOTH, IN NEW-ENGLAND, BY CERTAINE …, which described the initial experiences of the “Old Comers” at their Massachusetts Bay settlement of Plymouth. Edwin Morton of Plymouth would be one of his violinist descendants. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1625

At some point during this year, when the salt maker of the Plymouth colony had burned holes in most of his boiling plans and set fire to the structure in which he worked, it became clear to the Pilgrim fathers that this was not an expert that they had recruited. It would not be until 1776 that Captain John Sears of Dennis would find out how to make it possible in the atmospheric and weather conditions on the Cape to cause the rays of the sun to gradually concentrate salt along a series of linked shallow troughs of progressively stronger salinities, thus saving on the cost of firewood. Presumably this was primarily due to changes in the general climate, rendering the Cape somewhat warmer. By the 1840s there would be 440 saltworks in operation in accordance with this principle on Cape Cod.

CAPE COD: Captain John Sears, of Suet, was the first person in this country who obtained pure marine salt by solar evaporation alone; though it had long been made in a similar way on the coast of France, and elsewhere. This was in the year 1776, at which time, on account of the war, salt was scarce and dear. The Historical Collections contain an interesting account of his experiments, which we read when we first saw the roofs of the salt-works. Barnstable county is the most favorable locality for these works on our northern coast, there is so little fresh water here emptying into ocean. Quite recently there were about two millions of dollars invested in this business here. But now the Cape is unable to compete with the importers of salt and the manufacturers of it at the West, and, accordingly, her salt-works are fast going to decay. From making salt, they turn to fishing more than ever. The Gazetteer will uniformly tell you, under the head of each town, how many go a-fishing, and the value of the fish and oil taken, how much salt is made and used, how many are engaged in the coasting trade, how many in manufacturing palm- leaf hats, leather, boots, shoes, and tinware, and then it has done, and leaves you to imagine the more truly domestic manufactures which are nearly the same all the world over.

Production of a Ton of Salt:

Fuel Location Source of fuel and salt Method used Fuel (Tons)

1600 Tyrol brining and wood gathering campfire 4 wood on 100,000 sq/m woodland

1650 Jutland Ocean water ash extraction 14 peat

1700 East Coast Ocean water open pan 6 coal of England

1700 Cheshire Brining open pan 1 coal

1950 Germany 20 kw/hr vacuum pan 0.2 coal

1950 Switzerland 200 kw/hr vacuum pan 0.02 coal compression still HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Production of a Ton of Salt:

Fuel Location Source of fuel and salt Method used Fuel (Tons)

1950 Mediterranean 100 sq/km of flat impermeable solar pan 0 solar pan area at ocean tide level energy

View Cornell University Library’s webpage of an 1869 history of this Cape Cod town by Frederick Freeman:

http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl447&view=50&frames=0&seq=17

WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF

“Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project Cape Cod HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Myles Standish sailed to represent the Plymouth colony in England.

Edward Winslow became an Assistant to the Governor of Plymouth. He would hold this office every year, except that during 1633, 1635, and 1344 he would be Governor in place of William Bradford.

The colony population reached 180. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET William Hawkridge, with two ships, entered Hudson’s Strait to search for the Northwest Passage.

In London, the Reverend Samuel Purchas, having obtained some of the Reverend Richard Hakluyt’s manuscripts, at this point condensed them into what is now referred to as HAKLVYTVS POSTHUMUS, OR, PVRCHAS HIS PILGRIMES. CONTAYNING A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, IN SEA VOYAGES, & LANDE-TRAUELLS, BY ENGLISHMEN AND OTHERS ... SOME LEFT WRITTEN BY MR. HAKLUYT AT HIS DEATH, MORE SINCE ADDED, HIS ALSO PERUSED, & PERFECTED. ALL EXAMINED, ABREUIATED, ILLUSTRATES WTH NOTES, ENLARGED WTH DISCOURSES, ADORNED WTH PICTURES, AND EXPRESSED IN MAPPS. IN FOWER PARTS, EACH CONTAINING FIUE BOOKES. [COMPILED] BY SAMVEL PVRCHAS (London, Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Featherstone), PURCHAS HIS PILRIMES, I PURCHAS HIS PILRIMES, II PURCHAS HIS PILRIMES, III PURCHAS HIS PILRIMES, IV

or as A RELATION OR IOURNALL OF THE BEGINNING AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENGLIſH PLANTATION ſETTLED AT PLIMOTH, IN NEW-ENGLAND, BY CERTAINE …, described the initial experiences of the Brownists and “Old Comers” in their Massachusetts Bay settlement at Plymouth:

Least Travellers may be greatest Writers. Even I which have written so much of travellers and travells, never travelled 200. miles from Thaxted in Essex, where I was borne.... — Volume I, page 201

“MOURT’S RELATION”

Captain Martin Pring’s short account of his initial voyage of expedition to America was included in the 4th HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET volume. It provides valuable material about the lives of the precolonial Abenaki and Wampanoag, as well as the explorer’s descriptions of geography, plants, and animals. They had explored areas of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Cape Cod, the initial Europeans known to have ventured inland along the Piscataqua River.

Captain George Weymouth’s journal of his abortive 1602 voyage up Hudson’s Strait into the ice was also included.

Robert Juet’s journal of Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage was also included, while portions of Captain Hudson’s journal of the voyage were published in John De Laet’s NIEUWE WERELT. THE FROZEN NORTH

This source contained some experience obtained in 1600 that would prove useful to sufferers from the scurvy: The Voyage to Asia by James Lancaster, 1600. In the first voyage made to the East Indies on account of the English East India Company [1600] there were employed four ships commanded by Captain James Lancaster, their General, viz. the Dragon, having the General and 202 men, the Hector 108 men, the Susan 82 and the Ascension 32. They left England about 18 April; in July the people were taken ill on their passage with the scurvy; by the first of August all the ships except the General’s were so thin of men that they had scarce enough to hand the sails; and upon a contrary wind for fifteen or sixteen days the few who were well before began also to fall sick. Whence the want of hands was so great in these ships that the merchants who were sent to dispose of their cargoes in the East Indies were obliged to take their turn at the helm and do the sailors duty till they arrived at Saldanha [near the Cape of Good Hope]; where the General sent his boats and went on board himself to assist the other three ships, who were in so weakly a condition that they were hardly able to let fall an anchor without his assistance. All this time the General’s ship continued pretty healthy. The reason why his crew was in better health than the rest of the ships was owing to the juice of lemons of which the General having brought some bottles to sea, he gave to each, as long as it lasted, three spoonfuls every morning fasting. By this he cured many of his men and preserved the rest; so that HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET although his ship contained double the number of any of the others yet (through the mersey of God and to the preservation of the other three ships) he neither had so many men sick, nor lost so many as they did. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1626

The Plymouth colonists who considered themselves “Brownists” and “First Comers” built a pinnace at the Manomet River (the Aptucxet), with a house to maintain it. The pinnace was used to voyage to Narragansett Bay to attempt to make an entry in the wampum trade.

Myles Standish represented the Plymouth colony in England.

Thomas Browne graduated from Pembroke College of Oxford University. He would travel to the continent to study medicine at various universities.

PEMBROKE COLLEGE

Jesuit priests were introducing Huron Indians living around Quebec to Roman Catholicism. By the point at which the Hurons would be exterminated by the Five Nations in 1649, almost half of them had become Roman Catholic (this success had been due mostly to laws allowing French traders to sell firearms only to Christians). Undaunted, the Jesuits would start over at Montréal, where they would succeed in converting many war refugees to Catholicism during the 1660s. The Jesuit success would owe less to the Prince of Peace than to the native desire for a more powerful war god, as these converts to Catholicism would continue to involve themselves in smuggling and kidnapping operations all along the English and Dutch frontiers.

Martin Pring died at the age of 46, possibly while arranging for a 3d trip to the Virginia coast, and the body HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET was placed at St Stephen’s Church in Bristol where the oval tablet is still viewable just to the north of the pulpit (the figured surround of the oval would be added considerably later, dating merely to 1733): “To the Pious Memorie of Martin Pringe, Merchaunt, sometyme Generall to the East Indies, and one of ye Fraternity of the Trinity House,”

Hic terris multum jactatus et undis (etc.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT EITHER THE REALITY OF TIME OVER THAT OF CHANGE, OR CHANGE OVER TIME — IT’S PARMENIDES, OR HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HERACLITUS. I HAVE GONE WITH HERACLITUS.

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1627

Plymouth was trading its surplus maize to the eastern Abenaki on the Kennebec River of Maine, in exchange for furs.

May 22, Tuesday (Old Style): At Plymouth, a division of the cattle was schemed. (The 1st cattle having been brought from England to New England in 1624, these cattle had had only two or three years to multiply. The actual division of the herd would take place on June 14th.) At a publique court held the 22th of May it was concluded by the whole Companie, that the cattell wch were the Companies, to wit, the Cowes & the Goates should be equall devided to all the psonts of the same company & soe kept untill the expiration of ten yeares after the date above written & that every one should well and sufficiently pvid for there owne pt under penalty of forfeiting the same. That the old stock with halfe th increase should remaine for comon use to be devided at thend of the said terme or otherwise as ocation falleth out, & the other halfe to be their owne for ever. Uppon wch agreement they were equally devided by lotts soe as the burthen of keeping the males then beeing should be borne for common use by those to whose lot the best Cowes should fall & so the lotts fell as followeth. thirteene psonts being pportioned to one lot. • The first lot fell to ffrancis Cooke & his Companie Joyned to him his wife Hester Cooke To this lot fell the least of the 4 black Heyfers Came in the Jacob, and two shee goats. 3 John Cooke 4 Jacob Cooke 5 Jane Cooke 6 Hester Cooke 7 Mary Cooke 8 Moses Simonson 9 Phillip Delanoy 10 Experience Michaell 11 John ffance 12 Joshua Pratt 13 Phinihas Pratt

• The second lot fel to Mr Isaac Allerton & his Companie ioyned to him his wife ffeare Allerton. To this lot fell the Greate Black cow came in the Ann to which they must keepe the lesser of the two steers, and two shee goats. 3 Bartholomew Allerton 4 Remember Allerton 5 Mary Allerton 6 Sarah Allerton 7 Godber Godberson 8 Sarah Godberson 9 Samuel Godberson 10 Marra Priest HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET 11 Sarah Priest 12 Edward Bumpasse 13 John Crackstone

• The third lot fell to Capt Standish & his companie Joyned to him his wife To this lot fell the Red Cow wch belongeth to the poore of the Colonye to wch they must keepe her Calfe of this yeare being a Bull for the Companie. Also to this lott Came too she goats. 2 Barbara Standish 3 Charles Standish 4 Allexander Standish 5 John Standish 6 Edward Winslow 7 Susanna Winslow 8 Edward Winslow 9 John Winslow 10 Resolved White 11 Perigrine White 12 Abraham Peirce 13 Thomas Clarke

• The fourth lot fell to John Howland & his company Joyned to him his wife To this lot fell one of the 4 heyfers Came in the Jacob Called Raghorne. 2 Elizabeth Howland 3 John Howland Junor 4 Desire Howland 5 William Wright 6 Thomas Morton Juror 7 John Alden 8 Priscilla Alden 9 Elizabeth Alden 10 Clemont Briggs 11 Edward Dolton [Doty] 12 Edward Holdman 13 Joh. Alden

• The fift lot fell to Mr Willm Brewster & his companie Joyned to him To this lot ffell one of the fower Heyfers Came in the Jacob Caled the Blind Heyfer & two shee goats. 2 Love Brewster 3 Wrestling Brewster 4 Richard More 5 Henri Samson 6 Johnathan Brewster 7 Lucrecia Brewster 8 Willm Brewster 9 Mary Brewster 10 Thomas Prince 11 Pacience Prince HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET 12 Rebecka Prince 13 Humillyty Cooper

• The sixt lott fell to John Shaw & his companie Joyned To this lot fell the lesser of the black Cowes Came at first in the Ann wth which they must keepe the bigest of the 2 steers. Also to this lot was two shee goats. 1 to him 2 John Adams 3 Eliner Adams 4 James Adams 5 John Winslow 6 Mary Winslow 7 Willm Basset 8 Elizabeth Bassett 9 Willyam Basset Junor 10 Elyzabeth Basset Junor 11 ffrancis Sprage 12 Anna Sprage 13 Mercye Sprage

• The seaventh lott fell to Steven Hopkins & his companie Joyned to him his wife To this lott fell A Black weining Calfe to wch was aded the Calfe of this yeare to come of the black Cow, wch fell to John Shaw & his Companie, wch pveing a bull they were to keepe it ungelt 5 years for common use & after to make there best of it. Nothing belongeth of thes too, for ye copanye of ye first stock: but only halfe ye Increase. To this lott ther fell two shee goats: which goats they possess on the like terms which others doe their cattell. 2 Elizabeth Hopkins 3 Gyles Hopkins 4 Caleb Hopkins 5 Deborah Hopkins 6 Nickolas Snow 7 Constance Snow 8 William Pallmer 9 ffrances Pallmer 10 Willm Pallmer Jnor 11 John Billington Senor 12 Hellen Billington 13 ffrancis Billington

• The eaight lott fell to Samuell ffuller & his company Joyned to him his wife To this lott fell A Red Heyfer Came of the Cow wch belongeth to the poore of the Colony & so is of that Consideration. (vizt) thes psonts nominated, to have halfe the Increase, the other halfe, with the ould stock, to remain for the use of the poore. To this lott also two shee goats. 2 Bridget ffuller 3 Samuell ffuller Junior HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET 4 Peeter Browne 5 Martha Browne 6 Mary Browne 7 John fford 8 Martha fford 9 Anthony Anable 10 Jane Anable 11 Sarah Anable 12 Hanah Anable 13 Damaris Hopkins

• The ninth lot fell to Richard Warren & his companie Joyned wth him his wife To this lot fell one of the 4 black Heyfers that came in the Jacob caled the smooth horned Heyfer and two shee goats. 2 Elizabeth Warren 3 Nathaniell Warren 4 Joseph Warren 5 Mary Warren 6 Anna Warren 7 Sara Warren 8 Elizabeth Warren 9 Abigail Warren 10 John Billington 11 George Sowle 12 Mary Sowle 13 Zakariah Sowle

• The tenth lot fell to ffrancis Eaton & those Joyned wth him his wife To this lott ffell an heyfer of the last yeare called the white belyd heyfer & two shee goats. 2 Christian Eaton 3 Samuell Eaton 4 Rahell Eaton 5 Stephen Tracie 6 Triphosa Tracie 7 Sarah Tracie 8 Rebecka Tracie 9 Ralph Wallen 10 Joyce Wallen 11 Sarah Morton 12 Robert Bartlet 13 Tho: Prence.

• The eleventh lott ffell to the Governor Mr William Bradford and those with him, to wit, his wife To this lott fell An heyfer of the last yeare wch was of the Greate white back cow that was brought over in the Ann, & two shee goats. 2 Alles Bradford and 3 William Bradford, Junior 4 Mercy Bradford HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET 5 Joseph Rogers 6 Thomas Cushman 7 William Latham 8 Manases Kempton 9 Julian Kempton 10 Nathaniel Morton 11 John Morton 12 Ephraim Morton 13 Patience Morton

• The twelveth lott fell to John Jene & his companie joyned to him his wife To this lott fell the greate white backt cow wch was brought over with the first in the Ann, to wch cow the keepeing of the bull was joyned for thes psonts to pvide for. heere also two shee goats. 2 Sarah Jene 3 Samuell Jene 4 Abigaill Jene 5 Sara Jene 6 Robert Hickes 7 Margret Hickes 8 Samuell Hickes 9 Ephraim Hickes 10 Lidya Hickes 11 Phebe Hickes 12 Stephen Deane 13 Edward Banges

• 1627, May the 22. It was farther agreed at the same Court: That if anie of the cattell should by acsident miscarie or be lost or Hurt: that the same should be taken knowledg of by Indifferent men: and Judged whether the losse came by the neglegence or default of those betrusted and if they were found faulty, that then such should be forced to make satisfaction for the companies, as also their partners dammage.

June 14, Thursday (Old Style): At Plymouth, the common herd of cattle was divided up as had been schemed on May 22d. (The 1st cattle having been brought from England to New England in 1624, these cattle had had only 2 or 3 years to multiply.)

August: The white settlements at Plymouth and at New Netherland made direct contact with each other.

October: Isaack de Rasiere visited Plymouth to sell wampum, to keep the Plymouth colonists from exploring for sources to the southward. Plymouth traded wampum on the Kennebec River. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1628

Shortly after 1627 (for convenience I will park this data item in the year 1628) the youth Richard More who had been staying with the Brewster family at Plymouth returned to England. He would have been about age 13, and it is an interesting speculation what he was intending to do in England. What efforts would he have made to contact his mother Katherine More — and would these efforts have been successful? (At some point she was able to obtain a divorce settlement of £300 from the Lord of Linley and Larden, and after the belated transfer of this sum of money, we hear no more of her.) Would he have been hoping to contact the peasant who had sired him, Jacob Blakeway? Would he have sought a confrontation with the aristocrat Samuell More who had summarily disinherited him and his three siblings, deceased, and had them transported to the colonies as a brood of bastards? Would he have journeyed into Shropshire, to stand wide-eyed outside Larden Hall near Shipton? Would he have visited with the peasant tenants who had for some period sheltered him — before he and his siblings had been packed off to London and to the Mayflower and to exile?

By this year the apprentice John Smith, who had been born in England in 1618, was already present in the Plymouth settlement in the New World. (We do not know the actual year in which he made the crossing.) The particular John Smith from whom you descend was born either in Holland or in England about the year 1618. He was in Plymouth as early as 1628 and probably earlier. Who he was, why and how and with whom it happened that as a mere child he crossed the ocean I know not. He may have been a “redemptioner,” a term which came into use later to designate a young immigrant who came over on a ship without paying the fare, and on his arrival was indentured by the Captain to anyone who would pay him the lad’s passage money. He is designated in the early Plymouth records as John Smith “Junior,” distinguishing him from John Smith “Senior,” who may possibly have been his father. John Smith “Senior” is mentioned occasionally in the records as late as 1660. John Smith Junior may have been a grandson of Mr. John Smith, “a man of able gifts and a good preacher” who, Governor Bradford tells us, was in the early days of the seventeenth century chosen pastor of a church of English Separatists in Lincolnshire or Yorkshire “wher [sic] they border nearest together.” Later Mr. John Smith and his followers were driven from England and went to Amsterdam. When the exiles from Scrooby, who eventually formed for the most part the Mayflower band, went to Amsterdam in 1609, they intended to join the church there, but finding “Mr. John Smith and his Companie was already fallen into contention” they determined to separate from them and removed to Leyden. Referring to Mr. Smith and his followers Governor Bradford says that “they afterwards falling into some errors in ye Low Countries ther [sic] (for ye most part) buried themselves and their names.” Perhaps your John Smith was one who did not bury himself and his name in the Netherlands, but crossed the sea and perpetuated his name in a conspicuous manner in old Dartmouth. However, being a “John Smith” it would be well nigh hopeless to attempt to identify or differentiate him. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

A description of Plymouth in its early years was provided in a letter written in the Dutch language by Isaack de Rasieres, who had been chief Trading Agent for the Dutch West India Company as well as Secretary to the Director-General of New Netherland, and who had visited Plymouth during October 1627 but was at that point back in Holland, to Samuel Blommaert. We note that in the description which he provided, he got his directions reversed in one case, as Town Brook lies to the south of the town rather than to the north of it. The letter includes the information that abundant spawning salt-water fish were being used as fertilizer for the hills of maize, but does not allege that these fish were fresh rather than composted, and does not allege that this practice had been taught to the intrusives by the indigenes: Mr. Blommaert: As I feel myself much bound to your service, and in return know not how otherwise to recompense you than by this slight memoir, (wherein I have in part comprised as much as was in my power concerning the situation of New Netherland and its neighbors, and should in many things have been able to treat of or write the same more in detail, and better than I have now done, but that my things and notes, which would have been of service to me herein, have been taken away from me), I will beg you to be pleased to receive this, on account of my bounden service, etc. On the 27th of July, Anno 1626, by the help of God, I arrived with the ship The Arms of Amsterdam, before the bay of the great Mauritse River, sailing into it about a musket shot from Godyn’s Point, into Coenraet’s Bay; (because there the greatest depth is, since from the east point there stretches out a sand bank on which there is only from 9 to 14 feet of water), then sailed on, northeast and north-northeast, to about half way from the low sand bank called Godyn’s Point to the Hamels-Hoofden, the mouth of the river, where we found at half ebb 16, 17, 18 feet water, and which is a sandy reef a musket shot broad, stretching for the most part northeast and southwest, quite across, and, according to my opinion, having been formed there by the stream, inasmuch as the flood runs into the bay from the sea, east- southeast; the depth at Godyn’s Point is caused by the tide flowing out along there with such rapidity. Between the Hamels-Hoofden the width is about a cannon’s shot of 2,000 [yards]; the depth 10, 11, 12 fathoms. They are tolerably high points, and well wooded. The west point is an island, inhabited by from 80 to 90 savages, who support themselves by planting maize. The east point is a very large island, full 24-leagues long, stretching east by south and east- southeast along the sea-coast, from the river to the east end of the Fisher’s Hook. In some places it is from three to four leagues broad, and it has several creeks and bays, where many savages dwell, who support themselves by planting maize and making sewan, and who are called Souwenos and Sinnecox. It is also full of oaks, elms, walnut and fir trees, also wild cedar and chestnut trees. The tribes are held in subjection by, and are tributary to, the Pyquans, hereafter named. The land is in many places good, and fit for ploughing and sowing. It has many fine valleys, where there is good grass. Their form of government is like that of their neighbors, which is described hereafter. The Hamels-Hoofden being passed, there is about a league width in the river, and also on the west side there is an inlet, where another river runs up about twenty leagues, to the north- northeast, emptying into the Mauritse River in the highlands, thus making the northwest land opposite to the Manhatas an HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET island eighteen leagues long. It is inhabited by the old Manhatans [Manhatesen]; they are about 200 to 300 strong, women and men, under different chiefs, whom they call Sackimas. This island is more mountainous than the other land on the southeast side of the river, which opposite to the Manhatas is about a league and half in breadth. At the side of the before-mentioned little river, which we call “Achter Col,” there is a great deal of waste reedy land; the rest is full of trees, and in some places there is good soil, where the savages plant their maize, upon which they live, as well as by hunting. The other side of the same small river, according to conjecture, is about 20 to 23 leagues broad to the South River, in the neighborhood of the Sancicans, in so far as I have been able to make it out from the mouths of the savages; but as they live in a state of constant enmity with those tribes, the paths across are but little used, wherefore I have not been able to learn the exact distance; so that when we wish to send letters overland, they (the natives) take their way across the bay, and have the letters carried forward by others, unless one amongst them may happen to be on friendly terms, and who might venture to go there. The island of the Manhatas extends two leagues in length along the Mauritse River, from the point where the Fort “New Amsterdam” is building. It is about seven leagues in circumference, full of trees, and in the middle rocky to the extent of about two leagues in circuit. The north side has good land in two places, where two farmers, each with four horses, would have enough to do without much clearing at first. The grass is good in the forest and valleys, but when made into hay is not so nutritious for the cattle as here, in consequence of its wild state, but it yearly improves by cultivation. On the east side there rises a large level field, of from 70 to 80 morgens of land, through which runs a very fine fresh stream; so that that land can be ploughed without much clearing. It appears to be good. The six farms, four of which lie along the River Hellgate, stretching to the south side of the island, have at least 60 morgens of land ready to be sown with winter seed, which at the most will have been ploughed eight times. But as the greater part must have some manure, inasmuch as it is so exhausted by the wild herbage, I am afraid that all will not be sown; and the more so, as the managers of the farms are hired men. The two hindermost farms, Nos. 1 and 2, are the best; the other farms have also good land, but not so much, and more sandy; so that they are best suited for rye and buckwheat. The small fort, New Amsterdam, commenced to be built, is situated on a point opposite to Noten Island; [the channel between] is a gunshot wide, and is full six or seven fathoms deep in the middle. This point might, with little trouble, be made a small island, by cutting a canal through Blommaert’s valley, so as to afford a haven winter and summer, for sloops and ships; and the whole of this little island ought, from its nature, to be made a superb fort, to be approached by land only on one side (since it is a triangle), thus protecting them both. The river marks out, naturally, three angles; the most northern faces and commands, within the range of a cannon shot, the great Mauritse River and the land; the southernmost commands, on the water level, the channel between Noten Island and the fort, together with the Hellegat; the third point, opposite to Blommaert’s valley, commands the lowland; the middle part, which HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ought to be left as a marketplace, is a hillock, higher than the surrounding land, and should always serve as a battery, which might command the three points, if the streets should be arranged accordingly. Up the river the east side is high, full of trees, and in some places there is a little good land, where formerly many people have dwelt, but who for the most part have died or have been driven away by the Wappenos. These tribes of savages all have a government. The men in general are rather tall, well proportioned in their limbs, and of an orange color, like the Brazilians; very inveterate against those whom they hate; cruel by nature, and so inclined to freedom that they cannot by any means be brought to work; they support themselves by hunting, and when the spring comes, by fishing. In April, May, and June, they follow the course of these [the fish], which they catch with a drag-net they themselves knit very neatly, of the wild hemp, from which the women and old men spin the thread. The kinds of fish which they principally take at this time are shad, but smaller than those in this country ordinarily are, though quite as fat, and very bony; the largest fish is a sort of white salmon, which is of very good flavor, and quite as large; it has white scales; the heads are so full of fat that in some there are two or three spoonfuls, so that there is good eating for one who is fond of picking heads. It seems that this fish makes them lascivious, for it is often observed that those who have caught any when they have gone fishing, have given them, on their return, to the women, who look for them anxiously. Our people also confirm this.... As an employment in winter they make sewan, which is an oblong bead that they make from cockle-shells, which they find on the seashore, and they consider it as valuable as we do money here, since one can buy with it everything they have; they also make bands of it, which the women wear on the forehead under the hair, and the men around the body; and they are as particular about the stringing and sorting as we can be here about pearls. They are very fond of a game they call Seneca, played with some round rushes, similar to the Spanish feather-grass, which they understand how to shuffle and deal as though they were playing with cards; and they win from each other all that they possess, even to the lappet with which they cover their private parts, and so they separate from each other quite naked. They are very much addicted to promiscuous intercourse. Their clothing is [so simple as to leave the body] almost naked. in the winter time they usually wear a dressed deer skin; some a covering made of turkey feathers which they understand how to knit together very oddly, with small strings. They also use a good deal of duffel cloth, which they buy from us, and which serves for their blanket by night, and their dress by day. TURKEYS

The women are fine looking, of middle stature, well proportioned, and with finely cut features; with long and black hair, and black eyes set off with fine eyebrows; they are of the same color as the men. They smear their bodies and hair with grease, which makes them smell very rankly; they are very much given to promiscuous intercourse. They have a marriage custom amongst them, namely: when there is one who resolves to take a particular person for his wife, he HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET collects a fathom or two of sewan, and comes to the nearest friends of the person whom he desires, to whom he declares his object in her presence, and if they are satisfied with him, he agrees with them how much sewan he shall give her for a bridal present; that being done, he then gives her all the Dutch beads he has, which they call Machampe, and also all sorts of trinkets. If she be a young virgin, he must wait six weeks more before he can sleep with her, during which time she bewails or laments over her virginity, which they call Collatismarrenitten; all this time she sits with a blanket over her head, without wishing to look at any one, or any one being permitted to look at her. This period being elapsed, her bridegroom comes to her; he in the mean time has been supporting himself by hunting, and what he has taken he brings there with him; they then eat together with the friends, and sing and dance together, which they call Kintikaen. That being done, the wife must provide the food for herself and her husband, as far as breadstuffs are concerned, and [should they fall short] she must buy what is wanting with her sewan. For this reason they are obliged to watch the season for sowing. At the end of March they begin to break up the earth with mattocks, which they buy from us for the skins of beavers or otters, or for sewan. They make heaps like molehills, each about two and a half feet from the others, which they sow or plant in April with maize, in each heap five or six grains; in the middle of May, when the maize is the height of a finger or more, they plant in each heap three or four Turkish beans, which then grow up with and against the maize, which serves for props, for the maize grows on stalks similar to the sugar-cane. When they wish to make use of the grain for bread or porridge, which they call Sappaen, they first boil it and then beat it flat upon a stone; then they put it into a wooden mortar, which they know how to hollow out by fire, and then they have a stone pestle, which they know how to make themselves, with which they pound it small, and sift it through a small basket, which they understand how to weave of the rushes before mentioned. The finest meal they mix with lukewarm water, and knead it into dough, then they make round flat little cakes of it, of thickness of an inch or a little more, which they bury in hot ashes, and so bake into bread; and when these are baked they have some clean fresh water by them in which they wash them while hot, one after another, and it is good bread, but heavy. The coarsest meal they boil into a porridge, as is before mentioned, and it is good eating when there is butter over it, but a food which is very soon digested. The grain being dried, they put it into baskets woven of rushes or wild hemp, and bury it in the earth, where they let it lie, and go with their husbands and children in October to hunt deer, leaving at home with their maize the old people who cannot follow; in December they return home, and the flesh which they have not been able to eat while fresh, they smoke on the way, and bring it back with them. They come home as fat as moles. When a woman here addicts herself to fornication, and the husband comes to know it, he thrashes her soundly, and if he wishes to get rid of her, he summons the Sackima with her friends, before whom he accuses her; and if she be found guilty the Sackima commands one to cut off her hair in order that she may be held up before the world as a whore, which they call poerochque; and then the husband takes from her everything that HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET she has, and drives her out of the house; if there be children, they remain with her, for they are fond of them beyond measure. They reckon consanguinity to the eighth degree, and revenge an injury from generation to generation unless it be atoned for; and even then there is mischief enough, for they are very revengeful. And when a man is unfaithful, the wife accuses him before the Sackima, which most frequently happens when the wife has a preference for another man. The husband being found guilty, the wife is permitted to draw off his right shoe and left stocking (which they make of deer or elk skins, which they know how to prepare very broad and soft, and wear in the winter time); she then tears off the lappet that covers his private parts, gives him a kick behind, and so drives him out of the house; and then “Adam” scampers off. It would seem that they are very libidinous — in this respect very unfaithful to each other; whence it results that they breed but few children, so that it is a wonder when a woman has three or four children, particularly by any one man whose name can be certainly known. They must not have intercourse with those of their own family within the third degree, or it would be considered an abominable thing. Their political government is democratic. They have a chief Sackima whom they choose by election, who generally is he who is richest in sewan, though of less consideration in other respects. When any stranger comes, they bring him to the Sackima. On first meeting they do not speak — they smoke a pipe of tobacco; that being done, the Sackima asks: “Whence do you come?” the stranger then states that, and further what he has to say, before all who are present or choose to come. That being done, the Sackima announces his opinion to the people, and if they agree thereto, they give all together a sigh — “He!” — and if they do not approve, they keep silence, and all come close to the Sackima, and each sets forth his opinion till they agree; that being done, they come all together again to the stranger, to whom the Sackima then announces what they have determined, with the reasons moving them thereto. All travellers who stop over night come to the Sackima, if they have no acquaintances there, and are entertained by the expenditure of as much sewan as is allowed for that purpose; therefore the Sackimas generally have three or four wives, each of whom has to furnish her own seed-corn. The Sackima has his fixed fine of sewan for fighting and causing blood to flow. When any are — [here four pages, at least, are missing in the original manuscript]. Coming out of the river Nassau, you sail east-and-by-north about fourteen leagues, along the coast, a half miles from the shore, and you then come to “Frenchman’s Point” at a small river where those of Patucxet have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet, where they keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the trade and possession. Here also they have built a shallop, in order to go and look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup’s Bay and thereabouts, because they are afraid to pass Cape Mallabaer, and in order to avoid the length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by selling them fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover the trade in furs; which if they were to find out, it would be HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET a great trouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that if we will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged to use other means; if they do that now, while they are yet ignorant how the case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it? From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods, passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to New Plymouth, the principal place in the district Patucxet, so called in their patent from his Majesty in England. New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, or Mallabaer, east and west from the said [north] point of the cape, which can be easily seen in clear weather. Directly before the commenced town lies a sand-bank, about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaks violently with an easterly and east- northeasterly wind. On the north side there lies a small island where one must run close along, in order to come before the town; then the ships run behind that bank and lie in a very good roadstead. The bay is very full of fish, [chiefly] of cod, so that the governor before named has told me that when the people have a desire for fish they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whom they remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them in three or four hours’ time as much fish as the whole community require for a whole day — and they muster about fifty families. At the south side of the town there flows down a small river of fresh water, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakes in the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April and the beginning of May, there come so many shad from the sea which want to ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river the English have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides with trellice work, through which the water has its course, but which they can also close with slides. At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel- pot, with wings, where in the middle is also a sliding door, and with trellice work at the sides, so that between the two [dams] there is a square pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in such shoals, in order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, that at one tide there are 10,000 to 12,000 fish in it, which they shut off in the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that no more water comes in; then the water runs out through the lower trellices, and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according to the land he cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hill three or four fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which grows as luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world. And if they do not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, so that such is the nature of the soil. New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards the seacoast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of 800 feet long, leading down the hill; with a [street] crossing in the middle, northwards [southwards] to the rivulet and southwards [northwards] to the land. The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court-yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross street, stands the governor’s HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET house, before which is a square stockade upon which four patereros are mounted, so as to enfilade the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, made of thick sawn plank, stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannon, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and command the surrounding country. The lower part they use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain’s door; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the governor, in a long robe; beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his side-arms, and cloak on, and with a small cane in his hand; and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and day. Their government is after the English form. The governor has his council, which is chosen every year by the entire community, by election or prolongation of term. In inheritances they place all the children in one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgement for his seniority of birth. They have made stringent laws and ordinances upon the subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintain and enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which live amongst them. They speak very angrily when they hear from the savages that we live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment. Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, and consequently not so suitable for the plough. They apportion their land according as each has means to contribute to the eighteen thousand guilders which they have promised to those who had sent them out; whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to any one; only if the King should choose to send a governor-general they would be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign overlord. The maize seed which they do not require for their own use is delivered over to the governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn sends it in sloops to the north for the trade in skins among the savages; they reckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver’s skins; the profits are divided according to what each has contributed, and they are credited for the amount in the account of what each has to contribute yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then with the remainder they purchase what next they require, and which the governor takes care to provide every year. They have better sustenance than ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before their doors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons and cranes, and other small- legged birds, which are in great abundance there in the winter. The tribes in their neighborhood have all the same customs as already above described, only they are better conducted than ours, because the English give them the example of better ordinances and a better life; and who also, to a certain degree, give them laws, in consequence of the respect they from the very first have established amongst them. The savages [there] utilize their youth in labor better than the savages round about us: the girls in sowing maize, the young men in hunting. They teach them to endure privation in the field in a singular manner, to wit: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET When there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken by his father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is conducted blindfolded into a wilderness, in order that he may not know the way, and is left there by night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and a knife. He must support himself there a whole winter with what the scanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards the spring they come again, and fetch him out of it, take him home and feed him up again until May. He must then go out again every morning with the person who is ordered to take him in hand; he must go into the forest to seek wild herbs and roots, which they know to be the most poisonous and bitter; these they bruise in water and press the juice out of them, which he must drink, and immediately have ready such herbs as will preserve him from death or vomiting; and if he cannot retain it, he must repeat the dose until he can support it, and until his constitution becomes accustomed to it so that he can retain it. Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women, all singing and dancing, before the Sackima; and if he has been able to stand it all well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him. In that district there are no lions or bears, but there are the same kinds of other game, such as deers, hinds, beavers, otters, foxes, lynxes, seals and fish, as in our district of country. The savages say that far in the interior there are certain beasts of the size of oxen, having but one horn, which are very fierce. The English have used great diligence in order to see them, but cannot succeed therein, although they have seen the flesh and hides of them which were brought to them by the savages. There are also very large elks here, which the English have indeed seen. The lion skins which we sometimes see our savages wear are not large, so that the animal itself must be small; they are of a mouse-gray color, short in the hair and long in the claws. The bears are some of them large and some small; but the largest are not so large as the middle-sized ones which come from Greenland. Their fur is long and black and their claws large. The savages esteem the flesh and grease as a great dainty. Of the birds, there is a kind like starlings, which we call maize thieves, because they do so much damage to the maize. They fly in large flocks, so that they flatten the corn in any place where they alight, just as if cattle had lain there. Sometimes we take them by surprise and fire amongst them with hailshot, immediately that we have made them rise, so that sixty, seventy, and eighty fall all at once, which is very pleasant to see. There are also very large turkeys living wild; they have very long legs, and can run extraordinarily fast, so that we generally take savages with us when we go to hunt them; for even when one has deprived them of the power of flying, they yet run so fast that we cannot catch them unless their legs are hit also. In the autumn and in the spring there come a great many geese, which are very good, and easy to shoot, inasmuch as they congregate together in such large flocks. There are two kind of partridges; the one sort are quite as small as quails and the other like the ordinary kind here. There are also hares, but few in number, and not larger than a middle-sized rabbit; and they principally frequent where the land is rocky. TURKEYS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET This, sir, is what I have been able to communicate to you from memory, respecting New Netherland and its neighborhood, in discharge of my bounden duty; I beg that the same may so be favorably received by you, and I beg to recommend myself for such further service as you may be pleased to command me in, wherever you may find me. In everything your faithful servant, ISAACK DE RASIERES.

May 1, Thursday (Old Style): There were only 7 whites at Thomas Morton’s trading post (Mount Wollaston or Merrymount). Morton had transformed an 80-foot pine into a maypole, upsetting the authorities at Plymouth. William Bradford complained that at this trading post they “would entertaine any, how vile soever, and all ye scume of ye countrie or any discontents would flock to him from all places,” but Morton would be attacked in June not because he sold firearms but because he had “gone native.” It was an issue of style. Captain Myles Standish would be put in charge of the attack on the settlement (William Jeffrey and Burslem of Agawam would be assessed £2 towards the expenses of his expedition). The Plymouth authorities would arrest Morton. When they “disposed of what he had at his plantation,” they would do so, and know they were doing so, on charges that would be untenable at law in England.12 Then they would abandoned him for an entire chill month on one of the Isles of Shoals13 with only his “thinne suite” to keep him from the cold and damp and only his bare hands with which to find a way to feed himself and defend himself — hoping that he would die before a returning fishing vessel picked him up for farther transport to England and trial.

12. The warrant for his arrest is not to be found among their colonial records because they knew it to be preposterous and illegal on its face. 13. As they would take him out to the island, they would torch his home ashore in such manner as to ensure that he sighted the rising smoke. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1630

According to Ned Bunker’s MAKING HASTE FROM BABYLON / THE MAYFLOWER PILGRIMS AND THEIR WORLD: A NEW HISTORY (Alfred A. Knopf, 2010), during the 1620s a single beaver pelt from the New World continent had been selling for a phenomenal amount, roughly the same as what it cost to rent nine acres of English farmland for a year. The New Comers to Plymouth (or, more precisely, their financial backers in the Old World) were counting on being able to capitalize on this furry gold — and in fact, during the decade of the 1630s the new colony on Plymouth bay would be able to send something like 2,000 beaver pelts back to England.

Captain Christopher Levett, early English explorer of the New England Coast, an agent for Sir Ferdinando Gorges as well as a member for the crown’s Plymouth Council for New England, was making a desultory attempt to establish a colony in Maine but died aboard ship after having met with Governor John Winthrop in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

At about this point the population of this new colony reached 300 while the population of the Virginia colony was at 30, but the population of the New England coast would quickly undergo a radical alteration because conflict in England between the Puritan and the Crown factions would drive many of the Puritans overseas in an attempt to establish a “Bible Commonwealth.” Within this decade, some 20,000 of the Puritan persuasion would make the crossing, while the Pilgrims already in the New England colonies moved out into remote farms, their “Great Lots,” and began to raise livestock to herd toward the coast and sell as food to these more recent immigrants. According to William Bradford’s OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION, published later, New England weather was being discovered to be just about as bitchy and contrary as a passel of Cavaliers: “And for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of that country know them to be sharp and violent, and subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to … search an unknown coast.”

In Europe, this would be another poor harvest year. Everybody talks about the weather and nobody ever does anything about it!14 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

CAPE COD: Very different is the general and off-hand account given PEOPLE OF by Captain John Smith, who was on this coast six years earlier, CAPE COD and speaks like an old traveller, voyager, and soldier, who had seen too much of the world to exaggerate, or even to dwell long, on a part of it. In his “Description of New England,” printed in JOHN SMITH 1616, after speaking of Accomack, since called Plymouth, he says: “Cape Cod is the next presents itself, which is only a headland of high hills of sand, overgrown with shrubby pines, hurts, and such trash, but an excellent harbor for all weathers. This Cape is made by the main sea on the one side, and a great bay on the other, in form of a sickle.” Champlain had already written, “Which CHAMPLAIN we named Cap Blanc (Cape White), because they were sands and downs (sables et dunes) which appeared thus.” When the Pilgrims get to Plymouth their reporter says again, “The land for the crust of the earth is a spit’s depth,” — that would seem to be their recipe for an earth’s crust, — “excellent black mould and fat in some places.” However, according to Bradford himself, whom some BRADFORD consider the author of part of “Mourt’s Relation,” they who came over in the Fortune the next year were somewhat daunted when “they came into the harbor of Cape Cod, and there saw nothing but a naked and barren place.” They soon found out their mistake with respect to the goodness of Plymouth soil. Yet when at length, some years later, when they were fully satisfied of the poorness of the place which they had chosen, “the greater part,” says Bradford, “consented to a removal to a place called Nausett,” they agreed to remove all together to Nauset, now Eastham, which was jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire; and some of the most respectable of the inhabitants of Plymouth did actually remove thither accordingly.

14. This weather report would be picked up and replayed by Nathaniel Hawthorne upon an appropriate occasion, his adventure to the Brook Farm community of West Roxbury, Massachusetts in April of 1841:

Here is thy poor husband in a polar Paradise! I know not how to interpret this aspect of Nature — whether it be of good or evil omen to our enterprise. But I reflect that the Plymouth pilgrims arrived in the midst of storm and stept ashore upon mountain snow-drifts; and nevertheless they prospered, and became a great people — and doubtless it will be the same with us. … Belovedest, I have not yet taken my first lesson in agriculture, as thou mayest well suppose — except that I went to see our cows foddered, yesterday afternoon. We have eight of our own; and the number is now increased by a transcendental heifer, belonging to Miss Margaret Fuller. She is very fractious, I believe, and apt to kick over the milk pail. Thou knowest best, whether, in these traits of character, she resembles her mistress. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

CAPE COD: It must be confessed that the Pilgrims possessed but few of the qualities of the modern pioneer. They were not the ancestors of the American backwoodsmen. They did not go at once into the woods with their axes. They were a family and church, and were more anxious to keep together, though it were on the sand, than to explore and colonize a New World. When the above- mentioned company removed to Eastham, the church at Plymouth was left, to use Bradford’s expression, “like an ancient mother grown BRADFORD old, and forsaken of her children.” Though they landed on Clark’s Island in Plymouth harbor, the 9th of December (O.S.), and the 16th all hands came to Plymouth, and the 18th they rambled about the mainland, and the 19th decided to settle there, it was the 8th of January before Francis Billington went with one of the master’s mates to look at the magnificent pond or lake now called “Billington Sea,” about two miles distant, which he had discovered from the top of a tree, and mistook for a great sea. And the 7th of March “Master Carver with five others went to the great ponds which seem to be excellent fishing,” both which points are within the compass of an ordinary afternoon’s ramble, — however wild the country. It is true they were busy at first about their building, and were hindered in that by much foul weather; but a party of emigrants to California or Oregon, with no less work on their hands, — and more hostile Indians — would do as much exploring the first afternoon, and the Sieur de Champlain would CHAMPLAIN have sought an interview with the savages, and examined the country as far as the Connecticut, and made a map of it, before Billington had climbed his tree. Or contrast them only with the French searching for copper about the Bay of Fundy in 1603, tracing up small streams with Indian guides. Nevertheless, the Pilgrims were pioneers, and the ancestors of pioneers, in a far grander enterprise. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1631

John Smith died in London. Chapter 8 of his ADVERTISEMENTS FOR THE UNEXPERIENCED PLANTERS OF NEW- ENGLAND, published in this year in London, offered an updated description of New Plymouth: ...at the first landing at Cape Cod, being an hundred passengers, besides twenty they had left behind at Plimoth [England] for want of good take heed, thinking to finde all things better than I advised them, spent six or seven weekes in wandering up and downe in frost and snow, wind and raine, among the woods, cricks, and swamps, forty of them died, and three score were left in most miserable estate at New-Plimoth, where their Ship left them, and but nine leagues by Sea from where they landed, whose misery and variable opinions, for want of experience, occasioned much faction until necessity agreed them.

CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

The intended executor of the will of Thomas Hariot had been Nathaniel Torporley, but it was Walter Warner who pulled together (from about 400 sheets of annotated manuscript) and published his Latin treatise on algebra, ARTIS ANALYTICAE PRAXIS (it has turned out in comparison with the manuscript, which still exists, that this initial arrangement of the material left something to be desired, entirely omitting for instance his work on the negative and complex roots of equations; Hariot had studied optics and refraction, and apparently discovered Snell’s law 20 years before Snellius did, although this had previously been discovered by Ibn Sahl; Hariot is also now credited with having discovered Girard’s theorem, although Giraud was the first to publish it; these defects would not be removed until a full annotated English translation of the PRAXIS would become available, as of 2007).

Fall: The Reverend Roger Williams went to be associated with the Reverend Skelton at Salem, only to discover that he was more needed at Plymouth. He would minister for a couple of years there before returning again to Salem, as Skeleton’s replacement. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1632

In this year a Duxbury church was gathered, and in 1637 the town would be founded as the 2d of the Plymouth colony.

Myles Standish of Plymouth was one of the founders of this new town. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1633

The Reverend Roger Williams returned from Plymouth to Salem. He believed, he said, in “soul-liberty,” which meant that every man had the complete right to enjoy freedom of opinion on the subject of religion. He would soon be in difficulties with the Massachusetts Bay authorities again, denouncing them for forcing religious uniformity upon the colonists in defiance of the liberty of their souls — and this time also publicly proclaiming that, since the king had no right to present them with lands that actually belonged to the native Americans, their colonial charter was invalid.

NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT

Having studied medicine at various Continental universities such as the ones at Montpellier, Padua, and Leiden, Thomas Browne received the degree of Doctor in Physick.

When a couple of white men from Plymouth saw some native Americans near Sturbridge, they observed that their faces had been painted with a ground black powder mixed with oil.

Of course, the white men needed to find out where the red men had mined that sort of rock!

PLUMBAGO PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

By this point Boston furtraders were constructing a trading post at Windsor, Connecticut on the Quinni-tukq- ut River (that’s Quinni-tukq-ut as in “Connecticut,” folks), a violation of the agreement which had been entered into between the Dutch and the Plymouth settlers in 1627.

They immediately planted some tobacco.

The English were intercepting furs from the interior upstream before they could reach the Dutch down on the coastline. The Mattabesic and Nipmuc peoples who normally paid tribute to the Pequot welcomed the English trading post, not only as an opportunity for a better deal but also as a chance to escape paying tribute wampum to the Pequot grouping. Sassacus, the Pequot grand sachem, was as annoyed by this as he was by the English manufacture of wampum.15 The Dutch purchased, from the Pequot, land that belonged not to the Pequot but to the Mattabesic, and began constructing a competitive fortified trading post they named their House of Good Hope.

August: Mary Williams is said to have been born in Plymouth during the 1st week of this month.

15. A cottage industry had sprung up among the Owanux on the coast to transform beach shells into wampum for trade. Because the white people were able to utilize steel drills, the market for wampum belts would soon be flooded. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1635

Willem Janszoon Blaeu published a map of New Netherland and New England, based largely on the manuscript Adriaen Block Chart of 1614, for which Captain Adriaen Block had sailed around Long Island (Matouwacs16) and sketched out its overall appearance. The map depicted the territories of the Maques (Mohawk) and the Mahikans (Mohegans). It showed “New Amsterdam,” Manhates (Manhattan), Hellegat (Hell Gate), Adrian Blocks eylandt (Block Island), and “Fort Orange” (near Albany), as well as Plymouth:

July: Richard More arrived back at Plymouth in the New World aboard the Blessing, bringing with him a 20-year- old woman, Christian Hunter.

16. The Algonquian word Matouwacs is not easily translated today, but a 19th Century linguist believed it meant “Island of the Periwinkle.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1636

Stephen Hopkins was fined £5 by the Plymouth court for battery against John Tisdale, and the court remarked that if anyone should have been capable of observing the King’s peace, it should have been this Hopkins — who was at the time an Assistant and a magistrate.

October 20, Thursday (Old Style): Richard More and Christian Hunter were wed at Plymouth. Shortly after their wedding, Richard and Christian Hunter More would sell their land in the Plymouth Colony and relocate to Salem in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where Richard would find employment as a mariner and then become captain of a ship. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1637

Duxbury was incorporated as the 2d town in the Plymouth colony.

In this year or the following one, Samuell Gorton, becoming involved again in dispute at Plymouth,17 fled again, this time to Aquidneck Island. READ EDWARD FIELD TEXT

December: The Reverend Charles Chauncy arrived at the Plymouth colony in search of a more comfortable and secure worship than he had been able to obtain in England. He would preach there for some time as an aide to the Reverend Reyner. Even in a community of fellow Puritans, this divine would stand out as a vehement critic of what he regarded as excessive religious laxness. By declaring to parents that in baptism infants must be “dipt and not sprinkled,” he would be able to stir up in the New World, in the words of Governor John Winthrop, “much trouble.” JOHN WINTHROP JOURNAL

Clearly, here was a guy who was out to stir things up and get them to be interesting!

17. He attempted to explain another Plymouth man, Ralph Smith’s, anger at him by suggesting that this man’s spouse, Mistress Smith, had “preferred his family services to those of her husband.” Then when a servant in his family, Ellin Aldridge, was accused of a vague “offensive speeches and carriages,” Gorton suggested that her only offense had been smiling in church and, when he went to court on her behalf, did not endear himself when he implicitly suggested that the officer of the court was an ally of Satan:

“If Satan will accuse the brethren let him come down from Jehoshuah’s right hand and stand here!” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1638

In a treaty signed at Hartford, the Narragansett were given 80 of the captured Pequot as slaves. The Mohegan received an equal number, but the 1,500 Pequot and Western Niantic who had managed to surrender were placed under the control of Uncas and the Mohegan. Since their hosts were required to pay an annual tribute to the English for each Pequot living with them, they were not treated well.

Three Plymouth colonists were hanged for murdering a Nipmuc man who had been residing with the Narragansett. Four servants of Plymouth ran from their masters, and, coming to Providence, they killed an Indian. He escaped, after he was deadly wounded in the belly, and gat to other Indians. So, being discovered, they fled and were taken at the Isle Aquiday. Mr. Williams gave notice to the governor of Massachusetts, and desired advice. He returned answer, that, seeing they were of Plymouth, they should certify Plymouth of them, and, if they would send for them, to deliver them; otherwise, seeing no English had jurisdiction in the place where the murder was committed, neither had they at the Island any government established, it would be safest to deliver the principal, who was certainly known to have killed the party, to the Indian his friends, with caution that they should not put him to torture, and to keep the other three to further consideration. After this, Plymouth men sent for them, (but one had escaped,) and the governor there wrote to the governor here for advice, especially for that he heard they intended to appeal into England. The governor returned answer of encouragement to proceed notwithstanding, seeing no appeal did lie, for that they could not be tried in England, and that the whole country here were interested in the case, and would expect to have justice done. Whereupon they proceeded as appears after. ... The three prisoners, being brought to Plymouth, and there examined, did all confess the murder, and that they did it to get his wampom, etc.; but all the question was about the death of the Indian, for no man could witness that he saw him dead. But Mr. Williams and Mr. James of Providence made oath, that his wound was mortal, etc. At last two Indians, who, with much difficulty, were procured to come to the trial, (for they still feared that the English were conspired to kill all the Indians,) made oath after this manner, viz.: that if he were not dead of that wound, then they would suffer death. Upon this they three were condemned and executed. Two of them died very penitently, especially Arthur Peach, a young man of good parentage and fair conditioned, and who had done very good service against the Pequods. The fourth escaped to Pascataquack. The governor sent after him, but those of Pascataquack conveyed him away, and openly withstood his apprehension. It was their usual manner (some of them) to countenance, etc., all such lewd persons as fled from us to them. JOHN WINTHROP JOURNAL HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

September 4, Saturday: William Bradford’s HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION would term those who supposed the English should not be tried for their crimes against American natives “of the rude and ignorant sort.”

On this date the Plymouth Colony needed to conduct its 2d execution: “And so, upon the aforementioned evidence, were cast by the jury and condemned, and executed for the same.” (I don’t know whether this one was the hanging of Arthur Peach and his accomplices, or whether that was the first execution. It seems likely that this was the Peach execution, however, because Stephen Hopkins’s servant girl Dorothy Temple would be found to be carrying his bastard early the next February — and if she became pregnant in August she would have been carrying a fetus in January that could no longer readily be concealed.) One Arthur Peach, twenty years of age, a runaway servant from Virginia, came to Plymouth and was for a time in the employ of Governor Winslow. He was a worthless scoundrel and prepared for any desperate act. He was out of means and unwilling to work; he was also deeply in debt to honest men who clamored for what was due them. He had come to Plymouth as a fugitive apprentice; be would leave as an absconding debtor. Taking with him three indentured servants of his own quality, he started, as was believed, for the Dutch settlements on Manhattan. At a place some four or five miles from Providence these men perpetrated a deed, the atrocity of whose details is but rarely exceeded in the annals of crime. Discovering an unarmed Indian as he rested on the edge of a swamp not far from the footpath in which they were traveling, they approached and invited him to smoke with them. As he came near, unsuspicious of their evil intent, Peach stabbed him twice, in the body and in the thigh. Two of the others then attacked him; but avoiding their weapons he ran into the swamp, they pursuing, where he fell in the mire and water, rose and ran again, fell and rose again, doubled on them, ran back and forth, till he at last fell and was unable to rise. They now lost sight of him, and not doubting that he was dead or would soon die, they went back to his pack, opened it and took whatever they wanted — three beaver skins, three woolen coats, five fathoms of wampum peage, and some beads. About this time it was reported to Roger Williams that four destitute white men who had been lost for five days in the woods, were in the neighborhood. At once he sent them a supply of provisions, invited them to his own house and entertained them hospitably over night. The next day he sent them refreshed on their journey toward Connecticut, as he supposed. They went, however, directly and by the shortest route to Acquidneck. They afterward proved to be Peach and his companions. In the meantime the wounded Indian crawled out of the swamp into the path, where he was found by three men of his own tribe. Word was taken to Mr. Williams, who had him brought in, summoned to his aid the two physicians of the town, Dr. James and Dr. Greene, and did for him all that could be done. He lived only long enough to make a clear and full statement of the affair. The murderers were pursued, overtaken, and three of them captured. One escaped and was never afterwards heard from. Mr. Williams wrote the particulars of the affair to Governor Winthrop at Boston, asking his advice as to what should be done with the villains. There was no question as to their deserts, but under what jurisdiction the case might fall was in doubt. Mr. Williams thought that as they had come from Plymouth they should be carried back to that place for trial and punishment. Since there was no well-established government HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET as yet in Rhode island, this would seem to be the only reasonable conclusion, and it was found that Governor Winthrop held this view. They were accordingly taken to Plymouth under a suitable guard, where they were tried, convicted, and after the custom of that day, speedily executed. There was, however, much dissatisfaction on the part of the Plymouth colonists that three white men should die for the murder of a single Indian. These warmly urged that a life for a life would meet all the requirements of justice in such a case. Mr. Williams, Mr. James, and several Narragansett Indians were present in court as witnesses against the accused, and in view of the sentiment just mentioned, very properly remained to see them hanged. READ EDWARD FIELD TEXT HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1639

In Plymouth Colony a divorce law was enacted that instanced bestiality as among the grounds for divorce.18

Philip Taber (1605-1672) became a freeman of Plymouth.

Ousamequin Yellow Feather (the Massasoit) and his son Sachem Mooanam (Wamsutta) reaffirmed their treaty relations with Plymouth, agreeing not to cause any “unjust” wars and also not to sell any more land without the prior consent of that colony’s government.

February 4, Monday (1638, Old Style): An unmarried servant of Stephen Hopkins, Dorothy Temple, began to show unmistakable signs of pregnancy, and was confronted. She confessed to having had a liaison with the Arthur Peach who had recently been hanged after murdering a Nipmuc. The Plymouth court ordered that because “in regard by her covenant of indenture shee hath yet above two yeares to serve him [Mr. Steephen Hopkins], that the said Mr. Hopkins shall keepe her and her child, or provide shee may be kept with food and rayment during the said terme; and if he refuse so to doe, that then the collony provide for her, & Mr. Hopkins to pay it.” On the same day the court ordered “Mr. Steephen Hopkins is committed to ward for his contempt to the Court, and shall so remayne comitted until hee shall either receive his servant Dorothy Temple, or els provide for her elsewhere at his owne charge during the terme shee hath yet to serve him.” READ EDWARD FIELD TEXT

February 8, Friday (1638, Old Style): The Plymouth court noted that Stephen Hopkins had concluded an agreement with Mr. John Holmes, an officer of the court, for £3 and other considerations to discharge Hopkins and the colony of responsibility for the support of Dorothy Temple and her bastard, and the said Dorothy was to serve the remainder of her time with Holmes.

18. The Reverend Cotton Mather in THE HISTORY OF NEW ENGLAND, writing at the end of the 17th Century, would describe how a Weymouth man had been made, during this timeframe, to attend as 3 sheep, 2 sows, 2 heifers, and a cow were hanged, before he was himself hanged.

John Winthrop would recount how a man had been observed “in buggery with a cow upon the Lord’s day,” and how “The cow being brought forth and slain before him, he brake out into a loud and doleful complaint against himself.” Winthrop inferred from the obvious sincerity of the man’s self-reproof before being hanged, that without doubt “the Lord has received his soul to his mercy.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1641

The Reverend Charles Chauncy, who had since 1637 been at Plymouth as an aide to the Reverend Reyner, was called to Scituate, Massachusetts where he would minister for more than a dozen years — despite the chronic nature of his disputes with his parishioners. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1643

The settlers at Plymouth FOB the Mayflower, after 23 years of struggle under the dead hand of mortgage indebtedness to their benefactors in Europe, managed to pay off the sum of $7,000.00 which they had borrowed to finance their journey. They had been paying interest in this risky venture at the staggering rate of 43% per annum.

April: In Plymouth, the young settler named John Smith found employment as the colony cowboy, a position of some responsibility. John Smith shall be the Cow Keep for this year to keep the Towne’s Cowes [sic] and shall have fourty [sic] bushels of Indian corne [sic] for his paynes [sic] and a pair of shoes to be equally levyed upon every man according to the number of cowes they shall have kept by him, and he is to keep them untill the middle of November next. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET May 19, Friday (Old Style): Connecticut, Massachusetts, Plymouth, and the short-term New Haven colony allied together as the United Colonies of New England.

READ THE FULL TEXT In order to present a united front against the red natives of the continent, and so “that as in nation and religion, so in other respects we may be and continue one,” the white ethnics of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven entered into a confederation from which certain white ethnics were being deliberately excluded. Rhode Island would need to solicit the protection of the Monarch, and so it would be that during the spring of this year the Reverend Roger Williams would set sail from New-York harbor for England. When Williams would arrive in London, however, he would find the mother country to be in the throes of civil war. Instead of treating with the King of England, he would need to treat with a recently constituted parliamentary committee on Foreign Plantations. READ EDWARD FIELD TEXT

During this year or the next, the name of Aquidneck Island would be changed to “the Isle of Rhodes, or Rhode Island.”

By agreement of the members of this United Colonies of New England confederation, the only evidence needed for conviction of one of their runaway slaves would be “certification by a magistrate.”

Samuell Gorton founded Shawomet, Rhode Island’s 4th settlement. The town would be renamed Warwick a HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET few years later in honor of its patron, the Earl of Warwick.

READ EDWARD FIELD TEXT

August: There were two John Smiths in Plymouth, and one was usually called Senior whereas the other was usually called Junior despite probably not being father and son. In this month the John Smith usually called Junior, having reached the age of 25, was recognized by the colony as “able to bear arms.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1644

This was the year in which, in Boston, Goody’s pig went astray, which would cause a reorganization of the government of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the formation of the colony’s 1st bicameral legislature. Whereas up to this point the government had consisted of a Great and General Court, plus eighteen assistants to the governor, the governor’s assistants would be redesignated as a Senate, and a House of Representatives would be created to be made up of two representatives elected by each town.

Myles Standish was made the Plymouth colony’s treasurer. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1645

Myles Standish continued to serve as the Plymouth colony’s treasurer.

When Captain James Smith of the Rainbowe brought two Africans from the Guinea Coast to Boston, the slaves were forfeited and returned (MASSACHUSETTS COLONIAL RECORDS, II. 115, 129, 136, 168, 176; III. 13, 46, 49, 58, 84). RACE SLAVERY SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1646

Master printer Gregory Dexter of Providence, Rhode Island was sent for to assist Samuel Green and his apprentice Matthew Daye in Boston in setting up a printing press. Dexter asked for no reward other than that each year he be sent a freebie copy of their almanac.

Myles Standish continued to serve as the Plymouth colony’s treasurer. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1647

By enactment in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, all free white male adults, whether or not they were freemen, were to be allowed not only to attend town meetings (this had been in effect since 1641) but also to vote in these town meetings. Nonfreemen could henceforward vote in the town meetings even if they could not meet the property qualifications to vote in the general elections of the colony.

Myles Standish continued to serve as the Plymouth colony’s treasurer. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1648

In Boston, the BOOK OF LAWS AND LIBERTIES, a detailed law code, was adopted.

Myles Standish continued to serve as the Plymouth colony’s treasurer.

September: William Coddington and Captain Partridge presented an application to the Commissioners of the United Colonies: Our request and motion is in the behalf of our Island; that we the Islanders of Rhode Island may be received into combination with all the United Colonies of New England in a firm and perpetual league of friendship and amity; of offence and defence, mutual advice and succor, upon all just occasions, for our mutual safety and welfare, and for preserving of peace amongst ourselves; and preventing, as much as may be, all occasions of war and difference; and to this our motion we have the consent of the major part of our Island.

The Commissioners responded that the request should be favored only if Rhode Island would agree to fall under the jurisdiction of the Plymouth colony. Coddington, who was a bigwig of Royalist bent, submitted to this condition and, with Captain Partridge, according to an account by his opponent Roger Williams, returned “with propositions for Rhode Island to subject to Plymouth; to which himself and Portsmouth incline; our other three towns decline.” Apparently this Royalist was making a bid to become Royal Governor over the colony. Dr. Turner would comment wryly, in his biography of the man, that “Almost any man would be in favor of monarchy, if be could be king.” Coddington would sail for England in January 1648/49, leaving Captain Partridge in control of Newport, without discussing his scheme with anyone locally. READ EDWARD FIELD TEXT HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1649

Massasoit (Great Sachem) Ousamequin (Yellow Feather) “sold” the Bridgewater lands to Plymouth.

Myles Standish completed his service as the colony’s treasurer.

When the colony accused two of its married women, Sara Norman and Mary Hammon, of lewd behavior, it excused Mary, 15 years of age, but required Sara, who was older, to make public acknowledgement of her offense — presumably this would have involved something similar to a “Scarlet Letter” affixed to her clothing? HOMOSEXUALITY

January 4, Thursday (1648, Old Style): In the English Civil War, full governmental authority was assumed by the House of Commons.

At the age of 30 John Smith of Plymouth19 got married with Friend Deborah Howland, a daughter of Friend Arthur Howland of Marshfield who had been born in London in 1627. The bridegroom would become a Quaker. When he was thirty, on January 4, 1648-9, he married Deborah Howland, the daughter of Arthur Howland of Marshfield. Whether the newly married pair at once went to live in the house on North Street in Plymouth, on land where now stands the house of Nathaniel Morton, or whether this abode was a later acquisition the records do not disclose. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES

March 6, Tuesday (1648, Old Style): At Plymouth, two couples were fined for “haveing carnall coppulation” before their wedding ceremonies. The couples were Peregrine White, born aboard the Mayflower, and his wife Sarah White, both of Marshfield, and Thomas Delano and his wife Rebecca Alden Delano, the daughter of Mayflower passenger John Alden (family records indicate that on this day Rebecca was giving birth to the infant son that was the product of this carnall coppulation, whom they named “Benoni” or “child of sorrow” as an indication of their remorse — but these family records are not borne out by colony records, which indicate that this son died on April 5, 1738 in his 71st year, which would indicate that Benoni Delano had been born not in 1648/1649 but some two decades later, circa 1667).

19. This is not the same John Smith as the one who in this year was becoming governor of Rhode Island. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1650

Governor William Bradford recorded in OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION that Peter Brown, a carpenter who had been unmarried when he had come on the Mayflower in 1620 and drawn his house lot in Plymouth with the rest, soon afterward had accompanied Bradford, Standish, and Winslow to the neighboring settlement of Duxbury. He had died during 1633 and Standish and Brewster had taken his inventory on October 10th, 1633. This Peter Brown had married twice and had two children by each wife, and as of this writing by Governor Bradford, both of those by the 1st wife had been married and one of them had given him two grandchildren. Although, for his 1st wife, conjecture assigns him the widow Ford who had come in the Fortune during 1621, such a 1st marriage must have occurred after the land division in 1624 and, at the division of cattle during 1627, he has associated with him Martha Brown and Mary Brown, who were perhaps his wife and his daughter. He is the ancestor of Captain John Brown of Harpers Ferry in that one of his descendants in the main line would be the Captain John Brown of the Connecticut militia who would die of disease in the revolutionary service in 1776. This revolutionary captain would marry Hannah Owen, of Welsh origin; and their son Owen Brown would marry Ruth Mills, of Dutch origin. Owen Brown would leave a brief autobiographical writing beginning with “My life has been of little worth, mostly filled up with vanity” and including the information that “In 1800, May 9, John was born, one hundred years after his great-grandfather; nothing else very uncommon.” This John born on May 9, 1800 was of course the John Brown of Harpers Ferry. Although the writing states “We lived in peace with all mankind, so far as I know,” this Owen Brown was one of that early school of abolitionists whom Hopkins and Edwards enlightened and in 1798, soon after Connecticut abolished slavery, he apparently participated in the forcible rescue of some slaves who were being claimed there by a Virginia clergyman.

January 11, Thursday, (1649, Old Style): John Smith and Friend Deborah Howland Smith of Plymouth had a daughter they named Hasadiah or Hassadyah Smith.

June 27, Thursday (Old Style): The General Court of Plymouth directed that the colony’s Cowe Keep functionary John Smith “is to have the cow that is in Goodman Pontius hands for this year.” The disposition of the scant herd of cattle of the young colony was from the start one of the serious cares of the General Court, and that on June 27, 1650, it was determined that “John Smith is to have the cow that is in Goodman Pontius hands for this year” is evidence that John was considered a deserving and reliable citizen. He had evidently made good as Cowe Keep. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1651

June 5, Thursday (Old Style): John Smith was admitted as a freeman of Plymouth, and became a member of the colony’s grand jury.

October 1, Wednesday (Old Style): John Smith and Friend Deborah Howland Smith of Plymouth had a son they named John Smith. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1652

April 16, Friday (Old Style): The married couple John Smith and Friend Deborah Howland Smith of Plymouth had a son they named Josiah Smith. (During this year this colony Cow Keep was allowed by the General Court to continue to keep the cow of Goodman Pontius, with the care of which he had been being entrusted since mid- 1650.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1653

During the first part of this year Nieuw-Amsterdam, because Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell had declared war upon the Dutch Republic, busied itself in the erection of a defensive wall across Manhattan to the north of the white settlement, guarding themselves against any English militias, or native American war parties, that might approach from that direction.

It is clear that John Smith was not only able “to beare arms,” but also willing to do so despite his marriage to a Quaker woman — because in this year he served as an officer aboard a “barque” which the militia of Plymouth sent to fight the Dutch at “Manhatoes.” (It is not clear that there was any actual contact.)

Under the Act of Settlement, Parliament’s opponents in Ireland were stripped of their estates.

While on a trip from his home in Ireland to England, William Edmundson was convinced by Friend James Nayler to become a Quaker.

James Naylor was having a meeting about three miles from where I was. I went to it with my eldest brother Thomas and another kinsman, having an earnest desire to converse with some of that people, retaining a love for and believing well of them from the first hearing the report of them. And I was glad of this opportunity. We were all three convinced of the Lord’s blessed truth, for God’s witness in our hearts answered to the truth of what was spoken, and the Lord’s former dealings with me came fresh into my remembrance. Then I knew it was the Lord’s hand that had been striving with me for a long time. This was in the year 1653. Then my understanding began to be opened and many Scriptures were brought to my remembrance, which I had often read and yet understood not. But now being turned to a measure of the Lord’s Spirit manifested in my heart which often had reproved me for evil in my ignorance, I knew that it was he which led into all truth, agreeably to the holy Scriptures of the law and prophets and Christ and his apostles. And I thought that all that heard it declared must own it, it was so plain to me. A few days after I was thus far convinced of the blessed truth, the Lord’s power seized upon me through his Spirit, whereby I was brought under great exercises of mind. Yea, all my parts came under this exercise, for the Lord’s hand was mighty upon me in judgments HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET mixed with mercies, so that my former ways were hedged up. But I loved the Lord’s judgments, for I knew I had sinned against him and must be purged through judgment. And though under this exercise of conscience towards God, yet I did my business in England and shipped my goods to be landed at Carrickfergus or Belfast. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1654

April 20, Thursday (Old Style): John Smith and Friend Deborah Howland Smith of Plymouth had a son they named Eleazer or Eliezer Smith.

June 23, Friday (Old Style): Mary Lee of Maryland was hanged at sea as a witch.

Major American Witchcraft Cases

1647 Elizabeth Kendall, Alse Young 1663 Mary Barnes

1648 Margaret Jones, Mary Johnson 1666 Elizabeth Seager

1651 Alice Lake, Mrs. (Lizzy) Kendal, Goody 1669 Katherine (Kateran) Harrison Bassett, Mary Parsons

1652 John Carrington, Joan Carrington 1683 Nicholas Disborough, Margaret Mattson

1653 Elizabeth “Goody” Knapp, Elizabeth 1688 Annie “Goody” Glover Godman

1654 Lydia Gilbert, Kath Grady, Mary Lee 1692 Bridget Bishop, Rebecca Towne Nurse, Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Wildes, Mary Staplies, Mercy Disborough, Elizabeth Clawson, Mary Harvey, Hannah Harvey, Goody Miller, Giles Cory, Mary Towne Estey, Reverend George Burrough, George Jacobs, Sr., John Proctor, John Willard, Martha Carrier, Sarah Good, Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Ward- well, Mary Parker, Tituba

1655 Elizabeth Godman, Nicholas Bayley, 1693 Hugh Crotia, Mercy Disborough Goodwife Bayley, Ann Hibbins

1657 William Meaker 1697 Winifred Benham, Senr., Winifred Ben- ham, Junr.

1658 Elizabeth Garlick, Elizabeth Richardson, 1724 Sarah Spencer Katherine Grade

1661 Nicholas Jennings, Margaret Jennings 1768 —— Norton

1662 Nathaniel Greensmith, Rebecca 1801 Sagoyewatha “Red Jacket” Greensmith, Mary Sanford, Andrew San- ford, Goody Ayres, Katherine Palmer, Judith Varlett, James Walkley

In the Plymouth colony, “happy tidings came of a long desired peace betwixt the two nations of England and Holland” and the local militia dropped its preparations for a contest with the Dutch of Nieuw-Amsterdam. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1655

The English took over some Nipmuc lands by means of their Eliot Purchase, by a sachem of Quabaug to the Reverend John Eliot — 1,000 acres (within the bounds of the Tantiusque deed of 1644). This title would be confirmed to the heirs of John Eliot on December 5, 1715. The purchase was fair and square although there is some question as to what might have happened to the natives had they chosen to be “unreasonable.” Whites got the best farmlands in the river valleys, leaving the Nipmuc –who depended heavily on agriculture– with a serious difficulty in feeding themselves. The Nipmuc of course got Christianity in return for their generosity, which is a really good deal.

To appease the English, in 1652 the Pennacook had relinquished some of their territories. In this year they sold more, for the same reason, and this would happen again in 1656, but by 1662 so much of the prime land would have been taken up by the intrusives that headman Passaconnaway would be forced to petition the Massachusetts legislature for relief. Merely four decades after the First Comers had arrived at Plymouth, the Pennacook on the lower Merrimack would have become no longer in a position to share or sell their lands but would be reduced to asking the English to leave them some land on which they might live.

“As the star of the Indian descended, that of the Puritans rose ever higher.” — Tourtellot, Arthur Bernon, THE CHARLES, NY: Farrar & Rinehart, 1941, page 63

The war between the Mohawk and the Susquehannock of Pennsylvania ended, leaving the Mohawk free to turn their tender attentions toward New England. They would concentrate initially on the Mahican, and by 1658 the Mahican would have left the French-sponsored native alliance and would be making their separate peace with the Iroquois — leaving the Pennacook, Pocumtuck, and Sokoki allies of the French to face the Mohawk Confederation in isolation. Because of this situation, the sale of firearms to native Americans was made for the 1st time legal in the Bay Colony.

Adriaen van der Donck’s DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW NETHERLANDS. Thoreau would copy the following materials into his Indian Notebook:

The Indians have a yearly custom (which some of our Christians have also adopted) of burning the woods, plains and meadows in the fall of the year, when the leaves have fallen, and when the grass and vegetable substances are dry. Those places which are first, to render hunting easier, as the bush and vegetable growth renders walking difficult for the hunter, and the crackling of the dry substances betrays him and frightens away the game. Secondly, to thin out and clear the woods of all dead substances and grass, which grows better the ensuing spring. Thirdly, to circumscribe and enclose the game within the lines of the fire, when it is more easily taken, and also because the game is more easily tracked over the burned parts of the woods. Commonly the trees are not killed — only the dead trees but sometimes the tree tops are burned. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

January 31: Plymouth court records indicate that Robert Latham who married Susanna Winslow, the daughter of John Winslow and his wife Mary Chilton, brutally and willfully mistreated his servant boy, John Walker, thus causing his death. Susanna was found culpable as well, though not prosecuted. On 31 January 1654/55 a coroner’s jury was called to view the body of Latham’s servant boy, John Walker. The jury found: that the body of John Walker was blackish and blew, and the skine broken in divers places from the middle to the haire of his head, viz, all his backe with stripes given him by his master, Robert Latham, as Robert himselfe did testify; and also wee found a bruise of his left arme, and one of his left hipp, and one great bruise of his brest; and there was the knuckles of one hand and one of his fingers frozen, and alsoe both his heeles frozen, and one of the heeles the flesh was much broken, and alsoe one of his little toes frozen and very much perished, and one of his great toes frozen, and alsoe the side of his foot frozen; and alsoe, upon the reviewing the body, wee found three gaules like holes in the hames, which wee formerly, the body being frozen, thought they had been holes; and alsoe wee find that the said John was forced to carry a logg which was beyond his strength, which hee indeavoring to doe, the logg fell upon him, and hee, being downe, had a stripe or two, as Joseph Beedle doth testify; and wee find that it was some few daies before his death; and wee find, by the testimony of John Howland and John Adams, that heard Robert Latham say that hee gave John Walker som stripes that morning before his death; and alsoe wee find the flesh much broken of the knees of John Walker, and that he did want sufficient food and clothing and lodging, and that the said John did constantly wett his bedd and his cloathes, lying in them, and so suffered by it, his clothes being frozen about him; and that the said John was put forth in the extremity of cold, though thuse unabled by lamenes and sorenes to performe what was required; and therefore in respect of crewelty and hard usage he died.

March 4: Robert Latham and his wife Susanna Winslow Latham of Plymouth were indicted for felonious cruelty to their servant John Walker, age about 14, by unreasonable correction, by withholding necessary food and clothing, and by exposing Walker to extremities of the seasons, whereby he died. The trial jury would find the husband guilty of “manslaughter by chaunce medley.” As the man had no lands, in further punishment all his personal property would be taken from him, and his hand would be branded. The wife Susanna Winslow Latham, also presented by the grand jury for being in great measure guilty with her husband in exercising extreme cruelty toward their late servant John Walker, would not be immediately prosecuted. Her presentment would continue without trial for three years until the court on June 1, 1658 would publish that she might be held for trial if anyone wished to prosecute her for the offense. Then, as no one would come forth, the court would order that her presentment be erased from the records.

August 26, Sunday (Old Style): From the records of the Plymouth colony we learn that “the cow which John Smith had is dead without any increase.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET UNDATED: Friend John Smith of Plymouth was fined for holding Quaker worship at his home, and for “entertaining” foreign Quakers. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1656

February 8, Thursday (1655, Old Style): John Smith and Friend Deborah Howland Smith of Plymouth had a son they named Hezekiah Smith. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1657

May 9, Saturday (Old Style): William Bradford died. The body would be placed on Plymouth’s Burial Hill near the body of Tisquantum (Squanto).

Professor Jill Lepore has commented on his life and his writing of the history of his Plymouth settlement in “Plymouth Rocked: Of Pilgrims, Puritans, and professors” in The New Yorker for April 24, 2006, pages 164- 70: William Bradford, the governor and first chronicler of the Plymouth plantation ... crossed what he called “the vast and furious ocean” on board the Mayflower, a hundred-and-eighty-ton, three-masted, square-rigged merchant vessel, its cramped berths filled with forty other religious dissenters who wanted to separate from the Church of England, and some sixty rather less pious passengers who were in search of nothing so much as adventure. Bradford called these “profane” passengers “Strangers,” but to modern sensibilities they can feel more familiar than, say, William Brewster, who brought along a son named Wrestling, short for “wrestling with God.” The colony that William Bradford helped plant on the windswept western shore of Cape Cod Bay was tiny, and it shrank before it grew; by 1650, its population had not yet reached a thousand. Plymouth Colony was Bradford’s colony. Between 1621 and 1656, he was elected governor every year but five. Passionate, self- taught, and bold beyond measure, Bradford was the one who called his people Pilgrims. He was also a poet, though not a very good HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET one: Providence and the Pilgrim FROM my years young in days of youth, God did make known to me his truth, And call’d me from my native place For to enjoy the means of grace. In wilderness he did me guide, And in strange lands for me provide. In fears and wants, through weal and woe, A pilgrim, passed I to and fro: Oft left of them whom I did trust; How vain it is to rest on dust! A man of sorrows I have been, And many changes I have seen. Wars, wants, peace, plenty, have I known; And some advanc’d, others thrown down. The humble poor, cheerful and glad; Rich, discontent, sower and sad: When fears and sorrows have been mixt, Consolations came betwixt. Faint not, poor soul, in God still trust, Fear not the things thou suffer must; For, whom he loves he doth chastise, And then all tears wipes from their eyes. Farewell, dear children, whom I love, Your better Father is above: When I am gone, he can supply; To him I leave you when I die. Fear him in truth, walk in his ways, And he will bless you all your days. My days are spent, old age is come, My strength it fails, my glass near run. Now I will wait, when work is done, Until my happy change shall come, When from my labors I shall rest, With Christ above for to be blest. Bradford began writing his history in 1630, the year the Englishman John Winthrop founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop’s colonists are more commonly called Puritans, because they wanted to purify the Anglican Church, but the Pilgrims were Puritans, too — and “nobody more so,” as Morison once put it. The distinction between Pilgrims and Puritans is a nineteenth- century invention; in truth, their doctrinal differences were slight. Still, the rivalry between the two colonies was intense, and to Plymouth’s disadvantage. By 1641, more than twenty thousand colonists had settled in Massachusetts, entirely dwarfing the “Old Colony.” (In 1691, Plymouth became part of Massachusetts.) ... Try as he might, Bradford just couldn’t find the time to catch his past up with his present. He died in 1657, at the age of sixty-seven, his history unfinished. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1658

June 1: Robert Latham and his wife Susanna Winslow Latham of Plymouth had been indicted for felonious cruelty to their servant John Walker, age about 14, by unreasonable correction, by withholding necessary food and clothing, and by exposing Walker to extremities of the seasons, whereby he had died. The trial jury had found the husband guilty of “manslaughter by chaunce medley.” As the man had no lands, in further punishment all his personal property had been taken from him, and his hand had been branded. The wife Susanna Winslow Latham, who had also been presented by the grand jury for being in great measure guilty with her husband in exercising extreme cruelty toward their late servant John Walker, had not immediately been prosecuted. Her presentment had at this point continued without trial for three years, so the court published that she might be held for trial if anyone wished to prosecute her for the offense. As no one would come forth, the court would order that the presentment of Susanna Winslow Latham for felonious cruelty to the dead servant John Walker be erased from the records.

June 10, Thursday (Old Style): In the Plymouth colony, John Smith, despite being married to a Quaker woman, subscribed to an oath of allegiance to the crown of England. John Smith, I fancy, was not so straight laced an individual as some of your ancestors. To be sure, he had married a Howland, and like most dutiful husbands he followed her in religious tenets and was nominally a Quaker. He did not, however, take Quakerism or Separatism or any other ism as seriously as did most of your ancestors, for instance, Ralph Allen, who refused to take the oath of fidelity to King Charles and was fined £10. Apparently without a murmur John Smith took the oath on June 10, 1658 — and, I have no doubt, rather hoped he might have the chance to “fight for the King.” None the less he had become matrimonially involved with the Quakers and in March, 1658-9, he together with his wife’s relations, was fined for “frequently absenting himself from the public worship of God” — to the amount of ten shillings. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1659

March: In the Plymouth colony, John Smith, along with his Quaker wife’s other relatives, was fined 10 s. for “frequently absenting himself from the public worship of God.” John Smith, I fancy, was not so straight laced an individual as some of your ancestors. To be sure, he had married a Howland, and like most dutiful husbands he followed her in religious tenets and was nominally a Quaker. He did not, however, take Quakerism or Separatism or any other ism as seriously as did most of your ancestors, for instance, Ralph Allen, who refused to take the oath of fidelity to King Charles and was fined £10. Apparently without a murmur John Smith took the oath on June 10, 1658 — and, I have no doubt, rather hoped he might have the chance to “fight for the King.” None the less he had become matrimonially involved with the Quakers and in March, 1658-9, he together with his wife’s relations, was fined for “frequently absenting himself from the public worship of God” — to the amount of ten shillings. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1660

In the Plymouth colony, John Smith’s Quaker wife Friend Deborah Howland Smith was getting him involved again and again with the government, but he stood loyally by her and faced the charges. In 1660 his wife involved him in more trouble, but he seems to have stood by her as a loyal husband should. The record reads as follows: “1660. May 1st Prence Gov’r. At this Court John Smith of Plymouth, Jun’r, appeared, being summoned to answer for permitting that a Quaker meeting was suffered to bee at his house, — his wife alsoe being summoned to answer for permitting the same, hee, the said Smith, was demanded wither hee would owne and defend what his wife had done in that respect, hee answered hee would, and did owne it, and did approve of it, and soe Convict of the fact.” And was fined £2. And again in the same year he and his wife Deborah were fined for a like offence. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES

At about this point Mehitabel Smith was born, probably in Dartmouth. (We know that John Smith had thirteen children and that the initial five, Hassadiah, John, Josiah, Eliazer, and Hezekiah, were born to his 1st wife, Friend Deborah Howland Smith. The will makes it clear that Hannah, Sarah, and Deborah were born to the 2d wife, Friend Ruhamah Kirby Smith. About Judah, Gershom, Deliverance, Mehitable, and Eliashib we infer that they also were born to the 2d wife Ruhaman. As to how it was that children were being born to the 2d Quaker wife while the 1st Quaker wife was still alive, and as to the details of the movement of the Smith family from Plymouth to Dartmouth, the record is silent.)

In a metaphor for the Inner Light which Henry David Thoreau would later exploit (translated from vision to hearing) in WALDEN, Friend Edward Burrough wrote in A DECLARATION OF THE SAD AND GREAT PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD, CALLED QUAKERS, IN NEW-ENGLAND FOR THE WORSHIPPING OF GOD, that:

He hath given us to enjoy and possess in us a measure of that fulness that is in Himself, even a measure of the same love and life, of the same mercy and power and of the same divine nature....

RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

He also declared something that was quintessentially Thoreauvian in its “either by doing or by suffering,” that is, accepting consequences rather than disobeying the conscience — a preliminary to “CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE”:

We are not Enemies unto Government it self, as these our Accursers do charge us, but it is our Principle ... to be subject to whatsoever Government is set up over us, either by doing or by suffering. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Ousamequin Yellow Feather (the Massasoit) died early in the year, and his eldest son Wamsutta received the name Allexander (sic) Pokanokett (sic) from the whites of the Plymouth colony. His younger brother Metacom was designated Phillip (sic) by the whites of the Plymouth colony. (The implication of this joke naming system was “See, here’s a colored man with bad attitude: he acts with dignity and poise and obviously supposes he’s going to conquer the world, or dominate us or something, like the famous historical white man Alexander the Great — but he’s not nothing but a woods savage and he isn’t ever going to get any respect from us.”) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1661

Massasoit died and was succeeded by his 1st son, Wamsutta, the one who had been nicknamed “Allexander” (sic) by the whites.20

Att the ernest request of Wamsitta, desiring that in regard his father is lately deceased, and hee being desirouse, according to the custome of the natives, to change his name, that the Court would confer an English name upon him, which accordingly they did, and therefore ordered, that for the future hee shalbee called by the name of Allexander Pokanokett; and desireing the same in the behalfe of his brother, they have named him Phillip.

Allexander Wamsutta was married to Squaw Sachem Weetamoo of Pocasset. He sold Attleboro lands to the Plymouth colony. This sachem would be signing the land sale documents presented to him by the English sometimes with anA sometimes with aW and sometimes with aM (these things are complex, for in fact he had in addition another name beginning with the letter M) as his younger brother Metacom, when he would in his turn become the sachem of the Wampanoag, would be signing these ubiquitous documents with a big inkyP

(it all was made to seem so legitimate and respectful and congenial).

This was the year of the property transaction known as the “Northern Purchase.” The English of Rehoboth HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

20. When the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony depicted an American native with a cartoon bubble coming out of his mouth, going “Come over and help us,” the reference of course was to the Book of the Acts of the Apostles in the Christian Bible, which has the Apostle Paul dreaming of a Macedonian who is pleading that he “Come over into Macedonia, and help us.”

On that basis, for the whites to have assigned to two Native American sachems the names “Phillip” (sic) and “Allexander” (sic) two well-known kings of ancient Macedonia, would seem rather innocent. However, bear in mind that it was the naming convention of the period, to refer to persons of color by the deployment of offensively grandiloquent and therefore implicitly derogatory nicknames. The dusky brothers Wamsutta and Metacom were therefore nicknamed Allexander and Phillip more or less in the mode in which masterly whites were in the habit of condescending magisterially to their black slaves: such ostentatious names (in the case of black slaves, master-assigned names such as those which Dr. LeBaron of Plymouth tried to enforce upon his house slaves, such as Pompey and Julius Caesar — starving one of his slaves, Quasho Quando, as punishment when the man absolutely refused to respond to such a name) implicitly gestured toward their low standing in the eyes of the righteous, marking them as pretenders, as con artists, implicitly warning fellow whites not to take them seriously as human beings or as leaders. In what significant manner does this differ from the period in Central Europe during which Jews were being required to register and to receive family names and were being assigned names, by a sympathetic constabulary, which translate into the ordinary English as “gold-grubber” and as “money-bags”? HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET (chartered in 1643 by the Plymouth Colony, and the birthplace of public education in North America) hired

Thomas Willett to negotiate for them with Wampanoag sachems for what is now Attleboro and North Attleboro. This 1661 deed still exists and very clearly is signed by Willett and by Wamsutta.21 The land in question has clearly belonged to the white man since way back. One of the terms and conditions of this deed document, however, is that part of the property in question had been set aside for perpetual use by the natives. Since there aren’t any natives there any longer, and since continuous occupancy is normally taken by our courts to be the signal of native title, this clause would seem to be ancient history — but as of the Year of Our Lord 2003 there is a case pending in the Rhode Island courts which alleges that legal title to the land district that had been set aside, that seems to amount to Cumberland and east Woonsocket, is open to challenge.

The bite in this antique document comes from the fact that since the early 1660s, colonial law, and the federal law that followed after this colonial law upon our national independence, has consistently held that no native tribal land could be validly conveyed to another unless that conveyance had the blessing of a federal court, or of the US Congress. Since there exists no federal legislative or judicial record whatever, that these lands which had been formally set aside for native use in this Wamsutta/Willett title document have subsequently legitimately been conveyed to anyone else, and since the tribe in question, the Seaconke Wampanoag, happens to be still in existence, it is abundantly clear that the land in question –whatever that land amounts to and whoever now resides upon it– still belongs to them and to them alone. (After the natives lost in this race war 21. Metacom had such a high regard for Captain Thomas Willett that during the race war he ordered that the Willett family not be harmed. When someone who had not heard of this brought the head of Hezekiah Willett to Metacom, thinking that he would be pleased, Metacom did what he could: he adorned the head of Willett’s son with wampum, and combed its hair. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET known as “King Phillip’s War”, we understand that very naturally the victorious white colonists simply moved in and took over by eminent domain, selling the red survivors of the war into slavery or packing them off to other lands. However, that makes the situation of these native inheritors similar to, say, the situation of an Israeli Jew who is holding a WWII-era title document to a family home in the Polish town of Oswicum, the German form of the name being “Auschwitz” — a family home now inhabited and defended by non-Jewish Poles who definitely have some sort of piece of paper asserting their invalid title. It seems clear that the legal implications of World War II for its survivors, and the implications of King Phillip’s War for its survivors, have yet to be fully worked out.)

But you can’t please everybody all the time. Soon Wamsutta fell under suspicion of not favoring one English colony over another, but instead, of the evil practice of selling merely to the highest bidder, favoring his own interest and the interest of his band over the interest of others. He was therefore taken captive by an indignant Major Josiah Winslow and marched rapidly to Duxbury at gunpoint, as part of a strategy to put the arm on him and to induce him to favor the Plymouth colony over the Rhode Island colony. They needed for him to pledge to sell no more native American territory to settlers out of the Rhode Island group, even if those white people were to offer his people a better deal.

Did he not understand who his real friends were? However, while being held under guard in Duxbury, Allexander Wamsutta became seriously ill, so ill that the guards feared to be blamed for his death and released him to hike home — and in his fever he didn’t make it all the way back.

Metacom, the second son of the Massasoit, the one who had been nicknamed “Phillip” by the whites, was at that time 24 years of age, and suspected or professed to suspect that the whites had poisoned his brother, or had caused his illness because of the overexertion of being force-marched at gunpoint, or at the very least had sadly neglected his brother during his fever. That suspicion, well or poorly grounded, was going to cause one hell of a lot of trouble.

Weetamoo, a Pocasset, had been the consort of Metacom’s older brother Wamsutta. With his death, as his younger brother became Sachem, she became not merely a widow but the Squaw Sachem.

The Reverend Roger Williams, William Field, the Reverend Thomas Olney, Jr., Joseph Torrey, Philip Taber (1605-1672), and John Anthony were associated together in Providence, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Inauthentic representation of Metacom by Paul Revere, for whom an Indian was an Indian was an Indian, at the Library of Congress. Done in 1772. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1662

The Mahican were drawn back into the war with the Iroquois, and would soon be driven from the Hudson Valley and would retreat into western Massachusetts. The brunt of the fighting then would fall upon the Pocumtuck along the Connecticut River, but after a series of Mohawk attacks in 1663, the Pocumtuck supply of warriors would be exhausted and they would be attempting to make peace. When this gesture would fail and the Mohawk attacks would resume in 1664, the Pocumtuck would be forced to abandon the Connecticut Valley. Some would find refuge with the Pennacook along the Merrimack River and continue to fight against the Iroquois. To appease the English, in 1652 and again in 1655 and 1656 the Pennacook had relinquished some of their territories. By this point so much of their prime land had been taken up by the intrusives that headman Passaconnaway was forced to petition the Massachusetts legislature for relief. Merely four decades after the First Comers had arrived at Plymouth, the Pennacook on the lower Merrimack had become no longer in a position to share or sell lands but had been reduced to petitioning the English to leave them some land on which they might live. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1663

A major earthquake struck the area between the Adirondack Mountains and the valley of the St. Lawrence River.The shock damaged chimneys in Plymouth, Salem, and Lynn.

After a series of Mohawk attacks, the Pocumtuck warriors had been decimated and they were attempting to make peace. When this gesture would fail and the Mohawk attacks would resume in 1664, the Pocumtuck would be forced to abandon the Connecticut Valley. Some would find refuge with the Pennacook along the Merrimack River and continue to fight against the Iroquois. To appease the English, in 1652 and again in 1655 and 1656 the Pennacook had relinquished some of their territories. By this point so much of their prime land had been taken up by the intrusives that headman Passaconnaway was forced to petition the Massachusetts legislature for relief. Merely four decades after the First Comers had arrived at Plymouth, the Pennacook on the lower Merrimack had become no longer in a position to share or sell lands but had been reduced to petitioning the English to leave them some land on which they might live.

In this timeframe John Smith of Plymouth became involved in plans for white settlement in the lands of Acushena, Ponagansett, and Coaksett (a district which in 1664 would be declared as a new township, using the designation “Dartmouth”). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET The Reverend John Eliot’s Old Testament was printed. This completed the first Bible printed in North America. Henry Thoreau would make a humorous aside in CAPE COD about this translation into the Nipmuc:

CAPE COD: Turning over further in our book, our eyes fell on the PEOPLE OF name of the Rev. Jonathan Bascom, of Orleans: “Senex emunctæ CAPE COD naris, doctus, et auctor elegantium verborum, facetus, et dulcis festique sermonis.” And, again, on that of the Rev. Nathan Stone, of Dennis: “Vir humilis, mitis, blandus, advenarum hospes; [there was need of him there]; suis commodis in terrâ non studens, reconditis thesauris in cœlo.” An easy virtue that, there, for, methinks, no inhabitant of Dennis could be very studious about his earthly commodity, but must regard the bulk of his treasures as in heaven. But, probably, the most just and pertinent character of all, is that which appears to be given to the Rev. Ephraim Briggs, of Chatham, in the language of the later Romans: “Seip, sepoese, sepoemese, wechekum”– which, not being interpreted, we know not what it means, though we have no doubt it occurs somewhere in the Scriptures, probably in the Apostle Eliot’s Epistle to the Nipmucks.

JOHN ELIOT

Since this book has experienced an exceedingly hostile environment over the centuries, making it more and more rare, it is unlikely that Thoreau actually ever sighted it. More likely, Thoreau extracted this uninterpreted “Seip sepoese sepoemese wechekum” stuff from “A Description and History of Eastham” in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society:22

Séip means river, sépoese stream, sepoêmese rivulet (all deriving from sibikinan, “to pour out”), while wechêkum is the seacoast or ocean, great producer of their sustaining food, from Wutcheken (Eliot), “it yields,” “produces,” “brings forth.” A literal translation would therefore be “There are rivers that pour out, there are streams that pour out, there are rivulets that pour out — but then there’s something else, there is the ocean, great sustainer, great producer, great yielder, great bringer forth.” To understand this, we must put ourselves into the mindset of a Christian minister of the 17th Century who knows only a few words of Algonkian and is struggling to communicate his faith to these native Americans. Channeling this minister, I can readily imagine him saying to his native audience “Look, there all these rivers full of transitory water, moving from place to place. Not only that, there are little rivers, streams, that are also transitory water, moving from place to place. Even there are little trickles and rivulets, all over the place, and all this water is moving from place to place. But then (sweep of the arm) there’s that enormity out there. That! The ocean! It’s huge and its permanent, and it is overwhelming — and it is full of all sorts of seafood and is sustaining our lives. That thing out there, that great sustainer, that great producer, that great yielder, that great bringer forth out there (sweep of the arm), that’s something different from the river and the stream and the rivulet that are transitory. It’s not moving along and here I am telling you that God is like that ocean. As that ocean is for your stomachs — so God needs to be for you. I’m here to advise you, what you need to do is, you need to place your faith in God. Séip. Sépoese. Sepoêmese. — Wechekum!”

If you were that minister, would you be preaching some other sermon? 22. What I infer from James Hammond Trumbull’s NATICK DICTIONARY (Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1903) is that séip or sépu means river, sépoese stream, sepoêmese rivulet (all deriving from sibikinan, to pour out), while wechêkum is the seacoast or ocean, great producer of their sustaining food, from Wutcheken (Eliot), “it yields,” “produces,” “brings forth.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

The sequence of four nouns we are looking at, since it is uninflected and lacks a verb, cannot be a sentence in the Algonkian language. As such, it is what a linguist might term “noun-speech” — it is something formulated not by a native speaker but by one or another white missionary who has been going around pointing at various objects and writing down the nouns his native informants pronounce. The white missionary points at a squaw, and the native informant goes “Bloogyzyvit” or something, and the white missionary writes down “woman = Bloogyzyvit” (the native may possibly have supplied the word for woman, or may possibly have supplied the word for female, or for wife, or perhaps he may have offered his squaw’s proper name — but what the white missionary has written down is “woman = Bloogyzyvit”).

Since this is noun-speak, there is zero possibility that this would be a record of a piece of native wisdom that was being offered to the white man. So what is it? Obviously, the only other possibility is that it is a piece of white wisdom that was being offered to the red people, by a white man who knew only a few nouns in their language.

Another thing to take into consideration is that this was not going down in the 19th or 20th centuries. During more recent centuries we have seen a marvelous phenomenon arise, in which white people have begun to look to the remnants of native tribes for insights not available to us overly civilized types. “Black Elk” is one such effort in this genre. But, nothing of that sort had been going on in those earlier centuries. It would have been inconceivable for the Reverend Eliot to have looked to the American natives for wisdom — they were by definition uneducated local louts who might be able to teach us how to construct a canoe out of birch bark, or point at an indigenous plant that possessed medicinal properties, but who had no share in any sort of cultural capital. Wisdom, in that period, was something that came only from white people (and specifically, only from the white people of Europe).

June 8, Monday (Old Style): It would seem that in this timeframe John Smith was running a ferry service between Duxbury and Plymouth: John Smith the boatesman att Plymouth hath liberty this year to pick up wood from any of the lands, what hee needeth. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1664

In this year or perhaps the following one, the family of John Smith of Plymouth relocated to Dartmouth, settling in the region since known as “Smith’s Neck” where many of his descendants still live. Smith would serve Dartmouth for a decade in a number of capacities, such as Surveyor of Highways, as an arbiter of disputes, and as a member of a committee (with John Cooke and John Russell) to distribute donations, from Ireland, for the relief of white people impoverished by “King Phillip’s War.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1665

It was in this year, if not in the previous one, that Friend John Smith relocated from Plymouth to Dartmouth, Massachusetts.

October 3, Tuesday (Old Style): Governor Prence’s court appointed John Smith and John Russell “of Dartmouth” to settle a claim by the native tribalists of Acushena against the English for damage done by their horses.

October 6, Friday (Old Style): In exchange for a 2/7th share in the Dartmouth tract, John Smith signed over to Edward Doty, Jr. (a son of the master to whom he had been apprenticed) “his house messuage [sic] and garden spot on ye north side of North Street” in Plymouth. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1667

Metacom was again summoned to Plymouth Town, as had already occurred during 1664, to provide reassurances against their fear that he was plotting to war upon the English. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

It was in this period that Deliverance Smith was born. Although we know that eventually John Smith of Plymouth and Dartmouth would come to be the father a total of thirteen children and although the initial five, Hassadiah, John, Josiah, Eliazer, and Hezekiah, were definitely born to his 1st wife, Friend Deborah Howland Smith, and although the will would make it clear that Hannah, Sarah, and Deborah had been born to the 2d wife, Friend Ruhamah Kirby Smith — about Judah, Gershom, Deliverance, Mehitable, and Eliashib we can only infer that they would also pertain to this 2d Quaker woman, Ruhamah. As to how it was that a 2d Quaker wife was bearing children for this man across the water in Dartmouth while in Plymouth his 1st Quaker wife seems still to have been very much alive, and as to the details of the eventual relocation of this Smith family from Plymouth to Dartmouth, the genealogical record has preferred to remain silent. We notice a reticence in assigning the years of birth to the various children, as if these details would inform us of certain life patterns of which it would be better for the world at large to remain ignorant. We only know that this child, Deliverance, became a Friend. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1668

New Jersey passed a capital crimes law. Plymouth and Connecticut would later amend their laws to match. HOMOSEXUALITY

Plymouth decreed that there was to be no “buying or receiving from the Indians any lands that appertain unto Mount hope, or Cawsumsett necke.” On this basis, we may infer that “Mount Hope” was the English name for the land which –either on account of the sharpness of the edges of the rocks in the vicinity, or on account of the usefulness of the rocks in the vicinity as whetstones for the sharpening of metal knifeblades– to the natives was known as Cawsumsett. BRISTOL RHODE ISLAND

This was, is “King Philip’s Seat” at Mount Hope:

January 24, Friday (1667, Old Style): Catharine Chauncy died at the age of 66. Her children with the Reverend Charles Chauncy were Sarah Chauncy, who had been born at Ware on January 13, 1631, who had married on October 26, 1659 with Gershom Bulkely, Isaac Chauncy, who had been born on August 23, 1632, and had graduated from Harvard College during 1651, Ichabod Chauncy, who had been born during 1635, and had graduated from Harvard during 1651, Barnabas Chauncy, date of birth uncertain, who had graduated from Harvard during 1657, the twins Nathaniel Chauncy and Elnathan Chauncy who had been born at Plymouth about 1639, and had been baptized at Scituate in the Bay Colony during 1641, both Harvard graduates as of 1661, as in the same year was their younger brother Ishmael Chauncy, born or baptized at Scituate at an uncertain time, and Hannah Chauncy, born or baptized at Scituate at an uncertain time. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1670

It was in this period, on the coast of America, that Gershom Smith would have been born. Although we know that eventually John Smith of Plymouth and Dartmouth would come to be the father a total of thirteen children and although the initial five, Hassadiah, John, Josiah, Eliazer, and Hezekiah, were definitely born to his 1st wife, Friend Deborah Howland Smith, and although the will would make it clear that Hannah, Sarah, and Deborah had been born to the 2d wife, Friend Ruhamah Kirby Smith — about Judah, Gershom, Deliverance, Mehitable, and Eliashib we can only infer that they would also pertain to this 2d Quaker woman, Ruhamah. As to how it was that a 2d Quaker wife was bearing children for this man across the water in Dartmouth while in Plymouth his 1st Quaker wife seems still to have been very much alive, and as to the details of the eventual relocation of this Smith family from Plymouth to Dartmouth, the genealogical record has preferred to remain silent. We notice a reticence in assigning the years of birth to the various children, as if these details would inform us of certain life patterns of which it would be better for the world at large to remain ignorant.

There was a secret treaty entered into at Dover, between King Charles II of England and King Louis XIV of France, to restore Roman Catholicism in England. The so-called Conventicle Act of 1664 was renewed and expanded. This renewed and expanded Act limited religious gatherings, other than those of the Established Church, to not more than five persons, while penalizing any who were unwilling to take an oath. However, Friend George Fox was completing the task of organizing his new religion, the Religious Society of Friends, as witness his epistle of this year entitled “All Dear Friends Everywhere, Who Have No Helper But The Lord”: All dear Friends everywhere, who have no helper but the Lord, who is your strength and your life, let your cries and prayers be to him, from whom all your help and strength comes; who with his eternal power, hath kept up your heads above all waves and storms. Let none go out of their habitations in the stormy time of the night, whose habitation is in the Lord; let everyone keep his habitation, and stand in his lot, the seed, Christ Jesus, to the end of the day. There is the lot of your inheritance, and in this seed your will see the bright and morning star appear, which will expel the night of darkness that hath been in your hearts; by which morning star your will come to the everlasting day, which was before night was. So everyone feel this bring morning star in your hearts, there to expel the darkness. G.F. Also, his epistle “To Friends In Bristol, In The Time Of Suffering” dates to the latter part of this year: Dear friends, now is the time for you to stand; therefore put on the whole armour of God, from the crown of the head to the soles of your feet, that you may stand in the possession of life: and you that have been public men, and formerly did travel abroad, mind to keep up your testimony, both in the city and in the countries, that you may encourage Friends to keep up their meetings as usual thereaway; so that none faint in the time of trial; but that all may be encouraged, both small and great, to stand faithful to the Lord God, and his power, and truth; that their heads may not sink in the storms, but may be kept up above the waves. So, go into your meeting places, as at other times: and keep up your public testimony, and visit Friends thereabouts, now in this time of storms for there is your crown, in the universal power and spirit of God. So let your minds, and souls, and hearts, be kept above all outward and visible things; for God took care for man in the beginning, and set him above the works of his hands: and therefore mind the heavenly HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET treasure, that will never fade away; and dwell in the seed, in which you may know your election. It is hard for me to give forth in writing what is before me, because of my bodily weakness; but I was desirous in some measure to ease my mind, desiring that your may stand fast, and be faithful to the truth. Of my travels and weakness it is like you have heard, and of my affliction, both by them that are without, and also by them that are within, which are hard to be uttered and spoken. My love is to all faithful Friends. G.F. The 2d of the 11th month, 1670

Dating to about this year, we can notice that our Founding Father was exhibiting an attitude toward Quakers in the arts similar to that of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: “And therefore, all friends and people, pluck down your images...; I say, pluck them out of your houses, walls, and signs, or other places, that none of you be found imitators of his Creator, whom you should serve and worship; and not observe the idle lazy mind, that would go invent and make things like a Creator and Maker....”23

23. “A Hammer to break down all Invented Images, Image-makers, and Image-worshippers. Showing how contrary they are both to the Law and Gospel.” Works (1831), IV: 367. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

On the First-day after the Act came in force, I went to the meeting at Gracechurch Street, where I expected the storm was most likely to begin. When I came there, I found the street full of people, and a guard set to keep Friends out of their meeting-house. I went to the other passage out of Lombard street, where also I found a guard; but the court was full of people, and a Friend was speaking amongst them; but he did not speak long. When he had done, I stood up, and was moved to say, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against that which pricks thee.” Then I showed that it is Saul’s nature that persecutes still, and that they who persecute Christ in His members now, where He is made manifest, kick against that which pricks them; that it was the birth of the flesh that persecuted the birth born of the Spirit, and that it was the nature of dogs to tear and devour the sheep; but that we suffered as sheep, that bite not again, for we were a peaceable people, and loved them that persecuted us. After I had spoken a while to this effect, the constable came with an informer and soldiers; and as they pulled me down, I said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” The commander put me among the soldiers, and bade them secure me, saying to me, “You are the man I looked for.” They took also John Burnyeat and another Friend, and led us away, first to the Exchange, and afterwards towards Moorfields. As we went along the streets the people were very moderate; some of them laughed at the constable, and told him we would not run away. The informer went with us unknown, till, falling into discourse with one of the company, he said it would never be a good world till all people came to the good old religion that was two hundred years ago. Whereupon I asked him, “Art thou a Papist? What! a Papist informer; for two hundred years ago there was no other religion but that of the Papists.” He saw he had ensnared himself, and was vexed at it; for as he went along the streets I spoke often to him, and manifested what he was.

FOX’S JOURNAL: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

When we were come to the mayor’s house, and were in the courtyard, several of the people that stood about, asked me how and for what I was taken. I desired them to ask the informer, and also what his name was; but he refused to tell his name. Whereupon one of the mayor’s officers, looking out at a window, told him he should tell his name before he went away; for the lord mayor would know by what authority he intruded himself with soldiers into the execution of those laws which belonged to the civil magistrate to execute, and not to the military. After this, he was eager to be gone; and went to the porter to be let out. One of the officers called to him, saying, “Have you brought people here to inform against, and now will you go away before my lord mayor comes?” Some called to the porter not to let him out; whereupon he forcibly pulled open the door and slipped out. No sooner was he come into the street than the people gave a shout that made the street ring again, crying out, “A Papist informer! a Papist informer!” We desired the constable and soldiers to go and rescue him out of the people’s hands, fearing lest they should do him a mischief. They went, and brought him into the mayor’s entry, where they stayed a while; but when he went out again, the people received him with another shout. The soldiers were fain to go and rescue him once more, and they led him into a house in an alley, where they persuaded him to change his periwig, and so he got away unknown. When the mayor came, we were brought into the room where he was, and some of his officers would have taken off our hats, perceiving which he called to them, and bade them let us alone, and not meddle with our hats; “for,” said he, “they are not yet brought before me in judicature.” So we stood by while he examined some Presbyterian and Baptist teachers; with whom he was somewhat sharp, and convicted them. After he had done with them, I was brought up to the table where he sat; and then the officers took off my hat. The mayor said mildly to me, “Mr. Fox, you are an eminent man amongst those of your profession; pray, will you be instrumental to dissuade them from meeting in such great numbers? for, seeing Christ hath promised that where two or three are met in His name, He will be in the midst of them, and the King and Parliament are graciously pleased to allow four to meet together to worship God; why will not you be content to partake both of Christ’s promise to two or three, and the King’s indulgence to four?” I answered to this purpose: “Christ’s promise was not to discourage many from meeting together in His name, but to encourage the few, that the fewest might not forbear to meet because of their fewness. But if Christ hath promised to manifest His presence in the midst of so small an assembly, where but two or three are gathered in His name, how much more would His presence abound where two or three hundred are gathered in His name?”

FOX’S JOURNAL: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

I wished him to consider whether this Act, if it had been in their time, would not have taken hold of Christ, with His twelve apostles and seventy disciples, who used to meet often together, and that with great numbers? However, I told him this Act did not concern us; for it was made against seditious meetings, of such as met under colour and pretence of religion “to contrive insurrections, as [the Act says] late experience had shown.” But we had been sufficiently tried and proved, and always found peaceable, and therefore he would do well to put a difference between the innocent and the guilty. He said the Act was made against meetings, and a worship not according to the liturgy. I told him “according to” was not the very same thing; and asked him whether the liturgy was according to the Scriptures, and whether we might not read Scriptures and speak Scriptures. He said, “Yes.” I told him, “This Act takes hold only of such as meet to plot and contrive insurrections, as late experience hath shown; but they have never experienced that by us. Because thieves are sometimes on the road, must not honest men travel? And because plotters and contrivers have met to do mischief, must not an honest, peaceable people meet to do good? If we had been a people that met to plot and contrive insurrections, etc., we might have drawn ourselves into fours; for four might do more mischief in plotting than if there were four hundred, because four might speak out their minds more freely to one another than four hundred could. Therefore we, being innocent, and not the people this Act concerns, keep our meetings as we used to do. I believe thou knowest in thy conscience that we are innocent.” After some more discourse, he took our names, and the places where we lodged; and at length, as the informer was gone, he set us at liberty. The Friends with me now asked, “Whither wilt thou go?” I told them, “To Gracechurch street meeting again, if it is not over.” When we came there, the people were generally gone; only some few stood at the gate. We went into Gerrard Roberts’s. Thence I sent to know how the other meetings in the city were. I found that at some of the meeting-places Friends had been kept out; at others they had been taken; but these were set at liberty again a few days after. A glorious time it was; for the Lord’s power came over all, and His everlasting truth got renown. For in the meetings, as fast as some that were speaking were taken down, others were moved of the Lord to stand up and speak, to the admiration of the people; and the more because many Baptists and other sectaries left their public meetings, and came to see how the Quakers would stand. As for the informer aforesaid, he was so frightened that hardly any informer dared to appear publicly in London for some time after. But the mayor, whose name was Samuel Starling, though he carried himself smoothly towards us, proved afterwards a very great persecutor of our Friends, many of whom he cast into prison, as may be seen in the trials of William Penn, William Mead, and others, at the Old Bailey this year.

FOX’S JOURNAL: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

As I was walking down a hill [near Rochester], a great weight and oppression fell upon my spirit. I got on my horse again, but the weight remained so that I was hardly able to ride. At length we came to Rochester, but I was much spent, being so extremely laden and burthened with the world’s spirits, that my life was oppressed under them. I got with difficulty to Gravesend, and lay at an inn there; but could hardly either eat or sleep. The next day John Rous and Alexander Parker went to London; and John Stubbs being come to me, we went over the ferry into Essex. We came to Hornchurch, where there was a meeting on First-day. After it I rode with great uneasiness to Stratford, to a Friend’s house, whose name was Williams, and who had formerly been a captain. Here I lay, exceedingly weak, and at last lost both hearing and sight. Several Friends came to me from London: and I told them that I should be a sign to such as would not see, and such as would not hear the Truth. In this condition I continued some time. Several came about me; and though I could not see their persons, I felt and discerned their spirits, who were honest-hearted, and who were not. Diverse Friends who practiced physic came to see me, and would have given me medicines, but I was not to meddle with any; for I was sensible I had a travail to go through; and therefore desired none but solid, weighty Friends might be about me. Under great sufferings and travails, sorrows and oppressions, I lay for several weeks, whereby I was brought so low and weak in body that few thought I could live. Some that were with me went away, saying they would not see me die; and it was reported both in London and in the country that I was deceased; but I felt the Lord’s power inwardly supporting me. When they that were about me had given me up to die, I spoke to them to get a coach to carry me to Gerrard Roberts’s, about twelve miles off, for I found it was my place to go thither. I had now recovered a little glimmering of sight, so that I could discern the people and fields as I went, and that was all. When I came to Gerrard’s, he was very weak, and I was moved to speak to him, and encourage him. After I had stayed about three weeks there, it was with me to go to Enfield. Friends were afraid of my removing; but I told them I might safely go. When I had taken my leave of Gerrard, and was come to Enfield, I went first to visit Amor Stoddart, who lay very weak and almost speechless. I was moved to tell him that he had been faithful as a man, and faithful to God, and that the immortal Seed of life was his crown. Many more words I was moved to speak to him, though I was then so weak I was hardly able to stand; and within a few days after, Amor died.

FOX’S JOURNAL: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

* I went to the widow Dry’s, at Enfield, where I lay all that winter, warring in spirit with the evil spirits of the world, that warred against Truth and Friends. For there were great persecutions at this time; some meeting-houses were pulled down, and many were broken up by soldiers. Sometimes a troop of horse, or a company of foot came; and some broke their swords, carbines, muskets, and pikes, with beating Friends; and many they wounded, so that their blood lay in the streets. Amongst others that were active in this cruel persecution at London, my old adversary, Colonel Kirby, was one. With a company of foot, he went to break up several meetings; and he would often inquire for me at the meetings he broke up. One time as he went over the water to Horsleydown, there happening some scuffle between some of his soldiers and some of the watermen, he bade his men fire at them. They did so, and killed some. I was under great sufferings at this time, beyond what I have words to declare. For I was brought into the deep, and saw all the religions of the world, and people that lived in them. And I saw the priests that held them up; who were as a company of men-eaters, eating up the people like bread, and gnawing the flesh from off their bones. But as for true religion, and worship, and ministers of God, alack! I saw there was none amongst those of the world that pretended to it. Though it was a cruel, bloody, persecuting time, yet the Lord’s power went over all, His everlasting Seed prevailed; and Friends were made to stand firm and faithful in the Lord’s power. Some sober people of other professions would say, “If Friends did not stand, the nation would run into debauchery.” Though by reason of my weakness I could not travel amongst Friends as I had been used to do, yet in the motion of life I sent the following lines as an encouraging testimony to them: — My dear Friends: The Seed is above all. In it walk; in which ye all have life. Be not amazed at the weather; for always the just suffered by the unjust, but the just had the dominion. All along ye may see, by faith the mountains were subdued; and the rage of the wicked, with his fiery darts, was quenched. Though the waves and storms be high, yet your faith will keep you, so as to swim above them; for they are but for a time, and the Truth is without time. Therefore keep on the mountain of holiness, ye who are led to it by the Light. Do not think that anything will outlast the Truth. For the Truth standeth sure; and is over that which is out of the Truth. For the good will overcome the evil; the light, darkness; the life, death; virtue, vice; and righteousness, unrighteousness. The false prophet cannot overcome the true; but the true prophet, Christ, will overcome all the false. So be faithful, and live in that which doth not think the time long. G.F.

FOX’S JOURNAL: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

After some time it pleased the Lord to allay the heat of this violent persecution; and I felt in spirit an overcoming of the spirits of those men-eaters that had stirred it up and carried it on to that height of cruelty. I was outwardly very weak; and I plainly felt, and those Friends that were with me, and that came to visit me, took notice, that as the persecution ceased I came from under the travails and sufferings that had lain with such weight upon me; so that towards the spring I began to recover, and to walk up and down, beyond the expectation of many, who did not think I could ever have gone abroad again. Whilst I was under this spiritual suffering the state of the New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven was opened to me; which some carnal-minded people had looked upon to be like an outward city dropped out of the elements. I saw the beauty and glory of it, the length, the breadth, and the height thereof, all in complete proportion. I saw that all who are within the Light of Christ, and in His faith, of which He is the author; and in the Spirit, the Holy Ghost, which Christ and the holy prophets and apostles were in; and within the grace, and truth, and power of God, which are the walls of the city; — I saw that such are within the city, are members of it, and have right to eat of the Tree of Life, which yields her fruit every month, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Many things more did I see concerning the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, which are hard to be uttered, and would be hard to be received. But, in short, this holy city is within the Light, and all that are within the Light, are within the city; the gates whereof stand open all the day (for there is no night there), that all may come in.

FOX’S JOURNAL: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1671

Reports circulated that Metacom was preparing the Wampanoag for war and effective countermeasures were taken. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

Summoned to Taunton, he listened to accusations and signed an agreement to give up the Wampanoag’s firearms to the English for a set period of time. However, like the IRA of our own era, he did not stay around for dinner afterward, and, as in the case of the IRA, the guns were not willingly surrendered. (How would he have been able to persuade anyone to give up their hunting equipment, with which they fed their families?) Later he would be accused of infidelity and fined 100 pounds. The sachems of the Sakonnet and the Assawompset were implicated as well, and Awashonks24 was fined 50 pounds and charged to appear and hand over some six firearms that were known to be in native American possession. The Christian Indians on Cape Cod and the adjacent mainland, in opposition to Phillip, made their submission to Plymouth.

“...The conflicts of Europeans with American-Indians, Maoris and other aborigines in temperate regions ... if we judge by the results we cannot regret that such wars have taken place ... the process by which the American continent has been acquired for European civilization [was entirely justified because] there is a very great and undeniable difference between the civilization of the colonizers and that of the dispossessed natives....” — Bertrand Russell, THE ETHICS OF WAR, January 1915

WHITE ON RED, RED ON WHITE

24. The “shonks” or “shunks” or “suncks” portion of this name was an honorific, signifying leadership. Her intimates would have called her Awa. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

It was in this period that Judah Smith was born. Although we know that eventually John Smith of Plymouth and Dartmouth would come to be the father a total of thirteen children and although the initial five, Hassadiah, John, Josiah, Eliazer, and Hezekiah, were definitely born to his 1st wife, Friend Deborah Howland Smith, and although the will would make it clear that Hannah, Sarah, and Deborah had been born to the 2d wife, Friend Ruhamah Kirby Smith — about Judah, Gershom, Deliverance, Mehitable, and Eliashib we can only infer that they would also pertain to this 2d Quaker woman, Ruhamah. As to how it was that a 2d Quaker wife was bearing children for this man across the water in Dartmouth while in Plymouth his 1st Quaker wife seems still to have been very much alive, and as to the details of the eventual relocation of this Smith family from Plymouth to Dartmouth, the genealogical record has preferred to remain silent. We notice a reticence in assigning the years of birth to the various children, as if these details would inform us of certain life patterns of which it would be better for the world at large to remain ignorant.

March: Metacom paraded his Wampanoag warriors through Swansea displaying their weapons. Called into court in Plymouth town, he acknowledged preparations for war.25 “KING PHILLIP’S WAR” RHODE ISLAND

New governor Richard Coney arrived at St. Helena accompanied by new chaplain Richard Noakes (who would have a problem with alcohol). Governor Coney would regard the whole bunch of settlers as “drunks and ne’er- do-wells,” and would be seized by his council and put aboard a ship back to England on August 21, 1672.

25. What on earth was he thinking of, other than collective suicide? Even if he could get every red tribe in New England to side with his own band of warriors, there were only 18,000 native Americans in total, by way of contrast with 60,000 English inhabitants. The white population had the red population outnumbered by 3 to 1! –The answer is, that Metacom seriously underestimated the racial aspect of this conflict. He did not understand that all the whites would regard any red conflict with any of the whites as a red conflict with all the whites, which needed to result in the extermination of all the reds. He wasn’t enough of a racist to be able to comprehend that. He presumed that his tribe could go to war against Plymouth Colony, and the other colonies of the United Colonies of New England would more or less stand by and watch the contest as in all likelihood the other native tribes would more or less stand by and watch the contest if there were a mere intra-racial dispute between, say, his Wampanoag and the Narragansett. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

September 24, Sunday (Old Style): At Plymouth, still attempting to cope with the repeated problems between the natives and colonists, sachem Metacom of the Wampanoag put his mark upon a humiliating treaty ceding nearly all rights to the English colonial government. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

(He really didn’t have all that much choice. The Massachusetts Bay colony was of course allied with its settlements of praying Indians, while the Rhode Island colony was allied with the local Narragansett, so unless Phillip wanted to cozy up to these other groups of natives –which of course he couldn’t afford to do– that left only the Plymouth colony with which to ally. And even then, there were settlements of praying Indians with which he had to compete for the loyalty of the Plymouth people, such as the praying town of Nemasket near Assawompset Pond.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1674

March: The Plymouth court appointed John Smith, despite his marriage with a Quaker, as a lieutenant of the Dartmouth militia company. THE QUAKER PEACE TESTIMONY It was, however, as the first military commander of Dartmouth that he may be said to be especially distinguished. In 1673-4 he was appointed by Governor Winslow as Lieutenant of the Military Company of Dartmouth. A militant Quaker is something of an anomaly. I fancy that Deborah, his wife, had passed on before John became a soldier. I doubt if she would have stood by him as loyally as he did by her in the matter of the Quaker meetings at Plymouth, nor “defended and approved” his acceptance of a military commission. His second wife, Ruhamah Kirby, was, perhaps, less rigid in her Quakerism, or more amenable. VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES

June: Metacom attended a church worship held in the home of the Reverend John Cotton, Jr. in Plymouth. (The Reverend had begun, in 1667, to preach twice a month in various Wampanoag villages.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1675

July 21, Wednesday (Old Style): The church at Plymouth observed a Fast Day or Day of Humiliation. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1676

January 5, Wednesday (1675, Old Style): The church in Plymouth observed a Fast Day or Day of Humiliation. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

February 2, Wednesday (1675, Old Style): The church in Plymouth observed another Fast Day or Day of Humiliation. On the first of February, 1676, the Indians burnt the house of Thomas Eames of Framingham and £330. 12s. worth of property, and either killed or carried into captivity his wife and nine children. The next day orders were given to Major Simon Willard to raise a party of troops to scour the country between Groton, Lancaster, and Marlborough. Similar orders were given to Major Daniel Gookin in relation to the country between Marlborough and Medfield.26 “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

March 10, Tuesday (1675, Old Style): The Plymouth court fined 18 potential militiamen for “not goeing forth being pressed,” which is to say, for refusing to serve in the local military. Nine of these 18 were Quakers of Sandwich and Scituate: • Friend Daniel Butler • Friend Zacharia Jenkins • Friend Ephraim Allen • Friend William Allen • Friend Zachariah Colman • Friend Joseph Colman • Friend Thomas Colman • Friend John Rance • Friend John Northy

Three other Quakers also were refuseniks, but evidently had refused even to make an appearance before this court: • Friend Israel Gaunt CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE • Friend Increase Allen • Friend Obadiah Butler THE QUAKER PEACE TESTIMONY

26. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

According to the Reverend William Hubbard’s A NARRATIVE OF THE TROUBLES WITH THE INDIANS IN NEW-ENGLAND, FROM THE FIRFT PLANTING THEREOF IN THE YEAR 1607, TO THIS PRESENT YEAR 1677. BUT CHIEFLY OF THE LATE TROUBLES IN THE TWO LAFT YEARS, 1675, AND 1676. TO WHICH IS ADDED A DIFCOURFE ABOUT THE WARRE WITH THE PEQUODS IN THE YEAR 1637, published in 1677, on this day a Concord man was killed while going after hay. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

Presumably, then, this would be one of the 13 town residents who are listed in the statistics as having died during this year:

Marriages Births Deaths

1656 3 11 —

1657 3 11 3

1658 3 6 3

1659 2 10 4

1660 6 11 3

1661 2 12 6

1662 4 14 4

1663 5 14 4

1664 4 11 2

1665 7 13 6

1666 2 22 6

1667 8 15 6

1668 4 21 5

1669 4 24 5

1670 2 21 2

1671 6 22 7

1672 5 20 3

1673 6 29 6

1674 3 20 5

1675 5 21 11

1676 4 13 13

1677 11 22 6 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

NEVER READ AHEAD! TO APPRECIATE MARCH 10TH, 1676 AT ALL ONE MUST APPRECIATE IT AS A TODAY (THE FOLLOWING DAY, TOMORROW, IS BUT A PORTION OF THE UNREALIZED FUTURE AND IFFY AT BEST).

July 4, Tuesday (Old Style): The soldiers of Captain Benjamin Church began the ethnic cleansing of Plymouth, by searching out and taking into detention any remaining Wampanoag families. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR”

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1679

King Phillip being very very dead, King Charles II sold Metacom’s 7,000 acres in Bristol and Warren to the Plymouth colony — which in turn would sell the land to four investors for £1,100 sterling. “KING PHILLIP’S WAR” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1680

In Plymouth colony, Nicholas Wade of Scituate complained that his daughter Elizabeth Wade Stevens had married Thomas Stevens without having been aware that this man already had one wife in Boston, another wife, and children, in England, and yet a 3d wife on the island of Barbadoes. Thomas Stevens was sentenced to be severely whipped at the post. The court dissolved the covenant of marriage and Elizabeth was granted the liberty of marrying again. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1685

June 29, Monday (June 19, Old Style)Nathaniel Morton, the 1st secretary of the Plymouth colony, died. His first wife had died on September 23, 1673 and he had remarried on April 29th, 1674 with Ann Templar, widow of Richard Templar of Charlestown, Massachusetts, who survived him and would die at age 66 at Charlestown on December 26th, 1690. Remember Morton had married on November 18th, 1657 with Abraham Jackson, and Mercy Morton had married on that day with Joseph Dunham but had died before her father; Hannah Morton had married on November 27th, 1666 with Benjamin Bosworth of Hull; Lydia Morton married with George Ellison; Joanna Morton had married on December 7th, 1670 with Joseph Prince of Hull; and Elizabeth Morton had married on December 7th, 1670 with Benjamin Bosworth. Edwin Morton of Plymouth, musician and poet, would be descended from a kinsman of this Nathaniel Morton, 1st secretary of the Plymouth Colony. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1694

According to Joseph Barlow Felt’s THE ANNALS OF SALEM, printed in 1828, the old colony of Plymouth in this year enacted legislation enforcing the 7th Commandment by the exposure of a cloth 2-inch-high capital “A,” colored to stand out against the gown of an offender. Previously, the punishment for adultery in a number of these settlements had been not only the wearing of the letters “AD” on the left sleeve, but also a public whipping, as when in Duxbury a Goodwife Mendame caught at adultery had been “whipt at a cart’s tayle through the town’s streets.”27

THE SCARLET LETTER: It was the capital letter A. By an accurate measurement, each limb proved to be precisely three inches and a quarter in length. It had been intended, there could be no doubt, as an ornamental article of dress; but how it was to be worn, or what rank, honour, and dignity, in by-past times, were signified by it, was a riddle which (so evanescent are the fashions of the world in these particulars) I saw little hope of solving. And yet it strangely interested me. My eyes fastened themselves upon the old scarlet letter, and would not be turned aside. Certainly there was some deep meaning in it most worthy of interpretation, and which, as it were, streamed forth from the mystic symbol, subtly communicating itself to my sensibilities, but evading the analysis of my mind.

Nathaniel Hawthorne would utilize the version not as it applied to the “old colony,” that is, Plymouth, but as it applied to a Salem city-of-peace venue, for purposes of his story “Endicott and the Red Cross.” THE SCARLET LETTER CHRONOLOGY

27. Although Salem had also prescribed the death penalty for adultery, it had never actually imposed such a punishment. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1698

After 28 years of service to his Plymouth congregation, the Reverend John Cotton resigned. His resignation was publicly alleged to be in regard to some difference of opinion which had arisen within the church, about Isaac Cushman, who had not yet been designated a ruling elder, being permitted to preach in the area that would later be called Plympton. However, in Judge Sewall’s diary we find that Sewall had been one of those who had engineered this resignation and that one of the true reasons for the resignation had been “his notorious Breaches of the Seventh Comandmt” –this man hadn’t been keeping it in his pants– and the Reverend Cotton’s refusal to make “a free confession” in regard to the error of his ways. Cotton would become minister at Charleston, South Carolina — where he would die in 1699 of the yellow fever.

Thomas White of Plymouth found himself in Barbados after serving in the Royal Navy, in command of a ship as it was taken by French pirates. Then the ship was captured by another pirate, John Bowen. White would refuse to join Bowen’s crew and would find himself enslaved both to John Bowen and to Bowen’s friend George Booth. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1741

A 95-year-old white man, Thomas Faunce, obligingly pointed out the spot on the shore where, his father had told him, the First Comers fresh off the boat had first set foot on the flat and nondescript Plymouth beach. (Oh, well, we now understand, however, that Faunce’s father had not arrived until some three years after the significant event, and was thus offering hearsay rather than testimony.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1771

July: The Massachusetts General Court passed an “Act for Enquiring into the Rateable Estates of this Province” requiring that each town elect assessors to prepare valuations. Included among property descriptions was to be an enumeration “of all Indian, negro or molatto servants for life, from fourteen to forty-five years of age.” (Note here that some local historians have proudly asserted that Massachusetts had done away with human slavery within that colony, some two years earlier! –Evidently, these proud local historians had neglected to consult primary sources in their diligent search for the Bay Colony’s slaveholders.) According to the Massachusetts Tax Valuation List for this year, based on the Massachusetts provincial census, 911 white citizens of the Bay colony owned 1,169 adult “servants for life,” presumably black or mulatto rather than native American, and a dozen of these slaves were in Concord: the great freedom fighter, Ensign Nathan Barrett, owned a couple (the name of one of the two was Philip Barrett), and Lieutenant Humphry Barrett, Esquire John Beatton, Phineas Blood, senior, Timothy Hoar (the name of the slave was Brister Freeman), Deacon Simon Hunt (the name of the slave was Caesar), Doctor Joseph Lee (the name of the slave was Cato), George Minott (the name of the slave was Caesar), Colonel Charles Prescott (the name of the slave was Titus), Samuel Whitney (the name of the slave was Casey), and another Samuel Whitney owned one each. We note that Duncan Ingraham, who would relocate to Concord during the following year, owned a slave in Boston, and that “Esquire” Elisha Jones, Thoreau’s rich Tory ancestor, owned two slaves in Weston, Massachusetts. Here is the complete list: SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS

Samuel Abbott Boston 1 Jonathan Ingals Taunton 1

Samuel Adams Ipswich 1 Duncan Ingraham Boston 1

John Addam Taunton 1 Thomas Ivers Boston 2

Silas Adkins Boston 1 John Jackson Boston 6

Joshua Alger Swanzey 1 Esquire Joseph Jackson Boston 1

John Allen Boston 1 Samuel Jackson Plymouth 1

Jolley Allen Boston 1 Captain Thomas Jackson Plymouth 1

Nathaniel Allen Gloucester 1 David Jeffries Boston 1

Thomas Allen, Jr. Gloucester 1 Ruth Jeffry Salem 1

The Widow Allford Boston 2 Benjamin Jenkins Barre 2

The Widow Deborah Ames Dedham 2 John Jenkins Boston 2

John Amory Boston 1 Levi Jennings Boston 1

Thomas Amory Boston 1 George Jewett Rowley 1

Benjamin Andrews Boston 1 Joseph Johnson Charlestown 1

Benjamin Andrews, Jr. Boston 1 Matthew Johnson Woburn 1

Captain Thomas Anthony Marshfield 2 Solomon Johnson Easton 1

William Apthorp Boston 1 Thomas Johnson Boston 1

Samuel Archer Salem 1 Andrew Johonnot Boston 2

Aaron Ashley Westfield 1 Lieutenant Ebenezer Jones Wilmington 1

Esquire John Ashley Sheffield 8 Esquire Elisha Jones Weston 2 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Eleazer Atwood Wellfleet 1 Ens. Isaac Jones Weston 1

Ephraim Atwood Dighton 1 Esquire John Jones Hopkinton 1

Paul Aucril Middleton 1 Esquire John Jones Hopkinton 1

Esquire Benjamin Austin Boston 1 Josiah Jones Stockbridge 1

The Widow Mary Austin Charlestown 1 Thomas Jones Hull 1

Samuel Austin Boston 1 John Jones, Jr. Hopkinton 1

Nathaniel Austin, II Charlestown 2 Hugh Kanedy Rehobeth 1

John Austin, Jr. Charlestown 1 Abia Keith Bridgewater 1

Job Avery Truro 1 David Keith Bridgewater 1

William Avery and sons Dedham 1 Esquire Benjamin Kent Boston 2

Benjamin H. Babbit Berkley 1 Nathaniel Kent Gloucester 1

Joshua Bachus Sandwich 1 The Widow Ruth Kettell Charlestown 1

Nathaniel Baker Boston 1 Benjamin Kimball Manchester 1

James Baldwin Woburn 1 Benjamin King Salem 1

Esquire William Baldwin Sudbury 1 Bohan King Westfield 2

The Widow Anna Ball Waltham 1 Reverend John King Raynham 2

Josiah Ball Mendon 1 Joseph Kingsley Swanzey 2

Robert Ball Boston 1 Lieutenant William Kitteredge Tewksbury 1

John Ballard Boston 1 Bartholomew Kneeland Boston 1

Samuel Ballard Boston 1Thomas Knop Boston 1

John Bancroft Westfield 1 James Lamb Boston 1

Esquire Samuel Bancroft Reading 1 Elizabeth Lambert Reading 2

The Widow Desire Bangs Harwich 1 Thomas Lambert Rowley 1

Elkanah Bangs Harwich 1 William Lander Salem 1

Samuel Bangs Boston 1 Nathaniel Lane Gloucester 1

Samuel Barnaby Freetown 1 Rachel Lane Gloucester 1

Henry Barnes Marlborough 2 John Lane, Jr. Bedford 1

Esquire John Barratt Boston 1 Samuel Larkin Charlestown 1

Lieutenant Humphry Barrett Concord 1 John Larkin, II Charlestown 2

Ensign Nathan Barrett Concord 2 Deacon John Lathe Woburn 1

James Barrick Boston 3 Henry Laughton, Sr. Boston 1

John Bartlet Plymouth 1 David Lawrence Littleton 1

Captain Nicholas Bartlett Marblehead 2 Lazarus Lebaron, Jr. Plymouth 1

William Bartlett Marblehead 2 Esquire Richard Lechmere Boston 2

Captain John Bartoll Marblehead 1 Esquire Jeremiah Lee Marblehead 2 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Esquire Samuel Barton Salem 1 Esquire John Lee Manchester 3

Samuel Bascom Western 1 Doctor Joseph Lee Concord 1

John Bassett Lynn 1 Captain Samuel Lee Manchester 3

Nathaniel Battle Dedham 1 Samuel Lee Swanzey 1

Bellshazer Bayerd Roxbury 2 Asaph Leonard Springfield 1

Thomas Bayley Hull 1 Colonel Daniel Leonard Taunton 1

John Beacham Charlestown 1 Esquire George Leonard Norton 1

Esquire John Beatton Concord 1 Esquire George Leonard, Jr. Norton 1

Jeremiah Belknap Framingham 1 Thomas Leverett Boston 1

Joseph Belknap Boston 1 Deacon John Lewis Lynn 1

James Bennet Woburn 1 Edmund Lewis +son Lynn 1

Prudence Benson Mendon 1 Henry Liddle Boston 1

Peter Bent Sudbury 1 George Lincoln Taunton 1

Elizabeth Berry Ipswich 1 Captain John Lion Rehobeth 2

Abigail Bicknal Rehobeth 1 Captain Nathaniel Little Kingston 1

Amos Bicknal Petersham 1 Samuel Lock Lexington 3

David Bicknell Weymouth 1 Esquire Walter Logan Roxbury 1

Ebenezer Bicknell Weymouth 1 Lieutenant Thomas Loring Plympton 1

Zachariah Bicknell, Jr. Weymouth 1 Loring Roxbury 1

Timothy Bigelow Worcester 2 John Louden Dartmouth 1

Lieutenant Fellows Billing Sunderland 1 Captain Solomon Lovell Weymouth 1

Reverend John Billings Stoughton 1 James Low Boston 2

Richard Billings Boston 1 Henry Loyde Boston 1

John Bishop Medford 1 Doctor James Loyde Boston 3

James Black Barre 1 Esquire Robert Luscombe Taunton 2

Esquire Joseph Blaney Salem 1 David Luther Swanzey 1

Abiah Bliss Rehobeth 1 Esquire Benjamin Lynde Salem 1

Thomas Bliss Brimfield 1 Joseph Lynde Malden 2

Timothy Bliss Springfield 1 Nathan Lynde Malden 2

Captain Seth Blodgett Medford 1 Jabez Lynde, Sr. Malden 1

Phineas Blood, Sr. Concord 1 Daniel Maccarty Boston 1

William Boden Marblehead 1 Mungo Maccoy Boston 1

Thomas Bootman Marblehead 1 William Mackintire Salem 2

John Bourne Sandwich 2 Stephen Macomber Taunton 1

Nathan Bourne Salem 2 Isaac Mallet Charlestown 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Nathan Bourne Salem 1 Robert Mann Dedham 3

Esquire Silas Bourne Sandwich 1 Hannah Manning Salem 1

Esquire Thomas Bourne Sandwich 2 Daniel Marsh Boston 1

Timothy Bourne Sandwich 1 John Marston Boston 1

Esquire Joseph Bowditch Salem 1 James Mason Swanzey 1

Esquire Nathaniel Bowen Marblehead 1 Jonathan Mason Boston 1

Benjamin Bowers Swanzey 2 Esquire Thaddeus Mason Charlestown 1

David Bowers Swanzey 2 Thomas Mason Salem 1

Henry Bowers Swanzey 4 Daniel Mattoon Salem 1

Captain Joseph Bowers Billerica 1 William Maxwell Boston 1

Mary Bowers Swanzey 1 Ephraim Mayhew Chilmark 1

John Box Boston 3Thomas Mayhew Plymouth 2

James Boyce Milton 1 Murtagh McCarrill Boston 2

Daniel Boyer Boston 1 Captain Daniel McClean Milton 1

Joshua Boylston Brookline 1 John Mcclinch Boston 1

Nicholas Boylston Boston 2 Doctor William McInstry Taunton 1

Richard Boylston Charlestown 1 Neil McIntyre Boston 2

William Boys Boston 2 Archibald McNeil Boston 2

Joshua Brackett Boston 1 Captain McNeil Roxbury 2

Billings Braddish Salem 1 John Mecleanthan Rutland 1

James Braddish Charlestown 1 Joseph Meeds, Jr. Bedford 3

Jonathan Braddish Charlestown 1 John Mellage Boston 1

Job Bradford Boston 1 Thomas Mellen Hopkinton 2

Captain John Bradford Boston 2 John Melony Boston 1

The Widow Sarah Bradstreet Charlestown 1 James Merrick Monson 1

Perservid Brayton Rehobeth 1 Samuel Messer Methuen 1

Josiah Breed Lynn 1 Joseph Miller Springfield 1

Nathan Briggs Berkley 2 Christopher Minott Boston 2

Hannah Brigham Marlborough 1 George Minott Concord 1

George Brightman Freetown 1 Samuel Minot Boston 1

John Broadstreet Ipswich 1 Samuel Mirick Springfield 1

Benjamin Brooks Townsend 1 John Moffatt Boston 1

Ebenezer Brooks Medford 1 William Molineaux Boston 1

Samuel Brooks Worcester 1 Jeduthan Moore Rutland 1

Thomas Brooks Medford 1 Joseph Moors Groton 2 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Timothy Brooks Lincoln 1 Hugh More Boston 1

Abraham Brown Boston 1 Captain George Morey Norton 1

Adam Brown Ipswich 1 Samuel Morey Norton 1

Benjamin Brown Ipswich 1 John Morey and son Roxbury 1

Esquire Daniel Brown Sandisfield 1 Jemima Morong Salem 1

Jesse Brown Rehobeth 1 James Mortimore Boston 1

Nathaniel Brown Wenham 3 Peter Mortimore Boston 1

Thomas Brown Sandisfield 1 John Mosley Westfield 2

William Brown Boston 1 Joseph Munroe Billerica 1

William Brown Dighton 1 Bartlett Murdock Plympton 1

William Brown Hopkinton 1 James Murdock Plympton 1

Elek Brown, Jr. Swanzey 1 Esquire James Murray Milton 3

Joseph Bubier Marblehead 1 Esek Needham Wrentham 1

Benjamin Buckman Malden 1 Jeremiah Nelson, Jr. Ipswich 1

Jonathan Bullard Weston 1 Eliphalet Newell Charlestown 1

Doctor Thomas Bullfinch Boston 1 Thomas Newell Boston 1

Abraham Burbank Springfield 1 Timothy Newell Boston 2

Reverend Joseph Burbeen Woburn 1 Ezekiel Newton Southborough 1

Joseph Burt, Jr. Berkley 1 Rachel Newton, Jr. Southborough 1

Elnathan Bust Egremont 1 Esquire Ebenezer Nichols Reading 1

Francis Cabot Salem 2 Nichols Milton 2

George Caldwell Barre 1 Abigail Noble Sheffield 1

John Caldwell Barre 1 David Northey Salem 1

Robert Calef Boston 2 William Norwood Gloucester 2

Samuel Calf Boston 1 John Noyes, Jr. Sudbury 1

Winter Calf Boston 1 Jonathan Nutting Salem 1

Caleb Call Charlestown 1 Joseph Nye, III Sandwich 1

Thomas Cane Middleton 1 Samuel Oakman Marshfield 1

Captain William Canedy Taunton 3 John Orne Lynn 1

Hopestill Capon Boston 1 Jonathan Orne Salem 1

Edward Carnes Boston 2 Hugh Orr Bridgewater 1

Benjamin Carver Westford 1 David Osgood Lancaster 1

Jonathan Cary Boston 1 Isaac Otis Bridgewater 2

Nathaniel Cary Boston 2 Zachariah Packard Bridgewater 1

Richard Cary Charlestown 2 William Pain[e] Boston 2 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Simeon Cary Bridgewater 1 Esquire Timothy Paine Worcester 2

The Widow Cary Boston 1 William Palfery Boston 1

Esquire Gardiner Chandler Worcester 3 Warwick Palfray Salem 2

Esquire John Chandler Worcester 2 Daniel Parker Boston 1

Abel Chapin Springfield 1 Jonas Parker Lexington 1

Lieutenant Japhet Chapin Springfield 1 Matthew Parker Dracut 1

Joseph Chapin Springfield 1 Thomas Parker Boston 2

Aaron Charles Brimfield 1 William Parker Boston 1

George Chase Freetown 2 Zenas Parsons Springfield 1

George Chase Freetown 1 Edmund Patch Ipswich 1

Nathan Chase Littleton 1 John Patch Ipswich 1

Josiah Chauncey Amherst 1 John Patch, Jr. Ipswich 1

David Cheever Charlestown 1 John Paull Berkley 2

William Downe Cheevers Boston 2 Edward Payne Boston 1

Esquire Peter Cherdon Boston 1 Frances Peabody Middleton 1

Thomas Child Bridgewater 3 John Pearson Newburyport 1

Esquire Francis Choate Ipswich 1 John Peck Boston 1

John Choate Ipswich 1 Josiah Peck Rehobeth 1

Thomas Choate Ipswich 1 Thomas H. Peck Boston 1

Margaret Clap Westfield 1 Isaac Peirce Boston 2

John Clark Marblehead 1 Josiah Peirce Woburn 1

Richard Clark Milton 1 William Peirce Milton 1

Seth Clark Medfield 1 Tamer Pell Sheffield 1

William Clark Plymouth 1 Richard Penhallow Boston 1

William Clarke Boston 1Thomas Penny Boston 2

William Clift Marshfield 1 Esquire William Pepperell Roxbury 3

Ephraim Cobb Plymouth 1 Francis Perkins Bridgewater 2

Esquire Thomas Cobb Taunton 1 James Perkins Boston 1

John Coburn Boston 1 Joseph Perkins Malden 1

Robert Coburn Dracut 2 Doctor Nathaniel Perkins Boston 1

Captain Timothy Coburn Dracut 1 Robert Perkins Ipswich 1

Isaac Codman Charlestown 1 William Lee Perkins Boston 2

John Codman Charlestown 1 Hannah Peters Middleton 1

Peter Coffin Gloucester 2 Charles Phelps Hadley 1

William Coffin, Jr. Boston 1 Deborah Phelps Sandwich 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Jonathan Cogswell Ipswich 2 Benjamin Phillips Boston 2

Doctor Nathaniel Cogswell Rowley 1 The Widow Phillips Boston 1

Jonathan Cogswell, Jr. Ipswich 1 William Phillips Boston 1

Samuel Collins Chatham 1 Aaron Phips Holliston 1

Gamaliel Collins, Jr. Truro 1 Thomas Pickard Salem 1

The Widow Elizabeth Coming Dunstable 1 Esquire Benjamin Pickman Salem 2

William Conanct Charlestown 1 John Piemont Boston 1

Samuel Conant Charlestown 4 Richard Pike Salem 1

Stephen Cook Hopkinton 1 Esquire James Pitts Boston 4

Cord Cordis Boston 1 David Plumer Gloucester 1

Samuel Cottnam Salem 1 Simeon Polley Boston 1

Samuel Cotton Springfield 2 Eliphat Pond and son Dedham 1

Theophilus Cotton Plymouth 1 Isaac Pool Gloucester 1

Rebecca Coward Gloucester 2 Zachary Pool Medford 2

Thomas Cowden Fitchburg 2 The Widow Bethiah Porter Bedford 1

Caleb Coye Wenham 1 Esquire John Powell Boston 1

Joseph Cozens Holliston 1 Isabella Pratt Roxbury 1

Deacon Ebenezer Crafts Roxbury 1 Amos Prescott Acton 1

Francis Craigie Boston 2 Colonel Charles Prescott Concord 1

Gershom Crane, Jr. Berkley 1 Doctor Oliver Prescott Groton 1

Gersham Crocker Sandwich 1 John Preston Boston 1

Anstiss Crowningshield Salem 2 Samuel Preston Littleton 1

Clifford Crowningshield Salem 2 The Widow Price Boston 1

George Crowningshield Salem 1 Job Prince Boston 1

Jacob Crowningshield Salem 2 Edward Proctor Boston 1

John Crowningshield Salem 1 Bartholomew Putnam Salem 1

Ephraim Cummings Westford 1 Ebenezer Putnam Salem 1

Major Joseph Curtis Sudbury 1 Ezra Putnam Middleton 1

Esquire Samuel Curwin Salem 1 Esquire James Putnam Worcester 1

Jonas Cutler Groton 1 Josiah Quincy Boston 1

George Cutter Charlestown 1 Esquire Samuel Quincy Boston 1

Thomas Dagget Tisbury 1 Esquire Isaac Rand Charlestown 1

James Daggett Rehobeth 1 George Reed Woburn 1

Thomas Dakin Boston 1 Oliver Reed Freetown 1

Benjamin Daland Salem 1 Swethan Reed Woburn 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Captain Thomas Damon Sudbury 1 The Widow Renkin Boston 1

Robert Dane Ipswich 1 Abraham Rice Marlborough 1

David Daniels Mendon 1 Lemuel Rice Worcester 1

Seth Daniels Wrentham 1 Thomas Rice Boston 1

Benjamin Davis Boston 1 Joseph Richards + son Roxbury 1

Deacon E. Davis Brookline 1 James Richardson Boston 3

Edward Davis Boston 1 Esquire Thomas Robie Marblehead 1

Joshua Davis Boston 1 John Robins Westford 1

Solomon Davis Boston 2 Robert Robins Boston 1

Thomas Davis Oxford 2 Daniel Robinson Middleton 1

William Davis Boston 2 Esquire Ebenezer Roby Sudbury 1

Richard Day Manchester 1 Timothy Rogers Tewksbury 1

Captain William Day Sheffield 1 Zebediah Rogers Billerica 1

Jonathan De Silveir Boston 1 Ens. Aaron Root Sheffield 1

John Dean Boston 1 Azariah Root Sheffield 1

Reverend Josiah Dean Raynham 1 David Ropes Salem 2

Gilbert Deblois Boston 1 Esquire Isaac Royall Medford 5

Lewis Deblois Boston 1 Reverend William Royall Stoughton 4

The Widow William Denny Boston 1 Esquire John Ruddock Boston 1

Eliot H. Derby Salem 2 Rebecca Ruggles+son Jos Roxbury 1

Richard Derby Salem 1 John Russell Littleton 1

Esquire Richard Derby, Jr. Salem 2 John Russell Marblehead 1

Richard Devens Charlestown 1 Joseph Russell Dartmouth 2

David Dewey Westfield 1 Zebidiah Sabin Williamstown 1

Captain John Dexter Malden 1 William Sacket Westfield 1

Nathaniel Dickinson Deerfield 1 Nathaniel Safford Ipswich 1

Daniel Diman Plymouth 1 Thomas Safford Ipswich 1

William Dinsmore Lancaster 1 Sampson Salter Boston 1

The Widow Mary Dizar Charlestown 1 Reverend Cornelius Sampson Kingston 1

Lieutenant Isaac Dodge Ipswich 1 The Widow Sanders Westminster 1

Jacob Dodge Wenham 1 Richard Sarcum Boston 2

Jonathan Dodge Ipswich 1 Esquire Epes Sargent Gloucester 1

Richard Dodge Wenham 2 Winthrop Sargent Gloucester 2

Robert Dodge Ipswich 1 Samuel Savage Weston 1

Stephen Dodge Wenham 1 Josiah Sawtell Groton 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Benjamin Dolbeare Boston 2 Samuel Sayward Gloucester 1

William Dolbeare Marblehead 1 Esquire John Scollay Boston 1

Edmon Dole Rowley 1 Esquire Joseph Scott Boston 1

Moses Dole Rowley 2 William Scott Boston 1

Stephen Dole Rowley 1 Daniel Sears Rowley 1

Esquire Joseph Donst Salem 1 Esquire William Seaver Kingston 1

Thomas Doty Stoughton 1 Reverend Theodore Sedgwick Sheffield 1

William Doust Salem 2 William Shaw Dartmouth 1

The Widow Downe Boston 1 Lieutenant Jonathan Shead Tewksbury 1

Nathaniel Dowse Charlestown 2 Nathaniel Sheaffe Charlestown 1

Ebenezer Draper Dedham 1 Robert Shearman Swanzey 1

Samuel Dunber Bridgewater 1 Joseph Sherburn Boston 2

Deacon Samuel Eames Woburn 1 Joseph Shipman Salem 2

Joshua Eaton Reading 1 Noble Simmons Swanzey 1

Noah Eaton Woburn 1 Silvester Simmons Swanzey 1

Thomas Eaton, III Reading 3 Benjamin Simonds Williamstown 1

The Widow Sarah Eddy Taunton 1 John Skinner Boston 2

Isaiah Edes Charlestown 2 Joseph Skinner Woburn 2

Esquire Timothy Edwards Stockbridge 2 Richard Skinner Marblehead 1

Rachel Eliot Middleton 1 Peleg Slead Swanzey 1

Stephen Eliot Middleton 1 Phillip Slead Swanzey 2

John Elkins Salem 1 Rebecca Slocum Dartmouth 3

Nathaniel Ellery Gloucester 1 Captain Braddyll Smith Weston 2

William Ellery Gloucester 2 Henry Smith Boston 1

William Ellery, Jr. Gloucester 1 Esquire Isaac Smith Boston 2

Simon Elliott Boston 2 Captain Job Smith Taunton 1

James Ellis Medfield 2 Lieutenant Joseph Smith Sudbury 1

Samuel Emms Boston 1 Josiah Smith Weston 2

John Erving Boston 1 Richard Smith Boston 1

Benjamin Eustis Boston 1 Susanna Smith Ipswich 1

William Evans Boston 1 Gamaliel Smithurst Marblehead 1

Elizabeth Eveleth Gloucester 1 Jonathan Snell Bridgewater 1

Esquire Timothy Fales Taunton 2 Josiah Snell Bridgewater 1

Ezra Fellows Sheffield 1 Samuel Somerbee Newburyport 1

Captain Jonathan Fellows Sheffield 2 John Soring Boston 2 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Paul Field Northfield 1 Nathaniel Souter Charlestown 1

Esquire Samuel Fitch Boston 1 Captain Daniel Souther Hull 2

Jeremiah Fitts Ipswich 1 Nathan Spears Boston 2

Earl Flagg Petersham 1 Derrick Spoor Sheffield 1

Pelatiah Fletcher Westford 1 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

James Fosdick Boston 2 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

Edward Foster Boston 2 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

Robert Foster Kingston 1 Doctor John Sprague Dedham 1

Esquire Thomas Foster Plymouth 1 John Sprague Newburyport 1

William Foster Boston 1 Phineas Sprague Malden 1

Daniel Fowler Westfield 1 Jeremiah Stamford Ipswich 1

Esquire Jacob Fowls Lynn 2 Thomas Stanton Charlestown 1

John Foye Charlestown 1 Deacon Josiah Starr Weston 1

Captain John Frazier Boston 2 The Widow Abigail Stevens Charlestown 3

Nathan Frazier Boston 1 John Stevens Gloucester 3

Reuben French Salisbury 1 John Stevens, Jr. Gloucester 1

John Frothingham Charlestown 2 Elizabeth Stevenson Plymouth 1

Nathaniel Frothingham, Sr. Charlestown 1 John Stimpson Charlestown 1

Peter Frye Salem 1 After Stoddard Boston 1

James Gardner Boston 3 Asa Stoddard Boston 1

John Gardner Boston 1 The Widow William Stoddard Boston 1

Joseph Gardner Boston 2 Abner Stone Framingham 5

Captain Peleg Gardner Swanzey 2 John Stone Newburyport 1

Captain Peleg Gardner Swanzey 1 Esquire Nathaniel Stone Harwich 1

Doctor Samuel Gardner Milton 1 The Widow Stoneman Boston 1

John Gardner, Jr. Salem 1 Ebenezer Storer Boston 2

Martin Gay Boston 1 The Widow Storer Boston 2

Captain Robert Gibbs Swanzey 1 Captain Jacob Storey Ipswich 3

Lieutenant Daniel Gidding Ipswich 1 The Widow Rebekah Sumner Taunton 1

Jonathan Gilbert Gloucester 1 Samuel Swan Charlestown 1

Perez Gilbert Berkley 1 John Swetland, Jr. Attleborough 1

Seth Gilbert Norton 1 Moses Swift Sandwich 1

Thomas Gilbert Freetown 1 Truman Taber Dartmouth 1

Edward Giles Boston 1 Samuel Talbot Dighton 1

Moses Gill Boston 2 Hugh Tarboll Boston 3 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

John Gilmore Raynham 1 William Tay, Jr. Woburn 1

Esquire George Godfrey Taunton 1 Nathaniel Taylor Boston 1

Ezekiel Goldthwait Boston 1 Captain Phineas Taylor Stow 1

Joseph Goldthwat Weston 1 Esquire Robert Temple Charlestown 2

Elisha Goodenow Sudbury 1 Solomon Terry Freetown 1

George Gooding Dighton 1 Abiel Terry, II Freetown 2

John Goodwin Reading 2 Oxenbridge Thatcher Milton 1

Deacon Nathaniel Goodwin Plymouth 3 Gideon Thayer Boston 1

Caleb Goold Hull 1 Esquire John Thomas Kingston 1

Esquire John Goold Hull 2 Josiah Thompson Medford 1

Jacob Goote Weymouth 2 Dan and William Tidd Lexington 1

William Gordon Dunstable 2 James Tileston Boston 1

John Gore Boston 1 John Timmins Boston 1

John Gould Boston 1 The Widow Mary Tisdail Taunton 1

Joseph Gould Lynn 1 Benjamin Tompson Wilmington 1

Robert Gould Boston 1 William Tompson Billerica 1

William Graham Dedham 1 Mary Toppan Salem 1

Samuel Grant Boston 1 Esquire William Blair Townsend Boston 1

Esquire Harrison Gray Boston 1 John Tucker Milton 3

James Gray Stockbridge 1 Benjamin Tufts Medford 1

William Gray Boston 1 Esquire Cotton Tufts Weymouth 1

John Green Reading 1 David Turner Plymouth 1

Joseph Green Boston 1 Simon Tuttle Acton 1

Nathaniel Green Boston 1 Joseph Tyler Boston 1

Samuel Green, Jr. Malden 1 Deacon John Tylor Western 1

Esquire Benjamin Greenleaf Newburyport 1 Esquire Eleazer Tyng Dunstable 3

John Greenleaf Boston 1 Esquire John Tyng Boston 1

Esquire Richard Greenleaf Newburyport 1 Joseph Upton Reading 1

The Widow Sarah Greenleaf Newburyport 2 Major Joseph Varnum Dracut 1

William Greenleaf Boston 1 Esquire William Vassall Boston 3

Benjamin Grinnal Freetown 2 Fortesque Vernon Boston 2

Benjamin Guild Wrentham 1 William Vernon Boston 1

The Widow Gwin Boston 1 Jonathan Very Salem 1

Esquire Anthony Gwynn Newburyport 2 Esquire Josiah Walcott Oxford 1

John Hadley Lincoln 1 Adam Walker Worcester 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Joseph Hager, Jr. Waltham 1 ColonelBenjamin Walker Dighton 1

Caleb Hall Methuen 1 Captain John Walker Rehobeth 1

Jacob Hall Medford 1 John Walker Worcester 2

Stephen Hall Boston 2 Joseph Walker Billerica 1

Willis Hall Medford 1 Timothy Walker Wilmington 1

Benjamin Hallowell Boston 4 Joshua Ward Salem 2

Charles Hammock Boston 1Myles Ward Salem 1

Esquire John Hancock Boston 2 Samuel Warden Boston 2

John Hancock Charlestown 1 Lydia Ware Dighton 1

Daniel Harriden Gloucester 1 Samuel Ware New Braintree 1

Daniel Harrington Waltham 1 Wareham Warner New Braintree 1

Isaac Harrington Weston 1 Doctor Joseph Warren Boston 1

John Harris Charlestown 3 Aaron Warriner Springfield 1

Lieutenant Robert Harris Springfield 1 Samuel Waterhouse Boston 1

Samuel Harris Boston 1 Nathaniel Waterman Boston 1

Nathaniel Harskell Gloucester 1 Esquire George Watson Plymouth 1

William Harskell Gloucester 2 Esquire William Watson Plymouth 2

Moses Hartshorn Medfield 1 John Webb Boston 1

Joseph Hartwell Bedford 1 Eleazer Weld Roxbury 1

Joseph Harwood, Jr. Littleton 2 Esquire Arnold Welles Boston 1

Hubbard Haskell Gloucester 1 Thomas Wellington Waltham 1

Philip Godfred Hast Boston 1 The Widow Mary Welsh Charlestown 1

Edward Hatchett Boston 1 Oliver Wendell Boston 2

Benjamin Hathaway Dartmouth 1 Reverend Charles Wentworth Stoughton 1

John Hathaway Berkley 1 Reverend Charles Wentworth Stoughton 1

Ambrous Hathway Freetown 1 Timothy Wesson Lincoln 1

Jale Hathway Freetown 1 Samuel West Salem 1

Lot Hathway Freetown 3 Lieutenant Daniel Wetherbee Stow 1

Phylip Hathway Freetown 2 Nathan Wheeler Newburyport 1

John Haven Athol 1 Richard Wheeler Bedford 1

Elkanah Haven[s] Framingham 1 Job Wheelwright Boston 1

Jesse Haward Bridgewater 2 Esquire Abijah White Marshfield 2

Joshua Haward Easton 1 Captain B. White Brookline 1

Adam Hawkes Lynn 1 David White Springfield 1

Josiah Hayden Bridgewater 1 John White Boston 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Elijah Hayward Bridgewater 1 John White Charlestown 1

John Head Boston 1 Paul White Marshfield 2

Captain Richard Heard Sudbury 1 Esquire William White Boston 1

Jacob Hemenway Worcester 1 John White, Jr. Salem 1

Daniel Henchman Boston 1 John White, Jr. Salem 1

Benjamin Henderson Boston 1 Asa Whiting Wrentham 1

Esquire Samuel Henley Charlestown 2 Ebenezer Whiting Roxbury 1

John Henry Barre 1 Leonard Whiting Littleton 1

Lee Henry Barre 1 Deacon Charles Whitman Stow 1

Joseph Henshaw Boston 2 Ebenezer Whitman Bridgewater 1

William Henshaw Boston 1 Nathan Whitman Bridgewater 1

Joshua Henshaw, Sr. Boston 1 Samuel Whitney Concord 1

Captain Edward Hercom Reading 2 Samuel Whitney Concord 1

Jonathan Herrington Lexington 1 Frances Whittman Boston 1

Robert Herrington Lexington 1 Samuel Whitwell Boston 1

Joseph Herskins Boston 2 William Whitwell Boston 1

Samuel Hews Boston 1 Doctor Miles Whitworth Boston 2

William Hickling Boston 1 Thomas Willbur Swanzey 1

Ezra Hickok, Jr. Sheffield 1 Captain George Williams Taunton 1

Henry Hill Boston 1 Captain Gershom Williams Dighton 1

Thomas Hills Malden 1 John Williams Deerfield 2

George Hitch Dartmouth 1 John Williams Deerfield 1

Thomas Hitchburn Boston 1 Jonathan Williams Boston 2

John Hoar Lincoln 2 ColonelJoseph Williams Roxbury 1

Timothy Hoar Concord 1 Robert Williams Roxbury 1

Joseph Hobbs Middleton 1 William Williams Roxbury 1

John Hodger Salem 1 John Willis Bridgewater 1

Joseph Hodger Salem 2 Samuel Willis Bridgewater 1

Abijah Hodges Taunton 1 Esquire John Wilson Hopkinton 1

Edmund Hodges Petersham 1 William Wingfield Boston 2

Priscilla Hodges Salem 2 Deacon Timothy Winn Woburn 1

Thomas Hodson Boston 1 Esquire Edward Winslow Plymouth 1

Captain William Holbrook Weymouth 1 Esquire John Winslow Marshfield 1

John Holemberg Egremont 1 Esquire Kenelm Winslow Harwich 4

Esquire William Homes Norton 2 Nathaniel Winslow Marshfield 1 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Robert Honnours Gloucester 1 Kenelm Winslow, Jr. Harwich 2

The Widow Hough Boston 1 Esquire Samuel Winthrop Boston 1

Daniel Howard Bridgewater 1 David Wood, Sr. Charlestown 1

Edward Howard Bridgewater 1 Benjamin Wood, III Salem 1

Jonathan Howard Bridgewater 1 David Wood, Jr. Charlestown 2

Mary Howard Boston 1 Jahleel Woodbridge Stockbridge 2

Isaac Howland Dartmouth 1 Thomas Woodbridge Newburyport 1

Tuthill Hubbard Boston 1 William Wyatt Salem 1

Esquire Henry Hullon Brookline 2 William Wyer Charlestown 1

Thomas Hulmes Boston 1 Elijah Wyman Woburn 1

Isaiah Hunt Rehobeth 1 Joshua Wyman Woburn 1

John Hunt Rehobeth 1 Nathan Wyman Woburn 1

Peter Hunt Tewksbury 2 Deacon Samuel Wyman Woburn 1

Deacon Simon Hunt Concord 1 Thomas Yates Attleborough 1

William Hunt Salem 2

Esquire Eliakim Hutchinson Roxbury 1

Esquire Thomas Hutchinson, Jr. Boston 1

“It is simply crazy that there should ever have come into being a world with such a sin in it, in which a man is set apart because of his color — the superficial fact about a human being. Who could want such a world? For an American fighting for his love of country, that the last hope of earth should from its beginning have swallowed slavery, is an irony so withering, a justice so intimate in its rebuke of pride, as to measure only with God.” — Stanley Cavell, MUST WE MEAN WHAT WE SAY? 1976, page 141 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1774

The legend began to become popular that the 10-ton glacial boulder, behind which the “Old Comers” (as they knew themselves, although we have come to term them “Pilgrim Fathers”) decided to settle on the beach at Plymouth in December 1620, was the rock upon which these intrusives had stepped ashore from the boat of the Mayflower 9 days previously. This 10-ton erratic began to be known as the “Plymouth Rock,” and the landing day began to be known as “Forefathers Day.” This is despite the fact that they could find no mention of such a rock, in the manuscript of William Bradford’s HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION which is now at the Massachusetts State House.

The “Sons of Liberty” organization of tax resisters decided to use this rock as a symbol of separatism from the mother country, despite the fact that in their day it lay underneath a wharf. In this year a group of “Liberty Boys” led by the militia Colonel Theophilus Cotton attempted to pry up this granite slab, in order to move it away from the tides, but it broke in half. Plymouth was so animated by the spirit of the impending Revolution that it was resolved, as James Thatcher relates, to “consecrate the rock...on the altar of liberty”; to associate the symbol of the Forefathers and the community with the new cause and legitimize what was a contentious issue in the town. The Rock was lifted from its bed and “...in attempting to mount it on the carriage it split asunder, without any violence. As no one had observed a flaw, the circumstance occasioned some surprise. It is not strange that some of the patriots of the day should be disposed to indulge a little in superstition, when in favor of their good cause. The separation of the rock was construed to be ominous of a division of the British Empire.” They used a team of oxen to roll the top half to the Town Square near the Town House, where a Liberty Pole had been set up, and used it as the end of a retaining wall propping up an embankment near an elm tree, but the rock rapidly diminished in size as egg-sized chunks were sold to raise funds at $1.50 each.

After the crisis was over, the Rock would be neglected to some extent, as would be witnessed by Edward Kendall in 1807: “The place assigned to this venerable stone, is no other than the end of a wall, in which, along with vulgar stones, it props up an embankment...” near an elm tree in the Town Square. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET In this year Charles Blascowitch recorded the configuration of the Plymouth coastline:

The heads of the Emerson families in the various towns of Massachusetts having all declared firmly against the giving of aid and comfort to the enemy through the drinking of English tea, it was an occasion of great shock when the Reverend Joseph Emerson of Pepperell came to Malden unexpectedly one day, and caught his 72-year-old mother, Madam Mary Moody Emerson, in the act of brewing herself a pot of tea: He was much displeased. His Mother was hurt. She never got over it that he wasn’t willing that his Mother should take tea when she needed it. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1775

It would have been in about this year that Wendell Davis was born, a son of Thomas Davis of Plymouth and a descendant of the First Comers. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1802

September 20, Monday: Lydia Jackson was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Count Alyeksandr Romanovich Vorontsov replaced Prince Alyeksandr Borisovich Kurakin as State Chancellor of Russia.

December 22, Wednesday: John Quincy Adams’s AN ORATION DELIVERED AT PLYMOUTH, DECEMBER 22, 1802, AT THE ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION OF THE FIRST LANDING OF OUR ANCESTORS, AT THAT PLACE (Boston: Russell and Cutler, 1802, 31 pages), ADAMS’S ORATION

from which Henry Thoreau maybe would derive the “Westward the Star of empire takes its way” that he would utilize in his 1851 lecture “WALKING”. Here, for instance, is an “ngram” of the relative usage of the 18th- Century expression “Westward the course of empire” originated by Bishop George Berkeley (blue line), as opposed to the expression “Weftward the Star of empire” here being initiated by Adams (red line):

In a bare-knuckle event on Wimbledon Common in London, Jem “The Napoleon of the Ring” Belcher (who on August 20th had defended his title as English champion against Joe Berks in 13 rounds at London’s Hanover Spa), defeated Andrew Gamble. TIMELINE OF ESSAYS

CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1805

March 11, Monday: Hannah Poor (Kendall) was born in Plymouth.

Mrs. Dorothy Bartlett, widow of Mr. John Bartlett and daughter to Deacon Josiah Carver, died at the age of 69: Alas and has She gone and has She fled Gone to the Silent mansions of the dead She is gone we trust to join the joys on high With Saints and angels o’er the Starry sky.

August 18, Sunday: Hersey Bradford Goodwin was born.

The Rev. HERSEY BRADFORD GOODWIN was born at Plymouth, August 18, 1805, graduated at Harvard College in 1826, and at the Theological School in Cambridge in 1829. The first child he baptized bears his name. He married Lucretia, daughter of Benjamin M. Watson, Esq. of Plymouth, June 1, 1830. She died greatly lamented, November 11, 1831, aged 23, leaving one son.28

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 1 day 18 of 8 M 1805 / Our Meeting silent & much as usual for life — took tea at Sam Thurstons in company with Jeremiah Austin Junr & O Williams & spent the evening to my instruction —Oh the many favors which I enjoy in the company of good friends may they be duly prized while I have them, as the time may come, when those invaluable priviledges may be denied me...... ————————————————————— RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

28. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study. On July 16, 1859 he would correct a date mistake buried in the body of the text.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1811

August 1, Thursday: Catherine Byron, George Gordon, Lord Byron’s mother, died.

According to a report in the Edinburgh Review based upon a news account in the Liverpool Mercury, a vessel arrived on this day in the port of Liverpool with a cargo from Sierra Leone. It was the vessel Traveller the owner and master (Captain Paul Cuffe), mate and crew of which, this publication was interested to point out, were free persons of color.

The article continued by remarking on what a strange and animating spectacle it must have been, to see this free and enlightened African sail with his crew of men of color into such a port on the coast of Africa — a port which had been so lately the nidus of the slave trade.

(This was the vessel that in 1820, after its Captain’s demise, would be redesignated The Mayflower of Liberia in order to transport free black American volunteers back to the coast of Africa.)

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 5th day 1 of 8 M 1811 // I expect presently to go to Portsmouth to attend our Quarterly Meeting, & am favor’d at this moment to feel desires to arise for a good time, Oh! that I may keep near to what I now feel moving upon my spirit, & thereby experience life to arise into dominion. — It rained & we had a wet ride to Portsmouth before meeting we stopped at Holder Almys, & saw several of our friends & acquaintances from off the Island, which was pleasant & agreeable At Meeting James Greene as usual opened the Service, then our dear & much lov’d friend Nathan Hunt from North Carolina, delivered a powerful Gospel testimony, which according to my sense was to exceed any thing I ever heard from him or hardly any one else. The meeting seem’d cover’d with an Awful solemnity while he was speaking & the hearts of many deeply affected with the truths that he declared. It was to my mind an highly favor’d season for which I desire to be thankful. - In the meeting for discipline the buisness went on with a good degree of love & condescention — We dined at Anna Anthonys, & then Rode home, & tho it raind & we had an uncomforatble ride both in & out of town & my dear H got some wet, yet she appears not to have taken cold, for which also I desire to be thankful —— HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1813

October 22, Friday: Maria Louisa Sampson was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The Meerfeld Endowment, by Imperial decree, was awarded to Franz Schubert.

Helen Louisa Thoreau’s 1st birthday.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 6th day 22 of 10 M 1813 / Last Night I watched with David Huntington & feel but Poorly today We have this Afternoon finished pulling down the old house & building the fence round the Lot. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

December 5, Thursday: The Reverend Robert Finley, an activist in the American Colonization Society, wrote to Captain Paul Cuffe about how unhappy the free Negroes of America were going to remain, “as long as they continue among the whites.” This white man somehow knew that these black man were going to be unhappy. So how could they be made happy, he asked? –Well, he suggested, we could “place them perhaps in Africa.” What this white man was suggesting to Captain Cuffe was that perhaps his ship, the Elizabeth, might be redesignated as The Mayflower of Liberia, and take a cargo of black Americans who were unhappy back to Africa where obviously they belonged, where obviously they would be happier (but Cuffe would get sick and this would all be transacted only after his demise).29

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 5th day 5th of 12 M 1816 / Meeting was attended as well as usual. silent & to me rather a barran season. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

29. So explain this relative unhappiness to me, please, as there seem to be three possibilities: is the black man somewhat unhappier than the white man, that the black man is in America? –Or are the white man and the black man approximately equally unhappy, that the black man is in America? –Or is the black man slightly less unhappy than the white man, that the black man is in America? Inquiring minds want to know. Is it the black man who is going to be happier, when the black man is back in Africa where he belongs, or is it the white man who is going to be happier, when the black man is back in Africa where he belongs, or, perchance, are they both going to be equally happy once the white man is alone in America and the black man alone in Africa? HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1819

January 6, Wednesday: Formal inauguration, by a group of gentlemen, at the Carolina Coffee House at the corner of Tradd Street and Bedon’s Alley, of the New England Society of Charleston, South Carolina. Members would meet regularly on Forefathers’ Day for the purpose of recalling anew in pledges of steaming punch, the virile virtues of their virtuous white ancestors who on a dark and freezing day in December had 1st landed on Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts after their long journey to the promised land of religious freedom, for good-fellowship, and to render aid to their less fortunate brothers. The original roster of membership lists 47 names.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 4th day 6th of 1st M / I have felt my mind solemnized this evening & raised in secret prayer for preservation, to the father of Mercy It is sometimes my allotment while in the midst of a social circle, to feel my mind abstracted from the passing observations, & centered in seriousness. —

June 18, Friday: Vincenzo Bellini arrived in Naples from Catania to matriculate at the Real College de musica di San Sebastiano.

Rebecca Bartlett was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, daughter of Captain Isaac Bartlett of the brig Hannah of Plymouth with Rebecca Bartlett, both sides of the family being of Pilgrim descent and both this mother and this father, although not closely related, tracing their origins to the Robert Bartlett who had come over in the Anne in 1623.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 6th day This morning Elizabeth Walker & Margaret Judge & their companions came in & took breakfast with us, of which we were glad, their company being very pleasant. After breakfast being joined by Wm Rickman & D Quimby, we fell into silence. Wm Rickman & Ruth Hallock in addition to a few words SPoken in the life by E Walker, delivered short testimonies. — After which they began to separate. Ruth went to Connanicut on her way homeward & Wm Rickman & D Quimby to Portsmouth, but before dinner Richard Halstead returned from Connanicut with the Carriage Wheels Sadly broken. & Ruth & Sarah went immediately on to Narragansett accompanied by Isaac P Hazard & his Mother. — This Yearly meeting has been a season of favor, & particularly so to us, as we have all been well, our buisness in the House all gone on Successfully, our company agreeable, but as to my own particular state of religious sensibility, I have not enjoyed so high a condition, as at times past or as at seasons when less cumbered, however there has been seasons in the course of it, when Israels Sheperd has been near, for which renew’d evidence of divine help I desire to be thankful. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS

THE AGE OF REASON WAS A PIPE DREAM, OR AT BEST A PROJECT. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ACTUALLY, HUMANS HAVE ALMOST NO CLUE WHAT THEY ARE DOING, WHILE CREDITING THEIR OWN LIES ABOUT WHY THEY ARE DOING IT.

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1820

February 6, Sunday: The merchant vessel Elizabeth of Friend Paul Cuffe, now deceased, for the moment redesignated as The Mayflower of Liberia, sailed out of New-York harbor under the escort of an American sloop of war, transporting 86 freed black Americans to swampy Sherbro Island in Sierra Leone on their way to becoming African colonists, and Africans. The American Colonization Society had (in effect) founded Liberia — although many details remained to be worked out such as precisely where the hell Liberia was supposed to be (some land, eventually, would be “purchased” for some $300.00 worth of rum, clothing, tobacco, clothing, trinkets, and guns and powder in a transaction we know took place only because a pistol was being aimed). But the idea, the idea was most exceedingly clear: Africa was to be for Africans, which is to say, black Africans, and America was to be for Americans, which is to say, white Americans.30

(Sherbro Island’s unhealthy conditions would produce a high death rate among the settlers as well as the society’s representatives. Of the 4,571 emigrants who would arrive in Liberia from 1820 to 1843, only 1,819 would be alive as of 1843. The British governor would tolerate relocation of the immigrants to a safer area temporarily while the ACS would work to save its colonization project from complete disaster. In 1847 the ACS would encourage Liberia to proclaim its independence so that it would no longer need to support it, although some Northern state governments would continue to provide money into the 1850s.)

Lord Cochrane occupied Valdivia in the name of the Republic of Chile.

December 22, Friday: Celebration of December 22d as Forefathers’ Day, which had begun in the year 1797 in Boston, really came into its own at this point at the Plymouth Bicentennial. In anticipation of this approaching bicentennial of the Plymouth landing, The Pilgrim Society had been incorporated and had procured “a suitable lot or piece of ground for the erection of a monument to perpetuate the memory of the virtues, the enterprise and unparalleled sufferings of their ancestors who first settled in that ancient town, and for the erection of a suitable building for the accommodation of the meetings of said association.” Construction of said monument would soon begin, and “Pilgrim Hall” would be ready for meetings in 1824. The structure would become a repository for Pilgrim relics. On this day, despite the fact that none of this infrastructure had as yet been actualized, don’t you know that Daniel Webster would spin words to full effect?

30. At this point freed and refugee slaves had been being welcomed on this Sierra Leone coast controlled by Great Britain already for some 30 years. By the time of our civil war there would be some 11,000 American blacks free in this Liberia. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

CAPE COD: It is remarkable that there is not in English any PEOPLE OF adequate or correct account of the French exploration of what is CAPE COD now the coast of New England, between 1604 and 1608, though it is conceded that they then made the first permanent European settlement on the continent of North America north of St. ÆSOP Augustine. If the lions had been the painters it would have been XENOPHANES otherwise. This omission is probably to be accounted for partly by the fact that the early edition of Champlain’s “Voyages” had CHAMPLAIN not been consulted for this purpose. This contains by far the most particular, and, I think, the most interesting chapter of what we may call the Ante-Pilgrim history of New England, extending to one hundred and sixty pages quarto; but appears to be unknown WEBSTER equally to the historian and the orator on Plymouth Rock. Bancroft BANCROFT does not mention Champlain at all among the authorities for De Monts’ expedition, nor does he say that he ever visited the coast of New England. Though he bore the title of pilot to De Monts, he was, in another sense, the leading spirit, as well as the historian of the expedition. Holmes, Hildreth, and Barry, and BARRY apparently all our historians who mention Champlain, refer to the edition of 1632, in which all the separate charts of our harbors, &c., and about one half the narrative, are omitted; for the author explored so many lands afterward that he could afford to forget a part of what he had done. Hildreth, speaking of De Monts’s HILDRETH expedition, says that “he looked into the Penobscot [in 1605], which Pring had discovered two years before,” saying nothing PRING about Champlain’s extensive exploration of it for De Monts in 1604 (Holmes says 1608, and refers to Purchas); also that he followed HOLMES in the track of Pring along the coast “to Cape Cod, which he PURCHAS called Malabarre.” (Haliburton had made the same statement before HALIBURTON him in 1829. He called it Cap Blanc, and Malle Barre (the Bad Bar) was the name given to a harbor on the east side of the Cape.) Pring says nothing about a river there. Belknap says that Weymouth BELKNAP discovered it in 1605. Sir F. Gorges says, in his narration (Maine WEYMOUTH Hist. Coll., Vol. II. p. 19), 1658, that Pring in 1606 “made a GORGES perfect discovery of all the rivers and harbors.” This is the most I can find. Bancroft makes Champlain to have discovered more western rivers in Maine, not naming the Penobscot; he, however, must have been the discoverer of distances on this river (see Belknap, p. 147). Pring was absent from England only about six months, and sailed by this part of Cape Cod (Malebarre) because it yielded no sassafras, while the French, who probably had not heard of Pring, were patiently for years exploring the coast in search of a place of settlement, sounding and surveying its harbors.

First Settlement Of New England.31 Let us rejoice that we behold this day. Let us be thankful that we have lived to see the bright and happy breaking of the auspicious morn, which commences the third century of the history of New England. Auspicious, indeed,—bringing a happiness beyond the common allotment of Providence to men,—full of HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET present joy, and gilding with bright beams the prospect of futurity, is the dawn that awakens us to the commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims. Living at an epoch which naturally marks the progress of the history of our native land, we have come hither to celebrate the great event with which that history commenced. For ever honored be this, the place of our fathers’ refuge! For ever remembered the day which saw them, weary and distressed, broken in every thing but spirit, poor in all but faith and courage, at last secure from the dangers of wintry seas, and impressing this shore with the first footsteps of civilized man! It is a noble faculty of our nature which enables us to connect our thoughts, our sympathies, and our happiness with what is distant in place or time; and, looking before and after, to hold communion at once with our ancestors and our posterity. Human and mortal although we are, we are nevertheless not mere insulated beings, without relation to the past or the future. Neither the point of time, nor the spot of earth, in which we physically live, bounds our rational and intellectual enjoyments. We live in the past by a knowledge of its history; and in the future, by hope and anticipation. By ascending to an association with our ancestors; by contemplating their example and studying their character; by partaking their sentiments, and imbibing their spirit; by accompanying them in their toils, by sympathizing in their sufferings, and rejoicing in their successes and their triumphs; we seem to belong to their age, and to mingle our own existence with theirs. We become their contemporaries, live the lives which they lived, endure what they endured, and partake in the rewards which they enjoyed. And 31. Edwin P. Whipple’s THE GREAT SPEECHES AND ORATIONS OF DANIEL WEBSTER WITH AN ESSAY ON DANIEL WEBSTER AS A MASTER OF ENGLISH STYLE (Boston: Little, Brown, 1879): “The first public anniversary celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth took place under the auspices of the “Old Colony Club,” of whose formation an account may be found in the interesting little work of William S. Russell, Esq., entitled “Guide to Plymouth and Recollections of the Pilgrims.” This club was formed for general purposes of social intercourse, in 1769; but its members determined, by a vote passed on Monday, the 18th of December, of that year, “to keep” Friday, the 22d, in commemoration of the landing of the fathers. A particular account of the simple festivities of this first public celebration of the landing of the Pilgrims will be found at page 220 of Mr. Russell’s work. The following year, the anniversary was celebrated much in the same manner as in 1769, with the addition of a short address, pronounced “with modest and decent firmness, by a member of the club, Edward Winslow, Jr., Esq.,” being the first address ever delivered on this occasion. In 1771, it was suggested by Rev. Chandler Robbins, pastor of the First Church at Plymouth, in a letter addressed to the club, “whether it would not be agreeable, for the entertainment and instruction of the rising generation on these anniversaries, to have a sermon in public, some part of the day, peculiarly adapted to the occasion.” This recommendation prevailed, and an appropriate discourse was delivered the following year by the Rev. Dr. Robbins. In 1773 the Old Colony Club was dissolved, in consequence of the conflicting opinions of its members on the great political questions then agitated. Notwithstanding this event, the anniversary celebrations of the 22d of December continued without interruption till 1780, when they were suspended. After an interval of fourteen years, a public discourse was again delivered by the Rev. Dr. Robbins. Private celebrations took place the four following years, and from that time till the year 1819, with one or two exceptions, the day was annually commemorated, and public addresses were delivered by distinguished clergymen and laymen of Massachusetts. In 1820 the “Pilgrim Society” was formed by the citizens of Plymouth and the descendants of the Pilgrims in other places, desirous of uniting “to commemorate the landing, and to honor the memory of the intrepid men who first set foot on Plymouth rock.” The foundation of this society gave a new impulse to the anniversary celebrations of this great event. The Hon. Daniel Webster was requested to deliver the public address on the 22d of December of that year, and the following discourse was pronounced by him on the ever-memorable occasion. Great public expectation was awakened by the fame of the orator; an immense concourse assembled at Plymouth to unite in the celebration; and it may be safely anticipated, that some portion of the powerful effect of the following address on the minds of those who were so fortunate as to hear it, will be perpetuated by the press to the latest posterity. From 1820 to the present day, with occasional interruptions, the 22d of December has been celebrated by the Pilgrim Society. A list of all those by whom anniversary discourses have been delivered since the first organization of the Old Colony Club, in 1769, may be found in Mr. Russell’s work. Nor has the notice of the day been confined to New England. Public celebrations of the landing of the Pilgrims have been frequent in other parts of the country, particularly in New York. The New England Society of that city has rarely permitted the day to pass without appropriate honors. Similar societies have been formed at Philadelphia, Charleston, South Carolina, and Cincinnati, and the day has been publicly commemorated in several other parts of the country.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET in like manner, by running along the line of future time, by contemplating the probable fortunes of those who are coming after us, by attempting something which may promote their happiness, and leave some not dishonorable memorial of ourselves for their regard, when we shall sleep with the fathers, we protract our own earthly being, and seem to crowd whatever is future, as well as all that is past, into the narrow compass of our earthly existence. As it is not a vain and false, but an exalted and religious imagination, which leads us to raise our thoughts from the orb, which, amidst this universe of worlds, the Creator has given us to inhabit, and to send them with something of the feeling which nature prompts, and teaches to be proper among children of the same Eternal Parent, to the contemplation of the myriads of fellow-beings with which his goodness has peopled the infinite of space; so neither is it false or vain to consider ourselves as interested and connected with our whole race, through all time; allied to our ancestors; allied to our posterity; closely compacted on all sides with others; ourselves being but links in the great chain of being, which begins with the origin of our race, runs onward through its successive generations, binding together the past, the present, and the future, and terminating at last, with the consummation of all things earthly, at the throne of God. There may be, and there often is, indeed, a regard for ancestry, which nourishes only a weak pride; as there is also a care for posterity, which only disguises an habitual avarice, or hides the workings of a low and grovelling vanity. But there is also a moral and philosophical respect for our ancestors, which elevates the character and improves the heart. Next to the sense of religious duty and moral feeling, I hardly know what should bear with stronger obligation on a liberal and enlightened mind, than a consciousness of alliance with excellence which is departed; and a consciousness, too, that in its acts and conduct, and even in its sentiments and thoughts, it may be actively operating on the happiness of those who come after it. Poetry is found to have few stronger conceptions, by which it would affect or overwhelm the mind, than those in which it presents the moving and speaking image of the departed dead to the senses of the living. This belongs to poetry, only because it is congenial to our nature. Poetry is, in this respect, but the handmaid of true philosophy and morality; it deals with us as human beings, naturally reverencing those whose visible connection with this state of existence is severed, and who may yet exercise we know not what sympathy with ourselves; and when it carries us forward, also, and shows us the long continued result of all the good we do, in the prosperity of those who follow us, till it bears us from ourselves, and absorbs us in an intense interest for what shall happen to the generations after us, it speaks only in the language of our nature, and affects us with sentiments which belong to us as human beings. Standing in this relation to our ancestors and our posterity, we are assembled on this memorable spot, to perform the duties which that relation and the present occasion impose upon us. We have come to this Rock, to record here our homage for our Pilgrim Fathers; our sympathy in their sufferings; our gratitude for their labors; our admiration of their virtues; our veneration for their piety; and our attachment to those principles of civil and religious liberty, which they encountered the dangers of the HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ocean, the storms of heaven, the violence of savages, disease, exile, and famine, to enjoy and to establish. And we would leave here, also, for the generations which are rising up rapidly to fill our places, some proof that we have endeavored to transmit the great inheritance unimpaired; that in our estimate of public principles and private virtue, in our veneration of religion and piety, in our devotion to civil and religious liberty, in our regard for whatever advances human knowledge or improves human happiness, we are not altogether unworthy of our origin. There is a local feeling connected with this occasion, too strong to be resisted; a sort of genius of the place, which inspires and awes us. We feel that we are on the spot where the first scene of our history was laid; where the hearths and altars of New England were first placed; where Christianity, and civilization, and letters made their first lodgement, in a vast extent of country, covered with a wilderness, and peopled by roving barbarians. We are here, at the season of the year at which the event took place. The imagination irresistibly and rapidly draws around us the principal features and the leading characters in the original scene. We cast our eyes abroad on the ocean, and we see where the little bark, with the interesting group upon its deck, made its slow progress to the shore. We look around us, and behold the hills and promontories where the anxious eyes of our fathers first saw the places of habitation and of rest. We feel the cold which benumbed, and listen to the winds which pierced them. Beneath us is the Rock,32 on which New England received the feet of the Pilgrims. We seem even to behold them, as they struggle with the elements, and, with toilsome efforts, gain the shore. We listen to the chiefs in council; we see the unexampled exhibition of female fortitude and resignation; we hear the whisperings of youthful impatience, and we see, what a painter of our own has also represented by his pencil,33 chilled and shivering childhood, houseless, but for a mother’s arms, couchless, but for a mother’s breast, till our own blood almost freezes. The mild dignity of Carver and of Bradford; the decisive and soldier-like air and manner of STANDISH; the devout BREWSTER; the enterprising ALLERTON;34 the general firmness and thoughtfulness of the whole band; their conscious joy for dangers escaped; their deep solicitude about dangers to come; their trust in Heaven; their high religious faith, full of confidence and anticipation; all of these seem 32. An interesting account of the Rock may be found in Dr. Thacher’s HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PLYMOUTH, pp. 29, 198, 199. 33. The allusion in the Discourse is to the large historical painting of the Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, executed by Henry Sargent, Esq., of Boston, and, with great liberality, presented by him to the Pilgrim Society. It appeared in their hall (of which it forms the chief ornament) for the first time at the celebration of 1824. It represents the principal personages of the company at the moment of landing, with the Indian Samoset, who approaches them with a friendly welcome. A very competent judge, himself a distinguished artist, the late venerable Colonel Trumbull, has pronounced that this painting has great merit. An interesting account of it will be found in Dr. Thacher’s History of Plymouth, pp. 249 and 257. An historical painting, by Robert N. Weir, Esq., of the largest size, representing the embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delft-Haven, in Holland, and executed by order of Congress, fills one of the panels of the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. The moment chosen by the artist for the action of the picture is that in which the venerable pastor Robinson, with tears, and benedictions, and prayers to Heaven, dismisses the beloved members of his little flock to the perils and the hopes of their great enterprise. The characters of the personages introduced are indicated with discrimination and power, and the accessories of the work marked with much taste and skill. It is a painting of distinguished historical interest and of great artistic merit. The “Landing of the Pilgrims” has also been made the subject of a very interesting painting by Mr. Flagg, intended to represent the deep religious feeling which so strikingly characterized the first settlers of New England. With this object in view, the central figure is that of Elder Brewster. It is a picture of cabinet size, and is in possession of a gentleman of New Haven, descended from Elder Brewster, and of that name. 34. For notices of Carver, Bradford, Standish, Brewster, and Allerton, see Young’s CHRONICLES OF PLYMOUTH AND MASSACHUSETTS; Morton’s MEMORIAL, p. 126; Belknap’s AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY, Vol. II.; Hutchinson’s HISTORY, Vol. II., App., pp. 456 et seq.; COLLECTIONS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY; Winthrop’s JOURNAL; and Thacher’s HISTORY. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET to belong to this place, and to be present upon this occasion, to fill us with reverence and admiration. The settlement of New England by the colony which landed here35 on the twenty-second36 of December, sixteen hundred and twenty, although not the first European establishment in what now constitutes the United States, was yet so peculiar in its causes and character, and has been followed and must still be followed by such consequences, as to give it a high claim to lasting commemoration. On these causes and consequences, more than on its immediately attendant circumstances, its importance, as an historical event, depends. Great actions and striking occurrences, having excited a temporary admiration, often pass away and are forgotten, because they leave no lasting results, affecting the prosperity and happiness of communities. Such is frequently the fortune of the most brilliant military achievements. Of the ten thousand battles which have been fought, of all the fields fertilized with carnage, of the banners which have been bathed in blood, of the warriors who have hoped that they had risen from the field of conquest to a glory as bright and as durable as the stars, how few that continue long to interest mankind! The victory of yesterday is reversed by the defeat of to-day; the star of military glory, rising like a meteor, like a meteor has fallen; disgrace and disaster hang on the heels of conquest and renown; victor and vanquished presently pass away to oblivion, and the world goes on in its course, with the loss only of so many lives and so much treasure. But if this be frequently, or generally, the fortune of military achievements, it is not always so. There are enterprises, military as well as civil, which sometimes check the current of events, give a new turn to human affairs, and transmit their consequences through ages. We see their importance in their results, and call them great, because great things follow. There have been battles which have fixed the fate of nations. These come down to us in history with a solid and permanent interest, not created by a display of glittering armor, the rush of adverse battalions, the sinking and rising of pennons, the flight, the pursuit, and the victory; but by their effect in advancing or retarding human knowledge, in overthrowing or establishing despotism, in extending or destroying human happiness. When the traveller pauses on the plain of Marathon, what are the emotions which most strongly agitate his breast? What is that glorious recollection, which thrills through his frame, and suffuses his eyes? Not, I imagine, that Grecian skill and Grecian valor were here most signally displayed; but that Greece herself was saved. It is because to this spot, and to the event which has rendered it immortal, he refers all the succeeding glories of the republic. It is because, if that day had gone otherwise, Greece had perished. It is because he perceives that her philosophers and orators, her poets and painters, her sculptors and architects, her governments and free institutions, point backward to Marathon, and that their future existence seems to have been suspended on the contingency, whether the Persian or the Grecian banner should wave victorious in the beams of that day’s setting sun. And, as his imagination kindles at the

35. For the original name of what is now Plymouth, see LIVES OF AMERICAN GOVERNORS, p. 38, note, a work prepared with great care by J.B. Moore, Esq. 36. The twenty-first is now acknowledged to be the true anniversary. See the REPORT OF THE PILGRIM SOCIETY on the subject. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET retrospect, he is transported back to the interesting moment; he counts the fearful odds of the contending hosts; his interest for the result overwhelms him; he trembles, as if it were still uncertain, and seems to doubt whether he may consider Socrates and Plato, Demosthenes, Sophocles, and Phidias, as secure, yet, to himself and to the world. “If we conquer,” said the Athenian commander on the approach of that decisive day, “if we conquer, we shall make Athens the greatest city of Greece.”37 A prophecy how well fulfilled! “If God prosper us,” might have been the more appropriate language of our fathers, when they landed upon this Rock, “if God prosper us, we shall here begin a work which shall last for ages; we shall plant here a new society, in the principles of the fullest liberty and the purest religion; we shall subdue this wilderness which is before us; we shall fill this region of the great continent, which stretches almost from pole to pole, with civilization and Christianity; the temples of the true God shall rise, where now ascends the smoke of idolatrous sacrifice; fields and gardens, the flowers of summer, and the waving and golden harvest of autumn, shall spread over a thousand hills, and stretch along a thousand valleys, never yet, since the creation, reclaimed to the use of civilized man. We shall whiten this coast with the canvas of a prosperous commerce; we shall stud the long and winding shore with a hundred cities. That which we sow in weakness shall be raised in strength. From our sincere, but houseless worship, there shall spring splendid temples to record God’s goodness; from the simplicity of our social union, there shall arise wise and politic constitutions of government, full of the liberty which we ourselves bring and breathe; from our zeal for learning, institutions shall spring which shall scatter the light of knowledge throughout the land, and, in time, paying back where they have borrowed, shall contribute their part to the great aggregate of human knowledge; and our descendants, through all generations, shall look back to this spot, and to this hour, with unabated affection and regard.” A brief remembrance of the causes which led to the settlement of this place; some account of the peculiarities and characteristic qualities of that settlement, as distinguished from other instances of colonization; a short notice of the progress of New England in the great interests of society, during the century which is now elapsed; with a few observations on the principles upon which society and government are established in this country; comprise all that can be attempted, and much more than can be satisfactorily performed, on the present occasion. Of the motives which influenced the first settlers to a voluntary exile, induced them to relinquish their native country, and to seek an asylum in this then unexplored wilderness, the first and principal, no doubt, were connected with religion. They sought to enjoy a higher degree of religious freedom, and what they esteemed a purer form of religious worship, than was allowed to their choice, or presented to their imitation, in the Old World. The love of religious liberty is a stronger sentiment, when fully excited, than an attachment to civil or political freedom. That freedom which the conscience demands, and which men feel bound by their hope of salvation to contend for, can hardly fail to be attained. Conscience, in the 37. Herodot. VI. § 109. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET cause of religion and the worship of the Deity, prepares the mind to act and to suffer beyond almost all other causes. It sometimes gives an impulse so irresistible, that no fetters of power or of opinion can withstand it. History instructs us that this love of religious liberty, a compound sentiment in the breast of man, made up of the clearest sense of right and the highest conviction of duty, is able to look the sternest despotism in the face, and, with means apparently most inadequate, to shake principalities and powers. There is a boldness, a spirit of daring, in religious reformers, not to be measured by the general rules which control men’s purposes and actions. If the hand of power be laid upon it, this only seems to augment its force and its elasticity, and to cause its action to be more formidable and violent. Human invention has devised nothing, human power has compassed nothing, that can forcibly restrain it, when it breaks forth. Nothing can stop it, but to give way to it; nothing can check it, but indulgence. It loses its power only when it has gained its object. The principle of toleration, to which the world has come so slowly, is at once the most just and the most wise of all principles. Even when religious feeling takes a character of extravagance and enthusiasm, and seems to threaten the order of society and shake the columns of the social edifice, its principal danger is in its restraint. If it be allowed indulgence and expansion, like the elemental fires, it only agitates, and perhaps purifies, the atmosphere; while its efforts to throw off restraint would burst the world asunder. It is certain, that, although many of them were republicans in principle, we have no evidence that our New England ancestors would have emigrated, as they did, from their own native country, would have become wanderers in Europe, and finally would have undertaken the establishment of a colony here, merely from their dislike of the political systems of Europe. They fled not so much from the civil government, as from the hierarchy, and the laws which enforced conformity to the church establishment. Mr. Robinson had left England as early as 1608, on account of the persecutions for non-conformity, and had retired to Holland. He left England from no disappointed ambition in affairs of state, from no regrets at the want of preferment in the church, nor from any motive of distinction or of gain. Uniformity in matters of religion was pressed with such extreme rigor, that a voluntary exile seemed the most eligible mode of escaping from the penalties of non-compliance. The accession of Elizabeth had, it is true, quenched the fires of Smithfield, and put an end to the easy acquisition of the crown of martyrdom. Her long reign had established the Reformation, but toleration was a virtue beyond her conception, and beyond the age. She left no example of it to her successor; and he was not of a character which rendered a sentiment either so wise or so liberal would originate with him. At the present period it seems incredible that the learned, accomplished, unassuming, and inoffensive Robinson should neither be tolerated in his peaceable mode of worship in his own country, nor suffered quietly to depart from it. Yet such was the fact. He left his country by stealth, that he might elsewhere enjoy those rights which ought to belong to men in all countries. The departure of the Pilgrims for Holland is deeply interesting, from its circumstances, and also as it marks the character of the times, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET independently of its connection with names now incorporated with the history of empire. The embarkation was intended to be made in such a manner that it might escape the notice of the officers of government. Great pains had been taken to secure boats, which should come undiscovered to the shore, and receive the fugitives; and frequent disappointments had been experienced in this respect. At length the appointed time came, bringing with it unusual severity of cold and rain. An unfrequented and barren heath, on the shores of Lincolnshire, was the selected spot, where the feet of the Pilgrims were to tread, for the last time, the land of their fathers. The vessel which was to receive them did not come until the next day, and in the mean time the little band was collected, and men and women and children and baggage were crowded together, in melancholy and distressed confusion. The sea was rough, and the women and children were already sick, from their passage down the river to the place of embarkation on the sea. At length the wished-for boat silently and fearfully approaches the shore, and men and women and children, shaking with fear and with cold, as many as the small vessel could bear, venture off on a dangerous sea. Immediately the advance of horses is heard from behind, armed men appear, and those not yet embarked are seized and taken into custody. In the hurry of the moment, the first parties had been sent on board without any attempt to keep members of the same family together, and on account of the appearance of the horsemen, the boat never returned for the residue. Those who had got away, and those who had not, were in equal distress. A storm, of great violence and long duration, arose at sea, which not only protracted the voyage, rendered distressing by the want of all those accommodations which the interruption of the embarkation had occasioned, but also forced the vessel out of her course, and menaced immediate shipwreck; while those on shore, when they were dismissed from the custody of the officers of justice, having no longer homes or houses to retire to, and their friends and protectors being already gone, became objects of necessary charity, as well as of deep commiseration. As this scene passes before us, we can hardly forbear asking whether this be a band of malefactors and felons flying from justice. What are their crimes, that they hide themselves in darkness? To what punishment are they exposed, that, to avoid it, men, and women, and children, thus encounter the surf of the North Sea and the terrors of a night storm? What induces this armed pursuit, and this arrest of fugitives, of all ages and both sexes? Truth does not allow us to answer these inquiries in a manner that does credit to the wisdom or the justice of the times. This was not the flight of guilt, but of virtue. It was an humble and peaceable religion, flying from causeless oppression. It was conscience, attempting to escape from the arbitrary rule of the Stuarts. It was Robinson and Brewster, leading off their little band from their native soil, at first to find shelter on the shore of the neighboring continent, but ultimately to come hither; and having surmounted all difficulties and braved a thousand dangers, to find here a place of refuge and of rest. Thanks be to God, that this spot was honored as the asylum of religious liberty! May its standard, reared here, remain for ever! May it rise up as high as heaven, till its banner shall fan the air of both continents, and wave HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET as a glorious ensign of peace and security to the nations! The peculiar character, condition, and circumstances of the colonies which introduced civilization and an English race into New England, afford a most interesting and extensive topic of discussion. On these, much of our subsequent character and fortune has depended. Their influence has essentially affected our whole history, through the two centuries which have elapsed; and as they have become intimately connected with government, laws, and property, as well as with our opinions on the subjects of religion and civil liberty, that influence is likely to continue to be felt through the centuries which shall succeed. Emigration from one region to another, and the emission of colonies to people countries more or less distant from the residence of the parent stock, are common incidents in the history of mankind; but it has not often, perhaps never, happened, that the establishment of colonies should be attempted under circumstances, however beset with present difficulties and dangers, yet so favorable to ultimate success, and so conducive to magnificent results, as those which attended the first settlements on this part of the American continent. In other instances, emigration has proceeded from a less exalted purpose, in periods of less general intelligence, or more without plan and by accident; or under circumstances, physical and moral, less favorable to the expectation of laying a foundation for great public prosperity and future empire. A great resemblance exists, obviously, between all the English colonies established within the present limits of the United States; but the occasion attracts our attention more immediately to those which took possession of New England, and the peculiarities of these furnish a strong contrast with most other instances of colonization. Among the ancient nations, the Greeks, no doubt, sent forth from their territories the greatest number of colonies. So numerous, indeed, were they, and so great the extent of space over which they were spread, that the parent country fondly and naturally persuaded herself, that by means of them she had laid a sure foundation for the universal civilization of the world. These establishments, from obvious causes, were most numerous in places most contiguous; yet they were found on the coasts of France, on the shores of the Euxine Sea, in Africa, and even, as is alleged, on the borders of India. These emigrations appear to have been sometimes voluntary and sometimes compulsory; arising from the spontaneous enterprise of individuals, or the order and regulation of government. It was a common opinion with ancient writers, that they were undertaken in religious obedience to the commands of oracles, and it is probable that impressions of this sort might have had more or less influence; but it is probable, also, that on these occasions the oracles did not speak a language dissonant from the views and purposes of the state. Political science among the Greeks seems never to have extended to the comprehension of a system, which should be adequate to the government of a great nation upon principles of liberty. They were accustomed only to the contemplation of small republics, and were led to consider an augmented population as incompatible with free institutions. The desire of a remedy for this supposed evil, and the wish to establish marts for trade, led the governments often to undertake the establishment of HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET colonies as an affair of state expediency. Colonization and commerce, indeed, would naturally become objects of interest to an ingenious and enterprising people, inhabiting a territory closely circumscribed in its limits, and in no small part mountainous and sterile; while the islands of the adjacent seas, and the promontories and coasts of the neighboring continents, by their mere proximity, strongly solicited the excited spirit of emigration. Such was this proximity, in many instances, that the new settlements appeared rather to be the mere extension of population over contiguous territory, than the establishment of distant colonies. In proportion as they were near to the parent state, they would be under its authority, and partake of its fortunes. The colony at Marseilles might perceive lightly, or not at all, the sway of Phocis; while the islands in the Aegean Sea could hardly attain to independence of their Athenian origin. Many of these establishments took place at an early age; and if there were defects in the governments of the parent states, the colonists did not possess philosophy or experience sufficient to correct such evils in their own institutions, even if they had not been, by other causes, deprived of the power. An immediate necessity, connected with the support of life, was the main and direct inducement to these undertakings, and there could hardly exist more than the hope of a successful imitation of institutions with which they were already acquainted, and of holding an equality with their neighbors in the course of improvement. The laws and customs, both political and municipal, as well as the religious worship of the parent city, were transferred to the colony; and the parent city herself, with all such of her colonies as were not too far remote for frequent intercourse and common sentiments, would appear like a family of cities, more or less dependent, and more or less connected. We know how imperfect this system was, as a system of general politics, and what scope it gave to those mutual dissensions and conflicts which proved so fatal to Greece. But it is more pertinent to our present purpose to observe, that nothing existed in the character of Grecian emigrations, or in the spirit and intelligence of the emigrants, likely to give a new and important direction to human affairs, or a new impulse to the human mind. Their motives were not high enough, their views were not sufficiently large and prospective. They went not forth, like our ancestors, to erect systems of more perfect civil liberty, or to enjoy a higher degree of religious freedom. Above all, there was nothing in the religion and learning of the age, that could either inspire high purposes, or give the ability to execute them. Whatever restraints on civil liberty, or whatever abuses in religious worship, existed at the time of our fathers’ emigration, yet even then all was light in the moral and mental world, in comparison with its condition in most periods of the ancient states. The settlement of a new continent, in an age of progressive knowledge and improvement, could not but do more than merely enlarge the natural boundaries of the habitable world. It could not but do much more even than extend commerce and increase wealth among the human race. We see how this event has acted, how it must have acted, and wonder only why it did not act sooner, in the production of moral effects, on the state of human knowledge, the general tone of human sentiments, and the prospects of human happiness. It gave to civilized man not only a new continent to be inhabited and HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET cultivated, and new seas to be explored; but it gave him also a new range for his thoughts, new objects for curiosity, and new excitements to knowledge and improvement. Roman colonization resembled, far less than that of the Greeks, the original settlements of this country. Power and dominion were the objects of Rome, even in her colonial establishments. Her whole exterior aspect was for centuries hostile and terrific. She grasped at dominion, from India to Britain, and her measures of colonization partook of the character of her general system. Her policy was military, because her objects were power, ascendency, and subjugation. Detachments of emigrants from Rome incorporated themselves with, and governed, the original inhabitants of conquered countries. She sent citizens where she had first sent soldiers; her law followed her sword. Her colonies were a sort of military establishment; so many advanced posts in the career of her dominion. A governor from Rome ruled the new colony with absolute sway, and often with unbounded rapacity. In Sicily, in Gaul, in Spain, and in Asia, the power of Rome prevailed, not nominally only, but really and effectually. Those who immediately exercised it were Roman; the tone and tendency of its administration, Roman. Rome herself continued to be the heart and centre of the great system which she had established. Extortion and rapacity, finding a wide and often rich field of action in the provinces, looked nevertheless to the banks of the Tiber, as the scene in which their ill-gotten treasures should be displayed; or, if a spirit of more honest acquisition prevailed, the object, nevertheless, was ultimate enjoyment in Rome itself. If our own history and our own times did not sufficiently expose the inherent and incurable evils of provincial government, we might see them portrayed, to our amazement, in the desolated and ruined provinces of the Roman empire. We might hear them, in a voice that terrifies us, in those strains of complaint and accusation, which the advocates of the provinces poured forth in the Roman Forum:— “Quas res luxuries in flagitiis, crudelitas in suppliciis, avaritia in rapinis, superbia in contumeliis, efficere potuisset, eas omnes sese pertulisse.” As was to be expected, the Roman Provinces partook of the fortunes, as well as of the sentiments and general character, of the seat of empire. They lived together with her, they flourished with her, and fell with her. The branches were lopped away even before the vast and venerable trunk itself fell prostrate to the earth. Nothing had proceeded from her which could support itself, and bear up the name of its origin, when her own sustaining arm should be enfeebled or withdrawn. It was not given to Rome to see, either at her zenith or in her decline, a child of her own, distant, indeed, and independent of her control, yet speaking her language and inheriting her blood, springing forward to a competition with her own power, and a comparison with her own great renown. She saw not a vast region of the earth peopled from her stock, full of states and political communities, improving upon the models of her institutions, and breathing in fuller measure the spirit which she had breathed in the best periods of her existence; enjoying and extending her arts and her literature; rising rapidly from political childhood to manly strength and independence; her offspring, yet now her equal; unconnected with the causes which might affect the duration of her own power and greatness; of common origin, but HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET not linked to a common fate; giving ample pledge, that her name should not be forgotten, that her language should not cease to be used among men; that whatsoever she had done for human knowledge and human happiness should be treasured up and preserved; that the record of her existence and her achievements should not be obscured, although, in the inscrutable purposes of Providence, it might be her destiny to fall from opulence and splendor; although the time might come, when darkness should settle on all her hills; when foreign or domestic violence should overturn her altars and her temples; when ignorance and despotism should fill the places where Laws, and Arts, and Liberty had flourished; when the feet of barbarism should trample on the tombs of her consuls, and the walls of her senate- house and forum echo only to the voice of savage triumph. She saw not this glorious vision, to inspire and fortify her against the possible decay or downfall of her power. Happy are they who in our day may behold it, if they shall contemplate it with the sentiments which it ought to inspire! The New England Colonies differ quite as widely from the Asiatic establishments of the modern European nations, as from the models of the ancient states. The sole object of those establishments was originally trade; although we have seen, in one of them, the anomaly of a mere trading company attaining a political character, disbursing revenues, and maintaining armies and fortresses, until it has extended its control over seventy millions of people. Differing from these, and still more from the New England and North American Colonies, are the European settlements in the West India Islands. It is not strange, that, when men’s minds were turned to the settlement of America, different objects should be proposed by those who emigrated to the different regions of so vast a country. Climate, soil, and condition were not all equally favorable to all pursuits. In the West Indies, the purpose of those who went thither was to engage in that species of agriculture, suited to the soil and climate, which seems to bear more resemblance to commerce than to the hard and plain tillage of New England. The great staples of these countries, being partly an agricultural and partly a manufactured product, and not being of the necessaries of life, become the object of calculation, with respect to a profitable investment of capital, like any other enterprise of trade or manufacture. The more especially, as, requiring, by necessity or habit, slave labor for their production, the capital necessary to carry on the work of this production is very considerable. The West Indies are resorted to, therefore, rather for the investment of capital than for the purpose of sustaining life by personal labor. Such as possess a considerable amount of capital, or such as choose to adventure in commercial speculations without capital, can alone be fitted to be emigrants to the islands. The agriculture of these regions, as before observed, is a sort of commerce; and it is a species of employment in which labor seems to form an inconsiderable ingredient in the productive causes, since the portion of white labor is exceedingly small, and slave labor is rather more like profit on stock or capital than labor properly so called. The individual who undertakes an establishment of this kind takes into the account the cost of the necessary number of slaves, in the same manner as he calculates the cost of the land. The uncertainty, too, of this species of employment, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET affords another ground of resemblance to commerce. Although gainful on the whole, and in a series of years, it is often very disastrous for a single year, and, as the capital is not readily invested in other pursuits, bad crops or bad markets not only affect the profits, but the capital itself. Hence the sudden depressions which take place in the value of such estates. But the great and leading observation, relative to these establishments, remains to be made. It is, that the owners of the soil and of the capital seldom consider themselves at home in the colony. A very great portion of the soil itself is usually owned in the mother country; a still greater is mortgaged for capital obtained there; and, in general, those who are to derive an interest from the products look to the parent country as the place for enjoyment of their wealth. The population is therefore constantly fluctuating. Nobody comes but to return. A constant succession of owners, agents, and factors takes place. Whatsoever the soil, forced by the unmitigated toil of slavery, can yield, is sent home to defray rents, and interest, and agencies, or to give the means of living in a better society. In such a state, it is evident that no spirit of permanent improvement is likely to spring up. Profits will not be invested with a distant view of benefiting posterity. Roads and canals will hardly be built; schools will not be founded; colleges will not be endowed. There will be few fixtures in society; no principles of utility or of elegance, planted now, with the hope of being developed and expanded hereafter. Profit, immediate profit, must be the principal active spring in the social system. There may be many particular exceptions to these general remarks, but the outline of the whole is such as is here drawn. Another most important consequence of such a state of things is, that no idea of independence of the parent country is likely to arise; unless, indeed, it should spring up in a form that would threaten universal desolation. The inhabitants have no strong attachment to the place which they inhabit. The hope of a great portion of them is to leave it; and their great desire, to leave it soon. However useful they may be to the parent state, how much soever they may add to the conveniences and luxuries of life, these colonies are not favored spots for the expansion of the human mind, for the progress of permanent improvement, or for sowing the seeds of future independent empire. Different, indeed, most widely different, from all these instances of emigration and plantation, were the condition, the purposes, and the prospects of our fathers, when they established their infant colony upon this spot. They came hither to a land from which they were never to return. Hither they had brought, and here they were to fix, their hopes, their attachments, and their objects in life. Some natural tears they shed, as they left the pleasant abodes of their fathers, and some emotions they suppressed, when the white cliffs of their native country, now seen for the last time, grew dim to their sight. They were acting, however, upon a resolution not to be daunted. With whatever stifled regrets, with whatever occasional hesitation, with whatever appalling apprehensions, which might sometimes arise with force to shake the firmest purpose, they had yet committed themselves to Heaven and the elements; and a thousand leagues of water soon interposed to separate them for ever from the region which gave them birth. A new existence awaited them here; and when they saw these shores, rough, cold, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET barbarous, and barren, as then they were, they beheld their country. That mixed and strong feeling, which we call love of country, and which is, in general, never extinguished in the heart of man, grasped and embraced its proper object here. Whatever constitutes country, except the earth and the sun, all the moral causes of affection and attachment which operate upon the heart, they had brought with them to their new abode. Here were now their families and friends, their homes, and their property. Before they reached the shore, they had established the elements of a social system,38 and at a much earlier period had settled their forms of religious worship. At the moment of their landing, therefore, they possessed institutions of government, and institutions of religion: and friends and families, and social and religious institutions, framed by consent, founded on choice and preference, how nearly do these fill up our whole idea of country! The morning that beamed on the first night of their repose saw the Pilgrims already at home in their country. There were political institutions, and civil liberty, and religious worship. Poetry has fancied nothing, in the wanderings of heroes, so distinct and characteristic. Here was man, indeed, unprotected, and unprovided for, on the shore of a rude and fearful wilderness; but it was politic, intelligent, and educated man. Every thing was civilized but the physical world. Institutions, containing in substance all that ages had done for human government, were organized in a forest. Cultivated mind was to act on uncultivated nature; and, more than all, a government and a country were to commence, with the very first foundations laid under the divine light of the Christian religion. Happy auspices of a happy futurity! Who would wish that his country’s existence had otherwise begun? Who would desire the power of going back to the ages of fable? Who would wish for an origin obscured in the darkness of antiquity? Who would wish for other emblazoning of his country’s heraldry, or other ornaments of her genealogy, than to be able to say, that her first existence was with intelligence, her first breath the inspiration of liberty, her first principle the truth of divine religion? Local attachments and sympathies would ere long spring up in the breasts of our ancestors, endearing to them the place of their refuge. Whatever natural objects are associated with interesting scenes and high efforts obtain a hold on human feeling, and demand from the heart a sort of recognition and regard. This Rock soon became hallowed in the esteem of the Pilgrims,39 and these hills grateful to their sight. Neither they nor their children were again to till the soil of England, nor again to traverse the seas which surround her.40 But here was a new sea, now open to their enterprise, and a new soil, which had not failed to respond gratefully to their laborious industry, and which was already assuming a robe of verdure. Hardly had they provided shelter for the living, ere they were summoned to erect 38. For the compact to which reference is made in the text, signed on board the Mayflower, see Hutchinson’s HISTORY, Vol. II., Appendix, No. I. For an eloquent description of the manner in which the first Christian Sabbath was passed on board the Mayflower, at Plymouth, see Barne’s DISCOURSE AT WORCESTER. 39. The names of the passengers in the Mayflower, with some account of them, may be found in the NEW ENGLAND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol. I. p. 47, and a narration of some of the incidents of the voyage, Vol. II. p. 186. For an account of Mrs. White, the mother of the first child born in New England, see Baylies’s HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH, Vol. II. p. 18, and for a notice of her son Peregrine, see Moore’s LIVES OF AMERICAN GOVERNORS, Vol. I. p. 31, note.

40. See the admirable letter written on board the Arbella, in Hutchinson’s HISTORY, Vol. I. Appendix, No. I. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET sepulchres for the dead. The ground had become sacred, by enclosing the remains of some of their companions and connections. A parent, a child, a husband, or a wife, had gone the way of all flesh, and mingled with the dust of New England. We naturally look with strong emotions to the spot, though it be a wilderness, where the ashes of those we have loved repose. Where the heart has laid down what it loved most, there it is desirous of laying itself down. No sculptured marble, no enduring monument, no honorable inscription, no ever-burning taper that would drive away the darkness of the tomb, can soften our sense of the reality of death, and hallow to our feelings the ground which is to cover us, like the consciousness that we shall sleep, dust to dust, with the objects of our affections. In a short time other causes sprung up to bind the Pilgrims with new cords to their chosen land. Children were born, and the hopes of future generations arose, in the spot of their new habitation. The second generation found this the land of their nativity, and saw that they were bound to its fortunes. They beheld their fathers’ graves around them, and while they read the memorials of their toils and labors, they rejoiced in the inheritance which they found bequeathed to them. Under the influence of these causes, it was to be expected that an interest and a feeling should arise here, entirely different from the interest and feeling of mere Englishmen; and all the subsequent history of the Colonies proves this to have actually and gradually taken place. With a general acknowledgment of the supremacy of the British crown, there was, from the first, a repugnance to an entire submission to the control of British legislation. The Colonies stood upon their charters, which, as they contended, exempted them from the ordinary power of the British Parliament, and authorized them to conduct their own concerns by their own counsels. They utterly resisted the notion that they were to be ruled by the mere authority of the government at home, and would not endure even that their own charter governments should be established on the other side of the Atlantic. It was not a controlling or protecting board in England, but a government of their own, and existing immediately within their limits, which could satisfy their wishes. It was easy to foresee, what we know also to have happened, that the first great cause of collision and jealousy would be, under the notion of political economy then and still prevalent in Europe, an attempt on the part of the mother country to monopolize the trade of the Colonies. Whoever has looked deeply into the causes which produced our Revolution has found, if I mistake not, the original principle far back in this claim, on the part of England, to monopolize our trade, and a continued effort on the part of the Colonies to resist or evade that monopoly; if, indeed, it be not still more just and philosophical to go farther back, and to consider it decided, that an independent government must arise here, the moment it was ascertained that an English colony, such as landed in this place, could sustain itself against the dangers which surrounded it, and, with other similar establishments, overspread the land with an English population. Accidental causes retarded at times, and at times accelerated, the progress of the controversy. The Colonies wanted strength, and time gave it to them. They required measures of strong and palpable injustice, on the part of the mother country, to justify resistance; the early part of the late king’s reign HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET furnished them. They needed spirits of high order, of great daring, of long foresight, and of commanding power, to seize the favoring occasion to strike a blow, which should sever, for all time, the tie of colonial dependence; and these spirits were found, in all the extent which that or any crisis could demand, in Otis, Adams, Hancock, and the other immediate authors of our independence. Still, it is true that, for a century, causes had been in operation tending to prepare things for this great result. In the year 1660 the English Act of Navigation was passed; the first and grand object of which seems to have been, to secure to England the whole trade with her plantations.41 It was provided by that act, that none but English ships should transport American produce over the ocean, and that the principal articles of that produce should be allowed to be sold only in the markets of the mother country. Three years afterwards another law was passed, which enacted, that such commodities as the Colonies might wish to purchase should be bought only in the markets of the mother country. Severe rules were prescribed to enforce the provisions of these laws, and heavy penalties imposed on all who should violate them. In the subsequent years of the same reign, other statutes were enacted to re-enforce these statutes, and other rules prescribed to secure a compliance with these rules. In this manner was the trade to and from the Colonies restricted, almost to the exclusive advantage of the parent country. But laws, which rendered the interest of a whole people subordinate to that of another people, were not likely to execute themselves, nor was it easy to find many on the spot, who could be depended upon for carrying them into execution. In fact, these laws were more or less evaded or resisted, in all the Colonies. To enforce them was the constant endeavor of the government at home; to prevent or elude their operation, the perpetual object here. “The laws of navigation,” says a living British writer, “were nowhere so openly disobeyed and contemned as in New England.” “The people of Massachusetts Bay,” he adds, “were from the first disposed to act as if independent of the mother country, and having a governor and magistrates of their own choice, it was difficult to enforce any regulation which came from the English Parliament, adverse to their interests.” To provide more effectually for the execution of these laws, we know that courts of admiralty were afterwards established by the crown, with power to try revenue causes, as questions of admiralty, upon the construction given by the crown lawyers to an act of Parliament; a great departure from the ordinary principles of English jurisprudence, but which has been maintained, nevertheless, by the force of habit and precedent, and is adopted in our own existing systems of government. “There lie,” says another English writer, whose connection with the Board of Trade has enabled him to ascertain many facts connected with Colonial history, “There lie among the documents in the board of trade and state-paper office, the most satisfactory proofs, from the epoch of the English Revolution in 1688, throughout every reign, and during every administration, of the settled purpose of the Colonies to acquire direct independence and positive sovereignty.” Perhaps 41. In reference to the British policy respecting Colonial manufactures, see Representations of the Board of Trade to the House of Lords, 23d Jan., 1734; also, 8th June, 1749. For an able vindication of the British Colonial policy, see “Political Essays concerning the Present State of the British Empire.” London, 1772. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET this may be stated somewhat too strongly; but it cannot be denied, that, from the very nature of the establishments here, and from the general character of the measures respecting their concerns early adopted and steadily pursued by the English government, a division of the empire was the natural and necessary result to which every thing tended.42 I have dwelt on this topic, because it seems to me, that the peculiar original character of the New England Colonies, and certain causes coeval with their existence, have had a strong and decided influence on all their subsequent history, and especially on the great event of the Revolution. Whoever would write our history, and would understand and explain early transactions, should comprehend the nature and force of the feeling which I have endeavored to describe. As a son, leaving the house of his father for his own, finds, by the order of nature, and the very law of his being, nearer and dearer objects around which his affections circle, while his attachment to the parental roof becomes moderated, by degrees, to a composed regard and an affectionate remembrance; so our ancestors, leaving their native land, not without some violence to the feelings of nature and affection, yet, in time, found here a new circle of engagements, interests, and affections; a feeling, which more and more encroached upon the old, till an undivided sentiment, that this was their country, occupied the heart; and patriotism, shutting out from its embraces the parent realm, became local to America. Some retrospect of the century which has now elapsed is among the duties of the occasion. It must, however, necessarily be imperfect, to be compressed within the limits of a single discourse. I shall content myself, therefore, with taking notice of a few of the leading and most important occurrences which have distinguished the period. When the first century closed, the progress of the country appeared to have been considerable; notwithstanding that, in comparison with its subsequent advancement, it now seems otherwise. A broad and lasting foundation had been laid; excellent institutions had been established; many of the prejudices of former times had been removed; a more liberal and catholic spirit on subjects of religious concern had begun to extend itself, and many things conspired to give promise of increasing future prosperity. Great men had arisen in public life, and the liberal professions. The Mathers, father and son, were then sinking low in the western horizon; Leverett, the learned, the accomplished, the excellent Leverett, was about to withdraw his brilliant and useful light. In Pemberton great hopes had been suddenly extinguished, but Prince and Colman were in our sky; and along the east had begun to flash the crepuscular light of a great luminary which was about to appear, and which was to stamp the age with his own name, as the age of Franklin. The bloody Indian wars, which harassed the people for a part of the first century; the restrictions on the trade of the Colonies, added to the discouragements inherently belonging to all forms of colonial government; the distance from Europe, and the small hope of immediate profit to adventurers, are among the causes which had contributed to retard the progress of population. Perhaps it may be added, also, that during the 42. Many interesting papers, illustrating the early history of the Colony, may be found in Hutchinson’s “Collection of Original Papers relating to the History of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET period of the civil wars in England, and the reign of Cromwell, many persons, whose religious opinions and religious temper might, under other circumstances, have induced them to join the New England colonists, found reasons to remain in England; either on account of active occupation in the scenes which were passing, or of an anticipation of the enjoyment, in their own country, of a form of government, civil and religious, accommodated to their views and principles. The violent measures, too, pursued against the Colonies in the reign of Charles the Second, the mockery of a trial, and the forfeiture of the charters, were serious evils. And during the open violences of the short reign of James the Second, and the tyranny of Andros, as the venerable historian of Connecticut observes, “All the motives to great actions, to industry, economy, enterprise, wealth, and population, were in a manner annihilated. A general inactivity and languishment pervaded the public body. Liberty, property, and every thing which ought to be dear to men, every day grew more and more insecure.” With the Revolution in England, a better prospect had opened on this country, as well as on that. The joy had been as great at that event, and far more universal, in New than in Old England. A new charter had been granted to Massachusetts, which, although it did not confirm to her inhabitants all their former privileges, yet relieved them from great evils and embarrassments, and promised future security. More than all, perhaps, the Revolution in England had done good to the general cause of liberty and justice. A blow had been struck in favor of the rights and liberties, not of England alone, but of descendants and kinsmen of England all over the world. Great political truths had been established. The champions of liberty had been successful in a fearful and perilous conflict. Somers, and Cavendish, and Jekyl, and Howard, had triumphed in one of the most noble causes ever undertaken by men. A revolution had been made upon principle. A monarch had been dethroned for violating the original compact between king and people. The rights of the people to partake in the government, and to limit the monarch by fundamental rules of government, had been maintained; and however unjust the government of England might afterwards be towards other governments or towards her colonies, she had ceased to be governed herself by the arbitrary maxims of the Stuarts. New England had submitted to the violence of James the Second not longer than Old England. Not only was it reserved to Massachusetts, that on her soil should be acted the first scene of that great revolutionary drama, which was to take place near a century afterwards, but the English Revolution itself, as far as the Colonies were concerned, commenced in Boston. The seizure and imprisonment of Andros, in April, 1689, were acts of direct and forcible resistance to the authority of James the Second. The pulse of liberty beat as high in the extremities as at the heart. The vigorous feeling of the Colony burst out before it was known how the parent country would finally conduct herself. The king’s representative, Sir Edmund Andros, was a prisoner in the castle at Boston, before it was or could be known that the king himself had ceased to exercise his full dominion on the English throne. Before it was known here whether the invasion of the Prince of Orange would or could prove successful, as soon as it was known HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET that it had been undertaken, the people of Massachusetts, at the imminent hazard of their lives and fortunes, had accomplished the Revolution as far as respected themselves. It is probable that, reasoning on general principles and the known attachment of the English people to their constitution and liberties, and their deep and fixed dislike of the king’s religion and politics, the people of New England expected a catastrophe fatal to the power of the reigning prince. Yet it was neither certain enough, nor near enough, to come to their aid against the authority of the crown, in that crisis which had arrived, and in which they trusted to put themselves, relying on God and their own courage. There were spirits in Massachusetts congenial with the spirits of the distinguished friends of the Revolution in England. There were those who were fit to associate with the boldest asserters of civil liberty; and Mather himself, then in England, was not unworthy to be ranked with those sons of the Church, whose firmness and spirit in resisting kingly encroachments in matters of religion, entitled them to the gratitude of their own and succeeding ages. The second century opened upon New England under circumstances which evinced that much had already been accomplished, and that still better prospects and brighter hopes were before her. She had laid, deep and strong, the foundations of her society. Her religious principles were firm, and her moral habits exemplary. Her public schools had begun to diffuse widely the elements of knowledge; and the College, under the excellent and acceptable administration of Leverett, had been raised to a high degree of credit and usefulness. The commercial character of the country, notwithstanding all discouragements, had begun to display itself, and five hundred vessels, then belonging to Massachusetts, placed her, in relation to commerce, thus early at the head of the Colonies. An author who wrote very near the close of the first century says:— “New England is almost deserving that noble name, so mightily hath it increased; and from a small settlement at first, is now become a very populous and flourishing government. The capital city, Boston, is a place of great wealth and trade; and by much the largest of any in the English empire of America; and not exceeded but by few cities, perhaps two or three, in all the American world.” But if our ancestors at the close of the first century could look back with joy and even admiration, at the progress of the country, what emotions must we not feel, when, from the point on which we stand, we also look back and run along the events of the century which has now closed! The country which then, as we have seen, was thought deserving of a “noble name,”—which then had “mightily increased,” and become “very populous,”—what was it, in comparison with what our eyes behold it? At that period, a very great proportion of its inhabitants lived in the eastern section of Massachusetts proper, and in Plymouth Colony. In Connecticut, there were towns along the coast, some of them respectable, but in the interior all was a wilderness beyond Hartford. On Connecticut River, settlements had proceeded as far up as Deerfield, and Fort Dummer had been built near where is now the south line of New Hampshire. In New Hampshire no settlement was then begun thirty miles from the mouth of Piscataqua River, and in what is now Maine the inhabitants were confined to the coast. The aggregate of the whole population of HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET New England did not exceed one hundred and sixty thousand. Its present amount (1820) is probably one million seven hundred thousand. Instead of being confined to its former limits, her population has rolled backward, and filled up the spaces included within her actual local boundaries. Not this only, but it has overflowed those boundaries, and the waves of emigration have pressed farther and farther toward the West. The Alleghany has not checked it; the banks of the Ohio have been covered with it. New England farms, houses, villages, and churches spread over and adorn the immense extent from the Ohio to Lake Erie, and stretch along from the Alleghany onwards, beyond the Miamis, and toward the Falls of St. Anthony. Two thousand miles westward from the rock where their fathers landed, may now be found the sons of the Pilgrims, cultivating smiling fields, rearing towns and villages, and cherishing, we trust, the patrimonial blessings of wise institutions, of liberty, and religion. The world has seen nothing like this. Regions large enough to be empires, and which, half a century ago, were known only as remote and unexplored wildernesses, are now teeming with population, and prosperous in all the great concerns of life; in good governments, the means of subsistence, and social happiness. It may be safely asserted, that there are now more than a million of people, descendants of New England ancestry, living, free and happy, in regions which scarce sixty years ago were tracts of unpenetrated forest. Nor do rivers, or mountains, or seas resist the progress of industry and enterprise. Erelong, the sons of the Pilgrims will be on the shores of the Pacific.43 The imagination hardly keeps pace with the progress of population, improvement, and civilization. It is now five-and-forty years since the growth and rising glory of America were portrayed in the English Parliament, with inimitable beauty, by the most consummate orator of modern times. Going back somewhat more than half a century, and describing our progress as foreseen from that point by his amiable friend Lord Bathurst, then living, he spoke of the wonderful progress which America had made during the period of a single human life. There is no American heart, I imagine, that does not glow, both with conscious, patriotic pride, and admiration for one of the happiest efforts of eloquence, so often as the vision of “that little speck, scarce visible in the mass of national interest, a small seminal principle, rather than a formed body,” and the progress of its astonishing development and growth, are recalled to the recollection. But a stronger feeling might be produced, if we were able to take up this prophetic description where he left it, and, placing ourselves at the point of time in which he was speaking, to set forth with equal felicity the subsequent progress of the country. There is yet among the living a most distinguished and venerable name, a descendant of the Pilgrims; one who has been attended through life by a great and fortunate genius; a man illustrious by his own great merits, and favored of Heaven in the long continuation of his years.44 The time when the English orator was thus speaking of America preceded but by a few days the actual opening of the revolutionary drama at Lexington. He to whom I have alluded, then at the age of forty, was among the

43. In reference to the fulfilment of this prediction, see Mr. Webster’s ADDRESS AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK, ON THE 23D OF DECEMBER, 1850. 44. John Adams, second President of the United States. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET most zealous and able defenders of the violated rights of his country. He seemed already to have filled a full measure of public service, and attained an honorable fame. The moment was full of difficulty and danger, and big with events of immeasurable importance. The country was on the very brink of a civil war, of which no man could foretell the duration or the result. Something more than a courageous hope, or characteristic ardor, would have been necessary to impress the glorious prospect on his belief, if, at that moment, before the sound of the first shock of actual war had reached his ears, some attendant spirit had opened to him the vision of the future;—if it had said to him, “The blow is struck, and America is severed from England for ever!”—if it had informed him, that he himself, during the next annual revolution of the sun, should put his own hand to the great instrument of independence, and write his name where all nations should behold it and all time should not efface it; that erelong he himself should maintain the interests and represent the sovereignty of his newborn country in the proudest courts of Europe; that he should one day exercise her supreme magistracy; that he should yet live to behold ten millions of fellow-citizens paying him the homage of their deepest gratitude and kindest affections; that he should see distinguished talent and high public trust resting where his name rested; that he should even see with his own unclouded eyes the close of the second century of New England, who had begun life almost with its commencement, and lived through nearly half the whole history of his country; and that on the morning of this auspicious day he should be found in the political councils of his native State, revising, by the light of experience, that system of government which forty years before he had assisted to frame and establish; and, great and happy as he should then behold his country, there should be nothing in prospect to cloud the scene, nothing to check the ardor of that confident and patriotic hope which should glow in his bosom to the end of his long protracted and happy life. It would far exceed the limits of this discourse even to mention the principal events in the civil and political history of New England during the century; the more so, as for the last half of the period that history has, most happily, been closely interwoven with the general history of the United States. New England bore an honorable part in the wars which took place between England and France. The capture of Louisburg gave her a character for military achievement; and in the war which terminated with the peace of 1763, her exertions on the frontiers wore of most essential service, as well to the mother country as to all the Colonies. In New England the war of the Revolution commenced. I address those who remember the memorable 19th of April, 1775; who shortly after saw the burning spires of Charlestown; who beheld the deeds of Prescott, and heard the voice of Putnam amidst the storm of war, and saw the generous Warren fall, the first distinguished victim in the cause of liberty. It would be superfluous to say, that no portion of the country did more than the States of New England to bring the Revolutionary struggle to a successful issue. It is scarcely less to her credit, that she saw early the necessity of a closer union of the States, and gave an efficient and indispensable aid to the establishment and organization of the Federal government. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Perhaps we might safely say, that a new spirit and a new excitement began to exist here about the middle of the last century. To whatever causes it may be imputed, there seems then to have commenced a more rapid improvement. The Colonies had attracted more of the attention of the mother country, and some renown in arms had been acquired. Lord Chatham was the first English minister who attached high importance to these possessions of the crown, and who foresaw any thing of their future growth and extension. His opinion was, that the great rival of England was chiefly to be feared as a maritime and commercial power, and to drive her out of North America and deprive her of her West Indian possessions was a leading object in his policy. He dwelt often on the fisheries, as nurseries for British seamen, and the colonial trade, as furnishing them employment. The war, conducted by him with so much vigor, terminated in a peace, by which Canada was ceded to England. The effect of this was immediately visible in the New England Colonies; for, the fear of Indian hostilities on the frontiers being now happily removed, settlements went on with an activity before that time altogether unprecedented, and public affairs wore a new and encouraging aspect. Shortly after this fortunate termination of the French war, the interesting topics connected with the taxation of America by the British Parliament began to be discussed, and the attention and all the faculties of the people drawn towards them. There is perhaps no portion of our history more full of interest than the period from 1760 to the actual commencement of the war. The progress of opinion in this period, though less known, is not less important than the progress of arms afterwards. Nothing deserves more consideration than those events and discussions which affected the public sentiment and settled the Revolution in men’s minds, before hostilities openly broke out. Internal improvement followed the establishment and prosperous commencement of the present government. More has been done for roads, canals, and other public works, within the last thirty years, than in all our former history. In the first of these particulars, few countries excel the New England States. The astonishing increase of their navigation and trade is known to every one, and now belongs to the history of our national wealth. We may flatter ourselves, too, that literature and taste have not been stationary, and that some advancement has been made in the elegant, as well as in the useful arts. The nature and constitution of society and government in this country are interesting topics, to which I would devote what remains of the time allowed to this occasion. Of our system of government the first thing to be said is, that it is really and practically a free system. It originates entirely with the people, and rests on no other foundation than their assent. To judge of its actual operation, it is not enough to look merely at the form of its construction. The practical character of government depends often on a variety of considerations, besides the abstract frame of its constitutional organization. Among these are the condition and tenure of property; the laws regulating its alienation and descent; the presence or absence of a military power; an armed or unarmed yeomanry; the spirit of the age, and the degree of general intelligence. In these respects it cannot be denied that the circumstances of this country are most favorable to the hope of maintaining the HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET government of a great nation on principles entirely popular. In the absence of military power, the nature of government must essentially depend on the manner in which property is holden and distributed. There is a natural influence belonging to property, whether it exists in many hands or few; and it is on the rights of property that both despotism and unrestrained popular violence ordinarily commence their attacks. Our ancestors began their system of government here under a condition of comparative equality in regard to wealth, and their early laws were of a nature to favor and continue this equality. A republican form of government rests not more on political constitutions, than on those laws which regulate the descent and transmission of property. Governments like ours could not have been maintained, where property was holden according to the principles of the feudal system; nor, on the other hand, could the feudal constitution possibly exist with us. Our New England ancestors brought hither no great capitals from Europe; and if they had, there was nothing productive in which they could have been invested. They left behind them the whole feudal policy of the other continent. They broke away at once from the system of military service established in the Dark Ages, and which continues, down even to the present time, more or less to affect the condition of property all over Europe. They came to a new country. There were, as yet, no lands yielding rent, and no tenants rendering service. The whole soil was unreclaimed from barbarism. They were themselves, either from their original condition, or from the necessity of their common interest, nearly on a general level in respect to property. Their situation demanded a parcelling out and division of the lands, and it may be fairly said, that this necessary act fixed the future frame and form of their government. The character of their political institutions was determined by the fundamental laws respecting property. The laws rendered estates divisible among sons and daughters. The right of primogeniture, at first limited and curtailed, was afterwards abolished. The property was all freehold. The entailment of estates, long trusts, and the other processes for fettering and tying up inheritances, were not applicable to the condition of society, and seldom made use of. On the contrary, alienation of the land was every way facilitated, even to the subjecting of it to every species of debt. The establishment of public registries, and the simplicity of our forms of conveyance, have greatly facilitated the change of real estate from one proprietor to another. The consequence of all these causes has been a great subdivision of the soil, and a great equality of condition; the true basis, most certainly, of a popular government. “If the people,” says Harrington, “hold three parts in four of the territory, it is plain there can neither be any single person nor nobility able to dispute the government with them; in this case, therefore, except force be interposed, they govern themselves.” The history of other nations may teach us how favorable to public liberty are the division of the soil into small freeholds, and a system of laws, of which the tendency is, without violence or injustice, to produce and to preserve a degree of equality of property. It has been estimated, if I mistake not, that about the time of Henry the Seventh four fifths of the land in England was holden by the great barons and ecclesiastics. The effects of a growing commerce soon afterwards began to break in on this HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET state of things, and before the Revolution, in 1688, a vast change had been wrought. It may be thought probable, that, for the last half-century, the process of subdivision in England has been retarded, if not reversed; that the great weight of taxation has compelled many of the lesser freeholders to dispose of their estates, and to seek employment in the army and navy, in the professions of civil life, in commerce, or in the colonies. The effect of this on the British constitution cannot but be most unfavorable. A few large estates grow larger; but the number of those who have no estates also increases; and there may be danger, lest the inequality of property become so great, that those who possess it may be dispossessed by force; in other words, that the government may be overturned. A most interesting experiment of the effect of a subdivision of property on government is now making in France. It is understood, that the law regulating the transmission of property in that country, now divides it, real and personal, among all the children equally, both sons and daughters; and that there is, also, a very great restraint on the power of making dispositions of property by will. It has been supposed, that the effects of this might probably be, in time, to break up the soil into such small subdivisions, that the proprietors would be too poor to resist the encroachments of executive power. I think far otherwise. What is lost in individual wealth will be more than gained in numbers, in intelligence, and in a sympathy of sentiment. If, indeed, only one or a few landholders were to resist the crown, like the barons of England, they must, of course, be great and powerful landholders, with multitudes of retainers, to promise success. But if the proprietors of a given extent of territory are summoned to resistance, there is no reason to believe that such resistance would be less forcible, or less successful, because the number of such proprietors happened to be great. Each would perceive his own importance, and his own interest, and would feel that natural elevation of character which the consciousness of property inspires. A common sentiment would unite all, and numbers would not only add strength, but excite enthusiasm. It is true, that France possesses a vast military force, under the direction of an hereditary executive government; and military power, it is possible, may overthrow any government. It is in vain, however, in this period of the world, to look for security against military power to the arm of the great landholders. That notion is derived from a state of things long since past; a state in which a feudal baron, with his retainers, might stand against the sovereign and his retainers, himself but the greatest baron. But at present, what could the richest landholder do, against one regiment of disciplined troops? Other securities, therefore, against the prevalence of military power must be provided. Happily for us, we are not so situated as that any purpose of national defence requires, ordinarily and constantly, such a military force as might seriously endanger our liberties. In respect, however, to the recent law of succession in France, to which I have alluded, I would, presumptuously perhaps, hazard a conjecture, that, if the government do not change the law, the law in half a century will change the government; and that this change will be, not in favor of the power of the crown, as some European writers have supposed, but against it. Those writers only reason upon what they think correct general principles, in HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET relation to this subject. They acknowledge a want of experience. Here we have had that experience; and we know that a multitude of small proprietors, acting with intelligence, and that enthusiasm which a common cause inspires, constitute not only a formidable, but an invincible power.45 The true principle of a free and popular government would seem to be, so to construct it as to give to all, or at least to a very great majority, an interest in its preservation; to found it, as other things are founded, on men’s interest. The stability of government demands that those who desire its continuance should be more powerful than those who desire its dissolution. This power, of course, is not always to be measured by mere numbers. Education, wealth, talents, are all parts and elements of the general aggregate of power; but numbers, nevertheless, constitute ordinarily the most important consideration, unless, indeed, there be a military force in the hands of the few, by which they can control the many. In this country we have actually existing systems of government, in the maintenance of which, it should seem, a great majority, both in numbers and in other means of power and influence, must see their interest. But this state of things is not brought about solely by written political constitutions, or the mere manner of organizing the government; but also by the laws which regulate the descent and transmission of property. The freest government, if it could exist, would not be long acceptable, if the tendency of the laws were to create a rapid accumulation of property in few hands, and to render the great mass of the population dependent and penniless. In such a case, the popular power would be likely to break in upon the rights of property, or else the influence of property to limit and control the exercise of popular power. Universal suffrage, for example, could not long exist in a community where there was great inequality of property. The holders of estates would be obliged, in such case, in some way to restrain the right of suffrage, or else such right of suffrage would, before long, divide the property. In the nature of things, those who have not property, and see their neighbors possess much more than they think them to need, cannot be favorable to laws made for the protection of property. When this class becomes numerous, it grows clamorous. It looks on property as its prey and plunder, and is naturally ready, at all times, for violence and revolution. It would seem, then, to be the part of political wisdom to found government on property; and to establish such distribution of property, by the laws which regulate its transmission and alienation, as to interest the great majority of society in the support of the government. This is, I imagine, the true theory and the actual practice of our republican institutions. With property divided as we have it, no other government than that of a republic could be maintained, even were we foolish enough to desire it. There is reason, therefore, to expect a long continuance of our system. Party and passion, doubtless, may prevail at times, and much temporary mischief be done. Even 45. As the opinion of contemporaneous thinkers on this important subject cannot fail to interest the general reader, it is deemed proper to insert here the following extract from a letter, written in 1849, to show how powerfully the truths uttered in 1820, in the spirit of prophecy, as it were, impressed themselves upon certain minds, and how closely the verification of the prediction has been watched. OK, HERE IT IS ... HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET modes and forms may be changed, and perhaps for the worse. But a great revolution in regard to property must take place, before our governments can be moved from their republican basis, unless they be violently struck off by military power. The people possess the property, more emphatically than it could ever be said of the people of any other country, and they can have no interest to overturn a government which protects that property by equal laws. Let it not be supposed, that this state of things possesses too strong tendencies towards the production of a dead and uninteresting level in society. Such tendencies are sufficiently counteracted by the infinite diversities in the characters and fortunes of individuals. Talent, activity, industry, and enterprise tend at all times to produce inequality and distinction; and there is room still for the accumulation of wealth, with its great advantages, to all reasonable and useful extent. It has been often urged against the state of society in America, that it furnishes no class of men of fortune and leisure. This may be partly true, but it is not entirely so, and the evil, if it be one, would affect rather the progress of taste and literature, than the general prosperity of the people. But the promotion of taste and literature cannot be primary objects of political institutions; and if they could, it might be doubted whether, in the long course of things, as much is not gained by a wide diffusion of general knowledge, as is lost by diminishing the number of those who are enabled by fortune and leisure to devote themselves exclusively to scientific and literary pursuits. However this may be, it is to be considered that it is the spirit of our system to be equal and general, and if there be particular disadvantages incident to this, they are far more than counterbalanced by the benefits which weigh against them. The important concerns of society are generally conducted, in all countries, by the men of business and practical ability; and even in matters of taste and literature, the advantages of mere leisure are liable to be overrated. If there exist adequate means of education and a love of letters be excited, that love will find its way to the object of its desire, through the crowd and pressure of the most busy society. Connected with this division of property, and the consequent participation of the great mass of people in its possession and enjoyments, is the system of representation, which is admirably accommodated to our condition, better understood among us, and more familiarly and extensively practised, in the higher and in the lower departments of government, than it has been by any other people. Great facility has been given to this in New England by the early division of the country into townships or small districts, in which all concerns of local police are regulated, and in which representatives to the legislature are elected. Nothing can exceed the utility of these little bodies. They are so many councils or parliaments, in which common interests are discussed, and useful knowledge acquired and communicated. The division of governments into departments, and the division, again, of the legislative department into two chambers, are essential provisions in our system. This last, although not new in itself, yet seems to be new in its application to governments wholly popular. The Grecian republics, it is plain, knew nothing of it; and in Rome, the check and balance of legislative power, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET such as it was, lay between the people and the senate. Indeed, few things are more difficult than to ascertain accurately the true nature and construction of the Roman commonwealth. The relative power of the senate and the people, of the consuls and the tribunes, appears not to have been at all times the same, nor at any time accurately defined or strictly observed. Cicero, indeed, describes to us an admirable arrangement of political power, and a balance of the constitution, in that beautiful passage, in which he compares the democracies of Greece with the Roman commonwealth. “O morem preclarum, disciplinamque, quam a majoribus accepimus, si quidem teneremus! sed nescio quo pacto jam de manibus elabitur. Nullam enim illi nostri sapientissimi et sanctissimi viri vim concionis esse voluerunt, quae scisseret plebs, aut quae populus juberet; summota concione, distributis partibus, tributim et centuriatim descriptis ordinibus, classibus, aetatibus, auditis auctoribus, re multos dies promulgata et cognita, juberi vetarique voluerunt. Graecorum autem totae respublicae sedentis concionis temeritate administrantur.”46 But at what time this wise system existed in this perfection at Rome, no proofs remain to show. Her constitution, originally framed for a monarchy, never seemed to be adjusted in its several parts after the expulsion of the kings. Liberty there was, but it was a disputatious, an uncertain, an ill-secured liberty. The patrician and plebeian orders, instead of being matched and joined, each in its just place and proportion, to sustain the fabric of the state, were rather like hostile powers, in perpetual conflict. With us, an attempt has been made, and so far not without success, to divide representation into chambers, and, by difference of age, character, qualification, or mode of election, to establish salutary checks, in governments altogether elective. Having detained you so long with these observations, I must yet advert to another most interesting topic,—the Free Schools. In this particular, New England may be allowed to claim, I think, a merit of a peculiar character. She early adopted, and has constantly maintained the principle, that it is the undoubted right and the bounden duty of government to provide for the instruction of all youth. That which is elsewhere left to chance or to charity, we secure by law.47 For the purpose of public instruction, we hold every man subject to taxation in proportion to his property, and we look not to the question, whether he himself have, or have not, children to be benefited by the education for which he pays. We regard it as a wise and liberal system of police, by which property, and life, and the peace of society are secured. We seek to prevent in some measure the extension of the penal code, by inspiring a salutary and conservative principle of virtue and of knowledge in an early age. We strive to excite a feeling of respectability, and a sense of character, by enlarging the capacity and increasing the sphere of intellectual enjoyment. By general instruction, we seek, as far as possible, to purify the whole moral atmosphere; to keep good sentiments uppermost, and to turn the strong 46. Oratio pro Flacco, § 7. 47. The first free school established by law in the Plymouth Colony was in 1670-72. One of the early teachers in Boston taught school more than seventy years. See the Reverend Cotton Mather’s “Funeral Sermon upon Mr. Ezekiel Cheever, the ancient and honorable Master of the Free School in Boston.” For the impression made upon the mind of an intelligent foreigner by the general attention to popular education, as characteristic of the American polity, see Mackay’s WESTERN WORLD, Vol. III. p. 225 et seq. Also, EDINBURGH REVIEW, No. 186. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET current of feeling and opinion, as well as the censures of the law and the denunciations of religion, against immorality and crime. We hope for a security beyond the law, and above the law, in the prevalence of an enlightened and well-principled moral sentiment. We hope to continue and prolong the time, when, in the villages and farm-houses of New England, there may be undisturbed sleep within unbarred doors. And knowing that our government rests directly on the public will, in order that we may preserve it we endeavor to give a safe and proper direction to that public will. We do not, indeed, expect all men to be philosophers or statesmen; but we confidently trust, and our expectation of the duration of our system of government rests on that trust, that, by the diffusion of general knowledge and good and virtuous sentiments, the political fabric may be secure, as well against open violence and overthrow, as against the slow, but sure, undermining of licentiousness. We know that, at the present time, an attempt is making in the English Parliament to provide by law for the education of the poor, and that a gentleman of distinguished character (Mr. Brougham) has taken the lead in presenting a plan to government for carrying that purpose into effect. And yet, although the representatives of the three kingdoms listened to him with astonishment as well as delight, we hear no principles with which we ourselves have not been familiar from youth; we see nothing in the plan but an approach towards that system which has been established in New England for more than a century and a half. It is said that in England not more than one child in fifteen possesses the means of being taught to read and write; in Wales, one in twenty; in France, until lately, when some improvement was made, not more than one in thirty-five. Now, it is hardly too strong to say, that in New England every child possesses such means. It would be difficult to find an instance to the contrary, unless where it should be owing to the negligence of the parent; and, in truth, the means are actually used and enjoyed by nearly every one. A youth of fifteen, of either sex, who cannot both read and write, is very seldom to be found. Who can make this comparison, or contemplate this spectacle, without delight and a feeling of just pride? Does any history show property more beneficently applied? Did any government ever subject the property of those who have estates to a burden, for a purpose more favorable to the poor, or more useful to the whole community? A conviction of the importance of public instruction was one of the earliest sentiments of our ancestors. No lawgiver of ancient or modern times has expressed more just opinions, or adopted wiser measures, than the early records of the Colony of Plymouth show to have prevailed here. Assembled on this very spot, a hundred and fifty-three years ago, the legislature of this Colony declared, “Forasmuch as the maintenance of good literature doth much tend to the advancement of the weal and flourishing state of societies and republics, this Court doth therefore order, that in whatever township in this government, consisting of fifty families or upwards, any meet man shall be obtained to teach a grammar school, such township shall allow at least twelve pounds, to be raised by rate on all the inhabitants.” Having provided that all youth should be instructed in the elements of learning by the institution of free schools, our HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ancestors had yet another duty to perform. Men were to be educated for the professions and the public. For this purpose they founded the University, and with incredible zeal and perseverance they cherished and supported it, through all trials and discouragements.48 On the subject of the University, it is not possible for a son of New England to think without pleasure, or to speak without emotion. Nothing confers more honor on the State where it is established, or more utility on the country at large. A respectable university is an establishment which must be the work of time. If pecuniary means were not wanting, no new institution could possess character and respectability at once. We owe deep obligation to our ancestors, who began, almost on the moment of their arrival, the work of building up this institution. Although established in a different government, the Colony of Plymouth manifested warm friendship for Harvard College. At an early period, its government took measures to promote a general subscription throughout all the towns in this Colony, in aid of its small funds. Other colleges were subsequently founded and endowed, in other places, as the ability of the people allowed; and we may flatter ourselves, that the means of education at present enjoyed in New England are not only adequate to the diffusion of the elements of knowledge among all classes, but sufficient also for respectable attainments in literature and the sciences. Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits. Living under the heavenly light of revelation, they hoped to find all the social dispositions, all the duties which men owe to each other and to society, enforced and performed. Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens. Our fathers came here to enjoy their religion free and unmolested; and, at the end of two centuries, there is nothing upon which we can pronounce more confidently, nothing of which we can express a more deep and earnest conviction, than of the inestimable importance of that religion to man, both in regard to this life and that which is to come. If the blessings of our political and social condition have not been too highly estimated, we cannot well overrate the responsibility and duty which they impose upon us. We hold these institutions of government, religion, and learning, to be transmitted, as well as enjoyed. We are in the line of conveyance, through which whatever has been obtained by the spirit and efforts of our ancestors is to be communicated to our children. We are bound to maintain public liberty, and, by the example of our own systems, to convince the world that order and law, religion and morality, the rights of conscience, the rights of persons, and the rights of property, may all be preserved and secured, in the most perfect manner, by a government entirely and purely elective. If we fail in this, our disaster will be signal, and will furnish an argument, stronger than has yet been found, in support of those opinions which maintain that 48. By a law of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, passed as early as 1647, it was ordered, that, “when any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families or householders, they shall set up a grammar school, the master thereof being able to instruct youth so far as they may be fitted for the University.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET government can rest safely on nothing but power and coercion. As far as experience may show errors in our establishments, we are bound to correct them; and if any practices exist contrary to the principles of justice and humanity within the reach of our laws or our influence, we are inexcusable if we do not exert ourselves to restrain and abolish them. I deem it my duty on this occasion to suggest, that the land is not yet wholly free from the contamination of a traffic, at which every feeling of humanity must for ever revolt,—I mean the African slave-trade.49 Neither public sentiment, nor the law, has hitherto been able entirely to put an end to this odious and abominable trade. At the moment when God in his mercy has blessed the Christian world with a universal peace, there is reason to fear, that, to the disgrace of the Christian name and character, new efforts are making for the extension of this trade by subjects and citizens of Christian states, in whose hearts there dwell no sentiments of humanity or of justice, and over whom neither the fear of God nor the fear of man exercises a control. In the sight of our law, the African slave-trader is a pirate and a felon; and in the sight of Heaven, an offender far beyond the ordinary depth of human guilt. There is no brighter page of our history, than that which records the measures which have been adopted by the government at an early day, and at different times since, for the suppression of this traffic; and I would call on all the true sons of New England to co-operate with the laws of man, and the justice of Heaven. If there be, within the extent of our knowledge or influence, any participation in this traffic, let us pledge ourselves here, upon the rock of Plymouth, to extirpate and destroy it. It is not fit that the land of the Pilgrims should bear the shame longer. I hear the sound of the hammer, I see the smoke of the furnaces where manacles and fetters are still forged for human limbs. I see the visages of those who by stealth and at midnight labor in this work of hell, foul and dark, as may become the artificers of such instruments of misery and torture. Let that spot be purified, or let it cease to be of New England. Let it be purified, or let it be set aside from the Christian world; let it be put out of the circle of human sympathies and human regards, and let civilized man henceforth have no communion with it. I would invoke those who fill the seats of justice, and all who minister at her altar, that they execute the wholesome and necessary severity of the law. I invoke the ministers of our religion, that they proclaim its denunciation of these crimes, and add its solemn sanctions to the authority of human laws. If the pulpit be silent whenever or wherever there may be a sinner bloody with this guilt within the hearing of its voice, the pulpit is false to its trust. I call on the fair merchant, who has reaped his harvest upon the seas, that he assist in scourging from those seas the worst pirates that ever infested them. That ocean, which seems to wave with a gentle magnificence to waft the burden of an honest commerce, and to roll along its treasures with a conscious pride,—that ocean, which hardy industry regards, even when the winds have ruffled its surface, as a field of grateful toil,—what is it to the victim of this oppression, when he is brought to its shores, and looks forth upon it, for 49. In reference to the opposition of the Colonies to the slave-trade, see a representation of the Board of Trade to the House of Lords, 23d January, 1733-4. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET the first time, loaded with chains, and bleeding with stripes? What is it to him but a wide-spread prospect of suffering, anguish, and death? Nor do the skies smile longer, nor is the air longer fragrant to him. The sun is cast down from heaven. An inhuman and accursed traffic has cut him off in his manhood, or in his youth, from every enjoyment belonging to his being, and every blessing which his Creator intended for him. The Christian communities send forth their emissaries of religion and letters, who stop, here and there, along the coast of the vast continent of Africa, and with painful and tedious efforts make some almost imperceptible progress in the communication of knowledge, and in the general improvement of the natives who are immediately about them. Not thus slow and imperceptible is the transmission of the vices and bad passions which the subjects of Christian states carry to the land. The slave-trade having touched the coast, its influence and its evils spread, like a pestilence, over the whole continent, making savage wars more savage and more frequent, and adding new and fierce passions to the contests of barbarians. I pursue this topic no further, except again to say, that all Christendom, being now blessed with peace, is bound by every thing which belongs to its character, and to the character of the present age, to put a stop to this inhuman and disgraceful traffic. We are bound, not only to maintain the general principles of public liberty, but to support also those existing forms of government which have so well secured its enjoyment, and so highly promoted the public prosperity. It is now more than thirty years that these States have been united under the Federal Constitution, and whatever fortune may await them hereafter, it is impossible that this period of their history should not be regarded as distinguished by signal prosperity and success. They must be sanguine indeed, who can hope for benefit from change. Whatever division of the public judgment may have existed in relation to particular measures of the government, all must agree, one should think, in the opinion, that in its general course it has been eminently productive of public happiness. Its most ardent friends could not well have hoped from it more than it has accomplished; and those who disbelieved or doubted ought to feel less concern about predictions which the event has not verified, than pleasure in the good which has been obtained. Whoever shall hereafter write this part of our history, although he may see occasional errors or defects, will be able to record no great failure in the ends and objects of government. Still less will he be able to record any series of lawless and despotic acts, or any successful usurpation. His page will contain no exhibition of provinces depopulated, of civil authority habitually trampled down by military power, or of a community crushed by the burden of taxation. He will speak, rather, of public liberty protected, and public happiness advanced; of increased revenue, and population augmented beyond all example; of the growth of commerce, manufactures, and the arts; and of that happy condition, in which the restraint and coercion of government are almost invisible and imperceptible, and its influence felt only in the benefits which it confers. We can entertain no better wish for our country, than that this government may be preserved; nor have a clearer duty than to maintain and support it in the full exercise of all its just HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET constitutional powers. The cause of science and literature also imposes upon us an important and delicate trust. The wealth and population of the country are now so far advanced, as to authorize the expectation of a correct literature and a well formed taste, as well as respectable progress in the abstruse sciences. The country has risen from a state of colonial subjection; it has established an independent government, and is now in the undisturbed enjoyment of peace and political security. The elements of knowledge are universally diffused, and the reading portion of the community is large. Let us hope that the present may be an auspicious era of literature. If, almost on the day of their landing, our ancestors founded schools and endowed colleges, what obligations do not rest upon us, living under circumstances so much more favorable both for providing and for using the means of education? Literature becomes free institutions. It is the graceful ornament of civil liberty, and a happy restraint on the asperities which political controversies sometimes occasion. Just taste is not only an embellishment of society, but it rises almost to the rank of the virtues, and diffuses positive good throughout the whole extent of its influence. There is a connection between right feeling and right principles, and truth in taste is allied with truth in morality. With nothing in our past history to discourage us, and with something in our present condition and prospects to animate us, let us hope, that, as it is our fortune to live in an age when we may behold a wonderful advancement of the country in all its other great interests, we may see also equal progress and success attend the cause of letters. Finally, let us not forget the religious character of our origin. Our fathers were brought hither by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope. They sought to incorporate its principles with the elements of their society, and to diffuse its influence through all their institutions, civil, political, or literary. Let us cherish these sentiments, and extend this influence still more widely; in the full conviction, that that is the happiest society which partakes in the highest degree of the mild and peaceful spirit of Christianity. The hours of this day are rapidly flying, and this occasion will soon be passed. Neither we nor our children can expect to behold its return. They are in the distant regions of futurity, they exist only in the all-creating power of God, who shall stand here a hundred years hence, to trace, through us, their descent from the Pilgrims, and to survey, as we have now surveyed, the progress of their country, during the lapse of a century. We would anticipate their concurrence with us in our sentiments of deep regard for our common ancestors. We would anticipate and partake the pleasure with which they will then recount the steps of New England’s advancement. On the morning of that day, although it will not disturb us in our repose, the voice of acclamation and gratitude, commencing on the Rock of Plymouth, shall be transmitted through millions of the sons of the Pilgrims, till it lose itself in the murmurs of the Pacific seas. We would leave for the consideration of those who shall then occupy our places, some proof that we hold the blessings transmitted from our fathers in just estimation; some proof of our attachment to the cause of good government, and of civil and HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET religious liberty; some proof of a sincere and ardent desire to promote every thing which may enlarge the understandings and improve the hearts of men. And when, from the long distance of a hundred years, they shall look back upon us, they shall know, at least, that we possessed affections, which, running backward and warming with gratitude for what our ancestors have done for our happiness, run forward also to our posterity, and meet them with cordial salutation, ere yet they have arrived on the shore of being. Advance, then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession, to fill the places which we now fill, and to taste the blessings of existence where we are passing, and soon shall have passed, our own human duration. We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed. We welcome you to the blessings of good government and religious liberty. We welcome you to the treasures of science and the delights of learning. We welcome you to the transcendent sweets of domestic life, to the happiness of kindred, and parents, and children. We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, the immortal hope of Christianity, and the light of everlasting truth!! HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1822

More materials out of what is now referred to as “MOURT’S RELATION”, or A RELATION OR IOURNALL..., describing the initial experiences of the “Old Comers” at their Massachusetts Bay settlement of Plymouth, were reprinted, with notes, in 2 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COLLECTION. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1824

December 22, Wednesday: Edward Everett orated at Plymouth, Massachusetts at the dedication of Pilgrim Hall, a venue for meetings and a repository for Pilgrim relics. This would be published by Cummings, Hilliard & Company at 134 Washington Street in Boston (and we infer that this publication likely is the source for a declamation that 13-year-old David Henry Thoreau would be performing at the Concord Academy in 1830). EVERETT AT PLYMOUTH

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 4th day 22 of 12 M / Last evening I recd a long letter from my Ancient frd Moses Brown & this Afternoon one from my friend Thomas Thompson of Liverpool. — There seem like a brook by the way - or refreshment in a dry season. — RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1826

January 11, Wednesday: The Reverend Joshua Barrett was ordained over the 2d Congregational Church in Plymouth, near the Manomet Ponds.

JOSHUA BARRETT [of Concord], brother to the preceding [the Reverend John Barrett], was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1810. He studied divinity and was employed as a preacher and missionary till he was ordained, January 11, 1826, over the Second church in Plymouth near the Manomet Ponds.50 ALL CONCORD COLLEGE GRADS

50. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy (On or about November 11, 1837 Henry David Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of this historical study. On July 16, 1859 he would correct a date mistake buried in the body of the text.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1830

December 30, Thursday: Wilkes Allen was born to Mary Morrill Allen and the Reverend Wilkes Allen in Chelmsford, Massachusetts.

Hon. Wendell Davis died in Sandwich. The body would be interred at Plymouth.

A convict ship, the America, set sail from England for Van Diemen’s Land, Australia. Of the 122 convicts undergoing transportation, 23 had received life sentences and the average sentence was 9 years.

Hector Berlioz reluctantly left Paris for Rome to fulfill his Prix de Rome obligations. He intended to stop at his home, La Cote-St.-Andre along the way.

Friend Stephen Wanton Gould wrote in his journal: 5th day 30th of 12 M 1830 / This day 49 Years ago I was born in Newport - I do not know as I can say much on the event. — I have much to be thankful for - have passed thro’ some trials & recd many blessings & favours — & my heart is often deeply fraught with gratitude, & desires raised that some due returns of devotion may be made to HIM who has cared for & protected & preserved me all my life long — Thro’ the step - by paths of youth, to sober man hood, & to the advance of Old Age. — But I have nothing of my own to offer. - all is thro’ his mercy & the Intercession of Christ our Holy Redeemer — For some time past it has been a season of favour with me. — The love of my youth & the days of mine espousals have been remembered & in some degree renewed - We are now situated at the Yearly Meeting Boarding School in Providence where we have an ample field to exert ourselves in the promotion of the good cause & devote ourselves to the service of the Society which both me & my dear wife love & wish to serve. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1832

Dr. James T. Thatcher’s HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PLYMOUTH, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1620, TO THE PRESENT YEAR (Boston: Marsh, Capen & Lyon) indicated heightened interest in the history of the Plymouth Rock. Here is the 1620 moment at the rock as (somewhat inaccurately) visualized by Michele Felice Cornè:

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1834

Mrs. Felicia Hemans’s NATIONAL LYRICS AND SONGS FOR MUSIC; SCENES AND HYMNS OF LIFE WITH OTHER RELIGIOUS POEMS (dedicated to William Wordsworth); HYMNS FOR CHILDHOOD; paper on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “Torquato Tasso” as it appeared in New Monthly.51

At some point prior to 1835 the Reverend William Ellery Channing visited this poet in her home near Windermere and commented that he had heard her hymn “The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers in New England” sung by a large crowd, on the spot where allegedly the Pilgrims had landed.

But when she asked him about this “stern and rock-bound” coast this divine was forced to advise her that it was actually nothing more than a low strip of featureless sand — and the poet began to sob. One wonders what would have happened had the Reverend gone on to advise her that in addition this American town Plymouth, Massachusetts stood at the mouth of no River Plym?52

FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS

51. The play had been created in 1790 and would be translated into English in 1861. 52. And what would her reaction have been had she learned that the white Plymouth Rock is a strain of domestic poultry raised for broiler meat and brown eggs? (but that wouldn’t begin until 1865 when the Dominic strain and the Black Cochin strain of chickens would be crossed to produce the 1st novelty version, the Barred Plymouth Rock). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Joseph B. Felt’s HISTORY OF IPSWICH, ESSEX AND HAMILTON explained that although the lightning rod had been invented by Benjamin Franklin (that had been in about 1749), at this point, although an entire span of human life had passed, this device had been but little used in any part of Ipswich — except on the old jail. By this year, although still none of the structures in either Essex or Hamilton were protected by lightning rods, yet there had been a grand sum total of merely seven installed in Ipswich. A likely reason for such inertia would have been the general Colonial sentiment that such devices testified to a reluctance to rely upon God’s Providence, causing the electric fluid to deviate from its natural and direct course. By this point in time, however, a change was being accomplished in the public thinking, and such a Christian sentiment in opposition to the marvels of science and technology was coming to be generally condemned under the rubric “Mahommedan fatality.”

HILLS These, as well as other features of the soil, will be put down, partly preceded by the year, when first found upon record, though most of them must have been previously designated. The reason of the hills being called as they are, is, for the most part, suggested by their names. Those not mentioned as belonging elsewhere, are within the present limits of Ipswich, and their situation may be seen on the map of this place.

1634: Castle 1635: Great bare — Heart-Break 1637: Rabbit — Hurtleberry — Captain Turner’s — Little Turner’s — Turkey 1647: Rocky 1655: Bartholomew 1662: Wilderness 1665: Red-Root 1673: Averill’s 1676: Wigwam 1678: Wind-Mill 1689: Paine’s 1691: Bragg’s 1702: Long — Brush — Tobacco-Pipe — Scott’s — Pigeon — Pine — Timber — Steep Some of the hills contained on the map of Ipswich may be partly among those on the preceding list, but with changed names; as North Ridge — Town — Jewett — Prospect — Boar — Eagle — Plover — Burnham — White’s — Perkins’s, and Eveleth’s now in Essex 1638: Sagamore 1678: Lamson’s 1702: Whipple or Job’s — Vineyard — Dean’s — Wigwam — Brown’s and Independent, Sagamore hill, and the others which follow it in the paragraph, are all in Hamilton. The two last are modern names.

PLAIN This was denominated Wolf-Pen, a place for catching wolves.

MEADOWS 1634: Rocky 1635: Far 1637: West 1647: New, between Topsfield and Hamilton — Nealand and Conant’s, on Topsfield bounds — Perley’s, in Essex.

SWAMPS 1635: Great Pine 1678: Cedar — Bear, in Hamilton — Long, in Essex.

MARSHES 1635: Reed — Rocky. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET CREEKS 1634: Labor-in-vain 1635: Chebacco, in Essex 1650: Robinson — Walker 1667: Green 1672: Whitred 1678: Muscle Other creeks, Sluice — Dane — Fox — Boardman — Paine On the map are the following: Rodgers — Lord — Treadwell — Neck — Six-Geese — Metcalf — Broad — Law — Wallis — Stacy — Kimball — Hart — Baker — West — Grape — Pine.

COVES 1638: Great 1716: Muscle — Neck — Lord’s.

POINTS 1635: Moore 1667: Green — Cedar — Brewer — Safford — Hog Island — Deacon Sam — Cross Bank — Holland — Sawyer — Bar Island.

NECKS 1635: Little — Great — Jeffrey 1655: Castle — Crope’s.

BANKS Thatch — Cross — Nub — Hart — Beach — Neck, or Patch.

PARTICULAR PLACES Turkey Shore — Diamond’s Stage 1635: Great Crook 1639: Aspine Rock 1643: Poor Man’s Field 1650: Far Chebacco, towards Gloucester — The Hundreds 1662: Argilla 1678: Great Pasture, near Gloucester line — Cow-Keeper Rock — The Eighths — Town Landing — Sheep Walks, several places where shepherds kept flocks of sheep 1707: Blind Hole.

SPRINGS Indian 1678: Lummus, on Wenham line — Bath — Bear Swamp, in Hamilton.

BROOKS 1635: Mile, running from Wenham pond to Ipswich river 1637: Gravel 1649: Pye 1660: Saunders 1681: Black, in Hamilton — Howlet, on Topsfield bounds — Choate, in Essex — Bull — Potter — Norton.

PONDS 1662: Pleasant, on Wenham line 1671: Baker, on Topsfield limits — Prichard — Duck — Perley, in Essex — Chebacco, partly in Essex and partly in Hamilton — Beck — Round and Gravel, in Hamilton. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET RIVERS Ipswich. Speaking of this, Johnson says, 1646, “A faire and delightful river, whose first rise or spring begins about twenty-five miles farther up the country, issuing forth a very pleasant pond. But soon after, it betakes its course through a most hideous swamp of large extent, even for many miles, being a great harbour for bears. After its coming forth this place, it groweth larger by the income of many small rivers, and issues forth in the sea, due east against the Island of Sholes, a great place of fishing for our English nation.” 1634, Chebacco, having falls and running from Chebacco pond, in Essex 1635: North, or Egypt, flowing into Rowley river 1637: Muddy, emptying into the same — Rodgers Island 1707: Mill, running out of long swamp into the great pond, beyond Chebacco river.

ISLANDS Plumb. In the grant of King James, 1621, to Captain John Mason, of land between Naumkeag and Merrimack rivers, there is the subsequent clause; “The great Isle, henceforth to be called, Isle of Mason, lying near or before the bay, harbour, or river of Agawam.” This must have been Plumb Island, part of which was set off to Ipswich by the General Court, 1639 1637: Hog, in Essex 1662: Diamon 1668: Perkins — Boreman 1673: Bagwell — Birch — Rogers — Treadwell — Tilton — Bull — Horse — Manning — Grape — Millstone — Holy — Eagle — Mighill’s Garden — Groce — Bar, — Story — Round — Corn — Cross; the four last in Essex.

INLAND ISLANDS 1707: Gregory, in Chebacco Pond — Hemlock, on Wenham line.

HARBOUR Smith says of Agawam, — “This place might content a right curious judgment; but there are many sands at the entrance of the harbour, and the worst is, it is imbayed too farre from the deepe sea.” His opinion, though differing from that of the first settlers at Plymouth, was correct. Had the harbour of Ipswich been deep and capacious, it would probably have been a metropolis. The natural advantages or disadvantages of a place, make it either great or small, in the process of ages.

March 13, Thursday: Lydia Jackson, 31 years of age and unmarried, had a chance to meet and talk to Waldo Emerson after a lecture in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

UNDATED: At some point Lydia Jackson’s older sister Mrs. Lucy Cotton Jackson Brown was abandoned by her husband Mr. Charles Brown, a merchant, who dropped out of sight leaving her to provide for their young children Francis C. “Frank” Brown and Sophia Brown.

The Reverend Waldo Emerson, preaching in a church in Plymouth, Massachusetts, was seen and heard by Lydia for the 2d time. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Our national birthday, Friday the 4th of July: A man who was at both the battle of Lexington and the battle of Bunker Hill attended ceremonies in New Haven, Connecticut — in the original coat he had then worn.

At the Hermitage Inn in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the traditional 4th-of- July address was delivered by David Crockett, and anti-abolitionist Americans destroyed the homes of more than 36 black Americans.

On this day, elsewhere, Richard Henry Dana, Sr. was delivering an oration upon The Law.

In Plymouth (after Dr. James T. Thatcher’s HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF PLYMOUTH, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 1620, TO THE PRESENT YEAR had in 1832 heightened interest in the town’s history), it having been decided that the glacial erratic known as “Forefathers Rock” in the town square was rapidly becoming small, that it needed to be moved to protect it from all the souvenir sellers, it had been relocated. During the move it had rolled off its conveyance in front of the City Hall and broken again — but in this escape attempt it hadn’t gotten far and we had simply cemented it back together. On this date the installation of the rock in its new milieu was suitably celebrated.53

New-York’s annual Convention of People of Color set July 4th as a day of prayer and contemplation of the condition of blacks. Meanwhile, a group of white laboring men broke up an amalgamated meeting of the Anti-

53. On some date unknown to me, Elizabeth Barrett Browning would create a poem “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point” which would implausibly pose a runaway slave before this rock, pouring out to the “pilgrim-souls” the sadness of her own personal pilgrimage to a new land. She had murdered her infant because it had displayed the features of the white master who had raped her. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Slavery Society at the Chatham Street Chapel in New-York to protest blacks and whites sitting in the same audience (they were resentful, of course, of the presence in America of free black Americans to drive down their wages and benefits). Here is a hymn written by Friend John Greenleaf Whittier for the occasion:

O Thou, whose presence went before But oh, for those this day can bring, Our fathers in their weary way, As unto us, no joyful thrill; As with Thy chosen moved of yore, For those who, under Freedom’s wing, The fire by night, the cloud by day! Are bound in Slavery’s fetters still: When from each temple of the free, For those to whom Thy written word A nation’s song ascend to Heaven, Of light and love is never given; Most Holy Father! unto Thee, For those whose ears have never heard May not our humble prayer be given? The promise and the hope of heaven! Thy children still, though hue and form For broken heart, and clouded mind, Are varied in Thine own good will, Whereon no human mercies fall; With Thy own holy breathings warm. Oh, be Thy gracious love inclined, And fashioned in Thine image still. Who, as a Father, pitiest all! We thank Thee, Father! hill land plain And grant, O Father! that the time Around us wave their fruits once more, Of Earth’s deliverance may be near, And clustered vine and blossomed grain When every land and tongue and clime Are bending round each cottage door. The message of Thy love shall hear; And peace is here; and hope and love When, smitten as with fire from heaven, Are round us as a mantle thrown, The captive’s chains shall sink in dust, And unto Thee, supreme above, And to his fettered soul be given The knee of prayer is bowed alone. The glorious freedom of the just!

ABOLITIONISM

This protest would break out, again, on the 10th and 11th of the month, with the trashing not only of 60 black homes and 6 black churches but also of homes of white people known to be seeking to abolish human slavery — this was, after all, the year in which the song “Old Zip Coon,” the minstrel song which eventually would evolve into “Turkey in the Straw,” was born! RACISM POPULAR SONGS

Samuel Ringgold Ward was present, as he had been intending to hear an antislavery lecture by David Paul Brown of Philadelphia, but in his account of the rioting he would prefer to point up the fact that this violence had been organized by members of the local merchant class: A lawyer well known to fame, David Paul Brown, Esq., of Philadelphia, was always ready to render his peerless services in defence of any person claimed as a slave. On the fourth day of July, 1834, this gentleman was invited to deliver an anti- HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET slavery oration in Chatham Chapel, and, of course, the coloured people mustered in strong array to hear so well known a champion of freedom; but the meeting was dispersed by a mob, gathered and sustained by the leading commercial and political men and journals of that great city. It was Independence Day — a day, of all days, sacred to freedom. What Mr. Brown came to tell us was, that the principles, enunciated in few words, in the Declaration of Independence — “We hold these truths to be self- evident truths, that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” — applied as well to black men as to white men. This the aristocracy of New York could not endure; and therefore, just fifty-eight years from the very hour that the Declaration of 1776 was made, the mob of the New York merchants broke up this assembly. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Here is a view of our nation’s capital city during this year, a painting by George Cooke as transformed into an aquatint engraving by W.J. Bennett. This should be available on 13 1/4” x 16 7/8” cover stock paper in a heavy mailing tube from Historic Urban Plans, Inc., Box 276, Ithaca NY 14851 (607 272-MAPS), for roughly $16.50 inclusive of postage.

In Washington DC, the first Trades Union celebration occurred. CELEBRATING OUR B-DAY

On this day, elsewhere, Nathaniel Hawthorne, who detested American blacks, was having his 30th birthday.

Publication of Die Schule des Legato und Staccato op.335 by Carl Czerny was announced in the Wiener Zeitung. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Not earlier than Thursday, November 13: The Reverend Waldo Emerson received Thomas Carlyle’s packet containing the 4 stitched pamphlet copies of the complete SARTOR RESARTUS: “one copy for your own behoof” as the author had phrased it, plus “three others you can perhaps find fit readers for.” Emerson would pass on these extras to the Reverend Frederic Henry Hedge in West Cambridge, to Mrs. Sarah Alden Bradford Ripley in Waltham, and to Lydia Jackson in Plymouth. Mrs. Ripley’s home in Waltham was functioning not only as a school for young women and a parsonage for her husband the Reverend Samuel Ripley, but also as a general clearinghouse for Transcendental thought. Carlyle’s opus would be read aloud there on winter evenings, and the Reverend Ripley definitely read it. Young Lydia’s circle in Plymouth included not less than 7 others (Elizabeth Davis, Abby Burr Hedge, Eunice Dennie Hedge, Hannah Hedge, Andrew Russell, LeBaron Russell, and Nathaniel Russell) all of whom would presumably read or be hearing much about Carlyle’s opus. Lydia’s friend George Partridge Bradford, Mrs. Ripley’s younger brother and thus Emerson’s half-uncle, would definitely be reading it. It is a wonder these enthusiasts didn’t wear the print right off the page!

SARTOR RESARTUS STUDY THIS STRANGENESS

On this day the remains of Francois-Adrien Boieldieu were being laid to rest in Rouen, his birthplace. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1835

The glacial erratic known as “Plymouth Rock” was again placed on display in Plymouth, but this time in front of Pilgrim Hall and inside a fence fashioned of picturesquely rusting whaling harpoons and old boathooks.54

54. I suppose we can consider ourselves fortunate that this town’s industries were not salt evaporation pans and the curing of cod, or our Rock might have had to be placed on display under a canopy for the sun-drying of fillets inside a fence made of old salt rakes! HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1837

Robert Walter Weir’s 12' x 18' oil on canvas “Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delfshaven in Holland” was commissioned, to depict the Pilgrims on the deck of the Speedwell before they departed from Delfs Haven, Holland on their way to join the Mayflower at Southampton. The painting focuses on Elder William Brewster, who is holding an open Bible. They seem to be seeking God’s blessing on their weaponry, piled at the center. This would be installed in the US Capitol Rotunda. This painting would unleash the floodgates, bringing about heroic group portraiture after heroic group portraiture of our Founding Families of Plymouth depicted at various of their fave activities such as walking to church or offering a Thanksgiving feast — which in turn would unleash, later, the floodgates for tableaux vivants of local folks dressed up to resemble Pilgrims, gathered together in a group in such manner as to imitate one or another of these heroic group portraitures that had become culturally famous — and in the end we would all be experiencing such tourist curiosities as Plimoth Plantation.

John Gadsby Chapman’s painting “The First Ship” inaugurated the era of visual depictions of what G. Harrison Orians has termed “the cult of the vanishing American.”55 We don’t have this canvas any more, but we do have

55. Orians, G. Harrison. THE CULT OF THE VANISHING AMERICAN: A CENTURY VIEW, 1834-1934. Toledo OH: The H.J. Chittenden Company, 1934. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET 56 an engraving of a similar painting, published in 1842 in the gift book THE TOKEN AND ATLANTIC SOUVENIR:

And here is a detail of the same, showing the horizon and the strange sea object upon which the Native American other gazes:

56. Boston MA: David H. Williams, 1837. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1840

After teaching for awhile at the public school in Plymouth from which he himself had graduated, Robert Bartlett had accepted employment at Harvard College as a tutor and proctor. He would be known among the undergraduates as “Bobbie Bartlett” (they would be able to annoy him by staring at his feet, which were large). He became engaged to Elizabeth Crowell White of Plymouth, but for only a short period (she also would die of pulmonary tuberculosis). He wrote: I got back from Concord yesterday evening. I have had a very delightful time. I stopped with Mr. Alcott. You can hardly conceive of a more paradisiacal spot than he has. He is working too like a true hero; he has refused all the predictions his friends made, who were afraid that he would not thrive in the details of business. Mr. Alcott inquired about you and spoke of having read a letter of your to Mrs. Emerson, with which he seemed pleased. It was that in which you wrote to her of my experiences in connection with Elizabeth White; and the mention of it led to some conversation about the matter. I talked with him just as freely as I would to anybody on earth. You always feel like talking so to him after you know him. His home is about a mile from Mr. Emerson’s. We had a meeting for conversation there Sunday evening, and Mr. Alcott talked, but not very well for him. We had a talk at Mr. Emerson’s on Saturday evening. Mr. Bradford and Mr. Briggs were there.

“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

While vacationing at a “tranquil retreat” near Boston called “Brook Farm” Mrs. Sophia Dana Ripley and the Reverend George Ripley concluded that the place had possibilities.57

In the winter of 1840, the Reverend Ripley would purchase Brook Farm. A few months later the Articles of Association would be drawn up, the stock would have subscribers, and Institute officers would be elected. BROOK FARM VS. FRUITLANDS

57.The farm had 208 acres of land and was not greatly isolated as it was only three miles from the Dedham Branch Railroad. Edwin Morton of Plymouth would be able to see Brook Farm from the inside because both his father and his uncle invested in the venture (they would lose their money, as did most of the kind souls who thus contributed). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1842

February: If you were for some reason to pay a visit to the headquarters of the Society of Mayflower Descendants on North Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts, you would be able to inspect there a rocking chair coated in dark lacquer with, mounted on its back, a brass plaque that announces:

In This Chair Dr. Charles Jackson Discovered Etherization, February 1842 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1843

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s THE MAYFLOWER, a collection of short stories about New England. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET September 25, Monday: Having resigned from his vicarage of St. Mary’s, Oxford after finding that he had begun to question the true catholicity of the Church of England, the Reverend John Henry Newman preached his last Anglican sermon at Littlemore.

Robert Bartlett died of pulmonary consumption in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The body would be placed in Oak Grove Cemetery. That fall his former fiancée Elizabeth Crowell White had also been suffering under the final stages of tuberculosis, and it would appear that at this stage their previous interest in one another, which had led to a temporary engagement to be married, had been somewhat rekindled (or so some have pleasantly imagined).

Henry Thoreau was written to by Margaret Fuller. Dear Henry, You are not, I know, deeply interested in the chapter of little etiquettes, yet I think out of kindness you will be willing to read a text therein & act conform- HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ably in my behalf— As I read the text on the subject of [v]isits or [v]isitations, our hosts martyr themselves every way for us, their guests, while we are with them, in time, temper, & purse, but we are expected to get to them and get away from them as we can. Then I ought to have paid for the carriage which came to take me away[,] though I went in another. But I did not see the man when I got down to the landing[, — I] do not know what is the due, but [E.] Hoar told me the enclosed was enough[,] will you pay it for me wherever it belongs & pardon the care- lessness that gives you this trouble? Immediately after my return I passed two days at Concord, a visit all too short, yet pleasant. The cottages of the Irish laborers look pretty just now but their railroad looks foreign to Concord. Mr Emerson has written a fine poem, you will see it in the Dial. Ellery will not go to the West, at least not this year[.] He regrets your absence, you, he says, are the man to be with in the Woods. I remember my visit to Staten Island

Page 2 with great pleasure[,] & find your hist[o]ries and the grand pictures you showed me are very full in my mind[.] I have not yet [dreamt] of the fort, but I intend to some leisure night. With best regards to Mr & Mrs Emerson, whose hospitality I hold in grateful remembrance, yours S.M. Fuller. 25th[.] Septr/43

Address: Mr Henry Thoreau Care W. Emerson Esq 61 Wall St N. York. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1844

Robert Walter Weir’s 12' x 18' oil on canvas “Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delfthaven in Holland” had been commissioned in 1837. In this year it was installed in the US Capitol Rotunda:

The 2d edition of the Reverend Alexander Young’s CHRONICLES OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS OF THE COLONY OF PLYMOUTH, FROM 1602 TO 1625. NOW FIRST COLLECTED FROM ORIGINAL RECORDS AND 58 CONTEMPORANEOUS PRINTED DOCUMENTS, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES, published by Charles C. Little and James Brown in Boston in this year, depicted the Pilgrim Fathers who planted the colony of Plymouth, from their origin in the Reverend John Robinson’s congregation in 1602 to that reverend’s demise in 1625. The source used was primarily Governor Bradford’s HISTORY OF THE PLYMOUTH COLONY, which had contained a detailed history of this congregation’s rise in the north of England, their residence in Holland, the causes which led to their emigration, and the means whereby they had transported themselves to America.

58. Gov. Bradford’s History of Plymouth colony.–Bradford’s and Winslow’s journal (i.e. Mourt’s relation)– Cushman’s Discourse.–Winslow’s Relation.–Winslow’s Brief narration.–Gov. Bradford’s Dialogue.–Gov. Bradford’s Memoir of Elder Brewster.–Letters HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

WALDEN: This further experience also I gained. I said to myself, PEOPLE OF I will not plant beans and corn with so much industry another WALDEN summer, but such seeds, if the seed is not lost, as sincerity, truth, simplicity, faith, innocence, and the like, and see if they will not grow in this soil, even with less toil and manurance, and sustain me, for surely it has not been exhausted for these crops. Alas! I said this to myself; but now another summer is gone, and another, and another, and I am obliged to say to you, Reader, that the seeds which I planted, if indeed they were the seeds of those virtues, were wormeaten or had lost their vitality, and so did not come up. Commonly men will only be brave as their fathers were brave, or timid. This generation is very sure to plant corn and beans each new year precisely as the Indians did centuries ago and taught the first settlers to do, as if there were a fate in it. I saw an old man the other day, to my astonishment, making the holes with a hoe for the seventieth time at least, and not for himself to lie down in! But why should not the New Englander try new adventures, and not lay so much stress on his grain, his potato and grass crop, and his orchards? –raise other crops than these? Why concern ourselves so much about our beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about a new generation of men? We should really be fed and cheered if when we met a man we were sure to see that some of the qualities which I have named, which we all prize more than those other productions, but which are for the most part broadcast and floating in the air, had taken root and grown in him. Here comes such a subtile and ineffable quality, for instance, as truth or justice, though the slightest amount or new variety of it, along the road. Our ambassadors should be instructed to send home such seeds as these, and Congress help to distribute them over all the land. We should never stand upon ceremony with sincerity.

ALEXANDER YOUNG THE BEANFIELD SQUANTO

Where Thoreau would refer in CAPE COD to Young’s “Chronicles,” it is more likely that he would be referring to this CHRONICLES OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS OF THE COLONY OF PLYMOUTH, FROM 1602 TO 1625 than to the Reverend Young’s CHRONICLES OF THE FIRST PLANTERS OF . . . MASSACHUSETTS BAY — although Thoreau also utilized that other volume.

The Reverend Young’s discourse on Judge William Prescott, father of the historian William H. Prescott, was published in Boston. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1846

The Reverend Alexander Young’s CHRONICLES OF THE FIRST PLANTERS OF THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY FROM 1623 TO 1636. NOW FIRST COLLECTED FROM ORIGINAL RECORDS AND CONTEMPORANEOUS MANUSCRIPTS, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH NOTES was published by Charles C. Little and James Brown in Boston.59 He was awarded the degree of DD by Harvard College.

A copy of a MS by Governor William Bradford of Plimouth Colony turned up in the library of the Lord Bishop of London.

59. White, John. Brief relation of the ... planting of this colony –Hubbard, William. Narrative of the discovery and first planting of the Massachusetts – Massachusetts Bay. The original records of the governor and company – Cradock, [M.] Letter to Captain John Endicott – Massachusetts Bay company. Instructions to Endicott and his council. Agreement with the ministers – Higginson, F. Journal of his voyage. New-England’s plantation – General considerations for planting in New-England. The agreement at Cambridge –Massachusetts Bay company. Letters to Higginson and Endicott. The humble request – Dudley, [T.] Letter to the Countess of Lincoln – Clap, Roger. Memoirs. Charlestown. Records – Wood, William. Description of Massachusetts – Whiting, S. John Cotton’s life and letters – Mather, R. Journal – Thacher, A. Narrative of his shipwreck – Shepard, T. Memoir of his own life. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

CAPE COD: Very different is the general and off-hand account given PEOPLE OF by Captain John Smith, who was on this coast six years earlier, CAPE COD and speaks like an old traveller, voyager, and soldier, who had seen too much of the world to exaggerate, or even to dwell long, on a part of it. In his “Description of New England,” printed in JOHN SMITH 1616, after speaking of Accomack, since called Plymouth, he says: “Cape Cod is the next presents itself, which is only a headland of high hills of sand, overgrown with shrubby pines, hurts, and such trash, but an excellent harbor for all weathers. This Cape is made by the main sea on the one side, and a great bay on the other, in form of a sickle.” Champlain had already written, “Which CHAMPLAIN we named Cap Blanc (Cape White), because they were sands and downs (sables et dunes) which appeared thus.” When the Pilgrims get to Plymouth their reporter says again, “The land for the crust of the earth is a spit’s depth,” — that would seem to be their recipe for an earth’s crust, — “excellent black mould and fat in some places.” However, according to Bradford himself, whom some BRADFORD consider the author of part of “Mourt’s Relation,” they who came over in the Fortune the next year were somewhat daunted when “they came into the harbor of Cape Cod, and there saw nothing but a naked and barren place.” They soon found out their mistake with respect to the goodness of Plymouth soil. Yet when at length, some years later, when they were fully satisfied of the poorness of the place which they had chosen, “the greater part,” says Bradford, “consented to a removal to a place called Nausett,” they agreed to remove all together to Nauset, now Eastham, which was jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire; and some of the most respectable of the inhabitants of Plymouth did actually remove thither accordingly. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

CAPE COD: It must be confessed that the Pilgrims possessed but few of the qualities of the modern pioneer. They were not the ancestors of the American backwoodsmen. They did not go at once into the woods with their axes. They were a family and church, and were more anxious to keep together, though it were on the sand, than to explore and colonize a New World. When the above- mentioned company removed to Eastham, the church at Plymouth was left, to use Bradford’s expression, “like an ancient mother grown BRADFORD old, and forsaken of her children.” Though they landed on Clark’s Island in Plymouth harbor, the 9th of December (O.S.), and the 16th all hands came to Plymouth, and the 18th they rambled about the mainland, and the 19th decided to settle there, it was the 8th of January before Francis Billington went with one of the master’s mates to look at the magnificent pond or lake now called “Billington Sea,” about two miles distant, which he had discovered from the top of a tree, and mistook for a great sea. And the 7th of March “Master Carver with five others went to the great ponds which seem to be excellent fishing,” both which points are within the compass of an ordinary afternoon’s ramble, — however wild the country. It is true they were busy at first about their building, and were hindered in that by much foul weather; but a party of emigrants to California or Oregon, with no less work on their hands, — and more hostile Indians — would do as much exploring the first afternoon, and the Sieur de Champlain would CHAMPLAIN have sought an interview with the savages, and examined the country as far as the Connecticut, and made a map of it, before Billington had climbed his tree. Or contrast them only with the French searching for copper about the Bay of Fundy in 1603, tracing up small streams with Indian guides. Nevertheless, the Pilgrims were pioneers, and the ancestors of pioneers, in a far grander enterprise. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Some sort of apparently authentic war club, heavy pipe, and belt of beads, shells, and bones alleged to have been the ones allegedly collected by Alderman at the site of his killing of Metacom and alleged to have been passed on to Captain Benjamin Church and then allegedly to the Reverend John Checkley by Metacom’s killer, allegedly in exchange for the Reverend’s gold watch, were loaned at this point by Angelica Gilbert James to the Historical Society of Connecticut in Hartford. She alleged that she had inherited these items from her distant ancestor, the Reverend Checkley of Providence, Rhode Island. Eventually the Historical Society would return these three items to her but, in the process of returning them, all track would be lost of a couple of the items and only the war club is presently locatable.

The barrel of the gun with which, supposedly, King Phillip had been slain, was at this point on display in Plymouth, and this, at least, does appear to have been an authentic relic — at least in the sense that some such relic was indeed at the time on display, a physical object whatever its provenance, so described, and thus it would be glimpsed by Henry Thoreau in 1851:

July 31, Thursday: Those same round shells (Scutella parma (placenta) ?) on the sand as at Cape Cod, the live ones reddish the dead white– Went off early this morning with Uncle Ned to catch bass with the small fish I had found on the sand the night before– 2 of his neighbor Albert Watson’s boys were there –not James the oldest –but Edward the sailor & Mortimer –(or Mort –) in their boat They killed some striped basse (Labrax lineatus) with paddles in a shallow creek in the sand –& caught some lobsters. I remarked that the sea shore was singularly clean for notwithstanding the spattering of the water & mud & squirting of the clams & wading to & fro the boat my best black pants retained no stains nor dirt as they would acquire from walking in the country. I caught a bass with a young — haik? (perchance) trailing 30 feet behind while Uncle Ned paddled.– They catch them in England with a “trawl-net” sometimes they weigh 75 lbs here “UNCLE NED” WATSON At 11 AM set sail to Plymouth. We went somewhat out of a direct course to take advantage of the tide which was coming in. Saw the site of the first house which was burned –on Leyden Street –walked up the same. – parallel with the Town Brook. Hill from which Billington Sea was discovered hardly a mile from the shore on Watsons grounds. Watsons Hill where treaty was made across brook South of Burying Hill At [Marston] Watsons– The Oriental Plane– Abies Douglasii– ginkgo tree q.v. on Common. –a foreign hardhack –Eng. oak –dark colored small leaf –Spanish chestnut. Chinese arbor-vitæ– Norway spruce like our fir balsam– A new kind of fir-balsam– Black eagle one of the good cherries– fuchsias in hot house– Earth bank covered with cement. PEREGRINE WHITE Mr Thomas Russel –who cannot be 70 –at whose house on Leyden st. I took tea & spent the evening –told me that he remembered to have seen Ebeneezer Cobb a nat. of Plymouth who died in Kingston in 1801 aged 107 who remembered to have had personal knowledge of Peregrine White saw him an old man riding on horse back –(he lived to be 83)– White was born at Cape Cod harbor before the Pilgrims got to Plymouth– C. Sturgis’s mother told me the same of herself at the same time. She remembered Cobb sitting in an arm chair like the one she herself occupied with his silver locks falling about his shoulders twirling one thumb over the other– Russell told me that he once bought some primitive woodland in P. which was sold at auction the bigest Pitch pines 2 ft diameter –for 8 shillings an acre– If he had bought enough it would have been a pasture. There is still forest in this town which the axe has not touched says Geo. Bradford. According to Thatchers Hist. of P. there were 11,662 acres of woodland in ’31. or 20 miles square. Pilgrims first saw Bil. sea about Jan 1st –visited it Jan 8th. The oldest stone in the Plymouth Burying ground 1681 (Coles? hill where those who died the first winter were buried –said to have been levelled & sown to conceal loss from Indians.) Oldest on our hill 1677 In Mrs Plympton’s Garden on Leyden st. running down to Town Brook. Saw an abundance of pears –gathered excellent June-eating apples –saw a large lilack about 8 inches diameter– Methinks a soil may improve when at length it has shaded itself with vegetation. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Wm S Russel the Registrer at the Court House showed the oldest Town records. for all are preserved –on 1st page a plan of Leyden st dated Dec. 1620 –with names of settlers. They have a great many folios. The writing plain. Saw the charter granted by the Plymouth Company to the Pilgrims signed by Warwick date 1629 & the box in which it was brought over with the seal. Pilgrim Hall– They used to crack off pieces of the Forefathers Rock for visitors with a cold chisel till the town forebade it. The stone remaining at wharf is about 7 ft square. Saw 2 old arm chairs that came over in the May flower.– the large picture by Sargent.– Standish’s sword.– gun barrel with which Philip was killed – – mug & pocket-book of Clark the mate– Iron pot of Standish.– Old pipe tongs. Ind relics a flayer KING PHILLIP PLYMOUTH ROCK

a pot or mortar of a kind of fire proof stone very hard–

only 7 or 8 inches long. A Commission from Cromwell to Winslow? –his signature torn off. They talk of a monument on the rock. The burying hill 165 ft high. Manomet 394 ft high by state map. Saw more pears at Washburn’s garden. No graves of Pilgrims. Seaweed generally used along shore– Saw the Prinos glabra, inkberry at Bil. sea. Sandy plain with oaks of various kinds cut in less than 20 yrs– No communication with Sandwich– P end of world 50 miles thither by rail road– Old. Colony road poor property. Nothing saves P. but the rock. Fern-leaved beach– Saw the King crab Limulus polyphemus –horseshoe & saucepan fish –at the island covered with sea green & buried in the sand –for concealment. In P. the Convolvulus arvensis –small Bindweed. CLARK’S ISLAND BOSTON HARBOR HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

The following preposterous illustration of Metacom was prepared by Samuel Griswold Goodrich for Graham’s American Monthly Magazine: HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1851

July 25, Friday-August 1, Friday: During this period, soon after the “Wild/Walking” lectures, Henry Thoreau went on an excursion by getting aboard a 7AM train to Boston, then catching the 9AM boat to Hull, then on foot via Nantasket, Cohasset, Duxbury, Scituate, and Marshfield to Plymouth along the Massachusetts “South Shore,” where he visited his friends Benjamin Marston Watson and Mary Russell Watson, and returned home via Boston. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET CAPE COD

It would appear that this was traced by Thoreau himself. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1st visit, 1849 — by train — by stage — on foot 4th visit, 1857 — on foot HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1st visit, 1849 — by train — by stage — on foot 4th visit, 1857 — on foot View Cornell University Library’s webpage of an 1869 history of this Cape Cod town by Frederick Freeman:

http://historical.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/cul.cdl/docviewer?did=cdl447&view=50&frames=0&seq=17 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Note that he initially stopped at Cohasset, Massachusetts to visit Mrs. Ellen Devereux Sewall Osgood and the Reverend Joseph Osgood with their newborn infant Edmond Quincy Sewell Osgood, and also called at Ellen’s parents’ home in Scituate. Note also that while attempting to wade out to Clark’s Island in Plymouth Harbor 60 he almost drowned, but made no comment on this in his JOURNAL. TIMELINE OF ACCIDENTS

The owner and inhabitant of the island, Edward Winslow “Uncle Ned” Watson, was an original well worth one’s attention: a poet, a sea farmer, a sailer and philosopher whom everyone knew as “Uncle Ned,”61 who had inherited the island from remote ancestors. Thoreau had become impatient while waiting for conveyance to the island, had misjudged the distance and the changing tides, and had tried to wade across mud flats to the island. He got caught in the rip tide and was saved by one Sam Burgess who happened by in a small 62 lobster-pot boat. Some people saw and recorded this incident, or we would not know of it. It was just after this incident, in which Thoreau almost “became a dead poet at last,” that an infamous exchange in regard to

60. He also made no allusion to the fact that the island had been used as a detention facility for Native Americans. Was Thoreau aware that he was walking on the site of a former concentration camp, exactly as if he had been walking on Deer Island in Boston Harbor where the Praying Indians of the Concord region had been held during “King Philip’s War”? 61. As opposed to “Uncle Bill” Watson, who lived in a schooner. 62. See page 53 of Geller, Lawrence D. BETWEEN CONCORD AND PLYMOUTH: THE TRANSCENDENTALISTS AND THE WATSONS (Concord MA: Thoreau Lyceum, 1973). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET the hound/horse/turtledove parable of WALDEN; OR, LIFE IN THE WOODS occurred.

WALDEN: In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and notch it on my stick too; to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and future, which is precisely the present moment; to toe that line. You will pardon some obscurities, for there are more secrets in my trade than in most men’s, and yet not voluntarily kept, but inseparable from its very nature. I would gladly tell all that I know about it, and never paint “No Admittance” on my gate. I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle-dove, and am still on their trail. Many are the travellers I have spoken concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud, and they seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them themselves. To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! How many mornings, summer and winter, before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been about mine! No doubt many of my townsmen have met me returning from this enterprise, farmers starting for Boston in the twilight, or woodchoppers going to their work. It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET When questioned, Thoreau said only

“Well Sir, I suppose we have all had our losses,”

and “Uncle Ned” Watson commented in return

“That’s a pretty way to answer a fellow.”

Just after September 19, 1850 Thoreau had met a widow who had lost a child:

Those have met with losses, who have lost their children. I saw the widow this morning whose son was drowned.

I think it interesting that • this conversation occurred just after Thoreau had visited the woman to whom he had proposed marriage • this conversation occurred just after Thoreau himself almost drowned • this conversation occurred on the grounds of a former racial concentration camp where an entire group of people had had their losses

and I find it interesting also that no commentator previous to me has brought those three intriguing factoids before the reading public. Why not? Why not, indeed!

Perhaps Thoreau’s reluctance to explain the parable he had propounded may be attributed to a defect which he perceived in the question which he was being asked, the defect of eagerness to substitute, for all the influence to be derived from cultivating such a symbolic allusion in one’s mind, a specious preoccupation with a dismissable “meaning” for these symbols. After all, the agenda of the person who seeks to establish such “meaning” is ordinarily to thus dispose of the symbolic allusion and the preoccupation with it, not to distance oneself from such symbolic allusions but merely to move toward other mental preoccupations with other HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET symbolic allusions which may well be less than innocent:

The gnostic is not one who, when making a symbolic allusion, finds God nearer to himself than his symbolic allusion. Rather, the gnostic is the one who, because of his self-extinction in His being and self- absorption in contemplating Him, has no symbolic allusion.

The The WALDEN other parable analyses

Instead of this sort of careful analysis, what we have received from the Thoreau-watchers has been more on a level with the following supercilious material, which Waldo Emerson wrote into his journal in the July- October period of this year of 1851 so he would have something to use in Thoreau’s funeral oration and then sell to the magazines — should the opportunity arise for him to deliver such a performance.

Henry Thoreau wants a little ambition in his mixture. Fault of this, instead of being the head of American Engineers, he is captain of a huckleberry party. *** H.T. will not stick — he is not practically renovator. He is a boy, & will be an old boy. Pounding beans is good to the end of pounding Empires, but not, if at the end of years, it is only beans. I fancy it an inexcusable fault in him that he is insignificant here in the town. He speaks at Lyceum or other meting but somebody else speaks & his speech falls dead & is forgotten. He rails at the town doings & ought to correct & inspire them. [After a period of speaking of other topics, such as the genius of Shakspeare, which Emerson compares to the facility in calculating and memorizing of a super-smart schoolchild, he returned to the topic of Thoreau with:] One chamber more, one cell more is opened in this [Shakspeare’s] brain, than is opened in all the rest, & what majestic results. I admire Thoreau, too, with his powerful arithmetic, & his whole body co-working. He can pace sixteen rods more accurately than another man can measure it by tape. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

July 25, Friday: Started for Clark’s Island at 7 A.M. At 9 Am took the Hingham boat and was landed at Hull. There was a pleasure party on board, apparently boys & girls belonging to the South end going to Hingham. There was a large proportion of ill-dressed and ill- mannered boys –of Irish extraction– A sad sight to behold Little boys of 12 years prematurely old sucking cigars I felt that if I were their mothers I should whip them & send them to bed. Such children should be deallt with as for stealing or impurity. The opening of this valve for the safety of the city! Oh what a wretched resource! What right have parents to beget –to bring up & attempt to educate children in a city– I thought of infanticide among the orientals with complacency– I seemed to hear infant voices lisp – “give us a fair chance parents.” There is no such squalidness in the country– You would have said that they must all have come from the house of correction and the farm-school –but such a company do the boys in Boston Streets make. The birds have more care for their young –where they place their nests– What are a city’s charities –? She could be charitable perchance if she had a resting place without herself. A true culture is more possible to the savage than to the boy of average intellect born of average parents in a great city– I believe that they perish miserably. How can they be kept clean physically or morally? It is folly to attempt to educate children within a city –the first step must be to remove them out of it. It seemed a groping & helpless philanthropy – that I heard of. I heard a boy telling the story of Nix’s Mate to some girls as we passed that spot –how he said “If I am guilty this island will remain, but if I am innocent it will be washed away –& now it is all washed away” this was a simple & strong expression of feeling suitable to the occasion by which he committed the evidence of his innocence to the dumb-isle– Such as the boy could appreciate –a proper sailors legend –and I was reminded that it is the illiterate and unimaginative class that seizes on & transmits the legends in which the more cultivated delight. No fastidious poet dwelling in Boston had tampered with it –no narrow poet –but broad mankind Sailors from all ports sailing by. They sitting on the deck were the literary academy that sat upon its periods. On the beach at Hull, and afterwards all along the shore to Plymouth –I saw the Datura –the variety (red stemmed) methinks, which some call Tatula instead of Stramonium– I felt as if I was on the highway of the world at sight of this cosmopolite & veteran traveller– It told of commerce & sailors yarns without end. It grows luxuriantly in sand & gravel. This Capt. Cook among plants– This norse man or sea pirate –Viking King HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET of the bays –the beaches. It is not an innocent plant– It suggests commerce with its attendant vices. Saw a public House where I landed at Hull made like some barns which I have seen of boards with a cleet nailed over the cracks, without clapboards or paint– Evidently very simple & cheap –yet neat & convenient as well as airy. It interested me –as the New House at Long Island did not –as it brought the luxury & comfort of the sea shore within reach of the less wealthy– It was such an exhibition of good sense as I was not prepared for and do not remember to have seen before. Ascended to the top of the hill where is the old French Fort with the well said to be 90 feet deep now covered. I saw some horses standing on the very top of the ramparts the highest part of Hull, where there was hardly room to turn round –for the sake of the breeze. It was excessively warm, and their instincts –or their experience perchance guided them as surely to the summit as it did me. Here is the Telegraph 9 miles from Boston whose state House was just visible –moveable signs on a pole with holes in them for the passage of the wind. A man about the Telegraph Station thought it the highest point in the harbor –said they could tell the kind of vessel 30 miles off –the no at mast head 10 or 12 miles –name on hull 6 or 7 miles. They can see furthest in the fall. There is a mist summer and winter when the contrast bet. the temperature of the sea & the air is greatest. I did not see why this Hill should not be fortified as well as George’s Island, it being higher & also commanding the main channel– However an enemy could go by all the forts in the dark –as Wolfe did at Quebec They are bungling contrivances. Here the bank is rapidly washing away –on every side in Boston Harbor– The evidences of the wasting away of the islands are so obvious and striking that they appear to be wasting faster than they are– You will sometimes see a springing hill showing by the interrupted arch of its surface against the sky how much space must have occupied where there is now water as at Pt Allerton –what Botanists call premorse

Hull looks as if it had been two islands since connected by a beach– I was struck by the gracefully curving & fantastic shore of a small island (Hog I.) inside of Hull – where every thing seemed to be gently lapsing into futurity

as if the inhabitants should bear a ripple for device on their coat of arms

–a wave passing over them with the Datura growing on their shores– The wrecks of isles fancifully arranged into a new shore. To see the sea nibbling thus voraciously at the continents.– A man at the Telegraph told me of a White oak pole 11/2 ft in diam. 40 feet high & 4 feet or more in the rock at Minots ledge with 4 guys –which stoood only one year – – Stone piled up cob fashion near same place stood 8 years. Hull pretty good land but bare of trees only a few cherries for the most part & mostly uncultivated being owned by few. I heard the voices of men shouting aboard a vessel half a mile from the shore which sounded as if they were in a barn in the country –they being between the sails. It was not a sea sound. It was a purely rural sound. Man needs to know but little more than a lobster in order to catch him in his traps. Here were many lobster traps on the shore. The beds of dry seaweed or eel grass on the beach reminds me of narrow shavings On the farther hill in Hull I saw a field full of Canada thistles close up to the fences on all sides while beyond them there was none So much for these fields having been subjected to diff. culture. So a diff. culture in the case of men brings in diff. weeds. Weeds come in with the seeds –though perhaps much more in the manure. Each kind of culture will introduce its own weeds. I am bothered to walk with those who wish to keep step with me. It is not necessary to keep step with your companion as some endeavor to do.

DIFFERENT DRUMMER

They told me at Hull that they burned the stem of the kelp chiefly for potash– Chemistry is not a splitting hairs when you have got half a dozen raw Irishmen in the laboratory. As I walked on the beach (Nantasket) panting with thirst a man pointed to a white spot on the side of a distant hill (Strawberry Hill he called it) which rose from the gravelly beach, and said that there was a pure and cold and unfailing spring –and I could not help admiring that in this town of Hull of which I had heard but now for the first time saw a single spring should appear to me and should be of so much value. I found Hull indeed but there was also a spring on that parched unsheltered shore –the spring, though I did not visit it, made the deepest impression on my mind. Hull the place of the spring & of the well. This is what the traveller would remember. All that he remembered of Rome was a spring on the Capitoline Hill! HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

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rocks and the perfectly clean & rich looking rockweed –greatly enhance the pleasure of bathing here– It is the most perfect sea shore I have seen. The rockweed falls over you like the tresses of mermaids –& you see the propriety of that epithet– You cannot swim among these weeds and pull yourself up by them without thinking of mermen & mermaids. I found the

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water & fresh if you taste high enough up are all convenient to bathe your extremities in.– The barnacles on the rocks which make a whitish strip a few feet in width just above the weeds remind me of some vegetable growth which I have seen –surrounded by a circle of Calyx-like or petal-like shells like some buds or seed vessels. They too clinging to the rocks like the weeds. Lying along the seams of the rock like buttons on a waistcoat. I saw in Cohasset –separated from the sea only by a narrow beach a very large & handsome but shallow lake, of at least 400 acres –with five rockly islets in it –which the sea had tossed over the beach in the great storm in the spring and after the alewives had passed in to it –stopped up its outlet and now the alewives were dying by thousands –& the inhabitants apprehended a pestilence as the water evaporated. The water was very foul. The rockweed is considered the best for manure. I saw them drying the Irish moss in quantities at Jerusalem village in Cohasset– It is said to be used for sizing calico. Finding myself on the edge of a thunder storm I stopped a few moments at the Rock House in Cohasset close to the shore. There was scarcely rain enough to wet one & no wind. I was therefore surprised to hear afterward through a young man who had just returned from Liverpool that there was a severe squawl at Quarantine ground only 7 or 8 miles north-west of me such as he had not experienced for 3 years –which sunke several boats & caused some vessels to drag their anchors & come near going ashore.– Proving that the gust which struck the water there must have been of very limited breadth for I was or might have been overlooking the spot & felt no wind. This Rocky shore is called Pleasant cove on large maps –on the map of Cohasset alone the name seems to be confined to the cove where I first saw the wreck of the St John alone. Brush island opposite this with a hut on it –not permanently inhabited– It takes but little soil to tempt men to inhabit such places. I saw here the Am. Holly Ilex Opaca which is not found further north than Mass. but S & west– The yellow gerardia in the woods.

CAPE COD: I heard a boy telling the story of Nix’s mate to some girls as we passed that spot. That was the name of a sailor hung there, he said. — “If I am guilty, this island will remain; but if I am innocent, it will be washed away,” and now it is all washed away!

NIX’S MATE

July 29, Tuesday: Father Isaac Hecker, CSSR wrote to Orestes Augustus Brownson, Esq.

July 29, Tuesday: A NE wind with rain –but the sea is the wilder for it. I heard the surf roar on the Gurnet the night –which as uncle Ned & Freeman said showed that the wind would work round east and we should have rainy weather– It was the wave reaching the shore before the wind. The ocean was heaped up somewhere to the eastward and this roar was occasioned by its effort to preserve its equilibrium. The rut of the sea In the afternoon I sailed to Plymouth 3 miles notwithstanding the drizzling rain or “drisk” as Uncle Ned called it. We passed round the head of Plymouth beach which is 3 miles long– I did not know till afterward that PLYMOUTH ROCK I had landed where the Pilgrims did & passed over the rock on Hedges Wharf– Returning we had more wind & tacking to do. Saw many seals together on a flat. Singular that these strange animals should be so abundant here & yet the man who lives a few miles inland never hear of them. To him there is no report of the sea – though he may read the Plymouth paper. The Boston papers do not tell us that they have seals in the Harbor. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET The inhabitants of Plymouth do not seem to be aware of it– I always think of seals in connexion with Esquimaux or some other outlandish people –not in connexion with those who live on the shores of Boston & Plymouth harbors.– Yet from their windows they may daily see a family seals –the seal phoca vitulinus – collected on a flat or sporting in the waves I saw one dashing through the waves just ahead of our boat going to join his companions on the bar –as strange to me as the merman. No less wild essentially than when the CLARK’S ISLAND Pilgrims came is this Harbor. It being low tide we landed on a flat which makes out from Clark’s Island to while away the time –(not being able to get quite up yet– I found numerous large holes of the sea clam in this sand – (no small clams) and dug them out easily & rapidly with my hands –could have got a large quantity in a short time. but here they do not eat them –think they will make you sick. They were not so deep in the sand not more than 4 or 5 inches I saw where one had squirted full ten feet before the wind. as appeared by the marks of the drops on the sand– Some small ones I found not more than 1/4 inch in length– (Le Barron brought me round clam or qua-hog alive with a very thick shell & not so nearly an isosceles triangle as the Sea clam –more like this with a protuberance on the back –the sea clam –A small narrow clam which they called the bank clam “UNCLE NED” WATSON

–also crab cases handsomely spotted –small crabs always in a cockle shell if not in a case of his own.– A cockle as large as my fist –muscles small ones empty shells, an extensive bank where they had died –occasionally a large deep sea muscles which some kelp had brought-up. We caught some sand eels 7 or eight inches long– Ammodytes tobianus according to Storer & not the A. lancea of Yarrell though the size of the last comes nearer. They were in the shallow pools left on the sand (the flat was here pure naked yellowish sand) & quickly buried them selves when pursued.– They are used as bait for basse. Found some sand circles or sand paper – like top of a stone jug cut off with a large nose.– said to be made by the foot of the large cockle which has some glutinous matter on it. The nidus of the animal of natica cells with eggs in sand. A circle of sand about as thick as thick pasteboard It reminded me of the cadisworm cases. Scate-barrows &c &c. I observed the shell of a sea- clam one valve of which was filled exactly even full with sand –evenly as if it had been heaped & then scraped off as when men measure by the peck– This was a fresher one of the myriad sand clams –& it suggested to me how the stone clams which I had seen on Cape Cod might have been formed– Perchance a clam shell was the mould in which they were cast –& a slight hardening of the level surface –before the whole is turned to stone causes them to split in two. The sand was full of stone clams in the mould. I saw the kelp attached to stones half as big as my head which it had transported. I do not think I ever saw the kelp in situ –also attached to a deep- sea muscle. The kelp is like a broad ruffled belt– The middle portion is thicker & flat –the edges for 2 or 3 inches thinner & fuller so that it is frilled or ruffled –as if the edges had been hammered. The extremity is generally worn & ragged from the lashing of the waves. It is the prototype of a fringed belt. Uncle Ned said that the cows ate it. We saw in the shallow water a long round green grass 6 or 8 feet long clogging up the channel. Round grass I think they called it. We caught a lobster as you might catch a mud turtle in the country –in the shallow water –pushing him ashore with the paddle– Taking hold of his tail to avoid being bitten. They are obliged to put wooden plugs or wedges beside their claws to prevent their tearing each other to pieces. All weeds are bleached on the beach. This sailing on salt water was something new to me. The boat is such a living creature– Even this clumsy one sailing within 5 points of the wind. The sail boat is an admirable invention by which you compel the wind to transport you even against itself– It is easier to guide than a horse –the slightest pressure on the tiller suffices. I think the inventor must have been greatly surprised as well as delighted at the success of his experiment. It is so contrary to expectation –as if the elements were disposed to favor you. This deep unfordable sea –but this wind ever blowing over it to transport you. At 10 PM –it was perfectly fair & bright starlight. ROSS/ADAMS COMMENTARY HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET July 31, Thursday: At Ramsgate near the London Great Exhibition, a 20-year-old aristocratic Russian traveler named Helena Petrovna von Hahn (Blavatsky) made an entry in her diary: “Nuit mémorable. Certaine nuit par un clair de lune qui se couchait à — Ramsgate ... — lorsque je rencontrai le Maître de mes Rêves.” Later, asked about this curious entry by a devotee, she would explain that “Ramsgate” had been a code she was using for the high Himalayas, and that this mysterious Master of her Dreams had been Master Morya, a Tibetan sage and a brother of the Great White Brotherhood of Masters. Madame Blavatsky, we see, was an adept in the literature produced by Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton.

Henry Thoreau visited his friends Benjamin Marston Watson and Mary Russell Watson, who lived near Plymouth. CLARK’S ISLAND BOSTON HARBOR

July 31, Thursday: Those same round shells (Scutella parma (placenta) ?) on the sand as at Cape Cod, the live ones reddish the dead white– Went off early this morning with Uncle Ned to catch bass with the small fish I had found on the sand the night before– 2 of his neighbor Albert Watson’s boys were there –not James the oldest –but Edward the sailor & Mortimer –(or Mort –) in their boat They killed some striped basse (Labrax lineatus) with paddles in a shallow creek in the sand –& caught some lobsters. I remarked that the sea shore was singularly clean for notwithstanding the spattering of the water & mud & squirting of the clams & wading to & fro the boat my best black pants retained no stains nor dirt as they would acquire from walking in the country. I caught a bass with a young — haik? (perchance) trailing 30 feet behind while Uncle Ned paddled.– They catch them in England with a “trawl-net” sometimes they weigh 75 lbs here “UNCLE NED” WATSON At 11 AM set sail to Plymouth. We went somewhat out of a direct course to take advantage of the tide which was coming in. Saw the site of the first house which was burned –on Leyden Street –walked up the same. – parallel with the Town Brook. Hill from which Billington Sea was discovered hardly a mile from the shore on Watsons grounds. Watsons Hill where treaty was made across brook South of Burying Hill At [Marston] Watsons– The Oriental Plane– Abies Douglasii– ginkgo tree q.v. on Common. –a foreign hardhack –Eng. oak –dark colored small leaf –Spanish chestnut. Chinese arbor-vitæ– Norway spruce like our fir balsam– A new kind of fir-balsam– Black eagle one of the good cherries– fuchsias in hot house– Earth bank covered with cement. PEREGRINE WHITE Mr Thomas Russel –who cannot be 70 –at whose house on Leyden st. I took tea & spent the evening –told me that he remembered to have seen Ebeneezer Cobb a nat. of Plymouth who died in Kingston in 1801 aged 107 who remembered to have had personal knowledge of Peregrine White saw him an old man riding on horse back –(he lived to be 83)– White was born at Cape Cod harbor before the Pilgrims got to Plymouth– C. Sturgis’s mother told me the same of herself at the same time. She remembered Cobb sitting in an arm chair like the one she herself occupied with his silver locks falling about his shoulders twirling one thumb over the other– Russell told me that he once bought some primitive woodland in P. which was sold at auction the bigest Pitch pines 2 ft diameter –for 8 shillings an acre– If he had bought enough it would have been a pasture. There is still forest in this town which the axe has not touched says Geo. Bradford. According to Thatchers Hist. of P. there were 11,662 acres of woodland in ’31. or 20 miles square. Pilgrims first saw Bil. sea about Jan 1st –visited it Jan 8th. The oldest stone in the Plymouth Burying ground 1681 (Coles? hill where those who died the first winter were buried –said to have been levelled & sown to conceal loss from Indians.) Oldest on our hill 1677 In Mrs Plympton’s Garden on Leyden st. running down to Town Brook. Saw an abundance of pears –gathered excellent June-eating apples –saw a large lilack about 8 inches diameter– Methinks a soil may improve when at length it has shaded itself with vegetation. Wm S Russel the Registrer at the Court House showed the oldest Town records. for all are preserved –on 1st page a plan of Leyden st dated Dec. 1620 –with names of settlers. They have a great many folios. The writing plain. Saw the charter granted by the Plymouth Company to the Pilgrims signed by Warwick date 1629 & the box in which it was brought over with the seal. Pilgrim Hall– They used to crack off pieces of the Forefathers Rock for visitors with a cold chisel till the town forebade it. The stone remaining at wharf is about 7 ft square. Saw 2 old arm chairs that came over in the May flower.– the large picture by Sargent.– Standish’s sword.– gun barrel with which Philip was killed – – mug & HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET pocket-book of Clark the mate– Iron pot of Standish.– Old pipe tongs. Ind relics a flayer KING PHILLIP PLYMOUTH ROCK

a pot or mortar of a kind of fire proof stone very hard–

only 7 or 8 inches long. A Commission from Cromwell to Winslow? –his signature torn off. They talk of a monument on the rock. The burying hill 165 ft high. Manomet 394 ft high by state map. Saw more pears at Washburn’s garden. No graves of Pilgrims. Seaweed generally used along shore– Saw the Prinos glabra, inkberry at Bil. sea. Sandy plain with oaks of various kinds cut in less than 20 yrs– No communication with Sandwich– P end of world 50 miles thither by rail road– Old. Colony road poor property. Nothing saves P. but the rock. Fern-leaved beach– Saw the King crab Limulus polyphemus –horseshoe & saucepan fish –at the island covered with sea green & buried in the sand –for concealment. In P. the Convolvulus arvensis –small Bindweed. CLARK’S ISLAND BOSTON HARBOR HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1854

Human bones were dug up on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts during a sewer project. These would be identified by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes as the remains of white persons, and thus would be presumed to be the bones of Pilgrims who had expired during the First Winter, who had been buried in secret according to a tradition preserved by Elder Faunce, on Leyden Street near the original Common House. Eventually such sacred white-people bones would be re-interred alongside the Plymouth Rock under its canopy.

Dr. Holmes produced another volume of sickeningly self-celebrating Harvard “poetry,” entitled SONGS OF THE CLASS OF 1829.

For instance, he wrote of his classmate the Baptist Reverend Samuel Francis Smith, who had in 1831 made himself author of words for (not the tune of) the patriotic song “America,” that: There’s a nice youngster of excellent pith, Fate tried to conceal him by naming him Smith; But he shouted a song for the brave and the free, Just read on his medal, “My country ’Tis of thee.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1855

The name of Ousamequin Yellow Feather the Massasoit, “Protector and Preserver of the Pilgrims,” very much like the name of the faithful Indian sidekick Squanto, “a special instrument sent by God,” has always been something with which to conjure.63 Thus in this year, when the Boston authorities rejected a petition for a charter for a black militia company, the group formed itself up anyway 300 strong, and equipped itself with arms and with uniforms — and denominated itself the Massasoit Guard. (After the Dred Scott decision of November 1857, this guard would fall in and parade its black faces and its weapons through the streets of Boston.) In considering this black militia, here is what H-OIEAHC, the early American history and culture list moderated by John Saillant, has had to offer on the topic of black participation in colonial militias. Terry Gruber had inquired: “Just one question concerning colonial era militias---did any militia laws in any colonies and states (to 1800) specifically exclude free blacks (I assume enslaved blacks were exempted) from the muster rolls? If so, which states/colonies excluded?” Clayton Cramer responded: “I would not assume that slaves were exempted.... Virginia finally excluded blacks from the militia in 1639/40. Remembering that the institution of slavery was still in a formative stage, the ambiguity of whether this meant only slaves or free blacks as well is unsurprising. It would appear that if free blacks were excluded by this law, something changed thereafter, because a 1680 law prohibited ‘any negroe or other slave’ from possessing weapons, but the 1723 law allowed free blacks who were householders or members of the militia to have one gun. The 1738 law required them to muster, but to appear unarmed. Delaware’s 1742 law prohibited servants and slaves from bearing arms, or mustering in the militia. The language is a little ambiguous as to whether free blacks were still members of the militia. Maryland’s 1715 law prohibiting any ‘Negro or other slave’ from bearing arms off his master’s land would seem to preclude free blacks from militia duty.

Norman Heath made a comment on what Clayton Cramer had written above: “Unarmed militia might seem a curious phenomenon, but according to John Hope Franklin, when North Carolina finally excluded blacks from the militia in 1812 they made an exception for black musicians (drums and horns were essential military communications equipment). When studying the question of black militia participation it would be well to ascertain exactly what duties were expected in the given time and place.”

Professor Emeritus Jerome J. Nadelhaft responded: “I looked at the issue in South Carolina in connection with the Continental Congress’s recommendation in 1778 that the state arm 3,000 slaves. The easiest thing for me to do is to copy out two paragraphs of my book on SOUTH CAROLINA IN THE REVOLUTION (from page 52)”: To arm 3,000 slaves as Congress suggested would have been a break with the past only in terms of numbers. In all of the state’s numerous eighteenth-century wars slaves had fought or been ready to. Even after the Stono Rebellion of 1739 dampened the enthusiasm to arm slaves, necessity often dictated that slaves fight. A 1742 expedition to Georgia included armed blacks. During the French and Indian War slaves were used to garrison the post at Ninety Six. In all, of course, relatively few blacks were veterans of battles, even though in 1757 more than 3,000 were enrolled in the colonial militia. One colonial proposal to arm a large number, 500, was defeated during the French and Indian War by the deciding vote of the speaker of the lower house. To encourage those blacks who did fight, the government gave freedom in exchange for killing or capturing one of the enemy or for taking any of his colors.

63. For instance, today, in addition to that monument to Myles Standish and sidekick, from atop a hill that overlooks Plymouth Rock, a statue of the great Wampanoag sachem surveys the harbor in which the Pilgrim Fathers landed over 375 years ago. Holding a long peace pipe, the chief is dignified and confident, nothing about his figure causing trepidation to the tourist. The inscription identifying the native politician as “Protector and Preserver of the Pilgrims” dutifully elides the complexion of his constituency. Today there are, situated in the Aquinnah section of Martha’s Vineyard, but 700 tribal descendants. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

Literary Hermits Recreating Themselves in Their Chapel: Whittier-Holmes-Emerson-Motley-Alcott-Hawthorne-Lowell-Agassiz-Longfellow HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET In 1779, however, Congress’s proposal “much disgusted” Carolinians. They thought it “a very dangerous and impolitic Step.” In February 1780 the lower house determined not to arm blacks but to allow them to work as pioneers, fatigue men, oarsmen, and mariners. At the same time it defeated a proposal to free slaves who behaved well while in the “said service.” No bill embodying any of these proposals was passed by the full legislature. South Carolina’s slaves, accustomed to hard use, still found themselves in the strange and unenviable position of being “volunteered” for potentially dangerous service which brought money to their masters, while being denied what they had often enjoyed, the opportunity to fight for their freedom in a time of emergency, the emergency this time ironically being a war for freedom and self-government. ... the information in that first paragraph comes from a 1971 dissertation: John David Duncan, SERVITUDE AND SLAVERY IN COLONIAL SOUTH CAROLINA, 1670-1776 (Emory University). In a note to the second paragraph I point out that slaves were not alone in being ‘volunteered.’ In 1778 the state provided for the enlistment of beggars, straggling persons, and lewd, idle, disorderly men.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1856

The MS by Governor William Bradford of the Plimouth Colony which had been turned up in the library of the Lord Bishop of London in 1846, OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION, was published, but inadvertently with 16 lines

AS FIRST PUBLISHED

omitted that had pertained to the year 1621. In those omitted lines, Governor Bradford had described how Squanto had taught the Brownists that “except they got fish and set with it in these old grounds it would come to nothing.” Unfortunate for this nice story, which would become in our storybooks an instruction to bury a dead herring with each hill of maize that is planted, such a method of horticulture simply does not work. (You are urged to try the experiment yourself, and verify this at first hand. What prevents this method from working is a temporary differential local demand for nitrogen, the fish decaying at the wrong time denying this entirely to the developing plants just at the point at which they are in need of it.) ... Afterwards they (as many as were able) began to plant their corn, in which service Squanto stood them in great stead, showing them both the manner how to set it, and after how to dress and tend it. Also he told them, except they got fish and set with it (in these old grounds) it would come to nothing, and he showed them that in the middle of April they should have store enough come up the brook, by which they began to build, and taught them how to take it, and where to get other provisions necessary for them; all which they found true by trial and experience....

CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

READ BRADFORD TEXT HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1857

Publication of a text that Henry Thoreau would refer to in CAPE COD, in 3 volumes, the Reverend John Stetson Barry’s THE HISTORY OF MASSACHUSETTS.... (Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company).

JOHN STETSON BARRY I JOHN STETSON BARRY II JOHN STETSON BARRY III While engaged in research on this project, the Reverend had discovered the existence, and the current location, of a manuscript by early governor William Bradford describing the initial years of the Plimouth Colony! HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

CAPE COD: It is remarkable that there is not in English any PEOPLE OF adequate or correct account of the French exploration of what is CAPE COD now the coast of New England, between 1604 and 1608, though it is conceded that they then made the first permanent European settlement on the continent of North America north of St. ÆSOP Augustine. If the lions had been the painters it would have been XENOPHANES otherwise. This omission is probably to be accounted for partly by the fact that the early edition of Champlain’s “Voyages” had CHAMPLAIN not been consulted for this purpose. This contains by far the most particular, and, I think, the most interesting chapter of what we may call the Ante-Pilgrim history of New England, extending to one hundred and sixty pages quarto; but appears to be unknown WEBSTER equally to the historian and the orator on Plymouth Rock. Bancroft BANCROFT does not mention Champlain at all among the authorities for De Monts’ expedition, nor does he say that he ever visited the coast of New England. Though he bore the title of pilot to De Monts, he was, in another sense, the leading spirit, as well as the historian of the expedition. Holmes, Hildreth, and Barry, and BARRY apparently all our historians who mention Champlain, refer to the edition of 1632, in which all the separate charts of our harbors, &c., and about one half the narrative, are omitted; for the author explored so many lands afterward that he could afford to forget a part of what he had done. Hildreth, speaking of De Monts’s HILDRETH expedition, says that “he looked into the Penobscot [in 1605], which Pring had discovered two years before,” saying nothing PRING about Champlain’s extensive exploration of it for De Monts in 1604 (Holmes says 1608, and refers to Purchas); also that he followed HOLMES in the track of Pring along the coast “to Cape Cod, which he PURCHAS called Malabarre.” (Haliburton had made the same statement before HALIBURTON him in 1829. He called it Cap Blanc, and Malle Barre (the Bad Bar) was the name given to a harbor on the east side of the Cape.) Pring says nothing about a river there. Belknap says that Weymouth BELKNAP discovered it in 1605. Sir F. Gorges says, in his narration (Maine WEYMOUTH Hist. Coll., Vol. II. p. 19), 1658, that Pring in 1606 “made a GORGES perfect discovery of all the rivers and harbors.” This is the most I can find. Bancroft makes Champlain to have discovered more western rivers in Maine, not naming the Penobscot; he, however, must have been the discoverer of distances on this river (see Belknap, p. 147). Pring was absent from England only about six months, and sailed by this part of Cape Cod (Malebarre) because it yielded no sassafras, while the French, who probably had not heard of Pring, were patiently for years exploring the coast in search of a place of settlement, sounding and surveying its harbors. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET November: The name of Massasoit, “Protector and Preserver of the Pilgrims,” has always been something with which to conjure.64 When in 1855 the Boston authorities had rejected a petition for a charter for a black militia company, the group had formed itself up anyway, and equipped itself with arms and with uniforms — and denominated itself the Massasoit Guard. In this month, after the Dred Scott decision was announced in the press, this guard fell in and paraded its black faces and its weapons 300 strong through the streets of Boston.

The mercenary soldier Hugh Forbes asked Frederick Douglass for financial aid. Douglass not only advanced Forbes money but also supplied him with letters of introduction to others who might support Brown’s agenda. Forbes would, however, use these letters to solicit further funds for himself.

64. For instance, today, from atop a hill that overlooks Plymouth Rock, a statue of the great Wampanoag sachem surveys the harbor in which the Pilgrim Fathers landed over 375 years ago. Holding a long peace pipe, the chief is dignified and confident (vide above), nothing about his figure causing trepidation to the tourist. The inscription identifying the native politician as “Protector and Preserver of the Pilgrims” dutifully elides the complexion of his constituency. This may arguably be the only statue ever erected in Massachusetts in honor of a man from Rhode Island. Today there are, situated in the Gay Head section of Martha’s Vineyard, but 700 tribal descendants. CAPE COD HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1859

The lighthouse which now towers 58 feet above the rocks and 82 feet above sea level on White Island in the Isles of Shoals was constructed to replace the lighthouse erected in 1789 that had been the childhood home of the poet Celia Thaxter

The tower of Boston Light on Little Brewster Island was raised 14 feet to its present height of 102 feet above sea level (that’s as high as Walden Pond is deep!), and a 2d-order Fresnel lens was installed. At this point The Pilgrim Society purchased Hedge’s Wharf in Plymouth in order to retrieve the bottom half of the glacial erratic known as “Plymouth Rock” from the indignity of being further scarified by the iron wheels of impious cargo wagons. BOSTON HARBOR

August 2, Tuesday: Horace Mann, Sr. died at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He would be succeeded as president of the college not by the mathematics professor that the religious conservatives had been plumping for, Ira Allen, but by Thomas Hill, who would serve until 1862.

In Plymouth, the cornerstones of a new Plymouth Rock canopy and Forefathers’ Monument –both of which structures had been designed by Hammett Billings of Boston– were set in place with appropriate ceremony. “The committee decided on the following plan for the celebration: The laying of the cornerstone of the canopy by the Masonic order; a procession; the laying of the cornerstone of the National Monument with Masonic ceremonies; a dinner provided by J.B. Smith of Boston in a tent, capable of holding twenty-five hundred persons, ...fireworks and a ball in the evening in Davis Hall.” The parade included over 30 groups of militia units, bands, Masonic and Templar lodges, historical societies, fire departments, and “...six groups on flats representing the Landing, Indians, advance of civilization, the thirty-three states, different nations, and the marine interests of Plymouth.”

August 2. I try the current above Dodd’s. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET There is a southwest breeze. A loose board moves faster than one with a sunk box, but soon drifts diagonally across and lodges at fifty feet. The box, sunk fourteen inches below the board, floats one hundred feet in nine minutes; sunk two and a half feet, in nine and a quarter minutes; sunk five and a half feet, it is not half-way in thirteen minutes, or, allowing for its starting this time a little out of the wind and current, say it is twenty minutes in going a hundred feet. I should infer from this that the swiftest and most uninterrupted current under all conditions was neither at the surface nor the bottom, but nearer the surface than the bottom. If the wind is down-stream, it is at the surface; if up-stream, it is beneath it, and at a depth proportionate to the strength of the wind. I think that there never ceases to be a downward current. Rudely calculating the capacity of the river here and comparing it with my boat’s place, I find it about as two to one, and such is the slowness of the current, viz. nine minutes to four and a half to a hundred feet. If you are boating far it is extremely important to know the direction of the wind. If it blows strong up-stream, there will be a surface current flowing upward, another beneath flowing downward, and a very feeble one (in the lake-like parts) creeping downward next the bottom. A wind in which it is not worth the while to raise a sail will often blow your sailless boat up-stream. The sluggishness of the current, I should say, must be at different places as the areas of cross-sections at those places. That fine z-ing of locusts in the grass which I have heard for three or four days is, methinks, an August sound and is very inspiriting. It is a certain maturity in the year which it suggests. My thoughts are the less crude for it. There is a certain moral and physical sluggishness and standstill at midsummer. I think that clams are chiefly found at shallow and slightly muddy places where there is a gradually shelving shore. Are not found on a very hard bottom, nor in deep mud. All of the river from the southwest of Wayland to off the Height of Hill [SIC] below Hill’s Bridge is meadowy. This is the true Musketaquid. The buttonwood bark strews the streets, – curled pieces. Is it not the effect of dry weather and heat? As birds shed their feathers, or moult, and beasts their hair. Neat rolls of bark (like cinnamon, but larger), light and dark brown.

“HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE” BEING A VIEW FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME (JUST AS THE PERSPECTIVE IN A PAINTING IS A VIEW FROM A PARTICULAR POINT IN SPACE), TO “LOOK AT THE COURSE OF HISTORY MORE GENERALLY” WOULD BE TO SACRIFICE PERSPECTIVE ALTOGETHER. THIS IS FANTASY-LAND, YOU’RE FOOLING YOURSELF. THERE CANNOT BE ANY SUCH THINGIE, AS SUCH A PERSPECTIVE.

PATUXET “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1860

Summer: Edwin Morton, back from Switzerland, commenced the study of law in Plymouth.

Gerrit Smith, discharged from the Utica Insane Asylum, was expressing great admiration for John Brown while explaining that he had never become aware of Brown’s plans. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1862

April 2, Wednesday: Confederate President Jefferson Davis conferred with Johnston and Lee. US CIVIL WAR

Henry Thoreau was being written to by Benjamin Marston Watson in Plymouth. Plymo 2d April ’62 My Dear Sir Mary has put up a few [N]eopolitan Violets for you this morning, to show you, if they arrive fresh, that Plymouth is not very far off. Don't you think a whiff of salt air would do you good in June? It is many a June since you were here. That colt June at whose birth you assisted, is grown to be a horse and will come to the Depot for your [steed] we [shall] be glad to see you any day Yours B.M.Watson

Cover letter to Ticknor & Fields from “Henry D. Thoreau” by “S.E. Thoreau,” in regard to enclosed manuscript “Wild Apples” (culled from WILD FRUITS) for The Atlantic Monthly, reminding them that they had as yet made no offer for A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS: Concord Apr. 2nd ’62 Messrs Ticknor & Fields, I send you herewith the paper on Wild Apples. You have made me no offer for The “Week.” Do not suppose that I rate it too high, I shall be glad to dispose of it; & it will be an advantage to advertize it with Walden. Yours truly, Henry D. Thoreau by S.E. Thoreau. TIMELINE OF A WEEK TIMELINE OF ESSAYS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

“Wild Apples”: There is, first of all, the Wood-Apple (Malus sylvatica); the Blue-Jay Apple; the Apple which grows in Dells in the Woods, (sylvestrivallis), also in Hollows in Pastures (campestrivallis); the Apple that grows in an old Cellar-Hole (Malus cellaris); the Meadow-Apple; the Partridge-Apple; the Truant’s Apple, (Cessatoris), which no boy will ever go by without knocking off some, however late it may be; the Saunterer’s Apple, — you must lose yourself before you can find the way to that; the Beauty of the Air (Decus Aëris); December-Eating; the Frozen- Thawed, (gelato-soluta), good only in that state; the Concord Apple, possibly the same with the Musketaquidensis; the Assabet Apple; the Brindled Apple; Wine of New England; the Chickaree Apple; the Green Apple (Malus viridis); — this has many synonyms; in an imperfect state, it is the Choleramorbifera aut dysenterifera, puerulis dilectissima; — the Apple which Atalanta stopped to pick up; the Hedge-Apple (Malus Sepium); the Slug- Apple (limacea); the Railroad-Apple, which perhaps came from a core thrown out of the cars; the Apple whose Fruit we tasted in our Youth; our Particular Apple, not to be found in any catalogue, — Pedestrium Solatium; also the Apple where hangs the Forgotten Scythe; Iduna’s Apples, and the Apples which Loki found in the Wood; and a great many more I have on my list, too numerous to mention, — all of them good. As Bodaeus exclaims, referring to the cultivated kinds, and adapting Virgil to his case, so I, adapting Bodaeus, — “Not if I had a hundred tongues, a hundred mouths, An iron voice, could I describe all the forms And reckon up all the names of these wild apples.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1867

Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts Thomas Russell resigned, to be appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant as Collector of the Port of Boston.

On Plymouth beach, the bottom half of the glacial erratic known as “Plymouth Rock” was at this point placed on display inside the iron gates of a Victorian gazebo-type canopy. –Or, rather, most of it was, since in order to get this lower portion to fit in its new home it was necessary to cut off several pieces which apparently then were used to supply the tourist demand for “a piece of the rock.”

Under this canopy were also to be preserved a number of bones that had been found on Cole’s Hill in 1854 when a sewer had been installed there. These had been identified by the white racist Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes as the remains of white persons and thus were presumed to be the bones of the Pilgrims who had expired during the First Winter who had been buried in secret (according to a tradition preserved by Elder HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Faunce) on Leyden Street near the original Common House.

Upon completion of the canopy, The Pilgrim Society purchased and tore down a number of “unsightly buildings that encumber this space” on Cole’s Hill overlooking the new monument. –Clearly, this municipality was already well on its way toward its grand destiny as a magnificent tourist trap.

Dr. Holmes’s THE GUARDIAN ANGEL, about a little girl whose development is troubled by her need to learn how to overcome turbulent, glowing impulses which are not her fault because they are due to the mingling of racial bloods and inherited qualities that has been from birth, unfortunately, inside her body. Fortunately, she is able to overcome this by obtaining the needed guidance of a white man. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1872

October 7, Monday: J. Henry Stickney of Baltimore, an admirer of Captain Myles Standish, had been urging that our nation needed a monument to him, and Alden Frink had schemed a 102-foot monument and a 14-foot statue atop Captain’s Hill in Plymouth, which had once been his property. On this day, before 10,000 onlookers who had nothing better to do, they ceremonially laid the cornerstone atop Captain’s Hill, which had once been his property. They would manage the first 72 feet before their money well and their enthusiasm ran dry (the project would attract further funding and get completed in 1898).

The Spring Grove Hospital at Catonsville, Maryland began admission of patients. (This would be the successor to Maryland’s 1st state mental health care facility, that had been a portion of the Maryland Hospital in Baltimore — Maryland Hospital’s history had begun as early as 1794.)65 PSYCHOLOGY

65. Street, W.R. A CHRONOLOGY OF NOTEWORTHY EVENTS IN AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGY. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 1994 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1880

September 27, Monday: The two halves of the glacial erratic known as “Forefathers Rock” or “Plymouth Rock“ that had been pried apart in 1774 by the “Liberty Boys” were finally cemented back together and –lest anyone miss the message of Plymouth primacy– the Arabic numerals 1620, which had been painted onto the boulder, were deeply incised.66

In England on this date an illumination was occurring — someone officiously threw a switch and the Royal Albert Docks were suddenly lighted by 26 electric lamps.

66. This is evidently a code in which the cardinal number “1620” is being used as a designator for the ordinal number “1st,” as in the idiomatic locution “All men are created equal and white people take priority merely because they happen to stand for unparalleled excellence, or because they stand for private property and happen to own the joint, or something like that.” –For this did little to cement together the local Narragansett tribe that was under the benevolent purview of these detribalizing white overlords. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET October 14, Thursday: In St. Petersburg, Symphony no.5 by Anton Rubinstein was performed for the initial time.

During a brief visit by President Ulysses S. Grant to Plymouth, Massachusetts, it would be Thomas Russell who would be awarded the honor of placing in the general’s hands the actual sword of Captain Myles Standish.

(And then the dignitaries visited Plymouth Rock, and then the General was off to Boston to address a Republican rally at Faneuil Hall.) HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1881

December 22, Wednesday: At the desert course for the 1st annual dinner of the New England Society in Philadelphia, President Rollins called upon the evening’s scheduled celebrity speaker, Mr. Samuel Langhorn Clemens: “This sentiment has been assigned to one who was never exactly born in New England, nor, perhaps, were any of his ancestors. He is not technically, therefore, of New England descent. Under the painful circumstances in which he has found himself, however, he has done the best he could — he has had all his children born there, and has made of himself a New England ancestor. He is a self-made man. More than this, and better even, in cheerful, hopeful, helpful literature he is of New England ascent. To ascend there in any thing that’s reasonable is difficult; for —confidentially, with the door shut— we all know that they are the brightest, ablest sons of that goodly land who never leave it, and it is among and above them that Mr. Twain has made his brilliant and permanent ascent — become a man of mark.”

I rise to protest. I have kept still for years; but really I think there is no sufficient justification for this sort of thing. What do you want to celebrate those people for? —those ancestors of yours of 1620 —the Mayflower tribe, I mean. What do you want to celebrate them for? Your pardon: the gentleman at my left assures me that you are not celebrating the Pilgrims themselves, but the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock on the 22d of December. So you are celebrating their landing. Why, the other pretext was thin enough, but this is thinner than ever; the other was tissue, tinfoil, fish-bladder, but this is gold- leaf. Celebrating their landing! What was there remarkable about it, I would like to know? What can you be thinking of? Why, those Pilgrims had been at sea three or four months. It was the very middle of winter: it was as cold as death off Cape Cod there. Why shouldn’t they come ashore? If they hadn’t landed there would be some reason for celebrating the fact: It would have been a case of monumental leatherheadedness which the world would not willingly let die. If it had been you, gentlemen, you probably wouldn’t have landed, but you have no shadow of right to be celebrating, in your ancestors, gifts which they did not exercise, but only transmitted. Why, to be celebrating the mere landing of the Pilgrims — to be trying to make out that this HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET most natural and simple and customary procedure was an extraordinary circumstance — a circumstance to be amazed at, and admired, aggrandized and glorified, at orgies like this for two hundred and sixty years — hang it, a horse would have known enough to land; a horse — Pardon again; the gentleman on my right assures me that it was not merely the landing of the Pilgrims that we are celebrating, but the Pilgrims themselves. So we have struck an inconsistency here — one says it was the landing, the other says it was the Pilgrims. It is an inconsistency characteristic of your intractable and disputatious tribe, for you never agree about anything but Boston. Well, then, what do you want to celebrate those Pilgrims for? They were a mighty hard lot — you know it. I grant you, without the slightest unwillingness, that they were a deal more gentle and merciful and just than were the people of Europe of that day; I grant you that they are better than their predecessors. But what of that? — that is nothing. People always progress. You are better than your fathers and grandfathers were (this is the first time I have ever aimed a measureless slander at the departed, for I consider such things improper). Yes, those among you who have not been in the penitentiary, if such there be, are better than your fathers and grandfathers were; but is that any sufficient reason, for getting up annual dinners and celebrating you? No, by no means — by no means. Well, I repeat, those Pilgrims were a hard lot. They took good care of themselves, but they abolished everybody else’s ancestors. I am a border-ruffian from the State of Missouri. I am a Connecticut Yankee by adoption. In me, you have Missouri morals, Connecticut culture; this, gentlemen, is the combination which makes the perfect man. But where are my ancestors? Whom shall I celebrate? Where shall I find the raw material? My first American ancestor, gentlemen, was an Indian — an early Indian. Your ancestors skinned him alive, and I am an orphan. Not one drop of my blood flows in that Indian’s veins today. I stand here, lone and forlorn, without an ancestor. They skinned him! I do not object to that, if they needed his fur; but alive, gentlemen-alive! They skinned him alive — and before company! That is what rankles. Think how he must have felt; for he was a sensitive person and easily embarrassed. If he had been a bird, it would have been all right, and no violence done to his feelings, because he would have been considered “dressed.” But he was not a bird, gentlemen, he was a man, and probably one of the most undressed men that ever was. I ask you to put yourselves in his place. I ask it as a favor; I ask it as a tardy act of justice; I ask it in the interest of fidelity to the traditions of your ancestors; I ask it that the world may contemplate, with vision unobstructed by disguising swallow-tails and white cravats, the spectacle which the true New England Society ought to present. Cease to come to these annual orgies in this hollow modern mockery — the surplusage of raiment. Come in character; come in the summer grace, come in the unadorned simplicity, come in the free and joyous costume which your sainted ancestors provided for mine. Later ancestors of mine were the Quakers William Robinson, Marmaduke Stevenson, et al. Your tribe chased them put of the country for their religion’s sake; promised them death if they came back; for your ancestors had forsaken the homes they loved, and braved the perils of the sea, the implacable climate, and HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET the savage wilderness, to acquire that highest and most precious of boons, freedom for every man on this broad continent to worship according to the dictates of his own conscience — and they were not going to allow a lot of pestiferous Quakers to interfere with it. Your ancestors broke forever the chains of political slavery, and gave the vote to every man in this wide land, excluding none! — none except those who did not belong to the orthodox church. Your ancestors — yes, they were a hard lot; but, nevertheless, they gave us religious liberty to worship as they required us to worship, and political liberty to vote as the church required; and so I the bereft one, I the forlorn one, am here to do my best to help you celebrate them right. The Quaker woman Elizabeth Hooton was an ancestress of mine. Your people were pretty severe with her you will confess that. But, poor thing! I believe they changed her opinions before she died, and took her into their fold; and so we have every reason to presume that when she died she went to the same place which your ancestors went to. It is a great pity, for she was a good woman. Roger Williams was an ancestor of mine. I don’t really remember what your people did with him. But they banished him to Rhode Island, anyway. And then, I believe, recognizing that this was really carrying harshness to an unjustifiable extreme, they took pity on him and burned him. They were a hard lot! All those Salem witches were ancestors of mine! Your people made it tropical for them. Yes, they did; by pressure and the gallows they made such a clean deal with them that there hasn’t been a witch and hardly a halter in our family from that day to this, and that is one hundred and eighty-nine years. The first slave brought into New England out of Africa by your progenitors was an ancestor of mine — for I am of a mixed breed, an infinitely shaded and exquisite Mongrel. I’m not one of your sham meerschaums that you can color in a week. No, my complexion is the patient art of eight generations. Well, in my own time, I had acquired a lot of my kin — by purchase, and swapping around, and one way and another — and was getting along very well. Then, with the inborn perversity of your lineage, you got up a war, and took them all away from me. And so, again am I bereft, again am I forlorn; no drop of my blood flows in the veins of any living being who is marketable. O my friends, hear me and reform! I seek your good, not mine. You have heard the speeches. Disband these New England societies — nurseries of a system of steadily augmenting laudation and hosannaing, which; if persisted in uncurbed, may some day in the remote future beguile you into prevaricating and bragging. Oh, stop, stop, while you are still temperate in your appreciation of your ancestors! Hear me, I beseech you; get up an auction and sell Plymouth Rock! The Pilgrims were a simple and ignorant race. They never had seen any good rocks before, or at least any that were not watched, and so they were excusable for hopping ashore in frantic delight and clapping an iron fence around this one. But you, gentlemen, are educated; you are enlightened; you know that in the rich land of your nativity, opulent New England, overflowing with rocks, this one isn’t worth, at the outside, more than thirty-five cents. Therefore, sell it, before it is injured by exposure, or at least throw it open to the patent- medicine advertisements, and let it earn its taxes: Yes, hear your true friend-your only true friend — list to his voice. Disband these societies, hotbeds of vice, of moral decay HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET — perpetuators of ancestral superstition. Here on this board I see water, I see milk, I see the wild and deadly lemonade. These are but steps upon the downward path. Next we shall see tea, then chocolate, then coffee — hotel coffee. A few more years — all too few, I fear — mark my words, we shall have cider! Gentlemen, pause ere it be too late. You are on the broad road which leads to dissipation, physical ruin, moral decay, gory crime and the gallows! I beseech you, I implore you, in the name of your anxious friends, in the name of your suffering families, in the name of your impending widows and orphans, stop ere it be too late. Disband these New England societies, renounce these soul-blistering saturnalia, cease from varnishing the rusty reputations of your long-vanished ancestors — the super-high- moral old iron-clads of Cape Cod, the pious buccaneers of Plymouth Rock — go home, and try to learn to behave! However, chaff and nonsense aside, I think I honor and appreciate your Pilgrim stock as much as you do yourselves, perhaps; and I endorse and adopt a sentiment uttered by a grandfather of mine once — a man of sturdy opinions, of sincere make of mind, and not given to flattery. He said: “People may talk as they like about that Pilgrim stock, but, after all’s said and done, it would be pretty hard to improve on those people; and, as for me, I don’t mind coming out flatfooted and saying there ain’t any way to improve on them — except having them born in, Missouri!” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1884

HISTORY OF EAST BRIDGEWATER, MASSACHUSETTS, by William Allen of the East Bridgewater Historical Commission appeared as pages 833-887 in Volume II of Duane Hamilton Hurd’s HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS: WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MANY OF ITS PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN (Philadelphia: J.W. Lewis & Company). PLYMOUTH COUNTY I PLYMOUTH COUNTY II PLYMOUTH COUNTY III HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1887

February 9, Wednesday: Robert Louis Stevenson’s THE MERRY MEN AND OTHER TALES AND FABLES.

Thomas Russell died at 20 Hancock Street, his home in Boston. The body would be positioned per his request at the top of Burial Hill, off Leyden Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts where he had been born, in the company of Governor William Bradford and Tisquantum or Squanto. His headstone would be a granite glacial erratic left by the Ice Age atop one of the pine hills of “Manomet” near Plymouth (the “Forefathers Rock” being, by way of example, another of these erratics). His inscription is “THOMAS RUSSELL / born / Sept. 26, 1825 / died / Feb. 9, 1887” (as Robert Louis Stevenson could have told us, “What goes around comes around”). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1896

Tableaux vivants of the heroic Pilgrim scenes, such as “The Pilgrims Going to Church,” began to be produced at annual historic festivals. PLYMOUTH HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1898

A 72-foot erection had since 1872 topped Captain’s Hill, which had once been the personal property of Captain Myles Standish. Eventually further funding had been made available, and in this year the erection topped out at 102 feet and a 14-foot statue was positioned. People can indeed rise above themselves. The hero of Plymouth would have in death what he lacked in life, which is to say, altitude. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1912

Henry Howland Crapo, CERTAIN COMEOVERERS. New Bedford MA: E. Anthony & Sons, Inc., Printers. PLYMOUTH VIEW THE PAGE IMAGES HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1920

On Plymouth beach, the Billings canopy was being demolished and the glacial erratic known as “Forefathers Rock” was being relocated back to where it could be lapped by the waves as it had been in 1620, for the 1920- 1921 Tercentennary celebration. In the move the sacred rock would again break apart and further pieces would need to be removed in order to reunite the sections. The canopy was to be replaced with a Grecian temple of white granite funding for which had been donated by the National Society of Colonial Dames, to be designed by McKim, Mead and White and erected by Roy B. Beattie of Fall River.

Annie Russell Marble’s PAGEANT: THE CHILDREN’S QUEST, and her THE WOMEN WHO CAME IN THE Mayflower (Boston, Chicago: The Pilgrim Press). Interestingly, in this year in which American women were finally achieving the right to vote, Marble, although president of Smith College’s Class of 1886, was an opponent of woman suffrage. FEMINISM

The Women Who Came in the Mayflower This little book is intended as a memorial to the women who came in The Mayflower, and their comrades who came later in The Ann and The Fortune, who maintained the high standards of home life in early Plymouth Colony. There is no attempt to make a genealogical study of any family. The effort is to reveal glimpses of the communal life during 1621-1623. This is supplemented by a few silhouettes of individual matrons and maidens to whose influence we may trace increased resources in domestic life and education. One must regret the lack of proof regarding many facts, about which are conflicting statements, both of the general conditions and the individual men and women. In some instances, both points of view have been given here; at other times, the more probable surmises have been mentioned. The author feels deep gratitude, and would here express it, to the librarians of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New England Genealogic-Historical Register, the American HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Antiquarian Society, the Register of Deeds, Pilgrim Hall, and the Russell Library of Plymouth, private and public libraries of Duxbury and Marshfield, and to Mr. Arthur Lord and all other individuals who have assisted in this research. The publications of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, and the remarkable researches of its editor, Mr. George E. Bowman, call for special appreciation. Annie Maria Russell. Worcester, Massachusetts.

CONTENTS I ENDURANCE AND ADVENTURE: THE VOYAGE AND LANDING II COMMUNAL AND FAMILY LIFE IN PLYMOUTH 1621-1623 III MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO CAME IN “THE MAYFLOWER” IV COMPANIONS WHO ARRIVED IN “THE FORTUNE” AND “THE ANN” INDEX HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ENDURANCE AND ADVENTURE:

THE VOYAGE AND LANDING

“So they left ye goodly and pleasante citie, which had been ther resting-place near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes, & looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.” — Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantations. Chap. VII.

December weather in New England, even at its best, is a test of physical endurance. With warm clothes and sheltering homes today, we find compensations for the cold winds and storms in the exhilarating winter sports and the good cheer of the holiday season. The passengers of The Mayflower anchored in Plymouth harbor, three hundred years ago, lacked compensations of sports or fireside warmth. One hundred and two in number when they sailed, — of whom twenty-nine were women, — they had been crowded for ten weeks into a vessel that was intended to carry about half the number of passengers. In low spaces between decks, with some fine weather when the open hatchways allowed air to enter and more stormy days when they were shut in amid discomforts of all kinds, they had come at last within sight of the place where, contrary to their plans, they were destined to make their settlement. At Plymouth, England, their last port in September, they had “been kindly entertained and courteously used by divers friends there dwelling,” [Footnote: Relation or Journal of a Plantation Settled at Plymouth in New-England and Proceedings Thereof; London, 1622 (Bradford and Winslow) Abbreviated In Purchas’ Pilgrim, X; iv; London, 1625.] but they were homeless now, facing a new country with frozen shores, menaced by wild animals and yet more fearsome savages. Whatever trials of their good sense and sturdy faith came later, those days of waiting until shelter could be raised on shore, after the weeks of confinement, must have challenged their physical and spiritual fortitude. There must have been exciting days for the women on shipboard and in landing. There must have been hours of distress for the older and the delight in adventure which is an unchanging trait of the young of every race. Wild winds carried away some clothes and cooking-dishes from the ship; there was a birth and a death, and occasional illness, besides the dire seasickness. John Howland, “the lustie young man,” fell overboard but he caught hold of the topsail halyard which hung extended and so held on “though he was sundry fathoms under water,” until he was pulled up by a rope and rescued by a boat-hook. [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; ch. 9.] Recent research [Footnote: “The Mayflower,” by H. G. Marsden; Eng. Historical Review, Oct., 1904; The Mayflower Descendant, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Jan., 1916] has argued that the captain of The Mayflower was probably not Thomas Jones, with reputation for severity, but a Master Christopher Jones of kindlier temper. The former captain was in Virginia, in September, 1620, according to this account. With the most generous treatment which the captain and crew could give to the women, they must have been sorely tried. There were sick to be nursed, children to be cared for, including some lively boys who played with powder and nearly caused an explosion at Cape Cod; nourishment must be found for all from a store of provisions that had been much reduced by the delays and necessary sales to satisfy their “merchant adventurers” before they left England. They slept on damp bedding and wore musty clothes; they lacked exercise and water for drink or cleanliness. Joyful for them must have been the day recorded by Winslow and Bradford, [Footnote: Relation or Journal, etc. (1622).] — ”On Monday the thirteenth of November our people went on shore to refresh themselves and our women to wash, as they had great need.” During the anxious days when the abler men were searching on land for a site for the settlement, first on Cape Cod and later at Plymouth, there were events of excitement on the ship left in the harbor. Peregrine White was born and his father’s servant, Edward Thompson, died. Dorothy May Bradford, the girl- wife of the later Governor of the colony, was drowned during his absence. There were murmurings and threats against the leaders by some of the crew and others who were impatient at the long voyage, scant comforts and uncertain future. Possibly some of the complaints came from women, but in the hearts of most of them, although no women signed their names, was the resolution that inspired the men who signed that compact in the cabin of The Mayflower, — ”to promise all due submission and obedience.” They had pledged their “great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundation for ye propagating and advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of ye world; yea, though they should be but as stepping-stones unto others for ye performing of so great a work”; with such spirit they had been impelled to leave Holland and such faith sustained them on their long journey. Many of the women who were pioneers at Plymouth had suffered severe hardships in previous years. They could sustain their own hearts and encourage the younger ones by remembrance of the passage from England to Holland, twelve years before, when they were searched most cruelly, even deprived of their clothes and belongings by the ship’s master at Boston. Later they were abandoned by the Dutchman at Hull, to wait for fourteen days of frightful storm while their husbands and protectors were carried far away in a ship towards the coast of Norway, “their little ones hanging about them and quaking with cold.” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; ch. 2.] There were women with frail bodies, like Rose Standish and Katherine Carver, but there were strong physiques and dauntless hearts sustained to great old age, matrons like Susanna White and Elizabeth Hopkins and young women like Priscilla Mullins, Mary Chilton, Elizabeth Tilley and Constance Hopkins. In our imaginations today, few women correspond to the clinging, fainting figures portrayed by some of the painters of “The Departure” or “The Landing of the Pilgrims.” We may more readily believe that most of the women were upright and alert, peering HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET anxiously but courageously into the future. Writing in 1910, John Masefield said: [Footnote: Introduction to Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers (Everyman’s Library).] “A generation fond of pleasure, disinclined towards serious thought, and shrinking from hardship, even if it may be swiftly reached, will find it difficult to imagine the temper, courage and manliness of the emigrants who made the first Christian settlement of New England.” Ten years ago it would have been as difficult for women of our day to understand adequately the womanliness of the Pilgrim matrons and girls. The anxieties and self-denials experienced by women of all lands during the last five years may help us to “imagine” better the dauntless spirit of these women of New-Plymouth. During those critical months of 1621-1623 they sustained their households and assisted the men in establishing an orderly and religious colony. We may justly affirm that some of “the wisdom, prudence and patience and just and equall carriage of things by the better part” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.] was manifested among the women as well as the men. In spite of the spiritual zeal which comes from devotion to a good cause, and the inspiration of steady work, the women must have suffered from homesickness, as well as from anxiety and illness. They had left in Holland not alone their loved pastor, John Robinson, and their valiant friend, Robert Cushman, but many fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters besides their “dear gossips.” Mistress Brewster yearned for her elder son and her daughters, Fear and Patience; Priscilla Mullins and Mary Chilton, soon to be left orphans, had been separated from older brothers and sisters. Disease stalked among them on land and on shipboard like a demon. Before the completion of more than two or three of the one-room, thatched houses, the deaths were multiplying. Possibly this disease was typhus fever; more probably it was a form of infectious pneumonia, due to enervated conditions of the body and to exposures at Cape Cod. Winslow declared, in his account of the expedition on shore, “It blowed and did snow all that day and night and froze withal. Some of our people that are dead took the original of their death there.” Had the disease been “galloping consumption,” as has been suggested sometimes, it is not probable that many of those “sick unto death” would have recovered and have lived to be octogenarians. The toll of deaths increased and the illness spread until, at one time, there were only “six or seven sound persons” to minister to the sick and to bury the dead. Fifteen of the twenty- nine women who sailed from England and Holland were buried on Plymouth hillside during the winter and spring. They were: Rose Standish; Elizabeth, wife of Edward Winslow; Mary, wife of Isaac Allerton; Sarah, wife of Francis Eaton; Katherine, wife of Governor John Carver; Alice, wife of John Rigdale; Ann, wife of Edward Fuller; Bridget and Ann Tilley, wives of John and Edward; Alice, wife of John Mullins or Molines; Mrs. James Chilton; Mrs. Christopher Martin; Mrs. Thomas Tinker; possibly Mrs. John Turner, and Ellen More, the orphan ward of Edward Winslow. Nearly twice as many men as women died during those fateful months of 1621. Can we “imagine” the courage required by the few women who remained after this devastation, as the wolves were heard howling in the night, the food supplies were fast disappearing, and the houses of shelter were delayed in HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET completion by “frost and much foul weather,” and by the very few men in physical condition to rive timber or to thatch roofs? The common house, twenty foot square, was crowded with the sick, among them Carver and Bradford, who were obliged “to rise in good speed” when the roof caught on fire, and their loaded muskets in rows beside the beds threatened an explosion. [Footnote: Mourt’s Relation.] Although the women’s strength of body and soul must have been sapped yet their fidelity stood well the test; when The Mayflower was to return to England in April and the captain offered free passage to the women as well as to any men who wished to go, if the women “would cook and nurse such of the crew as were ill,” not a man or a woman accepted the offer. Intrepid in bravery and faith, the women did their part in making this lonely, impoverished settlement into a home. This required adjustments of many kinds. Few in number, the women represented distinctive classes of society in birth and education. In Leyden, for seven years, they had chosen their friends and there they formed a happy community, in spite of some poverty and more anxiety about the education and morals of their children, because of “the manifold temptations” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, ch. 3.] of the Dutch city. Many of the men, on leaving England, had renounced their more leisurely occupations and professions to practise trades in Leyden, — Brewster and Winslow as printers, Allerton as tailor, Dr. Samuel Fuller as say-weaver and others as carpenters, wool- combers, masons, cobblers, pewterers and in other crafts. A few owned residences near the famous University of Leyden, where Robinson and Brewster taught. Some educational influences would thus fall upon their families. [Footnote: The England and Holland of the Pilgrims, Henry M. Dexter and Morton Dexter, Boston, 1905.] On the other hand, others were recorded as “too poor to be taxed.” Until July, 1620, there were two hundred and ninety-eight known members of this church in Leyden with nearly three hundred more associated with them. Such economic and social conditions gave to the women certain privileges and pleasures in addition to the interesting events in this picturesque city. In The Mayflower and at Plymouth, on the other hand, the women were thrust into a small company with widely differing tastes and backgrounds. One of the first demands made upon them was for a democratic spirit, — tolerance and patience, adaptability to varied natures. The old joke that “the Pilgrim Mothers had to endure not alone their hardships but the Pilgrim Fathers also” has been overworked. These women would never have accepted pity as martyrs. They came to this new country with devotion to the men of their families and, in those days, such a call was supreme in a woman’s life. They sorrowed for the women friends who had been left behind, — the wives of Dr. Fuller, Richard Warren, Francis Cooke and Degory Priest, who were to come later after months of anxious waiting for a message from New-Plymouth. The family, not the individual, characterized the life of that community. The father was always regarded as the “head” of the family. Evidence of this is found when we try to trace the posterity of some of the pioneer women from the Old Plymouth Colony Records. A child is there recorded as “the son of Nicholas Snow,” “the son of John Winslow” or “the daughter of Thomas Cushman” with no hint that the mothers of these children were, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET respectively, Constance Hopkins, Mary Chilton and Mary Allerton, all of whom came in The Mayflower, although the fathers arrived at Plymouth later on The Fortune and The Ann. It would be unjust to assume that these women were conscious heroines. They wrought with courage and purpose equal to these traits in the men, but probably none of the Pilgrims had a definite vision of the future. With words of appreciation that are applicable to both sexes, ex-President Charles W. Eliot has said: [Footnote: Eighteenth Annual Dinner of Mayflower Society, Nov. 20, 1913.] “The Pilgrims did not know the issue and they had no vision of it. They just loved liberty and toleration and truth, and hoped for more of it, for more liberty, for a more perfect toleration, for more truth, and they put their lives, their labors, at the disposition of those loves without the least vision of this republic, or of what was going to come out of their industry, their devotion, their dangerous and exposed lives.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET COMMUNAL AND FAMILY LIFE IN PLYMOUTH 1621-1623

Spring and summer came to bless them for their endurance and unconscious heroism. Then they could appreciate the verdict of their leaders, who chose the site of Plymouth as a “hopeful place,” with running brooks, vines of sassafras and strawberry, fruit trees, fish and wild fowl and “clay excellent for pots and will wash like soap.” [Footnote: Mourt’s Relation] So early was the spring in 1621 that on March the third there was a thunder storm and “the birds sang in the woods most pleasantly.” On March the sixteenth, Samoset came with Indian greeting. This visit must have been one of mixed sentiments for the women and we can read more than the mere words in the sentence, “We lodged him that night at Stephen Hopkins’ house and watched him.” [Footnote: Mourt’s Relation.] Perhaps it was in deference to the women that the men gave Samoset a hat, a pair of stockings, shoes, a shirt and a piece of cloth to tie about his waist. Samoset returned soon with Squanto or Tisquantum, the only survivor of the Patuxet tribe of Indians which had perished of a pestilence Plymouth three years before. He shared with Hobomok the friendship of the settlers for many years and both Indians gave excellent service. Through the influence of Squanto the treaty was made in the spring of 1621 with Massasoit, the first League of Nations to preserve peace in the new world. Squanto showed the men how to plant alewives or herring as fertilizer for the Indian corn. He taught the boys and girls how to gather clams and mussels on the shore and to “tread eels” in the water that is still called Eel River. He gathered wild strawberries and sassafras for the women and they prepared a “brew” which almost equalled their ale of old England. The friendly Indians assisted the men, as the seasons opened, in hunting wild turkeys, ducks and an occasional deer, welcome additions to the store of fish, sea-biscuits and cheese. We are told [Footnote: Mourt’s Relation] that Squanto brought also a dog from his Indian friends as a gift to the settlement. Already there were, at least, two dogs, probably brought from Holland or England, a mastiff and a spaniel [Footnote: Winslow’s Narration] to give comfort and companionship to the women and children, and to go with the men into the woods for timber and game. It seems paradoxical to speak of child-life in this hard- pressed, serious-minded colony, but it was there and, doubtless, it was normal in its joyous and adventuresome impulses. Under eighteen years of age were the girls, Remember and Mary Allerton, Constance and Damaris Hopkins, Elizabeth Tilley and, possibly, Desire Minter and Humility Cooper. The boys were Bartholomew Allerton, who “learned to sound the drum,” John Crakston, William Latham, Giles Hopkins, John and Francis Billington, Richard More, Henry Sampson, John Cooke, Resolved White, Samuel Fuller, Love and Wrestling Brewster and the babies, Oceanus Hopkins and Peregrine White. With the exception of Wrestling Brewster and Oceanus Hopkins, all these children lived to ripe old age, — a credit not alone to their hardy constitutions, but also to the care which the Plymouth women bestowed upon their households. The flowers that grew in abundance about the settlement must HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET have given them joy, — arbutus or “mayflowers,” wild roses, blue chicory, Queen Anne’s lace, purple asters, golden-rod and the beautiful sabbatia or “sentry” which is still found on the banks of the fresh ponds near the town and is called “the Plymouth rose.” Edward Winslow tells [Footnote: Relation of the Manners, Customs, etc., of the Indians.] of the drastic use of this bitter plant in developing hardihood among Indian boys. Early in the first year one of these fresh-water ponds, known as Billington Sea, was discovered by Francis Billington when he had climbed a high hill and had reported from it “a smaller sea.” Blackberries, blueberries, plums and cherries must have been delights to the women and children. Medicinal herbs were found and used by advice of the Indian friends; the bayberry’s virtues as salve, if not as candle-light, were early applied to the comforts of the households. Robins, bluebirds, “Bob Whites” and other birds sang for the pioneers as they sing for the tourist and resident in Plymouth today. The mosquito had a sting, — for Bradford gave a droll and pungent answer to the discontented colonists who had reported, in 1624, that “the people are much annoyed with musquetoes.” He wrote: [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. II.] “They are too delicate and unfitte to begin new plantations and colonies that cannot enduer the biting of a muskeet. We would wish such to keep at home till at least they be muskeeto proof. Yet this place is as free as any and experience teacheth that ye land is tild and ye woods cut downe, the fewer there will be and in the end scarce any at all.” The end has not yet come! Good harvests and some thrilling incidents varied the hard conditions of life for the women during 1621-2. Indian corn and barley furnished a new foundation for many “a savory dish” prepared by the housewives in the mortar and pestles, kettles and skillets which they had brought from Holland. Nuts were used for food, giving piquant flavor both to “cakes” baked in the fire and to the stuffing of wild turkeys. The fare was simple, but it must have seemed a feast to the Pilgrims after the months of self-denials and extremity. Before the winter of 1621-2 was ended, seven log houses had been built and four “common buildings” for storage, meetings and workshops. Already clapboards and furs were stored to be sent back to England to the merchant adventurers in the first ship. The seven huts, with thatched roofs and chimneys on the outside, probably in cob-house style, were of hewn planks, not of round logs. [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic, John A. Goodwin, p. 582.] The fireplaces were of stones laid in clay from the abundant sand. In 1628 thatched roofs were condemned because of the danger of fire, [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] and boards or palings were substituted. During the first two years or longer, light came into the houses through oiled paper in the windows. From the plans left by Governor Bradford and the record of the visit of De Rassieres to Plymouth, in 1627, one can visualize this first street in New England, leading from Plymouth harbor up the hill to the cannon and stockade where, later, was the fort. At the intersection of the first street and a cross-highway stood the Governor’s house. It was fitting that the lot nearest to the fort hill should be assigned to Miles Standish and John Alden. All had free access to the brook where flagons were filled for drink and where the clothes were washed. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET A few events that have been recorded by Winslow, Bradford and Morton were significant and must have relieved the monotony of life. On January fourth an eagle was shot, cooked and proved “to be excellent meat; it was hardly to be discerned from mutton.” [Footnote: Mourt’s Relation.] Four days later three seals and a cod were caught; we may assume that they furnished oil, meat and skins for the household. About the same time, John Goodman and Peter Brown lost their way in the woods, remained out all night, thinking they heard lions roar (mistaking wolves for lions), and on their return the next day John Goodman’s feet were so badly frozen “that it was a long time before he was able to go.” [Footnote: Ibid.] Wild geese were shot and used for broth on the ninth of February; the same day the Common House was set ablaze, but was saved from destruction. It is easy to imagine the exciting effects of such incidents upon the band of thirteen boys and seven girls, already enumerated. In July, the cry of “a lost child” aroused the settlement to a search for that “unwhipt rascal,” John Billington, who had run away to the Nauset Indians at Eastham, but he was found unharmed by a posse of men led by Captain Standish. To the women one of the most exciting events must have been the marriage on May 22, 1621, of Edward Winslow and Mistress Susanna White. Her husband and two men-servants had died since The Mayflower left England and she was alone to care for two young boys, one a baby a few weeks old. Elizabeth Barker Winslow had died seven weeks before the wedding day. Perhaps the Plymouth women gossiped a little over the brief interval of mourning, but the exigencies of the times easily explained the marriage, which was performed by a magistrate, presumably the Governor. Even more disturbing to the peaceful life was the first duel on June 18, between Edward Lister and Edward Dotey, both servants of Stephen Hopkins. Tradition ascribed the cause to a quarrel over the attractive elder daughter of their master, Constance Hopkins. The duel was fought with swords and daggers; both youths were slightly wounded in hand and thigh and both were sentenced, as punishment, to have their hands and feet tied together and to fast for twenty-four hours but, says a record, [Footnote: A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas Prence.] “within an hour, because of their great pains, at their own and their master’s humble request, upon promise of better carriage, they were released by the Governor.” It is easy to imagine this scene: Stephen Hopkins and his wife appealing to the Governor and Captain Standish for leniency, although the settlement was seriously troubled over the occurrence; Elder Brewster and his wife deploring the lack of Christian affection which caused the duel; Edward Winslow and his wife, dignified yet tolerant; Goodwife Helen Billington scolding as usual; Priscilla Mullins, Mary Chilton and Elizabeth Tilley condoling with the tearful and frightened Constance Hopkins, while the children stand about, excited and somewhat awed by the punishment and the distress of the offenders. Another day of unusual interest and industry for the householders was the Thanksgiving Day when peace with the Indians and assured prosperity seemed to follow the ample harvests. To this feast, which lasted for three days or more, came ninety-one Indians bringing five deer which they had killed and dressed. These were a great boon to the women who must prepare meals for one hundred and forty people. Wild turkeys, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ducks, fish and clams were procured by the colonists and cooked, perhaps with some marchpanes also, by the more expert cooks. The serious prayers and psalms of the Pilgrims were as amazing to the Indians as were the strange whoops, dances, beads and feathers of the savages marvellous to the women and children of Plymouth Colony. In spite of these peaceable incidents there were occasional threats of Indian treachery, like the theft of tools from two woodsmen and the later bold challenge in the form of a headless arrow wrapped in a snake’s skin; the latter was returned promptly and decisively with the skin filled with bullets, and the danger was over for a time. The stockade was strengthened and, soon after, a palisade was built about the houses with gates that were locked at night. After the fort of heavy timber was completed, this was used also as a meeting-house and “was fitted accordingly for that use.” It is to be hoped that warming-pans and foot-stoves were a part of the “fittings” so that the women might not be benumbed as, with dread of possible Indian attacks, they limned from the old Ainsworth’s Psalm Book: “In the Lord do I trust, how then to my soule doe ye say, As doth a little bird unto your mountaine fly away? For loe, the wicked bend their bow, their arrows they prepare On string; to shoot at dark at them In heart that upright are.” (Psalm xi.) Even more exciting than the days already mentioned was the great event of surprise and rejoicing, November 19, 1621, when The Fortune arrived with thirty-five more Pilgrims. Some of these were soon to wed Mayflower passengers. Widow Martha Ford, recently bereft, giving birth on the night of her arrival to a fourth child, was wed to Peter Brown; Mary Becket (sometimes written Bucket) became the wife of George Soule; John Winslow; later married Mary Chilton, and Thomas Cushman, then a lad of fourteen, became the husband, in manhood, of Mary Allerton. His father, Robert Cushman, remained in the settlement while The Fortune was at anchor and left his son as ward for Governor Bradford. The notable sermon which was preached at Plymouth by Robert Cushman at this time (preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth) was from the text, “Let no man seek his own; but every man another’s wealth.” Some of the admonitions against swelling pride and fleshly-minded hypocrites seem to us rather paradoxical when we consider the poverty and self-sacrificing spirit of these pioneers; perhaps, there were selfish and slothful malcontents even in that company of devoted, industrious men and women, for human nature was the same three hundred years ago, in large and small communities, as it is today, with some relative changes. Among the passengers brought by The Fortune were some of great helpfulness. William Wright, with his wife Priscilla (the sister of Governor Bradford’s second wife), was an expert carpenter, and Stephen Dean, who came with his wife, was able to erect a small mill and grind corn. Robert Hicks (or Heeks) was another addition to the colony, whose wife was later the teacher of some of the children. Philip De La Noye, progenitor of the Delano family in America, John and Kenelm Winslow and Jonathan Brewster were eligible men to join the group of younger men, — John Alden, John Howland and others. The great joy in the arrival of these friends was succeeded by HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET an agitating fear regarding the food supply, for The Fortune had suffered from bad weather and its colonists had scarcely any extra food or clothing. By careful allotments the winter was endured and when spring came there were hopes of a large harvest from more abundant sowing, but the hopes were killed by the fearful drought which lasted from May to the middle of July. Some lawless and selfish youths frequently stole corn before it was ripe and, although public whipping was the punishment, the evil persisted. These conditions were met with the same courage and determination which ever characterized the leaders; a rationing of the colony was made which would have done credit to a “Hoover.” They escaped famine, but the worn, thin faces and “the low condition, both in respect of food and clothing” was a shock to the sixty more colonists who arrived in The Ann and The James in 1623. The friends who came in these later ships included some women from Leyden, “dear gossips” of Mayflower colonists, women whose resources and characters gave them prominence in the later history of Plymouth. Notable among them was Mrs. Alice Southworth soon to wed Governor Bradford. With her came Barbara, whose surname is surmised to have been Standish, soon to become the wife of Captain Standish. Bridget Fuller joined her husband, the noble doctor of Plymouth; Elizabeth Warren, with her five daughters, came to make a home for her husband, Richard; Mistress Hester Cooke came with three children, and Fear and Patience Brewster, despite their names, brought joy and cheer to their mother and girlhood friends; they were later wed to Isaac Allerton and Thomas Prence, the Governor. Fortunately, The Ann and The James brought supplies in liberal measure and also carpenters, weavers and cobblers, for their need was great. The James was to remain for the use of the colony. Rations had been as low as one-quarter pound of bread a day and sometimes their fare was only “a bit of fish or lobster without any bread or relish but a cup of fair spring water.” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Bk. II.] It is not strange that Bradford added: “ye long continuance of this diete and their labors abroad had somewhat abated ye freshness of their former complexion.” An important change in the policy of the colony, which affected the women as well as men, was made at this time. Formerly the administration of affairs had been upon the communal basis. All the men and grown boys were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt for the common use of all the households. The women also did their tasks in common. The results had been unsatisfactory and, in 1623, a new division of land was made, allotting to member householder an acre for each member of his family. This arrangement, which was called “every man for his owne particuler,” was told by Bradford with a comment which shows that the women were human beings, not saints nor martyrs. He wrote: “The women now went willingly into ye field, and tooke their little-ones with them to set corne, which before would aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.” After further comment upon the failure of communism as “breeding confusion and discontent” he added this significant comment: “For ye yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense.... And for HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET men’s wives to be commanded to doe servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well brooke it.” If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in the summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning- wheels and looms to the women who came in The Mayflower, but we can scarcely believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There could have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful weaving and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial history. The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for their families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity on hand, after the stress of the two years, would vary according to the supplies which each brought from Holland or England; in some families there were sheets and “pillow-beeres” with “clothes of substance and comeliness,” but other households were scantily supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting ballad, called “Our Forefathers’ Song,” is given by tradition from the lips of an old lady aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If the suggestion is accurate that she learned this from her mother or grandmother, its date would approximate the early days of Plymouth history. More probably it was written much later, but it has a reminiscent flavor of those days of poverty and brave spirit: “The place where we live is a wilderness wood, Where grass is much wanted that’s fruitful and good; Our mountains and hills and our valleys below, Are commonly covered with frost and with snow. “Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn, They need to be clouted soon after they are worn, But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing, Clouts double are warmer than single whole clothing. “If fresh meate be wanted to fill up our dish, We have carrots and turnips whenever we wish, And if we’ve a mind for a delicate dish, We go to the clam-bank and there we catch fish. “For pottage and puddings and custards and pies, Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies! We have pumpkin at morning and pumpkin at noon, If it was not for pumpkin we should be undoon.” [Footnote: The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.] What did these Pilgrim women wear? The manifest answer is, — what they had in stock. No more absurd idea was ever invented than the picture of these Pilgrims “in uniform,” gray gowns with dainty white collars and cuffs, with stiff caps and dark capes. They wore the typical garments of the period for men and women in England. There is no evidence that they adopted, to any extent, Dutch dress, for they were proud of their English birth; they left Holland partly for fear that their young people might be educated or enticed away from English standards of conduct. [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, ch. 4.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely [Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.] that the “sad- colored” gowns and coats mentioned in wills were not “dismal”; the list of colors so described in England included (1638) “russet, purple, green, tawny, deere colour, orange colour, buffs and scarlet.” The men wore doublets and jerkins of browns HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET and greens, and cloaks with red and purple linings. The women wore full skirts of say, paduasoy or silk of varied colors, long, pointed stomachers, — often with bright tone, — full, sometimes puffed or slashed sleeves, and lace collars or “whisks” resting upon the shoulders. Sometimes the gowns were plaited or silk- laced; they often opened in front showing petticoats that were quilted or embroidered in brighter colours. Broadcloth gowns of russet tones were worn by those who could not afford silks and satins; sometimes women wore doublets and jerkins of black and browns. For dress occasions the men wore black velvet jerkins with white ruffs, like those in the authentic portrait of Edward Winslow. Velvet and quilted hoods of all colors and sometimes caps, flat on the head and meeting below the chin with fullness, are shown in existent portraits of English women and early colonists. Among relics that are dated back to this early period are the slipper [Footnote: In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] belonging to Mistress Susanna White Winslow, narrow, pointed, with lace trimmings, and an embroidered lace cap that has been assigned to Rose Standish. [Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume In America; Earle.] Sometimes the high ruffs were worn above the shoulders instead of “whisks.” The children were dressed like miniature men and women; often the girls wore aprons, as did the women on occasions; these were narrow and edged with lace. “Petty coats” are mentioned in wills among the garments of the women. We would not assume that in 1621-2 all the women in Plymouth colony wore silken or even homespun clothes of prevailing English fashion. Many of these that are mentioned in inventories and retained heirlooms, with rich laces and embroideries, were brought later from England; probably Winslow, Allerton and even Standish brought back such gifts to the women when they made their trips to England in 1624 and later. If the pioneer women had laces and embroideries of gold they probably hoarded them as precious heirlooms during those early years of want, for they were too sensible to wear and to waste them. As prosperity came, however, and new elements entered the colony they were, doubtless, affected by the law of the General Court, in 1634, which forbade further acquisition of laces, threads of silver and gold, needle-work caps, bands and rails, and silver girdles and belts. This law was enacted not by the Pilgrims of Plymouth, but by the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony. When Edward Winslow returned in The Charity, in 1624, he brought not alone a “goodly supply of clothing” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] but, — far more important, — the first bull and heifers that were in Plymouth. The old tradition of the white bull on which Priscilla Alden rode home from her marriage, in 1622 or early 1623, must be rejected. This valuable addition of “neat cattle” to the resources of the colony caused a redistribution of land and shares in the “stock.” By 1627 a partnership or “purchas” had been, arranged, for assuming the debts and maintenance of the Plymouth colony, freed from further responsibility to “the adventurers” in London. The new division of lots included also some of the cattle. It was specified, for instance, that Captain Standish and Edward Winslow were to share jointly “the Red Cow which belongeth to the poor of the colony to which they must keep her Calfe of this yeare being a Bull for the Companie, Also two shee goats.” [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Plymouth In New England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] Elder Brewster was granted “one of the four Heifers came in The Jacob called the Blind Heifer.” Among interesting sidelights upon the economic and social results of this extension of land and cattle is the remark of Bradford: [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] “Some looked for building great houses, and such pleasant situations for them as themselves had fancied, as if they would be great men and rich all of a suddaine; but they proved castles in air.” Within a short time, however, with the rapid increase of children and the need of more pasturage for the cattle, many of the leading men and women drifted away from the original confines of Plymouth towards Duxbury, Marshfield, Scituate, Bridgewater and Eastham. Agriculture became their primal concern, with the allied pursuits of fishing, hunting and trading with the Indians and white settlements that were made on Cape Cod and along the Kennebec. Soon after 1630 the families of Captain Standish, John Alden, and Jonathan Brewster (who had married the sister of John Oldham), Thomas Prence and Edward Winslow were settled on large farms in Duxbury and Marshfield. This loss to the Plymouth settlement was deplored by Bradford both for its social and religious results. April 2, 1632, [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] a pledge was taken by Alden, Standish, Prence, and Jonathan Brewster that they would “remove their families to live in the towne in the winter-time that they may the better repair to the service of God.” Such arrangement did not long continue, however, for in 1633 a church was established at Duxbury and the Plymouth members who lived there “were dismiste though very unwillingly.” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] Later the families of Francis Eaton, Peter Brown and George Soule joined the Duxbury colony. Hobomok, ever faithful to Captain Standish had a wigwam near his master’s home until, in his old age, he was removed to the Standish house, where he died in 1642. The women who had come in the earlier ships and had lived close to neighbors at Plymouth must have had lonely hours on their farms in spite of large families and many tasks. Wolves and other wild animals were sometimes near, for traps for them were decreed and allotted. Chance Indians prowled about and the stoutest hearts must have quailed when some of the recorded hurricanes and storms of 1635 and 1638 uncovered houses, felled trees and corn. In the main, however, there was peace and many of the families became prosperous; we find evidence in their wills, several of which have been deciphered from the original records by George Ernest Bowman, editor of the “Mayflower Descendants,” [Footnote: Editorial rooms at 53 Mt. Vernon St., Boston.] issued quarterly. By the aid of such records and a few family heirlooms of unquestioned genuineness, it is possible to suggest some individual silhouettes of the women of early Plymouth, in addition to the glimpses of their communal life. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET MATRONS AND MAIDENS WHO

CAME IN THE MAYFLOWER

It has been said, with some justice, that the Pilgrims were not remarkable men, that they lacked genius or distinctive personalities. The same statement may be made about the women. They did possess, as men and women, fine qualities for the work which they were destined to accomplish, — remarkable energy, faith, purpose, courage and patience. These traits were prominent in the leaders, Carver and Bradford, Standish and Winslow, Brewster and Dr. Fuller. As assistants to the men in the civic life of the colony, there were a few women who influenced the domestic and social affairs of their own and later generations. From chance records, wills, inventories and traditions their individual traits must be discerned, for there is scarcely any sequential, historic record. Death claimed some of these brave-hearted women before the life at Plymouth really began. Dorothy May Bradford, the daughter of Deacon May of the Leyden church, came from Wisbeach, Cambridge; she was married to William Bradford when she was about sixteen years old and was only twenty when she was drowned at Cape Cod. Her only child, a son, John, was left with her father and mother in Holland and there was long a tradition that she mourned grievously at the separation. This son came later to Plymouth, about 1627, and lived in Marshfield and Norwich, Connecticut. The tiny pieces of a padded quilt with faded threads of silver and gold, which belonged to Rose Standish, [Footnote: Now in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] are fitting relics of this mystical, delicate wife of “the doughty Captain.” She died January 29, 1621. She is portrayed in fiction and poetry as proud of her husband’s bravery and his record as a Lieutenant of Queen Elizabeth’s forces in aid of the Dutch. She was also proud of his reputed, and disputed, inheritance among the titled families of Standish of Standish and Standish of Duxbury Hall. [Footnote: For discussion of the ancestry of Standish, see “Some Recent Investigations of the Ancestry of Capt. Myles Standish,” by Thomas Cruddas Porteus of Coppell, Lancashire; N. E. Gen. Hist. Register, 68; 339-370; also in edition, Boston, 1914.] There has been a persistent tradition that Rose was born or lived on the Isle of Man and was married there, but no records have been found as proofs. In the painting of “The Embarkation,” by Robert Weir, Elizabeth Barker, the young wife of Edward Winslow, is attired in gay colors and extreme fashion, while beside her stands a boy of about eight years with a canteen strapped over his shoulders. It has been stated that this is the silver canteen, marked “E. W.,” now in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The only record there is [Footnote: Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, iv, 322.] “presentation, June, 1870, by James Warren, Senr., of a silver canteen and pewter plate which once belonged to Gov. Edward Winslow with his arms and initials.” As Elizabeth Barker, who came from Chatsun or Chester, England, to Holland, was married April 3, 1618, to HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Winslow, [Footnote: England and Holland of the Pilgrims, Dexter.] and as she was his first wife, the son must have been a baby when The Mayflower sailed. Moreover, there is no record by Bradford of any child that came with the Winslows, except the orphan, Ellen More. It has been suggested that the latter was of noble lineage. [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, v. 256.] Mary Norris, of Newbury in England, wife of one of the wealthiest and most prominent of the Pilgrims in early years, Isaac Allerton, died in February of the first winter, leaving two young girls, Remember and Mary, and a son, Bartholomew or “Bart.” The daughters married well, Remember to Moses Maverick of Salem, and Mary to Thomas Cushman. Mrs. Allerton gave birth to a child that was still-born while on The Mayflower and thus she had less strength to endure the hardships which followed. [Footnote: History of the Allerton Family; W. S. Allerton, N. Y., 1888.] When Bradford, recording the death of Katherine Carver, called her a “weak woman,” he referred to her health which was delicate while she lived at Plymouth and could not withstand the grief and shock of her husband’s death in April. She died the next month. She has been called “a gracious woman” in another record of her death. [Footnote: New England Memorial; Morton.] She was the sister or sister-in-law of John Robinson, their pastor in England and Holland. Recent investigation has claimed that she was first married to George Legatt and later to Carver. [Footnote: The Colonial, I, 46; also Gen. Hist. Reg., 67; 382, note.] Two children died and were buried in Holland in 1609 and 1617 and, apparently, these were the only children born to the Carvers. The maid Lois, who came with them on The Mayflower, is supposed to have married Francis Eaton, but she did not live after 1622. Desire Minter, who was also of the Carver household, has been the victim of much speculation. Mrs. Jane G. Austin, in her novel, “Standish of Standish,” makes her the female scapegrace of the colony, jealous, discontented and quarrelsome. On the other hand, and still speculatively, she is portrayed as the elder sister and house keeper for John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, after the death of Mistress Carver; this is assumed because the first girl born to the Howlands was named Desire. [Footnote: Life of Pilgrim Alden; Augustus E. Alden; Boston, 1902.] The only known facts about Desire Minter are those given by Bradford, “she returned to friends and proved not well, and dyed in England.” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.] By research among the Leyden records, collated by H. M. Dexter, [Footnote: The England and Holland of the Pilgrims.] the name, Minter, occurs a few times. William Minter, the husband of Sarah, was associated with the Carvers and Chiltons in marriage betrothals. William Minter was purchaser of a house from William Jeppson, in Leyden, in 1614. Another record is of a student at the University of Leyden who lived at the house of John Minter. Another reference to Thomas Minter of Sandwich, Kent, may furnish a clue. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 45, 56.] Evidently, to some of these relatives, with property, near or distant of kin, Desire Minter returned before 1626. Another unmarried woman, who survived the hardships of the first winter, but returned to England and died there, was Humility Cooper. We know almost nothing about her except that she and Henry Sampson were cousins of Edward Tilley and his wife. She HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET is also mentioned as a relative of Richard Clopton, one of the early religious leaders in England. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist.; iv, 108.] The “mother” of this group of matrons and maidens, who survived the winters of 1621-2, was undoubtedly Mistress Mary Brewster. Wife of the Elder, she shared his religious faith and zeal, and exercised a strong moral influence upon the women and children. Pastor John Robinson, in a letter to Governor Bradford, in 1623, refers to “her weake and decayed state of body,” but she lived until April 17, 1627, according to records in “the Brewster Book.” She was only fifty-seven years at her death but, as Bradford said with tender appreciation, “her great and continuall labours, with other crosses and sorrows, hastened it before y’e time.” As Elder Brewster “could fight as well as he could pray,” could build his own house and till his own land, [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin.] so, we may believe, his wife was efficient in all domestic ways. When her strength failed, it is pleasant to think that she accepted graciously the loving assistance of the younger women to whom she must have seemed, in her presence, like a benediction. Her married life was fruitful; five children lived to maturity and two or more had died in Holland. The Elder was “wise and discreet and well-spoken — of a cheerful spirit, sociable and pleasant among his friends, undervaluing himself and his abilities and sometimes overvaluing others.” [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation.] Such a person is sure to be a delightful companion. To these attractive qualities the Elder added another proof of tact and wisdom: “He always thought it were better for ministers to pray oftener and divide their prayers, than be long and tedious in the same.” While Mistress Brewster did not excel the women of her day, probably, in education, for to read easily and to write were not considered necessary graces for even the better-bred classes, — she could appreciate the thirty-eight copies of the Scriptures which were found among her husband’s four hundred volumes; these would be familiar to her, but the sixty-four books in Latin would not be read by the women of her day. Fortunately, she did not survive, as did her husband, to endure grief from the deaths of the daughters, Fear and Patience, both of whom died before 1635; nor yet did she realize the bitterness of feeling between the sons, Jonathan and Love, and their differences of opinion in the settlement of the Elder’s estate. [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] A traditional picture has been given [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin; foot-note, p.181.] of Captain Peregrine White of Marshfield, “riding a black horse and wearing a coat with buttons the size of a silver dollar, vigorous and of a comely aspect to the last,” [Footnote: Account of his death in Boston News Letter, July 31, 1704.] paying daily visits to his mother, Mistress Susanna White Winslow. We may imagine this elderly matron, sitting in the Winslow arm-chair, with its mark, “Cheapside, 1614,” [Footnote: This chair and the cape are now In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth; here also are portraits of Edward Winslow and Josiah Winslow and the latter’s wife, Penelope.] perhaps wearing the white silk shoulder-cape with its trimmings of embossed velvet which has been preserved, proud that she was privileged to be the mother of this son, the first child born of white parents in New England, proud that she had been the HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET wife of a Governor and Commissioner of eminence, and also the mother of Josiah Winslow, the first native-born Governor of any North American commonwealth. Hers was a record of which any woman of any century might well be proud! [Footnote: More material may be found in Winslow Memorial; Family Record, Holton, N. Y., 1877, and in Ancestral Chronological Record of the William White Family, 1607-1895, Concord, 1895.] In social position and worldly comforts her life was pre-eminent among the colonists. Although Edward Winslow had renounced some of his English wealth, possibly, when he went to Holland and adopted the trade of printer, he “came into his own” again and was in high favor with English courts and statesmen. His services as agent and commissioner, both for the Plymouth colony and later for Cromwell, must have necessitated long absences from home, while his wife remained at Careswell, the estate at Green Harbor, Marshfield, caring for her younger children, Elizabeth and Josiah Winslow. By family tradition, Mistress Susanna was a woman of graceful, aristocratic bearing and of strong character. Sometimes called Anna, as in her marriage record to William White at Leyden, February 11, 1612, [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, vii, 193.] she was the sister of Dr. Samuel Fuller. Two children by her first marriage died in 1615 and 1616; with her boy, Resolved, about five or six years old, she came with her husband on The Mayflower and, at the end of the voyage, bore her son, Peregrine White. The tact, courtesy and practical sagacity of Edward Winslow fitted him for the many demands that were made upon his diplomacy. One of the most amusing stories of his experiences as agent for Plymouth colony has been related by himself [Footnote: Winslow’s Relation.] when, at the request of the Indians, he visited Massasoit, who was ill, and brought about the recovery of this chief by common sense methods of treatment and by a “savory broth” made from Indian corn, sassafras and strawberry leaves, “strained through his handkerchief.” The skill with which Winslow cooked the broth and the “relish” of ducks reflected credit upon the household methods of Mistress Winslow. After 1646, Edward Winslow did not return to Plymouth for any long sojourn, for Cromwell and his advisers had recognized the worth of such a man as commissioner. [Footnote: State Papers, Colonial Service, 1574-1660. Winthrop Papers, ii, 283.] In 1655 he was sent as one of three commissioners against the Spaniards in the West Indies to attack St. Domingo. Because of lack of supplies and harmony among the troops, the attack was a failure. To atone for this the fleet started towards Jamaica, but on the way, near Hispaniola, Winslow was taken ill of fever and died, May 8, 1655; he was buried at sea with a military salute from forty-two guns. The salary paid to Winslow during these years was L1000, which was large for those times. On April 18, 1656, a “representation” from his widow, Susanna, and son was presented to the Lord Protector and council, asking that, although Winslow’s death occurred the previous May, the remaining L500 of his year’s salary might be paid to satisfy his creditors. To his wife and family Winslow, doubtless, wrote letters as graceful and interesting as are the few business epistles that are preserved in the Winthrop Papers. [Footnote: Hutchinson Collections, 110, 153, etc.] That he was anxious, to return to HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET his family is evident from a letter by President Steele of the Society for Propagating the Gospel in New England (in 1650), which Winslow was also serving; [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin, 444.] “Winslow was unwilling to be longer kept from his family, but his great acquaintance and influence were of service to the cause so great that it was hoped he would remain for a time longer.” In his will, which is now in Somerset House, London, dated 1654, he left his estate at Marshfield to his son, Josiah, with the stipulation that his wife, Susanna, should be allowed a full third part thereof through her life. [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, iv. i.] She lived twenty-five years longer, dying in October, 1680, at the estate, Careswell. It is supposed that she was buried on the hillside cemetery of the Daniel Webster estate in Marshfield, where, amid tangles and flowers, may be located the grave-stones of her children and grandchildren. Sharing with Mistress Susanna White Winslow the distinction of being mother of a child born on The Mayflower was Mistress Elizabeth Hopkins, whose son, Oceanus, was named for his birthplace. She was the second wife of Stephen Hopkins, who was one of the leaders with Winslow and Standish on early expeditions. With her stepchildren, Constance and Giles, and her little daughter, Damaris, she bore the rigors of those first years, bore other children, — Caleb, Ruth, Deborah and Elizabeth, — and cared for a large estate, including servants and many cattle. The inventory of the Hopkins estate revealed an abundance of beds and bedding, yellow and green rugs, curtains and spinning-wheels, and much wearing apparel. The home-life surely had incidents of excitement, as is shown by the accusations and fines against Stephen Hopkins for “suffering excessive drinking at his house, 1637, when William Reynolds was drunk and lay under the table,” and again for “suffering men to drink in his house on the Lord’s Day, both before and after the meeting — and allowing his servant and others to drink more than for ordinary refreshing and to play shovell board and such like misdemeanors.” [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] Such lapses in conduct at the Hopkins house were atoned for by the services which Stephen Hopkins rendered to the colony as explorer, assistant to the governor and other offices which suited his reliable and fearless disposition. These occasional “misdemeanors” in the Hopkins household were slight compared with the records against “the black sheep” of the colony, the family of Billingtons from London. The mother, Helen or Ellen, did not seem to redeem the reputation of husband and sons; traditionally she was called “the scold.” After her husband had been executed in 1630, for the first murder in the colony, for he had waylaid and killed John Newcomen, she married Gregory Armstrong. She had various controversies in court with her son and others. In 1636, she was accused of slander by “Deacon” John Doane, — she had charged him with unfairness in mowing her pasture lot, — and she was sentenced to a fine of five pounds and “to sit in the stocks and be publickly whipt.” [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] Her second husband died in 1650 and she lived several years longer, occupying a “tenement” granted to her in her son’s house at North Plymouth. Apparently her son, John, after his fractious youth, died; Francis married Christian Penn, the widow of Francis Eaton. Their children seem to have “been bound out” for service while HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET the parents were convicted of trying to entice the children away from their work and, consequently, they were punished by sitting in the stocks on “lecture days.” [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; Goodwin.] In his later life, Francis Billington became more stable in character and served on committees. His last offense was the mild one “of drinking tobacco on the high-way.” Apparently, Helen Billington had many troubles and little sympathy in the Plymouth colony. As companions to these matrons of the pioneer days were four maidens who must have been valuable as assistants in housework and care of the children, — Priscilla Mullins, Mary Chilton, Elizabeth Tilley and Constance Hopkins. The first three had been orphaned during that first winter; probably, they became members of the households of Elder Brewster and Governor Carver. All have left names that are most honorably cherished by their many descendants. Priscilla Mullins has been celebrated in romance and poetry. Very little real knowledge exists about her and many of the surmises would be more interesting if they could be proved. She was well-born, for her father, at his death, was mentioned with regret [Footnote: New England Memorial; Morton.] as “a man pious and well-deserving, endowed also with considerable outward estate; and had it been the will of God, that he had survived, might have proved an useful instrument in his place.” There was a family tradition of a castle, Molyneux or Molines, in Normandy. The title of Mr. indicated that he was a man of standing and he was a counsellor in state and church. Perhaps he died on shipboard at Plymouth, because his, will, dated April 2, 1621, was witnessed by John Carver, Christopher Jones and Giles Heald, probably the captain and surgeon of the ship, Mayflower. This will, which has been recently found in Dorking, Surrey, England, has had important influence upon research. We learn that an older sister, Sarah Blunden, living in Surrey, was named as administratrix, and that a son, William (who came to Plymouth before 1637) was to have money, bonds and stocks in England. Goods in Virginia and more money, — ten pounds each, — were bequeathed equally to his wife Alice, his daughter Priscilla and the younger son, Joseph. Interesting also is the item of “xxj dozen shoes and thirteene paire of boots wch I give unto the Companie’s hands for forty pounds at seaven yeares.” If the Company would not accept the rate, these shoes and boots were to be for the equal benefit of his wife and son, William. To his friend, John Carver, he commits his wife and children and also asks for a “special eye to my man Robert wch hath not so approved himself as I would he should have done.” [Footnote: Pilgrim Alden, by Augustus E. Alden, Boston, 1902.] Before this will was probated, July 23, 1621, John Carver, Mistress Alice Mullins, the son, Joseph, and the man, Robert Carter (or Cartier) were all dead, leaving Priscilla to carry on the work to which they had pledged their lives. Perhaps, the brother and sister in England were children of an earlier marriage, [Footnote: Gen. Hist. Register, 40; 62-3.] as Alice Mullins has been spoken of as a second wife. Priscilla was about twenty years old when she came to Plymouth. By tradition she was handsome, witty, deft and skilful as spinner and cook. Into her life came John Alden, a cooper of unknown family, who joined the Pilgrims at Southampton, under promise to stay a year. Probably he was not the first suitor for HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Priscilla’s hand, for tradition affirmed that she had been sought in Leyden. The single sentence by Bradford tells the story of their romance: “being a hop[e]full yong man was much desired, but left to his owne liking to go or stay when he came here; but he stayed, and maryed here.” With him he brought a Bible, printed 1620, [Footnote: Now in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] probably a farewell gift or purchase as he left England. When the grant of land and cattle was made in 1627, he was twenty- eight years old, and had in his family, Priscilla, his wife, a daughter, Elizabeth, aged three, and a son, John, aged one. [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] The poet, Longfellow, was a descendant of Priscilla Alden, and he had often heard the story of the courtship of Priscilla by Miles Standish, through John Alden as his proxy. It was said to date back to a poem, “Courtship,” by Moses Mullins, 1672. In detail it was given by Timothy Alden in “American Epitaphs,” 1814, [Footnote: American Epitaphs, 1814; iii, 139.] but there are here some deflections from facts as later research has revealed them. The magic words of romance, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” are found in this early narrative. There was more than romance in the lives of John and Priscilla Alden as the “vital facts” indicate. Their first home was at Town Square, Plymouth, on the site of the first school-house but, by 1633, they lived upon a farm of one hundred and sixty- nine acres in Duxbury. Their first house here was about three hundred feet from the present Alden house, which was built by the son, Jonathan, and is now occupied by the eighth John Alden. It must have been a lonely farmstead for Priscilla, although she made rare visits, doubtless on an ox or a mare, or in an ox-cart with her children, to see Barbara Standish at Captain’s Hill, or to the home of Jonathan Brewster, a few miles distant. As farmer, John Alden was not so successful as he would have been at his trade of cooper. Moreover, he gave much of his time to the service of the colony throughout his manhood, acting as assistant to the Governor, treasurer, surveyor, agent and military recruit. Like many another public servant of his day and later, he “became low in his estate” and was allowed a small gratuity of ten pounds because “he hath been occationed to spend time at the Courts on the Countryes occasion and soe hath done this many yeares.” [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] He had also been one of the eight “undertakers” who, in 1627, assumed the debts and financial support of the Plymouth colony. Eleven children had been born to John and Priscilla Alden, five sons and six daughters. Sarah married Alexander Standish and so cemented the two families in blood as well as in friendship. Ruth, who married John Bass, became the ancestress of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Elizabeth, who married William Pabodie, had thirteen children, eleven of them girls, and lived to be ninety-three years; at her death the Boston News Letter [Footnote: June 17, 1717.] extolled her as “exemplary, virtuous and pious and her memory is blessed.” Possibly with all her piety she had a good share of the independence of spirit which was accredited to her mother; in her husband’s will [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, vi, 129.] she is given her “third at Little Compton” and an abundance of household stuff, but with this reservation, — ”If she will not be contented with her thirds at Little Compton, but shall claim her thirds in both Compton HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET and Duxbury or marry again, I do hereby make voyde all my bequest unto her and she shall share only the parte as if her husband died intestate.” A portrait of her shows dress of rich materials. Captain John Alden seems to have been more adventuresome than the other boys in Priscilla’s family. He was master of a merchantman in Boston and commander of armed vessels which supplied marine posts with provisions. Like his sister, Elizabeth, he had thirteen children. He was once accused of witchcraft, when he was present at a trial, and was imprisoned fifteen weeks without being allowed bail. [Footnote: History of Witchcraft; Upham.] He escaped and hurried to Duxbury, where he must have astonished his mother by the recital of his adventures. He left an estate of L2059, in his will, two houses, one of wood worth four hundred pounds, and another of brick worth two hundred and seventy pounds, besides much plate, brass and money and debts amounting to L1259, “the most of which are desperite.” A tablet in the wall of the Old South Church at Copley Square, Boston, records his death at the age of seventy- five, March, 1701. He was an original member of this church. Perhaps Priscilla varied her peaceful life by visits to this affluent son in Boston. There is no evidence of the date of Priscilla Alden’s death or the place of her burial. She was living and present, with her husband, at Josiah Winslow’s funeral in 1680. She must have died before her husband, for in his Inventory, 1686, he makes no mention of her. He left a small estate of only a little over forty pounds, although he had given to his sons land in Duxbury, Taunton, Middleboro and Bridgewater. [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, iii, 10. The Story of a Pilgrim Family; Rev. John Alden; Boston, 1890.] Probably Priscilla also bestowed some of her treasures upon her children before she died. Some of her spoons, pewter and candle- sticks have been traced by inheritance. It is not likely that she was “rich in this world’s goods” through her marriage, but she had a husband whose fidelity to state and religion have ever been respected. To his memory Rev. John Cotton wrote some elegiac verses; Justin Winsor has emphasized the honor which is still paid to the name of John Alden in Duxbury and Plymouth: [Footnote: History of Duxbury; Winsor.] “He was possessed of a sound judgment and of talents which, though not brilliant, were by no means ordinary — decided, ardent, resolute, and persevering, indifferent to danger, a bold and hardy man, stern, austere and unyielding and of incorruptible integrity.” The name of Mary Chilton is pleasant to the ear and imagination. Chilton Street and Chiltonville in Plymouth, and the Chilton Club in Boston, keep alive memories of this girl who was, by persistent tradition, the first woman who stepped upon the rock of landing at Plymouth harbor. This tradition was given in writing, in 1773, by Ann Taylor, the grandchild of Mary Chilton and John Winslow. [Footnote: History of Plymouth; James Thatcher.] Her father, James Chilton, sometimes with the Dutch spelling, Tgiltron, was a man of influence among the early leaders, but he died at Cape Cod, December 8, 1620. He came from Canterbury, England, to Holland. By the records on the Roll of Freemen of the City of Canterbury, [Footnote: Probably this freedom was given, by the city or some board therein, as mark of respect. N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., 63, 201.] he is named as James Chylton, tailor, “Freeman by Gift, 1583.” Earlier Chiltons, — William, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET spicer, and Nicholas, clerk, — are classified as “Freemen by Redemption.” Three children were baptized in St. Paul’s Church, Canterbury, — Isabella, 1586; Jane, 1589; and Ingle, 1599. Isabella was married in Leyden to Roger Chandler five years before The Mayflower sailed. Evidently, Mary bore the same name as an older sister whose burial is recorded at St. Martin’s, Canterbury, in 1593. Isaac Chilton, a glass-maker, may have been brother or cousin of James. Of Mary’s mother almost nothing has been found except mention of her death during the infection of 1621. [Footnote: Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation; Appendix.] When The Fortune arrived in November, 1621, it brought Mary Chilton’s future husband among the passengers, — John Winslow, younger brother of Edward. Not later than 1627 they were married and lived at first in the central settlement, and later in Plain Dealing, North Plymouth. They had ten children. The son, John, was Brigadier-General in the Army. John Winslow, Sr., seemed to show a spirit of enterprise by the exchange and sale of his “lots” in Plymouth and afterwards in Boston where he moved his family, and became a successful owner and master of merchant ships. Here he acquired land on Devonshire Street and Spring Lane and also on Marshall Lane and Hanover Street. From Plans and Deeds, prepared by Annie Haven Thwing, [Footnote: Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. Also dimensions in Bowditch Title Books: 26: 315.] one may locate a home of Mary Chilton Winslow in Boston, a lot 72 and 85, 55 and 88, in the rear of the first Old South Church, at the southwest corner of Joyliffe’s Lane, now Devonshire Street, and Spring Lane. It was adjacent to land owned by John Winthrop and Richard Parker. By John Winslow’s will, probated May 21, 1674, he bequeathed this house, land, gardens and a goodly sum of money and shares of stock to his wife and children. The house and stable, with land, was inventoried for L490 and the entire estate for L2946-14-10. He had a Katch Speedwell, with cargoes of pork, sugar and tobacco, and a Barke Mary, whose produce was worth L209; these were to be divided among his children. His money was also to be divided, including 133 “peeces of eight.” [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, 111, 129 (1901).] Interesting as are the items of this will, which afford proofs that Mary Chilton as matron had luxuries undreamed of in the days of 1621, her will is even more important for us. It is one of the three original known wills of Mayflower passengers, the others being those of Edward Winslow and Peregrine White. Mary Chilton’s will is in the Suffolk Registry of Probate, [Footnote: This will Is reprinted In The Mayflower Descendant, I: 85.] Boston, in good condition, on paper 18 by 14 inches. The will was made July 31, 1676. Among other interesting bequests are: to my daughter Sarah (Middlecot) “my Best gowne and Pettecoat and my silver beare bowl” and to each of her children “a silver cup with a handle.” To her grandchild, William Payne, was left her “great silver Tankard” and to her granddaughter, Ann Gray, “a trunk of Linning” (linen) with bed, bolsters and ten pounds in money. Many silver spoons and “ruggs” were to be divided. To her grandchild, Susanna Latham, was definite allotment of “Petty coate with silke Lace.” In the inventory one may find commentary upon the valuation of these goods — ”silk gowns and pettecoats” for L6-10, twenty-two napkins at seven shillings, and three “great pewter dishes” and twenty small pieces of pewter for two HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET pounds, six shillings. She had gowns, mantles, head bands, fourteen in number, seventeen linen caps, six white aprons, pocket-handkerchiefs and all other articles of dress. Mary Chilton Winslow could not write her name, but she made a very neat mark, M. She was buried beneath the Winslow coat of arms at the front of King’s Chapel Burial-ground in Boston. She closely rivalled, if she did not surpass in wealth and social position, her sister-in-law, Susanna White Winslow. Elizabeth Tilley had a more quiet life, but she excelled her associates among these girls of Plymouth in one way, — she could write her name very well. Possibly she was taught by her husband, John Howland who left, in his inventory, an ink-horn, and who wrote records and letters often for the colonists. For many years, until the discovery and printing of Bradford’s History of Plymouth Plantation in 1856, it was assumed that Elizabeth Tilley was either the daughter or granddaughter of Governor Carver; such misstatement even appears upon the Howland tombstone in the old burying-ground at Plymouth. Efforts to explain by assuming a second marriage of Carver or a first marriage of Howland fail to convince, for, surely, such relationships would have been mentioned by Bradford, Winslow, Morton or Prence. After the death of her parents, during the first winter, Elizabeth remained with the Carver household until that was broken by death; afterwards she was included in the family over which John Howland was considered “head”; according to the grant of 1624 he was given an acre each for himself, Elizabeth Tilley, Desire Minter, and the boy, William Latham. The step-mother of Elizabeth Tilley bore a Dutch name, Bridget Van De Veldt. [Footnote: N. E. Gen. Hist. Reg., i, 34.] Elizabeth was ten or twelve years younger than her husband, at least, for he was twenty-eight years old in 1620. They were married, probably, by 1623-4, for the second child, John, was born in 1626. It is not known how long Howland had been with the Pilgrims at Leyden; he may have come there with Cushman in 1620 or, possibly, he joined the company at Southampton. His ancestry is still in some doubt in spite of the efforts to trace it to one John Howland, “gentleman and citizen and salter” of London. [Footnote: Recollections of John Howland, etc. E. H. Stone, Providence, 1857.] Probably the outfit necessary for the voyage was furnished to him by Carver, and the debt was to be paid in some service, clerical or other; in no other sense was he a “servant.” He signed the compact of The Mayflower and was one of the “ten principal men” chosen to select a site for the colony. For many years he was prominent in civic affairs of the state and church. He was among the liberals towards Quakers as were his brothers who came later to Marshfield, — Arthur and Henry. At Rocky Neck, near the Jones River in Kingston, as it is now called, the Howland household was prosperous, with nine children to keep Elizabeth Tilley’s hands occupied. She lived until past eighty years, and died at the home of her daughter, Lydia Howland Brown, in Swanzey, in 1687. Among the articles mentioned in her will are many books of religious type. Her husband’s estate as inventoried was not large, but mentioned such useful articles as silk neckcloths, four dozen buttons and many skeins of silk. [Footnote: The Mayflower Descendant, ii, 70.] Constance or Constanta Hopkins was probably about the same age as Elizabeth Tilley, for she was married before 1627 to Nicholas HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET Snow, who came in The Ann. They had twelve children, and among the names one recognizes such familiar patronymics of the two families as Mark, Stephen, Ruth and Elizabeth. Family tradition has ascribed beauty and patience to this maiden who, doubtless, served well both in her father’s large family and in the community. Her step-sister, Damaris, married Jacob Cooke, son of the Pilgrim, Francis Cooke. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET COMPANIONS WHO ARRIVED IN THE FORTUNE

AND THE ANN

After the arrival of The Ann, in the summer of 1623, the women who came in The Mayflower had more companions of good breeding and efficiency. Elizabeth Warren, wife of Richard, came with her five daughters; it is safe to assume the latter were attractive for, in a few years, all were well married. Two sons were born after Elizabeth arrived at Plymouth, Nathaniel and Joseph. For forty-five years she survived her husband, who had been a man of strength of character and usefulness as well as some wealth. When she died at the age of ninety-three leaving seventy-five great grandchildren, the old Plymouth Colony Records paid her tribute, — ”Mistress Elizabeth Warren, haveing lived a Godly life came to her Grave as a Shock of corn full Ripe. She was honourably buried on the 24th of October (1673).” Evidently, Mistress Warren was a woman of independent means and efficiency, — else she would have remarried, as was the custom of the times. She became one of the “purchasers” of the colony and conveyed land, at different times, near Eel River and what is now Warren’s Cove, in Plymouth, to her sons-in-law. An interesting sidelight upon her character and home is found in the Court Records; [Footnote: I, 35, July 5, 1635.] her servant, Thomas Williams, was prosecuted for “speaking profane and blasphemous speeches against ye majestie of God. There being some dissension between him and his dame she, after other things, exhorted him to fear God and doe his duty.” Bridget Fuller followed her husband, Dr. Samuel, and came in The Ann. She also long survived her husband and did not remarry. She carried on his household and probably also his teaching for many years after he fell victim to the epidemic of infectious fever in 1633. She was his third wife, but only two children are known to have used the Fuller cradle, now preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. It has been stated that, in addition to these two, Samuel and Mercy, another young child came with its mother in The Ann, but did not live long. [Footnote: Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth; W. T. Davis] The son, Samuel, born about 1625, was minister for many years at Middleboro; he married Elizabeth Brewster, thus preserving two friendly families in kinship. Evidently, Bridget Fuller was very ill and not expected to recover when her husband was dying, for in his will, made at that time, he arranged for the education of his children by his brother-in-law, William Wright, unless it “shall please God to recover my wife out of her weake estate of sickness.” It is interesting also that, in this will, provision was made for the education of his daughter, Mercy, as well as his son, Samuel, by Mrs. Heeks or Hicks, the wife of Robert Hicks who came in The Ann. [Footnote: Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories; also in The Mayflower Descendant, 1, 245.] Not alone for his own children did this good physician provide education, but also for others “put to him for schooling,” — with special mention of Sarah Converse “left to me by her sick father.” This kind, generous doctor left a considerable estate, in spite of the many HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET “debts for physicke,” including that of “Mr. Roger Williams which was freely given.” One specific gift was for the good of the church and this forms the nucleus of a fund which is still known as the Fuller Ministerial Fund of the Plymouth Congregational Church. Its source was “the first cow calfe that his Brown Cow should have.” [Footnote: Genealogy of Some Descendants of Dr. Samuel Fuller of The Mayflower, compiled by William Hyslop Fuller, Palmer.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle says that gloves were gifts of sentiment; [Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; Alice Morse Earle; N. Y., 1903.] they were generously bestowed by this physician of old Plymouth. Money to buy gloves, or gloves, were bequeathed to Mistress Alice Bradford and Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; also to John Winslow, John Jenny and Rebecca Prence. The price allowed for a pair of gloves was from two to five shillings. Probably these may have been the fringed leather gloves or the knit gloves described by Mrs. Earle. Another bequest was his “best hat and band never worn to old Mr. William Brewster.” To his wife was left not alone two houses, “one at Smeltriver and another in town,” but also a fine supply of furnishings and clothes, including stuffe gown, red pettecoate, stomachers, aprons, shoes and kerchiefs. Mistress Fuller lived until after 1667, and exerted a strong influence upon the educational life of Plymouth. Is it heresy to question whether the sampler, [Footnote: In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] accredited to Lora or Lorea Standish, the daughter of Captain Miles and Barbara Standish, was not more probably the work of the granddaughter, Lorea, the child of Alexander Standish and Sarah Alden? The style and motto are more in accord with the work of the later generation and, surely, the necessary time and materials for such work would be more probable after the pioneer days. This later Lora married Abraham Sampson, son of the Henry who came as a boy in The Mayflower. [Footnote: Notes to Bradford’s History, edition 1912.] The embroidered cap [Footnote: In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] and bib, supposed to have been made by Mistress Barbara for her daughter, would prove that she had “hands with such convenient skill As to conduce to vertu void of shame” which were the aspiration of the girl who embroidered, or “wrought,” the sampler. It is a pleasant commentary upon the tastes and industry of Mistress Barbara Standish that, amid the cares of a large family and farm, she found time for such dainty embroideries as we find in the cap and bib. Probably two young sons of Captain and Barbara Standish, Charles and John, died in the infectious fever epidemic of 1633. A second Charles with his brothers, Alexander, Miles and Josiah, and his sister, Lorea, gladdened the hearth of the Standish home on Captain’s Hill, Duxbury. A goodly estate was left at the death of Captain Miles, including a well-equipped house, cattle, mault mill, swords (as one would expect), sixteen pewter pieces and several books of classic literature, — Homer, Caesar’s Commentaries, histories of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, military histories, and three Bibles with commentaries upon religious matters. There were also medical books, for Standish was reputed to have been a student and practitioner in times of emergency in Duxbury. He suffered a painful illness at the close of his vigorous, adventuresome life. Perhaps Barbara needed, at times, HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET grace to endure that “warm temper” which Pastor Robinson deplored in Miles Standish, a comment which the intrepid Captain forgave and answered by a bequest to the granddaughter of this loved pastor. We may be sure Barbara was proud of the mighty share which her husband had in saving Plymouth Colony from severe disaster, if not from extinction. It is surmised that Barbara Standish was buried in Connecticut where she lived during the last of her life with her son, Josiah. Possibly, however, she may have been buried beside her husband, sons, daughter and daughter-in-law, Mary Dingley, in Duxbury. [Footnote: Interesting facts on this subject may be found in “The Grave of Miles Standish and other Pilgrims,” by E. V. J. Huiginn; Beverly, 1914.] The Colonial Governor and his Lady ever held priority of rank. Such came to Mrs. Alice Southworth when she married Governor William Bradford a few days after her arrival on The Ann. Tradition has said persistently that this was the consummation of an earlier romance which was broken off by the marriage of Alice Carpenter to Edward Southworth in Leyden. The death of her first husband left her with two sons, Thomas and Constant Southworth, who came to Plymouth before 1628. She had sisters in the Colony: Priscilla, the wife of William Wright, came in The Fortune; Dr. Fuller’s first wife had been another sister; Juliana, wife of George Morton, was a third who came also in The Ann. Still another sister, Mary Carpenter, came later and lived in the Governor’s family for many years. At her death in her ninety-first year, she was mourned as “a Godly old maid, never married.” [Footnote: Hunter’s Collections, 1854.] The first home of the Bradfords in Plymouth was at Town Square where now stands the Bradford block. About 1627-8 they moved, for a part of the year, to the banks of the Jones River, now Kingston, a place which had strongly appealed to Bradford as a good site for the original settlement when the men were making their explorations in December, 1620. William, Joseph and Mercy were born to inherit from their parents the fine characters of both Governor and Alice Bradford, and also to pass on to their children the carved chests, wrought and carved chairs, case and knives, desk, silver spoons, fifty-one pewter dishes, five dozen napkins, three striped carpets, four Venice glasses, besides cattle and cooking utensils and many books. That the Governor had a proper “dress suit” was proved by the inventory of “stuffe suit with silver buttons and cloaks of violet, light colour and faced with taffety and linen throw.” As Mistress Bradford could only “make her mark,” she probably did not appreciate the remarkable collection, for the times, of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Dutch and French books as well as the studies in philosophy and theology which were in her husband’s library. There is no doubt that the first and second generations of girls and boys in Plymouth Colony had elementary instruction, at least, under Dr. Fuller and Mrs. Hicks as well as by other teachers. Bradford, probably, would also attend to the education of his own family. The Governor’s wife has been accredited with “labouring diligently for the improvement of the young women of Plymouth and to have been eminently worthy of her high position.” [Footnote: The Pilgrim Republic; John A. Goodwin, p. 460.] She was the sole executrix of her husband’s estate of L1005, — a proof of her ability. Sometimes her cheerfulness must have been taxed to comfort her HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET husband, as old age came upon him and he fell into the gloomy mood reflected in such lines as these: [Footnote: New England Memorial; Morton.] “In fears and wants, through weal and woe, A pilgrim passed I to and fro; Oft left of them whom I did trust, How vain it is to rest in dust! A man of sorrows I have been, And many changes I have seen, Wars, wants, peace, plenty I have known, And some advanc’d, others thrown down.” When Mistress Alice Bradford died she was “mourned, though aged” by many. To her memory, Nathaniel Morton, her nephew, wrote some lines which were more biographic than poetical, recalling her early life as an exile with her father from England for the truth’s sake, her first marriage: “To one whose grace and virtue did surpasse, I mean good Edward Southworth whoe not long Continued in this world the saints amonge.” With extravagant words he extols the name of Bradford, — ”fresh in memory Which smeles with odoriferous fragrancye.” This elegist records also that, after her second widowhood, she lived a “life of holynes and faith, In reading of God’s word and contemplation Which healped her to assurance of salvation.” This is not a very lively, graphic description of the woman most honored, perhaps, of all the pioneer women of Plymouth, but we may add, by imagination, a few sure traits of human kindliness and grace. She was typical of those women who came in The Mayflower and her sister ships. Although she escaped the tragic struggles and illness of that first winter, yet she revealed the same qualities of courage, good sense, fidelity and vision which were the watchwords of that group of women in Plymouth colony. Yes, — they had vision to see their part in the sincere purpose to establish a new standard of liberty in state and church, to serve God and mankind with all their integrity and resources. As the leaders among the men were self-sacrificing and honorable in their dealings with their financiers, with the Indians and with each other, so the women were faithful and true in their homes and communal life. They took scarcely any part in the civic administration, for such responsibility did not come into the lives of seventeenth century women. They were actively interested in the educational and religious life of the colony. Their moral standards were high and inflexible; they extolled, and practised, the virtues of thrift and industry. It may be well for women in America today, who were querulous at the restrictions upon sugar and electric lights, to consider the good sense, and good cheer, with which these women of Plymouth Colony directed their thrifty households. We would not assume that they were free from the whims and foibles of womankind, — and sometimes of man-kind, — of all ages. They were, doubtless, contradictory and impulsive at times; they could scold and they could gossip. We believe that they laughed sometimes, in the midst of dire want and anxiety, and we know that they prayed with sincerity and trust. They bore children gladly and they trained them “in the fear and admonition of the Lord.” They were the progenitors of thousands of fine men and women in all parts HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET of America today who honor the women as well as the men of the old Plymouth Colony, — the women who faithfully performed, without any serious discontent,

”that whole sweet round Of littles that large life compound.” HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET INDEX TO PERSONS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT

• Alden, Augustus E. • Elizabeth • John • Captain John • Priscilla • Ruth • Sarah • Timothy • Allerton, Bartholomew • Isaac • Mary Norton • Mary • Remember • Armstrong, Gregory • Austin, Jane G. • • Bartlett, W. H. • Bass, Ruth Alden • Beckeet, Mary • Billington, Francis • Helen • John • John, Jr. • Bowman, George Ernest • Bradford, Alice • Dorothy May • John • Mary • Joseph • Gov. William • William, Jr. • Brewster, Fear • Jonathan • Love • Mary • Patience • William, Elder • Wrestling • Brown, Lydia Howland • Peter • • Carpenter, Juliana • Mary • Priscilla • Carter, Robert • Carver, Catherine • Gov. John • Chandler, Isabella Chilton HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET • Roger • Chilton, Ingle • Isabella • Isaac • Chilton, James • Jane • Mary • Mrs. James • Nicolas • Converse, Sarah • Cooke, Francis • Hester • Jacob • John • Sarah • Cooper, Humility • Crakston, John •Cromwell • Cushman, Robert • Thomas • •Davis, W. T. • De La Noye, Philip •De Rassieres • Dean, Stephen • Dexter, Henry M. • Morton • Doane, Deacon John •Dotey, Edward • • Earle, Alice Morse • Eaton, Francis • Sarah • Eliot, Charles W. • • Ford, Widow Martha • Fuller, Ann • Bridget • Edward • Mercy • Samuel, Dr. • Samuel • William Hyslop • • Goodman, John • Goodwin, John A. • • Heald, Giles • Hicks, Robert • Mrs. Robert • Hobomok • Hopkins, Caleb • Constance, or Constanta HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET • Damaris • Hopkins, Elizabeth • Giles • Oceanus • Ruth • Stephen • Howland, Elizabeth Tilley • Lydia (Brown) • John • Huiginn, E. V. J. • • Jenny, John • Jeppson, William • William • Jones, Christopher, Capt. • Thomas, Capt. • • Latham, William • Lister, Edward • Longfellow, Henry W. • Lord, Arthur, VI • • Martin, Mrs. Christopher • Masefield, John •Massasoit • Minter, Desire • John • Thomas • William • More, Ellen • Richard • Morton, George • Juliana Carpenter • Mullins, Alice, Mrs. • Joseph • Moses • Priscilla • Sarah (Blunden) • William • William, Jr. • • Newcomen, John • • Oldham, John • • Pabodie, Elizabeth Alden • William • Parker, Richard • Penn, Christian • Prence, Thomas • Priest, Degory • • Reynolds, William HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET • Rigdale, Alice • Robinson, Pastor John • • Sampson, Alexander • Henry • Samoset • Snow, Nicholas • Soule, George • Southworth, Alice • Constant • Thomas •Squanto • Standish, Alexander • Barbara • Charles • John • Josiah Lora or Lorea Mary Dingley Miles Miles, Jr.

Rose • •Taylor, Ann • Thompson, Edward • Thwing, Annie M. • Tilley, Ann • Bridget • Edward • Elizabeth • John • Tinker, Mrs. Thomas • Turner, John • • Warren, Elizabeth • Richard • White, Peregrine • Resolved • Susanna • William • Williams, Roger • Thomas •Winslow, Edward • Elizabeth Barker • Elizabeth • John • John, Brig. Gen. • Josiah • Kenelm • Mary Chilton • Susanna • Winthrop, John HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET • Wright, Priscilla Carpenter • William HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1921

Tableaux vivants of the heroic scenes began to be produced at the Old Colony in Plymouth, and at the annual Pageant which spun off from the tercentennial celebration of the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers (and Dames). AMUSEMENTS

Before the 1920/1921 Tercentennary celebration the Plymouth Rock would be moved as the Billings canopy was demolished in preparation for the present canopy, designed by McKim, Mead and White and built by Roy B. Beattie of Fall River, was donated by the National Society of Colonial Dames. Both sections would be lifted from their bed and removed to make way for construction of the new memorial structure. The strain on the boulder would cause it to break apart once again and further pieces would need to be removed in order to reunite the sections before it could be lowered into its new water-level position, at which it remains to this day.

July 13, Wednesday: Maxim Gorky launched an appeal to the West on behalf of the All-Russian Famine Relief Committee.

Suite from Pilgrim Tercentenary Project for orchestra by Henry F. Gilbert was performed for the initial time, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. People enjoyed this.

July 20, Wednesday: Music for the Plymouth Pageant for chorus and piano by Arthur William Foote was performed for the initial time, in Plymouth, Massachusetts in celebration of the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers (and Dames). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1928

There would not have been contemporary pictures, paintings, or measurements of such a workhorse as the Mayflower but its burthen is known to have been 180 tons67 and, from that hard fact, experts in 17th-Century merchant vessel construction have established its length as about 113 feet from the tip of its bowsprit beak to the back rail. Its keel would have been about 64 feet and its board width would have been something like 25 feet. In this year a model for the Mayflower was constructed by R.C. Anderson (“A ‘Mayflower’ Model.” Mariner’s Mirror 12:260-3). Several decades later, on a similar set of plans, the Mayflower II would be constructed.

67. William Bradford, OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION, written 1630-1654, original at Massachusetts State Library, Boston. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1945

December: The Hornblower family, one of the 6 richest in New England, had for many years been summering in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they could laze around in the sea breezes and sunshine while keeping up all their blow-our-own-horn pretenses. Henry Hornblower II, who had trained in archeology at Harvard University and at the University of California – Berkeley, managed to finangle $20,000 from his father Ralph Hornblower “to acquire land and prepare preliminary plans for a Pilgrim Village.” Henry Ford’s “Greenfield Village” had opened in 1929, John D. Rockefeller, Jr.’s “Colonial Williamsburg” had been mostly completed as of the mid-1930s, and the Old Sturbridge Village was about to be opened in the following year, so models for this sort of pseudo-educational tourist trap thingie were available for the people of Plymouth to capitalize upon their most salient, and their only saleable, community asset, that of celebrated white antiquity. AMUSEMENTS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1948

The first of the “Pilgrim Houses” was recreated at the Plymouth pseudo-educational tourist trap. AMUSEMENTS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1950

At this point tourists were still being allowed to park their cars inside the oval of the Colosseum (or what was left of it: many of the structure’s ancient stones had been repurposed as steps at St Peter’s Basilica and in innumerable churches of the Baroque building boom in Rome). AMUSEMENTS

During this decade the crowd-pleasing “Pilgrims” who were staffing the 1st “Pilgrim House” exhibit at the “Plimoth Plantation, Inc.” tourist trap would be beginning to attire themselves regularly in the costumes which they had fashioned for their “Pilgrims’ Progress” tableau vivant. Pastism, anyone? PLYMOUTH HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1959

“Pilgrim Village” opened at Plymouth.

A new testing organization was formed, American College Testing (ACT), which would become the leading rival of the Educational Testing Service (ETS).The Louisiana supreme court upheld the state’s miscegenation THE MERITOCRACY

law, arguing that the state could protect the children from such marriages from “a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”68 (In this year, California, Idaho, and Nevada were repealing their bans on interracial marriage.)

68. Note here the sarcastic echoing of the language of the US Supreme Court’s 1954 school integration ruling in Brown v. Board of Education). HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1960

During this decade, at the “Pilgrim Village” at Plymouth, Massachusetts, cost-effective wax mannequins began to be utilized in the tableaux vivants. AMUSEMENTS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1969

The remnants of the “Indian Village” tourist attraction near the luxury hotel at Yosemite were razed. What would be allowed to remain would amount to an outdoor museum display, meant to be similar in appearance to a pre-genocide Ahwahneechee village — but of course without any bothersome native presence.

Meanwhile, on the other side of this continent at the “Pilgrim Village” at Plymouth, a “living museum” concept was being introduced. AMUSEMENTS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1970

Thanksgiving: A plaque was positioned atop Cole’s Hill in Plymouth.

NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

SINCE 1970, NATIVE AMERICANS HAVE GATHERED AT NOON ON COLE’S HILL IN PLYMOUTH TO COMMEMORATE A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING ON THE US THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY. MANY NATIVE AMERICANS DO NOT CELEBRATE THE ARRIVAL OF THE PILGRIMS AND OTHER EUROPEAN SETTLERS. TO THEM, THANKSGIVING DAY IS A REMINDER OF THE GENOCIDE OF MILLIONS OF THEIR PEOPLE, THE THEFT OF THEIR LANDS, AND THE RELENTLESS ASSAULT ON THEIR CULTURE. PARTICIPANTS IN A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING HONOR NATIVE ANCESTORS AND THE STRUGGLES OF NATIVE PEOPLES TO SURVIVE TODAY. ITIS A DAY OF REMEMBRANCE AND SPIRITUAL CONNECTION AS WELL AS A PROTEST OF THE RACISM AND OPPRESSION WHICH NATIVE AMERICANS CONTINUE TO EXPERIENCE. HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1978

At the “Pilgrim Village” at Plymouth, the actor/historians began to reenact scenes from history. AMUSEMENTS HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET

1990

At the “Pilgrim Village” at Plymouth, the actor/historians began to present “living history” environmental- theater reenactments of events of the year 1627 in Plimoth. AMUSEMENTS

Disabled demonstrators in Washington DC demanded passage of a bill guaranteeing their civil rights. Sixty highlighted their struggle by a tactic of civil disobedience — abandoning their wheelchairs and attempting to crawl up the steps of the Capitol Building.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In addition to the property of others, such as extensive quotations and reproductions of images, this “read-only” computer file contains a great deal of special work product of Austin Meredith, copyright 2019. Access to these interim materials will eventually be offered for a fee in order to recoup some of the costs of preparation. My hypercontext button invention which, instead of creating a hypertext leap through hyperspace —resulting in navigation problems— allows for an utter alteration of the context within which one is experiencing a specific content already being viewed, is claimed as proprietary to Austin Meredith — and therefore freely available for use by all. Limited permission to copy such files, or any material from such files, must be obtained in advance in writing from the “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project, 833 Berkeley St., Durham NC 27705. Please contact the project at .

“It’s all now you see. Yesterday won’t be over until tomorrow and tomorrow began ten thousand years ago.” – Remark by character “Garin Stevens” in William Faulkner’s INTRUDER IN THE DUST

Prepared: November 17, 2019 HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET ARRGH AUTOMATED RESEARCH REPORT

GENERATION HOTLINE

This stuff presumably looks to you as if it were generated by a human. Such is not the case. Instead, someone has requested that we pull it out of the hat of a pirate who has grown out of the shoulder of our pet parrot “Laura” (as above). What these chronological lists are: they are research reports compiled by ARRGH algorithms out of a database of modules which we term the Kouroo Contexture (this is data mining). To respond to such a request for information we merely push a button.

Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obvious deficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in HDT WHAT? INDEX

FOREFATHERS ROCK PATUXET the contexture and do a minor amount of tweaking, and then we need to punch that button again and recompile the chronology — but there is nothing here that remotely resembles the ordinary “writerly” process you know and love. As the contents of this originating contexture improve, and as the programming improves, and as funding becomes available (to date no funding whatever has been needed in the creation of this facility, the entire operation being run out of pocket change) we expect a diminished need to do such tweaking and recompiling, and we fully expect to achieve a simulation of a generous and untiring robotic research librarian. Onward and upward in this brave new world.

First come first serve. There is no charge. Place requests with . Arrgh.