THE REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
“NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY
Reverend Peter Bulkeley “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1583
January 31, Thursday (1582, Old Style): Peter Bulkeley or Bulkley was born in the village of Woodhill or Odell on the River Ouse in North Bedfordshire, the son of the rector, Edward Bulkley, DD. After his ordination, in 1624, he would likewise become rector in this village in which he had been born. It would therefore be from his All Saint’s Church in Odell that he would lead a dissident flock in rebellion against the Church of England under Archbishop Laud in 1635, to a New World in which he would help found a new such village, Concord.1 What had happened was that there had been a “visitation,” in 1634, which had resulted in the suspension of the Reverend Bulkeley (Bedfordshire Magazine, ii, 30-2), for not being able to accept the Laudian discipline — “accounting them ceremonies superstitious,” this rural rector would neither don a surplice nor make the sign of the cross in baptism.
This village of Odell’s list of opinionated rectors stretched back through the centuries to a Robert of Dunton installed in 1220. At Cardinal Pole’s visitation in 1556, Rector Sir Oswald Butler had had to do public penance in All Saints and in St. Mary’s Church at Bedford, for having married. Another controversialist, William Dillingham, Latin poet, Doctor of Divinity and Master of Emanuel College, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, would find a refuge in the rectory of Odell when opposition to him grew too strong, retiring there from 1672 until his death in 1689.
Only the earthworks remain in Odell of a medieval castle that once rose above the lazy River Ouse. The King’s Thanes of Saxon days had been landed gentry, some with large estates in several countries. The lands of
1. The close relationship between Concord and Odell is alive, as in 1984 a large party from Concord visited Odell to rediscover their roots and to compare the lazy River Concord with the lazy River Ouse. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Levenot, a thane of King Edward the Confessor, included a village then called Wahull.2 When the spoils had been shared after the battle of Hastings the title Baron of Odell had gone to Walter the Fleming, who presumably had come over with William the Conqueror and fought at Hastings (Bedfordshire Magazine, i, 269-71). Of the Norman lords of Odell Castle, this Walter’s great-great-grandson Simon would be a wild fellow involved in a raid on the abbey of Ramsey, who would side with the young Prince Henry in his revolt. Simon’s son would die in 1191 in Acre harbor while on crusade (by falling overboard). A later Walter would make pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James of Compostela at Santiago, and his son John would help Edward I against the rebellious Welsh princes and thus help decide “what should be done with David,” Prince Llewellyn’s brother whom they would hang, and then draw and quarter. —Well, this is all ancient history now, what is left being a mere mound of dirt. The Rev. Peter Bulkeley, B.D. was of honorable and noble descent. He was the tenth generation from Robert Bulkeley, Esq. one of the English Barons, who, in the reign of King John (who died in 1216), was lord manor of Bulkeley in the county palatine of Chester.3 He was born at Woodhill, in Bedfordshire, January 31, 1583. His father, the Rev. Edward Bulkeley, D.D., was a faithful minister of the gospel under whose direction his son received a learned and religious education, suited to his distinguished rank. About the age of sixteen he was admitted a member of St. John’s College in Cambridge, England, of which he was afterwards chosen fellow, and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. He succeeded his father in the ministry in his native town and enjoyed his rich benefice and estate; where he was a zealous preacher of evangelical truth about twenty years and, for the most part of the time, lived an unmolested non-conformist. At length, his preaching meeting with distinguished success, and his church being very much increased, complaints were entered against him by Archbishop Laud and he was silenced for his non-conformity to the requirements of the English church. This circumstance induced him to emigrate to New England where he might enjoy liberty of conscience. He arrived in Cambridge in 1634 or 1635,4 and was the leader of those resolute men and self-denying Christians, who soon after “went further up into the woods and settled the plantation at Musketaquid.” Here he expended most of his estate for the benefit of his people; and after a laborious and useful life, died March 9, 1659 in his 77th year. Mr. Bulkeley was remarkable for his benevolence. He had many 2. Odell was originally called “Woad-hill” from the woad, a plant used as a dye and apparently cultivated in Saxon days and later. Loss of the initial letter did not occur until about 1500, and Wodell continued to alternate with Odell during the 16th Century, and even became Woodhill later, until Odell established itself. Within memory some of the older inhabitants still called it Woadle. 3. The names of the lineal descendants from Robert Bulkeley furnished me by Charles Bulkeley, Esq., of New London, a great grandson of Gershom Bulkeley were, 1. William; 2. Robert; 3. Peter, who married Nicholaus Bird, of Haughton; 4. John, who married Andryne, daughter and heir to John Colley ,of Ward, and died 1450; 5. Hugh, who married Hellen Wilbriham, of Woodley; 6. Humphrey, who married Cyle, daughter and heir of John Mutten; 7. William, who married Beatryce, daughter and heir to William of Bulausdale; 8. Thomas, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Randell Grovenor; 9. Edward, D.D., of Woodhill, who married Olive Irlby, of Lincolnshire; 10. Peter, of Concord. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Paul Bulkeley. The latter died Fellow of Queen’s College, Cambridge, England. From William, a brother of Peter, of the third generation, were also many ennobled descendants; among whom are recorded, in the Irish Peerage, seven Viscounts in succession. Other branches have been much distinguished. The mott adopted in the family coat of arms was “Nec lemere, nec timide,” — “Neither rashly nor timidly,” and contains a beautiful sentiment, characteristic of the eminent father of the American family. 4. The Rev. Edward Bulkeley was admitted freeman May 6, 1635; and from the Cambridge records it seems probable that Mr. Bulkeley came to America in 1634. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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servants on whom, after they had lived with him several years, he bestowed farms, and then received others to be treated in a like benevolent manner. By great familiarity of manners he drew around him persons of all ages; and his easy address, great learning, and eminent piety, rendered his society pleasing and profitable to all. Persons seldom separated from his company, without having heard some remark calculated to impress the mind with the importance of religion. Though sometimes suffering under bodily infirmities, he was distinguished for the holiness of his life, and a most scrupulous observance of the duties of the Christian ministry. He avoided all novelties in dress, and wore his hair short. Being strict in his own virtues, he was occasionally severe in censuring the follies of others. He was considered as the father of his people, and “addressed as father, prophet, or counsellor, by them and all the ministers of the country.” Had the scene of Mr. Bulkeley’s labors been in Boston, or its immediate vicinity, and not, as he expresses it, “shut up” in this remote spot, then of difficult access, his name would have appeared more conspicuously in the published annals of the country. He was a thorough scholar; an elevated, devotional Christian; laborious in his profession; and, as a preacher, evangelical, faithful and of remarkably energetic, powerful and persuasive eloquence. He often wrote a series of sermons on a particular book or passage of Scripture. One of these series on Zachariah ix. 11, was published as “the first-born of New England,” and passed through several editions. The edition before me bears the following title: “The Gospel Covenant, or the Covenant of Grace opened; wherein are explained, 1. The difference between the covenant of grace and covenant of works. 2. The different administration of the covenant before and since Christ. 3. The benefits and blessing of it. 4. The conditions. 5. The properties of it. Preached at Concord in New England by Rev. Peter Bulkeley, sometime fellow of Saint John’s College in Cambridge, England. [Here follow quotations, Genesis xvii. 1-7 and Isaiah lv. 3.] The second edition, much enlarged and correct by the author. And the chiefe heads of things (which was omitted in the former) distinguished into chapters. London, printed by Mathew Simmins, dwelling in Aldersgate-Street, next door to the Golden Lion, 1651.” pp. xvi and 442, quarto. It was dedicated “to the church and congregation at Concord” and to his nephew, “the Rt. Hon. Oliver St. John, Lord Embassador extraordinary from the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England to the High and Mighty Lords, the States General of the United Provinces in the Netherlands; and Lord Chief Justice at the Common Pleas.” It is a work of great merit for that age and considering that it was “preached in the remote ends of the earth.” “The church of God,” says the Rev. Mr. Shephard of Cambridge, “is bound to bless God for the holy, judicious and learned labours of this aged, experienced and precious servant of Christ.” After reading this book, President Stiles observes “He was a masterly reasoner in theology and equal to the first characters in all Christendom HDT WHAT? INDEX
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and in all ages.” Two of Mr. Bulkeley’s manuscripts are preserved in the library of the American Antiquarian Society. One contains answers to several theological questions, and is addressed to the Rev. Mr. Phillips of Watertown. The other is on the character and government of the church. The following analysis is given at the close of this work. Part I. “The visible church is: 1. For the efficient cause, called of God. 2. For the material cause, a number of visible saints and believers in the judgment of man. 3. For the formal cause, union by an explicate covenant together. 4. For the final cause, to set out God’s praises.” Part II. The churches’ government. 1. Is originally in the people’s hands. 2. Which people are to elect their own officers, teachers, elders, and deacons. 3. By which officers they are to rule and govern - by admitting fit members, and by watching over, admonishing and casting out those that be bad.” This is a most able defence of the Congregationalism in opposition to Episcopacy; and touches with the author’s peculiar power and clearness, the ecclesiastical questions in discussion at that period. I can scarcely resist an inclination to extract some passages. Its publication entire is recommended to the Society to whom it belongs. Mr. Bulkeley married, for his first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Allen of Goldington, England, whose nephew was Lord Manor of London. By her he had nine sons and two daughters. Edward, Thomas (who married a daughter of the Rev. John Jones, removed to Fairfield, Connecticut, and died about 1652), John, Joseph, William and Richard are all the names I have seen mentioned. He lived eight years a widower and then married Grace, daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood, by whom he had three sons and one daughter, Gershom, Eleazer, Peter and Dorothy. His wife survived him and removed to Connecticut a few years after his death. His will, dated February 26, 1659, appears in the Middlesex Records, in which he specifies legacies in books to his sons, Edward, John & Joseph, his cousin Samuel Hough and his nephew Oliver St. John, “as a thankful acknowledgment of his kindness and bounty towards me; his liberality having been a great help and support unto me in these my lonely times and my struggles.” Legacies are also made to the widow of his son Thomas, deceased, and to this three youngest children, Eleazer, Peter and Dorothy; “and in case any of my children before named by me in this my will, to whom I have bequeathed the legacies named, shall prove disobedient to their mother, or otherwise vicious and wicked, shall be wholly in the power of my said wife, their mother, to deal with them therein, as she herself in Christian wisdom shall think meet, either to give their legacy or to keep it to herself.” He alludes to his “wasted estate, which is now very little in comparison of what it was when I came first to these places,” having made great sacrifices in “the beginning of these plantations.” and “Having little to leave to the children God hath given me, and to my precious wife, whose unfeigned piety and singular grace of God shining in her, doth deserve more than HDT WHAT? INDEX
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I can do for her.” The inventory of his estate amounted to £1302 of which £123 was in books. He had previously given a part of his library and some other donations to Harvard College. The Rev. Edward Bulkeley succeeded his father in the ministerial care of the church with an annual salary of £80. The duties of his office increasing with the growth of the town assistance was judged necessary and the Rev. Joseph Estabrook was ordained as his colleague in 1667. His salary was also £80, of which £40 was to be paid in money, and £40 in grain, - wheat to be estimated at 5s., rye at 4s., and corn at 3s. per bushel.5
NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT
Reverend Peter Bulkeley “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
5. 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
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1599
Robert Burton was elected a student (life fellow) of Christ Church (one of the colleges of Oxford University), and would live there the rest of his life.
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Peter Bulkeley was admitted at St John’s College of Cambridge University at the age of 16.
He would receive his father’s position in Odell and serve at that altar for two decades, through the favor of Lord Keifer William, Bishop of London. By a 1st wife, Jane Allen Bulkeley, daughter of Thomas Allen of Goldington, he would produce Edward Bulkeley, Thomas Bulkeley, Nathaniel Bulkeley (in 1618), George Bulkeley, Daniel Bulkeley, Jabez Bulkeley, and Joseph Bulkeley; then by a 2d wife, Grace Chetwood Bulkeley, daughter of Sir Richard Chetwood or Chetwoode, he would produce Gershom Bulkeley in 1636, Eleacer Bulkeley in 1638, Dorothy Bulkeley in 1640, and Peter Bulkeley in 1643. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1614
June 17, Friday (Old Style): Although we don’t know the exact day of his birth, on this day Edward Bulkeley (1), eldest son of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley (1), was being baptized at Odell in England.
DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION? GOOD.
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1634
In about this year, in England, John Clarke got married with Sarah Davis (1609-1691).
Edward Bulkeley, the eldest son of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, had emigrated to the American colonies and in this year was admitted as a member of the First Church of Boston.
At the visitation of a Cardinal in this year, the rector at Odell, Peter Bulkeley, was suspended, because unable to accept the Laudian discipline and because he used neither a surplice nor the sign of the cross in baptism, “accounting them ceremonies superstitious” (see Bedfordshire Magazine, ii, 30-2). Peter had been born in the village and had succeeded his father as rector in 1624. The suspended rector would emigrate to New England and help to found the town of Concord, where he would become its first minister.
In this same year Oliver Cromwell discovered that the English government would not permit him to emigrate to Connecticut because he had, in 1629 or so, converted to Puritanism.
NO-ONE’S LIFE IS EVER NOT DRIVEN PRIMARILY BY HAPPENSTANCE
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1635
March 4, day (1634, Old Style): In the Bay colony, all residents of a town above 16 years of age who were not freemen were required to take an oath of fidelity.
March 22, day (1634, Old Style): Edward Bulkeley (1), who had emigrated to the American colony before his father the Reverend Peter Bulkeley (1), was admitted of Boston church on this day.
LIFE IS LIVED FORWARD BUT UNDERSTOOD BACKWARD? — NO, THAT’S GIVING TOO MUCH TO THE HISTORIAN’S STORIES. LIFE ISN’T TO BE UNDERSTOOD EITHER FORWARD OR BACKWARD.
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September 2, Sunday: The General Court, at its session at New-Town (Cambridge) on September 12th per the new Gregorian calendar, granted an inland town and parish site6 to be named Concord7 to a group of petitioners including “Mr. Buckly and ———— merchant, and about twelve more families,” by means of the following Act of Incorporation: It is ordered that there shall be a plantation att Musketaquid, and that there shall be 6 myles of land square to belonge to it ; and that the inhabitants thereof shall have three yeares imunities from all public charges except trainings. Further that, when any that shall plant there, shall have occasion of carrying of goods thither, they shall repair to two of the nexte majistrates, where the teams are, whoe shall have power for a yeare to press draughts att reasonable rates, to be paid by the owners of the goods, to transport their goods thither at seasonable tymes ; and the name of the place is changed and here after to be called Concord.
PETER BULKELEY
6. Town and parish would be equivalent for the first two centuries of its existence, until in 1834 the legislature would sever church and government, which severance would not become effective until 1856. Which is to say, it would not be until the year 1857 that the town government would desist from paying out of tax moneys various bills in support of the parish, such as the salaries of the minister and the organist. 7. The redactive tradition is that the name either was an expression of the desired relation between the native Americans and the new settlers, or in hope that the two reverends in the town, Jones and Bulkeley, would be able to get along despite their differing theologically over one of the hot religious issues of the period. This interpretation is bolstered only by the fact that there is not an identifiable town in England named Concord, when other neighboring towns were borrowing names from the “old country.” No historical document now extant makes any claim as to why Concord was named Concord, or for that matter why the name is made to rhyme with “conquered.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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In all likelihood it was Simon Willard who set the four boundary stones at the corners of this Concord “6 myles of land square.” At that time there were no neighboring grants on any side of the square, Concord being the initial white settlement above tidewater. Later measurements show that Willard set his corner markers to delimit a square not six miles on a side, but six miles plus 142 rods on a side. (When Watertown would insist that its own grant, since it was specified as running eight miles toward the west, converged to a point north of Walden Pond, the General Court would issue an order on August 20, 1638, that these Watertown lines were to be extended only so far “as Concord bounds give leave.”)
On this very day the ship carrying the Reverends Thomas Shepard and John Jones sighted the land of their HDT WHAT? INDEX
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New World.8 (Since there were a total of five ministers and their families on board, I am presuming that this ship would have been the Susan and Ann with the Reverend Bulkeley also aboard and listing his age on the manifest as 50, but the Reverend Bulkeley could well have come on some other vessel arriving in the same year.) The story is that the Reverends Jones and Peter “Big Pray” Bulkeley would be naming their new plantation as they were, “Concord,” because at that time a controversy was raging over whether each congregation should be separate and self-governing on the model of the Plymouth congregation, or whether all congregations should be governed by an assembly of ministers as in Presbyterianism. Although Jones was favoring decentralization while Bulkeley was favoring centralization, they nevertheless were setting out to live “in concord” with one another. Well, at any rate, that’s the story.
The name Walden was given to the pond very early, perhaps by [Major Simon] Willard in honor of the Minot family of Dorchester who came from Saffron Walden, England, or in honor of Major [Richard] Waldren, a contemporary of Willard who was also a trader with the Indians. Some doubt has been cast on the derivation of the name from Saffron Walden because the Minots came late to Concord (about 1686), but widow Rachel Biggs, who died in 1646, was one of the incorporators of Concord, with large holdings south of Walden. Her son John’s widow Mary Dossett Biggs was the second wife of Captain John Minot, the pioneer of Dorchester, and father of Captain James Minot who moved to Concord.
HENRY’S RELATIVES
JOHN MINOT
8. How is it then, that the general court on the mainland had already made an award to a group of petitioners including “Mr. Buckly”? The answer is, the “Mr. Buckly” of this document was not the Reverend Peter, but was his grown son Edward Bulkeley who had been born and raised in Odell, England and had come over to America a year earlier to prepare the way. Presumably this Edward had already visited the site of Concord and verified that it was very similar to the site of Odell in England, in being low and marshy and on an exceedingly still stream like the lazy River Ouse. This Edward would, upon the father’s death, succeed as the reverend of Concord in 1660. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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If the name was not derived from that of some English locality, ^Saffron Walden ^ for instance ^ perhaps I have conjectured that ^who knows but it was called, originally, Walled-in Pond.
So far as it can be said that the town of Hingham MA had any legislative incorporation, it was incorporated on this day, as the twelfth such town in the Massachusetts Bay colony, after a number of white settlers had relocated there from other local towns: “The name of Barecove is changed and hereafter to be called Hingham.” We do not know the names of any of the initial white settlers in the area, or the dates on which they arrived, although there is still in existence a “list of the names of such persons as came out of the town of Hingham, and towns adjacent, in the County of Norfolk, in the Kingdom of England, into New England, and settled in Hingham” which leads us to believe that already in 1833 there were inhabitants, among them Ralph Smith, Nicholas Jacob and family, the weaver Thomas Lincoln, Edmund Hobart and wife from Hingham, and Thomas Hobart and family from Windham, in Norfolk, England, when in that year Theophilus Cushing, Edmund Hobart, Senior, Joshua Hobart, and Henry Gibbs of Hingham, England, all of whom eventually would relocate to Hingham, arrived in other towns of the Massachusetts Bay colony. I here subjoin the names of those who settled or received grants of land here, in the respective years mentioned. Possibly there may be some names omitted, which have escaped my observation, and those of others inserted to whom lands were granted, but who never settled here. The list is as perfect, however, as long, careful, and patient examination of public and private records call make it. In 1635, in addition to those before-mentioned (namely: Joseph Andrews, Thomas Chubbuck, Henry Gibbs, Edmund Hobart, Sen., Edmund Hobart, Jr., Joshua Hobart, Rev. Peter Hobart, Thomas Hobart, Nicholas Jacob, Thomas Lincoln, weaver, Ralph Smith), were Jonas Austin, Nicholas Baker, Clement Bates, Richard Betscome, Benjamin Bozworth, William Buckland, James Cade, Anthony Cooper, John Cutler, John Farrow, Daniel Fop, Jarvice Gould, Wm. Hersey, Nicholas Hodsdin, Thos. Johnson, Andrew Lane, Wm. Large, Thomas Loring, George Ludkin, Jeremy Morse, William Nolton, John Otis, David Phippeny, John Palmer, John Porter, Henry Rust, John Smart, Francis Smith (or Smyth), John Strong, Henry Tuttil, William Walton, Thomas Andrews, William Arnall, George Bacon, Nathaniel Baker, Thomas Collier, George Lane, George Marsh, Abraham Martin, Nathaniel Peck, Richard Osborn, Thomas Wakely, Thomas Gill, Richard Ibrook, William Cockerum, William Cockerill, John Fearing, John Tucker. In 1636, John Beal, senior, Anthony Eames, Thomas Hammond, Joseph Hull, Richard Jones, Nicholas Lobdin, Richard Langer, John Leavitt, Thomas Lincoln, Jr., miller, Thomas Lincoln, cooper, Adam Mott, Thomas Minard, John Parker, George Russell, HDT WHAT? INDEX
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William Sprague, George Strange, Thomas Underwood, Samuel Ward, Ralph Woodward, John Winchester, William Walker. In 1637, Thomas Barnes, Josiah Cobbit, Thomas Chaffe, Thomas Clapp, William Carlslye (or Carsly), Thomas Dimock, Vinton Dreuce, Thomas Hett, Thomas Joshlin, Aaron Ludkin, John Morrick, Thomas Nichols, Thomas Paynter, Edmund Pitts, Joseph Phippeny, Thomas Shave, Ralph Smith, Thomas Turner, John Tower, Joseph Underwood, William Ludkin, Jonathan Bozworth.
THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
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1636
Gershom Bulkeley was born in Concord, son of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley. He would graduate from Harvard College in 1655 and would be ordained at New London about 1660. He would get married with Sarah Chauncy, daughter of the Reverend Dr. Chauncy, President of Harvard, on October 26, 1659, and the couple would have four sons:
— Peter, lost at sea — Bulkeley of New London — Edward, who married Dorothy Prescott of Concord and died at Weathersfield — John, who would graduate at Harvard College in 1699, and would become the first minister of Colchester, Connecticut, father of the Hon. John Bulkeley, a physician and judge of the Supreme Court.
At what point did Concord adopt its town motto Quam Firma Res Concordia “Always Firm but Tranquil”?
(The classic author to whom many such sentenciae have been attributed is Publilius Syrus, a Syrian born in about 85BCE who was brought to Rome as a slave but there achieved his freedom through the composition of literary performances, dying in 43BCE. He probably wrote a good many of these sentenciae himself, and then after his death other similar maxims accreted. Who would it have been who accessed this classic material and derived a town motto for Concord, and when would this have happened? Other similar sentenciae that might have been chosen, but were not, were Ubi concordia, ibi victoria “Where there is unity, there is victory” and Ibi semper est victoria, ubi concordia est “There is always victory, where there is unity.” The motto selected for Massachusetts was Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem “By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.”)
In this year the white settlers, intent of course upon interracial concord, met with members of the Massachuset band living in the area. Present were the Squaw Sachem (head of the group after the death of her first husband), her new husband Webcowat (Webbacowet?), the sagamore Tahattawan, Nimrod, Waban, Jehoiakim, Jethro, and Jethro’s son Jethro. From the point of view of the intrusives, this ceremony and payment of wampompeag and trade items did not have to do with title to the land, since that had come to them through the Royal Charter and the Massachusetts Legislature. From the point of view of the indigenes, what was being agreed to was that the intrusives were present in the area, since the hunting rights were what was important about the area and these hunting rights were not being negotiated except in the vicinity of the fish weir used during the annual run of alewives up the river. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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William Hartwell (1) came to the part of Concord that is now Lincoln, according to a family tradition, from Kent in England. His 1st wife was named Jessie Hartwell, and there were children named Jonathan Hartwell (1) and Nathaniel Hartwell of whom we do not know the dates of birth or death or marriage. He was a quartermaster in the military service. He and one or the other of his two wives (he married again, to Susan Hartwell) would produce William Hartwell (2), born during 1638, John Hartwell (1), born on February 23, 1641, Mary Hartwell (1), born during 1643, Samuel Hartwell (1), born on March 26, 1645, Martha Hartwell, born on April 25, 1649, and Sarah Hartwell (1).
Professor Allen French has drawn the following sketch of the probable layout of the town at this point:
The place where the principal sachem lived was near Nahshawtuck (Lee’s) hill. Other lodges were south of the Great Meadows, above the South Bridge, and in various places along the borders of the rivers, where planting, hunting, or fishing ground was most easily obtained. From these sources the Indians derived their subsistence; and few places produced a supply more easily than Musketaquid. South of Mr. Samuel Dennis’s are now seen large quantities of clamshells which are supposed to have been collected by the Indians, as they feasted on that then much frequented spot. Across the vale, south of Capt. Anthony Wright’s, a long mound, or breast work is now visible, which might have been built to aid the hunter, though its object is unknown. Many hatchets, pipes, chisels, arrow-heads and other rude specimens of their art, curiously wrought of stone, are still frequently discovered near these spots, an evidence of the existence and skill of the original inhabitants. The situation of the place, though then considered far in the interior and accessible only with great difficulty, held out strong inducements to form an English settlement, and early HDT WHAT? INDEX
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attracted the attention of the adventurous Pilgrims. Extensive meadows, bordering on rivers and lying adjacent to upland plains, have ever been favorite spots to new settlers; and this was peculiarly the character of Musketaquid. The Great Fields, extending from the Great Meadows on the north to the Boston road south, and down the river considerably into the present limits of Bedford, and up the river beyond Deacon Hubbard’s, and the extensive tract between the two rivers, contained large quantities of open land, which bore some resemblance to the prairies of the western country. These plains were annually burned or dug over, for the purposes of hunting or the rude culture of corn. Forest trees or small shrubbery rarely opposed the immediate and easy culture of the soil. And the open meadows, scattered along the borders of the small streams, as well as the great rivers, and in the solitary glens, then producing, it is said, even larger crops and of better quality, than they now do, promised abundant support for all the necessary stock of the farm-yard. These advantages were early made known to the English emigrants. Traditionally authority asserts that the settlement was first projected in England. It is not improbable that this may have been partially true, and that William Wood, the author of “New England’s Prospect,” and the first who mentions the original name of the river or place, might have come here in 1633, and promoted its settlement by his representations after his return to England. It must have been effected, however, in conjunction with others who were residents in the colony. The plan of the settlement was formed on a large scale and under the most sanguine anticipations of success. Nearly all the first settlers were emigrants directly from England; and a greater number of original inhabitants removed, during the first fifteen years after the settlement, to other towns in the colony, than permanently remained here. This sufficiently characterizes it as one of the “mother towns.” It was the first town settled in New England above tide waters; and was in fact, as it was then represented to be, “away up in the woods,” being bounded on all sides by Indian lands, and having the then remote towns of Cambridge and Watertown for its nearest neighbors. The uniform custom of the early settlers of Massachusetts colony was first to obtain liberty of the government to commence a new settlement, and afterwards to acquire a full title to the soil by purchase of the Indians. This title was never obtained by conquest. The first undertakers, as a preliminary step towards the settlement, had this town granted to them by the General Court, at its session at New-Town (Cambridge) September 2, 1635, under the following Act of Incorporation: “It is ordered that there shall be a plantation att Musketaquid, and that there shall be six myles of land square to belonge to it; and that the inhabitants thereof shall have three yeares imunities from all public charges except trainings. Further that, when any that shall plant there, shall have occasion of carrying HDT WHAT? INDEX
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of goods thither, they shall repair to two of the nexte majistrates, where the teams are, whoe shall have power for a yeare to press draughts att reasonable rates, to be paid by the owners of the goods, to transport their goods thither at seasonable tymes; and the name of the place is changed hereafter to be called CONCORD.” Governor Winthrop says that this grant was made “to Mr. Buckly and ______merchant, and about twelve more families, to begin a town.” This was undoubtedly the Reverend Peter Bulkeley; and the merchant intended, Major SIMON WILLARD, two distinguished individuals, who will be more particularly noticed in the sequel. The loss of early records renders it impossible to ascertain who the twelve other families were. Their names may, however, be inferred from an account of early families, to be given in this history. Others were soon after added; and on the 6th of October, the Reverend John Jones and a large number of settlers, destined for the plantation arrived in Boston The time from which the town should be free from immunities or public charges, mentioned in the act of incorporation, was calculated from the October following. In 1636 the order to press carts was renewed for three years more. These peculiar privileges were probably granted to the first settlers, as an encouragement in their hazardous enterprise. That legal authority should be given to compel any person, at any time, to carry goods through a wilderness untrodden by civilized man, appears singular to us, but was probably necessary then, as it would have been difficult, if not impossible to hire them “at reasonable rates.” Though some privileges were granted to Concord, from its peculiarly remote situation, which were withheld from other towns, it did not entirely escape censure. Being required to perform military duty, it was, in 1638, fined five shillings for want of a pair of stocks and a watch-house In June, 1639, it had a similar fine imposed, and another for “not giving in a transcript of their lands.” In 1641, it was again fined “10 shillings for neglecting a watch and for non- appearance.” Such fines were imposed on several towns by the General Court, pursuant to an act, passed June 7, 1636, providing that every town should keep a military watch and be well supplied with ammunition, as a guard against the incursions of unfriendly Indians. It does not appear from any sources of information extant, that all the land, included in the incorporated limits, was purchased of the Indians till some time after the settlement had begun, though a part of it might have been. Until May, 1637, no order on the subject appears. The Court at that time gave “Concord liberty to purchase lande within their Limits of the Indians; to wit: Attawan and Squaw Sachem.” The land was accordingly fairly purchased, and satisfactory compensation made; and August 5, 1637, the Indian deed was deposited in the Secretary’s office in Boston. The Colony Records give the following account of this HDT WHAT? INDEX
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transaction. “5th. 6mo. 1637. “Wibbacowett; Squaw Sachem; Tahattawants; Natanquatick, alias Old Man; Carte, alias Goodmand; did express their consent to the sale of the Weire at Concord over against the town; and all the planting-ground which hath been formerly planted by the Indians, to the inhabitants of Concord; of which there was a writing, with their marks subscribed given into court, expressing the price.” Whether this transaction related to the whole town is uncertain. A tradition has been handed down that the purchase took place under a large oak, which was standing in front of the Middlesex Hotel within the memory of our oldest inhabitants, and called, after one of the original settlers, “Jethro’s tree”; and which is said to have been used in early times as a belfry on which the town bell was hung. I have sought in vain for the Indian deed. It was probably lost very early, since measures were taken in 1684, when the colony charter was declared to be void, and the claims of Robert Mason to large portions of the country were asserted, to establish the lawful title, which the inhabitants of Concord had in their soil. The original petition was also lost. The following depositions, relating to the subject were taken, and are inserted in the Middlesex Records, and in the Town Records, to answer the purpose of the original deed. “The Testimony of William Buttrick, aged sixty-eight years or thereabouts, sheweth; That about the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-six, there was an agreement made by some undertakers for the town since called Concord, with some Indians, that had right unto the land then purchased of them for the Township. The Indians’ names were Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, sagamore, Nuttunkurta, and some other Indians that lived and were then present at that place, and at that time; the tract of land being six miles square, the centre being about the place where the meeting house now standeth. The bargain was made and confirmed between the English undertakers and the Indians then present and concerned, to their good satisfaction on all hands.” – “7: 8: 84 [7th Oct. 1684]. Sworn in court, Thomas Danforth. Entered in Register at Cambridge, Liber 9. page 105, by Thomas Danforth.” “The testimony of Richard Rice, aged 74 years,” like William Buttrick’s, is recorded in full immediately after it, and attested in the same manner. “The deposition of Jehojakin, alias Mantatukwet, a Christian Indian of Natick, aged 70 years or thereabouts. “This deponent testifieth and saith, that about 50 years since he lived within the bounds of that place which is HDT WHAT? INDEX
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now called Concord, at the foot of an hill, named Nahshawtuck (Lee’s), now in the possession of Mr. Henry Woodis, and that he was present at a bargain made at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley (now Capt. Timothy Wheeler’s, [this was between the houses of Daniel Shattuck, Esq. and Capt. John Stacy], between Mr. Simon Willard, Mr. John Jones, Mr. Spencer, and several others, in hehalfe of the Englishmen who were settling upon the said town of Concord, and Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod, Indians, which said Indians, according to their particular rights and interest, then sold a tract of land containing six miles square (the said house being accounted about the center), to the said English for a place to settle a town in; and he the said deponent saw said Willard and Spencer pay a parcell of Wampumpeage (Indian money curiously made of shells strung on strings and valued by the fathom at 5s), hatchets, hoes, knives, cotton cloth, and shirts, to the said Indians for the said tract of land. And in particular perfectly remembers that Wibbacowett husband to Squaw Sachem, received a suit of cotton cloth, an hat, a white linen band, shoes, stockings, and a great coat, upon account of said bargain. And in the conclusion, the said Indians declared themselves satisfied, and told the Englishmen they were welcome. There were present also, at the said bargain, Waban, merchant; Thomas, his brother-in-law; Notawquatuchquaw; Tantumous, now called Jethro. – Taken upon oath the 20th of October, 1684, before Daniel Gookin, Sen., Assistant, Thomas Danforth, Deputy Governor. Entered in the Register at Cambridge, Lib. 9. page 100, 101; 20: 8: 84 (20th Oct. 1684) by Thomas Danforth Rec’r.” “The Deposition of Jethro, a Christian Indian of Natick, aged 70 years or thereabouts: “This deponent testifieth and saith, that about 50 years since, he dwelt at Nashobah, near unto the place now called by the English - Concord; and that coming to said Concord was present at the making a bargain (which was done at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley, which now Capt. Timothy Wheeler liveth in), between several Englishmen (in behalfe of such as were settling said place) viz., Mr. Simon Willard, John Jones, Mr. Spencer and others, on the one party; and Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod, Indians on the other party; and that the said Indians (according to their several rights) did then sell to the said English a certain tract of land containing six miles square (the said house being accounted about the centre), to plant a town in; and that the said deponent did see the said Willard and Spencer pay to the said Indians for the said tract of land, a parcell of Wampumpeage [like Jehojakin’s testimony as far as “said bargain”] and that after the bargain was concluded, Mr. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Simon Willard, pointing to the four quarters of the world, declared that they had bought three miles from that place, east, west, north, and south; and the said Indians manifested their free consent thereunto. There were present at the making of the said bargain amongst other Indians, Waban, merchant; Thomas, his brother-in- law; Natawquatuckquaw; Jehojakin, who is yet living and deposeth in like manner as above.”9 This was sworn to, attested, and recorded, like the preceding. The first settlement commenced in the fall of 1635, fifteen years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, and five years after the settlement of Boston. The first houses were built on the south side of the hill from the public square to Merriam’s corner; and the farm lots laid out, extending back from the road across the Great Fields and Great Meadows, and in front across the meadows on Mill Brook. This spot was probably selected because it contained land of easy tillage, and because it afforded the greatest facilities in constructing such temporary dwellings, as would shelter the inhabitants from the inclemency of storms and winter. These huts were built by digging into the bank, driving posts into the ground, and placing on them a covering of bark, brush- wood, or earth. The second year, houses were erected as far as where the south and north bridges now stand. This plantation, however, like others in the colony, was limited in its extent. In 1635, the General Court ordered that “no new building should be built more than half a mile from the meeting-house in any new plantation. This order was probably passed for greater safety against the Indians, and appears to have been enforced in Concord about eight years, after which the settlement began to be much more extended. Many of the first settlers were men of acknowledged wealth, enterprise, talents, and education, in their native country. Several of nobel families. The Rev. Peter Bulkeley brought more than 6,000 pounds sterling, the Hon. Thomas Flint, 4,000, and others had very respectable estates. Many of them were men of literary attainments. Mr. Bulkeley became an author of distinguished celebrity. William Wood, if, as is probable, was the author of “New England’s Prospect,” was a man of considerable intelligence and sagacity. But they were eminently a religious people partaking largely of the spirit which governed the companies that first landed at Plymouth, Salem and Boston. Having been persecuted in their native country, and deprived of the liberty of worshipping God, and enjoying His ordinances, agreeably to their views of Scripture and duty, they accounted no temporary suffering or sacrifices too great to be endured, in order to be restored to their natural rights, and to freedom from religious oppression. Though some were men of 9. The town received its name in 1635 and not as here stated, “since” 1636. If the purchase took place before the act of incorporation, Mr. John Jones could not have been present; if in 1636 - he was. These errors in the depositions, not materially affecting their importance, probably arose from their being given from memory. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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fortune and eminence, and from their infancy had been unaccustomed to hardship, they cheerfully gave up all their personal comforts, crossed the ocean, and planted themselves in this lonely wilderness to endure suffering, for which no pecuniary compensation would have been adequate. No purpose of worldly gain could have prompted so hazardous and expensive an enterprise. It was emphatically a religious community seeking a quiet resting-place for their religious enjoyments and religious hopes. The remark, in reference to the whole colony, that “God sifted a whole nation that he might send choice grain over into this wilderness,” (Lieut. Governor Stoughton’s Election Sermon), might, with propriety, be applied to the resolute and pious fathers of this town. Though they came from various parts of England, they were united and had high hopes of happiness and religious prosperity and emphatically lived in Concord. Nothing but the unexpected hardships, peculiar to their situation could have produced contrary but almost necessary results.10 MASSACHUSETTS BAY
10. 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
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1637
April 6, Thursday (Old Style): The Reverend Peter Bulkeley was chosen Teacher, and the Reverend John Jones was chosen Pastor, of the Church at Concord. (Peter Bulkeley’s salary would be £70 per year and he would continue for the remainder of his life, until 1659, and then his son and successor Edward Bulkeley’s salary would be £80 and his successor, the Reverend Joseph Estabrook, would also receive £80 although half of this would be paid in local produce.)
On the 6th of April, 1637, the church “kept a day of humiliation” at Cambridge, preparatory to the ordination, or installation of Mr. Bulkeley, whom they chose teacher, and of Mr. Jones, whom they chose pastor. Delegates were present from most of the churches in the colony to assist in this ordination; but, says Winthrop, “the governor [Winthrop always referred to himself as “the governor”], and Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Wheelwright, and the two ruling elders of Boston, and the rest of that church which were of any note, did none of them come to this meeting. The reason was conceived to be, because they counted these as legal preachers and therefore would not give approbation to their ordination.” One of the delegates from Salem proposed a question which led to the adoption of the following opinions. Such as had been clergymen in England and received ordination in the established church by the bishop, were to be respected as having there legally sustained the office of ministers by the call of the people; and such ordination was considered valid here. But for receiving this ordination by the bishop they ought to humble themselves, acknowledge their sin and repent. Having come to this country, they should not consider themselves regular ministers until called by another church. When thus elected, they were to be considered as ministers even before ordination.11 No man had a greater aversion to Episcopacy than Mr. Bulkeley, as his writings most fully show. There was, however, some difference in opinion between him and some of the leading men HDT WHAT? INDEX
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in the colony. He was supposed to attach too much importance to good works, though from his letters and treatise on the Covenant the supposition appears to be without foundation. The ostensible reason assigned for not giving approbation to his ordination was, that he was considered a legal preacher, - one who was for a covenant of works instead of a covenant of grace, or one who held to the doctrines of the law in distinction from the doctrines of grace. The former were Legalists and the latter, Antinomians. The discussion of this question produced great excitement and alienation; and all classes of society joined in it.12 It probably influenced the gentlemen invited to this ordination. I have a long letter before me, written by Mr. Bulkeley before his ordination, to the Rev. Mr. Cotton of Boston, in which this subject is discussed in his usual logical style. Its great length prevents it insertion here. In a postscript he says, “I should have acquainted you yesterday, that the ordination of the elders of the church of Concord is to be on Wednesday come sevenight. It is to be here at New-Town. I pray take notice of it. If it be necessary to give any other notice to other persons, or in any other way, we would not be wanting therein for avoiding of offence. And I have spoken also to Mr. Wilson.”13
11. Some historians, for whose opinion I have great respect, have asserted, that the first settlers of Massachusetts were Episcopalians. But this, as it seems to me, if true at all, can be so only in a very limited sense. The colonists regarded Episcopacy with abhorrence and looked with jealousy on the least appearance of propagating it in this American wilderness. They came here to get rid of Episcopacy; and if they did not cease to be Episcopalians when they refused to conform to the ceremonies of the “mother church,” when, it may be asked, did they cease to be Episcopalians? They lived Non-conformists in England, and were Congregationalists on their arrival in America. They acknowledge a respect to the church of England as their mother, but being free children they set up for themselves in ways of their own choosing - pure Congregationalists. Their ministers even considered it a sin to have received their ordination from such a mother. It might be equally proper to call a Congregationalist, who had chosen to adopt the peculiar ceremonies of the Baptist Church, a Congregationalist after he was really a Baptist; and in the same manner of any other change from one denomination to another. 12. Neal, in his “History of New England,” informs us that this question was agitated even by the soldiers composing the army sent against the Pequots in 1636; and that they had to stop in the wilderness and settle the question, whether they were in a covenant of works or a covenant of grace, before they could proceed! 13. 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
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May 27, Saturday (Old Style): The outcome of the election was that assistant governor John Winthrop replaced Henry Vane as Governor. It was well understood locally at the time that this political victory meant that the heresy of
Anne Hutchinson would not go unpunished, and that Boston would become in effect a theocracy.
Soon, Governor Winthrop would be shocked and horrified: when Mary Dyer gave birth, the infant was “a creature so horrible in its malformation as to bear only the slightest terrifying resemblance to mankind. Something such as only a nightmare in hell could conceive.” The infant seemed to have no skull! The Reverend John Cotton, offering the midwives, Mistress Hutchinson and Goody Hawkins, what was supposed to be a helping hand, buried the body secretly at night. Although this was in accordance with English common law it was in defiance of the theocratic rule of Governor Winthrop.
What could be secretly wrong with these people, that out of them would come such abomination? Thus in evaluating what happened in the Bay Colony to the Dyer family, one must bear in mind not only the Puritan prejudice against what was termed “levelling” in religion, but also the existence of essentialist superstitions. Bear in mind also that there may have also been at work a prejudice against the very name “Dyer,” as in “the stain on the dyer’s hand” — because this image has since time immemorial been a trope for “clearly evident contamination”:
October 26, 1853: Ah! the world is too much with us, and our whole soul is stained to what it works in, like the dyer’s hand. A man had better starve at once than lose his innocence in the process of getting his bread. What could be secretly wrong with this family, a cause not only for their deformed conception but also for their deformed conception of worship? Thus, when Mistress Hutchinson and those influenced by her were disenfranchised,14 William Dyer and Mary Dyer were among those who would relocate to Rhode Island. DYER OR DYRE
14. The Reverend Peter Bulkeley of Concord and the Reverend Thomas Hooker were the two moderators of the synod which would ban this group in Boston. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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THE FUTURE CAN BE EASILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT
Summer: The Jesuit order was founding its initial settlement of its own (what they were terming a “reduction”) in New France, 60 miles out of Québec, Hôtel Dieu at Sillery. Meanwhile, up the slow-flowing Musketaquid River from Boston Harbor on the Great Road up the Nashobah Valley to the native villages of what would become southern New Hampshire, at the site of an existing village and fishing weir, the 1st inland European settlement in New England was being established, and was being (re)named Concord (not on the map as yet except as Musketaquid, because the existing map had been drawn in 1634). Six square miles were to appearances being purchased for mere wampum, hatchets, hoes, knives, cotton cloth, and a suit of clothing by two ministers, the Reverends Peter “Big Pray” Bulkeley and John Jones, and a soldier/merchant, Major Simon Willard. PETER BULKELEY SIMON WILLARD
Town tradition has it that this ceremony took place under the large oak in which the town bell would be hung, to be referred to thereafter as “Jethro’s tree,” and this tree is supposed to have stood in front of what is now the Middlesex House. According to Volume I of the Suffolk Record of Deeds, No. 34, and from Chapter I of THE HISTORY OF CONCORD, MASSACHUSETTS, passim,
Among these first white settlers of Concord were John Miles and his first wife Sarah, fresh from England. At the time they were spelling their family’s name as “Myles.”
Reverend Peter Bulkeley “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
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[I HAVE MISPLACED THIS REFERENCE] implies in Book II, Chapter III, pages 48-9 that there is a reason why the land around the white settlement called “Concord” was let go so cheap by its tribal owners: said land was actually not sold at all, but leased, and said lease was merely for a purpose, the raising of cattle — so that what the Christian sachem Nattahattawants was undertaking on behalf of his tribe in return for some wampum and a suit of clothing was merely that the members of his band would take care not to use the land in the vicinity of Concord town in such a manner as to harm any of the cows let loose there to graze by the white people. And if despite this any of the white people’s cows should be harmed, they of course pledged that they would provide appropriate compensation. The writing specifically does not say “we relinquish all rights and will go away,” or anything like that; in fact you don’t have to be a lawyer and you don’t have to be attired in a three-piece suit to see that what this piece of paper implies is quite the opposite:
Nattahattawants, in the year 1642, sold to Simon Willard, in behalf of “Mr. Winthrop, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Nowell, and Mr. Alden,” a large tract of land upon both sides Concord River. “Mr. Winthrop, our present governor, 1260 acres, Mr. Dudley, 1500 acres, on the S. E. side of the river, Mr. Nowell, 500 acres, and Mr. Allen, 500 acres, on the N. E. side of the river, and in consideration hereof the said Simon giueth to the said Nattahattawants six fadoms of waompampege, one wastcoat, and one breeches, and the said Nattahattawants doth covenant and bind himself, that hee nor any other Indians shall set traps within this ground, so as any cattle might recieve hurt thereby, and what cattle shall recieve hurt by this meanes, hee shall be lyable to make it good.” [In the deed, Nattahattawants is called sachem of that land.] Witnessed by The mark of ¤ NATTAHATTAWANTS. three whites. The mark of WINNIPIN, an Indian that traded for him.¤ The name of this chief, as appears from documents copied by Mr. Shattuck, was understood Tahattawan, Tahattawants, Attawan, Attawanee, and Ahatawanee. He was sachem of Musketaquid, since Concord, and a supporter and propagator of Christianity among his people, and an honest and upright man. The celebrated Waban married his eldest daughter. John Tahattawan was his son, who lived at Nashobah, where he was chief ruler of the praying Indians — a deserving Indian. He died about 1670. His widow was daughter of John, sagamore of Patucket, upon the Merrimack, who married Oonamog, another ruler of the praying Indians, of Marlborough. Her only son by Tahattawan was killed by some white ruffians, who came upon them while in their wigwams, and his mother was badly wounded at the same time. Of this affair we shall have occasion elsewhere to be more particular. Naanashquaw, another daughter, married Naanishcow, called John Thomas, who died at Natick, aged 110 years. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The historical record with which Thoreau was familiar stated “I have sought in vain for the Indian deed” to the land of Concord. The document in question had to be “reconstructed” by deposition in white court on October 7, 1684. Had there ever actually been a title transaction by which the land of Concord passed from the red people to the white people? –The white owners’ explanation is uniformly taken with great seriousness by all the serious white historians, yet to my way of thinking, as a plausible explanation, “I must somehow have misplaced my deed as I can’t seem to place my hands on it at this moment” ranks right up there with “the Devil made me do it,” or perhaps with “the dog ate my homework,” or perhaps even with “Eat my shorts!”
On or about November 11, 1837 Thoreau would indicate a familiarity with the contents of at least pages 2-3 and 6-9 of Doctor Lemuel Shattuck’s A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;..., which had recently appeared. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1639
February 12, Tuesday (1638, Old Style): The English purchased Wepawaug from the Paugussets (on August 22d the settlers would walk there from New Haven, and soon they would name their settlement Milford in honor of a mill William Fowler would erect there). After the removal of Mr. Jones, the sole care of the church [in Concord] devolved on Mr. Bulkeley for the remaining fourteen years of his life. At this time, according to Johnson, it contained about seventy communicants; but none of its proceedings have been transmitted to us. The following letters of Mr. Bulkeley are deemed worthy of publication. “To his dear and loving friend, Mr. Shepard, Pastor of the Church att [sic] Cambridge. “DEAR S R. — I hear the Lord hath so far strengthened you, as that you were the last Lord’s day at the assembly. The L. go on with the work of his goodness towards you. Being that now the Lord hath enabled you thus far, I desire a word or two from you, what you judge concerning the teacher in a congregation, whether the administration of discipline and sacraments doe equally belong unto him with the pastor, and whether he ought therein equally to interest himself. I would also desire you to add a word more concerning this, viz., what you mean by the execution of discipline, when you distinguish it from the power. We have had speech sometimes concerning the churches’ power in matters of discipline wherein you seemed to put the power itself into the hands of the church, but to reserve the execution to the eldership. Here also I would see what you comprehend under the word execution. I would gladly hear how the common affairs of the churches stand with you. I am here shut up, and neither see nor hear.15 “Write me what you know. Let me alsoe understand which way Mr. Phillips doth incline, whether towards you or otherwise; and which way Mr. Rogers is like to turn, whether to stay in these parts or goe into Coniticote [Connecticut]. I wrote to you not long agoe advising you to consider quid valent humeri. I know not whether you received that letter. “The Lord in mercy bless all our labours to his churches’ good. Remember my love to Mrs. Shepard with Mrs. Herlakenden. Grace be with you all. “Yours in Christ Jesus, P. BULKELEY “Febr. 12, 1639.”16 PETER BULKELEY
15. Mr. Bulkeley often laments his situation. In a letter to the Rev. Mr. Cotton, dated December 17, 1640, he says, “I lose much in this retired wilderness in which I live; but the Lord will at last lighten my candle. In the mean while’ help us with some of that which God hath imparted unto you.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1641
June 2, Wednesday (Old Style): William Hunt, an English settler, became a freeman of Concord. His wife’s name was Elizabeth, and they had or would have four sons, Samuel Hunt, Nehemiah Hunt, Isaac Hunt, and William Hunt, and several daughters, of whom perhaps the youngest was Hannah Hunt. This family had evidently been preceded in Concord by William Hunt, Junior, who was already a freeman before his father (he also would die before his father). They purchased their land from the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, on and around Punkatasset Hill. Their homes would stand on what is now Monument Street, between the house that is now numbered #709 and the barn complex that now stands at #775.
In Concord, Thomas Flint and Simon Willard were again deputies and representatives to the General Court.
Friend John Ellis, Sr. became a freeman of Dedham MA.
WHAT I’M WRITING IS TRUE BUT NEVER MIND YOU CAN ALWAYS LIE TO YOURSELF
Reverend Peter Bulkeley “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project
16. 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
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1642
John Harrison, skilled ropemaker, brought his family from Salisbury, England to Boston on condition that he should have a monopoly on the manufacture of rope in the colony. He installed his “ropewalk” near the present site of South Station.
In his back yard in Boston, Captain Robert Keayne butchered a pig. Goody Sherman alleged that he had butchered one not belonging to him. The church elders, investigating the markings on a surviving sow, alleged that it was not Goody Sherman’s, while Captain Robert Keayne countercharged that Goody, whose husband was in London, was living in sin with a young merchant named George Story. Goody responded by filing charges of theft against Captain Keayne in Inferior Court but this court decided against her, awarding £23 to Keayne. George Story, alleging perjury in the Inferior Court, took the case to the Great and General Court.
Former Boston attorney Thomas Lechford’s PLAIN DEALING: OR, NEVVES FROM NEW-ENGLAND. A ſHORT VIEW OF NEW-ENGLANDS PRESENT GOVERNMENT, BOTH ECCLEſIAſTICALL AND CIVIL, COMPARED WITH THE ANCIENTLY-RECEIVED AND EſTABLIſHED GOVERNMENT OF ENGLAND, IN ſOME MATERIALL POINTS; FIT FOR THE GRAVEſT CONſIDERATION IN THEſE TIMES. (By Thomas Lechford of Clements Inne, in the County of Middleſex, Gent.; London: Printed by W.E. and I.G. for Nath: Butter, at the ſigne of the pyde Bull neere S. Auſtins gate). In April, 1637, the miniſters who met at Concord for the ordination of Mr. Bulkeley and Mr. Jones “reſolved that ſuch as has been miniſters in England were lawful miniſters by the call of the people, notwithſtanding their acceptance of the call of the biſhops, etc., (for which they humbled themſelves, acknowledging it their ſin, etc.,) but being come hither, they accounted themſelves no miniſters, until they were called to another church.”
CHANGE IS ETERNITY, STASIS A FIGMENT
Reverend Peter Bulkeley “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Thomas Flint of Concord would be, until 1655, an Assistant and Counsellor.
Between this year and 1647, Benjamin Woodbridge, George Downing, John Bulkeley, William Hubbard, Samuel Bellingham, John Wilson, Henry Saltonstall, Tobias Barnard, Nathaniel Brewster, John Jones, Samuel Mather, Samuel Danforth, John Allin, John Oliver, Jeremiah Holland, William Ames, John Russell, Samuel Stow, James Ward, Robert Johnson, John Alcock, John Brock, George Stirk, Nathaniel White, Jonathan Mitchel, and others, would be graduating from Harvard College.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony continued to levy taxes: A colony tax of £1,200 was assessed in 1640, £800 in 1642, £616 in 1645, and another tax in 1676. The following table shows the relative proportions which a few of the towns paid.17
Towns 1640 1642 1645 1676
Boston £179 120 100 300
Cambridge 100 67 45 42
Charlestown 90 60 55 180
Watertown 90 55 41 45
Concord 50 25 15 34
Sudbury — 15 11 20
These difficulties hastened the settlement of other towns. About half of the original petitioners of Chelmsford were citizens of Concord. All of them, however, did not remove thither. Groton, Lancaster, and other towns, received some of the early inhabitants when they were settled.
July 28, Monday: The town of Concord found itself unable, or unwilling, to support two ministers: The church [in Concord] was numerous soon after its organization, and continued some time in harmony.18 But the unexpected pecuniary difficulties of the town, occasioned by its peculiar local situation and its condition at that time induced many to remove, which rendered it difficult for the remainder to support two ministers; Mr. Bulkeley’s salary as teacher being £70 per annum. Some difficulty arose in the church on this account. The subject of a separation was often discussed; and on the 28th of July, 1642, “some of the elders went to Concord, 17. 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
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being sent for by the church there to advise with them about the maintenance of their elders, etc. They found them wavering about removal, not finding their plantation answerable to their expectation, and the maintenance of two elders too heavy a burden for them. The elder’s advice was that they should continue and wait upon God, and be helpful to their elders in labor and what they could, and all to be ordered by the deacons, (whose office had not formerly been improved this way amongst them,) and that the elders should be content with what means the church was able at present to afford them, and if either of them should be called to some other place then to advise with other churches about their removal.19 The advice of this council was followed a short time; but about October, 1644, a separation took place and Mr. Jones removed to Fairfield, Connecticut.20 PETER BULKELEY
September 23, Friday (Old Style): At the 1st graduation ceremony of Harvard College, nine BA degrees were granted, including one to William Hubbard who would become minister at Ipswich, and one to John Bulkeley, a son of the minister of Concord, the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, who would start out as a minister but become a physician.
JOHN BULKELEY, son of Rev. Peter Bulkeley, was in the first class of graduates [at Harvard College] in 1642. He returned to England and settled in the ministry at Fordham, but was ejected in 1662. He afterwards lived at Wapping in London, where he
18. One case of discipline is mentioned by the Hon. James Savage in his valuable notes on Winthrop (vol i. page 289) of Ambrose Martin, who was fined £10, “and counselled to go to Mr. Mather to be instructed by him,” for calling the church covenant “a stinking carrion and a human invention,” and uttering some other impudent expressions. The following petition containing the original signatures of the first two pastors and several members of the church relates to him. “To the Honoured Court. The Petition of the church of Concord in behalfe of our brother Mr. Ambrose Martin. “Your humble petitioners do intreate, that whereas some years ago our said brother Mr. Martin was fined by the Court for some unadvised speeches uttered against the church-covenant, for which he was fined £10, and had to the value of £20 by distress taken from him, of which £20 there is one-halfe remayning in the hands of the country to this day, which £10 he cannot be persuaded to accept of unless he may have the whole restored to him (which we doe impute unto his infirmitye and weakness.) We now considering the great decay of his estate, and the necessityes (if not extremityes) which the familye is come unto, we entreat that his honored Court would please to pittye his necessitous condition, and remit unto him the whole fine which was layd upon him without which he cannot be perswaded to receive that which is due to him. Wherein if this honoured Court shall please to grant this our petition, we shall be bound to prayse God for your tender compassion toward this our poor brother. (Signed): Peter Bulkeley, Luke Potter, John Jones, Joseph Wheeler, Richard Griffin, Thomas Foxe, Simon Willard, William Busse, Robert Merriam, Henry Farwell, Thomas Wheeler, James Hosmer, George Wheeler, John Graves. Robert Fletcher, “The 5th of the 4th month, 1644. The case appears to the magestreates to be now past help through his own obstinacye; but for the overplus upon sale of the distresse he or his wife may have it when they will call for it. JO: ENDECOTT, Gov.” 19. Winthrop, vol. ii. page 73. 20. 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
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practised physic with good success. He died in 1689 aged 70.21
September 26, Monday (Old Style): The Reverend Peter Bulkeley of Concord wrote to the Reverend John Cotton of Boston: “To his reverend and loving friend, Mr. Cotton, Teacher of the Church at Boston. “REVEREND IN THE L. — These are to desire you to convey this letter inclosed in one of your own to Boston. I do rather send it to you, because I suppose those you commit your letters to, will be careful of the delivery, and this letter concerns matters of some moment, in regard whereof I desire you to take the more notice of it, and convey it by a safe hand. If the business concerning Virginia be finished, I desire to know how it stands; or if not finished, what is intended or though upon. My wife hath bin ill ever since our coming home, but now, I thank the Lord, begins to recover. This day she began to go down into the house. Remember her in your prayers, and us all. And so with both our loves to yourself and Mrs. Cotton, I leave you with all yours to the Lord’s rich goodness and grace, resting yours ever in him. 22 “Sept. 26, 1642 PET: BULKELEY.” 21. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy HDT WHAT? INDEX
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22. 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
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1644
Summer: In the battle between the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works, the Reverend Peter Bulkeley of Concord had been advocating works while his junior minister, the Reverend John Jones, had been advocating
good works, which was one fine reason why this junior pastor would need in this year to consolidate those parishioners whom he could influence, including two of the Reverend Bulkeley’s men, and move on. Only a limited amount of such theological disconcord could be tolerated. For instance, when John Hoar of Concord, son of Joanna Hincksman Hoare, was found guilty of having opinioned that “The blessing Master Bulkeley pronounced in dismissing the assembly in the Meeting House was no better than vain babbling,” he was fined £10, and when Dr. Reid of Concord was found guilty of having opinioned that he could “preach as well as Mr. Bulkeley, who was called by none but a company of blockheads who followed the plowtail,” and in addition mentioned as a physician of the body that the minister had kept one of his ailing patients standing far too long HDT WHAT? INDEX
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during the administration of the Lord’s Supper, he was fined £20. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The victory in the war against the Pequot having opened up the region termed Uncaway, one seventh of Concord’s citizens moved with their Reverend Jones justified by his good works to fairer fields near the port Quinnipac (New Haven) on Long Island Sound, and participated in the founding of Fairfield, Connecticut.
5th, 4th mo.: The case of church discipline of Ambrose Martin of Concord finally came to its culmination. This resident had termed the church covenant “a stinking carrion and a human invention,” and had made some other remarks along a similar line, and had been fined £10 “and counselled to go to Mr. Mather to be instructed by him,” but the attempt at discipline had not had its intended effect. The authorities at this point decided to attempt to ease themselves out of the situation: “To the Honoured Court. The Petition of the church of Concord in behalfe of our brother Mr. Ambrose Martin. “Your humble petitioners do intreate, that whereas some years ago our said brother Mr. Martin was fined by the Court for some unadvised speeches uttered against the church-covenant, for which he was fined £10, and had to the value of £20 by distress taken from him, of which £20 there is one-halfe remayning in the hands of the country to this day, which £10 he cannot be persuaded to accept of unless he may have the whole restored to him (which we doe impute unto his infirmitye and weakness.) We now considering the great decay of his estate, and the HDT WHAT? INDEX
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necessityes (if not extremityes) which the familye is come unto, we entreat that his honored Court would please to pittye his necessitous condition, and remit unto him the whole fine which was layd upon him without which he cannot be perswaded to receive that which is due to him. Wherein if this honoured Court shall please to grant this our petition, we shall be bound to prayse God for your tender compassion toward this our poor brother. (Signed): Peter Bulkeley, Luke Potter, John Jones, Joseph Wheeler, Richard Griffin, Thomas Foxe, Simon Willard, William Busse, Robert Merriam, Henry Farwell, Thomas Wheeler, James Hosmer, George Wheeler, John Graves. Robert Fletcher, “The 5th of the 4th month, 1644. The case appears to the magestreates to be now past help through his own obstinacye; but for the overplus upon sale of the distresse he or his wife may have it when they will call for it. Jo: Endecott, Gov.”
October: The white population of Concord, Massachusetts divided into two groups, and one group remained while the other departed for a fresh try, in Connecticut: The advice of this council [the council which had met in Concord on July 28, 1642] was followed a short time; but about October, 1644, a separation took place and Mr. Jones removed to Fairfield, Connecticut. Mather gives the following account of this affair in his own peculiar style. Upon Mr. Bulkeley’s “pressing a piece of charity, disagreeable to the will of the ruling elder, thee was occasioned an unhappy discord in the church of Concord; which was at last healed by their calling in the help of a council, and the ruling elder’s [the Reverend John Jones’s] abdication. Of the temptations which occurred on these occasions, Mr. Bulkeley [the Reverend Peter Bulkeley] would say, “he thereby came, 1. To know more of God. 2. To know more of himself. 3. To know more of men.” Peace being thus restored, the small things in the church there increased in the hands of their faithful Bulkeley, until he was translated into the regions which afford nothing but concord and glory; leaving his well-fed flock in the wilderness under the pastoral care of his worthy son, Mr. Edward Bulkeley.”23
23. 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
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1646
The Reverend Peter Bulkeley’s THE GOſPEL-COVENANT; OR, THE COVENANT OF GRACE OPENED. WHEREIN ARE EXPLAINED; / 1. THE DIFFERENCES BETWIXT THE COVENANT OF GRACE AND COVENANT OF WORKES. / 2. THE DIFFERENT ADMINIſTRATION OF THE COVENANT BEFORE AND ſINCE CHRIST. / 3. THE BENEFITS AND BLEVVINGS OF IT. / 4. THE CONDITION. / 5. THE PROPERTIES OF IT. / PREACHED IN CONCORD IN NEVV- ENGLAND BY PETER BULKELEY ſOMETIMES FELLOW OF JESUS COLLEDGE IN CAMBRIDGE. WHEREIN SEVERAL PARTICULARS ARE HANDLED, NOT OF ORDINARY OCCURRENCE..., printed in this year by M.S. for Benjamin Allen and later referred to among Concordians as “The Firstborn of New England.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Inscribed inside the Concord Free Public Library’s copy is “This is the first edition of what is undoubtedly the first book ever printed by a Concord author. Presented by George F. Hoar, 1873.”
And thou, New England, which art exalted in privileges of the Gospel above many other people, know thou the time of thy visitation, and consider the great things the Lord hath done for thee. The Gospel hath free passage in all places where thou dwellest; oh that it might be glorified also by thee! Thou enjoyest many faithful witnesses, which have testified unto thee the Gospel of the grace of God. Thou hast many bright stars shining in thy firmament to give thee the knowledge of salvation from on high, to guide thy feet in the way of peace. Be not high-minded, because of thy privileges, but fear because of thy danger. The more thou hast committed unto thee, the more thou must account for. No people’s account will be heavier than thine if thou do not walk worthy of the means of thy salvation. The Lord looks for more from thee than from other people; more zeal for God, more love to his truth, more justice and equity in thy ways. Thou shouldst be a special people, an only people, none like thee in all the earth; oh, be so in loving the Gospel and Ministers of it, having them in singular love for their work’s sake. Glorify thou that word of the Lord, which hath glorified thee. Take heed lest for neglect of either God remove thy candlestick out of the midst of thee; lest being now as a city upon a hill which many seek unto, thou be left like a beacon upon the top of a mountain desolate and forsaken. If we walk unworthy of the Gospel brought unto us, the greater our mercy hath been in the enjoying of it, the greater will our judgment be for thy contempt. Be instructed and take heed.... HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The things of the covenant are great things. Princes and monarchs when they enter into covenant with other nations, they do not make covenants about children’s toys and light matters, but such as concern the welfare of the kingdom; so when the great Monarch of heaven and earth enters into covenant with us, it is about the great things of our salvation, the great things of heaven, yea, of God himself. The covenant is full of blessings, it is a rich store-house, replenished with all manner of blessings. It is not dry nor barren, but like the fat olive or fruitful vine the fruit whereof cheers the heart of God and man. God himself is delighted in the communication of his grace to his people; and they are delighted with the participation of his grace from him. The covenant is a tree of life to those that feed upon it; they shall live forever. It is a well of salvation. It’s a fountain of good things to satisfy every thirsty soul. It is a treasure full of goods.... Here is unsearchable riches in this covenant, which can never be emptied nor come to an end. Our finite narrow understandings can never apprehend the infinite grace this covenant contains no more than an egg-shell is able to contain the water of the whole sea. Yet it is not in vain to consider them as we are able to express them, though they be above that which we are able to speak or think. As Moses, though he could not yet see God’s face, nor discern his glory to the full, yet he was permitted to see his back parts; so we may take a little view of the blessings promised, though the full cannot be seen. As in a map, we have the bounds of a Lordship set forth, the rivers, woods, meadows, pastures, etc. These are seen darkly in the map, but they are nothing to that when they are seen in their own beauty and greenness: to see the silver streams in the rivers, the beautiful woods, the large meadows, fat pastures, and goodly orchards, which are far more excellent in themselves, than when they are seen in the map. So we can show you but a little map of those glorious things which the covenant contains; but by that little you do see, you may be raised up to the consideration of the things that are not seen, but are to be revealed in due time. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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What is more significant than that this was the 1st book printed by a Concord author is that this book was New England’s principal contribution to Covenant-of-Grace theology. Did Thoreau ever read this “The Firstborn of New England” book by the illustrious and reverend founding father of Concord? Did he realize that the book grew out of a struggle between the Reverend Bulkeley and his junior minister in Concord, the Reverend John Jones, who has espoused a Covenant of Works before he had given up and, taking some significant percentage of the Concord citizens, moved on to fairer fields in the Connecticut colony? Is there a possibility that Thoreau, possibly a Jones descendant, took some of his imagery or metaphor from such a source? Might Thoreau, in WALDEN, have been echoing a phrase from the Reverend Thomas Shepard’s intro to the Reverend Peter Bulkeley’s THE GOSPEL-COVENANT?
Through our errand, Shepard wrote in this intro, God had revealed His “secret for time past” and His “performances for [the] future, as though they were accomplishments at present.... For our selves here, the people of New-England ... two Eternities (as it were) meet together.” What similarity might there be here to Thoreau’s “nick of time....”? The Rev. Thomas Shepard of Cambridge, in his “Clear Sunshine of the Gospel,” informs us, that “the awakening of these Indians raised a great noyse amongst all the rest round about us, especially about Concord24 side where the Sachem [Tahattawan], as I remember, and one or two more of his men, hearing of these things, and of the preaching of the Word, and how it wrought among them here, came therefore hither to Noonanetum [Nonantum] to the Indian lecture; and what the Lord spake to his heart wee know not, only it seems he was so farre affected, as that he desired to become more like to the English, and to cast off those Indian, wild and sinfull courses they formerly lived in; but when divers of his men perceived their sachem’s mind, they secretly opposed him herein: which opposition being known, he therefore called together his chiefe men about him, and made a speech to this effect unto them, viz. “That they had no reason at all to oppose those courses the English were taking for their good,” for, (saith he) “all the time you have lived after the Indian fashion, under the power and protection of higher Indian sachems, what did they care for you? They only sought their owne 24. The Rev. Dr. Holmes, in his valuable “Annals,” Vol. I. page 284, errs in saying “the Indians at the place afterwards called Concord,” &c. Concord was incorported [sic] and named eleven years before. Another expression “near to the place where Concord now stands” is equally erroneous. It was then in Concord. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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ends out of you, and therefore would exact upon you and take away your skins and your kettles, and your wampum from you at their own pleasure, and this was all that they regarded; but you may evidently see that the English mind no such things, care for none of your goods, but only seeke your good and welfare, and instead of taking away, are ready to give to you; with many other things I now forget, which were related to me by an eminent man [the Reverend Peter Bulkeley?] of that town.” What the effect of this speech was, we can tell no otherwise than as the effects shewed it: the first thing was, the making of certain laws for their more religious and civill government and behaviour, to the making of which they craved the assistance of one of the chief Indians [Waban?] in Noonanetum [Nonantum], a very active Indian, to bring in others, to the knowledge of God; desiring withall an able and faithful man in Concord -Simon Willard- to record and keep in writing what they had generally agreed upon. Another effect was, their desire of Mr. Eliot’s coming up to them to preach, as he could find time among them: and the last effect was their desire of having a town given them within the bounds of Concord near unto the English. This latter, when it was propounded by the sachem of the place -Tahattawan- he was demanded why he desired a towne so neare, whereas there was more roome for them up in the country. To which the sachem replyed, that he therefore desired it because he knew that if the Indians dwelt far from the English, that they would not so much care to pray, nor could they be so ready to heare the word of God, but they would be all one Indians still, but, dwelling neare the English, he hoped it might be otherwise with them then. The towne therefore was granted them.” The following are the orders agreed on at Concord, which Mr. Shepard assures us were drawn up by “two faithful witnesses,” and “their own copy with theire own hands to it.” [Witnesses were Simon Willard and Thomas Flint]25
25. 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
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1648
A Massachusetts court proposed that a special “witch finder” be appointed, to monitor persons suspected of witchcraft.
A William Bulkley settled in Ipswich. I don’t know whether he was any relation to the Bulkeleys of Concord. His wife Sarah, who had come over in 1643, would bear a son William who would die in 1660. They would remove to Salem where Sarah would in 1692 be indicted for witchcraft but acquitted. He would die on June 2, 1702, at the age of 80. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1650
April 4, Monday: The Reverend Peter Bulkeley of Concord wrote to the Reverend John Cotton of Boston: “To the Reverend his honoured friend, Mr. Cotton, Teacher of the Church at Boston, give these. “REVEREND IN THE LORD, ***** “Some other things I am full of, but will not write with paper and ink; only in a word I bless God for what I hear, how the Lord doth fill your ministry with abundance of grace, life, and power, to the exceeding joy of those that are true-hearted towards the Lord. But withall I stand amazed and wonder att God’s forbearance, considering what I hear in another kind; which I doe also believe to be true in some parts; true I mean, as don and spoken by some, though untrue, in respect of any cause given on your part. Truly Sir, it is to me a wonder that the earth swallows up not such wretches, or that fire comes not downe from heaven to consume them. The L. hath a number of holy and humbles ones here amongst us [in the country generally], for whose sakes he doth spare, and will spare long; but were it not for such a remnant, we should see the Lord would make quick work amongst us. Shall I tell you what I think to be the ground of all this insolency which discovers itself in the speach of men? Truly I cannot ascribe it so much to any outward thing, as to the putting of too much liberty and power into the hands of the multitude, which they are too weak to manage, many growing conceited, proud, arrogant, selfsufficient, as wanting nothing. And I am persuaded, that except there be some means used to change the course of things in this point, our churches will grow more corrupt day by day; and tumult will arise hardly to be stilled. Remember the former days which you had in old Boston where though (through the Lord’s blessing upon your labours), there was an increase daily added to your church, yet the number of professors is far more here, than it was there. But answer me, which place was better governed? Where matters were swayed there by your wisdom and counsel, matters went on with strength and power for good. But here, where the heady or headless multitude have gotten the power into their hands, there is insolency and confusion. And I know not how it can be avoided in this way, unless we should make the doors of the church narrower. This we have warrant for from the word; which course, if it should be taken would bring its inconveniency also in another kind. But of these things no more. Only I pray the Lord to heal the evils of the places and times we live in, and remove HDT WHAT? INDEX
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that woeful contempt of his gospel which doth abound. O what mischief doth one proud, lofty spirit that is in reputation for understanding, amongst a number of others that are weak; and some of both such there are in every place. But our comfort is, God’s end and work shall go forward. Some shall be converted, some hardened. The God of mercy carry on his work in our hearts and hands to the glorifying of his rich grace in Christ Jesus. I pray remember my harty love to good Mrs. Cotton, thanking her for her kind remembrance of my little ones. I pray God give us both to see his grace increasing in those that he hath continued towards us. Farewell, dearly beloved and honoured in the Lord, comfort yourself in him, who is most ready to be found in time of need. In him I rest. Yours ever, “April 4, 1650. PET: BULKELEY. “I could wish you would write to Mr. Goodwin to deal with those that are in place of authority in England, to take care that the Scripture may be printed more truly. I have a bible, printed 1648, which hath (little and great) above an 100 faults in the printing of it. And I have an old Bible, printed 1581 which hath but one or two, and those very small ones. I intend to write to my nephew, St. John about it. A word from yourself to Mr. Goodwin, who is a man of so much respect there, would do much good.”26
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
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1651
In Concord, Richard Griffin and Simon Willard were again deputies and representatives to the General Court.
In about this year Simon Willard got married for the 2d time, with Elizabeth Dunster a daughter of Henry Dunster and Isabel Kaye Dunster (it is possible that this wedding took place in England).
The Reverend Peter Bulkeley’s THE GOſPEL-COVENANT; OR THE COVENANT OF GRACE OPENED. WHEREIN ARE EXPLAINED; / 1. THE DIFFERENCES BETWIXT THE COVENANT OF GRACE AND COVENANT OF WORKES. / 2. THE DIFFERENT ADMINISTRATION OF THE COVENANT BEFORE AND ſINCE CHRIſT. / 3. THE BENEFITS AND BLEſſINGS OF IT. / 4. THE CONDITION. / 5. THE PROPERTIES OF IT. / PREACHED IN CONCORD IN NEVV-ENGLAND BY PETER BULKELEY, ſOMETIMES FELLOW OF JESUS COLLEDGE IN CAMBRIDGE. The second edition / much enlarged and corrected by the author, and the chiefe heads of things (which was omitted in the former) distinguished into chapters. London: Printed by Matthew Simmons.... HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1653
October 29, Wednesday: A slight earthquake shook Concord. The Reverend Peter Bulkeley wrote a poem about it, of course in Latin. Here is a translation:27 The solid earth, before an angry God, Shakes at the terrors of His awful nod. The balance of the mighty world is lost— Its vast foundations, in confusion toss’d, Through all the hollows of its deepest caves Rock like a vessel foundering in the waves. Volumes of sulphurous air, with booming sound, Burst through the gorges of the parted ground. The earth doth heave, with groanings of distress, Beneath the weight of human sinfulness. Shall not our eyes drop penitential rain, When all creation travaileth in pain? Great God! who shall not fear Thee in the hour When heaven and earth are trembling at Thy power! Father, to nature’s tumult whisper peace, And bid the wickedness of man to cease!
27. This earthquake is not listed on the comprehensive scientific list of known Massachusetts earthquakes. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1655
The “Indian College” building at Harvard College was completed.
In this year Gershom Bulkeley of Concord received his Harvard College diploma. He would become, like his father the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, a minister. ALL CONCORD COLLEGE GRADS
GERSHOM BULKELEY, son of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley, was born in Concord in 1636, and graduated in 1655. He was ordained at New London about 1660, from whence he removed, and was installed at Weathersfield in 1668. In 1676 he was dismissed on account of ill health, and afterwards became one of the most distinguished physicians and surgeons of his time. He was wounded in a battle with the Indians near Wachusett, while in the army as a surgeon, in 1676. To him the epithet great was applied on account of his eminent character. He died at Weathersfield December 2, 1713, aged 77. On his monument is inscribed, — “He was honorable in his descent, of rare abilities, extraordinary industry, excellent in learning, master of many languages; exquisite in his skill in divinity, physic, and law, and of a most exemplary HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
and Christian life. In certam spem beatæ resurrectionis repositus.” He married Sarah, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Chauncy, President of Harvard College, October 26, 1659, and had 4 sons. 1. Peter, lost at sea; 2. Bulkeley of New London; 3. Edward, who married Dorothy Prescott of Concord and died at Weathersfield; and 4. John, who was graduated at Harvard College in 1699, and was the first minister of Colchester, Connecticut, father of the Hon. John Bulkeley, a physician and judge of the Supreme Court. The numerous and respectable families bearing the name in Connecticut and New York, have all descended from Edward and John. Stephen Bulkeley, Esq., one of the grandchildren of Edward, acquired a fortune in Charleston, South Carolina, and has recently purchases the estate in Hartford, on which the celebrated “charter oak” is situated.28
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.) HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1657
The Jonathan Ball House now housing the Concord Art Center as established by Abba May Alcott Nieriker eventually would be built on a rectangular house lot between Mill Brook and the ridge to its north that “Thomas Dane, Carpenter of Concord,” 54 years of age, that was in this year purchased from the Reverend Peter Bulkeley. This lot was intersected by the town’s Straite Street, with an orchard and at least one barn already in existence on the brook side of “the highway under the hill through the Towne” (now Lexington Road), and a house already in existence on the raised side of the highway. The Reverend Bulkeley had earlier purchased this property from George Haywood.29 Dane had come with the Reverend Bulkeley and his wife when they had set sail from England in May 1635. His will, which indicates religious conviction, I commit my Soul to God yt gave it to mee, hoping and believeing in Jesus Cht my only Savior, that he will receive my Soul into the Armes of his mercy, and raise my body to Eternall glory at the resurrection. . . . left his “dwelling house, barns, and orchard” to his son Joseph Dane, who presumably sold it (since by 1692 this plot would no longer pertain to the Dane family). OLD HOUSES
29. George Haywood’s grant had been one of the 1st recorded in Concord. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1658
The Reverend Edward Bulkeley (1) of Marshfield removed to Concord to assist his father, the failing Reverend Peter Bulkeley.
Three marriages, six births, and three deaths were recorded in the town 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 HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
Marriages Births Deaths
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
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1659
The land which is now under Concord’s Colonial Inn facing the town common, up to this point, had been owned by the Reverend Peter Bulkeley (1). His son, the Reverend Edward Bulkeley (1), had removed to Concord from his church in Marshfield in 1658, and would in 1660 be designated to succeed his deceased father as the reverend of Concord.
In this year Samuel Symon Willard, son of Major Simon Willard, a Concord merchant living on Lee’s or Nawshawtuck Hill (Gleason F6) and charged by the community to deal militarily with the problem posed by the presence of a racial and ethnic other (native Americans), received his Harvard College diploma. He would become a minister of Groton and eventually his father would relocate there to reside with him. Samuel Willard one of the most eminent ministers in New England was son of Major Simon Willard and was born in Concord January 31, 1640. He was graduated in 1659 and ordained at Groton, Mass., in 1662, from whence he removed to Boston when that town was destroyed by the Indians in March, 1676, and was installed as colleague pastor with the Rev. Mr. Thacher, over the Old South Church, April 10, 1678. He officiated as Vice President of Harvard College, from September 6, 1701, till his death. He died September 12, 1707 aged 67. His son was Secretary of the province 39 years, and his grandson, Joseph Willard, D.D., LL.D., was President of Harvard. The notices in “History of the Old South Church,” and other works, are so copious, that any further account here is unnecessary.30 31 30. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Henry Dunster died.
February 26, Saturday (1658, Old Style): The Reverend Peter Bulkeley made his will, specifying which of the books in his library were to be passed on to which of his sons the Reverend Edward Bulkeley, John Bulkeley, and Joseph Bulkeley, and which to his cousin Samuel Hough, and to his nephew Oliver St. John “as a thankful acknowledgment of his kindness and bounty towards me; his liberality having been a great help and support unto me in these my lonely times and my struggles” (he had previously given a part of his library and some other donations to Harvard College). He provided for the widow of his deceased son Thomas Bulkeley, and for her three youngest children Eleazer Bulkeley, Peter Bulkeley, and Dorothy Bulkeley, while not neglecting to stipulate that “in case any of my children before named by me in this my will, to whom I have bequeathed the legacies named, shall prove disobedient to their mother, or otherwise vicious and wicked, shall be wholly in the power of my said wife, their mother, to deal with them therein, as she herself in Christian wisdom shall think meet, either to give their legacy or to keep it to herself.” He alluded to his “wasted estate, which is now very little in comparison of what it was when I came first to these places,” wasted because he had been forced to make such great sacrifices in “the beginning of these plantations” at Concord, and regretted that he had so very “little to leave to the children God hath given me, and to my precious wife, whose unfeigned piety and singular grace of God shining in her, doth deserve more than I can do for her” (the inventory added up to £1,302, of which £123 was in books).
31. Per the History of Groton by Caleb Butler, 1848, page 444: Rev. Samuel Willard and his wife, Abigail Sherman married August 8, 1664. Children: 1. Abigail Willard b. July 5, 1665. (m. Samuel Estabrook) 2. Samuel Willard, Jr. b. Jan. 25, 1667. 3. Mary Willard b. Oct. 10, 1669. 4. John Willard b. Sept. 8, 1673. 5. Elizabeth Willard b. Dec. 27, 1674. He was the 2nd Minister of Groton, Mass. & ordained there July 13, 1664 - “a church gathered at Groyton and Mr. Willard ordained” (pages 155-157, Butler’s Hist. of Groton.) He m. Abigail Sherman Aug. 8, 1664, granddaughter of Lord Darcy, Earl of Rivers, England & after her death he m. Eunice, the dau. of Edward Tyng. It is said he had twenty children six by Abigail Sherman and fourteen by Eunice Tyng. The Hon. Josiah Willard, Secretary of the Province by appointment of the King, for 39 years was his son & the late Rev. Joseph Willard, Pres. of Harvard 23 years was his grandson. Rev. Gershom Hobart succeeded him as minister of Groton. HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
The Rev. EDWARD BULKELEY was the eldest son of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley and born and chiefly educated in England. He emigrated to this country and was admitted a member of the First Church of Boston in 1634. Having acquired a professional education under the instruction of his father, he was licensed to preach the gospel and ordained in Marshfield in 1642 or 1643. On the death of his father in 1659, he was dismissed and installed over the church in Concord. He died at a great age, in the 53d year of his ministry, at Chelmsford, January 2, 1696, probably on a visit to his grandson, and was buried in Concord. Few records are preserved concerning his ministry or himself. He is represented by tradition to have been lame, and of a feeble constitution. He was, however, greatly respected for his talents, acquirements, irreproachable character and piety. He preached an Election Sermon in 1680 from 1 Sam. ii. 30; and one before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1679, from 1 Peter ii. 11. His only printed work that I have seen, is that noticed in our general history under date of 1676, preached in commemoration of the safe return of Captain Thomas Wheeler and his associates after the battle of Brookfield. I [Dr. Lemuel Shattuck] have not learned whom Edward Bulkeley married. [According to Torrey’s page 115, he married “Lucian ___, widow, who had a dau. Lucy”. According to Torrey’s page 447, “John Lake (d. 1677) & 2nd wife, Lucy Bishop (d. 1678) dau. of Lucien, wife of Rev. Edward Bulkeley; Boston.”] His children were John, Peter, Jane (who married Ephraim Flint), and Elizabeth, who married, in 1665, the Rev. Joseph Emerson, great grandfather of the Rev. William Emerson hereafter to be noticed, and after Mr. Emerson’s death (which took place in Concord, January 3, 1680), for a second husband, John Brown, Esq., of Reading. She was the only child of Mr. Bulkley, it is supposed, who had issue.32
32. 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
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
March 9, Wednesday (1658, Old Style): In Concord, Peter Bulkeley died (there were in addition three other deaths recorded in this town in this year). His widow Grace Chetwood Bulkeley would remove to New London in Connecticut and purchase a house there in 1663, dying in 1669.
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
The Rev. PETER BULKELEY, B.D. was of honorable and noble descent. He was the tenth generation from Robert Bulkeley, Esq. one of the English Barons, who, in the reign of King John (who died in HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1216), was lord manor of Bulkeley in the county palatine of Chester.33 He was born at Woodhill, in Bedfordshire, January 31, 1583. His father, the Rev. Edward Bulkeley, D.D., was a faithful minister of the gospel under whose direction his son received a learned and religious education, suited to his distinguished rank. About the age of sixteen he was admitted a member of St. John’s College in Cambridge, England, of which he was afterwards chosen fellow, and from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity. He succeeded his father in the ministry in his native town and enjoyed his rich benefice and estate; where he was a zealous preacher of evangelical truth about twenty years and, for the most part of the time, lived an unmolested non- conformist. At length, his preaching meeting with distinguished success, and his church being very much increased, complaints were entered against him by Archbishop Laud and he was silenced for his non-conformity to the requirements of the English church. This circumstance induced him to emigrate to New England where he might enjoy liberty of conscience. He arrived in Cambridge in 1634 or 1635,34 and was the leader of those resolute men and self-denying Christians, who soon after “went further up into the woods and settled the plantation at Musketaquid.” Here he expended most of his estate for the benefit of his people; and after a laborious and useful life, died March 9, 1659 in his 77th year. Mr. Bulkeley was remarkable for his benevolence. He had many servants on whom, after they had lived with him several years, he bestowed farms, and then received others to be treated in a like benevolent manner. By great familiarity of manners he drew around him persons of all ages; and his easy address, great learning, and eminent piety, rendered his society pleasing and profitable to all. Persons seldom separated from his company, without having heard some remark calculated to impress the mind with the importance of religion. Though sometimes suffering under bodily infirmities, he was distinguished for the holiness of his life, and a most scrupulous observance of the duties of the Christian ministry. He avoided all novelties in dress, and wore his hair short. Being strict in his own virtues, he was occasionally severe in censuring the follies of others. He was considered as the father of his people, and “addressed as father, prophet, or counsellor, by them and all the ministers of the country.” Had the scene of Mr. Bulkeley’s labors been in Boston, or its immediate vicinity, and not, as he expresses it, 33. The names of the lineal descendants from Robert Bulkeley furnished me by Charles Bulkeley, Esq., of New London, a great grandson of Gershom Bulkeley were, 1. William; 2. Robert; 3. Peter, who married Nicholaus Bird, of Haughton; 4. John, who married Andryne, daughter and heir to John Colley, of Ward, and died 1450; 5. Hugh, who married Hellen Wilbriham, of Woodley; 6. Humphrey, who married Cyle, daughter and heir of John Mutten; 7. William, who married Beatryce, daughter and heir to William of Bulausdale; 8. Thomas, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Randell Grovenor; 9. Edward, D.D., of Woodhill, who married Olive Irlby, of Lincolnshire; 10. Peter, of Concord. He had two brothers, Nathaniel and Paul Bulkeley. The latter died Fellow of Queen’s College, Cambridge, England. From William, a brother of Peter, of the third generation, were also many ennobled descendants; among whom are recorded, in the Irish Peerage, seven Viscounts in succession. Other branches have been much distinguished. The mott adopted in the family coat of arms was “Nec lemere, nec timide,” — “Neither rashly nor timidly,” and contains a beautiful sentiment, characteristic of the eminent father of the American family. 34. The Rev. Edward Bulkeley was admitted freeman May 6, 1635; and from the Cambridge records it seems probable that Mr. Bulkeley came to America in 1634. HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
“shut up” in this remote spot, then of difficult access, his name would have appeared more conspicuously in the published annals of the country. He was a thorough scholar; an elevated, devotional Christian; laborious in his profession; and, as a preacher, evangelical, faithful and of remarkably energetic, powerful and persuasive eloquence. He often wrote a series of sermons on a particular book or passage of Scripture. One of these series on Zachariah ix. 11, was published as “the first-born of New England,” and passed through several editions. The edition before me bears the following title: “The Gospel Covenant, or the Covenant of Grace opened; wherein are explained, 1. The difference between the covenant of grace and covenant of works. 2. The different administration of the covenant before and since Christ. 3. The benefits and blessing of it. 4. The conditions. 5. The properties of it. Preached at Concord in New England by Rev. Peter Bulkeley, sometime fellow of Saint John’s College in Cambridge, England. [Here follow quotations, Genesis xvii. 1-7 and Isaiah lv. 3.] The second edition, much enlarged and correct by the author. And the chiefe heads of things (which was omitted in the former) distinguished into chapters. London, printed by Mathew Simmins, dwelling in Aldersgate-Street, next door to the Golden Lion, 1651.” pp. xvi and 442, quarto. It was dedicated “to the church and congregation at Concord” and to his nephew, “the Rt. Hon. Oliver St. John, Lord Embassador extraordinary from the Parliament of the Commonwealth of England to the High and Mighty Lords, the States General of the United Provinces in the Netherlands; and Lord Chief Justice at the Common Pleas.” It is a work of great merit for that age and considering that it was “preached in the remote ends of the earth.” “The church of God,” says the Rev. Mr. Shephard of Cambridge, “is bound to bless God for the holy, judicious and learned labours of this aged, experienced and precious servant of Christ.” After reading this book, President Stiles observes “He was a masterly reasoner in theology and equal to the first characters in all Christendom and in all ages.” Two of Mr. Bulkeley’s manuscripts are preserved in the library of the American Antiquarian Society. One contains answers to several theological questions, and is addressed to the Rev. Mr. Phillips of Watertown. The other is on the character and government of the church. The following analysis is given at the close of this work. Part I. “The visible church is: 1. For the efficient cause, called of God. 2. For the material cause, a number of visible saints and believers in the judgment of man. 3. For the formal cause, union by an explicate covenant together. 4. For the final cause, to set out God’s praises.” Part II. The churches’ government. 1. Is originally in the people’s hands. 2. Which people are to elect their own officers, teachers, elders, and deacons. 3. By which officers they are to rule and govern - by admitting fit members, and by watching over, admonishing and casting out those that be bad.” This is a most able defence of the Congregationalism in opposition to HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
Episcopacy; and touches with the author’s peculiar power and clearness, the ecclesiastical questions in discussion at that period. I can scarcely resist an inclination to extract some passages. Its publication entire is recommended to the Society to whom it belongs. Mr. Bulkeley married, for his first wife, Jane, daughter of Sir Thomas Allen of Goldington, England, whose nephew was Lord Manor of London. By her he had nine sons and two daughters. Edward, Thomas (who married a daughter of the Rev. John Jones, removed to Fairfield, Connecticut, and died about 1652), John, Joseph, William and Richard are all the names I have seen mentioned. He lived eight years a widower and then married Grace, daughter of Sir Richard Chitwood, by whom he had three sons and one daughter, Gershom, Eleazer, Peter and Dorothy. His wife survived him and removed to Connecticut a few years after his death. His will, dated February 26, 1659, appears in the Middlesex Records, in which he specifies legacies in books to his sons, Edward, John & Joseph, his cousin Samuel Hough and his nephew Oliver St. John, “as a thankful acknowledgment of his kindness and bounty towards me; his liberality having been a great help and support unto me in these my lonely times and my struggles.” Legacies are also made to the widow of his son Thomas, deceased, and to this three youngest children, Eleazer, Peter and Dorothy; “and in case any of my children before named by me in this my will, to whom I have bequeathed the legacies named, shall prove disobedient to their mother, or otherwise vicious and wicked, shall be wholly in the power of my said wife, their mother, to deal with them therein, as she herself in Christian wisdom shall think meet, either to give their legacy or to keep it to herself.” He alludes to his “wasted estate, which is now very little in comparison of what it was when I came first to these places,” having made great sacrifices in “the beginning of these plantations.” and “Having little to leave to the children God hath given me, and to my precious wife, whose unfeigned piety and singular grace of God shining in her, doth deserve more than I can do for her.” The inventory of his estate amounted to £1302 of which £123 was in books. He had previously given a part of his library and some other donations to Harvard College. The Rev. Edward Bulkeley succeeded his father in the ministerial care of the church with an annual salary of £80. The duties of his office increasing with the growth of the town assistance was judged necessary and the Rev. Joseph Estabrook was ordained as his colleague in 1667. His salary was also £80, of which £40 was to be paid in money, and £40 in grain, - wheat to be estimated at 5s., rye at 4s., and corn at 3s. per bushel.35
35. 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
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1660
The selectmen of Concord sent a petition to the County Court that “sargeant Buss” be authorized to keep an “ordinary,” which is to say, a tavern. The petition stated that they had “found much difficulty in procuring such an one as we could rest well satisfied in.”
The court criticized the town for its failure to have created “a common house of entertainment” and warned that unless one were created before the sitting of the following Court, the town would be fined 2s 6d.
Because he had termed him a “Lying rascal,” John Gobble [Goble] had to pay 20s to Richard Temple.
Peter Bulkeley (2), namesake son of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley (1) in Concord, graduated from Harvard College. He would become an attorney. Peter Bulkeley, the youngest son of the Rev. Peter Bulkeley of Concord, was born August 12, 1643 and graduated in 1660. He settled in Concord and in 1673, and the four subsequent years represented the town in the General Court. In February, 1676, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Deputies; and in August of the same year was appointed with the Hon. william Stoughton, agent to England on the complaints of Gorges and Mason36 and reappointed in 1682. They sailed on the first mission October 30, 1676. On the 27th of February 1678/79, he was reappointed by King Charles the 2nd with Stoughton as agent to England respecting the Narragansett country. They returned December 23, 1679. In 1677 he was chosen one of the Judges or Court of Assistants and re-elected eight years. He was also one of the Commissioners of the United Colonies the greater part of the time. On the 8th of October, 1685 he was appointed by King James II, one of the Council, of which Joseph Dudley, Esq., was President, which constituted the government of the colonies after the charter was forfeited. In 1680 the militia in the county was divided into two regiments, and Major Peter Bulkeley appointed to command one of them. This was an office in those days of great distinction. In all these and other important offices he acquitted himself with honor and general acceptance. He was one of 20 who in 1683, made the “million purchase” in New Hampshire and had several special grants of land for public services. He died May 24, 1688, aged 44, and “was buried” says Judge Sewall “the 27th because he could not be kept, word of which was sent to Boston the same day to prevent any going in vain to his funeral.” He married Rebecca, the only daughter of Lieut. Joseph Wheeler, on April 16, 1667 and had, Edward, Joseph, John and Rebecca - the first and third children died young. His widow married Jonathan Prescott and his daughter married Jonathan Prescott, Jr. Joseph Bulkeley b. Sept 7, 1760 held a captain’s commission and was engaged in the public service. He married the widow Rebecca Minott, dau. of John 36. That was Capt. John Mason of the New Hampshire Grants. HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
Jones, in 1696. She died July 17, 1712, leaving by him Rebecca who married Joseph Hubbard, granfather to Deacon Thomas Hubbard; Dorothy who married Samuel Hunt; John who held a Colonel’s commission and died in Groton, Dec. 1772 aged 69, father to John who was graduated at Harvard Coll in 1769 who was a lawyer and died in Groton Dec 16, 1774 aged 26. Captain Joseph Bulkeley m. for a 2nd wife Silence Jeffrey in 1713 and had Joseph, Peter, Charles (whose descendants live in Littleton) and perhaps other children.37
37. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1663
Captain Timothy Wheeler became Concord’s deputy and representative to the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He would be their representative off and on until 1672.38
The land which is now under Concord’s Colonial Inn was sold by Grace Bulkeley, the widow of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, to Captain Timothy Wheeler.
John Miles, freedman of Concord, had by this point acquired over 400 acres of land in the South Quarter of the town (Nine Acre Corner area). His son Samuel Miles would construct a house on “faier haven way” (still standing at #429 Williams Road) in the early 1700s, and in this house his grandson Charles Miles of Revolutionary fame would be born in 1727 and would live most of his life.
During this year there would be five marriages, fourteen births, and four deaths in this town:
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
38. Representative Timothy WHEELER of Concord, freeman on May 13, 1640, ensign in 1646, was a Captain late in his days, but more often in the record called Lieutenant. He was a Representative during 1663, and very often after; he died on July 10, 1687, aged about 86, as the gravestone tells; had Sarah WHEELER, born on June 22, 1640; had his wife Jane WHEELER who died on February 12, 1643; and by wife Mary Brooks WHEELER, daughter of Captain Thomas Brooks, had Mary WHEELER, born on October 3, 1657, died at 3 years; Elizabeth WHEELER, born on October 6, 1661, who got married during 1678 with Eleazer Prout; Rebecca WHEELER, born during 1666, who got married during 1684 with James Minot; and probably others, perhaps Timothy WHEELER of Concord, freeman 1677, for one, who got married on June 29, 1670 with Ruth Fuller, and died on June 7, 1678. HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
Marriages Births Deaths
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
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1665
December 7, Thursday (Old Style): Joseph Emerson and Elizabeth Bulkeley, daughter of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, were wed in Concord; it was his 2d marriage and her 1st (they would have three sons of whom Peter, who married a Brown, and Edward, who married Mary, daughter of the Reverend Samuel Moody, would be the progenitors of a long list of clergymen not including Ralph Waldo Emerson) (after his death she would remarry to a Captain John Brown and live in Reading, Massachusetts). HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1669
December 1, Wednesday (Old Style): The Reverend Joseph Emerson was installed as minister at Mendon, his father- in-law the Reverend Peter Bulkeley of Concord negotiating his contract. That contract stipulated that a part of his pay was to be received by him “at some shop in Boston,” as well as that he was to have two pounds of butter for every cow in the town. The Reverend Emerson would continue in the ministry at that town until retiring to Concord upon the outbreak of race war (as he would die a few years afterward, it is unlikely that he again held a pastorate). HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1674
Posthumous republication of the Reverend Peter Bulkeley’s 1654 THE GOSPEL COVENANT OPENED: WHEREIN SEVERAL PARTICULARS ARE HANDLED, NOT OF ORDINARY OCCURENCE, VIZ.: I. WHETHER THE CONVENANT BE MADE AT ALL BETWIXT GOD AND US, OR ONLY BETWIXT GOD THE FATHER AND CHRIST, II. WHAT THAT SEED IS, MENTIONED GAL. 3.6, III. WHAT THAT COVENANT AT MOUNT SINAI WAS, IV. WHETHER JUSTIFICATION MAY BE EVIDENCED BY SANCTIFICATION, V. WHETHER THE COMMANDMENT COMMANDING FAITH BE A COMMANDMENT OF THE LAW, OR OF THE GOSPEL, VI. WHETHER FAITH BE A CONDITION ONLY CONSEQUENT TO OUR JUSTIFICATION, OR ANTECEDENT, VII. WHETHER THE CONDITIONAL PROMISES (AS THEY ARE CALLED) ARE PROMISES OF FREE GRACE OR NO, AND HOW THEY AGREE WITH THOSE THAT ARE CALLED ABSOLUTE, VIII. THE AGREEMENT OF THE OLD COVENANT WITH THE NEW IN ALL ESSENTIALS OF THEM, ASSERTED AND CLEARED, IX. THE NECESSARY USE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TO USE UNDER THE NEW, X. THE LAW STILL OF USE AS A RULE OF LIFE TO USE UNDER THE NEW COVENANT, XI. THE BENEFITS AND BLESSINGS OF THE NEW COVENANT ... (London: Sold by Tho. Parkhurst). HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1684
October 20, Monday (Old Style): Just to make sure this retro paperwork they were constructing appeared adequately impressive, the town of Concord added to the record in Cambridge a couple of depositions from friendly Indians living in Natick, Jehojakin AKA Mantatukwet (aged. 70 years or thereabouts) and Jethro (aged 70 years HDT WHAT? INDEX
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or therabouts):
The Deposition of Jehojakin, alias Mantatukwet, a christian Indian of Natick aged. 70 years or thereabouts. This Deponent testifieth and saith, that about 50 years since he lived within the bounds of that placed which is now called Concord, at the foot of an hill, named Nahshawtuck [Nawshawtuck Hill], now in the possession of Mr. Henry Woodis, and that he was present at a bargain made at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley (now Capt. Timothy Wheeler’s) between Mr. Simon Willard, Mr. John Jones, Mr. Spencer, and several others, in behalfe of the Englishmen who were settling upon the said town of Concord, and Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod, Indians, which said Indians (according to their particular rights and interest) then sold a tract of land containing six miles square (the said house being accounted about the centre) to the said English for a place to settle a town in ; and he the said deponent saw said Willard and Spencer pay a parcell of Wampumpeage, hatchets, hoes, knives, cotton cloth, and shirts, to the said Indians for the said tract of land. And in particular perfectly remembers that Wibbacowet, husband to Squaw Sachem, received a suit of cotton cloth, an hat, a white linen band, shoes, stockings, and a great coat, upon account of said bargain. And in the conclusion the sd Indians declard themselvs sattisfyed & told the Englishmen they were Welcome. There were present also at the said bargain Waban, merchant ; Thomas, his brother-in-law ; Notawquatuchquaw ; Tantumous, now called Jethro. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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The Deposition of Jethro a Christian Indian of Natick aged 70 years or therabouts : This Deponent testifieth and saith, that about 50 years since, he dwelt at Nashobah, near unto the place now called by the English Concord ; and that coming to said Concord was present at the making a bargain (which was done at the house of Mr. Peter Bulkeley, which now Capt. Timothy Wheeler liveth in) between several Englishmen (in behalfe of such as were settling said place) viz. Mr. Simon Willard, Mr. John Jones, Mr. Spencer, and others, on the one party ; and Squaw Sachem, Tahattawan, and Nimrod, Indians, on the other party ; and that the said Indians (according to their several rights) did then sell to the said English a certain tract of land containing six miles square (the said house being accounted about the centre) to plant a town in ; and that the said deponent did see the said Willard and Spencer pay to the said Indians for the said tract of land a parcell of Wampumpeage, [like Jehojakin's testimony as far as “said bargain”] ; and that after the bargain was concluded, Mr. Simon Willard, pointing to the four quarters of the world, declared that they had bought three miles from that place, east, west, north, and south ; & the sd Indians manifested their free consent thereunto. There were present at the making of the said bargain, amongst other Indians, Waban merchant ; Thomas, his brother-in-law ; Natawquatuckquaw ; Jehojakin, who is yet living and deposeth in like manner as above. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1686
Edmond Halley saw one of his meteorological maps, of the prevailing wind currents over the oceans, published as the 1st weather map ever.
Another first in this year was the 1st survey of Nashobah Plantation near Concord. The surveyor was Samuel Danforth and the survey was not fully completed, the northern limit not being measured but being merely assumed to be four miles in length. The primary purpose of the survey was not accuracy but rather to mark out the eastern half of the reservation which had just been purchased by two local white men, Peter Bulkley of Concord (not the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, who had died in 1659, but a descendant) and Major Thomas Henchman of Chelmsford, who had paid a total of £70 to Kehonosquaw (Sarah Doublett) and the surviving sister of the old sachem John Tahattawan and Naanishcow (the teacher John Thomas) with his spouse Naanasquaw.
In Concord, John Flint continued to be the Town Clerk.
In Concord, Edward Oakes was deputy and representative to the General Court.
Note that according to the history of Concord published in 1835 by Lemuel Shattuck (A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;...), nothing of any great importance was going to happen in Concord for the following half century: During the fifty subsequent years few important events mark the history of the town. The generation who first emigrated from England had nearly all departed, and others taken their places; but with habits and education somewhat different from their fathers and peculiar to their own period. Compelled to labor hard to supply their own necessities, parents had little time or ability to educate their children and the people generally were, in consequence, less enlightened than the first settlers. More signed legal instruments by their marks at this than at any other period. Their history (and such is the history of the country generally) exhibits this as the dark age of New England. Superstition and supposed witchcraft now prevailed. Concord, however, was not a bewitched town; it never took a part in that horrible delusion. The increase in numbers, wealth and intellectual improvement of the people, was subsequently slow HDT WHAT? INDEX
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but progressive. READ THE FULL TEXT HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1727
October 29, the Holy Day (Old Style): An earthquake occurred throughout New England at 40 minutes past 10 o’clock in the evening. An initial temblor was followed by aftershocks. Andrew Sigourney, a member of a Huguenot family that had emigrated to Boston in 1686, would write in the family’s French BIBLE:
Boston Octob. the 29, 1727 being on the Lords Day at Evening about Ten and Eleven a Clock at Night their was an Earth Quake not verey terrible but the 2d and Third Exceeding Terrible So that Everey Inhabitant in the Town thought their houses would Fall upon their heads & their was a Chille thrown down to the Ground their was another about 5 a Clock in the morning and Reached an 100 miles in the Country....
(Below this, in this BIBLE, is a record of the Boston earthquake of 1744.)
It so affected the minds of people, that it was a means used by the Holy Spirit to produce a very powerful revival of religion ... throughout New-England.
Refer to:
• The Reverend Cotton Mather’s THE TERROR OF THE LORD. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE EARTHQUAKE THAT SHOOK NEW-ENGLAND, IN THE NIGHT, BETWEEN THE 29 AND THE 30 OF OCTOBER. 1727. WITH A SPEECH, MADE UNTO THE INHABITANTS OF BOSTON, WHO ASSEMBLED THE NEXT MORNING, FOR THE PROPER EXERCISES OF RELIGION, ON SO UNCOMMON, AND SO TREMENDOUS AN OCCASION. [One line from Corinthians]. Boston: printed by T. Fleet, for S. Kneeland, and sold at his shop in King-street. (This included a 6-page Appendix at the end, which contained a Latin epigram on the 1653 earthquake by the Reverend Peter Bulkeley taken from the MAGNALIA CHRISTI AMERICANA, and an account of the 1663 earthquake by Samuel Danforth.) • The Reverend Cotton Mather’s BOANERGES. A SHORT ESSAY TO PRESERVE AND STRENGTHEN THE GOOD IMPRESSIONS PRODUCED BY EARTHQUAKES ON THE MINDS OF PEOPLE THAT HAVE BEEN AWAKENED WITH THEM, WITH SOME VIEWS OF WHAT IS TO BE FURTHER AND QUICKLY LOOK’D FOR, ADDRESS’D UNTO THE WHOLE PEOPLE OF NEW-ENGLAND, WHO HAVE BEEN TERRIFIED WITH THE LATE EARTHQUAKES, AND MORE ESPECIALLY THE TOWNS THAT HAVE HAD A MORE SINGULAR SHARE IN THE TERRORS OF THEM. Boston: Printed for S. Kneeland, and sold at his shop in King- Street, 1727. • Autograph Letter, signed, from the Reverend Cotton Mather to Governor Dummer. 9 December 1727. 3pp. • Thomas Foxcroft. THE VOICE OF THE LORD, FROM THE DEEP PLACES OF THE EARTH. A SERMON PREACH’D ON THE THURSDAY-LECTURE IN BOSTON, IN THE AUDIENCE OF THE GENERAL COURT, AT THE OPENING OF THE SESSIONS, NOV. 23, 1727. THREE WEEKS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE. Boston: Printed for S. Gerrish, at the lower end of Cornhill, 1727. • Benjamin Colman. THE JUDGMENTS OF PROVIDENCE IN THE HAND OF CHRIST. HIS VOICE TO US IN THE TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE, AND THE EARTH DEVOURED BY THE CURSE. IN FOUR SERMONS. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Boston: printed for J. Phillips at the Stationers-arms on the south side of the Town-house, T. Hancock at the Bible and three Crowns near the town dock, 1727. • Thomas Prince. EARTHQUAKES THE WORKS OF GOD, AND TOKENS OF HIS JUST DISPLEASURE. TWO SERMONS ON PSAL. XVIII.7. AT THE PARTICULAR FAST IN BOSTON, NOV. 2. AND THE GENERAL THANKSGIVING, NOV. 9. OCCASIONED BY THE LATE DREADFUL EARTHQUAKE. WHEREIN AMONG OTHER THINGS IS OFFERED A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE NATURAL CAUSES OF THESE OPERATIONS IN THE HANDS OF GOD. WITH A RELATION OF SOME LATE TERRIBLE ONES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD, AS WELL AS THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN PERCEIVED IN NEW-ENGLAND SINCE ITS SETTLEMENT BY ENGLISH INHABITANTS. BY THOMAS PRINCE, M.A., AND ONE OF THE PASTORS OF THE SOUTH CHURCH IN BOSTON. Boston: printed for D. Henchman, over against the Brick Meeting House in Cornhill, 1727. • Thomas Paine. THE DOCTRINE OF EARTHQUAKES. TWO SERMONS PREACHED AT A PARTICULAR FAST IN WEYMOUTH, NOV. 3, 1727, THE FRIDAY AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE. WHEREIN THIS TERRIBLE WORK APPEARS NOT TO PROCEED FROM NATURAL SECOND CAUSES, IN ANY ORDERLY WAY OF THEIR PRODUCING, BUT FROM THE MIGHTY POWER OF GOD IMMEDIATELY INTERPOSED, AND IS TO THE WORLD, A TOKEN OF GOD’S ANGER, &C. AND PRESAGE OF TERRIBLE CHANGES. WITH EXAMPLES OF MANY EARTHQUAKES IN HISTORY--ILLUSTRATING THIS DOCTRINE. BY THOMAS PAINE, M.A. PASTOR OF A CHURCH IN WEYMOUTH. Boston: Printed for D. Henchman, over-against the Brick meeting house in Cornhill, 1728. • Jonathan Mayhew. PRACTICAL DISCOURSES DELIVERED ON OCCASION OF THE EARTHQUAKES IN NOVEMBER, 1755. WHEREIN IS PARTICULARLY SHOWN, BY A VARIETY OF ARGUMENTS, THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF TURNING OUR FEET UNTO GOD’S TESTIMONIES, AND OF MAKING HASTE TO KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, TOGETHER WITH THE REASONABLENESS, THE NECESSITY, AND GREAT ADVANTAGE, OF A SERIOUS CONSIDERATION OF OUR WAYS. Boston: Printed and sold by Richard Draper, in Newbury-street, and Edes and Gill, in Queen-street, 1760. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1774
January 19, Wednesday: The British government had recently, in the Québec Act, granted religious rights to French- Canadian Catholics and their Jesuit priests — religious rights not inferior to those of Canada’s Protestants. Rumor had it that King James of England was plotting to return all of England to the control of Rome and that his Royal Governor, Sir Edmund Andros (the original Edmund Andros of the American colonies had died in London in 1714, so presumably this is a grandson or something like that), was plotting to hand the colonies of New England over to French Catholics in order to destroy their Protestant colonial freedom. Bearing in mind that their revered Founding Father, the Reverend Peter Bulkeley, had long ago warned them about the scarlet whore of Rome, bearing in mind that the successor to his son the Reverend Edward Bulkeley, their Reverend Joseph Estabrook, had instructed one of his church deacons to heave one of their communion plates across the room, smashing it, because it was inscribed “IHS” and even worse was marked with a cross and 3 nails of the crucifixion, which he took to be Papist symbolism, the people of Concord, in Town Meeting assembled, approved a proclamation in regard to liberty of conscience, that in Concord town:
“there should be liberty of conscience to all Christians (Papists excepted).” ANTI-CATHOLICISM HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1846
December 31, Wednesday: Waldo Emerson’s POEMS was published by James Munroe. (It had been James Munroe and Company which had issued Alcott’s disastrous self-published CONVERSATIONS WITH CHILDREN ON THE GOSPEL.) Emerson’s little gift volume was bound in a white cover.39 The Boston Courier described it as “one of the most peculiar and original volumes of poetry ever published in the United States.”40 The Reverend Orestes Augustus Brownson, repenting his earlier involvement with Transcendentalism, was more specific in The Massachusetts Quarterly Review: these were not poems, in this little gift volume bound in a white cover, they were “hymns to the devil.” EMERSON’S POEMS Hamatreya Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Flint, Possessed the land which rendered to their toil Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood. Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm, Saying, “’Tis mine, my children’s and my name’s. How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees! How graceful climb those shadows on my hill! I fancy these pure waters and the flags Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize; And, I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.’ Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds: And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough. Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet Clear of the grave. They added ridge to valley, brook to pond, And sighed for all that bounded their domain; ‘This suits me for a pasture; that’s my park; We must have clay, lime, gravel, granite-ledge, And misty lowland, where to go for peat. The land is well, — lies fairly to the south. ’Tis good, when you have crossed the sea and back, To find the sitfast acres where you left them.’ Ah! the hot owner sees not Death, who adds Him to his land, a lump of mould the more. Hear what the Earth says:— Earth-Song ‘Mine and yours; Mine, not yours, Earth endures; Stars abide— Shine down in the old sea; Old are the shores; But where are old men? 39. Bear in mind that New Englanders in that era were exchanging gifts at the New Year’s holiday rather than at Christmas. Emerson’s little book bound in a white cover was intended for that market — a holiday, and a market, that was being associated at that time in that place with irreligious downtown carousing rather than with any form of religiosity. 40. A copy of this volume has indeed been found in the personal library of Henry Thoreau, presumably his source not only for these snippets from “Ode to Beauty” and “The Problem” in the “Sunday” chapter of A WEEK, but also for references to the Emerson poems “Concord Hymn,” “Musketaquid,” “Woodnotes,” and “The Humble-Bee.” HDT WHAT? INDEX
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I who have seen much, Such have I never seen. ‘The lawyer’s deed Ran sure, In tail, To them, and to their heirs Who shall succeed, Without fail, Forevermore. ‘Here is the land, Shaggy with wood, With its old valley, Mound and flood. “But the heritors?— Fled like the flood’s foam. The lawyer, and the laws, And the kingdom, Clean swept herefrom. ‘They called me theirs, Who so controlled me; Yet every one Wished to stay, and is gone, How am I theirs, If they cannot hold me, But I hold them?’ When I heard the Earth-song, I was no longer brave; My avarice cooled Like lust in the chill of the grave.
Clearly, in this winter period Henry Thoreau was perusing this new volume, for in his journal we discover two snippets from Waldo’s poems that eventually would find their way into A WEEK ON THE CONCORD AND MERRIMACK RIVERS:
And of late the victor whom all our Pindars praised — has won another palm. contending with “Olympian bards who sung Divine Ideas below, Which always find us young, And always keep us so.” Aspiring to guide that chariot which coursed olympia’s sky. — What will the Delphians say & Eleusinian priests — where will the Immortals hide their secrets now — which earth or Sea — mountain or stream — or Muses spring or grove — is safe from his all searching eye — who drives off apollo’s beaten track — visits unwonted zones — & makes the serpent writhe {MS blotted} a nile-like river of our day flow back — and hide its head. Spite of the eternal law, from his “lips of cunning fell The thrilling Delphic oracle.” I have seen some impudent connecticut or Down east man in his crack coaster with tort sail, standing beside his galley with his dog with folded arms while his cock crowed aboard — scud through the surf by some fast anchored Staten Island farm — but just outside the line where the astonished Dutchman digs his clams, or half ploughs his cabbage garden with unbroken steeds & ropy harness. — while his squat bantam whose faint voice the lusty shore wind drownd responded feebly there for all reply
I have awakened in the morning with the impression that some question had been put to me which I had been struggling to answer in my sleep — but there was dawning nature, in whom all creatures live — looking in at the window, with serene & satisfied face and no question on her lips. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Men are not commonly greatly serviceable to one another — because they are not serviceable to themselves — Their lives are devoted to trivial ends, and they invite only to an intercourse which degrades one another. Some are too weakly sensitive by a defect of their constitution, magnifying what {Twenty-eight pages missing} HDT WHAT? INDEX
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A WEEK: But, above all, in our native port, did we not frequent PEOPLE OF the peaceful games of the Lyceum, from which a new era will be A WEEK dated to New England, as from the games of Greece. For if Herodotus carried his history to Olympia to read, after the cestus and the race, have we not heard such histories recited there, which since our countrymen have read, as made Greece sometimes to be forgotten? — Philosophy, too, has there her grove and portico, not wholly unfrequented in these days. Lately the victor, whom all Pindars praised, has won another palm, contending with “Olympian bards who sung Divine ideas below, Which always find us young, And always keep us so.” What earth or sea, mountain or stream, or Muses’ spring or grove, is safe from his all-searching ardent eye, who drives off Phoebus’ beaten track, visits unwonted zones, makes the gelid Hyperboreans glow, and the old polar serpent writhe, and many a Nile flow back and hide his head! That Phaeton of our day, Who’d make another milky way, And burn the world up with his ray; By us an undisputed seer, — Who’d drive his flaming car so near Unto our shuddering mortal sphere, Disgracing all our slender worth, And scorching up the living earth, To prove his heavenly birth. The silver spokes, the golden tire, Are glowing with unwonted fire, And ever nigher roll and nigher; The pins and axle melted are, The silver radii fly afar, Ah, he will spoil his Father’s car! Who let him have the steeds he cannot steer? Henceforth the sun will not shine for a year; And we shall Ethiops all appear.
From his “lips of cunning fell The thrilling Delphic oracle.” And yet, sometimes, We should not mind if on our ear there fell Some less of cunning, more of oracle.
HERODOTUS WALDO EMERSON HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Musketaquid Because I was content with these poor fields, Low, open meads, slender and sluggish streams, And found a home in haunts which others scorned, The partial wood-gods overpaid my love, And granted me the freedom of their state, And in their secret senate have prevailed With the dear, dangerous lords that rule our life, Made moon and planets parties to their bond, And through my rock-like, solitary wont Shot million rays of thought and tenderness. For me, in showers, insweeping showers, the Spring Visits the valley; — break away the clouds,— I bathe in the morn’s soft and silvered air, And loiter willing by yon loitering stream. Sparrows far off, and nearer, April’s bird, Blue-coated, flying before from tree to tree, Courageous sing a delicate overture To lead the tardy concert of the year. Onward and nearer rides the sun of May; And wide around, the marriage of the plants Is sweetly solemnized. Then flows amain The surge of summer’s beauty; dell and crag, Hollow and lake, hillside and pine arcade, Are touched with genius. Yonder ragged cliff Has thousand faces in a thousand hours. Beneath low hills, in the broad interval Through which at will our Indian rivulet Winds mindful still of sannup and of squaw, Whose pipe and arrow oft the plough unburies, Here in pine houses built of new-fallen trees, Supplanters of the tribe, the farmers dwell. Traveller, to thee, perchance, a tedious road, Or, it may be, a picture; to these men, The landscape is an armory of powers, Which, one by one, they know to draw and use. They harness beast, bird, insect, to their work; They prove the virtues of each bed of rock, And, like the chemist ’mid his loaded jars Draw from each stratum its adapted use To drug their crops or weapon their arts withal. They turn the frost upon their chemic heap, They set the wind to winnow pulse and grain, They thank the spring-flood for its fertile slime, And, on cheap summit-levels of the snow, Slide with the sledge to inaccessible woods O’er meadows bottomless. So, year by year, They fight the elements with elements (That one would say, meadow and forest walked. Transmuted in these men to rule their like), And by the order in the field disclose The order regnant in the yeoman’s brain.
What these strong masters wrote at large in miles, I followed in small copy in my acre; For there’s no rood has not a star above it; The cordial quality of pear or plum Ascends as gladly in a single tree As in broad orchards resonant with bees; And every atom poises for itself, HDT WHAT? INDEX
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And for the whole. The gentle deities Showed me the lore of colors and of sounds, The innumerable tenements of beauty, The miracle of generative force, Far-reaching concords of astronomy Felt in the plants and in the punctual birds; Better, the linked purpose of the whole, And, chiefest prize, found I true liberty In the glad home plain-dealing Nature gave. The polite found me impolite; the great Would mortify me, but in vain; for still I am a willow of the wilderness, Loving the wind that bent me. All my hurts My garden spade can heal. A woodland walk, A quest of river-grapes, a mocking thrush, A wild-rose, or rock-loving columbine, Salve my worst wounds. For thus the wood-gods murmured in my ear: ’Dost love our manners? Canst thou silent lie? Canst thou, thy pride forgot, like Nature pass Into the winter night’s extinguished mood? Canst thou shine now, then darkle, And being latent, feel thyself no less? As, when the all-worshipped moon attracts the eye, The river, hill, stems, foliage are obscure, Yet envies none, none are unenviable.
A WEEK: Beneath low hills, in the broad interval Through which at will our Indian rivulet Winds mindful still of sannup and of squaw, Whose pipe and arrow oft the plough unburies, Here, in pine houses, built of new-fallen trees, Supplanters of the tribe, the farmers dwell. — EMERSON.
Thoreau would also extract from Emerson’s poem “Woodnotes”: HDT WHAT? INDEX
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A WEEK: “He trode the unplanted forest floor, whereon The all-seeing sun for ages hath not shone, Where feeds the moose, and walks the surly bear, And up the tall mast runs the woodpecker...... Where darkness found him he lay glad at night; There the red morning touched him with its light...... Go where he will, the wise man is at home, His hearth the earth, — his hall the azure dome; Where his clear spirit leads him, there’s his road, By God’s own light illumined and foreshowed.” — EMERSON.
The Humble-Bee Burly dozing humblebee! Where thou art is clime for me. Let them sail for Porto Rique, Far-off heats through seas to seek, I will follow thee alone, Thou animated torrid zone! Zig-zag steerer, desert-cheerer, Let me chase thy waving lines, Keep me nearer, me thy hearer, Singing over shrubs and vines. Insect lover of the sun, Joy of thy dominion! Sailor of the atmosphere, Swimmer through the waves of air, Voyager of light and noon, Epicurean of June, Wait I prithee, till I come Within ear-shot of thy hum,— All without is martyrdom. When the south wind, in May days, With a net of shining haze, Silvers the horizon wall, And, with softness touching all, Tints the human countenance With a color of romance, And, infusing subtle heats, Turns the sod to violets, Thou in sunny solitudes, Rover of the underwoods, The green silence dost displace, With thy mellow breezy bass. Hot midsummer’s petted crone, Sweet to me thy drowsy tune, Telling of countless sunny hours, Long days, and solid banks of flowers, Of gulfs of sweetness without bound In Indian wildernesses found, HDT WHAT? INDEX
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Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure, Firmest cheer and bird-like pleasure. Aught unsavory or unclean, Hath my insect never seen, But violets and bilberry bells, Maple sap and daffodels, Grass with green flag half-mast high, Succory to match the sky, Columbine with horn of honey, Scented fern, and agrimony, Clover, catch fly, adders-tongue, And brier-roses dwelt among; All beside was unknown waste, All was picture as he passed. Wiser far than human seer, Yellow-breeched philosopher! Seeing only what is fair, Sipping only what is sweet, Thou dost mock at fate and care, Leave the chaff and take the wheat, When the fierce north-western blast Cools sea and land so far and fast, Thou already slumberest deep,— Woe and want thou canst out-sleep,— Want and woe which torture us, Thy sleep makes ridiculous.
A WEEK: This noontide was a fit occasion to make some pleasant harbor, and there read the journal of some voyageur like ourselves, not too moral nor inquisitive, and which would not disturb the noon; or else some old classic, the very flower of all reading, which we had postponed to such a season “Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure.” But, alas, our chest, like the cabin of a coaster, contained only its well-thumbed “Navigator” for all literature, and we were obliged to draw on our memory for these things. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1850
Our national birthday, Thursday the 4th of July: In Washington DC, the celebration amounted to a block of marble being laid into the Washington Monument, by the “Corporation.” (Whatever this “Corporation” amounted to!)
In Newburgh, New York, the “Old Hasbrouck House” at which General George Washington had had his Revolutionary War headquarters was dedicated as a national monument.
William Johnson of Natchez, a free black man who was himself a slavemaster (!) as well as being a barber and a successful businessman, kept a diary of short entries, hardly missing a day between 1836 and 1851. This diary has seen publication as William Johnson’s NATCHEZ, THE ANTE-BELLUM DIARY OF A FREE NEGRO, ed. William Ransom Hogan and Edwin Adams Davis (1951, 1979, and a Louisiana State UP paperback in 1993). Here is one of a series of Johnson’s 4th-of-July entries, made after describing in some detail the activity at the race track, and reckoning the outcome of his bets: Dollars Cents 5.00 with Jeff that Elizar Beeman would winn. 1.00 Stranger, Dr. Branums Horse VS. The Field 1.00 New Combs Same way 5.00 Cash with Mr. Icum Winn _____ 12.00
I won a Bet of Mr Mardice of 5.00 and one Mr Cal Collins 5.00 & One of Jeff 2.50 & One of Bob .25 & One of Jack .50 & 1 of Capt. Pomp, 1/2 Bl Sugar 4.00 _____ 16.75 CELEBRATING OUR B-DAY HDT WHAT? INDEX
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William Evans Arthur, a self-styled “plain young man,” delivered an oration in Covington, Kentucky after being admitted to the bar and just before going off to Congress and to a federal judgeship. He said that the national birthday, “Like a good spirit commissioned of high heaven, ... appears from time to time in our midst, reviewing the past, reciting the present, and revealing the future.... Poised as we may be considered at this moment, upon a nick of time, ... with our vision running through the ... unforgotten past and o’er the ... unclouded future, ... [we are] exalted alike by the retrospect and by the anticipation.”41 Sacvan Bercovitch’s commentary42 on this oration is that This is the exalted mood of the American figural imagination: the mood, for example, of Arthur’s New England contemporary, Henry Thoreau “anxious to improve the nick of time, ... to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment” — or of Jonathan Edwards a hundred years earlier, or of Thomas Shepard, the major colonial Puritan influence on Edwards. Through our errand, Shepard wrote in 1640, God had revealed His “secret for time past” and His “performances for [the] future, as though they were accomplishments at present.... For our selves here, the people of New- England ... two Eternities (as it were) meet together.” Poised at that figural nick of time, William Arthur resolves the problem of text versus experience, Constitutional ideals versus American realities, by making the present a function of retrospect and anticipation.... We find our place now in 1850 (in Concord or in Covington) as the country did in 1776, by accepting process, declaring our independence, and then indulging our unshackled impulses, each one of us supreme in his orbit. My comment upon Bercovitch’s linking of Thoreau with the spirits of Arthur, Jonathan Edwards, and Shepard43 would be that, although such a linkage is truly weird, and like the linkup he makes between Thoreau and Emerson marks Bercovitch as no Thoreau scholar, perhaps he has here inadvertently hit upon something. Might Thoreau, in WALDEN, have been echoing a phrase from Thomas Shepard’s intro to the Reverend Peter 44 Bulkeley’s THE GOSPEL-COVENANT?
41. Arthur, William Evans. ORATION. Covington KY, 1850 42. Bercovitch, Sacvan. THE AMERICAN JEREMIAD. Madison WI: The U of Wisconsin P, 1978, pages 146-8 43. Shepard, Thomas. Preface to Peter Bulkeley’s THE GOSPEL-COVENANT. London, 1646. 44. This was Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 46th birthday. HDT WHAT? INDEX
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1857
January 10, Saturday: Henry Thoreau surveyed a plot of ground west of Lowell road on the Concord River, called “Merrick’s Pasture,” for Daniel Shattuck. His survey shows the land of Nehemiah Ball, Moses Prichard, and Simon Brown. When Concord was settled, this had been the Reverend Peter Bulkeley’s “Calf Pasture.” It was probably named for the Tilly Merrick who married Sally Minot and lived on Main Street near the present Sudbury Road. While Thoreau was making his measurements, his surveyor’s helper McManus advised him that the land would be worth a hundred or two hundred dollars more, except for the rows of willows, because it was necessary to plow at right angles with such a row: were one to attempt to plow alongside such a row within five rods, the plow would be brought to a halt on account of the spreading surface tree-roots.
View Henry Thoreau’s personal working drafts of his surveys courtesy of AT&T and the Concord Free Public Library: http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Thoreau_Surveys/Thoreau_Surveys.htm
(The official copy of this survey of course had become the property of the person or persons who had hired this Concord town surveyor to do their surveying work during the 19th Century. Such materials have yet to be recovered.)
View this particular personal working draft of a survey in fine detail: http://www.concordlibrary.org/scollect/Thoreau_surveys/87.htm HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
1876
June 28, Wednesday: With the assistance of his daughter Ellen, 73-year-old Waldo Emerson delivered some material that had the appearance of being almost new, at the University of Virginia. He proved, however, to be unable to read loudly enough to be heard beyond the front rows.
Ellen was also, in this timeframe, helping Waldo prepare a preface to a nonbook that would be titled THE 100 GREATEST MEN, and she and Cabot were helping with a new edition of his 1846 SELECTED POEMS. EMERSON’S POEMS
In this edition the poem “Hamatreya” is revised to begin with the name of the Emerson family ancestor, the Reverend Peter Bulkeley: Hamatreya Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Hosmer, Meriam, Flint, Possessed the land which rendered to their toil Hay, corn, roots, hemp, flax, apples, wool and wood. Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm, Saying, “’Tis mine, my children’s and my name’s. How sweet the west wind sounds in my own trees! How graceful climb those shadows on my hill! I fancy these pure waters and the flags Know me, as does my dog: we sympathize; And, I affirm, my actions smack of the soil.’ Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds: And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough. Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet Clear of the grave. They added ridge to valley, brook to pond, And sighed for all that bounded their domain; ‘This suits me for a pasture; that’s my park; We must have clay, lime, gravel, granite-ledge, And misty lowland, where to go for peat. The land is well, — lies fairly to the south. ’Tis good, when you have crossed the sea and back, To find the sitfast acres where you left them.’ Ah! the hot owner sees not Death, who adds Him to his land, a lump of mould the more. Hear what the Earth says:— HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
Earth-Song ‘Mine and yours; Mine, not yours, Earth endures; Stars abide— Shine down in the old sea; Old are the shores; But where are old men? I who have seen much, Such have I never seen. ‘The lawyer’s deed Ran sure, In tail, To them, and to their heirs Who shall succeed, Without fail, Forevermore. ‘Here is the land, Shaggy with wood, With its old valley, Mound and flood. “But the heritors?— Fled like the flood’s foam. The lawyer, and the laws, And the kingdom, Clean swept herefrom. ‘They called me theirs, Who so controlled me; Yet every one Wished to stay, and is gone, How am I theirs, If they cannot hold me, But I hold them?’ When I heard the Earth-song, I was no longer brave; My avarice cooled Like lust in the chill of the grave.
“MAGISTERIAL HISTORY” IS FANTASIZING: HISTORY IS CHRONOLOGY
Reverend Peter Bulkeley “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project HDT WHAT? INDEX
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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 2015. 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: April 3, 2015 HDT WHAT? INDEX
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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. HDT WHAT? INDEX
REVEREND PETER BULKELEY REVEREND PETER BULKELEY
Commonly, the first output of the algorithm has obvious deficiencies and we need to go back into the modules stored in 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