Harvard College and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1636--1800
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W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1996 Puritan town and gown: Harvard College and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1636--1800. John Daniel Burton College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Burton, John Daniel, "Puritan town and gown: Harvard College and Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1636--1800." (1996). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1593092095. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/m2-tc37-g246 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter &ce, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the ori~ beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality ~ x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Aibor .MI 48106-1346 USA 3131761-4700 800/521~ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PURITAN TOWN AND GOWN: HARVARD COLLEGE AND CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, 1636-1800 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by John D. Burton 1996 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 9720973 Copyright 1997 by Burton, John Daniel All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9720973 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 --r------·--~~--r--------------------~- Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved, October 25, 19t ---=:.........:M~i~=ha=~--M-W~ifti.....:;f!t~jJ'-=--1.- James Axtell DaleHoak ohn Rury DePaul University Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS v LIST OF TABLES VI LIST OF MAPS vii LIST OF FIGURES vm ABSTRACT IX INTRODUCTION 2 CHAPTER 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CAMBRIDGE 7 CHAPTER 2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF HARVARD 26 CHAPTER 3. ENGLISH MODELS 53 CHAPTER4. HARVARD AND ITS FACULTY AS CAMBRIDGE CITIZENS 73 CHAPTER 5. STUDENT LIFE AND CAMBRIDGE JUSTICE 115 CHAPTER 6. THE ECONOMIC CONNECTIONS BETWEEN HARVARD AND CAMBRIDGE 167 CHAPTER 7. HARVARD AND CAMBRIDGE AS AN INTEGRATED RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY 204 CHAPTER 8. HARVARD COLLEGE, THE HOPKINS TRUST, AND THE CAMBRIDGE GRAMMAR SCHOOL 236 CHAPTER 9. HARVARD, CAMBRIDGE, AND EPIDEMICS 265 CONCLUSION 289 BIBLIOGRAPHY 298 iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION To the memory of Connie Gengenbach, November 29, 1944 - September 4, 1987 Associate Professor of History St. Olaf College Friend and Mentor iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all the members of my committee for their help and assistance with my dissertation. Professors John Selby, James Axtell, and Dale Hoak also played important roles in my coursework, preparation for research, and training as a historian. I would also like to thank those other readers, Suzanne Coffman, Clark Flint, and Conrad Wright, who reviewed drafts of the manuscript and provided insightful comments and suggestions. I especially thank Michael McGiffert for his willingness to oversee this research. He was unfailingly interested in my topic, showed incredible willingness to read and reread chapters, and did not hesitate to provide praise or criticism as warranted. Although this work's shortcomings are my own, its strength is due to his insistence on solid research, precision in language, and coherence in argument. I would also like to thank the staff of the various libraries who supported my research in Boston and Cambridge: the Harvard University Archives (and particularly Associate Curator Clark Elliott), the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Massachusetts State Archives, the Cambridge Historical Commission, and the New England Historic and Genealogical Society. Citations are used with the permission of the Harvard University Archives. I also appreciate the support DePaul University has provided to this research. particularly thank my supervisors, Dr. Susy Chan and Dr. Rafaela Weffer, who have shown patience for me while I researched, wrote, and edited my dissertation. They provided leave-time for travel and writing and, most important, their personal and professional support. DePaul, through the University Research Council, provided travel funds for two research trips to Boston. I also thank the interlibrary loan staff of the John Richardson Library at DePaul for their hard work at ferreting out little known books and journals for my use. Special thanks to all the friends in Boston who provided me a room and bed at the end of a long day at the archives: Maryanne Brink, Richard Pickering, and Claire and Diane French. Thanks to all my friends who tolerated endless conversations about Harvard and Cambridge over the years. v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1 Cambridge Population Statistics 11 1.2 Concentration of Power, Cambridge Selectmen 13 1.3 Years of Service, Cambridge Selectmen 18 2.1 Size of Harvard Graduating Classes 40 2.2 Harvard Tutors, By Year of Appointment, 1630-1800 46 6.1 Structure of Student Costs 180 6.2 Endowment Growth 194 6.3 Harvard's Bonds and Mortgages, 1712-1797 196 6.4 Harvard's Security Investments, 1777-1807 198 7.1 Profile of Harvard Students Joining the Cambridge Church, 1700-1800. By Year of Church Membership 221 7.2 Percentage of Harvard-Trained Ministers Joining the Cambridge Church, 1700-1800 2"J"'_.) 7.3 Affiliations of Preachers in the Cambridge Church 225 8.1 Cambridge Students Attending Harvard 244 8.2 Stephen Sewall's School Rate Bills 251 8.3 Demographic Profile of the Hopkins Scholars 254 8.4 Professions of the Fathers of Hopkins Scholars and Harvard Students 257 8.5 Professions of the Hopkins Scholars and Harvard Students 259 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF MAPS Map Page 4.1 Harvard's Land Purchases in Harvard Yard 87 vii -~- -·-- ------ -- ----- - --. --· ___ ,. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 Burgis View of Harvard College in 1726 41 4.1 John Frederick Martin's Town Constituencies 79 viii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This study examines town-gown relations between Harvard College and Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the colonial and early republic periods. It focuses not only on the institutional connections between the town and the college but also on the personal associations of both the Harvard faculty and students and the local community. My goal is to examine four fundamental questions: 1) To what degree did the New England Puritans replicate the English nonns of town and gown interactions? 2) How did Cambridge affect the development of Harvard? 3) How did the presence of a provincial college affect the development of a small Puritan community? 4) How did the town-gown relationship change and develop between Harvard's founding in 1636 and the end of the eighteenth century? The association between Harvard and Cambridge evolved through three distinct phases during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It developed as both the town and the college grew in size and complexity. During the seventeenth century, Cambridge nurtured the developing