.^-^ <? ?< 'Lf THE ARMS O- THE HOLYOKE FAV. Fron- the orlgiral. probabij painted before 1750, now in the possession of Miss Mary W. Nichols of Oanvers, Mass. These arms also appear on the sea! attached to the will of Elizur Holyoke (1651-171 I) of Boston. THE HOLYOKE DIARIES 1709-1856 REV. EDWARD HOLYOKE Marblehead and Cambridge, 1709 - 1768 EDWARD AUGUSTUS HOLYOKE, M. D. Cambridge, 1742 - 1747 JOHN HOLYOKE Cambridge, 1748 MRS. MARY (VIAL) HOLYOKE Salem, 1760 - 1800 MARGARET HOLYOKE Salem, 1801 - 1823 MRS. SUSANNA (HOLYOKE) WARD Salem, 1793 - 1856 With an Introduction and Annotations by GEORGE FRANCIS DOW SALEM, MASS. THE ESSEX INSTITUTE 1911 :s*o "'' list erf iIh25OS130G? ]ii^t>dQedoQ "tfi Geoeakosf ^ ^^ Hotiyc^ faznily tS Dianr erf Rev. Ed^raid Hvvrc^e, of Mttcbl^Mad «iid OaocH biicige, 17W^1768 .... I Di^ry of Edw:ird Ai^ustxis Hoiyv^e, erf Caiv.brxi^ri^?, 1742-1747 SI Di^y of Jolm Hoh*c^ of Cambrkige, 174S 44 Diary of Mkl Mar>- ,Viai' Holj-v^^ of Sakm, iT^viSOO 47 Diarv of Marsrai^t Holj-oke of ^^al«n, 1!^^1-1S23 1S9 Diarj- of Mrs. Sus^anna ,Hc^%-\ke) Waid of Salem, l79o-lJoo l7ci ILLUSTRATIONS. Arms of the Holyoke Family ILLUSTRATIONS. Benjamin Pickman (1763-1843) .... 143 Maj. Joseph Sprague 149 Ship Margaret 153 The Elias Hasket Derby House, Salem 163 Edward Augustus Holyoke, M. D., aged 95 years 169 Mrs. Susanna (Holyoke) Ward .... 175 Joshua Ward, jr. 179 Andrew Nichols, M. D 185 INTRODUCTION. The following diaries of various members of the Holyoke fam- ily are contained in interleaved almanacs, the larger number of which have been preserved in their original condition. The entries generally are of a line-a-day character and are very concise. In the diaries of President Holyoke and his sons are daily meteorological records which it has not seemed best to include in the present vol- ume, but nearly all of the other entries were deemed to be of suf- ficient interest and are here preserved. On the other hand, the diaries of Mrs. Mary (Vial) Holyoke and her daughters Margaret and Su- sanna are little more than a record of calls, guests at dinner, and attendance at meetings. Interspersed, however, are valuable mem- oranda of births, marriages and deaths, and not infrequently entries having historical significance and well worthy of preservation. The names of those moving in the immediate circle of the Holyoke family appear so frequently in the constant round of tea drinking and dining, it was imperative that the original record should be greatly condensed. Every few years, however, the entries of a few months are printed very nearly verbatim in order that the se- quence of names may not be lost. The numerous informal refer- ences to relatives, found throughout the diaries, have made it nec- essary to include a genealogy of a few generations of the Holyoke family and also of branches of several closely related families. The diary of President Holyoke, contained in sixty almanacs, was inherited by Mr. Andrew Nichols of Hathorne, Mass., and is now in his possession. Through his courtesy it is included in the present volume. Mr. Nichols and his sister Miss Mary W. Nichols, have been of great assistance in copying from the original, the larger part of the matter included in this volume and also in permitting the reproduction of family portraits. The diaries of Edward Augustus Holyoke, M. D. and of his brother John are in the library of Harvard University, five of them having been presented by Joshua Ward of Salem. The leaves for the year 1747, separated from the printed pages of the alma- nac, have recently been given to the library by Mr. Frederick L. Gay of Brookline, who purchased them at the sale of the Matthew A. Stickney manuscripts. The diaries are here included through the courtesy of Mr. William C. Lane, the librarian. The diaries of Mrs. Mary (Vial) Holyoke, and of her daughters Margaret and Elizabeth, were formerly in the possession of Mrs. (vii) Vlll INTRODUCTION. Joshua Ward of Salem. About fifty-five years ago they passed into the hands of the late Matthew A. Stickney of Salem, and at the sale of his library in 1907 at Libbie's auction rooms in Boston, were purchased by Senator George Peabody Wetmore of Ehode Island, who is of Salem ancestry. The publication of the present volume is made possible through his courtesy and substantial assistance. At some time before the diaries were sold, Mr. Stickney had carefully removed the sheets of manuscript from between the printed leaves of the almanacs and, placing them in the original covers, had stitched them together again. The almanacs no doubt were dis- persed at the sale of his printed books. Mrs. Holyoke's daughter Elizabeth died at the age of eighteen years. Only two of her al- manac-diaries are included in the collection purchased by Senator Wetmore, and such few entries as have been used will be found en- closed within brackets. Mrs. Holyoke's daughter Susanna, married Joshua Ward of Salem. She, too, kept an almanac-diary and the collection of an- nual volumes covering the period from 1793 to 1830 is now in the possession of her grandson, Mr. Robert Osgood of Salem, who in turn has greatly aided the preparation of this volume by defraying the cost of considerable copying and also by supplying illustrative material. Mrs. Ward's diaries from 1831 to 1856 are now in the possession of Mr. Andrew Nichols. Rev. Edward Holyoke came from an ancient and respectable family whose ancestral lines have been traced to Tamworth, in Warwickshire, England. The first of the name to come to New England was Edward, who arrived in 1638 and settled at Lynn. His son Elizur removed to Springfield, where he became one of the most distinguished inhabitants of the place. His son Elizur came to Boston and engaged in business and here his son Edward was born in 1689. The rudiments of his education were received at the North Grammar school in Boston and in 1705 he was grad- uated from Harvard College. In 1712 he was chosen a Tutor in the College and in 1713 he became a Fellow of the Corporation. Having prepared himself for the ministry, in 1714 he went to Mar- blehead and became a candidate as colleague pastor to their aged minister, the Rev. Samuel Cheever. Rev. John Barnard of Boston was also a candidate and received the vote of the church, but as the friends of Mr. Holyoke were unwilling to yield there was a controversy that finally ended in the organizing of the Second Con- gregational church and the calling of Mr. Holyoke as their pastor. He took up his residence in Marblehead in February, 1716 and was ordained on the 25th of April following. " As the smiles of Provi- dence were seen in the temperateness of the day," says the record, " so the solemnity was countenanced with the presence of several councillors, many ministers and a vast assembly of people from all parts." INTRODUCTION IX A few years before, the Marblehead schoolmaster, Josiah Cotton, described the township ** as not much bigger than a large farm, and very rocky, so they are forc't to get their living out of the sea, not having room to confound the fisherman with the husbandman, and so spoil both as they do in some places. It has a very good Har- bour which they improve to the best advantage for Fishing both Summer and Winter." Here Mr. Holyoke continued to officiate with acceptance to his congregation and to the community for twenty-one years, and here he married his first wife, Elizabeth Browne, the daughter of a prominent merchant of the town. Upon the death of President Wadsworth of Harvard College, in 1737 , the attention of the corporation was directed to Mr. Holyoke by the Rev. John Barnard, pastor of the First Church in Marblehead, who had defeated Mr. Holyoke in 1715 in the choice of colleague pastor. Dr. Eliot records that Father Barnard even went to Gov- ernor Belcher and asked why the corporation continued to chose one Boston minister after another to the neglect of the man most qualified to fill the chair — '' his worthy brother, Holyoke." On May 30, 1737, the corporation unanimously elected Rev. Edward Holyoke and upon his acceptance, the General Court voted to pay his church in Marblehead, the sum of £140, to encourage the settle- ment of a new minister. His induction took place on Sept. 28th following. But this was not accomplished without strong op- position from his congregation and several meetings were held before they gave their consent and at the last meeting Father Bar- nard prayed long and earnestly that the people might be reconciled to part with their pastor. The prayer had the desired effect, and when some of the people were afterwards asked why they consented to part with so valuable a man, the quaint reply was: " Old Bar- nard prayed him away." In Father Barnard's autobiography (Mass. Hist. Coll. 3d series. Vol. V, p. 220) is preserved a vivid picture of Mr. Holyoke's training and qualifications for the Presi- dential chair, emphasis being laid upon his " orthodox Calvinism," a prime requisite at that time. Harvard College at that time had about one hundred students who were instructed by the President and four tutors, and over the destinies of this institution. President Holyoke presided with care and acceptability for thirty-two years. He became somewhat involved in the controversy over Rev. George Whitefield, more particularly in defense of the College against animadversions of Whitefield, but acquited himself with dignity and repute.