PEOPLE MENTIONED IN CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. “NARRATIVE HISTORY” AMOUNTS TO FABULATION, THE REAL STUFF BEING MERE CHRONOLOGY “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: Rev. James Freeman HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. CAPE COD: The sea is not gaining on the Cape everywhere, for one PEOPLE OF man told me of a vessel wrecked long ago on the north of CAPE COD Provincetown whose “bones” (this was his word) are still visible many rods within the present line of the beach, half buried in sand. Perchance they lie alongside the timbers of a whale. The general statement of the inhabitants is, that the Cape is wasting on both sides, but extending itself on particular points on the south and west, as at Chatham and Monomoy Beaches, and at Billingsgate, Long, and Race Points. James Freeman stated in his day that above three miles had been added to Monomoy Beach during the previous fifty years, and it is said to be still extending as fast as ever. A writer in the Massachusetts Magazine, in the last century, tells us that “when the English first settled upon the Cape, there was an island off Chatham, at three leagues’ distance, called Webb’s Island, containing twenty acres, covered with red- cedar or savin. The inhabitants of Nantucket used to carry wood from it”; but he adds that in his day a large rock alone marked the spot, and the water was six fathoms deep there. The entrance to Nauset Harbor, which was once in Eastham, has now travelled south into Orleans. The islands in Wellfleet Harbor once formed a continuous beach, though now small vessels pass between them. And so of many other parts of this coast. JAMES FREEMAN HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. 1759 April 22, day: James Freeman was born, a son of sea captain turned merchant of Charlestown, Massachusetts named Constant Freeman, with Lois Cobb Freeman. James would be educated at the Boston Latin School, headmaster John Lovell, “the pride of Boston’s parents and the terror of its youth.” NOBODY COULD GUESS WHAT WOULD HAPPEN NEXT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: Rev. James Freeman HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. 1773 Suddenly at some point during this year, President Locke of Harvard College tendered his resignation without either giving a reason or expressing any regret. The Reverend Asa Dunbar commented to his journal: “O Locke! How soon and how shamefully art thou fallen from ye highest pinacle [sic] of prosperity into ye lowest abyss of adversity!” James Freeman matriculated at Harvard. Charles Stearns graduated at Harvard. He would become a minister in Lincoln. Tilly Merrick of Concord, son of Tilly Merrick, graduated from Harvard. Tilly Merrick, son of Tilly Merrick, was born January 29, 1752; grad. Harvard, 1773, now (1835) resides in Concord, the oldest native living graduate.1 1. Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD;.... Boston: Russell, Odiorne, and Company; Concord MA: John Stacy HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. 1776 March: Private Charles Miles, the son of Captain Charles Miles and himself later a militia captain, served as a private in a Concord company stationed at Roxbury, blocking the British army’s access to the mainland across Boston Neck. Dr. John Cuming of Concord had evidently overcome his Royalist scruples — as he at this point became a member of the local Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety. The committee of correspondence, etc., chosen March, 1776 [for Concord], were John Cuming, Esq., Ephraim Wood, Jr., Esq., Capt. Jonas Heywood, Capt. Joseph Hosmer, James Barrett, Esq., Capt. David Brown, and Capt. George Minot. In 1777, Colonel John Buttrick, Josiah Merriam, Isaac Hubbard, Capt. Abishai Brown, Capt. David Wheeler, Mr. Ephraim Potter, and Lieut. Nathan Stow. In 1778, John Cuming, Esq., Colonel John Buttrick, Ephraim Wood, Jr., Esq., Jonas Heywood, Esq., James Barrett, Esq., Capt. David Brown, and Mr. Josiah Merriam. These were re-elected in 1779, 1780, 1781 & 1782. In 1783, James Barrett, Esq., Jonas Heywood, Esq., Ephraim Wood, Jr., Esq., Capt. David Wood, and Lieut. Joseph Hayward. This committee was not chosen afterwards.2 2. 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 THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. When Lord Howe’s army evacuated Boston, the Rector of King’s Chapel, Henry Caner, a Loyalist, needed to flee with the British troops (after the departure of his assistant a few months later, the Chapel would be closed for about a year). In addition, both the Lovells, loyalist father teacher of the Boston Latin School and patriot son assistant teacher, would sail with the fleet to Halifax, Nova Scotia (the father as Howe’s guest but the son as his prisoner). The son, the patriot James Lovell, would be exchanged and would become a delegate to the Continental Congress. The father, the loyalist John Lovell, would live out his life in Canada, dying at Halifax in 1778. Schoolmastering responsibilities were picked up by Samuel Hunt, Elizabeth Palmer Peabody’s uncle, who would be Master there, with some difficulty, for 36 years. Out of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, five would have attended this school: • John Hancock • Samuel Adams • Robert Treat Paine • Benjamin Franklin • William Hooper of North Carolina 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. “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: Rev. James Freeman HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. 1777 James Freeman graduated at Harvard College. He would pursue theological studies as a graduate resident.3 The proprietors of King’s Chapel in Boston gave permission to the members of the Old South Church (Congregational), who had been displaced from their own meetinghouse by the British, to worship at their edifice. Due to anti-British sentiment, it was popularly being termed the Stone Chapel. Before long the original congregation would return and the two societies, one Episcopalian (Church of England) and the other Congregational, would be sharing the facilities. Captain Joseph Butler was the current owner of the Jonathan Ball House in Concord, with its commodious cellar and cave in the retaining wall stretching back into the body of the ridge. The Provincial Congress met in the church across the street and ordered supplies to be brought from nearby towns for safer storage. When General Gage learned where the hiding places were he gave instructions to Lieutenant Colonel Smith to lead an expedition to destroy said military stores. Since we find Captain Butler’s name in these instructions, we may presume that he was storing some of these military supplies in his cellar and in the cave, one of several such that the settlers had dug into the base of the ridge. Peter Clark of Concord,4 son of Benjamin Clark, and Ebenezer Hubbard of Concord, son of Ebenezer Hubbard, graduated from Harvard. PETER C LARK [of Concord], son of Benjamin Clark, was graduated [at Harvard] in 1777, was a lawyer in Southborough, and died in July, 1792, aged 36.5 EBENEZER HUBBARD [of Concord], son of Ebenezer Hubbard, was graduated [at Harvard] in 1777, ordained at Marblehead, January 1, 1783, and died December 15, 1800, aged 43.6 3. After graduation James Freeman prepared a company of men from Cape Cod for service in the Revolutionary army. 4. This is not the Reverend Peter Clark of Salem. 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.) 6. Ibid. HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. 1780 Publication, in London, of AN IMPARTIAL HISTORY OF THE WAR IN AMERICA, BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES, FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT TO THE END OF THE YEAR 1779 (Printed for R. Faulder, New Bond Street, 1780. Attributed to Edmund Burke. Folding map and 13 engraved portraits which include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Sir William Howe, Robert Hopkins, General Putnam, Charles Lee, Horatio Oates, a real American Rifleman, and others.) THE FUTURE IS MOST READILY PREDICTED IN RETROSPECT “Stack of the Artist of Kouroo” Project People of Cape Cod: Rev. James Freeman HDT WHAT? INDEX THE PEOPLE OF CAPE COD: THE REVEREND JAMES FREEMAN, D.D. 1782 Peter Thoreau purchased a home on Cambridge Street in Boston. With the Revolutionary hostilities more or less over, James Freeman was able to return from Canada. After having been tried out in various Boston pulpits as a supply preacher, the Episcopalians (Church of England) at King’s Chapel offered him a 6-month contract to officiate, but only as their reader. The British government was finding the political beliefs of the Reverend Joseph Priestley to be unsettling. Church leaders also were being disturbed, by the manner in which this author was attacking such closely held doctrines as the Virgin Birth and the Holy Trinity in books such as this year’s THE HISTORY OF THE CORRUPTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY.