Preface

HENRY Herbert Edes, the founder of our Society, was for many years a member of the First Church in Boston and his keen antiquarian interest found scope not only in our Society but also in his filial devotion to the history and tradition of his church. The extensive collection of commemorative tablets to early members which line the walls of the present sanctuary are largely the result of his initiative, while in 1917 he persuaded our Society to erect the Thomas Hutchinson Memorial Doorway in the front of the Church. He was thoroughly acquainted with the ancient church records and tried at various times without success to have them printed. At the time of his death, the Colonial Society was publishing the Plymouth Church Records (Publications, xx, xxi, 1920–1923) and the Boston Church Records would have been a logical sequel, but the Society was already deep in the editing of the Harvard College Records (Collections, xv, xvi, 1925) and the getting of its Transactions into print.

Thomas Minns, a member of our Society from 1897 to 1913, offered in 1880 to contribute five hundred dollars toward the printing of the First Church records, but the Standing Committee felt unable at that time to appropriate the additional funds. The Standing Committee, on March 19, 1905, reconsidered the matter and voted “to consider the adviseability of having made and published a printed copy of the old records of the First Church,” but again nothing came of it.

Early in 1953, I proposed to the Trustees and Proprietors of the First Church that I was prepared to carry the records through the press if arrangements could be made for their publication. The two boards immediately placed at my disposal all of the extant records without restriction. The Council of the Colonial Society had earlier intimated that it might be receptive to proceeding with the publication and, on April 23, 1953, it was voted to invite me to undertake the editing and preparation of the text.

The First Church in Boston was gathered on July 30, 1630, and its records begin with that date. There are five principal volumes which contain the records through the year 1868, viz:

Volume I containing a list of church members, 1630–1778, records of church meetings, 1719–1785, baptisms, 1630–1847, and recipients of the Penn Fund, 1712–1882.
Volume II containing lists of members, 1786–1957, and records of church meetings, 1828–1841.
Volume III containing records of church meetings, 1841–1919, funerals, 1919–1955, baptisms, 1858–1955, and a list of legacies, 1671–1815.
Volume IV containing records of meetings of the church and congregation, 1786–1815.
Volume V containing records of proprietors of pews, 1808–1868.

These records have been printed in their entirety, except for entries in Volume III after 1868.

In addition, the following records prior to 1868 are extant:

Treasurer’s Book, 1699–1728
Treasurer’s Book, 1755–1814
Treasurer’s Cash Book, 1711–1788
Treasurer’s Journal, 1711–1784
Record of Sacramental and Poor Fund, 1699–1731
Record of Sacramental and Poor Fund, 1779–1812
Record of the Deacons’ Fund, c. 1834–1884
Record of Marriages, 1800–1955

Other documents include an extensive set of records of assessments on pews, dating from 1779, and a loose file of papers, mostly receipts and business records, beginning in 1699. All of these latter volumes and papers have been examined and occasional notations have been added from these sources. In general, the text has been reproduced without modification of capitals, spelling, or punctuation but abbreviations and contractions have usually been expanded.

The earliest volume of church records appears to have been begun in 1636 and the entries for the preceding six years copied into it at that time. The book, measuring 8 by 12 inches, is in excellent state of repair and has suffered no mutilation. As early as 1728 it was carefully rebound with “not a Single Leaf or Line . . . left out” and a century later, in 1828, Dr. Frothingham had it placed in its present elegant tooled binding of Russian leather. In 1847, David Pulsifer, a professional copyist, was employed by the First Church at the request of the Massachusetts Historical Society to copy the entire volume. A second copy was retained by the Church and subsequently a third copy was deposited with the City Clerk so that this volume has been readily available to scholars for over a century. Mr. Pulsifer’s transcription is remarkably free from errors and has been of inestimable value to the present editor. Some baptismal records, supplementing the recorded Boston births, were published in The Report of the Record Commissioners containing Boston Births, Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths, 1630–1699 (Boston, 1883), and the signers of the church covenant through 1639 were printed in the Memorial History of Boston (Boston, 1882), 1, 566–573.

The second volume is a quarto bound in calfskin, measuring 7 by 9¾ inches, and was begun in 1786 to record the names of signers of the covenant. In 1828, another section of the book was set aside for records of church meetings but was continued only to 1841. This “covenant book” was used until 1957 and contains the signatures of John Quincy Adams and Ralph Waldo Emerson. An exception in this instance has been made in the arbitrary terminal publication date of 1868 and the list of church members has been carried through 1957.

The third volume is a full leather quarto, measuring 13½ by 8½ inches, and only those portions prior to 1868 have been reproduced.

The fourth volume is a folio bound in pigskin, measuring 8 by 13 inches, and contains records of church meetings from 1786 to 1815. It seems to have been lost during the early part of Dr. Frothingham’s ministry since Volume II, mentioned above, was used for such entries from 1828 to 1841 (cf. pp. 517–518).

The fifth volume is a leather bound folio, measuring 8½ by 13 inches, and contains the records of the proprietors of the Society from the building of the Chauncy Place Meeting House to the removal to Berkeley Street in 1868. The proprietors were the legal corporation of pew holders who owned the church building and managed the secular affairs of the Church. Gradually, however, many of the proprietors of pews ceased to have any active connection with the parish and it became increasingly desirable that the control of the church property be exercised by a more responsible body. Accordingly, a board of five trustees was created and, on April 22, 1922, a majority of the owners of pews conveyed their rights to five proprietors acting concurrently as trustees. By 1936 all the pews had been so transferred and the membership of the proprietors and trustees thereafter became identical. The Trustees, in addition to carrying the responsibilities of the pew proprietors, also act as successors to the elders and deacons in the holding and administering of charitable funds. The Trustees and Proprietors ordinarily restrict themselves to the management of the endowments and the real estate of the Church, while the Standing Committee, an elected body of the church members, is charged with the general business of the congregation.

These five volumes of records, as published, present an almost complete year-by-year picture of the life of a New England congregational church over a period of nearly two and a half centuries. Its affairs often inextricably interwoven with the secular and political events of Boston, the First Church has, nevertheless, always kept its own independence. It could, on occasion, lend its meetinghouse for a murder trial or an oration on the Boston Massacre but it could with equal firmness refuse to admit the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company because it had dirtied up the meetinghouse on a former occasion or inform an Abolition Society that it was “inexpedient” to give them hospitality.

The completion of a serious historical work is made possible only by the earlier labors and painstaking research of scores of fellow workers and precursors in the field. I have drawn freely from the great corpus of New England history—the writings of Winthrop, Sewall, and Hutchinson, the publications of the American Antiquarian Society and the Massachusetts Historical Society, numerous town histories and genealogies, to mention only a few. Particularly, however, I would here express my gratitude to Walter Muir Whitehill, the Editor of our Publications, who has given every assistance and encouragement throughout the progress of this work; to Robert Earle Moody, our Recording Secretary, who has for a score of years been a close friend and mentor in all matters historical; to William Stanley Parker, the Clerk of the Trustees and Proprietors of the First Church in Boston, whose family has been connected continuously with that Society since 1643 and who has freely placed at my disposal all the records of the Church; to Charles Edwards Park, D.D., minister emeritus of the First Church, a descendant of both Winthrop and Cotton, and now the senior member but two of our Society, who has followed the development of these volumes with kindly and paternal affection; to Clifford Kenyon Shipton, our President, whose exhaustive Harvard biographies defy further research and from which I have frequently plagiarized without shame; to the Reverend Rhys Williams, the present minister of the First Church, whose keen enthusiasm and constant friendship have done much to keep me on the job. The incredible skill of Miss Evelyn G. Coker of the Boston Athenæum in transcribing the text and the generous assistance of Mrs. Jacob Wirth of Boston in typing the name index have contributed materially to the accuracy of the volumes. Miss Helen W. Stearns, secretary of the First Church since 1919, has been ever helpful in countless ways and she is always ready to share her encyclopedic knowledge of the church and its history. I am especially indebted to the Reverend Richard G. Kimball, recently returned from Stockport, England, who, in addition to reviewing the entire text and checking the indices, has rendered invaluable assistance in carrying these volumes through the final stages of publication.

It has been a pleasure to work with The Anthoensen Press and its incomparably capable and efficient staff, especially Fred Anthoensen, Warren F. Skillings and Miss Ruth A. Chaplin. They have been long-suffering and ever patient; they have endured with unfailing courtesy my procrastination and vagaries, and withal they have produced three volumes whose perfection of format it can only be hoped is matched in some small measure by the work of the editor. E. Harold Hugo, our fellow member, of The Meriden Gravure Company of Meriden, Connecticut, has achieved his usual outstanding excellence in the production of the many collotypes which do much to enliven the text.

President S. Justus McKinley of Emerson College, Dr. Leonard M. Sizer of the University of West Virginia, the Reverend Dr. Duncan Howlett of Washington, D. C., and Roy A. Edstrom of Gwinn, Michigan, have each at critical stages of the work given needed encouragement to bring these volumes to a conclusion.

I am indebted to the following institutions which have graciously provided portraits and illustrations and their courtesy is hereby acknowledged: The Boston Athenæum, The Bostonian Society, The Concord Free Public Library, The Connecticut Historical Society, Harvard University, The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and Yale University. Miss Gertrude Blake Ellis has contributed an early photograph of her grandfather, the Reverend Rufus Ellis, and William B. Osgood, our fellow member, has supplied an original oil painting of the Old Brick.

I should like to record my appreciation to the Boston Athenæum, the Massachusetts Historical Society, The London Library, and the Oxford and Cambridge Club of London and their respective staffs for many acts of helpfulness but most especially for providing havens of retreat from the endless interruptions and confusion of a dean’s office.

Richard D. Pierce

Emerson College, Boston

December 1, 1961

1 Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana (Hartford, 1855), i. 362.

2 The Humble Request of His Majesties loyall Subjects, the Governour and The Company late gone for New-England; to the rest of their Brethren. (London, 1630.) Cf. also Diary of John Rous, edited by Mary Anne Everett Green (London, 1856), pp. 53–54

3 A Proper Newe Ballett Called The Summons to New England. Quoted in S. E. Morison, Builders of the Bay Colony (Boston, 1930), pp. 344–346.

4 Morison, op. cit., p. 82.

5 Edited by J. Franklin Johnson (New York, 1910), pp. 54, 58.

6 Winthrop, Journal, i. 31.

7 Ibid., i. 32.

8 Life and Letters of John Winthrop, ii. 388 (Boston, 1895) ; Alexander Young, Chronicles of the First Planters (Boston, 1846), pp. 310–311.

9 A. B. Ellis, History of the First Church (Boston, 1881), p. 6.

10 Roger Williams to John Cotton, Jr., Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, iii. 74.

11 Charlestown Records. Cf. Alexander Young, op. cit. (Boston, 1846), p. 379.

12 Loc. cit., p. 385.

13 Winthrop, Journal, i. 47.

14 She, however, refused to return with him and was not finally persuaded until his second trip, in 1635. Cf. Young, op. cit., p. 326.

15 Winthrop, Journal, i. 60–62.

16 Ibid., i. 111.

17 Cambridge Platform, vi. 5–6.

18 Ibid., vii. 1, 2.

19 Ibid., vii. 3.

20 Ibid., vii. 7.

21 November 22, 1632. Cf. Winthrop, Journal, i. 114–116.

22 Winthrop Papers, iii. 88.

23 Winthrop, Journal, i. 131.

24 Ibid., i. 133.

25 Mather, op. cit., i. 263.

26 Ibid., i. 273. For a bibliography of Cotton’s writings, cf. J. H. Tuttle, Writings of John Cotton in Bibliographical Essays, a Tribute to Wilberforce Eames (Cambridge, 1924), pp. 363–380.

27 The Diaries of John Hull (Boston, 1857), p. 170.

28 Cf. pp. 9–10.

29 Short Story, p. 36. Quoted in Brooks Adams, The Emancipation of Massachusetts (Boston, 1887), p. 49.

30 Ibid., p. 48.

31 Winthrop, Journal, i. 202.

32 Records of Massachusetts Bay, edited by N. B. Shurtleff, i. 211.

33 Cf. pp. 21–22.

34 Cf. Bostonian Society, Collections, i. 58.

35 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1854), iv, Part II, 38.

36 Loc. cit.

37 Propositions concerning the Subject of Baptism (Cambridge, 1662), p. 2.

38 Cf. Roxbury Church Records in A Report of the Record Commissioners containing the Roxbury Land and Church Records (Boston, 1884), p. 200.

39 William Emerson, An Historical Sketch of the First Church in Boston (Boston, 1812), p. 157.

40 Roxbury Church Records, loc. cit., p. 207.

41 Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay (Boston, 1854), iv, Part II, 490.

42 Ibid., iv, Part II, 493.

43 Cf. Ellis, op. cit., p. 127.

44 Emerson, op. cit., p. 126.

45 Cf. p. 76.

46 Ellis, op. cit., p. 141.

47 The Diary of Cotton Mather, Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, Seventh Series, vii. 317.

48 Emerson, op. cit., p. 164.

49 Extracts from the Itineraries . . . of Ezra Stiles (New Haven, 1916), p. 224.

50 The Diary of Cotton Mather, viii. 145.

51 Samuel Sewall, Diary, I. 126, 325; ii, 115.

52 The Diary of Cotton Mather, Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, Seventh Series, viii. 14.

53 Sewell, op. cit., ii. 323. Cf. Cotton Mather, Advice from Taberah (Boston, 1711).

54 Cf. pp. 122, 123.

55 The Diary of Cotton Mather, viii. 286.

56 Diary, iii. 130.

57 Town Records, May 15, 1717.

58 Boston Post-Boy, June 11, 1770. Quoted in Sibley, vi. 54.

59 A Discourse Occasioned by the Death of . . . Thomas Foxcroft (Boston, 1769), p. 25.

60 Emerson, op. cit., p. 184.

61 Loc. cit.

62 Loc. cit.

63 Peter Oliver, Origin and Progress of the American Rebellion, p. 60. Quoted in Sibley, vi. 451.

64 John Adams, Works (Boston, 1850–1856), x. 220.

65 William Tudor, Life of James Otis (Boston, 1823), pp. 149–150.

66 The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles (New York, 1901), iii. 162.

67 Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, Sixth Series, iv. 287.

68 Jonathan Jackson to Richard Price, August 8, 1785, Massachusetts Historical Society, 2 Proceedings, xvii. 330.

69 Stiles, op. cit., i. 491–492.

70 Pickering Papers, xx. 394.

71 Cf. p. 218.

72 Cf. pp. 222–223.

73 John Clarke to Colonel Pickering, September 12, 1785, Pickering Papers, xvii. 275

74 Cf. pp. 598–599

1 The following list is in the hand of William Emerson.

2 The following two names are in the hand of N. L. Frothingham.

3 The names on this page except for those of Abbot and Frothingham are in the hand of William Emerson. Lower half of page is blank.

4 Eight lines of writing on this page; remainder blank; appears to be in the hand of James Allen.

5 James Allen and Joshua Moody.

6 In margin.

7 That struck through.

8 That struck through.

9 Marginal addition from p. viii.

10 Ditto.

11 Is struck through.

12 One.

13 Marginal addition from p. viii.

14 Answer struck through.

15 The Letter struck through.

16 Blank except for two lines which belong in text of p. 11.

17 Altered from in Elders by contemporary hand.

18 Marginal addition from p. x.

19 Cf. p. 63. For a discussion of this whole case see Hutchinson, History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay (Cambridge, 1936), pp. 231–232. “Neither the church of New-Haven, nor the elders of the church of Boston can be wholly justified. There does not seem to have been that fairness and simplicity in their proceedings which the gospel requires.”

20 This line in the hand of N. L. Frothingham.

21 These three lines in the hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

22 i.e. p. 62.

23 Doubtful, but so rendered by Pulsifer.

24 Braintree, now Quincy. Wheelwright was banished March 1636/7 and removed to Exeter, New Hampshire. The present Quincy church was gathered September 17, 1639.

25 Marginal note in the hand of Thomas Foxcroft, i.e. p. 324.

26 In the hand of James Allen.

27 You struck through.

28 Thy or this struck through.

29 The following index is largely in the hand of Thomas Foxcroft. In the present binding of this volume an extra page has been inserted, before p. 97, so that two numbers should be added to each page reference, after p. 95, in the following index, i.e. p. 154 becomes p. 156 in the printed text.

30 Erased.

31 An identical copy to which is appended the names of John Winthrop, Governour, Thomas Dudley, Deputy Governour, Isaack Johnson and John Wilson appears in the Winthrop papers (Massachusetts Historical Society, Winthrop Papers II, 308).

32 Brought in from the margin. Added by Thomas Foxcroft who apparently confused the date of the gathering of the church with the meeting to set apart the church officers, which took place a month later.

Cf. Letters of Samuel Fuller and Edward Winslow to William Bradford and others (Massachusetts Historical Society, Collections, iii. 75–76). On July 26, 1630 they write from Salem: . . . “The sixth day (being Friday) of this present week is set apart, that they may humble themselves before God, and seek him in his ordinances; and that then also such godly persons that are amongst them and known each to other, publickly at the end of their exercise, make known their godly desire, and practice the same, viz. solemnly to enter into covenant with the Lord to walk in his ways.” On August 2nd they write from Charlestown: “Some are here entered into a church covenant, the first was four, namely, the Governor, Mr. John Winthrop, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Dudley, and Mr. Wilson; since that, five more are joined unto them and others it is like will add themselves to them daily.”

William Emerson in his history of the Church published posthumously in 1812 perpetuated Foxcroft’s error but Arthur B. Ellis writing in 1881 accepted the July date.

33 The names through 1649 are in the hand of Elder Thomas Leverett, and names through 19th of the 4th month, 1636 were transcribed from earlier records. It would appear that this record book was opened about 1636.

34 Dismissed or died.

35 Dismissed or died.

36 Seems to have been written at same time as entry of name, i.e. before 1636.

37 Dismissed or died.

38 Dismissed or died.

39 Margarett Wright struck through.

40 John Eliot (1604–1690) Jesus College, Cambridge, 1622; minister, First Church, Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1632–1690; “Apostle to the Indians,” 1650–1690.

41 The Church of God in Charltowne [i.e. Charlestown] was gathered on the 2nd day of the 9th month, 1632 [i.e. November 2, 1632]. The records of the Church are extant. A limited edition of sixty-two copies was printed for James Frothingham Hunnewell in 1880. The first page of the original record reads as follows:

The Names of those who did enter into Covenant first.

	Raph Sprage and Joan his wife.
Increase, Parnel, Nowell.	In the Name of our Lord God, and in obedience to his holy will and divine ordinances. Wee whose names are heer written Beeing by his most wise and good providence brought together, and desirous to unite ourselus into one congregation or church, under our Lord Jesus Christ our Head: In such sort as becometh all those whom he hath Redeemed and sanctified unto himselfe, Doe heer sollemnly and Religeously as in his most holy presence, Promice and bynde our selus to walke in all our wayes according to the Rules of the Gospell,—and in all sinceer conformity to his holy ordinances: and in mutuall Love and Respect each to other: so near as God shall give us grace.
Thomas, Christian, Beecher.
Abraham, Grace, Palmer.
Ralph, Jone, Sprague.
Edward, Sarah, Convers.
Nicholas, Amy, Stowers.
Ezekiel, Susan, Richeson.
Henery, Elizabeth, Harwood.

Robert, Jone, Hale.
George, Margarit, Hucheson. Thomas, Elizabeth, James.
William, Ann, Frothingham.
Ralph, Alice, Mousall.
Rice, Arrold, Cole.
Richard, Mary, Sprague.
John, Bethiah, Haule.
William Dade.
Thomas, Minor.
Thomas, Squire.

42 Charlestown Church Record.

43 Charlestown Church Record.

44 Dade in Charlestown Church Record.

45 Charlestown Church Record.

46 Charlestown Church Record. It would seem that Bethiah Hall, Joan Hayle, Margaret Hutchinson, Amy Stowers, Arrald Cole, and Mary Sprague, must have joined the Boston Church before 1632. Their names were probably omitted from the list of members by oversight. Thomas Minor may never have been a member of the Boston Church.

47 Dismissed or died.

48 Mayor of Boston, England in 1628. Died 1650. See The Old Silver of American Churches, p. 20, for the description of an English cup of 1626–1627 presented by him to the church.

49 Dismissed or died.

50 Richard Mather (1596–1669) Brazenose College, Oxford. Settled Toxteth, Lancastershire, England, 1618–1633. Came to New England 1635. Settled over First Church, Dorchester, 1636–1669.

51 Beene struck through.

52 Cf. Winthrop Journal, ed. 1853. i. 306–307. “While Mrs. Hutchinson continued at Roxbury, divers of the elders and others resorted to her, and finding her to persist in maintaining those gross errors beforementioned, and many others, to the number of thirty or thereabouts, some of them wrote to the church at Boston, offering to make proof of the same before the church etc., 15; [1st month, i.e. March, 1638] whereupon she was called, (the magistrates being desired to give her license to come,) and the lecture was appointed to begin at ten. . . . When she appeared, the errors were read to her. The first was, that the souls of men are mortal by generation, but, after, made immortal by Christ’s purchase. This she maintained a long time; but at length she was so clearly convinced by reason and scripture, and the whole church agreeing that sufficient had been delivered for her conviction, that she yielded she had been in error. Then they proceeded to three other errors: 1. That there was no resurrection of these bodies, and these bodies are not united to Christ, but every person united hath a new body, etc. These were also clearly confuted, but she had held her own; so as the church (all but two of her sons) agreed she should be admonished, and because her sons would not agree to it, they were admonished also. Mr. Cotton pronounced the sentence of admonition with great solemnity, and with much zeal and detestation of her errors and pride of spirit. The assembly continued till eight at night, and all did acknowledge the special presence of God’s spirit therein; and she was appointed to appear again the next lecture day.”

53 Winthrop records in his Journal under date of March, 1638: “Mr. Wheelright, being banished from us, gathered a company and sat down by the falls of Pascataquack, and called their town Exeter.” (Ed. 1853, i. 349). There arose considerable dispute thereafter over land titles between Wheelwright’s group and the Massachusetts Bay authorities.

54 Thomas Allen (1608–1673) Gonville and Caius Colleges, Cambridge; settled, St. Edmonds, Norwich, England, 1633–1638; ordained and settled First Church, Charlestown, 1638–1651; returned to St. George’s Norwich, England, 1651–1660.

55 Cf. note 6, p. 22.

56 Edward Morris (c. 1584–1659) Magdalen Hall, Oxford, A.B., 1606/7, A.M., 1609; rector of Anmer, Norfolk, 1624; ordained First Church, Salem, March 18, 1639/40 where he remained until his death.

57 John Knowles (d. 1685) Magdalene College, Cambridge, A.B., 1623/4, A.M., 1627. Fellow, St. Catherine’s Hall, Colchester, 1635–1637. Came to New England 1639; ordained and settled over First Church, Watertown, 1639–1651; returned to England; lecturer, Bristol Cathedral, 1653–1658. Presbyterian minister in London, 1672.

58 William and Joan Wilkes removed to New Haven in 1638. (Cf. Savage iv. 550) William Tuttle went from Boston to Connecticut in 1638 with Davenport and Eaton. He subscribed to the Church Covenant of the Quinnipiac [i.e. New Haven] Church June 4, 1639. (Cf. G. F. Tuttle, The Descendants of William and Elizabeth Tuttle (Rutland, 1883), p. 1.

59 Robert Keayne was a prosperous Boston merchant and founder of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. His business success was a constant source of irritation to his townsmen and he felt called upon even in his will (incidentally the longest Colonial document of its kind in Massachusetts) to explain and justify his prosperity. Cf. Report of Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing Miscellaneous Papers (Boston, 1886), pp. 1–54.

60 Hugh Peters (1599–1660) Trinity College, Cambridge, A.B., 1617/8, A.M., 1622; came to New England in 1635; ordained First Church Salem 1636 where he remained until 1641. Chaplain and Colonel in Cromwell’s Army, 1644–1649. Executed as regicide, London, October 16, 1660.

61 Now Rhode Island added in left margin in the hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

62 A silent vote added in right margin by a later hand.

63 Cf. note 1, p. 25.

64 Thomas Rashley, Trinity College, Cambridge, A.B., 1632/3, A.M., 16365 came to New England in 1640; minister at Cape Anne, Exeter, New Hampshire, 1645; returned to England, minister at Salisbury Cathedral, 1652, ejected, 1662.

65 Silent vote in right margin in later hand.

66 Presbyterie vid. in left margin by later hand

67 Wollaston (?).

68 Braintree.

69 An interesting receipt appears among the Winthrop Papers, (iv. 354) Boston in New England (7)20:1642. This is to certifie, that we the Deacons of the Church there have received, of Mr. Winthrop, our Governor, a twenty shilling piece in gold sent from Mr. Sparrowe of Ipswich to Nath: Greygoose late a member of our Church, now deceased, who in tyme of his sickness was maintayned at the Churches charge a longe season.

Will Colbron

Valentine Hill

Jacob Eliot

70 Abraham Pierson (c. 1608–1678) Trinity College, Cambridge, A.B., 1632; came to New England, 1639; minister, Lynn, 1640, Southampton, Long Island, New York, 1640–1644; Branford, Connecticut, 1645–1665; Newark, New Jersey, 1667–1678.

71 i.e. Salisbury.

72 Silent vote in margin.

73 Edward Bulkley (1614–1695/6) St. Catherine’s Hall, Cambridge; came to Boston, 1635; ordained and settled in Marshfield, 1642–1656; Concord, 1659–1694.

74 Plymouth, where Rayner was teacher of the Church from 1636 to 1654. Cf. Colonial Society, Publications, xxii. xxiii–xxv.

75 Silence in margin in a later hand.

76 Silent vote at bottom of page in a later hand.

77 Silence in margin in a later hand.

78 Thomas Oliver, Ruling Elder of the Church, 1632–1657.

79 Thomas Leverett, Ruling Elder of the Church, 1633–1650.

80 Probably this was Anne Hudson, wife of William Hudson the younger.

81 In London.

82 Cf. Savage, ii. 395.

83 Simon Bird struck out.

84 This was the Cambridge Synod which met intermittently from 1646 to 1648 and adopted the Cambridge Platform of Church Discipline.

85 York, Maine.

86 Isaac Grosse left Boston about 1637 following Wheelwright to Exeter but returned to Boston before his death in 1649 (Savage ii. 318). Smith was an infamous character (Savage iv. 117; Winthrop ii. 243).

87 Cf. Savage, ii. 341.

88 John Wilson, Jr. (1621–1691) Harvard, 1642. Ordained Dorchester as coadjutor to Rev. Richard Mather, where he remained until 1651. First minister of Medfield, 1651–1691, also schoolmaster and physician.

89 Samuel Haugh (1621–1662) attended Harvard but did not graduate. Ordained at Wakefield (First Church in Reading) March, 1650, and settled there 1648–1662.

90 This note in left margin apparently in hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

91 The entries from this point and through September 17, 1671 are in the hand of James Penn.

92 The island of Segatto or Eleutheria. Cf. Henry Wilkinson, The Adventurers of Bermuda (London, 1933), p. 287.

93 “The Independents conditioned to goe out of the Land [all] but such as would conforme. And so divers of them agreed to goe with Capt. Sayle, and had their libertie to goe and dispose of theire meanes to provide for the voyadge, yet the countrey would not laye downe armes untill they are gone.” Cf. J. H. Lefroy Memorials of the Discovery and Early Settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands. (London, 1877). i. 654–655.

94 New London, Connecticut.

95 New London, Connecticut.

96 This controversy arose partly over some questions regarding the theology of Mr. Matthews, the pastor, and partly because of the irregularity of his ordination. (Marmaduke Matthews (1605–1683) All Soul’s, Oxford, 1623/4; minister, Yarmouth, Massachusetts, 1639–1643; Hull, 1644–1649; Malden, 1650–1652; returned to England and became vicar in Swansea, Wales.) Cf. D. P. Corey, The History of Malden, Massachusetts (Malden, 1899), p. 126ff.

97 Added at a later date, probably in hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

98 New London.

99 Seaborn Cotton (1633–1686) Harvard College, 1651; ordained Hampton, N. H., 1659 and settled there, 1657–1686.

100 Marginal note.

101 A controversy arose over the salary of Rev. John Ward (1606–1693) the first minister of Haverhill (1645–1693). An ecclesiastical council was held in Boston on Aug. 14, 1656 to deal with this matter and certain other controversies within the Haverhill parish. It was subsequently reported that “through the blessing of God, the differences were in good measure composed, and their ministers settled amongst them.” Cf. G. W. Chase, The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts. (Haverhill, 1861), pp. 84–86.

102 Cf. G. L. Walker, History of the First Church in Hartford, 1633–1883. (Hartford, 1884), Chap. vii. The controversy appears to have centered in a conflict of personalities between the Teaching Elder and the Ruling Elder over the prerogatives of each office.

103 A Ministerial Assembly comprising thirteen clergymen from Massachusetts and four from Connecticut had assembled in Boston on June 4, 1657. The membership of the children of church members was affirmed and “declared to be personal and permanent, and sufficient to entitle the member by birth, even though not personally regenerate, to transmit membership and a right to baptism to his children, on condition of an express acknowledgment on his part of at least an intellectual faith and a desire to submit to all the covenant obligations of church membership. Yet though this membership is complete, as far as it goes, it is not sufficient to admit to full communion or to a vote in church affairs.” (Williston Walker, The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, p. 261). This is the so-called Half-Way Covenant.

104 Added in later hand, probably that of Foxcroft.

105 Cf. p. 55.

106 Struck through, Mary, Hanna, Martha, the daughters oj John and our sister Hanna the wif of John Andrews 2d day of 4th moneth 1661 (see baptisms, p. 338).

107 The Synod of 1662 convened on the second Tuesday of March, 1662 in the meetinghouse of the First Church in Boston with “above seventy” delegates. The membership of the Synod and the details of its organization are very incompletely known. The first session of the assembly was adjourned in about a fortnight; it was resumed on June 10th and again convened on September 10th. The chief contribution of the Synod to Congregational polity was the formulation and adoption of the so-called Half-Way Covenant principle. Cf. Williston Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, p. 244 ff.

108 “A letter was sent, signed by the Governor, in the name of the general court, dated Oct. 20, 1663 to Doctor John Owen, desiring him to come over, and to accept the call or invitation which the First Church in Boston had given him to become their teacher in the room of Mr. Norton; but he could not be prevailed upon.” (Hutchinson, The History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts Bay. (Cambridge, 1936), 1. 193.) Owen was a distinguished English Puritan who was ejected in 1660. He escaped imprisonment and died in London in 1683. (Dictionary of National Biography, xlii, 424–428.)

109 on(?)

110 These preceding six names, although in the same hand, seem to have been entered at an earlier date than those on the remainder of the page.

111 This was the son of the Rev. John Cotton.

112 See p. 84.

113 Added in later hand, probably that of Thomas Foxcroft.

114 This refers to the dissention which arose over the calling of Mr. Davenport and which resulted in the formation of the Third Church later in the same year.

115 Cf. pp. 5–9.

116 Cf. Hutchinson, op. cit. i. 231: “After Mr. Wilson’s death, the first church in Boston invited Mr. Davenport, the minister of New-Haven, to succeed him. He was then about 70, had gone into the wilderness with the persons closely attached to him, and remained with them about 30 years, and they were extremely averse to his leaving them; and besides, he was at the head of a party more strict and rigid than the body of the people of the country, for he had always opposed the admitting to baptism of any who were not in full communion with one or other of the churches. It is not strange that there should have been a party of Boston church which opposed his settlement. The two parties of the church, the first in rank (although the church of Salem was the oldest) in the country, produced two parties, not in the other churches only, but in the state also. A considerable part of the church, both for number and estate, formed themselves, as has been observed, into a separate society. Seventeen ministers bore a public testimony against the proceedings of the three elders (Mr. John Davenport, Mr. James Allen and the ruling Elder James Penn) of the first church in Boston, viz. against Mr. Davenport for leaving his church at New-Haven, contrary to his professed principles, and against all of them for communicating parcels only of letters from the church of New-Haven to the church in Boston, by which artifice the church was deceived, and made to believe the church of New-Haven consented to his dimission, when if the whole had been read, it would have appeared they did not. This testimony was sent to the elders the day of the public fast. An answer was given, in which the elders deny, that the letters concealed would have been evidence of refusal of the church of New-Haven to consent to Mr. Davenport’s leaving them and settling at Boston; the church was only unwilling to make his dismission their immediate act. Neither the church of New Haven, nor the elders of the church of Boston can be wholly justified. There does not seem to have been that fairness and simplicity in their proceedings which the gospel requires. The minister and members of churches were engaged, some on one side and some on the other, and the contentions were sharp; at length the house of deputies espoused the cause of the first church, and having their session in May 1670 appointed a committee to enquire into the prevailing evils which had procured or been the cause of the displeasure of God against the land. . . .”

117 Added by a later hand. He had for some time been a deacon in the Dorchester Church, but as early as 1665 his absence from Dorchester had occasioned the question “Whether he would attend upon his office . . . or else lay down his office.” He answered that “he was called to that office, off God and by the Church and therefore if the Church did see cause to displace him they might but for his resigning the office he did not see Cause soe to doe and soe the matter was left.” Subsequently on the 30th day of the 11th month, 1669 “a letter was read which came from the first Church at Boston which was, to understand whether it would be offensive to our Church if they should Call deacon Wiswall to the office of a ruling Elder.” On the 27th of the following month, “It was concluded by a vote of the Church that a letter should be sent to the first Church at Boston to declare to them that it should not be offensive to the Church if they did look after deacon Wiswall for to be a rulling elder amongst them.” Cf. Records of the First Church at Dorchester in New England. (Boston, 1891), pp. 47, 60.

118 Name blank. Not in list of members on pp. 85–86.

119 She was the wife of James Pemberton, one of the founders of the Old South Church. She did not join the Old South Church until 1674 (Savage, iii. 387). See An Historical Catalogue of the Old South Church (1883), pp. 6, 9, 226, 250.

120 The Newbury Church was divided from 1647 to 1672 by a controversy over the power of the elders over the church members. It was finally settled by the Court with a decision favorable to the self-rule of the church. Cf. Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Boston, 1865), p. 340.

121 This is the last entry in the hand of James Penn, who succeeded Elder Leverett in 1650 (cf. p. 50). From this point to May 11, 1684., the entries are in the hand of John Wiswall, Ruling Elder from 1670. On Aug. 19, 1687 Judge Sewall writes, “Just a little before Sunset Elder Wiswall is buried.” (Diary i. 186).

122 Josiah Flint (1645–1680) Harvard College, 1664. Ordained and settled in Dorchester, 1671–1680.

123 Cf. Harvard College Records (Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, xv. 222–223), “It would appear that about 800£ out of 1895£ 2s 9d was contributed in 1672 by residents of Boston toward the new edifice.” Cambridge was second on the list with 199£ 1s 8d.

124 Not on list on p. 87.

125 William Greenhill (1591–1671), “notorious independent”; first minister of independent congregation at Stepney, 1644–1671. Matthew Mead (1630?–1699), his successor, served the same congregation from 1671 to 1699.

126 Second Church. The Third, or Old South, is significantly omitted.

127 The extant loose papers of the church extend back only to 1717.

128 Cf. Alonzo Lewis and J. R. Newhall, History of Lynn (Boston, 1865), p. 261 for an account of the abortive attempt to establish a new church in Lynn.

129 Was struck through.

130 This name is on a separate line to the right of the page.

131 “Relect of Patrick Ohogen” died June 5, 1694 (Boston Town Records).

132 Handwriting changes at this point. Remainder of sentence and records through August 5, 1679 in a new hand.

133 Approximately one quarter of page blank here.

134 Added by Thomas Foxcroft. The reference, however, is to an entry concerned with the Synod of 1662.

135 The “Reforming Synod” of 1679 and 1680 was called to counteract the prevailing decline in religion and in the belief that the recent visitation of a number of calamities and disasters were the acts of God to recall his people to penitence. The Synod was called by the General Court at the request of eighteen clergymen. It convened on September 10, 1679 and concluded its session eight days later. The topics considered were: (1) What are the evils that have provoked the Lord to bring his judgment on New England? and (2) What is to be donn that so those evills may be reformed? The Synod did little more than reaffirm the Cambridge Platform of 1648 and adopt the Savoy Confession of Faith but the sessions appear to have stirred up a revival of religious interest and enthusiasm. Cf. Williston Walker, Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism, p. 410 ff.

136 Sampson Bond, ejected minister from England; compelled to leave Boston because of having preached a sermon not of his own composition, removed to Barbados, and perhaps later to Bermuda. Cf. Hutchinson, i. 427 and Savage, i. 210; also H. A. Parker. Bermuda Colonial Clergy in New England. (Colonial Society Publications, xii. 166–174.)

137 Addressed to Sampson Bond.

138 Not on list of members in 1684. See p. 88.

139 Another hand. About one sixth of a page blank at this point. Apparently a later scribe intended to record admissions through June 7, 1681.

140 In the hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

141 In hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

142 In hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

143 For a full account of the controversy between these two churches and their final reconciliation, cf. H. A. Hill, History of the Old South Church (Boston, 1890) i. 1–248.

144 This is the last entry in the hand of John Wiswall. The records from this point to 1725 are in various hands. With the general decline in the prestige of the office of Ruling Elder, the ministers gradually took over the duties. In 1694 Joseph Bridgham and Thomas Jackson were elected Ruling Elders, and in 1701 the office was last filled. Most of the entries between 1684 and 1725 are in the hands of James Allenand Benjamin Wadsworth. Upon the resignation of Benjamin Wadsworth to become President of Harvard College, Thomas Foxcroft began keeping the records in his own hand.

145 Joshua Moodey (c. 1633–1697) Harvard College, 1653, began his ministerial labors at Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1658 but did not succeed in forming a church until July 12, 1671. Here he came into conflict with the Lieutenant Governor Edward Cranfield in 1682 over the false swearing of one of his church members. Cranfield issued an order in Council that all ministers should administer the sacraments to those desiring them according to the liturgy of the Church of England. This act was directed against Moodey who as a non-conformist refused to comply. A warrant of commitment to jail was issued on February 6, 1683/4 and he was imprisoned for some thirteen weeks, after which he was released and immediately went to Boston. In the same year he was offered the presidency of Harvard College, which he declined. He resumed his Portsmouth charge in 1693 but died in Boston in 1697 while seeking medical care and was interred in John Hull’s tomb. Cf. Sibley, Harvard Graduates, 1.367–380.

146 It would appear that certain names on this page were stricken through at a later date, perhaps when a membership list was prepared.

147 Cf. p. 90.

148 Goody (?).

149 Ann Pope admitted 4th of 8th month, 1657. Cf. p. 57.

150 No record of admission.

151 Mistres An Chickly admitted 13th of 5th month, 1662. Cf. p. 58.

152 Mistres May admitted 11th of 3d month, 1662. Cf. p. 58.

153 Mistres Pownding admitted 2nd October 1664. Cf. p. 61.

154 Goody Myles admitted 4th November 1665. Cf. p. 60.

155 Goody Cleave admitted 4th November 1665. Cf. p. 60.

156 Goody Norden admitted 2nd day of the 10th month, 1665. Cf. p. 60.

157 Later hand.

158 Goody Shurwood admitted 15th day of the 10th month, 1666. Cf. p. 61.

159 Mistres Person admitted same date.

160 Mistres Norman admitted the 5th day of the 3rd month, 1670. Cf. p. 63.

161 Running heading. Cf. p. 88.

162 Goodwife Starkey admitted the 27th day of the 10th month, 1672. Cf. p. 70.

163 This should be Martha. Cf. p. 69.

164 Recorded as Goody on p. 71; Hannah, p. 91.

165 Admitted 1678. Cf. p. 75.

166 Mistres Keates on p. 77. Mary Skate, p. 90.

167 Or Taye. Cf. p. 77.

168 Wife of Roger Prouse (Savage, III. 490). Probably formerly wife of John Pease. Cf. p. 75.

169 Cf. p. 77.

170 Cf. p. 77.

171 Wife of Ezekiel Cheever, the schoolmaster.

172 Second half of running heading. Cf. p. 87.

173 Removed from Salem to Boston in 1679. Hence he must have been admitted from Salem.

174 Possibly William Wenbourne who returned to Boston from Exeter, New Hampshire, before 1649. Cf. Savage, iv. 482.

175 This name either underlined or struck through.

176 Cf. Savage, I. 29.

177 Daughter of President Leonard Hoar of Harvard College. Returned to England in 1687 leaving her husband. Cf. Savage, iv. 363.

178 Wife of John Waite. Cf. p. 83.

179 Wife of Henry Bartholmew. Cf. p. 83.

180 Taby has been struck over.

181 Anna in later hand.

182 On the same line preceding the name the word now has been struck through. Name may be Warner but text has Warnex.

183 Dismissed to Hatfield in later hand.

184 The following entry struck through: Voted the poor bee maintained by the Town as their cheife Support but releived further by deacons Collection.

185 Elizabeth Thornton, daughter of Rev. Thomas Thornton, of Boston, married Joshua Gee of Boston and subsequently Rev. Peter Thacher of Milton. Cf. Savage, II. 241.

186 “I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every Tongue shall swear.” The application seems to be somewhat strained.

187 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

188 Further struck over with oftner.

189 Perhaps identical with entry two lines above.

190 A controversy over the location of the Watertown meetinghouse had arisen in 1692 and continued thereafter for several years. Cf. Sibley, III. 327–330.

191 A controversy extending from April 30 to August 17, 1696 arose in the Charlestown Church because of criticisms by Lieut. John Cutler and a Mr. Russell of the preceedings of Mr. Morton, the minister. Cf. Charlestown Church Records in New England Historic-Genealogical Register, xxv. 64.

192 Enclosed words by a later hand.

193 Robert Wharton died in London c. 1690 (Savage, IV. 494). By a bond to the Deacons of the First Church, dated December 7, 1686 he gave 80£ for “the use of the poor of the said Church.” The estate proved insolvent but ultimately (1713) the Church received two parcels of land, viz: (1) 650 acres of land “lying Situate on the Westernmost Side of a Certain Island called great Chebeage alias Recompense Island in Casco Bay within the late Province of Maine also three hundred and fifty acres more of Land Scituate in Casco Bay aforesaid all the Westermost end of Maquoit beginning at the mouth of Puggy Muggy River.” Cf. York Deeds, Liber 8 folio 187. Copy in First Church File.

194 Later hand.

195 This line in later hand.

196 Doctor. Cf. Sewall, Diary, Nov. 13, 1696.

197 In hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

198 Cf. p. 119.

199 In hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

200 Joshua Moody.

201 Cf. p. 96.

202 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”

203 Third Church.

204 Here follow six lines so completely struck over as to make them illegible. The deletion is in the same ink and when placed under ultraviolet ray is still undecipherable.

205 Gospel Ordered Revived, Being an Answer to a Book lately set forth by the Reverend Increase Mather . . . entituled, The Order of the Gospel. By Sundry Ministers in New England ([New York] 1700). This pamphlet, presumed to be largely the work of Benjamin Colman, was a reply to an attack by Increase Mather upon the newly formed Brattle Square Church over which Colman had been settled. Cf. Sibley, iv. 127.

206 This letter seems to be in same hand as the entries, but its meaning is not clear.

207 These letters seem to be in same hand as the entries, but their meaning is not clear.

208 These letters seem to be in same hand as the entries, but their meaning is not clear.

209 These letters seem to be in same hand as the entries, but their meaning is not clear.

210 These letters seem to be in same hand as the entries, but their meaning is not clear.

211 These letters seem to be in same hand as the entries, but their meaning is not clear.

212 Marah struck over. Obvious mistake in original entry.

213 In later hand.

214 Lexington.

215 Quincy, Massachusetts. This was the original church in Braintree gathered in September 17, 1639. The second church, now the First Congregational Church in Braintree, was gathered September 10, 1707.

216 This date in different ink, and perhaps another hand.

217 These words in later hand.

218 These words in later hand.

219 The New North Church was gathered May 5, 1714 with John Webb as minister. This was the fifth Congregational society in Boston. It continued until 1863 when it united with the Bulfinch Street Church and soon thereafter became extinct.

220 i.e. Quincy.

221 To struck through.

222 John Lowell, born in Boston, March 14, 1703/4; Harvard College, 1721; ordained First Religious Society, Newburyport, January 19, 1725/6 and settled there, 1725–1767; died May 15, 1767.

223 The mother, struck through.

224 Old struck through.

225 Brought in from left margin. “It begun as I conceive in the South-East, about half an Hour after Ten in the Lord’s Day Evening after the 29th of October, 1727. All on a sudden our Houses shook as if they were falling to pieces, and this was attended with a great Noise, which lasted about one Minute, and then took it’s course Northward. In a very short time it return’d upon us, tho’ with far less Strength, and the Shocks were repeated seven Times in my hearing that Night; but they were many more at Salem, Ipswich, etc. Distant Rumbles were heard by us many times until the next Friday-Evening. Since that we don’t know that we have heard it; but it has been heard at Newbury every Day since, and for more than three Weeks.” Account of Rev. James Allen (16920–1747), minister in Brookline, 1718–1747. M. H. S. Proceedings, 1871–1873, p. 249.

226 In later hand.

227 Adam Winthrop married Nov. 7, 1700 Ann Wainwright who died May 22, 1755.

228 John Adams, born in Boston, June 19, 1725; Harvard College, 17455 ordained Durham, New Hampshire, March 25, 1748/9 and settled there, 1748–1778; subsequently a physician in Newfield, Limington, Parsonsfield, and Limerick, Maine; died Newfield, June 4, 1792.

229 This church was founded in 1714.

230 Mr. Allen was seventy years old at this time and may have needed relief from this additional preaching’ assignment.

231 Later hand.

232 Cf. p. 99.

233 Later hand.

234 Cf. p. 79.

235 Illegible word, perhaps fifty.

236 Brought in from left margin; later hand.

237 Later hand.

238 As a result of a sermon in which he vigorously supported the Port Royal expedition, he was appointed Chaplain to the Commissioners. Cf. Sibley, Harvard Graduates, v. 22.

239 “It being represented to the Inhabitants at this meeting That a Committee of the first Church of Christ of Boston haveing Lately purchased the Dwelling House and Land of Capt. John Balston, Late of Boston deceaced, abutting upon Water street, for the use of the Ministry, and the Said Capt. Balston and his predecessors haveing for many years past with the said House, held and Enjoyed a Small Strip of said Land by Lease from this Town Containeing Nineteen feet in breadth Easterly from the old Tenament, extending in Length from Water Street to Spring Lane, as it is now inclosed and within fence, It being by the Said Committee proposed to the Town at this meeting that they would grant the Said Strip of ground to the aforesaid church forever. (Town Records, Apr. 20, 1709)

240 The New North Church.

241 Mr. Bridge had been seized as early as 1713 by “a Fit of an Apoplectic Tendency” from which he never fully recovered and he was “seiz’d again with his paralytic distemper” on September 26, 1715. Sewall records in his diary: “Between 11 and 12 Mr. Bridge Expired; with him much primitive Christianity is gone. . . . His prayers and Sermons were many times Excellent; not always alike. It may be this Lethargick Malady might though unseen, be the cause of some Unevenness.” He was born in Hackney near London in 1657 and received an A.M. from Harvard in 1712. Cf. Sibley, Harvard Graduates, v. 17–25.

242 This is in the old cemetery, adjacent to King’s Chapel.

243 Mrs. Bridge lived until 1722. Sibley, Harvard Graduates, v. 24.

244 Second or North (1649), Third, or Old South (1669), Brattle Square (1699), New North (1714).

245 The italicized words brought in from left margin.

246 The deacons had started on June 1, 1696 a record book entitled An Account of the Monthly Collections at the Sacrament and of Special Contributions and Donations for the Use of the Poor of the Old Church and Congregation in Boston and it was being kept at this time but the church apparently had in mind a more complete accounting.

247 This line is in the hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

248 Cf. note on p. 96.

249 The New Brick Church, constituted May 23, 1722, was a secession from the New North Church. The Second Church and the New Brick Church united June 27, 1779 after the meeting house of the former had been pulled down by the British on January 16, 1776.

250 Later hand.

251 In 1715 the Town granted “a Piece of Land comonly called Church Green nigh Summer Street . . . for the Erecting thereon an Edifice for a Meeting House for the Publick Worship of God . . . Provided the Said Meeting House be Erected and improved to that use within a Space of Three Years next ensuing. (Town Records. September 20, 1715.) This was the New South Church founded in 1715.

252 Brattle Square Church.

253 See note above, p. 137.

254 In the hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

255 In the hand of Thomas Foxcroft.

256 Settled Hopkinton, 1724–1772.

257 Settled First Church, now Newburyport, 1725–1767. Cf. p. 145.

258 Ordained minister of New Brick Church, March 27, 1728 and settled there, 1728–1753.

259 Settled First Church, Milton, 1728–1750.

260 Church of The Presbyterian Strangers in Long Lane, later Federal Street Church, now Arlington Street Church; founded in 1729.

261 Hollis Street Church, constituted June 18, 1732; the church of Mather Byles, 1732–1777

262 West Church, constituted January 3, 1737; the church of Jonathan Mayhew, 1747–1766.

263 Second Parish in Amesbury over which Paine Wingate was settled 1726–1786.

264 No page given in original ms.

265 some struck through.

266 This phrase brought in from the margin.

267 year struck over.

268 Blank.

269 Rev. William Welsteed (1695–1753), Harvard, 1716, was at this time a tutor at Harvard College. Settled over New Brick Church, 1728–1753.

270 Rev. Charles Chauncy (1705–1787), graduated Harvard, 1721, at the age of 16. He was 21 at this time.

271 Rev. Samuel Dunbar (1704–1783), Harvard, 1723; taught in Boston, 1724; settled Canton, Massachusetts, 1727–1783.

272 This note in later hand.

273 The oldest Bible now owned by the church was published at Oxford by John Baskett in 1717.

274 Brought in from the margin.

275 Brought in from the margin.

276 Not identified.

277 Brought in from the margin.

278 Cf. p. 96.

279 Cf. vote to rent the house, supra p. 144.

280 Cf. William Willis, The History of Portland (Portland, 1865), p. 131.

281 Mrs. Mills, the widow of Henry Mills of Watertown, left, after certain bequests, the rest and residue of her estate to be divided equally among four churches viz: The First and Third Churches of Boston and the churches of the East and West Parishes of Watertown. Each church received about £280. Cf. H. A. Hill, History of the Old South Church, i. 436.

282 The Foxcrofts at this time had had six children and ultimately by 1740 there were twelve.

283 i.e., p. 245.

284 Brought in from the margin.

285 The so-called Half-Way Covenant adopted by the Synod of 1662.

286 See supra p. 56.

287 Between 80 and has been struck through in present record but whether at the time of entry or later has not been determined.

288 Brought in from the margin. This memorandum is a later entry. The final date is blank.

289 Struck through in original Record. See below.

290 Boston, D. Henchman, 1735. 92 p.

291 Cf. p. 247.

292 Cf. note p. 247.

293 Brought in from margin.

294 Brought in from margin.

295 Brought in from margin.

296 i.e. p. 142 in present numbering.

297 West Church in Boston.

298 Brought in from margin.

299 New Brick Church.

300 Cf. note p. 198.

301 i.e. p. 151 in present numbering.

302 A Sarah Williams was the wife of Joseph Williams in 1699. Cf. Boston Town Records, Births, 1699.

303 Crossed through in Ms. Obviously entered in wrong place.

304 i.e. p. 147.

305 i.e. p. 175.

306 i.e. p. 161.

307 i.e. p. 189.

308 This prolonged litigation in reference to the use of glebe lands in a Rhode Island town struck at the very roots of the New England church parish system. Dr. McSparran, a missionary of the S. P. G., entered claim to the lands as an Anglican, while Joseph Torrey claimed to be the settled minister of the Congregational order. The case was appealed to the Privy Council in England and Torrey and his church were awarded the lands. Cf. Sibley, viii. 499–507.

309 “174.0 May 14. To Andrew Cunningham for Glaziery Work 90.17.8.” (Cash Book, No. one.)

310 Brought in from margin.

311 In 1740 a great fire consumed the lower part of the city of Charleston resulting in the loss of a quarter of a million pounds. Cf. H. K. Leiding, Charlestown Historic and Romantic (Philadelphia, 1931), 94.

312 A controversy arose at this time in the Second Church over the New Light movement and Mr. Gee’s support of Whitefield. The liberal element in the Church withdrew in 1742 and formed the Tenth or Bennett Street Church under the ministry of Samuel Mather, who had been Gee’s colleague. Cf. Sibley, vii. 216 ff.

313 i.e. pp. 132, 133, 134 in present numbering.

314 Brought in from margin.

315 The following leaf is pasted into the original Records.

316 Edward Jackson (1700–1754) Harvard, 1719, and John Fox (1678–1756) Harvard, 1698. The controversy arose over the inability or unwillingness of the Woburn parish to support adequately the two ministers. Jackson, the junior pastor, brought the case to the Civil Courts and thereafter for the next six years a battle raged between the Foxites and Jacksonites extending even to a falsified charge of bastardy upon Mr. Jackson. The Ecclesiastical Council of 1746 exonerated Jackson and refused to recommend that he be dismissed. Cf. Sibley, vi. 321–324 and Samuel Sewall, The History of Woburn (Boston, 1868), p. 265 ff. Cf. pp. 179–180.

317 As the result of the War of the Austrian Succession which had broken out in Europe, the Boston community feared an uprising upon the part of Roman Catholics within the town and a possible invasion of the French. Guns were placed on the ends of various wharfs and on the breastworks on the neck. Cf. Boston Town Records, Sept. 22, 1746 ff.

318 The Tiverton Church was organized in 1746 and in that year called Othniel Campbell (1695/6–1778) Harvard, 1728, to be minister. The town did not concur in the call and did not support the church. The Massachusetts Convention of Ministers and the Boston churches made contributions from time to time. Cf. Sibley viii. 368–375 and F. G. Davis and G. S. Durfee, The History of the Amicable Congregational Church, 1746–1946 (mimeographed) ; copy in the Library of the New England Historic-Genealogical Society.

319 Jeremy Green. Cf. p. 115.

320 Brought in from margin.

321 John Rogers (1712–1789) Harvard 1732; settled as first minister in Leominster, Sept. 14, 1743. He soon moved so far away from Calvinistic theology as to deny Original Sin and the accepted doctrine of the deity of Jesus. A Council gathered on July 26, 1757 confirmed these allegations and declared, moreover, that he had cast “most indecent and unchristian reflections on the shorter Catechism.” He promptly rejected the Results of the Council, legally, because it had not been mutually called, and called for another, which, when assembled on Nov. 9, 1757, reaffirmed the former findings and recommended that the pastoral relation be dissolved. A third Council on Dec. 7, 1757, this time made up of known liberals, such as Gay of Hingham, Mayhew and Chauncey of Boston, upheld Rogers. Finally the parish was divided by the General Court and Rogers became minister of the Second Parish from 1762 to 1787. Before his death two years later, his church had returned to the First Church. Cf. Sibley, ix. 189–198.

322 The old South Church was at this time in an unsettled state, having lost by death its minister, Reverend Thomas Prince, and was in the process of securing a colleague for the aged senior pastor. Cf. Hamilton Hill, History of the Old, South Church, ii. 47 ff.

323 Page torn.

324 This minute found among loose papers of the church; never entered in the book.

325 This minute found among loose papers of the church; never entered in the book.

326 Mr. Foxcroft had died June 18, 1769.

327 James Sherman (1645–1718) minister, Sudbury, 1678–1705; later became a physician at Elizabeth, New Jersey and Salem, Massachusetts. The printed sources are vague but Shipton indicates that the dismissal was due to a defect of character on the part of Mr. Sherman. Cf. Sibley, v. 76 and A. G. Hudson, The History of Sudbury, Massachusetts (n.p. 1889), pp. 263–265, 283.

328 Benjamin Woodbridge (died 1709/10), attended Harvard but did not graduate; minister Windsor, Connecticut, 1670–1681; Bristol, Rhode Island, 1681–1686; Kittery, Maine, 1688; Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1691; Newcastle, New Hampshire, 1694; Medford, 1698–1710. The Medford parish seems to have been badly divided during his entire twelve years and a church was not formally organized until two years after his death. At the beginning of his ministry he resided in Charlestown “riding from Charlestown to Medford every Saturday, and from Medford to Charlestown every Monday.” Cf. J. M. Usher, History of the Town of Medford (Boston, 1886), pp. 222–223.

329 Nathaniel Appleton (1693–1784) Harvard, 1712; minister, Cambridge, 1717–1784.

330 Thomas Prince (1687–1758) Harvard, 1707; minister, South Church, Boston, 1717–1758; author, Chronological History of New England, 1755.

331 Thomas Walter (1696–1724/5) Harvard, 1713; minister, Roxbury, 1718–1725.

332 James Allen (1692–1747) Harvard, 1710; minister, Brookline, 1718–1747.

333 Samuel Checkley (1695/6–1769) Harvard, 1715; minister, New South Church (organized in 1719), 1719–1769.

334 Nathaniel Clap (1668/9–1745) Harvard, 1690; minister, First Congregational Church, Newport, R. I., 1720–1745. Cf. p. 240.

335 i.e. Leicester, Massachusetts.

336 See note below, p. 239.

337 An independent church over which Robert Sturgeon was settled from 1721 to 1722. Dismissed May 1, 1722; minister, Wilton, Conn., 1726–1732; Presbyterian Church, Bedford, N. Y., 1732–1743.

338 William Waldron (1697–1727) Harvard, 1717; minister, New Brick Church, 1721–1727.

339 “Sept. 16. Last Week a Council of Churches was held at the South Part of Brantrey, to regulate the Disorders occasion’d by regular Singing in that Place, Mr. Niles the Minister having suspended Seven or Eight of the Church for persisting in their Singing by Rule, contrary (as he apprehended) to the Result of a former Council; but by this Council the suspended Brethren are restor’d to Communion, their Suspension declar’d unjust, and the Congregation Order’d to sing by Rote and by Rule alternately, for the Satisfaction of both Parties.” New England Courant, Sept. 9–16, 1723. Quoted in Sibley, iv. 488.

340 Joshua Gee (1698–1748) Harvard, 1717; minister, Second Church, Boston, 1723–1748.

341 Hull Abbot (1702–1774) Harvard, 1720; minister, Charlestown, 1724–1774.

342 Simon Bradstreet (1670/1–1741) Harvard, 1693; minister, Charlestown, 1697–1741.

343 These words in later hand.

344 Jabez Fitch (1672–1746) Harvard, 1694; minister, Ipswich, 1702–1723; Portsmouth, N. H., 1724–1746.

345 A Trespass-offering, Presented unto the Churches of New-England (Boston, 1725).

346 William Welsteed (1696–1775) Harvard, 1716, had been a candidate for the First Church in 1717. He was minister of the New Brick Church, 1728–1775.

347 Nathaniel Clap (1668/9–1745), Harvard, 1690, had been settled over the church in Newport, Rhode Island in 1720. After about three years, he declined to administer the Lord’s Supper alledging that the members were “not of sufficient holy conversation” to receive it. The church hired other preachers including Mr. John Adams (1704/5–1739/40), Harvard, 1721, who was called as colleague minister. Mr. Clap refused to accept this arrangement and Adams preached in a school house. Rev. John Comer notes in his diary for April 2, 1728: “A number of Presbyterian Ministers came to town to regulate the affairs of Mr. Clap’s congregation. Note: They set out from their respective homes the day before upon which one that was for Mr. Clap said he remembered they set out to engage in the work they effected the first of April.” The Adams party obtained possession of the meetinghouse as the result of this Council but Mr. Clap’s followers promptly built him another. Cf. Sibley, iv. 36–39; vi.424–427.

348 Brought in from margin.

349 The Second or North Parish of Reading was incorporated in 1713; became Universalist about 1836 and after some years of inactivity, disbanded about 1930.

350 John Lowell (1703/4–1767) Harvard, 1721; minister, Newburyport, 1725–1767.

351 Benjamin Fessenden (1700/1–1746) Harvard, 1718; settled over parish in Sandwich, 1722. The records are vague but soon after his settlement some scandal arose in which he was implicated. A council of seventeen churches met at Sandwich November 16, 1726, adjourned twice and in June, 1727, “They Judged and Declared the Revd. Mr Fessenden unworthy to Sustain the office of a Pastor in the Church of Christ and Disaproved of his Preaching any longer under the Scandall they found him guilty of, advising the Church in Sandwich to Dismiss him from his Pastoral Charge over them untill he Should remove the Scandall and evidence his Repentance to the Satisfaction of the Churches by a Penitential and Publick Acknowledgment.” The majority of the congregation stood by their minister. A second council met in June, 1729, and the church was laid under a sentence of non-communication until, at a final council in October, 1734, Mr. Fessenden made a public confession which satisfied all but the minority of the Sandwich church which withdrew to form a new church. Cf. Sibley, vi. 243–246.

352 The Leicester controversy arose out of the difficulties at Malden (see below, p. 245) which resulted in the removal of Rev. David Parsons (1679/80–1759) who was settled in Leicester in 1721. Here he had more difficulties; by 1726 his salary was two years in arrears and he brought the matter to the courts. An ecclesiastical councilwas called in 1728 and sustained Mr. Parsons against the town; the decision of the council was defied by the town and a second council was convened at Watertown in June, 1729, again sustaining Mr. Parsons. This Council reconvened in July and September; meanwhile Parsons sued in the Superior Court and won his case. The tensions continued until finally both parties agreed to a mutual council which met on March 6, 1735 and dismissed Mr. Parsons from his pulpit. Cf. Sibley, vi. 283–288.(Parsons was a graduate of Yale, 1705, but received the Harvard A.M. ad eundem 1715.)

353 Josiah Cotton (1722–1780) Harvard, 1722; minister, Providence, 1728–1747; Woburn, Mass., 1747–1756; Sandown, N. H., 1759–1780.

354 John Taylor (1704–1749/50) Harvard, 1721; minister, Milton, 1728–1750.

355 A long controversy arose over the successor to Michael Wigglesworth, minister in Malden, 1654–1705. David Parsons was called in 1708 and remained until 1721 when, because of the bad feeling between pastor and people, an ecclesiastical council advised him to leave as soon as convenient (see above p. 243). The controversy at this time was over the building of a new meeting house. The struggle was brought even into the legislature and ultimately resulted in the establishment of the second or South parish. Joseph Emerson (1700–1779) was called to succeed him the next year. This pastorate continued for fifty-seven years and was unusually harmonious. Cf. Sibley, vi. 170–174.

356 Samuel Mather (1706–1785) Harvard, 1723; minister, Second Church, Boston, 1732–1741; Tenth Church, 1742–1785.

357 Subsequently known as Hollis Street Church.

358 Mather Byles (1706–1788) Harvard, 1725; minister, Hollis Street Church, 1732–1776.

359 Rev. Samuel Fiske (1689–1770) Harvard, 1708; settled over First Church in Salem, 1718. He soon thereafter discontinued the week-day lectures; about 1732 he denounced the church for not carrying into effect its vote to renew and bear the expence of the lectures. The church knew of no such vote and on examination of the church records the vote in question was found to be “writ with new black Ink as though it was writ Yesterday or to Day.” A long controversy ensued. The church split and a faction adhered to Mr. Fiske until he was charged with additional forgeries (this time of promissory notes) and the Great Awakening further divided his congregation. On July 30, 1745 he was dismissed. Cf. Sibley, v. 413–424.

360 “When a company of believers purpose to gather into a church fellowship it is requisite for their safe proceeding and the maintaining the communion of churches, that they signify their intent unto the neighbour churches, walking according unto the order of the gospel, and desire their presence, and help, the right hand of fellowship, which they ought readily to give unto them when there is no just cause to except against their proceedings.” A Platform of Church Discipline (Boston, 1808), P. 57

361 i.e. p. 173.

362 i.e. p. 188.

363 The Roxbury meeting house had been raised on June 25 and 26, 1740, and was destroyed by fire on Feb. 26, 1743/4 as a result of a foot stove being left after the church service. Cf. W. E. Thwing, History of the First Church in Roxbury (Boston, 1908), p. 142.

364 Jonathan Mayhew (1720–1766) Harvard, 1744; minister, West Church, Boston, 1747–1766. On the day appointed for his ordination only two clergymen appeared. Upon their advice the council dissolved and the church called a second and larger council which assembled on June 17, 1747. This Council was attended by ten ministers, not one from Boston, all of whom favored the candidate. Mayhew was considered by the Boston ministers as theologically unsound. Cf. W. B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, viii. 22 ff.

365 Elihu Spencer, D.D. (1721–1784) Yale, 1746; missionary for a brief period to the Indians of Western New York State; minister, Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, 1750–1756, and Jamaica, Long Island, 1756—c.1758; chaplain of New York troops; minister, St. George’s, Delaware, c.1764–1769, and Trenton, New Jersey, 1769–1784. Cf. W. B. Sprague, Annals of the American Pulpit, iii, 165–169.

366 Benjamin Stevens, D.D. (1721–1791) Harvard, 1740; minister, Kittery, Maine, 1751–1791.

367 Stephen Badger (1726–1803) Harvard, 1747; missionary to the Indians at Natick, 1753–1799.

368 Amos Adams (1728–1775) Harvard, 1752; minister, Roxbury, 1753–1775.

369 Ebenezer Pemberton, D.D. (1704/5–1777) Harvard, 1721; minister, Presbyterian Church, New York City, 1727–1753; New Brick Church, Boston, 1754–1777.

370 Gideon Hawley (1727–1807) Yale, 1749; missionary to Indians at Sturbridge and elsewhere, 1752–17585 Indian Church in Mashpee, 1758–1807.

371 John Rogers (1712–1789) Harvard, 1732, was settled in Leominster in 1743. After some ten years he fell under suspicion of holding Arminian doctrines and a series of Ecclesiastical trials ensued which resulted in the creation of the second parish over which he became minister. The prolonged litigation in this case brought widespread notoriety and it became the test case of religious liberalism in the Eighteenth Century. Cf. Sibley, ix. 189.

372 Alexander Cumming (1726–1763) Princeton, A.M. (hon.) 1760, also Harvard, 1761; minister, New York City, 1750–1753; Old South, Boston, 1761–1763.

373 John Fairfield (1737–1819) Harvard, 1757; minister, Pepperellborough (now Saco), Maine, 1762–1798.

374 This entry struck out in original record.

375 Unanimously struck over.

376 Not in Town Records.

377 Cornelius of Thomas Clarke, born 10th month, 1639 (Town Records).

378 Elizabeth of Thomas and Margaret Fowle, born 14th day 1st month, 1639 (Town Records).

379 Hopestill of John and Mary Vyall, born 14th day 6th month, 1639 (Town Records).

380 John of Robert and Elizabeth Howen, born 4th month, 1640 (Town Records).

381 Samuel of Job and Sarah Judkins, born 27th day of 9th month, 1638 (Town Records).

382 Job of Job and Sarah Judkins, born 30th 4th month, 1641 (Town Records).

383 Joseph of Robert and Rachel Woodward, born 24th day 8th month, 1641 (Town Records).

384 Samuel of Richard and Alice Croychley, born 25th day 10th month, 1640 (Town Records).

385 “On the 11th of October [1639] the majority of the church which emigrated from London to America in 1634, and located at Scituate, made one more move, and settled in Barnstable. . . . The residue immediately reorganized, and called Rev. Charles Chauncy to become their pastor.” J. S. Clark, A Historical Sketch of the Congregational Churches in Massachusetts (Boston, 1858), p. 15–18.

386 Josebeth (Town Records).

387 Jeremy of Jeremy and Esther Houtchin, born the 20th day of 2nd month, 1643 and died soon after (Town Records).

388 Not in Town Records.

389 Not in Town Records.

390 Gerrard Bourne, the sone of Gerrard Bourne a member of Boston, and living at Muddy River was here received by communion of churches (First Church in Roxbury. Record, of Baptisms).

391 Elizabeth of John and Mary Seavorne, born 21st day of the 8th month, 1642 (Town Records).

392 Mary of Nicholas and Anne Baxter, born 12th month, 1639 (Town Records).

393 Hannah of John Synderland, born 8th month, 1644 (Town Records). Perhaps 7th month was intended.

394 Joseph of George and Elizabeth Halsall, born 3rd day, 10th month, 1644 (Town Records).

395 Hannah of Thomas and Alice Venner, born 11th month, 1644 (Town Records).

396 John of William Bornell, born 8th month, 1644 (Town Records).

397 Not in Town Records.

398 John of John and Sarah Bodman, born 6th month, 1645 (Town Records).

399 Not in Town Records. Savage attempts to trace this rather complicated entry, which is probably inaccurate as it stands, and states that Elizabeth Scudder had married Samuel Lothrop at Barnstable in 1644. Cf. Savage, iii. 121; iv. 43.

400 The Town Records have John of Henry and Elizabeth Bridgham born 7th month, 1645.

401 Elisha of William Rex, born 6th month, 1645 (Town Records).

402 Not in Town Records.

403 Town Records.

404 Joseph of Peter and Alice Plaise, born 19th day, 8th month, 1646 (Town Records).

405 Town Records.

406 Leah of William and Alice Werdell, born 7th day, 10th month, 1646 (Town Records).

407 Not in Town Records.

408 i.e. Stephen.

409 Not in Town Records.

410 Daniel of Daniel and Lydia Turell, born 16th day, 6th month, 1646 (Town Records).

411 Not in Town Records.

412 Not in Town Records.

413 Not in Town Records.

414 Not in Town Records.

415 Not in Town Records.

416 Not in Town Records.

417 Sonne struck over.

418 i.e. Plymouth.

419 Not in Town Records.

420 Rev. John Wilson, Jr. (1621–1691) Harvard, 1642; settled Dorchester, 1649–1651, and Medfield, 1651-1691; also physician and school master for forty years. Son of Rev. John Wilson, first pastor of the Boston Church.

421 Thomas Harrison, D.D. (1618–1682?) Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, 1637/8; came to Virginia in 1642 as chaplain to Governor William Berkeley; minister of a Puritan Church at Nansemond, Virginia; came to Boston, Oct. 20, 1648 and after two years returned to England.

422 The entries beginning at this point and running through the 17th day, 7th month, 1671 are in the hand of James Penn. Elder Leveritt had kept the records until his death.

423 Probably Fernide. A John Ferniside sold land in Duxbury in 1649. Cf. Copy of the Old Records of the Town of Duxbury (Plymouth, 1893), p. 7.

424 i.e. daughter.

425 i.e. one.

426 Entered later.

427 Probably should read daughter.

428 i.e. New style dating. Added in later hand.

429 i.e. one.

430 i.e. Second Church gathered 1650.

431 Or Haines. Cf. Town Records.

432 i.e. one.

433 Original entry changed to Danforth in later hand.

434 i.e. one.

435 Added in later hand.

436 Illegible but Jaiene in Town Records.

437 Or Haines.

438 i.e. Second Church gathered 1650.

439 i.e. Second Church gathered 1650.

440 Cf. Sidney Perley. The History of Salem. Salem, 1924, i. 94.

441 i.e. one.

442 Should read son. Cf. Town Records.

443 i.e. on.

444 Probably indicates that these baptisms took place on the 2nd of the 10th month. In same hand as rest of entry.

445 i.e. one.

446 A Mehetable of Benjamin and Elishua Thurston, born November 11, 1666. (Town Records) but there is no Thurston entry in 1663.