APRIL MEETING, 1895.
A Stated Meeting of the Society was held in the Hall of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on Wednesday, 17 April, 1895, at three o’clock in the afternoon, the Corresponding Secretary in the chair.
After the Minutes of the last Meeting had been read and approved, the Chair announced the death of the Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, a Founder and one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society elected at its first Annual Meeting.
Mr. Philip H. Sears, a classmate of Mr. Saltonstall, spoke as follows: —
My first acquaintance with Leverett Saltonstall was in July, 1840, when we met at Cambridge to be examined for admission to the Freshman Class in Harvard. I had fitted for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and he had fitted in the school at Salem. I arrived a little late, and was taken by President Quincy to the recitation-room of Tutor Bartlett, who was then examining in Virgil the candidates from Salem, — Leverett Saltonstall, Joseph Peabody, Stephen G. Wheatland, Richard D. Rogers, George Howes, and William G. Dix. I then saw Saltonstall for the first time, and liked him from the first sight. Through most of our college course we sat side by side in the Greek recitation-room of Professors Felton and Sophocles, and in other recitation-rooms. After we became members of the Suffolk Bar we met very frequently, both socially and in business transactions and the trial of cases. I may mention particularly the case, tried before Judge Morton, of Forbes v. The Old Colony Railroad Company, in which he was counsel for the plaintiff and I was counsel for the railroad company.
In all these relations with Saltonstall the trait in his character that always struck me most forcibly was his high sense of honor, which appeared on every occasion. Nothing unbecoming a man would be tolerated by him for a moment. He was, indeed, the very soul of honor. I recollect that when he dissolved a partnership in which he had been associated for some years I asked him why he had done it, and he replied that his partner had among his clients a crowd of butchers, bakers, and candlestick-makers who had such a low sense of business honor that he could stand them no longer.
He carried the same sense of honor and high principle into public life. When he became Collector of the Port of Boston there was in an eligible place in the Custom House a Republican gentleman with whom both he and I were acquainted, for whose removal great efforts were made. I spoke to him about the retention of this gentleman, and his reply was: “He is the right man for the place, and not all the politicians in the country can bring about his removal;” and they did not accomplish it.
Another trait in his character with which the members of the Harvard Class of ’44 were always strongly impressed was the warmth and constancy of his friendships, and his great cordiality in the expression of friendly feelings. He always attended the meetings of the Class on Commencement Day, and whatever would promote the honor or welfare of the Class or any of its members found in him an advocate and friend. If any of the Class happened to take part in any cause of charity or of public interest, he was sure to have Saltonstall’s co-operation and aid. This Class-feeling, which seems now to be dying out at Cambridge, was with him, as with all members of the Class of ’44, a deep sentiment as lasting as life.
I might refer to many other qualities in his character, but as there are several other gentlemen here who are expected to speak I will occupy no further time.
The Rev. Edward G. Porter followed with these remarks: —
Any one who knew Mr. Saltonstall — and some of you knew him much better than I did — must have been impressed with his broad and generous nature. His bearing and utterances on all occasions indicated a spirit of true magnanimity as agreeable as it is rare. There was evidently nothing petty or partisan about him. He always seemed to me to be the very soul of honor.
Those traits which Mr. Sears has recalled from college days show that his classmate was endowed with a certain nobility of character from the beginning, and we are glad to-day to bear witness to the fidelity with which he maintained his own high standard to the end.
We have seldom seen a man of his age so fresh and athletic in appearance, so youthful and buoyant in manner and in speech. For this reason doubtless he seemed many years younger than he really was. This was noticeable at the last Commencement, when he spoke for his Class, at its Fiftieth anniversary, with the same familiar, manly tones of loyalty to the Class and the College which always characterized him.
At the time of the Centennial celebration at Philadelphia in 1876, Mr. Saltonstall was one of the Commissioners from Massachusetts. As I was appointed among those who represented the State in the department of History, I had occasion to consult him in the execution of several plans, and I found him always obliging, well-informed, and enthusiastic. He did us good service during that hot summer by his unwearied labors, — meeting his associates in council, speaking at numerous public gatherings, and honoring the State by his uniform courtesy and his genuine patriotism.
I remember sitting with him on the platform in the rear of Independence Hall at the great Fourth of July festival, when Dom Pedro, the public-spirited Emperor of Brazil, who sat near us, frequently turned to express his pleasure in hearing the address of Mr. Evarts and the poem of Bayard Taylor. Every one felt that Mr. Saltonstall was the peer of the representatives of the different States and nations assembled at Philadelphia during that memorable year.
I leave it to others to speak of his services as Collector of the Port, and in other positions of honor and trust. We all know how well he acquitted himself in every station to which he was called.
The Hon. George S. Hale, also a classmate of Mr. Saltonstall, then said: —
I am very glad to join in the tributes of my associates to my old friend and classmate. My last recollection of him is associated with the Fiftieth anniversary of our graduation, when he represented his Class at the dinner of the Alumni with an eloquent warmth which gratified them and all his other hearers. He was a man of high and generous impulses, untainted in his public and private service by personal interest, of dignified and gentlemanly bearing, a worthy descendant of our best New England stock, and a legitimate heir of its fine qualities. His public service in a difficult and important position at a critical time entitles him to our grateful recognition. Under trying circumstances, when a faithful example of disinterested fidelity to the cause of Civil Service Reform was of peculiar importance, he showed — and led — the way to the administration of a political office as a public trust. In Chaucer’s phrase, “A veray parfit, gentle knight.”
Mr. Henry H. Edes spoke as follows: —
Lord Bacon said, nearly three centuries ago, —
“. . . it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay, or to see a fair timber tree sound and perfect; how much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the waves and weathers of time! for new nobility is but the act of power, but ancient nobility is the act of time.”
In his learned Annotations upon the Essay51 containing this passage, Archbishop Whately preserves an interesting observation of Bishop Warburton. During some angry dispute in the British House of Lords between a peer of noble family and one of a new creation, he said that —
“high birth was a thing which he never knew any one disparage, except those who have it not; and he never knew any one make a boast of it who had anything else to be proud of.”
I never read these golden sentences without thinking of Mr. Saltonstall, whose friendship I enjoyed for many years. He was proud of his lineage and of the honorable place which his family has held in private life and in public station, in every generation and in varied employments, from the very beginning of our Colonial history. Sir Richard Saltonstall, the first and second Governors Winthrop, Governor Leverett, and the Apostle Eliot were among his ancestors: so also were the two Elisha Cookes and Richard Middlecott, whose name he gave to his eldest surviving son. Nor were his distinguished forbears confined to the Colony of the Bay, for he had in his veins some of the best blood of the “Mayflower,” including that of Governor Edward Winslow. But Mr. Saltonstall’s pride of family was so tempered with humility and an unaffected modesty that it was far removed from that boastfulness of which Bishop Warburton speaks. Our associate often heard recalled, and with evident satisfaction, as he sat at table with his guests, the great deeds in the field, the council chamber, the legislative hall, the pulpit, or upon the bench, of the men who looked down upon his hospitable board from the canvases of Copley and other earlier artists of less note.
For reasons well known to us all, Mr. Saltonstall’s public service, until toward the close of his life, was in the field of philanthropy and education rather than in public office. It was, nevertheless, of great importance and value, as such unpaid service always is when rendered by an educated man of high character, ability, and zeal.
A few weeks before Mr. Saltonstall was appointed Collector of the Port of Boston and Charlestown, when it was known to some of his friends that his name had been presented to the President in connection with that important office, he called upon me to acknowledge in person some little act of friendship. During our conversation, I expressed the earnest hope that Mr. Cleveland would give fresh evidence of his sympathy with the proposed reform of the Civil Service by naming him for the Collectorship. Mr. Saltonstall thanked me, and said: —
“I shall not make application for the place, or lift my hand to influence the President’s choice; but if the honor comes to me unsought, it will be a great satisfaction to be able to prove in office the absolute sincerity of my opinions out of office during the past twenty years respecting the proper administration of the civil service of the government.”
How nobly he acquitted himself during his term of office is a matter of history. The appreciation of his eminent services by the merchants and many of the most prominent citizens of Boston, without distinction of party, — as evinced by their inviting him to a public dinner and to sit for his portrait, which now hangs in the Collector’s room at the Custom House, — was in striking contrast with the haste at Washington to replace the most conspicuous Civil Service Reformer who had ever sat in the Collector’s chair by a successor whose political opinions accorded with those of the new Executive.
Mr. Saltonstall was keenly sensitive upon all points of honor, most genial and hearty in manner, and an intense hater of shams. Fond of the country and of athletic sports, his out-door life upon his beautiful estate at Chestnut Hill and his daily horseback ride account in no small degree for that robust health which he enjoyed for many years. His great heart was stirred by indignities offered to the poor and lowly more readily perhaps than when attempted upon the rich and influential. An illustration of this is found in the incident, familiar to some of his friends, of his having chastised upon a public street in Boston a brutal cab-driver who was cruelly treating a poor apple-woman as our friend was passing her stand.
Mr. Saltonstall’s moral courage, urbanity, and high-mindedness comported well with his firm and reverent religious faith, which supported him through the sorrows and bereavements from which his singularly happy life was not exempt, and enabled him to bear with fortitude and resignation the long and painful illness which he knew must be fatal.
In taking note of our friend’s departure, we cannot fail to be impressed with a sense of peculiar loss. Exerting upon the community the benign influence of a pure life, a dignified presence, and courtly manners, he was one of the rare few who are universally esteemed while they are living and mourned when dead. Gifted by inheritance as well as by culture with those chivalrous traits the possession of which the word “gentleman” implies, he would have felt himself disgraced and humiliated to know that he had ever unnecessarily wounded any human heart. His sincere cordiality, his ardent sympathies, his love of fair play, his honest indignation at everything wrong or mean, manifested in his personal intercourse as well as in his public relations, so eclipsed all his qualities of deportment as to make a refined sociability his leading trait, and his friendship most to be coveted in life, and most missed now that he is gone.
I did not know Mr. Saltonstall personally, Mr. President, except by sight, but I had a brother who knew him well, and who never spoke of him but with respect. I had met him casually on many occasions; for you know, Sir, the lines of life often approach very near to one another without ever crossing. I desire, however, to add one word to what has been already said by those who have preceded me. I recall an incident at the Alumni Dinner last year at Cambridge in connection with Mr. Saltonstall, and it is that of which I wish to speak. A custom has come up of late years of calling on one of the graduates of fifty years’ standing to represent his classmates, and, in connection with this, to assign them a place near the speakers’ table. Now, it has been my office for some time, as Class Secretary, to lead in the few survivors of my own Class who attend the dinner; and we are rather tenacious of the prerogatives which gray hairs and approaching dulness of hearing bring with them. So, as usual, when I reached an eligible point for hearing the good things said on the platform, I was confronted with a printed legend that the table which I had selected for myself and two or three of my class was “Reserved.” By way of parenthesis, let me recall what James Freeman Clarke says in a book published by him after his return from a short trip to Europe. His chief object was to visit the famous cathedrals of England. Arriving at York, I think it was, he went at once to see the Cathedral, which was then undergoing repairs, and he says, “I found over the main entrance, ‘Positively no Admittance,’ and so I entered!” Acting on this principle, the small squad of ’37 took their seats where it seemed good and fitting; but we had hardly time to congratulate ourselves upon being within easy earshot of what was to be heard from those seated above us, when Mr. Saltonstall came in, apparently with those who represented his Class of ’44. I recognized him at once, but I did not know beforehand that it was his office to speak for his classmates. However, he spoke to the waiter near us, took in the situation at a glance, saying, “It is just as well” and passed on to the other end of the table, from which, with the rest of the company present, we afterwards enjoyed his eloquent remarks and his interesting College reminiscences. Now, Sir, this is but a trifling incident, yet it is an instance of the gracious courtesy of the man. It touched me at the time; I have often thought of it since; and I could not resist the impulse to mention it, after listening to the remarks which we have just heard concerning Mr. Saltonstall.
Mr. Hale offered the following Resolution, which was unanimously adopted by a rising vote: —
Resolved, That the members of The Colonial Society of Massachusetts desire to express and place upon their records their thorough appreciation of the high qualities of their associate, the Honorable Leverett Saltonstall, of his manliness, his high sense of honor, his assistance in promoting the cause of Civil Service Reform, his fearlessness in political action under trying circumstances, and of his eloquent enthusiasm for the Reform which he advocated by example and precept.
The Hon. John F. Andrew and Mr. Nathaniel Cushing Nash were appointed a Committee to examine the Treasurer’s Accounts;52 and the Hon. William E. Russell, and Messrs. Philip H. Sears and Charles S. Rackemann, a Committee on Nominations.
Mr. Henry Williams announced the organization, on 14 December, 1894, of
THE TOPSFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
“Its object is the collection, preservation, and study of all historical materials relating to the town of Topsfield; and it also shall be the purpose of the Society to encourage the study of Natural History in its various branches.”
Mr. Francis H. Lincoln read some extracts from the Journal of Lieut. Benjamin Beal, of Hingham, Mass., a soldier of the American Revolution in 1775–1776, which he had recently discovered among his family papers.
The daily entries in this Journal chronicle the experience of Lieutenant Beal from 17 March, 1776, the day of the evacuation of Boston, to 6 December of that year. He was lieutenant in Capt. Charles Cushing’s company, Colonel Greaton’s regiment.
After the evacuation of Boston this regiment and four others marched to New York; thence they embarked for Albany, where they arrived 25 April. They reached Stillwater 27 April, and Fort Edward 29 April. Thence by land and water they went to Montreal, where they arrived 21 May.
The disasters and sufferings of the troops in that unfortunate and fruitless expedition are matters of history, and Lieutenant Beal in his Journal confirms them by relating the personal experiences of himself and his comrades. For the purpose of showing the character of the document, Mr. Lincoln read from its pages certain selected extracts which brought vividly before the Society the sufferings of the troops. The reading was accompanied by explanatory remarks on the part of Mr. Lincoln for the purpose of refreshing the memory of his hearers as to the details of the expedition. He also pointed out the quaintness of some of the spelling, and the originality of many of the expressions used by the journalist.
The reading was listened to with interest, and the whole matter was referred to the Committee of Publication; but Mr. Lincoln was of opinion that there were not enough new facts in the diary to justify its publication.
Mr. Frederick Lewis Gay communicated the following information on the location in Boston of one of the mansion-houses of Governor Winthrop, — that in which he lived longest, —which appears to have escaped the notice of historians hitherto: —
The site of Governor John Winthrop’s house in Boston is a point of interest to local antiquaries and to many strangers within our gates. Those writers who allude to the subject agree in placing Winthrop’s house on the piece of land once known as “the Green,” opposite the eastern end of School street, but they fail to mention the fact that he had previously lived elsewhere in Boston. A writer in the Memorial History of Boston, for instance, in speaking of the Governor’s later home says: “for nineteen years it was the residence of John Winthrop, the foremost man in the colony of Massachusetts Bay; in it he died in 1649.”53 This house was bought by the Rev. John Norton in 1659. At a later day it became the parsonage of the Old South Church, and in it lived Willard, Sewall, Prince, and other ministers well known in their day and generation. The house was torn down by the British soldiers during their occupation of Boston. My purpose is to show that the Governor lived less than six years in this house, and that his home during the earlier part of his residence in Boston, perhaps for twelve years, was situated on land a few feet south of Suite street between Kilby and Congress streets.
“The Green” was bounded on three sides by Milk and Washington streets and Spring lane. There is nothing to indicate that any building was erected on it before 1643. This land, “which was the Governor’s first lot” as we are told by Winthrop in his History of New England, had been offered to the First Church in 1639 as the site for a new meeting-house. Several members addressed the Governor on the subject, beginning their letter in these words: —-
“The fruit of your Worship’s Liberall Disposition (which the God of all fulnesse will reward) in so freely offering the Greene to place the meeting-howse thereon causes us as thankefully to Acknowledge it.”
The offer, however, was not accepted, although a strong plea was made in favor of building there. In November, 1643, Governor Winthrop conveyed to his son Stephen “all that my lott or parcell of land in Boston aforesaid called the Greene lyeing by the spring.”54 This description of the property conveyed says nothing about a house. That no house was then standing on the ground is to be inferred from this omission, coupled with the following provision of the deed: —
“Provided alwayes that I the said John Winthrop and Margaret my wife may have and use one halfe of the said parcell of land called the Greene and one halfe of the buildings to be there uppon erected for the terme of our lives.”
One of the buildings thereupon erected after the date of this deed was the house in which the Governor spent his last days. As be died in March, 1649, the time covered by his residence in it could not have exceeded six years.
Governor Winthrop suffered heavy financial losses in 1639 through the dishonesty of his bailiff, James Luxford, whom he had trusted with the management of his farm. He was forced to part with his lands at different times in his endeavor to satisfy his creditors. In so doing, he conveyed to William Tyng, Valentine Hill, and eight others, “his mansion house in Boston,” naming as the consideration, “divers summes of money wherein he stands indebted to them and divers others.” According to the record, “this was by an absolute deed of sale dated the 26 of the 7 month, 1643.”55 This was about six weeks before Winthrop conveyed “the Green” to his son Stephen. The question of the location of this mansion house, evidently the Governor’s home before September, 1643, is best answered by tracing its subsequent ownership.
One of the creditors named above, Valentine Hill, a public-spirited merchant who was for several years one of the Selectmen and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, came into possession of the house.56 He in turn, “by his deed bearing date May 24, 1649,” sold to Richard Hutchinson, of London —
“all that mansion house in Boston formerly the house of John Winthropp, Senior, of Boston, Esquire, with all the yards, orchards, gardens, and all the housing thereon erected, the house and garden then in possession of Capt. Robert Harding excepted.”
The property is described as bounded with the street (afterward State street) and the houses of Capt. Robert Harding, William Davies, and John Holland on the north; the cove east; the creek and Mr. Stephen Winthrop’s marsh, south; house and land of Mr. Thomas Leverett, west.57
In the description we need to note only the sites of Harding’s and Leverett’s houses. Harding’s lot was on the westerly corner of the present State and Kilby streets, and was later the site of “The Bunch of Grapes” tavern. When Harding sold his house to Edward Lane in 1651, it was described as “near adjoining to a messuage late belonging to John Winthrop deceased.”58 Leverett’s lot was on the easterly corner of State and Congress streets.
Richard Hutchinson, of London, brother-in-law of Anne Hutchinson, had large interests in Boston, but he does not appear to have been a resident in this country. His ownership of that part of the Winthrop estate under consideration lasted until 1 March, 1657–8, when he sold it, with certain immaterial exceptions, to William Brenton, distinctly including in the sale the “mansion house, heretofore the house of said John Winthropp, Senior.”59
The Harding lot spoken of above, passing successively through the hands of Edward Lane, John Leverett, Thomas Broughton, and others, was bought by Joshua Atwater, in 1660, when it was said to be bounded westerly by the house of William Brenton.60
William Brenton, a prominent man in Boston and Newport, was for several years Governor of Rhode Island. Selling portions of the Winthrop land from time to time, he parted with the mansion-house lot fronting on State street in 1671. The lot had a frontage of 114 feet, an average depth of about 115 feet, and measured 121 feet in the rear. Brenton sold the house and westerly two thirds of the lot to Elisha Hutchinson, 10 April, 1671.61 On the west Hutchinson was bounded by Governor John Leverett, who had succeeded his father, Thomas Leverett, in the ownership of the lot at the easterly corner of State and Congress streets. The remaining easterly third, running back to Brenton’s orchard, with a kitchen thereon, was sold by Brenton, 12 April, 1671, to Joshua Atwater, who already owned the adjoining Harding lot at the northwesterly corner of State and Kilby streets.62 Atwater had occupied, as Brenton’s tenant, the lot which he now bought, the deed describing it as land “on which said Joshua Atwater hath built a faire dwelling howse.”
By this account of the changes in the ownership of the Winthrop mansion-house lot from 1643 to 1671, we believe that we have shown that the site of the house is to be found near, if not actually on, the ground now covered by the main hall of the present Exchange Building.
Mr. Andrew McFarland Davis made the following communication concerning Sir Thomas Mowlson: —
Advantage has already been taken of the opportunity afforded through the publication of these Transactions, to make public certain facts which had been obtained concerning Sir Thomas and Lady Mowlson. The object of the present communication is to add, to what has already been published, such information as I was able to obtain during a visit made last summer to the little chapel in Cheshire erected by Sir Thomas in 1627. Hargrave is between five and six miles, in a southerly and easterly direction, from Chester. The chapel figures on the British Ordnance Maps as St. Peter’s Church. The name Hargrave appears in connection with the parish or hamlet, and also in special designations, such as Hargrave Old Hall, Hargrave Farm, and Hargravehall Farm; but one will look in vain for Hargrave-Stubbs, the title by which the hamlet is designated in Ormerod’s History of Cheshire.63 The inhabitants seem to be content with the shorter title of Hargrave as a means of describing the locality, and, with the exception that Hargrave-Green is sometimes spoken of, are apparently unconscious that they could lay claim to any other. The present rector of the parish, Reverend Thomas J. Evans,64 is a man of antiquarian tastes, and has taken steps to obtain information as to the founder of the chapel, and to protect from the ravages of time such memorials as are under his charge. Over the entrance to the chapel, in the gable of the porch, there is a tablet inserted in the wall bearing the sculptured arms of Sir Thomas, and beneath these an incised inscription. The tablet is of the red sandstone of the neighborhood, of which the chapel is built, and the raised sculpture of the coat-of-arms is much weather-worn. The face of the stone where the inscription is registered was also much worn away; but Mr. Evans, in order to preserve the record, recently had the letters deepened. In doing this he took every precaution to preserve the form and shape of each letter precisely as it was originally cut. The legend is now quite legible. It has already been quoted in our Transactions, from Ormerod’s Cheshire; but I give the following reproduction of it as it appears on the porch gable: —
Thomas Moulsone
of ye citty of London
Alderman built this
chappell vpon his
owne cost & charge
An̊: Dm̃: 1627
THE PORCH GABLE OF ST. PETER’S CHURCH, HARGRAVE, CHESHIRE.
Built at the cost of sir Thomas Mowlson, 1627.
The chapel is in perfect repair, and the interior is quite pretty. This is in a great measure due to the liberality of the present Duke of Westminster and his father. The school, which was originally carried on in the western end of the building, now occupies a separate structure just west of the chapel.
Mr. Evans kindly placed at my command such notes as he had gathered containing information relative to the founder of the chapel. Among these was a complete copy of so much of the Report of the Commissioners of Charity as relates to this foundation.65 This report gives in detail the material used by Ormerod in his account of the chapel and school. There was also certain information, credited by a correspondent of Mr. Evans to Mr. Charles Welch, of the Guildhall Library, London. The new matter in this was to the following effect: Sir Thomas —
“was an inhabitant of the Parish of St. Christopher le Stocks . . . from 1608 till his death in 1638. Here he had a mansion with very extensive grounds, abutting I think on Princess St. . . . [He] was in 1632 Governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers.”
At the Guildhall Library in London, I pursued the investigation still further, and, through the courteous assistance which I there received, I was able to establish one or two additional points of interest in Sir Thomas’s career. In Orridge’s Citizens of London66 there is a tabulated list of the Lord Mayors, showing the date of the mayoralty of each incumbent, and giving the Company to which he belonged. Under date of 1633, in the column headed “Mayors,” appear two names, Sir Ralph Freeman and Sir Thomas Mowlson; while under the column headed “Company,” the word “Clothworker” is recorded. This entry has caused it to be stated that Sir Thomas was a member of the Clothworkers’ Company. One of the first things that I had determined in my own mind concerning him, in previous investigations, was that he was a member of the Grocers’ Company. If this conclusion was correct, it was impossible that he should simultaneously have been a member of the Clothworkers’ Company; and the entry in the table, in that event, would have been descriptive only of Sir Ralph Freeman. An examination of an Account of the Grocers’ Company, printed for the Company in 1689,67 revealed the fact that Sir Thomas was enrolled among their benefactors. He contributed £200 towards a fund “to be lent to young members of the Company, on small or no interest at the discretion of the Wardens and Assistants.”
On the other hand, Heath’s account of the Company,68 published in 1854, contains a list of the Lord Mayors who have been members of the Grocers’ Company, in which the name of Sir Thomas does not occur.
In the Papers of the House of Commons,69 the name of Sir Thomas appears among those returned to serve in Parliament, 1627–1628. He is there described as an alderman and as a representative of London City. The date of his return is given 19 February, 1627–8.
The Register of the Parish of St. Christopher le Stocks70 has been printed. I quote the entry which concerns us in this connection. Punctuation will not help us to determine which of the two dates applies to the event which is entered between them; hut we are left in the settlement of this question to other sources of information: —
“15th August 1638 was buried Sr Thomas Moulson: Grocer: Once Lord Maior of the Cittey of London 10th January 1638.”
The Guildhall Library is the owner of some manuscript notes collected by J. J. Stocken. Among these notes are the following:
“Moulson, Thomas, Kt. Grocer. Sheriff, 1623; Alderman of Broad St.; Mayor, 1633, pt.; Son of Thomas Moulson of Hargrave, Co. Cheshire; Lived in Threadneedle Street, where in 1617, was born his nephew, Sir Edward Turnoor, Speaker of the House of Commons; Died, 6. Dec. 1638.”
The statement made by Mr. Welch that Sir Thomas was at one time Governor of the Company of Merchant Adventurers rests upon the fact that Howel, in 1632, thus addressed him in one of his familiar letters.71
These fragmentary references add materially to our knowledge of the career of Sir Thomas Mowlson. We already knew that he was in public service during the greater part of his life; but for the first time we learn that he was a Member of Parliament, and that he was honored by the distinguished position of Governor of the great Company of Merchant Adventurers. His reputation as a generous giver has already been so well established that the discovery of his name among the benefactors of the Company to which he belonged might confidently have been predicted. Here, as elsewhere, he stands true to the ideal which we must necessarily have conceived of him.
It may be said that it does not follow, because he gave to the Grocers’ Company, that he was therefore a member of that Company. The constant references to him as a grocer, with which we meet, leave little room for doubt upon that point. The omission of the name of his Company in the table prepared by Orridge, to which I have already alluded, was a very natural error on the part of Orridge, and counts for but little. It was of precisely the same class as the omission of his name by Heath from the list of grocers who had been Lord Mayors. In each case it arose from the fact that Sir Thomas’s service was for an unexpired term for which another had originally been elected.
Mr. Stocken gives the date of his death as 6 December, 1638. The interment entry at St. Christopher le Stocks, if the month is correct, must have been old style, and should have been January 10, 1638–9, as given by Dr. Marshall.72 The establishment by Lady Mowlson of a scholarship at Harvard College is the only cause for our taking any special interest in the career of Sir Thomas. The investigations which I have here recorded add nothing directly to our knowledge of her life; yet I feel that there is some gain in the accumulation of facts which enable us to estimate more truly the position in London society which this generous lady must have held.
Mr. Henry H. Edes communicated a Bibliography of the Historical Publications of the New England States. It was prepared by Mr. Appleton P. C. Griffin, formerly of the Boston Public Library, who offered it for the Society’s acceptance. The thanks of the Society were given to Mr. Griffin for this valuable paper, and it was referred to the Committee of Publication.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE HISTORICAL PUBLICATIONS OF THE NEW-ENGLAND STATES.
The purpose of this paper is to give a Bibliographical Account of the collections of printed Archives of the several New England States, with descriptive analyses of their contents.
As introductory to the Bibliography proper, it has seemed to me fit to enumerate briefly the more recent additions to the printed documentary literature upon American history. It has been no part of my plan to include in the Bibliography the reprints of the Bodies of Laws, such as Whitmore’s editions of the Laws of 1660 and 1672, or that monumental work of minute historical research, Mr. Goodell’s edition of the Province Laws.
I have not attempted any account of Colonial Legislation, except that I have put down some few facts necessary to a bibliographical description of the printed records.
The progress of historical research and the more widely recognized necessity of recourse to original sources for the correct understanding of historical questions have brought about an increased activity in the printing of documentary material.
Within a comparatively short period the literature of the English beginnings of American history has received the following accessions: the Calendars of State Papers published by the Public Record Office, the Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, Stevens’s “Fac-similes of Historical Manuscripts,” and Brown’s “Genesis of the United States.”
From France we have had Doniol’s “Histoire de la participation de la France à l’établissement des Etats-Unis d’Amérique,” in five large quarto volumes.
For Spanish America the series of forty odd volumes of reprints of papers, narratives, etc., from the archives of Spain, entitled “Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al deseubrimiento, conquista y colonizacion de las posesiones Españolas en America;” the “Cartas de Indias,” and Icazbalceta’s “Nueva Colección de documentos para la historia de México.”
The great body of Columbus documents brought out by the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America would require a special paper for even a superficial description of its contents. As a representative production of Columbus centenary literature there may be cited the Collection in fourteen folio volumes, entitled, “Raccolta di Documenti e Studi pubblicati dalla R. Commissione Colombiana pel Quarto Centenario dalla Scoperta dell’ America.”
Before noticing the collections brought out in this country, I will speak of the issues of the Canadian press as touching the documentary history of the United States. In 1883 the Government of Canada instituted a Department of Archives, in which have been gathered copies of papers preserved in the depositaries of Europe, as well as original documents belonging to Canada. Mr. Douglas Brymner, the archivist, has calendared the collection, and his successive annual reports from 1883 to 1894 have contained the results of his labors. The Haldimand Papers, the correspondence of Gage, Lord Amherst, Bouquet, and others, have especial value for our early history.
In Canada there have also appeared a series of French papers under the editorship of the Abbé Casgrain, comprising reprints of the De Lévis Papers, including the correspondence of Governors Duquesne and Vaudreuil, 1755–1760, the Journal and Letters of Montcalm, etc.; and the Government has issued a work in four large quarto volumes, entitled, “Collection de manuscrits contenant lettres, mémoires, et autres documents historiques relatifs à la Nouvelle-France.”
Of the thirteen original States of the United States, all but Delaware, Georgia, and South Carolina have published some portion of their archives. It devolved upon the Historical Society of Delaware to publish all that has appeared in print of the archives of that State, the “Minutes of the Council of the Delaware State from 1776 to 1792,” forming one of the volumes of the publications of the Society. The documents relating to the early settlements on the Delaware are necessarily brought into the Pennsylvania and New York publications.
As the publications of the New England States are to receive distinct treatment further on, I will now briefly record the work of the other States in printing their Records.
The State of New York has published a series of fifteen volumes, entitled “Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York;” “Calendars of New York Historical Manuscripts,” in four volumes; and O’Callaghan’s “Documentary History of the State of New-York,” in four volumes, of which there are octavo and quarto editions published in 1849 and 1850, respectively, the quarto issue having been subjected to revision and extension.
The records of Pennsylvania have been exhaustively issued for public use, and the series of archives has been most admirably grouped for consultation. The first collection of papers printed was published under the editorship of Samuel Hazard, with the title “Colonial Records of Pennsylvania” in twelve octavo volumes. The second collection has the title of “Pennsylvania Archives,” and comprises twelve volumes in a first series and nineteen in a second. In the latter the papers are carefully classified, and single volumes are given up to the “Whiskey Insurrection,” “Colonies on the Delaware,” the “French Occupation of Pennsylvania,” “Marriage Records of Colonial Churches,” the “Boundary Dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland,” the “Connecticut Settlement of Western Pennsylvania;” and several volumes are devoted to the Revolutionary Rolls, with numerous Journals and Diaries of Revolutionary officers.
Under the editorship, first of William A. Whitehead, and later of William Nelson of the New Jersey Historical Society, the State of New Jersey has published eighteen volumes of “Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey.” The eleventh and twelfth volumes, which have lately appeared (published out of their numerical order), are devoted to historical items from early Colonial Newspapers, with some account of the American Colonial press.
The Maryland Historical Society has had the supervision of the production of the “Archives of Maryland,” and under the skilful editorship of William Hand Browne, there have been published thirteen large quarto volumes, including Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, Journals of the Council, Correspondence of Governor Sharpe, Judicial and Testamentary Business of the Provincial Court, Journal of the Council of Safety.
The State of North Carolina has caused to be gathered in the office of the Secretary of State a full collection of documents mainly drawn from the Archives of Great Britain; and these papers have been presented in ten large quarto volumes in handsome typography, but with insufficient editing. Embracing as these papers do everything possible to be found regarding the Province of Carolina, they in good measure make up for the inaccessibility of the Records of South Carolina.
In New England, Connecticut was the first State to put forth a volume of its Records in printed form. The first volume, published in 1850, contains the Documents relating to the Colony prior to the Union with New Haven, and includes the Charter, Records of the General and Particular Courts, Record of Wills and Inventories, the Southampton Combination, and Claims to the Pequot Country. The Journals of the General Assembly down to and including part of the year 1776, with the Journals of the Governor and Council, form the body of the Papers printed in the fifteen volumes issued by Connecticut under the title of “The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut.” Two volumes of the Public Records of the State of Connecticut have lately been published, and are more fully described in the bibliography proper.
The New Haven Colony Records were published in 1857 and 1858 under the editorship of Charles J. Hoadly, the first volume being the “Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, from 1638 to 1649;” and the second, “Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven from May, 1653, to the Union.”
The first volume of Rhode Island Records was published in 1856, and comprised records of the settlements at Providence, Portsmouth, Newport, and Warwick, and of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations under the first Charter. The publication of the Records of this State was completed in 1865 with the issue of the tenth volume. The Proceedings of the General Assembly and the Proceedings of the Governor and Council were the chief documents printed, but certain accessory papers were also included.
The New Hampshire authorities have shown a most commendable public spirit in collecting and printing the Records of that State. The first volume of the printed series was issued in 1867 under the editorship of Nathaniel Bouton, D. D., with the title of “Provincial Papers. Documents, and Records relating to the Province of New Hampshire, from the earliest Period of its Settlement.” This volume was also issued by the New Hampshire Historical Society as a part of its Collections. The complete set of the printed Records now numbers twenty-four volumes, the first seven bearing the title of Provincial Papers. Vol. 8, is entitled State Papers; Vol. 9, Town Papers; Vol. 10, Provincial and State Papers; Vols. 11–13, Town Papers; Vols. 14–17, Rolls and Documents relating to Soldiers in the Revolutionary War; Vol. 18, Miscellaneous Provincial and State Papers; Vol. 19, Provincial Papers; Vols. 20–22, Early State Papers; and Vols. 23, 24, State of New Hampshire.
From the fact of having no existence as a State until recent times, Maine necessarily has no legislative Documents for the Colonial period. The four volumes of “Documentary History of the State of Maine,” published by the Maine Historical Society with the assistance of the State, are concerned with the geographical history and the early settlements. Dr. J. G. Kohl’s “History of the Discovery of Maine” constitutes the first volume of the Series; Hakluyt’s “Discourse on Western Planting,” the second; the “Trelawny Papers,” the third; and the “Baxter Papers,” the fourth. A volume of “Maine Wills,” 1640–1760, and the “York Deeds” in ten volumes, are semi-official publications.
The singular history of the origin and formation of the State of Vermont gives its Records some special characteristics. The eight volumes of “The Records of the Governor and Council,” published by the State from 1873 to 1880 are largely taken up with Documents upon the Controversy of the New Hampshire Grants. They include reports of proceedings of Conventions held at various towns for the purposes of defence against the claims of New York, or to form plans of union, with reprints of controversial pamphlets on the respective claims of the New York and New Hampshire settlers.
The printed Records of our own State, as it is well known, are the five volumes edited by Dr. Shurtleff. The Colony Records which Dr. Shurtleff used consist of five folio manuscripts. The first volume begins with the Records of the Company and of the Court of Assistants in England, prior to the transfer of the government to New England, the last entry giving a meeting of the Court of Assistants on the Arbella, 23 March, 1629–30; followed by the Records of the same Bodies in America, beginning with a Court of Assistants at Charlestown, 23 August, 1630, and ending with the minutes of the General Court held 10 December, 1641.
The first volume of Shurtleff’s edition also includes a copy of the Colony Charter, printed from the original manuscript, a letter of Governor Cradock in London to Endicott, and letters from the Governor and Company in England to the Governor and Council in America. Shurtleff’s second volume is a transcript of the second volume of the manuscripts giving the Records of the General Court or Colony, as kept by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, from 1642 to 1649.
It will be observed that with the minutes of the Court of Assistants in the first volume of the printed work the Records of that Court cease.
In the first volume of the original manuscript the Records of the Court of Assistants are interspersed in chronological order among the Records of the General Court. The cessation of this method of keeping the Records is perhaps explained by the fact that the Records of both bodies were no longer kept by the same officer. The introduction of a new hand in the duty of keeping the Records probably caused a departure from the method pursued in the first volume, and explains the failure of a continuance of the Court of Assistants’ Records. The Records of the Court of Assistants for the years 1641–1673 are not known to exist, but that such were kept seems certain.
The contemporaneous copy of the Court Records acquired in 1890 by the Public Library of the City of Boston, was found to contain the records of the Court of Assistants, beginning 28 October, 1641, and ending with 5 March, 1643; and they were printed by Mr. William H. Whitmore in his “Bibliographical Sketch of the Laws of the Massachusetts Colony from 1630 to 1686.”
The Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court for the County of Suffolk has in his custody a volume marked, “Court of Assistants, Second Booke of Records, beganne the third of March, 1673.” This inscription implies the existence of a First Book of Records, and that one existed is borne out by citations in the Court Files. The composition of this “First Booke of Records” is a matter for conjecture. It may have covered the entire period from 1641, when the first volume of Records stops, down to 1673, with which date the “Second Booke of Records” begins, or it may have covered a shorter period. Mr. William P. Upham, who is assisting Mr. Noble73 in preparing the Second Book for the press, is of the opinion that the Barlow excerpt is a copy from records kept by Increase Nowell, who was Secretary of the Colony or Commonwealth down to 1650, and was also Secretary of the Assistants from 1641 to that time. The Barlow excerpt affords internal evidence of being a copy from Nowell’s notes. Rawson, who succeeded Nowell as Secretary of the General Court or Colony in 1650, from the requirements of the position must have taken up Nowell’s work for the Court of Assistants at the same time.
The First Book of Records, therefore, may have begun with Nowell’s time, or possibly only with Rawson’s assumption of the Secretaryship in 1650. The former seems the more probable theory; so that the First Book, if it could be found, would fill the gap now existing in the Records of the Court of Assistants for the period from 1641 to 1673.
The third volume of Shurtleff’s work is a transcript of the Records of the General Court kept by the Clerk of the House of Deputies from 1644 to 1657. It will be remembered that from 1634, when the system of representation by Deputies was introduced at the Court of Elections, down to 1643, the Assistants and Deputies sat as one body. In 1644 the Houses were divided; the Governor and Magistrates sat in one room, and the Deputies in another.
Prior to the assembling of the Deputies as a separate body, 29 May, 1644, the Secretary, “amongst the magistrates (who is the generall officer of the Commonwealth) for the keeping of the publicke records of the same,” appears to have been the only recording officer. The Records of the Deputies at their first Meeting were kept by one of their number, presumably Captain Bridges. This last information is due to Mr. William P. Upham, who has arrived at this conclusion after a study of the handwriting in which the Records of the first meeting appear. At the Court of Elections, begun on 14 May, 1645, Edward Rawson was elected Clerk of the Deputies “to enter all votes past in both houses & also those yt passe only by them.”
In 1648 it was deemed necessary to prescribe a definite method of keeping the Records. At that time the “secretary amongst the magistrates, (who is the genrall officer of the com̄on wealth, for the keeping the publike records of the same,)” and the Clerk of the Deputies were given two books each, “bound up with velum & pastboard, . . . one to be a iournall to each of them, the other for the faire entry of all lawes, acts, & orders, &c, that shall passe the magistrates & deputies, that of the secretaries to be the publike record of the country, that of the clarkes to be a booke onely of coppies.”
The Secretary and Clerk were further directed “to enter into theire journalls respectiuely the titles of all bills, lawes, petitions, &c, that shalbe psented & read amongst them, what are referd to committees & what are voted negatiuely or affirmatively, & so for any additions or alterations.” From this it appears that the Secretary and Clerk were each required to keep two books; viz., a journal of their respective Houses, and a record of the concurrent proceedings of both Houses, or the General Court. The Secretary’s record to be the “publike record of the country,” i. e. the Colony or Commonwealth; and that kept by the Clerk of the Deputies, to be “a booke onely of coppies.”74
For the formation of his “publike record,” the Secretary was required at the end of each session of the General Court to enter in his Book of Records the “bills, lawes, petitions, &c,” that were given to him by the whole Court “meete together,” or by a Committee of the Magistrates and Deputies appointed for this purpose, as appeared “to haue passed the Magistrates & Deputies.”
The Clerk of the Deputies who was given “libertie for one moneth after to transcribe the same into his booke of coppies,” seems to have availed himself of this liberty; for from this time (1648) the two Records (the Secretary’s and the Clerk’s, as printed in Shurtleff’s second and third volumes) agree much more closely, both in arrangement and verbal rendering, than hitherto.
From the above it would seem that the third volume in the Shurtleff edition is not an authoritative (or “publike record of the country”), but, from 1648, is a “booke onely of coppies,” kept by the Clerk of the Deputies for the information and convenience of the lower House.
The Journals ordered by the Act of 1648 in the following terms: “That the secritary & clarke for the Deputies shall briefly enter into theire journalls respectiuely the titles of all bills, orders, lawes, petitions, &c., that shalbe psented & read amongst them, what are referd to committees, & what are voted negatively or affirmatively,” are not known to be extant. Mr. William P. Upham says that a few leaves now among the files of the Supreme Judicial Court may be fragments of one of these Journals.
From what has been presented above, it appears that from the time of the separation of the two Houses in 1644 down to 1657, when the Records kept by the Clerk of the Deputies cease, two contemporaneous records of the General Court or the Commonwealth are preserved and printed by Shurtleff, — one being that kept by the Secretary “amongst the Magistrates (who is the generall officer of the Commonwealth),” constituting the “publicke record of the country,” making the continuous Record found in Shurtleff’s second and fourth volumes; the other being the record kept by the Clerk of the House of Deputies, described as a “booke only of coppies,” but which included minutes of business introduced into the House, that either did not receive or require approval by the Magistrates, and therefore not entered in the “publicke record of the country.” This accounts for what is Shurtleff’s third volume, running parallel with the second and part of the fourth volume, and each containing substantially the same matter, with different arrangement and verbal rendering, and the occasional entry of an item in one Record not found in the other.
The fourth and fifth volumes of the Shurtleff collection contain the continuous Records of the General Court from 1650 to the May session of 1686, when the Colony came under the sway of a Royal Commission, with Joseph Dudley as President.
The unfortunate plan adopted by Dr. Shurtleff to remedy certain deficiencies in the text of the first issue of Vols. I. and II. of the Records, is fully set forth by Mr. Whitmore in his “Bibliographical Sketch of the Laws of the Massachusetts Colony.” It appears that soon after the publication of the first edition the contemporaneous copy of the Records, now preserved in the Public Library, came to Dr. Shurtleff’s hands, and from that he was able to supply certain gaps in the original Records. A new issue of the Shurtleff edition was authorized about this time; and to introduce the newly-discovered material, Dr. Shurtleff caused the stereotyped plates of Vols. I. and II. to be changed, but without giving any notice on the titlepages that any alterations had been made.
The Records of the Plymouth Colony were also intrusted to the editorship of Dr. Shurtleff. It may be here observed that the printed titlepages do not correctly represent the editorial work performed by Mr. Pulsifer, who superseded Dr. Shurtleff in the editorship. The titlepages were printed in advance of the printing of the volumes, so that Dr. Shurtleff’s name appears as an editor upon volumes with which he had nothing to do.
The Bibliography which is now presented will afford a description of the make-up and order of appearance of the printed collections of the several New England States.
CONNECTICUT.
Connecticut Colony.
The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut,
Prior to the Union with New Haven Colony, May, 1665; transcribed and published (in accordance with a resolution of the General Assembly) under the Supervision of the Secretary of State, with occasional Notes, and an Appendix. By J. Hammond Trumbull.
[Vol. I.] Hartford, 1850. vii, (1), 604, (1) pp. 7 plates of fac-similes. 8vo.
Contents. Records of the General and Particular courts, from April, 1636, to December, 1649; Records of the General Court, from February, 1650, to May, 1665; Record of Wills and Inventories, 1640 to 1649; Code of Laws established by the General Court, May, 1650. Appendix: Letter from Sir William Boswell, relating to the encroachments of the Dutch, 1641–2; A coppie of ye combination of Southampton wth Hartford; The agreement [of Connecticut] with Fenwick [relative to jurisdiction of the river Towns]; Claims of Massachusetts to the Pequot country; Letter from Connecticut to Easthampton [relative to witchcraft case of Jos. Garlick and wife]; The settlement with Capt. John Cullick; Abstract of the Will of George Fenwick; Letter to the Commissioners of the United Colonies, complaining of affronts received from the Narragansetts, 1660; Letters respecting Governor Hopkins’s Legacy; The Charter of 1665; Petition of Mrs. Cullick to the General Court, in May, 1663; List of Documents relating to the Union with New Haven.
Note. — “Fac-similes of the autographs of members of the first Court of Election under the Constitution of 1639, and of Magistrates chosen at the Union of the Colonies, in 1605, have been prepared with all possible care and accuracy, from originals. . . . Fac-similes of portions of the original records, in the hand writing of each of the secretaries who held office prior to the Union, have also been introduced.”
[Vol. II.] From 1665 to 1678; with the Journal of the Council of War, 1675 to 1678. Hartford, 1852. iv, 610 pp.
Contents. The Charter of Connecticut; Records of the General Court from May, 1665, to October, 1669; May, 1670, to October, 1677; Journal and Correspondence of the Council, 1675–1677. Appendix: Reports of the Committee appointed to hear Uncas’s complaints, 1665; Tawtanimo’s grants to Richard Baldwin, 1659–60; Letters from Charles II., to Connecticut, 1666; Correspondence with Massachusetts, respecting a Synod, 1667; List of Freemen in the several towns, October, 1669: Hartford; Windsor; Wethersfield; Farmington; Fairfield; Stratford; Norwalk; Saybrook; New London; Stonington; Norwich; New Haven; Milford; Branford; Guilford; Killingworth; Stamford; Haddam; Abstracts [etc.] of Documents relating to Rhode Island boundary, 1665–1677; The mortgaged Lands: Major Atherton and his partners, 1659–1683; Lands granted by Massachusetts, in the Pequot country, 1670; The rumored Indian Plot of 1669; Proceedings of the Commissioners to establish the Rhode Island boundary, June, 1670; Correspondence with Massachusetts respecting the Boundary line, 1671–1673; New London and Lyme Riot, 1670; Letter from the King announcing the Declaration of War with the States General, 1672; Hostilities with the Dutch, 1673–4; The Laws of 1672–3 (titlepage and preface, with description of the volume printed in 1673); Claims of Gov. Andross, 1674–5; Laws for the Pequots, 1675; Stonington petition, 1675; Gov. Andross at Saybrook, 1675; The King’s letter respecting William Harris and his claim to Pawtuxet lands, 1675; Report of a Committee about Narragansett Lands, June, 1677; Letters from Rev. James Fitch, respecting Uncas and the Surrenderers, 1678.
[Vol. III.] From May, 1678 to June, 1689; with Notes and an Appendix comprising such Documents from the State Archives, and other Sources, as illustrate the History of the Colony during the Administration of Sir Edmund Andros. Hartford, 1859. xiii, (1), 538 pp.
Contents. Proceedings of the General Court, from May, 1678, to October, 1687; Interruption of Charter Government, by Sir Edmund Andros; Records of the May court, 1689; June court, 1689. Appendix.
Note. — The Appendix comprises one hundred and forty-two items arranged chronologically from 1678 to 1689. The chief documents there printed are Heads of inquiry to bee sent to the Governor of Conecticutt, with answers thereto, 1680; Articles of misdemeanor against Connecticut, by Edward Randolph, 1685, with Order in Council; Extracts from “Will and Doom, or the Miseries of Connecticut,” by Gershom Bulkelcy; Laws enacted by Governor Andros and his Council, 1687; Extracts from the Records of the Commissioners of the United Colonies.
[Vol. IV.] From August, 1689, to May, 1706; transcribed and edited by Charles J. Hoadly. Hartford, 1868. vi, 574 pp.
Note. — “The following pages contain the records [of the General Court] from August, 1689, to the close of the May session, 1706, being the remainder from page 204 of the third manuscript volume of Records of the Colony of Connecticut. . . . The Council Journal from May 30th, 1696, to May, 1698, . . . has been included in this volume. . . . Other matters of interest in this volume are the papers relative to the visit of Col. Fletcher to Hartford, in October, 1693, for the purpose of presenting his claims to the command of the Connecticut Militia. . . . The incorporation and settlement of quite a number of new towns, and the division of some towns into villages and distinct ecclesiastical societies, which at a later day became towns, may also be specified.” Preface. On page 76 is a note relative to a trial for witchcraft in 1692. This was the last trial in Connecticut for the imaginary crime.
[Vol. V.] From October, 1706, to October, 1716, with the Council Journal from October, 1710, to February, 1717. Hartford, 1870. v, (1), 612 pp.
Note. — “The present publication contains the whole of Volume IV. of the manuscript Records of the Colony of Connecticut, and the first sixty-five pages of Volume V. It contains also, inserted in chronological order between sessions of the General Assembly, the Records of the Governor and Council from October 30th, 1710, to February 19th, 1716–17.” Includes measures adopted for raising troops for the Expedition against Canada, Boundary transactions, acts regarding the Currency, Bills of Credit, etc.
[Vol. VI.] From May, 1717, to October, 1725, with the Council Journal from May, 1717, to April, 1726. Hartford, 1872. iv, 602 pp.
Note. — “This volume . . . continues the publication of the fifth volume of the manuscript Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from page 66 to 514, inclusive, embracing the period between May, 1717, and the close of the October session of the General Assembly in 1725. It contains also the record of the acts of the Governor and Council from May, 1717, to April, 1726. Preface.
[Vol. VII.] From May, 1726, to May, 1735, inclusive. Hartford, 1873. iv, 610 pp. Fac-simile of “Three shillings bill” issued by New London Societies united for trade and commerce, 1732.
Note. — This volume contains the remainder of Volume V. of the manuscript Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from page 515. covering period from May, 1726, to the end of May session, 1730; the first 223 pages of Volume VI., continuing the records to the end of May session, 1735; and the Journal of the Governor and Council from May, 1726, to February, 1727–8. The Appendix contains Order of the King in Council, upon the appeal of John Winthrop against Thomas Lechmere, annulling the law of Connecticut entitled “An Act for the settlement of Intestate Estates.” Queries relating to the Colony of Connecticut, from the Board of Trade and Plantations, with the answers thereto, 1729–1730.
[Vol. VIII.] From October, 1735, to October, 1743, inclusive. Hartford, 1874. (4), 604 pp.
Note. — “This publication contains from page 224 of Volume VI. of the manuscript Records of the Colony of Connecticut. . . . The Journal of the Governor and Council for the years embraced in this volume is not known to be extant.” Prefatory Note.
[Vol. IX.] May, 1744, to November, 1750, inclusive. Hartford, 1876. (4), 621 pp.
Note. — “This volume contains the remainder of Volume VII. of the manuscript Records of the Colony of Connecticut from page 222, together with the first fifty-one pages of Volume VIII., and covers the period from May, 1744, to the death of Governor Law and the election of Governor Wolcott, in November, 1750.” The Appendix contains “Proceedings of the Privy Council on the appeals of Samuel Clark against Thomas Tousey and others, touching the Law of Intestate Estates, 1737–15; Queries from the Board of Trade to the Governor and Company of Connecticut, with answers thereto, 1784–9.”
[Vol. X.] May, 1751, to February, 1757, inclusive. Hartford, 1877. (4), 652 pp.
Note. — “The following pages complete the publication of the eighth manuscript volume of the Records of the Colony of Connecticut, and contain the acts of twenty-one sessions of the General Assembly.” The Journals of the Governor and Council, Committees of War, and of the General Assembly are wanting for 1751–1757. The Appendix contains the Census of 1756; Queries from the Board of Trade to the Governor and Company of Connecticut, with the answers thereto, 1755–6.
[Vol. XI.] May, 1757, to March, 1762, inclusive. Hartford, 1880. (4), 662 pp.
Note. — This and the preceding volume contain acts illustrating the participation of Connecticut in raising troops for the French and Indian Wars, giving appointments of officers, appropriations, etc. The Journals of the Governor and Council, Committees of War, and of the General Assembly are wanting. The Appendix contains Answers to queries from the Board of Trade, 1761–2.
[Vol. XII.] May, 1762, to October, 1767, inclusive. Hartford, 1881. (4), 698 pp.
Note. — The Journals of the Governor and Council, and of the General Assembly, are wanting. The Proceedings relative to the Stamp Act are recorded in this volume. The Appendix consists of a reprint of the Tract entitled Reasons why the British Colonies, in America, should not be charged with Internal Taxes, by Authority of Parliament; Humbly offered, for Consideration, In Behalf of the Colony of Connecticut. New Haven: Printed by B. Mecom, M,DCC,LXIV.
[Vol. XIII.] May, 1768, to May, 1772, inclusive. Hartford, 1885. (4), 689 pp. Folded plate: Chart of Saybrook Bar, by Abner Parker, 1771.
Note. — “This book contains the concluding part of Volume X. of the manuscript Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut, from page 312, and the first 147 pages of Volume XI. The Council Journal before May, 1770, is not known to be extant.” The portion from May, 1770, to 1772, is here printed. The Journals of the General Assembly are wanting.
[Vol. XIV.] October, 1772, to April, 1775, inclusive. Hartford, 1887. 4, 534 pp.
Note. — “The record of eight sessions of the General Assembly is in this book.” The Journals of the General Assembly are wanting for this period. The Journal of the Governor and Council fails after October, 1773.
The Appendix contains reprints of the following tracts: —
The Susquehannah Case [1774]; Report of the Commissioners appointed by the General Assembly of this Colony, to treat with the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania, Respecting the Boundaries of this Colony and that Province. Norwich: Printed by Green & Spooner, 1774; Au Account of the Number of inhabitants in the Colony of Connecticut, January 1, 1774; together with an Account of the Number of Inhabitants, taken January 1, 1756. Hartford: Printed by Ebenezer Watson, M,DCC,LXXIV.; Heads of Inquiry relative to the Present State and Condition of His Majesty’s Colony of Connecticut, Signified by His Majesty’s Secretary of State, in his Letter of the 5th July, 1773; With the Answers thereto. NewLondon: Printed by T. Green, M,DCC,LXXV.
[Vol. XV.] May, 1775, to June, 1776, inclusive, with the Journal of the Council of Safety from June 7, 1775, to October 2, 1776, and an Appendix containing some Council Proceedings 1663–1710. Hartford, 1890. iv, 617 pp.
Note. — The appointments of Revolutionary officers are recorded in this volume, with the measures adopted for raising troops, and other acts in connection with the Revolutionary officers.
State of Connecticut.
The Public Records of the State of Connecticut,
[Vol. I.] From October, 1776, to February, 1778, inclusive, with the Journal of the Council of Safety from October 11, 1776, to May 6, 1778, inclusive, and an Appendix. Published in accordance with a Resolution of the General Assembly, by Charles J. Hoadly, LL.D. Hartford, 1894. iv, 653 pp.
Note. — Contains “about one half of the first manuscript volume of the Records of the State of Connecticut, and all of the first volume of the Journal of the Council of Safety which was not printed in the fifteenth volume of Colonial Records of Connecticut.” Preface.
The Appendix comprises Journal of the Convention held at Providence, December 25, 1776, to January 3, 1777, of delegates from New England States to form a union for purposes of military defence, to regulate and improve the currency, to establish a scale of prices for commodities to prevent the exaction of exorbitant charges for necessities to Soldiers; Journal of Springfield Convention, July, 1777, of “Committees from the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York, for the purpose of holding a conference respecting the state of the paper currency of the said governments,” etc.; “Journal of the Commissioners of New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Providence plantations, and Connecticut at New Haven, on the 15th of January and continued by adjournment until the 20th day of the same month, 1778, when being joyned by the Commissioners of Massachusetts Bay, New York, and New Jersey” they proceeded to consider measures for regulating the price of labor, manufactures, internal produce, and commodities imported from foreign parts, also to regulate the charges of innholders.
[Vol. II.] From May, 1778, to April, 1780, inclusive, with the Journal of the Council of Safety from May 18, 1778, to April 23, 1780, and an Appendix. Hartford, 1895. iv, 607 pp. 8vo.
Note. — “Comprises the record of eight sessions of the General Assembly of Connecticut between May, 1778, and May, 1780, and contains the remaining hitherto unprinted portion of Volume one of the manuscript Records of the State of Connecticut, with the April Session of 1780 from Volume two. The records of the Council of Safety are also included, arranged in the same manner as in the former printed volume. The record of the ordinary Council is not known to exist. From May, 1779, the Journals of the Lower House of the Assembly are in our archives. The Journals of the Upper House are not preserved.” Preface.
The Appendix contains Depositions in regard to the Invasion of New Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk, in July, 1779; Proceedings of the Hartford Convention of October, 1779, of “Commissioners of the several States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, and New York” to regulate the currency and the prices of commodities, etc.; Proceedings of the Philadelphia Convention, January, 1780, of “Commissioners from the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, appointed for the purpose of considering the expediency of limiting prices.”
New Haven Colony.
Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven, from 1638 to 1649. Transcribed and edited in accordance with a Resolution of the General Assembly of Connecticut, with occasional Notes and an Appendix by Charles J. Hoadly.
[Vol. I.] Hartford, 1857. vii, (1), 547 pp. 8vo.
Contents. Indian deeds of the Plantation of New Haven; The names of all the Freemen of the Courte of Newhaven; New Haven Colony Records. Appendix: Correspondence of Governor Eaton and of Deputy Governor Goodyeare with Governor Stuyvesant and (one letter) Governor Winthrop concerning Dutch claims to New Haven and Connecticut.
Note. — “At their first settlement, though within the limits of the old Connecticut Patent, the plantations of New Haven, Guilford, and Milford, intended to be, if possible, separate and distinct governments, but finding themselves singly too weak, early in the spring of the year 1643, they confederated with New Haven, which had already by the purchase and settlement of Stamford, Yennycook or Southold, and Totoket or Branford, become the most considerable in size and influence, and thus was formed the Jurisdiction of New Haven. The present volume contains the records of the Colony of New Haven while it remained distinct, the beginning of the records of the Jurisdiction, and the records of the Town or Plantation up to the year 1650. From April, 1644, to May, 1653, the records of the Jurisdiction are lost, save that in this volume we have the proceedings of a Court of Magistrates, June 14th, 1646, and a Court of Election October 27th, 1646.” Introduction.
Records of the Colony or Jurisdiction of New Haven, from May, 1653, to the Union, together with the New Haven Code of 1656. Transcribed and edited in accordance with a Resolution of the General Assembly of Connecticut by Charles J. Hoadly.
[Vol. II.] Hartford, 1858. iv, 626 pp.
Note. — “The present volume comprises all the Records of the Jurisdiction of New Haven now known to exist, except the few entries in the ‘Records of the Colony and Plantation of New Haven,’ printed in 1857. . . . The New Haven laws are here given from the original printed copy belonging to the American Antiquarian Society.” The book is of great rarity and perhaps unique. The title is “New Haven’s Settling in New England. — And some Lawes for Government. Published for the use of that Colony, . . . London: Printed by M. S. for Livewell Chapman, 1656.”
MAINE.
Documentary History of the State of Maine.
Edited by William Willis.
Vol. I Containing a History of the Discovery of Maine. By J. G. Kohl. With an Appendix on the Voyages of the Cabots. By M. D’Avezac, of Paris. Published by the Maine Historical Society, aided by Appropriations from the State. Portland, 1869. (2), viii, (2), 10 — 535 pp. 8vo.
Contents. A history of the discovery of the East Coast of North America, particularly the Coast of Maine, from the Northmen in 990 to the Charter of Gilbert in 1578. By J. G. Kohl. Illustrated by Copies of the earliest Maps and Charts: Physical features of the Gulf and Coast of Maine; Discoveries of the Northmen in North-eastern America during the Middle Ages; Vinland Voyages of the Zeni; Sea chart of the Zeni; Charts of the Northmen: Map of the North Atlantic Ocean, drawn by Sigardus Stephanius, 1570; Map by Gudbrandus Torlacius, 1606; — English trading expeditions from Bristol and other English ports, toward the Northwest, principally to Iceland, during the 14th and 15th centuries: John of Kolno; Expeditions of Columbus prior to 1492; Voyage of John and Sebastian Cabot in 1497; Voyage of Sebastian Cabot in 1498; Map of Behaim, 1492; Map of Juan de la Cosa, 1500; Chart of the new world, by Johann Ruysch, 1508; The globe of Schoner, 1520; Expeditions of Gaspar and Miguel Cortereal to the north-eastern coast of America, in 1500–1503; Portuguese chart of the Coasts of Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, about 1504; Pedro Reinel’s chart of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Greenland, about 1505; Portuguese chart of Florida, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, made about 1520; — English voyages to Newfoundland in the beginning of the 16th century; Portuguese fishermen on Newfoundland Banks; Spanish voyages to Newfoundland, Juan Dornelos, Juan de Agramonte, and Sebastian Cabot, 1500, 1511, 1515; French voyages after Cortereal; English voyage to the North-west, said to have been undertaken under the command of Sebastian Cabot and Sir Thomas Pert, in 1517; Charts of the first French discoveries in “Terre Neuve:” Map of New France, by Jacomo di Gastaldi, 1550; “Terra Nueva,” by Girolamo Ruscelli, 1561; Spanish expeditious along the east coast of Florida from Columbus to Ayllon, 1492–1520; Expeditions to the East coast of North America under the French, by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524; Expedition of Estevan Gomez along the East coast of North America in 1525; Expedition of two English ships, the Mary of Guilford and the Samson, under the command of John Rut, 1527; Charts from Verrazano: Chart by Michael Lok, 1582; Map of America, by Baptista Agnese, 1536; On four maps of North America, by different authors between 1530 and 1544: Ptolemy, 1530; Ruscelli’s map, 1544; Map by Diego Homem, 1540; North America from a Portolauo, 1530; Charts to Gomez: Chart by Diego Ribero in 1529; Chart of the East coast of North America, by Alonzo de Chaves, in 1536, and Oviedo’s Description of the coast in 1537; French expeditions to Canada in 1534–1543, and Hore’s voyage, 1536; First voyage of Jacques Cartier in 1534; Second voyage, 1535; The voyage of Master Hore and other Englishmen to Cape Breton and Newfoundland in 1536; Expeditions of Jean François de La Roque de Roberval, and Jacques Cartier to Canada in 1540 and 1543; Chart of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, by Gaspar Viegas, 1534; Chart of Canada and the east coast of the U. S. from a map of the world in 1513; Chart of Nicholas Vallard de Dieppe, 1543; On the engraved map of the world said to have been made by Sebastian Cabot in 1544, and the voyage said to have been made by John and Sebastian Cabot, in 1494; Diego Homem’s chart, 1558; Mercator’s map, 1569; Expedition of Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon to the country Chicora (Carolina), in 1526; The Expeditions of Ferdinando de Soto, Diego Maldonado, and Gomez Arias, 1538–1543; The Expeditions under Ribault and Laudonnière to Florida, and the Spanish and English undertakings connected with them, in 1562–1574; Villegagnon’s expedition, 1555; Thevet’s expedition, 1556; Ribault’s first voyage to the East coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, in 1562; The fate of the French settlement at Tort Royal, 1562–1563; Laudonniere’s expedition, 1564; Voyage of Capt. John Hawkins along the coast of North America, from Florida to Newfoundland, in 1565; Third Expedition of the French to Florida under command of Jean Ribault, in 1565; Expeditions of Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles on the coast of Florida, in 1565–1567; Expedition of Dominique de Gourgues to Florida, in 1567–68; A Spanish survey of the East coast of Florida, in 1573, by Pedro Marquez.
Appendix: A Letter on the Voyages of John and Sebastian Cabot, by M. D’Avezac of Paris. Index.
Vol. II. Containing a Discourse on Western Planting, written in the Year 1584, by Richard Hakluyt. With a Preface and an Introduction by Leonard Woods, LL.D. Edited, with Notes in the Appendix, by Charles Deane. Published by the Maine Historical Society, aided by Appropriations from the State. Cambridge, 1877. lxi, (3), 253 pp. Plates: Fac-simile of the title-page of the Discourse from the MS.; 4 folded Plates of fac-similes: of Heads of Chapters found in the Public Record office; of first Page of Letter of Hakluyt to Walsingham, Apr. 7, 1585.
Contents. Note of the Standing Committee; Editorial note, by Charles Deane; Preface, by Leonard Woods [giving an account of the discovery of the manuscript of the Discourse and its identification with the narrative presented to Queen Elizabeth as “Mr. Rawley’s Voyage” and with the title “Sir Walter Raleigh’s Voyage to the West Indies” to Walsinghain in 1585]; A particuler discourse concerning the greate necessitie and manifolde comodyties that are like to growe to this Realme of Englande by the Westerne discoueries lately attempted, written in the yere 1584, by Richarde Hackluyt of Oxforde, at the requeste and direction of the righte worshipfull Mr. Walter Rayhly, nowe Knight, before the comynge home of his twoo barkes, and is devided into XXI chapiters, the titles whereof followe in the nexte leafe. Appendix: Notes to Hakluyt’s Discourse: Note on the Title-page; Notes on the “Heads of Chapters;” Notes on the Text of the Discourse.
Note. — It is thought that Hakluyt made three and possibly four copies of his “Discourse.” The first copy was given to Queen Elizabeth, the second was written for Secretary Walsinghain, the third for one whom he calls his “Worship” (possibly Sir Philip Sidney), and a fourth the original of the one here printed, and which is preserved in the collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps at Cheltenham. The original work was written in 1584, and the first copies contained only twenty chapters, as is shown by the “Heads of Chapters,” found in the Public Record office, one copy of which bore the title, “Sir Walter Raleigh’s Voyage to the West Indies,” and another “Mr. Rawley’s Voyage.” These are not known to be extant. The copy here reprinted contains an additional chapter and a different title-page as given above, and was probably published in 1585.
Vol. III. Containing the Trelawny Papers. Edited, and illustrated with Historical Notes and an Appendix, by James Phinney Baxter, A.M. Published by the Maine Historical Society, aided by Appropriations from the State. Portland, 1884. xxxi, (1), 520 pp. Illustrated. Folded maps and plans. Fac-similes.
Contents. Memoir of Robert Trelawny; The Trelawny pedigrees; Fac-similes of autographs; the Trelawny Papers: Patent to Robert Trelawny and others, Dec. 1, 1631; Patent to Thomas Commack, Nov. 1, 1631; Power of attorney to John Winter and Thomas Pomeroy, Jan. 18, 1631; Correspondence, July 23, 1632 — Apr. 4, 1809; Appendix: Will of Robert Trelawny, Senior, June 30, 1627; Robert Trelawny’s first will, Oct. 26, 1640; Robert Trelawny’s last will, August 27, 1643; Sir Jonathan Trelawny; The Song of the Western men; John Winter to Robert Trelawny, April, 1631, May 5, 1634; John Winter’s seal; Charges on Newfoundland fish; Pedigree of Sir Ferdinando Gorges; The Great Seal of the Council for New England; Account of Jordan and Ridgeway; the Will of Robert Jordan; Index.
Note. — The Trelawny patent covered Richmond’s Island and the whole of Cape Elizabeth. John Winter, acting for Trelawny, took possession of the grant in 1632 and built a house in 1633 upon Richmond’s Island. Winter dispossessed Cleeve, who had settled upon the main land opposite Richmond’s Island, and later laid claim under the Trelawny patent to Cleeve’s grant upon the Casco (including Portland), but was unsuccessful in his design. The Trelawny Papers include the records of the dispute with Cleeve. The Papers are largely concerned with Winter’s reports of his transactions at the plantation on Richmond’s Island. The Trelawny interest in the property, through legal manipulations, was finally annihilated, and the Winter heirs came into complete possession.
Vol. IV. Containing the Baxter Manuscripts. Edited by James Phinney Baxter, A.M. Published by the Maine Historical Society, aided by Appropriations from the State. Portland, 1889. xvi, 506 pp.
Note. — “The documents in this volume have been gathered by me during many years, from the archives of Massachusetts, the office of the Public Records in London, and the Bureau of Marine and Colonies in Paris.” —Editor. Comprises papers on Maine history covering the period from 1629 to Oct. 7, 1689, principally illustrating the disputed jurisdiction of the Province by Massachusetts and Gorges. Their general character is indicated by the following list of the more important or extensive papers: Grant to Thomas Lewis and Rich. Bonython, of land at Sagadahoc, Feb. 28, 1629; Documents on Massachusetts jurisdiction over Kittery, 1651–52; List of freemen sworn at York,; Commission appointed to settle the civil government at Wells and Cape Porpoise,; Submission of People of Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise to Massachusetts, 1653; A Short view of Ann Mason’s touching her lands in New England, 1653; Depositions relative to case of Hugh Gunnison, at Kittery; Dispute between Edward Godfrey and the town of York, 1654–55; Petition of York, Kittery, Wells, Saco, and Cape Porpoise to Oliver Cromwell, 1656; Submission of Black Point, Blue Point, Spurwinke, and Casco Bay to Massachusetts jurisdiction, 1658; Petition of Falmouth, May 30, 1660; Petition of George Cleeve concerning his claims to land at Cape Porpoise, Saco, Wells, and Falmouth; Request of the inhabitants of Scarborough, 1661; Petition of Wells concerning Rev. Seth Fletcher, 1661; George Cleeve vs. Robert Jordan; Documents relative to Gorges’s claims to the Province of Maine, 1664–65; Petition of inhabitants of Capo Porpus, Apr. 28, 1668; Petition of Wells, 1668; Petition of Falmouth, 1668; Representation of Sr Lewis Kirk concerning Accadie, 1667; The title of the English to Acadia, or Nova Scotia, and the comodities it yields, 1667; A resumé; an abstract of accounts of the title to lands in Nova Scotia; Order of commissioners forbidding the exercise of jurisdiction over the Province of Maine by Massachusetts or Gorges, with other documents on the subject, 1665; Report of His Majesties commissioners upon the colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Plymouth, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, 1665; Claims of John Littlebury, 1669; Petition of Kittery, 1673; Returne of the com̄itte apointed by the Genll Court, to consider of the matter peseuted relating to the Province of Mayne, 1678; A Declaration of the Inhabitants of the Province of Main, 1679, in regard to Gorges’s claim; Indenture between Thos Danforth and Captain Edward Tyng and others, 1684, in regard to holders under Gorges’s grants; Mcmoire sur l’état de la situation et la disposition en laquelle sont les habitaus du pays de l’Arcadie; Papers relative to operations at Falmouth, 1689.
MASSACHUSETTS.
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Records of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England.
Printed by order of the Legislature. Edited by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D.
Vol. I. 1628–1641. Boston, 1853. xv, 479 pp. 4to.
Contents. The Charter of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628–9; The Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628–1630 (prior to arrival in America); The Records of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1630–1641; Miscellaneous Records: Coppies of ye Oathes appertaininge to ye New England Companye; John Pratt’s Answer to the Court; Court Order, April 30, 1629, May 21, 1629; Freemen of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1631–1641. Appendix: Letters from the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England: Matthew Cradock, Feb. 16, 1628–9; First Letter of Instructions from the Governor and Company, April 17, 1629; Second Letter of Instructions, May 28, 1629; Letter from the Governor and Company to the Ministers, Oct. 16, 1629; Letter to Gov. Endecott, Oct. 16, 1629. General Index; Index of Freemen, 1631–1641.
Note. — There were two editions of this volume issued without any change in the title-pages. The second edition contained the following changes: to include the new material supplied by the Barlow manuscript; ten pages, numbered 37a to 37j, were inserted, and on page 346 the page was filled out with new matter.
Vol. II. 1642–1649. Boston, 1853. vii, 344 pp.
Contents. The Records of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1642–1649; Miscellaneous Records: Freemen of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, 1642–1649. General Index; Index of Freemen, 1642–1649.
Note. — There were two editions of this volume, as well as of the first volume, issued without any change in the titlepage of the second. “In Volume II. (which begins, in the first edition, with page 3) two whole pages were inserted, — numbers 1 and 2. and the first half of page 3. The former page 3 was cancelled, the two bottom lines . . . being carried over to page 4, and the spaces on page 4 being readjusted, so that page 4 ends alike in both editions.” — W. H. Whitmore.
Vol. III. 1644–1657. Boston, 1854. xiii, (3), 510 pp.
Contents. The Records of the House of Deputies, 1644–1657 (in fact the Records of the Colony, as kept by the Clerk of the Deputies).
Vol. IV., Part I. 1650–1660. Boston, 1854. v, (3), 518 pp.
Contents. Records of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, May, 1650–Dec. 19, 1060; Miscellaneous Records: Freemen of the Colony, 1650–1000; General Index; Index of Freemen, 1650–1660.
Vol. IV., Part II. 1661–1674. Boston, 1854. v, (3), 647 pp.
Contents. Records of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, May 23, 1661, to March, 1673–4; Miscellaneous Records: Freemen of the Colony, 1661–1674; General Index; Index of Freemen, 1661–1674.
Vol. V. 1674–1686. Boston, 1854. v, (3), 615 pp.
Contents. Records of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, May 27, 1674–May, 1686; Miscellaneous Records: Grant to William Blathwayt, May 19, 1680; Deputation of William Blathwayt to Edward Randolph; Certificate of appointment of William Dyre, Surveyor-General of Customs; Power of Attorney from John Awassamoag, 1084; Deed from John Awassamoag and others, Jan. 21, 1684–5; Deed from Thomas Awassamoag to Edward Rawson, April 21, 1685; Freemen of the Colony, 1674–1686; General Index; Index of Freemen, 1674–1686.
Plymouth Colony.
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England.
Printed by order of the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Edited by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D.
Vol. I. Court Orders: 1633–1640. Boston, 1855. xii, (4), 190 pp. 4to.
Contents. The Names of the Freemen, 1633; Acts and Passages of Court, and Grants of Land, from ye year 1632 until the year 1640.
Vol. II. Court Orders: 1641–1651. Boston, 1854. v, (3), 202 pp.
Vol. III. Court Orders: 1651–1661. Boston, 1855. v, (3), 250 pp.
Note. — “The third volume of the Court Orders of the Colony of New Plymouth is contained in a manuscript of about three hundred and forty pages, all in the handwriting of Mr. Nathaniel Morton, Secretary of the Colony. It comprises the records of the latter part of the administration of Governor William Bradford, and the first part of that of Governor Thomas Prence.”
Vol. IV. Court Orders: 1661–1668. Boston, 1855. v, (3), 218 pp.
Note. — “The manuscript of the fourth volume of Court Orders of the Colony of New Plymouth . . . is entirely in the well-known chirography of Mr. Nathaniel Morton. . . . It embraces a period of seven years, during the whole of which time Mr. Thomas Prence was Governor of the Colony.”
Vol. V. Court Orders: 1668–1678. Boston, 1856. v, (3), 315 pp.
Note. — Contains the Acts of the General Court and the Court of Assistants, with grants of land, and other entries of a more miscellaneous character, among which will be found a list of Freemen on May 29, 1670. Gov. Prence’s administration ended March, 1673; during the remainder of the period covered by this volume Josiah Winslow was Governor. Includes record of proceedings in regard to King Philip’s War.
Vol. VI. Court Orders: 1678–1691. Boston, 1856. v, (3), 300 pp.
Note. — During the period covered by this volume, the Governors of the Colony were Josiah Winslow, who died in office, Dec. 18, 1680, and Thomas Hinckley, who served in that capacity until the Union with Massachusetts, in 1692, with the exception of the period of the Andros usurpation.
Vol. VII. Judicial Acts: 1636–1692. Boston, 1857. v, (3), 339 pp.
Note. — “This volume comprises the Record of the Judicial Acts of the General Court and Court of Assistants of the Colony of New Plymouth . . . The first Act recorded bears date the third of January, 1636–7, and the last the fifth of April, 1692, consequently extending until the union of the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies.” Prior to 1637, the acts of this character were incorporated in the records of Court Orders.
Vol. VIII. Miscellaneous Records: 1633–1689. Boston, 1857. v, (3), 283 pp.
Contents. Records of Births, Marriages, Deaths, and Burials in the several towns of the Colony of New Plymouth, as they were returned by the respective town clerks, 1647–1087 (Yarmouth, Plymouth, Sandwich, Eastham, Scituate, Taunton, Barnstable, Swansey, Rehoboth, Marshfield); Treasury Accounts, 1058–1680; Lists of the Names of Freemen and others taken at various times; Freemen of Plymouth, Duxbury, Scituate, Sandwich, Taunton, Yarmouth, Barnstable, Marshfield, Rehoboth, Nawsett; Names of such as have taken the Oath of Fidelitie, 1057, of Marshfield, Rehoboth, Barnstable, Sandwich, Scituate, Plymouth, Duxbury, Sandwich, Eastham, Bridgewater, Cohannet, Yarmouth, Taunton; 1643, The Names of all the Males that are able to bear armes, Plymouth, Duxbury, Scituate, Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Taunton; List of Freemen in the different towns, taken about 1658; List of Freemen, taken 1683–4; List of Freemen received and admitted, June, 1689.
Index to Births, Marriages, Deaths, and Burials; Index to Towns, etc.; Index to Treasury Accounts, and Names of Freemen.
Vol. IX. Edited by David Pulsifer. Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England. Vol. I., 1643–1651. Boston, 1859. xvi, (8), 237 pp. Facsimiles.
Contents. Agreement respecting the bounds betwixt Plymouth and Massachusetts, 1640, Articles of Confederation Betweene the Plantacôns vnder the Goûment of the Massachusetts the Plantacôns vnder the Goûment of New Plymouth, the Plantacôns under the Goûment of Connectacutt and the Goûment of New Haven, 1643; Acts of the Commissioners, 1643–1651; The Petition of Humphrey Johnson, and Answer of the Court thereto, 1684.
Vol. X. Acts of the Commissioners of the United Colonies of New England. Vol. II., 1653–1679. Boston, 1859. viii, (4), 492 pp. Facsimiles.
Note. — The Appendix contains: “Records of several meetings of the Commissioners, which are omitted from the Plymouth copy; namely, the informal meeting at Plymouth, September, 1652; the special meeting at Hartford, August, 1673; meetings at Hartford, September, 1678; at Boston, August, 1679; and at Hartford, September, 1684,” furnished by J. Hammond Trumbull, from the Connecticut Archives; Documents, and Extracts from the Council Records of the Massachusetts Colony, 1644–1650.
Vol. XI. Laws, 1623–1682. Boston, 1861. xi, (1), 274 pp. Facsimiles in the text.
Vol. XII. Deeds, etc. Vol. I., 1620–1651. Book of Indian Records for their Lands. Boston, 1861. vii, (1), 264 pp. Facsimiles.
Note. — Consists of reprint of the manuscript volume entitled “Plimouth’s Great Book of Deeds of Lands enrolled from Ano 1627 to Ano 1651.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE.
Provincial Papers. Documents and Records relating to the Province of New-Hampshire, from the earliest period of its Settlement, 1623–1686.
Published by authority of the Legislature of New Hampshire. Compiled and edited by Nathaniel Bouton, D. D.
Vol. I. Concord, 1867. x, (2), 629 pp. 8vo.
Contents. The Province of New-Hampshire from 1623 to 1680, preliminary Notices by the Editor; Ancient Grants and other Documents relating to the Province, prepared by Samuel D. Bell; Mason’s will; Dover and Swampscot patents; The Wheelwright Deed; Original Province Papers, contained in “Book I. Province Records,” 1631–1650; Miscellaneous items relating to New-Hampshire, between 1629 and 1636; Documents and facts relating to Settlements in New-Hampshire, from 1631 to 1641, previous to submission to the Government of Massachusetts: Portsmouth, Dover; Names of Stewards and Servants sent by John Mason into this Province of New-Hampshire; Exeter, Hampton; Exeter combination, 1639; Indian deeds to Wheelwright and others, 1638; Exeter First Book of Records; Ancient Documents and Records relating to New-Hampshire, subsequent to Massachusetts’ jurisdiction, from 1641 to 1679 (includes documents on Dover and Swampscot patents; Hampton petition, 1043; Exeter petition, 1613; Bloody Point petition, 1644; Dover petitions, 1616, 1652, 1654; Strawberry Bancke petitions, 1651, 1653; Petition from Portsmouth, 1654; Witchcraft in New Hampshire, 1656; Quakers); Papers relating to the visit of the King’s Commissioners so far as respects New-Hampshire, from Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York; Same from Massachusetts records (including petitions from Portsmouth, Dover, Exeter, etc., regarding Massachusetts jurisdiction); Portsmouth address concerning the College, 1669; Petition of Oyster River for a Minister, 1669; Answer of Massachusetts to Mason’s and Gorges’s complaints; Documents relating to Indian troubles at Piscataqua and the Eastern parts, from 1675 to 1678; Names of Deputies from towns in New-Hampshire, to the General Court of Massachusetts, from 1641 to 1679; The Commission constituting a President [John Cutt] and Council for the Province of New Hampshire, 1679; Province laws; Address of the General Court of New-Hampshire to the King, 1680; Witchcraft; Province rate of Hampton, Exeter, Cocheco, Dover Neck, Bloody Point, Portsmouth, 1680; Fast proclamation, 1681; Commission of Edward Cranfield, 1682; Instructions to Cranfield; Province laws under Cranfield; Cranfield’s administration; Petition of the Inhabitants of New Hampshire against Robert Mason, 1685; Barefoot’s administration; Letters or petitions from John Hogkins, one of the Sachems of the Penacook Indians; Hon. Joseph Dudley’s administration, as President of his Majesty’s territory and dominion in New-England. Index.
Vol. II. 1686 to 1722: being Part I. of papers relating to that Period. Manchester, 1868. vi, 764 pp.
Contents. Commission and administration of Sir Edmund Andros; Unsettled state of the Province from April 18, 1689, to 1692; Proceedings of the people at Hampton, 1689; at Dover, Exeter, Portsmouth; New Hampshire petition, Feb. 20, 1689–90; Documents relating to Wars with the Indians, 1687–1690, including the Massacre at Dover, June, 1689; Commission and Instructions to Gov. Samuel Allen, 1692; Minutes of Council, under the administration of Lieut.-Gov. John Usher, 1692–1696; Custom House returns, 1692; Great Island, petition for a Township; Charter of New Castle; Indian treaty, at Pemaquid, Aug. 11, 1693; Massacre at Oyster River, 1694; Grant of the town of Kingston, 1694; Records of Council, 1696–1723; Association to stand by the Protestant Succession; Commission of Lt.-Gov. Wm. Partridge; Submission of the Eastern Indians, 1698; Commission of the Earl of Bellomont, 1698; Papers relating to the Earl of Bellomont’s Administration, so far as respects New Hampshire; Commission of Gov. Joseph Dudley; Commission of Lieut.-Governor John Usher; Province Seal; Trial before the Superior Court of Judicature, of the Province of New Hampshire, Allen vs. Waldron, 1707; Privateering; Instructions to Governor Dudley; Notice of Joseph Smith; New Province Seal; Failure of the Expedition against Canada, 1711; Treaty of Utrecht, — Proclamation; Notice of Charles Story; Lieutenant-Governor Vaughan’s complaint and speech; Commission to Lieutenant-Governor Wentworth; Settlement of Scotch Irish at Nutfield (Londonderry).
Vol. III. 1692 to 1722: being Part II. of Papers relating to that Period, containing the “Journal of the House and General Assembly.” Manchester, 1869. vii, 853 pp.
Contents. Journal of the Council and General Assembly, 1692–1722; Estimates of cost of building a fort at New Castle, 1700; Laws of the Province of New-Hampshire, from 1692–1702; Title of Samuel Allen to Province lands, 1704; Gov. Joseph Dudley’s Speeches; Commission of John Bridger as Surveyor-General of all Her Majesty’s woods; An act for a Free School to be kept at Portsmouth, 1708; Petition of inhabitants of Quamscott patent for a Charter; Petition of Inhabitants of the south part of Hampton, Hampton Falls, in relation to maintenance of a Minister, 1709; Expedition to Port Royal, 1710; Capture of Port Royal, 1710; Expedition against Canada, 1711; Petition from Hampton Falls in regard to school maintenance, 1712; Petition of Kingston, 1712; Articles of Pacification with the Eastern Indians, 1713; Petition of the Inhabitants of Bloody Point, 1713; Petition of Dover, 1715; Sketch of Sir Charles Hobby; Sketch of Gov. Samuel Shute, with his address to the Legislature, 1717; Petition of Portsmouth, 1717; Treaty with the Eastern Indians at Georgetown, 1717; Sketch of John Bridger, Surveyor-General, 1719; Apology of the People of Nutfield to Governor Shute, 1719–20.
Note. — The Journal of the Council and Assembly contained in this volume records the joint transactions of the two bodies. The Assembly’s acts required the approval of the Council to give them force. The preceding volume of this series concerned the Acts of the Council as the Executive body of the Province. “No Journal of the House, separate from the joint Journal of the Council and Assembly, is found till 1711, and this is very meagre and incomplete till 1722.”
Vol. IV. 1722 to 1737: containing important Records and Papers, pertaining to the Settlement of the Boundary Lines between New-Hampshire and Massachusetts. Manchester, 1870. viii, 891 pp.
Contents. Records of Council, administration of Lt.-Gov. John Wentworth; Journal of the General Assembly, April 30, 1722, to April 22, 1729; Submission of Eastern Indians, 1725; Treaty with the Indians at Casco, 1727; Journal of the House of Representatives, 1722–1724; List of tax payers in New Castle in 1728; Administration of Governor William Burnet: Journal of the House of Representatives from April 22, 1729, to Aug. 1, 1730; Journal of the Council and Assembly from April 22, 1729, to April 23, 1730, during Governor Burnet’s administration; Administration of Governor Jonathan Belcher: Journal of the House from August 25, 1730, to October 20, 1737; Petition of inhabitants of Chester, 1737; Journal of the General Assembly under the administration of Governor Jonathan Belcher, from August 25, 1730, to October 20, 1737; Correspondence, chiefly between Theodore Atkinson and Capt. John Thomlinson, agent Of the Province in London, relating mostly to the settlement of the boundary lines between the Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire; The Belcher correspondence, 1731–1737: Correspondence of Gov. Jonathan Belcher with Secretary Waldron and others of the New Hampshire Province.
Note. — “Contains all the Proceedings of the Governor, Council, and General Assembly of the Province, and all official documents and papers found in the Secretary’s office, relating to the long controversy between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, in respect of the Boundary lines between the two Provinces.”
Vol. V. 1738 to 1749: containing very valuable and interesting records and papers relating to the Expedition against Louisbourg, 1745. Nashua, 1871. viii, 962 pp.
Contents. Administration of Gov. Jonathan Belcher; Journal of the House, Nov., 1738–Feb. 25, 1739–40; Miscellaneous papers: Standards of weights; Province accounts, 1724–1740; Bills of Credit; Petition of Rev. Hugh Adams of Durham concerning his Maintenance; Letters of Rev. Hugh Adams; Order for fitting out Privateers, 1739; Orders relative to Spanish prizes, 1739–40; Address of the House of Commons about the value of Gold and Silver, and Bills of Credit, 1739; Declaration of war against Spain; Certificate respecting Bills of Credit, &c, Dec. 31, 1739; Letters to Governor Belcher concerning an Expedition to New Spain, &c, 1709–40; Journal of the General Assembly, Nov. 1, 1738–March 18, 1740–1; Administration of Gov. Benning Wentworth: Records of the Council, 1742–67, 1772–74; Journal of the House of Representatives under the administration of Gov. Benning Wentworth, 1741–2–June 4, 1718; Miscellaneous papers: Bill for taxing the New Districts; Report of committee to call the first meetings in Towns, 1742; Memorandum of sundry stores at Fort William and Mary, 1742; — List of the Commissioned officers in the Sixth regiment of Militia in the Province of New Hampshire; Cape Breton Expedition, plan of operations, 1745; Documents relating to Fort Dummer; Journal of the General Assembly, 1742–1750; Massachusetts Bill projected to sink the Paper Currency, &c.; Memorial of officers at Louisbourg; Agreement between John Thomlinson and John Tufton Mason, relative to purchase of Mason’s claim; Letter from Masonian Proprietors to the Committee on Province Lands, 1746; Answer to Queries respecting the reduction of Canada, 1746; Petition of inhabitants of Stratham, 1746; Petition of inhabitants of Pennycook for a further supply of Soldiers, 1747; Important Documents comprising Letters and Papers relating to preceding matters in this volume: Petitions to the King from Inhabitants of New Hampshire in favor of Governor Belcher; Petition of John Thomlinson, 1739 (“gives a more comprehensive and complete view of the whole dispute respecting the boundary lines, than can elsewhere be found”); Thonilinson papers, 1741; Shirley Papers in relation to the Louisbourg expedition, 1744–5; List of New Hampshire men in Col. Samuel Moore’s regiment engaged in the Louisbourg expedition, 1745.
Note. — “This volume is of great interest and historical value, as containing all the official records and documents found in the Secretary’s office and elsewhere, relative to the part which New Hampshire took in the Expedition against Louisbourg, 1745. . . . The attention of readers is also particularly invited to the documents contained in this volume relative to the final determination of the boundary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and the very able papers drawn up by John Thomlinson in the latter part of the volume, . . . and the failure of the intended expedition against Canada, 1746 and 1747.”
Vol. VI. 1749 to 1763: containing very valuable and interesting Records and Papers relating to the Crown Point Expedition, and the Seven Years’ French and Indian wars, 1755–1762. Manchester, 1872. xii, 929 pp.
Contents. Administration of Gov. Benning Wentworth, 1749–1763: Records of His Majesty’s Council, 1750–1763; Correspondence showing a conspiracy for the removal of Gov. Benning Wentworth from office; Journal of the House of Representatives, 1748–1763; Special conventions called August, 1754; Indian troubles at Stevens-Town and vicinity; Correspondence on Indian hostilities; Names of men in service on Merrimack River; Connecticut River; of men posted in the neighbourhood of Keene and Fort Dummer; Journal of Walter Bryent in running the line between New Hampshire and the Province of Maine, 1741; Journal of a Special Convention relating to Expedition to Crown Point, 1755; Letter from Col. Blanchard from Albany, Aug. 28, 1755; Proceedings of a Council of War held by Governor Shirley at New York, Dec. 12, 1755; Grant of £30,000 for Crown Point expedition; Journal of Special Convention, Sept., 1756, concerning Loudon’s report of the fall of Oswego; Petition against a Play-House in Portsmouth, 1762; Miscellaneous papers: Correspondence between John Thomlinson, Secretary Atkinson, and others; A Representation of the Lords of Trade, respecting New Hampshire, 1753; Report of agents empowered to receive the money voted by Parliament to the Colonies; Commissions of Gov. Benning Wentworth, from His Majesty, George III., 1760.
Note. — This volume includes documents, acts, &c, relative to the controversy between the House of Representatives and Gov. Benning Wentworth; the official proceedings of the Government and the part of the inhabitants in the French and Indian wars; the extension and growth of the settlements in the Northern and Western sections of the Province; the encouragement of Rev. Eleazar Wheelock’s education of the Indians.
Vol. VII. 1764 to 1776; including the whole Administration of Gov. John Wentworth; the events immediately preceding the Revolutionary War; the losses at the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the record of all proceedings till the end of our Provincial history. Nashua, 1873. xxi, 799 pp.
Contents. Administration of Gov. Benning Wentworth, 1764–1767; Records of the Council, 1764–1774; Journal of the House, during the administration of Gov. Benning Wentworth, 1764; Proclamation relating to the boundary between New York and New-Hampshire, 1764; Petition of Rev. Timothy Walker in relation to Bow, N. H., 1764; Proceedings of the General Congress at New York, 1765; Petition of the Colonies in relation to the Stamp Act, 1765; Declaration adopted by the Congress at New York, 1765; Administration of Gov. John Wentworth; Commission of John Wentworth; Journal of the House, 1767–1775; Census of New Hampshire, 1767; Division of the Province into five Counties; Letter from Governor Bernard on the boundary line between New-Hampshire and Massachusetts, 1767; Instructions to Jonathan Belcher relative to the Boundary line, 1740; Correspondence with Virginia and Maryland on the late act of the British Parliament, 1768–69; Road from the Governor’s house in Wolfeborough to Dartmouth College, 1771; List of rateable estates in the towns of the Province, 1773; Papers relating to the complaint made by Peter Livius against Gov. John Wentworth, 1773; Fac-similes of the signatures of the Provincial Chief Magistrates of New Hampshire from 1686 to 1775; Revolutionary Proceedings: Commencement of organized action in New Hampshire in the Revolution; First Provincial Congress; Letters relating to the landing of tea at Portsmouth; Frances Town resolves, 1774; Seizure of Fort William and Mary at New Castle, 1774; Non-importation Association; Memorial to the Colonies from the Continental Congress; Address to the King; Second Provincial Congress; Hillsborough County Congress; Third Provincial Congress; Fourth Provincial Congress, Journal, May, 1775; Correspondence: Letters of Committee of Safety, etc., 1775; Fifth Provincial Congress; Journals of the Conventions in Congress which assembled at Exeter, Dec. 21, 1775; Miscellaneous documents: Sundry documents relating to Surveys, Boundaries, and Population of New Hampshire; Attack on Quebec, 1775; Census of New Hampshire, 1775.
State Papers. Documents and Records relating to the State of New Hampshire during the Period of the American Revolution.
Vol. VIII. From 1776 to 1783; Including the Constitution of New-Hampshire, 1776; New Hampshire Declaration for Independence; the “Association Test,” with names of Signers, &c.; Declaration of American Independence, July 4, 1776; the Articles of Confederation, 1778. Concord, N. H., 1874. xxviii, 1006 pp.
Contents. Journal of the House of Representatives, 1775–76; Correspondence, 1776; Journal of the House, March 6, 1776–March 23, 1776; Correspondence, Committee of Safety, etc., March 23, 1776–June 4, 1776; List of members of the House, June, 1776; Journal of the House, June 5, 1776–July 6, 1776; Returns of the Association test: list of signers in the various towns of New Hampshire; Correspondence, July 5, 1776–Aug. 23, 1776; Journal of the House, Sept. 4, 1776–Sept. 20, 1776; Special convention for raising troops, Oct., 1776; Correspondence, Aug. 23–Nov. 28, 1776; Journal of the House, 1776–77; Correspondence between April 12–June 4, 1777; Journal of the House, June 4, 1777–July 19, 1777; Correspondence, July 19–Sept. 17, 1777; Journal of the House, Sept. 17, 1777–Sept. 27, 1777; Correspondence, Sept. 30–Dec. 7, 1777; Journal of the House, Dec. 17–March 14, 1778; Articles of Confederation; Journal of the House, Aug. 12–Nov. 28, 1778; Public acts [in regard to the Loyalists]; Proceedings of General Assembly, Dec. 25, 1778, to April 3, 1779; Resolves of a convention held on the New Hampshire grants [at Cornish], Dec. 9, 1778; Proceedings of the General Assembly, Dec. 26, 1778–April 3, 1779; Dec. 15, 1779–Jan. 1, 1780; Feb, 9, 1780–March 18, 1780; April 19–29, 1780; June 7, 1780–June 28, 1780; Correspondence, Aug. 18, 1780–Oct. 6, 1780; Proceedings of the General Assembly, Oct. 11, 1780–Nov. 11, 1780; Dec. 20, 1780–Jan. 27, 1781; March 14, 1781–April 11, 1781; June 13, 1781–July 4, 1781; Aug. 22, 1781–Sept. 1, 1781; Nov. 7–Nov. 24, 1781; Dec. 19, 1781–March 27, 1782; Sept. 10–14, 1782; Nov. 13–22, 1782; Dec. 18, 1782–March 1, 1783; Names of sick and wounded Soldiers; Proceedings of the General Assembly, June 10–20, 1783.
Town Papers. Documents and Records relating to Towns in New Hampshire; with an Appendix embracing the Constitutional Conventions of 1778–1779; and of 1781–1783; and the State Constitution of 1784.
Vol. IX. Concord, 1875. xii, (1), 939 pp.
Contents. The Wheelwright Deed, by the Editor; Town Papers (alphabetically arranged by Towns); Appendix: Constitutional Conventions in New Hampshire, 1778–1783, with the Constitution established in 1784: List of Delegates chosen from the several Towns, classed Towns, and Places in New Hampshire, in 1778 to meet at Concord, June 10, for the purpose of forming a new Constitution; The Constitution proposed in 1779: A Declaration of Rights and Plan of Government for the State of New Hampshire; The Second Constitutional Convention, list of Delegates; An Address of the Convention for framing a new Constitution of Government, for the State of New Hampshire to the Inhabitants of the State, sent out, 1781; Proposed Constitution of 1781; Second Address of the Convention for framing a new Constitution or form of Government for the State of New Hampshire to the Inhabitants of said State, sent out in 1782; A Constitution, containing a Bill of Rights, and form of Government, agreed upon by the Delegates of the people of the State of New Hampshire, in Convention, held at Concord, on the first Tuesday of June, 1783; submitted to, and approved of, by the people of the State; and established by their Delegates in Convention, Oct. 31, 1783, with a note on the “Bill of Rights” as regards Slavery in New Hampshire, by the Editor.
Note. — The present volume has its chief value from the light thrown upon the settlements of the Towns, their struggles with the Indians, their boundary line disputes, locations of meeting-houses, settlement and maintenance of ministers, &c.
Provincial and State Papers. Miscellaneous Documents and Records relating to New Hampshire at different periods.
Vol. X. Including —
- (i) Journal of the N. H. Convention which adopted the Federal Constitution, 1788.
- (ii) Journal of the Convention which revised the State Constitution in 1791–1792.
- (iii) The Great Controversy relating to the “New Hampshire Grants” (so called), 1749 to 1791; including troubles in border Towns on both sides of the Connecticut River, 1781–1783.
- (iv) Letters, &c., of Committee of Safety, 1779 to 1784.
- (v) Census of 1773.
- (vi) Census of 1786.
- (vii) Appendix, containing Copies of Ancient Grants, &c, supplementary to Volume I.
Concord, 1877. xxvi, (2), 719 pp.
Contents. Journal of the Proceedings of the Convention of the State of New Hampshire which adopted the Federal Constitution, 1788; List of Delegates, with Biographical notes by the Editor; Journal of the Convention which assembled, in Concord, to revise the Constitution of New Hampshire, 1791–1792; List of Delegates, with Biographical sketches by the Editor; The Controversy between New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, relating to the “New Hampshire grants” (so called) from 1749 to 1791; including the Troubles in border Towns on both sides of the Connecticut River: Controversy with New York in relation to Boundaries; Proceedings in relation to the New Hampshire Grants under the Administration of Gov. John Wentworth; Brief history of the Controversy with Vermont, by Jeremy Belknap; Discontent in the border Towns of New Hampshire lying east of Connecticut River; — An Address of the Inhabitants of the Towns of Plainfield, Lebanon, Enfield (alias Relhan) Canaan, Cardigan, Hanover, Lime, Orford, Haverhill, Bath, and Landaff, to the Inhabitants of the Several Towns in the Colony of New Hampshire. Norwich: Printed by John Trumbull, M,DCC,LXXVI. (Reprint); — Vermont assumes Government New York opposes: Declaration and Petition of the Inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants to Congress, Jan. 15, 1777; Vermont asks aid from New Hampshire; — Observations on the Right of Jurisdiction claimed by the States of New York and New Hampshire, over the New Hampshire Grants (so called) lying on both sides of Connecticut-River. Danvers: Printed by E. Russell. MDCCLXXVIII. (Reprint); — An Address to the Inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants (so called) lying westward of Connecticut River, by Timothy Walker; — First attempt of border Towns in New Hampshire to unite with Vermont; — A Public Defence of the right of the New-Hampshire Grants (so called) on both sides Connecticut-River, to associate together, and form themselves into an Independent State. Dresden: Printed by Alden Spooner, 1776. (Reprint); — Measures to form a new State of towns on both sides of Connecticut River: Resolves of a Convention held on the New Hampshire Grants at Cornish, Dec. 9, 1778; Address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont, by Ira Allen, dated at Dresden, Nov. 27, 1778; Final dissolution of the Union of Towns east of Connecticut River with Vermont, 1779; Proposal to unite all the New Hampshire Grants with the State of New Hampshire; Reference to Congress of Matters in Controversy, 1779; Address by Ira Allen to the inhabitants of the State of Vermont, July 13, 1779; Fresh measures to form a new State of the New Hampshire Grants on both sides the Connecticut River: Proceedings of a Convention at Walpole, Nov. 15, 16, 1780; Convention at Charlestown, N. H., Jan. 16, 1781; Disputed Jurisdiction between New Hampshire and Vermont; Memorial of inhabitants of Chesterfield, Aug. 25, 1781; Report of a Committee of Congress, to whom was referred papers relative to New Hampshire, Oct. 17, 1781; Commission to Commissioners of Vermont, for the settlement of Boundary lines, 1781; — Collision in border towns, 1781–82; — Copy of Letters, Orders, &c, by the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, 1779 to 1784 (These papers consist of copies of letters written by the Committee of Safety, 1779–1784, in relation to current matters, and are of historical value “as showing the embarrassments of the country, — the difficulty of raising money for the support of the war; the dangers of frontier towns; the patriotic spirit of the committee, and the sacrifices made by the people”); — Census of 1773; Census of 1786; Appendix: The Grant of the Province of Laconia to Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, Nov. 17, 1629; The Squamscott or Hilton’s Point Patent, Mar. 12, 1629 (O. S.); The Dover Combination, with the names of all the original signers, Oct. 20, 1640; Letter from Capt. Thomas Wiggin to Sir John Cooke, Nov. 19, 1632 [in regard to Massachusetts Colony, and the Machinations of Sir Christopher Gardiner, Thomas Morton, and Ratcliffe].
Town Papers. Documents relating to towns in New Hampshire, “A” to “F” inclusive, with an Appendix, embracing copies, in Facsimile, of the First Constitution of this State as adopted January 5, 1776; the Proclamation sent out to the people declaring the said Constitution to be in force; and a Constitution framed in June, 1779, which was rejected by the People. Also, other interesting and valuable documents.
Vol. XI. Compiled and edited by Isaac W. Hammond. Concord, 1882. xxx, (2), 812 pp. 3 folded broadsides.
Contents. Acworth; Albany; Alexandria; Alstead; Allenstown; Alton; Amherst; Antrim; Andover; Atkinson; Barnstead; Harrington; Bartlett; Bath; Bedford; Bethlehem; Benton; Boscawen; Bow; Bradford; Brentwood; Bridgewater; Brookline; Campton; Canaan; Candia; Canterbury; Centre Harbor; Charlestown; Chatham; Chester; Chesterfield; Chichester; Claremont; Colebrook; Columbia; Concord; Conway; Cornish; Croydon; Dalton; Danbury; Danville; Deerfield; Deering; Dorchester; Dover; Dublin; Dunbarton; Durham; East Kingston; Eaton; Effingham; Enfield; Epping; Epsom; Errol; Exeter; Fitzwilliam; Francestown; Franconia; Fremont. Appendix: Documents relative to the service done in the French War by the Quakers of Dover, Durham, Madbury, Rochester, Barrington, and Somersworth; Letter from Col. Theodore Atkinson, Dec. 13, 1768, in regard to boundary between N. H. and N. Y.; Proclamation to the insurgents in Cheshire and Grafton counties, Jan. 12, 1782; Roll of Capt. William Barron’s company, for Canada, 1776; Documents relative to Charter Records; Documents relative to boundaries of several towns in Grafton County, 1780–1793; Col. Benjamin Sumner’s Scheme to secure an alliance with the Indians in Canada, 1800; Documents printed in facsimile (broadsides): First Constitution of New Hampshire, 1776; Proclamations declaring the same to be in force; Amended Constitution of 1779, which was rejected by the People (this last is on a folio sheet printed at Exeter, 1779), headed “A Declaration of Rights, and Plan of Government for the State of New Hampshire.”
Note. — Collects under each town copies of all the written instruments accessible in the State Department relating to the settlement, incorporation, boundary lines, church matters, maintenance of ministers, roads, currency, taxes, etc., of the towns throughout the State. “These documents have been carefully copied from the original manuscripts, scrupulously preserving the orthography, punctuation, capitalisation.” The volume “contains a large number of names of early residents. . . . Some papers having been published mainly for giving the names signed to them. . . . The editor has compiled an introduction to each town, containing in brief many facts relative to its grant, settlement, incorporation, origin of name, etc.”
Vol. XII. Gilmanton to New Ipswich, with an Appendix, embracing some Documents relative to Towns which have been returned to the State Archives since the publication of Volume XI. Concord, 1883. xxxii, (2), 854: pp.
Contents. Gilmanton; Gilsum; Goffstown; Goshen; Grafton; Grantham: Greenfield; Greenland; Groton; Hampstead; Hampton; Hampton Falls; Hancock; Hanover; Haverhill; Henuiker; Hill; Hillsborough; Hinsdale; Holderness; Holds; Hooksett; Hopkinton; Hudson; Jackson; Jaffrey; Jefferson; Keene; Kensington; Kingston; Lancaster; Landaff; Langdon; Lebanon; Lee; Lempster; Lincoln; Lisbon; Litchfield; Littleton; Londonderry; Loudon; Lyman; Lyme; Lyndeborough; Madbury; Manchester; Marlborough; Marlow; Mason; Meredith; Merrimack; Middleton; Milford; Monson; Moultonborough; Nashua; Nelson; New Boston; Newbury; New Castle; New Durham; New Hampton; Newington; New Ipswich. Appendix: List of Saratoga men, 1777; Boscawen enlistments, etc., 1776, 1778, 1779; Bow returns of soldiers, enlistments, 1776, 1778, 1780; Canterbury train band, enlistments, etc., 1776, 1780, 1781; Chichester return of Capt. Cram’s company, 1776; Concord enlistments, 1779 and 1781; Agreement between the town of Exeter and Edmund Gilman, 1647; Deed of Wadononamin, to Edward Hilton, 1660. Documents relative to a Convention of delegates from towns in Hillsborough and Cheshire counties, 1783.
Note. — “Many valuable documents relative to soldiers of the various Indian and French and Revolutionary Wars may be found in this and the preceding volume.” — Preface.
Vol. XIII. New London to Wolfeborough, with an Appendix, embracing some Documents, interesting and valuable, not heretofore published, including the Census of New Hampshire of 1790 in detail. Concord, 1884. xxxi, (3), 856 pp.
Contents. New London; New Market; Newport; Newton; Northfield; North Hampton; Northumberland; Northwood; Nottingham; Orange; Orford; Ossipee; Pelham; Pembroke; Peterborough; Piermont; Pittsfield; Plainfield; Plaistow; Plymouth; Portsmouth; Raymond; Richmond; Rindge; Rochester; Roxbury; Rumney; Rye; Salem; Salisbury; Sanbornton; Sandown; Sandwich; Seabrook; Shelburne; Somersworth; South Hampton; Springfield; Stark; Stewartstown; Stoddard; Stratford; Stratham; Sullivan; Sunapee; Sharon; Surry; Sutton; Swanzey; Tamworth; Temple; Thornton; Tuftonborough; Unity; Wakefield; Walpole; Warner; Warren; Washington; Weare; Wentworth; Westmoreland; Whitefield; Wilton; Winchester; Windham; Windsor; Wolfeborough. Appendix: Letter from Sebastian Ralle, 1716; Letter from Gov. Belcher concerning line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, 1733; Letter from Gov. Francis Bernard concerning the same; Dover militia officers, 1731–32; Soldiers order, 1775; Piermont drafted men, 1777; Lloyd’s Hills; Documents relating to Vermont controversy: Proceedings of a Committee meeting, at Lebanon, Feb. 13, 1777; at Hanover, June 11, 1777; — Report of committee of the Legislature on the foregoing, Nov. 19, 1777; Statement relative to Gen. Sullivan’s position in regard to the New Hampshire grants; Census of New Hampshire in detail, 1790.
The State of New Hampshire. Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, 1775, to May, 1777: with an Appendix, embracing Diaries of Lieut. Jonathan Burton.
Vol. XIV. Vol. I. of War Rolls. Concord, 1885. xiii, (3), 799 pp.
Contents. French and Indian War rolls; Revolutionary War rolls; Appendix: Diary of Lieutenant Jonathan Burton [at Winter Hill, Dec, 1775 — Jan. 20, 1776]; Diary of Lieutenant Jonathan Burton, while in the Canada Expedition, from Aug. 1, 1776, to Nov. 29, 1776. The following are the principal regimental rolls printed in this volume: New Hampshire men at Bunker Hill; Col. Stark’s regiment, pay-rolls, Aug., 1775; Col. James Reed’s regiment; Col. Enoch Poor’s regiment; Col. Timothy Bedel’s regiment, muster-rolls, 1775; Col. John Stark’s regiment, receipts, Oct., 1775; Col. Enoch Poor’s regiment, receipts, Oct., 1775; Col. James Reed’s regiment, receipts, Oct., 1775; N. H. men in Quebec expedition; Roll of troops engaged in the defence of Piscataqua harbor; N. H. men at Winter Hill, Dec, 1775; Col. Bedel’s regiment, pay rolls, 1770; Col. Isaac Wyman’s regiment, July, 1776; Col. Joshua Wingate’s regiment, July, 1776; Col. Pierse Long’s regiment, Aug., 1776; Col. Thomas Tash’s regiment, Sept., 1776; Col. Nahum Baldwin’s regiment, Sept., 1776; Col. David Oilman’s regiment, Dec, 1776; Col. Pierse Long’s regiment pay rolls, Jan., 1777; Col. Pierse Long’s regiment as paid for their march to Ticonderoga, Feb., 1777. First N. H. Continental Regiment, 1777, payrolls.
Vol. XV. Vol. II. of War Rolls. May, 1777, to 1780, with an Appendix, embracing names of New Hampshire men in Massachusetts regiments. Concord, 1886. xiv, (2), 847 pp.
Contents. Revolutionary War rolls; Ticonderoga Expedition; Bennington troops, 1777; Continental regiments, 1778–79; Rhode Island campaign, 1778; Piscataqua harbor troops, 1779; Appendix: New Hampshire Men in the service in Massachusetts Regiments.
The State of New Hampshire. Rolls and Documents relating to Soldiers in the Revolutionary War, with an Appendix, embracing some Indian and French War Rolls.
Vol. XVI. Vol. III. of the War Rolls. Manchester, 1887. x, (2), 1021 pp.
Contents. Revolutionary War rolls: 1780, 1781; Continental Army regiments; Town accounts for bounties, etc., paid to Revolutionary Soldiers; Appendix: Indian and French War rolls (relating to scouting parties during the Indian troubles and Soldiers in the French wars); List of New York Tories’ lodgings; Diary of Lieutenant Abraham Fitts, of Candia, N. H. Sept. 27, 1777 — Nov. 1, 1777.
The State of New Hampshire. Part I. Rolls and Documents relating to Soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Part II. Miscellaneous Provincial Papers, from 1629 to 1725.
Vol. XVII. Vol IV. of the War Rolls. Manchester, 1889. xxiv, (2), 819 pp.
Note. — Part I. contains: Miscellaneous Rolls and Documents copied in part from the originals in the Pension Department at Washington and in part from the archives of the State. The Documents consist of Town Rolls, Company Rolls, Soldiers’ petitions, Bounty statements, etc., from 1774 to 1781.
Part II. contains: Transcripts from ancient Documents in the English archives in London, copied under the supervision and at the expense of the late John Scriliner Jenuess, of Portsmouth, of which some of the more important are the following: Grant of the Province of Laconia to Sr. Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. J. Mason, 1629; Grant and confirmation of Pescataway to Sr. F. Gorges and Capt. John Mason, 1631: A Relation concerning the estate of New England, 1636; The Dover Combination, 1640; Petition of the inhabitants of Portsmouth and Strawberry Bank, 1665; Title of Robert Mason to New Hampshire, 1674; Petition of inhabitants of Dover, 1677; Portsmouth petition, 1677; Hampton petition, 1677; Petition from Mason and Gorges, 1677; An Account from the agents of Boston concerning their northern bounds, 1678; Title of Robert Mason to New Hampshire, statement in support of ‘title, and complaints of Massachusetts encroachments; Secretary Chamberlain to Lords of Trade and Plantations, 1681, relative to New Hampshire affairs; Petition of Robert Mason against the Council of New Hampshire, 1681; Proceedings in Council, Sept., 1681, Oct., 1682; New Seal, Proclamation, Governor and Council sworn; Gov. Cranfield to the Commissioners, description of the Province, Resources, etc., 1682; Gov. Cranfield on Mason’s claim, etc.; Papers relative to Massachusetts jurisdiction; Cranfield to Secretary of State, concerning Edward Gove; Copies from miscellaneous Province and State Papers. 1675–1724.
Pages 154–210 contain: “Major-General John Sullivan: Proceedings of a Court of Inquiry, including Testimony; Letters and Certificates approving his Conduct in the Staten Island Expedition, and the Battle on the Brandy wine, 1777.” The volume also contains the Revolutionary military correspondence of Col. Bedel.
The State of New Hampshire. Miscellaneous Provincial and State Papers, 1725–1800.
Vol. XVIII. Manchester, 1890. xxix, (3), 982 pp.
Contents. The multitude of documents in this volume precludes a detailed list of contents, but some of the more important are here enumerated: —
Proceedings of the Council and Assembly, 1728–29; Gov. Jonathan Belcher’s Commission as Governor of New Hampshire, 1730; Instructions to Gov. Belcher; Proclamation concerning the King’s woods, 1730; Petition of appeal of John Thomlinson, agent for New Hampshire, to the King in regard to the boundary between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 1737 (?); Answer of Richard Waldron to the foregoing; Documents relative to the Province Seal and its use, 1738, 1739; Instructions to privateers in war with Spain, 1739, 1740; Atkinson and Thomlinson correspondence; Report of Board of Trade on New Hampshire acts, on Bills of Credit, etc., 1743; List of the men who hired the “£25,000 Loan,” 1743; Gov. Wentworth to Board of Trade, 1744 [on encroachments of Massachusetts, Land grants, Boundary, etc.]; Message, House to the Governor on the Fort Dummer controversy, 1745; Louisbourg expedition, petitions of soldiers, etc., 1745, 1746; Papers on Crown Point expedition, 1747; Correspondence between Governors Shirley and Wentworth; Plan of Fort Dummer; Trade between New Hampshire and West Indies, 1751; Gov. Wentworth to Board of Trade, giving an account of the boundaries and situation of the Province of New Hampshire, 1750, 1751 (Massachusetts and New York Controversies, etc.); Instructions to Gov. Wentworth, 1761; List of deserters from ships in Boston Harbor, 1770; Memorial of Peter Livius, with charges against Gov. Wentworth; Justices in New Hampshire, 1776; Petition from Slaves, 1779; States’ quotas for Indian warfare, 1786; Road from Concord to Durham; Papers of Lieut.-Col. Joseph Wait of the Continental army; Documents relating to Portsmouth church affairs, etc., 1676–1716, 1717.
Note. — “This volume completes the publication of the Miscellaneous Provincial and State Papers from 1725 to 1800. These Papers were selected by the Editor from a mass of Papers in the State House in 1880. The volume also contains all the ‘Belknap Papers’ which were not published in Vols. IV. V. and VI. The Appendix contains some documents furnished by Hon. Horatio L. Wait, of Chicago, relative to his Revolutionary ancestor, Joseph Wait; also Papers furnished by Frank W. Hackett concerning early church affairs, etc., in Portsmouth.” Preface.
Provincial Papers of New Hampshire, including the Records of the President and Council, January 1, 1679, to December 22, 1680; July 6 to September 8, 1681; November 22, 1681, to August 21, 1682; Records of the Governor and Council, October 4 to October 14, 1682, under the successive Administrations of Cutt, Waldron, and Cranfield: Acts of the Assembly, August Session, 1699; Journals of the House of Representatives, August 7, 1699, to October 4, 1701, and May 9, 1711, to April 30, 1722: Ancient Documents relating to the Controversy over the Boundary Line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. With historical Notes, a chronological List of Boundary Line Papers, contemporary Maps, and other illustrations.
Vol. XIX. Albert Stillman Batchelor, Editor. Manchester, 1891. 760 pp. Folded plans.
Contents. Journal of the House of Representatives, May 9, 1711, to April 30, 1722; Documents relating to the Boundary line Controversy between New Hampshire and Massachusetts; Richard Hazzen’s Journal of the Survey of the Boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, March 20 to April 6, 1740–1 [sic]; Walter Bryent’s Journal in running the Boundary between New Hampshire and that part of the Massachusetts Bay called County of York, 1741; The Boundary line Case, copied from a printed volume in the office of the Secretary of State, entitled “New Hampshire and Massachusetts Boundary Cases, 1739”; Chronological List of papers relating to the disputed Boundary line, including all printed in this and preceding Volumes; Proceedings of the President and Council of the Province of New Hampshire from January 1, 1679 (O. S.), to December 22, 1680; July 6, 1681, to September 8, 1681: November 22, 1681, to August 21, 1682; October 4 to October 14, 1682; Communication of Charles Deane to the Massachusetts Historical Society respecting the Records of the President and Council of New Hampshire for 1679–1680; — Acts and laws passed by the General Court or Assembly of His Majesties Province of New Hampshire in New-England. Boston, printed by B. Green and J. Allen, 1699, reprinted from the original imprint now in the custody of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Memoranda concerning the New Hampshire laws of 1699, by George H. Moore, LL.D., N. Y., 1889 (Reprint); — Journal of the Assembly [House of Representatives of the Province of New Hampshire] August 7, 1699, to October 4, 1701.
Early State Papers of New Hampshire. Including the Constitution of 1784, Journals of the Senate and House of Representatives, and Records of the President and Council from June, 1784, to June, 1787, with an Appendix containing an Abstract of the Official Records relative to the Formation, Promulgation, Consideration, and Adoption of the Federal Constitution, and illustrative Notes.
Vol. XX. Manchester, 1891. 930 pp.
Note. — The Appendix contains Notes on the Convention for the regulation of Commerce, to be holden at Annapolis, on the first Monday in September, 1786, Commissioners for New Hampshire; The Convention of 1787, at Philadelphia; Action of the General Court of New Hampshire in response to the invitation to join in the Convention; The ratification of the Constitution on the part of New Hampshire; Biographical Sketches of three representative Men of the Constitutional period, — Benjamin West, Elisha Payne, and John Langdon; Some account of John Langdon, by John Langdon Elwyn.
Vol. XXI. Including the Journals of the Senate and House of Representatives and Records of the President and Council, from June, 1787, to June, 1790, with an Appendix containing Biographical Sketches of men who sustained important Relations to the State Government during that Period, taken from the manuscript Biographies of Governor William Plumer; also Correspondence and Acts of the Legislature pertaining to the Federal Constitution and the Relation of New Hampshire to the Federal Government. Concord, 1892. vi, (2), 930 pp.
Note. — “The student of constitutional history will find in these pages the official account of the Proceedings of the General Court touching the election of delegates, provision for a convention to consider the proposed Federal Constitution, and the assumption of the various privileges and duties of Statehood. . . . The currency, the public debt, inter-state affairs, the revision of the laws, the ever-present Masonian controversy, and the spirit of rebellion which was rife in 1787, were among the subjects of administration and legislation which demanded the highest order of statesmanship, and which give the official narrative a peculiar interest and value.” Preface.
The “biographical sketches of several persons participating in the Government of New Hampshire in the period from 1784 to 1793, copied from the manuscript of William Plumer, by permission of the New Hampshire Historical Society,” are of Joseph Badger, Benjamin Bellows, Jonathan Blanchard, Joshua Brackett, John Calfe, Joseph Cilley, John Dudley, Abiel Foster, Jonathan Freeman, William Gardner, Joseph Gilman, Nicholas Gilman, John Langdon, Woodbury Langdon, Samuel Livermore, John Sullivan, Meshech Weare, and Paine Wingate.
Vol. XXII. Including the Journals of the Senate and House of Representatives and Records of the President and Council, from June, 1790, to June, 1793, with an Appendix, containing the Journal of the Senate at the Impeachment of Woodbury Langdon, the Records of the New Hampshire Society of the Cincinnati, and Biographical Sketches of Men who sustained important Relations to the State Government during the Period covered by those Records and Journals, taken from the manuscript Biographies of Governor William Plumer. Concord, 1893. vi, (2), 923 pp.
Note. — The most important legislation of the period covered by this volume, was probably that of the adoption of the Constitutional Amendments which went into effect in 1793.
Vol. XXIII. State of New Hampshire. A list of Documents in the Public Record Office in London, England, relating to the Province of New Hampshire. Chronologically arranged according to the Order of Record in the several Series designated as Colonial Papers, Miscellaneous Correspondence, Colonial Entry Books, Board of Trade Journal, Board of Trade New England, Board of Trade New Hampshire, Board of Trade Plantations General, Board of Trade Proprietaries, Board of Trade Papers, and America and West Indies. With Notes and Indexes. Manchester, 1893. 557 pp.
Note. — “The calendar of documents in the English Archives, relating to New Hampshire, which follows, is the work of Mr. B. F. Stevens, of London, England.” Preface.
Vol. XXIV. Town Charters. Including Grants of Territory within the present limits of New Hampshire, made by the Government of Massachusetts, and a Portion of the Grants and Charters issued by the Government of New Hampshire; with an Appendix, consisting of Papers relating to the Granting of the various Lines and Bodies of Towns, with Acts in regard to Town Bounds in general, and many Documents produced by Disputes between Towns concerning their Boundary Lines, with illustrative Maps and Plans, and complete Indexes. Town Charters, Volume I. Concord, 1894. xvi, (2), 971 pp. 16 sheets of plans. 7 folded Maps.
RHODE ISLAND.
Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England.
Printed by order of the Legislature. Transcribed and edited by John Russell Bartlett, Secretary of State.
Vol. I. 1636 to 1663. Providence, 1856. 549 pp. 8vo.
Contents. Records of the settlements at Providence, Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick, from their commencement to their union under the colony charter, 1636 to 1647; Records of the Colony of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, under the first Charter, 1617 to 1663.
Note. — “The records of the city of Providence previous to the organization of the government in 1647, are very meagre. It is supposed they were kept in greater detail and were destroyed in the year 1676, when the town was burned by the Indians, as those that remain bear traces of fire and water. To make up for the want of a journal of events, such documents as would elucidate the history of the period have been used. These are the Indian deeds connected with Providence, with a variety of other documents of a historical nature, or connected with the purchase of the Indian lands, their transfer from Roger Williams to his associates, the first allotments of lands to the early settlers, &c. In selecting the materials for this volume, the Indian deeds of each of the four towns, and the town records to 1647, have been used. From that period, the official journals of the proceedings of the General Assembly have been followed to the close of the volume.” Preface.
Vol. II. 1664 to 1677. Providence, 1857. iv, 609 pp.
Note. — “The second volume . . . commences with the adoption of the charter of Charles the Second, and the organization of the government under the same, in March, 1663–1664, and extends to the close of the year 1677, thereby including fourteen years of the Colonial annals. The Records of the proceedings of the General Assembly are printed verbatim from the original manuscript copy in the Archives of the State. In addition to these, there are inserted in their proper places, the records of the ‘Proceedings of the Governor and Council.’ . . . Two important events in the history of the Colony took place during the period included in this volume. These are the dispute with the Colony of Connecticut for the jurisdiction of the Narragansett country, . . . and King Philip’s War.” Preface.
Vol. III. 1678 to 1706. Providence, 1858. vii, (1), 595 pp.
Note. — “The events of this period are among the most important in our Colonial History. They include, first, a discussion of the several claims for the ownership of Mount Hope and the Narragansett country. . . . The subversion of the charter government, and the administration of Sir Edmund Andros, render the year 1686 an important era in our Colonial history. The Colony was now merged into the government of New England, under that Royal Governor, and degenerated into a mere county. No meetings of the General Assembly took place under his government, and the only records that in any way show what was done in the Colony during this period are those of the Courts of Quarter Sessions. These though meagre have been introduced into this volume. Documents illustrating the Andros period are printed from the John Carter Brown collection, from the ‘Usurpation papers’ in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, etc.” The Colonial Records, beginning with the assumption of the Charter in February, 1690, after the fall of Andros, are now followed to the year 1706.” Documents regarding the Earl of Bellomont’s inquiry into certain imputed irregularities of the government of Rhode Island, with explanatory papers, are mainly drawn from John Carter Brown’s collection. “The concluding documents in the volume appertain to the history of the privateers and pirates which infested our waters.”
Vol. IV. 1707 to 1740. Providence, 1859. iv, 622 pp.
Note. — Contains Proceedings of the General Assembly, 1707–1740. The Public Laws are generally omitted. Acts for the division of towns, their boundaries and organizations, and those relating to provisions for the defence of the colonies, have been included.
Vol. V. 1741 to 1756. Providence, 1860. iv, 594 pp.
Note. — This volume is largely devoted to the part taken by Rhode Island in the French and Spanish wars, the expeditions against Louisbourg, Cape Breton, Crown Point, Ticonderoga, Oswego, Quebec, etc. Documents relative to the currency, bills of credit, form a considerable part of the volume.
Vol. VI. 1757 to 1769. Providence, 1861. iv, 629 pp.
Note. — Comprises documents on the French and Indian war, the campaigns against Canada, Fort William Henry, Ticonderoga, Oswego, Niagara, etc., papers on the Convention of American colonies at New York, in 1765, and proceedings relative to the Stamp Act. Stephen Hopkins’s “The Rights of the Colonies examined,” 1764, is printed in full.
Vol. VII. 1770 to 1776. Providence, 1862. iv, 643 pp.
Note. — Pages 55–192 contain “A History of the destruction of His Britannic Majesty’s Schooner Gaspee, in Narragansett Bay, on the 10th of June, 1772; accompanied with the Correspondence connected therewith, the action of the General Assembly of the Colony of Rhode Island thereon, and the official journal of the proceedings of the Commission of inquiry.” Comprises illustrative documents on the Revolution and preceding events in Rhode Island.
Vol. VIII. 1776 to 1779. Providence, 1863. iv, 661 pp. Portraits.
Note. — In addition to the Proceedings of the Assembly during the Revolutionary period, there is included a mass of correspondence, embracing letters of Washington, Greene, and Sullivan.
Vol. IX. 1780 to 1783. Providence, 1864. (4), 763 pp. Portrait.
Note. — The records in this volume are principally concerned with war measures, the raising of troops, furnishing supplies for the army, etc., with Correspondence of Revolutionary generals, members of Congress, etc.
Vol. X. 1784 to 1792. Providence, 1865. (4), 527 pp.
Note. — The adoption of the Constitution of the United States was the principal event of the period covered. The State held aloof from ratifying the Constitution until 1792.
VERMONT.
Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the State of Vermont, to which are prefixed the Records of the General Conventions from July, 1775, to December, 1777.
Edited and published by Authority of the State, by E. P. Walton. Vol. I. Montpelier, 1873. viii, 556 pp. Portrait. 8vo.
Contents. General conventions in the New Hampshire grants, for the independence, organization, and defence of the State of Vermont, July, to December, 1777: Convention at Dorset, July 26, 1775, Jan. 16, July 24, 1776, Sept. 25, 1776; at Westminster, Oct. 30, 1776; Jan. 15, 1777; at Windsor, June 4, 1777, July 2, 1777, Dec. 24, 1777; The first Constitution of the State of Vermont: Introduction, Amendments of 1786, 1793–1870, with notes; Origin of the Constitution and comparison with the Frame of government granted by Charles the Second to William Penn; Copy of the first Constitution; Council of Safety of the State of Vermont, July 8, 1777. to March 12, 1778: Introduction; The powers of the Council; Members of the Council; Proceedings of the Council of Safety, July 8, 1777, to Mar. 12, 1778; Record of the Governor and Council, March 12, 1778, to August 23, 1779, with biographical notices; The Governor and Council as a Board of War, March 11–July 11, 1779. — Appendix: Proceedings of the “Congress” and “Committee of Safety” for Cumberland county, June, 1774, to Sept., 1777; Gloucester county committee of Safety; — “Some miscellaneous Remarks, and Short Arguments, on a Small Pamphlet, dated in the Convention of the Representatives of the State of New-York, October 2, 1776, and sent from said Convention to the County of Cumberland, and some Reasons given, why the District of New Hampshire Grants had best be a State. By Ira Allen. Hartford, printed by Ebenezer Watson, near the Great Bridge, M.DCCLXXVII.” (Reprint.) — Manifesto prepared and published by order of the Westminster Convention, October 30, 1776; Dr. Thomas Young to the Inhabitants of Vermont, 1777 [relative to recognition by the Continental Congress, and action of the Congress thereon]; Remarks on Article Three of the Declaration of Rights, by Daniel Chipman; The name “Vermont”; The union of New Hampshire towns with Vermont, in 1778–9; Proclamation of pardon issued by Governor Chittenden, June 3, 1779; — A Vindication of the Opposition of the Inhabitants of Vermont to the Government of New-York, and of their Right to form an Independent State. Humbly submitted to the impartial World. By Ethan Allen. Printed by Alden Spooner, 1779, Printer to the State of Vermont. (From the only copy of the original pamphlet in the State Library.) — Documents on the enforcement of the authority of Vermont in Cumberland County in May, 1779.
Additions and Corrections.
Records of the Governor and Council of the State of Vermont.
Vol. II. Montpelier, 1874. viii, 528 pp. Portraits. Plate: View of Catamount-tavern.
Contents. Records of the Governor and Council, Oct., 1779, to August 29, 1782; Records of the Board of War; The first Vermont Council Chamber in the old Catamount Tavern at Bennington, by Hiland Hall; Resolutions of Congress in September and October, 1779, and action of Vermont thereon: Memorial of a Convention held at Lebanon, N. H., July 27, 1779, by a Committee of the Convention; The Claim of Massachusetts to part of Vermont. Vermont’s Appeal to the candid and impartial World. Containing a fair Stating of the Claims of Massachusetts-Bay, New-Hampshire, and New-York. The Right the State of Vermont has to Independence — With an Address to the Honorable American Congress, and the Inhabitants of the thirteen United States. By Stephen R. Bradley, A.M., Hartford: Printed by Hudson & Goodwin [1779]; —A Concise Refutation of the Claims of New-Hampshire and Massachusetts-Bay to the territory of Vermont; with occasional Remarks on the long disputed Claim of New-York to the same. Written by Ethan Allen and Jonas Fay, Esqrs. Published by order of the Governor & Council of Vermont. Hartford: printed by Hudson & Goodwin [1780]; — Mission of Ira Allen to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland; Action of Congress in reference to Vermont, from Feb. 7 to Oct. 6, 1780, and legislative Proceedings and Documents connected therewith: Representation of inhabitants of Hartford, Norwich, Sharon, Royalton, Fairlee, Newbury, and Barnet, presented to Congress in August, 1779, and again Feb. 8, 1780; Petition of the principle inhabitants on Connecticut river on both sides and northward of Charleston, met in a convention at Dresden on the New Hampshire Grants, August 30th, 1780; Proposals of Vermont for a permanent Alliance and Confederation with adjoining states; The Second Union of New-Hampshire Towns with Vermont, and union with part of New York, in 1781: Proceedings at a Convention of delegates from the several towns in the county of Cheshire, in the State of New-Hampshire, held at Walpole Nov. 15, 16, 1780; Journal of convention of delegates from forty-three towns on the New Hampshire grants, held at Charlestown, Jan. 16, 1781; Secret history of the Charlestown convention, by Ira Allen; Joint action of the Charlestown and Cornish Convention and the General Assembly of Vermont, Feb., 1781, resulting in the Second Eastern Union; Proposal of Vermont to settle the boundary question with New York, Feb., 1781; Proceedings of Congress relating to Vermont, July 19 to Aug. 20, 1781; Vermont delegates to Committee of Congress, Aug. 18, 1781, with questions of the Committee and answers of the Delegates, and an account of the interview, by Ira Allen; Proceedings of the General Assembly of Vermont, Oct. 10–19, 1781; Force against Vermont attempted by New York and contemplated by New Hampshire, 1781–2; Collisions in the Western district, Oct. and Dec, 1781; Collisions in the Eastern district, Nov., 1781, to Feb., 1782; Account of the Second Eastern Union, by Jeremy Belknap; Ira Allen’s account of the collisions in the Eastern and Western districts, 1781–2; Correspondence of Gov. Chittenden and General Washington on Vermont affairs, Nov., 1781, and Jan. 1, 1782; —
The Present State of the Controversy between the States of New-York and New-Hampshire on the one part, and the State of Vermont on the other. Hartford, printed by Hudson & Goodwin, M.DCC.LXXXII. — “The original draft of this pamphlet was printed, from the manuscript Ethan Allen Papers, in the second volume of Vt. Hist. Soc. Collections, pp. 231–239. The argument was re-written and enlarged for the press. Though the committee consisted of five, the authorship is doubtless to be assigned to Ethan Allen.” Editor.
Dissolution of the Eastern and Western Unions, February, 1782; Observations relating to the influence of Vermont, and the territorial claims, on the politics of Congress, by James Madison; The Haldimand correspondence, 1779–1783 [concerning the efforts of General Frederick Haldimand to negotiate with Vermont for a treaty of peace with Great Britain]; Protest of adherents to New York against Vermont in 1778, and origin of the Charlestown Convention of Jan. 16, 1781; — Covenant, compact, and resolutions adopted by a Convention of the Representatives of the Settlers on the New Hampshire grants west of the Green Mountains — in 1775; — The Proceedings of the Convention of the New Hampshire Settlers; containing the Covenant, Compact, and Resolutions; and also Twelve Acts of Outlawry. Passed by the Legislature of the Province of New York against those Settlers, and their answer to the same. Hartford: Printed by Ebenezer Watson. 1775. (Reprint.)
Additions and corrections of Vols. I. and II.
Vol. III. Montpelier, 1875. viii, 540 pp. Portrait.
Contents. Records of the Governor and Council, Oct., 1782, to Jan. 27, 1791. Appendix: Resolutions of Congress hostile to Vermont, Dec. 5, 1782, and related documents; Renewed application of Vermont for admission into the Union and documents thereon: Resolutions and address to Congress; Proposed partition of Vermont between New Hampshire and New York; Insurrection in Windham county, and its bearing on the Vermont question in Congress, Oct., 1783, to Oct., 1784; Obstacles in Congress to the recognition of Vermont, 1785–6; Conflicting Titles to Land, and measures of relief; The Betterments acts, 1781–1785; Vermont at the period of Shays’s Rebellion, 1784 to 1787: Public discontent-meeting in the town of Wells; Meeting of malcontents in Rutland county; Insurrections in Windsor and Rutland counties; Aid to Massachusetts in Shays’s Rebellion; Vermont acts of sovereignty: Bills of credit in 1781; Coinage of copper money; Naturalization acts in 1785 and 1787; Post-office department established; Negotiations on Commerce between Vermont and foreign Countries; Negotiations for a ship canal from Lake Champlain to St. Lawrence river. — Settlement of the controversy with New York; The Vermont convention of 1791; Proceedings and Debates of the Convention for adopting the Constitution of the United States: Celebration of the adoption of the Constitution at Rutland, March 8, 1791; — Admission of Vermont into the Union; Papers of Charles Phelps, of Marlborough, on the controversy with New York, &c, 1770 to 1777.
Additions and corrections to Vols. I, II., and III.
Vol. IV. Montpelier, 1876. iv, 554 pp. Portrait.
Contents. Records of the Governor and Council, Oct., 1791, to Oct., 1804; Vermont in 1791, as viewed by a Virginian; No Slaves in Vermont in 1791; Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; Letters of public officers of Vermont, 1791 to 1802; Internal improvements, on land and water: Champlain canal, and navigation of Connecticut river; — Surveillance of the northern frontier by British troops, 1783 to 1796: Organization of the town of Alburgh; Interference at Alburgh of British officers in 1792; Vermont charged with endangering the peace of the country; Withdrawal of the British troops. — Military contributions of Vermont for the military Service of the United States, 1792 to 1800: The Vermont company in General Wayne’s war against the Northwestern Indians, 1792–95; The minutemen of 1794, 1797–8, Vermonters in the 16th Regiment, U. S. army in 1798–9; — Extradition of fugitives from justice, 1796–99; Addresses of the Legislature of Vermont to the President of the United States, and answers thereto, 1796–1803; Obituary notices of Gov. Thomas Chittenden and Doct. Jonathan Arnold; Governor’s speeches to the legislature, 1797–1803; Replies of Vermont to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798; Last Speech of Gov. Thomas Chittenden.
Vol. V. Montpelier, 1877. iv, 569 pp. Portrait. Plates.
Contents. Record of the Governor and Council, Oct. 1804 to Oct. 1813; Appendix: Governor’s Speeches to the General Assembly, 1804 to 1812; Proposed Amendments to the Federal Constitution; State-Capitals and State-houses of Vermont: Rutland and Windsor State Capitals from 1791 until 1797; Montpelier the State Capital subsequent to 1807; The first State-House at Montpelier, 1808 to 1835; The second State-House at Montpelier, 1830 to 1857; The third State-House at Montpelier, from Oct. 13, 1859; — The Vermont State Bank, 1806; Northern boundary line of Vermont; Addresses of the Legislature of Vermont to the President of the United States, and Replies, 1806–1812; The State-Prison; British intrigue in New England, 1809: The Embargo in Vermont, and the Craig-Henry correspondence, 1808–1812; Domestic manufactures in Vermont, 1809; — Correspondence between Gov. Tichenor of Vermont and Gov. Craig of Canada, 1809: On the Suppression of Counterfeiting in Canada; — Origin and causes of the union of New Hampshire towns with Vermont in 1778 and 1781: An Address of the Inhabitants of the Towns of Plainfield, Lebanon, Enfield, (alias Relhan), Canaan, Cardigan, Hanover, Lime, Orford, Haverhill, Bath, and Landaff, to the Inhabitants of the several Towns in the Colony of New-Hampshire. Norwich: Printed by John Trumbull M.DCC.LXXVI. (Reprint); — Observations on the right of jurisdiction claimed by the States of New York and New Hampshire, over the New Hampshire grants (so called) lying on both sides of Connecticut-River. Danvers: Printed by E. Russell, MDCCLXXVIII. Signed “Republican” (Reprint); — An Address to the Inhabitants of the New Hampshire grants (so called) lying westward of Connecticut river [By Timothy Walker], 1778 (Reprint); — A Public Defence of the right of the New-Hampshire Grants (so called) on both Sides Connecticut-River, to associate together, and form themselves into an Independent State. Dresden: printed by Alden Spooner, 1779 (Reprint); — Letter from Ira Allen to Meshech Weare, 1778; Address to the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont, by Ira Allen, Nov. 27, 1778; Brig. Gen. Wooster to Col. Warner, Jan. 6, 1776.
Vol. VI. Montpelier, 1878. iv, 574 pp. Portraits.
Contents. Records of the Governor and Council, Oct. 1813 to Oct. 1822; Governor’s Speeches to the General Assembly, 1813 to 1821 (Chittenden, Galusha, Skinner); Boundary line between New York and Vermont, from the South-West corner of Vermont to Poultney river; Proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the United States; Vermont opposed to the Hartford Convention; Vermont in the War of 1812: Detached Militia; Volunteer force; Action of the Legislatures of 1812 and 1813; The Vermont Regiments in the U. S. army, 1812–1815 (lists of officers); Capture of the U. S. Sloops Growler and Eagle; A British plundering expedition to Plattsburgh, Swanton, and other towns; British demonstration against Burlington, Aug. 2, 1813; Campaign against Montreal, Oct. and Nov. 1813; Campaign of 1814 on the Niagara frontier; Capture of Fort Erie; Battle of Chippewa plain; Battle at Lundy’s Lane, July 25, 1814; Battle of Fort Erie, Aug. 25, 1814; Land and Naval battles at Plattsburgh. —Vermont on Slavery and the Missouri question, 1819 and 1820; Rights of the respective States in the public Lands of the United States.
Vol. VII. Montpelier, 1879. iv, 527 pp. Portraits.
Contents. Records of the Governor and Council, Oct. 1822 to Oct. 1831; Governor’s Speeches to the General Assembly, 1822 to 1830 (Skinner, Van Ness, Butler, Crafts); Proposed amendments to the Federal Constitution; Internal improvements in Vermont, 1823–1845: Surveys for Canals in Vermont; The Introduction of Railroads into Vermont; Visit of Lafayette to Vermont, 1825.
Vol. VIII. Montpelier, 1880. iv, 517 pp. Folded Map. Portraits.
Contents. Record of the Governor and Council, Oct. 1831 to Oct. 1836; Governor’s Speeches to the General Assembly, 1831 to 1834 (Gov. Palmer); Boundary line between Vermont and New Hampshire, Report, 1792; Tenure of the Executive office, 1832; Resolutions on Topics of national Policy, 1831–1834; Report on the erection of the Second State House in Montpelier: Judges of the Supreme Court arraigned, and vindicated, 1833; Biographical and Historical: Abel Curtis, Col. John Williams, Gen. William Barton; Hon. Timothy Stanley; — Claim of the Cognawaga Indians to land in Vermont; Additional historical Documents on Gov. Benning Wentworth’s Grants of land in Vermont, with list of Townships granted [New York claims to Vermont lands]; Order of the Govrs of the N. Y. [King’s] College for the settlement of Kingsland, now Washington, Vt., 1772; Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 1775; Convention at Dorset, Sept. 21, 1775; Remonstrance against Congress authorizing Cols. Allen and Warner to raise Troops independent of New York, — probably 1776; Meeting of the Council of Safety of Cumberland county, Sept. 3, 1777; Scheme of 1779 to unite all the New Hampshire grants with New Hampshire; Second Union of Towns east of Connecticut river with Vermont; Some old maps touching Vermont; A chorographical map of the northern department of North America embracing Vermont, published about 1779; Tour of President Monroe in Vermont in 1817; Alphabetical list of Governors and Lieutenant Governors, March 13, 1778, to October, 1836; Members of the Council of Safety and Council, 1777 to 1836; Secretaries to the Governor and Council, 1778 to 1836.
Index to biographical and personal notices, Vols. I. to VIII.; Chronological Index to historical documents, notes and references; List of Portraits and other engravings, Vols. I. to VIII.
The Rev. Edward G. Porter addressed the Society in further explanation of the events which occurred between Lexington Green and Concord Bridge on the night of the eighteenth of April, 1775, and on the following day. The valuable details furnished by the speaker were listened to with great attention.
The Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Allen followed Mr. Porter with a relation of some interesting traditions transmitted in his own family bearing upon the same events.