APRIL MEETING, 1919
A Stated Meeting of the Society was held, at the invitation of the President, at his house in Longfellow Park, Cambridge, on Thursday, 24 April, 1919, at eight o’clock in the evening, Fred Norris Robinson, Ph. D., in the chair.
The Records of the last Stated Meeting were read and approved.
The Corresponding Secretary reported that letters accepting Resident Membership had been received from Mr. Samuel Williston and Mr. Morris Gray.
The Rev. Dr. Howard Nicholson Brown of Boston, and Mr. John Lowell of Newton, were elected Resident Members.
The President appointed the following Committees in anticipation of the Annual Meeting:
To nominate candidates for the several offices, — Messrs. Chester Noyes Greenough, Henry Ernest Woods, and James Atkins Noyes.
To examine the Treasurer’s accounts, — Messrs. Robert Gould Shaw and Henry Goddard Pickering.
The President announced that he had been requested by the Council to appoint a Committee on Memorials, whose duty it shall be to identify interesting and important historical sites, especially in Boston, and to solicit the owners to mark them; and that accordingly he had appointed the following: Mr. Charles Sedgwick Rackemann, Chairman, and Messrs. Samuel Chester Clough, Robert Hallowell Gardiner, Henry Goddard Pickering, Richard Clipston Sturgis, John Eliot Thayer, George Wigglesworth, and John Woodbury.
Mr. Chester N. Greenough read the following paper:
JOHN DUNTON AGAIN
Seven years ago, in a paper read before this Society,794 I tried to vindicate John Dunton from the charge of attempting to write history. I now offer a short supplement to that earlier paper.
Dunton, it will be remembered, was a London bookseller, publisher, and miscellaneous writer, who at the age of twenty-seven came to Boston in January, 1686, and remained there or thereabouts until the following July. In 1705, as a part of his Life and Errors, he published a short account of his trip. In 1867 the Prince Society published a very much more extended account of Dunton’s visit drawn from manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, — the so-called Letters from New England. Of these letters, eight in all, six purport to be written from New England and were formerly regarded by some as “unique sketches of New England life, honestly drawn, and defective rather than erroneous.”795 Unique they not improbably are; but they come so far short of being honestly drawn or free from error that they cannot safely be used by anyone who fails to realize Dunton’s extraordinary propensity for borrowing material. His accounts of people and of places are particularly untrustworthy, since for the latter he relies upon Josselyn and for the former upon various seventeenth century writers of “characters,” from whom he copies almost verbatim, though he takes considerable pains to make his work seem original.
The second of Dunton’s eight letters, supposedly written to his brother from Boston,796 and dated February 17, 1685–6, is an account of the voyage. In the course of this voyage Dunton either saw or just missed seeing a most remarkable variety of sea animals, — a whale, flying-fish, shark, tortoise, dolphin, musculus, torpedo, sea-calf, sea-horse, swordfish, thresher, sunfish, porpoise, and alligator.
Each of these he describes, usually to the length of about half a page.
In these descriptions there are several suspicious features. When, for example, we find Dunton writing of the captured whales, “When the victory is got over ’em, and the mighty victim lies at their Conquering Feet, they fearless then survey his huge and massy Body, and tell all his goodly Fins, which like so many Oars in a great Gally do serve to row his Carcase through the Seas at his own pleasure,”797 we feel that the style is obviously unlike Dunton’s. Then there are expressions which suggest either an earlier date than 1686 or a different kind of book from his: “equalizeth,” for instance, in the sense of “is equal to,” “chaps,” for “jaws,” and such forms as “swimmeth,” “hath,” “writeth,” “saith,” “massy,” and such expressions as “in this his large dominion” and “except they be affrighted with the sound of Drums and Trumpets.” Nor is one’s confidence in Dunton increased by his references to Du Bartas and Munster, for with him such apparent ingenuousness usually means not that he has used the originals, but that he has been reading someone who cites them. Moreover, the descriptions of the musculus, dolphin, flying-fish, sunfish, and sea-horse conclude with moral applications which suggest not only an earlier date than Dunton’s, but also a more clerical point of view.798 On the musculus, for instance, which swims before the whale as a guide, Dunton moralizes thus: “Which office of that little Fish, may serve as a fit Emblem to teach Great Ones that they ought not to contemn their Inferiours: There may come a time when the meanest Person may do a Man some good.” Then too the descriptions follow one another rather in the formal order of a treatise than in the casual manner to be expected in an epistolary account of a voyage. Again, the inclusion of the alligator in the fauna of the North Atlantic in January gives considerable ground for skepticism about the whole account; while the conclusion of Dunton’s description of the Tortoise — “it is observable that if any of these Sea-Fowl be taken on the land, . . . they will never give over sighing, sobbing, and weeping, . . . ; yea, even Tears will trickle from their Eyes in great abundance” — certainly looks like one of those statements which caused Joseph Addison mildly to observe of Ferdinand Mendez Pinto that he was “a person of infinite adventure, and unbounded imagination.”
Altogether, there seemed justification enough for suggesting, as, without conclusive proof, I did seven years ago, that the various sailors who told Dunton so much about the fish that they had met had managed to commit to memory large portions of some not very reliable work on natural history.
At any rate, such now appears to be the fact, and my confidence in Dunton was not in the least misplaced. In fact, I underestimated his powers, for he has woven together passages almost literally copied from three books.
The first of these books is a volume of travels, not to New England, but to the East Indies, containing the “familiar letters” concerning his travels which Pietro della Valle wrote to his friend Mario Schipano. They were published in folio at London in 1665, translated by one G. Havers.799 To them is appended an account of Sir Thomas Roe’s voyage to the East Indies, and it is from this part of the book that Dunton borrows.800
The second of Dunton’s sources is a curious work called Speculum Mundi, by one John Swan.801
The third and principal source of Dunton’s borrowings is a most extraordinary work by Daniel Pell, which may be called for short An Improvement of the Sea.802
The extent of these borrowings and the curious way in which passages from different authors are often combined make it seem worth while to reproduce in full Dunton’s fourteen descriptions of sea animals and his sources, arranged in parallel columns. These follow.
The Flying Fish
The Sea-Hog
Dunton’s Source |
Dunton |
The Sea-hog, or Swine. This creature is headed like an Hog, toothed, and tusked like a Boar, . . . These beasts take such delight in one anothers company, that they are to be seen in greater troops and herds, than the greatest land-herds of Swine that ever were seen, for they are not comparable unto the multitudes that bee of them, and are in the Seas. (Pell, p. 222.) The Porpisces or Hogfish. . .are (as if they came of the race of the Gadaren Swine, that ran violently into the Sea) very swift in their motion, and like a company marching in rank and file; They leap or mount very nimbly over the waves, and so down and up again, making a melancholy noise, when they are above the water. These are usually, when they thus appear, certain presagers of very foul weather. (Roe, p. 329.) I have observed, that when this fish hath been wounded by shot or Harping-iron, that hee is no sooner peirced, and mortally wounded, but every one of the same kinde will follow him with the greatest violence that can bee, striving and contending who should beat him first, and have their teeth and mouthes the deepest, and fastest in his carkass. (Pell, p. 223.) |
The weather being a little clear, several Fishes were seen playing abovewater, not far from our Ship, which made me do my utmost with the assistance of Palmer and another of the Passengers, to get above deck again; and indeed I did not lose my labour, for I saw a vast number of Fishes called Sea-hogs, or Porpoises. They were headed much like a Hog, and tooth’d and tusk’d much like a Boar; These Sea-hogs take such delight in one anothers Company, that they swim together in great Numbers, exceeding the largest herd of Swine I ever saw by Land, for those by Land are far inferior for multitude, to those that are in the Seas. These Porpoises, or Hogfish, are very swift in their motion (as if they came of the race of the Gadaren swine that ran violently into the sea) — and are like a company marching in rank and file; they leap or mount very nimbly over the waves and so down and up again, makeing a melancholy noyse when they are above the water: when they appear they are certain presagers of foul weather. There is one thing very remarkable about this Fish, and that is, That if one of them happen to be wounded, either by shott or Harping Iron; the whole Herd pursue him with the greatest fury and violence that may be, seeming to contend who shou’d fall upon him first, and have their Teeth deepest in his Carcase. (Dunton, p. 32.) |
Dunton’s Source |
Dunton |
They have in the Salt-water a frequent aspect of the ravenous, feral, and preying sort of fish called a Shark, of whom the Mariner is more afraid than of all the fish in the Sea besides. This Pickroon, if hee can but take any of them bathing themselves . . . hee will tear them limb from limb, so great a lover hee is of the flesh of man. Some have observed of this fish, that they have not stuck to clammer up upon their ship sides, out of a greediness to feed upon the Sailors. . . . To describe you this creature, I must tell you, that he is of very great bulk, and of a double or treble set . . . of teeth, which are as sharp as needles, but God out of his infinite wisdom considering the fierceness, and violence of the creature, has so ordered him, that hee is forced to turn himself upon his back, before hee can have any power over his prey, or otherwise nothing would escape him. (Pell, p. 206.) |
My constant indisposition would not suffer me to stay long upon the Deck at a time, and therefore having view’d those Sea-Hogs, I was forc’d to retire again into my Cabin: but Palmer afterwards brought me word that they had seen a Fish called Shark, a very dangerous and ravenous Fish, as the Mariners told me, of whom they are more afraid than of all the Fishes in the Sea beside; for if he chance to meet with any of them in the Water, he seldom suffers them to Escape without the loss of a Limb at least and many times devours the Whole Body; so great a Lover is this Fish of Humane Flesh; insomuch that some have observ’d that they have endeavour’d to clamber up the sides of the Ship, out of a greedy desire of Preying on the Sailors: This Fish, it seems, is of a very great Bulk, with a double or treble set of Teeth, as sharp as Needles: But Nature has so order’d it, that as an allay to his Devouring Nature, he is forc’d to turn himself upon his Back, before he can take his prey, by which means many escape him which else would fall into his Clutches. It is, my Brother, from the Devouring Nature of this Fish, that we call those Men Sharks, who having nothing of their own, make it their business to five upon other Men, and devour their Substance. (Dunton, p. 33.) |
The Sun-Fish
The Alligator
Dunton’s Source |
Dunton |
They have a frequent aspect of that wonderful and impenetrable sort of Beasts which the Mariners call an Alligator. . . . This Beast is of a vast longitude and magnitude (some say many yards in length) in colour, hee is of a dark brown, which makes him the more invisible, and indiscernable when hee lyes his Trapan in the waters. . . . Of such strength is this beast, that no creature is able to make his escape from him, if hee get but his chaps fastened in them. . . . This beast hath his three tyer of teeth in his chaps, and so firmly scaled and armed with coat of Male, that you may as well shoot, or strike upon or at a Rock and Iron, as offer to wound him. (Pell, pp. 228–229.) |
Being laid down upon the Bed one Day to repose my self, Palmer comes down to me, and tells me, I had lost the sight of a very great and strange Creature, which our Captain call’d an Alligator; this Creature is of a vast length and breadth, (some say many yards in length:) in colour he is of a dark brown, which makes him the more imperceptable when he lies as a Trapan in the Waters. He is of so vast a strength that no Creature is able to make his Escape from him, if he gets but his Chaps fastened in them; for he has three Tere of Teeth in his Chaps and so firmly sealed [sic] and armed with Coat of Male, that you may as well shoot at a Rock, or strike against Bars of Iron, as offer to wound him. (Dunton, p. 35.) |
The Dolphin
Dunton’s Source |
Dunton |
They oftentimes have a frequent sight of that sociable & companionable Sea-fish, called the Dolphin. Naturalists tell us that these creatures do take great delight to accompany the swiftsailing ships that come through the Seas. . . . I have seen them accompanying of us for a long time together, . . . some swimming on head, some on stem, some on the Starbord-side of us, and othersome on the Larbord, like so many Sea-pages, or Harbingers runing before our wooden horses, as if they were resolved by the best language that fish could give us, to welcome us into and through the waters, and telling us that they would go along with us. (Pell, p. 203.) . . .not so much I think for the love they bear unto man, (as some write,) as to feed themselves with what they find cast overboard: whence it comes to pass, that many times they feed us; for when they swim close to our ships, we often strike them with a broad instrument, full of barbs, called an Harping-iron, . . . This Dolphin may be a fit Emblem of an ill race of people, who under sweet countenances, carry sharp tongues. (Roe, pp. 328–329.) Plinie hath written much of this fish, . . . affirming that he is not onely sociable and desirous of mans company, but delighted also in sweet and sense-charming musick. |
I must acquaint you, That whilst I thus lay musing in my Cabin, one of the Seamen came, and told me that they had had a Dolphin swiming a pretty while by the Ship side, as if it did intend to vye with them in sailing: I made what haste I cou’d upon the deck, but came too late to see it, for the sociable Fish had now withdrawn himself: But the account I had of it from them that saw it, was, This Fish takes great Delight in sailing along by those Ships that pass through the Seas; and one of the mariners affirm’d that in some voyages he had seen several of them accompanying their ship, for a long time together; some swimming a head, and some a stem, some on the Starboard, and others on the Larboard side, like so many Sea-Pages attending them, seeming to tell us we were welcome into their Territories; or as if they were resolved to be our safe-conduct thorow ’em. But this is not so much, I think, for the love they bear unto man, (as some write,) as to feed themselves with what they find cast overboard,803 whence it comes to pass, that many times they feed us, for when they swim close to our ships we often strike them with a broad instrument, full of barbs, called an Harping-iron. The Dolphin may be a fit emblem of an ill race of people who under sweet countenances carry sharp tongues. As to their being generally represented as a Crooked Fish, I enquir’d about it, and am inform’d it is only a vulgar errour of the Painters,804 for ’tis a straight a Fish as any swims the Ocean: If I am in an Errour, Brother, I hope you’ll rectifie me, for I am sure you must have seen of ’em in your Voyage to Suratt: Dubartas records of this Fish, that he’s a great Delighter in Musick: on which he has these Verses: |
Amongst the fishes that did swiftly throng To dance the measures of his mournfull song, |
Among the Fishes that did swiftly throng To dance the measures of his Mournful Song, |
There was a Dolphin did the best afford His nimble motions to the trembling chord. |
There was a Dolphin that did best afford His Nimble Motions to the Trembling Chord: |
But whether that in the storie of Arion be true, I am not able to say. . . . Howbeit this scruple may not take away the love of the Dolphin towards man. For besides those things related in Plinie, of a boy feeding a Dolphin, and carried on his back over the waters to school, . . . others also have in a manner written to the same purpose. And amongst the rest, Ælian tells a storie of a Dolphin and a boy: this boy being very fair, used with his companions to play by the sea side, and to wash with them in the water, practising likewise to swimmer which being perceived by a Dolphin frequenting that coast, the Dolphin fell into a great liking with this boy above the rest, and used very familiarly to swimme by him side by side: . . . sometimes the boy would get upon the Dolphins back, and ride through the waterie territories of Neptunes kingdome, as upon some proud pransing horse, and the Dolphin at all times would bring him safely to the shore again. . . . At last it chanced that the boy, not carefull how he sat upon the fishes back, but unadvisedly laying his belly too close, was by the sharp pricks growing there, wounded to death. And now the Dolphin perceiving by the weight of his bodie, and by the bloud which stained the waters, that the boy was dead, speedily swimmeth with all his force to the land, and there laying him down, for very sorrow died by him. In memorie whereof, let these few lines be added, The fish would live, hut that the hoy must die: The dying boy the living fish torments. The fish tormented hath no time to crie; But with his grief his life he sadly vents. (Swan, 372–373.) |
But whether that in the Story of Arion be true I cannot say: — However, very remarkable is the Story related by Pliny, of a Boy feeding a Dolphin, and carried on his back over the Waters to School: They did swim sometimes side by side, and at last, grew so familiar, that sometimes the Boy would get upon the Dolphin’s Back, and ride in Triumph through Neptunes Wat’ry Kingdom, as upon some proud Prancing Horse: At last, it so unhappily fell out, that the Boy careless how he sat upon the Fishes Back, was by his Sharp and brisly Fins wounded to Death: which the commiserating Dolphin straight perceiving swam to the Land, and there laid down his wounded Burden, and for very sorrow Died. In memory whereof, a Poet writes, The Fish would Live, but that the Boy must Dye, The Dying Boy, the Living Fish Torments: The Fish tormented hath no time to cry, But with his Grief, his Life he sadly vents. (Dunton, pp. 37–39.) |
The Sword-Fish and the Thresher
The Whale
The Musculus
The Calamorie
Dunton’s Source |
Dunton |
The Calamarie is sometimes called the Sea-clerk, having as it were a knife and a pen. Some call him the Ink-hornfish, because he hath a black skinne like ink, which serveth him in stead of bloud. And of these fishes there be more kinds than one: for the Cuttle hath also an inkie juice in stead of bloud. . . . Plinie, . . . affirmeth that both male and female, when they find themselves so farre forth discovered, that if they cannot be hid they must be taken, do then cast this their ink into the water; and so by colouring it, they obscure and darken it: and the water being darkened, they escape. For through the clouds of this black inkie night, They dazling passe the greedie fishers sight. (Swan, pp. 378–379.) |
About this time we discover’d another Sea-Wonder, to wit, a Fish called a Calamorie; which some call the Ink-horn-Fish, because he hath a black Skin like Ink, which Serveth him instead of Blood; When they are like to be taken, they then cast their Ink into the Water, and so by colouring it, they obscure and darken it, and the Water being darken’d, they escape. For through the Clouds of this dark Inky Night, They dazling pass the greedy Fishers Sight. (Dunton, pp. 45–46.) |
The Torpedo
The Sea-Horse
The Sea-Calf
The Tortoise
Dunton’s Source |
Dunton |
They axe not destitute of a frequent aspect of that wonderful, and Jehovah-extolling-creature called the Sea-Turtle, or the Tortoise. This Bird-fish at the time of the year constantly leaves the Sea, and betakes her self to the shore, where shee will shoot an infinite number of Eggs, and cover them in the sand, and as soon as ever she hath done, shee departs the place, and makes for the Sea again, not daring to stay and brood them, as other birds will do, because shee hath no wings to flye withall, and to help her self, if in case shee should bee set at. And when her young ones are once hatched (which come to that maturity by reason of that warmth that is in the sand) they will go as directly towards the Sea, as if they had been in it many a time before they had their being, and although the Sea bee a mile or two from the place, the old one left her Eggs in, out of a natural instinct they will finde the Sea, although it bee out of sight. It is observable, that if any of these Sea-fowl bee taken on land (as oftentimes they are by Sea-men) that they will never give over sighing, sobbing, weeping, and bewayling of their Captivity as long as life is in them, tears will drill, and trickle from their Eyes as from children, in great abundance. (Pell, pp. 224–225.) |
This morning we saw a Sea-Turtle, or Tortoise, (which it seems are frequent on the New-England Coast:) And its flesh is a very delicious Food. It is the property of this Creature at one time in the year constantly to leave the Seas, and betake her self to the Shore, where she will lay an infinite number of Eggs, and cover them in the Sand; and as soon as she has done, she leaves them, and goes to Sea again, not daring to sit and hatch them, as other Birds will do, because she has no wings to fly away, in case of an attack. And when her young ones by the Heat of the Sun are hatch’d they’ll all go as directly to the Sea, as if they had been there before, or that they had been bred in’t; yea, tho’ sometimes the old one leaves her eggs a mile or two from Sea, and quite out of sight on’t; such is the mighty Power of Natural Instinct. It is observable, that if any of these Sea-fowl be taken on the Land, as oftentimes they are by Sea-Men, that they will never give over sighing, sobbing, and weeping, as long as Life is in them; yea, even Tears will trickle from their Eyes in great abundance. (Dunton, p. 52). |
These borrowings amount in all to twenty-one, — one from Purchas, three from Roe, four from Swan, and thirteen from Pell. If to these we add the eighty-four cases previously indicated,805 John Dunton’s total score of passages incorporating borrowed material reaches the not inconsiderable figure of one hundred and five. The relative proportions of original and borrowed matter in the passages referred to in this article are approximately as follows: of matter borrowed from Roe, seven per cent; from Swan, fourteen per cent; from Pell, fifty-eight per cent; and of matter apparently original, twenty-one per cent.806
The way in which these sources came to my notice prompts me to make two observations that may perhaps be of interest to those engaged in similar investigations. After having spent many hours in fruitless efforts to find these authors by turning over such books of voyages as I could think of, and after having with similar lack of success pursued the search from the point of view of zoölogy,807 I at length remembered that Dunton is a person who copies not merely ideas but also words. I accordingly made a short list of unusual words used by Dunton in these descriptions. Two of these words were “harping-iron” (i.e., harpoon) and “calamorie.” Looking up the first of these in the invaluable Oxford Dictionary, I found, ascribed to Pietro della Valle, a sentence which I remembered in Dunton; and similarly the article on “calamorie” in the Oxford Dictionary led me to John Swan. To those, therefore, who deal with authors that are in the habit of borrowing without much change of phrasing, I recommend the Oxford Dictionary.
Pell was much harder to find. Indeed I should probably have missed Pell altogether if it had not been for the late Daniel Butler Fearing. There could hardly be a severer test of the range of Mr. Fearing’s great collection of books on angling than to search in it for such a book as Pell’s. Fortunately, the officials of the Harvard Library, to which Mr. Fearing’s collection came in 1915,808 have arranged in chronological order some of the older angling books. As a result I found Pell within an hour after the notion of looking through the Fearing Collection first occurred to me. This seems to me a striking illustration of the help that a great collection of “dead” books may give to workers in fields apparently remote from that of their collector.
These passages about the sea-animals in John Dunton — particularly since the more misleading parts of his letters have been cleared up — were perhaps not so likely to mislead historians of New England as to justify the labor of discovering their sources. Nor has any zoölogist, so far as I know, ever been tempted to cite Dunton as evidence that alligators formerly abounded in the North Atlantic. But to trace Dunton’s sources is at least an amusing pastime, and it throws some additional light on his methods. These methods are so extraordinary that I have long since ceased to be astonished at anything he does. Yet I do confess to some surprise, in view of these revelations concerning Dunton, at one sentence in his account of the whale: he was particularly glad to see a whale, he says, “because GOD gives him such an Elaborate and accurate Description in the 41st of Job.” I must say that when Dunton ventures to comment on the accuracy of God, he seems to me to be going pretty strong, even for him.
Mr. Samuel C. Clough exhibited a map of Boston in 1648, measuring nine by five feet, drawn by himself, and spoke as follows:
When I became interested in the history of Boston, some twenty years ago, my study fell naturally into line with that of my profession as an engineer, draughtsman, and cartographer. Although there was a great deal of published matter in the form of histories, guide books, pamphlets and brochures, very little had been done to visualize this information. The absence of such data and the reason for this absence so excited my curiosity that, in an effort to supply the deficiency, I at once became a willing and enthusiastic student of our topography. In Mr. Whitmore’s Introduction to the second volume of the Boston Record Commissioners’ Reports he thus refers to George Lamb’s map of Boston founded on the Book of Possessions: “It is a very creditable beginning, but the boundary lines are purely imaginary, and will require almost entire revision. This must be the work of years, if correctness is attainable at all.” This challenge alone, at the outset of my work, acted as an incentive more powerful than any prize which might have been offered. Research of this kind had always appealed to me, and surveying and mapping became a hobby as well as a business; yet after a thorough investigation of what would constitute a reliable map of Boston at this early period, my ardor was somewhat cooled and for a time I abandoned all idea of producing one.
My estimate of the requirements was as follows:
(1) A good, dependable base-map as a starting-point.
(2) The correction of this base-map, by street changes, back to John G. Hales’s survey of 1814, thence, further back, to Osgood Carleton’s survey of 1795. From that date all the street changes would have to be gleaned from the numerous Reports of the Record Commissioners, and from such plans as were available in the office of the City Engineer.
(3) The copying or abstracting at the Suffolk Registry of Deeds of all such data as would verify and establish the street and property lines. My first intention was to abstract thirty volumes; the work has required the abstracting of more than seventy-six volumes.
(4) Abstracting all data affecting real estate found in the Town Records, the Suffolk Probate Office, the Note Books of Lechford and Aspinwall, and the Diaries of Chief-Justice Sewall and others. The Records of the First Church also would have to be copied.
(5) Aside from this copying or abstracting would be the systematic filing, sorting and arranging necessary to bring all this information into line for any particular date or period, which would also require a vast amount of indexing and cross-referencing. Truly, I felt that Whitmore had stated the case none too strongly when he said “this must be the work of years.”
My interest in the study of the topography of Boston, however, was by no means lost, but merely arrested, and I soon began to plot, on a 50-foot scale, two-thirds of the estates listed in the United States Direct Tax of 1798.809 This led to the harder task of making a set of yearly plans (from 1630 to 1800) of the district known as the Town Dock, embracing the area between the present North Street, Dock Square, Washington Street, State Street and the water. It was the success of this undertaking which impelled me to revert to my original project of treating the entire town in the same manner, and to-day I am happy to say that I have completed this task and have my information so systematized that I can not only exhibit this map of the town as it was in 1648, but can produce a similar map of Boston at any other date prior to 1800.
The work has entailed plottings of 50 feet to the inch, by decennial periods, of a good part of the town, in some instances using as large a scale as 20 feet to the inch.
Shortly before making this map I compiled a plan of the entire town in 1678 on a scale of 50 feet to an inch. This was done in sections, as there is no paper wide enough to plot the entire town on that scale, which would make a map twice the size of the one now exhibited.
The map before you is based entirely on information drawn from what are recognized as original and reliable sources and in no instance has any similar work been used in its production. Our knowledge of the size and location of the several buildings on the lots in 1648 is meagre, but such references as are found in the public records, and in notations in subsequent deeds wherein these properties have been divided or alienated, have been carefully followed in order to produce, as nearly as possible, a correct map of this period.
The irregularities which appear in many of the property lines are the result of plotting the actual dimensions recorded in deeds and proved by conveyances of the abutting properties: in fact, the plotting of the estates has been done by piecing together an enormous picture-puzzle in which each piece has a definite place, and all together form a perfect whole.
There are about 350 buildings shown on this map, 315 being dwellings; of the remainder, there are two churches, a schoolhouse, jail, three tide mills and two wind mills; the other buildings are stables, warehouses and shops.
In conclusion, let me say that it is through the plotting of such maps as this that one realizes under what a handicap some of our hard-working, conscientious historians have labored in the past. There are many instances where deeds and notations have been mislocated and I myself, in sorting my data, have been at times perplexed by the fact that some long-standing popular opinion did not fit the topographical conditions. These erroneous opinions, in many cases, were due to centering partial or inaccurate information around some specific landmark, — the mistake of treating separately some particular section of the town instead of dealing with the subject in its entirety. There are many reasons for these misplacements, which it would take too much time now to explain, among the principal ones being the numerous separate holdings by the same person, misinterpretation of street appellations, and in many instances mistakes or twists in the compass-points used in the deeds.
As already said, the plan before you is merely a rough, working, base-map to be used only in plotting the different sections of the town upon a larger scale, and upon this I am now engaged.
Mr. John W. Farwell exhibited a charter party dated at Boston, 22 October, 1659, between John Jackson of Boston, master of the ketch Rebecca, and Mahalaleel Munnings of Boston, merchant, in behalf of John Allen of Barbados. As Munnings died before the completion of the voyage, and as Allen refused to pay the amount due in Barbados, a suit was brought against John Wiswall and Hannah Munnings (a daughter of Wiswall and. the widow of Munnings), the administrators of Munnings’s estate810. The document follows:
This Charter party Indentid of a fraightment made the two and twentieth day of October, in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred fifty and nine, Betweene John Jackson of Boston in the Massachusetts Colonie of New-England Master of the Catch Called or Knowne by the name of the Rebecca, now rideing at Anchor in the River of the said Boston burthen about sixty tuns, In behalfe of the owners of the said catch of the one part, And Mahalaleell Munnings of the said Boston Merchant in the behalfe of Mr John Allen of Barbadoes Merchant on the other part, Witnesseth that the said John Jackson hath leaten the said catch with all her furniture, to fraight to the said Mahalaleell Munnings And that the said Mahalaleell Munnings in the behalfe of the said Allen, hath hired the said Catch for a voyage with her to be made by Gods grace from the said Boston to Puscataque, there to take in her full ladeing, and from thence to the Maderes, from the Maderes to the Barbadoes, and from hence to the Luard Islands (if the said merchant see cause), and so to the said Boston as her last port of discharge, which said Catch is to be ymployed in the service of the said merchant his factors agents or assignes for six months certayne and eight months vncertayne, from the twenty fourth Day of this present October. And that the said John Jackson the said master in behalfe of the said owners, doth covenant and grannt to and with the said Marchant, That they the said owners shall and will sufficiently victuall and man the said Catch during the whole voyage, untill she com to her said last discharging Port. The Seamen belonging to the said Catch with the said Master to be eight in number, and one boy, And that the said Master and owners shall provide all other things necessary for the said Catch in all the said voyage from Port to Port as a aforesaid, for and in consideration of which the said Mahalaleell Munnings the said Merchant doe by these presents for himselfe his executors and administrators covenant and grannt to and with the said John Jackson the said Master his executors administrators and assignes, That he the said merchant his executors administrators agents or assignes, shall and will pay or cause to be paid vnto him the said Master in behalfe of the said owners their executors or assignes the sum̄e of seauventy pounds ꝑ month at some convenient stoore house in St Michaells towne in the said Barbadoes in good drey well cured mrchantable muscavadoe sugar at three pence per pound, within twenty days after the paid Catches arrivall at the said place in the Barbadoes aforesaid. And what is not paid at the said place of the Barbadoes, To be here paid in the said Boston as her last Port of Discharge within tenn Dayes after her arrivall and Discharge as aforesaid, videƚt one third part thereof in money and coyne of New England, one third in merchantable provisions at currant price and the other third ꝑte thereof in English goods, The said vessell to enter in pay on the said twenty fourth Day of this present October. And the said John Jackson the said Master in the behalfe of the said owners, doth by these presents covenant and grannt to and with the said Merchant his executors administrators Agents or assignes, That he the said Merchant his executors administrators agents or assignes, shall and may haue the said Catch seamen and boate, ready vpon all occasions to serue the said m̄cht his executors administrators agents or assignes to and from land in any navigable river or rivers in any of the said Port or Ports During the whole tyme of the said voyage, according to the Custome of the said place or places aforesaid. And the said John Jackson the said Master in behalfe of the said owners of the said Catch, doth by these pr sents for himselfe covenant promise grannt and warrant That the said Catch shalbe During the whole tyme of the said voyage as aforesaid strong and stanch and well and sufficiently tackled calked apparrelled and furnished, with masts sayles sayle yards Anchors cables ropes cords tackle apparrell boate and furniture meete and convenient for such a vessell and such a voyage And to all and singular the covenants grannts and agremts herein specified which on the part of the said John Jackson the said master in behalfe of the said owners ar to be kept and ꝑformed in all things as aforesaid, he the said John Jackson doth bind the said Catch with all her furniture vnto the said merchant his executors and administrators in the penalty & sum̄e of fiue hundred pounds sterling payable in Boston aforesaid, And in like manner the said Mahalaleell Munnings the said merchant to all the covenants and agremts herein specified which on his part ar to be ꝑformed and kept, he binds himselfe his executors and administrators vnto the said John Jackson the said Master in the like sum̄e of fiue hundred pounds sterling payable in Boston as aforesaid. In Witness whereof the said John Jackson the said Master in behalfe of the said owners on the one part and the said Mahalaleell Munnings the said merchant on the other part have herevnto interchangably put their hands and seales the day and yeare first above written.
Signed sealed and deliūed in the prsence
John Davis
his O marke
Mahalaleel Munnings[Seal]
Ita Attest ꝑ Robert Howard Not: pubƚ:
[On the back]
These prsents Witnesseth That I John Jackson of Boston the within mentioned Master of the Ketch Rebecca Doe assigne over this Charter ꝑtie Writen one the other side my right & Title: the full extent thereof in all ꝑticulers vnto Mr Christopher Chark in the behalf of himself & owners: to be & remaine to them their executors & assignes To their sole vse & behoof forever Witnes my hand the one and twentie daye of Aprell Anno: one thousand six hundred & sixtie
John Jackson
Witnes heereunto
Willim̄ Howard
View of Harvard College about 1807
Engraved for The Colonial Society of Massachusetts form the original in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society
John Jackson did acknowledge this assignemt and subscribed to the same his hand
Ri. Bellingham deꝑt govr
These pr esents Witneseth That I Christopher Clark of Boston haueing this Instrument or Charter ꝑtie assigned vnto mee by John Jackson now of Boston as is aboue sayd ffor & in Consideration that Mr Willim̄ Browne of Salam is the Cheife & prinsiple owner of the ketch abouesayd, I doe therefore assign ouer this sayd Charter ꝑtie writen as one the other side the full extent thereof in all ꝑticulers, as it was assigned vnto mee as aboue To be & remaine to him the sayd Willim Browne In the behalf of himself and the rest of the owners, their executors & assignes To his & their sole vse & behoof for ever Witnes heerevnto my hand this eight of May Anno: one thousand six hundred and sixtie
Christopher Clarke
Witnes hereunto
Jno Paine
Wm Howard
June 11 1660
Christofer Clarke did acknowledge this his assignemt āffd yt that he did subscribe the same
Ri. Bellingham deꝑt. govr
Wm Hayward came before me this 11°. 4′. 1660 and did testifie upon oath that he see the above named John Jackson and Christofer Clarke when each of them did subscribe their names to these several assignments
Ri. Bellingham Deꝑt Govr
[Endorsed]
The papers yt Conserens |
Charter ꝑty Mahalaleel |
Mr Browns Action |
Munnings to John Jackson |
Mr. Waldo Lincoln exhibited a water-color view of Harvard College, made about 1807, and remarked upon some features of the buildings portrayed. It belongs to the American Antiquarian Society, by whose courtesy it is here reproduced.
Mr. William C. Lane has written the following comment:
In connection with this early view of Harvard University, it is interesting to note that a print of the same view has been in the possession of the Harvard Library since June, 1888, when it was received from the “heirs of Eliza M. Judkins.”811 The Harvard copy of this print, which so far as is now known seems to be unique, has been colored and is much darkened by age. It is the same size as the original, and is a close copy except for a few small figures introduced in the foreground and for the inscription beneath — “VIEW of HARVARD UNIVERSITY in CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.” Just below the margin, in small letters, and at the left, are the words “Painted by a Student,” and at the right “Snyder, Sculp.,” while the names of the several buildings — Stoughton Hall, Holden Chapel, Hollis Hall, Harvard Hall, Massachusetts Hall — are engraved beneath the respective buildings. Under the title, in script letters, is the line “This view is Respectfully Dedicated to the President812 of the University.”
Stauffer’s American Engravers upon Copper and Steel speaks of H. W. Snyder as engraving in New York in 1797 to 1805, while in 1811 he made some good stipple portraits for the Polyanthos of Boston. He also made line illustrations for the American Builders’ Companion, published in Boston in 1816.
The Harvard view could not have been made before 1805, when Stoughton Hall was built, nor later than 1812, the date of Holworthy Hall. No mention is made of it in the records of the Corporation or in the files of Harvard College Papers between 1805 and 1810, where some clue to the original artist might be expected. The Librarian’s correspondence for 1888 also contains nothing that throws further light on the plate. The letter accompanying the plate in 1888 speaks of its being “published by Act of Congress June 17, 1807.” I have not, however, myself found these words in the plate, but they give a clue to the date of publication. A search of the Boston papers for 1807 might perhaps reveal, some advertisement and settle the date of the plate more accurately.
Mr. Julius H. Tuttle spoke as follows:
Many of the surnames found in early records of towns and churches in the Bay Colony are known to-day in their original forms, some have undergone a change, and others have disappeared. It may be of some interest to record in our Transactions the mention of two surnames among the early settlers of Dedham.
EXTRACTS FROM THE DEDHAM CHURCH RECORDS
engraved for the colonial society of massachusetts
The records of the Church of Christ there were kept with great care by the Rev. John Allin, a graduate of Cambridge University, who settled in Dedham in July, 1637, and became the first minister. The records began with the gathering of the church in November, 1638, and were continued by him to the end of his pastorate at his death in 1671.
The names to which attention is called are “Dam̄at” and “Checkery,” which appear in the entries reproduced in facsimile facing page 258.
In 1648 and 1649 a “John Damant” was listed in the town rates, but no further trace is found of the “Damatt” family in Dedham or elsewhere, nor has the surname been found in any lists. However, the modern name of “Damant” is known.
“Henry Checkery” was later Henry Chickering, and became the first deacon of the church. He had a grant of land in Salem in 1640, but the fact that his grant in Dedham was next to the minister’s leads to the supposition that he was won away from Salem by the desire for his church service in Dedham.813
Mr. Albert Matthews communicated the following paper:
EARLY SUNDAY SCHOOLS IN BOSTON
Here and there can be found a bit of evidence that religious instruction was given in New England to children or others on Sunday in the seventeenth century. Thus on June 10, 1644, an order relating to Indians was passed by the Massachusetts General Court:
Whereas it is ye earnest desire of this Courte, that these natiues . . . should come to ye good knowledge of God, & bee brought on to subiect to ye scepter of ye Lord Jesvs, it is therefore ordred, that all such of ye Indians as haue subjected themselues to or goūmte bee henceforward enioyned (& yt they fayle not) to meete att such seūall places of appoyntmte as shalbee most convenient on ye Lords day, where they may attend such instrucon as shalbee giuen them by those whose harts God shall stirr vpp to yt worke; and it is hereby further declared . . . yt those townes that lye most conuenient to such places of meetinge of ye Indians would make choyce of some of theire brethren (whome God hath best quallified for yt worke) to goe to them, . . . & instruct them, . . . yt if possible God may haue ye glory of ye conūsion (at least) of some of them in ye vse of such meanes God giues vs to afoard them.814
To what extent religious instruction was actually given to Indians on Sunday in the early days here, I do not know; but at least it is certain that in 1660 a payment of £10 was made “To hiacoms an Indian Scoolmaster and Teacher of them on the Lords day” at Martha’s Vineyard.815 Another early allusion to instruction on Sunday occurs in an entry made by the Apostle Eliot on Sunday, December 6, 1674, in reference to the First Church in Roxbury:
This day we restored or primitive practice for the training up or youth, first or male youth (in fitting season, stay every sab: after the evening exercize, in the Pub: meeting house, where the Elders will examine theire remembrance yt day, & any fit poynt of catechise. Secondly yt or female youth should meet in one place, where the Elders may examine ym of theire remembrance yesterday. & about catechise, or what else may be convenient.816
Quoting this passage in 1899, the Rev. Dr. James De Normandie remarked:
While in such records and religious experiences these churches were, I take it, much the same, the First Church in Rockesburgh was distinguished from the others apparently by two interests. Its care for the young was most marked. Here, as far as any records can be found, was the first Sunday-school in the New World; but its work is hardly that which would commend itself to the members of our Young People’s Religious Union.817
Eliot, it will be observed, stated that “our primitive practice” was restored. By “primitive practice” he may only have meant the practice of catechizing children. If he meant catechizing them on Sunday, it would be interesting to know exactly when it began, but until that is determined precedence must be given to the Indians of Martha’s Vineyard for having established “the first Sunday-school in the New World.”
On March 22, 1675–6, the Church in Norwich, Connecticut, declared:
We do therefore this Day Solemnly Covenant to Endeavour uprightly by dependance upon the Grace of God in Christ Jesus our only Saviour.
First, That our Children shall be brought up in the Admonition of the Lord, as in our Families, so in publick; that all the Males who are eight or nine years of age, shall be presented before the Lord in his Congregation every Lords Day to be Catechised, until they be about thirteen years in age.818
And in 1694 at the Church in Plymouth, —
Notice being before given of it, on May 13: the Pastor began againe to Catechise the children of the chh in the shorter Catechisme of the Assembly of Divines, in the publick meeting house between the morning & evening worship, the males one sabbath & the females another successively & then preached on each head of Divinity as they lye in order in that Catechisme; this course was constantly attended for more than 3 yeares, till August, 1697: from Sabath to Sabbath, only on Sacrament dayes & in the short winter dayes & very unseasonable weather, there was a necessary omission thereoff. Many of the congregation did heare the sermons preached at the catechising; & God strengthned & encouraged in the work.819
However, such Sunday schools — if, indeed, they can properly be called by that term — were occasional and sporadic, and there does not appear to be any historical connection between them and the modern system of Sunday schools which, as is well known, began in England towards the end of the eighteenth century. With this movement the name of Robert Raikes is indissolubly connected, though there are other claimants to the honor of having established the first Sunday school in England.820 The differences between the old system and the new system will be patent to every one who reads the extracts about to be presented. What pastors did here before 1790 was merely, so far as the evidence indicates, to catechize on Sunday (though more often on a week day) the children of their own parishes. Very different was the aim of Raikes, whose purpose was to give secular instruction on Sunday to poor children who otherwise would be running about the streets and who, because employed at work, were unable to go to school on week days.821 That there was a Sunday school of the modern type in Philadelphia in 1791 is well authenticated,822 and that is generally regarded as the earliest in this country.823 It has been claimed that the first in New England was begun at Pawtucket, Rhode Island, in 1791 or 1792, though the earliest certain date that can be assigned to it is 1797;824 and that the earliest one in Massachusetts was started at Beverly in 1810.825 But these knotty matters are beyond the scope of this paper, the purpose of which is to bring together some scattered notes on Sunday schools in Boston previous to 1819.
Four years ago the notice board in front of the Park Street Church contained this statement: “First Sunday School in Boston, 1817.”826 In 1918 this read “Sunday School Organized 1817.” There is now no reference at all on the notice board to the Sunday School. From an historic sketch of the Park Street Church, printed in a volume published in 1861, is taken the following:
Sabbath Schools, in the Orthodox churches in Boston, it is supposed, originated in a meeting of members of Park Street Church, in the year 1817. . . .
A free conversation was held, in which objections were raised, viz: that it might be a desecration of the Sabbath; that children ought to be instructed at home by their parents; and that professing Christians ought to be at home, engaged in reading, meditation, and prayer, instead of going abroad to teach the children of other families, on the Sabbath.827
To this it was answered, that Sabbath-day teaching was a missionary work, designed to gather, from the streets and wharves, children who were neglected by their parents, and suffered to go abroad on the Sabbath, when they were generally engaged in play or mischief. It was for this purpose that they were established in England, by Robert Raikes, and they had there been the means of doing great good.
It was finally determined, at that meeting, that a school of that description should be commenced; and William Thurston, Esq., (the first name attached to the covenant of Park Street Church,) . . . was requested to act as superintendent of the school. This school was established in the Town Schoolhouse, on Mason Street.
Schools similar to this were afterwards established in other sections of the town. The “Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor,” being organized about that time, took the general superintendence of all the schools, appointed the superintendents when vacancies occurred, visited and examined the schools, by committees, quarterly, and contributed to their pecuniary wants. . . .
In the fall of 1829, two members of the Park Street Church, — a lady and a gentleman, — after conversation on the subject, determined to attempt the establishment of a Sabbath school in Park Street Lower Vestry, to be gathered principally from the congregation. . . . The first meeting of the school was held “Sunday, December 13, 1829.” . . . At the time that Park Street School was established, many teachers and scholars belonging to Park Street congregation were engaged in other schools, from which they were not disposed to withdraw. It was stated at the time, that about one hundred members of Park Street Chinch, of both sexes, were thus engaged.828
In 1890 Hamilton A. Hill, referring to the year 1817, said:
On Wednesday afternoon, October 8, Mr. Huntington preached at the Old South, in behalf of the Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor. A large number of Sunday-school children were present. This society . . . was founded in 1816, and, as its original name829 indicates, began as a Sunday-school society; during the first year of its existence, it gathered five hundred children into its two schools, one of them in Mason Street, the other in School Street.830
The Rev. Joshua Huntington was at that time pastor of the Old South Church and also president of the Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor, while William Thurston was its vice-president. In its first Report, presented October 8, 1817, we read:
The field to which we allude, and which we now earnestly recommend to the cultivation of all classes, is presented to us in the form of Sunday Schools. Two of these schools have been established by the Board in the town school houses, one in Mason and another in School Street, the use of which has been granted, on application for that, purpose, by the selectmen and school committee.831 Into the first 336 children have been admitted, and into the latter 164 — making together 500. The first mentioned school was opened on the 11th of May last, and has been constantly attended by about 20 instructors, besides a superintendant. The latter school was commenced on the 15th of June, and has one superintendant with ten teachers; the boys being taught by male, and the girls by female instructors. . . . All that apply above five years of age are admitted and equally entitled to this gratuitous instruction; . . .
The Board of Directors of this Society have published their intention of supplying with their books and papers any religious society or individuals in this town, that may hereafter think proper to establish Sunday Schools, and provide them with superintendants and teachers, and have aided in this way a Sunday School established at South Boston832 upon the plan above described.
We have already observed, that into the two schools opened under the sanction of the Board, and supported by the funds of this society, 500 children have been admitted. Of 336 received into the Mason-street school, none of whom are under five years of age, not one fourth could read words of one syllable when admitted, and most of them did not know their letters.833
From subsequent Reports it is learned that a school was established in North Bennet Street about March 1, 1818,834 and another in Hawkins Street on April 5, 1818;835 that in 1828 no fewer than eighteen schools were under the society’s patronage;836 and that in 1829 its Sunday schools were “resigned to the care of an appropriate institution.”837
Very recently it has been claimed that the Park Street Church Sunday School was in existence at the outbreak of the War of 1812,838but the data presented above show conclusively that, as stated in the historic sketch of the Park Street Church published in 1861, it was not organized before 1817.
In 1899 the Rev. Nathan E. Wood wrote:
Wednesday, Sept. 4, 1816, a society was organized and called “The Sabbath School Society of the First Baptist Church and Congregation for the Instruction of Indigent Boys.” They were to be instructed “in reading and spelling,” and were to be “provided with books and Clothing.” Within a year the range of instruction was increased, and “the instructors are to teach the children, spelling, reading, the catechism & the doctrines & duties of the christian Religion.” This school was not intended for boys from families of the church, but for neglected and indigent boys. The officers and instructors were all men, and it was their duty to take these boys to the public worship on Lord’s Days and sit with them (usually in the gallery) to preserve order. . . . The first Sunday-school organized in the vicinity of Boston, for the religious instruction of the young, seems to have been the one in Beverly, in 1810, in the First Parish Church.839 The first one in Boston was begun in June, 1816, in the Third Baptist Church (afterward known as the Charles Street), and was in two divisions, a “Female Sabbath School” and a “Sabbath School for Indigent Boys.” In the next month a “Female Sabbath School” was begun in the Second Baptist Church (Bald win Place). It was soon after the settlement of Mr. Winchell that the question of organizing a Sunday-school in the First [Baptist] Church was agitated, but no decision was reached until August, 1816, when a “Female Sabbath School” was commenced in the vestry. It enrolled eighty-seven members, seventy-five of whom were in attendance in October, 1818. The records of this school cannot be found, but it was conducted by women exclusively. In the next month, September, 1816, “the Sabbath School for Indigent Boys” was begun, and more than one hundred boys were enrolled, seventy of whom remained in October, 1818. In November, 1816, the First African Baptist Church began a school with about fifty pupils.840 Thus from June to November in 1816 all of the four Baptist churches in Boston equipped themselves with Sabbath-schools.841
In an historic sketch of the First Parish Sabbath School, Charlestown, published in 1867, we read:
A half century has passed since, in October, 1816, two societies were formed in connection with this our old and honored church. One, called “The Charlestown Sabbath-school Society,” was composed of gentlemen; the other, composed of ladies, called “The Charlestown Female Society for the Promotion of Sabbath Schools.”
The officers of the first named were chosen Oct. 25, 1816, . . . The officers of the female society, chosen the same year, but probably a little earlier, were . . .
The object of these societies, as designated by their “constitutions,” was “to ascertain the situation of the children and youth of this town within the Neck, in regard to moral and religious instruction; to provide suitable places, where those of them who are disposed may meet on the Sabbath to receive such instruction; to provide a sufficient number of proper instructors; and to make the necessary arrangements for the decent, orderly attendance of the scholars on public worship.” Also (as incorporated in the constitution of the Female Society), “to furnish the indigent with such clothing and books as may enable them to attend the schools and public worship in the house of God.”
These societies resulted in the formation of three schools, — one for girls (first formed), one for boys, and another to be held at the Point.
The records of these two societies, written in a clear and beautiful hand by the secretaries, with the list of officers chosen, and the general minutes relating to their action, are in the possession of the school at the present time. We have also the names of the teachers and scholars of the girls’ school. The record of the boys’ school, and of the school at the Point, is either mislaid or wholly lost.842
Charlestown was of course at that time a separate town, as it was not annexed to Boston until 1874.
The Christ Church Sunday school was begun on June 4, 1815. The following account was written in 1826 by Joseph W. Ingraham, then the superintendent of the school:
A school of this description was projected in 1808 or 1809, when it was contemplated by some of the proprietors of Christ Church to erect, on the land belonging to the church, a school house for the children of those who worshipped there. It was at that time a subject of conversation between the rector of the church 843 and the late Shubael Bell, Esq., a gentleman whose zealous exertions in the cause of benevolence entitle him to a high rank among the useful members of society, and whose memory should ever be retained by us in grateful remembrance. It was owing to his zealous co-operation with the Rector of the church that our school was commenced; and it is an interesting fact, in the history of these institutions, that these gentlemen were the founders of the first Sunday school opened in New England. They had long felt the importance of having a school on Sundays for the religious instruction of the children attending Christ Church; but as the vestry was not large enough, and it was not convenient to have the school in the body of the church, the execution of their plan was postponed till circumstances should be more propitious to the undertaking. And when Mr. Bell so zealously engaged in the design of erecting the academy, he was stimulated in a great measure by the hope of having a Sunday school kept in the same building. But circumstances not proving favorable, the execution of the design was postponed till May, 1815, when Mr. John R. Cotting became preceptor of [the] academy, and consented to take charge of the Sunday school. It was opened on the Sunday after he commenced his duties as preceptor, being the first Sunday in June, 1815.
At this time no other Sunday school was known to have been opened in America;844 and this was therefore modelled on the plan of those established by the Church in England. While the subject of the school was under discussion, the rector of the church prepared for publication a small tract entitled the Youth’s Manual, which was enlarged in several editions, with a view to its introduction into the school whenever it should be established. The first edition of the Manual was published in 1808. . . .
As soon as the establishment of the school became known, children flocked from all parts of the town, to enjoy its privileges; and as there was no other institution of the kind in town, it was not thought expedient to confine its benefits to the children of those who worshipped at Christ Church. Its doors were therefore opened for the admission of all who might apply, and it was consequently soon filled. . . .
Early in 1816, a new edition of the Youth’s Manual was printed for the use of the school; in which some alterations were made by Mr. Bell, who added “A Form of Prayer for Sunday Schools.”845
In June, 1816, the second Sunday school in this town was established by the ladies of the third Baptist society; and soon after, others were opened, by other congregations. Our number of scholars consequently greatly diminished, as the parents of many of them naturally preferred sending their children to their own schools.
Previously to April, 1817, the school was supplied only with occasional teachers. At that time, however, it was thought advisable, for the benefit of the scholars, to devise some means to procure more regular assistance. A meeting of several members of the Church was accordingly held on the 17th April, 1817, which resulted in the organisation of the Salem Street Sunday School Society.846 This name was adopted for several reasons. As the school was not confined to members of Christ Church, but was open for the admission of children of all denominations, it was thought inexpedient to adopt a name which might have even the appearance of an exclusive spirit; and as the school was kept in Salem Street Academy, it was thought most convenient to adopt that title, particularly as it would designate its location to any person who might be seeking for it. These reasons not now existing, the name has been changed; and our school will hereafter be known as the Christ Church Sunday School.847
In a letter dated April 22, 1915, the Rev. Harold L. Hanson stated that “the Sunday school of the First Baptist Church in Charlestown has had a continuous existence since 1813. It celebrated its 102d anniversary last Sunday [April 18].”848 The Rev. William Collier became pastor of the church on April 15, 1804. In a sermon preached on April 15, 1888, the Rev. George E. Horr, Jr., said:
Mr. Collier . . . soon after his settlement here, gathered the children of the families connected with the church together at his house Saturday afternoons. He catechised the children and required them to recite verses of Scripture they had learned during the week. . . . The year the school, which met at the pastor’s house Saturday afternoon, became a Sunday-school, is not certain. Sunday-school records were not kept until 1825. It was probably about 1809 or 1810, the year the meeting house was erected in Austin Street. But by general consent the year 1813 has been fixed upon as the time from which to date the anniversaries, a date which, however, is probably too late by a year or two. But 1813 makes this school the oldest hereabouts. The school connected with the First Parish of Charlestown was organized Oct. 25, 1816.849 The First Sabbath-school in Boston was formed by the women of the Charles Street Baptist Church in June, 1816, . . . The school connected with the First Parish Church in Beverly, (now Unitarian), was probably organized in 1810, but it seems to have been without systematic organization and unconnected with the minister or parish, and was not held in the meeting house until 1819.850 Our claim then is a fair one, even upon the basis of 1813, to be regarded as one of the oldest Sunday-schools in these parts, and perhaps the oldest.851
It thus appears that the date 1813 is conjectural.
In a letter to the Rev. Dr. Ezra S. Gannett dated September 28, 1831, the Rev. Dr. Charles Lowell wrote:
You request me to give you an account of the origin of the West Parish Sunday school, the oldest, as far as I know, in this city. In 1811, a charity school was established in the west part of Boston, chiefly through the exertions of Mr. Bartlett, then chaplain at the almshouse, now one of the ministers of Marblehead. In October, 1812, the teacher of that school, Miss Lydia K. Adams, then a member of the West Parish, having learned, on a visit to Beverly, that some young ladies of that town were in the practice of giving religious instruction to poor children on the sabbath,852 consulted her minister on the expediency of giving like instruction to the children of her school, and to those who had been members of it, on the same day. The project was decidedly approved, and immediately carried into effect. In December of the same year, Miss Adams was compelled by ill health to leave the school, and ladies of the West Church took charge of it, and, in turn, instructed the children, both on the week days and the sabbath, till a suitable permanent teacher could be obtained. On this event, they relinquished the immediate care of the week day school but continued the instruction of the Sunday school, till it was transferred to the church, and was enlarged by the addition of the children of a different description.853
A more detailed account was given by the Rev. Dr. Cyrus A. Bartol in 1856:
For some time prior to the year 1811, a society of young ladies had been formed, under the name of the “Gleaning Circle,” for the purposes of mutual entertainment and improvement by literary exercises, and of contributing, by their needles and otherwise, to the relief of the poor, consisting of members from various religious societies, but chiefly from that under Dr. Lowell’s pastoral charge, . . . Early in that year, the Rev. John Bartlett, afterwards settled at Marblehead, was chaplain of the almshouse in Leverett Street; and . . . perceiving the destitution of all means of education for the very young children of the poor to prepare them for entering the public schools, he established by subscriptions two charity-schools — one at the North End, and one at the western part of the town — for that purpose, and also for the instruction of the female children in sewing, there being then no primary schools; . . . The one last named, of course, soon attracted the attention and interest of Dr. Lowell, . . . who commended it to the benevolence of the “Gleaning Circle.” Several of its members immediately took the school under their patronage; became themselves, and afterwards procured others to become, contributors for its support; and assisted in the instruction of the children, and in the clothing of those the most destitute. In a short time, it fell entirely into the hands of the ladies of the West-Boston Society, including many besides the members of the Circle, and was wholly maintained and managed by them. In the year 1813, while Miss Lydia Adams was the matron of the school, she, being on a visit in Beverly, saw the children of the Society then under the charge of Rev. Dr. Abbot,854 and now under that of the Rev. Mr. Thayer,855 assembled after service for religious instruction by members of the Society; thus constituting, as is believed, the first Sunday school in America. Being greatly impressed with the utility and effect of such a school as there exhibited, upon her return she communicated her views to the ladies then in charge of her school, who, uniting in sentiment with her, immediately made arrangements for the religious instruction of the children under her care, on Sunday, by the attendance of two of them, in regular rotation, for that service. At that time there were about fifteen children in the school, all of whom were girls, and who attended church, and were seated together in the gallery. The number, however, was gradually increased by the accession of children of members of the Society, who had become sensible of its great utility; and the name was changed, from being the “West-Boston Charity School,” to that of the “West-Parish Sewing School.” It continued to flourish until the establishment of the public primary schools for the same ends entirely superseded its necessity, when it was given up. . . . It was the parent of the Sunday school of the West-Boston Society, the first established in Boston. . . . The ladies who had thus undertaken the religious instruction of the children on Sunday became so deeply interested in their work, and rendered their ministrations so attractive, that other children, not connected with the school, were induced to partake of the benefits of them, until the number, at the time of its dissolution, amounted to about fifty, with a complement of about eight teachers, who were accustomed to assemble, in mild weather, in the room under the belfry, and, in winter, in the galleries, and subsequently, as the school increased, at the Derne-street Schoolhouse. And thus was formed the first of those institutions in this city, which are now esteemed an essential department in most of the religious societies throughout the United States.856
Writing in October, 1794, Thomas Pemberton said:
Whatever plan may appear, on deliberate examination, to be of publick utility, should be undertaken and promoted. It is worthy of consideration whether Sunday schools would not be a very beneficial institution in this town. Many children are kept from attending publick worship through the inability of their parents suitably to clothe them; and their parents not being able to keep them within doors, they repair to the wharves and alleys to recreate themselves as on other days, to the great disturbance of the families in the vicinity of such places, and the profanation of the day. If Sunday schools were instituted, both these evils might be prevented. The only requisites for attending the schools are clean hands and faces and combed hair. The master or mistress should refuse none who are sent to them; and the school committee might appoint such hours for the children to attend, as they may think proper. Portions of scripture should be read by those scholars who can read, and those who cannot should be taught to read. A catechism suitable for their ages, should also be a part of their employment at these schools. . . . In 1790 Sunday schools were established in Philadelphia; and in 1791, some patriotick gentlemen of this town, by a liberal subscription, enabled the late Mr. Oliver Lane to open a Sunday school. It embraced in its object both sexes under a certain age. The writer hopes such an establishment will not be wholly laid aside; and if it cannot be continued by voluntary subscription, that the publick will take it into consideration, as perhaps publick monies cannot be appropriated to a more useful design.857
The school mentioned by Pemberton was opened on Sunday, April 17, 1791, as appears from a notice printed in the Columbian Centinel of Wednesday, April 20, 1791:
A SUNDAY SCHOOL,
Established by the liberal subscription of a number of patriotick Gentlemen of this Metropolis, was opened on Sunday last. It is under the management of Mr. Oliver W. Lane, and embraces in its object, those of both sexes, under a certain age, whom habits of industry or other causes, debar from instruction on week-days (xv. 43).
Under date of April 25, 1791, is found this passage:
On a letter received from the Gentlemen Proprietors of the Duck Manufactory requesting the approbation of the Selectmen for their opening a Sunday School and their Opinion on the subject — The Selectmen are of opinion that however eligible the measure may be the Law respecting Schools had not in contemplation such as is requested and therefore does not authorise them to approbate it.858
Whether the “Gentlemen Proprietors of the Duck Manufactory” were identical with the “patriotick Gentlemen of this Metropolis” who liberally subscribed to Mr. Lane’s school, as seems not improbable, or whether they desired to establish still another Sunday school, I have been unable to ascertain. Nor do I know exactly how long Mr. Lane’s Sunday school, assuming that it survived the adverse decision of the selectmen, remained in existence, though certainly this could not have been for a longer period than about two years and a half. A brief sketch of (so far as now known) the first Sunday school teacher in Boston will not be out of place, especially as Oliver Wellington Lane859 was a man of some local repute in his day. The son of James and Mary (Wellington860) Lane of Bedford, he was born there on October 27, 1751;861 in 1768 he entered Harvard College, graduating in 1772; at the outbreak of the Revolution he entered the army, and in May, 1775, was “reported recruiting”862 — facts no doubt accounting for his not taking that year his A.M., which was given him out of course in 1779. On October 23, 1784, he married Susanna Newman,863 who survived him, and was then — or soon after became — a schoolmaster. In the Boston Directory of 1789 he is entered as “Lane Oliver Willington, school-master, Staniford-street.”864 Glimpses of him are obtained about that time from two pupils — General William H. Sumner and Lucius Manlius Sargent, the noted temperance writer. In “Some Recollections of Washington’s Visit to Boston” in October, 1789, written sixty-one years later, General Sumner said: “I will remark that I, then a boy of between nine and ten years of age, was a pupil at Master Lane’s West Boston writing-school. . . . Master Lane’s boys were placed in front of Mr. Jonathan Mason’s hardware store, near the bend in Washington Street (then Cornhill) opposite Williams Court. I well remember the laugh which our salute created, when, as the General passed us, we rolled in our hands our quills with the longest feathers we could get.”865 Mr. Sargent, according to his biographer, “was then sent to Master Lane’s school, in West Boston, which he reached by going up Hancock Street and round by the Beacon monument, on the sides of which were four historic tablets. He says that in 1793 it was ‘a lonely spot to travel.’ The master was ‘harsh;’ he did not like him. One mode of his punishment was to make a boy stand on a very narrow log, with scarcely any foothold, with a large chip in his mouth, for an example; yet if any urchin lifted up his eyes to look at him, he was condemned to a similar punishment.”866 Such a whimsical and tantalizing punishment naturally seemed “harsh” to a boy of seven. Mr. Lane was an ardent Universalist, and when the noted John Murray was installed pastor of the First Universalist Church on October 23, 1793, it was Deacon Lane who “introduced” him and delivered an address.867 That must have been one of Mr. Lane’s last appearances in public, for he died on November 3d following, as appears from an obituary:
On Sunday evening, at half past 9 o’clock, Master Oliver Willington Lane, one of the Deacons of the first Universal Church, departed this life, aged 42.
The Religious Society, in which he had attained unto a good degree, have met with an afflictive bereavement by the death of Mr. Lane. The Civil Community, of which he was a valuable and useful member, will long regret the loss of an excellent Preceptor, whose modes of instruction gained the confidence of the Parent, and won the affections of the child. A widow, a widow indeed, whose husband is dead, and six small children, lament the kindest of husbands and the best of fathers.
☞ Mr. Lane’s funeral will move from his late dwelling house at West-Boston, to-morrow afternoon, at three o’clock. The Church, Congregation and Society are respectfully invited to attend. The pupils of the now departed are requested to pay the last tribute of regard; and all the relatives and numerous friends of the deceased, are called to the house of mourning.
How blest, is our brother bereft
Of all that could burthen his mind!
How easy the soul that hath left
This wearisome body behind!
This earth is affected no more
With sickness, or shaken with pain:
The war in the members is o’er,
And never shall vex him again.868
Our extracts may appropriately end with what is, so far as I am aware, the earliest known allusion to Sunday schools in a Boston newspaper, taken from the Massachusetts Centinel of August 27, 1785 (p. 4):
Preparation for SUNDAY.
IT has been before observed, that the “want of Piety arises from the want of sensibility” — That the vulgar, when arrived at a state of manhood, are either infidels or bigots, experience has reduced to a certainty — But asks the judicious observer, what remedy is there for the fault — Ignorance is the attendant on poverty; and the poor form a large proportion of the people? The Preparationalist cannot answer the enquiry but with the proposal for the institution of SUNDAY SCHOOLS. This benevolent measure has been lately adopted in England and Ireland, and is highly worthy of imitation here — Fas est etiam ab hoste doceri. Experience has fully evinced that the more enlightened nations are, the more amenable are they to the laws, to order, and to police; and the less frequently do they perpetrate those species of violence and barbarity, which reduce humanity to a level with the brute creation. What good can be reasonably expected, from that part of the community, whose infancy and youth are consumed in one uninterrupted scene of idleness, villainy, and all kinds of low craft and theft (in which they are but too often countenanced and encouraged by their parents) untinctured by the very elements of cultivation and knowledge; and who, of course, can hardly, when arrived at maturity, be supposed capable of a relish but for dissipation, drunkenness, blasphemy, and debauchery? That this is the case with too many in all countries, their prison calendars will afford irrefragable proofs.
To various sources may this evil be traced. Of these perhaps the following is not the least: The lower classes of people, generally speaking, can hardly afford their children an education; and it frequently happens, that, from the most mercenary motives, they debar them of schooling, if they can hope to derive any emolument, however paltry, from employing them in the vilest drudgery. Now, if Sunday Schools were established, where children would be instructed gratis, — both the foregoing part to the improvement of the people would be removed, — and we might entertain a well founded hope that the rising generation (of the above classes,) would prove very different from their fathers.
But should this institution take place — a consummation devoutly to be wished — great caution will be requisite to guard against the abuses it is liable to from party, civil and relegious. Bigotry, superstition, fanaticism, and intolerance, have too long lorded it over mankind, who bent a supplient knee to the demons. Should Sunday schools be opened here, it is to be hoped they will steer clear of them. If religion be made a part of instruction, let it be confined to those points in which the various professors of Christianity agree, whether of credence or practice — such as, the creation, the fall of man, the flood, the election of the Jews, the redemption, that the base on which Christianity has been founded, is “Love of God above all things — and love of our neighbour similar to what we feel for ourselves,” — the last judgment, — a future state of rewards and punishments, &c. &c. But let those speculative points, wherein they differ, and which have for centuries past, drenched the earth with the gore of her children, be taught by the various pastors to their respective flocks. Would to Heaven, that they exerted themselves to instil therewith that universal benevolence, which embraces all mankind in the bands of brotherhood, and which truly fulfils the law and the gospel!
A chronological list of Boston Sunday schools before 1819 is appended:
1791 |
April 17 |
Oliver W. Lane’s school, p. 280. |
1812? |
West Church, p. 277. |
|
1813? |
First Baptist Church, Charlestown, p. 275. |
|
1815 |
June 4 |
Christ Church, p. 273. |
1816 |
June |
Third Baptist Church, p. 271. |
July |
Second Baptist Church, p. 271. |
|
August |
First Baptist Church, p. 272. |
|
Oct. |
First Church, Charlestown, p. 272. |
|
Nov. |
First African Baptist Church, p. 272. |
|
1817 |
May 11 |
Mason Street, p. 269. |
June 15 |
School Street, p. 269. |
|
Summer |
South Boston, p. 269. |
|
Park Street Church, p. 266. |
||
1818 |
March |
North Bennet Street, p. 269. |
April 5 |
Hawkins Street, p. 269. |
With two exceptions, the dates here given are either exact or approximately so, having been drawn from contemporary or nearly contemporary sources. But the dates assigned to the West Church and to the First Baptist Church of Charlestown require further inquiry before they can be accepted.
These notes are submitted in the belief that they will afford a useful summary of facts as at present known, and in the hope that they will bring out further information on an obscure but interesting subject. It will perhaps be objected that some of the extracts are quoted at too great length, but this seems justifiable in view of the extraordinarily conflicting statements and of the difficulty in obtaining exact data.
Dr. Charles L. Nichols communicated the following paper:
IS THERE A MARK BASKETT BIBLE OF 1752?
In 1810 Isaiah Thomas wrote:
Kneeland and Green printed, principally for Daniel Henchman, an edition of the Bible in small 4to. This was the first Bible printed, in the English language, in America. It was carried through the press as privately as possible, and had the London imprint of the copy from which it was reprinted, viz: “London: Printed by Mark Baskett, Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty,” in order to prevent a prosecution from those, in England and Scotland, who published the Bible by a patent from the crown; or, Cum privilegio, as did the English universities of Oxford and Cambridge. When I was an apprentice, I often heard those who had assisted at the case and press in printing this Bible, make mention of the fact. The late governor Hancock was related to Henchman,869 and knew the particulars of the transaction. He possessed a copy of this impression. As it has a London imprint, at this day it can be distinguished from an English edition, of the same date, only by those who are acquainted with the niceties of typography. This Bible issued from the press about the time that the partnership of Kneeland and Green expired. The edition was not large; I have been informed that it did not exceed seven or eight hundred copies.870
This statement of Thomas has been given in full as it contains, in detail, all that is known of this important alleged fact, that a Bible was printed in Boston in the English language about the year 1752. No public interest seems to have been awakened to this until 1852, when George Bancroft wrote: “And yet to print that Bible in British America was prohibited as a piracy; and the Bible, except in the native savage dialects, was never printed there till the land became free.”871 In a note on the same page is the following: “My friends, Mr. James Lenox and Mr. J. G. Cogswell, agree with me, that no trace of an American edition of the Bible, surreptitious or otherwise, previous to the Declaration of Independence, has been found.” In a later statement Bancroft said: “Till a copy of the pretended American edition is produced, no credit can be given to the second-hand story.”872
At this time, 1852, there were already a number of eager collectors of Americana, like James Lenox, John Carter Brown, George Brinley, and George Livermore, who would have gladly added a copy of this Bible to their libraries but who searched in vain for it. George Livermore, however, manifested his disagreement with Mr. Bancroft’s conclusions;873 yet he wrote Mr. Lenox on March 4, 18513, that careful search by the Hancock family failed to find the Governor’s copy, thus destroying one more hope of success.
At the sale of the Thomas J. McKee library in 1902, appeared a Bible with the imprint as described by Thomas and with date 1752.874 This Bible was claimed to be a copy and the only known copy of that issue and advanced as proof positive of the truth of Thomas’s statement. It was bought by Mr. McKee several years before, of George P. Philes, a bookseller of New York. This claim was first made by John Anderson, Jr., but there is no record of any publicity to it until the statement in the sale catalogue of 1902. The Bible was purchased by George C. Thomas of Philadelphia for $2025, and held a prominent position in his choice library. In 1910, after the death of George C. Thomas, the Bible was advertised for sale in the catalogue of George H. Richmond, and later in that of the Rosenbach Company in 1913 and again in 1917.
engraved for the colonial society of massachusetts from a copy in the possession of dr. charles lemuel nichols
If this Bible is genuine, it holds an important position in the history of Americana because its evidence confirms the truth of the statement of Isaiah Thomas. If, on the contrary, this evidence is not worthy of credence, it should not be allowed to stand and the Bible should be relegated to a place where it can no longer mislead us in our search for the solution of this problem.
An opportunity of examining this Bible was courteously afforded the writer in 1910 by Mr. Richmond and again in 1917 by Dr. Rosenbach, and it is with regret that my conclusions oblige me to set aside its value in the evidence towards which my prejudice in favor of the Isaiah Thomas story had led me to investigate the book.
In 1907 a careful study was made by me of the Mark Baskett Bibles in the Bodleian Library, in the British Museum, and in the British and Foreign Bible Society, with the hope that familiarity with the English editions of this Bible would enable me to confirm the statements in the McKee catalogue and to recognize other copies of the Boston edition if any such should come into the market. When the opportunity was offered me in 1910 by Mr. Richmond of examining the Bible, it appeared to me that the date was not as clear as it should be, but a decision upon such an important matter seemed outside my province. In 1917, however, a careful study of the text was made by me in comparison with several other Baskett Bibles; notably a copy of the 1763 edition in the Harvard College Library, one dated 1761 in my own possession, and a 1766 edition belonging to the American Antiquarian Society.
In looking over the New Testament a curious typographical error was discovered in St. Matthew, Chapter 17. In the second line of the chapter heading the letter f in the word foretelleth had fallen down because of loss or misplacement of a lead. In verse 1 the letter e in the second word, after, was misplaced upward. In verse 3, second line, the letter l in Elias had fallen down and had separated the letters of the word then in the next line and verse. Such a typographical error would be practically impossible of duplication and would be positive proof that all copies in which it occurred were of the same edition, although it might not be found in the whole edition as it could have been discovered and rectified during printing.875 See the facsimile, facing this page. Examination of three copies of the New Testament with title-page dated 1763 revealed the same error in each, which had been found in the 1752 copy, the New Testament of which lacked title-page, and seemed to prove conclusively that this part of this Bible was dated 1763 also.
This fact did not, however, prove the date of the Old Testament part to be of this date, as it was customary to bind different editions together.
A somewhat careful study of the typography of the Old Testament of this 1752 Bible was made with the discovery of a number of interesting facts.
- In Exodus, Chapter 14, verse 18, the word Egyptians is spelled Epyptians. See the facsimile, facing this page.
- In Genesis, Chapter 4, verse 6, the letter t in thou has fallen out into the space at the side. See the facsimile, facing this page.
- In Leviticus, Chapter 5, verse 6, the letter i in his is missing.
- In Psalms, Chapter 21, verse 7, the letter i in high is missing.
- In Psalms, Chapter 33, verse 3, the letter i in noise is missing.
More than two dozen cases of broken letters, irregularities of type or of line were found, in addition to the above noted omissions.
In all these cases, these omissions, errors and broken letters were identical in the 1752 copy and in the copy dated 1763 belonging to the Harvard College Library. In addition to this positive evidence, none of these errors occurred in the 1761 edition or in that of 1766, the inference being that the 1761 edition had been correct and the errors in the 1763 edition had been rectified in the 1766 edition by new-type.
EXTRACTS FROM THE ALLEGED 1752 BIBLE
engraved for the colonial society of massachusetts
Turning to the title-page, the word TESTAMENTS on the fourth line contains two letters S of a different font and they are put in with the wide end at the top. In addition the first S has the hair line of that upper part broken near the serrif. This applies to the 1761 edition, but the two letters S in the 1752 and the 1763 copies have been turned so that their position is correct and the broken hair line, still present, is at the bottom. In the 1766 edition new letters are used in this word.
The letter D in the ninth line of the title-page in the last word has an imperfection in the 1761, 1763, and 1752 copies, but new type is found in the 1766 copy.
These typographical similarities between the 1752 and the 1763 Bibles seem to be sufficient evidence that by some error the date of the McKee-Thomas Bible was misprinted or changed and should be 1763. In corroboration of this suggestion, it is to be noted that the date M.DCC.LXIII is not exactly centered, being about 1/16 of an inch too far to the left; and that in the alleged 1752 edition the date, though containing two figures less, begins at precisely the same point and so is still more out of centre, being about ¼ of an inch too far to the left.
The watermarks in the paper used in both, indeed all, of the Mark Baskett Bibles seen, are identical, showing that the paper came from the same manufacturer. This, however, cannot be used as positive evidence of the identity in edition of these books because the same paper might have been imported by Kneeland & Green for this special work, although no such watermarks have been found in the books of this firm which have been examined.
If from this examination of the 1752 Bible and comparison with the editions of 1761, 1763, and 1766 it is proved, as it seems to be, that this Bible is not what it was supposed to be, then the inference is that it cannot be used as positive evidence of the truth of the story printed by Isaiah Thomas. Because of the removal of this evidence, we can go one step further and show that the imprint could not have been “Mark Baskett.”
Thomas wrote, “This bible issued from the press about the time that the partnership of Kneeland and Green expired” (which was the year 1752876); and again, “As it has a London imprint, at this day, it can be distinguished from the English edition of the same date only by those who are acquainted with the niceties of typography.” Mark Baskett printed Bibles in London from 1761 to 1769 and then sold the family patent to print Bibles to Charles Eyre,877 whose firm continues to print them at the present day. It is certain that; Mark Baskett did not print Bibles in 1752 and it is improbable that the Boston printers would have used the name of a man who had not printed such books. It is also certain that if they had used the name of another printer, in the Boston Bible, the officers of the Crown would have discovered the fact. Moreover, Thomas expressly states that the authorized and the unauthorized editions could only be distinguished from each other by one skilled in the niceties of typography, the change in name not requiring such skill.
How, then, did Thomas make the mistake of using the name “Mark”? It can be said, with strong probability, it was because he had at hand to consult only a copy of the Mark Baskett Bible. It must be remembered that the History of Printing was written in 1810, forty years after the Baskett Bibles had ceased to be printed and before either any study of printers or any collection of Bibles had been undertaken, so that he had few data for reference and few books for examination.
Like all pioneer works it was impossible for such a history to be written without errors of detail due to the fact that it was the first in that field of investigation. As an illustration, let me cite the following mistake in the History of Printing. Thomas states878 that the New Hampshire Gazette, Number 1, was published “Friday, August, 1756.” Examination of the only known copy of the first number shows that it was published on Thursday, October 7th, and continued to be published on Thursday for several months and then the day of publication was changed to Friday. Thomas had in his possession a copy of this newspaper after the day of issue had been changed to Friday and had evidently never seen an earlier number. This error, unfortunate though it was, does not prove that the New Hampshire Gazette was never printed but that the change in the day of printing had escaped him. So in the case of the Baskett Bible, Thomas was evidently ignorant of the fact that Thomas Baskett printed the Oxford and London Bibles from 1742 to 1761 and that Mark Baskett did not print them until the last date. This ignorance, however, while throwing doubt on the Boston imprint, does not militate against the fact that a Bible was printed there. It would seem, therefore, that the name of Mark Baskett should be eliminated from this question and that Thomas Baskett, the bible printer of that period, whose death occurred in 1763, was the one whose name will be found in the imprint of the Kneeland & Green Bible.879
engraved for the colonial society of massachusetts from a copy in the harvard college library
While Isaiah Thomas made errors of detail in his descriptions because of circumstances beyond his control, he has not been found at fault in his essential facts, and no chance of error can exist in regard to the Kneeland & Green Bible because of his circumstantial description.
It would seem to me that the solution of this important problem can only be attained by an extensive examination and comparison of copies known to have been in this country at that time with the same imprints from England by a person skilled in the study of the ornaments, types, and style of printing found in the books of Knee-land & Green.
Mr. Tuttle also made the following communication:
LAND WARRANTS ISSUED UNDER ANDROS, 1687–1688
The State Archives contain a volume bearing on a fly-leaf the words, “Sr Edmund Andros, Once a Governor, and rascally petty Tyrant, under the King, and grand Tyrant of Britain.” It contains 118 warrants to survey lands, issued by Andros from June 17, 1687, to July 28, 1688.880 In the name of the King he claimed the title in all our lands, and obliged the payment of a quit rent to secure a new survey and grant to confirm all former titles. During his short administration he had only time to make a beginning in his new order of government. While light charges were at first made, the way was opened for great extortion later.
These warrants are but the expression of one feature of the oppressive rule of Andros, and they furnish some interesting information as to the ownership of property in various places. The Colony charter had been vacated in 1684, and, following the presidency of Joseph Dudley in 1686, the King had granted commissions to Andros on June 3, 1686, and again on April 7, 1688, as Governor of the Territory and Dominion of New England. These warrants, here printed for the first time, do not cover the closing months of his administration. The disturbance caused by his arbitrary methods ended with his seizure on April 18, 1689, and his subsequent departure for England.
engraved for the colonial society of massachusetts. enlarged from a photographic reproduction in the catalogue of george h. richmond. 1910
Appended to the warrants is an alphabetical list of grantees and of locations, containing 129 names of persons. Some of the grantees were distinguished men like Dudley, Sewall, Stoughton, and various members of Andros’s Council. Others were men of note, but difficult to identify with certainty either because their places of residence are not given, or because there were several of the same name. Others, however, were settlers in the towns of Falmouth, North Yarmouth (now Freeport), Saco, and Scarborough, many of whom it is quite out of the question to identify, and a few of whom are not even mentioned by Savage in his Genealogical Dictionary of New England. For these, the reader should consult Willis’s History of Portland,881 Goold’s Portland in the Past, Russell’s History of North Yarmouth,882 Folsom’s History of Saco and Biddeford, and Southgate’s History of Scarborough.883
Finally, a word should be said in regard to the locations of grants. It will be remembered that the Narragansett Country or King’s Province is now that part of Rhode Island west of Narragansett Bay; that the Nipmug (Nipmuck) Country was in the neighborhood of Worcester, Mendon, Sutton, Oxford, etc., then in Massachusetts but now partly in Connecticut; that in 1658 Black Point and Blue Point were established as a town under the name of Scarborough;884 and that in the same year Casco Bay and Spurwink were established as a town under the name of Falmouth, now Portland, Maine.885 The frequent changes in English names; the conflicting claims of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Plymouth, Rhode Island, and Connecticut in the matter of jurisdiction, claims which about the middle of the eighteenth century were invariably settled by the Privy Council adversely to Massachusetts; the extraordinary variety of forms in which Indian names occur, and the reduplication of such names throughout New England — all combine to make exact identification of localities difficult. Hence infallibility in this respect is not claimed.
Land Warrants issued under Andros, 1687–1688
1
Warrant to lay out Land for Mr Symon Lynde886 at Paucatuck neck.887
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generali and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles888 Surveyor Whereas Symon Lynds of Boston Merchant hath by his Petic̄on desired a grant & Confirma͞con of a certaine parcell of Land upon Paucatuck or Squamacack neck neer Paucatuck River conteining Eight hundred seventy four Acres whereon he hath already setled and improved with a further addic̄on thereunto These are therefore to authorize & require yow forthwith to survey and lay out the said parcell of Lands with an addic̄on thereto adjoyneing if vacant to make in ye whole One thousand Acres and that yow make due returne thereof to the Sec͞ryes Office accordingly. And for so doing this shall be yor warrt Given undr my hand and seale at Boston the 17th day of June in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
2
Warrant to survey the Land of Narraganset
By His Excellency
Yow are with the first Conveniency to make a generall survey and draught of the Narraganset Countrey or Kings Province and therein to observe and marke the severall settlements Claimes and pretencons made by any person or persons to the same or any parte or parcells thereof of which to make Returne to me with all possible speed And for so doing this shall be yor Warrant Dated at Boston the 22th day of June 1687
To Mr John Smith889 D. Surveyr
3
Warrant to survey the Lands at ffeversham.890
By His Excellency the Governr
Whereas John Maxson891 and William Champlain892 have in behalfe of themselves and the Town of ffeversham in the Kings Province by their Petic̄on893 prayed that A survey may be made of the Lands in sd Towne and that the same may be granted and confirmed to them These are therefore to authorize & Impower yow to survey the Lands whereon the inhabitants of the said Towne are settled & have improved and likewise such Lands as are conveniently adjoyning to them and thereof to make a due returne that right may be done to the Petic̄oners therein accordingly Dated at Boston the 24th day of June 1687
To Mr Jno Smith D Surveyr
4
Warrant to lay out 50 Acres of Land for Jno Swarton894 in Northyarmouth in Caskobay
By His Excellency
Whereas John Swarton hath by his Petic̄on Desired to have a parcell of Land surveyed and layd out to him in the Towne of Northyarmouth in Casco bay for his prsent settlement & improvemt These are therefore to authorize & impower yow to Lay out for the sd John Swarton the quantity of fifty acres of Land in some Convenient place within the sd Towne and thereof to make returne to the Sec͞ryes Office that the same may be Patented to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given undr my hand at Boston the 29th day of June 1687
To Capt Walter Gendall
5
Warrant to survey a farme at Charlestoune for Charles Ledgett895
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Phillip Welles Esq Surveyor of the Territory & Dominion aforesaid Whereas Charles Ledgett Esq hath by his Petic̄on desired a grant & confirma͞con of a certaine farme or parcell of Land lyeing in Charlestoune and to have an addic̄on of some vacant land adjoyning to the same These are therefore to authorize and require yow forthwith to make a survey and draft of the sd farme or parcell of Land and of the Lands adjoyneing to or about the same and thereof to make due Returne that such grant & confirmac̄on may be given to the Petic̄oner as shall be thought requisite and for so doing this shall be yor warrt Given undr my hand and seale at Boston the 5th day of July in the third year of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
6
Warrant to lay out Lands in Charlestoune for Jno Cutler Junr896
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas John Cutle Junr of Charlestoune hath desired his Majestyes Patent of confirmac̄on for severall peeces and parcells of land within the Bounds of Charlestoune aforesd whereon he hath built planted and improved and being herein possessed that is to say a peece of wharfe Land conteining fifteene pooles another peece of ground conteining seven poole and three quarters Eleven Acres of meadow at wormers point two acres and halfe of Land in ye westfield two Orchards in the Eastfield conteining twenty five Acres of Land in the Com̄on called the stinted pasture and sixty four acres of woodland in the Common behinde Capt Wades897 farme these are therefore to Authorize and require yow to survey & lay out for the said John Cutler the before-menc̄oned severall peeces & parcells of Land and pr misses according to the severall Ordrs Deeds & conveyances for the same & inclosures and to make due Returne with a platt or Draft thereof into the Sec͞ryes office that the sd Lands may be confirmed to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrt Given under my hand and seale at Boston the 20th Day of July 1687
7
Warrant to lay out Land at Charlestoune for Samuell Ballatt898
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr Whereas Samuell Ballatt of Charlestoune shipwright hath by his Petic͞on Desired his Majestyes Confirmac͞on of severall peeces or parcells of ground within Charlestoune aforesd on which are severall houses warehouses and wharfes built & Erected and which for many yeares he hath peaceably possessed and Enjoyed These are therefore to authorize & require yow forthwith to survey and lay out for the said Samuell Ballatt the sd severall Deeds & Conveyances for the same buildings & improvemts made and to make Due Returne with a platt or Draft thereof into the Sec͞ryes Office that the said ground may be Confirmed to him by Patent accordingly and for so Doeing this shall be yor warrt Given undr my hand and seale at Boston the 20th day of July 1687
8
Warrant to survey Land for Joseph Dudley Esq in Roxbury
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Coƚƚ Joseph Dudley hath Desired his Majestyes Patent of Confirmac͞on for severall houses & parcells of Land within the towneship of Roxbury (that is to say) for his mansion house and Land thereunto belonging Conteining about seven Acres the Greyhound inn with the Land & Orchard thereunto adjoyneing Conteining about four Acres About Eight acres of meadow by the Land of Thomas Weld about seven Acres of pasture by the schoolland about nine Acres more of pasture by the highway About One Acre of salt marsh by the sea, a farme called Smithfield conteining about One hundred & forty Acres About four Acres more of salt marsh by Jacob Pepper about twenty Acres of woodland by Samuell Weld a parcell of land Conteining about One hundred & thirty Acres by Nathaneel Garey899 A tenemt and about thirteene Acres of Land in the Road to Dedham and the halfe of a, house barne & thirty Acres of Land by Gyles Payson900 And alsoe One other peece of woodland at Muddy River901 being about sixteene Acres all which he hath long beene and now is in the actuall possession and enjoyment off, These are therefore to Authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Joseph Dudley the beforemen͞c͞oned severall houses & parcells of Land according to the severall Deeds made and given for the same and inclosures and to make due returne with a Piatt or Draft thereof into the Sec͞r͞yes office that the sd Lands may be confirmed to him by Patent Accordingly And for so doing this shall be yor warrt Given undr my hand & seale at Boston the 22th day of July in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
9
Warrant to lay out for Charles Ledgett Esq 150 Acres of Land as an addic͞on to his farme at Charlestoune
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas by the survey and draft by yow made of the farme belonging to Lieut Coƚƚ Charles Ledgett in Charlestoune and of the vacant lands adjoyneing Pursueant to warrant of the fifth of July past there appeares to be a parcell of of Common vacant & unimproved land part of which the sd Charles Ledgett hath desired may be granted to him as an addic͞on to the said farme these are therefore to authorize & require yow to survey and stake out for the sd Charles Ledgett the Quantity of One hundred & fifty Acres of the sd Common vacant & unimproved land as an addic͞on to his sd farme to beginn at the Corner of the sd farme by Mistick bridge and to runn a streight fine to the road or way that goes to Monotomyes bridge as will include about the Quantity of Acres which Road yow are likewise to survey and lay out as straight to the sd bridge as the Land will permitt and thereof to make Returne into the Sec͞ryes Office that a Patent may be Given for the same accordingly Dated at Boston the first day of August 1687
10
Warrant to Survey 210 Acres of Land for Daniel Wilcock.902
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generll and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To John Smith Deputy Surveyor Whereas Daniel Wilcock of Litle Campton903 in ye County of Bristoll hath by his Petic͞on desired a graunt & Confirmac͞on for One hundred & sixty Acres of Land on seconct904 and for fifty Acres of Land on a small neck thereto adjoyneing Called Nasinnah905 for which he hath satisfyed the Indians prtences and on parte thereof settled and improved These are therefore to Authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out for the sd Daniel Wilcock the sd Parcells of Land and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office at Boston with all convenient speed that the same may be Graunted and Confirmed to him accordingly and for so Doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 17th day of August 1687
11
Warrant to survey Land on Boston neck906 for Francis Brinley907
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England To Mr John Smith Deputy Surveyor Whereas ffrancis Brinley of Road Island Merchant Hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath beene possessed of a certaine tract of Land or farme on the souther-most end of Boston neck in the Narragansett Countrey which according to its knowne bounds conteines about Eight or nine hundred Acres whereon he hath made Considerable settlement & improvement praying that the same may be Granted & confirmed to him These are therefore to authorize & require yow to survey and lay out for the said ffrancis Brinley the sd Tract of Land or farme according according to its knowne bounds and Contents with an Addı͞c͞on of ninety acres more And to make a Platt or Draft thereof and the same to Returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office with all Convenient speed that A Pattent may be Granted therefore accordingly And for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the 18th day of August 1687
12
Warrant to Lay out Lands at Pocassett908 for Tho: Waite909
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory And Dominion of New England To Mr John Smith Deputy Surveyor Whereas Thomas Waite of Little Compton hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he being One of the Purchasers of the Lands called Pocassett in the County of Bristoll hath layd out a Considerable Estate In building & improvement on parte thereof, & thereby praying that the same may be confirmed to him with an Addic͞on of so much Land adjoyneing thereto as will make up in the whole the Quantity of three hundred Acres with Eight Acres of meadow now in his possession lyeing on the southward end of Punckatest neck910 These are therefore to Authorize & require yow to survey and Lay out for the said Thomas Waite the said Quantity of three hundred Acres of land in manner aforesd together with the said Eight Acres of meadow And to make a Piatt or Draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office Att Boston with all convenient speed that a Pattent may be Granted therefore accordingly Given under my hand & seale at Boston the 18th day of August 1687
13
Warrant to Lay out Land at Shawomett911 for Ralph Chapman.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr John Smith Deputy Surveyor Whereas Ralph Chapman of Newport in Road Island Shipwright hath for the Conveniency & Accomodac͞on of building of ships and other Vessells prayed that about two hundred Acres of Land might be granted to him on a certaine neck of Land called Shawwomett ats wickopinsett on the westside of Taunton River These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow (in Case yow in case yow shall finde the sd neck of Land to be vacant & unappropriated) to survey and lay out for the said Ralph Chapman in some Convenient place there the said Quantity of two hundred Acres of Land and to make a platt or Draft thereof and Returne the same into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston with all convenient speed that A Pattent may be Granted therefore Accordingly Given under my hand and seale at Boston the 18th day of August 1687
14
Warrant to Survey severall houses and Ground in Boston for Capt Benjamin Davies912
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ And Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New Engld To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Benjamin Davies of Boston Merchant hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares past he and those under whome he Claymes have beene possessed of a Certaine house Outhouses & Garden wherein he now dwelleth a house & Garden thereto adjoyneing two Warehouses joyneing to Mr Parsons & Mr Eyers and two more joyneing to Mr Shippen and some Ground and wharfe by him made out of the sea within the Towne of Boston aforesd praying that the same may be Granted and Confirmed to him These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to measure & survey for the said Benjamin Davies the said severall houses outhouses Gardens warehouse Ground and wharfe before menc͞oned and to make platts or Drafts thereof and the same to Returne into the Sec͞ryes Office with all Convenient speed that a Pattent may be Granted therefore Accordingly And for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 4th day of Sept 1687
15
Warrant to Survey 2000 Acres of Land neere Punkeponge in Dorchester
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genll & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Richard Thair hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that by vertue of a lease from Wompatuck Josias and Indian Sachem he is possessed of a certaine tract of Land lyeing neere Punkapange pond on the south side thereof conteyneing about two thousand Acres thereby praying that the same may be surveyed & Graunted unto him which lyeing within the bounds of Dorchester and Constable of sd towne having upon my Order to view the same reported that the sd Land is vacant & unimproved These are therefore to authorize and require yow to make a survey and draft of the sd Tract or parcell of Land And Whereas Rodger Clap913 layes Clayme to five hundred Acres of Land and meadow which is parte of or adjoyneing to the Land before menc͞oned for which he hath likewise prayed a Graunt Yow are therefore to make a particular survey and draft thereof And the same to Returne into the Sec͞ryes office with all convenient speed that such further ordrs may be Given therein as may be necessary and for so Doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 12th day of Sept 1687
16
Warrant to survey severall houses & Land in Boston for Edward Shippen914
Sr Echnund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Edward Shippen of Boston Merchant hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares past he and those under whome he Claymes have beene possessed of a certaine house and Ground wherein he now liveth One other house & Ground in ye Occupac͞on of Thomas Savage One other house and ground in the occupac͞on of George Dansen severall warehouse and ground belonging thereto and about four acres of ground in pasture all within the Towne of Boston aforesaid praying that the same may be Granted and confirmed to him These are therefore to Authorize and Require yow to measure and survey for the said Edward Shippen the sd severall houses warehouses and ground beforemenc͞oned and to make platts or Drafts thereof and the same to return into the Secryes Office with all convenient speed that a Pattent may be Granted therefore accordingly and for so Doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the 12th day of Sept 1687
17
Warrant to lay out Land in Worcester915 for George Danson916
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governour in Chiefe of of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr John Gore917 Deputy Surveyor whereas George Danson of Boston Baker hath by his Petic͞on prayed my confirmac͞on of a certaine ꝑcell of Land lyeing within the bounds of Worcester whereon he hath settled & improved conteyneing about two hundred & forty Acres with fifteene Acres of meadow and that as an addicon to the same I would grant unto him one hundred and fifty Acres more out of the vacant lands that lye to the Eastward thereof & adjoyneing To the same These are therefore to Authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out the said two hundred and forty acres of upland & fifteen acres of meadow with the Addic͞on of One hundred and fifty Acres more to the Eastward thereof & adjoyneing to the same of which yow are to make due Returne with a platt or Draft into the Secryes Office that such further Order may be Given therein for accomodating the Petic͞oner as may be propper and for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the 19th day of Sept 1687
18
Warrant to lay out Lands in the Napmuge Country for Joseph Dudley Esq &. aƚ.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England To Mr John Gore Deputy Surveyor Whereas Joseph Dudley and William Stoughton Esqrs have in behalfe of themselves Major Robert Thompson918 and Doctor Daniel Cox919 Desired a grant and confirmacon for a certaine tract of land In the Nipmuge Country of the Contents of Eight myles square which was granted to them in the yeare 1683,920 by the Genƚƚ Assembly of the late Massathusetts Collony These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the sd Joseph Dudley William Stoughton Robert Thompson & Daniell Cox the said tract of Land conteyneing Eight myles square in the Nipmuge Country aforesd neere Worcester and to make returne thereof with a platt or Draft Describing the same into the Secryes Office that the same may be Granted and Confirmed to them Accordingly and for so Doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston this 19th day of Sept 1687
19
Warrant to lay out Lands in Worcester for Charles Crossthwaithe
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England to Mr John Gore Deputy Surveyor Whereas Charles Crossthwaite of Road Island hath by his Petic͞on prayed my confirmac͞on for a certaine Parcell of Land lyeing within the bounds of Worcester at a place there called and knowne by the name of Burntcoat Playne conteyneing one hundred Acres And that as an Addic͞on to the same I would Grant unto him One hundred and fifty acres more adjoyneing These are therefore to Authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out the sd One hundred acres of land with the Addic͞on of One hundred & fifty acres more adjoyneing to the same if, so much vacant & unappropriated And to make a due Returne thereof with a platt or Draft into the Surveyors Office that such further order may be given therein as shall be thought propper for the accomodac͞on of the Petic͞oners and for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the 19th day of Sept 1687
20
Warrant to survey the vacant Land about Worcester.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Gerill and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England to Mr John Gore Deputy Surveyor Yow having finished the severall surveyes of Land in the Nepmuge Country & within the bounds of Worcester according to the particular Warrants for the same These are to Authorize & Require yow to make a Generall survey of the Lands lyeing to the Eastward of Worcester & Oxford & betweene these places and the severall townes of Malborough Wrensham & Mendham And likewise to the westward of the towne of Worcester and betweene that and Quinnebague River and to import as well the Quality as Quantity of the sd Lands And to Returne the particular platt or Draft thereof in the performance of which all Officers and persons whatsoever are hereby required to be ayding assisting & helpfull to Yow therein as yow shall have occac͞on or see cause to Require the same and for so Doeing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 20th day of Sept 1687
21
Warrant to Survey nonsuch farme921 in the Province of Mayne Claymed by Sarah Jourden922 & John Hincks.923
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Richard Clements924 Deputy Surveyor Whereas Sarah Jorden widdow and John Hincks have by their Petic͞on sett forth that the Predecessors of the said Sarah Jorden now the first possessors of a certaine farme or neck of Land lyeing about six myles from the water side in the Province of Mayne Comonly called and knowne by the name of Jordens or nonsuch farme on which in the life time of her husband severall improvements were made and that since his Decease the sd Jolm Hincks for a valuable considerac͞on is become Intituled to one moyety of the same which they desire joyntly to improve praying the same may be confirmed to them by Pattentt under his Majestye These are therefore to authorize & Require yow to make a survey & draft of the sd ffarme or neck of Land and the same to Returne to the surveyors Office at Boston that Orders may be given therein for accomodateing Of the Petic͞oners And for so doeing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and, seale att Boston the 6th day of October 1687
22
Warrant to survey severall parcells of Land in Cascobay for Capt Silvanus Davies.925
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ & Govemour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Sylvanus Davies of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine Gentƚ and James English of Boston Marriner have by their Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past they have been possessed of severall messuages or Tenements Mills Lands & Islands in the sd Province of Maine (that is to say,) A mossuage and lott of Ground in which the said Davies now liveth neer the ffort926 being about One Acre Another lott belonging to the sd messuage Qt about six Acres and a small Island Called Little Chabawk927 Qt. about sixty acres Alsoe another house lot on the west side the Cove neer the ffort about One Acre A lott on the neck qt six Acres and sixty Acres of Outland neer their great saw mill Alsoe sixty Acres of Land lyeing to the Westward of Mr Thaddeus Clarke Alsoe another parcell of Land at Kippisick928 being a myle square whereon is a dwelling house & sawmill and six or Eight Acres of meadow adjoyneing thereto Alsoe another parcell of Land about three hundred Acres and about six Acres of fresh meadow in nonsuch meadowes with a streame of water on which is a house sawmill and Gristmill, Alsoe another parcell of land att Long Creeke about two hundred Acres with a streame whereon is two houses & a sawmill and another parcell of Land att nonsuch point and neere adjoyneing to it with about fifteene Acres of fresh meadow att nonsuch mashes whereon is severall buildings and other improvemts praying that the same may be Granted and confirmed to them These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the sd Sylvanus Davies And James English the said severall lotts peeces and parcells of Land meadow & pr misses and to make Platts or Drafts thereof and the same forthwith to Returne into the Surveyors Office att Boston that the same may be Granted & Confirmed to them accordingly and for so doeing this shall be yr warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the 6th day of October 1687
23
Warrant to survey severall parcells of Claymed by Walter Barefoot929 in Kittery.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genll and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Walter Barefoot Esq hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath been possessed of a parcell of upland and swamp in Kittery in the Province of Maine att a place there called spruce Creeke Conteyning two hundred and sixteene Acres Alsoe another parcell of Land adjoyneing in length upon the Bath Conteyning five hundred Acres Alsoe another parcell of Land att a place Called the mill Creeke or point conteyneing about one thousand Acres And alsoe one other parcell of Land lyeing by the harbours mouth on the Eastside of Piscataqua River Conteyneing five hundred Acres upon which he hath made considerable settlemts and improvements And praying to have confirmac͞on for the same under his Majestye These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to make a survey and Draft of the said severall parcells & quantityes of Land and the same to Returne to the Surveyors Office att Boston that Orders may be given therein for accomodateing the Petic͞oner as Desired And for so doeing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 6th day of October 1687
24
Warrant to Survey the Lands claymed By Robert Lawrence930 in Cascobay
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory And Dominion of New England to Mr Richd Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Robt Lawrence of ffalmouth in Cascobay hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath beene possessed of a Certaine tract of Land & marsh lyeing at sapissick931 on the northerne side of the River to Extend to the River side of Amencongen932 whereon he now lives and hath made considerable settlement & improvement Praying to have confirmac͞on for the same under his Majestye (Excepting therout a parcell of Land about a myle square where on Capt Silvanus Davies hath built a sawmill) These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to make a survey and Draft of the sd tract of land & marsh (Except before Excepted) and the same to Returne to the Surveyors Office att Boston That further Orders may be given therein for accomodateing of the Peticoner And for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the 6th day of October 1687
25
Warrant to survey severall parcells of Land at Cascobay for Edward Ting933 Esq
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Edward Tyng Esq hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that in his own Right and by severall grants from diverse persons and from the towne of ffalmouth he is possessed of a messuage or Tenement and halfe an Acre of Land lyeing neere ffort Loyall As alsoe three Acres of upland belonging to the said Tenement And alsoe another house & barne with forty two Acres of upland And one hundred Acres of Land lyeing betweene the Land of Thaddeus Clarke and Ralph Turner & four Acres of marsh adjoyning to the sd Land being Divided from the marsh of the sd Thaddeus Clarke by a certaine Creeke called Buck Creeke And alsoe one halfe of Barbary Creeke marsh the whole conteyning Eight Acres next adjoyneing to the Land of Peter Bodwin934 all in the Province of Maine praying that the same may be Granted and Confirmed to him These are therefore to Authorize and Require Yow to Survey & lay out for the said Edward Tyng the said severall peeces & parcells of land meadow & premisses and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same forthwith to Returne into the Surveyors Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to the sd Edward Tyng accordingly and for soe Doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 6th day of October 1687
26
Warrant to Survey 110 Acres of Land in Cascobay for Richard Sacombe935
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Richard Sacombe hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of a certaine parcell of Land or farme lyeing in the back Cove in ffalmouth in Cascobay Conteyneing One hundred Acres of upland and tenne Acres of marsh where he Hath beene at Great Charge in building ffenceing and improvement the same being betweene the Land of John Smeath936 and the Land of James Rosse937 praying the same may be Granted & Confirmed to him under his Majestye These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the said Richard Sacombe the said hundred Acres of land and tenne Acres of marsh in the ffresh marsh at the Easterne End belonging to the sd ffarme and to make a Draft thereof and Returne the same to the Surveyors Office Att Boston That a confirmac͞on may be Granted thereupon to the Petic͞oner as Desired and for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 6th day of October 1687
27
Warrant to survey 100 Acres of Land in Caskobay for David Phippen.938
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas David Phippen of Salem in the County of Essex shipwright hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that his father Joseph Phippen939 senr about thirty seven yeares since purchased of George Cleve940 a parcell of Land in Caskobay Conteyneing One hundred Acres the which by himselfe & Children was quietly possessed and buildings and other improvements made thereon untill disturbed and Destroyed by the late Indian warr And that the fifth day of August last past his said father did by Deed Give and Grant the same to the Petic͞oner And praying a confirmac͞on for the same under his Majestye These are therefore to Authorize and Require yow to survey & lay out for the said David Phippen the said One hundred Acres of Land and to make a Piatt or Draft thereof and the same to Returne to the Surveyors Office at Boston that a Confirmac͞on may be there upon granted to the Petic͞oner as Desired and for so Doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the 8th day of October 1687
28
Warrant to Survey 200 Acres of land at Blackpoint for Joshua Scottow941.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Joshua Schottow Esq hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that about twenty seven yeares since He did purchase of Abraham Josseline942 a parcell of upland and marsh conteyneing about two hundred Acres lyeing in the Towne of Scarburough aƚs Black point praying to have a confirmac͞on for the same under his Majestye These are therefore to authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out the sd parcell and quantity of upland & marsh and to make a platt and draft thereof And the same to returne to the surveyors office att Boston That a Confirmac͞on may be thereupon Granted to the Petic͞oner accordingly and for so doeing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 8th day of October 1687
29
Warrant to Survey 100 Acres of Land in Cascobay for Pierre Baudouin943
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Pierre Baudowin hath by his Petic͞on Desired a Grant of One hundred Acres of vacant Land in Cascobay for his present settlement & improvement these are therefore to authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the sd Pierre Baudouin the sd Quantity of one hundred Acres of vacant Land in Caskobay aforesaid in such place there as yow shall be directed to by Edward Wing944 Esq One of his Majestyes Council and to make a Platt or Draft thereof & Returne the same into the Surveyors office att Boston that a Pattent may be Granted to him Accordingly And for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 8th day of October 1687
30
Warrant to survey severall parcells of Land in Caskobay for Walter Gendall945
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Matyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Richard Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Walter Gendall of North Yarmouth hath by his Petic͞on sett forth That by Purchase and Allottment he is possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in North Yarmouth conteyneing about four hundred Acres whereon he now Liveth and hath made Considerable improvement and likewise of another parcell of Land in the Towne of Scarburough conteyneing One hundred And fifty Acres Praying a Grant & confirmac͞on for the same These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the said Walter Gendall the said parcells of Land and to make platts or Drafts thereof and the same forthwith to Returne into the Surveyors Office att Boston that the same may be Granted & Confirmed to the Petic͞oner accordingly and for so doeing this shall be Your warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the Eight day of October 1687
31
Warrant to Survey 1000 Acres of Land in Watertowne.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Mary Sherman the widdow of John Sherman946 late of watertowne Deceased hath by her Petic͞on sett forth that the said Towne Granted to her husband who was Minister there for about forty yeares a certaine Remainder of Land after a Division made which amounted to about one thousand Acres which when surveyed was by some of the Towne thought too much for him and difference ariseing about the same for A Peaceable Issue the Peticoners husband was by a Comittee psuaded to content himselfe with One third parte thereof to be forthwith divided which being hitherto refused to be Done she prayed a Grant for the whole One. thousand Acres of which Petic̄on notice being Given to the Inhabitants of Watertowne aforesd severall appeared before the Councill the seven & twentyeth july past & acknowledged that there was about One thousand Acres of vacant Land within the said Towne of which the Petic͞oners husband was to have a third parte but not the whole as Desired whereupon after full hearing and Debate of the matter It was Ordered that the sd vacant Tract of Land be surveyed and that the Petic͞oner have about a third parte thereof Granted to her accordingly These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to survey the said Vacant tract of Land in Watertoune aforesd and to make a Platt or Draft thereof having reguard to the Quality as well as Quantity of the same And thereof to make returne to the Sec͞ryes Office that a parte may be granted to the sd Petic͞oner And for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 12th day of Sept 1687
32
Warrant to survey 107 Acres of Land at Saco for Thomas Sheppard
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Richd Clements Deputy Surveyor Whereas Thomas Sheppard Gentƚ hath by his Petic͞on prayed a Grant & Confirmacon for seven Acres of land at Saco River in the Province of Maine which he hath lately purchased and One hundred Acres more of upland lyeing between Little River & Goose faire adjoyneing to the said Land These are therefore to authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the sd Thomas Shippard the said seven Acres and one hundred Acres of Upland and meadow proportionable if vacant there and to make a Platt or Draft thereof and Returne the same into the surveyors Office att Boston That a Grant may be Given to the Petic͞oner Accordingly Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 13th day of October 1687
33
Warrant to Survey & lay out 300 Acres of Land to Humphrey Johnson
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Att a Councill held the two & twentyeth of June last past it was Resolved that Humphrey Johnson had three Rights of Land in the towne of scituate to be ascertained to him accordingly These are therefore to Authorize & Require yow to survey and lay out for the said Humphrey Johnson for his said three Rights the Quantity of three hundred Acres of vacant Land within the bounds of the sd Towne in three severall parcells or places where he shall direct and yow shall finde it convenient and not prejudiciall to other settlements and to make a Piatt or Draft thereof and Returne the same into the Sec͞ryes office att Boston that a Pattent may be Granted thereupon and for so Doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the 25th day of November 1687
34
Warrant to survey and lay out Mayanexit farme in the Nipmug Country in the County of Suffolke for Joseph Dudley and Wm Stoughton Esqrs
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Govr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Coƚƚ Joseph Dudley and Wm Stoughton Esqrs have desired his Majestyes Pattent of confirmac͞on for a certaine tract of Land or farme called or knowne by the name of Mayanexit947 lyeing and being in the Nipmug Country within the County of Suffolke Conteineing three thousand Acres These are therefore to authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out for them the said Joseph Dudley and William Stoughton the said tract of Land and to make due Returne with a platt or draft thereof into the Sec͞ryes Office that the same may be confirmed to them by Pattent accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale Att Boston the second day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
E Andros
By his Exceƚƚ comand
John west D:Sc͞ry
35
Warrant to survey and lay out Manchaog farme for Joseph Dudley and William Stoughton Esqrs
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Coƚƚ Joseph Dudley and Wiƚƚm Stoughton Esqrs have desired his Majestyes Pattent of confirmac͞on for a certaine tract of Land or farme called or Knowne by the name of Manchaog948 lyeing and being in the Nipmug Country within the County of Suffolke conteineing two thousand acres These are therefore to authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for them the sd Joseph Dudley and William Stoughton the said tract of Land and to make due returne with a platt or draft thereof into the Sec͞ryes Office that the same may be confirmed to them by Pattent accordingly and for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 2d day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq 1687
E Andros
By Comand of his Exceƚƚ
John west D Sc͞ry
36
Warrant to survey and lay out a farme in Sherborne and 4½ Acres of meadow in Miđđx County for Coll Joseph Dudley
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor Whereas Coll Joseph Dudley hath desired his Majestyes Pattent of confirmac͞on for a certaine farme lyeing in Sherborne within the County of Miđđx conteineing about two hundred and thirty Acres with four acres and a halfe of meadow lyeing distinct from the said farme in Medfield bounds within the Lands of George ffayerbanke These are therefore to authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Joseph Dudley the said farme and meadow and to make due returne with a platt or draft thereof into the Sec͞r͞yes office that the same may be confirmed to him by Pattent according and for so doeing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Second day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
E Andros
By his Exceƚƚ Com̄and
John west D Sc͞r͞y
37
Warrant to survey the great bay Called the Narrogansett Bay &c:
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr John Smith Deputy Surveyor Whereas by my warrant of the two and twentyeth June last past I did order and appoint yow to make a Generall survey and draft of the Narrogansett Country or Kings Province These are further to appoint and Authorize yow forthwith to make the like survey & Draft of the Lands and shoare round ye great Bay Called Narrogansett Bay & of all the Necks of Lands Islands & Isletts within or neere the same and of all the Land and shoare along to Cape Codd therein observing and markeing the severall settlements Claymes & ꝑtencons made by any person or persons to any parte or parcell thereof of which yow are to make returne to me with all possible speed and for so doing this shall be yor Warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the 18th day of January in the third year of his Matyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
38
Warrant to Survey Land at Spurwinck for Dominicus Jourden949
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas Dominicus Jourden of Spurwinck in the Province of Maine hath by his Petı͞c͞on sett forth that Robert Jourden his late father De͞c͞ed did by his Last will and testament bequeath unto him One thousand Acres of Land besides meadow thereto belonging lyeing upon the river of Spurwinck aforesaid And that By virtue thereof he hath possessed the same for the space of tenne yeares past and hath built and improved a considerable parte thereof and settled five or six tennants thereon praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same I do therefore hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Dominicus Jourden the said One thousand Acres of land and meadow thereto belonging and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
39
Warrant to Survey Land in Falmouth for John Rosse950
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas John Ross of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Peticonsett forth that for about thirty yeares past his father and himselfe have been possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in the said Towne lyeing att the Back Cove Betweene the Land Claymed By Richard Sacombe and Edmund Gale containing One hundred and forty Acres and about tenne Acres of marsh att the westward end of the great marsh adjoyning to the said Land and have beene at great Charge in the improvement thereof praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said John Ross the said Land and marsh and to make a platt or draft thereof and to returne the Same into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Matyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
40
Warrant to survey Land in Falmouth for Thomas Sanford et aƚ
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Thomas Sanford and Robert Sanford951 of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine have by their Petic͞on sett forth that for about five and thirty yeares past they have beene and now are possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in the said Towne on the Southward side of Casco River over against the fforte conteining about two hundred and forty Acres with about twenty Acres of meadow lyeing att the great marsh on that side the said River and thereon have made very large improvement Praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Thomas Sanford and Robert Sanford the said Land and meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to them accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
41
Warrant to survey Land in Falmouth for John Smith
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyr Whereas John Smith of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene and now is possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in the said Towne lyeing neere the Back Cove Conteining fifty Acres whereof he hath made considerable improvement praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same and grant of an Addic͞on of fifty Acres more of vacant Land adjoyning with four Acres of marsh att the great fresh marsh I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said John Smith the said fifty Acres of Land and if there be vacant Land adjoyning to enlarge the same to One hundred Acres with the said four Acres of marsh if vacant and to make a platt or draft thereof and to returne the same into The Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
42
Warrant to survey Land in Falmouth for Samuel Ingersell.952
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genll & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Samuel Ingersell of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares he hath beene and now is possessed of severall parcells of Land in the said Towne that is to say a house lott neere the fforte a three acre lot upon the neck and about two hundred acres of Land on the north side of Stroudwater River adjoyning to the Land of Capt Davyes whereon he hath beene att great charge in improvement Praying his Majestyes confirmacon for the same I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Samuel Ingersell the said severall ꝑcells of Land and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the Eightenth day of Janry in the third yeare of his Matyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
43
Warrant to survey Land in Scarborough for John Howell
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genll & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas John Howell of Scarborough Plantor hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for about thirty yeares past he hath beene possessed of a parcell of upland and meadow to the quantity of about fifty acres lyeing in Scarborough aforesaid adjoyning to land Claymed by Joshua Scottow thereby praying his Majestyes Confirmacon for the same I do therefore Require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said John Howell the said upland and meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
44
Warrant to survey Land att Scarborough for Richard Humwell953
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas Richard Humwell of Scarborough hath by his Peticon sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene and now is possessed of about sixty Acres of Land and about tenne Acres of salt and fresh marsh in the said Towne and thereon hath built a very fair house thereby praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same with the grant of an Addic͞on of One hundred Acres more I do therefore require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Richard Humwell the said sixty acres of Land and tenne Acres of marsh and if there be vacant Land sufficient adjoyning yow are to enlarge the same to the Quantity of One hundred and fifty acres and to make a Platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reign Annoq Dom 1687
45
Warrant to survey Land in Scarborough for William Burrage
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genll and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas William Burrage of Scarborough Planter hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares before and since the late indian warr he hath beene possessed of a small peece of Land conteining about fifty acres with some addic͞on of meadow which he purchased of One Henry Watts thereby praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same I do therefore require and Authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said William Burrage the said peece of Land and meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to Returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
46
Warrant to Survey houses & Land in Boston and att Rumley Marsh for Lievt Coll. Nich: Page954
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genll & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas Lievt Coll Nicholas Page and Anna his wife have by their Petic͞on sett forth that they Are seized of certaine houses and Lands in Boston and Rumley Marsh955 as rightly descended to the said Anna from Capt Robert Keayne956 her Grandfather she being the only child descended from him that is to say their dwelling house in Boston with some tenements and outhouses about it and the ground thereto belonging a Certaine farme in the occupac͞on of Benja: Mosey att Rumley marsh Conteining about seven or Eight hundred acres and a small farme in the occupac͞on of Isaac Luwes at the same place conteining about One hundred and fifty Acres Praying that they may have a Pattent of Confirmac͞on for the same These are therefore to require and authorize yow to survey for the said Nicholas Page and Anna his wife the said dwelling house tenements and outhouses about it and ground thereto belonging and also the said farmes att Rumley marsh aforesaid and to make a Platt or draft thereof and returne the same into the Sec͞ryes office att Boston that Confirmac͞on may be granted accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
47
Warrant To Survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine, for John Spencer.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majesties Terrytory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor or any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas John Spencer of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on desired a grant of One Hundred Acres of Vacant Land for his pr sent Settlemt and Improvement adjoyning to Stroud water River and fronting to Cascoe River over against Cape Sick957 with Six or Eight Acres of Swamp or meadow neere the same if to be had These are Therefore to require and Authorize you to Survey and lay out for the said John Spencer ye sd 100 Acres of Land wth and Addic͞on of 100 Acres more if to be had in ye Said place & Twelve acres of Swamp or Meadow neere the same if to be had And to make a platt or Draft thereof and ye Same to returne into the Secrys Office att Boston yt a Pattent maybe Granted to him accordingly And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Given vndr my hand & Seale att Boston the Eighteenth day of Janry in ye 3d yeare of his Majesties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
48
Warrant to Survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for Richard Powsley958
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Gr͞all and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor Or to any of the Deputy Surveyor Whereas Richard Powsley of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petı͞c͞on sett forth that for this Thirteen or foureteene yeares past hee hath beene in possion of about Seaventy Acres of Land and Marsh within the said Towne and hath made Considerable Improvement thereon by building ffenceing and planting thereby praying his Majesties Confirmac͞on for the same according to the bounds already Settled I Doe therefore require and Authorize you to Survey and lay Out for the said Richard Powsley the said Land and Marsh according to the bounds already Settled and to make a platt or Draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secr ys Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for soe doeing this shall be your Warrant Given vnder my hand & Seale att Boston the Eighteenth day of January In the Third yeare of his Maties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
49
Warrant to Survey Land in ffalmouth in the Province of Maine for Mr George Ingersolld Junr 959
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Gr͞all and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor Or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas George Ingersolld Junr of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on Sett forth that for many yeares past hee hath beene and now is possessed of Seūall peeces & ꝑcells of Land in ye sd Towne (that is to say) A house Lott neere the ffort of about two acres a three acre Lott vpon ye Neck neere the back Cove fourty acres of Land att the head of Barbary Creeke abovt a hundred acres of Land adjoyning to Stroudwater River next the Land of Capt Silvanus Davis and about Tenn acres of Marsh In Nonsuch Marshes whereon he hath made greate Improvement praying his Maties Confirmac͞on for the same I Doe hereby require and Authorize you to Survey & lay out for ye Sd George Ingersoll ye sd seūall peeces of Land and Marsh and to make a platt or Draft thereof and the same to returne into ye Sec͞ry’s Office att Boston yt a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for soe doeing this shall be your Warrant Given vndr my hand and Seale at Boston the Eighteenth day of January In the 3d yeare of his Majesties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
50
A Warrant to Survey Land in Falmouth in ye Province of Maine for Mr John Browne Senr
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Gr͞all & Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas John Browne Senr of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Peticon Sett forth yt for seūall yeares past hee hath beene and now is possessed of a Certaine parcell of Land in the Said Towne Lyeing att Back Cove Containeing Sixty Acres and alsoe another parcell of Land lyeing neere the Greate Marsh Containeing two Hundred and fifty Acres Alsoe a house Lott neere the ffort about halfe an Acre whereon att his great Charge hee hath made seūall buildings and other Improvements praying his Majesties Confirmation for the Same and grant of Three Acres of Land on the Neck for an Accomodation to his house and Lott neere the ffort and ffive Acres of Marsh in the said Great Marsh I Doe hereby require and authorize you to Survey and Lay out for the said John Browne the said seuall parcells of Land with the addition of Land and Meadow as desired if vacant and to make a Platt or Draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secretaryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be Granted vnto him accordingly And for soe doeing this shall be your Warrant Given vnder my hand and Seale att Boston the Eighteenth day of Janry In the Third yeare of his Majesties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
51
A Warrant to Survey Land in ffalmouth In the Province of Maine for Mr Thomas Clayce960
Sr Edmvnd Andros Knt Capt Gr͞all and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor Or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas Thomas Clayce of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares past hee hath beene and now is in possession of seūall peeces and parcells of Land within the said Towne (that is to say) a house Lott att the head of the Cove neere the ffort being about two acres and a Six acre Lott vpon the Neck and alsoe a parcell of Land Lyeing neere Capt Davyes Sawmill att Cape Sick betwixt the Land Claymed by Joseph Ingersell & John Ingersell Containeing about One Hundred acres with two or Three Small Coves of Salt Marsh and Creeke thatch within the bounds thereof whereon att his greate Charge hee hath made Considerable Improvemt Praying his Maties Confirmation for the Same I Doe hereby require and Authorize you to Survey and lay out for ye Said Thomas Clayce ye Sd Seūall peeces and parcells of Land and Marsh and to make a platt or Draft thereof and to returne ye Same into the Secrys Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted vnto him accordingly and for Soe doeing this Shall be your Warrt Given vndr my hand and Seale att Boston the Eighteenth day of January In the 3d yeare of his Majesties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
52
A Warrant to Survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for Mr John Lane.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Gr͞all & Governor in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas John Lane of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n Sett forth that in Seūall yeares past hee hath beene and now stands possessed of Seūall peeces and parcells of Land in the said Towne (that is to say) a Lott wherein hee Dwelleth being on the South side of Cascoe River neere Papadock961 of seaven Acres and a parcell of Marsh and Swamp belonging thereto Att the North Marsh being about Tenne Acres Alsoe Sixty Acres of Land att a place called pond Cove without Portland962 and Six acres more of Swamp neere adjoyning and thereon hath made Considerable Improvement Praying his Majesties Confirmation for ye same with ye Grant of ffourty Acres of Vacant Land to be added to the Said Sixty Acres I Doe hereby require and Authorize you to Survey and Lay out for the Said John Lane ye Said Seūall peeces and parcells of Land and Marsh wth the Addic͞on aforesaid if Vacant and to make a platt or Draft thereof And ye Same to returne into ye Secrys Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted vnto him accordingly And for Soe doeing this shall be your Warr̄t Given vndr my hand & Seale att Boston ye Eighteenth day of January In ye 3d yeare of his Maties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
53
A Warrt to Survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for Mr Edward Davies.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillipp Wells Surveyor or any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas Edward Davis of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on Desired a Grant of ffive hundred acres of vacant Land and Meadow for his Settlement and Improvement within ye Townes of ffalmouth or Scarborough These are therefore to require and Authorize you to Survey and Lay out for the said Edward Davis the said Quantity of five Hundred acres of Vacant Land in some convenient place within either of the said Towshipps with about twenty acres of meadow neere therevnto and to make a Platt or Draft thereof and the same to returne into ye Secretaryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly And for soe doeing this shall be your Warrant Given vndr my hand and Seale att Boston the 18th day of January In the Third yeare of his Majesties Raigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
54
A warrant to survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for Richd Sacombe
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Wells Survey or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Richard Sacombe of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of two severall lotts of ground in the said Towne that is to say a house lott neere the Fort about halfe an acre and about six Acres upon the neck and thereon hath beene at a great charge in buildings and other improvements desireing his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Richard Sacombe the said two severall lotts of ground and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the nintenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1687
55
A Warrant to survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for Joseph Webber963
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas Joseph Webber of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his petı͞c͞on sett forth that he is possessed of severall peeces of Land In the said Towne (that is to say) a house lott neere the fforte of about one acre and half a three acre lott neere adjoyning and about Eighteen acres of Land neere Stroud water mill adjoyning to the Claymes of George Ingersell Whereon he hath beene at Charge in building and making other improvements praying his Matyes confirmac͞on for the same and grant of so much vacant Land as will make his said Eighteen acres Lott One hundred These are therefore to require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Joseph Webber the said severall parcells of Land with the addic͞on aforesaid & to make a Platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secryes Office in Boston that a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrt Given under my hand and seale att Boston the four and twentyeth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Domini 1687
56
A Warrant to survey Land in ffalmouth in the Province of Maine for Mary Webber
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Mary Webber of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by her Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past she hath beene and now is in possession of severall peeces and parcells of Land in ye said Towne that is to say a house lott neere the Fort of about halfe an Acre and about two acres belonging thereto next Capt Davies lott and also a parcell of Land lyeing on the Eastward side of Long Creeke at the head of nonsuch point adjoyning to Capt Davies containing about sixty acres whereon she hath beene at great charge in buildings and other improvements thereby praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same and that to the said sixty Acres an Addic͞on of vacant Land might be granted to make it One hundred These are therefore to require and Authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Mary Webber the said severall parcells of Land with the Addic͞on aforesaid and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office at Boston that a Pattent may be granted to her accordingly And for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the four and twentyeth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
57
A Warrant to survey Hog Island In the Province of Maine for Vines Ellicott
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Matyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Vines Ellicott of Hog Island in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that Capt Richd Vines964 his Grandfather about fifty yeares since was possessed of the said Island called Hog Island lyeing in Cascobay and that he as heir to his said Grandfather is now in possession and improvemt thereof praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Vines Ellicott the sd Island called Hog Island and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the nintenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
58
A Warrant to survey land In Scarborough in ye Province of Maine for Robert Tydye and others.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Robert Tydye Thomas Bickford Henry Lybbey965 David Libbey Daniel Hogg Matthew Libbey Daniel Libbey John Libbey Thomas Leatherby Thomas Backer John Slaughter Anthony Row and Moses Durant all of Scarborough in the Province of Maine have by their Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares they have been inhabitants within the said Towne and severall of them have great familyes which they are not able to mantaine and support by reason of the small quantity of land they are confined to not having above six or Eight Acres a peece and no meadow and that there is great quantityes of Lands and meadows neere adjoyning which lye vacant and unimproved praying that their said small Lotts of Land may be made up to Each of them about fifty or sixty acres and that they may have about tenne acres of meadow Each These are therefore to Require and Authorize yow to repayre to the dwellings Of the said severall persons and view the lotts they now live on and what vacant Land and meadows is adjoyneing thereto or lyes convenient for them and how they may have their said lotts Enlarged as desired and to make a platt or draft thereof and returne the same into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that such further Orders may be given therein for the accomodation of the Petic͞oners as may be propper and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the nintenth day of January in the third yeare of his Matyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
59
A Warrant to survey Land in Scarborough in the Province of Maine for Edward Bennett
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ & Govr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Edward Bennett of Scarborough in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath beene possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in the said Towne containing about thirty acres whereon he hath made a considerable settlement and Improvement praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same with an Addic͞on of so much vacant Land adjoyneing as will make the whole to be One hundred acres I do hereby require and impower yow to survey and lay out the said parcell of Land with such addic͞on as may make up the same One hundred acres and to make a platt and draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your Warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the nintenth day of January in the third yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
60
A Warrant to Survey Land in Scarborough in the Province of Maine for John Teney
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas John Teney of Scarborough in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares both before and since the Late Indian warr he hath beene possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in the said Towne on the westerly side of Spurwinck River containing about fifty acres and thereon made considerable improvement praying his Matyes confirmac͞on for the same and grant of an Addic͞on of fifty Acres more I do hereby require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said John Teney the said parcell of Land at Spurwinck River aforesaid and fifty acres more if vacant And to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne in the Sec͞r͞yes office at Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the nintenth day of January in the third yeare of his Matyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
61
A Warrant to survey land att Blewhills
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas there is a parcell of Vacant Land conteining about three thousand Acres lyeing neere the blew hills within the County of Suffolke for parte of which severall persons have by their Petic͞ons Desired grants I do hereby authorize and require yow to make a generall survey and Draft of all the said parcell of Land and to inspect as well the Quality as quantity thereof and to returne the same to me accordingly For which this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the third day of february Annoq Dom 1687
62
A Warrant to survey Land in Casco Bay in the Province of Maine for Maj: Barth: Gidney966
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Major Bartholomew Gidney One of his Majestyes Councill hath by his Petic͞on desired his Majestyes Grant & confirmac͞o͞n of One thousand Acres of vacant Land on the west side of a River called Wesgustagoe att the head of Casco Bay in the Province of Maine neere the Entrance of the River and alsoe five hundred acres of more of vacant Land higher up on the said River with One hundred Acres of meadow being parte of a greater tract by him said to be many yeares since purchased in that place and whereon before the late Indian warr he hath beene at great charge in improvement I do hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Bartholomew Gidney the said parcells of Land and meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the fourth day of february in the third yeare of his Matyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
63
A Warrant to survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for John Skilling
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Matyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas John Skilling of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath beene possessed of severall peeces and parcells of Land within the said Towne (that is to say) a house lott about seven acres and about two acres and a halfe of ground neere adjoyning about seventy acres of Land at the Back Cove and about sixty acres neere Capt Davies mill about three acres and halfe of salt marsh neere the said mill and about tenne acres of fresh meadow in nonsuch meadow and thereon hath beene at great charges in buildings and other improvements praying his Majestyes Confirma͞c͞o͞n for the same I do hereby authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out for the said John Skilling the said severall peeces of Land meadow and Marsh and to make platts and drafts thereof and the same to returne unto the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the seventh day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
64
A Warrant to Survey Land in Falmouth in ye Province of Maine for Walter Gendall
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Matyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Walter Gendall of Northyarmouth hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he hath beene about five and twenty yeares in the possession of a certaine parcell of Land lyeing on the East side of Spurwinck River in the Towne of Falmouth containing about fifty acres and thereon hath made considerable buildings and other improvements praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same with an addic͞o͞n of fifty acres more I do therefore authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Walter Gendall the said fifty acres of Land with an addic͞o͞n of fifty acres more if vacant and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the seventh day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
65
A Warrant to Survey Land at Blackpoint River in the Province of Maine for Robt Elliot967
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Robert Elliot of Portsmouth in the Province of Hampshire hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath beene possessed of a certaine parcell of Land or farme lyeing in the Westerne side of Blackpoint River in the Province of Maine conteining about two hundred and twenty acres and also of another parcell of Land or farme lyeing at Dunston on the west side of of the said River Containing about two hundred and thirty acres and hath made considerable improvement on the said parcells of Land praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same I do hereby authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out for the said Robert Elliott the said parcells of Land or farmes and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and Seale at Boston the seventh day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
66
A Warrant to survey Land at Cascoe River for John Wallis968
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas John Wallis of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he and those under whome he claymes have beene possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in the said Towne on the south side of Cascoe River att a place there called Papadock lyeing between the Land Claymed by Sampson Penly and Joel Madiford969 containing two hundred acres and of about seventeene Acres of meadow & Swamp att a place called the great marsh and about fifteen acres att two Other small marshes called the little marshes and have beene at great charge in the improvement thereof praying his Majestyes Confirma͞c͞on for the same I do therefore Require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said John Wallis the said Land meadow and marshes and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the seventh day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dm 1687
67
A Warrant to Survey Land for Suball Dummer970 neere yorke Rivers mouth
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Suball Dummer of Yorke in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for severall yeares past he hath beene in ye actuall possession and Enjoyment of the One halfe or moyety of the neck of Land com͞only knowne by the name of Alcocks neck lyeing in Yorke aforesaid neere Yorks River mouth conteining about sixty Acres as also a parcell of meadow lyeing on the Westerne branch of said River knowne by the name of Alcocks marsh containing about four Acres whereon he now liveth and hath made considerable improvement Praying his Majestyes Confirma͞c͞on for the same I do hereby Require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said Suball Dum̄er the said Land and meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secr͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be Granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale at Boston the seventh day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dom 1687
68
A Warrant to survey Land in Falmouth in the Province of Maine for James Andrews.971
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas James Andrews of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for about forty or fifty yeares he hath beene possessed of severall parcells of Land within the said Towne (that is to say) a parcell of Land lyeing neere A place called Monticko972 containing about one hundred and twenty acres another parcell of Land neere Mussell Cove of about One hundred acres which he Claymes in right of his Grand Child and another parcell of Land lyeing betweene John Tucker and Capt Gendall of about One hundred acres whereon he hath made severall buildings and other improvements praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same and grant of One hundred acres of vacant Land to be added to the first menc͞oned parcell These are therefore to require and authorize yow to survey and lay out for the said James Andrews the said severall parcells of Land with the Addic͞on aforesaid and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the seventh day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
69
A warrant to survey Land at Blew point for Edward Shippen
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Rhichard Clements Dept Surveyor Whereas Edward Shippen of Boston Merchant hath by his Petic͞on desired a grant and Confirmac͞on under his Majesty for a Certaine farme or parcell of Land lyeing at Blewpoint in the Province of Maine conteining One hundred and sixty acres butting & bounding upon the north East side of the River being in breadth sixty Rodd with forty acres of meadow adjoyning to the same upon the west side thereof the which was taken upon Execu͞c͞on as the Estate of Robert Edmunds Dec̄ed for satisfac͞con of a Judgement of two hundred pounds one from him to the said Shippen and by vertue thereof he is now possessed of the same These are therefore to authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Edward Shippen the said parcell and quantity of upland & meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and returne the same into the Surveyors Office att Boston that a confirmac͞on may be granted thereupon to the Petic͞o͞ner as desired and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the tenth day of October 1687
70
A Warrant to survey Land by Back Cove at Cascoe Bay in ye Province of Maine for Edmund Gale
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Matyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Edmund Gale of Beverly Marriner hath by his humble Petic͞on prayed his Majestyes Grant and Confirma͞con for two hundred and fifty acres of vacant Land in Cascoe Bay by Back Cove in ye Province of Maine whereon he doth intend to settle and improve I do hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Edmund Gale two hundred and fifty acres of Land as abovesaid next unto the Land to be layd out for John Rosse of Falmouth in the Province of Maine aforesaid with tenne acres of marsh in the fresh marsh if to be had and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the fiftenth day of february in the fourth yeare of his Ma͞t͞y͞e͞s Reigne Annoq Domini 1687
71
A warrant to Survey Clarkes Island for Mr Nathanƚƚ Clarke973
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Mr Nathaniell Clarke of Plymouth hath by his Petic͞o͞n desired that a certaine small Island Called Clarkes Island974 lyeing neer New Plymouth being vacant and unappropriated may be granted to him for the better settlement and improvement thereof I do hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Nathaniel Clarke the said Island called Clarkes Island and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Se͞c͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the 23th day of february in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1687
72
A Warrant to Survey a tract of Land in or neere the Nipmug Countrey for Mrs Margtt Corwin widdow975 & Mrs Ann Winthrop976
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or any of the Deputy Surveyors Whereas Mrs Margarett Corwin widdow and Mrs Ann Winthrop have By their Petic͞on Desired his Mat͞yes Grant and Confirma͞c͞on for a certaine tract or parcell of vacant Land lyeing in or neere the Nipmug Countrey of the Contents of seven miles Square which they alleadge in the first settlement of the Countrey was granted to their Grandfather977 by the Indyan Proprietor thereof and beginning att the Northward End is bounded Easterly by the whole length of Chapnocongo pond and runs southward seven miles and Westward square betweene the northerne and Southerne line till seven miles square be compleated I do hereby authorize and Require yow to survey and lay out for the said Margarett Corwin and Ann Winthrop the said Tract or parcell of Land and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto them accordingly and for so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant Given under my hand & seale att Boston the fifth day of march in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dn̄i 1687
73
A warrant to survey Land Comonly called Quobeague aƚs Brookfield &c:
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas there is a certaine tract or parcell of Land within this Dominion att and neere to a place called and knowne By the severall names of Quoboague aƚs Brookfield convenient for settlement and improvement These are therefore to authorize and require yow forthwith to repayre to the said place and make a survey and draft of the said lands called Quoboague afs Brookfield and of all such Lands as yow shall finde or discover Betweene that and Connecticutt River or neere or adjoyneing thereunto fitt and convenient for settlement and what persons settled there or improvements made and thereof to make a due returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that further Order may be Given for the effectual settling and better improving thereof Accordingly in the doing whereof all Officers and persons whatsoever are to be helping ayding and assisting to yow as occasion and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the nintenth day of march 1687
74
A warrant to survey Land in Brantry for William Veazie
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas William Veazie of Brantry hath by his Peticon sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene an inhabitant within the said Towne and settled and improved there a lott of Land of about tenne acres whereon his dwelling house standeth about twenty six acres of pasture and tenne acres of fresh meadow all within fence and in his possession praying his Matyes confirm͞a͞c͞on for the same and grant of two hundred acres more of vacant and unappropriated Land lyeing by a Brooke called Sirketts978 Ordinary about four miles from said Towne but within the bounds thereof of which publiq notice having beene given to the inhabitants there severall persons have made pretences but know not the certainty thereof These are therefore to authorize and require yow to survey and lay out the said severall peeces and parcells of Land and to make a plate or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that the certainty thereof may be knowne and such further Order given therein as shall be necessary and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the three and twentyeth day of march in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1687
75
A Warrant to survey Land in Brantry for John Yardly
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mt Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas John Yardly of Brantry hath by his Petic͞on prayed his Majestyes Grant of two hundred acres of vacant and unappropriated Land lyeing on the east side of Monatinitt River att a place there called and knowne by the name of Cutchecoe about a mile distant from the Saw mill for his present settlement and improvement of which publiq notice having beene given to the inhabitants there severall persons have made pretences but know not the certainty thereof These are therefore to authorize and require yow to survey and lay out the said Land and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that the certainty thereof may be knowne and such further Order may be given therein as may be necessary and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the three and twentyeth day of March in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1687
76
A Warrant to survey Land in Brantry for Samuell Niell979
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyors Whereas Samuell Niel of Brantry hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that he is by purchase possessed of sixty seven acres of Land in the said Towne and thereon hath built and improved praying his Majestyes confirmac͞o͞n for the same and grant of one hundred acres of Waste Land adjoyneing on the northeast side thereof and fifty acres more on the northeast side of the little pond about three miles from the said Towne of which publiq notice having beene given to the inhabitants there severall persons have made pretences but know not the certainty thereof These are therefore to authorize and require yow to Survey and lay out the said severall peeces of Land and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that the Certainty thereof may be knowne and such further Order may be given therein as may be necessary and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston The three and twentyeth day of March in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1687
77
A Warrant to survey Land in Brantry for John Cleverly.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Dept Surveyrs Whereas John Cleverly of Brantry hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene an inhabitant within the said Towne and settled and improved there a home lott of about two acres where his house standeth forty acres of Land more and about Eight acres of salt meadow all within fence and in his possession praying his Majestyes confirm͞a͞c͞o͞n for the same and grant of fifty acres of vacant Land neere Babell brooke and One hundred and fifty acres more beyond a place called Moores farme within the bounds of the said Towne of which publiq notice having beene given to the inhabitants there severall persons have made prtences but know not the certainty thereof These are therefore to authorize and require yow To survey and lay out the said severall peeces & parcells of Land and meadow and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞ryes Office att Boston that the certainty thereof may be knowne and such further Order may be given therein as may be necessary and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the three and twentyeth day of march in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dom 1687
78
A Warrant to survey Land in Cascobay for Peter Houseing
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governor in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Peter Houseing hath by his Petı͞con sett forth that there is a certaine parcell of land on the westside Pesumpscott River in Falmouth in Cascobay containing about sixty acres whereof his father Peter Houseing980 Deceased was in his lifetime for many yeares possessed Praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same with the Grant of fifty acres of vacant and unappropriated Land neere adjoyning I do hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Peter Houseing the said sixty acres with the said Addic͞on if vacant and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the tenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
79
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Walter Gendall.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Walter Gendall of Northyarmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of a certain messuage or tenement and a small parcell of Land about tenne acres lyeing neere Maines point981 on the southside of Ryalls River in the said Towne as alsoe four Acres of meadow in Cozins River belonging thereto alsoe one other messuage or tenement lyeing neere Fort Loyall next to Capt Tings and three severall parcells of meadow belonging to his farme at Spurwinck on the eastside of the said River conteining about twenty acres and also a parcell of meadow att the head of the great cove being about six acres and one other peece in Cozins River of about twelve acres which belongs to his farme att Northyarmouth Praying his Majestyes confirma͞c͞on for the same and grant of and addic͞on of fifty acres of vacant Land adjoyning to his said tenne acres as alsoe a grant of two hundred acres more or vacant Land att Arriscott982 where the Illutherean people983 were lately settled but deserted with twelve acres of meadow if cann be found convenient and alsoe sixty acres of Land more against little Clapboard Island formerly layd out to John Ockman I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to Survey and lay out for the said Walter Gendall the said severall peeces and parcells of Land and meadow with the addic͞ons as desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the tenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Matyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
80
A Warrant to Survey Land in the Province of Maine for Nathaniell Wallis.984
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyrs Whereas Nathaniell Wallis of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene possessed and made improvements on severall parcells of Land in the said Towne of Falmouth and Northyarmouth (that is to say) fifty Acres of Land lyeing att the Back cove betweene the Land Claymed by John Smith and John Browne One hundred acres of Land lyeing on the westside of Pesumpscott River Betweene the Lands claymed by Mr Jones and John Nicolls with tenne acres of meadow or swamp belonging to it where was formerly his gristmill and housing one hundred acres of Land in the great Cove in North Yarmouth neere to Capt Gendalls with tenne acres of swamp or meadow neere adjoyning And alsoe one hundred acres of Land and four acres of meadow lyeing on the eastside of Cozins River in Northyarmouth aforesaid praying his Majestyes confimac͞on for the same and Grant of an addic͞on of fifty acres of vacant land adjoyning to the fifty acres aforemenc͞oned att Back cove with four acres of meadow in the great fresh marsh if vacant and two hundred acres of vacant Land neere adjoyning to the said hundred acres neere Capt Gendalls I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Nathaniell Wallis the said severall Parcells of Land and meadow with the said Addic͞ons as desired if vacant and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly And for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the tenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
81
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Abraham Collings.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Deputy Surveyrs Whereas Abraham Collings of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞on prayed his Majestyes Grant and confirma͞c͞on of about sixty acres of vacant and unimproved land in the southside of Casco river next adjoyning on the east of the Claymes of Isaac Davies neere Silvanus Davies sawmill and Gristmill with tenne acres of swamp where the same may be found convenient and vacant I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Abraham Collings the said sixty acres of Land and tenne acres of swamp if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the eightenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Matyes reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
82
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Matthew Palling.985
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Matthew Palling Of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of a house lott of about halfe an acre neere the ffort whereon he hath a dwelling house and about thirty acres belonging to the said house lott on the west side of Pesumpscot river betwixt the lands claimed by John Nicolls & Nathaniell Wallis And alsoe of about Eight acres of land given him by his father in Law and whereon he hath erected two dwelling houses and made other improvements praying his Majestyes confirma͞c͞on for the same with the Grant of the addic͞on of seventy acres of vacant Land neere maiden Cove neere unto the Land Claimed by Nathanƚƚ White and Eight acres of swamp neere adjoyning to the little marsh I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Matthew Palling the said severall parcells of Land and premisses with the addic͞on desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly And for so doing this Shall be your warrant Goven under my hand and seale att Boston the eightenth day of April in the fourth yeare of his Matyes Reign annoq Domini 1688
83
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Nathanƚƚ White.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyrs Whereas Nathaniell White of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of one hundred acres of Land neere maiden cove in ffalmouth abovesaid whereon are two houses and sundry other improvements alsoe tenne acres of marsh and swamp in a place called the Northmarsh praying his Majestyes confirma͞c͞on for the same I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out the same for the said Nathanƚƚ White and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1688
84
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for George Bremhall.986
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas George Bremhall of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for many years past he hath beene and now is possessed of a house and house lott in the Towne aforesaid neere the ffort of about halfe an acre and alsoe of a certaine tract or parcell of Land in the said Towne on the north side of Casco river next adjoyning on the west side of a tract of Land belonging to Capt Silvanus Davies in quantity about four hundred acres whereon Att his great charge and expence he hath made considerable buildings and other improvements praying his Majestyes confirma͞c͞on for the same I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said George Bremhall the said house lott and tract of Land or so much as can be conveniently layd out for him in the said place and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞y͞es office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale, att Boston the Eightenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
85
A Warrant to survey land in the Province of Maine for John Harris.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governr in Chiefe of his Matyes territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas John Harris of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞o͞n sett forth that he is possessed of a certaine tract of Land in the said Towne next adjoyning to the Land of Mr Peter Bodwin on the South side of Casco River conteining about sixty acres whereupon is Erected a dwelling house alsoe of a house and house lott neere the ffort of the quantity of about three fourth parts of an acre And alsoe of about three acres of Land upon the neck praying his Majestyes confirmacon for the same together with an addic͞o͞n of forty acres more to the first menconed parcell adjoyning to the same att the head of Silvanus Davies lott att the head bounds of nonsuch point towards Scarborough I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said John Harris the said severall parcells of Land with the addic͞o͞n if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Secryes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the Eightenth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
86
A Warrant to survey land in the Province of Maine for John Hollman
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas John Hollman of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene and now is possessed of severall peeces and parcells of Land in the said Towne (that is to say) about four acres att a place there called Sandfords point about seventeen acres on the Soutside of Cascoe river adjoyning to Lawrence Davies and alsoe a certaine parcell of Land in North yarmouth on the eastward side of the great cove against Ellicotts Island whereon he hath beene att great charge and expence in building and other improvements praying his Majestyes Confirma͞c͞on for the same and Grant of one hundred acres more of vacant Land and tenne acres of swamp or meadow if vacant in the said Towne of Falmouth neere the sd seventeene acres on Casco river I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey & lay out for the said John Hollman the said severall peeces and parcells of Land with the addic̄on of Land and meadow desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
87
A Warrant to survey land in the Province of Maine for George Ingersoll senior.987
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas George Ingersoll senr of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞o͞n sett forth that he is in the actuall possession of a certaine parcell of Land lyeing in the said Towne fronting to Thames streete conteining about one acre alsoe a three acre lott neere to Lievt Coll Tings and alsoe about five acres of Swamp on the north side of Pesumpscott river praying his Majestyes confirma͞c͞on for the same with the grant of an addic͞o͞n of one hundred acres of vacant land on the south side of Casco river backward from Lievt Coƚƚ Tings land neere Barberry Creeck I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said George Ingersoll the said severall parcells of land with the addic͞on desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
88
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for John Ingersoll988.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas John Ingersoll of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for many yeares past he hath beene and now is possessed of a house lott in the said towne neere the fforte fronting to Thames streete of about two acres and another parcell of ground neere adjoyning fronting to Queens streete being about six acres And alsoe a certaine tract or parcell of Land lyeing in the said Towne on the North side of Casko river Betweene the Lands of Richard Powsley and Thomas Cloyce over against Stroud water mills conteining about one hundred and sixty acres whereon he hath beene att greate Charge and Expence in buildings and other improvements praying his Majestyes Confirma͞c͞on for the same And grant of forty acres of vacant Land adjoyning to the said tract I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said John Ingersoll the said severall peeces or parcells of Land with the addic͞o͞n desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof & the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne Annoq Dn̄i 1688
89
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for John Jones & Isaac Jones.989
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governr in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyrs Whereas John Jones and Isaac Jones of Falmouth in the Province of Maine have by there Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for many yeares they have beene and now are possessed of a certaine parcell of land lyeing on Pesumpscott river neere the ffalls conteining one hundred acres where They have made considerable improvements praying his Majestyes confirma͞c͞o͞n for the same and grant of an addiı͞c͞on of two hundred acres more of vacant land adjoyning to and in the reere of the said One hundred acres with a house lott in the said Towne neere the ffort of about halfe an acre and a six acre lott over against the Back cove formerly layd out to him if vacant I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the sd John Jones and Isaack Jones the said Land and premisses with the addic͞o͞n͞s as desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto them accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1688
90
A Warrant to survey Land for John Leane Henry Leane Samuell Leane and Job Leane of Nortyarmouth in the Province of Maine.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory And Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas John Leane Henry Leane Samuell Leane and Job Leane of North yarmouth in the Province of Maine have by their Petic͞o͞n sett forth that for many yeares past they have beene and now are possessed of a certaine tract or parcell of Land in the Towne aforesaid lyeing betweene the Lands claymed by Mr Wiswell990 on the east and that Claymed by mr Atwatter991 on the west conteining about one hundred acres with a small Island joyning thereto of about twenty five acres and also two other small Islands fronting against the said Land called by the name of Mosiers Islands992 conteining about one hundred acres and two peeces of meadow att the head of Arriscicott river conteining about Eight acres alsoe another tract or parcell of Land lyeing in the east side of Cozens river to the westward of Mr Atwaters Claymes conteining about sixty acres and a small peece of Land on the west side of the said River being about twenty acres with tenne acres of meadow thereto adjoyning whereon they have beene att greate charge In buildings and other improvements praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞o͞n for the same and grant of forty acres of vacant Land adjoyning to the said sixty acres I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said John Leane Henry Leane Samuell Leane and Job Leane the said severall parcells of Land and meadow with the addic͞o͞n desired if vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto them accordingly And for so doing this shall be yor sufficient warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the One and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1688
91
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for John Skilling.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyr or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas John Skilling of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n prayed his Majestyes Grant for a certaine tract or parcell of vacant Land adjoyning to his marsh in nonsuch marshes conteining about two hundred and Eighty acres I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said John Skilling the said tract or parcell of vacant Land and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secryes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
92
A Warrant to survey land in the Province of Maine for William Gilbert.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory And Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas William Gilbert of North yarmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his Petic͞o͞n sett forth that he is possessed of a peece or parcell of Land in the great cove neere Capt Gendalls in the east side of the falls called ffelter ffalls whereon he hath a dwelling house Erected and made severall other improvements conteining about tenne acres praying his Majestyes Confirmac͞on for the same with a grant of an addic͞on of one hundred and fifty acres of vacant Land adjoyning and neere his dwelling house also a lott of meadow in the said townshipp conteining about six acres if the same be to be found in Cozens river or arrisicket river vacant and alsoe fifteene acres of swamp to make meadow if to be found vacant and convenient I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the sd William Gilbert the sd parcell of land with the several addic͞ons as desired if found vacant and convenient and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Matyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
93
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Joseph Ingersoll.993
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Joseph Ingersoll of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞o͞n sett forth that he is possessed of severall tracts of Land (that is to say) a house lott upon the neck neere the forte fronting to Thames Streete conteining about three acres also a three acre lott neere to Lievt Coƚƚ Edward Tings also one hundred acres of Land lying betweene Thomas Cloyce and Silvanus Davies’s Sawmill att Capisick whereon the said Joseph hath made sundry buildings and other improvments and alsoe two hundred acres of Land and seven acres of meadow att the back cove betweene John Skillings land and fall Cove the seven acres of meadow being in the great marsh which two hundred acres of Land and seven acres of meadow Did belong to his Grandfather Thomas Walkley994 and father in law Matthew Cooe who were thereupon killed by the Indians in the warr time praying His Majestyes confirma͞c͞on for the same I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out the same and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
94
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Robert Nicholson.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governour in Chiefe of his Mat͞y͞es Territory & Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Robert Nicholson of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petı͞con sett forth that he is possessed of a certaine house lott neere the forte fronting to ffleetstreete conteining about two acres alsoe a tract of Land lyeing upon the westward side of Pesumpscott river betweene the claymes Of John Nicholson995 and Robert Gresem996 conteining about sixty acres praying his Majestyes confirmac͞o͞n for the same with the grant of the addic͞on of one hundred acres of land and tenne acres of swamp where it may be found most convenient and vacant I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Robert Nicholson the sd severall parcells of Land with the addic͞on as desired if found vacant and to make platts or drafts thereof & the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
95
A Warrant to survey land in the Province of Maine for Thomas Bacor.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall & Governr in Chiefe of his Mat͞y͞es Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Thomas Bacor of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞on prayed his Majestyes grant of one hundred acres of vacant Land upon the northside of Back cove next adjoyning to the head of Nathaniell Wallis Claymes whereupon he is willing to improve and settle a Plantac͞on I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Thomas Bacor the sd one hundred acres of vacant Land as desired and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Secr͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
96
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for Joefl Madiford.997
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Joell Madiford Senr of Falmouth in the Province of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of a certaine tract of Land and marsh on the southside of Casco river betweene the Lands of John Wallis and Thomas Sandford the Land conteining one hundred acres and the marsh being about seven acres lyeing in the great marsh adjoyning to John Wallis marsh and whereon he hath made considerable improvement praying his Maty͞e͞s confirmacon for the same I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the sd Joell Madiford the said Land and marsh and to make a platt or draft thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and. twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dni 1688
97
A Warrant to survey land for Robert Morrell in the Province of Maine
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory & Dominion of New England To Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas Robert Morrell of Falmouth in the Provence of Maine hath by his humble Petic͞on sett forth that he is possessed of severall tracts of Land within sd Towne (that is to say) of a house lott neere the forte fronting to Thames streete whereon is a dwelling house conteining about two acres alsoe a three acre lott next adjoyning to Silvanus Davies’s six acre lott upon the neck fronting to Back cove And also Eighty acres neere stroudwater mills of sd Silvanus Davies whereon is a dwelling houses and severall other houses praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same with the grant of an addic͞on of fifty acres of vacant Land neere adjoyning if to be found I doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said Robert Morrell the said severall tracts of Land with the addic͞on of vacant Land Desired if to be found and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Secryes office att Boston that a Patent may be granted him accordingly and for so doing this shall be yor warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
98
A Warrant to survey Land in the Province of Maine for George ffelt Samuell ffelt and Jonathan ffelt.998
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Generall and Governour in Chiefe of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England to Mr Phillip Welles Surveyor or to any of the Depty Surveyors Whereas George ffelt Samll ffelt and Jonathan ffelt all of ffalmouth in the Province of Maine have by their Petic͞on sett forth that they and their father have beene for many years possessed of a certaine parcell of Land in a place called The mussell cove betweene their uncle Mr James Andrews999 and Samuell Pykes conteining about one hundred acres with two small parcells of marsh one called the little broad marsh and the other called Morris Marsh praying his Majestyes confirmac͞on for the same with a grant of the addic͞on of one hundred acres of vacant Land adjoyning to the aforesaid parcell as neere as it may be found also an Island neere to their improvements called and knowne by the name of Lower Clapboard Island which was formerly granted to their father by a Towne Grant I Doe hereby authorize and require yow to survey and lay out for the said George Felt Samuell Felt and Jonathan Felt the said parcell of Land and marsh Island and premisses with the addicon as desired and to make platts or drafts thereof and the same to returne into the Sec͞r͞yes Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted unto them accordingly and for so doing this shall be your warrant Given under my hand and seale att Boston the one and twentyeth day of Aprill in the fourth yeare of his Majestyes Reigne annoq Dn̄i 1688
99
A Warrant to Survey a House and Ground in Boston for John Eyres1000 Merchant.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captaine Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Surveyr or to any of the Deputy Surveyrs Whereas John Eyres of Boston Merchant hath by his Petition sett forth that att his great Charge and Expence he hath built a faire Brickhouse in Prison Lane in Boston aforesaid on ground which he before had purchased but submitted praying his Majesties grant for the said house with a small way or passage on the West Side thereof Leading into his backside. I Doe hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to make a Suruey and Draft of the said House and Ground thereunto belonging with the said way or passage and the same to returne into the Secretaryes Office that a grant may be passed to him Accordingly And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 22d Day of June in the fourth yeare of his Majesties Reigne Annoq Domini 1688.
100
A Warrant to Survey Land neere a place Called Weymesitt for Jonathan Tyng Esq.1001
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Philip Welles Surueyor or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Jonathan Tyng Esq one of the Membrs of his Majties Councill hath by his Petition prayed his Majesties Grant and Confirmation for a Certaine parcell of Improued Land Lyeing on the West Side of Concord Riuer neere a place there Called Weymesitt1002 Containeing about Seauenty Acres whereof he is possess’d I doe hereby Authorize and Require you to Survey and Lay out for the said Jonathan Tyng the said parcell of Land and make a platt or Draft thereof and Returne the same into the Secretarys Office That a Pattent may be granted to him accordingly And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the Sixth Day of July in the fourth yeare of his Mats Reigne Annoq Domini 1688.
101
A Warrant to Survey Noddles Island for Coƚƚ. Samuell Shrimpton1003
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captaine Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Coƚƚ Samuell Shrimpton one of the Members of his Majties Councill hath by his Petition sett forth that for many yeares past amongst other Estate he hath beene and now is possessed in his owne Right of a Certaine Island Commonly Called Noddles Island aƚs Notles Island Lyeing neare the Towne of Boston Whereon att his great Costs & Charge he hath made severall buildings and other Improvements praying his Majties grant and Confirmation for the same I Doe hereby Authorize & Require you to suruay and Lay out for the said Samuell Shrimpton the Island aforesaid and make a platt or Draught thereof and Returne the same into the Secretaryes Office That a Pattent may be granted to him Accordingly and for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale at Boston the Sixth Day of July in the fourth yeare of his Majties Reigne Annoq Domini 1688.
102
A Warrant of Suruay for severall Houses Wharfes and Warehouses for Coƚƚ Samll Shrimpton.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captaine Generall and Governour in Cheife of his Mats Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Philip Wells Surveyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Coƚƚ Samuell Shrimpton one of the Members of his Matties Councill hath by his Petic̄on set forth That for many years past he hath bin and now is possessed in his own right of Severall Houses & Lands within the Town of Boston for which prays his Maties grant and Confirmation (That is to say) his now Dwelling house and ground thereunto belonging a piece of ground adjoyning to the house of John Usher Esq Whereon is a small Brick house and a Larger building A Warehouse by the Dock agt Benja Murfords1004 A House Bakehouse and ground att the bottom of Shrimpton’s Lane a Stable Coachhouse and ground by Samuell Philips a peece of Land on the Side of Beacon Hill another peece of Land att the North End of the Towne next Edward Bansfords Another peece of land att the South end of the Towne next Mr Ransfords a Small House and ground att the North end of the Towne next mr Atkins and a Wharfe and ground adjoyning to Samuell Nowells Warehouse. I doe hereby Authorize and Require you tc Suruay and Lay out for the said Samuell Shrimpton the said sev̄all Houses Lands and ground and to make a platt or Draft thereof and Returne the same into the Secretary’s Office That a Pattent may be granted him accordingly and for so doeing this shall be your Warrt Giuen under my hand and seale at Boston the 6th Day of July in the fourth yeare of his Majesties Reigne Annoq Dom 1688.
103
A Warrant to Suruey a Certaine Tract of Land Lyeing betweene Spye pond and Saunders brooke
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Maties Territory and Dominion of New Engld To mr Phillip Wells Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Edward Randolph Esq by his Petition sett forth that there is a Certaine parcell or Tract of Vacant and unapproprieted Land Containeing about Seauen hundred Acres Scituate Lyeing and being betweene Spy pond and Saunders Brooke neere Water-Towne in the County of Middlesex for the which prayed his Majties Grant, I Do hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to make a Suruey and Draft of the said parcell of Land and other Vacant Lands thereto adjoyneing and Returne the same into the Secretaryes Office that the quality and Scituation thereof as well as quantity may be knowne and such Order giuen for the Dispossall thereof as shall be proper for which this shall be your Warrant. Giuen under my hand and seale at Boston the Seaventh Day of July in the forth yeare of his Majties Reigne Annoq Domini 1688.
104
A Warrant to Suruey a Certaine Tract of Land Nigh the Towne of Lyn called Nahant neck.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captaine Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Edward Randolph Esq hath by his Petic͞on sett forth that there is a Certaine Tract of Land Nigh the Towne of Lyn in the County of Essex out of ffence and undevided Containeing about fiue hundred acres Commonly Called Nahant Neck for wch prayes his Majties Grant And Whereas Severall persons Inhabitants within the said Towne of Lynn haue Likewise petitioned for the grant of the said Land. I Doe hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to make a Suruey and Draft thereof and other Vacant Lands thereto adjoyneing and Returne the same into the Secretaryes Office That the Quality and Scituation thereof as Well as the quantity may be knowne And such Orders giuen for the Disposall thereof as shall be proper for which this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the Seauenth Day of July in the forth yeare of his Majesties Reigne Annoq Domini 1688
105
A Warrant of Suruey for a House and Land in Boston for Savill Simpson1005
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Philip Welles Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Savill Simpson hath by his Petitition Sett forth that he is in the Actuall possession of a Certaine house and ground thereto belonging Lyeing neere the South Meeting-house in Boston in his owne Right praying his Majesties Grant and Confirmation for the same I Doe hereby Authorize and Require you to survey and Lay out for the said Savill Simpson the said house and Land thereto belonging and to make a platt or Draft thereof and the same to Returne into the Secretaryes Office That a Pattent may be granted to him Accordingly for which this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 13th Day of July in the forth yeare of his Majesties Reigne Annoq Domini 1688
106
A Warrant to Suruey a Certaine Tract of Land neere Magaguncock hill1006 for Savill Simpson
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genll & Gouernour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Philip Wells Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Savill Simpson of Boston Cordwainer hath by his Petition Sett forth that he is Possess’d of a Certaine Tract or parcell of Land Lyeing and being neere a place Called Magaguncock Hill by the Cold Spring in the County of Middlesex on the South Side of a Branch of Sudbury Riuer about Nine Miles distant from the Towne Containeing about fiue hundred Acres with a Small Peece of Meadow Adjoyning Containeing about Seaven Acres on which Some Improuement hath beene already made and he is Desirous to make further praying his Majesties Grant and Confirm͞a͞on for the same I Doe hereby Authorize and Require you to Suruey and Lay out for the said Savill Simpson the said Parcell of Land and Meadow and to make a platt or Draft thereof and the same to Returne into the Sec͞r͞eys Office that a Pattent may be granted to him Accordingly for which this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale in Boston the 13th Day of July in the fourth yeare of his Majesties Reigne Annoq Domini 1688
107
A Warrant to Suruey forty Nine Acres of Land in Charlestowne Called the Stinted Pasture for Joseph Lynde.1007
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Generall and Governour in Cheife of his Majestyes Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Philip Wells Surueyr or to any of the Deputy survrs Whereas Joseph Lynde of Charlestowne in the County of Middlesex hath by his Petition prayed his Majties grant of about forty Nine Acres of Land within the bounds of Charlestowne aforesd att a place there Called the Stinted pasture I doe hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to Suruey and Lay out the said parcell of Land and make a platt or Draft thereof and Returne the same into the Sec͞r͞y͞s Office att Boston that a Patent may be granted to him Accordingly, for wch this shall be yor Warrant Giuen under my hand & Seale att Boston aforesd the 23d Day of July 1688.
108
A Warrant to Survey Seuerall Messuages & tenements in Charlestowne for Andrew Belcher.1008
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governr in Cheife of his Majties Territory & Dominion of New England To mr Philip Welles Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyors Whereas Andrew Belcher of Charlestowne Marriner hath by his Petition sett forth that for Severall yeares past he hath beene possessed of a Certaine Messuage and Lott of ground Lyeing in Charlestowne aforesaid neere the meeting house And of an other Messuage and Lott of ground in the said Towne neere the house of Edward Collins,1009 and alsoe of an other Messuage and Lott of Ground in the Towne of Cambridge adjacent to the Land of Nathaniell Greene all within the County of Middlesex praying his Majties grant for the same, I Doe hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to suruey the said Severall Messuages and Lotts of ground and make a platt or Draft thereof And Returne the same into the Secretaryes Office att Boston that they may be granted to him Accordingly for which this shall be your Warrant. Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 23d Day of July 1688.
109
A Warrant to Survey Severall houses & parcells of Land within the Townes of Dorchester Milton & Boston for William Soughton Esqr
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majesties Territory & Dominion of New England To mr Philip Welles Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surveyrs Whereas William Stoughton Esq hath Desired his Majties Patent of Confirmation for Severall houses and parcells of Land within the Townes of Dorchester Milton and Boston (That is to say) his Mention house in the Towne of Dorchester with Barns Dovehouse & other out houses, Orchards and Lands adjoyning Lyeing all within one outside fence, and Containeing about Thirty Acres, One small lott in the Towne field behind his house of two Acres Three quarters One small lott in the Common feild neere the hurrying place about two Acres, A Close before his house part Salt Marsh, part upland of about Eight Acres and halfe Lakes Hill Pasture Containeing four Acres and Three quarters, Glouers Hill Pasture with other Inclosed grounds, adjoyning Lyeing within one outside ffence of about Thirty Seauen Acres, Severall other Inclosed grounds butting on the Road Leading to Napousett Mill Joyning all one to another on part Whereof stands a Dwelling house and Barne Containeing Ninety Eight Acres Another pasture on the Same abouesd Road about Twenty one Acres two small lotts Lyeing on the Little Necke of one Acre & a quarter A parcell of salt Meadow with upland adjoyning thereunto Lyeing on the North side of the Little Necke Containing fourteen Acres A parcell of Salt Meadow with a Skirt of upland lyeing on the South side of the little Necke of Seauenteene Acres A parcell of Salt Meaddow lyeing on the great Neck at the Nooke Containing fiue Acres & an halfe, A parcell of Salt Meaddow in the great Lotts about four Acres A parcell of Salt Meadow with a Skirt of upland lyeing in the upper Calue pasture Meaddow fiue Acres and an halfe and neare thereunto another parcell with upland adjoyning of three Acres A parcell of Meaddow in the Lower Calue pasture Meaddow Containeing Six Acres One Woodlott in the Third Diuissions Thirty Acres One Woodlott neare Mother Brookes of abt fifty one Acres, One Small Woodlott of Three Acres and an halfe with an other of two Acres Three quarters Twenty Eight Rodd A farme Containeing upland and Meaddow Lyeing upon Dedham bounds, the greater part Whereof belongs to his Sister Tayler1010 quantity uncertaine within the bounds of Milton a peece of Woodland Containeing Two hundred and ffifty Acres, within the Towne of Boston Three parcells of Lands with the Tenments thereon Standing (Vizt) The Greene Dragon Tenments Gills house and Kanes house. All wch he hath beene and now is in the Actuall possession and Injoyment off. These are Therefore to Authorize and Require you to Survey and Lay out for the said Wm Stoughton the before mentioned houses And parcells of Land According to the severall Deeds and Writeings made and giuen for the same and Inclosures and to make a platt and Draft thereof and Returne the same into the Sec͞r͞y͞s Office without Delay That a Patent may be granted Accordingly, And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 23d Day of July in the fourth yeare of his Majties Reigne Annoq Dom 1688.
110
A Warrant to Suruey a Certaine Messuage and farme with some small parcells of Land adjoining in Charlestowne for James Russell.1011
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ & Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Surrveyr or to any the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas James Russell of Charlestowne Mrchant hath by his Petition prayed his Majesties Grant for a Certaine Messuage and farme with some small parcells of Land adjoyning Lyeing within the bounds of Charlestowne aforesd in his possession being in all about forty acres and Whereon he hath made Considerable Improuement. I doe Hereby Authorize and Require you to make a Suruey and Draft of the said Messuage farme and parcellsof of Land adjoining and make Returne thereof into the Secretaryes Office that the same may be granted Accordingly and for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston aforesd the 23d Day of July 1688.
111
A Warrant to Survey 300 Acres of Vacant Land on Road Island for Thomas Newton Gent.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Generall and Governor in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Phillip Wells Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Thomas Newton Gent. hath by his Petition Prayed his Majties Grant for Three hundred Acres of Vacant and unlmproued Land Lyeing and being on Road Island within the Limitts of Portsmo betweene the Lands possess’d by the Widdow Martha Layes and Robert Denis or Adjoining thereto. I doe hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to make a Suruey and Draft of the said quantity of Land and such other vacant Lands as you shall find there adjoineing and make Returne thereof into the Secretaryes Office att Boston And you are Likewise to giue Notice in the said Towne That if any person or persons haue any Title Clayme or pretence to the said Land or any part thereof they forthwith Shew the same unto me that such Order may be giuen thereupon as shall be proper Whereof you are not to faile, And for soe Doeing this shall be yor Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 23d Day of July 1688.
112
A Warrant to Suruey 400 Acres of Vacant Lands neere the Blew Hills for Captn Rauenscroft1012
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To mr Philip Welles Surueyr or to any of the Deputy Sururs Whereas Samƚƚ Rauencrof1013 hath by his Petition prayed a grant of some Vacant and unappropriated Land lyeing neere the Blew Hills adjoyning unto Unkety line for his prsent Settlemt & Improuemt These are therefore to Authorize and Impower you to Survey and Lay out for the sd Samuell Rauencroft the quantity of four hundred Acres of Land in the sd Place if vacant and to make a platt thereof and Returne the same into The Secretaryes Office att Boston that a Pattent may be passed Accordingly for wch this Shall be yor Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 25th Day of July 1688.
113
A Warrant to Survey and lay out 600 acres of land in Casco bay for Mr George Turfrey1014
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Capt Genal and Governr in Chief of his Maties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Survey or to any of the Deputy Surveyrs Whereas George Turfrey hath by his Petic͞o͞n prayed his Maties grant of Six hundred acres of unimproved Lands lying on the Westward Side of Saco River at a place there called Salisbury brook for his present Settlement and improvment. I do hereby Authorize and require you to Survey and lay out the said quantity of Land and make return with a Plat or Draft thereof into the Secretaries Office and a report of the Lands and Meadows adjoyning or neer the same That such Order may be given therein as shall be proper for which this shall be your Warrant Given under my hand and Seal at Boston the 27th day of July 1688:
E Andros
By his Exnys Com̄and
John West Ds͞c͞r͞y
114
A Warrant to Survey a Certaine Tract of Land Called New Roxbury.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Generall and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Surueyr or to any the Deputy Surveyrs. Whereas Nathaniell Johnson and John Chandler1015 in behalfe of themselues and others the Planters & Settlers of the Planta͞c͞on Called New Roxbury1016 and Severall other persons Desireous to Settle there haue by their Petitions prayed his Majties Grant for the Seuerall quantityes and parcells of Land there. I doe therefore hereby Authorize and Require you forthwith to make a Suruey and Draft of the whole Tract or parcell of Land Called and knowne by the Name of New Roxbury and Returne the same into the Sec͞rys Office att Boston with an Account of the severall Settlements and Improuemts there & quality thereof That such further Orders may be giuen for Settleing & Disposeing the same as shall be proper, And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand & seale att Boston the 27th Day of July 1688.
115
A Warrant to Survey a farme in Rumny Marsh with 30 Acres of Marsh on hogg Island for Nathanƚƚ Newgate1017
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells Surveyr or to any of the Deputy Surveyrs Whereas Nathaniell Newdigate ate Newgate hath by his Petition Prayed his Majesties Grant for a Certain Messuage and farme Lyeing in Rumny Marsh Joyning unto the farme of Coƚƚ Nicholas Page Containeing about fiue hundred Acres, and about Thirty Acres of Marsh or Meaddow on Hogg Island of the which he is in Actuall possession I doe Therefore Authorize and Require you to make a Survey and Draft of the sd farme and Meaddow and Returne the same into the Secretaryes Office That such further Order may be giuen thereupon as shall be proper And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 27th Day of July 1688.
116
A Warrant to suruey a Certaine Island Called Hogg Island for Samuell Sewall.
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captaine Generall and Governeur in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Welles Surueyr or to any the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas Samuell Sewall hath by his Petition sett forth That he and those under whom he Claymes haue for the space of forty yeares or upwards by past beene Possessed of a Certaine Island Called Hogg Island prayeing his Majties Confirma͞c͞on for the same I doe hereby Authorize & Require you forthwith to make a suruey and Draft of the said Island and Returne the same into the Sec͞rys Office That such further Orders may be giuen thereupon as shall be proper And for soe Doeing this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 27th Day of July 1688.
117
A Warrant to Suruey 200 Acres of Vacant Land in Charlestown Comon for George farwell Gentƚ
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Governour in Cheife of his Majties Territory & Dominion of New England To mr Phillip Welles Surueyr or to any the Deputy Surueyrs Whereas George ffarewell Gentƚ hath by his Petition sett forth that in the Common of Charlestowne in the County of Middlesex there is a Certaine parcell of vacant Land Containeing abt Two hundred Acres bounded part by the Road Leading to Menotomy part by the line of Lieutent Coƚƚ Lidgetts farme and part by Mistick Riuer prayeing his Majties grant for the same, These are Therefore to Authorize and Require you forthwith to make a suruey And Draft of the said parcells of Land and Returne the same into the Sec͞r͞ys Office That such further Orders may be giuen thereupon as shall be proper for wch this shall be your Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 27th Day of July 1688.
118
A Warrant to suruey a Tract of vacant Land in the Nipmug Country Containeing about two Thousand acres
Sr Edmund Andros Knt Captn Genƚƚ and Govr in Cheife of his Majties Territory and Dominion of New England To Mr Philip Wells surueyr or to any the Deputy Surveyrs Whereas Samuell Rugles Thomas Curtis Jonnathan Curtis and Samll Rice haue by their humble petition prayed his Majties grant of a Certaine Tract or parcell of vacant Land Lyeing in the Nipmug Country Neer new Roxbury containeing about Two Thousand acres Whereon they are Desirous to make present settlement and Improuement I Doe hereby Authorize and Require you to suruey and lay out for the sd Samuell Rugles Thomas Curtis Jonathan Curtis and Samuell Rice the sd Two Thousand acres of Land and to make a platt or Draft thereof and the same to Returne into the Sec͞rys office att Boston that a Pattent may be granted unto them accordingly and for soe Doeing this shall be yor Warrant Giuen under my hand and seale att Boston the 28th July in the 4th yeare of his Mats Reigne Annoq Dom 1688
Listof Grantees and of Locations1018
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Mr. Matthews also communicated the following paper:
THE HARVARD COLLEGE CHARTER OF 1672
The administration of Leonard Hoar,1019 though it lasted only two years and three months, presents more puzzling questions than that of any other President of Harvard College. Born in England in or about 1630, he was brought to this country at an early age, graduated at Harvard in 1650, took his A.M. in 1653, and in the same year went to England, where he became rector of Wanstead, Essex,1020 but was ejected in 1662. Shortly after the death of Chauncy, which occurred February 19, 1672, Dr. Hoar1021 came to Boston at the invitation of the Third or Old South Church, but also, apparently, with an eye to the presidency. At all events, he brought letters of recommendation for that office and, reaching here July 8, 1672,1022 was in the same month elected President. Yet the exact date of his election is unknown with certainty; we are left in some doubt as to whether he was chosen by the Corporation or by the Overseers; the date of his inauguration is variously given; the mystery surrounding his failure has never been cleared up; and the charter which was granted by the General Court in October, 1672, has been completely misunderstood by the historians of the College since 1812.
The object of this paper is not to attempt the apparently hopeless task of reconciling the discrepancies, or of elucidating the exact purpose of the charter of 1672. But there are in existence some data that have been previously overlooked, and as they throw much light on the vexed problems, particularly that of the charter, no apology is needed for presenting them. Before taking up the charter itself, let us glance at some of the other questions.
First, as to the date of Hoar’s election and inauguration. In a passage written about 1697 and published in 1702, Cotton Mather said:
After the Death of Mr. Chancey, which was at the latter End of the Year 1701.1023 The Alma Mater Academia, must look among her own Sons, to find a President for the rest of her Children; and accordingly the Fellows of the Colledge with the Approbation of the Overseers, July 13. 1672. elected Mr. Leonard Hoar, unto that Office; whereto, on the Tenth of September following he was Inaugurated.1024
At College Book I. 75 John Davis, who was Treasurer of the College from 1810 to 1827, has written: “Memo President Hoar was elected July 30. and inaugurated 10. Septr 1672. J.D.” At the right of this entry Sibley wrote in pencil: “No: it was 10 December. J.L.S.” And underneath the entry President Quincy wrote: “This memo was made by Treasurer Davis within the present century. His authority must have been College Book No. 3. P. 54. — J.Q.” That September 10 is an impossible date is made certain by the fact that on October 8 the General Court, —
hauing duely considered of the motion1025 in refference to allowance to be given to the maintenance of a præsident at the colledge, & the settlement of what may give due encouragement to that worke, doe judge meet & order, that there be allowed one hundred & fifty pounds p̄ an̄um. to be pajd in money by the country Treasurer out of such revenues as are payd in money into the treasury, provided Doctor Hoare be the man for a supply of that place, nowe vacant, & that he accept thereof, and that when this order of one hundred & fifty pounds ꝑ an̄u takes place, the former order of one hundred a yeare setled vpon the præsident, in the printed law, be made voyd, & that this allowance be continued vntill the Generall Court or ouerseers shall finde some other way for the making it good, and that the annuall allowanc be payd quarterly.1026
In a passage dated July 8, but obviously written some months later, John Hull stated in his Diary that “Dr. Leonard Hoar arrived at Boston from London, being sent for by the third church in Boston: but, the President of the College being dead, it was the earnest desire of the ministers and magistrates that they would spare him for that work; and, upon Nov. 15, they did yield him up to that service.”1027 Under the year 1672, Hull also noted: “11th, 10th. Dr. Leonard Hoar constituted President of the College.”1028 This date might be either December 11, 1672, or January 10, 1673, according as to whether the first figure stands for the month or for the day. More satisfactory is an entry in the Diary of William Adams, then a resident graduate at the College: “Anno 1672. . . . Dec. . . . 10. Leonardus Hoare, Medicinæ Doctor, . . . Collegii Harvardini Præses, Cantabr. N.A. inauguratus.”1029 In a letter to Robert Boyle dated “Cambridge, New-England, December the 13th, 1672,” Hoar himself wrote: “It hath pleased even all to assign the college for my Sparta. I desire I may adorn it; and thereby encourage the country in its utmost throws for its resuscitation from its ruins. And we still hope some helpers from our native land; of which your honoured self, Mr. A.1030 and some others have given a pledge.”1031 It is a fair assumption that he was already President. In College Book I. 75–78, are entered, in the hand of Hoar himself, the “Acts of ye Corporation since ye 10th of Dccembr 1672” — clearly indicating that he became President on that day. Finally, in his Index to College Books I–VI, which must have been compiled while he was President from 1725 to 1737, Wadsworth made this entry: “Dr Hoar Inaugurated President. 10. 10. 1672.”1032 It is certain, then, that Hoar was inaugurated on December 10, 1672; and this is the date now given in the Quinquennial Catalogue.1033
As for the date of Hoar’s election, Cotton Mather gave it as July 13, 1672. The entry at College Book III. 54, referred to by Quincy, ought, one would think, to be decisive. The entry itself, in the hand of Thomas Danforth, though when made is not known, clearly reads: “Doctor Leonard Hoar was elected President of the Colledge. The which he accepting he was inaugurated. 10. 7. 1672.”1034 But the heading to this entry is, unfortunately, somewhat blind. It appears to read: “At a meeting of the Overseers July. 30. 1672.” But the date may not be “July 30, 1672,” though apparently both Davis and Quincy so read it, since “July” is written over another word, perhaps “June;” and “30” is written over other figures, perhaps “27.” Attention should be called to a letter written to John Winthrop, Jr., dated “Cambr. 1. 6. 1672” — that is, August 1, 1672 — in which Thomas Danforth said:
As for Dr. Hoare, He came over under some (though not severe) obligattion to ye new church. Himselfe seems to referr ye matter to yr Determination: yet do not in ye least decline ye motion made in behalf of ye colledge. but as his disposition of mind is thought to be yt way, so also it is appr hended yt he will be a better prsidt, yn a pulpitt man (at least) as to vulgr acceptation, yet I perceiue ye church do not freely come of in ye matter, nor do I apprhend yt anything will be fully concluded on before ye Geñall court meet.1035
Finally, on this point, we may quote Hutchinson’s statement that “Doctor Leonard Hoar . . . returned [to New England] not long before he was elected July 30, 1672.”1036 Hoar’s election must have been between July 8 (the date of his arrival) and August 1.
Secondly, Was Hoar elected President by the Corporation or by the Overseers? Cotton Mather, as we have seen, states that he was elected by “the Fellows of the Colledge with the Approbation of the Overseers.” By the charter of 1650 the Corporation was empowered “to elect a new prsesident, ffellowes, or treasurer, so oft and from time to time as any of the sajd persons shall dye or be remooved.”1037 This method of election had not been established in 1672, and it is by no means certain that it was followed in the case of Hoar. “At a meeting of the Magistrates and Elders at Boston. 27. of August. 1640. The Reverend mr Henery Dunstar was by them invited to accept the place of President of the Colledge, which he accordingly accepted.”1038 In the charter of 1650, the members of the Corporation were of course named by the General Court. Dunster’s final resignation in 1654 was made not to the Corporation but to the Overseers, who presented it to the General Court, and both the selection and the election of his successor Chauncy was placed by the General Court wholly in the hands of the Overseers.1039 The entry at College Book I. 75 ought to be decisive, but it again fails us; for though the heading appears to read “At a meeting of the Overseers,” the word “Overseers” is written over the word “Corporation” — making it impossible to say with absolute certainty by whom Hoar was elected.1040
Thirdly, it is pertinent to the discussion to ask, Who were the members of the Corporation early in the year 1672? Even this question, simple as it seems, cannot, owing to the meagreness of the early College records, be answered with absolute certainty. But apparently the make-up of the Corporation at the beginning of 1672 was as follows:
Charles Chauncy, |
President |
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John Richards, |
Treasurer |
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Samuel Danforth, |
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Alexander Nowell, |
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Joseph Browne, |
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John Richardson, |
It will be observed that there were only four Fellows, instead of the five called for in the charter of 1650.1041 But for all practical purposes, there were only three Fellows, for in the early years the work of the Corporation appears to have been done chiefly by the President, the Treasurer, and the three resident Fellows who, recent graduates, were Tutors and had actual charge of the classes. Graduating in 1643, Samuel Danforth was a Tutor from about 1644 to about 1649; in 1650 he was named a Fellow in the charter; on September 24, 1650, he was ordained pastor of the church at Roxbury; he ceased to be a Fellow about 1654; and in 1668 his name again appears in the list of Fellows, though there is no record of his election. Alexander Nowell, who graduated in 1664, was elected a Fellow on November 28, 1664.1042 Joseph Browne and John Richardson, both of whom graduated in 1666, are supposed to have been elected Fellows in 1671, though, curiously enough, there is no record of their election.1043 But that they were Fellows early in 1672 is proved by a letter sent to John Winthrop, Jr., thanking him for a gift of astronomical instruments, etc., made to the College. This letter, dated February 2, 1672, is signed by Nowell, Browne, and Richardson, who say: “Our reverend President (who has been sickly of late) does present his service to your Worship, and renders you many thankes for that extraordinary care and respect manifested in this case.” And the letter is endorsed by Winthrop: “Mr Alexander Nowell & the other Fellows of the Colledge. Rec: Feb: 10:1671.”1044
In his letter to Boyle, already quoted, Hoar expressed his desire to “adorn” the College, and “thereby encourage the country in its utmost throws for its resuscitation from its ruins.” The allusion is to the low condition into which the College had fallen in the years 1671–1672 and which had given great concern to the friends of the College on both sides of the Atlantic.1045 This condition was to sink still lower, for on February 19, 1672, Chauncy died, and was buried on the 21st, when “Mr. Oakes turned his lecture into a funeral sermon on ye 2. Kings 2. 12,” and “Mr. Nowell Soci. made a funeral oration in ye Hall.”1046 He was soon followed by the orator, as on July 13 “Died Mr. Alexander Nowel Senr Fellow1047 of Harv. Coll. he lay sick of (as is conjectured) an hectic fever above a quarter of a year being most of ye time distempered in his head, yet rational a little before his death.”1048 Thus within five days after the arrival of Hoar and on the very day when, according to Mather, Hoar was elected President by the Corporation, that body was reduced to three active members — Treasurer Richards, the two resident Fellows or Tutors Joseph Browne and John Richardson — and one nominal Fellow, Samuel Danforth.1049 Is it not highly questionable whether, in such a serious condition of affairs, three or even four men would have taken upon themselves the grave responsibility of electing a President and two Fellows? Indeed, would they have been allowed to do so? In 1654, as already stated,1050 the Corporation had no hand at all in the selection or election of Dunster’s successor; and it seems to me far more probable that in 1672 Chauncy’s successor was elected by the Overseers than by the Corporation. But however that may have been, it is certain that in the end it was the General Court which filled up the Corporation.
And thus we are brought to the charter of 1672. The allusions to this instrument are apparently so few that they may well be given practically in full. Previous to 1812 that charter was, so far as I am aware, mentioned in print only twice: by Nathan Prince in a pamphlet written in 1742 and published late in that year or early in 1743, and by Hutchinson in 1764, both of whom will be quoted later.1051 With a single exception, also to be quoted later,1052 there appears to be no mention of the charter in the College records until January 27, 1812. On January 14, 1812, the Legislature ordered the President and Fellows to lay before it “a true copy of the Charter of the College, together with all the Laws, Bye Laws, Rules and Regulations, which have at any time been made or passed and are now in force,” etc.1053 On January 27 President Kirkland laid this order before the Corporation, which “took the said request into their respective consideration and voted the following statement.”1054 In that statement occurs this passage:
It ought however to be remembered that after the two ordinances above referred to establishing the Corporation that is to say the Charter of Sixteen hundred and fifty, and the Appendix of Sixteen hundred and fifty seven, the Colonial General Court passed an Ordinance in October Sixteen hundred and seventy two, now in the Records of the Court, providing for a new Charter for the College, with very extensive and important powers, both civil and collegiate; and enacting that the Provisions of that Ordinance should be Law, any Law, Grant or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding. — But in fact there remains no evidence that the Corporation ever accepted this Charter, or exercised any of the powers therein granted; and it is not on the records of either the Overseers or Corporation.1055
There was then pending a bill for repealing the act of March 6, 1810, reorganizing the Board of Overseers, and on February 18, 1812, the Corporation voted “That the President — the Treasurer,1056 and Mr Lowell,1057 be a Committee to defend the rights of the College against any attempt of the Legislature to alter or annul the Constitution of the present Board of Overseers and for this purpose that they be authorized to prepare and present any Memorial that the said Committee may think proper and at such time as they may think best.” 1058 On February 24 the committee “appointed to defend the rights of the College &c presented the following report which being read was accepted. In pursuance of a Vote of the Corporation passed Febr 18th — the Committee preferred the following Memorial, which they procured to be printed, and distributed among the members of the General Court.” 1059 In this memorial, after alluding to the act of 1642, reorganizing the Board of Overseers, the charter of 1650, and the appendix to the charter passed in 1657, occur the words, “Your Memorialists conceive, that these are the legislative and public Acts, on which the Foundation and Government of the College rest. The Colonial General Court,” etc.,1060 the remainder of the passage being in precisely the same words as in the statement voted by the Corporation on January 27, 1812.
Notwithstanding this memorial, the act of March 6, 1810, was repealed by an act of February 29, 1812, and by a vote of the Corporation on April 151061 there was published by the College a 36-page pamphlet entitled “The Constitution of the University at Cambridge, with an Appendix.”1062 In this are printed the act of 1642, the charter of 1650, the appendix to the charter passed in 1657, the articles of the State Constitution of 1780 relating to the College, and the act of 1810 reorganizing the Board of Overseers, with the acceptances of this last act by the Corporation and by the Overseers (on March 16, April 12, 1810, respectively). The Appendix contains a sketch of what may be called the constitutional history of the College, and in it are printed various documents, among them the charter of 1672. This is preceded and followed by the following statements:
Afterwards the general court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay appear to have intended a new college charter with much larger powers, including a measure of civil jurisdiction; and passed the ordinance of 1672 — a copy of which here follows. . . . But there is no evidence that the President and Fellows ever accepted this charter, or acted under it. They never assumed the name there designated of President, Fellows, and Treasurer of Harvard College, but acted under the name by which they were originally incorporated.1063
Writing about 1831 Peirce said:
An ordinance was passed by the General Court October 8, 1672, which was intended as a substitute for the existing charter. It altered the name of the Corporation from “President and Fellows” to that of “President, Fellows, and Treasurer of Harvard College”; it modified their powers in some respects, and granted important additional ones, civil and collegiate; but the Corporation do not appear to have accepted this charter; and it is regarded as never having possessed any validity.1064
In 1840 Quincy wrote:
In the ensuing October, the General Court passed also a new College charter. By this act the name of the Corporation was changed from “The President and Fellows” to that of “The President, Fellows, and Treasurer.” The number of its members was not increased. It was permitted to hold personal property to any amount whatsoever, and real estate to the value of five hundred pounds per annum. Ten menial servants of the Corporation were exempted from all civil and military exercises, and the personal estates of the members of the Corporation and their officers, not exceeding one hundred pounds a man, were exempted from taxes; and any three of the Corporation, of which the President was to be one, had committed to them full power to fine, sconce, or otherwise correct any officer or member of said Society, according to the laws of the country; and for this purpose, taking a constable, to enter into any house licensed for public entertainment, where they should be informed, or have reason to suspect, enormities were plotting or acting by any members of said Society.
Although this charter is entered at large in the journal of the General Court, it does not appear in the records of the seminary; nor is any notice taken of it in those records, nor in the general history of the times. The probability is, that it was the work of President Hoar, and had some connexion with that evanescent influence, which he seemed, in the year 1672, to have acquired among the members of the General Court; and, in consequence of that unpopularity, which immediately followed his entering upon the government of the institution, its authority was never recognised by the Corporation. It is certain, that they never assumed the name given by the act, and there exists no evidence of their having, in a single instance, modified their proceedings according to its provisions.1065
In 1864 Palfrey, speaking of Hoar, said:
The General Court shared, or caught, the enthusiasm of the London ministers. They voted to raise the President’s annual allowance from a hundred to a hundred and fifty pounds, “provided Dr. Hoar were the man for a supply of that place now vacant, and that he accepted thereof”; and they offered to the College a new charter (which, however, did not take effect) embracing some extension of its privileges.1066
In 1874 Sibley remarked that “At the same time, probably in conformity with Hoar’s wishes, the General Court granted to the College a new charter;” and, after quoting the passage in the charter conferring on the Corporation “the ffull power of sconsing, fineing, or otherwise correcting all inferiour officers and members,” etc., declared that “This charter, however, never went into effect.”1067
Finally, in 1894 our associate Mr. Andrew McF. Davis said:
There were no other incorporations or attempts at incorporation until after the promulgation of the Province Charter, with the exception that in 1672, in President Hoar’s day, there is an alleged new charter for the College extended in the Colonial Records. Whether the act passed is not known. No recognition of it appears to have been made by the College. It does not appear in the published laws of the Colony. No stress, however, can be laid upon this omission, inasmuch as the Charter of 1650, as I have already stated, is also conspicuous in its absence from the same publications. If this Charter was actually enacted to be a law, it was at best merely a substitute for the Charter of which it was practically an amendment. . . .
The draft of a charter which, in 1672, appears in the Colony Records is so inconsistent with any theory of the needs of the College, and the total omission of reference to it in the records at Cambridge so peculiar, that I have no explanation to offer for it. If it was passed it violates my idea that there was a persistent effort to avoid cumbering the records with needless conflicts with the Crown on law points, although it may of course be said that this act being in effect a mere amendment of an existing charter, its passage would not have been regarded in the same way as the creation of a new corporation would have been.1068
It is at once obvious that all later statements, though in some cases amplified, were based on the statement voted by the Corporation on January 27, 1812. These various statements may be summarized as follows: (1) that the charter of 1672 was intended as a substitute for the charter of 1650; (2) that the charter of 1672 was never accepted by the Corporation; (3) that the charter was never recognized by the Corporation; (4) that the Corporation never assumed the name of President, Fellows, and Treasurer, designated in the charter; (5) that the Corporation never exercised any of the powers granted in the charter; (6) that no notice is taken of the charter in the general history of the times; (7) that the number of the Corporation was not increased by the charter; (8) that the charter is not on the records either of the Corporation or of the Overseers; (9) that no notice is taken of the charter in the College records; and (10) that the charter was without validity.
Before commenting on these points, let us examine Quincy’s analysis of the provisions of the charter of 1672.
(a) The Corporation, he said, “was permitted to hold personal property to any amount whatsoever.” A similar clause is in the charter of 1650: see page 397, below.
(b) The Corporation, he said, was permitted to hold “real estate to the value of five hundred pounds per annum.” A similar clause is in the charter of 1650; see page 397, below.
(c) “Ten menial servants of the Corporation,” he said, “were exempted from all civil and military exercises.” A similar clause is in the charter of 1650: see page 400, below. Quincy’s statement, however, that all ten servants belonged to the Corporation is not quite accurate. In the charter of 1650 the words are: “the servants and other necessary officers to the sajd præsident or colledge appertajning, not exceeding ten, viz., three to the præsident, and seven to the colledge belonging.” And in the charter of 1672 the words are: “the sayd President, ffellowes and Schollars together wth their mæniall servants and other necessary officers (not exceeding the number of Ten).”1069
(d) “The personal estates of the members of the Corporation and their officers,” he said, “not exceeding one hundred pounds a man, were exempted from taxes.” A similar clause is in the charter of 1650: see page 400, below.
(e) “Any three of the Corporation,” said Quincy, “of which the President was to be one, had committed to them full power to fine, sconce, or otherwise correct any officer or member of said Society,” etc. There is no similar clause in the charter of 1650. The Court order of September 27, 1642, reorganizing the Board of Overseers, gave that body “full power & authority to make & establish all such ordr s, statutes, & constitutions as they shall see necessary for the instituting, guiding, & furthering of the said colledge & the sevr all membrs thereof from time to time in piety, morality, & learning.”1070 In the earliest code of College laws, “published to ye Scholars” in the years 1642–1646, it was provided that “If any Scholar shall trangresse any of ye Lawes of God or the House out of perversnesse or apparent negligence, after twice admonition hee shall bee liable if not adultus to correction,1071 if Adultus his name shall bee given up to ye Overseers of ye Colledge that he may be publikely dealt with after ye desert of his fault but in grosser offences such graduall proceeding shall not be expected”1072 — thus leaving to the Overseers the mode of punishment. The College laws drawn up on March 28, 1650, specified that for certain offences the scholars “shall bee punished threepence but more at the Præsidents discretion if perversnes appear.”1073 This is apparently the earliest allusion to fines. On October 14, 1656, the General Court ordered —
that the psident & fellowes of Harvard Colledge, for the time beinge, or the major p̄t of them, are hereby empowred, accordinge to their best discretion, to pun̄ish all misdemenors of the youth in their societie, either by fine or whippinge in the hall, openly, as the nature of the offence shall require, not exceedinge ten shillinges or ten stripes for one offence, & this law to contynue in force vntill this Court, or the oūseers of the colledge, ꝑvide some other order to punish such offences.1074
This is apparently the earliest specific allusion to whipping. The appendix to the charter of 1650 passed in 1657 ordered that —
the corporation shall haue power from tjme to tjme to make such orders & by lawes for the better ordering & carrying on of the worke of the colledge, as they shall see cawse, wth out dépendance vpon the consent of ye ouerseers foregoing; provided, alwajes, that the corporation shall be responsable vnto, & those orders & by lawes shallbe alterable by, the ouerseers according to theire discretion.1075
Thus the clause in the charter of 1672 committing to the Corporation “full power to fine, sconce, or otherwise correct any officer or member of said Society,” etc., was merely a reaffirmation of powers granted by the General Court between 1650 and 1672. There is some uncertainty with regard to the word “sconce.” As entered in the Court Records, IV. 708, the passage reads: “shall haue the ffull power of sconsing fineing or otherwise correcting all Inferiour office’s or members to the sajd Society;” and in the margin are the words: “Their power to sconse fine &c.” And the word “sconcing” also is found in a draught of the charter.1076 But in a copy of the charter attested by Edward Rawson, the word is not “sconsing”1077 but “scourging.” If “scourging” is the word intended, then the Corporation was given full power to whip as well as to fine.
Let us now return to the ten points summarized above.
(1) Peirce said that the charter of 1672 was “intended as a substitute for” the charter of 1650. In 1723 the Corporation characterized the charter of 1672 as “for the Perpetuation of the Charter of 1650;”1078 in 1742 Nathan Prince called the charter of 1672 “the most proper Appendix to the Charter of 50;”1079 and in 1894 Mr. Davis said that the charter of 1672 was “in effect a mere amendment of an existing charter” — that is, the charter of 1650.1080
(2) “The Corporation,” said Peirce, “do not appear to have accepted this charter.” But all who were members of the Corporation in December, 1672, owed their existence as such to the charter. See also under (8), (9), and (10), below.
(3) The authority of the charter, said Quincy, “was never recognised by the Corporation.” It was recognized by the Corporation in its representation of August 23, 1723: see under (9), below; and cf. under (8) and (10), below.
(4) It may be true that the Corporation, as Quincy said, “never assumed the name given by the act;” but the fact would be difficult to prove, and the point, even if well taken, is of slight importance. At all events, the corporate name appears to have been a matter with regard to which the College officials were for many years decidedly indifferent. Though under the charter of 1650 the corporate name was “President and Fellows of Harvard College,” yet apparently that name was never once used in the headings of the Corporation meetings previous to 1708, those meetings being invariably headed (when headed at all) “At a meeting of the Corporation,” or words to that effect.1081 The heading “At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College” first occurs, apparently, on January 26, 1708,1082 and was frequently employed by Leverett, though he also often used the words “At a meeting of the Corporation of Harvard College.” Wadsworth followed Leverett’s practice of using either form of words, while Holyoke almost invariably wrote “At a meeting of the President and Fellows of Harvard College.”1083
(5) “There exists no evidence,” said Quincy, speaking of the Corporation, “of their having, in a single instance, modified their proceedings according to its provisions.” It is difficult to see wherein the charter of 1672, so closely did it resemble the charter of 1650, required a modification of the Corporation’s proceedings.
(6) “Nor is any notice taken of” the charter, said Quincy, “in the general history of the times.” Even if this statement were strictly accurate, it would amount to little, since there were so few who wrote on “the general history of the times.” But as a matter of fact, as already pointed out, the charter was mentioned in two books printed before the Revolution. The extract from Nathan Prince will be given presently.1084 “The college at Cambridge,” wrote Hutchinson in 1764, “became more and more an object of attention, and in the year 1650 was made a body corporate, by act of the general court, and received a charter under the seal of the colony.” And in a footnote he added: “Under this charter the college was governed until the year 1685, when the colony charter was vacated; saving that in 1673, by an order of the general court, some addition was made to the number of the corporation.”1085
(7) Quincy’s statement that “the number of its members was not increased” is true — that is, the Corporation still consisted of seven persons: a President, a Treasurer, and five Fellows. What Hutchinson meant when he said that “some addition was made to the number of the corporation,” was not that the total number of the Corporation was made more than seven by the charter, but merely that the charter filled the vacancies that had occurred and brought the number of the Corporation up to its full complement of seven.
(8) Admitting that “this charter is entered at large in the journal of the General Court,” Quincy yet asserted that “it does not appear in the records of the seminary.” If by “records” Quincy meant, as is probable, those of the Corporation or of the Overseers, the statement is correct. But neither was the appendix to the charter of 1650 passed in 1657 entered in the Corporation Records (though it may have been entered in the Overseers’ Records1086), yet no historian of the College has ventured to assail its validity. But if by “records” Quincy meant what are now commonly called the College archives, then the statement is inaccurate and is of interest as tending to show that many documents now in those archives were either not in the possession of the College in 1840 or were then overlooked. For to-day there are in the College archives no fewer than five copies of the charter of 1672. These will be described later.1087
(9) “Nor is any notice,” said Quincy, “taken of it in those records,” — that is, the College records, presumably meaning the records of the Corporation or of the Overseers. During the years 1721–1723 occurred the noted controversy in regard to the claim of Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed, then Tutors, to seats at the board of Corporation. The culmination came at a meeting before Lieutenant-Governor Dummer and the Council on August 23, 1723, which is described by President Leverett in his Diary. From this it appears that the Rev. Benjamin Colman, a Fellow, —
read in his Place the Representation of the Corporation, and laid it down upon the Board. After which Mr Sever read a long argumt for the Support of the Petition he with Mr Welsted had prefer’d to the Court, and laid it upon the board. The Presidt and all the Members of the Corporation Except Mr Flynt1088 and Mr Treasurer1089 in their turns Speak and offer’d their Answers and remarks upon the argumts and records offer’d by Mr Sever, and then the Corporation . . . Agreed, That The Representation to be Entred in the College Book of Records, and it is accordingly Entred, fol.1090
In the representation so entered in College Book IV. 87–92, occur these words:
That the Charter of ye College was never Interpreted or understood, that we know of, by our Worthy Predecessrs in the State or in the Church, to mean — That the Tutrs & Instructrs in ye College must necessariely be Fellows of the Corporacon. None of or Gen̄l Courts, or Boards of Overseers have so Iudged, that we can hear of. The Charter of 1672 requires no Such thing, nor seems at all to look that way; wch Act is for the Perpetuation of the Charter of 1650.1091
The argument of Sever, not entered in the College records, and of which there is apparently no copy in the College archives, has since Quincy’s day come to light, and contains the following passages:
And I would observe that in the year 1650 the College was first founded upon a charter, which it subsisted upon for twenty-two years, till 1672; that in that year there was an additional grant of charter, and the College subsisted upon them both for twelve years longer, till 1684; and about that time the old country charter was vacated, and the College charter was supposed to fall of course with it. . . . And this (with submission) is the common method in the University, and the only regular and effectual method that can be taken for the service of a college in its advanced state. And this method has already been taken in this College. Witness the charter of 1672, which made out some further powers for the College than it did possess by the charter of 1650.1092
Though the only reference to the charter of 1672 in College Books I, III, and IV is in the extract dated August 23, 1723, quoted above, yet there are in the College archives several documents in which that charter is alluded to.1093
(10) Though Peirce and Quincy admitted, the former that the charter of 1672 “was passed by the General Court” and the latter that it “is entered at large in the journal of the General Court,” yet Peirce declared that it “is regarded as never having possessed any validity,” while Quincy asserted that “its authority was never recognised by the Corporation;” and even Mr. Davis writes “if it was passed,” implying that there may be some doubt on that point. In no other instance, so far as I am aware, has the validity of a law entered in the Court Records been questioned. Nor, in the present instance, will the contention that the charter of 1672 was invalid for a moment bear examination. The extracts already given or referred to under (8) and (9) prove beyond the possibility of a doubt that the charter was passed, that it was accepted by the College, and that it was recognized by the Corporation. But there is other proof of the validity of the charter. This is to be found partly in a pamphlet written by Prince in 1742, and partly in documents some of which are in the College archives and others in the Massachusetts Archives.
Prince’s pamphlet is both interesting in itself and important as being the only extended account of the government of the College printed before 1812.1094 The circumstances under which it was written were so peculiar that they may be briefly given. Graduating in 1718, Nathan Prince was chosen a Tutor on February 25, 1723,1095 and was elected a Fellow on December 30, 1728,1096 retaining that position until 1742, when, “on Account of Sundry Crimes & Misdemeanrs whereof He was Convicted before” the Overseers, he was on February 18 removed by the Overseers.1097 The Corporation on April 5 committed Prince’s pupils to Henry Flynt; on April 27 acquiesced in the action of the Overseers, electing Joseph Mayhew a Fellow and Belcher Hancock a Tutor in place of Prince; on May 10 and June 7 assigned Prince’s chamber to Hancock; on June 7 ordered Prince to “remove out of the Chamber He now Possesses” on or before June 23; and on June 24 warned Prince, who still refused to budge, to remove by June 30 on pain of having his doors broken open and his goods removed. Finally, the vote of June 24 was executed on July 2 “by the President Tutrs & Professors all together & Mr Prince’s goods carried over to Henry Prentice’s, where a room was hired to recieve them, upon the College Acco at five shillings ꝑ Week.”1098 Smarting under these indignities and holding that, as a member of the Corporation, he could legally be dismissed only by the Corporation itself, Prince was naturally incensed and wrote “The Constitution and Government of Harvard-College.1099 “The subsequent Collection of Laws,” he begins, “which founded the Government of Harvard-College, was made on a late extraordinary Case, wherein the Overseers of said College assumed to themselves a sovereign Power over that College, and the sole Right to judge and censure and dismiss the President or any Member of the Corporation of said College, without the Consent or any Act of that Corporation for the same.”1100 After quoting the act of 1642 reorganizing the Board of Overseers, the College charter of 1650, and the appendix to the charter passed in 1657, Prince goes on to say:
This APPENDIX, or the greater Part of it, seems to be NULLED by a succeeding Law of the Colony (called the College Charter of 1672) which ends with this Sanction of the Court. “All and every of which Premsies we do ordain and enact to be fully established for Law; any Law, Grant, or Usage to the contrary, in any wise notwithstanding.” Now the greater Part of said Appendix is contrary to this posteriour Law of 72. And indeed this latter Law is the most proper Appendix to the Charter of 50; for in express Terms ’tis grounded on said Charter as on its Foundation; nor does it alter any Thing in that Charter but in some few Cases. So there is no Occasion to insert it here, Reference being had thereto in the Court Records. The greatest Alteration it makes in said Charter of 50 is that in some Things it gives more Power to the Corporation of said College, and less to the Overseers, than the Charter of 50 does. Which may be one Reason why this Law of 72 was not entered in due Form into some College Records, as the said Appendix of 50 has been.1101. . .
The four preceeding Laws of 42, 50, 57, 72, were all the standing Laws, on which the Government of said College was founded, in old Charter Times. . . .
After the vacating the old Colony Charter of the Massachusets in 1684, there were some new Laws or College-Charters made by the general Court of this Province. But these Laws (as all others made under our present Province-Charter) were of Course to be sent Home for the Royal Approbation; And they all were sent Home accordingly, and have been disallowed. So that no Laws whatever remain, but the four preceeding Laws of 42, 50, 57 and 72, as the Foundation on which the Government of the said College now stands. And all or some of these Laws are valid to this Day on the following Grounds. 1. These Laws were made in old Charter Times, when it was not requisite to send them Home for Approbation; and so they never were disapproved at Home. 2. As they never were disapproved at Home, so they never were repealed by the General Court who made them; Only so far as the succeeding do interfere with, supersede or repeal the Preceeding, or any Clauses in the Preceeding, and in such a Case the succeeding take Place; and particularly the Charter of 50, and the last of these Laws made in the Year 1672 which is properly an Appendix to the said Charter of 50. And 3. What of those Laws remained valid, in old Charter Times, was virtually and implicitely confirm’d by a Clause in our present Province-Charter and by a declarative Order of the General Court in 1707 respecting the College Charter of 50; both of which here follow as the last Regulation made of the Constitution and Government of said College. . . .
2. It appears in particular that the Overseers and Corporation of said College owe their Being and all the standing Powers They now have, or ever had over the said College, To Four Laws of the General Court which were made in the Year 1642, 1650, 1657 and 1672. The First of which Laws originally constituted Overseers of said College; The Second incorporated the said College, and is called the Charter of 50; The Third is called an Appendix to said Charter; And the Fourth confirmed, added to or altered, some or all of these preceeding Laws. So that no Powers can now belong to the Overseers and Corporation of said College but those Powers which the Court granted to them in some or all of these four Laws. 3. That in the two latter Laws of 57 and 72, the Court gave to the Overseers of College no1102 New Powers of any Importance over the said Corporation; And so there is no Occasion to consider any of these four Laws, but the two First, in order to determine whether the Overseers of said College have an Independent and Sovereign Power over the said Corporation.1103
Prince had been a Tutor for six months before the controversy over Sever and Welsteed was finally decided in August, 1723, and consequently was thoroughly conversant with all the details of that dispute; for fourteen years he was himself a member of the Corporation; and had there been the slightest doubt as to the validity of the charter in the mind of any College official at that period, Prince certainly would have recorded it. But apart from Prince’s failure to record such a doubt, the documents already alluded to furnish irrefragable proof that the charter was regarded as valid by the officials of the Colony when the charter was passed, by the officials of the Province when the Sever-Welsteed controversy was raging, and by the officials of the College during the same period. These documents consist of no less than ten copies of the charter: five now in the College archives, three now in the Massachusetts Archives, and two which formerly must have existed but are not now known to be extant. For the sake of convenience these will be lettered from (A) to (J).
(A) This copy, in the College archives, is in an unknown but contemporary hand and is preceded and followed by these entries, both in the hand of Edward Rawson, who was Secretary of the Colony in 1672: “At A Generall Court held at Boston, the 8th of october 1672. . . . That this is A true Copie taken out of the Courts Records. Attests. Edward Rawson Secr̄ety.”1104
(B) This copy was entered in his Diary by President Leverett. The copy begins, “At the Second Sessions of the Gen̄l Court for Elections held at Boston 8th of Octobr 1672 On their Adjournment;” and at the end Leverett has written: “This is Transcribed here from A True Copy as of Record. Attested ⅌ J Willard Seer Vid. Countrey Records p. 707.” 1105 Leverett’s Diary, which is really a book of College records and was sometimes referred to by Prsident Wadsworth as “College Book V in Quarto,” was given to the College in 17971106 and was well known to Quincy;1107 hence it is singular that the copy of the charter entered by Leverett should have been overlooked by all the College historians.
Draught of the Harvard college Charter of 1672
Engraved for The Colonial Society of Massachusetts from the Original in the Massachusetts Archives
(C) This copy, in the College archives, is wholly in the hand of Benjamin Wadsworth, then a member of the Corporation. It begins, “At the second sessions of ye General Court for Elections, held at Boston 8th of oct. 1672. on their Adjournment;” and at the end Wadsworth has written: “Apr. 15. 1722. I transcrib’d ye above Instrument or Law, from a writing I borrow’d of ye Revnd President Leverett, wch writing was thus subscrib’d, viz. a true Copy as of Record, Pr J. Willard Secretary. Page. 707.”1108
(D) This copy, in the College archives, is in an unknown and modern hand and has written at the end: “Page 707. J Willard Sec’y,” though these words are not in Willard’s hand.1109
(E) This copy, in the College archives, is in an unknown hand and has at the end: “A true Copy as of Record ⅌ J Willard Secry” (though these words are not in the hand of Willard); and is endorsed, “Act of 1672 Coll. charter, in. 1672,” the words “Act of 1672” being in the same hand as that of the copy, and the words “Coll. charter, in. 1672” being in the hand of Wadsworth.1110
(F) This copy is in the Court Records, IV. 707–709, where it was entered by Rawson himself.1111
(G) This copy, made by Rawson, is hypothetical since it is not known to be extant; but that such a copy must once have existed seems pretty certain from what is said under (I), below.
(H) This copy, made by Josiah Willard (who was Secretary of the Province from 1717 to 1756), is not known to be extant: but that it once existed is proved by what is said under (B–E) above, and under (I) below.
(I) This copy, in the Massachusetts Archives, LVIII. 86–87, is wholly in the hand of Nathan Prince, and presumably was made by him either in 1723 (when the Sever-Welsteed controversy was at its height) or in 1742 (when Prince was writing his pamphlet). In making this copy, Prince used (F), (G), and (H), for he has collated all three. In the margin he notes certain variations and generally labels these “W.” (H), though one is labelled “Rec.” (F), and several are not labelled at all. Prince’s copy (I) begins:
At the Second Sessions of the General Court for Elections held at Boston Oct. 8. 1672. on their Adjournment. J.W.
At a General Court held at Boston Oct. 8th 1672. E.R. {p. 550.
The second heading appears to indicate that Rawson’s copy (G) was entered on page 550 of some volume, though what that volume was is not known as it apparently no longer exists.1112 Prince’s copy (I) ends:
That This is a true Copy taken out of the Court Records, Attests Edward Rawson Secretary
A True copy as of Record ⅌ J. Willard Secretary Pag. 7071113
(J) This, in the Massachusetts Archives, LVIII. 82–85, is not a copy of the completed instrument, but is a draught of the charter. For that reason it has particular value. It is written, in an unknown hand, on a folio sheet, the main portion of the charter filling the first and second pages. In this, however, there are notable omissions, and these are supplied on the third and fourth pages. Thus, the members of the Corporation are not named on the first page, but their names are given on the fourth page. There are throughout various; interlineations, some of which appear to be in a hand different from that in which the main portion of the charter is written. It is possible that these interlineations were made by Hoar. An entry on the third page reads: “Mem̄ whatever materiall passage is newly inserted is lined underneath.” Probably this and three other entries on the same page were also written by Hoar.1114 The memorandum appears to show one of two things: either that, in drawing up the draught, the charter of 1650 was used as a basis and certain passages not in that charter were underscored to show exactly what was “newly inserted;” or else that the present document is a revised draught, the underlined passages not being in the original draught. Not all the passages “newly inserted” were accepted by the General Court, for a good many words have been crossed out. On an attached slip of paper (numbered 84a in Volume LVIII in the Massachusetts Archives), Rawson has given the names of all the members of the Corporation except those of Joseph Browne and John Richardson, the two Tutors; and it also bears the entry, “21 1672 past E R S” — thus giving us the exact date (October 21, 1672), not hitherto known, of the passing of the charter.
In view of the evidence presented in the present paper, it may be wondered how the historians of the College could have gone so far astray about the charter of 1672. Perhaps the following explanation will account for this. As already pointed out, the historians have all relied on the statement adopted by the Corporation on January 27, 1812, and on the pamphlet published three months later. College Books I, III, and IV, as printed in Volumes XV–XVI of our Publications, will fill 864 pages. It is not surprising that a single allusion to the charter in such an extensive amount of material should have eluded the committees which drew up that statement and prepared that pamphlet. As for the numerous copies of the charter here described, it cannot be said with certainty that more than one of them was in the possession of the College in 1812. That was the one entered by Leverett in his Diary. This is a small volume, not one of the regular books of College records, and 262 pages must be turned over before the charter can be found. The members of the 1812 committees, even if they knew of the existence of the Diary, might well be excused for thinking that it could contain nothing to their purpose. Nor would it, had it not been for the Sever-Welsteed controversy, for no doubt it was solely on that account that Leverett copied into his Diary the charter of 1650, the appendix to the charter passed in 1657, and the charter of 1672. As for the four other copies of the charter of 1672 now in the College archives, one (E) was certainly there in 1852, but how long it had then been in the possession of the College cannot be determined.1115 The remaining three copies — (A), (C), and (D) — were apparently acquired by the College after 1852.1116
Draught of the Harvard College Charter of 1672
Finally, a word as to the purpose of the charter of 1672. Mr. Davis thinks that it is “inconsistent with any theory of the needs of the College.” It seems to me that the historians, in considering this charter, have had in mind too much the nineteenth century and too little the seventeenth century. The unquestionable right of the Corporation, under the charter of 1650, to elect a new President is now so well established that it is taken as a matter of course; yet that right was not established until the election of Leverett in 1707. Not only was Dunster’s successor not elected by the Corporation, but apparently the Corporation was not even consulted in the matter. In the numerous charters either actually passed or proposed between 1692 and 1700, in every case the members of the Corporation were appointed by the General Court. And when the election of Leverett was consented to by the General Court and the College was once more placed on the charter of 1650, the number of the Corporation, which under the proposed charter of 1700 consisted of a President, a Vice President, and fifteen Fellows, was reduced to the seven called for in the charter of 1650 by Governor Dudley himself.
The situation with which Hoar found himself confronted on his arrival in July, 1672, was a difficult one. The College had sunk so low that at the Commencement on August 13 not a single candidate for the degree of A.B. presented himself. The Corporation was reduced to a Treasurer (Richards), two Tutors (Browne and Richardson), and a nominal Fellow (Danforth); and, in addition, the powers granted to the Corporation by the charter of 1650 had been repeatedly infringed on by the Overseers. Is it surprising that Hoar desired a new charter which should confirm the powers granted to the Corporation by the charter of 1650 and by laws passed between 1650 and 1672; or that the filling up of the Corporation to its full complement of seven was imperative? The charter of 1672 accomplished both of those objects. One was emphasized by the Corporation in 1723, when it declared that the charter of 1672 was “for the perpetuation” of the charter of 1650; and the other by Hutchinson in 1764, when he said that the charter of 1672 made “some addition to the number of the corporation.”
A consideration of the causes which led to the failure of President Hoar’s administration does not come within the scope of this paper, which may fittingly conclude with the reproduction in parallel columns, for purposes of comparison, of the charter of 1650, of the draught of the charter of 1672, and of the completed charter of 1672. As, owing to interlineations, erasures, etc., the draught is difficult to reproduce in type, it is also reproduced in facsimile.
Charter, May 31, 1650 |
Draught of Charter, October 8, 1672 |
Charter, October 21, 1672 |
Whereas, through the good hand of God, many well devoted persons have binn, and dajly are, mooved and stirred vp to give and bestowe sundry guifts, legacies, lands, and revenewes for the advancement of all good litterature, arts, and sciences in Harvard Colledge, in Cambridge, in the county of Midlesex, and to the maintenance of the præsident and ffellowes, and for all accom̄odac͞ons of buildings, and all other necessary provisions that may conduce to the education of the English and Indjan youth of this country in knowledge and godliness, itt is therefore ordered and enacted by this Court and the authoritje thereof, that for the furthering of so good a worke, and for the purposes aforesaid, ffrom henceforth that the sajd Colledge in Cambridge, in Midlesex, in New England, shall be a corporac͞on consisting of seven persons, viz., a præsident, five fellowes, and a treasurer or burser; and that Henry Dunster shall be the first præsident, Samuell Mather, Samuell Danford, mrs of art, Jonathan Michell, Comfort Starr, and Samuell Eaton, (batchelors of art,) shall be the five fellowes, and Thomas Danford to be present treasurer, all of them being inhabitants in the Bay, and shall be the first seven persons of which the sajd corporac͞on shall consist; and that the sajd seven persons, or the greater noumber of them, procuring the presence of the oucrseers of the College, and by their counsell and consent, shall have power, and are hereby authorised, at any time or times, to elect a new president, ffellowes, or treasurer, so oft and from time to time as any of the sajd persons shall dye or be remooved, which sajd president and fellowes for the time being shall foreuer heereafter, in name and fact, be one body polliticke and corporate, in lawe, to all intents and purposes, and shall have perpetuall succession, and shall be called by the name of Præsident and Fellowes of Harvard Colledge, and shall from time to time be eligible as aforesajd, and by that name they and their successors shall and may purchase and acquire to themselves, or take and receave, vppon free guift and donac͞on, any lands, tennements, or hæredittaments, wth in this jurisdicc͞on of the Massatusetts, not exceeding five hundred pounds ꝑ annum, and any goods and sumes of money whatsoeuer, to the vse and behoofe of the sajd president, ffellowes, and and schollers of the sajd colledge, and also may sue and pleade, or be sued and impleaded, by the name aforesajd, in all Courts and places of judicature wth in the jurisdicc͞on afforesajd; and that the sajd præsident, wth any three of the fellowes, shall have power and are hereby authorized, when they shall think fitt, to make and appoint a com̄on seale for the vse of the sajd corporac͞on; and the præsident and ffellowes, or major part of them, from time to time, may meete and choose such officers and servants for the colledge, and make such allowance to them, and them also to remoove, and after death or remoovall to choose such others, and to make from time to time such orders and bylawes for the better ordering and carrying on the worke of the colledge, as they shall thinke fitt, provided the sajd orders be allowed by the ouerseers; and, also, that the president and fellowes, or major part of them, wth the treasurer, shall have power to make conclusive bargajnes for lands and tennements, to be purchased by the sajd corporac͞on for valuable considerac͞on. And, for the better ordering of the gouernment of the sajd colledge and corporac͞on, bee it enacted by the authority aforesajd, that the præsident and three more of the fellowes shall and may, from time to time, vpon dew warning or notice, given by the præsident to the rest, hould a meeting for the debateing and concludoing of affaires concerning the ꝑffittes and revennewes of any lands, and disposing of their goods; provided, that all the sajd disposings be acording to the will of the doners, and for direction in all emergent occations, execution of all orders and by-lawes, and for the procuring of a gennerall meeting of all the ouerseers and society in great and difficult cases, and in case of nonagreement, in all which cases aforesajd the conclucon shall be made by the major parte, the sajd præsident having a casting vojce, the ouerseers consenting therevnto; and that all the aforesajd transactions shall tend to and for the vse and behoofe of the præsident, fellowes, schollers, and officers of the sajd colledge, and for all accom̄odac͞ons of buildings, books, and all other necessary provic͞ons and furnitures as may be for the advauncement and educacon of youth in all manner of good litterature, arts, and scyences. And further, be it ordered by this Court and the authority thereof, that all the lands, tennements, and hæredittaments, howses, or revennewes wth in this jurisdiccon, to the aforesajd præsident or colledge apertajning, not exceeding the valew of five hundred pounds ꝑ an̄um, shall from henceforth be freed from all civill imposic͞ons, taxes, and rates; all goods to the sajd corporac͞on, or to any schollers thereof, appertaining, shall be exempt from all manner of toulle, customes, excise, whatsoeuer; and that the præsident, fellowes, and schollers, together wth the servants and other necessary officers to the sajd præsident or colledge appertaining, not exceeding ten, viz., three to the præsident, and seven to the colledge belonging, shall be exempted from all personall, civill offices, millitary exercise, or services, watchings, and wordings; and such of their estates, not exceeding one hundred pounds a man, shall be freed from all country taxes and rates whatsoeuer, and no other.1117 |
Whereas by the good hand of God, there hath been erected1118 and continued a colledge in Cambridg, in the County of Middlesex, called by the name of Harvard-Colledg; and that by an instrument or Charter, dated the thirty first day of May in the year one thousand six hundred and fifty, the President and & treasuer and fellows thereof were established to be one body corporate by the Authority of this1119 Court, and whereas severall gifts and donations have been made and are still making, by many well devoted ꝑsons, inhabitants of this Country, as also strangers, for the maintainance of the Govern Governrs and Govermt thereof; and for all the accommodations of the scholars thereof in bookes, buildings, lectures, scholarships and all other necessary and fitting provissions, that may conduce to the education of English and Indian1120 youth there residing: in all good literature and Godlynes. Now for the ꝑpetuation,1121 and further advancemt of so good a work, and for the better incouragement of all ꝑsons, therein concerned, or to be concerned; It is ordered and enacted by this Court, and the Authority thereof * that the said President, and fellows & Treasurer of the said Colledg, or the fellows alone when there is no President established, and their successors bee1122 the immediate Governors thereof, and shall in name and fact, for ever hereafter be one body pollitiq, and corporate in Law to all intents and purposes; and shall have ꝑpetuall succession, having power and Authority by these prsents, procuring a meeting of the Overseers, and by their councell and consent to elect successors into the place of any one or more of them, which shall be (by death or removall) made vacant. Be it also hereby authorized, and enacted that the said Corporation and their successors, shall have the power, of constituting, and again at their pleasure, removing all inferior Officers to the said society appertaining, and all the next and immediate Govermt of every member of the said Society; according to such orders and lawes as are or shall be established by the said Corporation, the Overseers of ye sd Colledge allowing or not contradicting the said Lawes, upon notice of them, given to them, at their next meeting. And also the said corporation and their Successors may purchase and acquire unto themselves, or take and receive upon free gift any Lands, tenemts, hæridatamts, annuityes, services, goods, monyes or other emoluments whatsoever, or from whomsoever, and (observing straitly the will of the Donors) dispose of the same to the use and behoofe of the said Colledg, or any members thereof. And that the President may warn a generƚƚ meeting of the said corporation for debating any of the affaires aforesd. In all which cases the conclusion shall be made by the major ꝑt præsent, The Presiden[t] having a casting voice. And that the sd Corporation, with their distinct Treasurer (if any such be chosen) by the name of the Presiden[t] Fellows and Treasurer of Harvard-Colledg may sue and plead or be sued or impleaded in all Courts and places of Jurisdiction Judicature within this Jurisdiction of the Massachuset-Collony. [83] to all intents and purposes in Law and with effect as may any private ꝑson or body incorporate.[a] Also that the said corporation or any three of them the præsident being one and every one of them in all(b) crimes not capitall shall have the power Personally with such aid of the society as the shall think meet the full power sconcing, cor fining or otherwise correcting all inferior officers or members to the sd society[c] belonging[c], and for that end any of the said corporation shall and hereby have power ꝑsonally with such aid of the Society as they shall think meet taking the Constable along with them to enter into any publiq (d)houses, where they shall be inform’d or may be suspitious of any ennormityes to be plotting or perpetrating acting by any members of their society; And all Constables and all other, inferior1123 cvvill1124 officers in that place are hereby authorized and commanded to be readily aiding and assisting to them or any of them in the premmises some magistrate being first consulted if the circumstance of the case ꝑmitt. Neither shall ꝑsons legally expelled the Society abide Colledg above ten days in the Town-ship of Cambridge. without the licens of the Corporation or of the next Magistrate to the sd Colledge And be it also ordered and enacted by this Court and the Authority thereof that all the Lands, tenemts hæridatamts or annuityes within this Jurisdiction to the sd Corporation appertaining, not exceeding the value of five hundred pounds ꝑ Ann̄: shallbe henceforth freed of all ordinary civill impositions, taxes and rates; and all goods to the said corporations or to any scholars thereof apptaining shall be exempt from all manner of toll, customes and excise, whatsoever. And moreover that the said Præsident, Fellows, and scholars togeather with their mæniall servants, and other necessary officers, (not exceeding the number of ten) shall be utterly exempted from all ꝑsonall and civill officers offices, millitary exercises, watchings and wardings or the like publiq servises; also their houses and Lands, from all quarteringe of souldiers, their Horses Carriages & Furnitures or ꝑvisions from all publiq impresses or servises And the ꝑsonall estates of the sd corporations and their officers (not exceeding an hundred pounds a man) shall be also freed from the like Country taxes for ever. All and every of which prmmises wee do ordain and enact to be fully established for Law, any Law, grant or usage to the Countrary in any wise notwithstanding. [84] [b.] by Lawes of this countrey punishable by one Magistrate.1125 [c.] as the Lawes of the countrey provide in such cases or the Lawes of the Colledg not repugnant unto them.1126 (a) only the estate to the Corporation, and not that which belongs proper to any member of said Corporation being lyable to such impleadmts (b) In all Crimes not civil or capitall but of an inferior nature and usually corrected by the lawes of other universityes shall &c. (d) any houses licensed for publiq intertainmt or other houses. [U]nlesse their parents live in the sd Township.1127 × except in cases of war or extraordinary exigence of the Countrey Mem̄ whatever materiall passage is newly inserted is lined1128 underneath,1129 [84a] That Leonard Hoar Dr in Physick the prsent President mr Samuel Danforth fellow of the syd Colledge mr Urian Oakes Pastor of the ch: of the Cambr: mr Tho: Sheph: Pastor &c: mr 21 past ERS1130 [85] * that Leonard Hoare Dr in Physick be now established be now established be the prsent1131 Præsident ^ Sam̄ Danforth ^ Urian Oakes Thomas Shepeard Joseph Brown and John Richardson1132 Masters of Art be established Be the Fellows and Mr John Richards Mr of Art be Treasurer the Treasurer of the said Colledg and Corporation, for the time being. And that the President &c. as on the other side [Endorsed] Copy of Colledg Charter prsented to Genƚƚ Court Oct 16721133 |
At a Generall Court held at Boston the 8th of october 1672.1134 Whereas, By the good hand of God, there hath bin erected and continued a Colledge in Cambridge in the Countie of Midlesex, called by the name of Harvard Colledge, & that by an Instrument or Charter Dated ye 31th of May in the yeare 1650 The President & ffellows thereof were established to be one body Corporate by the Authority of this Court, & Whereas severall gifts & donations have bin made & are still makeing by many well Devoted Persons inhabitants of this Countrie, as also strangers, for the maintainance of the Governours and Goverment thereof and for all the accommodations of the Schollars thereof1135 in Books, Buildings, Lectures, Schollarships, & all other necessary & fitting provisions that may Conduce to the Education of English & Indian youth there resideing in all good literature & godlynes. Now for the perpetuation & further advancemt of so good a work & for the better incouragemt of all ꝑsons therein concerned, or to be concerned, It is Ordered & Enacted by this Court & the Autheritie thereof, That Leonard Hoare Doctor in Phisick be the prsent President of said Harvard Colledge Mr Samuell Danforth fellow of yesaid Colledge1136 Mr Vrian Oakes Pastor of the Church of Cambridge, Mr Thomas Shepard1137 Teacher of ye Church of Charlstowne, Mr Joseph Browne & Mr John Richardson Masters of Art, be the ffellowes & Mr John Richards the Treasurer of the said Colledge & Corporation for the time being. And that the said President, ffellows & treasurer of the said Colledge or the ffellowes alone, when there is no President established, & their Successors from time, to time, be the immediate Governours thereof, & shall in name & fact for ever hereafter be one Body Pollitick & Corporate in Law, to all intents & purposes, & shall haue ꝑpettuall Succession, Haveing power and Authoritie by these presents, Procureing a meeting of the Overseers, & by their cornisell and consent, to Elect Successors into the place of any one or more of them wch shall be (by death or removeall) made vacant. Be it also hereby Authorized & Enacted, That the said Corporation & their Successours, shall haue the power of constituting & againe at their Pleasure removeing all inferiour Officers to the said societie apꝑtaineing, & all the next & immediate1138 Govermt of every member of the said Societie, according to such Orders & Lawes as are or shalbe establisht by the said Corporation, The Overseers of the said Colledge Allowing or not contradicting the said Lawes upon Notice of them given to them, at their next meeting. And also the said Corporation & their Successours, may purchase & acquire to themselves, or take and receive upon ffree gift any Lands, Tenemts hereditamts, Annuities, Services, goods, moneys, or other emoluments whatsoever, or from whomsoever, and (observing straitly ye will of ye Donours) Dispose of the same to the use & behoofe of the said Colledge or any members thereof. And that the President may warn a generall meeting of the said Corporac̄on for debateing any of the affaires aforesaid, in all which cases the conclusion shall be made by the Major ꝑt prsent,1139 The President haveing a casting Voyce. And that the said Corporac̄on with their Distinct Treasurer, (if any Such be chosen) by ye name of ye President, ffellowes & Treasurer of Harvard Colledge, may Sue and Plead, or be Sued or impleaded in all, Courts and places of judicature wthin this Jurisdiction of the Massathusets Colony to all intents & purposes in Law and with effect as may any private ꝑson or body Incorporate, onely the estate to the Corporation belonging, & not that which belongs ꝑꝑ to any member of ye sd Corporation, being lyable to Such impleadmts. Also that the said Corporation or any three of them the President being one,1140 in all Crymes by the Laws Crymes by the Laws of this Countrie punishable by one Magistrate, shall have ye full power of Sconcing1141 fineing or otherwise correcting all inferiour Officers or members to the said Society belonging, as the Laws of the Countrie provide in Such cases, or the Lawes of the Colledge not repugnant unto them: And for yt end any of the sd Corporation shall, and hereby have power ꝑsonally, wth such ayde of ye Society as they shall think meet takeing the Constable along wth them, to enter into any houses lycensed for Publick entertainemt where they shall be informed, or may be Suspicious of any Enormities to be plotting or acting by any members of their Societie, And all Constables & all other Inferiour Civill Officers in that place are hereby Authorized & commanded to be readyly Ayding & Assisting to ym or any of them in the prmisses. Neither shall any person or ꝑsons Legally expelled ye Colledge abide above ten dayes in ye Township of Cambridge unless their parents live in ye said Township, And be it also Ordered & Enacted by this Court & the Authority thereof, That all the Lands, Tenements hereditamts or annuities within this Jurisdiction to the said Corporation apꝑtaineing, not exceeding the value of five hundred pounds p Annum shalbe hence forth freed from all Ordinary civill impositions Taxes & Rates, and all goods to the said Corporation, or to any schollars thereof apꝑtaineing shall be exempt from all manner toll, customes, & Excise whatsoever except in cases of Warre or extraordinary Exigences of the Countrey And moreover that the sayd President, ffellowes and Schollars together wththeir mæniall servants and other necessary officers (not exceeding the number of Ten) shall be utterly exempted from all ꝑsonall & Civill Offices Millitary Exercises watchings and wardings or the like publike services And the personall Estates of the said Corporation & their Officers not exceeding one hundred pounds a man shall bee also freed from the like Countrey Taxes for ever. All and every of which prmisses Wee doe Ordaiyne and Enact to be ffully Established for Law any Law Grant or usage to the Contrary Notwthstanding. That this is A true Copie taken out of the Courts Records. Attests. Edward Rawson Sec͞rety1142 |
Draught of the Harvard College Charter of 1672
Draught of the Harvard College Charter of 1672