Annual Meeting

    November, 1933

    THE Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Algonquin Club, No. 217 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, on Tuesday, November 21, 1933, at a quarter after seven o’clock in the evening, the President, Samuel Eliot Morison, in the chair.

    With the consent of those present, the reading of the records of the last Stated Meeting was omitted.

    The Corresponding Secretary reported the death, on April 20, 1933, of Francis Henshaw Dewey, a Resident Member; and, on July 20, 1933, of John Eliot Thayer, a Resident Member.

    The Corresponding Secretary reported the receipt of letters from Mr. Howard Corning, Mr. Ludlow Griscom, and Mr. George Frederick Robinson accepting Resident Membership in the Society; and from Mr. Howard Miller Chapin and Mr. Robert Francis Seybolt accepting Corresponding Membership.

    Mr. Joseph Henry Beale, of Cambridge, Mr. Paul Birdsall, of Williamstown, and Mr. Jeffrey Richardson Brackett, of Boston, were elected Resident Members of the Society.

    The Annual Report of the Council was read by Mr. Robert Walcott.

    Report of the Council

    DURING the last year the Society has held three stated meetings: in December, at the Club of Odd Volumes, by invitation of our late associate Mr. Johnson; in February, at No. 2 Gloucester Street, by invitation of Mr. Augustus P. Loring, Jr.; and in April, at No. 21 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, by invitation of the Reverend Edward Caldwell Moore.

    The authors and titles of the principal papers were: Mr. Perry G. Miller, “Was the Massachusetts Bay Company Separatist?”; Mr. Robert E. Peabody, “A Forgotten Chapter of New England Commerce”; Mr. William O. Sawtelle, “Captain Samuel Hadlock, Jr., Pioneer Yankee Showman in Europe”; Mr. Chester N. Greenough, “Defoe in Boston”; and Mr. Lawrence S. Mayo, “Governor Hutchinson’s Own Copies of His History.” Mr. Matthews and several other members presented short notes, memoranda, and documents; other papers were communicated by title. The attendance at these meetings was good, the discussions were lively, and the hospitality of our hosts bounteous.

    During the past year the following members have been elected:

    Resident:

    • Allston Burr
    • Perry Gilbert Miller
    • Henry Lee Shattuck
    • Kenneth Grant Tremayne Webster
    • Walter Benjamin Briggs
    • Robert Earl Moody
    • Ludlow Griscom
    • George Frederick Robinson
    • Howard Corning

    Corresponding:

    • Harold Robert Shurtleff
    • Samuel Flagg Bemis
    • Howard Miller Chapin
    • Robert Francis Seybolt

    Since our last Annual Meeting we have lost seven of our Resident Members:

    Charles Sedgwick Rackemann, Resident, 1892, died March 29, 1933; an original member, the length of whose membership, forty-one years, is the age of this Society. He was the last survivor of our fourteen incorporators. For many years before his death he had ranked first among the conveyancers of Massachusetts, heading the leading firm in Boston specializing in this department of law. The best-educated conveyancers almost always cherish a keen historical interest: witness James Savage in this county in the past century, and, of recent years, Sidney Perley in Salem and Don Gleason Hill in Dedham.

    James Hardy Ropes, Resident, 1902, died January 8, 1933. Joining this Society in 1902, Mr. Ropes served as Vice-President from 1927 until his death. Excepting for a course of study at the Andover Theological Seminary, he was connected with Harvard University from his entrance with the Class of 1889 until his death; since 1910 he had held the Hollis Professorship of Divinity, the oldest endowed chair in this country. His executive ability caused many administrative burdens to be placed upon him; all these he performed gladly, and President Lowell, whose cousin he married, often sought his counsel. During the World War he gave almost his entire time to the Massachusetts Food Administration. An ordained minister of the Congregational Church, Mr. Ropes had a spiritual as well as a scholarly insight respecting colonial New England, and was generous in helping students to reach a true understanding of the early Puritans.

    Heman Merrick Burr, Resident, 1927, died April 14, 1933. Endeared to a large circle of friends of all ages, young and old, by the charm of his manner, the vivacity of his conversation, and the wide range of his interests, he was one of those persons whose very presence creates an atmosphere of gentleness and learning.

    Francis Henshaw Dewey, Resident, 1913, died April 20, 1933. Of the same age as Mr. Burr, and his contemporary at the Harvard Law School, Mr. Dewey was born in Worcester and graduated from Williams College in 1876. He was president of the Worcester Art Museum, vice-president and treasurer of Clark University, vice-president of the Memorial Hospital, trustee of Williams College, and a member of the Council of the American Antiquarian Society. His valuable qualities were early appreciated, and he was drawn away from the practice of law to become president and director of many a banking, railroad, and traction corporation.

    Waldo Lincoln, Resident, 1893, died April 7, 1933, in the fullness of years, in the old Governor Lincoln Mansion at 49 Elm Street, Worcester, where he had spent the greater part of his life. He was another of the leading citizens of Worcester and was well known as an antiquarian and genealogist. After a year at the Lawrence Scientific School in Cambridge, his early years were spent in the metal business. When sixty years of age he retired from business, and thereafter published a genealogy of the Waldo family. He served as president of the American Antiquarian Society, and for ten years he was treasurer of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

    John Eliot Thayer, Resident, 1898, died July 22, 1933. A third of the Worcester trio, he was a lifelong resident of Lancaster. His interests were many and diverse, and he had the intelligence, industry, and means to develop them—birds, trees, flowers, history. One thinks of his beautiful gardens and his well-selected library, but most of all of the charming simplicity of his personality.

    Alfred Johnson, Resident, 1915, died January 13, 1933. He served this Society as Registrar for many years, and was our host on more than one occasion. A born orator, a historian by training, but by instinct and heredity a seaman and a man of action, he devoted much of his time and fortune toward helping others realize the scholarly aims which his own brilliant but erratic career had not achieved.

    Many years ago, Mr. Horace Everett Ware left a sum of money to the Society for the erection of a suitable memorial to the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay. Your Council felt that, now that the tumult and shouting of the Tercentenary had died away, we might properly expend this fund according to the directions of the donor. With the permission of the First Church in Boston, it was decided to erect in their meeting-house a memorial arch and tablet, balancing the Hutchinson memorial doorway which the Society had erected in the same meeting-house fifteen years ago. The archway, beautifully designed by our associate R. Clipston Sturgis, in perpendicular Gothic style, and carved out in American walnut wood, has worked into it characteristic fruits and flora of New England, together with the arms of Winthrop, Johnson, Dudley, Humphrey, Pynchon, and Saltonstall. The arch encloses a tablet, on which is the inscription:

    To the memory of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, and in peculiar honor to those members of the Company who agreed “to passe the seas (under God’s protection) to inhabite and continue in New England,” provided the Charter and Government of the Company be transferred thither, and who brought with them this Charter, thus giving the Colony of Massachusetts Bay the responsibility of a self-governing dominion answerable only to God for the conduct of its affairs

    This inscription is followed by the names of the principal members of the company. Below the inscription a large facsimile of the royal charter of 1629 is arranged in a triptych so that it can be examined by visitors. This memorial was dedicated and presented to the First Church by the Society at a special service on May 7, 1933, which was well attended. The Reverend Henry W. Foote conducted the exercises; the Reverend Charles E. Park delivered a historical address. The memorial was unveiled by Peter Brooks Saltonstall, the young son of our associate; presented by Mr. Morison; and accepted on behalf of the First Church by Mr. Arthur W. Moors.

    With regard to the Society’s publications, Volume XXVIII, continuing the Transactions of the Society, is in course of preparation and may be published in the spring. Two serials have been distributed to contributors. Volumes XXIX and XXX, the Suffolk County Court Records, 1671–1680, have been delayed by the difficulties of the index. A sample of the first volume will be on exhibition at the dinner, and both volumes should be in members’ hands within the course of the subsequent month. Volume XXXI, the gift of a member, containing various Harvard College documents, is also in process. No date of publication, however, has been set.

    The Society has continued to contribute to the expenses of publication of the New England Quarterly.

    The Treasurer submitted his Annual Report, as follows:

    Report of the Treasurer

    In accordance with the requirements of the By-laws, the Treasurer submits his Annual Report for the year ending November 14, 1933.

    Statement of Assets and Funds, November 14, 1933

    ASSETS

    Cash:

       

    Income

    $11,983.02

     

    Loan to Principal

    10,398.85

    $1,584.17

    Investments at Book Value:

       

    Bonds (Market Value $84,785.00)

    $91,552.50

     

    Stocks (Market Value $27,917.50)

    44,928.13

     

    Mortgages

    10,500.00

     

    Savings Bank Deposits

    2,834.00

    149,814.63

    Total Assets

     

    $151,398.80

    FUNDS

    Funds

    $139,415.78

     

    Income

    11,983.02

     

    Total Funds

     

    $151,398.80

    Investments as of November 14, 1933

    BONDS Book Value  

    $5,000 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company General 4’s, 1995

    $4,237.50

     

    5,000 Bell Telephone Company of Canada First 5’s, Series B, 1957

    4,062.50

     

    5,000 Canadian Pacific Railway Equipment Trust 5’s, 1944

    3,872.50

     

    5,000 Cedars Rapids Manufacturing and Power Company First 5’s, 1953

    4,450.00

     

    5,000 Central New England Railway Company First 4’s, 1961

    3,512.50

     

    5,000 Central Pacific Railway Company First and Refunding 4’s, 1949

    3,762.50

     

    5,000 Chester Water Service Company First 4½’s, 1958

    3,375.00

     

    5,000 Chicago and Western Indiana Railway Company Consolidated 4’s, 1952

    3,640.00

     

    5,000 Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock Yards Company Mortgage and Collateral Trust Refunding Gold 5’s, 1940

    3,762.50

     

    2,000 Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company Refunding and Improvement 4½’s, Series E, 1977

    1,485.00

     

    5,000 Indianapolis Power and Light Company First 5’s, 1957

    4,593.75

     

    5,000 Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway Company First Refunding 6’s, Series A, 1946

    5,000.00

     

    5,000 New England Telephone and Telegraph Company First 5’s, Series A, 1952

    4,875.00

     

    5,000 New York Water Service Company First 5’s, 1951

    3,650.00

     

    5,000 Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company First and Refunding 4’s, Series A, 1961

    4,105.00

     

    5,000 Public Service Company of New Hampshire First and Refunding 4½’s, Series B, 1957

    4,700.00

     

    5,000 Texas Corporation Convertible Debenture 5’s, 1944

    5,012.50

     

    5,000 Texas Electric Service Company First 5’s, 1960

    4,437.50

     

    5,000 Toledo Edison Company First 5’s, 1962

    4,881.25

     

    2,000 Union Pacific Railroad Equipment Trust 7’s, Series A, 1934

    2,000.00

     

    2,500 United States Cold Storage Company First Mortgage 6’s, 1946

    2,500.00

     

    4,000 United States Cold Storage Company First Mortgage 6’s, 1945

    4,000.00

     

    5,000 Western Union Telegraph Company 5’s, 1960

    5,137.50

     

    5,000 Wickwire Spencer Steel Company Prior Lien Collateral and Refunding 7’s, 1935, Certificate of Deposit

    500.00

     

    Total Bonds

     

    $91,552.50

    STOCKS    

    50 shares American Telephone and Telegraph Company

    $8,593.63

     

    50 shares Consolidated Gas Company of New York Common

    3,077.50

     

    100 shares Electric Bond and Share Company Cumulative $6.00 Preferred

    10,600.00

     

    50 shares E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company

    2,683.75

     

    50 shares First National Bank of Boston

    1,750.00

     

    1 share First National Bank of the City of New York

    1,565.00

     

    240 shares General Electric Company Common

    5,719.50

     

    50 shares Insurance Company of North America

    1,963.75

     

    40 shares Radio Corporation of America Common

    0.

     

    5 shares Travelers Insurance Company

    2,225.00

     

    50 shares United States Cold Storage Company 7% Preferred “A”

    6,750.00

     

    50 shares United States Cold Storage Company Common

     

    Total Stocks

     

    $44,928.13

    First Mortgages on improved property in Greater Boston

     

    10,500.00

    Deposit in Warren Institution for Savings

    $2,793.38

     

    Deposit in Provident Institution for Savings

    40.62

    2,834.00

    Total Investments

     

    $149,814.63

    Composition of Funds, November 14, 1933

    Publication Fund, established in 1893 by gift of $100 from Quincy Adams Shaw: composed of sundry small gifts and portions of the Income which were added from year to year. Income only to be used for Publications

    $10,000.00

    General Fund, established in 1893: composed of Admission Fees and Commutations added to Principal. Income only to be used for Current Expenses

    27,405.57

    Benjamin Apthorp Gould Memorial Fund, established in 1897 and 1898 by subscriptions in his memory. Income only to be used

    10,000.00

    Edward Wheelwright Fund, established in 1900 under his will without restriction as to use

    20,000.00

    Robert Charles Billings Fund, established in 1903 under his will. Income only to be used for Publications

    10,000.00

    Robert Noxon Toppan Fund, established in 1904 by a gift in his memory from Ills widow. Income only to be used

    5,000.00

    Robert Charles Winthrop, Jr., Fund, established in 1905 under his will. Increased by §2,000 in 1924 under the will of Elizabeth Winthrop. Income only to be used

    $5,000.00

    Andrew McFarland Davis Fund, established in 1908 by a gift from him to be added to the permanent publication funds. Income only to be used

    2,000.00

    William Watson Fund, established in 1916 under his will without restriction as to use

    1,000.00

    Horace Everett Ware Fund, established in 1916 by a gift of $500 from him. Increased under his will by sundry installments of cash since 1919. To be accumulated and used for Massachusetts Bay Colony monument or other memorial

    1,448.50

    George Vasmer Leverett Fund, established in 1920 under his will. Income only to be used for Publications

    30,000.00

    Henry H. Edes Bequest, established in 1923 under his will. To accumulate until it reaches the sum of $3,000, when it shall be called the Martha Rebecca Hunt Fund. Income only to be used for special purposes

    2,793.38

    Henry H. Edes Memorial Fund, established by sundry subscriptions from 1923 to 1925. To accumulate until it reaches the sum of $10,000. Income only to be used for Publications

    4,768.33

    George Nixon Black Fund, established in 1929 under his will without restriction as to use

    10,000.00

    Total Funds

    $139,415.78

    Changes in Principal of Funds

    Total Funds, November 14, 1932

     

    $149,868.04

    Add—Additions to General Fund:

       

    Commutation, two life memberships

    $200.00

     

    Received 40 shares Radio Corporation of America Common from General Electric Company on February 20, 1933

    0.

     

    Savings Bank Interest transferred from Income

    1.28

    201.28

    Add—Additions to Special Funds:

    Horace Everett Ware Fund

     

    174.07

    Henry H. Edes Memorial Fund

     

    269.91

    Henry H. Edes Bequest

     

    81.95

       

    $150,595.25

    Deduct—Charges to General Fund:

    Loss on Sales of Securities:

    $5,000 Central Manufacturing District 6½’s, 1944

    $1,202.00

       

    12,000 New River Company 5’s, 1934

    724.80

    $1,926.80

     

    Reduction in book value of $5,000 Wickwire Spencer Steel Company 7’s, 1935, to present estimated value

     

    4,500.00

     

    Deduct—Charges to Special Funds:

     

    $6,426.80

     

    Horace Everett Ware Fund, for Memorial

     

    4,752.67

    $11,179.47

    Total Funds, November 14, 1933

       

    $139,415.78

    Income Cash Receipts and Disbursements

    Balance, November 14, 1932

     

    $16,602.96

    RECEIPTS:

       

    Interest

    $5,961.61

     

    Dividends

    1,811.00

     

    Annual Assessments

    660.00

     

    Admission Fees

    90.00

     

    Sales of the Society’s Publications

    146.75

     

    Contributions

    245.00

     

    Total Receipts of Income

     

    8,914.36

    DISBURSEMENTS:

    Editor’s Salary

     

    $1,000.00

    Services to Editor

     

    44.00

    Publications:

       

    Volume 28

    $1,113.58

     

    Volumes 29 and 30

    6,512.19

    7,865.77

    Volume 31

    240.00

    New England Quarterly

     

    2,000.00

    Antique Book Paper

     

    1,100.58

    Annual Dinner

     

    452.40

    Accrued Interest on Securities Purchased

     

    142.61

    Stewart, Watts and Bollong, accounting services

     

    100.00

    Stenographic Services

     

    100.00

    Storage on Plates and Stock

     

    69.88

    Notices and Other Expenses of Meetings

     

    55.85

    Postage and Express

     

    42.03

    Bibliography of American Historical Writings

    50.00

     

    Union Safe Deposit Vaults

    23.50

     

    Insurance on Stock

    21.60

     

    Proportionate Cost of Bill of Appeal—Estate of James B. Wilbur

    15.00

     

    Stationery and Office Supplies

    6.00

     

    Federal Tax on Checks

    1.10

     

    Interest on Henry H. Edes Memorial Fund added to Principal

    269.91

     

    Interest on Horace Everett Ware Fund transferred to Principal

    174.07

     

    Total Disbursements of Income

     

    $13,534.30

    Balance of Income Cash, November 14, 1933

     

    $11,983.02

    Principal Cash Receipts and Disbursements

    Loan to Principal, November 14, 1932

     

    $7,089.61

    RECEIPTS:

       

    $12,000 New River Company 5’s, 1934

    $10,405.20

     

    5,000 Central Manufacturing District of Los Angeles 6½’s, Series C, 1944

    3,898.00

     

    2,000 Union Pacific Railroad Company Equipment Trust 7’s, 1933

    2,000.00

     

    Commutation, two life memberships

    200.00

     

    Transferred from Income to Principal:

       

    Horace Everett Ware Fund Income

    174.07

     

    Henry H. Edes Memorial Fund Income

    269.91

     

    Interest on Warren Institution for Savings Account

    81.95

     

    Interest on Provident Institution for Savings Account

    1.28

     

    Total Receipts of Principal

     

    17,030.41

       

    $9,940.80

    DISBURSEMENTS:

       

    $5,000 Public Service Company of New Hampshire First and Refunding 4½’s, Series B. 1957

    $4,700.00

     

    5,000 Texas Electric Service Company First 5’s, 1960

    4,437.50

     

    5,000 Toledo Edison Company First 5’s, 1962

    4,881.25

     

    2,000 Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway Company 4½’s, 1977

    1,485.00

     

    Horace Everett Ware Fund, for Memorial

    $4,752.67

     

    Interest on Warren Institution for Savings Account, added to Principal

    81.95

     

    Interest on Provident Institution for Savings Account, added to Principal

    1.28

     

    Total Disbursements of Principal

     

    $20,339.65

    Loan to Principal, November 14, 1933

     

    $10,398.85

    James M. Hunnewell

    Treasurer

    Report of the Auditing Committee

    The undersigned, a Committee appointed to examine the accounts of the Treasurer for the year which ended November 14, 1933, have attended to their duty by employing Messrs. Stewart, Watts and Bollong, Public Accountants and Auditors, who have made an audit of the accounts and examined the securities on deposit in Box 1052–E in the Union Safe Deposit Vaults.

    We herewith submit their report, which has been examined and accepted by the Committee.

    M. B. Jones

    R. Ammi Cutter

    Henry L. Shattuck

    Auditing Committee

    The several reports were accepted and referred to the Committee of Publication.

    On behalf of the committee appointed to nominate officers for the ensuing year the following list was presented; and a ballot having been taken, these gentlemen were unanimously elected:

    • President Samuel Eliot Morison
    • Vice-Presidents Hon. Arthur Prentice Rugg
    • Alfred Marston Tozzer
    • Recording Secretary James Phinney Baxter, 3rd
    • Corresponding Secretary Hon. Robert Walcott
    • Treasurer James Melville Hunnewell
    • Registrar Robert Dickson Weston
    • Member of the Council for Three Years Zechariah Chafee, Jr.

    After the meeting was dissolved, dinner was served. The guests of the Society were Mr. Charles C. Abbott, Professor Laurence Binyon, Mr. Frank E. Bridgman, Mr. Wilfred J. Doyle, Professor Ronald M. Ferry, Professor Alexander Forbes, Professor John Farquhar Fulton, and Mr. Clarence E. Walton.

    After the dinner Professor Fulton and the Hon. Leverett Saltonstall addressed the Society and its guests.