Part 4

My father, Thomas Farmer, is now at Leicester, and is the only male issue of his generation. He was born on the 10th of May, 1744. I was born on the 21st of August, 1771, and am the only issue left, and I am in possession of land in the vicinity of Nuneaton, sharing it equally with Mr. Arnold of Ashley, no great distance from Daventry, in the County of Northampton.

Of the present owner of Ancely, or Astly, I know nothing; but in the old papers, I find John Farmer of Ancely, in the County of Warwick, passes a time, Sept. 1st, 1604, and that a John Farmer, in 1663, [1633?] contracts marriage with Isabel Barbage of Great Packington, in the County of Warwick, and that Isabel, in after marriage articles, is stiled "_now of New England_;" that John Farmer of Nuneaton married Sarah Daws of Tamworth, and settles the estate at Ancely upon her. Richard F., son of John and Sarah, was baptized at Nuneaton, Sept. 15, 1698, and married Hannah Knibb of Brinklow, in the County of Warwick, Jan. 4, 1732-3. Their eldest son, Richard, born May 4, 1735, was the person whom you have rightly named of such extensive literary fame and acquirements.

I shall seal this with the seal[22] which Dr. Farmer wore and used, and the Arms I read, "He beareth Sable, Chevron between three Lamps Argent, with Fire Proper, by the name of Farmer." This coat was assigned to George Farmer, Esq., 1663, second son of Bartholomew Farmer, Gent.[23] of Radcliffe, near Atherstone, Warwickshire. The patent was to _alter_ the Chevron of the family, though it mentions not what anciently were the Arms of the family.

* * * * *

_From the same to the same, dated Aspley-Guise, Dec. 1, 1823._

Sir,--The family of Farmers from which we are descended, were living about the year of our Lord, 1500, at a village called Ratcliffe-Cuiley, which is in Leicestershire, and adjoining the Counties of Warwick and Stafford. One of them was a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas, and you observe by the scrap enclosed, another of them, Chancellor of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, which scrap is the hand-writing of the author on the learning of Shakspeare. Most of them are buried in a vault belonging to the family, in the church of Witherly, (near Ratcliffe) in the County of Leicester. My grandfather's name was _Richard_, who married a Miss Knibb, and their family consisted of Richard, [b. May 4, 1735,] the annotator on our immortal bard, Prebendary of Canterbury, then a Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, London, the Master of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, and principal Librarian of that University; _John_, in holy Orders; _Thomas_, my father, [b. May 10, 1744,] who married the 3rd dau. of John Andrew, Esq., of Harlestone-Park in the County of Northampton; _Joseph_, Lieut. Col. of the Royal Leicester volunteers; _Hannah_, unmarried; _Sarah_ married Allen Brown, Esq., of Cosby, near Leicester, and afterwards Richard Jervis, a surgeon of Latterworth; _Mary_ married [in 1768,] the Hon. Richard Byron, [b. Oct. 28, 1724,] brother of the late Lord [William] Byron.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] See Camden's Remains, 4to, London, 1603.

[5] Skinner's Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ. Spelman's Glossarium Archæologicum.

[6] MS. Letter. See Appendix.

[7] Dodson's Memoirs.

[8] Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ii. 618.--Burnet's Own Times, ii. 699.--Salmon's Geog. Gram.--Hume.--Goldsmith, &c.

[9] Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses.

[10] Guillim's Heraldry, 310.

[11] Guillim's Heraldry, 186.

[12] Calamy, Ejected Ministers, ii. 437.

[13] Douglass' Summary, i. 135.

[14] See Monthly Review.

[15] Calamy, ii. 609.

[16] London Magazine, xli. 268.

[17] Watt's Bibliotheca Britannica.

[18] Wood's Athenæ Oxonienses.

[19] At this place is the Hermitage, in which is the well known inscription written by Thomas Warton, D. D., beginning with,

"Beneath this stony roof reclined, I soothe to peace my pensive mind."

[20] From a deposition, taken July 21, 1691, before Richard Hopkins, relating to the last will and testament of Mr. John Farmer of Ansley, signed by EDWARD FARMER, son of the said John, it appears that EDWARD, the deponent, was an inhabitant of Ansley at that time. It is, however, evident, that within a few years after, he had become settled in New England. The birth of his eldest son, in 1671, is inserted in the Records of Billerica, although it is doubtful whether he settled there before 1673.

[21] The genealogy of the Chelmsford Richardsons has been traced to Capt. Josiah R., living in that place in 1659, supposed to have been son of Samuel of Woburn, who d. March 23, 1658. Josiah, mentioned in the text, was b. May 8, 1734, d. April 15, 1801, a. 66. His father, Capt. Zachariah R., was b. Feb., 1696, d. March 22, 1776, a. 80. Josiah, his father, was b. May 18, 1665, d. Oct. 17, 1711, a. 45. The father of the last Josiah was Capt. Josiah, first mentioned in this note, who d. July 22, 1695.

[22] The impression of this seal is deposited in the cabinet of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester.

[23] Bartholomew was the son of John Farmer of Leicester, and grandson of Bartholomew of the same place, as appears by the [Herald's] visitation of that county in 1619.

MEMOIRS OF GRADUATES OF HARVARD COLLEGE.

Commencing with the year 1670.

BY THE LATE JOHN FARMER, ESQ.

NOTE. The year they were graduated is prefixed to the name of each person, in the several Memoirs.

NATHANIEL HIGGINSON.

1670. NATHANIEL HIGGINSON, son of Rev. John Higginson, pastor of the first church in Salem, was born at Guilford, Ct., Oct. 11, 1652. After receiving his second degree in 1673, he made preparation to go to England, where an uncle of his had been settled as a clergyman, and where he had a number of relations. He went thither the following year, and was soon introduced to Lord Wharton, with whom he remained about seven years, in the capacity of steward and tutor to his children. He was employed in the mint of the Tower in 1681, and went in 1683 in the East India Company's service to Fort St. George in the East Indies; was a member and secretary of the council, and afterwards governor of the factory at said fort. He married Elizabeth Richards, 1692; returned to England with his wife and four children in 1700, and established himself as a merchant in London, and did considerable business with his New England friends.

In 1706, we find his name, with 19 others, signed to a petition full of invective against Joseph Dudley, then Governor of Massachusetts, and praying for his removal, which was presented and read to Queen Anne in council. Gov. Dudley, in his answer to the charges contained in this petition, notices several of the petitioners, and thus speaks of Mr. H. "Mr. Higginson is a gentleman of good value, born in New England, but has been absent in the East Indies six and twenty years, and so may be presumed to know nothing of the country. To be sure, his father, that has been a minister in the country near sixty years, yet living, and his brother, a member of her Majesty's Council, must know more, his brother having been always assisting the Governor, and consenting in Col. Dudley's justification at this time with the Council, where no man has dissented from the vote sent herewith." The allegations against Gov. Dudley in this petition, were voted by the General Court, or Council and House, to be a "wicked and scandalous accusation;" but some persons of note, considering the high character of Mr. Higginson and his good interest at court, "signified by their letters, that they thought the two Houses impolitic in the severity of their expressions, which, from being their friend, might, at least, cause him to become cool and indifferent." We know not the effect of the language of the General Court on the mind of Mr. Higginson, but we cannot suppose it alienated his affections from his native country. He lived but two years after, to serve the interests of his friends in New England. He died in London of the small pox, in November, 1708, aged 56 years. He had been for several years a member of the Corporation for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians of New England. Judge Sewall says, he had been acquainted with him for forty years, and seems to have had a high opinion of his character and public services. _Felt, Annals of Salem_, 350. _Hutchinson, Hist. Mass._ ii. 146, 147. _Gov. Dudley's MS. Answer to Mr. H.'s petition_ (the _original_, which escaped, in part, the fury of the mob, when they destroyed Gov. Hutchinson's house.)

AMMI RUHAMAH CORLET.

1670. AMMI RUHAMAH CORLET was son of the celebrated schoolmaster, Elijah Corlet, of whom an early poet sang,

"'Tis Corlet's pains, and Cheever's, we must own, That thou, New England, art not Scythia grown."

The father was educated at Lincoln College in the University of Oxford, and the son had all the advantages of early preparation, which could be derived from so distinguished a scholar. Having been graduated, he appears to have followed the business of his father, and in 1672 we find him at Plymouth, as the Master of the principal school in that place. After taking his second degree, or about that time, he was a Fellow of the College, in which office, it is presumed, he continued till his death, which occurred Feb. 1, 1679.

THOMAS CLARK.

1670. THOMAS CLARK, son of Jonas Clarke, of Cambridge, a surveyor of some note, was born, March 2, 1653. Rev. Mr. Allen, in his History of Chelmsford, says in relation to Mr. Clark, "We have neither church records, manuscript sermons, cotemporary notices, nor any other materials, from which a bare memento can be erected, excepting the following sentence in the 9th volume of the Hist. Coll. of Mass., page 195. 'Dorchester, 1704, Dec. 10. The death of Rev. Thomas Clark of Chelmsford was lamented in a sermon from Acts xx: 25, &c.' A great loss to all our towns, and especially to our frontier towns on that side of the country, who are greatly weakened with the loss of such a man." Besides the above extract from Mr. Allen, we find a fact in Dr. Cotton Mather's "Wonders of the Invisible World," which is creditable to the character of Mr. Clark. In the time of the witchcraft delusion, "there was at Chelmsford an afflicted person, that in her fits cried out against a woman, a neighbor, which Mr. Clark, the minister of the gospel there, could not believe to be guilty of such a crime, [witchcraft.] And it happened while that woman milked her cow, the cow struck her with one horn upon the forehead and fetched blood. And while she was bleeding, a spectre of her likeness appeared to the party afflicted, who pointing at the spectre, one struck at the place, and the afflicted said, _You have made her forehead bleed!_ Hereupon some went to the woman and found her forehead bloody, and acquainted Mr. Clark with it, who forthwith went to the woman and asked her, _How her forehead became bloody?_ and she answered, _By a blow of the cow's horn_, as abovesaid; whereby he was satisfied that it was a design of Satan to render an innocent person suspected." The conduct of Mr. Clark in this decision, made at the time when the spectral evidence was so generally received, probably prevented the infatuation from extending to Chelmsford. Happy would it have been had all ministers and magistrates exercised a like discrimination in rejecting all evidence against persons whose characters had been previously good. By the magistrates at Salem, the coincidence of the imaginary wound inflicted on the spectre, and the real wound from the cow's horn on the woman, would have been sufficient for the condemnation of the latter.

Mr. Clark was the minister of Chelmsford twenty-seven years, having been ordained, in 1677, as the successor of Rev. John Fiske. His labors were suddenly terminated, being seized, according to Judge Sewall's Diary, with a fever, on Friday the 2nd, which caused his death on the following Wednesday, December 7, 1704, in the 52nd year of his age.

Mr. Clark was twice married. The name of his first wife was Mary, who died Dec. 2, 1700. His second was Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. Samuel Whiting, whom he married, Oct. 2, 1702. His children, who lived to mature years, all by his first wife, were Lucy, who married Major John Tyng, father of Judge John Tyng, Sept. 19, 1700. She died April 25, 1708; Elizabeth, who married John Hancock of West Cambridge; Jonas, born Dec. 2, 1684, who resided on the farm, known by the name of the Cragie farm. There he kept a public house and ferry which have ever since borne his name. His house was the general resort for all fashionable people. He was honored with many civil and military offices; was a very popular man, and esteemed as a good Christian. He died April 8, 1770, aged 86. Thomas, the youngest son, was born Sept. 28, 1694.

GEORGE BURROUGH.

1670. GEORGE BURROUGH, or as the name is usually spelt, Burroughs, was, perhaps, a son of Jeremiah Burroughs, an inhabitant of Scituate, Ms., as early as 1647; but we have no certain information of his parentage or the time of his birth. He was admitted a member of the church in Roxbury, April 12, 1674, and his son George was baptized in the church there, Nov. 28, 1675. He became a preacher within a few years after he left College, and, as early as 1675 or 1676, he was the minister at Casco, in Maine, and was there when that town suffered the loss of so many lives by an attack of the Indians. The war which soon followed, drove Mr. Burroughs from Maine, and he returned to Massachusetts. In November, 1680, he was employed to preach at Salem Village, now Salem. He continued there probably until 1683, when, in May, Mr. Lawson was invited to preach to the people. Mr. Burroughs returned to his ministry in Casco the same year. A work entitled "European Settlements in America," in speaking of Mr. Burroughs as a victim of the Salem Witchcraft, says, "that he was a gentleman who had formerly been minister of Salem; but upon some of the religious disputes which divided the country he differed from his flock, and left them." Mather, in his "Wonders of the Invisible World," countenances this idea, saying "he had removed from Salem Village in ill terms some years before." Mr. Willis, in his History of Portland, says, "The first notice of his return to Casco is in June, 1683, when, at the request of the town, he relinquished 150 acres of land, which had been granted to him previous to the war. In their application to him for this purpose, they offered to give him 100 acres 'further off,' for the quantity relinquished, but Burroughs replied, 'as for the land already taken away, we were welcome to it, and, if 20 acres of the 50 above expressed would pleasure us, he freely gave it to us, not desiring any land anywhere else, nor any thing else in consideration thereof.'"

His disinterestedness places the character of Mr. Burroughs in an amiable light, which nothing can be found, during the whole course of his ministry at Casco, to impair. The large quantity of land which he relinquished was situated upon the Neck, which was then daily becoming more valuable, by the location of the town upon it. All this, excepting thirty acres, he freely returned, without accepting the consideration offered by the town.

The unhappy catastrophe which terminated the life and usefulness of Mr. Burroughs, has cast a shade upon many facts relating to him which would be interesting to us to know. We have no means of ascertaining whether he was regularly settled and had gathered a church at Casco or not. There is, however, sufficient authority for asserting, that he preached to the people there a longer period than any Congregational minister prior to Rev. Thomas Smith.

"There has nothing," says Mr. Willis, "survived Mr. Burroughs, either in his living or dying, that casts any reproach upon his character; and, although he died a victim of a fanaticism, as wicked and stupid as any which has been countenanced in civilized society, and which for a time prejudiced his memory, yet his character stands redeemed in a more enlightened age from any blemish."

Mr. Burroughs was driven from Casco by the Indians in 1690, and went to Wells, where he resided when he was accused of the crime of witchcraft. The indictment against him is given in the second volume of Hutchinson. He was examined on May 8, 1692, and committed to prison in Boston until his trial, which took place in August following. He was condemned on testimony, which nothing but the most highly wrought infatuation could for a moment have endured. His great strength and activity, for which he had been remarkable from his youth, were enlisted against him, as having been derived from the Prince of evil. It was in evidence, that he had lifted a barrel of molasses by putting his finger in the bunghole, and carried it round him; that he held a gun more than seven feet long at arm's length with one hand, and performed other surprising feats above the power of humanity. Some evidence was also exhibited against his moral character, in relation to his treatment of his wives and children, but we can attach but very little credit to it considering the great perversion of truth at that time.

He was executed August 19, 1692, on Gallows hill, in Salem. At his execution, he made a most solemn, pertinent, and affecting prayer, which drew the remark from Cotton Mather, who was present, as I was informed by the late Dr. Bentley, "that no man could have made such a prayer unless the devil helped him." He concluded his dying petition with the Lord's prayer, probably to convince some of the spectators of his innocence; for it was the received opinion, that a true witch or wizard could not say the Lord's prayer without blundering.

The age of Mr. Burroughs is represented by Dr. Bentley, in his Hist. of Salem, published in 1 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc. vi., to have been _about fourscore years_; but that writer undoubtedly transferred the age of Giles Cory, who wanted only three years of being _fourscore_, to Mr. Burroughs. It can by no means be admitted, that Mr. B. was nearly 60 years old when he graduated, which must have been the case if he was 80 years old at the time he was executed.

Mr. Burroughs had been three times married. The names of his first and second wives are not known. His last was daughter of Thomas Ruck, and she survived him. His children were George, baptized 1675, who lived in Ipswich; Jeremiah, who was insane; Rebecca, who married a Tolman of Boston; Hannah, who married a Fox, and lived near Barton's Point in Boston; Elizabeth, who married Peter Thomas of Boston, the ancestor of the late Isaiah Thomas, LL. D., of Worcester. George and Thomas Burroughs of Newburyport, the former a tanner, conveyed to N. Winslow, in 1774, the right of George Burroughs in proprietary land in Falmouth. These were probably descendants of the minister.--_Hutchinson, Hist. Mass._ ii. 57-59. _Felt, Annals of Salem._ _Neal's Hist. N. E._ ii. 130-134, 144. _Willis, Hist. Portland in Coll. Maine Hist. Soc._ i. 144, 174-176. _Upham, Lectures on Witchcraft._ _Allen, Biog. Dict. art. Burroughs._

ISAAC FOSTER.

1671. ISAAC FOSTER, according to the late William Winthrop, Esq., was from Charlestown, and might have been brother of John Foster, who was graduated in 1667; but this is uncertain, as the latter was from Dorchester. [We find him to have been admitted freeman in 1679, about which time, he probably went to Connecticut.] Mr. Winthrop may have considered him as belonging to Charlestown from the circumstance of his being called to preach there. When a committee of the town of Charlestown was about selecting a successor to Rev. Thomas Shepard, in 1678, the opinions of Rev. John Sherman, Rev. Increase Mather, and Rev. President Oakes were requested as to the "fittest person" for their minister, and these gentlemen recommended Mr. Foster as "the fittest and suitablest person" for that place. While remaining at Charlestown he was admitted freeman, in 1679. Soon after this, he went to Connecticut and preached in Hartford, and, from his name being printed in italics, it has been inferred that he was settled there, but this does not clearly appear from Dr. Trumbull.

SAMUEL PHIPPS.

1671. SAMUEL PHIPPS, son, it is presumed, of Solomon Phipps of Charlestown, who died in that town, July 25, 1671, was born about the year 1649. The most of his life was passed in civil offices, having been Register of Deeds for the county of Middlesex, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the same county, and representative for the town of Charlestown, where he resided. To the last office he was elected in 1692, being one of the first representatives under the charter of William and Mary. In 1700, he was one of the Commissioners of claims for receiving and examining all titles and claims to land in the eastern province of Maine. Mr. Phipps died in August, 1725, aged 76, and was buried in the tomb of his son-in-law Lemmon. His wife was Mary Danforth, daughter of Dep. Gov. Thomas Danforth. She was born July 28, 1650. [We find the name of Danforth associated with Phipps in the class of 1781.] Thomas Phipps, who graduated in 1695, was his son.

(To be continued.)

COMPLETE LIST OF CONGREGATIONAL MINISTERS IN THE EASTERN PART OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE, FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME; TOGETHER WITH NOTES ON THE MINISTERS AND CHURCHES.

BY THE REV. JONATHAN FRENCH OF NORTH HAMPTON.

_Towns._ | _Ministers._ | _Native | _Born._ | _Graduated._ | | Place._ | | ---------+-------------------+--------------+--------------+------------- Brentwood|Nathaniel Trask |Lexington, Ms.|Mar. 18, 1723|Harv. 1742 | | | | |Ebenezer Flint |Methuen, Ms. | 1769|Dart. 1798 |Chester Colton |Hartford, Ct. | |Yale, 1804 |Luke A. Spofford |Jaffrey |Nov. 5, 1785|Mid. 1815 |Jonathan Ward, s.s.|Plymouth |Aug. 24, 1769|Dart. 1792 |Francis Welch |Hampstead | |Union, 1832 |John Gunnison |Hampton |April 15, 1798|---- ---- |James Boutwell |Lyndeborough |Dart. 1836|Nov. 4, 1841 Deerfield|Timothy Upham |Malden, Ms. |Dec. 20, 1748|Harv. 1768 |Nathaniel Wells |Wells, Me. |July 13, 1774|Dart. 1795 |Ephraim N. Hidden |Tamworth |Aug. 28, 1811|Dart. 1836 Epping |Robert Cutler |Cambridge, Ms.| 1718|Harv. 1741 |Josiah Stearns |Billerica, Ms.|Jan. 20, 1732|Harv. 1751 |Peter Holt |Andover, Ms. |June 12, 1763|Harv. 1790 |Forest Jefferds |Wells, Me. |Aug. 4, 1794| |Calvin Chapman |Bethel, Me. |Nov. 13, 1814|Bowd. 1839 |Enoch Corser, s.s. |Boscawen |Jan. 2, 1787|Mid. 1811