Part 1

VOL. I. APRIL, 1847. NO. 2.

THE NEW ENGLAND Historical & Genealogical Register:

PUBLISHED QUARTERLY,

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC, GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY.

REV. WILLIAM COGSWELL, D. D., EDITOR.

BOSTON: SAMUEL G. DRAKE, PUBLISHER. NO. 56 CORNHILL. 1847.

COOLIDGE & WILEY Printers, 12 Water Street.

CONTENTS.

Page.

Memoir of Hon. Samuel Sewall, 105

Letter of Chief-Justice Sewall, 111

Col. Gookin's Letter, 113

History of the Pilgrim Society, 114

Passengers of the Golden Hind, 126

Passengers of the Speedwell, 132

Examination of the Quakers, 132

Complete List of the Ministers of Boston, 134

First Settlers of New England, 137

Capital Offences in Massachusetts, 139

Juridical Statistics of Merrimack County, N. H., 140

Reasons for Genealogical Investigations, 147

Our Ancestors, 149

Congregational Ministers and Churches in Rockingham County, N. H., 150

Proprietors of New Haven, Ct., 157

Memoir of Enoch Parsons, Esq., 159

Philosophy of Life, 163

Genealogy of the Cotton Family, 164

Genealogy of the Butler Family, 167

Genealogy of the Minot Family, 171

Biographical Notices of Deceased Physicians in Massachusetts, 178

Sketches of Alumni at the different Colleges in New England, 182

Dr. Watts's Letter of Condolence to Madam Sewall, 191

List of Ancient Names in Boston and Vicinity, 193

Family Increase, 196

Instances of Longevity, 196

Marriages and Deaths, 197

Notices of New Publications, 199

The Honble Samuel Sewall Esqir.}

Late Chief Justice of His Maj's Province of Massachusetts Bay in N.E. And Judge of Probate for the County of Suffolk.

Æ. 77. 1728.

Auris, mens, oculus, manus, os, pes; munere fungi, dum Pergunt Praestat discere velle mori.

NEW ENGLAND

HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER.

VOL. I. APRIL, 1847. NO. 2.

MEMOIR OF HON. SAMUEL SEWALL,

CHIEF-JUSTICE OF THE PROVINCE OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

Samuel Sewall, son of Henry and Jane Sewall, was born at Bishop Stoke, in Hampshire, England, March 28, 1652. The family to which he belonged was ancient and respectable. His great-grandfather was a linen-draper of the city of Coventry, "a prudent man, who acquired a great estate," and was more "than once chosen mayor of the city." His grandfather, Henry Sewall, born in 1576, came to New England, lived in Newbury and Rowley, Ms., and died about 1655. Samuel, the subject of this memoir, was taught to read at Baddesly; and was afterwards sent to a grammar-school at Rumsey, of which a Mr. Figes was master. In 1661, he came to New England with his mother, his father having removed here previously. He was immediately put under the instruction of Rev. Thomas Parker of Newbury, with whom he continued six years, till his entrance into Harvard College, in 1667. His first degree he received under President Chauncy, in 1671.

It was his original intention to enter the Christian ministry; and with a view to it, he studied divinity, commenced preaching, and received encouragement to go to Woodbridge, N. J., and settle as a minister among that people, who went from Newbury, where his father lived. But his thoughts were probably diverted from the sacred profession by his marriage connection, in consequence of which he came into possession of great wealth, and the means of influence and usefulness in public life. He was married, Feb. 28, 1676, by Gov. Bradstreet, to Hannah Hull, daughter and sole heir of John Hull, Esq., a goldsmith and highly respectable merchant in Boston, master of the mint for many years, and one of the Assistants in 1683, the year in which he died.

Mr. Sewall was chosen one of the Assistants in 1684, '5, and '6, when the Colony charter was annulled, and the ancient government was superseded by a President and Council. In 1688, during the oppressive administration of Sir Edmund Andros, when the titles of many to their lands, and of his among others, were questioned and in danger of being forfeited, he made a voyage to England. But on his return, in 1689, Sir Edmund having withdrawn from the country, and the old Charter government having been revived, he resumed his seat at the Board of Assistants. In the Provincial charter, granted in 1692, he was nominated to be of the Council; and afterwards, without interruption, was annually chosen and sat at the Board until 1725, when being elected, he declined serving; having survived more than seven years all who were appointed with him to that office in the charter.

As one of the Assistants under the Colonial charter, Mr. Sewall was also _ex officio_ a Judge of the Supreme Court. Soon after the arrival of the Provincial charter in May, 1692, but before any courts of justice had been established and organized under it, he was appointed one of the Judges of a Special Court of Oyer and Terminer for the trial of persons charged with witchcraft, William Stoughton, Esq., being Chief-Justice. It is well known, that at that time there was a general persuasion, not only in New England, but in the mother country, and throughout Europe, of the reality of those impious compacts with Satan, into which persons guilty of witchcraft were supposed to have entered, and of that diabolical power or influence, by which they were believed to act.[A] This court especially was under the delusion; and consequently _nineteen_ persons of the many who were indicted and arraigned before it at Salem for this crime, were, at different times, tried, condemned, and, in pursuance of its sentence, executed. In this unhappy affair, the Judges proceeded with great caution, asking advice of some of the wisest and best men in the community, and having the countenance of rulers, ministers, and in general of all classes of men. But the delusion was soon made manifest. Judge Sewall in particular was convinced of his error, in the part which he had taken in the court of trials; and often discovered deep regret and humiliation on account of it. He notes particularly in his Journal of Dec. 24, 1696, on occasion of his son Samuel's reciting to him in Latin a portion of Matthew xii, "the 7th verse did awfully bring to mind the Salem Tragedie." And at a public Fast, Jan. 14, 1697, in the order for which there was some reference to the doings of that court of Oyer and Terminer, and when he was under much affliction on account of the death of an infant daughter and other troubles and crosses, he presented to Rev. Samuel Willard, his minister, a "bill," which was read in the worshipping assembly; (he standing up while Mr. Willard read it, and bowing in token of assent when he had done;) in which, while with much delicacy he appears to have studiously avoided saying any thing that might seem to implicate the other judges, he acknowledged his own guilt in the decisions of that court, asked the pardon of it both of God and man, and deprecated the Divine judgments on account of his sin or the sin of any other person, upon himself, his family, or the land.

But though he thus condemned himself for the part he had acted in the trials at Salem, yet the public confidence did not appear to have been shaken, either in him or the other Judges. For on the first appointment of Judges of the Superior Court, under the Provincial charter, Dec. 6, 1692, Mr. Sewall was chosen one. The others were William Stoughton, Chief-Justice, Thomas Danforth, John Richards, and Wait-Still Winthrop, each of whom, excepting Mr. Danforth, had been members of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. April 16, 1718, he was appointed to succeed Wait-Still Winthrop as Chief-Justice of the Superior Court. And although from various causes there were numerous changes in this court in his day, yet he still retained his seat on the bench until 1728; when, in consequence of his advanced years and increasing infirmities, he resigned it; having survived more than ten years all those who had been members of that court from the beginning, and having officiated in this capacity under the Colonial and Provincial governments upwards of forty years. At the same time, he also resigned his office of Judge of Probate for the county of Suffolk, to which he had been appointed by Lieut. Gov. Tailer, in 1715.

Chief-Justice Sewall was a man of distinguished piety. He feared God from his youth, and apparently made it the main end of his life to glorify the God of his fathers, by walking humbly and unblamably before him. He was eminently a devout man; constant and exemplary in his attendance on the worship of God, both in his family, and in the public assembly. He was a most diligent hearer of the preaching of the gospel. This is proved by his numerous manuscript volumes which still remain, containing the texts and general outlines of sermons and lectures, which he heard both at home and abroad. He would often devote a whole day to fasting, reading the scriptures, and communion with God in secret. On such occasions, he would be abundant in prayer not only for himself, family, and near connections, but would also frequently pour out his enlarged desires in copious intercessions, (minutely enumerated in many instances in his Journal,) on behalf of the college; the civil and religious interests of the town, province, and land in which he dwelt; the aboriginal inhabitants and African slaves; the destruction of papal tyranny, superstition, and usurpation; the universal extension and establishment of Christ's kingdom.

He was a diligent student of the Scriptures, reading them in their inspired originals; and was prayerfully solicitous not only to receive and obey their instructions, but also, that the faith, worship, and practice of the whole church of God should be in exact conformity with them. The prophetic portions of the sacred volume he read with an inquisitive mind, and held some opinions respecting the events predicted in them, which would be considered singular at the present day. Upon these and kindred topics, he took a deep interest in conversing and corresponding with the Boston clergy generally, and with such men abroad as the Rev. Messrs. Higginson and Noyes of Salem, Wise of Ipswich, Torrey of Weymouth, Walter of Roxbury, and Stoddard of Northampton; President Wadsworth of Harvard College, and Rector Williams of Yale College; Gov. Saltonstall of Connecticut and Gov. Burnet of New York, afterwards of Massachusetts; with most of whom, remnants of his correspondence on these subjects are still in existence. In 1697 he published a work which he dedicated to Sir William Ashurst and Lieut. Gov. Stoughton, called "Phænomena Quædam Apocalyptica," of which there was a second edition in 1727; and in 1713 another work styled "Proposals touching the Accomplishment of Prophecies." Both of these productions of his pen were apparently much read in his time, though they have now become obsolete.

Judge Sewall was warmly attached to that system of faith, and to those forms of worship and government in the church, which were embraced and practised by the Puritan settlers of New England. Occasionally he employed his pen in their illustration and defence. And he was strongly opposed to any innovations in doctrine, as well as jealous of any ceremonies or usages in divine service, that savored of human invention. Still he abhorred persecution, and exercised candor towards those who differed from him in their modes of worship or discipline.

He possessed an ardent desire for the universal spread and obedient reception of the gospel among mankind. He became particularly interested in the spiritual condition of the aboriginal natives, whom he believed, with the apostle Eliot, to be descendants of the ten captive tribes of Israel. To encourage the praying Indians at Natick, he occasionally met with them in their worship, and frequently gave them pecuniary assistance. To those at Sandwich, he contributed largely for building a meeting-house. And from Mather's Magnalia it would seem, that for some Indian congregation he erected a house of worship entirely at his own expense. Hence those Indians "prayed for him under this character, 'He loveth our nation for he hath built us a synagogue.'"

His zeal on behalf of the Indian natives being known, he was chosen in 1699 one of the Commissioners of the Society in England for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England and parts adjacent; and shortly after, their Secretary and Treasurer.

His sympathy for the enslaved Africans was very great. In 1700 he published a tract, entitled "The Selling of Joseph," in which he advocated their rights. In writing to Judge Addington Davenport, just before he sat on the trial of Samuel Smith of Sandwich, for killing his negro, he uses the following language: "The poorest boys and girls in this Province, such as are of the lowest condition, whether they be English, or Indians, or Ethiopians; they have the same right to religion and life, that the richest heirs have. And they who go about to deprive them of this right attempt the bombarding of Heaven; and the shells they throw will fall down on their own heads."

John Saffin, a judge of the same court with Judge Sewall, and a slave-holder, printed an answer to "The Selling of Joseph," to which Judge Sewall alludes in a letter to Rev. John Higginson of Salem, then the oldest minister in the Province, and one of the most venerated men in New England. The letter is dated April 13, 1706, and the allusion is, "Amidst the frowns and hard words I have met with for this undertaking, it is no small refreshment to me, that I have the learned, reverend and aged Mr. Higginson for my abettor. By the interposition of this breast work, I hope to carry on and manage this enterprise with safety and success." In a letter to Henry Newman at London, afterwards agent for the Province of New Hampshire, which accompanied a copy of "The Selling of Joseph," he desires him to do something "towards taking away this wicked practice of Slavery," expressing the opinion that there would "be no progress in gospelling" until slavery was abolished.

Judge Sewall was a proficient in classical learning, and a friend of learning and learned men. Such was the confidence in his wisdom and discernment by the founders and Trustees of Yale College, that he was employed by them in 1701, together with Hon. Isaac Addington, to draw up statutes for the regulation of their infant seminary. And of Harvard College, of which he was sometimes a Resident Fellow, and afterwards, as a member of the Council, one of the Board of Overseers for many years, he was a warm and steady friend and liberal benefactor.

In his judicial capacity, he was a person of distinguished integrity and uprightness; administering the laws of the land with justice and impartiality, mingled with clemency; a terror to evil doers, and a praise to such as did well.

He was also a person of eminent humility and meekness, benevolence and charity. His house was a seat of hospitality, ever open to all good men. The learned found him an intelligent companion; the ministers of the gospel a liberal patron and friend. He visited the fatherless and widow in their affliction, and gave much alms to the needy, especially to indigent ministers or their bereaved families. He distributed in the course of the last year of his life four hundred copies of such publications as Mitchel on the Glory of Heaven, Walter on the Holiness of Heaven, Lee's Triumph of Mercy, Mather's Mighty Saviour, Mather's Glory of Christ, Higginson's Legacy of Peace, Loring on the New Birth, The Strait Gate, Faith and Fervency in Prayer, Gibbs's Sermon to Little Children, as is particularly noted in his Almanac for that year. His last illness was of about a month's continuance. He died in a triumphant hope of immortal life and glory, on the morning of Jan. 1, 1729-30, in the seventy-eighth year of his age.

Judge Sewall was thrice married; 1. to Hannah Hull, daughter of Hon. John Hull; 2. to widow Abigail Tilley; and 3. to widow Mary Gibbs, who survived him. He had children by his first wife only; namely, seven sons and seven daughters. Of these fourteen children only six lived to mature age, and only three survived him. We purposely omit in this article a further account of the family, as we intend to give in some future No. of this work, a full Genealogical Memoir of the Sewall Family.

Judge Sewall left numerous volumes of manuscripts, indicative of his industry and attentive observation. Among them, beside several small volumes of a miscellaneous character, are,

1. A Journal of occurrences, &c., from Dec., 1673, to July, 1677. This was destroyed by a fire at Boston, in 1824; but a copy of it had been previously taken, which yet remains.

2. Three volumes of Journals, from Feb., 1684-5, to Oct., 1729, within three months of his death. Also, a small volume, being a Journal of his voyage to England, &c., in 1688.

3. A Letter Book, containing copies of his letters to his correspondents, and in some instances, of theirs to him; from Feb., 1685-6, to Sept., 1729.

4. A Common Place Book in quarto, containing extracts from authors in English and Latin on various subjects which he had read.

5. Five volumes in 12mo, containing sketches of sermons and lectures, which he heard at home and abroad.

For most of the above facts, we are indebted to the Rev. Samuel Sewall of Burlington, and the late John Farmer, Esq., of Concord, N. H.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Lord Chief-Justice Hale was of this persuasion, and pronounced sentence of death upon persons supposed to be in league with Satan. A belief in witchcraft so prevailed in England as to hold in bondage the best of men. Proof of this is found in the 72nd canon made by the clerical convocation in 1603, and in the laws enacted against the crime itself. Isaac Ambrose, in his Treatise on the New Birth, directs persons seeking salvation to inquire, while searching out their sins, whether they have not sometimes been guilty of witchcraft. The fact of witchcraft was admitted by Lord Bacon and Mr. Addison. Dr. Johnson more than inclined to the same side of the question; and Sir William Blackstone quite frowns on opposers of this doctrine. These facts are mentioned not to justify Mr. Sewall and his associates on the bench; but to show the injustice of selecting them as peculiarly guilty. The severe charges which have been brought against the people of Salem, Gov. Winthrop, Dr. Cotton Mather, and others of this country, lie equally against the most learned, pious, and eminent of mankind. This belief was the _mania_ of the day.

LETTER OF THE FIRST CHIEF-JUSTICE SEWALL TO HIS SON, SAMUEL SEWALL, ESQ., OF BROOKLINE, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS FAMILY.

_Boston, April 21, 1720._

DEAR SON,

You have often desired, that I would give you some account of the family of which you are. And altho' I am much less ab'e to doe any thing of this nature now when I have been left of my dear Parents very near Twenty years, yet considering the longer I stay, the more unfit I shall be, take what I have to say as follows;

Mr. Henry Sewall, my great Grandfather, was a Linen Draper in the City of Coventry in Great Britain. He acquired a great Estate, was a prudent Man, and was more than once chosen Mayor of the City.

Mr. Henry Sewall, my Grandfather, was his eldest Son, who out of dislike to the English Hierarchy sent over his only Son, my Father, Mr. Henry Sewall, to New England in the year 1634, with Net Cattel and Provisions sutable for a new Plantation. Mr. Cotton would have had my Father settle at Boston; but in regard of his Cattel he chose to goe to Newbury, whither my Grandfather soon followed him. Where also my Grandfather Mr. Stephen Dummer and Alice his wife likewise dwelled under the Ministry of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Parker and Mr. James Noyes.

On the 25th March, 1646, Richard Saltonstall, Esq. Grandfather of Gurdon Saltonstall, Esq. now Governour of Connecticut, joined together in Marriage my father Mr. Henry Sewall, and my Mother Mrs. Jane Dummer, eldest Child of Mr. Stephen Dummer aforesaid, and Alice his wife: my Father being then about 32, and my Mother about 19 years of age.

But the Climat being not agreeable to my Grandfather and Grandmother Dummer, (whose Maiden name was Archer) they returned to England the Winter following, and my Father with them, and dwelt awhile at Warwick, and afterwards removed to Hampshire. My Sister Hannah Tappin, their eldest Child, was born at Tunworth May 10th, 1649. Baptised by Mr. Haskins. I was born at Bishop Stoke, March 28, 1652; so that the light of the Lord's Day was the first light that my Eyes saw, being born a little before day-break. I was baptised by Mr. Rashly, (sometime Member of the Old Church in Boston) in Stoke Church May 4th. 1652. Mr. Rashly first preached a Sermon, and then baptised me. After which an entertainment was made for him and many more. Some months after, my Father removed to Badesly, where my Brother John Sewall was born Oct. 10, 1654, and was baptised in my Father's House Nov. 22 by Mr. Henry Cox, Minister of Bishop Stoke. My brother Stephen Sewall was born at Badesly Aug. 19th, 1657, baptised in my father's house by the said Mr. Cox. * * * * * My Father had made one Voyage to New England to visit my Grandfather Mr. Henry Sewall. And in the year 1659, he went thither again; his rents at Newbury coming to very little when remitted to England. In my father's absence, October 25, 1659, my Sister Jane Gerrish was born at Badesly and was baptised by Mr. Cox at Bishop Stoke in the house of Mr. Boys.

At this Badesly, by the merciful goodness of God, I was taught to read English. And afterwards was educated in the Grammar School at Rumsey of which Mr. Figes was Master.