← catalogue

Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II

by Charles Wentworth Upham · English · Gutenberg #17845 · 1,767,521 chars · public domain (US)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II
    
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II

Author: Charles Wentworth Upham


        
Release date: February 24, 2006 [eBook #17845]
                Most recently updated: October 15, 2021

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17845

Credits: Linda Cantoni and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SALEM WITCHCRAFT, VOLUMES I AND II ***




AMERICAN CLASSICS




SALEM WITCHCRAFT


_With an Account of Salem Village
and
A History of Opinions on
Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects_


CHARLES W. UPHAM

_Volumes I and II_

Charles W. Upham

Charles W. Upham

FREDERICK UNGAR PUBLISHING CO.

_New York_

[Transcriber's Note: Originally published 1867]

_Fourth Printing, 1969_
_Printed in the United States of America_
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 59-10887


CONTENTS.

VOLUME I.

Page
Preface     vii to xiv
Map and Illustrations     xv to xvii
Index to the Map     xix to xxvii
General Index     xxix to xl
Introduction     1 to 12
Part First.—Salem Village 13 to 322
Part Second.—Witchcraft     325 to 469

VOLUME II.

Part Third.—Witchcraft at Salem Village     1 to 444
Supplement     447 to 522
Appendix     525 to 553

Townsend Bishop House

THE TOWNSEND BISHOP HOUSE.—Vol. I., 70, 96; Vol. II., 294, 467.

DEDICATED

TO

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES,

PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY IN

HARVARD UNIVERSITY.




VOLUME I.

[i.vii]
PREFACE.


THIS work was originally constructed, and in previous editions
appeared, in the form of Lectures. The only vestiges of that form, in
its present shape, are certain modes of expression. The language
retains the character of an address by a speaker to his hearers; being
more familiar, direct, and personal than is ordinarily employed in the
relations of an author to a reader.

The former work was prepared under circumstances which prevented a
thorough investigation of the subject. Leisure and freedom from
professional duties have now enabled me to prosecute the researches
necessary to do justice to it.

The "Lectures on Witchcraft," published in 1831, have long been out of
print. Although frequently importuned to prepare a new edition, I was
unwilling to issue again what I had discovered to be an insufficient
presentation of the subject. In the mean time,[i.viii] it constantly
became more and more apparent, that much injury was resulting from the
want of a complete and correct view of a transaction so often referred
to, and universally misunderstood.

The first volume of this work contains what seems to me necessary to
prepare the reader for the second, in which the incidents and
circumstances connected with the witchcraft prosecutions in 1692, at
the village and in the town of Salem, are reduced to chronological
order, and exhibited in detail.

As showing how far the beliefs of the understanding, the perceptions of
the senses, and the delusions of the imagination, may be confounded,
the subject belongs not only to theology and moral and political
science, but to physiology, in its original and proper use, as
embracing our whole nature; and the facts presented may help to
conclusions relating to what is justly regarded as the great mystery of
our being,—the connection between the body and the mind.

It is unnecessary to mention the various well-known works of authority
and illustration, as they are referred to in the text. But I cannot
refrain from bearing my grateful testimony to the value of the
"Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society" and the
"New-England Historical and Genealogical Register." The "Historical
Collections" and the "Proceedings" of the Essex Institute have afforded
me inestimable assistance. Such works as these are providing the
materials[i.ix] that will secure to our country a history such as no
other nation can have. Our first age will not be shrouded in darkness
and consigned to fable, but, in all its details, brought within the
realm of knowledge. Every person who desires to preserve the memory of
his ancestors, and appreciate the elements of our institutions and
civilization, ought to place these works, and others like them, on the
shelves of his library, in an unbroken and continuing series. A debt of
gratitude is due to the earnest, laborious, and disinterested students
who are contributing the results of their explorations to the treasures
of antiquarian and genealogical learning which accumulate in these
publications.

A source of investigation, especially indispensable in the preparation
of the present work, deserves to be particularly noticed. In 1647, the
General Court of Massachusetts provided by law for the taking of
testimony, in all cases, under certain regulations, in the form of
depositions, to be preserved _in perpetuam rei memoriam_. The evidence
of witnesses was prepared in writing, beforehand, to be used at the
trials; they to be present at the time, to meet further inquiry, if
living within ten miles, and not unavoidably prevented. In a capital
case, the presence of the witness, as well as his written testimony,
was absolutely required. These depositions were lodged in the files,
and constitute the most valuable materials of history. In our[i.x] day,
the statements of witnesses ordinarily live only in the memory of
persons present at the trials, and are soon lost in oblivion. In cases
attracting unusual interest, stenographers are employed to furnish them
to the press. There were no newspaper reporters or "court calendars" in
the early colonial times; but these depositions more than supply their
place. Given in, as they were, in all sorts of cases,—of wills,
contracts, boundaries and encroachments, assault and battery, slander,
larceny, &c., they let us into the interior, the very inmost recesses,
of life and society in all their forms. The extent to which, by the aid
of William P. Upham, Esq., of Salem, I have drawn from this source is
apparent at every page.

A word is necessary to be said relating to the originals of the
documents that belong to the witchcraft proceedings. They were probably
all deposited at the time in the clerk's office of Essex County. A
considerable number of them were, from some cause, transferred to the
State archives, and have been carefully preserved. Of the residue, a
very large proportion have been abstracted from time to time by
unauthorized hands, and many, it is feared, destroyed or otherwise
lost. Two very valuable parcels have found their way into the libraries
of the Massachusetts Historical Society and the Essex Institute, where
they are faithfully secured. A few others have come to light among
papers in the possession of individuals. It is to be[i.xi] hoped, that,
if any more should be found, they will be lodged in some public
institution; so that, if thought best, they may all be collected,
arranged, and placed beyond wear, tear, and loss, in the perpetual
custody of type.

The papers remaining in the office of the clerk of this county were
transcribed into a volume a few years since; the copyist supplying,
conjecturally, headings to the several documents. Although he executed
his work in an elegant manner, and succeeded in giving correctly many
documents hard to be deciphered, such errors, owing to the condition of
the papers, occurred in arranging them, transcribing their contents,
and framing their headings, that I have had to resort to the originals
throughout.

As the object of this work is to give to the reader of the present day
an intelligible view of a transaction of the past, and not to
illustrate any thing else than the said transaction, no attempt has
been made to preserve the orthography of that period. Most of the
original papers were written without any expectation that they would
ever be submitted to inspection in print; many of them by plain country
people, without skill in the structure of sentences, or regard to
spelling; which, in truth, was then quite unsettled. It is no uncommon
thing to find the same word spelled differently in the same document.
It is very questionable whether it is expedient or just to
perpetuate[i.xii] blemishes, often the result of haste or carelessness,
arising from mere inadvertence. In some instances, where the interest
of the passage seemed to require it, the antique style is preserved. In
no case is a word changed or the structure altered; but the now
received spelling is generally adopted, and the punctuation made to
express the original sense.

It is indeed necessary, in what claims to be an exact reprint of an old
work, to imitate its orthography precisely, even at the expense of
difficulty in apprehending at once the meaning, and of perpetuating
errors of carelessness and ignorance. Such modern reproductions are
valuable, and have an interest of their own. They deserve the favor of
all who desire to examine critically, and in the most authentic form,
publications of which the original copies are rare, and the earliest
editions exhausted. The enlightened and enterprising publishers who are
thus providing facsimiles of old books and important documents of past
ages ought to be encouraged and rewarded by a generous public. But the
present work does not belong to that class, or make any pretensions of
that kind.

My thanks are especially due to the Hon. Asahel Huntington, clerk of
the courts in Essex County, for his kindness in facilitating the use of
the materials in his office; to the Hon. Oliver Warner, secretary of
the Commonwealth, and the officers of his department; and to Stephen N.
Gifford, Esq., clerk of the Senate.[i.xiii]

David Pulsifer, Esq., in the office of the Secretary of State, is well
known for his pre-eminent skill and experience in mastering the
chirography of the primitive colonial times, and elucidating its
peculiarities. He has been unwearied in his labors, and most earnest in
his efforts, to serve me.

Mr. Samuel G. Drake, who has so largely illustrated our history and
explored its sources, has, by spontaneous and considerate acts of
courtesy rendered me important help. Similar expressions of friendly
interest by Mr. William B. Towne, of Brookline, Mass.; Hon. J. Hammond
Trumbull, of Hartford, Conn.; and George H. Moore, Esq., of New-York
City,—are gratefully acknowledged.

Samuel P. Fowler, Esq., of Danvers, generously placed at my disposal
his valuable stores of knowledge relating to the subject. The officers
in charge of the original papers, in the Historical Society and the
Essex Institute, have allowed me to examine and use them.

I cordially express my acknowledgments to the Hon. Benjamin F. Browne,
of Salem, who, retired from public life and the cares of business, is
giving the leisure of his venerable years to the collection,
preservation, and liberal contribution of an unequalled amount of
knowledge respecting our local antiquities.

Charles W. Palfray, Esq., while attending the General Court as a
Representative of Salem, in 1866,[i.xiv] gave me the great benefit of
his explorations among the records and papers in the State House.

Mr. Moses Prince, of Danvers Centre, is an embodiment of the history,
genealogy, and traditions of that locality, and has taken an active and
zealous interest in the preparation of this work. Andrew Nichols, Esq.,
of Danvers, and the family of the late Colonel Perley Putnam, of Salem,
also rendered me much aid.

I am indebted to Charles Davis, Esq., of Beverly, for the use of the
record-book of the church, composed of "the brethren and sisters
belonging to Bass River," gathered Sept. 20, 1667, now the First Church
of Beverly; and to James Hill, Esq., town-clerk of that place, for
access to the records in his charge.

To Gilbert Tapley, Esq., chairman of the committee of the parish, and
Augustus Mudge, Esq., its clerk, and to the Rev. Mr. Rice, pastor of
the church, at Danvers Centre, I cannot adequately express my
obligations. Without the free use of the original parish and church
record-books with which they intrusted me, and having them constantly
at hand, I could not have begun adequately to tell the story of Salem
Village or the Witchcraft Delusion.

C.W.U.




[i.xv]
MAP AND ILLUSTRATIONS.


The map, based upon various local maps and the Coast-Survey chart, is
the result of much personal exploration and perambulation of the
ground. It may claim to be a very exact representation of many of the
original grants and farms. The locality of the houses, mills, and
bridges, in 1692, is given in some cases precisely, and in all with
near approximation. The task has been a difficult one. An original plot
of Governor Endicott's Ipswich River grant, No. III., is in the State
House, and one of the Swinnerton grant, No. XIX., in the Salem
town-books. Neither of them, however, affords elements by which to
establish its exact location. A plot of the Townsend Bishop grant, No.
XX., as its boundaries were finally determined, is in the State House,
and another of the same in the court-files of the county. This gives
one fixed and known point, Hadlock's Bridge, from which, following the
lines by points of compass and distances, as indicated on the plot and
described in the Colonial Records, all the sides of the grant are laid
out with accuracy, and its place on the map determined with absolute
certainty. A very perfect and scientifically executed plan of a part of
the boundary between Salem and Reading in[i.xvi] 1666 is in the State
House; of which an exact tracing was kindly furnished by Mr. H.J.
Coolidge, of the Secretary of State's office. It gives two of the sides
of the Governor Bellingham grant, No. IV., in such a manner as to
afford the means of projecting it with entire certainty, and fixing its
locality. There are no other plots of original or early grants or farms
on this territory; but, starting from the Bishop and Bellingham grants
thus laid out in their respective places, by a collation of deeds of
conveyance and partition on record, with the aid of portions of the
primitive stone-walls still remaining, and measurements resting on
permanent objects, the entire region has been reduced to a demarkation
comprehending the whole area. The locations of then-existing roads have
been obtained from the returns of laying-out committees, and other
evidence in the records and files. The construction of the map, in all
its details, is the result of the researches and labors of W.P. Upham.

The death-warrant is a photograph by E.R. Perkins, of Salem. The
original, among the papers on file in the office of the clerk of the
courts of Essex County, having always been regarded as a great
curiosity, has been subjected to constant handling, and become much
obscured by dilapidation. The letters, and in some instances entire
words, at the end of the lines, are worn off. To preserve it, if
possible, from further injury, it has been pasted on cloth. Owing to
this circumstance, and the yellowish hue to which the paper has faded,
it does not take favorably by photograph; but the exactness of
imitation, which can only thus be obtained with absolute certainty, is
more important than any other consideration. Only so much as contains
the body of the warrant, the sheriff's return, and the seal, are
given.[i.xvii] The tattered margins are avoided, as they reveal the
cloth, and impair the antique aspect of the document. The original is
slowly disintegrating and wasting away, notwithstanding the efforts to
preserve it; and its appearance, as seen to-day, can only be
perpetuated in photograph. The warrant is reduced about one-third, and
the return one-half.

The Townsend Bishop house and the outlines of Witch Hill are from
sketches by O.W.H. Upham. The English house is from a drawing made on
the spot by J.R. Penniman of Boston, in 1822, a few years before its
demolition, for the use of which I am indebted to James Kimball, Esq.,
of Salem. The view of Salem Village and of the Jacobs' house are
reduced, by O.W.H. Upham, from photographs by E.R. Perkins.

The map and other engravings, including the autographs, were all
delineated by O.W.H. Upham.

[Transcriber's Note: The map was missing from the volume used to
prepare this e-text. The map image below was reproduced from a scan at
the University of Virginia's Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and
Transcription Project,
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/maps.]



Salem map


Map of Salem Village.
1692.

View large map (566K)




[i.xix]
INDEX TO THE MAP.


DWELLINGS IN 1692.

[The Map shows all the houses standing in 1692 within the bounds of
Salem Village; some others in the vicinity are also given. The houses
are numbered on the Map with Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3, &c., beginning
at the top, and proceeding from left to right. In the following list,
against each number, is given the name of the occupant in 1692, and, in
some cases, that of the recent occupant or owner of the locality is
added in parenthesis.]


ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS LIST.

_s._     The same house believed to be still standing. _s.m._     The
same house standing within the memory of persons now living.
_t.r._     Traces of the house remain. _c._     The site given is
conjectural.


1. John Willard. _c._

2. Isaac Easty.

3. Francis Peabody. _c._

4. Joseph Porter. (John Bradstreet.)

5. William Hobbs. _t.r._

6. John Robinson.

7. William Nichols. _t.r._

8. Bray Wilkins. _c._

9. Aaron Way. (A. Batchelder.)

10. Thomas Bailey.

11. Thomas Fuller, Sr. (Abijah Fuller.)

12. William Way.

13. Francis Elliot. _c._

14. Jonathan Knight. _c._

15. Thomas Cave. (Jonathan Berry.)

16. Philip Knight. (J.D. Andrews.)

17. Isaac Burton.

18. John Nichols, Jr. (Jonathan Perry and Aaron Jenkins.) _s._

19. Humphrey Case. _t.r._

20. Thomas Fuller, Jr. (J.A. Esty.) _s._

21. Jacob Fuller.

22. Benjamin Fuller.

23. Deacon Edward Putnam. _s.m._

24. Sergeant Thomas Putnam. (Moses Perkins.) _s._

25. Peter Prescot. (Daniel Towne.)

26. Ezekiel Cheever. (Chas. P. Preston.) _s.m._

27. Eleazer Putnam. (John Preston.) _s.m._

28. Henry Kenny.

29. John Martin. (Edward Wyatt.)

30. John Dale. (Philip H. Wentworth.)

31. Joseph Prince. (Philip H. Wentworth.)

32. Joseph Putnam. (S. Clark.) _s._

33. John Putnam 3d.

34. Benjamin Putnam.

35. Daniel Andrew. (Joel Wilkins.)[i.xx]

36. John Leach, Jr. _c._

37. John Putnam, Jr. (Charles Peabody.)

38. Joshua Rea. (Francis Dodge.) _s._

39. Mary, wid. of Thos. Putnam. (William R. Putnam.) _s._

[Birthplace of Gen. Israel Putnam. Gen. Putnam also lived in a house,
the cellar and well of which are still visible, about one hundred rods
north of this, and just west of the present dwelling of Andrew
Nichols.]

40. Alexander Osburn and James Prince. (Stephen Driver.) _s._

41. Jonathan Putnam. (Nath. Boardman.) _s._

42. George Jacobs, Jr.

43. Peter Cloyse. _t.r._

44. William Small. _s.m._

45. John Darling. (George Peabody.) _s.m._

46. James Putnam. (Wm. A. Lander.) _s.m._

47. Capt. John Putnam. (Wm. A. Lander.)

48. Daniel Rea. (Augustus Fowler.) _s._

49. Henry Brown.

50. John Hutchinson. (George Peabody.) _t.r._

51. Joseph Whipple. _s.m._

52. Benjamin Porter. (Joseph S. Cabot.)

53. Joseph Herrick. (R.P. Waters.)

54. John Phelps. _c._

55. George Flint. _c._

56. Ruth Sibley. _s.m._

57. John Buxton.

58. William Allin.

59. Samuel Brabrook. _c._

60. James Smith.

61. Samuel Sibley. _t.r._

62. Rev. James Bayley. (Benjamin Hutchinson.)

63. John Shepherd. (Rev. M.P. Braman.)

64. John Flint.

65. John Rea. _s.m._

66. Joshua Rea. (Adam Nesmith.) _s.m._

67. Jeremiah Watts.

68. Edward Bishop, the sawyer. (Josiah Trask.)

69. Edward Bishop, husbandman.

70. Capt. Thomas Rayment.

71. Joseph Hutchinson, Jr. (Job Hutchinson.)

72. William Buckley.

73. Joseph Houlton, Jr. _t.r._

74. Thomas Haines. (Elijah Pope.) _s._

75. John Houlton. (F.A. Wilkins.) _s._

76. Joseph Houlton, Sr. (Isaac Demsey.)

77. Joseph Hutchinson, Sr. _t.r._

78. John Hadlock. (Saml. P. Nourse.) _s.m._

79. Nathaniel Putnam. (Judge Putnam.) _t.r._

80. Israel Porter. _s.m._

81. James Kettle.

82. Royal Side Schoolhouse.

83. Dr. William Griggs.

84. John Trask. (I. Trask.) _s._

85. Cornelius Baker.

86. Exercise Conant. (Subsequently, Rev. John Chipman.)

87. Deacon Peter Woodberry. _t.r._

88. John Rayment, Sr. (Col. J.W. Raymond.)

89. Joseph Swinnerton. (Nathl. Pope.)

90. Benjamin Hutchinson. _s.m._

91. Job Swinnerton. (Amos Cross.)

92. Henry Houlton. (Artemas Wilson.)

93. Sarah, widow of Benjamin Houlton. (Judge Houlton.) _s._

94. Samuel Rea.

95. Francis Nurse. (Orin Putnam.) _s._

96. Samuel Nurse. (E.G. Hyde.) _s._

97. John Tarbell. _s._

98. Thomas Preston.

99. Jacob Barney.

100. Sergeant John Leach, Sr. (George Southwick.) _s.m._

101. Capt. John Dodge, Jr. (Charles Davis.) _t.r._

102. Henry Herrick. (Nathl. Porter.)

[This had been the homestead of his father, Henry Herrick.] [i.xxi]

103. Lot Conant.

[This was the homestead of his father, Roger Conant.]

104. Benjamin Balch, Sr. (Azor Dodge.) _s._

[This was the homestead of his father, John Balch.]

105. Thomas Gage. (Charles Davis.) _s._

106. Families of Trask, Grover, Haskell, and Elliott.

107. Rev. John Hale.

108. Dorcas, widow of William Hoar.

109. William and Samuel Upton. _c._

110. Abraham and John Smith. (J. Smith.) _s._

[This had been the homestead of Robert Goodell.]

111. Isaac Goodell. (Perley Goodale.)

112. Abraham Walcot. (Jasper Pope.) _s.m._

113. Zachariah Goodell. (Jasper Pope.)

114. Samuel Abbey.

115. John Walcot.

116. Jasper Swinnerton. _s.m._

117. John Weldon. Captain Samuel Gardner's farm. (Asa Gardner.)

118. Gertrude, widow of Joseph Pope. (Rev. Willard Spaulding.) _s.m._

119. Capt. Thomas Flint. _s._

120. Joseph Flint. _s._

121. Isaac Needham. _c._

122. The widow Sheldon and her daughter Susannah.

123. Walter Phillips. (F. Peabody, Jr.)

124. Samuel Endicott. _s.m._

125. Families of Creasy, King, Batchelder, and Howard.

126. John Green. (J. Green) _s._

127. John Parker.

128. Giles Corey. _t.r._

129. Henry Crosby.

130. Anthony Needham, Jr. (E. and J.S. Needham.)

131. Anthony Needham, Sr.

132. Nathaniel Felton. (Nathaniel Felton.) _s._

133. James Houlton. (Thorndike Procter.)

134. John Felton.

135. Sarah Phillips.

136. Benjamin Scarlett. (District Schoolhouse No. 6.)

137. Benjamin Pope.

138. Robert Moulton. (T. Taylor.) _c._

139. John Procter.

140. Daniel Epps. _c._

141. Joseph Buxton. _c._

142. George Jacobs, Sr. (Allen Jacobs.) _s._

143. William Shaw.

144. Alice, widow of Michael Shaflin. (J. King.)

145. Families of Buffington, Stone, and Southwick.

146. William Osborne.

147. Families of Very, Gould, Follet, and Meacham.


+ Nathaniel Ingersoll.

¶ Rev. Samuel Parris. _t.r._

□ Captain Jonathan Walcot. _t.r._


[i.xxii]

TOWN OF SALEM.

[For the sites of the following dwellings, &c., referred to in the
book, see the small capitals in the lower right-hand corner of the
Map.]

A. Jonathan Corwin.
B. Samuel Shattock, John Cook, Isaac Sterns, John Bly.
C. Bartholomew Gedney.
D. Stephen Sewall.
E. Court House.
F. Rev. Nicholas Noyes.
G. John Hathorne.
H. George Corwin, High-sheriff.
I. Bridget Bishop.
J. Meeting-house.
K. Gedney's "Ship Tavern."
L. The Prison.
M. Samuel Beadle.
N. Rev. John Higginson.
O. Ann Pudeator, John Best.
P. Capt. John Higginson.
Q. The Town Common.
R. John Robinson.
S. Christopher Babbage.
T. Thomas Beadle.
U. Philip English.
W. Place of execution, "Witch Hill."


GRANTS.

Note.—The grants are numbered on the Map with Roman numerals, the
bounds being indicated by broken lines. They were all granted by the
town of Salem, unless otherwise stated.

I. John Gould.

Sold by him to Capt. George Corwin, March 29, 1674; and by Capt.
Corwin's widow sold to Philip Knight, Thomas Wilkins, Sr., Henry
Wilkins, and John Willard, March 1, 1690.

II. Zaccheus Gould.

Sold by him to Capt. John Putnam before 1662; owned in 1692 by Capt.
Putnam, Thomas Cave, Francis Elliot, John Nichols, Jr., Thomas Nichols,
and William Way.

The above, together, comprised land granted by the General Court to
Rowley, May 31, 1652, and laid out by Rowley to John and Zaccheus
Gould.[i.xxiii]

III. Gov. John Endicott.

Ipswich-river Farm, 550 acres, granted by the General Court, Nov. 5,
1639; owned in 1692 by his grandsons, Zerubabel, Benjamin, and Joseph.

The General Court, Oct. 14, 1651, also granted to Gov. Endicott 300
acres on the southerly side of this farm, in "Blind Hole," on condition
that he would set up copper-works. As the land appears afterwards to
have been owned by John Porter, it is probable that the copper-mine was
soon abandoned; but traces of it are still to be seen there.

IV. Gov. Richard Bellingham.

Granted by the General Court, Nov. 5, 1639.

V. Farmer John Porter.

Owned in 1692 by his son, Benjamin Porter. This includes a grant to
Townsend Bishop, sold to John Porter in 1648; also 200 acres granted to
John Porter, Sept. 30, 1647. That part in Topsfield was released by
Topsfield to Benjamin Porter, May 2, 1687.

VI. Capt. Richard Davenport.

Granted Feb. 20, 1637, and Nov. 26, 1638; sold, with the Hathorne farm,
to John Putnam, John Hathorne, Richard Hutchinson, and Daniel Rea,
April 17, 1662.

VII. Capt. William Hathorne.

Granted Feb. 17, 1637; sold with the above.

VIII. John Putnam the Elder.

This comprises a grant of 100 acres to John Putnam, Jan. 20, 1641; 80
acres to Ralph Fogg, in 1636; 40 acres (formerly Richard Waterman's) to
Thomas Lothrop, Nov. 29, 1642; and 30 acres to Ann Scarlett, in 1636.
The whole owned by James and Jonathan Putnam in 1692.

IX. Daniel Rea.

Granted to him in 1636; owned by his grandson, Daniel Rea, in 1692.

X. Rev. Hugh Peters.

Granted Nov. 12, 1638; laid out June 15, 1674, being then in the
possession of Capt. John Corwin; sold by Mrs. Margaret Corwin to Henry
Brown, May 22, 1693.

XI. Capt. George Corwin.

Granted Aug. 21, 1648; sold (including 30 acres formerly John
Bridgman's) to Job Swinnerton, Jr., and William Cantlebury, Jan. 18,
1661.[i.xxiv]

XII. Richard Hutchinson, John Thorndike, and Mr. Freeman.

Granted in 1636 and 1637; owned in 1692 by Joseph, son of Richard
Hutchinson, and by Sarah, wife of Joseph Whipple, daughter of John, and
grand-daughter of Richard Hutchinson.

XIII. Samuel Sharpe.

Granted Jan. 23, 1637; sold to John Porter, May 10, 1643; owned by his
son, Israel Porter, in 1692.

XIV. John Holgrave.

Granted Nov. 26, 1638; sold to Jeffry Massey and Nicholas Woodberry,
April 2, 1652; and to Joshua Rea, Jan. 1, 1657.

XV. William Alford.

Granted in 1636; sold to Henry Herrick before 1653.

XVI. Francis Weston.

Granted in 1636; sold by John Pease to Richard Ingersoll and William
Haynes, in 1644.

XVII. Elias Stileman.

Granted in 1636; sold to Richard Hutchinson, June 1, 1648.

XVIII. Robert Goodell.

504 acres laid out to him, Feb. 13, 1652: comprising 40 acres granted
to him "long since," and other parcels bought by him of the original
grantees; viz., Joseph Grafton, John Sanders, Henry Herrick, William
Bound, Robert Pease and his brother, Robert Cotta, William Walcott,
Edmund Marshall, Thomas Antrum, Michael Shaflin, Thomas Venner, John
Barber, Philemon Dickenson, and William Goose.

XIX. Job Swinnerton.

300 acres laid out, Jan. 5, 1697, to Job Swinnerton, Jr.; having been
owned by his father, by grant and purchase, as early as 1650.

XX. Townsend Bishop.

Granted Jan. 11, 1636; sold to Francis Nurse, April 29, 1678.

XXI. Rev. Samuel Skelton.

Granted by the General Court, July 3, 1632; sold to John Porter, March
8, 1649; owned by the heirs of John Porter in 1692.[i.xxv]

XXII. John Winthrop, Jr.

Granted June 25, 1638; sold by his daughter to John Green, Aug. 9,
1683.

XXIII. Rev. Edward Norris.

Granted Jan. 21, 1640: sold to Elleanor Trusler, Aug. 7, 1654; to
Joseph Pope, July 18, 1664.

XXIV. Robert Cole.

Granted Dec. 21, 1635; sold to Emanuel Downing before July 16th, 1638;
conveyed by him to John and Adam Winthrop, in trust for himself and
wife during their lives, and then for his son, George Downing, July 23,
1644; leased to John Procter in 1666; occupied by him and his son
Benjamin in 1692.

XXV. Col. Thomas Reed.

Granted Feb. 16, 1636; sold to Daniel Epps, June 28, 1701, by Wait
Winthrop, as attorney to Samuel Reed, only son and heir of Thomas Reed.

XXVI. John Humphrey.

Granted by the General Court, Nov. 7, 1632, May 6, 1635, and March 12,
1638, 1,500 acres, part in Salem and part in Lynn; sold, on execution,
to Robert Saltonstall, Dec. 6, 1642, and by him sold to Stephen
Winthrop, June 7, 1645, whose daughters—Margaret Willie and Judith
Hancock—owned it in 1692: that part within the bounds of Salem is given
in the Map according to the report of a committee, July 11, 1695.

Orchard Farm.

Granted by the General Court to Gov. Endicott; owned by his grandsons,
John and Samuel, in 1692.

The Governor's Plain.

Granted to Gov. Endicott, Jan. 27, 1637, Dec. 23, 1639, and Feb. 5,
1644; including land granted under the name of "small lots."

Johnson's Plain.

Granted to Francis Johnson, Jan. 23, 1637.


[i.xxvi]

FARMS.

[The bounds of farms are indicated by dotted lines, except where they
coincide with the bounds of grants. The following are those given on
the Map.]

_1st_, Between grants No. XI. and VII., and extending north of the
Village bounds, and south as far as Andover Road,—about 500 acres;
bought by Thomas and Nathaniel Putnam of Philip Cromwell, Walter Price
and Thomas Cole, Jeffry Massey, John Reaves, Joseph and John Gardner,
and Giles Corey; owned, in 1692, by Edward Putnam, Thomas Putnam, and
John Putnam, Jr. This includes also 50 acres granted to Nathaniel
Putnam, Nov. 19, 1649.

_2d_, At the northerly end of Grant No. VII., and extending north of
the Village bounds,—100 acres, known as the "Ruck Farm;" granted to
Thomas Ruck, May 27, 1654, and sold to Philip Knight and Thomas Cave,
July 24, 1672.

_3d_, North of the "Ruck Farm,"—100 acres; sold by William Robinson to
Richard Richards and William Hobbs, Jan. 1, 1660, and owned, in 1692,
by William Hobbs and John Robinson.

_4th_, Next east, bounded northeast by Nichols Brook, and extending
within the Village bounds,—200 acres; granted to Henry Bartholomew, and
sold by him to William Nichols before 1652.

_5th_, East of the "Ruck Farm," and extending across the Village
bounds,—about 150 acres; granted to John Putnam and Richard Graves.
Part of this was sold by John Putnam to Capt. Thomas Lothrop, June 2,
1669, and was owned by Ezekiel Cheever in 1692: the rest was owned by
John Putnam.

_6th_, East of the above, and south of the Nichols Farm,—60 acres,
owned by Henry Kenny; also 50 acres granted to Job Swinnerton, given by
him to his son, Dr. John Swinnerton, and sold to John Martin and John
Dale, March 20, 1693.

_7th_, South of the above, and east of Grant No. VII.,—150 acres;
granted to William Pester, July 16, 1638, and sold by Capt. William
Trask to Robert Prince, Dec. 20, 1655.

_8th_, East of Grant No. VI., and extending north to Smith's Hill and
south to Grant No. IX.,—about 400 acres; granted to Allen Kenniston,
John Porter, and Thomas Smith, and owned, in 1692, by Daniel Andrew and
Peter Cloyse.[i.xxvii]

_9th_, East and southeast of Smith's Hill,—500 acres; granted to
Emanuel Downing in 1638 and 1649, and sold by him to John Porter, April
15, 1650. John Porter gave this farm to his son Joseph, upon his
marriage with Anna daughter of William Hathorne.

_10th_, East of Frost-fish River, including the northerly end of
Leach's Hill, and extending across Ipswich Road,—about 250 acres, known
as the "Barney Farm;" originally granted to Richard Ingersoll, Jacob
Barney, and Pascha Foote.

_11th_, South of the "Barney Farm,"—about 200 acres; granted to
Lawrence, Richard, and John Leach; owned, in 1692, by John Leach.

_12th_, North of the "Barney Farm," and between grants No. XIII. and
XIV.,—about 250 acres, known as "Gott's Corner;" granted to Charles
Gott, Jeffry Massey, Thomas Watson, John Pickard, and Jacob Barney, and
by them sold to John Porter. (Recently known as the "Burley Farm.")

_13th_, Eastward of the "Barney Farm,"—40 acres; originally granted to
George Harris, and afterwards to Osmond Trask; owned, in 1692, by his
son, John Trask.

_14th_, Next east, and extending across Ipswich Road,—40 acres; granted
to Edward Bishop, Dec. 28, 1646; owned, in 1692, by his son, Edward
Bishop, "the sawyer."

_15th_, At the northwest end of Felton's Hill, and extending across the
Village line,—about 60 acres; owned by Nathaniel Putnam.

_16th_, Southeast of Grant No. XXIII.,—a farm of about 150 acres; owned
by Giles Corey, including 50 acres bought by him of Robert Goodell,
March 15, 1660, and 50 acres bought by him of Ezra and Nathaniel Clapp,
of Dorchester, heirs of John Alderman, July 4, 1663.

_17th_, Northeast of the above,—150 acres granted to Mrs. Anna
Higginson in 1636; sold by Rev. John Higginson to John Pickering, March
23, 1652; and by him to John Woody and Thomas Flint, Oct. 18, 1654;
owned in 1692 by Thomas and Joseph Flint.




[i.xxix]
GENERAL INDEX.



A.


Abbey, Thomas, 129.

Abbey, Samuel, ii. 200, 272.

Abbot, Joseph, 123.

Abbot, Nehemiah, ii. 128, 133, 208.

Aborn, Samuel, Jr., ii. 272.

Addington, Isaac, ii. 102, 474.

Afflicted children, ii. 112, 384, 465.

Age, reverence for, 217.

Agrippa, Henry Cornelius, 367.

Alford, William, 66.

Alden, John, ii. 208, 243-247, 255, 453.

Allen, James, 78-84; ii. 89, 309, 494, 550-553.

Allin, James, ii. 226.

America, the peopling of, 395.

Amsterdam, 460.

Andover, ii. 247.

Andrew, Daniel, 155, 214, 251, 270, 296, 319; ii. 59, 187, 272, 497,
550.

Andrews, Ann, ii. 170, 319.

Andrews, John, ii. 306.

Andrews, John, Jr., ii. 306.

Andrews, Joseph, ii. 306.

Andrews, William, ii. 306.

Andrews, Robert, 123.

Andros, Sir Edmund, ii. 99, 154.

Appleton, Samuel, 119; ii. 102, 250.

Apon, Peter, 342.

Arnold de Villa Nova, 342.

Arnold, Margaret, 356.


B.

Babbage, Christopher, ii. 184.

Bachelder, Mark, 123.

Bacheler, John, ii. 475.

Bacon, Francis, 383.

Bacon, Roger, 341.

Badger, John, 445.

Baker, Eben, 123.

Bailey, John, ii. 89, 310.

Balch, John, 129.

Balch, Joseph, 105.

Baptism: its subjects, 307.

Barbadoes, 287.

Barker, Abigail, ii. 349, 404.

Barnard, Thomas, ii. 477.

Barnes, Benjamin, ii. 499.

Barney, Jacob, 40, 140.

Barrett, Thomas, ii. 353.

Bartholomew, Henry, 206.

Bartholomew, William, 428.

Barton, Elizabeth, 343.

Bassett, William, ii. 207.

Batter, Edmund, 40, 46, 57.

Baxter, Richard, 352, 353, 355, 401, 459.

Bayley, James, 245-255, 278;
autograph, 280; ii. 514.

Bayley, Joseph, ii. 417.

Bayley, Thomas, 105.

Beadle, Samuel, 132; ii. 164, 181.

Beadle, Thomas, ii. 164, 170, 172.

Beale, William, ii. 141.

Beard, Thomas, 360.

Bears, 210.

Becket, John, ii. 267.

Beers, Richard, 104.

Bekker, Balthasar, 371.

Belcher, Jonathan, ii. 481.

Bellingham, Richard, 144.

Bentley, Richard, 372.

Bentley, William, ii. 143, 365, 377.

Best, John, ii. 329.

Best, John, Jr., ii. 329.

Bibber, Sarah, ii. 5, 205, 287.

Billerica, 9.

[i.xxx]Bishop, Bridget, 143, 191-197; ii. 114, 125-128, 253;
trial and execution, 256-267;
her house, 463.

Bishop, Edward, 142; ii. 272.

Bishop, Edward, 142, 191; ii. 253, 267, 466.

Bishop, Edward, 141, 143; ii. 128, 135, 383, 465, 478.

Bishop, Edward, 143.

Bishop, John, 8.

Bishop, Richard, 142.

Bishop, Sarah, ii. 128, 135.

Bishop, Thomas, 206.

Bishop, Townsend, 40, 66;
his house, 69-74, 96, 97;
autograph, 279; ii. 294, 467.

Black, Mary, ii. 128, 136.

Blackstone, Sir William, ii. 517.

Blazdell, Henry, 430.

Blazed trees, 43.

Bly, John, ii. 261, 266.

Bly, William, ii. 266.

Bloody Brook, 105.

Booth, Elizabeth, ii. 4, 465.

Bowden, Michael, ii. 467.

Bowditch, Nathaniel, 172.

Boyle, Robert, 359.

Boynton, Joseph, ii. 553.

Bradbury, Thomas, ii. 224, 450.

Bradbury, Mary, ii. 208, 224-238;
trial and condemnation, 324, 480.

Bradford, William, 122.

Bradstreet, Dudley, ii. 248, 347.

Bradstreet, John, 428.

Bradstreet, John, ii. 248, 347.

Bradstreet, Simon, 124, 139, 147;
autograph 279, 451, 454; ii. 99, 455, 456.

Braman, Milton P., ii. 516.

Brattle, William, ii. 450.

Braybrook, Samuel, ii. 30, 72, 202.

Bridges, Edmund, 186; ii. 94.

Bridges, Mary, ii. 349.

Bridges, Sarah, ii. 349.

Bridgham, Joseph, ii. 553.

Bridle-path, 43.

Britt, Mary, ii. 38.

Broom-making, 202.

Browne, Charles, 429.

Browne, Christopher, 438.

Browne, Henry, Jr., 55.

Browne, Sir Thomas, 357.

Browne, William, Jr., 226, 271.

Buckley, Sarah, ii. 187, 199, 349.

Buckley, Thomas, 105.

Buckley, William, ii. 199.

Burial of those executed, ii. 266, 293, 301, 312, 320.

Burnham, John, ii. 306.

Burnham, John, Jr., ii. 306.

Burroughs, Charles, ii. 478.

Burroughs, George, 255, 278;
autograph, 280;
arrest and examination, ii. 140-163;
trial and execution, 296-304, 319, 480, 482, 514.

Burt, Goody, 437.

Burton, John, 151.

Burton, Isaac, 152, 241.

Burton, Warren, 152.

Butler, Samuel, 352, 367.

Butler, William, ii. 306.

Buxton, Elizabeth, ii 272.

Buxton, John, 154, 262.

Byfield, Nathaniel, ii. 455.


C.

Calamy, Edmund, 283, 352.

Calef, Robert, ii. 32, 461, 490.

Candy, ii. 208, 215, 349.

Canoes, 61.

Cantlebury, William, 154.

Cantlebury, Ruth, ii. 18.

Capen, Joseph, ii. 326, 478.

Capital punishment, 377.

Cary, Elizabeth, ii. 208, 238, 453, 456.

Cary, Jonathan, ii. 238.

Carr, Ann, 253; ii. 465.

Carr, George, ii. 229.

Carr, James, ii. 232.

Carr, John, ii. 234.

Carr, Mary, 253.

Carr, Richard, ii. 230.

Carr, Sir Robert, 220.

Carr, William, ii. 234, 465.

Carrier, Martha, arrest and examination, ii. 208-215;
trial and execution, 296, 480.

Carrier, Sarah, ii. 209.

Carter, Bethiah, ii. 187.

Cartwright, George, 220.

Casco, 256.

Case, Humphrey, 154.

Castle Island, 102.

Cave, Thomas, 154.

Chapman, Simon, ii. 219.

Charter of Massachusetts, 15.

Checkley, Samuel, ii. 553.

Cheever, Ezekiel, 111.

Cheever, Ezekiel, Jr., 113, 117, 226, 299; ii. 15, 40, 550.

Cheever, Peter, 226.

Cheever, Samuel, 113; ii. 193, 478, 550.

[i.xxxi]Cheever, Thomas, 113.

Chickering, Henry, 74.

Chipman, John, 130.

Choate, John, ii. 306.

Choate, Thomas, ii. 306.

Church, Benjamin, 123.

Church-of-England Canon, 347.

Churchill, Sarah, ii. 4, 166, 169.

Clark, Peter, 171; ii. 513, 516.

Clark, Thomas, 425.

Clark, William, 40.

Cleaves, William, ii. 38, 336.

Clenton, Rachel, ii. 198.

Cloutman, William, ii. 267.

Cloyse, Peter, 269; ii. 9, 59, 94, 465, 485.

Cloyse, Sarah, ii. 60, 94, 101, 111, 326.

Cobbye, Goodman, 431.

Code, Roman, 374.

Cogswell, John, ii. 306.

Cogswell, John, Jr., ii. 306.

Cogswell, Jonathan, ii. 306.

Cogswell, William, ii. 306.

Cogswell, William, Jr., ii. 306.

Coldum, Clement, ii. 191.

Cole, Eunice, 437.

Colman, Benjamin, ii. 505.

Colson, Elizabeth, ii. 187.

Conant, Lot, 133.

Conant, Roger, 60, 63, 129.

Confessors, ii. 350, 397.

Constables, 21.

Cook, Elisha, ii. 497.

Cook, Elizabeth, ii. 272.

Cook, Henry, 57.

Cook, John, ii. 261.

Cook, Isaac, ii. 272.

Cook, Samuel, 230.

Copper mine, 45.

Corey, Giles, 181-191, 205; ii. 38, 44, 52, 114, 121, 128;
pressed to death, 334-343;
excommunicated, 343, 480, 483.

Corey, Martha, 190; ii. 38-42;
examination, 43-55, 111;
trial and execution, 324, 458, 507.

Corlet, Elijah, 111.

Corwin, George, 57, 98, 226.

Corwin, George, ii. 252, 470, 472.

Corwin, George, ii. 484.

Corwin, John, 55.

Corwin, Jonathan, 101; ii. 11, 13;
autograph, (29, 50, 69, 314,) 89, 101, 116, 157, 165, 250, 345;
letter to, 447, 485, 538.

Court House, ii. 253.

Court, Special, ii. 251, 254.

Court, Superior, of Judicature, ii. 349.

Cox, Mary, ii. 198.

Cox, Robert, 123.

Cradock, Matthew, 17.

Crane River Bridge, 194.

Cranmer, Archbishop, 343.

Creesy, John, 141.

Crosby, Henry, ii. 38, 45, 50, 124.

Cullender, Rose, 355.


D.

Daland, Benjamin, 230.

Dane, Francis, ii. 223, 330, 459, 478.

Dane, Deliverance, ii. 404.

Dane, John, ii. 475.

Dane, Nathaniel, ii. 460.

Danforth, Thomas, 461; ii. 101, 250, 349, 354, 455, 456.

Darby, Mrs., 260.

Darling, James, ii. 201.

Davenport, John, 385.

Davenport, Nathaniel, 121, 125-128.

Davenport, Richard, 100-103.

Davenport, True Cross, 101, 126.

Davis, Ephraim, 429.

Davis, James, 429.

De La Torre, 361.

Deane, Charles, 50.

Death-warrant, ii. 266.

Deland, Thorndike, ii. 267.

Demonology, 325, 327.

Dennison, Daniel, 147.

Derich, Mary, ii. 208.

Devil, 325, 338, 387.

Dexter, Henry M., 123.

Dodge, Granville M., 232.

Dodge, John, 129.

Dodge, Josiah, 105.

Dodge, William, 130.

Dodge, William, Jr., 129.

Dole, John, 444.

Dolliver, Ann, ii. 194.

Dolliver, William, ii. 194.

Douglas, Ann, ii. 179.

Dounton, William, ii. 274.

Downer, Robert, ii. 413.

Downing, Emanuel, 38-46;
autograph, 279.

Downing, Lucy, 39;
autograph, 279.

Downing, Sir George, 46.

Drake, Samuel G, ii. 26.

Dreams, ii. 411.

Druillettes, Gabriel, 37.

Dudley, Joseph, ii. 480.

Dudley, Thomas, 23.

[i.xxxii]Dugdale, Richard, 354.

Dummer, Jeremiah, ii. 553.

Dunny, Amey, 355.

Dunton, John, ii. 90, 471.

Dustin, Hannah, 9.

Dustin, Lydia, ii. 208.

Dustin, Sarah, ii. 208.

Dutch, Martha, ii. 179.


E.

Eames, Daniel, ii. 331.

Eames, Rebecca, ii. 324, 480.

Easty, Isaac, 241; ii. 56, 478.

Easty, John, 241.

Easty, Mary, ii. 60;
arrest, 128;
examination, 137;
re-arrest, 200-205;
trial and execution, 324-327, 480.

Education, 111, 213-216, 280, 284; ii. 221.

Eliot, Andrew, ii. 475.

Eliot, Daniel, ii. 191.

Eliot, Edmund, ii. 412.

Eliot, Elizabeth, 126.

Emerson, John, 444, 462.

Emory, George, 57.

Endicott, John, 16-20, 23, 32-38, 45, 50, 74-79, 95, 454.

Endicott, John, Jr., 74-78.

Endicott, Samuel, 32; ii. 231, 272, 307.

Endicott, Zerubabel, 32, 35, 58, 84-95.

Endicott, Zerubabel, ii. 230.

English, Mary, ii. 128, 136;
autograph, 313.

English, Philip, ii. 128, 140, 255;
autograph, 313, 470, 473, 478, 482.

Essex, Flower of, 104.

Eveleth, Joseph, ii. 306, 475.


F.

Fairfax, Edward, 347.

Fairfield, William, ii. 267.

Farmer, Hugh, 335, 390.

Farrar, Thomas, ii. 187.

Farrington, John, 123.

Faulkner, Abigail, ii. 330, 476, 480.

Fellows, John, ii. 306.

Felt, David, ii. 267.

Felton, Benjamin, 56.

Felton, John, 236; ii. 307.

Felton, Nathaniel, ii. 272, 307.

Felton, Nathaniel, Jr., ii. 307.

Filmer, Sir Robert, 373.

Fireplaces, 202.

First Church in Salem, 243, 246, 271; ii. 257, 290, 483.

Fisk, Thomas, ii. 284, 475.

Fisk, Thomas, Jr., ii. 475.

Fisk, William, ii. 475.

Fitch, Jabez, ii. 477.

Fletcher, Benjamin, ii. 242.

Flint, John, 141, 154.

Flint, Samuel, 229.

Flint, Thomas, 123, 188, 226, 270.

Flood, John, ii. 208, 331.

Fogg, Ralph, 57.

Forests, 7, 27.

Fosdick, Elizabeth, ii. 208.

Foster, Abraham, ii. 384.

Foster, Ann, ii. 351, 398, 480.

Foster, Isaac, ii. 306.

Foster, John, ii. 466.

Foster, Reginald, ii. 306.

Fowler, Joseph, ii. 206.

Fowler, Philip, ii. 206.

Fowler, Samuel P., ii. 206.

Fox, Rebecca, ii. 188.

Foxcroft, Francis, ii. 455.

Frayll, Samuel, ii. 307.

Fuller, Benjamin, ii. 177.

Fuller, Jacob, 227.

Fuller, John, ii. 280.

Fuller, Samuel, ii. 177.

Fuller, Thomas, 187, 227, 250, 288; ii. 25.

Fuller, Thomas, Jr., 288; ii. 173.


G.

Gallop, John, 122.

Game, pursuit of, 208.

Gammon, ——, ii. 354.

Gardiner, Sir Christopher, 68.

Gardner, Joseph, 45, 122, 123, 124.

Gardner, Samuel, 45.

Gardner, Thomas, 45, 117.

Gaskill, Edward, ii. 307.

Gaskill, Samuel, ii. 307.

Gaule, John, 363.

Gedney, Bartholomew, 271; ii. 89, 243, 244, 250, 251, 254, 496.

Gedney, John, 158, 258; ii. 254.

Gedney, John, Jr., ii. 254.

Gedney, Susannah, ii. 254, 264.

General Court responsible for the executions, ii. 268.

Gerbert (Sylvester II.), 339.

Gerrish, Joseph, ii. 478, 550.

Gidding, Samuel, ii. 306.

Gifford, Margaret, 437.

[i.xxxiii]Gingle, John, 144.

Glover, Goody, 454.

Gloyd, John, 186, 189.

Godfrey, John, 428-436.

Good, Dorcas, examination of, ii. 71, 111.

Good, Sarah, ii. 11;
examination of, 12-17;
trial and execution, 268, 269, 480.

Good, William, ii. 12, 481.

Goodell, Abner C., 141.

Goodell, Robert, 141.

Goodhew, William, ii. 306.

Goodwin, Mr., 454.

Governors of Massachusetts, time of election by charter, 17.

Governor's Plain, 24.

Gould, Nathan, 432.

Gould, Thomas, 188.

Grants, policy of, 22.

Gray, William, 130.

Graves, Thomas, ii. 455.

Green, Joseph, 9, 146, 170; ii. 199, 477, 506, 516.

Greenslit, John, ii. 298.

Greenslit, Thomas, ii. 298.

Griggs, William, ii. 4, 6.

Griggs, Goody, ii. 111.

Grover, Edmund, 31.


H.

Hakins, Nicholas, 123.

Hale, John, 195-197, 299, 452; ii. 43, 70, 257, 345, 475, 478, 550.

Hale, Sir Matthew, 355; ii. 269.

Halliwell, Henry, 364.

Handwriting, 214, 277-281; ii. 55.

Harding, Edward, 123.

Hardy, George, 443.

Harris, Benjamin, ii. 90.

Harris, George, 63.

Harsnett, Samuel, 369.

Hart, Thomas, ii. 352.

Hart, Elizabeth, ii. 187.

Harwood, John, ii. 275.

Hathorne, John, 40, 99, 271; ii. 11, 13, 20, 28;
autograph, (29, 50, 69, 314), 43, 60, 89, 101, 102, 116, 241, 250.

Hathorne, William, 46, 57, 99.

Haverhill, 9.

Hawkes, Mrs., ii. 216, 349.

Haynes, John, 139.

Haynes, Richard, 138, 140.

Haynes, Thomas, 139, 260, 431; ii. 132, 465.

Haynes, William, 40, 138.

Hazeldon, John, 429.

Herrick, George, ii. 49, 60, 71, 202, 252, 274, 471.

Herrick, Henry, 66, 153.

Herrick, Henry, ii. 475.

Herrick, Joseph, 129, 141, 269, 270; ii. 12, 28, 272.

Hibbert's Philosophy of Apparitions, ii. 518.

Hibbins, Ann, 420-427, 453.

Higginson, John, 271, 273; ii. 89, 193, 478, 550.

Highways, 43, 212.

Highways, surveyors of, 21.

Hill, Captain, ii. 244.

Hoar, Dorcas, ii. 140, 144, 384, 480.

Hobbs, Abigail, ii. 114, 128, 480, 481.

Hobbs, Deliverance, ii. 128, 161.

Hobbs, William, ii. 114, 128, 130.

Holgrave, John, 63.

Holyoke, Edward, 156.

Holyoke, Edward Augustus, 156; ii. 377.

Hopkins, Matthew, 351.

Horace, 366.

Horse Bridge, 234.

Houchins, Jeremiah, 74.

Houlton, Benjamin, ii. 275, 280, 281.

Houlton, James, ii. 307.

Houlton, Joseph, 86, 147, 243, 270; ii. 272, 496.

Houlton, Joseph, Jr., 123; ii. 272.

Houlton, Samuel, 148, 223.

Houlton, Sarah, ii. 281, 495, 506.

Houlton, town of, 151.

Houses, 184.

How, Elizabeth, ii. 208;
examination of, 216-223;
trial and execution, 268, 270, 480.

How, James, Sr., ii. 221.

How, John, 241.

Howard, John, ii. 198.

Howard, Nathaniel, 141.

Hubbard, Elizabeth, ii. 4, 191.

Hubbard, William, ii. 193, 477.

Hudson, William, 425.

Hungerford, Earl of, 343.

Hunniwell, Richard, ii. 298.

Hunt, Ephraim, ii. 553.

Huskings, 201.

Hutchinson, Benjamin, 172; ii. 151, 197, 201.

Hutchinson, Edward, 425.

Hutchinson, Elisha, ii. 150.

Hutchinson, Israel, 223, 228.

[i.xxxiv]Hutchinson, Joseph, 243, 250, 270, 285, 319; ii. 11, 28, 33,
272, 393, 545, 550.

Hutchinson, Lydia, ii. 272.

Hutchinson, Richard, 27, 40, 86, 137.

Hutchinson, Thomas, History of Massachusetts, 415.


I.


Indians, 7, 25, 62, 286.

Ingersoll, Hannah, 166, 261; ii. 192.

Ingersoll, John, 40, 172; ii. 171.

Ingersoll, Joseph, ii. 129.

Ingersoll, Nathaniel, 35, 86, 165-179, 225, 244, 249, 251, 259, 261;
autograph, 280, 288, 294, 301, 303;
ordination as deacon, 305; ii. 11, 33, 42, 60, 73, 100, 112, 114, 128,
132, 140, 499.

Ingersoll, Sarah, ii. 169.

Ingersoll, Richard, 36, 40, 138.

Ingersoll's Point, 138.

Inquest, jury of, ii. 178.

Ipswich road, 43.

Ireson, Benjamin, ii. 208.

Iron works, 147.

Izard, Ann, ii. 520.


J.


Jackson, John, ii. 198, 223.

Jackson, John, Jr., ii. 198, 223.

Jacobs, George, 198; ii. 4;
arrest and examination, 164-172, 274;
execution, 296, 312, 382, 480.

Jacobs, George, Jr., 198; ii. 187.

Jacobs, Margaret, ii. 164, 172, 315, 349, 353, 466.

Jacobs, Rebecca, ii. 187, 349.

Jacobs, Thomas, ii. 207.

James I., 368, 375, 410.

Jewell, John, 345.

Jewett, Nehemiah, ii. 553.

Joan of Arc, 343.

Jones, Hugh, 91.

Jones, Margaret, 415, 453.

John Indian, ii. 2, 95, 106, 241.

Johnson, Elizabeth, ii. 349.

Johnson, Elizabeth, Jr., ii. 349.

Johnson, Francis, 40.

Johnson, Isaac, 121, 122.

Johnson, Samuel, 357.

Johnson, Captain, 425.

Jovius Paulus, 367.

Judges, ii. 354.

Jury to examine the bodies of prisoners, ii. 274.

Jury of trials, ii. 284, 474.


K.


Kembal, John, ii. 412.

Kenny, Henry, 251; ii. 61.

Kepler, John, 345.

King, Daniel, ii. 181.

King, Joseph, 105.

King, Margaret, 196.

Kircher, Athanasius, 388.

Kitchen, John, 205.

Knight, Charles, 123.

Knight, John, 138.

Knight, Jonathan, ii. 177.

Knight, Philip, ii. 177.

Knight, Walter, 35.

Knowlton, Joseph, ii. 220.


L.


Lacy, Mary, ii. 400, 480.

Lacy, Mary, Jr., ii. 349, 401.

Lamb, Dr., 348.

Land, policy concerning, 16, 22;
given up to towns, 20;
clearing of, 26;
disposition of, to children, 158;
value of, 159.

Landlord, 218.

Laodicea, Council of, 375.

Law under which the trials took place, ii. 256, 268, 360.

Lawson, Deodat, 268-284;
autograph, 280; ii. 7, 70, 73;
his sermon, 76-92, 515, 525-537.

Lawson, Thomas, 283.

Law-suits, 232.

Layman, Paul, 361.

Leach, John, 141.

Leach, Lawrence, 141.

Leach, Robert, 129.

Leach, Sarah, ii. 272.

Lecture-day, 313, 450; ii. 76.

Lewis, Mercy, ii. 4, 287;
autograph, 313.

Lewis, Rev. Mr., 353.

Lexington, 229.

Lightning, 72.

Locke, John, 372.

Locker, George, ii. 12, 307.

Lothrop, Ellen, 111.

Lothrop, Thomas, 100, 103-117.

Louder, John, ii. 264.

[i.xxxv]Lovkine, Thomas, ii. 306.

Low, Thomas, ii. 306.

Luther, Martin, 344.


M.


Mackenzie, Sir George, 350.

Magistrates, ii. 354.

Manning, Jacob, ii. 142.

Maple-sugar, 203.

Marblehead, ii. 519.

March, John, ii. 234.

Marriage, early, 160; ii. 236.

Marsh, Samuel, ii. 307.

Marsh, Zachariah, ii. 307.

Marshall, Benjamin, ii. 306.

Marshall, Samuel, 122.

Marston, Mary, ii. 349.

Martin, Susannah, 427;
arrest and examination, ii. 145;
trial and execution, 268.

Mascon, Devil of, 359.

Mason, Thomas, ii. 267.

Maverick, Samuel, 220.

Maverick, Samuel, Jr., ii. 228.

Mather, Cotton, 112, 384, 391, 454; ii. 89, 211, 250, 257, 299, 341,
366, 487, 494, 503, 553.

Mather, Increase, ii. 89, 299, 308, 345, 404, 494, 553.

Mechanical occupations, 224.

Mede, Joseph, 394.

Medical profession, ii. 361.

Meeting, intermission of, on the Lord's Day, 207.

Meeting-house of Salem Village, 243, 244, 285.

Meeting-house of Salem Village, scenes at, 263; ii. 34, 60, 94, 510.

Meeting-house of First Church in Salem, scenes at, ii. 111, 257, 290.

Melancthon, Philip, 344.

Middlecot, Richard, ii. 553.

Milton, John, 387, 467.

Ministers, ii. 267, 362.

Minot, Stephen, 125.

Mirage, 386.

Mitchel, Jonathan, 434, 437.

Moody, Lady Deborah, 57, 183.

Moody, Joshua, ii. 309.

Moore, Captain, 187.

Moore, Caleb, 188.

Moore, Jane, 188.

More, Henry, 400.

Morrel, Robert, ii. 153, 191.

Morrell, Sarah, ii. 140, 144.

Morse, Anthony, 447.

Morse, Elizabeth, 449-453.

Morse, William, 438.

Morton, Charles ii. 89.

Mosely, Samuel, 121.

Moulton, John, ii. 38, 336, 478.

Moulton, Robert, 40.

Moulton, Robert, Jr., 40.

Moxon, George, 419.


N.


Narragansett expedition, 118-135.

Narragansett townships, 133.

Nauscopy, 386.

Navigation, early New-England, 440.

Neal, Joseph, ii. 164, 274.

Needham, Anthony, 155, 184, 226, 236; ii. 48.

Newbury, 9.

New-Haven Phantom-ship, 384.

New-York Negro Plot, ii. 437.

Newman, Antipas, 58.

New Salem, 149.

Newton, Thomas, ii. 254;
autograph, 314.

Nichols, Isaac, ii. 177.

Nichols, John, 241, ii. 133.

Nichols, Richard, 220.

Nichols, William, 154.

Norfolk, old county of, ii. 228.

Norris, Edward, 57, 237.

Norris, Edward, Jr., 205.

Norton, John, 423, 425; ii. 450.

Noyes, Nicholas, 117, 271, 299; ii. 43, 48, 55, 89, 170, 172, 184, 245,
253, 269, 290, 292, 365, 485, 550;
autograph, 314.

Numa Pompilius, 330.

Nurse, Francis, 79, 84, 91, 214, 287, 319, 320; ii. 9, 467.

Nurse, Rebecca, 80;
her arrest and examination, ii. 56-71, 111, 136;
trial, 268, 270-289;
excommunication, 290;
execution, 292, 480, 483.

Nurse, Samuel, 80; ii. 57, 288, 479, 485, 497, 506, 545-553.

Nurse, Sarah, 80; ii. 287, 467.


O.


Obinson, Mrs., ii. 456.

Ocular fascination, 412; ii. 520.

Oliver, Christian, ii. 267.

Oliver, Mary, 420.

Oliver, Peter, 425.

[i.xxxvi]Oliver, Thomas, 143, 191; ii. 253, 267.

Orchard Farm, 24, 87.

Orne, John, 57.

Osborne, Hannah, ii. 272.

Osborne, William, 152, 227; ii. 272.

Osburn, Alexander, ii. 18.

Osburn, John, ii. 19.

Osburn, Sarah, ii. 11, 17;
examination, 20;
death, 32.

Osgood, Mary, ii. 349, 404, 406.

Osgood, William, 432.


P.


Page, Abraham, 139.

Paine, Elizabeth, ii. 208.

Paine, Stephen, ii. 208.

Paine, Robert, 423; ii. 449.

Palfrey, Peter, 63, 129.

Palfrey, John G., 125.

Palisadoes, 31.

Parker, Alice, ii. 179-185;
trial and execution, 324.

Parker, John, ii. 179, 181.

Parker, John, 189; ii. 38, 48, 124.

Parker, Mary, trial and execution, ii. 324, 325, 480.

Parris, Elizabeth, ii. 3.

Parris, Samuel, 170, 172, 278;
autograph, 280, 286-320; ii. 1, 7, 9, 25, 31, 43, 49, 55, 92, 275, 290,
485-503, 515, 545-553.

Parris, Thomas, 286; ii. 499.

Parsonage of Salem Village, 243, 386; ii. 74, 466, 493.

Parsons, Hugh, 419.

Parsons, Mary, 418.

Partridge, John, ii. 150.

Payson, Edward, ii. 218, 494, 553.

Peabody, John, ii. 475.

Peach, Barnard, ii. 414.

Pease, Robert, ii. 208.

Peele, William, ii. 267.

Peine forte et dure, ii. 338, 484.

Peirce, Joseph, 123.

Pendleton, Bryan, 256.

Penn, William, 414.

Perkins, Isaac, ii. 306.

Perkins, Nathaniel, ii. 306.

Perkins, Thomas, ii. 475.

Perkins, William, 362.

Perley, Samuel, ii. 216.

Perley, Thomas, ii. 475.

Peters, Elizabeth, 50-53, 57.

Peters, Hugh, 47, 50, 51-59.

Pettingell, Richard, 40.

Phelps, Henry, 237.

Phelps, John, 187.

Phips, Sir William, 131, 451; ii. 99, 250;
autograph, 314, 345.

Phips, Spencer, ii. 482.

Phillips, Margaret, ii. 272.

Phillips, Samuel, 299; ii. 218, 494, 553.

Phillips, Tabitha, ii. 272.

Phillips, Walter, ii. 272.

Pickering, John, 46.

Pickering, Timothy, 46, 227.

Pierpont, James, 384.

Pike, John, ii. 226, 229.

Pike, Robert, ii. 226, 228, 250, 449, 538-544.

Pikeworth, 123; ii. 329.

Pitcher, Moll, ii. 521.

Pit-saw, 191.

Poindexter, ii. 185.

Poland, James, 188.

Pope, Gertrude, 236.

Pope, Joseph, 237, 238; ii. 65, 496.

Pope Innocent VIII., 342.

Porter, Benjamin, 141.

Porter, Elizabeth, ii. 272.

Porter, Israel, 141; ii. 59, 272, 550.

Porter, John, 40, 136.

Porter, John, Jr., 219.

Porter, John, ii. 207.

Porter, Joseph, 270, 296, 319.

Porter, Moses, 223, 230.

Post, Hannah, ii. 349.

Post, Mary, ii. 349, 480.

Powell, Caleb, 439.

Pratt, Francis, 428.

Prescott, Peter, 129, 316; ii. 153.

Preston, Thomas, 80, 91; ii. 11, 57, 496, 550.

Price, Walter, 226.

Prince, James, ii. 17.

Prince, Joseph, ii. 17.

Prince, Robert, ii. 17.

Prison, ii. 254.

Procter, Benjamin, ii. 207.

Procter, Elizabeth, arrest and examination, ii. 101-111;
trial and condemnation, 296, 312, 466.

Procter, John, 179, 184, 227; ii. 4, 106, 111;
trial and execution, 296, 304-312;
autograph, 313, 458, 480.

Procter, Joseph, ii. 306.

Procter, Sarah, ii. 207.

Procter, William, ii. 208, 311.

Procter's Corner, 49.

Pronunciation, ii. 233.

Pudeator, Ann, ii. 179, 185, 300;
trial and execution, 324, 329.

Pudeator, Jacob, ii. 185, 329.

[i.xxxvii]Puppets, 408, ii. 12, 266.

Putnam, Ann, 253; ii. 5, 61, 69, 74, 177, 229, 236, 276, 282, 465, 495,
506.

Putnam, Ann, Jr., 214; ii. 3, 8, 40, 190;
autograph, 313, 341, 511, 509-512.

Putnam, Archelaus, 164.

Putnam, Benjamin, 164; ii. 72, 272, 481.

Putnam, Daniel, 164.

Putnam, David, 227.

Putnam, Edward, 8, 161-164, 288, 302; ii. 11, 40, 44, 60, 71, 203, 288,
465.

Putnam, Eleazer, 132; ii. 152.

Putnam, Enoch, 229.

Putnam, Holyoke, 9.

Putnam, Israel, 160, 164, 227, 238.

Putnam, James, ii. 506.

Putnam, Jeremiah, 229.

Putnam, John, 34, 40, 155.

Putnam, John, 34, 155, 157, 241, 250, 251, 258, 267, 270, 284, 287,
316, 317; ii. 272, 359, 496, 550.

Putnam, John, Jr., 259; ii. 4, 172, 202, 506.

Putnam, John, 3d, ii. 506.

Putnam, Jonathan, 269; ii. 60, 71, 201, 272.

Putnam, Joseph, 160, 296, 319; ii. 9, 272, 457, 497.

Putnam, Lydia, ii. 272.

Putnam, Miriam, ii. 295.

Putnam, Nathaniel, 84, 86, 155, 157, 186, 198, 236, 250, 288, 296; ii.
33, 128, 178, 271.

Putnam, Orin, ii. 295.

Putnam, Perley, 230.

Putnam, Phinehas, ii. 295.

Putnam, Rebecca, 267; ii. 272, 359.

Putnam, Rufus, 227.

Putnam, Samuel, 223.

Putnam, Sarah, ii. 272.

Putnam, Susannah, 143.

Putnam, Thomas, 155, 226, 250, 251, 259;
autograph, 279.

Putnam, Thomas, 129, 225, 227, 236, 253;
autograph, 279, 281, 316; ii. 3, 4, 11, 28, 55, 140, 232, 341, 464,
465, 506.

Putnam, William Lowell, 232.


Q.


Queen Elizabeth, 345.

Quick, John, 283.


R.


Rabbits, 209.

Raising of a house, 201.

Rawson, Edward, 425, 450.

Raymond, John, 66.

Raymond, John, 129, 134; ii. 465.

Raymond, John W., 232.

Raymond, Richard, 141.

Raymond, Thomas, 129, 133, 141.

Raymond, William, 129, 132, 143.

Raymond, William, Jr., ii. 192.

Rea, Bethiah, 113, 116.

Rea, Daniel, 40, 113, 140.

Rea, Daniel, Jr., 288; ii. 272.

Rea, Hepzibah, ii. 272.

Rea, Joshua, 114, 140, 141, 287, 288; ii. 272, 545.

Rea, Sarah, ii. 272.

Read, Christopher, 123.

Read, Thomas, 49.

Records of Salem Village, 269, 272, 273-278.

Redemptioners, ii. 18.

Reed, Nicholas, 8.

Reed, Philip, 437.

Reed, Wilmot, arrest, ii. 208;
trial and execution, 324, 325.

Reinolds, Alexius, 91.

Remigius, 344.

Rice, Charles B., ii. 513.

Rice, Sarah, ii. 208.

Richards, John, ii. 251, 349.

Richardson, Mr., 442.

Richardson, Mary, 448.

Ring, Jarvis, ii. 414.

Rist, Nicholas, ii. 352.

Roads, 43.

Robinson, John, ii. 181, 184.

Rogers, John, ii. 477.

Rogers, Thomas, 443.

Rolfe, Benjamin, 9; ii. 478.

Roots, Susannah, ii. 207.

Ropes, Nathaniel, 237.

Rose, Richard, ii. 171.

Royal Neck, 58.

Ruck, Thomas, 57.

Rule, Margaret, ii. 489.

Russell, James, ii. 102.

Russell, William, 80.


S.


Salem Farms, 136.

Salem Village, 199, 216, 223, 224, 233, 234, 242, 248, 269-278, 298,
[i.xxxviii]312, 321, 322; ii. 485, 513.

Saltonstall, Nathaniel, ii. 251, 455.

Satan, 325, 338.

Sargent, Peter, ii. 251.

Savage, James, 50, 384.

Saw-pit, 191.

Sawyers, 191.

Sayer, Samuel, ii. 475.

Scarlett, Benjamin, 32.

Science, physical, 380.

Scott, Margaret, trial and execution, ii. 324, 325.

Scott, Reginald, 368, 410.

Scott, Sir Walter, 335.

Scottow, Joshua, 424, 425; ii. 298.

Scriptures, King James's Translation of, 375.

Scruggs, Margery, 66.

Scruggs, Rachel, 65.

Scruggs, Thomas, 64, 130.

Sears, Ann, ii. 208.

Seating the meeting-house, 217; ii. 506.

Seely, Robert, 122.

Settlers, provision of land for, 16.

Sewall, Mitchel, ii. 481.

Sewall, Samuel, ii. 102, 111, 157, 251, 441, 497.

Sewall, Samuel, ii. 481.

Sewall, Stephen, 57; ii. 3, 230, 384, 487, 497.

Shakespeare, William, 379, 467.

Sharp, Samuel, 46, 57, 388.

Shattuck, Samuel, 193; ii. 180, 259.

Shaw, Israel, ii. 465.

Sheldon, Godfrey, 8.

Sheldon, Susannah, ii. 4, 322.

Shepard, John, ii. 465.

Shepard, Rebecca, ii. 275, 280.

Sherringham, Robert, 356.

Shippen, Mr., 261.

Ship Tavern, ii. 254.

Shirley, William, ii. 482.

Shovel-board, 196, 204.

Sibley, John, 141, 154.

Sibley, John L., 141.

Sibley, Mary, ii. 95, 97.

Sibley, Samuel, 259, 262; ii. 97, 465.

Sibley, William, 262; ii. 18.

Silsbee, Nathaniel, ii. 267.

Sinclair, George, 350.

Singletary, Jonathan, 433.

Skelton, Samuel, 57, 85.

Skerry, Henry, 259.

Sleighs, 203.

Small, Thomas, 154; ii. 19.

Smith, George, ii. 307.

Smith, Thomas, 105.

Soames, Abigail, ii. 208.

Soames, Joseph, 123.

Spaulding, Willard, 237.

Spencer, John, 432.

Spenser, Edmund, 346, 365.

Sprenger, James, 361.

Stacy, William, ii. 263.

Stearns, Isaac, ii. 263.

Stileman, Elias, 40, 86.

Stone, Samuel, ii. 307.

Story, Joseph, ii. 440.

Story, William, ii. 306.

Stoughton, William, 125; ii. 157, 250, 301, 349, 355.

Sunday patrol, 40.

Surey Demoniac, 354.

Sweden, King of, 344.

Swinnerton, Esther, ii. 272.

Swinnerton, Job, 140, 270.

Swinnerton, Job, ii. 272.

Swinnerton, Ruth, ii. 495.

Switchell, Abraham, 123.

Syllogism, 381.

Symmes, Thomas, ii. 478.

Symmes, Zachariah, ii. 478.

Symonds, John, ii. 377.

Symonds, Samuel, 433.

Symonds, William, 433.


T.


Tanner, Adam, 361.

Tarbell, John, 80, 91, 288; ii. 57, 287, 486, 497, 506, 545-553.

Taylor, Benjamin, 182.

Taylor, Zachary, 124.

Tears, trial by, 409.

Thacher, Mrs., ii. 345, 448, 453.

Thomasius, Christian, 373.

Thompson, William, ii. 306.

Tibullus, Elegy, 337.

Titcomb, Elizabeth, 444.

Tituba, ii. 2, 11;
examination and confession, 23, 32, 255.

Tookey, Job, arrest, ii. 208;
examination, 223, 349.

Toothacre, Mrs., ii. 208.

Topsfield, controversy with, 238.

Torrey, Samuel, ii. 494, 553.

Torrey, William, 450; ii. 553.

Towne, Jacob, 241; ii. 56.

Towne, John, 241; ii. 56.

Towne, Joseph, 241; ii. 56.

Towne, William, ii. 466.

Towns, 20.

Train-band, 100, 224.

Training-field, 176, 178, 225.

[i.xxxix]Trask, Edward, 105.

Trask, William, 34, 64, 129.

Travel, modes of, 43, 61, 203.

Troopers, company of, 226.

Trusler, Eleanor, 237.

Tucker, John, 444.

Tucker, Mary, 448.

Tufts, James, 105.

Turner, Sharon, 375.

Twiss, William, 395.

Tycho Brahe, 345.

Tyler, Hannah, ii. 349, 404.

Tyler, Mary, ii. 349, 404.

Tyng, Edward, 125.


U.


Upham, Phinehas, 118, 122.

Upton family, 155.

Urbain Grandier, 348.

Usher, Hezekiah, ii. 453.


V.


Varney, Thomas, ii. 306.

Verrin, Hilliard, 40.

Verrin, Joshua, 40.

Verrin, Nathaniel, 156, 287.

Verrin, Philip, 40, 63.

Verrin, Philip, Jr., 40.

Vigilance Committee, ii. 286.

Villalpando, Don Francisco Torreblanca, 361.

Virgil, 336, 413.


W.


Wade, Thomas, ii. 337.

Wadsworth, Benjamin, ii. 505.

Wadsworth, Benjamin, ii. 516.

Wagstaff, John, 370.

Wainwright, Simon, 9.

Walcot, Abraham, 188.

Walcot, Jonathan, 155, 225, 270; ii. 3, 100, 140, 464, 466.

Walcot, Jonathan, Jr., ii. 125, 550.

Walcot, Mary, ii. 3, 465.

Walker, Richard, ii. 207.

Walley, John, ii. 553.

Ward, George A., 98.

Wardwell, Mary, ii. 349.

Wardwell, Samuel, trial and execution, ii. 324, 384, 480.

Wardwell, Sarah, ii. 349.

Warren, Mary, ii. 4, 114, 128.

Warren, Sarah, ii. 17.

Wassalbe, Bridget, 191.

Waterman, Richard, 60.

Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, 414.

Watts, Isaac, ii. 516.

Watts, Jeremiah, 179.

Way, Aaron, 145; ii. 68, 177.

Way, William, ii. 493.

Weld, Daniel, 57.

Wells, town of, 256.

Wesley, John, ii. 518.

Westgate, John, ii. 181.

Weston, Francis, 60.

Wheelwright, John, ii. 228.

Whitaker, Abraham, 429.

White, James, ii. 306.

White, John, 389.

Whittier, John G., ii. 444.

Whittredge, Mary, ii. 187, 197, 199.

Wierus, John, 368, 376.

Wilds, John, ii. 128, 135.

Wilds, Sarah, arrest and examination, ii. 135;
trial and execution, 268, 480.

Wilds, William, 143; ii. 135.

Wilderness, opening of, 26.

Wilkins, Benjamin, 227; ii. 173, 550.

Wilkins, Bray, 143-146, 214, 309; ii. 173, 174.

Wilkins, Daniel, ii. 174, 179.

Wilkins, Hannah, 309.

Wilkins, Henry, ii. 174.

Wilkins, Samuel, ii. 173.

Wilkins, Thomas, 154, 227, 316; ii. 491-495, 506, 546-553.

Willard, John, arrest, ii. 172-179;
trial and execution, 321, 480.

Willard, Margaret, ii. 466.

Willard, Samuel, ii. 89, 289, 309, 494, 550-553.

Willard, Simon, ii. 210.

Williams, Abigail, ii. 3, 7, 46, 393.

Williams, Nathaniel, ii. 553.

Williams, Roger, 50, 56, 68.

Wilson, Robert, 105.

Wilson, Sarah, ii. 404.

Wills, 65, 75, 78, 92, 137, 162, 175, 425; ii. 304, 312, 511.

Wills Hill, 26, 144.

Winslow, Josiah, 119.

Winthrop, Fitz John, 54.

Winthrop, John, 17, 23, 39, 95, 454.

Winthrop, John, Jr., 39, 50, 58.

Winthrop, Wait, 54; ii. 251, 349, 497.

Wise, John, ii. 304, 306;
autograph, 314, 477, 494.

[i.xl]Witch, 402.

Witchcraft, 337;
law relating to, ii. 256, 516.

Witch-imp, 406.

Witch-mark, 405.

Witch-puppets, 408.

Witch Hill, ii. 376-380.

Witch of Endor, 333.

Wood, Anthony, 370.

Woodbridge, John, 438.

Wooden Bridge, 234.

Woodbury, Humphrey, 141.

Woodbury, John, 129.

Woodbury, Nicholas, 98.

Woodbury, Peter, 105.

Woodbury, William, 141.

Wooleston River, 23.

Wolf-pits, 212.

Wolves, 211.


Y.


Young, William, 51.




[i.1]
INTRODUCTION.



 IT is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the human being,
 that he loves to contemplate the scenes of the past, and desires to
 have his own history borne down to the future. This, like all the
 other propensities of our nature, is accompanied by faculties to
 secure its gratification. The gift of speech, by which the parent can
 convey information to the child—the old transmit intelligence to the
 young—is an indication that it is the design of the Author of our
 being that we should receive from those passing away the narrative of
 their experience, and communicate the results of our own to the
 generations that succeed us. All nations have, to a greater or less
 degree, been faithful to their trust in using the gift to fulfil the
 design of the Giver. It is impossible to name a people who do not
 possess cherished traditions that have descended from their early
 ancestors.

Although it is generally considered that the invention of a system of
arbitrary and external signs to communicate thought is one of the
greatest and most[i.2] arduous achievements of human ingenuity, yet so
universal is the disposition to make future generations acquainted with
our condition and history,—a disposition the efficient cause of which
can only be found in a sense of the value of such knowledge,—that you
can scarcely find a people on the face of the globe, who have not
contrived, by some means or other, from the rude monument of shapeless
rock to the most perfect alphabetical language, to communicate with
posterity; thus declaring, as with the voice of Nature herself, that it
is desirable and proper that all men should know as much as possible of
the character, actions, and fortunes of their predecessors on the stage
of life.

It is not difficult to discern the end for which this disposition to
preserve for the future and contemplate the past was imparted to us. If
all that we knew were what is taught by our individual experience, our
minds would have but little, comparatively, to exercise and expand
them, and our characters would be the result of the limited influences
embraced within the narrow sphere of our particular and immediate
relations and circumstances. But, as our notice is extended in the
observation of those who have lived before us, our materials for
reflection and sources of instruction are multiplied. The virtues we
admire in our ancestors not only adorn and dignify their names, but win
us to their imitation. Their prosperity and happiness spread abroad a
diffusive light that reaches us, and brightens our condition. The
wisdom that[i.3] guided their footsteps becomes, at the same time, a
lamp to our path. The observation of the errors of their course, and of
the consequent disappointments and sufferings that befell them, enables
us to pass in safety through rocks and ledges on which they were
shipwrecked; and, while we grieve to see them eating the bitter fruits
of their own ignorance and folly as well as vices and crimes, we can
seize the benefit of their experience without paying the price at which
they purchased it.

In the desire which every man feels to learn the history, and be
instructed by the example, of his predecessors, and in the accompanying
disposition, with the means of carrying it into effect, to transmit a
knowledge of himself and his own times to his successors, we discover
the wise and admirable arrangement of a providence which removes the
worn-out individual to a better country, but leaves the acquisitions of
his mind and the benefit of his experience as an accumulating and
common fund for the use of his posterity; which has secured the
continued renovation of the race, without the loss of the wisdom of
each generation.

These considerations suggest the true definition of history. It is the
instrument by which the results of the great experiment of human action
on this theatre of being are collected and transmitted from age to age.
Speaking through the records of history, the generations that have gone
warn and guide the generations that follow. History is the Past,
teaching Philosophy to the Present, for the Future.[i.4]

Since this is the true and proper design of history, it assumes an
exalted station among the branches of human knowledge. Every community
that aspires to become intelligent and virtuous should cherish it.
Institutions for the promotion and diffusion of useful information
should have special reference to it. And all people should be induced
to look back to the days of their forefathers, to be warned by their
errors, instructed by their wisdom, and stimulated in the career of
improvement by the example of their virtues.

The historian would find a great amount and variety of materials in the
annals of this old town,—greater, perhaps, than in any other of its
grade in the country. But there is one chapter in our history of
pre-eminent interest and importance. The witchcraft delusion of 1692
has attracted universal attention since the date of its occurrence, and
will, in all coming ages, render the name of Salem notable throughout
the world. Wherever the place we live in is mentioned, this memorable
transaction will be found associated with it; and those who know
nothing else of our history or our character will be sure to know, and
tauntingly to inform us that they know, that we hanged the witches.

It is surely incumbent upon us to possess ourselves of correct and just
views of a transaction thus indissolubly connected with the reputation
of our home, with the memory of our fathers, and, of course, with the
most precious part of the inheritance of our chil[i.5]dren. I am
apprehensive that the community is very superficially acquainted with
this transaction. All have heard of the Salem witchcraft; hardly any
are aware of the real character of that event. Its mention creates a
smile of astonishment, and perhaps a sneer of contempt, or, it may be,
a thrill of horror for the innocent who suffered; but there is reason
to fear, that it fails to suggest those reflections, and impart that
salutary instruction, without which the design of Providence in
permitting it to take place cannot be accomplished. There are, indeed,
few passages in the history of any people to be compared with it in all
that constitutes the pitiable and tragical, the mysterious and awful.
The student of human nature will contemplate in its scenes one of the
most remarkable developments which that nature ever assumed; while the
moralist, the statesman, and the Christian philosopher will severally
find that it opens widely before them a field fruitful in instruction.

Our ancestors have been visited with unmeasured reproach for their
conduct on the occasion. Sad, indeed, was the delusion that came over
them, and shocking the extent to which their bewildered imaginations
and excited passions hurried and drove them on. Still, however, many
considerations deserve to be well weighed before sentence is passed
upon them. And while I hope to give evidence of a readiness to have
every thing appear in its own just light, and to expose to view the
very darkest features of the transaction, I am confident of being able
to bring forward[i.6] such facts and reflections as will satisfy you
that no reproach ought to be attached to them, in consequence of this
affair, which does not belong, at least equally, to all other nations,
and to the greatest and best men of their times and of previous ages;
and, in short, that the final predominating sentiment their conduct
should awaken is not so much that of anger and indignation as of pity
and compassion.

Let us endeavor to carry ourselves back to the state of the colony of
Massachusetts one hundred and seventy years ago. The persecutions our
ancestors had undergone in their own country, and the privations,
altogether inconceivable by us, they suffered during the early years of
their residence here, acting upon their minds and characters, in
co-operation with the influences of the political and ecclesiastical
occurrences that marked the seventeenth century, had imparted a gloomy,
solemn, and romantic turn to their dispositions and associations, which
was transmitted without diminution to their children, strengthened and
aggravated by their peculiar circumstances. It was the triumphant age
of superstition. The imagination had been expanded by credulity, until
it had reached a wild and monstrous growth. The Puritans were always
prone to subject themselves to its influence; and New England, at the
time to which we are referring, was a most fit and congenial theatre
upon which to display its power. Cultivation had made but a slight
encroachment on the wilderness. Wide, dark, unexplored forests covered
the[i.7] hills, hung over the lonely roads, and frowned upon the
scattered settlements. Persons whose lives have been passed where the
surface has long been opened, and the land generally cleared, little
know the power of a primitive wilderness upon the mind. There is
nothing more impressive than its sombre shadows and gloomy recesses.
The solitary wanderer is ever and anon startled by the strange,
mysterious sounds that issue from its hidden depths. The distant fall
of an ancient and decayed trunk, or the tread of animals as they prowl
over the mouldering branches with which the ground is strown; the
fluttering of unseen birds brushing through the foliage, or the moaning
of the wind sweeping over the topmost boughs,—these all tend to excite
the imagination and solemnize the mind. But the stillness of a forest
is more startling and awe-inspiring than its sounds. Its silence is so
deep as itself to become audible to the inner soul. It is not
surprising that wooded countries have been the fruitful fountains and
nurseries of superstition.

"In such a place as this, at such an hour,
If ancestry can be in aught believed,
Descending spirits have conversed with man,
And told the secrets of the world unknown."

The forests which surrounded our ancestors were the abode of a
mysterious race of men of strange demeanor and unascertained origin.
The aspects they presented, the stories told of them, and every thing
connected with them, served to awaken fear, bewilder the imagination,
and aggravate the tendencies of the general condition of things to
fanatical enthusiasm.[i.8]

It was the common belief, sanctioned, as will appear in the course of
this discussion, not by the clergy alone, but by the most learned
scholars of that and the preceding ages, that the American Indians were
the subjects and worshippers of the Devil, and their powwows, wizards.

In consequence of this opinion, the entire want of confidence and
sympathy to which it gave rise, and the provocations naturally incident
to two races of men, of dissimilar habits, feelings, and ideas, thrown
into close proximity, a state of things was soon brought about which
led to conflicts and wars of the most distressing and shocking
character. A strongly rooted sentiment of hostility and horror became
associated in the minds of the colonists with the name of Indian. There
was scarcely a village where the marks of savage violence and cruelty
could not be pointed out, or an individual whose family history did not
contain some illustration of the stealth, the malice or the vengeance
of the savage foe. In 1689, John Bishop, and Nicholas Reed a servant of
Edward Putnam; and, in 1690, Godfrey Sheldon, were killed by Indians in
Salem. In the year 1691, about six months previous to the commencement
of the witchcraft delusion, the county of Essex was ordered to keep
twenty-four scouts constantly in the field, to guard the frontiers
against the savage enemy, and to give notice of his approach, then
looked for every hour with the greatest alarm and apprehension.

Events soon justified the dread of Indian hostilities[i.9] felt by the
people of this neighborhood. Within six years after the witchcraft
delusion, incursions of the savage foe took place at various points,
carrying terror to all hearts. In August, 1696, they killed or took
prisoners fifteen persons at Billerica, burning many houses. In October
of the same year, they came upon Newbury, and carried off and
tomahawked nine persons; all of whom perished, except a lad who
survived his wounds. In 1698, they made a murderous and destructive
assault upon Haverhill. The story of the capture, sufferings, and
heroic achievements of Hannah Dustin, belongs to the history of this
event. It stands by the side of the immortal deed of Judith, and has no
other parallel in all the annals of female daring and prowess. On the
3d of July, 1706, a garrison was stormed at night in Dunstable; and
Holyoke, a son of Edward Putnam, with three other soldiers, was killed.
He was twenty-two years of age. In 1708, seven hundred Algonquin and
St. Francis Indians, under the command of French officers, fell again
upon Haverhill about break of day, on the 29th of August; consigned the
town to conflagration and plunder; destroyed a large amount of
property; massacred the minister Mr. Rolfe, the commander of the post
Captain Wainwright, together with nearly forty others; and carried off
many into captivity. On this occasion, a troop of horse and a foot
company from Salem Village rushed to the rescue; the then minister of
the parish, the Rev. Joseph Green, seized his gun and went with them.
They pursued the flying Indians for[i.10] some distance. So deeply were
the people of Haverhill impressed by the valor and conduct of Mr. Green
and his people, that they sent a letter of thanks, and desired him to
come and preach to them. He complied with the invitation, spent a
Sunday there, and thus gave them an opportunity to express personally
their gratitude. On other occasions, he accompanied his people on
similar expeditions.

These occurrences show that the fears and anxieties of the colonists in
reference to Indian assaults were not without grounds at the period of
the witchcraft delusion. They were, at that very time, hanging like a
storm-cloud over their heads, soon to burst, and spread death and
destruction among them.

There was but little communication between the several villages and
settlements. To travel from Boston to Salem, for instance, which the
ordinary means of conveyance enable us to do at present in less than an
hour, was then the fatiguing, adventurous, and doubtful work of an
entire day.

It was the darkest and most desponding period in the civil history of
New England. The people, whose ruling passion then was, as it has ever
since been, a love for constitutional rights, had, a few years before,
been thrown into dismay by the loss of their charter, and, from that
time, kept in a feverish state of anxiety respecting their future
political destinies. In addition to all this, the whole sea-coast was
exposed to danger: ruthless pirates were continually prowling along the
shores. Commerce was nearly[i.11] extinguished, and great losses had
been experienced by men in business. A recent expedition against Canada
had exposed the colonies to the vengeance of France.

The province was encumbered with oppressive taxes, and weighed down by
a heavy debt. The sum assessed upon Salem to defray the expenses of the
country at large, the year before the witchcraft prosecutions, was
£1,346. 1_s._ Besides this, there were the town taxes. The whole
amounted, no doubt, inclusive of the support of the ministry, to a
weight of taxation, considering the greater value of money at that
time, of which we have no experience, and can hardly form an adequate
conception. The burden pressed directly upon the whole community. There
were then no great private fortunes, no moneyed institutions, no
considerable foreign commerce, few, if any, articles of luxury, and no
large business-capitals to intercept and divert its pressure. It was
borne to its whole extent by the unaided industry of a population of
extremely moderate estates and very limited earnings, and almost
crushed it to the earth.

The people were dissatisfied with the new charter. They were becoming
the victims of political jealousies, discontent, and animosities. They
had been agitated by great revolutions. They were surrounded by
alarming indications of change, and their ears were constantly assailed
by rumors of war. Their minds were startled and confounded by the
prevalence of prophecies and forebodings of dark and dismal[i.12]
events. At this most unfortunate moment, and, as it were, to crown the
whole and fill up the measure of their affliction and terror, it was
their universal and sober belief, that the Evil One himself was, in a
special manner, let loose, and permitted to descend upon them with
unexampled fury.

The people of Salem participated in their full share of the gloom and
despondency that pervaded the province, and, in addition to that, had
their own peculiar troubles and distresses. Within a short time, the
town had lost almost all its venerable fathers and leading citizens,
the men whose councils had governed and whose wisdom had guided them
from the first years of the settlement of the place. Only those who are
intimately acquainted with the condition of a community of simple
manners and primitive feelings, such as were the early New-England
settlements, can have an adequate conception of the degree to which the
people were attached to their patriarchs, the extent of their
dependence upon them, and the amount of the loss when they were
removed.

In the midst of this general distress and local gloom and depression,
the great and awful tragedy, whose incidents, scenes, and characters I
am to present, took place.

[i.13]

decoration

PART FIRST.

decoration

[i.14]

decoration

SALEM VILLAGE.

decoration

[i.15]

Salem Village, 1866.




PART FIRST.


SALEM VILLAGE.

 IT is necessary, before entering upon the subject of the witchcraft
 delusion, to give a particular and extended account of the immediate
 locality where it occurred, and of the community occupying it. This is
 demanded by justice to the parties concerned, and indispensable to a
 correct understanding of the transaction. No one, in truth, can
 rightly appreciate the character of the rural population of the towns
 first settled in Massachusetts, without tracing it to its origin, and
 taking into view the policy that regulated the colonization of the
 country at the start.

"The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England"
possessed, by its charter from James the First, dated Nov. 3, 1620, and
renewed by Charles the First, March 4, 1629, the entire sovereignty
over all the territory assigned to it. Some few conditions and
exceptions were incorporated in the grant, which, in the event, proved
to be merely nom[i.16]inal. The company, so far as the crown and
sovereignty of England were concerned, became absolute owner of the
whole territory within its limits, and exercised its powers
accordingly. It adopted wise and efficient measures to promote the
settlement of the country by emigrants of the best description. It gave
to every man who transported himself at his own charge fifty acres of
land, and lots, in distinction from farms, to those who should choose
to settle and build in towns. In 1628, Captain John Endicott, one of
the original patentees, was sent over to superintend the management of
affairs on the spot, and carry out the views of the company. On the
30th of April, 1629, the company, by a full and free election, chose
said Endicott to be "Governor of the Plantation in the Massachusetts
Bay," to hold office for one year "from the time he shall take the
oath," and gave him instructions for his government. In reference to
the disposal of lands, they provided that persons "who were
adventurers," that is, subscribers to the common stock, to the amount
of fifty pounds, should have two hundred acres of land, and, at that
rate, more or less, "to the intent to build their houses, and to
improve their labors thereon." Adventurers who carried families with
them were to have fifty acres for each member of their respective
families. Other provisions were made, on the same principles, to meet
the case of servants taken over; for each of whom an additional number
of acres was to be allowed. If a person should choose "to build on
the[i.17] plot of ground where the town is intended to be built," he
was to have half an acre for every fifty pounds subscribed by him to
the common stock. A general discretion was given to Endicott and his
council to make grants to particular persons, "according to their
charge and quality;" having reference always to the ability of the
grantee to improve his allotment. Energetic and intelligent men, having
able-bodied sons or servants, even if not adventurers, were to be
favorably regarded. Endicott carried out these instructions faithfully
and judiciously during his brief administration. In the mean time, it
had been determined to transfer the charter, and the company bodily, to
New England. Upon this being settled, John Winthrop, with others,
joined the company, and he was elected its governor on the 29th of
October, 1629. On the 12th of June, 1630, he arrived in Salem, and held
his first court at Charlestown on the 28th of August.

There was some irregularity in these proceedings. The charter fixed a
certain time, "yearly, once in the year, for ever hereafter," for the
election of governor, deputy-governor, and assistants. Matthew Cradock
had been elected accordingly, on the 13th of May, 1629, governor of the
company "for the year following." He presided at the General Court of
the company when Winthrop was elected governor. There does not appear
to have been any formal resignation of his office by Cradock. In point
of fact, the charter made no provision for a resignation of office, but
only for cases where a vacancy might be occasioned[i.18] by death, or
removal by an act of the company. It would have been more regular for
the company to have removed Cradock by a formal vote; but the great and
weighty matter in which they were engaged prevented their thinking of a
mere formality. Cradock had himself conceived the project they had met
to carry into effect, and labored to bring it about. He vacated the
chair to his successor, on the spot. Still forgetting the provisions of
the charter, they declared Winthrop elected "for the ensuing year, to
begin on this present day," the 20th of October, 1629. By the language
of the charter, he could only be elected to fill the vacancy "in the
room or place" of Cradock; that is, for the residue of the official
year established by the express provision of that instrument, namely,
until the "last Wednesday in Easter term" ensuing. All usage is in
favor of this construction. The terms of the charter are explicit; and,
if persons chosen to fill vacancies during the course of a year could
thus be commissioned to hold an entire year from the date of their
election, the provision fixing a certain day "yearly" for the choice of
officers would be utterly nullified. Whether this subsequently occurred
to Winthrop and his associates is not known; but, if it did, it was
impossible for them to act in conformity to the view now given; for, in
the ensuing "last Wednesday of Easter term," he was at sea, in mid
ocean, and the several members of the company dispersed throughout his
fleet. When he arrived in Salem, he found Endicott—who, in the records
of the[i.19] company before its transfer to New England, is styled "the
Governor beyond the seas"—with his year of office not yet expired. The
company had not chosen another in his place, and his commission still
held good. It was so evident that the vote extending the term of
Winthrop's tenure to a year from the day on which he was chosen, Oct.
20, 1629, was illegal, that when that year expired, in October, 1630,
no motion was made to proceed to a new election. In the mean time,
however, Endicott's year had expired; and, for aught that appears,
there was not, for several months, any legal governor or government at
all in the colony. When the next "last Wednesday of Easter term" came
round, on the 18th of May, 1631, Winthrop was chosen governor, as the
record says, "according to the meaning of the patent;" and all went on
smoothly afterwards. If the difficulty into which they had got was
apprehended by Winthrop, Endicott, or any of their associates, they
were wise enough to see that nothing but mischief could arise from
taking notice of it; that no human ingenuity could disentangle the
snarl; and that all they could do was to wait for the lapse of time to
drift them through. The conduct of these two men on the occasion was
truly admirable. Endicott welcomed Winthrop with all the honors due to
his position as governor; opened his doors to receive him and his
family; and manifested the affectionate respect and veneration with
which, from his earliest manhood to his dying day, Winthrop ever
inspired all men in all circumstances. Winthrop per[i.20]formed the
ceremony at Endicott's marriage. They each went about his own business,
and said nothing of the embarrassments attached to their official
titles or powers. After a few months, Winthrop held his courts, as
though all was in good shape; and Endicott took his seat as an
assistant. They proved themselves sensible, high-minded men, of true
public spirit, and friends to each other and to the country, which will
for ever honor them both as founders and fathers. They entered into no
disputes—and their descendants never should—about which was governor,
or which first governor.

The disposal of lands, at the expiration of Endicott's delegated
administration, passed back into the hands of the company, and was
conducted by the General Court upon the policy established at its
meetings in London. On the 3d of March, 1635, the General Court
relinquished the control and disposal of lands, within the limits of
towns, to the towns themselves. After this, all grants of lands in
Salem were made by the people of the town or their own local courts.
The original land policy was faithfully adhered to here, as it probably
was in the other towns.

The following is a copy of the Act:—

"Whereas particular towns have many things which concern only
themselves, and the ordering of their own affairs, and disposing of
businesses in their own towns, it is therefore ordered, that the
freemen of any town, or the major part of them, shall only have power
to dispose of their own lands and woods, with all the privileges and
appurtenances of the[i.21] said towns, to grant lots, and make such
orders as may concern the well ordering of their own towns, not
repugnant to the laws and orders here established by the General Court;
as also to lay mulcts and penalties for the breach of these orders, and
to levy and distress the same, not exceeding the sum of twenty
shillings; also to choose their own particular officers, as constables,
surveyors of the high-ways, and the like; and because much business is
like to ensue to the constables of several towns, by reason they are to
make distress, and gather fines, therefore that every town shall have
two constables, where there is need, that so their office may not be a
burthen unto them, and they may attend more carefully upon the
discharge of their office, for which they shall be liable to give their
accounts to this court, when they shall be called thereunto."

The reflecting student of political science will probably regard this
as the most important legislative act in our annals. Towns had existed
before, but were scarcely more than local designations, or convenient
divisions of the people and territories. This called them into being as
depositories and agents of political power in its mightiest efficacy
and most vital force. It remitted to the people their original
sovereignty. Before, that sovereignty had rested in the hands of a
remote central deputation; this returned it to them in their primary
capacity, and brought it back, in its most important elements, to their
immediate control. It gave them complete possession and absolute power
over their own lands, and provided the machinery for managing their own
neighborhoods and making and[i.22] executing their own laws in what is,
after all, the greatest sphere of government,—that which concerns
ordinary, daily, immediate relations. It gave to the people the power
to do and determine all that the people can do and determine, by
themselves. It created the towns as the solid foundation of the whole
political structure of the State, trained the people as in a perpetual
school for self-government, and fitted them to be the guardians of
republican liberty and order.

Large tracts were granted to men who had the disposition and the means
for improving them by opening roads, building bridges, clearing
forests, and bringing the surface into a state for cultivation. Men of
property, education, and high social position, were thus made to lead
the way in developing the agricultural resources of the country, and
giving character to the farming interest and class. In cases where men
of energy, industry, and intelligence presented themselves, if not
adventurers in the common stock, with no other property than their
strong arms and resolute wills, particularly if they had able-bodied
sons, liberal grants were made. Every one who had received a town lot
of half an acre was allowed to relinquish it, receiving, in exchange, a
country lot of fifty acres or more. Under this system, a population of
a superior order was led out into the forest. Farms quickly spread into
the interior, seeking the meadows, occupying the arable land, and
especially following up the streams.

I propose to illustrate this by a very particular enumeration of
instances, and by details that will give[i.23] us an insight of the
personal, domestic, and social elements that constituted the condition
of life in the earliest age of New England, particularly in that part
of the old township of Salem where the scene of our story is laid. I
shall give an account of the persons and families who first settled the
region included in, and immediately contiguous to, Salem Village, and
whose children and grandchildren were actors or sufferers in, or
witnesses of, the witchcraft delusion. I am able, by the map, to show
the boundaries, to some degree of precision, of their farms, and the
spots on or near which their houses stood.

The first grant of land made by the company, after it had got fairly
under way, was of six hundred acres to Governor Winthrop, on the 6th of
September, 1631, "near his house at Mystic." The next was to the
deputy-governor, Thomas Dudley, on the 5th of June, 1632, of two
hundred acres "on the west side of Charles River, over against the new
town," now Cambridge. The next, on the 3d of July, 1632, was three
hundred acres to John Endicott. It is described, in the record, as
"bounded on the south side with a river, commonly called the Cow House
River, on the north side with a river, commonly called the Duck River,
on the east with a river, leading up to the two former rivers, known by
the name of Wooleston River, and on the west with the main land." The
meaning of the Indian word applied to this territory was "Birch-wood."
At the period of the witchcraft delusion, and for some time afterwards,
"Cow House River" was[i.24] called "Endicott River." Subsequently it
acquired the name of "Waters River."

This grant constituted what was called "the Governor's Orchard Farm."
In conformity with the policy on which grants were made, Endicott at
once proceeded to occupy and improve it, by clearing off the woods,
erecting buildings, making roads, and building bridges. His
dwelling-house embraced in its view the whole surrounding country, with
the arms of the sea. From the more elevated points of his farm, the
open sea was in sight. A road was opened by him, from the head of tide
water on Duck, now Crane, River, through the Orchard Farm, and round
the head of Cow House River, to the town of Salem, in one direction,
and to Lynn and Boston in another. A few years afterwards, the town
granted him two hundred acres more, contiguous to the western line of
the Orchard Farm. After this, and as a part of the transaction, the
present Ipswich road was made, and the old road through the Orchard
Farm discontinued. This illustrates the policy of the land grants. They
were made to persons who had the ability to lay out roads. The present
bridge over Crane River was probably built by Endicott and the parties
to whom what is now called the Plains, one of the principal villages of
Danvers, had been granted. The tract granted by the town was popularly
called the "Governor's Plain." By giving, in this way, large tracts of
land to men of means, the country was opened and made accessible to
settlers who had no pecuniary ability to incur large[i.25] outlays in
the way of general improvements, but had the requisite energy and
industry to commence the work of subduing the forest and making farms
for themselves. To them, smaller grants were made.

The character of the population, thus aided at the beginning in
settling the country, cannot be appreciated without giving some idea of
what it was to open the wilderness for occupancy and cultivation. This
is a subject which those who have always lived in other than frontier
towns do not perhaps understand.

How much of the land had been previously cleared by the aboriginal
tribes, it may be somewhat difficult to determine. They were but
slightly attached to the soil, had temporary and movable habitations,
and no bulky implements or articles of furniture. They were nomadic in
their habits. On the coast and its inlets, their light canoes gave easy
means of transportation, for their families and all that they
possessed, from point to point, and, further inland, over intervening
territory, from river to river. They probably seldom attempted, in this
part of the country, to clear the rugged and stony uplands. In some
instances, they removed the trees from the soft alluvial meadows,
although it is probable that in only a very few localities they would
have attempted such a persistent and laborious undertaking. There were
large salt marshes, and here and there meadows, free from timber. There
were spots where fires had swept over the land and the trees
disappeared. On such spots they probably planted their corn; the land
being made at once fertile[i.26] and easily cultivable, by the effects
of the fires. Near large inland sheets of water, having no outlets
passable by their canoes, and well stocked with fish, they sometimes
had permanent plantations, as at Will's Hill. With such slight
exceptions, when the white settler came upon his grant, he found it
covered by the primeval wilderness, thickly set with old trees, whose
roots, as well as branches, were interlocked firmly with each other,
the surface obstructed with tangled and prickly underbrush; the soil
broken, and mixed with rocks and stones,—the entire face of the country
hilly, rugged, and intersected by swamps and winding streams.

Among all the achievements of human labor and perseverance recorded in
history, there is none more herculean than the opening of a New-England
forest to cultivation. The fables of antiquity are all suggestive of
instruction, and infold wisdom. The earliest inhabitants of every
wooded country, who subdued its wilderness, were truly a race of
giants.

Let any one try the experiment of felling and eradicating a single
tree, and he will begin to approach an estimate of what the first
English settler had before him, as he entered upon his work. It was not
only a work of the utmost difficulty, calling for the greatest possible
exercise of physical toil, strength, patience, and perseverance, but it
was a work of years and generations. The axe, swung by muscular arms,
could, one by one, fell the trees. There was no machinery to aid in
extracting the tough roots, equal, often, in[i.27] size and spread, to
the branches. The practice was to level by the axe a portion of the
forest, managing so as to have the trees fall inward, early in the
season. After the summer had passed, and the fallen timber become
dried, fire would be set to the whole tract covered by it. After it had
smouldered out, there would be left charred trunks and stumps. The
trunks would then be drawn together, piled in heaps, and burned again.
Between the blackened stumps, barley or some other grain, and probably
corn, would be planted, and the lapse of years waited for, before the
roots would be sufficiently decayed to enable oxen with chains to
extract them. Then the rocks and stones would have to be removed,
before the plough could, to any considerable extent, be applied. As
late as 1637, the people of Salem voted twenty acres, to be added
within two years to his previous grant, to Richard Hutchinson, upon the
condition that he would, in the mean time, "set up ploughing." The
meadow to the eastward of the meeting-house, seen in the head-piece of
this Part, probably was the ground where ploughing was thus first "set
up." The plough had undoubtedly been used before in town-lots, and by
some of the old planters who had secured favorable open locations along
the coves and shores; but it required all this length of time to bring
the interior country into a condition for its use.

The opening of a wilderness combined circumstances of interest which
are not, perhaps, equalled in any other occupation. It is impossible to
imagine a[i.28] more exhilarating or invigorating employment. It
developed the muscular powers more equally and effectively than any
other. The handling of the axe brought into exercise every part of the
manly frame. It afforded room for experience and skill, as well as
strength; it was an athletic art of the highest kind, and awakened
energy, enterprise, and ambition; it was accompanied with sufficient
danger to invest it with interest, and demand the most careful judgment
and observation. He who best knew how to fell a tree was justly looked
upon as the most valuable and the leading man. To bring a tall giant of
the woods to the ground was a noble and perilous achievement. As it
slowly trembled and tottered to its fall, it was all-important to give
it the right direction, so that, as it came down with a thundering
crash, it might not be diverted from its expected course by the
surrounding trees and their multifarious branches, or its trunk slide
off or rebound in an unforeseen manner, scattering fragments and
throwing limbs upon the choppers below. Accidents often, deaths
sometimes, occurred. A skilful woodman, by a glance at the surrounding
trees and their branches, could tell where the tree on which he was
about to operate should fall, and bring it unerringly to the ground in
the right direction. There was, moreover, danger from lurking savages;
and, if the chopper was alone in the deep woods, from the prowling
solitary bear, or hungry wolves, which, going in packs, were sometimes
formidable. There were elements also, in the work, that awakened[i.29]
the finer sentiments. The lonely and solemn woods are God's first
temples. They are full of mystic influences; they nourish the poetic
nature; they feed the imagination. The air is elastic, and every sound
reverberates in broken, strange, and inexplicable intonations. The
woods are impregnated with a health-giving and delightful fragrance
nowhere else experienced. All the arts of modern luxury fail to produce
an aroma like that which pervades a primitive forest of pines and
spruces. Indeed, all trees, in an original wilderness, where they exist
in every stage of growth and decay, contribute to this peculiar charm
of the woods. It was not only a manly, but a most lively, occupation.
When many were working near each other, the echoes of their voices of
cheer, of the sharp and ringing tones of their axes, and of the heavy
concussions of the falling timber, produced a music that filled the old
forests with life, and made labor joyous and refreshing.

The length of time required to prepare a country covered by a
wilderness, on a New-England soil, for cultivation, may be estimated by
the facts I have stated. A long lapse of years must intervene, after
the woods have been felled and their dried trunks and branches burned,
before the stumps can be extracted, the land levelled, the stones
removed, the plough introduced, or the smooth green fields, which give
such beauty to agricultural scenes, be presented. An immense amount of
the most exhausting labor must be expended in the process. The world
looks with[i.30] wonder on the dykes of Holland, the wall of China, the
pyramids of Egypt. I do not hesitate to say that the results produced
by the small, scattered population of the American colonies, during
their first century, in tearing up a wilderness by its roots,
transforming the rocks, with which the surface was covered, into walls,
opening roads, building bridges, and making a rough and broken country
smooth and level, converting a sterile waste into fertile fields
blossoming with verdure and grains and fruitage, is a more wonderful
monument of human industry and perseverance than them all. It was a
work, not of mere hired laborers, still less of servile minions, but of
freemen owning, or winning by their voluntary and cheerful toil, the
acres on which they labored, and thus entitling themselves to be the
sovereigns of the country they were creating. A few thousands of such
men, with such incentives, wrought wonders greater than millions of
slaves or serfs ever have accomplished, or ever will.

It was not, therefore, from mere favoritism, or a blind subserviency to
men of wealth or station, that such liberal grants of land were made to
Winthrop, Dudley, Endicott, and others, but for various wise and good
reasons, having the welfare and happiness of the whole people,
especially the poorer classes, in view. In illustration of the one now
under consideration, a few facts may be presented. They will show the
amount of labor required to bring the "Orchard Farm" into cultivation,
and which must have been procured[i.31] at a large outlay in money by
the proprietor. In the court-files are many curious papers, in the
shape of depositions given by witnesses in suits of various kinds,
arising from time to time, showing that large numbers of hired men were
kept constantly at work. Nov. 10, 1678, Edmund Grover, seventy-eight
years old, testified, "that, above forty-five years since, I, this
deponent, wrought much upon Governor Endicott's farm, called Orchard,
and did, about that time, help to cut and cleave about seven thousand
palisadoes, as I remember, and was the first that made improvement
thereof, by breaking up of ground and planting of Indian-corn." The
land was granted to Endicott in July, 1632; and the work in which
Grover, with others, was engaged, commenced undoubtedly forthwith.
Palisadoes were young trees, of about six inches in diameter at the
butt, cut into poles of about ten feet in length, sharpened at the
larger end, and driven into the ground; those that were split or cloven
were used as rails. In this way, lots were fenced in. In some cases,
the upright posts were placed close together, as palisades in
fortifications, to prevent the escape of domestic animals, and as a
safeguard against depredations upon the young cattle, sheep, and
poultry, by bears, wolves, foxes, the loup-cervier, or wild-cat, with
which the woods were infested. Grover seems to have wrought on the
Orchard Farm for a short time. We find, that, a few years after the
point to which his testimony goes back, he had a farm of his own. Some
wrought there for a longer time, and were permanent[i.32] retainers on
the farm. In 1635, the widow Scarlett apprenticed her son Benjamin,
then eleven years of age, to Governor Endicott. The following document,
recorded in Essex Registry of Deeds, tells his story:—

"To all christian people to whom these presents shall come, I, Benjamin
Scarlett of Salem, in New England, sendeth Greeting—Know ye, that I,
the said Benjamin Scarlett, having lived as a servant with Mr. John
Endicott, Esq., sometimes Governor in New England, and served him near
upon thirty years, for, and in consideration whereof, the said Governor
Endicott gave unto me, the said Benjamin Scarlett, a certain tract of
land, in the year 1650, being about 10 acres, more or less, the which
land hath ever since been possessed by me, the said Benjamin Scarlett,
and it lyeth at the head of Cow House River, bounded on the north with
the land of Mr. Endicott called Orchard Farm, on the South with the
high way leading to the salt water, on the West with the road way
leading to Salem, on the East with the salt water, which tract of land
was given to me, as aforesaid, during my life, and in case I should
leave no issue of my body, to give it to such of his posterity as I
should see cause to bestow it upon; Know ye, therefore, that I, the
said Benjamin Scarlett, for divers considerations me thereunto moving,
have given, granted, and by these presents do give and grant, assign,
sett over, and bestow the aforesaid tract of land, with all the
improvements I have made thereon, both by building, fencing, or
otherwise, unto Samuel Endicott, second son to Zerubabel Endicott
deceased, and unto Hannah his wife, to have and to hold the said ten
acres of land, more or less, with all the privileges and appurtenances
thereunto belonging, unto the said Samuel[i.33] Endicott and Hannah his
wife, to his and her own proper use and behoof forever; and after their
decease I give the said tract of land to their son Samuel Endicott. In
case he should depart this life without issue, then to be given to the
next heir of the said Samuel and Hannah.—In witness whereof I have
hereunto set my hand and seal.—Dated the ninth of January one thousand
six hundred and ninety one.—Benjamin Scarlett, his mark."

It is to be observed, that Governor Endicott had died twenty-six years,
and his son Zerubabel seven years, before the date of the foregoing
deed. No writings had passed between them in reference to the final
disposition Scarlett was conditionally to make of the estate. There
were no living witnesses of the original understanding. But the old man
was true to the sentiments of honor and gratitude. The master to whom
he had been apprenticed in his boyhood had been kind and generous to
him, and he was faithful to the letter and spirit of his engagement. He
evidently made a point to have the language of the deed as strong as it
could be. He did not leave the matter to be settled by a will, but
determined to enjoy, while living, the satisfaction of being true to
his plighted faith. He was known, in his later years, as "old Ben
Scarlett." He did not feel ashamed to call himself a servant. But
humble and unpretending as he was, I feel a pride in rescuing his name
from oblivion. Old Ben Scarlett will for ever hold his place among
nature's nobles,—honest men.

The extent to which Endicott went in improving his[i.34] lands is shown
in the particular department which gave the name to his original grant.
In 1648, he bought of Captain Trask two hundred and fifty acres of
land, in another locality, giving in exchange five hundred apple-trees,
of three years' growth. Such a number of fruit-trees of that age,
disposable at so early a period, could only be the result of a great
expenditure of labor and money. So many operations going on under his
direction and within his premises made his farm a school, in which
large numbers were trained to every variety of knowledge needed by an
original settler. The subduing of the wilderness; the breaking of the
ground; the building of bridges, stone-walls, "palisadoes," houses, and
barns; the processes of planting; the introduction of all suitable
articles of culture; the methods best adapted to the preparation of the
rugged soil for production; the rearing of abundant orchards and
bountiful crops; the smoothing and levelling of lands, and the
laying-out of roads,—these were all going at once, and it was quite
desirable for young men to work on his farm, before going out deeper
into the wilderness to make farms for themselves. There were many
besides Grover who availed themselves of the advantage. John Putnam was
a large landholder, and an original grantee; but we find his youngest
son, John, attached to Endicott's establishment, and working on his
farm about the time of his maturity. In a deposition in court, in a
land case of disputed boundaries, August, 1705, "John Putnam, Sr., of
full age, testifieth and saith that—being a re[i.35]tainer in Governor
Endicott's family, about fifty years since, and being intimately
acquainted with the governor himself and with his son, Mr. Zerubabel
Endicott, late of Salem, deceased, who succeeded in his father's right,
and lived and died on the farm called Orchard Farm, in Salem—the said
Governor Endicott did oftentimes tell this deponent," &c. The same John
Putnam, in a deposition dated 1678, says that he was then fifty years
old, and that, thirty-five years before, he was at Mr. Endicott's farm,
and went out to a certain place called "Vine Cove," where he found Mr.
Endicott; and he testifies to a conversation that he heard between Mr.
Endicott and one of his men, Walter Knight. I mention these things to
show that a lad of fifteen, a son of a neighbor of large estate in
lands, was an intimate visitor at the Orchard Farm; and that, when he
became of age, before entering upon the work of clearing lands of his
own, given by his father, he went as "a retainer" to work on the
governor's farm. He went as a voluntary laborer, as to a school of
agricultural training. This was done on other farms, first occupied by
men who had the means and the enterprise to carry on large operations.
It gave a high character, in their particular employment, to the first
settlers generally.

I cannot leave this subject of Endicott on his farm, without presenting
another picture, drawn from a wilderness scene. In 1678, Nathaniel
Ingersol, then forty-five years of age, in a deposition sworn to in
court, describes an incident that occurred on the east[i.36]ern end of
the Townsend Bishop farm as laid out on the map, when he was about
eleven years of age. His father, Richard Ingersol, had leased the farm.
It was contiguous to Endicott's land, and controversies of boundary
arose, which subsequently contributed to aggravate the feuds and
passions that were let loose in the fury of the witchcraft proceedings.
Nathaniel Ingersol says,—

"This deponent testifieth, that, when my father had fenced in a parcel
of land where the wolf-pits now are, the said Governor Endicott came to
my father where we were at plough, and said to my father he had fenced
in some of the said Governor's land. My father replied, then he would
remove the fence. No, said Governor Endicott, let it stand; and, when
you set up a new fence, we will settle in the bounds."

This statement is worthy of being preserved, as it illustrates the
character of the two men, exhibiting them in a most honorable light.
The gentlemanly bearing of each is quite observable. Ingersol manifests
an instant willingness to repair a wrong, and set the matter right;
Endicott is considerate and obliging on a point where men are most
prone to be obstinate and unyielding,—a conflict of land rights: both
are courteous, and disposed to accommodate. Endicott was governor of
the colony, and a large conterminous landowner; Ingersol was a
husbandman, at work with his boys on land into which their labor had
incorporated value, and with which, for the time being, he was
identified. But Endicott showed no arrogance,[i.37] and assumed no
authority; Ingersol manifested no resentment or irritation. If a
similar spirit had been everywhere exhibited, the good-will and harmony
of neighborhoods would never have been disturbed, and the records of
courts reduced to less than half their bulk.

To his dying day, John Endicott retained a lively interest in promoting
the welfare of his neighbors in the vicinity of the Orchard Farm.

Father Gabriel Druillettes was sent by the Governor of Canada, in 1650,
to Boston, in a diplomatic character, to treat with the Government
here. He kept a journal, during his visit, from which the following is
an extract: "I went to Salem to speak to the Sieur Indicatt who speaks
and understands French well, and is a good friend of the nation, and
very desirous to have his children entertain this sentiment. Finding I
had no money, he supplied me, and gave me an invitation to the
magistrates' table." Endicott had undoubtedly received a good
education. His natural force of character had been brought under the
influence of the knowledge prevalent in his day, and invigorated by an
experience and aptitude in practical affairs. There is some evidence
that he had, in early life, been a surgeon or physician.

He was a captain in the military service before leaving England.
Although he was the earliest who bore the title of governor here,
having been deputed to exercise that office by the governor and company
in England, and subsequently elected to that station[i.38] for a
greater length of time than any other person in our history, had been
colonel of the Essex militia, commandant of the expedition against the
Indians at Block Island, and, for several years, major-general, at the
head of the military forces of the colony, the title of captain was
attached to him, more or less, from beginning to end; and it is a
singular circumstance, that it has adhered to the name to this day. His
descendants early manifested a predilection for maritime life. During
the first half of the present century, many of them were shipmasters.
In our foreign, particularly our East-India, navigation, the title has
clung to the name; so much so, that the story is told, that, half a
century ago, when American ships arrived at Sumatra or Java, the
natives, on approaching or entering the vessels to ascertain the name
of the captain, were accustomed to inquire, "Who is the Endicott?" The
public station, rank, and influence of Governor Endicott required that
he should first be mentioned, in describing the elements that went to
form the character of the original agricultural population of this
region.

The map shows the farm of Emanuel Downing. The lines are substantially
correct, although precise accuracy cannot be claimed for them, as the
points mentioned in this and other cases were marked trees, heaps of
stones, or other perishable or removable objects, and no survey or plot
has come down to us. A collation of conterminous grants or subsequent
conveyances, with references in some of them to[i.39] permanent
objects, enables us to approximate to a pretty certain conclusion. This
gentleman was one of the most distinguished of the early New-England
colonists. He was a lawyer of the Inner Temple. He married, in the
first instance, a daughter of Sir James Ware, a person of great
eminence in the learned lore of his times. His second wife was Lucy,
sister of Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts, who was born July 9,
1601. They were married, April 10, 1622. There seems to have been a
very strong attachment between Emanuel Downing and his brother
Winthrop; and they went together, with their whole heart, into the plan
of building up the colony. They devoted to it their fortunes and lives.
Downing is supposed to have arrived at Boston in August, 1638, with his
family. On the 4th of November, he and his wife were admitted to the
Church at Salem. So great had been the value of his services in behalf
of the colony, in defending its interests and watching over its welfare
before leaving England, that he was welcomed with the utmost cordiality
to his new home. His nephew, John Winthrop, Jr., afterwards Governor of
Connecticut, was associated with John Endicott to administer to him the
freeman's oath. The General Court granted him six hundred acres of
land. He was immediately appointed a judge of the local court in Salem,
and, for many years, elected one of its two deputies to the General
Court. In anticipation of his arrival in the country, the town of
Salem, on the 16th of July, granted him five hundred acres. He
after[i.40]wards purchased the farm on which he seems to have lived,
for the most part, until he went to England in 1652. The condition of
public affairs, and his own connection with them, detained him in the
mother-country much of the latter part of his life. While in this
colony, he was indefatigable in his exertions to secure its prosperity.
His wealth and time and faculties were liberally and constantly devoted
to this end.

The active part taken by Mr. Downing in the affairs of the settlement
is illustrated in the following extract from the Salem town records:—

"At a general Town meeting, held the 7th day of the 5th month,
1644—ordered that two be appointed every Lord's Day, to walk forth in
the time of God's worship, to take notice of such as either lye about
the meeting house, without attending to the word and ordinances, or
that lye at home or in the fields without giving good account thereof,
and to take the names of such persons, and to present them to the
magistrates, whereby they may be accordingly proceeded against. The
names of such as are ordered to this service are for the 1st day, Mr.
Stileman and Philip Veren Jr. 2d day, Philip Veren Sr. and Hilliard
Veren. 3d day, Mr. Batter and Joshua Veren. 4th day, Mr. Johnson and
Mr. Clark. 5th day, Mr. Downing and Robert Molton Sr. 6th day, Robert
Molton Jr. and Richard Ingersol. 7th day, John Ingersol and Richard
Pettingell. 8th day, William Haynes and Richard Hutchinson. 9th day,
John Putnam and John Hathorne. 10th day, Townsend Bishop and Daniel
Rea. 11th day, John Porter and Jacob Barney." [i.41]

Each patrol, on concluding its day's service, was to notify the
succeeding one; and they were to start on their rounds, severally, from
"Goodman Porter's near the Meeting House."

The men appointed to this service were all leading characters, reliable
and energetic persons. It was a singular arrangement, and gives a vivid
idea of the state of things at the time. Its design was probably, not
merely that expressed in the vote of the town, but also to prevent any
disorderly conduct on the part of those not attending public worship,
and to give prompt alarm in case of fire or an Indian assault. The
population had not then spread out far into the country; and the range
of exploration did not much extend beyond the settlement in the town.
None but active men, however, could have performed the duty thoroughly,
and in all directions, so as to have kept the whole community under
strict inspection.

Mr. Downing probably expended liberally his fortune and time in
improving his farm, upon which there were, at least, four
dwelling-houses prior to 1661, and large numbers of men employed. He
was a ready contributor to all public objects. His education had been
superior and his attainments in knowledge extensive. He was of an
enlightened spirit, and strove to mitigate the severity of the
procedures against Antinomians and others. He seems to have had an
ingenious and enterprising mind. At a General Court held at Boston,
Sept. 6, 1638, it was voted that, "Whereas Emanuel Downing, Esq., hath
brought[i.42] over, at his great charges, all things fitting for taking
wild fowl by way of duck-coy, this court, being desirous to encourage
him and others in such designs as tend to the public good," &c., orders
that liberty shall be given him to set up his duck-coy within the
limits of Salem; and all persons are forbidden to molest him in his
experiments, by "shooting in any gun within half a mile of the ponds,"
where, by the regulations of the town, he shall be allowed to place the
decoys. The court afterwards granted to other towns liberty to set up
duck-coys, with similar privileges. What was the particular structure
of the contrivance, and how far it succeeded in operation, is not
known; but the thing shows the spirit of the man. He at once took hold
of his farm with energy, and gathered workmen upon it. Winthrop in his
journal has this entry, Aug. 2, 1645:—

"Mr. Downing having built a new house at his farm, he being gone to
England, and his wife and family gone to the church meeting on the
Lord's day, the chimney took fire and burned down the house, and
bedding, apparel and household, to the value of 200 pounds."

This proves that his family resided on the farm; and it indicates,
that, when he first occupied it, he had only such a house as could have
been seasonably put up at the start, but that a more commodious one had
been erected at his leisure: the expression "having built a new house"
appears to carry this idea. On his return from England, he undoubtedly
built again, and[i.43] had other houses for his workmen and tenants;
for we find that one of them, in 1648, was allowed to keep an ordinary,
"as Mr. Downing's farm, on the road between Lynn and Ipswich, was a
convenient place" for such an accommodation to travellers. Public
travel to and from those points goes over that same road to-day. That
it was so early laid out is probably owing to the fact, that such men
as Emanuel Downing were on its route, and John Winthrop, Jr., at
Ipswich. Downing called his farm "Groton," in dear remembrance of his
wife's ancestral home in "the old country."

Originally, travel was on a track more interior. The opening of roads
did not begin until after the more immediate and necessary operations
of erecting houses and bringing the land, on the most available spots
near them at the points first settled, under culture. Originally,
communication from farm to farm, through the woods, was by marking the
trees,—sometimes by burning and blackening spots on their sides, and
sometimes by cutting off a piece of the bark. The traveller found his
way step by step, following the trees thus marked, or "blazed," as it
was called whichever method had been adopted. When the branches and
brush were sufficiently cleared away, horses could be used. At places
rendered difficult by large roots, partly above ground, intercepting
the passage, or by rough stones, the rider would dismount, and lead the
horse. From this, it was called a "bridle-path." After the way had
become sufficiently opened for ox-carts or other vehicles to pass, it
would begin to receive the name of a[i.44] road. On reaching a cleared
and fenced piece of land, the traveller would cross it, opening and
closing gates, or taking down and replacing bars, as the case might be.
There were arrangements among the settlers, and, before long, acts of
the General Court, regulating the matter. This was the origin of what
were called "press-roads," or "farm-roads," or "gate-roads." When a
proprietor concluded it to be for his interest to do so, he would fence
in the road on both sides where it crossed his land, and remove the
gates or bars from each end. Ultimately, the road, if convenient for
long travel, would be fenced in for a great distance, and become a
permanent "public highway." In all these stages of progress, it would
be called a "highway." The fee would remain with the several
proprietors through whose lands it passed; and, if travel should
forsake it for a more eligible route, it would be discontinued, and the
road-track, enclosed in the fields to which it originally belonged, be
obliterated by the plough. Many of the "highways," by which the farmers
passed over each other's lands to get to the meeting-house or out to
public roads, in 1692, have thus disappeared, while some have hardened
into permanent public roads used to this day. When thus fully and
finally established, it became a "town road," and if leading some
distance into the interior, and through other towns, was called a
"country road." The early name of "path" continued some time in use
long after it had got to be worthy of a more pretentious title. The old
"Boston Path," by which the country was originally[i.45] penetrated,
long retained that name. It ran through the southern and western part
of Salem Village by the Gardners, Popes, Goodales, Flints, Needhams,
Swinnertons, Houltons, and so on towards Ipswich and Newbury.

On the 30th of September, 1648, Governor Winthrop, writing to his son
John, says "they are well at Salem, and your uncle is now beginning to
distil. Mr. Endicott hath found a copper mine in his own ground. Mr.
Leader hath tried it. The furnace runs eight tons per week, and their
bar iron is as good as Spanish." Whatever may be thought by some of the
logic which infers that "all is well" in Salem, because they are
beginning "to distil;" and however little has, as yet, resulted here
from the discovery of copper-mines, or the manufacture of iron, the
foregoing extract shows the zeal and enthusiasm with which the
wealthier settlers were applying themselves to the development of the
capabilities of the country.

Mr. Downing seems to have resided permanently on his farm, and to have
been identified with the agricultural portion of the community. His
house-lot in the town bounded south on Essex Street, extending from
Newbury to St. Peter's Street. He may not, perhaps, have built upon it
for some time, as it long continued to be called "Downing's Field." Two
of his daughters married sons of Thomas Gardner: Mary married Samuel;
and Ann, Joseph. They came into possession of the "Downing Field." Mary
was the mother of John, the progenitor of a large branch of[i.46] the
Gardner family. Mr. Downing had another large lot in the town, which,
on the 11th of February, 1641, was sold to John Pickering, described in
the deed as follows: "All that parcel of ground, lying before the now
dwelling-house of the said John Pickering, late in the occupation of
John Endicott, Esq., with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging,
abutting on the east and south on the river commonly called the South
River, and on the west on the land of William Hathorne, and on the
north on the Town Common." The deed is signed by Lucy Downing, and by
Edmund Batter, acting for her husband in his absence. On the 10th of
February, 1644, he indorsed the transaction as follows: "I do freely
agree to the sale of the said Field in Salem, made by my wife to John
Pickering: witness my hand," &c. The attesting witnesses were Samuel
Sharpe and William Hathorne. This land was then called "Broad Field."
On his estate, thus enlarged, Pickering, a few years afterwards, built
a house, still standing. The estate has remained, or rather so much of
it as was attached to the homestead, in that family to this day, and is
now owned and occupied by John Pickering, Esq., son of the eminent
scholar and philologist of that name, and grandson of Colonel Timothy
Pickering, of Revolutionary fame,—the trusted friend of Washington.

Emanuel Downing was the father of Sir George Downing, one of the first
class that graduated at Harvard College,—a man of extraordinary talents
and wonderful fortunes. After finishing his collegiate[i.47] course, in
1642, he studied divinity, probably under the direction of Hugh Peters;
went to the West Indies, acting as chaplain in the vessel; preached and
received calls to settle in several places; went on to England; entered
the parliamentary service as chaplain to a regiment; was rapidly drawn
into notice, and promoted from point to point, until he became
scoutmaster-general in Cromwell's army. This office seems to have
combined the functions of inspector and commissary-general, and head of
the reconnoitering department. In 1654, he was married to Frances,
sister of Viscount Morpeth, afterwards Earl of Carlisle; thus uniting
himself with "the blood of all the Howards," one of the noblest
families in England. The nuptials were celebrated with great pomp, an
epithalamium in Latin, &c. All this, within eleven years after he took
his degree at Harvard, is surely an extraordinary instance of rising in
the world. He was a member of Parliament for Scotland. Cromwell sent
him to France on diplomatic business, and his correspondence in Latin
from that court was the beginning of a career of great services in that
line. He was soon commissioned ambassador to the Hague, then the great
court in Europe. Thurlow's state papers show with what marvellous
vigilance, activity, and efficiency he conducted, from that centre, the
diplomatic affairs of the commonwealth. At the restoration of the
monarchy, he made the quickest and the loftiest somersault in all
political history. It was done between two days. He saw Charles the
Second at the Hague, on his way to England to re[i.48]sume his crown:
and the man who, up to that moment, had been one of the most zealous
supporters of the commonwealth, came out next morning as an equally
zealous supporter of the king. He accompanied this wonderful exploit by
an act of treachery to three of his old associates,—including Colonel
Oakey, in whose regiment he had served as chaplain,—which cost them
their lives. He was forthwith knighted, and his commission as
ambassador renewed. After a while, he returned to England; went into
Parliament from Morpeth, and ever after the exchequer was in his hands.
By his knowledge, skill, and ability, he enlarged the financial
resources of the country, multiplied its manufactures, and extended its
power and wealth. He was probably the original contriver of the policy
enforced in the celebrated Navigation Act, having suggested it in
Cromwell's time. By that single short act of Parliament, England became
the great naval power of the world; her colonial possessions, however
widely dispersed, were consolidated into one vast fountain of wealth to
the imperial realm; the empire of the seas was fixed on an immovable
basis, and the proud Hollander compelled to take down the besom from
the mast-head of his high-admiral.

Sir George Downing did one thing in favor of the power of the people,
in the British system of government, which may mitigate the resentment
of mankind for his execrable seizure and delivery to the royal
vengeance of Oakey, Corbett, and Barkstead. He introduced into
Parliament and established the prin[i.49]ciple of Specific
Appropriations. The House of Commons has, ever since, not only held the
keys of the treasury, but the power of controlling expenditures. The
fortune of Sir George, on the failure of issue in the third generation,
went to the foundation of Downing College, in Cambridge, England. It
amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling. It is not
improbable, that Downing Street, in London, owes its name to the great
diplomatist.

This remarkable man spent his later youth and opening manhood on Salem
Farms. In his college vacations and intervals of study, he partook,
perhaps, in the labors of the plantation, mingled with the rural
population, and shared in their sports. The crack of his fowling-piece
re-echoed through the wild woods beyond Procter's Corner; he tended his
father's duck-coys at Humphries' Pond, and angled along the clear
brooks. It is an observable circumstance, as illustrating the
transmission of family traits, that the same ingenious activity and
versatility of mind, which led Emanuel Downing, while carrying on the
multifarious operations of opening a large farm in the forest,
presiding in the local court at Salem, and serving year after year in
the General Court as a deputy, to contrive complicated machinery for
taking wild fowl and getting up distilleries, re-appeared in his son,
on the broader field of the manufactures, finances, and foreign
relations of a great nation.

A tract of three hundred acres, next eastward of the Downing farm, was
granted to Thomas Read. He[i.50] became a freeman in 1634, was a member
of the Salem Church in 1636, received his grant the same year, and was
acknowledged as an inhabitant, May 2, 1637. The farm is now occupied
and owned by the Hon. Richard S. Rogers. It is a beautiful and
commanding situation, and attests the taste of its original proprietor.
Mr. Read seems to have had a passion for military affairs. In 1636, he
was ensign in a regiment composed of men from Saugus, Ipswich, Newbury,
and Salem, of which John Endicott was colonel, and John Winthrop, Jr.,
lieutenant-colonel. In 1647, he commanded a company. During the civil
wars in England, he was attracted back to his native country. He
commanded a regiment in 1660, and held his place after the Restoration.
He died about 1663.

Our antiquarians were long at a loss to understand a sentence in one of
Roger Williams's letters to John Winthrop, Jr., in which he says, "Sir,
you were not long since the son of two noble fathers, Mr. John Winthrop
and Mr. Hugh Peters." How John Winthrop, Jr., could be a son of Hugh
Peters was the puzzle. Peters was not the father of either of
Winthrop's two wives; and there was nothing in any family records or
memorials to justify the notion. On the contrary, they absolutely
precluded it. By the labors and acumen of the Hon. James Savage and Mr.
Charles Deane, of Cambridge, who have no superiors in grappling with
such a difficulty, its solution seems, at last, to be reached. "After
long fruitless search," Mr. Savage has expressed a conviction that Mr.
Deane has "ac[i.51]quired the probable explication." The clue was thus
obtained: Mr. Savage says, "This approach to explanation is gained from
'the Life and Death of Hugh Peters, by William Yonge, Dr. Med. London.
1663,' a very curious and more scarce tract." The facts discovered are
that Peters taught a free school at Maldon, in Essex; and that a widow
lady with children and an estate of two or three hundred pounds a year
befriended him. She was known as "Mistress Read." Peters married her.
The second wife of John Winthrop, Jr., was Elizabeth, daughter of
Colonel Read, of Essex. By marrying Mrs. Read, Peters became the
step-father of the younger Winthrop's wife; and, by the usage of that
day, he would be called Winthrop's father.

A few additional particulars, in reference to Peters and our Salem
Read, may shed further light on the subject. While a prisoner in the
Tower of London, awaiting the trial which, in a few short days,
consigned him to his fate, Peters wrote "A Dying Father's Last Legacy
to an only Child," and delivered it to his daughter just before his
execution. This is one of the most admirable productions of genius,
wisdom, and affection, anywhere to be found. In it he gives a condensed
history of his life, which enables us to settle some questions, which
have given rise to conflicting statements, and kept some points in his
biography in obscurity. In the first place, the title proves that he
had, at the time of his death, no other child. In the course of it, he
tells his daughter, that, when he was[i.52] fourteen years of age, his
mother, then a widow, removed with him to Cambridge, and connected him
with the University there. His elder brother had been sent to Oxford
for his education. After residing eight years in Cambridge, he took his
Master's degree, and then went up to London, where he was "struck with
the sense of his sinful estate by a sermon he heard under Paul's, which
was about forty years since, which text was the _burden of Dumah or
Idumea_, and stuck fast. This made me to go into Essex; and after being
quieted by another sermon in that country, and the love and labors of
Mr. Thomas Hooker, I there preached, there married with a good
gentlewoman, till I went to London to ripen my studies, not intending
to preach at all." He then relates the circumstances which subsequently
led him again to engage in preaching. He is stated to have been born in
1599: his death was in 1660. Putting together these dates and facts, it
becomes evident that he could not have been more than twenty-two years
of age when he married "Mistress Read." The "Last Legacy" shows, not
merely in the manner in which he speaks of her,—"a good
gentlewoman,"—but, in its express terms, that she was not the mother of
the "only child" to whom it was addressed. "Besides your mother," he
states that he had had "a godly wife before." There is no indication
that there were children by the earlier marriage. If there were, they
died young. He married, for his second wife, Deliverance Sheffield, at
Boston, in March, 1639.[i.53]

His first wife, the time of whose death is unknown, had left the
children by her former husband in his hands and under his care. He
evidently cherished the memory of the "good gentlewoman of Essex" with
the tenderest and most sacred affection. She had not only been the dear
wife of his youth, but her property placed him above want. No wonder
that the strongest attachment existed between him and her children.
John Winthrop, Jr., and his wife, called him father, not merely in
conformity with custom, being their step-father in point of fact, but
with the fondness and devotion of actual children. It was on account of
this intimate and endeared connection, and in consideration of the
pecuniary benefit he had derived from his marriage to the mother of the
younger Winthrop's wife, that he made arrangements, in case he should
not return to America, that his Salem property should go to her and her
husband. Having married a second wife, and there being issue of said
marriage, he would not have alienated so considerable a part of his
property from the legal heir without some good and sufficient reason.
The foregoing view of the case explains the whole. The solution of the
mystery which had enveloped Roger Williams's language is complete.
Elizabeth, the daughter of the second marriage, to whom the "Last
Legacy" was addressed, was baptized in the First Church at Salem, on
the 8th of March, 1640. It does not appear, that, during her subsequent
life, there was any intimacy, or even acquaintance, between her and
the[i.54] Winthrops, as there was no ground for it, she being in no way
connected with them.

May not Thomas Read, of Salem, have been a son of Colonel Read, of
Maldon in Essex, and a brother of the wife of the younger Winthrop?
Peters says, in the "Last Legacy," "Many of my acquaintances, going for
New England, had engaged me to come to them when they sent, which
accordingly I did." Thomas Read came over some time before him; so did
John Winthrop, Jr., and wife. They were the same as children to him.
They sent for him, and he came. After it was ascertained and determined
that Peters should settle in Salem, Read joined the church here, and
became a full inhabitant. Peters located his grant of land in sight of
Read's residence, on the next then unappropriated territory, at a
distance of about two and a half miles. When Read returned to England,
he left his property here in the care of the Winthrops. Wait Winthrop,
as the agent and attorney of his heirs, sold it to Daniel Eppes. If, as
I conjecture, Thomas Read was a son of Colonel Read, of Essex, his
coming here with Peters, and his connection with the Winthrops, are
accounted for. His strong predilection for military affairs was natural
in a son of a colonel of the English army. It led him back to the
mother-country, on the first sound of the great civil war reaching
these shores, and raised him to the rank he finally attained. The
conjecture that he was a brother of the wife of the younger Winthrop is
favored by the fact, that her son, Fitz John Win[i.55]throp, was a
captain in Read's regiment, at the time of the restoration of the
Stuarts.

During the short period of the residence of Hugh Peters in America,
professional duties, and the extent to which his great talents were
called upon in ecclesiastical and political affairs, in all parts of
the colony, left him but little opportunity to attend to his
two-hundred-acre grant. It was to the north of the present village of
Danvers Plains, on the eastern side and adjoining to Frost-Fish Brook.
The history of this grant confirms the supposition of his particular
connection with the family of the younger Winthrop. It seems that it
had not been formally laid out by metes and bounds while Peters was
here. Owing to this circumstance, perhaps, it escaped confiscation at
the time of his condemnation and execution. Some years afterwards, June
4, 1674, a committee of the town laid out the grant "to Mr. Peters."
The record of this transaction says, "The land is in the possession of
John Corwin." Captain John Corwin had married, in May, 1665, Margaret,
daughter of John Winthrop, Jr. She survived her husband, and sold the
same land, May 22, 1693, to "Henry Brown, Jr., of Salisbury, yeoman."
These facts show that this portion of Mr. Peters's lands did go,
according to the agreement when he left America, to the family of John
Winthrop, Jr.

Whether he had erected a house on this grant is not known. From his
characteristic energy, activity, and promptitude, it is probable that
he had begun to clear[i.56] it. In agriculture, as in every thing else,
he gave a decisive impulse. It is stated that he had a particular
design to attempt the culture of hemp. He introduced many implements of
labor, and started new methods of improvement. He disclosed to the
producer of agricultural growths the idea of raising what the land was
most capable of yielding in abundance, in greater quantities than were
needed for local consumption, and finding for the surplus an outside
market. He is allowed to have introduced the coasting and foreign trade
on an intelligent and organized basis, and to have promoted
ship-building and the export of the products of the forests and the
fields generally to the Southern plantations, the West Indies, and even
more distant points. If he had remained longer in the country, the
farming interests, and the settlers in what was afterwards called Salem
Village, within which his tract was situated, would have felt his great
influence. As it was, he undoubtedly did much to inspire a zeal for
improvement. His town residence was on the south-western corner of
Essex and Washington Street, then known as "Salem Corner," where the
office of the Horse-railroad Company now is. The lot was a quarter of
an acre. Roger Williams probably had resided there, and sold to Peters,
who was his successor in the ministry of the First Church, and whose
attorney sold it to Benjamin Felton, in 1659. The range of ground
included within what are now Washington, Essex, Summer, and Chestnut
Streets, and extending to the South River, as it was before any[i.57]
dam or mills had been erected over or across it, was a beautiful swell
of land, with sloping surfaces, intersected by a creek from near the
foot of Chestnut Street to its junction with the South River under the
present grade of Mill Street. To the south of the corner, occupied
successively by Roger Williams and Hugh Peters, Ralph Fogg, the Lady
Deborah Moody, George Corwin, Dr. George Emory, Thomas Ruck, Samuel
Skelton, Endicott, Pickering, Downing, and Hathorne, each had lots,
extending in order to the foot of what is now Phelps Street. Most, if
not all of them, had houses on their lots. Elder Sharp had what was
called "Sharp's Field," bordering on the north side of Essex Street,
extending from Washington to North Streets. His house was at the north
corner of Lynde and Washington Streets. Edmund Batter, Henry Cook, Dr.
Daniel Weld, Stephen Sewall, and Edward Norris, were afterwards on his
land. Hugh Peters also owned the lot, consisting of a quarter of an
acre, on the north-eastern corner of Essex and Washington Streets, now
occupied by what is known as Stearns's Building, and was preparing to
erect a house upon it when he was sent to England. His attorney sold
it, in 1652, to John Orne, the founder of the family of that name.

The daughter of Mr. Peters came over to America shortly after his
death, bringing with her her mother, who, for many years, had been
subject to derangement. They were kindly received; and some of his
property, particularly a valuable farm in the vicinity[i.58] of
Marblehead, which the daughter sold to the American ancestor of the
Devereux family, was recovered from the effect of his attainder. She
probably soon went back to England, where she spent her days. Papers on
file in the county court show that Elizabeth Barker, widow, "daughter
of Mr. Hugh Peters," was living, in March, 1702, in good health, at
Deptford, Kent, in the immediate vicinity of London, and had been
living there for about forty years.

In consequence, perhaps, of the intimate connection between Mr. Peters
and the family of John Winthrop, Jr., the name of the latter is to be
added to the cluster of eminent men who, at that time, were drawn to
reside in Salem. He was here, it is quite certain, from 1638 to 1641,
if not for a longer period. There are indications of his presence as
early as March of the former year, when he was appointed with Endicott
to administer the freeman's oath to his uncle Downing. On the 25th of
the next June, he had liberty to set up a salt-house at Royal Neck, on
the east side of Wooleston River. There he erected a dwelling-house and
other buildings, as appears by the depositions of sundry persons in a
land suit about thirty years afterwards, who state that they worked for
him, and were conversant with him there for several years. His first
experiments and enterprises in the salt-manufacture, which he
subsequently conducted on a very extensive scale in Connecticut, were
performed at Royal Neck. His daughter, the widow successively of
Antipas Newman and Zerubabel Endicott, in the suit just
men[i.59]tioned, recovered possession of that property, comprising
forty acres, with the buildings and improvements. In 1646, John
Winthrop, Jr., accompanied by a brother of Hugh Peters, Rev. Thomas
Peters from Cornwall in England, began a plantation at Pequot River;
and Trumbull, in his "History of Connecticut," says that "Mr. Thomas
Peters was the first minister of Saybrook." The fortunes and families
of Hugh Peters and John Winthrop, Jr., seem all along to have been
linked together.

Downing, Read, and Peters, three of the original planters of Salem
Farms, were drawn back to England and kept there by the engrossing
interest which the wonderful revolution then breaking out in that
kingdom could not but awaken in such minds as theirs. Here and
everywhere, a great check was given to the early progress of the
country by the turn of the tide which carried such men back to England,
and prevented others from coming over. If the Parliament had not
attempted to arrest the usurpations of the crown at that time, and the
Stuarts been suffered to establish an absolute monarchy, the eyes and
hearts of all free spirits would have remained fixed on America, and a
perpetual stream of emigration brought over, for generations and for
ever, thousands upon thousands of such men as came at the beginning.
The effects that would have been thus produced in America and in
England, in accelerating the progress of society here, and sinking it
into debasement there; and thereby upon the fortunes of mankind the
world[i.60] over, is a subject on which a meditative and philosophical
mind may well be exercised.

But, although these men were lost, others are worthy of being
enumerated, in forming an estimate of the elements that went to make
the character of the people, a chapter in whose history, of awful
import, we are preparing ourselves to explore.

Francis Weston was a leading man at the very beginning. In 1634, with
Roger Conant and John Holgrave, he represented Salem in the first House
of Deputies ever assembled. His land grant was some little distance to
the west of the meeting-house of the village. He must have been a
person of more than ordinary liberality of spirit; for he
discountenanced the intolerance of his age, and kept his mind open to
receive truth and light. He did not conceal his sympathy with those who
suffered for entertaining Antinomian sentiments. He was ordered to quit
the colony in 1638. For the same offence, his wife, who probably had
refused to go, was placed in the stocks "two hours at Boston and two at
Salem, on a lecture day." Weston, having ventured back, five years
afterwards, was put in irons, and imprisoned to hard labor. But, as he
stood to his principles, and there was danger to be apprehended from
his influence, he was again driven out of the colony.

Richard Waterman came over from England in 1629, recommended to
Governor Endicott by the governor and deputy in London. He was a noted
hunter. "His chief employment," says the letter introducing[i.61] him
to Endicott, "will be to get you good venison." A land grant was
assigned him near Davenport's Hill. But he, too, had a spirit that
resisted the severe and arbitrary policy of the times. He became a
dissenter from the prevalent creed, and sympathized with those who
suffered oppression. In 1664, he was brought before the court,
condemned to imprisonment, and finally banished. Weston and Waterman
subsequently were conspicuous in Rhode-Island affairs. While residing
in the village, the latter probably devoted himself to the opening of
his land, and the pursuit of game through the forests. I find but one
notice of him as connected with public affairs.

For some years, the settlements were necessarily confined to the shores
of bays or coves, and the banks of rivers. There were no
wheel-carriages of any kind, for transportation or travel, until
something like roads could be made; and that was the work of time. A
few horses had been imported; but it was long before they could be
raised to meet the general wants, or come much into use. Every thing
had to be water-borne. The only vehicles were boats or canoes, mostly
the latter. There were two kinds of canoes. Large white-pine logs were
scooped or hollowed out, and wrought into suitable shape, about two and
a half feet in breadth and twenty in length. These were often quite
convenient and serviceable, but not to be compared with the Indian
canoes, which were made of the bark of trees, wrought with great skill
into a beautiful shape. The birch canoe was an admirable
struc[i.62]ture, combining elements and principles which modern naval
architecture may well study to imitate. In lightness, rapidity, freedom
and ease of motion, it has not been, and cannot be, surpassed. Its
draft, even when bearing a considerable burden, was so slight, that it
would glide over the shallowest bars. It was strong, durable, and
easily kept in repair. Although dangerous to the highest degree under
an inexperienced and unskilful hand, no vessel has ever been safer when
managed by persons trained to its use. The cool and quick-sighted
Indian could guide it, with his exquisitely moulded paddle, in perfect
security, through whirling rapids and over heavy seas, around headlands
and across bays. The settlers early supplied themselves with canoes, by
which to thread the interior streams, and cross from shore to shore in
the harbors. One great advantage of the light canoe, before roads were
opened through the woods, was, that it could be unloaded, and borne on
the shoulders across the land, at any point, to another stream or lake,
thus cutting off long curves, and getting from river to river. The
lading would be transported in convenient parcels, the canoe launched,
loaded, and again be floated on its way. Canoes soon came into
universal use, particularly in this neighborhood. Wood, in his
"New-England's Prospect," speaking of Salem, says, "There be more
canowes in this town than in all the whole Patent, every household
having a water horse or two." It was so important for the public safety
to have them kept in good condition, that the town took the
matter[i.63] in hand. The quarterly court records have the following
entry under the date of June 27, 1636:—

"It was ordered and agreed, that all the canoes of the north side of
the town shall be brought the next second day, being the 4th day of the
5th month, about 9 o'clock, a.m., unto the cove of the common landing
place of the North River, by George Harris his house—And that all the
canoes of the south side are to be brought before the port-house in the
South River, at the same time, then and there to be viewed by J.
Holgrave, P. Palfrey, R. Waterman, R. Conant, P. Veren, or the greater
number of them. And that there shall be no canoe used (upon penalty, of
forty shillings, to the owner thereof) than such as the said surveyors
shall allow of and set their mark upon; and if any shall refuse or
neglect to bring their canoes to the said places at the time appointed,
they shall pay for said fault 10 shillings."

The names of the men associated with Waterman prove that he was ranked
among the chief citizens of the town. The austere manners of the age,
among communities like that established here; the exclusion, at that
time, by inexorable laws, of many forms of amusement; and the general
sombre aspect of society, kept down the natural exhilaration of life to
such a degree, that, when the pressure was occasionally removed, the
whole people bounded into the liveliest outbursts of glad excitement.
It was no doubt a gala day. Ceremony, sport, and festivity, in all
their forms, took full effect. The surveyors performed their functions
with the utmost display of authority, examined the canoes with the
gravest scrutiny, and affixed[i.64] their marks with all due formality.
A light, graceful, and most picturesque fleet swarmed, from all
directions, to the appointed rendezvous. The harbor glittered with the
flashing paddles, and was the scene of swift races and rival feats of
skill, displaying manly strength and agility. It must have been an
aquatic spectacle of rare gayety and beauty, not surpassed nor equalled
in some respects, when, more than a century afterwards, the "Grand
Turk" or the "Essex" frigate was launched, or when Commodore Forbes,
still later, swept into our peaceful waters with his boat flotilla. It
was the first Fourth of July ever celebrated in America.

Thomas Scruggs was an early inhabitant of Salem; often represented the
town as deputy in the General Court; was one of the judges of the local
court, and always recognized among the rulers of the town. In January,
1636, he received a grant of three hundred acres on the south-west
limits of its territory. The next month, an exchange took place, which
is thus recorded in the town-book of grants: "It was ordered, that,
whereas Mr. Scruggs had a farm of three hundred acres beyond Forest
River, and that Captain Trask had one of two hundred acres beyond Bass
River, and Captain Trask freely relinquishing his farm of two hundred
acres, it was granted unto Mr. Thomas Scruggs, and he thereupon freely
relinquished his farm of three hundred acres." This brought Scruggs
upon the Salem Farms, between Bass River and the great pond, Wenham
Lake. The real object in making this arrangement was to advance a
project which the lead[i.65]ing people of Salem at that time had much
at heart. They were very desirous to have the college established on
the tract relinquished by Scruggs. What would have been the effect of
placing it there, in the immediate neighborhood of the sea-shore, in
full view of the spacious bay, its promontories, islands, and
navigation, is a question on which we may speculate at our leisure. The
effort failed: Captain Trask and Mr. Scruggs had done all they could to
accomplish it, and gave their energies to the welfare of the community
in other directions. From the little that is recorded of Scruggs, it is
quite evident that he was an intelligent and valuable citizen. The
event that brought his career as a public man to a close proves that
his mind was enlightened, liberal, and independent; that he was in
advance of the times in which he lived. When the bitter and violent
persecution of the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, on account of her
Antinomian sentiments, took place, Mr. Scruggs disapproved and
denounced it. He gave his whole influence, earnestly and openly,
against such attempts to suppress freedom of inquiry and the rights of
conscience. He, with others in Salem, was proscribed, disarmed, and
deprived of his public functions. He appears to have been suffered to
remain unmolested on his estate, and died there in 1654. He had but one
child, Rachel; and the name, as derived from him, became extinct. The
inventory of his property is dated on the 24th of June of that year.
The items mentioned in it amount to £244. 10_s._ 2_d._
Consider[i.66]ing the rates of value at that time, it was a large
property. At the same date, an agreement is recorded by which his
widow, Margery, conveys to her son-in-law, John Raymond, all her real
estate, upon these conditions: She to have the use of her house during
her life, the bedding, and other "household stuff;" and he to pay her
five pounds "in hand," twenty pounds per annum, and five pounds "at the
hour of her death." This was an ample provision, in those times, for
her comfort while she lived, and for her funeral charges. I do not
remember to have found this last point arranged for, in such a form of
expression, in any other instance.

William Alford was an early settler. He was a member of the numerous
and wealthy society, or guild, of Skinners, in the city of London, and
probably came here with the view of establishing an extensive trade in
furs. He received accordingly, in 1636, a grant of two hundred acres,
including what was for some time called Alford's Hill, afterwards Long
Hill, now known as Cherry Hill. It is owned and occupied by R.P.
Waters, Esq. Alford sympathized in religious views with his neighbor
Scruggs, and with him was subjected to censure, and disarmed by order
of the General Court. He sold his lands to Henry Herrick, and left the
jurisdiction.

One of the most enlightened, and perhaps most accomplished, men among
the first inhabitants of Salem Village, was Townsend Bishop. He was
admitted a freeman in 1635. The next year, he appears on the list of
members of the Salem Church. He was one[i.67] of the judges of the
local court, and, almost without intermission from his first coming
here, a deputy to the General Court. In 1645, as his attention had been
led to the subject, he conceived doubts in reference to infant baptism;
and it was noticed that he did not bring forward a child, recently
born, to the rite. Although himself on the bench, and ever before the
object of popular favor and public honors, he was at once brought up,
and handed over for discipline. The next year, he sold his estates, and
probably removed elsewhere. He appears no more in our annals. Where he
went, I have not been able to learn. It is to be hoped that he found
somewhere a more congenial and tolerant abode. It is evident that he
could not breathe in an atmosphere of bigotry; and it was difficult to
find one free from the miasma in those days.

Five of the most valuable of the first settlers of the village—Weston,
Waterman, Scruggs, Alford, and Bishop—were thus early driven into
exile, or subdued to silence, by the stern policy on which the colony
was founded. It is an error to characterize this as religious bigotry.
It was not so much a theological as a political persecution. Its
apparent form was in reference to tenets of faith, but the policy was
deeper than this. Any attempt to make opposition to the existing
administration was treated with equal severity, whatever might be the
subject on which it ventured to display itself.

The men who sought this far-off "nook and corner of the world,"
crossing a tempestuous and dangerous[i.68] ocean, and landing on the
shores of a wilderness, leaving every thing, however dear and valuable,
behind, came to have a country and a social system for themselves and
of themselves alone. Their resolve was inexorable not to allow the
mother-country, or the whole outside world combined, to interfere with
them. And it was equally inexorable not to suffer dissent or any
discordant element to get foothold among them. Sir Christopher
Gardner's rank and title could not save him: he was not of the sort
they wanted, and they shipped him back. Roger Williams's virtues,
learning, apostolic piety, could not save him; and they drove him into
a wintry wilderness, hunting him beyond their borders. It was not so
much a question whether Baptists, Antinomians, or Quakers were right or
wrong, as a preformed determination not to have any dissentients of any
description among them. They had sacrificed all to find and to make a
country for themselves, and they meant to keep it to themselves. They
had gone out of everybody else's way, and they did not mean to let
anybody else come into their way. They did not understand the great
truth which Hugh Peters preached to Parliament, "Why," said he, "cannot
Christians differ, and yet be friends? All children should be fed,
though they have different faces and shapes: unity, not uniformity, is
the Christian word." They admitted no such notion as this. They thought
uniformity the only basis of unity. They meant to make and to keep this
a country after their own pattern, a Congregational, Puritan,
Cambridge-[i.69]Platform-man's country. The time has not yet come when
we can lift up clean hands against them. Two successive
chief-magistrates of the United States have opened the door and
signified to one-eighth part of our whole people, that it will be best
for them to walk out. So long as the doctrine is maintained that this
is the white man's country, or any man's, or any class or kind of men's
country, it becomes us to close our lips against denunciation of the
Fathers of New England because they tried to keep the country to
themselves. The sentiment or notion on which they acted, in whatever
form it appears, however high the station from which it emanates, or
however long it lasts in the world, is equally false and detestable in
all its shapes. It is a defiant rebellion against that law which
declares that "all nature's difference is all nature's peace;" that
there can be no harmony without variety of sound, no social unity
without unlimited freedom, and no true liberty where any are deprived
of equal rights; that differences ought to bring men together, rather
than keep them apart; and that the only government that can stand
against the shocks of time, and grow stronger and dearer to all its
people, is one that recognizes no differences of whatever kind among
them. The only consistent or solid foundation on which a republic or a
church can be built, is an absolute level, with no enclosures and no
exclusion.

Townsend Bishop's grant of three hundred acres was made on the 16th of
January, 1636. When he sold it, Oct. 18, 1641, it appears by the deed,
that there[i.70] were on it edifices, gardens, yards, enclosures, and
meadows. A large force must have been put and kept upon it, from the
first, to have produced such results in so short a time. Orchards had
been planted. The manner in which the grounds were laid out is still
indicated by embankments, with artificial slopes and roadways, which
exhibit the fine taste of the proprietor, and must have required a
large expenditure of money and labor. Although the estate has always
been in the hands of owners competent to take care of it and keep it in
good preservation, none but the original proprietor would have been
likely to have made the outlay apparent on its face, on the plan
adopted. The mansion in which he resided stands to-day. Its front,
facing the south, has apparently been widened, at some remote
intermediate date since its original erection, by a slight extension on
the western end, beyond the porch. It has been otherwise, perhaps,
somewhat altered in the course of time by repairs; but its general
aspect, as exhibited in the frontispiece of this volume, and its
original strongly compacted and imperishable frame, remain. No saw was
used in shaping its timbers; they were all hewn, by the broad-axe, of
the most durable oak: they are massive, and rendered by time as hard to
penetrate almost as iron. The walls and stairway of the cellar, the
entrance to which is seen by the side of the porch, constructed of such
stones as could be gathered on the surface of a new country, bear the
marks of great antiquity. A long, low kitchen, with a stud of
scarcely[i.71] six feet, extended originally the whole length of the
lean-to, on the north side of the house. The rooms of the main house
were of considerably higher stud. The old roadway, the outlines of
which still remain, approached the house from the east, came up to its
north-east corner, wound round its front, and continued from its
north-west corner, on a track still visible, over a brook and through
the apple-orchard planted by Bishop, to the point where the
burial-ground of the village now is; and so on towards the lands then
occupied by Richard Hutchinson, also to the lands afterwards owned by
Nathaniel Ingersol, towards Beaver Dam, and the first settlements in
that direction and to the westward. In general it may be said, that the
structural proportions and internal arrangements of the house, taken in
its relations to the vestiges and indications on the face of the
grounds, show that it is coeval with the first occupancy of the farm.
But we do not depend, in this case, upon conjectural considerations, or
on mere tradition, which, on such a point, is not always reliable. It
happens to be demonstrated, that this is the veritable house built and
occupied by Townsend Bishop, in 1636, by a singular and irrefragable
chain of specific proof. A protracted land suit, hereafter to be
described, gave rise to a great mass of papers, which are preserved in
the files of the county courts and the State Department; among them are
several plots made by surveyors, and adduced in evidence by the
parties. Not only the locality but a diagram of the house, as then
standing, are given.[i.72] The spot on which it stood is shown.
Further, it appears, that in the deeds of transference of the estate,
the homestead is specially described as the house in which Townsend
Bishop lived, called "Bishop's Mansion." This continues to a period
subsequent to the style of its architecture, and within recent
tradition and the memory of the living. In the old Salem Commoner's
records, it is called "Bishop's Cottage," which was the name generally
given to dwelling-houses in those early times. Having, as occasion
required, been seasonably repaired, it is as strong and good a house
to-day as can be found. Its original timbers, if kept dry and well
aired, are beyond decay; and it may stand, a useful, eligible, and
comely residence, through a future as long as the past. It may be
doubted whether any dwelling-house now in use in this country can be
carried back, by any thing like a similar strength of evidence, to an
equal antiquity. Its site, in reference to the surrounding landscape,
was well chosen. Here its hospitable and distinguished first proprietor
lived, in the interims of his public and official service, in peace and
tranquillity, until ferreted out by the intrusive spirit of an
intolerant age. Here he welcomed his neighbors,—Endicott, Downing,
Peters, John Winthrop, Jr., Read, and other kindred spirits.[A]

[i.73]

In the course of a mysterious providence, this venerable mansion was
destined to be rendered mem[i.74]orable by its connection with the
darkest scene in our annals. As that scene cannot otherwise be
comprehended in all the elements that led to it, it is necessary to
give the intermediate history of the Townsend Bishop farm and mansion.
In 1641, Bishop sold it to Henry Chickering, who seems to have been
residing for some time in Salem, and to whom, in January, 1640, a grant
of land had been made by the town. He continued to own it until the 4th
of October, 1648; although he does not appear to have resided on the
farm long, as he soon removed to Dedham, from which place he was deputy
to the General Court in 1642, and several years afterwards. He sold the
farm at the above-mentioned date to Governor Endicott for one hundred
and sixty pounds. In 1653, John Endicott, Jr., the eldest son of the
Governor, married Elizabeth, daughter of Jeremiah Houchins, an eminent
citizen of Boston, who had before resided in Hingham, which place he
represented as deputy for six years. The name was pronounced "Houkins,"
and so perhaps was finally spelled "Hawkins." By agreement, or
"articles of marriage contract," Endicott bestowed the farm upon his
son. "Present possession" was given. How long, or how much of the time,
the young couple lived on the estate, is not known. Their principal
residence was in Boston. The General Court, in 1660, granted John
Endicott,[i.75] Jr., four hundred acres of land on the eastern side of
the upper part of Merrimac River. After the purchase of the farm from
Chickering, the Endicott property covered nearly a thousand acres in
one tract, extending from the arms of the sea to the centre of the
present village of Tapleyville. On the 10th of May, 1662, the Governor
executed a deed, carrying out the engagements of the marriage contract,
giving to his son John, his heirs, and assigns for ever, the Bishop
farm. Governor Endicott died in 1665. A will was found signed and
sealed by him, dated May 2, 1659, in which, referring to the marriage
gift to John, he bequeathes the aforesaid farm to "him and his heirs,"
but does not add, "and assigns." Another item of the will is, "The land
I have bequeathed to my two sons, in one place or another, my will is
that the longest liver of them shall enjoy the whole, except the Lord
send them children to inherit it after them." Unfortunately, there were
no witnesses to the will. It was not allowed in Probate. The matter was
carried up to the General Court; and it was decided Aug. 1, 1665, that
the court "do not approve of the instrument produced in court to be the
last will and testament of the late John Endicott, Esq., governor." In
October of the same year, John Endicott, Jr., petitioned the General
Court to act on the settlement of his father's estate; and the court
directs administration to be granted to "Mrs. Elizabeth Endicott and
her two sons, John and Zerubabel," and that they bring in an inventory
to the next county court at Boston, and[i.76] to dispose of the same as
the law directs. Upon this, the widow of the Governor, and his son
Zerubabel, again appeal to the General Court; and on the 23d of May,
1666, "after a full hearing of all parties concerned in the said
estate, i.e., the said Mrs. Elizabeth Endicott and her two sons, Mr.
John and Mr. Zerubabel Endicott, Mr. Jeremiah Houchin being also
present in court, and respectively presenting their pleas and evidences
in the case," it was finally decided and ordered by the court, that the
provisions of the document purporting to be the will of Governor
Endicott should be carried into effect, with these exceptions: that the
Bishop or Chickering farm shall go to his son John "to him, his heirs
and assigns for ever;" and that Elizabeth, the wife of said son John,
if she should survive her husband, shall enjoy during her life all the
estate of her husband in all the other houses and lands mentioned in
the instrument purporting to be his father's will. The court adjudge
that this must have been "the real intent of the aforesaid John
Endicott, Esq., deceased, who had during his life special favor and
respect for her." They give the widow of the Governor "the goods and
chattels" of the said John Endicott, Esq., her late husband, provided
that, if "she shall die seized to the value of more than eighty pounds
sterling" thereof, the surplus shall be divided between her two sons:
John to have a double portion thereof. Finally, they appoint the widow
sole administratrix, and require her to bring in a true inventory to
the next court for the county of Suffolk, and to pay all debts.[i.77]

John and his father-in-law had it all their own way. The decision of
the court was perhaps correct, according to legal principles; although
it is not so certain that it was, in all respects, in conformity with
the intent of Governor Endicott. Undoubtedly, as the language of the
deed shows, he had made up his mind to give to his son John and "his
assigns" absolute, full, and final possession of the Bishop farm. But
it seems equally certain, that he meant to have the rest of his landed
estate, including the Orchard Farm and the Ipswich-river farm, go
directly and wholly to the survivor, if either of his sons died without
issue. The facts and dates are as follows: His son John was married in
1653. The Governor's will was made in 1659. It had then become quite
probable that John might not have issue. The will gives him and his
heirs, but not his assigns, the Bishop farm. In the event of his death
without issue, his widow would have her dower and legal life right in
it, but the final heir would be Zerubabel. In 1662, the Governor, who
had, some years before, removed to Boston, where he resided the
remainder of his life, executed a deed, giving to his son John, "his
heirs and assigns," a full and permanent title to the Bishop farm. This
was a variation of the plan for the disposition of his estate as shown
in his will. He probably designed to make a new will, securing to his
natural heirs, so far as his other landed property was concerned, what
he had thus permitted to pass away from them in the Bishop farm; that
is, the full and immediate possession by[i.78] the survivor, if either
of the sons died without issue. It was a favorite idea, almost a sacred
principle, in those days, to have lands go in the natural descent. The
sentiment is quite apparent in the tenor of the Governor's will. When
he deprived, by his deed to John in 1662, Zerubabel's family of the
right to the final possession of the Bishop farm, it can hardly be
doubted that he relied upon the provisions of his will to secure to
them the immediate, complete possession of all his other lands, without
the incumbrance of any claim of dower or otherwise of John's widow. But
the pressure of public duties prevented his duly executing his will,
and putting it into a new shape, in conformity with the circumstances
of the case. The troubles that followed teach the necessity of the
utmost caution and carefulness in that most difficult and most
irremediable of all business transactions,—the attempt to continue the
control of property, after death, by written instruments.

John Endicott, Jr., died in February, 1668, without issue; leaving his
whole estate to his widow, "her heirs and assigns for ever." His will
is dated Jan. 27, 1668, and was offered to Probate on the 29th of
February, 1668. His widow married, Aug. 31, 1668, the Rev. James Allen,
one of the ministers of the First Church in Boston, whose previous
wife, Hannah Dummer, by whom he received five hundred acres of land,
had died in March, 1668. His Endicott wife died April 5, 1673, leaving
the Townsend-Bishop farm and all her other property to him; and[i.79]
on the 11th of September, of the same year, he married Sarah Hawlins.
By his two preceding wives he received twelve hundred acres of land.
How much he got by the last-mentioned, we have no information. Besides
these matrimonial accumulations, the accounts seem to indicate that he
was rich before.

It may well be imagined, that it could not have been very agreeable to
the family at the Orchard Farm to see this choice and extensive portion
of their estate, which was within full view from their windows, swept
into the hands of utter strangers in so rapid and extraordinary a
manner, by a series of circumstances most distasteful and provoking.
But this was but the beginning of their trouble.

On the 29th of April, 1678, Allen sold the Bishop farm to Francis
Nurse, of the town of Salem, for four hundred pounds. Nurse was an
early settler, and, before this purchase, had lived, for some forty
years, "near Skerry's," on the North River, between the main part of
the settlement in the town of Salem and the ferry to Beverly. He is
described as a "tray-maker." The making of these articles, and similar
objects of domestic use, was an important employment in a new country
remote from foreign supply. He appears to have been a very respectable
person, of great stability and energy of character, whose judgment was
much relied on by his neighbors. No one is mentioned more frequently as
umpire to settle disputes, or arbitrator to adjust conflicting claims.
He was often on committees to determine boundaries or estimate[i.80]
valuations, or on local juries to lay out highways and assess damages.
The fact that he was willing to encounter the difficulties connected
with such a heavy transaction as the purchase of the Bishop farm at
such a price at his time of life proves that he had a spirit equal to a
bold undertaking. He was then fifty-eight years of age. His wife
Rebecca was fifty-seven years of age. We shall meet her again.

They had four sons,—Samuel, John, Francis, and Benjamin; and four
daughters,—Rebecca, married to Thomas Preston, Mary to John Tarbell,
Elizabeth to William Russell, and Sarah, who remained unmarried until
after the death of her mother. With this strong force of stalwart sons
and sons-in-law, and their industrious wives, Francis Nurse took hold
of the farm. The terms of the purchase were so judicious and ingenious,
that they are worthy of being related, and show in what manner
energetic and able-bodied men, even if not possessed of capital,
particularly if they could command an effective co-operation in the
labor of their families, obtained possession of valuable landed
estates. The purchase-money was not required to be paid until the
expiration of twenty-one years. In the mean time, a moderate annual
rent was fixed upon; seven pounds for each of the first twelve years,
and ten pounds for each of the remaining nine years. If, at the end of
the time, the amount stipulated had not been paid, or Nurse should
abandon the undertaking, the property was to relapse to Allen.
Disinterested and suitable men, whose appointment was[i.81] provided
for, were then to estimate the value added to the estate by Nurse
during his occupancy, by the clearing of meadows or erection of
buildings or other permanent improvements, and all of that value over
and above one hundred and fifty pounds was to be paid to him. If any
part of the principal sum should be paid prior to the expiration of
twenty-one years, a proportionate part of the farm was to be relieved
of all obligation to Allen, vest absolutely in Nurse, and be disposable
by him. By these terms, Allen felt authorized to fix a very high price
for the farm, it not being payable until the lapse of a long period of
time. If not paid at all, the property would come back to him, with one
hundred and fifty pounds of value added to it. It was not a bad bargain
for him,—a man of independent means derived from other sources, and so
situated as not to be able to carry on the farm himself. It was a good
investment ahead. To Nurse the terms were most favorable. He did not
have to pay down a dollar at the start. The low rent required enabled
him to apply almost the entire income from the farm to improvements
that would make it more and more productive. Before half the time had
elapsed, a value was created competent to discharge the whole sum due
to Allen. His children severally had good farms within the bounds of
the estate, were able to assume with ease their respective shares of
the obligations of the purchase; and the property was thus fully
secured within the allotted time. Allen gave, at the beginning, a full
deed, in the ordinary form, which[i.82] was recorded in this county.
Nurse gave a duly executed bond, in which the foregoing conditions are
carefully and clearly defined. That was recorded in Suffolk County; and
nothing, perhaps, was known in the neighborhood, at the time or ever
after, of the terms of the transaction. When the success of the
enterprise was fully secured, Nurse conveyed to his children the larger
half of the farm, reserving the homestead and a convenient amount of
land in his own possession. The plan of this division shows great
fairness and judgment, and was entirely satisfactory to them all. They
were required, by the deeds he gave them, to maintain a roadway by
which they could communicate with each other and with the old parental
home.

Here the venerable couple were living in truly patriarchal style,
occupying the "mansion" of Townsend Bishop, when the witchcraft
delusion occurred. They and their children were all clustered within
the limits of the three-hundred-acre farm. They were one family. The
territory was their own, secured by their united action, and made
commodious, productive, valuable, and beautiful to behold, by their
harmonious, patient, and persevering labor. Each family had a
homestead, and fields and gardens; and children were growing up in
every household. The elder sons and sons-in-law had become men of
influence in the affairs of the church and village. It was a scene of
domestic happiness and prosperity rarely surpassed. The work of life
having been successfully done, it seemed that a peaceful and serene
descent into the vale of years was[i.83] secured to Francis and Rebecca
Nurse. But far otherwise was the allotment of a dark and inscrutable
providence.

There is some reason to suspect that the prosperity of the Nurses had
awakened envy and jealousy among the neighbors. The very fact that they
were a community of themselves and by themselves, may have operated
prejudicially. To have a man, who, for forty years, had been known, in
the immediate vicinity, as a farmer and mechanic on a small scale,
without any pecuniary means, get possession of such a property, and
spread out his family to such an extent, was inexplicable to all, and
not relished perhaps by some. There seems to have been a disposition to
persist in withholding from him the dignity of a landholder; and, long
after he had distributed his estate among his descendants, it is
mentioned in deeds made by parties that bounded upon it, as "the farm
which Mr. Allen, of Boston, lets to the Nurses." Not knowing probably
any thing about it, they call it, even after Nurse's death, "Mr.
Allen's farm." This, however, was a slight matter. When Allen sold the
farm to Nurse, he bound himself to defend the title; and he was true to
his bond. What was required to be done in this direction may, perhaps,
have exposed the Nurses to animosities which afterwards took terrible
effect against them.

In granting lands originally, neither the General Court nor the town
exercised sufficient care to define boundaries. There does not appear
to have been any well-arranged system, based upon elaborate,
accurate,[i.84] scientific surveys. Of the dimensions of the area of a
rough, thickly wooded, unfrequented country, the best estimates of the
most practised eyes, and measurements resting on mere exploration or
perambulation, are very unreliable. The consequence was, that, in many
cases, grants were found to overlap each other. This was the case with
the Bishop farm; and soon after Nurse came into possession, and had
begun to operate upon it, a conflict commenced; trespasses were
complained of; suits were instituted; and one of the most memorable and
obstinately contested land-controversies known to our courts took
place. In that controversy Nurse was not formally a principal. The case
was between James Allen and Zerubabel Endicott, or between Allen and
Nathaniel Putnam.

An inspection of the map, at this point, will enable us to understand
the grounds on which the suit was contested. The Orchard Farm was
granted to Endicott, as has been stated, July 3, 1632, by the General
Court. The grant states the bounds on the south and on the north to be
two rivers; on the east, another river, into which they both flow; and,
on the west, the mainland. Where this western line was to strike the
rivers on the north and south is not specified; but the natural
interpretation would seem to be, in the absence of any thing to the
contrary, that it was to strike them at their respective heads. The
evidence of all persons who were conversant with the premises during
the life of the Governor as connected with the farm was unanimous and
conclusive to[i.85] this point; that is, that he and they always
supposed that the west line was, as drawn on the map, from the head of
one river to the head of the other; that the farm embraced all between
them as far up as the tide set. It was objected, on the other side,
that this made the farm much more than three hundred acres; but as an
offset to that was the fact, that a considerable part of the area was
swamp or marsh, not usually taken into the account in reckoning the
extent of a grant, and the additional fact, that the language of the
General Court in reference to quantity was not precise,—"about" three
hundred acres. At the same date with the grant to Endicott, the General
Court granted two hundred acres to Mr. Skelton, which tract is given on
the map.

As has been stated, the General Court conferred upon the towns the
exclusive right to dispose of the lands within their limits, March 3,
1635. On the 10th of December of that year, the town of Salem granted
to Robert Cole the tract of three hundred acres subsequently purchased
by Emanuel Downing, which is indicated on the map. On the 11th of
January, 1636, the grant of three hundred acres was made to Townsend
Bishop. Its language is unfortunately obscure in some expressions; but
it is clear, that the tract was to be four hundred rods in length, one
hundred and twenty-four rods in width at the western end, and one
hundred and sixteen rods at the eastern. At the north-east corner it
was to meet the water or brook that separated it from the grant to
Skelton; and it[i.86] was also to "but" upon, or touch, at the eastern
end, the land granted to Endicott by the General Court. After the grant
to Bishop, the town, from time to time, made grants to Stileman of land
north of the Bishop grant. Stileman's grants adjoined Skelton's at the
north-eastern corner of the Bishop farm. That part of Stileman's land
had come into possession of Nathaniel Putnam, and the residue
westwardly, together with the grant to Weston, into the possession of
Hutchinson, Houlton, and Ingersol. Still further west, the town had
made grants to Swinnerton. Their respective locations are given in the
map. The point of difficulty which gave rise to litigation was this:
The Bishop farm was required, by the terms of the grant, to be one
hundred and sixteen rods wide at its eastern end. But there was no room
for it. The requisite width could not be got without encroaching upon
either Putnam or Endicott, or both. As Endicott stood upon an earlier
title than that of Bishop, and from a higher authority, and Putnam upon
a later title from an inferior authority, the court of trials might
have disposed of the matter, at the opening, on that ground, and Putnam
been left to suffer the encroachment. But it did not so decide; and the
case went on. The struggle was between Endicott to push it north, and
thereby save his Orchard Farm, and the land between it and the Bishop
grant, given by the town to his father, called the Governor's Plain,
and Nathaniel Putnam to push it south, and thereby save the land he had
received from his wife's father, Rich[i.87]ard Hutchinson, who had
purchased from Stileman. Allen stood on the defensive against both of
them. The Nurses had nothing to do but to attend to their own business,
carrying on their farming operations up to the limits of their deed,
looking to Allen for redress, if, in the end, the dimensions of their
estate should be curtailed. But, being the occupants, and, until
finally ousted, the owners of the land, if there was any intrusion to
be repelled, or violence to be met, or fighting to be done, they were
the ones to do it. They were equal to the situation.

After various trials in the courts of law in all possible shapes, the
whole subject was carried up to the General Court, where it was
decided, in conformity with the report of a special commission in May,
1679, substantially in favor of Putnam and Allen. Endicott petitioned
for a new hearing. Another commission was appointed; and their report
was accepted in May, 1682. It was more unfavorable to Endicott than the
previous one. He protested against the judgment of the court in earnest
but respectful language, and petitioned for still another hearing. They
again complied with his request, and appointed a day for once more
examining the case; but, when the day came, Nov. 24, 1683, he was sick
in bed, and the case was settled irrevocably against him.

The map gives the lines of the Bishop farm as finally settled by the
General Court. It will be noticed, that it is laid directly across the
Governor's Plain, and runs far into the Orchard Farm "up to the
rocks[i.88] near Endicott's dwelling-house," or, as it is otherwise
stated, "within a few rods of Guppy's ditch, near to" the said house.
It may be said to have been a necessity, as the original three hundred
acres of the grant to Townsend Bishop had to be made up. It could not
go north; for Houlton and Ingersol stood upon the Weston grant, and
Hutchinson and Nathaniel Putnam stood upon Stileman's grants, to push
it back. It could not go west or south-west, for there Swinnerton stood
to fend off upon his grants; and there, too, was Nathaniel Putnam, upon
his own grant, and lands he had purchased of another original grantee.
It could not be swung round to the south without jamming up the lands
of Felton and others, or pushing them over the grants, made to Robert
Cole—under which Downing had purchased—and to Thomas Read. All these
parties were combined to force it south-eastwardly over the grounds of
Endicott. Nathaniel Putnam was his most fatal antagonist. He was a man
of remarkable energy, of consummate adroitness, and untiring resources
in such a transaction; and he so managed to press in the bounds of the
Bishop farm, at the north-east, as to gain a valuable strip for
himself. With this strong man against him, acting in combination with
the rich and influential James Allen, minister of the great
metropolitan First Church, and licenser of the press, who brought the
whole power of his clerical and social connections in Boston and
throughout the colony to bear upon the General Court, Zerubabel
Endicott had no chance for justice, and no redress for[i.89] wrong. In
vain he invoked the memory of his father, or of Winthrop, the
grandfather of his wife. His father and both the Winthrops had long
before left the scene: a new generation had risen, and there was none
to help him.

One would have supposed, that the General Court, which had granted the
Orchard Farm to Governor Endicott, would have felt bound, in
self-respect and in honor, to have protected it against any overlapping
grants subsequently made by an inferior authority. Under the
circumstances of the case, it was its duty to have held the Orchard
Farm intact, and made it up to the satisfaction of Allen and Nurse by a
grant elsewhere, or an equitable compensation in money. It owed so much
to the son of Endicott and the grand-daughter of Winthrop, the first
noble Fathers of the colony. Perhaps the court found its justification
in the phraseology of the deed of conveyance of the Bishop farm from
Governor Endicott to his son John. After reciting or referring to the
original town grant to Bishop, and the deeds from Bishop to Chickering,
and from Chickering to himself, the Governor conveys to his son John
all the houses, &c., and every part and parcel of the land "to the
utmost extent thereof, according as is expressed or included in either
of the forecited deeds, or town grant." It was maintained, and justly,
by Allen, that he held all that was conveyed to John Endicott, Jr. But
the Court had no right to encroach upon the Orchard Farm, which
had[i.90] been granted to the Governor by them prior to all deeds and
to the town grant to Bishop.

Never did that deep and sagacious observation on the mysteries of human
nature, "Men's judgments are a parcel of their fortunes," receive a
more striking or melancholy illustration than in the case of Zerubabel
Endicott. With his falling fortunes, his judgment and discretion fell
also; his mind, maddened by a sense of wrong, seemed bent upon exposing
itself to new wrongs. Having been broken down by lawsuits, that had
wasted his estate, he seemed to have acquired a blind passion for them.
Having destroyed his peace and embarrassed his affairs in attempts to
resist the adjudications of the Court, he persisted in struggling
against them. He had tried to push the Bishop grant west, over the land
of Nathaniel Putnam in that quarter. The highest tribunal had settled
it against him. But he appeared to be incapable of realizing the fact.
He sent his hired men to cut timber on that land. They worked there
some days, felled a large number of trees, and hewed them into beams
and joists for the frame of a house. One morning, returning to their
work, there was no timber to be found; logs, framework, and all, were
gone. They were carefully piled up a mile away, by the side of Putnam's
dwelling-house, who had sent two teams, one of four oxen, the other of
two oxen and a horse, with an adequate force of men, and in two
loadings had cleaned out the whole. Endicott of course sued him, and of
course was cast.

When the General Court had consented to give him[i.91] a rehearing of
the case of the Bishop farm, they expressly forbade his making any
"strip" of the land in the mean while. But with the infatuation which
seemed to possess him, and not heeding how fatally it would prejudice
his cause at the impending hearing to violate the order of the Court,
he again sent a gang of men to cut wood on the land in controversy. The
following shows the result:—

"Hugh Jones, aged 46 years, and Alexius Reinolds, aged 25 years,
testify and say, that we, these deponents, being desired by Mr.
Zerubabel Endicott to cut up some wood, for his winter firewood,
accordingly went with our teams, which had four oxen and a horse; and
there we met with several other teams of our neighbors, which were upon
the same account, that is to say, to help carry up Mr. Endicott some
wood for his winter firewood, and when we had loaded our sleds, Thomas
Preston and John Tarbell came in a violent manner, and hauled the wood
out of our sleds; and Francis Nurse, being present, demanded whose men
we were. Mr. Endicott, being present, answered, they were his men."

These witnesses testify that this "battle of the wilderness" lasted two
days,—Endicott's men cutting the wood and loading the teams, and
Nurse's men pitching it off. The altercations and conflicts that took
place between the parties during those two days may easily be imagined.
Whether there was a final, decisive pitched battle, we are not
informed. Perhaps there was. The woods rang with rough echoes, we may
be well assured. A lawsuit followed; the result could not be in doubt.
Endicott had no right there;[i.92] he was there in direct violation of
the order of Court. Nurse was in possession, had a right, and was
bound, to keep the land from being stripped.

Shortly after this, Endicott broke down, under the difficulties that
had accumulated around him. On the 24th of November, 1683, as we have
seen, he was "sick in bed." Two days before,—that is, on the 22d of
November,—he had made his will, which was presented in court on the
27th of March, 1684. He was game to the last; for this is an item of
the will

Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/17845