- - - I u I‘r-—-—-_-_-_|

1v——-—'w

A STUDY OF THE SCHOOLMASTERS 0F
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS

Thesis. for the Degree of Ph. D.
MECfiEGAN STATE UNEVERSETY
RICHARD EDWARD KELLY
2971

 

 

   
    

  

L I 3 R A P V
by“! ("hmn :“ CC .
37(- U Li‘vmiw fig ;

‘9‘
ml h“"flfi"4- ‘1‘ Fr

.
.‘W‘u". 4--

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

A STUDY OF THE SCHOOLMASTERS OF
'SEVL‘ITEBITH CENTURY NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS

presented by
RI CHARD EDWARD KELLY

 

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

mCtor Of Philo SOphy degree in Education

 

/ ”QM/41 ///a%rx4~
/ ' Mot/{am

Date May 11, 1971

 

0-7639

 

may

 

 

 

 

 

 

anvf‘"‘.‘:":"1

3.11-3 0““ '

.he pur
z.’ the schoolmaste
:zsetts. Althx:
tern about the r.
35'3“! as a town

1133.1 schoolhacc

ASan:r

.:'\'"afi
Nu. avg“
‘ s. ...teer.

h.nor_fl‘ =‘v

“‘ 3011th A
Y.
H"

 

13hr“
«0 hufieno
:.§A
I“! “‘i v
unllZeri a,
1
Ii»-
“‘ah cufi‘u“
‘ J4 Q
. v C
EdilCa‘
u.
"ind

 

 

ABSTRACT

A STUDY OF THE SCHOOLMASTERS OF
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY NEWBUBY, MASSACHUSETTS

By
Richard Edward Kelly

The purpose of this work was to provide a study
of the schoolmasters of seventeenth century Newbury, Massa-
chusetts. Although some of the more noted schoolmasters
have been studied extensively, comparatively little is
known about the more typical pedagogues. The selection of
Newbury as a town with representative rather than excep-
tional schoolmasters enabled the completion of much more
extensive research than would have been possible in a
more general study.

As an historical study, two types of sources were
utilized. First, there were the primary sources, consisting
of such materials as town records, church records, county
records, colony records, books, letters, journals and pub-
lished seventeenth century works. Second, there were the
secondary sources, among which were included histories of
Newbury, Essex County, the Massachusetts Bay Colony and New
England. Numerous genealogical and biographical works were
also utilized, as were many sources on Puritanism, educa-
tion and culture.

Education in seventeenth century Newbury may be di-

vided into three periods. The first was 1635 to 1675. near

 

LIL: 1;; -.'-' ., ._

..veg‘.:1..rig of ‘
the first schools
1:" .Lacted by Beve
eiieverend Tao

3.63291 SC *0182‘12
»1l.'02‘ the prep;
rm: lleige. Th"!
31! to that of t':
11393 of the £1:

I'D: '. ‘-
3.3.. unereaf‘ ter.

Severe d
firing- the 1675 t’
tin's strongest a
Effered greatly 1
13:9r1675, Kewbuh

"S”

”WOOIMS “er.

"zifici‘ltly hip}
l~£ a COZDaPativ lvfi
1' we“ did so

2.2.9
mite

53v:

03131 i
John BEEPSOJ

live

The Big.

,h
.3 ”a

3‘ any 1."

 

mBEVEP

Richard Edward Kelly

the beginning of which, in 1639, Anthony Somerby I became
the first schoolmaster. Between 1647 and 1675, teaching was
conducted by Reverend James Noyes I, the assistant minister,
and Reverend Thomas Parker, the minister. As highly re-
spected, scholarly divines, they considered teaching essen-
tial for the preparation of Christians and the preservation
of knowledge. Thus, the school achieved importance second
only to that of the church. Indeed, the educational com-
mitment of the first four decades was not equaled at any
point thereafter.

Severe challenges to formal learning occurred
during the 1675 to 168# transitional period. Because educa-
tion’s strongest ally was the church, the town school
suffered greatly with the waning of the Puritan ideal.

After 1675, Newbury hired one man as minister and another'
as schoolmaster. Yet, because the minister's status was
significantly higher than the schoolmaster's, teaching be-
came a comparatively inferior position and most of those
who taught did so only temporarily. Unfortunately, none of
the transitional schoolmasters, viz., Henry Short II, Rev-
erend John.Emerson II and Reverend Thomas Baily I, achieved
a level of scholarship approximating that of Noyes and
Parker.

The educational preparation of Newbury's school-
masters greatly improved during the period from 1684 to
1700. Reverend Edward Tompson I, Reverend Seth Shove,

 

:aillf' ‘—=c‘ers, "5

cot-.5. O'figu V

31:30:19 did not

: I. ”‘1‘~ ~ v : ‘
'.Sv ““858 K‘l‘

“PC ,:: 5,:51-
no. us. U. .vv, or

:2 ezploy but 02¢

v

9...,“-

......-on was she:
:zvenient forza‘.

T130131"
=31’i-‘3‘mstn' Sim
vs! -C ~’

 

‘rx
‘a ,.
«a: 0
Q
31 a» <
13 T 1
"i.\ L
\,,:,

Richard Edward Kelly

Reverend John Clark, Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I and
Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster I, the century's last five
schoolmasters, had all graduated from Harvard College and
only one did not hold the Master of Arts Degree.

The 1689 to 1695 struggle between Oldtown and
West Village killed the single town school by establishing
the district, or moving school. Because Newbury continued
to employ but one schoolmaster, the yearly length of in-
struction was shortened in the interest of providing more
convenient formal education for a larger number of youth.

Throughout the seventeenth century, a single
schoolmaster simultaneously offered elementary and second-
ary instruction. The vast majority of students mastered
only the elementary subjects of reading, writing, arithmetic
and religion. Even when the town's population exceeded
1000, generally less than twenty students prepared for Har-
vard College in the Latin grammar school. Like their school-
masters, these students were, with few exceptions, members
of families that were socio-economically above the average.

Throughout the seventeenth century, it was the
Puritan clergy that was principally responsible for making
education available to the town. Through providing an
intellectually virile tradition in the training of men who
would be pious Puritans as well as gentlemen and scholars,
Newbury's minister-schoolmasters left to succeeding gener-

ations an impressive educational legacy.

 

_|
.y . W. a a .
S \ o i O
a... t

A m.” P t

. i n

m m e

C ' m

a.“ n .fv

R~U i Mg.

ha

 

A STUDY OF THE SCHOOLMASTERS OF
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY NEWBUBY, MASSACHUSETTS

By
Richard Edward Kelly

A THESIS
Submitted to
Michigan State University

in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Secondary Education and Curriculum

1971

,j

 

1;

3.773133 by

332:) 33mg ELL!

"‘
l
I

 

(9 Copyright by
RICHARD EDUARD KELLY
1971

 

\'\'
..“l

l')

 

 

To my wife,
ANNE LOUISE (REYNOLDS) KELLY,

And my daughter,
ELIZABETH SARAH ANNE KELLY

ii

The writ
2i appreciation t
.'::.-e, whose guiia
Eezeficial in t
Egree and the Doc

{‘54

.dilleiges the s

«- u.
Luee [seminars
‘ 9
‘23 ‘- ‘r .
i-JT- vistm L
O

‘33 a
vXCoeai
329g
..,.
tr. Tne Irv

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer wishes to express his sincere gratitude
vand.appreciation to his committee chairman, Dr. J. Geoffrey
Moore, whose guidance and encouragement were invaluably
beneficial in the completion of both the Master of Arts
Degree and the Doctor of Philosophy Degree. The writer also
acknowledges the suggestions and interest of the other
committee members, Dr. Dale V. Alam, Dr. George W. Ferree Jr.
and Dr. Justin L. Kestenbaum.

In addition to the help of the writer's committee,
several other Michigan State University professors aided in
the advancement of academic strengths pertinent to the
orientation of the present work. They were Dr. Carl Henry
Gross, in the history of American education; Dr. Robert
Emmet Hall Jr., in the history of Puritan New England; and
Dr. Richard Eugene Sullivan, in the history of medieval
Europe.

Essential for the completion of the present work
was the assistance of dozens of competent librarians who
gladly made available both their knowledge and their often,
times exceedingly rare collections of printed and manuscript
sources. The writer's wife, Anne Louise (Reynolds) Kelly,
continually expressed the confidence and encouragement

iii

.W,QJ

h‘l.

 

I" wi-

(:12?! did so much

several years of i

' Isville, New
1:: 26, 1971

 

which did so much to lighten the exacting demands of

several years of intensive research and writing.

RICHARD EDWARD KELLY

Hilliamsville, New York
April 26, 1971

iv

swi-

 

n':‘oa’

"h in.

7:,

"-L-I-PAT-I

.Kn rlfivvnm V

QMUUUV¢n

Tm *floa-fl

1v35-167

a“ o”.— \
H' 'IH-
“‘AH.‘
F "‘ ~Hp.
PVV.|JL1:

’“ :“ .F'
m” D
.6.“ :zg“vu

C:‘\A.7'S '
W-u

Y‘..
¢AJ¢CAL L

‘1

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
C hapter Page
I O INTB ODUCTIONO O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 1

II. THE INITIAL EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS,
1635-1656000000000000000 11

III. REVEREND THOMAS PARKER:

IV. THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION,
1675-1684000000000000000 125

V. THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY,
1684-1700000000000000000 179

VI 0. CONCLUSION. O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 276

BIBLIWBAPHICAL ESSAY o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 299

1.1.
“tr“ V. .
nu .‘GSSaC-In“cc.
s-J~.

v

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this work was to provide a study
of the schoolmasters of seventeenth century Newbury,
Massachusetts. It is contended that an intensive study of
the town's seventeenth century pedagogues can provide
historical information essential to the formulation of
accurate hypotheses concerning the development of teaching
in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and, indeed, throughout
many parts of early colonial New England. Moreover, a
comprehensive historical approach to a single town can be
of greater value, it would seem, than merely asking few
and shallow questions of a larger geographical region.
Founded in the spring of 1635, Newbury was fairly repre-
sentative of other early Puritan coastal towns in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.

As Bernard Bailyn suggested, much comprehensive
research remains to be completed if we are to understand
more adequately the significance of the town school as an

expression of the community's philosophical value system.1

 

1Bernard Bailyn, Education in the Forming %£
A S : Nee n O i ies S ud New
York: Vintage Books, 19605, pp. 12-15.

1

 

E

 

him further as:
histories of Amer;
:far too many 1:
H ‘ L
no.4 satisfactor
Daring t

:29 canclusion of

r’ u ' “
.. VIZ-£38 ".0 871’:

 

nation, which it
Hzerican histv

Rained Iorks d!

;, 1 .
"IJ BICHHI‘O Go

 

JBailyn further argued that, in general, the standard
ihistories of American.education have been characterized
'by far too many inaccurate generalizations to be considered
wholly satisfactory. 2

During the four decades from the late 18703 to
the conclusion of World War I, there appeared a number
of writers who addressed themselves to the history of
education, which was at that time a rather unique aspect
of American history. Among those who contributed
published works during this era were John C. Henderson
Jr.,3 Richard G. Boone,“ George H. Martin,5

 

2m.
3John C. Henderson Jr., on: Ngtlgng] System 9:
E ° E (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company,
1877 0
“Richard G. Boone, E c U
: I H F E e Se e New

York: D. Appleton and Company, 1889 .

5George H. Martin, “Compulsory Education in
Massachusetts,'Jggzna1 of Prgge eedings and Addzes sees gt
9‘ N: 09: E. a 09 A880 1: so 388; O9 0 9 I;
1521 1891 , pp. 403-412; “Public School Pioneering: A
Reply a B 1 , Vol. IV, No. 6 (June, 1892),
pp. 35-h6; IIPublic School Pioneering: Final Statement of
the Massachusetts Claim, ' Edugatignal Regigu, Vol. V,

NO- 3 (March, 1893) pp- 232-242: W11
WWW Boston:

N. Sawyer and Son, 1893 and The Egglgtign Q: the M?335-
ghuggttg Pup];g Sghgg] System: A Higtgziggl Skgtgh New
York: D. Appleton and Company, l89h .

”I

 

 

 

a?“ S. Draper“.
Biiin 3. Dexter,9

_‘ 1 1H 1

 

.—|

/
oAndrew
Ear fork and Has 5;

‘Ay’c1 D w:
0« O
n...‘ A.
V

Q

,. .' H, 9:, ‘Jo

D'V.F1 "

_' .mic Schoo
11:2. ' '
,;_ . 1 Reply.

:9-
find

.Andrew S. Draper,6 Thomas Davidson,7 Edward Eggleston,8
IEdwin.G. Dexter,9 Paul Monroe,10 Henry Suzzallo,11 Harlan
‘Updegraff,12 William H. Burnham,13 Walter H. Small14

 

6Andrew S. Draper, “Public School Pioneering in
New York and Massachusetts: A Reply to a Reply, E
R , Vol. IV, No. 8 (April, 1892), pp. 241-252
and "Public School Pioneering in New York and Massachusetts:
A Final Reply,“ Beheetiohel Betiew, Vol. V, No. 4 (April,
1893). pP- 345- 36 2-

7Thomas Davidson, A His E 1 (New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900 .

8Edward Eggleston, The Tnehsit e: Citilizetien
F E A i i h Se n e h C New

York: D. Appleton and Company, 1900 .
9Edwin G. Dexter, A Histezz of Edueetioh in the
_n;teg__tgtee (New York: The Macmillan Company, 190% .
10Paul Monroe, A Te -B k e H
Edutailgn.(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1905; and

A CYQIQDQQLE Qt Edueatien, 5 vols. (New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1911-1913).

11Henry Suzzallo, The Bi 9, Lo : S .. 8.9; -

;_o¢ ,g M;;:;. 1 ‘:°_ HzTS go. 999:9 o.
New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 1906 .

12Harlem Updesraff. W
W (New York: Teachers College.
Columbia University, 1908).

13William H. Burnham and Henry Suzzallo, _he

H E P S (New York:
Teachers College, Columbia University, 1908 .

14Walter H. Small, E N E 3
(Boston: Ginn and Company, 191# .

oi

 

mi 311190091 P. Cu:
:f Azerican educa'

l

1:1; retained lea:

With bu}
expmsis was upon
39: in college an:
stance , only 5‘:

'3': early twentie'

":59 tne found in

315933 Bay C 010:

”Ting SCEOOI of .

‘gvo, ‘
'.~UL

3’ 3"”‘0;
"”‘WCant cor

we: _
.ed famf‘itism

33:0?

y or edUCat

 

 

and.Ellwood P. Cubberley.15 These men were the pioneers
of American educational history and many of their works
Ilong remained leading texts in the field.

With but few exceptions, however, their major
emphasis was upon the compilation of general studies for
use in college and normal school classrooms. In most
instances, only slight attention was given to the colonial
period, the major concern having been with the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. With regard to the
colonial era, the founding of the Boston Latin School in
1635, the founding of Harvard College in 1636, the Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony statutes of 1642 and 16#7 and the
moving school of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth
centuries frequently comprised the extent of the topics
of significant concern. There was, furthermore, a scarcely
veiled favoritism for the so-called 'practicality' of the
history of education and a slighting of the intrinsic

value of the field. Fortunately, many of the more recent

 

15E11wood P. Cubberley, SEW

9- H ‘ 0” Eou :_ _09 W 9 S e ‘0 B1 10_ 3‘01“,"

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1902 ; Qhenglng_§gheepte
Q£_§dnggtign (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1909
P.9 E! 2 '09 9 9‘ U91 e- S : es. A S uo' :99 I9 ' -
WW Boston: Houehton
Mifflin Company, 1919 ; Readings in Puhlie Egheatign in the
U S : A C 0 So es R di
I 1‘ : f 9‘ Hi. 9' 9 Ed - 109- P_ a ° e an- P 0 ' ,
13_&§£_§21L§%_§£§&§§. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,
1920 andA Bziefl Hteteny e: Edgeetieh; A Hifitezx Qt

   

(Boston:

 

Houghton Mifflin Company, 1922.

Hui

 

titers have revs:
321223 begun to
"-321 of endeavor

As Pref
wk on the hict

Izrthi'nile to CC

. V
taxi appegn y,
. Q“r:L ‘ eat‘
M:

5221311293 t
P}
is

.38: 1t “-31;

:152.

m CEntur:
3‘s...In a
“3., 0 the

 

writers have reversed this trend and the history of educa-
tion has begun to come into its own as a more scholarly
field of endeavor.

As Frederick Rudolph contended in his excellent
work on the history of American higher education, it is
worthwhile to consider educational history, at least
partially, from the standpoint of the writer's background,
be it that of history, education, government or founda-
tion.16 In each of these four categories, however, it
would appear that as the field matured there developed a
somewhat greater utilization of what is perhaps most appro-
priately called the historical monograph. That is to say,
while general histories of education continued and, indeed,

increased, there was also a profound increase in the
wwriting of selected studies to explore more thoroughly a
specialized topic.

To place the present study in its proper prospec-
tive, it should be noted that the emphasis is upon the
Study of seventeenth century education in Newbury. Thus,
Eflny immediate problem-solving attributes concerning twen-
‘tieth century education are considered to be beyond the

Boom of the work.

16Frederick Rudolph, The Ame ca Co e e n
W (New York: Vintage Books, 1962?,

:pp. #97- 512.

A

 

Works w
mi: include a n
sateols. Among t.
2223,17 Robert

3.3%»
3.0:: and Charla

I11

1". OXbl‘y. COT‘
11a: effort to

32:": i
-I1 seventse

 

Works with significant similarities to the present
study include a number of histories of Massachusetts town
schools. Among these are the works of Carlos P. Slafter on
Dedham,17 Robert Francis Seybolt18 and Pauline Holmes19 on
Boston and Charles K. Dillaway20 and Richard W. Hale Jr.21
on.Roxbury. Concerning themselves with a particular town
in an effort to fully comprehend the historical forces at
work in seventeenth century Massachusetts are the recently

published works of Sumner Chilton Powell on Sudbury,22

17Carlos P. Slafter, A Record 0: Education: The

3 gen : at. Tee ~ - .- Ded am M=ssa h se - 6h - '0
Ihedhan, Massachusetts: Dedham Transcript Press, 1905 .

18Robert Francis Seybolt, The Priyate Schools of

Wm (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univer-

sity Press, 1935); The Public Sghoolg of Colonial Boston
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935)

Gaul The Puhllg schoolmasters of Colonial Bostpn (Cambridge,
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1939 .

19Pauline Holmes, A Te en enar His 0
4&3 ton Public Latin School, 1635-1935 (Cambridge, Massa-

chusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935).

2°Charles K. Dillaway, A Hi or r he G mm
3 '"r F e s e R " (BoxburY.

Massachusetts: J. Backup: 1850 '

21Richard H. Hale Jr., T n Hi
W122: Cambridge. Massachu-
8(Etta: The Riverside Press, 194 .
I? 22Sumner Chilton Powell..Puniten_!illassi_2he
WW (Garden City. New York:

::)°ubleday and Company, Inc., 1963).

.t 'mn—J
im‘MM‘—’ I

 

Ezeth A. Lock?i

 

Emmet-.2“ JC
1252 mark the e:
:1e French protO'?
nst be retritter.
ism attempt to
tailed examinatic
cezt'ry Nevburyi:
afEropean civill

The pri
ilfigraphical app?
“asters, with par
Ema-economic ba
*3, DUblication
‘2

V

51359 NEWbm-y ' 5

‘ n'.‘
.E “an

n... "
' man 8X68 I)

sierauy t371312231

'5: iid 3° much t

a
“H:

“H.815

 

Kenneth A. Lockridge on Dedham23 and Philip J. Greven Jr.
on Andover.2“ John J. Waters wrote that such works as
these mark the emergence of an American “sixth section,“
the French prototype of which is convinced that history
must be rewritten from the bottom up.25 The present study
is an attempt to aid such revision through a close, de-
tailed examination of the experiences of seventeenth
century Newburyites as they sought to extend the boundaries
of European civilization in a Puritan mold.

The primary orientation of the work is that of a
biographical approach to the lives of Newbury's school-
masters, with particular concentration given to their
socio-ecomonic background, academic preparation, recruit-
ment, publications, family and general societal significance.
Because Newbury's early pedagogues were representative,
rather than exceptional, their lives may be considered
generally typical of the Puritan minister-schoolmasters

Who did so much to extend learning to the New England

 

frontier.
- 23Kenneth A. Lockridge, A N- E4; = . T'J! 1r.-
C Hts. :1 Y :_ :. 3'11.” Muss 1 S : o m
New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1970 .
24Ph111p J. Greven Jr., F G e - P -

_,;au :00 Fsmi' 4C9 04__§ ‘90." ”3;:51_:‘
Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1970 .

25John J. Waters, ”Reviews of Books,” In:

W, Third Ser., Vol. xxvn, No. 4
October, 1970 , pp. 657-658.

 

? Q

in Cna
2:2 early histor
1: terms of the
2: political s‘

the success of

E:
.V'::l¢1g
.‘ 8. Yr
‘
5' “a!
v“ Q ~
“e-ntn c

‘48
3“
"3:5 .\
“ UP. .
. “
lc‘.

In Chapter II, the background, the founding and
the early history of Newbury are presented, particularly
in terms of the Puritan mission and the specific religious
and political structures which were created to help insure
the success of that endeavor. The lives of Anthony Somerby I
and Reverend James Noyes I, the town's first two school-
masters, are concentrated upon. Chapter III concerns
Reverend Thomas Parker, Newbury's founder and patriarch who
dominated the town's first four decades and served as school-
master from 1656 to 1675. During this period, Newbury's
educational and cultural life flourished as never before.

Chapter IV, covering the years 1675 to 1684,
concerns the lives of Henry Short II, Reverend John

Emerson II and Reverend Thomas Baily I, who taught during a
Ixariod of Newbury's history when the direction of the town
BCXhool remained largely uncertain. It was during this
Ixariod that there occurred the struggles imminent in the
coming to power of the sons and grandsons of the first
Settlers. In Chapter V, the final sixteen years of the
Seventeenth century are discussed. Reverend Edward
Tompson I, Reverend Seth Shove, Reverend John Clark, Rev-
erend Dr. Christopher Toppan I and Reverend Dr. Nicholas
Webster I are considered together because their lives have
many parallels with respect to the educational patterns of

late seventeenth century Newbury.

 

 

 

:2 sources ava
:eztury schools.
i’SII‘E-ZS 0.9 a more

Two 1

resent work.

 

The conclusion is found in Chapter VI. In the
Bibliographical Essay is found an evaluative discussion of
the sources available on Newbury, the eleven seventeenth
century schoolmasters and New England Puritanism. Related
works of a more general nature are also explored.

Two types of sources have been utilized in the
present work. First, there are the primary sources, con-
sisting of such published and unpublished materials as town
records, church records, court records, family papers and
published and unpublished writings of schoolmasters.
Second, there are the secondary sources, among them histor-
ies of the town, church and county, biographies, geneal-
Ogfles and innumerable historical works concerned, either in

whole or in part, with seventeenth century education in
Newbury.

This study is chronological and interpretative,
beginning with Newbury's English antecedents, its founding
in 1635 and the establishment of the first school in 1639.
The work concludes with the dawn of the new age of the
eighteenth century, by which time Massachusetts Bay's
charter had been expired for nine years and Puritan author-
ity had been greatly diminished.26 To understand the
31ndividual schoolmasters and how they influenced education,

\

26Thoms Ho Johnson. W52
H (New York: Oxford University Press,

19 6 . p. 513.

 

 

seventeenth cent
It is
ration upon all

252.127 Newbury,

cf our colonial

10

much attention has been focused upon the family back-
grounds and the biographical details pertaining to each
of the eleven men who wielded the master's rod during the
seventeenth century.

It is felt that this work, through its concen-
tration upon all aspects of education in seventeenth
century Newbury, can help to explain further a portion

of our colonial education heritage.

 

E

TO 1:11:
educational e f f
5:»

Ellshme. a

“.t
a! "
a. ' RY‘
118'“ ‘1‘! , F?

‘4

c
I‘M”.

‘ 1
:5THshire’ Eng"
I i,
9‘1 establish

“'9’ in the 1.-

 

CHAPTER II

THE INITIAL EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS,
1635-1656

To understand adequately Newbury's initial

educational efforts, some attention must be given to the

establishment and early history of the town. The origins

of Newbury, Massachusetts, first known by the Indian name
'Quascacunquen,'1 may be traced directly to Newbury,
Berkshire, England, an ecclesiastical settlement which was
‘well established by the time of the Norman succession to
power in the late twelfth century.2 It was from this Eng-
lish community that a large number of the early settlers
came during the Great Puritan Migration of the 16308.

Most importantly, the English Newbury was the home of Rev-
erend Thomas Parker, leader of the founders of Quascacunquen.

The English Newbury of the fifteenth century was

generally conformist, particularly with respect to religion.

S H Ne

1Joshua Coffin,
Fr m 0 Boston:

R We Newb
Samuel C. Drake, 18h5 , p. 9.

2George P. Tilton, Ngwhuzy: A Pgttenn 9f Flatwazg
:Wi

. Com an

Efidg lg Stgnllng 521122 by the Tgwle Mtg p y tn
§9me ngtozy Q: Newbury: Mggsaghusettg end its Progenitgz
Efilbuzzl_fingland Newburyport, Massachusetts: The Towle
Manufacturing Company, 1907), p. 3.

11

'l...‘.' '

w. t'

 

ll: S‘irpTiSiT-E'

naps Iell to 1
iszs was the

viclence nece
:22 Parish C?

trial of Jos:

5212001, am:

AA“

 

12

Not surprisingly, it was overwhelmingly Anglican and, lest
we imagine that Puritans were highly regarded, it is per-
haps well to note that the persecution of all nonconform-
ists was the rule, rather than the exception. Nor was
violence necessarily avoided. On July 16, 1556, for example,
the Parish Church became the scene of the religious heresy
trial of Josceline Palmer, master of the Reading Grammar
School, and two companions, Gwyn and Askew. Immediately
following the determination of a guilty verdict, the three
were burned at the stake to the general satisfaction of
their neighbors.3
With respect to the town's educational provisions,
there existed an enterprising grammar school, probably as
early as the fifteenth century and most certainly by the
txeginning of the sixteenth.4 In addition, St. Nicholas
Cllurch had for centuries been a major force in the town.5
As was usual in most English towns, the church played a
Significant educational role in addition to its leadership

1J1 religious guidance.6 Hence, the men and women who left

k

31hid-. pp. 7-8.
“laid” p. 11.

5Allan ForbeS..Iouns_of_Nek_§nsland_end_21d_fins:
‘79.. I o as: .240 S 0 2.9!. 001 . _ L n 5 Be wee; Ci _4¢
:93 To 7: o" Ne E3; 4.. £10.. T’s ‘ 0 _‘ Sau- N.me 11 EP-
I S New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons,
1921 , p. 132.
6Foster Watson, T e 0 d G amm S (New

I[Orin G.P. Putnam's Sons, 191 , pp. 8-92-

 

Barbary during t
:roiucts of the -

23393 of both gr

location. Heubu
I

sez'zential cents
' !
222:7 rm suffei
Itis but fifty '
five miles south
Exthlest of Ca:
5:9. major roai

ilntryside . Co

 

13

Newbury during the Great Puritan Migration of the 16303 were
products of the significant cultural and religious influ-
ences of both grammar school and church.

Also of significance was the town's geographical
location. Newbury was sufficiently close to the more con-
sequential centers of English culture to prevent its citi-
zenry from suffering the blight of intellectual stagnation.
It is but fifty miles west of the heart of London, twenty-
five miles south of Oxford University and sixty-five miles
southwest of Cambridge University. From the time of Roman
rule, major roads connected Newbury with sundry parts of the
countryside. Consequently, although the town could not be
said to have been a teeming urban metrOpolis, it was hardly

an isolated peasant village.

With regard to the settlement of New England's

Newbury, there exist numerous primary and secondary sources
which are thoroughly discussed in the Bibliographical Essay.
Although the exact date of settlement remains uncertain, it
318 definitely known that it occurred in the early spring of
1635, probably in the month of May. Presented in Joshua
‘30ffin's exemplary town history is a discussion of the

authenticity of citing the spring of 1635 as the actual
time of Newbury's founding.7

7Joshua Coffin, gp, glt., pp. 9-15.

'1’;

 

in the 16335

29225 00 C 111'!“

inister.8

toe winter 0

‘ w

 

IN

Because of the religious motivation for emigration
in the 16308, virtually all of the early New England settle-
ments occurred in groups under the leadership of a Puritan
minister.8 Newbury was no exception to this rule. During
the winter of 1633 to l63h, Newbury's founders undertook
final preparations for the Atlantic crossing. On Febru-
ary 1“, 163A, there is a record of their being detained in
the River Thames on board the 'Mary and JohnI by order of
the Privy Council of King Charles 1.9 Here, the anxious
emigrants awaited the necessary authorization to embark.

On March 24 and 26, l63u, after what must have seemed an
annoyingly long delay, the following men were allowed to

take the required oath of supremacy and allegiance to the

 

Crown:

William Moudey Henry Travers

Thomas Sweete John Woodbridge

Thomas Savery Christopher Osgood

Philip Fowler John Bartlett

Robert Coker William Savery

John Godfrey George Browne

Nicholas Noyce Richard Browne

Richard Littlehall William White

John.Whelyer William Clarke

Robert Newman Stephen Jurden

8Perry Miller, E a I he Wi dernes (New
York: Harper and Row, 1956 , pp. 1-15; Oliver Perry Chitwood,
Hi 0 , 3rd ed., Harper's Historical

Series, Guy Stanton Ford, ed. (New York: Harper and Brothers,
1961), pp. 88-121 and Edmund S. Morgan, Yifiih]: Sgintg: Thg

318392! g: g Puritan Inga (Ithaca, New York: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1963 , pp. 64-112.

9John J- Currier. W
1292 (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 1902 , p. 28.

nJ

Q '

 

avg

'«U

hicnolas
Abraham 1
545‘

Kayo-.3“ ‘
oohn has:
m- .. ’
.nolas :2
J in Ste:
:9 n C}-
o-vnk'v U4-c
. ‘0

John new:
m- -
.nomas he

 

15

Nicholas Easton Richard Kent
Abraham Mussey William Ballard
Matthew Gillett William Franklin
John Mussey Thomas Cole
Thomas Parker James Noyce

John Spencer William Spencer
Henry Shorte Richard Kent, Jun
John Newman Henry Lunt

Thomas Newman John Anthony10

The oath to which they swore was either the following or

one very similar to it:

I Doe sweare before the Almighty and ever living
God, that I will beare all faithful allegiance to my
true and undoubted Soveraigne Lord King Charles, who
is Lawfull King of this Island and all other his domin-
ions both by sea and land by the Law of God and man
and by lawfull succession, and that I will most con-
stantly and cheerefully even to the utmost hazard of
my life and fortune oppose all seditions, rebellions,
conspiracies, covenants, and treasons whatsoever
against his maties Crowne and dignity or person, raysed
or sett up under what pretence of religion or colour
soever, and if it shall come veyled under pretence of
religion I hould it most abominable before God & man.
And this oath I take voluntary, under the faith of a
good Christian and loyall subject, wthout any equivoca-
tion of mentall reservation whatsoever, from wch I
hould no power on earth can absolve me in any parte.11

Unlike the far more famous voyages of Governor
William Bradford in 1620 and Governor John Winthrop in 1629,
that of the "Mary and John" was not, as far as is known,
chronicled by the participants. Certain it was, nonetheless,
that the Puritans from Newbury, England, were plagued by the

same fears and trepidations that haunted other seventeenth

 

10Samuel Gardner Drake, “Passengers of the Mary

and John. 1631MI WWW:
W. Vol- IX. Noo 3 July. 1855 . pp- 2 5-2 8.

11Thomas Lechford, Note-book, p. 105, quoted in,
John J. Currier, Qt, glt., p. 642.

at

 

1
entry ocearnc

 

:tsir woolen s‘ni
segers had only
Eererend James I;
Iizholas Noyes I

On the sea,

the forenoor.
during the v

intervened,
Not u:
N

- JOh-‘l' arrive

521% of 1631;.

 

16

century oceanic travellers. On many a turbulent day, when
their wooden ship was tossed unmercifully about, the pas-
sengers had only the prayers of Reverend Thomas Parker and
Reverend James Noyes I to comfort them. As Reverend
Nicholas Noyes II wrote:
On the sea, Mr. Parker and Mr. Noyes preached, one in
the forenoon, the other in the afternoon, every day
during the voyage, unless some extraordinary thing
intervened, and were abundant in prayer.1
Not until after two months at sea did the "Mary
and John' arrive at Boston, Massachusetts.13 During the
summer of 163“, the party journeyed northward and reached
the recently established settlement at Ipswich, where they
spent the winter.14 They did not reside here for long,
however. .
The Massachusetts General Court desired that the
colony's limits be extended northward. On May 6, 1635, in
the interest of putting this policy into effect, the Court

granted the request of Reverend Parker through the passage

of the following resolution:

 

12Nicholas Noyes II, quoted in, Cotton Mather,

Maghgllg Chnlsti Ameziggha; 9:, The Egglesiastigal ngtgnz
" N ‘-El: an.’ F 011 I S F s P :1 ° 1 111‘ Ye 0-..
U Y on L , Vol. I Hartford: Silas

Andrus and Sons, 1852 , p. h8h.

13Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little Ilsley,
eds., .- ', : P; _ N-;- ' Ms~ : 4 se : . - '
(Newburyport, Massachusetts: News Printing Company, Inc.,
1935), p. 10.

1“me

in!

 

Vessac
plantacon &
Cart Turner
sett out the
such thereof
con is chart:-

Farthe
power of theE
con shall re
take a comp»;

It is
Tuner & Ca:
abouts the f
Q‘iantity of
to Neweberry

 

Within
2’1! group left
351m Sound and
'55 at this p015

"531583131 feet in

you t

.«c mm or NEW};

 

17

Wessacucon is allowed by the Court to be a
plantacon & it is referd to Mr Humfry, Mr Endicott,
Capt Turner and Capt Traske or any three of them, to
sett out the bounds of Ipswich & Wessacucon, or soe
much thereof as they can & the name of the said planta-
con is changed & hereafter to be called Neweberry.

Farther, it is ordered, that it shal be in the
power of the Court to take order that the said planta-
con shall receave a sufficient company of people to
make a competent towne.

It is referd to Mr Humfry, Mr Endicott, Capt
Turner & Capt Traske to sett out a fferme for Mr Dumer,
aboute the falls of Neweberry, not exceeding the
quantity of 500 acres, pvided also it be not piuditiall

to Neweberry.15

Within a matter of days after the act, Parker's
hardy group left Ipswich and sailed northward through Plum
Island Sound and up what later became the Parker River. It
was at this point, on the north bank of the river but a few
thousand feet inland from the ocean, that they established
the town of Newbury.16 Here, under the wide branches of a
great oak tree which for centuries stood on the north bank
of the river, Parker, according to John Pike II, who was

then present, preached Newbury's first sermon, using as his

text Matthew 18:17:17

 

15John J. Currier, th_glt., pp. 30-31.

16Samuel Colcord Bartlett, "Historical Address,"

The Historical Society of Old Newbury, Qelghzgtlgh_gfi_the
In.- H H. ‘0. 240 i i o All e a 0 9* Se men .0
Ngghgny, the lO, l8§5 Newburyport, Massachusetts: The
Historical Society of Old Newbury, 1885), p. 39. The land-
ing place is marked by a stone monument which was inscribed

in 1902.

17John Pike II, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
mist. . PP- 16-17.

mi

 

And if
unto the cm
let him be u.

 

After an elabora'
:: the name of C'
the thirt -nine 7|

fleiglirg tom.

 

 

 

 

h,‘ to quote JC'
Bevin:
:Zmlth Separat

Savory were for

 

we 163.1; to 1m
3: in

me, that we
re:

 

18

And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it
unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church,
let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

After an elaboration upon the necessity of working together
in the name of Christ Jesus, a covenant was agreed upon and
the thirty-nine year old Parker was chosen pastor of the
fledgling town, the founders 'expressinge their voats there-
in," to quote John Pike II, “by lifting up the hands."18

Having learned from the experiences of the
Plymouth Separatists fifteen years earlier, the fathers of
Newbury were fortunate in benefitting from adequate prep-
aration for settlement, a necessity which had sometimes
been sadly neglected under the fervor of colony founding.

By living in the established towns of Boston and Ipswich
from 163A to 1635, the early settlers learned much, we may
be sure, that was to prove valuable during the crucial first
years.

Abiding by the stipulations established at London
prior to emigration, house lots, planting lots and meadow
lots were given, by grants, to all settlers.19 To the poor-
est colonists were granted four acre lots and the rights of
pasturage, while fifty acre farms were granted to every

person who paid for his own sea voyage.20 Those who had

 

18112151.. p. 17.
19John J. Currier, Qt. Qlt., p. 36.

zolbio.

v.2

 

1" ~A L- 1—

 

:rlcial eoononi
the first sett]
tribuzicn arrar
even in the Key.
5???? unities f

Cont:

Fry '33 the a:

31.. a, tile tO‘fl’Yr:

c
.‘5

Bar; of the pay

_ .
”I 3‘0

”34:41 sctale

V v

19

also contributed fifty pounds to the company's common stock
received two hundred acres.21 Thus were carried out the
crucial economic provisions. It is significant to note that
the first settlers were not disposed to attack the land dis-
tribution arrangement and that they all but guaranteed that
even in the New World some men would have far greater
opportunities for material success than would others.
Contained within the original dimensions of New-
bury was the area which now comprises the city of Newbury-
port, the towns of Newbury and West Newbury and the larger
part of the parish of Byfield.22 The first division of the
original settlement area did not occur until January 28,
1764, when the business oriented northern section was
established as the town of Newburyport.23 On February 18,
1819, West Newbury further divided the governmental unit
of the original 1635 town.24 Consequently, we are con-
cerned in the present study with the educational history of
a much larger part of northern Essex County than that which

today constitutes the town of Newbury. Indeed, the

 

211p d-

22The Essex Institute, Vital Begonds of N%whgzy,
M e E he Ye 8 , Vol. I Salem,

Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911 , p. 4.

23E. Vale Smith, H s N bu . F
E; 1: So -u‘l o e C0 1 0 18 P ‘ ‘9 T-uf W 1

seéiosraphioallenpendix- (Boston: Damrell and MOOPG: 18545:
pp. 60-73.

2”The Essex Institute, Qp. Qlt., p. 4.

1
‘ '— m F“ "I
aw: mflm' " ‘

historical orisi‘
Ellison-y are 12'
Parker River set

Prom t
seztlerent. In 1
:arrying new set
inst, November
early years this
ieceze one of th
ions which, by

test. Accordin

31‘3'8 Lower Gra

 

1M ’ UP'
:i- Pet‘- :
\\S 3'.er V in“.

.~ v ,v
‘\' av

ally Dry, J
3:232?) gyper‘by
'l‘?‘ "v, lChah
I, “we ‘ l
J!“ er 1

Q. ’

20

historical origins of the entire area between Rowley and
Salisbury are largely derived from the planting of the
Parker River settlement in the spring of 1635.

From the onset, rapid growth aided the new
settlement. In June, 1635, there arrived fifteen ships
carrying new settlers and one ship per month arrived during
August, November and December.25 Throughout the town's
early years this growth continued and enabled Newbury to
become one of the most firmly established of the numerous
towns which, by the early 16403, dotted the New England
coast. According to the 1905 founders monument on New-
bury's Lower Green, seventy adult male settlers lived in

the town by the year 1650.26 Since nearly all the settlers

 

25Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little Ilsley,
ed3'9.22L_2130: P0 11-

26Inscribed on a plaque fastened to the back of
the monument are the following names: Robert Adams, Giles
Badger, John Bailey, Thomas Brown, Richard Brown, Richard
Bartlett, John Cheney, Aquila Chase, Nathaniel Clark,
Thomas Coleman, Tristram Coffin, Robert Coker, John Cutting,
John Davis, Richard Dole, Richard Dummer, John Emery,
William Garrish, Edmund Greenleaf, Thomas Hale, Abel Huse,
William Ilsley, James Jackman, Henry Jaques, John Kelly,
Richard Kent, John Knight, Richard Knight, George Little,
Percival Lowell, Henry Lunt, Robert Long, Hugh Marsh,
William Marston, Nathaniel Merrill, William Moody, Edmond
Moores, Anthony Morse, William Moulton, Nicholas Noyes,
James Noyes, James Ordway, John Osgood, Thomas Parker,
Richard Pettingall, Daniel Pierce, John Pike, William
Pillsbury, William Plumer, John Poore, Samuel Poore, Edward
Rawson, John Remington, Edward Richardson, Henry Rolfe,
Robert Savory, Henry Sewall, Henry Short Thomas Smith,
Anthony Somerby, William Sawyer, Steven Swett, William
Titcomb, Richard Thurlow, Daniel Thurston, Abraham Toppan,
Savid Wheeler, Thomas Whittier, John Woodbridge, Edward

oodman.

\
'u. VJ

I
4
-n a'.‘ cg..- .

 

vere carried and
that within fift-
:Zaiv several hill

The me
killing, was cc
all: on the tria

Ereenfle For at

T—F—————p——

Liiividual fasil
vicinity of the

patios in the re
I

.or greater prot
3.113213 and wilt
titsetts Genera‘
ear-g the pol:
CEEI‘Sd thef-

o o 0 nos d}.

wp
L.

3? ”‘th at ..
nthC‘t V
o “ lea:

c 8 “PEG

 

 

21

were married and had a number of children,27 it is clear
that within fifteen years after its founding the town could
claim several hundred residents.

The meetinghouse, the town's most important
building, was constructed during the summer of 1635, prob-
ably on the triangular lot of land now known as the Lower
Green.28 For at least the first few years, most homes of
individual families were constructed in the immediate
vicinity of the meetinghouse, both for convenient partici-
pation in the religious and civil affairs of the town and
for greater protection against the ever present danger of
Indians and wild animals. On September 6, 1635, the Massa-
chusetts General Court, being greatly concerned about con-
tinuing the policy of internal centrality of development,
ordered that:

. . . noe dwelling howse shalbee builte above halfe

a myle from the meeting howse in any newe plantacon,
granted att this Court, or hereafter to be granted,
without leaue from the court, (except myll howses &
fferme howses of such as have their dwelling howses in
some towne), Ipswich, Hingham, Newberry & Waymothe to
be included in this order.29

This law stood on the books only until May 13, 1640, when it

was repealed.30

 

27Joshua Coffin, o_p_,__c_i_t., pp. 293-322.
28John J. Currier, gp, 911-. p. 39.
29112.19.-

3olhld-

’ ‘
r, . I’
“thaww—t‘ “'Idj

1
¢
l

A 51:?
iecisicr. to res:

resist‘me of It":

 

szazchest occcr

A iescendant of

a: the age of ei
333: after- 1635,
Eeztlers of New:
c’ '2

litown Hill.
‘19 Cluster of Tv
In vs:

I 0,, q .
“L mom n15 dEC

 

 

 

22

A significant factor in the General Court's
decision to rescind its earlier legislation was the
resistance of many of the settlers. One of early Newbury's
staunchest opponents to this legislation was John Kelly I.
A descendant of the English Kellys who have been seated at
Kelly Manor, Kelly, Lifton, Devon, England, since the
eleventh century, John Kelly I left his native Exeter and,
at the age of eighteen, arrived at Boston on the "Hector.“31
Soon after 1635, when Kelly became one of the earliest
settlers of Newbury, he built his house on the north side
of Oldtown Hill, west of High Road and some distance from
the cluster of houses at the Parker River.32

In vain, Kelly's neighbors attempted to dissuade
him from his decision. He continued, however, to provide
for his family in this distant home, apparently contented

in his avoidance of the disadvantages he saw in the more

 

31Bernard Burke, A Genealogigal and Heraldic

H r . 0. ie . de: G-; o_ G e.” Bui ain .nd I e ano,
th ed. London: Harrison, 1863 , pp. 803-804; "Obituaries:

Arthur Willard Kelly,” The New England Histgzigal an?
GegQQJQgigg] Register, Vol. XCIV, No. 2 April, 19h0 , pp.

196-197; Richard Edward Kelly, ”The Kelly Family,‘I The

Detroi? Society for Genealogical Research Magazine, Vol. 27,
No. 3 Spring, 196% , p. 135 and Richard Edward Kelly, "An
English Kelly: Reverend William Kelly (174u-1813) of Warner,

New Hampshire," New Hampshire Pzgfi11§§, Vol. XIX, No. 7
(July, 1970), p. 15.

32Joshua Coffin, 92. £13., p. 394 and Giles
A

Merrill Kelly, A Genealogical gggunt of the Desgendgnts of
Jghn K§]]y 9f Newbury, Massachusettg, U.S.A. Albany, New
York: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1886 , p. 8.

 

in!

 

VUU

9.qu 59*‘1‘35.

i...‘ no

. m,
rimmed. -.

his life as a c*
should be on h;-

rialize. Jorm :

. , ‘ ,
239213015 sec 4

”its gathonee

v.

 

 

23

thickly settled part of Newbury. Yet, his peace was not
undisturbed. The town passed a resolution that if he lost
his life as a consequence of this decision, ”his blood
should be on his own head,”33 a fear which failed to mate-
rialize. John Kelly I, ninth great-grandfather of the
writer, exhibited many of the characteristics of the more
adventurous second, third and fourth generation Newburyites.
Yet, the majority of the early settlers were more
thoroughly conformist than Kelly and their residences near
the Lower Green enabled the business of the town to be
carried on entirely through mass meetings at which all inhab-
itants gathered. Here the freemen discussed local concerns
and voted on matters brought to their attention for consid-
eration. As the population continued to increase, however,
it became apparent that representative government would have
to replace the unwieldy mass assemblages of the freemen.
Hence, selectmen, lot layers, town clerks, fence viewers and
other town officers were chosen for the purpose of carrying
out the tasks which had been performed in a far more
cumbersome manner.3“ Whenever a building was constructed,
a fence erected, a pew installed in the meetinghouse,
or a plot of land surveyed for the town, it was customary

for the popularly elected selectmen to choose a

 

332123.31.
34Joshua Coffin, op, gi§., pp. 15-18.

 

 

with t
:59 county gover
Lay 10, 1643, E:
:2rtheast of L0
Fessachusetts 3
he: seven towns
izzerporated:
1m (1637), a:
later called 'n'a.
EI-Ef‘tei a Sign

A“
~-

"vs thPOUqho

 

24

number of men to supervise the work. Thus developed some
of the first characteristics of the ”town-meeting" form of
government which characterized early New England towns.

With the town of Newbury firmly established, only
the county governmental unit remained to be instituted. On
May 10, 1643, Essex County, named after its English parent
northeast of London, was established as an entity by the
Massachusetts General Court.35 At this time, the county
had seven towns, of which Newbury had been the third to be
incorporated: Salem (1630), Ipswich (1634), Newbury (1635),
ann (1637), Bowley (1639), Gloucester (1639) and Enon,
later called Wenham (16h3).36 As the county seat, Salem
exerted a significant influence over northeastern Massachu-
setts throughout the colonial period.

It 1s in the light of this early development that
Newbury's initial educational endeavors most be viewed.
Simultaneous with the establishment of the town and church,
the division of lands and the erection of the early dwell-
ings, provisions were made for education. The following
excerpt from the town records is the earliest known refer-

ence to education in Newbury:

 

35Claude M. Fuess, “Essex County Metamorphosis,“

Eggg; Institute Historical Cgl]ggtigns, Vol. XCII, No. 1
January, 1956 , p. u.

36Ihid., p. 5.

“l

 

There
year 1639 fc
one eare f1
- k‘

The 4'
.l.“.l in 1610 1!“
£531

 

25

There was granted unto Anthony Somerby in the
year 1639 for his encouragement to keepe schools for
one years four akers of upland over the great river
in the necke, also sixe akers of salt marsh next to
Abraham TOppan's twenty akers.37

Such economic arrangements, in lieu of money, were fre-
quently utilized in early Puritan towns, primarily because
of the abundance of land surrounding the settlements.

The Newbury town school was one of the earliest
in New England. Only four years before, the Boston Latin
School had become the region's first secondary institu-
tion.38 Moreover, in Essex County only Salem, Ipswich and
Newbury had established schools by the end of the 16308.39

The first schoolmaster, Anthony Somerby I, was
born in 1610 in Little Bytham, Lincolnshire, England.“0
Having given or taken their name from Somerby, Lincolnshire,
the family traced its ancestry to Adam de Somerby, a land-

holder who was mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086).“1

 

37Joshua Coffin, Qt. glt., p. 32.

38Edgar w. Knight, "Latin Schools,“ Digtionazx
(t Amezltgn fllstgzy, James Truslow Adams ed., Vol. III
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 , p. 250.

39Samuel Eliot Morison, The Intellectual Lite 9:

New E , 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell

University Press, 1956), p. 72.

“OWilliam Richard Cutter, ed., Genealogical and
szsongl Memgirs Relating t9 the Famillts 0: Boston and
Eastern Massaghusgtts, Vol. II New York: Lewis Historical

Publishing Company, 1908), pp. 1013-lolu.
“lJoshua Coffin, gt. glt., p. 399.

.JJ

 

 

one of the gran
kin C],8,““v Xe},-

‘ Q.’

It is

the early life

26

Within Anthony Somerby I's immediate family,
marriage conferred a degree of socio-economic status.
Somerby's brother, Henry Somerby IV, married Judith Green-
leaf, daughter of the prominent Newbury and Boston mer-
chant, Captain Edmund Greenleaf‘.“2 It is noteworthy that
one of the grandchildren of Henry IV and Judith was Reverend
John Clark, Newbury's ninth schoolmaster.43

It is unfortunate that so little is known about
the early life of Anthony Somerby I. Indeed, even his
level of education and his occupation prior to becoming a
schoolmaster remain largely conjectory. William S. Appleton
declared that Somerby received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in
1635 from Clare Hall, Cambridge.“u However, Samuel Eliot
Horison's thoroughly researched references to New England's
130 earliest known college graduates revealed no supportive

evidence for Somerby's alleged degree.45 Yet, the abilities

uzJames Edward Greenleaf, G nea G e -
lggfi Family, 1524-1896 (Boston: Frank Wood, 1896), pp. 71-7”.
43Ceorge Kuhn Clarke, The Destendants ofi Nathaniel

a ’- as! His W - E azaoe h Somerb' . Newbu Mass: -
: A Hi 0 Te Genera ions 642- 0 Boston:
privately printed, 1902), pp. 9-28, 270-276.

“kWilliam S. Appleton, Egg]! Wills Illgstzating
1' A! e " 0 H 0 Co Wi G11“; 0; ; 5.10. B .-

gzgthlgg] Ngtgg Bi He: Grandsgn Boston: David Clapp and
Son, 1893 , p. 57.

u5Samuel Eliot Morison, The Founding of Haggard

C (Cambrid e, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
1935 9 PP- 359-3 3-

 

. ‘
.' - '
‘m' III-um I-l'." :u- a uni-v x.

u 5°:Cnstratei

sailei on the 'g

“531 Frocee ei

§6€blny.h7 At

7‘0 Years afte.

‘1?
he Somerby na—

 

27

he demonstrated as town clerk suggest the possibility of
his having been educated in a Latin grammar school.

It is certain, however, that at the age of twenty-
nine, having decided to settle in New England, Somerby
sailed on the "Jonathan” and arrived at Newbury in l639.LF6
As he stated at the "court held at Ipswich," on September 28,
1652, the "Jonathan" anchored at Boston, Massachusetts, and
then proceeded northward along the coast until it reached
Newbury.“7 At this point, Somerby joined the four year old
settlement.

It was probably while in England that he had
married Abigail, whose surname has been lost.“8 Born within
two years after their arrival at Newbury was their only
child, Abiel Somerby I, whose descendants have perpetuated
the Somerby name.“9

There exist no records of Somerby's teaching

techniques or even any lists of his students' names. There

 

46Joshua Coffin, 9p. glt., p. 318 and John

Farmer, A e i Re i te Fi Se e s o
Ntflzgngland Lancaster, Massachusetts: Carter, Andrews and

Company, 1829), p. 268.

“7Anthony Somerby I, quoted in, Henry F. Waters,
'The Voyage of the Jonathan to New England, 1639: Passen-
gers and Vessels that have Arrived in America," Part IX,
Tc‘ N‘A Be: :11 H__ o i a any G‘o‘= 0-1 . 3‘11 ,T-, V01.
XXXII, No. 4 October, 1878 , p. #11.

48Joshua Coffin, op. tit., p. 318.
”9112.1.

”#1

1L“ “- Im.‘-w‘

‘5 a record, h!
which occurred

1542 town meet

.‘ ‘
"' is ODVIOus'

\fi‘, 3 y...

3"¢vlca1 c0n1

Lip

U
‘-3¢ A
rJQal law Oh
6' 03':-

eaniza‘
5:“:
"‘18::

v or -
=7. ‘ 1t
“Jigs
. v-1 detgv
‘iF/J‘Slti

031
S‘-4. Of
"1.63.4.

28

is a record, however, of a significant financial development
which occurred on March 12, 1642. Following the February 25,
1642 town meeting, the chosen committee consisting of Rep-
resentative Henry Short I, the father of the fourth school-
master, Henry Short 11; Representative Edward Woodman 1;
Representative Edward Rawson I; Thomas Hale I and Reverend
John Woodbridge II ordered that one right to the common
lands was to be assigned to the "towns house,“ and ”to lye
at the towne's appointment,” one to "the ferry Lott' and
three "for them that shall be schoolmasters successively."5O
It is obvious, then, that the town was determined to retain
political control over the school. Furthermore, the grant-
ing of land in lieu of or in addition to a salary is an
indication of the desire to limit the prohibitiveness of
tuition payments.

Like other towns, Newbury was effected when the
Massachusetts General Court passed the first colonial educa-
tional law on April 14, 1642. Although it did not require
the organization of town schools, it established a precedent
because of its expression of severe disapproval of the
alleged deterioration of standards of learning and its
imposition of fines for educational neglect. As the law
stated:

 

591tld., p. 36 and John Farmer, 92. tit., pp. 264,
329. 240: 132-133: 327-328»

..
I "A
‘.

Lin—“MS IK‘Wewf ‘- W‘- I}

This C
nezlect of "
children in
may be prof?
order and d-i:
appointed fr
same shall 1r
the redress-t
ciently pim:
upon presen'
tion or com:
tion; rd 1"
them, shall
time of all
especially (
principles 7
country . .

 

 
   
 

 

 

Far m
":11 Deluder Sal|
householders to
tom of one huh

emotion. Th,

#:794-

29

This Cort, taking into consideration the great
neglect of many parents & masters in training up their
children in learning & Labor, & other implyments which
may be proffitable to the common wealth, do here-upon
order and decree, that in euery towne ye chosen men
appointed for managing the prudentiall affajres of the
same shall henceforth stand charged with the care of
the redresse of this evill, so as they shalbee suffi-
ciently punished by fines for the neglect thereof,
upon presentment of the grand iury, or other informa-
tion or complaint in any Court within this jurisdic-
tion; and for this end they, or the greater number of
them, shall have power to take account from time to
time of all parents and masters, and of their children,
especially of their ability to read & understand the
principles of religion & the capitall lawes of this
country . . .51

Far more demanding was the November 11, 1647

I'Old Deluder Satan Act," which required every town of fifty

householders to provide for primary education and every

town of one hundred householders to provide for secondary

education. The introduction to the legislation is signifi-

cant for the educational philosophy therein expressed:

It being one chiefs project of ye ould deluder,
Satan to keepe men from the knowledge of ye Scriptures,
as in formr times by keeping ym in an unknowns tongue,
so in these lattr times by perswading from ye use of
tongues, yt so at least ye true sence & meaning of ye
originall might be clouded by false glosses of saint
seeming deceivers, yt learning may not be buried in ye
grave of or fathrs in ye church and commonwealth, the
Lord assisting or endeavors, . . . 2

Later in.the seventeenth century, as will be seen presently,

the religious impetus for learning led, not unexpectedly,

 

51Henry Steele Commager. edo. W
H , 5th ed., Crofts American History Series,

Dixon.Ryan Fox, gen. ed. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,
Inc., 1949), p. 28.

52.11111” p- 29.

 

 

:c a relatively

 

.....

:he levying 03'
every tom :0"?
that, as Carl “
'f‘oe intention
2122 we atteml
island can be
is not that so
his was accorr;
It 11‘
Eeverend James

51‘! school. :

9;“n ‘. I
udfid than :1

r.’ ‘
'- 50.78 for a~‘~

 

30

to a relatively advanced level of secular studies. As
Edmund S. Morgan noted, the Puritan child in New England
received an education considerably more advanced than that
of his English cousin.53

Evasions of the 1642 and 1647 laws resulted in
the levying of fines by the General Court. Although not
every town complied with the law, it should be recognized
that, as Carl H. Gross and Charles C. Chandler stated,
“The intention was, nevertheless, present."54 Moreover,
the mere attempt to set up a school system in frontier New
England can be seen as nothing short of valiant. The point
is not that so little was attempted but, rather, that so
much was accomplished.

It is significant that Somerby and his successor,
Reverend James Noyes I, did not teach unaided in the New-
bury school. Reverend Thomas Parker, who was even better
educated than Noyes, continuously aided in the preparation
of boys for admission to Harvard College.55 As Samuel Eliot

Morison noted, Parker had the most varied educational

 

53Edmund S. Morgan, The thltan Family: Rgliglgh
D Re S ntee -Ce 1 New Ehglghg,
2nd ed. (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), pp. 97-102.

54Car1 H. Gross and Charles C. Chandler, eds.,
Am i E u a 'o T R a (Boston:

T e o
D.C. Heath and Company, 1964 , p. 6.

55Whg wha Who in Amezita, Histghitgl Volumg,
léflzglflafi, 2nd ed. Chicago: The A.N. Marquis Company,
1967 ’ p.

 

H

466.

I; e 1
Liv-tau “w survive- -W‘Ir‘a

 

"ccszzfcund of e
u;
/-v

 

Eeu':'ir;y';tes won;

 

5in 1r.- aavance

rezeined respor;

the town's Chil

 

 

31

background of all the early college educated settlers of

New England.56 Consequently, it was natural that early
Newburyites would turn to the scholarly Parker for leader-
ship in advanced educational matters. Nevertheless, Somerby
remained responsible for the entire elementary education of
the town's children and, one may surmise, for much of the
secondary education as well.

The youngest children in Somerby's school read,
undoubtedly, from hornbooks in an effort to master the al-
phabet, numerals and religious figures and wording.57
Later, when they had begun to study the various spellers
and catechisms, they used quill pens to carefully copy and
memorize the material in preparation for the oral examina-
tions which would determine readiness to tackle even more
advanced books.58 Nearly all of these works were published
in England because even though Cambridge had a press as

early as 1639, the largest number of colonial authors

 

56Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Education of Thomas

Parker, of Newbury," Publications 9: The Cgltnigl Sggiety
gt Mgggaghhtgttg, Thangggtlgng, Vol. XXVIII April, 1932 ,

p. 261.

57Charles Carpenter, History Qt Amgrlcah Sghggl-
hggkd (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
19 3 .

p. 21.

58011fton Johnson, 0 d-Tim s o s o -
fingkfi (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904), pp. 13-24.

 

 

 

referred to he."
. _ “r
aener read...
In 31

Sew‘my's sever;
31' wiser, 8 P's
of works on the
Sensible for t-

I; he had to

 

 

,.
all;

593': 331151 is he 51

.1.5 "Ork “a

F
r-ci

11.

I: .
‘I.:£ae1 ‘d; P

-

(D

P.‘
~
“-s

shims. 62

T

32

preferred to have their works published in England, where
a larger reading public existed.59

In all probability, the textbooks utilized by
Newbury's seventeenth century students included a catechism
or primer, a Psalter, a Testament or Bible and any number
of works on the revered classics.6O Since Somerby was re-
sponsible for teaching children at various stages of learn-
ing, he had to utilize various texts simultaneously. Yet,
especially when he had a manageable number of students, he
undoubtedly devoted a substantial amount of individual

attention to his pupils.

The Spelling ngks (1642-1645), the earliest text-
book published in the colonies, was widely studied in the

primary schools of early New England.61 50 thoroughly was
this work read that, as is true with the first edition of
Michael Wigglesworth, The Day p: Dppp (1662), no copy
survives.62 The leading seventeenth century New England
catechism was John Cotton, Spiritual Milh to: Bpstoh Bates
1n elthg: Englahd Dyghh gut Qt thg Breasts gt Both

 

- 59Samuel Eliot Morison, T e I e u Li
Cplghlgl pr Ehglahg, pp, 9120. pp. 113-118.

60Clifton Johnson, pp, pit., pp. 14-24.
61Thomes Goddard Wright. WW

Early Ngw Englghd, 1629-1239 (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale
University Press, 1920 , p. 23.

6211219..

- _‘—C.i

 

which is also 1
ofSoserby's stl

._.,
buy, it is cer
their potential
faith. Althoue

:irch, it was

 

 

:czplesent the

3c$

. .‘se establis

Q
15"“iho’

.a. nL¢siD had of:

.315 seas On De

8.,

 

33

TESIQEQEIS {pp thgl: Sphl'g Nguzlshment (1646),63 a work
which is also likely to have found its way into the hands

of Somerby's students.

Yet, whatever books were studied in early New-
bury, it is certain that they were selected because of'
their potential for teaching the basic tenets of the Puritan
faith. Although the school was not controlled by the
church, it was expected, nonetheless, that education would
complement the church and the home by teaching an ideology
consistent with the theology of the Puritan clergy. Prior
to the establishment of formal educational institutions,
learning had occurred in the home.5“ Perhaps largely for
this reason, parents were ever watchful lest the school
should fail to warrant their approval. Especially vigi-
lant were the ministers and selectmen. Somerby apparently
satisfied all of these groups, for he continued to teach
for eight years, the third longest period of uninterrupted
tenure in seventeenth century Newbury.

During Somerby's schoolmastership the town con-
tributed to the financial support of Harvard College in

addition to providing the funds necessary for the maintenance

 

63James Truslow Adams, "John Cotton,” glttlgnazy
g£_hh§zl%gn_§;ggzgphy, Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds.,
Vol. IV New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930), p. 462.

6“Edmund S. Morgan, The Phhitgh Family: Rpligign

and nggstig Rglations in Seyenteehth-Centuhy New Englgnd,
Mi. . pp- 87-108.

 

of elementary e

soror or beer-

Degree from Ha

 

fl

saga. ‘

".1 .

‘a

1‘ ‘n err

’, P2£o E!

'I- ‘1

‘35-: we» ,

‘s-F \h‘s a§

It“v k
toh| “

A
p
(I)

34

of elementary and secondary instruction at the local level.
The town may have been especially interested in supporting
the college because among its earliest settlers was the
poet, Reverend Benjamin Woodbridge I, who, in 1642, had the
honor of being the first to receive the Bachelor of Arts
Degree from Harvard College.65

In addition, such notable seventeenth century New-
bury families as Woodbridge, Rawson, Moody, Dummer, Noyes,
Bayley, Gerrish, Sewall, Rolfe, Stevens, Clarke, Atkinson,
Emery, Toppan, Webster, Brown, Greenleaf and Hale sent one
or more of their sons to Harvard.66 Since the classes of

1642 to 1699 included among their number 24 members of

 

65John Langdon Sibley, Blggzgphital Shgtphet of

G as a -: 0, Ha va . Un v- s . Ii C:m-pid;e Mas a huse -,
2- , Vol. I Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles William
Sever, 1873), pp. 20-27.

66Joshua Coffin, Qt, git., pp. 350-359. Although
Coffin erred in stating that Newbury families contributed
25, rather than the correct total of 24 graduates, his list
remains a highly useful and thorough reference for some of
the town's more notable scholars.

 

 

 

Si

Al-

a; a“
.;'\,- yes. 8.

 

uh

New

u : *V
ILCH 059

tion r«

.a in":

4w54 \L.
IRVIO‘: ' -
V's-v. -CI‘l

\‘n A
inst

ous s‘

«449?

V"!

   

.C .1 Q, A T.

9

1

0‘13 var‘

 

0L-

Q

35

these families,67 Newbury averaged one graduate for every
2.38 years. Such data is suggestive of the adequacy with
which the Newbury Latin Grammar School prepared boys for
college as well as of the town's close association with
Harvard. Surely, this relationship was an important fac-
tor in Newbury's willingness to help bear the financial
burden of the college.

Despite the benefaction of John Harvard, whose
contribution received far more attention than any of the
numerous subsequent gratuities, the major financial respon-
sibility for maintaining the college had to be shouldered
by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.68 To this end, a rather
curious variety of means was devised for raising revenue.
Among these were the 'country's gift,” the Charlestown
Ferry rent, the Weld-Peter Mission, the Lady Mowlson

 

67John Langdon Sibley, 9p, tit., pp. 20-25, 359-
360, 367- 380, 471-475; John Langdon Sibley, Biogyaphital
Sketthes 9f Ghaduates ot Hazyard Uhiyersity, In Cambridge,
Mg3§athhsgtts, 1659-1622, Vol. II Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Charles William Sever, 1881), pp. 45- 50, 50- 52, 155-158,
239-246, 291-299, 299- 304, 345- 364, 464-470; John Langdon
Sibley, Biggraphical eSketthes of Graduates of Hayyard Uni-
I Camb 1 Mass chuse 8- , Vol. 111
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles William Sever, 1885),
pp. 159-168, 310-315, 386- 388 and Clifford K. Shipton, hip;
ghgphlgg] Skptghes gt Thgse Whg Attended Haryard Colle egg
. o‘ C as :- o‘0- 00 W1 3 Bio 1013011 =3 :nd 0 _e
_thg, Vol. IV Cambridge,3 Massachusetts: Harvard University
Press, 1933), pp. 39-4199-101, 113- -117, 286-287, 336-
341, 356-365, 472-476, 476-478.

68Samuel Eliot Morison, The Fgunding gt Hayygzd
Gellesei_eni_sito. pp- 219-223. 292-293-

 

e: ' ~ ,
other, New: 3r

 

all ten snilli

Iii? ‘
', “men he.

(as the thins

A

:w.‘
-ft'hp .

‘ "d ‘10?»
1“ 1e
" l I

“t 1935
‘4

 

36

Scholarship, the college corn and college lands and
annuities.69 In addition, it was agreed on March 4, 1645
that each family in the colonies would give to the college
one peck of corn or one shilling.70 As a result of this
action, Newbury contributed, from 1645 to 1653, one pound
and ten shillings,71 an amount which, despite its apparent
insufficiency, was of some consequence when one considers
the frontier conditions which then existed in northern
Essex County. Howley's contribution was a surprisingly
large seven pounds, eight shillings and seven and one
half pence, while the far more prosperous Salem provided
nothing.72

Somerby continued as schoolmaster until May 18,
1647, when he was appointed town clerk at Newbury.73 He
was the third man to occupy the clerkship, the first being
Reverend John Woodbridge II, who served previous to Novem-
ber 30, 1636 until November 19, 1638, and the second being
Representative Edward Rawson I, who served from Novem-

ber 19, 1638 to May 18, 1647.74 Both of Somerby's

 

69Ihid., pp. 292-324.
70Joshua Coffin, 22a_glto. p. 43.

71Samuel Eliot Morison, The Founding gt thyand
Cgllgge, ng Qiho, p. 3170

72112113..
73John J. Currier, pp. git., p. 639.
741pid.'

Jr's-l

fu‘ggyv~v‘

4'!

I “a '—.'nl:' II

    
 

f

; f: i: .
.21.:et.on the ..

or: of slew

)‘i

Sozet

his records wi

In
«D
H.)
M
r.-
:3
‘i
Q
1;-
I
,J‘
(l,

 

37

predecessors were among the most important men in the
Massachusetts Bay Colony75 and the appointment of the
schoolmaster to this position might well be regarded as an
indication that he had attained a status of at least a fair
amount of significance.

Somerby was an exemplary town clerk, compiling
his records with extreme meticulousness. This is clearly
seen through an examination of his books, which are now
under the care of the selectmen and the present town clerk,
Ralph P. Lowell.76 Somerby's devotion to the task was
undoubtedly accorded appreciation from a people highly
conscientious in their preservation of historical records.

It was not until February 17, 1693 that the Gen-
-eral Court ordered town clerks to record births, marriages
and deaths.77 This does not mean, however, that vital
statistics were previously neglected, for on December 10,
1641, the Court ordered that:

. . . in every town one shalbee apointed to grant
sumons & attachments in all civill actions . . .

for Neweberry M5 Lowle . . . to be called clarks
of the writtes. 8

 

75Raymond P. Stearns, "John Woodbridge,“ Digtiohgny
a Bi , Dumas Malone, ed.£ Vol. XX (New York:
8

Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936), pp. 481- 2 and John Farmer,
92. 21:0, p. 240.

76Letter from Ralph P. Lowell, Town Clerk of New-
bury, Massachusetts, to Richard Edward Kelly, March 2, 1969.

77John J. Currier, dpg_d1t., p. 639.
7811911.

ihl “fictflms “'wtv u and“

 

Six months late

serious action

!

fire to:

.. . take
or terse-rs
is ordered
out in the:
hath died,
to record 1

 

also appoi

‘7‘.

“‘3 0f Vital s

(I)

(T)

38

Six months later, on June 14, 1642, the Court extended its
previous action by requiring that "clarks of the writtes'
were to:

. . . take expecial care to record all births & deaths

or persons in their townes; . . . & for time past it

is ordered they shall do their utmost indeavr to find

out in their severall townes who hat bene borne & who

hath died, since the first founding of their towns &

to record the same as aforesaid.79
John Lowell I died on June 29, 1647 and on October 27, 1647,
Somerby, who had been the town clerk for only five months,
was also appointed by the Court to continue Lowell's record-
ing of vital statistics.80 In the Court's words:

Anthony Sumersby to be clarke of the writs at
Newbury & to record births, deaths & marriages in the
place of John Lowle deceased.
It was while he was serving as town Clerk that

Somerby aided the pro-Parker factions in the conflicts of
1669 and 1672.82 It is highly likely that there existed a
friendship or, at the very least, a feeling of mutual respect
between Parker and the former schoolmaster. Whether this was

or was not the case, however, the fact remains that on

March 30, 1669, when the open conflict was in its infancy,

 

791nm.
8011219..
8111219..
82Joshua Coffin, pp, tlt., pp. 72-81.

   
  

VN

I! o ‘“a
v mm 89
:Cn-av. U?’ V c

I | I . L
:ou szttlrg a ..

~53083311 I, the

To :1
[Fe-Ch telr

'8 W
and Gina. E
cresar~

o-
‘.
O
A

‘iooimen 31
Dublin-“i=3 1
bridge, W
S'lbtilty ,
out twice
Scar“fialo‘;

EDOState
Set'flb a
for tine
practice
that h
That 3" 1:

0:90”
L.J

F127

,‘1 H'

(I) O
(0 {-1 m H' .‘J" 1
- ... . In .--1 s

5’} ‘1! ":7 "'3

111055"!
rmow'

(-
T

/

39

Somerby, Representative Henry Short 183 and Richard

Kent 18“ registered a deposition with the "honored court
now sitting at Ipswich" against Representative Edward
Woodman I, the town moderator and the principal leader of
the factions opposing the aged minister:

To the honored court now sitting at Ipswich,
March thirtieth, 1669.

We whose names are underwritten, for ourselves
and others the inhabitants of Newbury, doe humbly
present, though to our great grief, that Mr. Edward
Woodman spake in a town assembly before strangers
publiquely on March first, 1669, that Mr. John Wood-
bridge, was an intruder, brought in by craft and
subtilty, and so kept in, notwithstanding he was voated
out twice, which we know to be untrue, and look upon as
scandalous. Also he said to Mr. Parker that he was an
apostate and backslider from the truth, that he would
set up a prelacy, and have more power than the pope,
for the pope had his council of cardinals, that his
practice or actings did not tend to peace or salvation,
that he was the cause of all our contention and misery.
That you are an apostate and backslider.

Also he said to captain Gerrish that he was no
lover of the truth, that his gray hairs would stand
where captain Gerrish his bald pate would, all of
which we humbly conceive tends not only to the re-
proach of the parties concerned, but to the great
disturbance of our peace both civil and ecclesias-
tical, and therefore leave it to the serious consid-
eration of this honored court for some suitable redress
as they shall think meet.

Richard Kent

Witnesses Henry Short
Nicholas Noyes Anthony Somerby
Ensign John Knight
Tristram Coffin
Thomas Hale, senior
Joseph Muzzey
Nathaniel Clarke85

 

83John Farmer, 9p, 91t., p. 264.

8“;hid., p. 168.

85Richard Kent I, Henry Short I and Anthony
Somerby I, quoted in, Joshua Coffin, op, cit., p. 74.

 

 

3: April 29, 1'

 
  

'I'illiam Gerris‘

Quin :1 ES 5;

" a. be. ’
supported Park

Isaizan:

 

just grief
t111 the (

clearing.

p“‘38¢=n+ ,;
V‘.Vv A
Thf

,‘N

#0

On April 28, 1669, the three men, along with Representative
William Gerrish 1,86 Richard Dole 187 and Judge Tristram
Coffin 11,88 sent another paper to Ipswich which further
supported Parker and levelled specific charges against

Woodman:

To the honored court now sitting at Ipswich this
twenty-eighth of April 1669.

Whereas upon searching the court records we find
a paper in the court beginning (this court having heard
the complaynt and so forth) subscribed Samuel Symonds,
William Hathorne, wherein are several things charged,
as we apprehend illegally, on sundry among us, to our
just grief, we desire the favour of the court to accept
this our paper, as a short vindication of ourselves,
till the opportunity shall be offered for our farther
clearing.

First, we look not on the paper as the determina-
tion or sentence of the court, which, had it been, we
durst not in any measure have replyed, or contradicted.

Second, nor did we think it any legal evidence
towards the issue of the case, in which Mr. Woodman was
presented for his miscarriage.

Third, nor can we think it any legal charge to
answer whereunto any persons were summoned, or made any
answer to; or if it were a censure we know not that
ever it was first examined, and indeed we know not what
to make of it, but think it very hard to be in such a
matter taxed before we were examined.

Whether the said gentlemen were the authors of it
or no we cannot tell, neither dare we affirm, yet find-
ing such a paper wherein there is so great reproof by
false accusation insinuated against divers amongst us,
we intreat the court to accept our complaint, that we
suppose ourselves illegally dealt with, seeing that our
law assures us of this liberty among other, that no
man's name shall be blasted, but by virtue or equity of
some law established among us.

We acknowledge that no man is mentioned by name;
yet when any man is so decyphered, that any man, who

 

86John Farmer, op, git., p. 119.

87m” p. 85.
88%.: P0 64°

lbm‘mw Imx ul:“v‘-.-“_"fl

reads it, 1
lawful cos

a:
.()(
:1.)

4 .1
.Jo,
0 cf
’10 O

D”)

H (D

t)!

:1 .
-_~ (I) 0: O" ‘

D"

to
"30‘
(D
'0’,

‘1) 54.9
:11»:

w an"; m o
(D O

(b (D I—J H’rj

4

(*0 c1-
.'~"L'.’.’
I“) crm
0C)
”'95...

' '0
(b

J‘ (D .
b
(1' £1

1‘
jrf”:(DO(D {.1

(0 yrs

F
O

;
O

TH}! «rm

5'

I
p

H'

{/1 ”5"!) (7'0 I-—’

o
r

{1 O H' H-

"10,01" IfDr‘f'f/Jrfn

’1 .‘J‘ m
0 (J *4
.C (r

r" 0‘ .‘r m
:J‘W
F’- o

#1

reads it, may easily ghesse who is intended there is
lawful cognisance in law of such infamyes, unless the
person shall publickly disown it, else how shall men
be righted against infamous libels?

These things being premised we desire the liberty
of freemen to put in our plea against such a paper of
accusation as we find, with all due submission to the
court.

First, we judge our case exceedingly prejudiced,
that it is insinuated in the preamble, that the com-
playnt is betwixt some members of the church, as if the
cause were merely ecclesiastical. We grant the persons
interested on both sides to be such, yet the cause
presented is civil and criminal, not arising from some
difference of opinion about discipline, but a publick
breach of the peace against the plain words, as well as
the intention, of the laws, which breach of the peace
and violation of the law, as freemen of this jurisdic-
tion we present to the cognizance of authority, desir-
ing the redress of so great an evil, which authority in
other like cases hath taken notice of with just
indignation.

Second, we humbly conceive, that if the words
taken in themselves are highly offensive and scandalous
the defendants' answer hath not made them to be good,
though he may pretend they may arise from difference of
opinion, for as we must not lie, neither must we
slander, for God and his cause. His putting of a fayr
glosse will never make good by words, which is evil by
deeds, no more than a quaker pretending conscience for
reviling.

Third, we humbly present this to consideration
that whereas the presenters of the said Mr. Woodman did
out of duty to God, his ministers and the law, bring
the case to the trial of justice, that for the time to
come such irregularities, which tended to mutiny, and
tumult might be prevented. We humbly conceive the
sentence of the said paper is such as that it takes off
the blame from the person presented, is a fact evident
enough, else we know not the meaning of those words,
'we find the matter much altered," and loads the plain-
tiffs and others of the church, ministers, and people
with far greater crimes than either Mr. Woodbridge hath
done or ever justly could doe, yet can we not find in
any of the testimonies any one that proves in matter of
fact any of the conclusions, on which such a censure
should be grounded. Somewhat it may be there fell from
Mr. Woodman in his speech, which among other falsehoods
by him charged on us, might give a hint of such a
thing, yet we suppose such a speech is far too weak to

lb-"muw Am‘w

    
   

1222? such
with. Sue

Firs
part of tie
church gov:
churches d

if it were
truth, war
and 0621511?
Searilegic
Selves the
b91115; SO 1
"itnln twp
nature, I.

{.1
3rd

o 2370'?
J (r (0 O
1?

i

I

(f o
p.
'1 '1
m M

#2

infer such conclusions, as the paper seems to brand us
with. Such as these.

First, it intimates that though a great or greater
part of the church stand for the congregational way of
church government and discipline, yet according as other
churches doe enjoy it, as the way of God, they cannot,
which in point of fact is utterly denied.

Second, that they have not their freedom to vote,
or act, according to the word of God, or according as
other churches, or as themselves heretofore had, which,
if it were true, as the paper seems to accept it for a
truth, were such a scandal, as justly deserved reproof
and censure, for that they who do it would be accounted
secrilegious robbers of the churches, yet we assure our-
selves that none of the opposites dare affirm it, if
being so notoriously and evidently false. Let any act
within twenty years or upwards be produced of this
nature, that hath been carried on without the churches'
consent or the major part thereof. We can evidence
that Mr. Parker hath been blamed for bringing things of
too meane a nature to the churches examination, and
strangers have taken notice of the over much liberty of
some in church actings.

Third, we hope we have not deserved to be noted
as a singular people contrary to the professed persua-
sion and practice of all the churches which we know not
what the intimation of such a charge should aim at, but
to raise an odium on us in the country when we are
innocent of any such thing.

Fourth, then the alteration hath caused much
difference and unquietness among those, which by the
intimation lights on the plaintiffs, or ministers, who
have made the alteration, which is as false as the
rest, yet the difference in this case to be considered
arises only from the manner of testifying the assent
or dissent of the church, not from any substantial
disagreement. Near thirty years since at a synod at
Cambridge it was proposed, and it was consented unto
by them, that if the ministers thought it most conven-
ient to vote by speech and silence, rather than by
lifting up the hand, they had nothing against it,
seeing the one was a testimony of consent as well as
the other, so this kind of voting began and continued
in practice without difference or interruption for a
good season. Afterwards when some difference arose at
Newbury that there was need of a council, this among
other things was put in, and in fine it was concluded
and consented to by the people that things should be
carried on in this manner without disturbance. A
third time near six years since there being occasion

 

of a counc‘.
Hr. Woodmar
minister) f
course. TE
should be c
yet severa‘
HI”. “Gama?
protestati.
tug-hence or
against a ‘
leave it t.

     
   
  
  

be to the '
sites, and
(for there
plaining c

’

in
'29 prO-Parlfi€
0““

—~.e in the
‘:€1

“‘3?! DQac
L t‘ne pro-.

dim Kelly
\

f‘

, C
lam Ge -
e. in

rF}

C

43

of a council at Newbury (in all which transactions

Mr. Woodman was the chief instrument to oppose the
minister) this among other differences came into dis-
course. The same conclusion was as before that things
should be carried on in this way with love and peace,
yet several times since and more strongly now at last,
Mr. Woodman by violence of opposition hath made open
protestation and resistance against it; and no dis-
turbance or alteration hath been made but by them
against a thing so long used and approved, and so we
leave it to any impartial judgment to determine who

is the cause of that alteration, which hath occasioned
so much difference and unquietness, which though it be
imputed to the plaintiffs, yet we suppose it rather to
be to the unquiet and turbulent spirits of the oppo-
sites, and let any man judge whether this course only
(for there is no other) be a sufficient cause of com-
plaining of so great a burthen.

William Gerrish Richard Kent

Richard Dole Henry Short

Tristram Coffin89 Anthony Somerby

In addition to Somerby's individual leadership in

the pro-Parker faction, his family represented a united
force in the controversy. His son, Abiel Somerby I, had
married Rebecca Knight, daughter of the prominent merchant-
tailor, Deacon.Richard Knight I.90 Knight was also a leader

of the pro-Parker faction,91 as was his other son-in-law,

John Kelly II, the husband of Sarah (Knight) Kolly.92

 

89Richard Kent I, Henry Short I, Anthony Somerby I,
William Gerrish I, Richard Dole I and Tristram Coffin II,
quoted in, Joshua Coffin, gn;_git., pp. 76-78.

90John Farmer,.gn;_g1§., p. 171.

8 91Joshua Coffin, Qp;_g11., pp. 76-78, 82-83, 85-86,
9 “'1000

92Ihido. pp- 85-86; Giles Merrill Kelly, an. 915.,
pp. 10-11 and Richard Edward Kelly, “The Kelly Family,"

.QnL_Qli-. Po 135-

 

iellywas, ’50
We of his pf:

i cn‘v

caa“+ion was

a--U-

Ont

TEST
In the set.
“-thly, .l
gcdlv, my
the cor."- .-
E“. P '8 v

"an were
0.10. Who
you, 51?.
the Lori ;
Itan had girl

., 1
Sucn men.

 

 

#4

Kelly was, to quote Giles Merrill Kelly, "uniformly on the
side of his pastor.'93 Thus, the Knight-Somerby-Kelly

coalition was established.
On two occasions in 1671, Abiel Somerby I swore

to testimony on Parker's behalf:

TESTIMONY OF ABIEL SOMERBY. December 19, 1670.
In the school house Mr. Woodman expressing himself
highly, Mr. Parker said, soft, Sir, your ways are un-
godly, you neglect publick worship and withdraw from
the communion of the church. Mr. Woodman said
Mr. P.'s ways were ungodly. After further discourse
Mr. Woodman began to call for witness of what Mr.
Parker said. I said, Mr. Woodman, you said Mr. P.'s
ways were ungodly, and therefore it is but quid pro
quo. Who is that that saith so, Biel? I answered,
you, sir. He broke forth with a strange expression,
the Lord help us, or the Lord have mercy on us. A
man had need to have a care what he speaks before
such men.

Sworn to March twenty-eighth, 1671.94

I Abiel Somerby was present when my father in
law Richard Knight asked Mr. Woodman for the church
book. Mr. Woodman said that he would not let it go
till the church sends for it. My father Knight said
that Mr. Parker and the church had voted that he
should come to fetch it. Mr. Woodman answered I do
utterly disown such a church. My father Knight said,
is this your answer? Mr. Woodman said yes, that is
my answer, only I think you do very sinfully to hold
with such a church.

Sworn to, April eighteenth, 1671.95
After the controversy subsided, Somerby Spent his

remaining years in relative quiet. His wife died at

 

93Giles Merrill Kelly, 92. also. p. 11.
9uAbie1 Somerby I, quoted, Ibig., p. 97.
9532341. a p' 98°

II!flI l‘uu‘rm. '55” M

i [Wm—.6“

ieabury on 311

i

to live in the
same of com“:
0n J
I
but clinging I
his will,98 a
gins fait .:

In 't
his holy :
Comty of
weaknes 8:
last will
hands of t
body when
buryed in
deare Bela
a blessed
Knish god
In this :
fOllowethI'

AZing his prey

SCJ OD. t‘
me C:

‘94
“*1 a salt :

25:23:13,100 E

 

w

 

45

Newbury on June 3, 1673.96 The grandchildren, who continued
to live in the Newbury area,97 were, no doubt, a constant

source of comfort during his elderly years.

On January 22, 1686, perhaps realizing that he was

but clinging precariously to life, Somerby paused to write
his will,98 a document which illustrated clearly his reli-

gious faith:

In the name of god, and with the assistance of
his holy spirit, I Anthony Somerby of Newbury in the
County of Essex Newe Ma being sencible of my own
weaknes & mortality & perfect memory, doe make my
last will & Testament, Commanding my Soule into the
hands of the blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ, and my
body when it shall decease this fraile life to be
buryed in the burying place of Newbury betweene my
deare Relations my wife & son, In an assured hope of
a blessed Resurrection, and for my worldly goods
which god of his free mercy hath entrusted me with
in this my pilggimage I desire to dispose of as
followeth . . . 9

Among his properties were his house, barn, furniture, free-
hold on the Common, an orchard, numerous acres of pasture
land, a salt marsh on Plum Island and another on Pine

Island.100 He left the bulk of his estate to his three

 

96James Savage, A G n Di a
First Sgttlgzs 9: New England, Showing Three ngerations
T se W C m Be e Ma 2 o e B 31 of F mer'
figglgtgz, Vol. IV (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1862),
p. 1h0.
97Joshua Coffin, op, git., p. 318.
98William S. Appleton, Qp, git., p. 4.

99Anthony Somerby I, quoted, Ihld., pp. 2-3.
100%. a p‘ 3'

 

1..
v
n
1
.—Oo
c o-
8
o
(D
(1)

Quentin

.I'aa‘ ‘

«aw-s Uh preven ‘-

CQO 1v ' '
"r-Snlp aha

‘fix‘

2'3“ 1
'C he; f0" .-
L

6‘3? Short

9
‘ I
U

D

3211

 

 

 

46

surviving grandsons, Representative Henry Somerby V, Cap-
tain Abiel Somerby II and Anthony Somerby 11.101 Smaller
inheritancesl02 went to his surviving granddaughters,
Elizabeth (Somerby) Moody, the wife of Daniel Moody I, of
Newbury; Abigail (Somerby) Greenleaf, the wife of Edmund
Greenleaf II, of Newbury; and the unmarried Rebecca
Somerby.103 Other portions of Somerby's estate went to
Newbury's fourth minister, Reverend John Richardson I,
Elinar Davis and Representative Richard Bartlett II.104
He alloted, in addition, "thirty shillings to the poore of
Newbury.'105

Only two months after writing his will, Somerby's
health prevented his carrying out the duties of the town
clerkship and in March, 1686, he resigned the position he
had held for just short of four decades.106 He was succeeded
by Henry Short II, the town's fourth schoolmaster.107

 

101Joshua Coffin, gpt_g1t., p. 318.

102Anthony Somerby I, quoted in, William S.
Appleton. M09 p- 3.

103Joshua Coffin, op. git., pp. 310, 304, 318.

104Anthony Somerby I, quoted in, William S.
Appleton. Mil-9 p- 3-

10511234..
106John J. Currier, onl_cit~. po 639-
107nm.

C21 «
Tome of IIeW'Cl

in Sewbury ' s ‘

Scaerby made a
lectual life.
the first schc
which were p05
first schools;
Pioneer of lies
0n !
CLI‘d tom 015
:m'5 YOuth t
53521 teacher

“WES "as I“:

(D

53921 'diStin

VT

(

T
1| ”.7"-

Fl‘t‘n'
‘§vg.m‘4
l‘PE’ Ella

\

 

 

1+7

On July 31, 1686, death came to the "Clark of ye
Towns of Newbury."108 According to his wishes, he was buried
in Newbury's Oldtown Cemetery, his body being placed be-
tween those of his wife, Abigail Somerby, and his son, Abiel
Somerby 1.109

Despite his not having had a college education,
Somerby made a substantial contribution to Newbury's intel-
lectual life. For nearly half a century, he served ably as
the first schoolmaster and as the third town clerk, both of
which were positions of major import. Because he was the
first schoolmaster, he was, in truth, the educational
pioneer of Newbury.

On May 18, 1647, when Somerby became Newbury's
third town clerk, the responsibility for educating the
town's youth was assumed by Reverend James Noyes I, who had
been teacher or assistant minister of the church since 1635.
Noyes was the descendant of an old Norman family which had
been 'distinguished for influence and scholarship“ since the
Norman Conquest.“0 He was born in 1608 in Choulderton,

Wiltshire, England, the son of Reverend William Noyes I and

108The Essex Institute, Vita] Reggzdg of Nefipuzy,
M o E Yea 184 , Vol. II Salem,
Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911 , p. 725.
109Joshua Coffin, QDL_Q;£., p. 318.

11°Sarah Anna Emery. WW
1an (Newburyport, Massachusetts: William H. Huse and

Company, 1879), p. 112.

 

'.‘ f‘r.“

thug-x "'JVD‘C‘ M " ‘wr' r ;'

 

we (Stephens

{1
n
{-0
$\)
k I
.-l
(D
c):
m
U)
' ‘1

e... ‘ '

.e.or of 1118 s
3:; son had c:-
.o:n. opposed h

v

4‘ L 1’
o. the honest:

h‘cr
2-- homes 2
c. a ‘ l
UV, "no f‘a'
Kev:
I
,n

 

 

48

Anne (Stephens) Noyes, daughter of Nicholas Stephens, of
Burdrop Manor, Wiltshire, England.111

In 1602, Reverend William Noyes I had been
installed as rector of the diocese of Rants, England, a
position which he held until 1621, when he resigned in
favor of his son, Reverend Nathan Noyes 1.112 Both father
and son had been granted degrees by Oxford University and
both opposed what they contended to be the rebelliousness
of the Nonconformists.ll3 However, Reverend James Noyes I
neither received a college degree nor was he in agreement
with his father's attitudes towards Nonconformists. As
Sumner Chilton Powell noted, it might well have been Rev-
erend Thomas Parker, a cousin and close ministerial asso-
ciate, who fanned Noyes' rebellious spirits.114

Reverend James Noyes I was admitted to Brasenose

College, Oxford, on August 22, 1627 and he received grace

 

111John J. Currier, '0 New ': Hi 0

andz%12grapgymzLjflgfimmfifi (Boston: Damrell and Upham,
189 , p. l 5.

112James Savage, A Genealogigal Digtiorarx ofl the
First Sgttlgrs of New England, Showing Three Generatign§ gt
Ihgse Whg Came Befgfe Max, 1 22, gr the Basis ofi Farmer's
Egglrtgr, Vol. III Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
18 l , p. 296.

113Sumner Chilton Powell, P i Vi ‘ T

Egrmatign Qfl a New Erg1arg Tgwn (Garden City, New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1963), pp. 2-3.

11nIpiQ., p. 3.

 

9M! his EaChp:
appears not, 1

‘Ir-e years 1:22:

Free School at

L: .
“cried couct1 .-

‘1---’

-nl

- ‘

 

 

 

 

49

for his Bachelor of Arts Degree on May 7, 1629.115 He
appears not, however, to have taken the degree.116 During
the years immediately after his leaving Oxford, he undoubt-
edly preached and taught among the Puritans in Wiltshire
and Berkshire, England. He was particularly active in the
Free School at Newbury, where he assisted his above men-
tioned cousin, Reverend Thomas Parker.117

In March, 1634, shortly after his marriage to
Sarah Brown, daughter of Joseph Brown of Southampton, Eng-
land, Noyes sailed for the Massachusetts Bay Colony on the
'Mary and John,“ accompanied by his wife, his younger
brother, Nicholas Noyes I, and Reverend Thomas Parker.118
The party of settlers spent their first year in New England
at the newly established town of Ipswich, Massachusetts.119
Yet, although Parker assisted Ipswich's noted minister,

Reverend Nathaniel Ward,120 Noyes left to help in the

 

115Samue1 Eliot Morison. 111W
W': p' 392'

116Ih1d0

117Ihido

118James Savage, Vol- III..QRL_£lLo: Po 296-

119Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little IlSIGY:
eds., Mo. Po 10-

120Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Education of
Thomas Parker, of Newbury," on, git., p. 266.

1'—

 

IN‘

nun?” “,

laws, 0. 9 . l
U

. W... V! pfl‘

UL], “GSSGVr‘

3: the north
’ w‘i

.1. .-culars o:

3" ‘: I '
"’«91‘ 1n tr.

'U'A
. .sen teas ,c
«2‘:th V

 

 

 

50

founding of Medford, Massachusetts.121
In 1635, nearby Watertown, Massachusetts, asked
Noyes to accept the ministry of their church but he declined,
at least partially because of his desire to reunite the
Noyes and Parker families.122 Returning to Ipswich, he was
aunong the original party of settlers that established New-
tnzry; Massachusetts, in the spring of 1635.123 His brother,
twenty-one year old Nicholas Noyes I, was, according to
‘tlreulition, the first to leap ashore when the party arrived
4311 'bhe north bank of the Quascacunquen River.124 Further
particulars of the establishment of the town are found
earlier in the present chapter.
At the time of Newbury's founding, Noyes was
C31’losen teacher of the church and, to quote Reverend Dr.
(3<>trton Mather, he ”continued painful and successful in that

Station“ until his death.125 In addition to his preaching,

\

121Frederic Lewis Weis, The Celoniel Clergy end
931x: Celehial Chgrehes ef New England Lancaster, Massachu-
sfirtts: The Society of the Descendants of the Colonial
clergy. 1936). p. 153.

122Henry E. Noyes and Harriette E. Noyes, Qenea;
a R- o o of Sou‘ 0 h‘ N"‘3 D‘5 e 1‘1 S ’ J‘”“'

EiéhOJafi erg Peter Notes, Vol. I Boston: privately
Printed, 190 , p. 20.
123Joshua Coffin, err_e;t., p. 15.

1241D1Q., p. 312 and Sarah Anna Emery} £Eb_&lin:
p. 112.

125Cotton Mather, quoted in, Samuel Eliot Morison,
T F n H d C . l o, p. 393.

 

its desire t

instruc t i on

 

 

51

his prolific writings resulted in the completion of a
number of published and unpublished works. Although only
one of Noyes' published works did not appear posthumously,
he was almost as widely read as his more noted colleague,
Reverend Thomas Parker.126 '

In 1641, the Massachusetts General Court expressed
its desire that I'the elders would make a catechism for the
:Lnstruction of youth in the grounds of religion.‘127

Between 1641 and 1684, numerous clergymen throughout Massa-
chusetts Bay prepared one or more catechisms in compliance

With this expressed need.128 In addition to Noyes, the
(31:13er Puritan divines who labored in this endeavor included
Reverend John Davenport I, Reverend Thomas Shepard I, Rev-
eil‘eand John Cotton I, Reverend John Eliot I, Reverend
R5L<3hard Mather, Reverend Dr. John Fiske I, Reverend John

N(DI-ton I, Reverend Seaborn Cotton, Reverend James Fitch I

Eurui Reverend Samuel Stone.129

Joshua Coffin appears to have been convinced that

Noyes completed his published catechism shortly after the

¥

1263. Vale Smith, gpr_eit., p. 59.
127Joshua Coffin, 9p, eit., p. 33.

128Paul Leicester Ford, The New-Etherg Primer: A
Hietery e: ite Origihe and Dereiepment New York: Dodd,
Mead and Company, 1897 , p. 10.

1291hid. and John Farmer. ona_cit-. pp. 78-79.
262-263, 69-70, 94, 191, 106, 207, 70, 107, 276-277.

n
,~< v' I
Ifl'du'l "r“: li'fl'fl- ‘.w3123"' A

157.1 request.
32..: Ca:e:?;i
Icuiously in 1
assessment 0:"
correct and t
tween 1047 a}:

senoolmas‘er

UVV. .

filters, all
:2: fOHOWiE:

‘Quest.
“9:39 7 '75:
Answ.
by the ma
590021311:
:58 effin

“V

hearts of

u

 

 

52

1641 request.13O Charles Evans concluded, however, that A
W was not published until it appeared post-
humously in 1661.131 The writer contends that Evans'
assessment of the publication date is, in all probability,
correct and that the Noyes work was written gradually be-
tween 1647 and 1656, during which time Noyes served as
schoolmaster. At least one copy of the first edition has
survived and the work continued to be published as late as
1797.132 It consists of sixteen pages of questions and
answers, all of which were intended to explain the Puritan
faith to children. Typical of the questions and answers are

the following:
Quest. Hew do the Seriptures prere
9

ms 3 .
Answ. By the holiness of the matter,
by the majesty of the style, by the

accomplishment of the Pr0phesies, by Joh. 7.46.
the efficacy of their power on the Joh. 14.
hearts of men, besides the holy Ghost 20.
beareth witness, helping us to discern 1 Joh. 2,
the truth of them. 20.

 

130Joshua Coffin, epr_eit., p- 33-

131Charles Evans, Am ican Biblio a h : A Ch 0-

10 a A B oks Pam h e s Peri i
Publieetiehs Printed in the United States of America Free

the Genesie e: Prihtihg in 1632 Dogh te and Ineiuding the
leer_1§29, Vol. I Chicago: The Berkely Press, 1903), p. 14.

132James Noyes I, A S Ca e his Com e b

Mr, Jemee Neyes, Leta Teeeher of the Chureh of Chriet in
‘W!. ' I N‘ El: 1 a F0 4e Use 0 the Chi d ea Ti‘ ‘

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Samuel Green, l6ol; reprinted,
Newburyport, Massachusetts: Barrett and Marsh, 1797).

livwwm’ ”m.“- "4“

Sq”; n+nnr.

Quest.
Ans. A

Q11. L.
A. In

Q. 1:3;
A. Fail
he Doctrl
especiall
God in C'r.

VI
Q0 Nh’
‘—
ccncerrir'

A. {:7

 

[:
' ;

 

 

,
'1}; L”
A

21.-.13
o o
1 _.w

5"
[.1

r2:

53

Quest. Wh is u
We?
Ans. A Doctrine of a godly life.

Qu. W ei onsis s a
A. In the obedience of Faith.

Q. What is Faith?

A. Faith is an effectual assent to
the Doctrine of the Scriptures,
especially concerning the Grace of
God in Christ.

Q. Whet geth the Seripture rereal

W?
A. His Nature, and his Acts.

Q. W is r ea e 00 n
N ?
A. His Essence, and his Persons.

Q. Hew is the Eseenee ef God
?

A. By his Names, and Attributes.

Q. W a e his A ribu ?
A. His Independency, Unity, Immu-

tability, Eternity, Infiniteness, Omni-

presence, Omnipotency, Wisdom, Omni-

sciency, Holiness, Blessedness, Sover-

aignty, Goodness, Mercy, Meekness,
Clemency, Justice and Verity.

Q. How m P s S are h
G d ?
A. Three, Father, Son, and Holy-
Ghost; and every one of these is God,
and yet there is but One God.

Q. H he s
9.00.?
A. Twofold, eternal and temporal.

Q. W he e a G
A. His Decrees.

2 Tim. 2.
16,17.

Rom. 16,
26.

Rom. 10.9.

1 Joh. 5.1.
Joh. 17.2.
Act. 8.37.
Joh. 6,40.

1 Joh. 4,15.
& 3.6.

1 Joh. 5.7.
Mat. 28.19
2 Cor. 13.
14.

Joh. 1.1.
Act. 5. 3,4
1 Cor. 8.6.

 

 

 

v.4 y, ,.,
S‘an...,3 a i
tm‘ougn ~

.

 

 

54

Q. R an i D es?
A. Twofold, general and particular.

Q. W is the

A. An eternal act of God whereby he
did determine to make the World, and
dispose of all things therein.

Q. What are the partieeiar Degrees
Qt GQd?
A. Election and Reprobation.

A. An eternal act of God, whereby he

did determine to glorifie himself in
saving a certain number of persons
through Faith in Christ.

A. An eternal act of God, whereby he

did determine to glorifie himself in
condemning a certain number of persons
for their sins.

Q. Wh a e he Tem ora ts of G ?
A. Creation, Preservation and
Government.

Q. Hew many-fold is his Gorernmeht?
A. Twofold: general and special.

Q. Whet is the general Government?
A. A temporal act of God, whereby he

doth dispose of all creatures according
to a general Providence.

Q. W a is he ia Gov nme

find?

A. A temporal act of God whereby he
doth dispose of the reasonable creature
according to a special Covenant.

Q. Hey menr Cerenents heth Ged mede

9

A. Two: The Covenant of the Law, and
the Covenant of the Gospel.

Q. W s h C e an o h ?
A. A promise of Life on perfect and
personal Obedience.

enera Dec ee of G ?

2‘32: 1"“

Rom. 9.22
1 Pet. 2,8
Jude 4.

Matth. 10.
29.30

Acts 17.
28.

Jer. 31
31.32-

Gal. 3.
11,12.

 

 

{- Ni:

*
Cosmol7
Uith.‘

A. A;

C'rwl: ‘
u. b V.

Q. a n:
n
CCTEIEIC
A " C
0 “Jr
Q0 53'
“1

:nzs same W030

".1

“:1! 1'60, C:

 

 

55

Q. Whet is the Cerenapt pf the

figsnel?
A. A promise of Life upon Faith in Mark 16.
ChriSto 16.
Q. Whet is the Oeeesion of the
Co e of th Gos ?
A. ADAMS Sin. Rom. 5.17
Q- Whet_i§_§in?
A. A breach of Gods Law. 1 Joh. 3.4

Q- H2K_men1_Kind§_of_§inaererthene?
A. Two: Original and Actual.

Noyes' two other publications, both of which
appeared earlier than A Short Catechism, were concerned with
church government. Published in 1647 was The Temple
meeepred,13u which presented arguments for strong ecclesias-
tical rights, as opposed to those of the congregation. In
this same work, Noyes contended that there existed a univer-
sal, i.e., catholic church, in which all true Christians
were united.135

Noyes' 1647 work evoked the negative response of

John Ellis, Vipgieiee Cetholieae, er the rights of pertieglar

 

133lpid. (1661), pp. 3-7.

13'4James Noyes I, The Temple meaeured: Or, A brief

Sprrer pt the Temple mystieel, Whieh is the Instituted
threh er Christ, Whereip ere eelidlx and modestly diseuse-

Mo 0 he ma e la ues i ns tou l he C sti -

G n h Visi e Chu h Mi 1 an here on
Eerth ELondon: Edmund Paxton, 1647).

135Ipig.

W;

tur‘h95 -
L
titre

p
v

.n

1...
H“

000

J.-
v

1

.uttal.
onse to ‘

u

use
3'12‘89.

 

notice only

.vb

fl
1

 

56

threhee reeeued (1647).136 Yet, even though Ellis was

extremely critical of Noyes' arguments and went so far as
to conclude that the Newbury teacher's positions were
"examined and dissolved,“ Noyes offered no arguments in
rebuttal. Neither did he respond to extensive references
in Giles Firmin, pr Sehiem, peroehial Congregations ip Eng-
1 1 Im cs 1 o H s (l658).137
Since Noyes did not seek publication for his
writings after 1647, his manuscripts achieved widespread
notice only because Reverend Thomas Parker sought to have
them printed. It is altogether likely that the adverse
response to The Temple measured quenched Noyes' desire to
see his name in print. As is suggested in the following

chapter, Parker could not so easily be shaken from his

course 0

 

136John Ellis, Vipgieiee Cetholieae, or the rights

- he i u a 01 ,ch-s es ued: and asserte- aiains ha
Mer otion 0 one Catho i k Visibe G.-

erpipg Chureh: the foppdation of the . . . presbyterie:
phereip . . . all the argumepte for it, produced by the
Mi is

rey. epolonius, M Hudeen, Mr Noyes, the Lppgpp p tere,
and ethere ere exemiped apd disselyed London: Henry Overton,
1647 .

137Ciles Firmin, or Sehism, Pareehiel angrege-

tiers in Epglepdi end Ordipetiop by Impeeitiop or Henge;
6 e1 D . s discove 6 true a e of 1

ie. . eyamiped, together with Mr! Noyes . . . hie_ergr;
- ~:- 2 h d' '0” (London:

 

 

I:
()s
(3‘.
H
V
.
H
K
(
5..)

influences w
Christian st
live in a we

5 T 1.)

C‘ ‘ .
agave were e

 

57

Published posthumously was Meses apd Aerpp
(1661),138 in which Noyes considered the rights of the
church and state in Puritan Massachusetts Bay. Herein, he
presented the position that both lay and ecclesiastical
influences were necessary for the establishment of a
Christian state which would enable Christ's followers to
live in a world of evil doers, a dilemma with which Gov-
ernor John Winthrop also grappled.139 Since both church and
state were entrusted with helping to bring about a model
society, Noyes argued that serious difficulties should not
arise over questions of authority.

From 1635 to 1646, Noyes lived with his family
on the west side of the Lower Green on the bank of what
later became the Parker River.140 It was here that he began
work on the three above mentioned publications. In 1646,

however, he built a house on the Upper Green at what is now

 

138James Noyes I, Meeee and Aarop: Or, The Righte
er Chpreh an; State: Containing two Disputations. The

mer o e nin he Chu h in wh h are examine

prineiplee pf Seperetipn, and their inconsisteney pith

d e ce emons ra e : and the Government of
in i e in he hands he 0 er Ru er .
T e er sser he sa rednesse of sons nd au 1

er Kipgs egeinst Saprilegious usurpation and Kipg-killihg.
London: Edmund Paxton, 1661 .

139Edmund S. Morgan, The Peritap Dilemma: The
§tpry_e§_iphp_fllpthrpp, The Library of American Biography,
Oscar Handlin, ed. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
1958), p. 203.

1“0John J. Currier, 'oplg Newbury“: Histprieel
end Biegraphieal Sketehee, pp. eit., p. 14.

E vvad
winner-rm ore-v "‘- X‘fil C ‘ '~ 2

 

 

3:791? and q

4.?
V

’ a;
.34_ly had 1:

37-5.
v P .
“Us 0‘ nlne

 

58

10 Parker Street.141 It was here that he spent the rest of
his days, having within his household his wife and children
as well as his unmarried cousin, Reverend Thomas Parker.1’+2
This two and one-half story structure, now owned by Mabel
Hale, remains as one of the oldest houses in the United
States.143 Here were heard theological discussions between
the two ministers and the clergymen of neighboring towns.
Not unexpectedly, the house soon became a repository for
printed and manuscript materials which were, both qualita-
tively and quantitatively, unequaled in early Newbury.

By the time the new house was completed, the Noyes
family had increased to four sons and one daughter. Over a
period of nineteen years, Noyes and his wife became the par-

ents of nine children, all of whom were born in Newbury.144

 

”11:11.11... p. 165.
14212 d,

143Letter from Constance (Kelly) Law, of West New-
bury, Massachusetts, to Richard Edward Kelly, October 20,
1970 and Fowle's News Company, The Early History 9f New-

burypert, Massachusetts: Which is intended to delineate and

s ibe some u i an his lo a es 1 Newbu or a

yieihity Newburyport, Massachusetts: Fowle's News Company,
1926 , p. 15.

1““Henry E. Noyes and Harriette E. Noyes, Gepeeleg-
i a Re ord Some 0 he N e Descen an s J ,

 

Niehelee ang Peter pree, Vol. II (Boston: privately printed,
190 , pp. 42-43. The children were Joseph I, born Octo-

ber 15, 1637; James II, born March 11, 1640; Sarah, born
August 12, 1641, died February 21, 1653; Moses I, born Decem-
ber 16, 1643; John I, born June 3, 1045; Thomas I, born
August 10, 1648; Rebecca, born April 1, 1651; William II,
born September 22, 1653; and Sarah, born March 21, 1656.

_.. ,_.,;—

Julie, n.”.m:;,“-._a.asl

 

M“ 2’

*1
5L

 

 

59

Noyes' schoolmastership remains the most obscure
period of Newbury's educational history. It is unknown,
for example, why the town did not look outside the ranks of
the immediate church leadership for a successor to Somerby.
Community financial difficulties might have led to Noyes'
offering to assume the responsibilities of the schoolmaster-
ship. If he did make this gesture, however, it is surpris-
ing that he did not do so in the interval between the
settling of the town in 1635 and the appointment of Somerby
in 1639. Nonetheless, since Newbury did not hire a school-
master in 1647, when Somerby resigned, it was natural for
the duties of teaching to be assumed by Noyes, the church's
teacher or assistant minister.

It is known that the school did not cease Opera-
tions after 1647, as is indicated by a boy's death. On
December 6, 1648, while on his way to school, twelve year
old Thomas Smith II, evidently studying Latin grammar at
the secondary level, drowned in the pond or Anthony
Morse 1.1“5 Since Parker had not yet launched his famed
school, the unfortunate boy was, in all probability, a
student of Noyes.

For both primary and secondary schools, a major
emphasis was placed upon the tenets of the Puritan faith,

it being thought that “Independency," no less than 'Papacy'

 

145Joshua Coffin, pp. eit., p. 50 and Sarah Anna
Emery. Milo. p- 119-

 

1“”.1‘u .L“

 

2rd 'Episcopf

 

the church,
es: 0* ‘
,e -ally,

ously as as sf

7‘“
Uni

were 0 ens truJ

 

 

um.
‘vfio.
AS
ievelODei
‘ 3
Was: (2
a o b
e l
7:: .
“581121001
’
4.1.4

 

 

60

and 'Episcopacy" were subversive to the Puritan endeavor.146
Since the school was seen as a supportive institution for
the church, strict morality and obedience were demanded,147
especially, we may be sure, since Noyes served simultane-
ously as assistant minister and schoolmaster.

During Noyes' schoolmastership, two buildings
were constructed which significantly affected the church and
school. In 1642, a majority of the settlers moved from the
Lower Green northward to the Upper Green.148 At this time:

There was granted unto Mr. James Noyes that four
acres of land upon the hill by the little pine swfigp,

yhiph was marked tp sett the meeting hopee . . .1

As noted earlier, Noyes proceeded thereafter in the con-
struction of his new house, the dwelling being finished in
1646.

As a result of the moving of the town, there soon
developed a heated controversy over where the meetinghouse
was to be located.150 The first meetinghouse stood, in all

likelihood, on or near the Lower Green on three acres of

 

146Paul Leicester Ford, pp, pit., p. 3.

147Willard S. Elsbree, T e Ameri an Teache :
E o a P ess on in Dem (New York:
American Book Company, 1939 , pp. 37-41.

1u8JOShua COffln, Q9. 9150, pp. 36’370

”911219... p. 37.

150John J. Currier, Hietpry pf Newbury, Meee.,
léii‘IEOZ. 02. 91:0, p. 31“.

 

was host assu
who rezained
:eetinghouse
favored the E

As
Elli Upper Gr:
Cetober 20, I
all a new or.)

:C'n t- r-
3..am 1‘0

YW-
be.

h i -

"3‘35 0f 1';
h 9“ '
vC-yleted, 1;

1r.
n:

the secor.

 

 

61

land, afterwards sold to John Emery I, and from which
twenty rods were reserved "for a burying place, as it is
bounded with stakes with a way to it from the street."15l
If this was not the exact location of the meetinghouse, it
was most assuredly in this general area. Naturally, those
who remained at the Lower Green were opposed to the
meetinghouse being moved and those who had relocated
favored the action.

As a compromise between Newbury's Lower Green
and Upper Green sections, it was ordered that on or before
October 20, 1647, the old meetinghouse was to be taken down
and a new one erected "in or upon a knowle of upland by
Abraham Toppans barne.“152 This structure stood until the
spring of 1661, when a more commodious building was
completed.153 Noyes conducted many sessions of the school
in the second meetinghouse and, occasionally, in various
homes, including, probably, his own.15"i

Several years after the completion of the second
meetinghouse, however, facilities for the school were given

greater consideration, as is clear from the following vote,

 

l511hid-. p- 313-
l593101111 J - Currier. “Md—Now

W” p- 93-
153John J- Currier. W.

1W” 1» 315.
15411193... p. 395.

t.’
'29.
fl

6

H Av. ,. AV
“4

RD
. .b a
t 0 on“ (‘L .6
'J a
I ’ I .V
- we. all m
"I.“ up Ch 8 Q» .-~. fiuuv
r. O .. u as. o
f . v .
CU .
.OL .

“:h":‘nr
H‘. ‘ “ _

62

entered in the town records on November 29, 1652:

There was voted by the major part of the towne
that there should be a convenient house built for a

schoole.
There was also voted that there should be twenty

pounds a yeare allowed for to maintain a school master
out of the towne rate.

There was also voted that Mr. Woodman, Richard
Kent, junior, lieutenant Pike and Nicholas Noyes should
be a committee for the managing the business of the
schoole.l

This legislation was greatly extended by the resolution
passed on May 14, 1653 at the general town meeting, at which
time it was ordered that in the interest of public

education:

. . . the towne should by an equall proportion accord-
ing to mens estates by way of rates pay foure and
twenty pounds by the yeare to maintain a free schoole
to be kept at the meeting house & the master to teach
all such inhabitants children as shall be sent to him
so soon as they know their letters & begin to read.156
Yet, it should be noted that when the final vote was cast,
seventeen persons l'desired to have their dissents record-
ed.'157 Financial support continued to be given to higher
education and in 1653 the town donated fifteen pounds to

Harvard College, a vast increase over previously allocated

funds.158

 

155Joshua Coffin, ppr_pit., p. 56-

155John J. Currier. W.
W-. pp- 395-396.

157Joshua Coffin, Mo: p- 57-
1581h1d., p. 580

- .-._—_,

0.

LI -.
A
'U'.’

I ~
,3"

7 w
L Mar-«I?! ”7‘“: ms

 

in the
Si,:ul
itple:
most a
coure;
the be
such ]
death
anon:
risiz'i
01? mt
the 55
dew
his d5

39a? (

 

63

After nine years of devoting much of his attention
to the school, Noyes departed this life. According to his
gravestone in Newbury's Oldtown Cemetery, he breathed his
last on October 22, 1656.159 In the preface to Noyes'

Moses and Aaron (1661), Reverend Thomas Parker wrote the
following regarding the life and death of his cousin and

fellow laborer in the work of the gospel:

The Author Mr James Noyes (my worthy collegue
in the ministry of the Gospel here) was a man of
Singular qualifications, in piety excelling, an
implacable enemy to all herisie and schism, and a
most able warrior against the same . . . He was
couragious in danger and still was apt to believe
the best, and made faire weather in a storm. He was
much honoured and esteemed in the Countrey, and his
death was much bewailed. I think he may be reckoned
among the greatest worthies of this age. Upon the
rising of our late usurpers, and the beheading of
our most gracious and most excellent King Charles
the Second (whom God preserve) he fell into such a
depth of sadness and sorrow of heart that it hastened
his death as was believed. So he died in the 48th
year of his age Octob. 22, 1656 . . .160

In scholarship, Noyes was Judged to have been
second only to Parker, whom he ”ably aided . . . in the
preparation of many students for Harvard."161 Although he

was somewhat more thorough in discipline than some of the

 

l59The Essex Institute, Vol. II, pp, git., p. 674.

160Thomas Parker, ”To the Reader,“ in James

Noyes I, Moses and Aargn, Op. 915., p. 11.

161Robert Noxon Toppan, Brief Biographiga] Skgtghgg:
A . H .._e. zoo F, -- A q“ ersa ' o the Se eme .
Ngnhgzy_ Newburyport Massachusetts: The Historical Society

of Old Newbury, 1885 , p. 13.

SEVCC

 

( ... I 21;... C E 3 f. n. C S ..-. .1.. ....

..C a. a. a a. 3 W 1 r. a .... S . .v . ..u. . ..-.. . r. ... v.

a... 1.; ... J. ... e e c. .... . Ta; C. glitch «.....na
n. C c. n. n. ... .. A: ...n
“U a: .v . H a» flu Y. . Alt .5... iv
.. u ... I w .. a .... .5. v... L .u r a.

n
C
1. . .. .. ll... 4 4‘

 

6h

early settlers desired, Noyes retained their respect and
admiration, largely because of his scholarship and his
devotion to the Puritan idea1.162 Because of his early
death, he was spared the intense church controversy of 1669
to 1672,103 but had he lived, there is no doubt that, with
Parker, he would have been criticized by a considerable
number of townspeople. As Noyes wrote in The Temple meag-
chd (16h7), he agreed with Parker that the strong minis-
terial control of the Presbyterians was preferable to the
more democratic leanings of the Congregationalists. A
brief excerpt from this work will suffice to demonstrate
Noyes' theological position on the matter. In his use of
the word “church,“ he was indicating the members of the

Newbury church:

The church is to be carried, not to carry; to obey,
not to command; to be subject, not to govern . . .
all members, young and old, children and men, if
thousands together must judge and govern upon con-
science together with the presbytery, first, it must
needs interrupt the work. Second, it is work enough,
a double labour for the elders to instruct the church how
to judge. There is more time spent in informing the
church, than in determining the case. Must elders hold
the hands of the common members (as the master teacheth
scholars to write) and act only by them? Third, pride
is an epidemical disease in a democratical government.
Who is sufficient to hold the reins of authority? Where
there are no standing magistrates in the commonwealth,
and in the church, no governors at all, the offspring is
like to be an Ichabod. Fourth, confusion and disorder
are inevitable. Turba'nuunt. The church ought to be a

 

162Henry E. Noyes and Harriette E. NoyeS, V01- 1:
.Qn._cit-. po 21-

163Joshua Coffin, pp, 913., pp. 72-112.

“-1
"a

K”.

isn‘t.“ "‘5' ‘3 “E“ O W.

t

r

wow. u
Plato, 1
needs be
it is d;
others 1
peiio re

man+ «s

vooU & '

l' .

JOKES (11603.3
“L V a

&.y to n13
are: his wi
mgfi,he
firm-.- “ q
......es :33:

I
‘II

Lilian ‘39?

'7‘
a
Yfi'm» r
a"... be? 22

 

l

65

pattern of punctual order. A democracie is called by

Plato, nundines popularies. Fifth, as a church must

needs be too long a doing by so many, when it is easy,

it is difficult. Some are conscientious and scrupulous,

others unreasonable, ignorant, youthful. This is a

paidocracy as well as a demoggacy. The seat of govern-

ment is the seat of wisdom.1
It need hardly be added that the "seat of wisdom“ in Newbury
was occupied by none other than Noyes and Parker.

On October 17, 1656, five days before his death,
Noyes wrote a brief will in which he gave all of his prop-
erty to his wife and children, the sole stipulation being
that his widow must not remarry.l65 If she obtained another
husband, her portion of the estate would pass to Reverend
Thomas Parker, Representative Nicholas Noyes I and Captain
William Gerrish 1.166
The will was proven on November 21, 1656 and on

November 26, 1656 and the inventory was taken by Deacon
Richard Knight I, Anthony Somerby I and Captain Benjamin
Swett 1.167 As a result of the inventory, the Noyes estate

was valued at 657 pounds, 11 shillings and a pence.168

 

164James Noyes I, quoted, lhiio: PP- 72‘73°

165James Noyes I, quoted in, The Essex Institute,
T4 P 00: ‘ B- o o_ o E_ e Co‘_g M:_S- Q -‘ -
83. 'Vol. I Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute,
1916 , p. 245.

166Ihjd.
16731131., p. 246.
1683219... p. 247.

1".“ rMMHI- a.“ q "jun-5"

4..
*1
q

name's w:
’ u- p
.rgal worn»

\~

T‘01, the s

.U/

pcmis.170

3e -
Was m t

LA;-
5 the Fe

8“” 1
.vtd P‘Ose S

 

66

Noyes' devotion to books is indicated by the fact that his
library was appraised at 30 pounds, whereas his house and
seven adjoining acres were appraised at the comparatively
small 100 pounds.169 Noyes' widow, complying with her
husband's wishes, did not remarry. She was evidently a
frugal woman, for when she died at Newbury on September 13,
1691, the estate had increased in valuation to 1008
pounds.170

In the next generation, Noyes' sons played lead-
ing roles in New England's religious and civil affairs.
Reverend James Noyes II, who graduated from Harvard College
in 1659, was the Congregational minister at Stonington,
Connecticut, from 1664 until December 30, 1719 when, after
over_fifty-five years of service, he departed this life.171
He was in the unique position of being a trusted friend of
both the Pequots and the Niantics.172 Another son, Rev-
erend MOses Noyes I, also a 1659 graduate of Harvard College,

lived to the age of eighty-three years, sixty of which

 

169Ip1g., pp. 146-147.

170John Farmer, 9p, git., p. 208 and James Atkins
Noyes, "Noyes Inscriptions and Memoranda," T e Ne E

E1sisriga1_amd7§enaa12gisal_§agistaz. V01. XLVIII. N0. 1
January, 1894 , p. 19.

171John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, on, gi§., pp.
45-50.

172Douglas Edward Leach. Eliatlgah_and_22mahawki

N En Ki Phi i ' Wa New York: w.w. Norton
and Company, Inc., 1958;, p. 146.

 

 

were spent a

i. a number
the positio
General Cor.

Sergeant J c

mete-er of
5023213,”
D 77
«6182‘8111 J
58:19 1111195

craft dupf

 

67

were spent as the Congregational minister of Lyme,
Connecticut.173

Colonel Thomas Noyes I, another son, took part
in a number of military campaigns.174 In addition, he held
the position of magistrate and represented Newbury in the
General Court in 1689, 1690 and 1692.175 Still another son,
Sergeant John Noyes I, moved to Boston where, in 1675, he
became a freeman.176 ‘Here, he served with distinction as a
member of the famed Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company.177 Noyes' daughter, Rebecca Noyes, the wife of
Reverend John Hale I, of Beverly, Massachusetts, received
some undesired attention when she was charged with witch-

craft during the Salem mania of 1692.178

 

173John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, QDs_QlL-:
pp. 50-52 0

17uHenry E. Noyes and Harriette E. Noyes, Vol. II,
smh_gitn. pp- 176-180.
1751p3g.
17613111., p. 172.
177011ver Ayer Roberts, H 0 Th Mi a
ouo:a' e, 9e Massa huse .5 Now C. e- The A; e« :40
can :0 - A ‘ Con-:1 o M: SS- huse To 0 - 888 ,

Vol. I Boston: Alfred Mudge and Son, 1895 , pp. 2 2, 249,
314, 319.

178Henry E. Noyes and Harriette E. Noyes, Vol. II,
gn;_g11., p. 43; John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I, gp;_git., p.

517 and Marion L. Starkey, The Deyil in Massaghusetts. A
M e In 1 S em Wi T New York:
Time Incorporated, 19635, pp. 223-224, 233.

 

 

that if a

would prob
tellectual
:portxnit
Corsequent
coniitions
shaiow. 1‘
first assj
191.45“ in‘

5'5 preac}

tom's exz‘

va‘h'Vn 0
V‘ “V 1

Re .

"‘3,“ a

68

In an assessment of Noyes' life, it would appear
that if a single personality flaw were focused upon, it
would probably be that he was somewhat overawed by the in-
tellectual prowess of his elder cousin. Noyes had ample
Opportunity to accept pulpits in towns other than Newbury.
Consequently, he was not forced, at least by external
conditions, to live his life under Parker's dominant
shadow. Nonetheless, as Newbury's second schoolmaster and
first assistant minister, Noyes was responsible for ren-
dering invaluable intellectual strength in both teaching
and preaching during the first twenty-one years of the
town's existence. To view him as having been of less than
major consequence in Newbury's early history would be to
commit a serious error in judgment.

Indeed, Somerby and Noyes were unquestionably
indispensable in Newbury's initial educational efforts.

From 1639 to 1656, they devoted uncounted hours to the
instruction of the town's youth and established the prec-
edent for the continuance of the school. It is noteworthy
that both men, but more especially the latter, were consid-
ered by their contemporaries to be leaders of the community.
Status came, however, not solely from teaching, but from the
town clerkship in the case of Somerby and from the assistant
nuhistry in the case of Noyes. Thus, the schoolmastership,
wiule not an independent position, was regarded as part-time

employment suitable for those of above average intellectual

 

 

 

ace 3191153:
I
Se‘i'o'ry haf

before the

183-3791}? u:
then stood
“1‘20 led t}:

1.3551! ove

69

accomplishments.

Perhaps most significant is the fact that
Newbury had established and maintained its school even
before the passage of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's 1642
and 1647 educational laws. To have done so in the face of
the wilderness of Puritan New England is an indication of
the esteem with which learning was held. Clearly,
Newbury's impressive initial educational efforts rested
largely upon the labors of Somerby and Noyes. Yet, behind
them stood the impressive figure of Reverend Thomas Parker,
who led the founding of the town, served as minister and

fondly overlooked the early development of the school.

I);

r" ’

Li‘uw’m "m W “"5.."

Hvr:v~
32.-.“:

‘ I
M

Parker, was

‘ 0
parlarch.

 

CHAPTER III

REVEBEND THOMAS PARKER: FOUNDER AND PATRIARCH,
1656-1675

Newbury's third schoolmaster, Reverend Thomas
Parker, was, without doubt, the town's true founder and
patriarch. Chronologically speaking, it is indeed sur-
prising that he should have been the third, rather than
the first schoolmaster. Yet, as shown in the preceeding
chapter, he was most thoroughly engrossed in the care of
the church during the period in which Anthony Somerby I
and Reverend James Noyes I served as schoolmasters. Only
with the death of Noyes in 1656, followed by the town's
failure to employ another assistant minister or teacher,
did Parker, being a firm believer in the value of educa-
tion, consent to conduct the famous free school.

As we have seen in Chapter II, Parker was the
leader of the group which founded Newbury in the spring
of 1635.1 From that year until 1675, when he achieved
octogenarian status, he held a firm hand upon Newbury's

ecclesiastical and secular affairs. He was, in short,

 

1Joshua Coffin, A Sketch of the History of
N bu New 11 o n We Ne F o 6
.1§&5 (Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 18455, pp. 14-15.

70

 

'- 1|

 

". J

the most 8
and ill-tell
Bernard, '11
Parker and
ter of Nic
Er‘glar‘d.2
conformist
.egationz
end Paul 1

lrzhur H1

5:5 333 he'

h
J;

”‘3

ree '1

‘A

931:3de 2
his

"Parchy

 

71

the most significant personal force in the early cultural
and intellectual life of the town.

Parker was born on June 8, 1595, at Stanton St.
Bernard, Wiltshire, England, the son of Reverend Robert
Parker and his wife, Dorothy (Stephens) Parker, the daugh-
ter of Nicholas Stephens, of BurdrOp Manor, Wiltshire,
England.2 Reverend Robert Parker, one of the leading Non-
conformist Protestants, was a colleague of such early Con-
gregationalist leaders as Reverend Dr. William Ames, Rever-
end Paul Baynes, Reverend William Bradshaw and Reverend
Arthur Hildersham.3 He was born circa 1564 and received
his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1582 and his Master of Arts
Degree in 1587 from Magdalen College, Oxford."5

Despite his Puritan learnings, however, he
enjoyed great favor among the more influential men in the
hierarchy of the Episcopal Church. Among his honors was
the holding of a fellowship at Magdalen College, Oxford.5

2John J. Currier, I'O d Newb I': His 1
Biegzephleal Skenchee (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 1896),

p. 165.

 

3John Cotton, Th W o C re a iona Chur s

gleened: In ewe Tgeatieee London: John Bellamie, 1 48 ,

pp. 13, 20.
4W.A. Shaw, "Robert Parker,” The Die§1gnegz g:
Neiienelrgiegzephy, Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds.,
Vol. XV London: Humphrey Milford, 1917), p. 269.
5Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Education of Thomas
lParker, of Newbury," Publications ef The Celonial Soeiety
Massa huse s T nsa 3, Vol. XXVIII April, 1932 ,

jp- 2 l.

 

. b!‘
s -"
LL—nw—nmu-a“ VET d ‘17 RA

1‘" ’

211591, t
chm-ch of
Earl of Fe
of St. Iiic
these posi
church of
Balbridge
gave him 1
1'19 ppoin‘.
living of
Parker, 1;;
3353“ Pa:

'14:. .
“an t}:

72

In 1591, the Bishop of Winchester presented Parker to the
church of Putney, Wiltshire, and prior to this time the
Earl of Pembroke had given him the living of the Hospital
of St. Nicholas at Salisbury, England.6 He relinquished
these positions in 1593, upon being presented to the
church of St. Mary of Wiltshire, with the chapel of
Balbridge annexed.7 The following year, Queen Elizabeth I
gave him the living of Stanton St. Bernard where, in 1604,
he appointed his own vicar.8 It was while holding the
living of this parish that his only son, Reverend Thomas
Parker, was born.

Despite a degree of success, however, Reverend
Robert Parker's religious affinity for the Puritan elements
within the Church of England could not but result in some
rather serious difficulties with many of his more tradi-
tional parishioners and colleagues. As early as 1591, for
example, there had arisen complaints about his criticism
of some tenets of the Episcopal Church.9 At length, in
1607, fearing prosecution before the Court of High Commis-

sion on the charge of nonconformity, Parker fled to Leyden,

6Augustus G. Parker, P er 1 Ame i a 6 - 0
(Buffalo: Niagara Frontier Publishing Company, 1911), p. 41.

 

9W.A. Shaw, 9p. e1§., p. 269.

. ‘ .' 47%,

‘5 . ,
~hW'W-h‘fil'fll y‘awav‘r. ‘d

 

Haunt“)

lanis and
Churchflz
the end of
according
that When
I21, in 1'1

the E 3113 o

I] (I)

C
4
(1'
_J
'J
[J

73

Holland.10 One of Parker's most controversial books,

A S a Dis e A ai s S m o izin Wi h A i-
thifli in Cezemenies (1607),11 was a major factor in
heightening the persecutions by those who were repulsed by
his Puritan learnings.

In 1614, having spent seven years in the Nether-
lands and having been formally censored by the Episcopal
Church,12 he died at Doesburg, Gelderland.13 Yet, until
the end of his days, he carried out the work of Christ
according to the Puritan doctrine. We may well surmise
that when he departed this life he comprehended that he
had, in no small way, contributed to the articulation of
the Nonconformist Protestant position.

In addition to his preaching, Reverend Robert
Parker wrote a number of theological works which came to
occupy positions of much respect among the Puritans of Eng-
land and the colonies. Being well educated and holding the
respect of his fellow Puritans, his impact upon theology
was markedly powerful.l4 Published during his lifetime

 

losamuel Eliot Morison, my,” p. 262.

11Robert Parker, A Sehelastieall D1seoy§§e Against
5 abs 1 _ 1 W- 4 ~, 1 h is -1 Ce emo ies: E‘s; 1a in l:
§isna.a£.the.§ngsss. Amsterdam: n-p-. 1-07 .

12Augustus G. Parker, 92. e1;., p. 41.

13W.A. Shaw, gne_git., p. 270.

141nm... pp. 270-271.

 

vrr

F18

1

were t

L.

yams.

tn .

.. . i m” .

.1 T .t. e

nu 4:“ r . ...”...
.

l,|# a. ”Olly... firing?» Phi-n. 4'43.
L
..L

“...... I ..., .an

Ra 2. Ar.

3 3. 3L ..

Fm...» . h. an» L.
.. \. a... 1. - ..- p.
a.» h—n r .. H9 C.
.1 1 ..n a at ..

 

74

were the previously mentioned A Seholastieall Diseoxnee
Ageihet Szmhelizihg With Antiehhiet 1n Ceremonies (1607)15

and De D§§Q§B§E Demihi Nostn; Iesu Chzieti ad hnflezge
(1611).16 Published posthumously were De Politeie Eeeje-
sieetiea Chnieti et Hignénfihgne Opposite (1615),17 An
Expeeltjeh of the pghning out of the fleuzth Viall (1650)18

and The Mystery 9: the Vialls Opened (1651).19

Reverend Thomas Parker was not one to disapprove
of the manner in which his father had chosen to spend his
life. That he should have been highly devoted to Puritanism
was hardly surprising in view of the immediate influences of

his father and his associates in the Church. An only son,

 

15Robert Parker, 92. git.

16Robert Parker, De Deeeensu Nostzi Iesu Chzteti
i L i vo b a cto e do issimo H

S o d coomf or s an in hoa i o ra e o t i

Reberti Parkeri, ad umhilieum. pehducti, ae jam tandem in

Amsterdam: Aegis Thorp, 1611 .
17Robert Parker, 2e Peliteia Eeelesiastiee
Hi hi 0 osi a i i Amsterdam:
n.p., 1615 .
18Robert Parker, Ah Expoeition ofl the pouhihg eut

   

9-, g V a I‘d 0180 in he Six --n h 0 R-'e e-
tien, T. Gataker, ed. London: Thomas Pierrepont, 1650 .
19Robert Parker, The MISIQIY o: the Viells Opened:
Beihg e ehezt Expesitieh upoh the pouring out gt the tour
3 Via 3 men ione in the C a ter o he Re e a :
W rei 1 er hi a in imes esen st
m e 8 er : As he r ine 0 An 1 h is h

sexerel degrees thereunto; And the shadewihg eut these timee
WWW- London: John

Sweating, 1651 .

 

-----—.

 

Parker was,
parents‘ as
l
tutelage, E
school e11:
twelve yea
Ieyfien.20
Netherlamd
531? other
gious cor.
his native
501‘13011 c

all the 1

 

75

Parker was, in all likelihood, the center of many of his
parents' activities in the home.

In addition to thorough study under his father's
tutelage, Reverend Thomas Parker received his grammar
school education in the Netherlands, since he was but
twelve years of age at the time his family moved to
Leyden.20 Emerging as a center of English Calvinism, the
Netherlands served as a refuge for the Parkers and for
many other families who were persecuted for their reli-
gious convictions. Yet, a benefit from having to leave
his native England was that Parker enjoyed, as Samuel Eliot
Morison contended, the most varied academic preparation of
all the 130 known university educated men who settled in
New England during the Great Puritan Migration.21

In 1610, at the age of fifteen, Parker matricu-
lated at Trinity College, Dublin.22 For two years, he was
greatly influenced by the teaching of Reverend Dr. James
Ussher, the future Archbishop of Armagh.23 On April 23,

 

20Samuel Eliot Morison, hp. gii-. p. 262.

21m., p. 2610
22Samuel Eliot Morison, “Thomas Parker,‘ Dietioh-

A i Bio , Dumas Malone ed., Vol. XIV
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934), p. 241.
23Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Education of Thomas
Parker, of Newbury," M” p. 262 and Alexander Gordon,
”James Ussher,‘I e Di nar f Na n Bio r ,

Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., Vol. XX London:
JHuMphrey Milford, 1917), pp. 64-72.

 

 

1613, Perl
from Eagle
in all pr<

in a waive

he was re'
Cniversit;
ectial Re
incisive,
Strlrgly .
than the

59031 the

his life.

 

76

1613, Parker matriculated at Oxford University, probably
from Magdalen College.2” That he did not long remain was,
in all probability, the result of his holding to Puritanism
in a university largely dominated by the Church of England.

Shortly after the death of his father in 1614,
he was reunited with his mother when he enrolled at the
University of Leyden.25 Here, he studied under the influ-
ential Reverend Dr. William Ames, who had perhaps the most
incisive, radical mind of any Cambridge Puritan and who
strongly emphasized the moral code of the Bible, rather
than the reliance upon nature or reason.26 Ames' emphasis
upon the Bibical moral code remained with Parker throughout
his life.

Parker made still another move before completing
his formal education. Friesland's University of Franeker
had been established in 1585 and it continued to be a re-

spected center of learning until it was closed by Napoleon

 

24Samuel Eliot Morison, The Fohhdihg efi Hezzazg
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University

Press, 1935), po 393-
25Wh9 WE§ th jg Ameziea, Histogieal Volume.
- , 2nd ed. Chicago: The A.N. Marquis Company,
19375, p. 466.

268amue1 Eliot Morison, "Thomas Parker,” epe_ett.,
p. 241; Samuel Eliot Morison, The Feghding ct Hehtard Col-

lege, op, eit., p. 95; Perry Miller, T e N En a M °
W (Boston: Beacon Pmress, 1954!!§___ind1,
p. 196 and James Bass Mullinger, ”William Ames,‘I The Die-
Wliiagnflm. Leslie Stephen and Sidney
lee, eds., Vol. I London: Humphrey Milford, 1917), pp.

355-357-

r
I
7
5

ed

.8.“
ned wf
n'r
.VA‘
”any.
a. v‘

‘

2‘

|
s
"h‘.
L

3

V

rofesso
a

ellow F

arl
V
is

f‘ a. ‘
cotton ta
&

in 1811.2

P
G
v
9

 

 

 

VI. a V l-

a. sl 6 h-..» 1*

Tn Q. do no is 7‘

be .‘ I] “H“ 8

.r 3... .a. ... 9

I1 s An: A ..v av n~ \ I‘

NJ 7 ~ .. 1,1 . I... s NU
nae-gl B..-« ....l 1.

77

in 1811.27 Here, on April 1, 1617, Parker took his Master
of Philosophy Degree, receiving it, to quote Reverend Dr.
Cotton Mather, “with the general Applause of all, and the
special Esteem of Maccovius."28

Johannes Makowsky, to use his proper name, was
professor of theology and theoretic philosophy and had
earlier played a prominent role in a controversy with a
fellow Franeker professor, Sibradus Lubbertus. Not entirely
unexpectedly, when Parker, Maccovius' student, presented his
Thesee Theglogieee de tzaduct1one homines peecatopis ee
xitam (1617),29 Lubbertus, claiming that there were con-
tained within the 1617 work no less than fifty errors,
launched a bitter attack upon Parker.30 The controversy,
it seems, involved Parker only incidentally, the major
debate centering upon differing opinions of Maccovius and

Lubbertus. Parker's work was considered to have been

 

273amuel Eliot Morison, The Founding of Hepeepg
Cellege, op. e;t., pp. 142-143 and Elizabeth Porter Gould,

Ezekiel Cheezer, Sehpolmeetez (Boston: The Palmer Company,
1904 , po 59'

28Cotton Mather, Meghalia Christi Amepieeha; on.

T - E -si:s i = H's . ' o_ Ne -E1: .12 F om i s F _
P a; .1 -1 ‘ Yea 620 U o he Ye:_ a Our LO d 0'3,
Vol. III London: T. Parkhurst, 1702 , p. 14 .

29Thomas Parker, Theses Theologieee he tpadpetiope

«om a‘ 0; c- O .7 av an 0u:- a- 011413.811.“ 0 0.001.

..-

Ihepee Perkerus, AQEJHS Friesland, Netherlands: University
of Franeker, 1617 .

30Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Education of Thomas
Parker, of Newbury,“ pp, e1t., p. 264.

78

liberal enough to put him under suspicion of heresy,
although, as a result of the defense of the highly respected
Ames, the Council of Dort dismissed the charges of Lubbertus
and his followers.31

The protracted controversy over Parker's theses
might well have been a factor in his decision to return to
England. By 1620, he had left the Netherlands and was
teaching at the Grammar School in Newbury, England,32
assisting Reverend Dr. William Twisse, the Congregational
minister of the town.33 He continued in this position for
fourteen years, teaching a number of students, many of whom
entered Oxford, Cambridge, or other universities in Ireland
or the Netherlands.3u During the early 16308, Parker gained
the assistance of his cousin and closest associate, Reverend
James Noyes I, who, on May 7, 1629, had received grace for

his Bachelor of Arts Degree at Brasenose College, Oxford.35

 

311hje.

32Frederic Lewis Weis, The Colonia1 Clergx and the

Celopiel Chppehee pt New Englahd (Lancaster, Massachusetts:
Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, 1936),

p. 158.

33Samuel Eliot Morison, "The Education of Thomas
Parker, of Newbury,“ Qp, eit., p. 265.

34Robert Noxon Toppan, Bpief Hietorieal
Sk§L9h§§3 Twp Hundped and Fittieth Annizersarx of the Set-
tlemeht of Newhpnx Newburyport, Massachusetts: The Histor-
ical Society of Old Newbury, 1885), p. 11.

35Samuel Eliot Morison, T F un i of Ra
Cellege, ep. e1t., p. 392.

K1

41- A'V,’

' I] .

 

 

leader of ‘
the Great
board the
Boston, Ft
fellow pas

.. , , p
iiltsnir.

2211 Job
l"=1 a

as.

(‘ ’ g
‘:,.‘h“
1.1..VIQ
i.,_\
1‘s \
"1J1,

79

Parker was both the spiritual and the secular
leader of the group which left Newbury, England, during
the Great Puritan Migration. Sailing from London on
board the "Mary and John" in March, 1634, he arrived at
Boston, Massachusetts, two months later.36 Among Parker's
fellow passengers on board the ship were a number of his
Wiltshire friends and neighbors.37 Distinguished for his
classical and theological scholarship38 and possessing a
rather determined disposition, he in all probability felt
at ease in the role of leader.

Shortly after dropping anchor in Boston, the
brave emigrants journeyed northward to Ipswich.39 Spend-
ing the next year in the newly settled town, Parker
assisted the famous Ipswich minister, Reverend Nathaniel
Ward, who is best remembered for his authorship of the
1641 Massachusetts Body of Liberties and for his most

 

36Samuel Gardner Drake, "Passengers of the Mary
and John, 1634, " The Nep Epg1epd Hietepteal egg Gehealeg-
igel__eg1etep, Vol. IX, No. 3 July, 1855 , pp. 265-268.
37John Coffin Jones Brown, “Newbury and the
Bartlett Family,“ T e New En and His 1 a n Genea -
1g§1_§eg;§tepJ Vol. XL, No. 2 April, 188 , p. 194.
38Robert Noxon Toppan, pp. eit., pp. 6-7.
39Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little Ilsley,
eds., T; 'i P: is; N wb M s a _e . -

(Newburyport, Massachusetts: News Printing Company, Inc.,

1935), p. 10.

 

{1'-».'1'1 J“

‘K.

,

szww—WW‘AI L‘

noted boo‘

gar“ or:-

volUé JVAAV

5,01 ‘T
177. “
1>“172
,.

80

noted book, The Simple Coplep of Aggawam (1647).“0 Although

sentiment existed for Parker to remain in Ipswich, he
decided to organize a new town several miles northward. As
indicated in Chapter II, Parker was chosen minister at the
time of Newbury's founding in the spring of 1635.

While living at Newbury, Parker wrote a number of
books on Puritan theology and secular government. If he
published anything between 1617 and 1644, however, it has
long since been obliterated by the ravages of time. During
this quarter of a century, he was involved almost totally
with the Newbury Grammar School in Newbury, England, and
with the establishment of Ipswich and Newbury in the Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony. In 1643, however, he regained an
interest in theological writing through his attendance at
the Church Synod at Cambridge, Massachusetts.41 It was
here that he argued vehemently for the Presbyterian, as
opposed to the Congregational form of church government.1+2

That is to say, he favored a stronger form of control by

 

“08amue1 Eliot Morison, "The Education of Thomas
Parker, of Newbury," pp. p1t., p. 266 and Edward H. Dewey,

"Nathaniel Ward,“ Diptipnapx pt Amepipep Biographx, Dumas
Malone, ed. Vol. XIX New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1936), pp. 433—434.

41John Gorham Palfrey, H s o N w E
Vol. II (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1865), pp.
171-172 and Perry Miller, thhodpxy in Massachusette, 1639-
,1pip (Boston: Beacon Press, 1959 , pp. 276-277.

”211ml.

.., a.“ - v‘h‘l'III‘

ll;- .'_ 1d .__h__‘__('_J‘ H

the minist

response t

his church

’
'21 unte
B“

 

 

 

81

the minister than the Congregational organization of
churches generally provided for.

In part, this contention might well have been
fostered by Parker's realization that his strict control
of the Newbury Church was leading to mounting criticism.43
In the words of his cousin's son, Reverend Nicholas
Noyes II, Parker in “no ways approved of a gpyepning tote
in the fraternity, but took their consent in a silential
way.'44 Illustrative of Parker's determination is his
response to a criticism put forth by some of the members of
his church. He returned only questions to their queries
and, instead of using English, he Spoke in Latin, Greek and
Hebrew, to which his critics successively replied.u5
Undaunted, he resorted to Arabic and, since the parishion-
ers were unable to comprehend what he was saying, he summa-
rily refused to be judged by any but his equals.“6

At the New England Church synod of 1662, Parker
again argued a strong case for the limitation of lay influ-

ence in the church.47 He appears to have remained convinced

 

1+3Joshua Coffin, pp. p1t., p. 44.
““Nicholas Noyes II, quoted, Ipid., p. 73.

“5E. Vale Smith, The Historx pfi Newburyport: Fpom

4; E; es S- emen of he Coil v o e Pr-se T :e.
With e Bipgpephipal Appenphx. Boston: Damrell and Moore,
1854 , p. 58.

“6112151-

u7John Gorham Palfrey, ppe_p1t., pp. 171-172.

—"

 

 

(e.

that this it
tendenc ies

in the char

sovernhent
of extenii:
teacher of
majority 01

not conve

 

either for

tee'Jl can
16946»
~... 5 t:

 

 

 

 

82

that this was essential for restraining dangerous democratic
tendencies of the laity as well as for merely keeping order
in the churches.“8 In this belief, Parker was not alone
among the shepherds of the Puritan flock, for even those who
chose to associate themselves with Congregational church
government often had serious reservations about the wisdom
of extending lay influence.

One such shepherd, Reverend John Cotton, the famed
teacher of Boston's First Church, was in agreement with the
majority of his brethren49 when he wrote, "Democracy I do
not conveyve that ever God did ordeyne as a fitt government
either for church or commonwealth."5O

When one considers the English origins of seven-
teenth century New England thought, the desire of many
leaders to limit the extensiveness of democratic leanings

is quite easily understood. Of crucial significance was

 

48Samuel Eliot Morison, ”Thomas Parker," pp. pit.,

“9Larzer Ziff, The Capeep pf Johp Cottoh: Pupiteh-

h Am n E en Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press, 1962); Everett H. Emerson, ephn
Egttgn.(New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1965) and Larzer

Ziff, ed., Jth Cottpp en the Chppphes pf New Ehgjehg, The
John Harvard Library, Bernard Bailyn, ed.-in-chief Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 1968).

50John Cotton, "Copy of a Letter from Mr. Cotton
to Lord Say and Seal in the Year 1636,“ in Thomas Hutchinson,
T,- His .1 o e C- ., a d P .._, e of M:ssa h s- .-B:
Lawrence Shaw Mayo, ed., Vol. I Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1936), p. 415.

p. 242.

 

 

. . I .r s [A . 1 C S , d
r“ o. . fr. .Q A ”la “A “I. n... t O
‘ . out. ‘1,A l D .l S
t m Mo C r; O C e am a e 1 t n S S
u u a c l t O C 1 a . h. e t e
L -. my; 0 S u n S 4 ~ n r . .1 L
C .1 S .1 h C .1 C n T a. . i .
a mu u S 3... C h .. t .. ... .3 O 0 an . 6 R W.
no i 9» .M: a. hr. u C h“ ..b e t S .1“ C ... .. e g
9 . c. «a: C n H.“ a. an... wt. ”J m4 ...: me. u. .. .i mu
m Aonv. ”NV .69.“: .Ndnw “U. .HI. ‘0” “we. H ~FU W . a... #4 6 av hlv

 

v u ck“ ... wt.3..,|§ IDI. ...I'Hu“...

..L

 

83

the fact that transmitting society to the barren frontiers
of Puritan New England could be accomplished only through
great sacrifice. The Puritan fathers tended, then, to
give special attention to the essentials of the English
background.

Thus, education, as Max Savelle concluded, con-
tinued to be regarded as one of the traditional means by
which society was to be perpetuated.51 During the seven-
teenth century, this belief continued to be supported.
Particularly strong in their support was the clergy, who
were in a position to suffer greatly from any inroads made
by those referred to as "common men."52 Largely for this
reason, maintained Leonard Woods Labaree, orthodox Congre-
gationalists, royal officials, planter aristocrats, seaport
merchants, Anglican clergymen and Revolutionary Loyalists,
different as they were, came to constitute the strongest
elements opposing the democratizing tendencies of the

colonies.53

 

51Max Savelle, The Colonie] Origins ef Amezieen

Thought (Princeton, New Jersey: D. Van Nostrand Company,
Inc., 196“), pp- 72-73-

52;p1g., pp. 77-79 and Daniel J. Boorstin, The
e : Th C o i E (New York: Vintage

Books, 1958 , pp. 20-28.
53Leonard Woods Labaree, Censeryetism ig Early

Amarlgan_gl%zgnx (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University
Press, 19 8 , pp. vi-viii.

a!

r

ribu-'3‘ 'u‘u‘nnei't '1“. '_'-'V<“~C

to see the
these con
movements '

enlarges-3n

denouncing

Charles I..'

30395 Pg

 

 

84

There can be little doubt that had Parker lived
to see the eighteenth century, he would have sided with
these conservative forces, rather than with the counter
movements which favored both the Great Awakening and the
enlargement of the political and secular franchise.5u
Indicative of Parker's conservatism is his departure from
the opinions of many of his Puritan brethren by firmly
denouncing the Cromwellian Puritans who beheaded King
Charles 1.55 Indeed, in his dedication of Reverend James
Noyes I's work, Meses ahd Aezgn (1661), he saw fit to
celebrate the cause of the restored Stuart monarch, King
Charles 11.56 The King had been but recently proclaimed
on May 8, 166057 and less than three months later Parker
lauded the Roman Catholic sympathizer with the following

words:

 

54mg,” pp. 76-89, 101-105, 140-142.

55Thomas Parker, I'To the Reader,“ in James Noyes I,

Meeee end Aehoh: Oh, The Righte efi Chhheh and Stete; Geh-

i wo Dis u ions. The fo me once ni he C ,

in uhieh are examined the prineiples of Seperatioh, ehd theiz

o sis en wit ru a d ea e demonstrated: an he

G en 0 the Ch h vin i a e in o the h n s 0 he
R s. Th a er asse s e sa red esse 0 he -
‘0. 211 .u ho ' o K1118 :1-11 5- i 6110 S A - o: 91

WE. London: Edmund Paxton, l..1 , p. 2.
56Thomas Parker, "Dedication," lh11., p. 3.

57William L. Langer, ed., A En dia W
' A ie Med e M der C n i

Azhehged, 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1968),
p. 4610

[fl

 

presuze
because
tion a:
of you:
Author
blesse'
stuck :
so deef
have bl
Hejest

work .

 

 

 

85

To the most HIGH and MIGHTY PRINCE CHARLES the second,
by the Grace of God KING of great Britain, France and
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.

Now as touching this work that followeth, I have
presumed to dedicate the same to your Royal Majesty,
because the matter of it pertaineth to your considera-
tion and because of the singular joy and hopes I have
of your ascending into the Throne, and because the
Author was a s ecial lover of your Royal Father (of
blessed memory and of your majesty, the fall of whom
stuck so close and neer unto him and wrought in him
so deep sorrow and affliction, that it is thought to
have been the principal cause of his death. Let your
Majesties Gracious acceptation Countenance the
work 0 o 0

Now the God of all Grace and Mercy, who hath
raised up your Majesty into the Throne of Royal Gov-
ernment . . . confirm and establish you upon your
Throne, and crown you with grace, prosperity and glory,
unto his own everlasting praise, the beauty and en-
largement of the Church and to the laying a foundation
of higher advancement of yourself in the future world
than can be here expected. This is, and shall be the
constant prayer of

Your Majesties Most Loyal
Servant and Subject
THOMAS PARKER.

A minister of the Gospel, though unworthy, and
Pastor to the Church of Newbury in New England.
66 5gritten from Newbury in New England August 6,
l 0.

Perhaps always in some doubt will be the question

of how such a staunch Puritan as Parker could have supported

a monarch, who, by his defeat of Oliver Cromwell, dashed the

hopes of many English and colonial Puritans. Moreover, to

suggest that Noyes had died because of the overthrow of

King Charles I was, at the very least, a most surprizing

statement. Indeed, it was the rare Puritan who prayed for

the monarchy rather than for Cromwell, their fellow Puritan.

 

58Thomas Parker, "Dedication,“ ept_eit., p. 3.

(I:
iL—v—mmr‘wcuw 'J

 

his father
of adminis
P‘H‘itan th
power and I

Of his pal)

 

Cromwell t S

a Perioa

 

 

AIEnz,‘ I
: 1* 9

9 81.
“
RIF)

86

It might plausibly be argued, however, that
Parker supported the Restoration primarily because he had
increasingly grown to dislike the absence of what today has
become the popular political campaign slogan of "law and
order.“ King Charles I, it will be remembered, had, like
his father, King James I, ruled rather arbitrarily,59 a form
of administration hardly unfamiliar to Parker. Cromwell,
Puritan though he most assuredly was, had illegally seized
power and had caused King Charles I to be beheaded in front
of his palace at Whitehall on January 30, 16u9.60 In addi-
tion to engaging in such usurpations of power as these,
Cromwell's Protectorate, regardless of its merits, constituted
a period of extensive civil and external warfare as well as
being characterized by rampant non-violent discontent within
England.61 Moreover, Parker might well have been angered by
Colonel Thomas Pride's December 6-7, 1648 exclusion of
ninety-six Presbyterian members from Parliament.62 In the
words of Goldwin Smith, “The galling knot of Presbyterian
opposition had been cut by the sword of Cromwell.'63

 

5901iver Perry Chitwood, A Hjetehy ef Ce]eh1e1

, 3rd ed., Harper's Historical Series, Guy Stanton
Ford, ed. (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961), p. 70.

60Goldwin Smith, A Hi E , 3rd ed.
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1966), pp. 337-339.
éllhida. pp. 339-348.

62William L. Langer, ed., ept_e1t., p. 405.
63Goldwin Smith, epe_elt., p. 338.

 

87

These events, it is felt, helped to persuade
Parker that the Restoration should be supported by New
England Puritans. There is, moreover, no evidence that he
wavered from this course even in the light of the post-
Restoration reaction against Puritanism and notwithstand-
ing the Clarendon Code, which so obviously and desperately
sought to re-establish the power of the Church of England.64
It is evident, therefore, that as far as Parker was con-
cerned, stability was one of the most desirable of goals.
Indeed, not even the forbidding spectre of personal and
collective religious difficulties could strip the Newbury
minister of his abhorence of disruptiveness.

A clearly discernible emphasis upon both ortho-
doxy in religion and preservation of the status quo in more
secular pursuits is evident throughout Parker's writings.
Between 16hh and 1660, there flowed from his pen a number
of theological discourses, the first of which was The Thte
Cepx e; a Letter: Written by Mr. Thomas Parke: (16h4), in
which he quite clearly expressed his sympathy for the
Presbyterian form of church government:

I assure you wee have great need of help in the
way of discipline, and wee hope wee shall receive much
light from you. My cousin Noyse and myself, have been
seen such confusion of necessity depending on the gov-
ernment which hath been practised by us here, that wee

have been forced much to search into it within these
two or three yeeres.

 

6"William L. Langer, ed., ene_e1t., p. #61.

And alt
government in
Ministers, an
as in the wan
mature delibe
government mu‘
depend upon t
people. Ther‘
the Ministers,
at Cambridge ,
our arguments
theirs, and a
to considerat
ber-s, wee hol
weakest Chris
according to
Particular .
Decem. 17. 16

Pal'ker's work we ~

9BI“1-, o

HPitte.

Parsonage 0f the

, 65Th0m,
n u H . T
H"E :7 ‘ . Oma.
‘ e - ‘
' 1.
5W. 1644,13?j
66
v ' ”'8.
5111! u H .

. e
‘ L1}, 8‘ ‘ Uo
LI: 0;; e O t
Ls. . 9e Ci
:1, 1, ”=1. ' ‘ubu
9d 0;? a ~ M‘,

We 0,

88

And although wee hold a fundamentall power of
government in the people, in respect of election of
Ministers, and of some acts in cases extraordinary,
as in the want of Ministers; yet wee judge, upon
mature deliberation, that the ordinary exercise of
government must be so in the Presbyters, as not to
depend upon the expresse votes and suffrages of the
people. There hath been a Convens, or meeting, of
the Ministers of these parts, about this question,
at Cambrigge, in the Bay; and there wee have proposed
our arguments, and answered theirs; and they proposed
theirs, and answered ours: and so the point is left
to consideration. Also concerning admission of Mem-
bers, wee hold, the rule must bee so large, that the
weakest Christians may bee received; and there was,
according to appearance, much conjunction in this
particular . . . From Newbury in New-England,

Decem. 17. 1643.65

Parker's work was commented upon in M.S., A reply er Two of

the Brethreh to A.S. (l644).66
Written, to quote George D. Wildes, in “the humble

parsonage of the (Newbury)settlement,‘67 was The Visiohe

 

65Thomas Parker, The Trve Copy of a Letter: Writ-

ten by Mr. Thomas Parker, a learned and godly Minister, ih
New-Englehd, unte a Memher ef the Assembiy of Diyines now ih

Westmihster. Declaring his judgement touehing the Geyernmeht
preetieed i? the Churehee of New-Egglahd London: Ralph
Smith, 1644 , pp. 3-h.

66M.S., A reply of Two p: the Brethreh to A.S.
Wherein Yeu Heye Ohseryetiohs 9h His Consideretions, Appe-
tatiohe, &9. Upon the Apologetieail Narration With A Piee
{pr Libertie of Conscience for the Apoiigists Chureh way;
Against the Cayils of the said A.S. Formerly ealled M.S. te
A.S. Humbiy submitted to the judgements of all rationall,
and moderate men ih the world. With e short suryey of w.R.
hie Greye eehfutetion of the Separation, and some merst,

i o n tou hes n he Le e m Ze an A M . P -
ker1§_£rem_fleh:§hglehd, 2nd ed. (London: H. Overton, l6h4).
67George D. Wildes, An oration Befere the Hieter-
ieai egg Antiguariah Soeiety of Newbury, Essex County, Masea-

gu‘e ; S-. emoe 8 8 Commemo a i.e o. h- Se ”--

mept e: Newbury, A.D. 1635 New York: T. Whittaker, 1878 ,
p. 8.

 

Pro 1 s 0
Perhaps Parker”s
evident in the c
belOW, Parker “3
New England writ
his concept or C
was God's will t
upon which he ha
too harshly, how
such devotion ant
could have devel
civilization and
a model for the

To put
“hen his sister,
land, embraced

Stet'idf’ast in th -

e E 68111110:
. p *" Ime.
T i n.4.e: .
_ iéj‘ . 1 l
.1- : . '1 Q
ole, ‘. i S
I 3 w i I I
A -
_ ‘5 1,0 »
.4; h w ges‘!
,. e . _- :
' z ‘7“ : ' 0
1'11" “xi

.1. I. . '.e-

‘ i

'1» : ',°‘= q:
Rd'mlndpaxton’

89

end Propheeies of Dehiel Eypehhded (16116).68 This was

perhaps Parker's most widely known work. As is plainly
evident in the complete title, indicated in the footnote
below, Parker was far from being the most modest colonial
New England writer. He believed, quite unswervingly, that
his concept of Christ was the only correct one and that it
was God's will that he should not stray from the course
upon which he had embarked in his youth. Lest we judge him
too harshly, however, it should be realized that without
such devotion and righteousness, it is doubtful that there
could have developed the exertion required to transplant a
civilization and to create, in many respects successfully,
a model for the rest of the world to emulate.

To put it mildly, Parker was highly incensed
when his sister, Elizabeth (Parker) Avery, of Newbury, Eng-
land, embraced the Quaker faith, rather than remaining

steadfast in the Calvinist doctrine of her parents and

 

68Thomas Parker, The Vieions and Pr0pheeies efl

Denie] Erpounded: Wherein the Mistakes of Former Interpret-
ers are modestly discovered, and the true meaning of the

Text made plain by the Words and Circumstances of it. The
me so i ustra ed b c e r Instances taken ou 0 Hi -

teries which relate the Eyents of time mystieally foretold

by the holy Pronhet. Amohgst other things of Note. touchieg

the Two Witnesses, the New Jerusalem, the Thousand yeers,

& . e is ro ounde a new We fo the findin out of

determinate time signified by Daniel in his Seventy weeke;
yhen it did begin, end when we are to expeet the end there-

efl. Very considerable, in respeet of the great stirs end
temelts of this present Age wherein we liye. London:

Edmund Paxton, 1646 .

]. .9Us2 1.84 n u.

 

. . . t .3 ....I51. f‘w

 

 

9O

brother.69 During the seventeenth century, Puritans, as
well as Anglicans and Roman Catholics, were convinced that
the Society of Friends constituted a profound threat to
their well being. The Puritans were extremely angered when
Quakers invaded the Bible Commonwealth70 and they were
hardly less aroused when they learned of Quaker activities
in England. Moreover, the Society of Priends' emphasis
upon conscience's "Inner Light,” rather than upon intel-
lectual study of the Scriptures as the supreme authority
for men's conduct, was a truly dangerous doctrine when
followed to the extreme and it ran thoroughly counter to
Puritan theology.71

In view of Parker's strenuous support of the
Presbyterian form of church government, it should not
appear surprising that when his sister's waywardness
became known he would do whatever he could to prevent her
from pursuing further what he believed to be a dangerous
advance into the arms of Satan. It was for this reason

that he wrote a bittingly critical personal letter which
was eventually published as The Cepy 9i e Letter Writteh

 

69Samuel Eliot Morison, "Thomas Parker," ppy_eit.,
p. 2A2.

70Daniel J. Boorstin, pp, pit., pp. 36-40.
71Perry Miller, Reger Willieme: Hie Centrihetien
e Ame ' a T i (New York: Atheneum, 1953 , pp.

t9.:hu____ric_n__2ad_tign
2&1-253 and Thomas H. Johnson, The grferd Companion t9
Ameripen_fli§tgry (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966),

pp. 315-316.

91

by Mr. Themas Parher, Paster of the Chureh of Newbury 1h
flew-Englehd, te His Sieter, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayery (1650).72

In addition to arguing against the the010gica1 tenets of
the Society of Friends, Parker criticized his sister's
violations of the acceptable role of seventeenth century
English women as well as her alleged conceit:
Your printing of a Book, beyond the custom of
your Sex, doth rankly smell; but the exaltation of
your self in the way of your Opinions, is above all.73

Among Parker's other writings were several sermons

and theological works, among them Theses Theologieae de
Treduetione (1652),74 A farewell sermon . . . January 1,
1655 (l656)75 and Methodus Gratiae Diyine In treduetiehe

heminie peeeateris ad yitem (1657).76 Parker was severely
criticized, on theological grounds, in N.H., The Eramihatien

 

 

72Thomas Parker, The Cepy pf a Letter Written hy
Mr. Thomas Perker, Pastor of the Chureh of Newbury in New-
England, to His Sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayery, Sometimes efl

Newbury in the County of Berks, Touching Sundry Opihiens
B He P ofessed and Maintaine Nov mb. 22. London:
Edmund Paxton, l 50 .

73Ip1e., p. 13.

74Thomas Parker, Theses Theologieae de Traduetiohe
prihie Peceetoris ad Vitem (London: Samuel Thomson, 1652 .

75Thomas Parker, A F rewe Sermon . . . J ,
1655 (London: Richard Lowndes, 1656).

76Thomas Parker, Methodus Gratiae Diyinae Ih

du ione homini e o is 1 S ua i

T su i & e e i London: Abelis
Roper, 1657).

i ,

 

'l
.9“.
i
5:
>.'
I
' I
*

 

 

British Museum.
in other major 31‘
been a rather ex
his English c011-
were products of
then of the pres
Becaus
a result of his

5931? Of his book

 

 

 

 

92

pt Tilenus Before the Triere (1658)77 and in Philo-Tileno,
P: is is I A . u : Si'e A o = e 9 .eda i Oin-s LXX
(1660).78 Most of these works exist today only in The
British Museum, the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, and
in other major British libraries,79 there obviously having
been a rather extensive correspondence between Parker and
his English colleagues. Indeed, all of his published works
were products of the presses of London or Amsterdam, rather
than of the press at Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Because of his classical learning and largely as

a result of his lifelong respect for academic endeavors,

many of his books were published in a cultivated Latin,

 

77N.H., The Examination of Tilenus Befere the
Triere; In erder te hie intended settlement of the offiee
pt a pupliek Preacher in the Common-wealth of Utopia. Where-
nnte ere annexed The Tenets of the Remonstrants touching
theee fliye Artieles Voted, Stated and imposed, but not dis-

. -. a t e S _od 0 Do,t To;e her wi h a shor Es a

.L

. we 0 Anno a ion eon he Fundam-h a- Theses .

Mr, Thepas Perher London: R. Royston, 1658 .

 

78Philo-Tileno, Perkerue Illustretue: Sive, Appo-
tete Queedee in genes LXX, T. Perkeri Theses. de Traduetione
H i P o i a V' a E . London: Joannis Baker,

1660 .

79The British Museum, Geheral Catalegue pf
P Bo : P o 1 ho h' E i 10 , Vol. 180

London: The Trustees of The British Museum, 1963), pp.
711-712; Donald Wing, Shert-Title Catalogue of Books Printed
in Egglehd, Seotlahd, Ireland, Wales and British Ameriee
egg of English Beehs Prihted in Other Countries, l6Ql-lZOQ,
Vol. III New York: Columbia University Press, 1951 , p.

1%; Letter from J.M. Griffin, of The British Museum, to
Richard Edward Kelly, December 3, 1970 and Letter from D.M.

Merry, of the Bodleian Library, Oxford University, to
Richard Edward Kelly, January 11, 1971.

93

rather than in the vernacular. Even those which appeared
in English, however, could hardly be considered as popu-
larized works. Thus, one can reasonably assume that
Parker's efforts, at least as evidenced by his writings,
were largely directed towards similarly well educated mem-
bers of the intellectual community in England and in the
colonies.

Although he never wrote on education per se,
Parker's intellectual endeavors helped to shape his teach-
ing as well as his performance in the pulpit and in weekly
prayer meetings. From the commencement of the settlement
of Newbury, we may be sure that he occupied a prominent
position, both in the church and in the school, despite the
fact that he was preceded in the schoolmastership by
Anthony Somerby I and Reverend James Noyes 1. Parker was
better educated than either of his two predecessors and it
is likely that his wisdom was greatly valued, especially by
those families who anticipated that their sons would be
educated at Harvard College or in Europe. It should be
remembered that the Puritan concentration upon learning for
salvation immeasurably aided in the establishment and reten-
tion of significant inter-relationships between the church,

the town school and Harvard College.80

‘.

8oMlolphe E. Méyer. W

W, 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book
Company. 1967 , pp. 19-40.

Since 1
educated element
society, it was 1
ministers for ed

even when the mi.

 

schoolmaster, hi
quently listened
those of any 0th
other Massachuse
quent visits to
Quality of inst:
emphasis was g1
catechism and t
suite I‘I‘equentl
had been delive

In si

settlers as th‘

flelds ’ eVen t]

94

Since the clergy was almost always the most
educated element in seventeenth century New England
society, it was natural for the towns to turn to their
ministers for educational leadership.81 Consequently,
even when the minister did not serve simultaneously as
schoolmaster, his pronouncements on education were fre-
quently listened to with more interest and reSpect than
those of any other individual. Parker, like most of the
other Massachusetts Bay clergymen, undoubtedly made fre-
quent visits to the schools in order to supervise the
quality of instruction available to the youth.82 Much
emphasis was given to the child's understanding of the
catechism and to his knowledge of the Bible as well as,
quite frequently, his comprehension of the sermon which
had been delivered the preceeding Sunday.83

In short, the minister was seen by most of the
settlers as the high oracle of knowledge about nearly all

fields, even those not directly related to Puritan

 

81Clifford K. Shipton, 'The New England Clergy

of the 'Glacial Age', ” Pehli eetiehs ofi The Celenial Soeiety
9£__as§achmseiisi__zansaatians Vol- XXXII December. 1933 .

pp. 2.4-5le 0
82Clifton Johnson, Old-Time Sehoplfi ehd Sehepl-
Eggkfi (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904), p. 24.

83111111.

theology- 84

meetinghouse:
people to con
well educated
of culture, a
proper decorur
all in the nan

Newb
providing for ‘1
1647 'Old Delu:
continued to be
not hire a man
°°nsequent1y, O
court held at I

secondary educa‘

 

95

theology.84 Moreover, it should be recognized that the
meetinghouses did not serve solely as places for the towns-
people to congregate. Especially when the minister was as
well educated as Parker, the meetinghouse became a center
of culture, a school of good manners, a training place for
proper decorum, an enforcing agency of order and much else,
all in the name of Christ Jesus.85

Newbury was among the towns to be delinquent in
providing for a formal grammar school, as required by the
1647 "Old Deluder Satan Act.n86 Although instruction had
continued to be provided by Noyes and Parker, the town did
not hire a man who served exclusively as a pedagogue.
Consequently, on May 6, 1658, Newbury was compelled by the
court held at Ipswich to answer the charge of not having a

secondary educational institution.87 As a result,

 

8”Noah Porter, The New Ehglend Meeting House,

Committee on Historical Publications, Tercentenary Commis-
sion of the State of Connecticut, Pamphlet No. XVIII (New
Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1933), p. 19.

8531191- 9 P0 60'

86Henry Steele Commager, ed., Deeuments pf Amer-
igandiietpry, 5th ed., Crofts American History Series,
'Dixon Ryan Fox, gen. ed. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,

InCo, 1949), P- 29'

87Joshua Coffin, ep. pit., p. 62 and John J.

CtuPrier, H's o 0 Ne bu Mass. - 02 (Boston:
Damrell and Upham, 19025, p. 396.

 

  
  

hevhury was fine
‘want of a gran."

It is
specify who was

being that:

 

0 0 o it 18
increase to
they Shall 8
being able t
fitted for 1
neglect ye 1
every Such
till they 5

CbViO’JSly’ "be1
Shall be fitte<

statement. 11:)

guilty even 1;}

(ark-Er

! hail be

bee

[—1

0L

 

96

Newbury was fined five pounds, to be paid to Ipswich, for
”want of a grammar school."88

It is important to note that the 1647 law did not
specify who was qualified to teach, the only stipulation

being that:

. . . it is furthr ordered, yt where any towne shall
increase to ye numbr of 100 families or househouldrs,
they shall set up a grammer schoole, ye mr thereof
being able to instruct yough so farr as they shall be
fitted for ye university, provided, yt if any towne
neglect ye performance hereof above one yeare, yt
every such towne shall pay 5 pounds 50 ye next schoole
till they shall performs this order. 9

Obviously, ”being able to instruct yough so farr as they
shall be fitted for ye university" was a relatively vague
statement. Nonetheless, Newbury could do naught but plead
guilty even though Somerby and, more especially, Noyes and
Parker, had been preparing boys for "ye university” since
1639. The town remained in clear violation of the law
because a schoolmaster had not been hired to replace Noyes
after his death in 1656.

Samuel Eliot Morison claimed that in 1658 Newbury

was too small for a grammar school,90 a statement which has

——._

88Paul Monroe, Feehding of the Ameriean Puhlie
§Qheol Syetem: A History er Edueation in the United Statee

F .. - Esp, S- -m-; . he C . e o_ e Ci'i W-V
firm, Vol. I New York: The Macmillan Company, 1940 , p.
9.

89Henry Steele Commager, ed., ppr_eit., p. 29.
”Samuel Eliot Morison. W

C 1 New E , 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell
Uitiversity Press, 1956), pp- 92-93-

 

 

now been shown t:

 

study of the pop
164?, Robert Bum
consisted of 115
and children.91

163392 clearly i'
court for not he
have been argued

families. Indee

 

any such plea.
Rather
death, Newbury )
for its youth.
teach students
the elementary
rate the Genera
Faster had con
sonths immedia
Court was dete

a
vary and Seem

C 1
0.01131. COnSQ
n 91‘
\«0‘: :1
Tu?” Franci—
" ‘d Ser. \1‘
92.
V.
A“. ' 93:
W” p,

97

now been shown to have been erroneous. After a thorough
study of the populations of Massachusetts Bay towns in
1647, Robert Emmet Wall Jr. found that Newbury's population
consisted of 115 adult males, in addition to their wives
and children.91 Moreover, Newbury's growth between 1647 and
165892 clearly indicates that when the town was cited in
court for not having a Latin grammar school, it could not
have been argued that there were less than one hundred
families. Indeed, Newbury did not even attempt to enter
any such plea.

Rather, it is evident that following Noyes'
death, Newbury became somewhat lax in providing education
for its youth. It was only Parker's generous offer to
teach students preparing for college as well as those in
the elementary stages of learning93 that helped to melio-
rate the General Court's disapproval. As might be expected,
Parker had continued his informal instruction during the
months immediately following Noyes' death. Yet, the General
Court was determined that specific institutions for elemen-
tary and secondary education be founded throughout the

colony. Consequently, had Parker not undertaken the

 

91Robert Emmet Wall Jr., "The Massachusetts Bay
Colony Franchise in 1647," The William end Mary Querterly,
Third Ser., Vol. XXVIII, No. 1 January, 1970 , p. 138.
92Joshua Coffin, pp, pit., pp. 49-62.

93Samuel Eliot Morison, "Thomas Parker,"

pp. pit., p. 242.

additional burde
employ another m:
Parker
the fact that 11
though he had t
of an assistant
that Newbury‘ s
on July 26, 16
J°hn Woodbriag
pillpits in And
He was Chosen
him thirty p0
twentY~f if th
ministry . 'I 96
Na

Parker and R

KEWblmy ' S t C
C

Parker had I

dissatisfi63d

 

98

additional burden of the school, the town would have had to
employ another man to fill the schoolmastership.

Parker gave much attention to the school, despite
the fact that in 1658 he was sixty-three years of age. Even
though he had to carry on for five years without the help
of an assistant minister or teacher,9"F he was determined
that Newbury's educational needs should be met. At length,
on July 26, 1663, assistance came when his nephew, Reverend
John Woodbridge II, returned to Newbury after serving English
pulpits in Andover, Rants, and Barford St. Martins, Wilts.95
He was chosen immediately to assist Parker, the town voting
him thirty pounds for the first half year, beginning the
twenty-fifth of September, "for his encouragement in the
ministry."96

Naturally, the 1669 to 1672 controversy between
Parker and Representative Edward Woodman I deeply affected
Newbury's town school as well as the church. In The_2rye
Cppy pi a Letter; Written by Mr. Thpmae Perher (1644),
Parker had noted that some Newburyites were increasingly
dissatisfied with his government of the church, particularly

with respect to what they thought to be an excessively

 

9“John J. Currier, H‘ o N w M 3.,
1635-1992. an. glt‘, p0 3160

95Samuel Eliot Morison, T F un i f Ha

Qplégget_ppe_pit., pp. 409-410 and Joshua Coffin, pp, pit.,
p. .

96Joshua Coffin, pp. cit., p. 68.

.243]

glue—u—zM-s-r 1" 4 1'

authoritarian r‘

 

Parker and his 6.
October 26, 166
that Hr. Parker
Cthe 3, 1665,

salary increase

 

it was voted by
blanks that Reva
. . . to preach

Since

determine the s

“11 as his saj

 

99

authoritarian rule.97 Yet, the first direct clash between
Parker and his dissident church members did not occur until
October 26, 1664, when the “major part of the towne voted
that Mr. Parker should have but sixty pounds per year."98
On June 3, 1665, however, he was the beneficiary of a
salary increase to eighty pounds.99 On November 1, 1665,
it was voted by four affirmative ballots and thirty-one
blanks that Reverend John Woodbridge II, “should be chosen
. . . to preach to the towne for one year."100

Since the members of the church had the power to
determine the selection and retention of the minister as
well as his salary, their opinions, usually expressed in
the form of paper ballots,101 were crucial. Both the
lessening of his salary and the thirty-one abstentions
indicated rather severe disagreements within the town.
Irregardless of these omens, Parker was hardly disposed
to compromise with his adversaries.

Some might be inclined to suggest that Parker

was, at least in his later years, a slave to his

 

97Thomas Parker, The Trye Copy pf e Letter:
Written hy Mr. Thpmae Perker, op. pit., p. 3.

98Joshua Coffin, ppe_pit., p. 69.

99John J. Currier, Hietpry pf Newbury, Meee.,
léii-IEQZ, Qp: glto, p. 3160

1°°Joshua Coffin, pp. pit., p. 69.

lOlIh'd.

I]

 

Ix. - .

stub‘oorne s s .
less concerned
Newburyites tr.
believed to be
a manner which
actions of Rev
uPen his under
onslaug t of .
question. Be
the right can
altar of Vict
{)BSt f0? New‘:

his earthlv -

by 1669 that
County Court
oodman was

oodbhidge w
aster only i
Parker Was I
W“

100

stubborness. It would appear, however, that he was far
less concerned about his own fate at the hands of his fellow
Newburyites than he was with the outcome of the struggle he
believed to be raging between God and the Devil. Thus, in
a manner which reappeared two generations later in the
actions of Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan 1, Parker drew
upon his undeniably mightly certitude and prepared for the
onslaught of criticism. Compromise was entirely out of the
question. Better to go down in defeat while arguing for
the right cause than to prostitute righteousness on the
altar of victory. Parker had done what he believed to be
best for Newbury and upon that record he would stake both
his earthly and his spiritual life.

The opposition between the pro-Parker and pro-
Woodman factions of the church reached such an intensity
by 1669 that it became necessary to appeal to the Essex
County Court for a settlement of the dispute.102 Here,
Woodman was accused of having publically claimed that
Woodbridge was being retained as Newbury's assistant min-
ister only by sheer craftiness and subtlety and that
Parker was "an apostate and backslider from the truth,"
who would set up a prelacy and, though unsupported by a coun-

cil of cardinals, would have more power than the POpe,103

 

102John J. Currier, Hietory pr Newpury, Meee.,
.- 02 0, p0 3180

103112111- . pp. 318-319.

'13

 

it

 

a most serious c
The pr
plaint was that
church affairs t
was referred to
where, on May 2,
OPPOSing Parker,
Assistant Richa:
and Representat
Iguilty of Very
d*E‘v'JII‘ees“

and I‘E

Shilllngs and t

101

a most serious charge to level against a fellow Protestent.

The pro-Woodman faction's by now familiar com-
plaint was that Parker refused to allow enough control of
church affairs by the congregation. Ultimately, the matter
was referred to the I'Great and General Court” in Boston
where, on May 29, 1671, the principal leaders of those
opposing Parker, viz., Representative Edward Woodman 1,
Assistant Richard Dummer I, Representative William Titcomb I
and Representative Richard Bartlett II,10it were found
"guilty of very great misdemeanors, though in different
degrees" and received fines varying from one noble (six
shillings and eight pence) to twenty nobles.1°5

Yet, the controversy continued despite the decisions
rendered at Salem and Boston. Consequently, on May 13, 1671,
the churches at Charlestown, Boston, Dedham and Roxbury were
ordered "to send their elders and messengers to the church
at Newbury' and, after conferring with Parker and his parish-
ioners, to llmake such suggestions as may be necessary to re-

unite them in the bonds of brotherly love."106 When this

1°“John Farmer. W
W Lancaster. Massachusetts:

Carter, Andrews and Company, 1829), pp. 329, 89, 288;
Joshua Coffin, ppe_pit., pp. 322, 301, 319, 295 and Richard

 

Edward Kelly, L! ‘? _€ 3‘ 9 9 o eF:mi ‘ 0 . 2 09
B 9:. 9 E9‘: 9 Ke '=.99 99 9 =‘ em K , Vol.
I Boston: Goodspeed 8 Book Shop, 19 9 . p- 25.

1"5Jehn J - Currier. WM.
W99 1). 320.

106112.111- . pp. 320-321-

committee prove
isfaction of the
bury, the Gener:
issue. On Octo
committee, cons
Governor Thomas
Reverend Dr. L
and Reverend J

differences be
him.112

Yet
exDended to p

Strife Cont if

01' years . A-

102

committee proved unable to settle the diSpute to the sat-
isfaction of the various contending factions within New-
bury, the General Court attempted once again to resolve the
issue. On October 23, 1672, the Court appointed another
committee, consisting of such prominent men as Deputy-
Governor Thomas Danforth,107 Governor William Stoughton,108
Reverend Dr. Leonard Hoar,109 Assistant Thomas Clarke 1110
and Reverend Joshua Moodey I,111 to help assuage the
differences between Parker and the parishioners opposing
him.112

Yet, despite the fact that every effort was
expended to prevent further dissension within the church,
strife continued to tear at the town's heart for a number

of years. Although Parker retained his position as

 

107James Truslow Adams, ”Thomas Danforth,’ Dip-

tiphary pf Aperipah Biogrephy, Allen Johnson and Dumas
Malone, eds., Vol. V New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1930), pp. 66-67.

lOBSidney G, Morse, "William Stoughton,” Dip-

ti2nanx_2£_Amezican_Biesnanhx. Dumas Malone. edo. Vol- XVIII
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936), pp. 113-114.
109Samuel Eliot Morison “Leonard Hoar ” Diptioh-
9 9

ery pf Ameripep Biogrephy, Dumas Malone, ed., Vol. IX New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932), pp. 88-89.

llOJohn Farmer, ppepeit., p. 61.
lllJchn Langdon Sibley, Biographipal Sketphes or

G :9u. es of Harvard Uni ersit In Cambridie Mass. hu-
- . 2- . 8, Vol. I Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles

William Sever, 1873), pp. 367-380.

112John J. Currier, History pf Newpury, MQ§§L9
ld35-1902, op. pit., p. 322.

 

 

l“f'D‘-av“‘ .-. __._,

 

 

 

 

sinister, he “3‘11
strife as an SeI
to religion and
That
Parker and fort
clearly indicat
the controversy
two families w'r.
1572, it is see
Adan-s, Chandler
Ruse, Jackman,
Lowle, Moody, 3.

Say 3

and #006110? ldge '

Er -
owns, Emery,

 

 

103

minister, he must surely have viewed this most unfortunate
strife as an saddening anticlimax to his lifelong devotion
to religion and education.

That there were forty-one families supporting
Parker and forty-one families opposing him is a fact which
clearly indicates the town's divisiveness at the height of
the controversy.113 From a thorough study of all eighty-
two families who were active in the church between 1669 and
1672, it is seen that the families supporting Parker were
Adams, Chandler, Clarke, Coffin, Davis, Dole, Gerrish, Hale,
Huse, Jackman, Jacques, Kelly, Kent, Knight, Little, Long,
Lowle, Moody, Morse, Muzzy, Noyes, Pettingall, Peirce,
Sewall, Short, Smith, Somerby, Turvill, Wellington, White
and Woodbridge.1lu The opposing families were Bailey, Batt,
Browne, Emery, Hale, Ilsley, Lowle, Merrill, Moody, Moores,
Morse, Ordway, Pilsbury, Plumer, Poor, Richardson, Rolf,
Sawyer, Swett, Toppan, Webster and Wells.115 In many
instances, there were a number of families bearing the same
surname who supported one side or the other, thus preventing
there being forty-one different surnames in either faction.
There were also some families, among them the Moodys and
.Lowles, who were divided in their allegiance to the pro-

7Parker and pro-Woodman camps.

¥

ll3Joshua Coffin, pp, pit., p. 100.

llulhldo
llSijd.

 

 

'99::

as.

Of 138
is the fact tha
schoolmasters f
four pedagogues
Noyes I, Henry
families which
Christopher Top
both of whom we
from families w
that the school
appear to have
port for the m’
This was perha:
"hm despite t}

ms later year:

thOu~1 .
at {an 1‘-
» Was,

T‘n ‘

W1”.
0 013.908 8d h 1'

 

 

104

Of particular significance for the present work
is the fact that of the six Newbury families who provided
schoolmasters for the town during the seventeenth century,
four pedagogues, viz., Anthony Somerby I, Reverend James
Noyes I, Henry Short II and Reverend John Clark, came from
families which supported Parker. Only Reverend Dr.
Christopher Toppan I and Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster 1,
both of whom were schoolmasters during the late 16908, came
from families which opposed the minister. Despite the fact
that the schoolmaster was chosen by the freemen, there would
appear to have been at least some correlation between sup-
port for the minister and one's selection as schoolmaster.
This was perhaps especially true as it pertained to Parker
who, despite the controversy which dimmed the happiness of
his later years, enjoyed the support of a majority, slender
though it was, of the church. In addition, he deserved and
received the respect, if not the devotion, of many of those
who opposed him.

Reverend John Woodbridge II was dismissed circa
1670116 and in January, 1673, Reverend John Richardson I

was employed as assistant minister to Parker.117 The son

—_

116Samuel Eliot Morison, The Fpphdihg pf Herperd
W99 p- 410-

117John Langdon Sibley, Bipgraphipal Sketphe es pf

_red nete e QE Her yerd Uniyers ity, Ih Cembridge , Massaphu-
Setts , l6 59-1622, Vol. 11 Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Charles William Sever, 1881), p. 210.

of Amos Bichardi
ceived his Bachc
1666.118 Three
tive response t
his alma mater
Degree.119 Ric
Parker on Octob
stated:

He was evid

and was suc

had disturb
a century, 1

 

to 1675: Wherl

ment,122 Parke
indiVidual in 6
alive its Engl-

1181.
1191‘
120.1

121
W

122I

i

 

 

 

105

of Amos Richardson, a Boston merchant-tailor, he had re-
ceived his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard College in
1666.118 Three years later, when he presented an affirma-
tive response to "An Homo sit Causa libera suarum Actionum?“
his alma mater presented him with the Master of Arts
Degree.119 Richardson was ordained as the successor to
Parker on October 20, 1675120 and, as John J. Currier
stated:

He was evidently an earnest and faithful preacher,
and was successful in healing the dissensions that
had disturbed the church for more than a quarter of

a century.
Having examined some of the more significant

local events which occurred between 1669 and 1675, it is
possible to understand more adequately Newbury's education
during Parker's nineteen year schoolmastership. From 1656
to 1675, when advanced age and ill health forced his retire-
ment,122 Parker was, without doubt, the most significant
individual in early Newbury's successful efforts to keep

alive its English educational heritage.

 

llalhido

ll9lhid., p. 206.

120Joshua Coffin, ppr_pit., p. 116.

121Jchn J. Currier, Hi New M :

Wino. Do 330.
1221mm... 1» 324.

1' .

. “‘1'! ‘- “I!“

ILS

 

Newbury's 8:
lished in ti
Boston Latin
one of the r:
tions in the
founding of 1
Salem (1637),
(1595), Rain
and Dedham (1.

Pro:
and the manage

 
    
 

3 .
3" _

.5" 57 13” .‘p” ,-‘

(I)

 

106

In 1658, when Parker formally took charge of
Newbury's education, ten grammar schools had been estab-
lished in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The first was the
Boston Latin School which, founded in 1635, has remained
one of the most exemplary and influential secondary institu-
tions in the United States.123 It was followed by the
founding of the grammar schools of Charlestown (1636),
Salem (1637), Dorchester (1639), Cambridge (1640), Roxbury
(1645), Braintree (1645), Watertown (1650), Ipswich (1651)
and Dedham (1653).124

From all that is known regarding the curriculum
and the management of seventeenth century grammar schools,
it is clear that, judging from the Harvard College rules,

precepts and entrance requirementslz5 and from the

 

123Robert Francis Seybolt, The Pub lo 3 hoo 0

Cplphiel Boetph (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univer-

sity Press, 1935); Pauline Holmes, A Terpentehary Hietory pf
the Boston Publip Latih Sphool, 1635-193? Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935 ; Robert Francis

Seybolt, The Publip Sehoolmesters of Colonial Boston (Cam-

bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1939) and
Letter from Thomas D. Cravern, Secretary of the Boston
Latin School Association, to Richard Edward Kelly,

October 1, 1969.

124Walter H. Small, Earl New En and S h 3
(Boston: Ginn and Company, 1914), p. 30.

125John Langdon Sibley, V019 I. QDa_Q1L-.
pp. ll-l4.

 

 

 

subjects studio
classical study
the English gra
few England eds.
entered the gra
eight years, re
rather intensi':
sion to college
the greater par

The
was, from a cu:
co”Ifletely far.
Iatin as a liv
to 3reek.129

SChOOlSa becau
0
°* free Popula

1' -
“Sting contri

h 1.
9k at :4
9 Co J

 

 

107

subjects studied at the Boston Latin School as of 1712,126
classical study and religious instruction, traditional in
the English grammar school, served as models for the early
New England educational institutions. Most typically, boys
entered the grammar school between the ages of six and
eight years, remaining slightly over half a decade for
rather intensive study.127 To prepare his pupils for admis-
sion to college, the schoolmaster kept long hours throughout
the greater part of the year.128

The immediate, tangible object of such education
was, from a curricular point of view, to make the student
completely familiar with reading, writing and speaking
Latin as a living language and to give him an introduction
to Greek.129 As Samuel Eliot Morison contended, the town
schools, because of their impetus for the American concept
of free popular education, were early New England's most

lasting contribution.13O Thus, in addition to preserving

 

125Kenneth Ballard Murdock, “The Teaching of Latin
and Greek at the Boston Latin School in 1712,“ Publications

gt The CQJQQia] 80%iety oi Massachusetts, Transactions, Vol.
XXVII March, 1927 , pp. 21-29.

127Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford His of he
Amenigan_£egpl§ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965),
p. 70.

128Samuel Eliot Morison, The Intellectual Lifle of
CQJQnia] New EngJQQQ, on, pit., p. 89.

129Ibid., p. 88.

130Samuel Eliot Morison, The Ox 0 d His 0 0 he
Amenigan.£eoplel_22s_cito. p- 70.

 

lhw ." r_

 

istellectualis:5

l
by twelve to f"
entered Harvar
an institutior.
classical curr
MHTiCUIUm 313
work. tin 3
Were, largely
School's curri

0027
C

' I
tne older Stui:
Virgil and Cir

‘IPeEk grammar

b00ks

which h?

 

 

 

108

intellectualism on the early New England frontier, seven-
teenth century schools significantly contributed to the
form which education was to take in later centuries and in
distant parts of the country.

Parker's grammar school was generally attended
by twelve to fourteen boys, a large number of whom later
entered Harvard College.131 Since they were preparing for
an institution of higher learning which had a required
classical curriculum for all students, the grammar school
curriculum also consisted solely of prescribed academic
work. Latin and Greek grammar and the classical authors
were, largely for this reason, the mainstay of the grammar

school's curriculum.132

Commonly used books were Aesop Eutropius and The

lelgguies of Cordezius for the younger students and, for
the older students, typical works included Caesar, Ovid,

Virgil and Cicero.133 The most advanced scholars studied
Greek grammar, the Testament and Homer.134 One of the

books which have been preserved from the early Newbury

13101a Elizabeth Winslow, §annel.§enall_gfl_§2sign
(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1964 , p. 22.
1325. Alexander Rippa, Egugation in a Free Society:

An American History (New York: David McKay Company, Inc.,
19 7 . pp- 38-42-

133Clifton Johnson, op. pit., p. 18.

 

1341p1g.

is Aelian, Ye:
M (1630}
the famous ju!
one of Parker'
England second
Collection at
hard and repea
tive numbers 0
to know with a
We studied b;
Neve
Other schools 1
it aDpears tha‘
were utilized
This was to be
tional unif‘orm
Obviously Var-i

differenCes ir
eXiSt.

 

109

is Aelian, Yazia Histgnigg Lippi XIII, gum Latina interpre-

jailgne (l630).135 It was purchased on April 21, 1665 by
the famous Jurist and diarist, Samuel Sewall, who was then
one of Parker's students.136 One of the earliest known New
England secondary school texts, it is part of the Prince
Collection at the Boston Public Library. Unfortunately,
hard and repeated use prevented the survival of representa-
tive numbers of textbooks. Consequently, it is impossible
to know with any degree of certainty exactly which works
were studied by the town's early scholars.

Nevertheless, from studies of the history of
other schools and from the extant grammar school texts,137
it appears that a relatively small number of standard works
were utilized throughout the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

This was to be expected in view of the high degree of educa-
tional uniformity. Thus, while the quality of instruction
obviously varied from one town to the next, significant
differences in the purposes of learning did not generally
exist.

Although precise data on Parker's teaching sched-
ule is nonexistent, a hypothesis, based upon averages for

the seventeenth century, may be considered relatively

 

135Samuel Eliot Morison, Ih§_ln&£llfifiinfll_élflfi
C i N W E 0, P- 109'
136nm-

137;n1a., pp. 109-112.

accurate. It 1
hours per day d
per day during
hours per day 6
February.138
As R
'did much to f
seat of learni
ning.'139 pa,
‘811 TeSpecte,
revered at Ha
h0nors.lb,0 I
graduated frc
Pat
HOOdey I, of

Of the Clas 3

Maine, a Era

Reyes II, 0,:

\

sou i 1:
fikii§§¥§§§
<
l:
11
12
0.
ll

pm 367~3e

110

accurate. It is, then, likely that he taught for eight
hours per day during May, June, July and August; six hours
per day during March, April, September and October and four
hours per day during November, December, January and
February.138

As Robert Noxon Toppan wrote, Newbury's school
"did much to foster and maintain the high rank which that
seat of learning (Harvard College) held from its begin-
ning.'139 Parker's teaching and intellectual prowess were
well respected throughout the colony and were especially
revered at Harvard, where a number of his students won high
honors.14O Indeed, ten of his pupils are known to have
graduated from the famed center of learning.

Parker's earliest pupils were Reverend Joshua
Moodey I, of Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a graduate
of the class of 1653;1’4'l Reverend Shubael Dummer, of York,
Maine, a graduate of the class of 16563142 Reverend James

Noyes II, of Stonington, Connecticut, a graduate of the

 

138Willard S. Elsbree, The American Teacher:
E o u i of P o e sion in Democra (New York:
American Book Company, 1939 , p. 58.

139Robert Noxon Toppan, on. 913., pp. 6-7.

14001a Elizabeth Winslow, op, oit-. p. 23.

lulJohn Langdon Sibley, Vol. I,.Qns_eit-.
pp. 367-3800

14?;h31., pp- #71-475-

class of 1659M
necticut, also
students of Pat
Haddam, Conneci
of the class 01
Danvers, Massac
Roxbury, M88584
Reverend Josep
a graduate of
Of Newbury and
Reverend Timot
the Class of 1
Haverhnl’ Has

It

.;
. l

45-50.

 

 

 

111

class of 1659143 and Reverend Moses Noyes, of Lyme, Con—
necticut, also a graduate of the class of 1659.144 Later
students of Parker were Reverend Nicholas Noyes II, of
Haddam, Connecticut, and Salem, Massachusetts, a graduate
of the class of 1667;145 Reverend Dr. James Bayley I, of
Danvers, Massachusetts, Killingworth, Connecticut, and
Roxbury, Massachusetts, a graduate of the class of 1669;146
Reverend Joseph Gerrish I, of Wenham, Massachusetts, also
a graduate of the class of 1669;147 Judge Samuel Sewall,
of Newbury and Boston, a graduate of the class of 1671;148
Reverend Timothy Woodbridge I, of Hartford, a graduate of
the class of 167511"9 and Reverend Benjamin Rolfe II, of
Haverhill, Massachusetts, a graduate of the class of 1684.150
It is indeed noteworthy that such a large number

of Newbury's seventeenth century graduates were students

 

4 143John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, 22l_eit~. pp-
5-50-

14*Ibid., pp. 50-52.

1451311., pp. 239-246.
luélb_d., pp. 291-299.
1“7lpid., pp. 299-304.
14811251” pp. 345-364.
149lb1d., pp. 464-470.

150John Langdon Sibley, Biographiga] Sketches 9f
G of Ha Uni e Si I C m id 3 Massa -

6 8- 68 , Vol. III Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Charles William Sever, 1885), pp. 310-315.

II _ ,y—-1-' .- o_pL—_L.E.l

of Parker. A5
2a, Harvard (301:
first class: '53
1,1,55 per cent
of Parker's tel
schoolmasters

In a
Latin grammar
Samuel Eliot 1'
Which Parker Tr
despite its rt
position anion

Period from 1.

during

this i.

 

 

112

of Parker. As is elsewhere stated, the town could claim
24 Harvard College graduates who received degrees from the
first class, that of 1642, to the class of 1699.151 Thus,
41.66 per cent of the graduates were direct beneficiaries
of Parker's teaching. Not one of the town's other early
schoolmasters even approached such an instructional feat.

, In addition, Parker's influence upon the town's
Latin grammar school continued long after his death. As
Samuel Eliot Morison noted, the ambition for learning
which Parker had inculcated helped Newbury to remain,
despite its relatively small p0pu1ation, in the fourth
position among towns sending boys to Harvard during the
period from 1673 to 1707.152 Only the far more populous
Boston, Roxbury and Cambridge sent more students to Harvard

during this interval.153

 

l51John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I, pp. pit., pp.
20-25, 359- 360, 367- 380, 471-475; John Langdon Sibley,
Vol. II, 9p, git., pp. 45-50, 50-52, 155-158, 239-246, 291-
299, 299-304, 345-364, 464-470; John Langdon Sibley, Vol.
III, 9p, git., pp. 159-168, BIO-315, 386-388; Clifford K.

Shipton, Biggzaphiga] Sketches ofi Those Who Attended Harxagd

C e e ' he C sses O- 00 Ni h Bib 1 hi a an
_thgn__gte§, Vol. IV Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1933), pp. 39-41, 93, 99- 101, 113- 117,
286-287, 336- 341, 356- 365, 472-476, 476-478 and Joshua
Coffin, 9p, git., pp. 350-359.

1523amue1 Eliot Morison, Har ard C e e i e

Sexe enteenth Centuzt, Vol. II (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1936), p. 449.

1531D1g0, pp. hug-“50’

 

 

 

It a".

to 1672 church

   
  
 
  

attempted to I”
That the? were
in the fact ti“-
Bichaf'd D016 &
16.73 "00 build
every way acco
addition of a
This was to be
who, as mentiC
to assist the
house which he
Reverend Jame
for a number

honored me mbe

As

aerrish, Dole

113

It appears that immediately following the 1669
to 1672 church controversy the supporters of Parker's cause
attempted to restore a needed sense of unity to the town.
That they were successful to at least some degree is seen
in the fact that a committee, consisting of I'Capt. Gerrish,
Richard Dole & Ensigne Greenleaf,” was chosen on January 31,
1673 'to build a house for the ministry the same dimensions
every way according as Nath: Clarkes house is with an
addition of a porch,“ to be paid for by a town vote.15’~t
This was to be the home of Reverend John Richardson 1155
who, as mentioned earlier, came to Newbury in January, 1673,
to assist the aging Parker. Parker was still living in the
house which had been built in 1646 by his first cousin,
Reverend James Noyes 1.156 Although Noyes had been dead
for a number of years, Parker had continued to be an
honored member of the family.157

As the work on Richardson's house proceeded, the
Gerrish, Dole and Greenleaf committee was authorized, on

December 3, 1673, to oversee:

 

154John J. Currier, Histor Newbur ”353':
1635—1292. 92: gjt., p. 330.

155John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I. 22a_cito. pp-
210-213.

156John J. Currier, I'Oum Newbury": Histgztcal

157Ipid., p. 167.

. . . the ‘

it on to t
ordered to
This rate was
regardless of
Perh

eastern Mas 5 ac

the house . Ir

 

Spring and on
tion of the bi‘
the selectmen,
acres of land
Brown“ Dastu
Chasing glass
meantime, hav
Bichardson We
church on Dec

Ric
“flowing Sp]
committee hac
still demand,
at last to h

114

. . . the building of Mr Richardsons house & to carry

it on to the finishing of it & the selectmen were

ordered to make a Rate for the building of it.1 8
This rate was assessed against the inhabitants of the town,
regardless of the extensiveness of their church activities.

Perhaps a hard winter, quite typical for north-
eastern Massachusetts, interfered with the construction of
the house. In any event, it was still unfinished in the
spring and on March 2, 1674, it was voted that the comple-
tion of the building and its alteration would be "left to
the selectmen," who were also ordered "to see that six
acres of land be laid out for the ministry between Rich:
Brownes pasture and Capt Gerrishes land,“ as well as pur-
chasing glass and nails for the structure.159 In the
meantime, having served Newbury for just short of two years,
Richardson was formally admitted to membership in the
church on December 6, 1674.160
Richardson must have been a patient man, for the

following spring, more than two years after the first
committee had been established, the much hoped for house
still demanded many finishing touches. Yet, there appears

at last to have developed a greater determination to

 

158John J. Currier, Hi tgzx 9f Newbury, M§§§.,
6 - 02 i ., p. 330-
159Ipid.

160Joshua Coffin, 9p. git., p. 115.

AV.‘ (,1

tin or: — Jr st!

  

complete the w
and Henry Jaqu
'to complete t
also given ins
carts or oxen
they were to b
other availabl
the construct:
joining pastut'
voted a salar;
being require:
first day of
the malt hous.
remaining hal
were to be to

As

Se DA -
Iveted : NEW

sitated. T‘m

Clarke 8, Jomj

\

m 16‘
..‘Qi. v

o“ M

 

T. h

&\(~

   
  

751 162
W
16j

 

115

complete the work. On March 1, 1675, Nathaniel Clarke I
and Henry Jaques I were appointed as yet another committee
"to complete the ministry house.'161 The selectmen were
also given instructions to notify all persons who had
carts or oxen suitable for hauling lumber or stone that
they were to bring them to Clarke and Jaques, along with
other available implements and tools, for utilization in
the construction of a fence around the house and the ad-
joining pasture.162 At the same meeting, Richardson was
voted a salary of one hundred pounds annually, all families
being required to pay their proportion on or before the
first day of November, "one half in merchantable barley at
the malt houses of Daniel Pierce or Caleb Moody" and the
remaining half in pork, wheat, butter or Indian corn which
were to be to the minister's satisfaction.163

As if enough building committees had not been
selected, Newbury concluded that still another was neces-
sitated. Thus, on May 7, 1675, "Daniel Peirce Senr Nath:
Clarke & John Bartlet Senr were chosen to compleat the

finishing & fencing of the ministry house.“164 The

 

161ID1Q., pp. 298, 306 and John J. Currier,

HifikQK! Q: Nfiflbm:!. Ma§So. 1622-1202. 02. 91:0, p0 3300

162John J. Currier, Hist of Newbu M s.,

léii-lgog. QQ. Qito, p0 3300
163.1121 i .. pp. 330-331.
1641mm. p. 331.

T.

 

 

dwelling has- t
can well imagl.
(Pierson) Rich
able at last t
have been part
they now had a
In a
forth the cord;
IDarker in the
1. E
Gospel, 8:
the liber‘
Ely duty tr
w111111;: t.
tPUe affe

L‘. ri
“cling chOSer
continued Ste

git-10m , f

 

116

dwelling had taken two and one-half years to build and we
can well imagine that Richardson and his wife, Mary
(Pierson) Richardson, breathed more easily when they were
able at last to move into their new house. The delays must
have been particularly difficult in view of the fact that
they now had an infant daughter, Sarah Richardson, who was
born September 19, 1674.165

In a letter dated August 15, 1675, Richardson set
forth the conditions under which he would agree to succeed
Parker in the ministry:

I. So long as the people of God here do continue
in the profession of the true faith and peace of the
Gospel, as in Acts ii. 42; 2. So long as I may have
the liberty of my ministry among them; and 3. discharge
my duty to my family: Thus I say I do express myself
willing to settlg among you with a true intention and a
true affection.1 6

Having chosen to emphasize the Biblical verse, "And they
continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellow-
ship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers," Richardson
was, no doubt, announcing to the town that he intended to
effect a reconciliation between the pro-Parker and pro-

WOodman factions. Newbury obviously accepted Richardson's

conditions, for he was ordained on October 20, 1675.167

 

165John Farmer, gpt_g;t., p. 243.

166John Richardson I, quoted in, John Langdon
Sibley, Vol. II, pp. ggt., p. 211.

167Joshua Coffin, gpt_glt., p. 116.

Yet,
with whom he 0
years were an
to his death,
was particula
ing. In one
years of age,
him greatly.l':
written by hi.

Nicholas Nove

Connecticut,

 

117

Yet, although Parker lived to see a successor
with whom he could theologically concur, his declining
years were anything but comfortable. For some time prior
to his death, he was totally blind,168 an affliction which
was particularly hard to bear because of his love for learn-
ing. In one of his works, published when he was forty-nine
years of age, Parker had noted that his eyes were troubling
him greatly.169 The following account of his blindness was
written by his close relative and former student, Reverend
Nicholas Noyes II, the Congregational minister of Haddam,
Connecticut, and Salem, Massachusetts:

The strain which his immoderate studies gave unto
his organs of sight, brought a miserable defluxion of
rheum upon his eyes; which proceeded so far, that one
of them swelled until it came out of his head, and the
other grew altogether dim some years before his death.
Under this extreme loss he would, after a Christian
and pleasant manner, give himself that consolation:

'Well, they'll be restored shortly, at the resurrec-

tion 0 O 0'
Our Parker had no children to afflict him; and

his pupils were such as to comfort him; yet failure of
sight was his calamity.l70

 

168John J. Currier, Histozy of Newbury, Mgss.,
- 02 o I, p. 32”.

169Thomas Parker, The the Copy of a Lettenz
Written by Mg. Thomas Parker, 99. git., p. 1.

170Nicholas Noyes II, quoted in, Cotton Mather,
Mega; _a C T. , Ame i -na‘ or T1‘ E ‘Sl:S ' a H°~ o

QilNew England; Ftom Its Fitst PJantingz in the Year 1620,
Unto the Yea: gt Out ngd 1698, Vol. I Hartford: Silas
Andrus and Son, 1852 , p. 482.

 

 

ag-vw~m' IN. inn; “'3' g'

1'

Re

worsened pity

that he <
words. I
which was
to him a:
Itis unknowr

Parker before
event, the la
ministry afte

Hav
Parker's Pena
ildeed. At 1
relating as 1
mmh At lent
he died 0n App

StOne,l73 Upn

 

118

Reverend Nicholas Noyes II also wrote of Parker's

worsened physical condition:

About a year and a helf before he died, that
which he had long feared befel him, viz: the palsey in
his tongue: and so he bacame speechless, and thus con-
tinued until his death: having this only help left him,
that he could pronounce letters, but not syllables or
words. He signified his mind by spglllng his words,
which was indeed a tedious way, but yet a mercy so far
to him and others.171

It is unknown whether ”the palsey in his tongue" afflicted
Parker before or after Richardson's ordination. In any
event, the latter obviously had to carry on the bulk of the
ministry after the autumn of 1675.

Having given forty years to the Newbury Church,

Parker's remaining two years were painful and unpleasant
indeed. At least, he had the care of his beloved Noyes
relatives as well as the respect of the largest part of the
town. At length, having patiently endured much suffering,
he died on April 24, 1677. in his eighty-second year.172

He was buried in Oldtown Cemetery under a simple head-

stone,173 upon which was inscribed, "He was a great and

good man."174

 

17¥lhtd., p. 485.
172Joshua Coffin, th_g;t., p. 119.

173The Essex Institute, Vita] Reggnds ofl Newbury,
Massachusetts, To the End of the Yea: 1849, Vol. II Salem,
Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911 , p. 682.

1714Robert Noxon Toppan, 9p. git., p. 13 and
John J. Currier, "Ould Newbury": Historical and Biographigal

S etches o . i ., p. 110.

1.

 

 

II- «n, ‘ v 0

At
shrouded in c
devoted his I
believed to ‘0
created a fee
second and th
even those wh
by the passin

Per
statements.
Sewall, Wrote
grace to foll
“Bay at last
some years la

Connecticut ’ 1

SEE
fl 01‘ a bu

 

 

119

At the time of his death, Parker was still
shrouded in controversy. Yet, few would deny that he had
devoted his life to serving God in the manner which he
believed to be right. Consequently, his death must have
created a feeling of emptiness in the hearts of many first,
second and third generation Newburyites. One suspects that
even those who had differed with him were genuinely saddened
by the passing of the aged divine.

Pertaining to Parker were a number of eulogistic
statements. One of his more notable students, Judge Samuel
Sewall, wrote in his often quoted diary, “The Lord give me
grace to follow my dear Master as he followed Christ, that
I may at last get to heaven whither he has already gone."175
Some years later, Reverend Israel Chauncy, of Stratford,
Connecticut,176 received the following letter from Sewall:

Boston, Decb. 25th. 1689.
SIR,--Coming lately from England, there wanted
not Some Probability of my being beholding to the sea
ffor a buriing Place; the thoughts of it brought to
my Mind the kind obligations of Mr. Thomas Parker,
and Mr. Charles Chauncy. Accordingly I set down in

writing my desire of having some books bestowed in
Remembrance of those Nobly Learned and Godly Men. 77

 

175Samuel Sewall, quoted in, T.B. Strandness, ed.,
ngflg] Sgwal]; A Pupitgp Portrait (East Lansing, Michigan:
Michigan State University Press, 1967), p. 13.

176John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, 221.cits. pp.
82-87.

177Samuel Sewall, ”Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall,‘I
Co ‘ ‘0 S 0 he Mai-) hu ‘ 7 His 9 - 1 8' -.- ’ Sj-Xth
Ser., V010 I 1880 , p. 930

”d

 

 

A;
previously n
referred to
hr. Thomas P
Yet another
passing, is
bridge V, Ne
sent is par
references t

To Mr. Jr

$12
a displee
exoellen‘
delightfl
Children
Sending 1
hOnoured
to his Sc
Nork thal

n“.

Reverend DI" .

 

 

120

Again, on October 9, 1705, in a letter to the
previously mentioned Reverend Nicholas Noyes II, Sewall
referred to the deceased minister as “the Learned and pious
Mr. Thomas Parker our honoured Master of blessed Memory."178
Yet another reference, made forty-three years after Parker's
passing, is found in a letter Sewall wrote to John Wood-
bridge V, Newbury's fourteenth schoolmaster.179 This docu-
ment is particularly significant because of Sewall's specific
references to Parker's teaching:

To Mr. John Woodbridge, Schoolmaster at Newbury.
March 25, 1720.

SIR,--To hear of the lessening of your Salary, was

a displeasure to me. But to see the invitation of your
excellent Unkle the Reverend Mr. Thomas Parker was very
delightfull; in that you avoided taking any thing of the
Children lest you should discourage the Parents from
sending them to School. This was the Guise of my ever
honoured Master. It was Dr. Harris's noble Instruction

to his Sons, that the should be more concerned for
Work than for Wages!1 0

Perhaps the most famous statement about Parker is that of

Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather:

 

178%. , p. 318.
179Clifford K. Shipton, Bio ra hi a1 Sketches

Th se Who A de Ha a d Co e e in he C asses 01-1 2,

With BitliOgraphiggl and Other Ngtes, Vol. V Boston: Massa-
chusetts Historical Society, 1937), pp. 555-556 and James

Savage, A Genealogigal Dictionary of the First Settlers 9f
New England, Showing Three Generatigns of Those Who Came

B o e M 2 n e B sis 0 Fa me 's R i , Vol.
IV Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1862 , pp. 631-633.

 

180Samuel Sewall, "Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall,"

Collegtions 9f the Massaghusetts Historical Society, Sixth
Ser., V010 II 1888 , pp. 112-113.

.3 “I" 1 ‘ 53’”:

3 E , He was a
4% ' | l‘ '- t '- ‘ of his in
Sf]? ‘ ' ‘(t' his print
:1": ' 7 ‘3 ‘1 ~ hill unto
.. i ‘ -‘V were not
i“ -j _ a". ' in the m
(f '3’3'. year of)
_:1=f.: i 3% singles:
5sz fl, 1 — mind
.5 {t ., g ‘ Pa:
1,.” " .1 ‘I it was prover

i ‘ ' i
' ‘1 I tory taken or
f: , g Representativ
g ““1011! Some:
1" pounds, plus
‘_ 1; five most va]
V ’ x . . , 1188110", Wort}
‘ poundS: 'debt
& Lybl'ary,l v
Donnds.184 I

 

121

He was a person of most extensive ohsrlty; which grain
of his temper might contribute unto that largeness in

his principles about ohproh goyerpment, which exposed
him unto many temptations, amongst his neighbours, who
were not so principled . . . He went unto the immortals
in the month of April, 1677, about the eighty-second
year of his age; and after he had lived all his days a
singlo,man, but a great part of his days engaged in

apooolyptlosls studies, he went unto the apocalyptioaé
ylrglps, who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. 1
Parker wrote his will on September 12, 1663 and

it was proven on May 23, 1677.182 According to the inven-
tory taken on May 30, 1677 by Captain William Gerrish I,
Representative Nicholas Noyes I and the first schoolmaster,
Anthony Somerby I, the entire estate consisted of 611
pounds, plus four or five small books.183 Of this, Parker's
five most valuable possessions were his farm, pasture and
meadow, worth 250 pounds; his land in England, worth 200
pounds; "debts due to the deceased,” worth 60 pounds; "book
& Lybrary," worth 40 pounds; and clothing, worth 30
pounds.184 Being unmarried, Parker's beneficiaries, as

stipulated in his will, were his two nephews, Reverend

Benjamin Woodbridge I and Reverend John Woodbridge II, his

 

181Cotton Mather, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
M-. p- 374-

182The Essex Institute, Tho Prooa ato Records ofi
Essex County, Masssohusetts , l6 25-168 1, Vol. III Salem,

Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1920), p. 135.

183Iplo. and John Farmer, opy_olt., pp. 119,
209, 268.

184The Essex Institute, The Probsto Rooords of
Essey County, Mosssohusetts, 1625-l68l, op. oit., p. 135.

In--a__.s-.-a,,,_+. . .1

 

first cousin,
(Brown) Noyes
Noyes 1.185

from the open

I T
Newberry
Infirmity
the Conan
my depart
Lord hath
rich merc
doe desir
0f and th
writting
& freely
gracious
dust from
Pection g
Jesus. 180

In
the town char
Newbupyls Ou:

River-J18? ,

issued and. Q:

 

 

 

122

first cousin, Representative Nicholas Noyes I, and Sarah
(Brown) Noyes, the surviving widow of Reverend James
Noyes 1.185 Parker's thorough devotion to God is apparent

from the opening sentences of his will:

I Thomas Parker pastor of the church of christ in
Newberry in New England being Groune into years, the
Infirmityes of Age dayly increasing upon me Considering
the Comand of God & my duty to be dayly preparing for
my departure out of this world & sett in order what the
Lord hath bestowed on me, being thro the patience &
rich mercy of God in Good health & of a disposing minde
doe desire to put in practise my duty of disposing there-
of and therefore make ordeyne & declare this present
writting to be my last will & testament Impr I doe fully
& freely resigne up my Soule into the hands of my most
gracious God & father that gaue it me & my body to the
dust from whence it Came in hope of a Glorious resur-
rection amongst them that are Sanctified in christ
Jesus.18

In August, 1697, twenty years after Parker's death,
the town changed the name of the "Quascacunquen River,"
Newbury's outlet to the Atlantic Ocean, to the "Parker
River.'187 To effect this change, the following order was

issued and set forth in the town records:

Ordered by the selectmen that the river called
by the Indians Quasacuncon and has since been called
by divers names as Newbury river, Oldtown river, be
from this time called by the name of the river Parker
in remembrance of the worthy, learned, and reverend
minister Mr. Thomas Parker, who was a first planter
and pastgg of ye church of Newbury and learned school-

master.l

 

185Thomas Parker, quoted, lplo,, pp. 133-134.
1861Did0

187Joshua Coffin, opp_o1t., p. 166.

188ijd.

This name has
the river.189
man who, in ti
of settlers tc
bury.

In
severe, deter
attributes we
hOpe that the
three thousan
Although outw
individual wj
as Samuel Ell
effective in
he Was in cm

It
seventeenth ,
catholic or

logical Ders

 

123

This name has continued to be used as the designation of
the river.189 Truly, it is a most fitting tribute to the
man who, in that faraway spring of 1635, led the hardy band
of settlers to the place where they began the town of New-
bury.

In any assessment, Parker emerges as a rather
severe, determined, even self-righteous man. Yet, such
attributes were perhaps necessary for those who dared to
hOpe that they might establish a truly Christian community
three thousand miles across the treacherous Atlantic.
Although outwardly somewhat aloof, Parker was a warm
individual within. True, he could be uncompromising and,
as Samuel Eliot Morison noted, he was ultimately more
effective in outliving and in wearing out his enemies than
he was in converting them with his tactfulness.19O

It would, however, be difficult to imagine any
seventeenth century person, be he a Puritan, a Quaker, a
Catholic or a Jew, who was thoroughly committed to a theo-

logical persuasion and was not characterized by at least

 

189John J. Currier, History of Newbury. Mass.,
1635-1902, op, oit.; Augustus G. Parker, op. olt., p. 408
and Fowle s News Company, Tho Early History 0: Newburyport,
Mossachusetts: Whioh is intended to delineate and desoribo
some Quaint and historio plaoes in Newburyport and yicipity
Newburyport, Massachusetts: Fowle's News Company, 1926 ,
p. 15.

19OSamuel Eliot Morison, "Thomas Parker,"

op, pit., p. 242.

some degree of
eluded, the P1
filling the w:
form of churcl
England wilde:
of other earl
terian persua
their days on
To
0f the good 11
concern for
advanced lea:
he made avail
untaueht. Hg
the central 1

Dr. Cotton M.

V01. I 1?

 

124

some degree of self-righteousness. As Perry Miller con-
cluded, the Puritans were convinced that they were ful-
filling the wishes of God by establishing the Biblical
form of church government and system of faith in the New
England wilderness.191 For this cause, Parker and dozens
of other early ministers of the Congregational and Presby-
terian persuasions worked unceasingly until the end of
their days on earth.

To best understand Parker, we must be cognizant
of the good he did for the church, particularly through his
concern for the souls of his flock, as well as for the
advanced learning which, through the Latin grammar school,
he made available to many who would otherwise have gone
untaught. He was, moreover, a well published author and
the central pillar of Newbury's early culture. As Reverend
Dr. Cotton Mather wrote:

If some of his expositions upon those difficult
parts of the Scripture, have been since confuted by
some great authors, who disliked them, we may, on
more accounts than one, consider him as the Homer of
New-England; and add,

Aliquando Bonus Dormitat Homerus192

 

191Perry Miller, R r Wi iams: His Con ibut o
to tho Americap Tradltlon, op. o1t., p. 22.

192Cotton Mather, Magpalia Christi Amerioana.
Vol- 1. ML. p. 482-

As
1675 to 1684
for the Newbu
in suffering
Indeed, educa
Peril. This
01’ the 16703
King Philipu,

Be
ministers Why
1111672 and
the Latin gr

 

ls
Univers ity P

 

CHAPTER IV

THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION,
1675-1684

As indicated in Chapter I, the nine years from
1675 to 1684 represented a period of great uncertainty
for the Newbury school. However, Newbury was not alone
in suffering from educational difficulties at this time.
Indeed, education in the entire New England region was in
peril. This was particularly true during the first half
of the 16703,1 Just prior to the haphazard beginning of
King Philip's War.2

Being aware of the educational problems, the
ministers who preached the Massachusetts election sermons
in 1672 and 1673 complained of the deplorable condition of
the Latin grammar schools.3 As Reverend Thomas Shepard II

 

1Samuel Eliot Morison, Tho Iptelleotusl Llfo 9i
Qoloplgl_flop_§pg1dpd, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell

University Press, 1956), p. 96.

2Douglas Edward reach. Wham:
NEE England lp Klpg Philip's war New York: W.W. Norton

and Company, Inc., 1958 , pp. 30-49.

3John Langdon Sibley. WW
:0“; ‘_ I H:_va_[ U9 '3 $1 I_ Ca 0 111‘ M2f92-

-A-

e - 8, Vol. I Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Charles William Sever, 1873), pp. 177, 330.

125

noted in

setlec
the Lc
Land)
supply
decay
were e
Founda
night 1
wherebé
a wilde
the san
e she
C
I
Connecticut
in 1675 the
SEtts, grou;
tution to w]
also Suffers
granted and
tm- .
89 in 16,
preceeding

received deg

in 1668 2 t8]
4.
5
fififlgugfi‘:
huge
W
7

 

126

noted in 1672:

O that inferiour Schools were every where so
setled and encouraged, as that the Colledge (which
the Lord hath made to be a Spring of Blessing to the
Land) might not now languish for want of a sufficient
supply of young ones from thence! There is a great

decay in Inferiour Sohools, it were well if that also
were examined, and the Cause thereof removed, and

Foundations laid for Frog-Sohools, where poor Scholars
might be there educated by some Publick Stock.

Lot the Schools filourlsh: This is one means

whereby we have been, and may be still preserved from
a wilde Wilderness-state, through Gods blessing upon

the same, and from becoming s land of dsrhhoss, and ofl
e h w . CheEish them therefore, and the

Qollodgo in special . . .

Instruction in the grammar schools of New Haven,
Connecticut, and Hartford, Connecticut, lapsed in 1673 and
in 1675 the operation of the school at Watertown, Massachu-
setts, ground to a standstill.5 Harvard College, the insti-
tution to which many of the grammar school graduates aSpired,
also suffered during this period. In 1672, no degrees were
granted and there were but four graduates in 1673 and only
three in 1674.6 By comparison, during the years immediately
preceeding 1672, there were a number of young men who
received degrees. There were eight graduates in 1667, five

in 1668, ten in 1669, four in 1670 and eleven in 1671.7

 

“Thomas Shepard II, quoted, Ihld., p. 330.
5Samuel Eliot Morison,,oph_olt., p. 96.

6John Langdon Sibley, Blographlosl Shotohes of
:0.3 ‘, o H; 'a Q Uc"‘ . In Csmb 111‘ Ma fa-
ohusetts, 1652-1&22. Vol. II (Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Charles William Sever, 1881), pp. 412-446.
7Ih1d., pp. 216-412.

To a
result of con
to 1684 the 1
State.'8 Ano
expanding bus
an opportunit
scholar away
attention to

Trad

booming;
castle or
seven ye?
college.
More

Second “30!.

 

127

To a great extent, the difficulties were the
result of controversies within the college, and from 1672
to 168“ the institution lingered in “A Low and Languishing
State.‘8 Another significant factor, however, was the
expanding business trade of the late seventeenth century,9
an opportunity which must have lured many a potential
scholar away from his books. Samuel Eliot Morison called
attention to the changing conditions, stating that:

Trade with Europe and the West Indies was
booming; likely lads preferred a berth in the fore-
castle or a cabin of a Yankee vessel to spending
seven yeiss in a grammar school and four more in
college.

Moreover, King Philip's War, the colonists'
second major military conflict, hada devastating effect
upon both the conqueror and the conquered.11 Also of major
significance was the uncertainty which ran rampant prior

to King William's War, the first of-the four inter-colonial
struggles between the English and French.12 Clearly, the

 

8Samuel Eliot Morison, H i
§gygn§ggn§h_§gn§gnz, Vol. II (Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Harvard University Press, 1936), pp. 39o-u45.

9Bernard Bailyn, N E M
h e (New York: Harper and Row, 1955 .

pp. 112-1 7.
10Samuel Eliot Morison. W
W” pp- 9 ~97.

11Doug1as Edward Leach, M” pp. zuz-zso.

12Howard H. Peckham, c a w -
The Chicago History of American Civilization, Daniel J.
Boorstin, ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,

196“), pp. 5-760

TI

 

lit ’

exigencie
tion woul

limitatio
gentle ba:

Thomas Pa:
disabled 't
taut minis
carry on 1;
Richardson
buryites We
who had mi:

March, 1631:

' l

W

I

m
~he,e Was, t

Richard30n w

 

128

exigencies of the increasingly dangerous military situa-
tion would appear to have been of major consequence in the
limitation of educational growth.

In addition to serious changes far beyond the
gentle banks of the Parker River, Newbury suffered a local
tragedy. As mentioned in the preceeding chapter, Reverend
Thomas Parker, Newbury's founder and patriarch, became so
disabled by ill health in the fall of 1675 that the assis-
tant minister, Reverend John.Richardson 1,13 was obliged to
carry on the bulk of the ministry. On October 20, 1675,
Richardson was ordained as successor to Parker.14 New-
buryites were now without the leadership of the patriarch
who had ministered to them since they left London in late
March, 1634.15

With the exception of the first schoolmaster,
Anthony Somerby I, the Newbury school had been taught by
Parker and the assistant minister, Reverend James Noyes I.
There was, then, considerable question as to whether

Richardson would assume the position of schoolmaster as

 

13J0hn Langdon Sibley, Vol. II..22s_eito.

1”Joshua Coffin, A Sketch 9f the History of New-
0 New. 00 an. W‘ NeWou F on o e :4

Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1845 , p. 11;.

15Samuel Gardner Drake, 'Passengers of the Mary
and John, 163%, " T N E H G ea
inal_§sgister. Vol. IX. No. 3 July. 1855 . pp- 2 5-2 8-

     
 

_:.--v-’ ‘Y‘ I,“

I-T

 

 

well as mi!
The matter
ordination
1675, 'it w
to write &
The next me
had the pow
of the free
That wh
maintai
teach t
Henry 8
this f1
0f the ‘
T.
both public
tures conti;

natural 1y p1

SChOQI 3 as 1

Yet: the t0'

129

well as minister or whether another man would be hired.
The matter was resolved two weeks prior to Richardson's
ordination when, at the town meeting held on October 5,
1675. I'it was voted to have a schoolmaster got to teach
to write & read & cypher & teach a gramer schoole."16
The next month, on November 10, 1675, the selectmen, who
had the power of hiring the schoolmaster on the approval
of the freemen, voted:

That whereas the Law requires that our Towne should

maintaine a Crammer schoole & a schoole master to

teach to recite & read, the Selectmen agreed with

Henry Short to be the schoolmaster and to have for

this first halfe yeare five pounds to be paid out

of the Towne Rate and to have Sixpence a week for

every scholar.1

This determination to maintain the school through

both public funds and relatively small tuition expendi-
tures continued throughout the century. Charging tuition
naturally prevented the continuation of a truly 'free'
school, as had existed under Parker from 1656 to 1675.
Yet, the town school remained essentially a public institu-
tion in the sense that, despite the harshness of the
pauper's oath, all of the town's youth could, in theory,

avail themselves of both elementary and secondary

education.

 

16John J. Currier, Histo Newbur M .,
1635-1292 (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 19025, p. 396.

"Lam.

 

 

i
was born at
surviving 5
second wife
Representat
the Hassack
also claime
matter and:

V

the Cou
Of Ipsw

them vi
chosen,
Spencer
0f the
Nearly a de
Mar“ 7. 16.
had sailed j

March, 1634
be

    

en 8' HGig

 

130

Henry Short II, Newbury's fourth schoolmaster,
was born at Newbury on March 11, 1652.18 He was the only
surviving son of Representative Henry Short I and his
second wife, Sarah (Glover) Short.19 On March 4, 1635,
Representative Short had claimed election from Ipswich to
the Massachusetts General Court but, since two other men
also claimed victory, five commissioners examined the
matter and:

Vpon a certificatt of 5 comissioners, chosen by
the Court to consider of the elecon of the deputyes
of Ipswich it did appeare to the Court that two of
them viz: Mr Easton & Henry Shorte were vnduely
chosen, whoe were forthwith dismessed: soe Mr John
Spencer onely stands legally elected in the opinion
of the Court.2

Nearly a decade later, however, the dismissed representa-
tive was elected from Newbury and, beginning with the
March 7, 1644 session, he took his seat in Boston.21 He
had been among the earliest settlers of Newbury22 and

had sailed from London on the "Mary and John“ in late
March, 163u.23 Although it is quite likely that he had

been a neighbor of his fellow Newburyites, this has not

 

18Joshua Coffin, Qp. Q;§., p. 317.

lgihni-

20John J. Currier, on, pit., p. 29.

21;p1a., p. 676.

22Joshua Coffin, on. 913., p. 15.

23Samuel Gardner Drake, gp&_git., pp. 265-268.

 

x
Ila-Ivar “in“ .1?» r .' '

been establis
The
does not exis
errors which
a thorough as
family, Hart}
script of Na:
m V- .
me hlStOI‘lCE
Ye‘
regarding the
early decade
0 . . ev
over its
Offender.
men: not
the tovm

In
Conseque:

Its first QC

 

Newman I ’

HQ r.
v“ y Short

 

 

 

131

been established positively.

The fact that a published Short family history
does not exist is a situation compounded by the numerous
errors which appeared in Newbury's vital records.”+ After
a thorough search for genealogical data on the Short
family, Martha G. Fales found only the unpublished manu-
script of Mary Adams Rolfe, which is in the possession of
The Historical Society of Old Newbury.25

Yet, some pertinent information has survived
regarding the life of Representative Short during Newbury's
early decades. In 1636, the General Court determined that:

. . . every particular township should have power

over its own affairs, and to settle mulcts upon any

offender, upon any public order not exceeding

twenty shillings, and liberty to chuse prudential

men, not efigeeding seven, to order the affairs of

the towne.
In consequence of this ruling, Newbury chose, "by papers,"
its first seven prudential men, viz., Representative Edward

Woodman I, Reverend John Woodbridge II, Representative
Henry Short I, Representative Christopher Hussey, Richard

 

2hThe Essex Institute, Vita R s 0 New ,
M s E he Ye 84 , Vol. I Salem,
Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911 , pp. #72-475;
Vol. II, pp. #47-449, 719-721.

25Martha G. Fales, “The Shorts, Newburyport

Cabinetmakers,” E§§ex Ingtigute HiSLQElCal Collections,
Vol. CII, No. 3 July, 196 , p. 22h.

26Joshua Coffin, gp&_git., p. 19.

J‘IWJ‘W. "’ '7

Kent I, Riche
The extent of
Reverend Ric?
Reading, Mass

The
papers t:
taking 11
also to <
orders, ‘
and also
impowere.
power fo
Juriged i
called t

 

26h, 155’ El
3

 

132

Kent I, Richard Brown I and Deacon Richard Knight 1.27
The extent of their powers is indicated in the diary of
Reverend Richard Brown III, the Congregational minister of

Reading, Massachusetts:

They were chosen from quarter to quarter by
papers to discharge the business of the town, in
taking in, or refusing any to come, into town, as
also to dispose of lands and lots, to make lawful
orders, to impose fines on the breakers of orders,
and also to levy and distrain them, and were fully
impowered of themselves to do what the town had
power for to do. The reason whereof was, the town
Judged it inconvenient and burdensoge to be all
called together on every occasion.2

As a family, the Shorts played a significant role
in early Newbury and, in all likelihood, Henry Short II
benefitted from being one of Parker's students during the
16608. As noted in the previous chapter, the by now eld-
erly minister continued to provide educational instruction
without charging fees. The most thorough record of those

who studied under Parker is found in the three volume

 

27ltid, and John Farmer, Ge e i R

gt the Fizst Settleng 9t New-England Lancaster, Massa-
chusetts: Carter, Andrews and Company, 1829), pp. 329, 328,

26h, 155, 168, #5, 171.

28Richard Brown III, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
.QRL_Qllfla p- 19.

295amuel Eliot Morison, H c e

§gzgntggnth_§gntnzy, Vol. I (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1936), p. 333.

1i

 

biographical

 

however, theviJ
college stude-
Consequently ,
not be certai
Yet, in view
placed upon
likely that
It
seventeenth
elementary 1
Ne" England‘

education We

 

133

biOgraphical work of John Langdon Sibley.30 Unfortunately,
however, there remains no body of data concerning non-
college students who were, nonetheless, Parker's pupils.
Consequently, due to the lack of historical data, one can-
not be certain that Short attended the grammar school.

Yet, in view of the educational emphasis which Newbury
placed upon the position of schoolmaster, it is highly
likely that he had been a student of Parker.

It should be remembered that the majority of
seventeenth century students did not proceed beyond the
elementary level of education.31 The Latin grammar school,
New England's major form of seventeenth century secondary
education was, in most instances, an institution which
reflected the value system of the small upper class, rather
than that of the middle or lower class.32 In order to
become a schoolmaster, then, the completion of a grammar
school education was generally required and at least one
college degree was preferred. Consequently, most of the
teachers in New England's early grammar schools were

college educated in England and the second generation of

 

30John Langdon Sibley, Btggzgphtggl Skgtghes of
G -. ; - o H- ., . Un .- si I; Camb 1013”: . h se

-- ..0, Vols. I- III Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles
William Sever, 1873- 1885).

318. Alexander Rippa, E F S
A i H (New York: David McKay Company, Inc.,

1967 , p. 38.
321nm.

 

schoolmaSt‘
o
College-3"
'a man Of ‘
clerk and ‘

would emphé

having COT-".1

early Newbl
original pr
continued t
nineteenth

education,

On March 30
Sarah Whip;
of Ipswich,

Served in t

sentative J

 

134

schoolmasters tended to be holders of degrees from Harvard
College.33 As Clifford K. Shipton maintained, Short was
''a man of more than average education, for he was town
clerk and even for a time schoolmaster.”34 The writer
would emphasize, then, the strong probability of Short's
having completed his grammar school education under Parker.
In addition to holding numerous positions in
early Newbury, Short's father was a successful farmer whose
original property became so valuable that his descendants
continued to occupy it into at least the middle of the
nineteenth century.35 Following the completion of his
education, Short worked with his father on the family farm.
On March 30, 1674, in his twenty-second year, he married
Sarah Whipple, daughter of Representative John Whipple II,
of Ipswich, Massachusetts.36 Representative Whipple also
served in the position of captain and his father, Repre-
sentative John Whipple I, an early settler of Ipswich, was

33Clifton Johnson, OJQ-Time Sghogls and Sghg91-
laggkg (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1904 , p. 20.

3“Clifford K. Shipton, Biographical Sketghes of
W A e e Ha C e in th C a s s O -

2 With Bi i re hi a an O e No es, Vol. V
(Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1937), p. 394.
35Joshua Coffin, gpt_glt., p. 399.
36James Savage, A Genealogigal Digttgngty gt thg

F7 :t S‘ ‘ S 0f N‘W E1: a q S ow 1: Th 83 Gene a i-
e T o e Who C.me Be 0 e Ma 0'2 Oi 5‘ Ba is 0.

Farmer's Register, Vol. IV Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 18 2 , pp. 89, 505-506.

 

 

I! 1

a deacon O

decided to
mentioned '
Undoubtedl
virtue of

Reverend P,
the Newbur;
in terms 0:
tion, he w:
prominent 1
minister wg
tury Schoo]
Parker's Vi
Strife, it
maStep be S

i

rather. tha

 

135

a deacon of the town's Congregational Church.37

While engaged in his farming activities, Short
decided to accept the position of schoolmaster and, as
mentioned earlier, he was hired on November 10, 1675.38
Undoubtedly, he was helped in achieving the position by
virtue of the fact that his father had strongly sided with
Reverend Parker during the controversy which had divided
the Newbury church between 1669 and 1672.39 Short's assets
in terms of the job were that he had a fairly good educa-
tion, he was orthodox in religion and he came from a rather
prominent family. Not unexpectedly, acceptance by the
minister was a desirable circumstance for seventeenth cen-
tury schoolmasters“O and we can be quite certain that, with
Parker's victorious emergence from the church's inner
strife, it would be insisted that the man hired as school-
master be someone who would function in a manner judged
acceptable by the dominant half of the town.

Legally, the school was controlled by the town,

rather than by the church or the minister.LPl Nonetheless,

 

37John Farmer, op, git., p. 312.
38John J. Currier, op, git., p. 396.
39Joshua Coffin, 9p, git., p. 100.

uoWillard S. Elsbree, The Ametiian Teaghez:
E u o P e i i D New York:

American Book Company, 1939 , pp. 51-53.

“15amuc1 Eliot Morison, r I e u
C 1 Ne E . c ., p. 91.

 

1....-

it is imports
Massachusett:
education pr:
help to enha:
There was, i'
the church 8.
education we
magistrates
is hard to 1
church w0u13‘
master.
N:
tpr'lcal of
cerltury Pur

 

A major faC

the t oWn

0V

 

 

136

it is important to note that in a Bible state such as the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Puritans placed value upon
education primarily because of their belief that it would
help to enhance the religious welfare of their children.42
There was, in short, a clearly evident relationship between
the church and the state in that one of the major goals of
education was to teach children the proper respect for the
magistrates and ministers.43 Under these circumstances, it
is hard to imagine that a man who doubted the value of the
church would have been chosen for the position of school-
master.

Newbury's method for hiring schoolmasters was
typical of the method found in the majority of seventeenth
century Puritan towns. Specifically, the selectmen chose
a candidate who then faced a vote in the town meeting.44
A major factor in the selection process was bargaining with
the town over the amount of salary and the conditions of
employment.“5 During the seventeenth century, Newbury

voted yearly on the renewal of the schoolmasters'

 

42Edmund S. Morgan, The Puzitan Family: Rel gtgn

ace Dom: _ R- a 104. .4 5‘ en fei o-Cen 1' N‘. E 1 ; 1,
2nd ed. New York: Harper and How, 196. , p. 88.

43John c. Miller, T Fi s F : L
G Am (New York: Dell Publishing Company, Inc.,
1966 , p. 226.

uuWillard S. Elsbree, th_g1t., pp. 51-53.
”5.11m.

7
S v w- "A'

S;
t , _
5L1 Ir'r- -msthlfi

1+6
contracts ,

educational
Th

century New

the minis te r

latter recei

   
 

Although te
profession,
established
influence, 5
remuneratio:
ally Speakil
thirty poun-
car'p‘v‘nters,
Should be r
mung men w

aWai t ing a

mltier the C

 

 

 

 

 

137

contracts,46 thus maintaining tight control over the local
educational system.

The two largest salary expenditures in seventeenth
century New England towns were the funds appropriated for
the minister and those set aside for the schoolmaster, the
latter receiving substantially less income than the former.
Although teaching has always been a relatively poorly paid
profession, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where the
established church exerted a comparatively powerful societal
influence, a schoolmaster could expect somewhat greater
remuneration than he could in the other coloniesf"7 Gener-
ally speaking, schoolmasters earned approximately twenty to
thirty pounds per year,48 an income comparable to that of
carpenters, bricklayers and other skilled craftsmen.’+9 It
should be remembered that most schoolmasters were pious
young men who had graduated from Harvard College and were
awaiting a parish.5O Consequently, the average salary,
under the circumstances of it being but seldom paid to

middle aged and older men, was perhaps not as deficient as

 

“6John J. Currier, 9p, g1t., pp. 395-402.
“7Willard S. Elsbree, gn‘_gtt., pp. 84-85.

“88amuel Eliot Morison, T e I Li
Cglgnial Neg England, on, Qit., p. 93.

”9Willard S. Elsbree, Qp. glt., p. 97.

5OSamue1 Eliot Morison, T In u L
Cglon1§1 New England, on, gito, p- 93-

 

it might 83:?

In
various teac
unfortunatel
served in pr
Thus, it is
school at hc
Between May
seventeen s-
small Rumba
were sixtee
and ages ar

ADI‘il 27, 1

majority O
Centage Of

 

138

it might appear to have been.

In 1676, Short began to keep an account of his
various teaching activities and methods,51 but the book has,
unfortunately, been lost. A small portion of it was pre-
served in printed form in the 1845 work of Joshua Coffin.
Thus, it is known that Short began the book when he “kept
school at home and the time they (the scholars) came."52
Between May 10, 1676 and December 25, 1676, there were
seventeen students in attendance.53 This was a relatively
small number since Newbury had 236 male inhabitants who
were sixteen or more years of age in 1678.54 Their names
and ages are found on an oath which had been required on
April 27, 1678 by King Charles II and implemented on Octo-
ber 2, 1678 by the Massachusetts General Court.55 On the
basis of this document, we can ascertain with a high degree
of certainty that Newbury had a total population exceeding
1000 during Short's tenure as schoolmaster. The vast
majority of the 236 men were married and since a large per-

centage of them were in their twenties, thirties and forties,56

 

51Joshua Coffin, gpt_g1t., pp. 117-118.
52Henry Short II, Notebook, quoted, lt;d., p. 118.

53gpid.

54John J. Currier, 9p, 91t., pp. 179-182.
551b1d.. pp. 178-179.

56gp1g., pp. 179-182.

 

L

it is evidentI
mder the 3.5:"

population.

concept of 3:
only a very
involved d1:

S}-
his first y:
renewed his
creased, pr

hOUSe : rat}:

J
ShOrt t
Day of
tanght

 

 

139

it is evident that quite a substantial number of children
under the age of sixteen also constituted the town's
population. In terms of the educational significance of
these statistics, it is apparent that, with only seventeen
pupils studying under Short, the town was committed to the
concept of providing a high level of education even if
only a very small percentage of the populace would be
involved directly.

Short evidently pleased his fellow citizens during
his first year of teaching, for on June 21, 1676 the town
renewed his contract and although his salary was not in-
creased, provision was made for him to teach in the watch
house, rather than in his own home:

June 21, 1676 the selectmen agreed with Henry

Short to keep schoole for this year from the first

Day of May last past (which time untill now he hath

taught children) & he is to teach untill the first

day of May next & the selectmen Do engage to pay

him ten pounds out of the next Towne Rate and if the

number be about twenty scholars & upwards he is to

teach them at the watch house.
Thereafter, Short's salary was increased to twenty pounds per
annum, in addition to the fees from his students.58 As was
customary, the minister, who was frequently the best educa-

ted man in the Puritan town, also played a significant role

in education through his preparation of boys for admission

 

57mg. . p. 397.

58Joshua Coffin, op. pit., p. 120.

If:
v" B's—5‘4

 

r" ‘ '-

to Harvard C
bury's third
informal bas
1h
Short resigr
to the famil
faith in his
reasons, pez
are now unkg
167361 and
increasingl;
homestead.
clerkship w
the man Who
master.

Ye

there is no

displeaSed

sixth Year,

I
Q

i

 

f§s° : The ;

ii

’13.

 

Wb . ‘
1935)uryp°;

140

to Harvard College. Not surprisingly, Richardson, New-
bury's third minister, assisted the schoolmaster on an
informal basis from 1675 until his death in 1696.59

In 1680, after half a decade as schoolmaster,
Short resigned his position and devoted his full attention
to the family farm.60 It is quite evident that Newbury had
faith in his teaching and that he resigned for economic
reasons, perhaps coupled with personal motivations which
are now unknown. His father had died at Newbury on May 5,
167361 and it might well have been that Short had become
increasingly interested in giving attention to the old
homestead. He might also have had ambitions for the town
clerkship which, in 1680, was still occupied by Somerby,
the man who had previously served as Newbury's first school-
master. Yet, regardless of Short's motivation for resigning,
there is no reason to believe that the town was in any way
displeased with his efforts as schoolmaster.

Having served as clerk since 1647, Somerby re-
signed because of ill health in March, 1686, in his seventy-
sixth year.62 Short was elected to the position on

 

59Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little Ilsley,
eds., 4‘ F 13:14 Newb - Ma :_ us - -
(Newburyport, Massachusetts: News Printing Company, Inc.,
1935), p. 30.

60Joshua Coffin, 9p. pit., p. 127.
61John Farmer, on, pit., p. 264.
62J0hn Jo Currier, 29: cite, p0 639‘

. v - h<q¢“,_ '
32m

March 20, 16
coincidence ,

sor, he was

 

SE“
December 28,
on May 11, i
(Sewall) Lo:
Samuel Sewa.
and Jane (1‘)
England in
In 1646, hc
Regationa]
Baddeslyfié
Reubury ans
Boston on .
representa

1666 to 16
\

3&5‘346

141

March 20, 1686.63 The fourth schoolmaster, he was, by
coincidence, also the fourth town clerk. Like his predeces-
sor, he was re-elected annually for the rest of his life.
Short's wife, Sarah (Whipple) Short, died on
December 28, 1691 on the family farm.64 The following year,
on May 11, 1692, he married, for his second wife, Ann
(Sewall) Longfellow,65 sister of the famous diarist, Judge
Samuel Sewall, and daughter of Reverend Henry Sewall III
and Jane (Dummer) Sewall.66 Reverend Sewall settled in New
England in 1634 and in 1637 he madehis home in Newbury.67
In 1646, however, he returned to England and became a Con-
gregational minister at Warwick, Bishop-Stoke, and at
Baddesly.68 Not until 1659 did he permanently locate in
Newbury and, having sent for his family, they arrived at
Boston on July 5, 1661.69 He was elected as Newbury's
representative to the General Court from 1661 to 1664,
1666 to 1667, 1668 to 1669 and 1670 to 1671.70 His father,

 

63gp1d.

6”James Savage, gpt_gtt., p. 89-

65The Essex Institute, Vol. II, gp;_g;t., p. 447.
66John Farmer, gp. git., p. 259-

67gpgd.

68ltid. and Joshua Coffin, 9p;_g;t., p. 398-

69John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II,.Qn;_Q;§-, pp.
345-346.

70John J. Currier, Qp;_g1t., pp. 677-678.

 

Henry Sewall

Bowley, Mass

 

father, Henr
land, in 16C
Savage, 'one
England.

T:
Stephen Dumr'
the brother
01' the Mass
native B13}:
and Was ele
0°11” from
From 1644 t
sentative «i
neigthr tc

 

 

142

Henry Sewall II, an early settler of Newbury, moved to
Rowley, Massachusetts, in 1646.71 Reverend Sewall's grand-
father, Henry Sewall I, was elected mayor of Coventry, Eng-
land, in 1606.72 The Sewalls have been, to quote James
Savage, Ione of the most venerated families'73 of New
England.

The second Mrs. Short's maternal grandfather was
Stephen Dummer, one of the early settlers of Newbury and
the brother of the prominent Richard Dummer I, an Assistant
of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.74 The latter left his
native BishOp-Stoke, near Southampton, England, in 1632
and was elected as Newbury's representative to the General
Court from 1640 to 1641, 1645 to 1646 and 1647 to 1648.75
From 1644 to 1645 and from 1646 to 1647, he was the repre-
sentative from Salisbury, Massachusetts, Newbury's immediate
neighbor to the north.76 As Joshua Coffin maintained,

Representative Dummer was:

 

71Joshua Coffin, gnt_gtt., p. 317.
72John Farmer, M” p. 259.

73James Savage, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
M0 9 P0 398-

7“John Farmer, M” p. 89.
75John J. Currier, gpt_g1t., pp. 647-651.

76112111.

 

it, ..-

 

o o e on‘.
magistra
Vane, wa'
inson .
He contr
of that
upon whi
left for
in which
present

   
   
     
   
 

The Dummer A
9513': Was est
tenant Gove

founder. 78

Dummer I we.
pOI'tra'lt,_p€,l
son, Dr. Je
of °°lonial
an author,

uate the 1.3-.

1%.;

\

B' .

D.
M
We

143

. . . one of the fathers of Massachusetts, was chosen
magistrate, warmly espoused the cause of sir Henry
Vane, was one of the disarmed adherents of Mrs. Hutch-
inson . . . He was very rich and equally benevolent.
He contributed greatly to the improvement and growth
of that part of Newbury, where he lived. The lands,
upon which the academy is built, were his, and were
left for the support of this institution. The house
in which he lived, stood a few rods southeast of the
present mansion house . . . 7

The Dummer Academy, Massachusetts' first incorporated acad-
emy, was established in 1763 through the bequest of Lieu-
tenant Governor William Dummer, grandson of the family
founder.78

One of the sons of Representative Richard
Dummer I was the noted Boston Silversmith, engraver,
portrait-painter and magistrate, Jeremiah Dummer 1.79 His
son, Dr. Jeremiah Dummer II, held the important position
of colonial agent for Massachusetts and Connecticut.80 As
an author, he was perhaps most noted for helping to perpet-
uate the rights of the colonies in his work, Dgfgng§_g£

WW (1721). which was addressed to

 

77Joshua Coffin, mil... p. 392.

78J°hn Jo Currier. "W
B S (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 189 ,
PP- 32 -325-

79Frederick W. Coburn, I'Jeremiah Dummer,‘I
WW. Allen Johnson and Dumas
Malone, eds., Vol. III New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,
1931), pp. 501-502. ,

80James Truslow Adams, ”Jeremiah Dummer,‘I _h1d.,

 

'the right P,
Majesty's P2!

Cli
maternal 811
i
In terms ofl
were of sub

ancestors .

A

 

Nilliam Lor
that Of the
nificant.

circa 1676

 

Edward Lon
the early
J0th J, Cu

ml Educ at

life, pref

 

144

“the right Honourable the LORD CARTERET, one of His
Majesty's Principle Secretaries of State."81

Clearly, the second Mrs. Short's paternal and
maternal ancestors were among the leaders of New England.
In terms of affecting the history of the colonies, they
were of substantially greater consequence than were Short's
ancestors.

Although the socio-economic status of Ensign
William Longfellow I, Mrs. Short's first husband, was below
that of the Sewalls and Dummers, he was by no means insig-
nificant. Longfellow left his native Yorkshire, England,
circa 1676 and settled in Newbury.82 His grandfather,
Edward Longfellow, was a Yorkshire man of property during
the early seventeenth century.83 In the assessment of
John J. Currier, however, Longfellow was "a man of ability
and education, but rather improvident in his manner of
life, preferring fun and frolic to work and study.'84
Indeed, he acquired excessive debts and at one point his

brother-in-law, Judge Samuel Sewall, wrote that the Sewall

81Jeremiah Dummer 11. W
Qhaztezs (London: W. Wilkins, 1721 , p. i.
82W.C. Bronson, “Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,"
' Ame i B , Dumas Malone, ed.,
Vol. XI (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1933), p. 382.
83112111.

8”John J. Currier, “031g Newtgny'; Histgnigal and
W- . p- 305.

 

 

family was
hundred pc
fellow Hon

structures

is likely
of maturit
According
away and d
had lived
Certainly
serious we
was his gr-
centupy p0,

are 1110 111d:

Status in E

 

145

family was obliged to provide him with "upwards of an
hundred pounds to get him out of Debt.”85 Even the Long-
fellow House, one of Byfield's most impressive and stately
structures, was the gift of his father-in-law.86

Yet, had Longfellow lived longer than he did it
is likely that he might well have shown greater evidence
of maturity than that which had been exhibited in his youth.
According to the diary of Judge Sewall, Longfellow was 'cast
away and drowned at Cape Breton“ in October, 1690.87 He
had lived only long enough to see his thirty-ninth year.88
Certainly the entire Longfellow family was not averse to
serious work, however, for among Longfellow's descendants
was his great-great-great-grandson, the famous nineteenth
century poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.89

These rather elaborate genealogical references
are included to provide some indication of socio-economic

status in seventeenth century Newbury. The Sewalls and

 

85'Letters of Cotton Mather, Samuel Sewall, John
Callender, Adam Winthrop, and Others: Samuel Sewall to,

Stephen Sewall. ' WW1
ngfigtgn, Vol. XXIV, No. 2 April, 1870 , p. 123.

86John Jo Currier. "WW
WWI” p. 305-

87Samuel Sewall, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
fine—£1309 P- 1550

88Joshua Coffin, my, p. 308.
89W.C. Bronson, gn&_91t., p. 382.

I.

 

I‘l-

Dummer:
of the
of the
an age
have bee

Henry Se

father-i
House.9l
it surviv
A3 appear

rectangul

outlying ‘
iteS, bot]
Clerk, H,
rather Sui
ably as a

8.0801311),

 

 

146

Dummers, especially, were among the most prominent families
of the colony. It is, therefore, a significant indication
of the respect given schoolmasters and town clerks that, in
an age of arranged marriages,90 a man such as Short would
have been judged acceptable to wed the daughter of Reverend
Henry Sewall III.

At the time of Short's second marriage, his
father-in-law deeded to him the above mentioned Longfellow
House.91 One of the oldest houses in northern Essex County,
it survived the wrecker's ball until the early 18808.92
As appears in a photograph taken in 1880, it was a large,
rectangular house and had an adjacent barn and stone wall.93

Possessing two substantial farms and numerous
outlying acres, Short was one of the more notable Newbury-
ites, both for his properties and for his position as town
clerk. He was able to live in relative comfort and had
rather substantial influence in the town. In 1694, prob-
ably as a consequence of his increased wealth, he ordered a
specially made "remarkable dressing chest,” which is now

prominently displayed in The Henry Francis duPont Winterthur

 

9OEdmund s. Morgan, op. pit., pp. 55-59, 80-81.

91John J. Currier, "OHJQ Newbury“: Histoniggl and

92112111.. p. 312.
93111111.. p. 306.

I ..—;7_—. g— .- up”)! ' .- a

 

 

Museum.9L
Coffin I]
town intc
to 1695 c
those at

troubles

masters,
prolific.

from each

younger c‘

 

147

Museum.9u The following year, he, along with Judge Tristram
Coffin II95 and Abraham Merrill,96 were chosen to divide the
town into two parishes.97 This action grew out of the 1689
to 1695 controversy between the settlers at Oldtown and
those at West Village.98 A thorough explanation of the
troubles is presented in the following chapter.

Of all the seventeenth century Newbury school-
masters, Short, having sired fourteen children, was the most
prolific. His oldest and youngest children were separated
from each other by more than a quarter of a century.99 The

younger children.were but barely out of infancy when both

 

94Martha G. Fales, gnt_glt., p. 225.

95Louis Coffin, ed., Thg Cgfitln Famllx (Nantucket,
Massachusetts: Nantucket Historical Association, 1962),

p- 136 and Richard Edward Kellm W

an 0 "a 03, 3-. 9:70. Eu; 0 K :n it!‘ L'_ :‘

C15EM5FE, K? v, Vol. I Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop,
1969 ’ p. 21.

96Joshua Coffin, my,” p. 309.

97John J. Currier. WW.
'635-1292. QR: cine, p. 3510

98111151. . pp. 347-351.

99Joshua Coffin, 91,41?” p. 317. The children
were Henry III, born August 22, l 75; Sarah, born August 1,
1677; John, born December 14, 1679. died 1684; Hannah, born
March 28, 1682; John, born October 13, 1685; Matthew I, born
March 14, 1688; Lydia, born.May 7, 1690, died 1691; Jane,
born March 4, 1693; Samuel, born November 18, 1694, died
1698; Mehetabel, born January 12, 1696; Samuel, born Febru-
ary 16, 1698, died March, 1698; Samuel, born February 22,
1699; Hannah, born March 2, 1701, died April, 1701; and
Joseph, born April 8, 1702.

148

Short and his wife died unexpectedly. The ”Clark for ye
Town & keeper of Records & Register twenty years & two
months” died on October 23, 1706, in his fifty-fourth
year.100 Less than two months later, on December 18, 1706,
his widow also died.101

One of his sons, Reverend Matthew Short 1,
attended Harvard College, where he received his Bachelor
of Arts Degree in 1707 and his Master of Arts Degree in
1710.102 He was the Congregational minister of, success-
ively, Hampton Falls, New Hampshire; Chatham, Massachu-
setts; Attleboro, Massachusetts; Saco and Biddeford, Maine;
and Easton, Massachusetts, the frequent moves being neces-
sitated by insufficient annual salaries.103 Short's
youngest child, Joseph Short, was the father of Sewall
Short who, born in 1735, became the first of an impressive
line of Newburyport cabinet-makers.104 The cabinet-making
Shorts continued in business until the time of Stephen
Short, who lived until 1882.105

 

100The Essex Institute, Vol. II, pp, pit., P- 719-
101lh11-

102Clifford K. Shipton, th_glt., p. 394-

103%.

104Martha G. Fales, op. pit., p. 225.

105;pld., p. 239.

149

Newbury's fourth schoolmaster, like the first,
proved that, despite the absence of a college education and
a high socio-economic background, it was possible to rise
to occupy positions of major significance in the town.
Indeed, Short, to a far greater extent than Somerby, came
to acquire substantial material acquisitions. It should be
noted, however, that although Somerby and Short did not
come from families as notable as did some of the other
schoolmasters, their origins were, nonetheless, within the
middle range of status.

Short's successor, Reverend John Emerson II, be-
came embroiled in a controversy almost as intense as that
which had troubled Parker from 1669 to 1672.106 A major
differenCe between the two controversies, however, was that
the former was primarily a doctrinal dispute, while the
latter was chiefly socio-economic and political.

Like his predecessors in the Newbury school,
Emerson was born into a family of at least moderate means
and influence. Born in 1654 at Ipswich, Massachusetts, he

was the son of Nathaniel Emerson I, a farmer and baker of

 

106Joshua Coffin, op, pit., pp. 72-112.

150

Chebacco Parish.107 Nathaniel Emerson I inherited the
Turkey Shore Road farm of his father, Thomas Emerson I,
also a farmer and baker.108 In 1639, the family founder
had left the Emerson home in Sedgefield Parish, Durham,
England, and, with his wife, Elizabeth, moved his family
to Ipswich.1°9

In 1648, on a portion of his eight acre grant,
Thomas Emerson I constructed what is today known as the
Emerson-Howard House.110 A large, two story clapboard
house with weathered siding and hewn overhang, it is among
the oldest existing homes in North America and is now
owned by The Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities.111 Built in a rather austere, functional

 

107Benjamin Kendall Emerson, The Ipswigh Emersons,
L.D. 6 6- 0 : A G ne 0 0 he Des en ants of T o s

Imer§gno 0% Ipswigh, Mass.I With Some Aggom mt of His English
_ngg§tr1 Boston: David Capp and Son, 1900 , pp. 47, 6 and
James Savage, A Genea o i Dion e Fl 5 Se t e 3
Qt Neg England, Showing Three Generations of Thgse Who Came
Bgfiore May, 1 92, on thg Basis of Farmer's Register, Vol. II

Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1860 , p. 118.

It: II-u-a I;

 

 

108Benjamin Kendall Emerson, on, pit., p. 47.

1°9Ipig.

110James Savage, Vol. II, Qp. gl%., p. 118 and
Knowlton Mixer, 01g Honsgs Qt Ngu Englgng New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1927 , p. 111.

111Dorothy Pratt and Richard Pratt, A G

___nide_te
E A e 1 H e No h a S (New York: Bonanza
Books, 1956), p. 15.

151

architectural style, it has been partially restored by
the Society.112

In addition to having the distinction of owning
one of the most impressive homes in Ipswich, the family
received further recognition in 1709, when Nathaniel
Emerson I obtained a certified copy of the Emerson coat of
arms.113 As shown in a photograph reproduced in the
Benjamin Kendall Emerson genealogy, workmen left out the
I'Mr." on Nathaniel Emerson I's tombstone but his family
afterwards insisted upon its insertion, thereby necessi-
tating its being raised above the other lettering.114 In
seventeenth and early eighteenth century New England, the
title, "Mr.,'l was used only to indicate holders of the
Master of Arts Degree or individuals of particular distinc-
tion.115 Consequently, the use of this title on the grave-
stone and on other records is an indication of the status

of the Ipswich Emersons.

 

112The Society for the Preservation of New

England Antiquities, Visitor's Guide Tg Fgrty-sir Histgrlg

Hgnses tuned hr The Sogiety for the Preserratign gt Ngw

Englgnd_gntlgn;t;§§. Boston: The Societ for the Preser-

vation of New England Antiquities, 1970 , p. iv.
113Benjamin Kendall Emerson, gpr_glt., p. 11.
114mg", p. 11, facing p. 48.

115Edward M. Cook Jr., "Social Behavior and
Changing Values in Dedham, Massachusetts, 1700 to 1775."
T Wi am Ma u e , Third Ser., Vol. XXVII,

No. 4 October, 1970 , p. 575.

152

Reverend John Emerson II was named for his uncle,
Reverend John Emerson I, who graduated from Harvard College
in 1656.116 One of his classmates was the famous divine,
Reverend Dr. Increase Mather, who later became President
of the college.117 The first John Emerson was the Congre-
gational minister of Gloucester, Massachusetts, from 1661
until his death in 1700.118

The second John Emerson received his education
at Ipswich, at least partially from the famous colonial
schoolmaster, Ezekiel Cheever, who was the town's pedagogue
from 1650 to 1661.119 There are no extant records of
Emerson's performance at this school, but his admission to
Harvard College is evidence of his having completed secondary
education.

While at college, his behavior was not without
blemish. One of his infractions was recorded on February 2,

1674, when:

 

116John Langdon Sibley, Vol. 1. oni_eiio.

117Kenneth Ballard Murdock, lngrga§§_flathgzl_2hd

m s A e a P (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1925), pp. 43-55, 177-178, 356.

118John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I..oni_ciio.
pp. 485-487.

119Elizabeth Porter Gould, Ezgklgl_ghggrgr,
Sghoolmagter (Boston: The Palmer Company, 1904), pp.
17-230

153

Emerson for his refusing to come to the
praesident when twice sent for was injoyned and
warned to make an acknowledgmt in writing on
ffryday next. And then also to declame as before
by the praesident he had bin ingoyned: for going
out of town Without leave &c.12
More favorable was the June 1, 1675 order by which the
college awarded him ”three pound, besides five pound due
of ye schollarships, and ye last to be presently paid.”-21
After receiving his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1675, he
remained to take his Master of Arts Degree and, at the
1678 commencement exercises, he presented, ”An potentiae
animae rationalis agent inorganice‘?"122
His activities during the two years after receiv-
ing his second degree are unknown. However, it is most
likely that, having been unable to secure a position as
minister or schoolmaster in one of the New England towns,
the question of financial solvency became of primary impor-
tance. As was evident in later years, however, Emerson was
not one to remain content with receiving a lower salary
than necessary.
From the founding of the Newbury school in 1639
to 1680, the highest annual salary for the schoolmaster had

been the twenty pounds paid to Short during the late 16703.123

 

120John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, Qp. pit., p. 471.

lzllbid., p. 472.

1221h Q,
123John J. Currier, His New M .,

lfilfi:12921_22a_QiL-c PP. 396-397-

154

It is true that Noyes and Parker had received substantially
higher salaries, but they were being paid as ministers,
rather than as schoolmasters. Indeed, when Parker took
over the responsibility for the school in 1656, his salary
was not increased commensurate with the additional task.124
On April 13, 1680, Newbury voted to pay twenty
pounds annually ”to Mr Emerson for to keep school.'125
Accepting the offer, Emerson commenced teaching. Financial
complications soon arose, however. On June 11, 1680, in
response to the May 19, 1680 petition of several of the
town's inhabitants, the General Court authorized the New-
bury selectmen ”to raise by way of rate sixty pounds per
annum to be to the use of the schoolmaster there.”-26
Concerning the controversy which ensued, Joshua
Coffin merely noted that on October 22, 1680, “it was
agreed that Mr. Burly should keep school in the watch
house."127 John J. Currier more fully discussed the
dissension, noting that immediately after the General
Court's June 11, 1680 ruling, Emerson demanded an increase

in salary.128 With but one negative vote, however, the

 

124112113... pp. 316. 396.

1251:1111... p. 397.

126Joshua Coffin, op, Qlt., p. 126.

127Ib'd.

128John J. Currier, H s o N w M .,

1635-1202, Q,D__.Q.Lho . '9 p' 3970

155

town notified Emerson that they would dismiss him before
they would raise his salary so significantly.129

On September 14, 1680, in an attempt to reconcile
the differences between the schoolmaster and the town, an
ad hoc committee suggested that Emerson accept the orig-
inally offered‘twenty pound salary,13O surely not a partic-
ularly negotiable recommendation. Emerson responded by
demanding, instead, sixty pounds and he proceeded still
further in an aggressive vein by declaring that since he
had been hired for one year it was wholly illegal for the
town to dismiss him.13l

Negotiations such as these are generally outside
twentieth century man's conception of the behavior of
seventeenth century schoolmasters and ministers. Such
bargaining is, moreover, anathema to many present day educa-
tors who contend that negotiations are beneath the dignity
of the profession. Clearly, Emerson did not hold to such a
persuasion.

Perhaps Emerson's lack of employment for two years
after leaving Harvard College had whetted his appetite for
a relatively high salary when he finally found a position.

 

129Sarah Anna Emery, Rgmlnisggnggs gt g Nongggngr-
inn (Newburyport, Massachusetts: William H. Huse and

Company, 1879), pp. 218-219.

130John J. Currier, Hi Newb M S -:
1635:12221_221_eit-. P- 397.

1311bid-

156

Whatever the reason, he decided to fight the town's refusal
of the higher salary to which he felt entitled. Following
the Newbury committee's unsuccessful attempt to secure his
services for twenty pounds, he appealed to the General Court
and on October 13, 1680, it was ordered that he was to re-
ceive sixty pounds and that he was to be allowed to continue
as schoolmaster until the Court's next session.132 Ignoring
the Court's ruling, Newbury hired a successor to Emerson,
thereby creating some confusion as to who actually carried
on the responsibility of teaching the youth during the 1680
to 1681 academic year.

.According to Sarah Anna Emery, the controversy
over Emerson's salary was largely the result of the long
brewing jealousies between the several sections of New-
bury,133 viz., Oldtown on the Parker River, Riverside
Village on the Merrimack River and West Village on the
Artichoke River. Oldtown was able to raise the greatest
amount of money for the school and church and, as a result,
frequently voted for higher monetary expenditures than did
the newer areas to the north and west.134 Also of major
consequence was the belief that Oldtown, to a large extent

because it was the original center of Newbury, derived more

 

IBZija.
133Sarah Anna Emery, op, glt., pp. 218-219-

134Ipi .

15?

benefit from the town funds than did the newer areas.
There are, moreover, some indications that the contentions
culminating in 1680 might even have been a rather direct
extention of the divisiveness which had plagued Parker a
decade earlier. In short, Emerson's demand for a higher
salary was clearly not the sole reason for the controversy
in which he became embroiled.

After having carefully studied the rather
involved legal actions which transpired in Newbury and in
the General Court in Boston, the writer has concluded
that, despite substantial opposition, Emerson continued to
occupy the position of schoolmaster during the year for
which he had been hired. He was, most assuredly, the
schoolmaster at Oldtown, where the greatest support
existed for his increased salary, although he might not
have taught during the entire year at Riverside Village or
at West Village.

Eleven months after Emerson had been hired, the
controversy was still raging and, as was typical in periods
of crisis, the Newbury town meetings were the scenes of
oftentimes heated arguments. At the town meeting of May 4,
1681, the following was decided:

Sergeant Tristram Coffin and Joseph Pike were
desired by the Towne to treat with Mr John Emerson
about his wages for keeping schoole this last yeare
past from May in the yeare 1680 until this present

May: whereupon the said Mr Emerson did promise and
engage to us above mentioned that in case the Towne

158

pay or give security for the payment (to the said
Mr Emerson) of twenty pounds in merchantable corne
or mault by the twentieth of this Instant May, and
by the last of October next forty pounds more in
the like merchantable corne & mault that the said
Mr Emerson do engage to desist from keeping schoole
in Newbury forthwith upon such engagement. 35

Accepting this proposal, Newbury adopted the following

order:

The Towne having heard & received Mr Emersons
answer to the said Sergeant Coffin & Joseph Pike do
consent thereunto and do hereby grant the same and
do hereby order and empower the Selectmen to make a
rate of sixty pounds for the settlement (with)

Mr Emerson according to the said agreement, to be
levied on the Towne in part, and the rest on the
schollars that have been Instructed by the said
Mr Emerson thgs last yeare, according to their
discretion.13

In receiving sixty pounds, rather than the orig-
inally agreed upon twenty, Emerson won his fight with the
town. Shortly after the town meeting, however, Newbury
presented a petition to the General Court requesting the
repeal of the June 11, 1680 order:

To the Honoured Generall Court now assembled at Boston
May 11, 1681.
The Humble petition of the Selectmen of Newbury
in the behalf of the Towne Humbly Sheweth

That whereas this honoured Court was pleased to
order our Town to pay sixty pounds pr Annum to a
school-master this may certify this Honoured Court
that according to their order wee have taken a course
for the paying of the said sixty pounds unto Mr Emerson
who was then in the place to his satisfaction. And the
Towne hath agreed with a schoolmaster and taken order

 

135John J. Currier, His r 0 New u M35 9
- 02 O. p. 3980

136111111.

159

for his maintenance, who is an able orthodox man.
Therefore wee humbly desire this Honoured Court that
they will bee pleased to repeale the order for the
payment of the said three score pounds pr Annum and
leave our Towne to the same Liberty to make a bargains
for a school as the rest of the Townes in the Country
are, we are all now agreed and if that order should
stand we feare it may make a breach amongst us, not
doubting but that you will be pleased to consider and
grant our humble request we humbly pray

Nicholas Noyes

Granted by the Deputies Samuel Plumer
Consented to by the magistrates Joseph Pike
Edward Rawson Secretary George March

Moses Gerrish
In ansr to the petition of Nicholas Noyes, Samuel
Plumer &c selectmen of Newbury, humbly desiring that,
being agreed, the late order for the payment of sixty
pounds p anna to their then schoole master, may be
repealled the Court judgeth it meet to grant the
peticon. 37

Not until February 22, 1682 was the matter finally

settled, as evidenced by the following note:

Received of Joseph Pike constable of Newbury
according to accordlng to the severall sums above
mentioned, the full and just summe of an hundred &
ten pounds in satisfaction in full for whatsoever is
due to me from the towne of Newbury for keeping
schoole in the said towne of Newbury, and I do hereby
acquit & discharge the said Constable & Towne from
all debts & demands on that account from the begining
of the world to this present day dated February 22,

1691-2 As witness my hand
Jno Emerson.138

After the conclusion of his controversial year at

Newbury, Emerson went to Berwick, Maine, where he was the

 

137112151... pp. 398-399.
138111151” I). 399-

160

Congregational minister from 1683 to 1689.139 There
remains, however, some question as to whether he was
ordained. John Langdon Sibley noted that Emerson's name
was printed in italics in Harvard's Triennial Catalogug,
but, he added, "though he preached, I find no record of his
ordination."14O The ordination record could have been lost
at some point during the passage of nearly three centuries.
Yet, even if he was not ordained, it is certain that he led
Berwick's Christian flock. It should also be remembered
that New Hampshire and Maine were far less well settled by
the late seventeenth century than was Massachusetts Bay.
Consequently, ecclesiastical regulations tended to be en-
forced with less rigor than they were in the older sections
of New England.

Berwick, located approximately fifteen miles
northwest of Kittery, Maine, is in an area which was not
settled until late in the seventeenth century.]-""1 On this
northern Puritan frontier, Emerson ministered to both the

white settlers and the Indians. Berwick faced, as did

 

139Frederic Lewis Weis, The Colonigl Clergy and
thg Cglgnigl Chgrgheg gf New Englghg Lancaster, Massachu-
setts: Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy,
1936), p. 80.

140John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, QD&_Ql§'a Po 471°

l""15amuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager,

The Grgnth of the Amerlgan Repuglig 5th ed., Vol. I (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1962), p. 93.

161

dozens of other towns, the consequences of strained white-
Indian relations, a situation which was made ever more
obvious by King Philip's War.142

This part of New England was, in short, hardly
the most sedate area of colonial settlement. Nor did
Emerson appear to relish life of unremitted calm. On
June 27, 1689, he narrowly escaped death when Major Richard
Waldron I and fifty-one of his company were massacred or
made prisoners by the Indians.143 From September 7, 1689
to November 23, 1689, he was chaplain under Lieutenant
Thomas Savage II.1Mt Indeed, no other seventeenth century
schoolmaster could claim such adventures as those which
Emerson found as he moved from the classroom to the church
and the battlefield.

Neither John Langdon Sibley145 nor Frederic Lewis
Weis146 were able to account for Emerson's activities be-
tween 1689 and 1691. In 1691, however, the record resumes

when he was made freeman147 and on April 20, 1691, he

 

142Douglas Edward Leach, gg. glt., pp. 242-250.

1(“’3James Savage, Vol. II, gg, g1t., p. 117 and
John Farmer, gp, glt., p. 300.

8 144mm” p. 225 and Frederic Lewis Weis, Mo.
p. 0.

1L‘5John Langdon Sibley, Vol. 11, gr. glt.,
pp. 472-473.

146Frederic Lewis WeiS, QDa_QlLoa P- 80°
147John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II. Quintin. P- 473~

162

became the I'Famous Master Emerson" of the Charlestown

Grammar School.148

Never one to avoid controversy, he became closely

associated with the prosecution of witches during the

famous trials at Salem in 1692. Mary Tyler, who was charged

with being a witch, was taken from Charlestown to Salem by

her brother and Emerson, each of whom continually demanded

that she confess her transgression.149 As reported at her

trial:

. . . when she came to Salem, she was carried to a
room, where her brother on one side and Mr. John
Emerson on the other side, did tell her that she was
certainly a witch, and that she saw the devill before
her eyes at that time (and accordingly the said
Emerson would attempt with his hand to beat him away
from her eyes) and they so urged her to confesse, that
she wished herself in any dungeon, rather than be so
treated: Mr. Emerson told her once again, Well!

I see you will not Confesse! Well! I will now leave
you, and then you are undone, body and soul forever
(till she) became so terrifyed in her mind that she
own'd at length almost any thing that they propounded
to her. 5

Not long after moving to Charlestown, Emerson, now

nearly forty years of age, married Sarah (Stowers) Carter,

 

1481hjd.

149Marion L. Starkey, The Devil in Massachusetts:
In 1 n e S m Wi T ° New York: Time

Incorporated, 1963 , p. 193.

15°John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II. Mn p- 473-

163

widow of the Charlestown mariner, John Carter II.151
Carter's father, John Carter I, settled in Charlestown in
1640 and in 1644 he became a freeman in the newly founded
Woburn, Massachusetts.”2

Mrs. Emerson was the daughter of Richard Stowers,
of Charlestown.153 His father, Nicholas Stowers, one of
the eleven earliest settlers of Cape Ann, probably crossed
the ocean in 1629 in the fleet which carried Reverend
Francis Higginson.154 Shortly after arriving in Salem,
Stowers moved to the Boston area with the influential
brothers, Representative Ralph Sprague and Representative
Richard Sprague 1.155

Emerson's only child, Sarah, was born at Charles-
town on August 7, 1695.156 She married Richard Foster II,

of Charlestown, and died in the town of her birth on

 

15llhld., p. 474 and James Savage, A ngealogiggl
Digtionary of the First Settlers gf Ngw Ehglang, Showing

Thrge Generations of Thoge Who Came Before May, 1692, on
thg Bgsis gt Farmer's Register, Vol. I Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 18 O , p. 340.

l52James Savage, Vol. I, gg. glt., p. 340 and
John Farmer, gr. git., p. 53.

153James Savage, Vol. IV, gg, glt., pp. 219-220.

1541bld. and James Truslow Adams, ”Francis Higgin-
son,‘ D' ionar of Americ Bio r h , Dumas Malone, ed.,
Vol. IX New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1932), pp. 11-12.

155James Savage, V01. IV, gg. git., p. 219 and
John Farmer, gr. glt., p. 271.

156Benjamin Kendall Emerson, ggg_g;t., p. 66.

164 .

November 16, 1724.157 John Langdon Sibley referred to
Foster as 'the Honorable," indicating greater than average
status.158

During almost the entire decade of the 16903,
Emerson continued as the schoolmaster of Charlestown. On
August 25, 1699, however, the selectmen of Salem asked him
to assume the schoolmastership of their town.159 Accepting
the offer, he moved his family to Salem and on September 23,
1699 his contract was formalized.160 The town provided him
with an annual salary of fifty pounds, although it was
stipulated that should the anticipated funds not be avail-
able, the remainder was to be "proportioned on ye scholars
by ye selectmen."161 By February, 1700, he had twenty
students.162

At neither Charlestown nor Salem did there occur
the type of controversy which had surrounded him at Newbury.
He was respected and, as far as can be discerned from the

records, his salary was paid promptly, one of the clearest

 

15Zlbid.
158John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, ggg_glt., p. 474.

159James Duncan Phillips, W
Qentnrx (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1937 , p. 27.

1601,13,

161John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, Mu po 473.

1621,11.

 

t“
I

 

 

165

indications of the community's acceptance.

In addition to being one of the better paid
schoolmasters in the colony, he was also a trusted friend
of a number of prominent men, among them Reverend Dr. Cotton
Mather. Their friendship is indicated in letters of April
4, 1709 and May 22, 1710 which Mather wrote163 to the
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, merchant, lawyer and historian,
Judge Samuel Penhallow.164

Death came to Emerson in his fifty-eighth year on
February 2h, 1712.165 He was buried in Salem's Charter
Street Cemetery.166 A man of considerable prOperty, the
inventory of his estate, which was completed by his widow
on August 21, 1713.167 indicated his total worth to be 2503
pounds.168 Of this, there were 1824 pounds in mortgages,
bills, bonds, plate and money and 580 pounds in real estate

 

163Cctton Mather, ”Diary of Cotton Mather, 1709-
1724," Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Seventh
Ser., Vol. VIII 1912 , pp. 34-36.

164Howard B. Bartlett, ”Samuel Penhallow,’
D ion Ameri n B o , Dumas Malone, ed., Vol.
XIV (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 193n), pp. h27-h28.

155The Essex Institute, vita] Records 9: SQJQQ,
Mgggaghusetts, to the End of the Year 1842, Vol. V Salem,
Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1925 , p. 228.

166Ihid-
167Benjamin Kendall Emerson, gp;_git., p. 66.

1681h1d-

166

holdings in Charlestown and Boston.169 By a considerable
margin, he was Newbury's wealthiest seventeenth century
schoolmaster. In comparison, the 1656 estate of Noyes,
Newbury's second schoolmaster, was valued at 657 pounds,
11 shillings and h pence.17O Parker, Newbury's founder,
first minister and third schoolmaster, died in 1677, leaving
‘an estate of 611 pounds.171 In 1717, five years after
Emerson's death, Newbury's eleventh and last seventeenth
century schoolmaster, Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster I, died
at Gloucester, Massachusetts, leaving an estate of less
than 2#0 pounds.172 Most assuredly, Emerson had not been
ineffectual in garnering material riches.

As far as is known, however, he did not produce
a single book, article, poem or theological treatise.
Moreover, his intense interest in material acquisition
might even have been of sufficient magnitude to support the

contention that he was somewhat alienated from the

 

169Ib1d.

l7°The Essex Institute. Tha_£nghats_§%cgzd§_2£
Egggx ngnty, Massachusetts, 1§35-1§§&, Vol. I Salem,

Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916), p. 247.

171The Essex Institute, The P b Be 8
Eggg; ngntx, Massagnuagtts, 1625-16fl1, Vol. III éSalem,

Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1920), p. 135.

172011fford K. Shipton, B 0 hi 5
T se Wh Attende H r d C e e in C ses -
1200, With Bitliggraphigal and Othez Ngtgg, Vol. IV Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933),
p. 287.

167

intellectual concerns of his predecessors. He represents,
then, an example of the increasing number of late seven-
teenth and early eighteenth century schoolmasters and
ministers who yearned for adventure and wealth as well as
for the pedagogue's desk and the preacher's pulpit.

Although his life was substantially different
from that of Parker, he was less atypical of latter day
Puritans than might be supposed. As Ola Elizabeth Winslow
reminds us in her biography of the Indian apostle, Rever-
end John Eliot, divergence of both ideology and actions
among seventeenth century Puritans was of a rather profound
magnitude.173 To think that such men as Emerson emerged
only on exceedingly rare occasions would be to misinter-
pret the nature of latter day New England Puritanism.

As noted earlier in the present chapter, there is
some question about when Newbury's sixth schoolmaster,
Reverend Thomas Baily I, commenced teaching. Although the
town agreed, on October 22, 1680, "that Mr. Burly should
keep school in the watch house,"174 the weight of historical
evidence seems to indicate that Emerson continued to serve
as the town's regularly hired schoolmaster for the duration

of the 1680 to 1681 academic year. As early as the fall of

 

17301a Elizabeth Winslow, J hn E i : "A o
thg Indians" (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1968;,
p. 189.

174Joshua Coffin, 9p. tit., p. 127.

 

q‘k-v

168

1680, Baily might have taught in some parts of Riverside
Village or West Village, where his greatest support
existed,175 but it is highly doubtful that he taught at
Oldtown until 1681. The first definite record of his
functioning as schoolmaster is that of October 19, 1681,

when the town voted:

. . . that the selectmen shall make a rate of twenty
pounds for the Towne payt for Mr Baily. And that
ggioyzgrlgegigglfiy6nr Baily schooling this day
9
In addition to the existence of some doubt as to
when Baily began teaching, however, there is also a certain
degree of imprecision concerning the identity of the man
himself. Joshua Coffin referred to Baily but once and
then only as “Mr. Burly.'177 John J. Currier referred to
him once in a reference quotation and once in conjunction
with the controversy over Emerson.”8 It is unfortunate
that neither of Newbury's two major historians included
Baily's Christian name.
John Farmer, New England’s early nineteenth

century genealogist, included a number of male Baileys in

 

1755arah Anna Emery, QR;.QlL-. pp. 218-219.

176John J. Currier. Was...
léii-Igszgl 99: 21:0, DO 3990

177Joshua Coffin, M” p. 127.

178J0hn J- Currier. WM:
W09 pp. 397. 399.

169

his A Gengglgg;g§1 Regtgtg: of thg Fizgt Sgttlers 9: Ne!-
England (1829): two named John, one named Richard, one

named Theophilus, two named Thomas and, under the spelling
'Bayley': three named John, two named James, one named
Joseph, one named Joshua and one named Abner.179 Through
the process of elimination, largely on the basis of noting
that only two or three of the above mentioned men lived in
the Newbury and Salisbury area, the writer attempted to
locate additional biographical data on these individuals.

InflWWlflfl-nd
(1956), Samuel Eliot Morison stated that ”of eleven succes-
sive teachers at Newbury, only one lacked the A.B.'18° The
years to which Morison was referring, however, are not
stated. Surely he was not indicating only the seventeenth
century since four schoolmasters in the century, viz.,
Somerby, Noyes, Short and Baily, all failed to attain a
college degree. In response to the writer's personal
letter inquiring about the possibility of greater specific-
ity, Morison replied that unfortunately he had no extant

notes from which to elaborate further.181 It is most

likely, however, that he obtained his information from the

 

179John Farmer, my,” pp. 22, 30, 336.

1803anue1 Eliot Morison. W
Wu P- 93-

181Letter from Samuel Eliot Morison, Jonathan
Trumbull Professor of American History, Emeritus, Harvard
University, to Richard Edward Kelly, June 12, 1970.

170

Joshua Coffin and John J. Currier volumes, neither of
which, as mentioned earlier, reveals Baily's identity.

Yet, since a large number of schoolmasters even-
tually were ordained as Congregational ministers, there was
a strong likelihood that Baily might well have been among
this number. The affinity between the school and the
church was logical in view of Puritan societal structures.
Indeed, this circumstance was a factor in eliminating some
of the men who might possibly have been Newbury's sixth
schoolmaster.

Finally, after more than two months of intensive
research, it was concluded that the person most likely to
have been 'Mr. Burly” was Reverend Thomas Baily I, whose
brother was the better known Congregational minister of
Boston and Watertown, Massachusetts, Reverend John
Baily 1.182 It must be noted, however, that, because of
insufficient data, this conclusion must remain somewhat
uncertain despite the fact that there are no other known
seventeenth century men who bore the surname and could
conceivably have been schoolmaster of Newbury during the
early 16808.

Surprisingly little is known about the ancestry
of Thomas Baily I. According to Reverend Dr. Increase
Mather, Baily was born on February 2a, 1643 at

 

182John Farmer, gtu_git,, p. 22.

171

Blackburn, Lancashire, England.183 He arrived in Boston
circa 1675 after having been imprisoned in both England and
Ireland because of his religious con.victions.18’+ Although
his activities in Boston during the late 16708 are unknown,
it is possible that he assisted a minister or schoolmaster.

Baily was quite obviously a highly religious man
and his having suffered for his faith must have helped to
endear him to Newbury's faithful. He was the only seven-
teenth century Newbury schoolmaster not to have come from
a family which left England during the Great Puritan Migra-
tion or very shortly thereafter and his being hired indicates
that orthodoxy of religion was more significant than simply
being born into an early colonial family. Although Baily's
performance as schoolmaster is not indicated in the town
records, it is quite safe to assume that he filled the
position in a capable manner and that he was evidently
satisfactorily received by the town.

Circa 1683, his brother, Reverend John Baily I,
had settled in the Boston area.185 When Reverend Thomas

 

183Increase Mather, quoted in, Samuel G. Drake,

The Histgnx and Antiguitie§ of Bgston, The Capitgl g:

M a hu 3 and Me 0 o 1 Ne E F I
S e e i e I EBoston: Luther

Stevens, 1856 , p. 462.

lBhIhla.
185John Farmer, my, p. 22.

172

Baily I resigned the Newbury schoolmastership in 1684,186
he returned to Boston. Here, the Baily brothers were well
respected, an indication of their esteem being given by
Reverend John Dunton, the Congregational minister of Little
Missinden, Buckinghamshire, England, who visited the
colonies in 1685 and kept a diary from which the following

is taken:

Leaving Mr. Allen's house, I went next to visit

Mr. John and Mr. Thomas Bailey. These two are p0pu-
1ar preachers, and very generous to strangers. I
heard Mr. John upon the words, 'looking unto Jesus,‘
and I though he spake like an angel. They express
a more than ordinary kindness for Mr. Wilkins, my
landlord, and (bein presecuted in Limerick for
their Nonconformity§ came over with him from
Ireland. Reader, I might be large in their char-
acter, but when I tell you they are true pictures

of Dr. Annesley (whom they cgunt a second St. Paul),
it is as high as I need go.1 7

The year after Dunton's visit, John was called to
Watertown and, on October 6, 1686, he was settled as the
Congregational minister.188 It was probably at this time
that Thomas also moved to Watertown as assistant to his
brother. His ordination took place at Watertown on

November 2, 1687.189

 

186Joshua Coffin, 9p, cit-. p. 127.

187John Dunton, quoted in, Samuel G. Drake, The
Histohy and Antiquities of Boston, 92. git., pp. #59-462.

188John Farmer, 9p, git., p. 22.
189Frederic Lewis Weis, Qp, git., p. 25.

173

At an unknown time, Thomas Baily I had married a
certain Rebecca, who bore him two sons, John II, born in
the early 16803, and Thomas II, baptized at Watertown on
August 19, 1688.190 On January 21, 1689, Baily died at
Boston in his forty-sixth year.191

On April 26, 1694, his widow married the wealthy
Salem, Massachusetts, merchant, Representative William
Browne 11.192 With his father, Representative William
Browne I, also a merchant, he was a member of the Council
of Governor Edmund Andros and, following Andros' overthrow,
he served on the Council of Safety.193 He was, in addition,
a counsellor under the charter of William and Mary.194 The
Browne family had resided in the colony since 1635195 and
for three generations they were, to quote Clifford K.
Shipton, “perhaps the richest and most distinguished family
of Salem.”196

 

190James Savage, Vol. I. 22a.£liog P- 95°

191Increase Mather, quoted in, Samuel G. Drake,

Thg Higtgny g: Antiguitieg g: Bogtgh, Qp. git., p. #62.
192James Savage, Vol. I, 92. git., p. 278.
1931pig.

194John Farmer, gpt_git., p. 45-
195James Savage, Vol. I,.QEL_Qlt~a P- 277°

196Clifford K. Shipton, Bi a hi 8 e es 0

T 05 Who A ended Har rd Co e e ° h C asses 2 - ,

With Bibliggzaphigal and Other Notes, Vol. VIII Boston:
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1952), p. 118.

 

  

.r u '*‘"l. .FIIIJJ

17“

In the absence of significant data concerning
Baily's ancestry as well as his activities in Massachusetts
Bay, the socio-economic level of the Brownes might offer
some indication, imprecise though it is, of the former
schoolmaster's societal position. Seventeenth century
marriages were, as noted earlier, negotiated on economic
as well as religious grounds. Protracted wrangling over
finances was especially characteristic of second marriages
since a New England widow inherited a life estate in at
least one third of all the land which her husband had
possessed at any point during the marriage.197 Regardless
of the genuineness of Browne's love, then, it would not
appear unkind to state that, as a member of one of the
colony's wealthiest families, he would have been unlikely
to have married Mrs. Baily had the Baily family not achieved
at least some respectably high measure of prominence.

While Reverend Thomas Baily I hardly rose to the
pinnacle of recognition within ecclesiastical circles, his
brother clearly did so. In 1692, after ministering to the
Watertown church, Reverend John Baily I returned to Boston
and became, on July 17, 1693, assistant minister of the

famous First Church.198 This was the church over which the

197George L. Haskins, Law and Authgzity in Early
M ssachuse : A S ud in Tr ditio n De 1 New York:

The Macmillan Company, 1960 , pp. 180-182.

 

   
 

198$amuel G. Drake, T e Hi n 1 es
B s o o . ' ., p. 5A8.

175

influential Reverend John Cotton had been chosen teacher
on October 10, 1633199 and it continued to be one of the
most prominent churches in New England. Among Baily's
closest associates were the Mathers, father and son, who
together served the pulpit of Boston's Second Church.200
Indicative of Baily's religious convictions is

a statement which he made in one of his published works,

Man's ghief End to GJQrifie ng (1689):

It is your great Duty to Glorifie God . . . If God
may be Glorified, or Converted, Edified or Comforted
I should Rejoyce; and if it should be otherwise, my
Soul desires to weep in Secret for your Pride and

Misery.2
On numerous occasions, he was also known to state:

Three things I desire to get: patience under the
calamities of life; impatience under its moral
infirmities; and earnest longings for the life to
come . . . May we not be of the number of them who
live without 103e, speak without feeling, and act
without life. 0

 

199Larzer Ziff, The Career of Johh Cotton:
Phritanism and the American Expgriehge Princeton, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1962), pp. 82-8h.

200Kenneth Ballard Murdock, gp, git. and Barrett
Wendell, Cottoh Mather: The Phritah Priest New York:
Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 19 3 .

201John Baily I, Mah'g thefl End to G1gr1£1e
GQd: 0r, Some Brief Sgrmoh Noteg 9h 1 Cgr. 10. 31.
Boston: Samuel Green, 1 89 , p. 160.

202John Baily I, quoted in, Alexander McKenzie,
”The Religious History of the Provincial Period," Thg

M o 1 His 0 B o In u Su C
M a uset s - , Justin Winsor ed., Vol. 11
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1881), p. 197.

176

In addition to the above mentioned work, he also wrote a
forty page book, T9 my Lgyihg shd Dear1y Bs1oveg Christian
Frishds (1689),203 for the Puritans in Limerick, Ireland,
to whom he had ministered prior to leaving for New England.
When Baily died in 1697, both Increase and Cotton Mather
wrote long eulogies, pointing to him as an example whom all
Christians would benefit from following.204

The foregoing examination of the lives of the
schoolmasters and the state of the school between 1675 and
168# would seem to indicate a decidedly prominent tendency
towards laxity in education, rather than a continuation
of the firm direction of previous years. Undoubtedly, the
controversy which came to a head during the latter portion
of Parker's career did much to undermine the unity which
had formerly characterized the town's religious and educa-

tional life. Hardly less debilitating were King Philip's

 

203John Baily I, T9 my Lgyihg and Dear1y Be1gyed
Christian Friends, ih or about Limsrigh Boston: Samuel
Green, 1 89 .

2041ncrease Mather, Dayig Serying His Generstign.
9r, A Sermon Showing What is tg be done in order to our SQ

Sc v11; 0 Genera io .- ha w e; we D we shal- E -
igto a B essed REST: Wherein Some a oun is :iven . -

é nin; man eminen Minis ers of Chris . Lo do; as if
:s in N.E. ate ~one . hei_ Rest. o asioned b he
D t 0 he Re e en M . John B i Wh D ea a B

' New-E and. Decem 2th. Boston: B. Green and
J. Allen, 1698 and Cotton Mather, T e Li e Dea

R e e M Jo Bai C 'se an Ex es ed I A
Ssrmgh, On the Day gfi his theral (Boston: B. Green and

J. Allen, 1698.

177

War of 1675 to 1676 and the 1680 to 1681 crisis over
Emerson.

In addition to heightened internal dissension,
however, there was also the significant modification of a
different breed of man having come to wield the master's
rod. Of the three schoolmasters, Short, Emerson and Baily,
only the second had attended college and his effectiveness
was seriously marred by controversy. Taken as a unit, the
schoolmasters who taught during this period of transition
were less well educated than their three predecessors. 0f
Somerby, Noyes and Parker, the latter two had studied at
European universities and Parker had earned the prestigious
Master of Philosophy Degree. A further aspect of the more
limited intellectual climate is the fact that both Noyes
and Parker were the authors of a number of learned works,
whereas not one of the schoolmasters who taught from 1675
to 1684 published a single word.

Still another modification concerned the length
of tenure. Somerby taught for 8 years, Noyes for 9 and
Parker for 19, an average of 12 years per schoolmaster. In
addition, all three were permanent residents of Newbury.
During the second period, however, Short taught for 5 years,
Emerson for l and Baily for 3, an average of only 3 years
per schoolmaster. This was a decidedly marked reduction
in the length of tenure. Moreover, only Short was a

permanent resident of the town, both Emerson and Baily

178

having been raised elsewhere and having resided in Newbury
exclusively during the relatively short period of their
schoolmastership.

There seems to have been a severe modification
of, let us say, the spirit with which education had been
carried out during the earlier decades of Newbury's exis-
tence. In short, the town school was becoming far less
tightly structured and the schoolmasters' preparation was
seriously declining in both quality and quantity. The
absence of information on the texts used in the town school
prevents the formulation of adequate conclusions about
instructional quality. We can only hypothesize, however,
that in view of the lessened emphasis upon the intellec-
tuality of the schoolmasters, the education which they
offered their students is not likely to have improved over
that which had been made available by Noyes and Parker.

The question of direction for the Newbury school
was still uncertain when Baily returned to Boston. Not
until the late seventeenth century would the school's
existence and intellectual respectability be established
to a meaningful extent. As might be expected, it was the
schoolmasters who played the dominate role in the resolu-

tion of the problem.

CHAPTER V

THE LATE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY,
1689-1700

In 168A, Newbury's education was launched upon an
entirely different path. As will be shown in the present
chapter, the men who taught from 1684 to 1700, viz., Rever-
end Edward Tompson I, Reverend Seth Shove, Reverend John
Clark, Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I and Reverend Dr.
Nicholas Webster I, were active during a rather unique
period in the history of the town school. In essence, the
difficulties which had emerged during the transitional
period of 1675 to 168# were resolved, to a degree, during
the final years of the century.

The seventh schoolmaster, Reverend Edward
Tompson I, was Newbury's third pedagogue to hold a college
degree. Having been born at Braintree, now Quincy, Massa-
chusetts, on April 20, 1665, he was but nineteen years of
age when he succeeded Reverend Thomas Baily I in the

schoolmastership.1 Tompson's parents were Representative

 

1John Langdon Sibley. 11W
G 5.01.8. ‘ o H. 'g 1 U11" Si ' II Ciao, 01; M- 5 ,1 "'
- , Vol. III Cambridge, Massachusetts:

fifiiifia_l§1§_l§§2
Charles William Sever, 1885), p. 306.
179

 

I N
.

I. .4;

180

Samuel Tompson I and Sarah (Shepard) Tompson, daughter of
Edward Shepard I, one of the early settlers of Cambridge,
Massachusetts.2 Representative Tompson was born circa 1631
in Lancashire, England, and was brought to New England by
his father, Reverend William Tompson I, in 1637.3 In
addition to being a deacon of the Congregational Church, he
was elected as Braintree's representative to the Massachu-
setts General Court from 1676 to 1679 and from 1682 to
1691.4

It was Tompson's paternal grandfather, however,
who was the most noted of all the early Tompsons. Born in
1598 in Lancashire, England, Reverend William Tompson I
matriculated on January 28, 1620 as a commoner's son at
Brasenose College, Oxford University.5 In 1622, he received
his Bachelor of Arts Degree and for the fifteen years which

followed he remained in England as a Puritan minister.6

 

2Frederic Lewis Weis, The C C
r h s N w E Lancaster, Massachusetts:
Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy, 1936),
p. 205 and John Farmer, Ge 0 i a Re 8 e

§§III§£§_Q£__§1:§ng1and Lancaster, Massachusetts: Carter,
Andrews and Company, 1829), pp. 289, 262.

 

3Frederick Chase, ”Reverend William Tompson,“
Ths Nsw Ehg1and Histgrigs1 aha Genea1ogigs1 ngistsr, Vol.
XV, No. 2 April, 18 l , p. 112.

”Johanarmer, gpt_git., p. 289.

53amue1 Eliot Morison, T i H
Cg11ege (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University
Press, 1935), p. 402.

6Ih1a.

181

Between 1637 and 1639, he was the Congregational minister
of Agamenticus, now York, Maine, and in 1639 he assumed the
same position at Braintree.7

Although the Tompson family patriarch was an
effective preacher, as Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather wrote,
"he fell into that BQJheum Digbg1i, a black flsishghg1y,
which for divers Years almost wholly disabled him for the
Exercise of his Ministry."8 Upon Tompson's return from a
brief ministry in Virginia, he found that his wife had died
and that his children had been taken into the homes of
neighbors.9 So severe were his fits of depression that he
did not even reclaim all of his children from the families
that had taken them in.10 Yet, despite his lack of emotion-
al adjustment, he continued to be one of the most notable
ministers of the first generation.

He was not, however, the only significant member
of his family. One of his sons, an uncle of the Newbury

schoolmaster, was the poet, Representative Joseph Tompson 1.11

 

7Ih d,

8Cotton Mather, quoted in, Samuel Eliot Morison,
9n. s1t., p. 402.

9Harrison T. Meserole, ed., S e e -C
Am:zigan_£ggtrx (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and
Company, Inc., 1968), p. 221.

lolhid.

11John Farmer, 92, sit., p. 289 and Samuel Eliot
Morison, gr. s1t., p. 402.

182

A resident of Billerica, Massachusetts, he occupied, at
various times, the positions of schoolmaster, captain,
selectmen, town clerk and representative to the General
Court.12 Another son was Reverend William Tompson II, who
graduated from Harvard College in 1653 and became the Con-
gregational minister of Springfield, Massachusetts.13
However, the most famous son of Reverend William Tompson I
was Dr. Benjamin Tompson I, America's first native born
poet.1“ After graduating from Harvard College in 1662,
Dr. Tompson, a physician, taught school in various towns,
being chosen, in 1667, as the fifth master of the Boston
Latin School.15 He remained here until January 6, 1671,
when he “resigned vp the possestion of the schoole and
schoole house" and was succeeded by Ezekiel Cheever.16

After leaving Boston, Dr. Benjamin Tompson I held the

 

12112111.
13John Langdon Sibley, Biographisa1 Sketghe es at
:11; ‘S 01 Ha '; o Uni ' I C: mb 1d: e M: ‘a flu-

- s 642- . :, Vol. I Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles
William Sever, 1873), pp. 354-357.

1“Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson, eds., Tha
S ur e T i W i , 2nd ed., Vol. II

New York: Harper and Row, 1963 , p. 635.

15John Langdon Sibley. W
G :o.; -s . H; »: . U i e s I; Camb d- e Mas : c--

- , Vol. II Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles
William Sever, 1881), pp. 103- 104 and Robert Francis Seybolt,

Ins Phh1i Q Ssh991m masters at Cgiohia1 Bostgn (Cambridge,

Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1939), pp. 3-5.-
16Robert Francis Seybolt, gnr_ait., p. 5.

 

 

.l,
{III-ll,

(14%

183

positions of schoolmaster and physician in a number of New
England towns but, at length, he returned to Braintree,
where he was "practitioner of physick for above thirty
years.'17 His most ambitious poetic work was Naw Ehg1ahas
Crisis (1676), a narrative of King Philip's War.18

Clearly, Reverend Edward Tompson I was a member
of one of the prominent families of early New England. As
shown above, a number of his close relatives were among the
intellectual leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Moreover, these notable men were far from the only signifi-
cant persons in the family. As John Farmer indicates, many
cousins and nephews of Reverend Edward Tompson I also
achieved levels of prominence.19

As the youngest schoolmaster in Newbury's history,
Tompson was, perhaps, regarded as a rather precocious young
man. It is clearly evident that the town appreciated his
efforts for during his first year of teaching he received

a salary of thirty pounds, an amount larger than that which

 

17Ihid., pp. 104-108.

18Benjamin Tompson I, Naw Ehg1anas Crisis. Or a
B 15 N: a ive of New-En:1=nds Lamen ab e Es - e a . ‘8‘;
cm”, 'ol wi . he fo me m ea 8 . P - oei . . .

P i a Desc i e . B W wis e C
(Boston: John Foster, 1676) and Howard Judson Hall, ed.,
Banjamin Tompsgn, 1642-121g, First Natiya-Bgrh Post at

e : H P ems C e Wi an In Boston:

Houghton Mifflin Company, 192
19John Farmer, an. git., p. 289.

1.9 ..lnwsl‘ 5...}...hruhi [1.5. ...!!1“

184

had been provided for any of his predecessors.20

As mentioned earlier in the present work, the
1647 I'Old Deluder Satan Act' required every town of one
hundred families to maintain a secondary school.21 Because
of frequent difficulties in attracting schoolmasters for a
significant length of time, many towns were forced to hire
young men fresh from college who were competent to teach
Latin and, it was hoped, would have sufficient piety to
engender a harmonious relationship with the minister.22 In
most instances, a salary of twenty to thirty pounds was
welcomed by the young schoolmaster while he awaited a parish
of his own.23 Like his two immediate predecessors, Tompson
was an example of such an educator. Since he was not partic-
ularly dedicated to teaching, he embraced the schoolmaster-

ship primarily as an expedient towards the attainment of

 

20Joshua Coffin, Ske e H N -
o " Nflo,"oo' gig W N"._‘ Few o 9
Boston: Samuel C. Drake, 1845 , p. 142.

Zlflenry Steele Commager, ed., QQQEEEBEE_QL_AEEI:
H ,5th ed., Crofts American History Series,
Dixon Ryan Fox, gen. ed. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts,

Inc., 1949), p. 29.

22Samuel Eliot Morison, I
N E , 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell

Qalenisl._sx;_nslsud
university Press, 1956), p. 93.
23121.1.

185

Nonetheless, he was so eager to secure employment
that he commenced teaching even before receiving the
Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1684.2“ unlike all of his living
fellow graduates, he did not return to Harvard College three
years later to take the Master of Arts Degree.25

Unfortunately, the Newbury records pertaining to
Tompson’s teaching are rather sparse. After the statement
of his being hired, the next time he was mentioned was on
March 28, 1687, when:

The Towne voted that ye selectmen should agree
wth Mr Tompson to keepe schoole for the Towne one
quarter of a year from this time, provided he will
be pleased to keepe ye schoole ye sd quarter of a
yeare for seven pounds & ten shillings. Ye scholars
to pay pr week as formerly.2

As this document indicates, the school evidently continued
to operate as a semi-public institution, since the town
provided a portion of the funds necessary to carry it on and
the fathers of those in attendance contributed the
additional needed income.

In June, 1687, Tompson gained employment at Sims-
bury, Connecticut, where the inhabitants had agreed to re-

move his family and effects and to pay him fifty pounds a

year:

 

2“John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, ggt_git., p. 306.
251sig., pp. 270-271, 286.

26John J. Currier, Histgry sf Nswhary, Mass,,
léfij_1292 (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 1902 , pp. 399-400.

186

. . . in good current pay, to wit, one third in good

and merchantable wheat at four shillings per bushel,

one third in pease or rye at three shillings per

bushel, and one third of Indian corn or pork, the

corn at two shillings Sixpence per bushel, and the

pork at three pounds ten shillings per barre1.27
In addition, Simsbury provided him with firewood, the use
of the parsonage property and certain lands in fee.28 As
is fairly obvious, this was a substantial economic improve-
ment over the Newbury schoolmastership and Tompson accepted
the position, it may safely be assumed, with but little
deliberation.

Located approximately ten miles northwest of

Hartford, Simsbury had not been settled until 167129 and
when Tompson became the Congregational minister the town
had hardly more voting residents than the forty-nine men
who signed his invitation.30 Tompson had been unanimously
approved at the meeting,31 a circumstance certain to have
added to the position's desirability.

Although facts pertaining to Tompson's marriage

are hardly adequate, it is known that he wedded a certain

 

27Noah A. Phelps, Histgry or Simshhry, Granhy
aha Cahtgh, Frgm 1642 ta 18Q5 Hartford: Case, Tiffany and
l

Burnham, 845 , p. 52.
28.112151.
29John Farmer, arr_a1t., p. viii.
30John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, snr_git., p. 306.

3llhid.

187

Sarah.32 Since his first child was born in Simsbury on
May 11, 1688, it is likely that the marriage took place
either shortly before or shortly after Tompson's reloca-
tion.33 Yet, in the absence of data, this statement must
remain conjectory.

Three years after moving to Simsbury, Tompson
again became closely involved in Newbury's affairs. As
noted in previous chapters, a vigorous rivalry developed
quite early between Newbury's three sections, viz., Old-
town on the Parker River, West Village on the Artichoke
River and Riverside Village on the Merrimack River. The
town school, being controlled by the freemen, was, of
necessity, a major point of contention in the disputes.

In the main, the dissension was politically and economically
motivated, rather than philosophically or theologically in-
duced. It was, in short, a drama of conflicting interests
between the established Oldtown and the budding West
Village.

. Relations between the two sections of Newbury
became particularly tense on March 10, 1685, when a peti-
tion, signed by freemen in West Village, requested permis-

sion to hire a minister, i.e., to create a second parish.

 

32Frederick Chase, gr. git., p. 114.
33A1bert C. Bates, S s C i u : Bi ,

M- _.=_:‘- can D‘; 1. T as. .080. 0!! ‘ T011136 0..
Hartford: The Case, Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1898),
p. 22.

188

The wording of the petition suggests the convictions of

many of those at West Village:

To the Town of Newbury the humble request of
some of the inhabitants of this town doe sire and
intreat that you would be pleased to grant us your
consent, approbation and assistance in getting some
help in the ministry amongst us, by reason that we
doe live soe remote from the means, great part of us
that we cannot with any comfort or convenience come
to the publick worship of God; neither can our families
be brought up under the means of grace as Christians
ought to bee, and which is absolutely necessary unto
salvation; therefore we will humbly cravfi your loving
compliance with us in this our request.3
However, despite the humility of the petition, the request
was denied, perhaps principally because of Oldtown's desire

to retain as much power as possible.

Yet, in 1689, despite the rejection of its peti-
tion, West Village, at its own expense, constructed a
building thirty feet square, at or near the place now known
as the Sawyer Hill Burying Ground.35 On February 25, 1690,
in response to this action, Newbury appointed a committee
to confer with the minister, Reverend John Richardson I,
about the proposed hiring of a pastor for West Village.36
Because Richardson followed a middle course and declined

to express an opinion on the matter, the committee decided

 

34Joshua Coffin, an. 91t., pp. 142-143.
35John J. Currier, "O N w u '° H 3

Bi 1 8k (Boston: Damrell and Upham,
189 a PP. 3 3‘3 0
36John J. Currier, Histgrx Qfimflfiflhflxla_flfifiia.

lé35:1292._cni_eita. p- 347.

189

not to grant the privilege which had been requested.37

On March 11, 1690, however, a committee composed
of fifteen West Village freemen submitted two proposals
which clearly Specified the action they favored:

1. That the Towne would agree to make a rate for
the maintenance of two ministers so that we at the new
Towne might have the word of God preached among us at
the West meeting house and that by a Loving agreement
of the towne together, which wee your friends &
broathers have long wished for, and now would hope
that we may Lovingly agree in. But now if the Towne
will not grant us that proposition, our second is,

2. That the Towne would grant us their free
consent (to establish) the ministry among us upon
our own charg & that the Towne would Lovingly agree
to a Dividing line between us so we may know what
£am§§ies may now belong to the West meeting house

c.

When the town refused to grant either proposition, West
Village, taking the matter into its own hands, asked Tompson
to occupy the pulpit of their newly constructed meeting-
house.39

On July 14, 1691, Newbury harshly disapproved of
what was contended to be an illegal usurpation of the power
which they believed to be rightfully vested in the entire
town:

The towne understanding that several of the inhab-

itants of new towne are about calling Mr. Tompson to be

their minister, the towne did by vote manifest their
dislike against it, or against any other minister,

 

37112.11.
381pig., pp. 347-348.

39John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, gflh_gi$,, pp.
306-307 0

190

whom they should call, until ye church and towne are
agreed upon it, looking upon such a thing to be an
intrusion upon ye church and towne.

Nonetheless, Tompson obviously accepted the West Village
pulpit, for, as Frederic Lewis Weis indicates, he was
settled as the Congregational minister from 1691 to 1695.)+1

During the fall of 1691, the controversy over the
minister became so intense that on October 1, 1691 West
Village petitioned the Massachusetts General Court "to be
established a pe0ple by themselves for the maintenance of
the ministry among them.”2 In Oldtown's December 2, 1691
response to the complaint, the illegality of the West
Village actions was emphasized:

Whereas divers of the inhabitants of our Towne
presented to the Honoured Genll Court a petition
Octo. l 1691 to be established a people by themselves
for the maintainance of the ministry amongst them &
whereas the Honoured Genrll Court at a session of yrs
in Boston 14th of Octobr 1691 ordered yt a copy of sd
petition be sent to the Towne of Newbury and that
oportunity be given them at the next sitting of the
Court to present what they have to offer why the
petioners should not be granted what they move for,
if they have anything against it.

The inhabitants of the Towne did then by vote
manifest ymselves against the new Townes men having yr
petition granted & did then desire ye worshippful
Jno Woodbridg Esq. Capt Peirce, Capt Noyes, Deacon
Noyes and ye selectmen to draw up a petition to ye
next sessions of ye Genll Court in the behalf of the
Towne in way of answer to ye now Towne mens petition

 

“oJoshua Coffin, gr. git., p. 156.
ulFrederic Lewis Weis, an, s1t., p. 205.
42Joshua Coffin, 9p, sit., p. 156.

191

& that Capt Noyes should manage ye sd afare in the

gigiif33°f ye Towne at ye next session of ye Genll
Unpersuaded by the committee's arguments, West Village
defended its actions once again in March, 1692.44

While it is not known how effective Tompson was
in the strife-ridden West Village church, it is obvious
that he had a strong desire to become minister. Had he not
harbored this aspiration, it is doubtful that he would have
left Simsbury, where he was apparently highly esteemed, only
to enter into an uncertain situation in Newbury. He might,
however, have miscalculated in deciding to return to New-
bury. Yet, regardless of the wisdom of his initial deci-
sion, once he found himself in the midst of the controversy,
he determined to fight it out.

The intensification of Tompson's opposition was
clearly evident on December 20, 1692, when Newbury decided
to "call another minister at the west end of the towne'I even
though twenty-two of the men from West Village, desiring to
retain Tompson, entered their dissent against this measure.“5

Nonetheless, since the majority were in favor of the action,

a committee was formed on December 27, 1692 I'to enquire

 

“3John J. Currier. Bisigzx_2£_flaxhnrxi_hassi.
1535-1292. 9p, a1t., p. 348.

M"Joshua Coffin, anr_a1t., p. 157.
“5111151.. p. 158.

192

after a suitable person to preach to the west end and to

keep schoole.'46
On May 10, 1693, a town meeting was held and the

following action was taken:

It was voted yt Mr John Clarke be chosen to
Asist Mr John Richardson in the worke of the ministry
& to help at the west end of the Towne of Newbury to
preach to them for one yeare in order to further
settlement as the Church & Towne shall agree & also
to keepe a Gramer Schoole for wch the ad Towne engages
to allow sd Mr Clark Rationall satisfaction if he
except of the worke.

However, Reverend John Clark, a native of Newbury and a 1690
graduate of Harvard College, did not easily assume the
position.’+8 Still desiring to keep its first choice for the
ministry, West Village refused to accept the town's
decision, as evidenced from Oldtown's May 31, 1693 petition

to the General Court:

. . . (that) a long difference has existed between the
people of Newbury, and those in the west end of the
town about calling a minister, that the west end
people had called Mr. Edward Tomson to preach to them
without acquainting the minister, church or towne

with their proceedings in that affair, the which when
our town did understand that they were about to bring
him into town, the town being met to consider of it by
their vote did declare that they were against his

 

“6112151.

47John J. Currier, Histgry of Newhury, Mass,,
.16352122;a_22a_21109 pp- 348-349.

“BCIifford K. Shipton, Biographiga1 Skatghss 9:
Those W A ended Ha d Co e e in he C sses -

00 W1 Bi 0 a i an 0 he N es, Vol. IV
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933),

pp. 39-400

193

coming, or any any other until the church and town
were agreed, yet they persisted in their design and
brought him in, and when he was come in our minister
warned him to forbear preaching till the church and
town were agreed, yet he presumed to set up a lecture,
and preach without any allowance of ministers, church
or town, which when the church did understand, they did
call him to account, and declared their dislike of his
irregular proceeding, yet he hath presisted in these
irregularities to the great disturbance of our peace,
and since upon request of the severall of the
inhabitants of the west end of our towne, called
another minister, Mr. John Clark, who hath accepted

of the call, and yet there are severall, who refuse

to accept of him, pretending they are bound to said
Tompson, which agreement they made when the rest of
their neighbors were about to make application to the
town, which was since the late law was made to direct
the town to call the minister.

As in previous petitions, Oldtown continued to
emphasize its contention that the conduct of those at West
Village was illegal. In truth, Oldtown had a rather strong
argument because a firm precedent had been established for
hiring both the minister and the schoolmaster on the basis
of the votes of all the freemen. Since West Village was
still a part of Newbury, argued Oldtown, it had no legal
right to hire a minister without the consent of the entire
community.

Although there is no indication that the Oldtown
freemen disliked Tompson, his persistence in preaching
despite the opposition of the majority of the town must have
resulted in some antagonism toward him. Nevertheless, the

fact remains that instead of opposing Tompson per se, Oldtown

 

u9Joshua Coffin, ara_ait., pp. 158-159.

194

was, in essence, arguing against the contention that a
minority of the town should have the right to take independ-
ent action in selecting a minister or schoolmaster.

The West Village position was expressed adequately
well on June 15, 1693 in still another petition to the
General Court:

We have been endeavoring above these five years to
have the publick worship of God established among us
on the Lord's day for reasons such as these. The

bulk of us live four miles from the ould meeting house,
some six or seven. Our number is above three hundred.
Few of us have horses, and if we could get down to the
ould meeting house, it is impossible it shoudl receive
us with them so that many (would) lay out of doors,

the house is so little. Some of us have groaned under
this burden this thirty years, some grown old, some
sickly, and although we were favored with the liberty
granted by king James the second and had erected an
house to the worship of God on our own cost and charge,
and acquainted the two next justices with our intent
before we built the said house. A committee of five
were appointed to come on the place, but before they
had finished their work, the governor arrived, who
granted us a protection from paying to the ould meeting
house, then countermanded it. The town had a meeting--
they intend to declude us by granting the help of a
schoolmaster at sometimes for one yeare. We believe
our neighbours would be glad to see us quite tired out.
We beg the honorable court to establish peace among us
a rational dividing line. June 15th,l693.50

Obviously, it was hoped that the Court's sympathy could be
won for those who could Only with great difficulty reach the
meetinghouse and, hence, had Igroaned under this burden this
thirty years, some grown old, some sickly.” They also
played upon the argument that the governor and, by implies-
tion, the General Court had engaged in vacillation of a

 

5011:1111. . p. 159.

195

nature that was harmful to the West Village cause.

We find, then, that both Oldtown and West Village
argued in favor of peace and that both cast aspersions upon
the other. Each side had, it would appear, sufficient
strength to give confidence to its adherents. Representa-
tives of both positions travelled to Boston, then, with at
least some confidence of victory. Yet, perhaps somewhat
fearful of wading into the less than tranquil waters of this
internal battle, the General Court took no definite action.51

In response to Boston's lack of leadership, New-
bury held a town meeting on July 5, 1693 and again discussed
the issue which was becoming as intense as that concerning
Reverend Thomas Parker from 1669 to 167252 and that con-
cerning Reverend John Emerson II from 1680 to 1681.53 After
a long debate, the following action was taken:

The Towne gave in theyr votes for the choyce of a
minister for the west end of the Towne in order to

a full settlement in the work of the ministry thrre,
the inhabitants then brought in theyr votes by papers
& Mr John Clafike was then chosen & not one vote

against him.5

Yet, despite the apparent unanimity of the decision,

abstentions had evidently been cast since twenty-five persons

 

51John J- Currier. Bisi2r1_sf_Nsnbumxl_Massi.
- 02 ., p. 349.

52Joshua Coffin, gp. sit., pp. 72-112.

53John J. Currier, History of Newbury, Mass,,
- 02 ., pp- 397-399-

541hido. p- 349.

196

from West Village entered their objections to calling Rev-
erend John Clark for the reason that "the new towne people
have a minister already.'55 Although the twenty-five were
outvoted, Clark, perhaps desiring to preach to a more sym-
pathetic congregation, declined to assume the pulpit which
had been offered to him.56 On February 21, 1694, in an
attempt to persuade Clark to remain in Newbury, the town
offered the following inducement:

. . . twenty pounds in money and fifty pounds in

graine was voted to ye reverend Mr. John Clarke so

long as he carry on the worke of the ministry.57
Clark served as schoolmaster during the 1693 to 1694 aca-
demic year.58 However, he did not accept Newbury's offer
of the ministry and, in the spring of 1694, he moved to
Exeter, New Hampshire, where he took a pulpit.59

Meanwhile, Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I,

also a native of Newbury and a 1691 graduate of Harvard

College, was asked by the town to preach at West Village.60
On May 28, 1694, Toppan replied that, although he could

 

55Joshua Coffin, apa_ait., p. 159.

56John J. Currier. WEE...
- 02 ., p. 350.

57Joshua Coffin, an, git., p. 160.
58Clifford K. Shipton, 9.121.211... p. no.
59112111.

60John J - Currier. MW.
Iéis—lgnz. 9”. “it" p. 3500

 

197

not answer affirmatively, he was willing "to help in the
work of the ministry in Newbury for a year in order to
further settlement as Gods providence shall make way."61

The by now flagrant controversy was hardly over

and on September 5, 1694 another petition was sent to a

General Court which must have been weary of contending

with Newbury's difficulties:
. . . in behalf of the company, that as they had
erected a meeting house, and supplied themselves with
a minister yet nevertheless our distresses do
continually grow upon us toward an insupportable
extremity, since the imprisoning of some of our number
for their Signifying our desire to enjoy the minister,
whom we had formerly invited to preach in the meeting
house, which we built at our own cost and charge, and
some of us have been fined for not delivering up the
key of the said meeting house.

On October 22, 1694, another election was held in Newbury

with the result that:

The town brought in theyr votes by papers (for)
the west end of the towne of Newbury and Mr. Christophgr
Toppan had sixty-five votes and Mr. Tompson seventeen. 3

The major outcome of the 1689 to 1695 controversy

was that the Second Church in Newbury, later the First
Church in West Newbury, was organized. It would appear that
this modification was inevitable largely because of West
Village's determination to pursue a tenable position. Other

than having delayed the creation of another parish,

 

6lChristopher Toppan I, quoted, Ihig., p. 332.
62Joshua Coffin, an. sit., p. 160.
53111111.

198

Oldtown's only apparent victory was in forcing West Village
to accept a minister other than Tompson. Nonetheless, it
is unlikely that anything resembling a harmonious relation-
ship could have existed in Newbury had there not been a
division of the First Parish. Hence, Oldtown's acquies-
cence in the face of most of West Village's demands is
perhaps best viewed as a strategic retreat.

On December 21, 1694, shortly after Toppan had
been selected as Newbury's fifth minister:

Col. Daniel Pierce Esqr. Capt Thomas Noyes, Cornt
Goerge March & Abraham Merril & Ensigne Joseph Little
were by vote chosen to be a committee to draw up such
articles and proposals as they may think most conven-
ient in order to seting.off part of the West end of
the Town for ye maintaining of ye ministry among them
& to present what tgey shall do therein to ye Town at
their next meeting. 4

On January 1, 1695. it was voted that:

Pipe-stave hill near Daniel Jaques house sha11 he
the place for the meeting house, and those that live
nearest to that place shall pay to the ministry there
and those that live nearest to the old meeting house
shall pay there, the inhabitants at the West end to
choose a minister for themselves, only Mr. Tompson
excepted. The meeting house to stand where it as until
the major part of them see cause to remove it. The
dividing line shall be from the middle way from the
prefixed place in Pipe-stave hill and the old meeting
house, to run on a straight line to Francis Brown's
house near Birchen meadows and so straight over to
the little pond.65

 

6(“John J. Currier, History 9: Newhury, Mass,,
.- 02 o, p. 3500

65Joshua Coffin, 9p. git., p. 161.

199

It was not until six years after the controversy
had first come to a head that the Second Parish was formally
established. On December 18, 1695, Judge Tristram
Coffin II,66 Henry Short II, who had been Newbury's fourth
schoolmaster, and Abraham Merrill67 divided the town into

two parishes and recorded the following:

Upon the request of the inhabitants of the West
end of the town of Newbury for the settlement of the
ministry then amongst them the town granted them five
acres of land on the East side of Artichoke River to
by Layed out so as may be most convenient for a
pasture for the ministry And an acre of land near the
West Meeting house for the building of a ministry
house. Both which paroles of land to be layed out by
a Comte chosen by the town for that end, provided
always that this our grant shall not prejudice the
vote of the town of Jan. 1, 1694-5 where in liberty
for the removal of the west meeting house is granted
And when a Major part of the inhabitants according to
sd vote shall see cause to remove the sd meeting house
that then the sd five acres of land here in allotted
for a pasture for ye ministry for the West end of the
town shall be at the disposition of the town to
procure Land for ye ministry near the West Meeting
house when removed, and also yt It shall be in the
power of the Major part of ye inhabitants of ye West
end of the town to dispose of the acre of land and
housing yt may be built there upon for the procuring
of a ministry house near the sd meeting house when
removed or another one built. The town also at this
meeting gives the West end power to choose a man
amongst them to make assessment for the ministry and

 

66Louis Coffin, ed., Tha Cofiflin Family (Nantucket,

Massachusetts: Nantucket Historical Association, 1962),

p. In136 and Richard Edward Kelly, Ahgsstral Recora at tha

._ Dea . _Ri a . Eqwa . Ke, e a. My Lo,”-
IEHHMFEE’ KZ- , Vol. 1 Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop,

1969 , p. 21.
67Joshua Coffin, 9p. sit., p. 309.

200

for building and repairing of the West Meeting house
angiggryygabuilding and repairing a house for the
On November 10, 1698, nearly a full decade after the initial
call for the creation of another parish, Reverend Samuel
Belcher, a 1659 graduate of Harvard College, was ordained
as the first minister of the Second Parish.69
Throughout the controversy, Tompson continued to
hope that his support in West Village would enable him to be
chosen as the minister of the Second Parish. Nonetheless,
despite his optimism, on January 1, 1695, when West Village
was given the opportunity to "choose a minister for them-
selves, only Mr. Tompson excepted,"70 the west end of the
town apparently decided to sacrifice Tompson in the interest
of achieving the autonomous parish they desired.
Consequently, by 1695 Tompson clearly understood
that he had no future in Newbury. Although Simsbury,
Connecticut, voted unanimously to rehire him, he declined.71
Marshfield, Massachusetts, a town approximately ten miles

north of Plymouth, had also manifested an interest in him

and in 1696 he was ordained as the fourth minister of the

 

68John J- Currier. W.
léis—IQQZ. 2‘2: cite, p0 3510

69John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, Quito. p. 42.
70Joshua Coffin, arr_ait., p. 161.
71Noah A. Phelps, wit” p. 52.

201

Congregational Church.72 In a personal memorandum, Tompson
recorded the specifics of his installation:

The Church gave me, Edward Tompson, a call; I was

ordained 14 Oct. 1696, in the 3lst year of my age.

My text was Isaiah 6: 9 and 10. Mr. Samuel Torrey

of Weymouth gave me my Charge. Mr. Ichobod Wiswall

of Duxbury gave me the right hand of fellowship.73

On March 16, 1705, while ministering to the people

at Marshfield, Tompson suddenly died "of a consumptive
disease."74 He was not yet forty years of age. The BQ§IQD
Nsws-Latter, which had been established on April 24, 1704 as
the second paper in the colonies,75 printed the following
news of Tompson's death:

Marshfield, March 19. On Fryday last the 16th

Currant, Dyed the Reverend Mr. Edward Thgmnsgn

Pastor of this place, and was buryed this Day.'?6

The following was engraved on his tombstone in Marshfield:

 

72John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, as, sit., p. 308.

73Edward Tompson I, quoted in, Frederick Chase,
gr, git., p. 113.

74John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, apr_git., p. 308.

750.3. Brigham, "The Colonial Newspaper,” Qigtian:

ary_gr_aaariaah_3istgry, James Truslow Adams, ed., Vol. I
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940), p. 420 and Mary
Farwell Ayer, "Check-List of Boston Newspapers, 1704-1780,“
P.) i 11.9 o T16 C0041; S _‘ - Mar-a Ls:

Qulleeticns. Vol. Ix 1907 , p. 15.

76Th§ Bastoh News-Letter. No. 49 (March 14-26,
1705): p' 2'

202

HERE LXES YE ASHES
OF YE REVEREND LEARNED
& PIOUS MR EDWARD TOMPSON
PASTOR OF YE CHURCH OF
MARSHFIELD WHO SUDDENLY
DEPARTED THIS'LIFE MARCH
YE 16TH 1705
ANNO AETATIS 40.

Here in a Tyrant's Hand Does Captive Lye

A Rare Synopsis of Divinity

Old Patriarchs, Prophets, Gospel Bishops Meet,
Under Deep Silence in Their Winding Sheet;

All Best Awhile in Hopes and Full Intent

When Their King Calls, To Meet in Parliament.77

As notable a divine as Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather
noted that Tompson was one of “no less than.sayan young
Ministers, brought up among us (who) had been taken away by
the Stroke of Daath.'78 An almost eerie number of Congrega-
tional ministers died in 1705, two of whom, Tompson and
Clark, had been schoolmasters at Newbury.79 Ever mind-
ful of the precariousness of mortal existence, Mather
was moved by these deaths to preach a sermon on the

”Readiness for the coming of the Lord."80 During this same

period. he also wrote WWW

 

77John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, ML. pp.
308-309.

7800tton Mather, "Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-
1708," M s H o S C ,
Seventh Ser., Vol. VII 1911 , p. 525.

7911211.

8011219..

203

Lars fgghg Raady fer the Gaming 9: the Lard (1706),81 in
which he considered the same theme.

Tompson had been one of the more widely published

Newbury schoolmasters. One of his works, Ah Elagiash
Tribhta (1686),82 published as a broadside, eulogized
Reverend Seaborn Cotton, the third Congregational minister
of Hampton, New Hampshire.83 A poem of ninety lines, a
fragile copy is preserved in the Library of the Massachu-
setts Historical Society. The following excerpt suggests
the form and content of the work:

If teens &.£eans. or Means & greens were verse.

How aaala 1, Q2211 I, fihflfllfi I grace the Herse
Of this vast soul; of which th' unworthy earth

Was ner'e so much as honour'd with the Birth.

The grandest birth ere Amrhitrita had:

To rock his Cradle Angels they were glad.

By Winds & Wales. & prosp'rous Qales.before
Heav'n sent by §aa his haayin:harn_soul to shara.
Whose Earth, whose harks, whose Lira and Wa11:spaht Dayes
I need to imitata but not to praisa.--

I ever hated flatt'ring of the dead.

(Without all fraud) it may, must. shall be se'd
He was a Gemm, gay, Jawa1, Haaa and Hard,

,Lisht. Lite. Stem. Btsflfl. & Oracle of our Land.
Hand things he scald. abscune he hzeuaht.tc.§isht.
Fast to the lama he was: to Blind a Lig_t.

81Cotton Mather, VigiJahtas gr, a Seryaht at the
I. Re d C ’ L Boston:
B . Green, 1706 ) .

82Edward Tompson I, A E e i T bu

53.. -. D s . h- R-ve - d and Wor h M . Seabo Co 01
I?2, <m1 . 4- Chu . C is a Hamo o Ne.-Elila i:
.so we. Q1- 1. :‘q 0 11. We ad; 0, ° ‘ o o- ..m' ‘1
H A 0 86 Boston: broadside, 1.86 .

83John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I,.QDL_Q;§'J
pr). 286-293.

204

Bars to the deaf. ,éizensth.to the feeble Knee.
A haath to damp. A Churches aya was hee.
Hands to the helpless ones. Stay to the Weak.

The faint he ahaarid: to wicked swards he'd speak.
An haart to heartless. A Souls guid, to heea

And fright off yalyas & tiahad from Christ's sheep.
He drag & draya, waa'd, tarrdd with all his might
Mens souls, by laya, by fear, by iaraa, by Frig t.
Never had Body such a Soul within:

Vice-hater, and a Thunder-bolt to Sin.

Oh how he studiid. Dam. resent. parallels; too!
His words, warts, light & lifia_together grew.

A Mirrour and a Master-peice of Art.

His head was full of Light, of Graaa his heart.

He did not seek the Churches Qaads but Qaad:

'Twas than not thairs he sought. 0 what a hraad
His sed'lous care. 1ame..labeur. Bred. fed. raisld’
What earth does hide, in.haayah,will be praisid,
Modest, mild, meek was he. A gracious grave
Pattern and Patron. Souls to strive to save

He made his HOLE his wages. Souls to gain

He nere gruteht Ilflfia lahgur. life. strength or.Daiu-
To make souls start, smart, {gel to heal, he spar'd
No cost, no means: let Heav'n.ragard, rayard.

One while he'd dram, then thunder, yet anon

He'd bring to calm souls an.dhadyhan.

Scarce second to an Angel was his Tongue.

I wonder how he tarried here so long,

When fitted for the Angels company;

(That high, that holy, heavenly Hlararahl)

That he wasn't hous'd before, but left to stag
Till ominous sins did fright this Saint away. 4

Seven years after Tompson's death, his manuscript
.for Haayeh tha hast Corntry, a major work of 126 pages, was
:published.85 It was dedicated by a number of Congregational

Ininisters, viz., Reverend Nehemiah Hobert, of Newton,

8“Edward Tompson I, An Elegiaah Trihata, aa, ait.
85Edward Tompson I, Haayar tha hast Caghtry, Baihg
3- e . he La Medi . ion . d Dis on e- o . Fai . u
S a 2-! 0 J“ HS Ch . M o EVU._ 0 TomS00_q_ L. e P._ 0 o,
“ C41 ,1 111118. - Q i 1.419,- Bell- D‘eO. " Sore e 1

Boston: B. Green, 1712 .

205

Massachusetts;86 Reverend Zechariah Whitman, of Hull, Massa-
chusetts;87 Reverend Peter Thacher I, of Milton, Massachu-
setts;88 Reverend John Norton II, of Hingham, Massachusetts;89
Reverend John Danforth, of Dorchester, now Boston;90 and
'Nath. Eells.‘I In their introductory comments they indi-
cated a deep respect for the Christian life Tompson had led:

Behold a most Lively and Lovely Map of the
Heavenly Country, by the kind Providence of our
LORD JESUS CHRIST, is here Presented you, Extracted
out of the Holy Scriptures, New Drawn by the hand,
& Heart of a Faithful and Skilful Man of GOD, while
he was on the TOP of the Mount, in the clear View of,
and just Entring into, that Glorious & Holy Land of
Promise . . . this Author's Grand-father was Renowned
in England, Virginia, and New-England, for a worthy
Confessor of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a Seraphical
Minister and Pastor of the Church of Braintrey; of
which Church afterwards our Authors Father was for
many Years a Deacon, of excellent Vertue, exemplary
Holiness, & Usefulness, and marvellously gifted for
Prayer, and faithful to the Death; the vertue & force
of the blessed Covenant act being spent & extinct in
them, but extending to our Author also. Let us then
Pray & Hope that the survivor; & Successors in this
precious Lineage may inherit the Blessings of their
Progenitors; and that the Readers may be Taught to
Profit.91

 

86John Farmer, aa, alt., p. 146.
87Ihid., p. 315.

88Edward H. Dewey, ”Peter Thacher,‘ Diatianary at
£ymariaarrtiagraahy, Dumas Malone, ed. Vol. XVIII (New York:
(Zharles Scribner's Sons, 1936), pp. 389-390.

89John Farmer, aa. ait., p. 207.
_ 9QIbido. p- 77-

91Nehemiah Hobert, Zechariah Whitman, Peter
Thacher I, John Norton 11, John Danforth and Nathaniel Eells,
Dedication,ll in Edward Tompson I, Hea

Me, pp. 1, iii‘iVe

206

Tompson's personal convictions are well illus-

trated in the following excerpt from flaayar_tha_hast
99131112121:

Heaven is far better than any Earthly Country:
It is to be preferred, and pursued after above any,
yea, above all other Places: Phil. 1.22, To be with
Christ (i.e., in Heaven) is far better than to be any-
where here below, Psal. 87. 3 (Hebr. NIKEBADOTH:) Most
Honourable & Glorified Things are spoken of thee, 0
City of God! By the City of God thus spoken of, nextly
is meant the Church, & Typically, and ultimately is
meant Heaven, Psal. 103. ll. Isa. 55. 9. The Heaven
is high above the Earth, not only in Place, but in
Price: No Country like the City of God above. It is
the true Eutopia: It is good for us to get thither,
and dwell there . . .92

Consisting primarily of logically supported reasons for
statements of faith, the work makes ample use of quoted
Scripture.

When Tompson died, his eight children were
still in childhood or adolescence.93 His eldest son,

Reverend Samuel Tompson I, graduated from Harvard College

92Edward Tompson I, Haayeh tha test Caahtry,
W's Po 30

93Frederick Chase, aa, ait., p. 114 and Albert C.
Bates, aa,_a_1t., p. 22. The children were Sarah, born
fihay'll, 1688; Ann, born December 31, 1689; Samuel I, born
September 1, 1691; Edward II, born May 14, 1695; William III,
born April 26, 1697; John, born September 17, 1699; Joseph,
bOrn 1704; and Abigail. Although the youngest child's
Precise birthdate is unknown, she was obviously born some-
‘tilne in 1705, either shortly before or shortly after her
father's early death.

207

in 1710.94 After spending a short time as a schoolmaster,
he was ordained on November 28, 1716 and, until his early
death on December 8, 1724, he was the first minister of the
Second Congregational Church in Gloucester, Massachusetts.95
Another son, Dr. Edward Tompson II, was a physician at
Haverhill, Massachusetts.96 Reverend William Tompson III,
the third son, graduated from Harvard College in 1718.97

He preached, successively, at Wells, Maine; Gloucester,
Massachusetts; Newbury, Massachusetts; Kingston, New Hamp-
shire; and Scarborough, Maine.98 The two other sons, John
Tompson, of Pomfret, Connecticut, and Joseph Tompson, of
Falmouth, Maine, were both farmers.99 The only known
information pertaining to the two older daughters is that
one married a Mr. Clark and the other married a Mr. Thomas.100

Abigail Tompson, the youngest child, married Stephen

 

94011fford K. Shipton. Wham

Thase Wha Attended Haryard Callage la the Classes 1791-
1212, With Bihliagraahiaal ahd Other Natas, Vol. V Boston:

Massachusetts Historical Society, 1937 , pp. 544-545.
95 m.
96Frederick Chase, aa, ait., p. 114.
97Clifford K. Shipton, Biographiaal Shetahes at

1710 e Who A eldee H. '€_. Co ‘i‘ '1 - C e--‘S _ -
W' Bi '0 hi a n 0 e N 3, Vol. VI Boston:
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1942), pp. 284-286.
981hid.

99Frederick Chase, oa. ait., p. 114.
lOOIth,

208

Longfellow II, a Newbury locksmith and blacksmith who was
the step-son of Henry Short II, the town's fourth school-
master and town clerk.101

It is significant to note that, although undoubt-
edly handicapped by their father's early death, two sons
became ministers, one became a physician and two became
farmers. Clearly, the intellectual and social prominence
of the family was maintained through at least the family's
fourth generation, of which Tompson's children were
members.

Newbury's hiring of Tompson as the seventh school-
master appears to indicate a return to a more sincere
respect for learning. As noted in the previous chapter,
of the three men who served as schoolmaster between 1675
and 1684, none was published and during only one of the
academic years within this period was the schoolmaster a
college graduate. By contrast, Tompson was a graduate of
Harvard College as well as a published author of some
repute. Despite his controversial ministry at West Village
during the early 16903, he was, in general, a well reSpected
minister and schoolmaster. Perhaps most indicative of a
changed direction for the Newbury school is the fact that
{Tompson was far more similar to Reverend James Noyes I and

Iieverend Thomas Parker than he was to his three predecessors.

*

101John J. Currier, "OQJQ Newpuzy'; Histgziggl and
E3 1 S e ‘ ., pp. 305-312.

209

Consequently, his schoolmastership may be seen as a turning
point in the history of Newbury's education.

Since Newbury's major educational controversy of
the late 16803 and early 1690s has been elaborated upon in
conjunction with the life of Tompson, it shall not be
repeated even though Reverend John Clark, the ninth school-
master, and Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I, the tenth
schoolmaster, were deeply effected by it. Rather, the
remainder of this chapter is devoted to biographical studies
of Clark and Toppan and of Reverend Seth Shove, the eighth
schoolmaster, and Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster I, the
eleventh schoolmaster. To avoid repetition, the controversy
is referred to only at such times as it directly effected
the lives of the remaining schoolmasters of seventeenth
century Newbury.

Newbury's eighth schoolmaster, Reverend Seth
Shove, was born on December 10, 1667, in Taunton, Massachu-
setts.102 His parents were Reverend George Shove and
Hopestill (Newman) Shove.103 Reverend George Shove was the
third minister of the Congregational Church in Taunton and he
had been one of the proprietors of the Taunton North Pur-

<3hase, a section of land which consisted of the present

k

102New England Historic Genealogical Society,
V__ a Beco q_ 0 To 0; M. : O-_‘ f o 1‘ Ye 8 O,
‘701. I Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society,

1929), p. 387'
103John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, M” p. 400.

210

towns of Norton, Easton and Mansfield, Massachusetts.10’+
Although he had studied at Harvard College from 1650 to
1652, he did not remain to receive his Bachelor of Arts
Degree.105 Yet, he was ordained at Taunton on Novem-
ber 19, 1665 and he continued to serve as the town's minister
until he died on April 21, 1687.106

On the maternal side of his family, Reverend Seth
Shove was also descended from ministerial stock. His grand-
father, Reverend Samuel Newman I, was born at Banbury, Eng-
land, in 1600 and was baptized on May 24, 1602.10? In 1620,
Newman received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Edmund
Hall, Oxford University, and from 1625 to 1635 he was the
Congregational minister at Ecclesfield, Yorkshire, Eng-
land.108 Circa 1636, he emigrated to New England where, in
1644, after having lived at Weymouth, Massachusetts, he be-
came the first Congregational minister of the newly settled

 

10”Seth Shove, “Letter from Rev. Seth Shove, of
Simsbury, Conn., to Capt. Samuel Sewall, of Boston, 1692,"

William Blake Trask, ed., The New EngJQQQ Histgzical 2nd
Gengglggigal Register, Vol. XVIII, No. 1 January, 18 4 ,
p. 69.
105John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I, 9p. git., p. 554.
105Itig.

107Samuel Eliot Morison, T e F i H
sazuuzaia_ani_ciio. Do 391-

108Ihjd.

211

Rehoboth, Massachusetts.109 A noted scholar, he was the
author of A Large ard Cgmpletg angordangg to the Biblg in
English (1643),110 which was, for some years, the standard
concordance used by Puritans in both Englands.111

Reverend Seth Shove received his Bachelor of Arts
Degree in 1687 from Harvard College.112 In 1690, when he
returned to Cambridge to receive his Master of Arts Degree,
he presented an affirmative argument to the question, 'An
Conservatio sit continuata creatio?"113 On October 18,
1687, a few months after taking his first degree, Shove
succeeded Tompson and became Newbury's eighth school-
master.114 He was aided in achieving this position by
Judge Samuel Sewall, into whose household he had been taken
as a youth and through whose financial and intellectual

assistance he had been educated.115 In a July 15, 1687

 

loglhid. and John Farmer, 92. git., p. vii.
110Samuel Newman I, A Large and Complete Contord-
Ac 1 o

e to e Bi E

Trgnglattgn London: Thomas Downes and James Young, 1643).
1118amm-31 Eliot Morison. WW

Co]]§g§, Qp. git., p. 391.
112John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III,,gpt_g;t.,

p. 400.
113mg.” p- 369-
114John J. Currier, History of Newbury, Mfl§§g,

— 0 . ., p. 400. .

ll5T.B. Strandness, S mu S a : A P

QEQILnfilL (East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State Univer-

sity Press, 1967), p. 55.

212

letter to Newbury's minister, Reverend John Richardson I,
Sewall suggested that Shove be hired as the schoolmaster:

I am apt to think such an exercise may be an
advantage to his studies, especially respecting the
tongues, as much as if he should live at Cambridge
these three years, which doubt he will not find
convenience for. He has Liv'd in our house, Sundry
years and have found him a person of sobriety and
Commendable behavior, and I hope going abroad will
benefit him upon that account and qualify that
modesty, or whatever it be, that might be a hinderance
to good manners.11

Yet, despite Sewall's letter, Newbury was still
considering whom to hire in the fall of 1687, as evidenced

from the decision made in a town meeting on September 6,

1687:

The Towne considering the great advantage &
benefit that have been & may be to ye Towne by
promoting of Learning among us do desire ye Revnd
Mr. Richardson and ye selectmen to procure an able
schoolmaster for us for ye Teaching of children to
Read write & cipher and to ffit them for the Colledge
and for ye (maintenance) of a schoolmaster we do
promise to give twenty pounds for ye first yeare
in good country pay, besides what the schollars
shall give, and also five pounds for this yeare to
each end of ye Towne to be disposed of by ye select-
men according to ye discretion to such schoolmasters
as shall be improved for ye teaching of children to
Read, write & cipher. But if ye ends of the Towne
shall neglect to procure a schoolmaster to teach to
reade, write & cypher as aforesd that then ye whole
thirty pounds shall go to ye Latin schoolmaster.117

This document is of particular value for the light it sheds

on Newbury's eXpectations of its school, i.e., that the

 

116Samuel Sewall, quoted in, John Langdon Sibley,
Vol. III, gnt_g1t., pp. 400-401.

117John J. Currier, H' N b M 9
16 " 02 o, p. “'00.

213

institution should teach the youth how to read, write and
compute mathematical figures as well as to 'ffit them for
the Colledge” at Cambridge. A desire was also expressed
to maintain educational standards in Oldtown and in the
more distant parts of the town. The fear of the possible
deterioration of educational quality was probably generated
by a relaxation of standards in West Village and Riverside
Village. Nonetheless, the respect for traditional educa-
tion remained strong enough to enable the hiring of Shove
as "ye Latin schoolmaster,” rather than as a teacher of,
let us say, a more "practical" field of knowledge.

In addition to Newbury's Reverend John Richard-
son I,118 the committee which was formed on September 6,
1687 "to procure a schoolmaster” consisted of the town's
selectmen, viz., Representative Daniel Pierce II,119

Judge Tristram Coffin II,120 Sergeant Nathaniel Clarke I,

 

118J0hn Langdon Sibley, V010 II, M”

119David w. Hoyt, The 01QFW111e§ efls a1i§bury

an: AueSQ-,' M 88. 1 S‘ S W° 1 Sana R- q -. “:u

%£ Newbury, Harerhi11, Ipswieh, and Hampton, Vol. I
Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1897 , p. 285 and Richard
Edward Kelly, A; e . Rec- 1 . 4- F.mi . Dee 04
R 1:. 0.- Eowaq Ke ; o A e Loise W Ke ,

Vol. II Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1969 , p. 67.

120Louis Coffin, ed., ept_eit., p. 136 and
Richard Edward Kelly, Vol. I, ggt_ejt,, p. 21.

214

the father of Newbury's ninth schoolmaster,121 Represent-
ative Richard Bartlett I1122 and Joseph Bailey 1.123 On
October 18, 1687, the committee reported to the town that:

Whereas ye Towne of Newbury at a meeting of
theyrs Sept. 6 last past did imploy us ye subscribers
a committee for ye procuring of a schoolmaster as in
the said vote may appear: We have accordingly now
agreed wth Mr Seth Shove to be ye lattin schoolmaster
for ye Towne for this present year & to performe sd
worke of a Lattin schoolmaster for reading, writing
and cyphering according to sd vote.12

Shove's contract was renewed each year and in
1690 his annual salary was increased from twenty pounds to
twenty-five pounds.125 In 1691, when another salary
increase brought his annual income to thirty pounds, he was

required to teach:

. . . readers free, Latin scholars six-pence per
week, writers and cypherers four pence per week,

to keep the school one third part of the year at

the middle of the new towne, one third part at the
school house, and the other third part about middis6
way between the meeting house and old town ferry.

 

121George Kuhn Clarke, The Deseehdente ef Natheh1e1
C ar e and H s Wi e E z e S me New u M -
e s: A His 0 Te Ge e t s 42- 2 (Boston:
privately printed, 1902 , p. 10.

122Genevieve Wilson Bartlett, Eerefether§_end
D: e1dan s or Wi a_q :1; Genev'iv- W 30; Ba - a1: .

A]]1ed Fem;]1ee, MQEJEQ%. MeGehee, Ehgrese Saint Louis:
privately printed, 1952 , pp. 5-8 and Richard Edward Kelly,

V01' II: M09 P0 12°
123John.Farmer, ept_e;t., p. 30.
12“John J. Currier. HiS32:1_oilflawhurxl_flaaai.

- 02 . O , p. “'00.

125.1121.
125Joshua Coffin, op, e1t., p. 156.

215

Since the instruction of Newbury's youth had been given
previously only in Oldtown,127 this action represented a
major modification of the school's structural organiza-
tion. The alteration led, as might be expected, to a
reduction in the educational uniformity which had char-
acterized the earlier decades of the seventeenth century.
Yet, as Bernard Bailyn contended, although a dramatic
bursting of the geographic boundaries of the germinal
settlements occurred, a decline in learning did not nec-
essarily result.128 It would appear, instead, that at the
onset of the 16903, Newbury initiated a necessary educa-
tional modification.

It should be understood that although the
district, or ”moving” school, became widespread during the
late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, this did
not mean that there was a complete break with the tradi-
tions of the town school of the earlier decades. Moreover,
to have prevented the creation of the district school at a
time when, due to a dispersal of the population, there was,
in all likelihood, a decline in demographic density, would

have prevented many youths from achieving even a minimum

 

127Sarah Anna Emery. Wm

Hgnaggnarian (Newburyport, Massachusetts: William H. Huse
and Company, 1879), p. 219.
128Bernard Bailyn, E u ' ' e Fo

 
 
   

An‘ 2 .1 So i- ' Neeo, a q 0990. 111 ie 0_ S 11
York: Vintage Books, 1960 , pp. 81-82.

216

of instruction. Although there was undoubtedly a lessening
of some of the rigors of scholarship, largely because
lessons were heard for a much shorter part of the year, the
countervailing factor of the school's being able to reach a
larger number of Newbury's youth was certainly of some sig-
nificance. That Shove was able to grapple with the exigen-
cies of the modification is a tribute to his effectiveness
as a schoolmaster.

Throughout his life, Shove retained his friendship
with Judge Sewall. In the fbllowing letter, he indicated
both his close association with the famous judge and some of

his religious convictions:

Simsbury, Sept. 10th, '92.
Honoured Sr:

I received yours, dated Augt: 25th: yesterd:
Return thanks for your Care of my Letter. Am glad to
hear of your Health, & ye Health of yours. The Feav:
and Ag: seized me July ye: 30th: & has not left me yet;
have been handled very moderately, yet not a little
weakned by reason of my extream sweating: Was detailed
at home 3 Savv: dayes. Had about a weeks Intermis(sion.)
People are well generally about here, except in Winsor,
several have had ye Tertian & Quartan Ague. Mr: Mather
& Mr: Woodbridge are well; Mr: Mather and Mr: Hooker have
visited me in my sickness. I thank you 3r: for ye news
you sent. Hope God will still goe forth with our Armies,
succeed ym; and grant them their desire upon yr Enemies,
yt ye Praise waiting in Sion may be given him. Am very
glad yt any more of those wicked Instruments of Satan
are found out. Hope yr will a spirit of Judgment be
given to such as sit in Judgment; further Discovery
made and Deliverance appear for ye miserably afflicted.

Gods Mercie is much to be admired who preserves
others whom ye Devil in as desirous and ready to exercise
his Malice towards wr: he permitted. Sr: I cannot be
unmindful of all your Kindnesses to me. Intended in way

217

of Return for ye Last to have sent you a Barrll, or 2
of Flower, but cannot find above a Bushl: or 2 of clear
Winter Wheat through out ye whole Town. Hope to have
some of my own growing next year. I hope (through Gods
blessing) I shall live (though a poor) yet comfortable
& contented Life. The People are unanimously desirous
Yt I would settle among ym: We have no news here.
Desiring your Prayers, I present my humble service &
hearty thanks to your self, Miss: Sewall & Mis: Hall,
forIall your Bounty to me, & Remain yours to serve in
wt can.

Seth Shove
For the Worshipful

camaraderiat

Clearly, Shove believed that during King William's War God
was on the side of the colonists and the English, rather than
on that of France. Concerning his personal life, he was
correct in stating that "the People are unanimously desirous
yt I would settle among ym” for, after leaving Newbury on
November 7, 1691, he succeeded Reverend Edward Tompson I as
Simsbury's Congregational minister.”O

After a ministry of several years at Simsbury,
however, Shove moved to Danbury, Connecticut, where he
became the town's first Congregational minister.131 Located

in southwestern Connecticut, approximately twenty miles

north of Norwalk, Danbury was one of the western outposts

 

129Seth Shove, op. cit., pp. 69-70.

130Noah A. Phelps, ep, eit., p. 52; Frederic
Lewis Weis, 92- eit., p. 187 and John Langdon Sibley,

Vol. III, ept_eit., p. 402.

131John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III..221_aito.
pp. 402-14'030

218

of Puritan New England.132 Although it was settled in the
spring of 1684, it had been without a minister until Shove's
arrival.133 The former Newbury schoolmaster was ordained on
October 13, 1697.13“ His ministry was so eminently success-
ful and influential that as late as 1885 John Langdon Sibley
found that when things did not turn out well in Danbury
someone was likely to state, I'It was not so in Mr. Shove's
day.'135 On October 3, 1735, one and one-half centuries
prior to Sibley's research, Shove died at Danbury in his
sixty-eighth year.136 Indicative of the town's opinion of
their departed minister is the following inscription on his

monument:

Here lyes buried the body of the Revd. Mr. Seth
Shove, ye Pious and Faithful Pastor of ye Church
in Danbury 39 years, wh died Oct. 3d, Anno Domini
1735. Aetatis Suae 68. 7

Surprisingly little is known about Shove's imme-
diate family. While James Savage vaguely wrote that he

 

l3ZSamuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager,
G f e A i R 5th ed., Vol. I (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1962), p. 93.

133Susan Benedict H111 11W.
.3 - 8'0 ° ' on N0 ‘f :10 Ma1us 9 9' J: m 8 M01 zone '
B311e1_ New York: Burr Printing House, 1896 , p. 521.
13“Frederic Lewis Weis, en. e1t., p. 187o
135John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, 221.21L-o p. 403.
136nm.
137William Blake Trask, ed., epr_e1t., p. 69.

219

“may have had a wife and children,"138 Shove's obituary
notice, which appeared in The Besteh News-Letter, indicated
that he had sired eight ohildren.139

Despite a strenuous attempt to locate the records
of Shove's offspring, much of the little that is known must
still be stated in negative terms. It is known, for
example, that none of his immediate descendants received
degrees, either from Harvard College or Yale College. In
the absence of factual data, it can only be conjectured that
his children became, in all likelihood, farmers or trades-
men. In any event, it is possible to conclude, with a fair
degree of certainty, that Shove's children and grandchildren
did not perpetuate the socio-economic status of their sire.

Other than the previously mentioned letter, Shove
is not known to have written anything which received pub-
lication. Moreover, in a comparative sense, he could not
be said to have been an especially prominent schoolmaster
or minister. He was fortunate, however, in that he held
several positions where he could function rather admirably,
perhaps largely due to personality and to a degree of

intellectuality appropriate to the circumstances of his

 

138James Savage. A.Esnaalsgissl_212iisnszx_2£_ihs

Fi s S: - 0 Ne E 1 1 q Showi ; Th ee Gene a 1018 0.
T4088 WQO Ca e Befo e M. 0'2 .1 18 Basi_ . F; m- I.
Regleter, Vol. IV Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1862).

p. 900

139The Beston News-Letter, No. 1656 (November 6,
1735): p' 2'

220

employment. It would appear, then, that Shove was an
amiable, rather capable individual whose nearly three
score years and ten were spent serving the Puritan cause
to which he had devoted his life.

Although Shove had moved from Newbury on Novem-
ber 7, 1691, his successor, Reverend John Clark, was not
hired until May 10, 1693.140 Precisely what educational
provisions existed during the one and one-half year interim
remains unclear. It must not be forgotten, however, that
Shove's resignation occurred shortly after the outbreak of
King William's War, a conflict which bore grave conse-
quences for a relatively peaceful New England. The
Puritans' fear of Roman Catholicism was now heightened
dramatically by the frequent attacks of the 'papist'
French and their Indian allies.”1 Yet, as Howard H.
Peckham wrote, ”the Puritans of New England were a commit-
ted people, ever ready to defend themselves and their

religion by force of arms if necessary.'142

 

140John J. Currier. Wm.
WM pp. 348-349-
1“1011ver Perry Chitwood, A H o C

Amerlga, 3rd ed., Harper's Historical Series, Guy Stanton
Ford, ed. (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961), pp. 308-

309.

1%Howard H- Peckham. W
lzfig, The Chicago History of American Civilization, Daniel
J. Boorstin, ed. (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,
1964), p. 26.

221

In the interest of military readiness, the colo-
nists organized a militia and required every able-bodied
man between the ages of sixteen and sixty to give four to
six days a year to inspection.and training.1u3 Exemptions
were granted only to ministers, magistrates, physicians,
schoolmasters, fishermen and students at Harvard College.1“4
It is unlikely that many Newburyites objected, however, for
the enemy's attacks occurred not far from home. Raids were
carried out at Salmon Falls, New Hampshire, on March 27,
1690; Portland, Maine, on July 31, 1690; Wells, Maine, on
June 21, 1692; and Haverhill, Massachusetts, on March 15,
1697.145 Even Newbury, which was hardly a frontier village
at this time, suffered a minor Indian offensive. 0n Octo-
ber 7, 1695, the house of John Brown I at Turkey Hill was
attacked and nine women and children were taken captive.146

There can be little doubt that the war did much

to retard the advancement of Newbury's education. Neither

 

“311m.
144m.

14531chard B- Morris. ado. W
H , Henry Steele Commager, cons. ed. New York:

Harper and Brothers, 1953), p. 62.
1“6John J. Currier, 'OEJQ Negtgr%': Htgter1§e1
W” M» 2 8-289.

222

Joshua Coffin147 nor John J. Currier,148 Newbury's two
first-rate historians, mentioned a single word pertaining
to the town's education between November 7, 1691 and

May 10, 1693. It must be assumed that any formal educa-
tion which was provided during this period was, in all
likelihood, the result of the efforts of Newbury's minister,
Reverend John Richardson I. At no point, however, did
Richardson assume the schoolmastership, as Reverend Thomas
Parker had done after the death of Reverend James Noyes I
in 1656.

Fortunately, Newbury did not wait for an exces-
sively long time before hiring a successor to Shove. More-
over, the town was propitiously disposed to select a
competent schoolmaster even though most of their attention
must have been directed towards the war which was then
raging not far beyond the comparatively quiet banks of the
Parker River.

Reverend John Clark, the ninth schoolmaster, was
born in Newbury on January 24, 1670.11"9 His father,

Sergeant Nathaniel Clarke I, a merchant, had been one of

 

1LWJoshua Coffin, gt, e1t., pp. 156-158.

148John J. Currier, Hietery of Nenhhrr, Me§§.,
1635:12221_sna_eii-. pp- 332. 401 518-519-

149The Essex Institute, Vi

.huI1a_MeSSsohuSeIi_l_I9_Ihe.§nd_o£_the_Yesr_l§&2. Vol-
Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911),

p. 104.

223

Newbury's earliest settlers.15O Sergeant Clarke strongly
supported Reverend Thomas Parker, rather than Representa-
tive Edward Woodman I, during the 1669 to 1672 contro-
versy.151

On August 15, 1690, while taking part in Sir
William Phips' expedition against French Canada, Sergeant
Nathaniel Clarke I died on board the ship "Six Friends."152
One of Newbury's most prominent men, he had held virtually
dozens of local offices.153 Among his more important
positions were those of selectmen, constable, tithingman
and naval officer for Newbury and Salisbury.154 His estate,
valued at 714 pounds and 9 shillings,155 was relatively
substantial for a middle aged Newburyite of the late seven-
teenth century.

Sergeant Clarke's wife, Elizabeth (Somerby) Clarke,
who was born in 1646 in Newbury, was the daughter of Henry

Somerby IV, the brother of Newbury's first schoolmaster,

 

150Joshua Coffin, gnt_ett., p. 298.
1511tie., pp. 74, 86,100.
152_h11., p. 298 and Viola F. Barnes, ”Sir William

Phips, ’ n 0 Am B , Dumas Malone, ed.,
Vol. XIVD(§§%2Y%5%7—ghar%§3g%%;i%fi§§fl§hgons, 1934), p. 551.
153George Kuhn Clarke, en. elt., pp. 9-23.
1541211.. pp. 11, 17-18.
1551h21., p. 27.

224

Anthony Somerby 1.156 Hence, Reverend John Clark was a
great-nephew of the first schoolmaster.

On August 8, 1698, nine years after the death of
Sergeant Nathaniel Clarke I, his widow married Reverend
John Hale I, who had been chaplain of the expedition in
which Clarke had lost his life.157 Hale received his Bach-
elor of Arts Degree From Harvard College in 1657 and in
1660 he received his Master of Arts Degree, presenting an
affirmative answer to the question, I'U Trum Intellectus et
voluntas sint facultates realiter distinctae?'158 As the
first Congregational minister of Beverly, Massachusetts, he
played a prominent role in the ecclesiastical affairs of
both the town and the colony.159 He achieved the greatest
attention through his initial support of the 1692 Salem
witchcraft trials.16o However, his sympathies were reversed
when his second wife, Sarah (Noyes) Hale, daughter of Rev-

erend James Noyes I,161 was charged with being a witch.162

 

156John Farmer, en, eit., p. 268.

l57John.Langdon Sibley, Vol. I, 221.91L-g Po 518-
1581DlQ-a pp. 509, 488.

l5?;hh1., pp. 509-520.

160Marion L. Starkey, The Deri1 1h Maseaehtsette:
A M e I ui Sa m Wi h T i New York: Time
Incorporated, 1963), pp. 25, 101, 113, 140, 171, 211-212.

161John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I, Mt” p. 517.

162Marion L. Starkey, ep. eit., pp. 223-224, 233°

225

Confessing the error of his earlier position, Reverend Hale
wrote A Megeet Ehghirr Into the Neture of Wgteherefit
(1702),163 a widely read repudiation of the Salem trials.
Although Clark was nearing thirty years of age when his
mother remarried, it is likely that his step-father aided
him in his ministerial career.

Reverend John Clark dropped the final letter from
his surname and, in 1690, he received the Bachelor of Arts
Degree from Harvard College.164 In 1693, presenting the
affirmative of the question, "An Motus fiat sine vacuo,“
his alma mater granted him the Master of Arts Degree.165
As far as can now be ascertained, Clark was more orderly
than were most of his classmates, for not a single infrac-
tion was recorded in the college's quarter-bill book.166
One of his manuscript notebooks, now owned by the Yale
University Library, includes extracts from the writings of
Reverend Dr. William Ames and other prominent Puritan
theologians, thereby illuminating at least a part of the

learning at Harvard College.

 

163John Hale I, A Megest Ehguiry Ihte the Nature
1 W 1 ., :1. How Pe ~118 G1 0, 1:. C iem. 06
C e : A h m n3 used fo thei Dis e Dis usse ,
.. 1 Neza i e_ end A _i ma 1 e . co din: o S r . u e
eng_§xperlehee Boston: B. Green and J. Allen, 1702 .

164C1ifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV, 221_oit-. p. 39-
165191Qo, p. “00
1661bid., p. 39.

226

During the Newbury controversy of 1689 to 1695,
Clark was the favorite of those at Oldtown, whereas his
predecessor in the schoolmastership, Reverend Edward
Tompson I, received the support of West Village. With
the majority of the town behind him, Clark could have con-
tinued as schoolmaster for far longer than one year.
Indeed, on February 21, 1694, he was offered twenty pounds
in money and fifty pounds in grain if he would I'carry on
the worke of the ministry.“167 Evidently disliking the
town's heightened controversy and desiring the ministry of
Exeter, New Hampshire, he declined the offer and was suc-
ceeded by Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan 1.168 This
action came near the end of Clark's only academic year as
schoolmaster.

On March 26, 1694, shortly before the inducement
to retain Clark, a meeting of Newbury's legal voters
entertained the following petition:

Capt Danll Peirce Esq., Capt Thomas Noyes, Lieut

Moses Gerrish, Mr Joseph Woodbridge, Mr Nathaniel
Coffin & Benjamin Morse in the behalfe of them selves
& neighbors for liberty to erect a little house by the
Rock between the end of Capt Noyes lane & Mr Woodbridge

for th accomodation of a good & sufficient schoole
dame.1

 

167Joshua Coffin, 9p. eit., p. 160.

168ijd,

169John J. Currier, His N w u Mas ..
lélfi:12921_£21_QlL-. Po 401-

227

The request was granted with the stipulation that the land
and the building would revert to the town if they were
utilized for any other purpose.170 This is the first known
formal interest in a school dame for the education of the
youngest pupils. The idea must not have been urged with
much immediacy, however, since the land was not specified
legally until July 24, 1704, a full decade 1ater.l71

In the midst of the highly divisive forces
operating within the Newbury church and school, Clark began
to preach at Exeter, New Hampshire, a town which, in April,
1694, took steps toward building a parsonage.172 We may
well surmise that Clark was encouraged by the prospect of
teaching and ministering in a town which universally
desired his services, a condition which could hardly be
said to have existed in late seventeenth century Newbury.
Although he understood that his opposition in Newbury was
of a sectional, rather than of a personal nature, such
reassuring thoughts were quite probably of insufficient
comfort to entice him to remain in the town of his birth.

On June 19, 1694, while preparing to move to
Exeter, Clark married Elizabeth Woodbridge at New Castle,

 

170Itie.
17llhido
172Char1es H. Bell, His e T

Exeter, Neg Hamtshire (Exeter, New Hampshire: J.E. Farwell
and Company, 1888 , p. 171.

228

New Hampshire.173 At the wedding ceremony, Reverend John
Cotton III, the Congregational minister of Hampton, New
Hampshire,174 and the grandson of the famous Reverend John
Cotton of Boston's First Church,175 preached a sermon
which was published in a twenty-four page volume.176 It
was, in essenCe, an elaboration upon Hebrews 13:4:
"Marriage 13 honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”

At the time of the marriage, Mrs. Clark's father,
Reverend Benjamin Woodbridge II, was the Congregational
minister of Bristol, Maine.177 He was the son of Reverend
John Woodbridge II, who was the third master of the Boston
Latin School178 and who became, circa 1645, the first Con-

gregational minister of the newly founded town of Andover,

 

173George Kuhn Clarke, eprhett., p. 274.

174John Langdon Sibley, Vol. III, 221.9110,
pp. 2-5-

175LaVerne C. Cooley, A Shert Bjegrephr e: the

3" J01; CO 01 0 B0_ 01 A10 2 CO 01 G‘dei.01' 9. Hi
Qeeeehgehte Batavia, New York: privately printed, 1945 ,
pp. 11-23, 25 and Richard Edward Kelly, Vol. II, ept_e1t.,

p. 64.

176John Cotton III, A Meet HeJQ, er, A weggihg
S‘ m01 P e. 18d 2 New—0., ‘ 11 N- —En: -11 J-1‘ '
0' A e Ma, 181‘ 0 My J01; C q . 81! M . E ao‘ .
Eeedhridge. Boston: B. Green and J. Allen, 1699 .

177John Farmer, 9p, eit., p. 328.
1783obert Francis Seybolt, gpt_e;t., pp. 3-4.

229

Massachusetts.179 After serving pulpits in England from
1647 to 1663, Reverend John Woodbridge II returned to New-
bury, where he was assistant minister to his uncle, Rev-
erend Thomas Parker.180 His father, Mrs. Clark's great-
grandfather, was Reverend John Woodbridge I, who received
his Master of Arts Degree in 1606, from Oxford Univer-
sity.181

Perhaps the most notable of Mrs. Clark's
ancestors were Governor Thomas Dudley, who was elected to
the governorship in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634,
1640, 1645 and 1650;182 Reverend John Ward II, the Con-
gregational minister of Haverhill, Massachusetts, from 1641
until his death in 1693;183 and Reverend Nathaniel Ward,

who served briefly as the Congregational minister of

 

l793amue1 Eliot Morison. The_Esundins_2£_Hszlazd
CQJJQgQI 9p, eit., p. 409.

180John J. Currier, Histerr efl Newbury, Me§§.,
1&35212Q2a_92L_91§°: PP- 316-322-

l813amuel Eliot Morison, The_Esundins_2£_Hazlazd
C e e o 0, p. “'09.

182James Truslow Adams, ”Thomas Dudley,“ Dietieh-
Ame i B h , Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone,
eds., Vol. V (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930),
pp. 48““485 o

183Samue1 Eliot Morison, Th F Ha
QQJJege, ep, e1t., p. 403.

 

 

 

230

Ipswich, Massachusetts,184 but was best noted for his
authorship of The Simple Cehler e: Aggewam in Ameriea
(1647).185

Exeter's first Congregational Church had been
established in 1638 by Reverend John Wheelwright who, like
his sister-in-law, Anne Hutchinson, was banished from the
colony for his Independency.186 Due largely to Wheel-
wright's banishment, the Exeter church had ceased to exist
some years prior to Clark's settlement.187 On Septem-
ber 18, 1698, however, Clark gathered twenty-five worship-
pers-together and three days later he was ordained.188
Only three other churches existed in New Hampshire at the
time of his ordination.189

 

184John Ward Dean, A Memoir of the Rey. Nathaniel
We 9 A-M¢ A 0 o 1‘ 5.!9 ‘ C099 ‘ 0 A18 1m 71 Ase i 5.

Wi h N i e his F mi Albany New York: Joel Munsell,
1868); Elizabeth Deering Hanscom, “Nathaniel Ward," Dietieh-
ary of American Biography, Dumas Malone, ed., Vol. XIX New
York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1936), p. 433 and Samuel Eliot

Morison, Bpllders ef the Bay Colpny (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1958 , pp. 217-243.

185Nathaniel Ward, The Sim e C r A w m i

Aler a. Wi ,in; 0 he 0 ame . is Na ive Co _ .me1 so
1 er-; bo h in e nosey-Lee e, . . s-_e wi _ a e

h2nasI_SIJIEEELIELIEEIIEmhi_L_n_s London: JoD. and 3.1.,
1647 .

186James Truslow Adams, "John Wheelwright,” Dietion-
ary of Ameriean Biegrephy, Vol. XX, op. cit., pp. 62-63.

187Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV, 9p. eit., p. 40.

188Ihid., p. 40.
189lpld., pp. 40-41.

231

Exeter provided him with a salary of sixty pounds,
as well as ten pounds in additional funds to procure fire-
wood and to keep the fences in repair.190 He was also
given one hundred acres of land I'upon the Neck,“ the only
stipulation being that he had to remain in Exeter for a
minimum of ten years for his heirs to receive title to the
property.191

On July 25, 1705, after a short, but successful
ministry at Exeter, Clark died in his thirty-fifth year.192
Much notice was taken of the death, both in Exeter and in
other New England towns. John Pike wrote in his journal
that Clark “deceased with extream vomiting &c. in less than
24 hours after he was taken Ill.”193 Reverend Dr. Cotton
Mather, Clark's friend and fellow laborer in the work of
the Gospel, wrote in Vigilantue (1706), that Clark was:

A very Timethy: One of whom, it might be said,
as our Cranmer said of a Divine that he had a value
for, He thinke of pethipg, He hopes fer nothing pet
JESUS CHRIST. A Good Man, always flaming with a Zeel
to Do Good: it even Censumed him. A Mi ou ; I had
almost said, a Miraele of Diligenee: One always

appendipg 1n the Work of the Lerg: that is to say, as
that Phrase has been by some of the Learned Glossed

upon; Doing something Eytraerdinery; Doing things
beyond the common rate of Erpeetetlep. Doing, Plpsgpem

 

1901p1g., p. 41.
191George Kuhn Clarke, epy_e1t., p. 272.
1921p1d.

193John Pike, quoted in, Clifford K. Shipton,
Vol. IV. 921.cito. p- 41.

232

geisguam Eyigere eudeet. And it may be told with

Admiration, His Labour was not in Vain for the Lord:
Admirable Suecess attended the Lebour: The whole Town
felt it. The were of God, in the management of this

Commendable Werkmeh, was notably Diyided unto the

Town; It ran and was GleEiEyed. He also Rap, and
soon arrived unto Glery.

In The Bosten News-Letter the following brief notice

appeared:

Piseetagua July 22 . . . This day the Reverend
Mr. Jehh Clarh, Minister of Eyeter is to be Interr'd,

who Dyed the 25 Instant, in the Flower of his Age,
whose Loss is universally lamented, being a rson of
indefatigable Industry, and Exemplary Piety. 9

Clark left an estate of over 800 pounds,196 a
rather large amount for such a young minister. Had he
lived beyond early middle age it is likely that his net
worth would have been even more substantial. Exeter paid
his widow the full amount of his salary and erected over

his remains a rather impressive tomb on which the following

was inscribed:

A prophet lies under this stone,

His words shall live, tho' he be gone,
When preachers die what rules the pulpit gave
Of living, are still preached from the grave.
The faith and life which your dear Pastor taught
Now in the grave with him, sirs, bury not.197

 

1940otton Mather, Vi an u A Se he

Lerd flephd Reedy fer the Ceming pf the Lerd, pp, cit.,

pp. 26-27.

1705), p. 2.

196011fford K. Shipton, Vol. IV, ppt_g1t., p. 41.
197Charles H. Bell, M” p. 176.

233

It is evident that Exeter retained its interest in Clark,
for in 1725, repairs on the tomb were made at the town's
expense.198

Clark was the father of four children.199 His
daughter, Deborah, became the wife of Exeter's physician,
Dr. Thomas Deane 11.200 Reverend Ward Clark, the youngest
child, received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1723 and his
Master of Arts Degree in 1726, both from Harvard College.201
On April 19, 1725, he was settled as the first Congrega-
tional minister of Kingston, New Hampshire, and on Septem-
ber 17, 1725 he was ordained.202

Like his father, Reverend Ward Clark had a brief
ministry. In.1735, Kingston and the surrounding area was
hit with "the throat distemper" and within fourteen.months

 

1981pia.
179Mary K. Talcott, llGenealogyG of the Woodbridge
E H ~ - - B

   

lpter, Vol. XXXII, No. 3 July. 1878 , p. 293. The children
were Benjamin, born January, 1695; Nathaniel II, born
December 10,1697; Deborah, born November 3, 1699; and
Ward, born December 12,1703.

2OO'Pedigree of Deane.” The__eE_Eusls%d__iston:
Wm. Vol- IX No. 1 January.
1855 . p. 93-

201011fford K. Shipton. W

'10.: "1* A en-ei H; 'a.0 C. ‘:e 11 1f C a::e* - -

W B i 0 her N , Vol. VII
Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1945), p. 156.

zozlbidw. ppo.156-157.

234

nearly 1,200 people had died in the fifteen towns in which
it appeared.203 Among those for whom the epidemic was
fatal were Reverend Ward Clark's wife and all of his chil-
dren.20“ Tired and depressed, he gave up the Kingston
parish in 1736 and returned to his boyhood home to die.205
Reverend John Clark's widow married Reverend
John Odlin II, a man eight years her junior who had suc-
ceeded her husband as Exeter's Congregational minister.206
The son of Deacon Elisha Odlin I and the grandson of John
Odlin I, an early settler of Boston, Reverend Odlin received
his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1703 and his Master of Arts
Degree in 1705, both from Harvard College.207 Accepting
Exeter's request that he settle with them as minister, Odlin
was ordained on November 12, 1706.208 A fine relationship
deveIOped between Odlin and his young step-son, Ward Clark.

Indeed, it was Odlin who preached Clark's ordination sermon,

 

203Roland D. Sawyer, T16 Hi: . . o‘ ':4 ,1: ..,

N", H:II9;Q ‘ no 0 Y 3 i W 1 :- F:II '3_ll
How“ ‘;_1 B _7‘ ‘ o 9‘ Pro; F5“, :1: E; S

P ne C T Farmington, Maine: The

Knowlton and McLeary Company, 1946), p. 263.
204lh1n’, p. 264.

2052211.
206John Taylor Perry, "The Odlin Family,'1he
a; :11 H : o :11 ‘1 q o: a R:-_ : ‘ , Vol. XLI,

No. 3 July, 1887 , p. 2 7.
207Ipla., pp. 266-267.
2°8Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. v, we, p. 168.

235

a work which was published as Chrlstiep Opprege peeeeeary
Waste: (1727).209

In assessing the influence of Reverend John
Clark, we must continually remind ourselves of the fact
that he lived but thirty-five years. Although he had not
published, his labors in Newbury's school and in.Exeter's
church were, as far as is known, highly exemplary. More-
over, had he lived longer, there is a high probability that
he would have devoted attention to additional intellectual
endeavors as well as to the care of his parishioners.
Despite his relatively short life, he was one of Newbury's
more significant schoolmasters and, as George Kuhn Clarke
contended:
He was a man of high character and ability,
and although he died at the early age of thirty
five was rominent among the preachers of New
EnglandfifO
Clark was succeeded in the Newbury school by
Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I, the tenth schoolmaster.
Toppan was the first schoolmaster after Reverend Thomas
Parker to devote the major part of his life to service in

Newbury's church and school. Henry Short II, Reverend

John.Emerson II, Reverend Thomas Baily I, Reverend Edward

 

   

2°9Jehn Odlin 11. WW
: ‘7 l ‘ A4 ' q, ' ‘zn01 P ‘a e! a K :1:-
s w M w o
W- Boston: B- Green. 1727 .

210George Kuhn Clarke, ppt_e1t., p. 272.

236

Tompson I, Reverend Seth Shove and Reverend John Clark,
Parker's successors, all either turned to other pursuits
or carried their teaching and preaching to other towns.

Toppan's family origins were significant factors
in his life. He was born in Newbury on December 15, 1671,
the son of Dr. Peter Toppan I and Jane (Batt) TOppan.211
Dr. Toppan, Newbury's third physician, was born in England
in 1634 and was brought to Newbury by his parents three
years later.212 It was he who built the Dr. Peter Toppan 1
House (1697) at what is now 5 High Road.213 One of the
area's oldest structures, it is presently owned by Leslie
Atkinson.21# Dr. Toppan's father, Abraham Toppan, a cooper,
was a native of Yarmouth, Norfolk, England.215

Among Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I's uncles
were Lieutenant Jacob Toppan I, who, circa 1670, built the

 

211Dayid w. Hoyt, my, p. 331.

212John J. Currier, Hletery er Negppry, Meeg,,
1615-1292. an: cit., p. 66L).

213Newburyport Economic Development Commission,

ngterle Newhprypert; A Yehkee Clty (Newburyport, Massa-

chusetts: Newburyport Economic Development Commission,
n.d.), map.

21”Letter from Constance (Kelly) Law, of West
Newbury, Massachusetts, to Richard Edward Kelly, October 20,

1970.

215John Farmer, MI... p. 290 and Richard
Edward Kelly, Vol. II, 221.211-g p. 60.

237

famous Tappan House on Toppan's Lane,216 and John Toppan
who, on September 18, 1675, was wounded by the Indians at
the famous battle of Bloody Brook.217 Toppan's most famous
uncle was the diarist and merchant, Judge Samuel Sewall.218

Toppan was named for his maternal grandfather,
Representative Christopher Batt I, a native of Salisbury,
Wiltshire, England, who settled in Newbury in 1638 and
later moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, and, eventually,
to Boston.219 In 1640, 1641, 1643 and 1650, Batt repre-
sented Salisbury in the Massachusetts General Court.220

To quote Clifford K. Shipton, Toppan was Ithe
quietest and most law-abiding undergraduate of his college
generation."221 In 1691, as a "Scholar of the House," with

 

   

216John Farmer, 92 913., p. 290; Joshua Coffin,
. WiT - R

    

       

tlpne (Newburyport Massachusetts. William H. Huse and
Company, 1862 p. 11 and John J. Currier, 'Qplg Nephgry':
H n Bio hi S e hes O o 0, pp. 2 0-2 70

217John.Farmer, ppy_elt., p. 290; Richard Edward
Kelly, Vol. II, pp, elt., p. 60 and Douglas Edward Leach,
1 T ma ‘ Ne E 1 K1 Phi 1 ' W

New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1958 , p. 88.

218John Farmer, 9py_e1t,, p. 290; Ola Elizabeth
Winslow, S Se B (New York: The Macmillan

Company, 1964 and T. B. Strandness, M-

219J. Henry Lea, “The English Ancestry of the
Families of Batt and Byley of Salisbury, Mass.,' T

E H i R , Vol. LII,
No. 1 January, 1898 , pp. 48-50.
220David W. Hoyt, ppt_elt,, p. 61.
22lclifford K. Shipton, Vol. Iv, mu” p. 113.

238

a stipend of four pounds, he received his Bachelor of Arts
Degree from Harvard College.222 After spending far more
time in residence than was typical, he took his Master of
Arts Degree in 1694, arguing the negative of the question,
'An Mundi Interitus fuerit Substantialis?'223

In numerous works, among them such generally
accurate standard compilations as Joshua Coffinzzu and
John J. Currier,225 Toppan is credited with having received
a Doctor of Divinity Degree. Harvard University has, how-
ever, no record of his having received this honor.226 The
error might have arisen in view of the fact that Toppan
was a physician as well as a minister and schoolmaster.
Nonetheless, it is certain that Toppan could not legiti-
mately claim the coveted degree.

As noted earlier in the present chapter, a three

way struggle developed between Reverend Edward Tompson I,

 

zzzlhlde
223mg.
zszoshua Coffin, i Ske 1 o‘ 1: H_; 0 ' .
0‘ ' N e '00 :ggg1_w-: N- pm F .1: o 1 3 ,

sna_ait-. p. 370.
225John J. Currier, 'Oplg Negbgry': Hlsterlgel
and_éiasnsnhioal_§kstshesl_aus_eit-. pp- 112. 250.

226Letter from Mary M. Meehan, of the Harvard
University Archives, to Richard Edward Kelly, August 27. 1970.

227Bobert Noxon Tappan Rnie£_§iaszanhissl
S.’ 1‘9: ”0 H1 1 e0 a1! F ‘ 1 ‘11," =2 0 1; S; :-
nent_e£_flephnry, Newburyport Massachusetts: Historical
Society of Old Newbury, 1885 , p. 22.

239

IBeverend John Clark and Reverend Dr. Christopher Toppan I
for the position of schoolmaster and, ultimately, minister,
of Newbury. Although Tompson enjoyed the support of West
‘Village, he was outvoted in Oldtown and although Clark re-
ceived Oldtown's support, he decided to accept the pulpit
of Exeter, New Hampshire. As a result, Toppan became New-
bury's tenth schoolmaster and, after carrying out his duties
of both teaching and preaching for two years, he was ordained
as the successor to Reverend John Richardson I.

As assistant minister, Toppan's salary was twenty
pounds in money and thirty shillings in Fgood country pay,“
for carrying on half of the ministry and thirty pounds in
"good country pay for keeping the writing and grammar
school," thus making a total yearly salary of fifty pounds
and thirty shillings.228 Reverend John Richardson I, the
senior minister, received one hundred pounds annual salary
and, after the death of Parker, he had been granted the
option of an additional twenty pounds or two contributions,
so long as he carried on 'the whole work of the ministry.'229
This option naturally was no longer Richardson's prerogative
when, near the end of his life, physical illness greatly
limited his activities.

It was fortunate for Newbury that, despite his
inexperience, the twenty-four year old Toppan was able to

 

228Sarah Anna Emery, ppe_e1t., p. 219.
229John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, gpr_elt., p. 211.

240

carry out the work of the ministry during Richardson's last
two years. On July 17, 1695, as a result of the continued
deterioration of Richardson's health, Tappan formally
assumed nearly the full burden of the ministry.230 Having
reached only his forty-ninth year, Richardson died on
April 27, 1696.231

On May 15, 1696, the town requested unanimously
that Toppan take full charge of the parish and offered him
a salary of eighty pounds, half in money and half in provi-
sions.232 When he accepted this offer, Newbury sought
immediately to find another schoolmaster,233 thus maintain-
ing the separation of its church and the school. It is
important to recognize, however, that West Village, which
eventually succeeded in establishing its own parish, did
not accept Toppan to an adequate degree. For this reason,
Toppan was fortunate that the second parish was established
since it is difficult to imagine that his ministry otherwise
could have had even the semblance of harmony. Toppan's

 

2301h1d., p. 212 and Joshua Coffin, A_§ketgh_e£
g‘ H_, O O N‘,‘ ' 3,. '0. JIO “ ",‘O_ ',

: cu e o : 60. '3 p. 1.1.
231John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, my,” p. 35.

ZBZClifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV, M" p. 114
and John J. Currier, Hletpry er Negppry, §gg§,, 1535-1292,

No. Do 332.

233John J. Currier. WW.
1635-1292: QR- glt., p. 401.

241

final years were filled, as we shall see presently, with
sufficient dissension to keep him from needing additional
stimulation.

Toppan was ordained in Newbury on September 9,
1696.234 On January 5, 1698, the town voted to build a
new meetinghouse and Sergeant Stephen Jacques I commenced
work on it.235 Completed on January 1, 1701 for the rather
substantial sum of 550 pounds, it was sixty feet long,
fifty feet wide and twenty feet high.236 This new meeting-
house, in which Toppan was the first to preach, remained in
continual use until May 4, 1806.237 Reverend Dr. John
Smelling Popkin, Newbury's Congregational minister from
1804 to 1816,238 wrote the following description of this

meetinghouse:

 

23("Frederic Lewis Weis, ppr_e1t., p. 206.
235'01d-Town Meeting-House, Newbury,' E

_ssezsgsuniz
WW. Vol- 1. Ne- 10
October, 1894 , p. 145 and Joshua Coffin, A_§keteh_e£_the

O O N‘ 9‘ 0. at} "y; NI'AO- ' F On

A.

We. p. 306.

236Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little Ilsley.
P N - - -

 
 

eds. ‘ 6 ; e ,
(Newhuryport, Massachusetts: News Printing Company, Inc.,

a 237'01d-Town Meeting-House, Newbury.'.sni_sit-.
p. l 5.

238John J- Currier..Hisiszzisf_flsnbnle_flssslw
Wm- . pp- 344-345-

242

The body of the house was filled with long seats.
Contiguous to the wall were twenty pews. The spaces
for the pews were granted to particular persons, who
appear to have been principals. Before the pulpit and
deacons' seat was a large pew containing a table, where
sat the chiefs of the fathers. The young people sat in
the upper gallery; and the children on a seat in the
alley, fixed to the outside of the pews. The floor
measured 60 by 50 feet. The roof was constructed with
four gable ends, or projections, one on each side; each
containing a large window, which gave light to the upper
galleries. The turret was on the centre. The space
within was cpen to the roof; where was visible plenty
of timber, with great needles, and little needles,
pointing downwards, which served at once for strength
and ornament. There were many ornaments of antique
sculpture and wainscot. It was a stately building in
the day of it; but it was not my lot to see it in all
its ancient glory. Long ago a wall was spread over
head, which was dropping down; and the floor was
occupied by pews. The roof was made plain, the four
very steep sides terminating in a platform, which
supported a steeple.2

One of the requirements for the ministry, Clifford

K. Shipton reminds us, was to have a wife.2“0 It was, then,

not surprising that, on November 19, 1698, Toppan announced

his intention of marrying Sarah Angier.24l Her father,

Edmund Angier I, had settled in Cambridge in 1636.2!"2 Ruth

(Ames) Angier, his wife, was the daughter of Reverend

William Ames Jr., the Congregational minister of Wrentham,

 

239John Snelling Popkin, A P S

W3 D M -H
er the lret Eerl%h_;p_flzphpry. Newburyport, Massachusetts:

 

F .
Angier March, 180 , p. 9.

ZLWClifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV, M” p. 114.
241James Savage, ppy_elt., p. 254.
21”"-John Farmer, my, p. 17.

243

.Suffolk, England.243 His father was the noted Puritan
'theologian, Reverend Dr. William Ames, a professor at the
‘University of Franeker and an asSociate of the father of
IBeverend Thomas Parker.244

One of Mrs. Toppan's brothers, Reverend Samuel
.Angier, graduated from Harvard College in 1673 and became
the Congregational minister of Rehoboth, Massachusetts, and,
later, what is now Waltham, Massachusetts.245 Mrs. Toppan
'was also related to Reverend Urian Oakes, the Congregational
‘minister and poet who served as President of Harvard College
from 1675 until his death in 1681.246

Through his marriage, then, Toppan became allied
to families which were of far more socio-economic signifi-
cance than was his own. In view of Toppan's interest in
his personal advancement in the ministry, it is altogether
likely that his marriage was motivated at least partially

by concerns other than romance.

 

2431hld. and John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I,
Mic . pp- 107-110-

24“John Langdon Sibley, Vol. I, malt. p. 107
and W.A. Shaw, "Robert Parker," T e D

Blpgrgphy, Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., Vol. XI
London: Oxford University Press, 1917), pp. 269-270.

2‘I5John Langdon Sibley, Vol. II, 21,411.,
pp. 422-426.

2L’6John.1‘..angdon Sibley, Vol. I, £21.21to. pp. 173-
185 and Samuel Eliot Morison, “Urian 0akes,‘I Dietlphery_efi
Ameniaan.§issnsnhz. Dumas Malone, ed., Vol. XIII New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934), pp. 602-603.

244

Unlike Reverend Thomas Parker, who thrived on
theological speculation, TOppan although not lacking the
knowledge to have done the same, chose to devote a major
portion of his efforts to the acquisition of material goods.
No published works poured from Toppan's pen and his only
known formal theological works are two sermons which are now
in the possession of the Congregational Library, in Boston.247
One of the sermons is on Lamentations 3:8:

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she

is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because
they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and
turneth backward.

The other sermon is on Hosea 6:1:

Hear ye this, 0 priests; and hearken, ye house
of Israel; and give ye ear, 0 house of the king; for
judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare
on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

In both manuscripts, Toppan concentrated upon presenting
arguments to prove that the Sabbath actually begins in the
evening and is, therefore, to be kept from evening to
evening, as was done by the Jews.

Both manuscripts were completed during the early
part of Toppan's career. As Bailey Bartlett, one of the
nineteenth century owners of the manuscript, observed:

It would appear that this could not have been

written earlier than about 1690-~from the date of
several of the books quoted in it. And as none are

 

24'7Christopher Toppan I, Unpublished Manuscript
Sermons, property of the Congregational Library, and Letter
from Dwight L. Cart, Librarian of the Congregational
Library, to Richard Edward Kelly, December 22, 1970.

245

found referred to subsequent to that date, that would

3:33.538fix the writing as probably not later than
Toppan's later years, which would have been the time for
serious writings by more scholarly men were, as far as is
known, devoid of such intellectual endeavors. As Clifford
K. Shipton contended, “Mr. Toppan was one of those clergy-
men who typify this period of declining interest in religion
by their wide secular activities.'2“9

Indeed, while Toppan was not preaching to his

flock at Newbury, he was engaging in land speculation in the
newly settled areas of New Hampshire and Maine. It was
during the early eighteenth century, when good land was be-
coming scarce with great rapidity, that venturesome men
moved northward and founded settlements in New Hampshire,
Maine and Vermont.250 The third and fourth generations of
those families which arrived in New England during the Great
Puritan Migration of the 1630s were especially likely to
have left the more settled areas in search of greater
Opportunities to the north and west. Toppan, like many

other rather well established men, remained in the older

towns but attempted to realize a profit by investing money

 

248Bai1ey Bartlett, Quoted in, Christopher
Toppan I, Unpublished Manuscript Sermons, gn;_git., flyleaf.

249C1ifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV. Min p- 114.

2”Carl Lotus Becker. W
Eggplg (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1915 , pp. 174,

faCing p. 178.

246

in the newly settled areas.

One of Toppan's earliest known purchases of land
for investment was that of November 10, 1702, when he
bought from Walter Phillips a parcel of land at Damariscotta,
Maine, approximately twenty-five miles northeast of Bruns-
wick, Maine.251 Toppan also purchased other lands on the
nearby Sheepscot River from the heirs of Sir Fernando
Gorges.”2 At length, he acquired nearly the entirety of
the present towns of Newcastle and Damariscotta, as well as
lands extending to Edgecomb on the southwest and Nobleboro
on the northeast.253 Through his possession of Pemaquid,
to the south, Toppan acquired a sizable part of the land
immediately northeast of Boothbay Harbor,25u which is now a
popular resort area. It is also possible that other lands,
located some distance west of the Sheepscot River, were

among Toppan's properties.255

 

251David Cushman, "Ancient Settlement of Sheepscot,"

WWW. Vol- IV (1856).
p. 232.

252Francis E. Greene, ; 0 ’ o Boo 1°i' SO. 9-
90' :42 Boo 09;' H: 0- M: a‘ o- - 'i W 4 Fsu '
angglgglgg Portland, Maine: Loring, Short and Harmon,
1906 , pp. 165-166 and Thomas H. Johnson, Tn§_Qz£de
C R (New York: Oxford University

Press, 1966 , p. 339.
253Francis B. Greene, gn;_g11., p. 165.
254c11rrord K. Shipton, Vol. IV, M” p. 114.

255Francis B. Greene, gn;_git., p. 165.

 

247

Land speculation has seldom been an especially
reliable means of investment, as Toppan's own experiences
were to illustrate. Although Indian sagamores had conveyed
the right and title to the Toppan land in 1661, 1662 and
1674,256 the Pemaquids later refused to recognize what they
considered to be an illegal transaction.257 Thus, an ever
present danger was the very real possibility of Pemaquid
warfare against the white settlers, a factor which severely
limited the desirability of the area regardless of any legal
decisions which might have been rendered in Boston.

Nonetheless, Toppan, being determined not to lose
the right to his lands, refused to recognize the Pemaquid
position regardless of potentially severe consequences.258
Circa 1720, to further substantiate his ownership of the
land, he sent Michael Thomas and two hired men, Samuel
Gatchell and Benjamin Cheney, to spend the summer cultivating
the three or four acres near “the lower falls."259 The

tensions which resulted from this testing maneuver can be

 

256Ip1d.

257R. w. Richardson, lThe Pemaquid Country Under
the Stuarts: Read Before the Maine Historical Society, at

Portland March 14 187 8 _2llaaIl2na_2£_tha_flaina_§isian:
igal__ggi§§1,‘V01. VIII 11881 , p. 183.

258John Johnston, H T B
S M: 7 I; ' P‘ " _

 

259mg.

 

248

imagined quite readily. Fortunately, especially for Thomas,
Catchell and Cheney, the dreaded Pemaquid attack did not

occur026o
Some of Newbury's most significant men differed

with Toppan in his attitude toward the Indians. One such
man was the noted judge and diarist, Samuel Sewall. Viewed,
in retrospect, as having been ahead of his time in support-
ing the rights of the blacks and the Indians, Sewall was the
author of America's first anti-slavery publication, The

§§lling_gf_igseph (1700).261 It was perhaps because he had
been critized by Sewall or others that Toppan wrote the

following letter:
Aug. 11, 1721.

Hon. Sir.

Please to pardon my boldness for troubling you to
read a few lines more. That expression in my writing
which your Honor intimated, you did not well understand,
namely, That the Indians should have convenient Lands
allowed ym for themselves and posterity, I meant thus,
that in case it be found that the Indians formerly dis-
posed of so much of their Land as that they have not
left Lands convenient for themselves, that then so much
as may be thought proper, of what was purchased of them
should be relinquished to them again. Further to open
what I intend I would offer a few things.

1. That the Indians were the first Proprietors of the
Lands in this Country.

2. That they had in themselves power to dispose of and
convey away said Lands.

3. That what lands they formerly sold and conveyed away
they can have no just claim unto. Now I make no doubt
but as your Honor says, they have as full and firm a
Right to their Lands, as any which men have to theirs,
but then I presume your Honor means, Lands they have
not sold.

 

260Ih1d°

261Samuel Sewall, T S J ' A M
(Boston: Bartholomew Green and John Allen, 1700 .

249

4. That if through Imprudence and Inadvertency they
have conveyed away so much of their Land to the English,
as that, if what be conveyed away, be taken up and
settled by the English, there be not convenient places
left for themselves and posterity, I think it very
agreeable to Reason and Religion, that the Government
take care that such places as may be thought convenient
be allowed them and Recompense made to such Persons
(whose Predecessors formerly purchased said Land of the
Indians) of Province Lands elsewhere.

5. That the Government, having offered and done what
may reasonably be thought just and fair on this score,
that then, if the Indians continue their Insolent
Carriages, the English may justly commence a warr
against them and expect God's blessing to be with them
in their Endeavours to subdue them, and in the mean
time, that the English in the Eastern parts may be
secure and safe I see no way but for the Government to
keep out some hundreds of men, or a sufficient number
to keep the Indians in awe till the People are become
strong enough to defend themselves, which they would in
a few years be, were they compelled to settle regularly,
and secured from fear and danger by a sufficient Army
kept in a body in those parts well provided with snow-
shoes for the Winter and a sufficient number of whale-
boats for passage by water in the Summer---but let me
not forget to mention here that I can but think it a
duty to make a further offer of the Gospel to them and
by degrees to Instill into their minds the true Doctrines
of Religion, doubtless some of them might be gained,
more especially if the Fryers could be fairly removed
from among them. I went the last Spring to the Eastward
and being at Damariscotta on a Sabbath day there a
Family there and several Persons besides, I preacht to
them both forenoon and afternoon, and there being hard
by an Indian wigwam, belonging to it a Netop and his
squaw, he about seventy, and she near an hundred years
of age, not able to stand or goe, both maintained by a
Kinsman, a young pretty fellow, who went a hunting and
returned once a week or fortnight and brought them
provisions to live upon---The old Sannop came of his
own accord on the Sabbath day to hear the word preacht
and gave diligent attention. The subject I insisted on
was that in Romans 10. 13. 'And whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be saved' and in the applica-
tion I applyed myself to the Indian, showing that their
nation if they call aright on the name of the Lord
should be saved as well as the English. The next day I
went to his Wigwam. He told me 'very good speak-um

250

yesterday' and desired me to speak to his squaw 'all
one I speak yesterday for that very good.'---I went
several times to his Wigwam and gave the best advice
I could to the poor old Woman. She seemed to under-
stand what I said, but was not seemingly so such
affected therewith as her husband. The day I came
away he came on board the vessel and prayed me to goe
once more to his Wigwam and speak to his old Squaw
about God and Christ and Heaven, for may be, me never
see her any more. So I went again and at my coming
away, the old man took me by the hand expressing a
great deal of thankfulness for the counsel and advice
I had given his Squaw. In my discourse with the old
man I used to mention and open the Articles of the
Christian Religion, which he always readily assented
unto, and I am persuaded that by prudent methods in
managing of them sundry of them might be wrought upon,
and amongst other methods I have thought---but why
should I presume to dictate to any, who know much better
than myself what will best serve the Interests of our
gracious Lord, in whose service that I may be found
faithful, let me have your prayers, as you have his,
who is, sir, your most humble servant,

Christopher Toppan.262

Toppan's paternalistic approach to the Indians'
rights and welfare was philosophically allied with his
concept of the will of God. Clearly, Toppan was intrigued
with the possibility of converting the Indians to Christi-
anity. Yet, he felt that they could not learn as readily
as could the English. He contended, however, that despite
the Indians' deficiencies the Puritan ministers had the
reSponsibility to IInstill into their minds the true
Doctrines of Religion.‘ Tappan was far from being sympathetic
to pacifism, however, for he believed that "if the Indians

 

262ChristOpher Toppan I, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
AS 90 9 H o N N '99 ;_..

W09 13p. 37?— 378.

251

continue their Insolent Carriages, the English may justly
commence a warr against them . . .' Such contentions as
these could hardly be expected to win acceptance from the
Pemaquid warriors.

Even more serious than Toppan's problems with the
Indians, were the actions of some of the white settlers in
'Damariscotty.‘ In the following letter to Lieutenant
Governor William Dummer, Toppan.described the problem

and requested help from Boston:

Newbury Jan. 13, 1726.
Honourable Sr

I have lately received Information that severall
persons have gone this Winter from Casco Bay to
Damiscotty (A place belonging to me) and Cut and
Carried away abundance of Pipe Staves, and Capt. Moody
has sent me Word, that there are Several more, fitting
to goe down~-Now the favour I would request of your
Honour is, (if such a thing may be granted) that you'd
please, to send an order to Cpt Heath to send two or
three men across the Woods, to Damiscotty, (wch I
suppose about ten or a dozen miles) and if any persons
are cutting Timber in those Woods, to see who yy are,
and take an Account of their Names, and forbid ym
committing any further Trespass there--if yy should
need a Pilot the Capt. may hire some Indian for that
purpose, and '11e repay wt he gives him.

If your Honour can gratifye me in wt I request,
it will very much oblige me who am your Honours most
humble and Obedient Servant my service to Madam.

Christopher Toppan.253

 

2530hristopher Toppan I, quoted in, James Phinney

Baxter. ed. . WWW.
Vol. X (Augusta, Maine: The State of Maine, 190? ,

(PP- 354-355-

 

 

252

Although Dummer complied with Toppanfls request, action was
not taken until it was too late to catch the culprits. On
March 24, 1727, Captain Joseph Heath, who had been charged
with the responsibility for undertaking an investigation,
wrote to Dummer that “yours relating to Mr. Tappens affair
I reed, but ye Trespassers were gon.'26“

Toppan.was also interested in the projected
settlement of newly opened lands in New Hampshire and
Maine. On February 2, 1725, a committee had met at
Ebenezer Eastmanfis home in.Haverhill, New Hampshire, for
the purpose of cautiously choosing the settlers who would
be permitted to move to Penacook, just north of Concord,
New Hampshire.265 In the following letter, Toppan indi-
cated his concern with the ordering of what he considered
to be an acceptable town: ,

Newb: Febr: 2, 1726.
May it please your Honors:

It was my design to have waited on your Honours
and the other Gentlemen.appointed to be a Committee
for Granting Lotte at Penny-Cooke, but being at
present bodily Indisposed, durst not venture so far
from home, have therefore sent my Sons to wait on
you, and, in.my name, to Request yt you'd be pleased
to Grant me or them a Lott amongst the Rest, and the
Conditions of ye Grant shall be performed by my Self
or them.---And if your Honours would give me leave,

 

26'5'..Toseph Heath, quoted, Jug", p. 367.

265Nathaniel Benton. WW
I 5 F ; G -9 9 2 9’ ‘ 1.3! 2:. 99 - ' C '
eveq9n;9 9 3 W 9 H: o ' 9' T9; :99 :9 P-9_.; 99,.

Concord, New Hampshire: Banning W. Sanborn, 1855 , p. 59.

 

 

253

I'd mention a few things relating to the Affair now
before you, as

1. That it seems Just yt Consideration be had to
one Town as well as another, and that there be some
Proportion, in.that respect, as to the Number of
Persons in each that the Lotts are granted to.

2. That those who have at any time before had Lotte
allowed them in any New Township, should be excluded
now 0

3. That the Persons to whom the Lotts are granted
be obliged (if it may be) to keep their Lotte and not
sell ym to others, at least not without the leave of
the majr part of the Society to whom the rest of ye
Lotte belong. Some, no doubt, will desire Lotte under
no other view than to make gain by Selling of ym after-
wards, (and 'tis pitty such should have any.) Besides,
if the Lotts should_be presently bought and sold, it
will be likely some of ym at least may fall into the
hands of Persons very undesirable for the first Settle-
ment of a place.

4. That the Persons to whom the Lotts are granted be
obliged, at their first Settling on the place, to build
a Garrison or Block-House for their defence, and so
live as near it as with Convenience may be; for it will
be very unsafe at first for enny one to build and dwell
on his own Lott. This will too much expose ym to ye
Indians, in whom little trust is at any time to be putt;
besides, we may expect they'l not a little resent it,
when yy come to understand that we are Settling upon a
former noted Settlement of theirs.

5. That in case the Tract of Land at Penny-Cooke (the
Settlement whereof is Designed) was fermerly purchased
of ye Indians (as I have heard it was, tho' I know not
by whom,) it seems but Just that He or They so purchas-
ing, should have reasonable allowance made ym out of
the Lotte that shall be granted, as shall be to their
satisfaction; for that Right I take to be the best in
ye Eye of Concience, what ever it be in the Eye of the
Law; besides, I know not how the Title can fairly be
Justifyed against the Indians, if at any time they
should demand it, but under the consideration of a
former purchase. ’

Many other things might have been added, but 'tis
not for me to direct your Honours. Begging therefore
pardon, for my boldness in offering what I have, I take
leave, so Subscribe my Self your Honour's most humble
and obedient Servant, _
Christopher Toppan.266

 

Zééchristopher Toppan I, quoted. Ibis... pp- 60-61-

254

The Indians were not TOppan's only problem with

respect to his lands in Maine. During the 17203 and 17308,
as Clifford K. Shipton stated, 'a worse enemy unexpectedly
appeared in the form of Colonel David Dunbar."267 Totally
unexpectedly, the British Board of Trade suggested that a
colony should be established between New Hampshire and Nova
Scotia.268 Provisions for the colony went as far as the
gathering of Nova Scotia troops to enable the safe settle-
ment of Ulstermen irregardless of the claims of Toppan and
the other land holders.269 However, with the intervention
of Governor Jonathan Belcher, Britain decided not to ini-
tiate its earlier plans and the New England investors' land
holdings were not endangered.27o In return for Belcher's
help, Toppan suggested that he would sell the Governor one-
third interest in the settlement. However, being convinced
that his assistance was of greater value than this, Belcher
shrewdly replied:

I therefore expect That you be easy with me, as to

the one Third, I don't mean to give it, for I will

accept of nothing from anybody, but that you be

moderate in the purchase Consideration. I have had
great Offers of Lands made at the Eastward, but I

 

267Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV. mun po 115-
268Ith.

269Ih1d.

270James Truslow Adams, "Jonathan Belcher,"

DigIianafilof_émazican_diosnanhx. Allen Johnson. edo.
Vol. II New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929), pp. 143-

144.

255

am more inclin'd to be concerned with you than anybody
Else---And when the Matter is Settl'd betwixt us, I
lateness: at: ;:.d;.%r:::::niimszkf87ibe
It is not known what arrangement was deemed equitable
ultimately.

By 1733, problems of ownership had subsided at
last and Toppan, now in his sixty-second year, had his
prOperty surveyed and began to sell what he believed to be
one hundred acre lots.272 Soon, however, the settlers dis-
covered that the lots were smaller than the stipulated size
and that some contained as few as eighty-six acres.288 To
rectify the errors, Toppan gave the settlement a lot for
the first minister, a lot for a parsonage glebe, two town
landings, a common and a burying ground.273 Because of these
additional grants, a potentially severe legal suit was
averted. However, Toppan's worst financial setback occurred
in 1742, when he lost a court decision which cost him seven

cottages, fifty acres, one grist mill and two double saw-

mills, in addition to the costs of a complicated lawsuit.27“

 

271Jonathan Belcher Unpublished Manuscript
Letter-Book, 1732-1734, pp. 163-164, property of the Massa-
chusetts Historical Society. *

272Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. Iv, gpL_Q1§., p. 115.

273Ih1d.
271"David Cushman, gp&_git., pp. 110-117.

256

Not unexpectedly, Toppan also invested in proper-
ties in the Newbury area. On July 17, 1718, for example,
he purchased from his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Clark II,
seven and one-half acres of land, with a 'dwellinghouse
thereon.‘275 Indeed, despite his Damariscotta setbacks,
Toppan became a fairly wealthy man. Perhaps of greatest
interest is the fact that he appears to have reconciled
rather well the idea of serving God while pursuing simul-
taneously such earthly ventures as the acquisition of money.

Toppan's first wife died on.February 20, 1739, in
her sixty-fourth year.276 On June 28, 1739, in his sixty-
eighth year, Toppan married Elizabeth Dummer,277 a member
of one of the colony's earliest prominent families. The
Dummer lineage in New England extends to Richard Dummer I,
of Roxbury, an Assistant of the Massachusetts Bay Colony;
his brother, Stephen Dummer, of Newbury and Salisbury; and

 

275John J. Currier, History g: Newbury, Mgg§,,
W09 Do 333; David W- Hoyt. 9.1.3.11;- ., P- 331
and Joshua Coffin, A S.- 9 o 9- H _ . . Ne ._ ',
N‘so. '00 :99 W‘_ N“ 99 F on . o 8 09 o,
p. 298.

276Joshua Coffin, T T T t ,

sun_siis. p. 12-

277The Essex Institute. 1mm.
M E Y , Vol. II Salem,

Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911 , p. 490.

257

still another brother, Thomas Dummer I, of Salisbury.278

The second Mrs. Toppan must have been a much
needed comfort to her husband during his later years. The
17403, Toppan's last decade on earth, brought personal
challenges which were of far greater magnitude than even
the land difficulties had been. Indeed, the crises which
faced the septuagenarian Toppan appear to have been of a
type with which he was unable to contend adequately.

Other than the three man contest with Reverend
Edward Tompson I and Reverend John Clark, Toppan's crises
prior to the 17408 did not involve either the church or the
school. One pictures him as a respected minister who was
not, however, against engaging in shrewd financial schemes.
It was his secular leanings, in fact, which led to his
being labelled a religious liberal.

Yet, Toppan's liberality did not include the
Puritan theology, for he disliked intensely the leaders of
the Great Awakening, the vast majority of whom he believed
to be irresponsible rabble rousers. Clearly, Toppan was an
Old Light Congregationalist who must have shuddered at the
contemplation of the harm which he believed was being
wrought by the irreverant New Lights.

 

278James Savage. W
= “ 9 N‘; E9: :99 S991f9; T9 -- G*9- : 99- .
99‘ ‘ W99 C: :a‘ B‘ 9 ‘ M; 9' 99 9‘ B:‘ 7: F; u"
Regigtgg, Vol. II Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1890),
PP- 79- 0-

258

In the spring of 1742, the New Lights were
thwarted in their attempt to occupy Toppan's meetinghouse.
Yet, they were successful in taking possession of what is
now the First Congregational Church in Newburyport, then
under the pastorate of Reverend John Lowell I, a 1721
graduate of Harvard College.279 As reported in.The_§g§tgn

W:

Newbury, A2211 39. On Tuesday last the Rev.
Mr- W B of Ipswich. Mr- W: and
Mr. Bewgll, Candidates for the Ministry, came into
this Town, and presently formed a Party, and took
Possession of the Rev. Mr. nggllis Meeting-House,
while he was gone a few Miles from Home, to return
the same Day; and not meerly without his Knowledge
but without so much as asking Leave of the Proprie-
tors of said Meeting-House, or having the Consent
of the Church or Congregation under Mr. L9w§11_§
Care: The abovesaid Gentlemen officiated at Disertion
and as many of the Party as pleased: The said
Mr. 13ml], preach' d W, and advised the young
People to continue their publick Exhortations (which
have been much complained of by many of our faithful
Ministers and other pious Persons) in spite of Men
and Devils. The next Day an Attempt of the like
factious Nature was made upon the Rev. Mr. Toppanig
Meeting-House, but Mr. Toppan being present, the
Party was repulsed, and the Rev. Mr. Rogers preached
in the Town-House, inveighing there against the brig:
§z§g§§;_fizgm Mr. Flavell, to the Joy of all the
illiterate publick Teachers present and their Abettors.
These Itinerants aim very much at dividing the
Churches, and disaffecting People to their faithful
Pastors, and whagO wild Scheme they are pursuing next,
God only knows.2

 

279Clifford K. Shipton. Vol. VI. 29.93.12”

280W. No. 352 (May 3'
1714'2), p. 29

259

In the heat of the controversy, Newburyites found
it impossible to agree upon what had actually transpired
when the ministerial candidates entered the town. Like
many other New England towns during the early 17403, New-
bury was flooded with dozens of sermons, dialogues, tracts
and other religiously oriented publications which concen-
trated, to a large degree, upon contradictory interpreta-
tions of the actions of the New Lights.281

Reverend George Whitefield, the famous Great
Awakening evangelist,282 heightened the conflict when he
reached Newbury on February 22, 1745.283 On November 25,
1745, Reverend Dr. John Tucker I, a 1741 graduate of Harvard
College and an Old Light Congregationalist, was ordained as
Toppan's assistant minister and, in protest, approximately

thirty New Light families withdrew and helped to form what

 

281Joshua Coffin, A S.‘ 9 0 9e H_ 9 ' 97 Na;-
9, N"'9- '00 9.99 W N‘.‘9. ' F 011 m ,
.Qns_ait~. p- 212-

282Luke Tyerman, T L R G u
filgld, 2 vols. (London: Hodder and Stonghton, 187 -l 77 .

283Joshua Coffin, A S.- 9 . 9- H,; . ' 9' N-;-
9_ 'N‘19."0 .199 ”‘7 N‘ by F on} 9 O 3 ,
fp;_g1§t, pp. 215-216; The Bgstgh Egghing ngt, No. 498
February 25. 1745). p- 4 and Tha_§asianlfixanins_£2st.
No. 500 (March 11, 1745), pp. 1-2.

260

is now the First Presbyterian Church of Newburyport.28’+

It is not surprising that Toppan found himself in
the heat of the controversy, particularly in view of the
fact that he was one of the area's most unshakable opponents
of the Great Awakening. Moreover, he was hardly the kind of
man who would withdraw from a controversy. In response to
the criticisms of some of his parishioners, he wrote the

following letter in forthright preparation for the upcoming

fight:
Newbury, June 10th, 1743.

To Chagles Pierce esquire in Newbury.
ir,

I have been informed that some yt are called
schemers, by others new light men (for Satan being now
especially transformed into an angel of light hath
transformed his followers into his likeness in regard
of the new light they pretend unto) have drawn up some
articles against me, some respecting my doctrine,
taught in publick, some respecting my belief in several
articles of religion, and some respecting my practices
and I have been told you have the original by you. I
have long desired to see it, but could never yet obtain
it. This is therefore to desire of you to send me the
original, or a copy of it attested, for I am obliged
to go to York superior court ye next week and would
carry it with me to shew to the superior judges for
their judgment upon the whole as to my doctrines
whether they be right or no, for which I purpose to
carry my sermons reflected upon, as to my principles

 

281‘Clifford K. Shipton, B .9. an :_ .- .
T99:‘ W99 A ‘9989 H; 1a 9 Co -:e _9 9‘ C a 83‘ - ‘ ,
W Bi ' i O N , Vol. XI Boston:
Massachusetts Historical Society, 1960), pp. 78-79 and
Jonathan F. Stearns, A H i D e C
9 9‘ ' 1:9° a 999 9 9‘ P ‘99' ‘ £9 09“ 9 9
N‘r9- 99f D‘ '= ‘9 = ‘ F9 C89 e99 - C‘ ‘9 a 199,

Newburyport, Massachusetts: John G. Tilton,
181‘" , p. 190

261

whether they be right or no, (though in the paper

before mentioned I believe there are many things false,

for I never yet knew a schemer that would not lie.)

As to my practices whether right or no, I shall leave

them to judge and determine. I purpose to carry with

me a copy of what I now send to you to shew it to them;

if you answer not my request in sending me the original

or an attested copy.

Sir, I am yours to serve in what I may,

Christopher Toppan.28

The controversy, at length, overwhelmed Toppan and
he began to exhibit signs of emotional imbalance. On one
occasion, his mind troubled with insecurities, he carried a
whip into his church in order, he said, to scourge out the
enthusiasts, or “schemers," who were interfering with his
preaching of the Gospel.286 At approximately the same period
of his life, Toppan wrote the following revealing note:

ChristOpher Toppan desires to return thanks to
God for his goodness to him in preserving of him, when
the Devil cast a mist before his and his horse's eyes,
throwing of him down, being in great danger, butt God
in his good providence and his Angels garding of him
out of the hand of the Devil, and after this I could
not rest night nor day thinking of it what the Cause
should be till Fryday morning it was revealed to me
that it was because I oposed that great work of the
Devil. It seemed that the voyce came to me and said
I need not truble myself, it was that Devil did it and
Deseaved all the people, and now I hope God will enable
me to oppose that great work of the Devig and the
Instruments of it more than ever I did.

 

285Christopher Toppaan, quoted in, Joshua Coffin,
AS.‘ 99 9‘ _9:. 9 N‘ N 9 799 :799 ":7‘

‘19. ' ' 9n m 9.9 _9, p. 2139
.286Joshua Coffin, A S 9 9 9‘ Hi: 9 ‘ 9‘ N‘.-

.,. N ...w-, a.» F ... . . : ,

on: Qi§.9 .ppo .376-377.
287Christopher Toppan 1. quoted. lhldo. P9 3779

262

“That great work of the Devil" which Toppan had opposed
was, naturally, the Great Awakening. More determined than
ever, Toppan resolved to continue his crusade against those
whom he thought were deceiving the people.

Despite the difficulties of the 17403, early
nineteenth century Newbury remembered Toppan chiefly for
his success in winning new church members and for his abil-
ities as a physician and surgeon. As Reverend Dr. John
Snelling Popkin wrote in.1806:

From conversation with seniors I have understood, that
he "magnified his office" with great acceptance and
success. In almost every month several were added to
the Church; and according to the records, which are
somewhat irregular, in some single days nineteen,
twenty two, twenty nine, and, probably, thirty one,
were admitted. These great additions were made chiefly
about the end of the year 1727, after a great earth-
quake, which gave an awful alarm in the evening of the
twentieth day of October, and was fgélowed by general
seriousness and frequent devotion.2

Toppan's greatest fame, however, resulted from
the amphisbaena story which John Greenleaf Whittier immor-
talized in his poem, I'The Double-Headed Snake of New-
bury."289 The origins of the incident are found in a

letter which Toppan wrote to Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather to

 

288John Snelling Popkin, W
s" 300 4‘ 2. T9!‘ 0 ‘.‘_=‘u.- 9:- 9 .9: ' 0914‘: 4.:-
WM- Newburyport. Massa-
chusetts: Angier March, 1806 , p. 16.

289John Greenleaf Whittier, T e C P

W
W (Boston: Houghton Miffl-‘Itn
Company. 1894 . pp- 73-75-

263

report that a "reliable person'I had
. . . narrowly examined the snake, being brought to
him by the Lads after it was dead, and he found 339
We. one at W. opening
each with a little stick, in each of which he saw a
‘stxng or tongue, and that each Head had :39 Eyeg . . .290
On April 29, 1746, perhaps realizing that death
was drawing near, Toppan sold to his grandson, Colonel
Christopher Toppan III, of Hampton, New Hampshire:291
. . . land in Newbury with the house I now dwell in,
bounded westerly on the gguntry road, easterly on
New Lane, so called &c.2
The "country road" is now High Street and "New Lane'' is now
Allen Street, in Newburyport.293
TOppan died in his seventy-sixth year on July 23,
1797 and, like his four predecessors in the Newbury pulpit,
he was buried in Oldtown Cemetery.294 Inscribed on his

gravestone was the following epitaph:

 

290ChristOpher Toppan I quoted in, Clifford K.
Shipton, Vol. IV, M” p. 116.

291Joseph Dow, H . ' . .- To”. . gn9 ..,
‘1 Han9fo ‘ F cu I = ‘ 'U’L 4 o 3 o 9‘ A- in!
, Vol. II Salem, Massachusetts: Salem Press
Publishing and Printing Company, 1894), p. 996.

292Unpublished Essex County Deeds, Book LXXXVII,
Leaf 269, on file in the Registry of Deeds and Probate
Court Building, Salem, Massachusetts.

293John J. Currier. WW.
W0: 1:» 333-
29“John J. Currier, "Ou N '° H

WM” p- 112-

264

Here lyes the Body of the Rev. MR. CHRISTOPHER
TOPPAN, Master of Arts, fourth Pastor of the First
church in.Newbury; a gentlemen of good Learning,
conspicuous Piety and virtue, shining both by his
Doctrine and Life, skilled and greatly improv'd in
the Practice of Physick and Surgery, who deceas'd
July 23d, 1747, in the 76th Eggr of his Age and the
5lst of his Pastoral office.
By his first wife, Toppan sired six children.296
His second oldest son, Dr. Edmund Toppan I, a Harvard
College graduate who received his Bachelor of Arts Degree
in 1720 and his Master of Arts Degree in 1723, was a physi-
cian at Hampton, New Hampshire.297 The third son,
Dr. Bezaleel Toppan, a physician at Salem, Massachusetts,
was also Harvard educated, receiving his Bachelor of Arts
Degree in 1722 and his Master of Arts Degree in7l725.298
The youngest child, Susanna Toppan, married Benjamin Wood-

bridge, a descendant of Governor Thomas Dudley, of the

 

295John Warner Bartlett,

3‘ 9: e f ‘,- Co - .99 9 19 - e. _ 5 :91 99;,
B 9; :99 : S.‘ 9‘. A9‘ 99 ‘: & Bv: : _9: 0 9

H 9 ' :979 A9 91“- 9 E" *T0 9 9M2.‘?-’: Q-‘-‘r
We. Worcester. Massachusetts:

Dorr, Rowland and Company, 1839), p. 209.

296Herbert Tappan, “The Tappan (or Toppan)R Gene-
alogy,’ T9: N‘; E9: :99 H _. 9 :_ :99 Gem: 9 ,
Vol. XXXIV, No. 1 January, 1880 , p. 51. The children were
Christopher 11, born 1700; Edmund I, born 1701; Bezaleel,
born 1705; Sarah, born 1707; Eunice, born 1710; and Susanna,
whose birth date is unknown.

297Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. VI, M” p. 4119.

298011fford K. Shipton, Vol. VII, 29.-.91».
pp. 127-128.

265

Massachusetts Bay Colony.299 Thus, at least three of
Toppan's six children continued the family's prominence
into the next generation.

Toppan's life had many parallels to that of Rev-
erend Thomas Parker. This was particularly true in view of
the fact that both men were relatively stern and inflexible,
characteristics which limited their ability to confront
adequately the controversies that marred their later years.
After leading the founding of Newbury in 1635, Parker spent
his remaining forty-two years in leadership positions in the
church and school. By contrast, none of the six school-
masters who followed him devoted more than a few years to
Newbury's church or school. They either left the field of
teaching or, far more frequently, moved to other towns.
Toppan, the seventh schoolmaster to follow Parker, was a third
generation Newburyite. More importantly, he spent his entire
professional life in the town's church and school.

Yet, it would be erroneous to view Toppan as a
later Parker in all respects. Although Toppan's religious
faith was surely as strong as that of his predecessors in
the Newbury pulpit, he was vitally interested in mate-
rialistic acquisition to a far greater extent than would

have been Judged appropriate at an earlier period.

 

29glierbert Tappan, op, cit., p. 51 and James
Truslow Adams, "Thomas Dudley," gn;_g11., pp. 484-485.

 

 

266

Nonetheless, despite his worldliness, Toppan
defended the old order of the Congregational faith, rather
than the ideology proposed by those who supported the Great
Awakening. Consequently, it is all but certain that had
Parker been alive in the 17408, he would have favored the
ministry of TOppan, rather than that of the New Light
preachers. It is ironic that although his family had op-
posed Parker's rather tight ecclesiastical control,300
Toppan spent his final years defending, essentially, the
theology of his prominent predecessor. Indeed, even the
methods employed by these two divines in defense of the
status quo were remarkable for their similarity. Like
Parker, Toppan's enemies were unsuccessful either in
removing him from the pulpit or in seriously damaging his
place in history.

When Toppan was ordained as Newbury's minister,
his place in the school was taken by Reverend Dr. Nicholas
Webster I, the eleventh schoolmaster. Webster was hired
on July 29, 1696 and was given an annual salary of thirty
pounds:

. . . in good country pay to keep a grammar schoole
provided he demand but fourpence per week for Latin

scholars and teach the town's Shildren to read,
write and cypher without pay.3

 

300Joshua Coffin, A Skgtgh 9f the History of N2!-

97 N 9 '997 :7799 W N _97 F 9997 9 9 3 ,

9.22—£119,131). 83, 1009
3011bjd., p. 164.

267

A native of Newbury, Webster was born on Octo-
ber 19, 1673, the son of John Webster II and Anna (Batt)
Webster.302 Although the Websters were engaged primarily
in farming and in the trades, they were relatively influ-
ential in Newbury and Ipswich. John Webster II, a black-
smith, was born in England circa 1632 and spent the major
part of his life in Newbury.303 In 1634, his father, John
Webster I, a baker, settled in Ipswich, where he remained
until his death in 1646.304 The wife of John Webster 1,
Mary (Shatswell) Webster, was the daughter of Theophilus
Shatswell and Sarah (Bosworth) Shatswell, who settled in
Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1642 and in Haverhill, Massa-
chusetts, in 1646.305

Illustrative of the socio-economic status of the
Webster family are the activities of the uncles of Reverend
Dr. Nicholas Webster 1. Stephen.Webster I was a tailor in
Haverhill, Israel Webster I was a cooper in Newbury and

Nathan Webster I lived in Bradford, Massachusetts, where he

 

30?;py1., p. 321.
303David w. Hoyt, gp&_51§., p. 343.

304John c. Webster, §2me_2£_ihe_Des%endsnts_2£
W I s M ss e Chicago:

privately printed, 1912 , p. 5 and Richard Edward Kelly,
Vol. I. we: I» 11.

305James Savage, Vol. IV, 93,411., p. 61 and
Richard Edward Kelly, Vol. I, M” p. 11.

268

was engaged, in all likelihood, in farming.306 John
Webster III, a brother of Reverend Dr. Webster, was a
weaver in Newbury and, later, in Salisbury and another
brother, Stephen Webster II, was probably a farmer in New-
bury.307 On the paternal side of his family, the Newbury
schoolmaster was a first cousin of Hannah (Emerson) Dustin,
the heroine of the March 15, 1697 Haverhill Indian raid.308

A member of his family's third generation,
Webster entered Harvard College in 1691 and, being a normal
undergraduate, he reached I‘the peak of his destructiveness
during his junior year."309 He received his Bachelor of
Arts Degree in 1695, but he did not return to take the

second degree.310

 

306David w. Hoyt, M” pp. 343-3191».

3072211.. pp. 343-345.

3081pld., p. 343. As related in Howard H. Peck-
ham, Qp;_g1§., pp. 51-52, on the night of April 29, 1697,
Mrs. Dustin and her two fellow women captives surprised and
slew the ten Indians who were holding them. She then re-
turned to her home and, presenting the ten scalps to the
authorities of the colony, received the established bounty
of fifty pounds. Even after the passage of two and three
quarter centuries, she is still a well-known historical
figure throughout most of New England. A rather imposing
monument, showing Mrs. Dustin with uplifted tomahawk, now
stands in front of the City Hall in Haverhill, Massa-

chusetts.

309Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. N, M” p. 286.

3lolhido. pp. 386-387.

269

For four years, from 1696 to 1700, he was
Newbury's eleventh schoolmaster, his contract being renewed
annually.311 However, possibly because he had not shown an
inclination to assist T0ppan in the ministry, Webster was
notified that his contract would not be renewed after the
spring of 1700. On December 18, 1699, the following action
was taken at a town meeting:
December 18, 1699 Lieut Coffin, Lieut Noyes &
Decn William Noyes were desired to discourse wth
Mr Toppan & Mr Richard Browne for Mr Browne to preach
a lecture once a month & once every sacramt day and
to keepe ye Grammer Schoole and to help Mr Toppan or
Mr Belcher in preaching in case of sickness, and if
Mr Browne accept of the call, then to give Mr Webster
a quarter of a years warning to Leave ye schoole.312
Reverend Richard Brown III was the son of Richard Brown II
and the grandson of Richard Brown I, who had settled in
Newbury in 1635.313 A native of Newbury and a 1697 gradu-
ate of Harvard College, Brown became the town's twelfth

schoolmaster on February 21, 1700, when he was:

 

311John J. Currier, Higtgzx g: Nggbgzx, Mg§§,,
Wit” p- 401.

312m., p. 402.

313James Savage, A Genealogiga] Dictionary 9: the
' ‘ S‘ ‘ 9 N‘; E9; :99 Sh9,79: T9 e- G‘ - 9 9 9
T9! ‘ W99 C.“ B‘ 9 e M:' 0'2 09 9‘ B9; 8 9 F: u‘ ':

Register, Vol. I Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1890 ,
pi 275 and Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. IV, on, 913., pp. 336 -
3 1.

270

. . . called to Teach the Gramr school in Newbury,
which I accepted, and went on wth delight to train
up youth in Learning and the knowledge and fear of
God and teaching them to reverence yr Superiors.314

It was fortunate for Webster that he was aware of
opportunities for employment outside of Newbury. He had
begun to preach in Manchester, a town five miles east of
Beverly, Massachusetts, on the southern shore of Cape
Ann.315 Shortly after he ceased teaching at Newbury, Man-
chester decided to offer him the ministry of its church:

It At a town meting Leagualy warned and met to
gather upon the 29th Day of July 1700 It is voted and
agreed to treat with mr nicolas Webster to com and
preach the gospill to us and to Indeavour to git him
to be our setled minester as soon as may be with
conveniance and to give him #5 pounds a year sallery
in mony and the commettee here after named are hereby
fully Impowered to agree with the abovsd mr webster
to com and settell with us them or the major part of
them namly Capt thomas West Lieft John Sibfiig Robberd
Leach samuell allin senr and James pitman.

It would appear that Webster was not particularly
energetic about his work in either the school or the church

of Manchester. The Manchester town records contain only

 

314Richard Brown III, J , in Lilley Eaton,
G ' ° H‘ T B M ,
R-~ - -

   

Id, 1 P ‘_ T . A We. a 1 _
N0 9 B‘:q 91 W1 9 C9 990 91 a £99 H__ 0 1 S.‘ 9“,
Ezgm_1§32_tg_1§2&, Boston: Alfred Mudge and Son, 1874 ,
pp. 53-54-
315011rrord K. Shipton, Vol. Iv, my, p. 287.
316Tovm of Manchester. W.
E , Vol. I (Salem,

Massachusetts: Salem Press Publishing and Printing Company,
1889) , p. 950

271

brief references to his annual salary arrangements and to
other minor matters.317 Nonetheless, he continued to
preach for at least eleven years, since, on November 15,
1711, he wrote a note indicating that he “received of

mr cunstable robbert warrin in full for his second rate
fourteen pounds thirteen shillings and sixpence."318
Shortly thereafter, he was succeeded at Manchester by Rev-
erend Ames Cheever, a 1707 graduate of Harvard College
and the grandson of the famous colonial schoolmaster,
Ezekiel Cheever.319 Once again, Webster was dismissed in
favor of a younger, far less experienced man.

In 1712, he moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts,
approximately ten miles east of Manchester, where he became
the first “regular" physician.320 This was to be his final
move. On December 22, 1717, after serving as Gloucester's
physician for half a decade, Webster died in his forty-

fourth year.321

 

317;p;g., pp. 99-105, 117-121.
318Nicholas Webster I, quoted, Ipig., p. 121.

319Clifford K. Shipton, Vol. V, M-.
pp. 326-327.

32°James Bo Pringle. W
W Gloucester. Messe-
chusetts: James R. Pringle, 1892 , p. 6h.

321The Essex Institute. WW.
Massachusetts. 39 Ihfi Eng Qt eye Yea: 13%9, Vol. III Salem,
Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1924 , p. 319.

272

Clifford K. Shipton stated that "Mr. Webster is
curiously obscure,'322 a comment which is significant for
its understatement. If he wrote anything of note it has
long been forgotten and many biographical details of his
life are ambiguous at best. It is known that at some point
he married Mary Woodman, who was born in Newbury on
April 26, 1676.323 She was the daughter of the Newbury
"shipbuilder," Sergeant Jonathan Woodman I, and his wife,
Hannah (Hilton) Woodman.324 Her paternal grandfather,
Representative Edward Woodman I, settled in Newbury in 1636
and was elected to the Massachusetts General Court in 1636,
1637, 1639, 1643, 1659, 1660, 1664 and 1670.325 As
discussed in Chapter III, he was the town moderator who led
the battle against Reverend Thomas Parker from 1669 to 1672.

As far as is known, Webster had but one child,
Nicholas II, who was baptized on October 3, 1708 according
to the church records of what is now the First Parish
Unitarian Church, in Beverly, Massachusetts.326 Nothing

 

322011frord.K. Shipton, Vol. IV,‘enL_eito, p. 287.
323David w. Hoyt, Qpe_eij,, p. 366.

324%.

325John J. Currier. Histgzx_2£_flsnhunxi_flssse.
lézs-lgsza. an. cit., pp. 675-6780

326The Topsfield Historical Society,.!itnl_Resgnds
-B. ;;_; 9 9: E99 9 9v Y 3 '

Vol. I Topsfield, Massachusetts: The Topsfield Historical
Society, 1906), pp. 7, 359.

273

further is known about this child, nor does any pertinent
information exist concerning Webster's widow.

It would appear that, unlike his predecessor in
the Newbury school, Webster was content to watcn quietly
while the world went by. He did not spend time engaging
himself in schemes for making money. Neither did he en-
deavor to write the theological tracts and sermons which
were so dear to the hearts of many Puritan New Englanders.
Instead, in Newbury, Manchester and Gloucester, he rather
ploddingly pursued his three successive professions of
education, the ministry and medicine. While he apparently
satisfied at least some freemen in these three towns, he
did not evince sufficient excitement about his callings to
persuade the majority that they should permanently retain
him. In short, mediocrity would not seem too harsh a word
to use in describing him. Although Webster clearly was
not incompetent, neither was he overzealous in his dedica-
tion to his various positions.

In conclusion, it is important to note that the
late seventeenth century was the first period during which
all the schoolmasters held college degrees. Furthermore,
of Tompson, Shove, Clark, Toppan and Webster, only the
latter lacked the Master of Arts Degree.

The emergence of a new breed of schoolmaster, a

modification which first became evident during the

274

transitional period of 1675 to 1684, was accentuated

during the final sixteen years of the century. In short,
the schoolmasters of the late seventeenth century were

well educated, mobile and, with the exception of Toppan,
spent only a minor part of their lives in Newbury. Despite
their education at New England's only institution of higher
learning, the schoolmasters of this period were somewhat
less committed to the Puritan ideal than Noyes and Parker
had been. Only Tompson engaged in major theological
writing and all of the others devoted substantial attention
to activities which could not be regarded as religiously
significant. In essence, the intensive commitment to
Puritanism, evident during Newbury's first four decades,
had become somewhat dissipated in the lives of the late
seventeenth century schoolmasters.

Nonetheless, having survived the dangerous
transitional period, Newbury faced the eighteenth century
with determination as well as with a certain amount of
justified pride. Although the town's schoolmasters were
not of the scholarly calibre of Noyes or Parker and despite
the fact that the educational program was somewhat weakened,
there was clearly an improvement over the quality of educa-
tion which existed from 1675 to 1684. Neither the tension
filled lessening of the influence of the Puritan ideals
nor the highly disruptive King William's War were of

275

sufficient strength to overpower Newbury's school. That
this did not occur was the result, in the main, of the

efforts of the schoolmasters of the late seventeenth

century.

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION

The foregoing study of the schoolmasters of
seventeenth century Newbury permits the formulation of a
number of conclusions pertinent to our knowledge of educa-
tion in one of the early coastal settlements in the Massa-
chusetts Bay Colony. As stated in Chapter I, the rationale
for concentrating upon a single town was that much may be
learned from asking major questions of a relatively small
geographical region. It was found that Newbury was a
relatively typical Puritan town and that sufficient primary
and secondary sources exist to make possible rather thor-
ough research on the lives of the seventeenth century
schoolmasters.

Newbury's education was studied within the context
of the milieu, rather than in a state of artificial isola-
tion. Thus, Puritanism was given considerable attention in
view of the fact that it was the major factor in the devel-
opment of Newbury's education. Indeed, to attempt to
comprehend seventeenth century New England without an ade-

quate understanding of Puritanism would be most difficult.

276

277

Because of the vast amount of scholarly research
which has been undertaken since the 1920s, we have reached
at last the point where Puritanism is somewhat adequately
understood. There exist numerous interpretations of the
meaning of Puritanism, the complexity of which is suggested
in such works as that of George M. Waller.1 Perry Miller,
one of the twentieth century's most astute scholars of
colonial America, has provided perhaps the most accurate
and concise definition of Puritanism:

Puritanism may be described empirically as that
point of view, that code of values, carried to New
England by the first settlers. These were English
Protestants, and in their fundamental convictions
were at one with the Protestants, or at least with
the Calvinistic Protestants, of all Europe. But the
peculiar isolation of the New England colonies-~the
homogeneous peOple, the Sparse soil, the climate, the
economic struggle-~quickly made these Protestants a
peculiar people. Because their societies were tightly
organized, and above all because they were a highly
articulate people, the New Englanders established
Puritanism--for better or worse--as one of the contin-
uous factors in American life and thought.2

Had it not been for Puritanism, Newbury and its neighboring
towns of Massachusetts Bay would have been far less adequate
in transmitting and, indeed, adding to the English culture
from which they sprang. Because Puritanism was such a

powerful cultural and intellectual force, it enabled

 

1George M. Waller, ed., Puzitaniem in Bag}; Ameziee,

Problems in American Civilization, George Rogers Taylor, ed.
(Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1950).

2Perry Miller, ed., The Amenieeg szieane: Their
Prose and Peetzy (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and

Company, Inc., 1956), p. ix.

278

learning to survive on the frontier that was New England in
the seventeenth century.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that Puritanism
harbored certain stultifying tendencies, most notably the
condemnation of the theater, religious music and sensuous
poetry. Nonetheless, it was largely because of the Puritan
emphasis upon classical and humanistic learning that seven-
teenth century New Englanders were, both qualitatively and
quantitatively, better educated than were any other colonial
people. In addition to transmitting a rich heritage to a
virtual wilderness, the Puritans developed intellectual and
moral strengths which still constitute a significant and,
the writer contends, a largely beneficial part of the total
American culture.

Because of their emphasis upon the necessity for
studying the Bible, the Puritans founded and preserved the
New England town school, many of the characteristics of
which are preserved in the public educational institutions
of late twentieth century America. It is a particularly
significant indication of Newbury's concern for learning
that in 1639, only four years after its founding, the town
hired Anthony Somerby I as the first schoolmaster. Nowhere
outside Newbury and other Puritan New England towns can
there be found such an intense devotion to the concept of

providing community education in a frontier environment.

279

Undeniably, the concern for education was rooted
in the Puritan faith. Convinced that they were God's
chosen people, New England's early settlers sought to live
in a manner consistent with what they believed to be the
will of their Heavenly Father. Hence, education, work and
great personal struggle were necessary if one were to tran-
scend corrupt physical surroundings and, hopefully, achieve
nobility and salvation.

Yet, the Puritans feared more than the wrath of
God. As Clifford K. Shipton has shown, they were also
convinced of the need for maintaining their rich heritage
of traditional secular knowledge.3 Included in the anon-
ymously published Neg Ehgjehge Fizet Fruits (1643) was an
indication of the ministers' responsibility for helping to

foster knowledge:

After God had carried us safe to Neg_§hg1ehd, and
wee had builded our houses, provided necessaries for
our livelihood, rear'd convenient places for Gods wor-
ship, and setled the Civill Government: One of the
next things we longed for, and looked after was to
advance Leezhihg and perpetuate it to Posterity;
dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches,
when our present Ministers shall lie in the Dust.

 

3Clifford K. Shipton, ISecondary Education in the
Puritan Colonies,‘I T N w E , Vol. VII,
No. 4(December, 1939;, pp. 6Eg- 2%1.

4N E Fi s F ui . I Res F
g; C99°"7‘999 9‘ 099° 999 9 °‘ ‘ Pe9Jau99

ef send :1 efl the Indians. 2. Of the progreese of Leenhihg,
in the College at CAMBRIDGE, ih Maeseehes setteC Bey. With

D °- ‘ 9 9 M: ‘ 9n ‘ 91919: 9 ‘
London: Henry Overton, 1643 , p. 12.

280

As Samuel Eliot Morison has conclusively shown in his
monumental volumes on Harvard,5 the knowledge deemed worthy
of being advanced and perpetuated can in no sense be con-

sidered solely ecclesiastical.

Some historians have concluded that Puritan
scholarship was relatively inconsequential because it was
associated closely with religion. The writer contends, how-
ever, that the religious influence was a positive, rather
than a negative factor in the promotion of learning.

Indeed, had the early Newburyites been less religious, it
can hardly be supposed that they would have stressed educa-

tion so strongly. As Morison aptly argued:

It seems to be an axiom with Professor Knight, as with
many other professional educators of today, that schools
inspired by the spirit of religion, or conducted by
ecclesiastics, are worthless. If that is true, we must
condemn all schools and universities of the first six-
teen Christian centuries; and all Catholic, Rabbinical,
and church schools of our own day, in the same breath
with those of colonial New England. Supposing that the
schools of New England were just as religious in purpose
as the parochial schools and Jesuit colleges of today,
by what pedagogical or philosophical principle is a
knowledge of the elements and of Latin grammar and
literature rendered socially negligible when inculcated
by teachgrs with a definitely religious purpose and
outlook?

 

5Samue1 Eliot Morison, The Founding ef Heztezg

C (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,
1935 and H C e S e C , 2 vols.
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1936).
6Samuel Eliot Morison, The Ihtelleetee] Lite e:
Qelenie1_fleg_§hg1ehd, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell

University Press, 1956), pp. 58-59.

281

In essence, then, the intellectual emphasis,
which was a major concern of the New England Puritan, did
much to perpetuate and, to a degree, extend the pursuit of
learning on these shores. Believing in the essential unity
of secular and religious knowledge, the Puritans were
convinced that all knowledge was from God.7 Consequently,
one does not find in the seventeenth century the type of
religious versus secular arguments which have aroused such
strident controversy ever since Charles Darwin announced
his theory of evolution. Not even Reverend Dr. Increase
Mather, President of Harvard College and one of the
staunchest defenders of conservative Congregationalism, was
Opposed to his students' concentration upon secular studies.
In the following address, for example, he went so far as to
encourage such an emphasis in the anticipation that it
would lead to truth:

It pleaseth me greatly that you, who have been

initiated in the Liberal Arts, seem to savour a liberal

mode of philosophizing, rather than the Peripatetic.

I doubt not that the Exeheitatienee of Gassendi are
familiar to you; in which he sheweth with many proofs
that there are many deficiencies in Aristotle, many
excesses, and many errors. It is a trite saying,

H wh esi e n t b in o -
,gihle; moreover there are some matters in the books of
Aristotle which no mortal can comprehend. Wherefore it
is alleged of Hermolaus Barbarus, that he raised a demon
from hell, to ex lain what Aristotle meant by (full,
complete reality?. A right proper interpreter of
Aristotle, forsooth! How much in his writings are
redolent of their author's paganism! He would have the

 

7Perry Miller and Thomas H. Johnson, eds., The

Punitehs: A Seeheeheeh efl Their Whitthgs, 2nd ed., Vol. II
New York: Harper and Row, 1963 , p. 698.

282

world uncreated; he denieth a possible resurrection of
the dead, he declareth the soul mortal. To Aristotle
some prefer Pyrrho, father of the Sceptics; others,
Zeno, father of the Stoics; many prefer Plato, father
of the Academics. You who are wont to philosophize in
a liberal spirit, are pledged to the words of no
particular master, yet I would have you hold fast to
that one truly golden saying of Aristotle: Eihd_e

friend jh PJete, e friend in Seehetes (and I say a
friend8in Aristotle , hht ehoye e11 fling e friend in

TRUTH.
Not unexpectedly, such support for classical and humanistic
studies was reflected in the Latin grammar schools which
were preparing boys for admission to Mather's Harvard.
During the first period of Newbury's educational .
history, from 1639 to 1675, the school was well established
and thriving. In 1697, when Somerby resigned to accept the
town clerkship, Reverend James Noyes I, the teacher or
assistant minister, took charge of the town's educational
program. In turn, upon Noyes' death in 1656, Reverend
Thomas Parker assumed responsibility for the Latin grammar
school in addition to continuing his pastoral duties. All
three men, but most notably Noyes and Parker, enabled
education to flourish to an extent far beyond what could
have been generally anticipated in a frontier settlement.
The school had been established eight years prior
to the I'Old Deluder Satan" Act of 1647, putting Newbury

somewhat ahead of many of its neighboring towns in providing

 

8Increase Mather, translated in, Samuel Eliot

Morison, Hehyerd College in the Seyenteehth Centeny,
V010 Ia M09 P0 1 7o

283

for education. During the first thirty-six years of its
existence, the school perpetuated many of the educational
standards of the English Latin grammar schools in which
Noyes,Parker and, probably, Somerby had been educated.

Parker, who most assuredly deserves the title of
founder and patriarch, was so determined that secondary
education must not flounder that he refrained from charg-
ing tuition lest some parents might be forced, out of
economic necessity, to keep their sons from attending the
school. Indeed, it was only from 1656 to 1675, the nearly
two decades during which Parker wielded the master's rod,
that secondary education in seventeenth century Newbury
can be said to have been genuinely free.

Upon Parker's retirement, Newbury entered a period
of transition which could well have led to the death of the
town school. ‘Because of exceedingly poor health, Parker
was unable to carry out his ministerial and pedagogical
responsibilities after the fall of 1675 and within one and
one-half years of his retirement he was dead. Although he
was already middle-aged when he led the founding of New-
bury, Parker survived for forty-two years thereafter.
Despite the 1669 to 1672 controversy which marred the effec-
tiveness of his later years, a sizable segment of the town
continued to look upon him as a beloved founder and patri-
arch. Indeed, even Parker's enemies must surely have been

aware of the far reaching significance of his efforts in

284

the church and school. He was, perhaps, not always partic-
ularly easy to get along with on a personal level. Nonethe-
less, few felt that they could legitimately question either
his faith or his intellectual competence. Despite his
austerity, Parker was unquestionably the principal leader

of Newbury's religious and cultural life during the town's
first four decades.

Reverend John Richardson I was hired to succeed
Parker and Henry Short II, who was not college educated,
became the schoolmaster. Although the school and church
were now separately maintained, a supposed sign of "progress"
to many historians of education, the quality of Newbury's
education declined markedly. Far better educated than
Short, Richardson undoubtedly exerted some influence upon
the school. Yet, for the most part, Newbury's youth were
educated for several years by men with far less education
and ability than that which had been achieved by Noyes and
Parker.

Because clergymen had more education than any
other colonial group, it was inevitable that the separation
of the church's and the school's functions would result,
at least initially, in the town having to hire for the
schoolmastership men of comparatively less intellectual
stature and experience. In addition, the more capable
schoolmasters invariably eschewed pedagogy and entered the

ministry, where purpose and socio-economic status were

285

respected far more highly. It is, then, thoroughly
incorrect to assume that an improvement occurred in educa-
tion simply because laws eventually prevented ministers
from teaching. In fact, after 1675, Newbury's school was
in some respects intellectually weaker and less vital than
had been true when it was more directly associated with
the church.

It appears that Newbury's concern for education
slackened during the 1675 to l68u transitional period.
In addition, there emerged a significant controversy which
was based, primarily, upon divergent philosophies of educa-
tion. The severe controversy of 1669 to 1672 had been
highly detrimental since it helped to undermine the unity
which had enabled the furtherance of learning during the
schoolmasterships of Somerby, Noyes and Parker. Also
debilitating were King Philip's War of 1675 to 1676 and
the 1680 to 1681 controversy over the salary of Newbury's
fifth schoolmaster, Reverend John Emerson II. The transi-
tional period represented, in essence, the stressful nine
years during which the town school moved from being an
institution which reflected the utopian goals of the Great
Puritan Migration to one which attempted to serve the needs
of the still religious but, nonetheless, comparatively
more secular and disunited second and third generations.

Newbury's early records indicate that, to a

significant extent, the first generation limited conflicts

286

even though there existed many opportunities for dissension,
especially with regard to such matters as the granting of
land, the use of common lands and the admission of freemen.
The second and third generations, however, were far more
likely to fight for individual, as opposed to corporate,
goals. This was largely the result of a decline in commit-
ment to the utopian community ideals to which their parents
and grandparents had been devoted. Consequently, the
harmony which had characterized early seventeenth century
Newbury rapidly evaporated with the dawning of the 16703.
Because the school was the second most important institu-
tion, it was continuously involved in the town's rivalries.

Not one of the three schoolmasters who taught
from 1675 to 1684 was as intellectually noteworthy as
Parker and Noyes had been. In addition to remaining as
schoolmasters for much shorter periods of time--an average
of three years rather than twelve--they did not write a
single word which was deemed worthy of publication.

It is important to note, however, that the town's
first four schoolmasters had not served solely as pedagogues.
Concomitant with teaching responsibilities, Somerby was a
farmer, Noyes was the assistant minister, Parker was the
minister and Short was a farmer. It was, then, not until
1680, when Emerson was employed, that Newbury had a full
time pedagogue who was college educated. Nonetheless, as

suggested earlier in the present chapter, divisiveness

287

within the town prevented Emerson from effectively per-
forming his duties as an educator.

In short, with the 1675 retirement of Parker, the
town moved from a period of relative solidarity in its
educational endeavors to one of a substantial degree of
disquietude. Simultaneous with the above mentioned decline
of religious conviction, there developed a dispersal of the
population which helped to mitigate against the continued
support of a single town school. As Oldtown became supple-
mented by settlements at West Village, on the Artichoke
River, and Riverside Village, on the Merrimack River,
rivalries among those living in the three sections reached
major proportions. Eventually, during the late 16803,
pressures for the establishment of different schools in the
three sections became so powerful that the district or
”moving” school was established.

This is not to say, however, that the quality of
education dwindled to the point of inconsequence. Despite
the prevalence of political differences, education contin-
ued to be supported. There is, moreover, every reason to
believe that curricular requirements continued to be rather
stringently adhered to.

Yet, forces existed which prevented education
from reaching the intellectual virility it might have
achieved had unity of purpose continued to be a viable

possibility. Religious conviction had been the major

288

motivating factor in the establishment and maintenance of
the school. However, Newburyites had grown to doubt some
of the other-worldly assumptions which had made life worth-
while for their parents and grandparents. In addition to
rejecting a substantial part of their heritage, the younger
generations failed to find a satisfactory substitute upon
which to base their lives. Since the school had been
founded and supported largely because of the ecclesiastical
and secular intellectual desires of the more pious Puritans,
the waning of support for the religious concept and the
decline of the minister's dominance in the life of the town
had severe consequences for education in Newbury.

During the third period, that from 168# to 1700,
there was a decided improvement in the quality of education
over that which had existed during the transitional period
of 1675 to 1684. Reverend Edward Tompson I, Reverend Seth
Shove, Reverend John Clark, Reverend Dr. Christopher
Toppan I and Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster I, the five men
who taught during this period, were all graduates of Harvard
College. Moreover, all save Webster had also earned the
Master of Arts Degree. Although only Tompson came close
to approximating the scholarship of Noyes and Parker, each
of the late seventeenth century schoolmasters was at least
competently well educated. The extensiveness of the school-
masters' education is not, admittedly, an entirely definite

indication of the quality of the learning which took place

289

in the schoolhouse. Nonetheless, the fact that the school-
masters of the final sixteen years of the seventeenth cen-
tury were better educated than most of their predecessors
had been may be viewed as a generally positive, rather than
a negative factor.

Despite an improvement in educational prepara-
tion, however, the schoolmastership was significantly
weakened by a decreasing level of commitment to the school.
It was during the 1675 to 1684 transitional period that a
dramatic increase in transience became noticeable. During
the first period, that of 1639 to 1675, Newbury's three
schoolmasters taught for an average of 12 years. From 1675
to l68h, however, the average fell to 3 years and during the
third period, from 1689 to 1700, it fell still further to
2.8 years.

The tenth schoolmaster, Reverend Dr. Christopher
Toppan I, was the only pedagogue after Parker to devote a
major portion of his life to Newbury's church and school.
Henry Short II, the fourth schoolmaster, had remained in
Newbury throughout his life. Nonetheless, after five
years as schoolmaster, he devoted himself to farming and to
the town clerkship. Short's successors, Reverend John
Emerson II, Reverend Thomas Baily I, Reverend Edward
Tompson I, Reverend Seth Shove, Reverend John Clark and
Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster I, all continued to devote

themselves to the ministry, to education or to medicine but

290

they moved from Newbury after serving but briefly as school-
masters.

The age of the schoolmasters also declined sub-
stantially. From 1639 to 1675, the average age at which
Newbury's schoolmasters had been hired was #3. From 1675
to l68u, the average dropped dramatically to 25.6 years and
from l68h to 1700 it reached the surprisingly young 21.6
years.

Because the schoolmasters taught for ever shorter
periods of time, the age at which they resigned was~also
significantly lowered. Parker had retired in 1675 at the
age of eighty. By contrast, during the remaining quarter
century the "grand old man'I of the school was Baily, who
taught until he was thirty-one years of age. In addition,
of the five schoolmasters who taught between 1684 and 1700,
only Webster remained beyond the age of twenty-five.
Clearly, teaching in Newbury had become primarily a first
position for young Harvard College graduates, rather than a
job which could attract even middle-aged men.

Another factor of major significance in the late
seventeenth century was the 1689 to 1695 movement to estab-
lish a separate church and school in West Village. Of
major significance for Newbury's education was the fact
that the dispersal of the population had created the desire
for institutions of instruction other than the single town

school at Oldtown. Each section within Newbury wanted to

291

have its own church and school, a situation which was
eventually resolved through the establishment of the dise
trict or I'moving" school. Unfortunately, Newbury continued
to employ but one schoolmaster who was responsible for
teaching in the various sections of the town at different
periods of each year. Consequently, the time given to
instruction within any particular area of the town declined
substantially from the level at which it had been maintained
in earlier decades.

Despite severe difficulties, however, it is clear
that Newbury endeavored to provide for the education of its
youth throughout the seventeenth century. Beginning with
the founding of the school in 1639, grants of land, payments
of money and other commodities and student fees were the
principal means of financing education. Toward the end of
the century, however, there were fewer payments in land or
in the use of land and there developed a far greater reli-
ance upon monetary remuneration. Except for an exceedingly
brief period during King William's War, Newbury continu-
ously maintained the school.

It is of particular significance that the town
continued to provide financially for education even when
only a small minority of students availed themselves of the
intellectual opportunities of the Latin grammar school. As
in most Puritan towns, Newbury's schoolmasters did not

teach in separate elementary and secondary institutions.

292

Rather, they were hired to give instruction to all students
who were interested or, we might add, whose parents were
interested, in the achievement of greater learning than
could be derived in the home. It is evident that at least
nine of the eleven men who served as schoolmasters in
seventeenth century Newbury had been educated well above
the average of their neighbors. In addition, they were
comparatively highly committed to the importance of learn-
ing and to the significance of encouraging the retention
of an appropriate level of respect for pedagogy. Clearly,
they were quite different from the indentured servants and
slave teachers who have been given such a disproportionate
amount of attention by many historians of education.

Since it was not until the late seventeenth cen-
tury that a school dame was hired from town funds, the
schoolmaster was directly responsible for the town's only
formal instruction, save what might be offered by the
minister. It should be recognized, however, that one man
served simultaneously as minister and schoolmaster during
a significant part of the seventeenth century.

The Latin grammar school was an institution
which attracted, in the main, those who had been born into
families of the upper and upper-middle socio-economic class.
This was due, to a significant degree, to the school's
philosophical orientation in supporting the knowledge which
most appealed to this segment of the town. Indeed, the

293

major focus of the Latin grammar school, that of teaching
students to be fluent in reading, writing and Speaking
Latin and Greek, was largely removed from the concerns of
the average seventeenth century Newburyite.

In short, it was not a lack of funds which
largely restricted secondary education to those who were
above the average in socio-economic status. Rather,
through the process of choice, the lower and middle socio-
economic classes tended to end their education when they
had learned to read and write English and to compute simple
arithmetic figures. Consequently, only a small portion of
the town received a secondary education. In fact, even
during the late seventeenth century, when Newbury had ac-
quired a population of well over 1000, fewer than twenty
students were typically in attendance at the Latin grammar
school.

Like the secondary school students, the school-
masters were also largely from a socio-economic strata
above the average. In addition to their family background,
moreover, the acquiring of a college degree added greatly
to their already consequential status. This was largely
the result of the high level of selectivity involved in
higher education in the seventeenth century. Samuel Eliot
Morison estimates that in 1690 in New England there was,

at best, one university man for every thirty-two

294

families.9 Although it is impossible to know the exact
ratio because of the absence of anything approaching com-
plete data, it would appear, nonetheless, that Morison's
estimate represents the most accurate assessment to date.

Far easier to calculate is the number of college
educated Puritans who had settled in New England by 1646.
The United States Census Bureau estimates that New England
had a population of 17,800 by 1640 and 106,000 by 1700, out
of which 130 university men are known to be emigrated by
1646.10 Through John Langdon Sibley's and Clifford K.
Shipton's excellent biographies of Harvard College's seven-
teenth century graduates, it is seen that 465 men received
Bachelor of Arts Degrees from the first class in 1642 to
that of 1700. Obviously, this represents a comparatively
small number when one considers the extent of New England's
population.

Yet, this is not to minimize the educational

attainments of seventeenth century New Englanders. Indeed,

 

9Samue1 Eliot Morison. W
W99 p- 361.

lolhid., pp. 359-410 and Samuel Eliot Morison, The

MW” 1» 25.
11John Isngdon Sibley. WW
G:9,: ‘f 9 H: ‘:_ 9 U9 ' I9 08.919 91‘ Mar; 9
lfiflfi:l§§2,, 3 vols. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles William
Sever, 1873-1885) and Clifford K. Shipton, Bieghephieel
.‘ 9e 9 T99 e W99 A e 9 d Ha °-19 C9 ‘1‘ in 9‘ C zeifs
W B 0 N , Vol. IV

Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933).

295

the percentage of those who attended Latin grammar schools
and college was far higher than that which can be found
anywhere in the seventeenth century. In addition, only an
extremely small number of New Englanders were illiterate.12

The fact remains, nonetheless, that those who had
earned college degrees were recognized as having attained a
distinction that would enable them to hold the important
positions of minister and schoolmaster. Although the school-
master earned only slightly more than did the average work-
man, his position provided social and intellectual status
considerably above that of the freemen at large. Most sig—
nificantly, the two schoolmasters who did not advance to
the more lucrative calling of the ministry were the only
ones who had not been college educated. Consequently, nine
of Newbury‘s eleven early pedagogues may perhaps best fall
into the category of minister-schoolmasters who, upon
ascending to the pulpit, secured a position of paramount
social, intellectual and economic significance.

It is significant that none of Newbury's school-
masters came from poor families. Even the Somerby, Short
and Webster families, who were perhaps somewhat less prom-
inent than the Noyes, Parker, Emerson, Baily, Tompson,

Shove, Clark and Toppan families, could hardly be considered

 

12Samuel Eliot Morison, The I e L f
C N E 9’ ppo 82-859

296

poor. Most of Newbury's schoOlmasters had a father, a
grandfather or a great-grandfather, not to mention brothers,
cousins and uncles, who had served as minister, school-
master, physician, representative to the Massachusetts Gen-
eral Court or had held some other position of more than
ordinary responsibility. On the basis of an extensive
study of the families of the town's eleven pedagogues, it
is clearly evident that the schoolmastership was occupied
by men of rather prominent backgrounds. Despite the absence
of prohibitive legislation against the poorer and rela-
tively non-influential freemen, societal machinations even
more effectively restricted the attainment of the school-
mastership to those who were "more equal than others."

In conclusion, the school appears to have been a
highly significant force in the education of seventeenth
century Newburyites. In addition to helping to provide
basic skills on a mass level, it prepared a number of stu-
dents for admission to Harvard College.

That a frontier town school should be so thor-
oughly dedicated to the concept of community education is
seen as a significant factor. When Newbury was founded in
the spring of 1635, only Reverend Thomas Parker was a
college graduate. Although Reverend James Noyes I, the
assistant minister, had attended Brasenose College, Oxford,
he had not remained to receive his degree. None of the

other early settlers are known to have graduated from

297

college and the overwhelming majority had, at best, an
elementary education. Yet, within four years the town
hired a schoolmaster in a heroic effort to perpetuate both
religious and secular learning.

Naturally, as the century progressed, additional
numbers of college graduates were added to the populace.
Indeed, twenty-four men from Newbury families were Harvard
graduates during the seventeenth century and Newbury was
recognized as one of New England's foremost towns in the
sending of students to Cambridge. In 1680, with the hiring
of Reverend John Emerson II as the fifth schoolmaster, the
town first benefitted from having two college graduates, the
pedagogue and the minister, simultaneously engaged in
intellectual endeavors. From 1684, when Reverend Edward
Tompson I became the seventh schoolmaster, until 1700, when
the eleventh schoolmaster, Reverend Dr. Nicholas Webster I,
resigned, Newbury continuously maintained college educated
ministers and schoolmasters.

Throughout the century, but most particularly
during the first four decades, Puritanism was the principal
driving force behind the town school. Although it was
diminished somewhat in the lives of the sons and grandsons
of the first settlers, it continued to be the major moti-
vating factor in the support for education. Yet, from
Parker's retirement in 1675 until the end of the century,
it is unlikely that the school again received a similarly

298

high degree of devotion and learnedness.

Nonetheless, although education floundered to a
certain extent during the final quarter of the century, it
could hardly be said that it was neglected. Rather, new
orientations were being explored. In the main, the school
generally continued along the familiar paths established by
Somerby, Noyes and Parker. Despite demeaning hardships,
Newbury maintained its institution of formal learning. By
so doing, it helped to perpetuate the splendid intellectual
heritage of the Ancient and Medieval worlds as well as of
the Renaissance and Reformation. Considering the forces
operating against it, the town school was a remarkably
strong institution throughout the seventeenth century.

It should also be recognized that, other than
supporting the clergy, the secular elements in the town did
little to keep alive the flame of scholarship. Had it not
been for the clergy, education in seventeenth century New-
bury would have failed to achieve the strength it came to
possess. Only the clergy's dedication to both religious
and secular learning was sufficient to persuade the hard
working people of this Puritan settlement that a school
must be established and maintained. Through providing an
intellectually virile tradition in the training of men who
would be pious Puritans as well as gentlemen and scholars,
Newbury's seventeenth century minister-schoolmasters left to

succeeding generations an impressive educational legacy.

BIBLI OGBAPHICAL ESSAY

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

This is a selective bibliographical essay which
touches briefly upon some of the primary and secondary
sources which were consulted in the writing of the present
work. Although it does not purport to be a comprehensive
survey, it is considerably more than a cursory listing of
sources. To understand the schoolmasters of Newbury, Massa-
chusetts, and the schools in which they taught, the research
focused upon the nature of Puritanism, the history of New-
bury and biographical material on each of the eleven
pedagogues.

Basic to research in colonial American history are
two monumental bibliographical works, Joseph Sabin,
Wilberforce Eames and R.W.G. Vail, eds., Eihliatheca
Au- aoa‘ p ,993 - . B..,g- :- a ".3 . AM; ; '-.;; :

W. 29 vols- (New York: Jo Sabin
and Sons and The Bibliographical Society of America, (1868-

1892) and Charles Evans, ed., WWW

_, 99-9 9; :_ D 99,; - 9‘ A B99,: Pill... - ; £99 P- 1.0.9.
9 a 99: P 9 ‘9 9 9‘ U9 ‘9 S a ‘: 9 An: 1 a

9m 9‘ G-ne‘ s 9 P _9 .91 1 9 ' .999 9 ago I9 .9.91
9‘ Y‘; 8 0 1 9 B19 -9° a9h s as; B_9zr299 a N9 ‘e,

12 vols. (Chicago: The Berkely Press, 1903-1934). Evans'

299

300

work is concluded in.Clifford K. Shipton, The_§mezig§n

B 9 ..1 ,_.,. . C9; E;9-’ AC 99. .9 : D 99:.
9‘ A B99,- Pem99 - 5 :99 P‘ "$9 a '.9 i : -99‘ P 9 ‘9
. 9; U9 -. S 9 -: 9 Ana 1 : ‘ on 9‘ G~9esis 0' P 19 9s
9 9 ° D9u9 . i.. I uo, 1 9e 1‘; 800 w B 9 _-; a99-

Wm. Vol- 13 (Worcester. Massachu-
setts: American Antiquarian Society, 1955). Indispensable

indexes are Roger Pattrell Bristol, Ih§_ém§ziggn_§ipliggzgph1

g£_ghg;1g§_§1an§;_ggdgz, Vol. in (Worcester, Massachusetts:
American Antiquarian Society, 1959) and Roger Pattrell

Bristol, Index of Pninpgng, Pgblighezs and Booksellers Inni-

' CL; -. E'i_; , : A_‘ a9 B 9

     

(Charlottesville, Virginia: Bibliographical Society of
Virginia, 1961). Also valuable is Clifford K. Shipton and

James E. Mcomm WW

1399; Ihfi Short-T131: Elana, 2 vols. (Worcester, Hassachu-
setts: American Antiquarian Society, 1969). It is indeed

fortunate that the American.Antiquarian Society has under-
taken the exhaustive task of microprinting the Evans titles,
thereby making exceedingly rare works readily available to
colonial American scholars throughout the world.

Early English works are found in A.N. Pollard and
G.B. Redgrave, S -T C B P
99- :99 S 9 999 999 I e g99 £99 9‘ E9; :9 B9993 ' 9 --
Ahnnfldn_l&25:l§&9 (London: The Bibliographical Society,
1926) and Donald Wing. Wm

 

:u‘ 1 ; .11! 0' Ed: ‘0 BOO9_ P 9 -0 ,101‘ CO,‘ ;‘9
1651-1299, 3 vols. (New York: Index Society, 19h5-1951).

It is to be lamented that the proposed microprinting of
works from these bibliographies has not yet advanced to a
level even approximating that of the Evans titles. Conse-
quently, many of the most vital sources are still to be
found only in the rare book collections of a handful of
British and American libraries.

Bibliography is the area in which New England

history is perhaps most deficient. The only major works on

Massachusetts are Jeremiah Colburn, B1b119gzgph1_gfi_§hg

WW3. (Boston: W.P. Lunt, 1871) and
Charles A. Flagg, G M H °

:- .9 ;, B _. .;_;_.9 I9,.-; . 9; _ - g -7; .‘ ,; .99.;
QiIies_and_§gnn&1e§_g£_th§_§ja$§,(Salem, Massachusetts: The

Salem Press Company, 1907). Fortunately, The Committee for
New England Bibliography is presently compiling a New Eng-
land bibliography which will cover the settlement period
through December, 1970.1

Numerous works were consulted with regard to
Puritanism, the most powerful ally of education in sevens

teenth century New England. Puritanism remains one of the

 

1John Borden Armstrong, I'A Bibliography of New

England History.“ W. Vol- XLIII.
No. 3 (September, 1970 , pp. 523-526.

302

most controversial of historical forces, as is shown clearly
in such works as Frederick J. Hoffman, 'Philistine and
Puritan in the 19205: An Example of the Misuse of the Amer-

ican Past,‘ W. Vol. I, No. 3 (Fall, 19%),
pp. 2n7-263; George M. Waller, ed., W
Amgzlgg, Problems in American Civilization, George Rogers
Taylor, ed. (Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1950); Richard
Schlatter, 'The Puritan Strain,‘ Th§_§§ggn§tnggtign_gfi
Amgzlggn_§u§;gzx, John Higham, ed. (New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1962), pp. 25-45; Alan Heimert, "Introduction to
the Harbinger Edition," in Barrett Wendell, Qgttgn_ߤthez;
Ihe_22:1§an_221§§t (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World,
Inc., 1963), pp. vii-xxxix; Robert Allen Skotheim, American

WW5. (Princeton. New
Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1966), pp. 173-255;
Peter Gay, A M ' Hi C -
ni§l_émazina (Berkeley, California: University of California
Press, 1966), pp. 121-157; Edmund S. Morgan, I'The Historians
of Early New England.‘ WW
1ggn History; Egggxa in Hgngn 9f Jghn Edwin Pgmfizgt, Ray

Allen Billington, ed. (New York: W.W. Norton and Company,
Inc., 1968), pp. #1-63; David D. Hall, ed., W

W (New York: Holt. Rinehart

and Winston, Inc., 1968) and Michael McGiffert, I'America‘n

Puritan Studies in the 1960'e.' W

m, Third Ser., Vol. XXVII, No. 1 (January, 1970),

303

pp. 36-67.

It is almost universally accepted that Puritanism
had a profoundly significant impact upon the development of
the American character. Heated controversies have often
arisen, however, over the question of which aSpects of
Puritanism were influential and, far more significantly,
whether the influence was positive or negative.

Sympathetic historians have concluded that
Puritanism represented a constructive approach, religiously,
morally and intellectually, to life on the seventeenth
century New England frontier. It is pointed out that the
Massachusetts Bay Colony faced strong opposition from the
Indians and the French as well as from many elements within
England. Moreover, internal dissent could hardly be con-
sidered inconsequential. Hence, the Puritans' rigorousness
was needed if Europe's rich cultural heritage was to be
preserved in the New World. Moreover, the emphasis upon
hard work and disciplined living resulted in significant
cultural, intellectual, economic and political achievements.

The detractors, on the other hand, argue that the
.Puritans were impossibly rigorous and that because of their
intolerance life in seventeenth century New England was
excessively rigid and formalized. As a result, intellec-
tual stagnation became the rule and New England could not
contribute meaningfully to American development until the

30M

eighteenth century, when the influence of Puritanism had
declined markedly. In essence, then, the detractors contend
that the Puritans' restrictiveness was responsible for the
failure of their religious experiment as well as for their
inability to positively influence the country as a whole.

Such differences of opinion are not peculiar to
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. On the contrary,
they were of major consequence in the seventeenth century,
when the positive interpretations of William Bradford, John
Winthrop, William Wood, Edward Johnson, William Hubbard,
Nathaniel Ward, John Cotton, Thomas Shepard, Richard Mather,
Increase Mather and Cotton Mather clashed violently with
the negative intrepretations of Thomas Morton, Roger
Williams, John Clarke, Samuel Gorton, Thomas Hooker and
Thomas Lechford. It was not, however, until the late nine-
teenth and early twentieth centuries that professional
historians first engaged in scholarly debates over the
nature and extent of the Puritans' impact upon American
life. Finally, during the 19203, the historiography of
early New England achieved, as Edmund S. Morgan has shown,
'a level of sophistication unmatched in the study of any
other part of Americanhistory.”2

 

2Edmund S. Morgan, "The Historians of Early New
England,“ T B E A H °

E H J E P , Ray Allen Billington,
ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1968), p. #1.

305

To a significant degree, the desire to embark
upon more extensive studies of seventeenth century New Eng-
land was in response to the early twentieth century's gen-
eral antagonism toward everything believed to have been even
vaguely characteristic of Puritanism. Widespread ignorance
and utter disregard for historical truth were displayed,
on a popular level, in the negativistic fulminations of
H.L. Mencken. Even fairly reputable writers, among them
James Truslow Adams, appeared to relish denigrating the
Puritans in a manner similar to Charles A. Beard's denigra-
tion of the founders of the Republic. As Samuel Eliot
Morison noted on December 29, 1950 in his Presidential

Address at the annual meeting of the American Historical

Association:

There is a decided change of attitude toward our
past, a friendly, almost affectionate attitude, as
contrasted with the cynical, almost hateful one of
young intellectuals twenty-five years ago. At that
time Kenneth Murdock and I were voices crying in the
wilderness against the common notion of the grim
Puritan painted by J. Truslow Adams and other popular
historians of the day: the steeple-hatted, long-faced
Puritan living in a long cabin and planning a witch-hunt
or a battue of Quakers as a holiday diversion. That
picture has given way to one of the jolly Puritan
sitting in a little frame house furnished with early
American furniture, silverware and pewter, one arm
around a pretty Priscilla and the other reaching for a
Jug of hard cider.3

In their reinterpretation of Puritanism, the his-

torians of the 19203 and thereafter owed much to such works

 

3Samuel Eliot Morison, "Faith of a Historian,“
A H R , Vol. LVI, No. 2 (January,

1951 , p. 272.

306

 

as Henry Martyn Dexter, C e s ' W I ,
W I W I B T 0 F

(Boston:
Nichols and Noyes, 1865); Moses Coit Tyler, A ngtgzy of
Au‘ , a9 L' ‘ a , ‘ D. 9; 9‘ Co -9_; T9": .9 - . ,

2 vols. (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1878); Henry Martyn
Dexter, 9: 99gv‘;9 99; ,;u 9' 9: la: T9 :9 3.99 -9
Xears_as_§§en_in_it§_Lfit§zatnne (New York: Harper and Broth-
ers, 1880); George E. Ellis, W
W (Boston:

Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1888); Barrett Wendell,

M - P P (New York: Dodd, Mead and
Company, 1891); Williston Walker, ed., The_gz§§d§_ang_£lat=
tQnms_2£_§gng:§gatigna11sm (New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1893); Williston walker, W
W (New York: The Chris-
tian Literature Company, 1894) and Henry Martyn Dexter and
I‘Iorten Dexter. WWW
(Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1905).

By contrast, the detractors of the Puritans
favored such earlier works as Brooks Adams, Th§_§manglpg=

(Boston:

 

Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1887); J.A. Doyle, Engllgh

W, 5 vols. (New York: H. Holt and Company,
1882-1907): J-A- Doyle. W. 2 vols-
(New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1887); Charles

307

Francis Adams II. WW

9; S‘ ‘u‘q 0 Be, 09 B; T9; ‘5 10" a! con 0" ;"

A S C T , 2 vols. (Boston:
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1892); Charles Francis

Adams II. WWW
9W (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1893);
Charles Francis Adams II, ed., MW
. .-.-s..
MW (Boston: The Prince Society, 1891+);

Edward Eggleston, The Beginners 9: e Neylen; A Historx g:
0‘ S'. ’ é‘! : ?3 0 l‘ E5 ‘f El: ‘4 S‘ ‘nzg : 9

au‘ _ :_ W 9 o; : ‘9 -: . 9‘ L ‘s :9: 9.: :
gfeghe_geeple (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1896);
Edward Eggleston. W
W (New York: Do Appleton
and Company, 1900) and Van Wyck Brooks, The_fllne_g£_the
W (New York:
M. Kennerley, 1909).

Similar works published during the 19203 include

James Truslow Adam. W (Boston:
The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1921); James Truslow Adams, The

,Histg:1_g£_flen_§ngland, 3 vols. (Boston: Little, Brown and
Company, 1923-1927); James Truslow Adams, Preylnelel

§9§1§t1l_l§29=lzfifi, A History of American Life, Arthur M.

Schlesinger and Dixon.Ryan Fox, eds. (New York: The

308

Macmillan Company, 1927) and Vernon Louis Parrington, Main
-9 : 9 :n‘ :9 9._;9 ' 9- C9 .9 ; M .9 .-o- :90,
Vol. I (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1927).
The first major twentieth century reinterpreta-
tion of Puritanism was the posthumous work, Thomas Goddard
Wright, C N E -
(New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1920).
Appearing five years later was Kenneth Ballard Murdock,
WW (Cambridge .
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1925). This work
established Murdock as the successor to Wright and it placed
him in.the front ranks of the historians seeking a reinter-
pretation of Puritanism. Murdock's subsequent works on

Puritanism include W (New York:

Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., 1926); I'Cotton Mather and

the Beotorship of Yale College.“ WW1:
WWW. Vol- XXVI

(March, 1926), pp. 388-#01; ”The Teaching of Latin and Greek
at the Boston Latin.School in.1712,' Pnhlleetlene_e£_1he

C s M T , Vol. xxvn

(March, 1927), pp. 21-29; "William Hubbard and the Provi-
dential Intrepretation of History,‘ Proceedingfi_2£_1h§
WW. Vol- L11 (1942). pp- 15-37:

9 C9 . 9 N i E9- (Cambridge,

     

Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1949) and “0110

309

in the Wilderness: History and Biography in Puritan New
England,“ Wm, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 (September,
1955), pp. 221-238.

The next historian to respond to the call was
Samuel Eliot Morison, whose Bellgeze ef the Bey Celehy
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1930) emphasized the
beneficial influence of Puritanism upon the lives of eleven
men and women of New England's first fifty years. As had
been true with Murdock's 1925 biography, Morison's work
earned him a prominent position in the field. In addition
to his exemplary works on naval history, Morison wrote a
number of subsequent articles and books on the New England
Puritans. These include ”Those Misunderstood Puritans,“
Begum, Vol. LXXV, No. 3 (March, 1931), pp. lu2-l#7; I"The
Education of Thomas Parker, of Newbury,”.Pnhllegilgn§_9£
T9- C. .. 9 . .9 . 9 M: -: 99;: : _ :9:: 99:, Vol.
XXVIII (April, 1932), pp. 261-267; ”Precedence at Harvard
College in the Seventeenth.Century,' Pheeeedihg§_gf_the
WW. Vol. XLII (1933), pp9 371-
431; "The Harvard School of Astronomy in the Seventeenth
Century,” WW, Vol. VII, No. 1
(March. 1931+). pp9 3-2h: We:
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935);

WW. 2 vole- (Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1936);

WWW (Cambridge .

310

Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1936); 2he_£nzl§en
' 99;99' S .9 ‘9 9 9‘ I9 ‘ ‘ -9 - . . .97. N‘.
England (New York: New York University Press, 1936; 2nd ed.,
New York: New York University Press, 1956) and “The Harvard
Presidency,‘ WW, Vol. XXXI, No. 4
(December, 1958), pp. 435-fi46.

Three years after Morison entered the fray, there
was published Perry Miller, Qzhhedezy_lhhfleeeeehheehhe,
1639-1659: A Geheile Study (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard

University Press, 1933). Like Miller's other works, this
volume chiefly concerned the intellectual history of Puri-
tanism. Miller was alSo the author of numerous other works
on the meaning of New England Puritanism. Among these are:
“Thomas Hooker and the Democracy of Early Connecticut,“ The
W. Vol. IV, No. £9 (October, 1931), pp.
633-712; I'The Half-Way Covenant,“ The_Neg_§nglehd_Qngztezly,
Vol. VI, No. 4 (December, 1933), pp. 676-715; “The Puritan
Theory of the Sacraments in Seventeenth Century New Eng-
land.‘ WW. Vol- XXII. N09 1+
(January. 1937). pp. 409-425; W
W (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1939);
'Declension in the Bible Commonwealth,‘ Preeeedlhgfi_gfi_jhe
WW. Vol9 LI (1942). pp9 37-9“:
"Preparation for Salvation' in Seventeenth-Century New
England," flennnel gt the Hlepezy e: Igeee, Vol. IV, No. 3
(June, 1943), pp. 253-286; W (New York:

311

W. Sloane Associates, l9h9); Regen Williems; Hle Centzihn-
tieh te the Amerlean Tragitien (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-

Merrill Company, 1953) and The New Egglahg Mihg: FZQE Celony
t2_2:211nc§ (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University

Press, 1953)9

EEZEDQ Inte the Wilgezhees (Cambridge, Massachu-
setts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1956)
contains, within a single volume, many of Miller's previ-
ously published essays. Also of major import are his anthol-
ogies of primary sources, The Amezieen szltehe: Thein Pzeee
and_£2atnx (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company,
Inc., 1956) and, with Thomas H. Johnson, Ihe_szlten§;_A
Seyzeeheek_e£_2helz_flzltlnge, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (New York:
Harper and Row, 1963).

With Wright, Murdock, Morison and Miller already
notably in print, the fifth major Puritan historian,
Clifford K. Shipton, Morison's research assistant, was soon

to be heard from. He first received widespread acclaim in

1933. when there appeared Wilkes:
“90 A :93‘0 H; v; 0 Co ‘g; 1 1; C ;::“ 0°C— .0 w 9

WWW. V019 IV (Cambridge. Massa-

chusetts: Harvard University Press, 1933). This work was

the continuation of John Langdon Sibley, Blegzephleel
.: 9‘: 0' G 20-: “_ 0' H W. 0.116 :9" I Cant 1,99.‘
Meeeeehneett§l_l§&g:lfi§2, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Charles William Sever, 1873-1885). Likewise, the Sibley

312

volumes had been written in the tradition of the 1828 unpub-
lished manuscript of John Kelly# and John Farmer, Memonlele
9' 9‘ G :99; “ 9‘ H; v; 9 U9 .- :' . i_9 Cam, _99: ;-:;_
WWW (Concord.
New Hampshire: Marsh, Capen and Lyon, 1833). Through more
than four decades of intensive research and writing, Shipton
has carried the initial work of Kelly, Farmer and Sibley as
far as the aftermath of the French and Indian War.

Among Shipton's other works on Puritan New England
are “The New England Clergy of the 'Glacial Age',‘ Pnhllee;

.9; . T9; C9 .9 a S. c . M9::9 99:: r T 99:9 -

tlehe, Vol. XXXII (December, 1933), pp. 24-54; “Secondary

Education in the Puritan Colonies,“ The_Nen;§hglenn_Qgezte:=
11, Vol. VII, No. 1: (Decmeber, 19319), pp. 6196-661; 'A Plea

for Puritanism." WW. Vol- XI9.
No. 2 (April, 1935), pp. #60-367; 'Literary Leaven in

Provincial New England," WW, Vol. IX,
No. 2 (June, 1936), pp. 203-217 and 'The New England Fron-
tier,‘ W. Vol. x, No. 1 (March,
1937). pp9 25-36: W

(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 194d);

 

"John Farmer, A L G
Woo i‘c‘gv‘o I‘gc‘ 5. A q- W E9- :‘40 Co ~_
F9 999: a Cop! e ‘ I99e; - e T e991: C: - 01-8 a A
C ’ N E Concord, New Hampshire: pri-
vately printed, 1835), p. 2 and Giles Merrill Kelly, s Gene:

; 0:, a A 099 o 9 D _ 90:9 0 J099 Ke

bunk. Meeeeehfleette, U. S. A. Albany, New York: Joel
Munsell's Sons, 1886 , pp. h8-h9.

313

“The Autobiographical Memoranda of John Brock, 1636-1659."

P e A A s , Vol. LIII
(194h), pp. 96-105; 'Puritanism and Modern Democracy," The

N E H e i B , Vol. CI,

No. 3 (July, 1947), pp. 181-198 and “The Hebraic Background
of Puritanism,’ Publigatiggs g: the Ameziggg Jfiwlflh Higygn-
1gp;_§pplgpx, Vol. XLNII, No. 3 (March, 1958), pp. Inc-153.
Several other scholars have demonstrated more
recently their knowledge of Puritanism. Raymond Phineas
Stearns, a student of Morison, was one such man. Stearns
was primarily concerned with the relationships between Puri-
tanism in England, the Netherlands and New England. Among
his major works are “The New England Way in Holland," The

Nenifinsland_9uaztezlx. Vole VI. Nc- 4 (December. 1933).
pp. 7#7-792 and

 
 

15g]-]§35 (Chicago: The American Society of Church HistorY.

1940). With David Holmes Brawner, Stearns wrote "New Eng-
land Church ‘Belations' and Continuity in Early Congrega-
tional History." 2:2c2adinaa_2t_Ibe.énezican.én&ianazian
§991531, Vol. LXXV, Part I (1965), pp. 13-h5. His biograph-
ical works include “James Petiver, Promoter of Natural
Science. c- 1663-1718.“ P:2c2ed1nsfi_9£_ihe_émenican_énti:
gpanign_§gglg;1, Vol. LXII (1952), pp. 243-365 and ”Hugh

 

Peter was a Wit,I

§ggggpz, Vol. LxxvxI, Part I (1967), pp. 13-3n.

314

01a Elizabeth Winslow, another recent historian
of Puritan New England, presented much of the social his-
tory of the churches in her noted work, Mgetigghguse H;]]
(New York: The Macmillan Company, 1952). She was the author

of such biographical works as Jgngghgn Egggzgg, 1293-1255;
A_§12gnanh1 (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1990); Easter

Why (New York: The Macmillan Com-
pany, l957);,lghn_§nn1an (New York: The Macmillan Company,
1961); Samuel Sewall gt Bgstgn (New York: The Macmillan
Company. 1969) and l2nn_E1i2Ii_1A22§112_&2_1he_lndiana1
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1968). Much earlier in
her career, Winslow edited Amez1ggn_§zggd§1de_!§:§g_fingm

W (New Haven. Con-

necticut: Yale University Press, 1930).
Perhaps the most notable of all the recent histo-
rians of Puritan New England has been Edmund S. Morgan, a

student of both Morison and Miller. Included among

Morgan's major contributions are-”Light on the Puritans

From John 3911‘8 Notebooks." Tme_Nen_§nzland_Qne2Iezlz.

Vol. xv, No. 1 (March, 1992), pp. 95-101; "The Puritans and

Ser.' The_Nex;§nglann_9nantenlx. Vcl- XV. Noo 4 (December.
1942), pp. 591-607; The Puritan Family: 3e11g19n and

 

(Boston: The Trustees of the Boston Public Library, 1999;

2nd ed., New York: Harper and Row, 1966); The Diary 9:
M 9;; W 3; e=19 9 9 - 9 3 T9: C995 ‘9 e 9' a P- a9

315

(New York: Harper and Row, 1996); Ths Puritan Dilsmms; Ths

Stgzz_9£_£2hn_!inthngn. The Library of American Biography,
Oscar Handlin, ed. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1958);
"New England Puritans: Another Approach," Ths_fllllism_sng
w, Third Ser., Vol. XVIII, No. 2 (April, 1961),
pp. 236-242; The GsntJQ Puritan: A hits gt Ezzs Stilfifi.
1222:1225 (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press,
1962); mangle Saints; The Histgny g: g 13mm Igss

(Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1963); The
F.-,. .. .‘ M9:sa 9,:‘ e: H : . .i.; 9.. g; .. ;:

(Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1969); Puritan

Pg11pigs] Idsss, 1558-129& (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill
Company. 1965): W
(New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc., 1967) and 'The
Historians of Early New England,“ Ths_§sintsnphststign_gfi
Esnlx Amszigsn Histgzyg Essays in Eggs: 9: Jshn Eggin
Ionizet. Ray Allen Billington, ed. (New York: W.W. Norton
and Company, Inc., 1968), pp. #1—63. As is evident from
their titles, most of these works emphasize the intellectual
history of Puritan New England.

Bernard Bailyn is still another noted historian
of early New England. Like Morgan, Bailyn studied at
Harvard under the guidance of Morison and Miller. With
regard to the English Puritans, R.W. Tawney, fisligign_and
WW1 (London: J-
Murray, 1926) and Max Weber, W

316

W, Talcott Parsons, trans. (London:
G. Allen and Univin, Ltd., 1930) had appeared some years

prior to the time when Bailyn was in a position to commence
serious writing. Nonetheless, the businessman in Puritan
New England continued to be largely neglected in favor of
his generally more affluent English cousin. Consequently,
Bailyn.was responding to a serious gap in the history of
early New England when he sought to study the records of
Puritan merchants and their shipping activities.

Among Bailyn's most noted works are Ths_fls1_§ng=

1W (Cambridge .
Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1955) and, with his

wife. Lotte Baum. WW
fitatint1231_§&nd1 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 1959). Revealing

similar interests, Bailyn also edited Ths_Apglgg1s_g£

 

York: Harper and Row, 1965). He was the author, as well,
of the highly significant Edngatigh_in_ths_§gnm1ng_gfl

1 s : N o 1 3 (Chapel
Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press,
1960).

Although numerous general sources were referred

to in the writing of the present work, those sources which
concerned most directly the history of Newbury, Massachu-

setts, and its seventeenth century schoolmasters were given

317

the most attention. It is fortunate that Newbury preserved
such a wealth of primary source materials. Also of great
value are the manifold secondary sources, among which are
local histories, genealogies and biographies. Attempts
were made to consult virtually all such known materials.

Unpublished manuscript records are preserved in
the Newbury Town Hall, under the care of the present Town
Clerk, Ralph P. Lowell. These materials include the books
of birth, marriage and death, the town records and the
proprietors' records, all of which date from the earliest
years of Newbury's history. After having been lost since
circa 1892, the seventeenth century vital statistics were
finally uncovered in February, 1968.5 Dating from 167h,
the records of Newbury's First Congregational Church are
being readied for deposition in a protective vault.6

Located in the Registry of Deeds and Probate Court
Building, Salem, Massachusetts, are the Essex County deeds
and probate records. The county's court records are found
in the Office of the Clerk of the County Court House, also
in Salem.

Fortunately, many of the most pertinent primary

sources have been published. One such work is The Essex

 

5Albert E. Fowler, “The Lost Records of Newbury,
. H -

Massachusetts," _ a _ .
Registsz, Vol. CXXII, No. October,11968 , pp. 28h-285

6Letter From Emma Knapp, Church Historian, First
Congregational Church, Newbury, Massachusetts, to Richard
Edward Kelly, May 9, 1969.

   
 

      

318

Institute, R N M s e

End gfi ths Yes: lafig, 2 vols. (Salem, Massachusetts: The
Essex Institute, 1911), a compilation of entries found in the
books of record, kept by the town clerks; in the church rec-
ords; in returns made to the Salem Quarterly Courts; in the
cemetery inscriptions, gathered from tombstones throughout
Newbury; and in many private records found in family Bibles.
Both volumes are arranged alphabetically and are divided into
three sections pertaining to births, marriages and deaths.

The equivalent works for Newburyport and West
Newbury are The Essex Institute, Eitsl_§sggzds_g£_flsnhnzy=
ant, Mssssghusstts, tg ths End Qt ths Yss: 1959, 2 vols.

(Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911) and The
Essex Institute, V R W N - -
setts, t9 the End gt the Yss: 1§&9 (Salem, Massachusetts:
The Essex Institute, 1918). Because seventeenth century
Newbury had geographical limits which included all of the
area now designated as Newbury, Newburyport and West New-
bury, the four 1911 volumes as well as the 1918 work repre-
sent significant sources for the town's early history.
Among other publications of pertinent primary
sources are The Essex Institute, WW
9,; - 6., - . E:e-; C.,. . M;._a 9u - _ . .- .8 ,
8 vols. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-
1921); The Essex Institute, W
W. 3 vols. (Salem.

319

Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916-1920) and

Nathaniel 1’» Shurtleff'. ed-. MW
Gem-=1" 0 h‘ M. sa 9-_‘ S 32' _9 Ne; E9: L91 9 3- 939,

5 vols. (Boston: William White, 1853-1854).

Newbury's records, like those of other early New
England towns, contain but scant references to seventeenth
century schools and schoolmasters. It is fortunate, none-
theless, that the schoolmasters“ salaries and the dates of
employment and dismissal were nearly always recorded. The
fact remains, however, that by far the most significant
sources for education in seventeenth century Newbury are the
extant manuscripts and published works of the schoolmasters
and their families as well as numerous town histories and
genealogies.

The first comprehensive history of Newbury was
Joshua Coffin, A S H N -
293;, and ”ESL Nswhgzy, anm 1635 to lfifii (Boston: Samuel G.
Drake, 1845). Coffin has been widely consulted by all
subsequent writers, largely because of his wide utilization
of primary source materials and his accuracy cf interpreta-
tion. In addition to the numerous facts pertaining to the
town's history, Coffin contains such sections as Appendix D,
“List of Grantees, and Genealogy of the First Settlers From
1635 to 1700,“ pp. 291-322 and Appendix I, “List of Grad-
uates From Newbury,“ pp. 350-359. The entire work is,

however, of immense value.

320

There later appeared George Lunt, Qld_!§n_§ng1gnd
Traits (New York: Hurd and Houghton, 1873), a rather poorly

organized volume consisting of rambling reminiscences of
Newbury and Newburyport. Although of some interest to the
casual reader, Lunt has but little value for the study of
Newbury's educational history. Within the same decade was
published Sarah Anna Emery, Rem1nisgsncss_g£_§_flgnagsnszian
(Newburyport, Massachusetts: William H. Huse and Company,
1879). Pertinent to the present study is Chapter XLII, pp.
218-224, which, although brief, relates some aspects of
Newbury's educational history. Emery's major defect is her
reliance upon pleasant memories, rather than upon consequen-
tial developments in the history of the town.

During the late nineteenth century, there arose
a heightened interest in the writing of Newbury's history.
This was, to an appreciable extent, a result of the great
interest in the June 10, 1885 celebration of the town's two
hundred and fiftieth anniversary. A direct outgrowth of-

the commemoration was the publication of The Historical

Society of Old Newbury. WW

9 A99 .- :;-r 9' 9; S; -n‘9 o N‘19! . J... 9,
1885 (Newburyport, Massachusetts: The Historical Society of
Old Newbury, 1885). The most consequential part of this
rather lengthy work is Samuel Colcord Bartlett, “Historical
Address,“ pp. 36-68, which, although based largely upon
Coffin, adds much interpretative background.

321

Appearing in the same year was Robert Noxon
Toppan, B - lB_.g e0 , . S.- .--. . H_..-.. 9.. F -
HWWW (Newburyport.
Massachusetts: The Historical Society of Old Newbury, 1885).
In addition to providing accurate data on the lives of three
seventeenth century schoolmasters, Tappan presents other
background information on early Newbury.

Other than Coffin's 1895 work, the two most
significant volumes on Newbury history, both by John J.

Currier, are “0 N b “° H a B
Sketches (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 1896) and Histgzy_gfi

nghpny, Mfififia. 1635-1992 (Boston: Damrell and Upham, 1902).

Although neither Coffin nor Currier are as interpretative
as might have been hoped, the latter, being able to benefit
from the research of his predecessor, is rather more thor-
ough on various topical aSpects of the town's history.
Among the special areas of concentration in the 1902 work
are “The Settlement at Parker River, l635-16M5“; “The
Settlement at Merrimack River, 1645-1685“; “Churches and
Pastors“; “Schools and Schoolmasters“; “Highways“ and “Mil-
itary Organizations and Indian Wars.“ The Currier volumes
represent, in short, a level of excellence which has not
since been attained.

A brief essay and numerous photographs may be

found in George P. Tilton, N w ' P F

S S T M C ° W

322

Sou? H__ 9 ' 9 N‘i911': Me a: 9-_‘ . 299 j P 9:‘9 9
Newburx;.§naland (Newburyport, Massachusetts: The Towle
Manufacturing Company, 1907). Also of some value is the
appropriate section of Allan Forbes, Ne E

a99 0 9 E9: 991 I ‘ 299 :n9 5 9 ,: 9: 09996 '9: L 9L
3‘ “9 C ie £99 T999 9 N- E9: €99 an9 T99-‘ 9_ 9‘

(New York: G.P.

 

Putnam's Sons, 1921).

In 1930, Newbury's tercentennial celebration was
held prematurely in order to coincide with that of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony. Published for the occasion was

The Historical Society of Old Newbury, OHJQ Nsuhgnyg
C9u9 _‘,9: N‘.9. 8.9. '99 e99 W‘r N‘;9- 9 9"-
u‘LIo ; I: 9‘ T ‘l ‘99 ' o 1‘ Mo- 5 Q " Br 00 09'

with 5299131 eysnts July 6, 2, 8 9 (Newburyport, Massachu-
setts: The Historical Society of Old Newbury, 1930). This
is a large map with explanatory information on Newbury's
rather numerous historical sites. A brief historical nar-
rative is also provided. A similar publication, appearing
during the middle 19603, is Newburyport Economic Development
Commission, Histgzis Nswhunngzt; A stkss Citx (Newbury-
port, Massachusetts: Newburyport Economic Development
Commission, n.d.).

Published during Newbury's actual tercentennial
year was Eliza Adams Little and Lucretia Little Ilsley,

eds., _O; '_ Po .4 N‘,.‘ ' MQ_I‘: .1‘_‘; : o a- .

323

(Newburyport, Massachusetts: News Printing Company, Inc.,
1935). Despite its brevity, this is one of the town's

more consequential historical works. Shortly thereafter,
through the efforts of the Federal Writers“ Project of the
Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts, there
appeared 01g Newbury Tales; Ah Histgzigsl Rssgsz fig: Chil-
dren_(Newburyport, Massachusetts: The Historical Society of
Old Newbury, 1937). This booklet dramatizes some of the
more romantic aspects of Newbury's three centuries.

A number of comparatively brief sources are also
significant for the history of seventeenth century Newbury.
Among these are Elias Nason, "The Burial-Place at “Oldtown,“
Newbury, Ms . " WWW
Bsglstgn, Vol. I, No. 4 (October, 1847), pp. 371-376; A.W.
Brown, “Materials For the History of Newbury,“ The_flgn

E H a G R , Vol. VII, No.

4 (October, 1853), pp. 399-350; “Newbury Troubles,“ The Ns!
WWW. Vcl- VIII.
No. 3 (July, 1854), p. 279; George D. Wildes, An_stt1Qn

B‘ 9 ‘ 9‘ H . 9 _ ; a9d A9 i9ua 1&9 S9 1‘ ' 9_ N-_9. ',

E 8‘; C919 Me-.: 9 S‘ 399 'W96 9 3 3 C91uen9-
zatigs sf ths Sstthmsnt 9t NQNDBII. A,Q, 1635 (New York:
T. Whittaker, 1878); Walter Lloyd Jeffries, “Taxes Under
Gov. Andros: Town Rate of Newbury, Mass., 1688,“ Ih§_flfil.

E H G R , Vol. XXXII,

No. 2 (April, 1878), pp. 156-164; “Number of Births in

324

Newbury, Mass., 1639-1715," T New B H '

Qanea12g19a1_fiegistez. Vol. XXXIV, No. 4 (October, 1880),
pp. 389-390; “Old-Town Meeting-House, Newbury, 1700-1806,“

. C9-m ' H t a9! G‘t" 2. ' Re' ~ ’ 9 v°1° I:

   

No. 10 (October, 1899), p. 1&6 and Robert Adams, “Lists of
Soldiers of Newbury, Bradford and Vicinity, and Other
Military Documents, 1686-17u6,“ Francis E. Blake, ed., The
NwEa- .... H : -. .... _. -_ - , Vol. L,

   

No. 3 (April, 1896), pp. 338-346.
In addition to works which are expressly devoted
to presenting Newbury's history, some material is also

provided in the form of short articles in the major histories

of Essex County, Massachusetts, viz., Cyrus Mason Tracy,

 

9;”: :99 C s: 9- M9 H . . Cu19 9 ‘u: _ a (Boston:
C.F. Jewett and Company, 1878); D. Hamilton Hurd, ed., filstgzy
9 E C9-9 ' My“: 9117:- . W9- 93 9:19 .199 9.31“ 9_‘-- 9

M P P M , 2 vols. (Philadelphia:
J.W. Lewis and Company, 1888); Benjamin F. Arrington, ed.-

in-chief, M H E c :

==.- ‘9. .9 .. 9"9 ‘9 9 9: 9199': one. :99 e :99 9.‘ 9

.
9 - g‘: 9 919:9 :90‘:-9

W, 4 vols. (New York: Lewis Historical
Publishing Company, 1922) and Claude M. Fuess, ed.-in-chief

325

and Scott H- Paradise. compo. Wm. 4

vols. (New York: American Historical Society, Inc., 1935)-
Newbury's ministers have often sought to emphasize
the town's impressive religious heritage. Consequently, in
a number of nineteenth century sermons there was provided
much information about Newbury's seventeenth and eighteenth
century history. The more significant sermons include John
Snelling Popkin, A S P M T
Tiue . A::-up 4: , o- O 1 M~; 9:-HOA“ 9 4‘ F
£gzish_in_flgnhnzy. (Newburyport, Massachusetts: Angier March,
1806); John Snelling Popkin, A_§gzmgn*_22g§ghgg_§§ptgnpgz_lz,

:0. A 93 D‘oi z. 01 o 9‘ N‘; M;‘ 43-HO-?‘ 0 9‘

Einst_§§21§h_in_fl§nhgzy. (Newburyport, Massachusetts: Angier
March, 1806); Jonathan P. Stearns, A Higtgzigal Digggnnag,

Oflflefl' = " 9‘ 1e ' 9:9. a -99 9 4' F ; P 9:9' 9 .a9

.9. 9 1 N‘Wp. '99 ’9 '“"9 a 9" F1 : ‘9 ‘391e

Qglehngtign‘_g§nu_1,_1§&§. (Newburyport, Massachusetts: John
G. Tilton, 18h6); Leonard Withington, A_§§nmgn;figz_th§_21g
HA99«;o o A99 " f; ' 9 9: S a99-9: 9 9: F“ 9 C4..'¢ 4

W- (Newburyport.

Massachusetts: Enoch Hale Jr., 1896) and Moody D. Cook, 5.

‘9‘; 9: 9 A99 99f G_'19: a B _f H ,,. ' 9 9; P2 59-
99‘ ‘ :99 _9_99‘ = 9 9‘ F:9* ; S 9; CQ. 9 f 9”
—. o 3. W a g' Nem‘; 0 Thai, "f 9W999 : 99*
P: _:9 99‘ . 13‘ V'- 69 B: 9 ‘ 1: A9 “' :49 :9 9&99':

W. (Newburyport.

326

Massachusetts: William H. Huse and Company, 1862). Later
in the century was published Horace Carter Hovey, ed.,

9 _;-4 agq A91; - 9 "T - O . South' F_ : P 959' exiai
C.“ - L19 P; ->. i N*:oi ... M=;;. .- 3'- (Boston:
Damrell and Upham, 1896). Of all these works, the Popkin
and Withington publications are the most pertinent for New-
bury's early history.

Because seventeenth century Newbury was the parent
settlement of what ultimately became the towns of Newbury
and West Newbury, the city of Newburyport and part of the
parish of Byfield, the histories of these communities fre-
quently contain references to Newbury's earliest years.

The first history of Newburyport, Caleb Cushing, 2h§_fiustgzy
WW (Newburyport.
Massachusetts: I.w. Allen, 1826), appeared nearly a genera-

tion prior to Newbury's earliest similar work. Highly

interpretative and far more comprehensive than Cushing is

E. Vale Smith. WW

S- -:e . 1- 09.; 9 . .e P.‘ e4. T u-. W q a B_--

g2anh1gal_énp§ndiz (Boston: Damrell and Moore, 185M).
Federalist Newburyport is discussed in three works

by John P. Marquand, T D N ,

_' _: ___9_ 9‘ Ez- F7, .7 -5. 9‘ W‘. a. 9 9‘ G -:. :9

PthQ§Qphgz in thfi Western World (New York: Milton, Balch

and Company, 1925); s N ° C H -

1gg] Eigyigg BEEQIE a Fly Fzgm Amber? (New York: Newcomen

327

Society in North America, 1952) and 11mpthy_2§zt§n_§§11§=
1m (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1960). Newbury-
port's activities during the Civil War are examined in
George w. Creasey, The City 9: Newburyport in the C111] we:
f om =6 . 3. w 9- I99_v . g B- . 9; 9 - S. -
.‘- é 999 S: o w.. 8. .-, . I : C -9 A :0 .e W:
R: 9 q: . Ma9' N; v-; £99 B-. 9-9 ‘ 9 9- C = C --_ :9
Wages (Boston: Griffith-Stillings Press, 1903).
The city's most authoritative history is John J.
Currier, Higtgzy 9f Newburyport, Mass., lzgg-lggg, 2 vols.
(Newburyport, Massachusetts: John J. Currier, 1906-1909).

Less comprehensive but, nonetheless, somewhat valuable is

 

George P. Tilton,
909.9..9' e .99: 9 W9 9 9 9 ‘99‘9, 9 '9' 9‘: ‘ 9.9.9.
."f ..9‘ ~99!‘ 9-: 9 9.99. H ‘ 9 _ P -. ‘= 9 ‘;9. '99 9.9.9

' 9.9 .' 5.9.9. #9.) 9‘ ' :,9 9.9.9 B‘; '9 9‘ 9 99

L

Battezn_9£_§111§znaze, 5th ed. (Newburyport, Massachusetts:
The Towle Manufacturing Company, 1908). Based largely upon
Tilton is Fowle's News Company, The Egzly Hiatgzy 9: Ngu-
., 9..I M;.:; 9-9: :’ W4 9 _: 4.‘4p;o . o; .e: : :n.
9:‘ u? :9u- 9 ”a 9 :99 9_- 9 9 e -: 9 N-A9.p '99 499
(Iigxnitz (Newburyport, Massachusetts: Fowle's News Company,
1926).
Recently published were Benjamin H. Labaree,
P; 9 5 a99 Pa a95‘ T9- Mf 9s9 - 9 N-19- -99 . -

.1515 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,

328

1962) and Stephan Thernstrom, FREQ!!! egg ongzegg: SQQlél
M N Ce ’ C (Cambridge, Massa-

chusetts: Harvard University Press, 1964). In both in-
stances, the authors sought to thoroughly study the history
of a single community with the conviction that such an
approach would yield important information pertaining to
this period of American history. These studies had, in
short, an orientation quite similar to that of the present
work.

Outside the field of history, Newburyport is
perhaps best known as the city which was studied for the

publication of w. Lloyd Warner, et al., The_§gg1§J_L4£e_gfi

e Megezh Community, Yankee City Series, Vol. I (New Haven,
Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1941); Ihe_§tahnfi

§1s1emu2f_a_flsdenn_92mmunitz. Yankee City Series. Vol- II

(New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1942); The
so _: - e =-o - ._ - :, Yankee City

 

Series, Vol. III (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University

Press, 19u5>; The 8291a] sttem 9f the Mgfienh Feeeehz, The
§irikeg_a_§geial.5nalxsis. Yankee City SerieS. Vel- IV

(New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1997) and
T9‘ 9:: 3.99, 9‘ h‘a9 l S 9_’ 9' 9; 5'3999 '_ '* -9
Amehieehg, Yankee City Series, Vol. V (New Haven, Connect-

icut: Yale University Press, 1959).
Newburyport's prominent position in the shipping

industry is emphasized in such works as John J. Currier,

329

H ‘ 9 _ a S.‘ 9 9‘ S9 9 B-_ 9. 9-1 99 99 H‘ ,999. Bx;
(Newburyport, Massachusetts: William H. Huse and Company,
187?); William H. Bayley and Oliver 0. Jones, HTe;ezz_efi

9: M9 9- S. e - .‘ Ne 9-.'99 M:_se 9 re s F om

WM (Newburyport. Massa-
chusetts: The Daily News, 1906) and Stephen Willard
Phillips, ed., Ship Hegisfiehe efi The Diehz;e§ e: Neghhzy-
9nQnte_!a§§egh2§et&§T_12§2:1§ZQ (Salem, Massachusetts: The

Essex Institute, 1937).

Concerning other aspects of the history of New-
buryport are H. Follansbee Long, "The Newburyport and Boston
Turnpike." W.
Vol. XLII, No. 2 (April, 1906), pp. 113-128; James M.
Barriskill, "The Newburyport Theatre in the 18th Century,”
WW. Vol- XCI. No. *9
(October, 1955), pp. 329-352 and James M. Barriskill, 'New-
buryport Theatre in the Federalist Period," Eeeez_lnail§nte
fil§i§21§fll.§911§2&19n§o Vol. XCIII, No. 1 (January, 1957),

pp. 1-35-
The history of Byfield, part of which occupies the

southern portion of the original town of Newbury, is found
in John Louis Ewell, The 85921 0: Byfielg: A Ne! Ethehg
.gghieh (Boston: George E. Littlefield, 1904). Written in
a highly informal style, Ewell places greatest emphasis
upon the parish's eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

330

Of the eleven men.who served as schoolmasters of
Newbury during the seventeenth century, it was found that
there existed abundant source material on all but one indi-
vidual. The examination and interpretation of this mate-
rial provided sufficient data to aid greatly in the deter-
mination of such factors as family background, education,
writings and socio-economic status. Consequently, there
emerged a rather clear picture of the men who first occupied
the schoolmastership.

Well known early schoolmasters, of whom the best
example is Exekiel Cheever, have been referred to repeatedly
in numerous educational histories. In addition, Cheever
has been the object of major biographical studies, among

which are John T. Hassam, 'Ezekial Cheever and Some of His

   

Descendants," - -~ E.~ ;,p H = .9 ; a9: Ge9::
Beanies. Vol. XXXIII, No. 2 (April, 1879), pp. 1619-202 and
Elizabeth Porter Gould, Ezekiel Cheeyer, SehQQJQerez
(Boston: The Palmer Company, 1909). Yet, because the
present work concerns specific, rather typical schoolmasters
or, more accurately, representative minister-schoolmasters,
there were found to exist no full length biographical
accounts. Thus, a variety of other materials had to be
consulted.

Of Newbury's eleven earliest schoolmasters, at

least two and probably three had studied at universities in

331

England, Ireland and the Netherlands prior to settling in
the town and six received degrees from Harvard College.
Only two schoolmasters were not products of higher educa-
tion. Consequently, major works on the history of higher
education were consulted for the schoolmasters' back-
grounds. Concerning Oxford is Charles Edward Mallet, A

Histehy e: The Uhixeeeity e: Qxfiehd, 3 vols. (London:
Methuen and Company, Ltd., 1924-1927). Cambridge's history

may be found in Thomas Fuller, The Hiehohy e: The UDIIQI-
Ca 1 e f w a A (London: T. Tegg,

1840) and James Bass Mullinger, The Uhieehejey e: Geh-

; _9:- cm 9e E; i-s Tile- . 9- D- 9- 9 9‘ P a-
tgh1§3_flgxemeh&, 3 vols. (Cambridge, England: The University
Press, 1873-1911). One of the most thorough university
histories is Hastings Bashdall, The_flh11ez§;t;e§_gfl_§nxQpe
1n_hhe_h1ddlehegefi, 3 vols. (Oxford, England: The Clarendon
Press, 1895).

Among the most noted nineteenth century histories

of Harvard College are Josiah Quincy, Hi§1e21_efi_§ezxezg
yhlxeheihy, 2 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: J. Owen,

1840) and Samuel A. Eliot, A Sheteh 9f the Hiehozy e: Hengehg
QQJJege. Ahg Qt Ihe Pzeeehh Stete (Boston: C.C. Little and

J. Brown, 1848). The most thorough and scholarly approach
is found in the works of Samuel Eliot Morison, The_£ehhd1hg
g£_fla21azd_ggllege (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Uni-
versity Press, 1935) and Hehxazg College 1h the Selenieenhh

332

QEHLHII. 2 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Univer-
sity Press, 1936). The hitherto unpublished records of the
institution are found in .'Harvard College Records,'l636-
1767," Publieetiehs efi The Celenie] Seeiehy ef Meeeeehusethe,
Colleetiehe, Vols. XV-XVI (1925), XXXI (1935).

Also significant are works concerning the Eng—
lish Latin grammar schools, after which those in New England
were patterned. Among the works that were consulted are
A.F. Leach, Ethjeh Sehoe]e in the Bezehmetieh, lsié-liifl
(Westminster, England: A. Constable and Company, 1896);
Foster Watson, T e E G S o T
Quznigulum_and_§zae§ige (Cambridge, England: The University
Press, 1908); A. Monroe Stowe, Ehg1Teh_Qhemmeh_§eheele_Ln

.Lna_Heign_s£_9ssen_§11aaheih (New York: Teachers College.
Columbia University, 1908); A.F. Leach, The SehQQJe 92

fl§d1§1§l_fihgland (London: Methuen and Company, Ltd., 1915);
Foster Watson, The Old Czammeh seheele (Cambridge, England:
The University Press, 1916); Norman Wood, The.§2£22matian
eon E9; in E9, ; ...: A S ‘1' 0 9e I. -‘9 - o R; ~ ._9
U9 o_u . 91 E9; 1:9 Elu a 199 19 e S_ e;_ 1 Ce
(London: G. Houtledge and Sons, Ltd., 1931); J. Howard
Brown, E h S ° A A E

:mu; S .99 : 19 9- 3- 993 H; . h- S , e-a 9 C-9
(Oxford, England: B. Blackwell, 1933); Clara P. McMahon,

E F -C E (Baltimore: The
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1947); Kenneth Charlton,

333

W (London: Boutledge and
Kegan Paul. 1965) and John Simon. W
Tndgn_§ngland (London: Cambridge University Press, 1966).

Yet, although these general histories are of
exceptional value for understanding the secondary school
background, a number of thorough biographical accounts
contain essential information on the lives of many of New-
bury's schoolmasters. The basic works on Harvard College
are John Langdon Sibley. BMW
9‘ H; v; Q U -- - . I, Ce“. .;-. ;;:; ..;s ; . _-
‘1582, 3 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Charles William
Sever, 1873-1885) and Clifford K. Shipton, glegzephleel
S,- .-- . T.._-_ Wu A ;._._-._ H; 9 C -;; . .9
C :rr-_ .99- . W 9 B'. 0g ;09 ; ;.. O .s N. -:,
Vols. IV-XV, in progress (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard
University Press, 1933; Boston: Massachusetts Historical
Society, 1937-1970, in progress).

Despite the fact that it contains biographical
sketches which are far briefer than those found in Sibley
and Shipton, a valuable work for the Yale College graduates

is Franklin Bowditch Dexter. BMW

G Y C W A C
'Hlehehy, October, 1701-September, 1815, 6 vols. (New York:

Henry Holt and Company, 1885-1911; New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, 1912). The seventh volume in the
series appeared as Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Biegzephleel

334

No «- . G 29-; -: 0 Y; - C. -:~ I. ,q 9; T.. - W,.
G ;.u; -. , C ._ -; . - T_a : Who A e No. C9mu-mo-
O i a Re 0 (New Haven, Connecticut:
Yale University Press, 1913).
Biographical accounts of Newbury's early school-

masters are also found in the highly useful Cotton Mather,

M::4.99.1:.C¢ 1 Am 1 an“ 9 Te E e: a _:. H .- 9

. ;W_..__.u- P._.i_; ' .- Ya ..
WW, 7 vols. (London: T. Park-
hurst, 1702); William B. Sprague, Ahhe1e_efi_hhe_hhehle§h

P. 0 ° 0 Cogqeuo g '5 No .3-, o D : _.;‘ ;.-9 An; a9
C 1'98, 9 Va ,9 D‘99n,9e 99, F on - E; . S- :-
"‘3 o g- C.-. . o g; C o-- o' 9- Y-ir E :9 --.
WW. Vols- I-II (New

York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857) and Frederick Lewis
Weis, T9: C. . a C - 1' a9; ,- C. . . C.-. 9:. .‘ N-;
England (Lancaster, Massachusetts: Society of the Descend-
ants of the Colonial Clergy, 1936).

Of great value were numerous genealogies pertain-
ing to the families of schoolmasters. Without doubt, the
most thorough bibliographical work is Fremont Rider, ed.,
The Amezieah Geheelegiee] Ihgex, 48 vols. (Middletown,
Connecticut: The Cooperating Subscribing Libraries of
Wesleyan University, 1942-1952) and Fremont Rider, ed., The
Am- _ 29 G- ee_9:w : -B19: a9hl : 1996. 9 Au‘ _ 89

e:--. 9.:l _o. 3'0 v.9! a 9.991998. H 9 ' M ‘ -9 f,

335

70 vols., in progress (Middletown, Connecticut: The Godfrey
Memorial Library, 1952-1970, in progress).

Basic genealogical dictionaries of colonial New

England are John Farmer, A Geneelegieal Regieter e: the
First SettJene e: New-England (Lancaster, Massachusetts:

Carter, Andrews and Company, 1829) and James Savage, A

G9 ea 9:1 ._ D1 10 ar' 0 ,e F1 5 Se - s 0 New E ; 999,
S.-w_.; T. #9 G-.- a ’o. o_ Tgose W 9 Csme Be 9 ~ M:' .92,
en the Besie Qt Fermez's Regietez, 4 vols. (Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1860-1862).

Concerning both Massachusetts and New England are

   

Charles Henry Pope, The Pieneeze ofi Meseeehgeette: A Desezip-
e Li D - I: F 911 B ._. o. 9; C 9 Tun: 9-9.9.

C.. n a“ O 1 C9. eu9o ig-o L D H-_ ; (Boston: Charles
Henry Pope, 1900); Henry Franklin Andrews, Ld§t_g£_£zeemen,
M. sa h -e 5 Ba 0- . om . 9 . .° W_ .9 F rema9'-
Oath, the Fizet Peter in New England (Exira, Iowa: Exira
Printing Company, 1906); William Richard Cutter, ed.,

‘9‘9 91' 9 919 P- .019 Menil : R9ha 1;: 9 9' F9". 1“
e: Beeten end Eestezg Messeehusetta, 4 vols. (New York:
Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908); William Richard
Cutter, ed., E F i ies Gene Me i :
- R- or. 9 .e A ._-'9me. e . He P-99 - A. .9 Maeucz 9

99, h V018. (New

 

York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913) and
Frank R. Holmes, Dizeetezy efi the Aneeetne] Heegs e: Ne!

336

England_£amilie§._léZQ=lZQQ (New York: The American

Historical Society, Inc., 1923).

Because several of Newbury's schoolmasters spent
much of their lives in New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut,
the general works pertaining to these states are also of
value. Concerning New Hampshire is Ezra S. Stearns,

William F. Whitcher and Edward E. Parker, eds., theelegleel

ac. FE"- ' H1 9.‘ O _‘ S a ‘ 9 N‘ H999?! 3' A B‘ 9 9
9' 9e A 1"fmfi _ 9' H‘ P‘99 e 1 he M9._1: Of a C-uh99-
weelth end the Founding e: e Natien, h vols. (New York: The

Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908).

Concerning Maine and New Hampshire are Charles

Henry Pope, T P M N H 2 -
.0. ADS 0 ’_‘ L D €JQ_ .- Om Re 9 0‘: 0‘ 1“ Co sq ;_.’
'1'”‘ C.-. 9‘- CO- 9,99 0 9‘ Con ‘ugo :_ '50!

(Boston: Charles Henry Pope, 1908); George Thomas Little,
ed., -_e9 9:" 9 959 F.:. H_: 9 9 99 S a_~ 9‘ M9 9',

9 vols. (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1909)
and Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin-

 

Davis,

(Portland, Maine: The Southworth-Anthroensen Press, 1939).
With respect to Connecticut are Royal Ralph

Hinman, A c N m E

S- - a . ; c. ., . 0.. - f . ° W . .- Tmu' .-

_.- - ‘. .- . .. ..., T.- s 9.4.4,: f. 3. ~ ,

99‘ 9‘ W 9 T1‘ P 9 ‘ 9 38-19‘4 ‘ 9; F9 9: 0&9 99

337

D_S a" ‘q p 4‘ B‘ 9 of o ‘ ‘0. F 01: 4‘ S g ; .1qu T0.”
Beggzdfi (Hartford, Connecticut: E. Gleason, 1852-1856);

Nathaniel Goodwin, G No Co u
9‘ F9 1 ' H'9 9 ° . S.q- . .9 F' ; Se 9-_ . C._9‘ i-
QM&_and_fla§§thntht§ (Hartford, Connecticut: F.A. Brown,
1856); William Richard Cutter, et al., eds., W
993 F9m- ' H 9 9 =:9 .9 S q ‘ 9 COOLS‘ .' A.B9 9 9
e A e me 5 He Pe n he M C -
WW, '4 vols. (New York: Lewis
Historical Publishing Company, 1908) and Donald Lines
Jacobus, C M E -
-- 9 C9119 . a C9 99' F 9n M: 6 9 9 9 :9
O N W H C T I
3‘s; 9 9 El 9 99 9: A :9 S9 9 9 9 _. .9 P99-. W9 W4.

T99 9 Suo €9-69 ' R9-“.e. W ; 5 9‘ P 9 ‘; Bo.19; 9
QQEEQQELQEL (New Haven, Connecticut: R.M. Hooker, 1935).
For research in Newbury and in other areas of

northeastern Essex County, Massachusetts, is the highly

valuable David W. Hoyt, The 01g Femilles e: Salisburx end

Aue9b ' ”98 a 9“‘ ‘3 W_ 9 i9u‘ Re 9 ‘9 F9mi _“ 9 N9 -
WW. 3 vols. (Providence:
Snow and Farnham, 1897—1916). Also to be consulted is the

supplemental volume, David W. Hoyt, Additigne_ehn_gehhee;
99: '9 9‘ 0 9 Fafl 1‘: 9 39 9 999 Age 9- ',

Massachusetts (Providence: Snow and Farnham, 1919).

338

A relatively small number of sources were utilized
repeatedly becuase of their thorough biographical data on
the Newbury schoolmasters. Particularly significant in this
reSpect were the histories and records of Newbury and its
first church; the Sibley and Shipton volumes on the Harvard
College graduates; the biographical sketches included in the
Mather, Sprague and Weis works and the Farmer, Savage and
Hoyt genealogical dictionaries. To repeat continuously
these by now familiar sources for each schoolmaster would
be undeniably superfluous. Consequently, only the works
other than these basic sources are included in the follow-
ing pages. The sole exceptions are made when there exists
a direct quotation from one of the schoolmasters.

Although there was found no genealogy of the
Somerby family, numerous references to Newbury's first
schoolmaster, Anthony Somerby I, are included in the his-
tories of the families to which he was closely related.
Among these works are Jonathan Greenleaf, A_ang§1gg1_gfi
th§_§£e§nlggfi_£§m111 (New York: Edward 0. Jenkins, 1854);
Giles Merrill Kelly, A Genealggigal Agggunt Qf the Dggggnfi-
§n§§ Q: Jghn KQJJI g: Newhgzy, Massachusetts, U.S.A. (Albany,

New York: Joel Munsell's Sons, 1886); Rufus Emery, fignga:
9:1 : B‘ 9 9 9- De ‘ 9a9 S 9f J99; : 9 A9 h99 Eu‘ ‘,
Qt Newtuzy, Ma§S,, 1529-1529 (Salem, Massachusetts: Emery

Cleaves, 1890); William S. Appleton, Eg211 WIJJ§ I]]fl§-
a i 1 e A9 e -~ 9 Ha ,- Co _1 W_ . G-nea 0:1 :

339

and Blogtahhigal Ngtes By Her Gzandggn (Boston: David Clapp
and Son, 1893); James Edward Greenleaf, Genealggy Q: the
Greenleafi Family, lSZE-lESQ (Boston: Frank Wood, 1896) and
George Kuhn Clarke, The Desgendants Qt Nathahiel Clahke and
His Wife, Elizabeth Sghghhy o: Newhuzy, Maggaghusetts: A
Higtony g: Tgh Generations (Boston: privately printed, 1902).

More succinct references to Somerby and his rela-
tives are found in such works as Henry F. Waters, "The Voy-
age of the Jonathan to New England, 1639: Passengers and
Vessels that have Arrived in America,“ Part IX, Thg_hgg_§hg:
WW. Vol. XXXII, No. 4
(October, 1878), pp. #07-411; Harriet Ruth (Waters) Cooke
and Benjamin Ives, The Exile: Family: A Genealggigal Mgmglz
QLLWWQMW.
M§§§,, With an Aphehdlx, Cghtalning Twenty-Three Alllgg
Familieg, 1522-l§§2 (New York: John Wilson and Son, 1889);
William E. Chute. Wm

Fami in A9‘ 1 1 W 9 3998 A 9.; 9 ,e F;m1 ' ,1 G -;
B I w A o F A

Familieg Gathered Fzgm the Mgst Ahthghtlg Sghzgeg (Salem,
Massachusetts: privately printed, 1894); Richard Edward
Kelly, 'The Kelly Family,“ Thg Dgtnolt Sggiety £9: Gengh-

W. Vol. 27. No. 3 (Spring. 196M.
p. 135; Richard Edward Kelly, Anhggtzal Regan; o: the thlly

 

Kelly. 2 vols. (Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop, 1969);

340

Letter from Ralph P. Lowell, Town Clerk of Newbury, Massa-
chusetts, to Richard Edward Kelly, March 2, 1969 and
Richard Edward Kelly, |'An,English Kelly: Reverend William
Kelly (l74h-1813), of Warner, New Hampshire," heh_hgmp§hlze
Ergillgfi, Vol. XIX, No. 7 (July, 1970), p. 15.

Genealogies of the family of Reverend James
Noyes I include Horatio N. Noyes, Ng1§§1_ggngglggzt_h§ggng
9 z B a9 . 9 9- D‘: -9994 , . B-' Jgu‘: N. -; N- 9‘ ,,
léBE-léfié (Cleveland: privately printed, 1889) and the far
more thorough Henry E. Noyes and Harriette E. Noyes, fight:
a ... . R- . . . s..- . T.- N. -+ De; -..i. ; -- J....,

nghglhg and Pgthz Ngygg, 2 vols. (Boston: privately printed,
l9on).

Among other works which contain references to

Noyes and his family are Samuel Gardner Drake, "Passengers
on the Mary and John. 163%" W

fienaalagiealifiesisiez. Vol- IX. NO- 3 (July. 1855). pp-
265-268; Samuel Sewall, "Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall,“
-- - H . . _ . s. v- , Sixth

o ‘ 04‘ 0' Q; :1. ; 4“

Ser., Vols. I-II (1886-1888); James Atkins Noyes, "Noyes

Inscriptions and Memoranda,’l T e N E H

geneglgglgg] Register, Vol. XLVIII, No. 1 (January, 1894),
pp. 18-19: Sumner Chilton Powell. W119.

E9rmaii2n.9£.a.flew.§nsland_22wn (Garden City. New York:
Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1963) and Letter from

Constance (Kelly) Law, of West Newbury, Massachusetts, to

 

In .I ' ......- I

341

Richard Edward Kelly, October 20, 1970.
Reverend James Noyes I was the author of The
‘u9 ‘ "‘1, ‘9' 0 A 9 .e, S- v" 9‘ 9e T‘u9 e m': , e ,
W._ g r .- IQ. , . -. g 4 9 C; _ W1- -,. z

‘0 11 £31 10068 1 q,‘ 81 MO‘ 0 e ma e 15 9-‘3-

-

tight tohehing the Cehstlthtieh and Gozehnment of the Visible

C M e e E (London: Edmund Paxton, 16h7);

 

‘ 590 C: e 9 u 9m99fe9 9' M Jeme- NO"‘ e e -‘z 9;

Qfl the Chureh of Chziet in Newbury, in New Englehg, Fez the
Use 9: the Childheh There (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Samuel
Green, 1661; reprinted, Newburyport, Massachusetts: Barrett
and Marsh, 1797) and.M9sea_and_Aarani_92i_2he_fiishis_2£.
Chhzgh egg State; Cehtelnlng Twe Dlephtatiene (London:

Edmund Paxton, 1661).

Reactions to Noyes' 1647 work are found in John
Ellis, 99 a‘ C: ho _ .- 9 e 1:9 0 9.r 1 a
C9. _e‘ esen-9: 81L a -- e9 11a ns 9a Mee_ pu D:.;: -

n i n C i k Visi e G ve nin C

(London: Henry Overton, 16h?) and Giles Firmin, Qflhgehlem,
P: 9 9 1 09.: e1; -ons 99 E9; :nd :99 0 919a i9n 9~ Iu99; -
iign_2£_flendfi (London: Nathaniel Webb and William Grantham,
1658). Noyes' will is found in The Essex Institute, The
P Re 0 o E se C un Mas achuse 4- 6 4,
Vol. I (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916),
pp. 2n5-2u7.

342

The third schoolmaster and first minister,
Reverend Thomas Parker, wrote more and had more written
about him than did any other pedagogue of seventeenth cen-
tury Newbury. A major genealogical work is Augustus G.
Parker, W (Buffalo: Niagara
Frontier Publishing Company, 1911).

With respect to Parker's noted father, Reverend
Robert Parker, is W.A. Shaw, ”Robert Parker,‘. The DLQIIQD-
e21 of Nationel Bieghephy, Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee,
eds., Vol. XV (London: Humphrey Milford, 1917), pp. 269-
271. His published works include A Sehelaetieell Dieeetzee
Azsi9s S: 99 ~ii: Wi . An h : i9 Ce_em9n -s: Es9‘ i;
in the Slghe o: the Cneeee (Amsterdam: n.p., 1607); De
D-- e9 - N9- i la - Ch 1. - a9 1 e 9 L 9 9v: '9
(Amsterdam: Aegis Thorpe, 1611); 2e_2211tele_§eele§ie§tlgg

Christ; at Hlehehehihe Oppgeitg, lippi thee (Amsterdam:
n.p., 1615); An Expeeitleh e: the pohzlhg gut e: the teenth
WW. T9 Gataker.
ed. (London: Thomas Pierrepont, 1650) and The Mxetehy 9t the

:_ 09-9-9, B 9.: : . 9 Eoo~ 99 999 e .90. 9.: o
9 9- _ol 9. Vi. . «es _99e9 9 he 9 C,a9 - 9 :-
Eezeletign (London: John Sweeting, 1651).

Major biographical sketches of Reverend Thomas

Parker include Henry Richard Tedder, ”Thomas Parker," The

Dietlenazy e: Netiehe] Bleghephy, Leslie Stephen and Sidney
Lee, eds., Vol. XV (London: Humphrey Milford, 1917),

343

pp. 277-278; Samuel Eliot Morison, I'The Education of Thomas

Parker, of Newbury,“ Phhlieatiehe of The Celehlal Seeiety
2I_MaSsaehuaeits._22anaaatiana. V019 XXVIII (April. 1932).
pp. 261-267; Samuel Eliot Morison, "Thomas Parker,‘ Die-

ti2narx_2£_Ameriean_Biaananh1. Dumas Malone. edo. V019 XIV

(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, l93h), pp. 2hl-242;

Samuel Eliot Morison, The thhdlhg g: nglghg Cellege (Cam-

bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935);

James D. Hart, The Ozfiehg Cempanion to Ahehieeh Litehethne,

4th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1965) and The
Wee Who in Ahehleg, Hletezleal Velhhe, 1692-1&25, 2nd ed.
(Chicago: The A.N. Marquis Company, 1967).

More succinct references are found in such works
as Samuel Sewall, 'Rev. Thomas Parker," The Neg England

WWW. V019 VI. N09 4 (00130-

ber, 1852), p. 352; Samuel Gardner Drake, "Passengers of the
Mary and John. 163#.' The_Heu_Enaland_Historieal_and_fienealaa:
1eel_heg1§ten, Vol. IX, No. 3 (July, 1855), pp. 265-268;
Samuel Sewall, l'Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall," Qelleetlene,

.2f_iha_Maaaaahuaeiia_fliatgniaal_§221etx. Sixth Sero. V018-

I-II (1886-1888); John Coffin Jones Brown, "Newbury and the

Bartlett Family,ll The New England Hlstozical aha Genealegleel

hegjetez, Vol. XL, No. 2 (April, 1886), pp. l92-20h; Samuel
Eliot Morison, Hehtahg Cellege lh the Sexenteehth Cehthzx,

2 vols. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,

1936) and Samuel Eliot Morison, The Intelleethal Lite e:

344

Celehlal New Englehg, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, New York: Cornell
University Press, 1956).

Parker's works include Theees Theelogleee de

:9- .99- 9om_ - 9- a 9 :9 'i am ouas ad di-9u and-y
nIQn9niI_Th2ma§_£azkanu§._énglu§ (Friesland, Netherlands:
University of Franeker, 1617); The sze Cepy e: e Letter;
W i e. 9' M . T99u9‘ Pa .e a ear -9 :99 :o- ' M 9 ; : ,
lh Nay-Englehg, hhto a Memhey o: the Assembly of Diylhee

w Wes s . (London: Ralph Smith, l6hh); The Vlelehe

P o e es Da ie E o ded: Whe ei h Mis

Fermeh Inteyhyetens ere modestly diseoyeyed, and the true

meehing of the Text megs plain hy the Wehge ehg Circum-
n s o . (London: Edmund Paxton, 16h6); The Cepy efi e

4‘ ‘ W it ‘n 9' N T 9ma: Pa e, P:S 9 9, e Chi 9
9 N“9 ' .9 Ne -E9: sn9 0 H“- 31 ‘, M e E =u: 9

A.

Ayeyy, Semetlmes Qt Newhhyy in the Cghhty gt BQIKS (London:
Edmund Paxton, 1650); Theeee Theelegieee de Theguetlehe
Hemihle Peeeeteyle ad Vitem (London: Samuel Thomson, 1652);
A Fehehel] Senmeh , , , Jenhazy l, 1655 (London: Richard
Lowndes, 1656); Methoghe Ghetlee Dlylhae In tnadhetlene

99u19i 9e a 9 1 9d '_ am Se9 ua;i a T96 i9 S 9- 1

é_elahgzate_ezmflieeta,(London: Abelis Roper, 1657); “To the

Reader,” in James Noyes I, Meeee ehd Aahon: Oh, The Righte
Ch h St ' C i w Dis u a . (London:

Edmund Paxton, 1661), pp. 1-2 and "Dedication,“ Th1d.,

p. 3.

345

Reactions to these works include M.S., A Reply
er :39 er the Brethreh te A.S., 2nd ed. (London: H. Overton,
1644); N.H., E m T us re Tr ;

I9 9 9‘ 9 91‘ 9 e 9e9 se . ‘men _9 9‘ 9. i ‘ 9 :

phhljgh Preeeher 22 the Cemmoh-wealth e: Utopie. (London:
R. Royston, 1658) and Philo-Tileno, Terherhe_Tllhetrethe;

S e Anno a e uae in s LXX. (London: Joannis Baker,
1660). Parker's will is printed in The Essex Institute,
T.- P 99a - Be or- 0 Essex 09.9 ' M. sa -. 9 -
lfihl, Vol. III (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute,
1920), pp. 133-135.

Concerning the family of Henry Short II, there
exists only a typewritten genealogy, prepared by Mary Adams
Rolfe and now owned by The Historical Society of Old New-
bury, and Martha G. Fales, "The Shorts, Newburyport Cabi-
netmakerS.“ ESSexaInSIiI2ie_Hi§tari2al_Qallegiigna. V019
CII, No. 3 (July, 1966), pp. 224-2M0. Other references
include Samuel Gardner Drake, 'Passengers of the Mary and
John, l63h,” The New England Histerieel ehd Geheelegleel
Register. Vol. Ix, No. 3 (July, 1855), pp. 265-268 and
Samuel Sewall, “Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall,‘I Qelleetgehe
Qf the Messeehusette Histerieal Soelety, Sixth Ser., Vols.
I-II (1886-1888). A brief excerpt from Short's lost Note-
book, dating from 1676, is found in Joshua Coffin, A
5.: 9 9 9- Hi: 9 ' 9 Newb. ° No.9-.'99 an9 W‘s

Newhhry, From 1635 te 1855 (Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 18u5),

346

pp. ll7-ll8. A major work on the Dummers, Short's in-laws,

is Joseph Lemuel Chester, "The Family of Dummer,“ The Men

Ena1and_HisI2riea1_and_9enea12aiea1;§egiaien. V019 XXXV.

No. 3 (July, 1881), pp. 254-271, Vol. xxxv, No. 4 (October,

1881), pp. 321-331.
Major genealogies of the family of Reverend John

Emerson II include P.H. Emerson, The Ehglleh Emereohe: A
G-9‘9 9:. a H.: 9 a S,- 9 9 - F;u_ ‘ F 9” .~ E: -
‘ Tim‘- 9 9e E99 9 9‘ 3"‘9 “9 9 ‘9 i.' 19 -9 9;

V __9-_ M99- 9 Pug“ W' 9 9.9. A99‘_9__.9-;_ 9 A- 99

(London: David Nutt, 1898) and Benjamin Kendall Emerson,
T - I9_ 9 E9‘ _9 s A.D. 9 .- '90: A G-nea 9: 9 9‘
D‘_.‘99a9 9 T9999 EM‘ .99 9 I9..i ‘ M;s_. W1 9 S9u‘
Aeeehht gt H13 Engljeh Aheestry (Boston: David Capp and
Son, 1900). A severe critique of the 1900 work is found in
P.H. Emerson, C 'T I E '
WW (London: n.p., 1901).

Additional references to Emerson and his family
include Charles W. Upham, S Wi : Wi A
9 S. ‘u V' 91‘ e99 9 H _ 9 9 09 9'99- 99 W'. 9 9

ghd_h1ndreg_§hhieete, 2 vols. (Boston: Wiggin and Lunt,
1867); Samuel Sewall, "Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall," Cel-

_..~ . .- s, . .-_- . H , . _ 9 S. m- 9, Sixth
Ser., Vol. I (1886); Cotton Mather, "Diary of Cotton Mather,
1709-172C," M._-. _.-- . H‘. o . s. -- . c. - 99 ,
Seventh Ser., Vol. VIII (1912); The Essex Institute, Eitel

347

R: 9 9: 9- S..-m M. s; h- et - 9 e E99 0 9e Y‘e
lfiifl. Vol. V (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute,

1925); Knowlton Mixer, Olg Hehses 91 New Englahg (New York:
The Macmillan Company, 1927); George Lyman Kittredge,

W 0 N E (Cambridge, Massachusetts:
Harvard University Press, 1929); James Duncan Phillips,

W (Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company, 1937); Dorothy Pratt and Richard Pratt, A_thde_tg
Eerly Amerieeh Hehsee: Nerth egg South (New York: Bonanza
Books, 1956); Marion L. Starkey, The Deyil 1h Meeeaehusetts:

A Mogerh Ihghlry ihte the Seleh Wltch Trlele (New York:
Time Incorporated, 1963) and Chadwick Hansen, Wlteherazt et

gelem (New York: George Braziller, 1969).
There exist but brief references to Reverend

Thomas Baily I. Among them are Convers Francis, An Hleter-

; Ske 1 .' W:_- .w. _. M=s : 9 se : F 9n 9e F- r
S- eye; . .7 To'q . e C o_- .7 I s S; ... C‘9
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: E.W. Metcalf and Company, 1830)
and Henry Bond, Geneelegies 9f the Familiee ehg Deseehdente
9 ‘ E9 ' Se e*: ._ W; - . . Msssa h-:- - I. 9.9:
We 99B :99 W‘- 99‘ -9 W9. 9 : A99: 9ed e E; ' Hi: 9
g£_the_TgEn, Vol. I (Boston: Little, Brown and Company,
1855). Baily's only known works are several Latin odes and
some verses, dated November 5, 1669, on Robert Catesby's
famed 1605 Gunpowder Plot. The manuscripts are the property

of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

348

Baily was also referred to by Reverend Dr.

Increase Mather and Reverend John Dutton, both of whom are

quoted in Samuel G. Drake, The Higtgzz ggg Antigttttgs Qt
B9. 99 T:- C.9i ; 9 Ma_ : hu e s an9 Me _090 9 N-
E4: 991 F on I - S‘ ~m-9 _1 9 0 9 h- Y‘e 0

(Boston: Luther Stevens, 1856). Important for correctly
identifying Baily was Letter from Samuel Eliot Morison,
Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History, Emeritus,
Harvard University, to Richard Edward Kelly, June 12, 1970.
Baily's brother, Reverend John Baily I, was the

author of Man'g ghigt Eng t9 Glgzifiig ng: 92, nge angf

ngmgn Ngtgg 93 1 C92, 19. 31. (Boston: Samuel Green, 1689)
and T m L in Dea Be 0 ed C is i n F ie

9: apogt Limezigk (Boston: Samuel Green, 1689). In addi-

tion, he was quoted in Alexander McKenzie, "The Religious
History of the Provincial Period,‘ The Mgmgnial Hggtgzt 92
B9 9; 19 -911: S-‘ 9 . 09-4 ' Massa ' se 8 6 0- 380,
Justin Winsor, ed., Vol. II (Boston: James R. Osgood and
Company, 1881), p. 197. A friend and colleague of the
Mathers, his death was the impetus for the writing of
Increase Mather, D 1 er 1 H Gene a 10 . O A Se mo
S.:wit; Wh: _s 9 9e 19 - 11 9-de 9 . , S. Se vi 1 9-
nggrgtign, ag that when we Dy, we shall Enter intg g
B1g§sed REST (Boston: B. Green and J. Allen, 1698) and
Cotton Mather, The L e nd D a 0 he Re e end M . Jo

BQLJX, Cgmpzised and Expressed In A Segmog, On the Day of

3&9

his_£unenal (Boston: R. Green and J. Allen, 1698).
Major works concerning the family of Reverend
Edward Tompson I include George Whitney, nge Aggognt gt
9- E. ~ H__ 9 9 :99 P ~sen S a e 9 h- T9 _ 9 9 i :,

_~

in thg Cgmmgnwealth Qt Massaghusetts (Boston: Christian
Register Office, 1827); Frederick Chase, 'Reverend William

Tompson,ll The Ngw England Higtgtiga] and Genealggigal
Eggigtgz, Vol. XV, No. 2 (April, 1861), pp. 112-116;
Frederic A. Whitney, An Histogical Sketch of the Chtzgh,
nc M . (Albany, New York: J. Munsell, 1864);
William S. Pattee, A ngtgtt Qt 01g Braintree and Quingy,
with g Skgtgh Qt Randglph and Hglhzggk (Quincy, Massachu-

setts: Green and Prescott, 1878); Daniel Munro Wilson,
T9 ee H-19 :9 Y‘afl~ 9 9ui ' :62 -”'2 : H,: o, ., R- .-
o M W0 3 B ain ee an u (Quincy,
Massachusetts: The City Government of Quincy, 1926) and
Samuel Eliot Morison, The Fggngigg 9f Harland Cgllggg (Cam-
bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935).
Succinct references are found in such works as Tyler
Seymour Morris, E P me C e e M s T
Angestons and Desgendants (Chicago: privately printed, 1894)
and Sherman Weld Tracy, T e T a Ge ° B i S
9: De- e999: - 9 S ‘OLGH T,9 o P mou h Co 09' 92 .
A A S e es C (Rutland, Vermont: The

Tuttle Publishing Company, Inc., 1936).

350

BiOgraphical works on Tompson include Noah A.
Phelps, H S m u G b an Ca 0 F m 42
t9 18E5 (Hartford: Case, Tiffany and Burnham, 1845);

Richard Brown III, ignznal, in Lilley Eaton, ngeglogigal

Histgny Q: the Town 9: Reading, Mass., Iggluding the ngsent
T9 9 We.‘ 1‘ 9 R-ad 1: an! N- Be-d 1 W1 . C '1-
9 9: 9 a99 H . ; S.e 9-- FPOn 9 ° 9 9 (Boston:

Alfred Mudge and Son, 1874), pp. 53-55; Samuel Sewall,
"Letter-Book 0f Samuel 59W8119" Q2ll§£I19D§_2£_&h§_fléfi§fl&hflz

sgttg Histotica] Sggjgtl, Sixth Ser., Vols. 1-11 (1886-1888)
and Albert C. Bates, S s C e ' B M ia

and Dggtng Transgzited £29m tng ngn Reggzds (Hartford: The
Case, Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1898).

Tompson was the author of An EJQgiagk Tnihutg to
thg Sggteg Du§t of the Rgtezegg and Wgnthy M2. Segtgnn

C9 '1 P9: 9 g 9 _e C1. 9 9 09 f a Hem9 99 9 N"-
England (Boston: broadside, 1686) and fl§§1§n_th§_h§§t
C .1. 9 Be 13911‘ 9' 9‘ -..‘ M691 9 .99.‘ 9.9.9 D __ f-

9 99 F; 9 u 5‘ '=9 9 Je -_ Ce 1. M_ Eq.i 9 T9u9‘91,
P C M (Boston: B. Green,
1712). His October 14, 1696 reference to his ordination was

quoted in Frederick Chase, l'Reverend William Tompson," Thg
3 e ,VOIO XV,

 

No. 2 (April, 1861), p. 113.
Tompson's obituary was printed in The Bgstgg Newg-
Lgttgn, No. #9 (March 14-26, 1705), p. 2. His death was

351

also noted in Cotton Mather, "Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-

1708," Maasaghusetts Htstgtiga] Sggiety Cgllegttgga, Seventh
Ser., Vol. VII (1911) and Cotton Mather, Vigilaatus on, a

Se an 0 Lo R or he C min h L d
(Boston: R. Green, 1706).

References to Reverend Seth Shove and his ancestry

are found in such works as Noah A. Phelps, Histozy ot Sims-

hurl. Gzaggt and Cantgn, Fzgm l6fi2 tg lflfii (Hartford: Case,

Tiffany and Burnham, 1845); Richard Brown III, Jganaal, in

Lilley Eaton, Gaagalggigal Hiatgny gt the ngg gt Rgagtag,

M. I .9 9: h: P -s-: T9399 0 ‘Wg,e_ve-9 R-:9_¢:,

:99 N9_ 9 Re:9_9; W_ C,,. 9 011 a ald His 9 : S,e hes,
trgm 1639 tg 182& (Boston: Alfred Mudge and Son, 187h), pp.
53-55; Samuel Sewall, "Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall," £21:

lagtigna gt the Massaghusgttg Hiatgtiga] Sogigty, Sixth Ser.,

Vols. I-II (1886-1888); Susan Benedict Hill, Hiatgzt gt Dan-
9 ' CW 0; 9- 3'0' F on No "‘ :gg M _: rip ‘ _9'
Walls}: (New York: Burr Printing House,

1896); New England Historic Genealogical Society, Vital
R: . 9 9 T949 99 M-_-e 9l-e - 9 _he Y-:_ : 9, Vol. I
(Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1929)
and Samuel Eliot Morison, The Fgangigg gt Hantatg CgJJggg
(Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1935).
One of Shove's letters is printed in Seth Shove,
"Letter from Rev. Seth Shove, of Simsbury, Conn., to Capt.
Samuel Sewall, of Boston, 1692,’I William Blake Trask, ed.,

352

thg Nag Eaglaag Hiatgztgal ang Ganealggigal Registgz, Vol.
XVIII, No. 1 (January, 1864), pp. 69-70. His obituary is
found in The Bgstgn News-Lattgz, No. 1656 (November 6,
1735), p. 2.

The major genealogy for the family of Reverend
John Clark is George Kuhn Clarke, Tha Deggenaaats gt
N: 996' C .-k- :99 Hi Wi - E _ :9e 9 S9me 9» 9 New9 ~,
M: s. - r' A H_s 9 ~ 9, T-9 GGL‘ a "09: 942- '92
(Boston: privately printed, 1902). Clark's step-father,
Reverend John Hale I, and his family are discussed in such
works as Charles W. Upham, S Wi : W1 A o

9 S: em Vt 9'7 899 : Hi o_' 9 09ini9 S 9 W 1 :_

ahg_K1hgtgg_§ahjagta, 2 vols. (Boston: Wiggin and Lunt,
1867); George Lyman Kittredge, Witghgzatt 1h 01g and New
England (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press,

1929); Charles Edward Banks, T e Win hro F ee 0' An
9.9 9f 9: V- e ‘9e Vo a:e he P: sen1e s :99 h-
Ethiah Hgmea, From Otigina] Agthoritiea (Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company, 1930); Marion L. Starkey, Thg Detil in
M.--: 9u_: t_: A M99e I99ui _9to 9- Sa e9 W1 9 T a s

(New York: Time Incorporated, 1963) and Chadwick Hansen,

 

Witghgzatt at Salgm (New York: George Braziller, 1969).
Works pertaining to Clark and his descendants
include "Pedigree of Deane," The New Eggland Histgtigal ang

Gghealggigal Registgz, Vol. IX, No. 1 (January, 1855),
p. 92; Richard Brown III, ggghhal, in Lilley Eaton,

353

ene ° H‘ he T Re in M .,

Ihg1ag1hg the Present Tgwns of Waket1e1g, Reading, and
Nghth Rgadihg, With Chtgng1ogiga1 ang Historica] Skgtghes,
Fzgm 1639 tg 182& (Boston: Alfred Mudge and Son, 1874),
pp. 53-55; Mary K. Talcott, ''Genealogy of the Woodbridge

Family,‘ The New Englahd Historiga1 and Genea1ggiga1 Rggtg-
ten. Vol. XXXII, No. 3 (July, 1878), pp. 292-296; Charles H.

Bell, Hiatoty gt thg Tgflh gf Exeter. New Hampshizg (Exeter,
New Hampshire: J.E. Farwell and Company, 1888) and Roland D.

Sawyer, T H s K i N H e
'4 282 Ye: W ; : F:m_ ' Homes ‘:q B‘; _ ‘ o g-
P one: Fa;i 1‘ Eg_ S‘ ‘ ago Pfr9.1f C i ‘n, 9'

th§_lgun (Farmington, Maine: The Knowlton and McLeary
Company, 1946).

The sermon which was preached at Clark's wedding
was published as John Cotton III, A Meet Ha1g, on, A
Hsddins_é2na2na_222a2hed_at_E21:9astle.in.flen=§ngland.

J- e ° 9 9'4. A 1- M.» i:;- o M . J9 V C a . :19

M . E a e W (Boston: R. Green and J. Allen,
1699). Works pertaining to Clark's in-laws include Dean
Dudley, Tha Dgg1gx Gghgangig§ and Family Rggondg (Boston:

Dean Dudley, 1848); George Adlard, Thg Sgttgn-Dad1gxa gt
E9: £99 9.99. 9‘ DJ. ‘ _‘ 9 M9 9. hu - 19N‘. E9: :_.99

ang the Norman Congugat tg the Phasent Timg (New York:
privately printed, 1862) and Dean Dudley, History ot thg
D.9. -' Fmi W1 G‘!“. 0:_ = T89 e P79 38‘. 8c 9

354

(Wakefield, Massachusetts: Dean Dudley, 1886-1894).

References to Clark's death appeared in.thg
Iknuauilknmenhatmen. No. 67 (July 23-30, 1705), p. 2; Cotton
Mather, 21gi1antaa, or, a Sgrxant ot the Lord fgahd Ready
tgn the Cgming gt thg Lgnd (Boston: R. Green, 1706) and

John Pike, l'Journal of the Rev. John Pike,” Etggggalhga_gt
the Magsaghuaetts HtstghigaJ Sggjgtx, Vol. XIV (September,

1875), pp. 121-152.

Clark’s widow married Reverend John Odlin II,
whose family is discussed in John Taylor Perry, "The Odlin
Family,” T9e N . E9: _ h H

   

tan, Vol. XLI, No. 3 (July, 1887), pp. 265-271. The ordina-
tion sermon for Clark's son, Reverend Ward Clark, was
preached by his step-father and appeared as John Odlin II,
C9“ - -9 09 9:9: 9- -.-: 1 9 : G9;t: M 9_: *4. A9

0 9.9; 199 S- mo- P_:a hag a K 9;: 99 869 ° 2 . W,~9
M W:,9 C a , r; O_9:_981 P. 9_ 9 9- C ur .e ‘.
(Boston: R. Green, 1727).

Concerning the ancestry of Reverend Dr.
Christopher Toppan I are Joshua Coffin, Thg_2ggpaha_gt
T9999; as: W 9 T9e_ De ‘_9a 3 :99 R-.: 99~ (Newbury-
port, Massachusetts: William H. Huse and Company, 1862);
Herbert Tappan, "The Tappan (or Toppan) Genealogy,“ Tha Nag

E H Ge e 1 Be e , Vol. XXXIV,
No. 1 (January, 1880), pp. 48-57; J. Henry Lea, "The

English Ancestry of the Family of Batt and Byley of

355

Salisbury, Mass.,' N w E H i G -
1gal_§gg1atan, Vol. LI, No. 2 (April, 1897), pp. 181-188,

Vol. LI, No. 3 (July, 1897), pp. 348-357 and Vol. LII, No. 1
(January, 1898), pp. 44-51; Richard Edward Kelly, Ahggstra1

Reggrg ot the Fami11 ot Deaggh Richard Edwatd Ke11z ang Ahhg
Lgatge (Reyhg1g§) Kg111, Vol. II (Boston: Goodspeed's Book

Shop, 1969) and Letter from Constance (Kelly) Law, of West
Newbury, Massachusetts, to Richard Edward Kelly, October 20,
1970.

Works pertaining to Toppan's in-laws include Dean

Dudley, Thg ng1g1 Gahgangigg and Fam111 Rgggzdg (Boston:
Dean Dudley, 1848); George Adlard, The Sgttgh-Dgg1gta gt

Ehg1ahd and the Dud1eya gt Maaaaghusatta ih Nen Ehg1ahd.

m he N m C n s o e P se T . (New York:
privately printed, 1862) and Dean Dudley, hiatg21_gt_tha
Dgg1ay Fam11y, With Genealggiga] Tah1ea, Pagigtgea &g.
(Wakefield, Massachusetts: Dean Dudley, 1886-1894).

Specific references to Toppan include four
unpublished sources, viz., Unpublished Essex County Deeds,
Book LXXXVIII, Leaf 269, on file in the Registry of Deeds
and Probate Court Building, Salem, Massachusetts; Jonathan
Belcher, Unpublished Manuscript Letter-Book, 1732-1734,
pp. 163-164, property of the Massachusetts Historical
Society; Letter from Mary M. Meehan, of the Harvard Univer-
sity Archives, to Richard Edward Kelly, August 27, 1970‘
and Letter from Dwight L. Cart, Librarian of the

356

Congregational Library, to Richard Edward Kelly, Decem-
ber 22, 1970.

Also significant are such published works as John
Warner Bartlett. HisL2riCaI_Q9Ileeiisnsi_§2ing_a_§snezal

C9 - 9n 9- I eres in: Fa Tr:9i ions B19: :9 a
Skgtghgg, Anegdotga &g, (Worcester, Massachusetts: Dorr,
Rowland and Company, 1839); Nathaniel Bouton, The Historx
9 C9n 9 q F om I Fi G,an i_ 2 o e 0 1:9-za-
91 . 9- Ci . G9v- 9le9 9 8 Wi a His 9 . 9 T e
Angignt Penagggkg (Concord, New Hampshire: Benning W.
Sanborn, 1855); David Cushman and W. Willis, "Ancient
Settlement of the Sheepscot," Cg11ggtigh gt the Majhg
Historical Society, Vol. Iv (1856), pp. 207-233; John
Johnston, A Higtgyy of the Towns of Bhisto1 ang Bhemeh ih
thg State gt Maihe, Ing1ud1hg thg Pgmaguig Sett1emght
(Albany, New York: Joel Munsell, 1873); Richard Brown III,
Jguyha1, in Lilley Eaton, Genea1gg1ga1 Histozy gt the Tgwn
gt Reading, Mass., Ingludihg the PresentaTowns ot Wakgtie1g,
Re i N Readi Wi Ch no 0 i 8 His -
iga1 Shetghea, Fygm 1§32 tg 1824 (Boston: Alfred Mudge and
Son, 1874), pp. 53-55; H.W. Richardson, "The Pemaquid
Country Under the Stuarts: Read Before the Maine Historical
Society, at Portland, March 14, 1878," lelggtlgha_gt_thg

Maihe Higtopiga] Sggigty, Vol. VIII (1881), pp. 181-195;
Samuel Sewall, “Letter-Book of Samuel Sewall,“ Cg11ggtighs

gt the Massaghuaettg Higtoyiga1 Sggiety, Sixth Ser.,

357

Vols. I-II (1886-1888); Joseph Dow, Histgry gt the Tong gt
Hampton, New Hampshire, From Its Settlement in 1638, tg tha

Aptpmp gf 1892, Vol. II (Salem, Massachusetts: Salem Press
Publishing and Printing Company, 1894) and Francis B.
Greene, Histgry gt Boothbay, Southport and Bgothbay Harhgr,
Ma n 62 - 0 W h Fami Gene ies (Portland, Maine:
Loring, Short and Harmon, 1906).

Two major works from Toppan's pen are the Unpub-
lished Manuscript Sermons which are the property of the
Congregational Library. No published works are attributed

to Toppan. He was quoted extensively, however, in Joshua

Coffin, A Shgtgh gt the H1atgry gt Newbury, Newburyport, and
W N u F o 6 (Boston: Samuel G. Drake,

1845), pp. 213, 377-379, as well as in Nathaniel Bouton,
sua_g1t,, pp. 60-61 and James Phinney Baxter, ed., Egan:
mantary Hiatgry gt the State gt Maihg, Vol. x (Augusta,
Maine: The State of Maine, 1907), pp. 354-355. Captain
Joseph Heath, who is quoted in the Baxter work, p. 367,

refers to Toppan. Major newspaper articles pertaining to

Toppan include The Bgatgh Eygping Pgat, No. 352 (May 3,
1742), p. 2; thg_§gatgp_§yapthg_£gat, No. 498 (February 25,
1745), p. a and The Boatgh Eyenihg Pogt, No. 500 (March 11,
1745), pp. 1-2.

The major genealogy of the family of Reverend
Dr. Nicholas Webster I is John C. Webster, nge gt thg

Des €193 ‘ 9f J99! W‘b. e_ 9 I9-W M=S99 1 ‘ _ 6 4

358

(Chicago: privately printed, 1912). Other pertinent
sources include J. Henry Lea, IIThe English Ancestry of the
Families of Batt and Byley of Salisbury, Mass.," The Ngw
Ethang Historiga1 ahd Genea1gg1ga1 Rggiatgr, Vol. LI,

No. 2 (April, 1897), pp. 181-188, Vol. LI, No. 3 (July,
189?), pp. 348-357, Vol. LII, No. 1 (January, 1898), pp.
44-51 and Richard Edward Kelly, A es a Re r 0

Family of Deagop Righarg ngarg Ke11y ahd Anne Lgaiae
(Heypo1da) Ke11y, Vol. I (Boston: Goodspeed's Book Shop,

1969).

Specific references to Reverend Dr. Nicholas
Webster I and his family include Town of Manchester, Egan
R- 9 qS 9 Ml9 9- - F 9p 1- E. i- G :1.- 9. e99,
1535, Vol. I (Salem, Massachusetts: Salem Press Publishing
and Printing Company, 1889); James R. Pringle, Hiatgry gt

9e To . £19 C 9 G 9- es - Caz; A _ M. _a h99e

(Gloucester, Massachusetts: James R. Pringle, 1892); The
Topsfield Historical Society, V Re 0 Be e ,

Maaaaghagetts, tg thg Eng gt tha Year 18fl9, Vol. I (Tops-

field, Massachusetts: The Topsfield Historical Society,
1906) and The Essex Institute, V1ta1 Rgggrgs gt G1gugegter,
Massaghusetts, tg the Egg gt thg Year 1849, Vol. III

(Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1924). Webster

is quoted in the above mentioned Tgwh Regorgs ot Manchester,
p. 121.

M'cfl'lWWsllmlT IUIWIVVIWIWIYII WW
3 1293 03083 2913

   

--fln-—-n-_J