F 
 
 THE 
 
 FIFTH HALF CPJNTUKY 
 
 AiiRiTAL OF John Wintiirop 
 
 SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 COMMEMORATIVK EXKRCISKS 
 
 iiv niK 
 
 'ESSEX INSTITUTE. 
 irNK 22. 1880. 
 
 [From the HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTEJ 
 
 S.VLEM : 
 
 PUI.NTKD von IHK KSSKX INSTITUTK. 
 
 1880. 
 
Glass _- 
 Book_- 
 
 
THE 
 
 FIFTH HALF CENTUKY 
 
 ^ OF THE 
 
 ARRIVAL OF John Winthrop 
 
 SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 COMMEMORATIVE EXERCISES 
 
 . UY THE 
 
 ESSEX INSTITUTE. 
 
 n 
 
 JUNE 2 2, 1880. 
 
 
 
 
 [From the HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. J 
 
 V SALEjM : 
 
 PRINTED von THK ESSEX INSTITUTE. 
 1880. 
 
A 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the amval 
 of Jolni AVinthrop, at Salem, with the charter and records 
 of the Massachusetts Bay Company, occurring on June 22, 
 1880, it was deemed meet and appropriate that the first 
 field meeting of the season should be held on that day, 
 at the Pavilion on Salem Neck, fi'om which is obtained 
 an extensive view of the bay, and of the shore along 
 which the fleet sailed ere the anchors were dropped in 
 the waters of New England ; and that the exercises 
 of the occasion, instead of a discussion on subjects of 
 general scientific and historical interest, should be devoted 
 to a recital of incidents connected with this important 
 event, or such other topics as the time and place might 
 
 suggest. 
 
 (1) 
 
A description of the appearance of Salem harbor, at 
 this early period in our history, may be gleaned from the 
 following extracts from the diary of Rev. Francis Higgin- 
 son, who, under date of "Frj'day, June 26, 1629," writes : 
 " The sea was al)undantly stored with rockweed and yel- 
 low flowers like gillj^flowers. By noon we were within 
 3 leagues of Capan, and as we sayled along the coast 
 W'e saw every hill and dale, and every island full of gay 
 woods and high trees. The nearer we came to the slioare 
 the more flowers in abundance, sometymes scattered 
 abroad, sometymes joyned in sheets 9 or 10 yards long, 
 w hich ^ye supposed to be brought from the low meadows 
 by the tyde. Now what with fine woods and greene 
 trees by land, and their yellow flowers paynting the sea, 
 made us all desirous to see our new paradise of New 
 England, whence w^e saw such forerunning signals of fer- 
 tilitie afarre oft'." On Monda}^ June 29, 1629, he writes : 
 "we passed the curious and difficult entrance into the 
 large and spacious harbour of Naimkecke, and as we 
 passed along it was wonderful to behould so many islands 
 replenished with thicke w^ood and higli trees and many 
 fa^'re green pastures."^ 
 
 Much valuable information on this subject may be ob- 
 tained from Rev. Joseph B. Felt's Historical Sketch of 
 the Forts on Salem Neck, read at a field meeting on 
 Salem Neck, Thursday, Aug. 20, 1863, and printed in 
 the fifth volume of the Historical Collections of the Insti- 
 tute. 
 
 The Pavilion is located at or near the land granted by 
 the town of Salem, of six acres, to Rev. John Higginson 
 in 1661. This land was conveyed by deed (Reg. Deeds, 
 
 1 See Ilutcliiuson's Collection of Papers, pages 41 aud U. 
 
3 
 
 Essex, vol. iii, fol. 39G), 25, 9, 1G70, to Thomas vSavage, 
 who on August 6, 1G75, transferred the same by deed of 
 gift to his daughter Sarah and her husband, iTohn Higgin- 
 son, jr., with lands adjoining which he had purchased of 
 other parties, in all about twenty-eight acres (Reg. 
 Deeds, Essex, vol. iv, fol. 383). 
 
 A gTandson of John Higginson, jr., the foirrth John 
 Higginson^ in succession (and the four were living at the 
 period from the birth of the youngest Jan. 10, 1697-8, 
 to the death of the eldest in Dec. 9, 1708) conveyed, 
 April 8, 1730, to Benj. Ives (see Reg. Deeds, Essex, 
 vol. Iv, fol. 92). 
 
 After the death of Benjamin Ives in 1752, the estate 
 with additional purchases, including land obtained from 
 the town by vote of the citizens, in exchan2:e for Piijnars^ 
 or Roadie's Point, on which is located the present alms- 
 house, amounting to forty acres, etc., passed into the 
 possession of his son John Ives, who conveyed the same 
 to Richard Derby* May 16, 1758 (see Reg. Deeds, Essex, 
 vol. cxliv, fol. 40). 
 
 After the death of Richard Derby this property was 
 
 2 Rev. John Higginson, born at Claj'brook, Aug. R, IGlfi, c"ame ^Tith his fatlier to 
 Salem in l(j'29, and in 1C41 assisted Rev. Henry WhitQeld (wliose daughter Sarah 
 he married) in the ministry at Guiiri)rd, Conn. He returned to Salem in 16,59 and 
 was ordained as pastor of the church, which his fatlier had founded some thirty 
 years before, and continued the resiiected minister until his death IJec. 9, 170S. 
 
 II John born at Guilford, 1140, a merchant, settled in Salem; IJeut. Col. of the 
 regiment, a member of the Governor's council, etc., died March 23, 1719. 
 
 HI John born Aug. 20, 167.'), educated a merchant, lived in Salem, died April 20, 
 1718. 
 
 ly John born Jan. 10,1097-8, graduated at Harvard College, 1717; sustained chief 
 offices of the town. County Register, etc.; died July 1,5, 1744. 
 
 For a sketch of this family see Hist. Coll. Essex Inst., vol, V, p, 33. 
 
 3 This name ajipears in deeds, but it should be '• Pic^n " named for Thomas 
 Picton to whom tlie land was originally granted. Sometimes spelled Pigdeu. 
 
 •* For a sketch of the Derby Family, see Hist. Coll., Essex Inst., vol. Ill, pp. 
 154, 201, 283. 
 
assigned to John Derby towards his portion of hi,'^ father's 
 estate, who conveyed the same by deed to Edward Allen, 
 Dec. 13, 1793 (see Reg. Deeds, Essex, vol. clvii, fol. 73). 
 After the death of Edward Allen, July 27, 1803, and of 
 his wife Margaret, Aug. 13, 1808, this estate passed into 
 the possession of his son Edward Allen, who sold the 
 same to Josiah Orne Feb. 26, 1810 (see Reg. Deeds, 
 Essex, vol., clxxxviii, fol. 177). Josiah Orne, April 6, 
 1816, conveyed the same to Jonathan Dustin of Danvers 
 (see Reg. Deeds, Essex, ccx, fol. 86). Eliza Sutton, 
 Hazen Ayer and Serena his wife, in her own right, all 
 of Peabody, being heirs of the late Jonathan Dustin, 
 conveyed the same to Daniel B. Gardner, jr., of Salem, 
 Sept. 24, 1875 (Reg. Deeds, Essex, vol. dccccxli, fol. 
 233), who has since had the land surveyed, constructed 
 streets and avenues, and sold many lots upon which have 
 been built a large number of seaside residences. 
 
 The forenoon of the day Avas devoted to visiting the 
 various places of interest in the neighborhood. The in- 
 spiration of the occasion was not wholly in the memories 
 of the past, but bright sunlight, refreshing breezes, the 
 lovely green of the shore and the deep blue of the bay, 
 dotted with the white sails of many yachts, engaged in 
 their annual resratta that mornins;, added much to the 
 enjoyment of the large number who participated in the 
 celebration. At 1 p. m. lunch was served in the spacious 
 and handsome dining hall upon the second floor of the 
 Pavilion ; at 2.30 o'clock the formal exercises Avere held 
 iii the hall below in the folloAvinsr order : 
 
ADDRESS 
 
 By Robert S. Rantoul. 
 
 The Present and the Future are measurably of our own 
 making. No act of ours, be it ever so trivial, but has 
 its ever-Avidening circle of remote results. Not so the 
 Past. We find that ready to our hands. It spreads be- 
 fore us like the canvas of the limner, inviting stud}', 
 stimulating aspiration, inspiring thought ; but, like the 
 canvas of the limner, it makes no answer to our fascinated 
 gaze. It lies revealed, like some crystal rescued from 
 the caverns of the earth, immutable and perfect, and we 
 contemplate it as something wholly outside of and beyond 
 ourselves, — as something of which we had no hand in the 
 making, and for which we are in no way to l)e called on 
 to account. Nothing that we may do can make it other 
 than it is. Nothing which we have done, — nothing 
 which w^e have omitted to do, has helped one jot to make 
 or mar its everlasting mould. It looms up before us, 
 forever fixed, like some awful form unfolded in a vision, 
 remote, inexorable, silent, and at rest forever. 
 
 Yet there is a sense in which all this is otherwise. If 
 our children ally us with the future, so do our ancestors 
 ally us with the past. The ancient precept, "Honor thy 
 father and thy mother," is still in force. We are what 
 "we are, in great measure, because of "vvhat they were. 
 And we may not study their acts as the acts of beings 
 without personality, — as occurrences which entrance the 
 
 (5) 
 
mind but cannot move the heart. On closer knoAvledire, 
 the soul warms towards the actors of the past. As we 
 walk among them familiarly, they seem to return our 
 ardor. They reward our devotion. They reflect our 
 feeling. And at last dry fact becomes living reality, — 
 naked bones put on a fleshly garment, and the scenes 
 that have been of old seem to breathe and jrlow ao-ain 
 with quickened and responsive life. 
 
 It has been thought fit to commemorate to-day, by ])e- 
 coming obseiwances at this spot, the advent of John 
 Winthrop upon the shores of Massachusetts Bay. It is 
 good to pause, on a day so marked, so fateful, in our 
 colonial annals, and give ourselves up for an hour to the 
 reflections which crowd upon the mind. It is wise to 
 call up to the fancy the picture of that auspicious scene, 
 — to recite the perils of the voyage, — the hopes, the 
 fears, the aspirations of those engaged in it, — the as- 
 pect of the country they approached, and the condition 
 of the settlements which were to be their future home. 
 Especially has it been thought becoming, in the descend- 
 ants of these actors in the past, to devote a portion of 
 the day, consecrated as it is to heroic memories, to an 
 effort to disclose and emphasize, if we may, the true 
 significance of the occurrence we recall, — to an endeavor 
 to compute the value of the contribution made to the great 
 sum-total of American nationality by the little band who 
 touched our shores two centuries and a half ago. 
 
 On Saturday, June 12, 1630, a date corresponding 
 with the close of the third week of the fairest month of 
 our New England summer, the hamlet which stood where 
 we now live was roused at early dawn by the unwonted 
 sound of cannon in the offing. Early risers paused in 
 their homely avocations, and stood listening at their 
 cabin thresholds ; and the startled red-man, crouching for 
 
wild-fowl behind these very ledges, forgot his aim and 
 strained his unassisted vision seaward. Amons: the 
 wooded islands of the outer harbor was descried, sharply 
 defined ajjainst the backijround of the s^lowins; East, a 
 single craft of no mean tonnage, flaunting at peak the 
 red cross of England, standing in by the North Chan- 
 nel between Baker's Island and the lesser Misery, and 
 dropping anchor as the sun reddens the horizon. The 
 Lyon, Capt. Pierce, is lying within the islands, and that 
 "Palinurus of the Bay" is not slow to hail the new arri- 
 val, a skiff" from whose side had boarded him at early 
 dawn. There is hasty interchange of salutations. Mas- 
 ter Allerton, he who gave his name to the outer headland 
 of Nantasket in Boston Harbor, is on his way in a shallop 
 from Pl}^nouth to Pemaquid, now Bristol, near Casco 
 Bay, and as he sails by, having taken the wings of the 
 morning, he boards the new-comer, within an hour of 
 sunrise. Another shallop bears down the harbor from 
 Salem, — there were early risers in those days, in 
 Salem, — and at last the welcome story reaches the 
 little hamlet of the presence of the "Arbella," flag- 
 ship and pioneer of the expected fleet, of three hundred 
 and fifty tons burthen, manned by fifty-two seamen and 
 mounting twenty-eight guns, after. a tempestuous, seventy- 
 six days' passage from the Isle of Wight, bearing John 
 Winthrop and the Charter of the '' Governour and Com- 
 pany of London's plantacion in the Massachusetts Bay 
 in New England." Local self-government had struck its 
 roots in Massachusetts soil. Those morning gims, still 
 echoing along our breezy headlands, had announced the 
 possi])ility, now assured by five half centuries of suc- 
 cessful trial, of tranquillity with freedom; of a demo- 
 cratic commonwealth without class privilege ; of an 
 equitable land tenure without primogeniture ; of the 
 
8 
 
 independence of church and state and of political staliility 
 without hereditary office. The purpose for ■which God 
 had at last unveiled the western world was about to be 
 achieved and the destiny of America was determined. 
 
 It would be delightful, did the hour permit, to picture 
 what Winthrop found here, with the fidelity of gi'aphic 
 art. The material is at hand. We know who were here, 
 for the settlers of Salem had only moved up from Stage 
 Point, between what are now known as Norman's Woe and 
 Gloucester Harbor, fours years before, when the fingers 
 of the two hands were enough for numbering the heads 
 of families among them, and, since then, they had been 
 successively reinforced by Endicott and by Higginson, 
 with only a chosen few of England's best. We know 
 where these worthies lived, for the restless zeal of our 
 antiquarian students has left no record unexplored, which 
 could correct the outline map of the early town. We 
 know what our fathers wore, what arms they carried, 
 with what tools they wrought ; for all they had of tex- 
 tile fabric or mechanical design came from old Enijland, 
 and invoices and bills of lading, detailing fashion and 
 make and quality and price, are extant j^et. Finally, we 
 know well what manner of men they were, — what their 
 purposes in life, — what their impressions of the new 
 world, for they were neither idle triflers nor uncultured 
 boors, but set themselves at once about recording obser- 
 vations and transmitting intelligence to friends left behind. 
 Nothing is more delightful than the perusal of these co- 
 pious details. They unlock heart-secrets ; they repro- 
 duce the age. And when, at "about two of the clock" 
 on this anniversary day, so the narrative proceeds, "Mas- 
 ter Endecott," whom Master Peirce had returned to Salem 
 to fetch, boarded the Arbella, and with him his pastor 
 Skelton and one Capt. Levett his adjutant, perhaps, it 
 
9 
 
 is not difficult to picture the scene which followed. "We 
 that were of the assistants," continues Winthrop in his 
 journal, "and some other gentlemen, and some of the 
 women, and our captain, returned with them to Nahum- 
 keek." It is not recorded how they came up the har])or, 
 but that they came in sloop-boats, then called shallops, 
 and in common use, is a fair presumption. Nor are we 
 told just where they stepped ashore, although tradition 
 and conjecture point strongly to the curious metamorphic 
 rock, near the old Bass River ferry and the present Bridge, 
 as the probable landing. Somewhere along that gi-assy 
 eight-foot lane which skirted the Planters' Marsh and 
 hugged the margin of the stream, and which led on to 
 the Governor's "fay re house" and the Arbor Lot Fort, 
 that notable company must have disembarked and taken 
 their stately way on foot, to enter upon the mission of 
 their lives. They were men who had turned their backs 
 upon much that was worth living for in England, — men 
 whose eminent connections, whose intelligence, whose 
 character and whose means, made possible the establish- 
 ment of a state and the building of a capital town in 
 this untrod waste, — men who were pioneering the largest 
 and best appointed fleet ever yet put forth for a port in 
 America, — men who meant, peaceably if they could but 
 forcil)ly if they must, to make fast and strong the foot- 
 hold of the Saxon race on this continent, and to make 
 the discomfiture of Richelieu's ambition absolute and final. 
 There is a native dignity in these men, arbiters of a con- 
 tinent, as they walk in sober state along the sunny stream. 
 No pomp attends their way. The hundred or more of the 
 village, old and young, are at hand to greet them ; but 
 with conflictino; feelinijs. The winter had been hard and 
 the help of the new comers is welcome. But the powers 
 wliich Conant and his men had, not without jealousies and 
 
10 
 
 regrets, made over to Endicott, two summers before, 
 Endicott must in turn surrender to another. Hardly 
 corn enough remained for a fortnight's supply, and yet 
 the Arbella brought no succor. No joy-bells pealed, for 
 as yet no monitory church-spire cleft the clouds. The 
 oaks, which were to frame the venerable church structure 
 preserved to us through the beneficent liberality and zeal 
 of a former President of the Institute, were tossing their 
 branches in the vernal air. No cheerful salvos from 
 Barbie's Fort or the Arbor Lot echoed the Arbella's sun- 
 rise guns, for then powder was precious, like dust of 
 gold, and gunners were "fishers and choppers and plow- 
 men" also. 
 
 Notaljle indeed was the seaw^orn company which sat at 
 meat that day in the new-built Endicott cottage, and 
 looked out from under its peaked gal)les and through its 
 diamond-leaded windows upon the Indian village in North 
 Fields and the grassy slopes of what we call Orne's Point, 
 and supped there, as Winthrop does not fail to tell us, 
 with a smack of the lips quite pardonable in one just 
 •landed from seventy-six days on shipboard, "with a good 
 venison pasty, and good beer." And thus the "fajTe 
 house" which Higginson, in 1629 found newly-built for 
 Governor Endicott was the first habitation in the colony 
 to open its hospitable doors to his successor. 
 
 Winthrop, the central figure of tliis gTOup, was in his 
 early prime, at forty-three. A man of rare grace of per- 
 son and liearing, he was not more marked by those traits 
 Avhich make men engaging in their intercourse Avith others, 
 than by those more robust attributes which fit us to de- 
 termine, to withstand, and to prevail. The ladies, at 
 least, will allow me that he was no ordinary person when 
 they know that at the age of seventeen he was a husband, 
 and had embarked upon his third matrimonial venture at 
 
11 
 
 the age of thirty. At eighteen he was a justice of the 
 peace, and at tw^entj-one, father of three sons, one of 
 Avhom was afterwards Governor of Connecticut, and 
 anotlier of whom was drowned, near the scene of Leslie's 
 Retreat, on the day after his landing. He had been edu- 
 cated at Cambridge, the liberal University of England ; 
 had ceased, in June, 1629, to be an attorney of the Court 
 of Wards, — indeed, he belonged to a family learned in 
 the Liw from the time of the 8th Henry, as well as pillars 
 of the reformed faith even in the bloody days of Mary ; 
 he had joined Matthew Cradock's company of adventurers 
 in September, 1629, on condition that its patent and en- 
 tire concerns should be transferi'ed to America, and had 
 been chosen Governor in October, with the greatest con- 
 fidence and hope, as Cradock's successor. 
 
 I dare not trespass on your time, to attempt a charac- 
 terization of this distinguished personage. Such an at- 
 tempt, limited by the narrow necessities to which I am 
 bound, would do injustice to liis name. Nor is there need 
 of tribute at my hands. A descendant of his, whom we 
 hoped for the pleasure of seeing and hearing to-day, has 
 dealt in his own graceful, delicate and exhaustive way, 
 with this eminent magistrate and man ; and while no 
 femily portrait could be more fit to inspire ancestral rev- 
 erence and pride, nothing which my researches have 
 brought to light would jDrompt me to modify, in a single 
 line, the noble features thus delineated, nor to question 
 the exalted estimate put upon the character of his ancestor 
 by our esteemed contemporary, Mr. AYinthrop of Boston, 
 in his Life and Letters of Gov. Winthrop. But the 
 chronicles of the time display the true proportions of the 
 man. The record of liis election to be the chief ofiicer 
 of the enterprise does not omit to say what was thought 
 and expected of liim by his associates. It reads as follows : 
 
12 
 
 "And now the Court, proceeding to the election of a 
 new Governor, Deputy and Assistants, * * and having 
 received extraordinary great commendations of Mr. John 
 Winthrop, both for his integrity and sufficiency, as heing 
 one every way well fitted and accomplished for the place 
 of Governor * * the said Mr. Winthrop was, with a 
 general vote and full consent of this court, by erection 
 of hands, chosen to be Governor for the ensuing jenr, to 
 begin on this present day ; who was pleased to accept 
 thereof and thereupon took the oath to that place apper- 
 taining." 
 
 The civil, political and military ftuictions, now attaching 
 to the chief magistracy of Massachusetts, have come to 
 overshadow all others and are the only ones now associ- 
 ated, in the mind, with the title of Governor. The word 
 "Court," too, as used by us has another sense than that 
 attaching to it in these records. When Conant, Endicott, 
 and after them Winthrop, were selected and qualified as 
 "Governor," the choice Avas made by a small body of 
 corporators, and the electors were discharging not more 
 a political than a commercial function. Analogies are 
 not wanting which throw light upon this point. The title 
 of "President," we apply in common to our highest offi- 
 cial dignitary and to the chief officers of banking, com- 
 mercial and manufiicturing corporations. The word 
 "Governor" was and is used, in England, as we use the 
 word "President," and can'ies with it, of necessity, no 
 political significance whatever. Thus the Bank of Eng- 
 land to-day calls its executive board, as the Massachusetts 
 adventurers did theirs, the " Governor, Deputy Governor 
 and Companj^" and also holds its "Court of Directors." 
 
 I return from this digTcssion, to quote from the files of 
 her Majesty's Public Record Office in London, these 
 words referring to the Winthrop emigi'ation : "This year 
 
13 
 
 there went hence six ships with one thousand people in 
 them, to the ^Massachusetts, having sent, two years before, 
 between three and four hundred servants to provide houses 
 and corn aorainst their coming. These seiTants, tlirough 
 idleness and ill-goverament neglected both their building 
 and planting of corn, so that if those six ships had not 
 arrived, the plantation had been broke and dissolved. 
 Now, so soon as Mr. Winthrop was landed, perceiving 
 what misery was like to ensue through their idleness, he 
 presently fell to work with his own hands, and thereby so 
 encouraged the rest that there was not an idle person 
 there to he found in the whole plantation, and whereas 
 the Indians had said they would shortly return as fast as 
 they came, now they admired to see in what short time 
 they had all housed themselves, and planted corn suffi- 
 cient for their subsistence." 
 
 "It is ti-ue," wrote the famous Capt. John Smith, in 
 1631, "that Master John Winthrop, their new Governor, 
 a worthy gentleman both in estate and esteem, went so 
 well provided (for six or seven hundred people went with 
 him) as could be devised. But at sea, such an extraor- 
 dinary storm encountered his fleet, continuing ten days, 
 that of two hundred cattle which were so tossed and 
 bruised threescore and ten died ; many of their people 
 fell sick, and in tliis perplexed estate, after ten weeks 
 they arrived in New England at several times, where they 
 found threescore of their people dead, the rest sick, 
 nothing done, l)ut all complaining, and all things so con- 
 trary to their expectation, that now every monstrous 
 humor beo^an to show itself. Notwithstanding all tliis, 
 the noble governor was no way disanimated, neither re- 
 pents him of his enterprise for all those mistakes, but did 
 order all tilings with that temperance and discretion, and 
 so relieved those that wanted with his own provision, that 
 
14 
 
 there is six or seven hundred remained "svith him, and 
 more than sixteen hundred Enghsh in all the country, 
 with three or four hundred head of cattle." 
 
 Still another contemporaneous account is found in a 
 letter of Thomas Wiggin to Sir John Cooke, Knight, 
 principal secretary to his Majesty, and member of the 
 most honoral)le privy council, dated 1632, which also 
 gives the impression of an eye-witness : "For the planta- 
 tion in the Massachusetts, the English there being about 
 two thousand people, young and old, are generally most 
 industrious and fit for such a work, having in three years 
 done more in building and planting than others have done 
 in seven times that space, and with at least ten times less 
 expense. Besides, I have observed the planters there, 
 by their loving, just and kind dealing with the Indians, 
 have gotten their love and respect, and drawn them to an 
 outward conforming to the English, so that the Indians 
 repair to the English Governor there, and his Deputies, 
 for justice. And for the Governor himself, I have ob- 
 served him to be a discreet and sober man, giving good 
 example to all the planters, wearing plain apparel, such 
 as may well beseem a mean man, drinking ordinarily 
 water, and when he is not conversant about matters of 
 justice, putting his hand to any ordinary labor with his 
 servants, — ruling with much mildness to the jrreat con- 
 tentment of those that are best affected, and to the terror 
 of offenders." 
 
 Dudley, himself thirteen times chosen Deputy Gov- 
 ernor, and four times chosen Governor over Winthrop, 
 wrote thus from Boston in 1630, to his patroness and 
 friend the Countess of Lincoln : 
 
 "We sent Mr. John Endicott, and some with him, to 
 begin a plantation and to strenglhen such as he should 
 find there, which we sent thither from Dorchester and 
 
15 
 
 some places adjoining. From whom the same year, re- 
 ceiving hopeful news, the next year, 1629, we sent clivers 
 ships over, with about three hundred people, and some 
 cows, goats and horses, man}' of which arrived safe. 
 These, by their too large commendations of the country 
 and the commodities thereof, invited us so strongly to go 
 on, that Mr. Winthrop, of Suifolk, who was well known in 
 his own country and well approved here for his piety, liber- 
 ality, wisdom and gravity, coming in to us, we came to 
 such resolution that in April, 1630, we set sail from old 
 England with four good ships, and May following eight 
 more followed, two having gone before in February and 
 March, and two more following in June and August, be- 
 sides another, set out l)y a private merchant. These 
 seventeen ships arrived all safe in New England, for the 
 increase of the plantation here this year 1630, but made 
 a long, a troublesome and costly voyage. Our four ships, 
 which set out in April, arrived here in June and July, 
 where we found the colony in a sad and unexpected con- 
 dition, above eighty of them being dead the winter before ; 
 many of those alive weak and sick ; all the corn and 
 bread amongst them all hardly suiBcient to feed them a 
 fortnight, insomuch that the remainder of a hundred and 
 eighty servants we had the two years before sent over, 
 coming to us for victuals to sustain them, by reason that 
 the provisions shipped for them were taken out of the 
 ship they were put in, and they who were trusted to ship 
 them in another failed us and left them behind. Where- 
 upon necessity enforced us, to our extreme loss, to give 
 them all liberty, who had cost us about £16 or £20 a 
 person, furnishing and sending over." 
 
 John AVinthrop, as his l)iographer Avell says, was fully 
 justified l)y these varied testimonies in saying of himself, 
 in a statement of his reasons for joining the New England 
 
16 
 
 enterprise, "It is come to that issue as, in all probal)ilit3^, 
 the welfare of the plantation depends upon my assistance. 
 For the main pillars of it, being gentlemen of high qual- 
 ity and eminent parts, both for wisdom and Godliness, 
 are determined to sit still if I desert them." 
 
 But Winthrop did not desert them and they did not sit 
 still. Here too, on this June afternoon, was Dudley the 
 Deputy, chosen on Ijoard the Arbella to the second place 
 in the government, after it became certain that his prede- 
 cessor, Humfrey, must take passage later. He had been 
 associated, in a responsible charge, with the House of 
 Clinton and Lincoln, now dukes of Newcastle, the best 
 family of the time, Mather says, in the British Peerage : 
 a family out of which such friends of America as Hum- 
 frey, the ill-starred Johnson and the young heir of Sir 
 Ferdinando Gorges had chosen consorts. Thomas Dudley 
 was now fifty-three. He had read law ; fought as a captain, 
 both for English Queen Bess and French King Harry of 
 Navarre ; had extricated, by his prudent administration, 
 the estates of the young Earl of Northampton from dis- 
 astrous entanglements, and was now to Ijecome the founder 
 of Cambridge, in New England, and the first Major Gen- 
 eral of Massachusetts, and to be elected year after year, 
 either Governor, Deputy Governor or Assistant of the 
 Colony. 
 
 Here, too, was Saltonstall, Winthrop's first assistant, 
 "that excellent knight" as Mather calls him, a figure not 
 less conspicuous, from his rank, resources and character, 
 than any other after AVinthrop in the company. He was 
 a person of sufficient consideration to have been the first- 
 named associate of six original patentees of Massachusetts 
 Bay. When Gov. Cradock's proposal for the transfer of 
 the government of the colony to our soil was to he de- 
 bated, pro et contra, before a general court, convened for 
 
17 
 
 that end at Master Deputy GofFe's house in London, 
 Aug. 29, 1629, at 7 o'clock in the morning. Sir Richard 
 Saltonstall was the first-named of the committee selected 
 to advocate the transfer ; and at a general court, held 
 Oct. 15, 1629, he was chairman of a committee to arrange 
 and draw up the terms of the transfer, to he executed 
 "between the adventurers here at home and the planters 
 that are to go over." Joining Cradock's enterprise a year 
 before, and now 44 years of age, he took, at once, the 
 leading place to which his rank, his gifts, his fortune and 
 his legal training entitled him ; was the first signer and 
 promoter, if not the writer, of liberal church covenants, 
 and of letters of wise instruction to Governor Endicott 
 and the Salem clergymen, and was destined on his return 
 to England to sit in judgment at the trial for high treason 
 of five peers, in the High Court of Justice. 
 
 But Sir Richard had better claims than these to present 
 remembrance. He took it upon himself to rebuke the 
 prevailing intolerance of his time in language as courteous 
 as it was bold, addressed to the Boston clergy. He 
 writes to them as "Reverend and dear friends, whom I 
 unfeignedl}^ love and respect." These are his timely 
 words, written from London a few years later. Fortunate 
 for New England had they been duly pondered ! 
 
 "It doth not a little grieve my spirit, to hear what sad 
 things are reported daily of your tyranny and persecutions 
 in New England, as that you fine, whip, and imprison 
 men for their consciences. Truly, friends, this your 
 practice of compelling any in matters of worship to do 
 that whereof they are not fully persuaded, is to make 
 them sin, for so the apostle tells us, and many are made 
 hypocrites thereby, conforming in their outward man, for 
 fear of punishment. "VVe pray for you and wish you 
 prosperity every way, and hoped the Lord would have 
 2 
 
18 
 
 given yon so much light and love there, as not to practise 
 those courses in a wilderness which you went so far to 
 prevent. These rigid ways have laid you very low in the 
 hearts of the saints, I do assure you I have heard them 
 pray in the public assemblies that the Lord would give 
 you meek and humble spirits, not to strive so much for 
 uniformity as to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond 
 of peace. I hope you do not assume to yourselves 
 infallibility of judgment, when the most learned of the 
 Apostles confesseth he knew but in part and saw but 
 darkly." 
 
 Then there was the preacher Phillips, another Cambridge 
 man, thirty-seven years of age, the first pronounced con- 
 gregationalist in the Colony — an independent theologian, 
 standing alone among the clergy but in full sympathy 
 with the broader views of Saltonstall and Browne — 
 whose resistance to a church tax in 1632 is thought to 
 have resulted in the instituting of our legislative house of 
 representatives. And there were the Johnsons, Isaac 
 and his young bride, whose untimely deaths were soon to 
 invest the Winthrop enterprise w^ith i:)ainfully romantic 
 interest. Besides being one of the youngest, the groom 
 was by far the richest of the company, and the largest 
 adventurer in the joint stock also. Not three months 
 more remained to him on earth, and in a will made before 
 leaving England, of which the great Hampden was named 
 executor, he had left his estates in part to the enterprise 
 in which he had embarked his life. When his hour came, 
 he declared that whatever was sacrificed in the furtherance 
 of so o^reat a work could not be wasted, and such was the 
 affection in which his neighbors held him, that as one 
 after another to the number of two hundred fell asleep 
 that fatal winter, until the habitations of the living failed 
 to keep pace with the sepulchres of the dead, they found 
 
19 
 
 consolation in the fact that their kindred \\'erc resting by 
 the grave of Johnson. 
 
 His lovely bride, flitting athwart the strong light of 
 history for a moment, to vanish in the next, as the bright 
 insect of a day flits across the sunbeam, gathers to herself 
 all the poetry and sentiment of this puritanic picture. 
 The good ship "Eagle," bought for the admiral and pilot 
 of the fleet, had been rcchristened the "ArbeUa" in her 
 honor, and though her resting place may be unknown, no 
 nameless grave can hide the memory of her virtues, while 
 the ship "Arbclla" keeps on her silent voyage down the 
 ages. She had come, as was said in the quaint diction of 
 the times, "from a paradise of plenty and pleasure, in the 
 family of a noble earldom, into a wilderness of wants." 
 All too willing to follow her young spouse wherever he 
 might lead her on earth, she sojourned but a little here 
 and herself led the way, anticipating him hy a month, on 
 the everlasting journey. 
 
 Small as the colony was, the little Endicott cottage^ 
 with all its early fame for unbounded hospitality, was 
 hardly large enough for those who made haste to welcome 
 the coming Governor and his suite. But just beyond it, 
 on the west, lay the principal thoroughfare of the village, 
 laid out in the beginning, as it runs to-day, four rods in 
 width from river to river, across the narrowest portion of 
 our narrow town. The boat landings at either end have 
 disappeared, as the coves of North and South River have 
 given place to solid ground. Beneath its entire length 
 thunder incessant trains freighted with life and wealth, 
 and shake the sods Avhere the Governor's children played, 
 as though riven by an earthquake. The Governor's 
 cottage stood on this highway, not far from the corner 
 now formed by the southeastern intersection of Federal 
 and Washington streets. And just beyond the Gover- 
 
20 
 
 nor's ''fa}Te house," was a spot west of the street and not 
 far from the present site of the Sewall-street Meeting 
 House, which was at once the highest central elevation in 
 the town, and also the common point nearest the head 
 waters of both the North and South River. A creek 
 from the South River crossed the street now named for 
 Richard Norman, extending nearly or quite to the site of 
 Mechanic Hall, while the Court Houses occupy land which 
 bounded another cove pushing in from the north. Being 
 the defensible point of the little peninsula, this had been 
 chosen, perhaps by master gunner Sharpe, who lived near 
 by, as the site for a blockhouse fort. It was known as 
 the Arbor Lot, or, being at the head of the harbor, I am 
 inclined to think, as the Harbor Lot Fort. 
 
 In this rude fortress doubtless reposed, for safety, the 
 authenticated duplicate of the Charter of Charles I, as 
 well as the silver seal of the company, the only one ever 
 struck, both forwarded to Gov. Endicott by Higginson's 
 fleet the year before. Here, too, hung suits of armor, — 
 the halberds and partisans; the cuirasses of brass and 
 corslets of chain and leather ; the match-locks and snaph- 
 ances, "four foot in the barrel, without rests" each 
 with its bandoleer and bullet bag ; the pikes and demi- 
 pikes ; the gorgets and helmets ; the swords with cow- 
 hide belts. 
 
 Here, too, frowned from the parapet of this strong 
 house the five great pieces of ordnance, so scrupulously 
 consigned by the company in London in 1629 to the care 
 of master gunner Shai'pe, and which now and again 
 belched out their thunders to aAve the feeble remnant of a 
 wasting race. Here met, for the fii'st meeting house was 
 not yet built, the congregation for worship, the heads of 
 households for govenmient, the young for catechising, the 
 able-bodied for the manual of arms. Here Higginson 
 
21 
 
 may have preached that first sermon before Winthrop, 
 which was to prove the last sermon of his life. From 
 these wooden battlements was to be had the most sweep- 
 ing survey of the novel scene, and to this spot Master 
 Endicott and his distinguished guests without doubt re- 
 paired, for a better acquaintance with the people and the 
 place. 
 
 Nearly in fi*ont of the fort, stretched towards the east 
 the narrow lane, since grown to Essex street, which con- 
 nected the Arljor Lot and its cleared training field or 
 esplanade on the eastern side, with that swampy tract 
 extending from Shallop, now Collins Cove, and Planter's 
 marsh, to the site of the Franklin Building. Part of this 
 marsh became successively the Town Swamp, the Train- 
 ing Field, the Common, the Mall, and now Washington 
 Square. Pleasant street, and parts of Brown and Winter 
 streets have since been cut through it on the one side, — 
 Forrester, once Bath street, on another. But long after 
 Winthrop's time it extended to the line of Essex street, 
 including the creek which as late as 1802 gave Bath street 
 that name. And this marshy tract was almost met by a 
 cove flowing up from the harbor on the Elm street side 
 about as for as the church of the Immaculate Conception. 
 Thus the narrow neck upon which Conant and his men 
 planted themselves in 1626 to await the recruits and 
 succor promised by the Rev. John White, of Dorchester, 
 was nearly severed b}'' the inroads of the sea at two sev- 
 eral points, not far from Washington street on the Avest 
 and Washington Square on the east. Between these 
 points, on this "pleasant and fruitful neck," as Conant's 
 friend Hubbard describes it, nestled the cottages of the 
 early planters. The hamlet had grown, from the half 
 score of houses which Higginson found in 1629, to a 
 habitation for half a dozen scores of people, in 1630. 
 
22 
 
 And this was the scene upon which Winthrop, Saltonstall 
 and Dudley looked from the Arbor Lot Fort, under the 
 mellow light of waning day. Higginson lived at the site 
 of our Post Office, and Skelton at that of the Police 
 Station. After these and Gov. Endicott, no persons were 
 held in more esteem than Roger Conant, John Woodbury 
 and Peter Palfray. It cannot be but that these worthies 
 gathered at the fort. And Brackenbury, too, had come 
 in his shallop from Bass River Side, and Jeffrey from Jef- 
 frey's Creek, and Masconomo from his tented headland 
 perhaps had sent, in birch canoes, an embassy of good 
 will, for there was news from England, and news from 
 England was then no every-day affair. 
 
 Conant was there, and we can feel the pride with which 
 he points out the first house built in Salem, the work 
 of liis hands and his residence now, standing on the 
 spot where has lately lived and died Richard Saltonstall 
 Rogers ; Conant, the Governor at Cape Ann under the 
 patent of Lord Sheffield ; Conant, who quit Plymouth in 
 search of a more liberal system of worship ; Conant, 
 that ^religious, sober and prudent gentleman," whose 
 firmness alone, when threatened with desertion, saved to 
 Endicott the foundations of his colony. The cottage east 
 of Conant's is Peter Palfray's, and that west of Conant's 
 is John Woodbury's, and Woodbury was there, for he 
 was Conant's right hand man, — the first constable of 
 Salem, selected in 1627 for a difficult mission to England, 
 which he discharged with credit, and which must have 
 made liim acquainted with the promoters of the enterprise 
 tliis day arriving ; Woodbury, of whom since he was an 
 ancestor of mine I may be pardoned for speaking with 
 peculiar interest. Endicott himself was there ; Endicott, 
 oftener reelected chief magistrate than any other Governor 
 of Massachusetts ; Endicott, of whom the exhaustive 
 
23 
 
 address delivered by his distinguished namesake and rep- 
 resentative, Judge Endicott, two years ago, has left us 
 nothing to say, — all these were there. Nor is it hard to 
 guess the topics to which conversation leaned. The pano- 
 rama before them was abundantly suggestive. Within 
 its charmed horizon lay the bay then, as to-day, tossing 
 and sparkling inthe glancing sunlight, dotted with islands 
 now fresh with verdure, but then dark with forests — and 
 locked, as now, within the wooded heights of the north 
 shore and Naugus Head. On right and left the crystal 
 currents of our lazy streams moved on, unvexed by 
 bridges, to the sea, and there no friendly beacon w^arned 
 the adventurous boatman of hidden ledges, — at night, no 
 hospitable lighthouse called him home. And beyond all, 
 the ocean, changeless, yet ever new, unscarred by time ! — 
 
 Such as creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now ! 
 
 Across the rivers, in North and South Fields, might be 
 seen the outlying farms of planters, wdiere Indian and 
 settler plied the hoe together, while the birch canoe, and 
 the dug-out, called their w^ater-horse, threaded each silver 
 stream which served them for a lane. Roads they had 
 none. Venice in all her arrogance of wealth had not 
 such leao-ues of w^ater for her streets. Here on the south 
 curled the wngwam fires of the Indian Camp in Forest 
 Eiver Valley. Here, close at hand, rose the pallisadoed 
 fort on Castle Hill. Turning to the north might be seen 
 the shipyard from w^hich, the year before, Moulton and 
 his men sent out the first craft of considerable size ever 
 launched into the waters of Massachusetts. While across 
 North River and fronting the Governor's house ranged 
 themselves in straight, well ordered lanes flanked with 
 small patches of pumpkins, tobacco and maize, the smoky 
 huts of another Indian village, — the sagamore's town, — 
 
24 
 
 oblong habitations, framed of bircli saplings, covered 
 with mats of flagging, in weaving which, Indian girls 
 anticipated the esthetic culture of household art, and 
 together wearing the aspect of a camp of ornamented 
 ambulance wagons, dismounted from their wheels. And 
 everywhere beyond, spreading away, until the eye grew 
 weary, dark, illimitable, impenetrable forest, pathless, 
 vast and unsubdued. 
 
 Such was the picture for whose fit setting the Topsfield 
 hills reared their dark frame against a northern sky. But 
 what added charm would the picture acquire, could Ave 
 but fathom the thought of those who looked upon it, with 
 Winthrop, for the first time to-day ! They were no 
 pigmies, set by force of accident on a lofty pedestal and 
 growing smaller as they rose. Before embarking in this 
 venture they had counted its cost and grimly questioned 
 the future. They had not turned their backs on English 
 homes like theirs fi'om an}' mean anxiety to Ijetter their 
 estates. The oppressions from which they fled would 
 not have weighed on minds of meaner mould. They had 
 not sacrificed and endured and braved, — they Avere not 
 looking to sacrifice, endure and brave, without some 
 consciousness of the great part they had been called to 
 play. The world was to profit by their losses and to be 
 a partner in their gains. They knew, when Conant re- 
 solved to stay at the hazard of his life, though all others 
 left him, that it was the future more than the present 
 which hung upon his Avill. They knew, when Endicott, 
 with that stout soul of his, struggled alone to evolve a 
 polity out of a state of things no prescience of statesman- 
 ship could foresee, administering law, repelhng force, 
 conciliating the old planters, apportioning the lands, that 
 it was the English CommouAvealth, now not far aAvay, 
 which stood militant, in his person, on this virgin soil. 
 
25 
 
 They knew, when Winthrop released from bonded service 
 all the indentured labor of the company, putting his hand 
 to ordinary work with the humblest, when not preoccupied 
 with official duty, that caste and precedence were doomed 
 on tliis continent, and that rank was not to rest on acci- 
 dent but on manhood from that day forth forever. 
 
 Some gleam at least of the dawning glory had reached 
 their vision. They had looked for a city which hath 
 foundations — a tabernacle that shall not be taken down. 
 They were not to die without a vision of the land of 
 promise. In this strong soil they had planted the tree 
 which God has given us to water, — which was to spread 
 its branches mightily, — to defy the tempest and to gather 
 the world to its umljrao-eous shelter. 
 
 May we not hail it as a happy omen for ]\Iassachusetts 
 Bay, that while our Plymouth neighbors landed in the 
 dreary winter solstice, the longest day of our leafy summer 
 solstice welcomed the arrival of Winthrop? But the 
 longest day has an end. Twilight is creeping on, and 
 the entry of this crowded experience in the Governor's 
 journal closes at last. These are his words ; "At night 
 we returned to our ship, but some of the women stayed 
 behind. In the meantime most of our people went on 
 shore upon the land of Cape Ann, which lay very near 
 us, and gathered store of fine strawbemes. An Indian 
 came aboard us and lay there all night." Here ends the 
 record. Winthrop, with his council of assistants, had 
 returned before nightfall to his gallant ship. Shall we 
 leave him there, standing apart upon that lofty quai-ter- 
 deck of the Arbella, his face set westward, as his heart 
 had long been wedded to the future, — "revolving many 
 memories," — sighing for the morrow with its first taste 
 of the Sabbath rest of New England, — peering into the 
 open gates of sunset, until their purple glories faded into 
 
26 
 
 night, — and forecasting, it may be, the destiny of a new- 
 born world ? 
 
 God said, — I am tired of kings; 
 
 I suffer them no more ; 
 Up to my ear the morning brings 
 
 The outrage of the poor. 
 
 Thinlv ye I made this ball 
 
 A field of havoc and war, 
 Where tyrants great and tyrants small 
 
 Might harry the weak and poor? 
 
 My angel,— his name is Freedom, — 
 
 Choose him to be your king; 
 He shall cut pathways east and west, 
 
 And fend you with his wing. 
 
 I will divide my goods ; 
 
 Call in the wretch and slave : 
 None shall rule but the humble, 
 
 And none but Toil shall have. 
 
 I will have never a noble, 
 
 No lineage counted great : 
 Fishers and choppers and ploughmen 
 
 Shall constitute a State. 
 
 Go, cut down trees in the forest, 
 
 And trim the straightest boughs ; 
 Cut down trees in the forest. 
 
 And build me a wooden house. 
 
 Call the people together. 
 
 The young men and the sires, 
 The digger in the harvest-field, 
 
 Hireling, and him that hires. 
 
 And here in a pine state-house 
 
 They shall choose men to rule 
 In every needful faculty. 
 
 In church, and state, and school. 
 
 Lo ! I uncover the land 
 
 Which I hid of old time in the West, 
 
 As the sculptor uncovers his statue, 
 When he has wrought his best. 
 
THE LADY ARBELLA. 
 
 A POEM WRITTEN FOR THE WINTHROP FIELD MEETING, 
 
 By LUCY LAHCOM. 
 
THE LADY ARBELLA. 
 
 Read by Rev. De Witt S. Clark, of the Tabernacle Church, Salem. 
 
 The good ship Arbella is leading the fleet 
 
 Away to the westward, through raiu-storm and sleet; 
 
 The white cliffs of England have dropped out of sight; 
 
 As birds from the warmth of their nest taking fliglit 
 
 Into wider horizons, each fluttering sail 
 
 Follows fast where the Mayflower fled on the gale 
 
 With her resolute Pilgrims, ten winters before; — 
 
 And the fire of their faith lijihts the sea and the shore. 
 
 There are yeomen and statesmen ; the learned and rude ; 
 One brotherhood; jealousy cannot intrude 
 Between heart and heart; with one purpose they go, — 
 To knit life to life, a new nation, and grow 
 In the strengtli of the Lord. There are maidens discreet, 
 And saintliest matrons ; but none is so sweet 
 As the delicate blush-rose fi'om Lincoln's old hall, 
 he Lady Arbella, the flower of them all. 
 
 Beloved and loving, one stands at her side, 
 
 A bridegroom well matched with so lovely a bride. 
 
 "Wise Winthrop is balancing care in Ms mind 
 
 For the colony's weal, for the wife left behind ; 
 
 And godly and tolerant Phillips is there 
 
 To comfort his shipmates with blessing and prayer: 
 
 One and all, tliey have taken tlieir lives in their hand, 
 
 To be scattered as seed in a wilderness land. 
 
 (20) 
 
30 
 
 There is hope in their eyes, though it gleams through regret; 
 
 They go not as those who can lightly forget 
 
 The Church, their clear mother, the land of their birth, 
 
 In the glamour that fluslies an unexplored earth — 
 
 A limitless continent, fringing the rim 
 
 Of the silent sea-vastness with promises dim; 
 
 And their love, reaching bacli from the voyage begun, 
 
 Links Old and New England forever as one. 
 
 They drift through blank midnight; tliey toss in the mist, 
 Blown hither and thither as wild winds may list. 
 Moons wane, ere a glimpse of the land that they seek 
 Breaks the chaos of billow and fog: — though the cheek 
 Of Arbella grows pale, with a clear, kindling eye, 
 ■she says, "It is well that we go, though we die." 
 And the heart of the bridegroom beats Iiigh at her side. 
 In response to the undismayed heart of his bride. 
 
 And still, side by side, they keep watch on the deck, 
 Till the faint sliore approaches, — an outline — a speck 
 That wavers and sinks, and arises again. 
 Undefined, on the outermost verge of the main. 
 And lo ! on a golden June morning, a smell 
 As of blossoming gardens, borne over the swell 
 Of the weltering brine; cliff and headland that dip 
 Their green robes in the sea, leaning out to the ship ! 
 
 And shining above them, afar on the sky. 
 
 Where the coast-line trends inland, the snow summits high, 
 
 A glimmer of crystal ! The lady's rapt gaze 
 
 Lingers long on that wonder of filmy white haze, 
 
 As a vision of mountains celestial, tliat rise 
 
 On the soul of the dying, who nears Paradise ! 
 
 Did she know, could she dream, that to her it was given 
 
 But to touch at this new world, and pass on to heaven? 
 
 There looms Agamenticus, beckons Cape Ann ; 
 There a smoke-wreath reveals Masconomo's red clan. 
 Or the camp-fire of settlers, and hei'e a canoe — 
 Here a shallop steers out to the storm-beaten crew; 
 The low islands part, as an opening door, 
 And they glide in, and anchor in sight of the shore, 
 Where the wild roses' fragrance, the strawberries' scent 
 With the music of song-bird and billow are blent. 
 
31 
 
 Did the Lady Arbclla's light foot touch the beach? 
 
 Did the sweet-brier SAvay to her lau^li and her speech? 
 
 Waves wash away footprints ; winds sweep from the air 
 
 Ghid echoes — fresh odors ; — her memory is there ! 
 
 And the wild rose is sweeter on Bass-River-Side 
 
 For breathing where once breathed the sweet English bride; 
 
 And the moan of the surges a pathos has caught 
 
 From her presence there, brief as the flight of a thought. 
 
 Grave Endicott welcomes his beautiful guest. 
 At last, in the wilderness, shall she find rest, 
 And dream of the cities to rise at her feet 
 In a nation where mercy and righteousness meet? 
 Dear Lady Arbella ! so brave and so meek ! 
 Too fragile a flower for this atmosphere bleak, — 
 When the rose shed its petals on Bass-River-Side, 
 The blush rose of Lincoln had faded and died. 
 
 But a soul cannot fail of its gracious intent; 
 
 We are known, and we live, through the good that we meant. 
 
 The seed will spring up, that was watered with tears; 
 
 If an angel looked on, through those first dreary years 
 
 Of the colony's childhood, and bore up its prayer, 
 
 The spirit of Lady Arbella was there; 
 
 And, to whatever Eden her footsteps have flown, 
 
 New England still claims her — forever our own ! 
 
 For the lady arose to her womanhood then. 
 
 When gently and yeomanry simply were men, 
 
 In communion of hardship. All honor be theirs 
 
 Whose iiames on her forehead the Commonwealth wears, — 
 
 AVho planted the roots of our freedom ! Nor yet 
 
 The blossoms that died in transplanting forget, — 
 
 The true-hearted women who perished beside 
 
 The Lady Arbella, the fair English bride! 
 
ADDRESSES. 
 
 The President briefl}' alluded to the three migrations 
 from the mother-land to Salem previous to the one the 
 250th anniversary of which we this day commemorate. 
 1st, the arrival of Koger Conant in 1(526 ; 2d, of John 
 Endicottin September, 1628 ; 3rd, of Francis Higginson, 
 in the sunnner of 1629, Avho, soon after his arrival, organ- 
 ized the First Church. 
 
 "VVe have with us to-day, Col. Thomas Wentworth 
 Higginson, a lineal descendant of Francis Higginson, and 
 also a member of Governor Long's staff. Shall we have 
 the pleasure of hearing from him ? 
 
 RESPONSE OF COL. T. W. HIGGINSON, OF CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and, I .vqyj^ose I may say, Fellow-members of 
 the Essex Institute: 
 
 I AM very glad to respond to any call, Avhether in be- 
 half of that third migration, or of the governorship of 
 Massachusetts which began with Endicott and Winthrop, 
 and which is now represented by my worthy chief. Gov- 
 ernor Long, But I should speak with diffidence after the 
 eloquence to which we have listened, after the beautiful 
 poem, whose gi-ace was so charmingly divided between the 
 reading and the rhyme. But for the fact that I have left 
 the living Governor behind me, I should only have been 
 able to represent a few dead Governors of a century or two 
 ago. There is this sort of appropriateness in the present 
 
 3 • (33) 
 
34 
 
 situation of aftUirs, that whereas, just about the time of 
 the landing of VYinthrop on this very spot, I fancy that 
 Endicott and the people of that day thought there was one 
 Governor too much, we at this moment think there is a 
 Governor too little. [Laughter.] 
 
 I thought as I sat at your hospitable board partaking of 
 your sandwiches with hearty relish (which I trust has 
 always been characteristic of my race) that, if you were 
 feeding me, I was, — retrospectively at least, — supplying 
 you with a place whereon to feed. I do not know that 
 you are aware that you are at this moment, — retrospec- 
 tively, and supposing I had my rights, — trespassing on 
 my property. I may be mistaken in the boundaries, l)ut 
 I fancy this is a part of the old Higginson farm. I think 
 the last Ilio'i'inson who was here used to welcome others 
 to tills spot, instead of being welcomed by others, and I 
 wish to be equally hospitable. [Laughter.] I do not 
 know that I inherit one of the personal features of Col. 
 John Higginson, but I do wish he had bequeathed me his 
 JSTeck. [Laughter . ] 
 
 There is a common delusion that leads us to conceive 
 our New England ancestry as tame and prosaic ; and to 
 assume that there was nothing in its early records to call 
 forth our enthusiasm. But there are no people in the 
 world prouder of their ancestral tree than are the men and 
 women who hear me to-day ; there is no view in the world 
 that should bring up nobler, tenderer recollections than the 
 little strip of blue ocean before 3"our eyes. There are no 
 records of migration, there are no records of the founda- 
 tion of a city more eloquent, more dignified, more thought- 
 ful, more touching, than the early annals of Salem, than 
 the letters of Winthrop, and, I may say Avithout assump- 
 tion, than the journals Francis Higginson left behind him. 
 The beauties of this place were never painted in more 
 
35 
 
 appropriate colors than they painted them. The story of 
 that noble enter})rise was never told in more simple, more 
 direct language than they told it themselves. The sweet- 
 ness of human feeling, the tenderness of personal joy and 
 sorrow never have been written in any letters between 
 husband and wife more exquisitely than they ai-e M-ritten 
 in the letters of Winthrop ; although it is perfectly true 
 that she was his third wife, and something of that sweet- 
 ness may have come from prolonged and reiterated prac- 
 tice. [Laughter and applause.] 
 
 It is the agreeable task of the Essex Institute to com- 
 bine, in the study of nature, and in its historical research, 
 all that is most interesting in that period of our history. 
 We smile at the dusty traditions in the unravelling of 
 which some of your antiquarians spend their lives. We 
 Avonder at the hopefulness that expects any good shall 
 result from these dull details. Yet it was the influence of 
 precisely this material and this place that added another to 
 the world's great authors through the genius of Hawthorne. 
 In every step you take, every point you add to the knowl- 
 edge of external nature or of the inner domestic life of that 
 early period, the Essex Institute may be adding to the 
 materials which some futiu-e Hawthorne, now growing up 
 unknown, may yet employ. And if you could extend 
 your investigations in Natural History far enough, and tell 
 us what under heaven those red and yellow flowers^ could 
 have been that Francis Higginson found spread over these 
 waters, acres at a time, in 1G29, his descendants will be 
 very grateful. I have not a doubt of his veracity, hoAv- 
 ever, when I consider the fact that he was the tirst historian 
 
 6 Jlr. Higginson arrived rear miilsnninier. At this period of tlie year, great 
 numbers of jelly-fisbes (tlie Cyanen arrtica, Aurelia flariduln, and other species) 
 are observed on tlic snrfa<'e ol" the water near the coast. I'ossiblj- specimens of 
 these animals, some having the rcscnililance of flowers, may liave attracted the 
 notice of the voyager and have thus been mentioned in liis Journal. 
 
36 
 
 to point out the existence of lions on Cape Ann and the 
 caution with which he did it. After enumerating a long 
 list of animals he says, "The skins of all these animals 
 have I seen, but the skin of the lion I have not seen." So 
 particular was he about taking the responsibility of the 
 Cape Ann lions upon himself ! 
 
 I have sometimes thoui>:ht in readino; the accounts of 
 these celebrations, that the Essex Institute had, in a man- 
 ner, fulfilled his predictions about these animals. I am 
 sure that so long as 3^ou have your present President and 
 efficient committee of arrangements you will always secure 
 a moderate supply of small lions for your platform. 
 [Laughter and applause.] 
 
 Introduces /7b??. G. WasJiingion TFarren, of Boston ; 
 for many years President of The Bunker Hill Monument 
 Association. 
 
 EEMARKS OF MR. WARREN. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
 
 I feel rather diffident in attempting to address you after 
 the very finished })roduction to which we have listened. 
 I am told that Dean Stanley when here, immediately after 
 his arrival in tliis country, expressed astonishment at the 
 zeal and reverence with which you commemorate these 
 anniversaries. I am told he said "there is nothing like 
 it in my own home." 
 
 A period of two hundred and fifty years carries us back 
 a long way. If you divide the Christian Era into only 
 eight parts, the period of two hundred and fifty years 
 is a greater period than one of those parts. And then, 
 sir, it is a great help to lis to compare these mile- 
 stones of time. By this comparison we find how easy it 
 is to grasp the past. Why, Mr. President, we both re- 
 member the celebration of the two-hundredth year since 
 
37 
 
 these events occurred. I remember the year of my gradu- 
 ation, of hearing the great and classic Everett deliver the 
 address on the two-hundredth anniversary of the arrival 
 of Governor Winthrop in Charlestown. Perhaps you 
 people of Salem have not yet forgiven Winthrop for 
 leaving Salem and going southward ; but if you had been 
 living then he certainly would have remained here. We 
 can imagine him in his boat, which was probably within 
 sight of this place, navigating his way towards the mouth 
 of the Mystic river, to find, as he says in his quaint lan- 
 guage, "a place for sitting down." He arrived in Charles- 
 town on the memorable seventeenth of June (O. S.), 
 wdiich seemed to typify the great event of the seventeenth 
 of June (N. S.) that was to occur nearly a century and 
 a half later. How significant are these dates ! It is my 
 fortune to belong to the First church in Boston, which 
 Winthrop more than any other one instituted, and to whose 
 covenant he was the first to put his name ; and I doubt 
 if there is anything in this country more ancient than that 
 same covenant, which is preserved to the present day, and 
 recognized as binding upon the worshippers. 
 
 Boston is to have its anniversary on the seventeenth of 
 September next. Because there was an insufficiency of 
 water, Winthrop went over the river and there had another 
 "sitting down." And now in the Old South, on the sev- 
 enteenth of September next, is to be commemorated the 
 anniversary of this event, — the Old South which is erected 
 on land which belonged to Winthrop. How significant ! 
 It is a great good fortune that we have preserved that 
 historic building, not only for the connection it has with 
 the revolution, not only for the great speeches made 
 within its "walls by the heroes and fathers of the republic, 
 but because it marks the spot where the first governor of 
 the commonwealth resided. And, friends, let us re- 
 
38 
 
 member that it is to the exertions of the patriotic Avomen 
 of Massachusetts that the preservation of this historic 
 landmark is due. [Applause]. 
 
 I tliink, INIr. President, that it is a matter of congratu- 
 lation that the attention of our people and of the rising 
 generation is being more and more devoted to the colonial 
 history of the land rather than to the revolutionary period. 
 In my l:)oyhood the principal reading-books were made up 
 of the language and the eloquence of the revolutionary 
 times ; of opposition to authority, engendering habits and 
 feelino;s unconoenial to the Ijest growth of the intellect. 
 Fortunately, we can go back more than a century beyond 
 and dwell upon that life and those times with profit ; 
 back to the time when Winthrop came with christian 
 honor and founded this great commonwealth. And as 
 long as Massachusetts shall be remembered in the Avorld 
 as the mother of Presidents and of Vice-Presidents, of 
 heroes, and martyrs, and statesmen, so long will the 
 memory of Winthrop be cherished as its christian founder. 
 
 Introduces Hon. George B. Loring, of Salem, Rep- 
 resentative in U. S. Congress from this District. 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. LORING. 
 
 Mr. President and fellow-citizens : — 
 
 I am very happy to learn from 3^our chairman what I 
 represent. It seems that after dealing with the historic 
 governors, and calling upon the representatives of the 
 present race of governors, we are now to turn our atten- 
 tion for a short time to that valuable institution known in 
 this countr}^ as the General Government. 
 
 But without entering into any dissertation upon the gov- 
 ernment under which we live, I desire to call your atten- 
 tion to the inheritance which you can justly call your own. 
 
39 
 
 The elocjuent and admirable oration to which we have just 
 listened has brought vividly before us the first steps that 
 were taken towards the estal)lishnient of a great republic 
 on these shores, a republic based on the fundamental 
 princii)les of popular freedom and popular sovereignty. 
 I have never been surprised at the remark of Dean Stanley 
 that the celebration of American anniversaries greatly 
 astonished and interested him. Well he might be aston- 
 ished, for there are none like them anywhere else on the 
 foce of the globe. Can you, sir, mention a po})ular English 
 anniversary? England can turn to her decisive battles, to 
 the beheading of a king, to the futile attempt to organize a 
 republic to end in the reestablishment of a monarchy ; but 
 she cannot call upon her people to celebrate such events. 
 Do you, sir, know of an event in the history of France 
 or Germany, or Italy, or Eussia, calling for a public anni- 
 versary upon which the masses of the people can gather 
 together at the close of every hundred years, and con- 
 gratulate themselves ? We have a strong popular sentiment 
 and principle which Ave can call our own, and which is the 
 stamp of our nationality. Nowhere on the face of the earth 
 is there a popular, public anniversary except upon Ameri- 
 can soil, — so far as the representative of the General 
 Government has been able to discover. 
 
 Now, sir, that is our inheritance. I have always thought 
 it a great thing to have an ancestry. [Laughter] . An 
 ancestry, not a pedigree ; and I have been greatly im- 
 pressed to-day, while listening to the able historical dis- 
 quisition of our eminent townsman, and to the beautiful 
 word-pictiu-c drawn by a descendant of one of the founders 
 of this commonwealth, — with the courage, the heroism 
 of those early times, and with the wisdom and devotion 
 which guided that ancient people in the foundation of the 
 institutions which they have transmitted to us. Seated 
 
40 
 
 here on this hard barren spot of land (my friend, Col. 
 Higginson, wishes he had inherited it ; but, if he had 
 had my experience in farming, he might think himself 
 fortunate that the inheritance did not come to him), I 
 have admired more and more the inheritance of this 
 people, fastened on this barren soil. What is this rich 
 possession ? It is an inheritance unheard of before upon 
 the face of the earth. Our fathers made us heirs of the 
 most important movement towards self-government known 
 in the history of the world. They gave us that marvellous 
 decade in which, on the shores of Massachusetts, popular 
 government was established. It is not easy to say, nor 
 is it, perhaps, important to know, who was the first Gov- 
 ernor of Massachusetts. It is enough for us to know that 
 between 1620 and 1630 Eoger Conant, with his little hand 
 of wayfiu-ers, planted his feet ujion these shores, and left 
 the impress of his religious fervor ; that, following him, 
 came John Endicott, he of the mailed hand and the the- 
 ological heart (is that a good expression, sir?) ; that 
 after him came John Winthrop, graceful and scholarly, 
 the grand heroic figure of these early colonial days. And 
 shall I forget John Carver, the admirable, the honest, the 
 pure, the godly, the self-sacrificing pilgrim? These are 
 the four Governors who made these ten years memoral)le, 
 immortal ; who instituted the first popular government in 
 the world. Roger Conant, John Endicott, John Winthrop, 
 John Carver, — these are your ancestors. Plymouth, 
 Trimountain, Naumkeag, Cape Ann, — these are your in- 
 heritance. What a story do they tell for the foundation 
 of government on those principles which to-day make our 
 republic strong among the nations of the world ! You 
 can turn to no other spot, no other decade, no other cen- 
 tury for this glorious consummation. 
 
 These ancestors of ours who gave us these ten immoi-tal 
 
41 
 
 years came from great associations to perform without 
 ostentation their great deeds. They were familiar with 
 Milton, and had, perhaps, read with him his great protests 
 and his divine song. They had seen Shakespeare, and, I 
 doubt not, those who dared go to the theatre had heard 
 his inspired words spoken by his own lips. They had 
 admired the scientific wisdom and the political liberality 
 of Lord Bacon, whose star had set just before they left 
 their native shores. They had taken part in the great 
 events out of which came Cromwell and his Common- 
 wealth. Hampden and Pym were their friends and com- 
 panions. No wonder they came here inspired with the 
 highest political purpose, filled with the sublimest religious 
 fiiith, confident and trusting — as the}^ confided and trusted 
 in God, — in the power of a cultivated christian people to 
 govern themselves by institutions of their own creating. 
 And they had a vision, not of an English Commonwealth, 
 but of a new destiny, of an American repul^lic, a vision 
 that has ripened into reality in that General Government 
 which I have the honor now to represent. They gave us, 
 in the first place, the ownership of this soil we are so 
 proud to call our own. They gave us the institutions 
 under which we live. They gave us a land-tenure pro- 
 nounced by an illustrious son of an illustrious Salem 
 father, — the younger Nathaniel Bowditch, — to l)e the 
 most perfect system of popular conveyancing on earth. 
 It was not at Jamestow)i among that adventurous and 
 chivalrous band Avho followed the fortunes of John Smith ; 
 it was not amons; the Dutch colonies at the mouth of the 
 Hudson ; it was not among those who enjoyed the pro- 
 found constitutional prerogatives laid down by the great 
 John Locke in the far away Carolinas, — but here on the 
 Iligginson farm, here on the rocky shores of Plymouth 
 where the land was valueless, was laid the foundation 
 
42 
 
 of our republic. The very barrenness of this land made 
 us a commercial, and an inventive people, and laid 
 the foundations of that financial prosperity Avhicli we en- 
 joy. It was here the freedom of religious sentiment was 
 planted and proclaimed, which gave John Endicott a 
 perfect right to drive the Browns home because they could 
 not agree with him, and which drove Roger Williams to 
 seek for freedom where he did not find it. Here the 
 suffrage of the world Avas established ; here that decree 
 was first proclaimed which makes it possible to take from 
 the ranks of the people mayors of cities, representatives 
 to state and national Icoislatures, deleoates to national 
 conventions who nominate successful candidates for the 
 presidency, governors and chief magistrates in all our 
 civil spheres and organizations, — an universal suffrage 
 W'hich I firmly believe will one day enable woman also to 
 exercise her choice in the selection of those who are to 
 make laws for the government of herself and those whom 
 she loves. [Applause.] 
 
 These arc the rights and privileges which were estab- 
 lished here on this hard inhospitable shore, and which 
 were proclaimed in that immortal decade, — immortal in 
 all that makes men great and good, — great in spirit, great 
 in toil, great in enthusiasm, great in determination, great 
 in hope. This is the inheritance those great leaders have 
 transmitted to us, and which we must transmit, unim- 
 paired, to those who come after us. [Applause.] 
 
 I have endeavored to perform the duties assigned me in 
 one branch of the general government, and I have wit- 
 nessed with more and more astonishment the beneficial 
 work born of the bitter and violent contests there. The 
 skies may be darkened by heavy clouds, the country may 
 seem to be threatened with sudden and sweeping disaster 
 and ruin, but always the break has come and the blue sky 
 
43 
 
 shininiT Uirouoh the rift has j^ivcn us assurtmce that God 
 is with us still. And when I say this I know that above all 
 strife, above all antagonisms, above all party dissensions, 
 above all laws and resolves of general courts, above and 
 beyond all the disappointments that fall upon those who 
 march along the path of political glory in this land, there 
 is still a public conscience, there is still strong common 
 sense, there is still an iron will. It was this "voice 
 of the people " that gave us the victory in our great war 
 for freedom. It Avas this that, when the appalling de- 
 struction of civil war burst upon us, confounding the wis- 
 dom and trying the hearts of men, brought us national 
 redemption and increased national power. It was this 
 that gave us the power to preserve the financial honor 
 of the land. It was this that gave us the power to pro- 
 claim the law laid down here by the pilgrims and which 
 has become the law of the whole people. Under the care 
 of the good God, ftdse counsels never have prevailed, and 
 never will prevail in this land while this inheritance remains 
 within us. The great doctrines of fathers are preserved to 
 us, and to us are given in full measure the fruits of their 
 labors. How can a government founded by them fail? 
 How can institutions blessed by their prayers be destroyed ? 
 As the representative of the general government, I con- 
 gratulate you and myself that this work of celebrating 
 these memorial days has fallen into hands so patient and 
 watchful as those of the Essex Institute. I did not come 
 to-day expecting to speak, but to listen to those words of 
 wisdom which I always hear when the Institute meets at 
 a Field Meeting, and your dignified and venerable leader, 
 who believes in the greatness of our institutions, and 
 would piously preserve the memory of those who founded 
 them, proclaims what shall be said on such occasions. 
 [Applause.] 
 
44 
 Introduces Gen. Henry K. Oliver, Mayor of Sulcm. 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. OLIVER. 
 
 Mayor Oliver said that after the excellent perform- 
 ances of the afternoon, he would not, at this late hour, 
 trespass further upon the time of the meeting, but in a 
 word he would express his pleasure, in behalf of the citA^, 
 at this opmmemoration. 
 
 Introduces SetJi Low, Esq., of New York. A son of 
 an honored son of Salem who was educated at our schools, 
 and now one of the most distinguished merchants in the 
 commercial emporium of America. Mr. Low, though un- 
 expectedly called upon, has consented to say a few words. 
 
 REMARKS of SETH LOW, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: — 
 
 I appear in resi)onse to your call only as the voice of 
 a son of Salem, who would be glad to be here but that he 
 is on the other side of the ocean. The voice speaks, you 
 know, in response to the promptings of the heart. 
 
 I have been told by a friend that there are no gentlemen 
 present, except myself, under seventy years of age. Let 
 me add that I also understand all the ladies are under 
 twenty-five. It follows, of course, from my age, as the 
 ladies will understand, that I have no special recollection 
 of the landing of Winthrop, and I must lead your thoughts 
 into some new channel. 
 
 As I stood in your Essex Institute a few hours ago, a 
 complete set of the directories of the City of Buftalo was 
 shown to me, and by a glance one could see the constantly 
 increasing growth of the city. Yes, I said, this shows 
 the growth of the city, but not its history. And so it is 
 
45 
 
 with Salem. I think it must always be your pride and 
 glory that much of your city's history must be sought 
 outside of herself. Wherever your children have gone 
 (and where have they not gone ?) , there you have a right 
 to trace the influences, and, l)y consequence, the history of 
 Salem. 
 
 As I come here, almost a stranger, I feel as though I 
 w^as carried back to the days of your commercial pros- 
 perity. My father's career has been in commerce, as has 
 been mine since leaving college, and as I looked at your 
 Avarehouses I thouoht of the sadness that must come over 
 the hearts of those Avho knew Salem in the days of her 
 commercial glory, and who now look upon the changed 
 scene. 
 
 I do not advert to this in order to fill your minds 
 with sad thoughts, but with this encouraging one, — that 
 change dofes not necessarily imply decay. As I walked 
 through your streets almost for the first time, I was 
 struck by the strange intermingling of the old and the 
 new ; and I felt that here was growing up a new life. 
 
 So long as your city has a hold on the future, as well as 
 on the past, there is no cause for regret. Her future will 
 be all the fuller because of the rich memories which 
 cluster about her earlier life. I congratulate you that 
 here in Salem, while there certainly is change, I do not 
 see decay. The time will come, indeed I think it has 
 already come, when the sons of Salem, and her sons' sons, 
 returning to the old city from whatever distant spot, in 
 the language of one of your own Massachusetts poets, 
 can gather here 
 
 "from the pavement's crevice 
 As a floweret of the soil, 
 The nobility of labor 
 The long pedigree of toil." 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 The following extracts from letters received 
 
 WERE READ BY KeV. E. S. AtWOOD, OF SaLEM. 
 
 Danvers, 6th mo., 19, 1880. 
 Robert S. Rantoul, Esq., 
 My dear friend : 
 
 I see by the call of the Essex Institute that some proba- 
 bility is suggested that I may furnish a poem for the oc- 
 casion of its meeting at "The Willows" on the 22d. I 
 would be glad to make the implied probability a fact, but 
 I find it difficult to put my thoughts into metrical form, 
 and there will be little need of it, as I understand a lady 
 of Essex county, who adds to her modern culture and 
 rare poetical gifts the l)est spirit of her Puritan ancestry, 
 has lent the interest of her verse to the occasion. 
 
 It was a happy thought of the Institute to select for its 
 first meeting of the season, the day and the place of the 
 landing of the great and good Governor, and permit me 
 to say, as thy father's old friend, that its choice for orator, 
 of the son of him whose genius, statesmanship and elo- 
 quence honored the place of his birth, has been equally 
 happy. As I look over the list of the excellent worthies 
 of the first emigrations, I find no one who, in all respects, 
 occupies a nobler place in the early colonial history of 
 Massachusetts than John Winthrop. Like Vane and 
 Milton he was a gentleman as well as a Puritan, a cul- 
 
 (4G) 
 
47 
 
 tared and enlightened statesman as well as a God-fearing 
 Christian. It was not under his long and wise Chief 
 Magistracy that religious bigotry and intolerance hung 
 and tortured their victims, and the terrible delusion of 
 witchcraft darkened the sun at noonday over Essex. If 
 he had not quite reached the point where, to use the words 
 of Sir Thomas ]Moorc, he could "hear heresies talked and 
 yet let the heretics alone," he was in charity and forbear- 
 ance far in advance of his generation. 
 
 I am sorry tliat I must miss an occasion of so much 
 interest. I hope you will not lack the presence of the 
 distinguished citizen who inherits the best qualities of his 
 honored ancestor, and who, as a statesman, scholar, and 
 patriot, has added new lustre to the name of Winthrop. 
 With sincere regard, thy friend, 
 
 JOIIX G. WlIITTIER. 
 
 Beookline, Mass., 12th June, 1880. 
 
 My Dear Sir : 
 I see no prospect of my being able to be with you, 
 except in spirit, on the 22d instant, and thus, though I 
 united with the Institute to commemorate Endicott's land- 
 ing, I must leave it to others to celebrate the advent of 
 my own ancestor, with the companj^ and the charter. 
 This note requires no answer. I write mainly to renew 
 my regrets that I am constrained to ho absent from the 
 commemoration of an event, which, wholly apart from 
 any personal considerations, is the most noteworthy event 
 in the early history of ^Massachusetts, New England, and, 
 indeed, of our whole country. The transfer of the charter 
 and "Chief Government" from London to New England, 
 and the arrival of the governor and company of the 
 
48 
 
 Massachusetts Bay, can hardly be counted second to any 
 event in American annals, after America was discovered 
 and began to be colonized. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 Robert C. Winthrop. 
 Dr. H. Wheatland, 
 President Essex Institute. 
 
 Cambridge, June 12, 1880. 
 My Dear Sir ; 
 
 I am very sorry that I cannot accept your invitation 
 for the 22d inst. That is the day of the annual meeting 
 of the Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy, a board of 
 which I am President, and must therefore attend the 
 meeting. 
 
 With hearty thanks for the courtesy and kindness of 
 the invitation, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 A. P. Peabody. 
 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
 Executive Department. 
 
 Boston, June 14, 1880. 
 Dr. Plenry Wheatland, 
 Salem, Mass. : 
 
 I thank you for your invitation for the 22d, and regret 
 very much that I cannot attend an anniversary so inter- 
 esting in itself, and which promises so much in view of 
 the distinguished gentlemen who will take part in the 
 exercises. I shall not l)e able, however, to attend as I 
 am engaged the same day at Wellesley College. With 
 
49 
 
 thanks for your courtesy and best wishes for the success 
 
 of the occasion, 
 
 I am yours, very truly, 
 
 John D. Long. 
 
 Xew York, 15 June, 1880. 
 My Dear Sir : 
 
 I am greatly disappointed that continued absence from 
 home obliges me to decline your invitation to attend the 
 Field jNIeeting of the Essex Institute at Salem Neck on 
 the 2 2d inst. 
 
 These commemorative occasions in the history of Salem 
 have an especial interest to me, and no one of them cer- 
 tainl}'' could come nearer my heart than the 250th anni- 
 versary of the landing of those great and good men, 
 Saltonstall and "Winthrop, who left luxurious homes to 
 help lay the foundations of this great Christian liepublic. 
 
 HoAV much I should enjoy listening to the eloquent 
 address and melodious words of orator and poet, while 
 sitting on the very shore where these men from the 
 "Arbella" and their tender children first landed after their 
 long and weary voj^age ! 
 
 I wish you success in j^our "Field meeting" and thank 
 you for so kindly remembering me. 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Leverett Saltonstall. 
 
 Dr. Henry Wheatland, 
 Pres. Essex Institute. 
 
 Boston, June 16, 1880. 
 Dear sir : 
 
 I regret extremely that my absence in the West, at the 
 time of the meeting of the Essex Institute, will debar me 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 from attending and listening to tlie proceedings of the 
 day. I regret tliis the more as a like canse prevented my 
 attendance at j'^our Endicott Festival. 
 
 I remain very truly yours, 
 
 Chas. Levi Woodbury. 
 Henry Wheatland, Esq., 
 President Essex Institute, 
 Salem, Mass. 
 
 Dorchester, June 17, 1880. 
 My dear president : 
 
 Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to meet 
 the members of the Essex Institute and to join in the 
 services which are to commemorate the landing of Win- 
 throp 250 3^ears ago. But I am just off from a similar 
 service here yesterday, — the settlement of the town of 
 Dorchester, — being pushed into the pulpit where I was 
 obliged to preach for a while to the people. 
 
 Not having fully recovered from the combat which I 
 had Avith the pavements of the State House last year, 
 I think it will not be prudent to go so far from home as 
 Salem, at present, and as "discretion is the better part of 
 valor," you will please accept this as my apology for not 
 being with you on the 2 2d instant. 
 
 With profound respect, 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 Marshall P. Wilder. 
 
51 
 
 The President mentioned that this day also commemo- 
 rates the birthday of Kev. William Bcntlcy, D- D., the 
 pastor of the East church, Salem, and one of her most 
 devoted antiquarians and historical scholars. It is highly 
 appropriate to conclude these exercises with the reading, 
 by Rev. George 11. Ilosmcr, the present occupant of that 
 pulpit, of the following communication entitled: — 
 
 A tribute to the memory of William Bentley, D. D., tuith 
 a narrative found ainom/ his papers, of a drive by 
 Benjamin Ward, in company with his grandfather 
 Miles Ward, about the town, in 1760: — p)repared 
 by Stanley Waters: — 
 
 This day, which by the dutiful remembrance of their 
 descendants commemorates the arrival upon these shores of 
 that devoted company. Sir Richard Saltonstall, Governor 
 John AVinthrop, and other "Fathers of the New England 
 Colony," by a hapj^y coincidence marks also the anniver- 
 sary of the birth of a man, justly entitled to rank with 
 these honored names as a founder, thou<2:h living; more 
 than a century later, of the broad and elevated civilization, 
 in which our State and community share, — a man who 
 joined the breadth and gentleness of Saltonstall with the 
 efficiency and singlc-mindedncss of Winthrop, — "the late 
 learned and catholic Dr. Bentley," a name revered by 
 those who sat at his feet in his lifetime, and dear to their 
 descendants, wdio can, i)erliaps even better than they, com- 
 pare his high qualities and great acquirements with those 
 of the masters of the present time, and estimate the ser- 
 vice his character and life have done in giving this com- 
 munity some of the notable qualities Avhich have marked it. 
 
52 
 
 William Bcntley, born in Boston, June 22, 1759, pastor 
 of the East church from 1783 for the rest of his life, 
 died the evening of Dec. 29, 1819; dropping dead in- 
 stantly on his return from an errand of charity that 
 winter's night. This is not the time nor the occasion to 
 recount his actions, — to enlarge upon his excellences. 
 Suffice it to say that he was a man far in advance of his 
 time, an original and deep and free thinker, yet of a 
 truly religious nature ; a scholar of a reputation not con- 
 fined to his own country, and of a wide erudition ; an 
 enthusiastic student of natural history and philosophy, of 
 social science, of languages even those of the far distant 
 East, of statistics of which he was a careful gatherer ; of 
 history and its lessons as especially bearing upon the wel- 
 fare of mankind ; of politics as they affected the welfare 
 of his native land to which he was so patriotically attached ; 
 a lover of art, a zealous antiquarian, and indefatigably 
 industrious in collecting and recording anything relating 
 to his studies, his pursuits, his parish, and his life. 
 
 Add to this that he was a philanthropist of the broadest 
 views, a pastor the idol of his peoplcj and a distinguished 
 preacher, and we have a combination of excellences rarely 
 to be met with in one man, and worthy of remembrance 
 by us all. 
 
 It has fallen to me lately to inspect the rich and volu- 
 minous evidences of his talents and his industry (deposited, 
 in the care of a society of a kindred nature to your own, 
 but unfortunately far away from this the scene of his 
 labors where they would be of daily service to the local 
 student) , and I send you an extract therefrom that may 
 prove not uninteresting, considering not only the addi- 
 tional light thrown by it upon our early topography, and 
 the interesting information relative to the place chosen 
 for your meeting, but also the great affection Dr. Bentley 
 
53 
 
 felt for the Neck, with its beautiful scenery and interest- 
 ing historical associations, as shown by its being the 
 chosen object of his daily niornina- walk. 
 
 The following conversation, prefaced by a slight genea- 
 logical account, is the sole contents of a small manuscript 
 book, found among Dr. Bentley's papers, and written by 
 Benjamin Ward, the grandson of the venerable Miles, 
 who Avas born in 1G73, and died in 17G4, four years after 
 the event related, over ninety years old. 
 
 Benjamin, the grandson, was born in 1739, — a young 
 man just of age therefore in 17G0 ; he lived in Essex 
 street, opposite Daniels, near the old East meeting-house, 
 where he was a constant attendant, being also a parish 
 officer, and a Avarm friend of its pastor. He died June 
 11, 1812. This is his account: 
 
 "My Grandfather j\Iiles about the year 1760 called on 
 me to get a chaise for he wanted to ride round the town. 
 When Ave Avare in the chaise he told me to drive doAvn 
 to the Neck. I asked him Avhy the street Avas laid out so 
 crooked. He answered, there Avas no street laid out, — 
 that there Avas a SAvamp from jNIr. Higginson's land at the 
 corner of the common doAvn to Collins' Cove, north of 
 the Neck-gate ; — that Avlien a cart Avhent from the Gar- 
 rison on the Neck up to Town, they went by the South 
 side of the Swamp, and Avlien the people built, they set 
 their houses along by the cart Avay, that there Avas a 
 AA'harfe on the creek back of Mr. Gerrish's house," Avhere 
 the shallops took in their stores, and a lane Avent from 
 the Main street across Virgin Point over to Shallop Cove 
 Avhere they the shallops laid up in the Avinter season. 
 
 As Ave Avent over the Neck he told me Avhere there was 
 a roAv of cottages from the land near the Point of Kocks 
 
 " This was near the coi ner of Essex and East streets. 
 
54 
 
 downe to the l)rid2:e to cross over fo Winter Islnnd. He 
 shew me where Mr. Abbot's lish house stood and fish 
 street was that lead [ing] to Fish street wharfe, which 
 was abont 20 rods northerly of the now Winter Island 
 Wharfe. That the Island was filled with flakes to dry 
 fish on : comeing from the Neck he shewed me where the 
 North Blockhouse stood, and that Pickets were set from 
 the blockhouse to lowatcr mark. I asked him where 
 lo water-mark was. He then said, the river above the 
 l)arr was all a saltmarsh except the channells, and one 
 channell came round Eoache's Point and passed round 
 towards the blockhouse and continued round to the Creek 
 to the northward of the Neckgatc ; — that to cross the 
 channell at the Picketts was up to a man's breast or neck 
 at lowater, after he was a man grown. I asked him 
 where the dirt came from to fill up the channell. He said 
 there was a point of land between Shallop Wharfe and 
 Shallop Cove to the Eastward of the lane which contained 
 about five acres which Avas washed away into Collins' Cove 
 and filled up the channells ; that the South River was Salt 
 Marsh all above the point of land by ]\Ir. Elvins' where 
 the flats now were except the channells and Breaks into 
 the Coves. 
 
 When we came up to Daniels St. , he said if I would go 
 round by Mr. Palfray's he would show me how that river 
 was when he was young, — when we came near the bot- 
 tom of Curtis St., he sayd, now stop the chaise, Benjamin, 
 and I will show you. Where the flatts now are was a 
 point of upland from ]\Ir. Elvins' land^ down so near to 
 Long Point as to leave a very narrow passage for the 
 river ; the channell entered between the two points and 
 turned into Palfrey Cove.^"* I asked him why that was 
 
 7 This M'as at the foot of Daniels street. 
 
 * The Palfray estate was east of the Custom-house, now Palfraj' Court. 
 
55 
 
 called Palfmy Cove, he said one Palfray made fish there 
 which he supposed gave it the name. Where the Channell 
 came out of the Co^e to Stage Point (where those rocks 
 are was then uplands), it passed Giggles Island straight 
 over to the North Channell, — near the turn of the channel 
 was a brake to the Easterd that went into Palfrays Cove, 
 where Mr. Daniels built vessels and launched them into 
 the Cove, that there was a low swampy piece of land to 
 the Westward of Mr. Palfray's, and a brook run into the 
 Cove the wet part of the season. The North Channell 
 went near strait to the Westward till it came to the bur}'- 
 ing point when it turned a little Southerly and then turned 
 Northerly round l)y the piece of marsh, and so up the 
 Millpond. The Channell between Stage Point and Gig- 
 gles Island run by the now graving place into the cove, 
 and then turned out by a long point opposite Joshua's 
 "vvharf, and there come into the North Channell. The 
 whole river above the point of land Avhere the flats now 
 are was salt marsh except the Cliannells. A brake went 
 from the Channell into Elder Browne's Cove, another into 
 the Cove at Ingalls' Lane, and another into the Cove at 
 Town House Lane up to Hue Peters' Cottage, another up 
 Ruck Creek. I then observed to him that the Point of 
 land of ]Mr. Elvins' and the Marshes which had stood 
 undoubtedly for ages should so soon disappear was to me 
 Strange. He said it would not be so strange if you knew 
 the then situation. The Neck and Winter Island was then 
 a Timber forrest to the edge of the water. The first thing 
 the white people did after they were landed was to cut the 
 Trees oft' the Neck and AYinter Island to dry fish on, and 
 to fortify the Neck with two blockhouses, — that when the 
 Neck was clear of trees, the North East wind (which 
 before went up to Pickering Point), had a fair sweep 
 through Cat Cove and over the low part of the Neck by 
 
56 
 
 the blockhouse, up hy Beckett's and Hardjs, and in a 
 few years made a breach through the Point of land below 
 Elvins' Point : the cross channel soon filled up so as to 
 make a fiir beach from Elvins land to Giggles' Island.' 
 
 I then asked which was the principal channel ; he said 
 he believed there was no difference in the depth of water, 
 but at Spring tides the water runs by the South Channel 
 to the Northward, and went up the North Channel which 
 made that the best, but at niptides the water did not flow 
 so fast and run up both channclls ; both Channells were 
 equal except that the South was very crooked, and the 
 North was straight, After the breach through the point 
 of land by Elvins', Foot's house which Avas on the point 
 of land with some other houses that were there, were 
 washed down by the storms, and in a few years became 
 flatts, when the cross channell was filled up. 
 
 The ISIerchants had some difficulty in getting to the 
 wharf at Elder Brown's Cove, and they then contemplated 
 building a wharfe on Giggles' Island ; the channel arch in 
 the strino; of Union Wharfe was made where the North 
 Channell run ; the wharves above were built out to crowd 
 the channell to the southward. Major Price built his 
 wharf across the channell." 
 
 Here ends the quaint account of this " interview " of 
 1760 — would that there were many such ! — saved from 
 destruction by the omnivorous hand of Dr. Bentley, and 
 giving interesting information I am sure, to the many of 
 your Association, interested in Salem's early histor}^ 
 
 Had such a Society existed in his day no more enthusi- 
 astic nor industrious member would have been found than 
 he, and could he have foreseen its meetino- on this favorite 
 spot of his, — a part of that farm which he was so fond of 
 
 ' Giggles Island became a part of Union Wharf. 
 
57 
 
 visiting, and which had belonged to successive families of 
 his parish, Abbot, Ives, Derby, Brown and Allen, — he 
 would have asked no pleasanter remembrance of his l)iii;h- 
 day than this connection with it. Could he have foreseen 
 the modern facilities of travel and improvement which have 
 made this beautiful headland such a general and favorite 
 resort, whose beauties had before been so little known 
 and so sparingly enjoyed, no one would have rejoiced 
 more than that lover of nature and of men, William 
 Bentley. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 St^vnley Waters. 
 
 Salem, June 22, 1880. 
 
 NOTES 
 
 A few clays more of researcli into Dr. Bcntlcy's "Day Book," at 
 Worcester, have enabled me to add some extracts bearing upou the 
 localities mentioned in the AVard "Interview," which are instructive 
 and interesting. 
 
 In regard to " Virgin Point," and " Shallop Cove," he writes : — 
 
 "July 19, 1790. Mr. Browne delivered to me two coins, one of 
 Lewis XIII & the other of Charles I of Great Britain. They were 
 found upon a spot which the first settlers occupied. I intend to 
 survey the ground, inquire the history, & search the records & then 
 more particularly describe the coins. 
 
 21. Took a walk this morning to the spot at which the coins were 
 
 found The point after our crossing the run of water which 
 
 flows from the Common to Neck Gate was called Virgin Point, said 
 from three old maidens who lived near it the place being now to be 
 seen. After we pass this point now in possession of Capt. Boardman 
 & Gamaliel Ilodges we come to the land upon which Vincent's Rope 
 walk was built. There was a road into this land to Shallop Cove on 
 the east of which was a four acre lot disposed of by the heirs of 
 Hodges & Vincent. It now does not contain one-third of that quantity. 
 Mr. V. & B. are now building a seawall to this lot to secure the remain- 
 
58 
 
 dor to be filled up level with the top of this wall. The lengtii is 
 
 Beyond is Shallop Cove. It entered thirt}' rods beyond the pi'esent 
 fence and is partly filled, by earth carted into it, & by means of a dyke 
 which formerly till within a few years rau across the entrance. The 
 sides have been plowed down, & this year for the first time the adja- 
 cent land has been plowed up by which plowing the coins were found. 
 There was a point running out on the South side, — it had trees with- 
 out the fence as it now runs in a line with the seawall in the memory 
 of the present generation, but has entii'cly disappeared. Bej'ond is 
 Planter's Marsh extending a considerable distance from the upland. 
 
 The first Settlers chose the North Shore by Skerry's & soon improved 
 Shallop Cove for their fishing barks ; they afterward settled Point of 
 Hocks and made use of Cat Cove between Point of Rocks & Winter 
 Island. 
 
 179G, Je. 29. Made an experiment at fishing from the end of Vin- 
 cent's walk in Shallop Cove. It was too windy for great success. 
 
 June 1, 1803. Several buildings going on in "Pleasant Street." 
 Old Shallop Cove is now formed into a cross street going from 
 pleasant street to the water. 
 
 Jan. 31, 1817. Mr. Parker, son-in-law of Master Watson, has laid 
 this week the keel of a Vessel in the old Shallop Cove below Pick- 
 man's St. This was the place of business in Salem at the first landing 
 on this side, but the water is so shallow as to forbid much hopes of 
 its being useful again for purposes of navigation. I suppose the 
 whole Cove from Iloache's Point to Planters' Marsh is not half the 
 depth as when I first knew it. The conduits at the bottom of the 
 common and along the new settlements empty into it & carry much 
 earth." 
 
 As to the Neck and its belongings, he writes : 
 
 " Mcli. 24, 1791. In conversation with Madam llenew whose family 
 name was Abbot, I found the following facts respecting Abbot's Cove. 
 
 The inlet formed between the Island & the mainland towards the 
 sea closed by the marsh & causeway. Her grandfather bought the 
 house, whose cellar is now beneath the Headland of Juniper Point 
 towards the Cove, of a Mr. Tapley. It had only a small spot of land 
 adjoining. He afterwards bought a small house near the Causeway 
 and owned them both. He died sixty years ago in his ninety-third 
 year. He must have been born about 1640. 
 
 The house first purchased he kept as a public house. There is no 
 evidence in what year the first purchase was made or that Tapley was 
 the original owner. Abbot was, she says, of Conn., & in man's estate 
 when he purchased. He has hovvever given names to the Rocks, 
 Cove, & Farm probably from the Public House he kept. 
 
 The only recollection she has of the original or former state of the 
 
59 
 
 farm is, that when she was born her parents lived in the old house & 
 had certain privileges for taking care of the pasture as the land adjoin- 
 ing was then called, & that it was owned by old Col. Iligginson, & by 
 him disposed of to Capt. Ives, & by his heirs to Capt. Richard Derby 
 with whose heirs it now remains. It would be a proper inquiry 
 ■whether the land came to the Col. Iligginson by his father & grand- 
 father tlic ministers, as that might probably ascertain the original 
 English Proprietors. 
 
 The informant M. Renew ^^ the granddaughter is now eighty-five 
 years old. 
 
 Oct. 10. Colloquium habui cum Vidua Renew fllia Abbot qui vixit 
 super the Neck terram jacentem infra Oppidum. Ipsa nieminit Domum 
 super lusulam AVintcr, sic nominatam, in qua habitavitVir nomime 
 Crow. 
 
 Dixit mihi de "Watertowu seu de aideficiis super The point of 
 Rocks. Quinque donius illic fuerunt attinentia ad Waters, Harbord, 
 Striker, Punchard; Unius nomen non in memoriam suam venit. 
 
 Super Watch House point jfidificium in quo posita est una cannon. 
 Duo Blockhouses prope oppidum ad iutroitum of tlie Neck. Insula 
 habuit pUirima Fishflakcs. 
 
 Abbot sold tq Ives, & the whole property afterwards passed into the 
 same hands. 
 
 Sept. 24. . . . In the inclosure belonging to the Farm & laying 
 on Abbot's Cove but l)ounding on Winter Island near the causeway is 
 a mound of earth round which I traced stones set in the earth & on 
 each side hollows— that to the Eastward being evidently a cellar & the 
 other artificial, tliougli it is smaller, & both joining in a line the mound 
 which is now nearly two feet above the stones. From the best con- 
 jectures I can at present form it was a blockhouse as I have seen the 
 foundations raised in this manner. 
 
 That at Fort Dummer is not unlike in a line of it though the whole 
 fort was an enclosed oblong without a lookout in the centre & a Block- 
 house at each corner. As there was a storm of rain coming up, I 
 deferred digging till another opportunity. There must have been 
 four houses on the farm as there are the remains of the cellar & inclos- 
 ure on the opposite side of the Cove. 
 
 2G. This day I pursued my inquiries respecting the house of last 
 Saturday, and instead of a blockhouse I find by digging that this was 
 a very large house, & that the heap which lay so high above the 
 ancient method of putting foundations, is a heap of earth & stones 
 with old bricks & rubbish of which a large stack of chimneys was 
 
 i" .Mattlicw Renough of Marblelicad was nid. to Mary Abbott by Rev. Mr. Jcnnison, 
 N0V.2G, 1728. 
 
60 
 
 made. Upou inquiry I find this is the old House of Abbot & not the 
 one ou tlie other side of tlie Cove, aud that it was a tavern. I traced 
 the well about forty feet north of the house, the inclosure back aud 
 the barn to the eastward of the house standing back from the I'oad. 
 
 For my amusement I intend to pursue my inquiries & find if possible 
 the time when last inhabited. 
 
 Ap. 11, 1795. Making inquiry into the history of the Farm upon 
 the neck. M. Renew insists upou her particular knowledge of Tapley 
 from whom her G. father bought the Tavern House & that one Crow 
 lived upon the island while it was the property of Col. Iligginson & 
 that the house was deserted some time before it was taken awa}'. 
 
 June IS, 1803. Capt. Allen building the wall towards the Cove in 
 front of his piazza on Neck. 
 
 1807, Apr. 29. Capt. Allen has just planked his new piers on the 
 
 North side of Abbot's Cove 
 
 The waste of soil ou the north side of the Neck between the bar & 
 Hospital Point is very great annually. Acres have gone since my 
 acquaintance with it. 
 
 Mch. 30, 1790. Found Bartlett at the new fort removing loads of 
 wood of the old wharf upon Winter Island about a hundred yards 
 round the point & within the wharf built by Derby. This old wharf 
 was approached on the land over a ledge of rocks which reached to 
 the flats & gave a security to the upper part. The old shipyard was 
 within this wharf. Hereafter traces of this string of wharf may not 
 be found. 
 
 June 15, 1793. Fish Street Wharf was upon the Winter Island just 
 within the Cat Cove. The remains have been removed since my day. 
 
 May 23, 1801. Blowing of rocks upon Winter Island at the bottom 
 of Fish Street, so that posterity will have no judgment of the form 
 of the Shore upon which the first business was done by the primitive 
 settlers. These rocks arc for the new road which is to pass over the 
 inlet between Fiske & Woodbridge's from Neptune St. to Water St. 
 They have blowed also those rocks lying below the New Fort on the 
 opposite side of Cat Cove, or Winter Island harbour. 
 
 May 16, 1790. Great preparations for launching (the Grand Turk). lu 
 digging the ship's dock four feet below the surface was found the body 
 of a tree of red oak & sound excepting the sap. It was cut off & 
 drawn out above twelve feet long with a crotch in the middle & two 
 limbs. 
 
 Mar. 9, 1798. Find that there were 7 Indians found buried at the 
 Point of Rocks at the S. W. end with those stone balls with heads 
 supposed to be used in fishing. This laml is now entirely gone. 
 
 Mr. Becket at Point of Rocks found irons & bolts which discovered 
 a building yard on the low part towards Cat Cove. 
 
61 
 
 Sawdust & chips arc yet found under the mud from the Point off 
 Daniels' Lane, Foot's former!}' & afterwards Elvins' Point. 
 
 Nov. 24, 1818. Capt. Waters informs of a large branch of a tree 
 found at the point of flats off Foot's point which proved to be walnut. 
 This point lias disappeared since the settlement of Salem. 
 
 Jan. 21, 1819. The Oiik drawn from Foot's point, see "Essex Register' 
 Dec. 30, 1818, — first appeared in the salt storm 23 Sept. 1815, & was 
 thirty-five feet long & eleven inches over the butt with a crotch at the 
 upper end. It was in the highest possible preservation &, must have 
 been there much over a century. 
 
 I have elsewhere particularly noticed this fact. The Clay under our 
 land has much alum as may be seen from the efflorescence when the 
 clay is turned out. Allum concurs with the other salts in the preser- 
 vation while buried." 
 
 "Foot's Point" lay at the bottom of Daniels' St. extending south- 
 easterly into the Soutli Piiver or Harbor, and when it was washed away, 
 the estate next north of it, owned by Richard Elvins, became the Point 
 & gave its name to it. Richard Elvins is called 'balier' in the 
 deeds of his property and appears to have been a prominent man in 
 the East Parish in his time, and to have bought real estate in other 
 parts of it as well as this homestead. I find no record of him after 
 about 1744, nor of any settlement of his estate." 
 
 "Two most interesting entries in Dr. Centley's journal, wliicli I liave since been fortu- 
 nate enough to liappen upon, explain the disappearance of the name of Deacon Elvins 
 from our records, and tlirow clear light also upon a hitherto dark subject in the history 
 of tlje East Society, the character of Mr. Jennison, and the reason of his dismission. 
 
 All knowledge upon these points had been lost as long ago as 1845, when Dr. Flint in 
 his Farewell Discourse spoke of the entire ignorance upon the subject which exislea, 
 though it seems hardly possible that none of the elder people of llie society then living 
 were able to give some information on the matter, or tliat no general tradition had survived. 
 
 Dr. Flint wonders if it were some "bodily infirmity" that prevented the continuance 
 of Jennison's labors, and Dr. Bentley more than once speaks of his predecessor's "eccen- 
 tricities,"' but in the following explicit statement he clears away all doubt, and lifts after 
 all these years, to our great satisfaction, that veil which Dr. Flint regretted as dropped 
 forever. 
 
 " Mch. 22, ISOl. Last Sunday for the first time since I have been lu Salem, we had lay 
 "exhortations," for the edification of the Flock. I have not heard that this ever took 
 place before except in a more qualified sense in our own I'arish. In 1735 during Mr. Jenni- 
 son's time, who was at last dismissed by consent from his known Intemperance, when he 
 was not able to attend public service, he advised Deacon Elvins to pray & read & exhort 
 & then dismiss the assembly. 
 
 A wag once wrote on tlie Church door 
 
 "Our Preacher Silly Billy's sick 
 
 And We've our preaching from our Baker Dick." 
 
 Mr. Elvins was flattered by his success & instituted praying meetings at his house & 
 finally mounted the I'ulpit, * afterwards left his occupation & went & settled at Black point, 
 now Scarborough, Maine, & married the 'Widow of his predecessour, Mr. Willard, & the 
 mother of the present President of Harvard College. My Predecessour, Mr. Dinutfi, 
 
62 
 
 He md. Jul}' 14, 1715, Sarah Beadle, and in Dec, 1723, they were 
 dismissed from the First Church to the East. At the former his cliil- 
 dren were baptized. 
 
 Samuel, Feb. 10, 1716-7. 
 Eichard, Nov. 2, 1718. 
 Sarah, Oct. 14, 1722. 
 Mary, July 16, 1727. 
 
 Samuel died May 5, 1723, and the mother July 9, 1743, aged 55. I 
 think Richard and Mary died unmarried, and that tlie only survivor of 
 the family was Sarah, wlio md. July 18, 1744, Josiali Orne, and a 
 Josiah Orne, jr., md. June 18, 17SG, Alice, dau. of Capt. Edw. Allen, 
 and in the person of their son — the family friend of the generation 
 before us, — who md. his cousin Anne Allen, and removed to Pontotoc, 
 Miss., years ago the name was revived in the familiar " liilvin Orne." 
 
 Deacon Elvins apparently lived once in St. Peters' St., as in 1743 
 he sold to Jos. Symonds, jr. and Jona. Verry, jr., a dwelling house 
 and a quarter of an acre of land, bounded E. on Prison Lane, S. by 
 the house and land of Eliz'h Gray, W. by land that belonged to 
 Habakuk Gardner, and N. by premises of said Eliz'h Gray. 
 
 In 1728-9 he bought of Benj. Woodberry of Beverly and wife 
 Eliz'h, and of Josiah Lee of Manchester, and Avife Marj', the wives 
 being daughters of Obed Carter, dec'd, his late dwelling house bounded 
 
 thought hull an artful man & that he took advantage of Mr. Jennison, But In his society 
 he was much respected till death, & his plaintive strains vouched for great sincerity in liis 
 ministry. 
 
 Sept. 4, 1739. This afternoon was buried Madam S. Orne a3t. 77. She was a dau. of 
 Kicliard Elvins. This Richard was a Baker In tlie eastern part of Salem, & Deacon in the 
 East Meeting House. During the life of W. Jennison, tlie minister, he was often called to 
 officiate as Jennison was very excentric. Wlien he had hegun he was unwilling to quit, & 
 tlierefore went eastward to preach, & was ordained at Blackpoint, & married tlie widow 
 of the Minister deceased, who was the mother of the present President Willard of Cam- 
 bridge." 
 
 It will be seen by the following extract from a letter to the venerable society for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, from Rev. Mr. Brockwell, their agent then in 
 Salem, tliat he characterizes Mr. Elvins a little more harshly. He is writing to the secre- 
 tary at Fulliam, near London, of the "New Light" doctrines tlien industriously propagated 
 through this country by Mr. Whitfield and others. 
 
 Salem, Feb. IS, 1741-2. 
 
 " Rogers of Ipswich one of this Pseudo Apostles displayed his talent in ye Town on Sun- 
 day ye 24th January & continued here so doing until ye Thursdav following, when he left 
 his auditory in charge to one Elvins a Baker who holds forth every Thursday, and the a 
 fellow of consummate ignorance is nevertheless followed by great multitudes & much 
 cried up. But I thank (Joil, that few of my churcli went to hear either of them, and those 
 yt did wholly disliked them. 
 
 '■ P. S. A noted teacher in this Town is suspected of Forgery, of which if he next July 
 Court sliould be found guilty,. 1 am pretty conlidont many of his congregation will draw off 
 to the Church of England & more of the better sort." 
 
63 
 
 N. "by the liighway Jjoing down to yc Blockhouse and Neck, South 
 by Salem Harbor, W. by land of Joseph Ilillard, and E. by that of 
 Capt. Wm. Pickering and tlie Collinses;" tliese premises — two acres 
 in extent — "with t!ie fniit trees, &c.," he sold to Capt. Benj. Ives 
 Jan. 14, 1733. 
 
 This property at the head of the Xeck was known as " 'J'he Block 
 Ilonse Field." 
 
 He Avas one of the co-owners with Benjamin Ives and Pliilip Sann- 
 ders in the land, dwelliny-house and Windmill which were wlicre 
 Northey St. now runs, and in 1742 sold his quarter to llev. James 
 Diman. 
 
 April 10, 1721, he bought of the Rev. Benjamin Prescott and wife 
 Elizabeth for £1!)0, three quarters of an acre, bounded N. AV. by ye 
 premises of ye Widow Dourie, N. E. by those of Widow Sarah 
 Williams, S. E. bj^ the house and land of Samuel Foot, and S. W. by 
 the land of the Iligginsons, with the dwelling-house, bakehouse 
 warehouse, fruit trees, &c., excepting its common right. 
 
 These premises were those from which the name was given of 
 "Elvins" Point." 
 
 They had been occupied l)y John Stratton at a very early period, 
 and afterwards belonged to Henry True, whose widow Israel (sic) 
 then of Salisbury, conveyed them, — a dwelling house, quarter of an 
 acre of land adjoining, &c., — to George Gardner, merchant in ICu!). 
 Mr. Fitz. Waters obliges me with the conveyances from these early 
 owners to their later successors. George Gardner died in 1()7'J, 
 leaving by his will the estate in two parts, — one, the southern or 
 water end, to his dau. the wife of Ilabakkuk Turner; the other or 
 northern end to his son Samuel. 
 
 The former was sold by Robert Turner of Weathersfield, Conn., 
 joined by his sister JIary and their mother Mary Marstoii, in IGDS, to 
 Samuel P'oot, and wliile in the holding of the latter was so largely 
 washed awa}"^ by the wind-driven waters, as stated by the elder Ward. 
 
 In 1702 Capt. Samuel Gardner conveys to his son and dan., John and 
 Hannah Higgiuson, the liouse " Cozen Jolin Buttoiph lives in," witii 
 the Bakehouse, &c., &c. 
 
 Elizabeth Iligginson a dau. md. Rev. Benj. Prescott, and from them, 
 as we have seen, the estate came to Richard Elvins. In 1744 Elvins 
 conveyed it to his son-in-law Josiah Orne. Witnesses, Walter Palfray. 
 
 Francis Cabot. 
 
 In 174S Orne sells to John Carrell. Witnesses, Thos. Lechmere. 
 
 James Perrolt. 
 
 In 17oG he recovers the same from Carrell by execution. 
 
64 
 
 In 1757 he sold it to Capt. John Webb (who md. Judith Phelps, 
 whose sister Rachel md. Daniel Ilathorne), and Webb sold in 1798 to 
 his son-in-law James Carroll the northerly portion, having earlier in 
 that year sold the southerly part to Joseph Fogg, who I think bought 
 afterwards the other part also and from whom the flats at the bottom 
 of Daniels' St. took the name which they have borne in our own time, 
 of "Fogg's Beach." 
 
 In regard to the changes of our sliore, Dr. Bentley remarks about 
 1818, that Collins Cove was then only half as deep as when he came 
 to Salem (1783) so much deposit having been carried into it, especially 
 by the little creek flowing down what was afterwards East Street. 
 
 Might not Virgin Point have taken its name from John Virgin, an 
 early merchant of Salem? 
 
 St.vnlky Watkrs. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 1 
 
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 '^■. JA/^^^^e