CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
The men who controlled the affairs of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
at the time of its founding, determined not only that the churches,
but that the government of the commonwealth they were creating,
should be based strictly upon the teachings of the Bible. The
charter provided that the Governor, Deputy Governor and Assistants
might hold courts "for the better ordering of affairs," and so for
the first ten years, the Court of Assistants, as it was styled,
exercised the entire judicial powers of the colony. Its members were
known as the magistrates. During this period but few laws or orders
were passed. When complaints were made, the court, upon a hearing,
determined whether the conduct of the accused had been such as in
their opinion to deserve punishment, and if it had been, then what
punishment should be inflicted. This was done without any regard to
English precedents. There was no defined criminal code, and what
constituted a crime and what its punishment, was entirely within the
discretion of the court. If in doubt as to what should be considered
an offence, the Bible was looked to for guidance. The General Court
itself, from time to time, when in doubt, propounded questions to
the ministers or elders, which they answered in writing, much as the
Attorney General or the Supreme Judicial Court at the present day
may advise.
But the people soon became alarmed at the extent of personal
discretion exercised by the magistrates and so, in 1635, the
freemen demanded a code of written laws and a committee composed
of magistrates and ministers was appointed to draw up the same. It
does not appear that much was accomplished although Winthrop records
that Mr. Cotton of the committee, reported "a copy of Moses his
judicials, compiled in an exact method, which was taken into further
consideration till the next general court." The "judicials,"
however, never were adopted. In 1639 another committee was directed
to peruse all the "models" which had been or should be presented,
"draw them up into one body," and send copies to the several towns.
This was done. In October, 1641, action was taken which led to a
definite and acceptable result. Rev. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich,
who had been educated for the law and had practiced in the courts
of England, was requested to furnish a copy of the liberties, etc.
and nineteen transcriptions were sent to the several towns in the
Colony. Two months later at the session of the General Court, this
body of laws was voted to stand in force.
This code, known as "the Body of Liberties," comprised about one
hundred laws, civil and criminal. The civil laws were far in
advance of the laws of England at that time, and in substance were
incorporated in every subsequent codification of the laws of the
Colony. Some of them are in force today, and others form the basis
of existing laws. The criminal laws were taken principally from the
Mosaic code and although many of them may seem harsh and cruel yet,
as a whole, they were much milder than the criminal laws of England
at that time. No reference was made to the common law of England.
All legislation in regard to offences was based upon the Bible, and
marginal references to book, chapter and verse were supplied to
guide future action. This Code served its intended purpose well and
remained in force until the arrival of the Province charter in 1692
save during the short period of the Andros administration.
The judiciary system of the Colony therefore provided for the
following courts:
First, the Great and General Court which possessed legislative
powers and limited appellate authority from the Court of Assistants.
Second, the Court of Assistants--a Supreme Court or Court of Appeals
that had exclusive jurisdiction in all criminal cases extending "to
life, limb, or banishment," jurisdiction in civil cases in which the
damages amounted to more than £100., and appellate jurisdiction from
the County Quarterly Courts.
Third, County or Inferior Quarterly Courts that had jurisdiction
in all cases and matters not reserved to the Court of Assistants
or conferred upon commissioners of small causes. These courts also
laid out highways, licensed ordinarys, saw that an able ministry was
supported, and had general control of probate matters, and in 1664
were authorized to admit freemen.
The juries were made judges of the law and the fact and when upon
a trial there was insufficient evidence to convict, juries were
authorized to find that there were strong grounds of suspicion, and
accordingly sentence afterwards was given by the Court. In order to
facilitate court proceedings an excellent law was passed in 1656
which authorized the fining of a person 20 shillings an hour for any
time occupied in his plea in excess of one hour.
John Winthrop with his company arrived at Salem in June, 1630,
and ten weeks later the first court in the Colony was held at
Charlestown. The maintenance of the ministry was the first concern,
to be followed by an order regulating the wages of carpenters,
bricklayers, thatchers and other building trades. Thomas Morton
at "Merry Mount" was not forgotten for he was to be sent for "by
processe," and a memorandum is entered to obtain for the next Court
an estimate "of the charges that the Governor hathe beene att in
entertaineing several publique persons since his landing in Newe
England."
At the second meeting of the Court of Assistants, three of the
magistrates were fined a noble apiece for being late at Court and
three weeks later Sir Richard Saltonstall, because of absence, was
fined four bushels of malt. It was at this Court that Thomas Morton
was ordered "sett into the bilbowes" and afterwards sent prisoner
into England by the ship called the _Gifte_. His goods were ordered
seized and his house burnt to the ground "in the sight of the
Indians for their satisfaction, for many wrongs he hath done them
from time to time." Several towns were christened the names by which
they are still known, and those who had ventured to plant themselves
at Aggawam, now Ipswich, were commanded "forthwith to come away."
Aside from Morton's offences at Mount Wollaston, nothing of a
criminal nature seems to have been brought to the attention of the
Court until its third session on September 28th. To be sure the
Governor had been consulted by the magistrates of the Colony at
Plymouth concerning the fate of one John Billington of Plymouth who
had murdered his companion John New-Comin. Billington was hanged,
and "so the land was purged from blood."
Unless murder may have been committed at an earlier date by a member
of some crew of unruly fishermen along the coast, this was the first
murder committed in the English settlements about the Massachusetts
Bay. But unfortunately it was not the last. Walter Bagnell's murder
in 1632 was followed by that of John Hobbey and Mary Schooley in
1637, and the next year Dorothy, the wife of John Talbie, was hanged
for the "unnatural and untimely death of her daughter Difficult
Talby." The daughter's christian name at once suggests unending
possibilities.
In the winter of 1646 a case of infanticide was discovered in
Boston. A daughter of Richard Martin had come up from Casco Bay to
enter into service. She concealed her condition well and only when
accused by a prying midwife was search made and the fact discovered.
She was brought before a jury and caused to touch the face of the
murdered infant, whereupon the blood came fresh into it. She then
confessed. Governor Winthrop relates that at her death, one morning
in March, "after she was turned off and had hung a space, she spake,
and asked what they did mean to do. Then some stepped up, and turned
the knot of the rope backward, and then she soon died."
This curious "ordeal of touch" had also been applied the previous
year at Agamenticus on the Maine Coast when the wife of one Cornish,
whose bruised body had been found in the river, with her suspected
paramour, was subjected to this supreme test. It is recorded that
the body bled freely when they approached which caused her to
confess not only murder but adultery, both of which crimes were
punishable by death. She was hanged.
Probably the last instance in Massachusetts when this "ordeal of
touch" was inflicted, occurred in a little old meetinghouse in the
parish of West Boxford, in Essex County, one July day in the year
1769. The previous December, Jonathan Ames had married Ruth, the
eldest daughter of the widow Ruth Perley. He took his bride to the
house of his parents, some five miles distant, and lived there. As
in some instances since that time, the mother-in-law soon proved to
be not in full sympathy with the young bride living under her roof.
In May a child was born and a few days after the young mother died
under circumstances which caused suspicion in the neighborhood. The
body was hastily buried, none of the neighbors were invited to be
present, and soon, about the parish, were flying rumors, which a
month later crystalized into a direct accusation and a coroner's
inquest. It was held in the meetinghouse that formerly stood in the
sandy pasture near the old cemetery. The Salem newspaper records
that the building was "much thronged by a promiscuous multitude of
people."
The court opened with prayer, the coroners then gave the jury
"their solemn charge" and then the entire company proceeded, "with
decency and good order," over the winding roadway up the hill to the
burying ground, where for five weeks had lain the body of the young
bride. During the exhumation the crowd surged around the grave so
eagerly that they were only held in check by the promise that all
should have an opportunity to inspect the remains. The autopsy at
the meetinghouse resulted in a report from the jury that Ruth Ames
"came to her death by Felony (that is to say by poison) given to her
by a Person or Persons to us unknown which murder is against the
Peace of our said Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity." When it was
found that no sufficient evidence could be adduced to hold either
the husband of the murdered girl, or his mother, then was demanded
an exhibition of that almost forgotten "ordeal of touch." The body
was laid upon a table with a sheet over it and Jonathan and his
mother were invited to prove their innocence by this gruesome test.
The superstition required the suspected party to touch the neck of
the deceased with the index finger of the left hand. Blood would
immediately follow the touch of the guilty hand, the whiteness
of the sheet of course making it plainly visible. Both mother and
son refused to accept the ordeal. Whether or no they believed in
the superstition, we never shall learn. Fear may have held them
motionless before the accusing eyes. Certainly the nervous tension
at such a time must have been very great.
The _Gazette_ states that the examination gave great occasion to
conclude that they were concerned in the poisoning, and a week after
the inquest they were arrested and confined in the ancient jail in
Salem where the persons accused of witchcraft were imprisoned many
years before. They were indicted and brought to trial. John Adams,
afterwards President of the United States, then thirty-four years
of age, was counsel for the accused. Jonathan Ames turned King's
evidence against his mother. It was midnight before the counsel
began their arguments and two of the three judges were explicit in
summing up the evidence, that there was "a violent presumption"
of guilt, but at nine o'clock in the morning the jury came in and
rendered a verdict of "not guilty." May the result be attributed
to John Adams's eloquence and logic or to the vagaries of our jury
system?
But we are a long way from the third session of the Court of
Assistants held September 28, 1630. Not until this time did the
law begin to reach out for its victims. John Goulworth was ordered
whipped and afterwards set in the stocks for felony, not named. One
other was whipped for a like offence and two Salem men, one of whom
has given us an honored line of descendants, were sentenced to sit
in the stocks for four hours, for being accessory thereunto. Richard
Clough's stock of strong water was ordered seized upon, because of
his selling a great quantity thereof to servants, thereby causing
much disorder. No person was to permit any Indian to use a gun
under a penalty of £10. Indian corn must not be sold or traded with
Indians or sent away without the limits of the Patent. Thomas Gray
was enjoined to remove himself out of the Patent before the end of
March, and the oath was administered to John Woodbury, the newly
elected constable from Salem.
At the next session William Clark, who had been brought to book
at a previous Court for overcharging Mr. Baker for cloth, now
was prohibited cohabitation and frequent keeping company with
Mrs. Freeman and accordingly was placed under bonds for a future
appearance. Three years later this offender became one of the twelve
who went to Agawam and founded the present town of Ipswich, and ten
years later still another William Clark of Ipswich was sentenced to
be whipped "for spying into the chamber of his master and mistress
and reporting what he saw."
November 30, 1630, Sir Richard Saltonstall was fined £5, for
whipping two persons without the presence of another assistant, as
required by law; while Bartholomew Hill was whipped for stealing a
loaf of bread, and John Baker suffered the same penalty for shooting
at wild fowl on the Sabbath Day. And so continues the record of
intermingled punishment and legislation.
The struggling communities that had planted themselves along the
shores of the Massachusetts Bay largely had refused to conform to
the rules and ordinances of the English Church. If the records of
the Quarterly Courts are studied it will be seen that the settlers
also failed to obey the rules and laws laid down by the magistrates
of their own choosing. To be sure there were large numbers of
indentured servants and the rough fishermen along the coastline have
always been unruly. Much also may be attributed to the primitive
and congested life in the new settlements. Simple houses of but few
rooms and accommodating large families, surely are not conducive to
gentle speech or modesty of manners nor to a strict morality. The
craving desire for land holding, and the poorly defined and easily
removed bounds naturally led to frequent actions for trespass,
assault, defamation, slander and debt. The magistrates exercised
unusual care in watching over the religious welfare of the people
and in providing for the ministry. It has been stated frequently
that in the olden times everyone went to church. The size of the
meetinghouses, the isolated location of many of the houses, the
necessary care of the numerous young children, and the interesting
side lights on the manners of the times which appear in the court
papers, all go to prove that the statement must not be taken
literally. Absence from meeting, breaking the Sabbath, carrying a
burden on the Lord's Day, condemning the church, condemning the
ministry, scandalous falling out on the Lord's Day, slandering the
church, and other misdemeanors of a similar character were frequent.
A number of years before the Quakers appeared in the Colony it
was no unusual matter for some one to disturb the congregation by
public speeches either in opposition to the minister or to some one
present. Zaccheus Gould, a very large landholder, in Topsfield, in
the time of the singing the psalm one Sabbath afternoon sat himself
down upon the end of the table about which the minister and the
chief of the people sat, with his hat on his head and his back
toward all the rest of them that sat about the table and although
spoken to altered not his posture; and the following Sabbath after
the congregation was dismissed he haranged the people and ended by
calling goodman Cummings a "proud, probmatical, base, beggarly, pick
thank fellow." Of course the matter was ventilated in the Salem
Court.
At the February 29, 1648, session of the Salem Court eight cases
were tried. A Gloucester man was fined for cursing, saying, "There
are the brethren, the divil scald them." Four servants were fined
for breaking the Sabbath by hunting and killing a raccoon in the
time of the public exercise to the disturbance of the congregation.
If the animal had taken to the deep woods instead of staying near
the meetinghouse the servants might have had their fun without
paying for it. A Marblehead man was fined for sailing his boat
loaded with hay from Gloucester harbor, on the Lord's Day, when the
people were going to the morning exercise. Nicholas Pinion, who
worked at the Saugus Iron works, was presented for absence from
meeting four Lord's Days together, spending his time drinking, and
profanely; and Nicholas Russell of the same locality was fined for
spending a great part of one Lord's day with Pinion in drinking
strong water and cursing and swearing. He also had been spending
much time with Pinion's wife, causing jealousy in the family; and
the lady in question, having broken her bond for good behavior, was
ordered to be severely whipped. The other cases were for swearing,
in which the above named lady was included; for being disguised with
drink; and for living from his wife. And so the Court ended.
A curious instance of Sabbath breaking occurred at Hampton in
1646. Aquila Chase and his wife and David Wheeler were presented
at Ipswich Court for gathering peas on the Sabbath. They were
admonished. The family tradition has it that Aquila returned from
sea that morning and his wife, wishing to supply a delicacy for
dinner, fell into grave error in thus pandering to his unsanctified
appetite.
While we are discussing matters relating to the Sabbath and to
the church it may be well to allude to the ministry. It has been
shown that the first concern of the Court of Assistants was a
provision for the housing and care of the ministry. Much the larger
number were godly men actuated by a sincere desire to serve their
people and to preserve their souls. But many of them were men, not
saints, and so possessed of men's passions and weaknesses. While
all exercised more or less influence over the communities in which
they lived, yet the tangible result must have been negative in some
instances. Take for example the small inland town of Topsfield,
settled about 1639. Rev. William Knight rendered mission service
for a short time early in the 40's and a dozen years later Rev.
William Perkins moved into town from Gloucester. He had been one
of the twelve who settled the town of Ipswich in 1633; afterwards
he lived at Weymouth where he was selectman, representative to the
General Court, captain of the local military company and also a
member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He also was
schoolmaster in 1650 and the next year appears at Gloucester as
minister, from which place he soon drifted into Court. Cross suits
for defamation and slander were soon followed by the presentment of
Mrs. Holgrave for unbecoming speeches against Mr. Perkins, saying
"if it were not for the law, shee would never come to the meeting,
the teacher was so dead ... affirming that the teacher was fitter
to be a ladys chamberman, than to be in the pulpit."
Mr. Perkins removed to Topsfield in 1656. The next year he tried
to collect his salary by legal process and again in 1660. Three
years later a church was organized and their first minister was
settled. He was a Scotchman--Rev. Thomas Gilbert. Soon Mr. Perkins
was summoned to Salem Court where Edward Richards declared in court
before Mr. Perkins' face, that the latter being asked whither he
was going, said, to hell, for aught he knew. Of course Mr. Perkins
denied the testimony. Later in the same year he was fined for
excessive drinking, it appearing that he stopped at the Malden
ordinary and called for sack. But goody Hill told him that he had
had too much already and Master Perkins replied, "If you think I am
drunk let me see if I can not goe," and he went tottering about the
kitchen and said the house was so full of pots and kettles that he
could hardly go.
But what of Mr. Gilbert. Three years after his settlement Mr.
Perkins appeared in Court and presented a complaint in twenty-seven
particulars "that in public prayers and sermons, at several times
he uttered speeches of a high nature reproachful and scandalous to
the King's majestie & his government." He was summoned into Court
and bound over in £1000 to the next General Court where eventually
he was solemnly admonished publicly in open court by the Honored
Governor. With twenty-seven particulars, could a Scotchman restrain
his tongue? Mr. Gilbert could not, and shortly Mr. Perkins brought
two complaints of defamation of character. Mr. Gilbert also soon
developed a love of wine for it appears by the court papers that one
sacrament day, when the wine had been brought from the meetinghouse
and poured into the golden cup, Mr. Gilbert drank most of it with
the usual result, for he sank down in his chair, forgot to give
thanks, and sang a Psalm with lisping utterance. He was late at
the afternoon service, so that many went away before he came and
Thomas Baker testified "I perceived that he was distempered in his
head, for he did repeat many things many times over; in his prayer
he lisped and when he had done to prayer, he went to singing &
read the Psalm so that it could not be well understood and when he
had done singing he went to prayer again, and when he had done he
was going to sing again, but being desired to forbear used these
expressions: I bless God I find a great deal of comfort in it; and
coming out of the pulpit he said to the people I give you notice I
will preach among you no more." His faithful wife testified that
his conduct was due to a distemper that came upon him sometimes
when fasting and in rainy weather. The following April he was again
before the Court charged with many reproachful and reviling speeches
for which he was found guilty and sharply admonished and plainly
told "that if he shall find himself unable to demean himself more
soberly and christianly, as became his office, they do think it
more convenient for him to surcease from the exercise of any public
employment." The stubborn Scot refused to submit and affixing a
defiant paper to the meetinghouse door he deserted his office for
three successive Sabbaths, when his exasperated people petitioned
the Court to be freed from such "an intollerable burden" and so the
relation ceased but not until further suits and counter suits had
been tried for defamation, slander, and threatened assault.
His successor was Rev. Jeremiah Hobart, a Harvard graduate, who
preached for a while at Beverly and found difficulty in collecting
his salary. He remained at Topsfield eight years and during that
time became a familiar figure at the County Courts, because of
non-payment of salary, for cursing and swearing, and for a damaging
suit for slander exhibiting much testimony discreditable to him.
Even his brother ministers and the churches were not free from his
reproachful and scandalous speeches so he at last was dismissed and
two years later was followed by a godly man, Rev. Joseph Capen of
Dorchester, who enjoyed a peaceful pastorate of nearly forty years.
The severe penalties of the English legal code were much modified
in the Bay Colony but public executions continued until the middle
of the nineteenth century and were usually more or less a public
holiday. The condemned was taken in a cart through the streets
to the gallows. Not infrequently a sermon was preached by some
minister on the Sunday previous to the execution and speeches from
the gallows always thrilled the crowd. The execution of pirates drew
many people from some distance. Several Rhode Island murderers were
executed and afterwards hung in chains. The gibbeting of the bodies
of executed persons does not seem to have been general.[91]
[91] Robert Hunt, a lime seller of Boston, differing with a man,
drew a sword and made two or three passes at him, upon which the man
seized the sword and broke it and went for a warrant to apprehend
Hunt who at once shut himself up in his house with a loaded gun and
two pistols beside him. When the officers appeared he fired out of
the window several times and wounded two boys but at last was taken
and committed to prison where three days later he committed suicide
by hanging "with an old single Garter." The same afternoon his body
"was carried thro' the Town in a Cart, and buried near the Gallows,
having a stake first drove thro' it."--_Boston Gazette_, Apr. 18,
1749.
While executions by burning took place in Europe, and Salem is
sometimes accused of having burned witches at the stake, there are
but two instances, so far as known, when this extreme penalty was
inflicted in Massachusetts. The first occurred in 1681 when Maria,
the negro servant of Joshua Lamb of Roxbury willfully set fire to
her master's house, and was sentenced by the Court to be burned
alive. The same year Jack, a negro servant, while searching for
food set fire to the house of Lieut. William Clark of Northampton.
He was condemned to be hanged and then his body was burnt to ashes
in the same fire with Maria, the negress. The second instance of
inflicting the penalty of burning alive occurred at Cambridge in the
fall of 1755, when Phillis, a negro slave of Capt. John Codman of
Charlestown, was so executed. She poisoned her master to death by
using arsenic. A male slave Mark, who was an accomplice was hanged
and the body afterwards suspended in chains beside the Charlestown
highway where it remained for nearly twenty years.[92] Why was
the woman deemed more culpable than the man in such instances of
poisoning? The old English law so provided and at a later date,
under Henry VIII, poisoners were boiled alive in oil. The last
execution in Massachusetts for the crime of arson occurred on Salem
Neck in 1821 when Stephen Merrill Clark, a Newburyport lad, fifteen
years of age, paid the penalty. He had set fire to a barn in the
night time endangering a dwelling house.
[92] Thursday last, in the Afternoon, _Mark_, a Negro Man, and
_Phillis_, a Negro Woman, both Servants of the late Capt. _John
Codman_, were executed at _Cambridge_, for poisoning their said
Master, as mentioned in this Paper some Weeks ago. The Fellow was
hanged, and the Woman burned at a Stake about Ten Yards distant from
the Gallows. They both confessed themselves guilty of the Crime for
which they suffered, acknowledged the Justice of their Sentence, and
died very penitent. After Execution, the Body of _Mark_ was brought
down to _Charlestown_ Common, and hanged in Chains, on a Gibbet
erected there for that Purpose.--_Boston Evening-Post_, Sept. 22,
1755.
Ten years before the adoption of the "Body of Liberties," adultery
became a capital crime in accordance with the Mosaic law. The
first case was one John Dawe, for enticing an Indian woman. He was
severely whipped, and at the next session of the General Court,
the death penalty was ordered for the future. When we consider the
freedom of manners of the time, the clothing worn by the women, the
limited sleeping accommodations and the ignorance of the servants,
it is remarkable that the penalty was inflicted in so few cases.
The records are full of cases of fornication, uncleanness, wanton
dalliance, unseemly behaviour, unchaste words, and living away from
wife, and the more so during the earlier years. Possibly, the juries
may have thought the penalty too severe and found the parties guilty
only, of "adulterous behavior," which happened in Boston in 1645.
This followed a case of the previous year where a young woman had
married an old man out of pique and then received the attentions of
a young man of eighteen. They both were hanged.
The Court Records of the County of Essex always must have a curious
interest because of the witchcraft cases. But the first execution
in Massachusetts for witchcraft did not take place in Salem, but
in Boston, in 1648, when Margaret Jones of Charlestown was hanged.
It was shown that she had a malignant touch, that she produced
deafness, practiced physic, and that her harmless medicines produced
violent effects. She foretold things which came to pass and lied at
her trial and railed at the jury. The midwives found that mysterious
excrescence upon her, and for all these crimes she was hanged, and
as a proof from Heaven of the justice of her taking off there was a
great tempest in Connecticut on the very hour she was executed.
But Essex County court records show several witchcraft cases during
the first twenty-five years following the settlement. In September,
1650, Henry Pease of Marblehead, deposed that he heard Peter Pitford
of Marblehead say that goodwife James was a witch and that he saw
her in a boat at sea in the likeness of a cat, and that his garden
fruits did not prosper so long as he lived near that woman, and
that said Pitford often called her "Jesable." Erasmus James, her
husband, promptly brought suit for slander, and at the next Court
another suit for defamation by which he received 50s. damages. The
court records show that this Jane James had previously made her
appearance, for in June, 1639, Mr. Anthony Thatcher complained that
she took things from his house. She and her husband were bound for
her good behavior and "the boys to be whipped by the Governor of
the Family where they had offended." Six years later, in September,
1645, John Bartoll said in open court that he could "prove Jane
James a common lyer, a theif & a false forsworn woman," and a
year later, in September, 1646, Thomas Bowen, and his wife, Mary,
testified that Jane James spoke to William Barber in Bowen's house
in Marblehead and Barber said, "get you out of doors you filthy old
Baud or else I will cuttle your hide, you old filthy baggage," & he
took up a firebrand but did not throw it at her. Peter Pitford's
accusation was not the only one for in the following year John
Gatchell said that Erasmus James's wife was an old witch and that he
had seen her going in a boat on the water toward Boston, when she
was in her yard at home. But Erasmus promptly brought suit in the
Salem court and recovered a verdict in his favor.
There are several other cases before 1655. In October, 1650, Thomas
Crauly of Hampton sued Ralph Hall for slander, for saying he had
called Robert Sawyer's wife a witch.
John Bradstreet, a young man of Rowley, was presented at Court in
1652 for having familiarity with the devil, witnesses testifying
that Bradstreet said that he read in a book of magic and that
he heard a voice asking him what work he had for him to do, and
Bradstreet answered "go make a bridge of sand over the sea, go
make a ladder of sand up to Heaven and go to God and come down no
more." There was much palaver but the Court showed common sense and
Bradstreet was ordered to be fined or whipped for telling a lie.
In 1653 Christopher Collins of Lynn brought suit against Enoch
Coldan for slander, for saying that Collins' wife was a witch and
calling her a witch. The judgment however was for the defendant.
Another accusation was promptly squelched in the fall of the same
year.
Edmond Marshall of Gloucester unwisely stated publicly that Mistress
Perkins, Goodey Evans, Goodey Dutch and Goodey Vincent were under
suspicion of being witches. Their husbands at once brought suit for
defamation of character and the verdict in each case was, that the
defendant should make public acknowledgment within fourteen days in
the meetinghouses at Salem, Ipswich and Gloucester.
To sentence a culprit to expiate his crime before the congregation
in the meetinghouse was a common thing. The publicity, in theory,
induced shame and thus served as a future deterrent. To sit in the
stocks and then make public acknowledgment before the congregation
was a favorite penalty. Sometimes the offender was ordered to stand
at the church door with a paper on his hat inscribed with the crime
he had committed. If for lying, a cleft stick might ornament his
tongue. Whipping was the most frequent penalty, closely followed by
the stocks, and after a time imprisonment became more common. The
bilboes were used only in the earliest period. The use of the stocks
and whipping post was discontinued in 1813 and not a single example
seems to have survived in either museum or attic. The pillory was in
use in State Street, Boston, as late as 1803, and two years before,
John Hawkins stood one hour in the pillory in what is now Washington
Street, Salem, and afterwards had one ear cropped--all for the
crime of forgery. Branding the hand or cheek was also inflicted,
and Hawthorne has made famous another form of branding, the wearing
prominently upon the clothing, an initial letter of a contrary
color, symbolizing the crime committed. This penalty was inflicted
upon a man at Springfield, as late as October 7, 1754, and the law
remained in force until February 17, 1785. As early as 1634 a Boston
drunkard was sentenced to wear a red D about his neck for a year.[93]
[93] At the Court of Assize, at Springfield, the 2d Tuesday of
September last, Daniel Bailey and Mary Rainer, of a Place adjoining
to Sheffield in that county, were convicted of Adultery, and were
sentenced to suffer the Penalty of the Law therefor, viz. to sit
on the Gallows with a Rope about their Necks, for the Space of an
Hour; to be whipt forty Stripes each, and to wear for ever after
a Capital A, two Inches long, and proportionable in bigness, cut
out in Cloth of a contrary Colour to their Cloaths, and sewed upon
their upper Garments, either upon the outside of the arm, or on the
back.--_Boston Evening-Post_, Oct. 9, 1752.
A case of incest in Deerfield: "the man was set upon the Gallows
with a Rope about his Neck for the space of one Hour, to be whipped
in his Way from thence to the Goal 30 stripes, and to wear a Capital
I of two Inches long, and proportionable Bigness on his upper
Garment for ever. Sentence against the Woman, for special Reasons,
we hear, is respited for the present."--_Boston Evening-Post_, Oct.
7, 1754.
At the Superior Court held in Cambridge last week, one Hannah Dudley
of Lincoln was convicted of repeatedly commiting Adultery and
Fornication with her own Mother's husband, an old Man of 76 years of
age. She was sentenced to be set upon the Gallows for the space of
one Hour, with a Rope about her Neck, and the other end cast over
the Gallows, and in the way from thence to the Common Goal, that she
be severely whipped 30 stripes, and that she for ever after wear a
Capital I of two inches long and proportionable bigness cut out in
Cloth of a different Colour to her Cloaths, and sewed upon her upper
Garment on the outside of her arm, or on her Back, in Open View. [No
further mention is made of the step-father.]--_Boston News-Letter_,
Aug. 16, 1759.
Massachusetts did not purge her laws from these ignominous
punishments until 1813 when whipping, branding, the stocks, the
pillory, cutting off ears, slitting noses, boring tongues, etc.,
were done away with.
There lived in Salem, nearly three centuries ago, a woman whose
story is told by Governor Winthrop and the records of the Quarterly
Courts. She was, in a sense, a forerunner of Anne Hutchinson and we
may fancy at heart a suffragette. Her story gives you an outline
picture of the manners of the times in a few details. Her name
was Mary Oliver and her criminal record begins in June, 1638.
Governor Winthrop relates: "Amongst the rest, there was a woman in
Salem, one Oliver, his wife, who had suffered somewhat in England
by refusing to bow at the name of Jesus, though otherwise she was
conformable to all their orders. She was (for ability of speech,
and appearance of zeal and devotion) far before Mrs. Hutchinson,
and so the fitter instrument to have done hurt, but that she was
poor and had little acquaintance. She took offence at this, that she
might not be admitted to the Lord's supper without giving public
satisfaction to the church of her faith, etc., and covenanting or
professing to walk with them according to the rule of the gospel; so
as upon the sacrament day she openly called for it, stood to plead
her right, though she were denied; and would not forbear, before
the magistrate, Mr. Endecott, did threaten to send the constable to
put her forth. This woman was brought to the Court for disturbing
the peace in the church, etc., and there she gave such premptory
answers, as she was committed till she should find surities for her
good behavior. After she had been in prison three or four days, she
made means to the Governor and submitted herself, and acknowledged
her fault in disturbing the church; whereupon he took her husband's
bond for her good behavior, and discharged her out of prison. But
he found, after, that she still held her former opinions, which
were very dangerous, as, (I) that the church is the head of the
people, both magistrates and ministers, met together and that these
have power to ordain ministers, etc. (II) That all that dwell in
the same town, and will profess their faith in Christ Jesus, ought
to be received to the sacraments there; and that she was persuaded
that, if Paul were at Salem, he would call all the inhabitants there
saints. (III) That excommunication is no other but when Christians
withdraw private communion from one that hath offended." September
24, 1639, this Mary Oliver was sentenced to prison in Boston
indefinitely for her speeches at the arrival of newcomers. She was
to be taken by the constables of Salem and Lynn to the prison in
Boston. Her husband Thomas Oliver was bound in £20 for his wife's
appearance at the next court in Boston.
Governor Winthrop continues: "About five years after, this woman was
adjudged to be whipped for reproaching the magistrates. She stood
without tying, and bore her punishment with a masculine spirit,
glorying in her suffering. But after (when she came to consider the
reproach, which would stick by her, etc.) she was much dejected
about it. She had a cleft stick put on her tongue half an hour for
reproaching the elders."
March 2, 1647-8, Mary Oliver was fined for working on the Sabbath
day in time of public exercise; also for abusing Capt. Hathorne,
uttering divers mutinous speeches, and denying the morality of
the Sabbath. She was sentenced to sit in the stocks one hour next
lecture day, if the weather be moderate; also for saying "You in New
England are thieves and Robbers" and for saying to Mr. Gutch that
she hoped to tear his flesh in pieces and all such as he was. For
this she was bound to good behavior, and refusing to give bond was
sent to Boston jail, and if she remained in the court's jurisdiction
was to answer to further complaints at the next Salem Court.
It appears from depositions that she went to Robert Gutch's house in
such gladness of spirit that he couldn't understand it, and she said
to some there, not members, "Lift up your heads, your redemption
draweth near," and when reminded what she already had been punished
for, she said that she came out of that with a scarf and a ring.
November 15, 1648, Mary Oliver for living from her husband, was
ordered to go to him before the next court, and in December she
brought suit against John Robinson for false imprisonment, taking
her in a violent manner and putting her in the stocks. She recovered
a judgment of 10s. damages. The following February Mary Oliver was
again presented at Court for living from her husband, and in July,
having been ordered to go to her husband in England by the next
ship, she was further enjoyned to go by the next opportunity on
penalty of 20 li.
November 13, 1649, Mary Oliver was presented for stealing goats, and
a month later she was presented for speaking against the Governor,
saying that he was unjust, corrupt and a wretch, and that he made
her pay for stealing two goats when there was no proof in the world
of it. She was sentenced to be whipped next lecture day at Salem, if
the weather be moderate, not exceeding twenty stripes. Capt. William
Hathorne and Mr. Emanuel Downing were to see the sentence executed.
At the same court George Ropes complained that Mary Oliver kept away
a spade of his and she was fined 5s.
February 28, 1649-50, Mary Oliver thus far had escaped the second
whipping, for at her request Mr. Batter asked that her sentence be
respited, which the Court granted "if she doe go into the Bay with
Joseph Hardy this day or when he goeth next into the Bay with his
vessell" otherwise she was to be called forth by Mr. Downing and
Capt. Hathorne and be punished. If she returned, the punishment was
to hold good.
The next day Mary Oliver's fine was remitted to the end that she use
it in transporting herself and children out of this jurisdiction
within three weeks. And there ended her turbulent career in the town
of Salem, so far as the Court records show.
Until comparatively recent times New England shipping sailed the
seas in frequent danger of attack by pirate vessels. Before the
town of Boston was settled, Capt. John Smith, "the Admiral of New
England," wrote: "As in all lands where there are many people,
there are some theeves, so in all Seas much frequented, there are
some Pyrats," and as early as the summer of 1632, one Dixey Bull
was plundering small trading vessels on the Maine coast and looting
the settlement at Pemaquid. Shipping, sailing to and from England,
was obliged to run the gauntlet of the Dutch and French privateers
and the so-called pirates sailing out of Flushing and Ostend made
several captures that affected the fortunes of the Boston traders.
In 1644, the Great and General Court sitting in Boston, granted a
commission to Capt. Thomas Bredcake to take Turkish pirates--the
Algerines--who were a constant danger to vessels trading with Spain.
John Hull, the mint-master who made the "pine tree shillings," had a
brother Edward, who went a-pirating in Long Island Sound and after
dividing the plunder made for England.
It was the treaty of peace between England and Spain, signed at
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, that contributed largely to the great
increase of piracy in the West Indies and along the New England
coast. The peace released a great many men who found themselves
unable to obtain employment in merchant ships and this was
particularly true in the West Indies where the colonial governors
had commissioned a large number of privateers. It was but a step
forward to continue that fine work without a commission after
the war was over and to the mind of the needy seaman there was
very little distinction between the lawfulness of one and the
unlawfulness of the other. The suppression of buccaneering in the
West Indies happened not long after and many of these adventurers
raised a black flag and preyed upon the ships of every nation. The
operation of the Navigation Acts also led to insecurity on the high
seas and eventually to outright piracy; and so it came about that
the pirate, the privateer, and the armed merchantman, often blended
the one into the other.
The first trial and execution of pirates in Boston took place in
1672. Rev. Cotton Mather, the pastor of the North Church, Boston, in
his "History of Some Criminals Executed in this Land," relates the
story of the seizure of the ship _Antonio_, off the Spanish coast.
She was owned in England and her crew quarrelled with the master
and at last rose and turned him adrift in the ship's longboat with
a small quantity of provisions. With him went some of the officers
of the ship. The mutineers, or pirates as they were characterized
at the time, then set sail for New England and on their arrival
in Boston they were sheltered and for a time concealed by Major
Nicholas Shapleigh, a merchant in Charlestown. He was also accused
of aiding them in their attempt to get away. Meanwhile, "by a
surprising providence of God, the Master, with his Afflicted Company
in the Long-boat, also arrived; all, Except one who Dyed of the
Barbarous Usage.
"The Countenance of the _Master_, who now become Terrible to
the Rebellious _Men_, though they had _Escaped the Sea_, yet
_Vengeance would not suffer them to Live a Shore_. At his Instance
and Complaint, they were Apprehended; and the Ringleaders of this
Murderous Pyracy, had sentence of Death Executed on them, in
_Boston_."
The three men who were executed were William Forrest, Alexander
Wilson, and John Smith. As for Major Shapleigh; he was fined five
hundred pounds, which amount was afterwards abated to three hundred
pounds because of "his estate not being able to beare it."
The extraordinary circumstances of this case probably induced the
General Court to draw up the law that was enacted on October 15,
1673. By it piracy became punishable by death according to the local
laws. Before then a kind of common law was in force in the Colony
based upon Biblical law as construed by the leading ministers.
Of course the laws of England were theoretically respected, but
Massachusetts, in the wilderness, separated from England by three
thousand miles of stormy water, in practice actually governed
herself and made her own laws.
In 1675, the Court of Assistants found John Rhoade and certain
Dutchmen guilty of piracy on the Maine coast and they were sentenced
to be hanged "presently after the lecture." Just then, King Philip
went on the warpath and all else, for the time, was forgotten in the
fearful danger of the emergency. Before long the condemned men were
released, some without conditions and others were banished from the
Colony. It is fair to say, however, that politics and commercial
greed were sadly mixed in this trial.
A bloody fight occurred at Tarpaulin Cove, near Woods Hole, in
October, 1689, between a pirate sloop and a vessel sent out from
Boston in pursuit. The pirate was taken and after trial the leader,
Capt. Thomas Pound, late pilot of the King's frigate _Rose_, then
at anchor in the harbor, Thomas Hawkins, a well-connected citizen
of Boston, Thomas Johnston of Boston, "a limping privateer," and
one Eleazer Buck, were sentenced to be hanged. When they were on
the gallows Governor Bradstreet reprieved all save Johnston--"Which
gave great disgust to the People; I fear it was ill done," wrote
Judge Sewall. The same day one William Coward was hanged for piracy
committed on the ketch _Elinor_, while at anchor at Nantasket Road.
The capture in Boston in 1699, of William Kidd, Joseph Bradish,
born in Cambridge; Tee Wetherly, James Gillam, and other men
concerned with the Madagascar pirates, created much excitement, but
these men were tried in England and gibbetted at Hope Point on the
Thames.
In June, 1704, a trial for piracy was held in the Old State House,
and the testimony and proceedings were afterwards published.
Captain John Quelch had sailed from Marblehead, the previous year,
in command of a brigantine commissioned as a privateer. Instead
of proceeding against the French off Newfoundland he had sailed
south and on the coast of Brazil had captured and plundered several
Portuguese vessels. While he was absent, a treaty of peace between
England and Portugal had been signed and when Quelch returned to
Marblehead harbor he learned that he had piratically taken various
vessels belonging to subjects of "Her Majesty's good Allie," the
King of Portugal. His arrest and trial followed and with six of
his ship's company he was sentenced to be hanged on a gallows set
up between high- and low-water mark off a point of land just below
Copp's hill. The condemned were guarded by forty musketeers and the
constables of the town and were preceded by the Provost Marshal and
his officers. Great crowds gathered to see the execution. Judge
Sewall in his diary comments on the great number of people on
Broughton's hill, as Copp's hill was called at that time.
"But when I came to see how the River was cover'd with People, I was
amazed: Some say there were 100 Boats. 150 Boats and Canoes, saith
Cousin Moodey of York. Mr. Cotton Mather came with Capt. Quelch
and six others for Execution from the Prison to Scarlet's Wharf,
and from thence in the Boat to the place of Execution about midway
between Hanson's [_sic_] point and Broughton's Warehouse. When the
scaffold was hoisted to a due height, the seven Malefactors went up:
Mr. Mather pray'd for them standing upon the Boat. Ropes were all
fasten'd to the Gallows (save King, who was Repriev'd). When the
scaffold was let to sink, there was such a Screech of the Women that
my wife heard it sitting in our Entry next the Orchard, and was much
surprised at it; yet the wind was sou-west. Our house is a full
mile from the place."
Capt. Samuel Bellamy, in the pirate ship _Whydah_, was wrecked
on Cape Cod near Wellfleet, the spring of 1717, and 142 men were
drowned. Six pirates who reached shore were tried in Boston and
sentenced to be hanged "at Charlestown Ferry within the flux and
reflux of the Sea." After the condemned were removed from the
courtroom the ministers of the town took them in hand and "bestowed
all possible '_Instructions_ upon the Condemned Criminals; often
_Pray'd_ with them; often _Preached_ to them; often _Examined_ them;
and _Exhorted_ them; and presented them with Books of Piety.'" At
the place of execution, Baker and Hoof appeared penitent and the
latter joined with Van Vorst in singing a Dutch psalm. John Brown,
on the contrary, broke out into furious expressions with many oaths
and then fell to reading prayers, "not very pertinently chosen,"
remarks the Rev. Cotton Mather. He then made a short speech, at
which many in the assembled crowd trembled, in which he advised
sailors to beware of wicked living and if they fell into the hands
of pirates, to have a care what countries they came into. Then the
scaffold fell and six twitching bodies, outlined against the sky,
ended the spectacle.
In 1724 the head of Capt. John Phillips, the pirate, was brought
into Boston in pickle. He had been killed by "forced men" who had
risen and taken the pirate ship. Only two of his company lived to
reach Boston for trial and execution, and one of them, John Rose
Archer, the quartermaster, was sentenced to be "hung up in Irons, to
be a spectacle, and so a Warning to others." The gibbet was erected
on Bird Island which was located about half-way between Governor's
Island and East Boston. In the Marshal's bill for expenses in
connection with the execution appears the following item:
"To Expenses for Victuals and Drink for the Sherifs, Officers and
Constables after the Executions att Mrs. Mary Gilberts her Bill
£3.15.8."
The enforcement of the English statute relating to piracy was
variously interpreted in the Colonial courts, and local enactments
sometimes superseded it in actual practice. Previous to 1700,
the statute required that men accused of piracy should be sent
to England to be tried before a High Court of Admiralty. Pound,
Hawkins, Bradish, Kidd, and other known pirates were accordingly
sent in irons to London for trial. But the difficulties and delays,
to say nothing of the expense, induced Parliament by an Act of 11
and 12 William III, to confer authority by which trials for piracy
might be held by Courts of Admiralty sitting in the Colonies. On the
other hand, the Massachusetts Court of Assistants in 1675 found John
Rhoades and others, guilty of piracy. This was in accordance with an
order adopted by the Great and General Court on October 15, 1673.
When Robert Munday was tried at Newport, R. I., in 1703, it was by a
jury in the ordinary criminal court, in open disregard of the King's
commission.
The Courts of Admiralty held in the Colonies were composed of
certain officials designated in the Royal commission, including
the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty
for the Province, the Chief Justice, the Secretary, Members of the
Council, and the Collector of Customs. Counsel was assigned to the
accused to advise and to address the Court "upon any matter of
law," but the practice at that time was different from the present.
Accused persons in criminal cases were obliged to conduct their
own defence and their counsel were not permitted to cross-examine
witnesses, the legal theory at the time being that the facts in the
case would appear without the necessity of counsel; that the judge
could be trusted to see this properly done; and the jury would give
the prisoner the benefit of any reasonable doubt.
Trials occupied but a short time and executions generally took place
within a few days after the sentence of the Court was pronounced.
During the interval the local clergy labored with the condemned to
induce repentance, and all the terrors of hell were pictured early
and late. Usually, the prisoners were made the principal figures in
a Sunday spectacle and taken through the streets to the meetinghouse
of some prominent minister, there to be gazed at by a congregation
that crowded the building, while the reverend divine preached a
sermon suited to the occasion. This discourse was invariably
printed and avidly read by the townsfolk, so that few copies have
survived the wear and tear of the years. From these worn pamphlets
may be learned something of the lives and future of the prisoners as
reflected by the mental attitude of the attending ministers.
The day of execution having arrived, the condemned prisoners were
marched in procession through the crowded streets safely guarded
by musketeers and constables. The procession included prominent
officials and ministers and was preceded by the Marshal of the
Admiralty Court carrying "the Silver Oar," his emblem of authority.
This was usually about three feet long and during the trial was also
carried by him in the procession of judges to the courtroom where it
was placed on the table before the Court during the proceedings.
Time-honored custom, and the Act of Parliament as well, required
that the gallows should be erected "in such place upon the sea,
or within the ebbing or flowing thereof, as the President of the
Court ... shall appoint," and this necessitated the construction
of a scaffold or platform suspended from the framework of the
gallows by means of ropes and blocks. When an execution took place
on land, that is to say, on solid ground easily approached, it was
the custom at that time to carry the condemned in a cart under
the crossarm of the gallows and after the hangman's rope had been
adjusted around the neck and the signal had been given, the cart
would be driven away and the condemned person left dangling in the
air. In theory, the proper adjustment of the knot in the rope and
the short fall from the body of the cart when it was driven away,
would be sufficient to break the bones of the neck and also cause
strangulation; but in practice this did not always occur.
When pirates were executed on a gallows placed between "the ebb and
flow of the tide," the scaffold on which they stood was allowed
to fall by releasing the ropes holding it suspended in mid-air.
This was always the climax of the spectacle for which thousands of
spectators had gathered from far and near.
Not infrequently the judges of a Court of Admiralty had brought
before them for trial a pirate whose career had been more infamous
than the rest. A cruel and bloody-minded fellow fit only for a
halter,--and then the sentence to be hanged by the neck until dead
would be followed by another judgment, dooming the lifeless body
of the pirate to be hanged in chains from a gibbet placed on some
island or jutting point near a ship channel, there to hang "a sun
drying" as a warning to other sailormen of evil intent. In Boston
harbor there were formerly two islands--Bird Island and Nix's
Mate--on which pirates were gibbeted.[94] Bird Island long since
disappeared and ships now anchor where the gibbet formerly stood.
Nix's Mate was of such size that early in the eighteenth century
the selectmen of Boston advertised its rental for the pasturage of
cattle. Today every foot of its soil has been washed away and the
point of a granite monument alone marks the site of the island where
formerly a pirate hung in chains beside the swiftly flowing tides.
[94] On Tuesday the 12th Instant, about 3 p.m. were executed for
Piracy, Murder, etc., three of the Condemned Persons mentioned in
our Last viz. _William Fly_, Capt., _Samuel Cole_, Quarter-Master,
and _Henry Greenville_.... _Fly_ behaved himself very unbecoming
even to the last; ... Their Bodies were carried in a Boat to a small
Island call'd Nicks's-Mate, about 2 Leagues from the Town, where
the above said _Fly_ was hung up in Irons, as a spectacle for the
warning of others, especially sea-faring men; the other Two were
buried there.--_Boston News-Letter_, July 7-14, 1726.
What constitutes a crime? It all depends upon the minds of the
people and oftentimes upon the judges. Manners and crimes vary
with the centuries as do dress and speech. Here are some of the
crimes penalized by Essex County Courts before the year 1655, viz.:
eavesdropping, meddling, neglecting work, taking tobacco, scolding,
naughty speeches, profane dancing, kissing, making love without
consent of friends, uncharitableness to a poor man in distress, bad
grinding at mill, carelessness about fire, wearing great boots,
wearing broad bone lace and ribbons. Between 1656 and 1662 we find
others, viz.: abusing your mother-in-law, wicked speeches against
a son-in-law, confessing himself a Quaker, cruelty to animals,
drinking tobacco, _i.e._, smoking, kicking another in the street,
leaving children alone in the house, opprobrious speeches, pulling
hair, pushing his wife, riding behind two fellows at night (this
was a girl, Lydia by name), selling dear, and sleeping in meeting.
The next five years reveal the following, viz.: breaking the ninth
commandment, dangerous well, digging up the grave of the Sagamore of
Agawam, going naked into the meetinghouse, playing cards, rebellious
speeches to parents, reporting a scandalous lie, reproaching the
minister, selling strong water by small measure, and dissenting from
the rest of the jury.
With such minute supervision of the daily life of the colonists
it can readily be appreciated that it was an age for gossiping,
meddlesome interference with individual life and liberty and that
in the course of time nearly every one came before the courts as
complainant, defendant or witness. There were few amusements or
intellectual diversions and they could only dwell on the gossip and
small doings of their immediate surroundings. But all the while
there was underlying respect for law, religion and the rights of
others. The fundamental principles of human life were much the same
as at the present day, and men and women lived together then as now
and as they always will--with respect and love.
_Are the Times Improving?_
Edward Johnson's estimate in his _Wonder-working Providence_
supposes in 1643, a population in Massachusetts of about 15,000.
There were then 31 towns in the Bay Colony, of which 10 were within
the limits of the present Essex County. The population of these
10 towns was probably about 6,000. They were located for the most
part along the shore line. The same geographical area in 1915 had
a population of about 360,000, or exactly 60 times as great as the
population in 1643, 272 years before.
_1643_ _1915_
Population 6,000 360,000
Increase in 272 years--60 times as great.
In 1643, 1 person in 60 was a criminal.
In 1915, 1 person in 600 was a criminal.
10 times more crime in 1643 according to population.
Murder (4), manslaughter (6), assault to murder (2) 0 12
Arson 0 7
Robbery, breaking and entering, etc. 8 165
Assault of various kinds 10 86
Drunkenness 7 70
Illegal sale of liquor 0 74
Sexual crimes, including bastardy, streetwalking, etc. 6 71
Living from wife 14 0
Non-support and desertion 0 48
Profanity, reproachful speeches, evil speeches, etc. 13 2
Extortion, oppression, shortweight, etc. 7 5
Idle and disorderly 3 22
Slander and libel 1 3
Forgery 0 3
Lying and perjury 2 0
Breaking the Sabbath 5 1
Misc. Putting oxen in field, absence from watch, neglect of
a servant, etc. 25 --
Delinquency, cruelty to horse, adulterating drugs,
automobile cases, junk dealers fines, etc. -- 39
---- ----
Total 101 607
In 1643--7 were servants.
In 1915--251 were South European names and a large part
of the remainder were Irish.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate No.
_The Governor's "Fayre House," 1630 Colonial Village, Salem._ 1
_English Merchant Vessel of about 1620._ 2
_English Merchantman of 1655._ 3
_Dutch Ship of about 1620._ 4
_Governor John Endecott._ 5
_Colonial Village of 1630, at Salem, Mass._ 6
_English Wigwams._ 7
_Framework of English Wigwams._ 7
_Thatch-roofed Cottages._ 8
_Interior of an English Wigwam._ 8
_Front Entry and Stairs in the Governor's "Fayre House."_ 9
_Hall in the Governor's "Fayre House."_ 10
_Damme Garrison House, Dover, N. H._ 11
_Corner of McIntyre Garrison House, York, Me._ 12
_Corner of Bunker Garrison House, Durham, N. H._ 12
_Fairbanks House, Dedham, Mass._ 13
_Frame of the Fairbanks House, Dedham, Mass._ 14
_Frame of the Whipple-Matthews House, Hamilton, Mass._ 15
_Wattle and Daub in England._ 16
_Corwin-"Witch House," Salem, Mass._ 16
_Spencer-Pierce House, Newbury, Mass._ 17
_Parson Capen House, Topsfield, Mass._ 18
_Front Door of Parson Capen House._ 19
_Front Entry and Stairs Parson Capen House._ 20
_Overhang and Drops, Parson Capen House._ 21
_John Ward House, Salem, Mass._ 22
_Kitchen in John Ward House._ 22
_Jethro Coffin House, Nantucket, Mass._ 23
_Weatherboarding on Saxton House, Deerfield, Mass._ 24
_Harvard College in 1726._ 25
_Diamond-pane, Leaded Glass Sash._ 26
_Crown Glass Window Sash._ 26
_Framing Details, Moulthrop House, E. Haven, Conn._ 27
_Wooden Latch of about 1710._ 28
_Knocker, Latch and Bolt, Indian House, Deerfield._ 28
_Wrought-Iron Door Latches._ 29
_Parlor in John Ward House, Salem, Mass._ 30
_Kitchen in John Ward House, Salem, Mass._ 30
_Parlor in Parson Capen House, Topsfield, Mass._ 31
_Kitchen in Parson Capen House, Topsfield, Mass._ 31
_The Dash Churn._ 32
_Court Cupboard of about 1660._ 33
_Recessed Court Cupboard of about 1680._ 34
_Oaken Chest on Frame of about 1655._ 35
_Cane-Back Arm Chair, 1680-1690._ 36
_Banister-Back Chair of about 1720._ 37
_Leonard House, Raynham, Mass._ Page 52
_Quilting Party in the Olden Time._ 38
_Counterpane made from a Blanket Sheet._ 39
_Quilted Counterpane._ 40
_Counterpane with Crewel-Work Decoration._ 41
_John Winthrop, the Younger._ 42
_Rev. Richard Mather._ 43
_Doctor John Clarke._ 44
_Mrs. Elizabeth (Paddy) Wensley._ 45
_Mrs. Elizabeth (Clarke) Freake and Daughter Mary._ 46
_Margaret Gibbs._ 47
_Alice Mason._ 48
_David, Joanna and Abigail Mason._ 49
_Capt. Thomas Smith._ 50
_Major Thomas Savage._ 51
_Edward Rawson._ 52
_Rebecca Rawson._ 53
_Chief Justice Samuel Sewall._ 54
_Rev. Cotton Mather._ 55
_Nathan Fessenden and His Sister Caroline._ 56
_Wellcurb at the John Ward House, Salem._ 57
_The Sower._ 58
_Tracing Seed Corn._ 59
_A Farmyard Scene._ 60
_Horses and a Rail Fence._ 61
_Loading Hay on an Oxcart._ 62
_Gundalow Loaded with Salt Hay._ 63
_Brushing up the Hearth._ 64
_An Old Hand Loom._ 65
_Woman Smoking a Pipe._ 66
_Title-Page of "The Day of Doom."_ 67
_Relief Portrait of Rev. Grindall Rawson._ 68
_Gravestone of Mrs. Mary Rous, 1715._ 68
_Gravestone of William Dickson, 1692._ 69
_Gravestone of Capt. John Carter, 1692._ 69
_Fire Back Cast in 1660._ 70
_Price Sheet of Joseph Palmer._ 71
_Weights and Values of Coins._ 72
_Man using a Shingle Horse._ 73
_An Old Basket Maker._ 74
_Charcoal Burners Preparing a Kiln._ 75
_Spinning with the Wool Wheel._ 76
_Old-Time Hand Loom._ 77
_Prospect of the Harbor and Town of Boston, 1723._ 78
_View of Castle William and a Ship of War, 1729._ 79
_View of Boston Light and an Armed Sloop, 1729._ 80
_Ship "Bethel" of Boston, 1748._ 81
_New England Shilling, 1650._ 82
_Pine Tree Shilling, 1652._ 82
_Willow Tree and Oak Tree Shilling, 1662._ 82
_Massachusetts Paper Money of 1690._ 83
_Massachusetts Parchment Money of 1722._ 84
_Manufactory Bill of 1740._ 85
_Massachusetts Paper Money of 1744._ 86
_An Execution by Hanging._ 87
_Seth Hudson's Speech from the Pillory._ 88
_The Trial of Capt. John Quelch._ 89
_Sermon on Some Miserable Pirates._ 90
_John Bateman's House built in Boston in 1679._ Page 233
_Casement Window Frame and Sash._ Page 238
SECTION
OF
ILLUSTRATIONS
[Illustration: THE GOVERNOR'S "FAYRE HOUSE" IN THE 1630 COLONIAL
VILLAGE AT SALEM]
_Plate 1_
[Illustration: ENGLISH MERCHANT VESSEL AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY
From the model of an "English Merchantman of the size and date of
the _Mayflower_", built by R. C. Anderson for the Pilgrim Society,
Plymouth, Mass. Courtesy of the Marine Research Society]
_Plate 2_
[Illustration: AN ENGLISH MERCHANTMAN OF 1655
Showing the Rigging Plan. From Miller's _Complete Modellist_.
Courtesy of the Marine Research Society]
_Plate 3_
[Illustration: A DUTCH SHIP OF ABOUT 1620
From Furttenbach's _Architectura Navalis_, 1629. Courtesy of the
Marine Research Society]
_Plate 4_
[Illustration: GOVERNOR JOHN ENDECOTT 1558-1665 From the original
painting in the possession of William C. Endicott, jr.]
_Plate 5_
[Illustration: THE COLONIAL VILLAGE ERECTED IN 1930 AT SALEM,
MASSACHUSETTS]
_Plate 6_
[Illustration: ENGLISH WIGWAMS, FIRST TWO COVERED WITH BARK 1630
Colonial Village, Salem, Massachusetts]
[Illustration: FRAMEWORK OF THE ENGLISH WIGWAMS 1630 Colonial
Village, Salem, Massachusetts]
_Plate 7_
[Illustration: THATCH-ROOFED, ONE-ROOM COTTAGES; THE SQUARE OF THE
1630 COLONIAL VILLAGE SHOWING THE PILLORY AND STOCKS]
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF AN ENGLISH WIGWAM 1630 Colonial Village,
Salem, Massachusetts]
_Plate 8_
[Illustration: FRONT ENTRY AND STAIRS IN THE GOVERNOR'S "FAYRE
HOUSE" 1630 Colonial Village, Salem, Massachusetts]
_Plate 9_
[Illustration: THE "HALL" IN THE GOVERNOR'S "FAYRE HOUSE" IN THE
1630 COLONIAL VILLAGE AT SALEM]
_Plate 10_
[Illustration: REAR VIEW OF WILLIAM DAMME GARRISON HOUSE, DOVER, N.
H.
Built before 1698 and now preserved on the grounds of the Woodman
Institute, Dover]
_Plate 11_
[Illustration: CORNER OF THE MCINTYRE GARRISON HOUSE, NEAR YORK, ME.
Built in 1640 to 1645, therefore contemporary with the earliest
possible Swedish buildings in the Delaware Valley, and possibly the
oldest log structure standing in the United States.
Courtesy of the Bucks County Historical Society.]
[Illustration: DOVETAILED LOGS AT THE CORNER OF THE BUNKER GARRISON
HOUSE DURHAM, N. H.
Built _ca._ 1690. From a photograph made in 1911]
_Plate 12_
[Illustration: THE FAIRBANKS HOUSE, DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS
Built _ca._ 1637. Courtesy of the Walpole Society]
_Plate 13_
[Illustration: THE FRAME OF THE FAIRBANKS HOUSE
DEDHAM, MASS. BUILT _CA._ 1637
From Isham, _Early American Houses_, 1928. Courtesy of the Walpole
Society]
_Plate 14_
[Illustration: THE FRAME OF AN ORIGINAL LEANTO HOUSE--THE
WHIPPLE-MATTHEWS HOUSE, HAMILTON, MASS. BUILT _CA._ 1690
From Isham, _Early American Houses_, 1928. Courtesy of the Walpole
Society]
_Plate 15_
[Illustration: WATTLE AND DAUB IN ENGLAND
From Oliver, _Old Houses and Villages in East Anglia_.
Courtesy of the Walpole Society]
[Illustration: THE CORWIN-"WITCH HOUSE," SALEM. BUILT BEFORE 1678
From an old watercolor at the Essex Institute]
_Plate 16_
[Illustration: THE SPENCER-PIERCE HOUSE, NEWBURY, MASS.
Built about 1651. This house of the smaller English manor house
type, has the only original two-story porch and porch chamber now
existing in New England. Courtesy of the Essex Institute]
_Plate 17_
[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD, MASS.
Built in 1683]
_Plate 18_
[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD, MASS.
Front Door]
_Plate 19_
[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD, MASS.
Front entry and stairs]
_Plate 20_
[Illustration: PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD, MASS.
Overhang and one of the "drops"]
_Plate 21_
[Illustration: THE JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM. BUILT IN 1684
Showing overhanging second story, gable windows and casement sash]
[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM, MASS.
The kitchen showing roasting jack, settle, birch broom, hands of
seed corn, etc.]
_Plate 22_
[Illustration: THE JETHRO COFFIN HOUSE, NANTUCKET, MASSACHUSETTS
Built in 1686. From a photograph made about 1880]
_Plate 23_
[Illustration: REAR OF THE SAXTON HOUSE, DEERFIELD, MASS.
Showing unpainted weatherboarding]
_Plate 24_
[Illustration: PROSPECT OF THE COLLEGES IN CAMBRIDGE IN 1726
From an engraving, after a drawing by William Burgis]
_Plate 25_
[Illustration: DIAMOND-PANE, LEADED GLASS, DOUBLE SASH
Period of 1675-1700; in museum of the Society for the Preservation
of New England Antiquities, Boston]
[Illustration: CROWN GLASS WINDOW SASH
Period of 1725-1750; in museum of the Society for the Preservation
of New England Antiquities, Boston]
_Plate 26_
[Illustration: FRAMING DETAILS OF THE MOULTHROP HOUSE, EAST HAVEN,
CONN.
Built before 1700. Showing methods of construction to be found
everywhere in New England
Drawing by J. Frederick Kelley]
_Plate 27_
[Illustration: WOODEN LATCH OF ABOUT 1710
Found in the French-Andrews House, Topsfield]
[Illustration: KNOCKER, LATCH AND BOLT ON THE DOOR OF THE "OLD
INDIAN HOUSE"
Built in 1698 at Deerfield, Mass.]
_Plate 28_
[Illustration: TYPES OF WROUGHT-IRON DOOR LATCHES
FIG. A FIG. B FIG. C
_Figure_ A. An inner door, wrought-iron latch that may have been
made by a local blacksmith. Outer door latches were of similar type
but larger. The lifts were made straight until about 1800 and the
thumb-press was not saucered until about the same time. There is
great individuality in the ornamentation, varying with the fancy of
the smith.
_Figure_ B. This latch was imported from England. It was cheap
and in common use between 1750 and 1820. The cusp, resembling the
outline of a lima bean, and the grasp, thumb piece and lift are
always flat.
_Figure_ C. The Norfolk latch appeared about 1800 and until about
1810 was made with a straight lift. The grasp is riveted to the
plate of sheet iron as is the end of the bar and after about 1825,
the catch. This latch was commonly used in the 1830's. After 1840
the cast-iron latch was generally adopted.]
_Plate 29_
[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM, MASS.
The Parlor]
[Illustration: JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM, MASS.
Corner of the kitchen showing dresser with its "dress of pewter,"
wash bench, meal chest, wooden ware, etc.]
_Plate 30_
[Illustration: PARLOR IN PARSON CAPEN HOUSE, TOPSFIELD, MASS.
Built 1683]
[Illustration: DRESSER IN THE KITCHEN OF THE PARSON CAPEN HOUSE,
TOPSFIELD, MASS.]
_Plate 31_
[Illustration: THE DASH CHURN
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 32_
[Illustration: AMERICAN COURT CUPBOARD. ABOUT 1660
Owned by Gregory Stone of Watertown and Cambridge Courtesy Concord
Antiquarian Society]
_Plate 33_
[Illustration: RECESSED COURT CUPBOARD OF AMERICAN OAK About 1680.
From the Dwight M. Prouty collection]
_Plate 34_
[Illustration: A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY OAKEN CHEST ON FRAME
Probably made about 1651-1655 for Samuel and Hannah Appleton of
Ipswich, Mass.]
_Plate 35_
[Illustration: CANE-BACK ARM CHAIR, 1680-1690
From the family of Hon. Peter Bulkley
Courtesy Concord Antiquarian Society]
_Plate 36_
[Illustration: BANISTER-BACK CHAIR, ABOUT 1720
Courtesy Concord Antiquarian Society]
_Plate 37_
[Illustration: A QUILTING BEE IN THE OLDEN TIME
From a drawing by H. W. Pierce]
_Plate 38_
[Illustration: COUNTERPANE MADE FROM A BLANKET SHEET
Embroidered in blue, greenish blue, red and yellow]
_Plate 39_
[Illustration: QUILTED COUNTERPANE MADE IN BEVERLY, MASS., BEFORE
THE REVOLUTION]
_Plate 40_
[Illustration: COUNTERPANE WITH PATTERN WORKED IN INDIGO BLUE ON A
HOMESPUN LINEN SHEET]
_Plate 41_
[Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP THE YOUNGER
1606-1676
Founder of Ipswich and Governor of Connecticut
From the original portrait in possession of Mrs. Robert Winthrop]
_Plate 42_
[Illustration: REV. RICHARD MATHER
1596-1669
From a wood engraving by John Foster made in 1669]
_Plate 43_
[Illustration: DOCTOR JOHN CLARKE
1601-1664
Practiced in Newbury, Ipswich and Boston
Courtesy of Massachusetts Historical Society]
_Plate 44_
[Illustration: MRS. ELIZABETH (PADDY) WENSLEY
Painted in Boston about 1670-1675
Courtesy of the Pilgrim Society, Plymouth]
_Plate 45_
[Illustration: MRS. ELIZABETH (CLARKE) FREAKE AND DAUGHTER MARY
Painted in Boston in 1674
Courtesy of Mrs. William B. Scofield]
_Plate 46_
[Illustration: MARGARET GIBBS
Daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Sheaffe) Gibbs of Boston
Dated 1670. Courtesy of Mrs. Alexander Quarrier Smith]
_Plate 47_
[Illustration: ALICE MASON
Painted in 1670, aged two years
Daughter of Arthur and Joanna (Parker) Mason of Boston
Courtesy of the Adams Memorial]
_Plate 48_
[Illustration: DAVID, JOANNA AND ABIGAIL MASON
Children of Arthur and Joanna (Parker) Mason of Boston
Painted in 1670. Courtesy of Mr. Paul M. Hamlen]
_Plate 49_
[Illustration: CAPTAIN THOMAS SMITH
A self portrait
May have painted the portraits of Major Savage and Capt. George
Corwin
Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society]
_Plate 50_
[Illustration: MAJOR THOMAS SAVAGE
1640-1705
Born and died in Boston
Courtesy of Mr. Henry L. Shattuck]
_Plate 51_
[Illustration: EDWARD RAWSON
1615-1693
Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. From the painting by an
unknown artist, now owned by the New England Historic Genealogical
Society]
_Plate 52_
[Illustration: REBECCA RAWSON
1656-1692
From the painting by an unknown artist, now owned by the New England
Historic Genealogical Society]
_Plate 53_
[Illustration: SAMUEL SEWALL
1652-1730
Chief Justice of the Superior Court in Massachusetts, 1718-1728
From an original painting in possession of the Massachusetts
Historical Society]
_Plate 54_
[Illustration: REV. COTTON MATHER
1663-1728
Pastor of the Second (North) Church, Boston, 1685-1728
From a mezzotint by Peter Pelham after a portrait painted in 1728]
_Plate 55_
[Illustration: NATHAN FESSENDEN AND HIS SISTER CAROLINE
From a photograph taken about 1885 in Lexington, Mass.
Showing costume of a much earlier date]
_Plate 56_
[Illustration: WELLCURB AT THE JOHN WARD HOUSE, SALEM, MASS.
Showing wellsweep, wooden bucket and girl dressed in the costume of
the late seventeenth century]
_Plate 57_
[Illustration: THE SOWER
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 58_
[Illustration: TRACING SEED CORN IN A FARMER'S BARN
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 59_
[Illustration: A FARMYARD SCENE AT DEERFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 60_
[Illustration: HORSES AND A RAIL FENCE
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 61_
[Illustration: LOADING HAY ON AN OXCART
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 62_
[Illustration: GUNDALOW LOADED WITH SALT HAY
From a photograph made by Miss Emma L. Coleman, about 1880, on
Parker River, Newbury, Mass.
Similar craft were early used in Boston harbor and with a stump mast
and lateen sail carried cargo up the Merrimack River]
_Plate 63_
[Illustration: BRUSHING UP THE HEARTH. NIMS HOUSE, DEERFIELD,
MASSACHUSETTS
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 64_
[Illustration: THE OLD HAND LOOM
Used a hundred years ago by Mrs. Jane Morrill Cummings
The harness and reeds are modern]
_Plate 65_
[Illustration: A BACK DOOR SCENE
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 66_
[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF "THE DAY OF DOOM"
From the original owned by the late John W. Farwell]
_Plate 67_
[Illustration: REV. GRINDALL RAWSON
Minister at Mendon, Mass. Born 1659, died 1715
Portrait cut on his gravestone]
[Illustration: GRAVESTONE OF MRS. MARY ROUS
CHARLESTOWN, MASS., 1715]
_Plate 68_
[Illustration: GRAVESTONE OF WILLIAM DICKSON, CAMBRIDGE, MASS., 1692]
[Illustration: GRAVESTONE OF CAPT. JOHN CARTER, WOBURN, MASS., 1692]
_Plate 69_
[Illustration: FIRE BACK CAST AT THE SAUGUS IRON WORKS IN 1660 FOR
THE PICKERING HOUSE, SALEM
The letters I A P stand for John Pickering and Alice his wife]
_Plate 70_
[Illustration: PRICE SHEET OF JOSEPH PALMER & CO., CHANDLERS
Engraved by Nathaniel Hurd]
_Plate 71_
[Illustration: WEIGHTS AND VALUES OF COINS
A table engraved by Nathaniel Hurd of Boston
Original engravings are owned by the American Antiquarian Society,
Worcester, and the Pocumtuck Valley Museum, Deerfield]
_Plate 72_
[Illustration: SHINGLE HORSE ON WHICH WERE SHAVED SHINGLES,
CLAPBOARDS AND BARREL STAVES
From a photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 73_
[Illustration: AN OLD BASKET MAKER
Dried apples hang on strings against the wall]
_Plate 74_
[Illustration: CHARCOAL BURNERS PREPARING A KILN
From a photograph made in 1884 by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 75_
[Illustration: SPINNING WITH THE WOOL WHEEL
Photograph by Miss Emma L. Coleman]
_Plate 76_
[Illustration: AN OLD-TIME NEW ENGLAND LOOM
Now in the museum of the Society for the Preservation of New England
Antiquities]
_Plate 77_
[Illustration: PROSPECT OF THE HARBOR AND TOWN OF BOSTON IN 1723
From an engraving (central part only) after a drawing by William
Burgis]
_Plate 78_
[Illustration: A VIEW OF CASTLE WILLIAM, BOSTON, ABOUT 1729
Showing a ship of war of the period, probably after a drawing by
William Burgis]
_Plate 79_
[Illustration: VIEW OF BOSTON LIGHT IN 1729 AND AN ARMED SLOOP
From the only known example of a mezzotint engraved in 1729 after a
drawing by William Burgis]
_Plate 80_
[Illustration: SHIP "BETHEL" OF BOSTON
_Owned by Josiah Quincy and Edward Jackson_
From an oil painting made about 1748, showing the vessel in two
positions
The earliest known painting of a New England ship. Now owned by the
Massachusetts Historical Society]
_Plate 81_
[Illustration: NEW ENGLAND SHILLING
Minted in 1650-1652. Obverse and reverse. From a coin in the cabinet
of the Massachusetts Historical Society]
[Illustration: PINE TREE SHILLING
Minted in 1652. Obverse and reverse. From a coin in the cabinet of
the Massachusetts Historical Society]
[Illustration:
WILLOW TREE SHILLING OAK TREE SHILLING
Minted in 1662 and soon after. From coins in the cabinet of the
Massachusetts Historical Society]
_Plate 82_
[Illustration: MASSACHUSETTS PAPER MONEY OF 1690
The first paper money issued by any colony
From an original in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical
Society]
_Plate 83_
[Illustration: MASSACHUSETTS PAPER MONEY PRINTED ON PARCHMENT IN 1722
From originals in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical
Society]
_Plate 84_
[Illustration: A MASSACHUSETTS MANUFACTORY BILL OF 1740
From an original in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical
Society]
_Plate 85_
[Illustration: MASSACHUSETTS PAPER MONEY OF 1744
From an original in the cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical
Society]
_Plate 86_
[Illustration: AN EARLY EXECUTION BY HANGING
The cart which brought to the gallows the condemned man and his
coffin is in the foreground, and behind it, on horseback, is the
sheriff]
_Plate 87_
[Illustration: SETH HUDSON'S SPEECH FROM THE PILLORY
Caricature engraved by Nathaniel Hurd]
_Plate 88_
[Illustration: Paper givng condemnation of Quelch and others]
_Plate 89_
[Illustration: ad page]
_Plate 90_
APPENDIX A
BUILDING AGREEMENTS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY MASSACHUSETTS
Few seventeenth-century agreements to erect buildings in
Massachusetts have been preserved. The following, with two
exceptions, have been gleaned from court records where originally
they were submitted as evidence in suits at law. They are of the
greatest interest in connection with present day restoration work
as they preserve detailed information of indisputable authority
in relation to early building construction in the Bay Colony. The
gable window, the second story jet, the stool window and casement
sash, the catted chimney and the treatment of the inner and outer
walls of the house have much curious interest at the present time.
These architectural features long since fell into disuse and only
here and there has a fragment survived. Two centuries ago the towns
in New England must have presented an appearance most picturesque
to our twentieth-century eyes. The dwellings seem to have been
studies in projecting angles, strangely embellished with pinnacles,
pendants and carved work. The unpainted and time-stained walls, the
small windows and elaborate chimney tops, the narrow and curiously
fenced ways, winding among the irregularly placed buildings,
all contributed to the quaintness of the picture. The following
agreements between builder and owner should help to solve some of
the debated problems of this bygone construction that now confront
those interested in the preservation and restoration of our early
New England dwellings.
CONTRACT TO BUILD THE FIRST MEETINGHOUSE IN MALDEN, NOVEMBER 11, 1658
Articles of agreement made and concluded ye 11th day of ye ninth
mo., 1658, betweene Job Lane of Malden, on the one partie,
carpenter, and William Brakenbury, Lieut. John Wayte, Ensigne J.
Sprague, and Thomas Green, Senior, Selectmen of Malden, on the
behalf of the towne on the other partie, as followeth:
Imprimis: The said Job Lane doth hereby covenant, promiss and agree
to build, erect and finish upp a good strong, Artificial meeting
House, of Thirty-three foot Square, sixteen foot stud between
joints, with dores, windows, pullpitt, seats, and all other things
whatsoever in all respects belonging thereto as hereafter is
expressed.
1. That all the sills, girts, mayne posts, plates, Beames and all
other principal Timbers shall be of good and sound white or Black
oake.
2. That all the walls be made upp on the outside with good
clapboards, well dressed, lapped and nayled. And the Inside to be
lathed all over and well struck with clay, and uppon it with lime
and hard up to the wall plate, and also the beame fellings as need
shalbe.
3. The roofe to be covered with boards and short shinglings with a
territt on the topp about six foot squar, to hang the bell in with
rayles about it: the floor to be made tite with planks.
4. The bell to be fitted upp in all respects and Hanged therein fitt
for use.
5. Thre dores in such places as the sayd Selectmen shal direct, viz:
east, west and south.
6. Six windows below the girt on thre sids, namely: east, west and
south; to contayne sixteen foot of glass in a window, with Leaves,
and two windows on the south side above the girt on each side of the
deske, to contayne six foot of glass A piece, and two windows under
each plate on the east, west and north sides fitt [to] conteine
eight foote of glass a peece.
7. The pullpitt and cover to be of wainscott to conteyne ffive or
six persons.
8. The deacon's seat allso of wainscott with door, and a table
joyned to it to fall downe, for the Lord's Supper.
9. The ffloor to be of strong Boards throughout and well nayled.
10. The House to be fitted with seats throughout, made with good
planks, with rayles on the topps, boards at the Backs, and timbers
at the ends.
11. The underpining to be of stone or brick, and pointed with lyme
on the outside.
12. The Allyes to be one from the deacon's seat, through the middle
of the house to the north end, and another cross the house ffrom
east to west sides, and one before the deacon's seat; as is drawne
on the back side of this paper.
13. And the said Job to provide all boards, Timber, nayles, Iron
work, glass, shingles, lime, hayre, laths, clapboards, bolts,
locks and all other things whatsoever needful and belonging to the
finyshing of the said house and to rayse and finish it up in all
respects before the twentie of September next ensuing, they allowing
help to rayse it.
And the sd Selectmen for themselves on behalfe of the town in
Consideracon of the said meeting house so finished, doe hereby
covenant, promise and agre to pay unto the sd Job Lane or his
Assigns the sume of one hundred and ffiffty pounds in corne,
cordwood and provisions, sound and merchantable att price currant
and fatt catle, on valuacon by Indifferent men unless themselves
agree the prices.
In manner following, that is to say, ffifftie pound befor ye first
of ye second mo. next ensuing, And ffifftie pounds befor the first
of ye last mo. which shall be in the year sixteen hundred 59, and
other ffifftie pounds before the first of ye second mo. which shall
be in the year one thousand six hundred and sixtie. And it is
further Agreed that when the sd. house is finished in case the sd.
Job shall find and judgeth to be woth ten pounds more, that it shall
be referred to Indifferent workmen to determine unless the sayd
Selectmen shall se just cause to pay the sd. ten pounds without such
valuacon.
In witness whereof the partys to these presents have Interchangeably
put their hands the day and year above written.
WILLIAM BRACKENBURY,
JOHN SPRAGUE,
JOH. WAYTE.
Witness,
JOSEPH HILLS,
GERSHOM HILLS.
NOTE. This contract for building the first meetinghouse in Malden is
copied from the _Bi-Centennial Book of Malden_, 1850, pages 123-125.
The original document then in existence has since disappeared. The
contract provides for the construction of a building of the type
almost universal in New England at that time, of which an example
still exists at Hingham--the "Ship Meeting House," so-called. The
square meetinghouse with hip roof surmounted by a "territ," and at
a somewhat later date supplied with "lucomb" (dormer) windows in
the roof, was the type of public building in the Massachusetts Bay
Colony that prevailed well into the eighteenth century, especially
in the country towns. The "territ" or belfry seems to have been
common, but only the larger towns were supplied with a bell. The
bell was rung from the central aisle, the bell rope coming down in
the center of the auditorium.
In the Malden meetinghouse, the "territ" was built as provided in
the contract, but for some now unknown reason the bell was not
hung in it but placed in a framework erected nearby, below a large
rock which thereby obtained its name--"Bell Rock," a name that has
continued until the present time.
Malden was able to afford the luxury of plastered walls surfaced
with lime, but the ceiling showed the joists and boarding. In
shingling the roof a distinction was made between long and short
shingles. The lower windows were made up with "leaves," _i.e._,
they were double casements, and each opening contained sixteen
feet of glass, thereby indicating sash about twenty-eight by forty
inches in size. The single casement windows placed high, just
under the coving, also were about the same size and undoubtedly
were fixed sash, _i.e._, were not hinged. Two smaller windows on
the south side, placed just above the girth, supplied additional
light on either side of the pulpit. The deacons' seat at that time
was located in front of the pulpit and faced the congregation. The
possible use of brick for the underpinning is a surprising feature,
especially in a country town. In fact, the use of underpinning at
that time seems to have been uncommon.
CONTRACT TO BUILD A MINISTER'S HOUSE AT MARLBOROUGH, MASS., IN 1661
This indenture made the fifth day of Aprill one thousand six hundred
and sixty one and between obadias Ward, Christopher Banyster and
Richard Barnes of the Towne of Marlborough on ye one party; And the
Inhabitants and all the Proprietors of the same Towne on ye other
party Witnesseth That ye said obadias Waed, Christopher Banyster and
Rich'd Barnes hath covenanted, promised and bargained to build a
fframe for the minister's house, every way like to ye fframe yt Jno
Ruddock hath built for himselfe in ye afores'd Town of Marlborough,
the house or fframe is to bee a Girt house thirty-seven foote Long,
eighteen foote wide and twelve foote (between Joynts) and a halfe,
the studs standing at such distance that A foure foote and a halfe
Claboard may reach three studs; and two ffloores of juice [_sic_]
and foure windows on the foreside and two windows at the west end
and two Gables on the foreside of ten foote wide; and eight foote
Sparr, with two small windows on the foreside of the Gables and they
are to ffell all the tinber and bring it in place and do all yt
belongs to the fframe only the Towne is to helpe raise the affores'd
fframe and all this worke is to bee done and ye fframe raised within
a ffortnight after Michll tyde; And this being done the Town of
Marlborough doth promise and engage to pay unto them the sd obadias
Ward, Christopher Banyster and Rich'rd Barnes the sume of ffifteene
Pounds in Corne within fourteen daies after the house is raised the
one halfe of it and the other halfe some time in March; the whole
paye is to be one third in Wheat and one third in Rie and the other
third in Indian Corn, the halfe in Wheat and Rie to be paid fourteen
daies after the house is up in Wheat and Rie and the other halfe in
Rie and Indian some time in March; wheat at four shillings and sixe
pence a bushell and is to be pd at Sudbury betweene Petter King's
and Serient Woods house in the streete.--_Marlborough, Mass., Town
Records._
CONTRACT FOR THE FRAME OF A BOSTON HOUSE, AUGUST 20, 1679
Articles of Agreement indented made and Concluded the twentieth day
of August Ano Domi One thousand six hundred Seventy and nine. And
in the thirty first yeare of the Reigne of King Charles the Second
over &c Betweene Robert Taft of Brantery, in New England housewright
on the one part and John Bateman of Boston in New England aforesd
shopkeeper on the other part are as followeth--
[Illustration: HOUSE BUILT FOR JOHN BATEMAN, IN 1679, AT WHAT IS
NOW THE CORNER OF NORTH AND BLACKSTONE STREETS, BOSTON
From a drawing by Lawrence Park]
Imps The sd Robert Taft for himselfe heires Execrs and Admrs doth
hereby covenant promiss and grant to and with the sd John Bateman
his Execr and assignees in manner and forme following (that is to
Say) that the sd Robert Taft his Execror assignees shal and will
erect set up and finish for the sd John Bateman his Execrs or
Assignes the frame of a new Tenemt or dwelling house to contain
thirty foot in length and twenty Seven foot or thereabout in breadth
according to the dimentions of the Cellar frame of the sd house two
Storey high besides the garrett and each roome seven foote high
betweene the Sumer and floare and to make the sd house to jet at
the first storey in the front Eighteen inches and to make and place
frame for the Cellar according to the present dimentions thereof
and place the same and to build three floares of Sumers and joise
and to make and place in the front of the sd house two gable ends
to range even with the Roof of the sd house and also two gable ends
on the backside to range as aforesd and to make and place in the
front of ye Second Storey two large casement windows and two windows
in the garett and in the end next the Mill Creeke three windows
Vizt one large Casement window in the low[er] Roome and one large
Casement window in the Second Storey and one window in the garrett
and on the backside one large Casement window in the low[er] Roome
two large Casement windows in the second Storey and two windows in
the garrett and to make & send to Boston the frame of the Cellar
within Six weeks next after the date hereof and to rayse the same
in place within one week then next following (provided the cills of
the sd Cellar be cleare) and to finish the frame of the sd house
on or before the first day of march next and rayse the same with
all possible Speed after it is brought to Boston. In Consideration
whereof the sd John Bateman for himself his 3 heires execr and Admrs
doth hereby covenant promis and grant to and with the sd Robert Taft
his Execr and assignes to pay for the transportation of the frame
of the sd cellar and house from Brantery the place where it is to
be framed to Boston and also to pay or cause to bee paid unto the
sd Robert Taft his Execr Admrs or Assignes the full and just sum of
thirty pounds Vizt one halfe part thereof in lawfull money of New
England and the other halfe part thereof in English goods at money
price and to pay the same in manner and forme following (that is to
Say) five pounds in money and five pounds in goods at the time of
Ensealing hereof and five pounds in money and five pounds in goods
when the frame of the Cellar is laid down and the floare of the
cellar is laid and five pounds in money and five pounds in goods
when the whole worke is compleated and in every respect finished in
matter and forme aforesd. And for the true performance hereof the sd
partys binde themselves their heires Execr and Admrs each unto the
other his Execr and Assignes in the penall Sume of fifty pounds of
lawfull money of New England well and truly to be paid by virtue of
these presents. In witness whereof the partys above-named to these
present Articles interchangeably have Set their hands and Seals the
day and yeare first above written.
JOHN BATEMAN. [Seal]
Signed Sealed & Delivd in presence of
John Hayward scr
Eliezer Moody Servt
Owned in Court p Bateman 27 April 1680 p Is Addington Cler
Vera Copia Attestd Is Addington Cler
--_Suffolk County Judicial Court Files, No. 1916._
NOTE. This contract provides for the frame of a house and not for
a complete building. But it is of unusual interest for it supplies
proof of the existence in Boston of a house having two gables on
each side of the roof, _i.e._, six gables on a rectangular building
twenty-seven by thirty feet in size.
Robert Taft, of Braintree, an ancestor of ex-President Taft,
delivered the frame, but before he had completed the work Bateman
entered into possession and set his carpenters at work to finish
the building. Taft brought suit to recover payment for the frame and
the Court gave a verdict in his favor, from which Bateman appealed.
From the testimony it appears that on the ground floor there were
two rooms, one of which was eleven by twenty-four feet, and a space
nine by eight feet had been left in which to build the chimney. The
"articles of agreement" required that Taft provide for fourteen
windows but he put up "six more than my Couanant was." Bateman, on
the other hand, claimed that the frame was "the weakest slenderest
and most dozed timber that hath been Seen ... most of the timber
Wany & on many of the Sumers the Bark left on to make it square and
wch Indeed was the Occasion of all this Trouble."
This house was built for a "shop keeper" and probably the long front
room on the ground floor was to be used for a shop. It was located
at what is now the southeasterly corner of North and Blackstone
streets, the canal to the mill pond being on the northerly end of
the house and the harbor behind it.
CONTRACT TO BUILD THE FIRST KING'S CHAPEL, BOSTON JULY 21, 1688
Memorandum it is agreed by and between John Holebrook of Weymouth
in the county of Suffolk, housewright, Stephen French of the same
place, housewright--and Jacob Nash of the same place housewright of
the one part and Anthony Hayward Esq of the other part as followeth
(that is to say) Imprimis the said John Holebrooke, Stephen French &
Jacob Nash doe Covenant pmise and agree to and with the said Anthony
Heywood his heires Admrs and Assins and Also in the consideracion
herein after mencioned that they the said John Holebrooke Stephen
French and Jacob Nash or some or one of them shall & will by or
before the last day of November now next ensueing Erect sett up and
build on such spott of Ground as the sd Anthony Heywood shall for
that end assigne of good sound timber well & workmanlike wrought one
frame of building of the Dimensions following (that is to say) in
length fifty four feet in breadth thirty six feet studd twenty feet
with five windows in the front five windows in the rear and two
windows at each end of such dimensions as are sett downe in a platt
of the same made by Mr. P. Wells Surveyor and the same frame shall
clapboard fill with brick & seale with lime and hair & white washing
and the roofe thereof with board & shingles make tight & stanch and
shall & will on the west end of the sd frame Erect, build & sett up
One Belfry of ten feet square twenty feet above ye roofe of the sd
frame and of sufficient strength for a bell of five hundred weight
and the said entire frame shall finish & complete with Masons and
smiths worke and sufficiently glaze all the sd windows with good
square glasse & iron casemts and the same building see completed and
finished as above is Covenanted & locked with sufficient locks to
the doors thereof shall deliver with the keys thereof in to the sd
Anthony Haywood In Consideracion whereof the said Anthony Haywood
doth cove't pmise & agree to pay or Cause to be paid unto the said
John Holebrooke Stephen French Jacob Nash the sume of two hundred &
Sixty pounds (that is to say) One hundred & thirty pounds thereof in
Goods & merchandize at the price for which same shall be then sold
for money Sixty five pounds in money & sixty five pounds in goods
perform'd as the said frame shall be raised and remaining Sixty five
pounds in money & sixty five pounds in Goods when the sd building
shall be finished as above is Covenanted. In witness whereof all the
sd partyes have hereunto to sett their hands and seales and Consent
that the same shall remaine in the hands ye sd Anthony Haywood this
one & twentieth day of June Anno Dme 1688.
JOHN HOLEBROOK
STEPH FRENCH
JACOB NASH
ANTHONY HAYWOOD
Sealed & delivered in the presence of
Benja Bullivant
Will White
Thaddeus Mackarty
--_Suffolk County Judicial Court Files, No. 2598._
NOTE. The foundations for the first Episcopal Chapel in America
were laid in Boston in October, 1688, following a long controversy
between the local authorities and the representatives of the King
and their followers. Little has been known as to the details of
the construction of this building. Judge Sewell records in his
Diary, under date of Oct. 16, 1688, "The ground-sills of ye Chh
are laid ye stone-foundation being finished." The records of the
Church preserve no information and any contemporaneous documents
seem to have disappeared with the exception of this contract for
the construction of the building which is now printed for the first
time. The exact size of the building heretofore has not been known.
Rev. Henry Wilder Foote in his _Annals of King's Chapel_, Boston,
1882, supplies no information although he states that the Chapel was
built at a cost of £284.16.0, an amount that probably represents
the total cost including furnishings. In the _Annual Report of the
Boston Cemetery Commissioners_ for 1902-3, an attempt is made to
show by a plan, partly based upon grants of land by the town, the
several enlargements of the Chapel made at various times. Here,
the size of the first building is shown to have been forty-six by
sixty-four feet, proportions quite at variance with the correct
size--thirty-six by fifty-four feet, as shown in the contract here
printed.
The windows, probably of generous proportions for the time, were
to be supplied with iron casements filled with "square glasse."
Iron casement sash probably were rare in Massachusetts at that
time. One is mentioned in the inventory of the estate of Edward
Wharton, of Salem, in 1678, valued at six shillings. Square glass
is most unusual. It probably was cut to size at special order as
diamond-shaped glass was in common use. In January, 1752, and
probably much later, "Diamond Glass, and 6 by 4" were still sold in
the shops in Boston. These glass windows were a source of constant
expense to the church wardens because of the popular dislike of the
townspeople and the antagonism of the Puritan small boy. The first
service was held in the Chapel, June 30, 1689. Four moths later
the church records show a payment of £5.10.0. "for mending church
windows." On November 5, 1691, was taken "A Colecktion for mendin ye
church winders" and a few days later £7.0.0. was paid out for the
work. The next March, six shillings was paid for "24 Squ: glas."
[Illustration: OLD THREE-LIGHT CASEMENT WINDOW FRAME IN GABLE, _ca._
1690 From Isham, _Early American Houses_, 1928. Courtesy of the
Walpole Society]
APPENDIX B
REV. SAMUEL SKELTON'S ACCOMPTE (1629-1630)
Rev. Samuel Skelton, the rector at Sempringham, England, came over
under appointment of the Massachusetts Bay Company to minister to
the spiritual needs of the little colony at Naumkeag, afterwards
named Salem. He sailed in the ship _George_ arriving in the summer
of 1629. During the voyage and until the end of the following year
the minister and his family were furnished with the following
supplies from the Massachusetts Bay Company storehouse.
Coppie of An Accompte of monies Mr. Skelton is Creditor viz.[95]
[95] _Suffolk County Court Files_, Vol. I.
li. s. d.
Ano. 1629 Imprimis p. so much wch. should haue bene}
paid him in England towards fitting him } 20-00-00
for ye voyadg. }
Item for Charges att Tillbury, Cowes,
& Plimoth, being wind bound 02-10-00
Item p. Twenty li. p. Annum for 3 years
is ye some of 60-00-00
Item for on bushell of wheat flower 00-15-00
Ite. for one bushell of oatmeale 00-10-00
Ite. for one holland & 2 ordenary Cheess 00-10-00
Ite. for xx li. of powder sugar att 01-03-09
Ite. for one Loafe Cont 7li. att 1s. 6d. 00-10-06
Ite. for one sugar Loafe Cont 5li. att
1s. 7d. p. li. 00-07-11
Ite. 6li. of pepper 00-12-00
Ite. Nutmeggs 4 oz. 00-01-08
Ite. one oz. of Clovs, & one oz. of mace 00-02-00
Ite. iij li. of starch 00-01-03
Ite. xij li. of Rice 00-06-00
Ite. vj li. of Vntryed suett 00-03-00
Ite. one gall. of aquavite 00-03-08
Ite. for one flitch of Bacon 00-14-00
Ite. Castle soape ix li. att 8d. p. li. 00-06-00
Ite. frute viz Rasons Corrants & pruens 00-14-00
Ite. Safron ij oz. 00-05-00
Ite. five qu. of stronge water 00-08-00
Ite. Almonds ij li. at 1s. 2d. 00-02-04
Ite. xv li. of tryed suett at 8d. p. li. 00-10-00
Ite. one gall. of Sallert oyle 00-06-00
Ite. vj li. of Candles 00-03-00
Ite. v geese & ix ducks 00-08-00
Ano. 1630 Ite. xij li. of Butter att 00-08-00
Ite. vj potts of Butter Cont. vij li. p. pott 01-08-00
Ite. ij Cheeses about x li. a pc. 00-11-08
Ite. half a firkin of butter of Mr. Gibbs 00-17-06
Ite. one Third prt. of a barrell of
wt. biskett 00-10-00
Ite. one pott of honey vij li. wat. att 00-07-10
Ite. one pott of butter att 00-03-00
Ite. x li. of Corrants att 00-05-00
Ite. [ ] Bacon 00-10-00
Ite. one doz. of Candles 00-08-00
Ite. ij Cheeses att vj d. p. li. 00-11-03
Ite. iij Cheeses att vij p. li. 00-17-09
Ite. one porkett 01-05-00
Ite. xij li. of tryed suett 00-08-00
Ite. vj. gees & xij ducks 00-14-00
Ite. vj. po: of powder suger about 20d. 00-10-00
Ite. v po: of powder suger 18d. 00-07-06
Ite. x li. of Loaf suger 01-00-00
Ite. Cloves & mace 00-01-00
Ite. ij oz. of Nutmeggs j s. & Sinamo. 16d. 00-02-04
Ite. workmens wadges for Cutting & bringing
home wood against winter about 03-00-00
---------
Suma to lis. 105-18-11
Mr. Skeltons account wth. the Companie
Mr. Skelton is D. pr. viz.
li. s. d.
[Per] 14 yards of Dutch serge Reed. att 02-05-09
It. 17 yards of ffustian att 01-07-00
It. 11 yards of wt. English ieans 00-13-09
It. 12 yards of Red p. petuana 01-16-00
It. 12 yards of Greene say 01-13-00
It. 12 yards of yellow say 01-13-00
It. 12 elns of lin [torn] men 00-14-00
It. 14 elns Nouess [torn] llain 01-17-04
It. 20 elns o[f loc] krum 01-05-10
It. 20 elns stript [linsey] woolsye 01-09-04
It. [ ] yards [torn] buckrum 00-05-03
It. one peece of Noridg serg 00-15-00
It. 20 elns of Lockerum 01-05-10
It. 15 yards of wt. fflannell 00-15-00
It. 20 elns of Course Canvas 01-04 [torn]
It. one pound of whalbone 0[torn]
---------
20-11-00
Item [per] so much pd. [per] Mr. Renell
prt. of Mr. Pearce his bill, the some of 08-00-00
Item [per] 9 li. of Iron att 3d. is 00-02-03
It. [per] one syth 00-03-00
It. [per] one fishing line 00-03-00
It. [per] 30 pound ocum 00-07-06
It. [per] 2000 Nails 6d. p. C. 00-10-00
It. [per] 600 Nails 10d. p. C. 00-05-05
It. [per] 1 Reame of paper 00-10-00
Item. borrowed of Cp. Endicot of ye Comp. 7
yrds. of bays att 2s. 6d. [per] yd. is 00-17-06
halfe a elne of ffustian att 00-00-10
It. 2 yards & half of yellow Carsey 3s. 4d. 00-08-04
Suma Totalis St. 031-19-05
Ite. 2 gall. of Metheglen 00-08-00
It. one Lether Jack 00-01-06
It. two Tubbs }
It. one wooden hand boule } 00-03-06
Ite. vinegar }
It. 3 peuter botles quarts }
It. one pinte peuter botle 00-00-10
Ite. one hatt 00-10-00
---------
33-03-03
rec. of Mr. Winthrop Governr.
Ite. 3 yrds. of Cambrick
6 yrds. & a h: of Loomeworke
2 Drinking hornes
8 pr. of shoes for men
6 pr. of gray stockings for men
6 pr. of stockings for women
6 pr. of stockings for children
10 yrds. of Carsey
Thred
2000 of pinnes
6 Alls
one webb of blew gartering
2 knots of Tape
APPENDIX C
AN ABSTRACT OF THE INVENTORY OF CONTENTS OF THE SHOP OF CAPT. JOSEPH
WELD OF ROXBURY, MADE FEBRUARY 4, 1646-7
48 yds. greene cotton at 22d.
85 yds. red cotton at 2/1.
1-3/4 yds. kersey at 5s.
11 yds. do at 3/2.
52 yds. yellow cotton at 22d.
8 yds. white cotton at 20d.
21 yds. red cloth at 7/9.
39 yds. broad cloth at 8/8.
21 yds. broad cloth at 9/7.
8 yds. do do at 15/4.
42 yds. greene tamie at 2/1.
5 yds. red do at 2/1.
3 yds. flannel at 2/2.
12 yds. scarlet broad cloth at 16/6.
41 yds. course at 3/2-1/2.
24 yds. frize at 4/7.
31 yds. penniston at 2/7.
38 yds. do at 2/11.
44 yds. grey Kersey at 5/6.
66 yds. fustian at 1s.
15 yds. Holland at 5/9.
7 yds. do at 4/1-1/2.
7 yds. Slezie lawne at 4/.
8 yds. blue linen at 1/4.
29 yds. lane at 6/9.
3 pr. bodies at 3/2.
11 belts @ 3/2.
15 do @ 3/.
23 bandeliers at 2/.
14 pr. Stockings at 1/6.
41 pr. do at 1/3.
15 pr. Jecs at 2/9.
10 doz. points at 2/.
61 combs at 3-1/2d.
14 doz. thimbles at 1/9.
18 pr. pads at 6d.
1 spectacle case 1/.
26 gro. thread buttons at 9d.
29 primers at 2d.
8 lb. thread at 12/3.
10 pces. tape at 1/1.
5 gro. buttons at 2/.
5 gro. do at 1/.
6 doz. great buttons at 1/2.
17 silk buttons at 2/.
14 yds. lace at 2d.
64 yds. lace at 3-1/2d.
3 pces. binding at 1/2.
80 yds. ribboning at 2-1/2d.
21 doz. tape at 1/.
43 lb. ginger at 1/.
6 pr. slippers at 2/.
20 1b. whalebone at 10-3/4d.
17 1b. pepper at 2/1.
2 1b. worm seed at 8/.
5 1b. cinnamon at 8/4.
7 hat bands at 4d.
2 1b. nutmegs at 1/9.
1/2 lb. blue starch at 1/8.
Cloves, 10d.
3 yds. buckram at 1/2.
Pack needles and tainter hooks, 15/.
40 lb. sugar at 10d.
3 lb. powder at 2/2.
26 lb. raisins at 4d.
A barrell of fruit, £5.11.3.
4 lb. starch at 4d.
1 counter, £1.
4 pr. scales, 8s.
48 lb. Lead weights, 9s.
1 file of brass weights, 5s.
12 lb. yarn, £1.13.0.
A net 24 yards [no value].
2 sconces, a melting ladle, a hitchell, 8/.
--_Suffolk County Probate Records_, Vol. II, p. 52
Robert Turner of Boston, shoemaker, died in 1651. In his shop were
children's shoes at 9d. per pair, No. 7 shoes were valued at 3s.,
No. 10 at 4s., No. 11 at 4/4, No. 12 at 4/8, No. 13 at 4/10. Boots
were 14s. per pair, and wooden heels were 8d. per doz. He also sold
hats. Black hats were valued from 5 to 14 shillings, each; colored
hats from 5 to 10 shillings; black castors were 14s. each, black
coarse felts, 3s. each, children's colored, 3/6, and children's
black castor with band, 4s.--_Suffolk County Probate Records_, Vol.
II.
APPENDIX D
ABSTRACT OF AN INVENTORY OF THE GOODS OF CAPT. BOZONE ALLEN,
SHOPKEEPER, OF BOSTON, DECEASED, MADE SEPT. 22, 1652, BY EDWARD
HUTCHINSON AND JOSEPH ROCK
Broadcloth at 18s. per yard.
Red broadcloth at 15s.
Red ditto at 15s.
Tammy at 20d.
Grogram at 3s.
Silk mohair at 3/6.
Blue grogram or cheney at 3s.
Blue paragon at 3s.
Black satinisco (1/2 ell) 2s.
Calico at 15d.
Buckram at 14d.
Bengal tafety at 3s.
Silk grogram at 7/6.
Satinisco at 3/4.
Noridge stuff at 2/10.
Hair color satinisco at 3/3.
Colchester serge at 2/8.
Cotton cloth at 2/10.
3 Couerlids at 15s.
Packitt Lawn at 6/6.
4 papers Manchester at 5s.
1 pr. stockings at 4s.
10 pr. cotton gloves at 22d.
5 pr. ditto at 14d.
Tapes white & colored, 11s.
5 gr. briches clasps at 2/2.
2 packetts pins at 2s.
Small clasps, 3/8.
Dutch thread (per lb.) at 6s.
Feathers (per doz.) at 3s.
2 doz. Collars & belly pieces at 2/3
Stomachers at 12d.
7 gr. thread buttons at 7s.
8 masks at 8d.
7 gr. Chaine & other silk buttons at 34s.
7-1/2 gr. flatt cassacke at 6s.
4 gr. small coat at 6/6.
4 gr. large cloak at 14s.
3 gr. silver buttons at 9s.
2 doz. gold cloake buttons at 3s.
7 doz. Jacks at 2s.
25 oz. Silver & silver & gold lace at 5/10.
34 yds. silver lace at 16d.
37 yds. silk & silver lace at 5d.
9 doz. silk lace at 20d.
Green ribbon (per doz.) at 9s.
22 yds. ditto at 3/4.
Silk & gold fringe (per yd.) at 15s.
344 yds. looped lace at 18d.
Colored silk (per oz.) at 2s.
30 yds. loom lace at 14d.
12 yds. ditto at 2/4.
10 yds. ditto at 22d.
17 yds. black galloon at 2-1/2d.
Band strings (per lot) £2.0.0.
2 pr. eastailes (_sic_) at 5d.
1 doz. side hinges (per doz.) at 7s.
1 doz. lamb heads (per doz.) at 7s.
23 sm. Key rings & 10 large 4/10.
Latches (per doz.) at 8s.
1 smoothing iron, 2/8.
1 doz. steeles, 2/3.
8 padlocks at 5d.
Cupboard locks (per doz.) at 12s.
4 gimletts at 2d.
2 handsaws at 18d.
4 files at 6d.
22 hour glasses (per doz.) at 7/6.
4 bells at 13-1/2d.
57 scales (per doz.) at 16d.
1 doz. wire candlesticks and 5 bigger, 6/4.
6 doz. taylor's thimbles at 8d.
5-1/2 doz. waistband clasps at 20d.
14 pr. snuffers at 11d.
12 doz. neck buttons at 6/8.
Little glasses & twists & small ribbon, 1.02.06.
8 doz. sissers at 3/4.
13 pr. tobacco tongs (per doz.) at 3s.
4 doz. combs at 2/6.
A parcell paper, 11.0.0.
10 bush. pease at 4s.
Weights, scales & Counters & the graite, 3.5.0.
--_Suffolk (Co.) Judicial Court Files, No. 1389._
APPENDIX E
MANUFACTURES AND OTHER PRODUCTS LISTED IN THE RATES ON IMPORTS AND
EXPORTS ESTABLISHED BY THE HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT, JUNE 24, 1660[96]
[96] The list here printed, is in abstracted form in the order as
printed and does not include the rates imposed, deemed immaterial
for the present purpose. For complete data consult _The Statutes of
the Realm_, London, 1819, Vol. V, pp. 184-202.
IMPORTS OF MERCHANDISE
Andirons or Creepers of Lattin, of Iron
Anvills
Apples, the barrell conteyning 3 bushell
Aquavitæ
Argall, white & red, or powder
Arrows for trunkes
Aule blades
Auglers for carpenters
Axes or hatchets
Babies or Puppets for children
Babyes heads of earth
Toys for children
Baggs, with locks, and with steel rings without locks
Ballances, gold Ballances, ounce Ballances
Balls. Tennis balls, Washing balls
Bands. Flanders bands of bone lace
Cut worke of Flaunders
Barbers aprons of checkes, the piece not above tenn yards
Barlings, the hundred
Baskets, hand baskets or sports
Basons of Lattin
Bast, or straw hats knotted and plain
Bast ropes
Battry Bashrones or Kettles
Bayes of Florence
Beades, of Amber, Bone, Box, Corrall, Christal, Glass & Wood,
Jasper square
Beaupers, the peece conteyning xxv yards
Bells. Hawkes bells French making, Norembrough making, Horse bells,
Doggs bells, Morrice bells, Clapper bells
Bellows
Bitts for Bridles
Blacking or Lamp black
Blankets. Paris mantles coloured, and un-coloured
Boards. Barrell bords, Clapbords, Past boords for books, Pipe bords
or pipe holt, White boords for shoemakers
Bodkins
Boratoes or Bumbazines, narrow, broad, or of Silke
Bookes, unbound, the basket or maund
Bosses for Bridles
Botanoes, per piece
Bottles, of Earth or Stone, of Glass covered with Wicker, of Glass
with vices covered with leather, of Glass uncovered, of Wood,
sucking bottles
Boultell, Raines, and the baile
Bowe staves
Boxes. Fire or Tinder Boxes
Nest Boxes
Pepper Boxes
Spice Boxes
Round Boxes or French Boxes for Marmalade or Jelly
Sand Boxes
Sope Boxes
Touch Boxes covered with leather
do covered with velvet
do of Iron or other Metall guilt
Tobacco Boxes
Braceletts or Necklaces, Red or of Glass
Brass, Laver Cockes, Pile weights, Trumpets, Lamps
Bridles
Brouches, of Lattin or Copper
Brushes. Bearde brushes
of Heath course
of Heath fine or head brushes
of Hair, called head brushes
of Heath, called rubbing brushes
of Hair, called comb brushes
of hayre, called weavers' brushes
of hair, called rubbing brushes
Brimstone
Buckrams, of Germany, fine, of the East countrey, of French making,
Carricke buckrams
Buckles, for Girdles, for Girths
Buffins, Mocadoes & Lille Grograms, narrow and broad
Bugasines or Callico Buckrams
Bugle. Great, small or seed Bugle, Lace
Bullions for purses
Bulrushes
Burr for Milstones
Buskins of Leather
Bustians
Buttons, of Brasse, Steel, Copper, or Lattin, of Crystall, of
Glass, of Thred, of silke, of fine damaske, of Bugle, for
Handkirchers, of Hair Cabinets or Countores, large and small
Caddus or Cruel Ribbon
Camaletto, half silk, half haire
Candles of Tallow
Candle plates or Wallers of Brasse or Lattin
Candlesticks, of Brasse or Lattin or of wyre
Candleweeke
Callicoes, fine or course
Canes of wood
Capers
Capravens
Capp hookes or hooke ends
Capps, double turfed or Cockered Capps
for Children
Night Caps of Sattin, Velvet
Night Caps of Silke Knitt
Night Caps of Woollen
Night Caps of Linnen
Cards. Playing Cards, Wool cards
Carpetts, of Tonny, of Scotland, of Cornix, Brunswicke Carpets,
China of Cotten, course, Gentish, Turkey or Ventice, of Persia
Carrells
Cases for looking glasses guilt
for spectacles guilt
do unguilt
for Needles or Pin cases
for Needles French guilt
Casketts, of Iron, of Steele
Caveare
Cawles of Linnen for women, of Silke
Cesternes of Lattin
Chafing dishes of Brasse, Lattin, or Iron
Chaines for Keys or Purses, for Doggs
Chairs of Walnutt tree
Chamblett, unwatered or Mohaire, watered, half silke halfe haire
Cheese
Cherries
Chesse boards
Chess-men
Chests, of Iron, large & small
of Cipresse wood, the nest of 3
of Spruce or Danske, the nest of 3
painted
Chimney backs, small and large
China Pease
Chizells for Joyners
Citternes
Clapboord, the small, the great & the Ring
Claricords, the payre
Clokes of Felt
Cochaneile, Silvester or Campeache
Coles of Scotland
Coffers, covered with gilt Leather
covered with Velvett
with Iron barrs, the nest of 3
plaine, the nest
painted, the nest
Comashes out of Turkey
Combes, for wool, of bone, of box, lightwood combes, of horne for
Barbers, of Ivory, Horse Combes
Comfetts
Compasses, of Iron for Carpenters, of brasse for Ships
Copper, unwrought brickes or plates, round or square, chaines,
purles or plate
Copras, green
Cordage, tard or untard
Corke tackles, of Iron and Steele
Cork for Shoemakers
Corne, wheat, rye, beanes, barly, mault
Coverlets of Scotland
Counters of Lattin
Crosbows, of Lathes, Thred and Rackes
Cruses of Stone, without covers, & with
Cushons of Scotland
Cushon cloths, course, and of Tapestry
Cuttle bones
Daggs with fire lockes or Snap-lances
Daggers. Blades, for children, of bone for children, blacke with
velvet sheathes, gilt, with velvett sheathes
Deales, Meabro, Norway, Burgendorp, Spruce
Desks or stayes for bookes
for women to worke upon covered with wollen
Dialls of wood and bone
Dimitty
Doggs of earth
Dornix, with caddas, silke, woll, thred, and French making
Dudgeon
Durance or Duretty, with thred or silk
Druggs--a great variety listed including Bezor Stone of the East
India, Holliworsles, white and red Corall, Fox lungs, Guiny
pepper, Hornes of Harts or Staggs, Lapis Lazuli, mummia, Musk
Codds, Nutmegs, oyle of Scorpions, oyle Petrolium, Red Lead,
Sanguis draconis, Scorpions
Earthen Ware, Brickstones, Flaunders Tile to scower with, Gally
Tiles, Paving Tiles, Pann Tiles etc.
Elephants teeth
Emery stones
Fanns, for Corne, of Paper, for Women and Children, French making
Feathers for bedds, also Ostridge Feathers
Felt for Cloakes, French making
Fiddles for Children
Fire shovells
Figuretto, the yard
Files
Fish, Codd, Cole, Eeles, Haddockes, Herrings, Lamprells, Linge,
Newland, Salmon, Scale fish, Stock fish, cropling, lubfish
and titling, Whiting
Flannele
Flaskes, of horne, covered with leather, with velvett
Flax, Spruce Moscovy, undrest and wrought
Fleams to let blood
Flockes
Flutes, course
Freeze of Ireland
Frizado, the yard
Furrs, Armins the Timber, Badger, Bare skins, Beaver, Budge,
Calaber, Catts, Dokerers the Timber, Fitches the Timber,
Foxes, Foynes, Grays, Jennets, Letwis, Leopard, Lewzernes,
Martrones, Miniver, Minkes, Mole skins, Otter, Ounce, Sables,
Weazell, Wolfe, Wolverings
Fustians, Amsterdam Holland or Dutch
Barmillions
Cullen fustians
Holmes and Bevernex
Jeane
Millian
Naples, tript or velure plain
Wrought or Sparta velvett
Osbro or Augusta fustians
with silk
of Weazell
Gadza, without gold or silver, the yard stript with gold or silver
Gally dishes
Gantletts, the pair
Garters of silk, French
Gaules
Gimlets for vinters
Girdles, of cruell, or leather, of silk, of velvett, of woollen,
of counterfeite gold & silver
Glasse for Windows, Burgundy white and coloured
Normandy white and coloured
Renish, the weigh or webb
Muscovy glasse or slude
Drinking Glasses, of Venice, Flanders, Scotch and French, course
drinking glasses, Burning glasses, Balme glasses, Vialls, Water
glasses
Looking Glasses, Halfe penny ware, Penny ware, of Steele, small
and large, of Christall, small and Middle
Hower Glasses, of Flaunders making, course, of Venice making
Glass stone plates for spectacles, rough
Glass plates or sights for looking glasses unfiled
Glass pipes
Glew
Globes, small and large
Gloves, of Bridges or French making, of Canary, Millane or Venice
unwrought, of Vaudon, of silke knit, of Spanish plaine
Gold and Silver thred counterfeite
Bridges, gold & silver
Cap, gold & silver
Copper gold & silver upon quills & rolls or in skaine
Cullen gold & silver
French copper gold & silver
Lyons copper gold & silver double gilt
Gold & Silver thred right
Venice, Florence or Millane gold & silver
French and Paris gold & silver
Gold foile
Gold paper
Granies, French or Guiny
Graines or scarlet powder of Sevill in berries & granies of
Portugall or Rotta
Grindle stones
Grocery wares: Almonds, Anniseeds, Cloves, Currans, Dates,
Ginger, Licoras, Maces, Nutmegs, Pepper, Cinomom, Raisins
(great, and of the Sun), Raisins of Smirna, Figgs, Prunes,
Sugar (candy brown, candy white, Muscovadoes refined double
& single in loves, St. Thome & Panneils, white)
Grogrames, Turkey
Guns. Calervers, Muskets
Gunpowder. Serpentine, Corne powder
Halberds, guilt & unguilt
Hammers, with and without wooden handles, Horsemens hamers
Hankirchirs
Harness Roses
Harness, Corslets complete, Curatts, Morians or headpeeces graven,
ditto plaine
Harp strings or Catlings
Hatbands
Hatts, of beaver, wool or hair, of Bridges, Dutch felts or hatts
made of wool, Spanish or Portugall felts, of silke French making,
of straw, see Bast, of Venice, of wool or worsted trimd
Hawkes, Falcons, Goshawkes, Jerfalcons, Jerkins, Lanners,
Lannarets, Tassels of all Sorts
Hawkes hoods
Hair bottomes for sives
Haire, Camells, Elkes haire for saddles, Goates
Heath for brushes
Hemp, short drest, cullen & steel hemp, Spruce, Muscovia & all
rough hemp
Hides. Buffe hides, Cow hides of Barbary & Muscovia, Cow or horse
hides, India hides, Losh hides, Red or Muscovia tanned, coloured
& uncoloured
Hilts for swords or daggers
Honey
Hoopes of Iron for pipes or hogsheads, for Coopers
Hops
Horses or mares
Hose of Cruel made in Mantua
Jett
Jews Trumps
Inke for Printers
Imperlings blew or red
Ink horns
Incle, unwrought and wrought Rowles (36 yards)
Indico, of Turkey, of the West Indyes or rich Indico
Instruments for Barbers & chirurgeons, Bullet scrues, Incision
sheeres, Setts (the bundle), Paices or Tooth drawers, Plulicanes,
Trepans
Iron, Amis Spanish Spruce and Swedish
Backes for chimneys, small and large,
Bands for Kettles
Fire irons
Hoopes
Stones
Juice of Lemons (the pipe)
Ivory
Key knops
Knives, Almanie, Bohemia & other course knives, Butchers, Carving,
Collen knives, French knives, Glover's knives, Penknives, Sker
knives, Stock knives (gilt and ungilt)
Lace, bone lace of thred, Brittaine lace, Cruell lace, Gold &
Silver, Pomet, Purle or antlet, Silke bone
Ladles, Melting
Lapis magnata
Lattin, black & shaven
Leade oare
Leomons, Pickled
Lemon water
Leather, Bazill, Spanish or Cordivant, Hangings, Spruce or Dansk
leather, Leather for Maskes, Turkey & East India Cordivant
Leaves of Gold
Lewers for Hawkes
Lime for Dyers
Lines of Hambrough for ships
Lin-seed
Linnes blew or red
Linnen Cloth
Callicoes, fine or course
Cambricks, fine or course
Canvas, Dutch Barras & Hessens,
French or Normandy & lyne narrow browne or white,
French & line broad for tabling, Packing canvas guttings &
spruce canvas, poledavies, Spruce Elbing or Quinsbrow, Stript
or tufted canvas with thred, stript tufted or quilted canvas with
silke, stript canvas with copper, Vaudolose or Vittry canvas,
working canvas for cushions (narrow and broad)
Damask, Tabling of Holland, Towelling & napkening of Holland,
Tabling or Silesia
Diaper, Tabling of Holland and Silesia
Lawnes, Callico lawnes, French & Silesia lawnes
Flaunders, Holland cloth:--Flemish, Gentish, Islingham, Overisils,
Rowse, Brabrant, Embden, Freeze, Bag Holland, Browne Holland
Cowsseild cloth or platts
Drilling & pack duck
Elbing or Danske cloth double ploy
Hambrough & Silesia cloth broade & narrow
Hinderlands, Headlake & Muscovia linnen narrow
Irish cloth
Lockrums, Treager (great & narrow) or common dowlace, Broad dowlace
Ministers, the roll
Ozenbrigs, the roll
Soulthwitch
Polonia Ulsters, Hanovers, Lubecke, narrow Silesia, narrow Westphalia,
narrow Harford, plain napkening & narrow cloth from high Dutchland
& the East Countrey (brown and white)
Strawsbrough or Hambrough
Twill & Ticking of Scotland
Lockers or Chapes for Daggers
Lockes, Budgets or hanging lockes, small & large
Lutes, Cullen & Venice making
Lute strings, Catlings & Minikins
Litmus
Madder, Crop and all bale Madder, Fatt & Mull madder
Magnus
Maskes, of velvett & sattin
Match for Gunns
Matts of Russia
Medlers (the baskett)
Mallasses of Rameales
Messelanes (30 yds. to piece)
Metheglin
Methredate
Mocado ends
Morters & Pestells, brass
Muster seed
Mittens of Wadmul
Nailes. Chaire nailes, copper nailes, rose nailes, Sadlers nailes,
Head nailes, Harness nailes, spring nailes, Tenter hookes
Napkins of French making
Neats tongues, of Russia
Neckerchirs of Flanders making
Needles, Pack & sale needles
Nutmegs, pickled
Nutts, small & walnutts
Okeham
Oaker
Oares
Oyle, Rape & Linseed
Sivile, Marjorca, Minorca, Apuglia Province, and Portugall
Sallat oyle
Traine oyle of Greenland
Traine oyle of Newfoundland
Fish oyle
Ollives
Onions
Orchall
Oranges & Lemons (the hogshead)
Orsdew
Packthred
Panns, Dripping & frying pans, warming pans
Paper. Blew, Browne, Cap, Demy
Ordinary printing & copy paper
Painted paper (the ream)
Pressing paper, Rochell paper, Royall paper
Parchment
Past of Jeane
Peares or apples, dryed
Pease
Petticoates of silke
Penners
Percer bitts
Pike heads
Pikes, with and without heads
Pinns (the thousand)
Pincers & plyers
Pintadoes or Callecoe cubbard clothes
Pipe staves
Pipes, for Tabors, and for children
Pitch Pipes, small band, great band
Plaister of Paris
Plaine irons
Plankes of Ireland
Plate, silver white or ungilt, of silver parcell gilt, of silver
gilt
Plates, single & double white or blacke, Harnesse plates or
iron doubles
Playing Tables of walnut tree (the paire)
Pointe, of thread, of Capiton and of fine silke
Pomistones
Pomegarnets
Potatoes (the hundred weight)
Potts, of Earth or Stone, covered and uncovered
Gally pots
Melting potts for Goldsmiths
Of Iron, French, or Flemish making
Pullies, of Iron, of Brasse, of Wood
Punsons & Gravers for Goldsmiths
Quills, Goose
Quilts, of French making, of Callico, of Sattin or other Silke
Rackets
Rape of Grapes
Rape seed
Rashes, Bridges or Leyden Rashes, single & double, Cloth Rashes
Rattles for Children, and with Bells
Razers
Recorders (the set)
Ribbon, of Silke
Rice
Rosen
Rugs, Irish and Polish
Rims for Sives
Rings, for Keyes, for Curtaines, of Wyre, of Brass, Copper or St.
Martins gilt, of Haire
Sackcloth
Saddles of Steele
Safflora
Saffron
Salt, white or Spanish Salt, Bay or French Salt, Salt peter
Saws. Hand sawes, Tenant sawes, Whip sawes, Legg sawes
Says. Double Sayes or Flaunders Serges
Double Say or Serge
Mild sayes
Honnscot say
Scamoty (the yard)
Scissers
Sea holly rootes
Sea morse [horse] teeth
Serge, of Athens, of Florence
Sheares, for Shearmen, for glovers, for Seamesters, for Taylers,
Forceps,
Sheets of Callaber
Shumacke
Shruff or old Brass
Syder
Silke. Bridges silke, Ferret or Floret silke, Fillozell or Paris
silke
Granado. Silke black & colours
Naples. Silke, black & colours
Orgazine, Pole & Spanish, Raw China, Raw Silke, short and long,
Raw Morea, Satin Silke, Sleave Silke, Silke Nubbs or Husks,
Throwne silke
Skins. Buckskins (in the Haire & drest), Calves (of Ireland),
Cordivant (of Turkey, East Indies, or Scotland), Dog fish skins
for Fletchers, Fox skins, Gold skins, Goate skins, of Barbary
or the East Country, of Scotland or Ireland
Husse skins for Fletchers
Kidd skins, Portugall skins, Seale skins, Shamway skins, Sheep
skins, Spanish Civill or Cordivant skins, Spruce skins
Skeets for Whitsters
Slip (the Barrell)
Smalts
Snuffers
Soape, Castle or Venice, also Flemish
Spangles of Copper
Spectacles without cases
Spoones of Horne
Standishes, of wood, Brasse & covered with Leather, also Pocket
Standishes
Steele. Long steel, Wisp steel & gad steele
Stockings of Wadmol
Stone birds or Whistles
Stones. Blood stones, Cane stones, Dogg stones, Mill stones, Querne
stones (small and large), Slick stones
Sturgeon
Stuff of all sorts made or mixed with Wool
Succade wet or dry
Sword blades, of Venice, Turkey or other fine blades, Course
blades of Flaunders
Table bookes, course and fine
Tables, playing Tables of Wainscott
Tackes of Iron
Tallow
Tannets of Cruell
Tapistry, with Haire, Caddas, Silke, Gold or Silver & Wool
Tarras (the Barrell)
Tarr (small & great Band)
Tazells
Thimbles
Thred, Bridges, Crosbow, Lyons or Paris, Outnall, Peecing, Sisters,
whited browne
Thrums, of linnen or Fustian, also of Woolen
Tikes. Brizel Tikes & Turnall Tikes, also of Stoade
Tiking of the East countrey
Tincall
Tinfoyle
Tinglasse
Tinsell, copper, right Gold & silver
Tinshore
Tobacco, Spanish & Brazill in pudding or role
St. Christophers, Barbadoes, Virginia & Somer Islands
Tooles. Carving Tooles
Tow
Trayes of wood (the shocke)
Triacle, of Flaunders, of Jeane
Trenchers, white (commen sort)
and red or painted
Treene nailes
Trunnells
Tweezes of France
Twine of Hambrough
Twist for bandstrings
Vallances of Scotland
Verditer
Verders of Tapistry
Vellum for Table bookes
Violls
Vice harps
Vice tongues or hand vices
Viniger
Vizards
Wadmoll
Wainscott
Wax
Whale fins
Whetstones
Whipcorde
Whistles Cockes or Bellows
Whistles, Cockes or Birds of Stone
Woad, Islands or green woad, also Tholose
Worme seeds
Worsted, St. Omers narrow 1/2 worsted
Russells worsted or broad worsted
Wood. Boxwood for Combs, also Brazill or Farnumbuck wood
Braziletto or Gemeaco wood
Ebony
Fusticke
Lignum vitae
Plankes of Ireland
Red or Guiny wood
Speckled wood
Sweet wood of West India
Wool. Beaver wool, Cotton wool, Estridge wool, Irish wool, Lambs
wool, Polonia wool, Spanish wool, Spanish felt wool, Red wool
Wrests for Virginalls
Wyer. Dagger and quarter wyer, Iron wyer, Lattin wire, Steel wyre,
Strawsbrough wyre, Virginall wyre
Yarne, Cable, Camell or Mohaire, Cotton, Grograine, Irish, Raw
Linnen, Saile, Spruce or Muscovia, Scotch wollen or bay yarne
EXPORTS OF MERCHANDISE
Allabaster
Allom, English
Apothecary and Confectionary wares
Anvills
Apples
Apples called Pippins
Aquavitae
Ashes of English wood
Bacon
Baggs
Bandaleirs
Beefe
Beere
Beere Egar
Bell metall
Bellowes
Billetts
Birding pieces
Bird lime
Bodyes, stitched with Silke, also with Whalebone
Bridles
Brushes, English, of Heath
Buckweed
Buttons of Haire
Bays. Barnstaple course, Manchester or Barnstaple fine and other
single bayes, Double bayes, Minikin bayes
Cambodium
Candles
Canvas, English tufted, also Shropshire
Capps, Monmouth plain and trimmed, buttoned English, of wool blacke
Cards, Stocke, Tow, Woll
Playinge Cards
Cardboard
Carpets, Northern
Catlings or English Hatt makers strings
Cloke baggs
Coaches and Chariots
Coals. Sea Coles, the Chalder, New Castle measure, Sea Coles of
Wales or the West Country
Combes of wood, bone, or horn
Cobwebb Lawnes
Comfets
Cony haire or wool, blacke or white
Cordage, tard or untard
Coverletts, of wool & haire, of Caddice
Curricombes
Cushons of Yorkshire
Cottons, Northerne, Manchester, Tanton and Welch, also Welsh
plaines
Corne, Barley, Mault, Beanes, Oates, Pease, Wheate, Rye, Buck wheate
Darnix, of English making, also Coverlets
Dice
Dimitty
Doublets of Leather
Dust of Cloves and other Spices
Emery stones
Earthen Ware, Brickes & Tiles and also sorts of Earthen & Stone ware
made in England
Fennell seed
Figuretto, with silke or copper, narrow and broade
Filozelles, broad of silke
Fire lockes
Flannell
Flasks of Horne
Flax
Freezes
Fustians
Gartering of cruell
Garters of worsted
Girdles of Leather for men, & for children, of Norwich
Glasse for windowes, and bottles & other sorts
Glew
Gloves, plaine of Sheepe Kidd or Lambes leather
fringed & stitched with silke
furd with Cony wool
of Buckes leather
Goose quills
Grindlestones
Gunpowder
Haberdashers ware--Packthred, Inkle, Tape, Filleting, Buttons,
Hookes & Eyes, etc.
Haire, Harts haire, Horse haire, Oxe or Cowe haire
Hairecloth
Harts horne
Hatbands of Cruel
Hatchets
Hatts, Beavers & Demicasters, Felts, etc.
Hawkes hoods
Hempseed
Herrings
Holsters
Hops
Hornes, Blowing hornes (small), of Buckes, Inkhornes, Hornes with
Lanthornes, Oxe hornes, Powder hornes, of Rames, of Sheepe,
Shooing hornes, Stags hornes, Tips of hornes
Horselitters & Sedans
Horse tailes with haire
Horse collers
Hoopes for barrells
Iron wrought, viz., Axes, Adzes, Hoes, Armour, Bitts, Knives,
Lockes, fowling peeces, Muskets, Pistolls, Cissors, Stirrops,
Carpenters & Gravers tooles, Jack work, clock work, &
Ironmongers wares
Old Iron
Iron Ordnance
Irish Mantles
Knives, Shoemakers, paring knives, Sheffield knives, Cutting knives,
London knives
Lace of gold & silver, of velvet, Statute lace
Letherage or Lead
Lamprills
Loome work
Lime
Linnen, made of Hemp or Flax
Linseed
Linsey woolsey
Lists of cloth
Lead, cast and uncast
Musterd seed
Malasses or Rameales
Nailes
Nutts
Oatmeale
Oyle, Traine oyle
Oysters
Oker, yellow and red
Parchment
Paste board
Pilchers
Points of Leather
Purles of Broadcloth
Rape cakes
Rape seed
Rugs, Irish Ruggs for beds, and by the yard
Russetting for painters
Rashes, silk Rashes, broad and narrow
Ribbon
Saddles, and saddle trees
Sack cloth
Saffron
Salt peter
Sea morse [horse] teeth
Scabbords for swords
Shag, with thred
Shovells, shod and unshod
Shoes, Bootes and Slippers
Skins, Cony, Kid, Lambe, Otter, Sheepe & Lamb, Rabbit, Hare, Cats,
Fox, Swans, Dogs, Elke, Wolfe, Badgers, Squirrell
Soape
Spanish sattins, English making
Starch
Steel, Gad steele
Stockings, Irish, Kersey long & short, Leather, Silk, Wollen men
& children
Stones, Hilling stone, Slate
Stuffs, Perpetuanoes & Serges
Sugars, refined & made into loaves in this kingdom
Tapistry or Dornix Hangings made in England
Thred, Black, Brown, Blew
Thrums
Tiking
Tiffany, made of thred
Tobacco pipes
Tuff Taffates, broad and narrow, with thred
Tynn, unwrought and wrought, i.e. Pewter
Velure, single and double
Vingiger of wine
Virginalls, the payre
Watches
Wadmoll
Wast Coates, of Wadmoll, Cotton, Kerseys of Flannell, Worsted knit
and Wollen knit
Wax
Weld
Whalebone cut or wrought
Whale finns
Woad
Woad nets
Wood, Redwood, Gambray, Boxwood
Worsted, narrow and broade
Yarne, Grograine yarne
Wollen Cloths
Dorset & Somerset dozens rudge washed
Cardinalls, Pinwhites, Strayts, Statutes, Stockbridges, Tavestocks
Tauntons, Bridgewaters & Dunsters, Deven dozens
Ordinary Pennistons or Forrest Whites, Sorting Pennistones
Narrow Yorkshire Kerseys whites & reds, Hampshire ordinary Kersies,
Newbery whites and other Kersies, sorting Hampshire Kersies
Northern Dozens single sorting Pennistons
The new sort of Cloth called Spanish Cloth
Cloth Rashes, alias Cloth Serges
APPENDIX F
COPY OF THE INVENTORY OF THE ESTATE OF WM. PAINE OF BOSTON,
MERCHANT, APPRAISED BY HEN. SHRIMPTON, JOSHUA SCOTTOW AND JOHN
RICHARDS, AND ALLOWED IN COURT AT BOSTON, NOV. 14, 1660, UPON OATH
OF MR. JOHN PAINE, HIS SON
IN THE WAREHOUSE CHAMBER:
4 peeces white Trading cloath, 42li.;
39 yrds. blew trading cloath, 9li. 15s.;
5-1/4 1/8 yrds. white trading cloath, 1li. 4s. 2d.;
4 Bales nowells, 2 Bales pantozells, 1 Bale fine sheeting, 2-1/2 Bales
of broad, 4 peeces Kentings, half Bale napkening, 232li. 16s. 2d.;
2 Bales nowells Cont. 6 poanles, 43li. 6s. 8d.;
5 ps. villaranes cont., 70-1/2, 35-1/4, 23, 11-1/2 and 21-3/4 yrds. in all
162 yrds. at 21d. p., 14li. 3s. 6d.;
5 peeces Kenting, 44-1/4 yrds. at 2s. 3d. p., 4li. 19s. 6d.;
120 yrds. Humains, 123 yrds. Humanes, 123 yrds. Humanes, 99-1/4
Humanes, 342-1/2 yrds. at 18d., 25li. 13s. 4-1/2d.;
3 Ruggs, 6li. 15s.;
2 Barrells bate, 12li. powder, 9li.;
4 peeces searge, 16li.;
1 ps. carsey, 2O-1/2 yrds., 4li. 2s.;
1 ps. more, No. 2, 5li.;
11 yrds. 5/8 of carsy at 5s. 6d. 3li. 4s.;
6-3/4 of carsey at 7s., 2li. 7s. 3d.;
6-3/4 of carsey at 4s., 15s.;
8 peeces wt. calleco at 14s., 5li. 12s.;
50-1/2 yrds. broad dowlas at 2s., 5li. 1s.;
23-1/4 dowlas at 21d. 2li. 1s.;
3-1/8 of locrum at 16d., 4s. 2d.;
12 of blew calleco at 18d., 18s.;
1 ps. blew calleco at 20s., 1li.;
4-1/2 yrds. searge at 4s., 18s.;
4-1/2 yrds. red broad cloth at 8s., 1li. 16s.;
3 yrds., 3 nailes broad cloath at 16s., 2li. 11s.;
8 yrds. 3/4 red carsey at 6s., 2li. 10s. 3d.;
2-1/4 red at 3s. 6d., 7s. 10d.;
9-3/4 1/8 peneston at 2s. 10d., 1li. 8s.;
12-3/8 Role cotton at 2s. 3d., 1li. 19s.;
8 pr. Irish stockens at 18d., 12s.;
8-1/2 narrow blew linen at 13d. 9s. 2d.;
3-1/4 broade blew linen at 20d., 5s. 5d.;
23-1/2 broad blew linen at 2s., 2li., 7s.;
2 pr. Stockens, 5s. 6d.;
5 pr. bodeys at 4s. 1li.;
1 groace of silver coat & other buttens with Riboning & lace,
30li. 16s. 11d.;
2 yrds. holland at 6s., 12s.;
17-1/2 of east cloath, 8s.;
31 halfe linds at 14d., 1li. 16s. 2d.;
5 ham bourough linds at 2s., 10s.;
5 knottes of housing at 4d., 1s.;
5-1/4 vittery at 14d., 6s. 1d.;
10 parchmen skins, 1 trunk, 2O bookes,--of wax candle, 1li. 10s.;
58 reame of paper at 7s., 20li. 6s.;
4 baggs cotten wooll, 550li. at 5d., 11li. 9s. 2d.;
71li. hopps at 4d., 1li. 3s. 8d.;
200 hhs. salt at 1ls., 110li.;
Remant Ratling, 2s.;
pcell bookes, 2li.
IN THE LOWER ROOME:
2 Bailes nowells, 43li. 6s. 8d.;
1 bagg hopps, 1li. 13s. 4d.;
6li. rod Iron at 2s., 8li. 8s.;
2 Bushells wheat, 19s. 6d.;
silkware in 2 boxes, 31li. 14s.;
3 bate naile of Turky Gregrum, 10s.;
2 yrds. broad cheny & remnant of Satten, 7s.;
2li. 11 silk, 3li.;
1li. 1/2 fringe & muccado ends, 7s.;
2-3/4 soft wax, 2s.;
5-1/2 Butts thread, 14s.;
13 yrds. old fashion lace, 2s.;
20 yrds. wt. callico, 22 laces, 2-1/2 doz. poynts, 1li. 1s.;
8 doz. short laces, 2 doz. 3/4 long, 18s.;
13 oz. coventry thred, 4s.;
1li. cource wt. thred, 6s.;
1/2li. whited Browne, 2s.;
3li. colloured thred, 9s.;
4li. black & browne, 2li. 2s.;
12 Hatts, 10 bands, 3li.;
20 browne holland, 2li. 10s.;
18-1/2 yrds. Humanes, 18d., 1li. 7s. 9d.;
83-3/4 pantolanes, 4li. 3s. 9d.;
41-1/4 yrds. vittery at 14d., 2li. 10s. 6d.;
26-1/2 poledavy at 18d., 1li. 19s. 9d.;
30-3/4 nowells at 16d., 2li. 1s.;
5-3/4 locrum at 18d., 8s. 7d.
36 locrum at 18d., 1li. 19s.;
8-3/4 1/8 blew linen at 14d., 10s. 1d.;
30 yrds. sacking at 9d., 1li. 2s.;
221-1/4 yrds. Cotten cloath at 2s., 4d., 25li. 16s. 3d.;
8 yrds. greene Cotten at 14d., 9s. 4d.;
18 of wt. cotten at 1s., 18s.;
24 Irish, 12s.;
3 Remnants boulting, 2s.;
3li. suger, 3li. 15s.;
1 Tire for wheeles & old Iron, 3li.;
13 cart boxes & 3li. in Iron waite, 2li, 10s.;
Basketts, Rubstones, 15s.;
pcell of wt. salt, 12s. 6d.;
pcell of cards & old hops, 15s.;
a screw & 9 mose skins, 2li. 10s.;
pll. of old rope & line, 10s.;
pcell of Cotten wooll, 5s.;
Barrell of Oatmeale, 1li. 5s.;
2 Kettles, 3 spades, 1 pan & nailes, 2li. 5s.;
1 cutting saw, 6s.
IN THE CELLAR:
30 hhds. mallasses at 3li., 90li.;
5 barrells macrell, 1 halfe barrell, 7li. 5s.;
2 Iron bound hhds., 10s.
IN THE OTHER CELLAR:
3 hhds. Rum, 30li.;
pcells of sower wine, 3li.;
old cask, 10s.;
beaver, 49li., 22li. 1s.;
beaver, 160li. at 18d., 12li.
IN THE LENTOO HOUSE END:
30 tunn salt at 40s., 60li.;
4 sawes, 2li.;
boulting mill, beam board, 2li.
IN THE IRON HOUSE:
77-1/2li. barr Iron at 20s., 47li. 10s.;
5-3/4li. cast backs at 15s., 4li. 6s. 3d.;
11-1/2li. Andirons at 15s., 8li. 12s. 6d.;
9-3/4li. potts & Kettles, 12li. 3s. 9d.;
5 Iron skilletts, 13s. 6d.;
beames & scales, 1li. 10s.;
39-1/2li. cast waites, 29li. 12s. 6d.;
857li. cotten wooll at 5d., 17li. 7s. 1d.;
377 of hopps at 4d., 6li. 5s. 3d.;
7 hhd. 3 butts suger, 65li.;
2 qt. fish, 1li. 4s.;
1 firkin butter, 1 soape, 2li.;
5 li. bate, 8li. barr Iron, 4li. 18s.
IN THE YARD:
28 tun. pact casks, 9li. 16s.;
7-1/2 hhds. lime, 1li. 13s. 9d.;
6000 pipestaves at 4li., 24li.;
1400 boards, 5s. 6d., 3li. 17s.;
12000 Rotlin, 4li.
IN THE DWELLING HOUSE:
10-1/2 yrds. sacking & canvas, 7s. 10d.;
2-1/4 cloth rash at 6, 13s. 6d.;
9 bate naile of dowlas at 2s., 17s. 10d.;
yrd. narrow taffety, 6s.;
4-1/2 liver colloured searge, 18s.;
1 groace 4-1/2 doz. hookes & eyes, 2s. 6d.;
2 yrds. blew Trads cloath, 10s.
AT MR. SCOTTOWES:
2 Bales nowalls, 43li. 6s. 8d.;
1 ps. pantossam, 5li.;
1 ps. sheeting, 6li. 2s. 6d.
AT MR. BROUGHTON'S:
3 butts 1 hhd. suger at 25s., 35li.;
140-1/4 hhd. salt at Ils Shoales, 70li. 2s. 6d.;
20 hhds. at Mr. Parker's, at 10s., 10li.;
1 hhd. Rum at Mr. Handsons, 10li.;
at Linn workes, 1 horse, 10li.;
at Capt. Johnsons, leather, 00;
at Mr. Buttolls, leather, 00;
at Capt. Clearkes, an Anchor, 1li. 10s.;
ADVENTURE in Thrumboll to England, 49 hhds. oyle, 5 M. 8 C. 81li.
Cotten neate, 12 qt. fish, 289li. 7s. 5d.;
TO JAMACO & p left in Jamaco before p Adam Westgage, 52li. 12s.
THE HOUSE MORE:
3 Satten dobletts, 1 taffety cloak, 4li.;
money, 5li. 11s. 9d.;
2 gold rings, 2li.;
1-1/2 C. wt. suger at 4, 6li.;
3/4 of cast ware at workes, 100li.;
3/4 stock of sow Iron & coals, 450li.;
3/4 of ye workes at hamersmith &
Brantree, 800li.;
DWELLING HOUSE, warehouses & appurtenances at Bostone, 400li.;
watertowne mill house, land & apprtenances, 150li.;
1/2 mill at exeter & halfe of the prvilidge of mill & land, 40li.
HOUSEHOLD STUFF & IS IN THE CELLAR UNDER YE HALL: