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 AN 
 
 HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE THE 
 
 CITIZENS OF THE TOWN OF DEDHAM, 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TWENTY-FIRST OF SEPTEMBER. 1S36, 
 
 BEING THE 
 
 Stcoiitr (ftcnteuufai &unibtvs«mt 
 
 OF THE 
 
 INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN. 
 
 BY SAMUEL F. HAVES", 
 
 v 
 
 »X5 • 
 
 - 
 
 DEDHAM: 
 
 PRINTED BY HERMAN MANN", 
 
 1837, 
 
 
 
 L . . . s^/^ 
 

 
At a meeting of the Inhabitants of Dedham on 
 the 14th day of November, A. D. 1S36— 
 
 VOTED, — That the thanks of the Town be presented to 
 Samuel F. Haven, Esquire, for his excellent Address deliv- 
 ered on the late Centennial Anniversary — and that he be re- 
 quested to furnish a copy thereof for publication. 
 
 A copy of the Record. 
 
 RICHARD ELLIS, Town Clerk. 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 We have assembled, .sons and citizens of Dcdharn, in honor 
 of the time when the long dull rule of rude uncultivated nature 
 was first interrupted on this spot by the organization of a civi- 
 lized community. We commemorate the planting of institutions, 
 the commencement of physical improvements, with whose growth 
 and progress our family histories are intermingled, or in whoso 
 results our present fortunes and future hopes are interested, 
 i utrs of a goodly heritage, we deem it a debt of common grati- 
 tude to remember the labors that acquired and preserved it for 
 our enjoyment. On the last verge of one of those great periods 
 by which human existence, collectively speaking, is measured, 
 we would, ere overstepping its limits, reflect upon the past and 
 thereby gather wisdom for the future. Upon the page of histo- 
 ry, or in the village record, we find names, now the familiar ap- 
 pellations of our kindred or friends, associated with scenes and 
 events that lie dim in the shadow which advancing time throws 
 behind it, and the mind seeks the satisfaction of more distinct 
 knowledge and clearer perceptions of them. 
 
 The impulse that brings us together today is one of the most 
 common instincts of our nature. The savage race who once 
 
held possession of the soil where \vc stand, but of whose blood 
 'now runs not a drop in human veins,' were accustomed to honor 
 the memory, and renew in recollection the achievements of 
 their fathers, as we would now do of ours. Yet how different 
 the task! The red man required no record of customs and 
 manners to aid his conceptions of the by-gone of his tribe. He 
 had but to look within and around himself for a living history 
 more exact than words could delineate. Hardly less uniform 
 than the wild herbage that sprang up annually beneath his feet, 
 the child grew into the place of the parent, and occupied it with- 
 out improvement. No inventions added to his powers ; no dis- 
 coveries enlarged the limits of his knowledge ; no gradual labor 
 developed the resources of material creation; no happy effort of 
 intellect raised the general mind into clearer light and more ex- 
 tended comprehension. Could he have recalled his sires from 
 their gi'aves, they would have been startled by no unaccustomed 
 scenes. The same canoe, which he of today had tied to the 
 same unchangeable shore, might be entered familiarly by the 
 whole line of his progenitors, each thinking it his own. The 
 same bow and arrow, the same scanty blanket of skins, the same 
 ornaments of shells, each might assume as the ones laid down by 
 himself ere he fell on his last sleep. 
 
 When arts of improvement came, they operated but to destroy; 
 and these denizens of the wilderness were annihilated befi re 
 they could be changed. They could pour forth from their minds 
 the glowing figures and vivid illustrations of natural eloquence ; 
 they could argue and reason with an address and shrewd 
 that would not discredit a practised logician ; they could form 
 sagacious plans of policy ; their chiefs were often adroit diplo- 
 matists, governing their subjects wisely in peace and leading 
 them skilfully in war ; they could even enter into the subtleties 
 of theology, and dispute upon the principles of ethics; but to en- 
 
gage successfully in any of the branches of mechanical industry, 
 farther than the twisting of willow into rude baskets, and the 
 stringing of a few fanciful shells, seems to have been beyond 
 their capacity. 
 
 There was much meaning in the notion of the ignorant man, 
 (as Winthrop calls him,) who, on being enquired of by an in- 
 quisitive Indian, as to what were the first principles of a Com- 
 monwealth, replied, ' Salt is the first principle, by means of 
 which we keep our flesh and fish, to have it ready when we 
 need it ; whereas you lose much for the want of it, and are 
 sometimes ready to starve. A second principle is Iron, for 
 thereby we fell trees, build houses, till our land, &c. A third is 
 Ships, by which we carry forth such commodities as we have to 
 spare, and bring in such as we need.' 'Alas!' (saith the Indian,) 
 'then I fear we shall never be a Commonwealth, for we can 
 neither make salt, nor iron, nor ships.'* 
 
 They are gone, all of them, with the forest of which they 
 seemed a part, and we, children of art, as various in our gener- 
 ations as ure the arts which we have made, and by which in turn 
 we are modified, upon the same soil, and beneath the same skies, 
 can scarce follow or realize the rapid changes which the restless 
 spirit of our race has effected and is effecting in outward cir- 
 cumstances, and through them in its own condition and char- 
 acter. 
 
 The invention of printing, by multiplying copies of the bible, 
 till then a sealed book in the hands of the priests, led to the ref- 
 ormation. Out of the reformation, from a free, untrammelled 
 perusal of the scriptures, sprang that half religious, half political 
 party, in England, called the puritan party; whose members, not 
 satisfied with the partial reform from the absurdities of popery, 
 made by the church of England, sought to introduce what they 
 
 » Winthrop's History, vol. 2, 304. 
 
8 
 
 deemed a purer system of worship, deriving its rules of disci- 
 pline, not less than its standard of faith, directly from the bible.* 
 Their efforts involved a civil a9 well as ecclesiastical revolution, 
 which, under Cromwell, was finally, for a brief period, accom- 
 plished. Fortunately, before the strength of their party gave 
 much hope of ultimate triumph at home, a portion of them, more 
 self-denying or more zealous than the rest, led quite as much by 
 a desire to carry out their principles in the establishment of a 
 religious commonwealth, as impelled by actual or apprehended 
 persecution, came to these shores, prepared to devote themselves 
 and their substance to the accomplishment of a work, which they 
 believed God had ordained. They expected here to rear a cho- 
 sen seed, and bring back the human race to that free and sacred 
 communion with its Maker, from which it had fallen. The policy 
 of the pilgrims partook of the intolerance and superstition natural 
 to men engaged in what they deemed a divine mission, and ap- 
 plying the prophecies of the bible to their own condition and ex- 
 pectations. The excitement attending this imagined position 
 pervaded all classes, making religion or theology the absorbing 
 subject of all minds. They were prepared for any and all mi- 
 raculous manifestations either of good or evil agency. In favor 
 of their enterprise the good spirits of heaven would exert their 
 choicest influence; against it the demons of darkness would as 
 strongly contend. Between the two they must win their way, 
 secure of final success, but subject to many difficulties and disap- 
 pointments. The effect of withdrawing from the ancient preju- 
 dices and long established associations which were interwoven 
 with the ecclesiastical system of the old countries, was different 
 from what had been expected. Instead of the quiet enjoyment of 
 a uniform faith, their minds, released from outward constraint, 
 and having the opportunity which a new country affords for re- 
 
 » Neal's History of the Puritans. 
 
constructing both civil and religious institutions from their orig- 
 inal principles, became prolific of new lights, new revelations, 
 and new constructions of scripture.* The more strict and staunch 
 of the puritans saw with pain one of the main objects of their la- 
 bors liable to be defeated, and much severity and unpleasantness 
 of temper was manifested towards those who differed from the 
 more orthodox creed. Many consequently sought in new planta- 
 tions that peace which was denied them in the places then set- 
 tled. New locations about the country were thus established 
 sooner than otherwise might have happened ; and to this cause 
 the origin of Dedham, at first called "Contentment," has some- 
 times been attributed. Other and sufficient motives, however, 
 also influenced the inhabitants of Watertown and Roxbury, from 
 which places the founders of Dedham more immediately came. 
 The grass land, from the increase of cattle, had become deficient 
 in the older towns, and there prevailed among men to whom the 
 possession of landed property was new, and associated in their 
 minds with wealth and power, a strong desire for larger farms 
 and more extensive domains. J 
 
 The settlement of Dedham, it has been supposed, was begun in 
 1635,'j; The people of Watertown and Roxbury had leave from 
 the General Court to move as early as May, and we have the rec- 
 cord of a birth here, on the 21st of June following, precisely six 
 years and four days from the morning when Winthrop and his as- 
 sociates first entered the unexplored harbor of Boston, ' to find a 
 
 •At a synod in 1637, there were condemned eighty opinions which had 
 spread in the country — ' some blasphemous, others erroneous and all un-'-fe. 
 Winthrop, vol l,p.238. 
 
 t ' Most men unlanded till this time 
 For large lands eager sue. 
 Had not restraint knocked off" their ha/ids 
 Their farms too big had grew.' 
 
 •Good news from New England.' London 1648 
 
 $ Worthington's Hist. 
 
 % 
 
10 
 
 place for sitting down.' This brief space of time had sufficed to 
 render the scttlements'about the bay ' crowded by their nearness 
 to each other,' and from that year we may date the beginning of 
 inland plantations in Massachusetts.* 
 
 Those who first embarked above the falls of Charles River, 
 on the voyage of discovery which resulted in the selection of this 
 place, may well have felicitated themselves on the success of their 
 enterprise. The natural meadows, on whose coarse grass the 
 cattle of the first comers depended for sustenance, till through 
 the dry leaves of the cleared forest a finer herbage should strug- 
 gle upward to meet the sun, not only spread in wide luxuriance 
 on either side of this tranquil stream, but ran up among the swells, 
 and expanded around and between the patches of hard-land. 
 This plain too, of gentle elevation, surrounded by the low 
 grounds, save a narrow neck at the west, would seem favorable 
 for a garrison, should a place of security from the savages be 
 required. 
 
 The Indians of this neighborhood, however, had been nearly 
 all carried off by the small pox, a year or two before, j" and most 
 of those remaining alive had probably joined themselves to the 
 tribes whose habitations were at some distance to the south and 
 west. The location must have been considered as possessing 
 peculiar advantages, from the number of intelligent and wealthy 
 men who immediately became inhabitants, and the care which 
 was taken to prevent any but such as were well recommended 
 from joining the new society. 
 
 The first recorded public meeting was on the 15th day of 
 August 1636, at which were present eighteen persons. These 
 adopted a constitution or covenant, by which each individual 
 bound himself to give information concerning any persons who 
 
 » See Appendix, A. 
 
 | In 1633. Winthrop, vol. 1, p. 116. 
 
11 
 
 applied for admission, and also to submit to such fines as might 
 be imposed for violation of rides. There was. also a meeting on 
 the 29th of the same month. The next assembly, on the 6th of 
 September, at six o'clock in the morning, was held for the pur- 
 pose of subscribing a petition to the General Court, for the con- 
 tinuation of their grant of all that was left from former grants 
 on the south side of Charles river, and five miles square on the 
 north side. Nineteen persons signed at the meeting, and three, 
 after the meeting was dissolved. So that, says a note in the 
 record, "all the names of those who are admitted to our so- 
 ciety are subscribed thereto." These are, Edward Allen the 
 leader of the enterprise, Abraham Shaw, Philemon Dalton af- 
 wards settled at Ipswich, Ezekiel Holliman who founded the 
 first Baptist church at Providence and baptized Roger Williams,* 
 John Kingsbury, John Dwight the progenitor of the late presi- 
 dent Dwight of Yale College,! John Cooledge, Richard Evered 
 whose distinguished descendant^ now honors us with his pres- 
 ence, "Ralph Shepherd, John Hay ward, Lambert Genere, Nicho- 
 las Phillips, John Gay, Thomas Bartlett, Francis Austen, J John 
 Rogers, Joseph Shaw, William Beardstowe, Robert Feke, a citi- 
 zen of some note at Watertown, who never came here, Thomas 
 Hastings, and John Huggen.|| A grant of the General Court 
 was made in conformity with this petition, changing the name 
 however from Contentment to Dedham, out of respect to some 
 
 * Winthrop, vol. 1, 293. Hutch. 1, p. 39 note. 
 | Worth ington's Hist, of" Dedham. 
 $ Gov/ Everett. 
 
 $ A man of property who attempted to return to England, but was taken 
 by the Algerines and carried into slavery. This fate, according to Win- 
 throp, had been foretold to him previous to his departure. 
 
 || John Ellis, Daniel Morse, and Joseph Morse, who were present at tha 
 fir^t meeting, are not upon this list. Allotments of land had been made to 
 them, but they did not take possession immediately, which occasioned some- 
 •omnlaint. 
 
12 
 
 persons who had lately arrived from Dcdham, in England. This 
 document hears date September 10th, 1636, corresponding in the 
 
 new style to this day, which completes the second century since 
 the incorporation of the town. 
 
 A portion of the individuals ahove mentioned remained on the 
 ground the first winter. In the Spring following, there seems to 
 have been some alarm from the Indians,* as watches and wards 
 are ordered to be set, and an invitation is sent to Thomas 
 Cakebread, a renowned soldier of Watertown, to come and be 
 at the head of military affairs. This was probably a false alarm, 
 as we hear no more of it, and the gallant Captain Cakebread did 
 not long lend the terror of his name for the security of the place, 
 but disposed of his allotment to Francis Chickering.^ 
 
 In the course of the succeeding year, the village lots being 
 entirely taken up, it became necessary to deny admission to nu- 
 merous applicants, until it was ascertained what farther accom- 
 modation could be provided for new comers. By continuing the 
 list of inhabitants in the order of their admission to that period, 
 or a little beyond, we shall find it to include many of the names 
 now most respected among us, and some of persons afterwards 
 leading men in other places. First came Jonathan Fairbanks; 
 then Thomas Carter, afterwards minister at Woburn; then John 
 Eaton "is entertayned into the lot which Thomas Hastings had 
 layd downe." Ralph Wheelock, ancestor of the founder and 
 first president of Dartmouth College, and Henry Phillips, both 
 candidates for office as teachers in the church, accompanied 
 Captain Cakebread from Watertown. The first was one of the 
 founders of Medfield, the other, disappointed of promotion, is 
 supposed to have returned to England. There were admitted, 
 
 *This was about the time of the Pequod war. 
 
 $ In 1G64, "Thos. Breadcake'' (Cakebread) was "allowed to take two guns 
 from Winter Island'' for the defence of Sudbury. Col. Record. 
 
^ 
 
 n 
 
 by one vote, Ferdinando Adam, Michael Metcalf, Mr. John Al- 
 lin, Anthony Fisher, who occupied "the Smith's lot till his father 
 should arrive," Thomas Wight, Eleazer Lusher, Robert Hins- 
 dale whose bones now lie in honorable company beneath the 
 monument at Bloody Brook, John Luson, John Fisher, Thomas 
 Fisher, Mr. Timothy Dalton, and John Morse. The two misters, 
 John Allin and Timothy Dalton, were rival candidates for the 
 station of pastor. It was therefore very sagaciously replied to 
 the application of this party for admission — that it is consented 
 unto, "upon manifestation of their disposition to sit down with 
 us in a civil condition without farther expectations." Mr. Dal- 
 ton was afterwards sent by the Governor and Council,* with Mr. 
 Bradstreet and the noted Mr. Peters, to settle a controversy 
 between two ministers at Pascataquack,t/ where the same wise 
 precaution seems not to have been adopted. Larkham and 
 Knowles, two pugnacious persons, each claimed to be pastor of 
 the church at that place, and having excommunicated each oth- 
 er, at length marched out, accompanied by their friends, to do 
 battle with worldly weapons, one of them brandishing a pistol, 
 the other bearing a bible upon a staff for an ensign.^ The com- 
 missioners very naturally determined both sides to be in fault. 
 One result of the journey was that Mr. Dalton became minister 
 at Hampton in that neighborhood. Next came John Batchelor 
 and John Roper, the first of whom went to Hampton, where his 
 brother was teacher; J the other settled at Lancaster, and with 
 his family was desti-oyed by the Indians; then Nathaniel Col- 
 burn ; then Jeffrey Mingey, who was afterwards a leading man 
 at Hampton. Henry Smith, Edward Colver, (wheelwright) 
 John Frary, Rowland Clark, Thomas Kempe, (blacksmith) rul- 
 
 * Wintlirop's Journal, vol. II, p. 2". f Now Dover, N. H. 
 
 } Belknap's Hiat. New Hampshire. 
 
 $ Stephen Batchelor of Hampton was sMspended from the pastoral office 
 by the G&n. Court for "contempt of authority. '' Col. Records. 
 
14 
 
 ing elder John Hunting, and some others who did not tarry long, 
 were obliged to wait for a new survey of lands. William Bul- 
 lard and John Bullard next appear; then follow Giles Fuller 
 and Edward Richards; and not long after the names of Farring- 
 ton and Guild occur. 
 
 These men were Puritans; most of them undoubtedly of char- 
 acter and standing in their own country. The year 1635 had 
 been remarkable for the number of respectable men which it 
 introduced into the Colonies. It was the time when Sir Henry 
 Vane came over, and when Pym, Hampden, Sir Arthur Hazle- 
 rigg, and Oliver Cromwell, intended to have done so.* No less 
 than eleven ministers were among the number of emigrants. 
 This will explain why so many of that class are found with the 
 first settlers in Dedham. Each might hope to obtain pastoral 
 promotion in the new town. They were of somewhat different 
 sentiments, but the religious character of the settlement was not 
 yet determined. Never was there such excitement on the most 
 subtle points of theology as prevailed in the colony at that time. 
 When Mr. John Allin formed a church here in 1638, these cler- 
 gymen generally left and became pastors in other places. 
 
 The first village was formed around the spot where we now 
 are.| Two highways, one leading from 'Little River' as far 
 west as the common, the other from the landing place on Charles 
 river to Wigwam Pond, crossed each other as Common street 
 and Court street do at the present day, and occupied nearly the 
 same places. It was probably intended to erect the meeting- 
 house on some position farther west than where it now stands, 
 as the Record states, that 'for the loving satisfaction of some 
 neighbors on the east side of Little River, it is condescended that 
 it be set on the end of John Kingsbury's lot,' the present loca- 
 tion. 
 
 •Hutch. Hi«t, 1.41. 
 tSea Apptndix B. 
 
15 
 
 Let us borrow from fancy her wand, and waving it oyer the 
 objects around us, restore them to the condition in which they 
 were a little less than two hundred years ago. Aid us, powers 
 of imagination, to pronounce the magic words which shall bid 
 this house shrink within the limits of thirty-six feet long, twenty 
 feet wide, and twelve feet high, return to its rustic walls of logs, 
 and renew its roof of thatch. Let us obliterate the well trod 
 streets around it, change yon elms into straggling forest trees, 
 annihilate all those fair edifices, and let a few low dwellings 
 range upon the north and east sides of the bushy and unsubdued 
 plain. We will then a little by our right, among the stumps, 
 pile up from the forest timber a school house, eighteen feet one 
 way, by fourteen the other, two stories high, with a small watch 
 tower above for our security, and we shall find ourselves in the 
 first village of Dedham. Does the scene seem strange to us? 
 The grave men with curled mustaches and long tufts of beard* 
 depending from their chins, that should occupy the seats on one 
 side of this house, and the not less grave women in their scarlet 
 hoods and cloaks on the other side, and that solemn array of 
 boys and girls vainly striving to stiffen the elasticity of youthful 
 faces into equal gravity, seem not less strange. | Wait till this 
 congregation, whom we have thus called together, have sharp- 
 ened their intellectual appetites on a four hours' lecture — then 
 ye, who now bear the names that have come down to you from 
 the progenitors of the town, step forth and greet your ancestors. 
 They will gaze in wonder at your appearance not less than you 
 at theirs. But passing that by; can you fall in with the current 
 of their thoughts — sympathize in their associations? Or suppo- 
 
 * Beards went out of fashion not long after this period. 
 
 t The seats of men and women were always on different sides of the 
 meeting house. The boys and girls were seated in the aisle, or else on the 
 1 hind seats,' which were raised that the children might be conspicuous and 
 easily watched. 
 
16 
 
 sing them to be occupied with the absorbing subjects of their 
 time, are you prepared to discuss, not the expediency of rail- 
 roads or the success of manufactures, or the operations of politi- 
 cal parties, but the exciting questions, "whether a believer is 
 more than a creature?" "Whether a man may be justified be- 
 fore he believes?" "Whether a man might not attain to any 
 sanctification in gifts and graces, and have spiritual and contin- 
 al communion with Jesus Christ, and yet be damned?" These 
 were the topics agitating and dividing the public mind at that 
 period. Can you follow their lead through scripture, and 
 couple every thought and circumstance with an appropriate text ? 
 Or if a lighter mood chance to prevail, can you join in scrip- 
 ture jests, pious conceits, religious puns, and draw your humor 
 from the same source that furnishes your weapons of controver- 
 sy ; extract political science, business maxims, and heavenly 
 wisdom, all from one book, the bible?* I fear it will be an awk- 
 ward family meeting: Not merely because the conversation 
 might have, (as Hutchinson says of the correspondence between 
 the regicide GofTe and his wife,) "too much religion in it for the 
 taste of the present day;" but because on all subjects the method 
 of reasoning and the bias of mental action have undergone a 
 change, not less marked than has taken place in the nature of 
 the topics, or in the common customs and fashions of society .J 
 
 Tell Richard Evered§ that he who now fills the seat of the 
 Winthrops and Dudleys, is of his own blood — one who not less 
 than Winthrop himself hath "a gift at exhortation" — at whose 
 
 * 'I am very apt to believe, what Mr. Perkins hath in one of his prefatory 
 pages to his golden chain, that the word and scriptures of God doeconteyne 
 a short upoluposis,or platforme, not only of theology, but also of other sacred 
 sciences (as he calleth them) attendants and handmaids thereunto, which he 
 maketh Ethics, Economies, Politicks, Church government, Prophecy, 
 Academy.' Letter from Mr. Cotton to Lord Say and Seal. 16S6. 
 
 J See Appendix C. 
 
 { So spelled in the records. 
 
17 
 
 lips choice words wait on choice thoughts, and lead them to the 
 ear in all the pleasing harmony of appropriate expression. The 
 stern puritan will perhaps propound a passage from scripture and 
 call upon his descendant to 'exercise.' Yet I doubt whether some 
 ' Salathiel Bangtext,'* hammering out with heavy rhetoric the 
 hard doctrines of the period, would not better suit the rough fan- 
 cies of these stiff minded men. 
 
 The first organization of society in Dedham was of the most 
 primitive character. Each man was provided with a home-lot 
 of twelve acres if married, and eight acres if unmarried — This 
 to begin with. The grants afterwards seem to have been made 
 according to the necessities of members, or as a reward for ser- 
 vices performed. ' The number of persons in a family (says the 
 record) is a rule to divide the lands by, and a very considerable 
 rule. Quality, rank or desert and usefulness in church and 
 commonwealth, are also one rule considerable in the division of 
 lands; and thirdly, such men as are of useful trades, and are fit 
 to commence the same, are to be encouraged thereto by receiv- 
 ing some lands near home if it may be ; and husbandmen also who 
 can improve more, are to have lands fit for their calling.' Por- 
 tions were also set apart for the purposes of education and the 
 support of religion. A large part of the lands, however, contin- 
 ued to be public property, and the interest of individuals therein 
 was determined by the number of cows or sheep they were en- 
 titled to pasture in the public herd-walks. 
 
 Those labors, which are necessary in preparing a new planta- 
 tion for comfortable occupancy, were immediately and earnestly 
 entered upon. With a commendable forethought, or to use 
 their own expression, ' careful of the comfort of succeeding 
 times,' they were anxious to layout in the beginning such roads 
 and public ways as might, so far as they could judge, be aft r- 
 
 * Scott's ' Heart of Mid- Lothian.' 
 3 
 
IS 
 
 wards needed. Their municipal rules, embracing the relations 
 of private property and mutual interest, Were peculiarly system- 
 atic and sensible. Highway work, of all public employments, 
 at the present day, the most grudgingly undertaken, and least 
 profitably executed, was of course the most burdensome tax. 
 To this the men were summoned at first by beat of drum, as 
 they were called to meeting on the sabbath; afterwards by the 
 ringing of the bell, morning and afternoon. Other public works 
 seem in ordinary cases to have been done by committees, who 
 were paid in wheat or indian corn, which at fixed rates consti- 
 tuted the currency, except where the purchase of certain things, 
 considered as cash articles, were necessary. Sometimes the 
 people gave a day, for the accomplishment of a particular ob- 
 ject. So late as 1657, the town having declared, 'that tbe 
 meeting-house should be lathed upon the inside, and so daubed, 
 and whited over workmanlike,' the inhabitants turned out in a 
 body, and the thing was done up at once; how workmanlike can- 
 not now be determined. 
 
 They had a pastor in Mr. Allin capable of commanding both 
 love and respect, and in Eleazer Lusher, that ' man of the right 
 stamp,' as the historian calls him,* they found all the mild firm- 
 ness and gentle decision of character, connected with the most 
 accurate business habits, qualifying him to take tbe lead in pub- 
 lic affairs. But it was necessary that many others, and a large 
 proportion of the society, should have been of the right stamp, 
 as in fact they were, to maintain that stiict discipline and perfect 
 system of affairs, which, with the utmost good feeling, was kept 
 up during the lives of the first generation. 
 
 * One of the 'right stamp and pure mettle, a gracious, humble and heaven- 
 ly minded man.' Johns. ' Wonder working Providence.' In a description 
 of some of our chief helps, both for Church works Military and Common- 
 wealth worke.' 
 
19 
 
 It is nol too cxtravagani eulogy of the first settlers in Dedham 
 to say, they were a remarkable collection of people. Tradition 
 brings down a high character attached to most of the names 
 found on its early records, and their public and private acts fully 
 confirm it. Orderly and industrious in their habits, they al- 
 lowed no one to remain in their community, who was not en- 
 gaged in some regular occupation.* Any violation of rules 
 was followed by a penalty; yet the most exact strictness was ac- 
 companied by equally unfailing loving kindness. Delinquents 
 are in gentle phrase ' appointed ' to pay a fine, proportioned to 
 the offence, and generally take upon themselves this office with- 
 out a murmur; or, as is frequently the case, offset it by some 
 public service. Liberal are they towards each other. If an in- 
 dividual's crops have come short, or any other misfortune has 
 befallen him, he is allowed to take shingles or clapboards from 
 the public stock, that he may repair his fortunes by selling them 
 at Boston. And because the town of Medfield, a child as it 
 were of Dedham, did not feel able to pay the whole of a debt of 
 £ 100, it was resolved to take £50, and allow two years to pay it 
 in, ' in consideration of the many and great charges lying upon 
 that town, and other like considerations.' Thrifty are they, hus- 
 banding both public and private resources, with great economy 
 and industry. Their remoter lands, not immediately wanted, 
 they let out to people in the neighboring towns, and for many 
 years received a regular income from meadows hired by Mr. 
 Stoughton of Dorchester, and other responsible individuals. 
 And as to private dealings, a contemporary writer says, ' the 
 coin and commodities of the most populous town allure the Ded- 
 ham people to many a long walk.'t Enterprising and saga- 
 
 * By the Colonial law the constable of every place was to take knowledge 
 of all persons who spent their time idly or unprontably ; ' especially of com- 
 mon coasters, unprofitable fowlers, and tobacco takers.' Col. Record 1633. 
 
 t Johnson's Wonder WorlOg Providence. 
 
20 
 
 cious, they encourage by free grants the introduction of every 
 branch of mechanical industry,* and, in three years from their 
 first occupancy, they create a water power, carrying at this time 
 four valuable and extensive manufacturing establishments, by 
 digging a canal, which, robbing the tranquil Charles — flowing 
 here unconscious of fall — of a portion of its waters, conveys.it to 
 a spot where nature, at the distance of a mile, had provided a 
 descent, whence the stream wends its way and joins another riv- 
 er on its passage to the ocean. || Public spirited were they; fre- 
 quent in donations to Harvard College ; and in their anxious 
 efforts to procure a good school among themselves, they did not 
 stint their appropriations to a single winter or summer, but voted 
 £20 a year to be paid for eleven years together, the least sum 
 for any one year, and to be increased as circumstances might 
 render it practicable. "j" When a regular teacher could not be 
 obtained, they called from their farms some of their own citi- 
 zens, many of whom were competent to the station. Michael 
 Metcalf did much service in this way; and Lieut. Fisher, who 
 kept the Ordinary, in his annual bill for ' dieting the Selectmen ' 
 had often another charge for keeping the school. As these citi- 
 zens were summoned from their regular vocations, it was agreed 
 that ' no advantage be taken to discount from their salaries for 
 not attending the school, except it be discontinued a full week 
 together.' Above all, they pursued a liberal and enlightened 
 policy in matters of religion. The Church, severe within itself, 
 would spend a whole winter in enquiring into the qualifications 
 of applicants for admission; rejecting upon the slightest doubt, 
 
 ♦Appendix D. 
 
 || The first canal made in the country — unless the undertaking of one John 
 Maisters in 1G31 was accomplished, of which I am not sure. He petitioned 
 the Gen. Court for aid in making a canal or passway for vessels from the 
 river through the marshes at Cambridge. Col. Rec. See Appendix E. 
 
 t See Appendix F. 
 
21 
 
 and trying gifts and graces by all the subtle tests made use of 
 at that age; yet they molested no one who was not a member, for his 
 private opinions. In such a sound and sensible community, we find, 
 as might be expected, no persecutions, no witches, no supernat- 
 ural occurrences. In 1660, the General Court sent out Judah 
 Brown and Peter Pierson, convicted of Quakerism, to be whip- 
 ped ' at the cart tail ' in Dedham;* not improbably from a belief 
 that the people here would inflict the stripes with a gentle hand; 
 or the motive might be to compel the inhabitants to take a share 
 in these acts, as they were deemed, of public justice. 
 
 Under the wise administration of the first settlers, the town 
 prospered to a degree hardly equalled by any other plantation in 
 the country. In 164-5, the Dedham rate was one fourth greater 
 than that of Concord, whose beginning was one year earlier. 
 It is spoken of at that period as abounding in gardens and orch- 
 ards ; J and although the inhabitants had not then, as was the case 
 some years after, attracted the attention of the General Court, 
 and become amenable to the laws for excess of luxury in their 
 apparel, yet a description of the good fare of New England, un- 
 der date of 1642, was no doubt a faithful representation of the 
 state of things here at that time. ' Now good white and wheat- 
 en bread is no dainty, but even an ordinary man hath his choice, 
 if gay clothing, and a liquorish tooth after sugar and plums, lick 
 not away his bread too fast. All which are but ordinary among 
 those that were not able to bring their own persons over at their 
 first coming. There are not many towns in the country but the 
 poorest person hath a house and land of his own, and bread of 
 his own growing, besides some cattle. Flesh is no rare food, 
 pork and mutton being frequent in many houses. So that this 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. l,p. 203. 
 
 JOgilby's Hist. This historian says Dedham began with about 190 per- 
 sons. 
 
22 
 
 poor wilderness hath not only equalled England in food, hut goes 
 heyond it in some places for the plenty of wine and sugar which 
 is ordinarily spent. Apples, pears, and quince tarts, instead ot 
 their former pumpkin pies. Poultry they have plenty and great 
 variety, and in their feasts have not forgotten the English fash- 
 ion of stirring up their appetites with variety of cooking then- 
 food. 'J 
 
 The history of Dedham, and indeed that of New England, 
 may he divided into three distinct portions of time, unequal in 
 duration, but each marked by its own peculiar characteristics, 
 which definitely separate it from the others. The first, that of 
 the Pilgrims, who were mostly gone at the end of forty years, or 
 about the time of Phillip's war, may be considered as purely 
 puritan. During the second, the character of the people is mix- 
 ed and changing ; the puritan severity is gradually passing 
 away; English habits, tastes, and prejudices, appear much modi- 
 fied in the new and less cultivated generation, whose sole expe- 
 rience of life is derived from the scenes and incidents around 
 them. Their fathers might tell them of the corruptions under 
 which the church was suffering in the old countries ; of the 
 grasping and dangerous power of papacy; of the numerous foes 
 by which the true worship was beset; of the constant creeping 
 in of worldly men into the offices of the church, bringing with 
 them the pomp and ceremonies and luxury of worldly pride, and 
 showing the necessity of cautious and strict discipline ; but to 
 those brought up in the wilderness, these representations would 
 seem more like tales of other times, than as indicating dangers 
 against which they must exercise unabated watchfulness. The 
 divine right of kings ; the important distinctions in society, of 
 which they would see some slight specimens around them; the 
 
 \ Johnson. 
 
23 
 
 iluty of loyalty to their liege sovereign; the clangers which 
 would arise from admitting too much freedom among the mass 
 of the people, might bo expatiated upon; but, far removed from 
 the imposing splendors of a court, from a nobility to whom the 
 magic influence of wealth and the venerable sanction of antiqui- 
 ty had given dignity, on the one hand, and from a crowded pop- 
 ulace, whom poverty, ignorance, and vice, had combined to un- 
 humanize, on the other ; these lessons would make slight im- 
 pression, compared with tho voice of nature, inculcating the 
 more agreeable doctrines of equality and independence. Hence 
 the mixed or Anglo-American character, which marks the sec- 
 ond period — more liberal in ecclesiastical polity, more indepen- 
 dent in matters of political doctrine, and by degrees approaching 
 that consistency and completeness in itself, which in 1775 re- 
 sulted in throwing off the remains of anglicism in the feelings 
 and habits of the people, and the establishment of institutions 
 better adapted to the American character, which then at the be- 
 ginning of the third period had become predominant. It is gen- 
 erally supposed that the Pilgrims brought with them those prin- 
 ciples of freedom, in whose mature developement we claim su- 
 periority over all other nations — our boast — our peculiar pride. 
 Yet I believe all that is peculiar in the nature of our institutions 
 is wholly of American growth. The seeds which germinated 
 here are implanted in human nature, and were permitted to ex- 
 pand and grow up to healthy maturity from the necessity of the 
 case, arising out of the manner in which a body of men, equally 
 intelligent, equally vigorous, equally able to satisfy the wants of 
 nature, and all compelled to a degree of corporeal labor, were 
 thrown together in a new land. Such a position, which in a 
 measure carries society back to its elementary condition, is apt 
 to result in that excess of liberty which leads to misrule and li- 
 cence, and which, to use the expressive words of Winthrop, is 
 
24 
 
 not true liberty, but ' a distemper thereof.'* That anarchical 
 freedom, which renders it impracticable to enforce the edicts of 
 just authority, has always been a fruitful source of destruction to 
 colonial establishments. In New England, it was tempered by 
 the character of the people, accustomed to self denial and to sub- 
 jecting their desires to their sense of duty. Its action therefore 
 was strong but healthy. The leading men were inclined to an 
 aristocratic al civil government, which they said was according 
 to the light of nature and scripture, and conformed to the aris- 
 tocratical system of subordination which they believed the apos- 
 tles had ordained for the church. They were willing to elect 
 magistrates for life — to create an order of nobles. The spirit 
 which corrected these prejudices needed not to be brought from 
 the other side of the Atlantic. The free air of nature's wilds is 
 full of it. We breathe it on the mountain's side. It comes up 
 with the morning's mist from the meadow and the lake. J 
 
 Between the years 1670 and 1675, the era of the Pilgrims 
 may be deemed to have terminated. A few venerable men, the 
 Patriarchs of Dedham, were still here ; but the management of 
 affairs had fallen mostly into the hands of the second generation, 
 and a new era, less tranquil, less marked by forbearance and 
 love, less creditable in itself, yet the embryo of many of those 
 traits of American character, to which we are indebted for much 
 that is desirable in our present condition, had begun. The pas- 
 tor, Mr. Allin — the chief counsellor, Eleazer Lusher — and 
 Joshua Fisher, who kept the ordinary and was much in public af- 
 fairs, died near each other about this period. § It is not to be 
 
 * Winthrop's Journal vol 2, 229. The expression is applied by Winthrop 
 to unlawful exercise of authority, but is still more applicable to an unlawful 
 use of liberty. 
 
 X Appendix G. 
 
 } Appendix H. 
 
25 
 
 supposed that these men left, none behind them worthy to fill their 
 places, but their successors entered upon the charge of public 
 concerns under less favorable circumstances. The common bond 
 of perils past, of obstacles jointly encountered and overcome, with 
 the sweet participation in the fruits of united labors, did not en- 
 circle and bind together the sons, as it had done the fathers ; 
 and it must be acknowledged that the flame of religious zeal 
 burned more dimly in their bosoms. 
 
 They chose a new pastor, Mr. Adams, but they could not 
 trust to the liberality of private deposits in the contribution box, 
 for his support. Conscience began to prove an inefficient col- 
 lector of the ministerial tax. It became necessary to settle the 
 proportion of every individual."]" Yet the form of a contribution 
 each Lord's day was still kept up. 'And in case any shall be 
 at some time shortened in money, he shall put in for that time a 
 paper, wherein his name and his day's payment as shall be due 
 is entered ; which papers he shall once within one month take 
 out of the Deacon's hands and pay the debt. And every man 
 shall put his money in a paper each Lord's Day, and his name 
 written therein, and so deliver it into the box.' They erected a 
 new Meeting house, in size and convenience corresponding to 
 the increased wealth and population of the place ; but they could 
 not agree upon the manner of sitting in it. The rules of prece- 
 dence, by which the seats were distributed according to rank in 
 society, had become difficult of application. They grew uneasy 
 under the constraint of old formalities, as a man might under a 
 garment he had outgrown ; and the accurate measurement of 
 dignity, the nice calculation of personal importance, suited not 
 the new notions of equality which were dawning upon them. 
 
 t As early as 1630, there was a Colonial order that ministers should have 
 houses built for them and regular salaries paid them, but it was either re- 
 pealed or not enforced. Col. Record 1G30. 
 
 4 
 
2G 
 
 Having finished the house of worship, they wore careful to 
 have all things within and without in a state of neatness and pro- 
 priety. A new horse block is set up, a new publication post 
 provided and painted. The old building is sold 'to procure a 
 Terii to hang the bell in.' Loose stones are cleared away ; and 
 all persons ' forbid tying their horses to the meeting house lad- 
 der.' Those duties and responsibilities which we are accustom- 
 ed to devolve upon that general factotum, the Parish Sexton, 
 were divided among several. One functionary was appointed 
 ' to whip the dogs out of meeting, and to go of errands for the 
 reverend Elders, and also to take care of the cushion and glass.' 
 It was then ' agreed with the widow Dunkly and the widow El- 
 lis to procure the bell to be sufficiently ringed upon the Lord's 
 day, and in season, and to keep the meeting house clean, and 
 take care of the doors and windows that damage come not unto 
 the glass.' A graver dignitary was required to keep his eye 
 upon the boys during service ; they being seated in the broad 
 aisle, 'that they may be watched over according to law.'* 
 
 Alas ! that the humble school house, near by, should at this 
 time have been suffered to fall into decay, and that the ordinan- 
 ces of education, next in importance to those of religion, should 
 have been neglected. It is a mortifying fact that the Select- 
 men, who in the month of January 1674, delegated Daniel 
 Fisher to answer in behalf of the town which was presented 
 for being deficient in a Schoolmaster, were almost at the same 
 time, even the May following, obliged to notify the people, that 
 they were likely to be prosecuted for not enforcing the law 
 against excess in apparel. J 
 
 The great increase of population, the number of young men 
 who had become old enough to participate in public affairs, to- 
 
 * Town Records. 
 % Appendix I. 
 
r, 
 
 gether with the multiplication of conflicting interests, rendered 
 the government and regulation of the town, for many years af- 
 ter the death of the Pilgrims no easy or enviable duty. 
 
 The magistrates, instead of gracefully conforming their meas- 
 ures to the change of times, adopted that policy, which has, un- 
 der similar circumstances in national affairs, caused the over- 
 throw of more than one government. They revived old regula- 
 tions, and enforced them with greater strictness, in proportion as 
 they were unadapted to the altered condition of things ; and 
 amid the breaking up of ancient landmarks and the pouring in of 
 new elements, changing the face of society and requiring a cor- 
 responding change in public policy, they only clung to antiqua- 
 ted forms and obsolete laws with greater tenacity. The law against 
 the admission of strangers, under which Zerubbabel Phillips is 
 the only one I find by the early records to have been proceeded 
 against, is revived, and strictly enforced. Grown up children 
 are not allowed to sojourn even with their parents, without leave 
 obtained, on condition of good behavior, and a bond given 
 to save the town harmless from all charges on their account. 
 So of servants; and it was a matter of difficulty to get permis- 
 sion to retain them at any rate. Many are the applications on 
 the record accompanied with the brief adjudication — ' not grant- 
 ed.' Joseph Smith asks leave to have a journeyman to work 
 with him. 'Not allowed.' Another thinks it hard that he can- 
 not be permitted 'to entertain' a fair kinswoman. As soon as 
 notice is given that any strangers have appeared in town, a com- 
 mittee is chosen to wait upon them, not to perform the rites of 
 hospitality, but to bid them depart, as their tarrying in town is 
 'disallowed.' 
 
 In the year 1675, Dedham was in the full enjoyment of the 
 fruits of the wisdom and industry that distinguished the first set- 
 tlers. The fertile spots within the limits of the grant had been 
 
28 
 
 discovered and improved. One portion, which had been early 
 occupied, received in 1650 a distinct incorporation, and under 
 the name of Medfield was now a prosperous town. A settlement 
 had also been formed on the southern boundary in 1661, at a 
 place called Wollomonopeag; which, being found 'fit to carry on 
 a plantation in Church and Commonwealth ' became in 1673 the 
 town of Wrentham. On the West was the village of ' praying 
 Indian3,' to whom a tract of two thousand acres had been con- 
 veyed out of tho Dedham grant, where the experiment of civi- 
 lizing and christianizing was tried with a zeal and liberality of 
 means, never before or since equalled. The subjects of this 
 benevolent enterprise were a milder portion of the Indian race, 
 scattered parts of broken-up tribes, who, with less spirit and loft- 
 iness of character than existed among the nations yet entire and 
 under the rule of their hereditary chiefs, were on that account 
 more easily operated upon and moulded into the new character 
 intended for them. Their language was rude and imperfect. 
 The learned and superstitious Mather, finding it had no affinity 
 to or derivation from any language on earth, that he was ac- 
 quainted with, was surprised at some indications which seemed 
 to him to render it probable that it differed no less from that of 
 the regions under the earth. C I know not, (says he,) what 
 thoughts it will produce in my reader, when I inform him, that 
 once finding that a possessed young woman understood the Lat- 
 in, Greek, and Hebrew languages, my curiosity led me to mako 
 trial of this Indian language, and the Demons did seem as if they 
 did not understand it.'* 
 
 Yet this tongue, which thus puzzled the powers of darkness, 
 the indefatigable Eliot contrived to master, and translating the 
 Bible into it, laid the foundation, as he supposed, of a civilized 
 and christian community. 
 
 • Math, life of Eliot, vol. 1. p. 507. 
 
29 
 
 Although the subjects of these humane efforts occupied a part 
 of the original soil of Dedham, and were in other respects inti- 
 mately connected with its early history, time will not permit me 
 to enlarge upon their condition or ultimate fate. Mr. Allin, the 
 pastor of this town, was among Eliot's first and most earnest as- 
 sistants; frequent in his visits, preaching and praying among 
 them, and receiving some of their most interesting religious con- 
 fessions.* 
 
 These ' ruins of mankind,' as an old writer calls them, proved 
 troublesome neighbors. They would not confine themselves to 
 their own territories; and much controversy on that account 
 grew up between them and the Dedham people. § In their treat- 
 ment of the Indians, our fathers are said to have manifested ' an 
 awful respect to divine rules, '|j and certainly the doctrine of re- 
 turning good for evil was often put in practice towards the tribe 
 at Natic. Notwithstanding their frequent and vexatious en- 
 croachments, the town, in 1659, voted, ' That whereas it ap- 
 pears that the '2000 acres granted and laid out to the Indians at 
 Natic, does not take in the sawmill, in good part already built 
 by them, the town does farther grant to said Indians free liberty 
 to finish the same, and the free use of the stream whereupon it 
 stands.' And for their farther encouragement in this remarka- 
 ble undertaking, which seems not to have been noticed, if known, 
 by any writer, the town proceeds to grant them liberty to cut 
 any timber they may want, within the limits of Dedham, with the 
 
 * Appendix K. 
 
 i Voted, that Sarg't Richard Ellis have \l. 7s. 6d. for sarving two tach- 
 ments at Natic, and attending as a witness at Bostowne to that cause be- 
 twixt Dedham and ye Indians. Town Records 1C61. 
 
 || Hubbard M. S. N. Eng. eh. 1. 
 
30 
 
 simple proviso that it shall be cut from the common lands of the 
 town, and only taken as they have occasion to use it.* 
 
 This sawmill was never completed, and so entirely was the 
 attempt forgotten, that the accurate and minute historian of Na- 
 tic seems not to have been aware of the fact. The Indians are 
 said to have erected a meeting-house like the workmanship of 
 an English housewright, but it was with the aid and direction of 
 two carpenters from Boston. They did build a bridge over the 
 river, which, much to their pride and gratification, withstood a 
 freshet that carried away the bridges at Medfield. 
 
 In exchange for the two thousand acres conveyed to the use 
 of the Indians, the town received a grant from the General 
 Court of eight thousand acres, to be located any where within 
 the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, on lands not previously bestow- 
 ed. With a degree of taste and judgment most creditable to 
 those who made the selection, the beautiful and fertile position 
 now called Deerfield, then bearing the Indian name Pacomtuck, 
 was chosen, and the title of the natives thereto fairly and equita- 
 bly purchased. This Township was laid out in 1664, and, for 
 nearly ten years, Dedham sustained and governed its colony 
 with all the dignity and authority of a Lord Proprietary ."f 
 
 That doubtful and bloody contest, known as ' Philip's war,' 
 commenced in 1675. Indications of hostility had been increas- 
 ing since 1671. The first actual outrage was committed in 
 Dedham. A white man, shot through the body, was found in 
 the woods. The circumstance agitated the whole colony. An 
 Indian was arrested on suspicion, but whether executed or no 
 
 • The conduct of the Dedham people was quite the reverse of a disposi- 
 tion to encroach upon the rights of the Indians. They made it a point to 
 buy up every claim of theirs whether well founded or not. See account of 
 Indian deeds Appendix M. 
 
 t Appendix L. 
 
31 
 
 does not appear.* Then John Sansaman, the Indian schoolmas- 
 ter at Natic was murdered, he having acted as a spy upon Philip 
 and betrayed his councils. By this event the die was cast. 
 Philip, to whose agency the murder was directly traced, finding 
 himself detected threw off the mask, and began the war by an 
 attack upon Swansea. Massachusetts was not unprepared. Ded- 
 ham was not unprepared. The militia here had been equipped 
 and put in a posture for war, with a supply of powder, bullets, 
 and match, § two years before, and the inhabitants were encour- 
 aged to enlist in ' the troop,' early in 1675, by an abatement of 
 taxes; a kind of bounty that shows what substantial men entered 
 into the service. This troop, forming a distinct force, under the 
 command of Captain Prentice, was the first company engaged in 
 the war. On the 26th of June, they received the alarm of the 
 massacre at Swansea, where eight or nine men had been slain; 
 and although it was late in the afternoon, immediately set out, 
 intending to reach Woodcock's tavern in Wrentham that night. J 
 They were delayed on the way by an eclipse of the moon; and 
 1 some melancholy fancies would not be persuaded but that the 
 eclipse, falling out at that instant of time, was ominous; con- 
 ceiving also that in the centre of the moon they discovered an 
 unusual black spot, not a little resembling the scalp of an Indian. 
 Others, not long before, imagined they saw the form of an In- 
 dian bow, accounting that also ominous; although (says the nar- 
 rator) the mischief following was done by guns, and not by 
 bows. '|| Being joined by a body of volunteers under Captain 
 Mosely, they reached Philip's lands the next day a little before 
 night. Twelve of the troop, unwilling to lose time, passed at 
 
 * Hutch. Hist. Vol. 1, p. 283, note. 
 i Appendix M. 
 If. They set out from Boston. 
 || Hubbard's lnd. wars. 
 
32 
 
 once into his territories. They immediately received a fire from 
 the Indians concealed in the hushes. This they returned with 
 spirit. The savages soon fled, and the troopers retired for the 
 night, with the loss of one killed and one wounded. Such was 
 the first battle. Philip was soon pressed with so much energy 
 in that quarter, as to be compelled to change the scene of his 
 operations. The next assault was made by the Nipmuck In- 
 dians upon Mendon,* where they slew four or five persons,')' be- 
 ino- led by one Matoonas, supposed to be the father of him who 
 committed the murder in Dedham. The track of war then pas- 
 sed on by Brookfield to Connecticut river, into the neighborhood 
 of Deerfield, that thriving settlement, in which this town might 
 well feel all the interest of a parent. Thither the Massachusetts 
 forces hastened, and in that region were enacted some of the 
 bloodiest scenes of the war. The Dedham people would natur- 
 ally fly to the aid of their friends and kindred. Captain Mosely, 
 commanding the principal detachment, was well known to them ; 
 and Captain Beers, who with most of his company soon fell near 
 Deerfield, was a popular neighbor at Watertown. Many from 
 Dedham must have been out in that campaign. John Wilson, 
 John Genere, and Elisha Woodward, slain with Captain Beers, 
 belonged, I have no doubt, to this town; and among the victims 
 at Bloody Brook, was Robert Hinsdale, one of our earliest set- 
 tlers. 
 
 In December 1675, the combined forces of the three colonies, 
 led by Gen. Winslow, marched upon their disastrous, yet suc- 
 cessful expedition, against the Narragansetts. Those belonging 
 to Massachusetts on that occasion, consisting of six companies, 
 were collected together at Dedham. Here their muster rolls 
 
 * Holmes' Annals, vol. 1, p. 423. It was on the 14th July. 
 
 tTh'i8 according to Mather was the first blood ever shed within the lim- 
 its of Massachusetts in the way of hostility. Mather's lnd. wars, 5. 
 
 
 
S3 
 
 were made, and here Major Appleton assumed the command. J 
 What citizens of the place joined the enterprise, I do not know, 
 having been able to meet with but one muster roll out of the six. 
 The distinguished troop of Captain Prentice went with the other 
 forces, probably as volunteers, they not being drawn as part of 
 the regular proportion of this colony. 
 
 Defeated on Connecticut river, the savages again haunted our 
 more immediate neighborhood. Lancaster fell, and with it sev- 
 eral who had moved thither from this village. The turn of Med- 
 fleld came next,|| although garrisoned with 160 soldiers, not 300, 
 as sometimes represented. It was the very sense of security that 
 proved fatal to the inhabitants of that place. The town, like 
 most inland plantations, was overgrown with young wood, the 
 houses being seated in the midst of bushes. With the aid of 
 these, the savages were easily enabled secretly to convey them- 
 selves about the village after dark. Peering into the windows 
 from their covert of shrubbery, they doubtless watched every 
 movement of the unsuspecting inmates during that fatal nig 
 The soldiers were billeted about in different parts of the town, 
 and, after a dreary guard through the long hours of a February 
 night, as the first beam of day began to appear in the east, and 
 the morning light seemed hastening to relieve their weary watch, 
 might naturally give way to the weight of slumber pressing upon 
 their eyelids. Alas! this was the moment for which the vindic- 
 tive foe had waited with untiring patience. Then pealed the 
 deathshot through the windows, while the fierce tomahawk 
 found its way, mid fire and confusion, to innocent and trembling 
 bosoms. 
 
 The attack was simultaneous in all parts of the town. Eight- 
 een persons, men, women and children, were massacred, and 
 
 J Hubbard's Indian wars. 
 || 2Jst Feb. 7. Hub. lnd. wars 119. 
 5 
 
.34 
 
 more than forty houses burned, before the invader could be re- 
 pelled.§ 
 
 Soon after this event, John Monoco, or one-eyed John, made 
 his famous boast at Groton. He said he had burned Lancaster 
 and Medfield, was then burning Groton, and would next burn 
 Chelmsford, Concord, Watertown, Cambridge, Roxbury, Bos- 
 ton — adding, ' what me will me do.'|j In this threat he has quite 
 neglected Dedham. But the omission was probably a matter of 
 policy, to put the people off their guard, as Indians were con- 
 stantly detected lurking in the neighboring woods. If such was 
 the intent, it failed most signally of its object. Except in the 
 instance of Medfield, they never approached this region without 
 reason to lament their rashness. They met with a notorious re- 
 pulse on the confines of Medway. A party attempting to sur- 
 prise Wrentham were discovered, and almost wholly destroyed* 
 Old Woodcock's gun is said to have brought down one of them 
 at the distance of eighty rods. Medfield redeemed her charac- 
 ter by such a vigorous attack upon a body of them, that they 
 never dared to show their faces in that quarter afterwards. Still 
 worse fortune befel them nearer this village. In one instance, 
 they were set upon and a negro taken captive, who informed of 
 an intended assault upon Taunton, to which place notice being 
 seasonably sent, the foe was repulsed and the town saved. | In 
 another instance, venturing too near, they were attacked and 
 seven of them killed and taken, among whom was the Sachem 
 
 } Hubbard's Ind. wars. 
 
 || Hubbard. He was hanged in Boston 1676. 
 
 * Wrentham was afterwards burned by the Indians and the inhabitants 
 did not return till 1680. Hubbard. 
 
 t Math. vol. 2, p. 497. 
 
of the faithless tribe al Springfield,J and also a Sachem of the 
 Narragansetfs. 
 
 As it was the fortune of Dedham to be particularly connected 
 with the events that immediately led to the breaking out of the 
 war, so had it the honor of an exploit which contributed more 
 than any single occurrence, perhaps, next to the death of Philip, 
 to bring it to a close. Poniham, Sachem of Shaomet, (now 
 Warwick R. I.) was probably the only chieftain, except Philip, 
 possessing sufficient energy and talent to have united the scat- 
 tered tribes and infused into them his own spirit and courage. 
 He was a double traitor. He had quarrelled with Miantonomo, 
 chief Sachem of the Narragansetts, to whom he was tributary, 
 and voluntarily subjected himself to the Colonial Government for 
 the sake of protection. When the war began, he joined Philip, 
 and became next to him the most dreaded of the Indian warri- 
 ors. || He was slain by a party of the Dedham and Medfield 
 people, on the 25th of July 1676. Fifty of his band were made 
 prisoners, but he, refusing to be taken alive, was slain, raging like 
 a wild beast. § The death of Philip, eighteen days after, soon 
 brought this destructive war to a close. 
 
 The sons of the pilgrims inherited from their fathers a deci- 
 dedly martial spirit. Not that the love of military fame found a 
 place in the bosoms of the puritans. They did not ' seek the 
 bubble repuiation at the cannon's mouth.' It was not chivalry in 
 the usual sense of the word that excited them to bold exploits. 
 
 f The Springfield Indians had lived in so good correspondence with the 
 English for 40 years, that more dependence was placed upon them than up- 
 on any other Indians. In consequence of their perfidy the Natics and oth- 
 ers called ' praying Indians,' falling under suspicion, were sent under wuard 
 to Deer Island, where they remained during t the winter, ;ind suffered much 
 hardship. Hutch. Hist. 
 
 U Math. vol. 2, p. 407. 
 'Even Philip was scarcely more feared than he.' Thatcher's Ind Biog. 
 
 $ Hubbard's Ind. wars. p. 131. 
 
36 
 
 Their courage had little of romance in it. It may rather he 
 termed a general disposition to encounter and overcome obsta- 
 cles; such a spirit of comhativeness as animated Martin Luther, 
 and must ever be a leading characteristic of all earnest and suc- 
 cessful reformers, guiding the pen in intellectual conflicts with 
 the same energy that discards bodily fear in a contest with the 
 sword. Archbishop Laud called the Pilgrims, ' men of refrac- 
 tory humours.' The firmness of some may have assumed the 
 form of dogged resistance or obstinate endurance ; but in more 
 there was a stern and active resolution, that went out to meet 
 danger, and breasted opposition manfully. Kindled by religious 
 enthusiasm, it produced an elevation of feeling such as led the cov- 
 enanters into battle, on the moors of Scotland, with a sneer upon 
 their lips, in scorn of all that mere human strength, or the weap- 
 ons of worldly warfare, could accomplish against them. The 
 same compound of moral and physical nerve, which enabled our 
 foremothers to sleep quietly in their lonely houses, with the not 
 improbable chance of being roused by the yells of the unsparing 
 savage, whom their husbands and sons had gone far away to 
 encounter, led these husbands and sons to march against the foe, 
 unsustained by the pomp and circumstance of modern military 
 movements, in small parties of twenty or thirty, through the si- 
 lent paths of the unexplored forest, seeking an enemy that in 
 numbers treble or quadruple their own, might be hid in this 
 thicket, or that swamp, where they could not tell, till a volley 
 ringing from their dark recesses should lay in the dust perhaps 
 half of their little company, whose remnant must charge upon an 
 unseen foe intrenched behind their natural fortifications of trees 
 and bushes. But, in addition to these traits of firmness, our an- 
 cestors were not wholly unconscious of ' the stern joy that war- 
 riors feel,' and many were there among them, besides Slandish 
 and Church, who stood in the way of peril as we might stand in 
 
37 
 
 a summers breeze, enjoying the grateful excitement of its 
 presence. 
 
 With less, it may be, of fortitude and power of endurance, the 
 second and third generations had, perhaps, greater love of ad- 
 venture, and were easily induced to engage in military expedi- 
 tions, to which they could not be considered as called by patri- 
 otism or imperious sense of duty. The Dedham people partook 
 largely of that spirit, and scarce an enterprise of importance was 
 undertaken by the colony, in which this town was not numerous- 
 ly represented. In 1741, an expedition against the Spanish 
 West-India settlements was ordered by the English Government. 
 Massachusetts furnished 500 men on that occasion, of whom but 
 fd'ty ever returned, a fatal disease having swept off a large por- 
 tion of the army.* Six men, from the South Parish alone of this 
 town, were among those who perished. 
 
 In 1745, Gov. Shirley projected an attack upon Louisburgh, 
 a French *brt on the island of Cape Breton, near Nova Scotia. 
 This fortification had been twenty-five years in building, and was 
 deemed so strong and impregnable as to be called the Dunkirk 
 of America. It was surrounded by a rampart of stone more than 
 thirty feet high, and a ditch eighty feet wide. It mounted one 
 hunched and forty-eight cannon and six mortars.§ The enter- 
 prise seemed so rash that most of the colonies refused to join in 
 it. Sir William Pepperel, who commanded the forces, had resi- 
 ded in Dedham; and it was probably from a personal acquaint- 
 ance thus formed that Mr. Balch, minister, of the South Parish, 
 was induced to accompany him in the capacity of chaplain. 
 Many of our citizens also served as soldiers. This undertaking, 
 which astonished all Europe, was completely successful. It ena- 
 bled Britain to purchase a peace with France. Yet such a bril- 
 
 * Holmes' Annals. 
 J Holmes' Annals, 
 
38 
 
 iant exploit, ' planned by a lawyer, and executed by a merchant, 
 at the head of a body of farmers and mechanics,' was too great 
 to be simply admired; and is said to have excited envy and jeal- 
 ousy in England towards the Colonies. When this fort was 
 taken anew, by the British, [thirteen years afterwards, it was 
 deemed so great an achievement, that the colors and other troph- 
 ies were carried to England and deposited with great pomp in 
 St. Paul's Cathedral; and a form of thanksgiving was ordered 
 to be used in all the churches.|| 
 
 In the last French war, from 1755 to 1763, a sufficient num- 
 ber of Dedham people were out to have formed a very respecta- 
 ble company by themselves. In a list of fifty-two men employed 
 in that service, almost all of our ancient families may find their 
 names represented; many of them more than once.* It is said 
 that at this period one third of all the effective men in Massachu- 
 setts were in some way engaged in the war.| 
 
 During the first historical division which I have assumed, we 
 beheld a community of foreigners, in whose minds the idea of 
 home, that word of early days, was associated with different and 
 far remote scenes. The second, embracing a whole century, 
 from 1675 to 1775, exhibits the nonage of a young nation, sub- 
 mitting with increasing impatience to the restraints of colonial 
 guardianship. The third, upon which I shall not enter, is the 
 history of an independent people. After the year 1700, the Ded- 
 ham records are filled with evidences of those struggles which 
 
 || Holmes 1 Annals. 
 
 * See Appendix. Communication from Hon. Wm. Ellis, containing the 
 names of men engaged in military service at different periods, from Dedham. 
 
 t Dr. Nath'l Ames, in his Almanac of 1756 speaks thus of the army : 
 ' Behold our camp ! from fear, from Vice refined, 
 Not of the Filth, but Flower of human kind ! 
 Mothers their Sons, Wives lend their Husbands there ! 
 Brethren, ye^have^our Hearts, our Purse, our Prayer.' 
 
39 
 
 always attend the dismemberment of an overgrown town, during 
 the process of" separating and defining the new corporations that 
 spring up within its limits. Besides Medfield and Wrentham, 
 Dedham gave birth to Needham, Bellingham, Walpole, Frank- 
 lin, Dover and Natic* After many and long efforts to stretch 
 the pastoral wing of a single church over the remaining limits of 
 the town, and to distribute the advantages of education, by send- 
 ing a circuit school to hold its sessions in different neighbor- 
 hoods, distinct parishes were at length formed; a measure which 
 contributed much to the harmony of the town. 
 
 It is proper to extend our reminiscences to those public events 
 of a civil nature, in which the people of this place have taken a 
 part, and are entitled to a share of whatever honour may be at- 
 tached to them. 
 
 There is something in the meagre account that has come down 
 to us of the first pastor of this town extremely puzzling. A no- 
 ted man he undoubtedly was, and for a long period ; yet his pri- 
 vate history is almost wholly lost. He is represented as re- 
 markable for his mild and gentle temperament, yet he was con- 
 stantly placed in the front rank, on occasions requiring energy 
 and spirit as well as discretion. At the first great trial of the 
 firmness of this Colony in sustaining her liberties and asserting 
 her rights, when in f 646 the Long Parliament was inclined to en- 
 courage appeals from the authorities here, and a factious party 
 in New England attempted to subvert the charter and introduce 
 a general governor from abroad; J at this juncture, the Gen. Court 
 having called upon the Clergy for advice and assistance, the El- 
 ders of all the Churches met for consultation, and selected Mr. 
 
 • Worthington's Hist. 
 
 ^ There were attempts made in 1635, and also in 1638 to revoke the char- 
 ter, but the people seem not to have been then very apprehensive of losing 
 their rights. 
 
40 
 
 Allin to present the result of their deliberations. 'We conceive,' 
 (says he in the report,) 'that we have, by our patent, full and am- 
 ple power of choosing all officers that shall command and rule 
 over us, — of making all laws and rules of our obedience, — and a 
 full and final determination of all cases in the administration of 
 justice — that no appeals or other ways of interrupting our pro- 
 ceedings do lie against us ; and if the Parliament should be less 
 inclinable to us, we must wait upon Providence for the preserva- 
 tion of our just liberties.'* Had the measures which struck at 
 the very life and foundation of the rising Commonwealth suc- 
 ceeded, (says a late historian,)! the whole tenor of American 
 history would have been changed. Fortunately, through the 
 firmness of the General Court and Clergy, and the prudence of 
 Mr. Winslow, who was sent to England on a commission by the 
 Colony, the danger was averted, and those who had appealed 
 from our Government were compelled to humble themselves 
 before it.[| 
 
 These troubles had been occasioned mainly by religious dif- 
 ferences, and it was deemed expedient to summon a Synod for 
 their adjustment. Here Mr. Allin, who seems to have been a 
 leading mind through the whole of this period, was called on to 
 preach; and gave, according to Winthrop, out of Acts 15th, ' a 
 very godly, learned and particular handling of near all the doc- 
 trines and applications to that subject, with a clear discovery 
 and refutation of such errors, objections, and scruples, as had 
 been raised about it by some young heads in the country. '§ At 
 this convention was framed the famous Cambridge Platform, 
 
 * Winthrop. 
 
 | Bancroft. 
 
 || Mr. Allin advanced the money to pay the expenses of this embassy. See 
 Appendix N. 
 
 v Winthrop's Hist. 
 
 
41 
 
 which, for a long period, was considered as the religious consti- 
 tution of the New England Colonies. 
 
 When sundry complaints against the Colony again endanger- 
 ed its charter, after the accession of Charles II. to the throne of 
 England, and it became necessary to send out the celebrated 
 John Norton and Simon Bradstreet, ' to take off all scandal 
 and objections, and to see that nothing was done that might be 
 prejudicial to the charter,' the business talents of Eleazer Lusher 
 were put in requisition in preparing their instructions and pro- 
 viding funds for meeting their expenses. In connection with 
 them and some others, he had been engaged during a recess of 
 the Legislature, in drawing up a declaration of the rights of the 
 Colony, which was afterwards adopted by the Court; and now 
 he was on a committee to whom the whole arrangement of this 
 important embassy seems to have been entrusted His hand- 
 writing, with which every person who has examined our early 
 state papers must be familiar, may be found in many of the acts, 
 reports and resolutions, of that and other periods.* The doings 
 of Norton and Bradstreet did not please the people. They were 
 charged with being ' too compliant,' with having ' laid the found- 
 ation of ruin to all our liberties,' and it was strongly intimated 
 by some of the malcontents, that Mr. Allin, meek and gentle as 
 he is represented to be, would have done better in that service. § 
 
 The next great crisis in the liberties of the Colony, occurred 
 when Randolph, ' the evil genius of New England,' was engaged 
 in those hostile measures which resulted in the subversion of the 
 charter. The case grew desperate. Many were discouraged. 
 Gov. Bradstreet, and some others, were for making a merit of 
 necessity and submitting to the encroachments of the Biitish 
 
 * Hutchinson —In 16G6, 500 acres of land near Sudbury were by order of 
 the Court laid out to ' the worshipful Eleazer Lusher, as a reward for his 
 public services. Col. Rec. 
 
 $ Hutchinson , vol. 1 , p. 222, note. See Appendix 0. 
 6 
 
42 
 
 Government. Another party, with the Deputy Governor Pan- 
 forth, were for adhering to the charter according to their con- 
 struction of it, and ' leaving the event.''* Here was the origin of 
 the two parties, Patriots and Prerogative men, or, as they would 
 now be called, Whigs and Tories, between whom, says Minot in 
 his history of Massachusetts, controversy seldom intermitted, and 
 was never ended until the separation of the two countries. Dan- 
 iel Fisher, the representative from Pedliam, then speaker of the 
 house, was the leader of the Patriots among the Deputies. He 
 was one of the four whose impeachment, says Randolph in a 
 letter to the Earl of Clarendon, ' trill make the whole faction Iron- 
 ble.'S, 
 
 Then follows the third remarkable period in the history of 
 American resistance to arbitrary power. The charter was dis- 
 solved in 1686, and soon after Sir Edmund Andros was appoint- 
 ed Governor. His administration was grievous oppression.^ 
 In 1689, an indirect rumor having arrived, by the way of Vir- 
 ginia, of the landing of the Prince of Orange in England, and 
 the consequent revolution in the government there, the people, 
 without waiting for a confirmation, determined to take its truth 
 for granted, and simultaneously set about accomplishing a revo- 
 lution of their own. On the morning of the 18th of April the town 
 of Boston was in arms. The Governor and Council were seized 
 and confined, and the old magistrates reinstated. The country 
 people came into town in such rage and heat, as made all trem- 
 ble to think what would follow. Nothing would satisfy them but 
 that the t Governor must be bound in chains or cords and put in 
 a more secure place; || and for their quiet he was guarded by 
 
 * Hutchinsoi.'s Hist. 
 { Hutchinson's Hist. — note. 
 
 X He declared the title to lands here to have beconre void by the dissolu- 
 tion of the Charter, and exacted heavy sums for the repurchase of them. 
 || Hutchinson's Hist. 
 
 
43 
 
 them to the Fort. Whoso hand was on the collar of (hat pris- 
 oner, leading him through the excited crowd, at once securing 
 him from escape and guarding him from outrage? It was the 
 hand of Daniel Fisher of Dedham;* aye ' a second Daniel come 
 to judgment,' a sou of the former, and heir of his energetic ar- 
 dor in the cause of freedom.^ 
 
 As the last struggle against foreign imposition and despotic 
 exaction approached, and the American people were stimulating 
 and encouraging each other for the final effort; when the sunny 
 shores of independence were in view, but a dark and bloody 
 stream of contest and revolution lay between, into which they 
 were preparing to plunge, no town in the country went beyond 
 Dedham in the tirm and decided measures proposed and sustain- 
 ed by its people. Yon monumental stone, once surmounted by 
 a comely pillar aud patriotic bust, consecrated to Liberty and 
 Liberty's friend, will with its renewed inscription this day de- 
 clare to the passers by, what spirit animated them in 1766. f 
 The town records overflow with patriotic resolutions; and so dif- 
 ficult was it for the citizens here to comprehend how an individ- 
 ual of common understanding could make use of tea, after the 
 odious attempts to raise a revenue from it, that, in one of their 
 resolves, they close a storm of indignation and contempt, direct- 
 ed partly against the article itself, and partly against those who 
 had not self denial enough to abandon it — by pronouncing its 
 use an act of ' flagrant — stupidity. y \\ 
 
 * Wo rtlii niton's Hist. 
 
 § Had the rumor of the revolution in England, which was a very uncer- 
 tain one, proved incorrect, the consequences would have been serious 
 to those engaged in this revolt. Even as it was, the British government took 
 the matter into consideration ; but it was deemed rather absurd to punish 
 the Americans f«r following an example which had been set by themselves. 
 
 t This Stone was the pedestal of a column erected in honour of William 
 Pitt, Earl of Chatham, as a Ivutimony of gratitude for hie efforts in behalf of 
 the Colonies. 
 
 U Town Records, 1774, 
 
11 
 
 The details of that interesting period cannot be comprehended 
 within the scope of a discourse intended to be so general as this. 
 There are annual occasions consecrated to the commemoration 
 of that national declaration of independence and assertion of the 
 rights of man, whose prototype had often been proclaimed in the 
 unostentatious meetings of humble towns, and entered upon the 
 pages of their simple records. 
 
 Samuel Dexter, known in history as the elder, but to us as 
 the second of that name, then guided the councils of the Ded- 
 ham people at home, and represented their views in the General 
 Court. His name stands by the side of those of Otis, Bowdoin, 
 the two Adamses, Havvley, Hancock, and Quincy, the most ac- 
 tive and influential men, applying their combined talents in sup- 
 port of charter rights, and the liberties of the people.* In this 
 association of patriotic spirits, his pen was among the busiest, 
 and his vigorous mind among the most earnest in controverting 
 arbitrary doctrines by the force of reason, and enlightening the 
 people on the subject of their rights and capacities. In the same 
 honorable company he received the proscription of the royal 
 Governor, who more than once was called upon to say, that by 
 his Majesty's command he negatived the election of Samuel 
 Dexter to the Council. f 
 
 On the 6th of September 1774, a convention of Delegates 
 from every town and district in the county of Suffolk, was as- 
 sembled at the house of Richard Woodward, in Dedham, ' to 
 deliberate and determine upon all such matters as the distressed 
 circumstances of the Colony may require.'! To this grave As- 
 sembly, met upon its own soil, for the discussion of such weighty 
 matters, the town sent five delegates. Those who now, or in 
 
 * Bradford's Hist, of Mass. 
 
 j Appendix P. 
 
 | This Convention was adjourned to Milton. 
 
45 
 
 after times, shall examine the journal of tho earliest Continental 
 Congress in search of the first recorded resolution to try the is- 
 sue with Great Britain, if need be at the point of the sword, will 
 find the doings of this Convention entered at length upon its 
 pages, appearing as the medium through which the object of 
 their assembling was first presented to their deliberations, and 
 serving as the basis of their subsequent proceedings. The house 
 of Richard Woodward most of us remember. In it was born 
 Fisher Ames. Was it also the birth place of the American 
 revolution? 
 
 There are a few yet living, some perhaps may be present, 
 who can recal the excitement of the scenes that followed, of 
 gloom without and light within. We at this day can hardly re- 
 alize the force of that zeal, which, raging in the bosoms of the 
 brave, woke unwonted valor in the hearts of the timid, and kin- 
 dled woman's milder fortitude into masculine daring. 
 
 We cannot foresee the events that lie hid in the undeveloped 
 future. Occasions may arise when the American people will 
 again be called upon to sacrifice comfort, possessions, life, upon 
 the altar of freedom. I trust we shall not be found wanting in 
 generous devotion whenever brought to the test. Yet hardly 
 again can Ave expect to see the whole community animated by 
 the same spirit, when from every hamlet in the land shall flow 
 an equal stream of fervid enthusiasm, uniting in one great tor- 
 rent of solemn earnest resolution. We are in the manhood of our 
 political existence. The simplicity of childhood, perhaps the ar- 
 dent generosity of youth, are past. A calmer balancing of consid- 
 erations, colder calculations of interest, will hereafter mingle with 
 the best and purest services in the cause of our country. It is 
 not given to nations any more than to individuals to experience a 
 second period of unsophisticated impulses. No overgrown, vo- 
 luptuous, or even populous nation, could conduct to successful 
 
4G 
 
 completion a revolution in favor of liberty. This continent, now 
 teeming with its rich harvest of progressive population, may 
 hereafter be made desolate, and another career of renewed 
 growth be begun in the freshness of youth; but that will be a 
 new people, the subjects of a new history. 
 
 The 19th of April found the Dedham people prepared with 
 five companies of militia or infantry, and an association of vete- 
 rans, who had done service twenty years before against the 
 French. These last, roused by the familiar sounds of war 
 which had stirred their young blood at Ticonderoga, Fort Ed- 
 ward, and Fort William Henry, were ready now to peril what 
 was left of life in a more sacred contest. 
 
 The news of the battle of Lexington reached the village a lit- 
 tle after nine o'clock in the morning. It came in by the way of 
 Needham and Dover, having in its course sent off all who could 
 bear arms, as by an electric impulse, to the scene of action, hur- 
 rying them towards Lexington, as if the foe were driving instead 
 of attracting them. The companies here, when enough could 
 be mustered of their numbers to form a plattoon, hastened to the 
 combat, leaving others to follow, in squads of half a dozen, as 
 they happened to collect together. Capt. Joseph Guild led the 
 minute men, and meeting with one on the road who declared the 
 alarm to be false, he seized him with his own hand, gagged him 
 and left him under the charge of one of his men, lest the report 
 should reach more willing ears and find readier credence. 
 Lieut. George Gould, Capt. William Bullard, Lieut. William 
 Ellis, and Capt. Ebenezer Battle, commanded the other compa- 
 nies. But the most interesting spectacle was presented by the 
 corps of veterans, the relics of former conflicts, who assembled 
 on the green in front of this house. Here they were met by the 
 Rev. Mr. Gordon of Roxbury, who had left his home from ap- 
 prehensions of personal danger. He, ascending the steps of the 
 
47 
 
 ancient meeting house, invoked the blessing of Heaven on their 
 enterprise. The grey headed warriors then began their march, 
 leaving the town, almost literally, without a male inhabitant be- 
 low the age of seventy and above that of sixteen. How could 
 the event of that day have been other than it was, when the 
 sanctifying influence of religious trust consecrated the courage 
 of the patriot and the soldier. We have the authority of Wash- 
 ington for saying, that, had the retreat of the British troops been 
 delayed one half hour, they must have been totally cut off.* 
 
 Of those who had an opportunity to participate in the action, 
 one from Dedham, Elias Haven, was killed, and one, Israel Ev- 
 erttt, wounded. He who stood by the side of Elias Haven when 
 he fell, yet survives, at the venerable age of ninety.']; 
 
 We have then arrived at the generation of the living. As 
 memory begins to take the place of history, events multiply, and 
 incidents crowd upon each other too fast to be properly noticed 
 on this occasion, more appropriate to the recollections of remo- 
 ter times. I have reached the limits within which I intended to 
 confine myself. Yet gladly would I dwell upon later events not 
 less worthy of commemoration. The struggle for liberty, whose 
 beginning the people of this place so earnestly encouraged, they 
 did not forget to sustain with their resources and personal servi- 
 ces. Nor in more peaceful days that followed the achievement 
 of national independence, have there been wanting men whose 
 talents have reflected honor upon the home of their ancestors. 
 
 Can I speak of Fisher Ames and not rouse an echo from 
 'every log-cabin beyond the mountains'! With us he lived, 
 with us he died, but it is not for us to appropriate the rich patri- 
 mony of his reputation. His eloquence and his fame are the in- 
 heritance of his country. The name of Samuel Dexter, first 
 
 * Washington's Letters. 
 
 { Mr. Aaron Wincing of Dover, since dead. 
 
48 
 
 connected with him who one hundred years ago stood in this 
 place and gathered up the reminiscencies of the previous centu- 
 ry,;}; has in our own time heen associated with commanding elo- 
 quence, and intellectual vigor, rarely excelled.* 
 
 Citizens of Dedham ! you will find in your history much to 
 gratify a just pride, much to excite honorable emulation. By in- 
 telligent and godly ancestors was this town planted ; by a manly 
 and virtuous race has it been nourished and sustained. Its sons 
 have fought the battles of their country — they have led in its 
 councils. At no time, in no manner, have they failed to contrib- 
 ute an honorable share of the talent, the patriotism, the domes- 
 tic virtues, which created and have built up this great republic. 
 
 May such be the verdict that posterity shall pass upon us and 
 our descendants, when the close of another century shall summon 
 a new generation to a new commemoration. 
 
 £ The Rev. Samuel Dexter preached a Discourse partly historical at the 
 close of the first Century from the oiganization of the Church, which was 
 printed. Appendix Q. 
 
 » Sam'l Dexter, late Sec'y at War. 
 
NOTE A. Sec page 10. 
 
 There having been some difference of opinion in regard to the 
 most proper time for commemorating the settlement of Dedham, 
 I have put down all the events and circumstances which have 
 come within my knowledge relating thereto, and tending to elu- 
 cidate the subject. They are as follows. 
 
 About the middle of May 1635, the inhabitants of Watertown 
 and Roxbury had leave to remove whither they pleased, within 
 the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Colony Records, 
 
 Winthrop's Journ. vol. 1, p. 160. 
 
 Next, under date of Sept. 2, 1635, Col. Record, we find, ' It 
 is ordered that there shall be a plantacon settled aboute two 
 miles above the falls of Charles river, on the northeast side 
 thereof, to have ground lying to it on both sides the river, both 
 upland and meadow, to be laid out hereafter as the Court shall 
 appoint.' Also, ' Ordered that there shall be a plantation at 
 Musketaquid to be called Concord, &c.' It is to these orders 
 that Winthrop refers in his journal, Sept. 1635, where he says, 
 
 ' At this Court there was granted to Mr. Buckley and 
 
 merchant, and about 12 families more, to begin a town at Muske- 
 taquid, &c. Jl toam teas also begun above the falls of Charles Riv- 
 er.' Winth. vol. 1, p. 167. 
 
 The next notice of the future town of Dedham is in the Col. 
 Record, March 5, 1635. ' Ens. Jennison, Mr. Danforth, and 
 Mr. Wm. Spencer, are deputed to set out the bounds of the new 
 plantacon above Charles River against all other towns that join 
 upon it. And each town is permitted to send one of their mem- 
 bers to accompany them — also they are to view the meadow 
 
 7 
 
50 
 
 aboute the blue lulls, to inform the next Gen. Court to what towns 
 it may most conveniently bo layd.' Here it should be remem- 
 bered that the year by the old method of division began on the 
 25th of March. 
 
 On 'the 13th of the 2d month (Ma) I 1636, ' the above named 
 persons make their report. ' Wee whose names are under 
 written being appointed by the Gen. Court, to set out the bounds 
 of the new towne upon Charles ryver, do agree that the bounds 
 of the towne shall run from the markt tree by Charles ryver on 
 the northwest side of Roxbury bounds one mile and a half north- 
 east, and from thence three miles northwest, and so from thence 
 live miles southwest — and on the. southwest side ol Charles Ryver 
 from the southeast side of itoxbuiy bounds to inn Four miles on 
 a southwest line, reserving the proprieties to several persons 
 granted by special order of Court.' 
 
 WILLIAM SPENCER. 
 NICHOLAS DANFORTH. 
 WILLIAM JENNISON. 
 
 The proprieties here mentioned were probably grants which 
 had been made by the Court to individuals who had idled public 
 offices, as extra compensation. The custom was common. In 
 1634, John Haynes, Thos. Dudley, Samuel Dudley, and Daniel 
 Dennison had lands granted them above the falls on the easterly 
 side of Charles River. Col. Records. These lands were after- 
 wards made a part of Dedham, being purchased by the inhabi- 
 tants. The persons above named were all men of great distinc- 
 tion in the Colony. 
 
 We now come to the town records. 
 
 The first leaf of the earliest book is missing, but it is alluded 
 to as containing a copy of the petition to the Gen. Court for a 
 confirmation of their grant, and the Court order thereon. The 
 outside of the second leaf is numbered page 3d. The word Con- 
 tentment is written at the top near one corner, but has lines drawn 
 through it and the word Dedham written above it. There is 
 then the record of a meeting headed ' The loth August 163fc, 
 being ye 6th month. Assembled whose names are hereunder 
 written,' (then follows a list of 18 names) ' and with one accord 
 agreed upon these conclusions following.' These relate to the 
 kind of persons that shall be admitted to the Society — to the giv- 
 ing of information concerning applicants for admission — .he im- 
 position of fines for the non-observance of rules and the freedom 
 of all waters in the town for fishing. It is then added, ' Got out 
 and measured by Thomas Bartlett, Lotts for several men as fol- 
 loweth ' — then are named seven men, to whom are granted twelve 
 acres each. ' All these confirmed at this meeting, and are abut- 
 ted as by the particulars in full appe'th.' Grants are then made 
 
to several other persons; among the resl to Edward Jtlleyn, of 
 island and meadow, &.c. The record of this meeting occupies tho 
 3d and 4th pages. On the 5th pain 1 , the word Contentment is 
 written and erased, and Dedham written as before. The head- 
 ing is ' 163< 29th of ye 6th month, called August.' Assem- 
 bled, &.c. 18 ji rsons named ; but not all the same individuals as 
 before. ! [ere follow some more ' conclusions. 5 Such as that 
 single men shall have but eight acres for a house-lot, &c. and 
 that 'the next meeting shall be upon ye c 2<] day of ye next month, 
 at ye 6th hour in ye morning, at .John Gay's house.' This rec- 
 ord occupies one page. The next record, on the 6th page, is 
 headed, ' The 6th of ye 7th month, called September, 1636. As- 
 sembled, &c.' 19 names. ' All these being assembled, subscri- 
 bed their names unto a petition unto ye General Courte, for con- 
 tinuation of our Giant — to be comprehended into our towne 
 whatsoever is left from all former grants on that side of Charles 
 River, and five miles square upon ye other side of ye said River, 
 with certeyne privileges of exemption from country charges for 
 four years. 1 ' Confirmed unto Edward Alleyn that little Island, 
 &c. before granted at ye first meeting.' An order is passed about 
 mending 'ye foule swarnpe;' and it is mentioned that after the 
 meeting was dissolved, Robt. Feke subscribed his name, and 
 Thos. Hastings and John Huggen did the like in Boston. ' So 
 that all the names of those who are admitted to our Society are 
 subscribe 1 thereto. The copy of which petition is in ye begin- 
 ning of this booke, as aiso the Court order upon the same.' 
 
 A copy of this petition and order was found on a leaf appa- 
 rently torn from the Records, at the house of John Bullard, Esq. 
 together with other valuable papers hereafter referred to. 
 
 On the I Oth September, 1(1.^6, the General Court ordered, 
 ' that the plantacion to be settled above the falls of Charles Ryv- 
 er, shall have three yeares immunity from publike charges, as 
 Concord had, to be accounted from the first of Maye next, and 
 the name of the said plantacion shall be Dedham. To injoye all 
 that "Lands on the Easterly and Southerly side of Charles River, 
 not formerly granted unto any Towne or particular person. — 
 And also to have five miles square on ye other side of the River.' 
 
 Col. Record. 
 
 There is the record of another meeting in September, one on 
 the 25th November, and one on the 31st December, at which 
 various regulations are adopted, and grants of lands made. In 
 the record of the last meeting we find this resolution: ' Whereas 
 certeyne of our company are gone up to inhabite this winter at our 
 towne of Dedham, and that other materials are not well to be 
 had for the closing in of their houses in such a season, we do 
 therefore give liberty only for excry such inhabitant abovesaid 
 
52 
 
 to make use of clapboards to any parte of his house for his pres- 
 ent necessity, &.C.' After two more meetings, one in January 
 and the other in February, we come to the record of a meeting 
 on the 23d of the first month, called March, 1636-7, which be- 
 gins thus, ' The first Assembly in Dedham,' &.c. proceeding to 
 name those who were present. 
 
 I should infer from the foregoing facts, that after leave was 
 given, in May 1635, for the inhabitants of Watertown and Rox- 
 bury to remove, this place having been examined and found fa- 
 vorable for a town, notice was given to the General Court, which 
 caused the order first quoted, September 2, 1635; that after the 
 laying out of the town by the Committee, as appears by their re- 
 port of K3th May, 1636, certain persons, who intended to locate 
 themselves here, came together August 15th, 1636, for the pur- 
 pose of a mutual understanding, and to begin the distribution of 
 village lots: That on the 6th September, 1636, being ready to 
 proceed with their settlement, they requested of the General 
 Court a confirmation and enlargement of their grant, the ap- 
 pointment of a constable, and an immunity from public charges, 
 as was usual at the beginning of new towns. The act of the le- 
 gislature, in consequence of that petition, 10th September, 1636, 
 may fairly enough be considered as creating the town, the com- 
 pany of settlers being then first legally organized. 
 
 It would also seem from expressions in the records, that the 
 earlier meetings were not held upon the spot, but probably in 
 Watertown; the first Assembly or town meeting in Dcdham be- 
 inc on the 23d of March, the last day but one of the year 1636. 
 The place being so near to Watertown and Roxbury as to admit 
 of going backwards and forwards from one to the other in the 
 same day, the people would be likely to build their houses; and 
 make comfortable arrangements, before moving their families. 
 When a majority of the company were established, the books, in 
 which their transactions were recorded, would naturally follow 
 them. Several of the persons, named as present at the first 
 meetings, did not reside in Dedham for some time afterwards, 
 and some never came at all. The gradual manner in which the 
 settlement of the town proceeded will explain why no distinct ac- 
 count of its commencement is to be found in history. Had a 
 body of men emigrated at once from some other place and loca- 
 ted themselves here, as was the case at Concord and other re- 
 mote towns, the fact would have been noticed in the annals of 
 the time. 
 
 There are two circumstances which, unless explained, indicate 
 the presence of inhabitants here at an earlier date than other- 
 wise appears. The first is the fact that in the Register of births 
 and deaths we find this record — ' John, son of John Balden and 
 
53 
 
 Joanna his wife, was born 21st of the 4ih month (June) 1635. 
 Mary, daughter of John and Hannah Dwite, born 25th of ye 5th 
 month (July) 1635.' The other cireumstanee is the impression 
 of Mr. Worthington that he has seen a book containing a record 
 of the meeting of twelve men September 1st, 1635. 
 
 With regard to the births it may be remarked, that no record 
 was kept of them till the end of the year 1642, when Michael 
 Powell was ' deputed to Register the Births, Burials and Mar- 
 riages, in our Towne according to the order of Court.' (Town 
 Records 6th of 12th mo. 1642.) The date of the births of chil- 
 dren then in town might be entered in the book, without re- 
 gard to the place where they were born; especially if no record 
 had been made of them elsewhere. Moreover, it is hardly prob- 
 able that as the. requisite permission to remove was not given 
 till the middle or latter part of Mav, 1635, parents, expecting 
 the immediate birth of children, would leave their homes without 
 necessity, to be the pioneers of a new settlement. 
 
 The book which 31 r. Worthington speaks of, cannot now be 
 found, and I do not meet with any one else who remembers to 
 have seen it. When I first obtained the town records for exam- 
 ination, a part of the first volume was separated from the rest, 
 corresponding in thickness to the book which Mr. Worthington 
 describes. Some leaves of this had been turned back out of 
 place, bringing them into such a position as apparently to con- 
 stitute the beginning of the book. The first of these was a blank 
 leaf. The second, winch bore the page mark (159) in very pale 
 ink, purported to be ' a Register or particular description of all 
 such Lands or Letts graunted out unto several men by virtue of 
 a Free grante of our said plantacon made unto us, by ye Hon. 
 Courte Generall houlden at Newtowne the 2d of ye 7th month, 
 1635, and confirmed with enlargement at Boston ye 10th of ye 
 7th month, 1636.' Then followed a list of grants to sundry per- 
 sons, eleven in all, most of which are partly erased. By turning 
 to the Book of grants, we find the same entered there, and the 
 record continued. From the position of this leaf, it had the ap- 
 pearance of being the first record, and from the obscurity of the 
 writing, a mistake might arise as to the date. I was at first un- 
 der misapprehension myself in regard to it, supposing it to cor- 
 respond with the passage in Winthrop's journal before referred 
 to, which, under date of September 1635, says ' a town is begun 
 above the fads of Charles river.' I mention this as possibly ac- 
 counting for Mr. Worthington 's impression of another book. 
 
 The length of the foregoing remarks is justified by the fact, 
 that owing to their shattered and decaying condition, the disjecta 
 membra of our early Town Records may not at a future time be 
 easily placed in their proper connection. 
 
54 
 NOTE B. See page 14. 
 
 I am informed by the Hon. William Ellis, that according to 
 tradition, the first houses were built upon the rising ground on 
 the north side of Little River, or Dwight's Brook, in front of the 
 present bridge. The village lots, however, were laid out upon 
 the highways which I have described; forming two sides of a 
 triangle, between which were situated the Meeting-house and 
 Burial ground. 
 
 The lane to the present landing place at the river was laid out 
 in 1705. 
 
 NOTE C. See page 16. 
 
 I trust I shall not be thought to allude to these matters too 
 lightly, or in a manner not sufficiently respectful to the Pilgrim 
 Fathers. My object is to present such a picture of the period, as 
 will bring to view not merely their piety, energy and self sacri- 
 fice, universally known and admitted, but those less heroic traits, 
 not so often commented upon, a knowledge of which is necessa- 
 ry to a clear conception of their character and the state of soci- 
 ety among them. Their chief enjoyments were religious exer- 
 cises; their principal discussions were upon theological subjects. 
 The varieties of human temperament will display themselves, let 
 the prevailing tone of society be what it may, and the sacred- 
 ness of the topics did not prevent a considerable infusion of hu- 
 mor and satire from mingling with their most serious debates. 
 The puritans, instead of being always solemn and austere, had, 
 many of them, a strong humorous tendency. Besides the quaint- 
 ness of their style, in itself a species of humor — a play upon 
 words, and a laboring for odd conceits, which would seem very 
 undignified at the present day, were common in the writings of 
 the most learned and grave divines. The familiar manner of 
 quoting the bible, and applying passages from scripture, custom- 
 ary two hundred years ago, would now seem very profane and 
 irreverent. 
 
 During the yeai's 1636, 1637, and 1638, the Antinomian con- 
 troversy was at its height. Even some of the principal magis- 
 trates and clergy began to incline towards the tenets of Mrs. 
 Hutchinson and Mr. Wheelwright; and the question whether 
 man is to be saved by grace or by works, with its various corol- 
 laries, was agitated in every meeting public or social. Win- 
 throp says, in 1636, 'the differences in said points of religion 
 increased more and more, so that all men's mouths were full of 
 them.' Vol. 1, p. 213. And Hutchinson remarks, ' The town 
 
and country were distracted with these subtleties, and every man 
 and woman, who had brains enough to form some imperfect con- 
 ception of them, inferred and maintained some other point, such 
 as these, a man is justified before he believes; faith is no cause 
 of justification, &c.' Hutch. Hist. vol. 1, p. 57. We may there- 
 fore fairly enough presume that the Dedham people, after Lec- 
 ture, would be thus engaged. 
 
 I insert some lines by Johnson, the historian, written in honor 
 of Mr. Wilson, pastor of Boston, he having encountered opposi- 
 tion from the followers of Mr. Wheelwright, who in turn had to 
 suffer for adherence to their leader. 
 
 ; Thee they deprave, thy ministry despise ; 
 By thy thick utterance seek, to call men back 
 From hearing thee : but Christ for thee did rise, 
 And turned the icheel-righl over them to crack.' 
 
 A specimen at once of the poetry and puns of that period. 
 
 Books intended to be serious and religious were published in 
 London not far from the time referred to, with the following ti- 
 tles: ' A most delectable sweet and perfumed nosegay for God's 
 saints to smell at.' ' A pair of bellows to blow off the dust cast 
 upon John Fry;' ' The snuffers of divine love.' The author of 
 a work on charity entitles his book, ' Hooks and eyes for believ- 
 er's breeches.' Another called his labors ' High heeled shoes 
 for dwarfs in holiness.' Another, ' Crumbs of comfort for the 
 chickens of the Covenant.' A Quaker published ' A sigh of 
 sorrow for the sinners of Zion, breathed out of a hole in the wall 
 of an earthern vessel known among men by the name of Samuel 
 Fish.' About the same time were published ' The spiritual mus- 
 tard pot;' ' A shot at the Devil's head quarters through the tube 
 of the cannon of the covenant.' ' Reaping hook well tempered 
 for the stubborn ears of the coming crop; or, Biscuits baked in 
 the oven of charity, carefully conserved for the Chickens of the 
 Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the Sweet Swallows of 
 Salvation.' ' Seven Sobs of a Sorrowful Soul for Sin, or the 
 Penitential Psalms of the Princely Prophet David, whereunto 
 are also annexed William Huinnis' handful of Honeysuckles and 
 divers Godly and pithy ditties, now newly augmented.' 
 
 NOTE D. See page 20. 
 
 A Blacksmith seems to have been the first mechanic in town. 
 He was furnished with tools at the public expense. There are 
 also mentioned, very early, a Joiner, a Wheelwright, a Brick- 
 
5G 
 
 maker, and a maker of wooden ware, who all receive from the 
 town some facilities for carrying on their hnsiness. In 1656, 
 the subject of setting up iron works was discussed, but probably 
 the ore was not found in sufficient abundance. There was a 
 strong expectation among the emigrants to this country of find- 
 ing mines of precious and other metals, and a good deal of labor 
 was employed in the search here, as well as elsewhere. As an 
 inducement to those thus employed, it was voted, that a grant of 
 any mine, which might be discovered, should be made to the 
 finder, he paying ten per cent, of the profits to the use of the 
 town. In the preamble to this vote, it is stated, that ' seeing 
 amongst other things wherewith God blessed his people Israel, 
 he exposeth divers metals for their encouragement, Deut. 8, 9, 
 and seeing that already amongst ourselves a plenty of iron and 
 some lead is discovered, it appears to us that he hath afforded 
 us also a land furnished with such blessings; and also, consid- 
 ering the barrenness of a great part of our town, doth give U3 
 particular hopes thereof, &c.' 
 
 In 1G47, John Dwight and Francis Chickoring gave notice of 
 their * hopes of a mine' near certain ponds, thirteen miles from 
 town, probably at Wrentham, claiming the right, &c. Similar 
 notice was given of a mine on the north side of Charles river, 
 'over against Mr. Cooke's farm.' Another notice was given 1649, 
 by the Pastor, Mr. Allin, and Eleazer Lusher, of a mine ' of 
 metal or other mineral, near the Great Playne, &c.' Joshua 
 Fisher and Daniel Fisher also, of one near the same place; and 
 Anthony Fisher, of a mine ' near where the Neponset river di- 
 vides.' In 1637, Abraham Shawe had a grant from the General 
 Court of half the benefit of the coals or iron stone, which might 
 be found on any common ground at the Country's disposing.' 
 
 NOTE E. See page 20. 
 
 The erection of mills, for grinding corn and sawing timber, 
 was one of the first things that engaged the attention of the set- 
 tlers in Dedham. In 1636, Abraham Shawe undertook to erect 
 a mill on Charles river, probably on that part of the stream 
 which is now in the town of Dover. He soon died, and the lands, 
 granted to him in aid of the enterprise, were offered to any one 
 who would accomplish the same object. No one, however, for 
 several years, was induced to make the attempt. In 1639, it 
 having been discovered that a water power might be obtained by 
 means of a canal from Charles river, through ' Purchase Mead- 
 ow,' to East Brook, the work was immediately begun, and in- 
 ducements offered to citizens or others that might be disposed to 
 
57 
 
 erect mills thereon. One John Elderkin was the first who avail- 
 ed himself of these proposals; and grants of land were made to 
 him accordingly. In 1642, he sold one half of all his rights to 
 Nathaniel Whiting, and the other half to Mr. Allin, the pastor, 
 Nathaniel Aldis and John Dwight. In 1649, Nathaniel Whi- 
 ting purchased the interest of the other owners. In 1652, he 
 made sale of the mill and all his town rights to John Dwight, 
 Francis Chickering, Joshua Fisher and John Morse, for £250. 
 In 1653. he repurchased the same. In 1664, a new corn mill 
 being deemed necessary, leave was given to Daniel Pond and 
 Ezra Morse to erect one above that of Nathaniel Whiting, on 
 the same stream, to be finished before the 24th of June the fol- 
 lowing year. In 1666, Nathaniel Whiting, who had remonstra- 
 ted against the establishment of the new mill without effect, coin- 
 plained of damage therefrom to his own works, and in 1667 he 
 commenced a suit against Ezra Morse, as obstructing the water 
 to the injury of his mill. This suit did not result in his favor. 
 In 1669, Nathaniel Whiting having made a new water course 
 which crossed the highway leading to the new mill, some com- 
 plaint was made, and both he and Ezra Morse were summoned 
 before the Selectmen, and being advised with, agreed to live in 
 peace and not interfere with the rights of each other. 
 
 There were, however, frequent complaints on the part of Na- 
 thaniel Whiting. In 1674, a committee was chosen to regulate 
 the- water at the upper dam. Complaints being renewed, in 
 1677, the town resolved to do nothing farther about it. So the 
 matter stood till May 1699, when it was thought advisable to re- 
 move Morse's dam, and let the water run in its ancient channel. 
 As a compensation for this measure, which seems to have been 
 suggested by the owner himself, a grant of forty acres was made 
 to Ezra Morse, ' near Neponsit river, at the old saw mill, or at 
 Everett's Plain, where he may find it most to his satisfaction; 
 provided that the town may be otherwise provided with a mill to 
 their full satisfaction.' In 1700, the Whiting mill was burned, 
 and the town loaned £20 for one year, ' without any use or rent,' 
 to Timothy Whiting, who then held the mill seat, as aid towards 
 the erection of another mill. 
 
 The subject of ' setting up a saw mill ' had been agitated from 
 the year 1652 to 1658, when on the 4th March 1658-9, a long 
 written agreement was entered into between the town and Elea- 
 zer Lusher and Joshua Fisher, in which these persons engaged 
 to erect a saw mill on Neponset river, near the Cedar Swamp, 
 to be completed before June 24, 1660. This was afterwards, hi 
 1674, in possession of Thomas Clap. In 1672, Robert Cross- 
 man undertook to build a mill at Wollomonopeag, (Wrentham.) 
 In 1678, Ezra Morse had leave to cut timber to build a saw mill 
 
 8 
 
58 
 
 on 'Hawes' brook, in the way leading to the South meadow,' 
 and, in 1681, was allowed to make a reservoir for the same, on 
 the town lands. In 1682, Jona. Fairbanks and .James Draper 
 asked leave to build a .falling mill below the coin mills on East 
 brook, or mill creek, (as the whole stream is now called,) but 
 the town thought proper to give the privilege to Nath'l Whiting, 
 who was accordingly associated with .lames Draper in the pro- 
 ject. In the permission given them, there was a proviso, that 
 'if the town, at any time, see fit to set up a corn mill upon the 
 place, they may do so, unless the persons aforesaid will do it at 
 their own charge, to the town's content.' 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the descendants of Nath'l Whi- 
 ting and Ezra Morse, have held the principal mill seats of the 
 town, quite down to the present generation. The numerous 
 branches of both of these respectable families, have always been 
 among our most substantial citizens. 
 
 NOTE F. See page 20. 
 
 We are told by Winthrop, in his Journal, thatyVee schools were 
 established at Boston, Roxbury, and divers other places, in 1645. 
 It appears by the Records, that the same thing was done in Ded- 
 ham, in 1644. 'The inhabitants, taking into consideration the 
 necessity of providing some means for the education of youth in 
 our said town, did with an unanimous consent, declare by vote 
 their willingness to promote that worke, promising to put to their 
 hands to provide maintenance for a free school in our said town.' 
 They then vote £20 per annum, and appropriate certain lands for 
 this purpose. T. R. 1st 11 mo. 1644. 
 
 By a Court order, passed in 1642, the Selectmen of every town 
 were required to see that the education of children was properly 
 attended to. It was customary for the Selectmen to divide the 
 town among themselves, each one having an eye to the children 
 of a certain district. As an amusing instance of the orthography 
 of some of these 'rude forefathers of the hamlet,' I insert an ex- 
 tract from a small book, which seems to contain memoranda of 
 the doings of the Selectmen, &c. afterwards transferred to the 
 large book : — 
 
 'It is agreed that the Selectmen doe take their corse to see the 
 exseqution of the Court order consninge childring, viz. that we 
 doe agree that two goe to gether when they goe to take account 
 of the propheting of the youth.' 
 
 In the year 1680, Dr. Win. Avery made a donation to the town 
 of £60 for a latin school. Afterwards the town proposed to sell 
 their school lands, and appropriate the proceeds to the instruc- 
 
50 
 
 don of youth. This was done about the year 1700. What be- 
 came of the funds, thus obtained, does not appear. It was prob- 
 ably gradually expended. The second generation were less wil- 
 ling to raise money for schools, than the first comers. 
 
 NOTE G. See page 24. 
 Views of the Pilgrims in regard to government, fyc. 
 
 'It is yourselves who have called us to this office, and being 
 called by you, we have our authority from God.' Winthrop's 
 Speech in the Hiughain case, 1645. 
 
 'Two distinct ranks we willingly acknowledge, from the light 
 of nature and scripture ; the one of them called Princes, or No- 
 bles, or Elders, (amongst whom gentlemen have their place,) 
 the other the people. Hereditary dignity, or honours, we allow 
 to the former, isx.: Hereditary liberty to the other, i^c' Reply 
 to the demands of Lord Say, Lord Brooke, and other persons of 
 quality, made as conditions of their removing to New England, 
 1636. 
 
 'Democracy I do not conceive that ever God did ordeyne as a 
 fitt government, either for church or commonwealth. If the peo- 
 ple be governors, who shall be governed ? As for Monarchy 
 and Aristocracy, they are both of them clearly approoved and 
 directed in scripture. 5 Letter from Mr. C0U011 to Lord Say and 
 Seal, 1636. 
 
 NOTE H. See page 24. 
 
 The town voted to erect a tomb for their reverend pastor, and 
 to pay the expenses of his funeral, which were always very con- 
 siderable in case of ministers or magistrates. 
 
 It was customary to purchase gold rings for the bearers, and 
 white leather gloves for the ministers who were present. At the 
 funeral of the Rev. Thomas Cobbett, of Ipswich, in 1685, among 
 the articles provided were 32 gallons of wine, and a larger quan- 
 tity of cider, with 104 pounds of sugar, and about 4 doz. gloves. 
 
 In 1793, there was passed 'An Act to retrench extraordinary 
 expences at funerals. ' 
 
 At burials, nothing was read, nor any sermon made, but all 
 the neighborhood came together by the tolling of the bell, and 
 carried the dead solemnly to the grave, standing by while he was 
 buried. See Hist, of Ipswich, by Rev. J. B. Felt. 
 
 In 1637, the Gen. Court ordered that no cakes or buns should 
 be made or sold, except for burials or weddings.* Col. Rec. 
 
 * This licence having been extended to other public occasions was proba- 
 bly the origin of what is called ' Town meeting cake.' 
 
60 
 NOTE I. See page 26. 
 
 It seems singular that a people situated as our forefathers 
 were, in a rude wilderness, living, many of thern, in log houses, 
 or dwellings scarcely superior, and above all professing the se- 
 vere puritan character, should be subject to the charge of ex- 
 travagance in their apparel. They lived, however, at a period 
 when great parade of dress was usual, especially upon public oc- 
 casions. They came here with their habits formed in this re- 
 spect, and costly lace ruffles, worn by either sex, wrought fur- 
 belows, silk or satin vests and breeches, supposed necessary to 
 the dignity of the wearer, were not easily laid aside. 
 
 In 1636, the Gen. Court ordered, 'that no person, after one 
 month, shall make or sell any bone lace, or other lace, to be 
 worn upon any garment or linnen, upon paine of 5s Sd the yard for 
 every yard of such lace so made or set on. Nor shall any tay- 
 lor set lace upon any garment ; provided, that binding, or small 
 edging lace, may be used upon garments or linnen.' In 1639, 
 the same law is repeated in substance, and it was further enact- 
 ed, 'that hereafter no garment shall be made with short sleeves, 
 whereby the nakedness of the arm may be discovered. And that 
 hereatter no person whatsoever shall make any garment for weo- 
 men, or any other sex, with sleeves more than half an ell wide 
 in the widest part, and so proportionate for bigger or smaller per- 
 sons. And for present reformation of immoderate great sleeves, 
 and some other superfluities, which may easily be redressed with- 
 out much prejudice or spoil of garments, as immoderate great 
 breeches, knots of ryban, broad shoulder bands and rayles, silk 
 rases, double ruffes, cuffes, &.c, — it is ordered, &c.' Slashed 
 clothes, except one slash in each sleeve, and one in the back, 
 embroidery, bands, crayles, gold and silver girdles, hat-bands, 
 belts, cuffs, wings, beaver hats, and long hair, came under the 
 ban of the law, in 1634. In 1675, there was a statute passed 
 against periwigs, and 'the cutting, curling, and immodest lay- 
 ing out of hair, ' and against ' the addition of superstitious ribbons 
 both on hair and apparel.' Col. Rec. 
 
 We may judge from these what is meant by the ' excess in ap- 
 parel,' for which our ancestors became amenable to the law. 
 
 NOTE K. See page 29. 
 
 The questions addressed by the Indians to Mr. Allin and oth- 
 ers, who sought to enlighten them, will illustrate their intellectu- 
 al condition, and degree of aptness for religious instruction, bet- 
 ter than any description could do. 
 
Gl 
 
 'Why have not beasts a soul as man hath, seeing they have 
 love and anger as man hath ? Why doth God punish in hell for 
 ever ? Man will let out of prison. Does God understand In- 
 dian ? Since we all came from one father, how came English 
 to know God and not we ? Why does not God kill the Devil ? 
 Does the Devil dwell in us as we in a house ? What says a soul 
 when it goes to heaven or hell ? If a man think a prayer, does 
 God know and reward it ? If a man be almost a good man, and 
 die so, whither goes his soul ? If I sin, and know not it is sin, 
 what will God say to that ? Is faith in my heart, or my mind ? 
 If my heart be full of ill thoughts, and I repent and pray, and 
 yet it is full again and again, what will God say ?' A woman 
 asked, 'Do I pray when my husband prays, if I speak nothing as 
 he doth, yet if I like what he saith, and my heart goes with it ?' 
 One Indian said to another, 'what do you get by praying ? you 
 go naked still, and our corn is as good as yours.' 
 
 NOTE L. See page 30. 
 
 In i373, the inhabitants of Pacomptuck complain that by rea- 
 son of their remoteness from the place where the power of or- 
 dering prudentials resides, they are subject to many distresses. 
 Whereupon the Dedliam people, in lordly style, appoint their 
 'trusty and well beloved and much esteemed friends,' naming a 
 Committee of five persons, with various powers, among other 
 things in connection with the inhabitants, with the advice of the 
 Elders of the two neighboring churches, they 'have liberty to 
 procure an orthodox minister to dispense the word of God amongst 
 them.' 
 
 NOTE M. See page 31. 
 
 The guns in general use at the time of Philip's war, were 
 matchlocks, heavy and inconvenient. A crotched stick was car- 
 ried for a rest, and the match was kept ignited in a tin tube with 
 small air holes in it. Flint locks, called 'snaphances, 1 were rare, 
 yet a {ew of them were used. The town of Dedham had a small 
 field-piece called a Drake, given it by the General Court in 
 1650. The small canr.ons then in common use, were called 
 Drakes and Sakers. 
 
 An extract from Holmes' Annals, of 1673, will give some idea 
 of the resources of the Colonies at that period. 
 
 'N. E. is supposed to contain at this time, about 120,000 souls, 
 of whom 16,000 are able to bear arms. 1500 families in Boston. 
 
62 
 
 There be 5 iron works, which cast no guns. There are 15 mer- 
 chants, worth about £50,000 or £5,000, one with another. 500 
 persons worth .£3,000 each. No house in N. E. hath above 20 
 rooms. Not 20 in Boston have 10 rooms each. The worst cot- 
 tages are lofted. No riggers. Not three persons put to death 
 annually, for theft. There are no musicians. A dancing school 
 was set up, but put down. A fencing school is allowed. Holmes 
 vol. I. p. 416. 
 
 The number of Indians within the jurisdiction of Massachu- 
 setts, in 1674, was — 
 
 Pequods, 300 men formerly 4000 warriors. 
 
 Narragansetts, 1000 " " 1000 
 
 Pawkanawkets, nearly extinct, formerly 3000 " 
 Massachusetts, 300 men " 3000 
 
 Pawtuckets, 250 " " 3000 
 
 Holmes' An. Vol. I. p. 418. 
 The Pequods had been nearly exterminated in the war of 1636. 
 Their tribe was broken up, and the remnant of them distributed 
 among other tribes. The Narragansetts were nearly destroyed 
 durinf Philip's war. There was an Indian by the name of 
 Ephraim, who lived in Dedham during Philip's war, and was 
 regularly assessed with the other inhabitants on all the tax lists, 
 having, from the amount of his rate, considerable property. He 
 was undoubtedly the same Indian referred to in history, as ' Pe- 
 ter Ephraim,' who acted as guide to the forces of the Colonies 
 in the expedition against the Narragansetts, and performed at 
 other times many important services. 
 
 The Massachusetts were mostly carried off by disease. The 
 lands of these Indians, it is believed, were fairly purchased. — 
 Chickatabot made a conveyance of the country around Boston, 
 including the territory now occupied by Dedham, to the Mass. 
 Colony, very early after the arrival of Gov. Winthrop and his 
 associates. After the deaih of Chickatabot, which happened in 
 1632 or 1633, a committee was appointed to find out such Indians 
 as remembered the bargain. A short time before the delivery 
 of this address, Mr. John Bullard discovered in his garret, a 
 bundle of ancient Indian deeds, which are referred to in the town 
 records, but were supposed to be lost. Among these is one 
 beautifully engrossed upon parchment, from Josias Wampatuck, 
 grandson of Chickatabot, in which he states that forasmuch as he 
 is informed by several ancient Indians, &c, that his grandfather 
 did, for a good and sufficient consideration, convey to the English 
 Planters the tract of land now called Dedham, he therefore, in 
 consideration of that fact, and of a reasonable sum of money, quit 
 claims, &tc. This deed, which is long and particular, is dated 
 1685. There was also a quit claim from William Nahatan, alias 
 
63 
 
 Quaanan, and his brothers, Peter Natooqns and Benjamin Naha- 
 tan, and their sisters, Tahkeesuisk Nahatan and Hanna Naha- 
 tan, alias Jammewwosh, all of Punkapogg, dated 1680, and anoth- 
 er from John Magus and Sara Magus, of Natic, dated 1681. — 
 There were also three deeds of the territory at Deerfield, from 
 the Pacomtuck Indians. It is to be hoped that these will be care- 
 fully preserved hereafter. 
 
 There are still several deeds missing , one from Phillip, of 
 lands near Wrentham, and another from the Pacomtuck Indians. 
 The last of the Aborigines in Dedham, were Alexander Quabish 
 and Sarah David, his wife. Sarah died in 1774, at the house of 
 Mr. Joseph Wight. She was interred in the old Indian burial 
 place, about half a mile from Mr. Wight's house, at the foot of 
 Wigwam hill — the last person there deposited. The funeral was 
 attended by the Rev. Jason Haven. Alexander died in Need- 
 ham or Natic, in 1776. 
 
 NOTE N. See page 40. 
 
 ' Mr. W'inslow being now to go for England, the Court was 
 troubled to furnish him with money or beaver, (for there was 
 nothing in the treasury, the country being in debt one thousand 
 pounds, and what comes in by levies is corn and cattle,) but the 
 Lord stirred up the hearts of some few persons to lend one hun- 
 dred pounds, to be repaid by the next levy.' Winthrop, vol. 2, 
 p. L 295. This sum was advanced by Mr. Allin, as appears by 
 the Col. Records of 1649. 'Ordered, that the Treasurer doe 
 forthwith pay and satisfy unto Mr. John Allin, one hundred and 
 thirty pounds, in the best and soonest pay that comes into the 
 treasury out of this levy, for his hundred pounds he paid to Mr. 
 Winslow.' Five pounds, six pounds, and thirty shillings, are al- 
 so mentioned as having been loaned by other people. 
 
 The factious Gortonists sent two messengers to the Gen. Court 
 to make their peace. On their way, having got as far as Ded- 
 ham, they learned that the Court had adjourned. One of them, 
 therefore, addressed a letter to Gov. Winthrop, in which he says, 
 ' hearing at Dedham that the Court was adjourned, I made bold 
 to advise with Mr. Powell, who advised me to repair to your 
 worship, which upon consideration I could not do till I was as- 
 sured of your worship's favorable reception.' This 'Mr. Pow- 
 ell' was Michael Powell, who kept the ordinary. He afterwards 
 founded the second church in Boston, where they wished to make 
 him Pastor, but the Gen. Court interfered, supposing him not to 
 have sufficient learning. He was however allowed to be ruling 
 Elder, an office nearly as important as that of Pastor. Win- 
 throp \s Hist. Col. Records. 
 
64 
 NOTE O. Seo page 41. 
 
 Other evidences are not wanting of Mr. Allin's decision of 
 character, and of his standing in public estimation. In the year 
 1662, a famous Synod was held at Boston, by order of the Gen. 
 Court, to determine, among other things, who were the subjects 
 of baptism. It was decided that the children of such as made a 
 public profession of their faith, although not in full communion, 
 might be admitted to baptism. This decision was attacked by 
 Mr. Chauncey, President of the College, in print, and defended 
 by Mr. Allin, it is stated, with much ability. Mr. Allin also pub- 
 lished a defence of the ' nine positions.' His name stands at the 
 head of a list of seventeen of the most distinguished divines in 
 the Colony, who remonstrated against the proceedings which oc- 
 casioned the formation of the third church in Boston, in 1670. — 
 It also stands at the head of a similar list of clergymen who pre- 
 sented an address to the General Court, vindicating their own 
 conduct in the abovenamed matter. Hutch. Hist. 
 
 Mr. Allin was of sufficient note in England to make it necessa- 
 ry for him to escape in disguise to this country. This was also 
 done at the same time by Mr. John Fiske, who was at first set- 
 tled in Salem, and afterwards in Chelmsford. They were in the 
 habit of preaching to the passengers on board the vessel, every 
 day — so that one of the latter, being examined about his going to 
 divert himself with a hook and line on the Lord's day, protested 
 he did not know when the Lord's day was ; he thought every day 
 was a Sabbath day, for they did nothing but preach and pray 
 from one end of the week to the other. They arrived in 10.37. 
 
 Allen's Hist, of Chelmsford. 
 
 Cotton Mather says of Mr. Allin, — 'being a very humble man, 
 he found that sanctified knowledge grows more luxuriant in the 
 fat valleys of humility — being a very patient man, he found that 
 the dew of heaven, which falls not in a stormy or cloudy night, 
 was always falling on a soul ever serene with the meekest pa- 
 tience.' Mather's Magnalia. 
 
 NOTE P. See page 44. 
 
 Mr. Dexter wrote much both upon politics and theology, but 
 as he, before his death, burned most of his manuscripts, but few 
 writings known to be his, remain. Bradford, in his History of 
 Massachusetts, states that he intended to have inserted in his ap- 
 pendix, an able essay on the supreme power of Parliament, writ- 
 ten by Mr. Dexter, but had mislaid it. When Gen. Washing- 
 ton took the command of the army at Cambridge, Mr. Dexter, at 
 
65 
 
 that time a member of the Council, was recommended to him as 
 one in whose judgment and fidelity he could rely. Becoming 
 dissatisfied with some measures that were adopted contrary to 
 his advice by the government, he retired wholly from public life, 
 and devoting himself to his favorite studies declined accepting 
 any olHce afterwards. He left a bequest of five thousand dollars 
 to Harvard College. 
 
 NOTE Q. See page 48. 
 
 I have purposely omitted to dwell upon that portion of the 
 History of Dedham which relates to Ecclesiastical matters and 
 the character of the ministry here, knowing that at the close of 
 the second century from the organization of the Church in this 
 place a suitable commemoration of that event is contemplated. 
 
 While aiming to give a concise review of a portion of the 
 History of Dedham appropriate to the occasion, the writer of 
 this address has endeavored to select such incidents and pursue 
 such a course of narration as would encroach as little as possible 
 upon the labors of Mr. Worthington, to whom the credit of first 
 undertaking to develope the history of the town belongs. In the 
 present case, the Town Records, and the Public Documents 
 preserved in the State house, have been, except where a differ- 
 ent reference is given, the chief sources of information. 
 
 The writer is much indebted to the Rev. Mr. Felt, who is now 
 engaged in arranging the State papers, for his politeness in af- 
 fording every facility for their examination. 
 
 Some facts have been verbally communicated by gentlemen 
 of the town. 
 
GG 
 
 Communicated v.y tub Hon. William Ellis. 
 
 It. appears by our ancient Records, that the inhabitants of 
 Dedham have frequently turned out Soldiers or armed men, for 
 their defence and safety, from the early settlement of the town. 
 
 The following statement of Officers and Soldiers from Dedham, 
 who, at sundry periods, rendered military services in the princi- 
 pal wars and commotions of this country for two centuries past, 
 was taken from the Army Rolls, from Town Records, and from 
 other sources to be relied on, but is believed to fall short of the 
 actual numbers who served on most of those occasions, — Viz: 
 
 WAR WITH KING PHILIP.— 167 5. 
 
 Names of men from Dedham who received pay for military 
 services between the date of Feb. 29, and Dec. 10, 1675, viz. — 
 
 John Parker 
 William Dean 
 Thomas Bishop 
 Jonathan Fairbank 
 John Streeter 
 Richard Bennett 
 Joshua Fisher 
 Jonathan Dunning 
 
 Daniel Breight 
 John Fuller 
 Samuel Whiting 
 John Paine 
 
 Samuel Barry 
 Nathaniel Richards 
 Jonathan Smith 
 John Rice 
 
 Richard Wood (sup- William Blake 
 
 posed Woodard) John Baker 
 Josiah White (21) 
 
 John Ellis 
 
 1676. 
 
 Men who received pay for military services between January 
 24th and December 27th, 1676— viz: 
 Joseph Skelteane James Macanab 
 
 John Smith 
 Caleb Rey 
 Nathaniel Dunklin 
 Benjamin Mills 
 John Colborne 
 James Heering 
 Samuel Fuller 
 William Makeyms 
 John Fairbank 
 
 Thomas Herring 
 Samuel Shers 
 John Houghton 
 Samuel Rice 
 Eleazer Guild 
 Nathaniel Kingsbury 
 John Elleworth 
 Nathaniel Heaton 
 John Fisher 
 
 Abraham Hathaway 
 Jonathan Metcalfe 
 Daniel Fisher 
 Jonathan Whitney 
 Daniel Haws 
 Samuel Guild 
 James Vales 
 *John Groce 
 *Samuel Nowannett 
 (29) 
 
 Besides those above named, John Freeman, John Day, Sam- 
 uel Colburn, Robert Ware, Henry Elliot and Ephraim Pond, 
 are spoken of as having been ' impressed by virtue of a warrant 
 from ye Major.' 
 
 At this time, Dedham included the territory since incorpora- 
 ted into the towns of Needham, Natick, Bellingham, Walpolc, 
 and Dover. 
 
 * Indians. 
 
67 
 
 There is a tradition concurred in by the aged people of the 
 south parish, that about the year A. 1). 1740, six men engaged 
 from that part of the town, in an expedition against Havanna on 
 the Island of Cuba, and that no one of them ever returned, but 
 died of sickness, the names of two only are ascertained, viz. — 
 Walter Hixon and Eleazer Farrington. 
 
 FIRST FRENCH WAR.— 1744— 5. 
 
 Served at the long and memorable siege of Louisburg, Cape 
 Breton, a number of men from Dedham; the names of eight 
 only are ascertained, viz: — Rev Thomas Balch as Chaplain, 
 Capt. Eleazer Fisher, William Weatberbee, Samuel Weather- 
 bee, John Thorp, Michael Brite, Samuel Thorp, and Hugh 
 Delap. 
 
 Mr. Balch, and others of these men, returned home from this 
 siege, after an absence of sixteen months. Capt. Fisher also re- 
 turned as far as Boston, but there died of sickness. Hugh De- 
 lap, a skiliiil gunner and engineer, was killed at the siege, by the 
 bursting of a cannon. He bad, previously to that event, dispos- 
 ed of his effects by a Will, which be sent to his friends in the 
 south parish, where the same has been preserved to the present 
 day. 
 
 LAST FRENCH WAR,— 1755 to 1763. 
 
 Served — Viz: 
 
 Capt. Wm. Bacon Joseph Morse William Ellis 
 
 Capt. Timothy Ellis James Whitaker Isaac Stowell 
 
 Capt. Eliphalet Fales William Sterret Aaron Gay 
 
 Lt. Aaron Guild Ezra Bullard Thomas Weatberbee 
 
 Lt. Daniel Whiting Gilead Morse Joseph Farrington 
 
 Ebenezer Everitt William Lewis James W^eatherbee 
 
 Benjamin Fairbanks Joseph Whittemore Robert Mann 
 
 Joseph Wight Hezekiah Farrington Levi Morse 
 
 Stephen Hart Thomas Balch, jr. Josiah Everitt 
 
 Moses Fisher John Lewis Nathaniel Farrington 
 
 Aaron Ellis Benjamin Lewis Ephraim Richards 
 
 Isaac Little Ephraim Farrington Seth Farrington 
 
 William Calleyham Samuel Colburn Moses Richards 
 
 John Carby Joseph Lewis Joseph Turner 
 
 Eliphalet Thorp Samuel Farrington Joseph Wight, jr. 
 
 John Hawes Samuel Backet Nathan Whiting 
 
 Anthony Dyer Lemuel Richards David Cleveland 
 
 William Hail Hezekiah Gay (52) 
 
68 
 
 The'.military services in this war, were rendered at Ticondc- 
 roga, Fort Edward, Fort William Henry, Lake George, and 
 other places in that direction westward, at Canada northward, 
 and at the Bay of Fundy, and Louisburg at Cape Breton, east- 
 ward. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 1775 to 1783. 
 
 Names of men. who served in this war, either in the regular 
 Continental Army, or who in the State service, performed mili- 
 tary duty in one or more distant campaigns. — Viz : 
 
 Col. Daniel Whiting *Ebenr. Fisher, Esq. *Lewis Colburn 
 
 Capt. Joseph Guild *N. Kingsbury, Esq. *Jacob Guild 
 
 Capt. George Gould *Benj. Bussey, Esq. *William Fairbanks 
 
 Capt. Timothy Stow *Nathl. Chickering *John Richards 
 
 Capt. Elipht. Thorp *Joshua Whiting * Joshua Fales 
 
 Capt. Wm. Stephens ^Jonathan Richards *Josiah Draper 
 
 Capt. Ebenr. Everitt Joseph Dean *Hezekiah Turner 
 
 Lt. John Gay Lemuel Herring ^Nathaniel Bills 
 
 Lt. Samuel Doggett Joseph Onion *Enoch Harris 
 
 Lt. Lemuel Richards Abner Lewis William Mason 
 
 Lt. James Kingsbury Ichabod Farrington Ebenezer Bills 
 
 Lt. Ichabod Gay 
 Oliver Guild 
 Aaron Guild, jr. 
 Thomas Larabee 
 Enoch Talbot 
 Thomas Colburn 
 John Johnson 
 Abiel Pettee 
 Luther Bullard 
 Timothy Morse 
 Benjamin Dean 
 George Sumner 
 Benjamin Fuller 
 Lemuel Stowell 
 Jacob Cleveland 
 Abner Bacon 
 Moses Guild 
 William Coney 
 
 John Croshier 
 William Everitt 
 David Dana 
 Thomas Eaton 
 Abner Nevers 
 John Smith 
 Samuel Fairbanks 
 Eliphalet Fuller 2d 
 Jacob Smith 
 Nathaniel Gay 
 Benjamin Fisher 
 Daniel Pettee 
 Seth Fuller 
 Samuel Adams 
 Thomas Lewis 
 Zaccheus Hawes 
 Abner Farrington 
 William Graham 
 
 David Humphrey 
 Hezekiah Whiting 
 John Ruggles 
 Thadeus Fuller 
 Nathaniel Fisher 
 Hezekiah Metcalf 
 Archillus Clark 
 Abijah Crane 
 Samuel Clark 
 Seth Farrington 
 Stephen Arnold 
 Samuel Farrington 
 Aaron Fisher 
 Thadeus Richards 
 Timothy Lewis 
 David Smith 
 Samuel Chickering 
 Barak Smith 
 
 * Living in Dedham, or its vicinity, at the time of the Centennial Anni- 
 versary. ^There are others of the above list yet living in the neighboring 
 States. 
 
Thomas Ackley 
 Isaac i >oggett 
 Israel Fairbanks, jr, 
 
 Abel Everett 
 Lemuel Fales 
 
 i Whiting 2d 
 Ezra Gay 
 
 G9 
 
 David Richards Jonathan Whiting 
 
 Josiah Bullard George White r 
 
 Daniel Clark Ichabod Colburn 
 
 Ambrose Davenport Jonathan Onion 
 
 Elias Fairbanks Ths. Weatherbee, jr. 
 Josiah Everett, jr. (106) 
 
 Eli Farrington 
 
 Reside the men above enumerated, very considerable num- 
 bers of our townsmen performed longer or shorter tours of mili- 
 tary service, in this vicinity only, viz: — at Lexington battle, at 
 Roxbury, Cambridge, Fort Hill, Lamb's Dam, Dorchester 
 Heights. Castle Island, Nantaskett, and at many places on the 
 frontiers of Rhode Island.* 
 
 A number of this class of men were still living in Dedham and 
 Dover on the day of the celebration. — Viz: 
 
 Lt. Aaron Whiting Jere. Shuttleworth Joel Guild 
 
 Dea. Jesse Gay Thadeus Gay Jeremiah Raker 
 
 John Dean Reuben Richards Phinehas Colburn 
 
 Joseph Raker Elihu Onion (13) 
 
 Calvin Whiting, Esq. John Rrown 
 
 INSURRECTION.— 1786— 1787. 
 
 In the month of December, 1786, the Executive Government 
 of 3 Massachusetts made a requisition on the town of Dedham for 
 a quota of men to march to the westerly part of the State, to sus- 
 tain the supremacy of the laws, and suppress an Insurrection in- 
 stigated by Daniel Shays. The requisition was promptly com- 
 plied with, by a company made up of volunteers, who in the 
 midst of a most severe winter, marched to Connecticut River 
 and Vermont. The Insurgents were soon dispersed and order 
 restored, with the loss of but few lives. 
 
 Names of the men who thus volunteered. 
 
 Capt. Daniel Fisher David Rullard 
 Lt. Lewis Colburn Jacob Penniman 
 David Ellis Josiah White 
 
 Amasa Guild Isaac Smith 
 
 Lemuel Gay 
 John Raker 
 Joseph Howe 
 
 Timothy Morse 
 Nathan Ellis, jr. 
 Edward Ruckminster 
 Enoch Harris 
 Thomas Farrington David Smith 
 Comfort Weatherbee Ebenezer Shepard 
 William Symms William Fisher 
 
 •The late Fisher Ames, then quite a young man, went out in one or 
 more of these expeditions, in the company of Capt. Abel Kichards. 
 
70 
 
 Jeremiah Fisher Jabez Wight Jesse Lyon 
 
 Nathaniel Lewis Ebenezer Guild Samuel Robinson 
 
 Joel Guild Nathan Metcalf Heman Bostwick 
 
 Ebenezer Wilkinson William Wight Joseph Conner 
 
 Lewis Thorp Seth Farrington Joel Richards 
 
 William Maxfield Aaron Fuller Benjamin Herring 
 
 Silas Morse Ithamer Farrington Jesse Richards 
 
 William Shepard Thadeus Carby John Whitaker (45) 
 
 WAR OF 1812. 
 
 The Dedham Light Infantry Company, under Capt. Abner 
 Guild, performed several months military service, at South Bos- 
 ton, in the war of 1812. 
 
 The preceding military services are not mentioned by way of 
 boasting, but merely to show that the inhabitants of Dedham, 
 from its early settlement, have not been behind other towns in 
 their readiness to meet danger and privation, in defence of their 
 firesides, their rights and liberties, or to sustain the supremacy 
 of the laws, when menaced by unlawful power. With the sin- 
 cere hope that the bright examples of virtue, moral courage, 
 military ardor and patriotism, exhibited by our townsmen in the 
 cause of justice and humanity, in the two Centuries past, will 
 inspire the hearts of their successors with a determined zeal in 
 all coming time when justice calls, to ' go and do likewise.' 
 
 CELEBRATION AT DEDHAM. 
 
 September 21, 1836. 
 
 At a town-meeting, held on the 9th day of November, 1835, a 
 committee of twenty-one citizens was appointed to make ar- 
 rangements for the celebration of the second centennial anni- 
 versary of the incorporation and settlement of the town, and to 
 report their proceedings at a future town-meeting. 
 
 The Report of this committee was made on the 7th of March, 
 1836, as follows — 
 
 The committee appointed, &c. Report, 
 
 1 That they have procured and engaged Samuel F. Haven, 
 Esq. to compose and deliver an Address on that occasion. And 
 
71 
 
 your Committee submit to the Town the following Report as to 
 the Arrangements to be made to carry their vote into effect. 
 
 1st, That the Address be delivered in the Meeting house in 
 the first parish in Dedham, on Wednesday, the twenty first day 
 of September next, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. 
 
 2d, That the reverend Clergy of the several Societies in the 
 Town be invited to attend, and that Prayers be offered by^trch 
 of them as they may agree upon. 
 
 3d, That the Choirs of Singers in the several religious Socie- 
 ties in the Town are invited to attend and perform Sacred Music. 
 
 4th, That the Dedham Light Infantry Company are requested 
 to attend and perform Escort duties. 
 
 5th, That a procession be formed, and move to the Meeting 
 House at half past ten o'clock in the forenoon, preceded by the 
 Escort and Music. 
 
 6th, That a public Dinner be provided for those who choose 
 to subscribe, and that the Reverend Clergy be invited to par- 
 take of it with the Subscribers. 
 
 7th, That suitable Instrumental Music be provided to attend 
 the Escort and Procession, at the expense of the Town. 
 
 8th, That these, and all minor Arrangements for the occasion, 
 be made by such Committee as the Town may see fit to choose.' 
 
 At a town-meeting, held on the 11th day of April A. D. 1836, 
 William Ellis, Enos Foord, Ira Cleveland, William King Gay, 
 and Jabez Coney, Jr. were chosen a committee to carry the ar- 
 rangements, recommended in the foregoing report, into full ef- 
 fect. 
 
 Under the direction of this Committee of Arrangements, were 
 the following proceedings. 
 
 On the 21st of September, at sunrise, the bells of the several 
 Churches were rung, and a salute of one hundred guns fired. 
 At half past 10 o'clock, a procession was formed at the town 
 house, under the direction of Nathaniel Guild, as Chief Mar- 
 shal, assisted by Marshals, 
 
 John Morse Ira Russell Nathan Phillips 
 
 Luther Eaton Merrill Ellis Josiah Dean 2d 
 
 Theodore Gay 2d Samuel C. Mann Benjamin Boyden 
 
 Reuben Guild 2d Edward B. Holmes Joseph Day 
 
 EzraW Taft Edward D. Weld Elbridge G. Robinson 
 
 James Downing Austin Bryant Theodore Metcalf 
 
 Francis Guild Nath'l A. Hewins Reuben G. Trescott 
 
 Stephen Barry Joseph Fisher 
 
 Joseph A. Wilder John D. Colburu 
 
72 
 
 The procession moved under the escort of the Dedharn Light 
 Infantry, commanded by Capt. William Pedrick, with a band of 
 music, through the principal streets, to the Meeting House of 
 the First Parish. At the Norfolk Hotel, the procession was 
 joined by His Excellency, Edward Everett, Governor of the 
 Commonwealth, and his suite ; and also by the reverend Clergy 
 and other invited guests. On the green, in front of the Meeting 
 House, was an ornamental arch, erected for the occasion, and 
 covered with evergreens and flowers. Upon one side of it was 
 inscribed, 'Incorporated, 1636;' and on the other, '1836.' Be- 
 tween this arch and the Meeting House, eight Engine Compa- 
 nies had placed their engines and apparatus, in two lines, leav- 
 ing a space between them for the passing of the procession. On 
 the inner sides of these lines, about five hundred children of the 
 different schools were arranged by their instructors. Through 
 this arch, and between these lines of children, the procession 
 passed into the House. 
 
 The services were commenced by singing the anthem, 'Wake 
 the song of Jubilee,' &c. Prayer was then offered by the Rev. 
 Alvan Lamson, of the First Parish. The following hymn, com- 
 posed for the occasion by the Rev. John Pierpont of Boston, was 
 read by the Rev. Calvin Durfee, of the South Parish, and sung 
 to the tune of 'Old Hundred.' 
 
 Not now, O God, beneath the trees 
 
 That shade this plain, at night's cold noon 
 
 Do Indian war-songs load the breeze, 
 Or wolves sit howling to the moon. 
 
 The foes, the fears our fathers felt, 
 
 Have, with our fathers, passed away ; 
 And where, in their dark hours, they knelt, 
 
 We come to praise thee and to pray. 
 
 We praise thee that thou plantedst them, 
 
 And mad'st thy heavens drop down their dew, 
 
 We pray that, shooting from their stem, 
 We long may flourish where they grew. 
 
 And, Father, leave us not alone : — 
 
 Thou hast been, and art still our trust : — 
 
 Be thou our fortress, till our own 
 Shall mingle with our father's dust. 
 
 The foregoing Address was then delivered by Samuel F. Ha- 
 ven. 
 
73 
 
 Another anthem was then sung, and the services were closed 
 with a Benediction by the Rev. Samuel B. Babcock, of the Epis- 
 copal Church. 
 
 At the close of the seiwiccs, a procession was again formed of 
 the subscribers to a Dinner, and their guests, and was escorted 
 to a Pavilion, erected for the occasion, on land of John Bullard, 
 a few rods west of the Meeting House, where about six hun- 
 dred persons were seated at the tables. James Richardson pre- 
 sided at this dinner, assisted by John Endieott, George Bird, 
 Abner Ellis, Theron Metcalf and Thomas Barrows, as Vice 
 Presidents. A blessing was asked, by the Rev. John White, of 
 the West Parish, and thanks returned by the Rev. Dr. Jonathan 
 Homer, of Newton. 
 
 After the cloth was removed, the President announced the 
 following (among other) sentiments, which were received with 
 great satisfaction, and interspersed with music from the band 
 which accompanied the procession, and with appropriate songs. 
 
 1. The Day, with all its hallowed associations and congenial 
 joys: May we prove true and faithful to our ancestors, to our in- 
 stitutions, and to posterity. 
 
 2. The memory of the first settlers of this town, their resolution, 
 fortitude, perseverance, and devotion to civil and religious liber- 
 ty: May we never, in our zeal to outstrip them in accomplish- 
 ments, leave their virtues in the rear. 
 
 S. The Governor of the Commonwealth: The stock was the 
 growth of our own soil ; a branch is refreshing the State by its 
 shadow, and its fruit has been healthful to the nation. 
 
 His Excellency, the Governor, then addressed the President 
 and company, as follows — 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen, — I cannot but be sensibly af- 
 fected by the kind notice you are pleased to take of me. The 
 occasion is one, which must interest every reflecting mind. — 
 No one can witness what we behold at this moment, or hear 
 what we have heard this day, without being highly gratified: 
 but the toast, which has been announced, must prepare you for 
 my saying that though personally a stranger to almost all pres- 
 ent, I take more than a stranger's interest in the celebration. 
 My ancestors, from the very first foundation of Dedharn in 1636, 
 were established here, and like the great majority of the people, 
 in the unambitious condition of cultivators of the soil. The 
 name of the first of them, who has been so kindly remembered 
 
 10 
 
74 
 
 by the orator of (he Hay. in his most appropriate, eloquent, and 
 instructive discourse, is found in the list <>t'lhe original settlers of 
 the place. In the second generation, 1 have just perceived in 
 one of the interesting ancient parchments, which have passed 
 along the table, that another of the name was one of the four 
 Commissioners, who in 1686 received a confirmation of the In- 
 dian title, from the grandson <>f Chickatawbut, of whom it was 
 originally purchased. My own honored father was born and 
 grew up to manhood here, in the same humble sphere; — and as 
 I came back to-dav, fellow-citizens, to breathe among you the 
 native air of my race, — I must say that, with the greater expe- 
 rience I have of the cares and trials of public station, the more 
 ready I am to wish, that it had been my lot to grow up and pass 
 my life, in harmless obscurity, in these peaceful shades, and ai- 
 ter an unobtrusive career, to he gathered to my sires, in the old 
 Dedham grave-yard, where, 
 
 Each in his narrow cell forever laid. 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 
 
 But not to dwell any longer on what is merely* personal to an 
 individual, let me say, sir, that 1 i < gard a festival like this, hot 
 only as highly interesting but exceedingly significant and instruc- 
 tive. It is often said by superficial writers in Europe, that our 
 institutions are a mere experiment, — the mushroom growth of 
 yesterday ; — and from this assumed fact of their recent origin, 
 their short-lived duration is foreboded. To this reproach, let 
 the expressive answers be given in the golden cyphers blazoned 
 on the front of the pulpit this day, 1686, and tastefully wreathed 
 in evergreen on-' the arch which adorns yonder lawn. The 
 mushroom growth of yesterday ! Sir, this is a centennial, a sec- 
 ond centennial anniversary. Our Institutions, political, civil, 
 and social are not of yesterday.- — they are substantially two hun- 
 dred years old. Their foundation is not laid on modern straw 
 or stubble ; it goes down to the lowest stratum, — the origin of 
 the colony, — the primitive rock. "NYe have, I trust, in all things 
 where it was needful or practicable, kept pace with and even 
 gone beyond the improvements of the long intervening period, 
 but as all the substantial elements of our rights and liberties 
 were implanted by the fathers, so in all things there has been a 
 measured progress and a slow ripening towards maturity. The 
 federal constitutions and the constitutions of the States, which 
 have most attracted the notice of Europe, are indeed the work 
 of the last generation ; but the great principles on which they 
 are founded are coeval with the country. You might as well 
 call the great oak tree in front of Mr. Avery's house, in East 
 street, the growth of yesterday, because its broad expanse of 
 
To 
 
 foliage has put forth the present season, whereas its acorn was 
 deposited generations ago, and its trunk has braved the blasts 
 of two ce The wonderful progress and development 
 
 which have taken place in the country, in the last forty years, 
 and no where more than in J >edham, are but the spread- 
 
 ing brani waving foliage, the ripened fruit from that 
 
 germ, which our fathers planted in tribulation and watered with 
 their tears. The principles were early here. Herein Massa- 
 chusetts, — more than two centuries ago, while the people yet 
 abode in I which were alluded to by the orator, 
 
 and constructed by < ach man for himself, (for artizans as yet 
 there were none. i with the Indian in the neighboring swamp, 
 and the wolf at midnight before the threshold, — there was a solid 
 frame-work of representative government, — a well compacted 
 civil society, — there were laws and tribunals to enforce them, — 
 there were sc ovision for their support; there was a 
 
 college generousl) endowed by public and private liberality, of 
 which Mr. Allin, your first minister, was one of the first over- 
 seers; : was meel provision for the maintenance of the 
 Worship of God, and the dispensation of the Gospel. All this is 
 two hundred years old among us, and 1 trust in Heaven that be- 
 fore it ceases, from among us, it will be two thousand. 
 
 1 derive from the age of these our Institutions, (and surely 
 they arc the life and soul of the body politic, — that which gives 
 outward forms thi ir '. r and value,) an argument in favor of 
 t leir permanence. They will not go down with tomorrow's sun, 
 for they did not spring up yesterday. They were not reared by 
 our hands, and when we perish they will survive us. They 
 guided and cheered hers, and carried them through dark 
 
 and trying times, and I have a cheerful hope that, for long gen- 
 erations to come, they will guide and direct our children. 
 
 Sir. 1 mean no em] ty compliment when I say, that, taking the 
 character of your ancient town as it appears in history, — or even 
 in the instructive summary, which the Orator has given us of it, 
 it appears to me en admirable specimen of the true New Eng- 
 land character. We may take a distinction in this matter. In 
 first breaking the way in the arduous enierprize of settling anew 
 country, — especially under the discouraging circumstances in 
 which our lathers were placed, — it was perhaps unavoidable, 
 that some harsh and repulsive traits should be found on the part 
 of some of the leaders: — and in point of fact, such traits are 
 found in the characters of some of 'the chief men at Boston and 
 Salem. But I do not find them hei*e. The settlers of Dedham 
 appeared, to use a homely phrase, singularly disposed to keep 
 our of hot water. They left the harassing controversies of the 
 day to their brethren at the Northern part of the Colony. 
 
76 
 
 There was but one topic, on which they wanned into passion, 
 and that was Liberty. When that was in peril, they were 
 wrought to a noble frenzy. If a poor Quaker was to be 
 scourged at the Cart-tail, as the Orator told us, they waited in 
 Dedham for orders from the Metropolis ; but when a usurper 
 was to be prostrated, when the country people were to rush to 
 Town 'in such heat and rage' as to make the Boston folks trem- 
 ble : when a bold champion was required, to burst into Mr. Ush- 
 er's house, to drag forth the tyrant by the collar, to bind him, 
 and cast him into the Fort, then Dedham is ready with her in- 
 trepid Daniel Fisher, — the son of the proscribed speaker of the 
 same name, — 'a second Daniel,' as the Orator beautifully ex- 
 pressed it, 'literally come to judgment !' 
 
 But this was the overflowing of popular feeling, at a crisis. In 
 ordinary times, the name they wished to give their settlement, 
 Contentment, though of a somewhat puritanical sound, well ex- 
 presses their character. But though they were contented with 
 their condition, it was not a stupid contentment. They had not 
 'the flagrant stupidity,' to use the quaint combination of ideas, 
 which the Orator quoted from your revolutionary records, to set 
 at naught all efforts at improvement. Theirs was a rational 
 contentment, — pretty busy in trying to better their condition, 
 that they might have more to be contented with. Not to speak 
 of the great enterprize of settling Deerlield, they set an example, 
 in the very infancy of the Town, of an enlarged and liberal poli- 
 cy of improvement, in constructing the Canal which unites the 
 waters of the Charles with those of the Neponset, and this, as 
 we were told by the Orator, as early as 1639, Why, sir, this 
 communication used to be spoken of, as a wonderful natural 
 phenomenon. It has turned out to be an artificial work, execu- 
 ted by the order of the town, three years after the settlement. 
 Well may it be called Mother Brook, parent as it is of all the 
 thousand works of internal improvement, which have spread 
 their net-work over the country, bringing Art to the aid of Na- 
 ture, and calling Science to minister to the comfort and pros- 
 perity of Man. It is a pleasing proof of the good judgment, 
 with which the work was projected, that it still serves the pur- 
 pose, for which it was originally designed, and is the seat of ac- 
 tivity, industry, and productive power, contributing essentially to 
 the prosperity of Dedham. Without taking up more of your 
 time, Sir, I beg leave to propose as a closing sentiment : — 
 
 Our Fathers — In their piety and humility, contented with a 
 little, may their posterity, to whom they have bequeathed a her- 
 itage of the richest blessings, be contented and grateful in its 
 enjoyment, and faithful in its transmission ! 
 
77 
 
 4. The Unii'trs'ilii at Cambridge — the offspring of the labors 
 and privations of the Puritan Fathers: while we venerate the 
 parents, let us cherish the child; and may it always be['guided 
 by as unerring a hand as now holds the reins. 
 
 5. Practical Education: That teaches what to do, and when to 
 do it, and never to rest satisfied till it is done, and well done. 
 
 6. The objects of the deep solicitude of our ancestry — the 
 church and the school houst : May the progress of religious, moral 
 and intellectual culture within, transcend that of material beauty 
 without. 
 
 7. The memory of the Rev. Samuel Dexter and Doctor Nathan- 
 iel Ames, Senior: Townsmen, distinguished for piety and learn- 
 ing, science and philosophy; and whose descendants have been, 
 and are, among the gifted and illustrious men of our nation. 
 
 8. The principles and spirit that brought the pilgrims to these 
 shores — cherished and venerated by succeeding ages, embodied 
 in our constitution and laws — dispensing blessings over our whole 
 country — in peace or Avar, in weal or woe, may we never aban- 
 don those principles, nor prove recreant to that spirit. 
 
 9. The memory of Governor Winthrop: His presence awed the 
 savages during his life: He is indebted to a Savage for the best 
 edition of his memorable ' Journal.' 
 
 10. The Militia — the only safe defence of Republics: When 
 legislators doubt, let them consult the spirits of Warren, Pres- 
 cott, and the Heroes of Bunker Hill. 
 
 On announcing sentiments alluding to the guests, or their an- 
 cestors, several, besides the Governor, addressed the company — 
 among others, John Davis, Judge of the District Court of the 
 United States for the District of Massachusetts — Josiah Quincy, 
 President of Harvard College — Henry A. S.Dearborn, Adjutant 
 General of the Commonwealth — William Jackson, Representa- 
 tive in Congress — Franklin Dexter — Alexander H Everett — 
 and Robert C. Winthrop, Aid to Governor Everett. A great 
 number of sentiments were also given by invited guests and by 
 the citizens of the town. 
 
 An interesting part of the proceedings at this celebration was 
 perforrrei by the Ladies of Dedham. They spread a table the 
 whole length of the lower floor of the Court House, and very 
 tastefully furnished it with a most ample collation. The court 
 *oom was used as a drawing room, and the library room was ad- 
 
78 
 
 mirably decorated, and tables there supplied and adorned with 
 delicate fruits, native and exotic. 
 
 A piano forte was placed in the court room, and music formed 
 part of the entertainment. The following Hymn prepared for 
 the occasion (by a lady,) was sung by the ladies, accompanying 
 the piano. 
 
 Welcome, all dear friends, returning, 
 Though from different paths you come; 
 
 Welcome all whose hearts are yearning 
 For their dear-loved native home. 
 
 Some in foreign lands have wandered, 
 
 Some from the ' far west ' have come ; 
 Yet where'er the footsteps lingered, 
 
 Thought still turned to ' home, sweet home!' 
 
 Many a well-known face shall meet ye, 
 
 Many a joyous smile shall bless; 
 Many a kindred heart shall greet ye, 
 
 While old friends around you press. 
 
 Come then, hasten, with us gather 
 
 Round our simple festive board; 
 Come, and with us bless that Father, 
 
 Who on all his love hath poured. 
 
 Condescend to grant Thy blessing, 
 
 Thou who dost our lives defend, 
 While Thy children Thee addressing, 
 
 Own Thee as their common Friend. 
 
 At the request of the managers of this exhibition, a gentlemen 
 made an informal suggestion to the Governor, in the morning, 
 that the ladies, at the court house, would be happy to receive 
 him and his suite, and to tender him their respect and hospitality. 
 His Excellency expressed his readiness to accede to their wish- 
 es; and on retiring from the table at the pavilion, at about five 
 o'clock, he proceeded to the court room, where he passed half 
 an hour, to the great gratification of the ladies, and apparently 
 with pleasure to himself. The singing of the hymn was re- 
 peated, while he was in the room. After he had been invited 
 into the library room, and had partaken of the fruits, he re- 
 turned to the court room, and from the bench made a short ad- 
 dress to the ladies — in which he remarked on the privations, 
 sufferings, fortitude and piety of the first mothers and daughters 
 
79 
 
 of the colony, and concluded by inviting them to cherish the 
 memory of the Lady Arbella Johnson. 
 
 The informal invitation of the ladies was extended to all the 
 other gentlemen who were invited as guests, by the Committee 
 of Arrangements; and several of them, besides the Governor's 
 suite, accompanied him to the court house. 
 





 
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