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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 00858 6189
HENRY DUNSTER
HIS DESCENDANTS.
BY
SAMUEL DUNSTER,
ATTLEBOROUGH, MASS.
U. /o- B^ <n^ « ^ . ^ '
CENTRAL FALLS, R I. :
E. L. Freeman & Co., Steam Book and Job Printers.
1876.
1158949
INTRODUCTION
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When the life of Henry Dunster was published in 1872, a genealogy of the male br9,nches of his descendants, as far as known, was added in an appendix. Some of the female descendants were grieved that they and their children could not be noticed. This just appeal could only be met by urging the want of space allotted, and the difficulty of identifying many of them after having parted with their patronymic.
It is our purpose, as far as we are able, to amend this acknowledged wrong and add more information, not then accessible, of those who retain the name, as well as those who by marriage have dropped it.
The name Dunster signifies a dweller upon a dun, or down, and is of Saxon origin. There is a market town in Somersetshire, England, and a castle there by that name. Hence, we suppose, the origin of the crest — (Book of Family Crests, Vol. I., page 155, and Vol. II., plate 85, No. 25,) — " Dunster, out of the top of a tower, ar. an arm emboss, vested gri., cuffed of the first, hold- ing a tilting spear, sa." But no knowledge or intimation has ever reached the writer that that or other crest was ever used or referred to by the American head of the family. He was quite too democratic for that, as his whole life shows.
There are several families in this country by the name besides those descended from President Dunster, the earliest of which appears to be Charles Dunster, who, as Mr. Oliver Dunster, his great grandson, of Barnardsville, New Jersey, states " was one of the twelve proprietors of all South Jersey, and owned a great deal of land in West
IV INTRODUCTION.
Jerse}"," on some of which he now resides. The Dun- sters in Leesville, Ohio, appear to be descended from him. But the Dunsters of western New York, are of a more recent immigration. They came from the Coun- ty of Kent. There is also in Grass Valley, California, an Isaac Dunster, who came only a few years ago. There was a Thomas Dunster in Newark, New Jersey, not re- lated to Oliver, who had a son Henry, who was a Meth- odist minister. He had a son — an eminent bank note engraver — now in the employ of the Eussian government. In the Army Hospital at Memphis, Tenn., in 1863, there was the death of a ''Dunster," but we have not been able to identify his parentage. The account is from a correspondent of tlie St. Louis Republican, which we copy:
"A Hospital Scene at Memphis. — We came to the body of a non-commissioued officer, a fine, large man, who during the last few hours had become insane. The bone of his thigh was shat- tered by a ball, so high up that amputation could not be perform- ed, so nothing was offered him but to lay there and die. Watch- ing the terrible hues of mortification come upon his limb, feeling the horrible poison steal up toward his vitals, grasping and dead- ening new tissues each hour, it proved too fearful for even the strong man, who to his physicians had uttered no cry or com- plaint, and his mind fled for relief to insanit3^
"As we approached he fixed a pair of cold, despairing eyes upon us and exclaimed, pointing back over his shoulder, ' Do you see him, old Death there, sitting on the headboard and laughing ? A grim army joker in truth. The other night I felt a cold touch, and it woke me. The moon flung in a bai- of light, and I saw old Death feeling of my wound. The icy touch numbed it, and the next time I woke his hand was closer to my body. So it goes ; and he will soon be pulling on my heart chords.' The maniac then stopped as if for the purpose of reflecting, and during our stay would part of the time be musing, part laughing, occasion- ally breaking out with the exclamation: 'I plead to him that they would be lonely at the old home; a wife and child are pleas- anter than a tomb.'
"And so we left hini, the utter corruption, the rottenness of the tomb, and the vitality of a great man joined in one being, grap- pling upon the hospital bed. Life, with the full, strong pulse of thirty years, had marshalled its forces, been defeated, and was retreating upon its citadel, pursued by the decay growth of a few days. The arteries would soon, stung by the poison tide, .stag- nate, and block up the gates of tiie lieart. His name was C. P. Dunster, from Illinois, I believe, but the regiment he belonged to I have forgotten."
INTRODUCTION. Y
The name appears to have been originally written Dunstone. In an old letter in our possession, on the back of which is the most extended sermon extant in President Dunster's hand, it is so written, as it also is in a record in Henry VIII. time. Could it, in the forma- tion of surnames, have had any reference to the expres- sion, "A great rock in a tueary land ?" This letter hav- ing never been printed, we insert entire:
"1655, the20 Augt Cousin Dunstone my kind love remember, d unto you raj wife yor Cozen mary Biildis Coy [Kay] tlio growing od is in good health I heard from her the last April I heard yor wife is dead I desire you to remember my love to my sonn in Law Benjamin Phillipps and ye rest of o.r ffreinds Crave here leave to rest.
Yor Loving Kinsman This day we saled Tho. Greene
from y'^ Barbadoes to England. I came from Ginny to Barbadoes "
The name is an ancient one in England, especially in Lancashire. As early as Henry YIII., there are records in the parish of Middleton of the burials of Hugo, Katherine, Johannes, and Georgius Dunster, all within the year 1543: and in Edward VI. reign, George, Jannet, Elizabeth ux Johannes Dunster and Johannis Dunster. In Mary's reign, (1553), Anna, and before IGOO seven others.
Among the nine weddings of "Dunsters" recorded in the parish of Middleton between 1544 and 1594, is Henry Dunster and Anne Strete, 25th July, 3 Edw. VI., 1550; Edmund Dunster and Jane Hopwood, July 20, 4 Edw. VI., 1551; also Henry Dunster and Katherine Kaye, 15th May, 6 Edw. VI., 1553.
There are seven births recorded there before 1600, among which are Martha /?7m Jac. Dunster, 27th Jan., 1593, and Mtiry //m /r/r.^ Dunster, 4th May, 1595, and other children of Edmund and Richard Dunster.
There were several Dunsters of some note. John, who was Bachelor of Divinity, a canon regular in 22 Henry VIII. , 1530 ; Eoger Dunster, a London merchant : John Dunster, A. B., Magdalen College, IGOO, A. M., 1604, Proctor of the College, 1611 ; Thomas Dunster, Proctor 1*
VI INTRODUCTION.
of Wadham College, 1688, D. D., 1690; Henry Duu- ster, Esq., married Mary, daughter and heir of Henry Gardner, Esq., M. P. for Ilchester, 1660 ; Samuel Dun- ster published Anglia Eedeviva, 1699, (Willard Memori- al). There is also Horace's Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry, done into English, with notes, by S. Dunster, D. D., Prebendary of Sarum. London, 1729. 4 Ed.
In the life of Henry Dunster, page 254, is a record of one marriage and ten baptisms, furnished by Charles Deane, Esq., of Cambridge, who procured it in 1854 from the Parish Clerk of Bury, in Lancashire. This record did not give any baptisms between 1595 and 1618. Although it appeared identical with some facts in the "Balehoult" Letter, it failed to give satisfaction as to the birth of President D., or reconcile statements made by him. These discrepancies are fully stated by Mr. Chaplin. We sent to Bury and had the record of the old church there examined from 1594 to 1650. An at- tested copy is printed below:
" Extracts from the Register of the Parish Church, Bury, Lan- casliire. Anuo. Dom. 1594, June, Robt., son of Henry Dunster.
1595, August, Henry, son of William Dunster.
1597, April, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Dunster.
1600, August, Daniel, son of Henry Dunster.
1602, March, James, son of Henry Dunster.
1605, August, Robert, son of Henry Dunster.
1606, August, John, son of Henry Dunster. 1609, Nov., Henry, son of Thos. Dunster. 1611, Nov., Thos., son of Henry Dunster.
1618, June, Mary, daugh. of Henry Dunster (minor).
1620, Nov., Henry, son of Henry Dunster,
1622, Mar., Daniel, son of Robert Dunster, of Elton.
1622, May, John, son of Henry Dunster.
1625, Aug., Daniel, son of Henry Dunster, of Elton.
1627, Dec, Alice, daughter of Henry Dunster, of Elton.
1628, March, Margaret, daughter of Robert Dunster, of Tottington.
1632, July, Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Dunster,
of Elton. l!^35, April, .James, son of Henry Dunster, of Elton. 1688, Dec, Bitiah, daughter of Robert Dunster. 1640, March, Faith, daughter of Robert Dunster. 1649, Aug. , Henry, son of John Dunster, of Elton.
INTRODUCTION. VII
The above are all the entries of the name of Dunster from 1590 to the end of 1650, as examined by me. S. Bailey.
Parish Clerk, Bury, Lancashire."
This record agrees substantially after 1617 — at which time, October 10, Henry Dunster was married to Isabell Kay — with the one in the life of H. D. ; but the entry " 1G19, April xxii, baptised Elisabeth, daughter of Henry Dunster," is entirely wanting in Mr. Bailey's copy.
In the parish records at Elton, a short distance from Bury, is the registration of John Dunster's family of four children, — '*' Henry, son of John Dunster, of Elton, born Aug. 21, baptised Sept. 9, 1649." There can hardly be a doubt that tliis Henry is the same mentioned in the Bury records as having been baptised there. The other children are Daniel, baptised July 27, 1652; ''Henry, son of John Dunster, of Elton, born Aug. 2-1, baptised 26, 1655." [The first Henry probably died in infancy]. Also, Mary, daughter of John D. This John Dunster was church warden there in 1677, and appears to have been related to the Bury Dunsters — possibly might have been the "John, son of Henry, baptised 1606." There is also the record, — " John, son of Henry Dunster, buried Sept. 14, 1687," — perhaps the same.
It is remarkable that there is a connected list of the children of Henry Dunster from 1597 to 1611, in- clusive, with the single exception of 1609, where Henry is named as the son of Thomas. There is not in the whole list of fifty-six years another child of Thomas named ; and their births came at such regular intervals as to raise a doubt whether this Henry was not also the son of Henry. If so, it would reconcile all the disagree- ments to which Mr. Chaplin refers, and make Henry Dunster to have been baptised in November, 1609, and thirty or thirty-one years old at the time of being elected President of Harvard College.
This doubt" ai:)peared of so much consequence that, learning the records by age were in some places hard to make out, Mr. Bailey was requested by us to re-examine them, which he did, and wrote us as follows :
"11 Parson's Lane, Bury, Lancashire, England, ) Feb'y 18, 1876. \
Dear Sir : — I have carefully read over your letters to Mr. Kay
VIII INTKODUCTION.
and Mr. Nabb respecting the entries in the register of the Parish Churcli here. I have gone over the list I sent you, and compared the names and dates witli the register. Tlie one in 1609 is plain and distinct, — 'Henry, s. of Tlios. Dunster.' * * *
Samuel Bailey."
This letter removes all doubt of the correctness of the copy, and shows that if there be any mistake it must have been in the original entry in the register. It would be very easy for the Parish Clerk to mistake the Rector's memorandum, and write Th. for H., and the long^[s] of that day for the y, and thus Henry would become Thomas, with hardly a change in the chirography of the other letters. We hope that some one w4io has the op- portunity to do so will further investigate the record of that family, from whom we verily believe President Dun- ster to have sprung, by examining the wills, convey- ances, court records, and tax books of that day; also the births, baptisms, burials, which might leave the record clear. It would be a grateful tribute of Harvard Col- lege to the memory of her first President, whom she used so roughly.
The Mr. JSTabb referred to in Mr. Bailey's letter, whose name is Thomas Dunster Nabb, is the son of Sarah Dunster, who married John Nabb, and lives at 27 Back Garden street. Bury. They trace their relationship back to John Dunster, whose ancestors owned the '* Bolholt" (as now written) estate. He lived at Higher Wood Hill, in Bury. This John Dunster had seven children.
I. Richard Dunster. He came to Southampton, Long Island, about 1830; was a wheelwright; had four daugh- ters; no sons. The oldest, Emma Dunster, married Mr. Schroeder, and lives at Southampton. They have had four sons, one of whom she named Samuel Dunster Schroeder. He is 15 years old.
II. William Dunster, son of John, came to America with his brother Richard, and was last heard of in Phil- adelphia. He had a son Richard.
HI. James Dunster.
IV. John Dunster.
V. Betsey Dunster.
VI. Sarah Dunster, who married John Nabb.
INTRODUCTION. IX
VII. Jane Diinster, who married Edwin Twigg, of Bury, had four children, Isabelhi, the oldest, married Jeremiah Smith, of Bury. About a year ago we had a visit from liini, and learned many facts of the Dunster family. The name does not exist in Bury now. Were the Newark Dunsters of this family ? If so, the George H. Dunster, of St. Petersburg, Kussia, who graduated at the New York College of Dentistry, Feb. 23, 1875, and received the "^Faculty prize for the best examina- tion in all the studies of the course," was, as we think, descended from the same stock as Rev. Henry Dunster.
In Rev. Dr. Quint's oration, at Dover, N. H., the name Thos. Dunstar ap})ears, page 18, as a signer of "The Combination for Government by y' people at Pas- cataq, 1640." This is the earliest document in the his- tory of Dover, and was dated 22d day of October, 1640. As'the earliest settlers of Dover and Portsmouth came from the west of England, it is probable that this Thos. Dunster was from Somersetshire. He could possibly have been President D.'s brother Thomas. He was in England, March 20, 1640, having buried both wife and children recently. The name appears signed last on the *' Combination." Nothing further is known of him.
In Worcester,. Mass., is a William Dunster, who came in 1854 from Waterford, Ireland, with a brother, who is in Canada. Tliey were expelled for not paying the rents. They are traditionally from Lancashire, Eng., but have no written record.
The plan of the genealogy is made as simple as possi- ble. Following the head of a family are the children, arranged according to age, and numbered i, ii, &c., and over the baptismal name a small figure to denote the (feneration. This is followed by the surname, and when deemed necessary that is followed by the parentage of that child, in parenthesis, numbered as in the baptismal name, so that any one can easily be traced back to the earliest known record. The history of each child is then taken up, and flieir children numbered 1,*2, &c. ; then follow the grand-children, numbered (i) (ii) in paren- thesis ; their the great grand-children, numbered (1) (2), also in parenthesis — each following its own parentage.
X INTRODUCTION".
When the history of any one is long, or the children so numerous as to lead to confusion, that one is simply named, and against the name is placed a full face figure, If with the sign §, and in a subsequent page, at the same figure, more of their history will be found.
The manuscript unexpectedly became more extended than it was judged prudent to print. It is therefore abridged in many places, and matter which we should have gladly put in is omitted. Where the record of any family terminates abruptly, it is for want of information which could not be obtained. It is hoped that the MS. letters and notes will be preserved in the family. To avoid numerous foot notes, references are often made in the text.
Abbreviations. — b. born; bap. baptised; bur. buried; chn. children; d. died; dau. daughter; m. married; iinm. unmarried; r. or res. reside.
SAMUEL DUNSTER.
Attleboro, Mass., Nov. 1, 1876.
HENRY DUNSTER
HIS DESCENDANTS
EMIGRANT ANCESTOR-HENRY DUNSTER.
Henry Dunster, the first of the name in this country, and the first President of Harvard College, was born in England, and came over in the year 1640. The only known reference to the place of his birth is found in a let- ter* of his own, dated Feb., 1648, and addressed to Ch. Eavius, Professor of Oriental languages in London. In that letter he says : ''Ego enim Lancastrensis sum" (for I am from Lancashire). Another letter to President Dunster, from his father, is still extant,** and is dated "from Balehoult, this 20th of March, 1640." Bale- hoult (sometimes called Billyholt) is supposed to have been the name of a private gentleman's residence in
* Life of Henry Dunster, First President of Harvard College. By Rev. Jeremiah Cliaplin, D. D. Boston, 1872. pp. 87, 271.
** Rev. Mr. Hunter (Willard Memorial, p. 345), says: "The Dunsters of America are fortunate in possessing such a piece of family evidence as this letter. It is one of the few cases which have come under my knowledge in which New England families can be traced by evidence that is indisputable to their English home when they had abandoned it at so early a period."
2 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS. ,
Bury, Lancashire. These letters, with^others to friends in Bury, indicate the phice of his residence, and in all l^robability of his birth, the date of wliich cannot be exactly ascertained, bnt was about 1610-12. His father, Henrye, had four sons (see Balelioult Letter), Henry, Richard, Thomas and Eobert, and two or three daugh- ters, only one of whom is mentioned by name in the letter. Bichard came to this country, as appears both from the letter and from the college memoranda, in 1640, but nothing further is definitely known of him.
This letter, which is referred to in a manuscript sketch of the Dunster family .prepared by the Rev. John Mar- rett, [Harv., 1763, J was long supposed to be lost. It was found in the year 1853 by my son, Edward S. Dunster, at that time a student in Harvard College, in the house of Miss Hannah Dunster, of Pembroke, Mass., and was by her presented to him, with other papers and books which had been the property of President D. She was great grand-daughter of President D. , and was then eighty-four years of age, the sole living descendant of her branch of the family. The letter, herewith ap- pended, was published, together with the other papers, under the editorship of tlie Rev. Samuel Sewell, of Bur- lington, Mass., in the Mass. Hist. Coll., IV Series, Vol. IL, p. 190.
THE BALEHOULT LETTER.
Grace mercy and peace bee multiplyed in Christ Jesus vppon you Amen Kind and Louinge Sonns I am very glad of your wellfare and good psperity I haue receiued 4 letters from you since you Ariued m new England the first dated the 17tli of August by Robte Haworth of Boulton the second dated the 21tli of August both wch came to my hands in seauen weekes after you sent them the Redd wheat I receiued but ye Lidian wampeupegs* weare lost out of your letter the third was dated ye 29tli of 8ber wch I receiued on christms eue wth a letter of Richards inclosed in the same the last dated the 12th of Sber wch I receiued of one Millns that had beene wth
* The wampenpeg was the Indian money, each piece being of the value of about the sixth of a penny.
THE BALEHOULT LETTER. 6
you in new England who lodged with me uboiit mid January but it seemcs it should haue come by Colier your Sisters remember theire loues vnto you both but you must not expect tliem so longe as your motber and J do line your brotber Thomas remembers his lone and bath sent yon 2 dozen of Almanacks but now be is a widdow- er for both wyffe and chyln are deade since micbaellms I pray god he take good wayes I do not know of any that you sent for that entend to come as yett Touciiinge Riciiard I would aduise him not to come over againe as yett for what soeuer is his due shall bee left in the hands of his sisters for I haue taken a generall aqnitance of Eobte so tbat Richard and bis sisters may haue what wee two ould folke leaue and wee shall make no willfull wast now concerninge our England since you went ouer wee have beene sore troubled for the Scotts came into Eng- land a month afore michaelhns and came to Tyne watter where some of oiir Troupers laye the Scotts proffered to come over and our men wtbstood them for a while but ours beinge but 500 weare not able to wthstand 30 Thou- sand but iledd amaine insomuch as one Constable a gen- tleman of a company cryed to his band Ryde theeues Ryde for your lyues and he himselfe for his pte Ridd so fast yt he lost his capp and mist it not of rydinge two myles Then the Scotts came pedentim towards newcastle in some 203 [2 or 3 ?] dayes where ye yealded the towne immediatly Then was England in a fright for the did not knowe what to doe but att last all the freehoulders and trayned bande weare caled togather every Hundred by itseli'e and trayned for a fortnight togather also all betwixt 16 and 60 weare caled togather so that vpon the 8th of 7ber beinge Bury fayre there was at Burye 40 Thousand wth such weapons as ye could gett and those that had no better tooke euery one a great clubb and it was caled Club fayre att Burye and all the prouision for the fayre was eaten vpp that daye So that ye SOO wliicli trayned there weare scanted for a fortnight after of vit- uals the Buchers and Allewyues made a gayne of them Then great troups of Souldiers weare sent into yorkeshire and it was thought that there would haue beene some Batayle speedely Butt the Lord turned all to peace and
4 HEXRT DUXSTER AXD HIS DESCENDANTS.
a Parliment [The long Parliament.] was calerl which began the third of 9ber and the goe on very Joyffully god bee praysed for the same And the Scotts are to re- moue from newcastle before the 25th of march and the must receiue 300 Thousand pounds to bringe them Avliome againe Xow for our great men of England the most of them are proued traytors first lord deputy [Straf- ford.] of Ireland and the Archbishopp of canterbury [Land — Botli were subsequently executed.] and the great Judges the rest of the Bishops are found in a premunire except the bishopp of Lincolne who is suffered to bee in tlie parliment house all the rest are Excluded finch ye lord keeper is fledd Avyudebancke the kings cheeflfe secre- tary is fledd the Bishopp wrenn [Chaplain to Charles I.] had thought to haue flowen but his wings weare to short All non conformists are suffred to preach and our Altars are some of them puld vpp Surplusses and communion books some torne the communion tabls brought downe into tlie bodye of the church: Burton and Preen are brought into the Parliment house wth great respect and weare mett out of the citye Avith 200 couches in triumphe so that ye kinge did take it somwhat harshly and said so many did not meete him when he came from Yorke from quietinge the Scotts many peticions are prfered into the Parliment against Idle dronken ministers and against double beneficed parson [s] and suite made that all Chap- pells shall be reliued out of church Linings your sister Elizabeth is turned scribe and can do very well of 3 weeks tyme I pray you giue Kichard good counssell and bee the meanes to trayne him vpp in goodness and make much of each other for it repenteth mee very sore of my lyffe heretofore spent in Idle company and I thanke god hartelye that plonged my lyffe to see my erors and foly The ould Lady Ash ton and Mr. Rawsthorns heire dyed wtliin 2 howers togather vpon wednessday afore candlms and weare buried att burye both in one graue vpon the monday followinge The papists had conspired wth ye deputye of Ireland to sett fightinge in the north pts that ye might haue begun in the south where the should haue had ayde out of Ireland and the Spaniard laye watchinge vppon the seas likewise to haue Ayded them but the
THE BALEHOULT LETTER. 5
Holandei's moetinge wth them gaue them a great shake and scattered them sore so that wee may well say that man i)urposseth bnt god dis})osseth my lord saye and my lord Brooke are sworne of the kings priuy Counssell whose lyves ye byshops had ment to hane taken away not long since your ould friend doctor Cossins for his hon- esty is put in the cage to see if he can singe well or no All the monepolies for lycencesses are disanulled so that euery man may buye and sell att theire pleasure wthout controule we haue gotten ould Mr Horocks to bee lec- turer att Burye euery thursday he begun afore christms and hath promised for a tweueluemonth if god spare him health and abilitie Mr Ashton of Midleton is one of our knights for the Parliment who hath wth him for aduise and counssell your friend ould Mr, Rathband who hath beene wth him since it began The Scotts assone as the came to new castle sange the 74th psalme: why art thou lord so longe from vs &c [Sternhold and Hoi^kins's version.] many great men are thought to bee faulty as I writt afore Thus committinge you bothe to the ptection of the Allmighty I rest
Your louing father
Henrye Dunster from Balehoult * this 20th of March 1640 This letter comes by London."
Henry was educated at Magdalen College, Cambridge, Eng., whence he was graduated A. B. in 1630, and A. M. in 1634. The University here had, from an early
* Mr. Ellison, of Dover, N. H., who was born and reared in Bury, and who is an engraver to calico printers, and tlierefore accustomed to exact drawing, gave me a sketch of the vicinity, on which lie has marked a place still called Duustar's. It is on the Ramsbottom road, about a mile and a half from the Burj- bridge, over the river Irwell, and near the East Lancashire rail- road. He has also located the place called Billyholt and the Bol- holt print works on a cross-road running between the Tottiugton road and Walshaw lane, about a mile from Bur}^ liridge.
Rev. Mr. Sewall, the transcriber of the letter,'had also obtained from England independent and conclusive testimony to same purport. [S. D.]
6 HEXJIY DUNSTER AND Hfs DESCENDAXTS.
period, a reputation for liberality of opinion far beyond that of her ancient rival, Oxford, and it is not at all sur- prising that so many of her graduates, who were driven fi'om home by the then existing intolerance toward non- conformists, were found among the early settlers of Xew England. Among his contemporaries at Cambridge, were Jeremy Taylor and John Milton, Ralph Cudworth and John Pearson, John Harvard and others, who sub- sequently became more or less distinguished. He was trained for the ministry, but it is questionable whether he ever took orders in the church; and after a few years spent in teaching, he emigrated to this country, appa- rently, so far as we now know, with no settled purpose. He was a man of retiring disposition, .and although hold- ing to the most positive conviction of duty, he was by nature opposed to controversy and strife; and so we may with propriety assume that he was influenced in his movements Ijy a desire to avoid taking part in the angry scenes just then commencing in England, which cul- minated in the establishment of the protectorate under Cromwell and the execution of King Charles and some of his ministers.
He arrived in Boston " toward the latter end of this Summer,'' [1640J* and for a short time resided "^'on his own estate at the IS'orth East Corner of Court Street and Washington Street." ** His reputation as a ripe scholar had evidently preceded him, for "immediately upon his arrival he was waited on by the Governor, magistrates, elders and ministers" and asked "by a sort of acclama- tion and general consent" to remove to Cambridge and assume the Presidency of the College — a work which proved to be his great life-occupation. As to his fitness for this Avork, there is abundant contemporaneous testi- mony. Johnson, in his " Wonder- Working Providence," says he was "fitted from the Lord for the work, and by those that have skill in that way, reported to be an able proficient in Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages."
* Jolinson. Wonder-Working Providence of Sions Saviour in New England, p. 162.
** Wbitmau. Hist. Ancient and Honorable Artillery. Quoted by Chaplin.
COXDUCTING THE COLLEGE AFFAIRS. 7
Prince speaks of him as ''one of the greatest masters of the Oriental languages that hath been known in these ends of the earth.'* Shepard, the pastor at Cambridge, calls him "a man, pious, painful, and fit to teach, and very fit to lay the foundations of the domestical affairs of the College; whom God hath much honored and blessed." Quincy, Pierce, and Eliot — the modern his- torians of Harvard College — have also recorded their testimony as to the purity and nobility of his character, and his great success in both the executive and the teach- ing departments of the College.
Thus fitted by education' as well as by an experience of several years in teaching, he entered u])on the work of organizing and conducting the College affairs. The Col- lege had been already established, but it was little else than an advanced school. The first allusion in colonial history to it, is in an order of the General Court, Oct. 28, 163G, making a grant of £400 ''towards a schoale or colledge, whearof 200/. to bee paid the next yeare, and 200/. when the worke is finished.'' There is, however, great doubt whether any of this grant was ever paid. The Rev. John Harvard, from whom the College takes its name, died in 1638, and by his will left the half of his property, about £700, and his library, numbering 300 volumes, in aid of the College. This was its actual beginning, for it is certain nothing had hitherto been done in the way of starting the enterprise. A class of liupils at once began study under Nathaniel Eaton, the master, though little was accomplished in the direction of securing any plan of organization. Cotton Mather speaks of Eaton as "a blade, who marvellously deceived the expectations of good men concerning him; for he was one fitter to be the master of a Bridewell than a Col- ledge." He is remembered to-day only for his cruelty and his avarice, qualities not especially desirable in lay- ing the foundation of an institution whose purpose was to "advance learning and peri)etuate it to posterity." The task before the incoming President was, in view of this state of affairs, no ordinary one, but it is conceded on all sides that he was fully competent for it.
Soon after removing to Cambridge, he united with the *2
8 ' HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
church there on confession of faith.* This would seem to imply either that he had hitherto declined to partici- pate in any church organization, or if, as stated by Cot- ton Mather, he had taken orders in the English church, he must now have renounced all such connection, for he was styled "an orthodox preacher of the truths of Christ." There are many references to his supplying the pulpit in Cambridge and the vicinity during his Presidency, and he took a prominent part in founding the church at Woburn. He manifested great interest in the education and conversion of the Indians, and joined heartily with John Eliot and the Mayhews in this work. Lechford, the Boston lawyer, says of him in this con- nection: "He will, without doubt, prove an instrument of much good in this country, being a good scholar and having skill in the tongues. He will make it good that the way to instruct the Indians must be in their own language, not English." The second charter of the Col- lege, obtained in 1650 on his express petition, declares its object is to include "the education of the English and Indian youth of this country in knowledge and godliness." »
Besides the business of instruction and discipline ** which largely devolved on him, he was charged with the adminstration of the College matters, even down to such particulars as the direction of the Commons, the keep- ing of the students' accounts*** (their bills being mostly
* His religious experiences are given at length in a manuscript volume by the Rev. Thomas Shepard, entitled, " The Confessions of Diverse propounded to be received, and were entertained as members." This volume is now in the library of the Historic Genealogical Society of Boston. Vide Chaplin loc. cit., p. 257.
"^* Corporal punishment, which had been introduced from the English Universities, flourished at Harvard in its earlier days, and the President personally attended to this duty.
*** In the College Library there is still preserved an account book, in President D.'s handwriting, wherein each student is charged with the different articles which he consumed. In the same book, also in his writing, is the original sketch of the first seal of Harvard College, with its simple motto, " VERITAS," and a record of the vote which authorized its adoption:
"C At ye meeting of 3^e Governors of Harvard Colledge in
COLLEGE DISCIPLINE. 9
paid in commoditiGs), the construction of the College edifice and the President's house, the collection of his own salary, &c. The requisites for admission into Col- lege, the details of the course of study, and the rules and precepts for the government of the students, were pre- pared by him; and Quincy says that the principles of education established by him were not materially changed during the whole of the seventeenth century. In Col- lege discipline he appears to have availed himself of the common belief of the age in the active agency of malevo- lent yet invisible beings, and there is a tradition in the family of his having formally exorcised the Evil One,* whom the students on one occasion had raised, but were
Colledge Hall, this 27 of lOtli 1643 * * * It is ordered y.at yere shall be a Colledge seal in form following." A fac-simile of which is on the title page.
Mr. Benjamin Homer Hall, in his Chapter on the " Commons," Harvard Book, Vol. H., p. 83, saj's: "The great wisdom of President Dunster appears nowhere more clearly then in the capacity which he exhibited in dealing with the details of the business to which he gave the strength of his manhood and wealth that he could ill afford to spare." After further compli- mentary notice, he quotes in full the " orders" prepared by Presi- D., "by the scholars and officers of the College, to be observed, written 28th March, 1650."
* Raising the devil was understood in a very different sense in the middle of the 17th century from that which now obtains among College boys. There was a seriousness, not to say sol- emnity, about the business which ill-accords with the frivolity of modern College pranks. On whatever the tradition may have been based, it certainly dates far back in the histor}^ of the fam- ily, being found, in almost identical terms, in branches which were separated as early as 1741 and have had little or no associa- tion since. For the tradition in full, see response by Samuel Dunster in Proceedings Centennial Celebration, Town of Mason, N. H. By John B. Hill. Boston, 1870. p. 80.
This story, perhaps, might have had its origin from the famous interview between the President of the College and the Cambridge pastor on the ciuestion of infant baptism. Mather Ma2:nali^ Vol. n., p. 96, and Life H. D., p. 106. Having failed to an.swer the President's logic, the "Matchless Mitchel " wrote in his diarj-, Dec. 24, 1653, " After I came from him (Mr. D.) I had a strange experience. I found hurrying and pressing suggestions against Paedobaptism. * * * Yef, methought, it was not hard to descern that the}- were from the Evil One." In that day this was the tribunal of last resort in knotty questions of orthodox}'.
10 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
unable to allay. Under Dnnster, the College prospered, and he was found equal in all respects to the expecta- tions which had been formed of him. " That which was before" — says the historian Hubbard — "but at best a scJwIa illustra grew to the stature and perfection of a College" and "soon acquired so high a reputation that in several instances youth of opulent families were sent over to receive their education in New England." In addition to the College work of so diversified a character, he found time to correspond with learned men abroad, and to devote his personal attention to the supervision, through the press, of several publications. The first printing press in North America, was set up in Cam- bridge, in 1639, " as an appendage of Harvard College;'" for it was considered too powerful an engine for good or evil to be entrusted in private hands, and accordingly for more than a hundred years it was kept under the supervision of the General* Court. In 1641 it was put under President D.'s management, and it was transferred to the President's house, where it remained until 1655. Among its earlier issues, was " The whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre." This book, now known as the "Bay Psalm Book," ap- peared in two editions — 1640 and 1647. The translation was made by three well known ministers of the day — Mather, of Dorchester, and Eliot and Weld, of Pox- bury — and it was intended to take the place of the Stern- hold and Hojikins' version, in which, as is well known, the translation was often very inaccurate, while the ver- sification, as Mr. Chaplin says, "was too rugged even for our not very fastidious fathers." The new version "did not, however," says Neal, "satisfy the expectations of judicious men," and accordingly for a further im- provement it was committed to the President. Associa- ted with him in the work of "revising and polishing,'* was Mr. Richard Lyon, and the result of their combined labors seems to have been, on the whole, very satisfac- tory, for in its new form the book passed through more than fifty editions. The poetry * was, it is true, a little
* Mr. Chaplin, in his life of President D., says: " The Orien- tal learning necessary for the work of revision, was probably sup-
TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS. 11
rough and shak\-, tliongli a great imi)rovement on the prior editions. The authors tliemselves seem to liave had mild doubts as to the smoothness of the metre, for in tlieir preface they say, ''If the verses are not always as elegant as some desire or expect, let them consider that God's altar needs not our polishing; we have respected
plind in the main by tlie President, and this, we judge, was worked up into sometliing like poetry bj' the junior partner in the enterprise; for Mr. Lyon, we are told, added to the original work a number of songs and rhymes of his own composition. It is due to Mr. Dunster's memor}- to relieve him, if possible, of the charge of furnishing the poetrj'."' It gives us pleasure to be able to exonerate the pai-tnership from at least one poetic error, which we fear Mr. C. himself, or his printer, is justh' chargeable with. In printing as a specimen of the work the first psalm, he gives the third verse, viz. :
He shall be like a planted tree
b}' water brooks which shall In his due season j-ield his fruit,
whose leaf shall never fail.
Fail in the last line should read fall. The word shall in those daj's was generally pronounced with a broad Scotch accent so as to rhyme with fall. Scott — Lady of the Lake, Canto 4, XVII., 1. 2-i— makes shall rhyme with all. The modern change in pro- nunciation has made many other of those old rhj'mes uncouth. In Sternhold and Hopkins' version, the first verse of this psalm reads :
The man is blest that hath not lent to wicked men his ear: Nor led his life as sinners do, nor sat in scorner's chair.
I can remember well the very common pronunciation of the word chair as if it were spelled cheer. For the following amusing illustration of this I am indebted to Mr. A. A. Tufts, of Dover, N. H. The Rev. Hugh Adams, minister in Durham, N. H., 1718—1750, was a graduate of Harvard College, in the class of 1697. His classmate, Southmayd, cut the legs nearh' off a chair, and then sent Head, another classmate, to ask Adams to visit him. On entering the room,- he was politely invited to be seated. The chair gave way, and Adams found himself sprawling on the floor. Collins, a fourth classmate, being present to see the fun. On get- ting up, Adams immediately made this parody on the verse :
Blest is the man who hath not lent
To wicked Read his ear, Nor hath his life like Collins spent.
Nor sat in Southmavd's chair.
12 HEifRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
rather a plain translation than to smooth our verses with the sweetness. of any paraphrase. We have attended conscience rather than elegance, fidelity rather than in- genuity," &c. The quaint Cotton Mather bears his tes- timony as follows : "Now, though I heartily join with those gentlemen who wish that the podry hereof were mended; yet must I confess that the Psalms have never yet seen a translation, that I know of, nearer to the Hebrew original.''
For some twelve or thirteen years Mr. D. remained President of the College, and administered its afEairs with eminent success. Indeed it is doubtful if in the early history of Harvard any one person ever had so large an influence in perijetuating her existence and shaping her policy as her first President. But at this time the public avowal on his part of sentiments of op- position to infant baptism created an intense excitement in the colony, and roused a violent spirit of opposition toward him. Says Eliot,* one of the historians of Har- vard, " the orthodox spirit of the whole colony was in- stantly roused; and the strongest because involuntary testimony is borne to the intellectual power and moral influence of Dunster, by the alarm his defection excited, and the harsh measures dictated by that feeling, while his conscientiousness is attested by the meekness of his submission to the rebukes wliich were sternly adminis- tered."
The first public and official movement taken against him was by the magistrates who sent a letter to the min- isters in the early part of the year 1653, directing them to make an examination of the whole matter as a basis for their future action. Upon this a conference was held at Boston, Feb. 2d and 3d, 1653-4, at which were present nine leading ministers of Boston and vicinity, besides Mr. D. and two ruling elders, twelve in all, and before them Mr. D. publicly defended his views. The conference labored with the "erroneous gentleman" and endeavored to convince him of his mistake. But having failed, as Cotton Mather quaintly puts it, "to expedite
* Sketch of the History of Harvard College, and of its present state. Boston, 1848. p. 15.
PRESIDENT DUNSTER RESIGNS. 13
the entangled out of tlie briars," the General Court, in May following, passed a vote commending it 'Ho the serious consideration and special care of the overseers of the College * * * not to admit or suffer any such to be continued in the ofltice or place of teaching that have manifested themselves uiisound in tlw faitli/' etc. Mr. D. understood the significance of this action, and the next month, June 10, 1G54, he forwarded through the overseers a letter of resignation. This was ''un- graciously " accepted by the Court on the 25th of the same month and referred back to the overseers, with an order to secure " some meet person to carry on the work of the College " in case he (D.) should persist in his reso- lution more than a month. Here was an avenue of es- cape opened to him, for he could now retain his position at the cost of silence only. Hubbard says he might have remained "in the place where he had spent the choise part of his studies and his life * * * jf l^g i^.^j been endowed with that wisdom, which many others have wanted besides himself, to have kept his singular opinion to himself, when there was little occasion of venting thereof." But he was thoroughly and conscientiously an honest man — not as too many are houest only from motives of policy — and there was for him but one course to pursue. It is no surprise, therefore, to learn that in the following month, July, he made another public avowal of his sentiments, on the Sabbath day, in the church at Cambridge. The overseers then being no longer in doubt, and feeling that he was past recovery from the "briars" aforesaid, proceeded "to inform him that the interests of the College and the colony required his removal." Thereupon a second time, October 24-, 1654, he sent his resignation, the final one to the over- seers. It is interesting here to note that his successor, Mr. Chauncey, who was appointed a few days subse- quently, was notified in the tender to him of the posi- tion that "it was expected and desired that he forbear to disseminate or publish any tenets concerning the neces- sity of immersion in baptism, and celebration of the Lord's supper at evening, or to oppose the received doc- trines therein." What a difference between the two men
14 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
— the one sacrificing his position rather than stultify his conscience, the other purchasing a place on the condi- tion of silence as to doctrines which it was well known he entertained.
For his offence in July, Mr. D. was indicted some months subsequently by the grand Jury, the present- ment being "for disturbance of the ordinances of Christ uppon the Lord's daye." He was tried, convicted and sentenced according to the ecclesiastical law, "to be publiquely admonished and give bond for his good ie- havior.'' A second time, also some two years later — a child having meantime been born to him — he Avas in- dicted by the grand jury and tried by the County Court, for practically the same offence, the presentment being now "for not bringing his child to the Holy Ordinance of Baptisme." He was again convicted, solemnly ad- monished of his dangerous error, and ordered to give bonds for his appearance at the next court of assistants at Boston. The bond was executed, but there is no record of any further proceedings in the case.
Eleven days after his forced resignation, Mr. D. sent to the General Court a petition,* wherein, without re- ceding in the slightest particular from his avowed posi- tion, he invoked their merciful consideration of his cir- cumstances. After expressing his hope that it might not be thought nor reported that he "cast off his place out of any froward morosity, foolish levity, or ingrateful despising, either of the Court's forbearance or the over- seers' amicable conferences," he makes three special re- quests. First, for an allowance in salary which had been commended to the Court by a committee thereof ; second, to be permitted to remain in the President's house during the settlement of his accounts with the corporation, and third, to be allowed to continue in the colony in the work of teaching or preaching, " or in any other laudable- or liberall caling as God shall chalk out my [his] wa^ " This appeal, says Quincy, was treated in a heart! ay, and in the reply to the third request
was eq •! ■ to warning him out of the colony,
* T 'ns petition is now in tlie library of Harvard
Colie'
PRESIDEXT DUNSTER REMOVES TO SCITUATE. 15
Xotwithstanding this contemptuous treatment, six days later — Nov, 10, 1G5-J — he sent to the Court a brief jnipcr of "Considerations," intended as a rejoinder to there- ply of the Court to his second request, which had been dismissed "as most unreasonable.'" These considera- tions had reference to the matei'ial circumstances of himself and his family, and to the necessity of his re- maining at Cambridge in order to acquaint the incoming- President with the administration of the College duties. This paper, which shows not only a most positive con- viction of the correctness of his jiosition, but a most commendable spirit of submission, closes in these words: •'The whole transaction of this business is such, which in the process of time, when all things come to mature consideration, may very ])robably create grief on all sides; yours subsequent, as mine antecedent. I am not the man you take me to be. Neither if you knew what I hold and why, can I persuade myself that you would act, as I am at least tempted to think you do. But our times are in God's hands, with whom all sides hope, by grace in Christ, to find favor, which shall be my prayex for you, as for myself.'' The "simple, touching pathos " of this appeal was not without effect, and he was allowed to remain until the following March — some three months — in the President's house.*
Shortly afterward he removed to Scituate, in the adjoining colony of Plymouth, which was mucli more tolerant in religious matters than her sister of Massa- chusetts Bay. Mr. Deane, in his history of the place, sa3's, "we find notices of him the same autumn (1G55) employed in the ministry, in which he continued nearly five years." His persecutions had already attracted the attention of the Baptists of the mother country, and on the 10th of July, 1656, he received from Mr. Edward
* The history in detail of this treatment of Dunster — which was a notable specimen of the intolerance of the early settlers of New England — is well told by Mr. Chaplin in his life of Presi- dent D. The original documents bearing upon the case are quoted in full l)y him. The reader who may desire furtlier in- formation regarding the matter is referred to this book, it being i7npossible here to give more than this brief sumntary of the transaction
3
16 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
Eoberts, a leading member of that denomination in Dub- lin, a letter,* dated Dublin, 3d, 1655, urging him to make that place his home, and informing him that £50 had been granted by the Lord Deputy (Henry Crom- well, younger son of the Protector) for the transporta- tion thither of himself and his family. The invitation Mr. D. saw fit to decline, and he remained in the place which had given him so kindly a welcome, and which, says Mr. Chaplin, deserves honorable mention for its friendly treatment of dissenters.
President D. died at Scituate, Feb. 27, 1659-60. In his will,** which was dated Feb. . 8, 1658, he directed that his body should be transported " to Cambridge there to be enterred by my [his] lovinge wife [babes] and other relaccons;" and it is a striking evidence of the character of the man that he made special legacies to persons who during his life had been his most unrelent- ing persecutors. Also to a number of relatives and friends, among whom he mentions "my cousin Bow- ers,"^ "niy cousin fayth Dunster,"^ "my sister Wil- lard "^ and " sister Hills* and all her children borne in this country."
* The original of this letter, which is a remarkable specimen of chirography for that day, is now in my possession. It is endorsed in President D.'s handwriting — "Received 10th of July, 1656, from ye hand of Goodwife Price, ye order of ye consel in- closed." Unfortunately the order has been lost.
**The original of President D.'s will was stolen from the Probate ofRce in East Cambridge about the year 1850. It is diffi- cult, therefore, to reconcile the discrepancy in different copies between the words "wife" and "babes." Mr. Pulsifer's copy in the Probate office is clear and distinct, and reads "wife." Mr. Harris, Librarian of Harvard College, 1831 — 1856, and who, with his son, prepared an unpublished memoir of President D. , a copy of which I was kindly allowed to make, insisted that the word in the original was "babes " A copy of the will, in the handwriting of Wm. G. Means, in the library of Harvard Col- lege, has it" "babes." It seems probable, from internal and col- lateral evidence, that the word must have been "babes." For copy of the will, see Chaplin, loc. cit, p. 303. [E. 8. D.]
1 Bowers Bennaniel and Dunster Elizabeth, married at Cam- bridge, 9th day 10th month, 1653. " He was a Baptist, and ar- rived at the distinction of being more frequently fined by the
PRESIDENT DL'N"STER'S PLACE OF BURIAL. 17
The place of burial was in the old cemetery opposite the College grounds, a few rods northwest of the cliurch now standing therein. Over the grave was })laced a horizontal slab of stone with an inlaid tablet of lead,
County Court for not attending public worship than any other man." Willard Memorial, p. 341.
^ Faith married John Page, of Groton, Mass., j\Iay 12, 1664. She had children by this marriage in 1669, 1672 and 1674. See Butler's Ilist. Groton.
^ It has been a question of considerable debate, whether Major Simon Willard's third wife was "sister" or "cousin" of Presi- dent D. Dr. Samuel Willard says Mary D. was the third wife of Major Willard and that she was " cousin." The question is dis- cussed at some length in the Willard Memorial without being authoritatively settled, but a tinal reference is made to the fact that President D., in his will, calls Major W.'s third wife his "sister;" and adds, "if this expression is to be taken literallj' it ends the question."
* " My sister Hills." Joseph Hills, of Maiden, was married four times: 1. Probably in England. "Rose Dunster, sister of Rev. Henry Dunster, first President of Harvard College. She died at Maiden, March 1, 1650-1. 2. Hannah, widow of Edward Mellows, married June 24, 1651. 8. Helen Atkinson, daughter of Hugh Atkinson, of Kendall County, of Westmoreland, Eng. Ceremony performed Jan., 1655-6, by himself, for Avhich he was admonished by the Court, and fined £5. 4. Ann, widow of Henry Lunt, March 8, 1664-5." (Gen. Sketch of Descendants of Thos. Greene. App. p. 71.) His third wife was living at the date of President D.'s will, and had probably two children l)y Mr H. She was not a blood relation of H. D., neither was Mr. Hills. Still he calls her " sister Hills." Heretofore it has been understood that she was his natural sister. This record precludes that relationship, and makes her sister only as she was the wife of his brother-in-law^ by a former marriage. The language of the will in this connection is peculiar: " Concerning my daughter Elizabeth my mind and will is that she shall be at the disposing of her mother during her life in her minority and in case of my wive's death then to live with mj' sister Mrs. Hills of Mauldon during her minority and faithfully and carefully serve her as if shee were her own child, and in case there also the Lord by death should make such uncomfortable breaches in the family that shee could not live comfortably there then she shall live with my sister Willard of Concord." Did not the phrase "Incase there also the Lord by death" allude to the possible death of Mr. Hills, a firm friend and the executor of his will? In that con- tingency, Elizabeth would be left with a step-aunt, w^hose own children might receive her best affections.
18 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
upon which was au inscription. This tablet has disap- peared long since, and is supposed to have "done ser- vice for the country in the shape of revolutionary bul- lets." By reason of this loss, as well as by many years' neglect of the grounds, even the place of burial became at length doubtful. A most interesting account of its re-discovery and identification is given by Mr. Chaplin in his life of President D. This account was written by the late Mrs. H. C. Conant, a sister of Mr. Chaplin, who derived it from a personal narrative of Mr. Sibley, then assistant librarian of the College. Mr. T. W. Har- ris, the librarian, and his son, W. T, Harris, [Harvard, 1846] who were well known for their genealogical and antiquarian researches, were specially prominent in the matter of the identification of the grave. The grave was restored by the order of the College authorities in 1845, and tiie stone slab which now replaces the missing tablet contains the following epitaph from the classic pen of Mr. Charles Folsom:
HENRICUS . DUNSTER
PRIMUS . COLLEGII . HARVARDINI . PE^-ESES VIR . PIETATE . DOCTRINA . PRUDENTIA . INSIGNIS
GBTIT . SCITUAT^ . AN . M.DC.LIX.
HUC . TRANSLATUM . EST . CORPUS
UT . QUOD . ILLE . IN . VOTIS . HABUERAT
PROPE . ACADEMIAM . A . SE . TUM . NUTRITAM . IN . CUNABULIS
EX . RE . FAJIILIARI
TUM . RITIBUS . DISCIPLINIS . LEGIBUS . INSTRUCTAM
REQUIESCERET
MONUMENTUM . HOC . INJURIA . TEMPORIS . DIRUPTUM
SOCII . .STERNUM . ACABEMI.E . DECUS . CURANTES
REFICIENDUM . JUSSERUNT . AN . M.DCCC.XLY
FAMILY SECTIOXS. 19
FAMILY SECTIONS.
THE NUMBERS OF WHICH ARE REPEATED
AT THE TOP OF THE PAGES IX FULL
FACE FIGURES.
Dunster Henry 1
Dunster David 2
■Dunster Henry 3
Dunster Jonathan 4
Wade — Thomas — Elizabeth (Dunster) 5
Dunster Henry 6
Carteret Elizabeth (Dunster) 7
Dunster David 8
Dixon Martha (Dunster) 9
Marrett Mary (Dunster) 10
Cutler Abigail (Dunster) 11
Dunster Isaiah 12
Dunster Jason 13
Taylor Betty (Dunster) 14
Bemis Molly (Dunster) 15
Dunster Hubbard ... 16
Dunster Thomas 17
Wilder Marguary (Dunster) 18
Bailey Ruhamah (Dunster) 19
Dunster Henrv Carteret .... 20
Blood Ruth (Dunster) 21
Dunster Henry 22
Swallow Rebecca (Dunster) .23
AYright Martha (Dunster) 24
Dunster Isaiah 25
Dunster Jason 26
Dunster Samuel Cutter 27
Dunster Jason 28
Kimball Mary (Dunster) 29
Dunster Isaiah 30
Russell Betsey (Dunster) 31
Dunster Samnel 32
3*
20
HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
!lf|j I44
'd
o
o o
tS) TS
2 ^
O
O
HENRY DUNSTER. 21
HENRY DUNSTER.
Fac-simile of autograph.
1. Hexry^ Duxster, Rev., President of Harvard College, from Auo-. 27, 1640, to Oct. 24, 1654, married June 21. 1641, Elizabeth, widow of the Rev, Jose, Josse or Joseph* Glover. She died Aug. 23, 1613. "She was l)uried in the ancient burying ground at Cambridge and has a stone much gone to decay." There were no children by this marriage. He married a second time, Elizabeth, (surname unknown.) The date of this mar- riage is also unknown. There is a tradition that she came from England when about eighteen years old, and was soon married. She appears to have been well edu- cated and to have had a superior mind. She died Sept. 12, 1690. The Cambridge epitaphs state she was sixty years old. This is an evident error, or she would have been only fifteen years old when their eldest child was born, which is very improbable. His children, all by the second wife, were:
David ^ Duxster, born May 16, 1645. Dorothy^ Dux^ster, born Jan. 29, 1647-8,
died young. Hex'RY'^ Dl'XSTER, born aljout 1650, died
young. Jo'xATHAX ^ Duxster, born Sept. 28 or Oct.
27, 1653; both dates appear on the town
records. 5§. V. Elizabeth' Duxster, born Dec. 29, 1656.
* According to the Glover Memorial and Genealogies, the Christian name is Joseph on the church records at Sutton and wherever it occurs in English records and in the English County histories. Sibley's Harvard Graduates, p. 208.
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22 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
2
2. David ^ Dunster* {Henry^), born May 16, 1645, unfortunately fell under public censure. At the County Court, June 17, 1662, being only seventeen years old, he was adjudged guilty of a youthful indiscretion, for which he was sentenced " to pay a fine of £20 to the use of the county or to be whipt 'and also to give £50 bond with sufficient securities for defraying the charges," which might naturally be expected. [Court Record.) He soon after went to England, and probably never returned. In 1664 his mother, who was his guardian and who signed the £50 bond on his behalf, petitioned the Court for relief, alleging that she "hath been at great charge and expense for him since the death of your servant his father: 1. In learning here, in hopes of his progress therein, about £100. 2. His voyage to England in hope to settle him there about £50. 3. To Mr. Stedman ** towards the court's sentence £30. 4. There is due to his sister out of his estate by will £50 so that it is indeed doubtful whether he have any clear estate of his own left beyond which your i:)etitioner did not understand herself to be engaged." There is an old tradition (Rev. Isaiah Dunster's Bible,) that President Dunster's son Henry was a lawyer in England, and died there without issue. This tradition may be safely rejected as utterly false in regard to Henry, who undoubtedly died young, but it may be substantially true in regard to David. Their father says in his will: "I have given unto my son David liberal education in schools of learning from his childhood unto this very day;" and the mother says she exi)ended about £100 during the next three years for his advancement in learning here, until he departed for England. A proper foundation was laid for subsequent legal studies, and it is possible, indeed not very improb- able— and it is surely most devoutly to be wished — that he may have become a successful and eminent lawyer in England, but we have no certain knowledge of his his- tory after he left Cambridge.
* Rev. L. R. Paige, Gen. Reg., Vol. XXVII., p. 307. ** The County Treasurer.
HENRY AND JONATHAN DUNSTER. 23
3-4
3. Henry ^ Dunster {Henry '). "Among the births recorded in Cambridge in 1050 is that of Henry, son of Henry and EHzabeth Dunster, but neitlier the day nor month of birth is indicated, nor does the name subse- quently appear. The tradition of his being a lawyer has been mentioned, and its lack of probability. There can be no reasonable doubt that he died before Feb. '■ 8, 1658-9, the date of his father's will. Not only is his name omitted while other children are specially desig- nated, but the testator's whole estate is bequeathed to others, no part being reserved for him or for any other person not named." There is strength in the conjecture that he and his sister Dorothy (ii) were the " babes " re- ferred to in the will.
4. Jonathan'' Dunster {Henry^), born Sept. 28 or Oct. 27, 1653, was a farmer, and inherited lands lying on both sides of the division line between that part •of Cambridge called Menotomy (now Arlington) and Charlestown (now Somerville). In the Charlestown Eecords, Dec. 30, 1706, there is an entry: "Ordered
"Also to Warn A Negro Man and A Negro
woman at Mr. Jona. Dunster's, to remove forthwith out of this Towne and also to Warn s'd Dunster that he En- tertain them no Longer at the peril of the law." "Jona. Dunster Tything man for the year ensuing March y^ 5"" 1715-16." So that at this time he resided in Charles- town. In 1095, a difficulty arose between the town of Charlestown and Jonathan Dunster, of Cambridge, about a landing place on the south side of Mistick river, "and the said difference not yet ended." Charlestown ap- pointed " Capt. John Cutter as their agent to prosecute the same to effect, and the said Cutter & Dunster not being able to compose the s'd difference," therefore " the above named Capt. John Cutter & Mr. Jonathan Dun- ston agree. Nominate & Choose, James Converse of Wooburn & Lieut. Peter Tufts * * * to hear & determine the said difference." They divided the land- ing place, and appear to have dissatisfied both parties. Another committee was appointed, Avho reported that they found the highway called the Bridgeway wch goeth through the field encroached on in sundry places and
24 HENRY DUNSTER A>rD HIS DESCENDANTS.
ploughed up & sown wth Indian corn by Mr. Dunster * * * but denied by him to bee any townway."
The day after his marriage contract with Ruth Eaton (Nov. 24, 1719), he gave a deed, the original of which is now in my possession, as follows:
"To all Christian People To whom This present writ- ing shall come. Jonathan Dunster of Charlestowne in the county of Middlesex in the Province of the Macsa- chusett Bay in JSTew-England Yeoman sends Greeting. Know ye That I the sd Jonathan Dunster (for and in consideration of the natural affection I have and bear unto my well beloved and only [by his first wife] son Henry Dunster of Cambridge * * * husbandman — and for other good considerations me thereunto moving) Have given and granted * * * unto the sd Henry Dun- ster his Heir and assigns forever the one full moiety or half of a certain piece of land containing by estimation thirteen acres * * * within the bounds of Cambridge aforesd (on part of which the house and Barn of sd
Henry Dunster now stands being now in the
actual possession of sd Henry) bounded Westerly by the Road leading to Concord — Northerly by land of William Russell and J'ames Smith of Boston easterly on Woburn Road leading to Charlestown — Southerly by Walter Rus- sels land — or however otherwise butted or bounded." To this deed, just above the signature, in his own hand, is written: " Memorandum, it is to be understood that I give this in part of my Sons portion "
''Jonathan Dunster" [sealj
He died intestate in 1725, aged about 72 years. Henry Dunster, his son, was appointed administrator, his widow having refused to perform that duty. His estate was a long while unsettled. Henry, to whom as the oldest son a double portion was set off, was unwilling to accept the award of the committee, (Messrs. John Fillebrown, of Cambridge, Robert Converse and Josiah Johnson, of Woburn, Stephen Hall and William Willis,*of Medford,) and complained that the part set off to him at 16s. per acre was no better than that set off to his brothers at 12s. Testimony as to the value of the land was given by
SETTLEMENT OF JONATHAN'S ESTATE. 25
"Messrs. William Russell, Gershom Cutter and John Cutter, good friend to Henry D." The papers were re- committed by the judge to the committee, who reported that "In case we should }iroceed to make any alteration as we proposed it would no wise satisfie the uneasy party, but being willing To be resolved by the party him self we sent and desired his Company with us, who returned answer that he had run after us long enough already. Whereupon we wrote to the Gentleman and desired he Avould send us his minde in the same way. Whereupon he Avrote a few lines Intimating that watt we proi)Osed was yett in favor of the other party without even sub- scribing the same. Therefore we are humbly of Opinion there is not any Mesures that we Can Safely Take in Altering Either the Valluation or Distribution we have already perfected that will make that uneasy Gentleman any satisfaction '" * * * The judge then offered the "same to Jonathan the 2d son who also refused, then to Thomas the third son who did the like, then to the dec'ds [deceased's] youngest son DaviiJ who was willing to accept thereof at the Rate in the Inventory." "But afterwards it was mutually agreed among them all that each person should take their propotion in Land and they propose to make a distrobution among themselves and if they can't do it they are to come upon my citation to nominate Comnir. to be appointed for that purpose." On the 10th of July, the heirs came together and chose a new commission of five, and "they are to divide the whole of the Real Estate of ye Dec'd equally among them (Eldest Son two parts) and what each has had in advance to be considered." "I the subscriber relict widow of the herein before named decea'd have perused the afore written accot and do hereby signify my satis- faction therewith. her
Ruth B Dunster." mark. {Court Records, CliarUstown, Lib. 18.)
Jonathan^ Dunster, married Dec 5, 16T8, Abigail Eliot. She died, and he married Ajn-il 5, 1692, Deborah Wade, daughter of Major Jonathan Wade, of ^Nledford, and grand-daughter of Gov. Thomas Dudley. She died,
2G HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
6-7
and he married (contract dated Nov. 23, 1719,) Euth^ widow of Joshua Eaton, of Reading. She surviyed him, and married Nov. 22, 1732, Lieut. Amos Marrett, of Cambridge, and was published Sept. 30, 1742, to Peter Hayes, of Stoneham.
His children by first wife were:
6*§. i. Henry^ Dunster', born July 17, 1680, m. Feb. 25, 1707-8, Martha Russel, daughter of Jason Rus- sel, by whom he had eleven children, and died Jan. 28, 1753. His widow married March 15, 1759, Francis Locke. {Book of Loches. )
ii. Elizabeth^ Dunster, born Feb. 22, 1G81-2, died young.
His children by second wife, Deborah Wade, were:
iii. Jonathan^ Dunster, b. about 1695, at Charles- town, Mass., d. April 11, 1742, unm. , aged 47 years and 5 months. He left by will his property to his brothers and sisters. The inscription on his grave stone at Ar- lington is: " Here lyes Buried ye Body of Mr, Jonathan Dunster, who departed this life April 11, Anno Dom°' 1742, aged 47 years & 5 mo."
7 §. iv. Elizabeth^ Dunster, b. about 1699, m. Capt. Philip Carteret, or DeCarteret, and died Jan. 25, 1787, aged 87 years.
V. Thomas^ Dunster, b. at Charlestown, and died between April 3, 1726, and April 1, 1728. He is men- tioned in the agreement between the heirs of Jonathan" Dunster as having lately deceased at the latter date.
vi. Dorothy^ Dunster, b. about 1702, admitted to church in Medford — full communion — April 21, 1728. She Avas married April 13, 1732, the record in Charles- town being: "Mr. Solomon Page of Hampton in New Hampshire and Dorothy Dunster of this Town were jovned in marriage by the Rev'd Mr. Hull Abbot April 13, 1732." Mr. Page was the ninth child of Samuel Page by his second wife, Anne Marshall, whom he mar- ried Nov. 18, 1702, and was born March 16, 1710. He graduated at Harvard College, 1729, and was admitted to the church the same year. {Hampton Eecords.) Mr. Pas'e was "schoolmaster of the Town" Avhen a son
o.
ri I JjoaJJL
THE PAGE FAMILY. '27
named Lemuel was baptized Sept. 17, 1738. He sup- plied the pulpit in Hampton six months from March 15, 1733, at the request of the town, "the pastor being- sick." He was dismissed by tlie church to the Second Church in Salsbur}-, Mass., Dec. 4, 1757, after which no trace of him could be found until the present montli (Aug. 1875). A letter from Mr. A. G. Page, of Bath, Maine, states that in '•'the old grave yard at Bath, Maine, is a slate stone among the undergrowth with this inscription:''
''In Memory of
Eev. Mr. Solomox Page
who was educated at
Harvard College.
He departed this life
March 12, 1788.
Aged 78 years.'"
His wife (Dorothy) died at Hampton, Oct. 13, 1741, aged 39 vears. leaving five children:
iii. Hepsebeth* Page, born about 173G, died at Capt. Carteret's, in Cambridge, Aug. 5, 17G5, aged 29 years. Mrs. Carteret was her aunt. (See records of second parish Cambridge, now Arlington, by Eev. Samuel Cooke.)
iv. Lemuel* Page, baptized at Hampton. X. H., Sept. 17, 1738.
T. SiMOX* Page, baptized at Xorth Hampton, X. H., May 11, 1740.
Mr. Page married again, and had Judith born in 1743. and Wilson in 1745. A further inquiry of Mr. A. C. Page, elicited the fact that he also had a son Edward H., who had descendants in Hartland, Maine. Thev could give no record of Edward, but referred to Mr. William H. Page, of Syracuse, Xebraska. From him was learned the fact that Edward H. Page, who kept the second public house in Bath, died there in 1822, and was 73 years old, therefore was not a son of Dorothy (D) Page. From "William H. Page was also learned, that 4
28 HENRY DUXSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
5
Rev. S. Page preached the first sermon in the first Con- gregational Chnrch at Bath. That chnrch was torn down fifty years ago. It is hoped that the " Page Family " will fill np this deficient record.
S. Elizabeth^ Dunster {Henry, '^) was hovn Dec. 29, 1G56. Her birth, which has been snjiposed to have been in Scituate, is recorded in Middlesex County. She was the child whom her father refused to bring to the "Holy Ordinance of Baptisme," for which he was put under bonds for "Good Behavior." This transaction is fully recorded by Dr. Chaplin {Life of Henry Dnnster, 2)p. 153 — 165). She lived with her mother, probably in Charlestown. It is doubtful if President D. took his family to Scituate, although the history of that town implies that he did. She married, about 1686, Major Jonathan Wade (his first wife died Nov. 1, 1683), of Medford. Major Wade died Nov. 24, 1689, leaving nine children, of whom four are mentioned (in the will of Dudley Wade, his only son, who never married) as "the four sisters of whole blood," Major Wade's children by, Elizabeth'^ Dunster were (viii""* child) of Major Wade:
i. Elizabeth^ Wade, born 1687. She died Aug. 19, 1721. Unmarried, ii. Dorothy^ Wade, b. Feb. 17, 1689, died young.
Elizabeth^ Wade {Eliznhetli,'^ Henry, ^) made a will, dated "Marshfield June 14 Annoq. Dom. 1715," proved Sept. 8, 1721. " I Elizabeth Wade daughter of Jona- than Wade late of Medford in the county of Middlesex,
Esq. , deceased give and bequeiath all my estate
unto my dear and honor. d mother Elizabeth Thomas of Marshfield the Avife of Nathaniel Thomas of Marshfield
in the county of Plymouth, Esq." In a
codicil, dated* Aug. 4, 1721, she "further directs that if my honoured mother — doth not stand in need to sell my housing and lands nor will them away in her life-time, then I give them as follows to the three sons of Jonathan Dunster that were born of my sister — [half sister] Deborah Dunster: I give to Jonathan Dunster
* N. E. Hist, and Gen. Register, Vol. XXVII. , p. 309.
ELIZABETH DUXSTEIl THOMAS' WILL. 29
s
and Thomas Duiister one half of my lioasing and hinds to them and their heirs forever that are hiwfully begotten of tlieir body, and the other half of my housing & lands I give to David Dunster and the heirs of his body law- fully begotten forever." ''And in case any of these sons should have any of these lands after my mother's decease to pay the income to my honoured uncle Jona- than Dunt;ter during his life." Her mother was ap- pointed sole executrix, and in her bond is stvled '•' Madam Elizabeth Thomas widow of the late Hon'^''^ Col. Nath'. Thomas Esq."
Major Wade died in 1689, and his widow, Elizabeth Wade, was administrator, with others, and the estate was divided March 23, 1697-8, to widow, Elizabeth, children, Dudley, Deborah Dunster, Prudence Swan, Katherine Wyer, Susanna Wade, and Elizabeth^ (Dun- ster) Wade. In a subsequent division, June 11, 1741, a share Avas given to the heirs or assigns of the daughter Elizabeth [the children of Jonathan Dunster]. After the death of her husband (Major Wade), she re- mained a widow more than a quarter of a century. At length she became the wife (probably the third Avife) of Col. Nathaniel Thomas, of Marshfield, about 1714 (his second wife died in 1713). Col. Thomas died Oct. 22, 1718, aged 74 years, and she returned to Medford, where, after a second widoAvhood of about eleven years, she died betAveen May 31 and Xov. 8, 1729, and was probably buried at Medford. She made a will, which, as it exem- plifies her character and disposition better than anything Ave can say, Ave give entire. It was copied for us from the Middlesex Records by Lorenzo Marrett, Esq., although the substance of it had been communicated before by llev. L. E. Paige. All we knew of her, and all that had been published prior to 1872, Avas pi'inted in Life H. D., p. 237, in these Avords: " Elizabeth is mentioned in her father's will. " At that time she was only two years old.
ELIZABETH^ (DUNSTER) THOMAS' WILL.
I, Elizabeth Thomas of Medford in the county of Middlesex, widow, do make this my last will and testa- ment. I commit my soul to God and my Body decent
30 HEXRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDAKTS.
5
Burial. Imprs. My will is as follows: I give to my Nephew ]\Ir. Henry Dimster after my just debts and funeral charges are paid, 1 give him all my stock of Cat- tle and horses only two cows and a horse I reserve Also I give him all my utensils for husbandry Carts Plows with all other of the like tools Also I give him one years service of my Negro Boy named Daniel he using him well and giving him two suits of Cloaths at the years end.
Item. I give to his son Henry Dunster my Silver Porringer* marked h°e and I give him one third of my Books.**
Item. I give to Jonathan Dunster and David Dun- ster and Elisabeth Cartrell and Dorothy Dunster all my Housing and Land and meadows, marshes and pastures woodlands and garden lands and all the lands from the Brick House*** to the Kiver that was their aunt Elizabeth Wades I now give them with all the rights in the thirds that would have fallen to Elizabeth Wade had she lived, with all manner of Housing and land that belongs to me I give to these four children that were born of
* This Porringer, wliich is now in my possession, being badly worn in several places was repaired in 1854. The monogram was not altered. Tliere can be no doubt that it was the property of President Dunster, who was the fatlier of Mrs. Thomas. In the inventory of his e'state (Court Records, Charlestown, June 21, 1659) there is this entry: " In plate of divers sorts, a whistle and corrall £38, 18s." The monogram will apply to no other family. It has been in the family, as tradition has it, all the way down.
** Among the books from Rev. Isaiah Dunster's library now in our possession, is one entitled, "English Liberties, or, The Free-Born Subject's Inheritance, containing: I. Magna. Charta. II. The Proceedings in Appeals of Murther. III. Laws Against Conventicles, Protestant Dissenters, &c. London. Printed by G. Larkin for John How, at the Seven Stars, at the south-west corner of the Royal Exchange, in Cornhil." (No date.) It has "Jonathan Wade 1681" and "Jonathan Wade of Meadford" written on the blank leaf, and in the same hand and ink, ' ' have allway God before you." In a later hand and different ink is "husband's." Was this written by Elizabeth^ (Dunster) Wade?
***The third [brick] house was built by Major Jonathan Wade, who died in 1689. It was sometimes called, like the other two, a "fort," and is yet standing in good repair, and used as a com- fortable residence. It is seen from the main street as we look up
ELIZABETH DUNSTER THO.MAS' WILL. 31
5
Deborah Dunster and to the heirs of their l^odvo law- fully begotten, forever, and if any of them die without heirs of tlieir body then to the next Heir and so forever and I further add they shall let no lease for more than three years.
Item. I give to my two nieces Elizabeth Cartrell and Dorothy Dunster all my household goods — P'late Pewter &' Brass fine Linnen and Bedding with all other things (only what I reserve for Peggy) e((ually divided. I give to my niece Dorothy my gold necklace and gold buttons and my case of silver Instruments. I give to Elizabeth Cartreil my great Bible and all my other two thirds of Books equal among the four Kinsfolk.
Item, I give to my Negro man named Toney his freedom, being a faithful servant for fort}' years, t also give him ten pounds in money and a cow and the liberty of one acre of my marsh for to mow for three years after my decease and also to pasture his cow three years and the liberty to live in that Chamber that is mine for three years and also to have half the Provision in the House at my Decease and also to improve one acre of land in my field for three years. I also give him the liberty of the Chamber for his life if he need it.
Item. I give to the Rev. Mr, James Gardener of Marsh field five pounds in money to be paid him by my executors in three months after my decease, I give to Jonathan* Dunster my great Copper that holds a bar- rel and a half, I give to him and to his Children if he have any and if not then to return to his sisters Car- trell and Dorothy Dunster,
Item. I give to Jack and Peggy one half of all the Provisions in the House at my decease and they have the liberty to pasture a cow and to get one load of Hay for their cow for three years after my decease.
the Governor's lane. Its walls are very thick, and it is orna- mented with what has been called "port-holes." When first l)uilt it was only half its present size; the addition was made by Ben- jamin Hall, Esq., about seventy-five years ago. {Ilist. Medford, p. 48.)
* Jonathan did not marry, and the "copper" kettle went to Henry ^ Dunster, who willed it to his son Henrj- *. 4*
32 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
5
Item my will is that my heirs shall see that Toney be relieved at all times as his need requires. My will is to my boy named Daniel, he shall be sold to Defray charges while ho is twenty one years of age and then I free him and give him a cow or a horse which suits best my executors.
Item my meaning is as to the Land I give to Jona- than Dunster & David Dunster and Elizabeth Cartrell and Dorothy Dunster they shall be equally divided amongst them for Quantity and Quality and to not any ways Disagree.
Item. I give to my two neices all my Silk Cloathes the other I give to Margery my molatto woman.
Item. My will is that my negro man named Jack shall live with his wife and Children he paying to my nephew Mr. Henry Dunster fifteen pounds in one year after my decease. I give to my mollato woman Marga- ret all her Children free from any claim of any body of my heirs. I also give her a small House Plott of Land namely 30 feet one way and forty feet long lying next to Nathaniel Halls House I give to her and her children, and I give her a cow and a feather Bed and a Brass Ket- tle with some other small things. I also give Jack the liberty to improve one acre of Land for three years in my field and also the liberty he and his wife to live in the chamber that is mine for three years. Also the Im- provement of one half of the Garden and Toney the other half for three years and then to return to my heirs.
Item. I give to Nathaniel Thomas Esq. a Gold King and to the Kev. Mr. James Gardener of Marshfield a Eing. I give to the Rev. Mr. James Colman a spoon washed with gold marked T. C. I give to Mr. Richard Brooks a gold Ring. I give Madam Usher my Colasli for one year and then to return to my two neices. And I constitute my five Cousins Henry Dunster Jonathan Dunster and David Dunster and Elizabeth Cartrell and Dorothy Dunster to be executors of this my last will and Testament and order that none of my estate shall be prized. Further and my Bearers shall have gold Rings. And if the money That I leave at my decease will not
ELIZABETH DUNSTEH TIIOMAS' WILL. 33
5
Defray all Charges then every One to bear an equal share in the charge.
Lydia Wade Elizabeth Thomas [seal]
SoiON" Tufts
Ammi Kuhamah Cutter.
My mind is That Toney shall have a Black Coat and Toney shall have the Frying Pan two old Pewter Dishes, the biggest Brass Skillet, the old Chairs in the Kitchen, the old saddle and Bridle the little Pot and a pail and his chest and further my mind is that he and Peggy shall have half the Indian Corn and half the Barly and he — that is Toney — a Hogg and Pigg My mind is Peggy shall have the great Pott and the little Brass Skillet and the old Brass Kettle that was my dear Child's, one Pew- ter Dish six Plates marked E. W. [Elizabeth Wade, her daughter.]
A paper of Directions for my heirs to do as to my funeral — Six Bearers — Coll. Byfield of Boston, Judge Davenport Jonathan Dows of Charlestown, President of the College, Simon Bradstreet Benjamin Colman — all to have a ring if alive at my decease.
These "freedmen" came into her possession by mar- riage. There is abundant evidence that President Dun- ster never owned a slave. His whole life would refute such an inference. Her wishes appear to have been fully carried out. Although they seem to have contin- ued to live in the families to whom she was related, they were brought up in moral and religious instruction, and treated as *' a brother beloved." We hope none of them were the ones whom the government of CharlestoAvn or- dered her nephew '-'that he Entertain them no Longer at the Peril of the Law." "Toney," whose welfare seems to have been the burden of her mind, lived and died in the Dunster family, and reposes in the same cemetery with them, and the record is: "Toney Dun- ster died March -i IT-io aged 90 years." " Peggy'' seems to have lived with "Aunt Carteret" (Elizabeth^ Dunster Carteret). In Mr. Cooke's Records, 2d Church, Cam- bridge, are these entries: "Carteret, Pegg, woman ser- vant" of Capt. C. died Dec. 10 1757." Also, "Negro
34 HENEY DUXSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
5
Child at Mr. Diinster's died April % 1750." "Negro boy of Capt. Carteret died April 12 1747 aged 6;" and '''Xegro Child (girl) of Capt. Carteret died August 15 1753.^'' ''Negro child of Mr. Dunster died March 24 1747 aged 7 days." (Honest Mr. Cooke, he wrote in common language, which enthusiasts of this day have intentionally perverted to mean something worse.)
In Bond's History of Watertowu, p. 754, it is stated Mahitible Dunster was warned out of town, May 15, 1695. Much pains have been taken to get a full copy of the record, but without success. We think she was a liberated slave, living at Jonathan Dunster's.
In looking over this faithful record, so often referred to, our eye caught, almost the next entry to our own grandfathers marriage: "Punch servant of Mr. Samuel Brooks of Medford and Eose servant of William Cutler, Cambridge married June 3, *1754." Tracing the bap- tisms, we found: "Prince son of Eose Cutler slave b. June 10, bap. June 12 1762;" and further on, "Experi- ence a Mulatto brought by Geo Cutter bap. Nov. 23 1783 by Eev. Mr. Marrett."
One of these unfortu.nates has made his mark in his- tory. He was probably the son of Jack and Peggy. S. A. Drake, {Historic Fields and 2Iansions of Middlesex, p. 358,) after graphically describing the march of Gage's troops from Boston towards Lexington, says: "It is a tradition in Arlington that the first person to give the alarm here was Cuff Cartwright, a negro slave who lived at his master's on the road not far from the pond. An officer gave the black a dollar to silence him, but as soon as the detachment had passed, Cuffee struck across the fields, and roused the neighborhood." William E. Cut- ter writes: "Cuffee Cartwright, colored, (a corruption of 'Carteret') died in West Cambridge, Jan. 25, 1826, aged 77." "A noted character, and a servant of Eevo- lutiouary officers. He distinguished himself in an ex- ploit at the time of the march to Lexington. Old Cuff was a great story-teller, and many in Arlington now remember him. A fuller relation of him can be had among my acquaintances. He was the last representa- tive, I believe, of the Carteret family in Arlington. "
HENRY* DUNSTER. 35
6
How different was the thoughtful and Christ-like action of this good woman from the tumultuous scenes we have just passed througli. It seems to us that in God's plan of " development," irresponsible national "glorious victories" are only accountable individual "struggles for existence." In this struggle, some have survived to exhibit traits learned there, at which they would have shuddered before. Others, boasting of their reckless daring, strive to keep the enmity alive. Many, ponder on the cost, misery and unfathomable mystery of "God's strange work," as war is sometimes called; and a fearful number have fallen, among whom we can count nineteen killed or wounded of our own blood or marital relations. We never intended to say a word on this painful subject — "It slipped out itself."
6, Henry* Dunster {Jonathan,'^ Henry,^) was born in Cambridge, July 17, 1680. He "owned the covenant and was baptized Feb. 1, 1707-8." From this, it ap- pears that Jonathan Dunster, his father, like President D., neglected to bring his children to the ordinance of baptism. He married Feb. 25, 1707-8, Martha Russell, who had owned the covenant and was baptized Feb. 13, about two weeks before their marriage. They were both admitted to full communion in the First Church, Cam- bridge, March 11th or 16th, 1710-11. They were both constituent members of the Second Church in Cam- bridge, now the First Congregational Church in Arling- ton. To the first pastor of this church, Kev. Samuel Cooke, he gave wood gratis for seven years. He resided on what was then known as Menotomy Field, or more recently as Charlestown Neck, now Arlington. "No vestige of the Dunster residence alluded to remains save the site, which for thirty years and over has been vacant as far as any dwelling or household structure is con- cerned. It is at this day one of the most sightly, eligible situations for a mansion in the section. Its present pecuniary value could not readily be estimated. A large and thriving village of new houses, with uncommon rail- road facilities, is rising around it." (W. R. C.) The division of the paternal estate, and the dissatisfaction of
1158949
36 HENEY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
6
Henry at the valuation of 16s. per acre for this land, has been alluded to in the settlement of Jonathan Dunster's estate. Perhaps this discontent was, in some measure, owing to the fact that no part of the large landed estate of Elizabeth Thomas, his aunt, was given to him, but all of it to his half brothers and sisters. On the fifth day of October, "Annocf Domini " 1741, " Jason Rus- sell," (and his wife, Elizabeth Russell,) "of Cambridge in the county of Midd"" in his Majesties Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, yeoman — For and in consideration of the sum of Two Hundred Pounds in Bills of Credet in the old Tenor" gave a deed (now in the writer's possession) to " Henry Dunster of Cam- bridge aforesd yeoman " " of one certain Piece or Parcel of land situate in Cambridge aforesaid Containing twelve acres be it more or less Bounded northeasterly on Charles- town Road Easterly on y*" said Dunster's Land partly, and partly on Land Belonging to *"■■ James Smith south- westerly on Concord Road and northwesterly on Land of Jason Winshipp's, reserving the buildings Standing on the Premises to my own use and the Liberty of taking' of the Same at any time when I shall See Cause."
In the writer's possession, handed down in the family^ on a paper measuring ten by seven inches, and contain- ing sixty lines in the plain handwriting of Rev. Samuel Cooke, is the following will:
" In the name of God. Amen! I Henry Dunster of Cambridge in y^ county of Middlesex and Province of y* Massachusetts Bay in New England, Husbandman: Being Weak in Body, but of perfect mind & memory blessed be God therefor, and not knowing how soon it May please. God to call me away by Death: Do make & Ordain This My Last Will & Testament: That is to say principally & in y^ first place I Give and Recommend my Soul into y" hands of God who gave it and my Body I recommend to y'' Earth to be Buried in a decent Christ- ian Manner at y*" discretion of my Executors. Hoping in the mercy of God thro y^ merits of Christ to receive y" same made like unto Christ's Glorious Body at the General Resurection. And as touching my Worldly Es-
HENKY* DUNSTER's WILL. 37
6
tate wherewith it lias pleased God to Bless me in this Life, I Give Demise and Dispose of the same in man- ner & form as follows (viz)
Lnjirimis. I give & Bequeath to Martha My Beloved Wife the use & Improvement of y*" one half of all my real Estate during her Natural Life and also y" improve- ment of y" one half of my Dwelling House lSj Barn Like- wise y'' improvement of y'-' one half of my stock of Cattle, Horses, Sheep &(; also the use of y° one half of my Carts Ploughs & certain Tackling or any other tools or Im- plements belonging to Husbandry. I likewise Give to my s"^ Wife y" use & improvement of the whole of my Household Stuff as Beding, Pewter, Brass, Iron, Chairs, Linning &c during her Natural Life, as also y'' use of my clock and y" whole service & imjirovement of my Negro Woman Nancy During my sd wife's Life.
Item. I give and Bequeath to My Beloved Son Jason Dunster to him and his heirs forever all my Lands Messuages &j tenements together with all my Just Debts, Stock and movable effects of every kind not heretofore disposed of or not hereafter mentioned in this my last Will & Testament. He allowing his mother, my sd wife y" Improvement as above mentioned and paying y*" fol- lowing Legacies herein Mentioned and also all my Just Debts »& funeral expenses.
Item. I give to my beloved son Isaiah Dunster (be- sides what I have done for Him in Giving Him a Liberal Education) the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds in Bills of y'^ old Tenor so called or what shall be in value equal at y" time of Payment to what sd old Tenor Bills now pass for, to be paid within the space of three years after y" decease of my sd wife Martha Also my Silver Tankard marked h°m to be delivered to him Upon My sd Wife's decease.
Item. I give to my Beloved Son Henry Dunster be- sides Wliat I have already Given to Him my Large Cop- per Kettle to be delivered to Him upon y^ decease of my sd wife.
Item. I give to my Beloved Daughter Martha Dick- son besides what I have already given to her the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds in bills of the old Tenor — or what shall be equal * * *
38 HEXRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS,
6
Item. I give to my Beloved Daughter Mary Marrat besides what I have already given her y^ like sum of one hundred and fifty pounds in Bills of y^ old Tenor. * *
Item. I give to my Beloved Daughter Abigail Cutler besides what she has already received the sum of One Hundred & fifty pounds in Bills of the Old Tenor or what * * * ye {j^ijove sums or Legacies to be paid to the persons above named or their heirs within three years after y" decease of my sd wife Martha.
Also I give & Bequeath to my D. Daughter Abigail & Her Heirs forever a certain tract of Land containing one acre more or less Lying in Cambridge second precinct bounded Northerly on Concord Eoad Easterly on the Winshipp's Pasture, on y'' other sides on my Land as y" wall now stands She maintaining the whole of y* fence adjoining my Land. Furthermore I Give & Bequeath to my above named Beloved Son Jason Dunster my above sd negro woman Nancy to him & his heirs after my sd wife's decease and also y^ whole of that part of the Stock, Team Tackling &c which I have Given my Wife for improvement during her life and Likewise what shall remain of y" House hold Stuff not already disposed of by me and which my sd wife shall not dispose of in her lifetime He paying y" Legacies & debts as above. I do likewise Hereby constitute & appoint my Beloved Wife Martha & my Beloved Son Jason Dunster to be execu- tors of this my last Will and Testament Hereby revoking all former Wills * * *
I do hereunto set my hand & seal this eighth day of October Annoq' Dom. one thousand seven Hundred and forty eight — and in the twenty Second year of y^ reign of George y'' Second of Great Britain y'' King &c.
Signed Sealed Published, pronounced & Declared by y*" sd Henry Dunster to be His Last Will and Testament in presence of us Heney Dunster." [seal]
the subscribers
Hubert Russell His
Walter X Russell
mark Saml Cooke.
HEXRY^ DUXSTER. 39
6
Henry ^ Duxster died iit Cambridge (now Arling- ton), Jan. 28, 1753, as appears from the record in liis son Jason's J^ible (now in my possession), written by Rev. Samnel Cooke, his pastor, as follows:
"Mr. Henry Dunster
Dyed Jan^ 28, 1753 ^Et. 73
be ye also ready for
at such an hour as ye
. . think not of the Son
of Man Cometh."
The following copy of inscription is taken from the original stone (slate) now standing in a group of graves around a venerable apple tree, near the horizontal slab of the Rev. Samuel Cooke, in the centre of Cambridge second precinct burying yard, now the old cemetery in Arlington:
•'Here Lyes Buried the Body of Mr. Henry Dunster who Departed this Life Jan"" 28 Anno Doni' 1753, in the 73'''' year of His Age. ' Therefore be ye also ready for in such an Hour as you think not ye Son of Man Cometh.' "
In the same group of graves are buried Mrs. Elizabeth Dunster DeCarteret and her husband, with several of their children. The stones are such as would be erected over persons of family and substance at the time of their erection.
His wife, Martha (Russell), survived him, and married Francis Locke (his 2d wife), March 15, 1759. "She Avas the daughter of Joseph Russell, who married Mary Belcher, June 23, 1662, and was born July 26, 1691, at Cambridge. Francis Locke, his tirst wife Elizabeth, and his daughter Elizabeth, were original members of the church in West Cambridge [Arlington], which was founded 1739." {Book of the Loches, p. 24. )
In the " Cutter Family of Xeic EngJand'' it is stated, p. 380, that "the mother of Jason Dunster [son of Henry] was Martha Russell, daughter of Jason and Marv (Hubbard) Russel, of Cambridge, and born May 2, 1691." The Cutter record is correct. She, Martha 5
40 HENKT DUKSTEK AXD HIS DESCEXDAKTS.
6
(KussgI Dunster) Locke, died of the palsy, in Menotomy, June -27, 1?T1, jiged 81 years. {Dr. B. Cutter's MSS.) Ill the Middlesex probate office is a bond of Martha Dunster, widow, Jason Dunster, Edward Dixon, and Joseph Belknap, to perform the duties of executors to the estate of Henry Dunster, late of Cambridge.
Heney'' Dunster had eleven children by his wife, Martha (Russell):
9%. i. Martha* Dunster, b. Feb. 7, bap. Feb. 13, 1708-9, m. Edward Dickson, March 18, 1730-31.
10%. ii. Mary* Dunster, b. July ye 8, bap. July 13, 1712, m. Amos Marrett.
11%. iii. Abigail* Dunster, b. March 18, 1714, bap. March 21, 1713-14, m. James Cutter, Jr.
iv. Elizabeth* Dunster, b. July ye 7, 1716, died Nov. 7, 1710. She was one of the grand-children [It should have been great grand-children] referred to in Chaplin's Life of Henry Dunster, page 227. She was buried in Old Cambridge, near President D. The in- scription on her head-stone is still plain and distinct, and reads:
"Elizabeth Dunster,
Daughter of Henry
& Martha Dunster
aged 4 months.
Died novemV^ 7 1716."
12%. V. Isaiah* Dunster, born Oct. 21, 1720, m. first, Hannah Dennis, May 26, 1750. second, Mary Smith, Nov. 13, 1766.
vi. Henry* Dunster, born Feb. 13. bap. Feb. 17, 1722-3. He married April 27, 1748, Abio-ail Moor. He is mentioned in his father's will of Oct. 21 (?), 1748, as lately deceased. By this, it appears that his father made another will a few days after the one copied on a preceding page. He died Oct. 13, 1748, childless. His wife, Abigaif (Moor), had a daughter, March 4, 1749, who lived one-quarter of an hour. {Iicv. S. Coohe's Record. ) He was buried at Arlington. The inscription on his grave stone is:
HENRY* DUNSTER. 41
6
" Here lyes Buried y^ Body of Mr. Henry Dunster Jnn'' who Departed this Life October 13, Anno Dom' 1748 ag-ed -.'5 years & 8 m"\"
His widow, then Abigail Harrington, was dismissed from the 2d Church Sept. 15, 1751, to the church in Lexington. She Avas married to Jonathan Harrington, Aug. 1, 1750, by whom she had eight children, the fourth of whom was Jonathan, wlio was the last sur- vivor of the battle of Lexington, and to whom she said, on that eventful morning: "Jonathan, get up, the Eeo'ulars are coming, and something must be done." She died June 30, 177G. {Hist. Lexington, Gen. Req., P2). 91, 94.)
In the probate records at East Cambridge, the will of Henry*' Dunster, Jr., is recorded, as is also an inventor}'' of his estate, in which is mentioned a beaver hat valued £8 Os. Od.; a ''new wigg" valued £4 Os. Od.; an "old wigg" valued at £0 10s. Od. ; a fine linen Shirt valued £3 Os. Od.; a new full trimmed blue Coat valued at £1G Os. Od. ; a pair of leathern Breeches valued at £9 Os. Od. ; a "fustin" Coat valued at £G Os. Od,; a blue Jacket val- ued at £4 Os. Od. ; a "streight" bodied Coat valued at £4 Os. Od. ; a stuff Jacket valued at £3 10s. Od.
At the time of his death he owned about fifty acres of laud in what is now Arlington, which appears to have been sold by his widow to his brothers and sisters. The deed, a copy of which, written by Mr. Cooke, was found among Rev. Isaiah Dunster's papers, is sketched as fol- lows :
" To All People to whom these Presents Shall Come Greeting Know Ye That I Abigail Dunster of Cam- bridge in ye County of Middlesex in ye Province of ye Massachusetts Bay in Xew Enghind Relict Widow of Mr. Henry Dunster Jnn'' of Cambridge aforesaid De- ceased For Divers Good Causes, & Considerations
Me thereunto Moving But More Especially For & in Consideration of ye Sum of Twelve Hundred & thirty pounds in Good & Passable Bills of Credit of ye Old Tenor to me in hand well & truly paid by Mr. Isaiah Dunster of Harwich in ye county of Barnstable in ye province aforesd Clerk and Jason Dunster Edward Dick-
42 HEXRY DUXSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
6'
son and James Cutler Jnu'" all of Cambridge aforesd Husbandmen and Also in consideration of certain Privi- liges* & Improvements on ye Estate of my Husband
Decesed by me still to be enjoyed Have Given
unto the said Isaiah Dunster Jason Dnnster Edward
Dickson & James Cutler Jun^ their Heirs & Assigns forever equally as tenants in common all the Right Title Interest, Claim Challenge & Demand whatsoever which I ye sd Abigail Dunster have had or Ought to have (in & unto ye estate both Real & Personal where of my late husband Henry Dunster Jnn'' Died Seized and Possessed) by virtue of marriage or by any other ways — means whatsoever.
The Sd estate consisting of about forty acres in the Homstead with one Dwelling House and a Barn Stand- ing on ye Same Also about Ten Acres of Pasture Land on the South easterly side of ye Road over against sd Homstead To Have & to Hold all ye above sd Estate ***** unto them ye sd Isaiah Dunster Jason Dunster Edward Dickson & James Cutler their Heirs & Assigns forever To their only proper use benefit & behoof forevermore ***** shall & may from time to time and at all times forever hereafter by force & Virtue of these presents Lawfully Peaceably & Quietly Have Hold Use Imjirove Occupy Possess & Enjoy ye above Remised & Released Premises without the Lawful Lett Suit Denyall Contradiction or Expulsion of me ye sd Abigail Dunster * * *
In Witness Whereof I ye sd x\bigail Dunster have hereunto set my hand & Seal This Twentieth Day of December In ye'^Twenty Third year of his Maj.'^' Reign: Anno DominiOne thousand seven hundred & forty nine. Signed Sealed & Delivered Abigail Dunster [seal]
in presence of us Charles Moor Aaron Cutter Vera Cojna. Atts' Sam'l Cooke.
* It is probable that the "certain privileges and improve- ments" on the estate of Henry Dunster, Jr., " by me still to be enjoyed," gave rise to the repeated lawsuits between the Dnnsters and Jonathan Harrington, who married the widow of Henry D. Fragments of the writs are still in the family, by which it appears that'Harrington recovered ninety pounds.
ELIZABETH' UUXSTEIl CARTERET. 43
7
Middlesex ss. Dec 22 1749 Then The Within Named Abip-ail Dunster apiieurd tS: acknowledged ye within writteu Instrument to be Her free Act & Deed before me
William Lawrexce J.Pacis."
On the copy of this deed is the mark of the nails in the heel of a boot, made probably to identifi) the paper. Such an act was common in "old times."'
vii. Elizabeth* Dunster, b. May 9, bap. May 10, 1724, d. June 27, 172 , [last figure gone.]
13%. viii. Jason* Dunster, b. July 24, 1725, N. S., bap. July 18, 1725. (For this discrepancy, see note to Rev. Isaiah Dunster on a subsequent p:ige. ) He mar- ried J^ebccca Cutter Nov. G, 1749, and died in Mason, X. H., Feb. 19, 1805.
ix. Eunice* Dunster, born May 21, bap. May 2G,
1728, died July 11, same year.
X. Jonathan* Dunster, b. May 27, bap. June 1,
1729, died July 9, same year.
xi. Ruth* ^Dunster, b. Oct. 1, bap. Oct. 7, 1733, died June 30, 1735. She was the other child referred to by Chaplin as one of the grand-chWi^vQw. Her grave stone is close to President Duuster's, and is inscribed:
Ruth Dunster, Daug"' of Mr. Henry & Mrs.^ Martlia
Dunster, Died June 30 1735 Age^' 1 year & 9 months.
7. iv. Elizabeth^ (Dunster) Carteret {Jona- than,'^ Henry, ^) was born about 1699, not Feb. 22, 1681-2, as stated in Life H. D., p. 237, that Elizabeth died young. She was married Xoa'. 16, 1727, to Capt. Philip Carteret, or DeCarterct, a mariner, of Boston. The record of their marriage in Charlestown is: " Pliilip Cartwright of Boston & Elizabeth Dunster of this town were joyned in marriaire by the Reverend ^Ir. Simon Bradstreet, Xovember 16, 1727." She was admitted to *5
44 HENRY DUKSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
7
lull communion in Medford Chnrcli April 21, 1728, and dismissed to Menotomy Church Sept. 1, 1739. The}^ lived in Charlestown, but the place was called Cambridge Precinct, and is now Ailington, He was master of a vessel sailing" from Boston, and was probably born about 1703, in France, as the nnme would imply. He owned landed property to considerable extent in the vicinity of Cambridge. When absent on voyages his wife signed his name to all necessary papers, as appears by public records. She was evidently a woman of more than ordi- nary executive ability, and made a prominent impression on her relatives. Every branch of the Dunster family, within our knowledge, has retained a memory of "Aunt Carteret," or, as most of them call her, "Aunt Cart- wright."
In 1857, Edward S. Dunster, then a student in Har- vard College, visited Westminster and Gardner, Mass., to obtain information of the "Dunster Descendants."
Mrs. Precilla (Dunster) Estabrook, then 70 years old, (a notice of whom will appear farther on,) told him, with other traditions whicli may be referred to in other pages, and which he copied verbatim: "1 used to hear much talk about Aunt (Jartwright, sister of my grand- father. She lived in Notomy. When the Kegulars were in Boston, she took her silver and hid it in the ash heap; her money she sewed up in a leather apron and threw it into the well. My grandmother often used to talk about Aunt Cartwright, and used to tell the story of President Dunster's laying tlie Devil."
Capt. Carteret died at Arlington, and the inscription on his grave stone in the Dunster group is: " Here Lyes Buried the Bodv of Capt. Philip DeCarteret, who de- parted this Life April 10, 1767. Aged 64 years." She survived him twenty years, and managed the property, which was large, during her life. She, also, was buried in Arlington, and the inscri]ition is: "Erected to the memory of Mrs. Elizabeth DeCarteret widow of Capt. Philip DeCarteret who Died Jany. 25 1787 in the 88 year of her age." She was one of the original members of Cambridge Second Church, organized Sei)t. 9, 1739.
CHILDREN OF CAPTAIN P. CARTERET. 45
7
The children of Capt. P. Carteret unci Elizabeth* (Dunster) Carteret were:
i, Mary^ Carteret, born 1T30, died Xov. 17, 1751, aged 21 years.
ii. Rl'TH* Carteret, born 173G, died June 3, 1754, aged 18 years.
iii. Elizabeth* Carteret, born 1737, died June 8, 1751, aged 14 years.
iv. Abigail* Carteret, born about 1739 or 1740, married Oct. 12, 1758, William Whittemore, who was the son of Samuel* and Elizabeth (Sjiring) Whittemore. He graduated at Harvard College, 1755, was admitted "full communion to Menotomy Church Oct. 26, 1755." Abigail, his wife, was admitted to the same church July 29, 1781. She died Aug. 27, 1809, aged 70 years. He died in West Cambridge, March 17, 1818, aged 86 years.
* Samuel Whittemore, the father of AVilliam Whittemoie, (H. C, 1755,) died at :Menotomy, Feb. 2, 1793. "When tlie British troops marched to Lexington he was 81 years old, and one of the first on the parade. He was armed with a gun {Ki/ifj's Ann) and horse pistols. After an animated exhortation to the collected militia to the exertion of bravery and courage, he exclaimed, ' If I can only be instrumental of killing one of my country's foes, 1 shall die in peace.' The prayer of this venerable old man was heard, for on the return of the troops from Lexington he lay be- hind a stone wall and discharged his gun. A soldier immediatelj' fell. He then discharged his pistol and killed another, at which instant a ball struck his face and shot away part of his cheek bone, on which tt number of soldiers ran up to the wall and gorged their malice on his wounded head. Thej' were heard to exclaim, ' We have killed the old man.' About four hours after, he was found in a mangled situation His head was covered with blood from the wounds of the baj'onet, which were six or eight, but, providentially, none penetrated so far as to destroy him. His hat and clothes were sliot through in man}' places, yet he survived to see the complete overthrow of his enemies and his countr}' enjoy all the blessings of peace and independence. His funeral will be to-morrow at four o'clock, P. M., from his house at Menotomy, which liis relations and friends are requested to attend." {Colina- biun Ceiitinel, Feb. 6, 1793.)
"This old gentleman was posted in the rear of the house of Hon. .James Russell, in West Cambridge, on the road to Woburn, awaiting the return of the enemy from Lexington. On discover- ing the flank guard (five in number) approaching, a friend who was with him deserted him, but he refused to run, saying, ' I am
46 HENKY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
7
Kev. L. R. Paige, referring to the Cambridge records then in his hand, said the children of Abigail (Carteret) and WilUam Whittemore, A. M., were:
1. Elizabeth^ Carteeet Whittemore, b. April 4, 17G3, bap. at West Cambridge April lU, 1763. She died Nov. 8, 1763, aged 7 months.
2. Elizabeth^ Carteret Whittemore, b. Oct. 6, bap. Oct. 7, 1764. She married first, Moses Robbins, and second, John Frost, Nov. 9, 1802, pnblished Aug. 14, 1802. Frost's first wife died March 18, 1802. She died May 1, 1813, tiged 49 years. She was, probably, also the mother of William Whittemore Frost, who was baptized Nov. 20, 1803, of whom there is no other record. [Cutter Famihi, p. 40.)
3. Philip^ Carteret Whittemore, b. Sept. 1, bap. Sept. 7, 1766, married Lydia Phelps.
4. William^ Whittemore, b. Jan. 28, bap. Jan. 29, 1769, d. July 3, 1771, aged 2 years, 5 mos. 6 days.
5. William^ Whittemore, b. June 30, bap. July 5, 1772, married Feb. 2, 1796, Anna Cutter, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Hill) Cutter, of Menotomy. She was born June 19, 1771. She was baptized, no doubt, on a profession of faith Nov. 24, 1799, at Second Cliurch in Cambridge. At the same time, her husband owned the covenant, and their first child, Ann, was baptized. He was a farmer, residing on his wife's father's home- stead, and died in Chelsea, Mass., Oct. 17, 1854. She died Oct. 27, 1849. Had seven children:
(i) Ann^ Whittemore, b. Oct. 21, bap. at Meno- tomy, Nov. 24, 1799. She married May 26, 1822, (May
eighty years old and I will not leavi% for I am willing to die if I can kill one British red coat.' On the nearer approach of the ' guard ' he shot one with his gun and another with his pistol, and while raising his second pistol he received a wound in his face * * * He was taken to the hospital (Cooper's Tavern) on the corner of Medford road, in West Cambridge. Surgeons Welch and Spring dressed his wounds (one shot wound and thirteen bayonet wounds). He was born July 27, 1696, and his tomb stone, now in the burying ground in West ('ambridge, has the following inscription, viz.: 'In Memory of Capt. Samuel Whit- temore who departed this life Feb. 2 1793 Aged 98 years.'" {See Hint. Cutter Family, JY. E., Supplement p. 390.)
THE WHITTEMORE FAMILY. 47
7
23, Hist. Lexington) Samuel Adams, born 'u\ West Cam- bridge, Sept. 28, 1790. Thev removed to Lexington in 1827. He died Sept. IG, 18GG. She died May 14, 18G2. They had four children:
(1) Annas' Adams, b. June 5, 1823. She married April 2, 1867, John Beals.
(2) W. Frank' Adams, b. April 16, 1829, married Emma C. Balles, of New Jersey.
(3) Robinson' Adams, b. jSTov. 24, 1832, went to New York, died 18GG.
(4) Georgia' Adams, b. June 6, 1839, m. May 10, 1857, Albert Griffith, of West Caml)ridge. She died May, 1859. {Hist. Lexington.)
(ii) Eleanor" Whittemore, b. June 25, 1801, died Oct. 0, 1805.
(iii) William Augustus*' Whittemore, b. Nov. 30, 1804, married Abigail C. TufEts, Jan. 8, 1838. He died in Arlington, April 24, 18G7. He resided on his father's homestead. She is living in Arlington, and has six children:
(1) William Augustus' Whittemore, b. — , unm.
(2) Abb IE I.' Whittemore, b. , married Simeon
Barker, of Arlington. They have a daughter, Emma Gertrude® Barker.
(3) Ephraim T.' Whittemore, b. , unmarried.
(4) Benjamin F.' Whittemore, b. , unmarried.
(5) Lizzie' Whittemore, b. , m. Clarence F.
Hobbs, of Arlington. Thev have a daughter^ Laura E.« Hobbs, b. .
(G) George Henry' Whittemore, b. , unm.
(iv) Susan Frances® Whittemore, born May 11, 1807, m. Pascal Sprague, of West Cambridge, April 15, 1832, and died Jan. 17, 1850. They had four children:
(1) George' Sprague, b. , m. , and died
without issue.
(2) Harriet A.' Sprague. b. , married George
Going, of Boston. They have four children, whose names have not been obtained.
(3) John' Sprague, b. , now in California.
48 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
7
(-i) Mary Ella^ Sprague, dead. Possibly, others died young.
(v) Eleanor Sophia" Whittemore, born Nov. 24, 1809, married John P. Daniels, Oct. 18, 183-2, died in Arlington, Dec. 25, 1868. They had children:
(1) Ellen S.'' Daniels, b. , m. Edwin Robbins,
and had Frank,^ Henry Parker,^ Nellie,^ and Nathan* Robbins.
(2) John P.'^ Daniels, b. , m. Sarah Hanson.
Have two children.
(3) Harriet^ Daniels, b. , unmarried.
(4) Sarah A.'' Daniels, b. , m. Albert Winn,
Jr., of Arlington. They had two children, both died young. The other children of John P. and Eleanor Sophia (Sprague) Daniels died young.
(vi) George Washington® Whittemore, b. May 5, 1812, m. Cynthia Richardson, and died July 17, 1870. He was proprietor of Wilde's Hotel, Elm street, Boston. Their children were:
(1) George Henry ^ Whittemore, b. , unm.
(2) Frank ^ Whittemore, born , married, and
believed to have two children.
(3) Helen' Whittemore, b. — , num., and deceased.
(4) Florence' Whittemore, b. , m. a clergy- man, and died within a few days (Dec, 1875).
(5) Fred' Whittemore.
(6) W'illie' Whittemore.
(vii) Thomas' Whittemore, b. May 9, 1815, mar- ried Clara Richardson, of Fitchburg, Mass., July 27, 1837, resides at Chelsea, and have two children:
(1) Thomas® Whittemore, b. , married Abbie
Clark, and have two children:
(i) LiLLiE* Whittemore. (ii) Cora* Whittemore.
(2) Clara' Whittemore, b. , m. William W.
Viles. No children.
0. Abigail^ W^hittemore, b. Aug. IG, bap. Aug.
DAVID ^ DUNSTER. 49
8
18, 1776, married John Daveni)ort, both of Cambridge. Presumed, says Mr. Paige, to be tlie keeper of the Davenport Tavern.
8. vii. David ^ Dunster [Junatlinn,'^ Henry, ^) was the seventh and youngest child of Jonatlian ^ and Deb- orah (Wade) Dunster, and was born in Charlestown about 1706. He was a "Minor" "in the twentyeth year of age" when his father died in 1726. Joseph Hartwell was appointed his guardian. His bond is re- corded in Middlesex probate office. In some documents he is called a tanner. He married, about 1730, Mary, daughter of Hubbard and Elizabeth (Dickson) Enssell. She was baptized Dec. 14, 1713, and was admitted full communion Sept. 6, 1741, to the Second Church in Cambridge (Mr. Cooke's). Her husband, David, ^ Avas admitted full communion June 13, 1742. He had " owned the covenant " previouslv. Thev were "regu- larly dismissed" from that cliurch "Oct. 17, 1742, to be imbodyed in a church to be gathered at Narraganset No. 2, so called." {Rev. 3£r. CooJce.) Mary (Eussell), wife of David ^ Dunster, Avas a niece of Martha Eussell, the wife of Henry ^ Dunster.
[Jonathan, Thomas, David, Elizabeth and Dorothy, all children of Jonathan^ and Deborah (Wade) Dunster, "owned the covenant," and were baptized in Cambridge First Church, April 14, 1723. J
At the settlement of his father's estate, before referred to, he came into possession of large landed property in Cambridge Precinct, then called Menotomy Field, after- wards West Cambridge, now Arlington.
"In 1646 the Inhabitants of Charlestown granted to Henry Dunster Prest. of the college and his heirs & as- signs Wenatomie or Menatomy bounded with Cambridge bounds on one side, Misticke pond & Eiver and Menotomy brook being the bounds of said field on the other side." This tract seems to have comprised the greater part of that interesting section now in Arlington limits, known even till quite lately as Charlestown End, and from its shape was vulgarly y'cleped by fellows of the baser sort as "Squash End." Here, at the head, was the cele-
50 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
s
brated Square Sachem Reservation, under the shadow of high hills, whence is mow obtained a wonderful view of the surrounding territory. The mansion house of David Dunster, sold to Joseph Winship, which was torn down in 1798, had a hipped roof, and William R. Cutter, who fnrnished this sketch, says that it is well rememl^ered by his present living grand-parents, who conld tell how many windows there were, and the number of rooms on each- floor. The house was, they believe, unpainted on the outside, like many at that day.
"David Dunster of Charlestown yeoman by Deed March 12 1742 conveyed for £750 to Joseph Winship the younger of Cambridge yeoman the home place north west of the road with the house and barn namely 18 acres of Land in Charlestown bounded E. and N. E. by Medford river and pond N. \Y. and N. E. on Simon Holden's land W. by a 'drift-way' leading to said Hol- den's land, South on land of Jonathan Dunster there being a road leading from Medford over the 'wairs' to Menotomy running through said Messuage and under- stood to be excepted in this deed and also 3 acres of Salt marsh in Medford bounded east on Solomon Page's* Marsh S. on Medford River N, on Ebenezer Cutters and W. on John Willis marsh, with a dwelling house & barn on the abovesaid 18 acres or homestead.
Witness (Signed) David Dunster
Philip Carteret Mary Dunster
Jonathan Robinson "
Again, " David Dunster of Narragansett township No. 2 so called in the county of Worcester yeoman for £250 in good bills of the old Tenor conveyed Nov. 18 1742 to Jo- seph Winshi]i of Clnirlestown Middlesex county yeoman 11:^ acres of Land in Charlestown bounded N. E. by land of Joseph Winship N. VV. on a highway leading to Med- ford S. W. on a two rod Roadway joining to Geo. Cutter land and S. E. by George Cutter's land and East by Medford River. Dunster's wife's name Mary. Signed by him only. Ephraim Frost and John Cutter wit- nesses. Eben Trowbridge Just. Peace."
* This was the Solomon Page who married his sister.
DAVID* DUNSTER'S WILL. 51
8
"At a meeting of the proprietors of Narragansett No 2 at tlie house of Mr. Ebenezer Stedman in Cambridge Dec. 2d 1741 in the division of Upland David Dunster drew a lot No 10 Home lot." In a second division of upland he had tlie same number of the lots, and also the same in a division of meadow lots.
"At a meeting of the proprietors of Narragansett No. 2 held at the house of Mr. Ebenezer Stedman in Cam- bridge 1st September 1742 voted and accepted
the Acre of land given by Mr. Dunster for a burying place and chose Mr. Ilolden, Mr. More, Mr. Hoar, Mr. Bemas, Miller & Bigalow a committee to stake it out and take a deed of Mr. Dunster for the same." {West- minster Town Records. )
Mrs. Priscilla^ (Dunster) Estabrook, to whom refer- ence is made in Elizabeth^ (Dunster) Carteret, related: " My Grandfather, David, was not a son of President D; of this I am positive.* My Grandfather, David, was the third settler iu this town [Westminster]. He had a gar- rison house near where the Baptist Meeting House noAv stands." At one time he was directed to put his garri- son house in better condition for defence.
The cpiantity of land in Narragansett No. 2, drawn by David Dunster, must have been large, for Jan. 14, 1744, he sold two lots, of sixty acres each, to William Brattle for 25 pounds lawful money, which "I drew myself upon the tenth lot which I purchased of Wm. Wallace of Medford." There are also four deeds of parts of this tenth lot recorded.
In 1758 he made a will, of which the following is a sketch :
" In the name of God Amen this nineteenth day of May One thousand seven hundred and fifty eight * * * I David Dunster of a place called Nargansett Township No 2 in the county of Worcester * * Husbandman
1st I give and recommend my Soul into the Hands of God that gave it and my body into the Earth * * *
* 111 the family records of some of the Westminster Dunster's, Jonathan'' had been omitted, making David^ the son of Henry } In this Mrs. Estabrook was right. 6
52 HENRY DUXSTER AXD HIS DESCEXDAXTS.
8
nothing doul)tino' 1 shall receive the same again at the Resurrection by the mighty power of God.
Imprimis. I give unto Mary my beloved wife and nnto Hubbard and Thomas my two oldest sons all my real and personal estate and all my utensils for husbandry — goods with claims * * * to my Avife whom I constitute and appoint executrix with my oldest son Hubbard, To my wife I say 1 give and bequeath my house and all my
lands during her continuance of my widow but if
she see cause to marry again to acquit her right to all my Estate.
Item. To Hubbard f of my real & personal estate after my wife has done with it. To Thomas ^ do. To Elizabeth Taj'lor wife of James Taylor my eldest daugh- ter £2 10s. over and above what she has already
had and besides what I did for her in her sickness. To Mary Bemis wife of David Bemis my 2nd daughter be- sides what she had at her setting out and what she had in cash of me I bequeath her 10 shillings.
To Marguary Duuster my third daughter I give & bequeath four pounds.
To Euhamah my fourth daughter I give and bequeath four pounds.
To Carteret Henry Duuster my youngest son when
one and twenty Fifty Pounds — to be paid f by
Hubbard and ^ by Thomas and I further order that he
shall live with his mother and Hubbard till 21
Hubbard and Thomas to have six years to pay these
legacies I further add that none of my estate shall
be prised [appraised].
Item. To the Rev, Isaiah Dunster of Harwich I give a gold Ring. (Codicil) I give to Afarguary & Ruhamah a low chest of Drawers apiece, Three pewter Platters apiece 4- a Doz. Chairs apiece. Recorded Worcester Probate"' office 4 Oct. 1758."
David ^ Ddx"STER died in the summer of 1758.
Mrs. Estabrook says: "My grandfather died in Rut- land, in this State,* of the camp disorder. He had gone
* Rutland, " /« this State.'" This error was the result of con- founding two different events. The prisoners at Rutland, Mass., were British, captured with Burgoyne in 1777.
MARTHA^ DUXSTER. 53
9
to see his son Tlionuis, my father, who was a soldier in the war, and was sick at Ruthind with the same disease. ^iy father ^^ot well, but grandfather died."' In a subse- ((uent letter her daughter. Miss Betsey Estabrook, states that her mother says: " He died in Rutland, at the bar- racks, where he went to care for his sick son, Thomas, then about twenty years old, stationed there for the ex- change of prisoners of war. He recovered. His father took the camp disorder and died, and was buried in the barracks there." This must have been at the disastrous campaign against Ticonderoga in the French war. That event took place in July, 1758.
His wife, Mary (Russell) Dunster, died after 1772. They had seven children:
14^. i. Elizabeth* (Betty), baptized April 25, 1730-1, married James Taylor.
lo §. ii. Mary^ (Molly), baptized March 4, 1732, married David Bemis.
16^. iii. Hubbard,* born 1735? m. Ruth Bailey.
17^. iv. Thomas,* baptized May 8, 1737, married Lidia Peirce.
18^. V. Margary,* baptized Dec. 23, 1739, mar- ried Joshua Wilder.
19 §. vi. RuHAMA,* born , m. Dudley Bailey.
20^. vii. Carteret* Hexry, b. , m. .
9. i. Martha* Dunster {Henry, ^ Jonafhan,- Henry, ^) was born at Cambridge Feb. 7, bap. Feb. 13, 1708-9, and was admitted to church Jan. 14, 1727-8. She married Marcb 18, 1730-31, Edward Dixon, or Dickson as it was afterwards written. He was the son of John Dixon, Avho married Margary Winship, Cambridge, May 12, 1687. She died Oct. 6, 1734, in lier 72d year. He died March 22, 1737, in his 82d year. John Dixon was son of William D., who was freeman, 1(342, and member of Cambridge Church. The Avife of William was Jane, who died Dec. 4, 1G89, aged 73. On William's grave stone is inscribed:
" The memory of y'' Just is blessed." ( Canih. Epitaphs.) He, Edward, was baptized Jan. 18, 1702, and admit- ted member of Cambridge First Church June 30, 1728,
54 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
9
about six months after Martha* Dnnster, and died in Cambridge, May, 1787, aged 86 years. The date of his wife's death has been doubted. Following the Cam- bridge Epitaphs, we placed it, in Life H. D., p. 238, in 1800. It is in the Epitaphs, Mrs. " Martha Dixon died 1800." In a will of her husband, dated 1753, her name is mentioned, but in a will of " Fdward Dixon,'' dated April 6, 1788, there is no mention of her. The latter will was that of Edward^ Dixon, her son, who died tiii- married. They had seven children, baptized at Cam- bridge First Church:
i. Edward^ Dickson, baptized April 2, 1732, died May 3, 1732, aged 1 month, 2 days. Grave stone in Old Cambridge burying ground. {^Cambridge E'pita'plis.')
ii. Martha" Dickson, born Dec. 8, 1734, bap. Dec. 15, 1734, d. in May, 1788, unmarried. {Camb. Records.)
iii. Edward^ Dixon, b. in Cambridge June 7, bap. June 12, 1737. Edward Dixon died 1825. {Cambridge Up i tap lis, p. 162.) This date is probably wrong. Mr. Paige writes: " He was a harness maker, and died Oct. 30, 1820. M issue."
iv. Elizabeth^ Dixon, bap. Nov. 4, 1739. Sam- uel Cook, Jr., and Elizabeth Dickson were married in First Precinct, Cambridge, April 26, 1764. She was, probably, this Elizabeth^ Dixon. She was living July 4, 1817. No record of children.
V. Henry ^ Dickson, bap. Nov. 8, 1741, mar. July 24, 1766, Elizabeth Cox. He ''owned the covenant" May 24, 1767, in order to have his children baptized. Henry Dickson and Sarah Cooke, daughter of Kev. Sam- uel Cooke, were married in Cambridge Nov. 15, 1774. [From this, it appears that his first wife, Elizabeth (Cox), died, leaving children, as he "owned the cove- nant" to have them baptized.] She died about 1785,
and afterwards he married Mercy . He died Sept.
23, 1815. His widow, Mercy, died Dec. 4, 1815, aged 69 or 70. There was a " widow Sarah Dickson (Henry's) died of a fever Sept. 30, 1780." {Cooke.) She could not have been the widow of this Henry. The three children of Henry ^ Dickson, one by each wife, were :
THE DICKSON" FAMILY. 55
9
1. Elizabeth® Dickson, born 17G7, daimliter of Elizabeth (Cox) Dixon. She died March 3, 1800. Unm.
2. Eunice® Cooke Dicksox, dan. of Surah (Cooke) Diekson, bap. May 17, 1778, m. Dec. 21, 1806, John Goddard, of Cambridge. She died prior to Feb. 14, 1817. They had:
(i) Hannah^ Goddard. (ii) Charles' Henry Goddard. (iii) John' Goddard.
3. Henry' Dickson, son of third wife (Mercy), bap. Feb. 21, 1790. He died before his father.
vi. Gilbert^ Dickson, bap. Nov. 18, 1744, married Martha Yarnum.
vii. Isaiah^ Dickson, born or bap. April 12, 1747, owned the covenant, " in order his children be baptized," Feb. 9, 1777. He married Judte (Jndith) Synims, of Wobnrn, May 15, 1773. She died in Oct., 1783, and he married Jnly 10, 1788, Sarah Cooper. He died Ang., 1805. His children by Jndith (first wife) Avere:
1. John® Eliot, bap. Feb. 9, 1777, died 1783.
2. Judith,® bap. Nov. 10, 1781, died 1783. Both died in the same year with their mother.
By second wife, Sally Cooper:
3. Edward® Dickson. 4. Axx^ Cooper Dick- son. 5. Abigail® Dickson.
The dates of the births of these children are nnknown. They were all living in 1820, and are named in their Uncle Edward's will. Edward appears to have come of age in June, 1814. Both of the daughters were born prior to 1800. Ann® Cooper Dickson is thought to have married William Everett. (H. D. B.) Rev. L. R. Paige thinks Edward® Dickson may have been the one who died at Bedford, Mass., March 23, 1825, aged 33.
These items are "based on researches in the Collec- tions of the late Dr. B. Cutter, by W. R. Cutter," and the "Records of Rev. L. R. Paige?'
For the record of vi. Gilbert^ we are entirely indebted to Henry Dunster Billings. It is given mostly from his MS., but condensed a little where it conld be. The
56 HENEY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
9
descendants are tabulated to correspond with other fam- ilies.
vi. G-iLBERT^ Dickson {Martlia,* Henry, ^ Jonathan,'' Ilenri/,^) was born 1743, (?) and married Dec. 3, 1773, Martha Yarnum, born July 12, 1750, daughter of Jonas and Lydia (Boyden) Varnum. She, Lydia, was daugh- ter of Jonathan and Elizabeth Boyden. He kept a tavern in Acton, and is styled, "a cooper." Ho was worth at one time considerable property. Later, he owned a house in Cambridge, near the "College, wdiere he lived till the close of his life. He died of lock jaw Sept. 15, 1818. His wife died June 20, 1800, aged 50 years, from a severe cold, contracted while attending Washington's mock funeral in Cambridge. They had eight children:
1. Hannah*^ Dickson, b. , 1771, mar. Thomas
Eundle,* born in England. He arrived in this country with only fifty cents in money; was a cabinet maker and circular stair builder, said to be the first of that trade in the country. He died in Boston Jan. 5, 1841, aged 64 years. He was never naturalized. His wife, Hannah^ D., died of old age, while on a visit to her sister (Sally Shedd) in Pepperell. They were childless. Lived at 21 Warren, now Washington street, and were both buried at Mount Auburn.
There was a John Dickson, who married Lienor "Eunel," in Cambridge, June 30, 1781. (Cool-e.)
2. Sally ^ Dickson, {Gilbert,^ Martha* Dunster,) b.
, 1775, m. Joshua Shedd. She spent most of her
time in Pepperell with her Aunt Nutting,** her mother's
* A letter from Z. Jamison, of Cambridge, Jan. 31, 1837, to Dr. Martin Dunster, says: "Mr. 'Rundlett' married Hannah Dickson. He was a carpenter, and lived in Pleasant street, Bos- ton." The same letter says: "Mrs. Hammond lives also in Boston (or did lately), and kept a milliner's shop in Washington street." The letter also says : "A near neighbor of mine, a Mrs. Sawin, is a descendant of President Dunster, and lives in the house of Mrs. Monroe (Cambridge)." We have no knowledge of this Mrs. Sawin. [S. D.]
**The Nuttings were among the early settlers of Groton, which originally contained Pepperell and other towns. In the papers of Rev. I. Dunster is an "Indenture of an Apprentice," filled out,
INDENTURE OF AN APPRENTICE. 57
9
sister, who, having considerable property and no chil- dren, welcomed those of lier niece. She was for many years a member of the Orthodox Chnrch, and a devoted Christian woman, beloved by all who knew her. She- died in Pepperell, of heart disease, Sept., 1848, leaving seven children:
(i) Sarah' Shedd, unmarried, (ii) Martha' Dickson Shedd, married Orris T. Chapiu, and had:
(1) Thomas^ Eundle Chapin.
(2) Augustine® C. Chapin.
(iii) John' Shedd, m. Ruth Elliot, and had three
children: (1) Mary® Eveline Shedd, who m.
Wilson. (2) Martha® Ann Shedd. (3) Unknown.
(iv) Sarah' Shkdd, died unmarried.
(v) Joshua' Shedd, mar. and has three children.
(vi) Mary' Eveline Shedd, mar. Leonard Snow, has one child.
(vii) William' Shedd, m. and has live children (?)
apparently, in his hand, and probabl}' left with liini for safe keep- ing. This child was made, by this documeut, a "servant," for whose secitriti/ and that of another class of unfortunates to their masters, the Constitution of the United States made special pro- vision. It is copied for the benefit of our young friends, with the hope that they will never experience what it is to be " bound out " :
"This Indenture Witnesseth That Nehemiah Nutting son of Nathaniel Nutting of Groton in ye County of Middlesex Husbandman of his own free Will and Accord and with the Consent of his Father doth put and bind himself to be an Apprentice unto William Nutting of Groton aforesaid Husbandman to learn the Art Trade or Mj-stery of an Husbandman and with him the said William Nutting after the Manner of an Aprintice to Dwell and Serve from the Day of the Date herof for and during the full & Just Term of Eleven Years next ensuing and fully to be compleat and ended. During all which said Term the said Aprentice, his said Master honestly and faithfully shall Serve — his secrets keep close — his lawful & rea- sonable Commands every where gladly Do and Perform — Dam- age to his said jNIaster he shall not wilfully do — his Masters Goods he shall not waste embezel purloine or lend unto others nor suffer the same to be wasted or purloined but to his power shall forthwith discover and make known the same unto his said
58 HENKY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
9
3. Patty ® Dickson ( Gilbert,^ Martha^ Dtinster,) was born Feb. 6, 1778. She was the only child at home when her father died. By arrangement with the other heirs she kept the house, in which she kept scholar boarders, and living alone, laid aside enough to carry her through life. About 1837 she sold her house, and lived with her different relations. Enfeebled by a severe sickness, she fell the entire length of a flight of stairs, fracturing her hip, and died in Cambridge, Aug. 6, 1808, aged 90 years and 6 months. She was buried at Mount Auburn. " One of her most cherished possessions was the Bible of Henry Dunster, which she rarely permitted to be moved from her chamber. It was left to the writer (H. D. B.), on condition that he should be named
Master. Taverns or Ale houses he shall not frequent At Cards, Dice or any other unlawful Game he shall not play. Fornication he shall not commit nor Matrimony contract with any person dur- ing the said Term. From his Masters Service he shall not at any Time unlawfully absent himself but in all Things as a good, hon- est and faithful Servant and Apprentice shall bear and behave himself towards his said Master during the full Term of Eleven Years commencing as aforesaid.
And the said William Nutting for himself his heirs &c Doth Covenant Promise Grant and Agree unto and Avith the said Ap- prentice in Manner & Form following THAT IS TO SAY, That he will teach said Apprentice or cause him to be Taught by the best Ways and Means that he may or can the Trade Art or Mys- tery of a Husbandman &c »& to Read ye English Bible & to write a Legible hand (if the said Apprentice be capable to learn) and will Find and Provide for and unto the said Apprentice good and sufficient Cloathing, Meat Drink Washing & Lodging both In Sickness and In Health, fitting for an Apprentice during said Term and at the End of said Term to dismiss said Apprentice with two Suits of apparrill for all parts of his body one of which to be suitable for Lord's Day and other such occasions & to pay said Apprintice Twenty pounds equill to twenty pounds Old Tenor of this day [$8.88]. In Testirnony Whereof The said Par- ties to these presents Indentures have interchangeablj' set their Hands and Seals the twenty sixth Day of November in the Eighteenth year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord George ye Second by the Grace of GOD King of Great Britain France and Ireland and in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hun- dred and Forty Four.
Witness William Nutting [L. S.]
Jacob Nutting. John Shepley Junr."
THE DICKSON FAMILY. 69
9
Henry Dunster, with the hope that he would become a Baptist minister, which hope she was permitted to in- dulge to the last."
4. John® H. Dickson (Gilbert,^ Martha* Dunster,) Avas born 1781. "He was a cabinet maker, (learned his trade in Maine.) He there became engaged to a young lady; but going to New York city on business, was taken sick with yellow fever, and died Sept. 30, 1805."
5. Polly® Dickson lived with her Aunt Nutting (on her mother's side) when her sister Sally ^ was mar- ried. She married Simon Hosley, by whom she had one child: (i) Simon'' Hosley. He died young. She removed to Boston, and there married Dr. John Ham- mond, a widower, of Philadelphia. Dr. Hammond practiced in Watertown, Mass., about three years, and then moved to Watertown, N. Y., where he died, leav- ing four children: (1) Charles,^ died in infancy. (2) Charles^ E. D. (3) Thomas' Bundle. (4) C. M.' Hammond, a daughter, who married Luther Sanderson.
6. Ltdia® Varnum Dickson was born Sept., 1789. " She devoted her life to charitable purposes, visiting the poor and needy wherever she could find them. Rigidly Orthodox in her religious belief she never united with a church, looking in vain forone w^hose spirituality rendered a connection desirable." She died unmarried, at Charlestown, July 30, 1868.
7. Gilbert® Dickson, died in early childhood.
8. Abigail® Dickson, born Sept., 1793. At the age of fourteen or fifteen she went to live with her Aunt Nutting. She was a favorite with her uncle and aunt. She there married her second cousin, Walter Fiske, grand-son of Daniel Fiske and Elizabeth Yarnum, and the son of Walter and Phebe (Abbott) Fiske. Mr. and Mrs. Nutting settled their home in Pepperell on this young couple, on condition that they should be cared for by them until death, which was rigidly complied with. Both died in their old homestead. On this homestead, the six children of Walter and Abigail®' (Dickson) Fiske were born. The family was an un- usually happy one. But adversity came, and Mr. Fiske
60 HENRY DUKSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
9
was obliged to sell the old place in 1837. They moved to Cambridge, keeping boarders about a year. Thence to Weld, Maine, taking two of their children, Sarah and Henry, Avith them. They lived on a farm about three years, then moved to Dedham, Mass. While living there, Mrs. Fiske came to Newton to visit her daughter, Mary Ann' Billings, where she died, Aug. 'Z4:, 1846. Was buried at Afount Auburn.
The six children of Walter and Abigail" (Dickson) Fiske are:
(i) Mary Ann'' Fiske, born June 6, 1813. When about eleven years old she went to live with her Aunt Hammond, in Boston. Here she married John Edgar Billings, born in Boston, July 10, 1810. They removed to Newton, Mass., about 1844. Here Mr. Billings died, after a long sickness, Feb. 18, 1857, was buried at Mount Auburn. His was the only death which has occurred in the family. Mrs. Billings is in perfect health, her sister (Hannah' Maria) and tAVO younger children living with her, and the other tliree in the im- mediate vicinity. These five children are:
i. Charles* Edgar Billings, {Marij Anji' Fiske, Walter,^ Gilbert^ Dickson, Martha^ Dunster,) born in Boston, Nov. 12, 1834, entered the employ of Brewer, Stevens & Cushing, druggists, in Boston, when he Avas fifteen, and continued with them and their successors until 1860. He then entered the firm of J. R. Nichols & Co., manufacturing chemists. Soon after the great fire. Dr. Nichols retired, and he formed a new firm, Bil- lings, Clapp & Co. He was superintendent of Dr. Well- man's Sabbath School, in Newton, for three years, but in consequence of an attack of nervous prostration in May, 1873, he resigned this position, and retired from active business, though his name and interest continue in the firm. He spent about a year travcHng in Europe for his health. Since his return, 1874, he has been rest- ing at his home. He has for several years been a director of the Newton National Bank. He married Aug. 7, 1861, Mary Murdock, of Newton. They have three children:
THE BILLINGS FAMILY. 61
9
(i) Mary' Nichols Billings, bora in Newton, June 4, 1868.
(ii) Edgar' Frances Billings, born in Newton, May 4, 1871.
(iii) George' Bacon Billings, born in Newton, June 7, 1872.
ii. Edward^ Ttckerman Billings, (JoIdi Edgar'^ Fiske^ Dickson,^ J/artJia* Dtinsfer,) the second child of John Edgar and Mary Ann Billings, was born in Boston, Dec. 17, 1838. entered the employ of Brewer, Stevens- & Gushing, of Boston, when fifteen years old. Upon the failure of their successors, 1860, he established him- self at Newton in the apothecary business, which he still conducts. He married Sept. 1, 1870, Abbie Holland Ewings, of Tow^nshend, Vermont, and has one child:
(i) Edward' Abbot Billings, born June 7, 1871.
iii. Ellen® Fiske Billings, the third child of John Edgar and Mary Ann Billings, born at Boston, May 24, 1843. She was married May 19, 1868, to James Albert Sullivan, an apothecary, in Watertown, Mass., where they now reside. They have one child:
(i) Harriet' Billings Sullivan, b. Nov. 23, 1873.
iv. Emily® Leavett Billings, b. at Newton, Mass., Sept. 17, 1845, completed her education at the Newton High School, and is now living at her mother's.
v. Henry® Dunster Billings, {Jolm E? Fishe^ Dickson,^ Martha^ Dunster,) born at Newton, July 16, 1849, attended the Newton High School for three years, then spent six months at the Lawa-ence Scientific School at Gambridge. Entered the employ of James R. Nichols & Go. July 9, 1866, and has remained with them and their successors until the present time. He owns the English Bible of Henry Dunster.*
* This Bible is ia old English letters, having references in Roman. It has the Litany of Charles I. and Sternhold and Hop- kins' version of the Psalms as far as LXVIII. , the rest gone. On a blank leaf dark with age, and written in a bold, clear hand, is a record of the children of Henry ^Dunster, from which I have been enabled to add to the record in Dr. Chaplin's Life of Henry Dunster, pp. 238-9, three children, who died in infancy, also
62 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
9
(ii) Benjamin' Nutting Fiske {Walter,^ Gilbert^ Dickson,) was born in Pepperell, Feb. 29, 1815. He lived at Pepperell till 1837, and then went to Boston, Here he married July 1, 1846, Eliza Pierce Warren, of that city, and moved to Medway, Maine, wliere he has since resided. They have three children, all living with or near them. No death has occurred in this family.
(1) Emily ^ Dickson Fiske, b. at Medway, Me., m. Charles Moore, and has three children: (1) Rachel® Emily. (2) Annie.® (3) Bertha® Moore.
(2) Theodore^ Varnum Fiske, b. at Medway, Me., married Augusta Hathaway, and has two children.
(3) Henry ^ Dunster Fiske, is unmarried.
(iii) Sarah'' Nutting Fiske, born March 31, 1817. After the return of her parents from Weld, Maine, she lived with her Aunt Hannah Rundle and her sister Mary Ann (Billings) until her marriage, at Boston, May 4, 1843, to Isaac Pierce Blood, born at Hollis, N. H., Feb. 17, 1803. She lived at HolKs until her death, of heart disease, April 21, 1865, aged 48 years and 20 days.
They had five children:
(1) Harriet® Maria Blood, born in Hollis, July 17, 1844.
(2) George® Henry Blood, born Jan. 7, 1848.
(3) Mary® Ann Blood, born June 20, 1851.
(4) Abbie® Louisa Blood, born July 7, 1853.
(5) Charles® Walter Blood, born July 13, 1857.
"Cousin Hattie," to whom I am indebted for the above dates, says: "There is nothing particular to say about us." I will, however, add (says H. D. B.) that
other matter. This record is undoubtedly correct. It is believed to be by Rev. S. Cooke. The binding has been repaired and in- dorsed, "Holy Bible, 1634, H. Dunster." The imprint is: London. Printed by Robert Barker, Printer to the King's most excellent Magistie, and by the Assigns of John Bill, 1684, (old Testament) 1636, (new Testament.) The title page is surrounded by the banners of the twelve tribes of Israel and of the Apostles. On one page is written, " Mary Jonson, hur booke." It is a most valuable antiquity, and from its association a relic of rare merit.
S. D.
THE FISKE FAMILY. 63
9
the girls have been well educated; Mary graduating at the State Normal School in Framingham, and taking an advanced course. George married, in Brookline, N. H,, Harriet Augusta Hills, of Hollis, April 8, 1875. Charles learned the apothecary business at J. A. Sullivan's, in Watertown, but is now at home.
(iv) Achsah/ daughter of Walter and Abigail (Dick- son) Fiske, born in Pepperell, Feb. 8, 1819, after her removal from Pepperell, lived with her sister Mary Ann Billings until her marriage, in Portland street, Boston, July 4, 1839, to Charles Bell Merrill, a dry goods merchant, of Boston, She had two children: (1) Charles* Henry. (2) Achsah* Maria. She died at Boston, Aug. 23, 1842, when her daughter was but a week old. She was 23 years of age. Mrs. Merrill Avas buried in Mount Auburn, but was afterwards re- interred and laid by the side of her husband, in Chelsea. Their children were:
(1) Charles* Henry Fiske. He served in the war, was wounded in battle, and died in Washington Hospital, July, 1864. He was unmarried.
(2) Achsah* Maria Fiske, mar. her second cousin, Jabez Merrill, has two children living: (1) Grace^ Merrill, died in infancy. (2) Edith.* (3) .
The husband of Achsah^ (Fiske) Merrill married a second wife, by whom he had two children, one dying in infancy, the other when about four years old.
(v) Hannah^ Maria Fiske, born May 5, 1822, in Pepperell, lived there till seven years of age. She then lived with her Aunt Hannah Rundle for four years. Since her mother's removal from Pepperell, she has lived with her sister Mary Ann Billings [in Xewton]. "To her retentive memory and her sister's (says H. D. B.), this record of their family history is due."
(vi) Henry '' Walter Fiske, b. in Pepperell, June 18, 1827, lived with his father until he was sixteen, when he moved to Medway, Me., where he married Feb. 15, 1852, Harriet Waite,' by whom he had: (i) Abigail* DicKSOif Fiske. (ii) Harriet' Ellen. After his 7
64 HENRY DUNSTER AXD HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
wife's death, he married at Dexter, Me., Sarah EHzabetli Green, of that place, Dec. 31, 18C3. He moved to Can- ada, and lived there until 1867, when he moved to Cam- bridgeport, Vt., and soon after to Mattewamkeag, Me., where he has since lived. He has had: (iii) Laura* (?) died in infancy. (iv) Charles* Edgar, by his second wife.
10. ii. Ma-ry* DuiiiQT^Yi, {Ben7-p,^ Jonathan,'^ Hen- ry,^) the second child of Henry and Martha (Eussell) Dnnster, was Ijorn in Cambridge July 8, bap. at First Church July 13, 1712. She was admitted to full com- munion March 9, 1730-31. She married Amos Marrett, of Cambridge, Sept. 21, 1732. He was born Sept. 5, 1703, and was the nefliew (not the son, as stated in Life H. D., p. 239,) of Lieut. Amos Marrett, who married Widow Kuth Eaton (Dunster).
A manuscript, entitled, "A Brief Account or Gen- ealogy of the Marrets Taken 1773," is in possession of Samuel Sewell, Esq., a descendant of Mary* Dunster. It has been the subject of some criticism by the Willard Memoir. It has never been published, and we copy it entire, as well as its accompanying paper, " A Brief Account of the Families of Dunsters, A. D. 1764." This was the next year after the author of both papers (John Marrett) graduated at Harvard College. Both papers were evidently made up from tradition, as the language shows, and some of the errors in it, which are pointed out by Mr. Willard, p. 339, also occur in the family Bible of Eev. Isaiah Dunster, which have been referred to, and it is believed corrected. The " Bale- hoult " Letter, which was probably in his possession at the time his nephew, J. Marrett, made this account, and the public records of their own town, were evidently not consulted. They would have corrected some of these statements.
A SCHEME OF THE DUNSTERS.
"A Scheme of the Families of the Dunsters — From whom descended my Mother, Mary Marrett."
1st. " Henry Dunster favoured with a liberal Educa- tion lived in Old England as it appears by a Letter of
A SCHEME OF THE DUNSTERS. 65
10
his (Dated Balehoiilt March 20 1640) to his son Henry in N. England at which time it seems he was an aged Man living at y^ above ment'ed Place, he had then living four sons and two daughters which see in y" Scheme."
(1) Henry— (2) Henry, Thos, Rich'd, Robt, Faith, Dorothy.
(3) Henry, Jonathan, Elizabeth.
(4) Henry, Jonathan, Thomas, David, Elizabeth, Dorothy.
(5) Isaiah, Jason, Martha, Mary, Henry, Abigail.
" Henry Avas sent for to N. England to take y" Charge of the College at Cambridge upon him as accordingly he did, and was the 1st President of Harvard Colledge which post he Sustained for a Xumber of years till in- clining to y^ Anabaptist Persuasion he left y^ College and after y* was ordained at Scituate where he finished his Days."
2d. Thomas, Richard & Robert never came over to N England Their Posterity if they had any Remain on y^ other Side of y^ Atlantick Faith and Dorothy Came over to N. England after their Brother Henry — Faith married Rice of Sudbury by whom she hath left much.
Issue Dorothy married to Willard of by
whom she hath left issue
3d. Henry died without Issue a Lawyer in Old Eng- land Jonathan lived in Cambridge a farmer, had six children v. Scheme
Elizabeth married Wade of Medford & then Col.° Thomas of Marshfield But left no Issue
4th. Henry lived in Cambridge a farmer had six children v. Scheme
Jonathan & Thomas died at Charlestown without Issue David's Issue are at Westminster or Xo 2
Elizabeth married to Philip Carteret by Wm. she hath Issue Dorothy married Solomon Page of Easthampton and hath Issue
Isaiah (favored with a Liberal Education) is now an Ordained Minister at Harwich on Cape Cod & hath One Daughter
5th. Henry a Farmer lived at Camb. died without
GG HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
Issue Jason lives at Camb. a Farmer hath much Issue [In a later hand]—'' Died Jan. 1805 JE 80,"
Martha married Edw. Dickson of Camb. hath Issue
Mary married Amos Marrett of Camb. by whom she had three sons & three daughters two sons & one daugh- ter now living " Mary died June 29 1795 jE 83 " [Writ- ten in a later hand.]
Abigail married to James Cutler of Camb. and hath Issue
"March 2 1766 she died at Newton & buried at Lex- ington 4'"" [In a later hand.]
GENEALOGY OF THE MARRETT FAMILY.
"A Brief Account or Genealogy of the Family of the Marretts Taken Anno 1773
Marrett is a French name There are now of that name in France Called French Protestants Family probably sprung from Normandy
But it matters but little from What Country yy origi- nated if yy are but honest & good Men.
SCHEME TO JOHN MARRETT.
1st Thomas Marrett
2d John
3d Edward, Amos, Thomas, John, Hannah, Susan- nah, Abigail, Lydia, Mary.
4th Amos, Amos, John, Edward, Hannah, Susan- nah, Abigail, Mary.
5th Amos, Amos, John, Abigail, Ruth, Mary.
1. Thomas Marrett is supposed to have come over to N England Anno. 1635 about the time y' Rev. Mr. Shepherd & Company came and settled in Cambridge who succeeded the Rev. Mr Hooker & Company in Cam- bridge by purchase of their Estate (wn they removed to Hartford in Connecticut) " Rev Mr Hooker & Co re- moved June 1636" [In a later hand.] There are records in Cambridge Town Book of y^ said Thomas having pur- chased of the town Anno. 1639. But he lived in town before y' date.
2. John came from England with his father and set- tled in Cambridge. Succeded his father in his inheri-
GEXEALO(iY OF THE MARKETT FAMILY. 07
10
tance — liis name is several times mentioned in Camb, Town Book for buying & Selling- Lands he appears to have been a farmer ;ind of what other occupation I can- not find out — he married ^Liss Abigail Eddes but whether he married her before he came over or after I cannot tell.
3. Edward lived in Cambridge about half a mile from the College on the Water'town ro.id He was a Glazier and Tanner He died Anno 1754 April 11 he married Hannah Bradish of Cambridge. They both died in one week (she on the 9th) and were both buried at one time in the same grave — both attended meeting the preceding Sabbath. "He was 84 & she 85 years of age — left much Issue See Scheme
Amos was a farmer in Caml^ridge and a Lieutenant in y^ foot Company in Cambridge he married Bethiah Langhorn of Cambridge for his first wife and Mrs. Ruth Hays* a widow of Reading for his second wife — he had no "children but made his nephew Amos Marrett his heir he died 1739, aged 81 years
Thomas never Married — was killed in Sudbury fight April 20 1675 with the Indians
John never married he died att Sea
Hannah married Samuel Hastings of Cambridge wht Issue she left or whether any I cannot tell
Susannah married Amsdel of Camb. a glazier
Abigail married Rice of Sudbury
Lydia died young- Mary married Joseph Hovey of Cambridge by whom she left Issue and afterwards she married 'Z^ Husband jSTath. Parker of Xewton
4. Amos the 1st died when about 3 years old Amos the 2nd lived in Cambridge possessed Lieut.
Amos Marrett estate He was a glazier and farmer by occupation Married Mary Dunster of Cambridge by whom he had six children. See Scheme. He died 1747 in the month of November aged 40 years
John died of Small Pox in Boston when about 18 years old
*■ See ante " Jonathan Dunstei:" [S. D.l *7
68 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
Edward lives in Ciimbridge a Taylor by trade or a Merchant Tailor. He was made Capt. of the foot Com- pany in Cambridge. Afterwards the company was divi- ded and on a special Occasion had an independent Cap- tain's commission over both Companies. Soon afterwards laid down his commission. He married for 1st wife Mary Wyatt of Boston by whom he had 5 children but one now living viz Thomas. Capt, Edward Marrett died Sept. 13 1780 aged 67.
[Memo, in a later handj — Capt Edward Marretts 1^' Avife died Dec 1787. His 2° wife was Susannah Foster a widow of Boston now living. Deacon Thomas Marrett died at Cambridge June 23 1784 ^E 43 years
Hannah married to Joseph Lawrence of Cambridge, Gunsmith, (afterwards removed into Connecticut Col- ony) by whom she hath Issue
Susannah married to John Pierce of Boston a carpen- ter, afterwards he removed to Stowe where he purchased a good farm. He hath been dead some years and his widow is again married to Samuel Witt of Marlboro, a farmer, & for a great number of years a representative to the General Court for y' town She and her 2° liusbaud both living She never luid any children [Mrs. Wit died Dec, 1794, aged 90 years.]
Abigail married Judali Monis of Cambridge Hebrew Processor at Harvard College. They are both dead and died without Issue
Mary married John Martyn of Boston afterwards a settled minister at Norchboro, in the county of Worces- ter by whom she hath much issue He is dead. She lives yet at Northboro [In a later handj — " She is dead."
5. Amos y^ first died in infancy.
Amos y^ 2*^ lived at Cambridge about a mile from the College married Abigail Tidd of of Lexington afterwards sold att Cambridge to one Capt liuggles & bot att Lex- ington where he now lives he hath four cliildren viz Amos, Daniel, Abigail and Ruth (& since John, Thomas & Betsey) John favored with a Liberal Education was Gi'aduated at Harvard College Anno 1703 is a Preaclier But unsettled in the ministry as yet He lives at Xewton has his home at Mr. John Pidgeons [In a later hand] —
THE MARRETT TAMILY. 60
10
'•' 1774 Dec 21 Jolm was ordained Pastor of the 2'^ Parish in Woburn."
Abigail died in infancy. Ruth never was married. She died at Newton May 2 176G and was buried att Lex- ington aged 31 years Mary died att Cambridge in the tifteeuth year of her age Anno 1754 of a consumption
Acct. taken June 1 1773 Thomas Marrett who is favoured with a Liberal edu- cation and was graduated at Harvard College 1761 now lives at Cape Ann a trader and is Deacon of the 3'''^ Church in Glocester
X. B. There are but six of y" name of Marrett in the male line of the aforesaid family now living in these parts viz Capt Edward Marrett of Cambridge and his son Thomas of Cape Ann and Amos Marrett of Lexington and his two sons & his brother John four females of y^ name viz Capt Marrett wife Amos Marretts wife & their two daughters.
June 1 1773." [End of MS. S. D.]
This list is not made out in the order of birth, but like official papers of that day, the males are named first, and after them the females, according to age. The ac- count is generally correct, and far more reliable than the " Scheme " of the Dunsters. The children of Amos and Mary* (Dunster) Marrett are rearranged to corres- pond with the plan adopted in other families, and such further notice of them made as is necessary and attain- able.
Amos Marrett, husband of Mary* Dunster, died in Cambridge, Nov., 1747, aged 46 years, leaving her a widow with four children, the eldest 12, and youngest 6 years old. These she cared for with great ability, giv- ing her youngest, John,^ a college education. In a few years, both her daughters died, her oldest son was mar- ried, and her youngest unsettled in the ministry. It is not strange that she was melancholy and dejected. She avoided association with others, prefering the then soli- tary habitation of her brother, who had just settled on the borders of the Avilderncss, to the more social comforts to be had in the neighborhood of her birth, still she was
TO HEJSrilY DUNSTER AXD HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
not forgotten by her sons, as letters show. She lived a widow almost half a century; and the traditions of •'Aunt Mary" are still fresh in memory. She died at her brother's, Jason Dunster, in Mason, ]^. H., June 29, 1795, aged 83 years, and was the first, we think, to occupy the Dunster group in the cemetery at Mason Centre. For near eighty years her grave was unmarked, when a plain stone was erected at it with this inscription:
•'Mary Dunster, widow of Amos Marrett, born at Cambridge July 8, 1712. Died at Mason June 29, 1795, aged S3 years. Ex dono S. Dunster, 1873."
The six children of Amos and Mary (Dunster) Mar- rett were:
i. Amos^ Marrett, b. , died in infancy.
ii. Abigail^ Marrett, b. Aug. 25, 1733, died young.
iii. RuTH^ Marrett, b. April 30, 1735. She died in Newton, May 2, 1766, and was buried at Lexington on the 4th. Unmarried.
iv. Amos^ Marrett, b. Feb. 4, 1738, mar. Abigail Tidd, of Lexington.
V. Mary^ Marrett, born Aug. 20, 1740, died 1754, aged 14.
vi. JoHN^ Marrett, born Sept. 10, 1741, (H. C, 1763,) married Martha Jones.
iv. Amos^ Marrett, born Feb. 4, 1738, mar. Dec. 14, 1760, Abigail Tidd, born Jan. 12, 1738, daughter of Daniel and Hepzibah (Reed) Tidd. He married as of Cambridge, where he probably resided some five or six years after his marriage, when he moved to Lexington. They were admitted to the Lexington Church Sept. 15, 1771, from the First Church in Cambridge. He died March 24, (28th, /. M. Diary,) 1805, aged 66. He was a soldier in Capt. Parker's company in 1775, and was in the Jerseys three months the year following. He was selectman for Lexington, 1785-86-89 and 91. {Hist. Lex. Gen., ]3. 130.) Li July, 1776, he and his tAvo sons and eighteen others were innoculated for small-pox at his own house. {Rev. J. MarreWs J)iary.)
His children by Abigail Tidd were:
THE MARIIETT FAMILY. • 71
10
1. Amos,*^ born in Cambridge, Oct. 4, 1703, married Nov. 28, 1780, Patty Eeed.
2. Abigail,^ born in Cambridge, June 4, 17G5, mar. Oct. 6, 1788, Jonathan Smith.
3. Daniel,® born in Cambridge, July 18, 17G7, mar. July 24, 1796, Mary Muzzy.
4. RUTH,« born Nov. 12, 1768, died 1775, buried Oct. 13. {Rev. John Marrett's Diary.)
5. Betsey,® bap. Nov. 28, 1773, died Nov. 3, buried ■7th, 1797, aged 24.
6. John,® baptized July 9, 1775, died Dec. 17, 1797, aged 22^.
7. Thomas,® baptized July 20, 1777, died July 6, 1798, a student of Harvard College.
1. Amos® Marrett, b. in Cambridge, Oct. 4, 1763, mar. Nov. or Dec. 28, 1786, Patty Reed, born Dec. 5, 1765, daughter of Hammon and Betty (Simonds) Reed. He was in the battle at Lexington, April 19, 1775. He died Nov. 10, 1824, aged 61. She died Oct. 16, 1849, aged 85. They had nine children :
(1) Patty,' born Sept. 9, 1787, mar. Jonas Cutler.
(2) Sally,' born Oct. 1, 1789, mar. June 15, 1823, Benjamin Locke, Jr.
(3) Hannah,' born Dec. 24, 1792.
(4) Nabby,' b. Aug. 18, 1795, d. Apr. 6, 1854, unm.
(5) Betsey,' born July 4, 1798, mar. April 30, 1826, Amos Towne.
(6) Mary,' born March 18, 1801, m. April 1, 1827, Joel Adams.
(7) John,' born Oct. 17, 1803, died 1858, unmarried.
(8) Emily,' born Dec. 26, 1806, mar. King George, Nov. 17, 1830. (This was not the King George of whom it was said if he had not been a King he would have made an excellent tailor.)
(9) Harriet,' born Sept. 13, 1809, mar. April 22, 1842, Ivory Sanborn. They have had several children. Of the families of these nine children we have no further record in Hist. Lexington, but they are noticed further on.
2. AbiOtAIL® Marrett, daughter of Amos and Abi- gail (Tidd) Marrett, was born in Cambridge, June 4,
72 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
1765, married Oct. 6, 1788, Jonathan Smith, his second wife. She died at Lexington, March 30, 1794, was buried April 5. She had one child:
(i) Harriet^ Smith, born Jan. 6, 1791, married Jan. 1, 1823, Imla Parker, born Sept. 4, 1791. He was the son of Imla and Hannah (Ames) Parker, of Groton, and died March 20, 183G? aged 44 years. Their only child, named Abigail® Marrett Parker, after her great grandmother, was born Aug. 20, 1824, not 1827, as her mother's Bible has it — {ivroiig, said Mrs. P.) She was a school teacher in the primary school, Lane Place, Fort Hill, Boston, for fifteen years. She died in Bos- ton, Ang. 11, 1863, aged 39 years, unmarried. She was placed in the Parker family tomb, in Groton, Mass.
In 1873 Mrs. Imla Parker was visited at her residence, No. 2015 Washington street, Boston Highlands. She was found an amiable and benignant lady, who, though 82 years old, had a wonderful memory, and stated many facts of her relatives, which, it is believed, exist in no record, and hardly in any memory but hers. Among her few papers she had kept a Eulogy on her mother's death, which she permitted to be copied:
"Died in Lexington, on 30th of March, 1794, Abigail Marret, wife of Jonathan Smith, aged 29 years. Being of a placid and even temper she was ever easy and con- tent. Delighted with industry she was always busily employed. Fond of peace she gave no provocation. Averse to contention she received in silence the provo- cation of others. Kind and tender she worthily sus- tained the relations of a wife and parent. Amiable in disposition she was beloved by all her acquaintance. Patient under affliction she uttered not a complaint, or expressed the least discomposure of spirits during the course of a lingering, and the latter part of the time a very painful disease; and pious in life, her death was in the greatest composure of mind, and 'tis presumed, glorious and happy."
From her lips we learned that besides
(i) Harriet^ — Abigail (Marret) Smith had:
THE MARRETT FAMILY. 73
10
(ii) Cyrus,' ) Twins, born Oct. 20, 1792, (not
(iii) Augustus/ j" Dec. 20, as in Hist. Lex., p. 225.)
(ii) Cyrus' Smith, born Oct. 20, 1792, mar. May,
1825, Mary Porter, daughter of Noah and Mary (Miller)
Porter, of Boston, Avhere they had two children:
(1) Cyrus* Augustus Smith, born July, 1826. He went to sea when about fifteen years old, which business he continued till about 1868; was mate part of the time. He now, says Mrs. P., lives with his step-mother, at Marlborough, in feeble health, and unmarried.
(2) Thomas® Jeffersox Smith, born at Boston, about 1829, Avas educated for a physician; went into the army as a soldier; was under Gen. Butler; was wounded in the battle at , and died (probably) in hos- pital. He was unmarried.
(iii) Augustus' Smith, the other twin, born Oct. 20, 1792, was found drowned in a watering trough, in Lexington, in the year 1839. He was not married.
Mrs. Parker gave other information of the children of Amos® and Patty (Reed) Marrett, which we add to the list as numbered above.
P. S. Mrs. Imla Parker died at her home, April 15, 1876, aged 85 years, 3 months and 18 days. (?) She was entombed at Gfroton, beside her husband and daughter, She lived a widow forty years.
(1) Patty' Marrett, born at Lexington, Sept. 9, 1787, mar. 1811, Jonas Cutler, son of Thomas Cutler, of Lexington, born March 3, 1782. They bought a farm in Westminster, Mass., where he died Jan.' 29, 1830, aged 48. She died Xov. 20, 1852.
They had three children:
(1) JoxAS® Cutler, born at Lexington, Xov. 15, 1811, mar. at Leominster, April 30, 1855, Martha M. Hager, daughter of Elijah Hager. They live on the old place bought by his father. Have no children.
(2) Amos® Marrett Cutler, born at Westminster, July 13, 1816, mar.-«t Fitchburg, Mary Barnes, of West- minster. Reside at Westminster. Keeps a livery stable. Have two children:
74 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
(i) Abbt' Maria Cutler, married Marcus Miller, (ii) Mart^ Ardelia, married George Brooks.
(3) Martha® Cutler, born at Westminster, Feb. 28, 1814, mar. at Fitchburg, Jan. 10, 1854, Sanford Sawyer, son of Amos Sawyer. Is a carriage maker. Have had three children:
(i) Emily ^ Sawyer, died young, (ii) Oliver^ Sawyer, d. young, (iii) Frank ^ Marrett Sawyer.
(2) Sally ^ Marrett, married Benjamin Locke, Jr., June 15, 1823. Had three children:
(i) Elizabeth^ Locke, born Feb., 1824, married Jeduthan Richardson, of Woburu, now living in East Boston, and has three children, all living.
(ii) Benjamin* Franklin Locke, born 1826? mar. Eliza Hill, of Arlington, have, one daughter, Louisa® Locke, lives in Arlington.
(iii) Albert* Locke, born 1828? mar. about 1869, Mina Hill, sister to his brother B. Franklin Locke's wife. He (Albert*) went to South America. Mrs. P. being asked to what part, could not remember, but said, ''where the earthquakes are."
(3) Hannah' Marrett, born Dec. 24, 1792, died in Lexington, 1823? twenty-five years old, unmarried.
(4) Abigail' (Xabby), born Aug. 18, 1795, died April 6, 1854, unmarried.
(5) Betsey,' mar. Amos Towne, of Woburn, April 30, 1826. Two children:
(i) Elizabeth * Towne, mar. a Bruce, and lives at Fitchburg, a carpenter, and has three children,
(ii) Harriet* Towne, born , married Thomas
Simonds, who is in the shoe business at Reading. Have three children, Alice,' , .
(6) Mary,' born March 18, 1801, mar. Joel Adams, of Shirley, Mass. Have three children, John,* Mary Ann,* and Albert* Adams.
(7) John,' born Oct. 17, 1803, died 1858, unmarried.
(8) Emily,' born Dec. 26, 1806, mar. King George, of Sanbornton, X. H., and has two children:
THE MARRETT FAMILY. 75
10
(i) Elias® George, (ii) Martha* George, mar. Baxter, and lives at Lakeville.
[Tliere was a Mr. George, Methodist minister, preach- ed at Springvale, Me., in 1836.]
(9) Harriet,' born Sept. 13, 1809, mar. Ivory San- born. Have had six children:
(i) Louisa,* born , died young.
(ii) George* Sanborn, mar. Ada , of Waltham.
He is a watchmaker at Waltham.
Siv] Lyman * b — [ ^°^^^ ^"^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ °^ dysentery. (v) Ellen*' Mariah, ) rp • (vi) Emma* Malinda, f -^^"^^•
Ellen died when about 3 months old. Emma married Charles Swan, of Reading, about 1826. Have no children.
3. Daniel^ Marrett, {Amos,^ Amos and Mary^ D., Heni'ij,^ Jonathav,'^ Heiiry,^) the third child of Amos and Mary (Tidd) Marrett, was born in Cambridge, Julv 18, 1767, and married first, July 24, {Feb. 24, Hisf. Lex) 1796, Mary Muzzy, daughter of Wm. and Lydia (Reed) Muzzy, of Charlestown, born Jan. 2, bap. Jan. 7, 1770. He graduated at Harvard College, 1790, and was class- mate of Hon. Josiah Quincy and Gov. Crafts, of Ver- mont. From his class of forty-two there were five mem- bers of Congress and two judges. He studied theology with Dr. Stearns,, of Bedford, Mass., and was ordained pastor of the Congregational Church in Standish, Maine, Sept. 21, 1796, and continued to hold that relation for more than thirty- three years, resigning in Dec, 1829. In addition to his ministerial duties, he engaged in horti- culture extensively. He had a large orchard of the finest fruit in the State, and was the^ first to introduce grafted fruit; and owned the first covered carriage in that neigh- borhood. By Mary Muzzy he had six children:
i. Daniel' Marrett, born July 15, 1797, Saturday afternoon, at three o'clock. He married Jan. 26, 1825, Abigail March, daughter of Col. James March, of Gor-
76 HEXRY DUXSTER AND HIS DESCEXDAXTS.
10
ham. She died March 15, 1856. He was a merchant, resided in Portland, and died Dec. 3, 18T5. Both buried in Westbrook. Three children :
1. Edwin ^ Augustus Marrett, born March 12, 1826, mar. Mary Louisa Xelson, daughter of Samuel Nelson. He is a merchant in Portland. They are Uni- tarians. Have no children.
2. James ^ Sullivan Marrett, {Daniel,'^ Daniel,^ Amos,^ Amos and 3Iary^ D., Henry, ^ Jonathan,'^ Henry, ^) born May 30, 1827, married Sarah Jennie (?) Gorham, daughter of Hon. Jason Gorham, of Barre, Mass. Re- sides in Portland, is a merchant and carpet manufactu- rer. "Never held any political office." " Was council- man several years." " Did nothing towards the late war but to pay money." {Letter.) They have two children:
(i) Elizabeth^ March Marrett, b. Aug. 10, 1856. (ii) Charles^ Gorham Marrett, b. Eeb. 23, 1861.
3. Orlando® Melville Marrett, born May 19, 1829, married Dec. 4, 1851, Louisa Small, daughter of Francis Small, of Windham. He was a merchant ship chandler, and engaged in navigation. He w^as Orthodox (Congregational) in religion. Filled several offices of local importance; was President of the City Council. For many years President of the Mercantile Library Association, and Vice President of Board of Trade. He died Jan. 9', 1870. Had one child:
(i) James ^ E. Marrett, born April 7, 1854, now living in Portland.
ii. JoHN^ Marrett, b. Feb. 1, 1799, Friday morning, at 10 o'clock, died May 3, 1821, at Standish, Me. Unm.
iii. Amos' Marrett, born Nov. 27, 1800, Thursday afternoon, at 3 o'clock. Thanksgiving Day, mar. April 12, 1826, Mary S. Strothers, of Bridgeton, Me., .and- died a few weeks after at Bridgeton, Me. No children.
iv. Caroline' Marrett, born July 3, 1802. 12^ A. M., Saturday, d. Dec. 27, 1817, aged 15 y., 5 mo., 24 d.
V. William' Marrett, {Daniel,^ Amos,^ Mary^ Dun- ster,) born Sept. 5, 1804, Wednesday, at 2^ o'clock, P. M. He took his medical degree at Bowdoin College in
THE MARRETT FAMILY. 77
10
1830, and settled as a physician in Westbrook, Maine. He was for many years a deacon of the Congregational Church at Saccarappa Village. He married Adaline Irish, daughter of Gen. James Irish, of Gorham, Me., and died in 1860 at Westbrook. One child:
(i) Mary^ Muzzy Marrett, born Sept. 22, 1834, married Fabius M. Ray, a lawyer in Portland. He is Treasurer of a Savings Bank at Saccarappa. Resides in Westbrook. Has two children, Addie and Willie.
vi. Mary Axx^ Marrett, born Feb. 1, 1808, Mon- day, U P. M. She mar. June 2, 1833, Wan-en Duren, of Woburn, Mass. She died Oct. 4, 1839, aged 31 years, 0 months and 4 days, and was buried at Woburn. She left one child:
(i) Caroline® Augusta DuREJf, born Oct. 25, 1835, and died May 13, 1852, aged 17 years, unmarried.
Mr. Duren moved to Lexington, where he has been several times in town office. He married 2d Oct., 1848, Mary Chandler. He carries on the shoe business.
Mary (Muzzy) Marrett, first wife of Daniel® Mar- rett, died March 6, 1810, aged 40 y., 2 mo., 4 d., and was buried at Standish, leaving all her six children living.
Rev. Daxiel® Marrett, married second wife, Oct. 8, 1810, Dorcas Hastings, born at Lexington, June 27, 1785 or 6, daughter of Maj. Samuel and Lydia (Xelson) Hastings. Maj. Hastings was taken prisoner with Gen. Lee on Long Island. At the time of his capture a British officer wounded him with a sword in the neck, but his "queue" broke the force of the blow and saved his life. By her he had eight children more, making fourteen.
vii. Leaxder' (first child of Dorcas) Marrett, born Sept. 16, 1811, Monday, at 7 A. M., died July 13, 1814, aged 2 years and 4 months?
viii. LoREXzo ' Marrett {Daniel,^ Amos,^ Amos and JIary* Dunster, Henni,^ Jonathan,'^ Henry,'^) was born at Standish, March 18,' 1816, Monday, at b\ P. M. We graduated at Bowdoin College, Maine, Sept. 1838; was
78 HENEY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
tutor in Jackson College, Columbia, Tenn. ; studied law at Dane Law School, Harvard University, and with Nathan Dane Appleton, Alfred, Maine; was admitted to the bar in Cumberland Co., ]\[e., 1842; settled in Cam- bridge, 1843, Avhere he now resides. To him we are in- debted for most of the records of his father's (DanieP) family. He writes: "I think I am the only direct descendant in Cambridge of Thomas Marrett, who set- tled in Cambridge, 1630." He has some interesting relics of the Marrett family, among which is a copy of the " Spectator," having the autograph of all his ances- tors, from Thomas down. He married Eliza Anthony Winsor, of Pawtucket, E. I., Aug. 14, 1845. She died Feb. 25, 1876. No children.
ix. Isabella' Annette Marrett, born July 20, 1817, on Sunday, at 6 o'clock, died March 4, 1818, aged 7 months and 7 days.
X. Avery' Williams Marrett, born Jan. 19, 1819, on Tuesday, at 5 P. M., mar. Nov. 25, 1847, Elizabeth Bancroft Weston, daughter of Rev. James and Sarah (Chase) Weston, born Jan. 5, 1820, in Augusta, Me. He is a farmer, and lives on the old place. Seven chil- dren :
1. Helen® Mariah Marrett, born Jan. 20, 1849, graduated at Tilden Female Seminary, class 1869, West Lebanon, N. H., and is now preceptoress of Gorham Seminary, Maine. She is a member of the Orthodox Congregational Church in Standish.
2. Walter® Hastings Marrett, b. Oct. 28, 1850. He is a member of the senior class, 1876, Bowdoin Col- lege, and a member of the Congregational Church in Standish.
A GEADUATE'S BIG WALK.
Summit House, Mt. Washington, N. H., Aug. 25. — Mr. Marratt, graduate of Bowdoin College, who took a prize at Saratoga this summer, walked from the top of this mountain to Portland yesterday. The distance is 90 miles. — N. Y. Tribune.
The prize at Saratoga was a very handsomely engraved medal. He had previously taken a number of silver
THE MAR RETT FAMILY. 79
10
vases, cups and goblets at College field days. Always won them easily. The best time in walking he ever made was half a mile in 3 minutes, 27 seconds. " Have now given up -walking altogether, and am giving my whole attention to teaching" at Yarmouth, Me. One of his sisters is his assistant.
3. Mary* Elizabeth, born Feb. 21, 1852. ■i. Carrie® Louisa, born Dec. 26, 1855.
5. Hexry® Westox, born April 19, 1857.
6. Charles® Xelsox, born Feb. 4, 1860, died July 12, 1872, aged 12 vears, buried at Standish.
7. Faxxie® Sarah, born Oct. 10, 1865.
xi. Daxe' Appletox Marrett, ]^ T^-in- xii. Samuel" Hastix'gs Marrett, f *"
Dane Appleton, born at 3 o'clock, A. M,, and Samuel Hastings at noon, on Saturday, Jan. 12, 1822.
xi. Daxe^ Appletox Marrett, married EHza Ann Locke, of Lancaster, Mass., June 7, 1848, lives at Chel- sea, Mass. Three children:
1. Samuel® Hastixgs, b. Aug. 10, 1850, d. young.
2. Daxe® Appletox, born July 1, 1855.
3. Augustus,® born , 1858.
xii. Samuel'' Hastixgs married Francis A. Locke, of Lancaster, Mass., June 7, 1848.
Twin brothers married twin sisters at the same time.
Samuel" Hastings and Frances A. (Locke) Marrett had Frances® Hastings, born Aug. 27, 1849. She died an infant.
Samuel^ Hastings Marrett died May 22, 1850, aged 28 years, 4 months and 10 days.
xiii. Helex' Maria, born Julv 3, 1823, at 4 o'clock, P. M. She died March 15, 1846, 'aged 23 years, 7 mo., 22 days, unmarried, and was buried at Standish.
xiv. Fraxcis' Grexville Marrett, born Sept. 8, 1826, on Friday, at 6 o'clock, P. M. He was an organ builder, at Detroit, Michigan, died at Cambridge, Mass., unmarried, and was buried at Standish, Maine.
80 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
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Rev. Daniel*' Marrett died at Standish, Maine, April 14, 1836, aged 68 y., 8 mo., 26 d., and was buried there.
Dorcas (Hastings) Marrett, second wife of Kev. Dan- iel Marrett, was a member of the Congregational Church, and died Aug. 6, 1857, at Standish, aged 72 years, 1 month, 9 days, and was buried beside her husband and his first wife, Mary (Muzzy) Marrett.
vi. JoHN^ Marrett, {Amos and Mary^ {Dtmster), Henry,^ Jonathan,"^ Henry,^) was the sixth and youngest child of Amos and Mary* (Dunster) Marrett, and was born in Cambridge, Sept. 10, 1741, 0. S., Sept. 21, N. S. He was probably baptized in the First Church of Cam- bridge, of which his mother, before her marriage, was a member in full communion. His father died Nov., 1747, when he was six years old, and left his mother to watch over and educate her four children. What prop- erty was left for that purpose is not now apparent, but from the fact that her daughter, Ruth, died in Newton and was buried in Lexington, and that her youngest son often refers to Newton as a residence, it would seem that she parted with the home residence given her husband by his uncle, and lived in Newton, or elsewhere.
His education was not neglected. He entered Har- vard College 1759, when eighteen years old, and gradua- ted 1763, in the class with Timothy Pickering. Of his early religious experience no facts have reached us. After graduation he seems to have resided with his mother in Cambridge, and have had an oversight of the farm. He kept a Diary, which is now the property of his grand-son, Samuel Sewall, of Burlington, Mass. It commenced with the year 1767, and is, excepting 1768, which is missing, attached to the Almanac of each year.
We have been kindly permitted by Mr. Sewall to ex- amine it, and have copied a few items illustrating his life, and regret that our limits compel us to omit many very interesting ones.
He seems to have studied Divinity at Harvard, and was, in 1767, apparently, a member of the "Ministers' Meeting." These meetings were held at each minister's residence, alternately. The one for May of that year is
KEY. JOHN MARRETT'S DIARY, 81
10
entered " May 5 Ministers meeting to be here." He has also in the calender marked the Sabbaths on which the Sacrament was held.
The Diary for 17G9 is dated Cambridge. They all give notes of the weather, his jonrneys, places of preach- inof, his work on his farm in detail, and often the ex- penses, &c.
REV. JOHN MARRETT'S DIARY.
"Jany. 18 1769 Started on my Journey to Yar- mouth.'' Here he preached till April 11, when the church gave him a call to settle. This he declined, although given with unusual unanimity. After visiting his uncle, Rev. Isaiah Dunster, by whom he was proba- bly introduced to that people, he preached at Barnstable, then returned to Cambridge, and roomed at the College till Aug. 5, 1770, when he went to Mr. Pidgeons, at Xewton.
June 3 Witnessed transit of Venus
Sept 4 Saw the comet Its tail appears to be 20 rods long. 13th do. Its tail about 30 degrees
1770 March 8. Went to Boston Saw ye
largest Funeral perhaps that was ever in Boston 8 or 10 thousand present — four men buried in one grave who were shot by the Centry Guard of regulars on Monday night last. [The Boston massacre, of which he gives a graphic account.]
Oct: 8. Went to Cambridge in evening. Made an entertainment for the Gentlemen of the college and quitted living at the college. Gave up my chamber after possessing it 3 years & 4 mo.
Oct 12 Set out on a journey to see my mother
14 Preached at Mason, 20. back to Newton ' ' Can go no where else "
1771 July 12. About three nights agone a mad Dog- passed by here " It is about two years since mad Dogs came into this country " Preached at Stow 12 Sabbatlis.
1772 June 14 preached at xishby "a new place but good land. Settles fast." He preached here six Sab- baths.
82 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
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1773 March 31 Very warm the "Silver Tankard tilled with Cyder Sweated like Summer "
April 11 Left off my wigg & wear my hair.
Sept. 29. Very hot & dry. At Rhode Island they sell the water in the town for lis. 3 pence pr. bbl.
Oct 21 One Levi Ames executed at Boston for stealing 31 preached at Stow the last of my engagement 15 Sabbaths
Dec 16 "A meeting of ye town of Boston & ye neigh- boring towns about landing a Quantity of Tea In ye eveng about 300 Chests of Tea a Board ye Ships in ye harbor all flung over Board & Destroyed by ye pie. yy mett with no resistance "
1774 May 17 removed from Newton to Lexington to live with my Brother. I have lived at Mr Pidgeons three years & nine months
Sept 2 (P. S.) Abt 3000 of ye country pie assembled at Cambridge with fire Arms & Clubs yy obliged Col. Oliver Judges Danforth & Lee to resign y'' Counsellor ship & Mr Phipps not to act as Sheriff. [Mob law rampant in Massachusetts I]
29 The Church in Topsfield [where he had preached several Sabbaths J gave me a call. He declined this call also.
Oct 11 A provincial Congress at Concord began to day 12 rode from Lex. to Concord to see ye Congress
Nov 10 gave my answer to the call I received from "Woburn Precinct * * * j asked for wood — not granted as yet.
16 Messrs Zach' Could & Daniel Bixby lodged here last night & tarried to day. They came as a Comtte about Topsfield affairs
17. Capt Johnson and Dea Eeed of Woburn visited me & informed me that the 2""^ parish in Woburn had complied with terms for settling with them in the min- istry.
29. Eode to Woburn attended parish meeting Ordi- nation appointed to be 21 of Dec.
Dec 21 Last night and to day Exceedingly cold, fair. Themo. 6^ A. M. My Ordination at ye 2°^ Parish in Woburn. Went into meeting house a little before 12
REV. JOHN MARRETT'S DIARY. 83
10
clock came out half past two oclock P. M. Rev* Mess' Cusliing of Waltham began with prayer. Clark of Lex- ington preached from 1 Thess. 2-4. Sermon an hour and ton minutes long. A very good Sermon. Cook of Cambridge prayed and gave the Charge. Stone of Read- ing prayed after tbe Charge. Morril of Wilmington gave the Right Hand. Was sung 97 Hymn a stave and a half from the -4 verse — good singing Council Sui:)ped at Lieut. Walkers.
Thus he remained unsettled for eleven years after his graduation, and at least eight, probably more, after he began to preach. In this interim, certainly the last five years, he preached al most every Sabbath. ]\I ost of the time as a substitute for others. He preached in nearly every pulpit in and around Boston. His sermons, the manu- scripts of which are now in the possession of Mr. Sewall, at Burlington, are of the Calvinistic faith, yet liberal and free from bigotry. They are artistic in form, systematic in detail, with an evident intention to mould the affec- tions and imrify the life, rather than charm the head and dazzle the understanding. A single sentence, writ- ten apparently after he had noted "some conversation on points of Divinity at Topsfield," gives an insight into his views. It is copied verbatim :
" The Doctrine of Election, must be consistent with mans free agency so yt wn Gd Judgeth sinners yy shll Stand Condemned, in foro cons'"' that is, yy are not con- demned because Gd would not Save ym but fr yir own sins & because yy would not attend to & accept of ye offers of salv°."
Very soon after his ordination he moved to Woburn (Jan. 13, 1775). "Board at Madam Jones's for 40s. pr week, and keep my horse myself." Here he staid about a year. Madam Jones was the widow of his predecessor in that church. He afterwards married her daughter. The first Sabbath in that year he "went to meeting on snow shoes." x\fter moving to Woburn he devoted his time to the interests of the parish — visiting the sick, at- tending funerals, solemnizing marriages, and adminis-
84 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
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tering consolation to the afflicted — all of whicli are noted. He found time, however, to attend to a farm he had bought in Lexington, which he kept till April 18, 1785, and also to the homestead of Madam Jones, which ultimately came into his possession through his wife. The details of these transactions are curious and interest- ing, embracing daily entries for forty years, excepting a month, when he " bespoke a 'Birth' in ye Hospital at Lincoln for ye Small Pox" "took 5 small mer- curial Pills 2 doses of Salts Whole expense about £40 Old Tenor" ($16.)
On one occasion he writes: ''Had a Blister on my arm for a sore eye." (This looks like the famous similia similibus curantur, but failed to carry out the formula of infinitesimal doses.) On another, he "Bottled 11 Doz & One bottles of Cyder."
The first year of his ministry was the eventful one of the opening of the Eevolution. In this he took an active and decided stand against the Mother Country. On. the 9th of Feb., 1775, he attended "a Lecture ^.i
Lexington on the Times ^^ "I began with prayer
Mr. Gushing preached from Ps. 23, 28 ' He is the Gov- ernor among the Nations.'"
March 7 attended training at Lexington. 21st train- ing, viewed arms at home Aj^ril 4 rode to Heading and heard Mr Stone preach a sermon to the Miiinte Men
April 8. People moving out of Boston on account of the troops
April 19 fair, windy & cold. "A Distress'g Day. Abt 800 Eegulars marched from Boston to Concord as yy went up yy killed 8 men at Lex.gton meetg house, they buzzard & then fired as our men had turned yr backs, who in number were abt 100 & yn yy proceeded to Concord. Ye adjacent Country were alarmed ye later part of ye night precedg. Ye action at Lex" was just before Sunrise. Our men pursued ym to and fm Con- cord on yr retreat back. Several killed on both sides but much ye least on our Side as we pickt ym off on yir retreat. Ye Eegulars were reinforced at Lcxgton to aid yir retreat by 800 wth two three field pieces they burned
REV. JOHN MARRETT'S DIARY. 85
10
3 houses ill Lexgton and one barn & did other Mischief to buildings they were pursued to Charlestown Where yy entrencbed on a hill just over ye neck, thus Com- mences an important Period
April 20 rode to Lex" and saw the mischief the Reg- ulars did
21. rode to Concord. The country coming in fast to our help.
22. All quiet here Our forces gathered at Cambridge and towns about Boston The regulars removed from Charlestown to Boston the day before yesterday
23. S.(abbath) Preachedat home. Soldiers travel- ling down and returning brought their arms with them to meeting with warlike accoutrements. A Dark Day. In the forenoon service just as service was ended Dr. Blodget came in for the People to go with their teams to bring provisions from Marblehead out of the way of the Men of War. Considerable number at Meeting
24. packing up my most valuable effects to be ready to move on any "sudden occasion"
25 rode to Cambridge. Our forces very numerous there
26. returned home via Lexg° Many houses on the road pillaged by the regulars between Lexington and Charlestown
There was one important personal incident in the affair at Lexington which Mr. Marrett passes without notice, unless the words ''sudden occasion" give a hint of it.
It was well known that one of the objects of Gen. Gage was to seize John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
On the night preceding the march to Lexington, these men were lodging at the Clark parsonage, formerly the residence of Eev. John Hancock, in an apartment of which, says Drake, {Hist. Fields, £c.,2). 366,) there is no doubt Hancock courted Dorothy Quincy, who w^as then living in the house under the protection of Madam Lydia Han- cock, the Governor's Aunt. The people of Lexington were apprised by Revere and others of this object of Gaffe, and insisted that Hancock and Adams should sro
86 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
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to a place of greater safety. " They first repaired to the hill southeast of Mr. Clark's, where they remained until the troops passed. They were afterwards conducted to the house of Madam Jones, widow of Eev. Thomas Jones and Rev. Mr. Marrett, in Burlington" (then Woburn). Mrs. Clark had arranged to have fresh sal- mon, the first of the season, for the breakfast of her family on the morning of the 19th. The abrupt de- parture of her guests had disappointed her as well as themselves. On their way they recollected their ex- pected entertainment. They stopped at Mr. Reed's for a short time, sent back the servant to get the rarity, and took it with them for Madam Jones to cook. Upon a new alarm, they were conveyed by Mr. Marrett along a cart-way in the woods to the house of Amos Wyman, in a little clearing, about three miles distant, in the corner of Billerica. The " elegant repast," as Drake calls it, was not quite ready, and they left it untasted.
In the meantime, by Mrs. Jones' directions, the ser- vants had drawn the elegant carriage which had brought the "Patriots" to her house, into the thickly wooded swamp to avoid any trace to their whereabouts.
On arriving at Mr. Wyman's, they asked if they could be supplied with something to eat, saying they had had neither breakfast nor dinner. Mrs. Wyman replied she had nothing in the house except the cold pork and pota- toes left of their boiled dinner. Mr. Adams rejoined, please let us have some of them. The patriotic woman, taking down from the kitchen shelf a wooden tray con- taining the boiled salt pork and unpeeled potatoes left of the family dinner, set it, with some brown bread, be- fore her guests. Woman like, she apologized for the humble fare. Mr. Adams, with his usual courtesy, assured her he had made a hearty meal, and had never tasted anything better. Hancock is reported to have given Mrs. W. a cow in his more prosperous days. {Family tradition.. )
Dorothy Q., who liad refused to have her lovev sepa- rated from her at Lexington, appears to have been left at Mrs. Jones'. Mr. Marrett constituted himself "Mas- ter of Ceremonies " and apprised his proteges of tlie
REV, JOHN MARRETT'S LETTERS. 87
10
progress of events. They came back to Mrs. Jones' the next day, but appear to have returned to Wy man's, where Paul Revere and Dorothy Q. joined them. They, with the "women and children of several of the neigh- boring families who had fled thither for safety, fearing that if they remained at home 'the Regulars' might come and murder them or carry them off," made quite a party, " roughing it in the woods."
On the 4th of September of the same year, Dorothy Quincy was married at Fairfield, Conn., to John Han- cock, afterwards the famous President of the Conti- nental Congress.
On the 12th of June following, Gen. Gage, by procla- mation, exempted Hancock and Adams from his offer of a general pardon, and declared all persons who might give them shelter or aid, rebels and traitors.
We think it was prudent in Mr. Marrett not to com- mit the part he had taken in the affair to writing. Had the rebellion been unsuccessful, his head might have '* graced the hill called Bacon."
The Wyman house was long since torn down.
There is not a doubt of the truth of this matter. It is detailed in the histories of Lexington and Woburn.
"Miss Quincy, afterwards Mrs. Hancock, was connec- ted with the Sewall famih', and often gave to my father an account of the affair. She was one of the party. He also doubtless heard it from Madam Joues, who was liv- ing after he came to Burlington." {Samuel SeiualVs Letter.)
As it has never been published before, we copy hei'e, in full, a letter of Rev. J. Marrett to his uncle, Isaiah Dunster, found among the papers of the latter:
"Rev"Hon° & Dear
Sir I live yis week recvd yrs of y'' 3'^ Inst. & think myself very happy in y* continuation of yr. Friendship & Correspondence w" I sli'll always endeavour to Culti- vate & endeavour to Deserve: I acknowledge my past
defficiencies But hope for future amendments 1 hve
sent you a Letter sometime ago w° I hpe by yis time has reached vou. I am glad vou continue Steadfast in v*
88 HENRY DUJSTSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
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Cause of Liberty; but I never entertaiued y^ least Doubt to y^ Contrary knowing y* you are not given to Change w° you are once established on rational principles. As to those around you of different Sent°" yy will only in- creas y'' glory by yir opposition — I think with you Con- cerning y*" D"' Serm. y' it is a very good one. as to y'' two men unarmed y' were killed in a house at Meno- tomy, am not absolutely Certain but take ym to be Jabez Wyman who used to work for Mr Cook and Jason Win- ship killed in y*" tavern y' Capt Adams formerly owned, now Cooper at the Corner. Wyman was certainly killed yer & I think Winship but am not Certain yy were un- armed; but its likely enough yy were drinking phly' [flip]. Wyman was warned of y*" Danger but says he let us finish y^ mug yy wont come yet he died as a fool dieth. the woman you speak of was Dea°° Adams wife She had newly been brot to bed a few Days before: ye Regulars Came into y^ house & one of ym presented lis peice at her but she Screamed for mercy & another pre- vented his firing but pulled ofE y^ Cloths & told her to get out of y^ way, or to use yir phrase to make herself Scarce, So she Avent off but I know not where, her child" were some of ym under y*" bed & I think remained undiscovered, yy set y^ house on fire But it was soon put out: yy set John Cutters house on fire But by y^ Activity of our pie it was soon put out; our pie 2)ressed so hard upon ym y' yy had not time to Excute yir Mas- ters will so fully as yy desired. Menotomy meetg house received no other Damage than some of y" windows be'g broken and some Balls fm Small Arms Shot into it. Lexgton meetg had a Cannon Ball a six pounder Shot thro it besides many small arms fired into it. yy broke y® windows of Mr Cooks house and fired into it & y*" kitchen y*" setty room & y best room N. E. yy plundered as much as y" time would admit; took, broke & Destroyed wht yy could — Jason Russel y^ Old man was y' person killed* & in his house whose Dth I have mentioned in my other Letter — it was not your Brother Harrington y' was killed nor his Son It was Moses Harringtons Son it runs in my mind yre were two of y* name killed but I forget whose son y^ other was.
REV. JOHN" MARRETT'S LETTERS. 89
10
As to y" British Pari"" having y^ siipremicy over y* American Colonies, as now contended for by y' Body I hope y' thro y^ help of Divine Providence by next Sepf great Britain will be convinced she never did, nor will hold such a Power in her hands, thus I have Answered ■y^ Several Questions already to y^ best of my knowledge 1 was in y'' Army last Sab'" & left my pie Destitute in order to promote y'' publick good Several of y" neigh- boring ministers hve taken yir turns. Of late it hth been somewhat Sickly in our army — fever & flux. But not many die. I hear it is very sickly at Boston both among y^ Inhabitants & troops & mortally so. Our Army appear in good Spits & are nnder good Regula- tions, no prospect of y'' Regulars Comg out. yy, we imagine are more afraid of an attack fm us two of y" advanced Gentry f m Bunker hill deserted to us yesterday "Wht yy relate hve not heard. Our Chief G-eneral is much admired Wish him Good Speed. We ve had a very dry time yesterday a fine rain. I hve Just made inquiry & am informed y' Jason Winship & Wyman were y^ persons killed who were unarmed & had not been in the engagement but were Solacg themselves at y^ tavern y* chief of y^ day & both died like fools hve also heard y' 7 deserters are come over to us from y* enemy who brng an ace' y' 5500 troops were y^ whole number y' were in Boston & its environs & its not likely more yan 2200 of ym can performe duty — An officer afterwards came to our advanced Centry on Charleston Side & inquired of our Centry how we treated deserters, who answered yy were treated as yy ym selves were y'' well says y" Officer and turned about to go away. Sa3's our Centry where are you go'ng? back says y*" Offi''. Stop says Centi-y I have a brace of Balls in my Gun & if you Stir another Step you are a ded man. Come back Upon y' y^ Offi"" returned and yy took care of him * D"" Eliot has got out in Disguise. 13 in a week of y" Inhabitants of Bos- .ton die. its so sickly thus you hve it Just as I hve now
receved it how true it will prove know not. there
is likely to be plenty of Cyder & Indian Corn yn expect Bread & Cyder — I hve got good Bottle Cyder & pipe »& tobacco will you come and see me? My Dutiful re-
90 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
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gards to Mrs Dunster & love to your Children — Am not married From your Dutiful & Obedent HumW Serv't
SllUslian July 28 1775 J. Mar [Pan of signature and
* P S Since heard y' ys. story is not true ■^""^^ »"«"" g«ne.] & D^ Eli
of Boston we dont know Some days after a thing is li Every day hear y^ firing of frequently in y'' morning y* reg
Sir Please to convey y^ Inclosed to Mrs Hows when you have opertunity & thereby you' oblige &c "
''Mrs. Hows. We should Choose to have about 12 15 or 18 yds Linnen Cloth f of a yd wide after it is scunc [shrunk] y*" yarn to be spun so y' 12 or 14 Skeins (7 knots to y® Skein) will weigh 1 lb. before it is Boiled — we expect to pay y" Cash for it as soon as done But should be glad to know before you begin."
The letter was directed:
For— The Rev. d— *''"•— Isaiah Dunster— Att Harwich. Pr. Favour of Mr. Joseph Nye —
Representative for Harwich.
There are two or three other letters from Mr. Marrett to his uncle, Isaiah Dunster, which are interesting. All these letters were found in Rev. Isaiah Dunster's papers:
" Revd & Hon" Sir It is so long since we have had any Communication between each other that I know not what to write (and yet you would think I might iiave collected matter enough by this time to fill a Let- ter) I have transciently heard from you two or three times which was some Satisfaction The reason why you have had no Letter from me is owing to y^ removal of Mrs Stone from her old place. I have repeatedly en- deavored to find her present place of abode but without success I continue at Shushan But my Income is not answerable to so Dignified a Name. Thro Divine Good- ness we are all in health little Patty (stil y*" only one) has entered her 7"" year and I dont know but is as likely as y"" fair ones of Harwich The Measles are reif amongst us none of my family but myself have had ym and we are in daily expectation of having ym your Brother
KEY. JOHN MARRETT'S LETTERS. 91
10
Dunster comes to see me once a quarter & seldom goes away without 6| dollars at time its not long since he was here; they were all well; mother as usnal. The winter favourable but little snow not enough for trans- portation.
I had a full View & for Sometime of the President of y'= Union upon his Visit-amongst us The View was in the College Library; the first time I ever saw him. his Dress was neat & modest, his personal appearance good But not Distinguishingly great. But there is something in his Mein, Behaviour & Address w" commands love & respect & Discovers quietness & penetration of that & observation (with y*" greatest ease) of every thing around him He appears affible & pleasant but not lightly so. The Affections & Benevolence of a tender Parent as well as y'' qualities & Accomplishments of a Supreme Civil & Military Officer appear to possess his Soul.
We have no Special News But mind our own business & live upon the fruits of last summer's labor. Should be glad to hear from you y'' first opportunity. We all unite Duty & Regards to yourself & Lady & Family. Woburn Feby 3 17*J0 From your old acquaintance Eev Mr Dunster " John Marrett
^' Revd Sir — I rote a Letter last winter for you I hve nt had opportunity to send it, not havng been at Boston since last Fall Therefor send it with this No- thing remarkable hath turned up since writ.g of y*" fore- gong — we have not had y^ Measles tho yy hve been all round us. it has been Sickly & a time of mortality in many paces this spring, with us in general healthy. The Distemper called y^ Influenza has prevailed — I have been confined with it about 10 days. But now well as we all are we hve no news, the Spring appears promis- ing at present for a good Season The apple trees are in yir Glory a fine show of Blossoms Should be very glad to see you or any of yr. fam'y here. Whether I shall ever Come into yr. parts again or not is very uncertain Mr Hilyard of Cambridge continued but a short time in his agreeable Situation — Please give my dutiful Regards to Mrs Dunster k love to yr Children Shld be glad once more to See them — my little Patty is in her Seventh year *9
92 HENRY DUNSTER AND HIS DESCENDANTS.
10
t& grows fast — yr Brother is well for ought I know — my
Mother much so Mrs Marrett is not present or also