TRANSACTIONS OP THE COLONIAL SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS A MARCH MEETING, 1913 STATED MEETING of the Society was held at the house of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, No. 28 Newbury Street, Boston, on Thursday, 27 March, 1913, at three o'clock in the afternoon, Vice-President ANDREW MCFARLAND DAVIS, A. M., in the chair. The Records of the last Stated Meeting were read and approved. The CORRESPONDING SECRETARY reported that a letter had been received from the Hon. CHARLES GRENFILL WASHBURN accepting Resident Membership. Mr. GEORGE FOX TUCKER gave an account of Paul Cuffee (1759-1817), son of an African negro slave, who was born on the Island of Cuttyhunk, became prominent and had a remarkable career in Dartmouth, New Bedford, and in foreign lands as shipbuilder, navigator, merchant, philanthropist, and public spirited citizen. In 1808 he joined the Society of Friends. He was a deeply religious man and was universally respected. A monument to his memory is to be erected next June at Central Village, Westport, by H. P. Howard of New York, a great-grandson.1 1 A long account of Paul Cuffee, with a description of the memorial, was printed in the New Bedford Sunday Standard of March 9, 1913. Mr. ALBERT MATTHEWS made the following communi-. cation: NOTES ON THE MASSACHUSETTS ROYAL COMMISSIONS 1681-17751 Volume II of the Society's Publications, soon to be issued, contains, besides the Province Charter (1691) and the Explanatory Charter (1725), the extant Commissions of the President of the Council for New England (1685); of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary of the Territory and Dominion of New England (16861688); of the Governors, Lieutenant-Governors, and Secretaries of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (1691-1774); and of the Collector, Surveyor, and Searcher of Customs in the Colonies of New England (1681). It also contains three Commissions not alluded to in these Notes - namely, Lord Willoughby's Commission (1667) as Vice-Admiral of Barbados, etc., and two Commissions (1727-1728) issued to Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London. The following six Commissions, mentioned in these Notes, are not printed in Volume II because no copies are known to be in existence: In preparing Volume II for the press, it seemed desirable, indeed necessary, to compile a List of Officials, 1685-1775, giving the date of each Commission, the date of taking office, and the date of leaving 1 All dates in these Notes, except in some of the quoted passages, are New Style. 2 This date is approximate: see p. 10 note 6, below. This date is approximate: see p. 88, below. 4 This date is approximate: see p. 97, below. This Commission of Tailer was presumably issued in the summer of 1711, as he was sworn on October 4: see p. 90, below. • The exact date of this Commission has been recovered: see p. 91, below. 'Dummer's Commission was presumably issued in the summer of 1716, as he was sworn on October 5: see pp. 65, 92, below. |