1641. Surinam, The French began the preceding year to plant at a place on the continent of South America, called Surinam, in 90 north latitude, from the mouth of the river Oronoque, southward to abandoned the river Maroni; but that country being low, marshy, and unFrench, healthful, they abandoned it this year. The English, the same the English. year, at the expense of lord Willoughby, first settled there.1 by the is settled by Ministers Virginia. 1642. THE ministers of New England received letters from some invited to pious people in Virginia, earnestly soliciting a supply of faithful ministers. At a lecture in Boston, three ministers were agreed on for the solicited mission, and they went with letters of recommendation from the governor of Massachusetts to the governor and council of Virginia; but their residence in that colony was short, and the benevolent design was unhappily frustrated.2 N. England ministers The assembly of divines at Westminster being called by the parliament, to consider and advise about the settling of church the assem- government; several lords of the upper house, and about 30 bly at West- members of the house of commons, with some ministers in invited to minster. England, who were for the independency of churches, sent letters to Mr. Cotton of Boston, Mr. Hooker of Hartford, and Mr. Davenport of New Haven, to ask their assistance in that synod; but they declined the invitation.3 ten days." The Annotator on Winthrop [i. 25.] says, "William Peirce (or Peirse) deserves honourable mention among the early navigators between Old England and New. He made many voyages, of which the earliest known," by the writer," was in 1623 in the Ann, the sixth vessel, whose arrival in our bay, since the foundation of Plimouth is mentioned. He was the maker of the first American Almanack, viz. for 1639." 1 Anderson, ii. 389, 392. 2 Winthrop, ii. 95, 96. Hubbard, N. Eng. c. 48. The three ministers, sent to Virginia, were Mr. Thompson of Braintree, Mr. Knolles of Watertown, and Mr. James of New Haven. They went in 1642, and returned the next summer; for the government of Virginia had made an order, that all such persons, as would not conformto the discipline of the church of England, should depart the country by a certain day. See A. D. 1643. Mather, Magnal. b. 3. 119. "Though the state did silence the ministers because they would not conform to the order of England, yet the people resorted to them in private houses to hear them." Winthrop. 3 Winthrop, ii. 76, 77. Hubbard, c. 48. Hutchinson, i. c. 1. where is a copy of the invitation, with the names of the signers. "Mr. Hooker liked not the business.-Mr. Davenport thought otherwise of it.-Mr. Cotton apprehended strongly a call of God in it.-But soon after came other letters out of England, upon the breach between the king and parliament, from one of the former lords, and from Mr. Welde and Mr. Peter, to advise them to stay till they heard further; so this care came to an end." Winthrop. "Mr. Hooker was about that time preparing for the press a vindication of congregational churches, or rather framing a system or plan of church government, which he designed for the New England churches, let the determination at Westminster be what it would." Hutchinson. The first commencement at Harvard College was holden at 1642. Cambridge on the 9th of October; when nine candidates took the degree of bachelor of arts. Most of the members of the Oct. 9. general court were present; and, for the encouragement of the First comstudents, dined at the "ordinary commons."1 mencement at Harvard Thomas Mayhew of Watertown, having recently obtained of College. lord Stirling's agent a grant of Martha's Vineyard with the adja- T. Mayhew cent islands, removed his family to the Vineyard, and began a settles Marsettlement at Edgarton, of which he was the ruler, and his son yard. the minister. He appears to have been the first Englishman who settled on that island.2 tha's Vine Mountains. Darby Field, an Irishman, living near Pascataqua, went in Journey to June, accompanied by two Indians, to the White Hills in New the White Hampshire, nearly 100 miles west of Saco. About a month after, he went again to those mountains, with five or six persons; and, by a report of strange stones, excited great expectation of precious metallic substances; but they were never found.3 The general court of Massachusetts made an order for the Order about preparation of houses for saltpetre, with the intention of manu- salt petre. facturing gunpowder; but it was not carried into effect for several years.4 A village having been begun the last year within the township Woburn of Charlestown, a church was now gathered there, and the set- settled. tlement was called Woburn.5 Richard Blinman, who had been 1 Winthrop, ii. 87. The bachelors, now graduated, "were young men of good hope, and performed their acts so as gave good proof of their proficiency in the tongues and arts." The Theses of this first class of graduates are published entire in Hutchinson, Mass. Appendix, No. vi. 2 Mather, Magnal. b. 6. 53. Neal, Ñ. Eng. i. 435. Hutchinson, i. 161. Mass. Hist. Soc. iii. 155. Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket were not included in either of the four New England governments. The earl of Stirling laid claim to all the islands between Cape Cod and Hudson's river. Together with the conveyance of territory to Mayhew, he granted, according to the opinion and usage of his day, the same powers of government, which the Massachusetts people enjoyed by their charter. Hence it was, that Mayhew was called governor of the islands. Hutchinson. 3 Winthrop, ii. 67, 68, 89. Dr. Belknap [N. Hamp. i. 19-21.] has placed this discovery in 1632; but he had not seen Winthrop's Journal. This is believed to be the first visit of any European to the White Mountains. For the most satisfactory account of these mountains, see the New England Journal of Medicine and Surgery, v. 321-331. The name of "Darby Field" is among the settlers of Exeter, 1639. 4 Johnson, 181. 5 Winthrop, ii. 91. Johnson, 175. Chickering's Dedication Sermon. Woburn was previously called "Charlestown Village." Mr. Carter was ordained pastor of the church. In the first settlement of New England, Johnson observes, when the people judged their number competent to maintain a minister, "they then surely seated themselves, and not before; it being as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron without fire." b. 2. c. 22. Mr. Carter came from England to this country in 1636, being then a student in divinity. He died 1 Dec. 1684, Et. 74. Chickering. 1642. a minister in Wales, went with a few people from Green's Harbour, near Plymouth, where he had been seated a short time, and settled at Cape Ann, which, at a general court this year, Gloucester. was established to be a plantation, and called Gloucester. A village was granted at Ipswich river; which afterward was called Topsfield. Topsfield.2 Gorton, the familist exile, and 11 other persons purchased of Miantonomoh, the Narraganset sachem, a tract of land at Mishawomet, where he built a town, which was afterward Warwick. called Warwick.3 Progress of Massachu setts. English on This year 127 freemen were admitted to Massachusetts.4 There had now been settled in New England 77 ministers, who were driven from the parent country, besides 16 students, who afterward became ministers;5 50 towns and villages had been planted; 30 or 40 churches, and a greater number of ministers' houses had been erected; a castle, several prisons, and forts. Ships had been built from 100 to 400 tons; and five of them were already at sea. The expense of settling the single province of Massachusetts was above £200,000. In making this plantation, 192 ships were employed," and 12 years were spent before it was brought into any tolerable degree of perfection." 997 Emigrant colonists from Connecticut had already overspread the eastern end of Long Island. Encouraged by a title, given the Dutch. by earl Stirling in 1639, they now advanced westward to Oyster Bay; but were driven back by Kieft, the Dutch governor at impeded by New Netherlands, because they appeared within sight of his residence. The inhabitants of Connecticut instantly seized the Fort Hope garrison of Fort Hope on the river Connecticut, in the vicinity of Hartford, and obliged the Dutch to recede within 10 miles of the Hudson.8 seized. 1 Winthrop, ii. 64. 2 Hubbard, c. 45. Johnson, 169. 3 Callender, 36, 37. It was built about 14 miles northward of Smith's trading house. Mass. Hist. Soc. v. 217. The purchasers paid for the land 144 fathoms of wampum. Hutchinson, i. 118. See A. D. 1646. 4 Savage, Note on Winthrop, ii. 74. Mr. Savage has given us their names in the Appendix; and to him we are indebted for the correction of a material error in Johnson. 5 Univ. Hist. xxxix. 289. 6 N. Eng. First Fruits, in Mass. Hist. Soc. i. 247, 248. 7 Dummer, Defence of the New England Charters, 5. "The account stands thus: The freight of the passengers cost £95,000; the transportation of their first stock of cattle came to £12,000; the provisions laid in for subsistence, till by tillage more could be raised, cost £45,000; the materials for building their first little cottages came to £18,000; their arms and ammunition cost £22,000. These several articles amount to £192,000, not taking into the account the very great sums which were expended in things of private use, that people could not be without, who were going to possess an uninhabited land.” 8 Chalmers, b. 1. 571. See A. D. 1633, 1634. 1642. A town was granted by the general court of Massachusetts to the inhabitants of Cambridge. It was called Shawshin, from the river on which it is situated; but it was afterwards incorpo- Billerica. rated by the name of Billerica.1 set up a Delaware. The people of New Haven, intending to make a plantation at Colonists of Delaware, sent agents, who duly purchased of the natives several N. Haven tracts of land, on both sides of Delaware bay or river, to which trading neither the Dutch nor the Swedes had any just title ;2 and erect- house at the ed a trading house. It did not, however, remain long unmolested. Kieft, the Dutch governor at New Netherlands, without any legal protest or warning, sent armed men to the Delaware, who burned the trading house, and seized the goods.3 take posses Emigrants from Maryland having taken possession of the Colonies of Dutch Schuylkill, the governor of New Netherlands, hearing of Maryland what he deemed an intrusion, sent Alpendam from Manhattan sion of the with two sloops, and easily dispossessed these English colonists, Schuylkill; unprepared for resistance. The weakness of Maryland, yet in but are disits infancy, and the civil distractions of the parent country, in- possessed. volved in civil war, prevented expressions of provincial and of national resentment.4 land. Intrigues of Clayborne, in Maryland, infused jealousy into the Indian war natives. The rapid increase of the English, threatening their in Maryown annihilation as a people, gave them much uneasiness. Individuals procured their lands, without the authority of government, for considerations totally inadequate, with which therefore, in review, they were greatly dissatisfied. These combined causes, in the beginning of this year, brought on an Indian war, which, with its accustomed evils, continued several years.5 The Iroquois had already entered into a considerable com- Iroquois merce with the Dutch at New Netherlands, to whom they dis- trade with posed of their peltry, and who, in return, furnished them with 1 Farmer and Moore's Hist. Coll. i. 65. It was incorporated in 1655. 2 Hazard, ii. 164. The occasion of the success of the New Haven agents is remarkable. A Pequot sachem, in the time of the Pequot war, had fled from his country, and settled on Delaware river. He, at this juncture, gave an honourable testimony in behalf of the English people, by whom his nation had been exterminated. He told the Delaware sachem, that, although they had killed his countrymen, and driven him out; yet they were honest men, and had just cause to do what thev did; for the Pequots, he acknowledged, had done them wrong, and refused, when demanded, to give them reasonable satisfaction. Hubbard, c. 46. 3 Hazard, ii. 164, 213. Winthrop, ii. 76. "A plantation was begun the last year at Delaware Bay by those of New Haven, and some 20 families were transported thither, but this summer there fell such sickness and mortality among them as dissolved the plantation. The same sickness and mortality befell the Swedes also, who were planted upon the same river." 4 Chalmers, b. 1. c. 21. 632. 5 Chalmers, b. 1. 216. See A. D. 1631, 1633, 1634, and 1644. the Dutch. 1642. fire arms, by which means they obtained a decisive superiority over the Hurons.1 Montreal. Proposi tions for confederation. Maisonneuve, a gentleman of Champaigne, who, the preceding year, brought over several French families to Montreal, now entered with them into possession of their new habitation and chapel of this island, with many religious solemnities.2 At the Massachusetts general court, in September, the propositions sent from Connecticut, about a combination, were read and referred to a committee. The committee met, and, after deliberation, having added a few cautions and new articles, and proposing the taking in of Plymouth, "who were now willing," and Sir Ferdinando Gorges' province, returned the propositions to Connecticut, to be considered until the spring.3 1 Wynne, i. 308. See A. D. 1611. 2 Wynne, i. 307. Charlevoix, Nouv. France, i. 227, 228. In 1640, the French king had vested the property of the island in 35 associates, of whom Maison. neuve was one; and 15 Oct. 1641 he was declared governor of the island. Ibid. Cardenas, 208. 3 Winthrop, ii. 85. "Winter was now approaching, and there could be no meeting before." The Editor of Winthrop supposes "an unreasonable jealousy next year prevented us from permitting the junction of Maine in this admirable alliance." Hubbard [c. 52.] says, "those of Sir Ferdinando Gorges' province were not received nor called into this confederation, because they ran a differing course from the rest, both in their ministry and their civil administrations; nor indeed were they at that time furnished with inhabitants fit for such a purpose; for they had lately made Agamenticus (a poor village) a corporation; " and chosen an unsuitable person for its mayor, and had entertained a person "under offence," for their minister. See A. D. 1639.-In Plymouth colony, beside the town of Plymouth, there were now settled Duxborough, Scituate, Taunton, Rehoboth, Sandwich, Barnstable, and Yarmouth. Hutchinson, i. 207. |