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PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Nantucket Historical Association SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING July Twentieth, Nineteen Hundred Ten

THE INQUIRER HND MIRROR PRESS NHNTUCKET, MUSS. 1910

ANNUAL MEETING.

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HE sixteenth annual meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association was held in the Friends' Meeting house, on Wednesday morning, July 20, 1910, and was called to order by Presi­ dent Starbuck, promptly at 10 o'clock. The records of the Secretary were read and approved. Then followed the reports of the Treasurer, Secretary and Curator, which showed a continued prosperous condition of the Associa­ tion financially and numerically, a fairly substantial gain in membership during the past year having been accom­ plished.

The next on the order of business was the President s annual address, which told, with some detail, of the meet­ ings of the Bay State Historical League, to which he had been appointed by the Council to represent the Associa­ tion. The address also contained reference to the mem­ bers who had deceased since the annual meeting of 1909, and closed with several suggestions as to what, in his judgment, the Association ought to consider and act upon. It was voted to accept the several reports and incorporate them, with the President s address, in the Annual Proceedings.

Following this came the report of the Committee on Nominating Officers for the ensuing year, which was presented by its chairman, Miss Emily Weeks, and which was as follows:

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MINUTES OF MEETING

President, ALEXANDER STARBUCK. Vice-Presidents, HENRY S. WYER, DR. BENJAMIN SHARP, MRS. SARAH C. RAYMOND, MOSES JOY, MRS. JUDITH J. FISH, HENRY B. WORTH. Secretary, MRS. ELIZABETH C. BENNETT. Treasurer, MISS HANNAH HATCH. Curator and Librarian, MISS SUSAN E. BROCK. Councillors for Four Years, MRS. ALICE COGGESHALL SAWYER, DR. JOHN S. GROUARD. Auditors, IRVING ELTING, MISS HARRIET A. ELKINS, EDWARD A. FAY. The report was accepted and it was voted to pro­ ceed to ballot. The President appointed Lauriston Bunker and John B. Folger to distribute, collect and count ballots. They reported 71 ballots cast, all for the nominees of the committee.

The choice of a Nominating Committee for the ensuing year was next in order. Under the constitution this committee is nominated from the floor. The election resulted in the choice of Miss Annie B. Folger, Mrs. Mary F. Williams, Miss Helen A. Gardner,' Mrs. Charlotte E. Morissey and Miss Caroline E. Swift.

MINUTES OF MEETING

9

Under the call for new business, Dr. Sharp referred to the substantial aid the Association had received from Miss Annie B. Folger, the most recent example being a very material contribution towards the purchase of the 'Sconset house. He nominated Miss Folger for a LifeCouncillor, and the nomination was unanimouslyratified by a rising vote.

The President, in presenting the first speaker, referred to the fact that Wellesley, where she taught, and Waltham, his home city, were near neighbors. He also referred to the recent gift of a fine building to Wellesley College by a Nantucket man, Capt. John A. Beebe, and thought it quite fitting that the opening paper before the Association, on this occasion, should be read by a lady connected with that college. He then presented Dr. Lois Kimball Matthews, Associate Pro­ fessor of History at Wellesley College.

Mrs. Matthews has a very pleasing presence and' spoke in an exceedingly interesting manner for twenty minutes on "The Frontier in American History," tracing the westward push of the frontier line to the independence of thought and action which prevailed among the earlier settlers, and which prompted them, when radical differences in social or religious opinions arose and the desired freedom of the settler was ham­ pered, to move farther away from their fellows to where they themselves constituted a majority. Similarly the incoming Huguenots, Scotch-Irish, German and similar . immigrations had carried the frontier line, particularly in the northern section of the country, farther and farther in the direction of the setting sun.

The second speaker was Miss Helen Ar.thony* Gardner, whose theme was "What We Owe to the Huguenots." Miss Gardner touched, necessarily briefly, on the rise of the Huguenots, the persecutions they en-

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MINUTES OF MEETING

countered in France, the massacre of St. Bartholomew, the edict of Nantes, the revocation of the edict in 1685 and the subsequent emigration of half a million of the most desirable and skillful artisans in France to Eng­ land. Thence many of them came to America, and the impress of their national characteristics made a marked modification in the religious and social Itfe of the descendants of the Puritans. She instanced several cases where the phonetic pronunciation of the names of these early Huguenots by a people unaware of their original signification had produced a variety of surnames varying greatly in their spelling from the originals; as, for example, the Huguenot Bon Coeur had been trans­ formed into the Anglicized Bunker.

The last speaker was Henry Barnard Worth, Esq., who spoke of the "Formation of the Unitarian Society," which he ascribed, not as is popularly supposed, to any essential differences in religious principles, but to a desire to have a house of worship more convenient to the domiciles of the seceders. Mr. Worth treated the sub­ ject from a new and interesting standpoint.

The three addresses seemed singularly apropos to each other, and, though without any prearrangement, the sequence was logical and natural. A vote of thanks to the speakers was passed by the association.

The president called particular attention to the re­ ception in the afternoon at the rooms of the Athletic Club, and the meeting adjourned immediately after 12 o'clock.

The reception at the club house from 4 o'clock to 6 o'clock was one of those delightfully informal affairs which are enjoyable greatly because of their informality.

The main hall was thronged with members of the Asso­ ciation and their guests between the hours named, and old acquaintances were renewed and new ones made.

MINUTES OF MEETING

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Friends met who had not seen each other for half a cen­ tury, but the exuberance of youth was over all despite the differences in age. A light but appetizing collation was served by eight young ladies—Misses Dorothy Sharp, Annie Lawrence, Eliza Codd, Julia Searing, Lucy and Katherine Hutchinson, Dorothy Small and Jane Rav—and one was persuaded to partake even when he or she had but recently arisen from the dining table.

In the evening the Council met in the Friends' Meeting House, elected its several sub-committees and transacted some minor matters of business.

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TREASURER'S REPORT. Credits.

Balance on hand June 15,1909 Membership dues for 1910 Membership dues for 1911 Membership dues previous to 1910 Membership dues paid in advance Life membership fee Admission fees Historical Rooms Admission fees Old Mill Rent of Lot Sale of Banquet Tickets Interest drawn from five banks Cash drawn from New Bedford Institution for Savings Cash donated for Case for Ivories Cash donated Sale of Books, etc.

$33.73 122.00 135.00 13.00 8.00 15.00 313.10 29.65 15.00 47.00 203.00 201.40 5.00 1.00 29.80

$1,172.28

Debits.

Subscription Inquirer & Mirror Printing and Advertising Printing and Advertising Printing and Advertising Printing Sundries Mill

$2.00 7.25 2.40 3 40 L75

TREASURER'S REPORT

'

Postage (Secretary) Supplies (Secretary) Water Bill Gas Bill Picture and Frame , Portrait and Frame Portrait and Frame Picture Frame Stamps Setting Flag-staff Removing Flag-staff Typewriting Report Essex Antiquarian Brass Latch Old China Nantucket Directory Sea Cliff Inn Co. Banquet Bill and Board of Speaker E. C. Bolles, Speaker at Banquet Traveling Expenses Speaker Carriage hire Assistance Mill J. W. Clapp Estate—Articles for Collection J. W. Clapp Estate—Inlaid Table Cartage Express Waltham Publishing Co., Annual Reports Carpenter's Bill for Building Case Broom Insurance Mill Insurance Historical (frame) Building Paint Bay State League Dues Record Book Plumbing

13 6.00 10.00 8.00 10-40 4.00 2.75 2.75 1-50 12.00 1-50 1-50 -60 1-50 8.00 15-00 1-00 166.00 25.00 4.00 2.25 4-00 17.00 35.00 -25 4.70 99.65 40.20 -45 1°-90 11.25 2.00 4.25 2-00

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TREASURER'S REPORT

Printing 2.25 Old Lamps 1.00 Mercury Publishing Co., pamphlets "Indian Names, Wills and Estates" 97.45 Old Spoons 4.00 Cash transferred to Curator for Fund for Ivories 5.00 Cash transferred to Curator for Supplies 10.00 Carpenter's Bill for Repairs Mill 12.03 W. T. Swain & Co., Lumber, etc., Mill 5.99 Salaries of Attendants 168.00 Salary of Curator 100.00 Salary of Treasurer 75.00 Salary of Secretary 50.00 Salary of Janitor 60.00 Extra Services of Janitor 62.10 Balance to New Account .31 $1,172.28

SUMMARY. Assets.

Fireproof Building $8,500.00 Meeting-house 1,500.00 Old Mill 1,000.00 Collection (Insurance) 1,000.00 Susan W. Folger Fund, Middleboro Savings Bank " 1,000.00 Susan W. Folger Fund, Bristol County Savings 1 Bank 1,000.00 Susan W. Folger Fund, People's Worcester Savings Bank 1,000.00 Susan W. Folger Fund, National Institution for Savings 1,000.00

TREASURER'S REPORT

Susan W. Folger Fund, New Bedford Institu­ tion for Savings

15 798.60

Total

$16,798.60 Liabilities—None.

HANNAH G. HATCH, Treasurer.

Approved above report of the Treasurer for the year ending June 15, 1910.

Irving Elting H. E. Elkins Of the Auditing Committee.

Membership.

Life Councillors Life Members Annual Members Lost by death Life Members New Members Life Lost by death Annual Members Withdrawn Annual Members Dropped for non-payment of dues (three years) New Members Annual

3 63 266 1 1 9 1 10 33

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SECRETARY'S REPORT. Mr. President, Members of the Nantucket Historical Association, Friends:— For the past few years when I have started my an­ nual report, so much has crowded into my mind retro­ spective, that I have had to restrain myself, for from small beginnings so much has happened in these fifteen years. Our first Council meetings were held in a parlor, corner of Gardner and Main Streets. The habit of full attendance then started is one that has persisted in this Council, and indeed that fact on this Island, where many societies have conflicting claims, is not unworthy of remark.

At these early meetings the subject of buying this historic building was first broached. We were optimis­ tic if a little timid, timid because the majority element was, as is usual on Nantucket, that of women and needed the leaven of business courage furnished by the sterling men on the Council. However, men and women alike, when we came from the meeting of the whole Association at which we purchased this building, all felt the burden of debt, because, like all Nantucketers of the old stamp, frugal and independent, we could not sleep if we owed a penny. Our wakeful nights were soon over. That burden of debt was promptly removed.

That first benefaction, anonymously given at the time, seemed to move others to active interest in our behalf.

SECRETARY'S REPORT

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One of the weighty pieces of business in those days, after the incorporation of our Association on July 9, 1894, was the adoption of a seal. Those who were pres­ ent will not readily forget the solemnity of the conclave wherein the symbol now in use was accepted from the design furnished by Mr. Alexander H. Seaverns, who in his drawings had followed the idea suggested by Mr. Roland B. Hussey.

This reminiscence, you may say, lacks that restraint which I have told you I put upon myself. Let me ex­ plain that our recent expansion in establishing a branch at 'Sconset led me to speak of our first beginnings.

At a Council Meeting held May 21st, 1910, it was voted to purchase of Miss Annie Barker Folger the (socalled) George C. Gardner house at 'Sconset. A com­ mittee to take full charge of the property was appointed, consisting of Miss Annie W. Bodfish, Mr. Millard F. Freeborn and a third member to be chosen by them.

Our membership list at present is: Life Councillors 3 Life Members 63 Annual Members 266

In connection with this let me say that it would be a great convenience to your Secretary to be informed promptly of any change in the address of members.

We have lost by death the past year, Mr. Elisha P. Coleman, Mr. William M. Barrett, Mr. Henry A. Willard, Mr. Sidney Starbuck, Miss Mary Sophronia Whippey, Dr. Herbert L. Burrell, Miss Lydia H. Macy, Miss Harriet R. Easton, Mrs. Henry Brown.

One last word. It has been rumored that the ban­ quet of last year, although brilliant, and pleasant, and •successful,- was expensive. Commemorations, it might

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SECRETARY'S REPORT

be said in reply, do not come every year. The modesty of this afternoon's entertainment will perhaps restore some flagging spirits, so that by the time another anni­ versary rolls around we shall be ready to observe it with even greater festivities.

Every year we have had some way of bringing to­ gether members and friends in a social gathering. Prob­ ably there are many happy schemes yet untried for that entertainment. To all things from the first, to reports of officers and speeches, papers, banquets, teas, recep­ tions and what not, our members have been sturdily loyal.

Respectfully submitted, ELIZABETH C. BENNETT.

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CURATOR'S REPORT. Mr. President and Members of the Nantucket Historical Association:— The year that closes with this Annual Meeting has been a memorable one in many ways, and shows a rec­ ord of greater achievement than for several previous years. The donations have been numerous and there have been additions of exceptional interest and value in almost every one of the departments of our collection.

In silver, we have been able to purchase some fine old spoons, made on the island, and have received one donation, the story of which is linked with that of two families, well known in the past history of Nantucket.

About the year 1750, two close personal friends, named Hosier and Hadwen, left Law Wrey, New Hawkshead, County of Lancashire, England, and came to America together, settling in Newport, R. I. Here a few years later, a son was born to the one named Hosier and named for the friend who came over with him, John Hadwen. The latter presented the child, in honor of his name, with a large silver spoon, engraved John Hadwen Hosier. This remained in the Hosier family until it be­ came the possession, by inheritance, of the late William Hosier of this town, a great grandson of the first owner.

Shortly before his death, he gave the spoon to Charles Hadwen Crowley, the great-great-great-grandson of the first John Hadwen. So, after nearly one hundred and fifty years, it returned to a descendant of the original giver, and now, through the generosity of Mr. Crowley,

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CURATOR'S REPORT

is secured forever to Nantucket's historical collection.

In china, we have received many beautiful additions, of which the most notable are as follows: 1he loan of a collection of twenty pieces of rare old Nantucket family china, containing fine specimens of lustre ware, Loestoft decoration, and dainty eggshell cups and saucers, and an interesting old pitcher with a representation of the •process of ship building pictured on one side and a naval engagement with a French frigate striking her colors to the American frigate "Constellation" on the other, and the quaint inscription, "Success to the Wooden Walls of America" on the front. The loan also of two most beau­ tiful and ancient platters may be mentioned, and we have as a gift, a fine large bowl, which belonged originally to the son of John Coffin and Mary Gardner, for whom the oldest house was built. This has descended in a direct line for six generations from Major Josiah Coffin in 1710 to Miss Phebe Coffin Edwards, who presents it to us in 1910. It is in a wonderful state of preservation, showing but few marks of the vicissitudes of its long life of two centuries, and is the oldest piece of china we have, of which we possess authentic data.

Our genealogical department has received a most -valuable donation in the records of the late William C. Folger. These were the property of Mrs. Eliza Barney Burgess, who presented them to us just two days before her sudden and lamented demise. We shall always pre­ serve them in memory of her generosity, as well as for their undoubted historic interest. They consist of a dozen or more books containing genealogical notes, which were not well arranged, according to our modern ideas. These much need to be copied and indexed, and this will be an important work for us to do, as soon as possible. When this is accomplished, they will be avail­ able for public reference, which cannot be allowed now,

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as they could not bear much usage in their present worn condition.

In last year's report, mention was made of the neces­ sity for a new case, which should more suitably display our collection of "scrim-shont" work. As always, an im­ mediate and generous response followed, and the spa­ cious case, with its plate glass shelves, now invites your inspection and forms one of this year's new attractions.

The addition of several life-size portraits and a num­ ber of framed photographs has made necessary again some important changes in the hanging and arrangement of our picture gallery, and, as you will see, there is now left but little vacant surface on our walls, which seemed so spacious six years ago, when we moved into our new building. If our collections continue to increase in the present ratio, the imperative necessity for more space will soon be upon us. Already the problematic "third story" begins to take shape in our minds.

It is gratifying to be able to report the completion of Volume 2 of our publications by the issue of Part 6 of "Nantucket Lands and Land Owners." This bulletin contains a chapter on "Indian Names and Their Mean­ ings," another on "Wills" and a complete index to the whole six parts. These are now ready for binding to­ gether in one volume and make a handsome and valuable addition to our historical literature. The tireless author of this work already has plans for further research along similar lines, and we may look forward to the beginning of another volume in the near future.

We come now to the most important event of the year, the purchase of a house at Siasconset. The large outlay of money necessary for this purpose has not been made without much anxious consideration on the part of the council, but looking well at all sides of the question, the opinion was unanimous that the opportunity to pre-

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CURATOR'S REPORT

serve one of the ancient and typical 'Sconset houses must not be lost, since there are but a few of these now remaining, and with the passing of them, one of the most peculiar and unique attractions on the Island, will vanish forever. So it seemed to be a plain duty for our Associa­ tion to extend its work in this manner, and the George C. Gardner house, on Broadway, was purchased, fitted up with the beginnings of another historical collection, and opened for exhibition on June 20th.

These preparations were made in a very short period of time, and much credit is due the committee in charge for the energy displayed and the success attend­ ing their efforts.

There has been already a goodly number of visitors, and what is of more importance, interest in our work and aims seems to be awakening amongst the summer cottagers, who have offered some loans for the collection and expressed a desire in some cases to add their names to our membership list.

The principal objection to the 'Sconset scheme has been that the expenditure of such a large portion of our invested funds will diminish our income and thus curtail our ability to purchase relics, etc.

While this must be admitted to be true, we feel so much confidence in the abiding interest and generosity of our members, that we are sure if any great need arises and we are compelled to ask for financial aid, the response will still be, as always, immediate and sufficient.

At this time we do not ask for any large contribution, but if a few friends would like to donate small sums towards a purchasing fund for the Curator's use when articles are offered during the coming year, it would be gratefully accepted and carefully expended.

Our Association was started with noble and unselfish purpose and we should appreciate the fact that

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its maintenance requires that each one of us shall be answerable for a share in its progress and continuance.

Respectfully submitted, SUSAN E. BROCK.

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. Members of the Nantucket Historical Association:— We are assembled at this the sixteenth Annual Meeting of our Association, your officers to render an account of their stewardship, and you to learn of what the past year has brought forth for our Association and what is contemplated as special work for the ensuing year, to give such directions as seem to you wise and to select those under whom your orders are to be carried out.

During the past year, as your delegate, I have at­ tended four meetings of the Bay State Historical League, which now includes in its membership thirtysix historical societies of Massachusetts. On October 23, 1909, the League met with the Worcester Society of Antiquity at its rooms in that city. There was a good attendance at the meeting, the societies of Brookline, Swampscott, Somerville, Nantucket, Worcester, Medford, Hyde Park, Quinnebaug of Southbridge, Westborough, Springfield, Fitchburg, Connecticut Valley of Springfield, Natick, Lynn, and Maiden being rep­ resented. The Worcester Society has a well-appointed building of its own in which is a reference library of over 22,000 bound volumes and 46,000 pamphlets. Its museum comprises one of the best collections of Indian, Colonial and antique relics in New England. The So­ ciety was organized in March, 1877.

The delegates were welcomed by President Maynard of the Worcester Society and by the Honorable

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

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James Logan, Mayor of the city, who spoke of some o£ the directions in which Worcester has progressed within, his recollection, making special reference to the im­ mense advance made in the manufacture of envelopes,, an industry in which he was intimately concerned.

The special topic of the day was "The Use of the Printing Press in the Work of the Local Historical Society," and the discussion was begun by Mr. John Albree of Lynn, who said the Lynn Society has pub­ lished eleven volumes containing much valuable infor­ mation concerning Lynn and its people. The ancestry of those residing there in 1840 had been traced back, the result of the research covering some sixty pages of a volume. The notices of the meetings of the Associationwent somewhat into details of what was to be done, so to insure that they would be carefully read. The So­ ciety now has a membership of 550.

Hon. Alfred S. Roe was the next speaker. He said? if the records of towns were printed it would not be necessary to make so many visits to the office of the Town Clerk. He claimed that Worcester originated the practice of printing the vital records. New York, he said, was singularly deficient in vital statistics. In a volume published under the title of "Roe's Neighbor­ hood Sketches" he had worked up the old original school districts, and found much interesting and valuable his­ torical material. The publication of town records vastly enhanced their usefulness.

Hon. Ellery B. Crane, Librarian of the Worcester Society, said the Society had long felt the need of printing its Proceedings. Since its organization, in 1877, twenty-four volumes have been published. The mem­ bership fee of $3.00 a year includes a copy of the current publication. The dues were formerly $5.00 annually and Mr. Crane thought the reduction was unwise.

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

Seven of the published volumes contain the records of Worcester Town and Proprietors. In one series of seven volumes there are 300 different papers. In four­ teen volumes, containing 10,000 pages, over 500 subjects were treated. The Society had 400 copies of each vol­ ume printed, giving one to each of the 255 members and reserving nearly one hundred for sale at $2.50 each.

Nearly every paper that is read before the Society is published, and the writer of the paper is held responsi­ ble on the statement of facts. The exchange of publi­ cations is of great value and the League should en­ courage such an exchange.

Judge John M. Corcoran of Southbridge spoke of interesting features in Sturbridge, Southbridge and Charlton, and said that the work of writing up the Quinnebaug Valley was in progress. The Quinnebaug Society's usual program was to have six regular meet­ ings, a banquet and an outing. A calendar was issued each year with a list of the Society's publications, and the Society is about to take up the work of marking noted localities with appropriately inscribed signboards.

Other speakers referred to publications of the Fitchburg Association and to twelve volumes that the Medford Society had published.

The second meeting of the League for the year was held on January 15th last, with the Roxbury Historical Society, in the Municipal Court building, Roxbury.

The delegates were welcomed by Mr. Dependence S. Waterman, President of the local Society, who gave interesting reminiscences of old Roxbury. The topic for the day was "How a Local Society Can Best Com­ memorate Noted Persons, Places or Events." Mr. James P. Munroe, of the Lexington Historical Society, was the first speaker. He said the first real notice Lex­ ington took in commemoration of its participation in

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the opening scenes of the Revolutionary War was in 1825, when it was claimed by some that the only battle on that 19th of April took place at Concord, and affi­ davits were then obtained from those survivors who had participated in the conflict on Lexington Green on that day and who had fired back on the English troops. The next celebration was in 1835, when the bodies of those who were killed were removed and re-interred. He added that it was not possible to tell now where the graves are of those who fell. When the monument was erected on the Green the event was again noticed. At the well-remembered celebration of the 100th anniver­ sary in 1875 temporary landmarks were erected pointing out memorable localities. These have since been re­ placed by more enduring monuments and inscriptions.

Rev. Carlton Staples gave the most efficient work in the preservation of historic materials, and the Lex­ ington Historical Society was organized by him in 1885.

Then followed the purchase and removal of the HancockClark house which the Society has for its headquarters, and later the successful effort to do away with the obso­ lete and sacreligiously observed "Fast Day" and the substitution for it of "Patriots' Day." Mr. John P. Reynolds, Treasurer of the Paul Revere Memorial Association, of Boston, was the next speaker.

He told of the work of purchasing the Paul Revere house and the formation of an organization to care for it perpetually. One part of the campaign was to secure the endorsement of prominent men. Money for the pur­ chase was hard to get. But little effort was made to obtain funds outside of Boston and Massachusetts. The ladies gave most efficient assistance. The cost of main­ taining the property is heavy and various schemes have been resorted to in order to meet it, such as the sale of special pottery, buttons, post cards, etc. Mr. Reynolds

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

told also of the work of restoration and of the relics found on removing modern built partitions and the floorings and debris accumulated by long use of the cellar.

General John E. Gilman, who was the next speaker, spoke largely on Civil War reminiscences. At the meet­ ing there were delegates from the Brookline, Lynn, Medford, Nantucket, Roxbury, Somerville, South Natick, Lowell, Paul Revere, Lexington and Barre His­ torical Societies.

The third meeting was held at Dedham, April 23d last, with the Dedham Historical Society. The Society owns a substantial brick building, built at a little dis­ tance from other structures, and has an extensive library of about five thousand volumes, composed almost wholly of books of historical interest and value. It has some valuable relics but, to me, the most striking feature was its library.

The delegates, who represented the Arlington, Brooklifie, Hyde Park, Lynn, Maiden, Medford, Nan­ tucket, Norwood, Peabody, Roxbury, Sharon, Somer­ ville, South Natick, Westborough, Dedham, Medfield, Dover, Woburn and Winchester societies, were wel­ comed by Mr. Julius C. Tuttle, the President of the Dedham Association, who gave a brief historical sketch of the town, and of the local Society, which he said had never flagged in its interest in historical matters since its organization in 1859. In 1886 an interested friend bequeathed to the Society the site on which its building stands, and the sum of $10,000 for the construction of the building itself. The early meetings were held quar­ terly, but since its present building was erected they have been held monthly. For some years the Society ga\e two prizes annually for the best two historical essays written by pupils of the High School. The

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

29s

papers read at the meetings of the Society are partly of: general and partly of local interest. A quarterly Regis­ ter was established in 1890 and its publication was con­ tinued for fourteen years. A strong effort is made tokeep the interest up and to make the work educational.

Invitations are extended to school teachers to meet with' the Society. The Board of Curators hopes to increase the membership, which is now about 150, to 200. Theannual dues are $2.00. They prefer to have as members those who are vitally interested in historical work. The Society has $1200 invested and depends on dues to pay its running expenses. The Library is open three after­ noons a week. The Library has been obtained with little expense and is a monument to two members par­ ticularly. Valuable books have been contributed by descendants of Dedham. It is wholly a reference Li­ brary. It consists of town histories, genealogies and state records. Genealogical works are the most gen­ erally called for. The giving of prizes stopped because of a change in officers, but when conditions are favorable the custom will be resumed.

Honorable Thomas W. Bicknell, President of the Rhode Island Citizens' Association, was present and' invited the League to visit Rhode Island in the Autumn.

There are 350 members in the Association, which is something of a perambulatory society as 40 out of the 52 Saturdays of the year are spent in various localities in Rhode Island. The meetings are open to anyone to attend whether a member or not.

The topic for the day was "How Can a Local So­ ciety Best Benefit Its Community?" Mr. Charles E. Mann, President of the Maiden Historical Society, and Clerk of the Board of Railroad Commissioners, was the first speaker. He said it can confer the greatest benefit by preservation and by publication of historical matters.

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

Education is beneficial to a community. He was very earnest for publication. He had gathered together a scrap book of "Cape Ann scraps," which was of much interest and value. He queried whether it was of any advantage to prepare a concise local history for use in the schools. In reply to a question he said the member­ ship in the Maiden Society had increased lately 150.

The lists of the so-called "joiners" were scanned and an endeavor was made to work up the membership. The Directors got to work and when they had completed their labors they had put in 144 new members. Mrs. Cheney, of the South Natick Society, spoke of examining old papers in the Library in that town and finding many important matters, also of interviewing old citizens and getting many reminiscences. These she had put into shape for publication and a local editor had willingly printed them, using book measure, so that they were afterwards published in pamphlet form.

President Chick, of the Hyde Park Society, said they had tried some schemes for increasing member­ ship, but found that while they increased in numbers they did not gain in efficiency or in work. They made a practice of celebrating anniversaries and so kept the Society before the people.

President Read said the Bostonian Society was sending out 5,000 circular letters with a view to increas­ ing membership and the Brookline Society was pursuing a similar plan.

Mr. Hill, of the Dedham Society, said the Associa­ tion was one of the pioneers in the publication of vital records. They have begun the publication of the gen­ eral records, beginning with August, 1635, and have recorded the name of every person present at that and subsequent meetings. Two years after the first recorded meeting it became necessary to delegate certain work

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to seven men because there were so many at the meet­ ings that business was hindered. This was the origin of their Selectmen. Several others spoke briefly, among them your President.

Mr. John Albree called attention to a new Associa­ tion being organized called "The Society for the Pres­ ervation of New England Antiquities," the object of which is to preserve from impending destruction old houses built in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as well as to secure minor antiquities which seem liable to be lost.

The fourth, and the Annual Meeting of the League, was held in Danvers on June 25th last. Delegates were present from the societies at Arlington, Brookline, Dan­ vers, Hyde Park, Lynn, Medford, Nantucket, Peabody, Roxbury, Sharon, South Natick, Somerville and Wake­ field. The particular business was the election of offi­ cers, and Mr. Charles F. Read, of Brookline, was re­ elected President.

At each of the League meetings a simple collation was served and at some of them places of local historical interest were visited. It is proposed to hold the next meeting in the fall at Newport, R. I., by invitation of the Rhode Island Citizens' Historical Association.

I also, as your representative, received an invitation to be present at the celebration of the 65th anniversary of the organization of the New England Historic-Genea­ logical Society on October 23d of last year." I am a member of the Society, but I attended as your repre­ sentative and was assigned a place on the platform.

I was unable to attend the Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, which held a five days' session in New York city in December., You have learned through the report of our Curator of the valuable accessions to the Association's property

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PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

during the past year. The purchase of the Siasconset house seems to be in accord with the trend of the his­ torical research and recommendations of the day.

Our Secretary has brought to your attention the sad record of those who have crossed the river and en­ tered the life eternal. The record is particularly im­ pressive to me, as of the nine who have passed on three were schoolmates of mine, two of them classmates.

At the meeting in 1909 our Association very appro­ priately commemorated the 250th anniversary of the settlement of our Island by the whites. The occasion was a notable one, and the recognition of it by our Association was excellently planned and admirably car­ ried out. The results of such observances are too farreaching to be measured by the mere dollars and cents of cost involved.

I think our Association may profitably consider the question of adding to its Library each year by the pur• chase of local histories. Many such volumes are con­ tinually being offered by booksellers. Usually the edi­ tions are small and soon exhausted and the acquirement •of copies subsequently is difficult and oftentimes ex­ pensive. A small amount invested in such purchases each year would soon show excellent results.

I would again urge some activity in the acquirement of new members, always bearing in mind that we want those who will develop interest in our work. As an -illustration that our field is not by any means worked to its limit, I recall one instance where one of our newly acquired and valuable members told me that prior to my speaking to him about it no one had ever suggested his joining.

I again renew my suggestion that our Association make a special effort to obtain pictures, photographs and post cards of local interest. It is astonishing how lo-

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS

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calities and buildings change in a generation. As an example of the changes even in the topography of a place, I remember that in my boyhood I skated all over the Lily Pond meadows in the winter, and now a very handsome post card recently issued by Mr. Wyer shows a haying scene in summer in the same locality where driving a horse would have been impossible fifty years ago.

Finally, I would suggest that after the Proceedings are printed that the reports and addresses be referred to the Committee on New Work for consideration and for report. It will give the Committee an opportunity to demonstrate its value.

34

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER. Within the past twenty years two new ideas have practically revolutionized the study of American history in this country. Both of them originated with Professor Frederick J. Turner, of the University of Wisconsin*, and all those who have been working out any detail with those ideas as a starting point, wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the man who has put our national his­ tory into a new setting.

The first of these ideas is that the history of our country has been unique, in that it has been the history of a frontier; up to 1815, practically a frontier of Euro­ pean civilization, since that time, distinctly American.

As each portion of the country has ceased to be the mar­ gin of cultivation or civilization, it has tended to become crystallized, and while it has influenced the newer por­ tions of the country, it has in turn been acted upon by that very frontier which it originally helped to people.

The other idea is that our history has been the story of a gradually developing area of free land—land which was really or nominally free, and therefore pro­ vided homes for those with little or no capital, or those who for some reason wished to leave the older, settled communities and try life under fewer restrictions. Our problem today, when all our free land is gone, is to adjust •

Professor Turner has been elected to a professorship in Amerm Harvard College, and begins his teaching in Cam­ bridge this coming October.

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

35

•and adapt ourselves to new conditions in whatever place we find ourselves, since there is no longer a region to which malcontents may retreat. It is of the older and the newer frontiers that I wish briefly to speak today.

The cause of frontier-making have always been the same,—some sort of discontent, either religious, political, social or economic; and though the process may have differed in detail, at bottom the same causes have operated for centuries, and continue to do so. A few of the more obvious ones will serve to illustrate the point First and foremost has been the search for cheap and fertile land. This cause was one of the most potent in tige in Europe. It has continued to send recruits to the bringing colonists to America in the seventeenth and formed the basis of social, political and economic preseighteenth centuries, when ownerships in land still Alberta, Saskatchewan and other parts of northwestern Canada.

The desire for religious freedom has been next in frontier in each successive generation, and operates today in peopling the enormous stretches of country in importance ever since the Pilgrims in 1620 landed upon a barren shore in order that no bishop or king should interfere with their plain, unadorned service centering in a long theological sermon. These were but the first of a long line of dissenters who made their way to America, or who removed a second time to the wilderness when Massachusetts Bay or Plymouth became intolerant. When western New York was settled after the close of the Rev­ olution, Jemima Wilkinson and her followers, long per­ sona non grata to Rhode Island, were among the first pioneers to remove to that unorganized country. The Mormons made their way to Utah in 1847 and the fol­ lowing years to found a community based upon their own ideas of church and state. Nantucket itself has seen

36

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

bands of settlers depart because church quarrels had made removal seem easy.

The fur trade has always lured settlers to the edge of civilization, as it did Wiliam Pynchon in 1636 when he laid out Springfield, Massachusetts. Mines have been a factor in spreading population—a large factor in the last sixty years, when California and the Rocky Mountain region have been receiving recruits in large numbers from every state in the Union. Opportunities for trade and commerce have been operative in extending the frontier, sometimes sending the trader ahead of the set­ tler, sometimes in his wake. When, one remembers the part played in our nation's development by the Oregon trail, the old Salt Lake trail, the Santa Fe trail, one easily appreciates the importance of these pioneers of trade and commerce. The railroads have illustrated two phases of the trader's history, since those east of the Mis­ sissippi river more often followed well known roads or trails through country at least partially settled and devel­ oped, while those west of that great artery have for the most part preceded settlement and made it possible.

These are some of the most obvious causes of pio­ neering ; another as potent but more subtle is what for want of a better name we call the wanderlust of the Anglo Saxon. We see it plainly in the folk-wanderings of the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries; in the crusading movement A>f the eleventh to the thirteenth; in the voyages of exploration and discovery of the fifteenth, six­ teenth and seventeenth centuries; in the settlement of Canada, the other thirteen American colonies, and the Barbadoes. All these movements were but other phases of the same restlesness and curiosity which today sends men to the heart of Africa, Australia, Asia and to either pole. It has been a great factor in world-history, this

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

37

wanderlust which crops out again and again in the An­ glo-Saxon race.

Other causes might be enumerated that would only confirm the fact I have tried to make clear—that the frontier has been for centuries the refuge for discon­ tented elements in or upon the borders of some older community.

How has the frontier in America been peopled? New England has played a large part, perhaps no greater than .that of the southern states, but at least an earlier one.

From the beginning, there was an appreciable difference between the New England and the Virginia frontier. In the first place, the richer soil of Virginia made tobacco a profitable crop within a few years of the founding of Jamestown, and there was in consequence no such need to seek newer tracts almost immediately as there was in New England. Moreover this same rich soil made agri­ culture almost the only pursuit in Virginia, while New England towns combined at once fishing, farming, ship­ building, fur-trading and household industries. The rivers of the south do not lend themselves to industries like milling, but their sluggishness helps to keep the soil of their valleys in condition, and also made possible the large plantation with its own docks for shipping surplus products. Furthermore, the Indians of the south were less numerous and far less trouble-some than were the Pequots, the Narragansetts and the Iroquois, and never proved to be any such menace to the advancing frontier as were the northern tribes. But the paths by which Indians had made journeys to the coast were also less numerous, and those great highways—the old Connecti­ cut path, the Pequot path and the Brookfield Path along which New England settlement proceeded, com­ merce and trade carried on, and railways finally developed, these were lacking in the south. Yet the

gg

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

frontier ultimately stretched out into the west at the south as it did at the north, and beyond the Alleghany mountains all elements mingled as they had not along the coast.

Now a few words as to the actual progress of the frontier. Beginning with its centres at Jamestown, Ply­ mouth and around Massachusetts Bay, it made slow but real progress into the back country almost from the beginning. The New Netherland colony became the English colony of New York in 1664, and the settlement of New Jersey, the Carolinas and Pennsylvania followed in close succession. In 1685 and the years following, the first of our numerous foreign elements was introduced into the population.* The wars of Louis XIV and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes sent both French Hu­ guenots and German refugees from the Palatinate to America. Barred from Catholic Canada and Louisiana, the French settled in groups here and there in nearly every colony from Maine to South Carolina. As for the Ger­ mans, this was the first of many emigrations to America, for at every crisis of German history—in 1748, in 1763, after the Napoleonic wars, and in 1848—large numbers have made their way hither. The first comers found the land along the Atlantic seaboard already occupied, and made their way to the frontier, where they gradually laid out towns and farms from the Mohawk river in New York to the uplands of Georgia. Farmers as they were, they gradually made their way along the valleys, seeking out limestone tracts wherever they could find them, since that was the character of the Rhenish soil they had been forced to abandon. Conrad Weiser was but one of those who found the fur trade a profitable adjunct to nis farming.

•New York is omitted from the discussion because of its settle­ ment before it came under English control.

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

39

The next immigrants in point of time were the Scotch-Irish refugees. To many of them, and to many of their descendants as late as 1850 "the siege" meant always the siege of Londonderry in 1719, and their first towns in New Hampshire date from that year. Fighters always, they wasted no time upon their arrival lamenting the fact that the far frontier was the only region open to them, but selecting the slate soils of Pennsylvania, and barren tracts in the colonies of New Hampshire and Massachusetts instead of richer limestone soils of which they had had no experience, they became a sort of buffer between the Indians on the one hand and the coast or up­ land towns on the other. Their whole frontier lay roughly, in time, from Maine to South Carolina, just beyond the parts settled by the New Englanders, Ger­ mans, Virginians, and Carolinians. Thus these ScotchIrish became naturally the hunters and trappers of the western Alleghany slopes, and were among the first set­ tlers of Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio.

The Scandinavian element belongs to a later time— the last half of the nineteenth century—,and has become a valuable element in northern Wisconsin, northern Min­ nesota, and the Dakotas. These states furnished large unoccupied 'tracts of cheap land available for agriculture, and hence became homes for thousands of Norwegians, Swedes and Danes. The Scandinavians have always been the most easily assimilated of any European people, whether they found themselves in the tenth century in Normandy, in the eleventh in Sicily and England, or in the nineteenth in America. The second generation in our country has always been thoroughly American, as was the late Governor Johnson of Minnesota, whose parents were born in Europe.

The early colonial wars thrust back the frontier of the English, Germans and Scotch-Irish, but only tempor-

40

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

arily. After the French and Indian war, however, there was practically no change during such conflicts. Between 1763 and the outbreak of the Revolution, pioneers moved into the valleys of the Alleghany mountains and down the rivers flowing westward from their slopes. Wash­ ington along with other Virginians had definite plans for developing the Ohio valley, and schemes were laid for peopling western New York and Pennsylvania. These were the years when the Phineas Lyman colony, com­ prising representatives of nearly every family of note in the Connecticut river valley, moved to a tract near the present city of Natchez; when a New Jersey colony took up farms in the same region; and when Quakers from Nantucket and Pennsylvania moved into North Carolina.

It was also the time when a civilization entirely different from any we have so far noted, a civilization entirely Spanish, was planting missions, presidios and pueblos in California, then the frontier of Mexico.

In the American Revolution the frontier played a large part, the best known drama being that in which George Rogers Clark took the chief role, as ex-President Roosevelt has made clear in his "Winning of the West."

Expeditions like those of Francis Marion, Pickens and Sumter were of incalculable benefit to General Greene in helping him to drive the English into Yorktown penin­ sula for the final campaign of the war.

After the Revolution the movement of the frontier proceeded along the same lines, but at an unprecedented rate, so that not only were the uplands of coast states filled up, but the overflow into the Northwest and South­ west Territories was so great that the tide of commerce flowed to the Gulf of Mexico instead of the Atlantic sea­ board. Disunion actually threatened the new nation.

The Louisiana Purchase was the outcome of Thomas Jefferson's appreciation of frontier needs and demands,

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

41

and the expeditions of Lewis and Clark and of Pike opened up immense areas in the newly acquired tract.

Then followed in the '20's, '30's and '40's, the develop­ ment of the "lower South"—Alabama, Mississippi, Flor­ ida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas—the response to the great demands of English and New England mills for the cotton which only new lands could yield. The soil of the other southern states was rapidly becoming ex­ hausted, and planters took up any unoccupied lands with avidity in the hope of greater incomes and increased wealth. At the same time other streams of settlers were pouring into Oregon and Washington and were filling up the northern states of the Mississippi valley. Last of all, as has been said above, has come the settlement of theRocky Mountain states when their development by irri­ gation, mining, sheep-raising, cattle-ranching and increased railroad facilities has been made possible.

Ever since its earliest settlement, our country has proved an asylum for malcontents from Europe, and its frontier has been an abiding-place for malcontents within its own borders. Today we have no frontier, our areas of free land are exhausted, and the greatest problem our nation has ever solved is before it. How shall we assimilate our new immigrants, and how adapt ourselves to the divergent elements in our midst? Our immigrants today are not from northern Europe, but from the south­ ern countries. They no longer go to the frontier—unless one may speak of such a quarter as the East Side of New York as a frontier of that great city! They are not agri­ cultural people, these new-comers; they settle down in towns and cities as factory hands, as petty tradesmen, or as unskilled laborers. They gather in colonies, and the second generation is hardly more American than was the first.

Our traditions are shifting as well. The platforms

42

THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

of our political parties are changing radically, whether we like to admit it or not. And it is significant that the "insurgent movement", so-called, has its centre in Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Most of these states really repre­ sent our last frontier, and their demands are made as con­ fidently and as uncompromisingly as frontier demands have always been made. Iowa, the home of Cummins and Dolliver, is perhaps more truly American in the sense that most of its population is of American stock for many generations than that of any state in the union.

It is significant that this is the insurgent state par excell­ ence. Will the result of the present unrest be a compro­ mise between these radicals and the "stand-patters?" Will the malcontents get their will? Will democracy stand this new strain? For there is no longer any frontier to which the discontented elements may retreat, unless it be that of northwestern Canada. And to retreat to that -outpost means expatriation.

LOIS KIMBALL MATHEWS.

43

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS. The principles of religious and civil liberty upon which our American institutions are founded, have been, in large measure, attributed by historians of earlier date to the influence of our Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors.

Later historical research shows that the English were not the only people who deserve our grateful recognition for the sterling qualities transmitted to their descendants.

No less than the Puritan, the Huguenot emigrants were distinguished for their love of liberty, their devotion to principle and their unswerving loyalty to conscience.

Protestant America owes a vast debt to these Protestants of France. One writer says: "English colonial life was of remarkable vigor and genius, but after several years in America the Englishman was Americanized. This can be explained only by remembering that a continuous stream of French life was poured into the English cur­ rent, sweetening and purifying its waters, and making them more healthy and life-giving. It needed both the Huguenot and the Englishman to make an American.

In the Republic of Geneva a young French refugee had established a party of which Englishmen became mem­ bers, and New England the asylum. Not only the Hu­ guenots, but the Pilgrims and Puritans are under the deepest obligations to that Frenchman, John Calvin."

The origin of the word Huguenot is uncertain. Some derive it from Hugon's tower in Tours, where French Protestants met secretly for worship. The Flemish huguenen, used for Puritan, is also given. The best au-

44

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS

thority derives it from Eiguenot (German, Eid-genossen) confederate or ally.

As used in history, Huguenot is the name given in the fifteenth century to the Protestant party in France.

The famous Edict of Nantes (1598) calls the Huguenots members of the "Pretended Reformed Religion," but as early as 1560 the name was given, not only to the Re­ formed Church of France, but to the political party that supported the claim of Henry of Navarre to the crown.

It was a term of reproach, but in spite of great persecu­ tion, torture, and banishment, the faith of these reformers found adherents in all parts of France. They built churches, founded hospitals, and opened schools,—a great victory for freedom of conscience,—but it was not to con­ tinue. Outrages of all kinds, massacres, and civil wars for thirty years fill the pages of history. The blackest page of all has the story of the massacre which began on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, August 24, 1572, and continued three days and nights. Five thousand Prot­ estants were slain in Paris, including many of the no­ bility who had embraced the doctrines of the Reformed Church. Admiral Coligny was one of the first victims.

In him France lost one of her greatest statesmen, an in­ spiring leader, a shining example of loyalty to conscience and purity of life. A French writer says: "Would that we could blot out from history's page the story of the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day." When Henry of Navarre became king he abjured the Protestant faith, but he tried to give to the Huguenots all their civil rights as citizens of France, and in 1598 he signed the Edict of Nantes, which gave them the freedom to worship God unmolested by any who differed from them. If Henry's successors had kept these promises France would have been spared the acts of intolerance and despotism which culminated in 1685, when Louis

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS

45

XIV. by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, destroyed the liberties of his Protestant subjects. All Huguenot churches were to be torn down, the gathering of Prot­ estants for worship was forbidden, and all Protestant schools were abolished. The Huguenots were forbidden to leave the country on penalty of being sent to the gal­ leys for life, and thus Louis made life in France unbear­ able and at the same time made it a crime to seek homes in other lands; but the name Huguenot and the Reformed Religion have both survived, and the descendants of these early Reformers are found all over the globe. Large numbers fled into Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Eng­ land and America. An English writer, Poole, has an in­ teresting book which shows what France lost and other nations gained by this dispersion of the Huguenots.

They were the most sober, industrious and intelligent class of the French people. Some were wealthy, but most of them were skilled workmen, and the growth of Eng­ land as a manufacturing nation was due, in part, to the skill and industry of these refugees.

The story of the Huguenots in America is long and interesting. Our purpose today is to speak briefly of their settlement in Massachusetts and their influence upon the Puritan character. From their devotion to their religious principles both English and French had fled to Holland, where they worshipped in the same church, and were eagerly waiting an opportunity to put the ocean between them and their enemies. When the Speedwell left Delfthaven to meet the Mayflower at Southampton, among the company was a family known to us as Mullins.

The father was a Huguenot, whose real name was Guillaume Molines. In the first year at Plymouth the father, mother and son died, and left one daughter, whom all the world knows as Priscilla Mullins. (There is good reason

46

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS

to believe that John Alden, who married Priscilla, was also of Huguenot origin.)

Throughout Massachusetts are found families who can trace their descent from these French refugees, who numbered not less than four thousand and intermarried with the English settlers. The personal appearance of their descendants discloses their French origin. The blue-eyed Saxon type gradually gave place to the darker skin, brown eyes, black hair, and the slender, graceful fig­ ure of the French type.

What did the Huguenots contribute to the change in the Puritan character? While their religious belief and love of freedom brought them into harmony, they were by nature very different. The Puritan was sombre, and grim, and gloomy, and life was a serious struggle. The French were joyous and happy, and under the most de­ pressing circumstances showed a cheerful, courageous, dauntless spirit. They agreed in their doctrinal belief, but in practice they differed much. The Puritan kept the Sabbath strictly, from sunset to sunset abstaining from all unnecessary work and all pleasures except what he found in religious exercises. The Huguenpt Sunday be­ gan and ended as now; friends visited on the way to and from church, and the home life on Sunday was cheerful and social. While the Puritans used Luther's hymns iu their services, and the Huguenots adopted the great Prot­ estant hymn, "Eine Feste Burg 1st Unser Gott," they had their own version of the Psalms, translated by Clement Marot, and sung to lively ballad tunes in their churches, at their work, and at social gatherings. On weekday evenings their life was in great contrast to that of the Puritans. Dancing, games, tableaux, and other amuse­ ments were freely indulged in, and the young people were always expected to take their part. Yet while the Puri­ tans were serious, and looked with disapproval upon

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS

47

these practices, they gave to their French neighbors full praise for their industry, kindness, and moral greatness.

Recent writers on race development assert that only by this influence of mixed blood can be explained the dif­ ference in the New England character in comparison with that of our English cousins. The more alert mind, the keener intellect, the livelier temperament, and the larger spirit of liberality are the result of the mingling of the best types of the Protestant English and Protestant French. This union of two powerful nations has resulted in a race that has given to America such men as John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Francis Marion, Admiral Dupont, Matthew Vassar, Gallaudet, President Garfield and Roosevelt (the latter of Huguenot and Dutch descent).

In the long list of Huguenot descendants in Massa­ chusetts we find John Adams (from John and Priscilla Alden), Governor Bowdoin, Peter Faneuil, Paul Revere, Julia Ward Howe, Henry W. Longfellow (whose mother was a lineal descendant of John and Priscilla Alden), John G. Whittier, Richard Henry Dana, Henry D. Thoreau, Governor Russell, and many others.

The subject of names is interesting. Some have kept their full French spelling. We find this in, at least, three cases of women of Nantucket descent whose married names are L'Hommedieu, Le Boiteau, and L Oiseau.

Others may easily be traced to their origin, but in the al­ teration, corruption, and great confusion of family names it is not easy for every one to discover how he came by his own or to what race he belongs. The Huguenots who came to America were French, through and through, and yet as exiles from their country they soon ceased to speak their own language, and the spelling of their names was soon changed to follow the pronunciation of their new friends and neighbors. Even before the Mayflower had reached the Plymouth shore the French Molines had be-

48

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS

come plain English Mullins. In the next year in the ship Fortune came Philippe de la Noye, whose descendants now bear the name of Delano; Bonne Passe (Good Thrust), a name of honor for a good swordsman, is now Bumpus; Goudron has become Gordon; Blond, Blunt; Godefroye, Godfrey; Langue, Lang; Marchand, Marchant; Fouleur, Fuller; Foubert, Furber; Marechal, Mar­ shall ; Du Prat, Pratt.

Physical and moral characteristics appear in some names, as in Le Roux (now Rouse), the man with ruddy complexion or red hair; Hardi, bold or strong, now Hardy; Morel or Morrell, of dusky complexion; Bon En­ fant, now Bullivant; Bon Coeur, the man of kind heart, now Bunker.

The list might be continued indefinitely; a few more names may be of interest to those of us who may trace our descent from some of the Huguenot refugees who settled in Eastern Massachusetts, New York or Rhode Island. We shall find some names derived from the -places in France whence the families emigrated, as Rus­ sell, from Rousselle; Hussey, from Houssaye; Briggs and Burgess, from Bruges. If de is found in the original name, it probably shows the place from which the family came; if le appears, it is descriptive, or may indicate the trade of the person.

In a published list of Huguenot names in British and American families are found: Bailey, Bassett, Burdett, Codd, Derrick, Drew, Joy, Lewis, (de Luis), Lovell, Mayhew, Mitchell, Pollard, Thompson, Valentine, Vin­ cent.

If any one is interested to prove his descent from a Huguenot family, information will be given by the Hu­ guenot Society of America, whose headquarters are in New York City.

There is, perhaps, a special reason why Nantucketers

OUR DEBT TO THE HUGUENOTS

49

should study the history of these refugees. Many of them were fishermen and sailors, who came from the western sea-coast towns of France, and found their way to New York, Salem, and other seaports. They proved to be sturdy sailors and enterprising captains, who made prof­ itable voyages for their employers, and who were impor­ tant factors in our country's commercial prosperity.

In conclusion, while we honor our Pilgrim fore­ fathers for their courage, religious fervor, and unswerving devotion to duty, let us gratefully acknowledge that we •owe to our Huguenot ancestors the same heroic virtues and the joyous, hopeful buoyancy of spirit that never for­ sook them in their long struggle for religious liberty and human rights.

HELEN A. GARDNER. July 20, 1910.

50

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY. Centennial anniversaries are appropriate occasions to review prominent events of the past.

One hundred years ago the 26th day of last June, the owners of the building on Orange Street, commonly known as the South or Unitarian Church, secured from the General Court an Act of Incorporation under the name of the Proprietors of the Second Congregational Meeting House in Nantucket. It is now proposed to present for consideration the circumstances that led tothe formation of this Society.

The year 1799 was the boundary line between the ancient and modern periods of religious development of Nantucket. During the previous century, the Society of Friends and the Congregationalists had controlled the religious activities of the Island. The Quakers had two monthly meetings, one maintaining a meeting-house on the southwest corner of Main and Pleasant Street and the other on the north side of Broad Street, next east of the Ocean House. The other society had its church budding, the present vestry, on Academy Hill. The Congregational Society, also called Presbyterian, in 1767 called as its minister the Rev. Bezaleel Shaw, and after nearly thirty years' ministry he died still in office. His administration had been conducted according to the Half-way Covenant" system which originated in the Old South Church in Boston. The corner-stone of the-

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

51

Puritan political system was that no man could vote and hold office unless he was a baptized member of the local Congregational Church, and this could be allowed to those only who had passed through the prescribed religious experience and were of good moral character.

Soon it was discovered that there were in every com­ munity numerous persons of respectable life and deport­ ment who could or would not comply with these two requirements. They were often men of high standing, integrity and wealth, but they disclaimed being "pious."

It was deemed better, if possible, to bring them under the influence of the Church, and so a compromise was effected by which some churches admitted to member­ ship persons of decorous and upright lives, even though they claimed no special religious qualification. In other words, the Church accepted one of the two requisites instead of insisting on both. This was stigmatized the "Half-way Covenant."

Under Mr. Shaw's administration, this system had been followed with very comfortable results, yet so far as the Church records indicate there were no additions to the church during the last twenty years of his ministry.

There has always existed in Massachusetts a duplex system of church government. Baptized persons, whether men, women or children, were enrolled in an organization called the "Church." This held no property, not even the meeting-house, because it was largely composed of per­ sons who were not qualified to vote.

Then there was an organization called the Society or Parish, composed only of adult males, and this held the meeting-house and other property. While under the "Half-way Covenant" system, the men of the Parish might be Church members, yet when this no longer be­ came a necessary qualification to citizenship, it often hap-

52

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

pened that a large majority of the members of the Par­ ish were not members of the Church. Such men were willing to attend to the affairs of the meeting-house, pay their money and hire the minister, yet they were not in­ clined toward becoming Church members, leaving that duty or privilege to their wives and daughters.

Just before 1800 a novel force appeared in active op­ eration in New England, that caused some turmoil and commotion. It was the intense propaganda of the early Methodists. It affected the younger men in the Congre­ gational pulpit, and the "Half-way Covenant" and its comfortable accessories were condemned and abandoned.

Church membership was the principal aim and object of all preaching, and the appeal attracted young people and those of emotional temperament, but did not usually reach the men of the Parish. Consequently the feeling was engendered among Church members that the unbaptized men of the Parish were irreligious, and antagonisms were aroused. The Churches sought to dictate in Parish affairs, even to the selection of the minister and fixing his salary. This led to divisions between Church and Parish, and many separations occurred. After 1800 the Courts of Massachusetts were busy settling disputes that had arisen under such circumstances. In every case a large part of the Church had become intensely Calvinistic and a conflict ensued between Church and Parish in which the taxpayers resisted the assumed control of the Church members.

Mr. Shaw died in 1796, and for over three years the Society was without a minister. During this time the Methodists became established at Nantucket. One of their preachers visited the Island, and for two weeks held open air meetings on Mill Hill. Such a vigorous in­ vasion into the dignified current of Nantucket life pro­ duced some upheaval and attracted from both Quakers

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

53

and Congregationalists a sufficient number to form a Methodist Church. The Land Records indicate that in 1799 a lot on the corner of Fair Street and Lyon had been purchased for a Church building, the title being taken in the name of the Trustees, Samuel Barrett, Ebenezer Rand, Grindall Gardner and Dr. Elijah Pease, all of whom had just seceded from the Congregational Church, Samuel Barrett having been its Deacon. This Methodist Church building was called the "Teaser Meeting-house."

When this defection was completed, the Church on Academy Hill had no Deacon, and only three male mem­ bers; but there were solid men who attended that place of worship, although so far as the records disclose they were not members of the Church. In October, 1799, the Society settled as its minister Rev. James Gurney, a graduate of Brown University, whose two decades of ser­ vice present widely varying results. During the first ten years twenty persons were admitted to the Church and these mostly adults. But in 1809 began the second period during which one hundred and fifty persons were added to the Church. Their historian records that Mr. Gurney entirely relinquished the "Half-way Covenant" method.

The inference seems plausible that Mr. Gurney, like clergymen in other towns of Massachusetts, had aban­ doned the easy and comfortable features of the old way and possibly under the stimulus of the early Methodists had become more Calvinistic.

It was in the year 1809 when additions to the Church were numerous and frequent that a separation took place in the Parish. So far as the records show, this movement did not affect the Church, as only two of its members withdrew, Rebecca Barker, wife of Samuel, and Ann Coffin, wife of Thaddeus. At the same date some who had been disowned by the Quakers joined the seceders in

54

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

forming the new Parish. Absence of historical docu­ ments precludes definite information, but an examination of the lists of persons who later composed each corpora­ tion, leads to the conclusion that the seceders were equal in number to those that remained, if in fact not more numerous.

Several reasons have been suggested to account for the division: First: F. C. Sanford stated: "Soon after the decease of Bezaleel Shaw there was in the Orthodox Congrega­ tional Society a growing spirit for more liberal ideas than had been prevailing among its worshippers," an intima­ tion that the difficulty had its origin in doctrinal differ­ ences.

Second: Rev. M. S. Dudley wrote: "It started as a protest against the undue strictness and close surveil­ lance exercised over its members in the matter of recre­ ations and amusements rather than on account of any wide divergence on the question of doctrinal belief."

Third: The Historian of the Old Church writes about the "disadvantages of its isolated position," referring to the fact that the meeting-house was at the extreme north end of the town and the members of the Society lived to the south, and many south of Main Street.

Fourth: A possible friction between the Church members on the one hand and the members of the Parish on the other, in which there was some attempted domina­ tion of the Church in Parish affairs.

As will hereafter be shown, the first reason did not exist as the separation had no basis in doctrinal contro­ versy. Nor can the reason suggested by Mr. Dudley be accepted, because any such restrictions in amusements would affect Church members only, and not men of the Parish, and the division was not in the Church beyond the withdrawal of two women. The separation came in.

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

55

the parish where there would be no religious restrictions or surveillance.

The third reason has much to be said in its favor.

The men who remained in the old Parish lived largely north of Main Street, while those families that withdrew resided near Main Street or further south. The Old Meeting-house was convenient to those who remained, while the South Building better accommodated those that withdrew. This consideration may have been the chief reason for the separation.

The fourth reason has some support in the sugges­ tion written probably about 1850 by the Historian of the Old Church: "The organization of the Unitarian Church deprived this Society of much of its wealth and influ­ ence."

These wealthy men may have desired a larger con­ trol in the affairs of the Old Society than the Church and minister were willing to concede. Wealth leads to social cleavage and here may have been a potent cause in de­ veloping the separation.

The Meeting-house was dedicated November ninth, 1809, the sermon being preached by Rev. Seth F. Swift (not then ordained), and the prayer by Rev. James Gurney. The first public preaching took place November 12, 1809. It is therefore evident that whatever led to the separation, it did not prevent Mr. Gurney being present and assisting at the first public function of the men who had lately been members of his Society. It would seem from this event that the owners of the new Meeting­ house had already selected Mr. Swift as their minister.

Rev. S. F. Hosmer stated that Mr. Gurney recommended Mr. Swift to the new Society.

At that date it was called the New South Congrega­ tional Society.

In the Congregational Library in Boston is a printed

56

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

sermon delivered by Mr. Gurney and "occasioned by the death of Miss Sarah Coffin Whitney, aged twenty years, the daughter of Daniel Whitney, Esq., preached Sunday, January 14, 1810." It presents much of the severe Cal­ vinism that was current in that day, and is very lengthy, requiring for its delivery not less than one hour and a half. It is rather singular that after this effort, in only a few months, Daniel Whitney and his numerous Cary rel­ atives withdrew from the North Society and became members of the organization on Orange Street.

According to the ecclesiastical usage of that day, when a separation had taken place, it became necessary for the seceders to call together a body of ministers to sanction the formation of the new Church. Such a Council was convened Friday, April 27, 1810, not only to start the new Church on its career, but to ordain its Min­ ister. Rev. Mr. Thaxter was Moderator, and Rev. Enoch Pratt was Scribe. Four persons appeared: Nathaniel Barrett, Matthew Pinkham, Thaddeus Coffin and Henry Riddell, to whom a Church Covenant was read and ac­ cepted; and they were then received into full communion.

They voted that the Council acknowledge this Church as a sister Church entitled to all the privileges with others."

Nathaniel Barrett and Henry Riddell were selected as deacons. The communion was ordered to be held once a month; "the preparatory, lecture to be held late in the afternoon for the convenience of the inhabitants."

This completed the organization of the New Church The covenant or creed which was accepted when exam­ ined in modern times gives the impression that it was as orthodox as the most sensitive Calvinistic could desire, and that it would have been equally as acceptable to the Old Church. This confirms the explanation already given that the separation was not due to any doctrinal controversy.

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

5*7

Having duly established the Church according to the orderly method of Congregational usage, the same Coun­ cil proceeded to ordain the young man, whom the new Society had already selected.

Seth Freeman Swift of Sandwich was a graduate of Harvard College and was studying Divinity in Brewster, presumably with Rev. John Simpkins. Introductory Prayer, Rev. Enoch Pratt, West Barnstable. Sermon and Concluding Prayer, Rev. John Simpkins, Brewster.

Consecration Prayer and Charge, Rev. Joseph Thaxter, Edgartown. Fellowship of the Churches, Rev. Jotham Waterman, Barnstable. Rev. John Reed of Bridgewater and Rev. Henry Lincoln of Falmouth were invited, but could not be present.

The account given in the New Bedford newspaper states: "The services were performed with great sol­ emnity and attended by a numerous assembly."

Although Mr. Gurney was present when the new Meeting-house was dedicated, no mention of his name appears in the later ceremonies. May 6, 1810, a com­ munion service of six pieces was presented to the Society.

The final step in the process of organization was the incorporation of the members of the New Parish. The year following the members of the Old Parish became incorporated. The two lists are appended to this paper.

From lack of records it is not possible to state defi­ nitely what members of the New Society came from the Old Parish, and which from the Quakers. But when the two lists are examined in the light of existing informa­ tion, it seems reasonable to conclude that those who with­ drew from the Old Society outnumbered those who re­ mained. This, if true, would have an important bearing on the determination of the causes of the separation. In most cases where the division arose in consequence of disagreement or controversy, the majority of the Parish

58

THE FORMATION OF THE UNITARIAN SOCIETY

retained possession of the Meeting-house property.

Where the larger and wealthier part of the Parish with­ drew and left the Meeting-house to the minority, other causes than ill-feeling must have existed.

A student of creeds might find it an interesting theme to examine the varying covenants of these two Churches, that were in doctrinal unison a century ago, but have since wandered over the field of theology, some­ times diverging and again approaching each other. At one time the North Church was a stronghold of Orthodox Trinitarianism; while the congregation gathered in the South Church was satisfied to listen to preachers who presented the most advanced theories of Liberal The­ ology. An incident occurred in the winter of 1874 within the observation of the writer. Rev. Henry C. Crane was the Minister over the North Society, and N. A. Haskell the Preacher at the South. Both were young men, and, while holding widely different views on theological ques­ tions, were friendly and often met at the social gatherings in the town. One Sunday morning the congregation at the North Church were surprised to see Mr. Haskell walk down the aisle to the pulpit, conduct the services, and preach the sermon. The two ministers had ex­ changed pulpits. At the close of the meeting a significant gathering of gray-haired men took place in the vestibule: Edward R. Folger, who had been a Deacon for thirty years; Captain David N. Edwards and Obed H. Joy, also Deacons, and Captain David M. Bunker, who was as firm and steadfast on all the principles of Calvinism as the other thiee. It was clear that they considered it neces­ sary to discountenance such an innovation as inviting a Unitarian into that pulpit. Later it was rumored that Mr. Crane might not remain beyond the close of his first year, and, although he had been successful in his ministry, he left the Church in September. This indiscretion prob­ ably cost him his pastorate.

59

PROPRIETORS OF THE FIRST CONGREGA­ TIONAL MEETING HOUSE IN NANTUCKET, INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 21, 1811.

Bunker, Reuben R. Bunker, Uriah, 2nd.

Cary, Edward, Jr. Cannon, Humphrey Cobb, William Coffin, Jonathan Coffin, Joshua Coffin, Shubael Coffin, Simeon, Jr. Coffin, Thomas M. Drew, Ebenezer Fitch, Ebenezer Fitch, Jedediah

Folger, Robert Gardner, Benjamin Gardner, Grafton Gardner, John Gelston, Roland Hiller, Thomas Joy, Obed Myrick, Peter Nichols, William Raymond, Elisha Walcott, Benjamin Whippey, Coffin

PROPRIETORS OF THE SECOND CONGREGA­ TIONAL MEETING HOUSE IN NANTUCKET, IN ACT OF INCORPORATION APRIL 26, 1810.

Barker, Samuel Baxter, Reuben Barnard, James Briggs, Jonathan C. Brock, John, Jr. Bunker, Elizabeth Cary, Richard Gary, Samuel Coffin, Thaddeus Coffin, William Folger, Timothy, Jr. Gardner, Albert

•Gardner, Hezekiah B. Glover, Benjamin Hayden, Zopher Hussey, Peter *Hussey, Zaccheus Lawrence, Jeremiah Myrick, David Myrick, George McCleave, Thomas N. •Mitchell, Aaron Pinkham, Matthew Riddell, Henry

€0 Riddell, Samuel Riddell, William Raymond, Elisha Rawson, Abel Swain, Samuel

Swain, Wyer Starbuck, Elisha Watts, Ebenezer Whitney, Daniel Wood, Jeremiah B.

•Disowned by the Quakers.

NOTE: The following persons whose names were not mentioned in the Act of Incorporation according to F. C. Sanford were also charter members: Nathaniel Bar­ rett, Jonathan Hall, Martin T. Morton, Edward Cary, Nathaniel Hathaway, Zephinia Wood, Joseph Chase, Elisha M. Hinckley.

PURCHASE OF THE CHURCH LOT AND SALE OF PEWS. July 23, 1808, George Gorham Hussey and wife Lydia conveyed to Thaddeus Coffin, William Riddell, Samuel Cary, Jonathan C. Briggs and John Brock, Jr., the lot of land near Wesco Hill, being in Fish Lot shares number two and three, and bounded on the north by land of Peleg Coggeshall; on the east by Orange Street; on the south by land of Henry Pinkham and on the west by land of William Morton and Elisha Folger, Jr. Sometime during the year following, these five grantees built the Meeting-house on this lot, which is now known as the South Church, and they then proceded to convey by ordinary deed of conveyance recorded in the Registry of Deeds, the pews in said Meeting-house; and the description in the deeds not only gives the num­ ber of the pew, but also the price paid and its location in the Meeting-house. The following are the persons who purchased pews during the latter part of 1809 from the

61>

above five persons, who are described as the Standing: Committee of said Church: Elisha Starbuck, No. 1.

Elizabeth Bunker, No. 19.

William Riddell, No. 5, 47, 46, 61.

Timothy Folger, No. 28. , Wyer Swain, No. 40, 51.

John Brock, Jr., No. 30, 31, 32,14.

Benjamin Glover, No. 6, 26.

Thaddeus Coffin, No. 10, 38, 55, 37, 63.

Samuel Swain, No. 42.

Jonathan C. Briggs, No. 4, 13, 25, 60, 68.

Several of the above were immediately after con- veyed to other pewholders.

HENRY-BARNARD WORTH.

Publications of Nantucket Historical Association.

Quakerism on Nantucket since 1800, by Henry Barnard Worth, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1896, 25 cts.

Timothy White Papers, by Rev. Myron Samuel Dudley, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1898, 25 cts.

Nantucket Lands and Land Owners, by Henry Barnard Worth, The Title and The Nantucket Insurrection, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1901, 25 cts.

The Settlers, Their Homes and Government, (Map) Vol. 2, No. 2, 1902, 25 cts.

The Indians of Nantucket, Vol. 2, No. 3, 1902, 25 cts.

Sheep Commons and The Proprietary, Vol. 2, No. 4, 1904, 25 cts.

Ancient Buildings of Nantucket, Vol 2, No. 5, 1906, 35 cts.

Indian Names, Wills and Estates, Index, Vol. 2, No. 6, 1910, 35 cts.

A Century of Free Masonry on Nantucket, by Alex­ ander Starbuck, Vol. 3, No. 1,1903, 25 cts.

Proceedings of First,Second and Third Annual Meetings of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1895-6-7.

Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1898.

Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1899. Out of print.

Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1900.

63

Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1901.

Proceedings of the Eighth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1902.

Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1903.

Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association. 1904.

Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual* Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association, Constitution and List of Members. 1905.

Proceedings of the Twelth Annual Meeting of the Nan­ tucket Historical Association, with List of Mem­ bers. 1906.

Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1907.

Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1908.

Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1909.

Proceedings of the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Nantucket Historical Association. 1910.

Price 10 Cents Each,

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