The 24. The third English colony planted with success in New England was at Salem. John Endicott, by authority of a grant made by the Council of Plymouth to a company of five persons.beside himself, arrived in the autumn Massachusetts of 1628; and, joined by persons who had already Bay Colony. settled there, laid the foundation of the colony. This was the beginning of the "Puritan refuge" in America. Endicott's associates, re-enforced by many Puritans of note and many other excellent men, obtained from King Charles a charter, which formed them into a body by the name of the "Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England" (1629). "This charter was cherished for more than half a century as the precious boon." 25. Twelve ships soon arrived in Massachusetts bay; but, in consequence of their long voyages, the emigrants suffered from fevers and the want of proper food. They "had inSettlement tended to dwell together; but, in their distress, of Boston. they planted where each was inclined." John Winthrop, their governor, made Charlestown his first home. "On the other side of the river, on the little peninsula, scarce two miles long by one broad, marked by three hills, and blessed with sweet and pleasant springs, safe pastures, and land that promised rich cornfields and fruitful gardens, the first good house was built, even before the place took the name (Boston) which was to grow famous throughout the world." 1 Winthrop took possession of this peninsula, and there commenced a settlement (1630). setts; but in 1680 the two colonies were separated by order of the king. Twice after this New Hampshire was united to Massachusetts; but from 1741 it was independent. 1 The Indian name of the peninsula was abbreviated into the name Shawmut. Some of the colonists were from Boston, England. The first English settler there was William Blackstone. "There is a mystery in his life which probably can never be explained. When and how he came to America is unknown. The first planters of Massachusetts bay found him already established on the Shawmut peninsula, now Boston. In 1634 he sold out his title to Shawmut, and became probably the first white settler of Rhode Island. Williams found him there in 1636.”—Arnold's History of Rhode Island. 1636 Hooker's Emigration. 69 26. The valley through which the Connecticut river flows was soon found to be pleasant and fertile. The Dutch of New Netherlands were the first to ascend the stream; and, to protect their claim to the region, they put up a building settlement of on the west side of the river, which answered the Connecticut. double purpose of a fort and trading-house. The Pilgrims of Plymouth also appear in the early history of Connecticut. They, too, erected a building-a trading-house—where they carried on a profitable traffic in furs with the natives. Meantime, however, the "soil of Connecticut," by an act of the Council of Plymouth, had been "ceded away," and was now the property of Lord Say-and-Seal, Lord Brooke, and others. At the mouth of the Connecticut a colony was planted by John Winthrop, son of the Massachusetts governor, which, in honor of the proprietors, was named Saybrook (1635). 27. In the autumn of the same year a second colony was established in Connecticut. This was at Hartford, near the fort built by the Dutch. The settlers were from the vicinity of Boston. These were followed the next year Hooker's by another emigration from the same locality, con- emigration. ducted by the Rev. Thomas Hooker. "About the beginning of June, the first warm month of the New England year, Mr. Hooker, with about one hundred men, women, and children, set out upon the journey which had been long in contemplation. Over mountains; through swamps; across rivers, fording or upon rafts; with the compass to point out their way, slowly they moved westward. 28. Now, in the open spaces of the forests where the sun looked in; now, under the shades of the old trees; now, struggling through the bushes and vines-driving their flocks and herds before them—with hearts as cheerful as the month, slowly they moved on. A stately, well-ordered journey it was, for gentlemen of fortune and rank were of the company. Ladies, too, who had been delicately bred and had known little of toil or hardship until now, were there. At the end of about two weeks they reached the land almost fabulous to them the valley of the Connecticut. It lay at their feet, beneath the shadow of the low-browed hills. It lay holding its silvery river in its embrace, like a strong bow half bent in the hands of the swarthy hunter, who still called himself lord of its rich acres. The 29. These settlers had come to a delightful region, but they were surrounded by perils. Their neighbors, the Dutch, were unfriendly, for they looked upon them as intruders; but their worst foes were the hostile tribe of Indians called Pequod War. Pequods or Pequots. With these (in 1637) they were compelled to wage a fierce war; but Indian cunning and ferocity were no match for European courage and skill. What could clubs and arrows avail against muskets and armor? The Pequods were defeated and completely broken up as a tribe. Of the few that survived and surrendered, some were enslaved by the English, the others were sent to the Narragansetts and Mohegans. 30. Two colonies were already in Connecticut. A third, "remarkable for the religious spirit that marked its laws," was founded at New Haven, by Theophilus Eaton, a man of large fortune, and John Davenport, a distinguished Puritan minister (1638). A title to the lands was obtained by a treaty with the natives. Annual elections were held, and Eaton was chosen governor Annually till his death-a period of twenty years. The New Colony. 31. "The first house for public worship in New Haven was commenced in 1639. That such a house should be built was decided in the town meeting. It was fifty feet square, having a tower surmounted with a turret. A Sabbath in New Haven in times. women The men were seated on one side of the house; the women on the other. Every one, according to the olden his office or his age, or his rank in society, had his place assigned to him. In this temple the fathers of New Haven maintained the worship and ordinances of God for about thirty years. Let us go back to one of their ancient Sabbaths. You see in the morning no mo 1639 A Sabbath in New Haven. 71 tion, save as the herds go forth to their pasture in the common grounds, driven by the herdsmen. At the appointed hour, the drum having been beaten both the first time and the second, the whole population, from the dwellings of the town and from the farms on the other side of the river, come together in the place of prayer. 32. The sentinel is placed in the turret to give the first alarm in the event of an attack by the Indians. Those who are to keep ward, the military guard, go forth, pacing two by two the still green lanes. In this rude and unfurnished structure is devotion true and pure. Through a long course of exercises, which would weary out the men of our degenerate days, these hearers sit or stand. They love the word that comes from the lips of their pastor. They love the order of this house. To them, each sermon, every prayer, every tranquil Sabbath is the more precious for all that it has cost them. As the day declines they retire to their dwellings, and close the Sabbath with family worship.' 66 The founder Island. 33. Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, was a fugitive from English persecution." Landing at Boston, the year next after Winthrop had taken up his abode there, he soon incurred the enmity of those in power, of Rhode for on every occasion he held firmly to the doctrine that "the civil power should have no control over the religious opinions of men." After a two years' residence at Plymouth he went to Salem, and there he became the pastor of the church. His efforts, however, to separate the affairs of State from the affairs of the Church so excited the hostility of the authorities, that they resolved to banish him from the colony. 66 34. His immediate departure, in a ship then ready to sail for England, was resolved upon. An order was sent for him to come to Boston, which he declined to do. A boat was then despatched to take him by force, and place His flight to him on board the ship. Warned by the previous Rhode Island. order, he had already escaped three days before, no one knew whither. Leaving his wife and two infant children, he set out alone in midwinter to perform that arduous journey of which, thirty-five years later, he wrote, 'I was tossed for one fourteen weeks, in a bitter winter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean.' 35. Happily for the world, and most fortunately, as the event soon proved, for the people of New England, he eluded the vigilance of his pursurers. Driven from the society of civilized man, Williams turned his steps southward, to find among heathen savages the boon of charity which was re The people of the Connecticut colony-Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield-met at Hartford in 1639, and united in forming a government. In 1644, Saybrook joined the Connecticut colony. The two colonies, Connecticut and New Haven, were formed into one in 1665, under a royal charter granted by Charles II. |