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Showing posts with label Knapp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knapp. Show all posts

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Jacob Perkins Inventor & Genius

Jacob Perkins was born and bred in Newburyport, MA B: July 9 1766 D: July 11 1849 in London Son of Mathew Perkins and Jane Noyes Married November 11 1790 Hannah Greenleaf d.of Ebenezer Greenleaf and Hannah Titcomb Greenleaf  See The Jacob Perkins House 


Jacob Perkins Newburyport, MA building: 2nd floor by Dick Hancsom May, 2010


One of the most ingenious of engravers and one of the earliest to attempt to engrave medallic dies, was Jacob Perkins, whose medal of Washington, bearing an urn and the inscription, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," is well known to collectors. He was born in Newburyport, Mass., July 9, 1766. His father was a tailor, and carried on his business in that quaint old town on the banks of the Merrimac, which at that time was a prosperous municipality and the home of many distinguished men. On its principal street stands the church where Whitfield lies buried, the well-known friend of the Wesleys and the Countess of Huntingdon, and to whose fervid sermons on his journeys through the colonies Franklin occasionally listened. Jacob's father had a numerous family, and brought them up in much of the strictness which characterized the period; but Jacob was somewhat disposed to resent the rigor of the parental rule, and it is related that on one occasion having been sent to his chamber for some trifling misdemeanor, his father repaired thither shortly after, determined to apply the rod of correction, but was astonished to find only an empty room; the boy had discovered some balls of the "listing" torn from his father's woolens, and, extemporizing a rope, had made his escape. Whether this ability of taking care of himself led to the immediate result of his leaving home, history does not relate, but soon after, at the age of fifteen, we find him at work as a goldsmith, and assuming a large share of the responsibility of the business. At the age of twenty-one he is said to have made his first attempt at gutting dies for striking coins. A letter from Mr. Matthew A. Stickney, in the Journal for September, 1868, (p 36), says that he "executed beautifully a silver pattern for the first coinage of United States dollars," an impression of which, obtained from a nephew of Mr. Perkins, is in the Stickney cabinet, who esteems it as among the choicest pieces in his possession, and who remarks that it was rejected because it bore the medallion head of Washington.


On the 11th of February, 1800, a Masonic procession was held in which the Grand Lodge, Samuel Dunn, Grand Master, and 1600 Brethren participated, many of them wearing a Medal struck for the occasion from dies cut by Jacob Perkins. The obverse has a bust of Washington to left, in uniform, and surrounded by a wreath of laurel. It bears the legend, "He Is in Glory, the World in Tears," which was suggested by the Hon. Dudley A. Tyng, who was at one time collector of the Port of Newburyport. The reverse has an inscription in four concentric lines and a skull and crossbones at the bottom.

 Washington funeral medal, c 1800 Private Collection Picture from American Silversmiths 


Advertised in the Providence Journal (Providence RI), 5 Feb 1800, by David Vinton offering the Washington funeral medals produced Perkins.
Eleven days later a civic procession marched through the streets of the same city, and another medal, having the same obverse, but a different reverse, with an urn, etc., the dies of which were also cut by Perkins, was worn. These medals were struck in a three-story wooden building which stood for many years in Market Place, Newburyport, and perhaps is still there; it was just below the Ocean Bank.
The "pattern silver dollar" referred to in the above extract can hardlybe classed as a pattern coin. An "impression from the die" would be a better designation, for it appears that Mr. Perkins cut only one die—the obverse. Only one of these impressions is known, which was offered in the sale of the Stickney collection by Mr. Henry Chapman in 1907, where it was described as follows:
"(1793) Dollar. Bust of Washington in military costume facing left, on a plain field surrounded by concentric bands of various designs; in the outer one at the top in incused letters is the word 'Washington.' Struck on a thin silver planchet, the reverse being the same design as obverse incused. Silver. Extremely fine and perfect. Size 2 6. Unique and unpublished, unknown to everyone—not even in Baker's 'Medallic Portraits of Washington, 1885.' It is wrapped in a piece of old paper and inscribed in Mr. Stickney's handwriting—$10 Pattern dollar, 1793, by Jacob Perkins of Newburyport, given me by his nephew—very rare.'"
Ad from  Tuesday, April 24, 1810 Paper: Poulson's American Daily Advertiser Philadelphia, PA



Perkins Mint on Fruit Street, 1890s. Photograph by Noyes Studios. Courtesy of the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center   Tribute as posted in the Commissioner of Patents Annual Report 



JACOB PERKINS. This eminent inventor died during the past year. The following tribute to his memory is entitled to a place here, inasmuch Mr. P. took out seventeen American patents — the first one in 1799, for nail making machinery. "A simple and unostentatious notice of the demise of this remarkable man, is all the tribute that the public press has yet paid to his memory. The merits of our ingenious countryman deserves more. He has passed quietly away from the scene of his labors ; but he has left his mark upon the age. He was descended from one of the oldest families of that ancient portion of the State of Massachusetts, the county of Essex — a region of stubborn soil, but rich in its production of men. Matthew Perkins, his father, was a native of Ipswich, and his ancestor was one of the first settlers of that town. Matthew Perkins removed to Newburyport early in life, and here Jacob Perkins was . born, July 9th, 1766. He received such education as the common schools of that day furnished, and nothing more. What they were in 1770 may be guessed. At the age of twelve he was put apprentice to a goldsmith of Newburyport, of the name of Davis.
Elias Davis JR born June 11 1782 son of Elias Davis SR and Phoebe Woodman Elias Davis Sr was son of Job Davis and Thomasina Greenleaf Elias JR married Joanna Coffin on November 1 1831

His master died three years afterwards; and Perkins at fifteen, was left with the management of the business. This was the age of gold beads, which our grandmothers still hold in fond remembrance — and who wonders ? The young goldsmith gained great reputation for the skill and honesty with which he transformed the old Portuguese joes, then in circulation, into these showy ornaments for the female bosom.

Shoe- buckles were another article in great vogue ; and Perkins, whose inventive powers had begun to expand during his apprenticeship, turned his attention to the manufacturing of them. He discovered a new method of plating, by which he could undersell the imported buckles. This was a profitable branch of business, till the revolutions of fashion drove shoe-buckles out of the market. Nothing could be done with strings, and Perkins put his head-work upon other matters.
Machinery of all sorts was then in a very rude state, and a clever artisan was scarcely to be found. It was regarded as a great achievement to effect a rude copy of some imported machine. Under the old confederation, the State of Massachusetts established a mint for striking copper coin; but it was not so easy to find a mechanic equal to the task of making a die. Perkins was but twenty-one years of age when he was employed by the government for this purpose; and the old Massachusetts cents, stamped with the Indian and the eagle, now to be seen only in collections of curiosities, are the work of his skill. He next displayed his ingenuity in nail machinery, and at die age of twenty-four invented a machine which cut and headed nails at one operation.

 In 1795 Perkins setup a nail-manufacturing company at the falls in Amesbury that used water power to drive the machinery. Today the shaft that was connected to the water wheel can still be seen. Photo by Wayne Chase

This was first put in operation at Newburyport, and afterwards at Amesbury, on the Merrimac, where the manufacture of nails has been carried on for more than half a century. Perkins would have realized a great fortune from this invention, had. his knowledge of the world and the tricks of trade been in any way equal to his . mechanical skill. Others, however, made a great gain from his loss: and he turned his attention to various other branches of the mechanic arts, in several, of which he made essential improvements, as fire engines, hydraulic machines, &c. One of the most important of his inventions was in the engraving of bank bills. Forty years ago counterfeiting was carried on with an audacity and a success which would seem incredible at the present time. The ease with which the clumsy engravings of the bank bills of the day were imitated, was a temptation to every knave who could scratch copper; and counterfeits flooded the country, to the serious detriment of trade. Perkins invented the stereotype check-plate, which no art of counterfeiting could match ; and a security was thus given to bank paper which it had never before known. 
There was hardly any mechanical science in which Perkins did not exercise his inquiring and inventive spirit. The town of Newburyport enjoyed the benefit of his skill in every way in which he could contribute to the public welfare or amusement. During the war of 1812 his ingenuity was employed in constructing machinery for boring out old honeycombed cannon, and in perfecting the science of gunnery. He was a skillful pyrotechnist, and the Newburyport fireworks of that day were thought to be unrivaled in the United States. The boys, we remember, looked up to him as a second Faust or Cornelius Agrippa; and the writer of this article has not forgotten the delight and amazement with which he learned from Jacob Perkins the mystery of compounding serpents and rockets.


About this time a person named Redheffer made pretensions to a discovery of the perpetual motion. He was traversing the United States with a machine exhibiting his discovery. Certain weights moved the wheels, and when they had run down, certain other weights restored the first. The experiment seemed perfect, for the machine continued to move without cessation; and Redheffer was trumpeted to the world as the man who had solved the great problem. Perkins gave the machine an examination, and his knowledge of the powers of mechanism enabled him to perceive at once that the visible appliances were inadequate to the results. He saw that a hidden power existed somewhere, and his skilful calculations detected the corner of the machine from which it proceeded. " Pass a saw through that post," said he, " and your perpetual motion will stop." The imposter refused to put his machine to such a test: and for a sufficient reason. It was afterwards discovered that a cord passed through this post into the cellar, where an individual was stationed to restore the weights at every revolution. The studies, labors, and ingenuity of Perkins were employed on so great a variety of subjects, that the task of specifying and describing them must be left to one fully acquainted with the history of the mechanic arts in the United States. He discovered a method of softening and hardening steel at pleasure, by which the process of engraving on that metal was facilitated in a most essential degree. He instituted a series of experiments by which he demonstrated the compressibility of water, a problem which for centuries had baffled the ingenuity of natural philosophers. In connection with this discovery, Perkins also invented the bathometer, an instrument for measuring the depth of the sea by the pressure of the water; and the pleometer, to measure a ship's rate of sailing.


Perkins continued to reside in his birth place till 1816, when he removed from Newburyport to Boston, and subsequently to Philadelphia. His attention was now occupied by steam machinery, which was beginning to acquire importance in the United States. His researches led to the invention of a new method of generating steam, by suddenly letting a small quantity of water into a heated vessel.


After a short residence in Philadelphia, he removed to London, where his experiments with high pressure steam, and other exhibitions which he gave of his inventive powers, at once brought him into general notice. His uncommon mechanical genius was highly appreciated; and his steam-gun was for some time the wonder of the British metropolis. This gun he invented in the United States, and took out a patent for it in 1810. It attracted the notice of the British government in 1823, and Perkins made experiments with it before the Duke of Wellington and a numerous party of officers. At a distance of thirty-five yards he shattered iron targets to pieces, and sent his balls through eleven planks, one inch thick each, and placed an inch apart from one another. This gun was a very ingenious piece of workmanship, and could discharge about one thousand balls per minute.  Perkins continued in London during the remainder of his life. He never became rich. He lacked one quality to secure success in the world—financial thrift. Everybody but himself profited by his inventions. He was, in fact, too much in love with the excitement of the chase to look very strongly at the pecuniary value of the game. He died in London, July 30th, 1849. The name he leaves behind him is that of the American inventor. It is one which he deserves, and which is his true glory. He was entirely self-educated in science, and the great powers of his mind expanded by their innate force. For half a century from the hour of his birth he lived in the town of Newburyport. Here he grew up, acquired his knowledge, applied his genius to action, perfected his inventive powers, and gained all his early reputation. At the present day, when books are in the hands of every man, woman, and child, and the rudiments of scientific knowledge are presented to us in thousands of students' manuals, cyclopaedias, periodicals, public lectures, &c, we can form no adequate notion of the obstacles which lay in the way of a young man beginning his scientific pursuits at the time when Perkins was a youth. Imagine the state of popular science in 1787, and some faint notion may be obtained of the difficulties which the young artist was compelled to encounter in the preliminary steps of every undertaking. The exact sciences were but slightly regarded, even by those who made pretensions to complete learning in those days; and a great proficient in the mechanic arts could only hope to be considered in the light of a clever carpenter or blacksmith. Men did not dream of such fame as that of Watt and Arkwright. It is much to the honor of his townsmen that Perkins was from his earliest days, held in the highest esteem by them. They fully appreciated his genius, and were proud to honor him. In the latter years of his life, when far removed from the land of his birth, his thoughts and feelings always turned homeward, and he never ceased to express the hope of returning to lay his bones in his native soil. His wish has not been gratified, but his memory will remain for ever connected with the spot." 
Hannah Greenleaf Perkins
                                                      


Loftus Perkins grandson of Jacob and Hannah
 

In 1880, Loftus Perkins installed a triple expansion steam engine
Loftus son of Angier March Perkins (21 August 1799 – 22 April 1881) was a U.S. engineer who worked most of his career in the UK and was instrumental in developing the new technologies of central heating.




Monday, August 4, 2014

Captain Edwin John Colby AKA (Lorentz Spitzenfiel Colby)


Capt Edwin John Colby son of John Colby and Dolly Bagley Colby born on July 31 1812 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. Originally given the name Lorentz Spitzenfiel Colby, List of Persons Whose Names Have Been Changed in This Commonwealth Feb. 26, 1814.) He appeared in the census in 1850 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. (SOURCE: 1850 Massachusetts Census. Salisbury, Essex County, page 20. Age 38.) Also See Private and Special Statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Volume 4 and The Genealogist, Volumes 13-14 Died on December 19 1859 at Bremen-Vegesack, Weser, Germany.


Sea Captain: Joined the Marine Society Nov. 27, 1856 Newburyport, MA

From The History of the Marne Society of Newburyport
Capt. Edwin J. Colby was born at Salisbury Point, Mass., July 31, 1812, and was the son of John and Dolly Bagley Colby, being the oldest of nine children. As a boy he evinced a taste for the sea, and at the early age of 17 years he commenced his sea- faring life with Capt. 'William Morrill of Salisbury, in the ship Virginia of Alexandria, in August, 1829, going to different southern ports, Richmand, Jamestown, Norfolk and Hampton Roads. In a few years he sailed with the same Capt. Morrill on the Maryland, and at the age of 21 he was second mate of that ship and went to Liverpool. Not long after he was advanced to the position of first mate of the brig Vesta, Capt. Knapp, and visited Havana and other places in the West Indies, also foreign ports. In 1839 he was made a captain of the Jeannette, and in 1841 he commanded the brig Alice of New York, owned by Thomas and Eben Hale (perhaps others). The names of other vessels that afterwards he was master of were the brig Salisbury of Newburyport, bark Tartar, the ships Arno, Edward and the Atlanta, which was owned by Theodore Chase & Co., of Boston. His voyages were usually long, covering a period of nearly two years, and while in the earlier part of his life he went to the southern ports, the later trips were made to the ports in South America, Valpariso, Callao, Chincha Islands, to Melbourne, Australia, St. Helena, to Cadiz, through the Mediterranean to Palermo, Sicily, and up the Adriatic Sea to Trieste. He visited Havre and Bordeaux, Falmouth and Liverpool, London, Isle of Cowes, Elsinore in Denmark, Amsterdam in Holland, and Cronstadt in Russia, Bremen in Germany, Calcutta, Singapore and Aykab, China and Japan. On the 10th of March, 1858, he sailed on the Atlantic from Boston for Calcutta, Melbourne and Bremen, reaching the latter place about December 1859. Here he was taken sick and went to the home of his friend, Henri Wehmann of Vegesack, in order to have proper care and physician's services, but in spite of the constant attention of his friends and the physician's skill, he grew rapidly worse and on the 19th of December, 1859, he passed away in the 48th year of his age. He was buried in the family lot of the Wehmann's at Negesack with Masonic honors, be being a member of Warren Lodge of Amesbury, of Washington Lodge of Charleston S. C, and was made honorary member of Industry and Perseverance Lodge of England at Calcutta, on Sept. II, 1857, and was presented with a gold badge by that lodge. He joined the Marine Society Nov. 27, 1856, and was a member in good standing at" the time of his death. He was a noble character, and his kind and genial nature made him many friends who respected and esteemed him. He had the confidence and regard of his employers, and was a valued citizen of his native place. His devotion to his family was constant and he was well worthy of their affection. He left a wife who survived him only two years.
Edwin was on the Salisbury militia rolls of 1841-1845, 1852 and 1855. Edwin married Mary Follansbee Wigglesworth , daughter of Samuel Wigglesworth and Joanna Heckett born on April 10 1814 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. (SOURCE: Early Vital Recorcs of Essex County, Massachusetts to 1850 for Salisbury. She appeared in the census in 1850 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. SOURCE: 1850 Massachusetts Census. Salisbury, Essex County, page 20. Age 35 She appeared in the census in 1860 in Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. She died on February 4 1862 at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts.

                                                           Mary F Wigglesworth Colby


Children were: John Edwin COLBY, MaryElizabeth COLBY, Ada Josephine COLBY, Joanna Alice COLBY. Edwin lost his son John age 4 Friday, September 20, 1844 Boston Traveler (Boston, MA)

Reported for the Inquirer; City Item Friday, March 8, 1844 Philadelphia Inquirer PA


 Edwin's brother Macy-Colby House Paintings  Captain Elbridge Gerry Colby Edwin's OBIT: Tuesday, January 10, 1860 Paper: Boston Traveler (Boston, MA) 


Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Strange & Curious Punishments Puritan Style

From New York Times Article October 17, 1886 And Archival History, Court Documents and Genealogy








After some research on the names and events I am posting what I have found from sources from the archives.

From Boston Police History
 
1639---Edward Palmer was employed to build stocks (a place in which to set criminals for punishment); when completed, he presented his bill for his services. The bill was thought to be exorbitant, and Edward Palmer got placed in his own stocks and was fined five pounds.


From Prospect: Or, View of the Moral World, Volume 1 By Elihu Palmer

Extracts from the Ancient Records of Massachusetts. 
Edward Palmer, for his extortion in taking two pounds ; thirteen shillings and four penee, for the wood work of Boston stocks, is fined four pounds, and ordered to be set one hour in the flocks.

From Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 56, Number 108, 25 December 1886 — PUNISHING SCOLDS. [ARTICLE]




From Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony By George Francis Dow

Her name was Mary Oliver and her criminal record begins in June, 1638. Governor Winthrop relates: "Amongst the rest, there was a woman in Salem, one Oliver, his wife, who had suffered somewhat in England by refusing to bow at the name of Jesus, though otherwise she was conformable to all their orders. She was (for ability of speech, and appearance of zeal and devotion) far before Mrs Hutchinson, and so the fitter instrument to have done hurt, but that she was poor and had little acquaintance. She took offense at this, that she might not be admitted to the Lord's supper without giving public satisfaction to the church of her faith, etc., and covenanting or professing to walk with them according to the rule of the gospel; so as upon the sacrament day she openly called for it, stood to plead her right, though she were denied; and would not forbear, before the magistrate, Mr. Endecott, did threaten to send the constable to put her forth. This woman was brought to the Court for disturbing the peace in the church, etc., and there she gave such peremptory answers, as she was committed till she should find sureties for her good behavior. After she had been in prison three or four days, she made means to the Governor and submitted herself, and acknowledged her fault in disturbing the church; whereupon he took her husband's bond for her good behavior, and discharged her out of prison. But he found, after, that she still held her former opinions, which were very dangerous, as, (I) that the church is the head of the people, both magistrates and ministers, met together and that these have power to ordain ministers, etc. II That all that dwell in the same town, and will profess their faith in Christ Jesus, ought to be received to the sacraments there; and that she was persuaded that, if Paul were at Salem, he would call all the inhabitants there saints. (III) That excommunication is no other but when Christians withdraw private communion from one that hath offended." September 24, 1639, this Mary Oliver was sentenced to prison in Boston indefinitely for her speeches at the arrival of newcomers. She was to be taken by the constables of Salem and Lynn to the prison in Boston. Her husband Thomas Oliver was bound in £20 for his wife's appearance at the next court in Boston.


Governor Winthrop continues: "About five years after, this woman was adjudged to be whipped for reproaching the magistrates. She stood without tying, and bore her punishment with a masculine spirit, glorying in her suffering. But after (when she came to consider the reproach, which would stick by her, etc.) she was much dejected about it. She had a cleft stick put on her tongue half an hour for reproaching the elders."
March 2, 1647-8, Mary Oliver was fined for working on the Sabbath day in time of public exercise; also for abusing Capt. Hathorne, uttering divers mutinous speeches, and denying the morality of the Sabbath. She was sentenced to sit in the stocks one hour next lecture day, if the weather be moderate; also for saying "You in New England are thieves and Robbers" and for saying to Mr. Gutch that she hoped to tear his flesh in pieces and all such as he was. For this she was bound to good behavior, and refusing to give bond was sent to Boston jail, and if she remained in the court's jurisdiction was to answer to further complaints at the next Salem Court.
It appears from depositions that she went to Robert Gutch's house in such gladness of spirit that he couldn't understand it, and she said to some there, not members, "Lift up your heads, your redemption draweth near," and when reminded what she already had been punished for, she said that she came out of that with a scarf and a ring.
November 15, 1648, Mary Oliver for living from her husband, was ordered to go to him before the next court, and in December she brought suit against John Robinson for false imprisonment, taking her in a violent manner and putting her in the stocks. She recovered a judgment of 10s. damages. The following February Mary Oliver was again presented at Court for living from her husband, and in July, having been ordered to go to her husband in England by the next ship, she was further enjoyed to go by the next opportunity on penalty of 20 li.
November 13, 1649, Mary Oliver was presented for stealing goats, and a month later she was presented for speaking against the Governor, saying that he was unjust, corrupt and a wretch, and that he made her pay for stealing two goats when there was no proof in the world of it. She was sentenced to be whipped next lecture day at Salem, if the weather be moderate, not exceeding twenty stripes. Capt. William Hathorne and Mr. Emanuel Downingwere to see the sentence executed. At the same court George Ropes complained that Mary Oliver kept away a spade of his and she was fined 5s.
February 28, 1649-50, Mary Oliver thus far had escaped the second whipping, for at her request Mr. Batter asked that her sentence be respited, which the Court granted "if she doe go into the Bay with Joseph Hardy this day or when he goeth next into the Bay with his vessell" otherwise she was to be called forth by Mr. Downing and Capt. Hathorne and be punished. If she returned, the punishment was to hold good.
The next day Mary Oliver's fine was remitted to the end that she use it in transporting herself and children out of this jurisdiction within three weeks. And there ended her turbulent career in the town of Salem, so far as the Court records show.


From The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts Author: Henry M. Brooks

We here record a curious affair which took place in the State of Georgia in the year 1811. At the Superior Court at Milledgeville a Mrs. Palmer, who, the account states, "seems to have been rather glib of the tongue, was indicted, tried, convicted, and, in pursuance of the sentence of the Court, was punished by being publicly ducked in the Oconee River for—scolding." This, we are told, was the first instance of the kind that had ever occurred in that State, and "numerous spectators attended the execution of the sentence." A paper copying this account says that the "crime is old, but the punishment is new," and that "in the good old days of our Ancestors, when an unfortunate woman was accused of Witchcraft she was tied neck and heels and thrown into a pond of Water: if she drowned, it was agreed that she was no witch; if she swam, she was immediately tied to a stake and burnt alive. But who ever heard that our pious ancestors ducked women for scolding?" This writer is much mistaken; for it is well known that in England (and perhaps in this country in early times) the "ducking-stool" was resorted to for punishing "scolds." This was before the days of "women's rights," for there is no record of any man having been punished in this way.

For More see Marquis Eaton's essay  Punitive Pain and Humiliation
 

In the early seventeenth century, Boston's Roger Scott was picked up for "repeated sleeping on the Lord's Day" and sentenced to be severely whipped for "striking the person who waked him from his godless slumber."

From The Sabbath in Puritan New England: Chapter 6  The Tithingman and the Sleepers


Another over-watchful Newbury "awakener" rapped on the head a nodding man who protested indignantly that he was wide-awake, and was only bowing in solemn assent and approval of the minister's arguments. Roger Scott, of Lynn, in 1643 struck the tithingman who thus roughly and suddenly wakened him; and poor sleepy and bewildered Roger, who is branded through all time as "a common sleeper at the publick exercise," was, for this most naturally resentful act, but also most shockingly grave offense, soundly whipped, as a warning both to keep awake and not to strike back in meeting.
Add tidbit: 
Obadiah Turner, of Lynn, gives in his Journal a sad, sad disclosure of total depravity which was exposed by one of these sudden church-awakenings, and the story is best told in the journalist's own vivid words:--
"June 3, 1616.--Allen Bridges hath bin chose to wake ye sleepers in meeting. And being much proude of his place, must needs have a fox taile fixed to ye ende of a long staff wherewith he may brush ye faces of them yt will have napps in time of discourse, likewise a sharpe thorne whereby he may pricke such as be most sound. On ye last Lord his day, as hee strutted about ye meeting-house, he did spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comfort, hys head kept steadie by being in ye corner, and his hand grasping ye rail. And soe spying, Allen did quickly thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard and give him a grievous prick upon ye hand. Whereupon Mr. Tomlins did spring vpp mch above ye floore, and with terrible force strike hys hand against ye wall; and also, to ye great wonder of all, prophanlie exclaim in a loud voice, curse ye wood-chuck, he dreaming so it seemed yt a wood-chuck had seized and bit his hand. But on coming to know where he was, and ye greate scandall he had committed, he seemed much abashed, but did not speak. And I think he will not soon again goe to sleepe in meeting."

From A History of Baptists  By Thomas Armitage

Quite likely those sinners, of the Gentiles, John Wood, Joseph Bednap and Roger Scott, were all present. Wood had been tried, February 19th, 1646, for 'professing Anabaptist sentiments and withholding his children from baptism;' Rednap had broken the law in usually 'departing from the congregation at the time of administering the seal of baptism;' [Felt, Ecc. Hist., ii, p. 46] and 'Scott was that drowsy sinner who was tried by the Court, February 28th, 1643, for common sleeping at the public exercise upon the Lord's day, and for striking him that waked him and was 'severely whipped' for the same in the ensuing December. This deponent saith not whether he really was at Witter's, or, if so, whether he wanted a quiet nap unaroused by a pugnacious Puritan Dogberry; perhaps he thought that a stirring Baptist sermon was just the novelty to keep him wide awake on that Sunday and in that particular place.

From Some strange and curious punishments edited by Henry Mason Brook

The whipping-post and stocks were discontinued in Massachusetts early in the present century. On the 15th of January, 1801, one Hawkins stood an hour in the pillory in Court Street (now Washington Street), Salem, and had his ear cropped for the crime of forgery, pursuant to the sentence of the Supreme Court.


From  Curious Punishments of Bygone Days  By Alice Morse Earle



From New England's Cruel and Unusual Punishments by Robert Ellis Cahill

Salem, 1801, "Hawkins, for Forgery, stood for one hour in the pillory and had his ears cropped.
Another over-watchful Newbury "awakener" rapped on the head a nodding man who protested indignantly that he was wide-awake, and was only bowing in solemn assent and approval of the minister's arguments. Roger Scott, of Lynn, in 1643 struck the tithingman who thus roughly and suddenly wakened him; and poor sleepy and bewildered Roger, who is branded through all time as "a common sleeper at the publick exercise," was, for this most naturally resentful act, but also most shockingly grave offense, soundly whipped, as a warning both to keep awake and not to strike back in meeting.
Add tidbit: 
Obadiah Turner, of Lynn, gives in his Journal a sad, sad disclosure of total depravity which was exposed by one of these sudden church-awakenings, and the story is best told in the journalist's own vivid words:--
"June 3, 1616.--Allen Bridges hath bin chose to wake ye sleepers in meeting. And being much proude of his place, must needs have a fox taile fixed to ye ende of a long staff wherewith he may brush ye faces of them yt will have napps in time of discourse, likewise a sharpe thorne whereby he may pricke such as be most sound. On ye last Lord his day, as hee strutted about ye meeting-house, he did spy Mr. Tomlins sleeping with much comfort, hys head kept steadie by being in ye corner, and his hand grasping ye rail. And soe spying, Allen did quickly thrust his staff behind Dame Ballard and give him a grievous prick upon ye hand. Whereupon Mr. Tomlins did spring vpp mch above ye floore, and with terrible force strike hys hand against ye wall; and also, to ye great wonder of all, prophanlie exclaim in a loud voice, curse ye wood-chuck, he dreaming so it seemed yt a wood-chuck had seized and bit his hand. But on coming to know where he was, and ye greate scandall he had committed, he seemed much abashed, but did not speak. And I think he will not soon again goe to sleepe in meeting."

From A History of Baptists  By Thomas Armitage

Quite likely those sinners, of the Gentiles, John Wood, Joseph Bednap and Roger Scott, were all present. Wood had been tried, February 19th, 1646, for 'professing Anabaptist sentiments and withholding his children from baptism;' Rednap had broken the law in usually 'departing from the congregation at the time of administering the seal of baptism;' [Felt, Ecc. Hist., ii, p. 46] and 'Scott was that drowsy sinner who was tried by the Court, February 28th, 1643, for common sleeping at the public exercise upon the Lord's day, and for striking him that waked him and was 'severely whipped' for the same in the ensuing December. This deponent saith not whether he really was at Witter's, or, if so, whether he wanted a quiet nap unaroused by a pugnacious Puritan Dogberry; perhaps he thought that a stirring Baptist sermon was just the novelty to keep him wide awake on that Sunday and in that particular place.

From Some strange and curious punishments edited by Henry Mason Brook. The whipping-post and stocks were discontinued in Massachusetts early in the present century. On the 15th of January, 1801, one Hawkins stood an hour in the pillory in Court Street (now Washington Street), Salem, and had his ear cropped for the crime of forgery, pursuant to the sentence of the Supreme Court.
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