Showing posts with label Quaker Persecutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Quaker Persecutions. Show all posts
Monday, January 6, 2020
Friday, November 8, 2019
The Women of Dover John Greenleaf Whittier
 |
| Robert Pike (1616-1706) |
The following is a copy of the warrant issued by Major Waldron of Dover in 1662 The Quakers as was their wont prophesied against him and saw as they supposed the fulfillment of their prophesy when many years after he was killed by the Indians To the constables of Denier Hampton Salisbury Newbury Rowley Ipswich Wenham Lynn Roxbury Dedham and until these vagabond Quakers are carried out of this jurisdiction
You and every one of you are required in the King's Majesty's name to take these vagabond Quakers Anne Colman Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose and make them fast to the cart's tail and driving the cart through your several towns to whip them upon their naked backs not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them in each town and so to convey them from constable to constable till they are out of this jurisdiction as you will answer it at your peril and this shall be your warrant Richard Waldron Dated at Dover December 22d 1662.
This warrant was executed only in Dover and Hampton At Salisbury the constable refused to obey it He was sustained by the town's people who were under the influence of Major Robert Pike (picture above) the leading man in the lower valley of the Merrimac who stood far in advance of his time as an advocate of religious freedom and an opponent of ecclesiastical authority He had the moral courage to address an able and manly letter to the court at Salem remonstrating against the witchcraft trial.
See Genealogy Magazine Lydia Perkins Wardwell
Poem by John Greenleaf Whittier
The tossing spray of Cocheco's fall
Hardened to ice on its rocky wall,
As through Dover town in the chill, gray dawn,
Three women passed, at the cart-tail drawn!
Bared to the waist, for the north wind's grip
And keener sting of the constable's whip,
The blood that followed each hissing blow
Froze as it sprinkled the winter snow.
Priest and ruler, boy and maid
Followed the dismal cavalcade;
And from door and window, open thrown,
Looked and wondered gaffer and crone.
"God is our witness," the victims cried,
"We suffer for Him who for all men died;
The wrong ye do has been done before,
We bear the stripes that the Master bore !
"And thou, O Richard Waldron, for whom
We hear the feet of a coming doom,
On thy cruel heart and thy hand of wrong
Vengeance is sure, though it tarry long.
"In the light of the Lord, a flame we see
Climb and kindle a proud roof-tree;
And beneath it an old man lying dead,
With stains of blood on his hoary head."
"Smite, Goodman Hate - Evil!-harder still!"
The magistrate cried, "lay on with a will !
Drive out of their bodies the Father of Lies,
Who through them preaches and prophesies!"
So into the forest they held their way,
By winding river and frost-rimmed bay,
Over wind-swept hills that felt the beat
Of the winter sea at their icy feet.
The Indian hunter, searching his traps,
Peered stealthily through the forest gaps;
And the outlying settler shook his head,
"They're witches going to jail," he said.
At last a meeting-house came in view;
A blast on his horn the constable blew;
And the boys of Hampton cried up and down
"The Quakers have come !" to the wondering town.
From barn and woodpile the goodman came;
The goodwife quitted her quilting frame,
With her child at her breast ; and, hobbling slow,
The grandam followed to see the show.
Once more the torturing whip was swung,
Once more keen lashes the bare flesh stung.
"Oh, spare ! they are bleeding !" a little maid cried,
And covered her face the sight to hide.
A murmur ran round the crowd : "Good folks,"
Quoth the constable, busy counting the strokes,
"No pity to wretches like these is due,
They have beaten the gospel black and blue!"
Then a pallid woman, in wild-eyed fear,
With her wooden noggin of milk drew near.
"Drink, poor hearts !" a rude hand smote
Her draught away from a parching throat.
"Take heed," one whispered, "they'll take your cow
For fines, as they took your horse and plough,
And the bed from under you." "Even so,"
She said ;"they are cruel as death, I know."
Then on they passed, in the waning day,
Through Seabrook woods, a weariful way;
By great salt meadows and sand-hills bare,
And glimpses of blue sea here and there.
By the meeting-house in Salisbury town,
The sufferers stood, in the red sundown
Bare for the lash ! O pitying Night,
Drop swift thy curtain and hide the sight !
With shame in his eye and wrath on his lip
The Salisbury constable dropped his whip.
"This warrant means murder foul and red;
Cursed is he who serves it," he said.
"Show me the order, and meanwhile strike
A blow to your peril !" said Justice Pike.
Of all the rulers the land possessed,
Wisest and boldest was he and best.
He scoffed at witchcraft ; the priest he met
As man meets man ; his feet he set
Beyond his dark age, standing upright,
Soul-free, with his face to the morning light.
He read the warrant : "These convey
From our precincts ; at every town on the way
Give each ten lashes." "God judge the brute!
I tread his order under my foot!
"Cut loose these poor ones and let them go;
Come what will of it, all men shall know
No warrant is good, though backed by the Crown,
For whipping women in Salisbury town!"
The hearts of the villagers, half released
From creed of terror and rule of priest,
By a primal instinct owned the right
Of human pity in law's despite.
For ruth and chivalry only slept,
His Saxon manhood the yeoman kept;
Quicker or slower, the same blood ran
In the Cavalier and the Puritan.
The Quakers sank on their knees in praise
And thanks. A last, low sunset blaze
Flashed out from under a cloud, and shed
A golden glory on each bowed head.
The tale is one of an evil time,
When souls were fettered and thought was crime,
And heresy's whisper above its breath
Meant shameful scouring and bonds and death!
What marvel, that hunted and sorely tried,
Even woman rebuked and prophesied,
And soft words rarely answered back
The grim persuasion of whip and rack!
If her cry from the whipping-post and jail
Pierced sharp as the Kenite's driven nail,
O woman, at ease in these happier days,
Forbear to judge of thy sister's ways!
How much thy beautiful life may owe
To her faith and courage thou canst not know,
Nor how from the paths of thy calm retreat
She smoothed the thorns with her bleeding feet.
Friday, July 3, 2015
Sunday, March 22, 2015
My Quaker ancestors: A Story of the Early Quaker Trials
There is a people not so rigid as others are at Boston and there are great desires among them after the Truth. Some there are, as I hear, convinced who meet in silence at a place called Salem."-Henry Fell (in a letter dated 1656) June 27, 1658
It was a warm, sunny morning. Three men made their way through Salem Woods to a Quaker meeting at the farm of Nicolas and Hannah Phelps, tucked away some five miles from the Puritan meeting house. Robert Adams of Newbury, familiar with the road, carefully led two men, William Ledra and William Brend, welcomed missionaries from the Barbados.
Hannah and Nicolas Phelps arranged the meeting for the same hour as the Puritan church service in order to dodge any interruptions, and they had good reasons. The Quaker group was already under the watchful eyes of local officials who warned them to return to the true church. William Hathorne had recently issued an order to his deputies: “You are required by virtue hereof, to search all suspicious houses for private meetings, and if they refuse to open the doors you are to break open the door down upon them, and return all names to ye Court.”
The brilliant rays of sun grew stronger and warmer as Robert and the two missionaries approached the generous, open landscape of the Phelps farm. Robert Adams surveyed the copasetic surroundings and smiled wryly - this place was the perfect gathering spot for the followers of the Light, just far enough from Hathorne and his colleagues.
However, William Hathorne was interrupted during Sunday service that morning with news of a “disorderly meeting taking place.” The agitated magistrate immediately dispatched Edmund Batter, James Underwood, and John Smith to the Phelps home to interrogate the offenders. He leaned into Batter with a hard, directive tone. “Clean out those heretics and bring them to me. But Batter, not all at once … Cage a few, summons the rest for court.”
Heavy hooves pounded with authority as the determined constables made tracks toward the Phelps house. The tranquil energy of the group shifted as the herd of intruders grew closer. Margaret let out a terrified shriek when she heard the loud command from outside.
“Break it down.” It was her husband, John Smith. The axe worked fast and the splintered door flung open. Batter entered first, followed by his fellow ferreters. John Smith lunged toward Hannah like a rabid animal, but she did not flinch.
Stepping back, she said, “Pray ye, John, what right have you to be here and lose thy temper quick, or do you mean to spoil God’s worship?” Smith, bug-eyed with fury, began shouting obscenities. Everyone stood motionless, everyone except Hannah, whose fiery spirit could not resist a verbal assault.
They plunged into a hot spurred argument, but Batter feared that if he did not gain control quickly, the others would engage. He grabbed John and asserted, “Save her for later, Smith. She will soon be shackled in body and mouth.”
Smith’s heated state began to temper, and he scanned the room for Margaret. “Get home, woman," he commanded. "You disobey me and God … I may not fix your unlawful state.”
Batter speedily confined the rest of the group and ordered them to line up outside. He then carefully chose whom he would haul in, following Hathorne’s instructions. He knew maintaining order mandated a delicate formula, so he took nineteen to the jail and let the rest go with a summons to appear in court in two days' time.
While the constables broke up the meeting, Adams skillfully shuffled the two Williams out the back door and cautiously led them to the stalls. From there, they managed to vanish into the thick woods, but the ride back to Newbury did not take them down the same majestic path on which they arrived. Instead, Adams chose a dense growth of unmarked forest that provided a safe fortress for a brief time.
Hathorne sent orders to Captain William Gerrish, the elected townsmen in Newbury, to search the home of Robert Adams in order to apprehend Leddra and Brend. Gerrish was an excellent candidate for the job; he already had the trust and favor of Adams.
Hannah and Nicolas Phelps arranged the meeting for the same hour as the Puritan church service in order to dodge any interruptions, and they had good reasons. The Quaker group was already under the watchful eyes of local officials who warned them to return to the true church. William Hathorne had recently issued an order to his deputies: “You are required by virtue hereof, to search all suspicious houses for private meetings, and if they refuse to open the doors you are to break open the door down upon them, and return all names to ye Court.”
The brilliant rays of sun grew stronger and warmer as Robert and the two missionaries approached the generous, open landscape of the Phelps farm. Robert Adams surveyed the copasetic surroundings and smiled wryly - this place was the perfect gathering spot for the followers of the Light, just far enough from Hathorne and his colleagues.
However, William Hathorne was interrupted during Sunday service that morning with news of a “disorderly meeting taking place.” The agitated magistrate immediately dispatched Edmund Batter, James Underwood, and John Smith to the Phelps home to interrogate the offenders. He leaned into Batter with a hard, directive tone. “Clean out those heretics and bring them to me. But Batter, not all at once … Cage a few, summons the rest for court.”
Heavy hooves pounded with authority as the determined constables made tracks toward the Phelps house. The tranquil energy of the group shifted as the herd of intruders grew closer. Margaret let out a terrified shriek when she heard the loud command from outside.
“Break it down.” It was her husband, John Smith. The axe worked fast and the splintered door flung open. Batter entered first, followed by his fellow ferreters. John Smith lunged toward Hannah like a rabid animal, but she did not flinch.
Stepping back, she said, “Pray ye, John, what right have you to be here and lose thy temper quick, or do you mean to spoil God’s worship?” Smith, bug-eyed with fury, began shouting obscenities. Everyone stood motionless, everyone except Hannah, whose fiery spirit could not resist a verbal assault.
They plunged into a hot spurred argument, but Batter feared that if he did not gain control quickly, the others would engage. He grabbed John and asserted, “Save her for later, Smith. She will soon be shackled in body and mouth.”
Smith’s heated state began to temper, and he scanned the room for Margaret. “Get home, woman," he commanded. "You disobey me and God … I may not fix your unlawful state.”
Batter speedily confined the rest of the group and ordered them to line up outside. He then carefully chose whom he would haul in, following Hathorne’s instructions. He knew maintaining order mandated a delicate formula, so he took nineteen to the jail and let the rest go with a summons to appear in court in two days' time.
While the constables broke up the meeting, Adams skillfully shuffled the two Williams out the back door and cautiously led them to the stalls. From there, they managed to vanish into the thick woods, but the ride back to Newbury did not take them down the same majestic path on which they arrived. Instead, Adams chose a dense growth of unmarked forest that provided a safe fortress for a brief time.
Hathorne sent orders to Captain William Gerrish, the elected townsmen in Newbury, to search the home of Robert Adams in order to apprehend Leddra and Brend. Gerrish was an excellent candidate for the job; he already had the trust and favor of Adams.
William Gerrish made his way to the Adams' home with Reverend Timothy Farrell. He intended to resolve the situation amicably. Gerrish had a congenial history with Adams - their wives were friends, their children played together, and they shared a good working relationship, both in private and public office. Gerrish knew Adams favored the Quaker faith, and he was not the only one - several folks in Newbury were dissatisfied with public worship. Thomas Parker, the former minister, was forced to resign, and Newbury had not yet appointed a replacement.
As Gerrish approached the home, the playful laughter of Adams’ children echoed from the front yard all the way to the meadow marsh. Gerrish spotted Hannah and Elizabeth sitting on lawn, arranging fresh cut wild flowers. Gerrish waved and both women smiled.
Gerrish felt anxious; he never thought he would be visiting Adams under such unwelcome circumstances. However, Gerrish was not weak. He knew he had a duty to uphold the law. As the men stepped up to the entryway, Eleanor cheerfully greeted them and then called for her husband, who was in the back room with Leddra and Brend. Robert received them and introductions were made.
Gerrish reached into his pocket for the dreaded documents. “Robert, I have a summons for William Leddra and William Brend to appear tomorrow in Salem. I promise no harm will come to anyone, but we will need to have the minister here ask them some questions.”
“What questions do you have? Please sit and I will have Eleanor bring some refreshments,” replied Robert.
“That would be most welcome, Robert, and Mr. Leddra and Mr. Brend, do you agree to…”
Raising his hand, the irritated minister interrupted Gerrish. “This is official business. These two men are well known Quakers and have come here to defy our ways and our God!”
Robert ordered the minister out immediately, telling Gerrish he could stay, but only to confer with his guests. Gerrish realized that Robert would not cooperate as fully as he had hoped. Leddra and Brend quickly announced they would leave town, but when they attempted to go in peace, Gerrish followed, pleading that no harm would befall them if they turned themselves in. Gerrish was not aware that the Salem constables had already surrounded the Adams' home - he was merely a means to trap these men.
The Sentencing
"The hat choketh because it telleth tales. It telleth what people are; it marketh men for separatists; it is a blowing a trumpet, and visibly crossing the world; and this, the fear of man cannot abide. My hat, is plain. Thine is adorned with ribbons and feathers. The only difference between our religions lies in the ornaments which have been added to thine." - George Fox, Quaker June 29, 1658 - John Gendry Tavern, Salem
The court magistrates assigned that day were Simon Bradstreet, General Dan Dennison, and Major William Hathorne. The men and women apprehended and summonsed at the alleged Quaker meeting arrived at Gendry's Tavern to face charges. As they entered, Robert Lord, Clerk of Courts, announced, “Persons who had attended a meeting on the preceding Sabbath, at the residence of Nicholas Phelps, in Salem, are brought before this County Court.” The men filed in wearing their hats according to Quaker custom. Edmund Batter forcefully removed their headwear, not about to entertain their unorthodox notions of equality.
Simon Bradstreet, anxious to interrogate the instigators, signaled Robert Lord to bring Brend and Leddra before him. Lord announced them: “William Brend and William Leddra, who belonged to the Island of Barbados, but had come from England, approach.”
Bradstreet began his inquiry. “Why and what for do you come to these parts?”
Brend stepped forward and answered, “To seek a Godly seed that the Lord required, and to make passage to New England with the encouragement that our mission should be prospered.”
From the back of the room, one of the accused, Samuel Shaddock, stood up and asked, "How might you know a Quaker?"
Bradstreet replied, “Thou art one for coming with thy hat on.”
Shaddock responded indignantly, "It was a horrible thing to make such cruel laws, to whip and cut off ears, to bore fiery rods through the tongue, simply for not putting off their hat.”
Leddra humbly approached the bench and requested permission to address the court. “You seem to be convinced we are evil criminals. Perhaps you should send some of these magistrates to our meetings, so that they might hear and give account of what is done and spoken, rather than draw conclusions about that which you are unfamiliar with."
Judge Dennison responded, "If you meet together without an ordained minister and sit in silence, we may still conclude that you speak blasphemy, for men of the cloth are God's voice and chosen leaders.” Denninson motioned for Leddra to sit down. “Now, Mr. Lord, I wish to see Nicholas Phelps.”
Nicholas stood up and cautiously stepped up to the bench. Bradstreet read his charges. “Nicolas Phelps, you are charged for siding with the Quakers, possessing written material that denies the God-elected magistrates and ministers, holding a forbidden meeting, and absenting yourself from the public ordinances.”
Nicholas nodded.
Bradstreet then asked, “Mr. Phelps, do you now openly profess yourself a Quaker, as you had removed your hat when you came in here?’
Nicholas shook his head affirmatively.
Bradstreet continued his line of questioning. “I have here a pamphlet found in your home, advocating this said heresy. Is it yours?”
Nicholas nodded and replied, “If you prosecute me for keeping on my hat, could not you bring yourself to come and join us as William Leddra asked of you, so you may make a decision after you witness our worship?”
Dennison broke in and responded, “As I told you all before, you and we are not able to live together, and at present, the power is in our hands, and therefore you must bend to our will!”
Provided Southwick stood up and traced the row of magistrates with an outstretched finger, shouting, “You are nothing more than a band of merciless persecutors!”
Denninson pounded his fist on the table, his face flushed with anger. After scanning the room, he belted out, “You Quakers bring forth blasphemies at your meetings, and for these transgressions, will incur punishments far beyond fines and fees, unless you renounce your heretic ways and return to the true church, or move out of this jurisdiction. The court will now deliberate and resume shortly to deliver your sentences."
When the court reconvened, not one of the accused chose to renounce their newfound faith. Therefore, Robert Lord read the sentences as prepared by the magistrates. William Brend and William Leddra were to be confined at the Boston Gaol. Nicholas Phelps was fined 40 shillings for defending a Quaker writing and for holding the meeting at his house. He was also whipped for wearing his hat in court and sentenced to the House of Corrections in Ipswich for an indefinite period.
Joshua Buffam, Samuel Gaskin, Lawrence Southwick, Samuel Shaddock, and Josiah Southwick were fined for absence from public ordinance, whipped for wearing their hats in court, and sent to the Boston Gaol. Cassandra Southwick was sentenced with the five men under the same charges, with the exception of the wearing of a hat, and was also whipped.
Daniel Southwick, Edward Wharton, Anthony Needham, Robert Buffum, Thomas Bracket, Joseph Pope, Mary Trask, John Hill, Margaret Smith, Hannah Page, and Tasman Buffum were all fined 25 shillings for each absence from public ordinances.
Provided Southwick was fined 20 shillings for her absences and put in the stocks for one day for charging the magistrates as persecutors. She would also pay 5 shillings to cover the cost of her punishment in the stocks.
Several of the accused did not appear in court that day, including Robert Adams, Henry Trask, Hannah Phelps, Gertrude Pope, Anne Needham, and Hannah Gardner; however, they were all fined for their absences. Additionally, Adams was fined for harboring Brend and Leddra in his home.
A few of the court documents and records:
From Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volume 2 published on The University of Virginia site
Hannah Phelps hauled in for making statements against Higgenson. William Flint paid fine. Court 1658.
From The Annals of Salem
Hannah Phelps is banished for attending Mary Dyer trial in 1659.
Phelps family connection with Hawthorne family Hawthorne in Salem
The earliest record of the Phelps family in Salem is when Eleanor Phelps married her second husband, Thomas Trusler. They were members of the first church of Salem in 1639. Trusler was in Salem by 1629 when a kiln for burning bricks and tiles was built, a business he operated until his death in 1654. Eleanor Trusler was taken to court, in April 1644, for her Gortonist opinions, saying "our teacher Mr. Norris taught the people lies."
Governor Winthrop was advised to bind her over to Boston Court as an example others might fear, lest "that heresiee doeth spread which at length may prove dangerous." At the Trusler trial, one Cassandra Southwick testified that Eleanor "did question the government ever since she came."
Eleanor Trusler died in 1655, and her sons Henry and Nicholas Phelps inherited her farm in West Peabody, Massachusetts. The first meeting of the Friends (Quakers) was held in this house. Nicholas Phelps half of the house and lands were taken for the payment of fines. Batter, the treasurer, apparently turned it over to Nicholas brother, Henry, who owned the other half interest. Henry may have married Batter's sister. Henry sold the entire estate to Joseph Pope on 18 Jul 1664. Many years later, the place returned into the Phelps family and then remained in the family until Francis Phelps took the ancient house down in 1856.
Brother of Henry and Nicholas, Edward Phelps married Elizabeth Adams, daughter of Robert Adams. They lived in Andover and granddaughter was part of the Salem Witch Trials see Sarah Phelps
Simon Bradstreet, anxious to interrogate the instigators, signaled Robert Lord to bring Brend and Leddra before him. Lord announced them: “William Brend and William Leddra, who belonged to the Island of Barbados, but had come from England, approach.”
Bradstreet began his inquiry. “Why and what for do you come to these parts?”
Brend stepped forward and answered, “To seek a Godly seed that the Lord required, and to make passage to New England with the encouragement that our mission should be prospered.”
From the back of the room, one of the accused, Samuel Shaddock, stood up and asked, "How might you know a Quaker?"
Bradstreet replied, “Thou art one for coming with thy hat on.”
Shaddock responded indignantly, "It was a horrible thing to make such cruel laws, to whip and cut off ears, to bore fiery rods through the tongue, simply for not putting off their hat.”
Leddra humbly approached the bench and requested permission to address the court. “You seem to be convinced we are evil criminals. Perhaps you should send some of these magistrates to our meetings, so that they might hear and give account of what is done and spoken, rather than draw conclusions about that which you are unfamiliar with."
Judge Dennison responded, "If you meet together without an ordained minister and sit in silence, we may still conclude that you speak blasphemy, for men of the cloth are God's voice and chosen leaders.” Denninson motioned for Leddra to sit down. “Now, Mr. Lord, I wish to see Nicholas Phelps.”
Nicholas stood up and cautiously stepped up to the bench. Bradstreet read his charges. “Nicolas Phelps, you are charged for siding with the Quakers, possessing written material that denies the God-elected magistrates and ministers, holding a forbidden meeting, and absenting yourself from the public ordinances.”
Nicholas nodded.
Bradstreet then asked, “Mr. Phelps, do you now openly profess yourself a Quaker, as you had removed your hat when you came in here?’
Nicholas shook his head affirmatively.
Bradstreet continued his line of questioning. “I have here a pamphlet found in your home, advocating this said heresy. Is it yours?”
Nicholas nodded and replied, “If you prosecute me for keeping on my hat, could not you bring yourself to come and join us as William Leddra asked of you, so you may make a decision after you witness our worship?”
Dennison broke in and responded, “As I told you all before, you and we are not able to live together, and at present, the power is in our hands, and therefore you must bend to our will!”
Provided Southwick stood up and traced the row of magistrates with an outstretched finger, shouting, “You are nothing more than a band of merciless persecutors!”
Denninson pounded his fist on the table, his face flushed with anger. After scanning the room, he belted out, “You Quakers bring forth blasphemies at your meetings, and for these transgressions, will incur punishments far beyond fines and fees, unless you renounce your heretic ways and return to the true church, or move out of this jurisdiction. The court will now deliberate and resume shortly to deliver your sentences."
When the court reconvened, not one of the accused chose to renounce their newfound faith. Therefore, Robert Lord read the sentences as prepared by the magistrates. William Brend and William Leddra were to be confined at the Boston Gaol. Nicholas Phelps was fined 40 shillings for defending a Quaker writing and for holding the meeting at his house. He was also whipped for wearing his hat in court and sentenced to the House of Corrections in Ipswich for an indefinite period.
Joshua Buffam, Samuel Gaskin, Lawrence Southwick, Samuel Shaddock, and Josiah Southwick were fined for absence from public ordinance, whipped for wearing their hats in court, and sent to the Boston Gaol. Cassandra Southwick was sentenced with the five men under the same charges, with the exception of the wearing of a hat, and was also whipped.
Daniel Southwick, Edward Wharton, Anthony Needham, Robert Buffum, Thomas Bracket, Joseph Pope, Mary Trask, John Hill, Margaret Smith, Hannah Page, and Tasman Buffum were all fined 25 shillings for each absence from public ordinances.
Provided Southwick was fined 20 shillings for her absences and put in the stocks for one day for charging the magistrates as persecutors. She would also pay 5 shillings to cover the cost of her punishment in the stocks.
Several of the accused did not appear in court that day, including Robert Adams, Henry Trask, Hannah Phelps, Gertrude Pope, Anne Needham, and Hannah Gardner; however, they were all fined for their absences. Additionally, Adams was fined for harboring Brend and Leddra in his home.
A few of the court documents and records:
From Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volume 2 published on The University of Virginia site
From The Annals of Salem
Phelps family connection with Hawthorne family Hawthorne in Salem
The earliest record of the Phelps family in Salem is when Eleanor Phelps married her second husband, Thomas Trusler. They were members of the first church of Salem in 1639. Trusler was in Salem by 1629 when a kiln for burning bricks and tiles was built, a business he operated until his death in 1654. Eleanor Trusler was taken to court, in April 1644, for her Gortonist opinions, saying "our teacher Mr. Norris taught the people lies."
Governor Winthrop was advised to bind her over to Boston Court as an example others might fear, lest "that heresiee doeth spread which at length may prove dangerous." At the Trusler trial, one Cassandra Southwick testified that Eleanor "did question the government ever since she came."
Eleanor Trusler died in 1655, and her sons Henry and Nicholas Phelps inherited her farm in West Peabody, Massachusetts. The first meeting of the Friends (Quakers) was held in this house. Nicholas Phelps half of the house and lands were taken for the payment of fines. Batter, the treasurer, apparently turned it over to Nicholas brother, Henry, who owned the other half interest. Henry may have married Batter's sister. Henry sold the entire estate to Joseph Pope on 18 Jul 1664. Many years later, the place returned into the Phelps family and then remained in the family until Francis Phelps took the ancient house down in 1856.
Brother of Henry and Nicholas, Edward Phelps married Elizabeth Adams, daughter of Robert Adams. They lived in Andover and granddaughter was part of the Salem Witch Trials see Sarah Phelps
- Hannah (Baskel) Phelps Phelps Hill - A Quaker Woman and Her Offspring
- Quakers and Baptists in Colonial Massachusetts, Carla Gardina Pestana
- Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 3 December 1861 A O Goodell, "A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOMAS MAULE, OF SALEM, TOGETHER WITH A REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF THE EARLY ANTINOMIANS OF NEW ENGLAND."
- Rachael Phelps Hawthorne Paternal Ancestors of Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Quakers in Newbury MA
- The Quakers among us: 17th and 18th centuries
- Emerson Baker: A Storm of Witchraft | Salem, MA Patch
- At Odds: My Puritan and Quaker Heritage
- Three Brothers Line - Henry, Edward, & Nicholas Phelps
- J G Whittier Letter to decline Endicott celebraton 1878
- The Women of Dover
- Early Opposition to Arbitrary Government Sanborn Family
- Saturday Surname -- Phelps of Essex Co., Massachusestts
- Deborah Wilson, a Quaker in very Puritan Salem Village by Heather Rojo
- Descendants of Robert Adams: Generation 1
- Life in the Ipswich jails
- Salem's Quakers and Their Lost Memorial
- Witchcraft and Quaker Convincements: Lynn, Massachusetts, 1692
- Thomas Gardner Society
- Jo Ann Butler
- Christy K. Robinson: Colonial execution marks our flowering of rights
- History of the Massachusetts Bay Colony
- Ordway Family and Colby, Osgood, Gove, Morrill, Jameson, & Other New England Old Names
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Lydia Wardwell Perkins Quaker Newbury, Ma
My Article From the Newburyport News:
While the public flogging was administered, the Rev. Mr. Rayner "stood and looked and laughed at it.”
Lydia was also pursued by the church to answer for her absence from communion. By the time she was summoned for “separating from the church and teaching false doctrine” (Newbury Records), she well understood her fate with church elders. But surely her exhibitionist act was barely imaginable to the pious Puritan elite. She, being “a chaste and tender woman of exemplary modesty,” must have jolted quite a reaction from the locals. One account notes that the church meeting was so disrupted they could not reconvene nor assemble order. On the records of the court at Salem (Quarterly Sessions Court for Essex County), her sentence for the outburst was recorded as follows:
While the horrors of the Salem witch hysteria are widely known, some years before a less infamous trepidation, the Quaker persecutions, swept the colony during “one of the darkest blots in time.” Several Quakers seeking religious liberty in the Massachusetts Bay Colony suffered torture, and even the scaffold, at the hands of the Puritans. Absence from local parish services typically resulted in a summons, the consequences of which included heavy fines, whippings, or banishment. One Quakeress, Lydia (née Perkins) Wardwell made a stark declaration of protest in response to her summons, appearing skyclad in Newbury as a "sign" of the spiritual nakedness of her persecutors.
Yes, it’s true; Newbury can boast of its very own Lady Godiva. Unfortunately, she could not pull off her impromptu burlesque show in a house of worship without getting the strap. Though most historians question her sanity, Lydia’s motives for disrobing resembled the signs acted out by Hebrew prophets, a doctrine taken very seriously by both the Puritans and the Quakers. Her bold act was no doubt driven by the abuse and torture inflicted upon her family and friends by the Puritans.
Lydia's husband, Eliakim Wardwell of Hampton, N.H., was repeatedly harassed, bullied, and stripped of his assets because of his Quaker faith. He endured the stocks on more than one occasion, and records show that on April 8, 1662 , he was fined for his absence from church. In addition to these offences, the Wardwell home was also the scene of a conflict while the couple harbored Wenlock Christison, a notable Quaker who was jailed in Boston with Mary Dyer and William Leddra in 1661. Though he escaped the scaffold, Christison was banished from the Mass. Bay Colony.
No doubt he was on the colony’s ten-most-wanted list, and Hampton’s Rev. Seaborn Cotton felt it his duty to “keep the wolves from his sheep.” Cotton, with “truncheon in hand, led a party of order-loving citizens” to the house of Wardwell, seized Christison, and shuffled him off to jail. Christison moved to safer territory in 1665, eventually settling in Talbot County, Maryland. He was elected to the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly and later inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s hero in “John Endicott,” one of three dramatic poems in a collection called “New England Tragedies.”
As Cotton confiscated lands from the Wardwell estate and bankrupted them with heavy fines for non-attendance of Sabbath services, Lydia managed to muster strength, a true testimony to her faith. She witnessed the heinous punishments inflicted by the courts, who viewed Quakers as “dangerous social outlaws.” Several of her friends were hanged or tortured: their ears severed, and their tongues and body parts bored and branded with hot irons. Those sentenced to jail were often denied food and water.
Lydia was present in Dover, N.H. when three women who had refused to attend church were stripped naked to the waist, tied to a cart, and, though the weather was "bitter cold" that day, paraded around several local towns. Eliakim Wardwell did not shy away from verbalizing his two cents on the matter. After calling the reverend a brute, back in stocks he went.
Yes, it’s true; Newbury can boast of its very own Lady Godiva. Unfortunately, she could not pull off her impromptu burlesque show in a house of worship without getting the strap. Though most historians question her sanity, Lydia’s motives for disrobing resembled the signs acted out by Hebrew prophets, a doctrine taken very seriously by both the Puritans and the Quakers. Her bold act was no doubt driven by the abuse and torture inflicted upon her family and friends by the Puritans.
Lydia's husband, Eliakim Wardwell of Hampton, N.H., was repeatedly harassed, bullied, and stripped of his assets because of his Quaker faith. He endured the stocks on more than one occasion, and records show that on April 8, 1662 , he was fined for his absence from church. In addition to these offences, the Wardwell home was also the scene of a conflict while the couple harbored Wenlock Christison, a notable Quaker who was jailed in Boston with Mary Dyer and William Leddra in 1661. Though he escaped the scaffold, Christison was banished from the Mass. Bay Colony.
No doubt he was on the colony’s ten-most-wanted list, and Hampton’s Rev. Seaborn Cotton felt it his duty to “keep the wolves from his sheep.” Cotton, with “truncheon in hand, led a party of order-loving citizens” to the house of Wardwell, seized Christison, and shuffled him off to jail. Christison moved to safer territory in 1665, eventually settling in Talbot County, Maryland. He was elected to the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly and later inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s hero in “John Endicott,” one of three dramatic poems in a collection called “New England Tragedies.”
As Cotton confiscated lands from the Wardwell estate and bankrupted them with heavy fines for non-attendance of Sabbath services, Lydia managed to muster strength, a true testimony to her faith. She witnessed the heinous punishments inflicted by the courts, who viewed Quakers as “dangerous social outlaws.” Several of her friends were hanged or tortured: their ears severed, and their tongues and body parts bored and branded with hot irons. Those sentenced to jail were often denied food and water.
Lydia was present in Dover, N.H. when three women who had refused to attend church were stripped naked to the waist, tied to a cart, and, though the weather was "bitter cold" that day, paraded around several local towns. Eliakim Wardwell did not shy away from verbalizing his two cents on the matter. After calling the reverend a brute, back in stocks he went.
While the public flogging was administered, the Rev. Mr. Rayner "stood and looked and laughed at it.”
Lydia was also pursued by the church to answer for her absence from communion. By the time she was summoned for “separating from the church and teaching false doctrine” (Newbury Records), she well understood her fate with church elders. But surely her exhibitionist act was barely imaginable to the pious Puritan elite. She, being “a chaste and tender woman of exemplary modesty,” must have jolted quite a reaction from the locals. One account notes that the church meeting was so disrupted they could not reconvene nor assemble order. On the records of the court at Salem (Quarterly Sessions Court for Essex County), her sentence for the outburst was recorded as follows:
May 5th, 1663. Lydia Wardwell on her presentment for coming naked into Newbury meeting house. The sentence of the court is, that she shall be severely whipt and pay the costs and fees to the marshall of Hampton for bringing her. Costs, ten shillings, fees two shillings and sixpence.
After the session, Lydia was lugged off by Ipswich lawmen and taken to a tavern, the Joseph Baker House. “Amid a large circle of men and boys,” she was tied to a rough post and "lashed to the satisfaction of the crowd of onlookers" (Ipswich Chronicle Report). One can only imagine the scene of pathetic prigs sipping ale and leering pitilessly while the constables who whipped her “tore her bosom as she writhed.”
To dodge the fussbudget herds and avoid further abuse, the Wardwells moved to Shrewsbury, N.J. after Lydia’s shocking protest. Eliakim became one of the first Quaker ministers in the town. Perhaps the family rested some satisfaction on the fact that the judgment of Heaven would fall upon their persecutors (a belief shared by the Puritans). It is bemusing to think that the Puritans, who left Mother England to escape similar persecution, would exact such brutal tactics of torment on the pacifistic Quakers.
Even more of a mystery is the whereabouts of Lydia’s petticoat. According to the story, she was wrapped in cloth and shuffled off to Hampton very abruptly. Her garments were left for safekeeping with fellow friend of the light Gov. John Easton, who perhaps stood outside to cheer his prophetess on. Though her petticoat may never be found, Lydia Wardell certainly taught us that the naked truth is always better than a well-dressed lie.
To dodge the fussbudget herds and avoid further abuse, the Wardwells moved to Shrewsbury, N.J. after Lydia’s shocking protest. Eliakim became one of the first Quaker ministers in the town. Perhaps the family rested some satisfaction on the fact that the judgment of Heaven would fall upon their persecutors (a belief shared by the Puritans). It is bemusing to think that the Puritans, who left Mother England to escape similar persecution, would exact such brutal tactics of torment on the pacifistic Quakers.
Even more of a mystery is the whereabouts of Lydia’s petticoat. According to the story, she was wrapped in cloth and shuffled off to Hampton very abruptly. Her garments were left for safekeeping with fellow friend of the light Gov. John Easton, who perhaps stood outside to cheer his prophetess on. Though her petticoat may never be found, Lydia Wardell certainly taught us that the naked truth is always better than a well-dressed lie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)