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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
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 BEQUEST 
 
 JAMES McCALL 
 
 Class of 1885 
 
 1944 
 
Cornell University Library 
 CS71 .W589 
 
 Memoir of Rev. Samuel Whiting, D.D., and 
 
 oiin 
 
 3 1924 029 780 487 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this bool< is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029780487 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 REV. SAMUEL WHITING, D.D., 
 
 AND OF HIS WIFE, 
 
 ELIZABETH ST. JOHN; 
 
 WITH REFERENCES TO SOME OF THEIR 
 
 ^itglislj %mzBiaxB aixxJ %.mmtRn ^^sanbartts. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM 4VHITING, 
 
 FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE NEW-ENGLAND HISTORIC-GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, 
 
 AUTHOR OF "war POWERS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF THE 
 
 UNITED STATES," ETC. 
 
 StcDtttf EBtttDtt, initi) HntES attB CorrEctinns.^ 
 
 TWO HUNDRED COPIES PRINTED — NOT PUBLISHED. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 PRESS OF RAND, AVERY, & COMPANY. 
 
 1873- 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 
 
 By WILLIA.M WHITING, 
 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington 
 
 Printed dv Rand, Avery, & Co., Boston. 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 REV. SAMUEL WHITING, D.D. 
 
 The family name of Whiting seems to have 
 retained substantially the same pronunciation, 
 though it has been spelled with not less than 
 sixteen variations, between the years 1085 and 
 1630, as will be seen by the following extracts 
 from English records, in which the dates and 
 spellings have been carefully copied : — 
 
 1085. Roger Witen. 
 
 Alan de Witting (grandfather). 
 
 Alan de Witting (father). 
 1 195. Everard de Witting, Yorkshire (son). 
 1202. Hugo Witeng, Dorset. 
 1207. Magister Johannes Witeing. 
 1214. GifFardo Witeng, Somerset. 
 
 3 
 
4 Memoir of 
 
 1 199 -12 16. Willus de Witon, Yorkshire. 
 
 12 1 7. Adam de Wyten, Yorkshire. 
 
 1276. Thomas de Whitene, Nottinghamshire. 
 
 1279. Wills. Whitingh, Oxfordshire. 
 
 1280. Agnes de Wyten, prioress of St. Clements, 
 
 city of York. 
 1306. Rogerus de Whitene, manucaptor of Williel- 
 
 mus Ball, burgess returned for Cricklade. 
 1306. Walterus de Whiten, manucaptor of Johannes 
 
 de Graham and Rogerus de Reston, citizens 
 
 returned for York. 
 
 1312. Johannes Whyting, manucaptor of Richardus 
 
 Elyot, burgess returned for Portsmouth. 
 
 13 13. John Whyting. 
 
 13 16. Walterus Whityng, certified pursuant to writ 
 tested at Clipston, 5 March, 13 16, as one 
 of the lords of the townships of Seaton 
 cum membris and Merton cum membris in 
 the county of York. 
 
 132 1. Thomas Whityng, accused of having joined 
 
 with many others in forcibly entering upon 
 the manors of Spene, &c., in the county of 
 Berks ; special commission of Oyer and 
 Terminer issued for trying him as well at 
 the suit of Hugh le Despencer, Earl of 
 Winchester, as at the suit of the king, 
 tested at Hurry, 28 May, 15 Edw. II. 
 
 1322. Thomas Whyting. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 5 
 
 1326. Johannes de Whyten, de Lincoln, manucaptor 
 
 of Will, de Hakethorn, citizen returned for 
 Lincoln. 
 
 1327. Johannes de Whyten, de Lincoln. 
 1333- William Whytynge of Boston. 
 
 1352. William Whyting of Deeping, Lincolnshire. 
 1326-1377. Robtus de Whitene, Nottinghamshire. 
 
 1384. Thomas Whiten et Katerine uxor, Meltonby 
 
 and Grymethorpe manors, co. York. 
 1405. John de Wyten, sheriff of the city of York. 
 142 1. John Wyton, 8 Henry V. 
 1450. Robert Whiting. 
 1455. Robert Whitingh, armiger, Bucks. 
 1509—1547. Thomas Whiting, Lincoln. 
 
 1524. Frater Johannes Whytyng, obt. 24 Junii, White 
 
 Friars Carmelite, diocese of Norwich. (See 
 
 Weaver's Funeral Monuments, p. 533.) 
 1526. Henry AVystyng, or Whytyng, principal of St. 
 
 Mary Magdalen College, Oxford. 
 1560. John and Robert Whiting of Thorpe, near 
 
 Wainfleet. 
 1600. John Whiting, mayor of Boston. 
 1630. Rev. Samuel Whiting, D.D., the subject of 
 
 this memoir. 
 
 His name, as written by himself on the rec- 
 ords of Emanuel College, Cambridge, when he 
 entered as a student, was Samuel Whitinge, 
 
6 Memoir of 
 
 and this was undoubtedly the mode of writing 
 it used by his family at that date: but he 
 dropped the last letter after he came to this 
 country; and his English and American de- 
 scendants have, without exception it is believed, 
 followed his example. 
 
 The author of the History and Antiquities 
 of Boston, England,* writes as follows : — 
 
 " The earliest mention which I find of the 
 Whiting family, in this district, is that of 'Wil- 
 liam Whytyng,' whose name is recorded A.D. 
 1333, as an inhabitant of Boston at that time." 
 " In a very old mansion-house," says the same 
 author, " situated within the parish of Leake, 
 near Boston, and which old house is known by 
 the name of St. Lawrence's Chantry, otherwise 
 the Lesser Chantry, or the Moat House, are 
 several old ' skutcheons ' of arms over one of 
 the chimney (mantle) pieces ; and those are 
 alluded to in my Collectio7is, published in 1820. 
 I have lately (1853) paid close attention to 
 these coats, or scutcheons, and find the Whiting 
 
 * Pishcy Thompson, Esq., who, in his invaluable work, has gar- 
 nered up the fruit of fifty years' research. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 7 
 
 arms quartered upon two of them. They can- 
 not be less than two hundred and fifty or three 
 hundred years old, probably older. The first 
 is the coat borne by the Hunston family of 
 Leake, who were settled in that parish as 
 early as temp. Richard I., perhaps earlier, and 
 afterwards intermarried into the Sutton, Stick- 
 ney. Whiting, Gedney, and Enderby families, 
 all of whose arms are quartered on that shield ; 
 they being respectively, i. Hunston; 2. Sutton; 
 3. Stickney ; 4. Whytyng ; 5 and 7. Gedney ; 
 6 and 8. Enderby. 
 
 " The second shield " of which he gives a 
 sketch drawn from the same mantle-piece, 
 " quarters the arms of Smith of Elsham, in 
 place of those of Gedney and Enderby, with 
 the arms of Hunston, Sutton, Stickney, and 
 Whiting." 
 
 " The Whiting arms, as quartered by the 
 Hunstons in the old house at Leake, are the 
 arms of the ancient family of Whiting of Lin- 
 colnshire."* This coat-of-arms, as shown in 
 
 * See Thompson's History of Boston, p. 585, where he gives a fur- 
 ther account of St. Lawrence's Chantry, and of the armorial quarter- 
 ings above referred to. 
 
8 Memoir of 
 
 the engraving presented in this memoir, was 
 borne by the ancestors of Rev. Samuel Whi- 
 ting, and has been transmitted through him to 
 his American descendants* 
 
 The residence t of the Lincolnshire Whitings 
 of this family from the year 1333, and probably 
 from a much earlier date, was at Boston, where 
 William Whytynge was at that date taxed as a 
 citizen. t The following extract from Thomp- 
 son's work (pp. 160, 161), refers to the great 
 church of St. Botolph, where, for several cen- 
 turies, they have worshipped, and where the 
 famous John Cotton preached, in memory of 
 whom his English and American descendant? 
 have recently adorned one of its most beauti 
 ful chapels. 
 
 " The foundation of the present steeple of 
 Boston church is said to have been laid in 
 1309, although the tower was not carried up 
 
 * See appendix p. 265. 
 
 t In Thompson's History, p. 243, may be found an engraving of 
 Hussey Tower ; and in a note on tliat page, lie says, — 
 
 " The Whiting family occupied this property from 1627 to 1668, ex- 
 cept for a short period ; " but, as they were owners of several estates 
 in and near Boston, it is not certain that this was at any time their 
 principal homestead. 
 
 t See Subsidy Roll, temp. Edw. III., 1333, at Boston. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 9 
 
 until a considerable time afterwards. The nave 
 and aisles, and part of the chancel, 'appear, 
 from the style of the architecture, to have been 
 built in the reign of Edward III., a period 
 during which a great movement in the way of 
 church-building seems to have taken place 
 throughout this district, as nearly every church 
 in the neighborhood appears to have been, 
 either wholly or in part, rebuilt at the same 
 time.' * 
 
 " This was during the period when Boston 
 was one of the ten shipping ports of the king- 
 dom., and the principal one as to the extent of 
 its shipments. At that time it had an immense 
 trade in wool, leather, hides, &c. ; and many 
 merchants from Calais, Cologne, Ostend, 
 Bruges, and other Continental towns, resided 
 there. The merchants of the Hanseatic League 
 had their guild, or house, there. It is tradition- 
 ally said, that the foundations of Boston steeple 
 were laid upon woolsacks, and this is probably 
 figuratively correct ; for it may be doubted 
 
 * Report for Repairing and Restoring Boston Church, by George 
 Gilbert Scott, architect, 1843. 
 
■^o Memoir of 
 
 whether those foundations would have been 
 laid, had it not been for the woolsacks which 
 then contributed so largely to the wealth of the 
 town. Among the merchants who about that 
 time resided in Boston and Skirbeck were the 
 families of Tilney, Spayne, Sibsey, Pescod, 
 Derby, Emery, Robinson, Whiting, and Dutch- 
 feldt. Merchants and other persons connected 
 with the trading-guilds had their residences in 
 all the villages in the Hundred of Skirbeck ;'" 
 and no doubt, by the liberality of these persons, 
 the -erection of the other churches, as well as 
 that of Boston, was materially assisted." 
 
 " The family of Whiting," says Thompson 
 (pp. 430, 431), "was very early connected with 
 Boston and the neighborhood. William Why- 
 tinge of Boston is mentioned in the Subsidy 
 Roll of Edward 111.(1333). William Whyting 
 of Deeping occurs in Dugdale, under the date 
 1352; and John and Robert Whiting of Thorpe, 
 near Wainfleet, are named by the same author- 
 ity as living in 1560." The earliest mention 
 of this family in the corporation records is in 
 1590, when John Whiting was a member of the 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. i r 
 
 Common Council, and erection bailiff; and the 
 first record of the family in the parish register 
 is the baptism of John Whiting, son of John, 
 on the 4th of June, 1592. John Whiting was 
 mayor of Boston in 1600 and 1608:* he was 
 the father of Samuel Whiting, who was born 
 at Boston, 20th November, 1597, and who was 
 entered of Emanuel College, Cambridge, 16 13, 
 and took his degrees of A.B. and A.M. in 1616 
 and 1620 respectively. He soon after received 
 orders, and became chaplain in a family which 
 was connected with the Bacons and Townsends 
 of Norfolk, and continued in that position 
 three years. He was afterwards settled as a 
 colleague with Mr. Price at King's Lynn, in the 
 same county. He rem.ained three years at 
 Lynn ; but complaints being made to the bishop 
 of Norwich, of his nonconformity in adminis- , 
 tering the services of the Church, he removed 
 to the rectory of Skirbeck, near Boston, where 
 his nonconformity was also complained of and 
 
 * John Whiting, as appears by the records of the corporation of 
 Boston, also held the office of vice-admiral of Lincolnshire in 1602 
 (Thompson, p. 459). 
 
1 2 Metnoir of 
 
 led subsequently to his emigration to the 
 American colonies." " He was married to his 
 second wife, Elizabeth, daughter * of Oliver St. 
 John, own cousin of Oliver Cromwell, and after- 
 wards chief justice of England, at Boston, on 
 the 6th of August, 1629. His brother John 
 was mayor of Boston in 1626, 1633, 1644, and 
 i645.t James, another brother, was mayor in 
 1640. Robert Whiting surrendered the office 
 of sergeant-at-mace, 28th June, 1631, and was 
 elected marshal of the admiralty, which office 
 he resigned 17th November, 1632.$ The Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting resigned the rectory of Skir- 
 beck in 1636, and emigrated to America. He 
 arrived in Boston (N.E.) May 26, and in the 
 following November removed to Lynn, in 
 Massachusetts, where he officiated as minister 
 until his death there, on the i ith December, 
 
 * Elizabeth was the daughter of Rt, Hon. Sir Oliver St. John; but 
 Oliver St, John, who was the chief justice, was her brother. 
 
 t The only instance of any person (previous to the Municipal Act 
 of 1835) having been mayor four times. 
 
 X James Whiting, another descendant of this family, was mayor of 
 Boston in 1718; and in 1760, Rev. Samuel Whiting, the last of his 
 family in England, "was elected member of the Council, being the 
 eldest son of an alderman." This office he resigned the year of his 
 death, 1781. (Sec Corporation Records, p. 233.) 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 13 
 
 1679, when he was eighty-two years of age: his 
 wife died in Lynn, in 1677, aged seventy-two. 
 Mr. Whiting's second son, John, was a graduate 
 of Harvard University. He returned to Eng- 
 land, and was appointed rector of Leverton : he 
 died in 1689. We beUeve the male line of the 
 Whitings in this neighborhood became extinct 
 by the death of the Rev. Samuel Whiting, 
 rector of Fishtoft, in 1781.* His sister Mary 
 married James Yorke; their son, James Whi- 
 ting Yorke, a colonel in the British army, 
 inherited the Rev. Samuel Whiting's property. 
 He married Elizabeth, daughter of Abraham 
 and Martha Sheath of Boston. His only son, 
 James Whiting Yorke of Wallingsgate, near 
 Louth, was sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1850 and 
 1851, and died' in July, 1854, without issue." 
 "The American branch of the Whiting family 
 is at present represented by William Whiting, 
 Esq., . . . President of the New-England His- 
 torical Society." t 
 
 * He died May 31st, 1781, aged sixty-seven years, having been ap- 
 pointed rector of Fishtoft in 1739. The same author thus wrifes in 
 another connection, "At his d.-ath the family of Whiting, in the male 
 line, is believed to have become extinct in Eiiglatid." 
 
 t " The £'«i;'//j/2 part of this account," says Thompson, "is taken 
 
1 4 Memoir of 
 
 Thus the last English representative of this 
 family, in the male line, died in 1781, and in 
 the female line in 1854; while numerous de- 
 scendants of the same stock have taken rool 
 in different parts of the United States. 
 
 The will of John Whiting, father of Samuel, 
 who is the subject of this notice, is recorded 
 in the parish register of St. Botolph, in Bos- 
 ton ; and is dated Oct. 20, 161 7, only two days 
 before he was buried,* and, therefore, must 
 have been executed in extremis. 
 
 After providing for donations to the poor of 
 the parish, and to the vicar of Boston, his friend 
 
 from the corporation records and the church registers ; the American 
 part from Drake's History of Boston, Mass., from The American 
 Genealogical and Historical Register, and Allen's Biographical Dic- 
 tionary." 
 
 " We do not l^cnow whether Richard Whiting, the last abbot of Glas- 
 tonbury, was connected with the Lincolnshire family. He was far 
 advanced in life at the time of the Reformation, too old to relin- 
 quish his long-cherished opinions, and too firm to renounce his reli- 
 gious principles. He offered a decided opposition to the proceedings of 
 Henry VHI., and was condemned to be 'hanged, drawn, and quar- 
 tered;' which sentence was most cruelly executed. Leland, in his MSS. 
 preserved in the Bodleian Library, calls Abbot Whiting, ' Homo sane 
 candidissimus, et amicus mens singularis ; ' l^ut he afterward Jftfrc'^j? 
 the line with his pen. — Minyweathcr's Dih.'iomaiii.i, p. 144." 
 
 * The burial, of John Whiting is entered on the parish register of 
 St. Botulph, under date of 32 Oct., 1617. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 15 
 
 and pastor, Rev. John Cotton, he gives portions 
 of his estate to his loving wife Isabel; his 
 daughter Margaret, the wife of Richard Car- 
 ter; his son James; his son John ; his daugh- 
 ter Audrey, wife of Robert Wright ; and to 
 his son Samuel. The part of his will which 
 relates to the latter is as follows : — 
 
 "'Item. My will and meaning is, that my 
 executor, hereafter named, shall, out of the 
 profits of my whole estate, maintain and keep, 
 in such manner as he is now kept, my son 
 Samuel, at Cambridge until he shall be fit to 
 commence Master of Arts ; and then if he, my 
 said son, will take that degree upon him, my 
 said executor, hereafter named, shall, out of 
 the said profits of my whole estate, bear the 
 ordinary charge thereof; and then I do give 
 unto my said son Samuel, when he hath taken 
 that degree upon him, the sum of one hundred 
 and, twenty pounds." 
 
 The parish register of baptisrns of St. Bo- 
 tolph contains the following entries of the bap- 
 tisms of the children of the testator ; all of 
 whom are mentioned in the will, except the 
 
1 6 Memoir of 
 
 eldest daughter Isabel, who died May 4, 
 1602 : — 
 
 1587, Dec. 10. Isabel, daughter of John Whiting. 
 
 1589, Sept. 28. Audrey, daughter of " 
 
 1592, June 4. John, son of " 
 
 1594, Aug. 4. Margaret, daughter of " 
 
 1597) Nov. 21. Samuel, son of " 
 
 1599, Aug. 21. James, son of 
 
 It is not intended in this memoir to trace the 
 Eno-lish families who have descended from 
 either of the brothers or sisters of Samuel. It 
 may, however, be mentioned that the youngest 
 son, James, whose will was dated 23 April, 
 1648, and was proved the 7th of June in the 
 same year, left to his wife Mary, during her 
 life, all his houses and lands in Boston, Skir- 
 beck, Leake, and Leverton ; disposed of his 
 lands in Fishtoft and Freeston ; and referred to 
 his son John, and to his son Samuel (not then 
 twenty-one). To his brother Satnuel Whiting, 
 now (1648) in New England, he left ^5 ; to 
 his sister Wright, ^5 ; and appointed his wife 
 executrix. It is to be regretted that the parish 
 register of St. Botolph contains no entries of 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 17 
 
 births earlier than 1557, or of burials earlier 
 than 1559, or of marriages earlier than 1565. 
 It is therefore difficult, if not impracticable, 
 without great trouble, to obtain official records 
 of the dates of the births, marriages, and 
 deaths of the progenitors of the Boston fami- 
 lies prior to these years. " The parish records 
 of a date earlier than 1555 were lost or de- 
 stroyed in the turmoils of the Reformation." * 
 
 Frequent mention is made in the local histo- 
 ries of Lincolnshire of the Whitings of that 
 county as of ancient lineage. The official posi- 
 tions held by several of them; their intermar- 
 riages from time to time with members of old 
 and distinguished families, as the Hunstons, 
 who were connected with the Audleys, Wal- 
 poles, &c., the Smiths of Elsham, and others, 
 whose arms were quartered with those of the 
 Whitings; their connections with the Bulkleys, 
 and other families of noble descent, and the 
 marriage of Rev. Samuel Whiting with Eliza- 
 beth St. John, whose relatives are mentioned in 
 the pedigree accompanying this sketch, suffi- 
 
 * Thompson. 
 
1 8 Memoir of 
 
 ciently indicate the social and political standing 
 of this family in England. It is not known that 
 Boston was the birth-place of any of the Pil- 
 grim Fathers who came over to Plymouth in the 
 Mayflower in 1620, yet this ancient city and 
 its neighborhood may justly claim to have been 
 the home of several of the most memorable 
 Puritan families, which, during the twelve years 
 of Archbishop Laud's administration {circa 
 1628 to 1640), emigrated from the mother 
 country to New England.* 
 
 Among the names which are familiar to stu- 
 dents of our early colonial history are those of 
 John Cotton, Samuel Whiting (the subject of 
 this notice), Peter Bulkley, Thomas Hooker, 
 John Elliot,t Roger Williams, Hugh Peters, 
 Thomas Welde, Peter Hobart, and John 
 Wheelwright; and of those who were con- 
 nected with the administration of government 
 at Boston and its vicinity, none were more 
 eminent than Sir Henry Vane, John Win- 
 throp, and Thomas Dudley, governors of the 
 colony, and Roger Conant and John Endicott, 
 
 * See Neale's History of the Puritans, vol. ii. t See Note 3, p. 263. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 19 
 
 governors of the earlier settlements at Cape 
 Ann* and Salem ; and, at a later date, Simon 
 Bradstreet, who succeeded Mr. Leverett as gov- 
 ernor of Massachusetts, in 1679. Prominent 
 and active as they were in their efforts to control 
 the civil and religious affairs of their contempo- 
 raries, an influence upon the destiny of the 
 colony, not less potent and not less important, 
 may justly be ascribed to Cotton, Whiting, and 
 Bulkley. The character and extent of that 
 influence upon the future welfare of the peo- 
 ple can be understood and appreciated only 
 by thorough examination of the lives and do- 
 ings of the political as well as of the religious 
 leaders of the time, and by tracing the parts 
 which they have respectively taken in sustain- 
 ing or attempting to overthrow those principles 
 which are now acknowledged as the foundation 
 of republican government. But, in this brief 
 sketch, it is impracticable to do more than to 
 make an occasional allusion to these interest- 
 ing topics. " Lincolnshire " (says Hutchin- 
 son) " contributed greatly ; and more of our 
 
 * See " Landing at Cape Ann, or the First Charter ; " by J. W. 
 Thornton, Esq. Note 6, p. 264. 
 
20 Memoir of 
 
 principal families derived their origin from 
 thence than from any part of England, unless 
 the city of London be an exception. . . . The 
 Earl of Warwick* was a patron of the colony, 
 and was very able as well as willing to do kind 
 offices to it as long as he lived. Some of the 
 ministers were of families of distinction. Mr. 
 Bulkley, from Bedfordshire, of an honorable 
 family, was there. Samuel Whiting, who was 
 minister of Lynn, married a daughter of Oliver 
 St. John. She came with him to New Eng- 
 land."! 
 
 During the early struggles of our ancestors, 
 they held it to be of great advantage to secure 
 in their favor the patronage and countenance of 
 influential persons in the mother country. The 
 accession to the colonies of those who were 
 connected with ancient and distinguished fami- 
 lies tended, as they believed, to promote the 
 permanent prosperity of the people here, and 
 to encourage their efforts to secure greater free- 
 dom of the Church and State than seemed con- 
 
 * For the relationship of the Earl of Warwick to Mrs. Samuel 
 Whiting, see pedigree of Elizalaeth St. John. 
 
 t See also Young's Chron. of Mass., pp. 48, 430,431. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 21 
 
 sistent with the old order of affairs in the moth- 
 er country * The same seed which, planted in 
 the soil of England, produced, perhaps prema- 
 turely, a commonwealth, under the masterly in- 
 fluence of Cromwell, was also sown broadcast 
 over the rough soil of these colonies. Here it 
 slowly germinated, grew up, and blossomed in 
 clusters of independent communities, which, by 
 the law of natural affinity, united at last to form 
 a magnificent republic. So much had been 
 gained, at that early date, by the English peo- 
 ple in their struggle against royal prerogative, 
 that several noble and aristocratic personages 
 in England, during the first half of the seven- 
 teenth century, favored the idea of administer- 
 ing ecclesiastical government in the true spirit 
 of American democracy. Wherever they hon- 
 estly maintained the people's rights, they were 
 sure to secure the people's respect. Great 
 deference was shown to them by the colonists, 
 who took care to make generally known their 
 connection with English families. Of those 
 who came over to this country in its infancy, 
 
 » I Bancroft's Hist. U. S. 384. 
 
22 Memoir of 
 
 none had a stronger claim to be respected for 
 their high social standing in England than the 
 leading Puritan clergymen. Men of pure and 
 honorable lives, educated in the first universi- 
 ties of Europe, voluntarily abandoning the 
 attractions and refinements of their ancestral 
 homes to endure the privations and hardships 
 of a new country " for conscience' sake ; " sub- 
 jected to great and unceasing labor in their 
 new vineyard, and almost of necessity exercis- 
 ing a controlling influence in public affairs, 
 their acts, their personal histories, and their 
 family connections, came to be matters of gen- 
 eral interest, and were usually noticed in public 
 records. Hence we find little difficulty, even 
 at this late day, in tracing the genealogy of 
 any of the early Puritan clergymen. The in- 
 formation required for that purpose, relating to 
 those who are mentioned in this memoir, may 
 generally be found in the records of the town 
 or parish where they have resided, or in the 
 local histories, — a fact which will be amply 
 verified by the references contained in these 
 pages. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 23 
 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting, the subject of this 
 sketch, was born the 20th of November, A.D. 
 1597, in the city of Boston, Lincolnshire, Eng- 
 land, which had been the chief place of resi- 
 dence of his family since the sixth year of the 
 reign of Edward III. (1333), and probably from 
 a much earlier date. He had two brothers, 
 John and James, the first older, the second 
 younger, than himself, and three sisters, Is- 
 abel, Audrey, and Margaret, who were his 
 seniors. His ancestors were connected by mar- 
 riage and consanguinity with several of the 
 most ancient and respectable families of Lin- 
 colnshire, whose armorial bearings were quar- 
 tered with theirs, and have already been referred 
 to in the accompanying genealogy. While he 
 was yet a youth, his father was twice mayor of 
 his native city ; and subsequently his brothers 
 were both elected to the same position. De- 
 scendants of his father's family subsequently 
 held that office, from time to time, for more than 
 a hundred years. Similar official responsibili- 
 ties were devolved upon his uncles and his 
 brothers-in-law. His kinsman, Mr. Atherton 
 
24 Memoir of 
 
 Hough, who came to this colony in 1633, with 
 Rev. John Cotton, had been mayor of the 
 borough in 1628, alderman in 1633,* and, after 
 coming over here, was chosen representative to 
 the Massachusetts General Court in 1637 and 
 1638.1 Rev. Anthony Tuckney, the successor 
 of Rev. John Cotton as rector of St. Botolph's, 
 at Boston, afterwards master of St. John's Col- 
 lege, Cambridge, was his own cousin. $ Rich- 
 ard Westland, alderman of Boston, a great 
 friend of the colony, to which he had from time 
 to time loaned money, was his brother-in-law. 
 Rev. John Cotton, rector of St. Botolph's from 
 161 2 to 1633, was his and his father's relative, 
 friend, § and pastor. Their families were subse- 
 quently united by the marriage of his g.g daugh- 
 ter with Mr. Whiting's grandson. Rev. In- 
 crease Mather was also one of his cousins. Oth- 
 er influential persons might be mentioned who 
 were nearly connected with him ; but enough 
 has been said to indicate the standing of this 
 Lincolnshire family, and to show that its mem- 
 
 * Thompson's Boston, 421. t Drake's Boston, 212-237. 
 
 X Thompson, 778, 171. § Mather's Magnalia, 501. 
 
Rev. Samuel Wliiting. 25 
 
 bers might be reasonably expected to maintain 
 the well-won reputation of their native city, as 
 opposed to the extension of royal prerogatives 
 or the surrender of popular rights, to serve with 
 earnest good will the interests of their fellow- 
 citizens who had so often bestowed on them 
 the highest municipal honors, and promptly to 
 turn their backs upon official distinctions when 
 they could no longer hold them consistently 
 with honor and fidelity.* However interesting 
 the subject, it is not the purpose of this notice 
 to record the history of these friends of the 
 English Commonwealth, or to show how well 
 they did what might have been expected of 
 such stalwart Boston Puritans, as they were 
 preparing to enter upon the stormy Cromwel- 
 han revolution. 
 
 Samuel Whiting was a pupil at the Boston 
 school, and was perhaps assisted by the per- 
 sonal instruction of his relative. Rev. John 
 Cotton, who settled in that city in 1612, and 
 was his father's beloved pastor and friend. He 
 
 * At the Restoration they all withdrew from public office. 
 
26 MeTnoir of 
 
 entered Emanuel College as sizar, 27th March, 
 161 3. Having studied there three years, he 
 received his degree of A.B. 16 1-6. While he 
 was in college his father died, leaving an 
 ample estate. He continued at the university 
 until, in 1620, he took his degree of A.M.* 
 Subsequently he received the degree of D.D. 
 His chamber -mate there was his cousin- 
 german, Rev. Anthony Tuckney, one of his 
 school-fellows at Boston, who was also a cousin 
 of Rev. John Cotton,! and was for several 
 years his colleague, and finally his successor as 
 vicar of St. Botolph in 1633.$ In 1644 Dr. 
 Tuckney was appointed master of Emanuel 
 College, and in 1648 of St. John's. In 1655 
 he was made Regius Professor of Divinity. 
 As a member of the Assembly of Divines, who 
 met at Westminster in 1643, he took part in 
 drawing up " The Assembly's Catechism," but 
 disapproved of some important parts of it, and 
 voted against subscribing the confession. " He 
 
 * Mather's Magnalia, 502. Register of Emanuel College, 1620. 
 t Young's Chronicles, 430, 43 1, 438. Cotton's Reasons for Removal, 
 X Whiting's Memoir of Cotton (Young's Chron. of Mass., 425). 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 27 
 
 was one of the commissioners at the conference 
 held at the Savoy in 1661." His Puritanism 
 and nonconformity at last caused him to be 
 expelled, by operation of the Act of Uniformity, 
 from all his offices in 1662.* 
 
 Another of Mr. Whiting's college mates was 
 the son of a nonconforming clergyman, who 
 afterwards, following his father's example, stood 
 bravely by his principles, came over to this 
 colony, became its governor and one of its most 
 influential men, — the tolerant Simon Brad- 
 street,! whose portrait still adorns the senate- 
 chamber of our State House, and of whose de- 
 scendants one was married about a century later 
 to the Rev. John Whiting of Concord, a grand- 
 son of his college friend. The Rev. Thomas 
 Welde % was also at Cambridge with Mr. Whi- 
 ting, though by some years his senior. He was 
 in Trinity College, and took his degrees of 
 A.B. 16 1 3, and A.M. in 16 18. He was or- 
 dained as the first minister in Roxbury, in 
 July, 1632 ; and John Elliot, in November 
 following, was settled as his colleague. The 
 
 * Young's Chron., 439, note. Thompson's Boston, 775, 776. 
 I Thompson's Boston, 432. J Young's Chron., 511, note. 
 
28 Memoir of 
 
 friendship formed with Mr. Welde in college 
 was subsequently cemented by the marriage of 
 one of his sons with Mr. Whiting's eldest 
 daughter. 
 
 " It was while Mr. Whiting was thus at the 
 University," says Dr. Mather, "that the good 
 Spirit of God made early impressions of grace 
 upon his young soul ; and the cares of his 
 pious tutor (I think Mr. Yates) 'to instruct him 
 in matters of religion as well as of literature 
 were blessed for the imbuing of his mind with 
 a tincture of early piety; which was further 
 advanced by the ministry of such preachers 
 as Dr. Sibs and Dr. Preston ; so that in his age 
 he would give thanks to God for the divine 
 favors which he thus received in his youth, 
 and when he was entering into his rest, where 
 he expected the most intimate communion 
 with our glorious Immanuel, and with the 'spir- 
 its of just men made perfect,' he could with joy 
 reflect upon the anticipations of it which he 
 enjoyed in the retired walk of Immanuel 
 College." 
 
 Such were the men with whom our young 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 29 
 
 student associated during the years he spent at 
 Emanuel College, "the hotbed of Puritanism," 
 as it was justly called. Among students like 
 these, the current of opinion pressed strongly 
 against the divine right of kings, or of civil 
 governments under any form, against royal or 
 aristocratic prerogative or privilege, against 
 the domineering claims of church dignitaries, 
 and against all needless control of personal 
 rights. They seem, for a time, to have scented 
 from afar the spicy breath of that spirit of free- 
 dom which inspired their stalwart sons on the 
 field of Naseby, raised the revolutionary cry 
 of colonial independence, and finally, after the 
 lapse of two hundred and fifty years, planted 
 deep and strong in the constitution of this 
 republic the eternal safeguards of civil liberty. 
 Yet few of these gallant spirits then foresaw 
 how their doctrines would shape the future 
 destiny of the English race. They were not 
 aware of the great part they were playing in 
 the history of nations, nor of the impulse they 
 were giving to the cause of humanity, an 
 impulse which has rolled onward more than 
 
30 Memoir of 
 
 two hundred years as a tidal wave across the 
 ocean, and seems destined to reach the distant 
 shores of centuries yet to come. Boston was 
 conspicuous among English towns for the 
 independent character of its citizens, the more 
 noticeable in view of the great prosperity of its 
 manufactures and foreign commerce. Some 
 of its clergy refused to conform to the cere- 
 monies of the Church; Bostonians declined to 
 be unlawfully taxed, and, daring to believe 
 that "kings had liths in their necks," they 
 chose for their mayors not men who were sub- 
 servient to the sovereign and his nobles, but 
 those only who had enough of English inde- 
 pendence and of English pluck. These were 
 lively times. Lincolnshire contained its full 
 share of brave clergymen, of whom some pre- 
 ferred to stay for a time and submit to the 
 bishops ; others looked forward to a future day, 
 when, under the providence of God, if driven 
 out of their churches, they might hold prayer- 
 meetings in tented fields, amidst battalions of 
 fighting saints, and trample Satan under their 
 horses' hoofs. But there were others who 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 31 
 
 would not yield to the dictation of the bish- 
 ops, and, though brave as the fiercest warrior 
 who burns to grapple with his foe in mortal 
 combat, would not, and could not, as disciples 
 of Jesus, shed human blood, even in the 
 holiest cause. 
 
 In 1620, the year in which Mr. Whiting was 
 graduated, the Pilgrim Fathers left their native 
 land to seek for freedom to worship God 
 according to the dictates of their conscience. 
 Though none of them are now known to have 
 gone from Boston, their emigration was even 
 then looked on as a momentous event, and was 
 not without its influence upon thousands who 
 subsequently followed them. The handful of 
 Christian pioneers who landed at Plymouth 
 demonstrated, as it was believed, that for all 
 conscientious and high-spirited Englishmen 
 there was an alternative which neither com- 
 pelled them to submit to the tyranny of the 
 Church, nor to shed innocent blood, since a 
 way opened for them to depart in peace. This 
 way, though rough and dangerous, was remem- 
 bered in their trials, and was subsequently 
 
32 Memoir of 
 
 trodden by many pious and heroic pilgrims. 
 Soon after receiving his degree of A.M., Mr. 
 Whiting took holy orders, and became chap- 
 lain in a family which consisted of five ladies 
 and two knights, Sir Nathaniel Bacon and 
 Sir Roger Townsend,* in Norfolk County, 
 with whom he resided three years, enjoying 
 the friendly intimacy of these accomplished 
 ladies and gentlemen, in whose society he 
 frequently met the distinguished personages 
 of that neighborhood.f He was then invited 
 to become the rector of Lynn Regis, as col- 
 league with Rev. Mr. Price. Here he was set- 
 tled, 1: and for three years performed the duties 
 of his office with such earnestness and indepen- 
 dence as to attract the special notice of the 
 bishop of his diocese, to whom complaints of 
 his nonconformity had been presented. " Being 
 cited unto the High Commission court, he ex- 
 pected that he should lose the most of his es- 
 tate for his being a nonconformist; but before 
 the time for his appearance, according to the 
 
 * Annals of Lynn, 268. 
 
 t See Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, p. 947, ed. 1S56. 
 
 t Voung's Chron. Annals of Lynn, 26S. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 33 
 
 citation, came, King James died, and so his 
 trouble at this time was diverted." * 
 
 His friend " the Earl of Lincoln afterwards 
 interceding for him," says Dr. Mather, " the 
 bishop was willing to promise that he would 
 no further worry him in case he would be gone 
 out of his diocess, where he could not reach 
 him ; " and therefore, to avoid further difficulty, 
 he resigned his rectorship, and left Lynn. In 
 the mean time he had married his first wife. 
 With her and their children, he removed to 
 the Parish of Skirbeck, near Boston, his old 
 home, where he was again settled as rector. 
 This was during the time when the advowson 
 of Skirbeck was in the hands of the Barkham 
 family.f While he was residing there, his 
 brother, John Whiting, jun., was mayor of 
 Boston. 
 
 " The parish of Skirbeck," says Thompson, 
 "and the hamlet of Skirbeck Quarter, surround 
 the town of Boston, with the exception of such 
 portions of its western and northern boundaries 
 
 * Mather's Magnalia, 502. 
 t Thompson's Boston, 474, note. 
 5 
 
34 Memoir of 
 
 as lie between Hammond-beck and the With- 
 am, and on the east side of that river between 
 it and the northern termination of the ancient 
 bed of the Scire-beck. The principal pai't of 
 the parish of Skirbeck lies on the south-eastern 
 boundary of Boston. This village gives its 
 name to the Hundred in which it is situated, 
 and is variously written. In Domesday Survey 
 it is called Schirbec." " The Anglo-Saxon 
 word scir also means pure, bright, clear. Beck 
 means a brook, rivulet, or small running stream. 
 Scyre-bec may also mean a dividing or bounda- 
 ry stream, as the river was between Botolph's 
 town, or Boston, and Skirbeck." * 
 
 Here, in this ancient parish, Mr. Whiting 
 sought shelter from the persecution of the 
 bishop ; but preached and practised noncon- 
 formity as openly as ever. The old church in 
 which he ministered is still standing, surround- 
 ed by the graves of his long-departed parish- 
 ioners. It is a simple and unpretending struc- 
 ture, planted on the left bank of the River 
 Witham, whose sluggish waters have sadly en- 
 
 * Thompson's Boston, 460, note. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 35 
 
 dangered its foundations. When last visited by 
 the writer of this memoir (1863), it seemed to 
 have been well preserved, though in every part 
 it exhibited incontestable evidence of its an- 
 tiquity. 
 
 The parish church in which John Cotton 
 preached is three hundred and eighty-two feet 
 in length, and ninety-nine in breadth ; and the 
 tower is two hundred and sixty-two feet in 
 height, and resembles that of the cathedral at 
 Antwerp. It forms a conspicuous landmark 
 for sailors, being visible at sea for forty miles. 
 ." Among the parish churches of England," said 
 Everett (in his address at Plymouth, Dec. 22, 
 1845), " there is not a finer than the church at 
 Boston, almost a cathedral in size, and unsur- 
 passed by any of its class in the beauty of its 
 architecture." " While I mused beneath its 
 arches, ascended its grand tower, and stood be- 
 fore the altar at which Cotton ministered, I 
 gained new impressions of the Christian hero- 
 ism, the spiritual grandeur of the men, who, 
 turned their backs on all this sacred grandeur 
 and beauty, as well as on all the comforts and 
 
36 Memoir of 
 
 delights of civilized life, that they might freely 
 worship God in cabins and garrets, under exile 
 and penury in the old world, and in face of the 
 gaunt terrors of this unsubdued wilderness." 
 
 Mr. Whiting, having lost his first wife and 
 his two sons, was married after he became rec- 
 tor of Skirbeck, to his second wife, Elizabeth 
 St. John, only daughter of Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver 
 St. John of Cayshoe, Bedfordshire, Knt. This 
 marriage is recorded in the parish register of 
 St. Botolph, Boston, under date of 6th August, , 
 1629. It is mentioned by contemporary writ- 
 ers, who were acquainted with the families thus 
 united, and has been frequently referred to by 
 subsequent historians.* 
 
 Mr. Sims of Philadelphia, an eminent gene- 
 alogist, in his notice of her father, remarks that 
 " Mather, in his 'Magnalia,' says that Mr. Whi- 
 ting married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Oliver 
 
 * Turner's Journal, from 1630 to 1681, quoted in Newhall's " Lin," 
 p. 87 ; Winthrop, i., 132 ; Hutchinson's Hist, of the Colony of Mass. 
 Bay, vols. i. and ii., p. 24 ; Young's Chronicles, p. 431 ; Thompson's 
 History and Antiquities of Boston, Eng., p. 430; Thompson's Hist, of 
 Long Island, p. 339 ; New-Eng. ITist. and Gen. Register, vol. xiv., 
 p. 61 ; Farmer's Genealog. Register ; Shattuck's History of Concord; 
 Drake's History of Boston, U.S. &c. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 37 
 
 St. John of Cayshoe, a Bedfordshire gentle- 
 man. Farmer, in his ' Register,' calls her the 
 daughter of the Rt. Hon. Oliver St. John, which 
 is correct, as he was a member of parliament, 
 and, by the by, was, late in life, knighted. This 
 Mr. St. John of Cayshoe was the son of Rt. 
 Hon. Thomas, a younger son of the first Lord 
 St. John of Bletshoe." 
 
 The following is from vol. xiv., pp. 61 and 62, 
 of The New-England Historical and Genealogi- 
 cal Register : — 
 
 " A letter, dated June 28, 1859, has been re- 
 ceived from Clifford Stanly Sims, Esq., of 
 Philadelphia, a member of the Historical Soci- 
 ety of Pennsylvania, containing an interesting 
 genealogy not heretofore published in ' The 
 Register,' although well known to those who 
 are versed in the history of the old English 
 families. We take pleasure in laying it before 
 our readers, for more convenient reference. 
 
 " The descent embraces twenty generations 
 in England, and eight generations in America, 
 making twenty-eight generations since the 
 Norman Conquest." 
 
38 Memoir of 
 
 " PIiD/GREE OF ELIZABETH (ST. JOHN) WHITING. 
 
 Arms — argent on a chief gules two mullets pierced, or. 
 Name — derived from a place called St. John, in Normandy. 
 
 1. William de St. yohn was one of the Barons who accom- 
 
 panied the Norman Duke in his invasion of Eng- 
 land, — and he held the honorable post of Grand 
 Master of the Artillery in the invading army; he 
 married Olivia de Fiegiers. 
 
 2. yoh7i de St. John, lord of Stanton, also Henry I. 
 
 3. Roger de St. John married Cicely de Hay a. 
 
 4. Muriel de St. .yohn married Reginald de Aureval. 
 
 5. Mabel de Aureval married Adam dePort, Baron of Basing 
 
 in the County of Southampton, — and a son of John 
 de Port, whose father Henry was a son of Hugh de 
 Port, a Baron in the time of William I. and owner of 
 55 lordships in the said county of Southampton. 
 
 6. William de Port assumed the name of St. John, and 
 
 was Baron St. jfohn oj Basing, — he married God- 
 child Paganal. 
 
 7. Robert de St. John, second Baron of Basing, 38 Henry 
 
 III., — he married the daughter and heiress of Wil- 
 liam de Cantilupe. 
 
 8. William St. yohn married Isabel Cobmartin. 
 
 9. Sir yohn St. yohn, Knt. 
 
 10. Sir yohn St. yohn, Knt., — he married Elizabeth Hum- 
 
 freville, co-heiress to the lordship of Penmark. 
 ti. Sir Oliver St. yohn, Knt., lord of Penmark. 
 
Rev. Sam-xcl IVhiiing. 39 
 
 12. Sir John St. John, Knt., lord of Penmark. 
 
 13. Sir Oliver St. jfohn, Knt., — he married Margeret, sister 
 
 and sole heir of John de Beauchamp of Bletsoe ; 
 she afterwards married John Beaufort, Duke of 
 Somerset, and by him had Margaret the Countess 
 of Richmond, mother of Henry VII. 
 
 14. Sir yohn de St. John, — he married Alice, daughter of 
 
 Sir Thomas Bradshavv of Haugh, in the county of 
 Lancaster, and of the same family as the Regicide 
 Bradshaw ; she descended in the fourteenth genera- 
 tion from Sir John Bradshaegh. 
 
 15. Sir yohn de St. John of Bletsoe, who married Sibyl, 
 
 daughter of Morgan ap Jenkins ap Philip. 
 
 16. Sir yohn St. yohn, Knt., — he married Margery, a 
 
 daughter of Sir William Waldegrave ; she was de- 
 scended in the tenth generation from Warine de 
 Walgrave. 
 
 17. Oliver St. yohn, created in 1559 Lord Baron St. yohn 
 
 of Bletsoe ; he married Agnes Fisher. 
 
 18. Right Honorable Thomas St. yohn. 
 
 19. Right Honorable Sir Oliver St. yohn, Knt, M.P. of 
 
 Cayshoe in Bedfordshire ; he married Sarah Buck- 
 ley of Odell in Bedfordshire, 
 zo. Elizabeth St. yohn, marned Aug. 6th, i62g,Rev. Samud 
 Whiting, M.A., of Boston in Lincolnshire. Her 
 brother was Oliver St. John, the celebrated Chief 
 Justice of England during the Commonwealth. 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting came over to America in 1636, ac- 
 
40 Meinoir of 
 
 companied by his wife. He was settled as Pastor of the 
 First Church in Lynn in 1636. She died in 1677. 
 
 For tlie descendants of Elizabeth St. John and Samuel 
 Whiting, see Drake's History of Boston, U. S., p. 363. 
 
 "Note. — Elizabeth St. jfohn Whiting was sixth cousin to JCijtg 
 ffejiry VI f. Through the " Beauchamps," she descended from the 
 Earls 0/ Warren and Surrey ; from the Earls of Warwick, from Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror, and from King Henry I. of France. 
 
 Through the family of Margaret Walgrave she descended in the 
 twenty-first generation from Reginold de Wentworth. 
 
 Through the family of Margery Spencer she descended from Lord 
 Badlesniere, from Guy de Crown and Harold de Vaux. 
 
 Through Elizabeth Tibeiot she descended from the Lords of Tihetot, 
 the Lords of Ros, and from William the Lion, JOng of Scotland. 
 
 Through the family of Margery Spencer she also descended from 
 King Henry I., the Empress Matilda, ICing Henry II., King John, King 
 Henry HI., King Edward I, and from the Earls of Gloucester, and 
 from Hugh, Earl of Winchester. 
 
 She descended also from William Earl of Warwick through the fam- 
 ily of Beauchamp, and thus derived her lineage in two distinct lines 
 from William the Norman. It is not a frequent occurrence that one 
 person should unite the lineage of ten of the sovereigns of Europe ; 
 and of so many other families of great historical celebrity." 
 
 "Among the noble families of England," says 
 Cooke, in his " Memoirs of Lord Bolingbroke," 
 " that of St. John is conspicuous for its antiquity, 
 its dignity, and its possessions. We find Wil- 
 liam de St. John holding an honorable post in 
 
Rev. Satmtel Whiting. 41 
 
 the army of the Conqueror ; and he ^appears to 
 have rendered that monarch important assist- 
 ance in the battle of Hastings. Tlijs chief re- 
 ceived large rewards for his services, and was 
 the founder of the family in England. 
 
 " William de St. John left two sons, who, by 
 their noble alliances, increased the influence 
 and possessions of the family. Bolingbroke 
 was descended from John, the younger of these 
 sons, through a female descendant named May- 
 bel. This lady married Adam de Port, a de- 
 scendant of the barons of Basing in Hampshire; 
 a title which his ancestors had enjoyed long an- 
 terior to the conquest. The heir of Adam de 
 Port assumed, upon the death of his father, his 
 maternal name of St. John, which was retained 
 by his issue. Thus, though Bolingbroke derived 
 his name from one of the Norman chiefs, who 
 upheld the standard of the Conqueror, his pa- 
 ternal descent was from the ancient nobility of 
 the Saxons. 
 
 " Nor did this house owe all its importance to 
 its antiquity and wealth. In each succeeding 
 age, it produced men conspicuous in the field, 
 
42 Memoir of 
 
 the cabinet, and the senate. Their talents and 
 services did not pass unrewarded ; the lordships 
 of Bletshoe, Tregone, and Grandison had arisen 
 and expired in his family before Bolingbroke 
 threw over it a lustre which no titles could alone 
 bestow. As their numbers increased, their 
 unity became less perfect ; and during the civil 
 wars we find them supporting different parties. 
 While Sir John St. John, the representative of 
 one branch, sided with the royalists, and lost 
 three of his sons in the service of his king, 
 Oliver, sprung from another branch, shone as 
 one of the master spirits and guiding stars of 
 the, republicans. These divisions of the family, 
 dissimilar as were their politics, were united by 
 the marriage of the grandparents of Boling- 
 broke, so that the chief justice of Cromwell was 
 his great-grandfather on the maternal side, — a 
 circumstance of which his political opponents 
 did not fail to remind him. 
 
 " The issue of this marriage was Henry St. 
 John, who inherited a baronetcy, but for whom 
 the talents of his son afterwards obtained much 
 higher honors. He married the daughter of 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 43 
 
 the Earl of Warwick, by whom he had an only 
 son, who was born on the ist of October, 1678, 
 at the family seat at Battersea. This son was 
 Henry St. John, the future Viscount Boling- 
 broke, whose birth and fortune were therefore 
 sufficient to qualify him to contest the highest 
 honors of the State." * 
 
 " Moule's English Counties," Wiltshire, vol. i. 
 p. 465, contains the following: '' Lidiard Tre- 
 gose. — The church is an ancient edifice, consist- 
 ing of a nave, aisles, and chancel, with a tower 
 in its western front. On folding-doors, on the 
 north side of the chancel, is painted a genealo- 
 gy of the St. John family, with their portraits 
 and heraldic .devices. One is inscribed ' The 
 ten lineal descendants of the two families of 
 Saint John of Lidiard Tregose, and Saint John 
 of Bletshoe, brought down to the present year, 
 1684,' and the other is entitled, 'A genealogical 
 table, with the ducal line of the family of Saint 
 
 * The Memoirs of Lord Bolingbroke (Henry St. John), by George 
 Wingrove Cooke, Esq., in two volumes, London, 1835, present the 
 only impartial and unprejudiced life of this extraordinary man. While . 
 he condemns his faults, he appreciates his greatness. Most of the 
 biographical notices of him deserve to be ranked as mere partisan 
 pamphlets. 
 
44 Memoir of 
 
 John, explaining their alhance as well in affinity 
 as consanguinity to King Henry VII., and also 
 to Queen Elizabeth, of most glorious and ever- 
 blessed memory.' On the same doors are also 
 portraits of Sir John St. John and his lady, 
 who are depicted in kneeling attitudes ; at the 
 feet of the lady are six children, and under them 
 the arms of the families of St. John and Hun- 
 gerford. On the southern side of the altar is 
 a monument of Sir John St. John, who died 
 in 1534, his two wives, and several of their chil- 
 dren. On the southern wall of the chancel is 
 a monument of Viscount St. John, who died 
 in 1 748. Near the church is Lidiard Park, the 
 seat of Viscount Bolingbroke, which is exten- 
 sive, and contains many large clumps of trees 
 and a fine pond of water." 
 
 Those who are interested in such researches 
 will find a complete genealogy of the St. Johns 
 in the eighteenth edition of Burke's " Diction- 
 ary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the Brit- 
 ish Empire," printed at London, 1856 (pp. 871- 
 873) ; and there may be found the names of the 
 present English representatives of this family. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 45 
 
 Brief histories of the St. Johns are contained 
 in Burke's "Extinct Baronetcies," and in 
 Noble's " Memoirs of the Protectoral House 
 of Cromwell," of which the second edition was 
 printed A.D. 1787, at Birmingham, Eng., and 
 from which invaluable work (vol. ii. pp. 13-15) 
 we quote the following : — 
 
 " The Life of Oliver St. John, Lord Chief yiistice of 
 the Common Pleas, a cousin by marriage to Oliver, 
 Lord Protector. 
 
 " The family who now bear the surname of 
 St. John are paternally descended from Hugh 
 de Port, who possessed fifty-five lordships in 
 the County of Hants, in the time of William 
 the Conqueror; whose vast estates maybe seen 
 in Domesday Book, under the article of terra 
 Hugonis de Port, which is the more singular, 
 as he was evidently a native Englishman from 
 his enjoying at least two manors, Cerdeford 
 and Eschetune, in Hants, from his ancestors 
 before the Norman invasion. This Hugh de 
 Port left Henry, who was the father of John, 
 whose son, Adam de Port, was a great baron, 
 
46 Memoir of 
 
 and seated at Basing, in Hants ; he married 
 Maybel, the daughter and sole heiress of Regi- 
 nald de Aureval, by Muriel, the sole daugh- 
 ter and heiress of Roger St. John (by Cicely, 
 daughter and sole heiress of Rob. de Haya, 
 lord of the manor of Halnac, in Sussex, which 
 he received from his relation K. Henry I.) : 
 William, the eldest son of this Adam de Port, 
 by Maybel, the representative of so many great 
 families, and one of them allied to the Nor- 
 man kings, assumed the surname of his grand- 
 mother by the mothers side, viz., St. John, 
 writing himself Willielmus de Sancto Johanne, 
 filius et hceres Adce de Port. The St. Johns 
 were inferior to no family in descent or power. 
 Will, de St. John accompanied K. William 
 when he came to seize the crown of Harold, 
 and then enjoyed the very honorable place of 
 grand master of the cavalry, for which reason 
 he took for his cognizance the horse hames or 
 collar : his name is in the roll of Battle Abbey 
 with others that attended their sovereign at 
 the Battle of Hastings, which decided the fate 
 of the kingdom, and placed the crown of the 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 47 
 
 English king upon the head of the Norman 
 duke. The Ports, or St. Johns, kept up their 
 situation, continuing to increase their riches 
 and greatness by the noblest alliances, and 
 became relations to the royal house of Tudor,* 
 as their progenitors had been to the Norman 
 princes ; and for the eminent services they have 
 rendered the State, several of them have been 
 ennobled. Alexander, the third son of Sir 
 John St. John, Knt. (the ancestor of various 
 peers of this family), was seated at Thorley in 
 Herts : he was the father of Henry, whose son 
 Oliver St. John of Cayshoe, in Bedfordshire, 
 Knt., was returned a member for his county in 
 the parliaments held in the 12th and 21st years 
 
 * " Both the house of St. John and Tudor descended from Marga- 
 ret, sister and sole heiress of John de Beauchamp, of Bletshoe, in 
 Northamptonshire, Knt., a junior line of those of Powick, branched 
 from the old Earls of Warwick, as appears by the following sketch : — 
 
 Sir Oliver St. John, =:: Marg. Beauchamp. ^ John Beaufort, Duke 
 Knt., from whom de- of Somerset, grand- 
 
 scend the earls, bar- son of John of Gaunt, 
 
 ons, and baronets of D. of Lancaster, son 
 
 this family. of K. Edward III. 
 
 Margaret ^ Edm. Tudor, Earl of 
 I Eichmond. 
 
 I 
 King Henry VII." 
 
48 Memoir of 
 
 of the reign of K. James I., and for the two 
 held in the first year of K. Charles I. ; this 
 Oliver had two sons, Oliver (whose life I am 
 going to give) and John, who left no child, and 
 a daughter named Elizabeth'' * 
 
 The connection of Elizabeth St. John Whi- 
 ting with Oliver Cromwell the Protector; John 
 Hampden the patriot, whose famous ship- 
 money case against King Charles was argued 
 by her brother, Oliver St. John ; Edmund 
 Waller the poet; Sir John Bernard, baronet; 
 the Neals of Woolaston ; Sir Richard Knight- 
 ly ; Colonel Edward Whalley, one of King 
 Charles's judges ; and other leading supporters 
 of the Commonwealth, including her relative, 
 the great Puritan Judge Bradshaw, will be ex- 
 plained by reference to "Noble's Memoirs of 
 the Protectoral House of Cromwell," vol. ii., 
 which contains genealogies of most of these 
 families, to Carlyle's Cromwell (p. 25-27),! and 
 to the pedigree which accompanies this memoir. 
 
 * Who married the Rev. Samuel Whiting, and came with him to 
 Boston, New England, and to Lynn. 
 
 t The letter printed on page 97 of this volume, written by Oliver 
 Cromwell to " my beloved cousin, Mrs. St. John," dated at Ely, 13 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 49 
 
 Elisabeth St. John Whiting was born at 
 Cayshoe, Bedfordshire, England, the family 
 seat of her father, the Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver St. 
 John, Knt, A.D. 1605. Of her two brothers, 
 John died without issue, OHver was Lord Chief 
 Justice of England. She had no sister. Her 
 mother, Sarah Bulkley of Odell, Bedfordshire, 
 was a sister of Rev. Edward Bulkley, D.D., of 
 Odell, who was father of Rev. Peter Bulkley,* 
 the first minister of Concord, Mass. " The 
 Bulkley family," says Shattuck, in his History 
 
 October, 1638, was addressed to the wife of Mrs. Whiting's brother, 
 the chief justice, Oliver St. John. 
 
 * Rev. Peter Bulkley of Concord, by will dated 26 February, 1659 
 (see Middlesex Records), gave his folio Bible to his nephew, Oliver St. 
 John, " as a thankful acknowledgment of hi? kindness and bounty 
 towards me (the testator); his liberality having been a great help and 
 support unto me in these lonely times and my struggles." One of his 
 remarkable series of sermons, printed in England, 1651, was dedicated 
 " to the church and congregation at Concord," and " to his nephew, the 
 Rt. Hon. Oliver St. John, Lord Embassador Extraordinary from the 
 Parliament of the Commonwealth of England to the High and Mighty 
 Lords the States General of the United Provinces in the Netherlands, 
 and Lord Chief Justice at the Common Pleas ; " pp. xvi. and 442, 
 quarto. President Styles, after reading this book, observes, " He was 
 a masterly reasoner in theology, and equal to the first characters in all 
 Christendom and in all ages." Rev. Edward Bulkley was a progenitor 
 of Rev. William Emerson of Concord, and of Ralph Waldo Emer- 
 son, the philosopher and poet. " Bulkley," says Hutchinson (vol. i., 
 p. 24), " was of an honorable family." (See Am. Quar. Reg. vol. ix.,p. 
 365.) 
 
 7 
 
50 Memoir of 
 
 of Concord, " was of honorable and noble de- 
 scent." Sarah Bulkley was of the ninth gen- 
 eration " from Robert Bulkley, one of the Eng- 
 lish barons, who, in the reign of King John 
 (who died in 1216), was lord of the manor of 
 Bulkley, in the county Palatine of Chester."* 
 
 Remarkable for her beauty, her dignity, and 
 her commanding presence, Elizabeth St. John 
 received in her youth an education which in 
 those days was rare among women. Brought 
 up in affluence, with all the refinements of cul- 
 tivated society, she was the fit companion of 
 scholars and statesmen, to many of whom she 
 was connected by ties of relationship. Even 
 in her old age_ she did not lose her youthful 
 fondness for the great poets of England, Chau- 
 cer, Spenser, and Shakspeare, and others of 
 lesser fame, with whose works her husband's 
 library at Lynn was stored. That she was 
 well informed as to public affairs, and familiar 
 with the grave discussions which then agitated 
 her countrymen regarding the foundation of 
 
 * For the genealogy of one branch' of the Bulkley family, see Shat- 
 tuck's Hist, of Concord, p. 157, note. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 51 
 
 the right of governments ; that she felt pro- 
 found personal interest in political, no less than 
 in polemical questions ; that she observed with 
 painful apprehension the beginning of the 
 contest of the people against their sovereign, 
 the fierce and irreconcilable conflict of popular 
 rights with royal prerogative (a conflict which 
 soon burst out in bloody revolution, dethroned 
 a king, and placed one of her brother's relatives 
 at the head of the British nation), it seems dif- 
 ficult to doubt, considering the circumstances 
 in which she was placed, and the persons by 
 whom she was surrounded. While Sir John 
 St. John, the representative of one branch of 
 her family, sided with the royalists, and lost 
 three of his sons in the service of his sover- 
 eign, her father, an influential member of par- 
 liament, was opposed to the royal cause. Her 
 brother Oliver, beyond doubt the first lawyer of 
 his time, had questioned the king's prerogatives 
 on several occasions, long before he made his 
 famous defence of John Hampden in the ship- 
 money case. A firm friend and stanch political 
 supporter of Cromwell, he was sternly opposed 
 
52 Memoir of 
 
 to all violent measures against his sovereign, 
 and doubtless gave the Lord Protector many 
 a hard hit with his stern and irrefraarable law 
 and logic. Discussion was not wanting in this 
 branch of the St. John family, whereby to edu- 
 cate a high-spirited woman. The mother of 
 Elizabeth was the daughter of a learned and 
 eminent doctor of divinity, of Bedfordshire, 
 whose sympathies were in favor of moderate re- 
 form. Her uncle was a no less thorough radical 
 than Cromwell himself. On the mind of a lady 
 whose house could claim the same ancestry as 
 that of the Tudors, and embraced in its genea- 
 logical tree, not only ten of the sovereigns of 
 Europe, but many of the most renowned no- 
 bility of ancient England, it would have been 
 excusable if the influence of family pride and 
 of historic associations had been stronsr in favor 
 of the royal cause. But in the heart of a wo- 
 man who had the power of comprehending the 
 principles of religious truth and political sci- 
 ence ; of a high-born lady, who had the good 
 sense to recognize the trifling value of worldly 
 distinctions when compared with the higher 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 53 
 
 nobility stamped by God himself upon every 
 truly Christian soul, the grandeur of the Puritan 
 faith, the earnest, passionate cry for religious 
 liberty with which its heroic apostles willingly 
 gave up the comforts, advantages, and honors 
 of their native land, and plunged bravely into 
 a storm of troubles, "for conscience' sake," — 
 the touching eloquence with which they plead 
 for an honest government and a tolerant 
 Church, perhaps, also, a feeling of sympathy 
 with the persecuted but courageous clergy- 
 men, whose chivalric spirit she knew full well, 
 combined to overmaster her ancestral pride, 
 to quench her ambition, and to break the 
 charm of her English home. Her allegiance 
 may have been divided, but her heart went with 
 the Puritans. Whether she first became ac- 
 quainted with her husband while he was a mem- 
 ber of the family of Sir Nathaniel Bacon, and 
 Sir Roger Townsend, in which he resided three 
 years before he was settled as a minister, or not 
 until after he had lost his first wife and two of 
 his three children by her, is not known ; but at 
 the age of twenty-four years, in the prime of life. 
 
54 Memoir of 
 
 when youth, beauty, and pride of ancestry have 
 usually lost none of their attractions or advan- 
 tages, she united her fate with one, who, though 
 of an ancient and honorable family, had de- 
 voted his life to the ministry of the gospel, and 
 had, therefore, abandoned all hope or expecta- 
 tion of worldly advancement. 
 
 English clergymen generally submitted with- 
 out a murmur to ecclesiastical authority, or en- 
 dured in silence what they had not the courage 
 to resist; but in some instances, with no sacri- 
 fice of honor, they sought and found shelter 
 from molestation by -the aid of friends in high 
 places. 
 
 From the estimation in which Mr. Whiting's 
 family was held at Boston, proved by the fact 
 that its members were so often placed in posi- 
 tions of trust and responsibility, and from his 
 marriage with a lady whose noble lineage has 
 been before referred to ; and supported, as he 
 v/as, by the influence of his friend the Earl of 
 Lincoln, the rector of Skirbeck might reason- 
 ably have hoped for protection from the inter- 
 ference of the bishop, or at least for a great 
 
Rev. Samuel WJiiting. 55 
 
 degree of forbearance. In this he was disap- 
 pointed. Complaints of nonconformity were 
 renewed from time to time against Rev. John 
 Cotton and himself. Proceedings were already 
 commenced, and swift pursuivants were on the 
 track of the eloquent rector of Boston, who was 
 obliged to secrete himself, and to leave the 
 country in disguise, that he might escape im- 
 prisonment. No cheering prospect this for his 
 bosom friend and relative who was still preach- 
 ing bravely in his chapel on the banks of the 
 Witham, and within hearing of the bells of St. 
 Botolph. John Whiting, his brother, was then 
 mayor (1633) for the second time ; and it has 
 been thought that he lent a helping hand to 
 John Cotton in- escaping the king's pursuivants. 
 The only question was how soon every non- 
 conforming minister would be obliged to leave 
 his country, give up the expression of his 
 honest convictions, or quit the ministry. Mr. 
 Whiting had every reason for desiring to re- ■ 
 main at home. His family then consisted of 
 his wife (Elizabeth St. John), a daughter (Dor- 
 othy) by his first wife, and his son Samuel, 
 
56 Memoir of 
 
 (born 25th March, 1633). His attachment to 
 the place where his family had lived for centu- 
 ries, his connection with the learned and ac- 
 complished scholars of Boston and its vicinity, 
 the magnificent libraries of Cambridge, Ox- 
 ford, and London, even the grand old St. 
 Botolph itself, where he had worshipped in his 
 youth, a church of magnificent proportions, 
 which had become doubly dear to him as it had 
 witnessed the labors of the heroic Cotton, and 
 now rang with the voice of the more prudent 
 but not less radical Tuckney, his schoolmate 
 and cousin, all plead with him to remain where 
 he was, and by some politic modification of his 
 views, or by some evasion of the difficulty, to 
 avoid giving too grave offence to a bishop who 
 had every inducement to treat hini with for- 
 bearance. But he was an honest, brave, and 
 conscientious man. He could not stoop so far 
 as to disguise or give up his opinions, or to 
 remain where toleration was a favor and not 
 a right. 
 
 " His virtuous consort," says Dr. Mather,* 
 
 * Magnalia, i., p. 505. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 57 
 
 " was far from discouraging him through any 
 unwillingness in her to forsake her native coun- 
 try, or expose her own person, first unto the 
 hazards of the ocean, and then unto the sorrows 
 of a wilderness ; but though some of her friends 
 were much against it, yet she rather forwarded 
 than hindered her husband's inclination for 
 America." They agreed that rather than live 
 in England a life of humiliating submission to 
 the bishops, they would turn their backs upon 
 their native land, with all its glorious memories, 
 and seek new fields of labor beyond the seas.* 
 " What numbers of faithful and free-born 
 Englishmen, and good Christians," thus wrote 
 John Milton in 1641, "have been constrained 
 to forsake their dearest home, their friends and 
 kindred, whom nothing but the wide ocean, 
 and the savage deserts of America, could hide 
 and shelter from the fury of the bishops 1 Oh, 
 if we could but see the shape of our dear 
 mother England ! as poets are wont to give a 
 personal form to what they please, how would 
 she appear, think ye, but in a mourning weed, 
 
 * Thompson's Boston, 429, 430; Savage's Gen. Diet., ii., p. 468. 
 
58 Memoir of 
 
 with ashes upon her head, and tears abundant- 
 ly flowing from her eyes, to behold so many of 
 her children exposed at once, and thrust from 
 things of dearest necessity, because their con- 
 science could not assent to things which the 
 bishops thought indifferent ? Let the astrolo- 
 gers be dismayed at the portentous blaze of 
 comets and impressions in the air, as foretelling 
 troubles and changes to states, I shall believe 
 there cannot be a more ill-boding sign to a 
 nation (God turn the omen from us ! ) than 
 when the inhabitants, to avoid insufferable 
 grievances at home, are enforced, by heaps, to 
 forsake their native country." * 
 
 Mr. Whiting sacrificed his property in Eng- 
 land, refused to retain any part of his landed 
 estates, from which he would have received an 
 annual income, and broke up all connection 
 with the land of his birth. " I am going into 
 the wilderness," said he, " to sacrifice unto the 
 Lord, and I will not leave a hoof behind me."t 
 Early in April, 1636, accompanied by his heroic 
 
 * Milton's Prose Works, i., p. 57. 
 t Mather's Magnalia, vol. i., p. 505. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 59 
 
 wife, his eldest living son Samuel, then three 
 years old, and his daughter Dorothy, he com- 
 menced the voyage to America. One of his 
 companions was John Wheelwright,* whose 
 preaching afterwards rekindled the Antinomian 
 controversy in which Mrs. Hutchinson took a 
 prominent part. The rector of Skirbeck had 
 but a wretched time of it, and was able to 
 preach but one sermon on the voyage. " I 
 would much rather have undergone six weeks' 
 imprisonment for a good cause," said Mr. Whi- 
 ting, " than six weeks of such terrible sea-sick- 
 ness." The weary voyagers arrived at Boston, 
 New England, May 26, 1636; and were wel- 
 comed to the hospitable roof of Mr. Atherton 
 Hough, Mr. Whiting's kinsman, with whom 
 they spent a month. 
 
 Mr. Hough was one of the most prominent 
 Lincolnshire men who came to Boston in 
 1633,1 in company with John Cotton. He had 
 held the office of mayor of Boston in 1628, 
 where Bellingham had been recorder, and 
 
 * Drake's History of Boston, 219, 220; Savage's Gen Diet., vol. 
 iv., p. 503 ; Annals of Lynn, p. 269 ; Belknap's N. H., p. 337. 
 t Young's Chron., 48, note. 
 
6o Memoir of 
 
 Thomas Leverett had been alderman, and sub- 
 sequently filled several civil offices in the colo- 
 ny. Quincy, Leverett, Hooker, Stone, Belling- 
 ham, the Hutchinsons and Bradstreet * were 
 already here ; and the sea-worn minister thus 
 found himself among friends whom he had 
 long loved and respected. 
 
 As soon as he recovered from the sufferings 
 of his voyage he began to preach. The pulpit 
 of Boston was then filled by Cotton, the pioneer 
 minister of the colony, a gceater than whom 
 has never adorned that city, famous as it has 
 been these two hundred and forty years for 
 learned, eloquent, and powerful clergymen, t 
 
 The people of " Saugust " (afterwards called 
 Lynn), not then provided with a minister, in- 
 vited Mr. Whiting to ^Dreach there. He came 
 to them in June, and was formally installed as 
 their pastor (Nov. 8, 1636), at the age of thirty- 
 nine. " The council remained two days (at 
 Lynn), and found much difficulty in organizing 
 a church, which was composed of only six 
 
 * Thompson's Boston, 421, 429, 431. t Ibid., 421-429. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 61 
 
 members, besides the minister."* There is 
 some question what the original church cove- 
 nant actually was.t It is probable that it dif- 
 fered in no essential particular from that of 
 the first church at Salem ; viz., " We covenant 
 with our Lord and with one another, and we 
 do bind ourselves in the presence of God, to 
 walk together, in all his ways, according as he 
 is pleased to reveal himself unto us." 
 
 In the following December (7th), he was ad- 
 mitted freeman, and soon after established his 
 permanent residence opposite the meeting- 
 house, in Shepard Street, where he commenced 
 the laying out of a large garden, which became 
 quite noted for its variety of vegetables and 
 fruits; and thus, with his cherished wife. and 
 children around him, he found a home where 
 persecution of English bishops could not fol- 
 low him, and where he might hope to escape 
 
 * Speaking of his settlement, Hubbard, in his General History of 
 New England, p. 194, says, '_' The next year they of Lynn gathered 
 another church, having invited Mr. Whiting to be their pastor, a man 
 of great worth and learning, that, not long before, came over from a 
 parish adjoining to Boston, in Lincolnshire." 
 
 t See Annals of Lynn, pp. 165-167. 
 
6 2 Memoir of 
 
 the troubles which seemed to hang like a black 
 cloud over his native land. 
 
 In Johnson's " Wonder-Working Provi- 
 dence " * we find the following account of Mr. 
 Whiting's reception at Lynn, with an address 
 to him which is more remarkable for its quaint 
 phraseology than for its poetry : — 
 
 " Mr. Samuel W^hiting was welcomed by the 
 Church of Christ at Cawgust, which town, 
 being now of age to receive an English name, 
 was called Lynn, where the reverent man now 
 hath his abode. 
 
 " Thy ardent love, the countless ocean's measure 
 Quench cannot ; for thy love on him is set 
 Who of true love hath aie the depthless treasure ; 
 Doth them increase, least thou should'st his forget. 
 
 Love Christ in's truths, my Whiting, thou hast done ; 
 
 Thou wilt not suffer, with their leaven sower. 
 False doctrines 'mongst thy tender flock to run ; 
 
 Timely cut off, wilt thou all these devour. 
 
 Samuel, mourn not thy strength in desarts spent ; 
 
 Rather rejoice thy Christ makes use of thee, 
 Soules to convert ; his kingdome's large extent 
 
 From east to west shall shortly setled be. 
 
 * P. 69 (1636). 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 6 
 
 o 
 
 Those eyes and eares have seen and heard great things 
 Done by thy Christ, showes he thy toil accepts, 
 
 Though thy weak flesh, weaker, to dust he'll bring 
 Thy quickened spirit, increast in his joy, leaps." 
 
 If an independent minister of the gospel in 
 1636 could have but Httle hope of peace in his 
 old English home, he might well have looked 
 forward to a stormy life in this colony. Here 
 public, private, municipal and personal affairs 
 were in perpetual turmoil. The liberal Sir 
 Henry Vane had come over the preceding year 
 (1635), and had just been chosen governor* 
 Fifteen great ships were floating in Boston 
 harbor the day on which Mr. Whiting landed ; 
 and Sir Henry was attempting to settle a diffi- 
 culty which had arisen between certain ship- 
 masters and a commander of the marine de- 
 fences, and was trying to appease the loyalty of 
 these sturdy Englishmen, who were offended 
 because the flag of England was not allowed to 
 float over the King's fort in Boston harbor; 
 while some of the independent colonists were 
 unwilling that the royal cross, an offensive em- 
 Drake's Boston, 192. 
 
64 Memoir of 
 
 blem of Catholicism, should be flaunted before 
 their faces, a perpetual insult to their princi- 
 ples. The King's officers on the fort and on 
 the ships had paid Sir Harry the compliment 
 of a grand salute on the occasion of his land- 
 ing ; and he, in return, was giving a sumptuous 
 entertainment to them : the result was, that he 
 yielded politely to their demands, and again 
 hoisted the royal flag upon the fort. 
 
 Boston, in 1636, busied itself in establishing 
 its ferries to Charlestown and Winnisimmet; 
 its little footpath to Roxbury; providing for 
 night-watches ; constructing a fortification on 
 Fort Hill, which has recently been shovelled 
 into the sea; instituting its board of overseers 
 for the care of town affairs ; allotting its lands 
 to citizens; depriving persons of previous allot- 
 ments who had not improved them ; providing 
 for regulating commerce ; for forfeiture of swine 
 at large ; fining men who sold land without 
 leave ; regulating the building of structures on 
 streets, and with similar homely town business. 
 ' Threats of an Indian war began to darken 
 the horizon, and the bloody work commenced 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 65 
 
 in the summer following Mr. Whitings arrival 
 here. Though it lasted only about a year, it 
 was sufficiently savage and merciless to show 
 him that fighting men were in need of more 
 light upon the true principles of Christianity. 
 
 To an enlightened statesman, the aspect of 
 public affairs in the Colony of Massachusetts 
 Bay, at that time, must have seemed gloomy 
 and disheartening. Although our forefathers 
 fled from England to escape the control of 
 a government which had become a tyranny 
 because it was armed with the powers of 
 the Church and State combined, yet a re- 
 markable peculiarity in the plan of self-gov- 
 ernment adopted by them was the strict and 
 inseparable union of civil and ecclesiastical 
 authority. And many of the magistrates, 
 though annually elected by the votes of the peo- 
 ple, seemed determined to grasp the power of 
 governing the bodies and souls of their associ- 
 ates. As early as 1634, the General Court, then 
 consisting of the governor, lieutenant-governor, 
 assistants, and deputies, and holding the legis- 
 lative power, passed the following order: — 
 
66 Memoir of 
 
 " This court doth intreat the elders and 
 brethren of every church within this jurisdic- 
 tion, that they will consult and advise of one 
 uniform order of discipline in the churches, 
 agreeable to the Scriptures, and then to con- 
 sider how far the magistrates are bound to in- 
 terpose for the preservation of that uniform,ity^ 
 and peace of the Churches T * 
 
 In 1635 a law was passed which forbade the 
 gathering or organization of churches without 
 leave of the magistrates, and of the elders of 
 the majority of the churches, within the juris- 
 diction, and disfranchising all church-members 
 who should disobey this law. It was provided, 
 in 1638, that all persons who had been excom- 
 municated from any church more than six 
 months, without laboring as far as they could 
 to be restored, should be presented to the 
 Court of Assistants, and there be proceeded 
 with by fine, imprisonment, banishment, or fur- 
 ther, as their contempt and obstinacy should 
 deserve. t 
 
 "A constant watch," says Hutchinson, "was 
 
 * I Mass. Rec, 142. t Ibid., 242. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 67 
 
 kept over the churches by the magistrates. . . . 
 By the statutes of the Colony, ' no man could 
 have a share in the administration of civil gov- 
 ernment, or give his voice in any election, unless 
 he was a member of one of the churches.' No 
 church could be gathered without the allowance 
 of the magistrates ; and a minister, for preach- 
 ing to such a society, was liable to a penalty. 
 About 1650 Mr. Mathews, a minister, was fined 
 ten pounds for this offence."* 
 
 " I have been more particular," says Hutchin- 
 son, " in relating this transaction (the proceed- 
 ings of the General Court upon the petition of 
 certain clergymen, which will be referred to here- 
 after), because it gives us a pretty good idea of 
 the connection between the civil and ecclesiasti- 
 cal power ; the churches, notwithstanding their 
 claim to independency, being liable to control 
 as oft as their proceedings were disapproved by 
 the civil magistrate ; and, on the other hand, 
 the magistrates, who were annually elected, 
 being sometimes liable to be displaced by the 
 influence of the clergy in elections, when their 
 
 * I Hutchinson's Hist., 372-374. 
 
68 Memoir of 
 
 proceedings were supposed to bear hard upon 
 the hberties of the churches; for the clergy 
 still retained (1670) a great proportion of the 
 weight they had at the beginning. . . . 
 
 "As long as the charter continued, their in- 
 fluence in the affairs of government contin- 
 ued," &c * 
 
 Dr. Hubbard expressly declares, in his sum- 
 mary of the ecclesiastical constitution of the 
 Colony, that " church government and civil 
 government may very well stand together, it 
 being the duty of- the magistrate to take care 
 of matters of religion." At the time of Mr. 
 Whiting's arrival in New England, intolerance 
 had become fierce and inexorable. In 1635 the 
 controversy between the churches and Roger 
 Williams had broken out, an old dispute re- 
 newed with new disputants. An assemblage, 
 or synod, of all the ministers of the Bay was 
 summoned to be present at Boston. Williams 
 appeared before them. They discussed his 
 doctrines with him, but could only agree that 
 he was in the wrong. The General Court then 
 
 * I Hutchinson, 251. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 69 
 
 settled the matter, as it supposed, by officially 
 condemning his religious principles, and order- 
 ing him to depart out of its jurisdiction within 
 six weeks, on pain of imprisonment. Thus 
 was the seed of religious liberty blown by the 
 breath of persecution across the country, to 
 plant itself in Rhode Island. 
 
 The liberty of private judgment was so far 
 suppressed, that, in 1636-7, Greensmith was ar- 
 rested, fined and put under bonds for express- 
 ing his opinion that " all the ministers, with 
 two or three exceptions, did teach a covenant 
 of works." A few months later, John Green 
 was bound over by the General Court for 
 having spoken contemptuously of magistrates. 
 Coggshall was disfranchised, and was required 
 not to express his opinions on pain of banish- 
 ment. Mrs. Hutchinson was banished on ac- 
 count of her views on questions of theology.* 
 Jane Hawkins was forbidden by the General 
 Court to "question matters of religion, except 
 with the elders for satisfaction." The General 
 Court in 1637 ordered that fifty-nine inhabit- 
 
 * These and other cases of like character may be found in the 
 first and succeeding volumes of the Mass. Records. 
 
70 Mevtoir of 
 
 ants of Boston, among whom were several of 
 the most peaceable and honorable citizens, 
 should be disarmed, on account of their opin- 
 ions on theological questions, on pretence 
 " that they might make some sudain irrup- 
 tion on those that differed from them in judg- 
 ment," — other citizens of Salem, Roxbury, 
 Newbury, &c., were subjected to the same in- 
 dignity.* In 1647 a law was passed forbidding 
 any " Jesuite or spiritual or ecclesiastical person 
 ordained by the authority of the Pope or See 
 of Rome," to come within the jurisdiction. 
 Any person was liable to arrest on suspicion 
 that he was of such society or order, and to be 
 brought before the magistrates; and, if he could 
 not free himself from suspicion, he was to be 
 imprisoned, or bound over to the next Court of 
 Assistants, to be tried and proceeded with by 
 " banishment, or otherwise as the court should 
 see cause." " And if any person, so banished, 
 be taken the second time within this jurisdic- 
 tion, upon lawful trial and conviction, he shall 
 be put to death," — excepting persons ship- 
 
 * I Mass. Rec, 211. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 71 
 
 wrecked, or merchants and public envoys.* 
 " Take heed," said Governor Endicott to one 
 who came to Boston with the Quakers, — " take 
 heed you break not our ecclesiastical laws, for 
 then ye are sure to stretch by a halter." The 
 same governor also said to a woman, after she 
 had been put in prison, and whipped ten 
 stripes with a threefold corded knotted whip, 
 " that they were likely to have a law to hang 
 her, if she came hither again ; " to which she 
 answered, " If God call us, woe be to us if we 
 come not! but He whom we love will make us 
 not to count our lives dear unto ourselves for 
 the sake of his name." To which said gov- 
 ernor replied, " And we shall be as ready to 
 take away your lives as ye shall be to lay them 
 down." t 
 
 " The opinionists," as Hutchinson states, 
 " were punished for being deluded enthusiasts. 
 The other side were deluded also by a zeal for 
 the punishment, for the honor of God, of such 
 of his creatures as differed in opinion from 
 
 * Revised Laws. Edition 1672. 
 
 t Bolles's Account of the Persecution in Boston, pp. 13, 14. 
 
7 2 Memoir of 
 
 themselves. It is evident, not only from Mrs. 
 Hutchinson's trial, but by many other public 
 proceedings, that inquisition was made into 
 men's private judgments as vi^ell as into their 
 declarations and practice. " Toleration was 
 preached against as a sin in rulers which would 
 bring down the judgments of Heaven upon the 
 land." In a note he adds that " Mr. Dudley 
 died with a copy of verses in his pocket, wrote 
 with his own hand. The following two lines 
 made part of it : — 
 
 ' Let men of God in court and churches watch 
 O'er such as do a toleration hatch.' 
 
 This was the prevailing doctrine for many 
 years, until their eyes were opened by a fresh 
 persecution coming upon themselves from 
 King James. This made his declaration for a 
 general liberty of conscience welcome, and they 
 thanked the King for allowing them what they 
 before thought themselves bound in conscience 
 to deny others."* Intolerance drove away from 
 Boston many of its worthy people, and some 
 
 * I Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., 75. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 73 
 
 of its ablest men. Affairs in the older settle- 
 ment at Salem were in no better condition. 
 Churchmen were forced back to England, the 
 Brownes were exiled, and the spirit of bigotry 
 and persecution seems to have palsied the 
 conscience and clouded the understandings of 
 those who professed to be the most zealous 
 worshippers of the blessed Saviour of mankind. 
 Although the magistrates and the ministers, 
 with few exceptions, were to the last degree 
 stern, if not vindictive, in their condemnation 
 of those whom they called heretics, there was 
 nevertheless, much dissension among the clergy 
 on doctrinal questions. It was principally the 
 Puritan element, which had grown up in the 
 bosom of the English Church, that was repre- 
 sented here. Independents, Congregationalists, 
 rigid Separatists, and a few Episcopalians, some 
 inclined to a presbytery, and others to inde- 
 pendency, were included in the folds of the 
 churches. It is natural to suppose that great 
 diversity of judgment upon matters of religion 
 " would have led to universal toleration. The 
 result, as has been shown, was quite the con- 
 
■ 74 Me7noir of 
 
 trary. It seemed to be a settled purpose of the 
 clergy, that every thing connected with public 
 worship should be as far as jDOSsible unlike that 
 with which they had been familiar. The ob- 
 servance of Christmas was prohibited by law.' 
 Marriage, which in England had been regarded 
 as a religious rite, was here reduced to a mere 
 civil contract, and could not be lawfully solem- 
 nized by ministers until 1676.* 
 
 In the service of the Anglican Church, the 
 sermon was a subordinate performance ; here 
 it was the chief and most important exercise. 
 Conducting public worship, the minister, while 
 praying, stood erect. He made no change of 
 vestments, and avoided most of the ceremonies 
 to which he had been accustomed. Here were 
 no chimes of bells, no organs, no chants. The 
 meeting-houses had no architectural beauty. 
 The boldest strains of eloquence uttered since 
 the days of Saint Paul were re-echoed by plain 
 walls, which were relieved by no picture, tablet, 
 or ornamental window. The public worship of 
 the colonists was a perpetual protest against 
 
 * I Hutchinson, 393. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 75 
 
 the mother Church, and the ministers generally 
 deemed it a sacred duty to set their heels upon 
 every sprout of episcopacy. 
 
 In any community where individuals were 
 subject to fines, imprisonment, or banishment, 
 or were liable to be put to death on account of 
 their religious opinions, where tolerance was 
 deemed a sin, and where a few laymen and 
 clergymen, though elected to clerical or political 
 offices by voices of church-members, sought and 
 obtained control of the spiritual and temporal 
 affairs of almost all persons within their juris- 
 diction, it is obvious that civil liberty could not 
 be preserved. The sudden, rapid, and fearful 
 descent of the colonial government from the 
 grandeur of a State founded on equal rights, 
 towards a theocracy based on hereditary aris- 
 tocracy, may be shown by reference to a few 
 laws passed by the General Court. In 1636 it 
 was ordered " that a certain number of magis- 
 trates should be chosen for life." John Win- 
 throp and Thomas Dudley, in that year, and 
 John Endicott in 1637, procured themselves to 
 be elected for life as m.embers of the -standing 
 
76 Meinoir of 
 
 council.* In the latter year it was ordered that 
 '' two armed men should attend and guard the 
 governor, to be paid by the colony." t Finally 
 it was seriously contemplated to establish an 
 order of hereditary nobility, % and this scheme 
 was not abandoned until after much debate and 
 hesitation. Though the ambitious magistrates 
 did not succeed in this effort, they lost no time 
 in surrounding official station with all the ter- 
 rors which the laws could bring to the support 
 of an assumed political infallibility. As early 
 as 1637, penalties of fine, imprisonment, dis- 
 franchisement, or banishment were inflicted 
 upon those who dared, "openly or willingly to 
 defame (that is, to disapprove of) any of the 
 proceedings of any courts of justice." Thomas 
 Star § was convicted by the General Court, 
 fined and imprisoned for " saying that a law 
 about swine was against God's law, and he 
 would not obey it." Katherine French, in 
 1638, "being accused for speaking against the 
 
 * I Mass. Rec, 174-195. Drake's Boston, igo. 
 
 t I Mass. Rec, 209. 
 
 X I Bancroft's U. S., 385. 
 
 § I Mass. Rec, 220. 
 
Rev. Samtiel Whiting. 77 
 
 magistrates, against the churches, and against 
 the elders, was censured by the Court of Assist- 
 ants to be whipped, and committed till the 
 meeting of the General Court." This court 
 was accused by certain inhabitants of Rhode 
 Island of " usurping the power of Christ over 
 the churches and men's consciences." This 
 was termed by the Legislature as a " corrupt 
 opinion and censure ; " and a law was passed 
 providing that "whoever from that plantation 
 should entertain that opinion, and should be 
 found within the jurisdiction, should be im- 
 prisoned, and punished as the court should see 
 cause.*" * The exjaression of opinions adverse 
 to the courts, the magistrates, or the doctrines 
 held by them, exposed citizens to fine, impris- 
 onment, disfranchisement, banishment, and in 
 some cases to death. Thus was this rigid and 
 stern theocratic government rapidly tending to 
 hereditary tyranny. Those who then had the 
 control of public affairs " were sincere but mis- 
 taken in their principles ; and, absurd as it is, it 
 is too evident that they believed it to be for the 
 
 * I Mass. Rec, 224. 
 
78 Memoir of 
 
 glory of God to take away the lives of his crea- 
 tures for maintaining tenets contrary to what 
 they professed themselves." * How far the first 
 settlers of Massachusetts Bay were justified in 
 making a system of laws by which personal 
 freedom was nearly abandoned, and in submit- 
 ting to an ecclesiastical authority by which the 
 right of private judgment on questions of re- 
 ligion was denied, in violation of the principles 
 which led them to quit their native countr}^ is 
 not the question now to be decided. It is the 
 opinion of most of our great historians, that 
 the circumstances in which they were placed 
 afforded ample excuse for their conduct.! If 
 this opinion is well founded, it cannot but en- 
 hance our respect and veneration for the moral 
 and intellectual grandeur of the few men, whe- 
 ther connected with the magistracy or the min- 
 istry of the gospel, who in those days of dark- 
 ness maintained the true principles of freedom 
 in matters of conscience and of government, 
 — principles which their posterity, with singular 
 
 * I Hutchinson, 175. 
 
 t See Histories of Hutchinson, IMinot, Bancroft, Palfrey, Barre, &c. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 79 
 
 unanimity, has made the foundation of the hber- 
 ties of a free people. 
 
 The reason is plain enough, why the Pil- 
 grim Fathers who landed at Plymouth in 1620 
 should have marched with unfaltering steps 
 straightway to the establishment of popular 
 sovereignty in State and Church. The glo- 
 rious promise of their future can still be read 
 between the lines of that covenant they wrote 
 on board the Mayflower, — the first charter 
 that was ever founded on the divine rights 
 of the people. In Plymouth, statesmen and 
 warriors were the leaders ; preachers were of 
 ■ small account. The people did their own 
 preaching, praying, and fighting. Some of 
 them were equal to emergencies, and ready 
 to lead a scouting-party or a prayer-meeting. 
 They had lighted their torches at the same 
 altar whose fire but a few years later set all 
 England ablaze, while psalm-singing Round- 
 heads, under the valiant Cromwell, were whirl- 
 ing the King and his elegant Cavaliers before 
 them as dry leaves before a cyclone. With 
 men like these, of all most fitted to found a 
 
8o Memoir of 
 
 commonwealth, there was Httle danger but that 
 the tree of Uberty would be carefully nour- 
 ished and bravely guarded, though torn from 
 its native soil, and transplanted under wintry 
 skies, in sorrow and in suffering, but with stern, 
 unflinching faith and trust in Him who rules 
 the world, and out of small beginnings brings 
 great endings. 
 
 But the men who founded the colony of 
 Massachusetts Bay were from different parts 
 of the mother country. They were not united 
 in religious or political opinions, or schemes 
 of civil government. There were merchants, 
 mechanics, farmers, and adventurers, in search 
 of profitable enterprises or of occupation. 
 With these came no inconsiderable number of 
 learned and high-bred gentlemen, connected 
 with the better classes, and in some instances 
 with the nobility of the mother country. The 
 state of society here, much more than in 
 Plymouth, resembled that of England. Here 
 there was no harmony of purpose among the 
 colonists, no clear predetermination of princi- 
 ples of government, no settled ideas of reli- 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 8i 
 
 gious liberty, no forecast of the future of this 
 great country. Nor could it be safely predicted 
 what would be its destiny. Some of its lead- 
 ing men, saturated with a natural instinct of 
 bigotry, intolerance, and tyranny, insisted that 
 it was the right and duty of the civil authority 
 to prescribe and regulate the religious opinions 
 of its subjects ; but few were inspired by a pas- 
 sion for freedom of the people, and indepen- 
 dence of the Church from the control of the 
 government. The most discordant principles 
 which could have entered as elements into 
 the constitution of civilized society had been 
 thrown into the crucible ; and it was beyond the 
 power of the wisest to foresee what of pure 
 metal would be spared by the fire of mutual 
 persecution, the savagery of Indian wars, the 
 ambition, selfishness, and wickedness of men, 
 or to conjecture the form and pattern into which 
 that metal would finally be moulded. 
 
 So novel, so unlike the condition of any 
 other community, was that of the Massachu- 
 setts-bay Colony, that its progress from such 
 anomalous beginnings, through so many dan- 
 
82 Memoir of 
 
 gers, towards religious and civil freedom, dis- 
 closes one of the marvels of human history. 
 
 De Tocqueville, in his work on " Democracy 
 in America" (p. 67), thus presents a sombre 
 picture of popular liberty in Europe, at a some- 
 what later period : — 
 
 " After having thus taken a rapid survey of 
 American society in 1650, if we examine the 
 state of Europe, and particularly that of the 
 Continent toward the same period,, we feel our- 
 selves penetrated with profound surprise. On 
 the Continent of Europe, at the commence- 
 ment of the seventeenth century, absolute 
 royalty everywhere triumphed over the ruins 
 of the oligarchical and feudal liberty of the 
 middle age. In the bosom of this brilliant 
 and accomplished Europe, the idea of the 
 rights of the people was more misconceived 
 than perhaps even at any other period. Never 
 did the people possess less of the political life ; 
 never had notions of true liberty less engaged 
 the minds of men ; and yet at this very period 
 these ideas of liberty, unknown to the European 
 nations, or despised by them, were proclaimed 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 83 
 
 in the deserts of the New World, and became 
 the symbol of a great people. The boldest 
 theories of the human understanding were 
 reduced to practice in this society, apparently 
 so humble, and of which, assuredly at that time, 
 no statesman had deigned to take notice. In- 
 spired by the originality of nature, the imagi- 
 nation of man there struck out a legislation 
 not founded on precedents." 
 
 " I have already said enough to place in its ' 
 true lisfht the character of the Anglo-American 
 civilization. It is the product (and this point 
 of departure must be constantly borne in 
 mind) of two elements entirely distinct, and 
 elsewhere often found in opposition to each 
 other, but which the Americans have succeed- 
 ed in incorporating with each other and 
 bringing into" marvellous combination : I 
 mean the spirit of religion, and the spirit of 
 liberty." 
 
 De Tocqueville attributes the success of the 
 American people in uniting " the spirit of reli- 
 gion with the spirit of liberty," to the entire 
 separation of the Church and the State. How, 
 
84 Memoir of 
 
 when, and by what influences was this marvel- 
 lous result attained ? Who were they that con- 
 tended against the seemingly inseparable union 
 of civil and ecclesiastical power, on which the 
 colonial government was founded, and for the 
 perpetuation of which the chief magistrates 
 of those times so earnestly struggled ? Who 
 taught the people to develop that spirit, which, 
 at a later period, spurned the narrow and big- 
 oted policy of those who sought to rule men's 
 souls with a rod of iron ? Most of the Puri- 
 tan ministers were in full accord with the pub- 
 lic opinion of their da}' and generation ; but 
 there were some among the preachers and the 
 laymen, of large minds and of prophetic vision, 
 who took no part in the persecutions of their 
 fellow-beings, but advocated, in those days of 
 darkness, the true principles of toleration, and 
 demanded the dissolution of all connection 
 between civil and ecclesiastical authority. 
 
 " The clergy were consulted about the laws, 
 were frequently present at the passing of them, 
 and, by the necessity of their influence on 
 the origination, demonstrated how much the 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 85 
 
 due execution of them depended upon their 
 power." * 
 
 " The elders or ministers," as Hutchinson 
 observes, " although they were not considered 
 as one of the estates, yet no matters of great 
 weight or moment, whether of a religious or 
 civil ndture, were determined without their 
 advice and a formal reference to them (in early 
 times they were generally present in the 
 courts) ; and they were thus naturally led to 
 use their influence with the people to acqui- 
 esce in, and approve of the measures which 
 they themselves had been consulted upon and 
 advised to." It was the " influence and advice " 
 of the few Puritan ministers who were true 
 and enlightened friends of the liberties of the 
 people, of toleration, and of the equality of all 
 before the law, that preserved our self-sacri- 
 ficing and God-fearing ancestors from the dis- 
 astrous consequences which would have fol- 
 lowed from the permanent establishment, in 
 the Church and in the State, of that theocratic 
 policy which they had inaugurated. The debt 
 
 * I Minot, Ilist. Mass. Bay, 31. 
 
86 Memoir of 
 
 which posterity owes to the teachers of re- 
 ligion at this early period can be appreciated 
 only by careful study of the history of their 
 times. In those days there were no news- 
 papers which could give information of im- 
 portant events then going on. Books were 
 rare : public sentiment was formed by those 
 who had the ear of the people, and were re- 
 spected by them. The preachers of the gospel 
 had great opportunity of influencing popular 
 sentiment on matters of government, for their 
 opinions were entitled to great respect. As 
 they were usually men of education, often- 
 times learned, eloquent, earnest and disin- 
 terested, they were in the best situation for 
 impressing their views deeply and perma- 
 nently upon the popular mind, thus form- 
 ing and moulding the future destiny of the 
 colony. To this great work they resolutely 
 and patiently devoted their lives. How nobly 
 some of them did what was ariven them to ■ 
 do, the history of New England will declare 
 through all coming time ! * 
 
 * John-on, in his Wonder-Werking Providence (lib. i., ch. 3S), wiiics 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 87 
 
 During the year following Mr. Whiting's 
 settlement, his son John was born ; of whom it 
 is sufficient here to say that he was fitted for 
 college by his father and mother, educated as a 
 physician bat subsequently took holy orders, 
 went to England, and was appointed rector of 
 Leverton., near Boston, where he remained as 
 long as he lived. This year was marked in the 
 annals of the town, by changing its name from 
 Saugust to Lynn, as a compliment to Mr. Whi- 
 ting, who had been rector at Lynn Regis, in 
 England,* and by the installation of Mr. Cob- 
 bett as his colleague, who remained there with 
 him eighteen years. The friendship of these 
 co-laborers ended only with their lives. 
 
 To these events one more was added, which 
 was looked upon as important, namely, the 
 meeting of a great church assembly, or synod, 
 at Cambridge, convened to consider and con- 
 demn the heresies of the earnest and resolute 
 
 in 1636, of " Mr. Samuel Whiting, who hath also with keeping to the 
 patterne of sound and wholesome doctrine, much stopped the spread- 
 ing leaven of the Pharasees." 
 
 * Winthrop's Hist., 205, note. Lewis's Lynn. Turner's Journal. 
 Hubbard, i Mass. Records, 211. 
 
88 Memoir of 
 
 Wheelwright, and to fortify the General Court 
 in its violent assault upon the religious freedom 
 of the colonists. Supported as he was by Cot- 
 ton and many of his parishioners, he was not 
 permitted to be settled as a minister in Boston. 
 Winthrop, then Lieut-Governor, though he 
 " thought reverentlie of his godliness, and 
 could be content to live under such a minis- 
 try," objected to^ him, " that he was apt to 
 raise doubtful disputations." In 1637 Wheel- 
 wright was arrested, and being found guilty of 
 entertaining opinions which were disapproved 
 by the legislature, he was condemned as for 
 " contempt and sedition," and was banished 
 from Massachusetts, only to become the 
 founder of a new colony in New Hampshire.* 
 William Aspinwall was expelled from the House 
 of Deputies, and with several other citizens 
 was disfranchised and banished for having pe- 
 titioned the General Court in favor of Wheel- 
 wright* Many others were disfranchised and 
 banished for having signed a petition to 
 the General Court in Wheelwright's behalf. 
 
 * I Mass. Rec, 207. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 89 
 
 Their names and sentences may be found in 
 I Mass. Rec, pp. 207, 208. Tlie manl)^ con- 
 duct of this independent clergyman has ren- 
 dered still more disgraceful the action of the 
 civil authorities, who, having in vain attempted 
 to compel him to disavow his conscientious 
 convictions, finally sentenced him " to be dis- 
 franchised and banished our jurisdiction, and 
 to be put in safe custody, except he should 
 give sufficient security to depart before the end 
 of March."* The Star Chamber never issued a 
 more arbitrary order, nor one which should have 
 sooner roused the indignation of thinking peo- 
 ple. The history of this persecution of Wheel- 
 wright is painful, but instructive. It seems in- 
 credible that such laws should have been made 
 as were enforced by the government for the 
 purpose of suppressing objectionable doctrines. 
 " Many persons of Mr. Wheelwright's opinions 
 in Boston were expecting their friends from 
 England. A penalty, therefore, was laid on 
 all persons against entertaining strangers who 
 came with intent to reside, without special 
 
 * Short Story, p. 48. 
 
go Memoir of 
 
 liberty from the government."* " This," says 
 Hutchinson, " was a very severe order, and 
 was so disliked by the people of Boston, that, 
 upon the governor's return from court, they all 
 refused to go out to meet him, or to show him 
 any respect." f Mr. Cotton was so dissatisfied 
 with this law, that, had it been enforced, he 
 said that he would have left the colony. % 
 Those who merely petitioned the authorities 
 in favor of Wheelwright were fined and dis- 
 franchised. § 
 
 " The assembly, or synod, which gave its 
 sanction to the condemnation of Wheelwright's 
 opinions was in session about three weeks at 
 Cambridge (then called Newtown) ; Mr. Hooker 
 and Mr. Bulkley being chosen moderators, the 
 magistrates sitting present all the time as 
 hearers, and speakers also when they saw fit." || 
 
 " This," says Johnson,^ " was the first synod 
 held in New England. There were present 
 
 * Drake's Boston, 222, note. 
 
 t Hutchinson's Hist. Mass., i. 62. i Mass. Record, 207. 
 % Hutchinson's Hist. Mass., 64. Hutchinson's collection of pa- 
 pers, 67-100. I Winthrop's Hist., 241. 
 § Drake's Boston, 524, 226. 
 II Short Story, preface. 
 H Wonder-Working Providence, p. 117. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 91 
 
 about twenty-five reverend and godly minis- 
 ters, to assist in cutting down those cursed 
 errors." " There were all the teaching elders 
 through the country, and some new come out 
 of England, not yet called to any place here."* 
 The clergy of that day were not usually found 
 among the advocates of civil liberty ; but his- 
 tory shows that the voices of the nob.lest of 
 them all were not silent when occasions arose 
 for defending the rights of the people. Who- 
 ever else may have taken part in this dis- 
 graceful business, the pastor of Lynn would 
 have nothing to do with it. Lynn sent twenty- 
 one t of its able-bodied men to join the expedi- 
 tion then being organized against the Pequot 
 Indians, but sent neither of its clergymen to 
 the synod. The soldiers drove Sassacus, the 
 last and bravest chief of the Pequots, a native- 
 born hero, to his destruction. The government 
 drove Wheelwright out of the jurisdiction, 
 only to compel him to become the founder 
 
 * Winthrop's Journal, i., 237. 
 
 t Boston furnished twenty-six men. The population of these towns 
 was not then as twenty-one to twenty-six. 
 
92 Memoir of 
 
 of a new colony.* Gov. Vane, John Cotton, 
 and Samuel Whiting, by disapproving of the 
 measures of the government and the proceed- 
 ings of the synod, were, in effect, defending 
 freedom of opinion on matters of religion, and 
 resisting the interference of civil magistrates 
 with questions of doctrine. How nobly Mr. 
 Whiting carried out this principle will pres- 
 ently be seen. Gov. Winthrop and the mem- 
 bers of the General Court were honest men, 
 and did what they sincerely believed was for 
 the best interest of religion and good order; 
 but it is fortunate for us that they were resisted 
 and finally overborne by men of greater and 
 broader minds, with truer comprehension of 
 the principles of government in Church and 
 State. 
 
 In 1638 a committee was appointed to divide 
 the town lands ; and two hundred acres were 
 allotted to Mr. Whiting, and an equal amount 
 to Mr. Cobbett.t During this year the Ancient 
 and Honorable Artillery Company was founded 
 and chartered. 1: Two years afterwards (1640), 
 
 * Annals of Lynn, i6S. t Lyn, 172. 
 
 { Lyn, 177. See Drake's Boston. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 93 
 
 James Whiting, brother of Samuel, was chosen 
 mayor of Boston, England. In 1641 Joseph, 
 the son of Samuel, was born at Lynn. In 
 1644 John Whiting was again mayor, and in 
 the following year he was elected to the same 
 office for the fourth time. It was in this year 
 (1645) that Samuel Whiting's daughter Eliza- 
 beth was born at Lynn. 
 
 In the ordinary life of a clergyman, startling 
 events are of rare occurrence. Years spent in 
 preaching, praying, and exhorting, however la- 
 borious and exhausting, have little interest two 
 or three centuries after the eloquent voice has 
 been hushed, and the form and features of the 
 godly minister are no longer remembered 
 among men. Yet here and there a pleasant 
 anecdote may have been preserved, illustrative 
 of the ways of the people. The following is 
 from Obadiah Turner's journal : * — 
 
 "1646. lune y^ 3 : Allen Bridges hath bin 
 chose to wake y' sleepers in meeting. And 
 being mch proude of his place, must needs 
 
 * Lin, p. 78. 
 
94 Memoir of 
 
 have a fox taile fixed to y" end of a long staff 
 wherewith he may brush y'^ faces of them y' will 
 have napps in time of discourse ; likewise a 
 sharpe thorne wherewith he may prick such as 
 be most sounde. On y" laste Lord his day, as 
 hee strutted about y" meeting house, hee did 
 spy M'' Toralins sleeping with much comforte, 
 hjs head kept steadie by being in y" corner, and 
 hjs hand grasping y"" rail. And soe spying, 
 Allen did quicklie thrust his staff behind Dame 
 Ballard and give hjm a grievous prick vpon 
 y^ hand. Wherevppon M"' Tomlins did spring 
 vpp mch above y° floore and with terrible force 
 strike wth hjs hand against y° wall, and also, to 
 y" great wonder of all, prophainlie exclaim, in a 
 loude voice, cuss y" woodchuck ; he dreaming, 
 as it seemed, y* a woodchuck had seized and bit 
 his hand. But on comeing to know where hee 
 was and y° great scandall hee had comitted, 
 he seemed mch abashed, but did not speake. 
 And I think hee will not soone againe go to 
 sleepe in meeting. Y° women may sometimes 
 sleepe and none know it, by reason of their 
 enormous bonnets. M' Whiting doth pleas- 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 95 
 
 antlie say y* from y" pulpitt hee doth seem to 
 be preaching to stacks of straw wth men sitting 
 here and there among them." 
 
 "1647. Aug' y" 8: There hath suddenlie 
 come among vs a companie of strange people, 
 wch bee neither Indjan nor Christian. And 
 wee know not what to liken them vnto. Some 
 will have it y* they bee Egyptjans or Jypsj'es, 
 wandering thieves, jugglers and beggars, so 
 long a pest in y^ old countries, and in England 
 till Edward y° Fourth made hard lawes against 
 them. But if they bee of that heathen people 
 how came they hither and what doe they seeke 
 in this wilderness where is little to steal and 
 mch justice to give them stripes. If they bee 
 Egyptjans jt is patent y* y" devill hath sent 
 them hither to do his bidding and harrass God 
 his people. Their Captain, as wee call him, is 
 of manie years. He is of noble presence, wth 
 thin white hair and beard, and a scar vppon his 
 forehead. He hath a voice loude and com- 
 manding ; but his manners bee not discourte- 
 ous. He seemeth to feel ^ '^''.re of a father for 
 hjs charge; doth comfort them in sickness. 
 
96 Memoir of 
 
 plead for them in difficulties and fight for them 
 in danger. And well may they love him and 
 obey hjs commands. They do all seem to wish 
 no better life than their wandering one. And 
 I am fain to believe y* ignorance is y" mother 
 of mch of their evil doings. M'' Whiting hath 
 wrestled in praier for them and would give 
 them mch good discourse but for y° difficulties 
 of y'° language. And he saith trulie y' y^soule 
 of one of these outcaste children is as pretious 
 wth God as y" Christian his soule, for He is no 
 respecter of persons." 
 
 The following entries from the Journal of 
 Mr. Thomas Newhall, another of Mr. Whiting's 
 parishioners, are pious, politic and business-like. 
 
 " Ponder more on y" godlie discourse of M' 
 Whiting touching sanctification ; & kerry him 
 a load of woode." 
 
 "Ask M' Whiting his mind on Indjan damna- 
 tion, & ask him if sinn is sinn whether or no — 
 be itt from ignorance or hardnesse. Praise his 
 discourse att Goodman Hawkes his funerall." 
 
 " Strong drinke is a cuss. Also tobacka." 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 97 
 
 To illustrate still further the spirit of the 
 times in which Mr. Whiting lived, some refer- 
 ence must be made to the rise and progress of 
 the so-called witchcraft mania. 
 
 It is stated in Winthrop's Journal, that in 
 1646 one (person) at Windsor, ■ Connecticut, 
 had been arraigned for witchcraft, and was 
 executed.* In May, 1648, the General Court 
 held at Boston, John Winthrop being gov- 
 ernor and John Endicott, John Winthrop, 
 jun. and others, being assistants, with depu- 
 ties from all the towns, passed the following 
 order : — 
 
 " This Court being desirous that the same 
 course which hath been taken in England for 
 the discovery of witches, by watching, may also 
 be taken here with the witch now in question, 
 (and) therefore do order that a strict watch be 
 set about her every night, and that her husband 
 be confined to a private room, and watched 
 also." t 
 
 We learn from the same Journal, J that "at 
 
 * 2 Winthrop's Journal, 374. t I Col. Rec, p. 
 
 X Vol. ii., p. 397. 
 
9 8 Memoir of 
 
 this Court (1648) one Margaret Jones of 
 Charlestown was indicted and found guilty 
 of witchcraft, and hanged for it* " The hus- 
 band of the woman, after she was executed, 
 had taken his passage in a ship which lay in 
 Charles River, bound to Barbadoes, well bal- 
 lasted, but with eighty horses on board, and 
 being observed to roll on a sudden, as if she 
 would overset, an officer was sent (by the 
 magistrates of the County Court, then sitting 
 in Boston) to apprehend the man ; and after 
 he was committed to prison, the ship ceased 
 rolling, which, it is said, was never renewed 
 afterwards."! Thus began in Massachusetts 
 the deplorable crusade against witchcraft, fol- 
 lowed by the sacrifice of innocent blood. The 
 trial and sentence of Mrs. Jones was one of 
 the last and most lamentable public acts of 
 Winthrop's life. He died in the following 
 year. But it must not be forgotten that the 
 delusion which clouded his mind and de- 
 stroyed his moral perceptions at the time was 
 
 * See I Upham's Hist, of Witchcraft, 417. 
 
 t I Hutchinson's Hist., 141, 142. 2 Winthrop's Hist., 399. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 99 
 
 shared by his son, by Endicott, by most, if not 
 all, the magistrates, and by a great majority 
 of the clergy. Men and women were executed 
 under sentences for witchcraft, from time to 
 time pronounced by the General Court, and 
 by the Court of Assistants, from 1648 down to 
 1692, when the terrible tragedies at Salem 
 began, of which a full account may be found 
 in Mr. Upham's History.* 
 
 The state of the public mind in 1648 with 
 reference to this illusion is fully illustrated by 
 the cases of Margaret Jones, Ann Hibbins, 
 and Elizabeth Morse. " They show," says Mr. 
 Upham, " that there was nothing unprece- 
 dented, unusual, or eminently shocking, after 
 all, in what I am about to relate as occurring 
 at Salem in 1692." While this horrible mad- 
 ness ruled the minds of the members of the 
 General Court, the magistrates, and most of 
 the clergy, there was one minister of the 
 gospel. Rev. Samuel Whiting, who, from dis- 
 belief in the existence of witchcraft, or from 
 obedience to the dictates of an enlightened 
 
 * Upham's History of Witchcraft, 417-449. 
 
I oo Memoir of 
 
 conscience, gave no countenance to the per- 
 secution of the so-called witches. 
 
 In the year following that in which Margaret 
 Jones was executed, Mr. Whiting delivered al 
 Cambridge College, on Commencement Day 
 a Latin oration in presence of the Governot 
 and other magistrates, in which he spoke the 
 following words, which were worthy of being 
 printed in letters of gold over the entrances 
 to our courts of justice and legislative halls:* 
 " Benedicat misericordia tua pientissimis ac 
 vigilantissimis Dominatoribus nostris, przecipue 
 Gubernatori, penes quem summa imperij est : 
 asta in coetu fortium, inter deos judica: fluat 
 tanquam aqua jus, et justitia ut torrens validus 
 in judiciarijs foris nostris. Sint omnes Magis- 
 tratus nostri viri strenui, timentes Dei, viri 
 veraces, osores turpis lucri : sint omnes 
 magnates nostri magnetes virtutis, justitise, 
 prudentiae, charitatis minime simulatae." 
 
 About this time the magistrates issued a 
 
 * Oritio quam comitijs Cantabrigensibus Amcricanis Peroravit 
 reverendissimus D.D. Samuel Whiting, Pastor Linnensis ; in aula 
 sci'icet Ilarvardiana prid'e calendas sextiles. Anno MDCXLIX. 
 
Rev. Saviucl Whiting. loi 
 
 pitiful manifesto against the custom of wearing 
 long hair, and entreated all clergymen to put 
 an end to it. The following document is 
 found on the records of Harvard College : — 
 
 " Forasmuch as the wearing of long hair, 
 after the manner of Russians and barbarous 
 Indians, has begun to invade New England, 
 contrary to the rule of God's Word, which says 
 it is a shame for a man to wear long hair, as 
 also the commendable custom generally of all 
 the godly of our nation until v/ithin this few 
 years ; we the magistrates, who have sub- 
 scribed this paper, (for the shov^^ing of our own 
 innocency in this behalf) do declare and mani- 
 fest our dislike and detestation against the 
 wearing of such long hair, as against a thing 
 uncivil and unmanly, whereby men do deform 
 themselves, and offend sober and modest men, 
 and doe corrupt good manners. We do there- 
 fore earnestly entreat all the elders of this 
 jurisdiction, (as often as they shall see cause) 
 to rnanifest their zeal against it in their publike 
 administrations, and to take care that the mem- 
 
I02 Memoir of 
 
 bers of their respective churclies be not defiled 
 therewith, that so, such as shall prove obsti- 
 nate and will not reform themselves, may have 
 God and man to witness against them. 
 3'^ mo. lo'"' day, 1649." 
 
 (Signed by John Endicott, the Governor, 
 also by the Deputy-Governor, and sev- 
 eral other magistrates.) 
 
 Notwithstanding this solemn appeal to the 
 clergy, we do not find that Mr. Whiting ever 
 preached against long or short hair, or inter- 
 fered with his parishioners upon that or any 
 similar subject. Judging by contemporary 
 portraits, this puerile effort seems to have had 
 little effect. 
 
 In the following summer (June 4, 1650), 
 Dorothy, Mr. Whiting's eldest, and only daugh- 
 ter by his first wife, was married to Mr. Thomas 
 Welde of Roxbury, a son of the Rev. Thomas 
 Welde, the first minister of that town.* 
 
 Near the close of 1642, Mr. Whiting lost his 
 dear relative and friend, Rev. John Cotton ; 
 
 * See Savage's Gen. Diet., iv., 458, 459. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 103 
 
 and, soon after, wrote a brief memoir of him, 
 which has been many times reprinted. Young, 
 having included it in his " Chronicles " (p. 431), 
 adds the following in a note referring to him : 
 " His vicinity to Cotton, before their removal 
 to America, afforded him the best opportuni- 
 ties to obtain information concerning his life 
 and history ; and we are under great obliga- 
 tions to him for his admirable biographical 
 sketch. It forms the foundation of Norton's, 
 as well as of Mather's life of this great man. 
 Both of them appropriate Whiting's labors 
 most unceremoniously, and add but little to 
 his original sketch." 
 
 In 1649 Oliver Cromwell made application 
 to Samuel Whiting, Peter Bulkley, and other 
 clergymen of the colony, requesting that mis- 
 sionaries should be sent to Ireland. " Mr. 
 Whiting, Mr. Cobbet, and four other ministers, 
 sent a letter to Cromwell, dated 31st March, 
 1650, asking for further information,* and say- 
 ing, that, "since your honor hath so large a 
 heart given you of the Lord, as to desire you 
 
 * Thompson's Boston, 784. 
 
i04 Metnoir of 
 
 to build him a temple amidst the ruinous 
 heaps of Ireland, we know not but we may 
 attend this providence of the Lord, hoping, 
 that as we came by the call of God to serve 
 him here, so if the Lord's mind shall clearly 
 appear to give us a sufficient call and encour- 
 agement to remove into Ireland, to serve the 
 Lord Jesus Christ there, we shall cheerfully 
 and thankfully embrace the same." * Nothing 
 is known to have resulted from Cromwell's 
 scheme of Christianizing Ireland, and none of 
 his royal successors seem to have adopted this 
 pacific policy. 
 
 An incident soon after happened which illus- 
 trates the home-life of the subject of our notice. 
 Turner says, " 1654, lune y" 20 : Mch grief hath 
 fallen on M' Whiting and his familie. Y° In- 
 djan maid Ruth, whom they did so mch love, 
 on y° last Lord his dale did run awaie and 
 again join herself to her heathen people of 
 y"" wilderness. It be now eight years or therea- 
 bout since y" godlie minister took her a gift 
 from her Indjan mother to bring her vpp in 
 
 * Annals of Lynn, 229. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 105 
 
 y° nurture and admonition of y" Lord. And 
 she hath been these manie years as one of hjs 
 own children, eating of hjs own bread and 
 drinking of his own cupp, receiving godlie 
 instruction at meeting and under his roofe, and 
 learning at his schoole. And she did trulie 
 seem like a fresh blooming wilde flower, wch 
 we so loved to liken her unto. And she had, 
 too, a loving hearte as well as bright mind, 
 cleaving wth mch tenderness vnto y" good man 
 whom she did call father, weeping at his 
 paines and rejoicing at his pleasures. But 
 she hath gon. And tho she hath done a great 
 seeming wrong, yet may it somewhat abate 
 when well considered. It is hard to overcome 
 our first love. Y" hearte will sometimes turn 
 back while y" eyes look forward. She hath 
 gone to her forest home, awaie from our 
 Christian habitations, their comforts and bless- 
 ings, from our protection and godlie instruc- 
 tions. In y® wigwam, her learning will stand 
 her in poore stead against cold and hunger, 
 and she will tear vpp her braive red scarf to 
 adorn her dark lover his speare. But sunshine 
 
io6 Memoir of 
 
 hath once broken into her soule, and blessed 
 bee God, all y'^ mists of heathenism cannot 
 smother jt out again. And I did say to Mas- 
 ter Whiting, seeminglie mch to his comfort, 
 y* she male yet be a raeanes of grace to manie 
 a poore red man. God grant it — and likewise 
 mch happiness to her both here and hereafter." 
 Mr. Whiting was appointed overseer of Har- 
 vard College, Cambridge, in 1654.* The per- 
 sons on whom that honor was usually con- 
 ferred were selected from the most learned 
 scholars of the colony, and no one had higher 
 claims to that distinction than the classic 
 pastor of Lynn, whose scholarship in Latin, 
 Greek, and especially in Hebrew, was thought 
 remarkable even before he left England. His 
 interest in popular education was strong. He 
 not only gave a college training to all his sons, 
 and classic instruction to his daughters,' but 
 taught the catechism on Sundays at his house 
 to the youth of his parish, and gave gratuitous 
 tuition in the languages on week-days to all 
 the children of the town who desired to learn, 
 
 * Am. Quarterly Reg., vol. ix., p. 341. 4 Mass. Rec, 204. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 107 
 
 It was his belief, and he acted upon it, that 
 the general diffusion of useful knowledge was 
 -essential to make good citizens or good Chris- 
 tians. Thus he successfully inaugurated the 
 New England system of common schools. 
 
 The year 1656 brought changes of some im- 
 portance in his home affairs. His eldest son, 
 Rev. Samuel, jun., was married to Dorcas Ches- 
 ter. His friend Robert Keayne died, leaving a 
 small legacy to him ; and his beloved colleague 
 Mr. Cobbett, after having faithfully served for 
 eighteen years, all the while preserving the 
 most affectionate relations with his pastor, with- 
 drew.* They had been friends in England. 
 Mather says, " They were almost every day to- 
 gether, and thought it a long day if they were 
 not so; the one rarely travelling abroad with- 
 out the other." Mr. Whiting's son John, who 
 afterwards went to England, graduated at Har- 
 vard College in 1657, and this year his father 
 preached a sermon at Boston, before the An- 
 cient and Honorable Artillery Company,! the 
 earliest of the series of sermons before that 
 
 * Lin., 80. Ann. of Lynn, 236. \ Drake's Boston, 236. 
 
1 08 Memoir of 
 
 corporation which has been printed. Its or- 
 ganization is still preserved ; and more than 
 two centuries later, Col. William Whiting of 
 Concord, a descendant of the preacher, was 
 one of its officers. 
 
 A letter from the General Court of Connec- 
 ticut was presented to the General Court of 
 Massachusetts, 14th October, 1656 (together 
 with several questions of practical concern- 
 ment in the churches), wherein they desired 
 the concurrence of the confederated Colonies 
 in appointing suitable elders to debate and 
 determine such questions and other inquiries 
 which might be propounded to them. Mr. 
 Whiting, with twelve other clergymen, was 
 appointed to the performance of that duty.* 
 
 Under date of 12th November, 1659, the 
 Records of Massachusetts contain the follow- 
 ing entry : " In answer to the petition of Mr 
 Samuel Whiting, in behalf of his brother, Mr 
 John Whiting, and Mr. Richard Westland 
 aldermen of Boston (England), for this Court 
 grant of four hundred acres of land apiece, in 
 
 * 4 Mass. Rec, 280. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 109 
 
 consideration of fifty pounds apiece long since 
 laid out in the common adventure, the Court 
 grants his request, i.e., four hundred acres 
 apiece to them, the said John Whiting and 
 Richard Westland, and their heirs and assigns, 
 and that it be laid out adjoining to such lands 
 as are taken up by order of this Court." * 
 
 It was during this year, 1659, that the Gen- 
 eral Court passed a law, " which provided that 
 any person who should observe any such day 
 as Christmas, either by forbearing to labor, 
 feasting, or any other way, upon any such 
 account, should, for every such offence, pay five 
 shillings to the country." 
 
 This was one of numerous acts which illus- 
 trate the irreconcilable conflict of intolerance 
 with liberty of conscience. In the following 
 extract from Turner's Journal, allusion is made 
 to a prosecution which was instituted under 
 this law. t 
 
 " 1660. Octo"" y" 30: We hear f W Burton 
 hath been to Y Courte to complaine of Winnie 
 lohnstone for y^ keeping of Christmas wch jt 
 
 * 4 Mass, Rec, 406. t Lin, p 82. 
 
1 1 o Memoir of 
 
 is said is not lawful here. But God forbid y' it 
 should be unlawful to keep y^ holie birthday of 
 y° Savioure of mankind. We did hope y' sch 
 things might not be in this pleasant lande, 
 where there be manie who tho no churchmen 
 yet be willing to acknowledge sound doctrine, 
 the churchmen, yea even popish catholicks doe 
 y'= same. And y' minister. Mister Whiting, 
 thinketh such things grievous, he being of 
 large minde and good heart, and yet far enow 
 from Y establishment. But y° first minister, 
 Master Batcheldor, was stout to beat down 
 everie sproute of y" episcopacie in this puritan 
 soil." 
 
 " The large mind and good heart " of Mr. 
 Whiting, when put to the test on many other 
 occasions, were always in favor of the greatest 
 liberality towards those from whom he differed 
 in opinion. He had suffered much in order to 
 escape the tyranny of the bishops, yet he would 
 not refuse his son John permission to return to 
 England, and to obey the dictates of his own 
 conscience by devoting his life, as a " godly 
 conformist," to the service of the Church. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 1 1 1 
 
 He officiated some forty years as rector of 
 Leverton, and died October 19th, 1689, "very 
 extensively respected." * 
 
 His brother, Rev. Joseph, after graduating at 
 Cambridge, returned to Lynn, studied for his 
 profession with his father, and was appointed 
 his assistant. He continued in the ministry 
 there, and after his father's death in 1679 was 
 ordained as his successor. In 1680 he was in- 
 vited to become pastor of the church at South- 
 ampton, Long Island, a town which was com- 
 posed chiefly of families who had migrated 
 from Lynn.t He accepted this invitation, and 
 was settled there, where he remained until his 
 death, 7th April, 1723, having preached more 
 than forty-three years, t 
 
 The persecution of the Quakers, of which 
 Mr. Whiting thoroughly disapproved, com- 
 menced in 1656, and was followed up every 
 year until 1660, § by acts of the General Court, 
 
 * Annals of Lynn, p. 274. Magnalia, iii., ch. 28. 
 
 t Annals of Lynn, 193. 
 
 X Mather's Magnalia. Thompson's Hist, of Long Island, vol. ii., 
 
 P- 339- 
 
 § 4 Mass. Rec, 279, &c. 
 
1 1 2 Memoir of 
 
 which increased in severity against them and 
 all who should give them aid or shelter. These 
 unfortunate victims of intemperate zeal were 
 to be sent to jail, or whipped, or kept at hard 
 work, or, as one writer says, to have their 
 tongues bored through with red-hot irons. 
 Under these laws Quakers were put to death, 
 while their deluded persecutors were hounded 
 on by ministers of the gospel, of whom one of 
 the most distinguished exclaimed, " I 'would 
 carry fire in one hand and fagots in the other 
 to burn all the Quakers in the world ! " 
 
 It has been said that the acts of many en- 
 thusiastic converts to the new faith were irri- 
 tatino; in the extreme. It was believed that 
 these neophytes, carried away by fanaticism, 
 had rendered it impossible for others to live in 
 peace, or to enjoy the privilege of worshipping 
 God in their own way, in their own churches. 
 If this were so, doubtless our ancestors were 
 justified in restraining any individuals from 
 such conduct as was really inconsistent or ir- 
 reconcilable with the rights of the communi- 
 ty; but to inflict cruel punishments, not for 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 1 1 3 
 
 personal crime or misconduct, but for religious 
 opinions, was a plain violation of the laws of 
 justice and humanity. To this Mr. Whiting 
 would not consent; although he greatly disap- 
 proved of the conduct of some who belonged 
 to that sect. His views were well expressed in 
 the language of one of the members of his 
 church, who seems to have agreed with his 
 beloved pastor in most of his opinions. 
 
 "1663. Decem'' y" 10: Mch distress hath 
 been in y" churches about y" Quakers who be 
 now rampant in y" land. Y" laws and y" ma- 
 gistrates be hard vpon them. Women as well 
 as men have been stript and whipped at y" 
 carts taile for manie miles from town to town. 
 And some have been brought to y" gallows. Y" 
 more peeple be put vpon for their belief y" 
 more do they set theire faces against changing 
 their ways. And besides, ones religion is a 
 matter betwixt him and his God. He should 
 be let alone so long as he injureth not and 
 interfereth not with others; wch keeping to 
 themselves I am sorrie to say seemeth not 
 always to haue been y" case wth y" Quakers. 
 
1 1 4 Memoir of 
 
 Yet do I think y' our laws and our magistrates 
 have been mch too hard vpon them, and vpon 
 others that do not think ahke wth vs. Surelie 
 wee, of all people, ought to know how pretious 
 libertie of conscience is, for manie of vs here 
 haue suffered enow for its sake. And I do say 
 y' a church y' cannot stand of its own strength 
 ought to fall. And I doe say further, y' when 
 one strippeth naked and goeth about uttering 
 lamentations and outcries against y^ evil ways 
 of y" people, they themselves are in evil ways 
 and should be dealt with by y^ civil power, be 
 they Quakers or what nots. And so I end my 
 says about y^ matter." 
 
 During the year 1661 new disputes arose 
 respecting religious rites and observances. 
 " Those differences of opinion," says Drake, * 
 " relative to certain theological points, had at 
 this time, in the opinion of the General Court, 
 become alarming. To remedy the evil, that 
 body ordered a synod, or council, of all the 
 churches to convene at Boston in the month of 
 September. This has been regarded by many 
 
 * Hist, of Boston, p. 362. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 1 1 5 
 
 as one of the most famous councils ever con- 
 vened in the country. Few of its proceedings 
 have been recorded. Over its deliberations 
 Mr. Samuel Whiting of Lynn is believed to 
 have presided: a place for which his mind and 
 manners were most happily adapted ; and to 
 similar places he was often called, as it were, by 
 common consent. It does not appear that this 
 famous synod was able to settle any thing. 
 Some of its troubles were about proper subjects 
 for baptism, and a ' Consociation of Churches.'" 
 It would have been well if all the synods had 
 come to the same result, better if they had 
 forborne the attempt " to settle any thing," 
 and best if they had allowed each individual to 
 entertain his own opinions, without interfer- 
 ence of the civil or ecclesiastical authorities. 
 
 Though this effort to make the clergy the 
 instruments of their own subjection to the ex- 
 ecutive and legislative branches of government 
 ended in a complete failure, it was but a short 
 time before an attempt was made by one of the 
 civil courts to interfere with the church disci- 
 pline of Mr. Whiting's society at Lynn. 
 
1 1 6 Memoir of 
 
 Mr. John Hathorn made complaint to the 
 church, that Andrew Mansfield and William 
 Longley had sworn falsely in the trial of a case 
 relating to certain lands; and they were cen- 
 sured for false swearing. They then brought 
 an action against Hathorn for slander, obtained 
 a verdict against him, damages to the amount 
 of ^lo, and a sentence that he should also 
 make a public acknowledgment of his guilt in 
 the meeting-house at Lynn, or else pay ^20 
 and costs. On the 4th of April, 1663, the Court 
 directed the following letter to the church at 
 Lynn : — 
 
 " Reverend and Loving Friends and Breth- 
 ren, — We understand that John Hathorne 
 hath accused Andrew Mansfield and William 
 Longley, in the church of Lynn, for giving 
 a false testimony against himself and Henry 
 Collins, at the court of Ipswich, in March this 
 was 12 month, and for which the said Mans- 
 field and Longley stand convicted in the 
 church, and finding themselves aggrieved 
 thereat, hath brought their complaint against 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 1 1 7 
 
 the said Hathorne in several actions of slander, 
 which hath had a full and impartial hearing, 
 and due examination, and by the verdict of 
 the jury the said Hathorne is found guilty. 
 Now, because it is much to he desired that con- 
 trary judgments in one and the same case may 
 be prevented, if possibly it may be attained, and 
 one power strive not to clash against the other, 
 we thought it expedient, before we give judg- 
 ment in the case, to commend the same to the 
 serious consideration and further examination 
 of the church. We doubt not but that there 
 hath been even more than a few both in the 
 words and carriage of all the parties concerned 
 (though not the crime alleged), which if it may 
 please God to put into their hearts to see and 
 own so as may give the church opportunity 
 and cause to change their mind and reverse 
 their censures, so far as concerns the particular 
 case in question, we hope it will be acceptable 
 to God, satisfactory to ourselves and others, 
 and the beginning of their own peace and 
 quiet, the disturbance whereof hitherto we are 
 very sensible of, and shall at all times be ready 
 
1 1 8 Memoir of 
 
 to afford them our best relief, as we may have 
 opportunity or cognizance thereof Had you 
 been pleased, before your final conclusion, to 
 have given us the grounds of your offence, we 
 should kindly have received such a request, 
 and probably much of your trouble might have 
 been prevented. We have deferred giving 
 judgment in this case till the next session of 
 this court, to see what effect this our motion 
 may have with them. Now the God of peace 
 and wisdom give them understanding in all 
 things, and guide them to such conclusions, in 
 this and all other causes of concernment, as 
 may be agreeable to his will, and conducing to 
 your peace and welfare. So pray your friends 
 and brethren. 
 
 " By order of the County Court at Ipswich, 
 " Robert Lord, Clerk." 
 
 To this letter Mr. Whiting made the follow- 
 ing reply, on the 4th of May : — 
 
 " Honored and Beloved in the God of 
 Love, — We have received your letter, which 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 119 
 
 you have been pleased to send us, wherein 
 we perceive how tender you are of our peace, 
 and how wisely careful you declare yourselves 
 to be in preventing any clash that might arise 
 between the civil and ecclesiastical powers, for 
 which we desire to return thanks from our 
 hearts to God and unto you. Concerning the 
 matter you signify to us that your pleasure 
 is that we should attend unto, we, in all humil- 
 ity of mind and desirous of peace, have been 
 willing to prove the parties concerned, to see 
 what errors they would see and own ; and for 
 his part that complained to us, he doth ac- 
 knowledge his uncomely speeches and carriage 
 both unto the marshal, he being the court's 
 officer, and also to brethren in the church, in 
 the agitation of the matter, and doth condemn 
 himself for sin in it ; but for the other parties 
 that stand convicted, they either do not see or 
 will not acknowledge any error concerning 
 their testimony, v/hich we judge they ought. 
 Wherefore we humbly present you with these 
 few lines, not doubting but they will be pleas- 
 ing to God and acceptable to you. What- 
 
1 20 Memoir of 
 
 ever hath been suggested to yourselves by 
 others that bear not good will to the peace of 
 our church, we are sure of this, and our con- 
 sciences bear us witness, that we have done 
 nothing in opposition to you, or to cast any 
 reflection upon your court proceedings, but 
 have justified you all along in what you have 
 done, secjindum allegata el probala, in all our 
 church agitations, which our adversaries can 
 tell if they would witness ; but by reason of 
 this, that some of our brethren did swear con- 
 trary oaths, we thought it our duty upon com- 
 plaint made to us to search who they were that 
 swore truly, and who did falsify their oath ; and 
 after much debate and dispute on sundry days 
 about this matter, we did judge those two 
 men faulty, which in conscience we dare not 
 go back from, they continuing as they do 
 to this day. Could we discern any token 
 of these men's repentance, for this that they 
 are, especially one of them, censured in the 
 church for, we should cheerfully take off 
 the censures; but inasmuch as they justify 
 themselves, and tell us if it were to do again 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 121 
 
 they would do it, and lift up their crests in 
 high language, and come to such animosi- 
 ties from the jury's verdict, we desire the 
 honored court would not count us transgress- 
 ors if we do not recede from what we have 
 done, considering what disturbers they have 
 been to us, especially one of them, for these 
 several years. Now, therefore, honored and 
 dear sirs, seeing by what we have done we 
 have gone in our own way as a church in 
 the search after sin, we hope the court will 
 be tender of us and of him that complained to 
 us on that account; if not, we humbly crave 
 that it be not grievous to you that we plainly 
 tell you that in our judgment the discipline of 
 these churches must fall ; and if so, of what 
 sad consequence it will be, we leave it to those 
 that are wiser than ourselves to judge, for this 
 case being new and pever acted before in this 
 country, doth not only reflect on our church, 
 but on all the churches in the country ; for if 
 delinquents that are censured in churches shall 
 be countenanced by authority, against the 
 church in their acting in a just way, we hum- 
 
1 2 2 Memoir of 
 
 bly put it to the consideration of the court, 
 whether there will not be a wide door opened 
 to Erasiimtisme* which we hope all of us do 
 abhor from our hearts. Now the God of peace 
 himself give the country, courts, and churches 
 peace always by all means ; grace be with you 
 all in Christ Jesus. Amen. 
 
 " Dated the 4th, 3d, 1663, with the consent 
 and vote of the church. 
 
 " Samuel Whiting." 
 
 On the next day the Court replied as fol- 
 lows: — 
 
 " Reverend and Beloved, — We are very 
 sorry our endeavors have not produced that 
 effect we hoped and desired, but seem to have 
 been interpreted contrary to our intentions 
 (and, we conceive, our words), as an encroach- 
 ment, and destructive to the right and power 
 of the churches. We have been taught, and 
 do verily believe, the civil and ecclesiastical 
 power may very well consist, and that no cause 
 
 * The denial that the church had power to censure or decree. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 123 
 
 is so purely ecclesiastical, but the civil power 
 may in its way deal therein. We are far from 
 thinking the churches have no power but what 
 is derived from the Christian magistrates, or 
 that the civil magistrate hath ecclesiastical pow- 
 ers, yet [he] may, and ought, the matter so re- 
 quiring, [to] take cognizance and give judgment 
 in solving a case, not in a church but civil way. 
 We suppose we have kept much within these 
 bounds in the case that hath been before us, 
 and that our opinion and practice herein hath 
 been as clear from Erastianisme as some men's 
 assertions have been from the opposite error, 
 and the declared judgments of our congrega- 
 tional divines. In that point we own and de- 
 sire so to regulate our proceedings accordingly. 
 The God of order guide all our ministrations 
 to his glory and the peace and edification of 
 his people. 
 
 " By order and unanimous consent of the 
 County Court, sitting at Ipswich, May 5th, 
 1663, p. me. 
 
 " Robert Lord, Clerk." 
 
1 24 Memoir of 
 
 The principle contended for by the Court, 
 " That no cause is so purely ecclesiastical but the 
 civil power inay in its way deal therein^' was 
 utterly subversive of the religious liberties of 
 the colony. The original manuscript of this 
 precious letter, which was published at the time 
 when it was written, is in the possession of 
 one of Mr. Whiting's descendants. The true 
 spirit of its far-seeing author breathes in every 
 line. He thus inaugurated that sublime moral 
 contest of the clergy against the courts, which 
 ended in the entire surrender of ecclesiastical 
 power by the magistrates. If the venerable 
 pastor of Lynn had never done any other ser- 
 vice to the colony than making this bold, firm, 
 independent, yet gentle, modest, and respectful 
 defence of the rights of the Church against 
 the usurpation of judicial or civil authority, his 
 name would be ever memorable. 
 
 In the following November, Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, jun., was settled at Billerica, where he 
 became the progenitor of a large family. Sev- 
 eral of his descendants are still living there. 
 
 The story of Verna Humphrey, related by 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 125 
 
 Mr. Newhall, of which the first touching inci- 
 dent occurred in 1664, ought not to be passed 
 over. The strange and interesting career of 
 this briUiant child of genius, her terrible fate, 
 her sad and mournful death, and the grief of a 
 broken-hearted father, shared and alleviated by 
 his godly minister, unveil that exquisite deli- 
 cacy of sympathetic feeling with which he was 
 ever moved by the sorrows or sufferings of 
 others. She sleeps in peace by the side of her 
 pastor, whom she so honored and loved. 
 
 The brief but instructive biographical sketch 
 of Manasseh Guatolf, by the same writer, illus- 
 trates one of the peculiar charms of Mr. Whi- 
 ting's life and character, and his power over the 
 hearts of those who came in contact with him. 
 Guatolf was born a Jew, and in the course of 
 his travels became acquainted with the Pastor 
 of Lynn. Both being among the best Hebrew 
 scholars in the country, as Mr. Newhall informs 
 us, " they frequently met in the higher literary 
 circles. And Mr. Guatolf became so charmed 
 by the benignant character of his new acquaint- 
 ance, that he formed an attachment strong and 
 
126 Memoir of 
 
 enduring. And he presently came to esteem 
 it one of his highest privileges to be near the 
 godly man, making frequent visits to Lynn, and 
 occasionally remaining for several days. He 
 was a rigid adherent to the faith of his fathers ; 
 but this did not prevent his perceiving the good 
 and great in those who proudly claimed to be 
 among the chosen of the New Disjoensation. 
 
 " It is not wonderful that Mr. Whiting's in- 
 fluence over him should have eventuated, as it 
 did, in his conversion to the Christian faith. 
 By degrees, his adherence to the old religion 
 weakened ; and finally, on a serene sabbath 
 morning, in early summer, the venerable pastor 
 had the blessed privilege, before a great congre- 
 gation, who had assembled from far and near, 
 of baptizing this son of Abraham into the re- 
 ligion of the Nazarene. It was a marked oc- 
 casion, and much talked of among the good 
 people throughout the colonies." 
 
 Mr. Whiting was looked upon by his contem- 
 poraries as one of the most distinguished 
 scholars of his times. " For his learning " (says 
 Dr. Mather, himself a master of classic litera- 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 127 
 
 ture), " he was many ways well accomplished ; 
 especially he was accurate in Hebrew, in which 
 primitive and expressive language he took 
 much delight; and he was elegant in Latin, 
 whereof, among other demonstrations, he gave 
 one in an oration at one of our commence- 
 ments : and much of his vacant hours he em- 
 ployed in history, — history which made good 
 unto him her ancient character : — 
 
 Omnis nunc nostra pendet Prudentia sensu, 
 Riteque nil, nostra qui caret Arte, saj>it." * 
 
 Of the many sermons preached by Mr. Whi- 
 ting during his ministry, comparatively few 
 were printed; but in 1664 he published a vol- 
 ume entitled, " A Discourse of the Last Judg- 
 ment; or, Short Notes upon Mathew xxv. 
 from verse 31 to the end of the chapter, con- 
 cerning the judgment to come, and our prep- 
 aration to stand before the great Judge of 
 quick and dead ; which are of sweetest comfort 
 to the elect sheep, and a most dreadful amaze- 
 
 * " He nothing knows who hath not learned my Art, 
 And he knows all, who knows what I impart." 
 
128 Memoir of 
 
 ment to reprobate goats" (Cambridge, 1664; 
 i2mo, 160 pp.); and in 1666, the former vol- 
 ume having met with great acceptance* he 
 printed a second volume on "Abraham's hum- 
 ble intercession for Sodom, and the Lord's 
 gracious answer in concession thereto " (Cam- 
 bridge, 1666; i2mo, 349 pp.), from which Mr. 
 Newhall has made the following extracts : t — 
 
 " What is it to draw nigh to God in prayer? 
 It is not to come with loud expressions when 
 we pray before him. Loud crying in the ears 
 of God is not to draw near to God. They are 
 nearer to God that silently whisper in his ears, 
 and tell him wha.t they want, and what they 
 would have of him. They have the king's ear, 
 not that call loudest, but those that speak 
 softly to him, as those of the council and bed- 
 chamber : so they are nearest God, and have 
 his ear most, that speak softly to him in 
 prayer. . . . 
 
 " In what manner are we to draw nisrh to 
 God in prayer ? In sincerity, with a true heart. 
 
 * Mather, p. 509. 
 
 t These sermons are preserved in the library of Geo. Brinley, Esq., 
 of Hartford, Conn. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 129 
 
 Truth is the Christian soldier's girdle. We 
 must be true at all times ; much more, when 
 we fall upon our knees and pray before the 
 Lord. . . . 
 
 " We, in this country, have left our near re- 
 lations, — brothers, sisters, fathers' houses, near- 
 est and dearest friends ; but, if we can get 
 nearer to God here, he will be instead of all, 
 more than all, to us. He hath the fulness of 
 all the sweetest relations bound up in him. 
 We may take that out of God that we forsook 
 in father, mother, brother, sister, and friend 
 that hath been as near and dear as our own 
 soul. ... 
 
 " Even among the most wicked sinners 
 there may be found some righteous, some corn 
 among the chaff, some jewels among the sands, 
 some pearls among a multitude of shells. . . . 
 
 "Who hath made England to differ from 
 other nations, that more jewels are found there 
 than elsewhere } or what hath that Island 
 that it hath not received t The East and West 
 Indies yield their gold and pearl and sweet 
 spices ; but I know where the golden, spicy, 
 
1 30 Memoir of 
 
 fragrant Christians be : England hath yielded 
 these. Yet not England, but the grace of God 
 that hath been ever with them. We see what 
 hope we may have concerning New England, 
 thousfh we do not deserve to be named the 
 same day with our dear mother." 
 
 On the 7th of December, the General Court 
 again assembled for consultation and prayer; 
 in this assembly Mr. Whiting bore apart:* 
 and two years later (1668) the ministers of the 
 several towns assembled in Boston (15th April) 
 to hold a public discussion with the Baptists ; 
 the clergymen of Lynn were among the princi- 
 pal speakers.! 
 
 During the years 1670-1671 a controversy 
 arose which involved the clergy, the govern- 
 ment, and the people. It grew out of the last 
 attempt made by the General Court, during 
 the lifetime of Mr. Whiting, to overrule and 
 control the proceedings of the churches. As 
 the people finally sustained the ministers 
 against the legislature, and thus gave their 
 sanction to a principle for which Mr. Whiting 
 
 * Annals of Lynn, p. 256. t Annals of Lynn, p. 257. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 131 
 
 had so long contended, the events which then 
 transpired deserve especial notice. 
 
 It is stated in Hutchinson's History, that 
 " the strict union, which had been from the 
 beginning between the civil and ecclesiastical 
 parts of the constitution, was about this time 
 in danger of being broke, or greatly weakened. 
 After Mr. Wilson's death, the first church in 
 Boston invited Mr. Davenport, the minister of 
 New Haven, to succeed him. He was then 
 about seventy, had gone into the wilderness 
 with persons closel}' attached to him, and re- 
 mained with them about thirty years, and they 
 were extremely averse to his leaving them ; and 
 besides, he was at the head of a party more strict 
 and rigid than the body of the people of the 
 country, for he had always opposed the admit- 
 ting to baptism the children of any who were 
 not in full communion with one or other of the 
 churches. It is not strange that there should 
 have been a party of Boston church which op- 
 posed his settlement. The two parties in this 
 church, the first in rank (although the church 
 of Salem was the oldest) in the country, pro- 
 
132 Memoir of 
 
 duced two parties, not in the other churches 
 only, but in the state also. A considerable 
 part of the church, both for number and estate, 
 formed themselves, as has been observed, into 
 a separate society. Seventeen ministers bore a 
 pubHc testimony against the proceedings of 
 the three elders of the first chui-ch in Boston, 
 viz., against Mr. Davenport for leaving his 
 church at New Haven, contrary to his pro- 
 fessed principles, and against all of them for 
 communicating parcels only of letters from the 
 church of New Haven to the church in Bos- 
 ton, by which artifice the church was deceived, 
 and made to believe the church of New Haven 
 consented to his dismission, when, if the whole 
 had been read, it would have appeared they did 
 not. This testimony was sent to the elders 
 the day before a public fast. An answer was 
 given, in which the elders deny that the letters 
 concealed would have been evidence of the re- 
 fusal of the church of New Haven to consent 
 to Mr. Davenport's leaving them and settling 
 at Boston ; the church was only unwilling to 
 make his dismission their immediate act. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 133 
 
 Neither the church of New Haven nor the 
 elders of the church of Boston can be wholly 
 justified. There does not seem to have been 
 that fairness and simplicity in their proceed- 
 ings which the gospel requires. The first 
 church refused the invitation of the new socie- 
 ty to join with other churches in ordaining 
 their officers, &c. The ministers and members 
 of churches in the colony were engaged, some 
 on one side, and some on the other, and the 
 contentions were sharp ; at length the House 
 of Deputies espoused the cause of the first 
 church, and having at their session in May, 
 1670, appointed a committee to inquire into 
 the prevailing evils which had procured or 
 been the cause of the displeasure of God 
 against the land, they reported, among other 
 causes, these that follow, viz., ' Declension from 
 the primitive foundation work ; innovation in 
 doctrine and worship, opinion and practice ; 
 an invasion of the rights, liberties and privi- 
 leges of churches ; an usurpation of a lordly and 
 prelatical power over God's heritage ; a subver- 
 sion of gospel order; and all this with a dan- 
 
1 34 Mefnoir of 
 
 gerous tendency to the utter devastation of 
 these churches, turning the pleasant gardens of 
 Christ into a wilderness, and the inevitable and 
 total extirpation of the principles and pillars 
 of the congregational way : these are the leaven, 
 the corrupting gangrene, the infecting, spread- 
 ing plague, the provoking image of jealousy set 
 up before the Lord, the accursed thing, which 
 hath provoked divine wrath, and doth further 
 threaten destruction.' They then take notice 
 of the late transaction of churches and elders, 
 in constituting the third church in Boston, as 
 irregular, illegal and disorderly." 
 
 At the next session of the General Court, 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting, and his son, Rev. Sam- 
 uel Whiting, with fourteen other clergymen, 
 presented the following address : — 
 
 To the hono2ired Generall Court now assembled 
 & sitting in Boston, 31 May, 1671. 
 
 " The humble adresse of some of yo'' most 
 vnworthy (yet we hope faithfull) servants, for 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiiing. 135 
 
 Christs sake, in the worke of the ministry, 
 humbly offered. 
 
 Much hono''d : It is a great publicke bless- 
 ing & benefit, w* wee ought w* all thankfulnes 
 to acknowledge to the glory of God, not only 
 that he hath graciously manifested his divine 
 wisdome, power, and goodnesse in the way & 
 working of his prouidence, in the transplanta- 
 tion of our fathers in this wildernesse, and that 
 in such a way of civil order, vnder the prudent 
 & prosperous conduct of our first ancient & 
 honored magistrates, as to lay a foundation for 
 the setlement, not only of that past, but of 
 this present, & wee hope of many succeeding 
 generations, b}' such a civil polity, which is in 
 the constitution of it euery way accomodated 
 vnto a peaceable & prosperous enjoyment & 
 improovement of all, both civil & religious 
 rights, libertjes, & priviledges as a people ; & 
 as the people of God wee say not only, but also 
 that God is yet pleased to blesse this our gen- 
 eration w"' the vninterrupted succession of a 
 godly & able magistracy, by the annuall elec- 
 
1 36 Memoir of 
 
 tion of such whose eminency in gifts, grace, 
 place, & wayes of improovement doth give us 
 cause to honour them, as the instruments in 
 Gods hand of our pubHcke weale, & whom wee 
 acknowledge as the greatest publicke pledge of 
 our future prosperity & tranquility. 
 
 It is also to be comemorated, to the praise of 
 God's past goodnesse with this people in their 
 first perregrinations, y' he led them forth, not 
 only by the hands of Moses, but of Aaron ; we 
 meane that first ancient & rev'' ministry whom 
 God hath signally ouned & honored before the 
 world, as the instruments of the transportation 
 of the arke of the couenant, (viz\) the presence 
 of God in his holy ordinances, as it hath binn 
 setled in a way of gospell order. 
 
 These things being premised & duely con- 
 sidered, wee solemnly & sincerely professe that 
 it is the present & important concernment of 
 our publick weale, both civil & religious, faith- 
 fully & ffully to oune, assert, hold, & maintejne 
 our first fundamentall interest, (viz',) our stand- 
 ing vnder Gods couenant as his couenant peo- 
 ple, & the whole djvine right of that couenant 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 137 
 
 as it is to be regularly & orderly dispensed to 
 the propper subjects of it in the administration 
 of doctrine & worship, according to divine 
 institution & the apostoUicall patterne in con- 
 gregationall churches, & that in that way of 
 reformation which is according to the word 
 of God, & which wee haue professed & prac- 
 tised before the world, not receeding from the 
 safe & sober principles of the congregationall 
 way lajd in the first foundation of these 
 churches by our first sound & sincere reform- 
 ers, yet vtterly disclayming (according to that 
 serious & solemne caution published by the 
 presse) all spurious principles & practises, as 
 those of seperation, Anabaptisme, Morellian 
 (anarchicall) confusion, & licentious tolleration, 
 which is no part of our cause, nor of the end 
 & designe of the Lords faithful! servants, when 
 they followed him into this land. 
 
 This solemne profession we make as a vinde- 
 cation of our integrity & innocency,, from the 
 vnjust charge of innovation, which, w* a loud 
 cry & clamour of apostacy, is lajd vpon the 
 generality of the ministry of these churches ; 
 
138 Memoir of 
 
 w"'' vnjust charge wee are the more deepelysen- 
 cible of, because it hath beene (if not made & 
 managed yet) heightened & more confidently 
 & credibly divulged by the coinon & vulgar 
 reports of the seuerall returnes of the coihittee 
 chosen by the House of Deputjes of the last 
 Generall Court, for the discouery of the causes 
 of Gods controuersys w* the land, and the 
 votes of the majo'^part of the house therevpon, 
 concluding, determining, & declaring that de- 
 clension from the primitive foundation worke, 
 innovation in doctrine & worship, opinion & 
 practise, & invasion of the rights, libertjes, & 
 priuiledges of churches; an vsurpation of a 
 lordly & pr^elatticall power ouer Gods haeritage, 
 a subvertion of gospell order, & all this w"' a 
 dangerous tendencie to the vtter devastation 
 of these churches, turning the pleasant gardens 
 of Christ into a wildernesse, & the inevitable & 
 total extirpation of the principles & pillars of 
 the congregationall way ; that these are the 
 leven, the corrupting gangreens, the infecting 
 spreading plague, the provoaking images of 
 jealousy set vp before the Lord, the accursed 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 139 
 
 thing w"'' hath provoked divine wrath, & doth 
 further threaten distraction, & w"'all plainly in- 
 sinuating that the ministry are the Achan, the 
 cheife incendarjes of wrath & procurers of judg- 
 ment on the land ; (as if in casting the lott for, 
 God,) they were taken, & the accursed thing 
 found w"" them, giving instance in the late 
 solemne transaction of churches & elders in 
 the constitution of the third church in Boston, 
 as irregular, illegall, & disorderly, & so a suffi- 
 cient signall of the whole discouery. 
 
 Much honoured : A consciousnesse to our 
 oune vnworthyness, of insufficiency vnto vn- 
 proffitablenesse in that holy worke whereunto 
 God hath called us, doth compell vs humbly & 
 patiently to beare w'soeuer shame & reproach 
 he shall suffer to be cast vpon vs, acknowledg- 
 ing ourselues to be lesse than the least of all 
 saints, not worthy to be called the ministers of 
 Christ; yet the conscience of our oune inno- 
 cency as to the whole of this charge, (so farr as 
 it is criminall,) & wee hope a sincere & sober 
 zeale for the glory of God & the honor of the 
 gospell, doe imbolden & move vs to appeare as 
 
1 40 Memoir of 
 
 ready at least to offer our just apologie & de- 
 fence (ov for the remooval of that black cloud 
 of calumnie w'^*' is thereby drawne ouer the 
 churches & the ministry ; much rather & gladly 
 would wee haue borne & buried in silence the 
 whole, had wee binn only privately & person- 
 ally concerned therein, or had it issued only as 
 an abortive motion, w"'out any abiding effect 
 or influence vpon the spiritts of men, or the 
 present state of affaires in these churches ; but 
 seeing it is farr otherwise, wee thought it our 
 duty humbly to offer our present sence thereof, 
 & to craue an expedient for the clearing of our 
 churches & elders, & all concerned, from the 
 high & heavy imputations therein. As to sence 
 of it wee soberly say, — 
 
 1. That it peremptorily & possitively pre- 
 sumes the whole charge, w'''out proofe by any 
 one instance, of those hethrodox & corrupt 
 principles & practises, & w"'out putting any 
 differenc betweene churches & churches, & 
 elders & elders, but insinuating the charge in- 
 deffiinitely vpon all. 
 
 2. Vpon this presumption it concludeth 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 141 
 
 woefull declension from primitive foundation 
 workes, innovation, seeming to inferr thereby 
 the dissolution of the very constitution of these 
 churches ; for if foundation worke be disterbed, 
 & an innovation lajd by the profession & prac- 
 tise of those loose Sc corrupt principles, men- 
 tioned as inconsistent w"' the being of such 
 churches, then woe vnto vs indeed ; but wee 
 beleive that God doth yet oune these churches 
 as to their primitive constitution, according to 
 the true principles of the congregational way. 
 
 3. It scandalizeth the professed & declared 
 doctrine of baptisme, insinuating that no chil- 
 dren ought to be baptized but such whose 
 parents haue given such evidence of the grace 
 of faith to the church, as therevpon they are 
 admitted to full comunion in instituted churches. 
 
 4. It ouerthrowes the constitution of our 
 congregationall churches, by denying the mem- 
 bership of church children, when adult, as not 
 hauing either the raateriall nor formall cause 
 of church membershipp. 
 
 5. The whole charge savoreth of a spirit 
 vnder an extraordinary transportation, from a 
 
142 Memoir of 
 
 present, personal, & passionate conccrne in the 
 interest of a party, as appeares by the instance 
 of the business of the third church, & so of a 
 designe to scandeHze that pretious church of 
 Christ, at least to hinder the consumation & 
 confirmation of that worke of God, by the 
 peaceable setlement of that church in actuall 
 & full coinunion w* all other churches. 
 
 6. By a misrepresentation of that weighty & 
 worthy transaction vndertaken & managed in a 
 regular way, to an orderly issue, it doth deepely 
 charge & calumniate magistrates & churches, 
 & consequently elders & church messengers, 
 w* dangerous designe, yea, w"' a crime of in- 
 fringing gospell & church libertjes, w"' breach 
 of lawe, & that in a factious way, by abetting 
 & incourag-inof that which is illesall, vnto the 
 begetting & nourishing of confusion, breaches, 
 disunion, & divission, & the manifest violation 
 of rules, both of religion & order ; all w'^'' is 
 illustrated (in that paper) by the premised ex- 
 amples of Davids noumbering the people, of 
 Gideons ephod, & of Eljes indulgence, thereby 
 loading so great a part of the magistrates, 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiimg. 143 
 
 churches, & elders w* the guilt & scandall of 
 that which they suppose to be the great & 
 criminall sinn of the tjmes, that they may (as 
 they say) free both themselues & the country 
 from guilt, & all this before they haue orderly 
 inquired into the case, or could haue a regular 
 cognizance of the true state thereof, nor ac- 
 knowledging the many signall manifestations 
 of Gods presence & asistance in his acceptance 
 of & blessing vpon that worke. 
 
 Thus farr, much honoured, wee haue declared 
 our greivances, from a deepe sence of the sad 
 & aflictive consequences of this vnhappy essay, 
 to a discouery of the evills of the tjmes, whilst 
 wee consider how much God hath been dis- 
 honoured, how much the Spirit of God in the 
 hearts of many of his faithfull servants hath 
 been greived, how much an anti ministeriall 
 spirit hath been strengthened & imboldened, 
 how much the hearts & hands of many that 
 labor in the worke of the ministry hath beene 
 weakened, how much the spiritts of many haue 
 binn prejudiced against their instructions, & 
 filled w* groundlesse jealousies & suspitions by 
 
144 Memoir of 
 
 the misrepresenting & scandalesing of elders to 
 their churches. These things wee lament, yet 
 haue not now presumed to remonstrate in our 
 oune defence ; but wee doe first comend our- 
 selues & our cause to Him that judgeth right- 
 eously, & then submitt ourselues & our whole 
 matter to this honoured Court, humbly wayting 
 vpon you for redresse, either by calling vs to 
 vindicate ourselues publickely from any thing 
 that may be publickely managed against us of 
 this nature, or by mooving & incouradging the 
 churches to a generall convention by their 
 elders & messeng''s for the debate & decission 
 of such questions, & an accoinodation of such 
 differences which hath begotten these misun- 
 derstandings, or otherwise, as in yo' wisdome 
 you shall see meet. In the meane time wee 
 shall pray, as in duty bound, that yow may be 
 directed in all yo'' consultations & conclusions 
 by Him that standeth in the congregation of 
 the mighty & judgeth amongst the gods."* 
 
 * 4 Mass. Col. Rec, 489-494. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 145 
 
 Reply of the General Court. 
 
 " Vpon consideration of the petition of sun- 
 dry of the reuerend elders, declaring the deepe 
 & afflictive sence of some voates past in May, 
 1670, in the House of Deputjes, (vpon the 
 returne of parte of a coinittee, chosen by the 
 honord Court to inquire into the causes of 
 Gods displeasure,) which they conceive to re- 
 flect great reproach & scandall on the ministry 
 in generall, & that demonstrated by an act 
 referring to the third church in Boston, wherein 
 some in particular are charrecterized as abetto''s 
 in the constituting that church, & thereby ren- 
 dered as the troublers in our Israeli, & as the 
 Achans, &c, being an act infringing of church 
 & gospell libertjes, & the free excercise of all 
 ordinances by churches w*in themselues, &c', 
 although it must be asserted, that the acts of 
 this honoured Court, being the supreme au- 
 thority, are not Ijable to queestion by any, & 
 that free debates are the indubitable right of 
 the sajd Court, yet, forasmuch as in an hower 
 of temptation such acts may passe in our Court 
 
X46 Memoir of 
 
 as may, according to principles of religion, pru- 
 dence, & state interest, be revejwed, & vpon 
 mature deliberation, rectified, — in this case the 
 Court conceives it duty to declare, that foras- 
 much as seuerall expressions in the sajd transac- 
 tions haue an appearance of the justnes of the 
 complaints in the sajd petition, and that they 
 may not leaue any just ground of greivance in 
 the hearts of their reuerend elders, nor their 
 ministry be made inneffectuall by that antiminis- 
 teriall spirit that too much runs thro the coun- 
 try, the Court orders & declares, that the sajd 
 papei's referring to that case are to be accounted 
 vselesse, & not to be improoved against the 
 reuerend elders, as the causes of God's dis- 
 pleasure against the country, or to be made 
 publicke. And whereas many haue taken lib- 
 erty in an irregular way to publish the secretts 
 of the Court in that case, and doe declare such 
 are to be accountable according to the nature 
 of the fact. 
 
 The Court doeth further declare, that they 
 know no just cause of those scandelizing re- 
 flections contejned in the sajd papers indeffi- 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 147 
 
 nitely against magistrates, elders, & churches, 
 either in refference to the new church of Boston 
 or otherwise, and therefore, till they be further 
 informed, must judge them innocent, and 
 vnduly calumniated and misrepresented, and 
 doe hereby professe & declare w"' the reuerend 
 elders in their addresse, that wee doe adhere 
 to the primitive ends of our coming hither, 
 reteyning the sober principles of the congrega- 
 tionall way, & the practise of our churches in 
 their present & most athlettick constitutions."* 
 
 The influence of Mr. Whiting and his asso- 
 ciates was demonstrated by the fact that the 
 Legislature reversed its former vote, and ceased 
 to interfere with the affairs of the Third Church. 
 The people so fully approved the separation of 
 ecclesiastical and legislative powers, that, out 
 of fifty members who had sustained the origi- 
 nal votes in the House of Delegates, they 
 elected and returned only twenty members at 
 the next succeeding session. 
 
 In the following year (1672), the General 
 Court appointed a day of fasting, humiliation 
 
 * 4 Mass. Col. Kec, 489-494- 
 
1 48 Memoir of 
 
 and prayer, not only because it appeared to be 
 a time of " sore trouble and hazard to the peo- 
 ple of God in general, through the present por- 
 tending commotions and combinations among 
 the nations of Europe, threatening no less than 
 war and blood, with all the innumerable evils 
 which do attend the same, but also that our 
 own dear nation stands so particularly involved, 
 whose sufferings we are deeply bound to reckon 
 as our own, and further, cannot but expect, that, 
 as we are of the same nation, and many ways 
 dependent thereon, so also must needs be suf- 
 ferers with them," and besides this public fast, 
 it was ordered that the General Court should 
 " keep a day of humiliation together, in the 
 Court House, on the 22'' inst, and that Mr. 
 Whiting, Sen", with five other clergymen should 
 carry on the work of that day by prayer and 
 preaching." * 
 
 About 1673, Rev. Joseph Whiting, youngest 
 son of the venerable pastor, was married to 
 Sarah, daughter of Deputy-Governor Thomas 
 Danforth, and thus brought a new attraction to 
 
 * 4 Mass. Rec, 508. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 149 
 
 the old household at Lynn. He remained in 
 the family until his father's death, when, as has 
 been previously stated, he succeeded him in 
 the ministry, and finally was settled at South- 
 ampton, Long Island, welcomed there by those 
 who had previously sat under his and his 
 father's ministry at Lynn, and had emigrated 
 to that town. 
 
 The hard-working pastor of Lynn had al- 
 ready begun to feel the weight of those infirmi- 
 ties which age and severe, incessant labor are 
 sure to bring, when his house was made deso- 
 late by the death of his wife, with whom he 
 had lived nearly forty-eight years, the mother 
 of all but one of his living children, the high- 
 ly respected, useful, energetic lady, beloved and 
 admired by old and young; a lady who, in the 
 full glow of her youth and beauty, gave up the 
 brilliant and aristocratic society in which she 
 had been reared, and bestowed her heart upon 
 the brave Puritan whose only ambition was to 
 serve God according to the light which might 
 be given him from above, whether his temple 
 should be adorned by marble domes and gilded 
 
1 50 Memoir of 
 
 spires, or must be sought for in lonely caves, 
 or star-lit forests. 
 
 Few facts or events have been recorded which 
 give insight into her daily life at Lynn, except- 
 ing that she devoted herself faithfully to her 
 duties as the wife of a clergyman, that she 
 gave gratuitous instruction to the youth of the 
 parish on week-days, and that she aided her 
 husband in preparing his writings, and relieved 
 him from all care of his worldly affairs. Her 
 residence at Lynn was famous for its elegant 
 hospitality ; and she was the friend and com- 
 panion of many of the leading persons in the 
 colony, whom she entertained as guests with- 
 out neglecting the daily recitations of her 
 three sons who were fitted for college and 
 became -clergymen, and of her daughter who 
 was afterwards married to a clergyman. While 
 performing these labors, not light nor easily 
 discharged, she preserved such sweetness of 
 temper and such dignity of manner, as to have 
 secured the affection and respect of all by 
 whom she was surrounded. She must have 
 led a romantic life, filled with many cares of 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 151 
 
 her family, her parishioners, her guests, and 
 even of the wild savages with whose presence 
 she was not unfamiliar and to whom she gave 
 hospitable shelter. One needs but to read the 
 story of the " beautiful and brilliant Verna 
 Humphrey," or that of the " Indian maid, 
 Ruth," to feel that the light of romance had not 
 faded away, even from the home of the venera- 
 ble clergyman of Lynn. 
 
 One of his parishioners, the honest and 
 truthful Obadiah Turner, thus writes of her in 
 his Journal : " His (Rev. Samuel Whiting's) 
 wife was a right comelie dame, and belonged to 
 a great familie, being Chief Justice Saint John 
 his daughter [sister]. She was a godlie woman 
 and did much to cheer and help her husband. 
 By her learning she was able to give much in- 
 struction to the damsels of the parish, and they 
 did all love her as she were a tender mother. 
 She died some two years agone [1677], and he 
 did greatly mourn for her." 
 
 Cotton Mather, in his " Magnalia " (vol. i., p. 
 503), thus speaks of her father and herself: " He 
 [Mr. Whiting] married the daughter of Mr. 
 
152 Alemoir of 
 
 Oliver St. John, a Bedfordshire gentleman, of 
 an honorable family, nearly related unto the 
 Lord St. John of Bletso. This Mr. St. John 
 was a person of incomparable breeding, virtue, 
 and piety ; such that Mr. Cotton, who was well 
 acquainted with him, said of him, — 
 
 " ' He is one of the compleatest gentlemen, 
 without affectation, that he ever knew ; ' and 
 this his daughter was a person of singular piety 
 and gravity, one who by her discretion freed 
 her husband from all secular avocations, one 
 who upheld a daily and constant communion 
 with God in the devotions of her closet, one 
 who not only wrote the sermons that she heard 
 on the Lord's days with much dexterity, but 
 lived them, and lived on them all the week. 
 The usual phrase among the ancient Jews for 
 an excellent woman was, ' One who deserves to 
 marry a priest.' Even such an excellent wo- 
 man was now married unto Mr. Whitins:." She 
 died March 3, 1677, aged seventy-two years. 
 
 In "The New-England Historical and Gene- 
 alogical Register," vol. xiv., p. 61, it is stated, 
 says Mr. Newhall,* " that Elizabeth St. John wa3 
 
 * Lewis and Newhall's History of Lynn (1865). 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 153 
 
 sixth cousin to King Henry VII. Through the 
 Beauchamps she descended from the Earls of 
 Warren and Surrey, from the Earls of Warwick, 
 from William the Conqueror, and from King 
 Henry I. of France. Indeed, her pedigree is 
 traced to William the Norman in two distinct 
 lines ; and in her were united the lineage of ten 
 of the sovereigns of Europe, — a confluence of 
 noble blood not often witnessed. And yet she 
 appears to have passed her days here at Lynn, 
 undisturbed by ambitious yearnings, cleaving 
 lovingly to her worthy husband, and sedulously 
 performing the duties of a laborious pastor's 
 wife. Surely, here is an example of humility 
 for some of the worldlings who now traverse 
 our streets, swelling with pride if they can trace 
 their lineage to an ancestor who bore, however 
 ignobly, some small title, or who happened to 
 possess, however unworthily, a few more acres 
 or a few more dollars than the multitude 
 around them." 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth St. John Whiting was of 
 those whom we are glad to bear in remembrance 
 as one of our Puritan ancestors. Beautiful in 
 
154 Memoir of 
 
 person and of cultivated mind, heroic but gen- 
 tle, learned but modest, respected and " beloved 
 by all as she were a tender mother," fearless of 
 personal danger but of sensitive delicacy to- 
 wards others, too high-spirited to submit to the 
 dictation of British prelates but too sincere a 
 believer in the Prince of peace to provoke or 
 endure controversy which could be honorably 
 avoided, this noble woman gave her heart to 
 her " godly husband " and her life to aid him 
 in the ministry of the gospel. To that work 
 she brought a clear head, a strong hand, a 
 Christian soul. By her disinterested devotion 
 to the welfare of others, she was justly en- 
 titled to the reverence of posterity, and was 
 worthy of being one of the founders of a free 
 commonwealth. No lady ever came to these 
 colonies of higher lineage, of more elegant 
 culture, or of more lovely and Christian char- 
 acter. For the royal and noble blood which 
 flowed in her veins, for the good fortune which 
 surrounded her with the attractions of aristo- 
 cratic luxury, and gave her the advantage of 
 liberal culture, she has no especial claim to 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 155 
 
 honor ; but for that serious and religious dis- 
 position which led her to improve these advan- 
 tages, to store her mind with learning, and to 
 give her thoughts to subjects far above the 
 ordinary pursuits or the frivolous pleasures of 
 youth, and for that moral heroism which led 
 her, the only daughter of an illustrious family, 
 at the age of twenty-four years, to turn away 
 from her ancestral halls that she might share 
 the fortunes of a God-serving Puritan minister 
 of the gospel, whose contest with the bishops 
 had already begun, when she chose to face the 
 grim uncertainties of the future, and to cast 
 her lot with his, — we cannot withhold from 
 her the just tribute of our respect and admira- 
 tion. 
 
 The aged pastor felt more and more the ter- 
 rible calamity he had suffered in the loss of 
 his wife. His health began rapidly to fail ; 
 and before another year had passed, he saw 
 that his stay in this world must be short. 
 
 While putting his house in order for the 
 coming of his Master, he was not unmindful of 
 
156 Memoir of 
 
 those who would live after him. He expressed 
 the desire that for their benefit some perma- 
 nent record should be made of the important 
 events of our colonial history, and wrote to 
 his cousin, Rev. Increase Mather,* the follow- 
 ing letter, dated Oct. i, 1677 : — 
 
 " Reverend and Dear Cousin, — I acknowl- 
 edge myself much engaged, as to God for all 
 his mercies, so to yourself for your indefatigable 
 labors, both in our church here, and in your 
 writings, which of your love you have sent to 
 me from time to time ; and especially for your 
 late book which you sent to me, wherein you 
 have outdone any that I have seen upon that 
 subject. Go on, dear cousin, and the Lord pros- 
 per your endeavors for the glory of his great 
 name, and the good of many souls. And let 
 me beg one request of you, that you would set 
 pen to paper in writing an history of New Eng- 
 land, since the coming of our chief men hither; 
 which you may do, by conferring with Mr. Hig- 
 
 * Afterwards president of Harvard College. For an excellent life 
 of Dr. Mather, see Amer. Quar. Reg., vol. ix., p. 367. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 157 
 
 ginson, and some of the first planters in Salem, 
 and in other places ; * which I hope you may 
 easily accomplish, having, by your diligence 
 and search, found out so much history concern- 
 ing the Pequot war. And the rather let me 
 entreat this favor of you, because it hath not 
 been hitherto done by any in a polite and schol- 
 ar-like way; which, if it were so done, would 
 glad the hearts of the Lord's people, and turn 
 to your account in the last and great day of the 
 Lord Jesus. Thus commending my love to 
 you and your loving consort, with thanks to you 
 for your kindness to me and my son, when we 
 were last with you at your house, beseeching 
 the Lord to bless you and all yours : not know- 
 ing how shortly I must put off this earthly tab- 
 ernacle, I rest, your loving cousin, in him who 
 is love and truth. " Samuel Whiting. 
 
 " To the Rev* my dear Cousin, M' 
 Increase Mather, Teacher 
 of the Church of Christ 
 in Boston. Present these. 
 
 " My son and daughter remember their re- 
 spects to yourself and wife." 
 
 * See Mr. Whiting's preface to Higginson's Journal. 
 
1 5 8 Memoir of 
 
 Early in 1679, he made the following 
 
 Will and Testament. 
 
 " Lynn, 25th of February, one thousand six 
 hundred, seventy and eight. 
 
 " I, Samuel Whiting of Lynn, in the County 
 of Essex, being of perfect memory and right 
 understanding, considering the age God hath 
 lengthened out my days unto, and the duty 
 incumbent on me to get my house in order 
 before I die, do think it now full time to attend 
 this work. 
 
 " And therefore, after my committing of my 
 dear flock unto the tender care of that great 
 and good Shephard, the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and bequeathing my immortal soul into the 
 hands of my merciful Creator, Redeemer, and 
 Sanctifier, and my body unto a comely and 
 decent burial, I do make and constitute my 
 last will and testament, in manner and form 
 following : — 
 
 " First, I do constitute and appoint my two 
 sons (viz.), Samuel Whiting, living at Billerica, 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 159 
 
 and Joseph Whiting, Hving now with me at 
 Lynn, to be my lawful and only executors, unto 
 whom jointly I commit that portion of out- 
 ward things, or the whole estate that I shall 
 leave at my decease, to be disposed of by them 
 according to my order herein expressed. 
 
 " My will is that all my lands that I am pos- 
 sessed of be inherited by my two sons, my ex- 
 ecutors, Samuel and Joseph, as I shall appoint 
 it out unto them. 
 
 " My will is that my eldest son Samuel shall 
 have and possess for him and his heirs my 
 jfarm of four hundred acres of upland and 
 meadow (be it more or less), at Dunstable, 
 with all the privileges appertaining there unto ; 
 as also fourteen acres of marsh lying in Rom- 
 ney marsh in the township of Lynn (be it more 
 or less), it being in the first division of lots 
 there, bounded according to the town records. 
 
 " Also my will is that my second son, John 
 Whiting, living in old England, at Leverton in 
 Lincolnshire, shall by my sons that are my 
 executors, have thirty pounds of my estate that 
 I leave, set out to him as an addition to what 
 
1 60 Memoir of 
 
 he hath already received; (viz.) ten pounds in 
 money, and twenty pounds in common pay 
 according to the ordinary prices of corn, cat- 
 tle, &c., in the country. 
 
 " My will further is that my third son, 
 Joseph Whiting, shall have and possess for 
 him and his heirs after him, my dwelling-house 
 with the orchard and lot adjoining, with all the 
 privileges of commons, herbage, &c., belonging 
 thereunto. Also eight acres of meadow or salt 
 marsh (be it more or less) in the meadow before 
 the town, bounded with the town records. 
 
 " Unto my daughter Weld of Roxbury I 
 leave twenty pounds to be paid by my execu- 
 tors as an addition to what she hath received ; 
 ten pounds of it in moneys and plate, and the 
 other ten pounds in common pay, as corn, and 
 cattle, &c., pass from man to man. Also to my 
 daughter Hubbard * of Topsfield I order thirty 
 pounds to be paid by my executors as an addi- 
 tion to what she hath already received ; ten 
 pounds to be paid in moneys or plate, and 
 twenty in common pay, according to the ordi- 
 
 * This name is usually spelled Hobart. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. i6i 
 
 nary price that corn or cattle, &c., passeth 
 from man to man, that is not accounted as 
 money. 
 
 " I have also promised to leave to my son-in- 
 law, Mr. Jeremiah Hubbard, a parcel of books 
 set out to him, which I judge to be well worth 
 ten pounds, for his son Samuel, or whom he 
 shall see meet to leave them to. 
 
 " And lastly my will is that my two sons, my 
 executors, shall have, besides the lands before 
 mentioned, all the remainder of my estate, 
 equally to be divided betwixt them after they 
 have paid out what I have ordered to their 
 brethren and sisters in this my will. 
 
 " In witness hereunto I have set my hand 
 and seal the day and year above written, five 
 words being interlined, before signing and seal- 
 ing hereof. 
 
 " Samuel Whiting, Sen. 
 
 "Wit: — 
 
 Andrew Mansfield. 
 Samuel Corbett. 
 Francis Burrill." 
 
1 62 - Memoir of 
 
 Soon after making this will (1679), "he 
 presented to the General Court a claim for five 
 hundred acres of land, which he had by deed 
 of gift, from his brother-in-law, Mr. Richard 
 Westland, an alderman of Boston in England, 
 who had loaned money to the Colony of Massa- 
 chusetts. As the claim had been some time 
 due, the Court allowed him six hundred acres. 
 As this petition recounts several interesting 
 facts, and, withal, so faithfully exhibits the 
 meek and pious spirit of the venerable man, we 
 insert the whole : " * — 
 
 " The humble petition of Samuel Whiting, 
 sen'r, of Lyn, sheweth, that whereas your peti- 
 tioner upon my comeing to New England, 
 which is now about forty-three years since, had 
 per deed of gift of my kinde brother-in-law, 
 Mr. Richard Westland, of Boston, in England, 
 alderman, in consideration of his disbursement 
 of fifty pounds of lawful money of England, in 
 way of loan to this colony, then low, and in its 
 beginning, which sum the said Mr. Westland, 
 
 * Aiinals of Lynn, 269. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 163 
 
 did deliver and pay unto some of y° chief 
 agents of this patent then, which was some 
 years before I left England, they promising him 
 a compensation with a farme of five hundred 
 acres of upland and meadow, convenient and 
 nigh within the Bay ; I say, the whoU interest 
 in the premises by fair deed and gift, by the 
 gentleman himself freely given to myself and 
 wife and our heires forever, as without fallacie 
 I doe averr and testify before God and your 
 honoured selves, being a dyeing man, and 
 goeing out of this world, and shortly to appear 
 before the Lord Jesus, y^ Judge of all. 
 
 " My humble request, and the last petition I 
 shall ever make application of to this honora- 
 ble assembly is, that haveing been so long in 
 the country, and as long in y" work of the 
 Lord, and God haveing given me issue, whom 
 I am shortly to leave, haveing little, of a con- 
 siderable estate I brought, left for them, that 
 your honors would pleas to grant to myself and 
 my heirs, that wh. per y" free gift of my brother 
 is our right, viz., five or six hundred acres of 
 land and meadow, wh. hath been my due about 
 
1 64 Memoir of 
 
 this forty years, although never motioned but 
 once to this assembly, nor should have now 
 been insisted on, could I in conscience of 
 God's command and duty to mine as a father, 
 be silent, and soe they lose their right in what 
 belongs to them ; or if I could die with serenity 
 of soule upon consideration of the premises, 
 should I neglect to use this meanes of an hum- 
 ble remonstrance. 
 
 " I doe therefore humbly reitterat my request, 
 wherein I mention nothing of use or for for- 
 bearance so long time past, dues and donations, 
 only the five or six hundred acres, that my 
 children may inherit what is righteously their 
 owne, and yours to grant, and which I hope 
 will not be denyed, beeing of itselfe so just to 
 be requested, and so most equitable and just 
 to be granted. 
 
 " Thus begging the Lord's presence to be 
 amongst you, and his face to shine on this your 
 court, the country, and churches, that we may 
 be saved, and that y^ choice blessing, divine 
 wisdom, councell and conduct, may preside in 
 all things, I leave the whole matter to your 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 165 
 
 honored selves, and yourselves with the 
 Lord. 
 
 " Your humble petitioner, friend ever, and 
 servant for Christ's sake, though ready to de- 
 part dieing. Samuel 
 
 "this 23 of April, ann. 1679. Whiting Sr." 
 
 The General Court, without hesitation, passed 
 the following order : — 
 
 " In answer to the petition of Mr. Samuel 
 Whiting, Sen""- of Lynn, relating to a deed of 
 gift of land from Mr. Richard Westland of 
 Boston, in England, for fifty pounds, by him 
 said Westland, put into the country stock, &c. 
 the Court judgeth it meet to grant to the 
 said Mr. Samuel Whiting, Sen'- & his heirs, 
 six hundred acres of land, to be laid out in 
 any country lands in this jurisdiction."* 
 
 For the last ten years of his life, Mr. Whi- 
 ting was afflicted by a "grinding and painful 
 disorder,"! and endured many periods of great 
 suffering, and "scarce enjoyed a day of perfect 
 
 * 5 Mass. Records, 232. 
 
 t Anassthetic lithotomy, unfortunately for him, was then unknown. 
 
1 66 Memoir of 
 
 ease, yet it is not remembered," says Dr. Mather, 
 " that he was ever hindered thereby one day 
 from his pubHc services." He died at the age 
 of eighty-two years, on the nth day of De- 
 cember, 1679. 
 
 Mr. Turner, his parishioner, made the follow- 
 ing entry in his invaluable Journal (Lin, p. 86- 
 88), which contains several interesting facts in 
 relation to Mr. Whiting : — 
 
 " Decem'' y'' 12 : Yester even died y^ dear & 
 reverend M'" Whiting. He hath laboured 
 among vs this fortie yeare and vpwards, and 
 was mch beloved both here and abroad. Hjs 
 godlie temper was seen in y° sweet smile y' he 
 alwaies wore. Hjs learning was great. In 
 y" Hebrewe jt hath been said none on this side 
 of y" water could come vp to him. He great- 
 lie labored for y" children, and for manie yeares 
 would haue as manie as he could come to hjs 
 house on everie Lord his day after y" publique 
 worship was over, and be catechized and in- 
 structed by him in Bible truths. And on week 
 dales he also instructed y° children, such as 
 would, in Latin and other learning of y** 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 167 
 
 schooles. He was not fond of disputations and 
 wordie wranglings about doctrine, but laid 
 down hjs poynts plainlie and then firmlie de- 
 fended them by y" Scriptures, not taking y" 
 time, as y" manner of some is, to tell how others 
 look vpon y® same and then to tell how false 
 was y^ eye with wch they looked. He writ 
 some things y' come out in print, and all testi- 
 fied to their being sound in doctrine, liberal in 
 sentiment, and plain and practicall. 
 
 " M"" Whiting was a good liver, saying y* he 
 did not find y' mortifying y'^ flesh meant pinch- 
 ing y® stomach. Hjs wife was a right comelie 
 dame, and belonged to a great familie, being 
 Chief Justice Saint John his daughter. She 
 was a godlie woman, and did mch to chear and 
 help her husband. By her learning she was 
 able to giue mch instruction to y" damsels of 
 y" parish, and they did all love her as she were 
 a tender mother. She died some above two 
 yeares agone; and he did greatlie mourn for 
 her. 
 
 " M"" Whiting had a noble garden wherein 
 were delicious fruits and manie good things for 
 
1 68 Memoir of 
 
 kitchen vse. He had a score of appill trees, 
 from wch he made deHcious cyder. And jt 
 hath been said y* an Indjan once coming to hjs 
 house, and Mistress Whiting giving him a 
 drink of y" cider, he did set down y" pot and 
 smaking hjs hpps say y' Adam and Eve were 
 righthe damned for eating y° appills in y" gar- 
 den of Eden ; they should haue made them 
 into cyder. 
 
 " M" Whiting was of a quiet temper and not 
 mch giuen to extasies, but yet he would some- 
 times take a merrie part in pleasant companie. 
 Once coming among a gay partie of young 
 people he kist all y" maides and said y* he felt 
 all y" better for jt. And I think they too felt 
 all y" better for jt, for they did hug their armes 
 around hjs neck and kiss him back again right 
 warmlie ; they all soe loved him. 
 
 " For Y fsw past yeares M"" Whiting hath 
 been mch exercised by sickness. His paynes 
 haue at times been soe greate y' he must needes 
 cry out. But he bore all wth godlie patience, 
 and had kind wordes for them y' were by 
 him. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 169 
 
 " He was a man of middle size, dark skin and 
 straight fine hair. Hjs hands were white and 
 soft, mch like some fine ladys. In preaching 
 he did not mch exercise hjs bodie. But hjs 
 clear voice and pleasant way were as potent to 
 hold fast y" thoughts of old and young. He 
 had great care in his dress while preaching, 
 saying y' his hearers should not be made to 
 haue their eyes vpon an unseemlie object, lest 
 y" good instruction might be swallowed vp in 
 disgust. And for a reason like vnto y' he 
 would also have hjs discourses in milde and 
 winning wordes. In generall y° sermon would 
 be an hour and a half long and y" long praier 
 another half houre, wch wth y** reading of y° 
 scriptures and y"' singing would make y" whole 
 above two hours ; y" hour-glass upon y" pulpitt 
 telling y" time. ■ He did not love sleepers in 
 meeting time, and would sometimes stop short 
 in y" exercises, calling pleasantlie to some one 
 to come and wake y° sleepers. And once of a 
 warm summer afternoon he did take hjs hat 
 from y" peg in y° beam and put it on, saying he 
 would goe home and feed hjs fowles and come 
 
1 70 Memoir of 
 
 back again, when may be their sleep would be 
 ended, and they readie to hear y'' remainder of 
 his discourse. And at another time he did ex- 
 claim y' he wished for y" Church of England 
 service, wch by making them rise and sit often, 
 would keep them awake. And this wishing for 
 y° Episcopal service one may be sure was com- 
 petent to keep some eyes open for a month to 
 come. 
 
 " Y" towne was called Lin in compliment to 
 M' Whiting, who came here from Lin in old 
 Norfolke. Before, wee were called Saugust, 
 wch wee did not mch like, some nicknameing 
 vs Sawdust. Most thot y" name a good one, 
 tho some would have it y' it was too short. 
 But to such wee said, then spell it Lynne. Y" 
 change was made fortie yeare and more agone 
 [1637], and none now find fault. 
 
 " M' Whiting his funerall js appointed to 
 be on third day next. And y"= whole towne, 
 is alreadie in an uproar wth preparations. 
 Wee must entertain manie from abroad, and 
 greate store of meate and drink will be need- 
 ful." 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 171 
 
 The death of the venerable minister who 
 had preached at Lynn forty-three years, was 
 commemorated by an elegy composed by Mr. 
 Benjamin Thompson, a schoolmaster, born at 
 Braintree, the first native American poet. 
 
 Upon the Very Learned Samuel Whiting. 
 
 BY BENJAMIN THOMPSON.* 
 
 Mount, Fame, the glorious chariot of the sun ! 
 
 Through the world's cirque, all you, her heralds, run, 
 
 And let this great saint's merits be revealed, 
 
 Which, during life, he studiously concealed. 
 
 Cite all the Levites, fetch the sons of art, 
 
 In these our dolors to sustain a part ; 
 
 Warn all that value worth, and every one 
 
 Within their eyes to bring a Helicon ; 
 
 For in this single person we have lost 
 
 More riches than an India has engrost. 
 
 When Wilson, that plerophory of love, 
 Did from his banks up to his centre move, 
 Rare Whiting quotes Columbus on this coast, 
 Producing gems of which a king might boast. 
 
 * For the history of this poet, see i Winthrop's Journal, 377, note ; 
 in which the annotator deems these the best verses in the Magnalia. 
 
172 Memoir of 
 
 More splendid far than ever Aaron wore, 
 
 Within his breast this sacred father bore, 
 
 Sound doctrine, Urim, in his holy cell. 
 
 And all perfections, Thummim, there did dwell. 
 
 His holy vesture was his innocence ; 
 
 His speech, embroideries of curious sense. 
 
 Such awful gravity this doctor used, 
 
 As if an angel eveiy word infused ; 
 
 No turgent style, but Asiatic lore ; 
 
 Conduits were almost full, seldom run o'er. 
 
 The banks of time come visit when you will. 
 
 The streams of nectar were descending still. 
 
 Much like septemfluous Nilus, rising so. 
 
 He watered Christians round, and made them grow. 
 
 His modest whispers could the conscience reach 
 
 As well as whirlwinds which some others preach. 
 
 No Boanerges, yet could touch the heart. 
 
 And clench his doctrine with the meekest art. 
 
 His learning and his language might become 
 
 A province not inferior to Rome. 
 
 Glorious was Europe's heaven, when such as these, 
 
 Stars of his size, shone in each diocese. 
 
 Who writ'st the fathers' lives, either make room. 
 
 Or with his name begin your second tome. 
 
 Aged Polycarp, deep Origen, and such. 
 
 Whose worth your quills, your wits not them enrich-j 
 
 Lactantius, Cyprian, Basil, too, the great. 
 
 Quaint Jerome, Austin, of the foremost seat, 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 173 
 
 With Ambrose, and more of the highest class 
 In Christ's great school, with honor I let pass, 
 And humbly pay my debt to AVhiting's ghost, 
 Of whom both Englands may with reason boast. 
 Nations for men of lesser worth have strove 
 To have the fame, and in transports of love 
 Built temples, or fixed statues of pure gold, 
 And their vast worth to after ages told. 
 His modesty forbade so fair a tomb, 
 Who in ten thousand hearts obtained a room. 
 
 What sweet composure in his angel face ! 
 AVhat soft affections ! melting gleams of grace ! 
 How mildly pleasant ! by his closed lips 
 Rhetoric's bright body suffers an eclipse. 
 Should half his sentences be fairly numbered. 
 And weighed in wisdom's scales, 'twould spoil a Lom- 
 bard, 
 And churches' homilies but homily be, 
 If, venerable Whiting, set by thee. 
 Profoundest judgment, with a meekness rare, 
 Preferred him to the moderator's chair. 
 Where, like tnith's champion, with his piercing eye, 
 He silenced errors, and bade Hectors fly. 
 Soft answers quell hot passions, ne'er too soft. 
 Where solid judgment is enthroned aloft. 
 Church doctors are my witnesses, that here 
 Affections always keep their proper sphere 
 
1 74 Memoir of 
 
 Without those wilder eccentricities 
 
 Which spot the fairest fields of men most wise. 
 
 In pleasant places fall that people's line, 
 
 Who have best shadows of men thus divine ; 
 
 Much more their presence, and heaven-piercing prayers, 
 
 Thus many years to mind our soul's affairs. 
 
 The poorest soil oft has the richest mine ! 
 This weighty ore, poor Lynn, was lately thine. 
 Oh, wondrous mercy ! but this glorious light 
 Hath left thee in the terrors of the night. 
 New England, didst thou know this mighty one. 
 His weight and worth, thou'dst think thyself undone. 
 One of thy golden chariots, which among 
 The clergy rendered thee a thousand strong ; 
 One who for learning, wisdom, grace, and years, 
 Among the Levites, hath not many peers ; 
 One, yet with God, a kind of heavenly band, 
 Who did whole regiments of woes withstand ; 
 One that prevailed with heaven, one greatly mist 
 On earth, he gained of Christ whate'er he list ; 
 One of a world, who was both born and bred 
 At wisdom's feet, hard by the fountain head. 
 The loss of such a one would fetch a tear, 
 From Niobe herself, if she were here. 
 What qualifies our grief, centres in this, 
 Be our loss ne'er so great, the gain is his. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 175 
 
 The beloved pastor was buried in the church- 
 yard at Lynn. The following epitaph was ap- 
 plied to him by Dr. Mather : — 
 
 " In Christo vixi, morior, vivoque, Whit-ingus ; 
 Do sordes, morti, cetera, O Christe, tibi do." 
 
 " In Christ I lived and died, and yet I live ; 
 M}' dust to earth, my soul to Christ I give." 
 
 Mr. Newhall in his charming and instructive 
 antiquarian souvenir of the old churchyard at 
 Lynn, observes, that, — 
 
 " Somewhere within a short distance of that 
 stained marble shaft, that rises rather ostenta- 
 tiously beneath the glossy foliage, — though 
 the precise spot cannot now be pointed out, — 
 must have been laid the dust of the godly 
 Whiting, who for more than forty years was the 
 beloved minister of the flock who gathered in 
 the rude sanctuary reared by the early fathers 
 of the plantation. And, during that long 
 ministr)^, how many of those who had received 
 holy instruction and comfort from his lips must 
 have been gathered to welcome his coming ! 
 No stone marks the spot where he lies in his 
 
1 76 Memoir of 
 
 serene repose ; but his name and his virtues 
 are recorded on tablets more enduring than 
 marble." 
 
 His grave was covered with a monumental 
 structure, built of brick, capped with a large 
 horizontal tablet of stone, which bore the 
 usual inscription. But this burial-ground 
 having been quite neglected for many years, 
 the tablet and most of the bricks on which 
 it rested were carried away ; and for several 
 years it was known to but few of the oldest 
 inhabitants of Lynn where his grave could 
 be found. One of his descendants, some years 
 since, having consulted with several of these 
 aged persons, made search, and discovered the 
 foundations on which the original structure was 
 placed ; and thinking it due to the memory of 
 his ancestor, as well as to others who have 
 derived their descent from this holy father of 
 the Church, he caused to be erected upon the 
 same foundations a simple granite monument, 
 in which are cut the name of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, the dates of his birth and death, and 
 nothing more. 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 177 
 
 In relation to the public and private charac- 
 ter of the Pastor of Lynn, the testimony of 
 his contemporaries is singularly explicit and 
 unanimous. In connection with the passages 
 already cited from Turner's Journal, we may 
 add the following extracts from Dr. Mather's 
 Magnalia, first published in 1 702 : — 
 
 " And he (Mr. Whiting) was no less a man 
 of temper than of learning : the peculiar sweet- 
 ness and goodness of his temper must be 
 deemed an essential stroke in his character : 
 he was wonderfully happy in his meek, his 
 composed, his peaceable disposition : and his 
 meekness of wisdom outshone all his other 
 attainments in learning; for there is no humane 
 literature so hardly attained as the discretion of 
 a man to regulate his anger. His very counte- 
 nance had an amiable smile continually sweet- 
 enine of it ; and his face herein was but the 
 true image of his mind, which, like the upper 
 regions, was marvellously free from the storms 
 of passions. 
 
 " In prosperity he was not much elated, 
 in adversity he was not much dejected ; un- 
 
I 78 Memoir of 
 
 der provocations he would scorn to be pro- 
 voked. 
 
 " When the Lord would not express himself 
 unto Elijah in the wind, nor in the earthquake, 
 nor in the fire, I suspect lest one thing intended 
 among others might be an admonition unto 
 the prophet himself to beware of the boisterous, 
 uneven, inflamed efforts whereto his natural 
 constitution might be ready to betray him. 
 This worthy man, as taking that admonition, 
 was for doing every thing with a still voice. 
 
 " He knew himself to be born, as all men are, 
 with at least a dozen passions ; but, being also 
 new born, he did not allow himself to be hag- 
 ridden with the enchantments thereof. The 
 philosopher of old called our passions by the 
 just name of unnurtured dogs ; but these dogs 
 do often worry the children of God themselves ; 
 even a great Luther, who removed the foulest 
 abominations out of the house of God, could 
 not hinder these dogs from infecting of his 
 own heart ; however, this excellent (because 
 cool, therefore excellent), spirited person kept 
 these dogs with a strong chain upon them ; 
 
Rev. Saimiel Whiimg. 179 
 
 and, since man was created with a dominion 
 over the beasts of the field, he would not let 
 the ■Q-riQUL xrfi ypv/rfi hold him in any slavery. He 
 lived as under the eye and awe of the great 
 God ; and, as Basil noted. Potest miles coram 
 Rege suo non irasci ob solum. Regitz majestatis 
 eminentiam, thus the fear of God still restrained 
 him from those ebullitions of wrath which 
 other men are too fearless of" 
 
 " And from this account of his temper I may 
 venture now to proceed unto his vertue, by 
 which I intend the holiness of his renewed 
 heart and life, and the change made by the 
 supernatural grace of Christ upon him, without 
 which, all vertue is but a name, a sham, a fic- 
 tion. He was a very holy man. As the an- 
 cients have assured us Ama Scientiam Scrip- 
 turarufn., et vitia carnis non amabis ; thus by 
 reading daily several chapters in both Testa- 
 ments of the Scriptures, with serious and gra- 
 cious reflections thereupon, which he still fol- 
 lowed with secret prayers, he grew more holy 
 continually, until, in a flourishing old age, he 
 was found fit for transplantation. 
 
1 8o Memoir of 
 
 " His worship in his family was that which 
 argued him a true child of Abraham ; and his 
 counsel to his children was grave, watchful, 
 useful, savoury, and very memorable. 
 
 " If meditation (which was one of Luther's 
 great things to make a divine) be a thing of no 
 little consequence to make a Christian, this 
 must be numbered among the exercises where- 
 by our Whiting became very much improved 
 in Christianity. Meditation (which is mentis 
 ditatio) daily enriched his mind with the dispo- 
 sitions of Heaven ; and, having a walk for that 
 purpose in his orchard, some of his flock that 
 saw him constantly taking his turns in that 
 walk, with hand and eye and soul often directed 
 heavenward, would say ' There does our dear 
 Pastor walk with God every day.' 
 
 " In fine, as the Apostle Peter says, ' They 
 that obey not the w^ord yet with fear behold 
 the chaste conversation of them who do.' And 
 as Ignatius describes the Pastor of the Tral- 
 lians as one ' of such a sanctity of life that the 
 greatest atheist would have been afraid to look 
 upon him,' even so the natural conscience in 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. i8i 
 
 the worst of men paid an homage of reverence 
 to this holy man, wherever he came." 
 
 " Though he spent his time chiefly in his 
 beloved study, yet he would sometimes visit his 
 flock ; but in his visit he made conscience of 
 entertaining his neighbors with no discourse 
 but what should be grave and wise and profit- 
 able ; as knowing that Qucb sunt in ore populi 
 nugics, sunt in ore pastoris blasphemies : and 
 sometimes an occasional word let fall by him 
 hath had a notable effect : once particularly, in 
 a journey, being at an inn upon the road, he 
 overheard certain people in the next room so 
 merry as to be too loud and rude in their mirth, 
 wherefore, as he passed by the door, he looked 
 in upon them, and with a sweet majesty, only 
 dropped these words, ' Friends, if you are sure 
 that your sins are pardoned, you may be wisely 
 merry,' and these words not only stilled all their 
 noise for the-present, but also had a great effect 
 afterwards upon some of the company. Indeed 
 his conversation preached wherever he was." 
 
 " In his preaching his design was Prodesse 
 magis quam placare, and his practice was Non 
 
1 82 Memoir of 
 
 alta sed apta proferre. But what a proper and 
 useful speaker he was we may gather from what 
 we find him when a writer." 
 
 The audiences of church-members, though 
 small in numbers, frequently contained highly 
 educated persons, who were capable of appre- 
 ciating the profound learning, masterly logic, 
 and fervid eloquence of those great Puritan 
 preachers who moulded public opinion, and 
 thus became the authors and originators of 
 much that is deemed most valuable in our 
 political institutions. 
 
 It is difficult for any but clergymen to appre- 
 ciate the work done by Mr. Whiting durin^' a 
 period of fifty-nine years (i 620-1 679), under 
 circumstances which called for constant and 
 strenuous exertion. What labor he performed 
 in preaching, joraying and exhortation, in con- 
 troversial writing and discussion, in visiting the 
 sick and dying, in consultations with other cler- 
 gymen, in attending synods and general court's, 
 in preparing his sons for college and for the min- 
 istry, in looking after the affairs of the univer- 
 sity of which he was an overseer, in teaching 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 183 
 
 his Bible classes on Sundays and his pupils in 
 the classic languages on week-days ; in carrying 
 on his voluminous correspondence, and in the 
 many nameless duties which fall to the lot of a 
 minister, a layman cannot easily imagine. 
 
 That he felt, at one period of his life, no lit- 
 tle anxiety for the future welfare of the colony, 
 is beyond a doubt ; for in his biographical 
 sketch of Cotton, written in 1653, after Crom- 
 well had fought through the battles of the Com- 
 monwealth, he says : " I end all with that of our 
 Saviour concerning John Baptist, ' He was a 
 burning and shining light ; ' and God grant the 
 after words be not verified of both Englands 
 and both Bostons. I speak my fears, but would 
 be glad to entertain better hopes. My prayers 
 shall be, that it may never be said as of old, 
 ' Fuimus Troes fuit Ilium ; sed jam seges est 
 ubi Troja fuit. Fuimus fideles, fuimus qjilo&eor, 
 fuit Anglia, fuit Nov-Anglia, fuit Bostonia, Eu- 
 ropaea, Americana. Deus Pater miserationum, 
 avertat omen per viscera Jesu Christi.' Amen." 
 In his later writings, when the tendencies of 
 the times had become more marked, and when 
 
184 Memoir of 
 
 he could see the evident progress of those 
 principles for which he had made so great a 
 sacrifice, he expressed his confident belief that 
 the New England colonists would become a 
 virtuous and religious people, and would main- 
 tain their freedom in matters of conscience, and 
 the complete independence of the Church from 
 the interference of courts or governments. 
 
 After the lapse of two hundred years, it is no 
 easy task to do full justice to the memory of a 
 Puritan minister, who was of " large and lib- 
 eral mind." Opinions, now unquestioned, were 
 then condemned as the dreams of atheists or 
 of political incendiaries. Therefore it is diffi- 
 cult for us, at this late day, to appreciate the 
 genius, the moral courage, the wisdom, or the 
 beneficence, of those who maintained princi- 
 ples which were then opposed, and which 
 could be understood only by a more enlight- 
 ened posterity. Their modest disinterestedness 
 poured its silent stream of blessings into the 
 swelling tide of public welfare ; its individ- 
 uality was then lost, and can now no longer 
 be traced back to its fountain-head. It is not 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 185 
 
 what men have gained for themselves, but what 
 they have done for others, that causes them to 
 be remembered with gratitude. Neither wealth, 
 high birth, nor natural gifts are the criterion of 
 merit : the use that is made of them is the test 
 of goodness or greatness. Only when judged 
 by this high standard, can the life and character 
 of Samuel Whiting be justly valued. 
 
 Endowed by nature with great intellectual 
 powers, which (as one who mourned his death 
 has said of him) " among the clergy rendered 
 him a thousand strong," he was often men- 
 tioned by his contemporaries as a highly ac- 
 complished gentleman, of extensive learning 
 and of fine literary culture. 
 
 His presence inspired involuntary reverence. 
 " Of godlie temper," " with a sweet smile al- 
 most always upon his face," * he was " greatly 
 beloved of all," and " universally respected." 
 Profound and independent in his judgments, 
 so great was his modesty, so sincere his humil- 
 
 * Turner's Journal contains the following entry in reference to 
 Mr. Whiting's successor : " Y° new minister, M' Shepard, we find sound 
 in doctrine and strong in speech ; but wonderful grave and solemn, 
 wch, after M' Whiting, seemeth like clouds after sunshine." 
 21 
 
1 86 Memoir of 
 
 ity that honors bestowed on him excited the 
 envy of none. He was elected as presiding 
 officer in many of the ecclesiastical conven- 
 tions at which he was present. A powerful 
 and eloquent preacher, he was " lucid in his 
 style," " not disputatious," but " sound, liberal, 
 plain and practical ; " and " with his clear voice 
 and pleasant way (of preaching), he held fast 
 the thoughts of old and young." The ecclesi- 
 astical and political influence he wielded, exten- 
 sive and permanent as it finally became, was 
 owing not chiefly to his acknowledged learn- 
 ing, to his natural powers of mind, nor to his 
 high social position, but rather to the modesty, 
 purity and disinterestedness of his character, 
 the holiness of his life, and to his wise, liberal 
 and far-seeing views in relation to the rights 
 of conscience and the true policy of govern- 
 ment. On these subjects, which were of vital 
 importance to a free people, he was far in ad- 
 vance of the times in which he lived. Believ- 
 ing knowledge to be the handmaid of virtue, 
 he was an advocate of popular education, a 
 friend of the common schools and of the uni- 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 187 
 
 versity. " Gentle and godlie " as he was, he 
 did not hesitate to sacrifice, for independence 
 of EngHsh bishops, those worldly advantages 
 which are usually deemed most desirable. 
 " Not disputatious," he set his face with the 
 sternness of a Luther against what he believed 
 to be the wicked heresies of his time, while, 
 with the firmness of a Cromwell, he resisted 
 every attempt of the colonial government to 
 break over the barriers of religious or civil 
 liberty. A nonconformist on principle, he was 
 liberal enough to allow his son, governed by 
 his sense of duty, to return to the service of that 
 church by whose bishops he himself had been 
 driven an exile from England, and was brave 
 enough to condemn those who would prevent 
 Episcopalians from celebrating Christmas, and 
 those who drove out Mrs. Hutchinson and Mr. 
 Wheelwright from the colony. Deeply as he 
 disliked Quakers and their doings, he firmly 
 opposed all who persecuted them. Modest and 
 respectful towards courts and magistrates, he 
 was bold enough to place his name upon their 
 records in open resistance to their orders, 
 
1 88 Memoir of 
 
 whenever they interfered with the discipline of 
 his church. In those troublous days, when so 
 many elements of social and religious discord 
 were in vigorous action ; when great and zeal- 
 ous men, while struggHng against each other, 
 were yet laying the foundations of a new gov- 
 ernment; when bloody persecution had become 
 the familiar weapon which our pious forefathers 
 used to defend what they believed to be the 
 truth, — if the best and wisest of them all de- 
 served the veneration of mankind, that honor 
 is due to those large-minded men, who, like 
 Samuel Whiting, comprehended the great 
 problems of the times in which they lived, 
 who were liberal and tolerant in an age 
 of bigotry, and who conceded to others that 
 freedom which they demanded for themselves. 
 If the views which he opposed with so much 
 po'vver and eloquence had finally found accept- 
 ance with the people, what would have been 
 the present condition of their descendants.? 
 If magistrates could be appointed for life ; if 
 citizens could be fined, imprisoned, or banished, 
 because they entertained opinions on miatters 
 
Rev. Samuel Whiting. 189 
 
 of religion differing from those of the magis- 
 trates ; if legislatures and courts of justice 
 could interfere with the private discipline of 
 churches, — how could the liberty of the colo- 
 nists have been preserved ? Would they not 
 have been crushed by foes more dangerous than 
 Star-chamber courts or Spanish inquisitions ? 
 While we thank, with tears of gratitude, our 
 fathers who wrenched from the kinsr his sov- 
 ereignty over the American colonies, let us not 
 forget those earlier heroes, who, in the pulpit, 
 first announced the principles which their 
 descendants, a century later, maintained by a 
 revolutionary war, — principles which alone 
 have given moral grandeur to this republic. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting was one of the few 
 brave, conscientious, disinterested and states- 
 manlike Puritan clergymen to whom we _ are 
 chiefly indebted for whatever of liberty in gov- 
 ernment or religion was preserved or main- 
 tained in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. 
 He demanded that the magistrates should not 
 interfere in matters of the Church. From the 
 plain duty of Christians to do unto others that 
 
1 90 Memoir of Rev. Samuel Whiting. 
 
 which they would have others do unto them, 
 he deduced the grand principle of religious tol- 
 eration which, after the struggles of more than 
 a century, has been established by the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. Though his works 
 are less conspicuous upon the pages of history 
 than those of the leading magistrates of his 
 times, they were not less important to the 
 welfare of posterity. Of all the Christian 
 ministers who forsook their native country that 
 they might preserve freedom of conscience, 
 of all who devoted their lives to the service of 
 their heavenly Master, no one was more worthy 
 of our love and reverence than the venerable 
 pastor of Lynn. He was, in truth, as his con- 
 temporaries said of him, " A man of God, and 
 an honorable man," 
 
 " Of whom both Englands may with reason boast." 
 
American Descendants 
 
 REV. SAMUEL WHITING, D.D., 
 
 AND HIS WIFE, 
 
 ELIZABETH ST. JOHN. 
 
" To trace lineage, to love and record the names and actions of 
 those without whom we never could have been, who moulded and 
 made us what we are, and whom the very greatest of us all must know 
 to have propagated influences into his being which must subtly but 
 certainly act upon his whole conduct in this world, — all this is implied 
 in ancestry and the love of it, and is natural and good." 
 
 Westminster Review, July, 1823 
 
American Descendants. 
 
 FIRST GENERATION. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting ■^■3& born 20 November, 
 1597, at Boston, Lincolnshire, Eng. Entered 
 Emanuel College, Cambridge University, 27 
 March, i6i3,took his degrees of A.B. 1616 and 
 A.M. 1620.* By his first wife he had two sons 
 and one daughter. His wife and sons died in 
 England, his daughter was subsequently mar- 
 ried (1650) to Mr. Thomas Welde, son of Rev. 
 Thomas Welde of Roxbury. Mr. Whiting was 
 married at Boston, Eng., 6th August, 1629, to 
 his second wife, Elizabeth St. John, only daugh- 
 ter of the Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver St. John of Cay- 
 shoe, Knt., Devonshire, Eng. She was born 
 1605. Mr. and Mrs. Whiting, with Dorothy, 
 his daughter by his first wife, and Samuel, his 
 
 * He subsequently received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
1 94 Whiting Family. 
 
 son by his second wife, came over to New Eng- 
 land, and arrived at Boston, 26 May, 1636. He 
 was settled as pastor of the first church at Lynn, 
 Mass., 8 November, 1636, where he remained 
 forty-three years, until the time of his death. 
 She died 3 March, 1677, aged 72.* He died 1 1 
 December, 1679, aged 82. At the time of her de- 
 cease they had been married forty-seven years.t 
 
 * Hist of Lynn, Lewis and Newliall, 274 ; Matlier's Magnalia, ch. 28. 
 
 t In Savage's Genealogical Dictionary (vol. iv., p. 520) is tlie fol- 
 lowing statement in relation to the Rev. Samuel Wliiting, which is 
 quoted in order to call attention to his remarks upon Rev. Cotton Ma- 
 ther, the learned author of the Magnalia : — 
 
 "Samuel, Lynn, b. at Boston, co. l,inc., 20 Nov., 1597, s. of John 
 Whiting, the mayor of the borough, was matric. 1613, at Emanuel, 
 the Puritan Coll. of the Univ. of Cambridge, as it was then stigmatized, 
 had his degrees 1616 and 1620, preach, as chaplain three years in pri- 
 vate fams., if Mather be correct, after his master's degree, and then 
 went to Lynn Regis, co. Norfolk, spent ano. three yrs. as collea. or 
 curate of the rector, and being disturb, by his diocesan, rem. to Skir- 
 beck, close to his native place. After bur. his first wife by wh. he had 
 two s. who d. in Eng, and one d. brot to our country, Mather says he 
 m. a d. of Oliver St. John, a Bedfordsh. man, of fam. nearly related to 
 the Lord St. John of Bletsho, which may all be true, but the writer 
 confuses the time very cruelly, when he should tell the date of her m. 
 or d. by saying she ' stayed with her worthy consort forty-seven years, 
 went in the seventy-third of his age unto him to whom her soul had 
 been ' (some scores of years espoused). Taking the pains to extract 
 meaning out of this gabble, by common arithmetic, we find reason to 
 see that Mather need not be believed literally ; as thus, W. was in his 
 73d year in 1669, and the union having existed forty-seven years, of 
 course it began in 1622 ; which is rather early for him who had ob- 
 tained his master's degree in 1620, m. one wife, had three children and 
 lost her. I have learned to distrust the author of the Magnalia in all 
 
Second Generation. 195 
 
 They had six children, four sons and two daugh- 
 ters. ' One son and one daughter died without 
 issue. Their surviving children w^ere — 
 
 SECOND GENERATION. 
 
 I. Rev. Samuel Whiting, who, was born at 
 Skirbeck, in England, 25 March, 1633, studied 
 with his father at Lynn, and was graduated at 
 Cambridge in 1653., A.M 1656.* He was cr- 
 eases where he employs round-about instead of direct phraseolog)-, 
 and even ni this is sometimes careless," &c. 
 
 This severe remark upon Mather is one of many which are found 
 in Savage's voluminous dictionary. He flouts as senseless " gabble," 
 the simple language in which this minister of the gospel has paid a 
 just tribute of respect to the religious character of a member of the 
 Church. Perhaps it did not occur to the learned genealogist, that sen- 
 timents which exalt and ennoble Christian lives are not comprehended 
 or measured by rules of arithmetic, and ought not to be regarded as 
 "senseless gabble," even by those who deem no statements valuable 
 other than dates of births and marriages, or inscriptions on tomb-stones. 
 On turning to Mather's Magnalia, from which Savage's quotation pur- 
 ports to have been made, it is found that he has unfortunately mis- 
 quoted Mather's text, and by substituting the~ word his, referring to Mr. 
 Whiting's age, instead of her, referring to Mrs. Whiting's age, has 
 himself introduced all " the cruel confusion of time " he has laid to Dr. 
 Mather's charge. Mather's statement, as he made it, is accurate. Mrs. 
 Whiting was married in 1629, lived with her " worthy consort " forty- 
 seven years, from 1629 to 1677. — the date of her death, in the seventy- 
 third year of her (not his) age. Mr. Whiting was born 1597, and in 
 1629, the date of his second marriage, %vas between thirty-two and 
 thirty-three years old, was in the eightieth year of his age when his wife 
 died, and eighty-two years old when he died. 
 
 * Savs Savage. 
 
196 Whiting Family. 
 
 dained minister of j^zY/^rziTfl;, 11 November, 1663; 
 preached the artillery-election sermon in 1682; 
 died 28 Februar}^ 171 3, aged 79* He married, 
 Nov. 12, 1656, Dorcas, daughter of Leonard 
 Chester, one of the founders and first settlers 
 of Weathersfield, Conn., and had eleven chil- 
 dren. His will is dated 10 September, 1711, 
 probated 27 March, 1713. It mentions his wife 
 and daughter Dorothy, his son Samuel (now in 
 captivity), Oliver, his daughter Elizabeth Clark, 
 his daughter Mary Burchstead of Lynn, and 
 Timothy Clark, his grandson. 
 
 The folloAving biographical notice of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting, jun., is found in the American 
 Quarterly Register for 1836, vol. ix., p. 230. It 
 was written by John Farmer, corresponding 
 member of the New Hampshire Historical 
 Society, and presents a brief history of Mr. 
 Whiting's descendants. It is quoted in full, 
 although it contains a repetition of some facts 
 which have been previously stated. After giv- 
 ing an account of his father and mother, it 
 thus continues : " Samuel was born at Skirbeck 
 
 * Farmer says he died 14 March, 171 5. 
 
Second Generation. 197 
 
 while his father was minister there, on the 25th 
 of March, 1633. He was the eldest of three 
 sons, all of whom graduated at Harvard. He 
 was educated for the ministry, and commenced 
 preaching about the year 1656. The same 
 year, he was admitted freeman of the Massa- 
 chusetts colony. He went to Billerica in 
 1658, then a new town, having been settled but 
 five years, and was employed as a preacher 
 from year to year, until Nov. 11, 1663, when he 
 was ordained pastor of the church which was 
 organized about that time. Here he remained 
 almost fifty years from his ordination, and was 
 esteemed, as Dr. Cotton Mather says, ' a rev- 
 erend, holy, and faithful minister of the gospel.' 
 Although a man of respectable talents, and 
 sometimes called to preach on public occasions, 
 I do not find that he published any thing. He 
 preached the artillery election sermon in 1682. 
 A manuscript volume of his sermons is in the 
 library of his descendant, Rev. Moses G. 
 Thomas of Concord, N.H. I have in my 
 possession part of a folio manuscript, of sev- 
 eral hundred pages, containing sketches of his 
 
198 Whiting Family. 
 
 sermons on portions ol the Assembly's Cate- 
 chism for a number of years. It was written 
 by Capt. Jonathan Danforth, his parishioner, 
 and brother of Rev. Samuel Danforth of Rox- 
 bury. Mr. Whiting's name appears in Gover- 
 nor Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, 
 vol. i., pp. 248, 250, among the seventeen minis- 
 ters who bore their testimony against the 
 settlement of Rev. John Davenport in the first 
 church in Boston ; and he was one of those 
 who presented an address to the General Court 
 in vindication of their conduct from the unjust 
 charges of innovation, &c., made against them 
 by a committee appointed by the House of 
 Deputies in May, 1670. Mr. Whiting died 
 Feb. 28, 1 713, being almost eighty years of age. 
 A poem published soon after his death has the 
 following lines : — 
 
 ' Whiting, we here behold a starry light, 
 Burning on Christ's right hand and shining bright j 
 Years seven times seven, sent forth his precious rays, 
 Unto the gospel's profit, and Jehovah's praise.' 
 
 Mr. Whiting was married Nov. 12, 1656, to 
 Dorcas Chester of Charlestown. They lived 
 
Second Generation. 199 
 
 together fifty-seven years. By her, who died 
 thirteen days before her husband, he had ten 
 children, — seven sons and three daughters. 
 Four of the sons attained mature age ; viz., 
 I. Samuel, born Jan. 19, 1662, who lived in 
 Chelmsford and Dunstable, and died in Bille-, 
 rica, March 14, 1715, aged 53; leaving sons, 
 Samuel, born in Chelmsford, Oct. 22, 1687, 
 who was one of Lovewell's men at Pequoase- 
 ket in 1725; Leonard, born Aug. 12, 1693; 
 and Joseph, born Dec. 14, 1695; the last two 
 born in Billerica. 2. John, born Aug. i, 
 1664, graduated at Harvard College. 3. Oli- 
 ver, born Nov. 8, 1665, and was a magistrate 
 and representative of his native town ; married 
 Anna, daughter of Capt. Danforth, Jan. 22, 
 1690, and had six sons and three daughters; of 
 v/hom Samuel, the fourth son, was born Sept. 
 6, 1 702, resided in Billerica, was a deacon of the 
 church, and died Nov. 4, 1772, aged 70. He 
 had sons (i) Samuel, born May 8, 1730, father 
 of Samuel Whiting, Esq., of Billerica, now 
 (1837) living in his 78th year, and grandfather 
 of Augustus Whiting. M.D., who was grad- 
 
200 Whiting Family. 
 
 uated at Harvard in 1816; and (2) Timothy, 
 who was father of Col. Timothy Whiting, and 
 General John Whiting, late of Lancaster, 
 Mass. 4. Joseph, born Feb. 7, 1669, who it is 
 supposed was the graduate at Harvard in 1690. 
 He died at Billerica, Sept. 6, 1701, aged 32. 
 Mathc7', Magnalia, i., 454. Hutchinson, Hist. 
 Mass., i., 248, 250. Boston News Letter, dated 
 1 71 3. Thompson, Hist, of Boston, Eng., 263. 
 Hist. Memoir of Billerica, 15, 16, 28. Lewis, 
 Hist, of Lynn, 127. Town Records of Billerica. 
 Mss. belonging to late Edward Farmer, Esq., 
 of Billerica. Bowens Boston News LetterP 
 
 2. Rev. John Whiting, born at Lynn, 1637, 
 graduated at Cambridge College, 1657, went to 
 England soon after leaving college, was edu- 
 cated as a physician, but became a minister of 
 the gospel, preached first at Butterwick, was 
 then settled as rector of the parish of Leverton, 
 in Lincolnshire, Eng. This parish adjoins that 
 of Bennington, and is situated on the high road 
 from Wainfleet to Boston, being about six m.iles 
 north-east from the latter place. He is men- 
 tioned in his father's will, dated 25 Feb. 1678, as 
 
Second Generation. 201 
 
 then " living in Old England, at Leaverton, Lin- 
 colnshire." His biographers say that he was 
 " a godly conformist, very extensively known 
 and respected."* He and his wife Esther were 
 buried on the same day, 19 October, 1689.! 
 
 3. Rev. Joseph Whiting, born 6 April, 1641, at 
 Lynn, was graduated at Cambridge College, 
 1661 ; was his father's assistant at Lynn for sev- 
 eral years, was ordained teacher of the church 
 there 6 October, 1680; was settled, 1682, t as 
 the fourth minister of Southampton, L.I., where 
 he officiated until his death.§ His father men- 
 tions him in his will as " his son Joseph, now 
 (February, 1678) living with me at Lynn." He 
 
 * Mather's Magnalia, iii., chap. 28. 
 
 t Thompson's Boston, 558. This date is given erroneously as 1 1 
 October, 168S, by Savage, in his Gen. Diet. He says that " Rev. John 
 may have gone soon after his gr. at Ilarv. Univ. to England," &c. If 
 the learned genealogist had read Mather's Magnalia, Rev. Samuel Whi- 
 ting's vtfill, the records of Leverton, where Rev. John Whiting was set- 
 tled as rector, and Thompson's History of Boston, and of Leverton, he 
 would not probably have used the word " may " in referring to a fact 
 which is as certain as any recorded by him in his voluminous dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 J Thompson's L. I., i., 339, gives the dates of his installation at 
 Lynn as 1679, and his settlement at Southampton as 1680. Lewis 
 and Newhall's Annals of Lynn give the date of installation as above 
 from the records at Lynn. 
 
 § Mather's Magnalia ; Thompson's Long Island, 339. 
 26 
 
202 Whiting Family. 
 
 married two wives : ist, Sarah Danforth of Cam- 
 bridge, eldest daughter of Hon. Thomas Dan- 
 forth, deputy governor of Massachusetts, and 
 president of Maine. She was born * 1 1 Novem- 
 ber, 1646; 2d, Rebecca Prescott, who died the 
 same year with him, and by whom he had no 
 issue, t By Sarah Danforth he had six children, 
 born at Lynn, all of whom, except the first and 
 sixth, died within a few weeks of their birth. He 
 died 7 April, 1723, aged 82, having officiated 
 nearly sixty years, of which forty-three were 
 passed at Southampton. 
 
 Bradford, in his History of Harvard Univer- 
 sity, mentions him as an eminent scholar, and as 
 one of those who "shone as lights in the Chris- 
 tian community throughout New England." t 
 An account of Southampton, the names of 
 its first inhabitants, the civil compact or con- 
 federation entered into by them, and their rea- 
 son for selecting that place as the site for a tovm, 
 are given in Thompson's " History of Long 
 Island." It was settled in 1640, principally by 
 
 * Savage's Gen. Diet. t Shattuck's Hist. Concord, 382. 
 
 { Bradford's Hist. Harv. University, Am. Quar. Reg., vol. ix., pp. 
 33S-340. 
 
Second Generation. 203 
 
 families who went from Lynn. The fortunes 
 they met with in their original attempt to 
 settle on the western portion of the island, 
 and the dealings of the Massachusetts authori- 
 ties with the Dutch at New York, are fully de- 
 tailed by this historian, and by Gov. Winthrop, 
 in his journal of April 4, 1640.* The fact that 
 Mr. Whiting's parishioners were principally 
 from Lynn, where his father and himself had 
 been the pastor and teacher, will account for 
 his settlement in that place. 
 
 4. Elizabeth Whiting married Rev. Jeremiah 
 Hobart of Topsfield. He was born in England, 
 1630, was freeman 1653, ordained 2 October, 
 1672; settled as min. at Hempstead, L.I., 1682 ; 
 installed at Haddam, 14 November, 1700, died 
 6 November, 1715, aged 85. She died at Hart- 
 ford, Conn., aged 88. One of their daughters 
 married Hezekiah Willis, secretary of the Prov- 
 ince of Connecticut; and another married Hez- 
 ekiah Brainerd, progenitor of Rev. David Brain- 
 erd, the famous missionary. 
 
 5. Dorothy Whiting, daughter of Rev. Sam- 
 
 * See Thompson's Long Island; Lewis and Newhall's Lynn, p. 192. 
 
204 Whiting Family. 
 
 uel Whiting by his first wife, married 4 June, 
 1650, Mr. Thomas Weld of Roxbury* who 
 was born in England, and came over with his 
 father. Rev. Thomas Weld. The church records 
 of Roxbury state that " the first church in Rox- 
 bury was gathered July, 1632. Rev. Thomas 
 Weld, a minister from Stirling, county of Es- 
 sex, in England, was chosen the first pastor the 
 same month and year. He returned to Eng- 
 land 1639, and died in London, 23 March, 
 1660." Mr. Weld, the son, says Savage,! "was 
 greatly esteemed," as may be seen by reference 
 to Coll. Rec, part 2, pp. 434 and 455. He was 
 a representative in 1676 and 1677. He died 
 17 January, 1683. Mrs. Weld died 31 July, 
 1694. Their daughter Dorothy married 12 
 May, 1686, William Dennison, and, after his de- 
 cease, Samuel Williams of Roxbury. Their 
 daughter Margaret married 17 March, 1690, 
 Nathaniel Brewer. 
 
 * See Town Records of Roxbury. 
 t Savage, Gen. Diet., vol. iii., p. 473. 
 
Third Generation. 205 
 
 THIRD GENERATION. 
 
 (i.) Children of Rev. Samuel Whiting, jun., 
 of Billerica, and Dorcas Chester, were,* 
 
 1. Elizabeth, b. 6 October, 1660; married, 
 1702, Rev. Thomas Clark of Chelmsford (see 
 Farmer's Gen. Reg., p. 6). 
 
 2. Samuel, b. 19 December, 1662; d. 1715. 
 
 3. Rev. John of Lancaster, b. i July, 1664; 
 graduated at Harvard College, 1685; ordained 
 minister at Lancaster, Mass., 3 December, 
 1691 ; killed by the Indians, 11 September, 
 1697, aged 33. Married Alice, daughter of 
 Joseph Cook of Cambridge, Mass. 
 
 4. Oliver of Billerica, b. 8 October, 1665; 
 married, 22 January, 1690, Anna, daughter of 
 Capt. Jonathan Danforth of Billerica; d, 1736. 
 Issue nine children. 
 
 5. Mary, b. 28 April, 1667, who married Mr. 
 Burchstead of Lynn. 
 
 6. Dorothy, b. 23 August, 1668. 
 
 7. Joseph, b. 7 January, 1670; graduated at 
 Harvard College 1690; died 6 August, 1701. 
 
 8. James, b. 20 July, 1671. 
 
 * See Note 4. p. 263. 
 
2o6 Whiting Family. 
 
 9. Eunice. 
 
 10. Benjamin. 
 
 11. Benjamin (again). 
 
 The 8th, 9th, loth, and nth children died 
 s.p. 
 
 (2.) Children of Rev. John Whiting, who re- 
 turned to England (Leaverton). (See notice 
 of the English family in the sketch of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting.) 
 
 (3.) Children oiRev. Joseph Whiting of South- 
 ampton. Long Island, and Sarah Danforth, all 
 born at Lynn ; viz. : — 
 
 1. Samuel, b. July 3, 1674. 
 
 2. Joseph, b. Nov. 22, 1675. 
 
 3. Joseph (again), b. May 8, 1677. 
 
 4. Thomas, b. May 20, 1678. 
 
 5. Joseph (again), b. Jan. 14, 1680. 
 
 6. John, b. Jan. 20, 1681, Lynn Rec* 
 
 All except the first and sixth died within a 
 few weeks of their birth. 
 
 The sixth son, Jiev. John Whiting, was 
 graduated at Harvard College, 1700, and was 
 
 * Shattuck's Hist. Concord, 165 ; Farmer's Register, say June 20. 
 
Third Gencra.tion. 207 
 
 chosen a tutor and fellow of that university, 
 and subsequently studied divinity* After the 
 death of Rev. Joseph Estabrook, in 171 1, at 
 Concord, Mass., a committee of the town, con- 
 sisting of three persons, was chosen to " pro- 
 cure preaching." " The Rev. Edward Holy- 
 oke, afterwards president of Harvard College, 
 Rev. Benj. Prescott, one of our native gradu- 
 ates," says Shattuck,t "and the Rev. John 
 Whiting, were employed as candidates for six 
 sabbaths. A liberal settlement was offered the 
 town by Mr. Prescott's father, should he be 
 chosen ; but the proposition was not accepted. 
 The church gave Mr. Whiting a call, in which 
 the town concurred by one hundred and ten 
 votes in his favor, 19 November, 171 1. Dec. 11 
 following, it was agreed, by eighty-four to thirty- 
 seven paper votes, to give him ^100 as a settle- 
 ment, and ^100 as an annual salary, and pay 
 the expenses of his ordination, which took 
 place 14 May, 171 2." 
 
 Of this ordination, Judge Sewell makes in his 
 journal the following entry: " I go to Concord 
 
 * He was college librarian from 1703 to 1706, and tutor from 1707 
 to 1712. 
 
 t Hist, of Concord, 163. 
 
2o8 Whiting Family. 
 
 in Austin's calash, set out from home at 5, a.m. 
 got to Mr. Whiting's at 10. Exercises began 
 at about half an hour past eleven, ended about 
 a quarter past one. Great assembly. Mr. Whi- 
 ting prayed, and preached from i Tim. iii. i. 
 Mr. Nehemiah Hobart asked if any had to ob- 
 ject, I. of the church, 2. of the congregation, 
 3. of all the present assembly. Declared that 
 the elders and messengers of churches had 
 appointed him to give the charge. Mr. 
 Angier, Brattle, and Hancock to join in laying 
 on hands. Mr. Hobert prayed excellently, and 
 so gave the charge. One word in it was dili- 
 gence or labor, or to that purpose ; prayed 
 again. Declared that Mr. Angier was to give 
 the right hand of fellowship, which he did 
 Sung the 47th psalm. Mr. Whiting blessed the 
 people. Went and dined at young Mr. Pres- 
 cott's. Set out to come down about half an 
 hour after three." 
 
 A new " meeting-house " was built in 171 2, 
 on nearly the same spot on which the Unita- 
 rian church now stands ; and this was enlarged 
 and repaired in 1792, and remained in that 
 
Third Genei^ation. 209 
 
 form until, some thirty or forty years more or 
 less afterwards, its lofty steeple was taken 
 down and the building modernized. Mr. 
 Whiting was pastor of the church in Concord 
 from 1 71 2 to 1738, about twenty-six years, 
 when his connection with the old society was 
 dissolved. 
 
 For some time previously, irreconcilable 
 differences of opinion on ecclesiastical matters 
 had arisen among the people, and involved the 
 members of this as well as of other communi- 
 ties. Several societies were formed, outside of 
 the church, of those who dissented from the 
 doctrines held by the majority ; and they 
 employed as their preachers other clergymen 
 whose services they could from time to time 
 obtain. Among these preachers, one was the 
 Rev. Israel Loring of Sudbury, who preached a 
 sermon (which was printed) 29 December, 1737, 
 "at the request of two religious societies of 
 young men there," who used to "meet for the 
 exercises of religion on the evenings of the 
 Lord's day and at other times." The doc- 
 trines and the preachers of the new school, who 
 
2IO Whiting Family. 
 
 carried off the majority of the old society, 
 which composed the old church, were then 
 called " the new lights'.' Their style of preach- 
 ing was " bold, zealous, impassioned, and 
 enthusiastic, forming a striking contrast to 
 that which the church had previously enjoyed. 
 The truths of divine revelation which people 
 from infancy had been taught to regard with 
 reverence were now exhibited in a manner 
 new and surprising, and it had a powerful 
 effect. The attention of the people generally 
 was soon greatly awakened, and their feel- 
 ings were excited on the subject of religion." 
 The preaching of the celebrated Whitefield, 
 who first officiated there in October, 1741, car- 
 ried the excitement to the highest pitch, repro- 
 ducing those astonishing exhibitions which 
 usually accompany what have been called 
 " revivals," and was followed by the usual re- 
 sults. Near the close of Mr. Whiting's min- 
 istry, commenced those controversies and 
 divisions, which, spreading over most of the 
 towns of New England, " hardly find a parallel 
 in modern times, and in which most of the 
 
Third Generation. 211 
 
 leading clergymen of the colony were engaged 
 as partisans or counsellors." * These divisions 
 were of great importance to the churches and 
 to the people. In the peaceful town of Con- 
 cord, they lasted for more than three quarters 
 of a century. Mr. Whiting's church was 
 nearly evenly divided, when (March, 1737) he 
 approved of the proposition to join with the 
 town in calling another minister. The town 
 voted, 41 to 33, to call and settle another minis- 
 ter with him. This, however, did not accom- 
 pHsh the purposes of the " new lights," who 
 desired the entire control of the pulpit; and 
 this they effected by the machinery of an 
 ecclesiastical council, composed of clergymen 
 who were opposed to his views, and from 
 whom they obtained the advice to dissolve 
 their pastoral relations with him. This was 
 voted, and assented to by Mr. Whiting, but 
 not without objection by his adherents. He 
 preferred peace, and the society of those who 
 accorded with his own opinions. After his 
 separation from the old church, he con- 
 
 * Shattuck's Concord, p. 167, 168. 
 
212 Whiting Family. 
 
 tinued to minister unto those of his old pa- 
 rishioners who seceded with him from the old 
 society, and disapproved of his withdrawal 
 from its service ; and these ministrations he 
 continued, from time to time, until his death, 
 some fifteen years later. 
 
 It may not be profitable to pursue the history 
 of these religious dissensions. There was no 
 unanimity in settling the successor to Mr. 
 Whiting, the Rev. Mr. Bliss, " who was one of 
 the most distinguished clergymen of that 
 day." One ecclesiastical convention after an- 
 other was called to investigate charges against 
 him, and sometimes opposition conventions 
 were running at the same time, called by op- 
 posing parties, which seemed likely to grind 
 the poor clergyman between the upper and 
 nether mill-stones of ecclesiastical synods. 
 Finally, another split in the church was effect- 
 ed, like that under Mr. Whiting, and thus was 
 formed the " West Church," at which Mr. Whi- 
 ting and others were the preachers. Similar 
 troubles broke out upon the attempt to settle 
 Mr. Bliss's successor, Mr. Emerson, which, 
 
Third Generation. 2 1 3 
 
 after a sufficient wrangling in conventions, was 
 at last quieted, only to be renewed under Dr. 
 Ripley, his successor, who went through the 
 usual process of having his society split, owing 
 to religious dissensions. This process of seces- 
 sion seems to have ceased when the society 
 became so small that there was nothing left to 
 secede from. Perhaps, in prophetic foresight 
 of this ecclesiastical harmony, the town receiv- 
 ed its name of " Concord." 
 
 Mr. Whiting, as a preacher, was of the 
 (then) old school, quiet, modest, gentle, and 
 persuasive. He spoke without passion. His 
 idea was, that the power of Christian truth 
 could be received into the soul, when heard in 
 the " still small voice " of God's love and holi- 
 ness, better than when clothed with the lurid 
 glare and harrowing imagery of an excited 
 imagination, presenting pictures of fictitious 
 horrors of the unseen world, dethroning rea- 
 son, understanding, and even truth itself. " He 
 was a man," says Shattuck, " of wealth, learn- 
 ing, influence, and talents ; and," as his mod- 
 est epitaph informs us, " a gentleman of sin- 
 
214 Whiting Family. 
 
 gular hospitality and generosity, who never 
 detracted from the character of any man, 
 and was a universal lover of mankind."* 
 He died, 4 May, 1752, aged 71. This epitapli 
 was cut upon a tablet, which was. originally 
 placed over his grave in the old burying- 
 ground in Concord, and was copied by Mr. 
 Shattuck about the time when his history of 
 that town was printed (1835). Since then, a 
 ruthless and sacrile2;ious hand has stolen this 
 tablet. A new monument, with the same in- 
 scription, has been placed over the grave of this 
 venerable clergyman. 
 
 Mr. Whiting's will is dated 30 January, 1750, 
 and was probated 17 July, 1752. It contains 
 bequests to his sons, John, Thomas, and 
 Stephen, and to his daughters, Sarah, and Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Webster. His lands in Concord, 
 Acton, and elsewhere, were given to Stephen ; 
 " a silver kann " to Mns. Webster, as an heir- 
 loom to descend to eldest daughters of suc- 
 cessive families ; and to Mr. Webster, a portion 
 of his library. 
 
 * History of Concord, p. 165. 
 
Third Generation. 2 1 5 
 
 His wife Mary, daughter of Rev. John Cot- 
 Ion of Hampton, N.H., was born Nov. 5, 
 1689. She was grand-daughter of Rev. Sea- 
 born Cotton, and great-grand-daughter of Rev. 
 John Cotton of Boston, and of Gov. Simon 
 Bradstreet, and great-great-grand-daughter of 
 Gov. Thomas Dudley.* They had three sons 
 and two daughters : Mary, who married Rev. 
 Daniel Rogers of Littleton ; John of Royal- 
 ston ; Thomas, Esq., of Concord ; Stephen of 
 Boston ; Elizabeth, who married Rev. Samuel 
 
 * There was published in London, in 1862, a book entitled, The 
 Sutton Dudleys of England, and the Dudleys of Massachusetts, in 
 New England, by Geo. Adlard. A book entitled, The Dudley Genealo- 
 gies, by Dean Dudley, was issued in Boston some dozen years ago. 
 
 " Thomas Dudley, second governor of Massachusetts, was born in 
 Northampton, England, in 1576. In 1630 he came to Massachusetts 
 with the commission of deputy-governor. He was afterwards chosen 
 governor in the years 1634, '40, '45, and '50. The historian tells us 
 that ' he was a man of integrity and piety, but was intolerant, like most 
 of his generation.' Joseph Dudley, son of Thomas, was born Sept. 
 23, 1647. He was graduated at Harvard College, 1665 ; served 
 in the Indian war in 1675 ; was sent to England as agent for the prov- 
 ince in 1682 ; and was appointed president of New England in 1686. 
 From 1690 to 1692 he was chief justice of New York; then, for eight 
 years, lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight; and, finally, governor 
 of Massachusetts from 1702 to 1715. He was a jurist, a statesman, a 
 .scholar, and a gentleman, in the best signification of those terms, and 
 did as much as any man of his time toward moulding the character 
 ^and destiny of the American colonies. Paul, son of Joseph, born in 
 1675, "'^ graduated at Harvard in 1690, and afterwards studied law in 
 
2i6 Whiting Family. 
 
 Webster of Salisbury. She died 29 May, 1731. 
 For his second wife he married the widow of 
 Dr. Jonathan Prescott, by whom he had no 
 issue. 
 
 FOURTH GENERATION. 
 
 Children of -Oliver Whiting of Billerica, son 
 of Rev. Samuel W. at Billerica, and Ann Dan- 
 forth : nine in number (Savage, vol. iii., p. 520), 
 of whom the fourth was Samuel of Billerica, b. 
 6 September, 1702; deacon; d. 22 December, 
 1736. 
 
 Children of Mary, daughter of Rev. Samuel 
 W. of Billerica (not given). 
 
 Children of Joseph, son of Rev. Samuel W. 
 of Billerica (not given). 
 
 Children of Rev. Thomas Clark of Chelms- 
 
 London. Returning to Massachusetts, he served the colony, success- 
 ively and successfully, as attorney general, judge, and chief justice. 
 He was deeply interested alike in education and religion, and, by his 
 will, bequeathed ^loo to Harvard College for the support of an annual 
 lecture on subjects connected with religion. These lectures are known 
 to-day as the Dudleian Lectures. 
 
 " Roxbury was the home of these eminent men, as indeed it has 
 been of nearly the entire family through all the generations until now ; 
 and they not only gave their name to some of our principal streets, 
 squares, and public buildings, but stamped their characteristics, in 
 greater or less degree, upon the moral and social life of the town." 
 
Fourth Generation. 2 1 7 
 
 ford, and Elizabeth Whiting, daughter of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting of Billerica. (See Note 5, p. 
 263.) 
 
 Children of Samuel Whiting, son of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting of Billerica (not given). 
 
 Children of Rev. John Whiting of Lancas- 
 ter, son of Rev. Samuel Whiting of Billerica, 
 and Alice Cook : — 
 
 1. Alice, d. 19 October, 1697, aged 2 years. 
 
 2. Eunice, d. 4 November, 1697, aged i year. 
 His widow married, 19 May, 1701, Rev. Tim- 
 othy Stevens of Glastonbury.* 
 
 Children of Rev. yohn Whiting of Concord, 
 and Mary Cotton, were, — 
 
 1. Mary, b. 3 August, 1713, who married 
 Rev. Daniel Rogers of Littleton, Mass. 
 
 2. John, b. 25 June, 171 6, who lived at Roy- 
 alston. 
 
 3. Thomas, Esq., b. 25 June, 171 7. d. 1776.! 
 
 4. Elizabeth, who married Dr. Samuel Web- 
 ster of Salisbury. He was born 1718, gradu- 
 ated 1737, and died 1776. He was connected 
 
 * Savage Gen. Diet. 
 t?Probate Bond filed June 26, 1776 ; Inventory, Aug. 27, 1776. 
 V- .8 
 
2i8 Whiting Fajnily. 
 
 with the family from which Daniel Webster 
 the statesman, and Jeremiah Mason the lawyer, 
 were descended. ( See Farmer's Reg., p. 307, 
 and Lewis and Newhall's Lynn, p. 275.) 
 
 5. Stephen, b. 6 August, 1720. 
 
 According to Mr. Shattuck, he had three 
 other children, who died without issue. 
 
 yudge Thomas Whiting, as he was generally 
 called, on account of his being commissioned 
 and acting as a local magistrate of Middle- 
 sex County, married the grand-dau. of Capt. 
 Thomas Lake, an eminent merchant, who was 
 killed by the Indians in 1676. For a memoir 
 of him, and a full genealogy of his family, 
 written by one of his descendants, see " Appen- 
 dix to Copp's Hill Epitaphs," by J. W. Thorn- 
 ton, Esq. By the marriage of Judge Whiting 
 with Miss Lake, who was a great-grand-daugh- 
 ter of Gov. Goodyear of Connecticut (see 
 Gen. Reg., 1851, p. 347), his family were for 
 the second time connected with that of the 
 Lakes: the first connection beina: through 
 Ann Lake, daughter of Capt. Thomas Lake, 
 who married Rev. John Cotton, father-in-law 
 of Rev. John Whiting. Capt. Lake was de- 
 
Fourth Generation. 219 
 
 scended from Hugh de Caley, who died 1286, 
 and Agnes, daughter of Hamo de Hamsted 
 (see Bentham's Baronetage, vol. iii., p. 153). 
 
 Judge Whiting was greatly respected, not 
 only for his personal character, but also as a 
 fine scholar and an accomplished gentleman. 
 Fortunately, he was able to give his children 
 the advantage of liberal culture. He sent his 
 eldest son, Thomas, to Harvard College.* In- 
 tending that his son William should become a 
 member of the same profession to which his 
 father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had 
 devoted their lives, he also carefully fitted 
 him to enter College. He devoted much 
 time to the instruction of his daughters, not 
 only in polite literature, but in solid learn- 
 ing. The extent of their education, -and the 
 refinement of their manners, were not unfre- 
 quently the subject of remark. 
 
 Of Judge Whiting's daughters, the eldest 
 was married to Capt. Barron of the United- 
 States army, and, after his decease, to Judge 
 Strong of Northampton, father of the late 
 Judge Strong.t His daughter Lydia was mar- 
 
 * See Catalogue of Graduates, H.C., 1775. 
 t See IV. Savage, Gen. Die., 224. 
 
2 20 Whiting Family. 
 
 ried to John Mullekin, Esq., of Lexington, 
 father of the late Dr. Mullekin of Dorchester, 
 M.D. ; and his daughter Lucy married Dr. 
 Joseph Hunt, M.D., youngest son of Dea. 
 Simon Hunt of Concord. Dr. Hunt was born 
 I March, 1749, graduated at Harvard College 
 1770, died 27 May, 1812, aged 63. He was a 
 physician at Concord and at Dracut, and for 
 several years was secretary of the Massachu- 
 setts Medical Society, and was considered an 
 eminent practitioner. It was to him that his 
 nephew, Col. William Whiting of Concord, 
 was principally indebted for his education. 
 
 The children of Judge Whiting were all 
 settled in Massachusetts. 
 
 FIFTH GENERATION. 
 
 Children of Judge Thomas Whiting of 
 Concord, and Mary Lake : — 
 
 I. Thomas of Boston, b. 3 October, 1748; 
 graduated at Harvard College, 1775. For seve- 
 ral years he taught the grammar school in Con- 
 cord. He married Martha Jones. Late in life, 
 
Fifth Generation. 221 
 
 he became a merchant in Boston, retaining his 
 summer residence in Concord, where he died 
 28 September, 1820, aged 72. 
 
 2. iVIary, wlio was married twice: ist, to 
 Capt. Barron of the U. S. army; 2d, to Judge 
 Simeon Strong of Northampton, father of the 
 late Judge Strong. 
 
 3. Lydia, who married John Mullekin of 
 Lexington, Mass., father of Dr. Mullekin of 
 Dorchester. 
 
 4. John Lake, married Olive, daughter of 
 Ross Wyman of Shrewsbury, 1782. She was 
 born 1762. They removed to Lancaster, 
 where he died. Olive returned to Shrewsbury, 
 and died 14 April, 1842, aged 80: issue seven 
 children (see Hist, of Shrewsbury). 
 
 5. Lucy, married Dr. Joseph Hunt, M.D., of 
 Concord, Mass., above named. 
 
 6. William of Lancaster, b. at Concord, 30 
 Sept., 1760; d. at Lancaster, 1832. m. June, 
 1783, Rebecca, dau. of Rev. Josiah Brown of 
 Sterling.* She was b. 17 Jan., 1762; d. 20 
 Aug., 1848. 
 
 * Dr. Brown was born in Lexington, Mass., was graduated at Har- 
 vard College. His wife was Mary, daughter of Rev. John Prentiss, 
 minister of Lancaster. See Willard's Lancaster, page 320. 
 
22 2 Whiting Family. 
 
 William received his early education in Greek, 
 Latin, and mathematics, in Concord, where, 
 under the eye of his father. Judge Thomas 
 Whiting, and by the instruction of his elder 
 brother, Thomas, who kept the grammar school 
 there, he was fitted for college ; but the troubles 
 which grew out of the Revolution, and his fa- 
 ther's death, caused him to give up his intention 
 of completing his education at college and of 
 entering one of the learned professions. He had 
 eight children, — four sons and four daughters. 
 
 Children of Deacon Samuel Whiting of 
 Billerica : — 
 
 1. Samuel Esq., b., 8 May, 1730.* 
 
 2. Timothy, b. 24 February, 1732 ; d. 12 July, 
 1 799 ; lived in Lancaster. He served in the 
 French War of 1755, and on the 19th April, 
 1 775, marched side by side with two of his sons, 
 Timothy* and John, in the battle of Concord 
 and Lexington, pursuieg the British troops ,on 
 their retreat to Boston. 
 
 * Dr. John Samuel Whiting, M.D., of Charlestown, Mass., is a son 
 of the late Dr. Augustus W. (M.D.),who was a son of Deacon Samuel 
 W., who was a son of this Samuel, Esq. 
 
Sixth Generation. 223 
 
 3. Henry (officer in the Revolutionary army). 
 
 4. Sabine (officer in the Revolutionary army). 
 
 SIXTH GENERATION. 
 
 Children of Timothy Whiting of Lancas- 
 ter : — 
 
 1. Timothy, b. 17 June, 1758 ; was a captain 
 in the Revolutionary army ; lived in Lancaster. 
 He accompanied his father and brother John 
 in the battle of Concord and Lexington, on the 
 19th April, 1775'; d. 13 January, 1826. Had 
 ten children. 
 
 2. John, b. 24 February, 1760; was a gener- 
 al in the Revolutionary army; lived in Lancas- 
 ter ; d. 3 September, 1 8 1 o, at Washington. Had 
 eight children. 
 
 In a volume edited and published by his 
 son. General Henry Whiting, entitled " Revo- 
 lutionary Orders of General Washington, pre- 
 served by him [General John Whiting, his fa- 
 ther], while acting as Adjutant," we extract the 
 following: "Col. John Whiting, of the 5th 
 U. S. Infantry (who died in Washington, Sept. 
 
2 24 Whiting Family. 
 
 3, 1810), was adjutant of the second regi- 
 ment of the Massachusetts line, commanded 
 by Lieut.-Col. commandant E. Sproat. He had 
 preserved most, perhaps all, of the orders which 
 his duty obliged him to record ; but only a por- 
 tion of them were found, some ten years after 
 his death, when the editor first determined to 
 take possession of them, and make a selection 
 for publication at some convenient time." 
 
 " Col. Whiting," he says, " in 1775, belonged 
 to a ' minute company,' in the town of Billerica, 
 a few miles north of Lexington, and, on the 
 morning of the 19th of April (being then in 
 his 1 6th year), marched side by side with his 
 father (who had served in the French war of 
 '55), and an elder brother, to the latter place, 
 and shared in the runninar fio^ht which the 
 British had to maintain in their retreat from 
 Concord. Immediately joining the army at 
 Cambridge, he was under Arnold, on Lake 
 Champlain, in '76, and with Gates's army 
 throughout '']'], receiving a commission during 
 the latter year. The remainder of the war, he 
 was with the main army until Washington took 
 
Sixth Generation. 225 
 
 the immediate command against Cornwallis 
 in Virginia. He retired to private life at the 
 peace, re-entering the service on the increase 
 of the army, in 1808, as lieut.-colonel of the 4th 
 Infantry." 
 
 In " Gardner's Dictionary of Officers of the 
 Army of the United States," pubHshed in i860, 
 at New York, (p. 483), we find the following ex- 
 tract from the army registers, showing the vari- 
 ous grades of office in the United States army, 
 — he having held the rank of general in the 
 Revolutionary army, and, having afterwards re- 
 tired, re-entered the same in 1808. 
 
 "John Whiting (Mass.) Lt.-Col. 4 Infantry, 
 8 July, 1808; Adjutant and Inspector of the 
 army, 17 July, 1809; Colonel 5 Infantry, 31 
 December, 1809; died 3 September, 18 10, at 
 Washington." 
 
 3. Christopher, b. 27 November, 1761 ; d. s.p. 
 
 Children of Thomas Whiting of Boston and 
 Concord, and Martha Jones, were, — 
 
 1. Lydia, d. s.p. 
 
 2. Martha, d. s.p. 
 
2 26 Whiting Family. 
 
 3. Samuel, who left two children, Thomas 
 and Mary. 
 
 4. Joseph, d. s. p. 
 
 Children of Capt. Barron and Mary Whi- 
 ting : — 
 
 1. Mary Barron, who lived at Northampton. 
 
 2. Stephen Barron, " " 
 
 Children of John MuUekin and Lydia Whi- 
 ting : — 
 
 1. Dea. Nathaniel Mullekin of Lexington. 
 
 2. John. 
 
 3. Isaac. 
 
 4. Dr. Samuel Mullekin, M.D., Dorchester. 
 
 Children of Dr. Joseph Hunt of Concord, 
 Mass., M.D., and Lucy Whiting : — 
 
 1. Henry, who d. s.p. 
 
 2. Joseph, who had one daughter, Lucy Ann, 
 who married Melancthon Smith, a Boston 
 merchant. 
 
 3. Thomas, who d. s.p. 
 
Sixth Gejieration. 227 
 
 Children of John Lake Whiting and Olive 
 Wyman : — 
 
 1. Relief, b. at Shrewsbury, 11 July, 1783; 
 married two husbands. No issue by her first 
 husband are given, if there were any. For her 
 second husband she m. Reuben F. Blood of 
 Carlisle, 24 February, 1805, and had six children. 
 He was a deputy-sheriff at Mason, N.H., and 
 a school-teacher. One of his ancestors was 
 brother of the famous " Col. John Blood," one 
 of Cromwell's colonels, known in English his- 
 tory for his designs on King Charles II. (See 
 Hist, of Cromwell ; Scott's novel " Peveril of the 
 Peak," which refers to his times ; and Shattuck's 
 " Hist, of Concord," p. 364, which gives the gen- 
 ealogy of the Bloods from 1639, when James 
 Blood, brother of John, came to Concord, Mass.) 
 
 2. Lucy, b. 1785, unmarried, lived at Hope, 
 Me., near Camden. 
 
 3. Seth Whiting, b. 4 April, 1787; married 
 Susan Harding, d. of Elias Harding of Med- 
 field, by whom he had three children, who d. in 
 infancy. He married for his second wife Mary 
 Kendall, dau. of Calvin Kendall of Athol, 
 farmer, by whom he had seven children. 
 
2 28 Whiting Family. 
 
 4. Olive, b. 1789 or 1790; m. Calvin May- 
 nard of Sterling ; d. s. p. 
 
 5. Sarah, married Dr. Moses Daken, M.D., 
 Hope, Me. ; no issue. 
 
 6. Henry, b. June 28, 1796; married Mary 
 Safford of Hope, Me. ; lived and died in 
 Charlestown, Mass.; s.p. 
 
 7. Mary, died at 20, unmarried. 
 
 Children of William Whiting of Lancaster, 
 and Rebecca Brown of Sterling : — 
 
 1. Mary B., b. 30 March, 1784; m. Frederic 
 White of Utica and Sacket's Harbor, N.Y. 
 They had one son, Alexander F. of Buffalo. 
 
 2. Rebecca, b. Oct. 21, 1786; m. Mr. Col- 
 burn, and lived at Sacket's Harbor. They had 
 two daughters. 
 
 3. Col. William Whiting* of Concord, b. 20 
 October, 1788, at Sterling, Mass. He was mar- 
 ried II Nov., 181 1, to Hannah, daughter of Lot 
 Conant, Esq., of Concord, who was brother of 
 Rev. Ezra Conant of Winchester, N.H. (Har- 
 
 * In 1S02 he went to Concord, where he was educated by his uncle, 
 Dr. Hunt, M.D., and finally settled. The homestead in which he 
 passed the last fitly j'ears of his life was erected by him in 1812. 
 
Sixth Generation. 229 
 
 vard College, 1784). Born on the same day 
 sTnd hour with her husband, she was a lineal 
 descendant in the seventh generation from 
 Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, who was 
 a grandson of John Conant of Gittisham, near 
 Honiton, Eng., where the Conant family had 
 been settled for many generations. This fam- 
 ily is believed to have been originally of Nor- 
 man origin* She died Nov. 10, 1859, aged 71 
 years. In her were united, in a remarkable 
 degree, the wisdom, prudence, energy, and 
 firmness of purpose which characterized her 
 ancestor Roger Conant. 
 
 Of several notices and biographical sketches 
 of Mr. Whiting published at the time of his 
 death, the following is extracted from the edi- 
 torial columns of " The Liberator : " — 
 
 * Gen. Reg., July, 1848 ; Felt's Ann. of Salem ; Stone's Hist, of 
 Beverly; Gibbs and Farmer's Reg. ; Young's Chronicles; Hutchin- 
 son's Hist, of Mass. ; Life of Rev. John Conant, 1823; Middleton's 
 Biog. Diet. ; Allen's Biog. Diet. ; Thornton on the Landing at Cape 
 Ann, or the First Charter. See Note 6, p. 264 on Roger Conant. 
 
230 Whiting Family. 
 
 " DEATH OF COL. WILLIAM WHITING; 
 
 " Died in Concord, Sept. 29, 1862, William 
 Whiting, Esq., in the 74th year of his age. 
 
 "Thus we are again called — how frequent 
 these calls are coming — to record the depar- 
 ture, and lament the loss, of one of the early, 
 steadfast, brave, and single-minded friends of 
 the anti-slavery cause. 
 
 " Col. Whiting was one of those aboli- 
 tionists on principle, who could always be 
 trusted, of whom you might always be sure 
 where they stood, where they could be found. 
 Always modest and courteous, remarkably 
 rentle in manner, and with a most tender and 
 sensitive heart, he was, in his devotion to the 
 anti-slavery cause, as firm as a rock, and ever at 
 the post of duty. For many years a vice-pres- 
 ident of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Soci- 
 ety, and for at least an equal period the pres- 
 ident of the Middlesex County Anti-Slavery 
 Society, he rendered to them_ the firm support 
 of an honest and high-souled man. ' The 
 memory of the just is blessed,' and leaves the 
 richest blessings after it. Even the great 
 
Sixth Generation. 231 
 
 cause of justice, humanity, and freedom seems 
 to become dearer to us, as we link with it 
 the memory of such faithful and disinterested 
 lovers. God be thanked for the great consola- 
 tion we have in their death. They 'fought a 
 good fight, and kept the faith.' 
 
 " We regret the absence of Mr. Garrison, 
 who would gladly have used this opportunity 
 to testify to the sincere and upright life of 
 his friend, and to the value of his long and 
 never-wavering services to the anti-slavery 
 cause. Instead of this, we are fortunate in 
 being able to give the words of one who knew 
 Mr. Whiting intimately, and who, in writing to 
 Mr. Garrison, speaks as follows : — 
 
 " ' I hardly know how to do justice to the 
 peculiar respect and tenderness with which 
 Col. Whiting always spoke of you. Your por- 
 trait hung over his couch in his sickness, and 
 after death. He talked about you frequently ; 
 and I have often heard him say, " If there is a 
 man on earth I truly love, it is William Lloyd 
 Garrison." His disease (of the heart) had ren- 
 dered it absolutely necessary to keep him, for 
 
232 Whiting Family. 
 
 many months, free from all excitement. To so 
 great a degree did nervous excitability increase, 
 as the disease advanced, that common conver- 
 sation produced a painful, and even dangerous 
 excitement ; and not only friends and neigh- 
 bors, but some of his own relatives were 
 obliged to refrain from visiting him. But he 
 had periods of comparative rest ; and, in these 
 tranquil times, he was so cheerful, and enjoyed 
 so much what friends could do for him, that 
 he often said these last two months were the 
 happiest he ever spent. Uniform patience and 
 self-control prevailed over all his bodily dis- 
 comforts ; the idea of duty triumphed over all 
 the moods of sickness ; and he rendered the 
 care of him a pure pleasure by his genial ap- 
 preciation of every service. For the last five 
 weeks he did not lie down at all, and died in 
 the same chair where he had sat all that time. 
 Though lingering, his death was not painful, 
 and his consciousness was manifest to the last. 
 " ' During the whole of his sickness, his 
 mind seemed entirely occupied with the sub- 
 jects of highest importance to one in his con- 
 
Sixth Generation. 233 
 
 dition. He made no allusion to his worldly 
 afiairs, but used the opportunity to review his 
 life, and give his last testimony as to what ap- 
 peared most valuable in it. He referred to his 
 early connection with the lodge of Freemasons 
 in Concord, and attributed to its influence on 
 his habits and principles much of the moral 
 progress of his later years. He rejoiced in 
 having given his whole influence in favor of 
 total abstinence, by an example whose peculiar 
 significance was in the fact that he signed a 
 pledge to himself, years before a temperance 
 society was thought of, while yet a young 
 man, making it known to no one but his wife, 
 and never violating it by tasting a drop even of 
 beer or cider, although the general ideas of hos- 
 pitality required him to keep wines and spirits, 
 and offer them to guests. 
 
 " ' When about forty years old, he joined the 
 Unitarian Church, and took part for many 
 years in the Sunday school, which he greatly 
 enjoyed. He loved liberal Christianity, he 
 said, because it seemed to him to include the 
 idea of progress. He often repeated, in the 
 
2 34 Whiting Family. 
 
 most earnest way, his belief in the goodness of 
 God, in the tender love of Christ, and his af- 
 fection for all who showed their love for him 
 by working for their fellow-men. 
 
 " ' But more than all, he rejoiced in having 
 been a thorough-going and out-spoken aboli- 
 tionist, before it was popular to be so, even 
 when his closest personal friendships were en- 
 dangered by this faithful adherence to his own 
 convictions. His love for his associates in this 
 work increased with every year of his life ; so 
 that the anti-slavery meetings were the only 
 recreations he cared for. He always found 
 in them new impulse in the right direction, 
 and such interchange of friendly affection as 
 warmed and cheered his heart' 
 
 " To each and all of the surviving family of 
 our much-esteemed friend and fellow-worker, 
 and in behalf of a wide circle of those who 
 have long been accustomed to welcome his 
 face in the anti-slavery gatherings, we offer our 
 respectful sympathies.* M." 
 
 * Col. Whiting, his wife, and eldest daughter, were buried in the 
 cemetery at Concord, Mass. 
 
Sixth Generation. 235 
 
 4. Lucy, b. 23 April, 1791 ; m. Asa Willard 
 of Sterling ; lived in Elmira. 
 
 5. Henry, of New Haven, Conn.; b. 7 July, 
 1793 ; m. a daughter of Col. Brown of Charl- 
 ton, Mass. They had a daughter, Jane. 
 
 6. Prentiss of Uxbridge, b. 22 Dec, 1795 ; 
 m. Harriet Willard of Charlton, and had eight 
 children. 
 
 7. Harriet Brown, b. at Westminster, 21 
 June, 1802; m. 3 July, 1821, Jonas Haven; 
 they had five children. 
 
 8. George, of New York, b. 19 Aug., 1804; 
 m. Julia Ann Wheelock of Charlton. 
 
 Children of Gen. John Whiting of Lancas- 
 ter: — 
 
 1. Timothy D., b. 1785, d. s.p., 1851. (Cap- 
 tain.) 
 
 2. Julia, b. 1787; d. s.p. 18 17. 
 
 3. Henry, b. 1788. General in the U. S. A.; 
 a brave officer and elegant scholar; d. 1851. 
 
 Brig-Gen. A. B. Eaton, U. S. A., under date 
 of May 29, 1871, writes as follows: — 
 
 " I send with this the copy of Revolutionary 
 
236 ]Vhiti7ig Family. 
 
 orders of Gen. Washington, collected by the 
 late Gen. Henry Whiting of the U. S. army, 
 to which I invited your attention when I last 
 had the pleasure of seeing you in Washington. 
 Please do me the favor of accepting it. I also 
 enclose the etat de service of Gen, Whiting, 
 also that of his cousin, Lieut.-Col. Levi Whi- 
 ting, and of his brother, Maj. Fabius Whiting. 
 " I was personally well acquainted with Gen, 
 Henry Whiting, from the year 1832 to the 
 date of his death in 185 1. He was a most 
 lovable Christian gentleman, a pure and good 
 man ; was pleasant, highly intelligent, interest- 
 ing and versatile in conversation ; was a lover of 
 natural and philosophical science, and had a 
 good degree of accurate special knowledge 
 thereof He was a brave soldier, with never a 
 word of self-laudation, or any approach to boast- 
 ing. He performed every duty, in all depart- 
 ments of personal obligation, however unimpor- 
 tant, with exactness, and an undeviating fidelity 
 to an enlightened conscience. He thoroughly 
 guarded the avenues by which temptations to 
 evil might assail, and avoided all practices that 
 
Sixth Generation. 237 
 
 might mar the sweet affections of his charming 
 home. As an instance of forethoughtful care 
 in this respect, he would never play any game, 
 not even backgammon, with his wife as an op- 
 ponent, lest the usually evanescent opposition 
 and strife for victory between them might, by 
 possibility, result in marring the sacred rela- 
 tions, the harmonious oneness, of husband and 
 wife, always beautifully evident in his home. I 
 have written but a short note concerning this 
 honored relative of yours. Please excuse its 
 brevity, as I necessarily write hurriedly, and in 
 the midst of pressing office duties." 
 
 This letter, by one of the distinguished offi- 
 cers now in service in the regular army, 
 was accompanied by a volume published at 
 New York and London, in 1844, entitled, 
 " Revolutionary Orders of General Washington, 
 issued during the years 1778 to 1782 inclusive , 
 selected from the MSS. of John Whiting, 
 Lieut, and Adjutant of the 2d Regiment, 
 Massachusetts Line, and edited by his son, 
 Henry Whiting, Lieut.-Col. U.S.A." 
 
 The following extract from the army records 
 
238 Whiting Family. 
 
 will show the dates and the causes of promo- 
 tion of this gallant soldier : — 
 
 " Henry Whiting, Mass., Cornet Light Dra- 
 goons, 20 Oct., 1808; Sec. Lieut. Light Dra- 
 goons, ist Sept. 1809; First Lt. Lt. Dragoons, 
 I Jan. 181 1 ; Aid-de-Camp to B.-Gen. Boyd, and 
 disthiguished in the capture of Fort George, 
 Upper Canada, 27 May, 181 3 (appointed Capt. 
 4 Regt. of Rifles, March, 1814, decHned) ; 
 Capt. 23 Regt. U. S. Infantry, 14 July, 1814; 
 Capt. 2 Reg. U. S. Infantry, i Sept. 1814 ; 
 brevetted Captain for ' meritoriozis services, 1 7 
 March, 1814,' Sept. 1815 ; retained May, 1815, 
 in 5th Reg. of Infantry ; Capt. 2 Infantry, 
 Aid-de-Camp to Maj .-General Macomb, i May, 
 1815 ; Captain in March, 1817 ; Capt. the 
 ist Reg. Artillery, 3 March, 182 1; brevetted 
 Major '■for ten years' faithftil service' 17 March, 
 1824 (June, 1830); brevetted Lieut-Colonel for 
 faithftol and meritorious services, 30 June, 1834 
 (July, 1834); Quartermaster (rank Major), 23 
 Feb., 1835; Deputy-Quartermaster-General (K. 
 K. Lieut. Col.), 7 July, 1838 ; Assistant Quar- 
 termaster (K. K. Colonel), 21 Apl. 1846; joined 
 
Sixth Generation. 239 
 
 the army of General Taylor as Chief Quarter- 
 master, 6 July, 1846; brevetted Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral '' for gallant and meritorious conduct in the 
 battle of Buena Vistal 23 Feb. 1847 (July, 1848) ; 
 died 16 Sept. 185 1, at St. Louis, Missouri." 
 
 The dates of some of the foregoing appoint- 
 ments, as obtained from the records of the War 
 Department, are as follows, and differ slightly 
 from the above. According to these, he was 
 appointed : — 
 
 Cornet, Light Dragoons, 20 October, 1808. 
 Second Lieutenant, Light Dragoons, i Sep- 
 tember, 1809. 
 First Lieutenant, Light Dragoons, i January, 
 
 1811. 
 First Lieutenant, Aid to Br.-Gen. Boyd, and 
 distinguished in the capture of Fort 
 George, Upper Canada, 27 May, 181 3. 
 Captain, 23d Regt. U. S. Infantry, 14 July, 
 
 1814. 
 Captain, 2d Regt. U. S. Infantry, i Sep- 
 tember, 1 8 14. 
 Captain, 2d Infantry, Aid to Major-Gen. 
 Macomb, i May, 181 5. 
 
240 Whiting Family. 
 
 Captain, ist Regt. Artillery, 3 March, 182 1. 
 Captain, ist Regt. Artillery, Brevet-Major, 3 
 
 March, 1824. 
 Captain, Assistant-Quartermaster, U. S. A., 
 
 24 March, 1830. 
 Major, Quartermaster, U. S. A., 25 September, 
 
 1835- 
 Lieutenant - Colonel, Deputy - Quartermaster- 
 General, 7 July, 1838. 
 Lieutenant - Colonel, Chief-Quartermaster to 
 
 Gen. Z. Taylor, i January, 1846. 
 Colonel, Assistant - Quartermaster - General, 
 
 U. S. A., 21 April, 1846. 
 Colonel, Assistant - Quartermaster - General, 
 U. S. A., Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. A, 
 23 February, 1847. 
 The following notice of his death appeared 
 in a contemporary newspaper : — 
 
 " Quartermaster-Gen. Henry Whiting, who 
 died at St. Louis on the i6th, and was taken 
 to Detroit for burial, entered the army in 
 1 808, as cornet of dragoons. He was brevetted 
 to a captaincy in 18 14, was in the artillery for 
 some years, but for about twenty years has been 
 
Sixth Generation. 241 
 
 in the staff, and was brevetted brigadier-general 
 in '48 for his services in Mexico and elsewhere. 
 In addition to his high standing as a citizen 
 and soldier, Gen. Whiting was a man of fine 
 literary tastes, fond of historical research, and, 
 by study and application, had become an excel- 
 lent scholar." 
 
 (Of the children of Gen. Henry Whiting are 
 Lieut. Henry Macomb W., U. S. A., and Lieut. 
 William Danforth W., U. S. N.) 
 
 The other children of Gen. John Whiting, 
 were, — 
 
 4. Sophia, d. 1853, s. p. 
 
 5. Fabius (Major U. S. A.), d. s. p., 1842. 
 
 6. Maria, b. 1794. 
 
 7. Solon, b. 1797. 
 
 8. Caroline Lee (Hentz), b. at Lancaster, 
 1800 (authoress), 1825, m. Professor N. M. 
 Hentz, at Northampton. 
 
 The Annals of Lynn (p. 275) say, "Caro- 
 line Lee Hentz, one of the most esteemed of 
 American prose writers, descended from this 
 venerable minister of the Lynn Church (Rev. 
 
242 Whiting Family. 
 
 Samuel Whiting). She was a daughter of 
 Gen. John Whiting, who did good service in 
 the Revolution, and died at Washington in 
 1810; and Gen. Henry Whiting, quite distin- 
 guished also for his literary attainments, was a 
 brother of hers. She was born at Lancaster, 
 Mass., in 1800, and was married in 1825, at 
 Northampton, to Mr. N. M. Hentz, a French 
 gentleman of education and talents, who was 
 at that time, in connection with George Ban- 
 croft the historian, conducting a seminary at 
 Northampton. Soon after marriage they moved 
 to North Carolina, when Mr. Hentz became a 
 professor in the college at Chapel Hill. They 
 afterwards lived at Covington, Ky., then at Cin- 
 cinnati, and then at Florence, Ala., where 
 they established a flourishing seminary. In 
 1843 they removed their school to Tuscaloosa, 
 Fla., and afterwards they resided at Columbus. 
 Ga. Mrs. Hentz died at the residence of 
 her son. Dr. Charles A. Hentz, at Mariana, 
 Fla., in 1856; and within a year afterwards 
 lier accomplished husband died at the same 
 place. 
 
Sixth Generation. 243 
 
 Among the most popular works of Mrs. 
 Caroline Lee Hentz are the following, of which 
 a new and uniform edition has recently been 
 published in Philadelphia : — 
 
 " Planter's Northern Bride." 
 
 "Linda: the Young Pilot of the Belle 
 Creole." 
 
 " Robert Graham : the sequel to, and con- 
 tinuation of Linda." 
 
 " The Lost Daughter." 
 
 " Courtship and Marriage." 
 
 " Rena; or, The Snow Bird." 
 
 " Marcus Warland." 
 
 " Love after Marriage." 
 
 " Eoline ; or. Magnolia Vale." 
 
 " The Banished Son." 
 
 " Helen and Arthur." 
 
 " Ernest Linwood." 
 
 The military history of Major Fabius Whi- 
 ting, from the official record, stands thus : — 
 
 " Fabius Whiting (Mass.), Second Artillery, 
 10 Feb. 181 2 ; First It. first Artillery, 20 June, 
 
 * For a complete list of her publications see " Printed Works of 
 Samuel Whiting and his Descendants," in the Appendix, also AUibone's 
 Diet, of Authors. 
 
244 Whiting Family. 
 
 1 813; Aid -de -Camp to B.- General Chand- 
 ler, I Jan. 1814; retained May, 1815, in 
 Artillery; Captain, 10 Sept. 1819; appoint- 
 ed Instructor in Artillery at the Military 
 Academy, Aug. 1820 to 21 Aug. 1821, and 
 in First Artillery, May 1821; Assistant Act- 
 ing-Quartermaster-General, I Jan. 1822; Capt. 
 1st Regt. Artillery, i Jan. 1823; brevetted 
 Major, for " ten years faithful service," 10 
 Sepf 1829; died May 16, 1842, at Lancaster, 
 Mass." 
 
 Children of Capt. Timothy Whiting of Lan- 
 caster : — 
 
 1. John, colonel, b. 1782, d. 1852; moved, 
 1 81 2, from Bangor, Me., to Bath, N.Y.* 
 
 2. Polly, d. s. p. 1799. 3. Sally, d. s.p. 
 
 4. Samuel Kidder, b. 1786, lawyer, Bangor, 
 Me.; d. 1817. {Lieut. Charles Jarvis W., sur- 
 veyor-general of California, is his son.) 
 
 5. Levi, b. 1790, graduated at West-Point 
 Academy, colonel U. S. A., d. 1852. (Lieut. 
 
 * He had issue. Of his descendants, are Reuben E. Robie, Esq., 
 lawyer, Bath, N.Y. ; William W. Whiting ; and Mrs. Barker, wife of 
 Hon. J. M. Barker, of Pittsfield, Mass., lawyer, and member of the 
 House of Representatives. Their children are Olive Pamclia, Sarah 
 Elizabeth, and Helena Whiting Barker. 
 
Sixth Generation. 245 
 
 William H. Chase, U.S.A., is his descendant.) 
 The following is from the Army Records : — 
 " Levi Whiting (Mass.), Sec. Lieutenant Ar- 
 tillery, 10 Feb. 1812; First Lieut, of Artillery, 
 14 June, 1814; retained May, 181 5, in Artillery ; 
 First Lieut, of Artillery and Aid to General 
 Ripley, i Jan. 1818; in 4th Reg. Artillery, 21 
 May, 1821; Capt. 4 Regiment Art. U.S.A., 
 21 May, 1822; brevet. Major "for ten years' 
 faithful service," 21 May, 1832; Major of ist 
 Reg. Artillery, 19 March, 1842 ; Lt. Colonel ist 
 Artillery, i April, 1850; died 3 Aug. 1852, at 
 Naugatuc, Conn." 
 
 6. Nancy W., b. 1793; m. Mr. Garfield, 
 Troy, N.Y. 
 
 7. Thomas J., b. 1796 ; lived in Boston. 
 
 8. Joseph, b. 18 July, 1798; d. 19 March, 
 1799. 
 
 9. Harriet, b. 1800; married Paul Willard, 
 Esq., of Charlestown, 10 October, 1821, par- 
 ents of the late Paul Willard, Esq., of Boston, 
 counsellor-at-law. • 
 
 10. James, Esq., b. 1805, of Boston, member 
 of the city government; moved to Brooklyn, N.Y. 
 
246 . Whiting Family. 
 
 SEVENTH GENERATION. 
 
 Children of Col. William Whiting of Con- 
 cord, Mass.. and Hannah Conant : — 
 
 I. William Whiting* of Montrose Avenue, 
 Boston (Highlands), formerly Roxbury, coun- 
 sellor-at-law, office 35 Court Street, Boston ; b. 
 3d March, 18 13. Educated at Concord Acade- 
 my, graduated at Harvard College, A.B., 1833, 
 A.M., 1836. Studied law at Cambridge Law 
 School, (LL.B., 1838.) Admitted to the bar of 
 Massachusetts and of the United-States Courts, 
 October, 1838. Presidential Elector 1868., 
 
 * To prevent confusion hereafter, it sliould be noted tiiat tiiere is 
 now (1871) still living in the same part of this city, another gentle- 
 man of the same name, " William Whiting, Esq." He formerly re- 
 sided in St. James Street, and of late years at Walnut Park. He 
 has held several offices under the old town of Ro.xbury, was a cash- 
 ier of one of the Roxbury banks, also a notary public, and treasurer 
 of one of the savings banks. So far as our researches have extended, 
 we have been unable to trace any connection between these families 
 of Whitings in England, and it is certain that no connection exists in 
 this country. Mr. Whiting of Walnut Park is an estimable and highly 
 respected gentleman, who is descended from Nathaniel Whiting of 
 Dedhara. His wife died 1871. 
 
Seventh Generation. 247 
 
 LL.D. 1872. Representative of 3d Massa- 
 chusetts (Boston) District in 43d Congress. 
 Corresponding Member of the New -York 
 Historical Society; Honorary Member of the 
 Historical Societies of Pennsylvania, Florida 
 and Wisconsin ; Corresponding Member of 
 the Philadelphia Numismatic and Antiquarian 
 Society, &c. ; and former President of the 
 New-England Historic-Genealogical Society. 
 Solicitor of the War Department at Wash- 
 ington, 1862 to 1865. Married, 28th October, 
 1840, Lydia Cushing Russell, second daughter 
 of Hon. Thomas Russell of Plymouth, Mass., 
 who was for several years treasurer of the 
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her broth- 
 ers are William G. Russell, Esq., counsellor-at-,. 
 law and law-partner of Mr. Whiting, and Hon. 
 Thomas Russell, late judge of the Superior 
 Court of Massachusetts, and now (1873), and 
 for several years past, United-States collector 
 of the port of Boston. She was descended 
 from several of the Pilgrims who came to 
 Plymouth in "The Mayflower," in 1620, and 
 from other early setders there : among her 
 
248 Whiting Family. 
 
 ancestors were Miles Standish, John Aldcn * 
 Robert Watson (who was a descendant of 
 John Rogers, the martyr), Richard Warren, 
 Robert Bartlett, Dea. John Cooper, Sarah 
 Bradford (sister of Gov. Bradford), Rev. John 
 Prince (rector of East Stafford, Berkshire 
 Eng.), John Oxenbridge, Rev. Peter Thacher 
 (of Old Sarum, Eng.), and Gov. Winslow. 
 
 The descendants of Miles Standish have 
 begun to erect a monument to his memory. 
 The following truthful and graphic sketch of 
 his life and character is from " The Boston 
 Daily Advertiser " of August i6th, 1871 : — 
 
 "THE STANDISH MEMORIAL. 
 
 " To-morrow, at Duxbury, the ground for a 
 soldiers' monument is to be consecrated, — a 
 monument not to the men whom we knew, 
 whose faces we still miss, for whom hearts are 
 still aching; not to the heroes who died in our 
 war for the Union, but to one who lived an he- 
 
 * See Longfellow's poem on Miles Standish's Courtship, 
 
Seventh Generation. 249 
 
 roic life for freedom, — to Miles Standish, who 
 was truly the soldier of the Pilgrims. Born 
 of a good family of Lancashire, he entered the 
 army, and served as an officer under the Earl 
 of Leicester in Holland. At Leyden he be- 
 came acquainted with the Rev. John Robinson 
 and his congregation, and cast in his lot with 
 theirs, — not, apparently, from religious convic- 
 tion, for he did not join the church, but rather 
 from the kind of daring and chivalry that al- 
 ways impelled him to join a forlorn hope, to 
 take the side of the weak and persecuted, to 
 delight in peril. He was thirty:six years old, 
 and held the rank of captain, when he joined 
 the little company of Pilgrims who landed at 
 Plymouth, in December, 1620. He at once 
 took a leading place in the history of the colo- 
 ny. Wherever there was special danger or 
 labor, there was Capt. Standish in the fore- 
 front : he led parties in the rough exploration 
 of an unknown coast for days before a land 
 ing-place was decided upon ; he fought the In- 
 dians when fighting was required ; he baffled 
 them when that was needful ; he traded with 
 
250 Whiting Family. 
 
 them when the Pilgrims needed corn and furs ; 
 and he always frightened and dazzled them by 
 the fierceness of his fury, and the recklessness 
 of his courage. They saw that he was a 'lit- 
 tle man,' but they learned by sad experience 
 that he was a 'great captain.' We read of 
 one terrible hand-to-hand fight with four Indi- 
 ans who were treacherous enemies, and whom, 
 he locked into a room with himself and three 
 of his own men, and fought till three Indians 
 were killed, — the fourth was saved to be hanged 
 — and of the challenging sachems to single 
 combat, which challenge the sachems hastily 
 declined, and retired as soon as possible. He 
 asked for only eight men to subdue all the In- 
 dians of Massachusetts. When the mad revels 
 at Merry Mount had become too outrageous to 
 be borne, and Morton scouted admonitions and 
 defied authority, Capt. Standish was sent to 
 take him by force. Morton was surrounded by 
 all his company, and had sworn he would never 
 be taken alive ; but when the little captain 
 marched up alone into the very jaws of death, 
 as it seemed, his magnificent courage serving 
 
Seventh Generation. 251 
 
 him better than an army, Morton was paralyzed 
 with amazement, his carbine was taken from 
 him, he was made prisoner, and his men scat- 
 tered without firing a shot. That was brave 
 work for Standish. ' His was the EngHsh, 
 pluck ; and there is no tougher or truer, and 
 never was, and never will be. 
 
 " The patience of the saints was often tried 
 by his conduct, no doubt. In 1623 the Rev. 
 Mr. Robinson wrote to the church at Plym- 
 outh ' to consider the disposition of their cap- 
 tain, who was of warm temper. He hoped 
 the Lord had sent him among them for good, 
 if they used him right ; but he doubted 
 whether there were not wanting that tender- 
 ness of the life of man, made after God's 
 image, which was meet : he thought it would 
 have been happy if they had converted some, 
 before they had killed any.' But over and 
 over again, Capt. Standish saved the little 
 colony from destruction. Conversion might 
 have been better, but there was no time for it 
 just then. And so the fiery, fearless little 
 captain did his work in his own hot way, and 
 
252 Whiting Family. 
 
 saved the seed for which all that is best in this 
 nation has grown. For more than thirty years 
 he commanded all the military operations of 
 the colony. 
 
 " But he was something more than a soldier. 
 He held important civil stations ; was for 
 many years one of the board of seven assist- 
 ants in the government ; was at one time 
 deputy-governor, and at another treasurer, of 
 the colony. He was sent to England on pub- 
 lic business of great importance, and, as though 
 destined by fate to meet every form of peril, 
 was in London at the time of the terrible 
 plague. Then, too, he was an accurate sur- 
 veyor, and laid out the towns, as, one by one, 
 they were set off and named ; and, though not 
 ready with his pen, was a noted linguist in the 
 Indian dialects. In the sickness falling on 
 the Pilgrims during their first winter here, the 
 sickness which took from him his beautiful 
 wife Rose, — that time of distress when there 
 were but six or seven sound persons to care 
 for the sick, — the brilliant soldier turned 
 nurse, and did that duty as faithfully and as ar- 
 
Seventh Generation. 253 
 
 dently as he ever fought. Gov. Bradford writes 
 in his journal, that Myles Standish and Elder 
 William Brewster spared no pains, night nor 
 day, in their care of the sick, ' but with abun- 
 dance of toyle, and hazard of their owne 
 health, fetched them woode, made them fires, 
 drest them meat, made their beads ; in a word, 
 did all y^ homly & necessarie offices w"'' 
 dainty & quesie stomacks cannot endure to 
 hear named ; and all this willingly & cherfully, 
 without any grudging in Y least, shewing here- 
 in their true love unto their freinds & brethren. 
 A rare example & worthy to be remembered. 
 I doute not but their recompence is with the 
 Lord.' Truly, 
 
 ' The bravest are the tenderest ; 
 The loving are the daring.' 
 
 " Little time could be spared in those days 
 for mourning ; and both patriotic and religious 
 considerations, duty to both Church and State, 
 demanded that a widower should make haste 
 to take another wife. So Capt. Standish, eager 
 to do at once what was to be done, sent hand- 
 
254 Wliiiing Family. 
 
 some John Alden in his stead, with proposals 
 of marriage to Priscilla Mullens. Everybody 
 knows how that wooing sped. ' Why don't 
 you speak for yourself, John } " has become a 
 proverb. He did speak for himself: he gained 
 Priscilla, but he lost forever the friendship of 
 Standish, who resented, not apparently the re- 
 fusal of the maiden, but the faithlessness of 
 the friend. At any rate, in the autumn of 
 1623 he married Barbara, whose family name 
 the records do not give, but who arrived at 
 Plymouth in ' The Ann ' in July of that year. 
 In 1630 he removed to Duxbury, which had 
 been granted to him sonie time before ; which 
 he named for the seat of his family in Lancashire, 
 and where he had already spent some sum- 
 mers, living, by request of the inhabitants, in 
 Plymouth during the winter. The hill on 
 which his house stood is still known as Cap- 
 tain's Hill ; and there, in 1656, he died, leaving 
 a wife and five sons. History and tradition 
 have kept his memory for more than two cen- 
 turies, — the memory of a man small in stature 
 and boyish in face ; an upright, unselfish man. 
 
Seventh Generation. 255 
 
 not knowing fear; a great soldier, wise in 
 council, unspotted in honor, hot of temper, 
 quick of speech, tender of heart." * 
 
 Of the children of Col. William Whitine of 
 Concord, William above named, was his only 
 son; his daughters were, — 
 
 2. Anne Maria, b- 18 October, 1814; d. 16 
 February, 1867, unmarried. She was buried 
 in the cemetery at Concord, Mass. 
 
 3. Louisa Jane, b. 12 June, 1820; m. 14 Sep- 
 tember, 1858, Rev. Stephen Barker, who was 
 settled at Leominster, Mass. ; became chaplain 
 of the ist Regt. Mass. Heavy Artillery, served 
 through the war. Finding upon his return 
 from active duty that his health would not al- 
 low the confinement of studious life, he gave 
 up his profession, and subsequently engaged in 
 business at Mclndoes Falls, Vt. 
 
 Of the services of Mrs. Jane Whiting Bar- 
 ker, in the camps, forts, hospitals, and sani- 
 
 * For references to the history of others mentioned as ancestors of 
 Mrs. Wliiting, see Bradford's Journal, Morton's Memorial, Winthrop's 
 Journal, Russell's History of Plymouth, Young's Chronicles, Savage's 
 Gen. Diet, &c. 
 
256 Whiting Family. 
 
 tary commission, from 1861 to the end of the 
 war, see brief accounts in Moore's " Women of 
 the Rebellion," and in letters of army corre- 
 spondents to " The Boston Daily Journal." 
 
 Children of Prentiss Whiting and Harriet 
 Willard of Charlton (See Note 7, p. 264) : — 
 
 1. Jane Willard, b. at Charlton, 18 Sept. 1828. 
 
 2. William Prentiss, b. 28 July, 1830. 
 
 3. Albert Theodore, b. 17 Sept., 1831. 
 
 4. George Augustus, b. at Uxbridge, 12 July, 
 
 1833- 
 
 5. Ellen Martha, b. 13 June, 1835. 
 
 6. Prentiss Mellen, U.S.A.,* b. 17 June, 1837. 
 
 7. Harriet Francis, b. 7 June, 1839. 
 
 8. Caroline Augusta, b. 23 April, 1842. 
 
 Children of George Whiting and Julia Ann 
 Wheelock : — i. George B. 
 
 2. Amelia D., m. Wm. Beale, and has three 
 children. 
 
 3. Caroline R., m. A. W. Davis, Chicago, has 
 one child. 
 
 * This heroic officer was killed while leading a successful bayonet 
 charge upon the enemy's works at the storming of St. Miry's Heights, 
 near Fredericksburg, Va. 
 
Seventh Generation. 257 
 
 4. Charles Lowell, m. Lucy Tift, Buffalo, she 
 d. 26 Feb., 1869, leaving a son and daughter. 
 
 5. Frank Phillips. 
 
 6. Frederic A., m. Miss Allen. (See Note 8, 
 
 p. 264.) 
 
 7. John C. Capt. (See Note 2, p. 262.) 
 
 8. Edward M. 
 
 9. Arthur, d. .y. p. 
 
 Children of Gen. Henry Whiting : — 
 
 1. Henry Macomb (Lieut, U. S. A.). The 
 Army Record, in i860, is thus : — 
 
 " Henry Macomb Whiting (Mass.), son of 
 General Whiting, entered as Cadet, Sepf. 
 1838; appointed 2d Lieut, of 4th Reg'. Ar- 
 tillery, I July, 1842; brevetted as first Lieu- 
 tenant ' for gallant and meritorious conduct in 
 the JBattle of Buena Vista,' 23 Feb., 1847 
 (May, 1848)." 
 
 2. William Danforth, commander, U.S.N. 
 The following extract froin Hammersly's " Rec- 
 cords of Living Officers of the U. S. Navy," is 
 found on page 103 : — 
 
 " Commander William D. Whiting, born in 
 .Mass., May i, 1823; appointed from the same 
 State, March i, 1841 ; attached to Sloop Cyane, 
 
258 Whiting Family. 
 
 Pacific Squadron, 184 1-4; Frigate Columbus, 
 East-India Squadron, 1844-6; Naval School, 
 1847-8; promoted to passed Midshipman, 10 
 Aug., 1847 ; Sloop Marion, East Indian Squad- 
 ron, 1849-1852; Naval Observatory, Washing- 
 ton, 1853; Coast Survey, 1 854-1 857 ; promoted 
 to Master, 1855 ; commissioned as Lieut. 14 
 Sept., 1855; Sloop Marion, Coast of Africa, 
 1858-60; Sloop Macedonian, 1861 ; Executive 
 Officer of Sloop Vandalia, at capture of Port 
 Royal, in 1861 ; commanding Steamer Wyan- 
 dotte, Potomac Flotilla, -1862 ; commissioned 
 as Lieutenant Commander, 16 July, 1862 ; com- 
 manding Steam Gunboat, Ottawa, South-Atlan- 
 tic Blockading Squadron, 1863 ; attack and 
 capture of lower end of Morris Island, attacks 
 on Fort Wagner and Battery Gregg, and bom- 
 bardment up to the time of their evacuation ; 
 commanding School-ship, Savannah, 1864-5 ! 
 commanding Steamer Tioga, Gulf Squadron, 
 1866; commissioned as Commander, 25 July, 
 1866; Navy Yard, New York, 1867-69; com- 
 manding Sloop Saratoga, North- Atlantic 
 Squadron, 1869." 
 
Seventh Generation. 259 
 
 Children of Samuel Kidder Whiting, Esq., 
 counsellor-at-law : — 
 
 1. Charles Jarvis W., surveyor-general of 
 California. " Gardner's Dictionary " says, — 
 
 "Charles Jarvis Whiting (Mass.), educated' 
 at West-Point Academy, grad. 1831 ; brevetted 
 Second Lieut, of Artillery, i July, 1835; resign- 
 ed May 31, 1836; (Civil Engineer on the pro- 
 jected road from Pensacolato Montgomery, Ala.; 
 Chief Engineerof the Tallahassee and St. Mark's 
 R.R., in 1837; Assistant Engineer on the Sur- 
 vey of the delta of the Mississippi River, in 
 1 838 ; Assistant Surveyor on the boundary be- 
 tween the U. S. and Mexico, 1849; Surveyor- 
 General of California, 1850." "The West- 
 Point Register," also adds that " he was the 
 principal of the Academy of Ellsworth, Me., 
 from 1839 to 1845." 
 
 Children of Col. Levi Whiting, U.S.A. : — 
 
 2. William H. Chase, Lieut. U.S.A. " The 
 Army Record " says, " William Henry Chase 
 Whiting (Mass.), son of Lieut. Col. Levi Whi- 
 ting, educated at West Point Academy, gradu- 
 ated in 1841 ; Sec. Lieut. Corps of Engineers, 
 I July, 1845." 
 
26o Whiting Family. 
 
 Children of Relief Whiting of Shrewsbury, 
 and Reuben F. Blood of Carlisle : — 
 
 1. Caroline Blood, b. 2 December, 1807, at 
 Carlisle: m. i, Julius A. Reed; 2, Rev. Mr. 
 Orth, minister, Fairfield, lo. 
 
 2. Matilda, b. 2 April, 1808, at Mason, N.H.; 
 m. John Milton Upham of Royalston, Mass., 
 machinist. 
 
 3. Charles Emerson, b. i March, 1810 (Rev.); 
 minister, settled at Collinsville, 111. ; graduated 
 at Jacksonville College, 1837. 
 
 4. Lorenzo Whiting (Rev.), b. 13 April, 1812 ; 
 graduated at Wesleyan University in 1838; 
 clergyman, stationed in 1844 in Mystic, Conn. 
 
 5. Rufus Hartwell, b. 6 July,~i8i4; lived in 
 Hopkinton, Mass.; m. two wives, — i. Miss 
 Coburn of Hopkinton ; 2. Sarah Knowlton of 
 Shrewsbury. 
 
 6. George Lysander (Capt.), b. 31 July, 
 181 7; shipmaster; m. Miss Spooner of Athol. 
 Caroline the ist child was born at Carlisle; 
 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th children were born at Mason, 
 N.H.; the 6th at Phillipston, Mass. 
 
Eighth Generation. 261 
 
 Children of Seth Whiting and Mary Ken- 
 dall : — 
 
 1. Susan Harding, who m. Elisha Coburn 
 of Hopkinton, who had two children, Mary 
 Kendall and Lucius Henry. 
 
 2. Lucius Henry. 
 
 3. John Lake. 
 
 4. Mary Kendall. 
 
 5. Jonas Miles. 
 
 6. Anstis Amelia. 
 
 7. Olive Matilda. 
 
 EIGHTH GENERATION. 
 
 Children of William Whiting, counsellor-at- 
 law, of Montrose Avenue, Boston Highlands, 
 and Lydia Gushing Russell : * — 
 
 1. Rose Standish Whiting, b, 28 December, 
 1843. 
 
 2. William St. John Whiting, b. 6 November, 
 1848; d. 8 November, 1848. 
 
 3. William Russell Whiting, b. 22 Septem- 
 ber, 1850. 
 
 4. Harold Whiting, b. 13 May, 1855. 
 
 * See Note i, p. 262. 
 
262 Whiting Family. 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Note r. — The children of this family are descended, in the eighth 
 generation, from Rev. Samuel Whiting of Lynn and Elizabeth St. 
 John, through Rev. Joseph^ Whiting of Southampton, L.I., Rev. 
 John^ Whiting of Concord, Mass., Judge Thomas* Whiting of Boston, 
 William" Whiting of Lancaster, Col. William" Whiting of Concord, 
 and William'' Whiting, counsellor-at-law, Boston ; from Deputy-Gov. 
 Thomas Danforth, by marriage of Joseph Whiting with Sarah, his 
 daughter ; from Gov. Thomas Dudley, Gov. Simon Bradstreet, Ann 
 Dudley the poet, Dorothy Bradstreet, and the Rev. John Cotton of 
 Boston, by marriage of Rev. John Whiting with Mary Cotton, great- 
 grand-daughter of Rev. John Cotton of Boston, and daughter of Rev. 
 John Cotton of Hampton, N.H., whose mother was Dorothy Bradstreet, 
 daughter of Gov. Bradstreet, and grand-daughter of Gov. Dudley ; 
 also from Gov. Stephen Goodyear (of Connecticut), great-grandfather 
 of Mary Cotton, through the family of Capt. Thomas Lake, who mar- 
 ried Gov. Goodyear's daughter ; also by two lines from Capt. Lake, 
 1st through Mary Cotton, 2d through Judge Thomas Whiting, who 
 married Mary Lake (see Genealogy of the Lake family) ; also from 
 the English families mentioned in the genealogical chart of the family 
 of Elizabeth St. John, wife of Rev. Samuel Whiting ; also from Roger 
 Conant, the founder of the Colonies at Cape Ann and Salem, through 
 Hannah Conant, wife of Col William Whiting of Concord ; also by 
 marriage of their father with Lydia Gushing Russell, daughter of Hon. 
 Thomas Russell of Plymouth, from Miles Standish, John Alden, Rich- 
 ard Warren, Gov. Winslow, and others (mentioned in connection with 
 her name), who came over to Plymouth in 1620 in the Mayflower. 
 
 Note 2, p. 257. — Brig.-Gen. Pratt writes to the Governor of New 
 York, Sept. 27, 1862, as follows : — 
 
 " I hereby certify that Lieut. John C. Whiting has served in my 
 command during the past year. In that time he has acted as adjutant, 
 and for a large portion of the time has commanded a company. I 
 consider him one of the best officers in the service. He is a thorough 
 tactician, an excellent disciplinarian, and a faithful and eificient ofScer. 
 He was promoted for gallantry at the battle of West Point, and highly 
 distinguished himself at the battles of Gaines' Hill, Charles City, 
 Cross Roads, Crampton's Pass, and Antietam. I can cordially rec- 
 ommend him for promotion." 
 
 He was subsequently promoted to the office of captain. 
 
Whiting Family. 263 
 
 Note 3, p. 18. — The name of Elliot has usually been spelled 
 with one 1 ; but Savage gives it as either Eliot, Elliott, or Elliotte. 
 The inscription on an ancient portrait of this distinguished philanthro- 
 pist, virhich the author procured many years since, in England, reads 
 thus: "John Elliot, the- apostle of the Indians, nascit. 1604, obit. 
 1690." 
 
 Note 4, p. 205. — Children of Rev. Samuel Whiting, Jun., of Bille- 
 rica, and Dorcas Chester. The Billerica Records give the following 
 dates ; — 
 
 Elizabeth, b. 6th day, gth month, 1660. 
 Samuel, b. 19th day, nth month (Jan.), 1662. 
 John, b. 1st day, 6th month (Aug.), 1664. 
 Oliver, b. 8th day, 9th month (Nov.), 1665. 
 Mary, b. 28th day, 3d month (May), 1667. 
 Dorritty, b. 23d day, 7th month (Sept.), 1668. 
 Joseph, b. 7th day, 12th month (Feb.), 1669-70. 
 James, b. 20th day, 6th month, 1671. ) 
 Died, 1st day, 7th month, 1671. J 
 Unis, b. 6th day, 7th month, 1672. 
 
 Died 20th day, 7th month, 1672. 
 Benjamin, b. 26th day, 7th month (Sept.), 1675. 
 
 Died, i8th day, 8th month, 1675. 
 Benjamin (2d), b. 5th day, gth month, 1682. 
 
 Died, 20th day, 9th month, 1682. 
 Joseph, b. 6th day, 7th month (Sept.), 1701 (unmarried). 
 Dorcas, the mother, died i6th Feb., 17 12-13. 
 Rev. Samuel, the father, died 28th Feb., 1712-13. 
 Some of the above dates differ from those in the text, and in Far- 
 mer's Register. 
 
 Note 5, p. 217. — The children of Rev. Thomas Clark and Eliza- 
 beth Whiting. 
 
 Farmer's Register gives the children of Rev. Thomas Clark, second 
 minister of Chelmsford, by his first wife, but omits his issue by his 
 second wife, Elizabeth Wliiting, by whom he had one daughter, 
 Abigail. Mr. Parkhurst, Town Clerk of Chelmsford, thus writes : 
 "Abigail, daughter of Rev. Thomas Clark and Elizabeth his wife, 
 was born Jan'. 25, 1705. Her father died Dec'. 7, 1704, one month and 
 twenty-one days prior to her birth. He was twice married. His sec- 
 ond wife was Elizabeth Whiting of Billerica. They were married 
 
264 Whiting Family. 
 
 Oct. 2, 1702." Abigail (m. 12 Nov. 1733.) Samuel Green, 2d son of 
 Timothy Green, b. April 21, 1706, d. May, 1752. Abigail died 7 
 Aug., 1791, a;. 87. Their children were Abigail, Thomas, Timothy, 
 Elizabeth, Lucy, Anne, Samuel, Mary, and Margaret. Timothy mar- 
 ried Rebecca Spooner, and had issue Thomas Clark Green, &c. It is 
 believed that the descendants of Rev. Thomas Clark and Elizabeth 
 Whiting are numerous ; they include among others Rev.- Dr. Porter, 
 President of Yale College, George B. Butler, Esq., counsellor-at-law, 
 of New York, and Charles E. Butler, Esq. of New York, law-partner 
 with William M Evarts, &c. 
 
 Note 6, pp. 19, 229. — Roger Conant. "The Landing of the Pil- 
 grims," &c., by J. W. Thornton, Esq., chap. ix. pp. 219, 229, 262, 
 " shows that there was a designed and a political unity between the 
 Colonies at Cape Ann and Salem, from 1624 ; and that Massachusetts 
 as a body politic dates from 1624 ; and that the successive accretions 
 or growth of the colony were part and parcel of that political unit. 
 Roger Conant was the founder, not of Cape Ann, nor of Salem only, 
 but of Massachusetts. P'idelity to facts, and to the truth of history, 
 admits of his having no other or subordinate rank. In a word, Ply- 
 mouth Colony began in 1620, under Carver ; Massachusetts in 1624, 
 under Conant." 
 
 Note 7, p. 256. — Of the children of Prentiss Whiting and Har- 
 riet Willard, Jane W. m. Augustus C. Ross of Blackstone, 7 July, 
 1854; had two children. William P. m. a d. of Rev. Charles Kings- 
 ley of Mendon, Mass., and has two children, — William and Frederic. 
 Albert T. m. Miss Vesta Simmons, a lineal descendant of Rev. John 
 Cotton. Caroline A. m. John Dunbar, who is stated to have descended 
 from the Dunbartons of Scotland : they have two children. George A. 
 m. Miss Alexander. "The record of Prentiss Whiting,'' says one 
 who knew him well, " was splendid from the day he entered the army 
 to the day of his death. Had he lived twenty-four hours longer, he 
 would have been brevetted major for his bravery by Gen. Russell." 
 His brother George also served in the army with the United-States 
 Volunteers. 
 
 Note 8, p. 257. — Frederic A. Whiting, late of Glen Avon, near 
 Plainfield, N.Y., married Miss Allen of New York. They have one 
 daughter. Miss Allen's grandmother was Julia Ann Whiting of 
 Dover, Mass. (see note on the Whitings of Dedham, p. 282). He is 
 President of the " Oakdale Iron Company,'' and now resides at " Oak- 
 dale," about eight miles from Kingston, near Waklen's Ridge, in 
 Roane County, East Tennessee. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 For the use of those who may have occasion 
 to prosecute further inquiries relating to per- 
 sons of the name of Whiting in England, the 
 following memoranda, and abstracts of English 
 records, are appended : — 
 
 ARMS OF ENGLISH FAMILIES OF WHITING. 
 (From Burke's General Armory.; 
 
 Whiting (Wood, co. Devon), Argent, a Bend wavy, cotised, 
 sable. 
 
 Whiting (Defford, co. Leicester, and Elton, co. Northampton), 
 Gyronny of four. Azure and Ermine, over all a leo- 
 pard's head, or, in Chief three Bezants.* 
 
 Whiting (London), Gyronny of four, Argent and Azure on a 
 Chief of the first, three leopards' heads of the 
 second. 
 
 Whiting (Glastonbury, co. Somerset), a Cross bottonee between 
 two leopards' heads in Chief and in base as many 
 cinquefoils. 
 
 Whiting (Sussex), Azure, on a Chief, or, three leopards' heads 
 in the field. 
 
 * The Boston Lincolnshire family of Whiting is a branch of the 
 
 above. 
 
 U =^5 
 
266 Whiting Family. 
 
 Whiting, Azure, a leopard's head, or, between two flaunches 
 Ermine, in Chief three plates of the last, crest a 
 demi-Eagle with two heads displayed proper. 
 
 Whiting, per fesse indented, or and Azure, three leopards' 
 heads counterchanged. 
 
 Whiting, Argent, a bend nebulee between two cotises sable. 
 
 Whiting, Argent, on a bend sable three Whiting's proper. 
 
 Whyting, Per saltire Ermine and Azure, in the fessepoint a 
 leopard's head, or, in Chief three plates, crest a 
 bear's head. 
 
 ABSTRACTS FROM POLWHELE'S HISTORY OF 
 DEVON. 
 
 Vol. I, p. 270, Names of the Sheriffs for Devon, 46 of Edward 
 3d. Nicholas Whiting. 
 270, The learned in the law, the justices itinerant, and 
 the justices of the circuit — 
 " Henry Percelay, kt, a judge of the Comon 
 Plees, lived in Kinge Ead 3 tyme ; hee and 
 Nicolas Whiting were chosen knights of the 
 shire for the Parliament, anno 35 of Kinge 
 Edward 3. The said Nicholas Whiting was 
 also learned in the lawes." Quoted from Ris- 
 don. 
 372, In the 35 of Edward 3d, Hugh Courtenay, Earl 
 of Devon together with Richard de Bransconib 
 high sheriff, Henery de la Pomeray and with 
 the consent of the county, and by the king's 
 mandate gave orders to Roger Piperel and 
 Thomas de Afifetre collector of the assessments 
 
Historical Notes. 
 
 267 
 
 to pay to Henry Percebay and Nicholas Whi- 
 ting, knights, sixteen pounds for their charges 
 in serving the county as knights of the shire 
 in the Parliament held at Westminster. Quoted 
 from Cleveland. 
 Vol. 2, p. 22, The Prydhams held the 4th part of a knight's fee 
 in Ringswell ; which according to Risdon came 
 to this family in marriage with the daughter of 
 Walter de Stapleton the former possessor. The 
 Prudhommes were originally from Guise in 
 France where still remain some of the name. 
 Those who came into Devonshire, went chiefly 
 by the name of Prydham. The Yorkshire 
 branch took the name Prudom or Prudomme. 
 By the marriage of Margaret, sister and heiress 
 of Thomas Prydham to Nicholas Whiting, this 
 property descended to the heirs general of 
 Whiting. It belongs at present to Edward 
 Cotsford Esqr. by purchase from Gregory 
 Jackson Esqr. 
 
 113, Inscriptions in Shillingford Parish Church. 
 April ye 21, 171 1. Underneath was buried Mrs. 
 
 Ehzabeth Whiting, wife to the Reverend Mr. 
 John Whiting Rector of this parish. 
 Sept. 7, 171 1 was Buryed ye said Mr. John Whit- 
 ing the husband. 
 As Turtles dye and can't survive the fate 
 Or sad divorcement of each tender mate 
 So she first dead, he staid awhile and try'd ~ 
 To live without her lik'd it not and dy'd 
 
 114, On the wall on the north-west side of the chancel, 
 
^58 Whiting Family. 
 
 over a large seat called the manour seat is a 
 white marble tablet with these arms engraved 
 on a white marble shield over it. Three Whi- 
 tings in pale naiant. The inscription is this in 
 gold letters first engraved and then gilded, — 
 Hie situs est Whiting cineres gaudete sepulti 
 In tumulis tacitis dolore vacat 
 O cruel fate how fickle art to me 
 First smile, and then bring me to misery 
 So we are born, and presently we die 
 No hour given, no reason given why. 
 Here under Whiting lays, troubles now cease 
 We hope he's gone to everlasting peace. 
 The Rev. Mr. John Whiting rector of this Parish 
 died ye 8th of June 1726. 
 Vol. 2, p. 244, Nicholas Babington of Ottery St. Mary by Joan 
 his wife one of the daughters and heirs of 
 Henry Whyting of Ottery St. Mary had issue 
 Walter who by Elizabeth his wife daughter of 
 Bryan Travers of Pill near Barnstaple left issue 
 Thomas, whose name (says Prince) is here ex- 
 tinct. 
 Henry Whiting and his ancestors had a good 
 estate in this parish whose daughter Joan, and 
 one of his heirs, was married (as I have before 
 observed) unto Nicas Babington, a gentleman 
 of an ancient family, but whose son Walter 
 consumed his estate and Isaac hath his man- 
 sion house. 
 257, Parish of Kentisbeare. 
 
 Wood was the ancient house of Whiting which 
 
Historical Notes. 2G9 
 
 name continued in this place from Edward the 
 3d to Henry the 8th, and the Whitings well ad- 
 vanced their estate by the heirs of Prydehome, 
 Clevedon and Panchfoote. The last of this 
 family left four daughters ; one the wife of 
 Henry Walrond, another married to Fitz James, 
 a third to Ashford, and the fourth to Keymes. 
 John Whiting of Wood, dying without issue in 
 Henry the yths time a suit in law commenced 
 between John Whiting his cousin, and next heir, 
 and a herald named John Whiting born beyond 
 the seas who laid claim to this land ; but it 
 was found for John Whiting of Wood. 
 Vol. 2, p. 258, In a small aisle on the south side, is an old tomb- 
 stone in memory of John Whiting Esqr. and 
 Anne his consort erected in 1539. 
 
 268, Parish of Pehembury. " Upton Prodhome lieth 
 in this parish the inheritance of the name of 
 Prodhom by Margaret one of the sisters and 
 heirs of Thomas Prodhom in the middle of the 
 raigne of Kinge Edward 3 brought this land 
 unto Nicas Whitinge her husband in wch 
 name it continewed divers discents and by the 
 daughters of John Whiting it was transfered 
 in the famylies of Walrond, Keynes and the 
 heirs of Robt. Fitz James, and Ashford and 
 now Henry Ashford Esquier hath the whole." 
 Marked as quoted from Sir W. Pole, p. 181. 
 
 274, Parish of Buckerell. " Cockerhays, in this 
 parish sometime the land of Prodhom, de- 
 scended to Whiting." 
 
270 Whiting Family. 
 
 Vol. 2, p. 360, Parish of UfFculm. Henry Walrond married 
 Agnes 2d daughter and co-heir of John Whi- 
 ting of Wood. 
 361, FoxhuU. FoggeshuU and Ford in this parish de 
 
 scended from Prodhom to Whiting. 
 368, Manor of Ashford. 
 
 Nicholas Ashford married Elizabeth daughter 
 and heir of John Whiting of Wood. 
 
 BAPTISMS. 
 
 Extracts from the Registers of l^oston, Lincolnshire.* 
 
 John Whiting, son of John, baptized 4 June, 1592. 
 William, son of William, baptized 4 June, 1602. 
 John, son of John, baptized 29 March, 1617. 
 Jacob, son of Robert, baptized 29 Aug., 1622. 
 John, son of James and Martha, baptized 5 Jan., 1711. 
 Samuel, son of James and Frances, baptized 9 Aug., 1707. 
 Samuel, son of James and Martha, baptized 4 March, 1714. 
 Richard, son of Thomas and Mary, baptized 12 Feb., 1773. 
 
 MARRIAGES. 
 
 Samuel IV., gentleman, married Elisabeth St. John ; 6 Aug. 
 
 1629. See p. 281. 
 James W., married Mary Beatson, Dec. 28, 1625. 
 Jonathan W. and Mary, his wife, living 1642. 
 Benjamin W., living 1663. 
 John W., living 1665. 
 Joseph W., living 1671. 
 
 * See page 280. 
 
Historical Notes. 271 
 
 Isaac W., living 1672. 
 
 Thomas W. and Dorothy, his wife, living 1675. 
 
 Benjamin W. and Mary, his wife, living 1680. 
 
 Elizabeth W., married John Watson of Meldenhall, Suffolk, 
 
 1655. 
 John W. and Mary Nodell, married 14 Feb., 1656. 
 Joseph W. and Mary Tooley, married 28 Nov., 1660. 
 Esther W. and Samuel Marshall, married 2 Oct., 1657. 
 Benjamin W. and Mary Barker, married 3 Feb., 1679. 
 Richard VV. and Elizabeth Luke, married 27 Apr., 1679. 
 Mrs. Jane W. and Mr. William Pistor, married 3 May, 1684. 
 Mrs. Mary W. and Mr. Anthony Wood, married 3 March, 1698.. 
 Mr. James W. and Mrs. Frances Bird, married i June, 1699. 
 Mrs. Abigail W. and Mr. John Tooley, married 4 Sept., 1645. 
 Mrs. Elizabeth W. and Mr. John Arnall, married 6 Oct., 1737, 
 
 Rev. Mr. Whiting of Spalding officiating. 
 
 BURIALS. 
 
 James Whiting, son of John, buried Aug. 21, 1599. 
 
 Margaret, a daughter of William, buried Dec. 2, 1600. 
 
 Mrs. Margaret W., buried Feb. 12, 1603. 
 
 Isabell W., buried May 4, 1602. 
 
 John W., alderman, buried Oct. 22, 1617. 
 
 Faith W., his widow, buried Oct. 11, 1632. 
 
 William W., buried 17 Dec, 1645. 
 
 Esther, wife of John W. (Gent'n), buried 19 Sept., 1645. 
 
 James W., alderman, buried ^ May, 1648. 
 
 Deborah, wife of John, Esq., buried 19 Oct., 1658. 
 
 John W., Gent'n, buried 22 Sept., 1664. 
 
 Mary W. widow, buried 9 Feb., i568. 
 
272 Whiting Family. 
 
 Anne, daughter of John, buried 14 Feb., 1668. 
 Thomas, son of Benjamin W., buried 6 Sept., 1668. 
 Joseph, son of Mr. Joseph W., buried 30 Oct., 1673. 
 Mary, wife of Robert W., buried 3 Oct., 1674. 
 Thomas W., buried 17 May, 1677. 
 John, son of Jonathan W., buried 31 Dec, 1643. 
 Mary, daughter of Benjamin W., buried 3 May, 1680. 
 Benjamin, son of Benjamin W., buried 3 March, 1681. 
 John, son of Benjamin W., buried 7 Aug., 1682. 
 John, son of John of Leverton, buried 4 Apr., 1686. 
 Joseph, son of Benjamin W., buried 3 March, 1692. 
 Mrs. Rebecca W., buried 9 Aug., 1694. 
 Benjamin W., Gent'n, buried 17 Dec, 1701. 
 Mr. John W., buried 23 Nov., 1705. 
 John, son of James W., buried 20 May, 1709. 
 Mrs. Rebecca W., buried 6 Nov., 1715. 
 Dorothy W., widow, buried 17 Dec, 1716. 
 Mrs. Martha W., buried 15 Oct., 1717. 
 Abigail, wife of James W., buried 28 Jan., 1720. 
 James, Mr., buried 21 Jan., 1746. 
 
 James, a common counsellor, buried 16 Sept., 1758, aged 50. 
 Mrs. Martha (spinster, aged 74), buried 7 May, 1781. 
 Rev. Samuel, M.A., rector of Fishtoft, buried 31 May, 1781, 
 aged 67. 
 
 EXTRACTS 
 From the Records of the Corporation of Boston, Lin- 
 colnshire, AND OTHER SOURCES, IN RELATION TO THE 
 
 Whiting Family. 
 
 • 333- William Whytynge, subsidy roll, Boston. 
 1352. William Whyting, of Deeping, Diigdalc. 
 
Historical Notes. 273 
 
 1560. John and Robert Wliyting, of Thorpe, near Wainfleet, 
 Dugdale. 
 
 1590. John Whiting, member of the council and erection bai- 
 liff, of Boston. 
 
 '593 John W., an alderman, dismissed his office for ploughing 
 up three acres of land, contrary to his lease, — re-elected 
 in 1596. 
 
 1603. William W., a member of the council. 
 
 l6u. John W., member of the common council, appeared at 
 the council "in a faire gowne of browii-bhce, with a 
 garde of velvet, and it was ordered that the council doe 
 all provide such gownes." The aldermen " to provide 
 eache a comeley gowne of scarlet." 
 
 1614. John Whiting and Richard W. were aldermen, and Wil- 
 liam W. and John W. jun., members of the council. 
 
 1631. John and Robert W., mentioned. 
 
 1627. Mr. Whiting desired a lease of Hussey Tower, and the 
 buildings, orchard, gardens, &c., and sixteen acres of 
 pasture, to pay annual rent therefor, ^15, two capons, 
 and two pounds of sugar, which was granted. 
 
 1635. Mr. Whiting desired to purchase the house called the 
 Falcon. 
 
 1640. James Whiting, mayor this year, and John Whiting, al- 
 dermen, were brothers. 
 
 1640. Mr. Whiting asked to purchase the houses in St. John's 
 Row. 
 
 1640. John Whiting had land of his own near Hussey Tower. 
 
 1645. John Whiting, jun. (mayor 1644), resided in Hussey Tow- 
 er. Mr. James Whiting, his brother and an alderman, 
 now wished a lease of it, and twenty-one acres of land, 
 for 10 years, for the yearly rent of £,\if, three pounds 
 of sugar, and a fine of ;£5o. 
 
2 74 Whiting Family. 
 
 1642. James Wniting, mayor of Boston, mentioned in the sub- 
 sidy rolls, and John Whiting, of Boston, and John Whi- 
 ting, Gent'n, of Fishtoft, and John Whiting of Skir- 
 beck, all mentioned in the subsidy rolls this year. 
 
 1649. John Whiting, rector of Leverton ; he died in 1689. 
 
 1655. Benjamin Whiting, member of the council ; he held lands 
 of the corporation in 1661. 
 
 1660. John Whiting, much employed in corporation affairs, and 
 asks to purchase land of the corporation. 
 
 1662. Henry, John, and Benjamin Whiting held land in Boston ; 
 and the heirs of Samuel Whiting, and John Whiting 
 clerk in Fishtoft. 
 
 1662. At the Restoration, John Whiting and Benjamin Whiting 
 were removed from being aldermen, and John Whiting, 
 jun., from being one of the council. The politics of the 
 corporation had long been decidedly anti-monarchical. 
 
 1667. Joseph and John Whiting said to be in debt to the cor- 
 
 poration. 
 
 1668. Joseph Whiting rented Hussey Tower, brew-house, &c., 
 
 of the corporation for ten years. 
 1683. John Whiting of Boston. 
 
 1687. Roger Whiting resided on the westsideof the water (river). 
 1701. John Whiting admitted to the freedom of the borough. 
 
 He was elected one of the council in 1702. 
 
 1705. Samuel Whiting held land in Skirbeck. 
 
 1706. Mr. James Whiting took his freedom in 1708, upon pay- 
 
 ing £^°- 
 
 1708. Mary Whiting married Josiah Johnson, at Skirbeck. 
 
 1709. John Whiting held land in Fishtoft. 
 
 [729. Samuel Whiting inducted into the living and rectory of 
 Fishtoft, 23 June. 
 
Historical Notes. 
 
 275 
 
 1730. James Whiting paid ;£6o to be released of tlie office of 
 alderman. 
 
 1733. Mr. Whiting held land in Fishtoft. 
 
 1746. James Whiting admitted to his freedom, 27 Feb., and 
 elected to the council, 20 March. 
 
 1758. Mr. Samuel Whiting's house in the market-place was re- 
 built. The old house was one of those in which the 
 upper floors overhang the lower ones ; and, in rebuild- 
 ing it, Mr. Whiting was allowed " both at the front, and 
 at the north end in the lane, as much space as the up- 
 permost story projected over." 
 
 1758. Sept. 25, the Rev. Samuel Whiting, executor of the late 
 James Whiting, his brother, surrendered his lease of 
 outrents, &c., due to the corporation. 
 
 1760. Rev. Samuel Whiting admitted a freeman, as being the 
 
 eldest son of an alderman, and elected a member of 
 the council. 
 
 1761. Rev. S. Whiting lent the corporation ^500. 
 1777. He lent the corporation ^500 more. 
 
 1779. Rev. Samuel Whiting resigned his seat in the council of 
 
 the borough, "on account of not being able to attend 
 
 the meetings so often as he from a sense of duty wished 
 
 to do." He died 31 May, 1781, aged 67. 
 
 *"At his death the family is believed to have become 
 
 extinct in the male line. Samuel Whiting's sister Mary 
 
 married James Yorke, and their son, James Whiting 
 
 Yorke, inherited the Rev. Samuel Whiting's property ; 
 
 he was a colonel in the army, and married Elizabeth, 
 
 the daughter of Abraham and Martha Sheath of Boston; 
 
 his only son, James Whiting Yorke of Walmegate, near 
 
 Louth, was sheriff of Lincolnshire, 1850 or 1851, and 
 
 died in July, 1854, without issue.'' 
 * Note by Pishey Thompson, Historian of Boston, England. 
 
276 Whiting Family. 
 
 John Whiting was mayor of Boston 1600 and 1608. He was 
 father to the Rev. Samuel, who emigrated to the United States. 
 John Whiting, jun., brother to the Rev. Samuel, was mayor 
 1626, 1633, 1644, and 1648, — the only instance of one person 
 being mayor four times. 
 
 James Whiting, another brother of the Rev. Samuel, was 
 mayor in 1640. 
 
 James Whiting was mayor in 1718. 
 
 COPIES AND ABSTRACTS OF WILLS, 
 
 DEPOSITED IN THE EISHOP'S REGISTRY AT LINCOLN IN 
 LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 Beatrice Whiting, of Burgh, in Lincolnshire. Will dated 
 July 4, 1532 ; proved June 11, 1534. Son Cliristopher, executor. 
 Daughters Isabel, Jenet, and Margaret. Dorothy, daughter of 
 daughter Jenet. Legacies to Mary Hall and Elizabeth Carter. 
 
 Robert Whiting, Vicar of Helprington. Will dated April 14, 
 1534; proved June 11, 1534. Gives to the Friars of Boston; 
 to several churches ; to priests to sing for his soul ; provides 
 for prayers for the souls of his father and mother for 20 years. 
 Legacies to several persons, but none of the name of Whiting. 
 Appoints Henry Roods and William Benning, executors. 
 
 Robert Whiting of Hogsthorpe. Will dated Oct. 6, 1535 ; 
 proved Feb. 28, 1535-6. Desires to be buried in the church. 
 Wife Elizabeth. To son William a farm in Braytofte. Daugh- 
 ters Elizabeth and Margaret. Appoints his son William and 
 William Chyllis executors. 
 
Historical Notes. 277 
 
 lohn Whiting of South Orinsby. June i, 1537 ; will proved 
 Oct. 15, 1538. Wife Agnes, son Thomas. 
 
 William Whiting of Long Benington, husbandman. Will 
 dated Sept. 19, 1545 ; proved Nov. 12, 154J. No Whitings 
 named. Appoints John Hays, executor. 
 
 Thomas Whiting of Braytofte. Will dated April 19, 1561 ; 
 proved April 16,1562. Wife Alison. Sons Richard, Thomas, 
 and Augustine, not 21. Daughter Elizabeth. Son William. 
 Cousin William Whiting of - Horncastle. Appoints his wife 
 executrix. 
 
 Robert Whiting, Clerk and Vicar of Legsby. Will dated 
 Aug. 28, 1563. Legacy to John Pavvton and several others, but" 
 no Whitings. 
 
 John Whiting of Northolme. Will dated Feb. 27, 1566; 
 proved April 8, 1567. Sons Christopher and George. Appoints 
 his wife (not named in the will) executrix, and George Waple 
 supervisor. 
 
 Leonard Whiting of Mumby. Will dated Jan. 8, 1572-3 ; 
 proved Jan. 24, 1572-3. Wife Agnes. Brothers Robert and 
 Richard. Sister Jenet Whiting. Mentions his father-in-law 
 Thomas Bygott and Henry Whiting. Desires to be buried in 
 the church. 
 
 Richard Whiting of Horncastle. Will dated Oct. 20, 1577 ; 
 proved April 10, 1578. Wife Margery. Brother Thomas. Bro- 
 ther Austen. (Augustine i") 
 
278 Whiting Family. 
 
 William Whiting of Bratofte, yeoman. Will dated Dec. 13, 
 1593. Son William not 2i. Daughter Frances not 21. Bro- 
 thers Thomas and Augustine. Sister Elizabeth. Appoints his 
 brother Thomas executor. 
 
 George Whiting of Burgh-in-the-Marsh. Will dated Nov. 
 27, 1597 ; proved July 19, 1598. Wife Alice. Son Leonard. 
 Son Richard not 21. Youngest son George, who had a legacy 
 from Miles Ashton, gent., by his will. Daughter Margaret 
 Hainton. Appoints his wife executrix, and George Johnson of 
 Twaits, and Mr. Miles Ashton of Burg, supervisors. 
 
 John Whiting of Horncastle. Will dated July 2, 1599; 
 proved Aug. 30, 1599. Gives his cup of silver with the 
 cover, and half a dozen silver spoons, which are silver and gilt, 
 to his sisters Ehzabeth and Anne and their children. To his 
 sister Anne Towneson, his gold ring which hath the ruby in it. 
 His next best ring to sister Elizabeth. To Mrs. Wiggs of 
 Hull, a gold ring which hath the poesy, "continue constant." 
 To his wife's sister, Anne Burr, a gold ring with this poesy, 
 "Though hands do sever, yet love doth never." Sister Kath- 
 erine Ellis, cousin Isabel Anderson, cousin Margaret Lawrence, 
 cousin Robert Whiting, cousin Thomas Whiting and his chil- 
 dren, cousin William Whiting. To his aunt Whiting, los. 
 and a purse which was his wife's. Brother Thomas Broughton ; 
 nephew William Broughton. To brother Townsen, one crown 
 in gold. Appoints his cousin William Whiting and his broth- 
 er Thomas Broughton executors. 
 
 Richard Russell, alias Whiting, of Reshden, in Hertford- 
 shire. Will dated Feb. 20, 1606 ; proved at Lincoln, July 20, 
 
Historical Notes. 279 
 
 1607. Son Richard. Daughters Eh'zabeth, Maryan, Lewes, 
 Mary, and Agnes, all under twenty-one. Appoints his wife, 
 Sevains, executrix, and his wife's father George Harrison, and 
 her brother John Harrison, overseers. 
 
 William Whiting of Horncastle. Will dated June 6, 1611. 
 Now wife Frances ; mother Cicely Whiting ; brother Robert ; 
 daughter Annie Whiting ; godson John Taylor. Proved July 
 4, 1611. 
 
 Whiting, yeoman. Will dated March ; proved 
 
 April, 1616. Desires to be buried in the church-yard of Croste. 
 Wife Margaret ; brother Mr. John Whiting ; brothers William 
 and Robert ; brother Richard Greene ; nephew Augustine 
 Whiting and his father Francis ; niece Anne Whiting. Legacy 
 to Richard Rauson of Croste. Appoints his wife Margaret 
 executrix. 
 
 This will is somewhat decayed ; the Christian name of the 
 testator is gone, and also some other portions. 
 
 James Whiting of Boston ; will dated April 23, 1648; proved 
 June 7, 1648. To his wife Mary, during her life, all his houses 
 and lands in Boston, Skirbeck, Leake, and Leaverton. Men- 
 tions his lands in Fishtopt and Freeston ; son John ; son Sam- 
 uel, not twenty-one. To his brother, Samuel Whiting, now in 
 New England, _£;■ To his sister, Wright, £t^. Appoints his 
 wife executrix, and his brothers, Mr. John Whiting and Mr. 
 Charles Empson, supervisors. 
 
 William Whiting of Fishtoft. Will dated Nov. 25, 1645, 
 
28o Whiting Family. 
 
 Wife Margaret. Son William. Dau^jhter Elizabeth, not 
 eighteen. 
 
 EXTRACTS. 
 
 FROM THE PARISH REGISTER OF ST. BOTOLPH, IN BOSTON. 
 The register begins: Baptisms, 1557; Marriages, 1565 ; Burials, 1559 
 
 BAPTIZED.* 
 
 1587. Dec. 10, Isabel, daughter of John Whiting. 
 
 1589. Sept. 28, Audrey, daughter of John Whiting. 
 
 1592. June 4, John, son of John Whiting. 
 
 1594. Aug. 4, Margaret, daughter of John Whiting. 
 
 1597. Nov. 21, Samuel, son of John Whiting. 
 
 1598. Sept. 3, Robert, son of William Whiting. 
 
 1599. Aug. 21, James, son of John Whiting. 
 
 1600. Dec. 14, Margaret, daughter of William Whiting. 
 1602. June 4, William, son of William Whiting. 
 
 1614. Jan. 29, John, son of John Whiting. 
 
 161 5. March 24, Isaac, son of William Whiting. 
 1616-17. Feb. 21, Jonathan, son of John Whiting, jun. 
 1618. Aug. 30, Davie, son of John Whiting, gent. 
 1618. Sept. 13, Isaac, son of William Whiting, gent. 
 1620. April 30, Abigail, daughter of John Whiting. 
 1622. Aug. 29, Jacob, son of Robert Whiting. 
 
 1622. Dec. 8, Samuel, son of John Whiting. 
 
 1624. March 14, John, son of Robert Whiting. 
 
 1624. March 18, Joseph, son of John Whiting. 
 
 1626. April 2, Benjamin, son of John Whiting, gent. 
 
 [628. Dec. 18, Hester, daughter of Robert Whiting. 
 
 * See p. 270, 
 
Historical Notes. 281 
 
 1630. Jan. 21, Samuel, son of James Wliiting. 
 
 1632. Sept. 27, Elizabeth, daughter of John Whiting, alder- 
 
 man. 
 
 1633. June 9, John, son of James Whiting. 
 
 1635. Feb. 8, Hester, daughter of John and Hester Whiting. 
 
 MARRIED. 
 
 1625. Dec. 28, James Whiting and Mary Beitson. 
 
 1629. Aug. 6, Samuel Whiting, gent., and Elizabeth St. John.* 
 
 BURIED. 
 
 1601. July 27, Margaret Whiting. 
 
 1602. Feb. 12, Mrs. Margaret Whiting. 
 1602. May 4, Isabel Whiting. 
 
 1614. Feb. 2, John Whiting. 
 
 1616-17. March 3, Elizabeth, wife of John Whiting, jun. 
 
 1617. March 29, Isaac, son of William Whiting. 
 
 1617. Oct. 22, John Whiting, alderman. 
 
 1618. Nov. s, David, son of John Whiting, gent. 
 
 1619. Feb. 8, William Whiting, gent. 
 
 1623. Feb. 18, Jacob, son of Robert Whiting. 
 
 1623, March 10, Samuel, son of John Whiting. 
 
 1626. Sept. 4, John, son of Robert Whiting. 
 1629. Jan. 6, Hester, daughter of Robert Whiting. 
 1629. Jan. 31, the still-born child of Mr. John Whiting. 
 1632. Oct. II, Faith, wife of John Whiting, alderman. 
 
 * See p. Z70, 
 
 36 
 
282 Whitings of Dedham. 
 
 DEDHAM FAMILY OF WHITING. 
 
 For genealogical notices of Nathaniel Whi- 
 ting of Dedham, who married Hannah Dwight, 
 Nov. 4, 1643, and of their descendants, see 
 Savage's Genealog. Dictionary, vol. iv., p. 519. 
 (The date of their marriage is given in the 
 town records as Nov. 4, not March 4, as the 
 Dictionary gives it.) From this family are de- 
 scended William Whiting, Esq., of Walnut Park, 
 Boston Highlands, notary public, late cashier 
 of one of the Roxbury banks, and treasurer of 
 the Savings Bank. He has held several offices 
 of responsibility under the old town of Rox- 
 bury, and has always been held in high esteem. 
 On town voting-lists, his name is entered as 
 William Whiting first, while that of William 
 Whiting, counsellor-at-law, a descendant of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting of Lynn, and several years 
 younger, is entered as William Whiting second. 
 AmiOng the descendants of Nathaniel Whi- 
 ting, above named, may be mentioned Na- 
 thaniel Whiting, Esq., of Watertown, Mass., 
 
Whitings of Dedham, 283 
 
 an honorable and wealthy merchant, who had 
 spent much of his time in former years in 
 England, and had long indulged in antiqua- 
 rian researches, and especially in genealogical 
 investigations. 
 
 " Nathaniel Whiting should be remembered,- 
 not only as a man of purity and integrity, and 
 an honorable and successful merchant of the 
 elder generation, but as one of the chief ben- 
 efactors of Boston, and as a man whose breadth 
 of view, energy and perseverance have seldom 
 been equalled. Boston is especially indebted 
 to him for the levelling of Fort Hill, and laying 
 it out for business purposes; for the establish- 
 ment of the manufacturers' exchange ; the 
 general betterment law, and its incidental 
 improvements. Fort Hill, which had once 
 been the stylish quarter for residence, had on 
 the change of fashion, from its location and 
 formation, become a vast nuisance in the heart 
 of the city, and a block to its business and 
 improvement. But the number of owners was 
 so great and the interests so conflicting, that 
 the ablest men had again and again tried in 
 
284 WJiitings of Dedham. 
 
 vain to contrive some scheme for its improve- 
 ment. 
 
 He saw that all such plans as had been tried 
 were, in the nature of things, futile and imprac- 
 ticable. He showed, too, of what incalculable 
 benefit the work would be to the metropolis ; 
 and, accordingly, he procured and established 
 fii'st an act for the improvement of Oliver and 
 Hamilton Streets, and then another for the 
 reduction and improvement of the whole terri- 
 tory from Milk round by Broad Street to Fed- 
 eral Street, embracing many acres, and carried 
 it through, in the face of such obstacles at the 
 State House and City Hall and in the courts, as 
 well as outside, as few men would have dared to 
 encounter, and fewer yet would have overcome. 
 By his wisdom, foresight and energy, this im- 
 mense area in the business centre of the city 
 was reclaimed and made the best of its terri- 
 tory, and a betterment law, which had been so 
 long successfully defeated, established, which 
 has changed the character of the city. Atlan- 
 tic Avenue followed, and Mr. Whiting projected 
 its extension. 
 
Whitmgs of Dedham. 285 
 
 The manufacturers' exchange, too, was his 
 project. Taking the hint from what he had 
 seen abroad, — at Leeds, Bradford, Hudders- 
 field, Manchester and elsewhere, — he saw that 
 if Boston could embody the principle of a 
 clothall in a general manufacturers' exchange 
 for the exposition and sale of New England 
 goods, she would recover much of the business 
 she had let slip away from her, and establish a 
 position that would defy competition ; and by 
 his own efforts he procured the statute of 
 1867, granting the square of an acre in the 
 centre of this territory, for this greatest of 
 business establishments. In many respects he 
 strongly resembled Mayor Quincy, the elder."* 
 
 Most of those who bear the name of Whi- 
 ting, originating in Dedham, Wrentham, Hing- 
 ham, Plymouth, &c., have descended from 
 Nathaniel Whiting of Dedham. 
 
 * Boston Daily Advertiser. 
 
2 86 Whitons of Hingham. 
 
 HINGHAM FAMILY OF WHITON. 
 
 For a genealogical notice of the descendants 
 of James Whiton of Hingham, 1648, and Mary 
 Beal, Matthew Whiton his brother, and Debo- 
 rah Howard, and of Thomas Whiton, who came 
 in " The Elizabeth and Ann " from London, 
 1635, see " Savage's Genealog. Dictionary," who 
 says, " The sound of this name, having its first 
 syllable short or long, at the whim of some of 
 the descendants, who prefer the long, easily 
 slid into WhitiTig, in the fourth or fifth genera- 
 tions, as they spread into various towns." By 
 referring to the records of Suffolk deeds and 
 of Suffolk wills and to the records of Norfolk 
 and Plymouth counties, many instances may 
 be found in which the name of Whiting has 
 been adopted by those who belong to this 
 family, which has become widely extended. 
 This name has been spelt Whiton, Whitton, 
 Whittun, and Whitten. 
 
Whitings of Hartford. 287 
 
 HARTFORD FAMILY OF WHITING. 
 
 For a genealogical account of the descend- 
 ants of Col. William Whiting, the founder of 
 Hartford, Conn., and his wife Susanna, who 
 came over here probably in 1633, see " Good- 
 win's History" of the family; also "Hunter's 
 Tract," 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., '' Farmer's Register," 
 and " Savage's Genealogical Dictionary." The 
 descendants of this eminent progenitor are very 
 numerous, and several of them have been dis- 
 tinguished. Many, if not most, of the families of 
 this name, in Connecticut and in Western 
 Massachusetts, have sprung from him. 
 
 Inquiries have frequently been made, whether 
 any connection could be traced between the 
 three Whiting families of Rev. Samuel Whi- 
 ting of Lynn, Col. William Whiting of Hart- 
 ford, and Nathaniel Whiting of Dedham. Thus 
 far no relationship has been discovered between 
 them. The family of Rev. Samuel Whiting 
 belonged to Boston, in the county of Lincoln ; 
 
288 Whitings of Harfford. 
 
 that of Col. William Whiting of Hartford, and 
 of Nathaniel Whiting of Dedham, according 
 to Mr. Hunter (3. Mass. Hist. Coll., x., 71), be- 
 longed to Boxford, in the County of Suffolk. 
 Mr. Savage (in his Geneal. Diet.) conjec- 
 tures that this stock might include that of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting, although, he says, he came last 
 from the county of Lincoln. Mr. Savage was 
 probably not aware that this clergyman, instead 
 of having come " last " from Boston, belonged 
 to a family which had been settled there for 
 several centuries before the first Pilgrim came 
 to these colonies. Although no connection 
 between these ancient contemporaries has 
 yet been shown, it by no means follows that 
 none exists. It will be left for other 2:enealos:ists 
 to make further examinations in the English 
 records, and to ascertain whether they were de- 
 scendants from the same ancestor. 
 
 There is some reason to believe that the 
 Virginia family of Whiting are of the same 
 stock as that of Rev. Samuel Whiting ; but the 
 proofs have not been sufficiently developed to 
 warrant a positive assertion of that fact. 
 
Whitings of Virginia. 289 
 
 THE VIRGINIA FAMILY OF WHITING. 
 
 Having seen no published genealogy of this 
 family, or reference to it, excepting that made 
 by Jared Sparks, in explanation of the descent 
 of Gen. George Washington, a nephew of 
 Caroline Whiting, and whose family was seve- 
 ral times intermarried with the Whitings of 
 Virginia, we add, for more convenient use, the 
 following memoranda : — 
 
 In the State Paper Office, London, Eng., 
 vol. 447, entitled " America and the West 
 Indies," is recorded, " The Muster of the 
 Inhabitants .of Virginia, taken the 23 of Janu- 
 ary, 1624," and extending over the space of 
 time from 1606. The following are entered as 
 being of " Elizabeth Cittie," — 
 
 " Mr. Qiffe minister his muster. 
 Mr. George Kech, aged 40. 1 Came in 
 James Whitinge, aged 16. \ The George, 
 John Kech, aged 11. J 16 17. 
 
 Provision : corne, 10 barrells ; goates, 4." 
 
 3? 
 
290 Whitings of Virginia. 
 
 James Whitinge who came over to Eliza- 
 beth City, Va., in "The George," A. D. 16 17, 
 aged 9 years, was the progenitor of the Vir- 
 ginia family bearing his name. His grandson 
 Thomas had two children, Thomas and Cathe- 
 rine : the last named Thomas, a colonel in the 
 service, was father of Thomas and Catherine, 
 who, in 1 715, married John Washington, eld- 
 est son of Lawrence Washington and Mildred 
 Warner. Their children were Warner, Henry, 
 Elizabeth, Mildred, and Catherine. 
 
 Thomas, last named, married three wives ; the 
 last was Elizabeth Sewell. By them he had the 
 following: Thomas, Henry (who married a Miss 
 Beverly), Horatio, Sarah, Catherine, Eliza T. 
 (b. Nov. 29, 1744), Susannah, William (d. Oct. 
 24- 1759). Jane, Ann Beverly, Beverly (b. March 
 10, 1758, d. Oct. 24, 1759). The last-named 
 Henry (and Miss Beverly) had ten children, — 
 seven sons and three daughters ; the sons were 
 Beverly, who was godfather to Gen. Washing- 
 ton, (d. 1755), Francis (b. 24 Jan. 1747, mar- 
 ried Miss Frances Perrin), and John. 
 
 Beverly, last named (who died in 1755), had 
 
Whitings of Virginia. 291 
 
 issue, of whom one daughter was Ann, b. 
 22 Dec, 1738, bapt. 12 Jan. 1739. 
 
 Francis, the last-named Beverly's brother, 
 married Frances Perrin, 24 Jan., 1747, had nine 
 children: Henry (b. 10 Dec, 1748), who m. ist, 
 Ann Fairfax Carlisle, and 2d, Eliz. Brax- 
 ton; Mary (b. 30 March, 1754), married War- 
 ner Washington; John (b. 17 Nov. 1750), who 
 m. Miss Perrin; Anne (b. Sept. 1756), m. Capt. 
 Dolphin Drew; Elizabeth (b. 6 March, 1764); 
 Francis (b. 12 March, 1759), married Mrs. 
 Thacher Washington; Beverly; Fanny (b. 29 
 Aug. 1760), married Charles Lowndes, Jeffer- 
 son Co., Va. ; Lewis (b. 22 April, -1766, d. 
 June, 1767). 
 
 John, another brother of Beverly (godfather 
 of Washington), had one son, Beverly (b. 1756, 
 bapt. Oct. 18, 1756). Henry, the eldest son of 
 the family of nine children last named, married 
 ist, Ann Fairfax Carlisle,; 2d, Elizabeth, dau. of 
 George Braxton, Esq., of King and Queen Co. 
 Their children were Carlisle Fairfax, who mar- 
 ried a Miss Litde; Mary Blair (b. 21 Aug., 
 1 78 1, d. 21 Sept., 1857); George Braxton (d. 
 
2g2 Whitings of Virginia. 
 
 1840); Francis Beverly (b. 1784), living in 1850, 
 in Clarke Co., Va. Mary, eldest dau. of the 
 family of nine children (sister of last-named 
 Henr}'), married Warner Washington ; she d. 
 1792 or 3 ; they had numerous descendants, of 
 whom Perrin Washington of Washington was 
 one. Francis Beverly (b. 1784) had issue: 
 William Henry, who married Mary J. Foote, 
 dau. of the late Judge Foote of Otsego, N.Y., 
 and Francis Beverly. 
 
 Besides the above, there is a line of descend- 
 ants of McField, or Maxfield Whiting, who 
 are now living in Kentucky, Illinois, and In- 
 diana, and are quite numerous. 
 
 McField Whiting m. Letitia Johnson of 
 Spottsylvania Co., Va. ; their children were 
 James and William, both killed in the Revolu- 
 tionary War; Thomas, m. Miss Cunningham 
 of Fredericksburg; Charles, m. Sally Montague 
 of Spottsylvania ; Elizabeth, m. Thomas Estes ; 
 Martha, m. Benjamin Poe ; Nancy, m. John 
 Estes. The ramifications of this family are 
 extensive. 
 
Whitings of Virginia. 
 
 293 
 
 The connection of the Washington and 
 Whiting families is shown by the following 
 table : — 
 
 Laurence Washington = Mildred Warner. 
 
 John Washington, 
 
 m. 
 Catherine Whiting. 
 
 Augustine Washington, Mildred Washington, 
 m. 
 
 1. Miss Butler. 
 
 2. Miss Ball. 
 
 Gen. George Washington. 
 
 Warner Washington, 
 
 m. 
 I. Elizabeth Macon. 
 
 I. 
 Henry. 
 
 Mildred. 
 
 4- 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 Catherine. 
 
 2. Hannah Fairfax. 
 
 2. 3. 4. 
 
 Warner Washington, Mildred, Hannah Catherine 
 
 m. m. Whiting. Nelson. 
 
 Miss Whiting. Throckmorton. 
 
 Issue, several children. 
 
 Elizabeth. 
 
 6. 
 Louisa. 
 
 7- 
 
 Fairfax. 
 
 8. 
 ' Whiting. 
 
 "About midway between the "birthplace " and 
 " Stratford Hall," says an interesting writer, is 
 the site of the old church of the parish, which 
 was named in honor of Col. John Washington 
 (great-grandfather of George), after he had led 
 the Virginia and Maryland forces successfully 
 
294 Whitings of Virginia. 
 
 against the Seneca Indians. It was described 
 to me by one who remembers it well, as one of 
 
 " Those churches old and gray, 
 In which our fathers used to stand, 
 In years gone by, to pray." 
 
 Its walls were of English brick, as were the 
 pillars which supported its groined vaulted 
 ceiling. Around the sides were the proud 
 monuments of the Washingtons and the Lees 
 and the Beverlys and the Carters ; while on the 
 wall was inscribed, on marble tablets, " The 
 Law, the Prayer, and the Creed." The pulpit 
 was small, and nearly in the centre of the 
 church ; the sides of the pews were so high 
 that " new bonnets " could not divert the atten- 
 tion of the fair hearers ; the floors were paved 
 with quaint tiles, and at the altar-railing was 
 the baptismal font. One " christening " there 
 was thus recorded in the mother's family Bible, 
 which still exists, covered with homespun cloth 
 from her own loom : — 
 
 " George Washington son to Augustine & 
 Mary his Wife was Born ye i ith Day of Febru- 
 
Whitings of Virginia. 295 
 
 ary, 173 1-2 about 10 in the morn-ing & was 
 Baptiz'd ye 3th of April following, Mr. Beverly 
 Whiting & Capt. Christopher Brooks Godfa- 
 thers, and Mrs. Mildred Gregory, Godmother." 
 After the Revolution, the established church 
 deprived of its " tythes " and its " glebes," lost 
 its influence; Washington parish had no pastor ; 
 sacrilegious hands carried away the pews, the 
 tiles were stolen for hearths, the windows were 
 broken in. But the fortress-like walls remained, 
 defying the storms, until the , brick of which 
 they were so firmly built was coveted, and the 
 roof was actually burned off. Even then the 
 groined ceiling stood firmly ; and, as if by a 
 retributive justice, a " valuable " negro em- 
 ployed by his vandal master in demolishing it 
 was crushed by a falling column, and so 
 maimed as to be thenceforth of no service. A 
 mass of broken brick now alone marks the 
 sacred spot, above which a growth of sombre 
 evergreens, pointing heavenward, interlace their 
 branches as if to "keep green the memory " of 
 those whose voices once echoed there " in 
 prayer and in praise." 
 
296 Printed Works. 
 
 PRINTED WORKS OF REV. SAMUEL WHITING 
 AND OF SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS. 
 
 Whiting, Rev. Samuel. " Oratio Comitiis Can- 
 tabrigensibus Americanis, in Aula 
 Harvardiana, Pridie Calendas Sex- 
 tiles, Anno 1649." 
 
 Sermon preached before the Ancient 
 and Honorable Artillery Co., at Bos- 
 ton, 1660. 
 
 A volume of sermons, entitled, " A Dis- 
 course of the Last Judgment ; or. 
 Short Notes upon Matthew 25, from 
 verse 31 to the end of the chapter, 
 concerning the judgment to come, 
 and our preparation to stand before 
 the great Judge of quick and dead ; 
 which are of sweetest comfort to the 
 elect sheep, and a most dreadful 
 amazement and terror to reprobate 
 goats." (Cambridge, 1664, 12 mo., 
 160 pages). 
 
 (This volume contains a statement of forty-two doctrines.) 
 
Printed Works. 297 
 
 A volume of sermons on Abraham's 
 humble intercession for Sodom, and 
 the Lord's gracious answer in conces- 
 sion thereto. " The words of a dying 
 man." 349 pages, 1666. 
 
 (This series of sermons contains a statement of thirty-two doc- 
 trines.) 
 
 Biographical Notice of Rev. John Cotton. 
 Whiting, Henry (Gen.). Sannillac, a poem, 
 
 with notes, by Lewis Cass and Henry 
 
 R. Schoolcraft. 1844. 
 Discourse before the Historical Society 
 
 of Michigan. (Michigan Historical 
 
 and Scientific Sketches). 
 Remarks on the supposed tide, and 
 
 periodical rise and fall of the North 
 
 American Lakes. 
 Life of Zebulon Montgomery Pike. 
 
 (Published in Sparks's American Bio- 
 graphy, vol. XV.) 
 Ontwa; or. The Son of the Forest, a 
 
 poem. 1822. 
 The Age of Steam, &c. 
 North American Review. 14 articles. 
 38 
 
298 Printed Works. 
 
 Whiting, Caroline Lee (Mrs. Hentz). 
 
 Planter's Northern Bride. 
 
 Linda: the Young Pilot of the Belle 
 Creole. 
 
 Robert Graham. 
 
 The Lost Daughter. 
 
 Courtship and Marriage. 
 
 Rena; or, The Snow Bird. 
 
 Marcus Warland. 
 
 Love after Marriage. 
 
 Eoline ; or, Magnolia Vale. 
 
 The Banished Son. 
 
 Helen and Arthur. 
 
 Ernest Linwood. 
 
 De Lara ; or. The Moorish Bride, a tra- 
 gedy, which gained a prize of ^500. 
 
 Lamorah ; or, The Western Wild, a 
 tragedy. 
 
 Constance of Werdenberg, a tragedy. 
 
 Human and Divine Philosophy, a poem, 
 and other poetical pieces. 
 
 Aunt Patty's Scrap-Book. 
 
 The Mob-Cap, and other Tales. 
 
 Wild Jack; or. The Stolen Child. 
 
Printed Works. 299 
 
 Ugly Effie ; or, The Neglected One and 
 
 the Beauty. 
 The Victim of Excitement, The Parlor 
 
 Serpent, and other novelettes. 
 The Flowers of Elocution, a class-book. 
 
 Note.— An interesting sketch of Mrs. Hentz may be found in 
 Prof. Hart's Female Prose Writers of America. 
 
 Whiting, John (Gen.). Revolutionary Orders 
 of Gen. George Washington. Ed- 
 ited by Gen. Henry Whiting, 1844. 
 
 Whiting, William (counsellor-at-law). 
 
 Biographical Sketch of Rev. Joseph 
 Harrington, pp. 62. 
 
 War Powers of the President. (Essays 
 on military arrests, military govern- 
 ment, reconstruction, or the return of 
 the rebellious States to the Union, 
 and war claims against the United 
 States ; being included in the 43d 
 edition, Boston, 1871, pp. 725.) 
 
 Memoirs of Rev. Samuel Whiting and 
 Elizabeth St. John, with reference to 
 some of their English ancestors and 
 American descendants, pp. 305. 
 
300 Printed Works. 
 
 Arguments. Addresses &c. 
 
 Boston Gas Light Co. vs. William 
 Gault. pp. 55, Boston, 1848. 
 
 Report in favor of the Union of Boston 
 and Roxbury. 1851, pp. 35. 
 
 Address before a Committee of the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts, on the 
 Destruction of Boston Harbor. Re- 
 printed 1852, pp. 80. 
 
 Argument in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, in the case of Brooks 
 vs. Fiske et al. (case of the Woodworth 
 Planing Machine patent). 1852, pp. 
 87. 
 
 Argument in the case of Ross Winans 
 vs. Orsamus Eaton et al. before the 
 Circuit Court of the United States for 
 the Northern District of New York. 
 1853, pp. 165. (On the patent for the 
 eight-wheeled car.) 
 
 Argument before a Committee of the 
 Legislature of Massachusetts, in Be- 
 half of the Remonstrants against the 
 Erection of a Bridge across Chelsea 
 Creek. 1854, pp. 29. 
 
Printed Works. 301 
 
 Argument in case of interference be- 
 tween Farley & Allen (the Volute 
 Spring Steam Gauge). 1858, pp. 102. 
 
 Twenty Years' War against the Rail- 
 roads : a Letter to Hon. Erastus Corn- 
 ing. i860, pp. 29. 
 
 Argument in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States in the case of Ross 
 Winans vs. New York & Erie Rail- 
 road, pp. 1 1 6. 
 
 Argument in Circuit Court of the 
 United States: Union Sugar Refinery 
 vs. the Continental Sugar Refinery. 
 1867, pp. 190. 
 
 Argument in case of Crowell vs. Sim 
 et al. 1 869, pp. 34. 
 
 Argument in case before the Circuit 
 Court of the United States for New 
 York, Rumford Chemical Works vs. 
 John E. Lauer. 1869, pp. 78. 
 
 Argument in case of the City of Chicago 
 vs. George T. Bigelow, appellee. 1869, 
 pp. 57. (Not delivered.) 
 
302 Printed Works. 
 
 Union Sugar Refinery vs. Francis C. 
 Matthiessen (rule inequity as to costs). 
 1869, pp. 120. 
 
 Argument in the Circuit Court of the 
 United States, James S. Carew vs. 
 Boston Elastic Fabrics Co. 1871, pp. 
 107. 
 
 Address before the New England His- 
 toric-Genealogical Society. 
 
 Argument in the Circuit Court of the 
 United States for New York : the Union 
 Paper Collar Co. vs. Ward. 1872, pp. 
 850. 
 
 Argument in the Circuit Court of the 
 United States for New York: the Rum- 
 ford Chemical Works vs. Hecker et a I. 
 1872, pp. 
 For other publications, see Allibone's Dic- 
 tionary of authors.* 
 
 * The list of printed works by the descendants of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting is very far from being complete. The foregoing are those 
 only which happen to be accessible to the writer of this Memoir 
 at the present moment. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Affetre, Thomas de, 266. 
 
 Alden, John, the Plymouth Pil- 
 grim, 247. 
 
 Ancient and Honorable Artillery 
 Company, 92. 
 Sermon preached in presence 
 of, by Rev. Samuel Whi- 
 ting, 108. 
 
 Annals of Lynn, 32, 59. 
 
 Appendix, 265. 
 
 Arms of English Families of 
 Whiting, 265, 266. 
 
 Arnold, 224. 
 
 Ashford, Manor of, 270. 
 
 Nicolas married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of John Whiting 
 of Wood, 270. 
 
 Aspinwall, William, Condemnation 
 and banishment of, 88. 
 How his friends suffered who 
 petitioned in his favor, 88- 
 90. 
 His manly conduct, 89. 
 Persecution of, opposed by 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting, 92. 
 
 Atwood, Deacon John (Plymouth 
 
 Pilgrim), 248. 
 Audley, 17. 
 
 B. 
 
 Babington, Nicholas, of Ottery St. 
 Mary, 268. 
 Walter, 268. 
 Thomas, 268. 
 
 Bacon, Sir Nathaniel, 32. 
 
 Baptisms, registers of, at Boston, 
 Eng., of the name of Whi- 
 ting, Extracts from, 270, 
 280, 281. 
 
 Bancroft, History of the U.S., 2i, 
 
 24- 
 
 Barker, Mrs. Jane Whiting, 256. 
 Rev. Stephen, 255. 
 
 Barre, History of Massachusetts, 
 78. 
 
 Barron, Capt., U.S.A., Children of, 
 by Mary Whiting, 226. 
 
 Bartlett, Robert (Plymouth Pil- 
 grim), 248. 
 
 Belknap, History of N.H., 59. 
 
 Bellingham, 60. 
 
3o6 
 
 Index. 
 
 Bentham's Baronetage (pedigree 
 
 of the Lake family), 219. 
 Bernard, Sir John, 48. 
 Blood, R. R, and Relief Whiting, 
 
 Children of, 260. 
 BoUes, Account of the pjersecu- 
 
 tion in Boston, 71. 
 Bolingbroke Lord (St. John), 41, 
 
 42, 43 
 Cooke's memoir of. Note up- 
 
 O'l. 4j- 
 Boston, Lincolnshire, Eng., Cor- 
 poration Records of. Ex- 
 tracts from, relating to the 
 family of Whiting, 272, 273, 
 274, 275, 276. 
 Wealthy merchants of, in the 
 
 time of Edward III., 10. 
 Wealth and commercial im- 
 portance of, 9. 
 The spirit of its citizens, and 
 their views in relation to 
 Royal Government, 30. 
 Daily Advertiser (U.S.), Ex- 
 tracts from, 248, 285. 
 Botolph's Town, or Boston, 33. 
 Bradford, his history, 202. 
 
 Sarah (sister of Gov. Brad- 
 ford), 248. 
 Bradstreet, Gov. Simon, 19, 60. 
 Great-grand-daughter of, mar- 
 ries Rev. John Whiting of 
 Concord, 215. 
 Bradshaw, the Puritan judge, 48. 
 Connection of, with the family 
 of Mrs. Elizabeth St. John 
 Whiting, 48. 
 Brainerd, Hezekiah, 203. 
 Brainerd, Rev. David, the mission- 
 ary, 203. 
 
 Brainerd, Rev. David {cont'd) : — 
 Descended from Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting of Lynn, 203. 
 
 Branscomb, Richard de (35 Ed- 
 ward IIL), 266. 
 
 Bliss, Rev. Daniel, of Concord, 
 212. 
 
 Brewer, Nathaniel, of Roxbury, 
 204. 
 
 Bridges, Allan, waker of sleep- 
 ers, 93. 
 
 Brinley, George, Esq., owner of a 
 copy of the Sermons of Rev. 
 Dr. Whiting, 128. 
 
 Buckerell, Parish of, 269. 
 
 Bulkley, EngHsh family of, con- 
 nected with that of Rev. 
 Dr. Whiting, 17. 
 Rev. Edward, D.D., of Odell, 
 
 49> 52 
 
 Rev. Peter, first minister of 
 Concord, Mass , 19, 20, 49. 
 
 Ancient and noble family of, 
 in England, 49. 
 
 Sarah, of Odell, Bedfordshire, 
 Eng., mother of Elizabeth 
 St. John Whiting, 49, 50, 52. 
 
 Robert, Baron, temp.. King 
 John, and Lord of the 
 Manor of Bulkley, 50. 
 
 Genealogy of one branch of 
 the family of, 50. 
 Burials, records of the Parish 
 Register of St. Botolph's 
 Church, relating to mem- 
 bers of the Whiting family, 
 271, 272, 281. 
 Burke's extinct and dormant 
 baronetcies, 43. 
 
Index. 
 
 307 
 
 Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 
 
 32. 
 Burrill, Francis, 161. 
 
 c. 
 
 Cambridge College, regard for, felt 
 by Rev. Samuel Whiting, 
 106. 
 Overseers of, their character 
 
 for learning, 106. 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting chosen 
 
 overseer of, 106. 
 All of Rev. Samuel Whiting's 
 sons and sons-in-law gradu- 
 ates of, 195-205. 
 Numerous descendants of, in 
 each of the seven genera- 
 tions from him, down to the 
 present time, have been 
 graduates of, 195-264. 
 
 Carlyle's Life of Oliver Cromwell, 
 48. 
 
 Charlestown, 64. 
 
 Chester, Dorcas, 107. 
 
 Christmas, Colonial law against 
 persons observing or keep- 
 ing, 108. 
 Complaint of Mr. Burton to 
 the Court against Winnie 
 Johnstone, for keeping, 109. 
 Interference with those who 
 wished to observe and keep 
 it disapproved of by Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting, no. 
 His liberality respecting, no. 
 
 Churches of the Puritans, Absence 
 of ornaments in the, 74. 
 
 Clark, Rev. Thomas, of Chelms- 
 ford, who married Elizabeth 
 Whiting, 217. 
 
 Clergymen of England, their 
 general course of conduct 
 when under persecution, 
 54. 
 Clevedon, 269. 
 
 Cobbet, Mr., colleague with Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting, 87. 
 Their friendship, 87. 
 Separation, 107. 
 Cockerhays, Estate of, descends to 
 
 Whiting, 269. 
 Cooper, Dea. John (Plymouth Pil- 
 grim), 248. 
 Courts Civil, first attempt of, to 
 interfere with the discipline 
 of the churches, 115, 116. 
 Correspondence of, with Rev. 
 
 Samuel Whiting, 1 16-123. 
 Vindication by Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting of the right of 
 the churches to be inde- 
 pendent of the, 124. 
 Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in- 
 habitants of the, 18-22. 
 Growth of liberty among them, 
 
 21. 
 Ideas of, relating to the favor 
 and patronage of distin- 
 guished English families, 
 20. 
 State of public affairs in, when 
 Rev. Dr. Whiting came over 
 to New England, 65. 
 Plan of government adopted 
 by, was to unite inseparably 
 the civil and ecclesiastical 
 authority, 65. 
 The magistrates of, attempt to 
 govern the bodies and souls 
 of the citizens of, 65. 
 
3o8 
 
 Index. 
 
 Colony of Mass. Bay {confd) : — 
 
 Acts of the General Court of, 
 with the purpose of acquir- 
 ing legislative power over 
 ecclesiastical affairs of, 66. 
 
 Contrast between the charac- 
 ter of the colonists of, and 
 those of the Plymouth Pil- 
 grims, 80. 
 
 Character and occupations of, 
 80. 
 
 Uncertainty as to the future 
 of, 81. 
 
 Novel and unprecedented 
 conditions of society in, 81. 
 
 Ideas of, entertained by De 
 Tocqueville, 82, 83, 84. 
 
 Indebted principally to a few 
 Puritan clergymen for the 
 development of the ideas of 
 civil and religious liberty, 
 and for the complete sepa- 
 ration of Church and State, 
 84, 85, 86. 
 Common schools of New England, 
 
 how initiated at Lynn, 107. 
 Concord and Lexington, Battle of, 
 224 
 
 Three of Rev. Dr. Whiting's 
 descend, took part in, 224. 
 Conant, Roger, founder of Sa- 
 lem, 17, 18, 19. 
 
 Governor of the first permanent 
 Colony in Massachusetts, 
 according to the author of 
 the " Landing at Cape Ann, 
 and the First Charter," 19. 
 
 Hannah, a descendant of, 
 marries Col. William Whi- 
 ting of Concord, 262. 
 
 Cooke, Memoir of Lord Bo'ing- 
 broke, by 43. 
 Note on, 43. 
 Copp's Hill epitaphs, by J. W. 
 
 Thornton, Esq., 218. 
 Corbet, Samuel, 161. 
 Cotton, Rev. John, 8, 18, 19, 24, 
 26, 35, 59, 92- 
 Memoir of, by Rev. Dr. 
 
 Whiting, 26. - 
 Was a relative, a friend and 
 pastor of Dr. Whiting's 
 family in England, 24. 
 Reasons of, for leaving Eng- 
 land, 26. 
 Pursued by the king's officers, 
 
 55- 
 
 Obliged to quit England in 
 disguise, 55. 
 
 Helped off by John Whiting, 
 Mayor of Boston (broth- 
 er of Rev. Dr. Whiting), 
 
 55- 
 
 Supports Wheelwright, 88. 
 
 His dislike of the law forbid- 
 ding citizens to entertain 
 strangers in Boston without 
 permission of the magis- 
 trates, 90. 
 
 Death of, 102. 
 
 Was a great and influential 
 preacher, 60. 
 
 Mary, great -grand -daughter 
 of, married Rev. John Whi- 
 ting of Concord, 215. 
 Cotton, Rev. John of Hampton, 
 N.H., 215. 
 
 Mary, daughter of, marries 
 Rev. John Whiting of Con- 
 cord, 215. 
 
Index. 
 
 309 
 
 Courtenay, Hugh, Earl of Devon, 
 
 266. 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 45, 48, 183, 187. 
 
 Letter of, to Mrs. St. John, 48. 
 
 Noble's History of the Pro- 
 tectoral House of, 45. 
 
 Connection of the family of 
 Elizabeth St. John Whiting 
 with the family of, 48. 
 
 Not sustained in using vio- 
 lence against the king by 
 Oliver St. John, the Chief 
 Justice, 51, 52. 
 
 History of, by Thomas Car 
 lyle, 48. 
 
 Letter of, to Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting and others, 103. 
 
 Letter to, in reply, 103. 
 Cushing, Peter (Plymouth Pil- 
 grim), 24S. 
 
 D. 
 
 Uanforth, Gov. Thomas, 202. 
 
 Sarah, daughter of Gov. 
 Thomas, marries Rev. 
 Joseph Whiting, 202. 
 Genealogy of, referred to, 202. 
 Dedham, Whiting family of, 282. 
 Dennison, William, 204. 
 De Tocqueville. Sketch of the 
 history of civil and political 
 liberty in Europe in 1650, 
 82, 83. 
 His idea as to the existence of 
 civil liberty in the colony, 
 
 83- 
 Devon, Names of sheriffs of, 266. 
 Drake, History of Boston, 14, 24, 
 
 59.63,90.92, 107, 114. 
 
 Dudley, Thomas, 2d Governor of 
 Massachusetts, 18. 
 
 His great-great-grand-daugh- 
 ter marries Rev. John Whi- 
 ting of Concord, 215. 
 
 Notice of his life and char- 
 acter, 215, 216. 
 
 Genealogy of the family of, by 
 Geo. AUard, 215. 
 
 Genealogy of, by Dean Dud- 
 ley, 215. 
 
 His intolerance, 72, 215. 
 
 His attempt with others, to 
 secure office for life, 75, 76 
 
 Sincere but mistaken, 77. 
 
 Joseph, son of Thomas, Notice 
 of, 215, 216. 
 
 E. 
 
 Education of the people thought 
 by Rev. Samuel Whiting to 
 be essential to public wel- 
 fare, 106. 
 
 Of children by him in Sunday 
 schools, 100. 
 
 In classic literature, given by 
 him gratuitously to the 
 youth of Lynn, io5. 
 
 Classic, given to his daugh- 
 ters, 106. 
 
 At college, to his sons, 106. 
 
 System of popular education 
 by Common Schools, initiat- 
 ed by him, at Lynn, 107. 
 Eliot, Rev. John, 18. 
 Emmanuel College, Ideas of the 
 students of, on questions re- 
 lating to the divine right of 
 kings, 29. 
 
310 
 
 Index. 
 
 Emerson, Rev. William, 49, 212, 
 
 213. 
 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 49. 
 Enderby, 7. 
 Endicott, Gov. John, 18. 
 
 Attempt of, with others, to 
 
 secure office for life, 75, 
 
 76. 
 Threats of death to those who 
 
 should break ecclesiastical 
 
 laws of the colony, 71. 
 Crusade of, against wearing 
 
 long hair, loi. 
 Proceedings of, in respect to 
 
 witchcraft, 97. 
 Delusion of, in relation to 
 
 Witchcraft, shared by many 
 
 clergymen, 99. 
 Sincere but mistaken, 77. 
 Persecution of Quakers by, 
 
 F. 
 Farmer's Genealogical Register, 
 
 36. 
 Fitz James, Robert, 269. 
 Fort Hill, Boston, 64. 
 
 Improvements on, initiated by 
 Nathaniel Whiting, Esq., 
 282-2S4. 
 Foxhull, Descent pf estate of, to 
 
 Whiting, 270. 
 Freedom endangered by the close 
 union of civil and ecclesias- 
 tical power, 65. 
 By the ambition of magis- 
 trates, 65. 
 By giving the right of voting 
 and the elective franchise 
 only to members of churches, 
 66. 
 
 Freedom endangered (cotii'd) : — 
 
 By subjecting church-members 
 who were censured by the 
 church to disfranchisement, 
 66. 
 
 By constituting it a penal of- 
 fence, punishable by impris- 
 onment, banishment, "or 
 further," not to labor to be 
 restored to the cliurch after 
 six months' excommunica- 
 tion therefrom, 66. 
 
 By preventing, by law, the 
 gathering of churches with- 
 out the approval of the 
 magistrates, 67. 
 
 By disarming citizens on ac- 
 count of religious opinions, 
 69, 70. 
 
 By the interference of the Ju- 
 dicial Courts with the dis- 
 cipline of churches, 124. 
 
 By the interference of the 
 Legislature with the organi- 
 zation of religious societies, 
 
 132-147- 
 
 Maintained in these days of 
 intolerance by a few of the 
 Puritan ministers, 78. 
 
 Of church discipline from the 
 intermeddling of the civil 
 courts, vindicated by Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting, 118, 124. 
 
 Of the church from the inter- 
 ference of the Legislature, 
 maintained in the contest 
 with the General Court 
 which grew out of the or- 
 ganization of the Third 
 Church in Boston, 132, 147. 
 
Index. 
 
 311 
 
 Fieedom (continued') : — 
 
 Permanently secured with the 
 sanction of the people, in 
 this contest, by the efforts 
 of Rev. Samuel Whiting 
 and his friends, 147. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gedney, 7. 
 
 Genealogical tables of the family 
 of St. John, see pedigree. 
 
 Of the family of Whiting, see 
 pedigree. 
 General Court, its attempt to acq. 
 ecclesiastical power, 65 
 
 Law of, 1635, forbidding orga- 
 nization of churches without 
 leave of the magistrates, 66. 
 
 Law of, 1638, providing that 
 certain excommunicated per- 
 sons should be fined, im- 
 prisoned or banished, 66. 
 
 Watch kept over the churches 
 by the magistrates, 66, 67. 
 
 None allowed to vote but 
 church-members, 67. 
 
 Churches could not be gath- 
 ered without authority from 
 the magistrates, 67. 
 
 Condemnation of Roger Wil- 
 liams, 69. 
 
 Action of, in cases of Green- 
 smith, Green, Mrs. Hutchin- 
 son, Cogshall, Jane Hawk- 
 ins and others, on account 
 of religious opinions, 69, 70. 
 
 Citizens disarmed l:)y order of, 
 on account of opinions on 
 religious questions, 70. 
 
 Law of, condemning papists 
 to, death if, &c., 70. 
 
 General Court {continued) : — 
 
 Law conferring offices for life 
 on certain magistrates, 75. 
 
 Providing an armed body- 
 guard for the governor, 76. 
 
 Laws for fining and imprison- 
 ing those who disapproved 
 of the doings of courts or 
 magistrates, 76. 
 
 Acts against Thomas Star 
 and Katharine French, 76. 
 
 Law against inhabitants of 
 Rhode Island who enter- 
 tained wrong opinions, 77. 
 
 General character of these 
 laws, 77. 
 
 How far justified, 78. 
 
 Banishment by, of Wheel- 
 wright on account of his 
 opinions on questions of 
 religious doctrine, 88. 
 
 Disfranchisement of those who 
 petition in his favor, 88. 
 
 Attempt of, to prevent the in- 
 crease of Wheelwright's ad- 
 herents by passing a law 
 against any inhabitant enter- 
 taining strangers from 
 abroad without leave of the 
 magistrates, 89. 
 
 Popular hatred of this law, 90. 
 
 Sentiments of tlie people to- 
 wards Governor Winthrop 
 and others who were in- 
 strumental in procuring it, 
 90. 
 
 Honest, but mistaken, 92. 
 
 Policy of, resisted and over- 
 thrown by men of broader 
 views, 92. 
 
3i: 
 
 Index. 
 
 General Court (continued) : — 
 
 Laws ag'nst witches (1648), 97. 
 Condemnation and hanging of 
 Margaret Jones for witch- 
 craft, 98. 
 Its course in reference to the 
 settlement of the Third 
 Church in Boston : attempt 
 to control the church, 132. 
 Its votes ; address of Rev. 
 Samuel Whiting and his 
 friends ; reply of the Court 
 at its next session ; Mr. 
 Whiting's effort lo resist the 
 interference of the govern- 
 ment in church matters suc- 
 cessful and fully sustained 
 by the people, 132-148. 
 Goodwin, Nathaniel, 248. 
 Guatolf Manasseh, his story, 125. 
 Gypsies, visit of, to Lynn, 95. 
 
 Regard for, of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, 96. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hampden, John, 48. 
 
 Hartford family of Whiting, 287, 
 288. 
 
 Harvard College, Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting chosen overseer of, 
 1654, 106. 
 Latin oration of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, at Cambridge, 100. 
 Rev. John Whiting of Con- 
 cord was tutor at, and col- 
 lege librarian of, 207. 
 The three sons and two sons- 
 in-law of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting were clergymen 
 and graduates of, 193-204. 
 
 Hentz, Caroline Lee (Whiting^, 
 
 241. 
 Her writings, 241. 
 Sketch of her life, and that of 
 
 Prof. Hentz, her husband, 
 
 241, 243. 
 List of her principal works, 
 
 243- 
 List of her writings (complete), 
 298, 299. 
 
 Hibbins, Ann,, 99. 
 
 Higginson, Mr., Reference to him 
 by Samuel Whiting, 156. 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting's preface 
 lo the Journal of, 157. 
 
 Hingham family of Whiten, 286. 
 
 Hobart, Rev. Jeremiah, 203. 
 
 Uobart, Mrs. Jeremiah, of Tops- 
 field, receives legacy from 
 her father, Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, by will, 160. 
 
 Hobart, Peter (Rev.), 18. 
 
 Hooker, 60. 
 
 Hooker, Thomas, l8. 
 
 Hough, Atherton, 23, 24, 59. 
 
 Hubbard, his history, 6r. 
 
 Humphrey, Verna, story of, 125. 
 
 Hunston, family arms of, quartered 
 with those of Whiting, 7. 
 
 Hunt, Lucy Ann, 226. 
 
 Hunt, Joseph, Dr., M.D., children 
 of, by Lucy Whiting, 226. 
 
 Hutchinson, Mrs., 59, 187. 
 
 Hutchinson, History of Mass. Col- 
 ony by, 19, 36, 49, 60, 67, 68, 
 74. 78, 9°- 
 
 I. 
 
 Indians, 151. 
 
 Anecdote of one of the, 167, 
 168. 
 
Index. 
 
 313 
 
 Indian War, 64. 
 
 Indian maiden Ruth, 104, 105, 106. 
 Intolerance, fierce and inexorable, 
 in 1636, 65-79. 
 
 J- 
 
 Johnson, " Wonder Working 
 Providence," 62, 86. 
 Rhymes of, without poetry, on 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting, 62. 
 
 Jones, Mrs. Margaret, hung for 
 witchcraft, 98. 
 Husband of, imprisoned by 
 the County Court, a ship 
 loaded with horses having 
 lurched while he was on 
 board, 98. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kcayne, Robert, 107. 
 
 Kentisbeare, Parish of, old tomb- 
 stone in memory of John 
 Whiting, Esq., and Ann his 
 consort, erected in 1539, 
 268, 269. 
 
 Keynes, 269. 
 
 Knightly, Sir Richard, 48. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lake, Capt. Thomas, an eminent 
 
 merchant, 218. 
 Family and descent of, 218, 
 
 219. 
 Killed by the Indians in 1676, 
 
 218. 
 Memoir of, by J. W. Thorn 
 
 ton, Esq., 218. 
 
 Lake, Capt. Thomas [cont'd) : — 
 Ann, daughter of, married to 
 Rev. John Cotton of Hamp- 
 ton, father-in-law to Rev. 
 John Whiting, 218. 
 Mary, grand-daughter of, m. 
 Judge Thomas W hiting, 2 1 8. 
 Pedigree of, in Bentham's 
 
 Baronetage, 219. 
 Descent of, from Hugh de 
 
 Caley, 219. 
 Descent of, from Hamo de 
 Hamsted, 219. 
 Laud, Archbishop, 18. 
 Leake, Parish of, 6. 
 Leaverton, Eng., 87. 
 Leverett, Thomas, 60. 
 Lexington, 224. 
 
 Liberty in the colony, how affected 
 by conferring civil and ec- 
 clesiastical power upon the 
 magistrates, 65. 
 By restricting the right of vot- 
 ing and the elective franchise 
 to church-members, 66. 
 By the personal ambition of 
 
 political leaders, 65. 
 By penal laws which disfran- 
 chised certain church-mem- 
 bers while under censure of 
 churches, 66. 
 By laws prohibiting the gath- 
 ering of churches without 
 leave of the magistrates, 
 &c., 67. 
 By laws authorizing the dis- 
 arming of one class of citi- 
 zens by another, on account 
 of differences of opinion on 
 doctrines of religion, 67. 
 
SH 
 
 Index. 
 
 Liberty {rontinued) : — 
 
 The preservation of, hardly 
 to be hoped for in the condi- 
 tion of affairs then existing, 
 
 75- 
 
 Rapid decline of, in the col- 
 ony, 75. 
 
 Danger of loss of, through a 
 tendency of the people to 
 theocracy and hereditary 
 nobility, 75. 
 
 Dangerous inroad upon, 
 made by Dudley, Winthrop 
 and Endicott, in securing 
 offices for life, 75. 
 
 Struggle of the colonists for, 
 while hereditary nobility 
 was advocated by ambitious 
 magistrates, 76. 
 
 Body-guard provided for the 
 governor, 76. 
 
 Laws subversive of, 76. 
 
 Absence of, illustrated by the 
 cases of Thomas Star and 
 Katherine French, 1637-38, 
 76. 
 
 Condition and prospects of, in 
 Europe, as viewed by De 
 Tocqueville, 82. 
 
 Why and how finally secured 
 in the colony, 82, 83. 
 
 Final vindication of, by the 
 efforts of a few of the great 
 Puritan clergyman and lay- 
 men, 84. 
 
 Influence upon, by the clergy, 
 84, 85. 
 
 How affected by the persecu- 
 tion of Quakers, 71, in, 
 113. 187- 
 
 Liberty {continued) : — 
 
 How affected by the interfer 
 ence of juchcial courts with 
 the discipline of churches, 
 124. 
 By the attempts of the Gen- 
 eral Court to control the 
 organization of religious 
 societies, 132, 147. 
 How finally vindicated, 147. 
 Successful efforts in behalf of, 
 by Rev. Samuel Whiting, 
 147. 
 Lidiard Park, 44. 
 Lothrop, Rev. John, 248. 
 Luther, 187. 
 Lynn, town of, named in honor of 
 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting, 87. 
 Lynn Regis, Eng., 87. 
 
 M. 
 
 Magistrates of the colony. 
 
 Influence of and control over 
 the organization and disci- 
 phne of churches, 65, 67, 68. 
 
 Claim of, to control of ecclesi- 
 astical affairs, 66-58. 
 
 Inordinate ambition of, 74, 75, 
 76. 
 
 Attempt of, to secure life- 
 offices, 75. 
 
 Attempt of, to establish hered- 
 itary nobility, 76. 
 
 Body-guard allowed to the 
 governor, 76. 
 
 Laws passed to fine and im- 
 prison those who disap- 
 proved of the proceedings 
 of, 76. 
 
Index. 
 
 315 
 
 Magistrates {continued) : — 
 
 Relations of, with Rev. Sam- 
 uel Wliiting, 188. 
 
 Mansfield, Andrew, 161. 
 
 Marriage, could not be solemnized 
 by clergymen here until 
 1676, 74. 
 
 Marriages, records of, of persons 
 of the name of Whiting, 
 copied from the Register of 
 St. Botolph in Boston, 270, 
 271, 281. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay, Records of the 
 
 colony of. Vol. I., p. 66, 
 
 70, 76, 77, 87, 88, 90, 97, 
 
 108, 109, III, 144, 148, 165. 
 
 Vol. IV. pp. 489-494. 
 
 Mason, Hon. Jeremiah (lawyer), 
 218. 
 
 Mather, Cotton, 24, 26, 28,, 33, 56, 
 57. 58, 166. 
 
 Mather Rev. Increase, letter to, 
 from Samuel Whiting, re- 
 questing him to write a 
 scholarly history of the 
 colony, 156, 157. 
 Was cousin to Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, 24. 
 
 Mathews, fined for preaching to a 
 religious society gathered 
 without allowance of the 
 magistrates, 67. 
 
 Milton, John, his description of the 
 situation of the Puritans, 
 
 57, 58. 
 Moat House, 6. 
 Monument, to Rev. Saml. Whiting 
 
 at Lynn, 175, 176. 
 To Rev. John Whiting of 
 
 Concord, 214. 
 
 Moore, Elizabeth, 99. 
 
 Morton, George (Plymouth Pil- 
 grim), 248. 
 
 Moule's English Counties, 43. 
 
 Mullekin, John, Esq., of Lexing- 
 ton, children of, by Lydia 
 Whiting, 226. 
 
 N. 
 
 Naseby, battle of, 29. 
 
 Neals, English family of the, of 
 Wollaston, 48. 
 
 Neale, History of the Puritans, 
 by, 18. 
 
 New England Gen. and Hist. 
 Register, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40. 
 
 Newhall, Thomas, journal of, 96. 
 
 Newhall, James R., Esq., author 
 of, "Lin ; or. The Jewels of 
 the Third Plantation," and 
 of the enlarged edition of 
 " Lewis and Newhall's 
 Annals of Lynn," cited at 
 PP- 32. 36. 59. 61, 87, 92, 104, 
 107, III, 130, 152, 162. 
 
 Noble's memoir of the Protectoral 
 House of Cromwell, 45, 48. 
 
 o. 
 
 Ottery, St. Mary, 268. 
 Oxenbridge, John (Plymouth 
 Pilgrim), 248. 
 
 Palfrey, History of New England, 
 
 78. 
 Panchfoote, 269. 
 Pehembury, parish of, 269. 
 
3i6 
 
 Index. 
 
 Percelay, Henry, Knt., 266, 267 
 
 Persecution, 65-79. 
 
 Peters, Hugh, 18. 
 
 Fiperel, Roger, 266. 
 
 Plymouth Pilgrims, 18. 
 
 None of, came from Boston, 
 
 Eng., 31. 
 Influence of their departure 
 
 from England, 31. 
 Why naturally disposed to 
 preserve and maintain civil 
 liberty, 80. 
 Names of, who were ancestors 
 of Lydia Russell Whiting, 
 wife of William Whiting of 
 Boston, viz., Miles Stand- 
 ish, John Alden, Robert 
 Watson, Peter Gushing, 
 Richard Warren, Rev. John 
 Lothrop, Robert Bartlett, 
 John Atwood, John Cooper, 
 Sarah, sister of Gov. Brad- 
 ford, Rev. John Prince, 
 Rector of East Stafford, 
 Berkshire, Eng., John Ox- 
 enbridge, Rev. Peter 
 Thatcher, of Old Sarum, 
 Eng., John Williams, Gov. 
 Winslow, Nathaniel Good- 
 win, 248. 
 
 Pole, Sir W., 269. 
 
 Polwhele's History of Devon, 
 abstracts from, relating to 
 Whitings of that county, 
 266-270. 
 
 Preston, Rev. Dr., 28. 
 
 Price, Rev. Mr., 32. 
 
 Prince, John, Rev , 248. 
 
 Pomcray, Henry de la, 266. 
 
 Prodhom, Thomas, 269. 
 
 Prodhome, Upton, 269. 
 Prydham, account of the ancient 
 family of, and marriage of 
 Margaret Prydham to Nico- 
 las Whiting, 267. 
 
 Thomas, 267. 
 Prydehomme, 269. 
 Printed works of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, and of some of 
 his descendants, titles of, 
 296-302. 
 Puritan clergy, influence of, on 
 -jjublic affairs, 22. 
 
 Claims of, to respect on ac- 
 count of their purity of 
 character, 22. 
 
 Family connections of, easily 
 traced, 22. 
 
 Sentiments of, in relation to 
 the bishops, 23. 
 
 Not aware of the part they 
 were playing in the history 
 of the English race, 29. 
 
 Different ideas of, 30, 31. 
 
 High spirit of, 53. 
 
 Precarious situation of, in 
 England, 55. 
 
 Connection of, with and influ- 
 ence upon political and 
 religious affairs in the colo- 
 ny, 67, 68. 
 
 Dislike of, to English fashions 
 in conductiiig religious ser- 
 vices, 74. 
 
 Platred of episcopacy in form 
 and substance by, 75. 
 
 Certain members of, favored 
 persecution of Quakers and 
 watches (see titles " Qua- 
 kers ■' and " Witches "). 
 
Index. 
 
 317 
 
 Puritan clergy [continued) : — 
 
 Moral grandeur of those who 
 in these early times main- 
 tained the principles of free- 
 dom in religion and politics, 
 78. 
 
 Influence of, in securing and 
 establishing civil liberty, 84, 
 85. 
 
 The debt which posterity owes 
 to, 86. 
 
 Learning, eloquence, power 
 and influence of, on the for- 
 mation of our political in- 
 stitutions, 182. 
 
 Difficulty in appreciating the 
 importance of their public 
 services, 184. 
 
 Some leading members of 
 the, were the most tolerant, 
 liberal, large-minded states- 
 men of the age in which 
 they lived, iS3. 
 
 May be justly deemed the 
 first to maintain the princi 
 pies of government which 
 have given permanence, 
 power, and grandeur to this 
 republic, 189. 
 
 Influence and fame of, as 
 compared with the leading 
 magistrates of their times, 
 190. 
 
 Quakers, how threatened by Gov. 
 Endicott, 71. 
 Persecution of, disapproved of 
 by Rev. Samuel Whiting, 
 
 Quakers [continued) : — 
 
 Threats against, by leading 
 
 clergy, iii. 
 Views of Mr. Whiting relat- 
 ing to, well expressed by 
 
 Turner, 113. 
 Conduct of, disliked, but 
 
 rights of defended, by Rev. 
 
 Samuel Whiting, 187. 
 Quincy, Edmund, of Lincolnshire, 
 
 who came over with Rev. 
 
 John Cotton, 60. 
 
 R. 
 
 Records of Massachusetts Colon) 
 
 (see Index, title " Mass. Bay, 
 
 Records of"). 
 Religious services of the Puritans, 
 
 peculiarities of, 74. 
 Revised Laws of Massachusetts, 
 
 edition of 1672, 71. 
 Ringswell, 267. 
 Ripley, Rev. Ezra, of Concord, 
 
 213. 
 Risdon, quotation from, 266. 
 Rogers, Rev. Daniel, of Littleton, 
 
 215. 
 Rogers, John, martyr, 248. 
 Roxbury, town of, 64 
 Russell, Hon. Thomas, 247. 
 
 William Goodwin, Esq., 247. 
 Hon. Thomas, judge, 247. 
 Lydia Russell Whiting, 247, 
 261. 
 Ruth, the Indian maiden, 104. 
 
 S. 
 
 Salem, situation of affairs at, when 
 Mr. Whiting came to Lynn, 
 73- 
 
3i8 
 
 Index. 
 
 Saiem [cotitinued] : — 
 
 Roger Conant and John Endi- 
 cott, the first and secjnd 
 governors of, 19. 
 Thornton's " Landing at Cape 
 Ann, or the first charter," 
 reference to, 19. 
 Witchcraft at, Upham's His- 
 tory of, 99. 
 
 Saugust (Lynn), 60. 
 
 Called Lynn as a compliment 
 to Rev. Samuel Whiting, 
 wlio had been Rector of 
 Lynn Regis, in Eng. 1 70. 
 
 Savage, James, Genealogical Dic- 
 tionary of, unjust censure 
 of Cotton Mather's Magna- 
 lia, 194, 195. 
 Remarks of, on the family of 
 
 Whiton, 2S6. 
 Remarks of, on the Hartford 
 
 family of Whiting, 287. 
 Mistake of, relating to the 
 Lincolnshire family of 
 Whiting, 2S8. 
 
 Schools, common, system of, in- 
 itiated by Rev. Samuel 
 Wiiiting at Lynn, 107. 
 
 Shattuck's History of Concord, 36. 
 
 Shillingford, parish church, inscrip- 
 tions in, 267. 
 Relating to Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Whiting, also to Rev. Mr. 
 Jolrn Whiting, rector of the 
 parish, 263. 
 
 Short Story, 89. 
 
 Sibbs, Rev. Dr., 28. 
 
 Sims, Clifford Stanley, Esq., 36. 
 
 Skirbeck, the parish of, situation 
 of, meaning of, 33. 
 
 Skirbeck, Old church of, 34. 
 Smith, of Elsham, family arms of, 
 quartered with those oi 
 A¥hiting, 7. 
 Smith, Melancthon, 226. 
 Southampton, L. I., 202. 
 Sproat, Lieut.-Col. Commandant, 
 
 224. 
 St. Botolph's Church, in Boston, 
 Lincolnshire, Eng., 8. 
 
 Parish register of, containing 
 entries of baptisms of the 
 children of John Whiting, 
 father of Rev. Samuel, 16. 
 
 Entries in the registry of, re- 
 lating to births, marriages, 
 and burials of members of 
 this family, 1 7. 
 
 Was the place of worship of 
 the family of Whitings for 
 several generations, 24, 56. 
 
 Contrasted with the old church 
 at Skirbeck, 35. 
 
 Remarks on, by Hon. Edward 
 Everett, 35. 
 St. John, portraits and heraldic 
 devices of the families of, 
 in the church of Lidiard 
 Tregose, 43, 44. 
 
 Family of, 44. 
 
 Histories of, 45. 
 
 Cooke's Memoir of Lord Bo- 
 lingbroke (Henry St. 
 John), in relation to the 
 family of, 40, 41, 42, 43'. 
 
 Pedigree of, 38, 39, 40. 
 
 Noble's History of the family 
 of, 45. 46, 47. 48- 
 ST. JOHN, ELIZABETH (Mrs. 
 
 Samuel Whiting), 36. 
 
Index. 
 
 319 
 
 ST. JOHN, ELIZABETH [cont.) : 
 
 Birth and parentage, and 
 family seat of, 49. 
 
 Relationship to King Henry 
 VII., 40, 47. 
 
 Descent of, from the Earls of 
 Warwick, William the Con- 
 queror, Henry I. King of 
 France, Reginald de Went- 
 worth, Lord Badlesmere, 
 Guy de Crown and Harold 
 de Vaux, the Lords of Ros, 
 William the Lion, King of 
 Scotland, King Henry I., 
 the Empress Matilda, King 
 Henry II. King John, King 
 Edward I., the Earl of 
 Gloucester, the Earl of 
 Winchester, the Earls of 
 "Warren and Surrey, &c., 
 40. 
 
 Relationship of, to the royal 
 house of Tudor, 47. 
 
 Pedigree from Noble's Me- 
 moir of, 47. 
 
 Connection of, with the family 
 of Oliver Cromwell, John 
 Hampden, Waller the Poet, 
 Sir John Bernard, the Neals 
 of Wollaston, Sir Richard 
 Knightly, Col. Edward 
 Whalley, Judge Bradshaw, 
 and others, 48. 
 
 Personal appearance and edu- 
 cation of, 50. 
 
 Companions and literary tastes 
 of, 50. 
 
 Acquaintance of, with public 
 affairs, 50. 
 
 Spirit of the times, 51. 
 
 ST. JOHN, ELIZABETH {^ont. ) : 
 
 Members of the family of, 
 
 divided in opinion : some 
 
 fought for the king, others 
 
 for the commonwealth, 
 
 51- 
 
 Family pride of, sacrificed to 
 Christian principles, 52. 
 
 Sympathy of, was with the 
 Puritans, 53. 
 
 Circumstances of the marriage 
 
 of, 54- 
 Her death, 149, 150, 151. 
 Her character, 149. 
 As described by Turner, 151. 
 As described by Dr. Mather, 
 
 151- 
 
 Her father, 152. 
 
 Her humility, as portrayed by 
 Mr. Newhall, 153. 
 
 Her high spirit, and religious 
 devotion to the Puritan 
 cause, 154. 
 
 Entitled to espcial honor not 
 for her learning, culture or 
 royal lineage, but for her 
 character, 154, 155. 
 St. John, Oliver, Chief Justice of 
 England, was brother of 
 Mrs. Elizabeth St. John 
 Whiting, 49. 
 
 Life of, by Noble, 45, 49. 
 
 Questioned the king's prerog- 
 ative on several occasions 
 before his plea for John 
 Hampden, in the ship-money 
 case, 51. 
 
 A friend to Cromwell, but op- 
 posed to violence against 
 the king, 52. 
 
320 
 
 Index. 
 
 St. John (continued) : — 
 
 Sir John, sides witli the loy- 
 alists, 51. 
 Rt. Hon. Sir Oliver, of Cay- 
 shoe, Bedfordshire, Knt. : 
 father of Elizabeth St. John 
 Whiting, 49. 
 Rev. John Cotton's opinion of 
 him, 151, 152. 
 Standish, Miles, slcetch of life of, 
 248-255. 
 Was ancestor of Mrs. Lydia 
 
 Russell Whiting, 247, 
 Rose, 247. 
 St. Lawrence's Chantry, 6. 
 Stapleton, Walter de, 267. 
 Stickney, family of, 7. 
 Stone, 60. 
 Sutton, 7, 
 Subsidy Roll, at Boston, for 1333, 
 
 8. 
 Synod, convened at Cambridge, to 
 condemn Wheelwright, 87. 
 Moderators of. Rev. Messrs. 
 
 Hooker and Bulldey, 90. 
 Largely attended by the cler- 
 gy. 91- 
 Disapproval of, by Samuel 
 
 Whiting, 91. 
 Result of, was to condemn 
 Wheelwright, and to cause 
 him to found a new colony 
 in N.H., 92. 
 Convened in 1661, remarks 
 on, 115. 
 
 T. 
 
 Thatcher, Rev. Peter, 248. 
 Thompson, Benjamin, the first 
 American' poet, 171. 
 
 Thompson, Benjamin [cont'd): — 
 Poem on Rev. Samuel Whi- 
 ting, 171-174- 
 Thompson, Pishey, Esq., author 
 of the History and Antiqui- 
 ties of Boston, Eng., Ex- 
 tract from, 6. 
 Note upon, 6. 
 
 Cited, 7, 8, 24, 33, 36, 57-60. 
 Thompson's History of Long 
 
 Island, 36. 
 Thornton, J. W., Esq., Copp's 
 Hill epitaphs, 218. 
 Landing at Cape Ann, or the 
 first charter by, 17, 229. 
 Toleration denied by the Colonists, 
 
 71- 
 Generally deemed a sin, 72. 
 Tomlins the Sleeper, 94. 
 Townsend, Sir Roger, 32. 
 Travers, Bryan, of Pill,, 268. 
 Tuckney, Anthony, Rev., 24, 26, 
 
 56. 
 Turner's Journal, 36. 
 Tudor, The Royal House of, how 
 
 connected with the family 
 
 of St. John, pedigree, 47. 
 Turner's Journal, as to Quakers. 
 
 "3- 
 
 Waking the Sleepers, 93. 
 
 The Indian Maid Ruth, 104- 
 106. 
 
 Extracts from, giving the writ- 
 er's reminiscences of the life 
 and character of Rev. Sam- 
 uel Whiting, 166, 170, 185. 
 
 Extracts from, relating to 
 Mrs. St. John Whiting, 167. 
 
 Anecdote of the Indian and 
 the Cyder, 16S. 
 
Index. 
 
 321 
 
 U. 
 
 Uffculm, Parish of, 270. 
 Upham, History of Witchcraft, 
 98, 99- 
 
 v.. 
 
 Vane, Sir Henry, Governor of 
 Massacliusetts, 18, 63, 192. 
 
 Virginia Family of Whiting, 289- 
 295- 
 
 W. 
 
 Waiving the sleepers, anecdote of, 
 
 93- 
 Waller, Edmund, the Poet, 48. 
 Walpole, 17. 
 
 Warwick, Earl of, a patron of the 
 colony, 29. 
 Descent of Elizabeth St. John 
 Whiting from the Earls of, 
 40. 
 Walrond, 269. 
 
 Walrond, Henry, marries Agnes, 
 second daughter and co-heir 
 of John Whiting of Wood, 
 270. 
 Washington, Gen. George, 223. 
 His connection with the fami- 
 ly of Whiting, 293. 
 Genealogical table of, 293. 
 Old parish church of, 293, 294. 
 Entry of marriage of, 294. 
 Beverly Whiting, godfather of, 
 295. 
 Watson, Robert (Plymouth Pil- 
 grim), 247. 
 Webster, Daniel, the statesman, 
 family of, 218. 
 
 Webster, Daniel {continued) : — 
 Family of, how connected 
 with the family of Whiting, 
 218 (see Pedigree). 
 Samuel, Rev., of Salisbury, 
 marries Elizabeth Whiting, 
 216. 
 
 Weld, Mrs. Dorothy, daughter of 
 Samuel Whiting, receives a 
 legacy by will of her father, 
 160. 
 
 Weld, Thomas, Rev , 18, 204. 
 
 Weld, Thomas, of Roxbury, mar- 
 ries Dorothy Whiting, 102. 
 
 Westland, Richard, alderman, 
 brother-in-law of Rev. Sam- 
 uel Whiting, 162. 
 Grant of land from, to Mr. 
 
 Whiting, 162, 165. 
 Money advanced to the colony 
 bj', :62. 
 
 West Point Military Academy, 
 many descendants ofSam- 
 uel Whiting of Lynn grad- 
 uate at, see genealogy, 
 pp. 193-262. 
 
 Westminster Review, on the pur- 
 suit of genealogical studies, 
 192. 
 
 WHITING family of Virginia, 289. 
 Extract from State Paper Of- 
 fice, London, relating to, 289. 
 Sprang from James Whiting, 
 who came over in 161 7, in 
 the ship George, 290. 
 Slietch of the genealogy of 
 
 this family, 290, 292. 
 Connection of, with the family 
 of Gen. George Washington, 
 293- 
 
122 
 
 Index. 
 
 WHITING family of Virginia 
 [continued] : — 
 Genealogical notice of 293. 
 Old parish church of the 
 Washingtons, 294. 
 WHITING family of Dedham, 
 
 notice of, 282. 
 WHITING families, descended 
 from Rev. Samuel Whiting 
 of Lynn, James Whiting 
 of Elizabeth City, Virginia, 
 Col. William Whiting of 
 Hartford, Conn, and Na- 
 thaniel Whiting of Ded- 
 ham, Mass., 2S7. 
 The Virginia family probably 
 connected in England with 
 the family of Samuel Whit- 
 ing of Lynn, 288. 
 The other families of Whiting 
 not known to have been 
 thus connected, 288. 
 WHITING family of Hartford, 
 
 Conn., 287. 
 WHITON family of Hingham, 
 
 ■ 286. 
 Whitene, Thomas de, 1276, 4. 
 Rogerus de, 1306, 4. 
 Robertus de, 1326-1377, 5. 
 Whiten, Walterus de, 1306, 4. 
 
 Thomas, 1384, 5. 
 
 WHITING, sixteen variations in 
 
 the spelling of the family 
 
 name of, shown in English 
 
 records, from 10S5 to 1630, 
 
 3> 4. 5- 
 Earliest mention of the family 
 of, in the records of Boston, 
 Eng., 6-10. 
 
 WHITING {continued) : — 
 
 Escutcheons of arms of the 
 family of, in St. Lawrence's 
 Chantry, 6. 
 
 Quarterings of family arms of, 
 witli those of other Lin- 
 colnshire lamilies, 7. 
 
 Arms of the Lincolnshire fam- 
 ily of, 7. 
 
 Arms of, transmitted through 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting to his 
 American descendants, 8. 
 {See engraving of) 
 
 Residence of the Lincolnshire 
 family of, in 1633, 8. 
 
 Family of,, in England, allu- 
 sions to its early history, 
 from 1333, by Thompson, 
 10. 
 
 Connection of the family of 
 Rev. Samuel Whiting with 
 public affairs in Boston, 
 Eng., TO, II, 12. 
 
 English family of, supposed to 
 be extinct in the male line, 
 
 13- 
 
 And in the female line, 13, 14. 
 
 Now represented by Ameri- 
 can descendants, 13, 14. 
 
 IVIentiou of lineage of, by 
 contemporary historians, 
 
 Agnes, marries Henry Wal- 
 rond of Wood, 270. 
 
 Allan de, 3. 
 
 Anne Maria, 255. 
 
 Audrey, sister of Rev. Samuel, 
 of Lynn, 23. 
 
 Beverly, godfather of Gen. 
 Washington, 295. 
 
 Caroline Lee (Hentz), 241. 
 
Index. 
 
 323 
 
 WHITING (continued) : — 
 
 Charles Jarvis, surveyor-gen- 
 eval of California, 244. 
 Military record of, 259. 
 
 Elizabeth, great-grand daugh- 
 ter of Rev Samuel 
 Whiting of Lynn, and 
 daughter of Rev. John 
 Whiting of Concord, 
 married Rev Samuel 
 Webster of Salisbury, 
 203. 
 Their descendants, 204. 
 
 Elizabeth, wife of Rev. John 
 Whiting, rector of Shill- 
 ingford Parish church 
 in England, inscriptions 
 relating to, 267. 
 
 Elizabeth (daughter of Rev. 
 Samuel of Lynn), born 
 at Lynn, 93. 
 Married Rev. Jeremiah 
 Hobart of Topsfield, 
 203. , 
 
 Everard de, Yorkshire, 1085, 
 
 3- 
 
 Fabius, Major, U S.A. 243. 
 Official record of promo- 
 tions of, 243, 244. 
 
 George, children of, 256. 
 
 Giffardo, Somerset, 12 14, 3. 
 
 Henry, General U S.A., 235. 
 Sketch of his character 
 by Gen. A. B. Eaton, 
 U.S.A., 235, 238. 
 Editor of Gen. Washing- 
 ton's Revolutionary Or- 
 ders, collected by his 
 father. Gen. John Whi- 
 ting, 237. 
 
 WHITING, Henry [continued) : — 
 
 Extracts from the Army 
 Records of his promo- 
 tions, and the causes 
 thereof, 238. 
 
 Brevetted as distinguished 
 in the capture of Fort 
 George, Upper Can- 
 ada, 1 813, 238. 
 
 Brevetted for meritorious 
 services in 1814, 238. 
 
 Brevetted for ten years 
 faithful services, 238. 
 
 Brevetted for faithful and 
 meritorious serv's, 238. 
 
 Brevetted as brigadier- 
 general for gallant and 
 meritorious conduct in 
 the Battle of Buena 
 Vista, in 1847, under 
 Gen. Taylor, 239. 
 
 Official register of his ap- 
 pointments, 239, 240. 
 
 Notice of death and char- 
 acter of, 240. 
 
 Children of, 237, 241. 
 Hugo, of Dorset, 1202, 3. 
 Henry Macomb,Lieut. U.S.A., 
 241. 
 
 Brevetted for gallant and 
 meritorious services at 
 the Battle of Buena 
 Vista, 257. 
 
 Military record of, 257. 
 James, Esq., 245. 
 James, Mayor of Boston, 
 
 1640, 92. 
 Johannes, Magister, 1207, 3. 
 Isabel, sister of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting of Lynn, 23. 
 
324 
 
 Index. 
 
 WHITING [contiimed] : — 
 
 John and Robert, of Thorpe, 
 
 1560, 10. 
 John, of Wood, the ancient 
 residence of, slcetch of 
 the family of, 268, 269. 
 Lawsuit of, 269. 
 John, father of Rev. Samuel 
 Whiting, of Lynn, 
 
 1590. S- 
 
 Burial of, 14. 
 
 Children of, 15. 
 
 Parish register of St 
 Botolph's of baptisms 
 of his children, 16. 
 
 Will of, ,14. 
 John, mayor of Boston, 1644, 
 
 108, 92. 
 John, Rev., son of Rev. Sam- 
 uel Whiting, 87. 
 
 After leaving college, re- 
 turns to England, 13. 
 
 Is appointed rector of 
 Leverton, notice of, 
 200, 201. 
 
 Legacy from his father to, 
 
 159- 
 
 John, Rev., rector of Parish 
 of Shillingford, inscrip- 
 tions to, 267, 268. 
 
 John, Rev., of Concord, bio- 
 graphical notice of, 206 
 -215. 
 Graduates at Harvard 
 College, 1700, settles 
 at Concord, 1712-1738, 
 208. 
 The "new lights" ap- 
 pear and make trouble 
 in the churches, 210. 
 
 WHITING, Rev. John, of Con- 
 cord {contimied) : — 
 
 Church controversies, 2 10. 
 
 Church of, divides, 211. 
 
 Ecclesiastical conven- 
 tions, 212. 
 
 Style of preaching of, 214. 
 
 Generous hospitality, 
 
 vifealth, learning and in- 
 fluence of, 213. 
 
 Will of, 214. 
 
 His wife's iamily, 215. 
 
 Her descent from Rev. 
 John Cotton, Gov. 
 Bradstreet, Gov. Dud- 
 ley, S;c., 215. 
 
 Daughters of, marry 
 clergymen, 215. 
 
 Children of, 217. 
 John, Rev., of Lancaster, 217, 
 John, General, Lancaster, fa- 
 ther of, served in the 
 old French war, 224. 
 
 Was present with his fa- 
 ther and elder brother 
 at the battle of Con- 
 cord and Lexington, 
 April 19, 1775, 224. 
 
 Acted as adjutant of 2d 
 Mass. Regiment of the 
 line. Preserved Gen. 
 Washington's orders, 
 224. 
 
 Joined the army at Cam- 
 bridge under Gen. 
 Washington, 224. 
 
 With Gen. Gates's army 
 throughout 1777, and 
 received his commission 
 in 1777,224. 
 
Index. 
 
 WHITING, General, Lancaster 
 {continued] : — 
 
 Was with the main army, 
 afterwards under Wash- 
 ington, until he took 
 immediate command 
 against Cornwallis, 225. 
 OflScial register of fais- 
 
 rank, 225. 
 Sketch of his military life 
 from a volume of " Gen. 
 Washington's Revolu- 
 tion'y Orders," 223,224. 
 Children of, 236. 
 John, Col., son of Capt. Timo- 
 thy, of Bath, N.Y., 244. 
 John C, Capt. 257. Note, 262. 
 John Lake, children of, 227. 
 Joseph, Rev., of Southampton, 
 Long Island, son of 
 Rev. Samuel, of Lynn, 
 92. 
 Notice of, III, 201, 203. 
 Appointed executor of his 
 
 father's will, 159. 
 Inherits his father's dwell- 
 ing-house in Lynn, 
 &c., 160. 
 Children of, 206. 
 Levi, Col U.S.A., 244. 
 
 Army records of, 245. 
 Louise Jane, wife of Rev. 
 Stephen Barker, 255. 
 Notice of him, 255, 256. 
 Margaret, sister of Rev. Sam- 
 uel, of Lynn, 23. 
 Nathaniel of Dedham, de- 
 scendants of, 282. 
 Nathaniel, Esq., of Water- 
 town, notice of, 282-285. 
 
 WHITING [continued) : — 
 
 Nicholas, sheriff of Devon (46 
 Edward III.), member 
 of parliament (35 Ed- 
 ward III.), "learned in 
 the lawes " says Risdon, 
 266. 
 Charges paid him for 
 serving in parliament, 
 267. 
 Marriage of, to Margaret 
 Prydham, 267, 269. 
 Oliver, of Billerica, children 
 
 of, 216. 
 Prentiss, children of, 256. 
 Capt. U. S. A., 256. 
 Richard, the last Abbot of 
 Glastonbury, note of 
 Thorwpson upon, 14. 
 Robert, 1450, 5. 
 REV. SAMUEL, D.D., 
 Thompson's statement 
 as to, II, 12. 
 Parentage of, 12. 
 American descendants of 
 
 (see Pedigree). 
 Marriage of, 12. 
 Father and brothers of, 
 and official positions of 
 relatives of, 12. 
 Register of baptism of, 
 at St. Botolph's Church, 
 16. 
 Mentioned in his father's 
 
 will, 16. 
 Ancient lineage of the 
 family of, referred to in 
 the local histories of 
 Lincolnshire, 17. 
 Family connections of, 17. 
 
326 
 
 Index. 
 
 WHITING, REV. SAMUEL 
 i^continued) : — 
 
 Influence of, on public 
 affairs, 19. 
 
 How mentioned in Hutch- 
 inson's History, 20. 
 
 Birtli, family, and rela- 
 tives of, 24. 
 
 Character of the Boston 
 family of, 25. 
 
 A pupil at the Boston 
 School, 25. 
 
 Graduated at Emmanuel 
 College, Cambridge, 
 Eng., college life of, 
 degrees of A.B., A.M. 
 and D.D., received by, 
 26. 
 
 Religfous tendencies of 
 his youth, 28. 
 
 Companions and teach- 
 ers of, in college, 26-28. 
 
 Takes holy orders, and be- 
 comes chaplain in the 
 families of Sir N. Ba- 
 con and Sir R. Town- 
 send, 32. 
 
 Became Rector of Lynn 
 Regis, 32. 
 
 Summoned before the 
 Court of High Com- 
 mission for non-con- 
 formity, 32. 
 
 Death of King James 
 postpones his troubles, 
 
 33- 
 Appointed Rector of the 
 
 parish of Slcirbeck, 34. 
 Marriage of, to Elizabeth 
 
 St. John, 36. 
 
 WHITING, REV. SAMUEL 
 
 {continued) : — 
 
 Record of marriage in 
 register of St. Botolph's 
 Church, 36. 
 
 Marriage of, mentioned 
 by several contempo- 
 rary historians and by 
 others, 36. 
 
 Social and political influ- 
 ence of his family and 
 friends, and of his wife's 
 family gave reason to 
 hope for protection 
 from persecution of the 
 bishops, 55. 
 
 Reasons of, for desiring to 
 remain in England, 55, 
 56. 
 
 Honor and independence 
 of character of, forbide 
 it, 56. 
 
 Wife of, wa.s for quit- 
 ting home, 56, 57. 
 
 Sacrifice of his English 
 estates by, 58. 
 
 Leaves England with his 
 family, April, 1636, 
 58. 
 
 Was accompanied on the 
 voyage by John Wheel- 
 wright, 59. 
 
 Arrived in Boston, May, 
 1636, 59. 
 
 Friends he found here, 
 Quincy, Leverett, Bell- 
 ingham. Stone, Hooker, 
 the Hutchinsons, Brad- 
 street, and some of his 
 relatives, 60. 
 
Index. 
 
 327 
 
 WHITING, REV. SAMUEL 
 (continued) : — 
 
 Invited to Saugust, after- 
 wards called Lynn, 60. 
 Settled there Nov., 1636, 
 
 as minister, 60. 
 Church covenant of the 
 
 society of, 61. 
 Establishes a home at 
 
 Lynn, 61. 
 Character of, by Hub- 
 bard, 61. 
 
 Account of his reception 
 at Lynn, as given in 
 "Johnson's Wonder- 
 working' Providence," 
 62. 
 
 Rhymes without poetry 
 upon, 62. 
 
 Situation of affairs in Bos- 
 ton, N.E., religious and 
 political, 63, 64, 65. 
 
 Laws of the C-f^' -tJ 
 Coo*) snowing the 
 state of public senti- 
 ment at that time 
 (see Index, " General 
 Court "). 
 
 Affairs in Salem, 73. 
 
 Disapproves of the Sy- 
 nod which condemned 
 Wheelwright, 92. 
 
 Influence of, in favor of 
 liberty, 92. 
 
 Allotment of town lands 
 to, 92. 
 
 Disapproval of proceed- 
 ings against witches, 99, 
 100. 
 
 Latin oration of, 100. 
 
 WHITING. REV. SAMUEL 
 {continued) : — 
 
 His plea for "justice, 
 purity, and charity," 
 
 ICO. 
 
 Proceedings of Gov. 
 Endicott and others 
 against the wearing of 
 long hair, how regard- 
 ed by, 102. 
 
 His eldest daughter, 
 Dorothy, marries Mr. 
 Welde, 1650, 102. 
 
 Life of John Cottoh "^i'l 
 26. 
 
 Young's remarf^ °"> 
 102. 
 
 A^iA- -,-,^Ion of Oliver 
 Cromwell to, 103. 
 
 Answer to Cromwell of, 
 103. 
 
 The Indian maiden, Ruth, 
 104. 
 
 Appointed overseer of 
 Harvard Coll. (1654), 
 106. 
 
 Scholarship of, and inter- 
 est in education, 106. 
 
 His education of his chil- 
 dren, 106. 
 
 Gratuitous instruction of 
 the children of his par- 
 ish in the classic lan- 
 guages, 106. 
 
 New England system of 
 common schools prac- 
 tically inaugurated at 
 Lynn by, 107. 
 
 Marriage of his eldest 
 son, 1656, 107. 
 
328 
 
 Index. 
 
 WHITING, REV. SAMUEL 
 [continued') : — 
 
 His son John graduates 
 at Harvard College, 
 1657, 107. 
 
 Preaches a sermon before 
 the Ancient and Hon- 
 orable Artillery Com- 
 pany, 1657, 107. 
 
 Appointed 1656, with 
 others, to debate and 
 ■J^fermine questions put 
 by tlj'e C-eneral Court 
 of Conn., tu r.v- General 
 Court of Mii^i^ icS. 
 
 .Pelii-ipns the general 
 
 S "ourt in bch.j.'f of 
 7v.i-* •! WiitJ'ijj and, 
 Richa'-ci 'West,- ,,[ j-q,. j 
 laods; , petil'iju ,_, '■.~.,.\ 
 ,ed, (P9.'. '"J 
 
 Liberality; o\ tovnicl- ' 
 ii.pi^xo].'- Hans \\\\^ J:-. 
 sif,-; lO '■jicbra*«i 
 Chriitm.j' , Cvj^ftiens 
 of. to ibc-it Ijirfng \iSi' . 
 
 ■ secuU-d, fl0..i 
 
 Gi.«s permiSj^iftir: to liis 
 . -IP, -.onto-ri-.turi' to Uic 
 S'-' 'ct '[the'-'hurchoi 
 j'''r,,. j-4i«5«gl^' himself 
 persecrfted by jt, 1 to. 
 
 His son John goes back 
 to England, iii. 
 
 His son Joseph is ap- 
 pointed his colleague, 
 III. 
 
 His firm opposition to all 
 persecution of the Qua- 
 kers, 112, 113, 114. 
 
 WHITING, REV. SAMUEL 
 
 (continued) : ^~ 
 
 Called to preside over the 
 Church Synod, 1661, 
 
 US- 
 Remarks upon, 115. 
 Interference of the Civil 
 Courts with the disci- 
 pline of churches, re- 
 sisted and their right of 
 self-government suc- 
 cessfully ipaintained by, 
 1 16-122. 
 Letter of the Court to the 
 
 church of, 116. 
 Reply to the Court by, 
 
 118. 
 Reply of the Court to, 
 
 12:!. 
 The princirjle;, m jlved 
 ill this correspondence, 
 - .-4-. . ■- 
 
 ,. . Hojjorable conduct of, 124, 
 
 Inl]ueriu»^of._oTer Qua- 
 tglf, ihe leaft^e.4 ],^.;^ 
 ■ •■'^'- whom he €onvt;,i'>K^ 
 
 ;• ^ Christianity, atid bajv 
 
 ^— --■■ tizesl i2VJt; 
 
 - J_rarniri,; "1, as estjTPatcd 
 '■''■ Miil,cr. 120, 12--. 
 . ' ■ • bthnons of, Ijiiir tiflcp, 
 K.8. 
 -',• . SeiU'On-i. extracts , from, 
 128, 129. 
 Sermons, copy of, owned 
 by Geo. Brinley, Esq., 
 128. 
 Attends the General 
 Court to conduct reli- 
 gious exercises, 130.