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A Brief Account 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Sufferings and Services 
 
 OF 
 
 Christopher Holder 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 Faith of Friends 
 
/- 
 
 (hxiJtopner Jiffldi^ 
 
 ( Copy of Autogiaph — 1659 ) 
 
 "I only know he heard God's voice 
 And crossed the sea to work for Him." 
 
 Christopher Holder, a young man, 
 suffered such tortures for his faith as 
 a Friend that he was known as "The 
 Mutilated." 
 
 An Englishman of good birth 
 and breeding — follower of George 
 Fox and forerunner of William Penn 
 — he gladly gave purse, body and 
 mind for the aid of his faith. 
 
 His first attempts in Boston were 
 short-lived, for he was immediately 
 imprisoned and sent back to England. 
 The next j'ear he came again, and 
 torture and banishment were his — but 
 with them came triumph, for here in 
 Sandwich he preached his message at 
 the spot that bears his name — 
 Christopher's Hollow in 16 57 — and 
 here founded the Society of Friends 
 in America. Among its original mem- 
 bers were our ancestors by the name 
 of Wing. Later, during his imprison- 
 ment in Boston, he wrote the First 
 Declaration of the Faith of Friends. 
 
 Now into this austere young life 
 had come romance. He was be- 
 trothed to Mary Scott of Providence 
 Plantations — daughter of Richard 
 Scott, a faithful Friend. Her mother, 
 Katherine (Marbury) Scott, sister of 
 Anne Hutchinson, had borne scourg- 
 ing and imprisonment for remonstrat- 
 ing with Governor Endicott against 
 his treatment of Christopher Holder 
 and the Friends. 
 
 So with Mary Dyer, that martyr 
 that-was-to-be, Mary Scott and her 
 friend, Hope Clifton, journeyed to 
 Boston to offer cheer to those so dear 
 to them in such distressful need. For 
 their zeal all were cast into gaol. 
 
 Later, when Christopher Holder was 
 banished from Boston "under pain of 
 death, if he return," his betrothed, 
 Mary Scott, (with her mother), joined 
 him in "Old England," and there they 
 were married. 
 
 At that time Charles the Second was 
 on the throne, and among those high 
 in his favor were Sir Christopher 
 Wren (the architect), kinsman of 
 
 .a 
 
 W7 
 
;5^Christopher Holder and Sir John 
 
 Dryden (the poet laureate), kinsman 
 
 ^"of Mary (Scott) Holder. Tradition 
 
 """says that partly through such power- 
 
 ■^ ;ful allies the king's ear was reached, 
 
 and Christopher Holder's efforts in be- 
 
 ■t^ half of the persecuted Friends in 
 
 America were successful. 
 
 When Christopher Holder and his 
 wife returned to America, at least in 
 part through their efforts the wor- 
 ship of God according to the faith of 
 Friends no longer might mean death. 
 
 They dwelt for a while on Patience 
 Island in Narragansett Bay. This 
 island was the marriage dower of 
 Mary (Scott) Holder from her father. 
 It is a beautiful "green isle in the 
 sea" (still owned by descendants), 
 and for years was a refuge for 
 the persecuted and oppressed. Here 
 were born two daughters to Christo- 
 pher Holder and his wife, Mary. 
 The eldest (her mother's namesake) ~ 
 is the one through whose descendants 
 Christopher Holder is the ancestor of 
 m.any of the Wing Family of Ameri- 
 ca. Their married life was but a few 
 years. Mary (Scott) Holder died and 
 was buried at nearby Newport, in 
 tha,t place of peace, the Clifton bury- 
 ing-ground, given to the Friends by 
 Thomas Clifton, father of Hope 
 Clifton, that dear friend of Mary 
 Scott, who had gone with her to see 
 Christopher Holder, during his im- 
 prisonment in Boston. 
 
 So for his second marriage, it is 
 pleasing to know, that he chose Hope 
 Clifton. 
 
 During the troublous times of King 
 Philip's War the people of Newport 
 sought the advice of their townsman, 
 Christopher Holder, though a man of 
 peace and faith, undoubtedly one 
 wise in counsel. 
 
 After the death of his wife, Hope, 
 Christopher Holder left New England, 
 where he had achieved so much for 
 his faith, and ended his life of 
 fragrant memory in Old England of 
 his youth. It is good today to visit the 
 beautiful Holder Memorial in Clinton, 
 Massachusetts, erected by a descend- 
 ant. There are gladly preserved all 
 obtainable that pertain to the Historj- 
 of the Society of Friends in America, 
 and its founder. Christopher Holder. 
 
 He, not unlike that young Saint 
 Augustine, "came one time a mission- 
 ing," and his mission has not been un- 
 fulfilled. 
 
Written to be read at 
 
 Christopher's Hollow, in 
 
 Sandwich, Massachusetts, 
 
 at the 
 
 Reunion of the Wing Family 
 
 of America 
 
 by 
 
 William Arthur Wing 
 
 1908 
 
 Pi) 
 
 18 I 
 

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