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| Notes for John (Spouse 1) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1019About this time, April 3, 1638, Rev. John Wheelwright and others bought of the Indians a tract of land around Squamscott Falls, included in the following boundaries, viz.: "Within three miles on the northerne side of ye river Meremake extending thirty miles along by the river from the seaside and from the sayd river side to Piscataqua Patents thirty miles up into the countrey northwest, and so from the ffalls of Piscataqua to Oyster river thirty miles square every way." This purchase included Winnacunnet, and thus was "obtained a right to the soil from the original proprietors, more valuable in a moral view than the grants of any European prince could convey." (Judge Smith) 1020Exeter was settled in 1638 as one of the first four townships of New Hampshire. The town’s founder, the Reverend John Wheelwright, purchased territory for the settlement from local Indian sagamores, and in doing so acquired one of the most favorable sites for a village in the coastal region of New Hampshire. 1021John Wheelright came from Lincolnshire, and perhaps his followers, who adhered to him, at the cost if severe trial and persecution, and came with him to Wells, may have been residents of that county and perhaps members of his church. 1022Ferdinando Gorges having ascertained his undoubted right to the territory, agreeably to his promise, made the followong grant to Wheelright and others: "Witnesseth these presents that I, Thomas Gorges, Deputy Governor of the Province of Mayne, according unto the power given unto me from Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Knight, Lord Proprietor of the said province, have, for divers good causes and considerations in and thereunto moving, given and granted unto Mr. John Wheelright, minister of God's word, Mr. Henry Boads, and Mr. Edward Rishworth, of Wells, full and absolute power to alot bounds and sett forth any lott or bounds unto any man that shall come to inhabit in the plantation, thelmselves paying for any land they hold from Sir Ferdinando Gorges five shillings for every hundred acres they make use of, the rest five shillings for every hundred acres that shall be allotted unto them by the said Mr. John Wheelright, Henry Boads, and Edward Rishworth. The bounds of the plantation to begin from the northeast side of Ogunquitt River to the southwest side of Kennebunk River, and to run eight miles up into the country, and in case differences arise between the said Mr. John Wheelright, Henry Boads, and Edward Rishworth concerning the admission of any man into the plantation, or of bounding any land, the said difference shall be determined by the agent or agents of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, to whom full power is reserved of admitting any one into the aforesaid limitt. Given under my hand and seal at armes this 14th July, 1643. Tho. Gorges" "Saco - Memo. at a court holden here the 14th day of August, 1644, this grant was here exhibited and is by us allowed; for further confirmation we have hereunto sett our hands in court the day and year above written. Richard Vines, Deputy Governor Henry Joceline Rich Bonighton Nicholas Shapleigh Francis Robinson Roger Gard" 1023We do not find in any of the sketches of Wheelright's proceedings and motions, after he was driven from Boston, the time stated definitely when he left Exeter. We do not pretend to determine precisely the time when Wheelright came to Wells. We have full confidence that his associates, Hutchinson, Needham, and others, came here as pioneers, or to examine the land, in 1641. Whether either of the two, at any time, had a residence here we have no reliable evidence. We think Wheelright followed them in 1642. In that year Henry Boade came from Saco. In the deed to Wheelright of April, 1643, he is styled pastor of the church in Exeter, but we suppose his connection with that church had not been dissolved. A portion of his church were still there, and there was no occasion for immediate dissolution. He fled to Maine for his personal safety. 1024In 1643, Thomas Gorges conveyed to Wheelright a tract of land, of about 400 acres, on the easterly side of Ogunquit River. Wheelright did not dwell on this lot, though when referred to, it is designated as the Wheelright farm. His house was nearer the Cape Porpoise or Mousam River than the Ogunquit, but sufficiently far from the former not to be reached by the Stratton claim (see notes on John Stratton), or the lot asked for by Thomas Gorges. Under the authority to Wheelright, Boade, and Rishworth, to lay out and assign lots to settlers, but little seems to have been done. A very small number of grants are found, or are referred to on the records. Wheelright does not appear to have acted long on this commission. His residence in Wells was short, probably not continued beyond three years. Several of his associates remained in Wells; some for a few years; others made it a permanent abiding place. 1025c.1592–1679, American Puritan clergyman, founder of Exeter, N.H., b. Lincolnshire, England. He studied at Cambridge and was vicar (1623–33) of Bilsby. Suspended by Archbishop Laud on a charge of nonconformity, he emigrated to New England in 1636. While pastor of a Puritan church at Mt. Wollaston (now Quincy), Mass., he alienated himself from the parent church in Boston by publicly defending the views of Anne Hutchinson, his sister-in-law. The General Court in Boston banished him from the colony in 1638, whereupon he formed a settlement at Exeter, N.H. When the new town was claimed as within the limits of Massachusetts, the minister, with part of the church he had established, moved in 1643 to Wells, Maine. The next year, upon his acknowledging some error on his own part, the sentence of banishment was withdrawn. He held a pastorate in Hampton, N.H. After visiting England, he returned to America; his last pastorate, from 1662, was at Salisbury, N.H. | ||||||||||||||||
| Misc. Notes | ||||||||||||||||
| 1026Exeter’s first immigrants came in 1638 from England via Massachusetts with Reverend John Wheelwright, eventually displacing the Native American Indians of the area—Squamscott Indians, a sub-tribe of the southern New Hampshire Penacooks and an Alogonquian people. A second wave of immigrants followed, mostly British in origin, many of whom established the milling industries on the river or trades connected with the shipping industry. As some of these settlers established their own wealth, they accumulated enslaved people—fifty lived in town according to census records from 1767. By 1790, only two Africans remained enslaved; others had been freed and the African and black community in town remained steady at about eighty individuals until the 1860s (about 5% of the town’s population.) Exeter was settled in 1638 as one of the first four townships of New Hampshire. The town’s founder, the Reverend John Wheelwright, purchased territory for the settlement from local Indian sagamores, and in doing so acquired one of the most favorable sites for a village in the coastal region of New Hampshire. The town started its existence by adopting a "combination," or plan of government, in 1639. Exeter was also unusual in building a special town and court house for public meetings; most New Hampshire towns conducted civic affairs in taverns and in the same meetinghouses they used for religious services. In 1774 Royal Governor John Wentworth dissolved the provincial assembly or house of representatives, which met in Portsmouth, in an attempt to prevent the election of delegates to a continental congress. Thereafter, a series of provincial congresses began to meet in the Exeter town house, which effectively became the seat of New Hampshire’s government; the Fourth Provincial Congress ordered the provincial records to be confiscated from royal officials and brought to Exeter for safety in July 1775. New Hampshire’s first constitution was adopted in the Exeter town house on January 5, 1776, and here in 1788 the first of New Hampshire’s conventions was held for ratification of the United States Constitution. While most buildings associated with Exeter’s fourteen-year period as state capital have vanished, the Ladd-Gilman House, home of state treasurer Nicholas Gilman, Sr., retains a room used as the treasury. The lower falls of the Squamscott River were harnessed shortly after 1638 for a grist mill; sawmills were established at the upper falls in the late 1640s by Edward Gilman and others. By 1795 the two waterfalls at the heart of the town powered four grist mills, four sawmills, two mills for pressing linseed oil from flax seed, and a fulling mill for cleaning woolen cloth. During his visit in 1789, President Washington noted that a snuff mill was in operation here. An iron-slitting mill mentioned by Washington had been replaced by Simeon Folsom’s factory for producing the newly introduced machine-cut nail. The broad tidal basin below the lower falls provided access for seagoing vessels to and from Exeter, and it was the means by which the town’s early production of sawn lumber was carried to market. The same section of the Squamscott River proved to be a good site for building ships as large as 500 tons; as many as twenty-two vessels are said to have been built here in a single season. Locally built vessels and others arriving from elsewhere in the British Empire made Exeter a busy port during the eighteenth century, giving rise to fortunes like that of merchant John Phillips. River traffic continued to convey bulk cargoes, especially coal, to Exeter until the 1930s. | ||||||||||||||||
| Research | ||||||||||||||||
| 1027The man first selected by the church and town, to assist Mr. Dalton, was Mr. John Wheelwright, the founder and first minister of Exeter, but then pastor of the church in Wells, in the province of Maine. The contract between Mr. Wheelwright and the church, under date April 12, 1647, begins with a preamble, as follows: "The church of Jesus Christ in Hampton haueing seriously considered the great paines & labours that the reverente & well-beloued Mr Tymothy Dalton haue taken among them in the worke of the ministry euen beyond his abilitie or strength of nater: And haueing upon sollemne seeking of God settled their thoughts upon the reverente & well-beloued Mr John Whelewright, of Wells, as a help in the worke of the Lord with the sayd Mr Dalton our prsent & faithfull Teacher: And haue[ing] given the sayd Mr Whelewright a call to that end, with the consent of the [w]hole towne; the which the sayd Mr Whelewright doe except off [accept of] according unto God:" therefore, the agreement was entered into, by which he was to have a house-lot, and the farm which had once belonged to Mr. Bachiler, but which had been purchased by the town. This was to be given to him, his heirs and assigns, unless he should remove himself from them without liberty from the church. The church and town were also to pay some charges and give Mr. Wheelwright as a salary £40 per annum. The farm was afterward conveyed to him by deed, and in 1654, ten pounds were added to his salary. As it appears from the receipts annually given by Mr. Wheelwright for his salary, that his year was considered as commencing on the 24th of June, it is not unlikely that at that time in the year 1647, he became pastor of the church by installation. But there is some uncertainty about the length of his ministry. The latest receipt for salary, entered upon the records, is for the year ending at midsummer, 1655, and there is no record of any vote after that time, to show that he still continued to preach, and perform other ministerial labors in the town. It is evident, however, that the pastoral relation continued to a somewhat later period, for near the close of the year 1656, the town voted as follows: "To seeke out for helpe for the minestry to helpe wth or teacher untill wee see how God will dispose of us in respect of our pasture [pastor]." This being the first act on the part of the town for procuring another minister, seems to indicate that Mr. Wheelwright had but recently suspended, or closed his labors here. It was then doubtful whether he would resume his labors. There is no record to show that he did resume them; and sometime the next year another person was employed, who not long afterward received ordination and became pastor of the church. After leaving Hampton, Mr. Wheelwright went to England, where he was favorably received by the Protector, Oliver Cromwell, with whom he had been in early life associated at the University of Cambridge. While in England, he did not forget the people of Hampton, as appears from his letter to the church, April 20, 1658, in which he mentions an interview with Cromwell, "with whom," he writes, "I had discourse in private about the space of an hour. All his speeches seemed to me very orthodox and gracious." After the accession of Charles II to the throne, Mr. Wheelwright returned to New England and became pastor of the church in Salisbury, Mass., where he remained till the close of life. He died November 15, 1679, being about 85 years of age, and the oldest pastor in New England. [See Genealogies--Wheelwright.] Rev. John Wheelwright was of Lincolnshire, in England, and was born about five or six years before the close of the sixteenth century. "His ancestors, no doubt, were of respectable standing in society, for he inherited a considerable real estate, which he disposed of by his last will. His parents had the good sense to bestow a portion of their wealth in giving their son a learned education. He had bright parts, and in youth was remarkable for the boldness, zeal, and firmness of mind he displayed upon all occasions. He was educated for the ministry, but embracing the Puritan sentiments, he necessarily incurred the censure of the church for non-conformity." [Judge Smith.] He came to America in 1636--whether for the first time or not, we do not pretend to decide--and landed at Boston on the 26th of May. He and his wife were admitted to the church in that town, on the 12th of June following. About the same time he was suspected of having embraced the Antinomian sentiments held by his sister-in-law, Mrs. Anne Hutchinson. Some efforts were made to have him called to be a teacher of the church of which he was a member; but this movement was opposed by Governor Winthrop, who said that "he thought reverently of his godliness and abilities, so as he could be content to live under such a ministry; yet seeing that he was apt to raise doubtful disputations, he could not consent to choose him to that place." Mr. Wheelwright became pastor of a church near Mount Wollaston--now Quincy, but then a part of Boston. Near the beginning of the following year, a general fast was kept in all the churches, one of the reasons assigned being the dissensions in the churches. Mr. Wheelwright preached on that occasion a sermon, for some statements in which he was called into court. The sermon was produced, and "he justified it." The court adjudged him guilty of sedition and also of contempt. Omitting whatever transpired relative to this difficulty during the next nine months, it remains to be told that by the General Court that met the next fall, Mr. Wheelwright "was disfranchised and banished," and ordered to leave the jurisdiction of the court within fourteen days. This he did, as he probably supposed, and having bought of the Indians a large tract of land around Squamscott falls, founded the town of Exeter, and became pastor of the church formed there in 1638. In 1642 the people of Exeter voluntarily placed themselves under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. Mr. Wheelwright, being still under sentence of banishment, removed to Wells, in the province of Maine. A considerable number of the members of his church accompanied, or soon after followed him to his new abode, and he still continued to be their minister. After Mr. Wheelwright had been several months in Wells, he wrote a letter to Governor Winthrop, expressing his sorrow for the part he had taken in the controversy several years before, and his grief for the censorious speeches that he then used; and declaring his readiness to give satisfaction, if it should appear to him "by scripture light, that in any carriage, word or action," he had "walked contrary to rule." "Upon this letter, the court was very well inclined to release his banishment; and thereupon ordered that he might have a safe conduct to come to the court, etc." This inclination and act of the court having been made known to Mr. Wheelwright by the governor, he replied, March 1, 1644, by a very manly letter. While thankful for the safe conduct proffered, he thought it not expedient to appear before the court in person; for, while he adhered to the spirit of his recent letter, he could not condemn himself for such crimes and heresies as had been charged upon him, which were the chief grounds of his banishment, but must hold himself free to make his defense. Governor Winthrop, in reply, still advised his attendance at court, saying that though his liberty might be obtained without his personal appearance, yet that was doubtful. Notwithstanding the doubt expressed by the governor, the next court released his banishment without his appearance. In consequence of charges made against Mr. Wheelwright during his pastorate at Hampton, the town undertook his vindication. In town meeting, May 1, 1654, it was voted that the petition, framed and signed at that meeting for the vindication of Mr. Wheelwright's name, should be presented to the next General Court. The substance of their declaration, as given by Dr. Cotton Mather in the Magnalia is as follows: "They, hearing that Mr.Wheelwright is, by Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Weld, rendered in some books printed by them as heretical and criminous, they now signify, that Mr. Wheelwright hath for these many years approved himself a sound, orthodox, and profitable minister of the gospel among these churches of Christ." At the session of the court which commenced two days after the town meeting just named, the petition was presented, and considered, with this result: "In Ansr to the peticon of the Inhabitants of Hampton. The Court doth declare, 'though they are not willing to recall those uncomfortable differences that formerly passed betwixt this Court and Mr. Wheelwright, concerning matters of religion or practice, nor doe they know wt Mr. Rutherford, or Mr. Welde hath charged him wth , yett Judge meete to certify that Mr. Wheelwright hath long since given such satisfaction, both to the Court and Elders, generally, as that he is now, and so for many years have binn an officer in the church of Hampton, wthin or jurisdiccon [jurisdiction], and that wthout offence to any, so farre as wee know; and there, as we are informed, he hath binn an usefull and profitable Instrument of doing much good in that church.'" After the excitement occasioned by the discussions about Antinomianism, and the conduct of the persons charged with having embraced that doctrine, had subsided, and the people were enabled to examine calmly and dispassionately the whole subject, the measures adopted by the government were generally thought to have been far too severe. Even at the time of the excitement, Governor Winthrop, although he favored the proceedings against Mr. Wheelwright, yet said publicly, that "he did love that brother's person, and did honor the gifts and graces of God in him." Rev. John Cotton, of Boston, says: "I do conceive and profess, that our brother Wheelwright's doctrine is according to God, in the points controverted."--Dr. Cotton Mather speakes of him as "being a man that had the root of the matter in him."--Governor Hutchinson calls him "a zealous minister, of character both for learning and piety."--Dr. Belknap styles him "a gentleman of learning, piety and zeal." Mr. Wheelwright's fast-day sermon, which occasioned his banishment, has been preserved. Hon. James Savage, of Boston, having read it, made the following declaration concerning it: "I unhesitatingly say, that it was not such as can justify the Court in their sentence for sedition and contempt, nor prevent the present age from regarding that proceeding as an example and a warning of the usual tyranny of ecclesiastical factions." Lastly, Judge Smith, of Exeter, after having carefully read this sermon, declared on the matter of sedition and contempt: "I have no hesitation in saying the charge was wholly groundless. There was not the least color for it." | ||||||||||||||||
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