During the last twelve years of his life he was blind. He died Feb. 3. 1736-7 in the 87th year of his age. The epitaph on his tomb stone, is the same that was common in the country a century ago. viz. As you are So were we So you will be. Jonathan Houghton, the first County Treasurer, was one of his sons. ADDENDA. A few additional memoranda, the names of those who "desired to be made freemen," taken from 2 Savage's Winthrop, just published. Those in Italics, at least those of the same name, were among the early settlers of Lancaster. 66 66 66 66 66 John Johnson, Oct. 19, 1630. William Ballard, May 2, 1638. 66 66 Henry Gains, Dec. 14, 1638. William Fletcher, May 10, 1643. 66 66 66 66 May 6, 1646. May 26, 1647. 66 66 Richard Dwelley probably did not return to town after it was resettled, if he ever lived here. I find him mentioned as a soldier in Scituate, in 1676, 2. Mass. Hist. Col. iv. 229. "Others of the same town, (Watertown) began also a plantation at Nashaway, some 15 miles north west of Sudbury." 2 Savage's Winthrop, 152. 1648. "This year a new way was found out to Connecticut, by Nashaway, which avoided much of the hilly way." 2. Winthrop's N. E. 325. Maze, Rigby, Kettle, and Luxford, names in Lancaster in 1668-9, disappeared as early probably as Philip's war. Three acres of land in front of the house of Mr. Richard I. Cleveland, were used as a training field, in the time of the first Judge Wilder. For the biography of the late Judge Sprague, I am indebted to William Stedman, Esq. 344 ERRATA. PAGES. 259 line 17, for "fact," read part. 260 18th line from bottom for "area and of its branches," read area of its branches. 261 line 16 from top for "least," read last. 270 3d line from the bottom of the text, for "effected," read affected. 273 2d line from top, dele, and, in 2d note for "presented by the Court," read presented the Court. 274 line 18 from bottom for "1654 and 1655," read 1664, 1665. 276 line 12 from top for "Jonathan Prescott," read John Prescott, for "Peter Green aged 91," read 81. 291 17th line from top for "had," read lead. 297 3d line from bottom for “Soombes,” read Toomb's. 307 last line of note (*) for "Jacob Z. Wearers," read Jacob Zweares. 308 8 and 9 lines from bottom read "Willard." 309 3d line from top after "excitement" add prevailed, 19th line from top for "Jeremeel," read Jeremy. 310 12 lines from top for "authography," read orthography, 16th line from top for "indulged," read indulge. 316 4th line from bottom for "or," read nor. 323 in note for "3 Ellis," read 2 Ellis. 324 6th line from top for "broken off," read taken off. 325 3d line from top dele, "cause." 326 21st line from top for "June 3, 1792," read June 3, 1793, last note for "Joeph," read Joseph. The compiler living at a distance from the press, and not being able to revise the sheets, is the reason that some errata have crept into the work. Some typographical errors of less consequence, and those in the points, are not noticed. MEMOIR OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS, WHO SETTLED IN OXFORD, MASS. A. D. MDCLXXXVI. BY ABIEL HOLMES, D. D. WITH the permission of the Reverend and learned author, and through the kindness of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the editors have been permitted to copy the following notices from an interesting and elegant paper contained in the second volume of the third series of the "Historical Collections" now in the press, and still unpublished, entitled "A memoir of the French Protestants who settled at Oxford, Massachusetts, A. D. MDCLXXXVI. with a sketch of the entire history of the Protestants of France; By ARIEL HOLMES, D. D. Cor. Sec'y Mass. Hist. Society." The fact of the original settlement of the town of Oxford by the French em. igrants has been scarcely known among our citizens: they will feel much indebted to the ingenious writer, well known as the author of the Amer ican Annals, for the interesting particulars, he has redeemed from oblivion. On collation of copies of the original MSS. a few alterations have been made in the names, as originally printed, by the direction of the author of the memoir. After an interesting notice of the history and sufferings of the French Protestants in their native land the author proceeds thus: M. CLAUDE, a distinguished defender of the Reformed church referring to the "dragoons," who were sent to the Protestants to extort from them an abjuration, says: "They cast some into large fires, and took them out when they were half roasted. They hanged others with large ropes under the armpits, and plunged them several times into wells, till they promised to renounce their religion. They tied them, like criminals, on the rack and poured wine with a funnel into their mouths, till, being intoxicated, they declared that they consented to turn catholics. Some they slashed and cut with penknives; others they took by the nose with red hot tongs, and led them up and down the rooms till they promised to turn catholics." These tremendous cruelties compelled eight hundred thousand Protestants to quit the kingdom. The Protestants of other states and kingdoms opened their arms to receive them. Abbadie, Ancillon, and others fled to Berlin; Basnage, Claude, Du Bosc, and many others, to Holland; Allix, with many of his brethren to England; very many families, to Geneva; and no inconsiderable number, to America. It was while the storm was bursting upon them, in the year preceding the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, that the Prostestants of Rochelle looked towards America, for an asylum. At an earlier period, indeed, they had applied to the Massachusetts government for this purpose; and, although they did not then avail themselves of the liberty given them, they were now encouraged by the remembrance of it. So early as the year 1662, "John Touton, a French doctor and inhabitant of Rochel in France, made application to the court" of Massachusetts, "in behalf of himself and other Protestants expelled from their habitations on account of their religion, that they might have liberty to inhabit there, which was readily granted to them." Their state, it would seem, was tolerable at that time, and they endured it; but at the time of the revocation, it was evidently insupportable. As they drew nigh that crisis, there were harbingers of "the windy storm and tempest." A declaration against the Protestants in 1681, was the forerunner of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. In 1682, the Assembly of the clergy of France issued a "warning to the pretended Reformed," for so they styled the Huguenots, "to return to the bosom of the church." This menace, with the portentous indications accompanying and following it, must have been sufficient to warn the Protestants of the impending danger, and to incite them to concert measures for escaping it. The asylum which had been solicited and promised twenty years before, was again sought, and a renewed application made for it, in New England. By a "Letter, written from Rochel, the 1st of October, 1684," to some person in Massachusetts, it appears, that some Protestants in that city were robbed, their temple razed, their ministers banished, their goods confiscated, and a fine imposed; that they were not allowed to become "masters in any trade or skill;" that they were in daily expectation to have soldiers put in their houses, and their children taken from them. The writer observes, that this country, New England, was in such high estimation, that many Protestants were intending to come to it; inquires what advantage they can have here, and particularly "the boors," who were accustomed to agriculture; and suggests, that the sending over of a ship to transport the French Protestants, would be a profitable adventure. Whether a vessel was sent, or not, we are unable to determine.. The difficulty of escaping from the kingdom, by any means whatever, must have been extreme, and attended with the utmost peril. Every attempt must have been made in the very face of the edict, which prohibited a departure from the realm on the severest penalties. One of the articles of the edict of revocation was: "And we do most straitly again repeat our prohibitions unto all our subjects of the pretended Reformed religion, that neither they nor their wives nor children do depart our kingdom, countries, or lands of our dominion, nor transport their goods and effects, on pain, for men so offending, of their being sent to the gallies, and of confiscation of bodies and goods for the women." It is certain, however, that a considerable number of Protestants by some means effected their escape from France, and came over to America; and authentic papers, in our possession, seem to imply, that their transportation and settlement were provided for by men of the first distinction in New England. By the records of the town of Oxford, it appears, that, in the year 1682, the General Court of Massachusetts granted to Joseph Dudley, afterwards Governor of the province, William Stoughton, afterwards lieutenant governor and commander in chief, Major Robert Thompson, and their associates, a tract of land in the northwesterly part of the province, now known by the name of OXFORD, in the county of Worcester. This tract was "of eight miles square, and situated in the Nipmug country," so called from a tribe of Indians, of that name, in its vicinity. Soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the proprietors "brought over thirty French Protestant families into this country, and settled them upon the easternmost part or end of the said tract of land."* In an original MS." Delineation of the town of Oxford," lying before me, it is laid out in lots in the names of the original proprietors. Between eleven and twelve thousand acres, at the east end, were "severed, granted, and set apart for a village called Oxford, for the said families." * Oxford Town Records. These Records, reciting the grounds of forfeiture in 1713, say: "The said Joseph Dudley and their associates in the year 168- brought over 30 French Protestant families," leaving the year uncertain. The Rev. Mr. Whitney, in his History of the County of Worcester, says, it was "in the year 1686." + See APPENDIX, B. |