border and distant towns should retain part of their freemen from General Election. At last, the greatness of the number, when assembled from the whole colony to choose the magistrates, and the concurrent inconveniencies of this custom, appear to have been the cause of producing an alteration, which substantially accords with present usage. At as early a day as practicable, it is intended that the most perfect. list of FREEMEN possible to be obtained shall occupy a prominent space in our pages. At present we can give only a few items, enough, however, for our students to form some opinion of what the undertaking will be to do the OLD FREEMEN justice. It is proposed here to notice only such as offered themselves for freemen, or such of them as have come to our knowledge in a single year, viz: 1677. The: 22:3: 77. These may Certifye the much honred Generall Court sitting at Boston the : 23. of the: 3. 77: that the psons Whose names ar vnder wretten being in full communion with the Church of christ in Medffeild and otherwise quallified according to Law Desire that they may be admited to the ffredom of this Comon Welth. Obediah Morse Jonathn Morse Edward Adams Joseph Bullin p George Barbur. May 23 1677. This may signify to whom it may Concern y Mr. Richard Dumer & are members in full Comunion wth ye Church of Newbury as affirms Jn Richardson Minister. are in full communion with the Churche at Concord as attests John flint. June 9th 1677.+ Mr. John Holyoke of Springfeild a member of ye church there in full comunion: a householder & above 24. yeare of age desires to be admitted to ye freedome of this Collony attested John Pynchon. These psons are in full Comunion with the Church of Christ in Wooburn desiring their freedome John Walker John Carter John Berbeane [On the same paper.] James Blake in full Comunion with ye church in Dorchester & 24 years of age. *Felt, Ipswich, 18, 19. See, also, Annals of Salem, 219, 220. [No signature. The following entries are without date, but are believed to be all of 1677. Steuen Greenlef Junir Jacob tapin Retcherd bartlet Junir these are Members of the Churtch of Nubery in full Comunion. [No signature.] John Eaton These are members in full Comunion in yo Church of Redding. [No signature.] The names of such as Are in full Communion with the Church of Christ in Charlstowne: for freedom Are members of the Church of Hingham in full Comunion desire to be freemen. [No signature.] Joseph Parmeter a householder & member of the Church of Brantry in full Comunion Desires to be a freeman of this Comonwealth. a bouseholder & in full comunion with ye Church of Douer desires the ffreedom of this comon wealth. [No signature.] John Wales Senior A member of the Church of Christ in Dorchester desires his freedome.* [In another hand.] John White sen of Muddy Riuer [now Brookline] being in full Comunion with the Church of Roxbury desiereth his Freedom. [No signature.] A cross stands in the margin against both these entries. that the matter of each had been disposed of or acted upon. [No signature.] They signified, probably, The names of those men which desiar to tak ther freedum Nathaniell Kingsbery these ar all members in full Comunion in Dedham Church as attest John Rogers Daniell ffisher are householders & members of the Church of Waymouth in full Communion desire the freedome of this Comon wealth. p'sented by the Deputy of y' Towne Members of the of ye first Church [Boston] To be made ffree William Gibson of y North Church Theophilus Thornton In the above collection of applicants for freedom it is not certain that we have all or any considerable part of those who did apply. Such are given as happened to be within our reach. They may, however, be all that applied in the year 1677 at the General Court. The number ap plying at the Quarterly County Courts may have been much greater. From hence some notion may be gathered of what the number of freemen may have amounted to in the course of fifty-seven years. From 1630 to 1648, there are recordedt one thousand eight hundred and nine. This number arose through a course of eighteen years. At some future time, as already hinted, we intend to give as full a list of the early FREEMEN of New England as we can procure. Meantime our correspondents are requested to consider this a direct call upon them to help us in this CORNER STONE of our New England history. AN OLD PRINTING PRESS. The following appears to have been cut from the St. Mary's (Md.) Gazette, and inserted in the Boston Transcript of 30 October, 1848. It comes fully within the range of our work, and we therefore give it a place : "But few of our readers are aware, we expect, that the press upon which our little sheet is printed, is the oldest now in use in the United States and probably in the world. Yet such is the fact. The press now used by us has been in almost constant service for more than a hundred years. Upon it was printed The Maryland Gazette, the earliest paper published in the province of Maryland, and one among the very first in America. Upon it, also, was printed the first volume of the laws of Maryland that ever appeared. It is constructed somewhat on the Ramage principle, and requires three pulls, though two were originally sufficient to produce a good impres sion. It is truly a venerable object. A large cross follows these three names. ↑ As printed by Mr. Savage in his edition of Winthrop's Journal. WOBURN BURYING-GROUND. [Communicated by MR. N. WYMAN, JR.-Continued from p. 387, of Vol. II.] Pool Benjamin s of Cap' Robert & Mary Abigail d of Lieut Thomas & Sarah May 11 1718 71 May 17 1725 about 58 Dec 7 1724 3y Jan 10 1724 55 Jan 9 1723 29 Aug 6 1726 42 July 12 1726 56 Mar 6 1726 about 29 Apr Nov 10 1727 27y Oct 6 1728 1-11-11 June 27 1734 2-7-16 Jonathan s of Jonathan Esq & Esther July 23 1736 7-11-16 Bridget d of Capt Stephen & Bridget Sept 27 1736 14y Esther w of Isaac Wood Richardson Snow Reed Sarah wid of Lieut Thomas BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE EARLY PHYSICIANS OF MARIETTA, OHIO. [By S. P. HILDRETH, M. D., of Marietta.*] The colony founded by the New Englanders on the banks of the Ohio in 1788, marks an interesting era in the history of our country. From that feeble beginning in the wilderness, surrounded by savage and hostile tribes, has proceeded the gigantic state of Ohio, with all its magnificent improvements and numerous population. Steamboats crowd the tributaries as well as the mighty waters of the Mississippi, the father of rivers, while canals and railroads intersect the country, uniting the distant portions with each other. The sons of the puritans were the projectors of these improvements, as well on the vast fresh water seas of the West, as on the shores of the Ohio. It is a tribute justly due to the memory of the men who witnessed these events, and whose lives and characters have been creditable to the land of their birth, that their names should be preserved. As a class, no order of men has done more to promote the good of mankind and develop the resources and natural history of our country, than physicians; and wherever the well educated in that profession are found they are uniformly seen on the side of order, morality, science, and religion. Of the nine individuals noticed in the following sketches, seven were born in New England. DOCTOR JABEZ TRUE was born in Hampstead, N. H., in the year 1760. His father, the Rev. Henry True, was born in Salisbury, Mass., in 1725, prepared for college at Dummer's Academy, and graduated at Cambridge in 1750. The Rev. Mr. Bernard of Haverhill, was his instructor in the study of Divinity, and in 1752 he was settled in the ministry at Hampstead. His wife was a Miss Ayers of Haverhill. He was the father of ten children, nine of whom lived to adult age. In the "Old French War" he served as chaplain to one of the colonial regiments at Ticonderoga and Fort Edward. It was the prac tice of that day with the New England clergymen, when academies and high schools were rare establishments, to prepare young men for college. Mr. True had a class of this kind, amongst whom was his son Jabez, where he obtained a knowledge of the learned languages and English grammar sufficient to read medicine to advantage. Having selected this branch for a profession, he studied the healing art under Dr. Flagg of Hampstead, a popular but very eccentric man, highly eminent as a physician and much esteemed by his friends. Dr. True having finished his studies near the close of the Revolutionary War, volunteered his services in the defence of the country by entering as the surgeon of a privateer, fitting out for a cruise at the town of Newburyport, distant fifteen miles from his home, and sailed for Europe. Soon after reaching their cruising ground and before many prizes were taken, the vessel was wrecked on the coast of Holland, thus closing abruptly his prospect of wealth. The shipwrecked mariners were received kindly by the Hollanders, amongst whom the doctor remained until the cessation of hostilities, when he returned to America. In a few months We beg pardon of the author for inserting his name without his special liberty; but he has done too much for the literature and history of the West not to be credited appro priately in our work. It is unnecessary to specify the works of DR. HILDRETH at this time, as they must be known to most of our readers as well as to us. |