Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony

"The Countenance of the Master, who now become Terrible to the Rebellious Men, though they had Escaped the Sea, yet Vengeance would not suffer them to Live a Shore. At his Instance and Complaint, they were Apprehended; and the Ringleaders of this Murderous Pyracy, had sentence of Death Executed on them, in Boston."

The three men who were executed were William Forrest, Alexander Wilson, and John Smith. As for Major Shapleigh; he was fined five hundred pounds, which amount was afterwards abated to three hundred pounds because of "his estate not being able to beare it."

The extraordinary circumstances of this case probably induced the General Court to draw up the law that was enacted on October 15, 1673. By it piracy became punishable by death according to the local laws. Before then a kind of common law was in force in the Colony based upon Biblical law as construed by the leading ministers. Of course the laws of England were theoretically respected, but Massachusetts, in the wilderness, separated from England by three thousand miles of stormy water, in practice actually governed herself and made her own laws.

In 1675, the Court of Assistants found John Rhoade and certain Dutchmen guilty of piracy on the Maine coast and they were sentenced to be hanged "presently after the lecture." Just then, King Philip went on the warpath and all else, for the time, was forgotten in the fearful danger of the emergency. Before long the condemned men were released, some without conditions and others were banished from the Colony. It is fair to say, however, that politics and commercial greed were sadly mixed in this trial.

A bloody fight occurred at Tarpaulin Cove, near Woods Hole, in October, 1689, between a pirate sloop and a vessel sent out from Boston in pursuit. The pirate was taken and after trial the leader, Capt. Thomas Pound, late pilot of the King's frigate Rose, then at anchor in the harbor, Thomas Hawkins, a well-connected citizen of Boston, Thomas Johnston of Boston, "a limping privateer," and one Eleazer Buck, were sentenced to be hanged. When they were on the gallows Governor Bradstreet reprieved all save Johnston – "Which gave great disgust to the People; I fear it was ill done," wrote Judge Sewall. The same day one William Coward was hanged for piracy committed on the ketch Elinor, while at anchor at Nantasket Road.

The capture in Boston in 1699, of William Kidd, Joseph Bradish, born in Cambridge; Tee Wetherly, James Gillam, and other men concerned with the Madagascar pirates, created much excitement, but these men were tried in England and gibbetted at Hope Point on the Thames.

In June, 1704, a trial for piracy was held in the Old State House, and the testimony and proceedings were afterwards published. Captain John Quelch had sailed from Marblehead, the previous year, in command of a brigantine commissioned as a privateer. Instead of proceeding against the French off Newfoundland he had sailed south and on the coast of Brazil had captured and plundered several Portuguese vessels. While he was absent, a treaty of peace between England and Portugal had been signed and when Quelch returned to Marblehead harbor he learned that he had piratically taken various vessels belonging to subjects of "Her Majesty's good Allie," the King of Portugal. His arrest and trial followed and with six of his ship's company he was sentenced to be hanged on a gallows set up between high- and low-water mark off a point of land just below Copp's hill. The condemned were guarded by forty musketeers and the constables of the town and were preceded by the Provost Marshal and his officers. Great crowds gathered to see the execution. Judge Sewall in his diary comments on the great number of people on Broughton's hill, as Copp's hill was called at that time.

"But when I came to see how the River was cover'd with People, I was amazed: Some say there were 100 Boats. 150 Boats and Canoes, saith Cousin Moodey of York. Mr. Cotton Mather came with Capt. Quelch and six others for Execution from the Prison to Scarlet's Wharf, and from thence in the Boat to the place of Execution about midway between Hanson's [sic] point and Broughton's Warehouse. When the scaffold was hoisted to a due height, the seven Malefactors went up: Mr. Mather pray'd for them standing upon the Boat. Ropes were all fasten'd to the Gallows (save King, who was Repriev'd). When the scaffold was let to sink, there was such a Screech of the Women that my wife heard it sitting in our Entry next the Orchard, and was much surprised at it; yet the wind was sou-west. Our house is a full mile from the place."

Capt. Samuel Bellamy, in the pirate ship Whydah, was wrecked on Cape Cod near Wellfleet, the spring of 1717, and 142 men were drowned. Six pirates who reached shore were tried in Boston and sentenced to be hanged "at Charlestown Ferry within the flux and reflux of the Sea." After the condemned were removed from the courtroom the ministers of the town took them in hand and "bestowed all possible 'Instructions upon the Condemned Criminals; often Pray'd with them; often Preached to them; often Examined them; and Exhorted them; and presented them with Books of Piety.'" At the place of execution, Baker and Hoof appeared penitent and the latter joined with Van Vorst in singing a Dutch psalm. John Brown, on the contrary, broke out into furious expressions with many oaths and then fell to reading prayers, "not very pertinently chosen," remarks the Rev. Cotton Mather. He then made a short speech, at which many in the assembled crowd trembled, in which he advised sailors to beware of wicked living and if they fell into the hands of pirates, to have a care what countries they came into. Then the scaffold fell and six twitching bodies, outlined against the sky, ended the spectacle.

In 1724 the head of Capt. John Phillips, the pirate, was brought into Boston in pickle. He had been killed by "forced men" who had risen and taken the pirate ship. Only two of his company lived to reach Boston for trial and execution, and one of them, John Rose Archer, the quartermaster, was sentenced to be "hung up in Irons, to be a spectacle, and so a Warning to others." The gibbet was erected on Bird Island which was located about half-way between Governor's Island and East Boston. In the Marshal's bill for expenses in connection with the execution appears the following item:

"To Expenses for Victuals and Drink for the Sherifs, Officers and Constables after the Executions att Mrs. Mary Gilberts her Bill £3.15.8."

The enforcement of the English statute relating to piracy was variously interpreted in the Colonial courts, and local enactments sometimes superseded it in actual practice. Previous to 1700, the statute required that men accused of piracy should be sent to England to be tried before a High Court of Admiralty. Pound, Hawkins, Bradish, Kidd, and other known pirates were accordingly sent in irons to London for trial. But the difficulties and delays, to say nothing of the expense, induced Parliament by an Act of 11 and 12 William III, to confer authority by which trials for piracy might be held by Courts of Admiralty sitting in the Colonies. On the other hand, the Massachusetts Court of Assistants in 1675 found John Rhoades and others, guilty of piracy. This was in accordance with an order adopted by the Great and General Court on October 15, 1673. When Robert Munday was tried at Newport, R. I., in 1703, it was by a jury in the ordinary criminal court, in open disregard of the King's commission.

The Courts of Admiralty held in the Colonies were composed of certain officials designated in the Royal commission, including the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty for the Province, the Chief Justice, the Secretary, Members of the Council, and the Collector of Customs. Counsel was assigned to the accused to advise and to address the Court "upon any matter of law," but the practice at that time was different from the present. Accused persons in criminal cases were obliged to conduct their own defence and their counsel were not permitted to cross-examine witnesses, the legal theory at the time being that the facts in the case would appear without the necessity of counsel; that the judge could be trusted to see this properly done; and the jury would give the prisoner the benefit of any reasonable doubt.

Trials occupied but a short time and executions generally took place within a few days after the sentence of the Court was pronounced. During the interval the local clergy labored with the condemned to induce repentance, and all the terrors of hell were pictured early and late. Usually, the prisoners were made the principal figures in a Sunday spectacle and taken through the streets to the meetinghouse of some prominent minister, there to be gazed at by a congregation that crowded the building, while the reverend divine preached a sermon suited to the occasion. This discourse was invariably printed and avidly read by the townsfolk, so that few copies have survived the wear and tear of the years. From these worn pamphlets may be learned something of the lives and future of the prisoners as reflected by the mental attitude of the attending ministers.

The day of execution having arrived, the condemned prisoners were marched in procession through the crowded streets safely guarded by musketeers and constables. The procession included prominent officials and ministers and was preceded by the Marshal of the Admiralty Court carrying "the Silver Oar," his emblem of authority. This was usually about three feet long and during the trial was also carried by him in the procession of judges to the courtroom where it was placed on the table before the Court during the proceedings.

Time-honored custom, and the Act of Parliament as well, required that the gallows should be erected "in such place upon the sea, or within the ebbing or flowing thereof, as the President of the Court … shall appoint," and this necessitated the construction of a scaffold or platform suspended from the framework of the gallows by means of ropes and blocks. When an execution took place on land, that is to say, on solid ground easily approached, it was the custom at that time to carry the condemned in a cart under the crossarm of the gallows and after the hangman's rope had been adjusted around the neck and the signal had been given, the cart would be driven away and the condemned person left dangling in the air. In theory, the proper adjustment of the knot in the rope and the short fall from the body of the cart when it was driven away, would be sufficient to break the bones of the neck and also cause strangulation; but in practice this did not always occur.

When pirates were executed on a gallows placed between "the ebb and flow of the tide," the scaffold on which they stood was allowed to fall by releasing the ropes holding it suspended in mid-air. This was always the climax of the spectacle for which thousands of spectators had gathered from far and near.

Not infrequently the judges of a Court of Admiralty had brought before them for trial a pirate whose career had been more infamous than the rest. A cruel and bloody-minded fellow fit only for a halter, – and then the sentence to be hanged by the neck until dead would be followed by another judgment, dooming the lifeless body of the pirate to be hanged in chains from a gibbet placed on some island or jutting point near a ship channel, there to hang "a sun drying" as a warning to other sailormen of evil intent. In Boston harbor there were formerly two islands – Bird Island and Nix's Mate – on which pirates were gibbeted.94 Bird Island long since disappeared and ships now anchor where the gibbet formerly stood. Nix's Mate was of such size that early in the eighteenth century the selectmen of Boston advertised its rental for the pasturage of cattle. Today every foot of its soil has been washed away and the point of a granite monument alone marks the site of the island where formerly a pirate hung in chains beside the swiftly flowing tides.

What constitutes a crime? It all depends upon the minds of the people and oftentimes upon the judges. Manners and crimes vary with the centuries as do dress and speech. Here are some of the crimes penalized by Essex County Courts before the year 1655, viz.: eavesdropping, meddling, neglecting work, taking tobacco, scolding, naughty speeches, profane dancing, kissing, making love without consent of friends, uncharitableness to a poor man in distress, bad grinding at mill, carelessness about fire, wearing great boots, wearing broad bone lace and ribbons. Between 1656 and 1662 we find others, viz.: abusing your mother-in-law, wicked speeches against a son-in-law, confessing himself a Quaker, cruelty to animals, drinking tobacco, i. e., smoking, kicking another in the street, leaving children alone in the house, opprobrious speeches, pulling hair, pushing his wife, riding behind two fellows at night (this was a girl, Lydia by name), selling dear, and sleeping in meeting. The next five years reveal the following, viz.: breaking the ninth commandment, dangerous well, digging up the grave of the Sagamore of Agawam, going naked into the meetinghouse, playing cards, rebellious speeches to parents, reporting a scandalous lie, reproaching the minister, selling strong water by small measure, and dissenting from the rest of the jury.

With such minute supervision of the daily life of the colonists it can readily be appreciated that it was an age for gossiping, meddlesome interference with individual life and liberty and that in the course of time nearly every one came before the courts as complainant, defendant or witness. There were few amusements or intellectual diversions and they could only dwell on the gossip and small doings of their immediate surroundings. But all the while there was underlying respect for law, religion and the rights of others. The fundamental principles of human life were much the same as at the present day, and men and women lived together then as now and as they always will – with respect and love.

Are the Times Improving?

Edward Johnson's estimate in his Wonder-working Providence supposes in 1643, a population in Massachusetts of about 15,000. There were then 31 towns in the Bay Colony, of which 10 were within the limits of the present Essex County. The population of these 10 towns was probably about 6,000. They were located for the most part along the shore line. The same geographical area in 1915 had a population of about 360,000, or exactly 60 times as great as the population in 1643, 272 years before.

APPENDIX A

Building Agreements in Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts

Few seventeenth-century agreements to erect buildings in Massachusetts have been preserved. The following, with two exceptions, have been gleaned from court records where originally they were submitted as evidence in suits at law. They are of the greatest interest in connection with present day restoration work as they preserve detailed information of indisputable authority in relation to early building construction in the Bay Colony. The gable window, the second story jet, the stool window and casement sash, the catted chimney and the treatment of the inner and outer walls of the house have much curious interest at the present time. These architectural features long since fell into disuse and only here and there has a fragment survived. Two centuries ago the towns in New England must have presented an appearance most picturesque to our twentieth-century eyes. The dwellings seem to have been studies in projecting angles, strangely embellished with pinnacles, pendants and carved work. The unpainted and time-stained walls, the small windows and elaborate chimney tops, the narrow and curiously fenced ways, winding among the irregularly placed buildings, all contributed to the quaintness of the picture. The following agreements between builder and owner should help to solve some of the debated problems of this bygone construction that now confront those interested in the preservation and restoration of our early New England dwellings.

Contract To Build the First Meetinghouse in Malden, November 11, 1658

Articles of agreement made and concluded ye 11th day of ye ninth mo., 1658, betweene Job Lane of Malden, on the one partie, carpenter, and William Brakenbury, Lieut. John Wayte, Ensigne J. Sprague, and Thomas Green, Senior, Selectmen of Malden, on the behalf of the towne on the other partie, as followeth:

Imprimis: The said Job Lane doth hereby covenant, promiss and agree to build, erect and finish upp a good strong, Artificial meeting House, of Thirty-three foot Square, sixteen foot stud between joints, with dores, windows, pullpitt, seats, and all other things whatsoever in all respects belonging thereto as hereafter is expressed.

1. That all the sills, girts, mayne posts, plates, Beames and all other principal Timbers shall be of good and sound white or Black oake.

2. That all the walls be made upp on the outside with good clapboards, well dressed, lapped and nayled. And the Inside to be lathed all over and well struck with clay, and uppon it with lime and hard up to the wall plate, and also the beame fellings as need shalbe.

3. The roofe to be covered with boards and short shinglings with a territt on the topp about six foot squar, to hang the bell in with rayles about it: the floor to be made tite with planks.

4. The bell to be fitted upp in all respects and Hanged therein fitt for use.

5. Thre dores in such places as the sayd Selectmen shal direct, viz: east, west and south.

6. Six windows below the girt on thre sids, namely: east, west and south; to contayne sixteen foot of glass in a window, with Leaves, and two windows on the south side above the girt on each side of the deske, to contayne six foot of glass A piece, and two windows under each plate on the east, west and north sides fitt [to] conteine eight foote of glass a peece.

7. The pullpitt and cover to be of wainscott to conteyne ffive or six persons.

8. The deacon's seat allso of wainscott with door, and a table joyned to it to fall downe, for the Lord's Supper.

9. The ffloor to be of strong Boards throughout and well nayled.

10. The House to be fitted with seats throughout, made with good planks, with rayles on the topps, boards at the Backs, and timbers at the ends.

11. The underpining to be of stone or brick, and pointed with lyme on the outside.

12. The Allyes to be one from the deacon's seat, through the middle of the house to the north end, and another cross the house ffrom east to west sides, and one before the deacon's seat; as is drawne on the back side of this paper.

13. And the said Job to provide all boards, Timber, nayles, Iron work, glass, shingles, lime, hayre, laths, clapboards, bolts, locks and all other things whatsoever needful and belonging to the finyshing of the said house and to rayse and finish it up in all respects before the twentie of September next ensuing, they allowing help to rayse it.

And the sd Selectmen for themselves on behalfe of the town in Consideracon of the said meeting house so finished, doe hereby covenant, promise and agre to pay unto the sd Job Lane or his Assigns the sume of one hundred and ffiffty pounds in corne, cordwood and provisions, sound and merchantable att price currant and fatt catle, on valuacon by Indifferent men unless themselves agree the prices.

In manner following, that is to say, ffifftie pound befor ye first of ye second mo. next ensuing, And ffifftie pounds befor the first of ye last mo. which shall be in the year sixteen hundred 59, and other ffifftie pounds before the first of ye second mo. which shall be in the year one thousand six hundred and sixtie. And it is further Agreed that when the sd. house is finished in case the sd. Job shall find and judgeth to be woth ten pounds more, that it shall be referred to Indifferent workmen to determine unless the sayd Selectmen shall se just cause to pay the sd. ten pounds without such valuacon.

In witness whereof the partys to these presents have Interchangeably put their hands the day and year above written.

William Brackenbury,John Sprague,Joh. Wayte.

Witness,

Joseph Hills,

Gershom Hills.

Note. This contract for building the first meetinghouse in Malden is copied from the Bi-Centennial Book of Malden, 1850, pages 123-125. The original document then in existence has since disappeared. The contract provides for the construction of a building of the type almost universal in New England at that time, of which an example still exists at Hingham – the "Ship Meeting House," so-called. The square meetinghouse with hip roof surmounted by a "territ," and at a somewhat later date supplied with "lucomb" (dormer) windows in the roof, was the type of public building in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that prevailed well into the eighteenth century, especially in the country towns. The "territ" or belfry seems to have been common, but only the larger towns were supplied with a bell. The bell was rung from the central aisle, the bell rope coming down in the center of the auditorium.

In the Malden meetinghouse, the "territ" was built as provided in the contract, but for some now unknown reason the bell was not hung in it but placed in a framework erected nearby, below a large rock which thereby obtained its name – "Bell Rock," a name that has continued until the present time.

Malden was able to afford the luxury of plastered walls surfaced with lime, but the ceiling showed the joists and boarding. In shingling the roof a distinction was made between long and short shingles. The lower windows were made up with "leaves," i. e., they were double casements, and each opening contained sixteen feet of glass, thereby indicating sash about twenty-eight by forty inches in size. The single casement windows placed high, just under the coving, also were about the same size and undoubtedly were fixed sash, i. e., were not hinged. Two smaller windows on the south side, placed just above the girth, supplied additional light on either side of the pulpit. The deacons' seat at that time was located in front of the pulpit and faced the congregation. The possible use of brick for the underpinning is a surprising feature, especially in a country town. In fact, the use of underpinning at that time seems to have been uncommon.

Contract To Build a Minister's House At Marlborough, Mass., in 1661

This indenture made the fifth day of Aprill one thousand six hundred and sixty one and between obadias Ward, Christopher Banyster and Richard Barnes of the Towne of Marlborough on ye one party; And the Inhabitants and all the Proprietors of the same Towne on ye other party Witnesseth That ye said obadias Waed, Christopher Banyster and Rich'd Barnes hath covenanted, promised and bargained to build a fframe for the minister's house, every way like to ye fframe yt Jno Ruddock hath built for himselfe in ye afores'd Town of Marlborough, the house or fframe is to bee a Girt house thirty-seven foote Long, eighteen foote wide and twelve foote (between Joynts) and a halfe, the studs standing at such distance that A foure foote and a halfe Claboard may reach three studs; and two ffloores of juice [sic] and foure windows on the foreside and two windows at the west end and two Gables on the foreside of ten foote wide; and eight foote Sparr, with two small windows on the foreside of the Gables and they are to ffell all the tinber and bring it in place and do all yt belongs to the fframe only the Towne is to helpe raise the affores'd fframe and all this worke is to bee done and ye fframe raised within a ffortnight after Michll tyde; And this being done the Town of Marlborough doth promise and engage to pay unto them the sd obadias Ward, Christopher Banyster and Rich'rd Barnes the sume of ffifteene Pounds in Corne within fourteen daies after the house is raised the one halfe of it and the other halfe some time in March; the whole paye is to be one third in Wheat and one third in Rie and the other third in Indian Corn, the halfe in Wheat and Rie to be paid fourteen daies after the house is up in Wheat and Rie and the other halfe in Rie and Indian some time in March; wheat at four shillings and sixe pence a bushell and is to be pd at Sudbury betweene Petter King's and Serient Woods house in the streete. —Marlborough, Mass., Town Records.