purpose of preventing, so far as he reasonably could, their going
into the hands of either Dudley, Andros or Randolph. This
yielding up of the State Documents to the justices, was, we believe,
the closing act in his long and valuable career as a public servant.
Edward Rawson's wife, Rachel, died before October ii, 1677.
He died August 27, 1693. The names of their children and
births are as follows : —
NAME. BORN. BAPTISED. DIED.
Rachel, 1636.
Edward, 1638.
Mary Perne, May 14, 1640.
David, May 6, 1644.
Grindal, ]^^'^y 23, 1649. young.
William, May 21, 1651. May 25, 1651.
Hannah, Oct., 1653. Oct. 16, 1653. May 27, 1656.
Rebecca, Oct. 19, 1654. Oct. 29, 1654.
Rebecca, May 21, 1656. May 26, 1656.
Elizabeth, Nov. 12, 1657. Nov. 25, 1657.
Grindal, J^"'y 23, 1659. Jan'y 30, 1659.
John, 1661. July 14, 1661.
About twenty years after the marriage in England of Secretary
Rawson, Widow Rachel Perne died, leaving a will bearing date
March 31, 1656, and proved the 13th of November following. By
this instrument we learn that at the time of her death she was in
possession of a living in the Parish of GiUingham, Dorsetshire,
called Easthaimes, by lease granted under the hand and seal of
William Lord Stowerton, or Stourton, during the reign of King
Charles I.* This lease, which included several other valuable
pieces of land located in the same vicinity, was to hold for
ninty-nine years from date. She made her son, John Perne,
executor, and gave her daughter, Rachel Rawson, in New Eng-
land, forty pounds. Mrs. Rawson's grandfather, John Hooker,
was uncle to Rev. Thomas Hooker, that celebrated Divine who
* Will dated Oct. 12, 12th year of the reign of Charles I.
31
was pastor of the church in Newtown, Mass., and Hartford, Conn.
Widow Perne's maiden name appears to have been Green.
To show the manhness of the Secretary and his disposition to
carry out so far as possible, certain promises made by him, we
would refer to a deed given in trust to Thomas Danforth et al.
The document is recorded in Lib. III., pages 413, 414 and 415
of Suffolk Deeds. By this instrument we learn that Edward
Rawson was to receive with the hand of Rachel Perne, three
hundred pounds, as a marriage portion, from Richard Perne, her
father, and that .Mr. Rawson was to add six hundred pounds from
his own funds to that sum, and with the nine hundred pounds
purchase lands, which estate was by jointure to have been setded
on his wife, so that in the event of his early demise (as had been
the case with Edward's father and grandfather, a precaution well
taken) the widow, Rachel, might be properly cared for. Mr.
Perne, however, died before completing his part of the agreement,
and Mr. Rawson very soon resolved to remove with his wife and
children to New England, at which time he gave his word to his
mother Perne, that, upon payment by her of the remaining
portion of the three hundred pounds, he would make over, in
houses and lands in New England for the benefit of his wife and
her heirs by him, the value of the said three hundred pounds.
Now on the 21st day of December, 1660, having some eigh-
teen years previous received the money from Mrs. Perne, he executes
a mortgage deed of his homestead to Thomas Danforth, Edmond
Batter and Samuel Torrey, as friends, in trust for the use of his
wife, Rachel, in case of his decease, the same being valued at
three hundred pounds. This was the same property he purchased
of Theodore Atkinson about seven years previous, paying therefor
one hundred and eighty pounds, showing the increase in the value
of real estate during that number of years to have been quite
marked, although he had made considerable improvement in the
way of buildings, etc., the amount of which we cannot judge.
It was provided, however, in this agreement that during Mr.
Rawson's life he might sell or dispose of this property, provided
always that he placed other sufficient security in its stead in the
32
hands of said trustees. It was also provided that at any time
during the life of Mr. Rawson,he might, or at his death his execu-
tors or administrators might release this property by paying two
hundred and fifty pounds in good current pay equivalent to
money, into the hands of said trustees, together with a certain
list of articles, valued at fifty pounds. As the articles named give
some idea of the style in which the family lived at that time, we
will insert the list here.
The two best feather beds ; two best boulsters ; two best pillows
and pillow beers of the finest Holland ; four pair best sheets ; two
of the best rugs, and two blankets ; the best red serge curtains
and valiants ; ye needle work cushon and table cloth ; six leather
chairs ; ye best lookingglass and my great bible ; my silver
tankard ; silver bowl and wine bowl and seven silver spoons ; my
watch ; my cupboard and case of drawers ; my great kettle of
brass ; brass pot and iron pot ; one pair tongs and fire pan ; one
spitt : one skillett ; the best trunk ; my best beaver hat.
On the loth day of May, 1664, by mutual consent, another
deed was executed to the trustees to take the place of the one
previously given.
Notwithstanding the fact that Secretary Rawson at one time was
the owner of a large property, consisting of some six thousand
acres of land, on a portion of which were valuable improvements,
situated in and out of Boston, yet, when the time came to settle
his estate, so much of the property had previously been distributed
among the heirs, or dispensed in some form or other, that the
portion remaining in his name was not sufficient to pay his debts
in full. At the time of his death he was doubtless making his
home with his son William, at Dorchester.
* Letters of Administration granted unto William Rawson, on
the estate of his father, Edward Rawson, late of Boston, Gent.
Deceased.
William Stoughton, Esq., commissionated by his Excy, Sir
William Phips, K"' Captain General and Governour in Chief in and
* Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. XIII, 323.
over their Maj'"'** Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New
England, with the advise and consent of the council for the grant-
ing of Probate of Wills and Pettt;rs of Administration within the
County of Suffolk, etc. To William Rawson, son of Edward
Rawspn, late of Boston, within the said County, Gent Deceased.
Intestate, Creeting. Trusting in your care and fidelity, I do, by
these presents, commit unto you full power to administer all and
singular, the goods, chattels, rights and credits of the said
deceased, and well and faithfully to dispose of the same according
to law, and also to ask, gather, levy, recover and receive all and
whatsoever credits of the said Deceased, which to him while he
lived, and at the time of his death did appertain. And to pay all
debts in which the deceased stood bound, so (nr as his goods
chattels, rights and credits of the said Deceased. And to exhibit
the same unto the Registers office of the aforesaid County
of Suffolk, at or before the forth day of April next ensuing, and
to render a plain and true account of your said administration
upon oath, at or before the forth day of January 1694-5. And I
do, by these presents, ordain, constitute and appoint you admin-
istrator of all and singular the goods, chatels, rights and credits
aforesaid.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and the
seal of the said office. Dated at Boston, the forth day of
January, 1693-4.
WILLIAM STOUGHTON.
IsA. Addington, Reg., Esq.
Dorchester, 2d Feby, 1693-4.
An inventory taken of the goods and estate of Mr. Ed
Rawson, late deceased, which are now in the hands of William
Rawson, administrator, is as followeth, viz : —
Imps. 740 acres of wast land lying betwixt Medfield
and Mendon, 3700*
It one bed and bedding, with appertences, 460
" wearing apparel both woolen and linen, 566
* Valued at aljout twenty-five cents an acre. j
34
" an old skreen with other small lumber, o ^ 6
" Plate, buttons and buckles, lo 6
" three old books, two sachells, a p'' spectacles, 8 8
pr. John Wilson, James Bracket, 47 15 2
what is in my bro, Grindall's hands as by a/c Df the
particulars, by him valued 380
Total, 51 3 2
WILLIAM RAWSON.
Appeared and made oath to its accuracy before William Stough-
ton, Boston, February 21, 1694-5.*
William Rawson represented that he finds the estate insolvent,
and Sampson Sheafe, merchant, Benjamin Walker and Thomas
Banister, shop keepers, all of Boston, were appointed by William
Stoughton, on April 6, 1695, commissioners to receive and examine
all claims against the estate and report list of the same to Mr.
Stoughton, at Register office, that due proportion may be distrib-
uted on the claims as the estate will pay.f
John Edward Lynch was admitted an active
member of the Society.
The Librarian reported 13 volumes, 30 pamph-
lets, 41 papers, 5 pictures, and 6 other articles, as
the additions for the month.
Mr. F. P. Rice, in behalf of Hon. Eli Thayer,
presented a book written in 1854 by Rev. Edward
Everett Hale, entitled " Kanzas and Nebraska,"
♦Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. XIII., 556.
t Suffolk Probate Records, Vol. XIII., 578.
35
and bearing the following" autograph inscription by
Mr. Hale : To Eli lliaycr, tJic Founder of Kansas,
with tJic regards of E. E. Hale.
The meeting was then adjourned.
Regular meeting, Tuesday evening, February i.
Present : Messrs. Abbot, Barrows, Blake, Crane,
Cutler, Dickinson, Gould, C. Jillson, Lynch, G. and
M. A. Maynard, Meriam, Lee, Otis, F. P. Rice,
W. A. Smith and E. M. Wood, members ; E. J.
Rockwood and Morse, visitors. — 19.
The Librarian reported 5 books, 19 pamphlets,
75 papers, 6 pictures, and 4 articles for the Museum
as the gifts for the month.
Mr. U. W. Cutler then read the following paper:
36
INDIANS AND EUROPEANS :
A Paper based upon Ellis, Parkman and Others.
BY U. W. CUTLER.
Some one, writing upon history in general, said of tiie present —
"It is the sum of all man ever was and all man ever did." For
myself, I like to modify this mathematical figure, and to think
of the present as the last term of a geometrical series, into which
every past age enters as a factor. To study this series, to find
any term, its number of terms, its ratio — to observe the capacities
and opportunities of the primitive races, to recognize the various
stages of human progress, and the motives and influences and
tendencies which have been leading mankind upward and onward,
is the fascinating duty of the student of history.
We study in the genealogical tables the virtues and surround-
ings of our ancestors, to better know our own characters ; we
review our local or our national history, to form wise opinions
upon the burning questions of our own day ; we follow the
development of trade or manufacture, to learn to successfully
employ the boundless resources this nineteenth century affords.
The true student of the past is emphatically a man of the
present in his sympathies and his interests. The application of all
historical knowledge is to present problems, present needs, pres-
ent opportunities.
Thus exalted is the aim of The Society of Antiquity ; thus
inspiring the line of its work.
In the spirit of the above comparison, this paper seeks to throw
light upon present Indian questions, by reflecting that gathered
from past relations between civilized and uncivilized races in
America.
37
Europeans, landing for the first time on these western shores,
found the land already peopled. Who are you? Where do you
come from? are questions which the white man has been asking
the red man ever since that October day, now almost four
centuries ago. They were questions which the wild, careless,
unreflective children of nature had never thought to ask them-
selves ; they had no name by which to call their race, and no
traditions, going back more than one or two generations, from
which to learn of their origin. The Spaniards, believing they
had found what they so much wished to find — a westerly route
to India — named the natives Indians, the name by which they
will probably always be known, though the French, who soon
followed up the explorations, never adopted it, always calling
the natives " The Savages."
In time explorers learned that India was still to the westward,
and for a hundred years the American continent, which has been
giving homes to all the homeless, and food to all the hungry for
the remaining three centuries since the discovery, was regarded
simply as a small obstacle to be surmounted, a narrow barrier to
be broken down, that the coveted riches of India might be
secured. And so the Spaniards rushed from the Atlantic across
Darien to the kindlier Pacific, but no direct waterway did they
find. Farther to the north the Dutch, and French, and English,
attempted the Hudson, the St. Lawrence, and Hudson's Bay,
only to be repulsed. And ever since, the most venturesome of all
countries have been vainly hammering away at polar ice, with the
same end in view, leaving their names to islands, bays and head-
lands, as monuments to defeated hopes. And now the French,
with not a foot of land left them to preserve the traditions of all
they have spent and suffered here, are still eager to accomplish
the purpose of twelve generations, and through their enterprise
and their capital hope to open the Panama Canal, the long
desired, long sought short waterway to India. No new idea, to
be sure, for Champlain, in 1600, suggested joining the two oceans
by a ship canal at the Isthmus.
But why seek for gain by trade with India, when gold can be
stolen in measureless abundance from terrified savages, or dug from
38
the mines by helpless slaves? The heartless Spaniards, no longer
restrained by the Christian Isabella, and safe under the allpowerful
arm of the pope, gradually ceased to care for the Indian trade,
since sweeter juices could be sucked from the fresh, rich new-
world. And what a record they have left behind them here !
What a load of infamy rests upon the breaking back of Spain for
its cruel, bigoted barbarism, worse than any barbarian is capable
of practicing, and all under the sanction of the Holy CathoHc
Church. Since the death of Columbus and his noble patron.
Queen Isabella, there are but one or two Spanish names — at least
other than those of the Californian missionaries — mentioned in
connection with America, which do not make one's blood curdle.
The word conquest, as employed in American History — the
conquest of Peru, the conquest of Mexico — is reserved for the
Spanish plundering, despoiling, devouring. And what has become
of the untold riches which the Spaniards wrung from the hands
of the innocent, untaught natives ? Spain is no greater, and the
world is no better for all that Philip II. spent in torturing
protestants, checking Dutch enterprise, and enslaving the Spanish
Netherlands.
If the Indian could be made of use to the Spaniard, he was
reduced from his native condition of proud independence of
labor for his daily food, to one of most abject slavery; if not,
he was trodden under foot and most ruthlessly stamped out of
existence. Subjection, slavery, or even death, at the hand of
Christians, was better than freedom or life as heathen. They
came too early, perhaps, to understand and to apply to the wild
men whom they conquered, a broader Christianity.
"Spanish civilization crushed the Indian," says Parkman.
" English civilization scorned and neglected him ; French
civilization embraced and cherished him." Much is said, with
truth, we are bound to acknowledge, concerning the wrongs of
the red men at the hand of the English colonists, and the American
government ; but if the colonists were unjust and sometimes
cruel, the Spanish invaders were infamous and barbarous. The
shadows of the middle ages are reluctant to leave the Iberian
39
Peninsula. The reign of Isabella and her less noble consort, was
but a lightning flash, after which the shadows closed down again
more gloomy than before, because of the momentary revelation
of a brighter condition, a broader civilization. Facilities for
enjoying and using the light were increased ; Mohammedanism
had been expelled and Spain reunited ; but except in an occa-
sional, fitful flash, or pale gleam, the light itself had not appeared
there in the sixteenth century, if, indeed, it has to any great
extent in the nineteenth.
The French were but few years behind the Spanish in explor-
ing the wonderful land of America. Bluff old Francis I., so
jealous of the great power of his imperial rival, had no faith in
the validity of Adam's will, conferring all that was then most rich
and fruitful upon his Most Catholic Brother of Spain ; and he was
anxious for his share in this western continent, the only new
world the earth has had, or will have to open out to mankind.
Ribault's Huguenot colony on the coast of what is now South
Carolina, and Fort Caroline, on the St. Mary's, failed ; the one
through lack of true colonizing spirit on the part of its founders ;
the other, through the utter savagery of the Spaniards, just arrived
at St. Augustine. But at Port Royal, and a little later at Quebec,
there was a more persistent purpose. The fur trade drew many
temporarily to New France, to range through the primeval forests
and exchange firearms, trinkets, and fire water for skins. Then in
1625 came the Jesuits, replacing the less zealous Franciscans, who
already a few years before had made a beginning — or at least an
attempt — at converting the savage to Christianity.
The story of the earnest and self-denying efforts of these
black-robed messengers is a most thrilling one. Truly did French
civilization embrace and cherish the Indian. These christian
fathers, unused to hardship and privation, travelled by most
dangerous and toilsome journeys far into the interior. Accustomed
to comfortable, quiet convent life, they shared the Indian's
smoky, filthy, crowded cabin, and the Indian's dish of sagamite,
or endured with him, if need be, the almost utter lack of food,
careful only to have at hand a little wheat bread and wine,
reserved for the holy sacrament alone. Accustomed to social
40
converse with friends, they struggled in soHtude to reduce to
written form the crude Indian language, a language strangely
lacking in words which they most wanted to use in their moral and
religious teaching — an agglutinative language as it is called — a
language with countless prefixes and suffixes, with short words
attached to the main word, to the utter confusion of the learner ;
a language of long words, many of which, Cotton Mather said,
had been growing ever since the confusion of tongues at Babel.
They followed the savages on their hunting expeditions to learn
their habits and more perfectly their language ; they doctored
them when sick, they shared their privations, their tortures and
their cruel death in war, coveting nothing for themselves but a
martyr's end. And all this was in order to snatch the Indians
from eternal ruin, by giving them Christian baptism. They did,
to an extent, establish schools for the study of the catechism, and
doubtless the influence of their example did something to soften
the savage character ; but whether the cruel heart was in the
least changed or not, whether or not the convert understood any-
thing of the principles of Christianity, or cared in the least to
lead a righteous life, — baptised, the principal work of the Jesuits
was done.
Their first efforts, extending out from the convent at Quebec,
were among the wandering Algonquin tribes of Canada. But soon
they longed to carry their message to the more agricultural, more
intelligent Hurons around Georgian Bay. Brebeuf, one of the
most heroic of the martyrs of the cause, a Jesuit belonging to
a noble English family, was the founder of the mission, and, with
many of his converts, heroically met his death when the Iroquois,
in 1649, ^^ ^^^^ scattered and exterminated their immemorial
enemies.
The policy of Champlain — the founder of French influence
in the New World — the "Father of New France" — was to pre-
serve the balance of power between the ever-warring Indian
tribes ; and ever after his arquebuse, appearing on the side of the
Algonquins, struck terror to the hearts of the Iroquois on the
shores of what has since been called Lake Champlain, these
41
Five Nations were the implacable enemies of that unhappy Algon-
quin race of red men inhabiting all the northern and eastern
portions of the new country, as well as of the Algonquin's allies,
the French. Consequently they cultivated friendly relations with
the Dutch, who soon after appeared in the Hudson, for they
wanted what civihzation could bring them, if not civilization itself;
and in the colonial wars, which followed one another in rapid
succession down to the Peace of Paris, in 1763, they were the
very useful allies of the English.
This hostility was fatal to the Jesuit cause among the Iroquois.
To be sure, some bold spirits did go among them, but the influence
they gained, if any, was very small, and often the opposition was
most cruel, and would have overcome any but the stoutest hearts.
The story of the father Jougues is one of the most thrilling
among the records of the French missions. Carried south-
ward from the St. Lawrence as a captive, he endured every sort
of torture that Iroquois ingenuity could devise, with remarkable
physical endurance and fortitude. At last he was ransomed by
the I utch at Albany, and landed on the shores of France.
Telling his wonderful story, and showing his scarred and mutilated
hands, he was most warmly received, and was soon sent back to
Canada for renewed missionary effort and additional suffering. He
became the agent of the government to go again among these
most savage of savages, and at last an Indian tomahawk relieved
from further distress this " lion and lamb " of the missions,
as Ellis calls him, and gained for him the coveted martyr's
crown.
His story is only one of many. They endured the jealousy
and hate of those whom they were eager to die to save ; they
suffered the persecution and constant opposition of those
strange characters, the pow-wows, whose influence among the
Indians was almost irresistible ; they did not flinch when the
plague or the small-pox was sweeping away their parishioners ;
they did not flee when the frightful war-whoop sounded outside the
palisades. They suffered starvation and privation ; one was
frozen stiff on his knees in prayer when lost in the snows of a
Canadian winter ; some were tomahawked, some were shot
6
42
through with arrows ; some were burned ; but there seems to be
no record of a faint heart or a faltering purpose. They were
buried in unhallowed ground by some wilderness lake "with stars
for tapers tall " ; their blood was drunk by barbarians, eager for
the heroism they manifested ; their dust was mingled with the
ashes of their burning chapels ; and there is not much to show for
it all, but a beautiful record of fidelity to what they believed
right, of persistency of purpose, of bravery, moral courage and
unwavering faith.
The inter-tribal wars did far more to reduce the native popula-
tion than did their wars with Europeans. These often resulted in
almost entire extermination of once powerful bands, as in the case
of the Hurons. A little, degenerate company at Lorette on the
lower St. Lawrence, are all that are left of a powerful people, a
tribe giving more promise of the peaceable fruits of righteousness
through Catholic influence, than perhaps any other. With the
scattering of the Hurons the cause of the Jesuits began to decline
in America. To be sure, stations were established at Michili-
mackinac, Green Bay and other places, and Pere Marquette, a
most devoted and zealous young missionary, won himself undying
fame, when, in 1673, he ascended the Fox river, dragged his canoe
over the portage to the Wisconsin, and floated down that- river and
the Mississippi far enough to satisfy himself that it did not flow
into the Pacific — the first white man to explore the " Father of
Waters."
But now the Jesuits were becoming more desirous of increasing
the power of their order, and of developing the fur trade, than of
making the savages converts to the Catholic Church. Though we
must acknowledge the beneficial influence of the Catholic mission-'
aries in softening, to a degree, the ferocious Indian nature, yet
'tis very true that the decline of the Jesuit order was favorable to
civilization and liberty in the New World. All the Jesuit princi-