it was, it is not hard to realize how wretchedly the poorer portion must have fared, when we look at the picture which Dudley, one of the richest of the party, writing nine months after their arrival, so vividly presents to us of the condition of himself and his family. He says that he writes "rudely, having yet no table, nor other room to write in than by the fireside upon my knee, in this sharp winter; to which my family must have leave to resort, though they break good manners, and make me many times forget what I would say, and say what I would not.”* The new settlement at Cambridge was begun in the spring of the next year; and it was the intention of the settlers to make this place, which they called Newtown, the principal town of the Colony. The Governor, Deputy-Governor, and Bradstreet were among those who moved out and established themselves there. The town was laid out in squares, the streets intersecting each other at right angles. Dudley's house stood on the west side of Water Street, near its southern termination at Marsh Lane, at the corner of the present Dunster and South Streets. Bradstreet's was at the corner of "Brayntree" and Wood Streets, where the University Bookstore of Messrs. Sever & Francis now is, on Harvard Square, at the corner of Brighton Street. Dudley's lot was half an acre in size, and Bradstreet's measured "aboute one rood." † Governor Winthrop decided not to remain at Newtown, * Dudley's Letter to the Countess of Lincoln, in Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts, p. 305. This letter is the most vivid and authentic narrative of the labor and sufferings attendant on the planting of the Colony. "The Regeftere Booke of the Lands and Houfes in the Newtowne. 1635." MS. pp. 1 and 27. — Holmes' History of Cambridge. Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., Vol. vii. pp. 7-8. and in the autumn took down the frame of his house, and moved it to Boston. This caused much dissatisfaction, as many thought that the prospects of the town would be thereby injured. Dudley was especially displeased, and followed up this and other charges which he had against Winthrop, so as to produce a temporary alienation between them. The matter was afterwards amicably settled, having been referred to a conference of ministers; * and the town continued to grow, notwithstanding the loss of the Governor. In August, 1632, it was largely increased by the arrival of those who had composed the congregation of the Rev. Thomas Hooker at Chelmsford, county of Essex, England. They left Mount Wollaston, where they had established themselves, for Newtown, by order of the General Court. At their urgent solicitation, their pastor, Mr. Hooker, eluding with difficulty the officers of the High Commission, came to New England in the "Griffin." He reached Boston on the 4th of September, 1633, ‡ and went immediately to Newtown, where he was soon after chosen minister. Many of the people were poor, and there was, at times, a scarcity of food. But the town flourished, the inhabitants being fortunately spared by the Indians, who had them at their mercy. Wood, who visited it before his return to England in August, 1633, thus describes it : "This is one of the neatest and best compacted Townes in New England, having many faire ftructures, with many handfome contrived ftreets. The inhabitants moft of them are very rich, and well ftored with Cattell of all forts." § * Holmes' Cambridge, pp. 8 and 11. Winthrop's Life and Letters, Vol. ii. pp. 91–102. + Winthrop's New England, Vol i. pp. 87-8. § N. E. Profpect, p. 43. Ibid., pp. 108-9. At length there was a complaint of want of room. Men were accordingly sent to visit Ipswich, with a view to removing there. After much discussion, however, the town was enlarged, and the people remained. In 1635 Dudley and Bradstreet are found entered among the inhabitants of Ipswich. As early as Jan. 17, 1632, O.S., fearing some trouble from their French neighbors, among other precautions, it was agreed at a General Court, "that a plantation should be begun at Agawam, (being the best place in the land for tillage and cattle,) least an enemy, finding it void, should possess and take it from us. The governour's son (being one of the assistants) was to undertake this, and to take no more out of the bay than twelve men; the rest to be supplied at the coming of the next ships." † This was done in March, and the little settlement was called Ipswich in August, 1634.‡ The ninth church in the Colony, being the next to that at Cambridge, was gathered there in the same year.§ Mr. Nathaniel Ward was made pastor of the Church, his place being supplied in 1636 by Mr. Nathaniel Rogers.|| Ipswich was included in the order of the General Court passed September 3d, 1635, that no dwelling-house should be above half a mile from the meeting-house. precautionary measure, owing to greater danger from the Indians, was followed in the spring of 1636-7 by orders that watches should be kept, that people should travel with This *Felt's History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton, 1834, pp. 10-11. Mass. Colony Records, Vol. i. p. 123. § Winthrop's New England, Vol. i. p. 94, n. 2. || Johnson's Wonder-working Providence, p. 88. Mass. Colony Records, Vol i p. 157 * arms, and should bring them to the public assemblies. Mr. Daniel Dennison, Mrs. Bradstreet's brother-in-law, was chosen captain for Ipswich. Mrs. Bradstreet mentions her residing there, but we have no particulars respecting her stay in that town. On the 4th of March, 1634-5, "It is ordered, that the land aboute Cochichowicke shalbe reserved for an inland plantačon, & that whosoeuer will goe to inhabite there shall haue three yeares imunity from all taxes, levyes, publique charges & services whatsoeuer (millitary dissipline onely excepted)," &c., &c.† This is the first mention that we find of what was afterwards the town of Andover. In September, 1638, Mr. Bradstreet, Mr. Dudley, Junior, Captain Dennison, Mr. Woodbridge, and eight others, "are alowed (vpon their petition) to begin a plantation at Merrimack."‡ They do not appear to have left Ipswich immediately, nor do we know the exact year when they went to Andover. It is certain, however, that these and others had already established themselves at Andover before the year 1644,8 in the September of which year two churches were appointed to be gathered, -one at Haverhill, and the other at Andover. Mrs. Bradstreet's son Simon, afterwards minister at New London, Conn., says in his manuscript diary : "1640. I was borne in N. England, at Ipfwitch Septem. 28, being Munday 1640. "1651. I had my Education in the fame Town at the free School, the mafter of w'ch was my ever refpected ffreind Mr. Ezekiell Cheevers. My Father was removed from Ipfw. to Andover, before I was putt to fchool, fo yt my fchooling was more chargeable." This, though not exact, helps us to fix the time of their removal. This tract of land was bought of Cutshamache, "Sagamore of ye Massachusets" by John Woodbridge, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cochichewick, "for ye fume of 6 & a coate;" and in 1646 the town was incorporated by the name of Andover. The first settlements were made near Cochichewick Brook, the principal part of the town being near the meeting-house, though the houses were too far apart to form much of a village. This is that portion * of the town now called North Andover. Not far from the site of the first meeting-house is a large old-fashioned house, the oldest in the town. There is a tradition that this house was built and occupied by Governor Bradstreet, and it is certain that it was the residence of his son, Dudley Bradstreet.† Governor Bradstreet's house was burnt to the ground in July, 1666; ‡ and, if the present house was built to supply the place of the old one, Mrs. Bradstreet may have lived in it for a few years, as she did not die until September, 1672, and then in Andover. It has always been believed in the town, that this was the Governor's house; and its size, the solidity of its construction, and its position, certainly tend to strengthen this conclusion. It stands on the old Haverhill and Boston road, within a * Mass. Colony Records, Vol. ii. p. 159; Abbot's Andover, p. 11. E |