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NOTE-BOOK
KEPT BY THE
REV. WILLIAM BRINSMEAD,
%\t .ftrgt JUtnister of JEarlborotxgl), JEajtf.
REMARKS
MADE BEFORE
THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
February 14, 1889.
BY
SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D.
ORNIA
SANTr ■ ^
NOTE-BOOK
KEPT BY THE
REV. WILLIAM BRINSMEAD,
&\)t £ trjst Jttimster of ptarlborougl), |ttajSss.
REMARKS
MADE BEFORE
THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
February 14, 1880.
BY
SAMUEL ABBOTT GREEN, M.D.
CAMBRIDGE:
JOHN WILSON AND SON.
Slnfbcrsftg $)rcss.
1889.
REV. WM. BRINSMEAD'S NOTE-BOOK.
At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, held on February 14, 1889, Dr. Samuel A.
Green made the following- remarks : —
Among the manuscript volumes belonging to the Society is
a note-book of 166 pages, kept by the Reverend William
Brinsmead, the first minister of Marlborough, Massachusetts.
It consists mostly of texts and heads of sermons delivered by
him on Sundays, Fast da} T s and Thanksgivings, and covers
a period, with no omissions, from the year 1682 to 1695. It
mentions also, briefly, the Wednesday meetings held at the
houses of different persons in Marlborough, as well as refers
to the services on Lecture days in other towns, where Mr.
Brinsmead took part. In early times it was a practice through-
out New England, shortly before the regular communion ser-
vice, to observe a half-day with some religious exercises, and
this was called " Lecture day." It was made the occasion
of some special pains to prepare the communicants for the
sacrament.
The book is written in Latin, without a blot or blemish,
in very plain and handsome characters ; and the texts are given
either in Hebrew or Greek, according as they are taken from
the Old or the New Testament. Sometimes Mr. Brinsmead
preached several sermons, on successive Sundays, from the
I
same verse; and in one instance be appears to have taken
his ii\i for thirteen Sunday discourses in succession from
Nehemiah i. 14. The places in the Bible where the sal
ta found are indicated in the outer margin in clear and large
letters; while the names of the Beveral towns where the
Bermons were preached are shown in the inner margin. A
list of these towns comprises Billerica, Braintree, Chelmsford,
l I, Dorchester, Dunstable, Groton, Marlborough, .Milton.
Rehoboth, Sudbury and Weymouth. The names are given
in a Latinized form, though sometimes abbreviated, thus:
BillericsB, Chelmesfordise, Grotonii, Waym., etc.
The dale of the first entry in the book is March 5, 1681-2,
and of the Last, February '.'. l'i'.'o-ti. 'I'he first one may be
translated thus: —
Marlborough, Sunday forenoon, March 5. I preached on the uses of
the doctrine Erom these words taken together, Proverbs viii. .'»G [here
the Bret clause of the verse is quoted in Hebrew.] Afternoon, I
treated of the doctrine in part from these words, namely [here follows
thf last clause <>f the verse].
< >n the following Sunday lie preached another sermon from
the same verse. Occasionally there are various other entries
about church matters which the writer thought worthy of
note: and in these brief items the chief interest of the book
now lies. As examples I give the following translations: —
Sunday afternoon, October 8, 1682. To-day a contribution was
taken up for Jonathan Johnson, who has been boarding a sick Scotch-
man, named William Craford.
Sunday afternoon, March I, 1683. To-day we received into the
church my Bister dan.- Brinsmead.
I make this extract in order to show how the writer himself
spelhd the surname, as it was often written " Brimsmead.'*
,-1 "' afterward married John Ruddock, and died on
February 9, 1687-8, i Btated in the book.
May 6, 1683. In the afternoon Mr. Jonathan Russell [of Barn-
stable] preached from Psalms lv. 22.
October 29, 1684. Mr. Grindall Rawson [of Mendon] was
ordained. 1
June 8, 1687. Mr. Gershom Hobart [of Grotou] preached at a
Lecture.
September 20, 1687. John Warner, of Lancaster, was taken into
the church, at the house of Jonathan Johnson. At the same time
John Rudduck and Edward Rice were chosen deacons.
Sunday afternoon, October 30, 1687. Mr. [Edward] Taylor, of
Westfield, and Mr. Jonathan Russell were present, and Mr. Taylor,
owing to my having the nosebleed, offered up the first prayer.
February 9, 1687. About midnight my sister Jane Rudduck died
happily after a life spent happily ; and in the afternoon of February
13, was buried.
September 9, 1688. Owing to rumors in circulation early this
morning [about the Indians], no public services were held.
September 19, 1688. Preached on a Lecture day at Groton, from
Jeremiah xvi. 17 [here follows the text in Hebrew]. The pulpit was
so dark this rainy day that I could not read the text ; on which
account it was read by Mr. Hobart of that town, nor was I able to
read any text at this meeting.
Sunday afternoon, March 1, 1691. To-day was taken up a contri-
bution for the redemption of the captives from the Eastern Indians
[ab Indis Orientalibus], on the petition of Henry Jackson, of whose
family four were then in the hands of the enemy.
Mr. Brinsmead mentions perhaps thirty persons at whose
houses the midweek meetings were held. In this list appear
the names of John Barnes, John Barrett, Thomas Beaman,
Abraham and Isaac Howe, Widow Hunt, Jonathan Johnson,
Nathaniel Joslin, Henry and William Kerley, John Maynard,
Joseph, Moses and Richard Newton, Daniel, Edward, Joseph
and Samuel Rice, John Ruddock, Samuel and William Ward,
Master Weld, Abraham Williams, James and John Woods,
and others.
1 Mr. Sibley, in liis Harvard Graduates (vol. iii. p. 101), gives the date of this
ordination as April 7, 1081.
6
Thia interesting old volume waa used by the Reverend
Thomaa Prince in the preparation of bia "Chronological His-
tory of N'-w England;" and in his Preface page \ii . where
be gives ;i list of the manuscripts consulted, 1 be refers to it.
as follows : —
An Original Journal in Latin, composed by the late Rev. Mr. Brims-
linn,/ of Marlborough, and in bia own Handwriting, from L665 to
• . inclusively,
( )n the paper cover there is u brief memorandum In Prim
well-known handwriting; and from the description of the
Journal given by the Annalist, when in his possession, it
would appear that the work was probably in two volumes,
as it extended over a period of thirty years. In that case
the Society's copy, which covers nearly fourteen years and is
complete in itself, was the second volume; but there is no
mark on the book to indicate this fact. It is not now known
either when or by whom the manuscript was given.
In the sale "Catalogue of the American Library of the
late Mr. George Brinley," Part I. (Hartford, 1878), page 128,
under Mather ( Richard), is the following title, numbered
: —
M \M m BIPT Sermon, from Ileb. 13. 17. preached "At an
Ordination at Maryborough, Apr: 7: 1»'..")9." 1 6 pages, 8°.
1 It may be worthy of note that there arc now in the Society's Library
.1 other manuscripts, which were used by -Mr. Prince and mentioned in this
list. They are as follows: —
"The Ui'v. Mr. William Hubbard's General History of Nbw England from
the Diacorery to 1680, in Ami tho' not in his own Hand-writing, vet
baring several Corrections made thereby." This manuscript was presented by
the Reverend Dr. John Eliot, on April !>. 1791, and is included in the first gift
ever made to the So,-
" General History of the New-England Indians, to 1674. in-
elilMVcly."
" An Origin f the late ("apt. Lawrence Hammond of Chariestown and
'1. inclusively."
re are various interleaved almanacs with notes by
Chii I - wall, the Reverend Thomas Shepard (the sum. of Chariestown,
nn,] ' fend Joseph Qerrish, of Wenham, which are mentioned in Mr.
i
This entry in the catalogue is accompanied with the follow-
ing note : —
The occasion and the date of this Sermon deserve notice. The town
of Marlborough was not incorporated until May [31], 1660, and the
Rev. William Brinsmead (a native of Dorchester, and doubtless a
member of Mather's church) is said to have been the first minister,
but he was not installed until October 3, 1666. That he (or any other)
minister was ordained at Marlborough as early as April, 1659, seems
to have been unknown even to Mr. Hudson, the local historian.
While the subject is involved in some obscurity, it would
be an interesting fact to know what minister was ordained on
April 7, 1659 ; but all the circumstantial evidence points to
William Brinsmead as the man. He was born at Dorchester,
where the Reverend Richard Mather, the writer of the ordi-
nation sermon, was settled as pastor. He was preaching at
Marlborough as early as September, 1660 ; and the customs
and traditions of the Puritan church would suggest a pre-
vious ordination. The presumption certainly lies in that
direction.
Mr. Brinsmead remained here during several years, when,
owing to some civil or ecclesiastical troubles, he left the town
and went to Plymouth to preach, where he was invited to
settle, but declined the call. He afterward returned to the
field of his first labors, and was installed at Marlborough,
on October 3, 1666; and here he continued his ministrations
until his death, which occurred on July 3, 1701.
Unfortunately the early records of Marlborough are lost,
so that now there is no help from this source to answer the
question.
TIU. LIBRARY
I \l\ I ksi n 01 CALIFORNIA
s. mi. i it. ii ban
I HIS HOOK IS 1)1! E ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED nELOW.
*3 izuo uzoza b4yi
UC SOUTHERN REG
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