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| Volume 4, Page 55
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b. in Eng. at Horton, near Basingstoke, Co. Hants, was bapt. at the ch.
of B. taught his rudim. at Rumsey sch. and came with his mo. at 9 yrs.
of age to our country, adm. freem. 1678, ar. co. 1679, of wh. he was
capt. 1701, a supervis. of the press 1681, and print. with his own hand
the catechism, chos. an Assist. 1684 to 6, when chart. was abrogat. and
again, on its restora. 1689 to 92, and nam. of the counc. in new chart.
by k. William and Mary under adv. of Increase Mather, of wh. list he
was the last surv. when he withdrew 1725; was made a judge of Sup.
Ct. 1692, and one of a special, but unlawful, commiss. with others under
dep.-gov. Stoughton for trial of the witches; sev. yrs. judge of pro. and
d. 1 Jan. 1730. For his partak. in the doleful delusion of that monstrous
tribunal at Salem, that caus. the d. of so many innocents, he suffer.
remorse for long yrs. with the highest Christian magnanim. supplicat. for
mercy on the Lord's day, in the open congregat. tho less tenderness of
conscience was shown by a very relig. magistr. the chief in that cause.
See Hutch. II. 61. He may also claim the honor of being one of the
earliest in exertions against domestic slavery, and in answ. to him on of
his assoc. judges publish. defence. By his first w. Hannah, only surv.
ch. of John Hull, the mintmaster, m. 28 Feb. 1676, he had John, b. 2,
bapt. 8 Apr. 1677, wh. d. next yr.; Samuel, 11, bapt. 16 June 1678;
Hannah, 3, bapt. 8 Feb. 1680, wh. d. unm. at 44 yrs.; Elizabeth 29 Dec.
1681, bapt. 1 June foll.; Hull, 8, bapt. 13 July 1684, d. young; Henry,
8, bapt. 13 Dec. 1685, d. in few days; Stephen, 31 Jan. bapt. 6 Feb.
1687, d. in few mos. Joseph, 15, bapt. 19 Aug. 1688, H. C. 1707;
Judith, 13, bapt. 24 Aug. 1690, d. soon; Mary, 28 Oct. bapt. 1 Nov.
1691, ano. ch. 7, bapt. 13 Aug. 1696, d. soon; Sarah, 21, bapt. 25 Nov.
1694, d. young; one more, in 1696, d. very soon; and Judith, again, 2,
bapt. 4 Jan. 1702; so that only six of the fourteen ch. grew to maturity.
A sec. w. Abigail, d. of Jacob Meylen, wh. was wid. of William Tilley,
as she had been of James Woodmansey, m. 29 Oct. 1719, d. 26 May
foll. and a third w. m. 29 Mar. 1722, Mary, d. of Henry Shrimpton, wid.
of Robert Gibbs, ouliv. him; but neither had brot. him ch. Elizabeth m.
17 Oct. 1700, Grove Hirst, and d. 10 July 1716; Mary m. Samuel
Gerrish, and d. 16 Nov. 1710; and Judith, m. 12 May 1720, Rev. William
Cooper, and d. 23 Dec. 1740. Folly has never been gratif. by any
tradit. more than the story of the m. of this Judge S. as Hutch. I. 178,
tells, that he rec. with his first w. "as common. report. thirty thousand
pounds in N. E. shillings." Easy was it for credulity to accept the
addit. to that tale, that she was put into the scales against an equal load
of her f.'s coin. Slight arithmetic would prove, that f. an d. together
would scarce. balance one tenth of the silver; so that if we strike out
one of the cyphers from that 30000, and assume that dollars were the
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