BY THE REV. JONATHAN FRENCH OF NORTH HAMPTON.
(Continued from page 46.)
| Towns. | Ministers. | Native Place. | Born. | Graduated. | Settled. | Dismissed or died. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exeter | John Wheelwright | England | ab. 1594 | Cam. Eng. | 1638 | rem. to Wells, 1642 |
| Samuel Dudley | England | 1606 | 1650 | d. 1683 | ||
| The present1st Church | John Clark | Newbury, Ms. | June 24, 1670 | Harv. 1690 | Sept. 21, 1698 | d. July 25, 1705 |
| John Odlin | Boston, Ms. | Nov. 18, 1681 | Harv. 1702 | Nov. 11, 1706 | d. Nov. 20, 1754 | |
| Woodbridge Odlin | Exeter, N. H. | April 28, 1718 | Harv. 1738 | Sept. 28, 1743 | d. March 10 1776 | |
| Isaac Mansfield | Marblehead, Ms. | 1750 | Harv. 1767 | Oct. 9, 1776 | dis. Aug. 22, 1787 | |
| William F. Rowland | Plainfield, Ct. | 1761 | Dart. 1784 | June 2, 1790 | dis. Dec. 5, 1828 | |
| John Smith | Wethersfield, Ct. | Yale, 1821 | March 12, 1829 | dis. Feb. 14, 1838 | ||
| William Williams | Wethersfield, Ct. | Oct. 2, 1797 | Yale, 1816 | May 31, 1836 | dis. Oct. 1, 1842 | |
| Joy H. Fairchild | Guilford, Ct. | April 24, 1789 | Yale, 1813 | Sept. 20, 1843 | dis. July 30, 1844 | |
| Roswell D. Hitchcock | E. Machias, Me. | Aug. 15, 1817 | Amh. 1836 | Nov. 19, 1845 |
NOTES.
Exeter. The settlement of Exeter commenced in 1638. The founder and first minister of the place was the Rev. John Wheelwright, mentioned by Dr. Belknap as "a gentleman of learning, piety, and zeal." He came from Lincolnshire, England, and landed at Boston, Ms., May 26, 1636. "He and Mary, his wife, were admitted to the Boston church, on the 12th of June." A settlement had been made, as early as 1625, at Mount Wollaston, afterwards Braintree, Ms. In 1634, Boston was enlarged, so as to include Mount Wollaston. Mr. Wheelwright became preacher to the people at that place. These circumstances account for his being mentioned in some publications, as having removed to New Hampshire from Braintree; and in others from the church in Boston. Antinomian sentiments were imputed to Mr. Wheelwright. He was a brother of the famous Mrs. Ann Hutchinson, whose Antinomian zeal brought her into public notice. At a Fast in Boston, in December, 1636, Mr. Wheelwright preached one of the sermons. It gave offence, as it was judged to reflect on ministers and magistrates. He was said to have asserted, "that they walked in such a way of salvation as was no better than a covenant of works:" and also, that "he exhorted such as were under a covenant of grace to combat them, as their greatest enemies." [Neal's New Eng., Vol. I. p. 186.]
Mr. Wheelwright was summoned, by the civil court, "to give in his answer explicitly, whether he would acknowledge his offence, in preaching his late seditious sermon, or abide the sentence of the court." His answer was, "that he had been guilty of no sedition nor contempt; that he had delivered nothing but the truth of Christ; and, for the application of his doctrine, that was made by others, and not by himself, he was not responsible." [Neal's N. E., I. 190.]
Not being inclined to comply with the request of the court, that he would, "out of a regard to the public peace, leave the Colony, of his own accord," he was sentenced "to be disfranchised, to be banished the jurisdiction, and to be taken into custody immediately, unless he should give security to depart before the end of March." Appeal not being admitted, and declining to give bail, he was taken into custody, but released the next day, on "declaring himself willing to submit to a simple banishment." [Neal's N. E., I. 191.]
Mr. Wheelwright, having purchased lands of the Indians at Squamscot Falls, with a number of his adherents began a plantation in 1638, which, according to agreement made with Mason's agent, they called Exeter. "Having obtained a dismission from the church in Boston, they formed themselves into a church; and judging themselves without the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, they combined into a separate body politic," &c. [Belknap, I. 37.] This combination continued three years. The names of those dismissed from Boston were John Wheelwright, Richard Merrys, Richard Bulgar, Philemon Purmont, Isaac Gosse, Christopher Marshall, George Baytes, Thomas Wardell, William Wardell. [Dr. Belknap from Boston Chh. Records.] "When Exeter came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts, Mr. Wheelwright, being still under sentence of banishment, with those of his church who were resolved to adhere to him, removed into the Province of Maine, and settled at Wells. He was soon after restored, upon a slight acknowledgment, to the freedom of the Colony; and in 1647 accepted an invitation from the church in Hampton, and settled as colleague with Mr. Dalton." "After his dismission from Hampton church he went to England, where he was in favor with Cromwell, with whom he had in early life been associated at the University of Cambridge in England. After Charles II. came to the throne, Mr. Wheelwright returned to New England, and took up his residence at Salisbury, where he died, November 15, 1679, aged, probably, about 85 years." [Dow's Hist. Address at Hampton.]
Neal, although his sympathies were with the opponents of Wheelwright, mentions him as being "afterwards an useful minister in the town of Hampton." Dr. Cotton Mather, while he justifies the proceedings of the court against Mr. Wheelwright, accounts him "a man that had the root of the matter in him." Having quoted at large Mr. Wheelwright's address to the government, Dr. Mather says, "Upon this most ingenious acknowledgement, he was restored unto his former liberty, and interest among the people of God; and lived almost 40 years after, a valued servant of the church, in his generation." Referring to some publications of the day, in which Mr. Wheelwright was charged with being heretical, Dr. Mather said, "this good man published a vindication of himself, against the wrongs that had been done unto him." In this vindication were quoted the words of Mr. Cotton—"I do conceive and profess, that our brother Wheelwright's doctrine is according to God, in the points controverted." Mr. Wheelwright also produced "a declaration from the whole general court of the Colony, signed by the secretary," in which "they now signify, that Mr. Wheelwright hath, for these many years, approved himself a sound orthodox, and profitable minister of the gospel, among the churches of Christ." [Magnalia, II. 443.]