Jan. 6.—Annual meeting of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. Marshall P. Wilder was re-elected President, and Grover Cleveland was made an honorary member. The following were elected to fill vacancies in the old board of officers: Vice-president, Horace Fairbanks, of St. Johnsbury, Vt.; honorary vice-presidents, Charles C. Jones, of Savannah, Ga., and W. F. Mallalieu, of New Orleans, La.; director, John F. Andrew, of Boston; committee on heraldry, John K. Clarke, of Needham; committee on library, Walter Adams, of Framingham; committee on papers and essays, Waldo Burnett, of Southboro, Alexander Williams, of Boston. The report of the treasurer showed: Income of the past year, $3,637.92; expenditures, $3,510.61; present balance, $127.31; total of the building fund, $25,028.19; total of all funds, $66,610.23. The librarian's report showed: Addition of books by purchase, 121; by gift, 401; present total, 20,778; pamphlets purchased, 30; gifts, 1848. Present total, 64,604. Nathaniel F. Safford offered a resolution of thanks to Mr. Wilder for his services in general to the society, and in particular for his persevering personal efforts during the past few years by which he has obtained, not merely the subscriptions of his friends, but the payment thereof for the building fund of the society, so that the money, about $25,000, is now on deposit, and at the society's disposal. The resolution was adopted unanimously by a rising vote.
Meeting of Massachusetts Legislature. President Pillsbury of the Senate, Speaker Brackett, of the House, and Clerks Gifford and Mr. Laughlin were re-elected. Captain J. G. B. Adams, of Lynn, was elected Sergeant-at-Arms.
Dec. 12.—Annual meeting of the Bostonian Society. The following were chosen directors for the coming year: Thomas C. Amory, William S. Appleton, Thomas J. Allen, Joshua P. Bodfish, Curtis Guild, John T. Hassam, Hamilton A. Hill, Samuel H. Russell, and William Wilkins Warren. The report on the library showed a total of 520 volumes, and many pamphlets not yet enumerated, being an addition of 184 volumes, and 126 pamphlets during the year. The report of the treasurer showed: Balance of last year, $3,857.85; receipts, to make a total of $4,736.65; expenditures, to leave a present balance of $1,992.23. It was announced that Mr. D. T. V. Huntoon, the secretary and treasurer, declined a re-election, being about to take a journey for the benefit of his health. The vacancy was not filled.
Jan. 14.—Monthly meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Dr. Green, as one of the executors of the will of John Langdon Sibley, read that part of the will in which he has constituted this society the residuary legatee of nearly all his estate. This amount is by far the largest sum of money ever given or bequeathed to the society, and will place the name of Sibley among the greatest benefactors of historical research. It was voted that a committee consisting of Judge Hoar, Mr. Cobb, and Professor E. C. Smyth be appointed to consider and report to the society what action should be taken in view of this munificent bequest.
Mr. R. C. Winthrop, Jr., communicated thirty-two letters, written between 1693 and 1699, from General Lord Cutts to Colonel Joseph Dudley, then lieutenant-governor of the Isle of Wight, and afterward governor of Massachusetts. They contain incidental reference to William of Orange, and many public men of that period, as well as to the campaign of the allied army in Flanders, and the evident sincerity and soldierly bluntness of the writer renders them quite entertaining. Lord Cutts was not merely a famous commander, but a poet, and his verses are quoted by Horace Walpole. Mr. Winthrop expressed a desire to learn where a picture of him might be found, and he discussed the authority and probable date of various portraits of Governor Joseph Dudley, and his wife, Rebecca Tyng.
Mr. Appleton spoke of the flag carried by the minute-men of Bedford to Concord, on the 19th of April, 1775, a photograph of which had been exhibited at the last meeting. It was originally designed in England in 1660-70 for the three county troops of Massachusetts, and became one of the accepted standards of the organized militia of this State, and as such was used by the Bedford company. Mr. Appleton said that in his opinion this flag far exceeds in historic value the famed flag of Eutaw and Pulaski's banner, and, in fact, is the most precious memorial of its kind of which we have any knowledge.
The Hon. R. C. Winthrop presented from the Hon. John Bigelow, of New York, late minister to France, and author of an elaborate life of Franklin, five old maps, on one of which the name of this city is spelled Baston, and on another Briston.
Mr. Windsor made a communication in reference to a ditch and embankment found in Weston, at the confluence of Stony Brook and Charles River, which indicate, it has been lately said, that a trading post and fort were erected there by the French in the early part of the sixteenth century. He gave reasons for the opinion that these relics may mark the site of an early attempt to found the town of Boston there, since soon after the arrival of Winthrop at Salem he set out for Charlestown, whence, with a party, he explored the neighboring rivers for a convenient spot to found their town, and discovered such a place "three leagues up Charles River." Dr. Palfrey, who seems not to have known of the existence of these remains, says that the spot must have been somewhere in Waltham or Weston, and most likely near the mouth of Stony Brook.
Mr. Winsor also read a paper in which he referred to a statement which had appeared in several popular histories, that, during the eight years of the Revolutionary War, the thirteen colonies sent two hundred and thirty-two thousand men to the Continental army. He traced the origin of this extravagant statement. In 1790, General Knox, then Secretary of War, presented to President Washington a report on the number of troops furnished during the war. He showed the number credited to the several States, making no distinction between those who served for a shorter or a longer period, and he did not tabulate his separate statements for each year into one including the whole war. This was done, however, in the first volume of the New Hampshire Historical Society's collections, and the error was copied by many subsequent publications. It was afterwards said in explanation, that these figures denoted enlistments or years of service, and not men. The truth of the matter is that these figures are worthless as representing the number of men which made up the Continental line, or the years of actual service, and their only value is as enabling us approximately to judge how much more or less relatively one State contributed than another to the military force that gained our independence.