Description:

Samuel G. Drake
Massachusetts, ca. July 1854
Important American Numismatic Content of the 1600's, Boston Mintmaster's Diary, 19th Century Faircopy
Diary/Journal
SAMUEL G. DRAKE, Autograph Manuscript Copy of Diary of John Hull (1635-1661), July 1854, Massachusetts. 82 pp. + 3 pp. in back of Drake's notes, 4" x 6.375". Leather bound; spine intact; front and rear covers detached.

Pioneer antiquarian bookseller Samuel G. Drake made this handwritten copy of John Hull's diary in 1854. Hull's diary, composed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the mid-seventeenth century offers a fascinating view of life in the Puritan colony. It offers commentary on daily life; merchant activities; relations with other nearby English colonies, as well as Native American and Dutch adversaries; reflections on the progress of the English Civil War and other events in the homeland; treatment of Quaker and Anabaptist dissenters; births and deaths; fires, earthquakes, and weather; and much more.

Excerpts
"Some observable passages of Providence / Toward the Countrey & specially in these / parts of the Masachusets Bay not- / ed for the help of my owne mem- / orie wherein iff any thing / should not be soe exactlie / penned for method or / by me Let it be / imputed to the / ignorance of the / penman if / it should / ever / come unto the sight of any other. / John Hull"

"My father settled at Boston, & after a little keeping at scoole, I was taken from scoole to help my father plant corne, which I attended for some years together. I then fell to leading (by the help of my brother) & to practicing the trade of a gold smith, & was able to get my living by it."

"1657 14th 12 mo. called February in the night of that Day before the saboth bet'xt 9 on a clock the Lord gave my wife a safe deliverie of my dau. Hannah, & soe speedily that though the midwife came within half an hour after she was sent for yet the child was saffly borne before she could come."

"Also upon occasion of much counterfeit Coyne brought in the Countrye & much loss acruing in that respect (& that did occasion a stopage of trade) the Gen. Ct. ordd a mint to be set up & to coyne it bringing it to the sterlling standard for finiess & weighte one shilling to be 3 pennyweight (ie) 9d at 5 per 3) & they made choyse of me for that employment & I chose my friend Robert Sanderson to be my partners, to which the Court consented."

"1657 / I was chosen by the Towne of Boston (though myself unmeet) to be one of the seven men to looke after the towns affaires. The lord give an answerable grace."

[1659:] "3d of 3d. Recd. intele that the shipp White Raoch Capt. Sollomon Clarke comr was taken by The Spanyard wherein I held in furrs £51..18s..7d."

[1666:] "July 28. About 4 in aftern The Lord tryd me by calling for my honord father Robert Hull home to himself being two days before taken with a flux & there with violent cramp in his legs & burning att his breast yet bore all with sweet patience & thankfulness."

[1669:] "I tarried in London 4 saboths aftr 10th of May, whereafter, according to act of Parliament, none was to meet for any religious worship unless according to yt wch was in the liturgy of England. If there were above 5 prsons of 16 yrs. old, it was condemd as an unlawfull conventicle & great penalties to be inflictd £20 for the preacher, £20 for the house owner, 5s every hearer for the first offn & all these doubled, after the first tyme. Yet it pleased God the ministers preached & the people heard, & noe great molestation."

[1672:] "This winter the shipps yt went home to London was many of ym taken by the Dutch capers. I lost in Mr. Hilton, Mr. Jonas Clark & Thomas Moore £640. God mixeth his mercyes & chastismts Also I lost my Ketch ¾ with her lading from Virginia, taken by the Dutch from John Alden, worth about £200."

"1638. 1st of 4th mo. About noon was a great & generall earthquake. The vessells upon the river & the goods in them moved much. Many upon ye land could scarcely stand upright."
On June 1, 1638, the largest earthquake on record for New England occurred with an epicenter in central New Hampshire and a magnitude of between 6.0 and 7.0 mbLg.

"1643. The fower Collonies entred into a combination to assist & strengthen the hands of each other."
In 1643, the colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Saybrook, and New Haven formed the New England Confederation to unite the Puritan colonies in support of the church and to defend against Native Americans and the Dutch in New Netherland. Weakened in 1654, when Massachusetts Bay refused to join an expedition against New Netherland in the First Anglo-Dutch War, it was dissolved in the early 1680s.

"1648…Great Charles the first was beheaded upon Tuesday about 2 oclock a very solemn & strange act"

[1658:] "25. 12th We recd the sad newes of the death of the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, a man of excellent worth who dyed Sept 3d 1658. The Lord give sutable affections to bewaile the loss of such choyse ones. He was one that sought the good of New England, though he seemd to be much wanting in a thorough testimonie against the blasphemies of o[u]r days."

[1659:] "Sundry of the Quakers came into the Town boldly, & presumptuously resolving to [outvie?] the authority of the country. Tho' they had been punished & sent away, yet they wd obtrude themselves upon us. Three of them had also been a few weeks before banished upon pain of death. Wm Robinson & Marmaduke Stevenson 2 young felows little above 20 yrs of age, & one Mary Dyer of Road Iland, who about 20 yearce since was of Boston and bro't forth a hideous monster; part like a man, part like a fish, part like a bird, part like a beast & had no neck, t had scales, clawes & hornes.
"Oct. 20 These 3 persons had the sentence of death pronounce against them by the Genl Cort then sitting, & well they deserved it. Most of the godly have come to rejoyce & bless ye Lord that strengthens or Magistrates & Deps to bear witness against such blasphemers."

"Oct. 27. The 2 young men before mentioned had the sentence of death executed upon them, but Mary Dyer was upon petition of some friends reprieved, provided she departd the jurisdiction in two dayes & came no more hither."

"1660.21.3d. Mary Dyre presumptuously returned & came audaciously through the town at high day. All her private friends that met her persuaded her to return. She ansd she had a strong power to goe forward but noe strength to goe back (He must needs goe alone the Divell drives) She was by Authority apprehended & the 1st day of the 4th month hanged to death. Three or 4 other presumptuous Quakers were banished upon pain of death."

John Hull (1624-1683) was born in England and immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his family in 1635. His father was a blacksmith, and Hull was educated at a grammar school and then at the Boston Latin School for two years. From 1639 to 1646, he was a smithing apprentice. In 1646, he became a practicing silversmith and goldsmith. In 1647, he married Judith Quincy, and they joined the First Church in Boston the following year. They had five children, but four died as infants. In 1652, the General Court authorized Hull to remint foreign silver currency into shilling, sixpence, and threepence pieces and paid for the construction of a minting facility on Hull's land. Hull served as the Boston "mintmaster," and the General Court soon dictated a more complex design to discourage clipping, so Hull produced coins with designs of a willow tree (1652-1660), an oak tree (1660-1667), and a pine tree (1667-1682). In total, Hull's Boston mint may have produced as many as 300,000 to 500,000 silver coins. In 1661, the restored English monarchy considered the Boston mint to be treasonous, and in 1665, the Privy Council ordered it to cease operations, but the colony ignored the command. The mint continued in operation until 1682, when Hull's contract as mintmaster expired. The coinage was a contributing factor to the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's charter in 1684. Hull was also an active merchant and held partial ownership of more than a dozen ships. Hull served as Boston's treasurer for a decade beginning in 1658, represented various constituencies in the Massachusetts General Court in the 1660s and 1670s, and served as treasurer of the colony from 1676 to 1680.

Samuel Gardner Drake (1798-1875) was born in New Hampshire and educated in the common schools. He worked as a teacher from 1818 to 1825. He moved to Boston and in 1828 established the first antiquarian bookstore in the United States. He devoted himself to the study of the early history of the United States and continued in the bookselling and publishing business for the rest of his life. In 1847, he was one of the founders of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, served as its president in 1858, and edited its quarterly Register for many years. From 1858 to 1860, he lived in London, England.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 4" x 6.375"
  • Medium: Diary/Journal

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