ENDICOTT-L Archives

Archiver > ENDICOTT > 2000-05 > 0958878409


From: Jeffery G Scism <>
Subject: Re: [BS-L] Thomas Dexter
Date: Sat, 20 May 2000 20:06:49 -0700


Beacause your ancestor was beaten up by mine, and mine lost the $8.88
fine, (LOL), I hereby grant you full membership in the IBSSG.

Jeff Scism, Flockmaster, IBSSG

and listowner,
12th generation down from Governor Endecott

On Sat, 20 May 2000 21:16:31 -0500 Matt & Deb <>
writes:
> I'm new to this list, and I thought I'd begin sharing my black sheep.
>
> Thomas Dexter "of Lynn" (Massachusetts) is my 9g-grandfather. He
> settled in
> Massachusetts in 1630, and I've come to call him "the bad boy of the
> Pilgrims."
> It didn't take him long to get in trouble, as he was
> "disenfranchised" (kicked out
> of society) in 1633.
>
> >From "The Annals of Lynn, 1663":
> "At the same Court, Mr. Thomas Dexter was ordered to "be set in the
> bilbowes,
> disfranchised, and fined XX for speaking reproachful and seditious
> words against
> the government here established." The bilbows were a kind of stocks,
> ...
>
> "[Another error in transcribing occurred here. The fine of Mr.
> Dexter was forty
> pounds instead of ten; a fact which goes still further to show that
> the offense
> was regarded as of great enormity, and that fractious people
> sometimes found the
> luxury of railing at the government an expensive one. At this
> blessed day of
> liberty things are different. The fine of Mr. Dexter was not
> promptly paid,
> however. And some years afterward, to wit, in 1638, the larger part
> was remitted,
> the record standing thus : "4 Mrch, Thom. Dexter being fined 40 L.
> there was 30 L.
> of it remited him." (Col. Recs.)]"
>
> What had he said that got him in such trouble? I'm having trouble
> finding the
> document just now, but it was along the lines of "This fractious
> government shall
> come to nought; and the best of them is but an attorney" (oooh,
> fighting words
> even back then!)
>
> Back in 1630, upon arriving in Massachusetts, he quickly purchased
> the area now
> known as Nahant from a local Indian "for a suit of English clothes".
> The local
> whites humored him for awhile, but eventually took over those lands
> and split them
> up amongst themselves. There appears to be little question that
> Thomas thought he
> was in the right, but his neighbors thought it was a pretty stupid
> claim.
>
> Well, they let Thomas back into society before 1637. But he kept
> getting in
> trouble. Again, from the Annals of Lynn:
> "It is not possible to avoid the conclusion that Mr. Dexter had
> serious faults,
> and that he must have been an uncomfortable neighbor. He possessed
> an irritable
> disposition and was provoking in his bearing toward such as stood in
> any way
> antagonistic to him. And that he had an inveterate propensity for
> the law is
> abundantly proved by the court records. Mr. Lewis mentions two or
> three instances
> of his being dealt with for misdemeanors more grave than that of
> sleeping in
> meeting (one of the charges against him.) See under dates 1631,
> 1633 and 1646.
> And besides what Mr. Lewis has noticed it is found that in 1633 he
> was fined
> twenty shillings for drunkenness; also, 3 July, 1632, it was ordered
> that he be
> "bound to his good behavr till the Nexte Genall Court, and fined W.
> for his
> midemeanr and insolent carriage and speeches to S: Bradstreete, att
> his owne
> howse; also att the Genall Courte, is bound to confesse his fault."
> At the Court
> in November, however, 4 L. of the fine were remitted."
>
> And then there was the time when he provoked Mr. Endicott, a judge
> who later
> became Governor. The following quotes Endicott, who is being sued
> by Dexter,
> after Endicott punched Dexter:
>
> "He thus continues: "I desired the rather to have been at Court,
> because I hear I
> am much complained of by Goodman Dexter for striking him;
> understanding since it
> is not lawful for a justice of peace to strike. But if you had seen
> the manner of
> his carriage, with such daring of me, with his arms akimbo, it would
> have provoked
> a very patient man. He hath given out, if I had a purse he would
> make me empty
> it, and if he cannot have justice here, he will do wonders in
> England; and if he
> cannot prevail there, he will try it out with me here at blows. If
> it were lawful
> for me to try it at blows, and he a fit man for me to deal with, you
> should not
> hear me complain." The jury, to whom the case was referred, gave
> their verdict
> for Mr. Dexter, on the third of May, and gave damages ten pounds,
> ($8.88).
>
> "Besides the evidence of the blow, Mr. Endicott manifests somewhat
> of an irascible
> disposition in his letter; and Mr. Dexter was not a man to stand for
> nice points
> of etiquette on occasions of irritability. Some years afterward,
> having been
> insulted by Samuel Hutchinson, he met him one day on the road, and
> jumping from
> his horse, he bestowed "about twenty blows on his head and
> shoulders," to the no
> small danger and deray of his senses, as well as sensibilities."
>
> Despite all these troubles Thomas showed himself to be a useful,
> though certainly
> not beloved, member of society. He ended up owning 800 acres of
> land and provided
> the first iron mill on the Saugus river.
>
> Deb Gunther
> Glendale, WI
>
>
> ==== BlackSheep Mailing List ====
> ---
> Please visit the Genconnect Boards for the IBSSG
> Queries:
> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Special/BlackSheep
> Biographies:
> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Special/BlackSheepBios
> Obituaries:
> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Special/BlackSheepObits
> Wills:
> http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/Special/BlackSheepWill
>
> ==============================
> Join the RootsWeb WorldConnect Project:
> Linking the world, one GEDCOM at a time.
> http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/
>

Jeff Scism, IBSSG, Flockmaster San Bernardino, California
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~blksheep/
International BlackSheep Society of Genealogists
--- really BAAAAD ancestors make great genealogies

________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tag

This thread: