NOTES.

NOTE A, p. 173.

ALMOST all the information in our possession, on the subject of Harvard, is found in the following note of the learned and accurate editor of Winthrop's Journal: "We must regret that Winthrop has taken no notice of the ever-honored name of Rev. John Harvard, except in the loose memoranda at the end of his MSS. From our Colony Records, I find he was made free 2d November, 1637, at the same time with Rev. John Fiske. By a most diligent antiquary,—John Farmer, Esq., of Concord, N. H., — this information is given me from Rev. Samuel Danforth's Almanac for 1648: '7 mo. 14 day, 1638, John Harvard, Master of Arts, of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, deceased, and, by will, gave the half of his estate (which amounted to about 700 pounds) for the erecting of the College.' My correspondent adds, 'I do not recollect that any other authority gives the exact time of his death, or the college at which he was educated.' Johnson, Lib. II. c. 12 and 19, has favored us with more than any other book. It is peculiarly vexatious to learn from Mather of the founder of the college, which he so much and so often desired, happily in vain, to rule, only the amount of his bequest, and that he died of consumption. The sons of the oldest university in our country will be pleased with my extract from our Colony Records, I. 179, of the first motion in this blessed work. The court agreed to give 400 pounds towards a school or college, whereof 200 pounds to be paid the next year, and 200 pounds when the work is finished, and the next court to appoint where and what building.' This was in October, 1636, in the midst of the war with the Pequots, and the beginning of the Antinomian controversy; and we should remember that the appropriation was equal to a year's rate of the whole colony. Harvard's will was probably nuncupative, as it is nowhere recorded.” — Savage's edition of Winthrop's Journal, Vol. II. pp. 87, 88.

Cotton Mather mentions £779 17s. 2d. as the precise sum bequeathed by Harvard. Governor Winthrop says about £800. In New England's First Fruits, Harvard's estate is said to have been, "in all, about £1700." It is probable, therefore, that, in the foregoing extract from Danforth's Almanac, we ought, instead of £700, to read £1700.

A Latin elegy to the memory of Harvard, written by John Wilson, is subjoined by Mather to his account of the foundation of the college. In

this elegy, (in which Harvard is represented as speaking,) the following lines occur:

"Me (licet indignum) selegit gratia Christi
Fundarem musis, qui pia tecta piis.
(Non quod vel charâ moriens uxore carerem
Aut hæres alius quod mihi nullus erat;)
Hæredes vos ipse meos sed linquere suasit
Usque ad dimidium sortis opumque Deus ;
Sat ratus esse mihi sobolis, pietatis amore
Educet illustres si schola nostra viros."

From these lines it might be inferred that Harvard left a widow, and some other heir, who was not his son.

Since the above was written, in addition to the facts contained in the following note B, a very valuable gleaning has been made from the records of the church and town, by the accurate and judicious historian of Charlestown, Mr Richard Frothingham, Jun. From this source, we learn that Harvard was admitted an inhabitant on the 6th of August, 1647; that he was admitted, with his wife Anne, a member of the church, on the 6th of November; and was "some time minister of God's word" in Charlestown, although no account is found in the records of his ordination.

It further appears, from the town records, that he had a share in a division of land in 1637 and 1638; in 1637, a grant was made to him of "three and a half feet of ground for a portal" for his house; and on the 26th of April, 1638, he was one of a committee "to consider of some things tending towards a body of laws." Mr F. makes it quite probable that the widow of Harvard married Rev. Thomas Allen. The house built by Harvard was standing in 1697. See Frothingham's History of Charlestown, pp. 74, 75. I take this opportunity to acknowledge the inadvertence with which I fell into the popular error, not only in the former editions of this address, but in the tablet attached to the monument, — in making the reduction from old to new style, in the date of the death of Harvard. He died on the 14th of September, 1638; which, as the difference between the styles was then ten days, corresponds, of course, with the 24th of September. My attention was kindly called to this error by Rev. W. J. Budington, who has correctly explained the subject, in his “ History of the First Church of Charlestown," p. 182.

NOTE B, p. 174.

Since this address was delivered, the register of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, has been examined by President Sparks, Hon. James Savage, and by the author. It appears that John Harvard entered that college as a pensioner, 17th April, 1628; that he commenced Bachelor of Arts in 1631,

and took the degree of Master of Arts in 1635. The fruit of Mr Savage's researches will be found in Massachusetts Hist. Coll., Third Series, Vol. VIII. pp. 247, 249.

The family of Harvard still exists in England. A letter to the author of this volume, from the Rev. John Harvard, a respectable clergyman of the Wesleyan church, may be found in Hon. S. A. Eliot's "History of Harvard College," Appendix, p. 134. This gentleman is descended from the brother of our distinguished benefactor; but the traditions of the family in England do not go so far back as the accounts which have been preserved or collected on this side of the water.

NOTE C, p. 175.

The following is the list of the first class of Harvard College, as it stands in the catalogue:

1642.

Benjamin Woodbridge, Mr. et Oxon. 1648, S. T. D.

*1684

GEORGIUS DOWNING, Eques 1660, Baronettus 1663, Oliv. Crom.

Henricus Saltonstall, M. D. Patav. 1649 et Oxon. 1652, Socius

Of these graduates at Harvard College, of the first class, Woodbridge was settled in the ministry at Newbury, in Berkshire, England. Curious particulars of Sir George Downing✶ are given in Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 107, but particularly in Savage's edition of Winthrop's Journal, Vol. II. pp. 241, 242. A descendant of Sir George Downing, of the same name, founded Downing College, at Cambridge, in England, on a more liberal foundation than any other college in that university. Bulkley was settled as a clergyman at Fordham, in England, and, after his ejectment as a nonconformist, practised physic with success in London. He was the son of the eminent divine of the same name, the founder of Concord, in Middlesex county. Hubbard was the minister of Ipswich, the famous historian of New England and of the Indian wars. Wilson was minister of Dorchester, and is, with several others of this class, and Brewster, particularly commemorated by Johnson, in the "WonderWorking Providence.”

among whom are Barnard

He has recently been made the subject of two very learned and interesting lectures, delivered before the Massachusetts Historical Society, by Mr Charles W. Upham, of Salem.

APPENDIX.

On the 6th of September, 1827, a few gentlemen, graduates of Harvard University, happened to be assembled at the house of Dr George Parkman in Boston. Some conversation took place on the propriety of erecting a monument to the memory of JOHN HARVARD, the founder of the University at Cambridge. The proposal met with the hearty concurrence of the gentlemen present, and was believed to be one which would prove acceptable to the graduates at large. In order to carry it into effect, without unnecessary delay, it was determined to proceed immediately to the adoption of the steps necessary to be taken to bring the subject before the alumni of the college. The meeting was accordingly organized, and, in pursuance to the resolutions adopted by it, the following Circular was issued:

"A meeting of a few individuals who have received their education at Harvard College was held in Boston, on the 6th instant. The Hon. F. C. Gray was called to the chair, and Mr E. Everett appointed secretary.

"The object of the meeting was stated to be, to consider the propriety of paying a tribute of respect to the memory of John Harvard, founder of the University at Cambridge, by erecting a suitable monument in the graveyard at Charlestown, where he lies buried: and, on motion, it was

"Resolved, That the chairman and secretary of this meeting be requested to prepare a statement on this subject, to be submitted to the graduates of Harvard College, inviting a subscription of one dollar each, for the object proposed.

"Resolved, That the Hon. P. O. Thatcher be requested to act as treasurer of the fund to be raised; and that the chairman, secretary and treasurer adopt the requisite measures for the erection of the monument.

"The meeting was then dissolved.

"Copy from the record,

"Attest, EDWARD EVERETT, Secretary."

In pursuance of the foregoing resolutions, the undersigned beg leave to submit the following statement to the graduates of Harvard College :

VOL. I.

24

John Harvard was educated at Emmanuel College, in the University of Cambridge, in England, and, having received the degree of Master of Arts was settled as a minister in that country. He came over to America, as is supposed, in 1637, having been admitted a freeman of the colony on the 2d of November in that year. After his arrival in this country, he preached a short time at Charlestown, but was laboring under consumption, and died September 14, 1638. By his will, he left the half of his estate (which amounted in the whole to £1559 14s. 4d.) as an endowment of the college, which the General Court, two years before, had determined to establish; and which, in honor of this singular liberality, was, by order of the court, thenceforward called by his name.

These few facts are all which our histories have preserved to us, relative to this ever-honored name. The previous life of the stranger, who, in the short space of a year passed in a state of declining health, was able to lay this great foundation of good for remote posterity, is unknown. Of his brief ministry in Charlestown nothing is recorded. We are unacquainted even with the age at which he died; and no memorial exists to point out the spot where his ashes rest, upon the burying hill in Charlestown.

In our ancient and venerable University, a most illustrious, and, we trust, imperishable monument has been reared to his memory. But it has appeared to many of the children of our alma mater, that common respect towards the name of a public benefactor suggests the propriety of marking out, by a suitable memorial, the spot where his mortal remains are deposited. It seems unbecoming that the stranger, who inquires for such a memorial of the earliest benefactor of the cause of education in the country, should be told that none such has been raised.

Under the influence of these feelings, the undersigned have been directed to submit to the consideration of those who have received their education at Harvard College the propriety of erecting a simple and suitable monument to the memory of its founder, on the burying hill in Charlestown. It is proposed that it should be a plain, substantial, permanent work, of moderate cost, to be executed in hewn granite. With a view to unite in this dutiful act as many of the sons of Harvard as approve the object, it has been thought proper to limit the proposed subscription to one dollar from each individual. Although it is only to the sons of Harvard that the undersigned have thought themselves authorized directly to address this invitation, yet, as the college at Cambridge may be regarded as the parent stock of nearly all the New England seminaries, we shall cordially welcome the coöperation of those among us, who, although not educated at Cambridge, share with us in our respect for the memory of the first benefactor of American Letters.

As soon as the requisite arrangements can take place, personal application will be made to the alumni of the college resident in Boston and other large towns, with a view of receiving the subscriptions, to the amount of one dollar from each individual, of those who may be inclined to unite in this act of dutiful commemoration. Gentlemen to whom, from their remote and dispersed places of residence, it may not be practicable to make this personal application, are invited to transmit their subscription by letter, addressed to the secretary. A list of the subscribers, with a memorandum of the proceedings towards effecting the object proposed, will be deposited in the archives of Harvard College.