Theophilus Whaley AND Other Whaley Info

Generals Whalley and Goffe--Hutchinson's Account--President Stiles's History--The Russell house and the Judges' chamber.

THE appearance of Gen. Goffe at Hadley, Sept. 1, 1675, when the Indians attacked the place, is noticed on pages 137-139, with some remarks of President Stiles. His supposition, that the people in the meeting-house were "suddenly surrounded and surprised by a body of Indians," must be unfounded. The Indians, with a defenceless village a mile in length before them, would not have surrounded a building which contained thirty or forty armed men. The attack was undoubtedly upon the outskirts of the town, probably at the north end. The approach of the Indians may have been observed by Goffe from his chamber, which had a window towards the east. There is no reason to believe that there was a very large body of Indians, but the people, being entirely unaccustomed to war, needed Goffe to arrange and order them. The Indians appear to have fled, after a short skirmish.

Edward Whalley was brought up to merchandize. When the contest began between king Charles and the parliament, he, in middle life, took up arms in defence of the liberty of the subject, and distinguished himself in many sieges and battles. He was a cousin of Oliver Cromwell. Noble says, "from a merchant's counter, to rise to so many and so high offices in the state, and to conduct himself with propriety in them, sufficiently evinces that he had good abilities, nor is his honesty questioned by any."

 William Goffe was a son of Rev. Stephen Goffe, a puritan divine, rector of Stanmore in Sussex. He left the counter when a young man, repaired to the parliament army, and his merit raised him to be a colonel of foot, and afterwards a general, and a member of parliament. His wife who was Whalley's daughter, he left in England, and he kept up a constant correspondence with her while in exile in New England. His last letter to her is dated at Hadley in 1679.

 Both Whalley and Goffe were of the sixty-seven judges who passed sentence upon king Charles I. and of the fifty-nine who signed his death warrant, Jan. 29, 1649. When the restoration of Charles II. was determined, they found it necessary to escape from England. 

Governor Hutchinson was in possession of Goffe's diary and his papers and letters, which had long been in the library of the Mathers in Boston. Hutchinson was a tory, and his house was rifled by a mob in 1765, and the Journal of Goffe and other papers relating to the judges are supposed to have been destroyed. From  them he had published in 1764, a short Account of Whalley and Goffe, in his first volume of the History of Massachusetts. Some extracts are subjoined:--

 "In the ship which arrived at Boston from London, the 27th of July, 1660, there came passengers, Colonel Whalley and Colonel Goffe, two of the late King's Judges. Colonel Goffe brought testimonials from Mr. John Row and Mr. Seth Wood, two ministers of a church in Westminster. Colonel Whalley had been a member of Mr. Thomas Goodwin's church. Goffe kept a journal or diary, from the day he left Westminster, May 4, until the year 1667; which together with several other papers belonging to him, I have in my possession. Almost the whole is in characters, or short hand, not difficult to decypher. The story of these persons has never yet been published to the world. They did not attempt to conceal their persons or characters when they arrived at Boston, but immediately went to the Governor, Mr. Endicot, who received them very courtcously. They were visited by the principal persons of the town; and among others, they take notice of Colonel Crown's coming to see them. He was a noted Royalist. Although they did not diaguise themselves, yet they chose to reside at Cambridge, a village about four miles distant from the town, where they went the first day they arrived. They went publicly to meetings on the Lord's day, and to occasional lcctures, fasts, and thanksgivings, and were admitted to the ??crament, and attended private meetings for devotion, visited many of the principal towns, and were frequently at Boston; and once when insulted there, the person who insulted them was bound to his good behavior. They appeared grave, serious and devout; and the rank they  had sustained commanded respect. Whalley had been one of Cromwell's Lieutenant-Generals, and Goffe a Major-General. The reports, by way of Barbadoes, were that all the Judges would be pardoned but seven. When it appeared that they were not excepted, some of the principal persons in the Government were alarmed; pity and compassion prevailed with others. They had assurances from some that belonged to the General Court, that they would stand by them, but were advised by others to think of removing. The 22d of February, 1661, the Governor summoned a Court of Assistants, to consult about securing them, but the Court did not agree to it. Finding it unsafe to remain any longer, they left Cambridge the 26th following, and arrived at New Haven the 7th of March, 1661. One Captain Breedan, who had seen them at Boston, gave information thereof upon his arrival in England. A few days after their removal, a hue and cry, as they term it in their diary, was brought by the way of Barbadoes; and thereupon a warrant to secure them issued, the 8th of March from the Governor and Assistant, which was sent to Springfield and other towns in the western part of the colony; but they were beyond the reach of it."

 The Governor adds in a long marginal note, "They were well treated at New-Haven by the ministers, and some of the magistrates, and for some days seemed to apprehend themselves out of danger. But the news of the King's proclamation being brought to New-Haven, they were obliged to abscond. The 27th of March they removed to Milford, and appeared there in the day time, and made themselves known; but at night returned privately to New-Haven, and lay concealed in Mr. Davenport the minister's house, until the 30th of April. About this time news came to Boston, that ten of the Judges were executed, and the Governor received a royal mandate, dated March 5, 1660-61, to cause Whalley and Goffe to be secured. This greatly alarmed the country, and there is no doubt that the court were now in earnest in their endeavors to apprehend them: and to avoid all suspicion, they gave commission and instruction to two young merchants from England. Thomas Kellond and Thomas Kirk, zealous royalists, to go through the colonies, as far as Manhados [New York] in search of them. They had friends who informed them what was doing, and they removed from Mr. Davenport's to the house of William Jones, where they lay hid until the 11th of May, and then removed to a mill, and from thence, on the 13th into the woods, where they met Jones and two of his companions, Sperry and Burril, who first conducted them to a place called Hatchet-Harbour, where they lay two nights, until a cave or hole in the side of a hill was prepared to conceal them. This hill they called Providence-Hill: and there they continued from the 15th of May to the 11th of June, sometimes in the cave, and in very tempestuous weather, in a house near to it. During this time the messengers went through New-Haven to the Dutch settlement, from whence they returned to Boston by water. They made diligent search, and had full proof that the regicides had been seen at Mr. Davenport's, and offered great rewards to English and Indians who should give information, that they might be taken; but by the fidelity of their three friends they remained undiscovered. Mr. Davenport was threatened with being called to an account, for concealing and comforting traitors, and might well be alarmed. They had engaged to surrender, rather than the country or any particular persons should suffer upon their account: and upon intimation of Mr. Davenport's danger, they generously resolved to go to New-Haven, and deliver themselves up to the authority there. They let the Deputy-Governor, Mr. Leete know where they were; but he took no measures to secure them; and the next day some persons came to them to advise them not to surrender. Having publicly shewn themselves at New-Haven, they had cleared Mr. Davenport from the suspicion of still concealing them, and the 24th of June went into the woods again to their cave. They continued there, sometimes venturing to a house near the cave, until the 19th of August--when the search for them being pretty well over they ventured to the house of one Tomkins, near Milford meeting-house, where they remained two years, without so much as going into the orchard. After that, they took a little more liberty, and made themselves known to several persons in whom they could confide, and each of them frequently prayed, and also exercised, as they termed it, or preached at private meetings in their chamber. In 1664, the commissioners from King Charles arrived at Boston--Upon the news of it, they retired to their cave, where they tarried eight or ten days. Soon after, some Indians in their hunting, discovered the cave with the bed; and the report being spread abroad, it was not safe to remain near it. On the 13th of October, 1664, they set out for Hadley, near an hundred miles distant, travelling only by night; where Mr. Russel, the minister of the place, had previously agreed to receive them. Here they remained concealed fifteen or sixteen years, very few persons in the colony

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 being privy to it. The last account of Goffe, is from a letter, dated Ebenezer, the name they gave their several places of abode, April 2, 1679. Whalley had been dead some time before. The tradition at Hadley is, that two persons unknown, were buried in the minister's cellar. The minister was no sufferer by his boarders. They received more or less remittances every year, for many years together, from their wives in England. Those few persons who knew where they were, made them frequent presents. Richard Saltonstall, Esq. who was in the secret, when he left the country and went to England in 1672, made them a present of fifty pounds at his departure; and they take notice of donations from several other friends. They were in constant terror, though they had reason to hope after some years, that the equity for them was over. They read with pleasure the news of their being killed, with other judges, in Switzerland. Their diary for six or seven years, contains every little occurrence in the town, church, and particular families in the neighborhood, They had indeed, for five years of their lives, been among the principal actors of the great affairs of the nation. They had very constant and exact intelligence of every thing which passed in England, and were unwilling to give up all hopes of deliverance. Their greatest expectations were from the fulfilment of the prophecies. They had no doubt, that the execution of the Judges was the slaying of the witnesses. They were much disappointed, when the year 1666 had passed without any remarkable event, but flattered themselves that the Christian ‘ra might be erroneous. Their lives were miserable and constant burdens. They complain of being banished from all human society. A letter from Goffe's wife, who was Whalley's daughter, I think worth preserving. After the second year, Goffe writes by the name of Walter Goldsmith, and she of Frances Goldsmith; and the correspondence is carried on, as between a mother and son. There is too much religion in their letters for the taste of the present day: but the distresses of two persons, under these peculiar circumstances, who appear to have lived very happily together, are very strongly described.

 Whilst they were at Hadley, February 10, 1664-5, John Dixwell, another of the Judges, came to them; but from whence, or in what part of America he first landed, is not known. He continued some years at Hadley, and then removed to New-Haven. He married at New-Haven, and left several children. After his death, his son came to Boston, and lived in good repute; was a ruling elder of one of the churches there, and died in 1725. Colonel Dixwell was buried in New-Haven.

 It cannot be denied, that many of the principal persons in the colony greatly esteemed these persons for their professions of piety, and their grave deportment, who did not approve of their political conduct. After they were declared traitors, they certainly would have been sent to England, if they could have been taken. It was generally thought that they had left the country; and even the consequence of their escape was dreaded, lest when they were taken, those who had harbored them should suffer for it. Randolph, who was sent to search, could obtain no more knowledge of them, than that they had been in the country, and respect had been shewn them by some of the Magistrates. I am loth to omit an anecdote handed down through Governor Leverett's family. I find Goffe takes notice in his journal of Leverett's being at Hadley.--[This anecdote is on page 138.]

 Rev. Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, published "A History of three of the Judges of King Charles I.," Whalley, Goffe and Dixwell, in 1794, and dedicated it "to all the patrons of real, perfect and unpolluted liberty." He collected a great abundance of traditionary information from the towns about New Haven, and from Hadley.--He found that the Providence Hill of Whalley and Goffe was West Rock, about two and a half miles northwest of New Haven; and that their cave was not in the side of the hill, but in a pile of rocks on the top of West Rock.

 The judges were not out of danger while secreted at Hadley, as public inquiry was made after them by men sent from England.  They led so recluse and concealed a life at Hadley, that there are few anecdotes concerning them while there. They were well supplied with means of subsistence, partly from England and partly from friends here. Peter Tilton was often at Boston and donations could be safely made through him, and the judges sometimes resided at his house. Goffe thus wrote to his wife respecting her superannuated father, Whalley, in August, 1674:--

 "He is scarce capable of any rational discourse, his understanding, memory and speech do so much fail him, and he seems not to take much notice of any thing that is either said or done, but patiently bears all things and never complains of any thing. The common question is to know how he doth, and his answer for the most part is, very well, I praise God. He has not been able of a long time to dress, undress or feed himself, without help; it is a great mercy to him that he has a friend who takes pleasure in being helpful to him."

 Whalley died in Hadley not far from 1676, and Goffe's last letter is dated April 2, 1679, and he may have died as early as 1680. It is certain that Whalley died in Hadley, and there is very little doubt that Goffe died there also. The tradition, concerning which President Stiles enlarges, that Whalley or Goffe, or both, were buried at New Haven, seems to be fabulous. Pres.  S. believed that both died in Hadley, and that Whalley was buried at Russell's and Goffe at Tilton's. The surmise of some, that their bodies were removed from Hadley to New Haven, is certainly false, in regard to Whalley, and it is believed to be equally unfounded as to Goffe. The necessity of secrecy would have prevented the removal, as it must have been done by oxen and cart. The bones of Whalley had not been found when Pres. Stiles wrote his History in 1793.

 The following letter from Rev. Samuel Hopkins of Hadley, to President Stiles, contains various traditions, some of which must be rejected. The time of Peter Tilton's death, which Mr. Hopkins could not find, was July 11, 1696.

 Hadley, March 26, 1793.

"Reverend Sir,

 Since I received yours of the 11th ult. I have taken pains to enquire of the oldest people among us, what they heard said, by the eldest persons in town since their remembrance, respecting Whalley and Goffe, their residence in this town. The tradition among all of them is, that both of them were secreted in the town; that the inhabitants at that time knew very little of them, or where they were concealed, except those in whose houses they were. And the tradition among them in general is, that one of them died in this town (those who remember which, say Whalley)--that the other, Goffe, after the death of Whalley, left the town, and that it was not known where he went. With respect to the one who died in this town, the tradition in general is, that he was buried in Mr. Tillton's cellar.

 Most of whom I have enquired for tradition say, that while they were here the Indians made an assault upon the town: that on this occasion a person unknown appeared, animating and leading on the inhabitants against the enemy, and exciting them by his activity and  ardour; that when the Indians were repulsed, the stranger disappeared--was gone-none ever knew where, or who he was. The above is the general tradition among us.

 I shall now notice some things which were in the tradition, as given by some, differing from the above, or adding somewhat to it.

 According to the tradition given by some, Whalley and Goffe were not concealed the whole of the time at Mr. Russell's and Mr. Tillton's, but part of the time at one Smith's.(*) This I find in the family of the Smiths.

 An old man among us says, he remembers to have heard the old people say, there was a fruitless search (by order of the government, as I understand it) of all the houses in Hadley; but that they (to use his words) searched as if they searched not. That after Whalley's death, Goffe went off, first to Hartford, afterwards to New-Haven, where he was suspected and in danger of being known, by his extraordinary dexterity with the sword; shown (as he tells the story) on a particular occasion. And in apprehension of danger, he went off from New-Haven. Here tradition, according to him, ends with respect to Goffe.

 Another, still older says, that he heard both his father and his grandfather say, that Whalley and Goffe were both secreted at Mr. Russell's at first; who for their security, in case of search, made a retreat for them between his chambers, and behind his chimney. That one of them died at Mr. Tillton's and was buried behind his barn. That after his death Goffe went off into the Narragansett; was there set upon, and in danger of being taken; went from thence to the southward; was heard of as far as Pennsylvania, or Virginia, and nothing heard further of him.

 The tradition among some, connected with the family of the Marshes, is, that Whalley and Goffe both died in Hadley.

 Not many years after my settlement in Hadley, (1754) one, who was then quite an old man, told me, among other things, that the tradition of the one that died in town was, that he was buried in Mr. Tillton's garden, or in his cellar. With respect to the place of his burial, I am of opinion, that it was kept secret, and was unknown. It seems to have been a matter of conjecture among the inhabitants;--in Tillton's cellar,--in his garden--or behind his barn--as they imagined most probable. Of his being buried under a fence between two lots, I do not find any thing;--nor of his being afterwards removed. I have searched for his monument, and do not as yet by any means find the time of Tillton's death. Should I hereafter, I will inform you.

 SAMUEL HOPKINS."

 Extracts from Stiles's History of the Judges.

 I was at Hadley, May 21, 1792. The reverend Mr. Hopkins carried me to Mr. Russell's house, still standing. It is a double house, two stories and a kitchen. Although repaired with additions, yet the chamber of the Judges remains obviously in its original state unmutilated, as when these exiled worthies inhabited it. Adjoining to it behind, or at the north end of the large chimney, was a closet, in the floor of which I saw still remaining the trap door, through which they let themselves down into an under closet, and so thence descended into the cellar for concealment, in case of search or surprise. I examined all those places with attention, and with heart-felt sympathetic veneration for the memories of those long immured sufferers, thus shut up and secluded from the world for the tedious space of fourteen or sixteen years, in this voluntary Bastile. They must have been known to the family and domestics; and must have been frequently exposed to accidental discoveries, with all their care and circumspection to live in stillness. That the whole should have been effectually concealed in the breasts of the knowing ones, is a scene of secrecy truly astonishing!

 On my return from Hadley, passing through Wethersfield, on the 25th of May, I visited Mrs. Porter, a sensible and judicious woman, aged 77. She was a daughter of Mr. Ebenezer Marsh, and born at Hadley, 1715, next door to Mr. Tillton's, one of the temporary and interchanged residences of the Judges. This house was in her day occupied by deacon Joseph Eastman. She had the general story of the Judges, but said she knew nothing with certainty concerning them, but only that it was said they sometimes lived at Mr. Russell's, and

 (*)Lieut. Samuel Smith is meant.

 sometimes where deacon Eastman lived. That one was buried in Mr. Russell's cellar, and another in Mr. Tillton's lot. As she said she had nothing certain, I pressed her for fabulous anecdotes. She said she was ashamed to tell young people's whims and notions. But in the course of conversation she said, that when she was a girl, it was the constant belief among the neighbors, that an old man, for some reason or other, had been buried in the fence between deacon Eastman's and her father's. She said the women and girls from their house and deacon Eastman's used to meet at the dividing fence, and while chatting and talking together for amusement, one and another at times would say, with a sort of skittish fear and laughing, "who knows but what we are now standing on the old man's grave?" She and other girls used to be skittish and fearful, even in walking the street, when they came against the place of that supposed grave; though it was never known whereabouts in that line of fence it lay. She supposed the whole was only young folks' foolish notions; for some were much concerned lest the old man's ghost should appear at or about that grave. But this lady was very reluctant at narrating these circumstances and stories, to which she gave no heed herself.

 In repeatedly visiting Hadley for many years past; and in conversation with persons born and brought up in Hadley, but settled elsewhere, I have often perceived a concurrent tradition that both died there, and were buried somewhere in Hadley unknown, though generally agreeing that one was buried at Russell's.

 MR. RUSSELL'S DWELLING HOUSE.

 Stiles's History contains a representation of the outlines of the house, and of the Judges' Chamber. The following is an imperfect copy, made without the aid of an engraver.

 One part of the house was built as early as 1660, and the town aided Mr. Russell to build an addition in 1662. It appears from the inventory of Mr. Russell's estate in 1693, that the north, or kitchen part of the house, had a kitchen, lodging room, buttery and closet, with chambers over them; also a study; and that the south part had two lower rooms, named hall and parlor, with hall and parlor chambers over them; and a great and little cellar(*) and garrets, are mentioned. Furniture and other articles were appraised in all these rooms.

 The town purchased of Rev. Samuel Russell of Branford, in 1694, the house and the old homelot of 8 acres, and 4 acres added to the east end of this lot and the town lot, to extend them to the bank, making 12 acres, for 120 pounds, or about 400 dollars in money. The town gave the buildings and ten acres to their second minister, Mr. Isaac Chauncey, in 1696. His son, Josiah Chauncey, sold the same homestead in 1749, to Samuel Gaylord, who resided upon it, as did his son, Samuel Gaylord; and his grandson, Chester Gaylord, still owns the western half of the lot, and lives upon it.

 Chester Gaylord was born in 1782, and is now (April, 1858) in his 76th year. The following information is derived from him:--Before he was born, his father took down the north or kitchen part of the Russell house, and rebuilt it in nearly the same place, two stories high in the front westward, and one in the rear,(+) and the old cellar remained. The south building, in his younger years, remained apparently in its original state. He judges that it was 42 or 44 feet in length and about 20 feet in width. There was no cellar under it. The south side was the front. It had two large rooms below, with an old fashioned chimney and a  front entry and stairs between them. Above were two spacious chambers, and overhead appeared the joists and garret-floor, whitewashed; and Mr. G. thinks the walls were boarded and not plastered, but is not certain. North of the chimney, was an enclosed place with two doors, used as a passage between the chambers and for other purposes. The floor boards of this passage or closet were laid from the chimney to the north side, and the ends went under the boards that enclosed the apartment. One board, at least, was not fastened down, and it could be slipped two or three inches to the north or south, and one end could then be raised up.?? Mr. G., when a boy, had many times raised this board and let himself down into the space below, and restored the board to its place above him. He was then in a dark hole, which had no opening into any of the lower rooms; if there was once a passage into the kitchen cellar, it had been closed. There is a

(*)The great and little cellar were only one cellar, divided by a partition, and it was not large.

 (+)President Stiles understood that the house had been "repaired with additions."

 ??The trap door which Pres. Stiles saw in May, 1792, could have been nothing else but this board. It was not such a trap door as is pictured in his plan of the house.

tradition that the judges were once concealed in this dark place behind the chimney, when searchers went through the passage above. They could easily lift the board, and hide themselves in this under closet.

 The south part of the Russell house was pulled down when Mr. Gaylord was about 13 years old, or in 1795, and the present house was built, which is 44 by 40 feet, and extends above 20 feet farther south than the old one. The kitchen part was all north of this, and Mr. Gaylord's father and his family lived in it, while he was building the new house. As the stones of the old cellar wall were needed for the new cellar, the building was supported by props in part, and the wall removed. In taking down the middle part of the front wall, next to the main street, the workmen discovered, about 4 feet below the top of the ground, a place where the earth was loose, and a little search disclosed flat stones, a man's bones, and bits of wood. Almost all the bones were in pieces, but one thigh bone was whole, and there were two sound teeth. Doct. S. H. Rogers, who then resided in Hadley, examined the thigh bone, and said it was the thigh bone of a man of large size. This and the other bones were laid on a shelf, and in a short time they all crumbled into small pieces, and were not preserved. John Hopkins took the teeth, and he gave away one or both. No other grave was found behind the cellar wall. Mr. G. supposes the flat stones, from their position, were laid on the top of the coffin.

 These bones must have been those of Gen. Whalley, who was buried near 120 years before. Perhaps he died before Mr. Russell began to entertain the officers in the Indian war in 1675. If so, only Goffe removed to Mr. Tilton's.

 On the 18th of May, 1680, Sir Edmund Andros wrote from New York, to the Governor and Assistants of Connecticut, that he had been informed that Col. Goffe was kept and concealed by Capt. Joseph Bull and his sons at Hartford, under the name of Mr. Cooke. Warrants were issued to the constables of Hartford, directing them to search diligently the buildings of Joseph Bull and sons, and other places. They did not find Col. Goffe nor any suspected stranger. Secretary Allyn wrote to Gov. Andros, June 11, 1680, desiring the names of the informers, and said the people of Hartford were much abused by these false reports.

 President Stiles was an ardent republican, and believed that criminal kings should be tried and punished, as well as other men. He said in conclusion:--

 "The enlightened, upright and intrepid judges of Charles I. will hereafter go down to posterity with increasing renown, among the Jepthas, the Baraks, the Gideons, and the Washingtons, and others raised up by providence for great and momentous occasions: whose memories, with those of all the other successful and unsuccessful, but intrepid and patriotic defenders of real liberty, will be selected in history, and contemplated with equal, impartial and merited justice: and whose names, and achievements, and SUFFERINGS will be transmitted with honor, renown, and glory, through all the ages of liberty and of man."