Beginning a New Century

In the vastness of the United States of America, the island nation Britain found the perfect vessel into which to pour its continental-sized hubris and ambition ~ Stewart Stafford

third generation New England

By the year 1700, the population in New England had quadrupled in a half century. There were now 120 towns scattered over seven colonies. The two largest cities were Boston, Massachusetts and Newport, Rhode Island. Except for Georgia, all thirteen of the original colonies had been established. The northern colonies were New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Over half of the population, 55,000 were living in Massachusetts where most of our relatives remained.

Note: One reason for Newport's tremendous growth was their leading role in the transatlantic slave trade. Rhode Islanders had more slaves per capita than any other New England state.

During the 18th century, the marriage age rose and the survival rate of children dropped by a huge forty per cent. The mortality increase was mostly due to periodic epidemics which may have been caused by the higher population density. Land constraints in well established towns led to a boom in non-farming occupations. Many young men who weren't able to inherit land from their fathers became artisans and craftsmen. Opportunities abounded in new towns sprouting up for shoemakers, weavers, tailors, coopers, tanners and carpenters. In larger cities, ship-wrights, distillers, silversmiths, printers and iron manufacturers were in high demand. The new American lifestyle began moving away from simple self-sufficiency into a melding of labor, products and skills.

Young people looking for land of their own set their sights ever farther north and westward. The road to this expansion, called outmigration, had had been made much easier with the systematic elimination of indigenous people. Young couples moving away from their homes and families began a pattern of self-sufficiency that would charactrize future generations of pioneers who would continue the ever westward movement.

While the eighteenth century brought with it a new era of opportunity, it also began what would become a vast disparity in the division of wealth. In 1650, only twenty-one percent of wealth was in the hands of the most prosperous men. By 1700, the affluent class held a whopping sixty-two percent, a trend which has continued to the present day. Affluent merchants and professional men such as attorneys and doctors expanded in not only numbers but influence. Wealth then, as today, went hand in hand with polictical office.

The eighteenth century would also see a steep decline in the number of the Purtian faithful. While there is no consensus as to exactly when the Puritan era ended, by mid-century a religious upheaval which came to be known as the"Glorius Revolution" sent Purtians flocking to Baptist, Anglican, Presbyterian and Quaker churches. External events began to take precedence over the Puritan ideal of simply being one of "God's chosen." With a vast new land streching out with endless opportunity, people's priorities switched from stability, order and discipline, to movement, gathering wealth and the enjoyment of life.

With all its progress and growing prosperity, the last half of the seventeenth century had been a rocky road for newly founded American colonies. The budding new nation, however, forged ahead, though rocky times still threatened. Only two short years after church bells rang in the new century, the first of four wars that would plague the colonies for over fifty years, began.

never-ending war

The series of devastating wars lasted on and off in New England for seventy-five years, from 1688 until 1763. These wars, more often than not, were tied to various conflicts taking place in Europe. King William's War ended in 1697 but peace only reigned in the colonies for four short years. In 1701, Europe found itself in tumoil once again, this time over the Spanish succession. At issue were dynastic rights vs. maintaining the balance of power among European nations. When England declared war against Spain and France, the conflict naturally spilled over into the Americas where those same three countries battled for land supremecy.

The war which began in the colonies in 1702 was named after Queen Anne who had taken the throne after the death of William of Orange that same year. Queen Anne's War was only one of four that would be fought in the first half of the eighteenth century in the northern colonies. All of these wars in the colonies were simply a continuing struggle for control of the American continent. Since each faction, the English and the French, allied themselves with various Native American tribes, these series of wars became known as the French and Indian Wars.

Dummer's War which began in 1722 was unusual in that it didn't have a counterpart in England. After Queen Anne's war the treaty signed by the French and the English set definite land boundaries. The English, it turned out, had little respect for treaties. They continued their northward march into French territory and even fished in the French controlled waters of Nova Scotia. Dummer's War was fought strictly in the far northern colony of Maine where our Littlefield family lived. The already beleaguered people of Maine bore the brunt of the violence in that war.

The longest stretch of peace between the English, French and indigenous people of America took place right after Dummer's war ended in 1724. Twenty two years of respite from war ended in 1744 with the War of Austrian Succession in Europe, King George's in America. Since none of the previous colonial wars had settled the boundary issues, the American colonies once again got into the act. The much more destructive King George's War didn't confine itself to the territory of Maine. The violence spilled over into the frontier towns of all the northern colonies.

In spite of these never-ending wars, however, the seven British colonies in New England continued to grow and prosper.

a relative still in England

Now might be a good time to talk about a relative who made good back in jolly old England. Humphry Parsons (2C9X) was a grand-nephew of our grandmother Mary Beane (9GGM) who married the incorrigible tavern-keeper, Grandpa Daniel Clarke (9GGF). You may remember that Daniel traveled all the way from Topsfield back to London to fetch his young bride, Mary, only sixteen years old at the time of their marriage.

The Beanes were wealthy cordwainers (shoemakers) in London and well set up in English society. Grandma Mary's niece, Elizabeth Beane (1C10X), married quite well to Sir John Parsons, an affluent brewer in London. Their son, our cousin Humphrey Parsons, carried on with the Red Lion Brewery after his father's death.

The name of the brewhouse is quite interesting as it just might be connected to the old Red Lion Theater. The Red Lion, built ca. 1567, was the "earliest-known attempt to create a playhouse in the Tudor era, a precursor to the famed Globe Theatre." A recent constuction project in 2019 led to the discovery of what is believed to be the site of the theater.

Also found was evidence of what is thought to be beer cellars, including beakers, drinking glasses, and tankards. The site of the Red Lion Theater is about a mile from the location of the Red Lion Brewery which was established early in the seventeenth century by Humphrey's grandfather, John Parsons.

the brewery

The Parsons' brewery was on the banks of the Thames with it's own wharf. According to Alan Pryor in The Industrialization of the London Brewing Trade, "Parsons’s beer was popular with working men, it was described in 1726, in The Artificer’s Looking Glass, as the ‘best strong beer in London.'" Evidently Humphrey's main innovation in the the art of brewing beer was the "commissioning the building of a cask of unprecedented size..." The cask stood 13 feet tall with a diameter of 10 feet with a capacity of 160 barrels. Pryor say that these large casks were "the first step in the industrial development of the brewing industry."

Pryor goes on the say that "The true revolution lay in his selling the idea that his beer had been produced from his ‘great cask’ with-out mixing or adulteration, which he encapsulated in the name ‘Parsons intire butt’, often shortened to just ‘intire’. Thus, the use of ‘intire’ to describe beer entered the English language in its own right." Below is an old drawing of the site of the Brewery.

Jacobite

Running a brewery wasn't Cousin Humphrey's only claim to fame. Interested in politics at a young age, Humphrey was elected to the House of Commons in 1722 and served as Alderman on and off until his death in 1741. An extreme Tory, he also became a confirmed Jacobite. The Jacobites came into being when Queen Anne died in 1714. After suffering through seventeen pregnancies, Anne had died childless. Only one of her children, Prince William, lived beyond the age of two. Sadly, William was taken when he was only eleven. With no heirs, Anne's death effectively ended the reign of the House of Stuart. George, of the House of Hanover, was chosen as her successor. A certain faction of the English public was not happy with that choice. They supported a half-brother of Anne's for King. And thus the Jacobites were born.

Many Jacobians didn't let their personal beliefs get in the way of their political aspirations. Cousin Humphrey, relishing his role in governance, maintained good relations with the reigning monarch. Not all of his friends were so careful. In March of 1726, Humphrey received a letter from fellow Jacobite, Philip, Duke of Wharton. The Duke wanted Humphrey to talk about the "Pretender," King George, to some of their friends in London. The letter continued, demonstrating that the zealous Jacobites could find themselves in some danger:

The personal knowledge I have of your fidelity and capacity encourages me to write freely to you from this place, and I am sure I can give no greater proof of my dependence on your friendship than in trusting you with my life and fortune.

Whether Humphrey agreed with the Duke's request to talk to friends is unknown. Either way, nothing got in the way of Humphrey's politcal rise.

Note: Jacobite Philip Wharton's story is a sad one indeed. When he was only twenty-two, he invested heavily in a company that went belly-up, losing a staggering 26,000,000 in todays dollars. It was downhill from there as he traveled about Europe, falling deeper and deeper into debt until finally resorting to stealing food from acquaintances. In 1729, he took up arms aganst England with the Spanish army and was summarily slapped with a charge of treason. Wharton finally renounced the Jacobite cause in 1630 but it was too late for him. He died the next year at age 33 of severe alcholism.

with the King of France

Humphrey Parsons, like many rich Englishmen owned a fine stable of horses. As an exporter of beer, he was known to Louis XV of France. In 1729, invited to a royal hunt at Versailles, Humprey made a good impression with the king by being the first one to a kill. When Louis asked the price of the horse Humphrey was riding, our cousin had the quick wit to answer that it was "beyond any price but his Majesty's acceptance." The horse was graciously received by Louis. Humphrey's quick thinking earned him not only a patent from the king to export his beer to France duty-free but a portrait of Louis set in diamonds to boot.

Humphrey, now accepted into Louis' inner circle, paid frequent visits to Versailles, where "the King of France distinguished him more than...any prince or ambassador, inviting him every day to hunt with him or ordering his hunting equipages for him." In a 1741 homage to Humphrey we find these lines:

In France he is respected,

The French King does agree

That he should bring his beer

Over there duty free.

Lord Mayor

Although he was a Jocobite like his friend, the unfortunate Lord Philip Wharton, no such horrors lay in store for Humphrey Parsons. He was elected alderman of Portsoken in March 1721, an office held until his death in 1741. He was elected as Sheriff of London in 1722 and, in 1723, served in the House of Commons. According to Wikipedia, Humphrey was "returned as MP for City of London, where he was described as being ‘universally beloved for his good nature and open behaviour, and very popular amongst the common people for his great affability and condescension’." Then, in 1730, Humphrey Parson was elected to the highest office in the city, Lord Mayor of London.

As mayor, alderman and member of the House of Commons, Humphrey kept a house near his brewery in London on the banks of the Thames. He also had the estate he inherited from his father, Reigate Priory, about thirty miles south of London. The estate had a long history, founded as a monastary in the early 13th century. Then, in 1541, Henry VIII granted the manor to his fifth wife's uncle, William Howard who converted it to a Tudor mansion.

In 1681 Sir John Parsons, husband of our cousin Elizabeth Beane (1C10X) and father of Humphrey Parsons, bought the property which eventually passed to his son Humphrey.

Today, Reigate Priory sits on 65 acres of "of open parkland, with gardens, lake and waterfowl..." and is home to Reigate Priory School and Reigate Priory Museum.

second term and death

In 1640, When he was sixty-four years old, Humphrey was elected to a rare second term as Lord Mayor of London. He, however, was unable to complete his term. Humphrey died in March of 1641 at the of age sixty-five.

We'll end our cousin's little biography with this excerpt from the pamphlet "The Life and character of the Right Honourable Humphrey Parsons, Esq., who died Lord Mayor of London:

Being elected to the right and honourable Office of Lord Mayor, a second time, in 1740, he entered upon it, determined to support the Honour with a Dignity suitable...that he might be as Beneficial as possible...to his Fellow Subjects; but Providence was pleased to put a most melancholy End to all his great and good Intentions, by striking a Blow, which is not only the City's, but a National Loss.

He caught Cold by coming by Water after hard Riding, which threw him into a Fever, in which Condition he languished for about fourteen days and then died...to the inexpressible Loss and Concern of his Family and Friends..."

A 1741 poster entitled ‘A Hymn to Alderman Parsons, our Lord Mayor,’ describes him as "a churchman, an incorruptible Tory, and as being proof against the bribery and wiles of the whigs."