IN DEDHAM

…we shall by all means labor to keep off from us all such as are contrary minded, and accept unto us all such as may be probably of one heart… ~ from the Dedham Town Covenant

Charles River, Dedham by Bruce Wood

the dawn of Dedham

In September of 1635, the Court ordered that a new plantation be settled, following closely on the heels of Concord. As with Concord, the reasoning was breathing room and defense.

The petition "Ordered yt the Plantacion to be setled above Charler River shall have 3 yeares Immunitie from publike Charges as Concord had...and the name of the said Plantacion is to be Dedham."

Note: One of the early settlers of Dedham was Ralph Wheelock, 4th great-grandfather of Cyrus Wheelock who married our aunt Olive Parrish (4A), joined the Mormon Church, and traveled with the Parrish family from New York to Utah.

The initial lands granted to Dedham were extensive, stretching all the way to the current day border of Rhode Island.

Red = Dedham Purple = Rhode Island border

The Dedham town covenant was signed by every citizen at the first town meeting on 18 Aug 1636. There were 18 men who signed the covenant that day. Among them was our grandfather Philemon Dalton (10GGF) and his brother Timothy (11U). The brothers didn't stay long in Dedham. By 1639, they'd moved on to the greener pastures of New Hampshire. Their story will be in a future post.

Every new citizen coming to live in Dedham was also required to sign the covenant. 97th on the list of 125 is our grandfather, Thomas Payne III (11GGF).

Thomas Payne III

We have three grandfathers named Thomas Payne. One died in England, one settled in Salem and the third moved to Dedham. In our post on Salem, we mentioned the will of Thomas Payne II (11GGF). He left to his son Thomas III (10GGF) "the care of his mother" and the "diligent improvement of the said ground, to his mothers use; during her life...he is to have his dwelling with his mother..." He also left to Thomas III "my Loomes & Slaies with there appurtenances concerning his trade of a weaver." So we find that Thomas III continued the family tradition of weaving.

Thomas may have taken his father's "Loomes & Slaies" but, pretty much right off the bat, he reneged on the care of his mother and the "diligent improvement of the said ground." In 1640, a year after his father's death, Thomas moved to Dedham, about 25 miles southwest of Salem. It appears that his mother, Elizabeth Payne (11GGM), lived in her home in Salem until she moved to Southold, New York with Thomas III's brothers and sister In the mid-1650's.

Thomas' reason for moving to Dedham just might have been to follow a man of the cloth. John Phillips was the reverend of the Payne's parish church in Wrentham, England. Phillips was removed from that post by Bishop Wren, a man noted for his particularly harsh treatment of Puritans in England. After multiple requests, Phillips finally agreed to take on the church in Dedham. And it's from a letter that Phillips wrote to Governor John Winthrop that we learn of Thomas III's marriage to our grandmother. Phillips wrote that "Thomas Paine of Salem and my servant Rebecca Ware have been thrice published in marriage at Salem and Dedham." The letter was dated 17 Oct 1640. It turned out to be a bit of luck that the letter was written because there is no record of the marriage in Dedham.

Thomas became a proprietor of Dedham 8 Nov 1640, took the freeman's oath in 1641 and was included in the land division in of 1643. The records of the Dedham Church show "that Thomas Paine and his wife Rebecka were received into ye comunion of the church 23 Apr 1641."

for love or money (which just happens to be the title of a novel Mike West wrote)

In 1663, the wife of Ellis Woods died leaving two young daughters. According to the town record of 17 Jun 1663 "Petter Woodward and Timothy Dwight are deputed to Agree with our sister Paine for the keepinge of Elice woods youngest child..." The child, Abigail Woods, was three years old when Grandma Rebecca (10GFM) took her in. Records show that Rebecca was paid for the care of the child. There is no information on how long Rebecca cared for Abigail, but her father, Ellis Smith, did not remarry until 1880.

family

A town record for 1677 reads: Nath Ware move to Sojourn with Tho Payns: It is not Alowed.

Nathaniel Ware was the son of Robert Ware. I can't believe it is merely coincidence that these two shared a last name with our grandmother Rebecca Ware Payne. Though I have found no definitive proof, it seems very likely that they are related. Robert Ware is the right age to be Rebecca's brother or cousin.

I also find this record amusing. In 1677 when Nathaniel desired to "sojourn" with Thomas, he would have been 29 years old. He didn't marry until 1696 when he was 48 years old. I'm wondering, why did Nathaniel need permission to "sojourn." And why did he want to "sojourn" with the Paynes? Most importantly, why was it "not Alowed."

Thomas and Rebecca had four children, all born in Dedham, and they remained in Dedham until their deaths. Rebecca died in 1682. Thomas died in in 1690, age 74.

Thomas and Rebecca's daughter Rebecca (9GGM) married Thomas Patten (9GGF) of Billerica and lived with him there.

Note: A branch of the Patten family, like the Wheelock's, joined the Mormon Church, married into the Parrish family and made the trek to Utah.

a land dispute that forecast the future

Reverend John Eliot, known as the "apostle to the Indians," worked for many years to convert the indigenous people in New England to Christianity. While this aspect of his travail is questionable, his tireless work to preserve lands he felt belonged to the Native Americans is not. The lands where the converted bands lived were known as praying towns and the people living in them were known as "Praying Indians."

In 1651, Eliot established Natick as the first praying town. Natick sat about eight miles from Dedham on a bend of the Charles River. The Natick "Praying Indians" had been taught an agrarian lifestyle by Eliot and needed a large portion of land to grow their crops. The "Praying Indians" in this area were Algonquian people from different bands including the Nipmuc, Massachusett, Montauk, and Wamponoag.

The people of Dedham strongly objected to this use of land that "legally" belong to the town. A dispute began that lasted fourteen years. Finally in 1665, the General Court granted the land to the Praying Indians. Their rationale came straight from the Puritan ideology depicted on the early seal of Massachusetts, COME OVER AND HELP US. Since the Praying Indians had been converted to Christianity, the Court felt a special obligation to "reward" them for this intelligent choice.

This story does not end happily, however. The resentment that the Dedham townspeople, and many other New Englanders, felt toward the Native Americans who were living on "their" land festered into a blistering sore. This situation would come to a head ten years later with a full-scale war between the colonists and the native people who had lived on that land for thousands of years.