THE REVEREND WILLIAM LEVERIDGE
By Susan M. Leverich [1]
Compiled circa 1902.
This edition prepared in 1999 by Richard Mervyn Leveridge from a typescript version at the Sandwich Archives and Historical Centre, 145 Main Street, Sandwich MA 02563. Document received 1980-07-15.
This article contains significant inaccuracies and should be treated as a period item of historical interest, rather than as authenticated history. The editors notations appear in square brackets.
"The learned and Reverend William Leveridge, than who his descendants need wish no better ancestry," [2] appeared on the pages of Colonial History as a man of singular piety and learning; of great executive ability and as a true soldier in the Christian Warfare. Like the great Apostle, he was a man of many journeys, the founder of many Churches, the friend, Counsellor and pastor of his people. As we can see him with Bible in hand, telling the Indians in their native tongue of One who loved them and gave Himself for them.
We find the following in Freeman's History of Cape Cod; "He who does not think of his ancestors will be negligent of his posterity" and signed William Leveridge. [3] So we his descendants in this distant day love to do honor to his Reverend name in this the land of his adoption.
"And these are they who gave us birth,
The Pilgrims of the sunset wave.
Who won for us this virgin earth
And freedom with the soil they gave." [4]The Rev. William Leveridge was born in England in 1605. He was a son of Sir Saville Leveridge of Drawlington Hall, Warwickshire. The name originated with a Baron (Von) Liebrich who came with William the Conqueror, and the family is mentioned in the Doomsday Book. John Saville Leveridge was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1562, and granted the present Coat of Arms. The name has been variously spelled, but Leveridge, or Leverich, are both used on the Colonial Records. The name signifies 'rich in love' (Prof. Cornelius Leveridge). [ 5 ]
'In 1698 John Theobald Leveridge was the plaintiff in an action against the Irish Leverages who had appropriated the Crest of the English branch. The suit was decided in favor of John Theobald, and the Irish relatives had to pay a fine of £300, and costs.'
The Rev. William Leveridge was a graduate of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, taking A.B. in 1625, and A.M. in 1629. Though born and educated in the Church of England, his sympathies were early enlisted on the side of the non-conformists, and we find him leaving the bosom of Mother Church, to arrange himself with the band of seventy Puritan Ministers, 'who fled over the seas, for freedom to Worship God.'
A Colony of merchants from Bristol, England had settled in Dover, New Hampshire, of which Capt. Thomas Wiggin was the superintendent. In 1632 he went over to England in the interests of the Colony, and October 10, 1633 he returned in the ship James with thirty others, 'and among them' says the record of Winthrop, 'was the Rev. William Leveridge, a godly minister.' [6] They landed at Salem on the last Sunday of October and the tree was still standing a few years ago under which the Rev. William Leveridge delivered the first sermon ever preached by an ordained minister in the State of New Hampshire. The Church of Dover celebrated on October 1883 the 250th Anniversary of its existence. A pamphlet containing the records of that occasion was printed at the time, and our warmest thanks are due to the Rev. Dr. Spalding, and many others for their graceful tribute to the memory of the saintly Scholar and Apostle William Leveridge the first minister of the Church at Dover.
In 1635 he moved southward to Boston, forming while there a friendship of the two most noted Divines of the day, viz; the Rev. John Cotton, and the Rev. John Eliot the Apostle to the Indians. It was the latter who first suggested to him the study of the Indian tongue for which he afterwards became so noted, and of whose labors Palfrey, Hubbard, Morton, and others bear record. He was also placed by Dr. Cotton Mather in his Classis as 'Among the first good men.' [7]
After a short association with the Rev. Ralph Partridge at Duxbury, Mass., in 1637 Mr Leveridge with ten others came to Sandwich, Cape Cod; they were soon joined by fifty more from the same place, and also from Plymouth, and a Church was formed with William Leveridge as pastor. By the Theocratic principles of Puritanism, no one was allowed to sell lands, or be received into the church without the consent of the minister. So here at Sandwich a church was formed by this influence, whose power was felt throughout the Colony. The Indians were numerous about Cape Cod, and William Leveridge accordingly acquired their language and they were ever his most devoted followers. While their orderly and peaceful lives throughout his pastorate attest to his faithfulness among them.
The early years of his life at Sandwich were peacefully passed. We find in 1640 the Settlement agreeing on a tax of £5 for removing and parting his house with boards, showing his primitive manner of living, and also that he be allowed to pasture his horse on the Town Neck. But as the settlement grew, refractory spirits found entrance, 'inveighing against minister, and magistrates to the dishonour of God'. Capt. Miles Standish, and Thomas Prince of Plymouth tried to throw oil on the troubled waters, to prevent the entrance of those whose fitness were questioned, the law was more emphatically enforced 'that none be admitted to Town rights without the consent of Mr Leveridge and the Town authorities.' This offended many, and they turned their animosity to the minister accusing him of novelties in religion; of using the services of the English Church in Baptism, and Holy Communion which was not strange, as it is said that during the first years of the Church of Salem, the ritual of the Mother Church was followed.
In 1647 we find Mr Leveridge employed by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in New England for work among the Indians, extending his labors even to the Plymouth Colony, and it was indeed consoling among the dissensions of Sandwich to turn to his savage friends and be it said to the eternal hour of John Eliot, William Leveridge, and many others, that during their ministries, never was peace broken by the horrors of Indian warfare.
Mr Feld tells us that the doctrines of the Seekers were another great cause of trouble in the Colony. They were known in England in 1645, and they claimed that the true ministry and ordinances were lost, the Bible uncertain, and renewed miracles necessary to faith. In Freeman's History is a letter written by Mr Leveridge to the Rev. John Wilson of Boston, in which he mentions this peculiar heresy and the grief it had caused him, attributing it like a true Puritan to Satanic influence, said he had tried to stem this current of unbelief, and but for the faithful members of his flock, would have lost faith entirely.
'In view of his success among the natives, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, approved and directed that he should turn his attention to the Indians of Long Island. Accordingly, in 1652 with a dozen or more of his parishioners, he explored the country about Oyster Bay and in 1653 with these faithful friends of Sandwich he left Cape Cod for the more hospitable shores of Long Island.' (The Isle of Shells).
The Annals say 'that he left behind him the character of great piety and meekness, and as seeking a quiet recess on Long Island in consequence of the jealousy, and uneasiness that certain persons had conceived towards him, they being implacable. That Mr Leveridge was too conscientiously humane for the time and had been virtually banished.'
The Rev. William Leveridge desired to form a Colony on Long Island, so with Peter Wright and Samuel Mays he purchased of the Natives a large tract at Oyster Bay, and one six miles square at Huntington. It is curious to read the consideration for these lands, viz. Indian-coats, kettles, bottles, hatchets, stockings, and awl-blades, shovels and as much wampum as would make £4 sterling. This was signed by the mark of Assiapum the Sachem; and immediately the three purchasers gave a paper admitting the rest of the Company to an equal share in these lands. The Settlement filled up rapidly, recruited by many of the persecuted from Sandwich, so in ten years there were fifty land-holders.
During five years William Leveridge labored faithfully among the Indians at Oyster Bay. War raged among them and pestilence swept many away, but never was there a conspiracy against the White Man. Often might we have seen our Reverend ancestor in these sad and far off days, going among the stricken Indians, teaching in the wigwams amid the terrors of death, and giving them bread or a cup of cold water in the Name of the Master.
The aforesaid Society recognizing his success and influence among the Red men desired to transfer him to the Montauk, and Corchaug tribes to the east, this he declined, not wishing to leave his Indian friends, while he had also assumed the additional charge of founding a church at Huntington.
The salaries of these first ministers says Mr Wood 'were raised as other taxes and the amount fixed in money was really paid in produce or cattle,' Dr Davidson mentions that there is nothing said about Mr Leveridge's salary, but a paper in possession of the writer dated 1659 may throw some light on the matter. It is in the peculiar spelling of the times, and acknowledges the indebtedness of Jonas Wood and Edward Higby of £8 sterling, to William Leverich, (the name is here spelled Leverich) inhabitant of Oyster Bay. This to be in wheat and pease to be delivered at Conn. River, or Huntington Harbor, at the usual price of Capt. W. Mr James Piker the historian said, 'Who Capt. W. was I do not know, and whether 8 - 18 - or £80 are meant may be a question, as the paper has fallen out from age. As this paper was given just previous to the call from Huntington it was presumably for salary, or for an encouragement as the Colonial Records say.
William Leveridge also built the first grist Mill at Huntington, and the writer had a receipt of £40 for it from one Henry Writney. In fact the old paper above mentioned was probably the parent of the grist mill.
On the records at Albany in 1660 Gov. Stuyvesant writing to the directors of the West India Company at Amsterdam, Holland, says "that the Rev. William Leverich was to sail on the first out-going vessel for the purpose of obtaining medicines for the colony". [8] But it was the following year before he sailed, and in 1663 the medicines were sent to the "English Clergyman, versed in the art of physic, and willing to serve in the capacity of physician." He was doubtless familiar with the medical teaching of that day for nothing was more common among the university educated Theologues, than to attend the lectures of the medical professors, and "walk the hospital" as it was termed, which was connected with nearly all the universities.
On Mr. Leveridge’s return from Holland in 1662, the people of Huntington enlarged the quantity of land for his use about Cow Harbour, and also built a parsonage for him. The first church was erected in 1665, the congregation prior to this time worshipping in the Town Hall. It is to be regretted that the records of William Leveridge’s labors at Sandwich and at Huntington by the fortunes of time and war are lost, but they are preserved for his eternal reward on the glorious records of the Church Triumphant. One historian says that he went to Newtown, Long Island in 1662 with his sons Caleb, and Eleazar, and that Caleb was a landholder in 1656 which would have been impossible, as he was but eighteen years of age at that time.
The Reverend William Leveridge did however go to Newtown [ NY] in 1662 but it was to purchase land for his sons and to settle them there. As Newtown at that time was destitute of spiritual guidance (for there was a severe penalty against unlicensed preachers) he remained and ministered to them for a while, keeping still an oversight of the church at Huntington. But in 1665 he returned to the last place [Huntington], and we find the name of William Leverich on the Nicoll patent both at Newtown and at Huntigton. In 1669 the people of Newtown having been for nearly ten years without any minister except for Mr. L.’s sojourn among them, now turned their attention to him and with the leasing citizens, constables, and overseers, presented their proposals, but he didn’t leave the pastorate of Huntington until 1670. Says Dr. Davidson, "some have wondered why he left the place so endeared to him by the ties of friends and fortune. But he was getting into the decline of life, and it was no doubt the desire to pass the evening of it in the bosom of his family that decided the change." There was perfect harmony on either side, with regret on his loss for Huntington. The first Church (that is the Puritan Church at Newtown) was erected in 1671. [8] Mr. L.’s life seemed a combat with errors from the shores of old England to his pastorate at Newtown. Mr. Riker tells [9] of a strange sect who appeared at the last place, claiming the gift of tongues, the raising of the dead, and forbidding to marry. They were most insulting to the minister, and to religion, and were finally fined, and imprisoned as a public scandal.
In 1675 the Indian Wars in New England aroused serious apprehension among the towns and villages of long Island. The inhabitants of Newtown placed themselves on the defensive, and surrounded the Meeting House with a stockade twelve feet from the wall. Every man was to lend a hand at the work, and four shillings a day was the fine for absence. But the waves of Indian warfare never reached the devoted town. Not so had the Long Island Indian learned of such spirits as Leveridge, James and others. [ ??? sentence does not make sense ??? ] The Red Man was treated by them as a man, and as a brother in the glad service of the King who loves alike the children that He has created. Had there been more such our Colonial History would not have been so often written in blood.
It has often been questioned who was the wife of the Rev. William Leveridge. On this history is silent, whether she shared his exile from the Mother Land we know not. As he had household goods when moving to Oyster Bay, it is presumed that she was with him then. But this, we the heirs of his good name, must leave for the day, when all earthly things will be revealed.
The last days of his life were spent in Newtown, till early in 1677 he fell asleep, "he was not, for God took him." [10]
"Servant of God well done!
Rest from thy loved employ!
The battle’s fought the victory won,
Enter thy Master’s joy!" [11]Susan M. Leverich
Bridgeport, Conn.Some of the above was through the kindness of Prof. Cornelius Leveridge, also from Colonial Records, and from old papers in the possession of the writer.
S. M. L.
Notes
[1] Susan M. Leverich (Born 1836, died post 1902, Bridgeport CT. USA.) SML refers to Rev. William Leverich using the spelling Leveridge throughout, except when quoting from other writers.
[2] Source of quote?
[3] Freeman, Frederick, The History of Cape Cod, Boston: printed for the author by George C. Rand & Avery S. Cornhill, 1858.
[4] quote is from the poem "Robinson of Leyden" by Oliver Wendell Holmes
No home for these! -- too well they knew[5] Much of this info we know to be fictitious !!! See Michael E. Leveridge, The English Leveridges, Cambridge: Privately published, 2001, p65.
The mitred king behind the throne; --
The sails were set, the pennons flew,
And westward ho! for worlds unknown.
And these were they who gave us birth,
The Pilgrims of the sunset wave,
Who won for us this virgin earth,
And freedom with the soil they gave.
The pastor slumbers by the Rhine,
In alien earth the exiles lie,
Their nameless graves our holiest shrine,
His words our noblest battle-cry!
[6] presumably -- Winthrop, Governor William; the journals of, as cited in Scales, John, History of Dover, New Hampshire, Volume 1, Printed by Authority of the City Councils, 1923.
[7] Cotton Mather 1663—1728. American puritan preacher and writer of Magnalia Christi Americana.Notorious for his influence on the Salem Witchcraft trials.
[8] Callaghan, E. B., Register of New Netherland 1626-1674, New York, 1865, page 127
[8] Church still exists -- The First Presbyterian Church of Newtown, a historic and multicultural church in Elmhurst, a New York City neighbourhood four miles east of midtown Manhattan. Founded in 1652, FPCN is the oldest church in New York City's Queens County.
First Presbyterian Church of Newtown
54-05 Seabury Street
Elmhurst, NY 11373
Phone: (718) 639-3126
http://www.fpcn.org/
[9] presumably in -- Riker, James Jr., The Annals of Newtown, New York, D. Fanshaw, 1852.
[10] Genesis 5:24
[11] Quote from a poem by James Montgomery (1771—1854)
Servant of God! well done;
Rest from thy loved employ;
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Master's joy."
--The voice at midnight came;
He started up to hear:
A mortal arrow pierced his frame.
He fell, -- but felt no fear.
Tranquil amid alarms,
It found him in the field,
A veteran slumbering on his arms,
Beneath his red-cross shield;
His sword was in his hand,
Still warm with recent fight,
Ready that moment at command
Through rock and steel to smite.
The pains of death are past,
Labour and sorrow cease,
And life's long warfare closed at last,
His soul is found in peace.
Soldier of Christ! well done;
Praise be thy new employ;
And while eternal ages run
Rest in thy Saviour's joy.
__________
Editorial note: this text was transcribed by Richard M. Leveridge.
Version
2003-05-04.
Mail to: leveridge@zoom.co.uk
Home page: http://pages.zoom.co.uk/leveridge/