1672 - Quaker Founder George Fox in America

Quaker George Fox preaching at Flushing, Long Island

January 1st, 1672 - Matthias Nicolls (1626 - December 22, 1687) is appointed 6^th mayor of New York. The city has, at that time, about 5 000 inhabitants.

Coat of arms of Matthias Nicholls

Born in Plymouth (Devon), Matthias Nicolls studied law at Inner Temple and Lincoln’s Inn and subsequently practiced as barrister in London. Appointed captain by King Charles II in 1662 on Samuel Maverick's recommendation, he joined the commission responsible for preparing the annexation of New Nertherlands. Arrived in Boston in July, 1664, he took part, one month later, in the surrender of New Amsterdam alongside the English troops. Although there is no evidence, he was maybe the nephew of former governor Richard Nicolls whose secretary he was to be during a few years. Then appointed judge of the Supreme Court, he purchased at the time vast tracts of land in Queens County.

January 30, 1672 - Captain John Mason dies in Norwich (Connecticut) at the age of 72.

A professional soldier, he arrived in New England in 1636 and was quickly able to demonstrate his military skills during the Pequot War, distinguishing himself in the decisive Mystic Massacre (1637). He had, afterward, ensured on a regular basis, the command of the Connecticut militia. Although a specialist with military matters, he had however been a judge in Windsor for eight years and contributed in 1660 to the founding of the city of Norwich where he had moved. Governor John Winthrop, Jr. had made him his right-hand man and got used to assign to him the government of the province when he went traveling.

February 23rd, 1672 - John Howland dies at Plymouth at the age of 80. He was the last surviving member of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded the colony on December 26, 1620.

He was through his marriage to Elizabeth Carver the son-in-law of John Carver, the first governor of Plymouth. Father of ten children, professor of theology, he held also repeatedly the position of governor’s adviser.

March 15, 1672 - Charles II must remove the "Royal Declaration of Indulgence" signed in 1662, originally intended to promote religious tolerance in the kingdom.

This resolution, supposed to restore religious peace, was actually suspected of wanting to encourage the Catholics and dissident religious movements.

March 22nd, 1672 - Governor Francis Lovelace embarks on a tour to Delaware. He is preceded by Captain Garland, responsible for organizing the various stages of his stay. This includes, in particular, a meeting with the Sussink Indians he hopes to impress by an important deployment of troops. His travel expenses will be covered by the money raised following the sentencing of the " Big Finn".

Captain Garland had to ensure the presence of the Indians to whom governor Lovelace had planned to provide the best reception and send a message of friendship.

April 1672 - John Winthrop, Jr. is reelected governor of Connecticut for the fourteenth year running.

April 1672 - Governor of Albemarle Peter Carteret and his assistant John Harvey leave Carolina to raise their grievances with the Lords Proprietors. They put, during their absence, the government of the colony in the hands of Lieutenant Colonel John Jenkins, the head of the militia and one of the former owners of the colony.

Their colony was for years plagued by recurring difficulties. Agricultural production had continued to suffer from extreme weather conditions, victim of hurricanes in 1667, 1669 and 1670 followed by rainstorms or drought.

Moreover, the application of the Fundamental Constitution was an added burden as far as the residents feared that the feudalism of the colony soon downgrades them to serves. Finally, moving the administrative power to the southern part of Carolina was seen in Albemarle as the return to a period when the colony was suffering from isolation.

John Harvey did not go beyond New York. As for Peter Carteret, he officially remained governor until 1674 but never returned to Albemarle.

George Fox (1624-1691)
Founder of the Society of Friends

April, 1672 - George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends, arrives in Maryland from the Barbados.

He went twice to Betty Cove's “Meetinghouse” built by the Quakers in 1665 near St Michael River in Talbot County, where he preached before nearly a thousand people including "Catholics" and judges of the province.

May 1672 - After spending a few weeks in Maryland, Gorge Fox lands at Oyster Bay near New York and goes to Flushing where the Quaker community, settled since 1657, became famous by the "Remonstrance" sent to former Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant which claimed religious tolerance.

He preached in the house of John Bowne, an early Quaker settled in Flushing who had for months opposed Peter Stuyvesant, enduring imprisonment and physical punishment, before the Burgers of Amsterdam grant him the right to freedom of conscience.

May 14, 1672 – Willing to show its opposition to governor Philip Carteret, an assembly comprising representatives of five cities (Elizabethtown, Newark, Woodbridge, Piscataqua (current Piscataway) and Bergen) from the seven in New Jersey, elects James Carteret "President of the Province".

The delegates held their meeting in Elizabethtown and made the most of a provision in the "Concessions" according to which it was entitled to elect the president in case of absence of the governor. The secretary of the assembly, William Pardon refused however to validate this election and was arrested on May 25 on orders from the new governor James Carteret. It seemed nevertheless to be a wise choice, insofar as the son of the Lord Proprietor of the province, his election could take a form a legitimacy.

James Carteret (Jersey, 1643 – Jersey, 1682) was the second son of George Carteret, Lord Proprietor of New Jersey. He lived at the time in Elizabethtown but his project was to go to Carolina. Although upgraded captain, he was generally regarded as a ditherer but it was apparently difficult not to consider him as opportunistic, given his willingness to take responsibility offered to him.

May 15, 1672 - Massachusetts introduces for the first time a law intended to forbid the new edition of a book without the consent of the owner of the copy. As in England, this "copyright" is reserved to the printer and not to the author.

May 17, 1672 – The New York council met at Fort James (former Fort Amsterdam) grants the status of incorporated city to New Castle, Delaware. It will now be led by a bailiff and six assistants. On the other hand, the English laws will apply in all the plantations along the Delaware River.

The former " schout ", on duty in the days of the Dutch, was replaced by a sheriff. The people had to elect annually two men to fill the post and it was up to the governor to choose one.

The officers and magistrates had requested that the ships from Europe are allowed in and out of Delaware without passing beforehand by New York in a way that the customs duties benefit directly in the colony. But the consideration of this application was postponed to a later date.

May, 1672 -  79-year-old Nicholas Easton is elected a governor of the royal colony of Rhode Island, succeeding Benedict Arnold. He received the votes of the Quakers, increasingly numerous in the region.

John Cranston is chosen as deputy governor of the colony.

There was undoubtedly longevity in this pioneer of the colonization of Rhode Island, who had founded the city of Newport in 1639. Easton had since been granted several terms of office including that of president between 1650 and 1654. Following the example of William Coddington, he had joined George Fox and become a Quaker.

John Cranston - (1625-1680) - because of his knowledge in the field of law, this physician had been chosen as Attorney General of the colony in 1654 by Nicholas Easton, a position he held or many years.

May, 1672 - Richard Bellingham is reelected governor of Massachusetts.

The Batlle of Solebay
(Painting by Harold Wyllie)

May 28, 1672 - The former Governor of New York, Richard Nicolls is killed by a cannonball during the Battle of Solebay, opposing the English and Dutch fleets off the Sufflok coasts.

Personally anxious to take revenge after the crushing defeat of the Royal Navy during the Battle of Medway, that happened five years earlier at the mouth of the Thames, King Charles II had concluded a secret alliance with France (Treaty of Dover), planning for invading Netherlands. He expected, by declaring a new war on Holland, resume control of sea trade. Despite the reluctance of Parliament and English opinion, it was officially declared April 4, 1672. But while French armies quickly moved through Netherlands, forcing young Stadhouder William of Orange to threaten to open the dikes and flood Holland, the English Navy would soon know new misfortunes in the North Sea.

June 3, 1672 - Thomas Prence is reelected governor of Plymouth.

June 7, 1672 - Quaker George Fox preaches before John Bowne's house in Flushing near New York.

June, 1672 - Charles Calvert, Lord Baltimore appoints captain Thomas Jones to gain military control over the Worcester area, disputed between Maryland and Delaware.

Jones went after the village of Whorekill (Hoornkill), threatening his magistrate to kill him if he did not swear allegiance to Lord Baltimore. The declaration of war between England and Netherlands would calm people down, Lord Baltimore and the Duke of York forced to make common cause in front of the enemy.

Governor William Berkeley

July 4, 1672 - Governor of Virginia William Berkeley receives from King Charles II the copy of his declaration of war on Holland.

Dated March 17, this one had taken three months to reach Jamestown. It listed the various recommendations to organize the defense of the colony facing a possible invasion.

Berkeley did not show hasty and preferred to wait for the regular meeting of the House of Burgesses scheduled in September to publicize the royal directives. He knew that his colony, which had then 48 000 people (including 7000 indentured servants and 2000 African slaves) was prosperous but, in military terms, so badly ready to fight against the same Dutch as it had been, five years earlier.

Since the Treaty of Breda which had ended the previous war, militias had been mostly disbanded, the forts left abandon and money collected for the defense used for other purposes. Sir Thomas Grantham, an officer in the Navy close to the Duke of York had moreover, from February, seen fit to inform the Committees of Trade and Plantations that Virginia was alarmingly with a shortage of ammunitions.

July 11, 1672 - While their ship docks in New York, John Harvey, the assistant of Peter Carteret, the governor of Albemarle, decides not to sail to England.

He found as a reason some urgency in the conduct of his business, leaving to Carteret the responsibility to defend alone the interests of the colony. Once in London, this one was unable to be heard. Peter Colleton even accused him of fleeing Carolina and Lords Proprietors agreed to make him responsible for carelessness and blamed him as the scapegoat of their failure. It was without recognizing that the colony knew through him peace and stability. Peter Carteret argued for his defense that he had been constantly under pressure to expand whaling and make profitable sugar production as well as that of silk or wine.

July, 1672 – Acknowledging his failure to restore his authority on New Jersey, Governor Philip Carteret, dismissed two months earlier by the assembly, sets sail to England where he hopes to find support and overturn the election of his cousin James Carteret.

 

Sir John Berry (1635-1689)

He asked captain Sir John Berry as then deputy governor, to replace him during his absence.

Sir John Berry (1635 – Portsmouth, 1689) – originally from Devon, he was the son of a minister. His father was active part in the Civil War and brought a financial support to the armies joined to King Charles I, an effort that took him almost to ruin. John entered the Naval Academy from which he emerged officer of the Royal Navy in 1663. He was given two years later his first command and became involved in the Anglo-Dutch War where he was noticed for his tactician's qualities and his boldness. King Charles knighted him shortly before that he left to America.

August, 1672 - At the age of 61, former Director of the New Netherlands, iconic Peter Stuyvesant dies at the Great Bouwerie, a 62-acre farm estate located near the woods and marshes of Haarlem, a few miles north of New York. His body is buried in the church St Mark’s church in-the-Bowery, Manahattan.

 

The Great Bouwerie

Peter Stuyvesant had ruled with an iron fist the New Netherlands colony for 17 years, until 1664, when he had to give up facing the pressure of the English naval forces. After a year of disgrace spent to justify with the Dutch supervisory authorities, he was able to get a safe-conduct to move back to New York where he had kept a domain.

A pear tree he had made come from Holland in 1647, when he had been appointed Director of the New Netherlands, was still visible two centuries later at the corner of 13th Street and 3rd Avenue where he continued to produce fruits. As for his house, it was destroyed by a fire in 1777.

August 12, 1672 - Governor Francis Lovelace writes to his Maryland counterpart Charles Calvert to complain about damage caused by captain Thomas Jones.

He strongly reproached brutality and violent methods of captain Jones towards the people of the Hoornkill region. Lovelace asked that measures be taken to stop actions that he considered unworthy, promising in return, and if nothing was done, retaliation from the Duke of York.

August 31, 1672 – Concerned about attracting new candidates for emigration, the Lords Proprietors grant advantages to the Irish who would move to Carolina within the next year.

These were assigned ownership of a 100-acre land. They also benefited from additional 100 acres for every man over 16 years old in their service, and 70 acres for a servant or an employee under 16. These goods were permanently granted and became patrimonial to their heirs.

September, 1672 - George Fox arrives in North Carolina accompanied by Edmund Williamson, the Quaker missionary who had long preached in Ireland before settling in Maryland.

He wrote in his diary that he had to travel through forests, sloughs and swamps. He met Nathaniel Batts, one of the oldest settlers of the region who seemed to him like a desperate man. He went to Albemarle where he was welcomed by acting governor John Jenkins and his wife. He told how he had confused an eminent physician who claimed that the Natives had no access to the Spirit and the Light of God by summoning one of theirs and make him admit that Indians had knowledge of good and evil.

September 5, 1672 - the commissioners of the United Colonies of New England, met in Plymouth, renew their union and approve new articles relating to the defense of their confederation. The number of militiamen provided by each of province is fixed for a period of 15 years to 100 for Massachusetts, 50 for Connecticut and 30 for Plymouth.

They also decided that their union would now become the "United Plantations of New England" and that they would defend each other when their respective interests and safety would be in danger.

Frederick Philipse I (1626-1702)
Lord of the Manor  of Philipsburg

September 29, 1672 - Frederick Philipse purchases the domain of Yonkers (named for its original owner Adriaen van der Donck said Jonkheer "the young gentleman") with former mayor of New York Thomas Delavall and Thomas Lewis.

Frederick Philipse (1626-1702) - Dutch merchant whose family was originally from Bohemia. Despite his aristocratic descent, he arrived penniless in New Amsterdam in 1653, accompanied by his family. Through her marriage in 1662 with the wealthy widow, Margaret Hardenbrook de Vries, he would gradually formed a large fortune first as a nail salesman, then as owner of inns.

September 16, 1672 - Poet Ann Bradstreet dies in Andover, Massachusetts. She is considered as the first American feminine writer

Ann Bradstreet (1612-1672)

Ann Bradstreet (Northampton, 1612 - Andover (MA), 1672) – the daughter of Thomas Dudley, butler of the Earl of Lincoln, she received an education that would enable her to venture into the paths of politics, medicine and theology. She married Simon Bradstreet while she was only sixteen and emigrated to New England with her parents and her husband in 1630. Her father quickly reached the responsibilities in the new colony of which he repeatedly became a governor. Living in Boston, Ann devoted on her side to poetry drawing inspiration from the themes of the everyday life and religion. Her poems were originally used to support the Puritan cause, but she knew, beyond the poetic conventions of her time to add personal feelings of great sensitivity.

October 7, 1672 - In a letter sent to Captain John Carr, Governor of New York Francis Lovelace informs him that Maryland is preparing the invasion of Delaware and asks him to organize the defense of the colony.

He wanted that all the militias stand in alert and that the guarding is reinforced day and night. He advised him to be engaged in no provocation and no hostile act, believing preferable to keep a purely defensiveness.

Eventually, there was no war but the people of Maryland continued their attacks in the region of Hoornkill where they had begun to settle and hoped to ensure the government.

November 25, 1672 – The Duke of York writes to governor Francis Lovelace that he acknowledges no legitimacy in the rebellious cities of New Jersey and asks him to provide support to the Lords Proprietors of the province to maintain peace. He also refuses to recognize the validity of the Monmouth Patent for the Navesink area.

December 6, 1672 - The Proprietors of New Jersey issue a new statement that undermines most of the principles of freedom and tolerance contained in the " Concessions and Agreements " dating from 1664. The settlers have most of their rights repealed while are strengthened the powers of the governor. The General Assembly loses much of its prerogatives.

Richard Bellingham (1592-1672)
Governor of Massachusetts

December 7, 1672 - Governor of Massachusetts Richard Bellingham dies in Boston at the age of 80.

He had been able to keep the same line as his predecessor John Endicott despite pressure from King Charles II and the creation in 1664 of the Royal Commission of Investigation to restore the rights of the monarchy on New England. Bellingham had then emerged as a staunch defender of the charter of Massachusetts Bay (1629) and even succeeded in operating with some skill to keep to his province the autonomy which it enjoyed in Cromwell’s time. His personal behavior was rather more controversial. He was blamed in particular for having broken the law by celebrating himself his second marriage. He was also sad to have her own sister Ann Hibbins, executed for witchcraft while showing, on his side, an utmost severity towards the Quakers. As governor, he was certainly praised for his integrity but he left the memory of a particularly stubborn man, in frequent disagreement with his staff, led by a religious conservatism opposed to any innovation.

John Leverett (1616-1679)
Governor of Massachusetts

December 10, 1672 - Governor Francis Lovelace announces the forthcoming creation of a monthly mail service between New York and Boston.

December 12, 1672 - John Leverett is elected a governor of Massachusetts to succeed Richard Bellingham.