The Joseph Dow trunk archive · Document gallery 59

Church records and Gookin–Eliot genealogical correspondence

17 photographs · 10 document groups

Photographed by Whit from the recovered Joseph Dow collection. Descriptions draw on visible names, dates and subjects; uncertain readings remain provisional. Reading copies are turned upright, and each image links to the unchanged full-resolution original.

JDT-D441 · Church record manuscript: tied bundle

The closed view shows a thick gathering of folded papers held with string. It introduces the church-record extracts and working notes photographed in the following openings.

1 photograph

JDT-D442 · Hampton church membership under Seaborn Cotton

The notes discuss fragments of the first church’s records preserved by Rev. John Cotton from his father Seaborn Cotton’s ministry. They enumerate male members and refer to a female membership list of 18 September 1671, comparing names and admission dates.

2 photographs

JDT-D443 · Church lists: names, family relationships and 1742 entries

Large manuscript openings arrange names and family relationships in columns, with dated entries including 1742. The list identifies people as sons, daughters, wives and widows, useful clues for tracing Hampton families. An edge view records the gathering’s physical construction.

3 photographs

JDT-D444 · Church proceedings, ordinations and discipline

Extracts record dismissals to other congregations, the choice of church messengers and deacons, confessions and church discipline. The later page includes proceedings from 1741–1742 and identifies John Cotton as pastor.

2 photographs

JDT-D445 · Historical extracts concerning government and early New England

A working manuscript discusses government, liberty and property, and cites Hutchinson and Cotton. The adjacent leaf contains a note about material returned to the author and a bibliographical reference to Cotton’s Ecclesiastical History.

2 photographs

JDT-D446 · Genealogical papers: Gookin and early church notes

The red-tied wrapper is marked “Genealogical Papers.” An extract concerns Daniel Gookin’s military command in 1660 and names towns in the Middlesex regiment. An adjoining list records early Charlestown church members and dates, including Margaret Winthrop and Daniel Gookin.

3 photographs

JDT-D447 · Samuel Sewall to Thornton: Gookin and Eliot genealogy — 25 February 1848

Writing from Burlington to Thornton, Samuel Sewall discusses publication of Major General Gookin’s historical writings and extracts Cambridge records copied by Rev. Lucius R. Paige. He records John Eliot and Elizabeth Gookin’s marriage as “23:3:1666,” their son John’s birth as “28:2:1667,” and Mr. John Eliot’s death as “13:8:1668.” He also refers to the widow’s marriage to Edmund Quincy. The dates are retained as written rather than converted to a modern calendar.

1 photograph

JDT-D448 · Letter to S. G. Drake: family-history inquiry — 1841

The Portsmouth letter answers a request for genealogical information, mentions Rutland and Samuel Locke and suggests connections who may know more. The writer offers to call in Boston and provide further information; some names in the letter remain uncertain.

1 photograph

JDT-D449 · Sewall diary extract: artillery-company exercise — 1685

The copied passage is dated 5 October 1685 and describes the artillery company dividing into two bodies for an exercise. It names Cotton Mather, Captain Wade and Major Richards, then records a meal and return of thanks.

1 photograph

JDT-D450 · Eliot family: children’s births and deaths

The family list records Mary, Elizabeth, Hannah, Daniel, Samuel, Solomon and Nathaniel, with births in the 1640s and 1650s and several infant deaths. References to Roxbury and Eliot’s records appear alongside the entries.

1 photograph

Collection photographs supplied by Whit. Descriptions are finding aids, not full transcriptions. Names, dates and associations remain provisional where the handwriting is uncertain.