Joshua Scottow (
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, ca. 1618 -
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, USA, January 20, 1698), was a colonial American merchant and the author of two histories of early
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
: ''Old Men's Tears for Their Own Declensions'' (1691) and ''A Narrative of the Planting of the Massachusetts Colony Anno 1628'' (1694).
Life
Scottow emigrated to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1634 with his widowed mother Thomasina and older brother Thomas. He settled in Boston and was admitted to membership in the Old (South) Church in 1639. He married Lydia (surname unknown) in 1640, and they had seven children. He acquired considerable wealth trading with
Acadia
Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...
, dealing in waterfront property, and developing frontier settlements near
Scarborough, Maine
Scarborough is a New England town, town in Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County on the southern coast of the U.S. state of Maine. Located about south of Portland, Maine, Portland, Scarborough is part of the Portland, Maine, Portland&ndash ...
. In November 1658,
William Crowne
William Crowne (1617–1682) had a varied career as an officer of arms, a member of parliament, a colonel during the English Civil War, and a joint proprietor of the English colony of Nova Scotia. He was also the father of the playwright John Cr ...
, proprietor of
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
, leased a portion of the colony to Scottow and Captain George Curwin (grandfather of
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone wh ...
high sheriff
George Corwin). He clashed with others in Scarborough: Scottow had a long-running legal battle with neighbor Andrew Alger over ownership of a
flake yard and was twice summoned to court over potential involvement in the 1681 drowning death of Nathan Bedford.
He served as a captain in
King Philip's War
King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodland ...
alongside pardoned pirate
Peter Roderigo. His use of resources and manpower for his own advantage further alienated his neighbors, as did two incidents where Scottow refused to come to the aid of nearby garrisons. Alger was killed in one of those incidents. Scottow later stood trial before the
Massachusetts General Court
The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...
regarding his use of military resources; while he was away in Boston Scottow's garrison surrendered it to Native Americans without firing a shot.
He was survived by his wife and four children, three daughters and a son Thomas, who graduated from
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...
in 1677.
Writings
Scottow was a Puritan and self-described "Old Planter." Both of his histories declare that the founding generation of New England was “animated as with one soul” for the achievement of a millennial religious mission and that the present (1690s) generation has lost its focus and loyalties. Scottow’s language is replete with biblical and classical references.
Opposition to Witchcraft Trials
In 1656, Scottow seems to have opposed some aspect of the prosecution of
Ann Hibbins
Ann Hibbins (also spelled Hibbons or Hibbens) was a woman executed for witchcraft in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on June 19, 1656. Her death by hanging was the third for witchcraft in Boston and predated the Salem witch trials of 1692.Poole, ...
, who was accused of witchcraft. Scottow wasn't alone. Another contemporary critic of the trial, Rev. John Norton (a hero of Scottow's) was said to have quipped that Hibbins "was hanged for having more wit than her neighbors."
[Hamilton Andrews Hill Old South Church Memorial Addresses (Boston, 1885) p.19 https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=GXhAAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA19] Ann Hibbins was executed on June 19, 1656 and Scottow was one of five men named in her will. The winter following her execution, Scottow was elected as a town selectman for the first time. Around the same time of his election, Scottow seems to have felt pressured to retract his original support for Hibbins and issue an apology to the court. "He stated that he did not intend to oppose the proceedings of the General Court in the case of Mrs. Ann Hibbins: " I am cordially sorry that anything from me, either in word or writing, should give offense to the honored Court, my dear brethren in the church, or any others."
Scottow finally returned to the same subject almost 40 years later in 1694. This was less than two years after the infamous trials at Salem, which he addresses at length in his, ''Narrative of the Planting'' making this work an important contemporary source. Scottow again seems to come down on the side of presumed innocence and against the accusers whose testimony was fickle and inconsistent ("said, and unsaid"). He further blames a departure from the non-superstitious theology taught by
Jean Calvin
John Calvin (; ; ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, ...
("Geneva") and embraced by the earlier teachers:, "Can it be rationally supposed:? that had we not receded from having Pastors, Teachers, and Ruling Elders, and Churches doing their duty as formerly... that the Roaring Lion
he father of liescould have gained so much ground upon us..." Scottow includes a tally, "...above two hundred accused, one hundred imprisoned, thirty condemned, and twenty executed."

In the previous decade,
Increase Mather
Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a History of New England, New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the sixth President of Harvard University, President of Harvard College (la ...
and his son
Cotton Mather
Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a Puritan clergyman and author in colonial New England, who wrote extensively on theological, historical, and scientific subjects. After being educated at Harvard College, he join ...
, had both been industrious in New England's government and written several
enthusiastic books on witchcraft. Scottow was also a close neighbor to one of the judges
Samuel Sewall
Samuel Sewall (; March 28, 1652 – January 1, 1730) was a judge, businessman, and printer in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, best known for his involvement in the Salem witch trials, for which he later apologized, and his essay ''The Selling ...
. In bringing the witchcraft trials to an end, Scottow seems to give credit to the relatively un-zealous leadership of the swashbuckling and non-literary governor, the native born
William Phips
Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was the first royally appointed governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and the first native-born person from New England to be knighted. Phips was famous in his lifeti ...
''"who being divinely destined, and humanely commissioned, to be the pilot and steersman of this poor be-misted and be-fogged vessel in the Mare Mortuum and mortiforous sea of witchcraft, and fascination; by heaven's conduct according to the integrity of his heart, not trusting the helm in any other hand, he being by God and their Majesties be-trusted therewith, he so happily shaped, and steadily steered her course, as she escaped shipwreck... cutting asunder the Circean knot of Inchantment... hath extricated us out of the winding and crooked labyrinth of Hell's meander."''
Works
''A Narrative of the Planting of the Massachusetts Colony'' (1694)(an 1858 reprint in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, volume IV of the Fourth Series, p 279-332)
''Old Men's Tears for Their Own Declensions'' (1691)(Online edition, PDF)
* Scottow edited and published a collection of early documents
''MASSACHUSETTS: or The first Planters of New-England, The End and Manner of their coming thither, and Abode there: In several EPISTLES'' (1696)(Online edition, PDF) containing materials by
John Winthrop
John Winthrop (January 12, 1588 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and a leading figure in the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the fir ...
,
Thomas Dudley
Thomas Dudley (12 October 157631 July 1653) was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the tow ...
,
John Allin
John Maury Allin (April 22, 1921 – March 6, 1998) was an American Episcopal bishop who served as the 23rd Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church from 1974 to 1985.
Early life
Allin was born in Helena, Arkansas. He graduated from the Univ ...
,
Thomas Shepard, and
John Cotton.
* Scottow is also credited with translating portions of an anti-
Anabaptist
Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism'; , earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
or anti-Quaker work by
Guido de Bres
Guido de Bres (also known as Guido de Bray,L.A. van Langeraad, ''Guido de Bray Zijn Leven en Werken'', Zierikzee: S.Ochtman en Zoon 1884 p.9, 13 Guy de Bray and Guido de Brès, 1522 – 31 May 1567) was a Walloon pastor, Protestant reformer and ...
, ''La racine, source et fondement des anabaptistes ou rebaptisez de nostre temps'' (Rouen, 1565). This was published as ''Johannes Becoldus Redivivus'' (London, 1659) and as ''The Rise, Spring and Foundation of the Anabaptists, or Re-baptized of Our Time'' (Cambridge, Mass., 1668).
* Anne Myles has recently shown that Scottow was the compiler of ''Divine Consolations for Mourners in Sion'' (1664), a work derived from
Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
References
Further reading
* “Memoir of Joshua Scottow,” ''Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society'', 2nd series, 4 (1816), 100–104
* George M. Bodge, ''Soldiers in King Philip’s War'' (1906), chap. 23.
* “Sketch of Captain Joshua Scottow,” ''Publications of the
Colonial Society of Massachusetts
The Colonial Society of Massachusetts is a US non-profit educational foundation, founded in 1892, and established for the study of the history of Massachusetts. The period of study is from its settlement through the early nineteenth century. It ...
'', 10 (1906), 370–378
* Perry Miller, ''The New England Mind'' (1953)
* Bernard Bailyn, ''The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century'' (1955)
* Sacvan Bercovitch, ''The Puritan Origins of the American Self'' (1975)
* ''American Writers Before 1800: A Biographical and Critical Dictionary'' (1984), v.3, 1283–1285
* Dennis Powers, “Purpose and Design in Joshua Scottow’s Narrative,” ''Early American Literature'' 18, 3 (1983), 275–290
* Julie Helen Otto, “Lydia and Her Daughters: A Boston Matrilineal Case Study,” ''NEHGS Nexus'', 9, 1 (1992)
* Anne Myles, “Restoration Declensions, Divine Consolations: The Work of John Foxe in 1664 Massachusetts,” ''New England Quarterly'', March 2007, Vol. 80, No. 1, pp. 35–68.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scottow, Joshua
1610s births
1698 deaths
British emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Merchants from colonial Massachusetts
People from colonial Boston
Historians from Massachusetts