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It is my privilege and pleasure to write of an honored ancestor, t h e well
known New England divine, Rev. Thomas Hooker, who was born at Marfield, Leicester County, England, probably about
July 7th, 1586.
The little hamlet of Marfleld is one of the four towns which make up the Parish of Tilton, whose records, previous
to 1610, having perished, it is impossible to ascertain the exact date of his birth. The common place of worship
for this parish was the noble old church of St. Peter, built some time in the Twelfth Century and commanding a
wide view over one of the most beautiful portions of midland England. This church is the place where Thomas Hooker
was baptized, and where during his boyhood he doubtless attended divine worship. One wonders to find so beautiful
and costly an edifice, with its embattled tower, containing its peal of Jour bells and lofty spire in so quiet
and rural a spot. The grand old church of gray stone on the hill top, surrounded by the graves of the rude forefathers,
the wide stretching prospect of wooded landscape and open fields, the small thatch covered village of Tilton, and
the little hamlet of Marfleld, embowered in trees down in a valley, about a mile and a half away, is probably not
much altered since Thomas Hooker looked upon it as a boy.
The Hooker family seems to have been one of some note, as the parish register and the records of the court of administration
speak of the father and brother respectively as "Mr. Hooker, gentleman," designations which at that date
were given only to persons of some social standing. Who his mother was is unknown, but she lived to see her son
become a preacher of note and the object of special hatred by Archbishop Land, and banishment from the Kingdom.
The family life may have been comfortable and happy in the little Marfield home, but it must have been comparatively
narrow and limited, the chief point of interest outside the concerns of home being the church. At the age of 13
or 14 young Hooker was determined on getting an education, and there is no doubt that the place of his training,
preparatory to the University, was the school at Market Bosworth. It was just at this time that the great Puritan
and antiPuritan conflict was then in progress, and echoes of the stirring events connected with these public matters
must have reached Market Bosworth, and have been the subject of frequent converse among the bright boys gathered
there. Hooker was about 18 years of age when he entered the University. Here, then, at Cambridge as a student for
certainly seven years, and as a Fellow resident for some years more, Thomas Hooker was from the age of 18 to 28
or 30, in the midst of the most considerable actions in the great events of the times.
There is a story of one of the incidents of his life about this time, which may be of interest:
"On returning home, after his course of preparation for the ministry, he found his friends and townsmen in
a great state of excitement over what was considered to be a haunted house. The house was a solitary one, standing
on the outskirts of the town, and had been empty for several years, the owners being unable to rent or sell it,
or even persuade a care-taker to live in it, rent free.
"Strange sounds were heard from the house at night, and lights were seen flashing from the windows, wierd
shapes were seen by the terrified watchers passing to and fro within the house, and it was rumored that the Devil
himself, in proper array, with horns, hoofs and tail, had been seen.
"This young clergyman, being of a bold nature, volunteered to sleep in the house and ascertain the truth of
the stories. In spite of the entreaties of his friends he went to the house and to bed in a second story room,
his pistols on a table by his side.
"The early, part of the night passed quietly and he slept. soundly, but by and by he was awakened, by the,
certainty that some one, was, in the room with him. Sitting up he, struck a Lght and there saw, gloweing at him
in the dim light the alarming figure of the Devil, standing motionless at the foot of the bed.
"Without an, instant's hesitation our hero, seizing his pistols, sprang from the bed `and threw, himself at
the intruder. The Devil turned and fled, the young clergyman after him. Down the stairs they. went, through the
house, until they reached the cellar stairs. Down went the Devil and his: pursuer came tumbling after. reaching
the ground just in timc to see a square of light in the floor, through which the Devil was disappearing. He grasped
the edge of the trap door before it could be fastened and dropped into the subterranean passage, which opened out
into a larger brightly lighted room. Here he found a number of men, engaged in making counterfeit money, and to
his horror he recognized some of his friends and fellow townsmen, wellknown citizens, prominent in church and business.
They all clustered about the breathless Devil and a hurried consultation was held, as to what should be done with
their unwelcome visitor.
"As soon as the latter had rec‚vered his breath he said. cooly: `Gentlemen, it is publicly known that I slept
in this house to-night, and if I do not appear in the morning, this house will be razed to the ground, and y,our
secret be `discovered. If you will solemnly promise to cease this wicked work for ten years from this night, I
will on my side solemnly promise you not to mention for, ten years what I have learned to-night.' This was agreed
tol and Thomas Hooker then returned to ,his bed where he spent the rest of the night in peace.
"The next morning he,, reported that there was nothing uncanny about the house and that he had found everything
much to his taste.
"The house was soon, after rented, and nothing more was heard of the ghost stories.. Time passed and the young
minister joined the Puritans, and came to America., When nearly 11 years passed Mr. Hooker received from over the.
sea: a package which contained' a magnificent silver tankard with, the; inscription `‡ompliments of the, Devil.'
The tankard has been handed down for many' generations, a treasured heirloom."
Mr. Hooker was first, called to preach at Esher in Surrey, a small place 16 miles, from Westminster Bridge, with,
a scanty living of 40 pounds a year. Here he met and married his wife, a lady of culture and worthy to be the companion
of such a man.
About 1625 he accepted an invitation to establish himself as lecturer at Chelmsford, Essex County. Here be labored
for three years and many people flocked to hear hith, some of great quality, among them being the Earl of Warwick,
who afterwards sheltered and befriended his family when Mr. Hooker was forced to flee the country.
These lectures attracted the attention and displeasure of Land, Archbishop of London, who, on account of Mr. Hooker's
popularity with the people, was anxious to silence him.
Shortly after this he was forced to lay down his ministry in Chelmsford and retired to Little. Baddow where be
kept a school in his own house. Here he employed as an assistant John Elliott, afterward the celebrated apostle
to the Indians.
Land's vengeance pursued him and he was cited to appear before the High Commission Court. On account of sickness
he did not respond. His friends gave bonds to the amount of 50 pounds, which they afterwards paid, and Hooker secretly
went aboard a vessel for Holland.
He was pursued, but the officer arrived at the sea shore just too late for his arrest. He arrived safely in Holland,
and was for an uncertain period resident in Amsterdam, where he went to Delft and afterward to Rotterdam.
But the state of things in Holland was unsatisfactory, and probably before this negotiations had already been opened
for him to go to New England. As early as August, 1632, a company called Mr. Hooker's company were already at Mt.
Wallaston. Some time in 1833 Mr. Hooker crossed over from Holland to England and after a very narrow escape from
arrest, be, with Mr. John Gotton, and the Rev. Samuel Stone, his assistant, boarded the Griffin, at the Downs and
concealed their identity till they were well out at sea.
Eight weeks brought them to New England and brought Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone to the congregation waiting for them
at Newtown, the place to which the Braintree Company had been ordered to remove from their first settlement at
Mt. Wallaston. Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone arrived in Boston September 4th, 1633. They went at once to Newtown, and
on the 11th of October following, in connection with a "fast" were chosen Pastor and Teacher; and thus
the grave,, godly, and judicious Hooker and the rhetorical Mr. Stone entered upon their work side by side. A house
of worship was erected, with the then very unusual appointment of a "bell upon it." The church doubtless'
prospered, as well as most of the new churches of the country. Its minister was as honored as any man in the colony,
its prominent lay member, Mr. John Haynes, was chosen Governor of Massachusetts in May, 1635, on which occasion
he signalized his liberality by declining to receive the usual salary of the office.
The town was apparently as prosperous and wealthy as any in the Bay, but there was all along from very near the
arrival of the Griffin's Company, a certain uneasiness in respect to their situation, all the causes of which are
somewhat difficult to trace, and which at last, culminated in the removal of nearly the entire membership of the
church and population of the town to Hartford, Conn.
The Newtown pilgrims struck out into the pathless woods. There were hills to be climbed and streams to be forded,
and morasses to be crossed. Their guides were the compass and the Northern star. The Pastor's wife, Mrs. Hooker,
was carried in a litter because of her infirmity. Men and women of refinement and delicate breeding turned pioneers
of untracked forests in search of a wilderness home. The lowing of cattle sounding through the forest aisles, not
to mention the bleating of goats and the squealing of swine, summoned them to each morning's advance. The day began
and ended with the voice of prayer. Their toilsome and devious way led them to near the mouth of the Chicopee,
not far from where the City of Springfield now stands.
Thence, down along the Connecticut was a comparatively straight and easy pathway.
The wide full river, flowing with a larger tide than now and swollen with its northern snows, was crossed on rafts
and rudely constructed boats, and cheered by the sight of some pioneer attempts at habitation and settlement, the
Ark of the First Church of Hartford rested and the weary pilgrims who bore it thither stood still.
Arriving upon the ground one of the earliest transactions was the purchase of land from the Indians. A temporary
structure was first built to afford a meeting place for the people, and the first meeting house was erected in
1638. The worshippers were seated by public authorities according to their rank, men and women apart and on opposite
sides.
The year 1638 witnessed the preliminary proceedings very imperfectly recorded of one of the most interesting events
in all civil history, the establishment of a written constitution for the government of the Colony.
"The first written Constitution in the history of the Nations."
John Fiske says: "It was the first written Constitution known to history, that created a government, and it
marked the beginnings of American democracy, of which Thomas Hooker deserves, more than any other man, to be called
the father.
The Pastor of the Hartford Church was Connecticut's great Legislator.
Mr. Hooker made the journey from Hartford to Boston and back on public business certainly. three times through
the trackless wilderness on horse-back. After nine years of labor in Connecticut, an epidemical sickness prevailed
over the whole country, and the blow fell hard in Hartford.
Many of the citizens of the town died and among them that faithful servant of the Lord, Mr. Thomas Hooker, who
for piety, wisdom, learning and zeal might be compared with men of greatest note.
The fruits of his labors in both England's shall preserve an honorable and happy remembrance of him forever.
He died July 7th, 1647, at the age of sixty-one. He is buried in the old cemetery at the rear of the First Church
of Hartford, in which such splendid work has lately been done by the Ruth Wyllis Chapter, D. A. R. They have cleared,
restored and brought into view this cemetery, where repose the bones of so many of Connecticut's early settlers.
The cemetery was entirely hidden from view by tall buildings surrounding it, neglected, unseen, and forgotten.
Through the efforts of these women a large sum of money was raised with which the unsightly buildings on one side
of the cemetery were purchased and torn down, thus bringing the sacred lot into view, and opening onto a street
which runs from Main Street to the Park.
The tangle of weeds that had overgrown the entire ground was mown down, the broken stones mended and restored,
and the place is now one of beauty, with its trees and winding walks, and of great interest to all who care to
visit it. Here repose the mortal remains of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, whose soul is with the just, and whose memory
is that of one of the greatest and best of men.
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