The Rogerenes: some hitherto unpublished annals belonging to the colonial history of ConnecticutBolles, John R. (John Rogers)
History
The Rogerenes: some hitherto unpublished annals belonging to the colonial history of Connecticut
Bolles, John R. (John Rogers)
Rogerenes -- History
_Version No. II._ (_From Bi-Centennial Discourse (1870) by Rev.
Mr. Field, successor to Mr. McEwen._)
Mr. Field tells above story in substantially the same manner, but
causes the Rogerene to say, at the close: “Ah, Gurdon, thou art a
cunning creature!” Mr. Field adds, in a footnote to the printed
Discourse, that “there can be no authority for the story except
tradition,” but that it bears “so many marks of probability that
there can be no reason to doubt its correctness.” Doubtless it was
such “marks of probability” that induced Mr. Field to credit the
story that the Rogerenes entered the churches unclothed, which he
incorporated among the various erroneous statements relating to
these people contained in this Discourse, although he had abundant
means of knowing of its absence from all New London history or
tradition.
_Version No. III._ (_From Bolles Genealogy, 1865—concerning Joseph
Bolles, son of John Bolles, proof of whose marriage has been
given._)
There is a tradition in the family that Governor Saltonstall, who
had a high regard for Mr. and Mrs. Bolles, contrived to marry them
without their suspecting it. It is said that after Mr. and Mrs.
Bolles had had one or two children, and been threatened by “some
rude fellows of the baser sort” with prosecution, the Governor one
day invited himself to dine with friends Joseph and Martha. As the
dinner went on, friend Gurdon, in easy conversation, very adroitly
led both Mr. and Mrs. Bolles severally to declare that they had
taken each other as man and wife in a lifelong union, and regarded
themselves bound by the marriage covenant before God and man. As
Mrs. Bolles assented to her husband’s declaration, with her
smiling “Yea, yea,” the Governor rose to his feet and spreading
out his hands exclaimed: “By virtue of my office as civil
magistrate, and as a minister of God, I declare you lawful husband
and wife.” “Ah, Gurdon,” said Joseph, “thou art a cunning
creature!”
It is strange that so intellectual and scholarly a man as Mr. John
A. Bolles did not perceive that the best part of this joke was in
the extreme friendship displayed between the ardent Rogerene leader,
Joseph Bolles, and Governor Saltonstall, as well as in the fact that
the governor must have risen from the dead to marry Joseph Bolles,
the marriage of the latter having occurred seven years after the
death of Governor Saltonstall; also that had there been a child born
to such a couple in those days, no “fellows of the baser sort” of
any less consequence than the regular town authorities would have
needed to take them in hand.
_Version No. IV._ (_From an article regarding the Rogerenes, by a
talented historian of New London of the present date, which was
published several years since in a New York paper._)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account