Pageant Exhibition Panel 03 - Entrance of the Colonists
Item Information
- Title:
- Pageant Exhibition Panel 03 - Entrance of the Colonists
- Description:
-
Colonists arriving to settle Lancaster during Episode 2, Settlement of Lancaster, in the Lancaster, Massachusetts 1912 Fourth of July Pageant. Lancaster was settled sometime around 1653. In the picture, the colonist walk in a long, strung out line, carrying their belongings in baskets. The identified participants were Gertrude Blood, Amreau Blood, Bessie McLaughlin, Mary Flannagan, Ruth McLaughlin, Katherine Powers, Emma Avery, Madeline Brydon, Robert McRell, Jessie Hair, Bessie Munn, Hattie McGee, Mary Burke, Marie King, Anna Coughlin, Frank McLaughlin, Mrs. Foster Sawer, Mrs. Lester Griswold, Donald Griswold, Rev. Abbot Peterson.The photograph is mounted on heavy cardboard and has text describing the activity and history depicted in the photograph. The text for this image has been transcribed. Pageant at Lancaster, Massachusetts, July 4, 1912 EPISODE II. SETTLEMENT This scene is in part typical of the beginnings of any of the inland towns of New England founded in the seventeenth century, but it also includes incidents which belong especially to Lancaster. We are to suppose that it takes place some time between 1643, when an Indian trading-post was established here, and 1653, when Lancaster received township rights by grant of the General Court.We know, from allusions in a later deed, of the purchase by Lancaster Proprietors of eighty square miles of land, for twelve pounds, from the friendly chief, Sholan. No copy of the deed is known to exist; but there is a tradition in the Houghton family, which may have reference to this transaction, that for certain lands bought of the Indians two black bulls and a gallon of rum formed a part of the purchase price, - a picturesque detail which has been utilized.John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians, frequently visited Lancaster, or "Nashaway," as it was called in these earlier years. In 1648 he writes: "Showanon[Sholan] the great Sachem of Nashaway doth embrace the Gospel pray unto God, I have been four times there this summer," and, two years later laments that, owing to his absence, some of the Nashaway Indians have been emboldened by Satan to return to their superstitious rites.The hymns here introduced are versions of the 126th and a part of the 24th Psalm from the "Bay Psalm Book." printed at Cambridge in 1640. Appropriate contemporary tunes have been selected. The quaint names assigned to the minor characters in this scene are not fanciful, as might be supposed, but are drawn from the vital records of the town.Some, however, below to a later date than of this episode.
- Creator:
- Sears, Richard
- Contributor:
- Thayer Memorial Library
- Date:
-
July 4, 1912
- Format:
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Photographs
- Location:
- Thayer Memorial Library
- Collection (local):
-
Thayer Memorial Library Archives Collection
- Subjects:
-
Historical drama
Lancaster (Mass.)--History--1640-1660--Drama
Fourth of July celebrations--Massachusetts--Lancaster
Library exhibits--Massachusetts--Lancaster
Colonists--Massachusetts--Lancaster
- Places:
-
Massachusetts > Worcester (county) > Lancaster
- Permalink:
- https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/bk129101x
- Terms of Use:
-
Rights status not evaluated.
Contact host institution for more information.
- Language:
-
English
- Notes:
-
Image is the third photograph in the Lancaster Massachusetts 1912 Fourth of July Pageant Exhibition created by the Thayer Memorial Library.
From the archives at the Thayer Memorial Library, Lancaster, Massachusetts. http://thayermemoriallibrary.org
- Identifier:
-
1912-PAG-03
pageant_exhibition_panel3_entrance_of_the_colonists
