| Notes |
- Benjamin Bradstreet was the first minister of Annisquam (Third Parish of Gloucester, Massachusetts), having been educated at Harvard.
From "Colonial Collegians: Biographies of Those Who Attended American Colleges before the War for Independence," we learn a bit more about Benjamin:
"Like most of the Class of 1725, Benjamin had to live in the town during his freshman year because of the crowded condition of the college; when space did become available, he asked to room with his classmates Pike and Webb in the south chamber over the library. In 1728 he applied for his M.A. in absentia and was denied because the excuse for his absence was not convincing. At the next Commencement he was awarded the degree 'though necessarily absent.'
"His failures to appear at Cambridge may have been related to his marriage, on November 9, 1726, to Sarah Greenleaf, or to the preaching engagement which he enjoyed. On November 22, 1727, having sat under his preaching for only four Sabbaths, the church of Topsfield invited him to settle in the ministry, but he declined iwth a most uncomplimentary promptness. The explanation must have been his dislike of the strife which was then raging in the relatively wealthy church of Topsfield, for the next summer he accepted a call to the poor and newly organized Third Parish of Gloucester, commonly known as Annisquam or Squam. Here he was offered a salary of £125 (with provision for an increase to £135), a woodlot, and a £100 settlement money. these sums were in paper money; when the province returned to a specie basis, his salary was only £82 a year." (Note: Benjamin's death was actually recorded in Gloucester vital records as 2 May, 1762.)
Benjamin's ordination at Squam took place on September 18, 1728, with the sermon delivered by John Tufts of West Newbury.
"The covenant which Bradstreet and the members of the new church signed was a simple one without theology or dogma. The people were not unduly religious and not too respectful of the clergy to suggest to an unpopular preacher that he leave town by taking a shot at him...Still, the only difficulty of Bradstreet's ministry to reach serious proportions was the defamation of his character by one Benjamin Wheeler, and here, when parson was about to sue, John Cleaveland (Yale 1745) of Essex obtained an apology in time to keep the case out of court...
"By March, 1761, Bradstreet had become 'very feeble, very paralytic," and his friend Cleaveland was engaged to preach half time at Squam. In June Bradstreet began to have convulsion fits and by October he was 'feeble in body and mind' as a result of them. In the spring he took a journey thinking to improve his health by a change of scene. Returning, he had reached Danvers when death overtook him on May 31, 1762, in the fifty-seventh year of his age."
According to the Essex Antiquarian, Vol. 11 (1907), Benjamin's will was "dated Sept. 8, 1760, being proved April 4, 1763. His estate, which was insolvent, was appraised at £197, 11s., 8d."
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The Stanwood Family
Abt 1705 - 1762 (57 years)
[1] 
