. In olde Massachusetts; sketches of old times and places during the early days of the commonwealth . ey reared a somewhat remarkable family of oldest, Mary, married the Rev. Stephen Mix,the promising pastor of a neighboring charge. Theircourtship was a novel one, even for that day. Heproposed for her to her father, and suggested that sheshould take due time for consideration. She did so,and after several weeks wrote the following laconicnote: November, 1695. Rev. Stephen Mix: Yes. Mart Stoddard. The second daughter, Esther, who had been welleducated at Boston, married the Rev. Timot
. In olde Massachusetts; sketches of old times and places during the early days of the commonwealth . ey reared a somewhat remarkable family of oldest, Mary, married the Rev. Stephen Mix,the promising pastor of a neighboring charge. Theircourtship was a novel one, even for that day. Heproposed for her to her father, and suggested that sheshould take due time for consideration. She did so,and after several weeks wrote the following laconicnote: November, 1695. Rev. Stephen Mix: Yes. Mart Stoddard. The second daughter, Esther, who had been welleducated at Boston, married the Rev. TimothyEdwards, of East Windsor, Conn., with whom shelived happily for sixty-three years. Of their elevenchildren, all but one were girls, and that one boy be-came the celebrated divine, Jonathan Edwards. Ionce saw a letter written by Mrs. Stoddard, his grand-mother, to his mother at the time of his birth, whichinterested me so much that I copied it. Here it is: Dear Daughter: God be thanked for yr safedelivery and raising you up to health again. We areunder mixt dispensations; We have a great deal of. « c o^ I Northampton 191 mercy, and we have smart afflictions. Eliakim is not,and Eunice is not, and it hath pleased God to takeaway your dear brother Israel also, who was taken bythe French and carried to a place called Brest in France,and being ready to be transported to England diedthere. I would have sent you half a thousand ofpins and a porringer of marmalade if I had an oppor-tunity. Four other daughters married clergymen, but therewas nothing in their courtships or wedded lives somarked as to attract the notice of the gossips. North-ampton, by the way, has been very generous to minis-ters in pursuit of helpmates. A local annalist hasdiscovered that between 1673 and 1879, eighty-fourNorthampton ladies married clergymen. During Edwardss pastorate a very affecting inci-dent occurred in the death, at the parsonage on KingStreet, of David Brainerd, the devoted young mission-ar
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