Page:The librarians of Harvard College 1667-1877.djvu/23

LIBRARIANS OF HARVARD COLLEGE. 17 taticm to become the minister there, was ordained 25 October following. In this place (later called Elliot) Mr. Rogers labored for over fifty years, taking an active part in the work of the ministry, and attending conventions and ordinations. He preached at Gloucester, Mass., when his son accepted a call to that church. Mr. Rogers was unable to preach towards the close of his life, and received Rev. Alpheus Spring as his colleague 29 June, 1768. He died five years later, 16 October, 1773, at the age of eighty-one. His wife, by whom he had nine children, died 22 October, 1779.

AUTHORITIES : Greenleaf, Sketches of eccl. hist, of Maine, 1821, p. 32. Jf. E. hist, and geneal. reg. v. 320, 327 (where his son is incorrectly mentioned as librarian). Putnam's Historical magazine, ii. 13. Williamson, History of Maine, 1832, ii. 617.

1718-172O.

William Welsteed was born at Boston in 1695. His father, for whom he was named, was naval officer of the port and a man of considerable means; Elizabeth, his mother, was the daughter of Henry Dering of Boston. William graduated at Harvard in 1716, and was Librarian from 1718 to 1720. The Rev. Samuel Mather, in his quaint English, says: "As while he was young and tender he not onely was desirous of knowledge and sought after it, but he was swift to hear and ready to obey good counsels, and both a lover of good order and government and subject unto it. So continuing the same after he came to years of maturity, he was therefore judg'd to be, and therefore chosen as, a most suitable person by the corporation and overseers of our little academy, to have the instruction and ordering of a class in it." This office of tutor he held from 1720 to 1728, when he was ordained as second minister of the New Brick Church, Boston, where he preached until his death, 29 April, 1753. He married 16 January, 1728, Sarah, sister of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, who survived him.

William Welsteed died of palsy, as did his father, having "had a fixed impression on his mind that he should be seized with it." It is worthy of note that his colleague for fifteen years, Ellis Gray (H. U. 1734), died at the same time and of the same disease. " They were not especially distinguished men, but were accom- plished and exemplary, diligent and useful." His election sermon on "The dignity and duty of the civil magistrate " was printed at Boston in 1751.

AUTHORITIES : Mather, The walk of the upright, with its com furt. A funeral discourse after the decease of the Rev- erend Mr. William Welsted who died April 29th, and Mr. Ellis Gray, 1753. Allen, Amer. biog. and hist, dictionary, 1832. Winsor, Memorial hist, of Boston, 1881, ii. 226 (portrait).

1720-1721.

William Cooke, or Cook, was born at Hadley, Mass., 20 June, 1696, the son of Westwood and Sarah (Coleman) Cooke. He graduated at Har- vard in 1716 and took his A.M. in course. After he had served a year (1720-21) as Librarian, the Corporation elected him a tutor ; President Leverett's ill health had made it impossible for him to continue giving instruction to the students. The Overseers, however, considered another tutor unnecessary, and at once annulled the election.

At this time the inhabitants of Sudbury, living on the west side of the river, had successfully urged a division of the town into two parishes on account of the difficulty of crossing the water in winter. The east precinct was organized 25 June, 1722, and on 20 March, 1723, Mr. Cooke was ordained as pastor. The salary, voted by the town, varied from year to year. Wood was furnished and the value deducted from the sum appropriated. In 1733 the town voted twenty pounds to Mr. Cooke "towards making up for the loss of his barn," and also forty pounds as a gratuity.

In "A sermon preach'd to a society of young people, in Sudbury, on a Lord's-day evening, October, 1730," there is evidence of a simple, vigorous style and an earnest, kindly heart. The language suits his purpose admirably. Several other addresses are still accessible in printed form.

Mr. Cooke lived "in much harmony with his people, and was highly esteemed by them for his work's sake." After a long and successful minis- try a lingering illness kept him from the pulpit until his death, 12 November, 1760. Mr. Cooke's wife was Jane, daughter of Major Stephen Sewall of Salem and sister of Mitchel Sewall (Librarian, 1722-1723). His only son, William, (H. U. 1748) , had died in 1758, after teaching the grammar school since 1751.

AUTHORITIES : Hudson, History of Sudbury, 1889, pp. 290-1, 351-52. Judd, History of Hadley, I860, p. 465. Mass. hist. soc. Collections, 1816, 2d series, iv. 61.

1721-1722.

Joshua Gee, the son of a respected tradesman of the same name, was born in Boston, 29 June, 1698. He took his A.B. in 1717, his A.M. in course, and served as Librarian of the College in 1721-1722. It was he who prepared the first printed catologue of the Library, as is shown by the following votes of the Corporation :

30 April, 1722. " Upon the Intimation lately made by Mr Hollis, and formerly by Mr Neal, that it may be of great advantage to the College Library, that a Catalogue of the Books in this Library be printed and sent abroad, Voted, that