replete with pious and patriotic sentiments was delivered by the Rev. Mr. Emerson of Harvard; after which the Company took up the escort & proceeded to Faneuil Hall, honored with the company of the President of the United States, where a most sumptuous entertainment was provided, of which more than two hundred & twenty Guests partook; after which a number of toasts, and good ones, were drank. The Company then proceeded to their appropriate Square in the Common, where the following gentlemen were unanimously chosen officers: - Capt Robert Gardner [1794], Captain; Capt Lemuel Gardner [1787], Lieutenant; Mr. Thomas W. Sumner [1792], Ensign; Mr. Ephraim Prescott [1796], Mr. Solomon Phipps [1796] Mr Benjamin Coates [1796], Mr. Charles Clement [1795], Sergeants; General John Winslow [1786], Treasurer, Mr. William Walter Jun [1791], Clerk. Voted, That the Commissioned Officers be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. Emerson of Harvard, & return him the thanks of the Company for his elegant, patriotic and pious discourse delivered before them this day, & request a copy thereof for the press. The Company then proceeded to the State House & escorted His Honor, the Lieut. Governor, the Major General, Adjutant & Quarter Master General, and a large number of very respectable Citizens to the Square, where they performed a number of evolutions & firings to the admiration of a great crowd of fellow citizens; after which, the officers of the last year delivered up, & those chosen for the present year received, the different insignia of their respective offices. They then paid the salutes, escorted His Honor to his house, & their invited guests to the Hall, where was closed a day crowned with festive joy. Attest, WM. WALTER, Clerk. "June 10th, 1799. The Commanding Officer, Capt Robert Gardner [1794], ordered the Company to meet at Faneuil Hall at 8, P. M. when the following card was read: "The Committee appointed by the Legislature of Massachusetts to conduct the funeral of His late Excellency, Governor Sumner, request your attendance to join the funeral procession, from the New State House in Boston, on Wednesday the 12th inst at 3 o'clock, P. M. JOHN COFFIN JONES Chairman. "JUNE 10th 1799. "To Capt Robert Gardner [1794], the officers and members of the A. and H. A. Company!' "Whereupon after some observations made by several of the Members upon the rank in which the Committee had placed the Company in the procession, which was almost the last; it was Voted, That from respect to the memory of His late Excellency, Gov. Sumner, this Company do attend the funeral in uniform with their side arms. Voted, That the Commissioned Officers be a Committee to wait on the Committee of the Legislature, & inform them respectfully, that we had accepted the invitation, and to adjust with them the proper place in the procession for the Company's rank. Adjourned to meet at the Gun House, opposite the Common on Wednesday at 2, P. M. Attest, WILLIAM WALTER, Jr. Clerk. “June 12, 1799. Met at the Gun House as pr Adjournment, when the Commanding Officers informed the Company they had attended to the duty assigned them at the last meeting, and that the rank of the Company at the procession was adjusted to mutual satisfaction. Mall. "The Company then joined the procession and were afterwards dismissed at the Attest, WM WALTER Jr, Clerk. "Monday evening, 26th August 1799. The Committee appointed to examine the Treasurer's and Clerks accounts of the past year, reported, that they had attended to their duty & found the accounts of each right and the balances due as stated. Thanks of the Company were voted unanimously to Wm Walter Jr, & the Clerks who have preceded him, for their attention to the duties of their office, and for having presented the Company with their proportion of the fines & entrance money. Voted That the bond given by the Treasurer for the monies in his hands and other property of the Company, be kept by the Commanding Officer for the time being. Voted, That an assessment of two dollars be paid by each member to defray the expense of the two Fall trainings & pay the balance due the Clerk. Benjamin Hale [1799] and Edward Goodwin [1799] unanimously admitted. Attest, WILLIAM WALTER Jr, Clerk. Monday, Sept 2d 1799. The Company paraded at Faneuil Hall and marched to the Common where they unanimously Voted, that it was necessary there should be a fourth officer chosen by the Company, to perform the duties of Adjutant. Voted, That the Commissioned Officers, Gen. John Winslow [1786], and Col. Amasa Davis [1786] be a committee to consult with the Executive, (Lieut. Governor,) the necessary measures to carry the foregoing vote into execution. After which the Company went through their firings & evolutions with their accustomed accuracy, marched to the Fortifications [on Boston Neck] returned to Faneuil Hall & were dismissed, after which they partook of an excellent cold collation. Attest, WILLIAM WALTER Jr. Clerk. "Monday, 7th October 1799. The Company paraded at Faneuil Hall, and marched to the Common, where they went through their evolutions and then marched to Copps Hill, at the North End, and performed their exercise & firings with great Eclat; they then returned to the Hall, and partook of an excellent cold collation provided by their Clerk, pro tem, W. D. [probably William Dall (1787)] for the occasion. "Attest, WILLIAM WALTER Jr. Clerk." The anniversary exercises, on the third day of June, 1799, passed off with complete success. The pleasure of the day was increased by the presence of the President of the United States, John Adams. He replied at the dinner to the second toast, "The President of the United States. The solid column which foreign assailants can never break nor domestic traitors disorder." The President concluded his address with the following sentiment: "The Ancient and Honorable Artillery and Faneuil Hall! May their principles never be misunderstood, perverted or misapplied." Rev. William Emerson delivered the Artillery election sermon of 1799. He was the only son of Rev. William and Phebe (Bliss) Emerson, and was born at Concord, Mass., May 6, 1769. He married, Oct. 25, 1796, Ruth Haskins, daughter of John (1768) and Hannah (Upham) Haskins. Mr. Emerson graduated at Harvard College in 1789, and after teaching school for two years he pursued his theological studies. May 23, 1792, he was installed as pastor over the church at Harvard, Mass. From this place he was called to a sphere of wider influence in Boston. Oct. 16, next following his sermon before the Artillery Company in June, 1799, he was invited to become the pastor of the First Church, in Boston. He accepted, and continued in this pastorate Rev. William Emerson. AUTHORITIES: Mass. Hist. Coll., Vol. I., p. 256; Shattuck's Hist. of Con cord; Appleton's Cyc. of Am. Biog.; Ralph Waldo Emerson, His Maternal Ancestors. until his death, which occurred May 11, 1811, in the parsonage, near the corner of Summer and Chauncy streets. Rev. William Emerson and wife, Ruth, had eight children, of whom one was the late Ralph Waldo Emerson, of Cambridge. Rev. William Emerson became a member of nearly all the learned and charitable societies in Boston, and in most of them was intrusted with some important office. 1800. The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1800 were: Jonas S. Bass (1789), captain; Daniel Messinger (1792), lieutenant; Richard Austin (1792), ensign. Joseph Loring, Jr. (1793), was first sergeant; Joshua Eaton (1796), second sergeant; John P. Duncklee (1796), third sergeant; Nahum Piper (1794), fourth sergeant; John Winslow (1786), treasurer, and John S. Lillie (1794), clerk. In the year 1800 Amasa Davis (1786) was quartermaster-general of Massachusetts; Andrew Cunningham (1786), deputy quartermaster-general, First Division; William Hull (1788), major-general of the Third Division, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia; Samuel Swan (1788), deputy quartermaster-general, Third Division; Ebenezer Mattoon (1817), major-general of the Fourth Division; John Winslow (1786), brigadier-general of the Legionary Brigade; George Blanchard (1794), brigade-major; Benjamin Russell (1788), major of the First Sublegion; Elijah Crane (1819), captain in Second Brigade, First Division of Cavalry. Among the Company officers in the Legionary Brigade in Boston were Captains William Williams (1789), Asa Hatch (1801), Amasa Stetson (1796), and Daniel Messinger (1792); in the Sublegion of Light Infantry, Capt. John Brazer (1786); in the Sublegion of Artillery, Capt. Robert Gardner (1794), and Lieuts. John Bray (1788) and George Singleton, Jr. (1792). Oct. 30, 1800, Capt. Messinger's (1792) and Capt. Stetson's (1796) companies of Boston militia paraded at noon in honor of the President of the United States, and in the afternoon a banquet was served in Concert Hall, at which the President and other distinguished guests were present. The members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1800 were: Henry Brazer, Henry Messinger. Henry Brazer (1800), a seedsman, of Boston, resided in Cole Lane. The following lines were written on the occasion of Mr. John Haskins's (1768) death, Oct. 27, 1814, by his grandson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, then a lad of eleven years: "ON THE DEATH OF MR. JOHN HASKINS [1768]. Without a murmur and without complaint; Henry Messinger (1800), hatter, of Boston, brother of Col. Daniel Messinger (1792), and son of Daniel and Mary Messinger, of Wrentham, was born in that town, March 23, 1773. He married (1) Frances Bowen and (2) Esther Gould. His shop was No. 10 Dock Square, and his residence No. 6 Winter Street. He was first sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1804. All the records of the Military Company of the Massachusetts, or of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, as the Company is called at the present time, from the first record now existing to the close of 1799, have been printed on the preceding pages. These records are reproduced with a careful adherence to the original as regards spelling, capitalization and punctuation. The annual records of the business and parades of the Company in the years subsequent to the Revolution increase in length year by year, and at the same time possess a similarity which seems to forbid their reproduction in detail. Hereafter, the general facts of the records, which will add to the interest and value of the Company's history, will be presented in the same order as heretofore, but with no attempt at exact quotation. On Saturday evening, Jan. 4, 1800, the Company held a special meeting, "on the mournful and distressing occasion of the death of the immortal Washington." The Company then "Voted unanimously, that, in testimony of the high respect and veneration of the character of the illustrious deceased, Gen. Washington, this Company will appear upon their parade days and all special occasions upon which they may be on duty during the present year, and their officers on Sundays during that time, with the usual badge of mourning." At the meeting April 11, after a parade and drill upon the Common, Rev. William Walter, D. D., was elected to deliver the anniversary sermon on the next election day. The Artillery Company afterward proceeded to Charlestown, and after a variety of firings and evolutions returned to their armory. Dr. Walter declined the honor of preaching the election sermon, and the Company elected Rev. Mr. Kellogg, of Framingham, who accepted. Four meetings were held in May, 1800: May 5, for parade and drill; May 12, 26, and 30, for business. At the meeting held May 26, the Company considered the question whether there should be a fourth officer chosen at the ensuing election, with the rank of second lieutenant, and called "the adjutant." It was determined, by a large majority, to elect such an officer, and the commissioned officers were appointed a committee to wait on the governor, inform him of the foregoing vote, and request him to invest the said officer, on election day, with the badge of his office. Friday evening, May 30, the Company met at the senate chamber, in the Old State House, and after some observations by Gen. John Winslow (1786), and other members, the subject of having a fourth officer was reconsidered. Monday, June 2, 1800, the day appointed by the charter for the election of officers, the Company paraded at the old Representatives' Room, and being formed, under the command of Capt. Robert Gardner (1794), marched to the State House, from whence they escorted his Excellency Caleb Strong, the council, Major-Gen. Elliot and staff, and other gentlemen, to the Old Brick Meeting-House, where the sermon was delivered by Henry Messinger (1800). AUTHORITY: New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1862. Rev. Mr. Kellogg, of Framingham. After the church service, the Company escorted a procession composed of the executive, legislative, judicial, federal, state, municipal, and military officers, foreign consuls, and others, to Faneuil Hall, — which was decorated in a military and mournful style on account of the deaths of Gen. Washington, Gov. Sumner, and Lieut.-Gov. Gill, since the last anniversary, and partook of the usual dinner. A number of patriotic toasts were offered. The third toast was, "The Memory of our departed Washington: Our aching hearts bear witness that he who was 'first in war, and first in peace,' will forever continue first in the affections of his fellow-countrymen.” The response was by Messrs. Bowman (1793) and Eaton (1796), who sung the following IN HONOR OF WASHINGTON, COMMEMORATIVE ODE - Performed oN THE ANNIVERSARY CHOIce of Officers of the ANCIENT AND HONORABLE COMPANY OF ARTILLERY, JUNE 2, 1800. OF Cæsar's, Alexander's fame, In gorgeous style historians write; Whose orb refulgent, while it blaz'd, Great, noble, gen'rous, good, and brave; Toasts were also offered in memory of Gov. Increase Sumner and Lieut.-Gov. Moses Gill. The Company proceeded to the Common, went through a variety of evolutions, etc., and then made choice of the following-named officers for the ensuing year: Mr. Jonas S. Bass (1789), captain; Capt. Daniel Messinger (1792), lieutenant; Mr. Richard Austin (1792), ensign. Mr. Joseph Loring, Jr. (1793), Mr. Joshua Eaton (1796), Mr. John P. Duncklee (1796), Mr. Nahum Piper (1794), sergeants; Gen. John Winslow (1786), treasurer, and Mr. John S. Lillie (1794), clerk. After the officers were commissioned, the proper salutes were paid the governor, and he was escorted to the Province House. The Artillery Company, with many guests, returned to Faneuil Hall. The editor of the Centinel remarked, "This festival has of late years been the most splendid in our political calendar, and preparations were made that it should experience no diminution. Faneuil Hall was accordingly decorated in a style of elegant neatness evincive of the industry and taste of Col. Waters [1769]." The west end of the Hall exhibited the reverse of the seal of the United States, viz., a pyramid unfinished, in the suspended top stone an eye in a triangle, irradiated, and |