By Robert A. Geake
Unlike Joan Smith, the enterprising wife of Richard Smith Sr., the woman whom her son came to marry would not find comfort or opportunity in the wilderness of Cocumscussoc. For Esther Smith, her time on the farm at Smith’s Castle might as well have been an eternity and her declining health is recorded in a series of letters between her husband and his friend Governor John Winthrop Jr. of the neighboring colony of Connecticut. By the time of her arrival at Cocumscussoc, the estate had already begun its transition from trading post to plantation. She oversaw a slave woman named Sarah whose five young boys likely herded the over one hundred cattle on the farm, as well as goats and hogs that were kept on the plantation. The production of cheese was still a staple of the farm, and by 1666 Richard Smith Jr. was sailing a pair of boats loaded with sundry goods back and forth to Barbados as well as to England several times over the years. As to the heavy labor at Cocumscussoc, this was left to Sarah’s husband Ceaser, and another slave named Ebed-Melich[i].
John Winthrop Jr., the son of John Winthrop, the founding governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was a learned man, and is generally acknowledged to be one of the first trained physicians in America. When Esther began to fall ill at Cocumscussoc, Richard Smith Jr. turned to Winthrop for help through frequent correspondence.
Our first glimpse of an illness plaguing Esther comes from a letter dated January 11, 1665, in which he thanks Winthrop for
…all you(r) love and care which you have taken about her. We received the rubla powder sent, as also the black salve sent last with your letter dated November 24th. My kindswoman hath received much good by what she hath taken from you. It still remayns layme and in payne, it running two and froe sumetimes in her neck and shoulder & arme & hand and sumtimes in her hips, thys, and kne, they being still week. We have hopes that she will in time with the helpe of God and you(r) good remedys grow well[ii]
At least one application of the rublia powder had enabled her to resume basic tasks for a colonial wife:
My kindswoman had an extreme payne in here hand rist since you(r) worship sent the last rubla powder, in so much that she could not sewe nor nett or doe anything at all with her hand: then she tooke a porchine of it according to you(r) worships derecion and it made her hand well, removed the payne that nowe she hath good use of it[iii]”
By early August, Winthrop’s prescriptions seem to have temporarily cured most of her ailments.
…my kindswoman hath fowned much benifitt in what she hath taken from you. She is much amended and can gooe aboutte a great deall beter than she could, butt her tooe on the other foote is bade still, as also that foote troubells her, having a numbness and the tooe as it was, the bottom of the foote is painefull to her…she bathes her tooe according to your derecione.[iv]
By April of 1666, Esther was in great pain again, and her husband wrote again to Governor Winthrop, seeking more medicine:
I make bould to trobell you as relating to my Couzens distemper, its still bad, she being still lame in her kne, hipe & thye, & often it runes up and downe in her arams & showldrs & necke & baike. Also she is trobled with a tingling in her thyes, but her you(r) Rubela powder doth remove it so that nowe she is indifrent well: butt onley in her knee, thy & hipe & too ether it constantly remaynes & sumtimes runes in to other parts as above exprest. She had an intent to have come up to you this Spring but the wether being could & the journey fare (far) & she not abell to ride, it being could to gooe by water, doe make bould to request forder favor that you would advise her by wrighting and sending what may be good for her to take…[v]
Despite her ailments, the work on the farm went continued. Along with the letter, Esther sent two cheeses to the governor that had aged over the winter.
Winthrop sent Esther Smith a supply of new medicines, and a grateful Richard Smith Jr. reported to the governor again in the spring of 1667:
Those things that you left with my Couzen she hath according to you(r) derecions made use of, and I judge under God it saved her life this winter; for she was troubled with a husking coufe (cough) and a great stopige in her stomok, in so much she was almost spent, and had bin in her grave had it not bin for you(r) morning Powder, or that you derected her to take in the morning. The first time she tooke of it she found ease, so she tooke it all, seven months together, and it clearly cured her of that distemper[vi]
Still, other ailments plagued Esther. In the same letter her husband added:
…She is att times troubled with a great paine in her knee, espesaly when she does much sture, and most twowards night, & seldum or never free of sume payne in it. Acording to you(r) derecion I bought a Cupping glase at Bostone, butt we knowe not howe to use it. Sir, she hath bin very lame this 3 weeks: its probell she cached cowld; he fisick she hath taken I think all. If you please to acomadate her farder with any thing that you think mett we shall be very thinkfull…[vii]
Once again, Winthrop’s remedy provided Esther some relief, and in June he penned:
…This is to returen you thainkfullnes for those things you last sent by Capt. John Alyne, which my Couzen intends to take according to you(r) derecions. She hathe bine very lame this spring att times, but when she takes of you(r) fisike, she is much bettered by it. Sir, that powder you wright to knowe what it was which did her so much good I cannot better describe it than to the leafes of dryed rosemary rubd, for coulor, & it would swime on the beare sume of it. Its all spent, so that she hath non left for a sampell.[viii]
The Governor sent along more medicine, for which the Smiths were most appreciative:
Many thainks for you(r) love and care about her: she hath taken latly of you(r) pisike and powder sent by Edward Mesenger, she finds it doth her much good. The rubella powder sinc she toke it she is far better then she was, and it wrought well, & also the other powder you left her when you was last here she hath taken of it. She had a stopig in her stomok as formarly, but that powder sent by Edward Mesenger hath done her much good…[ix]
Although Esther’s problems continued into the new year (1669), she continued to be helped by the Governor’s treatments:
You(r) leter, with what you sent last, came safe to hand…According to you(r) derecions shee hath taken her phisicke and aplyed bathing and that playstar to her ainkell. Her phisik wrott well and her ainkell is much bettered by it, sumtimes no payn in it att all…[x]
Apparently the slave Sarah was also suffering from some ailment, for Smith noted in the same letter that “Sarah is much better since you(r) Worship gave her that powder.”
In May, Smith informed the Governor that Esther “…hath bine better this winter then usually shee hath bine other winters.” While this was a stroke of good fortune for her, others in the colony were suffering:
Here is many pepoll deed (dead) at Rode Island the later hand of winter and this Springe 30 or 40: Mr. John Gard thr chife, others those you know not, and very sickly still; it takes (them) with a payne in hed & stomoke & side, on which folowes a fever & dyes in 3 or 4 dayes maney.[xi]
Smith himself resorted to taking some of the doctor’s “physik” during this season, and reported that “I found it did me much good, Sir.”
He wrote in the same letter of his intention to leave Cocumscussoc for several months, though he takes pains to assure him that Esther will be looked after:
Sir, I have an intent for Eingland suddenly, I hope to gooe in June next…I intend to returen next yeere if God please to give me life and helth…My Couzen Ester I shall leve at Narragansett; were it not that shee hath fownd so much helpe and favor from you I knowe I could not perswayde her to staye, for shee accounts her life is preserved by what you send her, with God’s blessing to it.[xii]
Esther herself included a brief note to Winthrop, doubtless with the hope of his continued ministrations:
Hounored Sir, humbell service presented. I make bowld to present you herwithall with a pr of socks, stiripe hose and stokings and shoos. They are butt meme, I could wish they were beter. Be plesed to except of them from shee that is never abell to recompenc you(r) great love and favor to me.[xiii]
On the 2nd of June, Richard sent a letter from New London, explaining that he was leaving earlier than expected, and sending his hope that the governor keep in touch with Esther and would “still be assistant to her in what may doe her good”.
After his journey to England, and the outfitting of a ship for trade with Barbados, Smith thanked Winthrop once more
“…for you(r) kindness to my Couzen in my abstance; that bathing powder did her much good and for a good continyance of time it made her lame lige with outt ache or payne…she bathed the lige with you(r) powder and untell Aprell from January shee had no payne, butt since Aprell she is sumtimes troubled against chayng of wether.[xiv]”
Being consumed over the next few years with the continuing struggle to keep the Narragansett Country intact, Smith barely mentions Esther’s condition again until the summer of 1672, when he wrote that she “…is better than ever she was since she was first lame.”
The continuing struggle to keep the Narragansett Country intact continued, and dominates his correspondence over the next two years. In one missive he complains that ”Rode Island Generall Asemly have made many strainge kind of Aicts, or Lawes as they call them, and quitt contrary to reason.[xv]”
The following March, it was the Smiths turn turn to comfort Winthrop, who was recovering from illness himself, and had lost his wife the previous November. Richard consoled that they were both “hartaly sorey for the lost of Mistris Wintrop” and “my wiufe deseyred me to present her service to: you, with many thaings for all you(r) love. She hath herewith sent you a small token, namly sixe cheses and one small caske of Shuger. She is manye times trubled with payne in her kne, butt is far beter than formally she was…[xvi]”
Shortly after this letter was written however, Esther fell ill again. In May of 1673, she was very ill, and that the ministrations of a local doctor had only wrought more suffering.
John Winthrop Jr. courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
My lost is likely to be also considerabell, my wiufe being at this time very sicke & weeke having a continuall payne in her bowles & and all about her, her stomoke gone, and littell rest & very faint. Itt toke her about sixe wecks agooe with a payne all around her midell. One Doctor Greneland gave her sumthing which did sume what medigatt the payne for a while, but nowe shee is in extremity with it daye & night, no partt of her body fre from payne, in so much that I doutt shee will not continue longe…[xvii]”
Richard Smith prepared himself for the worst, but he was not giving up on Esther. Two days later, he wrote frantically to Winthrop for help. The document itself is testimony to a time when medicine, still in its infancy in the late 17thcentury, could hardly assure people of a cure; and it bore witness as well, to the expression of utter helplessness that came when a loved one fell so critically ill.
From the letter it is clear that Esther was in the fight of her life:
Sir, I have sent this indyan to you to gett sumthing of you for my wiufe, she being exceeding ile and wecke, being taken this day seven weckes with a great payne toke her in her hipes & her thyes & with a sorenes all round her as if it had bin a mighty swelling. The next daye itt came into her bowells with a raiking payne as if her bowells had bin rotten, as if her bowells would drape from her. She being thus 12 dayes and all most ded, I goot Doctor Grindland to come over to her, whoe gave her two glisters & sum cordial which did medigatt the payne, with a dry glister blowne up of tobacco which did cause wind to expel; this did ease for a while, butt nowe she hath had the licke payne this sixteen dayes and very restles, cannot slepe and her stomoke gone. Sir, shee having had such experience of you(r) love to her is nott willing to take aney thing more of Mr. Grindland; therfor have sent this barer up to you deseyring you to send her what you thinke may doe her good, you having already bin under God the preservacion of her liufe…She toke of you(r) phisicke about a wecke before shee was taken sicke, which did worke well, butt nowe is so wecke shee cannot take aney, or dare nott except you(r) advise. Praye dispatch the indyan baicke with all spede.[xviii]
The next day, Richard Smith dispatched another letter:
“MUCH HOUNERED SIR, …yesterday I sent an Indyan to you requesting sumthing for my wiufe, butt had forgot to deseyr to send sume of thatt powder tyed up in the browne paper to be taken at midnight or when paines take her. It was sent first, shee perceves it doth her much good, deseyrs you to send her sume by the first.[xix]”
The medicines from Winthrop arrived within a few days as Smith acknowledged on the 25th of June 1673. However, within that letter was the caution of a greater calamity coming to Cocumscussoc and impending hostilities with the indigenous neighbors.
“The newes is all wares and great preperacon for it.” he wrote Winthrop, “This barer Indyan I sent about 6 dayes agooe, who returned for fere of the Wampequags, & have gott him nowe to adventure to fech what you(r) plesewer (pleasure) is to send.”
Smith’s mention of the Indian bearer’s fear of the Wampanoag reflects the tension of the times, as Metacom, (also known by the English name Philip) was attempting to form a gathering of tribes against the United Colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Although Rhode Island, being under Quaker governance was shunned for inclusion in the United Colonies, its authorities would ultimately maintain the peace. Smith himself often found himself acting as a mediator between the tribe and the United Colonies as tensions escalated.
Smith’s use of Indigenous people to act as couriers of important messages, and even the delivery of life saving medicines was not uncommon in the 1600’s. The practice, however, remains one of the most underwritten histories when trade, interdependence, and trust aligned the settlers with local indigenous people.
At the time of his letter, storm clouds were just beginning to gather, and in the remoteness of Cocumscussoc, Smith was obviously relieved that he could still rely upon the services of the Narragansett runners who relayed messages swiftly up and down the coast of Southern New England.
He would write again to Winthrop in July that:
I make bould to aquaint you thatt the things sent by the Indyan came saufe, and sume since, & according to you(r) derecion she toke the pills which did not oparate enoufe to cause a stole, butt towards the evening toke a glister, then it caused severall stolles. The next pills did the licke with the help of a glister, and the two last times shee toke pills it did operatt with out a glister. She hath taken all the pills, and according as derected doe take the Cordiall powdrs as derected for the daye time, as also that powder for night times, tied up for distincion in the browne paper, which she greatt help and ease by. In extremity of payne it causeth ease & rest, itt shee still remaynes wecke, ille and faint, and butt litell or no stomoke. In the evening she is troubled with a payne in her beley, baicke, hipes and thyes, which runs to and fro all night, so that she cannot rest; butt in extramaty of payne and towards daye itt abates somewhat, butt shee is ille every daye also, butt not halufe so bad as att night…Shee is nowe taken with a tingling numbnes in her hips and thyes, a dednes in them, and payne thatt she can hardly lye in her bed. She drinks a pretty deall of saike to suportt her when redy to faint with extrematy of payne. Sir, I humbly thainke you for you(r) great love in sending whatt already receved & doe make bould to aquaint you with her condicion nowe, requesting you(r) farther favour to send her whatt elce you judge mette, shee being ferefull if she should recover this fitt of ilnes that she shall lose the use of her limes (limbs).[xx]”
On July 8th, Smith wrote that although ”the things by this barer…came safe to hand” in the interim,
“My wiufe was taken the last Lords daye was seven nights with a great payne in her shouldrs & armes & hands, and contunys in such extrematy that they are as itt were mortified & deed with payne, not numbred payne. Her right armen & hand is the worst, and the other decayes and wecknes apace, and with such extrematy of payne shee is in, that shee is sensless with itt for a while.[xxi]”
Her husband believed that she might be suffering from extreme gout. Esther he wrote, was especially anxious that the Indian bearer return and bring back some of the rubila powder she had taken before with great relief.
In a postscript he added “Shee hath her uayans of hands and arms swelled much & looks black with the blod in ym”.
By the end of the month, Esther was responding to the doctor’s medicines. Smith sent a message from Hartford by a Native American named Wonacquomuchquen. “This Indyan I mett with axidentally, gooeing about his owne bisnes to Coneticott” Smith explains, “by whom I make bould to give you an aco: of my wiufe…”
That account included that ”…twise she hath taken of the rubella powder which did worke: butt nott downwards; but by glisters shee kepes her body solabell. The greatest payne shee now hath is in her arems, and most in her right arme which she cannot stire or move.”
Esther rallied once again. By the end of that summer, Smith wrote that
My wiufe is much betred by those mdnes you sent her. Shee is lame in one arme most and full of payne, butt the swelling is abated by menes of oplying that salve one a plaster you sent her..Shee hath taken of your fisicke also several times. She is much betred, tho wecke as yet and full of payne, in her right aram espessly having a kind of numb coldness in her thyes & hips & body. Her bely payne is gone… [xxii]
And by December, Esther was well on the way to recovery. Her relieved husband thanks Winthrop
…for all you(r) love and favour extended in her extreme ilnes, which nowe is much a bated, and shee mends and gaynes a litell strainth in her armes, although usles as to doe aney thing at present. Her stomoke is pretty good & takes rest, so I hope shee maye recover.
In a postscript, howver, he suggested that darker times were yet ahead:
”Our Indyans hath done us dameg: by stelte hath nowe & then killed us sume catell, butt we are not att present capabell to right our selves on them, butt hope with Coneticott asistanc in time shall.[xxiii]”
In February of 1674, Smith sent Winthrop a message that both had fallen ill once more, Esther with her usual maladies, and Richard with a recurring bout with kidney stones. A “phiseke” sent by the doctor allowed him to “ make water…a good quantity att once came freely from me and with it sume small stones and gravel, sume of the biggest I have inclosed sent…”
As for Esther,
Shee is much amended of what formerly, having use nowe of her hands, although butt weacke. She useth you(r) oyntment one her armes,, & you(r) black salve shee constantly aployes to the baikes of her hands one playstars. She cannot well clinch her hands nor bowe them downwards from the wrist when clinched, which makes me thinke sume senews maye be shrunken it…Shee hath a numbnedse in her thyes still, butt not constant…Shee is latly troubled with much payne in her bones night times, having nowe not anney phisick this winter, butt intends to take some shortly. The payne lyes in her baick, shoulder, and necke nights times…[xxiv]
With the letter, Esther included a few gifts in appreciation of medicines he had sent previously, namely seven cheeses, and two turkeys, as well as a firkin of sugar received from the West Indies.
The modern reader of Esther’s trials can only assume that much of the time she was incapacitated during these recurring bouts of illness, yet the life and production of the farm went on as usual.
During this period, visitors came to Cocumscussoc from near and far, Richard writing several times to Winthrop of acquaintances dropping by. Smith’s Castle also served as a place of negotiations between Rhode Island authorities and parties associated with the Atherton purchase. Smith was also for a time named magistrate for Narragansett Country, and the manor house was then the scene of inquiry. This is what we know of today as the sitting of a “grand jury”. Sea Captains bound for Wickford would anchor off Cocumscussoc and be rowed ashore to visit the estate. Even Roger Williams came occasionally to preach to the Narragansett who were inclined to hear of this “religion from across the sea”. He was well received:
”Mr. Williams doeth exaceys amongst us and sayeth he will contuny itt; he precheth well and abell, and much pepell comes to hear him to theyr good satisfaction”.
One of his visits to Cocumscussoc was in June of 1675 while Richard Smith was away on business at Long Island. Esther received him cordially, and he later commented about her that, ”Mrs. Smith, though too much favouring the Foxians (called Quakers),… is a notable Spirit for Coutesie toward strangers…[xxv]”
In spite of her infirmities, there is, in fact, evidence that Friends meetings were actually held at the house on at least two occasions during Esther’s time as matron of the “great house”. In 1672, during the visit of Quaker minister George Fox to Rhode Island, he was accompanied by Governor Easton into Narragansett Country where he held a meeting with ”people of Connecticut and other parts round about”. Fox would record that their meeting was held “at a justices where Friends never had any before, but he had been “invited to come again”. The justice at this time in Narragansett Country was Richard Smith Jr. as he had been appointed the seat of Magistrate. Fox would not return, but he recommended the site to his fellow missionary John Burnyeat, who recorded some time later that while on a trip to Connecticut, “…We had a meeting at one Richard Smith’s , and next day took our journey towards Hartford.[xxvi]”
Williams’ mention of Esther’s Quaker leanings likely gives some insight to her interactions with the indigenous people, whose messengers carried news of her condition and returned with medicines for her treatment. Her Quaker beliefs also give a possible clue as to why Richard added a provision in his will, proved in 1660, to free Ceaser and Sarah, upon his death, giving them 100 acres of land. The will also manumitted their three children when they reached the age of thirty. Het set Ebed Melich free upon his death as well, and the former slave would appear in a court case early in the 18thcentury, represented by none other than Richard Smith’s great nephew, Daniel Updike.
Esther left Cocumscussoc when the threat what is now called King Philip’s War was imminent. On June 27, 1675, Roger Williams would write to Winthrop that
“Yesterday Mrs. Smith (after more yea most of the Women and children were gone) departed in a great shoare (shower), by land, for Newport, to take boat in a vessel 4 mile from her howse[xxvii]” Richard Smith and some of the other men remained on the estate as long as conditions allowed.
Smith, despite his earlier attempts to mediate between authorities, ultimately supported the United Colonies militia who came in December, 1676 to initiate a raid against the neutral Narragansett at the Great Swamp. He was involved in ferrying Massachusetts troops into Rhode Island and allowed the encampment of the United Colonies soldiers on the premises. In retaliation for the hundreds of innocent indigenous people killed and captured at the Great Swamp, the block house that Smith had inherited was burned to the ground in the spring of 1676 by Narragansett warriors.
Smith would not return until two years later, his house presumably rebuilt in a large salt-box style, with two gables on either side of the front entrance, and a long, sloping roof in back. It is not clear whether Esther was with Smith when he wrote to Winthrop again in June of 1678, but it seems the house has not yet been finished, as the ”Rhode Island men intends to kepe Courtt att Thomas Goulds house fryday next or saterdaye…”, hearings that were previously held at Smith’s house.
By May of 1679, he mentions Esther once more in salutations, in a letter to New London, and in subsequent letters to Winthrop discussing the leasing of land on Boston Neck, and the building of boats for the governor, there is not a word of illness or ailment. Esther’s trials seemed to be over at last.
In May of 1682, Smith wrote:
Worthy Sir,. my self and my wiufes servis to you & gives you thainks for all you(r) kind favors. You(r) by Robert Sinomen recd. Fower dayes since I sawe you(r) indyan, who intends to come to you & his wiufe, as he sayeth, this wecke. I looke for him over here everey daye, in order to his gooeing to you & have promised him to write to you by him in favor of him. I shall be glad to see you here & from hense shall waigt one you where you please.[xxviii]
The last known letter from Smith to Winthrop came from Cocumscussoc on July 15th 1684, in which he sends greetings “from me & myne to you and your(r) in hops that this will find you in good health as we are…” There are still grumblings about disputes and Rhode Island claims, but a contentedness seems to have come with age and finally, good health. Not forgetting his friend and physician all these years, Richard Smith closes his letter to Winthrop,
”My wiufe presents her humbell servis to you & you(r) frends & so doth him who will ever owne himselvfe you(r) obliged frend & servent”.
In his will, Richard left the Plantation to Esther, though it is unclear whether she would have stayed at Cocumscussoc on her own. Most accounts say that Esther died before Richard’s death in 1692. One genealogical account puts Esther’s death at 1699. Both Esther and Richard Smith are believed to have been buried in the Ayrault-Congdon-Updike lot on what was then the property of the Castle, though any remains of the markers are their graves have long disappeared.
[i] Dunay, Neil, Captives at Cocumscussoc: From Bondage to Freedom from Cranston, G. Timothy We Were Here Too: Selected Stories of Black History in North Kingstown CreateSpace 2016 p. 68
[ii] Updike, David Berkley Richard Smith First Settler of the Narragansett Country,
Rhode Island Boston, The Merrymount Press 1937 p. 79
[iii] Ibid. 79
[iv] Ibid. 80
[v] Ibid. 81
[vi] Ibid. 82
[vii] Ibid 83
[viii] Ibid. 83
[ix] Ibid. 84
[x] Ibid. 84
[xi] Ibid. 85
[xii] Ibid. 86
[xiii] Ibid. 86
[xiv] Ibid. 88
[xv] Ibid. 88
[xvi] Ibid. 93
[xvii] Ibid. 94
[xviii] Ibid. 95
[xix] Ibid. 96
[xx] Ibid. 97
[xxi] Ibid. 98
[xxii] Ibid. 99
[xxiii] Ibid. 101
[xxiv] ibid. 102
[xxv] LaFantasie, Glenn The Correspondence of Roger Williams Providence, Rhode Island Historical Society Vol. 2 p. 693
[xxvi] Woodward, Carl, Jr. Plantation in Yankeeland Wickford, The Cocumscussoc Association 1971 p. 34
[xxvii] Lafantasie, Vol. 2. p. 698
[xxviii] Updike, D.B. Richard Smith… p. 118
