The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

HISTORY OF DORCHESTER. 527
answered, facetiously, that " the waters of Dorchester were not deep enough for a bass to swim in, and
therefore he came to the Merrimac." IHe had no
children.
JAMES HUMPHREY, son of Jonas, who was the son
of Hopestill, the son of Elder James, the son of
Jonas Humphrey, was born in Dorchester the 20th
of March, 1122; graduated at Harvard College in
1744; taught the school in 1748; and was ordained
the first minister of Pequoiag, now Athol, November 7th, 1750. On the 9th of November, 1751,
he married Esther Wiswall, of Dorchester, "' a lady
of high respectability and much energy of character," who lived to an advanced age, respected and
beloved by the people of Athol. Mr. Humphrey
commenced his labors at that place under very trying circumstances. Being a frontier town, it was
greatly exposed to the incursions of the Indians. It
was necessary to station sentinels at the entrance of
the church, on the Sabbath, to avoid a surprise from
"their devouring enemy, whilst others were worshipping God within."" For three successive years
" did the first minister of Pequoiag carry his weapons of defence into his pulpit, and preach with his
gun by his side."t After having served the church
and people of Athol faithfully upwards of thirty-one
years, at his own request he was dismissed, Febru* Mr. Humphrey's MS., quoted in Rev. S. F. Clarke's Centennial Discourse, preached at Athol, Sept. 9th, 1850.
t Clarke's Discourse.