“I give and bequeath unto the Church of Christ in Lexington:” Rachel Butterfield’s Silver Tankard

In April of 1778, a Massachusetts woman named Rachel Butterfield (1697-1779) made out her will. Born in Lexington in 1697, Butterfield later moved to Arlington, then Bridgewater. In her will, completed when she was eighty-one years old, she left 13 pounds 6 shillings 8 pence to the “church of Christ in Lexington” to purchase a silver tankard. This object is on loan to the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library from Lexington’s First Parish, the successor to the church named in Butterfield’s will. The tankard is now on view in the museum’s newest exhibition, “Protest & Promise: The American Revolution in Lexington.”

Tankard, 1779. William Homes (1716/1717-1785). Boston, Massachusetts. Loaned by First Parish in Lexington, Unitarian Universalist, Massachusetts, EL99.001.4. Photograph by Michael Cardinali.

After Butterfield’s death in May 1779, thirteen months after writing her will, her executor Simeon Leonard paid the money intended for this tankard to church administrators in Lexington. They then commissioned silversmith William Homes (1716/1717-1785) of Boston to create this object, the only  piece from the 1700s in First Parish’s collection given by a woman.

This collection came to the museum in 1999 and contains beakers from earlier in the 1700s than Butterfield’s. Some of these objects were in Lexington on April 19, 1775, when British troops swept through the town. Thanks to the forethought and preparation of women like Lydia Loring (1745-ca. 1845), the daughter of the church deacon in whose home the silver was stored, the valuable components of this collection were saved from potential theft or destruction. Four of these silver pieces are also on view in “Protest & Promise.”

In addition to the money for this tankard, Butterfield gave the church £50 in unrestricted funds and an additional £50 to the town of Lexington for the use of the school. In total, she bequeathed more than $25,000 in current value to her hometown. Between 1775 and 1783, Lexington’s taxpayers had to shoulder the extraordinary expenses of the Revolutionary War on top of regular operating expenses. Rachel Butterfield’s will, completed three years after the events that made her hometown famous, provided not only this lovely tankard, but also sustained support for the community where she used to live.

Hancock Church Silver in “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty”

Among the many treasures on view in “Sowing the Seeds of Liberty:  Lexington and the American Revolution” are some wonderful examples of communion silver.  Residents of Lexington first used them to take communion as part of their worship over 240 years ago.  In addition to playing an essential role in the service, these cups, associated with different members of the Hancock family, were fashioned to be enduring memorials.

In the 1700s in Lexington and other New England towns, only church members took communion from these during Sunday services. Not all who attended the First Church in Lexington were members. To become a member, a man or woman needed to publicly confess their transgressions and be saved.  During that time, in Congregational churches, church goers commissioned communion silver that could be passed easily from hand to hand.  As well, they selected forms based on the kinds of vessels they used in their own in households, including beakers and cups like these.   Although these forms may have been familiar to Lexingtonians, the fact that they were crafted of a precious metal made them anything but ordinary.

On a gray day, polished silver would have glinted, shone and added glamour to the meeting house.  In addition to their aesthetic properties, the monetary value of these cups ensured they were well looked after.  In fact, these cups may have been among those cared for by the elder church deacon, Joseph Loring (1713-1787), at his home in 1775. On April 19, still in shock from the morning's battle, Lexington residents worried that British soldiers might loot homes on their way back from Concord. To protect her family's and the church's valuables, the deacon’s daughter, Lydia (b. 1745), hid these portable valuables under a pile of brush behind the house. She was smart to have done so.  British soldiers pillaged the Lorings' home and burned itto the ground, but Lexington did not lose its communion silver. 

Both of these cups both memorialize Hancock family members.  Successful Boston businessman Thomas Hancock (1703-1763) grew up in Lexington. He was the son of John Hancock (1671-1752), the town’s first minister. Upon his death, he left £20 to his father’s former church, specifying it be used to make “two silver cups for the communion table.”  Thomas Hancock, with his wife Lydia, raised his nephew, also named John Hancock (1736/7-1793).  The younger John Hancock later served as the President of the Continental Congress and in that capacity added his now-famous signature the the Declaration of Independence.   
 
Also a son of the Reverend John Hancock, Ebenezer Hancock (1710-1740) followed in his father’s footsteps and served as his assistant for six years. He died at the age of thirty, possibly in a diphtheria epidemic.  Made of valuable, long-lasting material and permanently marked with his name, this present to the church endured well after the memory of Ebenezer’s contributions to town life faded.

The National Heritage Museum is grateful to the First Parish Church of Lexington, Unitarian Universalist, for the loan of the communion silver that helps tell the story of April 19, 1775.

Photographs:

Footed Cups, 1764. Nathaniel Hurd (1729/30-1777), Boston, Massachusetts. Loaned by First Parish Church of Lexington, Unitarian Universalist, EL99.001.011a and.011b. Photograph by David Bohl

Beaker, ca. 1740. Jacob Hurd (1702/03-1758), Boston, Massachusetts. Loaned by First Parish Church of Lexington, Unitarian Universalist, EL99.001.7. Photograph by David Bohl