John Checkley letters, 1725.

ArchivalResource

Checkley, John, 1680-1754. John Checkley letters, 1725.

John Checkley letters, 1725.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/706460177

One complete autograph letter, signed, and two fragments of other letters from John Checkley. Complete letter (4 p.) is dated Boston, June 21, 1725, and addressed to a Rev. Dr. Grey in England. In it Checkley acknowledges the receipt of Grey's manuscript and promises it will be printed. He discusses his trial and "persecution" by the Puritan "Independent Zealots." Checkley mentions that he is enclosing a number of pamphlets which he secretly printed at the time of his trial, sends greetings to people in Ely and Cambridge, and encourages Grey to send "20 of your excellent books against Pierce," which he promises to sell. Of the remaining fragments, the first (2 p., unsigned, undated) discusses the building of (presumably Anglican) churches in Fairfield, Ct. and Newport, R.I., and the efforts of Anglicans in Braintree, Mass.; the Dissenters' efforts to form a synod, and Checkley's own entreaty to "my Lord [Bishop?] of London" to send an Anglican Bishop to New England. The second fragment (3 p., also unsigned and undated), written in the third peson, described a controversy in the Massachusetts House of Representatives involving Checkley and representative Gershom Wodell, who circulated a letter from the Lord Justices that was crtitical of the Dissenters' proposed synod. Letter also makes reference to Checkley's efforts to "bring the Eastern Indians into the communion of the church." All three items appear to have been torn from a binding.

1 folder (3 items)

New-York Historical Society Library