161 Agreement Concerning the Payment of Mr. Boyle’s Gift

    At a Meeting of the Commissioners for the Indian Affairs at the Councill-Chamber in Boston, November 28th, 1710. Present.

    • Waitstill Winthrop Esq.
    • Jeremiah Dummer Esq.
    • Dr. Increase Mather
    • Samuel Sewall Esq.
    • Peter Sergeant Esq.
    • Mr. Daniel Oliver
    • Edward Bromfield Esq.
    • Major Thomas Fitch
    • Penn Townsend Esq.

    The Reverend Mr. John Leverett President of Harvard Colledge, Thomas Brattle Esq. Treasurer and Fellow, the Reverend Mr. Ebenezer Pemberton, Fellow, appeared on behalfe of the Corporation of the said Colledge; and after Conference with the Commissioners, with respect to the omission of the Payment, of Mr. Boyle’s Gift of £45 per annum with the current Exchange for about twelve years through inadvertance, It was Adjusted and mutually agreed by the Commissioners, and the said President, Treasurer and Fellow of the Colledge, That for six years next coming 90 Pounds, with current Exchange shall be paid to the President, and Fellows of Harvard Colledge, and from thence forward Forty-five Pounds per annum with current Exchange be paid, The first Payment to be made, at or before the 13th of July 1711.

    A Copy Taken out of Judge Sewals Book.

    College Papers, i. 43 (No. 97). For an account of Robert Boyle’s donation for Indian education at Harvard see Morison, Seventeenth Century, ii. 485–486. Although the gift was made in 1691, it was 1712 before the College received any money through the New England Company.

    On the reverse is a statement about the Boston-Charlestown Ferry, the income of which came to the College. It is noted: “Computation of the Gains by Charlstown Ferry,” and reads: “Suppose one Boat Goes 3 Times in an Hour and 10 Hours in a Day, and makes 8d a Fare, it is £313 per year (reckoning nothing for Lord’s Daies). And supposing the charge of Hiring Men to row, and Finding the Boat to be £113. There remains £200 per Annum clear Gain per one Boat in a year.”