Plans are being made for a "Maule tour" of the House of Seven Gables; hopefully, Saturday afternoon or early Sunday afternoon.

Those of us attending will be free, at our own leisure and pace, to enjoy the other attractions of Salem, such as harbor tours, the historical house walking tours, the "witch museum" and several other notable sites. Sunday morning is open so that we can attend the place of worship of our choice.

------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Jim:

	___will
I/We	___will try to	attend the 1988 Reunion in Salem.
	___will not
I/We plan to attend	___ Sat. breakfast
	___ Sat. dinner
	___ Sun. breakfast

My/Our plans for lodging at Gordon College:

___ definitely will		___dorm room
___ probably will	call the college	___2-room apt
___ probably will not	to reserve	___3-room apt
___ definitely will not

Your name/address/phone: _____________________________________

Others in your group: ________________________________________

Map not reproduced.

Thomas Maule arrived in Salem in approximately 1668. The town had been in existence for several decades, but it was still a very small place. No one knows why Thomas Maule chose Salem as the place to conduct a mercantile business. Certainly Thomas, a Quaker by then, did not think that the town would be hospitable to his religious beliefs. Of course, it may have been that Boston, where he had lived for the previous ten years, was unbearable in its intolerance.

Thomas Maule's personality is as much an enigma for those of us who study him today as it must have been for his fellow townsfolk. He was prosperous, and thus, it must be inferred, possessed of good business sense. His skills were held in high regard by the town, as evidenced by his appointment to a number of minor posts such as supervisor of roads. He was perhaps the leading elder of the Salem Meeting, as his name appears in the minutes with frequent regularity.

Yet Thomas Maule, for all of his dedication to the peaceful ways of the Friends, retained the confrontational and pugnacious qualities of his British ancestors and collaterals. He engaged in written and oral debate with Cotton Mather and other Puritan leaders. He accused the minister of Salem of having preached lies and instructing in the doctrine of devils; for this he was whipped. One must remember that the seventeenth century was a time in which even the most minute difference in theological opinion could cause national warfare.

Thomas Maule's assault on the Puritan establishment of New England was fierce and sustained. By his own account he was imprisoned five times, fined three times, and whipped three times. He was intensely critical of the witch trials, a position that probably earned him secret admiration and public censure.

By the late 1680's the Puritan authorities were looking for an excuse to permanently silence the man. His "Letter to Cotton Mather" was probably written at about this time. In 1695 their opportunity arose when Thomas Maule wrote, and had William Bradford, a New York printer, print "Truth held forth and maintained according to the testimony of the holy prophets Christ and his disciples recorded in the Holy Scriptures". Remember that verbosity in titles was common in those days!

In "Truth held forth..." Thomas again attacked the witch trial prosecutors as liable to adverse judgment in the eyes of God. He also criticized several other doctrines of the Puritan faith. His writing style, described by one of his biographers as "cool and cutting sarcasm", could not have helped matters. The Massachusetts Bay Colony Council ordered his arrest, and Thomas demanded a trial by jury in his home county of Essex. The grand jury charged him with slanderous publication and blasphemy. In 1696, he was tried at Salem, before His Majesty's Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaol Delivery.

At his trial, Thomas argued that the court had no power over religious matters. He addressed the jury, pointing out that he had not broken the King's law. He also noted, quite cleverly, that his name on the pamphlet meant nothing because the printer (conveniently located in New York and beyond the reach of the court) had placed it there; this point, however, lacked legal justification. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and explained that there was insufficient evidence of the charges against Thomas because the printer had placed Maule's name on the pamphlet.

The impact of the trial's outcome is extremely significant. For the first time in a reported trial, the jury ignored the court's directions to find a defendant guilty. This more than likely arose from a growing public intolerance of secular interference with religious matters. In the middle of the eighteenth century, Alexander Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, was called upon to defend John Peter Zenger, a New York printer charged with sedition on account of his writings. The only case known to have been cited by Hamilton was that of Thomas Maule, in an attempt to demonstrate the inappropriateness of excessive governmental interference with the expression of ideas. The Zenger case is widely cited as the impetus for the adoption of the First Amendment.

After his acquittal, Thomas Maule continued to write, but the change in the atmosphere made his writing less controversial and less shocking. His publications included "New England persecutors mauled with their own weapons, giving some account of the bloody laws made at Boston against the King's subjects", (1697), which is an account of his trial, and "For the service of truth against George Keith", which is a religious pamphlet. Thomas also pursued his mercantile business, and prospered doing so.

That Thomas Maule made an impact on the town of Salem is unquestionable. More than a century later, Nathaniel Hawthorne used the Maule family name for the principal family in the novel, "The House of the Seven Gables". Whether that house was actually Thomas Maule's house is a question that the appropriate people at the Essex Institute can answer for us.

The connection of the Maule family with Salem ended within 40 years of Thomas Maule's death. Here is a summary of the lives of his eight surviving children:

(1) Susanna Maule married out of Friends meeting. By her first husband, Bartholomew Browne, she had seven children, some of whom became members of the First Church of Salem, and whose children in turn settled in Boston and other nearby towns. Susanna and her second husband lived in Marblehead, Mass. None of their present-day descendants, if there are any, have been found, and none appear in the post-1720 records of Salem.

(2) Elizabeth Maule married, under the care of Friends meeting, her first cousin Eleazor Lindsey, whose father John Lindsey was a brother of Elizabeth's mother Naomi Lindsey Maule. Apparently they did not have children.

(3) Sarah Maule married Jonathan Hart. No record of the marriage in Friends meeting exists, so it is likely that he, too, was not a Friend. Their children and grandchildren also moved away from Salem, and descendants have not been found.

(4) Margaret Maule married, under the care of Friends meeting, Thomas Hanson, grandson of the founder of Dover, N.H. She and her numerous descendants were prominent in the affairs of Dover, Portsmouth, Falmouth, and nearby towns, and in Friends meeting. Their descendants have been traced to the 1950's, but contact has not yet been made. None appear to have returned to Salem.

(5) John Maule lived in Philadelphia for a brief time (1708- 1711), but he returned to Salem. He was a prosperous ship owner and marine entrepreneur. His name is mentioned frequently in the 1700- 1720 records of Salem. Of his five daughters, one married and moved to Rhode Island. Nothing is known about the other four, except that no record of their marriages or deaths appear in Salem records.

(6) Joseph Maule, after living in Salem, moved to Philadelphia. He too was a mariner and a shopkeeper. He was disowned by Philadelphia meeting in 1759. No further record of him or his younger daughter Sarah have been found, other than clues that she did not marry. His older daughter, Lydia, married William Quarrl, and her descendants (191...) are numerous in Pennsylvania.

(7) Content Maule left Salem, arrived in Wilmington, married twice, had one child, whose children lived near Haddonfield, N.J. Descendants have not been located, and there probably are none.

(8) Thomas Maule, Jr., left Salem with his mother (Thomas Maule, Sr.'s second wife), when she moved to Gwynedd, Pa., to marry Henry Clifton. Thomas later settled in Philadelphia, and thereafter in Radnor Township after he married Zillah Walker. Most of us are descended from him (1E...), but that is another story for another time.

So, even though much of the early history of Salem is interwoven with the life of Thomas Maule, within two generations there were no Maules or Maule descendants in the town. It might be that his children did not have the desire to battle what may have still been an intolerant atmosphere. Ironically, many of Thomas Maule's children and grandchildren did not even remain members of the Society of Friends.

But as can be seen from the Maule characterizations in "The House of the Seven Gables" and from Yvon Winter's novel "Maule's Curse", which is derived therefrom, Thomas Maule remains as a significant member of early Salem. A conscience of the community during the witch trials and an advocate of religious tolerance and freedom of speech, Thomas Maule left his mark not only on the town but on the entire country.

Try to join us on June 25 and 26 as we gather not only to meet or revisit our cousins but also to learn more about our ancestor and the place in which he lived so prominently 300 years ago. It is a reunion to which we can look forward.

Note: Most of the sources from which I abstracted the preceding account are unpublished, out-of-print, or difficult to find. If there is sufficient interest, I would like to publish a FULL TEXT compendium of Thomas Maule's writings and biographies. I think such a book would be fine reading and make a great gift. Such a book would cost about $25 at most if it were photocopied and soft-bound. My guess is that a hardcover edition would cost $50. Before I embark on this project, I need to determine your interest. So, please complete and return the slip at the bottom of the page.

Dear Jim:

___ I would be interested in purchasing _____ [insert number] copies of "Thomas Maule of Salem, Massachusetts: His Life, His Trial, and His Writings".

___ I would be interested in purchasing _____ [insert number] copies if the price were less than $________, but I think $25 is too high a price.

___ I think you should do it in style and issue it in hardcover. Otherwise I would not be interested. If it is in hardcover, I would want to purchase _____ [insert number] copies.

___ I think that hardcover would be nice. But at $50 I would only purchase _______ [insert number] copies.

___ I am not interested in such a book no matter what kind of cover it has.

Return to: Jim Maule, 2040 Spring Valley Rd, Lansdale PA 19446

In an article about the shift from Bryn Mawr to Gladwyne as a fashionable address, the Inquirer quoted a Gladwyne resident, "It was the Griscom Bettles who boldly first used Gladwyne as their post office address." [Griscom Bettle: 1E515121] (Phila. Inquirer, Sun., Oct. 11, 1987, page 1-A, 20-A)

Dr. Peter C. Nowell (1E5256211), professor of pathology and Laboratory medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, received the Cotlove award from the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists in 1987 for his work in chromosome studies of leukemic cells. (Penna. Gazette, Dec. 1987, p. 46)

Lewis C. Maull, of Rocky River, Ohio, formerly of Phila., writes that he is updating Baldwin Maull's book on "John Maull and Descendants". By now, it seems clear that John Maull was a Maule from England.

Irene J. Herbott (nee Hibbs), d. Dec. 27, 1987.

Janney Mather and Gray Crawford Goodman, on the occasion of their marriage, on Oct. 3, 1987, Providence Friends Meetinghouse, Media, Pa.

--Jim

I hope that those of you who just contributed can sit back because you have done more than your share. I hope that those who have not had a chance to contribute can do so. I suppose that if relatively few of us think that the newsletter is worth supporting it should be decreased in frequency and used solely for Reunion announcements. I am anxious to share your thoughts.

M/M Timothy CANELIS	Halsey MAULE (Watertown MA)
Pr/M Raymond FERGUSON	M/M Jim MAULE (Pampa TX)
Jennifer W. HAWKSWORTH	Marilou MAULE (Cypress CA)
Mrs. Joseph HOOD	Nick MAULE (San Clemente CA)
Joan Paulus KHALSA	Michael NOWELL
Peter LEWIS	Dr. John L. PAULUS
Elizabeth L. LINSTRUM

Listing not available

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