Isaac Davis, of Worcester, had returned recently from
a visit to Europe. He informed me that he had seen at Lucca in Italy,
a pyramidal structure which was considered the finest monument of its
sort to be found in Europe. I sent immediately for the proportions of
the pyramid and the Sudbury monument was modeled upon the same plan. I
am of the opinion that it fully justified the claim made in behalf of
the original.
A serious difficulty occurred in regard to the inscription upon the
Sudbury monument. The original slab was erected in the year 1692 by
Benjamin Wadsworth, a son of Captain Wadsworth. The son was then
President Wadsworth of Harvard College. The inscription stated that
the fight took place April 18, 1676. In later times it was discovered
that two old almanacs, one kept by Minister Hobart of Hingham and one
by Judge Sewall, contained entries of the fight _on the 21st of April,
1676._ I examined the question and became satisfied that those entries
were made on the day when the intelligence was received by the writers.
Accordingly I followed President Wadsworth as to the date. The
_Genealogical Register,_ under the charge of a Mr. Drake, in two
articles criticized my inscription. I replied in the _Register_ and
ended my article with a sentence which Drake struck out. The sentence
was this: _"The testimony of President Wadsworth as to the time of his
father's death is of more value than all the theories of all the
genealogists who have existed since their vocation was so justly
condemned by St.
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