New college, Oxford, April 2 8, 165 2. He was
ejected in 1 66o (rege reduce) and returned to New
England. He died, July 7, 17 0 1, unmarried.
He owned about 400 acres of land in Milton, 40
of which he left to the town, including the present
town-farm, the income thereof to be used for the
poor of Milton. William Stoughton bequeathed
in his will, dated July 6, 1701, and proved
July 23, 1701, "To the Church of Dorchester I give two pieces of Plate
for ye Communion of C6 value each. allso C5 0 the yearly income to be for any
such service of the Church as shall be judged most needful." A similar silver cup,
by the same maker, was bought with his legacy to the First Parish Congregational
church at Milton, and is described under that church. A silver covered cup, made
by John Coney, which he gave to Harvard college, is still preserved there. His
portrait is also in the college.
The first tankard is of the conventional shape, with a tapering cylindrical body,
a moulding on the body, and domed or moulded cover with a turned finial, a
scrolled thumb-piece and a scrolled handle with an oval boss termination. In-
scription:
The Gzft of Elzjah Danforth Es{r to the Church in Dorchester
Anno Domini I 7 36
These arms are engraved upon it:
Height, 71 in.; diameter of the mouth, 4 in., and of the
base, 44 in.
Maker's mark: @, for Jacob Hurd of Boston
(1702-58).
Plate LIII (in the centre of the group).
Elijah Danforth, the donor, a physician, was the son of
Rev. John Danforth and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of
James Minott, and was born November 30, 1683. He
graduated at Harvard college in 1703, and died Octo-
ber 8, 1736. In his will, dated March 5, 1735, and proved February 22,
I 73 7, is the following legacy of this tankard: "I give to the Deacons of the
Church in Dorchester and their successors for the only use & service of the
Lords Table in the Congregational church in said Dorchester my large silver
Tankard to be changed in the form of it at ye discretion of the sd Deacons into con-
venient vessells for the service aforesaid." The testator revoked the clause relating
to the transformation of the tankard into other vessels, and allowed it to be given
to the church unchanged. The residue of his estate was left to his brother, Samuel,
and his sisters, Elizabeth Lowdor and Hannah Dunbar.
The second tankard is similar, but a little larger.
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