ief duration, as in 1638 we find him an active
member of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company." In 1640 he
united with other residents of Mt. Wollaston in a petition for the
formation of the town of Braintree. In 1647 he was sent as an officer
with a message to the Narragansett Indians, and went on a similar errand
in 1653. In 1654 we find him occupying the honorable and difficult
position of marshal of the Massachusetts colony, a post which he seems
to have filled to the satisfaction of the colonists for many years, and
in which he was succeeded, as will be seen, by his son Return. In the
same year (1654) he took an important part in an expedition against the
Narragansett Indians. October 20, 1658, on account of services in the
Pequot war and elsewhere, he received from the General Court a grant of
300 acres of land, "in the wilderness between Cochituate and Nipnop, 220
acres on a neck surrounded by Sudbury River, great pond, and small
brook, five patches, 20 acres meadow, and 60 acres on northeast side
Washakum Pond," all now included in Framingham, Mass., and a part of
which is supposed to be now occupied by the Lake View Chautauqua
Assembly, whose Hall of Philosophy stands on the summit of the elevation
still known as "Mt. Waite." In 1659 Marshal Wayte was voted L5 from the
public treasury in recognition of "his great and diligent pains, riding
day and night, in summoning those entertaining Quakers to this court."
October 16, 1660, his prowess was recognized by an appointment as
"governor's guard (John Endicott at that time occupied this position) at
all public meetings out of court."

From these fragmentary records we learn enough to indicate that the
first marshal of the Massachusetts colony was a man of no ordinary
character. His was a semi-military position, devolving upon him, not
only the duty of executing the ordinary behests of the General Court,
but of acting an important part as an aid to the governor in devising
means for the defence of the colonists against their Indian foes.
Marshal Waite was proprietor of a tailoring establishment, and an owner
of real estate on Broad Street. He was twice married, and was the father
of fourteen children--eight by his first wife, who died in 1651, and six
by his second wife, Rebecca Hepbourne. Of these, three died at an early
age; two (Nathaniel and Samuel) are not mentioned in their father's
will; of the eight remaining, three only were sons. These, Return,
Ric