ELIOT OAK AND OTHER TREES OF SOUTH NATICK 



The high esteem in which Eliot was held 

 by the Praying Indians passed on as a heri- 

 tage to some of the ministers who were called 

 to Natick at a later time. In 1722 a depu- 

 tation of Indians came to the Rev. Mr. 

 Peabody's house bearing two elms on their 

 shoulders. These they presented to their 

 minister and desired permission to set them 

 out in front of his door as "trees of friend- 

 ship." They flourished for ninety years when 

 one was struck by lightning, and the other 

 declined rapidly and was removed. They 

 measured twenty-one feet at one foot from 

 the ground, and thirteen feet at the smallest 

 part of the trunk. 1 In 1753 a like request 

 was made by the Indians of their minister, 

 Mr. Badger, and the same ceremony took 

 place. The Hon. John Welles observes, 

 (1826), "These trees are now in full vigor, 

 having been set out seventy-three years. 

 They are about fifteen feet in circumference 

 near the ground, and have given in circum- 

 ference nearly i| inches in growth a year." 

 The elm now pointed out as the remaining 



1 Bigelow, p. 12, Bacon, Chap. 10. 



433 



