Reverend James Keith is widely known as the first minister of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, Arriving there from Scotland in 1662, he was introduced to the Bridgewater church by Dr. Increase Mather. His house, built that same year, is said to be the oldest existing parsonage in America. And although his tombstone notes that he was born about 1643 and educated in Aberdeen, his Scottish ancestry is uncertain. Joel Keith says that ....”his supposed parents are Alexander & Christian (Kempt) Keith. There is a baptism record in the St. Nicholas Church in Aberdeen dated 1645, when a child named James was baptized, and the parents were Alexander & Christian (Kempt) Keith. This is the only shred of evidence to suggest parentage for James...The oral history says that Alexander & Christian were killed in the British Civil War (c. 1645) and James was sent to live with an aunt in Aberdeen. This "dowager" Aunt raised James, and saw to his schooling. He attended Marischal College, the educational institution founded by the Clan Keith, in Aberdeen. He studied divinity. About 1661, when the ascension of Charles II struck fear in the hearts of the non-conformist clergy, James was thrust into the midst of religious persecution. Fortunately, the noted Puritan divine Dr. Increase Mather, was traveling in the land and meet James in Aberdeen. James joined Mather in his voyage back to Massachusetts. Mather recommended him to the infant town of Bridgewater in Plymouth Co., MA. In 1664, he was ordained as the towns first minister.” Unfortunately no records have emerged to support or to disprove this oral history. Nor have any good sources been cited for some “One World Tree” pedigrees which assert that James was the son of a Robert Keith in Aberdeen.
Whatever his ancestry in Scotland may be, Reverend James Keith is also remembered as the person who saved Metom, the nine year old son of “King Philip, ” from execution in 1676 at the end of ’King Phillip’s War. ”“King Phillip” was the English name of Metacom, the grandson of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief who befriended the English pilgrims after their 1620 landing at Plymouth.
Native Americans remember Metacom as a great chief who led a strong confederation of Indians in a bloody war against the colonists. On July 20, Captain Benjamin Church’s expedition attacked Metacom’s camp near Bridgewater. Metacom escaped but his wife, Wootonekanuske, and their 9-year-old son, Metom, were captured. After much debate, the colonists decided to spare their lives by selling them into slavery in the West Indies for a pound apiece. When Metacom heard of their fate, he is reported to have said: "My heart breaks. Now I am ready to die." He was killed less than a month later.
Wootonekanuske, and Metom were held in protective custody within the fortified parsonage of Reverend James Keith while their fate was debated. Many of the colonists demanded immediate death to the little boy son of King Philip, so that never again would they be threatened by the blood of King Philip’s lineage. Reverend James Keith was the only clergyman known to have pleaded for mercy In a letter to Cotton Mather, he referred to Deuteronomy 24:16 which says that children should not be put to death for their parent and that only for their own crimes may persons be put to death. Probably as a result of this plea, Metom’s life was spared. Most authorities say that he and his mother were then sold into slavery and probably sent to Bermuda. However there are some who believe otherwise.
