Person Page - 137

SMITH, Hilda Eleanor (nee Cotton)
Formerly of Westmount, Quebec and then St. John's NL, passed away peacefully in her sleep at the Glebe Centre, Ottawa on December 24, 2012 at the age of 100. She was born in Montreal July 20, 1912 to Charles MacKay Cotton, Q.C. and Harriet Serena Cotton (nee Hill). She is predeceased by her beloved husband Prof. Philip Durnford Pemberton Smith (Physics Dept., Memorial University) and by her sister Dorothy Harrison (nee Cotton) of Didsbury, AB. Surviving her are her son Stuart Durnford Smith (Gloria) of Dartmouth, NS, daughter Harriet Pemberton Smith (Filson Young) of Ottawa, five grandchildren and six great- grandchildren. She held a B.A. from McGill University and worked as an allergy technician at the Montreal Children's Hospital. Hilda moved with her husband to St. John's in 1962, where she completed a M.Sc. (Botany) at Memorial University with a thesis on the ecology of ponds, and worked as a botany lab instructor. Hilda was a feminist, an advocate of world peace and an active supporter of Project Ploughshares. She loved animals and received Canada's 1992 Confederation Medal and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal for her tireless work in support of animal welfare in Canada. For many years she volunteered with the St. John's SPCA, where her motto was "Never give up." The family thanks the staff of the Col. By Residence, the Glebe Centre and Ideal Caregivers for providing care and comfort during her years in Ottawa.²

He studied at Trinity College and obtained a fellowship at Emmanuel, where he became head lecturer, dean, and catechist, and while there was urged to join the Puritans. He was a minister of the Established church at Boston, Lincolnshire, 1612, where he was suspended by the bishop for refusing to conform to some of the ceremonies of the church, but as the majority of his people sustained him he was restored.
For twenty years he educated young men for the ministry and carried on numerous reforms. Upon the accession of Bishop Laud dissensions again arose and he fled to London, not wishing to appear before the court, and finally embarked for America, arriving in Boston, Mass., in 1633. He was almost immediately chosen teacher in the first church in Boston under John Wilson, pastor, and he retained connection with that church until his death. He at first encouraged Anne Hutchinson in her Antinomian doctrines but afterward opposed her. In 1642, with Hooker and Davenport, he was invited to assist the assembly of divines at Westminster in organizing a church government for New England, but was dissuaded from going by Hooker, who sought to frame a system himself. He maintained the right of civil authority over religious matters and was the clerical head of the Puritan commonwealth with the Bible as its basis and the meeting-house as its court room. He had a famous controversy with Roger Williams on the rights of the civil authorities. He introduced in New England the custom of making the Sabbath observances extend from evening to evening, and was largely instrumental in securing Boston Common to posterity.
His descendants in Boston caused to be erected in St. Botolph's church, Boston, England, in 1857 a tablet to his memory, with a Latin inscription written by Edward Everett. He published: Set Forms of Prayer (1642); The Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Power Thereof (1644); The Bloody Tenent Washed and Made White in the Blood of the Lamb (1647); and Milk for Babes Drawn out of the Breasts of both Testaments chiefly for the Spiritual Nourishment of Boston Babes in Either England, but may be of use for any Children (1646). See Mather's Magnalia and Norton's Life and Death of Mr. John Cotton (London, 1648, Boston, 1834.)²

He graduated from Harvard in 1657, studied theology with the Rev. Samuel Stone of Hartford, Conn., and from 1659 to 1663 preached at Wethersfield, Conn. In 1664 he learned the Indian tongue, and preached to the Indians at Martha's Vineyard for two years. In September, 1666, he was invited to become pastor of the church at Plymouth, Mass., and the following year removed thither, being ordained June 30, 1669. He preached at Plymouth until 1697, when a dissension arose between him and his congregation, and on Sept. 30, 1697, after unsuccessful efforts to effect a reconciliation the council "advised the pastor to ask a dismission and the church to grant it." He was dismissed Oct. 5, 1697, and after remaining about a year at Plymouth, accepted in November, 1698, a call to Charleston, S.C., where he preached with great success until he died.¹