November 18, 1755

1755 November 18 (Tuesday).  This Morning about a Quarter past 4 We were all wak’d up by a very Terrible Earthquake.[1]  The shock Seems to me to be as great and to last about as long as the great Earthquake, October 29, 1727, but the manner of Shaking I think is different — That more horizontal, this partly Vertical.  My Children rose and gather’d into my Chamber, where we gave Thanks to God for our Preservation, and begg’d His Mercy towards us.  We heard another shock at 28 Minutes after 5.  The Air was Clear, the moon bright, and a great Frost.  God grant us grace rightly to improve His holy Dispensation!  and prepare us for what is yet before us!

[1]This earthquake was felt on both sides of the Atlantic.  The effects in Boston were described at length in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, Nov. 20, 1755, and The Boston Gazette, or Country Journal, Nov. 24, 1755.  For the controversy over the causes see Eleanor M. Tilton, “Lightning-Rods and the Earthquake of 1755,” New England Quarterly, XIII (March, 1940), 85-97.