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EARLY HISTORY
OF
NAUSHON ISLAND
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Early History of Naushon Island
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Early History of Naushon Island
By Amelia Forbes Emerson
Privately Printed 1935
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THE ELIZABETH ISLANDS
Early History of Naushon Island
By Amelia Forbes Emerson
Privately Printed 1935
Thomas Todd Co. Printers 14 Beacon Street Boston
1129730
PREFACE
HE task of gathering the material for this early history of the island of Naushon has been a complete pleasure owing to the kindness and friendliness of every person, without exception, with whom I have had dealings.
Libraries and museums have given free access to their collections; their staffs have been untiring in making the material available, authors have given permission to quote from their works and many busy persons have given time and energy in answering questions and sup- plying information. In return for these many kindnesses I can only give my sincere thanks and express the hope that in this collection will be found some interesting and untasted morsels.
A. F. E.
Estabrook Road Concord, Massachusetts December, 1934
1
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EXPLORATION
1
II. INDIAN LIFE 52
III. DEEDS AND LEGAL PAPERS
81
IV. THE WINTHROP ERA .
149
V. PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS
. 197
VI. THE REVOLUTION
. 256
VII. MARITIME NOTES . 302
VIII. BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP 348
IX. MISCELLANEOUS FACTS
420 .
APPENDIX
459
GENEALOGIES
465
MILITIA MUSTER ROLLS
.
478
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
·
483
SOURCES
.
·
485
INDEX
.
489
ILLUSTRATIONS
FRONTISPIECE Facing Page The Elizabeth Islands. From Chart of United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey . . iii
CHAPTER I
Location of Places Named in the Sagas as Indicated by Pro- fessor C. C. Rafn. From "Voyages of the Norsemen to America" by Edmund Slafter 6 From the Large Mappamondi of Hieronimo Verrazano, Brother of the Navigator. Done about 1529 17
From Map of Diego Ribero, 1529 . 20
Gosnold's Men at Cuttyhunk. Illustration from Dutch Trans- lation of the Account of Gabriel Archer. Vander Aa, Ley- den, 1706 .
25
Title Page of Dutch Translation of the Account of Gabriel Archer 31
The Site of Gosnold's Twenty-Five Day Settlement 46 Earliest Map of the Elizabeth Islands. Velasco Map (1610) from General Archives of Simancas, Spain . 49
CHAPTER II
William Hack's Map of New England. Photograph from only extant copy, through the courtesy of Mr. William Good- win. Original in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth. Done about 1663 The Sunlight Comes Glinting Down Through Naushon Woods 78
CHAPTER III
Map from William Wood's "New England's Prospect" . 83 Earliest Naushon Deed, Seayk Sachem to Thomas Mayhew, 1654 90
·
Monohansett from Naushon
·
Wood Path
104
63
James Bowdoin (I), a Notable Merchant of Boston. Painted by Joseph Badger in 1747 . · 124
An Island Buck
· 140
X
ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing Page Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands, from Crèvecœur's "Lettres d'un Cultivateur Américain." London, 1784 . 144
CHAPTER IV
The Honorable Wait Winthrop, 1642-1717 152
John Winthrop, F.R.S., 1681-1747 . 165
White Cedars at the Heron Pond . . . 185
CHAPTER V
Title Page of Volume of Maps and Descriptions Entitled "The Burning Fen" or Peat Soil, by Arent Roggeveen. Origi- nal in Royal Library, Copenhagen . . 201
Description from "The Burning Fen" by Arent Roggeveen . 203 Map No. 29 from "The Burning Fen" by Arent Roggeveen .
204 Introduction to Log of H.M.S. Falkland by Jacobus Couch . 218 Model of H.M.S. Falkland, First "Ship of the Line" Built in America 229
CHAPTER VI
Pasture Between Cove and French Watering Place 241 Cedar Swamp
Mrs. James Bowdoin, Wife of Governor Bowdoin, by Robert Feke 261
262 Governor James Bowdoin by Robert Feke . A Naushon Glade 276
Stone Wall and Huckleberry Bushes
"At the House of Robinson"
. 287
.
CHAPTER VII
Wreck of Ship Perseverance in Tarpaulin Cove January 31, 1805. From painting by Corné. Original in Peabody Mu- seum, Salem . . 307
Launching of Ship Fame, 363 Tons Burthen, in 1802. From painting by George Ropes, now in the Essex Institute, Salem 310
xi
ILLUSTRATIONS
Facing Page Typical Ship of Early 19th Century. House Flag now the Pri- vate Signal of the Forbes Family. Painted by Montardier in 1810. Property of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, loaned to the Peabody Museum, Salem 322 Whale Ship Eliza Adams, Built in Fairhaven in 1835. Original painting in Peabody Museum, Salem .
342
CHAPTER VIII
Hon. James Bowdoin and His Sister, Lady Temple. Late 18th Century. Artist unknown . 349
Dairy Cows at Mary's Lake . · 353
Tarpaulin Cove House
Sheep at the Cove
·
367
Sarah Bowdoin, Wife of the Hon. James Bowdoin, by Gilbert Stuart 375
Light House and Tavern at Tarpaulin Cove 1 390
The Sentinel Tree
Hon. James Bowdoin by Gilbert Stuart .
·
401
The Mansion House from the Harbor
.
415
CHAPTER IX
Expense Account of Building Cove House. Page from account book of James Bowdoin . . 432 Nonamesset House 436
Tarpaulin Cove Looking North
.
Uncatena House. From sketch by Sarah F. Hughes
·
·
437
Beech Woods
.
448
.
EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
Chapter I EXPLORATION
HE date 1843 marks the clear dividing line between early and late Naushon history. The period of Forbes ownership has con- tinued for almost a century, and its story is written in the Island Books or stored in the memory of those now living. It is a tale of romance and life and color and must be recorded by an abler pen.
Here is explored the early history of the island, beginning in remote times and ending with the termination of Bowdoin ownership in 1843. Search has brought to light a great deal of material, and much has been included which only indirectly con- cerns Naushon but which gives background as to times and con- ditions. The original manuscripts speak for themselves with only such connecting links and explanations as will help to make them clear. First, the geology of the islands is briefly touched upon; then, early exploration and aboriginal life; overlapping this comes the proprietorship of the Mayhews and Winthrops; and last, the long period of Bowdoin ownership.
As time flows by, carrying with it persons and events, Naushon may be pictured lying in the center of the stream, familiar to the eye, its shores and hills and woods so little changed since seen by the first explorer.
GEOLOGY
The natural features of Naushon and its immediate neighbor- hood may be quite familiar and yet be scarcely understood.
How many of us might echo the words of Miss Elizabeth Peabody, who, when riding through the woods, was swept from
2
EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
the back of her horse by an overhanging branch and exclaimed, "I saw it, but I didn't realize it!"
A slight sketch of the geology of the region gives a glimpse into a wide field for investigation, and may possibly throw a spot- light into the depths of our ignorance.
There are indications that in a past age in the region south of Cape Cod the land level was higher than it is at present. In this case the shore line would have been beyond Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The present islands would have been low hills connected to the mainland by three dry valleys, now the sea floors of Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay. With the subsidence of the land or flooding in of the sea these water- ways came into being.
Original shore lines have been much changed by the work of the waves, cliffs have been cut and beaches built. On the land changes due to the erosive action of wind and rain have gone on at the same time. Thus changes of level, erosion, and an advanc- ing and retreating ice front during that era often termed the glacial period have altered an earlier topography.
At the southern limit of the last glacial advance there has been left a long ridge of glacial débris which is called a terminal moraine. According to Professor Koons, who made a study of glacial kettle holes,* "There is perhaps no more remarkable region on the whole line [of terminal moraine ] than the vicinity of Woods Holl, both over the point of the mainland, and on the adjoining eastern islands, Uncatena, Nonamesset, and Naushon of the Elizabeth group, which extend southwestward between Buzzards Bay on the north and Vineyard Sound and the ocean on the south.
"The trend of the islands is 60° east. The hills are masses
* Kettle Holes are found among moraines, and are believed to be due in some cases to a large block of ice which remained covered by débris for some time, which afterward melted out with subsidence of the cover, thus forming a basin. Other similar basins are simply due to the irregular depositions of moraines.
3
EXPLORATION
of earth, sand, gravel and boulders tumbled together in the great- est confusion. In places the surface is well covered with granite and gneiss boulders, some of gigantic size. ...
"The theory, that this is a part of the terminal moraine, seems plausible when the country is viewed from some of the high hills a mile or two to the east of Woods Holl.
"To the southwest stretches away the long line of islands; and to the northeast, almost as far as Falmouth, it appears as though the glacier had pushed its front down to the sea and there unloaded its vast amount of rock and earth to form this line of abrupt hills.
"Upon the tops of some of these hills . . . one hundred feet or more above the level of the sea where cuts for roads have been made, stratified material consisting of sand and gravel is found. This occurs between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound, where the land is not more than three-quarters of a mile wide. . . .
"On the island of Naushon, opposite Tarpaulin Cove upon the summit of a hill over 200 feet above the sea level, and where - the island is not more than two-thirds of a mile wide, there is a stratified deposit which has been partly cut away by the winds, and thus its character made known.
"It has at the top a bed of fine yellow sand ten inches thick, beneath this a layer of white or smoky white sand, then again a black layer, and beneath this a ferruginous layer two inches thick, all very similar to those of Gay Head and at the west end of Martha's Vineyard. Within a few rods of this stratified deposit the surface over a considerable area is completely covered with boulders, two of which are of unusual size.
"In my study of this region I kept a record generally of only the largest kettle holes, passing by some of great size because they are so very numerous. . .
"Many of the depressions have water in them, forming a small pond or lake. The depth of one, Mary's Lake, is eighteen feet.
4
EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
"The map shows with approximate correctness the distribu- tion of the kettle holes, and also the direction of the longer axes. It will be seen that the general trend of the longer axes is nearly
Scale of miles, 1
BUZZARD'S BAY
Scale of rods 125
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82
84
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81
68
677
59
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64
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FIG. 53 .- Map of kettle holes on the northern part of the Elizabeth Islands and in the vicinity of Woods Hole, Massachusetts, by Professor B. F. Koons. The crosses show the direction of the longer and shorter axes. Nos. 66, 72, 76, 78, 82, 84, 86, 87, 89, 91, 92, 94, 95, 99, 100, 103, 105, 106, are upward of twenty-five rods in diameter ; 95 and 103 are upward of fifty rods in diameter ; several of them are about one hundred feet in depth.
that of the terminal moraine. The small bays among the islands usually have their longest axes trending approximately northeast and southwest.
"As to those (kettle holes) upon Nonamesset, the mainland, and those examined on Naushon, the facts indicate with a good deal of certainty that they are much more numerous and generally larger upon the northern than upon the southern side.
"There are also evidences, two miles west of Tarpaulin Cove on the south side of Naushon, that a glacial stream of no mean proportion swept from among the hills in the center of the island into Vineyard Sound. The exact windings of the stream are easily traced, and just to the west of its mouth stratified deposits are found cropping out in the bluff, seventy-five feet above the mean tide; but the river channel, unlike the one on the mainland east of Woods Holl has few boulders in it, because of the fineness of the material composing the west end of the island, and the
Great Harbor
+
+
69
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WOODS
₹73
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77 + +78
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250
5
EXPLORATION
notable absence usually of large rock fragments especially at this point.
"At several points . .. beds of thin stratified material are found. ... These stratified deposits are found in many locali- ties . .. the most extensive of all are found upon the very sum- mit of Naushon, over 200 feet above the sea.
"At times they are overlaid by coarse, unmodified drift; at others, occupy the surface; and upon a study of the localities and the character of the deposits, it seems that they were made by the flowing waters of the streams as they ran from the face of the glacier and found their way over the terminal moraine into the sea beyond."
After considering the glacial period and thinking in terms of geologic time, the brief moment comprising the last one thou- sands years seems hardly worth mentioning. But to dwellers on this planet the events of this particular thousand years form a great part of the ever-growing panorama which is labeled "the past."
Island history really begins with the accounts of the earliest recorded explorers. The Norsemen left Norway and settled in Iceland in the 10th Century, and in 985 Eric the Red crossed to Greenland and founded a settlement there.
About the year 1000 certain Norsemen left Greenland bent on exploration. Just where they sailed and where they landed and where Leif Ericsson built his house is not known. Scholars have studied the evidence, many books have been written, and each writer has a theory of his own as to Leif's settlement. I believe with Storm that it was probably in the Nova Scotia region, but several students of the subject believe the location to have been just south of Cape Cod. Rafn believes that Straumey is Martha's Vineyard and Straumfiord, Buzzards Bay; Hovgaard indicates that at least one of the expeditions came to the Cape Cod region, and Gray in his book, published in 1930, undertakes to prove that the site of Leifsbooth is Noman's Land.
6
EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
If, as he so ardently believes, our neighbor Noman's Land is the spot, the Norsemen during a three years' sojourn could scarcely have failed to land upon and explore the Elizabeth Islands. Does it not seem almost incredible that they should have lived on Noman's Land, when with almost equal security from the natives they might have enjoyed the advantages of safe harbors, better hunting and fishing, and in fact an easier livelihood, had they settled on Martha's Vineyard, Cuttyhunk, Nashawena or Naushon ?
The only decisive proof of their presence will be the discovery of inscriptions, coins or artifacts. A stone with an interesting (if authentic) inscription has been recently discovered on Noman's Land, and for any and all indications watch should be kept throughout the islands.
Information of the voyages to Vinland comes chiefly from three sources, the Flatey Book, which is the more clear and con- secutive account, thought to have been written during the latter part of the 14th Century, and the Saga of Eric the Red, dating from the second half of the 13th Century, two versions of which known as Hawk's Book and A.M. 557, are quite similar. The following extracts from these sagas give the bulk of the evidence upon which all opinions are based, and from which each reader may draw his own conclusions.
LEIF ERICSSON'S VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION From the Flatey Book
There was now much talk of explorations. Leif, a son of Eric the Red, from Brattahlid, went to Bjarni Herjulfsson, bought his ship, and hired a crew for it, so that they were in all thirty-five men. Leif vainly attempted to make his father join the expedition. On the expedition was a German, by name
* The name Ericsson is variously spelled; in Norwegian it is Leifr Eiriksson.
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ARNES 13 och Groove House 7 EXPLORATION Tyrker. After having fitted out the ship for the voyage, they sailed out on the sea, and found first the land which Bjarni had seen last. They sailed to the land, anchored, put out the boat, and went ashore. No grass grew there, and great glaciers were seen inland, while the coast between the glaciers and the sea looked like one large, flat stone, and this land did not seem to them to have any value. Then said Leif: "Now it has gone better with us than with Bjarni, who came here and did not go ashore; now I will give this land a name and call it Helluland." After that they went on board the ship, sailed out on the sea, and found another land. They sailed again to the land, anchored, put out the boat, and went ashore. This land was flat and covered with woods, and there were extensive white sands, wherever they went, and the beach was not steep. Then said Leif: "This land shall be named according to its nature and it shall be called Mark- land." After that they went as soon as possible to the ship, and sailed out on the open sea with a northeast wind, and were on the sea two days before they saw land. They went ashore on an island to the north of the land. It was fine weather. They looked around and noticed that there was dew on the grass. This dew was found to have a very sweet taste. After that they went on board the ship and sailed into the sound between the island and a cape which stretched northward from the coast, and steered westward past the cape. The water was so shallow there that the ship ran aground and stood dry at ebb tide; the sea was then visible only at a great distance. But Leif and his men were so anxious to get ashore that they did not care to wait till the water rose again under their ship, and they ran ashore at once where a river flowed out from a lake. At next high tide they took the boat, pulled to the ship, and took it up through the river into the lake, anchored, and carried their leather bags ashore. They first built wooden huts (sheds), but later they decided to prepare to remain there during the winter, and they built then large houses. 8 EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND Salmon, larger than they had seen before, were plentiful in the river and the lake. The land seemed to them so good that there would be no need of storing fodder for the cattle for the winter; there came no frost in the winters and the grass withered but little. Day and night were there more nearly of equal length than is the case in Greenland and Iceland; the sun had there eyktarstadr* and dagmálastadr on the shortest day of the year. When they had built the house, Leif said to his men: "Now I will divide our party into two halves and explore the land; and one half of the men shall remain at the house, while the other half shall examine the country, but shall not go farther than to let them be back in the evening, and they must never part from one another." They did so for some time, and Leif was alternately one day with the exploring party, the other day at the house. Leif was a fine, strong man, of impressive personality, and moreover intelli- gent and wise. It was found one night that one of their men was missing, and that was Tyrker Southman. . .. Leif now reprimanded his men severely, and prepared to go in search of him with twelve men. But when they were only a short distance from the house, they were met by Tyrker whom they received with great joy. . .. Then said Leif to him: "Why were you so late, foster-father, and why did you part from the others?" Then at first he spoke in German for a long time, and rolled his eyes and twisted his mouth when they did not understand what he said. After some time he spoke in the Norse tongue: "I did not go much farther, and yet I have discovered something new; I found vínvid t and vínbert." "Can this be true, foster-father?" said Leif. "Certainly, this is true," said he, "for I was born where there is no lack of either * Professor Geelmuyden calculates "The region where Leifsbooth must be sought would be between 40° and 50° Lat., comprising the coasts from Sandy Hook to Halifax." tVinvid - wild grapes, or possibly black currants or mountain cranberries. ĮVinber - grapevines. 9 EXPLORATION vínvid or vinber." They now slept that night, but in the morning Leif said to his men : "We will now divide our labors, and each day we will either gather vínber or cut vínvid and fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of these for my ship." This advice was followed. . . . A cargo was now cut for the ship, and when the spring came, they made ready and sailed away, and Leif gave the land a name in accordance with its products, and called it Vinland. Then they sailed out on the sea, and had a fair wind, until they sighted Greenland and the mountains below the glaciers. . . . Now there was much talk of Leif's Vinland voyage, and his brother Thorvald thought the land had not been sufficiently ex- plored. Then said Leif to Thorvald: "You may go with my ship, brother, if you so wish, to Vinland, but I wish to have the ship fetch first the timber which Thorer had on the skerry." And so it was done. THORVALD'S VOYAGE Now Thorvald, with thirty men, prepared for this voyage, and consulted with his brother Leif about it. Thereafter they made the ship ready, and sailed out to sea; and nothing is told of their voyage before they came to Leifsbooths in Vinland. They laid up their ship there, and remained quietly during the winter, and lived by fishing. But in the spring Thorvald said they should put their ship in order, and that some men should take the after (large) boat and sail along the western coast (or west of the land), and explore there during the summer. They found the country beau- tiful and wooded, and there was only a short distance between the woods and the sea, and there were white sands. There were many islands, and the water was very shallow. They found nowhere any human dwellings or animals, except on an island to the west, where they found a wooden shed (or screen) for the storage of grain. They found no other trace of human work, and returned to Leifs- booths in the fall. The following summer Thorvald sailed east- 1 10 EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND ward (or along the east coast) with the ship and northward along the coast (or north of the land) . They were struck by a heavy gale off a cape, the ship was driven ashore there, and the keel broke under the ship. They stayed there a long time and repaired their ship. Then Thorvald said to his men: "Now we shall raise the keel here on the cape and call it Kjalarness." Thence they sailed east of the land (or eastward along the coast) into the mouths of the fiords in the vicinity, and to a head- land which stretched out there, and which was covered all over with woods. Here they laid the ship alongside the shore and put out the gangplank. Thorvald went ashore with all his men, and said: "Here it is beautiful, and here I should like to build my house." Then they returned to the ship, and discovered on the sands inside the headland three hillocks (hædir). They went there and saw three skin boats, and three men under each boat. Thorvald divided his crew into parties and caught all of them (the natives), except one, who escaped with his skin boat. They killed the other eight men, and then went back to the headland. . . . Then came from the bottom of the fiord a countless number of skin boats, and approached them. . . . The Skraelings shot at them for awhile. . "I have got a wound under my arm," said he [Thorvald]. . "Now I give you the advice that you pre- pare to return as soon as possible; but you shall take me to the headland, where I thought it best to settle; it may prove true what I said, that I should stay there awhile. There you shall bury me, and place a cross at my head, and another at my feet, and the headland shall be called Crossness ever after. .. . " Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.