USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > Early Rehoboth, documented historical studies of families and events in this Plymouth colony township, Volume IV > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22
Early Rehoboth
RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN
J
1
1620.
TATIO
Gc 974.402 R26b v.IV 1149672
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
M. L.
1
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
3 1833 01101 2892
10 May 1950 To Eris Martha Peebles ww grateful appreciation of many injuring days wheat en her classroom
Oline B. Wearill
EARLY REHOBOTH
S
GI
@ 1620.
MESOCIE
PL
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/earlyrehobothdoc04bowe
Courtesy of the R. I. Historical Society
MOSES BROWN
One of the four famous Brown brothers, merchants of Providence, Moses Brown was a large landowner in Rehoboth where he carried on an extensive mercantile business. He died in Providence in 1836 at the age of 98. This silhouette, apparently the only likeness made in his lifetime, was cut in Provi- dence, probably in August 1833 when he was 95 years old, by William Henry Brown, of Charleston, S. C. The original, 81/2 inches high, is in the cabinet of the Rhode Island Historical Society.
In 1790 Moses Brown brought Samuel Slater to Pawtucket Falls, North Providence, R. I., where he built the first water-driven Arkwright machinery in America and spun his first yarn. In 1793 Moses Brown financed building the Slater Cotton Mill on the west bank of the Blackstone River in the village of Pawtucket, Town of Rehoboth, Mass. This was the first successful water-driven cotton mill built in America.
Early Rehoboth
Documented Historical Studies of Families and Events in This Plymouth Colony Township
BY RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN
VOLUME IV
PRIVATELY PRINTED REHOBOTH, MASSACHUSETTS
1950
COPYRIGHT 1950 BY RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America by THE RUMFORD PRESS, CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE
iv
1149672
To my son RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN, JR., A.B., M.S., Sc.D. who writes scientific books AND To my daughter MARJORIE BOWEN MUNSTERBERG, A.B. who writes more entertaining novels
V
Tyson_20.00 (4V0/8)
Other books by the author:
EARLY RHODE ISLAND COLONIAL MONEY AND ITS COUNTERFEITING, 1647-1726.
THE PROVIDENCE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE AND ITS SIGNERS, 1651-2.
EARLY REHOBOTH, VOLS. I, II, AND III.
INDEX OF EARLY RECORDS OF THE TOWN OF PROVIDENCE, VOLS. I-XXI.
Books in preparation:
EARLY REHOBOTH, VOL. V.
DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF REHOBOTH.
LIFE OF REV. SAMUEL NEWMAN. DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF SWANSEA.
vi
CONTENTS
Page 1
CHAPTER I-EARLY SURVEYS AND MAPS .
Early Land Divisions-The various Seekonk settlements of William Blaxton, 1634-Roger Williams, 1635/6-The Charlestown men, 1638-Samuel Newman, 1643-Early Surveyors, Oliver & Fisher-Lieut. Joshua Fisher.
CHAPTER II-THE 1790 MAP
21
Highways-Great Gates-Training Field-Ministerial Land-Schoolhouse Lot-Burying Place and additions of 1680, 1737/8, and 1790-The three Meeting houses built in 1646, 1680, and 1715-Present Newman Congregational Church built in 1810-The 1712/13 organization of the Proprietors of Rehoboth Common and Undivided Lands.
CHAPTER III-THE 1795 MAP 51
The earliest known map of the Town of Rehoboth-The disputed boundary line in the northwest corner of Re- hoboth-A study of the eastern boundary line of Rhode Island-The boundary line between North Providence, Rhode Island, and Rehoboth, Massachusetts-Other features of the map.
CHAPTER IV-THE VILLAGE OF PAWTUCKET 69
The Pawtucket Falls Settlement-Samuel Slater-The first water-power cotton spinning in the United States was successfully established at Pawtucket Falls, North Provi- dence, Rhode Island, in 1790 by Samuel Slater-The first successful cotton mill in the United States built by Slater in the village of Pawtucket, Town of Rehoboth, Massa- chusetts, in 1793.
CHAPTER V-REHOBOTH TAX LISTS 87 Three complete lists of the Polls and Ratable Estates of the Town of Rehoboth as taken by the assessors on 5 Nov. 1759, 28 Oct. 1765, and 28 Nov. 1769.
CHAPTER VI-REHOBOTH CENSUSES 113
The first Massachusetts Census (Summary only), 1765- The first United States Census, 1790-The second United States Census, 1800.
CHAPTER VII-THE FEDERAL DIRECT TAX OF 1798 143 Two general lists of all Dwelling Houses and out-houses owned, possessed, or occupied in Rehoboth on 1 Oct. 1798.
INDEX .
vii
. 173
-
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Plate Page
I. Silhouette of Moses Brown, Providence merchant, made about 1835 . Frontispiece
II. The 1790 Map of the Ring of the Green showing the high- ways, Meeting House, Cemetery, Training Field, etc. 22
III. A section of the 1944 U. S. Geographical Map showing the old Ring of the Green 23 IV. A 1949 plan showing the locations of the various meeting houses and additions to the old cemetery . 39
V. A 1795 folding map of the Town of Rehoboth . facing
50
VI. A section of the 1741 Boundary Commissioners' Map showing the area around Pawtucket Falls . .
61
VII. A 1949 map of a section of Pawtucket, R. I., showing the 1663 Rhode Island charter line due north from the Pawtucket Falls 65
VIII. The northeast corner section of the 1795 Harris Map of the State of Rhode Island . facing 66
IX. A 1790 Map of the Town of Providence . facing 68
X. The wooden bridge over the Pawtucket River at the Falls as it appeared about 1799 71
XI. A map of the Town of Pawtucket, Massachusetts, sur- veyed by L. M. E. Stone, Engineer, by order of the Town July 1848 75
XII. The old Slater Mill built in 1793. From a picture pub- lished in 1881 83
XIII. An 1828 folding map of the Town of Pawtucket, Mass., from a survey made when the area was a part of Rehoboth . facing 84
XIV. Facsimile of the Bristol County part of the 1765 Massa- chusetts Census 116
XV. Facsimile of the first Plymouth Colony Seal, reproduced from the title page of the General Laws of New- Plimouth, printed in 1685. Courtesy of the Harvard Law School Library i
viii
PREFACE
This volume of Early Rehoboth is the fourth of several, the ma- terial for which is drawn largely from the manuscript of the writer's Documentary History of Rehoboth which he has in preparation. These volumes are intended to supplement the latter, for within its limits it would be impossible to give the various subjects the ex- tended study accorded them in this series. These studies are based on a collection of material found in more than thirty-five hundred pages of original records transcribed by the writer over a period of many years.
Chapter I deals with the early surveys and maps; the system of land divisions, and the various settlements of William Blaxton, 1634; Roger Williams, 1635/6; the Charlestown men, 1638; and the Samuel Newman settlement, 1643. The early surveyors are noted.
The next chapter is a study of the newly found, and here first published, 1790 map of the "Ring of the Green", with especial at- tention to the Highways, Great Gates, Training Field, Ministerial Land, Schoolhouse Lot, Meeting Houses, and an extended study of the first Burying Place and its three additions of 1680, 1737/8, and 1790. The study of the three meeting houses built in 1646, 1680, and 1715 is of especial importance as the existence of the second meeting house has escaped the attention of previous writers. The 1712/13 organization of the Proprietors of Common and Undivided lands of Rehoboth is unique, for in other townships the proprietors' records started with the founding of the town and not sixty-nine years later.
Chapter III is devoted principally to a study of the northwestern boundary line of Rehoboth as shown on the heretofore unpublished Rehoboth map of 1795. The northwestern corner of this map shows the small tract of land and section of the Blackstone River taken from Rhode Island and added to Massachusetts by Royal decree in the boundary settlement of 1746.
On this long strip of Rehoboth land, held by Rhode Island, Sam- uel Slater built the first successful water-power cotton mill in the United States. Several other mills and factories were on this Rehoboth land which did not become a part of Rhode Island until the boundary line adjustment of 1847.
The next chapter gives a brief account of the village of Pawtucket, town of Rehoboth, and the building by Samuel Slater in that town of the first successful cotton mill in the United States, in 1793. The first successful water-power spinning of cotton yarn in the United States was put into operation at Pawtucket Falls, North Provi- dence, Rhode Island, by Slater in 1791.
Chapter V contains the complete tax lists of Polls and Ratable
ix
X
Preface
Estates in the town of Rehoboth for the years 1759, 1765, and 1769. These tax lists, heretofore unpublished, are of particular value as they record the beginning, middle, and end of an eleven-year period.
The following chapter presents three Rehoboth censuses-the first Massachusetts census (summary only), 1765; the first United States census, 1790; and the second United States census, 1800, here published for the first time. The final and concluding Chapter VII deals with the Federal Direct Tax of 1798 and gives two general lists of all dwelling houses and out-houses owned, possessed, or occu- pied in Rehoboth on 1 Oct. 1798. These lists, here first published, are unique in that they give the name of the owner and tenant of each house.
This volume contains more Rehoboth names than have before been assembled in one publication and under one index. It is virtu- ally a gold mine in names for the genealogist working on Rehoboth families in the period of the last half of the eighteenth century. Chapters V, VI, and VII contain three complete tax lists in the third quarter, and two census lists and an owner and tenant house list in the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century. In addition to these lists, Chapter II has a 1678 list of 40 men who worked on the second Rehoboth meeting house; a 1715 list of 122 who contributed to building the third meeting house, and a 1792 list of 159 members of the two Rehoboth Congregational churches. The three lists total some 321 inhabitants.
Fully documented, this volume is intended as a source book, not only for genealogists and students of Rehoboth history, but also for students of Bristol County, Plymouth Colony, Rhode Island Colony, Town of Providence, and southern New England history in general. The writer has taken great care in its preparation, but with the thou- sands of names and dates involved it is too much to expect that no errors will be found.
In a reference work of this kind, an accurate name index is of para- mount importance. Containing some 2,445 different names, the index has been checked twice and no effort has been spared to make it as accurate as possible. The writer is indebted to Miss Olive B. Weavill for its preparation.
RICHARD LEBARON BOWEN
Rehoboth, Massachusetts,
20 October 1949
CHAPTER I
EARLY SURVEYS AND MAPS
In reconstructing the seventeenth-century history of any New England town, the recovery and study of its early maps and plats are of paramount importance. Usually neglected, these are, never- theless, prime sources and often contain data found in no written record. The early land surveyor was an important official and re- corded on his plats much detailed information not entered in the records by the town clerk.
It was no easy matter for a group of men to leave an established settlement, strike out into the wilderness and lay out a new town. These new township grants frequently contained more than 60,000 acres of land, and the division and allotment of this acreage among a few settlers called for an almost endless job of surveying.
Before a settlement could be made, it was first necessary to have a map of some kind showing the relative location of rivers, streams, woodland, fresh and salt meadows, plains, etc. This preliminary map was usually a rough survey, probably in most cases made by simply "perambulating" the bounds of the grant and "cruising" the interior. It was only from such a preliminary survey that the best location could be selected for the permanent main village and settlement.
With the village location determined, the successive divisions of the township usually followed what had come to be a generally standardized pattern. The first division was for home lots, which were usually platted around a central common and assigned to settlers by lot. The new township was then ready to function. Each settler now had a home lot with more land than he could im- mediately break up and cultivate. On this home lot he built his house, planted corn, peas, and other vegetables necessary for the subsistence of himself and family.
In those days of sole dependence on fireplaces for cooking and heat, an abundant supply of cord-wood was necessary, and to supply this need the second division in Seekonk was of woodlands.
The settler's next pressing problem was to obtain a quick supply of grass and hay for his cattle. There was an abundance of wild grass, so that it would seem probable that the third division in Seekonk was of fresh meadow lands, probably followed by a fourth division of salt marsh. These first four divisions were followed by numerous divisions of other lands, each of which called for a survey to be plotted on paper and divided into a number of lots, equal to the total number of proprietors, each lot to be staked out on the ground so that it could be identified. These various parcels were all numbered and drawn by lot.
1
2
Early Rehoboth
Before taking up the study of early Rehoboth maps, it is neces- sary to have in mind a clear picture of all the English settlements in that territory which comprised the Indian Sachem Ousamequin's Indian villages of Seekonk, Watchemoket, and Pawtucket before the Newman Seekonk settlement of 1643, re-named Rehoboth in 1645. We must also know about the early Seekonk land divisions.
The first white settler within the limits of old Rehoboth was William Blaxton, miscalled "Blackstone", a non-conformist minis- ter of the Episcopal Church in England, who was settled on the tri- mountain peninsula of Shawmut, later known as Boston, at the time the Winthrop fleet arrived in 1630. In November 1634, Blaxton sold his land in Boston and the following spring moved south into the Plymouth Patent, locating on the east bank of the river, later called Blackstone River, at a place about one and a half miles northwest of the subsequent boundary line of Seekonk, in the territory that was later known as the "Rehoboth North Purchase", part of which is now the town of Cumberland, Rhode Island. Blaxton's was an individual and not a group settlement.
The first group settlement was made by Roger Williams, who fled from Salem in 1635/6 and located on the east bank of the Seekonk Cove, on the east shore of the Pawtucket (now Seekonk) River, some four miles south of William Blaxton. On being notified by the Plymouth Court that he was within their patent, Roger Williams moved across the river and founded the town of Providence in 1636.
The second group settlement was made about 1638 when a party of Charlestown men from Massachusetts made an unsuccessful attempt to found a new township * in Seekonk near the spot where Roger Williams first settled. Although he knew that this Seekonk territory was in the Plymouth Patent, nevertheless Roger Williams aided and abetted the second settlement, as will be seen by his letter written from Providence, 10 Nov. 1637, to Governor Winthrop in which he stated his hope that the settlement would be made "Either by countenance or connivance" [Narr. Club Publications, vol. VI, p. 81]. See Early Rehoboth, vol. II, page 34.
This second Seekonk settlement had broken up in 1640, for in that year we find Edward Cope, then of Providence, selling his house and land in Seekonk. A few of the settlers remained, however, and these were later absorbed in the 1643 Newman settlement.
In the spring of 1643 the Newman settlement moved into Seekonk from Massachusetts. The Charlestown men who settled at Seekonk about 1638 appear to have purchased the Indian village of Seekonk, "Eight miles square", from the Indian Sachem Ousamequin. The proprietors of the Newman settlement of 1643 must have acquired title to the Seekonk lands from the Charlestown men, but just how, and when, is not known. The earliest record of a deed is on 1 June 1668 when King Philip, Ousamequin's son and heir, gave a quitclaim deed of the land "Osamequin, Sachem, deceased, did for good and valueable consideration in the year Sixteen Hundred and forty and
* A complete account of this settlement will be found in the author's Documentary History of Rehoboth, vol. I, now in preparation.
3
Early Surveys and Maps
one, grant, convey ... unto Mr. John Brown and Mr. Edward Winslow, deceased, a tract of land of Eight miles square, scituate, lying and being both on the east and west sides of the river now called Palmer's river ... to the townsmen of Seacunck alias Rehoboth ... unto Mr. Stephen Paine, the elder, Peter Hunt, John Allen, Henry Smith, and others, the select men of the town of Rehoboth ".
This 1641 deed mentioned is clearly a later deed than the one the Charlestown men had in 1639. The Pokanoket sachem, Ousame- quin, thought nothing of selling the same tract of land more than once, as will be seen by the records.
At a meeting of the Seekonk planters, held early in 1643, the exact date unknown, the size of home lots and the method of evaluating estates were determined as follows:
"It was agreed upon yt the Inhabytantes of [Seekonk] [ ]
"Imps for house lottes to be of these sorttes, the on to be twelve apeece [an- other] to be eight akers apeece, the other sort six acres appeece.
"2. That there shall be nine men chosen to order the setling pruden[cial] afairs of the plantation who shall have power to dispose of the [estates] 12:8 or 6 acres as in their dischression they think the quality [of] estate of the persons doe requier.
"3. That all the other lottes be divided according to person and estate.
"4. That all manes pper goods or lands in this country regarde to [ shall be counted estate in divisions of lands.
"5. That one person is to be valued at twelve pound ssterling [in division] of lands.
"6. That no man is to sell his Improvement but to such a on as [the nine men] shall approve of.
"7. The meeting house shall stand in the middle of the town". [Rehoboth Town Meetings, Book I, p. 31.]
The first division was clearly that of home lots. No original list for this drawing appears in the Rehoboth records, but from later land records we are able to determine, with a few exceptions, the size and location of those home lots. This home lot division totaled something over 503 acres. The lots were ideally located, the front ends butting on the "Ring of the Green", or common, with an ample supply of river or brook water at the rear ends of practically all lots. See map, Early Rehoboth, vol. II, page 7.
The second division was of "Woodland between the plane and town", totaling more than 1313 acres. The list for this division, found in the original Rehoboth records, shows that fifty-eight pro- prietors drew numbered lots. The town meeting record at which these lots were drawn reads:
"At a town meeting 31 [?5]th 1643 -- Lots were drawn for the division of the woodland lots between the plaine and the towne and agreed upon that every man shall have [blank] acres to every £100 estate as followeth " [Reho- both Town Meetings, Book I, p. 25].
The year date of this record is now torn off. Bliss in his History of Rehoboth (1836), page 27, read the date as "31st day of the 4th mo. [June] 1644". As there are only thirty days in June, the month part of this date is clearly wrong. The month is represented by a figure which has faded out and to the naked eye looks like a blank space.
4
Early Rehoboth
Under a magnifying glass, however, this figure appears to be "5", representing July, which has thirty-one days. Bliss was clearly in error in reading this date.
In 1730, one hundred and six years before Bliss saw the original second division record, it was copied * into the Proprietors' Meetings book, page 4, as "31 of the [ ] mo. 1643". This entry in the Proprietors' book is followed by the "First Division in the Neck, 10 5 mo. [July] 1644", page 5, and "Draft of the Plaine Lots, 9 4 mo. [June] 1645", page 6.
While not called the second division in this 1643 town meeting record, there are numerous later records in which it is so called. This is the first known instance in which a unit of measure was applied, although, unfortunately, the number of acres per £100 estate was left blank. This blank amount of land would seem to be 111/2 acres, as appears so clearly in the £50 estates of the Schoolmaster, Samuel Butterworth, Edward Patterson, James Brown, John Mathews, Isaac Martin, James Walker, George Kendrick, Zachery Rhodes, and Widow Walker, each of which estates consisted of 534 acres.
The £50 Estate
1st Division Home lot, 6 acres 44% 43
2nd Wood lot, 534 -
3rd
Fresh Meadow,
4 4
4th Salt Meadow, 11/4
a
1312 acres 100%
The allotments in the fresh and salt meadow divisions were on a different basis from all other divisions and appear to have been about an acre of fresh meadow and about 212 acres of salt meadow to each £100 estate. The allotments in subsequent upland divisions seem to have been in the proportion of about 1112 acres to each £100 estate.
The division for fresh meadow, probably the third, required con- siderable searching out and subsequent surveying, for the lands were located in at least eight widely separated tracts as will be seen from the different meadows referred to in the records of this division, which were: "horse meade, bushie meade, great meade, east and west meade, 40 acre meade, near great plaine, rose meade, bushie and 40 acre meade, Seaconke river at neck, and Seaconke river, neck side".
No original list of this fresh meadow division is found in the Rehoboth records. From the various extant land records, however, we are able to compile a list which shows that actually fifty-nine proprietors drew a total of 157 acres, averaging 223 acres per pro- prietor. These records list the numbers of twenty-three of the fifty-nine lots, which is positive proof that the division was made in the regular way and that the individual tracts were each drawn by lot. It is difficult to tell from this compiled list the exact amount
* At a town meeting held 18 May 1730, it was voted "that those votes and acts of the town as a propriety and also those votes of the propriety Distinkt from the town with all other matters con- tained in Sd Book Respecting Lands Shall be Transcribed out of Sd Book into a Book to be Kept for ye use of Sd propriety" [Rehoboth Town Meetings, Book II, p. 252]. See post, p. 16.
5
Early Surveys and Maps
of land originally drawn by each proprietor. For instance, the later land records show that Samuel Newman was the owner of 3014 acres and 14 rods of meadow in the "East and West meade", which acreage undoubtedly included much meadow later acquired. Richard Wright, the richest man in the town, had 8 acres and 20 rods in the "horse meade", and Mr. Joseph Peck, another rich man, had 512 acres and 14 rods in "bushie meade", both of which probably repre- sent the original drawing, as do the holdings of thirteen proprietors who each had 12 acre and some few rods.
The division for salt marsh was probably the fourth. Here again the lands for this division called for considerable searching out and subsequent surveying. The principal tract was the "100 acres", so-called, located six miles to the southwest of the "Ring of the Green", beyond the bounds of the Seekonk township in what was later Swansea, now the town of Barrington, Rhode Island. Other marsh lands mentioned in this division were on the "neck side of the River" and at the "small island" in the Cove.
No list of this salt marsh division is found in the original Rehoboth records, but the extant land records show that fifty-nine proprietors drew a total of 291 acres averaging 5 acres each. Of this total, 13334 acres were in the "100 acre" tract. The location of the marsh lots of sixteen of the proprietors is not given. This division was evi- dently made by drawing lots in the usual manner, for lot numbers are given in most cases. Stephen Paine had 21 acres on the "neck side of the river"; Richard Wright, 2034 acres in the "100 acres"; Mr. Peck, 17 acres 10 rods in the "100 acres"; John Brown, 17 acres unspecified; and William Cheesebrough, 1114 acres, lot No. 52, in the "100 acres". Six other proprietors, holding £50 estates, had the regular proportion of 114 acres each.
The problem of preliminary surveying involved in the establish- ment of the township of Seekonk (Rehoboth) was not as complicated as was that of the average new settlement made in a strange wilder- ness, for this Seekonk territory had been quite generally known for a period of eight years before the Newman settlement of 1643. Dur- ing all these years, the overland route from Boston and other Massa- chusetts towns to Providence, Island of Rhode Island, Narragansett Country, Connecticut, and to the Dutch at New Netherland, was through Seekonk. As early as 1638, Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson, banished from Massachusetts, came overland through Seekonk with her party to join the new settlement at Rhode Island.
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.