USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Historical sketch of the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1622-1884 > Part 1
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SKETCH OF WEYMOUTH.
-
[No. 2.]
WEYMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE
TOWN OF WEYMOUTH,
MASSACHUSETTS,
FROM 1622 TO 1884.
COMPILED BY
GILBERT NASH,
RECORDING SECRETARY OF THE WEYMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY, MEMBER OF THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC, GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE WEBSTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN OF WEYMOUTH, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE WEYMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 1885. -
ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 24 FRANKLIN STREET , BOSTON.
1408244
PREFACE.
BY the courtesy of Gilbert Nash, Esq., the author of this Sketch of Weymouth, I have been permitted to examine the advanee sheets of the book. Finding that his labors have been so eonseientiously and faithfully executed, it gives me great pleasure to aceede to his request to write a few prefatory words.
The town of Weymouth has a remarkable history, and may well be congratulated on having an historian so familiar with the details of its early life and so competent to record them. It was the first settlement made within what afterward beeame the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, and this very antiquity gives an additional interest to its annals. The obscurity surrounding its origin tends to invest the story with a romanee which only inereases the zeal of the antiquary. It has attracted the atten- tion of the novelist, and in modern times has prompted the most eritieal researelies of the seholar. Under these eireum- stanees the appearance of this work makes an important aeces- sion to the literature of our local history.
Within a few years the study of the origin and nature of New England towns, with a special reference to their politieal methods and their management of praetieal questions, has re- eeived a fresh impulse, which opens a wide field for investiga- tion. There are now but few plaecs in the State that have not their history either in book or pamphlet ; and it is to such publications that writers on this subject must look hereafter for their authorities. The New England town system is of native growth, and has sprung from the needs of the people. This system took root in the soil of Plymouth, and afterward in that of Massachusetts Bay, though its development has been modified from time to time by the varying eireumstanees of dif- ferent communities. Some features were inherited from the
vi
PREFACE.
parishes of England, and perhaps even from earlier sources ; but the essential characteristics, such as levying taxes, settling the minister, supporting frce schools, laying out highways, and attending to the prudential affairs of the town, were decidedly New England in their origin. Nowhere else were these subjects managed with such freedom and without restraint from any quarter. In other words, the small settlements springing up under this system were little republics, and they have since fur- nished the germ of our State and national governments. In- separably connected with their existence was the town meeting, where the utterance of popular wants took shape, -where the abstract idea in politics assumed a concrete form and went abroad as the will of the people.
The town meeting is the unit of political expression, and the value of the aggregate depends upon the extent of personal con- viction. The instincts of the masses coming together to act on questions of public policy are always honest, and herc the pop- ular heart is best studied. The rulers of the nation, who are but the servants of the people, appreciate this fact, and are ever ready to feel the impulse, so delicate and sensitive is the con- nection between the power and its source.
Local histories deal largely with these matters, and some- times the humblest narratives throw the clearest light; and writers of philosophical history, which treats of causes as well as of results, cannot afford to overlook them in their investiga- tions. Such works hereafter will be a great help to the author and scholar.
The Weymouth Historical Society, under whose patronage this Sketch is now published, is an association formed for the purpose of preserving the history of its neighborhood, and has already printed one other volume. By its labors the Soci- ety has placed itself abreast of the active organizations of its kind, and set an excellent example to be followed in the scv- eral towns of the Commonwealth.
In conclusion, I wish to call attention to the full and com- pletc Index of the book, which adds largely to its value.
SAMUEL A. GREEN.
BOSTON, January 20, 1885.
CONTENTS.
PREFACE (by Dr. Samuel A. Green) V
INTRODUCTION .
1
CHAPTER I.
Geography - Geology - General History - Weston's Colony - Gorges's Settlement -Hull's Company-Eeelesiastieal Troubles - Pequod War - Emigration -Town Government . 13
CHAPTER II.
King Philip War - Company of Horse - Town Affairs - Sir Edmund Andros - Military Company - Canadian Expedition - Local Matters -Town Boundaries - New Preeinet - Dr. White - Town Regulations - Parsonage Property - Pigwac- ket Indians -Town Commons - Throat Distemper - French and Indian War- French Neutrals - Dr. Tufts - Highways - South .Precinct
36
CHAPTER III.
Revolutionary War - Arbitrary Measures of the Crown - Agents chosen to meet in Boston - Committees of Correspondence - No more Tea - Energetie Action - Record of Votes on the Resolutions of Congress -Refusal to pay Taxes to the Royal Treasury - Town Committee of Correspondenee - Minute- men - Preparations for War -Raising Troops - Declaration of Independence - Bounties - State Convention - State Con- stitution - Procuring Men and Provisions - Soldiers to Hull .
CHAPTER IV.
Recovering from the Effects of the War - Work-house - Local Matters - Small-pox - Norfolk County - Attempt to divide the Town - Business Enterprises - Post-office - War with
55
viii
CONTENTS.
England - Alarm at Cohasset-Town Lines - Manufactur- ing Companies discouraged - Surplus Revenue - Anti-sla- very Resolutions - Town Records -Town Hall - War of the Rebellion - Opening Scenes - Twelfth Regiment - Raising Troops - Military Records - Counties - Thirty-fifth Regi- ment - Town Bonds and Seal - Forty-second Regiment - Contributions - Difficulties - Fourth Heavy Artillery - Final Attempt to divide the Town - Soldiers' Monument - Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary - Water Question - Fire Department - Growth of the Town .
72
CHAPTER V.
Ecclesiastical History - Congregational Churches: First Church . 95
CHAPTER VI.
Congregational Churches (continued): Second Church, Union Church of Weymouth and Braintree, Union Church of South Weymouth, Congregational Church at East Weymouth, Pil- grim Church - Methodist Episcopal: Church at East Wey- month, Church at Lovell's Corner - Universalist: First Church, Second Church, Third Church - Baptist: First Church - Roman Catholic: Parish of St. Francis Xavier, Parish of the Immaculate Conception, Parish of the Sacred Heart, Parish of St. Jerome - Protestant Episcopal: Trinity Parish .
CHAPTER VII.
Educational Institutions: Public Schools - Weymouth and Brain- tree Academy - Newspapers - Weymouth Historical Society - Social Libraries - Mutual Library Associations - Tufts Library
108
CHAPTER VIII.
Military Organizations: Early Companies, Company for the Castle, Weymouth Light Horse, Weymouth Artillery, Weymouth Light Infautry, Franklin Guards, Grand Army of the Repub- lic, Lincoln Post, No. 40, Reynolds Post, 58-Societies and Associations: Masonic: Orphans' Hope Lodge, Delta Lodge, South Shore Commandery, Pentalpa Royal Arch Chapter - Odd Fellows : Crescent Lodge, Wildey Lodge, Wompatuck Encampment - Knights of Pythias : Delphi Lodge - Knights of Honor : Pilgrim Lodge - Weymouth Agricultural and Industrial Society - Other Organizations . . 137
125
ix
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IX.
Business Enterprises - Mills : The Waltham-Richards-Bates Mill, Tide Mill, Tirrell's Mill, Recd's Mill, Loud's Mill, Vinson's Mill, Dyer's Mill -Turnpikes : Weymouth and Braintree, New Bedford, Hingham and Quincy -- Railroads : Old Colony, South Shore - Expresses -Telegraph - Telephones - Finan- cial Corporations - Banks : Union National, National of South Weymouth -Savings Banks : Weymouth, South Wey- mouth, and East Weymouth - Weymouth and Braintree Fire Insurance Company - Manufactures : Boots and Shoes - Weymouth Iron Company - Fish Company - Weymouth Commercial Company - Ice Companies - Bradley Fertilizer Company - Ship Building - Bay State Hammock Company - Howe and French - Fire-works - Mitten Factory -- Miscel- laneous
143
CHAPTER X.
Ministers of the First Church : William Morrell, Mr. Barnard, Joseph Hull, Thomas Jenner, Robert Lenthal, Samuel New- man, Thomas Thacher, Samuel Torrey, Peter Thacher, Thomas Paine, William Smith, Jacob Norton, Josiah Bent, Jr., John C. Phillips, Joshua Emery, Jr., Franklin P. Chapin; and of tlic Second Church : James Bayley, Simeon Williams .
. 157
CHAPTER XI.
Physicians of Weymouth .
.
180
CHAPTER XII.
Military Record, 1861-1865
. 214
APPENDI ES.
APPENDIX A.
List of the Hull Company
.
247
APPENDIX B.
Indian Deed of Weymouth
251
APPENDIX C.
Property Owners and Description of Property in 1643 : First Divis- ion, 1636; Second Division, 1651 ; List of 1663 · 254
X
CONTENTS.
APPENDIX D. Personal Sketches: Major James Humphrey, Gen. Solomon Lovell, Dea. Nathaniel Bayley, James Humphrey, 3d, Esq., Gen. James L. Bates
285
APPENDIX E.
Instructious to James Humphrey, Esq., 1765 .
·
.
296
APPENDIX F.
List of Soldiers in the Revolutionary War
.
·
300
INDEX
.
.
306
INTRODUCTION.
THE larger portion of the text of the following historical sketch of the town of Weymouth, Mass., was originally pub- lished in the "History of Norfolk County, Mass.," recently issued by Messrs. J. W. Lewis & Co., from the press of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, and was intended merely to answer the needs of such a publication. The volume being a large one, and the price heavy, the circulation, even in the town, has been extremely limited, and comparatively few of its inhabitants know that such a work has been placed before the public, so that the wants of the people for more knowledge of their own local history have not been met, even to the limited extent covered by this sketch.
The committee of the town, to which was referred the mat- ter of collecting materials for a town history, finding the work growing upon its hands, with no probability of accomplishing the purpose of its creation for a considerable time, and know- ing that the call for some result of its labor is becoming more and more urgent, has decided to republish the sketch in a form for convenient circulation among the people at a moderate ex- pense, with the addition of much original matter, including full notes upon important points where the brevity of the original text requires it, and also a full index, an addition imperatively demanded by the readers of the present day, especially in works of this character.
In thus answering temporarily the public want in this direc- tion, while the more complete and thorough history of the town awaits its accomplishment, the committee believes it has acted for the best interests of the town, and in accordance with the
2
SKETCH OF WEYMOUTHI.
opinions of the best historical scholars who are familiar with such matters and whose advice has been taken.
In the experience of the past, the attempt to prepare and publish at a first draft even a local history has not resulted suc- cessfully, and it has been found necessary in a short time to go over the ground again for the correction of crrors and to incor- porate the results of more thorough research ; and it has been found a much more judicious plan to publish first a preliminary work, covering briefly the ground, in order to draw out criti- cism and new material, of which there is much in every com- munity of which no one but the possessors knows anything, and oftentimes of which even they are ignorant, and also for the correction of errors, of which the most carefully prepared work will contain many.
It is with such ideas that the committee has decided to place this sketch before the public : first, to present in brief the in- formation already in its hands ; and second, to inspire an enthu- siasm upon the subject which shall induce more thorough search for the hidden material now beyond its reach, yet so necessary to the committee in the prosecution of its work to a successful result ; and by this is meant the production of such a history of the town as shall be satisfactory to its inhabitants, and answer the requirements of the students of history who have so long demanded it.
It must, therefore, be constantly borne in mind that this is but an incomplete, preliminary work and not a full, elaborate history ; and if many things are missing, or stated with too great brevity, it is from the nature of the work, and consequently, too much should not be expected. It should also be remembered that this is put forward with the design to enlist the aid of all who have an interest in the town's good name in doing what they can to enable the committee to complete its purpose.
The town of Weymouth is, next to Plymouth, the oldest English settlement in Massachusetts. It has a rich and, in some respects, a unique history, interesting alike to its own people and to the scholars of the country, and the want of its record has been long felt and deplored. Its carly settlers were numerous, men of character and enterprise, while its emigrants soon found their way into other sections, where their descendants
3
INTRODUCTION.
are now found in large numbers scattered from the shores of the Atlantic to the Pacifie, and from the English Provinces on the north to the Mexican Gulf on the south.
From these multitudes and the friends they have acquired, there comes a constant appeal for a history of the mother town, an earnest desire for some knowledge more than they now pos- sess of the original home of their ancestors in this land. Not only from these, but from the seholars who are making the his- tory of our country their study, comes the continual inquiry for this same information, and it was for the purpose of supply- ing this demand that this committee was formed, and it is with this end in view that an appeal is made for assistance in prosecuting the work.
In collecting materials and writing a history of this town, besides the difficulties that are usually met in such an undertak- ing, there are others of a peculiar character, not found, proba- bly, in any other locality, very hard to overcome or solve, which require the utmost paticnee and perseverance with the nicest discrimination and judgment in their treatment.
It is highly probable that, previous to 1620, there were tem- porary camps upon the territory now Weymouth, forined by the fishermen and traders who visited the New England coast to carry on with better facilities their traffic with the natives. Here seems to have been an important rendezvous for the Indians, and there are traees now remaining of several of their settlements upon the shores of the bay. Here, also, eentre the old Indian trails leading from the territories at the south, now covered by Plymouth, Bristol, and Norfolk Counties. It was a point easily accessible by sea and land, and thus of great value for this purpose.
It was not, however, until the settlement at Plymouth was begun that any attempt at actual occupation was made and real possession taken. That enterprise, so feeble and of so little promise, crystallized into practical purpose the thought that per- haps had lain undeveloped in the minds of many ; and Thomas Weston, a well-known and prominent merchant of London, who had been the agent of the Pilgrims in their negotiations with the Plymouth Company, and who, on account of some trouble with his associates in the business, had broken off his connection
4
SKETCH OF WEYMOUTH.
.
with them, undertook the establishment of a colony upon his own account which should, in a better location, combine all the ad- vantages of the Plymouth Colony without its drawbacks. That company were flying from the persecutions of the powers in authority at home, and thus without any governmental support, which could not fail of being a serious hindrance. They were without strong financial backing, - a most important factor in the movement and one of great necessity. They brought with them their families, which could hardly fail to become a source of much inconvenience, to say the least, in the carly stages of a commercial adventure.
These evils the new company of Mr. Weston were entirely to avoid ; they were to be a trading community pure and sim- ple, intent only upon developing the natural resources of the new country and of putting money into their own treasury. The favor of the government could be secured beyond doubt by the promise of a share in the profits ; capital would flow in readily at the flattering pictures drawn by the adventurers, and the company who were to occupy the post and transact the business were such as could be obtained from the surplus population of London, men used to peril and hardship and familiar with the coast ; and, also, an important consideration, without the incum- brance of families. What if they were without trades, with- out any special training for the particular business in hand, and even destitute of the high principle and purpose that animated their Pilgrim neighbors? So much the better for the practical business before them.
In the light of subsequent history it is very easy to see that snch an enterprise, conceived in such a spirit, composed of such materials, and carried on in such a manner, could have but one result, and that, failure. It is, therefore, no surprise, when the record tells the sad story of the few months of hardship, suffering, and death, and of total failure in every respect. But even this was not without benefit to coming and permanent settlers who were very soon to occupy the same ground. The benefit of the location was assured, the character of the soil and its capabilities better known, and its general advantages of position and convenience placed beyond question.
The failure of Weston's colony in 1622 and 1623 opened
5
INTRODUCTION.
the way for another and more permanent possession. Capt. Robert Gorges, himself also an adventurer, the son of Sir Fernando Gorges, possessor of a patent, covering, by an elastic rendering of its terms, the territory about the bay now known as Boston Harbor, recognizing the advantages of its position, and believing, also, in the certain success of a trading colony, prepared an expedition having the same end in view and upon very nearly the same basis, but with these exceptions; the men composing it, although from the same region of country, were of a much higher grade and with families, thus affording foundation for permanence. It had also a religious element which the previous company lacked. It brought a chaplain, backed by the authority of the Church of England, clothed with power sufficient to cover any emergency that would be likely to arise. This company had also a promise of official support and financial encouragement sufficient to insure its success under ordinary circumstances. It had also among its members men of standing and education. With these elements of prosperity, its prospects were quite flattering ; and when, in the summer and early autumn of 1623, the company took up its residence upon or near the recently deserted site of Weston's settlement, the outlook was a bright one. The loca- tion was excellent, the soil amply sufficient for the wants to which they intended to put it, the prospects for trade encour- aging, and no enemies in the vicinity who were to be feared.
There was, however, one serious lack, and that was of im- portance enough to weaken the political structure and to cause in a short time its practical dissolution. It was simply a trad- ing colony, and all the elements composing it were intended but to promote the acquisition of wealth to its proprietors; the real basis of a permanent colony was lacking. There was no common bond, save that of money, to bind its members to- gether ; and when the hardships of a New England winter came upon them, and the profits of the enterprise did not flow in to realize their anticipations, there was nothing to sustain their courage, which soon gave way, and they were scattered, and Wessaguscus remained almost as before.
The almost consisted in this : a few of the more resolute, and possibly desperate, remained behind, retaining possession of the
6
SKETCH OF WEYMOUTH.
ground and sueh remnants of political and religious or ecclesi- astical power as had survived the wreck. These were added to from year to year by the slow process of emigration, the tide of which was just beginning to set its feeble course towards these shores, but which was destined so to increase that in pro- eess of the next twenty years it was numbered by many thou- sands. It was some ten or a dozen years before the settlement became a power in the colony of sufficient consequence to at- traet the notice and authority of its neighbors in Plymouth and Boston, and then it had beeome so strong as to be difficult to manage.
It was then that the development began of one of the prin- eipal sources of trouble the historian finds in searching for the origin of the town's history, -the lack of materials and the rea- son of their non-appearance. The Weston Colony was wholly transient, needing no records and leaving none. The Gorges Company was attempted in the interests of the government and the church ; but its internal and local troubles were such as to forbid any regular and systematie record of its proceedings. It was naturally inimical to Plymouth, because the former was the offspring of official patronage, while the latter was born and grew in spite of it. Hence the people of that town made as little account of its only neighbor as was possible, and as little notice of its matters crept into their records and correspond- enee.
Later on, the additions were of a mixed class, non-eon- formists predominating, but neither party of sufficient power to wholly override the other. As a natural consequence, nothing of a disputed eharaeter would beeome a matter of record, and matters passed on without formal notice. When the Massa- chusetts Bay Colony eame into power with the advent of Gov. Winthrop, in 1630, and a weight of governmental authority sufficient to subdue all publie opposition, a new element was introdueed into the little settlement of Wessaguscus, the legal authority contending with the old spirit of resistance based upon the original grant to the Gorges Company upon which the settlement was founded.
The pressing necessities of the colonists incident upon a new settlement prevented open contention ; but the spirit of oppo-
7
INTRODUCTION.
sition was there, and showed itself as opportunity offered. This state of things continued for several years, and it was not until a seore had passed that the mixed company became fairly united and settled down into comparative peace. The original element long resisted, to the best of its ability, the growing power of the government, and hesitated to acknowledge its supremaey, hence the tardiness of many of its settlers to become freemen of the colony.
The large addition made to the settlement in 1635, by the company of Rev. Joseph Hull, and the rapid influx of other new members in the few years immediately succeeding, who were not mixed up with the previous, unsettled condition of things, instead of serving to allay the troubles, seemed but to introduee, for a time at least, new elements of diseord which rose at times to publie disturbanee. But the strength of the civil power had become so great that these agitations showed themselves principally in the ehureh and upon eeclesiastical matters.
The appearance of Rev. Mr. Hull, an actual minister, of Rev. Mr. Jenner, of Rev. Mr. Lenthal, in course of a year or two, and of Rev. Mr. Newman shortly after, each with a body of ad- herents strong enough to make formidable headway, and with vitality sufficient to endure for several ycars, affords ample evi- denee of the actual state of affairs. It will not be a matter of surprise that under such cireumstanees the records of the settle- ment should have been overlooked, neither party being willing that any statement besides its own should appear; henee, by taeit understanding, nothing was eommitted to writing.
The same reasons also prevailed in the Plymouth and Bay Colonies during the transition period to prevent permanent record by them. This settlement was a wedge between the two, acknowledging neither, and out of sympathy with both. Being without the bounds of the former, that eolony eould elaim no jurisdiction, and in the ease of the latter, a disputed authority rendered intereourse unpleasant. The faet also that there was in these Wessaguseus people a strong Episeopalian element, served to render them for a time rather aliens than eitizens.
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