USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Chatham > History of Chatham, Massachusetts : formerly the Constablewick or Village of Monomoit ; with maps and illustrations and numerous genealogical notes > Part 1
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NYPL RESEARCH LIBRARIES 3 3433 07954422 1
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The Eldredge Public Library, Chatham, Mass.
The Chatham Lights, Chatham, Mass.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LILLALY
A TOR. LEATX AND T DEN FOUND ATIONS.
A HISTORY OF CHATHAM Massachusetts
Formerly the Constablewick or Village of Monomoit
WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS AND NUMEROUS GENEALOGICAL NOTES
By
WILLIAM C. SMITHI.
11
HYANNIS, MASS. F. B. & F. P. Goss, PUBLISHERS 1909
THE NEW Y PK PUBLIC LIBRARY 458262
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R
1909 L
PREFACE.
The task of compiling a satisfactory local history is one requiring no little patience, industry and research, if prose- cuted under the most favorable circumstances, but it is rendered doubly difficult when, as in the case of Chatham, the loss of a considerable part of the public records usually consulted by the local historian and the brevity of those which remain, compel him to collect his facts from many scattered and not easily accessible sources. Few, if any, of the towns in the State have been more unfortunate than Chatham in respect to the preservation of historical ma- terials. Not only has it suffered in common with the other towns of Barnstable county, through the destruction by fire on October 22, 1827, of all the county records except those of the Probate Court, but it has also lost all the early parish records by the burning of the Congregationalist parsonage in 1861. The town records still remain intact, but they do not begin till thirty years after the place was settled by the white man, and then the early entries are of the briefest character. The births, marriages and deaths recorded therein before 1750 are comparatively few in number, and consequently there are doubtful points in the genealogy of nearly every Chatham family which no amount of research will ever settle and omissions which no investigator can ever hope to supply.
vi
PREFACE.
Out of the material which has been accessible to me, I have made no special attempt to produce a readable book. I have sought only to collect and present the facts without resorting to traditional or mythical anecdotes to sustain the interest of the reader. The frequent references in the foot notes will be found valuable, I hope, to students of local history and to those who may be inclined to doubt the state- ments in the text.
In order to avoid the circulation of false reports, I will state that my original purpose never contemplated bringing the history down to the present date. To do this merely requires time and patience in compiling from abundant and easily accessible materials.
I wish to express my obligations to Mr. Josiah Paine of Harwich, whose long and careful researches into Cape Cod history have made him the highest living authority upon that subject. I am also indebted to Mr. and Mrs. Osborn Nickerson, Mr. James M. Young, and Miss M. C. auce for the privilege of consulting valuable family papers, and to Hon. James W. Hawes of New York for encouragement and assistance in the collection of materials, The late Rufus Smith, Esq., also furnished me with valuable facts and papers.
The work is not free from mistakes. If it be found to be a distinet advance over anything yet attempted in the line of Chatham history, it will fulfill all the claims of its author.
January, 1909.
W. C. S.
MEMORANDA OF CHATHAM.
Indian Name, Monomoyick, or Monomoit
Named Port Fortune, October, 1606
Named Sutcliffe's Inlets, About 1618
Called by the Pilgrims Monomoit, 1621
Settled by the English,
1664
Annexed to Yarmouth,
June 7, 1665
Annexed to Eastham,
June 3, 1668
Established a Constablewick,
June 3, 1679
Boundaries Enlarged,
February 11, 1691
Part Annexed 1691 included in Harwich, . Sept. 14, 1694
Incorporated a Town, June 11, 1712
Named Chatham, .
June 11, 1712
Strong Island and vicinity Annexed, . February 7, 1797
Boundary Established, . April 14, 1862
CHAPTER I.
THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA.
THE southeasterly portion of the peninsula of Cape Cod was inhabited, long before its authentic history begins, by a small tribe of Indians, ruled by a chief or sachem of their own, living principally upon the fish so abundant in the numerous bays and inlets along their domain and upon Indian corn supplied by their squaws, and engaging occa- sionally in fierce and bloody quarrels with other tribes more or less remote. In their own language they called the terri- tory, over which they roamed, Monomoyick or Monomoit, 1 and they were accordingly styled by the English the Monomoyicks or the Monomoyick tribe.
How long before the advent of the white man they settled in this locality is not known, nor, indeed, is anything of importance known concerning their early habits and life. Not until their relations with the white man begin is the veil of darkness and uncertainty lifted. In the case of Monomoit, these relations began at an early
1. This name is spelled in so many different ways in early records and writings that it is difficult to determine its exact form. Governor Bradford, Governor Wins- low and other early authorities give the name as Manamoiak, Manamoyack, Mana- moyake, Manamoycke, Monomoylek, Manamock, Manamoylck, Mannamoyk, Mono- moyack, Manamoick, etc. Later, however, the consensus of opinion seems to have been that the final sound in the word should be nearer the sound of the letter "t" than that of "k," and we find in the Plymouth Colony Records, In many early documents, and In the writings of the clergy, the following forms of the word: Mannamolte, Mannamolett, Mannamoyett, Manemoyet, Mannomoyett, Monnamoyett. Monamolett, Monamolt, Manamoit, Monomoit, Mannamolt, Monnamolt, Mannomolett, Manamoiett, Manomoytt, Manamoyet, Monamoyet, Mannamoyt, etc. The forms Monumol, Mona. moy, Mounamoy, Monemoy, Manamoy. Manimoy, Monomoy, Mannamoy, Manemoy, Manamoye, Manomoy. etc . are corruptions of the Indian name, which were used locally and colloquially. although sometimes found In the public records. The forms. Monnamoy and Monamoy, appear in the town records.
2
HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
period, as compared with many other localities along the coast. The situation of the place, on an exposed part of the seaboard in the vicinity of dangerous shoals and currents, tended to draw the attention of the earliest navigators to it, and it has ever continued a dreaded landmark for the sailor.
Whether it was known to the Northmen, who, in their excursions from Iceland in the early part of the Middle Ages, doubtless explored some portion of the New England coast, is difficult to determine. The accounts of their voyages preserved in the ancient Icelandic Sagas, are so vague as to render any satisfactory identification of the places visited by them practically impossible. Prof. Rafn of Copenhagen has, indeed, claimed to identify these places and has asserted, among other things, that the long and sandy strands mentioned in these Sagas, which the voyagers named Furdustrandir (Wonder Strands), "for it was long to sail by them," are none other than Nauset and Monomoy beaches, which protect Cape Cod from the ocean, but his conclusions are not now regarded as sufficiently well founded to be ac- cepted as correct. 2
In the year 1498 the Cabots, John and Sebastian, Venetian adventurers under commission from the king of England, sailed along the North Atlantic coast from Lab- rador to Virginia, but as there is left to us no detailed ac- count of their exploit, it is impossible to state what points of the coast they actually visited.3 The first explorer from the East, whose presence in the vicinity of Cape Cod is es- tablished with substantial certainty, and who probably scanned the shores of Monomoit from his frail craft, was Giovanni Da Verrazano, a Florentine, who, under French auspices and with a French crew, put to sea in January,
2. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, I. 65 et seq .; Voyages of the Northmen (Prince Soc. Ed.) 50.
3. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, III. Chap. I.
3
A NEW ERA.
1524, from a place near the island of Madeira, intending to find a westward passage to the Indies. Reaching North America in latitude 34 degrees north, he proceeded up the coast, arriving at a place in latitude 41 degrees 40 minutes, which appears from his description to be Narragansett Bay, where he remained fifteen days. Thence setting out on May 5th, he sailed east and then north one hundred and fifty leagues, always keeping the land in sight, but making no stops, the wind being fair. The coast, he says, ran east- ward fifty leagnes, then turned to the north, and he saw many hills in the distance. Apparently he sailed around Cape Cod and in sight of its shores, reaching the coast of Maine, from which point he continued northward and then sailed for France. 4
There were other voyages of exploration to North America during the next seventy-five years, 5 and ancient maps indi- cate that before the end of that time the general outline of the coast was understood by Europeans. The fisheries of Newfoundland and adjacent coasts, also, early attracted European mariners to that region, and "before the opening of the seventeenth century more than three hundred English, Portugese, Spanish and French vessels went home annually, laden with the treasures of the sea, from the American coast."6 It is not unlikely, therefore, that during this period the shores of Cape Cod were more than once visited, accidentally or intentionally, but it is not until the year 1602 that we find another distinctly chronicled voyager there.
On March 26 of that year Bartholomew Gosnold, an Englishman, sailed from Fahnouth, England, with thirty-two
4. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, IV. 6 et seq. ; N. Y. Historical Society Collections, 1. 45.
5. In 1583 Stephen Bellinger of Rouen sailed to Cape Breton and thence coasted southwesterly six hundred miles, which would have taken him near Cape Cod. He "had trafique with the people In tenne or twelve places." Hlakluyt says, using the term in the sense of exploring, that he "discovered very diligently C C leagues towardes Norumbega," the latter term being used in a rough way. He, doubtless, saw Cape Cod. N. E. IlIstorical and Genealogical Register, XXXV. 52.
6. Davis, Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth, 33.
4
HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
men in a small bark, called the "Concord," bound for the region then vaguely known as North Virginia. After touch- ing at several places on the coast of Maine, he arrived on May 15 off the northern extremity of a cape, which he named Cape Cod on account of the abundance of codfish taken by him there. He landed and made a short excursion into the interior, seeing one of the natives. On the follow- ing day coasting southerly, he discovered a point with breakers in the distance, lying twelve leagnes south of the place first sighted on the preceding day.7 Attempting to double the point, he suddenly found himself in shoal water, but got away without harm. The shoals he called Tucker's Terror, on account of the fear expressed by one of the voy- agers of that name, and the point he named Point Care. It is generally agreed that these shoals are none other than those now known as Pollock Rip, and that Point Care is what is now called Monomoy Point at the southeasterly extremity of the town of Chatham. Having doubled the point, Gos- nold bore up toward the land and at night came near it, anchoring in eight fathoms of water. On the next day be- ing surrounded by many breakers stirred up, probably, by the wind, he continued at anchor. On the 18th, a boat was sent forward to sound over some distant shoals that lay in his path"around another point, which he called Gilbert's Point, and which is identified as Point Gammon at Hyannis Harbor. On this day a company of Indians, filling several canoes, came to the side of the ship. As already intimated, they had probably had some previous acquaintance with the white man, "for they came prepared to trade, bringing tobacco, "pipes steeled with copper," skins, artificial strings and other trifles to barter. What they could not get by trade they tried to steal. They wore no clothing except skins about their loins and over their shoulders. "One had 7. From Peaked Hill Bars (Provincetown) to Monomoy Polnt the distance by sea is but slightly over twelve leagues.
5
A NEW ERA.
hanging about his neck a plate of rich copper, in length a foot, in breadth half a foot, for a breastplate ; the ears of all the rest had pendants of copper. Also, one of them had his face painted over, and his head stuck with feathers in man- ner of a turkey cock's train." Gosnold found them suspicious and ready to take alarm on the slightest provocation. He did not stop to make a landing here, but after his visitors had departed, proceeded westward to an island in Buzzard's Bay, where he remained several weeks before returning to England. 8
In June of the following year, Capt. Martin Pring, another Englishman, set out from Bristol, England, and on his arrival upon the New England coast is said to have fol- lowed the route taken by Gosnold, but satisfactory details of his voyage are lacking.9 Two years later in March, 1605, Capt. George Waymouth sailed from Ratcliffe, England, and arriving on the New England coast in latitude 41 degrees 20 minutes north, became so entangled in the shoals east of Monomoit and Nantucket that he was glad to change his course to the northward and reached the coast of Maine in safety, whence he later returned to England. 10
In the autumn of the following year the white man for the first time, so far as we know, found his way into the harbor of Monomoit and set foot upon the soil of this part of the Cape. Two years before a small colony had been established by the French at the mouth of the St. Croix River, but the rigors of the first winter had persuaded them to abandon it, as soon as practicable, for a location farther south. Accordingly, in 1605 a party had been sent out and had followed the coast as far south as Nauset Harbor, 11
8. Archer's Account of Gospold's Voyage; also Brereton's Account, both in Mass Historical Collections (3rd Serles), VIII.
9. Works of John Smith (Eng. Scholars Lib. Ed. ), 336.
10. Rosier's Account, Mass. Hist. Coll. (3d Ser.), VIII, 125.
11. Between Orleans and Eastham. They remained five or six days In this harbor, making observations of the locallty and the people, who at first appeared friendly. Trouble, however, arose when the Indians seized a kettle belonging to the vessel. In
6
HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
without, however, finding any satisfactory site for the new colony. They were, therefore, compelled to pass the next winter at a place called Port Royal, near their former loca- tion, and in 1606 a more determined effort was made to find a suitable site for a permanent settlement. A party of about twenty-five men set sail from Port Royal on Septem- ber 5, 1606, in a bark of eighteen tons with this purpose in view. At its head was one Jean de Poutrincourt, the leader of the colony and the representative of its founder, Sieur de Monts. Accompanying him were Samuel de Champlain, the famous explorer,-de Champdore, Daniel Hay. (an Englishman). a son of de Poutrincourt, Robert Gravé, a surgeon, an apothecary and a trumpeter, and a company of common sailors. They also brought with them a chieftain of the St. John's River. Secondon by name, to assist them in their intercourse with the natives. Following the coast along leisurely, they arrived off Nauset Harbor on the second day of October. A head wind prevailed, but after delaying a few hours, they continued southward a dis- tance estimated by Champlain at six leagues, when they anchored near the coast. This point of anchorage, notwith- standing the distance mentioned, must have been off what is now Chatham village. 12 Here the voyagers noticed columns of smoke along the shore from fires set by the Indians and manned a boat to go thither, but found the surf too danger- ous for landing. Thereupon, the Indians launched a canoe through the surf and rowed out to the vessel, singing and
the scrimmage which ensued, one of the French was killed and they, in turn, captured one of the Indians, whom they afterwards released They named the place Port de Mallebarre. The Indians belonged to the Nauset tribe, the neighbors of the Monomoy- Icks on the north. It Is erroneously stated by Freeman (History of Cape Cod) that the French in 1601 salled along the coast as far as the south shore of Cape Cod.
12. " When we consider that in the early part of the day, while detained sometime by head winds, they had assisted at a dance on shore (at Nauset Harbor) and in the latter part of the day had come to anchor In a calm and gone in their boat to meet the savages again, there would not seem to be much time left In the light of an autumn day, to make all these leagues." Prof. Mitchell In U. S. Coast Survey Report, 1871.
7
A NEW ERA.
making signs of pleasure. They informed the voyagers that there was a safe harbor further around to the south and re- turned to the shore. "On the next day," says Champlain in his account of the voyage, "the wind being favorable, we continued our course to the south five leagues, and hardly had we gone this distance, when we found three and four fathoms of water at a distance of a league and a half from the shore. On going a little further, the depth suddenly diminished to a fathom and a half and two fathoms, which alarmed us, since we saw the sea breaking all around, but no passage by which we could retrace our course, for the wind was directly contrary. Accordingly, being shut in among the breakers and sand banks, we had to go at hap- hazard where there seemed to be the most water for our bark, which was at most only four feet. We continued among these breakers until we found as much as four feet and a half. Finally we succeeded by the grace of God in going over a sandy point running out nearly three leagues seaward to the south-southeast and a very dangerous place. Doubling this cape which we named Cape Batturier, " which is twelve or thirteen leagues from Mallebarre,14 we anchored in two and a half fathoms of water,15 since we saw ourselves sur- rounded on all sides by breakers and shoals, except in some places where the sea was breaking but little. " 16
During this passage of the shoals their bark had touched
13. This is, of course, the same place called Point Care by Gosnold. Later, as we shall see, it was called "Vlacke Hoeck" (Flat Hook or Cape) by the Dutch. None of the se designations have survived. It is frequently shown on maps as Cape Mallebarre, a name which Champlain gave to the entrance of Nanset Harbor and not to Monomoy Point. Locally, the point is never called Cape Mallebarre, but is known as Monomoy or Sandy Point.
The word "Batturier" is an adjective formed from the noun batture, which means a bank on which the sea beats. Cape Batturier may, therefore, be translated Sand Bank Cape or Cape of the Sand Banks.
14. Nauset Harbor. The distance here is greatly overestimated. Champlain, how- ever, throughout this account overestimates distances along the shore.
15. According to Lescarbot (Ilistoire de la Nouvelle France) they anchored three leagues from the mainland.
16. Voyages of Samuel de Champlain (Prince Soc. Ed.), II, 118.
8
HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
bottom two or three times, but had fortunately been carried over into deeper water by the tide and waves. Their rudder had been broken on one of these occasions, so that they were in no condition to proceed till it had been temporarily re- paired. While this was being done, their shallop was sent, in charge of Daniel Hay, to find whether they could enter the harbor. As the party approached the shore, probably at Harding's Beach, they saw an Indian dancing and singing "yo, yo, yo," to attract their attention and on landing he informed them that they could enter the harbor in safety. They induced him to come with them to their vessel, where he was greeted by Secondon, their Indian friend. Neither Indian could understand the language of the other, but by signs they were able to communicate readily. 17 The voy- agers thereupon weighed anchor and under the guidance of their new friend proceeded "to a roadstead before the harbor [i. e. off Harding's Beach] in six fathoms of water and a good bottom," where they anchored, the night over- taking them. "On the next day," says Champlain, "men were sent to set stakes at the end of a sand bank at the mouth of the harbor [i. e. at Harding's Beach Point) where, the tide rising, we entered in two fathoms of water. When we had arrived, we praised God for being in a place of safety. Our rudder had been broken, which we had mended with ropes, but we were'afraid that amid these shallows and strong tides it would break anew and we should be lost."5
And now having carefully followed the movements of the voyagers until their safe arrival in Stage Harbor, let us pause a moment in the narrative and attempt to form a pic- ture of the locality and its inhabitants as it appeared to these Frenchmen on this fourth day of October, 1606. Fortu-
17. Lescarbot, Histoire de la,Nouvelle France (1609) 604. Lescarbot was one of the Port Royal colonists who, did not, accompany de, Pontrincourt on this voyage, but obtalued his Information from the voyagers after their return
18. Voyages of Samuel de Champlain (Prince Soc Ed) 11, 120.
port fortune
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261. 400 800. 1000 touse
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Port Fortune
S
Champlain's Explanation of the Accompanying Map.
PORT FORTUNE.
The Figures Indicate Fathoms of Water.
A. Pond of salt water. « B. Cabins of the savages and the lands they cultivate. C Meadows where there are two little brooks. C. Meadows on the island that are covered at every tide. b D. Small mountain ranges on the island that are covered with trees, vines and plum trees. c E. Pond of fresh water where there is plenty of game. F. A kind of meadow on the island. G. An island covered with wood in a great arm of the sea. d H. A sort of pond of salt water where there are many shell fish, and among others quantities of oysters. e I. Sandy downs on a narrow tongue of land. L. Arm of the sea. M. Roadstead before the harbor where we anchored. f N. Entrance to the harbor. O. The harbor and place where our bark was. P. The cross we planted Q. Little brook. R. Mountain which Is seen at a great distance. g S. Seashore. T. Little river. V. Way we went in their country among their dwell- Ings ; It is indicated by small dots. h X. Banks and shoals. Y. Small mountain seen in the interior. i Z. Small brooks. 9. Spot near the cross where the savages killed our men.
NOTES. a. Now called Oyster Pond. b. "The letter C appears twice In the index, but both are wanting on the map. The former seems to point to the meadows on the upper left hand corner of the map; the other should probably take the place of the O on the western part of the island above F." Champlain's Voyages (Prince Soc. Ed), Rev. Mr. Slafter's note. c. The island was called by the indians Quentnosset or Quitnesset and Is now called Morris Island. The "small mountain ranges" were nothing but moderate sized hills. The pinin trees mentioned were beach plum bushes, for which the island is still noted. Champlain, it seems, found them growing there nearly three hun- dred years ago. d. This is Ram Island. e. This is Mill Pond. f. Off Harding's Beach. g. A good sized hill, not a mountain. h. "The circuit here indicated is about four or five miles Another path is indicated in the same manner on the extreme northern end of the map, which shows that their excursions had been extensive." (Rev. Mr. Slafter's note.) ¿. This is Great Hill, always a conspicuous object.
9
A NEW ERA.
nately, in drawing this picture we can have the aid of one of the most distinguished explorers of his time, Samuel de Champlain, and we are able, at this the dawn of a new era in the life of the locality, to present a statement of local conditions more clear and full than any which can be ob- ' tained for the next two hundred years.19
Contrary to the ideas of some antiquarians, the locality was without much doubt essentially the same in shape and form as it is to-day. Along the easterly side of the town changes have been wrought since that early time by the action of the ocean, but that the place was a waste of waters as some early inaccurate maps tend to show or that it has been radically changed by volcanic influence, is utterly un- true. General maps of New England or of North America issued in the seventeenth century can be found, in which the outline of this part of Cape Cod is shown in every con- ceivable shape, but these general maps have no value in re- lation to details of the coast." The map of Stage Harbor by Champlain here presented has more value for our purpose than all of them. It may not be accurate in some details, but its general features must stand and must be a complete answer to every claim that surprising and radical changes in the coast have taken place since Gosnold discovered and named Cape Cod. Here is Morris Island, and even the pond upon it, clearly shown ; here are Harding's Beach, the Oyster Pond, the Mill Pond and the Great Hill almost as we see them to-day, and here is Monomoy Beach extending southward from the town. It may be doubted whether the map is accurate in showing a connection between the beach and the mainland at North Chatham, but it may have ap- peared so to Champlain as he rowed up the bay east of the
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