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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
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In Compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original.
1998
CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
20 00
HISTORY
OF THE Autun dark
TOWN OF CANTON,
Porfolk County, Massachusetts.
BY
DANIEL T. V. HUNTOON. =
PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN.
1
CAMBRIDGE: JOHN WILSON AND SON. University Press. 1893. KB
EDITORIAL PREFACE.
A T the annual town meeting, held April, 1888, the follow- ing vote was passed : - .
"Voted, That the town cause to be published the history of the town, prepared by the late Daniel T. V. Huntoon, with such ad- ditions thereto, and such omissions therefrom, as may be deemed expedient, and that a committee of three be appointed by the moderator to superintend the publication; that the committee be authorized to employ some suitable person to edit the work; that one thousand copies be printed, five hundred (500) of which shall be bound, and offered for sale, at a price not exceeding $3.00 per volume, the proceeds of all sales to be paid into the treasury of the town ; and that thirty-five hundred (3500) dollars be, and the same hereby is, appropriated, to defray the expense of publication and proper editing of the work; and that ten copies be given to the family of Mr. Huntoon, who have so kindly offered the manuscript for publication.
"The moderator appointed as committee on history William E. Endicott, Henry F. Buswell, and Charles H. French, Jr.
"Voted, That said sum of thirty-five hundred dollars be not all assessed in one year, but be raised in equal parts for two, three, or four years at the discretion of the selectmen."
Immediately upon their appointment, the committee began the work assigned them, by reading through the manuscript left by Mr. Huntoon, - a work which occupied them during nearly one hundred meetings. While the work, so far as it had been carried by its author, was substantially complete, it was found that it had not been revised or arranged for the press, and that in order to bring it within the compass of an
vi
EDITORIAL PREFACE.
ordinary volume, a careful discretion must be exercised in striking out redundant and superfluous matter, including the many repetitions which must creep into every manuscript which, like this, accumulated gradually by the labors of many years. Moreover, the manuscript was in such form that it was impossible to determine what space the matter would occupy in print, so that much of the editorial work had to be postponed until the book was put into the press. It seemed to the committee that the editorial work, including the mak- ing of the necessary index and prefatory matter, would be done to most advantage by those who had already such knowledge of the subject as was to be obtained by a careful reading of the whole mass of manuscript, and the seeing the work through the press was accordingly undertaken by Mr. Endicott and Mr. Buswell of the committee. The making of the illustrations was intrusted to Mr. Sidney L. Smith, of Canton, as artist, and the plates therefor, except the frontis- piece, were made by the Boston Photogravure Company. The maps are by Mr. Frederic Endicott, of Canton. The printing and binding have been done by Messrs. John Wilson & Son, of the University Press, Cambridge; and the Editors desire, in this place, to acknowledge the assistance which they have received from the accomplished proof-readers of that house, not only in the matter of verbal correction, but by way of valuable suggestion and criticism.
The committee found that Mr. Huntoon had left untouched the history of the town during the War of the Rebellion, so far as such history relates to the service of its soldiers in the field and its citizens at home; and it was at first their inten- tion to have this omission supplied, so far as might be, by some other hand. But it was found that in order to carry out this plan it would be necessary to omit from the book other matter properly belonging to, it, which the committee believed they could not with propriety do; and so they re- luctantly abandoned the plan of adding a "war chapter " to the work, hoping that at some time the services of Canton's citizens and soldiers in the great conflict may be recorded in enduring form.
vii
EDITORIAL PREFACE.
The publication of the book has been hastened as fast as the work to be done and the engagements of the Editors would permit. The committee, however, deem it proper to say that the printing of the book was delayed for fully a year by the failure on the part of the persons furnishing the plates for the illustrations to perform their work promptly, - a failure for which neither the artist nor the Editors were responsible.
The book, as now presented, is, in the strict sense of the words, Mr. Huntoon's. While it has, of necessity, been con- densed, the committee believe that nothing of essential im- portance has been omitted from it, or the omission of which its author would not have approved; and with these words of explanation the work is submitted to the town.
January, 1893.
THE EDITORS.
!
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.1
Sº OON after my return from Europe in 1864, the thought occurred to me to write a History of the First Con- gregational Church and Parish in Canton. My father had been its pastor for many years; and I had read with interest an historical sermon preached by him at the dedication of the present meeting-house in 1824.
I had been clerk of the parish, and had been much in- terested in looking over the old records, and deemed that portions of them might be wrought up into a readable nar- rative. With this view I began to make extracts from the records, and while residing in New York City devoted my leisure time to arranging the materials then in my possession, and nearly completed what now appears in this volume as the ecclesiastical history of my native town.
On my return to Canton in 1869 I was surprised to find that large portions of the records had been published in a paper printed at Canton many years before, called the " Massapoag Journal." I found, moreover, that many ex- tracts from the town records had also appeared in this paper, and so my history was laid aside for many years.
In looking over my father's old papers, I accidentally came across a letter from his friend, the Rev. Thaddeus William . Harris, at that time librarian of Harvard College; in this letter he urged my father to write a history of Canton.
It then occurred to me that I might employ my evenings in compiling a history of the town. Since then (1872) I have devoted myself with more or less assiduity in collecting ma-
1 As found in Mr. Huntoon's manuscript.
.
x
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
terials for the work. I have ransacked old attics, talked with the oldest inhabitant, consulted the records of the Gen- eral Court, the Probate Office, Registry of Deeds, and Supe- rior Court at Boston, the Registry of Deeds and Probate Records at Dedham, and the libraries, both public and pri- vate, of Boston and New York.
When I have found records accurately printed, I have not scrupled to appropriate them, after comparing them in all cases with the originals.
Every statement I have made in this work I have authority for, either from records or well-authenticated tradition.
I acknowledge myself indebted for courtesies or informa- tion to the following persons, - George Hilloon, the Li- brarian of the New York Historical Society; John Ward Dean, Librarian of the New England Historical and Genea- logical Society. To Ellis Ames, Esq., Mrs. Nabby May- nard, Samuel Chandler, Augustus Gill, and to many others who in my own town have assisted me with documents or information, I am under great obligation. This work, like all of its kind, is incomplete. Volumes might be written about those matters that have been omitted, and much that has been written might without loss have been left out. I have endeavored to discriminate as well as I could.
Time is slowly obliterating the records of the past. Be fore they shall have been rendered completely illegible, is it not well to gather up and preserve what might other- wise be forever lost ? It is a duty we owe to ourselves as well as to the memory of our ancestors to secure in a per- manent and durable form whatever may be gained from fast- perishing records, from the voice of tradition, or from the memories of those who are now on the stage of life.
Our attachment to the place of our birth is strengthened by the recollections of the events of former days. The more of quaint and curious lore that is associated with one's birth- place, the dearer and deeper are the memories which hold him to his old moorings and bring fond recollections back to his heart.
The treasures of the past are open to one who will but
xi
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
ask, and the light of other days softened by distance falls upon him. By his memory he can renew his intercourse with the departed, ponder upon their worth and talents, their excel- lences of life and stability of character, and be proud of an alliance with such nobility, rejoicing that the life they led has in a measure survived their bodily dissolution.
Should I succeed in rescuing from oblivion the men of other days, the honored and the loved in their time; and should I succeed in interesting my reader, as we proceed from the early days of the untutored savage to the events within the memory of those now living, - my modest enter- prise will be happily fulfilled.
1
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
PAGE
I. THE NEW GRANT
I
II. THE PONKAPOAG PLANTATION
10
III. THE FIRST SETTLERS .
46
IV. ANCIENT DEEDS AND GRANTS
61
V. THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH
83
VI. THE FIRST MINISTER
98
VII. ROADS AND WAYS
VIII. SCHOOLS
119
I34
IX. BURYING-GROUNDS 148
X. EARLY MILLS. - INCORPORATION OF STOUGHTON
166
XI. THE SECOND MINISTER 176
XII. TAVERNS
206
XIII. CIVIL HISTORY, 1726-1750. 235
XIV. SOME OLD CUSTOMS
248
XV. THE THIRD MEETING-HOUSE
264
XVI. THE ENGLISH CHURCH 277
XVII. THE NEUTRAL FRENCH 290
XVIII. MUSIC
306
XIX. MILITIA 314
XX. THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION
331
XXI. THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION (Continued ). 348
XXII. RICHARD GRIDLEY . 360
XXIII. THE POWDER-MILLS 380
XXIV. INDEPENDENCE. - THE SALT-WORKS
387
XXV. THE LOYALISTS .
401
XXVI. WORTHIES OF THE REVOLUTION
412
xiv
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
XXVII. SHAYS'S REBELLION 426
XXVIII. CIVIL HISTORY, 1775-1800 434
XXIX. THE THIRD MINISTER 438
XXX. JOHN DOWNES 450
XXXI. INCORPORATION OF CANTON 458
XXXII. TOPOGRAPHY.
465
XXXIII. FOURTH OF JULY
AND OTHER CELEBRATIONS IN
CANTON 483
XXXIV. PROMINENT MEN OF THE NEW TOWN 497
XXXV. THE FOURTH MINISTER
505
XXXVI. THE NEW TOWN. - WAR OF 1812 516
XXXVII. ROGER SHERMAN 524
XXXVIII. THE RISE OF SOUTH CANTON. - MANUFACTURES . 529 XXXIX. ORTHODOX, BAPTIST, AND UNIVERSALIST CHURCHES 547
XL. REVEREND BENJAMIN HUNTOON, REVEREND ORESTES A. BROWNSON 556
XLI. PHYSICIANS 565
XLII. LITERARY HISTORY. - SOCIETIES 571
XLIII. TOWN-HOUSES. - MEMORIAL HALL 590
APPENDICES 593
INDEX .
657
ILLUSTRATIONS.
DANIEL T. V. HUNTOON, PORTRAIT
PAGE
STOUGHTON ARMS
INDIAN ARROW-HEADS
9
THANKFUL BLACKMAN'S TOMBSTONE 60
GOV. WILLIAM STOUGHTON, PORTRAIT
Facing
97
MORSE TABLET II8
OLD MILESTONE .
133
GILBERT ENDICOTT'S TOMBSTONE 165
OLD PARSONAGE . Facing 193
THIRD MEETING-HOUSE
Facing 273
CRANE GUARDS' FLAG
.
330
THE DOTY TAVERN Facing 337
THE OLD POWDER-HOUSE
. 359
COM. JOHN DOWNES, PORTRAIT
Facing 449
ROGER SHERMAN, PORTRAIT
Facing 513
PAUL REVERE, PORTRAIT Facing 529
PRESENT FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Facing 545
BENJAMIN HUNTOON, PORTRAIT Facing 561
MEMORIAL TABLETS
Facing 593
TOWN SEAL
651
MAPS.
PAGE
NATHANIEL FISHER'S PLAN, 1796
. Facing 465
JOSEPH HODGES'S MAP, 1831
. Facing 481
MAP OF THE "TWELVE DIVISIONS," 1696 . Facing 593
Frontispiece
I
STOUGHTON ARMS.
CHAPTER I.
THE NEW GRANT.
N TEAR the middle of the seventeenth century, the terri- tory now occupied by the towns of Canton, Stoughton, and Sharon was a wilderness covered with a majestic forest. No signs of civilization were visible; wolves, foxes, and bears held undisputed possession, and herds of deer roamed at will over this expanse.
In 1620, when the forefathers landed at Plymouth, they found the Indian chief Chicataubut in full possession of all the country. It is not now accurately known how far his jurisdiction extended. His tribe, the Massachusetts, were the next great people north of the Wampanoags, and were settled
1
2
HISTORY OF CANTON.
principally about Massachusetts Bay. The petty and local governors of Neponset - Nonantum, Nashaway, and Ponka- poag (or, strictly speaking, those who afterward removed to Ponkapoag) - paid tribute to him. His court was held at Braintree, which included the present towns of Randolph and Quincy; and it was never denied in his lifetime, or that of his son or grandson, that he held an undisputed possession. In 1621 he went to Plymouth, and signed a treaty with the English. He consented to the occupancy of Dorchester by the English in 1630; and it was paid for to his satisfaction. Finally, the small-pox gathered him to his fathers in 1633; and Kitchamakin, his brother, was appointed to govern as sachem during the minority of Josias, or Josiah, Chicataubut, sometimes called Wampatuck, son of Chicataubut.
How long this savage regency continued, we know not, but Feb. 4, 1644, regent and Josias, now styled successor and heir to Chicataubut, submitted to the government of the English. Kitchamakin conveyed, Oct. 8, 1666, all the land " beyond Neponsit Mill, unto the utmost extent," to the English.
Thus ancient Dorchester, our mother town, which had until this time extended only to the top of the Blue Hill, enlarged her borders; and the General Court by order, Nov. 20, 1637; confirmed the deed from the Indians, and fixed the southern limit of the town at the Old Colony line.
Dorchester was therefore at this time the largest town in New England. Its extent may be better illustrated by enum- erating the towns it has lost since, than by specifying what it originally included. From time to time, portions have been taken to form or to increase other towns. In 1662 Milton was set off, Dorchester still holding the territory south of it; a portion was set off to Wrentham in 1724, the petitioners alleging that they "lye thirty miles from the old meeting- house and fifteen from Puncapoug." In 1726 the South Pre- cinct, containing the modern towns of Stoughton, Sharon, and Canton, with the lands beyond it, was incorporated under the name of Stoughton.
In 1765 Stoughtonham, now Sharon, was set off; Foxbor- ough in 1778, and Canton in 1797. About 1739, there was set
3
THE NEW GRANT.
off to Dedham all the land owned by Stoughton north of the Neponset River ; and about this time, Dedham and Stoughton agreed that Neponset River should in future be the boundary line between the two towns. Dorchester Heights, around which so many historical reminiscences cluster, was detached in 1804; Washington Village in 1849; in 1868 the large por- tion known as Hyde Park; and finally, this old town of Dor- chester, with its noble history, on the Ist of January, 1870, became merged in the city of Boston, and condescended to be called the Sixteenth, subsequently the Twenty-fourth, Ward.
The deed of Kitchamakin was not considered by the settlers of Dorchester full enough; and in 1666 Wampatuck, - called by the English Josias, "a wise, stout man," but " a very vicious person, ... who had considerable knowledge of the Christian religion, and had at one time professed it when he was a boy under the care of Kitchamakin," - promised a deed " more full " than that given by Kitchamakin, of all the land in Dor- chester beyond the Blue Hills within the grants of Dorches- ter, to the utmost extent thereof, excepting only that land which was then occupied by the Ponkapoag Indians. He en- gaged to give within three years a more full and complete title; but before the time designated, he had gone as chief general of the expedition to meet hostile tribes in battle, and had been killed by them. This last chief man of the royal line, says Eliot, "was slain by the Maquzogs, against whom he rashly, without due attendants and assistance, went. Yet all -yea, his enemies - say he died valiantly. They were more afraid to kill him than he was to die. Yet being deserted by all, - some knowingly say, through treason, - he stood long, and at last fell alone. Had he but ten men -yea, five - in good order with him, he would have driven all his enemies before him. His brother was resident with us in this town, but is fallen into sin and from praying to God." But Josias had taken the precaution before he put on his war paint to appoint Job Ahauton his true and lawful attorney; and armed with this instrument, Job, by and with the advice of Squamang, - called by the English Daniel, - Ahauton, and Momentaug, consummated the deed on the Ioth of Decem-
4
HISTORY OF CANTON.
ber, 1666, agreeing, at the same time, to obtain the personal consent of his absent chief, with the rest of the council. Upon intelligence of the death of Josias, - his son, Charles Josias, not yet being of age, - Squamaug, brother of Josias, and uncle to Charles Josias, was chosen sachem of the Mas- sachusetts Indians. He is described as residing at Ponka- poag, and in 1670 fulfilled the promise made by Job Ahauton, and confirmed to the town of Dorchester the deeds relating to the "New Grant; " and a rate of £28 was levied upon the proprietors to pay for it.
In 1671 Squamaug ratifies the deed; and Jerome, son of Josiah Chicataubut, himself "relinquished and confirmed the deed of Squamaug, my uncle."
On June 4, 1684, Charles Josiah, son of Josiah, who was the son of Chicataubut, in consideration of money paid by William Stoughton, granted to Roger Clapp, Capt. John Capen, Lieut. Richard Hall, Ensign Samuel Clapp, and Quartermaster Thomas Swift, of Milton, their heirs, etc., ac- cording to each man's respective right, the whole tract of land in the township of Dorchester south of the Blue Hills, except the " Punquapaug" Plantation. This deed was given to the proprietors of the " New Grant," or the proprietors of the common and undivided lands beyond the Blue Hills.
The next year, 1685, Josias, having "been well assured by some ancient Indians that his grandfather Chicataubut had conveyed to the English planters the tract of land on which the town of Dedham now stands, quitclaims the same."
The territory granted in 1637, and confirmed in 1720 by the General Court, to the town of Dorchester, was all the undivided and unallotted land extending from the Blue Hills to the Plymouth line. It contained over forty thousand acres of land, and was commonly called the land " beyond the Blue Hills" by the English, and after 1707 was known as the "New Grant." The upland was laid out by the proprietors into divisions, by parallel lines running from north to south, and was known as the "Twelve Divisions."1 The swamps and low, poor lands were excluded. A rule of proportion
1 See Appendix I.
5
THE NEW GRANT.
was made to four hundred and eighty proprietors on the 9th of May, 1737; and every inhabitant of the town had each his proportion according to the rule. An order was made Jan. 16, 1738, that all the land in Dorchester should be divided according to said rule; and the undivided land was sold to pay the expenses of surveying and laying out.
The inhabitants of Dorchester met together in 1668 and drew lots for the " Twelve Divisions." In 1695 a committee was chosen to lay out the lands unto each proprietor accord- ing to a former grant agreed upon by a vote of the proprie- tors in 1671. Twelve times as much land was proportioned to each proprietor as was already prefixed to each man in a list of a single division left by Captain Breck, and at that time in the keeping of the town clerk; but it was not until 1698 that the laying out of the land was finished. Although some of these proprietors may have settled upon the land laid out to them, the owners must not be confounded with the actual settlers of the town. In some cases their children moved here and occupied the land ; in many cases it is ques- tionable whether the "proprietor" ever set his foot on his possessions in the "New Grant."
In 1659 the proprietors gave two hundred acres of land for the use and maintenance of the ministry "to ye inhabit- ants of Dorchester on ye northwest side of ye river Neponset, and two hundred to the inhabitants that live on the southeast side of the river." On the first day of March, 1706, they . made another grant of seventy-five acres of land, to be laid out for the use of those ministers that shall be ordained in the land belonging to Dorchester, beyond the Blue Hills, and another grant of seventy-five acres to the first minister who shall settle and remain with the inhabitants for the space of ten consecutive years. So much the proprietors did for the spiritual welfare of the early settlers. As we read fifty years later that among the earliest bells in New England was one imported from Bristol, England, weighing seven hundred and eighty-five pounds, and presented to the town of Dor- chester, "the gift of the proprietors of Dorchester and Stoughton," let us not flatter ourselves that it was given by
6
HISTORY OF CANTON.
the actual settlers of what is now Canton, but by the pro- prietors of the common lands in Stoughton, mostly residents of Dorchester.
The association known as the "Dorchester Proprietors " were the owners of the wild lands in that territory now com- prising the towns of Stoughton, Sharon, and Canton, with the exception of the Ponkapoag Plantation. Until late in the seventeenth century these lands were uninhabited; and to whomsoever they were assigned or sold, such persons became the lawful owners. Thus was established a system of small freeholds, which was to be a distinguishing feature in the landed history of our country. The occupants of these farms paid no annual tribute, as did their ancestors in Old England, to some great proprietor, - some " Earl of Puncapog," as the Rev. Thomas Prince facetiously called himself when a boy, - but were independent. Thus was created a love of freedom, and a capacity of self-government developed, which was in after years to bear a rich and abundant fruit. Massapoag Brook, or the "East Branch of the Neponset," running through the centre of South Canton Village, was the dividing line between the Ponkapoag Plantation and the land of the Dorchester proprietors. The place where Washington Street crosses this stream is nearly identical with the spot where the old road from Milton line to Billings' tavern, in Sharon, crossed it, probably as early as 1650. At any rate, this road was in existence long before any lands were laid out in the Dorchester South Precinct, or any person had received his estate in severalty.
In 1713 the proprietors were incorporated as a distinct body, and the town of Dorchester had nothing further to do with their affairs. This same year another survey was ordered of the lands unsold or undivided south of the " Twelve Divis- ions," to be henceforth known as the " Twenty-five Divisions." These lines were run parallel with the old Braintree line, and were about half a mile distant from each other. Mr. James Blake was the surveyor, and his plan is still extant. A small portion of these lands only are included in the town of Can- ton. The earliest map of the territory now Canton is known
1
7
THE NEW GRANT.
as the "Map of the Twelve Divisions." It gives, however, only an outline of the Ponkapoag Reservation. It was made by John Butcher, from a survey on which he spent forty-five days, and on which Thomas Vose employed fifty-three days. It bears the following legend : -
" A map, plat, or draft of the Twelve Divisions of land, as they were laid out, bounded, and measured to ye proprietors in Dor- chester New Grant, beyond ye Blew Hills, in ye years of our Lord 1696 and 1697, by order of ye committee impowered by ye proprietors for that work."
Another plan, based partially on this one, but from addi- tional surveys made between the years 1716 and 1720, was completed by James Blake, Jr., in 1727. These maps are still preserved, though much worn by time, in the Norfolk Registry of Deeds; and several copies of them have been made. The town of Canton owns one, procured through the antiquarian enthusiasm of Ellis Ames, Esq., who, knowing the value of a duplicate in case the original was destroyed, placed the matter before the town in such a manner that a copy was ordered to be made without a dissenting vote.
Nathaniel Glover, Jr., in a petition which bears date Aug. 23, 1718, says that the lands in Dorchester beyond the Blue Hills, commonly known or distinguished by the name of the " New Grant," contained by estimation forty-two thousand acres, more or less. He also affirms that there were nine hundred acres of cedar swamp and eleven hundred acres of meadow bottom.
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