USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Norwell > Narrative history of South Scituate-Norwell, Massachusetts > Part 1
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Scituate > Narrative history of South Scituate-Norwell, Massachusetts > Part 1
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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01145 6610
0
A Narrative History OF
South Scituate-Norwell
Massachusetts
SOL
6
SC
.- 18-19 +
BY JOSEPH FOSTER MERRITT
PRINTED BY ROCKLAND STANDARD PUBLISHING CO. ROCKLAND, MASSACHUSETTS 1938
1225257
Dedicated To Dr. Tenney L. Davis In grateful appreciation of his interest and helpful suggestions along the way.
1636 - 1938
as an American Community 1849 - 1938 as a separate town
PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY FRANK S. ALGER AND JOSEPH F. MERRITT
INTRODUCTION
A history of this town cannot help but include many references to Scituate, the mother town, also to Hanover and other contiguous towns, as in some sections the boun- dary lines seem almost imaginary.
The author is indebted to Rev. Samuel Deane, whose History of Scituate, published in 1831, must necessarily be the foundation for any later historical work on either Scituate or South Scituate. In like manner, Dr. L. Ver- non Briggs' History of Shipbuilding on North River, (1889) so fully covers that important industry of the early days, that it is only necessary to give this great business a cursory mention in this work.
Mrs. Mary L. F. Power has described the religious so- cieties in such minute detail, particularly the history of the "Friends" or "Quakers," that extended notices are not needed here.
Acknowledgements are due George C. Turner for many facts, and in some cases, permission to use entire articles. Likewise to the late Horace T. Fogg, the late James H. Pinkham, (at one time editor of the old South Scituate News) Frank S. Alger, editor of the Hanover Branch and Norwell Advertiser, to William N. Parker, manager of the Standard printing plant, Rockland, and to many others.
Much material and some cuts have been taken from "Anecdotes of the North River and South Shore," and in some cases, whole chapters have been re-printed. The author makes no apology for so doing, as many of the ar- ticles of the earlier book were written with the purpose of permanent record in a book of this kind.
No attempt has been made to give detailed genealogies and family histories in this volume, but the hope is cher-
VII
INTRODUCTION
ished in some quarters, especially by the members of the Historical society, that time will bring another vol- ume of this work.
The author of this narrative history of his native town, has endeavored to write, imperfectly though it may be, so that the younger generation may get a picture of the old town as it was in by-gone days. More than a third of a century spent as custodian of the Norwell-South Scituate records has been of great help in the undertak- ing.
VIII
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I Early Settlement, General Introspection 1
II Division of the Town 12
III South Scituate in the Civil War 15
IV Old South Scituate Town Hall 33
V Change of Name - Henry Norwell 39
VI Gaffield Park - Thomas Gaffield 41
VII Norwell in the World War - American Legion, Roster of Men, Welcome Home 43
VIII Norwell's Flag Days, Dedication Exercises 1915, Armistice Sunday, 1931 54
IX Churches
63
X Societies and Organizations 74
XI Cemeteries 81
XII Town Officials - Members of the Legisla- ture, Physicians, Town Seal 84
XIII Forests, Highways, Bridges and Land- ings, Census 94
XIV The Old Almshouse
99
XV The South Scituate Savings Bank 102
XVI Libraries 106
XVII Halls 108
XVIII Schools 111
XIX Stage Coach Days 117
XX Hotels, Inns and Taverns 120
IX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
XXI The North River Boat Club 125
XXII Stores and Store Keepers 130
XXIII Wild Cat and Old Pond 134
XXIV The Old Powder House
138
XXV Cuffee Lane and Acadians
141
XXVI Old Blacksmith Shops
143
XXVII
An Old Neighborhood
147
XXVIII Mills and Factories
151
XXIX Gundalow Days
159
XXX Fishing on the River 165
XXXI Assinippi and West End
167
XXXII
South Scituate Shipyards
170
XXXIII
The Helen M. Foster,
173
XXXIV
Agriculture
177
XXXV
Swamp Lands
179
XXXVI
State Police Patrol
182
XXXVII
The South Scituate Brass Band 183
XXXVIII
Natural Scenery
185
Appendix
188
X
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Airplane View of Norwell Center
64
Thomas Bryant House, Built 1698 148
Kitchen of Bryant House 148
Church Hill Scene 132
Churches: Unitarian (First Parish)
68
Universalist, Methodist
70
Central Telephone Building
90
Cushing Memorial Town Hall
108
Chittenden Landing Pageant Scene, 1936 96
Delano Mansion 8
Diagrams from Walling Map. 100
Division of Town, Pageant, 1936 12
Ancient Foster House, Lower Main Street 120
Gaffield Park Community Day, 1896 42
Half-Way House, Near Accord
122
High School Building 122
Jacob's Homestead, Assinippi
86
Jacob's Mill 86
Jacob's Pond, Assinippi
168
James Library, Norwell Center
106
Kent Memorial, and First Parish Church 8
Launching of Schooner Helen M. Foster 1871 174
William E. Leslie, World War Veteran 52
The May Elms, Main Street 174
The Mower, Church Hill 10
XI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
40
Henry Norwell Portrait
56
Norwell Legion Post 192
100
Norwell Center, Old Panel, 1904
26
Post 112, Grand Army of the Republic, 1878
36
Post 112, Dedication of Tree, 1922
Post 112, at Memorial Hall, 1925 30
D. Willard Robinson Memorial Hall, Built 1900 20
Old Saw and Grist Mill, 2nd Herring Brook
152
North River Boat Club House, Union Bridge 126
Post 112, G. A. R. Memorial Boulder
20
Second Town Hall, 1885-1935
88
Scene on North River 186
154
South Scituate Savings Bank Building 36
Stetson Homestead Scenes, Stetson Shrine 78
Tolman-Merritt Plane Shop, River Street
154
Walling Map, Published 1857 4
XII
Salmond-Sylvester Tack Works, Church Hill
CHAPTER I EARLY SETTLEMENT GENERAL RETROSPECTIONS
THE story of South Scituate and Norwell in early times T must necessarily be that of Scituate as well, for the Town of Scituate included, for many years, what is now the Towns of Norwell, Hanover, the "Two Mile" section of Marshfield and a bit of Rockland.
The first white people came to town a little before 1628, but the town of Scituate was not incorporated until 1636.
They came in two ways, some from the settlements in and around Boston and some up the coast from the Pil- grim settlement at Plymouth, as the people of that town began to branch out and occupy the territory comprising Kingston, Duxbury, Marshfield and to the south, the towns of Barnstable county.
A large company came in 1633, many of them being from Kent County, England. Timothy Hatherly and the Conihasset Partners had a large grant of land which they controlled for some years, but it was finally incorporated in the town of Scituate.
In a very short time the settlers began to move back into the interior, into what is now Norwell, and gradually the country along the North River Valley was pretty gen- erally settled. For many years the river was the natural highway; there were no roads, only Indian paths, and it was much easier to get around in small boats and canoes, than it was to cut roads. Added to this, the marsh lands were greatly prized for the grass that furnished forage for cattle and horses the settlers were able to keep.
One of the early settlers in Norwell, was Cornet Robert Stetson, who came up the river and settled in the south- erly part of the town. He was a very prominent man in the military and civil life of those times, builder and own- er of two mills, a cornet of horse (as the old English
HISTORY OF SOUTH SCITUATE-NORWELL
expression goes) in other words, commanding officer of a mounted troop, and a high official in the Plymouth Col- ony. A good portion of the older families of the town can trace their descent from him. His farm is now owned by the Stetson Kindred, and is used as a "Shrine" where each year the Stetsons from all over the country gather to honor the memory of their celebrated ancestor.
Using the river as the settlers did for transportation, it is quite natural that shipbuilding should follow. The forests were filled with excellent ship timber and from al- most the first, this industry sprang up that was destined to make the North River, a stream not over eighteen miles long and with an average width above Little's Bridge of only about one hundred feet, known all over the world. From the North River Bridge, at Hanover to White's Fer- ry near the mouth, wherever suitable locations were to be found, shipyards were established. Over one thous- and vessels were recorded as having been built here and that does not include the whole number. Countless small vessels were built at other than the regular yards and the records of many were not kept.
Some of the most well known yards were located with- in the borders of Norwell. The "Block House" near Har- ry Henderson's, The Chittenden at Mr. Mills', the "Wan- ton," later the Foster and Delano yards near Dr. Bailey's, The Copeland and Ford yard, formerly the Palmer and Church yard, off Stetson Road. In these yards the James, Torreys, Randalls, Southers, Chittendens, Wantons, Del- anos, Fosters, Clapps, Cudworths, Barstows, Waterman, Briggs, Merritts and others carried on the business up to the middle of the last century.
Norwell cannot claim the honor of building the Colum- bia, the famous vessel to explore the Columbia River in Oregon and the first American vessel to carry the Flag into an English Port, after the Revolution. She was built just over the line in old Scituate at Hobart's Land- ing yard by James Briggs, but the builder resided in this part of the town.
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EARLY SETTLEMENT
The tea ship Beaver was built by Ichabod Thomas at Pembroke, but the largest ship ever built on the river can be credited to. Norwell, built by William Delano at the Wanton Yard, the Mount Vernon, in 1812, nearly five hundred tons. Also the last vessel to be built by the old time builders, the Helen M. Foster, in 1871, at Chittenden yard.
It must be understood that the vessels built here were necessarily limited in size on account of the difficulty in getting them out of the river, but it should also be remem- bered that at that time, a vessel of five hundred tons was a good sized ship.
Much of the wealth and early prosperity of the town was from the products of its shipyards, and men went from here to the larger yards at East Boston, Medford, New Bedford and the Charlestown Navy Yard.
There are three churches in town. The Unitarian on the "Hill," the Universalist at Assinippi and the Metho- dist at Church Hill, near the Hanover line. Just back of the latter church, on the hill, is the site of the first Episcopal church in Scituate territory, but it was removed to Hanover in 1811.
In the early days there were many Friends or Quakers here, their church being located just over the line in Scituate, on the land now owned by Stephen Webster.
One of their most active and prominent members, Ed- ward Wanton, lived, during his lifetime, at what is now Dr. Bailey's home on River Street, and a cemetery known as the "Old Quaker Cemetery" was located on a knoll near the bank of the river where the early generations of these people were buried.
Some of the Wantons moved to Rhode Island and be- came very prominent in political life. Gradually the society died out and its members joined other societies, the church building being moved to Pembroke about 1706, part of the way by gundalow, so tradition says. The Catholic Church is in the old town of Scituate and mem-
3
HISTORY OF SOUTH SCITUATE-NORWELL
bers of that faith from the west and south parts of town are connected with Rockland and Hanover.
Up to the middle of the last century the inhabitants of the town were practically all descendants of the first set- tlers from England. The old records speak of two families from Sweden. One of those apparently left no posterity here, but the Bowkers were very active and numerous up to seventy-five years ago, many families being located on Main and Bowker Streets. There are some bearing the name here now.
About the year 1850 several Irish families came into town and in the '80's a number of families from England settled in the south part of town. There was one Portu- gese family here in the '60's. One Danish in the '50's.
In the last few years Scotch, French, German, Danish, and Jewish people have come in and a goodly number of Swedish, Norwegian, Italian and Polish families have bought up many of the old farms. Since the coming of the automobile, business and professional people from Boston and the suburbs have bought places and are com- muting.
People from the Canadian Provinces have been coming into town for years.
The town now has a cosmopolitan population.
One of the occupations of early days was fishing. Prac- tically a hundred vessels were fitted out every year from Hingham, Cohasset and Scituate harbors to fish for mac- kerel on George's Bank and for cod at the Grand Banks. Some of these vessels were owned by South Scituate people and there were at one time very few families in the easterly part of the town who did not own a few shares in a fishing vessel or who did not have some member make one or two cruises during the season. Young men in those days thought nothing of walking to Cohasset or Scituate to join a cruise. There was always fishing on the river before the storm of 1898, and the early settlers depended, to a great extent, on the herring which they caught in seines and cured for winter use.
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1
TORNATO
rep
FOUR
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WALLING MAP Made by Henry F. Walling. C. E., in 1857 (Map Photographed by Jared Gardner)
EARLY SETTLEMENT
In the fall, after the fishing season was over, some of these vessels went to the South for supplies of corn and to the West Indies to trade for molasses and sugar. Up to about 1850 regular trading packets ran up the river car- rying supplies and wood between the river towns and Boston. Regular trips were also made to Provincetown and other towns on the coast.
There are few manufacturing plants of any kind left, excepting the Accord Chemical Co's. establishment, the Sylvester tack works, carried on in early days by the Talbots and Salmonds and the Lincoln saw mill at Mt. Blue.
There were in operation forty years ago, several saw mills, box and trunk factories, and one plane factory. The John H. Jones trunk factory on Jones' Hill, the Grose factory on Prospect street and the David Torrey factory on River Street. Two good sized shoe shops, that of G. W. H. Litchfield at Mt. Blue and Charles Grose's at Ridge Hill, were running. Besides these there were several smaller shops and in early days little shops where one or two men made boots and shoes by hand work, were scat- tered all over town.
The Church, Turner, Torrey, Hackett, Richardson, and Merritt saw mills of other days, all water mills that ran day and night during the late winter and spring when water was plentiful, are things of the past, and the old Jacobs mill at Assinippi, a land-mark for two hundred years, with its curious up and down saw, was destroyed by fire a few years ago.
Indians
There were very few Indians within the limits of this town at the time of settlement; just a few families of Mattakeesetts. A small number were still living in the Beechwood section of Scituate at the time of the Revolu- tion. One of them, Comsitt, was a soldier in the Contin- ental army. Some married colored people and their de- scendants are still living in this vicinity. Symons, one of the last of the tribe, had his hut or wigwam on Bowker
5
HISTORY OF SOUTH SCITUATE- NORWELL
street, the west side of Bowker Hill being known as Sy- mon's hill to this day.
The Indian title to the land comprising Scituate, South Scituate and "Two Mile" was purchased by deed from Josias Wampatuck, chief of the Mattakeesetts in 1656, confirming a former agreement with the same chief.
Indian War
In King Philip's war of 1676, a war party of Narragan- setts and Nipmuks made a raid in this section of the country. They came by way of Hingham into Norwell and Hanover probably following very closely what is now Route 3 on Washington street down to Cornet Stetson's mill which was located on the Third Herring Brook at the junction of Tiffany Road, Norwell and East Street, Hano- ver. They burned this mill and continued down what is now River street to the "Block House" near the Harry Henderson place. This they attacked, but were repulsed. John James, who owned the adjoining land was killed the next day after the mill fight. They crossed over what is now the Arthur Power farm to Parker and Cross streets, burned several houses in South Scituate and continued down to the Block House at Greenbush pond, burning houses along the way.
French and Indian War 1754
Probably sixty men served from Scituate in the French and Indian War and many saw much hard service. Small- pox broke out in the army and some from this town died of that disease.
Acadians
When the Acadian exiles were distributed among the coast towns in 1756, by Col. John Winslow's troops, some who were apportioned to the town of Scituate were placed in charge of Joseph Clapp whose farm was located off Mt. Blue Street, here in Norwell, back in the woods near Black Pond on what was later known as the "Cuff Granderson" place, named for an old negro who, just after the Revolu- tion, settled there. Others lived at what is known as
6
EARLY SETTLEMENT
"Cricket Hole" just over the line between Church Hill Village and Hanover. There is no record that they were here very long or left descendants.
The Revolution
A good number of the men who served in the Revolu- tion from the Town of Scituate were from this part of the town. Col. John Jacobs, Col. John Clapp, Major Nathan- iel Winslow, Major William Turner, Capt. Jonathan Turn- er, Capt. Peter Sears, Capt. Joshua Jacobs, Capt. Amos Turner, and Lemuel Cushing, surgeon, were among the commissioned officers.
Of the four hundred men who were listed from Scitu- ate, some only served a short time; others were in the reg- ular Continental Army. Many saw service in New York state.
War of 1812
The militia from this part of the town was called to duty at Scituate Harbor when the British vessel, the Bul- wark, 74 guns, landed men and burned several vessels in the harbor, and at the wharves. Col. John Barstow's regi- ment was on duty for some time.
There were no men from this town in the Mexican war. John Ryan was the only Norwell man in the Spanish war.
Prominent Men
Rev. Samuel Deane, the author of Deane's History of Scituate was a minister here from 1810 to his death in 1833. His history has been a monument to his memory.
Rev. Samuel J. May, a celebrated anti-slavery and temperance advocate of national fame, was here for six years, leaving in 1843. He organized his famous cold water army among the school children at that time, and was a member of the school committee.
Benjamin F. Delano and his brother Edward H. Del- ano, both celebrated Naval Constructors, were natives of this town. Benjamin was Chief Constructor at Brooklyn N. Y., in Civil war days and was also stationed at Ports- mouth, N. H. Edward was at the Pensacola and the
7
HISTORY OF SOUTH SCITUATE -NORWELL
Charlestown yards. While there, they built and remod- eled many of the famous war vessels. Samuel Hart an- other celebrated constructor was a resident here at the time of his death.
Waldo Turner of Weymouth, past Commander of Mas- sachusetts G. A. R. was a native of South Scituate.
Rev. William P. Tilden, preacher and teacher, was an honored son of South Scituate in the last century. His autobiography is a historical treasure and his portrait hangs in the Unitarian Building, 25 Beacon Street, Boston.
There have been several attempts in the past fifty years to get a railroad through the town; one plan was to ex- tend the Hanover Branch, another known as the Plym- outh County Railroad, was to run from Marshfield through the town to Weymouth, and the last plan of about twenty-five years ago was to connect the terminals at Greenbush and Hanover. The town voted thirty thousand dollars toward this and for a time it seemed almost certain that the road would be built.
What is now the Greenbush station of the N. Y., N. H. and H. R. R. was at first called the South Scituate station of the old Duxbury and Cohasset Railroad when that road was built in 1872.
At the time the Hanover and Norwell Street Railway came to Assinippi it also ran from North Hanover through High and Washington street, past the Ridge Hill Grove to Hingham and Nantasket. People of an earlier gener- ation look back to the trips to the beach, Brockton and Providence with much pleasure. It was a great disap- pointment to the people living on the "Hill," that the road was not continued from Assinippi to Scituate Harbor as they hoped.
Customs, the manner of living and the general appear- ance of this town were quite different eighty-nine years ago than they are today. There were no tar or cement roads, no automobiles, and the gravel roads were always dusty in summer and very muddy in spring. Even as late as twenty-five years ago, there were times, when the frost
8
NORWELL CENTER SCENE First Church and Kent Memorial House.
(Cut from photograph by Col. Charles W. Furlong. Cut copyrighted, and loaned by Scituate Historical Society)
--**
DELANO MANSION, DELANO HILL Described by Inez Haynes Irwin, in these words: "Like a stately lady, she sits gazing serenely over globular box-bushes and an exquisite, carved-ivory fence, to the blue reaches of the distance."
(Cut copyrighted and loaned by Scituate Historical Society)
EARLY SETTLEMENT
came out, that it was almost impossible to go to Rockland by auto. In the early days along all the roadways there were either fences or stone walls and all gates were kept closed and bars were always kept up. Ox and horse drawn teams did all of the carting. The farmers carried their produce to the Boston markets with horses, but around the farms and for carting wood and heavy lumber, oxen were generally used. It was no uncommon sight in late summer to see heavy loads of salt marsh hay, drawn by two yokes of oxen with a horse on ahead for a leader, slowly crawling along the way from the salt meadows at Scituate up to the farms at Assinippi. Large droves of cattle, sheep and hogs were driven through here from Brighton down to the Cape towns, the drovers trading along the way with the farmers.
People traveled by stage coach and the line of stages from Plymouth and the "Cape" towns came through Washington street, now "Route 3," daily, stopping at the "Old Half Way House" at the junction of High and Wash- ington Streets to change horses and allow the passengers to eat. Other lines ran up from Marshfield to Cohasset and still others to Hingham, where the passengers took the steamboat in summer, and the train in winter, for Boston.
Later the old thoroughbrace Concord coaches were sup- planted by barges and trips to the beaches, fairs and other jollifications were made in these vehicles.
The young men of those days usually tried to keep a nice horse and buggy (or chaise) in which they took as much pride and on which they bestowed as much care as the young men of today do on their automobiles. There was more social life in town then than there is today. Instead of being able to take an auto and go long dis- tances to the movies and all sorts of entertainments, the people were compelled to depend on their own resources and consequently amateur dramatic entertainments, sociables, fairs and dancing parties were much better pa- tronized than now. Professional entertainers, also visit-
9
HISTORY OF SOUTH SCITUATE -NORWELL
ed the town regularly and the advent of such men as William T. Brown, "Comical Brown," Yankee Glunn and Edward W. Emerson, was looked forward to by the young people, and also by their elders, for weeks.
Lectures (without stereopticons) were very much in vogue and panoramas, large pictures on rolls with a lec- turer to describe the scenes, while an assistant slowly wound the rolls, entertained and instructed appreciative audiences.
In 1673 the remaining swamp lands of Scituate were apportioned to the settlers in lots of two acres to a per- son. A man receiving one of these allotments was ob- liged to clear the land. This was done, so the records say, to prevent cattle from getting mired and also to break up the haunts of wolves and other wild animals. Dead Swamp, Valley Swamp, Hoop Pole Swamp are within the limits of Norwell, and George Moore's is partially so.
It was the custom, in early days, to allow the settlers to graze their cattle and horses on the common lands and the old record books have a number of pages of the names of those having this right together with the ear marks and brands of each person.
Two hundred years later this custom was followed on the great cattle ranges of the "West," and each owner was obliged to register his brand at the county seat.
The town hall was formerly located where the Soldiers Monument now stands on the Common at the "Hill". This location was a bone of contention between the people of the East and West ends of the town from the time it was placed there in 1850.
In 1876 there was a vote passed to have a new town hall in the center of the town to be so constructed as to accommodate a high school. $6500 was appropriated for this purpose. This vote was rescinded at a later meeting. In 1884 the old hall was burned and a hall was built near the center of the town.
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