USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Walpole > The story of Walpole, 1724-1924; a narrative history prepared under authority of the town and direction of the Historical Committee of Bi-Centennial > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 4373
The Story of Walpole 1724-1924 -
A Narrative History prepared under authority of the Town and direction of the Historical Committee of Bi-Centennial
By WILLARD DE LUE
Norwood, Mass. AMBROSE PRESS, INC. 1925
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/storyofwalpole 1700delu
1781031
F 844936 .22
De Lue, Willard.
The story of Walpole, 1724-1924: a narrative history prepared under authority of the town and direction of the Historical committee of bi-contennial, by Willard De Luc. Norwood, Mass., Ambrose press, inc., 1925.
vii, 303 p., 1 1 .. 304 *- 304º p., 1 1., 307-374 p. illis., plates, ports .. facsims. 22°m.
Bibliography : p. 345-353.
1. Walpole, Mass .- Hist. I. Title.
26-1619
Library of Congress
F74.W19D2
-
tyler yxavax
-
The design for the Seal of the Town of Walpole was from an original drawing by Miss Edna Buck, a pupil of the Walpole High School at the time when the draw- ing was made, and was accepted by the town as its official seal on March 2, 1914.
Contents
PAGE
I. LAND OF THE INDIAN
1
II. THE SAWMILL 17
III. KING PHILIP'S WAR 30
IV. FROM HAMLET TO TOWN 45
V. THE FOUNDERS .
64
VI. MEETING HOUSE AND MINISTER . 91
VII. THE ACADIANS . 106
VIII. THE EVE OF INDEPENDENCE : 124
IX. THE REVOLUTION .
138
X. THE END OF A CENTURY
159
XI. THE COMING OF REV. MR. STORER 168
XII. SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR 183
XIII. POST ROAD AND TAVERN DAYS . 197
XIV. FROM STAGE COACH TO MOTOR BUS 219
XV. INDUSTRIAL WALPOLE
240
XVI. FRAGMENTS 278
XVII. THE WORLD WAR .
. 304a
APPENDIX
305
BIBLIOGRAPHY
345
INDEX
355
[ iii ]
List of Illustrations
FACING PAGE
THE ROBBINS HOUSE
48
THE GOSS HOUSE 51
THE CARROLL HOUSE
53
COPY OF FIRST TAX LIST
64
THE ROBERT ALLEN HOUSE
66
THE MOSES SMITH HOUSE
86
FIREPLACE IN MOSES SMITH HOUSE
88
ANSWER TO CALL AS FIRST PASTOR BY
JOSEPH BELCHER
97
COPY DEED OF LAND FOR FIRST MEETING HOUSE 104
THE HOME OF EBENEZER FALES
158
THE OLD MILESTONE OF DEACON EZEKIEL
ROBBINS
207
THE CLAP HOUSE
208
THE BOWKER HOUSE OR DOWNES AND
GAY TAVERN
210
"LEFT AT DEACON ROBBINS' TAVERN"
AND
ADVERTISEMENT
OF
"ROYAL
FARM"
212
THE HARVEY BOYDEN HOUSE
219
THE HALL HOUSE
220
[v]
£
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
THE OLD "HALF WAY HOUSE" OR "FUL- LER TAVERN" 224
COPY OF PORTION OF INVENTORY OF ESTATE OF STEPHEN FULLER 226
THE LIEUTENANT WILLIAM BACON HOUSE 231 THE OLD "MORSE TAVERN" AND BLACK- SMITH SHOP 232
ELEAZAR SMITH
·
245
ONE OF ELEAZAR SMITH'S CARD TOOTH MACHINES 246
CLARK'S MILL AND PLIMPTON IRON & STEEL MFG. Co. 263
CHAIRMEN OF
BI-CENTENNIAL
COM-
MITTEES
307
MEMBERS OF G. A. R. WHO UNVEILED
TABLETS AT MEMORIAL BRIDGE
.
308
UNVEILING
TABLETS
AT
MEMORIAL
BRIDGE
310
GOVERNOR COX AND OTHER SPEAKERS AT
MEMORIAL BRIDGE EXERCISES
315
BI-CENTENNIAL PARADE ENTERING PLIMP- TON SCHOOL GROUNDS 318
FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD EPISODES .
332
FOURTH AND FIFTH EPISODES
335
SIXTH AND SEVENTH EPISODES
336
.
EIGHTH AND NINTH EPISODES
338
[ vi ]
1
Preface
TH 'HE author desires to express his thanks for the many helps he has received in the preparation of this book. Among those to whom he is particularly indebted are Mr. John H. Edmonds, State Archivist of Massachusetts, and his assistants; Mr. Julius H. Tuttle, Secre- tary of the Massachusetts Historical Society; all of the officials and attendants of the Boston Public Library, the Dedham Historical Society, Mr. Isaac Newton Lewis, whose labors have kept alive an interest in Old Walpole, Mr. George A. Plimpton, Mr. Dana W. Robbins, Mr. Harry A. Whiting, chairman of the His- torical Committee of the Bi-Centennial, and all the other members of that committee, from whom has come the heartiest cooperation.
ASHMONT, MASSACHUSETTS, JUNE, 1925
[ vii ]
1
1
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
CHAPTER ONE
LAND OF THE INDIAN
T HERE is a story come down to us from the very early days of the Dedham settle- ment of how the great Indian Sachem, King Philip, on meeting with five men who went to him to negotiate the purchase of lands, pointed out in a very exact way the bounds of his broad kingdom. Not only did he claim ownership of what we today know as the towns of Wren- tham and Norfolk, and territory to the south and west of them, but also to lands north and east, including a part of present Walpole. 1 It has been suggested that Stop River,2 one of Walpole's west bounds, was a bound or "stop" of Philip's land; but if the tradition to which we have reference be worth while, we must find some other origin for the river's name. In the absence of testimony to the contrary, it is reason- able to conclude that much of the southern and western parts of Walpole were originally a part of Philip's domain.
1 Worthington, 20.
2 Lewis, 14.
[1 ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
The more closely one looks into the matter, the more reason there is to think that the terri- tory now within the bounds of Walpole occupied a unique place in the life of the aboriginal in- habitants. It seems to have been a crossroads of the Indian world; debatable ground, claimed, either in part or in whole, by three great chiefs or sachems, two of whom stand conspicuously in our early New England history.
First among them the noble figure of Massas- soit, ruler of the Wompanoag nation and stead- fast friend of the Pilgrims.
This Indian prince, we are told, "owned Cape Cod, and all that part of Massachusetts and Rhode Island between Narragansett and Massa- chusetts Bays; extending inland between Paw- tucket and Charles Rivers a distance not satis- factorily ascertained. . It was filled with many tribes and nations, all looking up to him, to sanction their expeditions, and settle their difficulties."1
Whether the authority of Massassoit extended over the Massachusetts Indians, who dwelt in and around Boston, we cannot say with cer- tainty, though it probably did .? Whatever the fact, when the Puritans came to these shores and began their settlements at Boston, Charles- town, Watertown and Dorchester, they chose to do business not with Massassoit, but with 1 Drake, II, 18. ' Ibid, II, 32-44, Gookin, 8.
[2]
1
.
balln
LAND OF THE INDIAN
Chicatabut, Sachem of the Massachusetts Na- tion. To him they ascribed absolute ownership of all lands and complete jurisdiction over many tribes, including those of the Wessagus- sets at Weymouth, the Neponsets and the Nonantums.1 Chicatabut's chief residence was in what is now Middleboro, but he spent part of his time with the tribesmen at Weymouth (Wessagusset) and on the lower Neponset.2 The Neponset Indians, it will be worth remem- bering, removed to a reservation at Ponkapoag in 1657, assumed the name of their new terri- tory, and were among the Indians whose rovings were to annoy the early settlers of Walpole territory.3
It is not difficult to understand why it was good policy for the Puritans to see in Chicatabut a supreme monarch. If he owned the land, then he could give the land away, or sell it. And, as early instructions which the Puritans' had received from England required them to clear the Indian title to whatever lands they took for occupancy,4 the supremacy of one Indian ruler would simplify negotiations and allow them to follow instructions by one magnificent gesture. Consequently, soon after the first settlements were made, a council was held in the Dorchester meeting house to which Chicatabut was invited.
1 Gookin, 8.
3 Huntoon, 10.
? Drake II, 44.
‘ Bay Colony Records I, 394.
[3]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
At that gathering an agreement of some sort was made with him respecting the use of his lands.
In the light of what later transpired, we may be excused for wondering if this palaver was anything more than a salve for the Puritan conscience. On the strength of what was ac- complished there, enormous grants of land, including what is now Walpole, were made by officials of the Bay Colony to the towns of Dor- chester and Dedham after Chicatabut was in his grave. The two towns took practically all of present Norfolk County, the dividing line between them running through Walpole territory about where Washington street now bisects the town. 1
The legality of these grants, so far as the rights and intentions of the Indians are con- cerned, is extremely doubtful. Some thirty . years later, when a controversy arose over ownership of lands in that part of Dedham now Dover, Rev. John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians, declared that Chicatabut had no idea that the grant of lands made at Dorchester Meeting House included those "at such a distanc."2 Eliot was present when the transaction took place. Certainly then, if lands in Dover were not included in the grant, it is only reasonable to assume that lands "at such a distanc" as to
1 Lewis, 1; also Maps of Dorchester Grant beyond "Blew-Hills."
2 Mass. Arch., XXX, 99, 100. Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 259.
[4]
1
LAND OF THE INDIAN
fall within Walpole's bounds must also have been excepted.
Furthermore, not only does it appear that Chicatabut had no intention of handing over to the white men these remote territories, but it is doubtful if he could have done so legally even were he so minded. They were not his. Territory on the south of the Charles, says Eliot, was "a peculiar hunting place, belonging to another great Sachem named Wompatuk, whose daugter Chikkatabuk maried .. . "1 Of this union was born a son, called Wompatuk, after his maternal grandfather, but in later years named Josiah or Josias by the English. These special lands descended to him through his mother, and never were a part of his father Chicatabut's right.2
.
The only conclusion we can reach is that the English title to lands now called Walpole, insofar as the alleged grant from Chicatabut is con- cerned, was little better than worthless. This was tacitly admitted at a later date, when ef- forts were made by the Dedham settlers to clear the title.
Here, then, we have three Indian rulers- Massassoit, Chicatabut and Wompatuk-who seem to have had conflicting claims in Walpole territory; conflicting claims certainly if we are
1 Mass. Arch., XXX, 99, 100. Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 259.
? Ibid.
[5]
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T
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
to accept the white men's evaluations of terri- torial jurisdiction, though it is possible that the Indians themselves had some clearer under- standing.
There is, however, no occasion for us to worry about Indian claims or rights. The Puritan Fathers themselves paid little attention to them.1 By the grace of God, the Bay Colony Charter, and a goodly store of firearms, they took what they required: and while they fre- quently affirmed, and possibly themselves be- lieved, that they held no lands save by free consent of and just compensation to the natives, conclusive evidences of this are, unfortunately, lacking. The agreement with Chicatabut over Walpole and other lands, viewed in the light of Eliot's intimate testimony, is a sad commentary on the methods by which some of these grants were engineered. Yet, in justice, we must bear in mind that the Puritans were no worse in this respect than some of the descendants. The doctrine of white man's supremacy is a cloak for many sins even in our day.
How hopelessly divergent were the views of the Indian and the Puritan respecting land is shown by the fact that in 1633, the year Chicatabut died, the broadest view the Bay Colony authorities could take was that "the Indians had a just right to such lands as they
1 Mem. Hist. Boston, I, 247-8.
[ 6]
LAND OF THE INDIAN
possessed and improved by subduing the same."1 But the Indian did not improve and subdue lands, as the white man understood it. At best he had a few scattered planting-grounds. His home was not in a fenced field, but in the vast ranges of forest and the broad hunting grounds. But these, by white man's law, be- longed to the white man alone.
It is not surprising, then, to find the General Court of the Colony, sitting at Newtowne (Cam- bridge) in 1635, granting a tract for the Dedham settlement, and in the following year extending the bounds 2 so as to include all of present Wal- pole, Dedham, Westwood, Medfield, Wrentham, Bellingham, Franklin, Dover and Norfolk,3 with never a word, and probably little thought, about the Indian title. Chicatabut had given these lands to the English, they held; and Chicatabut, being dead, could not refute them.
So Dedham came into existence. Lands were laid out and divided among the settlers. Dams were built across the streams in which the Indians had been accustomed to set their weirs. For- est trails became the paths of the Puritans, and favorite hunting grounds became ploughed fields.
After 25 years an outlying settlement was started in what today is Walpole Centre, and
1 Mem. Hist. Boston, I, 248.
2 Bay Col. Rec., I, 156, 179. Ded. Rec., 1636-59, p. 1, 2.
' Worthington, 9.
[ 7 ]
£
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
another was projected at Wollomonopoag, now Wrentham. In all these developments the "pore Indian," as Eliot's orthography usually rendered it, received slight attention.
His day, however, was to come. While the Massachusetts Bay Colony was growing in both area and a spirit of independence, material changes had taken place in its relations with the government at home in England. The Puritans had from the start showed an unwillingness to bend to the will of either King or Commons. Express orders had been ignored, and fears were entertained that the King, in reprisal, would withdraw the Bay Colony Charter, upon which the whale structure of the Puritan com- monwealth rested.
For a time this danger was abated by the Civil Wars in England, the fall of the monarchy and the rise of Cromwell. But in July, 1660, a vessel came into Boston harbor bearing news of the restoration of the Stuarts; and later came disconcerting reports that efforts to have the Bay Colony Charter vacated were being made by those opposed to the way the American set- tlers were running things.1
Now, among the grave consequences of such an act would have been a possible loss of land title. Whatever the Puritans held, they held by virtue of the original charter grant. And so,
1 Mem. Hist. Boston, I, 349.
[8]
£
N
LAND OF THE INDIAN
face to face with such a contingency, the settlers now showed a novel and a significant interest in buying from the Indians the very lands of which, in previous years, the Red Men had been summarily dispossessed. With Indian deeds in their hands, the Puritans could claim owner- ship by purchase, even were the Charter lost.
Soon after receipt of the ill news from England, we find the following entry in the Dedham records:
"Lieft Fisher & Sergt Ellice are deputed to treat (& if may be) to conclude wth the Indians or Sagamore that clayme right at wolomonup- pucke to buy them all out. and cleere the place from all Indians title." 1
It was two years before the matter of "cleeringe the Indian Title about woollomonupacke" came to a head and the town received "a wright- ing vnder the hand & seale of the Sagamore" which showed purchase of lands six miles square, the price being £24 10s.2
It is not wholly clear, the original deed not being in existence so far as known, with what Sagamore this sale was concluded, for it was in this year 1662 that Massassoit passed to the land of his fathers. For a brief period his son Wamsutta, called Alexander by the English, ruled in his place. But he, too, died, and the headship of the Wampanoag nation then de- volved upon a younger brother, Pometacom or
1 Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 26. ? Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 53.
[9]
.
-
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Metacomet, better known in history as King Philip.1 The agreement might have been made with any one of the three.
If the Dedhamites, whose settlement by this time included a tiny group of homes in what is now Walpole Centre, thought that this arrange- ment with the Sagamore would result in a complete clearance of Indian claims, they were soon to learn their mistake. After an interval of seven years (and with the Charter troubles continuing) the question of Philip's rights again came to the fore.
On November 8, 1669, word was carried to Dedham, doubtless by way of the little hamlet in Walpole, that Philip had come to Wrentham and was prepared to treat for the sale of lands in Dedham territory of which he had not already disposed. A committee was appointed to meet Philip to "cleere all his remayneing Rights within our Towne Bounds pvided he make his right apeere." ?
It was on the occasion of this meeting, tradi- tion says,3 that Philip indicated his proprietor- ship in lands now in the southern part of Wal- pole; and it seems that in the arrangement now made the chieftain relinquished his rights in them. From somewhat confused records it
1 Drake, II, 28.
* Ded. Rec., 1659-73, p. 176.
* Ante, 1.
[10]
-
1
LAND OF THE INDIAN
appears that Philip received about £20 for a blanket grant of all his Dedham lands. 1
Another three years passed before attention was again turned to what are now Walpole lands -this time to those within the ancient domain of Chicatabut and of his son Josiah Wom- patuk.
In the spring of 1682 we learn that "Seueral jndianes resideing in our Town to the offenc and damiage of Some of our Inhabitants" were warned to remove themselves to the Indian reservations at "puncapogue Natick or weme- set." 2 Some of natives thus complained of may have resided in what is now a part of East Walpole, this being, as we shall see, a favorite spot with them.
Two years later the town, being informed that "Josias son," that is, a grandson of Chicatabut, lay claim to a tract of land lying "between Dorchester line and Neponcit riuer neer about the sawmill and that he make tender of the said track to sale: we doe therfor desir and ap- point Sergt Richard Ellic to search the records and so [sic] if anything may be found to clear Dedhams title to said land and make retvrn at the first opertvnity."3 This was doubtless the East Walpole land hereafter mentioned.
Sergt. Ellis found nothing, for there was
1 Ded. Rec., 1659-1673, p. 173, 176, 197.
? Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, p. 129.
' Ibid., 155.
[ 11 ]
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
nothing to find; and in March, 1685, a committee was appointed "to Treat Josias the indian Sachem conserning that percill or tract of Land lying on the South Side of Neponseit river" and to try to make a "purchise" of it. The town also decided-and very wisely, considering that the Massachusetts Bay Charter had by this time been vacated-to "Endevour A conforma- tion of our title to all our land lying between Charles river & Dorchester Line."1
These were the very lands which, twenty-five years earlier, when controversy had arisen, the Dedhamites had solemnly asserted had been conveyed to them by Chicatabut. To seek a "conformation" of it at this late date, was virtually to admit the flimsy character of their claim. They looked to Charles Josias or Josias Wompituk, "Sonne and heire of Josias Wompa- tuck, late Sachem of the Indians Inhabiting the Massachusetts in New England and Grand- son of Chickatabut the former Grand Sachem," 2 to make their title secure.
The question immediately arises as to how willing Josias was to sign away whatever rights he may have possessed in the vast lands of his ancestors. The record tells that he refused to go to Dedham to conclude the agreement.
1 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, p. 167.
2 Original deed in Ded. Hist. Soc. "Ancient Deeds from the Indians," Dedham, 1881.
[ 12 ]
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-
IT
اى سيطرة لام
LAND OF THE INDIAN
Whereupon the committee applied to the Messrs. Stoughton and Dudley, guardians of Josias, "to apoint the time and place and give notic to the indians concerned." 1 Thus directed (we will not say forced), Josias placed his mark on the document.
The form of the deed 2 follows closely that of a like instrument executed a few weeks earlier by which this same Josias conveyed to the Town of Boston the lands it occupied. It recited that "as I am Informed and well assured from Several antient Indians as well as those of my Councel as others that upon the First coming of the English to Sitt downe and Settle in those parts of New England my abovenamed Grand- father Chickatabut ... did give grant sell alienate convey and confirme unto the English planters and settlers ... all that Tract or parcel of Land ... now known by the Name of Dedham as the same Lyeth betweene ye Towns of Cambridge Roxbury Dorchester Wren- tham Medfield Watertowne and Natick .. . " he is now ready to "approve, ratifie, establish, enfeoffe, and confirme the same" in considera- tion of "a valueable summe of money."
There were two reservations made. Josias expressly withheld, for the use of his people, "Two Hundred Acres of Land in the Elbow be- tween Dorchester Line and Naponsett River
1 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, p. 168. 3. Ibid., 170.
13 ]
והיה
الـ
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
next the said Line neare Goodman Wales [Fales] and other Inhabitants neere the Saw mill of Dedham. . . Also that my Selfe and ye Puncapogg Indians shall have Full and Free Liberty of Hunting according to Law within the precincts of Dedham. .. " This deed is dated April 18, 1685.
Just how much money Josias got for signing we do not know. It was five months before the town rate for paying the Indians "and other disbursments" 1 was made, but it was many a day before the money was actually obtained. It finally became necessary for individuals to lend the town money with which to make pay- ment-whether payment in full, or just an in- stalment, we do not know. At least one of these public-spirited citizens was trying to get his money back from the town five years after- wards.2
The 200-acre tract reserved by Josias, which was in fact larger, included that section of East Walpole bordering upon Bird's and Plimpton's Ponds and extending generally east and south to Washington Street.3 The original plotting of this land, placed upon a modern map, would give us something like the map on the opposite page.
1 Ded. Rec., 1672-1706, p. 170. 2 Ibid. p. 210. 3 D. H. Reg., IX, 42-43. Mass. Arch., CXXVIII, 165-66. Lewis, 16-19.
[ 14 ]
LAND OF THE INDIAN
ST
E
5
›
Z A I N
. The great
o NSTON 1
Kold
ST
JOUTA
revider
pren
ST
EAST
WEST
COMMON
NORTH
'S
FIM
ST
Road To
Medfield
NORTH ST
Wall's
to Medfield-
MAIN
Denj Malls To
SONER ST
FISKER
Bubbling
VMION
ON
ST
Brook"
NORTH
ST.
WALPOLE AS BOUNDED TODAY Showing some of the principal roads, old and new, mentioned in the text.
[ 15]
BAKER
Turnpike AND "Dedham
ST
PLEASANT ST
NORTH ST
ST.
ptal
.
SOUTH
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Indian title to lands on the Dorchester side of the line, now included in Walpole, had been obtained by the Dorchester people in 1666,1 by about the same method.
The Indians held title to the East Walpole reservation only during the following summer. On October 8, 1685, Josias disposed of the entire tract ? to Nathaniel Paige of Boston for another "valuable Some of Monie." This sale, though it did not necessarily end Indian occupancy, certainly wiped out the Indian title.
You will recall that under terms of the original agreement made by Josias, he and the Ponka- poag Indians reserved the privilege of hunting within the limits of Dedham. The sale of the reservation, then, did not affect this right to hunt. And there is little doubt that the Red Men came here to this favorite Walpole fishing place of theirs, along the falls of the Neponset, for many years after. Mementos of their occupancy are there to this day. There is to be seen at Plimptonville a little stone mortar in which the Indians ground the corn they raised along the river bank. And arrowheads, brought to light in nearby fields by the white man's plow, tell the story of years of occupancy of this final Indian sanctuary in Walpole territory.3
1 Hist. Dorchester, 11. Mass. Arch., XXX, 44, 141, 134, 136.
2 Ibid.
' Collection of George A. Plimpton.
[ 16 ]
L
CHAPTER TWO
THE SAWMILL
T HE vast stretch of American territory that the whites found lying before them at the beginning of the settlements is sometimes re- ferred to as a "trackless wilderness." This term is a misnomer. Through this "trackless wilderness" extended a maze of pathways worn smooth by the tread of countless mocca- sined feet. The trails ran in every direction. Over them the Red Men moved from hunting ground to planting field, from planting field to fishing place, and from fishing place to hunting ground again with the changing seasons. Over them the painted warriors passed in their ex- cursions against a neighboring foe. The In- dians were constant rovers; and so these paths were formed. 1
Through territory now Walpole ran two well defined trails that led from the neighborhood of Boston towards the territory of the Wom- panoags at Wollomonopoag and beyond .? There were also, beyond question, many branch trails running down to the planting-fields by the
1 Roger Williams, 47.
' Lewis, 1.
[ 17 ]
1
!Sou
السوداء صفة
الستول
THE STORY OF WALPOLE
Neponset's edge, and to the fish weirs from which the roving Red Men obtained a material part of their sustenance.
The story of the development of these trails from narrow and tortuous footways into bridle- paths, cart roads, and, in turn, modern streets, is the story of Walpole.
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