USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 12
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Mr. Page, chairman of the executive committee, then introduced the Hon. Abra- ham Lincoln, member of Congress from Illinois, who had kindly yielded to the solici- tations of the committee to come from Worcester to address our citizens. Mr. Lincoln enchained the attention of a delighted audience for nearly two hours. This speech cov- ered the whole ground of the National election; and was marked by great originality, clear, conclusive, convincing reasoning, and enlivened by frequent flashes of genuine, racy, western wit. We have rarely seen a more attentive or interested audience. In fact, he took the house right between wind and water, and made a most admirable speech, which cannot fail to make a lasting impression on his hearers, and to gain friends for that honest old man, and tried patriot, as well as soldier, Zachary Taylor.
The committee deserves and will receive the thanks of the Whigs of New Bedford for securing the services of Mr. Lincoln. After Mr. Lincoln had finished his address, the audience gave him three hearty cheers, and repeated with rousing cheers for Taylor and Fillmore.
These might seem commonplace paragraphs, were it not for the fact that they are written in memory of the great Emancipator who "now be- longs to the Ages."
John Quincy Adams visited New Bedford on different occasions, one being in September, 1843, and it was announced that he "arrived by the railroad." He did not come to make a political speech, but did make quite a telling oration before he left. He had become nettled at what leading men in Europe had been saying about this Republic being a failure, and
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among his strong paragraphs the following which he closed with, is worth here repeating.
I was here eight years ago and then this town of yours had not half the population that it now has-not half the wealth that has been drawn from the depths of the ocean. I say that the experiment of a Republican government has not failed. Let the European men of learning who have concluded that the experiment of a Repub- lican government in this country is a failure, let them show the spot on the face of this earth which has FAILED SO SUCCESSFULLY. I have witnessed it hereto- fore-I now witness it.
Authors .- From a list of local writers of both prose and poems, com- piled several years ago by George H. Tripp, librarian at New Bedford, the following has been gleaned :
The principal literary men of the first century in New Bedford, were within the ministry-the clergy seeming to think that their profession was in some way identified with writing prose and poetry, as well as expound- ing the gospel truth to dying souls. Some were good writers and others not so good. Creeds and doctrines in the early days of the American churches were held in the highest terms, and thought to be a part of the "Divine Plan of Salvation." Volume upon volume of such religious writ- ings, together with endless sermons, were published, bound and placed on the shelves of libraries and studies, some to be read and reread and possibly answered by some other school of theology, while others were destined to be consigned to back rooms and out-of-the-way places in some library or private house, to be sold at auction a half century or more later, when creeds and dogmas had materially changed-sold not to be read, but sold as "old paper," or in instances placed in antique book shops to show the inore recent believers what their ancestry held as Biblical teachings and the only true faith. But while the foregoing was true of many literary characters at the early day, there were not a few brilliant writers whose works have stood the test of time.
Among the earliest local preachers in this part of the State was Rev. Samuel West, a Harvard graduate, who wrote "Essay on Liberty and Necessity," printed in 1793, in which he contended hotly against the famous Jonathan Edwards. He also wrote on scientific subjects with a ready pen.
Another clergyman was Dr. Orville Dewey, of New Bedford, who pub- lished many sermons and theological essays, ordination sermons, and the like. He also wrote a book on "The Old World and the New," and showed the morals and manners in this country and Europe. In one of his works he sought to show the "Moral Uses of the Pestilence, denominated Asiatic Cholera," which had quite a sale here in New England.
A bitter controversy arose in 1837 over a pamphlet by Charles Mor- gridge, minister of the First Christian Church in New Bedford, entitled "The True Believers' Defense Against Charges Preferred by Trinitarians." This was answered by Phineas Crandall, pastor of the Second Methodist Episcopal Church, who wrote "The True Faith Vindicated." Then that book had a reply by Rev. Morgridge, "An Appendix to the True Believers' Defense," usually styled "Reply to the True Faith Vindicated."
Other writers who published their works included Rev. Ephraim Pea- body; Enoch Mudge, the last on "Lectures to Young People"; Sylvester Holmes, whose sermon on the death of Averick K. Parker, wife of John
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Avery Parker, was published in 1847; Wheelock Craig, minister of the Trinitarian Church, a sermon in book form on "Legislation as an Imple- ment of Moral Reform."
Others of literary note among the clergy were J. N. Morrison, John Girdwood, William G. Eliot, later of the Middle West, and John Weiss William J. Potter, pastor of the Unitarian Church for thirty years, was a man of rare literary ability. His "Twenty-five Sermons of Twenty-five Years" and "Lectures and Sermons," attracted much general attention. He was the editor for many years of the "Index." Later ministers who wrote with ability and strength were Henry M. Dexter, authority among Ameri- can writers on the subject of the Pilgrims and Puritans, and of the history of Congregationalism. The Rev. M. C. Julien published sermons, fairy tales, and poems. An ethical writer of the middle of the last century, at New Bedford, was Clother Gifford, whose book has the following interest- ing (long) title: "Essays on Health, Natural and Moral Laws and Educa- tion by Clother Gifford, Teacher of Phrenology, Physiology, Natural and Moral Science, advocate of religion, purity, peace, temperance, Christian Union," etc. Rev. L. B. Bates, a Methodist Episcopal clergyman of New Bedford, was the author of "Hymnal For Social Worship Everywhere"; this was issued in Bedford in 1869. Among the later writers is recalled Miss Averic Francis, author of "The Religion of Christ in the Twentieth Century." In 1817 Dr. Alexander Reed published an address before the New Bedford Auxiliary Society for the Suppression of Intemperance. A few years ago a native of Dartmouth, Benjamin R. Tucker, wrote much along the line of socialism and anarchism. He styled himself "a philo- sophical anarchist." His writings were of a literary style, and possessed logic, from his standpoint.
So many authors have lived in and near New Bedford that the writer scarcely knows who to pick out as examples of literary ability. Among writers of more than ordinary talent may be noted: Hon. T. D. Elliot, Congressman; Hon. J. H. Clifford and George Fox Tucker, on legal ques- tions, including the Monroe Doctrine; Andrew Ingraham, author of the "Swain School Lectures," "How Shall My Child Be Taught," C. F. King, Harry F. Harrington, Mrs. Rachel S. Howland, author of the "Christian Reader"; George B. Emerson, Walter S. Allen, Frederick K. Brown ("Al Priddy") author of "Through the Mill," and "Through the School," also "Man or Machine, Which?" Benjamin K. Rodman, 1840, wrote a plea against imprisonment for debt, called "A Voice from the Prison," he him- elf having been in prison in New Bedford for non-payment of his debts. He stated that in the New Bedford prison there had been incarcerated 438 persons for debts. Still some argue that the world is no better than formerly.
E. W. Hervey published three notable books of more than local interest : namely, "Plants Found in New Bedford and its Vicinity," 1860; "The Flora of New Bedford," 1891: "Observation On the Colors of Flowers and Leaves." 1889. Charles G. Congdon, of New Bedford, later on the editorial staff of the "New York Tribune," wrote many interesting, valuable things in his time; one of his books was called "Flowers Plucked Along Life's Journey." Rev. Walter Mitchell wrote many beautiful poems, and Senator Hoar, believed he wrote one that would immortalize his name over and
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above the other members of his Harvard class. He referred to "Tacking Ship off Fire Island." W. W. Crapo, president of old Dartmouth His- torical Society, was a poet of his class in Yale, and had he stuck to author- ship instead of law, doubtless would have immortalized himself. E. H. Macy published in 1896, "Between Whiles," and Rev. H. W. Parker, pastor of the North Congregational Church, wrote "The Despised Race," 1863.
Strictly modern writers here include William C. Lawton, who writes with a wonderful vigor of expression. He is author of "Studies of the New England poets,". "Folia Dispersa," "Art and Humanity in Homer." "The Student's Shakespeare" was by a Methodist minister of Fairhaven, 1880. The books of travel written in New Bedford is only expressed by the one word-Legion. A book entitled "Life in Feejee, or Five Years among the Cannibals, by a Lady," is said to have been written many years ago, by a Mary Wallis, wife of a sea captain who sailed from New Bedford.
Biographical writers have been numerous in this vicinity, and some have been excellent in the preservation of historic facts gleaned as they compiled biography of the long since loved but now departed citizens of the county of Bristol: Crapo's "Memoir of John S. Brayton," Rodman's "Memoir of Joseph Grinnell," "The Autobiography of Joseph Bates," "Bio- graphical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College," by F. B. Dexter; "Biography of Samuel Clemens," or Mark Twain, written by Albert Bige- low Paine, a native of New Bedford; and "My Bondage and Freedom," written by Hon. Frederick Douglas, who lived in New Bedford for a num- ber of years immediately following his escape from slavery. This work stands alongside "Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Harriet Beecher Stowe, as anti- slavery logic and fine literature.
CHAPTER XIX.
FAMOUS PLAYERS AND OLD PLAYHOUSES-HISTORIANS AND ARTISTS
A few years have elapsed since this topic was written up by Edward Denham, to whom the writer is indebted for many of the facts connected with this chapter.
The Quakers, Congregationalists and "hard-shell" Baptists of long ago, in and around New Bedford, made an atmosphere unsuited for the drama or opera. These people looked upon such things as plays and any entertainment that was presented from the stage, as something low and of a degrading order. Later, they allowed lectures, concerts, wax figures, and at last attended, or allowed their children to attend, a small menagerie containing three animals. These entertainments were given in the Town Hall without much public protest. When a library was donated the Friends' Society in 1813, a committee went over the list of books and discarded many, such as the English Poets and Shakespeare's works, as unfit for the reading by the young people. Such opposition lasted many years in the neighborhood of New Bedford. February 2, 1857, came George Vanden- hoff, temporarily retired from the stage, to give an evening entertainment before the Lyceum. On the platform was George Howland, Jr., as presi-
LIBERTY HALL BUILDING (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN 1867)
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dent of the society. In one of the selections the celebrated reader became somewhat dramatic, whereupon Mr. Howland interrupted him, saying, "This is not a theatre." Mr. Vandenhoff replied by reciting the reply of Jacques to the Duke, in "As You Like It," beginning with, "All the World's a Stage." Applause followed, but the Quaker element saw no sense in the laughter.
At the corner of County and Elm streets many years ago stood a stable, where later the handsome residence of John Duff was erected. This building was finally remodeled and Mr. Hians opened up a circus in 1828, much to the annoyance of the citizens. In 1836 the building was opened as the Lion Theatre, J. Barrett, manager, with the play "Castle Spectre." F. L. Davenport, who made his first appearance on any stage that same year, was there. "Richard the Third" was played several times in New Bedford in that building and others. These were the first Shakespeare plays ever seen in the village, and trouble arose in the council over granting another license, but later the selectmen recanted. In 1840 a vote was had on the proposition of "Theatre or no Theatre" in New Bedford, when the vote stood "for" twelve; "against" five hundred and sixty-six.
After the present stone Unitarian church on Union street was com- pleted (it was dedicated May 24, 1834), the old meeting-house (built 1795-7) at the corner of Purchase and Williams streets, was used for lec- turers, concerts, etc., and was usually spoken of as the old church, etc., though an unsuccessful attempt was made to call it "The Forum." On March 13, 1841, it was sold with land under and adjoining the same. Then it was named Liberty Hall. In March, 1846, it was fitted up into a theatre. November 9, 1854, it burned down. That was the wooden structure the older citizens recall. On May 20, 1856, a new Liberty Hall of brick was opened on the site of the old one. On February 10, 1864, the interior was burned out. The walls were repaired and enlarged and the building again opened on December 5, 1864. That was a few years ago demolished to make way for the Merchants' National Bank.
From 1851 to 1861 many Shakespearian plays were seen from the stage in New Bedford. E. L. Davenport May 22, 1861, played "Hamlet," and the following evening "Othello." Possibly the most notable events in theatrical lines in this city was the visit of Charoltte Cushman, who played here on four consecutive evenings in May, 1861. On the 28th she appeared as Lady Macbeth; J. B. Studley was Macbeth; John Gilbert, first witch. and Miss Viola Crocker, first singing witch. On the 29th the play was "King Henry Eighth; Miss Cushman, Queen Katharine; John Gilbert. King Henry; J. B. Studley, Cardinal Wolsey; Miss Crocker, Anna Boleyn. On the evening of the 30th, "Romeo and Juliet" was presented: Miss Cush- man as Romeo: Miss Crocker, Juliet; John Gilbert, Friar Lawrence; J. B. Studley, Mercutio. On the next evening the "Merchant of Venice" was produced. In 1876 and 1877 the stage here was honored by the presence of the celebrated actors, Booth and Barrett.
Most of the great players of contemporaneous times have appeared at the New Bedford Theatre on Union street, and the Opera House which was built from Old Grace Church about forty years ago, the theatre being built where the first Opera House stood. In 1915 the Olympia Theatre, seating 2.800 persons, was built on Purchase street.
Bristol-38
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New Bedford's first history was written by the pen of Daniel Ricket- son, who passed from earth a number of years ago, aged eighty-five years. He was born on the old Ricketson homestead, corner of Acushnet avenue and Union street, July 30, 1813. He fitted for college at Friends' Academy in New Bedford, but changed and took up law with Charles Francis Warren. He practiced law a few years, but not finding the profession what he thought it would be, he withdrew from the bar. At about that date his father died and left him a competency, enabling the son to pur- sue more congenial callings, more to his natural bent-to become a real son of nature and be with nature at her untrammeled best. He removed to a quiet place on Acushnet avenue, which he improved and which he called "Woodlee." Later, however, he removed to the old family house in New Bedford where he died. He lived also many years at Brooklawn Park, and there in the true heart of nature he wrote the first history of his native town and city. This was in 1858. The first of his historical notes, however, were published in the New Bedford "Daily Mercury," September 27, 1856. This was followed each Saturday and which with changes, constituted the material from which later he compiled his "History of New Bedford," a work of intrinsic value to later writers. He also wrote the beautiful poem entitled "The Autumn Sheaf," published in 1869. Much of his writing was performed in what he termed "The Shanty," a little vine-covered building now to be seen by the house at Brooklawn Park. In this rustic building he passed many a happy hour and day with his pen and his literary friends. Emerson, George William Curtis and Thoreau were his frequent callers. He made the acquaintance of such great characters as William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, A. Bronson Alcott, Charles Sumner, and others of national celebrity. The papers in "Harper's" by Curtis give this description of Mr. Ricketson:
He is as shy as a partridge, and not only lives somewhat of a recluse from men, but actually hides himself under a broad brimmed slouched hat and within the charitable folds of a huge old-fashioned camlet cloak, even when you are walking or talking with him. His avoidance of society is instinctive as a musician avoids dis- cords, and he has a humorous twinkling sarcasm in his treatment of those who seem to him sophisticated or enslaved by society. A black hat or dress coat affect him like the most ludicrous jests, and the habit of stuffing good honest English talk with French phrases excites his utmost contempt. He declares that he should as soon think of larding a beef tongue with the fat of frogs. Moreover, he is very fond of insisting that civilization has half ruined us.
One expression of this man was quoted by Mr. Curtis in Harper's publication which reads as follows: "I believe that in society people put on their best clothes to come together and see each other eat. I presume from what I know of society that they do so. I should be very much sur- prised if they did not."
Another history of New Bedford was written by Leonard B. Ellis, in about 1897. He was the son of Caleb L. and Abbie D. (Hathaway) Ellis, and was born in New Bedford in 1838. He was educated at the Brush street grammar school, and three years' course in the high school under John F. Emerson. He followed the cooper's trade with his father, with whom he became a partner in 1859. For twenty-five years he conducted a picture-framing concern after the close of the Civil War period. His store and shop was a resort for literary people and lovers of fine art goods
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which he handled. He wrote an acceptable history of New Bedford city.
As to local painters, there were many who achieved wider fame than that of William A. Wall-Albert Bierstadt, R. Swain Gifford and William Bradford for example, but none performed a greater or more lasting service for New Bedford than Wall, for he devoted his artistic genius to illuminat- ing the pages of local history, and through his efforts and skilful brush has been preserved a beautiful, lifelike group of paintings, accurate in every detail, and also truthful, in the portraits of leading actors of an ancient day. Such pictures as the "Whale Fishery," the view of "The Four Corners," in 1807, and the "Landing of Gosnold," are all of great value as illustrating the earlier periods of history. Only a few people who are familiar with the famous painting of New Bedford in 1810 or its reproductions know that almost every figure in it is that of an historical personage of the early place. It was painted in 1857, and originally bore the title "New Bedford Fifty Years Ago." Another painting of historic value and merit is "The Early Whale Fishery," in which Joseph Russell is supposed to be watching the unloading of a small vessel which has just returned from a successful cruise. From Mr. Wall's brush is also a full length portrait of Abraham H. Howland, first mayor of New Bed- ford. Benjamin Russell was a painter of the old whaling days. His work is familiar to collectors of rare New England paintings. William Bradford was another renowned marine artist, born in Fairhaven, 1823, died 1892. He began painting ships in Lynn Harbor and in Nova Scotia. He made several expeditions in the arctic regions and studied the icebergs and floes. Albert Bierstadt was another fine artist who brought much fame to New Bedford. "Fishing Boats in Fundy Bay" was one of his masterpieces. He was a native of Germany, born in 1830. He began to paint in oil in 1851.
PART V.
HISTORY OF ATTLEBORO
1
HISTORY OF ATTLEBORO
CHAPTER I.
ATTLEBORO ORIGINS
Attleboro, chief jewelry manufacturing centre in the United States, is a culmination of the proofs of a continuous expression of the industrial spirit and purpose of the Old Colony, as well as a remarkable demonstration of present-day specialization in manufacturing. It has two engrossing chap- ters in its life-that of its origins, nearly co-existent with the beginnings of New England; and the story of today, a continuous one in the industrial realm. Were we to begin the historical narrative of Attleboro with refer- ence to that unknown Frenchman who in 1780 began to manufacture jewelry in this town, and so continue through increasingly abundant and absorbing chapters of the growth of jewelry-making, we should present the account of the life and times of Attleboro as most people know them. But it would still be in order to find and follow the original, the fleeting paragraphs, that lead us up to this present, in order that the old Attleboro and the new be united in the sequences of the story. Busy and active a world as it is, there are exceedingly few men, after all, who disregard their own ancestry, humble though the start may have been; and there are but few who confess to no interest in the recital of successive foundations. There should be fewer still who are willing to lose sight of the recollection of the twinkling lights of the first wilderness and village homes of Attle- boro, from whose hearths were lighted the fires of the city's energies. Let us look back unto the thresholds and rebuild the lost rooftrees.
Three men distinguished in their pioneer age above others, and respect- fully regarded today, had to do with making sure of the provision for the settlement of the lands whereon Attleboro town must one day arise. Those men were Captain Thomas Willett, friend of red man and white, purchaser of territory for the future settlement, and first English mayor of New York; William Blackstone, first of all white settlers in Boston (then Shawmut), and earliest householder within the ancient limits of Attleboro; and John Woodcock, first to set up his home and tavern within the bounds of the present Attleboro. Because of their activities in their unpopulous but eventful day, room was to be made for settlers from adjoining towns and from overseas who should later themselves give way to representatives of many other races, and in this New England hamlet and city illustrate again the world-old way of the incessant ebb and flow of the tides of humanity- movements that we style those of old and new regimes, that have always provided causes for jealousies and conflicts, but that are as natural as the tides and the seasons. Of these three men there shall be a later detailed account as to their personality and influence; they introduce for us our narrative, but to appear again-as for the present we are to reckon with the reports of the beginning and progress of the town building. The story of the town of Rehoboth is woven in with that of the beginnings of Attleboro, and Rehoboth made its own generous contribution of families to this settle- ment, but in its own place in these volumes is to be told Rehoboth's story.
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April 1, 1661, then, is a date that the Attleboro of today may well memorize for the event that it marks, and for what it means to all the industry of this hour. It indicates the day of the passing of a very old heritage of Indian proprietors into the hands of a white man who in. his turn should pass it on to other groups of purchasers, founders of many families of the present. And this was only forty-one years after the arrival of the "Mayflower," whose passengers were to found the Old Colony of which this purchase was a part, and only twenty-four years after the pur- chase of the present Taunton was made of the Indians. These lands were those of Wamsutta, whose acquaintance we have made in the course of the narrative on the Indian wars, and in the transactions of the Freemen's purchase-that Wamsutta called Alexander by the English, and of whose father Massasoit nothing evil was ever written. There was neither seizure nor misrepresentation in the land negotiations here, Plymouth Court being the go-between for the Indian owners, the promulgated law of 1643 against independent and indiscriminate buying of property performing justly in behalf both of the natives and the purchasers.
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