USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 38
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The Norton District Nursing Association, originated here in 1920, is performing a very valuable work in this town, the officers for 1923 being : President, James Flaherty ; vice-president, Mrs. Florence Williams ; secre- tary, Miss Florence Cowles; treasurer, Arthur Valentine.
Norton's first postoffice was established in 1817, with Earl P. White as postmaster. Laban M. Wheaton, Earl Hodges and Mrs. Harriet Hodges were his immediate successors. Other postoffices of the town are those at Barrowsville, Chartley, East Norton and Norton Furnace. The town clerks have been : John Briggs, 1711: George Leonard, John Hodges, George Leonard, Jr., David Williams, John King, Captain Silas Cobb, Seth Smith, Jr., Thomas Fobes, Joseph Hunt, George Walker, Thomas Danforth, John Crane, Rev. George F. Clark, Austin Messinger, Jacob A. Leonard, George White. Mr. Leonard was town clerk thirty-nine years.
The first resident physician here was Dr. Samuel Caswell, in 1723. Others in succession were: Doctors Nicholas White, William Ware, John Wild, Jr., Lewis Sweeting, George Wheaton, Jonathan Pratt, Gideon Tif- fany, Adam Johnstone, Daniel Parker, Nathaniel Cook, Timothy Smith, Nathan Babbitt, Samuel Morey, Lewis Laprelite, Leavitt Bates, Guilford Hodges, Asa M. Adams, Richard F. Sweet, Ira Barrows, Benjamin F.
.
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Round, George H. Randall, George W. Wild. Dr. Arthur M. Round in 1923 was the only resident physician.
Industries .- First of all as regards the industries of the old days, was the iron forge of Thomas and James Leonard of Stony Brook, near the Leonard mansion house, later carried on by the son of Thomas, namely Major George Leonard, his son George and his grandson George. Here, also, Judge Leonard had a grist mill; and still later, in 1855, George L. Barnes, a descendant of Major George Leonard, built a saw and shingle mill near that site. Years afterward it came into the hands of H. S. Free- man, C. D. and C. H. Dane, and then the Norton Steam Power Company, organized by Charles D. Lane in 1871. The company was incorporated February 25, 1873. The factory was first occupied September 1, 1872, by William A. Sturdy & Company, jewelers, and in 1873 and 1874 Bodman & Hussey occupied a part of the building. The latter was burned Decem- ber 26, 1874, and rebuilt in 1875. It was purchased in 1879 by William A. Sturdy and C. S. and George L. Wetherell. Corn and grist mills were operated by the Leonards from 1714 to 1770, and these passed through various hands, until in 1819 Ephraim Raymond and Josiah Dean erected a cotton factory and organized the Norton Manufacturing Company. Thence this property also passed through the possession of Samuel Crocker, Charles Richmond, Albert Barrows and others. In February, 1884, the Wheaton Manufacturing Company, consisting of Albert Barrows, Samuel B. King and Laban M. Wheaton, began to manufacture cotton and woolen goods. They sold to the Newbury Manufacturing Company in 1865. In 1871 Lafayette Godfrey purchased the property for the same purpose, and in 1875 the Stafford Manufacturing Company of Fall River were the pur- chasers.
The first mill for fulling, dyeing and dressing cloth in Norton was built by Jonathan Hodges in 1745. That was the beginning of a long series of ownerships and intermittent activities that were pursued by Nathan and Edward Babbitt, Annes Newcomb, Edward and Levi Babbitt, Asa New- comb, Thomas Danforth, Jonathan Smith, Simeon Presbrey, Jr., Daniel Presbrey, Stimson Austin, Alanson Cobb, Nathaniel Newcomb, Maynard Newcomb. William Carpenter started a nail-cutting factory in 1790. The hat-making industry was begun in 1808 by. Ansel Keith and Jonathan Smith. Then in turn on the same site followed Thomas Danforth, Hiram H. Wetherell, Horace B. Wetherell, the Straw Manufacturing Company, the Wheaton Manufacturing Company, the Norton Straw Company, the Norton Manufacturing Company. The first tannery in town was started by John Andrews soon after the incorporation of the town. Deacon Ben- jamin Copeland built another tannery in 1740, which was continued by members of the family until 1845. In 1758 David Arnold built a tannery. In 1858 Austin Messinger began the manufacture of friction matches, and he later went into partnership with Andrew H. Sweet. In 1828 the Centre Mills cotton factory was started on the Ebenezer Burt water privilege on Rumford river by Deacon Daniel Lane & Sons, in association with others. Laban M. Wheaton acquired the property in 1846, and then, successively, Nathan Smith and Story & Talbot. Present industries follow:
The J. C. Briding Company, Jesse Carpenter, proprietor, manufacture shoe lace braids. The Defiance Company are dyers and bleachers.
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The Freeman Daughaday Company, with a capital of $300,000, employ 300 hands in the manufacture of men's jewelry. C. L. Valentine is president; O. P. Becker, sec - retary; F. P. Daughaday, treasurer.
Sturdy Brothers, at Chartley, employ fifty to sixty hands in the manufacture of jewelry. Arthur T. and Harry P. Sturdy are the partners.
Sweet Paper Box Company, with a capital of $20,000 employ twenty-two hands in the manufacture of paper boxes. Frank L. Nelson is president; Louis L'Amoureux, secretary; George H. Fuller, treasurer.
The Norton and Taunton street railway was built in 1898. The Norton Electric Light and Power Company was organized in 1907. The Norton Savings and Loan Association was organized at Chartley, January 20, 1890, with Austin Messinger, presi- dent, and C. Bowen Wetherell, secretary and treasurer.
The Decorative Metal Company, Inc., is a continuation of a partnership business heretofore known as the Decorative Metal Company. It is situated at present at East Norton. It was originally started about 1919, and was incorporated April 7th, 1923. It manufactures a line of portable lamps, advertising novelties, and all types of metal goods made from various compounds of lead, tin and antimony. The offi- cers are Elihu G. Sibley, president, and Charles S. McNulty, secretary and treasurer.
The A. H. Sweet & Son Company, manufacturers of wooden boxes and packing cases, sold their business early in 1923 to Sprague & Reynolds, of East Freetown; and the latter, which has extensive saw mill and box factory holdings in the south part of the county, continue the operation of the Sweet plant. The Sweet company was one of the oldest of the business enterprises of Norton, and was the successor to Messinger & Sweet, at one time conducting a match factory and wood and paper box making plants.
CHAPTER XI. RAYNHAM
Though Raynham of today is but little more than a farming com- munity, and a town of desirable homes, like many another town nearby, then town-makers and home-makers have achieved something valuable indeed-the very possession that our Saxon ancestors were after, and the idea of which they incorporated into all names that have the "hame" end- ing. There are factories along the river-nail, rivet and special shops, that employ many; there are the churches, the woman's club, the grange, the library, the schools-yet one is sure to find the homes of Raynham first claimants to interest.
Industrial .- And as we think of Raynham, inevitably we recall the arrival here of the Leonards and of iron-making. The important enterprise of iron manufacture was here launched in 1652, when the Leonards, Henry and James, had begun a business that was to continue for more than two centuries the leading activity of Taunton, a business without successful rivalry in the province. It marked the beginning of Raynham that, like many another township around us today, sleeps along old highways. The Leonards were the shrewd, practical, fearless men in their craft, and suc- cess crowned all they ever attempted to do, both here and elsewhere, so long as bog-iron and surrounding woodlands were plentiful. They had been workers in iron in Monmouthshire in England, whence they had originally come; and while iron ore had lasted at Braintree, from which place they had more recently arrived to Taunton, they were acknowledged captains of their industry, as well as at Hammersmith, in Saugus, the Indian
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name for the Lynn territory. Such a statement is equivalent to saying that the first ironworks in New England had been established in those places, and not here, as is sometimes popularly believed. That is so. Nevertheless, Taunton's claim to the greatest longevity of the business is a paramount one; and it is of that fact that the old East Precinct, or Raynham, may properly boast, and not of priority, the legend on Raynham town seal to the contrary, notwithstanding. So the Leonards came and conquered, in industry's name. But some time before these ironmasters made their appearance upon the local scene, Taunton settlers had discov- ered and known of the presence and the excellence of bog iron; and pursuant to making the business a going concern, an ironworks company was formed by twenty-three persons who, together with contributors from other colony towns, thus were ready to assure the Leonards a substantial basis for the kindling of their forge fires. The far-sighted settlers, progeni- tors of the Williams, Hall, King, Dean, Woodward, Tisdale, Washburn, Walker, Shaw, Cobb, Burt, Wilbur, Hodges and other families, then di- rected by the Leonards, gave of their time and substance in setting up the 'bloomerie" and the placing of the machinery that had to be brought from England; and they were so occupied for several years before the forge turned out its first iron in 1656.
George Hall, progenitor of the present Hall family here, was also manager and clerk of the iron works, and John Turner had charge of the forge. James Leonard, son of Captain Thomas Leonard, is recorded as having been the manager in 1683, and he was followed in succession by Henry Andrews, Captain Thomas Leonard, John Hall, Israel Dean, Elijah Leonard-"a Leonard always, wherever there is an ironworks," as one of the sayings had it. And this brings us to the time when Raynham was given its separate town rights, April 1, 1731, the ironworks being within its bounds, and the town being owner of proportionate shares. It was in 1767 that the shares in the business began to depreciate in value, owing to the fact that the production of good ore was showing a decline, and that coal for the furnace had decreased in price. But up to this period, three generations of the Leonard family had directed the affairs of the plant. Eventually, Josiah Dean in 1767 took over the good-will of the forge and started a nail works and a rolling mill, manufacturing also the first copper bolts that were made in this part of the State. He continued in that line up to the year 1825, when Major Eliab Dean took charge of the affairs of the ancient plant, this time in the manufacture of anchors, his descendants continuing that work up to 1876, when the forge fires died out, and this industrial relic passed.
The Indian chief. King Philip (Metacomet), who had several camps on the domains of his fathers in this section (that at Fowling Pond, a little over a mile above the situation of the Forge, and through which region Two Mile river flows, being one of his favorite hunting grounds), became a frequent visitor to the original Raynham home of the Leonards, and to the Forge. The Leonards were wont to supply the chief with food, and they also repaired his weapons. Philip admired James Leonard as a man "fair and above-board," and as an earnest of his friendship is said to have made Leonard a present of 150 acres of land. This friendliness that had existed between the two camps accounts for the fact that although the
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Forge and its group of buildings were garrisoned, and there is a tradition that a fort was built here, also-the red chief held to a great extent to the memory of his former comradeship, and comparatively little harm came to Taunton settlement during the period of the outbreak. The first of the Leonard houses of the distinctive colonial type was built in 1670, and there is another tradition that the head of King Philip was long kept hidden in its cellar.
One more fact in relation to the old Forge and its product-though `there yet remains a mine of information regarding the works, as plentiful as was the bog iron itself at the beginning. There were as yet in this coun- try no banks, of course, and money was scarce. Immigrants and emigrants brought and took away with them much of the specie. Little wonder was it, then, that the iron made from the bog ore should become as valuable as gold. A mint had been set up in Boston for coining silver money, and the first pine tree shillings were made of silver imported from the West Indies, but this created only a small supply. As a result, some of the bar iron here manufactured was put into circulation as a medium of exchange. Rev. Samuel Hopkins Emery's "History of Taunton" is quoted from in the following first order for "iron as money" from one of the founders of Taunton and promoters of the ironworks: "Ensigne Thomas Leonard : Please pay to bearer, tipping nine shillings and three pence in iron as money. From yr friend, Richard Williams." Now, no sight nor sound remain of the ancient iron industry, and no descendants of the Leonard ironworks remain at the immediate furnace precinct. The late Captain John W. D. Hall, besides discovering the old journals of the ironworks business, gathered and published valuable information relating to the enter- prise.
Raynham, for ninety-four years a part of Taunton, was separated and became a town by itself, April 1, 1731, which was the date of its incorpora- tion, and therewith provision was immediately made for religious teach- ing, and for a settled ministry, as well as for a schoolmaster. Samuel Leonard, Jr., was chosen town clerk. His successors since that time have been as follows: Josiah Dean, Zephaniah Leonard, Mason Shaw, Robert Britton, Seth Washburn, Josiah Dean, Horatio Leonard, Abraham Hatha- way, William Snow, Soranus Hall, Samuel Jones, Dennis Rockwell, Samuel Jones, Araunah L. Leach, Joseph M. White, Damon White, Elmer Lincoln, Walter E. Harlow. The total valuation of the town in real estate in 1922 was $1,176,919; on personal estate, $275,805. The population was about 1,850.
Churches and Schools .- During the year 1729, two years previous to the incorporation of the town, individuals incurred the expense of building "a meetinghouse, which was nearly completed in 1731, and a tax was levied to pay that expense. John Wales was chosen the first minister, he having already been attending to the spiritual wants of the people. His salary . was fixed at about $266. In this first church in the new town there were fourteen men and seventeen women who had been members of the church in Taunton. Rev. John Wales continued to be the minister for thirty-four years, or until the time of his death, February 23, 1765. The Revolution was at its height, when, July 29, 1776, Perez Fobes of Bridgewater was
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chosen pastor, and he was given a salary of $390. Rev. Mr. Fobes was one of the noted educators of his generation. He was a graduate of Cam- bridge University in England, and, like other clergymen of that period, he served as chaplain during the Revolution. He was professor of experi- mental philosophy at Brown College, and during the absence of President Manning he acted in the capacity of president of that institution. He was chosen a fellow of the college in 1787, and in 1792 he received the degree. of Doctor of Laws. He had a marked talent for extemporaneous speaking, and "could thrill an audience with spontaneous eloquence." The church was without a pastor seven months after the death of Rev. Mr. Fobes, and Rev. Stephen Hull was installed, September 2, 1812.
The first meetinghouse, a plain structure, stood a quarter of a mile east of the Leonard forge, and on the north side of the road leading to "Squaw- betty". The second meetinghouse stood upon land purchased from Amariah Hall at the centre of the town, and was built by Israel Washburn. The pews were square and high; the galleries extended on three sides; there were no blinds; and the pulpit with its sounding-board stood on the east side. A steeple and a bell were added some years after the erection of the building. The first old church was taken down in 1780. The third meet- inghouse was built in 1832, near the centre of the lot upon which the second church stood, and the bell was transferred from the old belfry to the new. In the second church building, town meetings had been held, and legal impediments stood in the way of the demolishment of the structure, which event some of the townsfolk desired. One morning Raynham awoke to find that during the night the tower of the meetinghouse had been pushed over and lay across the street, its vane and lightning rod reaching into the orchard of Amos Hall. The tower was removed, and nothing then stood in the way of the removal of the rest of the building, which was done. In 1912 the last of the trio of old church buildings was burned in a conflagra- tion that took with it at the time another house, a blacksmith shop, and a carriage repository.
Rev. Enoch Sanford, local historian and genealogist, was the fourth pastor of the Congregational church in this town. He was a graduate of Brown University in the class of 1820, and a tutor there two years. He was ordained here October 2, 1823, and was given a salary of $500. Rev. Mr. Sanford resigned in 1847, after a pastorate of nearly a quarter of a century. He was succeeded by Rev. Robert Carver, a graduate at Andover Theological Seminary, in 1847, and who during the Civil War was chaplain of the Seventh Regiment. The present church building, built of field stone, was erected in 1912, and the pastor in 1923 was Rev. C. Leonard Holton. He is also pastor of the North Raynham Congregational Church that was organized in 1875, which society was established in accordance with a bequest of Martin L. Hall of Brookline, a native of Raynham, son of Seth and Selina Hall. He left in his will a bequest of $16,000 for the purchasing of land and building a church. The church building was erected in 1876, and dedicated in November of that year. Rev. C. A. Thurston was the first pastor. '
The Baptists began to hold their meetings in the thirties at the home of Asa King, who throughout the initial years of that society was its bene- factor and helper. He was grandfather of E. Judson King, for whom the
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Judson district of Raynham was named. The church itself was organized in 1839, and a few years afterwards the building was erected, Rev. Eben- ezer Briggs being the first pastor. Rev. Ephraim Ward of Middleboro succeeded Elder Briggs, and he was succeeded in 1846 by Rev. Silas Hall. For a number of years, the pulpit had transient supplies; but Rev. James Andem became the pastor in 1855, during which year the parsonage was built. Successively, the pastors thereafter were: Revs. William Reed, Thomas Atwood, John Blain, Lumin Kinney, Asa Bronson, Ambler Edson, Albert Colburn, J. W. Lathrop, Rev. T. C. Tingley. The pastor in 1923 was Rev. Jacob F. Speerli. In 1860 this church united with the Taunton Baptist Association.
A Unitarian society was formed in 1828, which was composed of twenty-five members of the older church, and others in the town; and this congregation designated itself the Second Congregational Society, it being composed of representatives of the prominent families here. Their meeting- place was in a hall that was owned by Captain Reuben Hall, but soon a church was built on land a little north of the first church that was pre- sented them by Ellis Hall. Rev. Simeon Doggett was their minister for a number of years, though twelve years after having been established regular services were discontinued. For many years afterward, afternoon services were held that were in charge of the Unitarian ministers from Taunton; but these were discontinued in 1870, and the church was changed into a hall and made use of for entertainments.
Eleven years after the incorporation of the town, or in 1742, School- master Fisher was teaching the children reading, writing and arithmetic, and he was succeeded in 1744 by John Lea, who was employed to teach seven weeks and four days, for sixteen pounds and sixteen shillings. The schools at this time were removed from one section of the town to the other, for the convenience of the pupils. The Raynham schools in 1923 had a total membership of 360 in the following-named schoolhouses: Center schoolhouse, the first brick building in the town, erected in 1919; the North Primary, Gilmore Grammar, Prattville, South and Judson, with ten regular teachers. Forty-three pupils from here were attending Taunton High School. The cost of maintaining the schools here was then about $28,300, of which about $9,000 was paid by the State. Helen F. Robinson was chairman of the school committee, George A. Turner, secretary. The schools are directed under the union district with West Bridgewater, W. J. B. MacDougall, superintendent.
The Town in the Wars .- Early during the Revolution, the town voted to pay its share towards defraying the expenses of the Continental Con- gress; and in 1775 the local committee of safety consisted of Israel Wash- burn, Joshua Leonard, Benjamin King and Elijah Leonard. Among those who served in the Revolution from here were Seth Dean, Captain Abra- ham Hathaway, Elijah Gushee, Gaius King, Job Hall, Benjamin Cane, Joseph Shaw, Noah Hall, Samuel Hall. There were two companies of uniformed militia in the town in 1810-the South company, commanded by Captain Barzillai King, and the North company by Captain Simeon Wil- bur. Raynham sent her quota of thirty-nine men to the front in the Civil War, the members of Raynham's volunteers in Company K, Fourth Regi- '
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ment, being Alex. R. Cain, Francis R. Hall, Alden Whitman, Sylvanus S. Whitman. A soldiers' monument erected on Raynham Green was the gift of the late Miss Amy Leonard and others.
During the World War, the activities of every individual in the town were commensurate with those of any other community, whether in the giving of money, making of materials, or providing men for various of the contingents in the service. George F. Rogers was the general chairman of the committees. There are fifty-eight names on the honor roll on Rayn- ham Green. One of that number, Chester Danforth, never returned from his service abroad, and it is supposed that he was among the many who fell in battle in France, and of whom news could never be obtained.
Miscellaneous .-- Few small towns have so active a woman's club as that in Raynham, that has interested itself in all matters that pertain to the progress and welfare of this community. In 1905 the project was launched under the direction of Mrs. Mary Fletcher, when the organiza- tion was known as the Raynham Social Club, with both social and benevo- lent purpose in view, of which they have never lost sight. They adopted their present name when on June 12, 1906, they purchased and occupied Dean's Hall-the Unitarian meetinghouse built in 1828, and called it Weonit Hall. From the first, the club has proven its value to the com- munity, sharing actively in all matters that have to do with the advance- ment of the village. During the World War they worked as hard as did any woman's club in the large cities, sharing with the various organizations in Taunton, such as the Red Cross chapter, every humanitarian and soldier welfare interest. The Honor Roll on the Green with its fifty-eight names is the gift of the club, it having been erected there in 1918. Weonit Hall has its own interesting story. After its discontinuance by the Unitarians, it was sold at public auction by Ellis B. Hall, a son of the donor, between the years 1880 and 1885, Lewis Rounds being the purchaser. He expended $400 on the building, and sold it to Warren S. Leach. After two years of ownership, Mr. Leach sold the building to the Woman's Club. The or- ganization in 1923 had a membership of fifty-four, and its officers at that time were: President, Mrs. Isabel Hiltz; secretary, Mrs. George F. Rogers : treasurer, Mrs. Lizzie Thompson.
Raynham Center Grange was instituted in 1912, with a membership of sixty. Since that time it has been the gathering-place for counsel and direction for an increasing membership for the large farming community. Mrs. Burton T. Mowry was the grange master in 1923.
The Raynham Public Library was started in 1893, and the librarians have been Misses Edith, Clara and Lucy W. Thompson.
Besides the famed ironworks, other early industries that gave employ- ment to the townspeople were: the saw-mill of Benjamin Shaw in 1700 on the Fowling Pond stream; James Presbro's grist-mill in 1770, at the head of Two Mile river; Zadoc Presbro and Captain Israel Washburn's furnace for the manufacture of hollow-ware, which business was continued in succession by Dr. Seth Washburn and Zadoc Presbro, Franklin Wash- burn, and George W. King.
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