USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 40
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The Town and Officiary .- The "Fighting Town Meeting" of May, 1811, was the most pugnacious event that had ever taken place in the annals of the town, when blows were aimed and furniture broken, in the celebrated case of the remonstrance of Stephen Bullock and four hundred and three others against the election of Elkanah French, Caleb Abell, John Medbury Sebra Lawton and Timothy Walker, returned as members of the General Court from the town, the committee concluding in their report that the supposed election was "altogether void and of no effect."
The west part of the town was incorporated into a separate township in 1812, with the name of Seekonk, in token of the earlier name of the section, though the majority of the town was opposed to the division.
The town clerks from the beginning have been as follows: Peter Hunt was elected to the office in 1651, though William Carpenter was keeper of the town records from 1643 to 1649. In succession were the following- named : Richard Bowen, chosen in September, 1654; Richard Bullock, Janu- ary, 1659; William Carpenter, Jr., May, 1668 to 1698; Stephen Paine sup- plying to March, 1703; Daniel Carpenter, 1703; Daniel Smith, 1706; Daniel Carpenter, March, 1708; Ezekiel Read in 1730 and to 1762, with the excep-
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tion of the years 1751, 1752 and 1753; Jesse Perin, March, 1762; Lieu- tenant Philip Walker, March, 1787; Captain Caleb Abell, 1801 to 1812, when he continued in the same office in Seekonk; James Blanding, 1812; Cyrus M. Wheaton, April 4, 1836; Asaph L. Bliss, March 2, 1840; Noah Holt, March 3, 1845; George W. Bliss, March 1, 1847; Cyrus M. Wheaton, March 1, 1848; William H. Luther, March 1, 1875; Ellery L. Goff, April 22, 1893.
The town treasurers have been: John Hunt, 1745; Thomas Carpenter, 17.52; John Hunt, 1755; James Daggett, 1762; John Lindley, 1764; Elkanah French, 1782; Peter Hunt, 1786; Joseph Wilmarth, 1787; Peter Hunt, 1798; Captain Abel Cole, 1809; Noah Brown, 1811; Captain Abel Bliss, 1812; Edward Mason, 1827; Christopher Carpenter, Jr., 1828; William Marvel, 1831; Joseph Lake, 1841; William Marvel (2d), 1844; John C. Marvel, 1849; Samuel H. Viall, 1853; George H. Carpenter, 1856; John C. Marvel, 1868; Ira S. Baker, 1869; James H. Perry, 1870; Ira S. Baker, 1871 ; William W. Blanding, 1872; DeWitt C. Carpenter, 1875; John C. Marvel, 1884; William W. Blanding, 1890; Adin B. Horton, 1894; Albert C. Goff, 1909.
Institutes and Clubs .- The Rehoboth Institute for Mutual Improve- ment was formed November 19, 1846, with Jonathan Wheaton as president, and John C. Marvel as secretary. The Rehoboth Lyceum Association was organized December 20, 1882, with Rev. George H. Tilton as president and C. C. Viall as secretary.
The Rehoboth Antiquarian Society, a noted foundation for the preser- vation of relics and writings of this section was incorporated in 1885, the project having been started by Rev. George H. Tilton, and furthered and largely financed by George N. and Darius Goff. February 26, 1886, the Blanding Public Library of Rehoboth with 625 volumes was started by Hon. and Mrs. Thomas W. Bicknell. The first Goff Memorial building was dedicated May 10, 1886, and was destroyed by lightning July 7, 1911 ; the present building, the new Goff Memorial, was dedicated May 10, 1915, the gift of Darius and Lyman B. Goff, in honor of their father, Darius Goff; the building cost $35,000. The Antiquarian Society had its first clambake Tuesday, August 24, 1886. The officers in 1923: President, Ellery L. Goff ; vice-presidents : Henry T. Horton and Enoch A. Carpenter ; secretary, Har- old A. Goff; treasurer, George H. Browne; librarian, E. G. Fuller.
A farmers' club was formed at Briggs' Corner February 11, 1874, with Julian Anness as the prime mover. The name chosen for the club was the Briggsville and North Rehoboth Farmers' Club, and the officers were: President, Francis A. Bliss; vice-president, Rev. Gardiner Clark ; secretary, Julian Anness; treasurer, Ira Perry. After some years the name was changed to the Rehoboth Farmers' Club, with Thomas R. Salsbury as secretary, and J. F. Moulton as treasurer.
Anawan Grange was established February 22, 1898, the first officers being: Master, Fred U. Cory; overseer. Arthur C. Goff; lecturer, Amelia H. Carpenter; steward, Frank A. Goff; secretary, E. Gertrude Hobbs ; treasurer, Joseph F. Earle; chaplain, Almon A. Reed. The Grange came into possession of the Baptist meetinghouse, April 28, 1908.
The Anawan Club owns two hundred acres including Anawan Lake. The location is near Hill Crest, the clubhouse standing on the edge of the lake. The club was chartered in September, 1898, by Rhode Island men.
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Industries .- In 1809 the Rehoboth Union Manufacturing Company, manufacturing cotton yarn, built a cotton mill, equipped with 360 spindles. The company was formed August 24 that year by Richard Goff, Dexter Wheeler and Stephen, Thomas, James and Peter Wheeler. In November, 1835, the firm sold out to Nelson and Darius Goff, who began to manu- facture cotton batting. A new firm was started in 1842, when E. A. Brown bought out the interest of Nelson Goff, Goff & Brown then adding the manufacture of ball and carpet twine. Like many another of the con- temporary plants hereabouts, this one then frequently changed hands, thus : Goff & Brown in 1868 deeded the property to John D. Cranston. Then Darius Goff became owner, with John C. Marvel as partner. Goff and Mar- vel in 1870 deeded the privilege to William W. Johnston, but the plant being mortgaged back, the firm foreclosed in 1875. Goff & Marvel sold to Hargraves Heap. He sold in 1879 to William H. Bowen, and he to Charles F. Easton. In 1887 John C. Marvel became the owner, and in 1898 J. F. Shaw & Company bought the privilege for the Bay State Street Rail- way Company. The old mill was then demolished.
For a century and a half a grist mill stood where the road crosses the upper end of the pond. On its site a cotton mill for the manufacture of yarn was erected in 1810, the company styling themselves the Palmer's River Manufacturing Company. In 1822 the property was sold to Na- thaniel and Ebenezer Ide of Attleboro; and in 1824 it went into the hands of Abraham and Isaac Wilkinson of Pawtucket. David and A. and I. Wilkinson purchased the property in 1826. The Rehoboth Woolen Com- pany was then formed, and arrangements were made to forward the busi- ness, but it was abandoned, and the same year the Orleans Manufacturing Company was formed, consisting of Benjamin Peck and David Wilkinson & Company. The firm used New Orleans cottons, hence the name. Craw- ford Allen leased the mill upon the assignment of the firm in 1829, and it was then sold to Benjamin Peck. The mill was destroyed by fire in No- vember, 1831; but the following year it was rebuilt of stone. Mr. Peck operated the mill until 1861, but after the Civil War the company never resumed. In 1865, Nathaniel C. Guild manufactured print cloths, continu- ing until 1869, and from then until 1874 hosiery was manufactured here. The mill was idle until 1875, when it was purchased by the Cutler Manu- facturing Company, making a specialty of hosiery yarn. The factory was burned March 5, 1884, with a loss of $25,000, only the walls being left standing. The Bristol and Warren Water Works bought the Orleans Mills property in March, 1911. At Perryville, Ezra Perry made the first bobbins for cotton factories in the country; and later his sons established turning shops and grist-mills. Members of the Peck family had an iron- forging plant near Great Meadow before the middle of the eighteenth century.
CHAPTER XIII. SEEKONK
Every step of the pioneers is sought with greatest care by researchers; and because of the fact that Rogers Williams, founder of Providence, Rhode Island, spent the spring months of the year 1636 within the terri-
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tory of Seekonk, just before he went on to his permanent settlement of Providence, the section that still retains the old Indian name feels specially honored. Seekonk (and there were various other spellings) was thus known long before the white men came; and up to 1645, Rev. Samuel Newman and his followers called the territory "Seekonk", before they eventually decided upon "Rehoboth". From 1643, therefore, the year of the first permanent settlement, to 1812, the story of Rehoboth and of Seekonk is to be read as one and the same.
The little town by the side of the Providence turnpike and the Fall River and Providence highways, felicitates itself upon having shared in very substantial old historical events, although its inhabitants to this day have never quite assured themselves that radical changes in State or town boundaries have left them anything approaching a sufficiency of their former rights. No one can estimate for how long the Indians had known these lands as Seekonk, the "place of black water-fowl,".when the extent of the territory was bounded only by the Providence River and the Plymouth Colony, and the town's regard for the memory of that wide province is perennial.
Not only is it a satisfaction to this township that it perpetuates the ancient name, but also that territorially it formerly participated in all the progressive proceedings of the far-sighted first settlers, from Rev. Samuel Newman, onwards. It took part in the establishment of the first free public school, and concerning that original institute, a passage from the "Digest of the Statutes of Massachusetts," compiled in 1892, reads: "The act of 1647 made the support of public schools compulsory, and education universal and free. As this was the first law of the kind ever passed by any community or by any State, Massachusetts may claim the honor of having originated the free public school." Yet even better than that, for the Seekonk measure of 1643 provided for the taxation of all citizens for the support of the schoolmaster, whether they had children to educate or not.
The history of territorial division of eastern Massachusetts during the first one hundred and fifty years of the formation of settlements and town- ships would prove a valuable volume of reference of itself, a task that still remains for some compiler. The divisions of old Taunton and of old Reho- both and Seekonk would have a large share in such a work-Seekonk com- prising part of the third division of Rehoboth.
Even then, it has often been asserted, Seekonk held out great promise of being a very influential part of the county, up to the time, in 1862, when the western portion of its land was transferred to Rhode Island by the establishment of the new line between the States. By that definition of boundary, passed that portion of the territory that invited the earliest settlers here. Eventually, then, Seekonk was set off from Rehoboth, and incorporated as a separate town, February 26, 1812, and Elkanah French, Esquire, was authorized to issue the first town warrant. The first town meeting was held in the old meetinghouse March 16, 1812, and a moderator chosen was Caleb Abell, who was also elected town clerk, and Captain Allen Cole was first town treasurer. The first of the selectmen, chosen March 23, were Peter Hunt, Worcester Carpenter and Allen Monroe. In October of that year, the sum of $350 was voted for the support of the
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public schools, and the year following, according to the custom in all towns of the period it was voted to put out "the poor persons belonging to the town of Seekonk at auction to the lowest bidder." The fortification at Kettle Point, then of old Seekonk, was raised in 1814. The first townhouse of Seekonk, now in East Providence, was built in 1814, and the first town meeting there was held November 7, 1814. As early as 1827, Pawtucket Village sought to be set off as a separate town. but the measure was voted against by Seekonk town meeting, that year.
The town officials approved of the doings of their selectmen in return- . ing innholders and retailers to the county commissioners to be licensed, for at a meeting held April 28, 1834, it was voted that "the public good and convenience required there should be such innholders in the town." And the same year it was voted that "if the Boston and Providence Railroad Company will build a bridge over the railroad near the common, and cause all the necessary roads leading to it to be laid out at their expense and give the town a bonus of one thousand dollars. in that case the selectmen are authorized to make a contract with the proper agent of the railroad."
Then, on March 1, 1862, occurred that final divisional event that nar- rowed the confines of the town to present dimensions-and with a popu- lation of only 800 at the time. The dispute between the States of Massa- chusetts and Rhode Island with regard to this boundary line had been tedious and long-drawn-out, but the influence of Providence and Fall River prevailed in the final settlement of the dispute, when a conventional line was adopted setting the whole of Pawtucket and that portion of Seekonk now East Providence into Rhode Island, Massachusetts at the same time receiving territory from Rhode Island adjacent to Fall River.
Churches and Schools .- With the history of Rehoboth was recounted the story of the Newman Congregational Church, whose beginnings were without doubt within the old Seekonk bounds, the territory retaining that name for two years before it was called Rehoboth by Mr. Newman. With the division of the town of Seekonk, again, in 1812, the old Congrega- tional foundation found itself an East Providence, Rhode Island, possession.
The religious body known as the Baptist Church of Jesus Christ, of the First Precinct of Rehoboth, which was formed November 27, 1794, has, with the division of States and townships, changed its title upon three different occasions. Up to the year 1812, it was known by the above name. Again, on June 27, 1812, the name of the church was changed to that of the Baptist Church of Seekonk, as the west part of Rehoboth had by act of Legislature been incorporated into a town by that name in February, 1812. While this status prevailed, in 1836, the church withdrew from the Warren association, and joined with another church, in Bristol county, in forming the Taunton association. Finally, August 30, 1862, the church voted to withdraw from the Taunton association, and rejoin the Warren association, as that part of Seekonk where the church was had been set to Rhode Island that year.
The Hebron Church in the north part of the town that is administered by Methodist Episcopalians, is an outcome of the Hebron church that for- merly stood within the boundary of Attleboro and that was organized in 1827. A church building, within Seekonk, was erected in 1870; that edifice
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was burned in 1875, and another was built and dedicated August 6, the same year.
Within recent years, a Congregational church was organized at Luther's Corner, of which Rev. Frank Casson was pastor in 1923. A Portuguese Catholic church was organized in the north part of the town in 1915. The cornerstone of the Church of the Holy Nativity, Episcopal, was laid August 25, 1923. .
The school history of the town is one with that of Rehoboth and East Providence as to its beginnings. In 1923, there were 783 pupils in the local schools, while seventy-five from this town were attending high schools in other places. In union with Rehoboth, A. Howard Wilkinson was superintendent of schools. The Seekonk Teachers' Association, or- ganized in 1917, had forty inembers in 1923, and the president of the asso- ciation was Miss Jessie Gray. The town schools are as follows: District 1, built in 1912; North End Grammar and Primary, built in 1913; Pleasant Street School, built in 1913; Newman Avenue School, built in 1918.
The Township .- At the time of the division, and the transferral of the Town Hall to East Providence, town meetings began to be held in a schoolhouse near the State line, later in a schoolhouse on Arcade avenue. The present Town House on the Providence turnpike was built in 1912. Jonathan Chaffee was the first town clerk, in 1862, Andrew Medbury suc- ceeded him from 1880 to 1886. Asaph Hill has occupied that office the past thirty-seven years, and he was chosen the committee to secure the present town seal. The town of Seekonk today is yet another of those old townships past whose doors business and greater town construction enter- prises have passed for close onto three hundred years; where very few old homes have clung, but where a number of more modern settlements have been begun. It is mostly an agricultural community, the dimensions of the town in length being ten miles and the greatest width two and one- quarter miles. The population is approximately 2,800; the total valuation of personal property being placed at $412,799; that upon real estate, $2,864, 670. The centre of the town is at Luther's Corner, where most of the business, schools, churches, and the old tavern are situated. The Luther's Corner Fire and Library Association is here, having been estab- lished in 1908. The Nathan Monroe Tavern is the same that stood here during the stage-coach period, about 1800. The only industry of a manu- facturing sort is the Kent Manufacturing Company, producers of tennis racquets and croquet sets. They employ twenty-five or thirty hands. Elijah Kent, the founder, formerly had a grist mill on the location. The loss incurred by the division was not a small one to this town, for not only the Town Hall but the Congregational and Baptist churches and some of the school districts became transferred to another State. From Seekonk there went into Rhode Island two-thirds of the town's valuation, more than two-thirds of the population, and approximately one-half of the town's territory ; and whatever manufacturing interests the town then had became part of the new towns.
The Indian wars, the Revolutionary and 1812 wars were shared alike by Rehoboth and Seekonk. The town stood valiantly by the soldier of the Civil War, Seekonk filling her quota in full, forty-one men enlisting from here, and eight from here enlisting in other places. The bounty paid by
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the town was generally higher than that in other towns. In the World War, 108 men from this town were in the service, and their names are on the town's honor roll. During the drives for money and men for Seekonk, Ray- mond Nickerson was in charge of the various committees.
CHAPTER XIV.
SOMERSET
Again, one finds in Somerset, an eastern river town of the county, one of those old New England settlements whose division was brought about from a mother township, Swansea. Distances seemed longer then, the modes of conveyance being of slow progress; and the petition of the towns- men at Shawomet to the effect that that part of the town along the river be set off from Swansea was evidently made, in part at least, for the purpose of saving extensive traveling to town centre and meeting over those high hills, or by water. The petition for the new town, that was made Novem- ber 2, 1720, was voted down in town meeting; and again four years after- wards, the petition was rejected. But eventually, Shawomet (and there are many spellings of the Indian name) became the separate town of Somerset, February 20, 1790. On December 15 that year, the first town meeting was held at the schoolhouse near Captain Robert Gibbs' and the first town clerk was Jonathan Bowers.
Massasoit, some years before his death, had granted the Plymouth people the privilege of establishing a trading house on the river at "Store- house Point" as it was called, within the limits of the present town of Som- erset. Originally the territory was known as the Shawomet lands, all of which became a part of Swansea when the latter town was incorpo- rated, the first record book of whose purchase is extant as it was kept by Increase Robinson, the clerk. The first purchasers of this section of the county were as follows: Richard Dwelly, Isaac Buck, Daniel Damon, Na- thaniel Winslow, Samuel Prince, W. Briggs, Jr., C. Briggs, Jonathan Aldin, Captain John Williams, Isaac Little, Edward Grey, M. Halloway, John Briggs, Richard Winslow, Thomas Lincoln, John Swift, Captain Fuller, John McNuckley, Jonathan Jackson, Richard Pronby, Ephraim Little, Samuel Little, John Mendall, William Hatch, William Poaks, Joseph Wod, Daniel Wod, Cornelius Briggs, Increase Robinson, Thomas Peirce, John James, Governor Winslow, Captain Benjamin Church.
The estimated population of the town of Somerset in 1922 was 3,650, and the number of dwelling houses was 884. The valuation of real estate at the time was $2,469,250; of personal estate $523,383, the total being $2,992,633. The town clerk and treasurer was G. Walter Simmons; select- men, Franklin S. Simmons, Fernald L. Hanson, Adam W. Gifford.
The town's patriotism has stood the test both in war and peace. There were 115 men from here in Civil War service. The town sent 156 men to the World War service, and gave generously for all demands in Red Cross and all other drives. Welcome Home Day, August 28, 1919, presented an extensive programme, with the unveiling of the honor roll.
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Schools and Churches .- The first schoolmaster made note of in this part of the county was William Hart, who is first mentioned in March, 1735, and who was teacher here for twenty years. The estimated expenses for the maintenance of Somerset's schools for 1923 was $48,200, the total number attending school being 998. An evening high school for non-English-speak- ing men was started in February, 1922. A school nurse and a resident school physician were employed that year. The schools in the town are: High school, Elm street, Dublin primary, North primary, Pottersville gram- mar and primary, Sherman Somerset grammar, South grammar and primary, and Wilbur. Horace Freeman Bates is school superintendent.
Friends or Quakers, were found settled in this town, then a part of Swansea, in the early part of the seventeenth century, but with no meeting- house. A report was made of that fact before the quarterly meeting in Rhode Island in 1732, and as a result, that year the first meeting was held at the present Somerset. Their meetinghouse is the oldest in this section, the meetings having been held continuously to the present. Rev. Frank E. Jones is the minister.
The first of the Baptist arrivals within the present Somerset was Na- thaniel Lyons, who came here in 1796. First of the Baptist meetings were held at the homes of the townsmen and in schoolhouses, but eventually a church of that denomination was organized November 8, 1803, and a meet- inghouse was completed in 1804 and dedicated November 8 that year. This Baptist meeting united with the Warren Association in 1804, but in 1836 they withdrew and joined the Taunton Association that had just formed as a Baptist association of churches. The first preacher was Rev. William Barton. He was succeeded by the following-named: Revs. Elisha Slade, 1823; Benjamin C. Grafton, 1843; Charles Randall, 1849; J. C. Merrill, 1852; Samuel J. Carr. 1856; George Daland. 1860; T. C. Tingley, 1863; L. L. Fittz. 1869; T. M. Butler, 1874; Gideon Cole, 1876. Rev. William Pease began his pastorate at the Baptist church in May, 1884; Rev. D. L. Crafts, Janu- ary 1, 1887; Rev. Albert D. Spaulding, April 1, 1889-92; Rev. Joseph R. Verry, March, 1893-97; Rev. T. O. Harlow, August 1, 1887-December 31, 1900; Fred W. Webb, February 25, 1900-July 13, 1902; Fred W. Buis, 1902-03; H. Schuyler Foster, 1903-07; Edward L. Krumreig, 1907-10; George Keirsted, 1910-12; Rev. Charles Wheeler, July 28, 1912; Rev. B. Scott, 1915: BenjaminW. Riner, chaplain in World War, 1919; Arthur Eastman, 1921; Edward A. Mason.
The pioneer Methodist preacher to this section was Rev. Joseph Snell- ing, and he organized the first Methodist class here at the home of his friend, John Wilbour. In 1804 the first Methodist place of worship in South Som- erset was dedicated by Rev. Alexander McLane, a house that did service for this people for forty-five years. In 1849, the old edifice was torn down, while Rev. E. B. Hinckley was the pastor, and the present church building was erected and dedicated. In 1861 the parsonage was built. This church was burned in 1889, and a new building erected that year. The Methodist church in the centre of Somerset was organized in 1841, and in 1842 a church edifice was erected and dedicated.
The First Christian Church in Somerset was organized in 1841, by Rev. Mr. Shurtleff. Rev. Frank H. Gardner was pastor in 1923.
In 1861 a number of seceders from the Methodist church in Somerset
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formed a Congregational church, their first place of worship being in Central Hall. Twenty-two persons presented themselves at a meeting of prominent clergymen, July 3, 1861, and formed the First Congregational Church, South Somerset, and in March, 1865, their church was dedicated. The first min- ister was Rev. Charles D. Lathrop.
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