USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 42
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The Dorothy Brown Lodge Hall, built in 1899, was dedicated March 29, 1900, and it is said that this is the only Rebekah lodge in the country that owns its hall and has invested funds. The lodge has a membership of more than one hundred. In 1893 a number of Swansea Odd Fellows, members of lodges elsewhere, started a Rebekah lodge here, being granted their charter August 11, 1893. The lodge was instituted in the Town Hall, December 11, that year, as the Dorothy Brown Rebekah Lodge, No. 122, I. O. O. F., the name being given at the suggestion of Hon. John S. Bray- ton, as having been that of the wife of John Brown, one of the early settlers. She died here January 27, 1674, at the age of ninety years. Four of her direct descendants have been members of this lodge. -
Industries .- The Swansea Dye Works, known throughout and beyond this section for the excellence of its product, employs fifty to sixty hands.
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A number of industries have been established on the site of this works. Straw paper was manufactured here about 1840, by William Mitchell, Wood avenue leading thereto then being known as Paper Mill lane. Then Munroe and Howard carried on a bakery, succeeding Howard and Mitchell in the same line. Mary I. Altham then started the first bleachery here, she being succeeded by Mayall and Hacker, Hacker and Watson, John Monarch, James Butterworth and James Hacker, whose plant was burned; James Kirker and the Eagle Turkey Red Company, then the present Dye Works. A fifty by one hundred feet addition was built in 1916.
The North Swansea Manufacturing Company employ fifty to sixty hands in the manufacturing of collar buttons, sleeve links, tie clasps and stick pins. The plant originated in 1879, when the firm of D. R. Child Company was established by Daniel R. Child, of Providence. He built his small shop in the shipyard lot at Barneyville, where he manufactured collar buttons and sleeve links. A few years afterwards he removed to the present lot, where he enlarged the building. He sold to J. L. Fenimore in 1894, who transferred to Lorenzo P. Sturtevant. John L. Shabeck bought the plant in 1910, and after six months sold to Charles G. Green and G. R. Church of Warren, R. I. It was called North Swansea Manu- facturing Company in 1911, when Benjamin F. Norton and J. F. Wheeler were admitted.
Of the older industries, the following were prominent in their day: The Swansea factory, stated to have been the second cotton factory in this country. The factory and dam were constructed in 1806 by Oliver Chace, and in successive years to 1836 it passed through numerous hands. The factory was burned in 1836, and was never rebuilt. Dexter Wheeler in 1805 began spinning yarn by horse-power at his father's farm in Reho- both. In 1806 he built a small mill in Swansea, and placed some hundreds of spindles therein. In 1809 removal was made to Fall River, then Troy, where the Fall River Manufacturing Company was originated. In the eastern part of Swansea on the John Tattersall farm, it is understood that bog iron was worked in the town's early history. An old deed is extant which indicates that there were forges and iron-works in Swansea in 1725.
Miscellaneous .- Swansea observed the 250th anniversary of its incor- poration as a town in August, 1919, with a brilliant pageant on the Dorothy Brown Hall grounds, and with three thousand people present. The pageant was dated from the seventeenth century to the present day, and was divided into episodes, interludes, tableaux and masks, and mingled with music and dancing.
The town has the distinction of having had but three town clerks within the space of a century, namely John Wilson, 1814 to 1864; J. E. Luther, 1864 to 1880; Henry Wood, 1880 to 1923.
The Rest House for Episcopal clergymen is another of the many gifts that have come from the beneficence of the Stevens family, that institu- tion being provided by Mrs. Stevens.
The population of Swansea in 1922 was approximately 2,300. The number of residents assessed on property April 1, that year, was 1,048; non-residents assessed on property, 970; assessed on polls only, 253; total, 2,271. The valuation of personal estate was $526,060; of real estate, $1,768,382 ; total valuation, $2,294,442. The rate of tax per $1,000 was $33.40.
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
CHAPTER XVI.
WESTPORT
It is only within the past quarter of a century that the Acoaxet country, the Westports, has witnessed any appreciable changes from the farm and community conditions that had existed nearly the same for a century or more. Within the twenty-five years, many descendants of old settlers, branching out into business relations elsewhere and seeking new homes, have disposed of homesteads that had been in families for genera- tions; and people of other nationalities, leaving the factories and the fishing, have been purchasing lands and providing new homes for them- selves in this old Quaker country. Within two decades, road building on modern lines has become universal in the town, even to its southern- most limits, through the seashore resorts and along by the shores. The district school building is rapidly disappearing, and the present-day struc- ture that is taking its place is overflowing with the increasing school population. Upon the foundations of the first homes, everywhere has arisen the cottage of today; the Portuguese and French arrivals have established their neighborhoods and churches; and along the shore have come a multitude of summer home makers.
North Westport has witnessed just such changes as these,-the Beulah or Greenwood section having been built up within a half dozen years, with its new $12,000 public school in process of construction in 1923; and in this part of the town is a school that was built only ten years ago to provide for the growing educational interests. A Congregational church and the postoffice have their location here; and the Watuppa Grange was instituted in 1921, with a large membership of farmers and townsfolk in general.
Westport Factory is no longer the scattered hamlet, but rather a steadily increasing village both of natives and many newcomers in the vicinity of the plant of the Westport Manufacturing Company. Here, just about halfway between the cities of New Bedford and Fall River, is the old water power privilege of a succession of mills; the Union school, built within fifteen years; the Union Christian Church, built about the year 1908; and the Catholic church for the French residents, just over the Dartmouth line, and in process of building in 1923. Beyond, is the small but comparatively new settlement of Brownell's Corners, where a public schoolhouse was being built in 1923, and where a Congregational church has long been established. The Head of Westport, known as the "Head," is a live part of the town, with its library, Congregational church, schools and postoffice. Central Village is a small section of the town where the high school had been established about eight years. Here there is a Friends meeting, a Portuguese Catholic church, postoffice, primary school, and where a new schoolhouse was being built in 1923. Westport Point, formerly a whaling port, is now almost entirely a summer resort, with church, school and postoffice. Horseneck Beach, where an extensive causeway was under construction in 1923, is entirely a community of sum- mer homes, with a postoffice open during three months of the year; and South Westport is all farming district.
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The town's assessed valuation in real estate in 1922 was $4,125,375; in personal, $552,450. Edward L. Macomber was town clerk, Charles H. Gifford treasurer. The Free Public Library, Miss Annie R. Howland, librarian, had a circulation of 2526 books in 1922; the Westport Public Library, Miss Emily F. Sisson, librarian, had a circulation of 3502 books.
Past and Present-Westport, the Acoaxet Indian plantation, was incorporated under its present name in 1787, it having originally been part of the Dartmouth territory. Portions of Dartmouth were ceded to the town February 25, 1793, and March 4, 1805, and again a part of Ports- mouth, Rhode Island, in 1861. The first townhouse was built on Ichabod Potter's land, and the first town meeting held there April 6, 1789. No historian of this southland was better informed with regard to the founda- tions of the first white men's homes here than the late Henry B. Worth, Esq., who had made a thorough study of deeds relating to the township of Dartmouth and Westport. Mr. Worth, who was secretary of the Dart- mouth Historical Society, and had written and read many papers concern- ing this part of the State that are to be found among the publications of that society, was of opinion that the first settler at the head of Westport was Richard Sisson, who had located his home on the west side of the river and at the south side of the main highway, and was elected surveyor of town roads in 1671. He has stated that Richard Gifford, also an early settler, was a land king of Acoaxet, and in the 1712 apportionment at the head of Westport he received nearly 400 acres. Previous to that, George Lawton, Benjamin Waite and John Tripp had secured seventy acres of land along the river, and in 1712 they formed a combination to utilize the water power north of the present village. They built two mills, that on the west side of the river, known as Lawton's mill, that on the east side as Waite's mill, and later as Tripp's or Chase's mill. Joseph Peckham and Beriah Goddard were also first purchasers in this part of the town, as well as Mary Hix, who was owner of the Hix ferry that was con- ducted by her and her sons until 1745, when William Hix built the first bridge there. Nicholas Howland was a purchaser of lands in this section, so was Paul Cuff, a slave who had received his freedom in 1765. The Giffords lived at Horseneck and at Westport Point.
The Friends were tenacious of their beliefs and of their religious rights from the first settlement of the section, or from the time when the Quakers and the Baptists began to assert that privileges should be accorded them apart from the Congregationalists, and that they should be relieved from paying the Congregational ministerial tax. Thus they began their meetings, and they have maintained them to this day. Again we quote from the papers of the late Henry B. Worth, whose information concerning the Friends was based upon his life study of the township in general. He has stated that Acoaxet was strongly Quaker, and has held tenaciously to that form of belief even to modern times. They had a meeting-house seventy years before New Bedford, at Central Village. In 1761 there was a demand by them for a place of worship in the north part of the town, so a building was erected at George H. Gifford's Corner, and called the Centre Meeting-house, which was maintained until 1840, when it was removed to the north side of the road, about a quarter of a mile west of the bridge. This was discontinued about thirty years ago (1878).
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Just what happened, says Mr. Worth, in 1840, to induce the Friends to move their meeting-house nearer the village may be inferred from some hints to be found in the records. In 1830 George M. Brownell purchased from Dr. J. H. Handy a lot of land which in 1845 was conveyed by John O. Brownell to the First Christian Baptist Society. There had then been a meeting-house on this lot, which in 1859 is described as "the old meeting- house." There is some reason to infer that it may have been built soon after 1830. Evidently the Quakers felt that it was necessary to have a meeting-house nearer the dwellings of their members, or they might attend the other meeting.
The First Christian Church in Westport was organized in 1819, and the church was built in 1824, with Peleg Sisson for the minister. The society was incorporated January 9, 1844, and the church joined the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Christian Conference in September, 1862. The Second Christian Church at South Westport was organized September 18, 1838, and the church building was dedicated February 1, 1876. The Third Christian Church was organized at Central Village, June 10, 1839, and the church was erected in 1842. The Fourth Christian Church, at Brownell's Corner, was organized July 4, 1843, and the church building was opened and dedicated the same day. The First Christian Church at North Westport was organized January 1, 1858. The Pacific Union Congregational Church was organized in May, 1855.
The most extensive business in the section and one of the oldest in the county, is that of the Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company, at Westport Factory, employing many hands and producing at full capacity more than 1,500,000 pounds of goods annually. In 1789, William Gifford and Lemuel Milk bought the site for an iron forge; and in 1854 the property was purchased by William B. Trafford, who transferred it to the Westport Manufacturing Company, Mr. Trafford having been associated with Augustus Chace at Globe Village. In the early sixties, Mr. Trafford in company with his two half-brothers. George and Elijah Lewis, reorgan- ized the concern, Mr. Trafford remaining as manager to the time of his death in 1880. William C. Trafford was made treasurer in 1872. The incorporation took place in April, 1916, and to that date the business had been managed by five men-William B. Trafford, Elijah R. Lewis, George W. Lewis, Andrew R. Trafford (who died October 20, 1917), and William C. Trafford, who died March 8, 1922. Upon the death of the latter, Henry L. Trafford was elected president, in May of the same year. The capital is $600,000-$400,000 preferred and $200,000 common. The mill was built
in 1812. In May, 1919, the company took possession of its modern up-to-date cotton waste plant in Fall River, a three-story structure, 70 by 126 feet. At Westport Factory, the old office building standing since 1872, has been removed and an elaborate new office building has been constructed, modelled upon the lines of the mill structure.
Outside of the factory, farming, poultry raising and fishing are the industries of the town. A large proportion of the farms are productive and well located for market-gardening, and include the properties of Ed- mund Gifford, Nelson Gifford, Frank Perry, John Costa, Nason Macomber, William Hicks, Joseph Bone, John, George and William Smith.
Henry B. Worth, Esq., once said that on account of absence of records
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relating to school affairs in this part of the town in the early days, there is no way of knowing about that arrangement. Previous to 1840 it is not possible to find the record of any purchase of land for school purposes in Westport. The schools throughout the town in 1923 were as follows: The high school, whose four-year arrangement had been completed in 1923; the schools at North Westport, Sanford Road, Beulah Road, Fac- tory, Head, Brownell's Corner, Macomber's Corner, Point, South West- port, Horseneck, Acoaxet. There were 774 pupils, and the amount of appropriation for schools maintenance was $45,000. Edward L. Hill was the superintendent.
During the Civil War there were 253 men in the service from this town; in the World War, there were eighty-eight.
BRISTOL COUNTY
FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY
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Bristol -- 2 -- 1
Eng by E & Williams & Bro NY
Leuns Historical Pub. Co.
James mc Morton
BRISTOL COUNTY
FAMILY AND PERSONAL HISTORY
JAMES MADISON MORTON, A. M., LL. D .-- For nearly a quarter of a century Judge Morton was an associate justice of the Massachusetts Su- preme Court, his work as a jurist being character- ized by ability, learning and sound judgment. He resigned his position on the bench in December, 1913, and received in response a letter from Gov- ernor Eugene N. Foss, granting his request to be relieved, in which the governor said in part: "You are fully entitled to retire from the arduous duties of the Supreme Court, and while I sincerely regret that the commonwealth is no longer to have the benefit of your wisdom and experience upon the bench, I nevertheless recognize the justice of your request, and in congratulating you upon your long record of splendid public service I accept your resignation."
Learned in the law, with the record of many years of successful practice at the Bristol county bar, of judicial temperament, a dignified bearing, and a warm love for his fellow-men, no man ever as- cended to a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts with a better equipment than Judge Morton. He came of a notable family which included Governor Marcus Morton, who was also a Member of Congress; Chief Justice Marcus Mor- ton, of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts; and Judge Marcus (2) Morton, of the present Superior Court.
The founder of the family in New England was George Morton, who came from England to New England in 1623 on the ship "Ann," settled in Plymouth and wrote the first history of Plymouth Colony, published in England, entitled "A Relation or Journal of the Beginnings and Proceedings of the English Plantations Settled at Plymouth in New England." His son, Nathaniel, was secretary of Plymouth in 1647-1685, and the author of that valuable work, "New England Memorial," compiled from the writings and observations of Governor William Bradford and himself. George Morton married, in Leyden, Holland, Juliana Carpenter, who bore him sons and daughters. 'George Morton died in 1624. The line of descent to Judge James M. Morton is as follows:
(I) George Morton and his wife, Juliana Carpen- ter; (II) their son, Lieutenant Ephraim Morton, and his first wife, Ann Cooper; (III) their son, Eleazer Morton, and his wife, Rebecca Dawes; (IV) their son, Nathaniel Morton, and his wife, Rebecca (Clark) Ellis; (V) their son, Major Nathaniel Mor- ton, and his wife, Martha Tupper; (VI) their son, Job Morton, and his wife, Patience Purrington; (VII) their son, James Madison Morton, and his
wife, Sarah M. A. Tobey; (VIII) their son, James Madison (2) Morton, and his wife, Emily F. Canedy; (IX) their only son, James Madison (3) Morton, and his wife, Nancy J. B. Brayton; (X) their children: James Madison (4), died 1908; Bray- ton; Sarah; Hugh.
Major Nathaniel Morton, of the fifth generation, was a lieutenant of a company of "Minute Men" of East Freetown, later was commissioned captain and then was made major. Job Morton, of the sixth generation, was a graduate of Brown University, class of 1797. For twenty-four years he was a selectman of Freetown and for eleven years a deputy to the General Court. James Madison Mor- ton, of the seventh generation, was postmaster of Fall River under President Pierce, and in early life was treasurer of the White Cotton Mill, in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. He married, May 30, 1830, Sarah Maria Ann Tobey, who was born March 23, 1807, and died ninety-four years later. James Madison Morton was their oldest child.
James Madison Morton was born in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, September 5, 1837, and died at his home in Fall River, Massachusetts, April 19, 1923. His father was at one time treasurer of the White Cotton Mills of Fairhaven, but later moved to Fall River, and here the son was educated in public and private schools. In 1856 he entered Brown Univer- sity for a special course, receiving his Bachelor's degree at graduation in the class of 1859. He pre- pared for the profession of Law at Harvard Law School, whence he was graduated LL. B., class of 1861. He at once began practice at Fall River in the office of Judge Louis Lapham. He was city solicitor in 1864-1867, and in 1864 formed a partner- ship with John S. Brayton under the firm name of Brayton & Morton, which continued until Mr. Brayton was elected clerk of courts. Mr. Morton practiced alone from 1873 to 1876, when he formed a partnership with Andrew J. Jennings, which con- tinued until Mr. Morton's appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court in 1890. During the period of 1863-1890 he was connected with much of the important litigation in the courts of his section, and by common consent came to be regarded as the leader of the Bristol county bar. In 1890 he was appointed by Governor Brackett an associate judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, and for twenty-three years he sat upon the bench of that court, render- ing distinguished service. His retirement was re- garded as a distinct loss to the judiciary of the State, the press commenting upon it in terms most flattering to Judge Morton. The Boston "Transcript" said:
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
It will seem somewhat strange not to have a Morton upon the Supreme bench of Massachusetts. The people of his gen- eration in the State have not known it without one. From 1869 to 1891 Judge Marcus Morton was a member of that court, during later years its chief justice. At about the time of his retirement Judge James M. Morton, who has just re- signed, was appointed, and for twenty-three years has proved himself a worthy representative of a family that has been unusually prominent because of the number of judges of the higher courts that have come from it.
The Boston "Globe" said:
Time has laid a hand gently upon Judge Morton, who re- tires soon, at his own request, from the Supreme Court, where he has served the people of Massachusetts with distin- guished ability for nearly a quarter of a century. He is seventy-six. Bench and bar and public will unite in wishing the eminent jurist an old age bright and serene-he has earned it.
During his term on the Supreme bench Judge Morton continued his residence at Fall River, and after his long and faithful service on the bench he enjoyed a life of contentment and ease for several years. He then was persuaded to accept an elec- tion in 1917 as a delegate to the convention which served the constitution of the State of Massachu- setts. He took a very active part in the proceed- ings of that body, being chairman of the judiciary committee, and serving with ability and zeal. He was deeply interested in the deliberations of the convention, whose work, a redraft of the Constitu- tion, was approved by the voters upon submittal to them.
Though always a lawyer, allowing nothing to come between him and the full duty he owed his clients and the public, Judge Morton while practicing law at Fall River was identified with its development and acquired important business interests. He was president of the Union Mills Company, a director of the B. M. C. Durfee Trust Company, the First National Bank, and of several cotton mill operations, but withdrew from all these offices when appointed to the Supreme bench. After retiring from his judicial position he again served as a di- rector of the B. M. C. Durfee Trust Company, the First National Bank and the Union Mills, holding these positions until his death, in April, 1923.
Judge Morton was a lifelong member of the Unitarian church and greatly devoted to its welfare, attending its services very regularly. He was a member of the Unitarian Society, which he served at times as moderator and chairman of its standing committee. In politics he was a Republican. His clubs were the Union of Boston, the Quequechan of Fall River, and he was a member of the Bunker Hill Association, and the Boston Academy of Arts and Sciences.
On November 6, 1866, Judge Morton married Emily Frances Canedy, daughter of John Luther and Elizabeth (Read) Canedy, and a direct descend- ant of Alexander Canedy, a Scotchman, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, about the year 1700. The line is traced from:
(I) Alexander Canedy; (II) his son, William Canedy, and his wife, Elizabeth Fuller; (III) their son, Lieutenant William (2) Canedy, and his wife,
Charity Leonard; (IV) their son, William (3) Canedy, and his wife, Mary Brown; (V) their son, John Luther Canedy, and his wife, Elizabeth Read; (VI) their daughter, Emily Frances, and her hus- band, Judge James M. (2) Morton; (VII) their son, James M. (3) Morton, and his wife, Nancy J. B. Brayton.
To Judge and Mrs. Morton three children were born : 1. James Madison (3), a sketch of whom follows. 2. Margaret, married Willard F. Keeney, a lawyer of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she died in 1920. 3. Anne, resides with her mother at the family home at No. 487 Rock street, Fall River. Judge Morton received from Brown University, in 1882, the degree of A. M., and in 1894 that of LL. D. In 1917 the Boston "Herald" thus spoke of him:
James Madison Morton, for years one of the most distin- guished members of the Massachusetts bench, retired from his position as associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1913. Although he is past eighty years of age, he is very much in the forefront of Massachusetts affairs, for he is a delegate to the constitutional convention and is taking an active part in its proceedings.
He likes pictures, and he likes books. History and biography are his favorite subjects. His public experience has been con- fined largely to the bench until his election to the constitu- tional convention, where he is now gaining experience in the making of governments, after his long career in the adminis- tration of justice.
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