USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Bridgewater > Celebration of the two-hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Bridgewater, Massachusetts, at West Bridgewater, June 3, 1856 > Part 3
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I know not to what happy thought, or to what cir- cumstance in their experience, we owe this then novel arrangement of the parts in relation to the whole. It was not probably so much the result of any particular foresight, as of that ready tact and excellent common sense which so often guided them in the measures they adopted. Originally identified with their church organizations, each of these corporations became actors in the political as well as the spiritual affairs of the colony ; while to their charge was committed much of the management of its economical concerns.
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Through these, bodies of citizens were frequently brought together to confer with each other, and to discuss topics of a common interest, till a common sentiment was created ; and the interests of these, col- lectively, went to make up very much of that which we call the commonwealth. The effect of this is seen in the universal readiness with which the people of New England engage in the discussion of popular questions in popular debates, which travellers amongst us have so often admired. But it enters no less decidedly into the business of government. Each of these little republics exercises a governmental control within itself, independent of that of the state, though altogether in harmony with it. And when, at the final rupture of the province with the mother country, the organized government of the whole body politic became extinct, civil order was maintained, moneys were raised, the trainbands organized and sent into the field, and the scenes of Lexington and Bunker Hill enacted, by the combined action of the citizens of independent towns.
Nor is it in their political influence alone that these little democracies act so important a part in our social organization : they supply one of the strong ties of local association and attachment that bind the citizen to his country. It is something more than country ; it is something more even than home. It is not merely the hill that looked so tall to us in our childhood, nor the tree beneath whose shade we played,
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nor the old familiar schoolhouse in which we first carved the rude initials of our names, that bind us so strongly, in after-days, to that magic circle within which were clustered what go to make up our earliest home. These are all associated in our memory with the name and history of some town or village, till it becomes a part of our very selves. Men may tell us that these are "bodies corporate," and that, in the eye of the law, they have neither souls to animate nor hearts to feel. But when the dust of a parent has been mingled with its soil; when the grass on some little mound, where we have laid away the rich- est of the heart's treasures, has been moistened by the tears of affection, - the man is unworthy of the form he wears whose soul is not knit with a tie of holy communion with every spot and scene and old fami- liar name which go to make up that physical and moral and social entity, the town, where he was born, or in whose prosperity he has shared in the struggles and successes of middle life.
The first grant of the plantation, afterwards incor- porated into the town of Bridgewater, was made by the colony to Duxbury, as a compensation for the loss of territory occasioned by the creation of Marsh- field into a township in 1645.
It embraced a territory of eight miles square, but was afterwards increased to ninety-six square miles ; but, like similar grants from the court, it was in the nature of a pre-emption right, whereby the grantees
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became authorized to acquire the title to the soil from the native proprietors. In accordance with this prin- ciple, a committee of the grantees, consisting of Miles Standish, Samuel Nash, many years sheriff of the colony, and Constant Southworth, whose mother had married Governor Bradford, was appointed to obtain the requisite title-deeds from the good old Massasoit, within whose jurisdiction this territory was situated. The very names of this committee are a sufficient gua- ranty of honorable and fair dealing on the part of the purchasers ; and we find, among the muniments of their title, a deed of the date of 1649, bearing the handmark of that constant and early friend of the white man, under the name of Ousamequin.
Tradition points out the spot where this act of pur- chase was completed, which once bore the name of " Sachem's Rock."* But it is sad to think, that, of all that race who then peopled this region, nothing but tradition now remains. It is sad to recall in how short a time not a drop of the blood of the Sachem of Pokanoket, whose hand of friendship wel- comed our fathers to these shores, was to be found in the veins of any living being.
True, it was a long and bloody struggle that closed the tragic history of his race. Scarce a vestige of the homes of his warriors can now be traced ; and save
. It is situated in what is now East Bridgewater, and still bears the name of " Sachem's Rock."
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some such uncouth memorial as is appended to the deed of these lands, or is now and then turned up by the furrow in some rude implement of husbandry or savage warfare, nothing remains to tell us of the once-powerful tribe that fished in these streams, and hunted in these forests, and lit their council-fires around these scenes of prosperous industry and thrift.
" The red men have passed,
Like the strewn leaves of autumn dispersed by the blast."
But, to the honor of the founders of Bridgewater, a disposition to deal fairly with the aboriginal proprie- tors of the soil was ever manifested, so long as any claim remained to be adjusted. We find them, in 1686, raising a committee to " bargain, buy, and pay for any just interest" that Josiah Sachem had in the town of Bridgewater; which was soon after honorably and satisfactorily done. And it should be remem- bered, in this connection, that this was written a few years after the termination of Philip's war, in which, though the town suffered less in comparison than most of the frontier settlements, its inhabitants took a brave and active part; and, though the claim here set up was not by one of the Wampanoags, it was not always easy to discriminate, in the feelings of the sufferers, between the different members of a race who had carried on war in the same savage manner.
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To the usual horrors of an Indian warfare, there had been united a courage and a determination on the part of the wily chief of Montaup,* and a wide-spread union of the tribes of New England, that threatened extermination to the white men. It had been literally a death-struggle of the two races. Nor can we, at this day, form any adequate conception cf the constant apprehension under which the settlers of these towns had lived. No spot was safe. The very darkness of midnight was no shelter against the prowling savage. Even the church in which they worshipped was converted into a fortress, in 1675, by means of palisadoes, "for the safety of the town in the time of danger, to be made," says the record, " with half trees, seven feet above the ground, six rood long and nine rood wide, besides the flankers every quarter or squadron to doe each of them a side or an end;" and it was within such a shelter as this only that they had dared to meet even for the purpose of worshipping God.
From the few notices that remain of the part which the inhabitants took in that struggle with Philip, we may judge somewhat of its extent by the numbers who engaged in the active duty of soldiers. There were not, at that time, more than fifty persons capable of bearing arms in the town ; and, from the remote-
. The mode of spelling the name of the seat of King Philip here adopted is believed to be that used by the Indians: the name, as commonly received, is " Mount Hope."
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ness of the seaboard, we are told, " they were strongly urged to desert their dwellings, and repair to the towns by the seaside." But, so far from complying with this suggestion, we find seventeen of their num- ber at one time hastening to the relief of Mattapoiset and the people of Swansey; and, on another occasion, twenty of their number encountering a much larger body of the enemy, and taking seventeen of them prisoners.
But, in the disposition of those prisoners, we are obliged to open a page in the history of the colony, over which it would be well for their memories if oblivion could draw a friendly veil. I have spoken of the general sense of justice with which the early colo- nists treated the native tribes around them; and we all know with what sorrow the good Robinson la- mented that they " had not converted some before they had killed any" of these sons of the forest, when he heard of the deadly encounter between Standish and Pecksuot, the treacherous boaster of his strength and prowess, and in which the latter was slain.
But the circumstance to which I allude was the order of the court, in 1676, " that all such as had any Indian captive, above the age of fourteen years, should dispose of the same out of the colony by the first of the next December, on pain of forfeiting every such Indian or Indians to the use of the colony."
I would gladly record some decided disavowal of such a measure by the people of Bridgewater; but
7
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justice requires me to transcribe a vote of the 21st August, 1676, upon the question, " Who should have the money that was made of the Indians that were sold last !" alluding to the prisoners already mentioned, who had been taken by the Bridgewater soldiers, and had been sold at Plymouth by order of the court.
The record reads in these words: "And the vote passed, that the soldiers that took them should have the money. The contrary being called, I see but three men, at most, who hold up their hands to the con- trary." It should be borne in mind, that the custom of enslaving captives taken in war was long regarded as an act of merciful commutation for the forfeiture of the life which they had incurred ; and that it is difficult for us to measure the advance that has been made in the science of political morality between the sentiments which then universally prevailed, and the feeling of New England now, that denies the right of property in human beings. It may have been deemed a mea- sure of necessity for the safety of the colonists, to dispose of those bold, fierce warriors beyond the possi- bility of return ; and therefore it was that they sold them away into slavery. But, whatever might have been the feelings and sentiment of the General Court of the colony, I cheerfully accept, for the men of Bridgewater, the construction which has been put upon the vote which I have just quoted by one of her worthiest sons, who, amidst the honors he has received in another State, has never ceased to be sensitive to
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her honor,* that " this disposition of these prisoners was so repulsive to the feelings and obnoxious to the principles of the Bridgewater people, that they would not permit the money for which they were sold to come into the general treasury ; and they voted 'that the soldiers that took them should have it.'"
And this view I am happy to find strengthened by the known and openly avowed opinions of their vene- rable pastor, Mr. Keith, who, to his honor be it remembered, when the question was submitted to the clergy of the colony what should be done with the wife and little son of Philip, who had been taken prisoners, strongly maintained the duty of exer- cising mercy, against the judgment of many of his clerical brethren. His feeling would have been to spare the little lad, then but nine years of age, from the life of slavery in Bermuda into which he was eventually sold.+ I am the more confirmed in this favorable judgment of the views of the people of this town upon the subject of slavery, from the fact, that as late as 1754, when there were in the county of
* Hon. Elijah Hayward, of McConnelsville, Ohio, formerly Commissioner of the Land Office at Washington, Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, &c., -a lineal descendant, in the fifth degree, from Thomas Hayward, one of the earliest set- tlers in Bridgewater.
f The following extract from the letter of the Rev. Mr. Keith serves to show how the clergy of that day illustrated and tested questions of a politico-moral cha- racter: "I long to hear what becomes of Philip's wife and son. I know there is some difficulty in that Psalm cxxxvii. 8, 9; though I think it may be considered whether there be not some specialty and somewhat extraordinary in it. That law. Deut. xxiv. 16, compared with the commended example of Amaziah, 2 Chron. xxv. 4. doth sway much with me in the case under consideration."
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Plymouth one hundred and thirty-three slaves, and in the whole province nearly five thousand, the statistics from which I have quoted do not show a single slave in Bridgewater! All honor to such abolition, that begins the work of discarding slavery, black or white, at home, and speaks so much more effectively by example than the cheap tribute of philippic and invective !
The settlement of the town was begun, on the part of the proprietors, in 1650, in the part now called West Bridgewater; though it seems that one family had come from Salem, and settled here, four years before that time. This was the well-known family of Edson, whose members, for so many years, took so leading a part in the affairs of the town and province. It was the first interior town settled in the colony; but it was not until the 3d June, 1656, that it was incorpo- rated as such. This was done, in the briefest possible terms, by the simple order, " that henceforth Duxbury new plantation be allowed to be a township by itself, distinct from Duxbury, and to be called by the name of Bridgewater."* From that time, she took her place among the little bodies politic of Plymouth, until that colony was merged in her more powerful, and, as was sometimes thought, grasping neighbor. But whether we contemplate her history in its con-
. It nowhere appears, that I can learn, why this name was adopted rather than that of any other of the towns of Old England; though possibly some of its early settlers may have come from the English Bridgewater.
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nection with that of the Old Colony, or of Massachu- setts as a province, or as an independent common- wealth, we shall find that she has sustained her share of every public duty and burden, and has illustrated, in the character of her children, those public and domestic virtues which command respect, while they insure thrift and independence. It has therefore been with a just and honest pride, that her sons and her sons' sons, who are scattered all over the Union, have watched her progress, and felt that her honor was in no small degree identical with their own. And it is with such feelings that some of these have come back to-day, to revive old associations, and listen to the recital of some of the reminiscences which the recurrence of the day is calculated to awaken.
To more than one of thesc, I ought to express my acknowledgment for the aid I have received, even in the imperfect manner in which I am able to present the topics suitable for the occasion ; * and, as I recall this, I am painfully reminded how much better jus- tice would have been done to the subject in other hands, had I not yielded judgment to inclination, by following impulses awakened by the memory of an ancestry whose history is associated with that of this ancient town.
* Among these, I ought to mention Judge Hayward, of Ohio, and, in special manner, Ellis Ames, Esq., of Canton, a native of Bridgewater, whose accuracy and learning as an antiquary are in keeping with the readiness with which he imparts to others the results of his own labors.
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And let us not forget the labors of him who was so eminently the historian of Bridgewater. Bound by the strong ties of kindred and affection to this his native town, he gave to it the fruits of the taste and diligence of an antiquary, in a volume which must ever serve as the storehouse of its early and gencalo- gical annals.
Descended from one of the "forefathers,"* and cherishing, as he did, a veneration for their memories, and the filial attachment of a son to Bridgewater, how would his gentle and genial spirit have rejoiced in this day! and with what delight would he have greeted these descendants of his early friends and associates ; and of those, scarcely less his familiars, who felled the first forest-tree and planted the first cornfield on the spot where we are assembled !
Through a long and honored life, he shared alike the confidence of the public and the personal regard of his friends.
As an antiquary, he exhibited the unobtrusive and patient industry of "Old Mortality," in chipping out the fading memorials of a departed race.
And if, on this occasion, we bring forth, like the Romans of old, the images of the departed whose names we ought to recall, we should be doing injus- tice to ourselves, if, among them, we failed to give an honored place to that of Mitchell.
. Experience Mitchell, who came over in the " Anne," in 1623, the third ship that arrived.
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In turning more directly to incidents of local his- tory, it is obvious that time will admit of but little detail. All I can hope to do is to seize upon enough of these to serve as exponents of the moral, social, or political condition of its people from one period to another.
There is one conviction that presses upon the mind, in glancing along the pages of the early records of a state or town; and that is, how inadequately the actors in passing events measure their relative impor- tance at the time of their occurrence. Time only furnishes the true test for this, when their relation to the after-events in history have been developed. If, for instance, we look into the records of the Pro- vincial Congress, then in session, for any notice of the battle of Bunker Hill, though fought almost within hearing of its members, we find it incidentally spoken of as " the late attack of the king's troops at Bunker Hill;" little dreaming it was to be, in its consequence, one of the great events of the century. And so, on a smaller sphere, we look in vain, in the records of this town, for any thing more than a passing notice of what we now know were incidents of great historic interest.
While the location and allotments of their lands, the boundaries of their roads, and even the marks of ownership of their domestic animals, are carefully registered, Philip's war, the subversion of their char- ter, the usurpation of Andros, and the blotting-out of
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the political existence of one colony by the oversha- dowing growth of another, scarcely occupy a para- graph in these records.
There is enough to show that these were indeed exciting topics in the minds of the people of that day ; but they left no declaration upon their records of the impression which these events had made.
The first recorded meeting of the inhabitants of the town was held on the 3d November, 1656.
Although one of the primary objects of these town organizations was to maintain a competent and pious ministry, I do not find any action upon the subject till January, 1660, when provision was made for the " carrying along the Lord's-Day exercise," by an offer of thirty pounds, or " twenty pounds and his diet," to Mr. Bunker, "to come hither, and supply our wants in the way of the ministry." This was indeed a day of small things. Money they had almost none ; and even the corn which they made, to a considerable extent, a circulating medium, could only be produced by much toil, and often at the peril of life from a lurking foe.
Of their first meeting-house we know little. Such as it was, it served its purpose for a few years. But, in 1671, arrangements were made for the erection of one forty feet in length, twenty-six in width, and "fourteen feet studs," at an expense of " four- score pounds," not including " the making of galleries or sealing." The means, however, for constructing
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this humble edifice were not raised by vote till 1673, when it was to be levied " ten pounds in money, ten pounds in Indian corn, and the rest in marchandable boards, at four shillings a hundredth."
In the selection of a minister, the town seems to have been particularly fortunate. The records detail their agreement, in 1664, with " James Keith, a stu- dent of divinity," whereby, among other things, they were to cover the minister's house a second time; "to glaze the windows as soon as they could, provided they can get glass for boards;" and there were to be two hundred bricks furnished for constructing the chimneys, backs, hearths, and oven, payable in corn.
You may regard these as trifling details; but they tell, more vividly than any language can describe, the humble style in which these settlers lived, and the straits and circumstances to which they submitted, for so many years after they had taken upon themselves the character and duties of an independent municipa- lity. Even their minister's house was to be glazed, and furnished with a brick chimney and oven, only on condition that they could procure the materials in exchange for the products of their own labor. Mr. Keith was a native of Scotland, had been educated at the university of Aberdeen, and was recommended to the people of Bridgewater by that renowned divine, Dr. Increase Mather. And, although the limits of these remarks will not allow me to speak of indivi-
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dual character in detail, it is pleasant to record that the connection of Mr. Keith with the people of his charge was alike honorable and creditable to both ; and he seems to have stamped his own character upon this community. He preached his first sermon, it is said, from a rock in the open air, - typical of that rock on which his church should rest He lived to see a population large enough for three parishes, and a minister settled over one of them besides his own,* and a considerable portion of another township carved from this; and was gathered to the reward of his la- bors, at the ripe age of seventy-six, in the year 1719.
It is sad to be reminded, as we glance over the pages of these records, how early the second genera- tion began to illustrate, in practice, the truth of some of those rugged dogmas in theology which the first generation so stoutly maintained. There was, we have reason to fear, a spirit of depravity in the very earliest offshoots from the Pilgrim stock, when we read how, in 1686, the town chose " men to look after the boys on the sabbath days, that they be not disorderly ; ". and three grave gentlemen, - John Ames, senior, Thomas Snell, and Edward Mitchell, - worthy ances- tors of a numerous and honored posterity, were selected for this difficult and responsible duty.
But without stopping to discuss points in polemical divinity, or why boys at that day required looking
. The South Parish was incorporated in 1716, and the Rev. Benjamin Allen ordained as the first pastor, July 9, 1718.
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after, and leaving to modern reformers the graver question, why the tables have been so completely turned, that it is the boys now that look after the men, in their haste to discard the reverence as well as the theology of their fathers, I turn with more pleasure to the interest which, from an early period, the town has taken in the cause of education.
To Massachusetts is the honor due of having first devised free schools, in 1647, that "learning," in the beautiful language of the day, "might not be buried in the graves of their ancestors." In 1663, the court at Plymouth recommended a measure like this to the several towns.
But though, in the very infancy of the town, its inhabitants had shown the interest they felt in the cause of education, by contributing twelve pounds, in Indian corn, for the benefit of Harvard College, - for which, in behalf of that university, I now tender acknowledgments to their memory, - I do not find any corporate action for establishing schools within the town till about the year 1700, when "a scholar who came out from England, whose name is Thomas Martin," was engaged for four years to keep a school in four places in the town in each year, - three months in each place. And it was yet five years before they seem to have discovered, and even then but partially, what everybody now understands so well, - the superior qualifications of woman for in- structing the young. They then voted "to provide
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four school-dames for to instruct small children in reading."
But, though entering late into the field, we are warranted, from its whole history, in believing that few towns have been more uniform or consistent in supplying to the young the means of education .* Though there were among the early settlers few who laid claim to much scholarship, there were none who wanted that general intelligence and practical good sense so much more useful to men in their con- dition. There was, in this respect, a remarkable uniformity among them, and scarcely, if any, less remarkable identity in their religious faith and ob- servance of their moral duties. And, as an evidence of this, it is believed by those who have made it a subject of investigation, that drunkenness and its kindred vices were unknown among them; and not a single conviction of an inhabitant of the town, for any crime involving moral turpitude, was had while Ply- mouth existed as a colony.
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