USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Early History of Naushon Island > Part 28
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The French boy Louis Calot was brought from France by Bowdoin and given an education. He seems to have lived upon the island for some years, as he is referred to in the letter of James Bowdoin Winthrop written in 1815.
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
JAMES BOWDOIN TO MR. WILLIAM BARNET
Naushon, August 25th.
. . . P.S. Enclosed you will find a letter for Mr John Calot father to the lad whom I sent to America from Paris. His name is Louis Wm. Calot & is likely to make a very likely man, he con- ducts much to my satisfaction, I have given him schooling & mean again to do it next winter. I shall be obliged to you to have the let- ter sent to his father & so recd. & forward any letter he may see fit to write to his son.
In the Congregational Church records of Falmouth it is stated : Louis Callot, Deliverance Weeks, Mary Hatch were pro- pounded. November 22nd were admitted.
JAMES BOWDOIN TO JUDGE CONY
Boston, Apr. 14th.
. . . I send you Mr Livingstons treatise for the management of sheep & I shall be obliged to you for your opinion that if I should be able to send you some young rams of the Merino breed this fall, it is likely that they would produce a good price & anything that would be worth the trouble & expense & risk of sending them com- pared with their price this way.
Will you be good enough to let me know by the mail what a deck load of small spruce poles not less than eight or nine feet long could be had for & shipt. to Naushon Island & whether there are vessells belonging to the southward of Cape Cod loading or likely soon to load, by which they could be sent. The design of them is to make the railing of portable gates for fences & pens for the purpose of retaining or folding sheep; this is a species of fencing
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
wch. I conceive admirably calculated for your part of the country ; the poles must not be bigger than your wrist at the small end, & must cut so that when attached to the side pieces the gate shall be 8 feet long, with one cross piece. The holes to receive the poles are cut with a common augur. One post goes into the ground & the other sustained by a pin on the top, which is driven into a corre- spondent hole in the long post of the next gate; these gates are so light that a man takes one of them out of a cart under his arm & with a mallet drives into the earth the longest side of the gate the shepherd proceeds in this way until he encloses as much ground as he wishes. .
TARPAULIN COVE LIGHT HOUSE
The first Government appropriation for the Tarpaulin Cove light house was made by Congress February 10, 1807; the light house was not actually built until ten years later, being completed in 1818.
JAMES BOWDOIN TO THE HONORABLE ALBERT GALLATIN Paris Sept. 19th. 1807
Sir;
I have the honor to acknowledge those of your obliging letters of the 11th of July last & I am much obliged to you for your con- descension and politeness in not directing the light house to be erected at Tarpaulin Cove on Naushon Island until you had given me an opportunity of making known my sentiments upon the sub- ject. I ought Sir to suggest to you that the Island of Naushon is appropriated to Grazing and to the rearing of horses, Cattles and sheep principally the latter; as the Island is long and narrow & has many landing places, it is much exposed to be robbed of its stock; owing to the circumference I have been obliged to erect houses & to attach families to them unprofitably for the sake of pro-
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LIGHT HOUSE AND TAVERN AT TARPAULIN COVE
THE SENTINEL TREE
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
tecting the stock. The same circumstance required me to build a house and connect there with 200 acres of land for a Tavern for the accomadation of the sea men belonging to vessells which anchor on Tarpaulin Cove Harbor. With all the protection of this family the seamen of the vessels frequently kill the stock & steal both tim- ber & fire wood from ye island. I mention these circumstances, that you may consider whether some special agreement may not be necessary to prevent the keeper of the light house from keeping Tavern or harboring disorderly & suspicious persons who may kill the stock etc. The building of the Tavern cost me upwards of three thousand dollars about 20 years since & if the keeper of the light house is allowed to keep a public house the cost & value of my house will be greatly diminished, whilst ye island may be plundered by Persons harboured there. I have stated these facts generally to Mr Winthrop my relation & agent at Boston, who will in my absence do everything that ye reason the case requires. I think however the public interest may be benefited by employing my tenant as a keeper of the light house & in that case much expense and trouble might be saved to the public, whilst all the land which wld. be necessary whch. be so much as wld. be required for a site & that I shld. be willing to give to the Govt. I think a plan of this kind may be devised so as to secure a faithful and punctual attend- ance of the lights whilst the stock & improvements of the island shld. not be exposed to be deranged. The light house I conceive will require to be placed upon an elevation at no great distance from my house which will make it convenient to be attended by ye tenant and as the advantage of it will be personal to him so he can be laid under the same obligations to keep the light & be subject to the same penalties in case of neglect as any other light house keeper. The people to whom I have generally hired the Tavern are steady and confidential & none other will do for the situation. As I pre- sume it is the intention of the Govt. to do as little as possible to private property, so I wld. hope there will be no difficulty in mak-
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
ing an arrangement similar to what is herein suggested for your consideration. . . .
Your most ob. Servant,
James Bowdoin
JAMES BOWDOIN TO THOMAS L. WINTHROP, ESQ.
Paris
. . . With respect to the light house at Tarpaulin Cove I wld. have you proceed in the business so as to procure a full valuation for the ten acres. If I choose to give to ye Govt. hereafter I may do it but one seldom gets credit for presents of this sort; but it must be required that ye ten acres shall be applied to no other pur- pose than that of a public light house & ye necessary building for the accomadation of the keeper, and that when it shall cease to be so applied, that it shall revert to me or my heirs ; it ought equally to be required that ye keeper of ye lighthouse shall not keep a Tavern nor do any injury to my Estate at Tarpaulin Cove, by har- boring sailors & other people who may steal my sheep, cut my wood & timber as well as may set up a tavern greatly to ye prejudice of ye house I have already built there, this purpose at a very great expense; I had better given ye situation under the foregoing pro- visions, than to receive money upon an unqualified sale. I shall be obliged to you to suggest these considerations to Gen. Dearborn who must see ye reasonableness of what is hereinsuggested. I re- quest his interference with the Govt. to have ye cession or sale made under ye necessary restrictions above mentioned. . .
ALBERT GALLATIN FROM GENERAL DEARBORN
To Hon. Albert Gallatin,
Boston, Feb. 28th. 1810 Sir;
Mr Bowdoin having shown me the correspondence between himself and you in relation to the proposed Light House on his
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
Island and likewise a petition he is about sending you I take the liberty of making a few observations in relation to the subject generally. The Island on which the Light House is to be erected contains about 5000 acres of land, and is principally improved as a sheep pasture. The number of sheep usually kept on the Island is about 2000. Mr Bowdoin is now improving the breed by the introduction of Merinos and will probably in the course of a few years have from 2 to 3 thousand of these valuable animals on said Island, and as the sheep are liable to the depradations of the crews of the small vessells and boats that frequent the waters about the Island and also the sailors and others that belong to vessells that occasionally anchor in Tarpaulin Cove near where the Light House is proposed. Mr Bowdoin has at all times found it neces- sary to have one or more families on the Island in whose fidelity and industry he can confide to take care of his property and to pre- vent as much as possible depredations on his stock and if one of his tenants should be (by provision of the law) the keeper of the lights, so long as the duty shall be faithfully performed, it would be very satisfactory to Mr Bowdoin and no inconvenience that I can per- ceive would by such an arrangement be experienced by the public especially as Mr Bowdoin is willing to enter into suitable bonds for the faithful conduct of such a keeper, with all the protection af- forded by especial laws of this Commonwealth to the stock on the Island in question and all the precautions taken by Mr Bowdoin very considerable depradations are annually made on the stock and especially on the sheep.
H. Dearborn
JAMES BOWDOIN TO GENERAL DEARBORN
Boston, April 30th.
The Hon. Gen. Dearborn,
My dear Sir;
I am very sorry that an arrangement equally safe to the public
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
as to the security of private property could not have been made in regard to the site of the proposed light house. What I ought to do in the case, or how I can be prevailed on to sell 10 acres of my land in the midst of the farm, and which changes essentially not only the value of the farm, but the privelege of a Tavern which is at- tached to it and in the event may endanger the security, improve- ment and value of my whole estate I know not. It will be very dis- agreeable to claim the protection of the State or take any other step which shall be opposed to so public an object as an light house. Yet I still conceive that if some regulation cannot be obtained to lessen the inevitable consequence which must result from the measure which is proposed. I must be constrained to give all the opposition to it I can. I hope however that the Sec. of the Treasury will not put me to the inconvenience or force on me regulations of a severe and hostile nature.
J. B.
After eight years of management of the island, Baalis Bul- lard left Naushon in the autumn of 1810. He was succeeded by Barnabas Chadwick of Falmouth, who had come to the island in the spring, to take charge of the sheep.
Bowdoin seems to have had some difficulty in keeping tenants on the various farms at this time. This is not surprising when the rents asked are considered.
$700 per year for the Dairy Farm
$400 to $500 per year for the Cove Farm reduced to $300 per year $150 for the West End
It was, however, at this period that such great quantities of vegetables were being supplied to vessels at Tarpaulin. Doubtless all the farmers were very active in raising and selling livestock and vegetables, and in this way they made a comfortable living.
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
Boston, Dec. 28, 1810
Mr Barnabas Chadwick,
Sir;
I sent by Mr Ephriam Price a fifty dol. bank bill this day to be delivered to you in order to pay Mr Wm. Bradley 41-81 for his 1/3 part of 251 bushels of Salt made by him last summer. The remain- ing 8-19 cts. you will reserve to pay any small occurring expenses, to be accounted for, Mr Bradley is desirous to know whether he is to continue on the place another year. I shall have no objection to his continuance if his accounts of his conduct are found in all re- spects proper and correct, but then he must submit to such altera- tions in his lease as the case may require : for instance I allow him by the lease 3 shillings per bu. for the Salt he has made which is at the rate of 4 doll. per hogshead and Salt has sold the last summer and fall at 15 sh. per hogshead and some as low as 13 sh. 15 sh. per hogshead is 31} cts per bu. and at 3 doll. per hhd. is 374 cts. per bu. which I believe is higher than any has sold for, or at least as high . . and I cannot be obligated to buy either Mr Bradley's or Mr Robinson's Salt dearer than I can buy Salt for in this town.
I have not got Mr Bradley's accounts which he settled with Mr Bullard nor do I know particularly how he has been employed since he has been in my service, or in what way he has paid his rent. By the lease, Mr Bradley is to attend the Ferry to Woods Hole in the usual manner without any especial charge, and also to take care of the stock both in summer and in winter, without charge also, and to be allowed that is when making or mending fences or walls, cutting the hay, washing & shearing sheep, clearing & ditch- ing salt-marshes or swamp or any other kind of farming business if done between the 1st. of April & 1st. of October five shillings per day and if between the 1st. of October and the 1st. of April next then 4 shillings per day, he finding himself and rendering an ac- count of his work once in every month to my agent that is to you, as Mr Bullard has quitted my service.
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
How the account has been made up ascertained and managed I know not. They ought to be made clear, stand fair and I am will- ing that Mr Bradley shall be fully and fairly paid.
With respect to Mr Seth Robinson's lease the rent was reg- ulated by the cost of the house and by the buildings if they had been erected adjacent for his accomadation or that person to whom the works should be leased and to be paid as is stated by labor at 2/6 per day, and boarded or in money at his option. Since the lease, I have paid carpenter, painters and masons several sums and there has been lumber and other materials used to complete the house and out-houses. What was the rule by which Mr Bullard calculated the rent to the 1st. of April I know not. .
I shall write you shortly about the sheep but at present I have only time to acquaint you that I have bought three more Merino rams, which I now send you by Mr John Richardson who has had the care of them for some time past & can tell you how he has kept them so that you may not too suddenly change their food and shel- ter, a little hogs lard, or mutton or other clean grease with a little bees-wax melted, if you have it is good to rub upon the skin where the wool is off, and a little sweet oil rubbed on the nose is good for the snuffles in sheep. I hope you will take particular care of the Merino sheep, they have cost a great deal of money and I should be sorry to lose them for want of care. . . . If you have any time I wish you to get into the cow yard as much sea weed as you can, to make a pile of it for the purpose of accomadating the ewes at lamb- ing time in such places as you intend to shelter them in. But of this I shall write you more particularly at lambing time.
James Bowdoin
JAMES BOWDOIN TO SETH ROBINSON
Boston, Nov. 21st.
Sir; I received your letter of the 15th. inst. by post & conclude that
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
the salt in store has been correctly measured & that there is 1660 bushels. One fifth part being yours by the lease or 332 bushels at 3 shillings per bushel, amount to one hundred and seventy-six dol- lars wch. I shall send by Mr Joseph Parker, who will deliver it to Mr Barnabas Chadwick for you to give me your rec't. . .. Let me know if the winter shld. prove open whether you build any part of the wall I proposed across the Island from your house as I pro- posed, and if so what you wish for building a wall five feet high & so constructed to stop sheep as well as cattle. Observe in high winds and storms how high the water rises on the wharf on a level & also the height of the spray of the sea. These circumstances shld. be minutely attended to for the security of the above and the Salt within it. Capt. Mosier is now here and promises to take the pair of pot-ash kettles I have purchased for the above. You will have them carefully set & in the best manner & the bill of the work for- warded, to me. . . .
JAMES BOWDOIN TO MR. JOSEPH PARKER
Boston, Dec. 10th.
Dear Sir;
. . . I have received a letter from Mr Shadwick Robinson who seems disposed to continue on the Cove farm upon his own terms, but I shall not permit him to stay under three hundred dollars per annum and longer than I can find a proper man to take it. I have had a man in treaty about the farm for some time past & altho I am unwilling to introduce strangers yet I must do it if Mr Robin- son persists in his determination of giving no more rent than he proposed. I shall be much obliged to you to send for Mr Rob- inson & to show him the part of the letter & receive his final answer. . . . Even this rent will be a poor consideration for the money the house cost me & the improvement of the farm; as to further con- venience such as a wharf, barns I will lay out any sum of money
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
theron wch. will give an addition to the rent of 10 per cent on the sum wch. may so expand the money to be frugally laid out in pro- curing the conveniences wished for.
Captain David Tilton was born on Martha's Vineyard on March 3, 1776. He married Jedidah, daughter of Shadrach Rob- inson, in September, 1806. Shadrach was at this time either at Tarpaulin Cove or the West End, and it is natural that the young couple should have become tenants at one of the farms.
The son of David and Jedidah was born in 1813, possibly at Naushon. He later moved to Martha's Vineyard and is the sub- ject of the pleasing sketch, "Uncle David," by Dr. Leroy Milton Yale *.
1811
HONORABLE JAMES BOWDOIN TO CAPTAIN DAVID TILTON
Capt. David Tilton ; Sir,
I recd. your letter of Jan. 17th this day not without some sur- prise in regard to what you mention in respect to the rent of the place you occupy. I have been at considerable expense to repair the house and you had the place at less rent than Mr Nye gave for it. I do not wish to be changing tenants, nor to seek one, when I considered you to expect to continue on the place. I have always been willing to do what is reasonable, but considering the rents which have been heretofore paid, your rent stands as low as it has been for a number of years past. I wish to know what you expect to do or what you mean to propose that I may know what is proper that I should do. I received a letter likewise from Mr John Rob- inson a day or two since, altho he lives upon the place I always con- sidered and do now consider him a tenant under his father and that
* Published in Scribner's Magazine, July, 1901.
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
what ever changes are to take place, I do expect they will take place through an agreement with Mr Shadwick Robinson.
I expect Mr Jos. Parker will be coming to Boston on the Be- ginning of next month and I wish you to confer with him as well as to write me what you propose to do and your determination, that I may know immediately what to do concerning the place.
J. B.
JAMES BOWDOIN TO JOSEPH PARKER, ESQ.
Boston, Mar. 15th.
Dear Sir;
I received your obliging letter of the 12th. inst. & find with astonishment that Mr S. Robinson and his children do not choose to hire the respective farms. I shall be obliged to you to send me Capt. Skiffs answer as soon as you shall obtain it. If Capt. Skiff takes the Cove farm you can send Mr Chadwick to Mr Robinson & know if he will have anything to do with the west end of the Is- land, & what offer he will make for it. Capt. Tilton's place can either be improved on or not as I conceive it may be pastured with sheep, to the full value of payment he will pay; but if Capt Skiff should not take the Cove farm, I dont see but that I must lay at the mercy of Shadwick another year ; for altho I thought of shutting up the house and stocking the farm, it will be attended with much consequence, the ruin of ye house & the stealing of the stock & timber that I must have it tenanted by somebody. This situation I have been apprehensive of being drawn into by let- ting so many places to one man, all of them at trust and spread out & dependant on one & he so artful & crooked. I shall there- fore be obliged to you to make the agreement you can for me with Shadwick & his children in case Capt. Skiff should decline taking the place. In case Capt. Skiff takes it you can agree with Shadk about the other two places, or only the west end farm for one year
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
& ye rent for next year to be settled in July next in case he shld. expect to continue upon it after the present year. . . . J. B.
The exact date of Shadrach Robinson's leaving the island is not recorded, but from Chilmark comes word:
"In 1810, the class, a Methodist group in Chilmark, was re- vived, being reinforced by Shadrach Robinson, who had removed hither from Naushon, and whose house became a home for the preachers and a place for their meetings."
"Shadrach Robinsons ear mark as follows, crop of the right ear with a split therein and a slope under the left ear, purchased of Benjamin Allen as per receipt entered December 20th 1815.
Also his riding mark across the hips."
JAMES BOWDOIN TO JOSEPH PARKER, ESQ.
Boston, April 10th.
Dear Sir;
In reply to your letter of the 9th. if Mr Shadwick Robinson is seriously determined to quit the Cove farm in the face of his own letter, and will not desire it on the terms he himself proposes I will not let him have the west end farm on any terms whatever. Have Mr Chadwick send the cows up there reserving enough for the fam- ily at home for butter & milk for the summer & Mr Lothrop & Miss Weeks* if she will go sent there to take care of the farm & make the Dairy, this with a flock of Merino sheep will make it as profit- able as to let it. In this case provision must be made for the protec- tion of the Cove farm until a tenant can be found to occupy it and I believe Mr Chadwick and his family or some other suitable per-
* Possibly Miss Deliverance Weeks, mentioned as admitted to the Falmouth Church in the previous August at the same time that admittance was also allowed to Louis Calot and Mary Hatch.
HONORABLE JAMES BOWDOIN BY GILBERT STUART
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BOWDOIN OWNERSHIP
son should be found to keep possession of the house until that time ; but if Mr Shadwick Robinson will take both farms agreeable to the proposition of his own letter that is two hundred dollars for the Cove farm & a hundred and fifty dollars for the west end, he may have them on these terms, this being for the present year only.
JAMES BOWDOIN TO HON. JUDGE CONY
Naushon, June 17th.
My dear Sir;
I have duly received your obliging letter of the 8th inst. and the lumber shingles and canoes by Capt. Sherman who I beleive has delivered them in good order at Tarpaulin Cove & at Onkey Tonkey agreeably to agreement.
It is now about a week since I came to Naushon but I continue very weak and feeble; I hope however that the sweet secure air of the Island may restore me. Nothing can exceed the weather & the Island has had plenty of rain and everything looks flourishing. My sheep however suffered much the last winter, and I have lost a great number & I have only a few lambs.
JAMES BOWDOIN TO THOMAS DICKINSON, ESQ. Naushon, Aug. 20th.
Sir; ... Mr Winthrop & his family are now with us & we are enjoying the pleasure of a fine mild summer under as fine a sea prospect as any country affords ; we are accommodated with a con- venient house which I built the last year, & I hope by retiring here during the summer I may enjoy a comfortable state of health during the short summer of life, the Deity may allow me. . . .
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EARLY HISTORY OF NAUSHON ISLAND
JAMES BOWDOIN TO MR. SETH ROBINSON
Boston, Jan. 29, 1811
Mr Seth Robinson;
Sir;
I recd. your letter of the 23rd. inst. this day and I am willing that you should have your part of the Salt for making, to be de- livered to you when all the Salt shall be made for the summer, that is in case you and I cannot agree upon the price, so that on this point we are agreed. I am also willing that the rent shall stand as it did last year but I expect that you shall take care of the stock which may be put on Onky Tonky both in winter and in summer, the same way and manner as is provided in the lease of Nonnimes- sett to Mr Bradley. I think this is a most essential circumstance and is the only equivalent to be put against the other privelege you receive in getting your wood, and in improving the land which the lease authorizes. On the presumption that you can have no objec- tions to these points the lease shall be prepared and sent you by Mr Parker with the modification herein stated. . . .
In regard to the wall I dont know what Mr Chadwick would wish or think best. My own idea is that the wall should run from your house across the Island to the North shore at the nearest point, so as to leave the marsh and the lower end of the Island to the eastward of the wall. I wish you to let me know the direction Mr Chadwick proposes that the wall shall take and what will be the whole length of the wall from the place of beginning to the point he proposes to go to.
I conclude that you will be digging the stones, so that no time will be lost before the situation of the wall will be settled. Captain Sampson took 2, 13 inch blocks properly strapped with hooks etc. Has Mr C. received them? I have a number of small things to send to Mr Chadwick such as sheep bells, sheep shears, bill hook and old sail to make an awning for the shearers in June, of these and other matters I shall soon write him. I have likewise pur-
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