USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Bridgewater > Epitaphs in old Bridgewater, Massachusetts : illustrated with plans and views > Part 21
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The sketches on opposite page, represent the house :
FIRST, as it appeared, 1662 to 1678 16 years ; SECOND, as it appeared. 1678 to 1837 159 years ; THIRD, as it has appeared since 1837 45 years ;
making it 220 years old.
The house was built 1662. It fronted south, was two stories high in front, one story high back side, posts, sixteen feet high, fifteen feet wide in front, thirty-four feet deep, with front entry, five feet wide : chamber stairs and chimney back of front door, in the southeast cor ner of the house, one front room, about ten by twelve, with a bed-room back of that, and a kitchen, with pantry, back of bed-room and chim- ney. In the second story was an entry, a front room, and a bed-room corresponding to the rooms below. No cellar under this part of the house.
In 1678, the house was enlarged by an addition of eighteen by thirty-four feet, to the east side of the house ; two stories high in front,
LEF
OLD HOUSE OF REV. GAMES KEITH. 1662.
HOUSE ENLARGED. 167S.
PRESENT HIOUSE. 1837.
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239
APPENDIX.
one story high back side, making one large front room, eighteen by eighteen feet, with a bed-room, back stairs, and an enlargement of the kitchen, in the back part. The rooms in the second story corespond- ing to the front room and bed-room belo" :. The back part of the sec. ond story of the old and new part of the house remaining unfinished. A cellar under a portion of this new part, with a stone drain across the road to the Town river.
The house remained in this condition, without material alteration for 159 years, from 1678 down to 1837, when Thomas Pratt, father of said George M. Pratt, cut off about fourteen feet of the north side of the house, so as to leave the north side of the same height as the front side of the house, thereby making the south roof thirteen and one-half feet long, and the north roof only twelve feet long; building a new chimney in the place of the old one, then taken down, but much small- er; and leaving the rooms in the front and middle parts of the house as they were before this amputation. The brick in this old chimney were much larger than modern brick, and were laid in clay. The shingles upon the walls were taken off, and clapboards put on in place thereof. This house now (1882) being a two story house, thirty-two feet front, and twenty feet back; with a porch annexed to the back side. The windows upon the three sides of the house being the same ever since the memory of man, except such as were cut off as afore- said, and except square glass in place of the old diamond glass and bull's eyes.
The annex or addition of eighteen by thirty-four feet, made in 1678, was quite, fully developed and apparent on a personal examina- tion of the inside of the house, a few years ago, by the writer ; and the frame-work, timber, doors, materials, and inside construction of the house exhibit strong marks of antiquity.
In the case of the inhabitants of Bridgewater versus the inhab- itants of West Bridgewater, reported in the seventh volume of Picker- ing Reports, page 191, and in the ninth volume of Pickering, page 55, in the years 1828-9, brought for the support of Daniel Keith, a pauper, then aged eighty-one years, a great-grandson of the Rev. James Keith. This pauper, with his father, Daniel Keith, and grandfather, John Keith, son of the Rev. James Keith, lived and died in the plaintiff town. It became necessary to prove where, in old Bridgewater, minis- ter Keith lived and died ; and sundry old people were witnesses of, and sundry depositions of ancient people were then, 1828-9, taken for that purpose, as well as to prove the genealogy of the pauper ; and
240
APPENDIX.
some of said deponants and witnesses well remembered the house, then, 1828, owned and occupied by Aarrabella, daughter of said Amasa How- ard, deceased, and widow of Benjamin Eaton, deceased, as far back as 1750, and said it was then, 1750, an ancient looking house, and had always appeared the same as it then, 1828-9, appeared. That case was tried, and before the whole court, twice ; and the fact that the Rev. James Keith, lived and died in that house, was then well and satisfac- torily established.
The homestead of Rev. James Keith consisted of two house-lots of six acres each, with a ten acre lot at the head of said house. lots, and with a house thereon, built by the town, conditionally given by the town to him, in consideration of his future services as their minis- ter, and remained entire until about 1800. And though this house and a portion of the homestead on which it stands, has been owned and occupied by many persons, as tenants in common and otherwise, yet the title to this house and portion of the homestead has always remain- ed in, and been confined to four persons and their families, to wit ;
James Keith and his children, down to 1723 .. 61 years ; Ephraim Fobes, brother and son, down to 1792. . 69 years ;
Amasa Howard and daughters, down to 1834. . 42 years ; Thomas Pratt and son, George M., down to 1882. 48 years.
220 years.
We have never been able to find any record of the date of the birth of Rev. James Keith, nor the date of his marriage to Susanna, daughter of his Dea. Samuel Edson, or of the date of the birth of his children, except Joseph. In the pamphlet referred to on the third page of this book, it is stated that they were married May 3. 1668, but that date was acknowledged by the author to be conjectural and with- out authority, and we have no confidence in that date. His son, in that pamphlet, is said to have married Mary Thayer, of Weymouth, May 3, 1695. The records of Bridgewater give the dates of the births of his children, but not of his marriage. James, his oldest child, be ing born Jan. 8, 1696. Susanna, daughter of Rev. James Keith, was married in Taunton, to Jonathan Howard, of Bridgewater, Jan. 8, 1689, and died soon after without issue ; and the Rev. James Keith was probably born as early as 1643, and began to preach in Bridge- water soon after his arrival, in 1662. Master James Keith probably continued to preach and perform the office of minister for that people front that time to the time of his settlement, Feb. 18, 1664. old style ;
241
APPENDIX.
but when he arrived, or in what ship, or who his parents were, or his brothers or sisters, if any, were, or when he first went into possession of this house and land, does not appear. The town had employed one Mr. Bunker to serve them as minister for 1660, 1661, and perhaps a part of 1662. He then declined to accept their invitation to settle among them. The town had previously, without reference to any par- ticular minister, agreed to give their minister a purchase right, with all privileges.
In support of the above history of this house, we present the fol- lowing extracts from the first volume of our town records, and a copy of the inventory of the Rev. James Keith, recorded in the fourth vol- ume of probate court records at Plymouth, page 185.
Volume I, page 30. " It is agreed upon by the towne, meett together the sixt-and-twentieth of Desember (1661), that there shall be a house built for a minister upon the town's lands, where it shall be thought most convenient, and that the said house and grounds is to be freely giuen to that minister yt shall liue and die amongst us, being called by the towne to the work of the ministry, or by a church gathered according to the order of the gospel, with the consent of the towne; as also a compleat purchase, with uplands and meadow lands, according as other townes- men haue."
This record further provides for the contingency of death, a short time of service and inability to serve, and occupies the last half of said page.
This house was probably built in 1662, in pursuance of the town's agreement on the twenty-sixth day of December, 1661, but not finished May 13, 1664, when the town employed two persons to finish the chim- nies and glass the windows, as follows-forty-fourth page :
" An agreement made between the towne and John Wil- lis, seynior, and John Ames, for the finishing of the chim- nies, backs, hearths and ouen belonging to the minister's house. And they are to find all and draw all, both clay, stones and 200 bricks, for the aforesaid chimnies, backs, and ouen and hearths, and to do it sufficiently ; and the towne, for their paines, are to pay to them next haruest, twenty bush- ells of good marchandable corne, and the work to be finish- ed by the last of August insuing ; the date hereof being now the 13th thirteenth of May, 1664, to be paid when Indyan corne is marchantable:"
The roof was probably a thatched roof at first, and the house un- occupied and neglected at first ; and on the eleventh of October, 1664,
242
APPENDIX.
the house required some repairs and improvements, and the record in the same book, page 43, reads as follows :
"It was agreed upon by the twone, mett together the eleuenth of October, 1664, that the twone was freely will- ing to couer the minister's house the second time, and to glass the windows as soon as they cann, prouided that they cann gett glass for boards."
On the forty-fourth page the . town gave him possession of said house and land, as follows :
"This record made the 18th of February, 1664. The towne, being meet together, doth declare and hold forth that the towne did then resigne and make ouer to Mr. Keith, the house and garden belonging to the minister's lott or purchase, according to the tennor of the agreement mide . between Mr. Keith and the towne, and gaue him free liber- ty to possess it.
And, on the thirty fourth page of said book, is a full record of the terms of his settlement made with the town, under date of Feb. 18, 1664, old style ; and among other things, the town agreed to
"giue Master James Keith," conditionally, " twelue acres of land, already laid out, with a dwelling house built upon the same by the towne ; the lands well known, and liing upon the Mill river, and joining to the lands of Nath1 Wil- lis on the one side, and to George Turner on the other) side."
Sept. 13, 1670, page 60, " town choose a committee to let out Mr. Keith's barn, and to set the work forward and do their endeavor to see the workman paid for his labor ;" and May 23, 1673, on page 68, the town gave him full title to his house and lands, as follows :
" It was agreed upon by the inhabitants of the towne of Bridgewater, the three-and-twentieth of May, one thousand, six hundred and seventy-three, that Master James Keith, in consideration of hauing been some competent time in the work of the ministry among them, should haue the dwelling-house and out-houses he is possessed of, with the twelue acre lot he liues upon, as, also, all the lands, whether uplands or meadow lands, belonging to a full pur-
chase." And did then freely give and grant the same to him, his heirs and assigns ; and on Nov. 20, 1675, page 71, "uoted there shall be a garrison made about Mr. Keith's house."
On the twentieth of September, 1677, page 74, the town "uoted to raise and give Mr. Keith 24 lbs. toward the building of him a con- uenient roome or dwelling-house," as follows :
243
APENDIX.
"The town being mett together the twentieth of Septem- ber, 1677, did arran and agree to give freely to Mr. Keith twenty-and-four pounds, to be paid at his house-the one half to be paid in Indian corne, and the other half in boards and clapboards, by the last of April insuing the date here- of ; and the said twenty-four pounds to be raised by way of rate upon the inhabitants of the town, which was given to Mr. Keith toward the building of him a conuenient roome or dwelling-house; the boards at 5s. a hundred and clapboards, shaven, at 5s. a hundred."
This house, in which many of his children were born, was prob- ably not enlarged, with a convenient room, until the summer of 1678.
The inventory of Rev. James Keith, recorded in the fourth vol- ume of the probate record, page 185, was taken Aug. 25, 1719, by John Field, Isaac Johnson and John Ames, Jr., and contains ten items of personal property, amounting to 167lbs. and HIS., and shows the in- ternal division and arrangement of the house at that time, correspond- ing to the rooms and condition of the house at the time of the altera- tion in 1837, to wit :
I. Apparrel,
£27, 135.
2. In the new chamber, one feather bed, case of draws, chairs, tables and looking glass,
28, 16,
3. To things in new lower roome, one feather bed with its furniture, 2 tables, table-cloth, napkins chairs and wheels.
4. To the old west roome, one bed, bedding, with chairs and chest,
13, 15,
5. To the old chamber, to lumber
3, 7, 6
6. To the things in the kitchen, of pewter, iron and brass vessels, with tables and chairs
7. To quick stock,
21,
IO,
9. To library of books,
30,
2, 10. To money, 15
12,
19,
8. 'To hay, 6 load,
17, 5, 6
£167, IIS,
DEA. JOHN WHITMAN,
was born March 17, 1735, O. S., it reads on his grave stone, that he "died July 26, 1842, aged 107 years, 3 mos., 22 days."* He was the second son and third child of John and Elizabeth (Cary) Whitman. His father died 1792, aged. 88, and his mother died at the age of 42 years, in 1742, when he was seven years of age, and just one hundred years before his own death,
It is unnecessary here to describe the character of Dea. John Whitman-that has already been well and fully done by Judge Mitch ell, in his History of Bridgewater, 1818 and 1840; by Judge Ezekiel Whitman, in his Memoir of John Whitman and his Descendants, 44 pages, 1832 ; by Rev. Baalis Sanford, in his Century Sermon of twenty. pages, March 28, 1835 ; and by his son, Rev. Jason Whitman, in his Memoir of 101 pages, published 1843. The portrait in his Memoir has been copied and placed in this book, opposite this page.
He was born, lived, and died on the homestead of his ancestors, somewhat reduced and changed in 'form and size from the original Whitman homestead, formerly called the Whitman Neck, containing over two hundred acres, and bounded : southwesterly by Matfield river, southeasterly by Satuckett river, northwesterly by the Allen- land, and northeasterly by the Harris land. This tract of land, be it more or less, commenced on Matfield river, westerly of Turnpike bridge in Joppa, now Elmwood, and run in a straight line about northeasterly, by the land of Samuel Allen, to the land of Samuel and Isaac Harris, to a point northwesterly of the houses of the late Dea. Thomas Whit. man, now Henry Keith, and the late Barzillai Allen, now William Allen ; thence easterly by said Harris land to Satuckett river, below the old Latham and Harris saw mill dam. It was at the junction of said riv-
. The Rev. Jason Whitman in his memoir, page 87, says, that "on the night of the 19th of July, 1842, Deacon Whitman died."
John Whitman
Signature written at the age of 107 Portrait taken at the age of 99.
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APPENDIX.
ers, and nearly in the form of a triangle, and opposite to the " Small Rocky Hill," on the east side of Satuckett river, called Wonocooto or Sachem's Rock, on the old Robert Latham farm, and near the Seth Latham house, and where it is said that Ousamequin, sachem of Poco- nocket, March 23, 1649, executed his deed of Satuckett to Standish and others, extending seven miles each way from the weir near said dam -that being the first centre of Bridgewater-and one-quarter of a mile above said " Rocky Hill."
He was born in a house on the southerly side of the road leading from Whitman mills to Joppa or Turnpike bridge, where Clark Swal- low now lives ; and died in a one story house built by himself 1802. now standing opposite, on the northerly side of said road, and now owned and occupied by Timothy S. Harlow.
A good portion of the old Whitman house and the main body of it, on the south side of the road-to wit : seventeen by twenty-eight feet-was then, 1802, sold by him to David French, taken down, re- moved, and rebuilt with an addition of eight feet on the westerly end, and is the same house now standing in Satuckett, opposite the house of Seth P. Conant, owned and occupied by Judah B. Keen. This house, before its removal in 18.02, had a sharp roof as now, a chimney at the end, in the middle of the twenty-eight feet, making two rooms of equal size (fourteen by seventeen feet), with a fire-place in one cor- ner of each room, as now, and a Beaufet in one corner of one room. The house had a lean-to or shed roof upon two sides, containing a bed room, and other small rooms below. Mr. French added eight feet to the main body of the house when he rebuilt, making the house as it now is, twenty-five by twenty-eight feet, which has been lately repaired, modernized, and painted. Judge Whitman, in his Memoir, calls the house which stood south of, and about half-way between the Clark Swallow house and Satuckett river, the first house of Thomas Whit man ; and the house that stood where the Clark Swallow house now stands, the second house of Thomas Whitman.
There is, perhaps, some uncertainty where the first house of the ancestor, Thomas Whitman, stood, and whether he, Thomas Whit- man, the first settler and ancestor of all the Bridgewater Whitmans built and lived in two or three houses. He probably was born, 1629. in England, married a daughter of Nicholas Byram, 1656, lived in Weymouth until he came to Bridgewater with one or more children in 1662, and died 1712.
246
APPENDIX.
June 21, 1861, the writer called on Josiah Whitman, then aged eighty-two, son of Dea. John Whitman, and then living in and own- ing the Whitman house on the north side of the road, opposite to the house of Clark Swallow, to show him the sites of the old Whitman houses on this Whitman Neck of land, and we viewed the premises. He claimed that the first house of his ancestor, Thomas Whitman, stood where the late Judge Ezekiel Whitman was born, to wit : nearly opposite to the house of Mark P. Hudson, about four rods east of the Bates shoe-shop, now gone, on the north side of the old road. That house I well remember-very low in the walls, two rooms in front, with door near the middle, and close to the road, and taken down 1858. Judge Whitman told the writer that, on one occasion, he went into this house with his young daughter Lucia, then a little chatter-box, and told her that he was born in that room pointed out to her. She said : "Papa, it is not big enough to be born in." Mr. Josiah Whitman also claimed that it was burned by the Indians during King Phillip's war; that the second house of Thomas Whitman stood near a spring. twenty rods west of Satuckett river, and fifty rods south of said Clark Swallow's house, near a fording place in said river ; that he remem- bered apple trees standing and growing near this spot, and other evi- dences of a house once at that place ; that the third house of the said Thomas Whitman stood where Clark Swallow's house now stands, a portion of it a little east of it, and was built by said Thomas Whitman about 1680, and the old well is now used by Swallow. The main body -seventeen by twenty-eight feet-was sold to David French, as afore- said.
Judge Whitman does not say that this first house of Thomas Whitman was burned by the Indians, though that is the conclusion, inferentially, from what he does say, and the tradition is that it was so burned, having been deserted by the family. On the ninth of April, 1676, being the Lord's day, Robert Latham's house and barn, with considerable lumber on the opposite side of Satuckett river, was burned by the Indians. This house was also deserted by the family. These two houses stood within one-half mile of each other. There was prob- ably no other house in this part of East Bridgewater, east of the Turn- pike. This knowledge of the destruction of the Latham house comes from a letter of Rev. James Keith to Thomas Hinckley, dated April 17, 1676, to be seen on the thirty-eighth page of Mitchell's valuable History of Bridgewater. If the Whitman house had been burned be- fore the date of that letter, it probably would have been mentioned in that letter.
2 47
APPENDIX.
The tradition is that the house at Clark Swallow's, whether the second or third house of Thomas Whitman, was built about 1680; leaving a gap of four years, at least, when he was without house or home, with a family of six children under twenty years of age.
The present road from Whitman mills, on Satuckett river, to Turnpike bridge, on Matfield river, was laid out by a jury, 1690. First volume Bridgewater Town Records, page 147, as follows:
" A highway laid out by a jury from Isaac Harris, his house, to John's bridge. It runs from Isaac Harris, his Louse, as is directed by marked trees, to Good™ Whitman's house, on the east side of his house, and from thence as directed by marked trees to the river. And so over the river, between Edward Mitchell's and John Hayward's ; and so across John Hayward's land, where the way now is, above his barn and between his house and barn, and so along the way to town."
Isaac Harris married a daughter of Robert Latham, and lived in a house ten rods back of William Allen's house, on the north bank of Satucket river. This road, no doubt, went about where it is now, east of the Whitman house, now Swallow house, and over Matfield river, where the Turnpike bridge now is, and up the hill between the Mitch- ell and Howard land, as may now be seen, and was probably then laid out through a wilderness. John's bridge, in this record, means the old bridge over Mattield river at the Turnpike bridge.
This house, probably the third house of Thomas Whitman, great. grandfather of Dea. John, and this Whitman neck of land were the home, homestead, and birth-place of thirty-six children-three gener- ations of his blood-born in the eighteenth century, to wit : sixteen children of said Nicholas Whitman, grandfather of said John, by his three wives, 1702-1736 ; six children of his father, John Whitman, by two of his four wives, 1730-1747 ; and his fourteen children, by two wives, 1765-1799. And these thirty-six children were, probably, all born in this house at Clark Swallow's, sold to David French, as afore- said.
This Thomas Whitman had nine children, four sons and five daughters, all living at the time of his making his will, in 1685. And May 9, 1707, book 10, page 56 of Plymouth Records, he gave a deed of gift to his youngest son, Nicholas Whitman, thereby conveying to him " my whole farm whereon I now dwell ; bounded easterly by Sa- tucket river, westerly by John's river, and northerly by Nehemiah Al len's land, about 110 acres."
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APPENDIX.
It was a common practice, in early times, for sons to build houses on their father's land, and to live thereon for many years without title, and for fathers to make deeds of gift to their sons. And upon final settlement of the father's estate, a proper allowance was made, if the estate so conveyed was too little or too much, for his share, and in the settlement of these estates, this principle was adopted, showing a strong sense and desire of right and justice.
Besides the three or four houses, as the case may be, built by Dea. John and his great-grandfather, Thomas Whitman, other mem- bers of this Whitman family built at least six other houses on this Whitman neck of land previous to 1800; and this whole tract of land continued to be owned and occupied in the Whitman name, without any break, for over one hundred and fifty years. And now there are a dozen or more dwelling-houses on this land, but no person of the Whitman name or blood now owning or living upon these premises, except Ezekiel Whitman, son of Freedom Whitman.
CORRECTIONS.
PAGE. NO.
9. 5-For Olive read Alice.
13. 61-For Moward read Howard.
18. 139-For 67 read 76.
20. 171-For Fish read Fisk.
41. 76-To this epitaph add : "Likewise his children, Cornelius, Zephaniah, Adin, Eldad, and Phebe."
43. 9-For No. 9, Hartwell, read No. 94.
43.
-For No. 70, Cyrus Snell, read No. 54.
43. 15-For Ezekiel read Rebecca.
43. 45-For Mary read Macey.
43. 92-For Dea. Josiah read Anne.
49. 20-For Theophilus read John.
49.
30-For age 5 read 66.
49. 34-For Jonas read Jonathan. 53. -For Alger, Caroline read Cornelia, and add to this list " Alger, Martha, d. 1813, æ 80." 79. 262-For years read weeks.
98. -Add No. 517, Fobes, Ruel B., 1815, 4. -Add No. 354, Pratt, Sarah, 1767, 70.
100.
IOI. -Add. No. 323, Washburn, Ruth, 1778, 1.1.
103.
-For Zephaniah Fobes read Azel or Hazael Alden, son of Josiah, and grandson of said Samuel.
III. 62-For 1840 read 1849, and strike out No. 78, Wilbur, Geo.
1790, 25.
127. 229-For 6 years read 6 weeks.
164. 17-For 20th read 12th.
165. 29-For Sept. in first line read June.
184.
171. 17-For 19 in last line but one read II. -For 39 in sixth line read 59, and for 1807 in sixth line of second paragraph read 1735.
200. 89-For confers in second line of poetry read conquer.
2II. 263-For Mary read Nancy.
216. 346-For Lusanna read Susanna.
232. -For No. 118 read 218. 232. 142-For 1778 read 1788.
250
CORRECTIONS.
232. 323-For 8 years read 8 mo.
233. 198-For 1746 read 1846 ; for No. 232 read 532 ; for No. 566 read 466 ; for No. 423 read 523 ; for No. 539 read 530.
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