USA > Massachusetts > Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
In 1643 the Colonies of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven, entered into a confederation, which continued till 1686, for mutual defence against the Indians and the Dutch, but under the provision that each colony was to retain its own distinet and sepa- rate government.
The laws of the colony were, in 1648, collected, ratified and printed; and, in the same year, Margaret Jones of Charlestown was tried and executed as a witch. In 1652 a mint was established for coining money ; and the Province of Maine was made a county of Massachu- setts, under the name of Yorkshire.
By the year 1665 Massachusetts had settled many towns,-as Lynn, Marblehead, Ipswich, Newbury, on the seaboard ; Andover, Haverhill then a (frontier settlement) Sudbury, Lancaster, Brook field, in the interior ; and Deerfield, Northampton, Hadley and Spring- field, in the rich valley of the Connecticut River. The militia amounted to 4,000 foot-soldiers and 400 cavalry; and the shipping, to 132 vessels. By the labors of Thomas Mayhew, John Eliot, and others, ten Indian towns had been converted to Christianity.
The year 1675 is memorable for the breaking-out of King Philip's War, during which the united colonies lost as many as 600 men, and had as many as 600 dwelling-houses reduced to ashes. Philip, an able warrior, whose Indian name was Metacomet, ruled the Wampanoags and resided at Mount Hope, near Bristol, in Rhode Island. Observing
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS. 51
the encroachments of the English on the hunting grounds, and insti- gated by the execution of three of his tribe for the murder of John Sassamon, he artfully secured the aid of other tribes, and commenced hostilities by an attack June 24, on the people of Swansey while re- turning from church, during which eight or nine of them were slain. In September, seventy young men, the flower of Essex County were massacred and buried in one grave at Bloody Brook, in Deerfield ; and Northfield and Hadley were attacked. In an encounter with the Nar- ragansetts in a swamp in Kingstown, R. I., in December, Gov. Wins- low, with an army of 1,800 troops, killed and wounded about 1,000 Indians, burned 600 wigwams, and thus seriously weakened Philip's power who, nevertheless, continued during the winter his savage work, burning the towns of Lancaster, Medfield, Marlborough, Gro- ton, Sudbury, and murdering or carrying many of the people into merciless captivity. But, tribe after tribe deserting Philip, he re- turned to Mount Hope; and, his wife and son being soon after cap- tured, he said, "Now my heart breaks : I am ready to die." On the 12th of August, 1676, Capt. Benjamin Church with a small body of men came upon him. An Indian of the party shot him through the heart ; and thus fell the last king of the Wampanouys, and with him the power of the Indians in New England.
The towns in New Hampshire which in 1641 had been annexed to the State were in 1677 formed into a separate government ; yet the divisional line was not settled until 1743.
V
By a decision in chancery, June 28, 1684, the charter of Massachu- setts was abrogated ; and, two years subsequent thereto, Sir Edmund Andros was sent over as governor of New England. His arbitrary administration gave great offence to the people; and, on the news of the accession of Prince William to the throne in 1689, the citizens of Boston threw the governor and fifty of his associates into prison, and restored the former magistrates. In 1692 King William granted a new charter by which the Plymouth Colony was united with that of Massachusetts, and under it Sir William Phips, a native of Wool- wich, Me., was appointed governor. He arrived in Boston May 14, 1692; and among the earlier acts of his administration was the insti- tution of a court for the trial of certain persons accused of witch- craft.
This strange delusion threw the colony into as much excitement as the war with King Philip had done in 1675; and the apology of the clergy who fell into it must be, that such men as Sir Matthew Hale, of the King's Bench, regarded witches as in league with evil spirits,
.
1
52
GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
and amenable to the supreme penalty of the law. It commenced in February 1692, in the family of the Rev. Samuel Parris of Danvers. His daughter Elizabeth, and his niece Abigail Williams, began to act in a peculiar way, and accused his servant Tituba of bewitching them; while John, her husband, accused others, that he might save his wife. Commencing thus, the delusion spread from family to family, through Beverly Andover, Ipswich, Gloucester, and other places. Prosecutions were instituted, unreliable testimony against the accused accepted ; and, before the end of September, nineteen persons were hung, and Giles Corey, who refused to be tried by jury, was pressed to death.
At first the accusations were brought only against those of humble rank ; but when Mr. John Bradstreet, the lady of Sir William Phips, and others in high standing began to be mentioned as in fellowship with Satan, the opinion of the rulers changed : a special court was held, and nearly a hundred and fifty persons then in prison for witch- craft were set free.
At the commencement of the seventeenth century, most of the learned men who colonized the State had passed away ; and, on ac- count of the labor the reduction of the wilderness demanded, but very few had risen to fill their places. The style and spirit of the pulpit had declined, and the people had almost lost the art of psalm- singing in the churches ; yet the love of liberty, as evinced by the steady opposition to the tyranny of the royal governors, was year by year becoming stronger.
In what was called Queen Anne's War, a party of French and In- dians, under Heptel de Rouville, attacked, in the spring of 1704, the town of Deerfield, reduced it to ashes, killed forty-seven of the inhabitants, and led one hundred, among whom was the Rev. John Williams and his family, into captivity. Port Royal was captured in 1610 by a force mostly from this State. The name of the place was changed to Annapolis, and Acadia was annexed to the British realm. This war, closed by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, was followed by a peace of nearly thirty years. During this period many new settle- ments were made in the interior of the State, and towns incorpor- ated.
King George's War commenced in 1744; and, early in the follow- ing year, an army under the command of William Pepperell, to which this State contributed more than 3,250 men, laid siege to Louisburg, a French fortress of great strength on the Island of Cape Breton and, aided by an English fleet, under Sir Peter Warren, on the 16th of June effected a capture of the garrison. The expense of the expe-
ยท
53
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
dition was met by the British Government; and the money ($612, 330.41 in silver and copper) arrived in 1749 at Boston, where it was deposited in the State treasury. The war was terminated by the Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle in 1748, and the acquisitions of territory made in the contest were mutually restored. The boundaries between the French and English colonies were, however, still undefined; and the struggles for territorial dominion along the frontiers broke out into open hostilities in 1754, and resulted in the capture of Quebec, Sept. 13, 1739, and the establishment of the Saxon domination in America. During this war, about a thousand of the Acadians were, "" through the agency of Gen. John Winslow, transported to this State, but many of them subsequently returned to France.
.
In order to meet the expenses incurred in this war, it was proposed by the British ministry to lay a tax upon the colonies ; and this was attempted by the Stamp Act, passed in 1765, requiring stamps to be put on bonds, deeds, and other printed matter.
This act of tyranny was denounced by the patriotic leaders of the State and country, who declared that taxation without representation was unconstitutional and iniquitious. The obnoxious act was re- pealed the following year : but in 1767 another bill for levying duties on paper, tea, and glass, became a law; to which and other measures the opposition was so strong, that several men-of-war and about four thousand British troops were sent the ensuing year to Boston to pro- tect the authorities, and enforce the execution of obnoxious acts of Parliament. On the 5th of March, 1770, a collision occurred between the troops and some citizens, in which three of the latter were killed, and several wounded; and in December, 1773, a party of men dis- guised as Indians boarded some British ships laden with tea in Bos- ton Harbor, and threw the contents into the sea.
On receiving an account of this, Parliament passed, March 31, 1774, the Boston Port Bill, which prohibited intercourse by water with the town, and removed the custom-house to Salem.
Gen. Thomas Gage the newly appointed governor, arrived in Boston, May 13, 1774, and occupied the town with four regiments of British soldiers. On the nineteenth of April, 1775, he sent a detachment to destroy some military stores at Concord; and on their way oc- curred the battle of Lexington, from which the opening of the drama of the Revolution may be dated.
"On the 10th of June," says Mr. Lossing, " Gage issued a proclamation declaring all Americans in arms to be rebels and traitors, and offering a free pardon to all who should return to their allegiance, except those arch-
.
54
GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
offenders, John Hancock and Samuel Adams. These he intended to seize, and send to England to be hanged. The vigilant patriots, aware of Gage's hostile intentions, strengthened their intrenchments on Boston Neck : and, on the evening of the 16th of June, Gen. Ward sent Col. Prescott, with a de- tachment of one thousand men, to take possession of and fortify Bunker's Hill, within cannon-shot of the city; and, laboring with pick and spade all that night, they had cast up a strong redoubt of earth on the summit of that eminence before the British were aware of their presence. Gage and his officers were greatly astonished at the apparition of this military work at the dawn of the 17th.
" The British generals perceived the necessity for driving the Americans from this commanding position before they should plant a heavy battery there; for, in that event, Boston must be evacuated. Before sunrise (June 17, 1775) a heavy cannonade was opened on the redoubt ftom a battery on Copp's Hill in Boston and from shipping in the Harbor, but with very little effect. Hour after hour, the patroits worked on in the erection of their fort; and at noonday their toil was finished, and they laid aside their implements of labor for knapsack and muskets. Gen. IIowe, with Gen. Pigot and three thousand men, crossed the Charles River at the same time to Morton's Point, at the foot of the eastern slopes of Breed's Hill, formed his troops into two columns, and marched slowly to attack the redoubt. Although the British commenced firing cannons soon after they had begun to ascend the hill, and the great guns of the ships and the battery on Copp's Hill poured out an in- cessant storm upon the redoubt, the Americans kept perfect silence until they had approached within close musket-shot. Hardly an American could be seen by the slowly approaching enemy; yet behind those mounds of earth lay fifteen hundred determined men.
" When the British column was within ten rods of the redoubt, Prescott shouted ' Fire !' and instantly whole platoons of the assailants were prostrat- ed by well-aimed bullets. The survivors fell back in great confusion, but were soon rallied for a second attack. They were again repulsed, with heavy loss ; and, while scattering in all directions, Gen. Clinton arrived with a few follow- ers, and joining Howe as a volunteer. The fugitives were rallied, and they rushed to the redoubt in the face of a galling fire. For ten minutes the battle raged fearfully; and, in the meanwhile, Charlestown, at the foot of the emin- ence, having been fired by a carcass from Copp's Hill, sent up dense columns of smoke, which completely enveloped the belligerents. The firing in the re- doubt grew weaker; for the ammunition of the Americans became exhausted. It ceased; and then the British scaled the bank, and compelled the Americans to retreat, while they fought fiercely with clubbed muskets. They fled across Charlestown Neck, gallantly covered by Putnam and a few brave men ; and, .under that commander, took position on Prospect Hill, and fortified it. The
, British took possession of Bunker's IIill, and erected a fortification there. There was absolutely no victory in the case. The Americans had lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about four hundred and fifty men. The loss of the British, from like causes, was almost eleven hundred. This was the first real battle of the Revolution, and lasted almost two hours."
.
55
THE STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
On the second day following, Gen. Washington assumed the command of the American army then lying at Cambridge; and erecting a line'of batteries from Winter Hill, near the Mystic river, through Cambridge, Brookline, and Roxbury, as far as Dorchester Heights, he held the British forces beseiged in Boston until Mar. 17, 1776, when they set sail for Halifax, and the war was transferred from our soil to that of other States. From the beginning of this grand struggle for civil freedom until its close by a definitive treaty of peace signed at Paris, Sept. 3, 1783, Massachusetts continued, by her voice, in council, by her efforts in raising men and money, as well as by the valor of her sons upon the battle-field, to sustain the cause of liberty. Of the forty thousand soldiers in the Ameri- can army in 1776, ten thousand were her sons; and, by her steady arm, one-fourth of the burden of the entire war was borne.
In 1780 the State framed and adopted a constitution, declaring that "all men are born equal; " and under this provision it was de- cided by the Supreme Court of the State that slavery was abolished. John Hancock was elected the first governor under the Constitu- tion in 1780, and held his office until 1785, when he was succeeded by James Bowdoin.
In the ensuing year occurred an insurrection called "Shay's Re- bellion," which agitated the people, and alarmed the government. It grew out of the scarcity of money, caused by the interruption in trade and the drain upon the finances of the country, by the war.
A convention of the disaffected met at Hatfield on the 22nd of August, 1786, and made known their grievances. Soon afterwards a body of about 1,500 insurgents, led by Daniel Shays, who had been a captain in the Revolution, assembled at Northampton, and pre- vented the sitting of the courts: they also, in December, took pos- session of the court-house in Springfield, and interrupted the proceedings. In January, 1787, an army of 4,000 men was raised by the State, to suppress the insurrection. Gen. William Shepard, with one part of this force, repelled the advance of the insurgents upon the arsenal at Springfield, Jan. 25; and Gen. Benjamin Lin- coln, with another part of the army, followed the retreating rebels to Petersham, where 150 were made prisoners, and the remainder fled. Fourteen of those taken were tried, and condemned to death, but afterwards set at liberty.
In convention, Feb. 6, 1789, by a vote of 187 to 168, the State ratified and adopted the Federal Constitution of the United States, and warmly sustained the administration of George Washington, the first president.
56
GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
To the embargo laid upon the vessels of the country in 1808, to the policy of President Madison and the war of 1812, the State was generally opposed. The loss of commerce, revenue, and the expenses of the war, were seriously felt : and the news of the treaty of peace, signed at Ghent, Feb. 18, 1815, was received with acclamations and joy by all classes of the people. In 1820 a convention was held for the revision of the Constitution ; and this year Maine, from 1692 till then a province of Massachusetts, became an independent State.
At the opening of the rebellion in 1861, the State responded promptly to the demand for men, during the continuance of that ensanguined contest, sent forth, under the lead of John Andrew, governor from 1861 to 1865, regiment after regiment, store after store, ship after ship, to meet the exigency. Wherever there was fighting to be done, - at Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antietam, Win- chester, Chattanooga, Gettysburg, Coal Harbor,- there was the old Bay State most nobly represented. The whole number of men fur- nished by the State during the war (being a surplus of 13,492 over every call) was 159,254. The whole number of colored troops was 6,039. Since the closing of the war of the Rebellion, which resulted in the liberation of the slave from bondage,- a long-cherished as- piration of the State,- it has enjoyed unexampled prosperity ; and in its varied mechanical industries directed by intelligence, in its liberal appropriations for its well-conducted institutions of learning and benevolence, in its multiplied facilities for intercommunication, in its regard to health, temperance, and integrity, in its civil and social order, and in its steady aim for the good, the grand, the beautiful and the true, it gives assurance that it will still maintain its position as one of the leading States of the Federal Union.
Since the war, legislation has, in general, been more strenously directed to securing closer conformity with ethical standards in politics, business and social relations. In this period there was much fluctation in the treatment of the liquor traffic until 1875, when the prohibitory law was repealed and a license law substituted, with local option in regard to issuing licenses. In 1869, the district school system was abolished, and town management by a school committee substituted,- by which more uniformly good instruction is secured, with a more economical expenditure of the public money. The notable event of the year was the "Peace Jubilee," in Boston, in June. In 1872 occurred the world's "Peace Jubilee and Interna- tional Musical Festival," also held in Boston. In October of the same year a great fire consumed the buildings from a tract of about sixty-five acres, in the chief business section of Boston. The
57
STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.
Mill River disaster, in which there was such destruction of property and life by the bursting of a dam, occurred in the same year. In 1874 came the death of Senator Sumner. In 1875 were celebrated the centennials of Lexington and Concord, of Bunker Hill, and of Washington's taking command of the army at Cambridge. In the autumn died Vice-President Wilson. In 1879 a law was enacted admitting women to vote for members of school committees,- the first decided triumph of the women suffragists in Massachusetts.
.
-
-
THE COUNTIES
OF THE
COMMONWEALTH.
-
COUNTIES.
THE reasons for the division of the territory of a State and the grouping of towns into counties are found in conditions which, on the one hand, render necessary a more extended authority and greater power than resides in a town; and, on the other hand, in those conditions which render necessary smaller divi- sions than the State. In the case of counties, the divisions serve to facilitate the administration of justice in civil and crimi- nal matters, by assigning to officers in the various departments such an extent of territory as they can effectively serve, and whereby conflicts regarding their territorial jurisdiction may be prevented.
In Massachusetts each county has a Probate Court and a Court of Insolvency, distinct in their jurisdiction, powers, proceedings and practice, but having the same judge and register. The county offi- cers are a Judge of Probate and Insolvency, a Register of Probate and Insolvency, a Sheriff (and deputies), Clerk of Courts, County Treasurer, Register of Deeds, County Commissioners, Specia) Commissioners, Commissioners of Insolvency, and Trial Justices.
Over all these courts and officers, and over the documents and records of which they have charge, as a portion of its field, extends the jurisdiction of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State; this court either initiating actions or court proceedings relating to them, or hearing appeals from the County Courts ; holding one or more ses- sions annually at an appointed place within the county for this and other business.
The first counties in Massachusetts were Essex, Middlesex and Suf- folk, -formed May 10, 1643. The next was Hampshire, formed in 1662; and it included all the territory of the State west of those previously formed. Then followed Dukes (1683), Barnstable, Bris- tol and Plymouth (1685), Nantucket (1695), Worcester (1731), Berk- shire (1761), Norfolk (1793), Franklin (1811), and Hampden (1812), -fourteen in all.
In England this division was originally the territory belonging to an earl or count, - whence the term "county." The lord-proprie-
.
1
62 - OL GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
tor's representative officer was the shire-reeve (a corruption of the Saxon term corresponding to county, scyre, and gerefa, the deputy who assisted, in its government) - whence our word "Sheriff." The earlier term for the division in England was shire; and it has re- mained in some use to the present day. The town where the courts for the shire or county are held are called "shire towns," as they are generally here,- designating the county capitals.
THE COUNTIES,
ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED.
Barnstable County was incorporated June 2, 1685;
and was named probably from its chief town. It embraces the whole of Cape Cod, together with several contiguous islands. In form it resembles the human arm bent inward at the elbow and wrist, and enclosing Cape Cod Bay upon the north. The eastern and the southern shores are washed by the ocean; the western by the waters of Buzzard's Bay; and the County of Plymouth forms for about five miles the northwestern boundary. It extends in length some 65 miles, and has an average breadth of about five miles, embracing an area of nearly 290 square miles.
The Cape Cod division of the Old Colony Railroad passes medially through it, terminating at Provincetown, and having branches to Hyannis on the south shore, and to Chatham on the south- cast.
The geological formation is drift and alluvium, in which extensive meadows of peat occur. Bowlders are numerous upon the surface, which consists largely of plains, marshes, and sandy knolls. There are no rivers of importance, but in place of them many large and beautiful ponds diversify the scenery. Scrub oak is frequent. The principle timber growth is oak and yellow pine. Extensive tracts of land, in addition to the natural growth, have been planted from time to time for twenty or thirty years past, with the seed of the last- mentioned tree; so that there are now many thrifty young forests to be found in almost every part of the Cape.
The county contains fifteen towns,- which are as follows : - Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Harwich, Mashpee, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Truro, Well- fleet and Yarmouth. The first of the list is the shire town. The population by the last census was 29,845, with 8,330 families. Its valuation in 1888 was $17,574,222, and the number of dwelling- houses was 7,797 ; of horses, 3,161; of neat cattle, 3,909; of sheep, 435. The number of public school buildings in 1885 was 223; and there were twelve high schools. There was also one incorporated school, the Lawrence Academy, and the Sandwich Academy (under
A PROVINCE TOWN STREET. ILL
LIBRARY
A"CODFISH ORCHARD"
CAPE COD VIEWS.
65
BERKSHIRE.
trustees,) which included the town high school. Of the fifteen towns comprised in the county, Barnstable is the most important; though in recent years Provincetown has gained an excess in population. Being the seat of justice for the county, it contains a commodious court-house and other county buildings. The records of the court and of deeds, from the separation of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies down to September, 1827, were destroyed by the fire which destroyed the county offices. These were in a building separate from the court-house of that time, and the latter has been remodelled into a church for the Second Baptist Society. There were burned in this conflagration ninety folio volumes of the record of deeds, and several of the court-records.
The settlement of the county appears to have been made almost simultaneously in Sandwich, at the western extremity, and at Prov- incetown at the eastern ; both towns having been incorporated on September 3d, 1639. The settlement of Sandwich was in 1637, but for the other town we have no record of original settlement, and it is quite possible that variable settlements of fishermen may have been the refor many years.
The agricultural products of the county are much below those of other counties, from the nature of the soil. In the western part there is considerable manufacturing, but the sea and shore fish- eries are the great industry,-all parts being more or less engaged therein, or in coasting and foreign commerce. The people are noted for their hardihood, industry, daring deeds, and sturdy patriotism.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.