USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > Historic Rehoboth: record of the dedication of Goff memorial hall, May 10th, A.D. 1886 > Part 6
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
Happy, indeed, ought the man to esteem himself, who aimed the decadence in the older portions of our country, is enabled to do something for his native town, which will serve to perpetuate her industries, maintain a spirit of such enterprise among the young men as will hold them to the farm, sufficiently, at least, to preserve the blessings, beauties, and thrift of the past, in the rural dis- tricts, down through succeeding ages. The decay of home- steads which cluster around the country villages, always offers a scene of sadness. Under the hand of a master genius Sweet Auburn, the deserted village of Gold- smith, made a beautiful poem but a gloomy picture. It is well, it is well, therefore, that Mr. Goff has so nobly met the claims of nativity ; that his birthplace is crowned with a Memorial Hall. Here with the antiquarian room, which will always offer object lessons to teach this and the following generations how wisely and well their fathers planned and toiled, with so few facilities to lift the burdens from their own shoulders, will be found the library stored with the best thoughts of all the ages, in close proximity to the school room, where the young may be taught and trained for the opening fields of usefulness ; and then the spacious hall, where from time to time the thoughtful and intelligent yeomanry will assemble to discuss the vital questions of the hour, ever ruling wisely from the forum,
.
80
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
however, such questions as how many hours constitute a day for labor ; for what farmer does not know that labor in the field requires all the time from sun to sun, and as much more as the twilight may yield. If other young men, who go away from home, will follow the example here set and make their individual profit a gain to the town in the end, they may depart ; otherwise let them stay by the old acres and make them rich and fruitful.
Personally, I have an interest in this occasion that does not appear on the surface.
In 1800 Rev. Otis Thompson was settled here as pastor. Three years later the Rhode Island Home Missionary Society was formed in Newport. Of this Society I have been Secretary for the past ten years. Mr. Thompson was one of the early friends and patrons of the Society. The counsel and aid so timely bestowed by him may well be remembered, as we note the ever widening work which this agency has accomplished. Mr. Thompson had an accomplished daughter; he had several, as is well known, but I refer to Miss Fidelia. She became the wife of Rev. Tyler Thacher. Mr. Thacher was the pastor of the church in Hawley -my native town -- for several years. He was a man of marked scholarship and high intellectual ability, to whom I owed many of those better influences which entered into my forming manhood. During a college vacation his neice, then on a visit at the parsonage, accom- panied him to an evening prayer meeting held at my mother's cottage. An acquaintance then begun resulted in that young lady becoming my wife, and who has blessed me in that relation for thirty-seven years just as much as any man needs to be blessed.
Fidelia Thompson Thacher, when she removed to Hawley, took with her the first piano forte that was ever carried there. With her fine vocal and instrumental cul-
81
HISTORIC REHOBOTH.
ture she gathered the young about her and her home became the centre of attraction, and she also kindly con- sented to take her place in the choir and lead in the service of song in the sanctury. She fell a victim to consumption in the bloom of years, passing away too soon, alas ! for those who so tenderly loved and relied upon her, but, as the sequel proved, none too soon to save her motherly affection from the sore bereavement which awaited her household, as one after another her three sons came to an untimely death by drowning, sunstroke and the bludgeon of an Indian. How often in later years, when revisiting the scenes of my youth, has the memory of this dear friend been replete with pleasure. Late though it be, Hawley thanks Rehoboth for giving them such a pastor's wife.
Some two years ago, when tracing the early life of the late Amos D. Lockwood, of such honored memory, it was discovered that it was in this town that he began his business life in the employ of the firm of Peck & Wilkin- son, and while the healthful influences that surrounded him there shaped admirably his character as a man, he was no less fortunate in being under the pastoral care of the Rev. Thomas Vernon, who led him tenderly and wisely to the beginning of a Christian life. Mr. Goff, your towns- man, who has the seat of honor to-day, I have known, happily, for years, and have sought his aid in benevolent work, always with a prompt and hearty response.
Your pastor, too, who is so important a factor in all that has been and is in connection with this day's trans- acting, is no stranger to me. Through his counsel and benevolent deeds my labors have been lightened and my pleasure enhanced. The speed with which, in company with the honored President of Brown University, I came to this gathering, evinces how well he knows how to help
82
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
one on in the world. Allow me to express the thought, in concluding, that any town which has such a Memorial Hall as this, inscribed with the name of a son so worthy, and has for a pastor such a man as Rev. George H. Tilton, who knows so well how to husband and use all valuable things, ought to regard itself as extremely fortunate. May your stream of blessings continue to flow in all affluence.
ADDRESS OF HON. CHARLES A. REED, SECRETARY OF THE OLD COLONY HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- A native of the ancient town of Weymouth, the first settlement in Massachusetts, it is with pleasure I address you on this historic occasion, as the representatives of Rehoboth, the first migration from that historic settlement of the Bay. No town in Massachusetts better exhibits the phases of municipal history peculiar to a New England town than Rehoboth. Removed from the new civilization based upon organized, incorporated, mechanical industry - the cotton mill, the railroad, the machine shop, and its counterpart, the political organization, the city - pursuing rather the industries and customs which spring from the farm, and therefore adhering to the township traits of early New England life, it is interesting in the light of the history of ancient Rehoboth to consider the relation of the town government to the State : In the colonial period extending from 1645 to 1691 ; in the provincial period extending from 1691 to 1775 ; and in the Commonwealth period ex- tending from 1775 to the present time.
The wilderness of " Secunke" was first broken by the Englishmen, in the person of the eccentric Blackstone, who, having abandoned the mother country to escape the
83
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
tyranny of the Lord Bishops, fled thither to escape the tyranny of the Lord Brethren at Trimountain (Boston) in the Bay, and afterwards by the contumacious Roger Williams, whose last refuge from the imaginary enemies that he unwittingly stirred up by his intemperate theolo- gical zeal was close by at the mouth of the Mosshassack, where Providence now stands. Neither of these persons contemplated a settlement, a plantation, a town. Other interests led to the permanent settlement of Seekonk, yet peculiar to those times.
Two distinct, independent colonies had located here - the colony of New Plymouth without any territorial limits, an original trading venture, holding its property in common, without plantation designs, but permanently divorced from the Old World by separatist principles and imbrued with heroic virtues - the colony of Massachu- setts Bay having territorial limits ; westerly by the South Sea, and northerly and southerly by bounds of which they knew at first but little more, but with potential designs of fixed and permanent settlement of a marked English type. Each by charter and by treaty came carly to an adjustment of their adjacent boundaries. The Gene- ral Court of Massachusetts Bay, June 2d, 1641, "ordered that Secunke near New Providence should be accepted under our government if it fall not in Plimouth Patent," and " Mr. James Parker is appointed to go to Plimouth to see their patent and take a coppey of it."
This James Parker was the Deputy from Weymouth and was moving in the interest of certain persons in Wey- mouth and Hingham, induced by two other Deputies of the Massachusetts General Court - Joseph Peck and Ste- phen Paine-leading members of the Bare Cove planta- tion (Hingham.) At this early day the ancient plantation at Weymouth suffered from three contending factions with
84
HISTORIC REHOBOTH.
divers persons in the adjoining plantation of Hingham of like sympathies, and one of those factions under the vio- lent pressure of the other parties, and lacking the sym- pathy of the Government of the Bay, was preparing to emigrate to this wilderness. This appears from the Ply- mouth Records, 6 July, 1641 :
" Mr. Parker, of Weymouth, had a view of the patent and that clause in writing wch concerned the bound from Narragansett Bay to the utmost pts and limmits of the country called Pockanockett. In regard to the Bay men would have had Secquncke from us."
Again the trace of the same movement appears in the Record, 2 August, 1642, Plymouth Records :
" There was a request made by some to sit down at Sickuncke of Hing- ham. The names of those are John Porter, Thomas Lorine, Stephen Payne."
This Stephen Payne was the Deputy from Hingham in the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, with James Parker who was pressing for the Weymouth discontents. It appearing that Seekonk was within the Plymouth patent, the aid of John Brown, a leading assistant of the Plymouth Court, and who had had some differences as to lands at Duxbury, was invoked. John Brown had shown his leaning toward the wilderness by moving to " Cohan- net," now Taunton, about 1640, whither he afterwards moved to Wannamoiset, and under his powerful encourage- ment the original planters of Reboboth organized at Weymouth October 24, 1643, and among their number were the minister of the Weymouth church, Samuel New- man, and Joseph Peck and Stephen Payne, of Hingham. These four persons - John Brown, Samuel Newman, Joseph Peck and Stephen Payne - are the real originators and founders of Rehoboth. The original designation of territory for the new plantation of Seekonk was thus made
85
HISTORIC REHOBOTH.
in 1641 by John Brown and James Parker, being " a tract eight miles square," by a purchase from Osamequin, alias Massasoit, in the interest of the Weymouth dissentients, but the principal promoters of this new departure were Stephen Paine and Joseph Peck, of Hingham, and subse- quent purchases extended these bounds so that it had "Cohannet " (Taunton) on the north, the undetermined Massachusetts Colony line on the west, and southerly and easterly Mount Hope and Narragansett Bays, excluding the Indian occupation at Mount Hope. The township was organized under the jurisdiction of New Plymouth in 1645, and the political status of the new town was fixed by the orders of Court which ruled the Old Colony.
Much learning has in these later times been expended upon the Teutonic origin of the New England town. The town meeting has been styled "the primordial cell of our body-politic," and the town has been declared in its first inception as an "independent incorporated republic." While we recognize the peculiar excellence of the New England system of "town " government, we claim that the scholastic theories which have been applied to this political growth of many generations are not historic facts. All the towns of the Old Colony organized in the colonial period, that is, before the union of the two colonies in 1691, were organized under the principles set out in the orders of the Court at New Plimouth, February 4, 1638-9, and this includes " Rehoboth." This is as follows :
A form of the deputacon or committeeship where wth any shall bee in- trusted by the governt for the desposall of any lands wth in any pculler place or line wth wch is or shall bee thought mete for the erecting of a Planttacon, neighborhood, colony, township or congrgacon with in this Government.
Whereas, our Soveregne Lord, the King, is pleased to betrust us
- wth the govment of so many of his subjects as doe or shall bee
86
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
pmitted to live in this govment of New Plym and that it seemeth good unto us to begin, set up and establish a neighborhood, or plantacon at a place called- being bounded and lying -miles westward from sd towne of New Plym, and
Whereas, by reason of the distance of place and our many weighty occasions, we cannot so well see to the receiving in of such psons as may be fitt to live together there in the fear of God and obeydjence to our Sovereigne Lord, the King, in peace and love as becometh christian people. all which we earnestly desire, that our care therefore may appear in the fastliful discharge of our duties towards God, the King's majesty and the people whereof we are, we have thought good to betrust our well beloved with receiving in such people unto them as may make good our desires before expressed, and therefore require of the said - that all and every of them be conscionably faythful and carefull as well to receive in peaceable and faythfnl people according to their best discerning, as also faytlifully to dispose of such equal and fitt percons of lands unto them and enough of them as the severall estates, ranks and qualities of such persons as the Almighty in His providence shall send in amongst them shall require, that so we may comfortably ratyfye and confirme such porcons of lauds as they shall allot and set forth in our behalf to all and every one that shall be admitted into their societie with in their sd limmitts and bounds, that so we may be free from all manner of complts and troubles thereupon wch may canse us to alter anything wch may seem unjustly or indiscreetly assigned by them or any or said deputies or committees, provided always that the said
reserve for our disposal at least - acres of good land with meadows competent in place convenient and be lyable from tyme to tyme and at all tymes to receive and follow such good and wholesome instruction as they shall receive and follow for the Govment about the well ordering of the of the neighborhood in conformitie to such good and wholesome laws, or- dinances and offices as are or shall be established under our Sovereigne Lord the King within.
This 3d govt of New Plymouth.
The Court in anticipation of extended settlements had before ordered :
"That the chief government be tied to the town of Plymouth, and that the governor for the time being be tied there to keep his residence and dwelling."
Under this theory of local government Rehoboth was
87
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
in 1645 established. The first recognition of the com- munity appears in the appointment of a constable. The formal recognition of the township organization appears in the receiving of Deputies to the Court at Plymouth and the approval of the " townsmen," or as subsequently they came to be termed "selectmen." Generally the functions now exercised by the various town officers familiar to this generation, were assigned to certain inhabitants for the care and construction of ways, the providing for the poor, the assessment of taxes, the administration of justice in small causes, etc., but in the Old Colony the Court at Plymouth yearly confirmed all appointments of local offi- cers in the townships and exercised constant supervision of all their proceedings. The organization now known as the town, with its local powers of self-government, existed only in its first beginnings, and rather by way of necessity. There is no question, however, that local government in the towns was constantly acquiring strength and adding to its powers during the whole period of about fifty years, partly from their isolated position and the emergencies of Indian hostilities, partly from the examples of the planters at Providence, who there maintained a heterogeneous, tur- bulent democracy, in which each individual assumed the largest measure of personal sovereignty, and partly from the established powers of towns at the Bay, where most of the settlers had come.
The Colony of Massachusetts Bay at an early day out- stripped New Plymouth in numbers and resources, and thereupon assumed political influence and authority over the adjoining Old Colony, which was greatly increased by the confederation necessary for defense against the In- dians, as a common enemy. Thus the organic foundations of the town at the Bay gradually extended to the Old Colony in the Massachusetts Bay. At a "Genall Court
88
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
holden at Newtowne," March 3, 1635, the record shows :
". Whereas, ptieuler townes have many thing wch concerne only them- selves * * * it is therefore ordered that the ffremen of every towne or the main ple of them * * * choose their owne pticular offleers as constables, surveyors for the highways and the like."
The predominating influence of the Bay, over the smaller adjoining colony did not stop with simply the ex- ample, potential as this doubtless was. The General Court of the Bay advised the Old Colony as to matters of its internal government of morals and religion. The secession from Weymouth to Rehoboth carried that party from the Bay who were too radical in faith for those of Massachusetts, and the assistant, John Brown, held lik'e liberal sentiments.
Thus the Anabaptists became a large element in its population at a very early date and gave the Bay authori- ties great concern. A letter written from the General Court to Plimouth, " for preventing ye groeth of errors," shows this supervision :
October 18, 1649:
Honored and beloved brethren-
We have heard heretofore of diverse annabaptists arizin up in your jurasdiecon and connived at * Particularly wee understand that within this few weeks there have been at Seconncke thirteene or four- teene psons rebaptized, (a swift progress in one towne) yet we heare not if any effectual restriecon is extended thereabouts. The infeccon of such diseases being so neare us are likely to spread into our jurisdiecon, tunc tua res agitur paries cum proximis ardet. Wee are united by confederacy, by faith, by neighborhood, by fellowship in our sufferings as exiles, and by other christian bonds, and wee hope neither Satan nor any of his instruments shall by this or any other errors disunite us, and that wee shall never have cause to repent us of our so neare conjunction with you.""
These and other causes make it clear that the township of Rehoboth, under the jurisdiction of the Old Colony, had grown into a larger independence than prevailed else-
89
HISTORIC REHOBOTHI.
where in that colony, and it was thus early marked by that ecclesiastical freedom then existing in the dismem- bered settlements adjoining, which afterwards became the Providence Plantations. The consolidation of the two colonies of Massachusetts Bay and New Plymonth into one real province by the name of the Province of Massa- chusetts Bay, under the charter of 1691, invested Reho- both with all the functions which had by a like but faster growth attached to the towns of the Bay. These func- tions or powers of local government in the town were at the first session of the General Court after the organiza- tion of the new provincial government, under the charter of 1691, fully set forth in an act passed November 16, 1692-3, entitled "An Act for Regulating of Townships, Choice of Town Officers, and Setting forth their Power." This act is one of the most important landmarks in our municipal history, showing the advance made toward local government in towns and by comparison with subsequent legislation and history, and showing how far the authority then established falls short of the enlarged powers attained by the towns at the time when the present constitution was established in 1780.
From 1700 to 1775 there was a constant growth in the functions of the town government, owing largely to the town being made the unit in military organization, and at the latter portion of this period arising from the use of the town government to promote the popular discontent against the authority of the crown. In this way the town meeting became the most important factor in securing the independence of the colonies from the English crown in Massachusetts, and the influences thus exerted ex- tended to all the other colonies, so that it may justly be said that the national independence may be ascribed to the New England town meeting. It is not, therefore, sur-
90
HISTORIC REHOBOTH.
prising that the constitution of Massachusetts established in 1780, while the contest was pending by which the right of the Commonwealth to be " a free, foreign and inde- pendent body politic or state " was to be determined, should found its " representation of the people to be an- nually elected on the principal of equality" upon the town organizations, and thus Rehoboth retained its repre- sentation as a unit of political power in the state from 1645 until the constitutional amendments made in 1855, a period of 210 years.
Time will allow but a brief reference to Rehoboth in the Commonwealth period. At the begining of the pres- ent century Rehoboth held the first place in population and influence in southeastern Massachusetts. In the census of 1800 it had the largest population of any town in Bristol County. Population and political power move and aggregate on lines of public travel and intercommuni- cation. The energy and enterprise of Massachusetts for the first twenty years of this century were expended on the construction of highways. The turnpike, now for- gotten, determined the growth of the town. For a time ยท the public attention was devoted to canals, and the State and general government were involved in schemes to unite the waters of Massachusetts and Narragansett Bays. This was succeeded by the system of railroads which have marvelously developed the energies and affected the public and political status of the town, and we now are entering upon a new system of electric intercommunication, which opens up for the future new and still more surprising changes in the movements of human industry.
The avenues of life and enterprise have changed also from the farm to the workshop. The farmer has given place to the wage laborer and the mill hand. The herds and crops of the farm have given place to the incorporated
91
HISTORIC REHOBOTH.
capital of the manufacturer. The town has given place to the city. These new factors of modern life have had an important bearing on the growth of Rehoboth during the present century. Especially have the interests of Reho- both as a town been seriously affected by the transfer of a portion of her original domain to a foreign jurisdiction, justified by no sound policy, private or public, nor by any substantial claim of title either in history or justice. These influences though they have impared the authority of this ancient town in the councils of the State, have in no measure diminished that attachment for the old town government prevading her sons and daughters, whether residing within her narrowed limits or wandering into the outside arena of business life and enterprise. With glad- ness they do and ever shall return to the homestead of their youth, bearing these memorial tributes to the Old Colony history of this ancient town.
Next, to the tune of " Auld Lang Syne," was sung the following very appropriate Dedication Hymn, written for the occasion by Mrs. Lucy B. Sweet, of Attleboro :
[Lucy Bliss Sweet, the author of the following hymn. a lineal descend- ant of William Carpenter and Thomas Bliss -two of the original found- ers of the town - was born in Rehoboth village on the spot now ocenpied by the house of John C. Marvel, Esq., August 1. 1824, and is the daughter of Joseph and Nancy M. (Bullock) Carpenter. Her father was the son of James and Lucy (Bliss) Carpenter, and eldest grandchild of Col. Thomas Carpenter, of Revolutionary fame, and was himself a soldier and pensioner of 1812. He died in Attleboro November 12. 1880, in the ninety-second year of his age, and his wife May 4, the same year, aged >7. after a union of more than sixty-seven years. Lucy B. Carpenter was married in 1851 Everett Leprilete Sweet, of Attleboro, where she has since resided. Evincing a talent for putting her thoughts in rhyme, and inheriting a large share of love and loyalty 10 home and country, she has been the author of many poems of a patriotic and social nature: also from early youth a constant contributor to local papers of articles on a variety of subjects of public interest, and is an earnest supporter of benevolent and reformatory work by example and pen. ]
92
HISTORIC REHOBOTH.
DEDICATION HYMN.
(Tune, Auld Lang Syne.)
Come friends and neighbors, kindred all, To join in sweet accord; Come Memory, a welcome guest, Inspire each voice and word, In praise and prayer and gratitude To ev'ry heart and hand
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.