USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Mattapoisett > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Middleborough > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Plympton > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Wareham > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Hanson > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > West Bridgewater > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Lakeville > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Pembroke > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Rochester > Historic sketches of Hanson, Lakeville, Mattapoisett, Middleboro', Pembroke, Plympton, Rochester, Wareham, and West Bridgewater > Part 7
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A veteran soldier of the war of the revolution (named Bennett), a few years since in relating to Mr. Daniel Ricket- son of New Bedford, what he remembered of this transaction, said that the poltroon was a Colonel, but Mr. Bennett, like Mr. Dwight, suppressed the name of that officer.
The gist of the matter lies in the circumstance that at the re-organization of the militia in July 1781, a wrong was done Major Fearing, who ought to have been promoted, but was not, but left out of the arrangement altogether.
Junior Major John Nelson being at that time made Col- onel. Captain William Tupper of Middleborough Lieuten- ant Colonel, and Captain Edward Sparrow of Middleborough, Major. A great deal of trouble resulted from that unjust proceeding, and to make " honors easy" Lieutenant Colonel Tupper resigned, and Israel Fearing was made his successor in (1785), being then of course made Junior to John Nelson, to whom in the war of Revolution, he had been Senior or superior officer.
The circumstance that Isreal Fearing was finally John Nel- son's subaltern or inferior officer, led those not conversant with all the facts in their cases to suppose such was the po- sitions that they relatively sustained in the war of the revo- lution, and hence it became easy to make it believed by those who knew no better that the withdrawal of John Nelson from a post of danger naturally, and as a legitimate consequence, threw the responsibility on Isreal Fearing, and that it was John Nelson who thus withdrew.
Amends were made to Fearing for the cruel neglect he suffered in 1781, for he was, as remarked made a Lieutenant Colonel in 1785, a Colonel in 1787, and ere long a Brigadier
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WAREHAM.
General. He stands in history thoroughly vindicated, and there is no necessity for injuring the name or marring the fame of John Nelson, on Fearing's account. If John Nelson was at fault, it was when he allowed himself to be promoted over the head of and to supercede so brave and meritorious an officer as Israel Fearing, and for that let us blame him, but not for a thing of which he was not, and from the circumstances exis- ting at the time could not have been guilty. " Let justice be done, though the heavens fall."
Wareham, in the latest war with England, (or the war of 1812 as it is sometimes called,) suffered an attack from the marines, or sailors of the British war vessels " Superb " and " Nimrod," then blockading the harbors of this coast.
A rocky neck of land of considerable elevation, which conceals a view of the bay from the village, also concealed the approach of a detachment of barges from the British war vessels.
On the morning of June 13th, 1814, six barges, carrying about two hundred men, effected a landing, and although re- maining but a few hours, destroyed forty thousand dollars worth of property, by setting fire to one ship and one brig that were in process of construction, (on the stocks,) and burning several schooners and sloops. The fire in the ship and brig was extinguished, and thus these only sustained a partial loss.
Their attempt to burn the cotton factory was not success- ful.
Capt. Israel Fearing, Jr., (a son of Brigadier General Fear- ing,) called out the militia, and did all that under the circum- stances could be done for the defence of the place. Although not so successful as his father in the former war had been, at Fairhaven, he displayed the same heroic spirit, richly deserv- ing the appellation of " parentibus optimus bene merenttbus."
The following named Wareham gentlemen held commissions of generals and field officers in the local militia of the State.
Major General - Darius Miller, from 1833 to 1835.
Brigadier General -Israel Fearing.
Colonels - Israel Fearing from 1787 to - -; Bartlett Murdock
Lieut. Colonels - Israel Fearing from 1785 to 1787.
Majors - Israel Fearing, from 1775 to 1781; Wm. Bar- rows, from April 20, 1812, to August, 1812; Lucius Downs. Brigade Inspector, with the rank of Major, James Sproat ; Aid to Major General, with the rank of Major, Warren Murdock.
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HISTORY OF TOWNS IN PLYMOUTH OCUNTY.
The Militia company of Wareham, that responded to the call April 19th, 1775.
Commissioned Officers : Noah Fearing, Captain ; John Gibbs, Lieutenant ; Non-Commissioned Officers. Jonathan Gibbs, Joseph Sturtevant, Sergeants ; Enos Howard, Cor- poral ; Thomas Norris, Drummer ; Joseph Bumpus, Joseph Winslow, Jesse Swift, - Bumpus, John Bates, - Bas- sett, Benjamin Swift, Jno. Bourne, Archipaus Landers, - Hathaway, Samuel Savery, David Nye, Privates.
Company of " Minute Men" from Warcham that marched to Marshfield, April 19th, 1775.
Commissioned Officers : Israel Fearing, Captain ; Joshua Briggs, Lieutenant ; Ebenezer Chubbuck, 2d Lieutenant ; Non-Commissioned Officers. Samuel Savens, Prince Bur- gess, Edward Sparrow, - Burgess, Sergeants ; Jno. Bessee, Drummer ; Joshua Bessee, Fifer ; Samuel Burgess, Sylvester Bumpus, Calvin Howard, Wilbur Swift, Benjamin Gibbs, Samuel Phillips, Rufus Perry, Nathaniel Burgess, Joshua Gibbs jr., William Parris, Isaac Ames, William Bum- pus, David Perry, Benjamin Briggs, Barnabus Bumpus, Elisha Burgess, Richard Sears, Asaph Bates, Jabez Nye, Jno. Lothrop, Ebenezer Bourne, Willis Barrows, Samuel Norris, Joseph Bumpus, Elisha Swift, Jabez Bessee, Samuel Morse, Thomas Sampson, Timothy Chubbuck, Privates.
The following named soldiers of Wareham, gave their lives as a sacrifice to the Union cause in the late war of the great Rebellion.
First Battalion, Daniel Westgate.
Third Regiment, Joseph W. Tinkham, John D. Manter, John S. Oldham.
Sixth Battery, John A. Haskins, December 6, 1864.
Eighteenth Regiment, Thomas S. Hatch, James F. Leon- ard, William Ashton, Samuel Benson, Theodore E. Paddock, Arch. Stinger, Marcus Atwood.
Twentieth Regiment, James R. Russell, James Blackwell, Benjamin F. Bumpus, John J. Carroll, Benjamin D, Clifton, James Madigan, Julian W. Swift, George H. Loring.
Twenty Fourth Regiment, George H. French, Stephen S. Russell, Daniel C. Bumpus, Joseph Hayden, Isaac S. Old- ham, Feb. 2d 1863, David A. Perry.
Twenty Eighth Regiment, under Colonel Montieth, Patrick Crim.
Fifty Eighth Regiment, under Colonel Whiton, Patrick Cox, Horatio G. Harlow, Stephen H. Drew, George W. Bes- sey, July 2d, 1864. Not assigned to Regt., John R. Oldham.
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WAREHAM.
Recapitulation. Not assigned, 1; 1st Battalion, Company D. 1; 3d Regiment, 3; 6th Battery, 1; 8th Regiment, 17; 20th Regiment, 7; 24th Regiment, 6; 28th Regiment, 1; 58th Regiment, 4. Total, 3R.
Justices of the Peace, with the dates of their appointment. Isreal Fearing, - 1747; Noah Fearing, January 23d, 1777 ; Isreal Fearing, February 28th, 1798 ; Benjamin Fear- ing, June 16th, 1800 ; John Fearing, January 31st, 1804 ; Roland Leonard, May 16th, 1810 ; Wadworth Crocker, Feb- ruary 5th, 1811 ; Benjamin Bourne, February 12th, 1812 ; Bartlett Murdock, February 1st, 1819; William Fearing, February 11th, 1820 ; Curtis Tobey, February 17th, 1824 ; Seth Miller jr., June 29th, 1826 ; Sylvanus Bourne, August 27th, 1829 ; David Nye, March 12th, 1830 ; Charles E. Ellis, February 14th, 1832 ; Thomas Savery, January 29th, 1836; William Bates, March 3d, 1836 ; Darius Miller, March 30th, 1858 ; Harrison G. O. Ellis, September 21st, 1829. William L. Chipman, Joseph P. Hayden, James G. Sproat, John M. Kinney, Adolphus Savery, Nathaniel Sherman, Noble Howard.
Trial Justice. - Seth Miller.
Notaries Public. - William L. Chipman, James G. Sproat.
TOWN OFFICERS, 1873-4.
Town Clerk and Treasurer. - Alvin F. Gibbs,
Selectmen, Assessors, and Overseers of the Poor. - Alden Bessey, Nathaniel Sherman, B. F. Gibbs.
School Committee. - S. B. Bumpus, John M. Kinney, Galen Humphrey.
Surveyors of Highways. - William H. Mackie, John Galt, Ebenczer Bryant.
Coroners. - Samuel Savory, September 20th, 1780 ; Cur- tis Tobey, February 3rd, 1808; Perez F. Briggs, June 11th 1827.
72
HISTORY OF TOWNS IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY.
WEST BRIDGEWATER.
Although one of the towns last incorporated in Plymouth County, West Bridgewater is, nevertheless, an early English settlement ; in fact it was the first interior settlement of Ply- mouth colony, and showed marks of civilization more than two hundred and twenty years ago.
Remaining a part of ancient Bridgewater as it did, from 1651 to 1822, a period of one hundred and seventy-one years, its date of incorporation as a new and distinct town causes it to rank as the youngest in the county, save East Bridgewater, Lakeville, Marion and Mattpoisett.
The history of West Bridgewater is, therefore in fact, nearly all a part of the history of ancient Bridgewater.
At the commencement of the settlement, each settler had a house lot of six acres near the river, then called " Nunketest," which name for a long time was applied to the settlement itself.
Rev. James Keith was their first minister. He was from Scotland, and came to Boston in or about 1662, and was or- dained at Bridgewater in 1664. Died in 1719 aged 76; must have been born in or about 1643.
This was the first interior settlement in Plymouth County, and its early inhabitants were called on to encounter many and repeated dangers and troubles incident to Indian war- fare. During King Philip's war, 1675 and 1676, they dis- played great resolution and intrepidity. Surrounded as they. were by the savage foe, and strongly advised and solicited to leave their dwellings and to repair to the towns at the sea- side, they, however, resolutely held their ground, and suc- cessfully defended the settlement and encouraged and assist- ed some other towns to do likewise.
On the south side of the river they erected and maintained a stockade, and there kept a small garrison. They also forti- fied several of their dwellings.
Sunday, April 9th, 1676, they received a visit from the in- dians who burned one house and a barn, broke into, and rifled several other houses, but fled as soon as pursued.
May 8, 1676, the Indians, about three hundred in number, led by Tispaquin, the noted chieftan of Middleborough, paid the people of Bridgewater a second visit, making an assault upon the east end of the town, set fire to many of the Eng- lish dwellings, but, as said the old chronicle, " the inhabit- ants issuing from their houses, fell upon them so resolutely
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WEST BRIDGEWATER.
that the enemy were repelled and a heavy shower of rain falling at the same time, the fires were soon extinguished."
This was on the south side of the river, and failing in their attempts in that direction, the Indians now repaired to the north side of the stream, where the attack was renewed, but . they were again. driven off after burning two houses and one barn.
Houses upon the outskirts of the town, deserted by their owners, fell a prey to the Indian's torch, by which fourteen houses four barns, including those in the village, were des- troyed.
Sometime, during the summer of 1676, Capt. Benjamin Church, with a body of soldiers, were sent to aid in this de- fence, and twenty Bridgewater men going out to meet Capt. Church, came upon a band of Indians, of whom they cap- tured seventeen together with considerable plunder. The next day, as a part of captain Church's command, they parti- cipated in conquering a tribe of one hundred and seventy- three Indians. These Indian prisoners were taken to Bridge- water, and confined in the town-pound.
The old chronicle adds, concerning the Indian captives :
" They were well treated with victuals and drink, and the prisoners laughed as loud as the soldiers, not having been so well treated for a long time."
Tradition informs us that not a single Bridgewater man was slain in that war, nor in any other in which the county had engaged, until they were called upon to participate in the " Old French War," so called, 1745, when John Snell, of Bridgewater, fell in battle.
In the war for Independence, viz., at the capture of Bur- goyne, Capt. Jacob Allen, of Bridgewater, was slain.
Comfort Willis, the Bridgewater " Trooper." who figured so conspicuously in " King Philip's War," is said to have kept a diary of those stirring events, as the same were occurring. He was the ancestor of Judge Samuel Willis, of Dartmouth, now New Bedford. Samuel Willis was Colonel * of the Second Regiment, Bristol County Militia, in the time of the " Old French War," 1745, and 1746. His son, Ebenezer
* The local militia of Bristol County were then organized into three Regiments of which Dr. Thomas Bowen was Colonel of the 1st, Samuel Willis, Dartmouth, Colonel of the 2nd, and George Leon- ard, of Norton, Colonel of the 3rd. A few years later, Daniel Carpen- ter, of Rehoboth, succeeded Dr. Bowen, as Colonel. Ezra Richmond‹ of Dighton, succeeded Colonel Willis, and Ephraim Leonard succeed- ed his brother, George Leonard.
10
74
HISTORY OF TOWNS IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY.
Willis, was Major of the same regiment, just before the break- ing out of the Revolutionary War.
A lineal descendant, named Samuel Willis, was Adjutant of the same Regiment, about the time of the " Shay's Rebel- lion."
Hon William Baylies, distinguished for his ability as a lawyer, (although a native of Dighton,) resided in West Bridgewater, for many years.
Justices of the Peace, West Bridgewater.
Jonathan Snow, Jan. 7, 1824 ; Samuel Dunbar, Feb. 17, 1824 ; Jonathan Copeland Jr., June 10, 1825; William Baylies, Jan. 7, 1826 ; John E. Howard, March 2, 1826 ; Abiezer Alger, Jan. 2, 1828; Austin Packard, March 4, 1828 ; Daniel Howard, Dec. 3, 1828 ; Zephaniah Howard, Feb. 28, 1829; Ellis Ames, March 5, 1835 ; Linus How- ard, June 28, 1836 ; Jonathan Ames, April 13, 1843 ; Abial Packard, April 13, 1843 ; Elijah Smith, April 13, 1843; Dwelley Forbes, Jan. 4, 1848; Joseph Kingman, Feb. 6, 1851; Samnel D. Keith, Dec. 6, 1853; James Howard, William H. Jennings.
Names of West Bridgewater men who died for their coun- try, in the late war.
Second Regiment, John B. Dunbar.
Third Regiment, George Colwell,
Seventh Regiment, under Colonel Darius Couch, Henry Quintley.
Ninth Regiment, under Col. Cass, Patrick Cunningham, Co. K.
Twelvth Regiment, under Webster, Timothy O'Kary.
Twenty Sixth Regiment, John B. Gould, Grenville How- ard, Lyman E. Howard, Francis Lothrop.
Twenty Ninth Regiment, under Colonel Ebenezer W. Peirce, Myron E. Alger, Chas. H. Hayden, Chas. H. Turner. Fortieth Regiment, Charles H. Parker, Asa F. Shaw.
Fifty Eighth Regiment, under Colonel Whiton, Leonard Jones, Henry M. Folsom, Eustace Howard, Hector O. King- man.
* When the Second Regiment was reorganized to meet the emergen- cies of the " Shay's War," soon after the close of the Revolution, George Claghorn, of New Bedford, was commissioned as Colonel, Benjamin Weaver, of Freetown, Lieut Colonel, Robert Earl, of West- port, Major, Samuel Willis, Dartmouth, Adjutant, and William Alnry, Quarter-master. Col. George Claghorn was naval constructor of the frigate Constitution, or " Old Ironsides," as sometimes called. Lieut. Col. Weaver was born in Freetown, June 25, 1775 ; died in Freetown, April 23, 1838. He was grandfather to the writer of this article.
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WEST BRIDGEWATER.
Fifty Ninth Regiment, Michael McMurphy.
First Cavalry, Roscoe Tucker.
Second Cavalry, Alvan R, Coffin.
In the Navy, James E. Jacobs, James E. Ryan, William Dewyre.
Recapitulation. 2d Regiment, 1; 3d, 1; 7th, 1; 9th, 1; 12th, 1; 26th, 4; 29th, 3; 40th, 2; 58th, 4; 59th, 1; 1st Cavalry, 1; 2d, Cavalry, 1 ; Navy, 4. Total, 25.
TOWN OFFICERS, 1873-4.
At the annual meeting, James Howard, Moderator, Austin Packard was chosen Town Clerk ; Selectmen, James Howard, Davis Copeland, Samuel N. Howard ; Treasurer and Col- lector, George M. Pratt ; School Committee, Perez P. Field, Heman Copeland and Miss Irene S. Wood, for 3 years, Eli Wheeler, for one year ; Constables, Eli Wheeler, Thomas P. Ripley. The town voted, 45 to 70, not to accept the act re- lating to road commissioners. Nahum Packard, W. H. Jen- nings and Bradford Packard were chosen a committee on the part of the town to procure lecturers in accordance with the terms of the Howard fund, with instructions not to exceed the sum of twenty-five dollars for any one lecture. High- ways, $2,500, new roads, $500, schools $3000. school house repairs $200, incidentals, 1200, support of the poor, $800, lec- tures $100,-total $8,300.
First Congregational (Unitarian) Church. Rev. Frank P. Hamblett, Pastor.
Methodist Episcopal Church, (Cochesett), Organized 1829. Present Church erected, 1844.
Baptist Church, Cochesett Village.
Silver Wave Lodge, No. 134. I. O. G. T. Cochesett Village. Instituted January 5, 1870.
Population in 1870, 1,803.
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