USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Rehoboth > Historical addresses, poem, and other exercises at the celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Rehoboth, Mass., held October 3, 1894 > Part 4
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The Indians then attacked western Rehoboth, now East Providence, drove the inhabitants into the garrison house and burned their dwellings.
When we pass over a century of time, we find the patriotic spirit developed in the Indian war again mani- fested at the commencement of the trouble with Great Britain.
In 1773 the Town's Corresponding Committee sent a letter to Rehoboth's Representative for him to join in every constitutional measure to remove the unjust burdens laid upon us.
On July 25, 1774, voted they would not purchase any goods imported from Great Britain after August 31st, unless the " Boston Port Bill " was repealed, and the gov- ernment was restored to its former privileges. Again on May 26, 1775, voted to raise two companies to be ready at any alarm.
The day the news of the battle of Bunker Hill came, Rehoboth troops marched for Boston. The patriotic spirit of this people was shown by the number of men sent into the field, and the liberal appropriations made for their support. Bliss in his history gives the names of one hundred and forty-five men who enlisted into the Con- tinental army from Rehoboth. The war lasted seven years and the calls for men came often, and often for large numbers. I have time to speak of only two of these calls.
On August 18, 1778, there was a requisition on Col. Thomas Carpenter's regiment for one hundred and fifty men to join Gen. Sullivan on Rhode Island. This was ouly eleven days before the battle.
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The men went, and were the first engaged in that conflict, I hold in my hand a call for men from Rehoboth. It is an original paper which has never been published. On examining some ancient papers in my possession a few years since, I found this and many other papers pertaining to the Revolutionary war. It reads as follows:
Rehoboth, August 11, 1779.
Sir :- I have received orders this day from Col. Thomas Carpenter for the purpose of raising two hundred and twenty-eight men out of our Regiment, to march as soon as possible, and to be under the command of the Continental General, to serve four weeks from the time of their arriving in camp, and likewise three Captains and six Lieutenants, to commaad them, with one Field officer from the Regiment. You are therefore required to raise thirty-three men, and you are desired to meet at Mr. Jeremiah Wheeler's to-morrow, at two o'clock in the afternoon, to consult further about this matter.
Hereof fail not as you regard the welfare of these states, and make due return of the men raised, as soon as made to the Col. of the Regiment or myself.
NATHANIEL CARPENTER, Major. CAPT. JOHN PERRY.
Rehoboth not only sent men but money for their support. On May 5, 1779, voted to appropriate £1,200. On May 19, 1779, £3,000. On October 23, 1780, £26,400. Bliss in his history says the whole amount raised by Rehoboth in 1780, was 650,527, 4 shillings. Probably these large appropriations were made on ac- count of the depreciation of the currency, which was a formidable difficulty they had to encounter.
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The people of Rehoboth in common with those of the Colonies, though comparatively few in number, and lacking materially the "sinews of war," when they learned that they could not obtain any redress from the burdens imposed on them, boldly bid defiance to the British lion, trusting themselves and their cause to the Great Arbiter of nations, believing that the race is not always to, the swift, or the battle to the strong.
The patriotic spirit of 1675 and 1775 still remains. When news came of the firing upon Ft. Sumter and the defeat of the Union army at Bull Run, the whole North was electrified, -- thousands enlisted and rushed to arms : determined to sustain the honor of the old flag.
What caused this great outburst of patriotism? It was the spirit of this people moved to action by the. events I have named. We are still the same patriotic people and any attack on our government either from without or within, will stir up this patriotic spirit to action. In conclusion I would say, that though Ancient Rehoboth had not the fertile soil of many of the rich valleys and prairies of the West, the mild climate of Southern Cal- ifornia, or the remarkable scenery of the Yosemite Valley, this can be said of her, there is no place in this broad Union, of the same population, that has produced more high-minded, stalwart, brave, industrious, patriotic men, or more noble, virtuous women, than Ancient Rehoboth, which is the noblest fruitage of which any place or nation can boast.
Pawtucket. 1828 .
Town building was the chief work of the men of the fist generations. Later came state-craft and as a result of both, later still came the spindle, the loom and the busy
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factory. Newman spun his concordance near the same spot in old Rehoboth where Samuel Slater spun the first yard of American cloth. Both " wrought as in the great Taskmaster's eye."
Response by Hon. Henry E. Tiepke, Pawtucket.
Cumberland, 1746 :
Around Rehoboth as a centre and Samuel Newman its intellectual and spiritual light gathered other great men as representatives of freedom of thought, opinion and action of the elder day. Among them was William Blackstone who fled England's Lords-Bishops and Boston's " Lord's brethren " for the quiet retreat of Study Hill in Rehoboth, now the soil of Cumberland, a town worthily one of the oldest grand-daughters of Rehoboth.
Hon. Ellis L. Blake was expected to respond for Cumberland, but was not present.
East Providence, 1862 :
A town of varied and successful fortunes: once Rehoboth, then Seekonk, now East Providence : a part of Plymouth County, Bristol County, Providence County ; in the States of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The Custodian of the ancient church site, the " Ring" of the town, Philips Chair, an original copy of Newman's Con- cordance, the old Churchyard of the Weymouth worthies, and the graves of Capt. Willet and John Brown. “ In the resurrection whose child shall she be ? "
RESPONSE BY HON. GEORGE N. BLISS, EAST PROVIDENCE, R. I.
In the resurrection, the first settlers of Rehoboth with a goodly number of their descendants will all be found at
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the ancient burial ground near the Congregational Church within the "ring of the town" in East Providence and in Little Neck Burial Ground at Riverside. Capt. Thomas Willett, the first mayor of the City of New York, has been sleeping more than two hundred years. It should not be forgotten that Roger Williams in 1636 built a house and planted erops near the mouth of Ten Mile River in East Providence intending to make his home there, but the Governor of Massachusetts wrote him a letter, claiming jurisdiction and advising Roger Williams to go across the river, which he did, thereby losing a crop that year, as it was too late in the season to plant again at his new location in Providence.
The dispute as to the boundary line was not ended until March 1, 1862, when East Providence became a part of Rhode Island, at which time the population was twelve hundred and fifty and the valuation of property was $1,354,935. The last thirty-two years have given us a rapid growth; the population by the census in 1890 was 8,422 and is now estimated at more than 10,000, and the assessors of taxes for 1894 give as the valuation of taxable property the sum of $9,018,431. When under Massachu- setts rule two dilapidated toll bridges gave the only con- nection with Providence; these have been replaced by new free bridges and one of these (the Red Bridge) is is now to be rebuilt to give passage to electric street cars : school houses costing $125,000 have been erected; a new Town Hall, containing a fire proof office for the Town . Clerk's records has been constructed ; iron pipes have been laid conveying water to all parts of the Town, and the electric street rail cars convey the citizens swiftly and cheaply along the highways.
East Providence has about eight miles of water front
JEREMIAH W. HORTON.
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upon the Seekonk and Providence rivers, with steam rail- roads running the entire distance adjoining or near the water, and there is every reason to expect that the land occupied by the first settlers of Rehoboth will soon be the centre of a thickly settled people.
Newport :
The sons and daughters of Rehoboth have not only founded towns and cities of their own but have gone forth to assist in building and governing towns, cities and states to the ends of the earth. The Mother-town is proud of their labors and honors, and especially congrat- ulates the ancient municipality of Newport, in the State of Rhode Island, that a successor to John Coddington was found in one of her youngest and most worthy rep- resentatives and children.
RESPONSE BY HON. JEREMIAH W. HORTON, NEWPORT, R. I.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen :
While I do not purpose to make a formal speech, I am very grateful for an opportunity to thank my friends for the kind invitation which permits me to join with you in celebrating the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of our native Town. I am pleased to meet so many of the friends of my youth, and I have heartily enjoyed the eloquent words that have been spoken by the distinguished gentlemen who have pre- ceeded me. I am also glad of the opportunity I have to speak in behalf of my adopted home. No one has greater reason to be proud of their home or to speak well of it than I have to be proud of Newport and to speak in praise of the " Beautiful City by the sea." In the year
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1638 Governor Coddington with seventeen others pur- chased Aquidneck, (afterward named Rhode Island), of the Indians and begun a settlement in the northern part of the island, now known as Newtown. The following year, 1639, they went south and settled Newport, there- fore Rehoboth is five years younger than Newport. Pre- vious to the Revolutionary war, Newport was the most prosperous and thrifty town in the Colonies. It was then styled the " Emporium of fashion, refinement and taste." Many of the houses were models of architectural beauty, and not a few of its inhabitants were wealthy, cultured and refined. The British took possession of the town in the year 1776 and for three years it was under martial law. The eight thousand British soldiers literally sacked the town. Not less than five hundred houses were burned, shade and fruit trees were cut down, all the churches except two were used for riding schools and stables. All the bells except one, the gift of Queen Anne, were taken down and sent to New York, the State House was used for a hospital, all the wells were filled up just before the British evacuated the town. When the British took possession of the town it had a population of twelve thousand. Three years later when they evacuated it there were but four thousand. The inhabitants were then so poor they had to be helped by the neighboring towns, and the State sent one hundred and sixty cords of wood worth $20.00 per cord, and $1,000 to be distributed to the poor. Newport has many places of historic interest, and was the birthplace and home of many distinguished men ; and among them were such men as Rev. Wm. Ellery Channing, a statue of whom was last year placed upon Touro Park near the Old Stone Mill, the history of which is so shrouded in mystery. Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry,
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the hero of Lake Erie; his statue stands on Washington Park and was the work of Turner, one of Newport's sons. Commodore Matthew C. Perry who negotiated the treaty with China and Japan and opened their ports to the com- merce of the world; his statue stands on Touro Park near Bellevue Avenue ; and such artists as King, Mal- bone, Stuart, Stagg and Richards. On Clarke Street may be seen the Vernon House where Gen. Washington stayed during his first visit to Newport. He was the guest of Count Rochambeau. Upon his arrival in the town the French soldiers formed a line which extended from the wharf where he landed to the Count's head- quarters. The following evening there was a parade and the town was illuminated. The Town Council caused candles to be distributed to those who were too poor to buy them so that every window might be lighted. Thirty boys marched at the head of the procession with candle torches. A little anecdote is related of Washington at this time. A little boy in the crowd who had heard much about Gen. Washington was very anxious to see him so his father took him in his arms and carried him to an open window near to which Gen. Washington was standing and pointed him out to the boy. The child looked amazed and said " Why papa, Gen. Washington is a man." The old hero was near enough to hear what the boy said, and turned and put his hand on the boy's head and said, " Yes my lad and nothing but a man."
From that day to this, Newport has been honored by many distinguished visitors. Last year, as Mayor of the city, it was my pleasant duty to be the first to welcome Capt. Anderson with his Viking Ship to America. We were also honored with a visit from Admiral Kaznakoff, with his Russian fleet. The Rajah of Rajah, King of
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Kapurthala, India, also made us a visit. I am here re- minded of a little incident which occurred while the King was at Chicago. Governor Brown met the Rajah at some reception, and while talking with him asked him how he liked Rhode Island. Hle hesitated for a moment and then said, "I have travelled so much and seen so many places that I don't seem to remember Rhode Island." " But," said the Governor, " don't you remember Newport?" " Oh, yes," he said, " I remember Newport, Newport is a beautiful place, I had a delightful time there." So Mr. Chairman you see that while one may forget the State, he will remember Newport.
The vein in which I am speaking reminds me of a story of the Yankee who visited Europe and was there entertained by some English friends. They took him through the halls of Parliament, and when asked what he thought of them said, " Oh, they don't compare with the halls of Legislation in Washington. America is far ahead." They took him to France, and while he acknowledged that some things were beautiful, he said, " America is ahead." They then took him to Rome and visited St. Peters. "This," he said, " is a fine chapel, but we have some cathedrals in my country, America is ahead." His friends were getting a little tired of it, and knowing his weakness they gave him all he wanted to drink, and he got sleepy, so they took him down into the catacombs and laid him down on the cold marble floor, and placing a lighted eandle at his head left him to sleep off his stupor. When they thought it was time for him to awake they went back and stood a little way off to see what he would do. Soon he sat up and rubbing his eyes looked around at the skulls and cross- bones that were piled about him. He then seized the
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lighted candle, jumped to his feet, and waving the candle above his head exclaimed, " It's the Resurrection morn- ing, and I am the first man up. America is ahead."
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, again I thank you for this cordial greeting, and I sincerely hope that blessings like those which have been so bountifully bestowed upon this Town for two hundred and fifty years may be continued to it for centuries to come.
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250TH ANNIVERSARY OF REHOBOTH.
Historical Address BY HON. EDWIN L. BARNEY.
Men and Women of Rehoboth :
The flight of years, the round of time, has brought to this old town the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its settlement. The third century of its existence is passing into history. A review of the decades that have gone by reveals the story of a town-Rehoboth has not been incorporated into the cities that have sprung up around her. The farm and homestead still remain. An- cient landmarks are not obliterated. The peaceful hills and valleys have not been converted into the avenues of trade ; the fields have not been given over to the factory and the store. The restless, teeming tide of commerce has made no confusing labyrinth of the ways and lanes of this quiet New England town-a town with ambition -a town with influence and blessed with the strength of sturdy men and women. It was not decreed that traffic should rule here. It was not destined that the plan by which this place was created should be thwarted.
The advanced ideas of its founders, their devoted pur- pose to provide a home-loving community, with a just and impartial government gives its story a never-ending inter- est. It is not alone the dignity of years that gives signifi- cance to this occasion. A great lapse of time would have no particular charm, if that were only for us to contem- plate. It is the consideration of what has been done that claims our attention. We are to profit by the contrast between our condition and that of our forefathers. We have cause on this natal day for congratulation, little for regret and none for apology. Our great country has but
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just concluded the celebration of its grand Columbian year. Beside the things of the past have been set the things of the present. The old has been compared with the new. Each step in the great era of progress has been shown by the greatest exposition the world ever looked upon.
The glory that comes from the demonstration there made, that this is the foremost nation of the earth belongs to no single place or section. The four hundred years that had passed witnessed this great development when other countries were already old on the race of the globe.
The growth, advancement and progress of these United States gives us all a just cause for pride. The works of today, contrasted with those of days gone by, promise ac- complishments for the future that almost surpass belief.
What part has been played by our townsmen ? What impress has been made by this community ? I call your attention to the fact that the founders of Rehoboth estab- lished here a government based upon principles that were never abandoned. They believed in a people's govern- ment and carried it fearlessly and unflinchingly into effect. It required no ordinary courage for the colonists to leave their homes for an unknown shore. The fortitude with which they met all adversity compels our admiration. The pioneers in these fields had no thought of conquest ; they did not seek riches ; they were not filled with greed for plunder. To despoil, pre-empt and rob was no part of their purpose. Devoted to principle, they had left their mother country to escape persecution.
Non-conformists to the religious views of the majority of their fellows, they sought a home where they might believe and worship as they pleased. Stout-hearted and
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courageous, they braved the seas for the new world. Others there were who had preceded them and become as arrogant as those from whom they had fled. Forgetting the protest they had made against those above them, they domineered with increasing stringency when they held power themselves.
Your first white settler, William Blackstone, left England because he couldn't endure the "Lord bishops," and although he was quite a landed proprietor in Boston, he left his fellows there, saying "I cannot join with you, because I would not be under the "Lord brethren."
The home he established in the wilderness near the river which takes his name was dedicated to the quietness of study.
When Newman and his followers came from Wey- mouth, they were bent on organizing a community where the rights of conscience should be respected. Boston and Lynn had become unbearably intolerant. The bitter ex- perience of John Myles, and the trials of Roger Williams, tempest tossed in the depths of winter, were painful ex- amples of the dire penalties meted out to heretics.
Purchasing the land from Massachusetts, by honest covenant, they carried into effect the purposes for which they had journeyed thither. In order that there might be a fair distribution, they had, at a meeting held before they left Weymouth, laid the preliminaries for the division and apportionment of the lands they were to occupy.
This same Weymouth meeting, in 1643, passed by a vote of the planters an order for the support of the schools. The schoolmaster was made fifth in the list of land owners.
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This was the first vote in all the world for the estab- lishment of free public schools by public taxation. All had to contribute, whether the father of a family or not.
The Massachusetts Bay Colony, four years afterward, made the same enactment.
To Massachusetts has always been conceded the honor of being the first in that great system. To Reho- both belongs the credit of inaugurating that grand institu- tion, now freely acknowledged to be first in importance of any department under our government.
Regulations and laws were made for their mutual benefit and protection, but none for ostracizing any person on account of his beliefs. The little band held dear the tenets of their faith.
They directed their hands and thoughts to employ- ment and education. To these they remained steadfast. Thus were developed those traits of character which gave the basis to the achievements done within these borders. No witch was ever hanged in Rehoboth ; no Quaker was ever tortured here; no heretie was over whipped here. Bent upon a plan of cultivation and improvement, it was never forsaken for the base uses of trampling upon the weak and struggling, to their own enrichment. No dis- sension or contention disrupted their numbers. The little community existed by the fruits of its own labors, and had no thought of trouble.
A glance at their condition at this time is not like reading a tale that is closed, without moral and pointing no useful lesson. Their method was adhered to and ac- quiesced in by all. Accident or chance had no part in their doings. They were directly under the control of the
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Plymouth court, which was conducted with marked liber- ality. The land grant of Massasoit was confirmed by the court.
Although a general settlement was made in 1643, it was not until a year later that the town was fairly organ- ized. The year following, 1645, the commissioners of the United Colonies formally incorporated the town under its present scriptural name, Rehoboth. It included the ter- ritory now comprised in the following towns: Seekonk, East Providence, Pawtucket, Cumberland, Attleboro, North Attleboro, Swanzey, Somerset, Barrington and Warren. Each succeeding year the number of land pro- prietors increased. The necessary town officials were regularly elected. The records show that all claimed title. to land by virtue of purchase, and that a system of record- ing was adopted which was a perpetual assurance of the owner's rights.
Wamsutta, the son of Massasoit, ratified the deed of his father.
Each land-holder held his possessions by strict right, and no one questioned it. The quiet home life they had sought seemed to be guaranteed them. Strange to say their thrift proved their only menace. It was because they built houses, fenced their lots and extended their fields that the enmity of the crafty King Philip was in- curred. His father, Massasoit, and his brother, Wam- sutta, saw nothing harmful in the presence of industrious, frugal and honest neighbors.
Newman had named the town Rehoboth, because in the Hebrew it meant "a large place," and he piously pro- claimed, " The Lord has made room for us." The old chieftain and his eldest son never doubted but what there
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. was room enough for all ; but Philip saw with jealous eyes the day not far distant when there would be no room for the Indians. He had ratified the covenant of purchase given by his father and brother, and had seemed to be friendly, but his disposition changed; he hated with all the ven- geance of his vile nature. He struck the blow ; the torch was applied; houses were destroyed ; lives were taken whose only offense had been that they had dared to use the strength of mind and muscle that God had given them for the improvement of their condition.
Philip is said to have been remarkably endowed. He was keen, crafty, sagacious and resourceful. He had once before cleverly allayed suspicion by surrendering his arms when he was accused of preparing war against the whites. There can be no doubt his bloody plans had long been maturing. He had thoroughly united all the tribes of the Indians from Plymouth to the Connecticut river. Sausaman, his fellow Indian, after his supposed conver- sion, returned to Philip only to again abandon wild life and rejoin the settlers. When he was shortly afterwards found murdered in Middleboro, the crime was traced to several Indians. Their guilt being proven, they were executed. From that time Philip made no effort to con- ceal his hatred.
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