USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Abington > Historical sketch of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. With an appendix > Part 2
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INDIAN TITLE.
OUR ancestors always acknowledged an Indian title to the soil, which they were bound to extinguish. The character of that title has never been very precisely de- fined. It seems, however, not to have been a right of exclusive dominion and property, and little else than a privilege of free fishing, trapping and hunting, and a right to the undisturbed enjoyment of their actual possessions. This title, individuals could not receive from the Indians by way of gift ;* nor could it be ex- tinguished, except by the Government, or persons act- ing under its authority, by purchase from the Indian chiefs, within whose limits the lands lay.
The following extract from the Plymouth Colony records shows, that the northerly part of Plymouth County was within the dominions of Chickatabut, a sachem whose residence was sometimes at Neponset river, near Squantum, and sometimes near the Indian Ponds, in Pembroke.
* The Plymouth Colony records state, that Thomas Joy, of Hingham, ' had caused great disturbance by producing a deed of gift of lands to him, from an Indian sachem, whereby he had broken a law of the colony.' For this offence, Joy was committed to jail, but was discharged on disclaiming any title to the lands, and surrendering his deed to the Court. This Joy was probably the same person mentioned in Winthrop's Journal, as having been put in irons (a sample of the tyranny of those times) for merely circulating a remonstrance to the government in England against certain obnoxious proceedings of the government at Boston ; and enquiring of the Marshall, when he went to search 'Dand's study, if his warrant was in the King's name.' Savage says he moved from Boston to Hingham. He died 1678.
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1650. Several Indians named in the records, 'came into court and affirmed, that Chickatabut, his bounds did extend from Nisamagogwanet, near Duxbury mill, unto Tightacut, near Taunton, and to Nunkatatest, which is the head of Charles river. This they do all solemnly affirm-saying God knoweth it to be true, and knoweth their hearts. Dated the first of the fourth month, 1650.
Witness : INCREASE NOWELL, JOHN ELIOT, JOHN HOARE.'
In 1667, Josias Chickatabut, alias Wampatucke, ac- knowledged in Court, that he had sold to Lieut. Pere- grine White his right in the two hundred acres granted to him .*
It is not known when the Indian right to the Three miles square was extinguished ; but that it was, appears from the recorded acknowledgment of Josias Wampa- tucke. In 1668, he ' come into court and owned, that the Three miles square, which was granted to Mr. Hatherly, that he had sold it to Mr. Hatherly, and was by him fully satisfied for it.'
The title to the lands granted to Robert Stetson, Jo- seph Barstow and Joseph Silvester, and to Moses and Aaron Simmons, was acquired of the Indians, before these grants were made. 'Josias Chickatabut, of No- massakeset, in the government of New Plymouth,' 13th April, 1668, conveyed to Cornet Robert Stetson, for
* Within the bounds of this grant, two rivers are mentioned in the Indian deed-one called Manamacknæg and the other Shumacastasaut. These names on the lithographic map of Abington, published in 1830, are erroneously ap- plied to Beaver-brook, and the upper part of Poor Meadow, or Hersey's River.
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the use of the Colony, 'a certain tract, or parcel of land, by the Indians commonly called Nanumackewit, bounded on the north by the lands formerly granted to Mr. Hatherly, and is to run by his line two miles west into the woods-and on the east is bounded by the line of the town of Scituate, and is to run three miles south- erly from Mr. Hatherly's said grant, upon the town's line-and so again two miles westerly upon Mr. Hath- erly's line upon the other side, and three miles again northerly* to meet with the first line.'
Nathaniel Thomas run out this grant in 1685. The line against Scituate run from the Hatherly grant three miles south, 'crossing Indian head-river on the brow of a hill near beaver-dam' to the south-east corner, where stood 'a white oak tree about two feet over.' From thence the line run 'west nine degrees south,' to the south-west corner, about sixty rods westerly of Poor Meadow river. The north-west corner was about twenty rods to the northward of the road by Joseph Wilkes', a little easterly of his house.
There is evidence, that the Indian title to the land granted to Holbrook, Lovell and Ford, was bought out ; and it was probably so, in regard to all the other colony grants to individuals.
The Indian right to the territory south of the four- mile line, and to such of it, between that and the six- mile line, as had not been sold by the Colony, before the additional two mile grant to Bridgewater, was extinguished by the proprietors of that town.
* This north line is in the south part of the town, called, the Scituate line- probably because it was parallel with the west line of Scituate, and also be- cause it was the boundary line of grants to Scituate people.
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ROADS.
BEFORE the incorporation of the town, two county roads were laid out through the territory composing it. The first, the road now leading from East Bridgewater by Jacob Harden's, and the Centre Meeting house, to Weymouth, was laid out in 1690, as part of a way from ' Middleborough, Bridgewater and other places, towards Boston.' It began ' at the Woods in Middleborough, by the new meeting house.' In Bridgewater it passed by James Latham's, Byram's plain, thence to the way that led to Weymouth, and thence with that way, and ' on the westerly side of Andrew Ford's house, to the Patent line.'
The other was the road from Hanson, through the Back street, (so called,) to Weymouth. In 1707, the General Sessions of the Peace appointed a Committee to view a way petitioned for from Plymouth to Wey- mouth. They reported in favor of a way ' from the road which led from Plymouth to John Bradford, Jr.'s, a little to the eastward of said Bradford's house, and thence in the way lately made on the westward side of the Indian head-river Pond, and thence over Col. Thomas's mill-dam, and thence in the way that leads from Little Comfort to Lieut. Nash's, in Weymouth, near a mile to northward of Lieut. Hersey's saw-mill.' In 1712, the road was laid out forty-feet wide. It be-
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gan ' at the patent line, upon the road that led from Weymouth to Little Comfort,' and run with that road ' to the westerly corner of French's hill, easterly from Ford's-thence to ' bottle hill,' and ' over an old bridge, near a place called Gurney's meadow '-thence by marked trees, 'to Drinkwater path,' &c. &c.
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NOTICE OF SETTLERS BEFORE THE IN- CORPORATION OF THE TOWN.
THE first settlement, there is very little doubt, was, as has been before stated, on the grant to Souther ; and the first settlers the family of Ford. Andrew Ford, the son of Andrew and Eleanor Ford, of Weymouth, is said to have been in possession of what was for many years called Ford's Farms, or Ford's Farm, in 1679. In 1683, his father and James Lovell sold him land, de- scribing him in the deed, as an 'inhabitant of the col- ony of New Plymouth.' Andrew, junior, had a bro- ther Ebenezer, who was at this place the same year. The Colony records state, that ' at a court of Assistants, July, 1683, Ebenezer Ford, residing at a place called Ford's farm, complains against James Ford, now or late of the same place, in a plea of debt.' Samuel Ford, another brother, was also there, the same year. Nicho- las Byram, 14th July, 1683, sold land to ' Samuel Ford, dwelling at a place called Ford's farm.' Samuel re- turned to Weymouth, and died there, 1711.
Andrew Ford, senior, of Abington, lived in a house that stood a few rods from Joseph Cleverly's. He died 24th August, 1725, leaving a will, in which he mentions his wife Abiah-son Andrew, (Ens.) daughters Sarah Josselyn, Thankful Hersey, Lydia Whitmarsh and Abiah Hersey ; also his grandsons Jacob and Andrew,
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sons of his son Andrew ; and Hezekiah and Ruth, chil- dren of his son Hezekiah, deceased. His ' homestead, or home-living,' he gave his grandson Hezekiah.
Thomas Josselyn was here in 1686, as appears by the following from Plymouth Colony records : 'July, 1686, Isaac Howland, of Middleborough, Plaintiff against Thomas Josselyn, within the Constablewrick of Little Comfort,* Defendant, in an action of debt.'
Caleb Chard came in probably some years before 1694. The proprietors of Bridgewater then laid out land ' on the easterly side of the way, that goeth to Shaw's farm and Chard's.' He was the son of William Chard, of Weymouth, who was for many years the town clerk there, and 'a settled school-master.' His wife was Eleanor Waters, by whom he had Thomas, who married Ruth Jackson. He died 1709.
Nicholas Shaw, the son of John and Alice Shaw, of Weymouth, in a deed from John Andrews to Joseph Lincoln, of Hingham, of a part of the grant to Souther, 1694, is said to have lived ' about half a mile from Streame's meadow.' By his wife Deborah, he had Nicholas, Joshua, (Dea.,) John, Zachariah, Benjamin and Sarah, borne between 1689 and 1704, inclusive.
Philip Reed came from Weymouth as early as 1696. Land was laid out that year, to John Porter, ' that laid beyond Snell's plain, towards Philip Reed's house.' This house was near where David Gurney now lives.
Little Comfort was a name given the southerly part of the town. At this time Bridgewater was divided into Constablewricks, and this part of the town formed one. As it was necessary to provide for the service of legal process, north of the six-mile line, the Colony Court, 11th Feb. 1691, ordered ' the lands between Bridgewater and Weymouth, called Ford's farm, and the parts adjacent, to be put under the Constablewrick of Bridgewater.'
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In his will, made 1710, and witnessed by William, John and Jacob Reed, his wife Abigail, daughters Mary and Hannah, by a former wife, and son Stephen, are men- tioned. He died May 11, 1712.
Joseph Josselyn, if the son of Thomas before named, probably came with his father. In 1696, land was laid out to him 'joining his land at his and Porter's saw- mill.' His house was a few rods back of Jonathan L. Reed's. He died 5tlı Sept. 1726. His will mentions sons Joseph, Ebenezer and Abraham, and daughters Mary Bates, Sarah Porter,* Hannah and Beatrice, and his second wife Sarah, the daughter of Andrew Ford.
William Dyer was from Weymouth before 1699. In March of that year Bridgewater appointed him a sur- veyor of highways. How long he was in Abington is not known. He was there in 1716, but had returned to Weymouth before 1735, for in that year certain per- sons by order of the proprietors of Bridgewater, ' sur- veyed the lands of William Dyer, formerly of Abington, now of Weymouth, all which lands lay in Abington, within the eight-miles square of the purchasers of Bridgewater, and where Christopher Dyer now dwells.' Christopher was probably the son of William. He married Hannah, the daughter of Ens. James Nash, by whom he had between 1726 and 1743, Mary, Hannah, Christopher, Sarah, Jacob, Betty and James. He died suddenly in a field back of his house, 11th Aug. 1786, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. It is stated on the
* There is a family tradition, that as Sarah was one day, in summer, milking one of her father's cows, a thunder cloud came up, and a flash of lightning killed the cow instantly, and knocked out the bottom of her pail, without do- ing her the slightest injury. She was afterwards the mother of fifteen chil- dren.
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map of the town, that he was the first child born in it. This is probably a mistake, as there were several families on its territory, many years before his birth.
Samuel Gurney was warned out of town in 1694, by order of the selectmen of Bridgewater. He probably lived in the Back-street, (so called.) His will, made 17th July, 1717, mentions his wife Sarah, (to whom he gives ' all his house and lands in Abington,') brother John, and son-in-law Samuel Staples.
William Tirrell, from Weymouth, bought the whole of the Pratt grant of the sons of John Shaw, 3d March, 1705, and probably settled on it soon after. He lived near Prince Penniman's. In his will, made 27th April, 1727, he mentions his wife Abigail, sons William (Capt., born 1683,) Samuel, Gideon and Thomas, and daugh- ters Abigail Hersey, Thankful Gillmore, Rachel Lin- coln and Hannah Shaw. He died 27th of the next October. Formerly, the male branch of this family in town was very numerous, but is now nearly extinct.
Edmund Jackson, second town clerk, came in before 1707. By his wife Mary, he had Samuel, Edmund, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah and Martha, between 1691 and 1713. There are none of the male branch of this family in Abington at the present day.
William Hersey, (Cornet and Capt.) from Hingham, is described as an inhabitant of Bridgewater early in 1707. His house was on the hill between Dr. Champ- ney's and Hersey's river, so called after him. He had a son William-and probably, Stephen, (Ens.) Joseph, (Capt.) Elisha, (Capt.) and John, were his sons. Whether he died in Abington or returned to Higham, is not known.
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William Reed, (Capt. and first town clerk,) John Reed and Jacob Reed, brothers, and sons of William and Esther Reed, of Weymouth, settled in Abington about 1708. William lived where Ephraim S. Jenkins lives. His wife was Alice, the daughter of Lieut. Ja- cob Nash, of Weymouth. By her he had Obadiah, (Capt.) Ebenezer, Daniel, James, Solomon, Moses and Alice, between 1707 and 1725. He died 1753 .*
John Reed lived opposite the Burying-ground, in the south part of the town. By his first wife, Sarah, he had John, born 1713. By Mary, his second, James, Joseph, Mary, Ezekiel, Peter, Squire and Samuel, be- tween 1716 and 1732. In a division of his estate, 1739, all these children are named.
Jacob Reed, (town clerk nineteen years,) by his first wife, Sarah Hersey, had Sarah, Jacob, Hannah, Wil- liam and Elijah, between 1718 and 1728. By his se- cond, the widow Hannah Noyes, Betty, born 1734. His house was near Ephraim Whitman's. He died 1766, aged seventy-four.
Ebenezer Whitmarsh, (Dea.) and family, were prob- ably in Abington, some years before 1712. In his will, made 2d July, 1716, he mentions his wife, Christiana, sons Richard, Ebenezer and Thomas, and daughters Ruth Ford and Mary Reed. He was the son of John Whitmarsh of Weymouth, who was one of the 'select
* Mr. Dodge, in his Journal, 3d June, 1753, says :- ' Attended the funeral of the aged Capt. Reed, the largest I have ever seen in town.' Ten at least of his descendants in the male line, have been liberally educated. Of these, two have been members of Congress, viz. his grandson, the late Rev. Dr. John Reed, of West Bridgewater, and his son, the Hon. John Reed, of Yar- mouth, now a member. After the expiration of his present term, he will have been in Congress twenty-two years-eighteen in succession.
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town's men, and town measurer ;' was born May 14th, 1658, and died April 8, 1718.
Nicholas Porter was an appraiser of Caleb Chard's estate in 1709-lived where Sherebiah Corthell lives. His children by his wife Bathsheba, were Nicholas, William, Bathsheba, Daniel, Susanna, Job, Esther and Abner, born between 1700 and 1718. His second wife was Sarah, the widow of Nicholas Noyes.
John Harden. 22d Feb. 1711, Mr. Niles, of Brain- tree, records the baptism of ' Jane Harden, the daugh- ter of John Harden, of Little Comfort.' Harden's house was where his great grandson Jacob Harden now lives, near the line of East Bridgewater. His will, made 17th Sept. 1751, mentions his daughters Mary Hobart, Sarah Gurney, Jane Spear, Rebecca Noyes, Lydia Dawes, son John, (Capt.) and grandson, Benja- min Gurney, by his daughter Elizabeth.
James Nash, (Ens.) first town treasurer, was son of Lieut. Jacob Nash, of Weymouth, who was a freeman in 1666, and Representative in 1689 and 1690, and grandson of James Nash. He lived where the late Nathaniel Nash lived. By his first wife, Hannah, he had James, Peter and Hannah. By Experience, his second, Experience, Mary, Sarah, Abigail, Samuel and Silence. He died 27th August, 1725.
Edward Bates, Dea. (in the early records the name was generally written Bate,) was the son of Edward and Elizabeth Bates, and grandson of Edward and Susan Bates, of Weymouth. He had three brothers, Ebenezer, Benjamin and Eleazer, who came and settled in Abington. As he was elected to office at the first . town meeting, he was probably here before the incor-
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poration of the town. Whether the others were, is unknown, though probably not. By his wife, Silence Richards, of Weymouth, he had Edward, Peter, Silence, Samuel and Daniel. House near Oliver Blanchard's. He died 28th Feb. 1740. 5
Joseph Lincoln, from Hingham, was an original church member and a town officer at the first meeting. In 1723, he was ' ejected ' from his office of deacon of the church, on account of some ' irregularities unseemly to such a post ;' but ' was restored to charity as a bro- ther,' on confessing that he had 'acted imprudently and unjustly in buying Mr. Tirrill's place under color, to keep off the sheriff from attaching it, and further- more acknowledging, that he had wronged and injured the truth.' By his wife, Kesiah, he had two children, Prudence and Jonathan.
Samuel Pool, Esq. came about 1711, and settled where James Reed now lives-was the son of Joseph Pool, of Weymouth, and had brothers Joseph and Isaac. By his wife, Sarah, the daughter of Lieut. Jacob Nash, of Weymouth, he had Elizabeth, Samuel, (Dea.) Jo- seph and Sarah, between 1711 and 1718.
Samuel Porter, brother of Nicholas, before mention- ed, bought of Daniel Axtell, his farm in Abington, con- sisting of a dwelling house, and half of the grant to the Briggs' 30th January, 1712. His wife was Mary, the daughter of Lieut. Jacob Nash, of Weymouth, by whom he had between 1699 and 1719, Samuel, Mary, Jacob, David, Hannah, John and Abigail. He died 31st Aug. 1725. All the above children are named in his will. He was the grandfather of the late Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Porter, of Roxbury.
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There were doubtless several others, beside those mentioned, who came in before the town was incorpor- ated-among them might be Nicholas Noyes, the father of the late Dea. John Noyes, Samuel Noyes, the father of the late Capt. Daniel Noyes, and Dea. Samuel French.
INCORPORATION OF THE TOWN AND SUB- SEQUENT LOSSES OF TERRITORY.
A petition for an act of incorporation was presented to the General Court, 4th July, 1706-on which an or- der passed, directing the petitioners to return a plat of the territory described in their petition. Afterwards, another order required 'The proprietors, purchasers and inhabitants, to take care to make a subscription of what they were capable and willing to pay annually for the support of an able, learned and orthodox minister, and present the same to the court at their next session, when the court would proceed to consider of what was prayed for their encouragement.' No further steps in the matter appear to have been taken at that time, pro- bably because the means of the people were not deemed sufficient for the settlement and support of a minister. In 1712, the application was renewed, and the follow- ing act of incorporation passed :-
In Council .- Upon reading a petition of several of the inhabitants of the easterly part of the town of Bridgewater, and several proprietors of land adjoining, to be made a township, the whole of said tract contain- ing about six miles in length and about four miles and a half in breadth-bounded on the north on the line of the late colonies of Massachusetts and Plymouth, east upon the town of Scituate, south on the line that is the
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southerly bounds of the lands of John Cushing, Sen. and Jr. Esqrs .- and from thence, on the south-westerly side by certain bounds, which the town of Bridgewater have set up and prefixed, to Beaver Brook-and on the west by the said brook, until it comes to the extent of the town of Bridgewater northward-together with a small gore of land, lying between the said township and the line of said colonies .* The town of Bridgewater having signified their consent thereto, and a plat being now presented, and the petitioners setting forth, that they had settled a learned and orthodox minister-
Ordered, that the prayer of the petitioners be grant- ed-the tract of land within mentioned to be erected into a township, and that the town be named Abington.
Tuesday, June 10, 1712.
Concurred by the Representatives.
Consented to,
J. DUDLEY.
The boundaries of the town, at the present day, vary from those described in this act, and show losses of ter- ritory, on the east and south, and on the gore between the six-mile and Colony line.
Hanover took off a large tract. Before the incor- poration of that town, the east line of Abington was six miles long, running from Accord Pond about south and crossing the highway in Hanson, a little to the east- ward of Dr. Samuel Barker's, 'to a white oak tree about two feet over.' This tree, which was the south- east corner of the town, and also of the Indian grant to
" There is, before me, a copy of a plan of the town, made by Col. Samuel Thaxter, of Hingham, in 1706, the boundaries of which correspond exactly with those described in this act. The territory is said to contain 15,518 1-2 acres.
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Cornet Stetson, and Colony grant to Moses and Aaron Simmons, is supposed to have stood not far from the lower tack factory, on Indian head-river, in Hanson. From this corner the line run west about nine degrees south (it was probably parallel with the south line of Hatherly's grant) two miles to a stake and stones.
By the act incorporating Hanover, in 1727, the boundaries of that town began 'at the third herring brook, at Dea. Jacob's saw-mill dam, and from thence running near west, about two hundred fifty-six rods to the north-east corner of Isaac Turner's great lot- thence near west with the north side line of said great lot one mile to the Share line, (then the east line of Abington,) and thence, continuing the same course, three quarters of a mile, (to the east side of the small shares )-thence turning and running near south two miles to the south-west corner of Nehemiah Cushing's lot-thence south five degrees and forty minutes west, to the southerly bounds of Abington.'
The new south-east corner, established by this act, was about two hundred fifty rods westerly from the preceding. In the old perambulations of the town lines, this corner bound is said to be 'a crotched pine tree, standing in the swamp to the south-west of Col. Elijah Cushing's dwelling-house.' He lived in Han- son, where his great grandson, Elijah Cushing, now lives.
In 1746, the second parish in Pembroke, now Han- son, was incorporated. It was made up of the corners of five towns, viz. Abington, Bridgewater, Halifax, Hanover and Pembroke. In 1754, all that part of the
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territory of the parish not then belonging to Pem- broke, was annexed to that town.
There is some difficulty in fully accounting for the losses on the gore. The present Eastern boundary in part, between Abington and North Bridgewater, is the east line of the grant to Peregrine White. Immedi- ately west of this grant was a tract of land containing about 200 acres, which Robert and Daniel Howard bought of Dorchester in 1726; and west of that, in the angle of the 6 mile and Colony line, another tract of 200 acres, which Robert Howard and others pur- chased of the Province in 1727. In 1730, on Petition of the Selectmen of Bridgewater, the latter tract with the two families of Howards upon it, was annexed to Bridgewater, 'during the pleasure of the Court.'- How the former tract and White grant became part of Bridgewater, is not known. No act of the Legislature has been found annexing them to that town. There appears to have been some controversy between Abing ton and Bridgewater in 1742, about their bounds in this direction, and Bridgewater then appointed agents to petition the general court ' to send a committee to fix a north-east corner of their township.' If a petition was presented, it does not appear what was done. The matter was however settled as early as 1753, as in that year, the line between the towns was perambulated, and began, ' at the patent line run by Col. Thaxter and Capt. Thompson, at a stake and heap of stones, which is the north-east corner of the Peregrine White grant, and run south upon the easterly end of said White's grant, until it comes to the 6 mile line of Bridgewa- ter.'
ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS.
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FIRST CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY.
It was stated in the Petition for an act to incorporate the town, that a minister had been settled. By this, nothing more could have been intended than that some arrangements had been made to settle one. Mr. Sam- uel Brown was the first minister. He says he 'came to Abington by a unanimous call from the people there to settle, on 8th December, 1711.' By a deed dated 4th March, 1712, Jacob Nash of Weymouth, and ' Andrew Ford, senior, living near the Town of Bridgewater, in consideration of £112 current money to them paid by the inhabitants, and some of the proprietors of the north-east end of the town of Bridgewater, and of the land adjoining, in behalf of Mr. Samuel Brown of New- bury, in the County of Essex,' conveyed to Mr. Brown sixty acres of land, for an homestead, reserving ' half an acre about the meeting-house for conveniency.'
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