USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Weymouth > Historical sketch of the town of Weymouth, Massachusetts, from 1622-1884 > Part 5
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1 Town Records; General Court Records, Vol. XI. p. 523.
2 Town Records.
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the first settlement of the town. For the reasons pre- viously given, very little notice is subsequently taken of the matter for three quarters of a century. In 1724-5, at the town meeting held March 8, a committee was chosen "to treat with the mill-owners on the river, by Bates', to make a convenient passage for fish into Whitman's Pond, to pay not over £5." From that time onward the " alewives business " occupies a large space upon the town records. Officers were regularly chosen to have charge of the fisheries, to preserve the fish, and also to take and dispose of them in the season, while the proceeds of the sale were a source of income that the town valued highly, as will be seen in the sub- sequent history. The arranging and settling of this business often proved quite perplexing and difficult.
NEW COUNTY. - About 1725, the subject of forming a new county, to be set off from Suffolk, was agitated, but the project was steadily opposed by Weymouth, unless the court house should be located within five or six miles of the centre of the town, to which the other towns would not consent.
DR. WHITE. - At the March meeting, held on the 14th of that month, 1726-7, the town felt a necessity for encouraging the settlement of a physician within its limits, and for this purpose voted a " grant of five acres of land to Dr. Nathaniel White while he should remain in the town and practise medicine."
TOWN REGULATIONS. - On July 21, 1729, a list of the first jurymen chosen by the town appears upon the records, and from that day to the present the matter has never been allowed to fall into disuse.
From the first settlement of the town, for more than a century, its expenses were very light, the highways
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being provided for by personal labor of all the male inhabitants above sixteen years of age, and no regular appropriation was made for the support of the poor, the cases being very few, and each as it came up was cared for as the circumstances of the matter required; hence are found occasional records like that of Aug. 23, 1733, when the three daughters of Widow Ruth Harvey were provided for by the town; the largest tax being that for the ministry and the schools. These matters will be more fully treated in another department of this sketch.
The proposition for a new county still continued to be agitated. Feb. 2, 1729-30, the town went so far as to choose an agent to treat with the towns of Scituate, Hingham, Hull, Braintree, Hanson and Abington, re- specting the matter, and Sept. 1, 1735, a vote was passed in favor of a new county, to be composed of the towns in Suffolk County outside of Boston.
At the following town meeting, held March 1, 1735-6, two important measures were passed ; one allowing all freeholders to vote in the affairs of the town com- mons, and the other to divide all the commons among the householders "who are freeholders" in equal shares; and this vote was reaffirmed at a subsequent meeting held March 29.
March 7, 1736-7, a committee was chosen to unite with Braintree to build a cart bridge over the Smelt Brook at Weymouth Landing, a proceeding so necessary that it is almost impossible to conceive that an important thoroughfare like this, on the main road leading from Boston to Plymouth, should have been so long per- mitted to remain without such an improvement.
And again, on the 13th of March following, the town votes its mind that Boston should be a county by itself, and a committee was chosen to petition the General Court to that effect.
4
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PARSONAGE PROPERTY. - Ever since the division of the town into two precincts, there had been constant trouble about the parsonage matters before referred to; the South claiming a share in the property, and the North steadily refusing to allow the claim. Yet it was such a continual source of irritation that on June 23, 1741, the town chose a committee to consider the mat- ter and to see if some amicable adjustment could not be made; but the effort failed, and the subject remained to be the cause of much future trouble.
PIGWACKET INDIANS. - In 1744 a proposition was made that the Pigwacket Indians, then stationed in Boston, should be placed in Weymouth, but the disposi- tion of the town was shown by a unanimous vote, on July 25, that this should not be done.
TOWN COMMONS. - On May 23, 1751, the town made its first general appropriation for the poor by voting twenty pounds for this purpose. At the same meeting it was also voted that the Second Preeinct should have its share of town meetings in proportion to its tax; also that the town commons should be divided among the inhabitants according to the tax of 1750, each poll to draw one share, and other shares in pro- portion to the tax; but this vote was changed as all pre- vious votes of the kind had been, on July 1, so as to except all not over twenty-one years of age, all not born in town and who were not householders and free- holders, and also all persons renting property.
THROAT DISTEMPER. - At this period occurred the terrible throat distemper that raged so violently in the town during a whole year, from May, 1751, to May, 1752, that out of an estimated population of about twelve hundred, one hundred and fifty died, being an eighth of
1
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the whole number. This scourge is unprecedented in the history of the town, and was long remembered with dread and horror. Another disaster of a very different character occurred in the burning of the old church, in the First Precinct, on the 23d of April, 1751, in which were stored three barrels of gunpowder. These two occurrences were deemed of so much consequence that the town voted not to send a representative to the Gen- eral Court that year on that account.1
FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS. - Soon after this the peace of the colonies was seriously disturbed by the wars between England and France, which, to a large degree, were carried on upon this continent, and in which the French made alliance with the savage tribes of New York, Canada, and the nearer western terri- tories, who carried on the wars in their usual merciless and bloodthirsty manner; and although New England, especially upon the shores of Massachusetts Bay and the southern borders, was far removed from the scene of active strife, yet even the little town of Weymouth was not exempt from its share in the hardship and expense attendant upon their continuance. The records are very bare and many of the muster rolls have been lost, but enough remain to show something of what these wars cost the town in blood and treasure for mat- ters in which it had no real concern. In the expedi- tions of 1755 and 1756 to Crown Point and Lake George, about forty men of Weymouth belonged in the regiment of Col. (afterwards Gen.) Benjamin Lincoln, under the command of Capt. Samuel Thaxter. Of this number six never returned to the town, but died or were killed during the year's service. Among the men of this company was Lieut. Solomon Lovell, afterwards general during the Revolutionary struggle. But these
1 Dr. Cotton Tufts, Town Records.
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were not all, for in the many hard campaigns along the northern frontiers during these and subsequent years, until the capture of that last stronghold of the French on this continent, Louisburg, in 1758, and the vietory of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, below Quebee, in the year following, by which the power of that nation in this quarter of the world was completely broken, Wey- mouth sent her sons to assist in the general eause.
The names of such, to a great extent, are wanting, but in the ineidental mentions upon publie archives, and in private family histories, enough is gathered to show that there were many of them, and that they bore an honorable record.1
1 " See Colonel Lincoln's Return, Oct. 2, 1755, State Archives, Vol. XCIII. Capt. Samuel Thaxter's company.
The names of the men [of Weymouth] were: -
Lieut. Wm. Whitmarsh, Ensign Nath'l Bayley,
John Canterbury, Jonathan Darby,
Hezekiah White, Benjamin Tirrell,
Joseph Truefant, Stephen Saulsbury,
Silas Lovell.
"The following list made up from the various muster rolls of the troops engaged in that campaign [Lake George in 1756], and found in the State Archives, Boston, Vols. XCIII., XCIV., and XCV., is believed to be very nearly correct: -
First Lieut., Solomon Lovell.
Sergt. Caleb Eldredge, Corp. John Canterbury, jun.
Sergt. Jonathan Darby, jun. Corp. Benjamin Nash,
Scrgt. Thomas Cushing,
Corp. James Hunt,
Silas Lovell, Stephen Canterbury,
Benjamin Tirrell,
Joseph Trufant,
Joseph Pratt, 3d,
William Holbrook, jun.
Noah Bates,
Benjamin Richards,
William Richards,
Samuel Orcutt,
Joseph Ford,
David Orcutt,
Lemuel Barbar,
Stephen Saulsbury,
Joseph Blanchard,
William Salisbury,
Ebenezer Tirrell,
Thomas Colson, jun.
Nehemiah Joy,
John Lincoln, James Nash,
John Randall Vining,
William Rice,
Isaac Joy,
Humphrey Burrell, Isaac Pool,
William Bates,
Nathanicl Blanchard.
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FRENCH NEUTRALS. - In 1755, after the capture of Acadia (Nova Scotia) by the English, large numbers of the unfortunate inhabitants, who were, with the greatest inhumanity forced to abandon their former pleasant homes, and seek shelter wherever they might, were brought to Boston, and as no provision had been made for their support, they were parcelled out among the several towns that were thus compelled to provide for them. Weymouth received its share, but how many there remains no record to show, excepting such as is found in the votes of the town in special cases and upon the treasurer's books, like the following: " March 8, 1756. Dr. Nathaniel White was paid eight shillings per week for a year for keeping the French Neuters." This by vote of the town, and upon the treasurer's account there is an item of six pounds paid to James Humphrey, Feb. 28, 1761, for subsisting the " French Neuters." 1
DR. TUFTS. - Again, March 10, 1760, Dr. Cotton Tufts, who had recently settled in the north part of the town as a physician, and who afterwards, for more than half a century was one of its most valuable and prominent citizens, was chosen agent to confer with other towns about a new county.
" (The last named and Benjamin Nash should, perhaps, be credited to Braintree). Of these, six died during the campaign: Thomas Cushing, John Canterbury, James Hunt, William Holbrook, Benjamin Richards, John Randall Vining. The term of service was from February to No- vember, about nine months." -Weymouth Historical Society, Publication No. 1, pp. 31, 32.
[Besides these, many went into the various Northern campaigns during that war, but the records are so deficient or wholly wanting, that it has been impossible to the present time to ascertain how many or who they were, but probably many more than are named in the above lists. - G. N.]
Town Records.
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HIGHWAYS. - About the same time, also, the town was found to have outgrown the primitive method of working the highways, and something different and more effective was needed. New regulations were con- sequently adopted, whereby each poll was to be taxed two shillings and one penny (one day's work), other taxes in same proportion. Those having teams, horse or ox, were rated at certain prices, and the whole mat- ter was reduced to a kind of system, rude to be sure, but a vast improvement upon the ancient plan. This arrangement was continued, with comparatively few changes, for several generations.1
SOUTH PRECINCT. - During these years the South Precinct seems to have been steadily gaining upon the North in population and influence, and had become strong enough to command a vote, March 24, 1761, defining the word "ministry " in the parsonage deed to include both ministers, and that each should draw of the income from that source in proportion to the tax paid by his parish.2
1 Town Records.
2 Town Records.
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CHAPTER III.
Revolutionary War-Arbitrary Measures of the Crown - Agents chosen to meet in Boston- Commitees of Correspondence - No more Tea - Energetic Action - Record of Votes on the Resolutions of Congress - Refusal to pay Taxes to the Royal Treasurer - Town Committee of Correspondence - Minute-Men - Preparations for War - Raising Troops- Declaration of Independence - Bounties - State Conven- tion - State Constitution - Procuring Men and Provisions - Soldiers to Hull.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR.1- Soon after this time the political affairs of the colonies began to assume an im- portance that they had never before reached. The arbitrary measures of the English government, continu- ally growing more and more harsh and oppressive, had roused the people to a pitch that boded no friendly issue. Measure after measure was adopted by the min- istry, each more urgent and onerous than the former, and forced upon the people until they were compelled to resort to extreme measures in self-defence. During the whole history of the colonies all important busi- ness was transacted in open town meeting. Was any measure suggested for the benefit of the town, here it was thoroughly discussed, and adopted or re- jected. Was any grievance complained of, here it was also considered and remedies proposed. Here all voters stood upon a perfect equality, where each could and did speak his mind freely and fully, and every vote counted one.
1 Most of the facts contained in this chapter are taken from the town records, and may be found under the dates to which they are assigned; consequently, special notes will not be needed to verify them.
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In thesc town meetings, therefore, the measures of government came up for consideration, and such means were adopted as seemed best suited to counteract their evil effects.
Here were chosen the representatives to the General Court, to whom were given instructions filled with im- portant and minute detail, and these officers were held to a strict accountability. To their constituents they must answer, and that directly; there could be no evad- ing or shirking, consequently the public business was transacted under a feeling of heavy responsibility, which resulted in carrying out the will of the people as far as the power of the deputies extended. The law-makers in General Court assembled were the samc class of men who spoke so boldly in town meeting, and the same spirit animated their actions in the higher position.
Weymouth took an active and prominent part in the primary action that immediately preceded the war of the Revolution, and under the leadership of such men as Major James Humphrey, Dr. Cotton Tufts, and Gen. Solomon Lovell, of the North Parish, and Deacon Nathaniel Bayley, of the South,1 the town took a posi- tion that it had never before nor has since attained. Oct. 16, 1765, Major Humphrey, then representative to the General Court, received full and decided instruc- tions from the town as to the position he was to take in the present position of affairs.2
Sept. 1, 1766, the town refused to consent to the proposition " that the sufferers by the disturbances of last year in Boston should be paid from the public treas- ury, as recommended by his Majesty, and instructed their representative of this action."
AGENTS CHOSEN TO MEET IN BOSTON. - Sept. 21, 1768, James Humphrey and Cotton Tufts were ap-
1 See Appendix D. 2 See Appendix E.
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pointed agents to meet in Faneuil Hall, Boston, on the following day, to consult with the agents of other towns on the present state of affairs.
COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE. - In the mean time the political matters of the State had reached such a point that committees of correspondence had been formed in all of the principal towns, and frequent con- sultations were held upon the important matters then agitating the country. At a special meeting held in Weymouth, Jan. 3, 1774, of which James Humphrey was moderator, a letter was read from the Boston committee, with copies of the votes and proceedings of that town at meetings held on the 5th and 18th of the previous November, with regard to the cargoes of teas daily expected from the East India Company's warehouses in London, suggesting the co-operation of the several towns in resisting the introduction of this obnoxious article, - obnoxious only because it had been the inno- cent occasion of an unjust tax. The matter was fully considered and a resolution passed " by a very great majority not to purchase nor use any of the East India Company's teas of any kind (excepting such as they might now have on hand) until the act of Par- liament, laying a duty thereon, be repealed."
NO MORE TEA. - Also, that the minds of the people might be more fully determined, and there be no mistake in the business, and to show that they were as ready to act as to resolve, a committee was chosen, consisting of Cotton Tufts, Esq., Major Lovell, Deacon Nathaniel Bayley, Jacob Goold and Ebenezer Colson, to prepare the resolutions in proper form and to present them at the March meeting " to be signed, that the minds of the inhabitants may be generally known."
On the 18th of July, of the same year, a form of cov-
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enant was received from the committee of correspond- ence of Boston, and recommended for signatures. This was placed in the hands of a committee, who were to give it full consideration, obtain as many names to it as possible, and then to deposit it with the town clerk.
ENERGETIC ACTION. - At a meeting held on the 28th of September following, the instructions of the deputies from Boston to the General Court were read, and the same were made the instructions of the town to its dep- uty, Nathaniel Bayley. At the same meeting, Deacon Bayley was also chosen to attend the meeting of the Provineial Convention to assemble at Coneord, on the second Tuesday of October next. The town also accepted the nineteen resolves drawn up by the county committee, agreeing to stand by them, and to hold the constables harmless in refusing to pay over the State taxes to the treasurer appointed by the crown.
RECORD OF VOTES ON THE RESOLUTIONS OF CON- GRESS. - The resolutions prepared by the committee had been presented to the inhabitants for signature, according to the action of the town, and were reported as follows. In the South Precinct this preamble was adopted, date Dec. 12, 1774 :-
" We, the inhabitants of the Second Precinet in the said Town, under the sacred ties of Virtue, Honor, and love of our Country, do now covenant and agree with each other, that we will conform and strictly adhere to the agreement and association which the American Continental Congress has recommended unto us, and which has now been read."
This was signed with the following result: One hundred and two in favor, none against, and twenty-one not voting; making a total of one hundred and twenty- three voters.
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In the North Precinct the agreement varied a little in its wording, and read as follows: -
" We, the inhabitants of the first precinct of Wey- mouth, whose names are here underwritten, do signify our approbation to the Continental Association which is recommended by the General Continental Congress held in Philadelphia, in the year 1774, those of us that approve of the same to answer to our names by the word 'yea,' and those who disapprove of the same by the word 'no.'"
The questions were put at the close of the lecture, Dec. 25, 1774, with this result: One hundred and four answered "yea," four answered " no," and fourteen did not answer, one hundred and twenty-two voters being at the meeting.
REFUSE TO PAY TAXES TO THE ROYAL TREASURER. - Jan. 30, 1775, Deacon Nathaniel Bayley was elected by the town as its delegate to the proposed Congress to meet at Cambridge, 1st of February next, the town to provide for him. The town also chose a committee to see that the inhabitants adhere strictly to their pledge; and at the same meeting, renewed the vote to hold the constables harmless for not carrying their money for the year 1772 to "Harryson Gray," and ordered the money to be paid to the town treasurer. On the 13th of March, however, the latter vote was so far reconsidered as to direct the constables to pay the money to Henry Gardner of Stow.
TOWN COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE. - A com- mittee of correspondence for Weymouth, to act with those of the neighboring towns, had been chosen on the 9th of March, consisting of Dr. Tufts, Major Lovell, Major Vining, Capt. Asa White and Mr. Josiah Colson. This committee met in Arnold's Tavern, at
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Weymouth Landing (the building is yet standing), together with those with whom they were to associate, organized by choice of Dr. Tufts as chairman, and Capt. White as secretary, and afterwards did efficient service during the war.1
MINUTE-MEN. - On the 13th of March it having been deemed necessary, in view of the exigency of the times and the wish to be prepared for any emergency, to enlist a company of minute-men, it was voted to pay them one shilling per week for four weeks; and on May 2d of the same year, it was voted to pay " a pistareen a day for a week to a company of fifteen men for a mili- tary guard in the present troublesome times." Desert- ers were to lose their wages.
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. - At a town meeting held on the 24th of May, Deacon Nathaniel Bayley was chosen to represent the town in the Provincial Congress to meet at Watertown, May 31; the committee of cor- respondence was also directed to ascertain who were in need of arms, and report to the commanding officer. Enrolled soldiers from sixteen to sixty years of age were required to meet and organize, those of each parish at their own meeting-house, on the 25th of May. The town also accepted the offer of Mr. Polley for the use of two swivel guns then at Salem, and voted their thanks to Dr. Tufts for his offer to transport them to Weymouth.
On the 29th of May, the committee was authorized to procure arms at the town's expense for those not able to purchase or hire them, and the committee of correspond- ence was directed to put in order the two swivel guns
1 See record of Col. Asa White in files of the Weymouth Historical Society.
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and to procure ammunition at the town's charge, in case the province should not assume it. The bells were also to be rung to notify an alarm. The thanks of the town were also voted to Hon. Richard Darby for the use of two small carriage guns, which were delivered to Thomas Jenks, to be returned when done, with thanks, and all damage made good.
June 1, 1775, the town instructed the committee to hire guns at one dollar each, for six months; and such was the urgency of the times that the enrolled militia were ordered to appear under arms on the Lord's day, under penalty of one dollar for each day; and those who remained at home, without reasonable excuse, were to forfeit two dollars each. The number of those report- ing without arms was twelve in the North Precinct, and twenty-two in the South.
March 11, 1776, a new committee of correspondence was chosen, consisting of Cotton Tufts, Esq., Capt. James White, Col. Solomon Lovell, Nathaniel Bayley, Esq., and Richard Blanchard; and on the 20th of May, two representatives were chosen, Nathaniel Bayley and Col. Solomon Lovell. All persons drawing ammunition from the town were to return the same in amount, or pay at the rate of four shillings per pound for powder, eight pence for bullets, and six pence for flints.
RAISING TROOPS. - At a town meeting held on the 15th of July, the town voted to raise one hundred and thirty pounds by tax, to be added to the bounty offered by the province for the enlistment of ten men, the quota called for from Weymouth, to be raised in ten days. Deacon Nathaniel Bayley and Capt. Samuel Ward were authorized to hire men from out of town in case they should not be raised in town, and to pay them the same bounty as was paid to townsmen, that is, twenty pounds, thirteen from the town and seven from the
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province, and the treasurer was to borrow the money for the purpose.
On the 22d of July eight more men were called for from the town, and it was voted to raise one hundred and four pounds additional. These men were enlisted for the Northern or Canada expedition, and fully earned their wages. It was also voted at a meeting held Nov. 18, 1776, to raise ninety-two pounds for the men raised on the previous September. This was to be raised by tax on polls and estates, and all who had been in the continental service for a year were exempt from it. And on the 23d of December following the town raised one hundred and ninety-eight pounds to pay twenty-two men who had gone into the continental service with Lieut. Samuel Kingman, or three pounds additional to each man.
Upon the actual commencement of hostilities, as will be seen, the town took prompt and decided measures to perform its whole duty in earrying into effeet its reso- lutions of the previous years, and to obtain the inde- pendenee of the country. Men and money were freely raised and sent forward at the eall of the continental and provincial authorities.
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