USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Norfolk > History and directory of Wrentham and Norfolk, Mass. for 1890 : containing a complete resident, street and business directory, town officers, schools, societies, churches, post offices, etc., etc. > Part 8
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wrentham > History and directory of Wrentham and Norfolk, Mass. for 1890 : containing a complete resident, street and business directory, town officers, schools, societies, churches, post offices, etc., etc. > Part 8
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In September, 1780, a committee was chosen to procure beef for the army, and in January of the following year the sum of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds was granted to hire the men called for to serve in the Continental Army for three years and to pay for beef for the army. The General Court having required Wrentham to furnish a certain number of shirts, hose and blankets the selectmen inform the assessors that the sum of £416 in silver is necessary. for this purpose, and as there is no money in the treasury they are requested to assess that sum upon the in- habitants in silver money.
This was about the time, when notwithstanding successes at the south, . the country seemed to be on the brink of ruin. Although aid seemed at hand upon the arrival of Rochambeau and DeGrasse, and although some temporary releif had been obtained yet no sufficient and reliable means of supplying the wants of the army had been provided. The enemy was in possession of a large part of the country ; the Americans whose campaigns were to be extensive had scarcely an army and were wholly without money. Their bills of credit were worthless, not being a legal tender or taken even for taxes. Borrowning of France, Spain and Holland was attempted. Franklin obtained a gift of six millions of livres from Louis XVI, who also guaranteed a loan of ten millions made by Holland to the United States.
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
This success added to the labors of Robert Morris, the new treasurer, who brought not only zeal and great ability but his own private fortune to the rescue, brought confidence to the public, and economy took the place of waste.
Upon the conclusion of the war the town instructed the representative " to use his influence to persuade the General Court to call on Congress to redeem the outstanding bills of credit now in the hands of treasurers and individuals in this State; and that the delegates in Congress be di- rected to obtain, without delay, a liquidation of all Continental accounts that this State may speedily know their due proportion of the public ex- pense so that a just average may be made through the United States as soon as may be of the public debt."
SMALL POX.
The town in 1776 being threatened with a visitation of the small pox, Josiah Blake's house was ordered to be used for a hospital. And the next year Doctor Daggett was authorized " to carry on inoculation of the small pox at that house on certain conditions.
FRANKLIN INCORPORATED.
The town at last agreed in 1778 that the inhabitants of the West Pre- cinct might be set off into a separate township according to certain metes and bounds. The General Court passed an act in accordance with the desire of the petitioners incorporating the inhabitants of the West Pre- cinct into a township by the name of Franklin, with boundaries which differed but little, if any, from the bounds of the precinct. This was on the 2d day of March, 1778.
Foxborough having been incorporated June Ioth, 1778, from parts of Wrentham, Walpole, Stoughton and Sharon, a report was made of the amounts due to several persons within the limits of the new township, be- ing the sums which they had paid towards building the meeting-house. The whole sum was £26 os. Iod. 3f.
DEPRECIATION OF THE CURRENCY.
In 1779 the salary voted the Rev. Mr. Bean was one thousands pounds. The year previous his salary was £130. This shows how rapidly and alarmingly the currency had depreciated. To illustrate this I will add that the assessors were directed in assessing the thousand pounds for Mr. Bean to make a separate column of what each person's proportion would be in a tax of £66 13s. 4d., and that any person might pay his proportion of said sum as follows, viz .: Indian corn at three shillings per bushel, good ground malt at five shillings per bushel, rye at four shillings, clear salt pork at fivepence per pound, good mutton at twopence twofarthings per pound, tried tallow at sixpence per pound, good wool at one shilling, fourpence per pound, good flax at eightpence per pound and other neces- sary articles as they were commonly sold before the year 1775. The in-
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
ference is that the £1000 in the currency of that day was equal to only £66 13s. 4d .*
It was in the same year, 1779, voted " that Mr. Bean use Doct Watts' hymns as well as psalms in singing in public assembly in this town."
Having in May, 1780, voted against the new constitution the inhabit- ants granted 50,000 pounds to defray town charges, and upon the 4th of Sept. cast their first votes for a Governor and other State officers. Fifty- seven votes were given, all for John Hancock. The representative was in- structed to vote for the repeal of the excise act, " because it obliges every individual who consumes rum and other spiritous liquors to pay duties on the same; the most wealthy who purchase large quantities are not subject to pay any duties on the same as the act now stands."
The voters expressed their disapprobation of the act of the Continental Congress called the commutation act, granting half pay for life to all officers who should serve until the end of the war ; they also disapproved of the society of the Cincinnati.
NEW COUNTY.
For some years the subject of a new county had been agitated and Wrentham was quite urgent upon the subject, sending delegates to con- ventions holden to consider that subject and instructing the representa- tives in General Court to endeavor to accomplished it. Boston was the shire town and all county and court business must be done there at very great inconvenience. But the new county was not established by the General Court until 1793.
REV. JOSEPH BEAN.
On the 2d day of August, 1784, the town voted to join with the church in giving Mr. Adoniram Judson a call to settle in the ministerial office as a colleague with the Rev. Joseph Bean. There were 105 votes in his favor and 84 against him. Mr. Judson declined the call and a committee was chosen for the purpose of hiring preaching.
Mr. Bean died Dec. 12, 1784. The kind offers of several clergymen, who had tendered each a day's preaching for the late Mr. Bean's family were accepted. Mr. Bean's publications were a century sermon, preached Oct. 26, 1773, one hundred years after the town was incorporated, and printed by request in 1774, and a sermon preached before the congregation of the First Church and parish of Wrentham on a day of Public Humilia- tion, Fasting and Prayer, A. D. 1755, published in 1837.
Of Mr. Bean's ancestry but little is known. It seems that he was estab- lished in business in Cambridge, Mass., and was converted under the preaching of Whitfied and Tennant. He left his business and entered college, and was graduated at the age of thirty years in 1748.
He was ordained Dec. 5, 1750, and married Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. Henry Messinger, his predecessor in the ministry at Wrentham.
The epitaph on his gravestone is as follows :
" Near half an age with every good man's praise, Among his flock ye shepherd passed his days,
* A committee reported that the payments made to Mr. Bean since the commencement of the war would not be equal to seventy pounds in silver.
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
The friend, the comfort of ye sick and poor. Want never knocked unheeded at his door ; Oft when his duty call'd, disease and pain Strove to confine him, but they strove in vain. All mourn his death ; his virtures long they tri'd, They knew not how they lov'd him till he dy'd."
SETTLEMENT OF REV. DAVID AVERY.
In Oct. 1785, the town voted to join the church in the call and settle- ment of the Rev. David Avery to the work of ministry in this place by 151 votes to one against it. A committee having been chosen " to fix his settlement " reported that two hundred pounds be given to Mr. Avery, and one hundred pounds per annum as his salary. This report was adopted by the town.
Mr. Avery's reply to the invitation of the church and town was as fol- lows : " To the Congregational Church and society of the town of Wrent- ham. Brethren and Gentlemen, as you were pleased on the tenth of Oct. last to unite in inviting me to settle in the gospel ministry, I have taken your proposals into serious and mature consideration and do now in the sincerity and cheerfulness of my heart declare my acceptance of your call. And I do also engage, without reserve, in the strength of Christ, carefully and faithfully to exercise my office amongst you for your spiritual advan- tage and highest interest as long as divine wisdom shall see fit to continue me with you. And may God Almighty grant that we may be mutual com- forts and blessings to each other, that we may rejoice together in each other at the appearing of Jesus Christ to whom be glory in the churches throughout all ages world without end, and amen." DAVID AVERY.
Three years afterwards his salary was increased to one hundred and thirty pounds, so well and smoothly had pastor and people moved together. So auspicious a settlement would seem to augur well for church and people.
NOTE .-- The Rev. David Avery was born April 5, 1746, in Franklin, Conn. His father's name was John. He was converted by the preaching of Whitefield; fitted for college at D. Wheelock's school, Conn .; entered Yale college and was graduated in 1769. He engaged in teaching Indian schools. He studied theology with Rev. Dr. E. Wheelock of Dartmouth college ; preached on Long Island, and in 1771 was ordained as missionary to the Oneida Indians. Leaving the field he returned to New England and was installed at Gageboro, now Windsor, Vt., March 25, 1773, and dismissed April 14, 1777, to go as chaplain in the army. On his return he was settled at Benning- ton, Vt., May 3, 1780, and dismissed June 17, 1783, and settled at Wrentham, May 25, 1786, and dismissed April 21, 1794. He preached afterwards to a congregation at North Wrentham, where a church was organized in 1795, until sometime in 1797, when he removed to Mansfield, Ct .. He engaged in missionary labor under the Massachusetts Domestic Missionary Society, going into New York and Maine. He afterwards, from 1798 to 1801, preached in Chaplin, Ct., having gathered a new church and society there called the Union Church. In 1817 he visited his daughter, Mrs. Hewett, in Shepardstown, Va. He received a cordial and unanimous call to settle in Middletown, in the vicinity of Shepardstown, but was taken ill and died there and was buried on the week of intended installation, the clergy of the invited council officiating as his bearers. His voice was so clear and sonorous and his aticulation so distinct, that it was a common saying in the army that every soldier in a brigade could hear all that he said. When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Gageboro, Mr. Avery's parishioners assembled in arms, formed themselves into a company, elected him for their captain and marched for Cambridge on the 22d April. Mr. A. preached at Northampton the next day from Neh. 4, 14. They arrived at Cambridge Saturday 29th and were honorably received and congratulated by the troops assembled. Mr. A. preached on Sun- day afternoon to the troops from a temporary stage erected in the college area from Neh. 4, 14, and on Monday he began a regular course of morning and evening prayer with the regiment;to which he belonged. On Tuesday he commenced visiting and praying with the sick and wounded regulars in the hospitals. May 11th, Fast day, he preached on Cambridge Common. May 29th, he volunteered with an expedition to Noddles Island, where there was a brisk skirmish, standing guard two hours. July 20th, having preached to the troops again, it being a Fast day ordered by the Continental Congress ; he on the 29th, read to the troops the declaration of war against Gene- ral Gage. The people of Gageboro consented that he might engage in the next campaign, the neighboring ministers agreeing to supply his pulpit two-thirds of the time while he was absent. Mr. Avery often acted as physician and assistant surgeon. He was at the taking of Burgoyne, the capture of the Hessians at Trenton, and in the battle of Princeton. When settled at Bennington, at the request of the governor and council he took the field with General Allen, and was in the battle of Bennington and assisted in dressing the wounds of the soldiers .- History Mend. Ass.
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
The vote was nearly unanimous. It seemed to be hearty. Yet the dawn was soon overcast and a violent ministerial quarrel commenced destined to end only with the disruption of the pastoral and ministerial relation.
In 1791 the warrant for town meeting among things contained an article " to see if the inhabitants *
* are satisfied with the Rev. David Avery as a gospel minister," and " provided the major part of the town are satisfied with the Rev. David Avery to see if the town will consent that any persons that are dissatisfied may go to any other society to do duty and receive privilege," and " to see if it be the mind of the town to recom- mend the Rev. David Avery to call a church meeting agreeable to the request of Dea. David Holbrook and others presented to him October 15, 1790." Although no action was taken at this meeting, yet the fact that such a one was called was equivalent to a declaration that war had begun. It is true that in the scanty memorial of that controversy we find no record of its severity or bitterness in hostile speeches and partisan manifestos preserved, yet tradition says it was marked by unusual asperity that not only the community but families were divided into Averians and anti- Averians. A few years since people were living whose memory went back to that time, who in their young days had their ears stunned with the din of the conflict, and whose eyes saw the veteran combatants go to the field with as much zeal as the cursaders of former days went against the infidel. Meeting after meeting was held, council upon council convened, war- worn veterans were appointed to guard the door of the church to keep out that minister whom they had so unanimously called. The division was so wide and so deadly that reconcilation became impracticable. In the progress of the controversy Mr. Avery and his adherents withdrew or were forced from the meeting house, and the pulpit was supplied by a committee. Eventually as a result of this unfortunate division the church at North Wrentham was organized largely from those who had adhered to Mr. Avery.
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On the 14th Dec. 1795, Dea. Man was dismissed from his office as treasurer. Afterwards in August, 1796, it was voted to hear and confer upon any proposals that one, any or all of the church, lately adhering to the Rev. David Avery have to make respecting a reunion with the church. June, 1797, the deacons were instructed to supply the pulpit if the town's committee do not ; and a committee was chosen to help the deacons settle their accounts relative to law suits. It appears by an account of the dea- cons presented to the church in 1797, that a suit was commenced by Thomas Man against Aaron Hawes. It was tried in 1795. The trial took up a good deal of time. Mr. Avery was the mover and prosecutor in the action which was brought to try the validity of the vote dismissing Dea. Man, as if that was valid the vote dissolving his pastoral relations was valid also, and the town having concurred his salary was gone from the time of the dismission. So that Mr. Avery was on trial. The judges were of opinion that Mr. A.'s principles of church government were arbitrary
NOTE .-- The details of the Averian quarrel may be found in the historical sketch of the town contributed by the writer to the History of Norfolk County, published by J. W. Lewis & Co., Phila., 1884.
.
·
*
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
and erroneous ; that the vote for dissolving his pastoral relation was regu- lar and valid ; that the vote of the church given by a majority dismissing the plaintiff from the office of deacon was regular and effectual and that he could not maintain the action.
SETTLEMENT OF REV. ELISHA FISK.
In July, 1798, the church (recognized) voted unanimously to desire the Rev. Elisha Fish " to preach in this place longer than the time for which he is now engaged," and in November he received a call to settle in the ministry at Wrentham. This call was renewed on the sixth day of March, 1799, unanimously, and on the twenty-fifth day of April, 1799, he gave an affirmative answer as follows :
"To the original Congregational Church of Christ in Wrentham- Having received from you brethren an invitation to take the pastoral care and charge of you as a church, and to settle with you in the work of the gospel ministry, I do by this declare my acceptance of it.
" ELISHA FISK."
The town had in November of the year 1798 concurred with the church in the settlement of Mr. Fisk on condition that he be supported by the Congregational Society then projected. This society was incorporated in February, 1799. A number of the inhabitants of Wrentham petitioned the General Court to incorporate them into a religious society by the name of the Congregational Society in Wrentham. They set forth that they have raised by subscription three thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars as a fund, the interest of which is to be appropriated to the support of a Congregational minister, and pray to be incorporated for the purpose of holding and managing said fund. The General Court passed an act in response to this petition, and made the society capable of receiving and holding grants or devices of lands or tenements, bequests, donations, etc. By this act of incorporation, and the proceedings of the society under its provisions in connection with the church, the relations between minister and town, which had so long subsisted, were terminated.
Mr. Fisk thus entered upon a pastorate which reached to more than fifty years. At the date of his ordination, June, 1799, the church is said to have been reduced to ten members. Such was the force and bitterness of the Averian controversy. In his semi-centennial discourse he says he was the forty-ninth candidate, only one other of the forty-nine having received a call. He has been thus described (it is said by Dr. R. S. Storrs) with reference to that period : "Of an observing mind, careful and conciliating in his conversation and manners, interesting and popular in his pulpit performances, he succeeded, as few other men would, in uniting and holding together very discordant materials, not only at the commencement of his ministry, but through the vicissitudes of more than fifty years. He gained and kept the enviable reputation of peace maker .* "
* Mr. Fisk was a descendant of William, brother of John Fisk, minister of Chelmsford, where he died Jan. 14, 1676. William arrived 1637; admitted Freeman 1642; member of the church Salem July 2, 1641; removed to Wenham, where he was Town Clerk and representative from 1647 to 1650, and died 1654. His widow married a Rix, of Salem. His grandson, Daniel, re- moved from Wenham to Upton in 1748, and died about 1761. He had eight children. Samuel, one of the sons, removed to Shelburne, and was ancestor of Rev. Pliny Fisk. Daniel, the oldest son, born about 1723, married Telpah Tyler, and had five children. Of them Robert, born Feb. 24, 1746, married Mary Hall, and had five children. The eldest was Elisha Fisk .- Hist. Mendon Association.
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
The account given in the History of Norfolk County of the Arvenian controversy was taken by the writer, so far as the action of the church is concerned, from the church records more than twenty years ago; and it has been repeated there at length precisely as it was on the occasion for which it was originally prepared, because it probably exists nowhere else but in the writer's possession-the church records having since that time been lost. At the time referred to those church records were in good con- dition, including even one small volume in the hand-writing of Rev. Sam'l Man .*
The congregational church in Foxborough, in Franklin (once West Wrentham), and in the north parish of Wrentham, now Norfolk, have been formed by those who were formerly members of the original church here, organized in 1692. Since the incorporation of the society for the support of the minister no tax has been assessed for that purpose. At the time of Mr. Fisk's settlement the house of worship had neither bell, clock nor organ. A bell and clock, however, were added probably some time before 1806, as we find the parish assuming at that date the expense of taking care of them. An organ was purchased by ladies of the town by the manufacture and sale of straw and chip bonnets. This instrument was formerly dedicated, the Rev. Mr. Fisk preaching from the text, " Praise him with stringed instruments." In his sermon Mr. Fisk de- fended the use of musical instruments in public worship. That modest organ has been succeeded by others, until by the munificence chiefly of one of our citizens the fine and large one now used was placed in its present position.
After the final settlement of the religious and society disturbances which had existed so long, and which were so happily extinguished in the fortunate choice of Mr. Fisk, the people here were peaceable and prosperous.
The population of the town was by the census of 1800 two thousand and sixty-one (2,061), and was chiefly agricultural.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
But in 1812 the General Court incorporated Nathan Comstock and others by the name of "The Wrentham Manufacturing Company " for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and wool at Wrentham, in the county of Norfolk. In 1813 the Franklin Manufacturing Company was incorporated for the purpose of manufacturing cotton and woolen cloth and yarn in the town of Franklin upon the same stream, and in 1814 the " Walomopogge Manufacturing Company for the purpose of manufactur- ing cotton and woolen cloth and yarn in the town of Wrentham." The former company's mill was commonly called the Bush Factory, the last- named the Eagle Factory, while the lowest on the stream was called the City Mills. These mills were all erected upon Mill brook, so-called, the last named near the outlet of the Great Pond, where Crossman and Whiting had the first corn mill, as related in earlier pages, and the second
* Note. There is a tradition that Mr. Man's house was destroyed by fire in 1699, which may account for the absence of the earliest volume.
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HISTORY OF WRENTHAM.
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one on the site of Adams' corn mill at Jack's pasture. This south- westerly branch of Charles River afforded nearly all the water power within our present limits.
After the introduction of the power loom in the manufacture of cotton and woolen fabrics a rush seems to have been made into the business of manufacturing, and a very large number of companies were chartered in Massachusetts to carry on this branch of industry. The Stony Brook Manufacturing Company was also incorporated in 1814, and is to be added to the list of our manufacturies. The business which these companies were organized to carry on was conducted by various owners, agents and lessees, and with various success. At first they were employed in the manufacture of cloth, and the noise of the looms could be heard proclaim- ing the power of the stream, if not the profit of the manufacturers. Eli Richardson, Esq. ; Allen Tillinghast, Esq., and Maj. Thos. S. Mann are remembered as energetic and intelligent manufacturers, who for many years were engaged in business on this old mill brook. It is appre- hended that the business was not over successful, and that none of the numerous mill owners became wealthy in the prosecution of their calling.
The factory which was first built on or near the site of the present one in South Wrentham, or Shepardville, so-called, is supposed to have been the first mill in this vicinity in which water power was applied to the spin- ning of cotton or wool. And by some this mill is supposed to have been one of the earliest in the county in which such application was made, it being said to have been the third. It seems that as early as 1795 Mrs. Susannah Shepard was manufacturing goods at that mill. In confirma- tion of this statement reference is made to an organized agreement between herself and Stephen Olney, of Providence, R. I., dated Nov. 13, 1795, as follows, viz :
" Agreed with Mrs. Susannah Shepard, of Wrentham, to make her a chaise by the first of March next for £55, she finding the harness, the wheels, leather for top and lining, remainder to be had in goods at whole- sale cash price of her manufacture. Signed, STEPHEN OLNEY."
PROVIDENCE, Nov. 13, 1795.
Received of Mrs. Shepard on account of a chaise :
5 1-4 yds thick set, at - £o. 4s. 8d. 2 3-4 yds Satin bever, at 4s. 8d., I. 4s. 8d.
2 1-2 of Velveret, at 4s. 8d., O. IIS. 8d.
I yd & on Nail of Carpeting, at 3s., o. 3s. 4 1-2d.
13 yds Carpeting,
I. 18s. 7 1-2d.
2 handkerchiefs,
o. 7s. od.
£4. 18s. 2d.
MANUFACTURE OF STRAW GOODS.
Some years ago the late Judge Staples, of Rhode Island, read before the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence a paper upon the rise and progress of the straw braid business, embracing many facts. He said the straw business began very early in Tuscany and in some of the
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