History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890, Part 107

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York : Blake
Number of Pages: 1292

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From the date of the departure of the Mayflower from Province- town, or rather from November 19, 1621, the day that the Fortune sailed into Provincetown, until 1700, the history of the place is de- rived from the records of Plymouth colony. The colonists early re- · "cognized the title of the Pamet Indians to the lands at the Cape, which were believed to be of great value, and took steps to purchase their

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

title. The Cape was looked upon as a very valuable fishing station. and its commodious harbor was considered the best upon the coast. The practice arose very early of leasing the bass fishery at the Cape to such roving fishermen as applied, and the income derived from the leases was appropriated to the support of schools in Barnstable, Plymouth, Duxbury and other towns of the colony. These early fish- ermen appear to have been a jovial, enterprising set, who paid little heed to the strict Puritanical ways of old Plymouth, and consequently were frequently before the court upon complaints charging them with carousing at the Cape.

In 1651, William Bradford was added to the other lessees, and the lease was made for a term of three years. In 166S, the lands at Pa- met, so far as the Cape head, were voted to be within the constable- rick of Eastham. June 5, 1671, the court granted to the men of Hull permission to fish for mackerel at the Cape, upon condition that "they make payment of what is due to the colony from foreigners." In 1671, Thomas Prince, of Eastham, was made water bailiff, to have charge of the fisheries at the Cape, and in 1672 he received the following in- structions: "This court being informed that few or none of ours are like to fish at the cape by seine, and that divers strangers desire lib- erty there to fish, these are, therefore, to empower you, in the behalf of the court, to give liberty to such strangers as shall desire there to fish, carrying orderly, and paying such dues as by court order is pro- vided, and this shall be your warrant therein for this present season." In 1661, the price to be paid by strangers for fish caught and cured at the Cape was fixed at six pence per quintal, but in 1670 "our people" were taxed six pence per quintal, and strangers were taxed one shil- ling and six pence per barrel for mackerel caught at the Cape. Upon the appointment of a water bailiff in 1672, an enactment was made that fish carried on board vessels and not accounted for to the water bailiff, should be forfeited to the colony.

In 1673 the revenue derived from the Cape fisheries was first set aside for the support of schools, a vote of the colony in that year di- recting that the income from the fisheries should be employed in the maintenance of a free school, in some town within this colony. A more specific enactment of the same year directed that "the charge of this free school which is 336 a year shall be defrayed by the treas- urer out of the profits arising by the fishing of the Cape." The income from the Cape fisheries was also at times applied to other purposes. In 1675 the widow of John Knowles, of Eastham, was authorized to receive aid from the Cape fishery fund. The Plymouth colony rec- ords show, too, that in 1679 William Perry, a veteran of the Indian wars, received relief from the same source. In 1678 a part of the fund was devoted to the schools of Rehoboth. By an order of the court,

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passed in 1678, notice was given to all the towns " that if thay desired to fish at Cape Cod one half the fishermen there may be from the Col- ony of Massachusetts." In 1684 the bass fishing at the Cape was leased to "William Clark of Plymouth for a term of seven years at 30€ per annum." Mr. Clark, however, surrendered his privileges at the end of four years, and October 2, 1689, two or more magistrates of Barn- stable county were authorized to regulate the fishery, and the old laws were revived. June 9, 1690, the court voted to enter into an agree- ment to pay Major William Bradford, who claimed to own the " Cape Head," fifty-five pounds for a release of all his claims of title to lands at the Cape purchased by him of the Indians. Mr. Bradford accepted the offer. The colony, which from the beginning had treated the Cape fishing as the property of the colony, and as early as 1661 had voted that no stranger or foreigner should improve the lands or woods at the Cape without liberty from the government, thus in 1690 reasserted its dominion, and quieting its title by the purchase of Mr. Bradford's claims, for the sake of harmony, as the records quaintly say, became the undisputed owner of all the land and fisheries at Cape Cod.

Upon the union of Plymouth colony with the colony of Massachu- setts Bay, in 1692, the province of Massachusetts Bay succeeded to all the rights of Plymouth colony in the lands at Cape Cod, and later, upon the establishment of the state government, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts became the proprietor of the lands which since 1692 have been known as the "Province Lands." The Commonwealth, however, has never exercised any of the proprietary rights usually attached to the ownership of land, yet by various statutes, the last of which was passed in 1854, has continued to assert its legal title, sec- tion S, of chapter 262, of the acts of 1854, providing that "The Title of the Commonwealth as owner, in fee, to all the Province lands within the town of Provincetown is hereby asserted and declared, and no adverse possession or occupation thereof by any individual, com- pany, or corporation, for any period of time shall be sufficient to de- feat or divest the title of the Commonwealth thereto." Not until after 1700 does any evidence exist of private occupation of distinct tracts of land. The circumstances of the early settlement of the town are also involved in considerable obscurity by the absence of any recorded transfers of real estate. From the very beginning of the colony at Plymouth the importance of the fisheries at Cape Cod was appreci- ated by private individuals as well as by the government of the colony, and the shores of the harbor were visited yearly by fishermen from the other towns of the colony, but the earliest existing town records begin with the year 1724: Other evidence exists showing that a settlement had been begun before 1700, notably the record of births preserved in the clerk's office of the town of Provincetown, which

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

shows that Ezekiel Cushing, son of Rev. Jeremiah and Hannah Cush- ing, was born here April 28, 1698. Rev. Mr. Cushing was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1676, and was the first resident preacher at Cape Cod.

The first public act with reference to the establishing of a munici- pal government at Cape Cod was passed in 1714. Previous to that year the " Province Lands " seem to have been regarded as a part of Truro for municipal purposes. The population of Cape Cod at that date cannot now be ascertained. A very interesting letter published in Freeman's Cape Cod affords, however, the data for a belief that in 1705 one hundred and thirty men were at Cape Cod, though very likely many of them were temporary residents, pursuing the fisheries during the summer season. This letter, a quaint and unique docu- ment addressed to the Hon. Paul Dudley of Boston, is not only valut- able historically, but is also extremely ludicrous in itself:

"Cap Cod, July 13th, 1705.

"Squier Dudly.

Sir :- after all due sarvis and Respecks to your Honnor wishing you all hapynes boath hear and hearafter I mack bould to inform your honnor that i have liveed hear at the Cap this 4 year and I have very often every year sien that her maiesty has been very much wronged of har dues by these contry peple and other whall men as coms hear a whalen every year which taks up drift whals which was never killed by any man which fish i understand belongest to har magiesty and had i power i could have seased severl every year and lickwies very often hear is opportuyty to seas vesels and goods which are upon a smoglen acompt. i believe had i had a comishon so to do i could have seased a catch this last weak which had most of thar men out landish men i judge porteges. she lay hear a week and a sloop i beleve did thar bisnes for them: sir I shall be very Redy to sarves har magisty in either of this or any thing els thet i may be counted worthy if your honor see case to precure a commishon of his Excel- ency for me with instrocktions I shall by the help of God be very faithful in my ofes-one thing more I mak bould to inform your hon- nor that hear are a gret meny men which goues fishing at this harbor and som times the french coms hear and then every one vons his way becas they have no one to hud them. i myself have been a souferor since i lived hear, being cared away by a small sloop and hear was 130 men and several brave sloops and no hand, a capt. about 12 miles distance, but we may be all tacken at the Cap and be no nothing of it. i levef it to your honnors consideration and mack bold to subskribe my selef your hombld and unworthy sarvnt

WM. CLAP.

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TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN.

"Sir I am a stranger to your selef but if you plese to inquier of Capt. Sorthwark ann he can inform your honnor whether i am capebel of any such sarvis.

" To the honnored Mr. Pall Dudly, Esquier att Boston."

The governor, it seems. was impressed with the ability of William Clap and caused to issue a lieutenant's commission and a warrant to prize drift whales at the Cape. The act of 1714 constituted all the province lands at the Cape a district or precinct entitled "The Pre- cinct of Cape Cod." The act is entitled " An act for preserving the harbor at Cape Cod and regulating the inhabitants and sojourners there.

" Whereas, the harbor at Cape Cod being very useful and commodious for fishing and the safety of shipping, both inward and outward bound, is in danger of being damnified, if not made wholly unservice- able, by destroying the trees standing on the said Cape (if not timely prevented) the trees and bushes being of great service to keep the sand from being driven into the harbor by the wind.

"Be it enacted, # # # that no person or persons may presume to bark or box any pine tree or trees, standing upon any of the province lands on the said Cape, for the drawing of turpentine, on pain of forfeiting and paying the sum of ten shillings for each tree so barked or boxed. #

" And be it further enacted that, by the authority aforesaid that whereas a number of inhabitants are settled upon the said Cape, and many others resort thither at certain seasons of the year to make fishing voyages there, which has not hitherto been under the govern- ment of any town or regulation among themselves, that henceforth all the province lands on the said Cape be a district or precinct; and the inhabitants there are obliged to procure and support a learned orthodox minister of good conversation to dispense the word of God among them and to allow him sixty pounds a year maintenance, and for the better enabling them to raise and pay the said yearly main- tenance. # # " Enacted. that all and every person or persons coming to abide or sojourn there on fishing or whaling voyages, dur- ing his and their continuance and abode there, shall pay four pence a man per week, weekly, to be paid by the master of the voyage or boat for his whole company to Ebenezar Dean, who is hereby ap- pointed and impowered to be the first collector and receiver of the said rate or duty on behalf and to the use of the minister of the precinct.

" And the said district or precinct is hereby annexed and put under the constablerick of Truro, until this court take further order; and the selectmen or assessors of Truro are hereby directed and impowered to assess and apportion on the inhabitants of the said

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

precinct, from time to time, such sum and so much as the duty as aforesaid laid upon the fishermen shall fall short of making up sixty pounds per annum for the minister, directed as aforesaid, and to make out a warrant, as the law directs, for the gathering of the said assessment."

The boundaries of the new precinct were not fixed by the act of incorporation. Accordingly May 26, 1714, an act for the determina- tion of the boundary between "Cape Cod " and Truro was passed by the general court. The committee appointed by the general court reported September 24, 1714, that the line had been established as follows: "Beginning at the easterly end of a cliff near the Cape Harbor called by the Indians Hetsconoyet, and by the English Cormorant Hill, at the jawbone of a whale set in the ground by the side of a red oak stump, and thence running by marked range trees nearly on a north and west line, about half point more westerly to a marked pine tree standing by a reedy pond called by the Indians Wocknotchcoyissett; and from thence by marked range-trees to a high hill on the back side near the north sea, with a red cedar post set in the said hill; and thence to run in the same line to the sea; and running back on the contrary line to the harbor." The report of the committee upon the boundary is signed by John Otis and William Bassett on behalf of the general court, and by Thomas Mulford, Joseph Doane, Hezekiah Purington, Samuel Knowles. Thomas Paine and Jedediah Lumbert. The line thus established, determined the boundaries of the "Precinct of Cape Cod." and has retained a peculiar importance to this day as the dividing line between the province lands to the west and the allotted or private lands to the east of the line. The southern portion of the original line passed along the western fence of the present Eastern school house, touch- ing the eastern side of Grassy pond as it ran across the Cape to the Atlantic.

The union of the precinct of Cape Cod with Truro was not satis- factory to the inhabitants of Truro, who found the anomalous muni- cipal charter of the precinct a source of many difficulties in adminis- tration. Accordingly in 1715 a petition from the inhabitants of Truro was presented to the general court by Constant Freeman, the Repre- sentative, praying " that Cape Cod be declared either a part of Truro, or not a part of Truro, that the town may know how to act in regard to some persons." Upon the petition an order of notice was issued summoning the inhabitants of the precinct " to show cause why they do not entertain a learned orthodox minister of the Gospel to dispense the word of God to them as required by law " The general court ap- pears to have taken no action upon the Truro petition in 1715. The spiritual welfare of the inhabitants of the precinct, however, was not

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TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN.

overlooked, for in 1717 the general court granted £150 toward the ex- pense of a meeting house at Cape Cod. " The money to be expended under the direction of Thomas Paine. Ebenezer Doane and John Snow of Truro. The edifice to be thirty-two feet by twenty-eight feet stud, and to have a gallery on three sides. The inhabitants to sustain the balance of expense and keep the premises in repair." The con- tinued increase in the number of the inhabitants of Cape Cod re- sulted in the presentation in 1727 of a petition to the general court asking for the incorporation of the precinct as a separate town. The name selected-Herringtown, found little favor with the general court. The following act passed July 14. 1727, contains the first use of the word Provincetown in connection with the Precinct of Cape Cod.

" Be it enacted, etc., that all the lands on said Cape ( being Province lands) be and hereby are constituted a township by the name of Provincetown, and that the inhabitants thereof be invested with the powers privileges and immunities that any of the inhabitants of any of the towns within the Province by law, are, or ought to be invested with, SAVING ALWAYS THE RIGHT OF THIS PROVINCE TO SAID LAND, which is to be in no wise prejudiced, and provided that no person or persons be hindered and obstructed in building such wharves, stages, work houses, and flakes and other things as shall be necessary for the salting, keeping, and packing their fish or in cutting down and taking such trees and other materials growing on said Province lands as shall be needful for that purpose, or in any sort of fishing whaling, or getting of bait at the said Cape; but that the same be held as common as heretofore with all the privileges and advantages there- unto in any wise belonging."

The proprietors of Truro early divided the section of land between the Province lands and Strout's creek into seven lots. the first lot be- ginning near the site of the present Eastern school house in Province- town. The limits of Provincetown have been extended from time to time by legislative acts, since the original establishment of the line in 1727, to include within its jurisdiction all of the original seven lots.

CIVIL HISTORY .- From the date of its incorporation, in 1727, until the end of the revolutionary war, the fortunes of Provincetown were precarious, rising and falling with the fluctuating interests of the fish- eries. A few years after 1727 the population began to remove, and in 1748 only two or three families remained. In 1755 three houses were left to indicate the site of the former flourishing town, but not a family remained. A few years later the tide turned, and at the break- ing out of the revolutionary war, according to Rich's History of Truro, there were twenty houses, thirty-six families and 205 residents. At the close of the war, which had weighed oppressively upon the for-

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HISTORY OF BARNSTABLE COUNTY.

tunes of all the Cape towns, Provincetown was again without a popu- lation. The history of the town during the intervening years must be gathered from the scanty records that remain, devoted largely to the recording of the births and to the registry of the ecclesiastical affairs of the township. The first record is an entry in the treasurer's book for the precinct of Cape Cod, 1724, to wit: "Precinct of Cape Cod to John Traill, Dr. April 29, 1724. To cash paid Mr. Samuel Spear for his salary-10s."

The record of births, which began regularly in 1731, contains a rec- ord of the birth of Ezekiel Doane, son of Hezekiah and Hannah Doane, April 1, 1696. The entry, however, is not made in chronological or- der, and there is reason to believe that Hezekiah Doane removed to Provincetown from Eastham. The early entries show that among the residents in 1730 were: John Atwood, Thomas Bacon, Hezekiah Bos- worth, Elisha Cobb, John Conant, Robert Davis, Thomas Delano, Elisha Doane, Hezekiah Doane, Jeremiah Hatch, Elisha Higgins, , John Kinney, Benjamin Ryder, William Sargent, Christopher Strout, William Sargent, Samuel Winter, Solomon Lumbert, Isaac Bacon, Josiah Cole, John Gray, Benjamin Rotch, Isaac Smalley, George Strout, Ezekiel Cushing, Thomas Freeman, John Traill, David Free- man and John Duncan. It appears also that Mr. Samuel Winter was the first school teacher engaged in Provincetown.

It is interesting to note that in 1744 the town had already begun to appreciate the danger to the harbor that must follow from the unrestricted cutting of wood and from the turning of cattle upon the beaches. The urgency of some measures for the protection of the harbor here became so great that in 1744 James Bowdoin and many other citizens of Boston presented to the general court a petition, set- ting forth the great importance of the harbor of Cape Cod to the nav- igation of the province, and praying that the general court would take necessary measures to preserve it. The petition was referred to a committee consisting of Thomas Berry, Colonel Miller and Mr. Skinner, who were directed to repair to Cape Cod before the tenth of May, 1744. The report of the committee contained a graphic de -. scription of the impending danger to the harbor at Provincetown, and resulted in the adoption of appropriate legislation regulating the turning of cattle upon the beaches at Provincetown and Truro, acts which have been renewed from time to time.

The encroachments of sand upon the harbor did not cease with the acts of 1744. Again in 1854 an appeal was made to the legislature for the protection of the harbor from the constant inroads of sand which were drifting into the harbor. The state was asked to con- struct a dike across the mouth of Eastern Harbor channel as an ad- ditional defence in the event of the Atlantic breaking through the

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TOWN OF PROVINCETOWN.

outer beach as it did in March, 1854, and previously in the year that Minots light was destroyed in 1851, and as a barrier against the wash- ing of sand from Eastern harbor. A committee of the legislature re- ported in 1854 that within seven or eight years the beach to the north of Eastern harbor had narrowed eight or ten rods and that the con- struction of a dike at Eastern harbor was a work eminently deserving the attention of the general government. In 1867, however, the legis- lature referred to Messrs. James Gifford, of Provincetown, and Paul Hill, of Lowell, commissioners appointed by the Governor, the mat ter of protecting the harbor at Provincetown, and later in 1868 adopted their report recommending the erection of a dike by the state across Eastern harbor, and provided for the construction of the dike. The dike was accordingly begun in 1868, and was completed in 1869 under the supervision of Messrs. James B. Francis, R. A. Pierce and James Gifford, commissioners. Mr. Pierce did not live to see the completion of the work and was succeeded by George Marston, of New Bedford. The report of the commissioners of 1867 recommended also the con- struction at some future time of a dike across the western end of the harbor, from Wood End to Steven's point, and in 1889 the legislature passed a resolve requesting the United States to construct a solid dike across the western end of the harbor as recommended by Mr. Whiting in 1867. This brief resume of the steps that have been taken to preserve Provincetown harbor should allude also to the very valuable survey of Cape Cod harbor made by Major J. D. Graham of the United States Engineers' Corps in 1832-1835, the first reliable survey of the harbor and a standard with which to compare the results of all later surveys. A topographical survey of Cape Cod from Eastham to Provincetown was also executed by Henry L. Whiting of the coast survey in 1848, and again in 1868 Mr. Whiting made a thorough sur- vey of the harbor with special attention to the changes of the harbor at Long point and in East Harbor creek, the published charts of which are almost invaluable for reference.

MILITARY .- As the population removed at the opening of the war the town has no revolutionary history except the fact that it was a ren- dezvous for British men-of-war. It is quite certain, however, that in 1782 the town was again inhabited, for a vote still remains upon the records of the annual meeting of that year, appointing Setb Nickerson, jr., Elijah N. Cook and Edward Cook a committee "to petition the general court for liberty to obtain a protection from the British gov- ernment for occupying the business of fishing and bringing the effects into the adjacent states."

The war of 1812, preceeded by the embargo of 1808, was also a time of disaster and great depression in the fisheries. The embargo necessarily occasioned the destruction of the commercial industries of

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the maritime towns. Provincetown suffered with the others, and in 1809 appointed Barnabas Holway "an agent of the town to go to Sandwich to receive any gift that any person or persons may feel willing to bestow on the distressed of this town." The town had previously in 1808 petitioned the president of the United States, repre- senting "that they have suffered severely from the operation of the laws laying and enforcing an embargo on all ships and vessels in the ports and harbors of the United States not only in common with their fellow citizens throughout the Union but particularly from their local and peculiar situation, their interest being almost totally in fishing vessels. The perishable nature of the fish and the sale of it depending solely on a foreign market, together with the barreness of the soil not admitting of cultivation leave them no resource but the fisher- ies," and concluding their petition with a request that the embargo be suspended in whole or in part. A similar petition was presented to the general court in 1800 asking for relief " for their peculiarly suffer- ing condition in any way that might be deemed expedient," and representing " that from the barreness of the soil and almost insul- ated position the inhabitants were at the mercy of the collectors for every article of subsistence whatever." The war of 1812 following upon the embargo, completed what the embargo had failed to accom- plish. In 1813 Messrs. Jonathan Cook, John Whorf and Joseph At- kins were chosen a committee of safety "to devise means for the enemy's demands in future if the town be oblidged to comply with them."

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History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1890, Part 107

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York : Blake Number of Pages: 1292

Author: Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York : Blake
Number of Pages: 1292