USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Bridgewater > History of Bridgewater, Massachusetts > Part 3
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A confirmation of the original purchase made of Ossamequin was also obtained about the same time, as follows :-
"To all christian people to whom these presents shall come, Josiah Wampatuck sendeth, greeting .- Know ye, that I Josiah aforesaid, for and in consideration of ten pounds in money to
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HISTORY OF THE
me in hand paid, and one hundred acres of land lying on the upper end of Poor Meadow, on the lower side of a foot path that goeth to Scituate, lying on both sides of the river, doth confirm, establish, and ratify unto Samuel Edson, sen., Ensign John Haward, and John Willis, sen., in behalf of the purchasers and town of Bridgewater in New Plymouth Colony in New England, and to their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns forever, all that whole tract of land lying northward of the south four mile line of Bridgewater, which Ossamequin, Sachem of the Poconocket country, by the consent and appro- bation of his Majesty's general court held at Plymouth, in New England, in the year 1545, sold to the inhabitants of Duxbury, as appears by deed under Ossamequin's hand to Capt. Miles Standish, Mr. Constant Southworth, and Samuel Nash, as agents for the town of Duxbury. I, the abovesaid Josiah do ratify and confirm the above said sale of Ossamequin's, and bargain of lands belonging to Bridgewater, as uplands, swamps, meadows, brooks. rivers, ponds, timber, underwood, herbage, mines, with all commodities, benefits, privileges, immunities and appurte- nances whatever therein contained. I the abovestid Josiah also do ratify, establish, and confirm, and forever make over all my right, title, and interest in the above mentioned land from me, my heirs, executors and assigns, unto the abovesaid Samuel Edson, John Haward, and John Willis, agents for the town of Bridgewater, their heirs, executors, administrators and assigns forever; to have and to hold, occupy and enjoy, as their proper right, forever, without any claim, title, interest, or molestation to be made by me, my heirs, executors, or assigns, or any other person or persons to any part or parcel thereof, in, by, or under me any way appertaining, and do by these presents bind myself, and heirs, and executors, and assigns, to maintain and defend the above mentioned sale of lands against any other Indian or Indians, that shall make any claim or title to any part or parcel thereof. In witness whereof, I have set to my hand and seal this twenty-third day of December, and in the second year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James'II, AD. one thou- sand six hundred and eighty-six.
The mark of JOSIAH WAMPATUCK. A
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EARLY SETTLEMENT OF BRIDGEWATER. 23
Signed, sealed, and delivered
in presence of us :
Acknowledged before
JOHN SOULE,
WILLIAM BRADFORD, Deputy Governor.
JOSEPH BARSTOW, SAMUEL TINSLEY. December 23d, 1686.
Recorded p. 425, Great Book of Records.
Pr. SAMUEL SPRAGUE, Recorder.
The one hundred acres mentioned in the above confirmation were afterwards re-purchased by individuals in the town. From this deed it appears the greatest part of the town was twice purchased of the Indians, once of Massasoit, and again of Wampatuck, and a valuable consideration paid each time.
By the boundaries of the town, as described in Governor Hinckley's deed of confirmation, it is evident a gore of land was still left on the north between Bridgewater and the line of the colonies, commencing at the point where the six mile line met the colony line towards the north-west corner of the town, and thence extending easterly to the north-east corner of the town, where the distance to the colony line is considerable. The westerly and narrow end of this gore, having been pur- chased of the Government after the union of the colonies, by Daniel Howard and Robert Howard, was on the petition of the selectmen of the town, annexed to Bridgewater October 15th, 1730.
These several grants and additions constituted all the territory ever belonging to Bridgewater in its greatest extent. The greatest part of Abington, and what is now Hanson, at that period belonged to Bridgewater, which must then have con- tained about ninety-six square miles. In this situation, and with these extensive territorial dimensions the town remained, without change or diminution, till June 10, 1712, when Abing- ton was incorporated.
When the Abington petitioners first applied for an act of incorporation, July 4, 1706, they denominated themselves " cer- tain inhabitants of the east part of the town of Bridgewater, and proprietors of a certain tract of land between the towns of Weymouth, Hingham, Scituate, and Bridgewater ; " and when the act was finally passed in 1712, the boundaries were thus described. "On the north with the line of the colonies of the
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HISTORY OF THE
Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth,-on the east upon the town of Scituate,-on the south with the line that is the southerly bounds of land of John Cushing, Esq., and of John Cushing, Jr., Esq.,-thence on the south westerly side by certain bounds, which the town of Bridgewater have set and prefixed, to Beaver Brook,-and on the west with the said brook, until it comes to the extent of Bridgewater northward: together with a small gore of land lying between the said town of Bridgewater and the said line of the colonies : the town of Bridgewater having signified their consent thereto." By the plain and express language of the statute, the whole gore is included in Abington ; but for some reasons now unknown, the "Howard Farms" seem, as the selectmen of Bridgewater in their petition stated, to have been considered as "belonging to no town," till they were annexed to Bridgewater in 1730.
Another considerable tract on the east part of the town was annexed to Pembroke June 7, 1754, and now constitutes the greater part of Hanson. The old Bridgewater line was as far east as the west line of the farm formerly owned and occupied by the late Rev. Dr. Hitchcock. These two are the only in- stances in which any considerable portions of the town have been annexed to other corporations. Questions and disputes as to boundaries were formerly frequently arising between this and neighboring towns. The latest occurred with Middleborough, which was finally settled by court June 8, 1716, when the great river was constituted the boundary between them. This seems to have been done in pursuance of the express power which the court had reserved to itself in the "two mile additional grant."
The boundaries of the town as finally settled, may be thus described :- On the east it is bounded by Halifax and Hanson ; on the north by Abington, Randolph, and Stoughton ; on the west by Easton and Raynham ; and on the south by Middle- borough, Titicut river there constituting the boundary. It is the north-west town in the county of Plymouth, adjoining the county of Norfolk, or Old Colony line on the north, and the county of Bristol on the west. Its dimensions may be estimated at about twelve miles by six, and as containing at least seventy square miles. The centre of the town is about twenty-six miles from Boston, twenty from Plymouth, and ten from Taunton.
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EARLY SETTLEMENT OF BRIDGEWATER.
SETTLEMENT, DIVISIONS, AND PROPRIETORS.
BRIDGEWATER was the first interior settlement in the Old Colony. The grant of the plantation, as we have seen, was made in 1645. but the actual settlement was not commenced till after 1650. Each settler had at first a grant of a house lot of six acres on the town river, then called Nuckatest or Nuncke- tetest, an Indian name in close affinity with that of the pond from which it flows, now called Nippenicket, formerly written Neapnucket or Neapnuncket. The first lots were taken up in West Bridgewater, and the first houses built, and first improve- ments made there ; and the settlement was called after the name of the river, Nuncketest, or Nunckety, sometimes Unkety. These Indian names were variously written in the early records and documents. We have seen that in Governor Hinckley's deed of confirmation, the pond itself called Unketest. The plantation bore the more general appellation of Satucket. These house lots were contiguous, and the settlement compact, with a view to mutual aid when common protection and defence against the Indians should be required, and extended on each side of the river, from where Seth Lothrop lately lived, down to John- son's four corners, a little easterly of where Capt. Rider now lives. The proprietors or original purchasers, whose names have already been given were fifty-four in number, and were all inhabitants of Duxbury, excepting William Bradford, about whom there are some doubts. He is supposed to have been the son of the Governor and afterwards Deputy Governor. He lived in Kingston, near the line of Duxbury, and owned land in Duxbury, and, as it is said, attended meeting there. He was about twenty years old when the grant was made, but before the actual settlement of it, he was over twenty-six, and when the town was incorporated was over thirty. These were probably house holders, or heads of families ; many of them were so cer- tainly, and probably all. Deacon Samuel Edson, from Salem, was an early settler in the new plantation, and built the first mill in the place ; and the Rev. James Keith, from Scotland, was their first minister ; and the proprietors gave to each of them one
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HISTORY OF THE
share, making the whole number of shares fifty-six, as has been before stated. Of these proprietors, not more than one third actually removed and became inhabitants of the new plantation. The rest from time to time conveyed their shares to their sons, or sold them to others, who became residents there. The fol- lowing original purchasers became permanent settlers, viz : -
THOMAS HAYWARD,
JOHN CAREY,
NATHANIEL WILLIS,
SAMUEL TOMPKINS,
JOHN WLLIS,
ARTHUR HARRIS,
WILLIAM BASSETT,
JOHN FOBES,
JOHN WASHBURN,
EXPERIENCE MITCHELL,
JOHN WASHBURN, JR.
JOHN AMES,
JOHN HAWARD, SOLOMON LEONARD,
THOMAS GANNETT,
Mr. JAMES KEITH,
WILLIAM BRETT, Dea. SAMUEL. EDSON.
None of these, except Bassett and Mitchell, were among the Plymouth "Old Comers " or Forefathers, who arrived in the three first ships, viz : - the May Flower, the Fortune, and the Ann ; nor is it ascertained at what time they came over ; but it is certain they were here very early. The names of most of them appear on the colony records soon after 1630. In 1629 thirty-five of the Leyden people, with their families, arrived at Plymouth : and in 1630, sixty more came. Many of the Bridge- water proprietors were doubtless among these.
The plantation was incorporated into a separate and distinct town in June 1656, by the following concise and laconic order of court, agreeably to the usage of those early times : -
" Ordered, that henceforth Duxbury New Plantation be al- lowed to be a township of itself, distinct from Duxbury, and to be called by the name of Bridgewater; provided that all public rates be borne by them in equal proportions : - "and the same year this proportion was settled by the court, by the following order : - The court have agreed that for the present year the town of Bridgewater is to bear one part of three with Duxbury, of their proportion of the country rates for the officers' wages and other public charges." And by a tax assessed about that time, it appears that Duxbury accordingly paid £6, 0, 9, and Bridgewater {2, 0, 3. The plantation in some early records had been called Bridgewater before its incorporation. The
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EARLY SETTLEMENT OF BRIDGEWATER.
name was probably adopted from fancy, as many of the names of towns in the vicinity were, none of the settlers here, as we can ascertain, having come from Bridgewater, in England. From this period the town took its place with others in the public records, while its own have also been generally well pre- served, which will render its subsequent history more authentic. John Cary was chosen Constable 1656, the first officer ever chosen in town, and the only one in that year, as it was not incorporated in season for the spring elections. In May, 1657, the town officers were John Willis, Deputy ; Lawrence Willis, Grand Juror ; Samuel Tompkins, Constable ; Arthur Harris and John Haward, Surveyors of highways. The first freemen were
WILLIAM BRETT, Ens. JOSIAH STANDISH, WILLIAM BASSETT, JOHN CAREY,
THOMAS HAYWARD,
LAWRENCE WILLIS,
JOHN WILLIS.
THOMAS HAYWARD, Jr.
SAMUEL TOMPKINS, ARTHUR HARRIS.
These had taken the Freeman's oath probably before the incor- poration of the plantation. In 1657 we find among the freemen of Bridgewater, these additional names, viz : -
SAMUEL EDSON, MARK LATHROP.
FRANCIS GODFREY,
WILLIAM SNOW,
JOHN AMES. JOHN HAWARD.
GUIDO BAYLEY,
These names assist us in ascertaining who were the first settlers in the place. Some of them, as Standish, Lawrence Willis, Godfrey, Bayley, Lathrop, and Snow, were not original propri- etors, but most of them came from Duxbury, and had after- wards probably became purchasers. Josiah Standish was the second son of Capt. Miles Standish, and had his father's share perhaps; he married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Allen, of Brain- tree, and settled here, but after a few years returned again to Duxbury. Besides these and a few others from Duxbury, as Mitchell, Alden, and Leonard; there soon came in several families from the adjoining towns in Massachusetts, as Packard, Byram, Allen, Whitman, Shaw, Bacon, Kingman, Conant, Hooper, Hudson, Lazell, Dunbar, Hill, Perkins, Johnson. Leach, and others, as also Field from Providence, Alger from
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HISTORY OF THE
Taunton, Snell from England, Latham from Marshfield, and others from different parts of the country. We have been told that, before the two colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts were united into one Province in 1691, and long after, a dis- tinction was kept up in the town between the old Duxbury settlers and the Massachusetts settlers, each viewing the other, in some measure, as a separate race or clan. We never learnt, however, that it produced any unkindness or even unsocial habits, feelings of friendship and mutual courtesy having been generally observed and cherished among them.
From the west the settlements extended first into the south part of the town, towards the great pond on the road to Taun- ton, with which place they held their principal intercourse, where was the nearest corn mill, and whither also they were accustomed to go frequently on foot, with their grists on their backs.
Their proprietary concerns were managed in town meetings in the same way their other town affairs were conducted, and all the records and votes respecting their lands were entered by the town clerk in the town books. This was owing no doubt to the fact, that every inhabitant was at first a purchaser or proprietor. The first separate or distinct meeting held by the proprietors, of which we find any account, was July 9, 1672, at which they chose a large committee " to consider the manner to be adopted in future for laying out lands, and to report in October next;" and the same year application was made to court, stating that "some of the committee formerly appointed for laying out their lands, were dead, and others taken off by other occasions, and praying that they might depute some among themselves for that purpose," and the court "declared their willingness that they might do so, and in case the proprietors shall agree upon any thing respecting their lands, that the clerk of the town shall commit such their conclusions to the records of the town ; " and consequently the clerk of the town was also generally clerk of the proprietors. The town also in 1674 "ordered that a new book for recording of lands should be procured, and a committee appointed to see that the records were made and transcribed correctly, and on good evidence." Again in June 14, 1695. They "agreed that the town clerk should record all, that was
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EARLY SETTLEMENT OF BRIDGEWATER.
of general concern to the purchasers, in their new book, namely, the preface, table, list of their names, court grants, several di- visions of lands granted to be laid out by them, their general deeds of the Indians, and confirmations from the court, and lists of the names of the proprietors of all their land within their township, and to page said book. Chose also Lieut. Hayward and John Field to have some oversight of the recording of lands for the purchasers and proprietors." Hence it is that the same records sometimes appear on different books, having been trans- cribed agreeably to the aforesaid orders.
The outermost mile of the " old original four mile grant," that is, one mile in width all round on the outside of the purchase, was laid out in 1683 into four great divisions, one on each side of the town, and the shares in each were drawn by lot, by the original fifty-six proprietors, namely seventeen on the north, fif- teen on the east, fourteen on the west, and ten on the south ; and the proprietors in each division were authorised to lay out their lands among themselves in such manner as they saw fit. The following extract with regard to this proceeding are taken from the town records : -
" The purchasers being generally met together upon this 24th of December, 1683, it was then proposed to them the laying out of great divisions of land to every purchaser round the outside of the town in the four miles, or fourth mile from the centre ; and it was to be done by casting of lots for them. After some agitation about it silence was desired, and this proposition was publicly and openly there propounded twice, and after proposal they were desired to declare their assent to it by their usual way of holding up their hands, which was done, and the major part by many, did declare their assent to it. The order of this division of land is, that it should be laid out a mile inward in breadth from the four miles square from the centre, and what- soever purchaser in Bridgewater having any former lots of land laid out within this fourth mile should not be molested by this great division. Further, the order of this great division is, that there should be ten on the south side of the town, and fourteen on the west, and seventeen on the north, and fifteen on the east side ; and every purchaser was to have his division of land as it
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fell to him by lot, the lots being drawn. Their names and lots are in order as followeth.
Those, whose lots fell out on the north, were to begin at the west at the line betwixt Taunton (now Easton) and Bridgewater, and to run seven miles east in length, and one mile in breadth from the north line southward.
Names of the Men of the North.
ROBERT LATHAM, Mr. NATHANIEL WILLIS,
NICHOLAS BYRAM, 2 lots.
NICHOLAS BYRAM,
SAMUEL PACHARD, MARK LATHROP,
JOSEPH ALDEN, GUIDO BAYLEY,
WILLIAM BASSETT,
SAMUEL EDSON, Jr.,
JOHN CARY, GILES LEACH,
JOSEPH HAYWARD, JOSEPH WADSWORTH,
WIDOW (of Sam'l.) WADS-
WIDOW (of John) ROBBINS, WORTH, -17 lots .- "
JOHN WILLIS, JR.,
"And from the extent of this seven miles of those on the north, those on the east are to begin on the north line, and to run a line due south till it meets with Mr. Alexander Standish's land, or Middleborough (now Halifax) bounds. All the lands lying easterly betwixt the above said line so run, and the line that was run by the agents of Bridgewater and Middleborough, (now Halifax), and the Major's purchase, (now Hanson), be- longeth to these fifteen men whose names and lots as they fell out are in order as followeth : -
The names of the Men on the East.
NICHOLAS BYRAM, JR., JOHN AMES,
JOHN HAYWARD, NATHANIEL HAYWARD,
Ens. (JOHN) HAWARD, JOHN WASHBURN, 2 lots.
GEORGE TURNER, JOHN WASHBURN,
WADS- Mr. (JAMES) KEITH, WIDOW (Samuel), WORTH,
SAMUEL PACKARD,
BENJAMIN WILLIS, NATHANIEL PACKARD.
JOSIAH EDSON, -15 lots .- "
EDWARD FOBES,
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EARLY SETTLEMENT OF BRIDGEWATER.
" And those fourteen on the west are to begin at the end of the mile in breadth at the north end, and run along in the line betwixt Taunton, (now Easton and Raynham), and Bridgewater, till it meet with a cove in the pond that cuts the line betwixt Taunton, (now Raynham), and Bridgewater ; and are to have a mile in breadth inward from the west line, as those have upon the north line. except it be against the great meadow.
Their Lots and Names are as followeth ; -
THOMAS WHITMAN,
Dea. JOHN WILLIS,
SAMUEL ALLEN,
JOHN WASHBURN.
WILLIAM BRETT.
JOSEPH WADSWORTH,
JONATHAN HILL,
WIDOW FAXON, (formerly w. of Thomas Gannett),
THOMAS SNELL,
WILLIAM SNOW,
ELISHA HAYWARD,
WILLIAM ORCUTT,
Dea. SAMUEL EDSON."
JOSEPH BASSETT.
" And the ten on the south are to begin at Taunton, (now Raynham), line, and to run east till it meet with the great river for length, and is to be a mile in breadth inward, as it is on the north.
Their Names and Lots, as they were drawn forth, are as followeth : -
ISAAC HARRIS, JOHN WHITMAN, JOSEPH EDSON,
JOHN WASHBURN,
Lt. (THOMAS) HAYWARD, JAMES CARY,
SAMUEL TOMPKINS. JOHN FIELD.
SAMUEL LEONARD, LAWRENCE WILLIS,
-ten in all.
Of these persons, whose names are contained in these four divisions, it appears, that John Washburn at this time owned four lots, and of course, four proprietary shares, Nicholas By- ram two, Joseph Wadsworth two, Widow Wadsworth two, and Samuel Packard two; and all the rest one share each. They were all inhabitants of the town except the Wadsworths, who retained their shares much longer than any of the non-residents, and were the last of the Duxbury proprietors to relinquish them. At this period forty-nine persons owned the entire original grant.
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The inner three miles were never allotted, but still remained in common, as the whole had done before, to be occasionally laid out as their interest or necessities might require. When any of the common lands were appropriated and allowed to be taken up by individuals, it was done by what they called a division or grant. These grants were from time to time made of a certain number of acres to a share, which each proprietor was entitled to pitch and to have laid out to him by the locating committee; which, being done and recorded on the proprietors' books, created a perfect title in such proprietor. Any person, not a proprietor, finding common land, might purchase a right of any proprietor, who had not taken up his full quantity upon any of the existing grants, and procure to himself a title to it in the same way. Instances of common land having been found and thus taken up, have occurred even down to the present time. The following is a table of these grants in the order of time in which they were made, next after the house lots of six acres already mentioned : -
1651-20 acres, 1654-20 Ist div. of " - 24 meadow, - 1657-50 acres. 2d div. of ) meadow. 1665-3d division of meadow. 1665-10 acres.
1666-20
1672-50 66
1683-10
1683-cedar swamp, 1686-10, swamp or meadow lands 1686-40 wood land,
March
23d. 1687-50
Februa-
ry 11th, 1690-10
1693-10 acres,
Februa- 1695-10 " ry 19th, March 27th 1699-10 "
1700-the share land
1712-10 1717-10 66
1724-20 66
Februa- ry 7th, 1726-20 46
May 31, 1731-10
Mar. 14,1739-10
Jan. 28, 1745-10 66
May 12, 1746-10 =
Apl. 11, 1748-10 Apl. 17, 1749-10 Februa- ry 11th, 1751-10 Apl. 14, 1755-10 =
All the lands obtained by the additional two mile grant, or six miles from the centre every way, including the lands at Titicut, contained in the deed from Pomponoho, were divided
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EARLY SETTLEMENT OF BRIDGEWATER.
into lots and drawn by the proprietors in 1783. They were subdivided in the first place into four parcels or tracts, three on the north and one on the south. That on the south was called "the Titicut purchase." Those on the north were variously designated : the three miles at the west end were called the "West Shares;" the next, or middle division, was called the "easterly three miles; " and the most easterly one was called the "young men's shares." These divisions all appear on the pro- prietors' records, with the names of those to whom the lots respectively fell. The Titicut purchase was shared and divided agreeably to the following vote 1675. " All the householders and male children twenty years old and upwards, now found to be sixty-four in number, shall be proprietors and full purchasers in the lands at Titicut, which had been bought of the Indians ;" but the division was not actually made, and the lots drawn, till some years afterwards, viz: 1685, and consisted of two divisions of lots called the great lots and the little lots. Those who had the young men's shares above mentioned, were such as were twenty-one years of age and upward, and had no interest in any other lands, who were Samuel Lathrop, Mark Lathrop, Jr., Edward Lathrop, James Haward, Jonathan Haward, Nathaniel Brett, Jonathan Cary, Isaac Alden, John Whitman, John Al- dridge, Jonathan Hill, Samuel Shiverick, William Snow, Jr., Benjamin Willis, Richard Holt, Solomon Leonard, James La- tham, Samuel Leach, Joseph Snow, Samuel Allen, Jr .- The following is an early list of the proprietors, with the number of shares each owned, viz :-
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