History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 157

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818

USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 157

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1715. Voted that John Devotion should "teach our youth to Read Inglish and Lattin, and write and sifer, as there may be ocation."

(Capt. Joseph Mason, the Swansea representative, was the only member of the General Court who in 1732 voted in favor of fixing a salary for Governor Belehier, as required by the British government.)

1742. Voted that until the king decides whether to annex Swansea to Rhode Island the town ought to pay no tax to Massachusetts.

1749, Oct. 23. " It being a very rainy day, and but few men met, and considerable business to be done, it was tho't proper to adjourn sd meeting."

" It was voted that town take all the tickets in the lottery granted by the Great and General Court for building the great bridge not sold by Feb. 26."

1759. "Voted to hire a house to put the French people in that were sent to our town."

655

SWANSEA.

1764. Appointed Jeruthamul Bowers, Esq., to so- licit relief from the General Court for the "great suf- ferance in the smallpox." Appropriated ninety pounds for care of patients.

Three hundred pounds lent to the town by the Province ; the money was loaned to individuals, and subsequently many of the poor borrowers received by vote of town the gift of their notes.

This year and several years in succession commit- tees were chosen to prevent the killing of deer out of season.

1766. Voted the town treasurer five shillings for his services.

Revolutionary War .- April 21, 1775, "Voted that 40 guns, 250 Ibs. powder, 750 ths lead, and 600 flints be provided. The committee of inspection shall pro- vide provisions and all other necessaries for the poor upon any special emergency. That 50 men be en- listed to be ready at a minute's warning, and pd. 3s. a week for exercising two half days a week, and 6 dolls. bounty if called out of town. The officers to have the same as Rehoboth pays their officers."

" That we keep a post to ride to Boston (and leave it to the selectmen how often ) for the best intelligence that can be had there."

May 22. Chose a committee of regulation and in- spection. "The Town will secure and defend the said committee and empower them to follow and ob- serve such directions as they shall receive from time to time from the Provincial Congress or Committee of Safety."

Five shillings penalty was imposed for wasting a charge of powder, and the offender's ammunition was forfeited to the town.

April, 1777. " Voted, in addition to what the Gen- eral Court pays, £20 to every soldier enlisted in the Continental service for three years or the war ;" sub- sequently restricted to "those credited to the quota of the town." Later the town treasurer was allowed to pay what he chose to secure men for the quota, " and the town will make him complete satisfaction for his trouble therein."

Chose a committee to provide for the families of " soldiers in the Continental service."

Jan. 5, 1778. " Voted that inoculation shall not be set up in Swansea, by a unanimous vote.".

January 26th. " Voted that inoculation shall be set up in Swansea ;" also to provide a hospital.

Voted to buy one hundred bushels corn for soldiers' families.

Voted six pounds to the treasurer for his services ..

June 1st. " The selectmen shall provide warlike stores for every man in the town and distribute the same at their discretion."

June 23, 1778. " By unanimous vote promised :

" 1. To turn out upon all alarms against the enemy.

" 2. To throw aside all partyship for the future.

"3. To return humble and hearty thanks to Gen. Sullivan for his company and good institutions.

" Voted, August 31st, to provide soldiers with shirts, stockings, and shoes."

November. "Requested Gen. Sullivan to provide a guard against the enemy on Rhode Island."

May, 1779. " Voted that there be a guard on each of the necks for the safety of the good people of the town ; that each man have four dollars for each night's service on guard. Capt. Philip Slead to go to the Gen- eral Court at Boston to see whether the court would make any allowance to the town for those men which the town hired to go on the line. Chose the town. clerk to draw up something for Capt. Philip Slead to carry to the council."

1779. " Voted twenty-two men to guard the shores, who shall have four dollars per night, or, if they choose, two dollars with rations and Continental wages.

"Voted a committee to visit Gen. Gates to see if he will provide for the safety of the town.

"The Committee of Safety to go to Concord to meet with the Committee of Correspondence in Con- gress on July 14, 1779. The selectmen shall send to Boston for fire-arms."

January, 1780. " Voted four thousand pounds to buy blankets, according to the order of the court, and to pay necessary expenses."

June, 1780. "Voted three hundred pounds Conti- nental money to all who enlist for six months." This was at the next meeting increased to four hun- dred pounds, then to seven hundred pounds, then to one thousand pounds. Then "one hundred and twenty silver dollars" were offered, " and the select- men have power to increase the sum if necessary."

1780. " For gate and posts for the pound and put- ting up same, one hundred dollars.

" Voted eleven thousand seven hundred and sixty dollars for the purchase of horses to send to Taunton by order of the General Court.

" Voted one hundred and forty dollars Continen - tal money to pay for an ax; the selectmen to have fifty dollars a day in Continental money."

1783. " Petitioned General Court for a lottery to rebuild Myles' bridge."

1785. " Chose a committee to divide the school districts to accommodate the children."

1791. For representative to Congress, one hundred and seventy-seven votes were cast, of which Bishop had one hundred and seventy-one votes.

1804. Presidential election ; the electoral ticket headed by James Sullivan had one hundred and sixty-one, and that headed by David Cobb, four votes.

Sept. 4, 1804. Election for State officers: John Hancock, Esq., for Governor, seventeen votes ; James Boardman, Esq., Lieutenant-Governor, seventeen votes; Thomas Durefey, Esq., councilor, seventeen votes ; Walter Spooner, Esq., councilor, eleven votes ; Ephraim Starkweather, Esq., councilor, seventeen votes; Nathaniel Leonard, Esq., councilor, six votes.

656

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Pioneer Schools .- Dec. 19, 1673. "It was voted and ordered, nemine contradicente, that a school be forthwith set up in this town for the teaching of gram- mar, rhetoric, and arithmetic, and the tongues of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew ; also to read English and to write, and that a salary of forty pounds per annum in current country pay, which passeth from man to man, be duly paid from time to time, and at all times hereafter, and that John Myles, the present pastor of the church here assembling be the schoolmaster."

1698.1-Jonathan Bosworth was employed as teacher at £18, one-fourth in money and the rest in provisions at money prices.

1702. The town was fined £5 for not having a school, and employed John Devotion at £12 and diet, and ¿20 for keeping a horse. (Terms of school were kept in different parts of the town.) The next year his pay was £16; in 1709 he was employed for six years; in 1715 for twenty years more.

Miles' Bridge-Lottery. - One of the earliest bridges erected in this section of Bristol County was the one at this point. It is impossible at this late day to ascertain the exact date of the building of the first bridge at this point, but it was doubtless in the early part of the last century, for the Provincial stat- utes of 1736-37 refer to a bridge called Miles' Bridge in a country road had theretofore been constructed and had fallen into decay, and the towns of Swansea and Barrington were ordered "to build a good and substantial cart bridge across the said river in the country road aforesaid where the said bridge did stand."

The present iron bridge was built in 1878. It is seventy-five feet long, and rests on two abutments with wing walls.

In 1749 an act was passed allowing the town of Swansea to raise funds by lottery for the rebuilding of this bridge, as follows :

" THE PROVINCE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY, " Dec. 11, 1749.

" AN ACT to allow the town of Swansea, in the county of Bristol, to set up and carry on a lottery for the rebuilding and keeping in repair Miles Bridge in said toin :

" Whereas, By a law of this province made in the sixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the First, entitled, ' An act to suppress lotteries ;' and another law made in the sixth year of his pres- ent Majesty's reign, in addition to the aforesaid act, the setting up or carrying on lotteries are suppressed, unless allowed by act of Parliament or law of this province ; and

" Whereas, The said town of Swansea have represented their inability of rebuilding and keeping in repair the great bridge and causeway in said town, called Miles' Bridge, by reason great part of said town is taken off to Rhode Island by the late settlement of the boundary line betwixt the two governments, and pray the allowance of setting up and carrying on a lottery in said town for that purpose, ---

" Be it therefore enacted by the Lieutenant Governor, Council, and House of Representatives :

"SEC. 1. That the said town of Swansea be and hereby is allowed and authorized to set up and carry on a lottery within said town for the use and purpose aforesaid, of the amount of twenty-five thousand pounds, old tenor, drawing out of such prize ten per cent., and said town be em-

powered to make rules for the regular and practicable proceeding in said affair, and to appoint times and places, and meet persons for managers therein, who shall be sworn to the faithful discharge of their trust.

" And in order to prevent any bubble or cheats happening to the pur- chasers or drawers of the tickets,

" Be it further enacted :

"SEC. 2. That said Swansea shall be answerable to the purchasers or drawers of the tickets for any deficiency or misconduct of the managers, according to the true intent of lotteries."

Deputies and Representatives from 1670 to 18842 have been as follows :

1670, John Allen; 1671-72, James Brown; 1674-75, Ilugh Cole; 1677- 79, Samnel Luther; 1680, IIngh Cole; 1681-82, Obadiah Brown; 1683-86, HIngh Cole; 1689, Lieut. Timothy Brooks and William Howard; 1691, Capt. John Brown; 1692, "Representatives to a great and general court or assembly to be held at ye town-house in Boston." Capt. John Brown and Mr. Samuel Newman ; 1693, Eben- ezer Brenton; 1697, Ensign Joseph Kent; 1698-1705, Ephraim Peirce; 1706, Hezekiah Luther; 1707-8, Joseph Mason; 1709-10, Ephraim Pierce; 1711-12, John Thomas; 1716-18, John Rogers, Esq .; 1720, Joseph Mason, Jr., and William Salisbury ; 1724, Capt. John Brown; 1726-27, Eph. Pierce; 1728, Hugh Cole ; 1730-33, Jo- seph Mason, Jr. ; 1736, Justice Brandford, Esq .: 1738, Justis Ma- son ; 1739, William Anthony; 1741, Mr. Ezek. Brown; 1743, Perez Brandford, Esq .; 1744, " Voted not to have a Representative;" 1745, Ezek. Brown ; 1746, Mr. Caleb Luther ; 1747-50, Mr. Ezek. Brown; 1751-52, William Slade; 1754, John Anthony ; 1756, William Slade; 1757-58, John Anthony ; 1759-74, Jeruthamel Bowers; 1775, " Jer- uthamel Bowers and Philip Slead to represent the Town in the Pro- vincial Congress, and that these two persons have no more than the wages of one ;" 1777, Col. Andrew Cole and Mr. Philip Slead ; 1778, Col. Edward Anthony ; 1779, Philip Slead and Israel Barney ; "Is- rael Barney, delegate to the Convention at Concord in October ;" " Capt. Philip Slead and Mr. John Mason, delegates to represent the town at Cambridge in forming a new constitution ;" 1780, 1783, Ju- rathamel Bowers, " John Richmond to go to Boston the first Wednes- day of June ;" 1781-82, voted not to send a Representative ; 1784, Sim- eon Potter; 1785-86, Christopher Mason; 1787, Christopher Mason and James Luther; 1789-18 3, Christopher Mason; 1806-7, Daniel Hale; 1809-10, Daniel Hale and Edward Mason; 1811-12, Daniel Hale and Benannel Marvel; 1813-19, Daniel IIale; 1820, Dr. John Winslow ; 1821-22, John Mason; 1823-25, Benanuel Marvel : 1826, Benjamin Taylor; 1827, Daniel Hale and John Butlington. "Voted that D. Ilale be instructed to attend the Legislature, and if in his opinion it is necessary for John Buffington to attend, he must write or send to him, and he is instructed to attend if called for;" 1828, John Mason and John Buffington. May, 1829, " Voted to exonerate John Mason from paying into the Treasury the sum generally ex- pended in treating the inhabitants of the town at a choice of rep- resentatives, which he agreed to at his election in 1828." 1829, Luther Baker and Benajah Mason. "Voted, That the Reps be in- structed to oppose all RR. constructed at the expense of the State." 1830, L. Baker and B. Mason : 1831, John Earl and B. Mason ; 1832, Benanuel Marvel; 1833, B. Marvel and John Earl; 1834, James Cornell; 1835, J. Cornell and George Austin; 1836-37, George Mason ; 1838-39, Artemas Stebbins; 1840, Jonathan R. Brown; 1841-42, Stephen Buffington ; 1843, James Cornell ; 1844-45, Philip M. Marvel; 1846-47, Jonathan Barney; 1848-49, Ezra P. Short; 1850, William T. Chase; 1851, Daniel Edson ; 1852, no choice; 1853, Horatio Peck; 1854, Allen Mason ; 1855, Benjamin S. Earl; 1856, voted not to send a representative.

Representatives from the district, residents of Swansea : 1859, Edward F. Gardner; 1862, W. H. Pearse ; 1865, Ezra P. Short; 1868, Rufus Slade; 1871, Job Gardner; 1874, Nathan M. Wood; I878, James E. Estabrooks; 1882, James H. Mason ; 1883, Job M. Leonard.

2 Compiled by Rev. J. W. Osborn.

1 From records of town condensed.

657

SWANSEA.

CHAPTER LIV.

SWANSEA .- (Continued.)

PIONEER HISTORY-KING PHILIP'S WAR.

THE following chapter was contributed by Hon. George B. Loring, being an address delivered by him in this town in 1875, at the two hun- dredth anniversary of the massacre of the inhabitants during King Philip's war.

" MY FRIENDS AND FELLOW-CITIZENS,-I have accepted your invitation to deliver this address on the occasion of the second centennial anniversary of the great tragic event in the history of your town with extreme reluctance and with many misgivings. I cannot expect to share with you all those hallowed memories which spring up in your minds and warm your hearts whose homes are on this spot, whose an- cestors repose beneath this sod, whose hearthstones are here, whose eyes have beheld the domestic scenes, and whose hearts have felt the joys and sorrows which make up the story you would most gladly hear to-day. To you who enjoy this spot as home, the church, this village-green, these farm-houses, every field and wooded hill, the highway and the by-path, the valley and the brook, all tell a tale of tender interest, to you who remember the events of childhood here, to you who to-day return from long wandering, to you who have remained and have brought this munici- pality on to an honorable era in its history, to you who turn aside to linger over the grave of a beloved pa- rent, and to you who still pause and drop a tear on that little mound where your child has lain so long, and from which through all the years that have passed since it left you its sweet voice has been heard, re- minding you of your duty in this world, and assuring you of the peace and joy of the world to come. To me, indeed, the domestic record of this town, the most sacred record to you, is, as it were, a sealed vol- ume, open only to my gaze as a member of the same human family with yourselves, and as one feeling that common sympathy which binds as with a silver cord all the sons of God into one great brotherhood. While, therefore, I cannot intrude upon the sacred- ness of your firesides, nor claim a seat in your do- mestic circle, nor expect to be admitted within the railing of your altar, I can call to your minds those events in the history of your town which have estab- lished its intimate relations with that interesting ex- periment of society and state which has been worked out on this continent during the last two hundred years.

to us in New England the town was in the beginning, as it is now, the primary organization, sovereign in itself. 'The colonists had no sooner formed a settle- ment and erected their cabins in convenient prox- imity to each other than they organized themselves a town, an independent municipality, in which every citizen had a voice and a vote.' The first duty of this organization, in the minds of our fathers, was the es- tablishment of a church, and the erection of a meet- ing-house and a school-house received their earliest care and attention. It is remarkable and interesting to see how in the little municipalities of New Eng- land all the rights of citizenship were cherished, and how silently and unostentatiously all the elements of a free State were fixed and developed. Starting away from the original colonies, they planted themselves in the wilderness, and assumed at once the duty of independent organizations. Their citizens in town- meeting assembled had the control of all matters re- lating to their civil and criminal jurisdiction. In the New England colonies the towns were combined in counties long after their establishment and repre- sentation as towns, so that the county here was a col- lection of towns rather than the town a sub-division of a county. This system of town organization is maintained throughout New England to the present day, constituting one of the most interesting features of the civil polity of this section of our country. Says Barry, in his 'History of Massachusetts,' ' Each (town) sustained a relation to the whole analogous to that which the States of our Union hold respec- tively to the central power or the Constitution of the United States.' Says Palfrey, in his 'History of New England,' ' With something of the same pro- priety with which the nation may be said to be a confederacy of republics called States, each New England State may be described as a confederacy of minor republics called towns.' Neither in New York, with its great landed properties, at first held and occupied by a kind of feudal tenure and after- ward with its counties, nor in the Western States, where the town survey carries with it no local politi- cal authority, nor in the South, where the county or- ganization is the one which governs local matters, can be found that form of self-government which gives the New England towns their individuality, and which has enabled them to enroll their names on the brightest pages of American history. How in the olden time they cherished the church and built the meeting-house! How they fostered education and erected the school-house! How they selected their wisest and bravest men for the public councils! How they resolved for freedom in open town-meeting! How they hurled defiance at the oppressor, and sprang up an army of defiant communities, each one feeling its responsibility and ready and anxious to assume it! Would you study the valor of your coun- try iu its early days ?- go to the town records of New

" In celebrating the two hundredth anniversary of a great historic incident in the history of a New England town, the peculiar and extraordinary nature of a civil organization of this kind should not be forgotten, especially by those who enjoy the high privileges which belong to it. To many nationalities and peoples a town means nothing more than a clus- ter of houses surrounded by a wall and fortified, or the realm of a constable, or the seat of a church. But | England. Would you learn where the leaders and

658

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

statesmen were taught their lesson of independence and nationality ?- read the recorded resolves of the New England towns.

" The origin and organization of these New Eng- land towns were by no means uniform. In some instances they were founded immediately on the landing of the colonists out of lands conferred upon them by their charter; in other instances they were made up by grants of land to an offshoot from the parent colony, whose enterprise consisted in organiz- ing a new town; in other instances grants of land made from time to time to individuals and corpora- tions for farms and other purposes, which grants were consolidated into townships.

" The proprietors and settlers on the lands of Swan- sea, a name derived from the town of Swansea, in Wales, from whence came the Rev. John Miles, the first minister, in 1663, secured their title to the land here from the Plymouth Court, or by Indian deeds confirmed by grants from this court. For a long time this power was exercised by the Plymouth Colony, and it not only extended its possessions in the direc- tion of Mount Hope, whose lands were vastly more attractive than those lying towards Cape Cod, but they were in constant controversy with the colony of Massachusetts Bay with regard to the boundary line separating them along the towns of Hingham and Cohasset. The lands lying within the limits of Swan- sea, which then included Somerset and Barrington, were in this manner conveyed to Governor Bradford, Samuel Newman, Peregrine White, Josiah Winslow, Governor Prince, and others, and were by them held in joint-stock companies, and sold to those who de- sired to become actual settlers. It is the record of these sales, kept by the clerk of the court at Plym- outh, and constituting each proprietor's title to the lands which he sold and each settler's title to the lands which he occupied, that lies at the foundation of that system of land-holding known now as being peculiar to America, and as the commercial in contra- distinction to the feudal tenure,-a system in which our Pilgrim fathers were more than two centuries ahead of the times in which they lived. To this liberal system, through which has grown. up the division and sub-division of land in New England from the earliest period of its history, I always turn with pride, as I do with pride and gratitude to that provision made in every colony for endowing with landed possessions the institutions of religion and learning. But, in addition to this, to Swansea be- longs the curious distinction of having organized a division of lands based upon ranks and orders in society. The selection of a committee of five persons to classify society, and to indicate how much land the members of each class shall hold, with power also to elevate and to degrade according to their pleasure, is a novelty in popular institutions confined, I am happy to learn, to this town, and abolished, when its despotic and feudal characteristics became known and

understood, with more promptness than it was adopted. Possessed, however, of lands in this manner, and un- doubtedly drawn together by a catholic and gentle religious sentiment, the Rev. Mr. Miles, Capt. Thomas Willett, James Brown, John Allen, and others, about the year 1667, organized a separate town corporation under the name of New Swansea. Mr. Miles was one of the pure-minded, earnest, liberal religious leaders of his day,-a man full of religious tolera- tion, based upon a firm and abiding religious faith. Thomas Willett was an energetic, brave, intelligent, and cultivated friend of the Pilgrims both in Eng- land and Holland, and was considered to be a fit successor of Miles Standish in the command of the Plymouth militia,-a man equal to any heroic occa- sion, any emergency calling for high moral and men- tal powers. John Brown stands by the side of Capt. Willett, his peer in all those qualities which ennoble and dignify mankind. He, too, was brave, intelli- gent, and pious,-a model of those great men upon whom has fallen from age to age the high duty of founding states and empires. It was these men, with their associates, who erected that first primitive church on New Meadow Neck, and provided liberally for the education of the children of the town, upon whom were to fall the obligations and services of Church and State, and in all these things they did their work well. In church the Rev. John Miles toiled on for more than twenty years, setting an ex- ; ample of fidelity, purity, charity, and honesty worthy of all imitation, and securing for his name such im- mortality on earth as grateful man can bestow.

" From the simple and unostentatious institution of learning stepped forth Samuel Myles, a graduate of Harvard, and for forty years an able and be- loved rector of King's Chapel, Boston. With what thrift and economy were the meeting-house and the school-house of that day erected ! With what slender stipend were the laborers in those vineyards re- warded! What the Rev. Mr. Miles received does not appear, but, among the schoolmasters, Mr. Bosworth got twenty pounds per annum for his services; Mr. John Devotion, twelve pounds, agreeing also to pay for his diet, and to allow him twenty pounds for the keeping of his horse.

" Of the motives and manners and customs of those who founded this town let me here say a word. They formed a part of that large body of dissenters who under various names came to New England and set- tled the colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay. They came, it is true, to enjoy religious free- dom, but they also sought a civil organization founded upon the right of every man to a voice in the govern- ment under which he lives. In the charter of all the towns granted by the General Court it was provided that the grantees were 'to procure and maintain an able orthodox minister amongst them,' and to build a meeting-house ' within three years.' This was their motive. In all their customs they were obliged o

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 157

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1818

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1818