History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 17

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 17


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Capt. Fanshawe's report says prisoners reported seventy sail of vessels destroyed.


Another fact going to show that the burning was not general is this, that in 1846 twenty-nine houses were standing which were built before the Revolu- tionary war within the limits of what comprised the village in 1778.


A careful estimate of the whole loss in buildings and wharves, made by Judge Pope, places it at £11,241, and on shipping, merchandise, etc., £85,739, making a total of £96,980, or $323,267. Lieut. Wil- liam Gordon, of the provincial artillery, estimated it at $422,680.


Personal Sketches .- Elijah Macomber belonged


to the garrison of the fort, and was twenty-one years old at the time. He served as private from March to December, 1778. He formerly belonged in Dart- mouth, but the last part of his life was spent in this town and Fairhaven. He died at the residence of his son, Lilley Macomber, about two miles northwest of Russell's Mills, Nov. 18, 1849. He was an illiterate man, and when drawn into conversation on Revolu- tionary matters he became much excited and spoke in a rambling manner. It was impossible to obtain from him a connected account of the invasion, and his statement, which was written by Henry H. Crapo, must have been the fruit of many conversations at different times. Mrs. Walter D. Swan and Mrs. Ben- jamin Baker, of this city, are his only surviving chil- dren.


John Gilbert was fourteen years old at the time of the raid. His parents resided in Boston. During the latter part of his life he tended the wind-mill on Mill Street, between Hill and County, and lived in a small house east of building southeast corner of Pur- chase and North Streets. Charles Gilbert, son of John Gilbert, was shot dead by a stupid sentinel be- longing to a Middleborough company when the town of New Bedford was garrisoned in 1814. Gilbert was making the grand rounds, and the sentinel fired im- mediately after the first challenge, instead of waiting until a repeated challenge had elicited no answer. A daughter of John Gilbert is now living in the alms- house.


The statements of Messrs. Gilbert and Macomber were written in 1839, and were never printed until now, except a few brief extracts.


Edward Pope was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, or perhaps of the local County Court, and was the first collector of customs at this port under the United States government. William G. E. Pope is his grandson. He lived at the northeast corner of Union and Sixth Streets, in a house now standing on Market Street, second east of Sixth. He was a pris- oner in the hands of the British during a part of the memorable night, but made his escape before morn- ing.


Charles Grinnell was a cousin of Hon. Joseph Grinnell. His mother lived in 1778 in what is now the Whitcomb house. Mr. Grinnell built the next house west on Union Street.


Capt. Lemuel S. Akin lived in Fairhaven, and his account of the ravages of the British in that town was written from what older people had told him.


Israel Fearing belonged in Wareham.


Isaac Howland came from Newport. His son orig- inated the house of I. Howland, Jr., & Co., for many years the leading firm in New Bedford in the whaling business. The other members of the firm were Ed- ward M. Robinson, Sylvia Ann Howland, and Thomas Mandell. Mr. Robinson's wife and Sylvia Ann How- land were daughters of Gideon Howland, who mar- ried a daughter of Isaac Howland, Jr. Isaac Howland


6-4


HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.


was a Tory, had been in the slave trade from Rhode Island, and brought slaves with him when he removed to Bedford.


Joseph Rotch came from Nantucket, and was the founder of the Rotch family of New Bedford. His house, which was burned, stood near the top of the hill on North Water Street. The house of Joseph Rotch, Jr., was south of it.


Benjamin Taber was a boat-builder, and came with Mr. Rotch from Nantucket. His house was on the north side of Union Street, east of Water.


John Gerrish, after the war, kept the tavern on the east side of Water Street, south of Commercial, after- wards known as the Cole Tavern. He had three daughters, who married John Alexander, Capt. David Leslie, and Preserved Fish, but none of their de- scendants are now here.


W. Claghorn's house was on the west side of South Water Street, near Union. He belonged to the same family with Capt. George Claghorn, builder of frigate "Constitution." George Claghorn's house was on the east side of Second Street, near North, and was burned in the great fire of 1859.


Joseph Russell was the founder of Bedford village, which was named in his honor by Joseph Rotch in a roundabout complimentary way. The family name of the Dukes of Bedford in England is Russell, and owing to this circumstance the name was proposed, but it is not known whether the New Bedford Russells are of the same family or not. When New Bedford was incorporated as a town in 1787 the word " new" was prefixed, to distinguish it from Bedford in Mid- dlesex County. Joseph Russell was of the fifth gen- eration from Ralph Russell, the original settler at Russell's Mills. His candle-house, which was burned, was on the north side of "Centre Street Square." It was another Joseph Russell, "of Boston," whose house was burned. The house was on the east side of Water Street, where Commercial Street is now open.


Gilbert Russell was a son of Joseph, and father of the late William T. Russell. He built and sueces- sively occupied the houses now occupied by Dr. Abbe and S. G. Morgan.


John Lowden was a calker from Pembroke, and his house was south of Claghorn's, where the Hill house now stands. It was the first house built in the centre of the village. Mrs. George E. Netcher is a granddaughter of John Lowden, and Benjamin F. Lowden, formerly a photographer in this city, and who was drowned in steamer "Grace Irving" off the Gurnet in 1873, was his great-grandson.


Capt. Timothy Ingraham, who commanded at the fort, was grandfather of Robert C. and Andrew In- graham, and of the late Gen. Timothy Ingraham.


Gen. Grey's Life and Character .- Gen. Grey was born Oct. 23, 1729. He was aide-de-camp to Prince Ferdinand in Germany and to Wolfe at Quebec; appointed lieutenant-colonel June 27, 1761; com- manded the Ninety-eighth Regiment at the capture


of Belle Isle in 1763; was appointed colonel Dec. 20, 1772, and accompanied Howe to Boston in 1775, who gave him the local rank of major-general. For his important services in the Revolutionary war he was made a lieutenant-general, and appointed commander- in-chief in North America in January, 1783. He was employed in Flanders in 1793 ; captured Mar- tinique and St. Lucia in 1794; was made general in 1795; was raised to the peerage in 1801, and in 1806 became an earl. He died Nov. 14, 1807, at his seat near Alnwick, Northumberland.


At one o'clock on Sept. 21, 1777, about two miles southwest of Paoli, Pa., Gen. Grey surprised Gen. Wayne with about fifteen hundred men, who had been detached from Washington's army after the battle of the Brandywine to annoy the British rear and attempt to cut off their wagon-train. His orders then were to rush on the Americans with fixed bay- onets without firing a shot, and give no quarter. Wayne's loss was one hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and the remainder retreated in confusion toward Chester.


Oct. 4, 1777, Gen. Grey commanded a large portion of the left wing at the battle of Germantown.


At midnight, Sept. 27, 1778, he surprised a regi- ment of light-horse under Licut .- Col. Baylor, en- camped in barns about two and a half miles south- west of Tappan, N. Y. They were sleeping in unsoldierly security, and when captured asked for quarter, which was inhumanly refused by Grey, who gave special orders not to grant it. Many of the soldiers were bayoneted in cold blood. Out of one hundred and four persons, sixty-seven were killed or wounded, and seventy horses were foolishly butch- ered.


Gen. Grey, on account of his common practice of ordering the men under his command to take the flints out of their muskets that they might be con- fined to the use of the bayonet, acquired the name of the " no-flint general." He was a man of undoubted personal courage.


His orders issued on the eve of the attack on New Bedford exhibit his contempt for the Americans :


"ON BOARD THE 'CARYSFORT,' " Sept. 4, 1778.


" Major-General Grey's Orders :


" When the enemy are so posted that they can be got at, the major- general commands the troops that are ordered to attack them to march vigorously up and receive their fire till they come very close, and upon every proper opportunity they are to rush upon the enemy with their hayonets immediately after they have thrown in their fire, without wait- ing to load again, in which method of attack the superior courage and strength of the troops must always be crowned with glory and success. The major-general is impressed with every assurance that the officers and men are so thoroughly convinced of the great advantage they have over the enemy in this mode of fighting, and their great zeal for the service, that the present expedition cannot fail of success but do them honor, and answer the expectations of the commander-in-chief, whose opinion of these troops cannot be more strongly manifested than by sending them upon this essential service. In case of bad weather, or other accidents, that any of the transports should be separated from the fleet and fall in with a privateer, so as to make an escape impossible, which may not be unlikely, many small ones being lurking about upon


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NEW BEDFORD.


the watch, the major-general desires the commanding otlicer of each transport would oblige the captain of the ship to bear immediately down upon such privateer, running him directly and without delay on board, the troops being ready at the critical moment to enter and take pos- session of the vessel. This being properly done will ever succeed, the enemy not being aware of such an attack, and the troops so superior in every respect to put into execution.


" The commanding officers are to be answerable that no houses or barns are set on fire by the soldiers, unless by particular orders from Major-General Grey."


Earl Grey's son and successor in the earldom was a distinguished statesman and cabinet officer, and won great fame by carrying through the parliamentary re- form bill in 1832. The present and third earl has also been in the cabinet.


Additional Facts and Incidents .- At the time of the invasion, New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet, and Westport were all included in the town of Dart- mouth.


No privateers were owned at Bedford in the Revo- lution, but the port was the rendezvous, especially after Newport was taken by the British, of a number belonging in Boston, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Among them was a large sloop called the "Broom," commanded by Capt. Stephen Cahoon, of Rhode Island, and carrying twelve guns; and the " Black Snake," a long, low, black schooner, owned in Con- necticut, and mounting eight carriage-guns.


Capt. Hacker, of privateer "Providence,"' was afterward a Hell Gate pilot.


Some of the old people used to say that the fleet moved over and anchored east of Egg Islands to re- ceive the troops on board, where no square-rigged vessel ever went before or since.


The ill-fated John Andre was an officer in the New Bedford expedition.


Russell, Cook, and Trafford were buried in Dart- mouth on the farm of Jediah Shearman. The prem- ises are now owned by the heirs of Philip Gidley.


The battle of Rhode Island was just one week pre- vious to the raid at Bedford, and this accounts for the absence of so large a portion of the garrison at How- land's Ferry, now known as the Stone Bridge, at Tiverton.


Mrs. Doubleday's house was the building now oc- cupied as a paint-shop and restaurant, 9 and 13 North Water Street.


The almshouse, where the artillery were quartered, was near the corner of Sixth and Spring Streets.


Morgan Street, mentioned by John Gilbert in his statement, is now called Court Street.


Most of the buildings burned in Fairhaven were on Adams Street, east of Oxford village, and on Main Street, north of the junction of Adams Street. Among others was a store of Obed Nye, grandfather of Thomas Nye, Jr., of this city, which contained a large amount 5


of prize merchandise. It was on the farm now occu- pied by Mr. Nye's son-in-law, Mr. Dana. It is re- ported that a river of molasses ran from the store down the street after the casks were consumed. Mrs. Nye took her children and fled to the woods. A house belonging to a West family, a short distance south of where George H. Taber now lives, was one of the buildings burned.


The house of Col. Pope was on the place recently occupied by the late Job Sisson.


The old John Cooke house, one of the oldest build- ings then standing in Fairhaven, was burned. It stood on the east side of Adams Street, east of John M. Howland's residence.


Stephen Hathaway's house, mentioned in Capt. Akin's collections, is now standing on a hill east of Main Street, a short distance north of the line be- tween Acushnet and Fairhaven. A store belonging to Obed Hathaway, or possibly to Micalı Hathaway, a short distance south of this house, was burned. Stephen Hathaway and Bartholomew Taber were grandfathers of George H. Taber. Bartholomew Taber's house was on the spot where Josiah Macy, Jr., now lives. The school-house burned was where George H. Taber's house now stands.


From the Head of the River to Sconticut Neck there was no choice of routes. Main Street, in Fair- haven, had no existence between Spring Street and the junction of Adams Street north of Oxford vil- lage. The pond between Bridge and Spring Streets was then a cove open to the harbor. The road lead- ing from the Mattapoisett road, nearly opposite the Sconticut road, to Main Street, near the Acushnet town line, is also a more recent lay-out. Conse- quently the column moved southward on Main Street and Adams Street to Spring Street, and thence east- ward to the Neck road.


The house of Jolin Wood's father, on the spot where Mr. Wood now lives, was burned.


The farm of John Alden, mentioned by Capt. Akin, is now occupied by Seth Alden.


The house of John West was standing, until re- cently, on the premises now owned by Boston Col- lege.


The re-embarkation took place from the farm now owned by Daniel W. Dean.


Besides the official statement of Gen. Grey, there is scarcely anything in existence of a documentary nature written at the time of the hostile visit of the British referring to their destructive progress through the town, and the foregoing account is therefore likely to contain many unimportant errors, while the loca- tion of some of the buildings destroyed cannot be fixed.


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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.


CHAPTER IX.


NEW BEDFORD .- (Continued.)


THE WHALE FISHERY.1


The First New England Whaling-Cape Cod-Nantucket-New Bedford in 1740-Early Settlers-The "Ten-Acre Purchase"-Bedford Village -Growth Checked by War of Revolution-Privateers-Close of the War-Returning Prosperity-Edmund Gardner-The Ship " Rebecca" -Early Voyages-The Development of the Business-Success- Highest Point reached in 1857-Destruction of Whalers by Confeder- ale Cruisers-List of Vessels Destroyed-The Disaster of 1871-The Whaling Interest in 1883.


Whaling .- The history of the New England whale fishery is so interwoven with the history of New Bed- ford during the last century that they cannot be sep- arated, and no record of the growth and business of our town and city can be complete without it. Our wealth, our population, and our progress have been the fruits of this industry, and our position and fame among the cities of the world is due to its successful prosecution.


The first whaling by New England men was doubt- less done by the inhabitants of Cape Cod. In the rec- ords of Nantucket, in 1690, it is written, "One Ichabod Paddock came from Cape Cod to instruct the people in the art of killing whales." In Edward Randolph's narrative, written for the Lords of Trade in October, 1676, in describing the resources of the colony of New Plymouth, he says, " And here is made a good quantity of whale oil, which fish they take upon the coasts." The business was then carried on in boats from the shore. As early as 1715 we find the people of Nantucket pursuing the whales upon the ocean in small sloops and schooners, making voyages of a few weeks' duration, and bringing the blubber home and trying out the oil on shore.


In 1751 there were two or three vessels from Ap- ponagansett River engaged in this fishery. These vessels were owned by John Wady and Daniel Wood. There were at this date one or two vessels in this business from the Acushnet River, owned by Joseph and Caleb Russell. Up to this time whales were principally taken between George's Bank and the Capes of Virginia, and the voyages continued from four to six weeks. Soon after the whalemen extended their cruising-grounds to the eastward of the Newfoundland coast, and the voyages were length- ened to three months.


At first more vessels were fitted from Apponagansett River than from the Acushnet, but soon the superior advantages of our harbor became apparent, and the Apponagansett vessels were fitted here.


Consider for a moment the aspect of our town when these two or three little sloops were fitting for their whaling voyages. The present site of the city


was a forest. There was a "try-house" near the shore (at the foot of Centre Street), and a rough cart- way led through the woods to the few farm-houses on the County road.


The Rev. Paul Coffin, who ten years later (July 21, 1761) visited the place, thus describes it in his journal : "This day rode to Dartmouth, a spacious town. Twenty miles will carry you through it. Rocks and oaks are over the whole town. Whortle bushes and rocks in this and the two former towns are the sad comfort of the weary traveler. At sunset ar- rived at Rev. West's."


In 1760 there commenced an immigration to this locality which indicated that its future was to be commercial rather than agricultural. In this year Joseph Russell sold an acre of land, the first sale made from his " 800-acre" homestead estate, to Jolin Loudon. The spot selected was a few rods south of Union Street, on South Water Street, and on it a house was erected. Mr. Loudon came from Pembroke. He was a calker by trade, and his purpose in coming here was to engage in ship-building. He was followed by Benjamin Taber, who purchased a lot of land on the north of the present Union Street, and built a shop for the purpose of carrying on boat-building and block-making, which trades he had learned at Nan- tucket. The same year John Allen, who was a house- carpenter, bought a lot on the east side of South Water Street, extending to the river. Upon this he built a house, which was afterwards sold to Barzillai Myrick, a ship-carpenter.


The next year (1762) Gideon Mosher,2 a mechanic, bought a lot on the north side of Union and east side of North Water, and erected a house thereon. The same year Elnathan Sampson, of Wareham, a black- smith, purchased the lot next north of London's. His lot was bounded on the " north and east on land left for ways or streets." These are now known as Union and Water Streets. His north line was eight rods in length, and his east line four rods, and the purchase money was £6 13s. 4d. The early settle- ment was at the Four Corners, as it was known and called for a hundred years. This was the centre of the young town.


I have been somewhat minute in this description of the infant settlement, in order that the industrial character of the pioneers might be noticed. The men who came here in 1760 to build up a town were me- chanics. Taber, Allen, Myrick, Mosher, and Samp- son were industrious and enterprising mechanics, and their descendants, inheriting their industry and enter- prise, have been and are among our worthiest citizens. We may well believe that the earnestness of purpose and the devotion to their trades with which these young mechanics of one hundred years ago sought to improve their condition affected in no small degree


1 The following chapter was contributed by Hon. William W. Crapo, being a portion of an address delivered by him at New Bedford July 4, 1876, and is an invaluable contribution to the historic literalure of the State.


2 Mosher took no deed of his purchase. The land was deeded by Joseph Russell directly to Benjamin Taber.


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NEW BEDFORD.


the character of our local institutions. And we look back with satisfaction to the intelligent and industri- ous character of the skilled and honest artisans under whose wise influence the early settlement of our town was made.


But there was one thing wanting to promote the business of the village. Capital was needed. Joseph Russell had means, which he used in whaling and freighting, and which furnished moderate employ- ment to the villagers. But his wealth was not large, and his operations were necessarily very limited.


The required capital, so necessary for the activity and growth of the village, came in 1765, when Joseph Rotch, an enterprising merchant of great experience and knowledge in mercantile affairs, selected our har- bor as one eligible and advantageous for the prose- cution of the whale fishery. This event was of the utmost importance, and this acquisition of capital, accompanied with the ripe experience, clear-headed sagacity, and skilled methods of this accomplished merchant, gave an impetus to our infant industry which insured its permanence and success.


Mr. Rotch purchased from Joseph Russell, in 1765, ten acres of land in one tract, besides a number of smaller lots in different parts of the town. The "ten- acre purchase" was from the north side of the Russell farm, and next to the estate of Manasseh Kempton. It commenced on the shore where is now Hazzard's wharf, and its north line, between William Street and Elm Street, extended nearly to Pleasant Street and Cheapside. Its south line was bounded by the pres- ent estate of Willard Sears. Its river-front extended from Central wharf to the north line of Hazzard's wharf.


Up to this time the village had no distinctive name ;1 it was simply a part of Dartmouth. But now its increasing importance rendered necessary a name by which the locality should be known. At the sug- gestion of Mr. Rotch, and as a compliment to Mr. Russell, although somewhat indirect, the village was called " Bedford." About this time there were other accessions to our business population. John How- land had moved into the village from Apponagansett, and Isaac Howland (the senior of that name) had come from Newport, bringing with him considerable capital and business enterprise. The latter gentle- man resided in the most elegant and expensive house


in the town. It was built of brick, the first of that material erected here. It was situated on Union Street, and was torn down when Cheapside was opened.


The little village of Bedford prospered. Its indus- tries were successful, its population rapidly increased, and its merchants added largely to their wealth. The whaling voyages had been extended and new grounds had been discovered. During the ten years from 1765 to 1775 the whaling fleet had increased from two or three vessels to fifty, which were much larger and of more value. The vessels sent out to the Falkland Islands in 1774 were fitted and owned here. It was this example of New England daring and enterprise which inspired Burke in the House of Commons to utter that eloquent tribute to our victorious industry which so often has touched the pride and awakened the enthusiasm of the sons of New Bedford and Nan- tucket. "No ocean," says Burke, " but what is vexed with their fisheries, no climate that is not witness to their toils. Neither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise ever carried this peril- ous mode of hardy enterprise to the extent to which it has been pushed by this recent people,-a people who are still, as it were, in the gristle, and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood."


The war of the Revolution not only checked this growth, but destroyed almost entirely our business. It was useless to send vessels to sea with the danger of almost certain capture ; and if capture were avoided and a cargo obtained, with no market, since the con- sumers in Europe could not be reached. No town suffered more from the common hazards of the war, nor by direct depredations of the enemy. Joseph Rotch returned to Nantucket and remained there until the war closed. Joseph Russell lost most of his property, except his real estate, and the same was true of the other merchants. The great majority of the business men of the village were Quakers, and could not conscientiously engage in the privateering adventures which otherwise, as a seafaring commu- nity, they would naturally have undertaken. But the advantages of our harbor were recognized during the war, and it was found to be a convenient port from which to fit out privateers and a safe refuge for their prizes. There were many, too, of our sailors and citizens who were quite willing to engage in this hazardous business, prompted both by its rewards and a desire to cripple the commerce of the enemy which had destroyed their peaceful employments. Before the open declaration of hostilities between the two countries, as early as May, 1774, exasperated by the capture in Buzzard's Bay of three vessels belonging to Sandwich by the British cruiser "Falcon," a schooner had been fitted out of this harbor, which recaptured two of the vessels and took as prisoners fifteen British officers and marines.




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