USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 213
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886
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
strict and prompt attention may be attributed his | success. He could never be persuaded to assume the duties of any official station, preferring to leave to others the high places in the land; his ambition has been to faithfully and worthily perform his duties as a private citizen.
March 11, 1827, he married Eliza W. Taylor, of Boston, Mass. She is the daughter of Levi and Mary (Kitchen) Taylor, of that city. Their union was not blessed with any issue, yet they have reared and educated quite a considerable family. Upon the death of Mrs. Mary R. Moore (Mrs. Dunbar's sister), in 1843, Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar assumed the care of her orphaned children, five in number, reared and edu- cated them, and has lived to see all but one of them pass away to the spirit land. Charles A., the only surviving one, grew to manhood, migrated to St. Paul, Minn., where he is now a successful lumber merchant.
In politics, Mr. Dunbar has always been a Whig and Republican, stanch and true, and was an earnest supporter and great admirer of that great son of New England, Daniel Webster. In 1869 he was appointed postmaster of Taunton, which position he held the ensuing four years.
Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar are in many respects a re- markable couple. They have passed over fifty-six years of life hand in hand together, and during all those long years the harmony of their union has not been marred by a dispute, disagreement, or harsh word. The united current of their lives has flowed peacefully and happily on, and now, as they near the great ocean of eternity, they can look confidently for- ward with the pleasing assurance that, if separated at all, it will be but briefly ; that in the great beyond that union of heart and spirit, so long and happily maintained here, shall there be but the more firmly established as the ages roll by.
EDWIN KEITH.
Edwin Keith was born in Bridgewater, Mass., Aug. 3, 1804. He is the son of Jonathan and Sarah (Leach) Keith. Being brought up on the farm, he had only such education as the schools of his town afforded. When eighteen years of age he came to Taunton and ap- prenticed himself to his uncle, James Leach, to learn the trade of machinist, and afterwards became a part- ner with him in business under the arm-name of Leach & Keith. Upon the dissolution of this firm he en- gaged for some years in insurance business, and from 1855 to the time of his death he was superintendent, clerk, and treasurer of the Taunton Gas-Light Com- pany. He was selectman of Taunton four years, member of the Common Council, and a director of the Bristol County Bank, and always prominently identified with the business interests of his adopted town. His death, which occurred April 30, 1882, was sudden and unexpected. He was stricken with heart-
disease, and died almost instantly. Although in his seventy-eighth year, yet he was in active business, and the news of his sudden decease produced a shock in the community where more than sixty years of his business life had been spent. Mr. Keith was noted and beloved for his genial temperament and amiable disposition. Though his life was a quiet, undemon- strative one, yet it was eminently a useful one. In the home circle it was said of him that his kindly nature carried always sunshine and peace, and with this sunny temperament was united incorruptible in- tegrity and moral worth. While lie was temperate, moral, strictly virtuous, and rigidly correct in his own deportment, yet his kindly heart was always lenient in judgment of the erring, and his opinions of his fellow-men were tinged with the inborn charity of his nature.
Edwin Keith was a man to whose moral worth all who knew him attest, and Taunton sustained a severe loss in his death. His judgment was considered sound, and his opinions were always sincerely given when called for, hence his counsel was much sought in business circles. He was a successful man, and one who rightfully earned success. His portrait, which accompanies this sketch, will recall to hun- dreds of his friends and acquaintances memories of kindly words and generous acts performed from a sense of duty, and with a delicacy characteristic of the man.
He married, June 5, 1831, Betsey, daughter of Zebulon and Abigail (Leonard) Field, of Taunton, and granddaughter of Zebulon Field, Sr. She was born Jan. 18, 1807. They had but one child, a daugh- ter, Sarah E. Both Mrs. Keith and the daughter reside at the homestead in Taunton.
JOHN W. D. HALL.
John W. D. Hall was born in Raynham in 1807. After attending school he served at printing with a cousin, Barnum Field, in Providence ; was publisher of the Literary Subaltern of that city ; resigned the command of the Providence Cadets in 1835, and re- moved to Taunton to engage in business ; an officer of the Cohannet Riffe Corps, and retiring from the command in 1841; editor of the Taunton Whig und Republican, and its publisher twenty years, retiring in 1861; associate editor of the Daily und Weekly Gazette, Republican papers, several years ; a member of the Massachusetts Legislature of 1863; United States provost-marshal of Second Massachusetts District, under President Lincoln, until the close of the war in 1865; resumed associate editorial duties on the Gazette, and was for several years its publisher; com- piler of the Taunton and Raynham descendants of George and Mary Hall, and a contributor of indus- trial interests, etc., to the " History of Bristol County" 1 in 1883.
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THE COURTS AND BAR OF BRISTOL COUNTY.
CHAPTER LXX.
A SKETCH OF THE COURTS AND BAR OF BRISTOL COUNTY.1
Ox the 12th day of January, A.D. 1680, King Charles II. granted unto the inhabitants of Plymouth Colony, in consideration of their loyalty and good conduct during King Philip's war, the territory of Mount Hope, containing about seven thousand acres.
The grant was upon the condition that the Colony should yield and pay therefor seven beaver skins to be delivered at Windsor Castle every year on the feast of St. John the Baptist, or in default thereof fourteen marks to be paid into the royal exchequer.
On the 14th day of September, of the same year, the colony sold this territory to John Walley, Nathaniel Oliver, Nathaniel Byfield, and Stephen Burton, of Boston, for the sum of eleven hundred pounds. Mr. Baylies, in his "History of Plymouth Colony," says the price was three hundred pounds, but according to the deed of purchase the former sum was the amount paid. By a vote of the General Court, passed on the 28th day of the same month, " three hundred pounds of the prise of Mount Hope" was ordered to be dis- tributed among the several towns of the colony.
The original purchasers immediately formed a set- tlement on their lands, and on account of their inti- mate relations with Bristol, in England, gave it the name of Bristol. It soon became one of the most flourishing towns in the colony.
In the year 1685 Plymouth Colony was divided into three counties, -- Plymouth, Barnstable, and Bristol ; these names were given to the counties from their several shire towns. At the time of its incorporation Bristol County comprised not only its present area, but in addition the territory of the towns of Cun- berland, Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Tiverton, and Little Compton, now in the State of Rhode Island.
From the records in the office of the clerk of courts, and from information from other sources, we are furnished with much that is interesting concern- ing the earlier judicial history of Bristol County.
The records from 1685, the year in which the county was incorporated, to 1702, covering a period of nearly seventeen years, are wanting. The first record of the Court of Common Pleas is of that term which was holden in Bristol commencing on the 13th day of October, 1702. In this record there are ref- erences made to the courts which were held at an earlier day. From this and other reasons it is evi- after the incorporation of the county.
dent that the courts were in successful operation soon , ordered into the king's service by Capt. Jonathan
The courts consisted of the Superior Court of Ju- dicature, the Court of the General Sessions of the Peace, and the Inferior Court of Common Pleas.
The Court of the General Sessions of the Peace had charge of the prudential affairs of the county and a
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general jurisdiction in all criminal matters, the pun- ishment of which did not extend to life, member, or banishment. As an illustration of the business which came before this court, a few of the orders passed and the sentences imposed are herewith presented.
On the 14th of April, 1702, William Earle, of Swansea, being presented for profane swearing and summoned to appear to answer for the same, came and pleaded the province law, to wit, such offenses must be proved against the offender within thirty days after the offense is committed, was admonished therefore and dismissed.
July 14, 1702. "Samuel Waldron, of Taunton, being presented for not attending public worship of God on the Lord's day, appeared upon summons and pleaded that he was of the way of the Church of Eng- land, but did not go to hear Mr. Danforth, but to other meetings as often as he could, was admonished for his neglect, and dismissed with paying costs taxed at two shillings."
"Samuel Watfield, Keeper of the jail in Bristol, having served the year past in that office for the sum of five pounds, desires to have an order pass this Court to the County Treasurer for the receiving of the said sum ; it was passed accordingly."
April 13, 1703. "Ordered that Capt. Samuel Gallup have and receive of the County Treasurer eight shil- lings for his trouble, expense, and pains in going to Swansey to fetch the order for the Thanksgiving, and notifying the people in Bristol thereof the day be- fore." Capt. Gallup was then sheriff of the county.
April 13, 1713. " Frank Townsend being bound by the way of recognizance to appear at this Court upon complaint of his wife, who complains that he had left her, and had taken another woman to be his wife, and he being convicted thereof by his own confession, it is ordered that he be whipt twenty lashes on his bare back, well laid on, and to stand committed till sentence be performed."
John Weaver, in court, "owning that he has been guilty of a breach of the Sabbath by husking corn on the Lord's day ; ordered to pay a fine of ten shil- lings as the law directs, and costs of Court."
In the year 1745, John Briggs, Jr., of Berkley, petitioned the court that he might be licensed to keep a ferry at a place called the Needles, on Taunton Great River, and among other reasons stated " that it will be very convenient for those jurymen who come from the last side of the river to go to Court."
In 1746, Col. Jerathmeel Bowers, of Swansea, was Slade. Col. Bowers, instead of joining the troops, ran over to Rhode Island. He was afterwards brought before Peres Bradford, Esq., and entered into a recog- nizance for his appearance at the Court of Sessions to answer for his conduct. After his arrest, and previous to the session of the court, Col. Bowers presented to Governor Shirley a document signed by Dr. Win- slow, of Freetown, which stated that Bowers had had
1 By Hon. John S. Brayton.
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
his collar-bone broken recently, and that it was not properly set, and that he was thereby disabled and rendered unfit for military duty. Governor Shirley thereupon issued a warrant exempting Bowers from military duty. Capt. Slade then caused the affidavits of several of the neighbors of Col. Bowers to be taken, who testified that "he is quick of foot and every way able to perform military duty." These were presented to the Governor, who issued a writ of super- sedeas, revoking his warrant of exemption and author- izes the court to proceed in the matter.
Col. Bowers is brought before the court, is adjudged guilty, and " ordered to be imprisoned for six months or pay a fine of fifteen shillings, to be delivered to the town of Swansey for the purchasing arms, etc., as the law directs."
Samuel Howland, Esq., of Bristol, was appointed king's attorney at each term from 1702 to 1746. This office is now known as that of district attorney.
. As early as 1740 a dispute had arisen between the colonies of Massachusetts and Rhode Island respect- ing the eastern boundary of Rhode Island. This dis- pute was made known to the King of England, who appointed commissioners to visit the spot and deter- mine where the boundary line should run. These com- missioners met, and, after due examination, decided that the line should be run so as to include the present town of Tiverton, Little Compton, Bristol, Warren, Barrington, and Cumberland in Rhode Island. From this decision Massachusetts appealed to the King in Council, who confirmed the decision of the commis- sioners, and in May, 1746, George II.in Council ordered that Rhode Island and Massachusetts should appoint commissioners to run the lines setting off the above- named towns to Rhode Island. Massachusetts was so dissatisfied that she sent no commissioners on her part, but commissioners appointed by the General Assembly of Rhode Island met and ran the line.
The county seat having thus been set off to Rhode Island, " it was enacted by the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives, that from and after the 13th day of November, 1746, the town of Taunton shall be and hereby is made and established the county or shire-town of the County of Bristol instead of the town of Bristol, and that all the Courts for the County shall be held in said Taunton, and that all the records and papers of the Courts now in the town of Bristol shall be forthwith delivered to George Leonard, Esq., Mr. Thomas Foster, and Jonathan Shepard, Esq., or to the major part of them, who shall cause them im- mediately to be conveyed to the said town of Taunton, and there safely deposited under the care of the same persons as heretofore, or others, as the said committee shall judge best, who shall serve in their offices with full power, and shall give the same obligations and be under the like penalties as they or others had or were under heretofore, until this Court shall further order, or others shall be duly appointed in their steads."
The same act required all persons living in Bristol who have in their custody any records belonging to the county to deliver the same to the said committee, and the act also authorized the sheriff of the county to remove all prisoners in his majesty's jail at Bristol to Taunton, and there put them under safe custody in some proper place until the county shall provide a jail.
There is a tradition that the people in Bristol who had the custody of the court records refused to give them up, and that James Williams, of Taunton, was deputed to get them by stratagem. He is said to have succeeded in his efforts, brought the records to Taun- ten, and that he was rewarded for this act by being appointed county register, an office now called regis- ter of deeds, which office he, his son, and his grandson held successively for a period of ninety-five years.
The Rev. George F. Clark, of Norton, in his re- searches among old papers for materials for a history of that town, found in a house occupied for many years by the Leonard family papers giving an account of the removal of the court records. Although there is no signature to the documents, they are in the handwriting of Judge George Leonard, one of the persons named in the act authorizing the transfer of the records from Bristol to Taunton.
In addition to the following document, which we copy verbatim, there is another paper, giving a sum- mary of their expenses. Each charges £5 for horse and horse hire; Leonard charges £9 for himself; Foster, £10 10s .; Shepard, £12; making the whole expense of removing the records, £53 48.
" An account of the charges of the Committee in going to Bristol, By order of the Great and General Court, and removing the Records from Bristol to Taunton, November, 1746.
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Cash pd. at mr. Robins ye Tavern, by Shepard .. 0
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Cash pd. at Bristol at potters ye Tavern by Foster. 0
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pd. at Child's ye Tavern at Swanzey by Col. Leonard 16 0
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pd. at Capt. wheeler's in Rehoboth
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pd. at hill's in Do. by Sheppard 0 6
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pd. by Shepard 298. by Foster.
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Given on ye Road by Capt. Sheppard .. 6
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By foster
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By Col. Leonard.
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" Nov. 18th, 1746, Delivered the Records of ye County, viz. of Deeds, &c. to mr. Thomas Troop, the Late Registre of Deeds, at ye house of ye Honorable Seth williams, Esqr. at Taunton, & have taken bonds with Surtys for his keeping ye books & his office also at Taunton till ye fur- ther order of ye General Court, or till a Registre be chosen. ye Same day Committed the Books of Record and papers belonging to ye Probate Register to Stephan paine, Esqr., at the house of Samuel white. Esqr., and have taken Bonds with Surties for ye Safe keeping sd. Books & papers in sd. Town.
"ye same day appointed mr. Nathaniel Fales Clerk of ye Inferior Court of Comon pleas & Court of General sessions of ye peace, who yus sworn to ye fathful dishard of sd. office & Committed ye Books & papers belonging to sd. Courts to ye sd. Nath'll Fales, at ye llouse of ye Hon- orable Seth williams, Esqr., & have taken Bonds with Surtys for his Safe keeping sd. books in the Town of Taunton, &c., the same day appointed James williams, Esqr., Treasurer for sd. County, who has Recod the papers & all accounts, & was Sworn to ye faithful discharge of sd. office."
The first session of the Court of Common Pleas held in Taunton was on the 9th day of December, A.D. 1747, the Hon. Seth Williams, George Leonard, and
6 pd. at Do. at mr. troup's by Col. Leonard. 1 0 0
pd. at harden's in Do. by Sheppard. 2
pd. at Brig's in Do, by Sheppard
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889
THE COURTS AND BAR OF BRISTOL COUNTY.
Stephen Paine presiding. The Court of Sessions, which consisted of all the justices of the peace, held its first session on the same day, the following justices being present: Seth Williams, Thomas Terry, George Leonard, Timothy Fales, Samuel Willis, Thomas Bowers, Stephen Paine, Ephraim Leonard, John Foster, Edward Hayward, Samuel Howland, Samuel Leonard, John Godfrey, Stephen White, Sylvester Richmond, Jr. Timothy Fales was appointed clerk of both courts and was duly sworn.
The first object to be accomplished was to prepare and erect suitable buildings for county purposes. It was ordered by the court "that the school-house be made as secure as may be for the safe custody of all persons that may be committed thereto, with the ut- most dispatch, and that Seth Williams, the second, shall take care to secure the two prisoners now in custody, and all others that shall be committed in the mean time."
It was also ordered "that Seth Williams, George Leonard, John Godfrey, and Samuel White, Esquires, be a committee to look out a suitable place for the standing of a gaol and county-house in the town of Taunton, and know what the land for erecting said house on may be purchased for, and make a report of their doings thereon at the adjournment of this court."
At the Court of Sessions held on the second Tues- day of January, A.D. 1747, this committee made the following report: "We the subscribers, appointed a committee to look out a suitable place for the stand- ing of a gaol and county-house in the town of Taun- ton, have pursuant to the written orders looked out a suitable place as we apprehend, which is towards the upper end of the old training field, a little below where they used to dig graves, and is sixty foots square, which we look upon to be the most suitable for setting a county-house upon, provided the town's proprietors committee give a legal conveyance thereof with a suitable and convenient way to pass to and from said place; and also that the most suitable place for setting a gaol and gaol-house be on the land of Samuel White and Mr. Simeon Tisdale, at a place near the spring (so called), adjoining the way that leads from said Tisdale's to Mr. Crossman's grist-mill, provided the said White and Tisdale give a legal conveyance thereof."
The site designated by this committee for the county house is the front yard of the present court- house, and for the gaol, upon the land now occupied by the Bristol County National Bank.
At the same session of the court it was "ordered that John Foster, Sylvester Richmond, Jr., and John Godfrey, Esquires, be a committee to provide mate- rials, and build a County House and gaol, and gaol- keeper's house, with suitable despatch. The gaol to be thirty foot long and fourteen foot wide, two story high and fourteen foot stud, to be studded with sawed stuff of six inches thick, to be framed close together, with a chimney in the middle, suitable for
a jail. The house for prison-keeper to be seventeen feet wide and twenty-three feet long, two story high, besides the entry between the gaol and dwelling house, and to be fourteen feet stud, with a suitable chimney and cellar."
At an adjourned session of the court held on the twenty-eighth day of the same month, Samuel White, Esq., was appointed on the committee for building the jail instead of Sylvester Richmond, who was ap- pointed sheriff. Mr. Richmond lived in Dighton, and was the first sheriff appointed after the removal of the shire town to Taunton.
On the 9th of June, 1774, the court received a sub- scription from the inhabitants of the town of Taunton amounting to £922.15 for building a court-house.
The first county tax of four hundred pounds was ordered by the court on the 8th of September, 1747, to be levied on the inhabitants of the several towns.
Soon after the assessment of the county tax in 1747 work was commenced on the first court-house erected in Taunton. The edifice stood directly in front of the present structure, and served the purpose for which it was built for nearly a quarter of a century. On the 17th of December, 1771, the court ordered "that a new court-house be built, to be forty-eight feet square and twenty-four feet post, and George Leonard, Jr., Benjamin Williams, Robert Treat Paine, and Daniel Leonard, Esquires, or either two of them, are appointed a committee to proceed and erect a court-house, and to dispose of the now stand- ing court-house by sale thereof or by taking it down and disposing of the timber." This committee was instructed "to make application to the selectmen of the town of Taunton to call a town-meeting to see whether the town will grant twenty feet more of the town's land back of the now court-house to the county to set the new house on." The town of Taunton in 1772 conveyed to the county the land de- sired, and thereupon the committee sold the old house, which was removed across the street and con- verted into a dwelling. This committee proceeded to erect the second court-house upon the site now oc- cupied by the present court-house. This house, like its predecessor, was built of wood. The lower story was appropriated to offices, and a flight of long broad stairs led from a platform in front of the court-room doors to the level of the street. In after-years it was pronounced to be too small and inconvenient to accommodate the growing business of the county, and it was sold and removed to the foot of Court Street, where it now stands, and is occupied by sev- eral tenants, and upon its site was erected the present brick edifice, a substantial structure.
The first gaol which was built was used for that purpose till 1785, when it having become so insecure that a number of the prisoners escaped therefrom, the court directed a new jail to be built, and the legisla- ture authorized the assessing of a county tax of £1500 to meet the expenses. The second jail was
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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
erected upon the same site as the first jail, and cost £621.7. It was built of wood and painted red, and is remembered by many persons now living. The stone jail on the corner of Court and Washington Streets was erected in 1821. The stone used in its construction were quarried in Fall River. The jail now used as such in Taunton was completed in 1873, and cost one hundred and sixty thousand dollars.
We now pass over for a number of years the rec- ords of the courts, which are replete with interest and instruction, stopping only to give a description of the chief justices, as drawn by John Adams when on a professional visit to Taunton on the 8th day of June, 1762: "Went to Taunton Court, the land of Leonards, three judges of the Common Pleas of that name, each of whom has a son who was bred at col- lege. The Hon. George Leonard, the first justice, seems to me arbitrary. He committed two old gentle- men who were nearly eighty years old to the custody of an officer only for speaking loud, when they were both deaf and not conscions that they did speak. A check, a reproof, an admonition would have been enough."
"He was unwilling that the sessions should adjourn for an hour to take the verdict of the jury in a trial upon a presentment for a riot, but would have that jury kept together all night, till the court should set again the next morning. No other court in the prov- ince, superior and inferior, would have thought of keeping the jury up. He broke in most abruptly upon Bob Paine: 'He did not think it was right to run out against the king's witnesses ; for his part he did not like to hear it three or four times over.' Thus the haughty tyrant rules the county."
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