History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 44

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 44

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The inhabitants of Berkley during the war of the Revolution were, with a few exceptions, in favor of the war and of the declaration of independence. There was a little "Tory" feeling manifested. Some of the anti-Whigs fled to the provinces of Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, some others were arrested and imprisoned, but enlisted out into the colonial forces. Considering the population and the means of the town, it furnished its full proportion of men.

In 1774 the town voted that the resolves of the Continental Congress be strictly observed in every particular, and a committee was chosen to see that the vote of the town was regarded by the people.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In 1775 the town directed that the militia train one- half a day in each week, and receive one shilling therefor; and each minute-man when called into active service receive five dollars as a bounty.

1776, voted seventy-five pounds ten shillings as an additional bounty to the soldiers ordered to New York, and all soldiers be exempt from paying any part thereof. Voted to assess two hundred and thirty-four pounds wherewith to pay soldiers' bounty.

1777, voted to give each man required to fill our quota in the Continental army ten pounds in addition to what is given by the General Court. The term of enlistment was for three years.

How many enlisted in the Continental army or were drafted into it I am unable to ascertain, but, judging from the number of pensioners, their number must have been considerable. Capt. Joseph Sanford, Josiah Macomber, Samuel Paull, William Evans, Ezra Chace, and Paull Briggs were pensioners.

In 1778 voted six hundred and twenty pounds to pay soldiers in the Continental army ; voted one hun- dred and fifty-four pounds twelve shillings to pay soldiers; also voted thirteen hundred and twenty pounds and nineteen shillings to pay soldiers hired by the town ; also to sixty-four soldiers who had been employed in the defense of the coast, from three to ten pounds each.

Col. John Hathaway commanded a regiment in the war. It is said of him that he was a very sanguine patriot, never even in the darkest times doubted for a moment the ultimate success of the colonies under Washington. In the absence of his chaplain he officiated himself in a voice which was widely heard.

After the close of the war a militia system was inaugurated which required all able-bodied men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five to report themselves at a given time and place, "armed and equipped as the law directs," with gun, bayonet, knap- sack, cartridge-box, priming wire and brush, and two spare flints ; sometimes in May called "May training," and also in the fall a regimental or brigade muster. These were great events for children and youth, and for children of an older growth as well. The stirring drum and the shrill and inspiring fife, and then the brigade band, with its bugles and other horns, trom- bones and bassoons, would cause the smouldering military and patriotic fires to blaze forth in the breasts of the old crippled veterans till they, too, felt like shouldering their crutches and keeping "step to the music of the Union." Under this system Abner Burt, Jr., was adjutant, Adoniram Crane was colonel. Among the captains were Samuel French, Sr., Joseph Sanford, Christopher Paull, Freeman Briggs, Giles G. Chace, Giles Leach, Nathaniel Townsend, John Dean.

Capt. Giles G. Chace, in the war of 1812-15, was ordered to New Bedford to repel an expected invasion of the British, but the enemy, thinking probably that " discretion is the better part of valor," sailed away, and the campaign was a bloodless one.

But after a number of years the militia system fell into disrepute. Election of company officers was a mere farce, electing such as would not or could not serve, and then adjourn the meeting without day, --

" But past is all its fame."

In 1864, near the close of the Rebellion, there was an attempt made to revive it, and an "act" of one hundred and eighty sections was passed by General Court, but the system was too dead to be revived, and " it rests."

When Fort Sumter was fired upon, April 12, 1861, by the deluded rebels of the Montgomery govern- ment, called the "Confederacy," and a call was made by President Lincoln for seventy-five thousand volunteers to defend the flag of the Union, a meeting of the town was called, at which it was resolved unanimously to respond promptly to the call, and that every effort should be made to encourage enlist- ments. A committee was appointed to take charge of the matter. Bounties were successively offered to volunteers,-first one hundred dollars, then one hun- dred and fifty dollars, and finally two hundred dollars bounty, in addition to the bounties offered by the State and by the general government, and also in ad- dition to the State aid extended to all volunteers' parents if dependent upon the volunteers for sup- port, and extended to the wife and minor children of the volunteers. The town's quota was filled promptly at every " call," and some of our enlisted men went to the credit of other towns which were "short." But our brave men did not volunteer because they liked the pomp and circumstance of war, nor because liberal inducements were offered (though those that had families dependent upon the avails of their in- dustry would not have been as likely to enlist, not knowing how their families would fare in their ab- sence) ; but they periled their own health and lives that a nation might live. Theirs is the roll of honor, and, in common with all soldiers of the Union army, are entitled to a nation's gratitude.

These are the names of volunteers: William H. Fletcher, Elisha Burt,1 T. Preston Burt,2 E. B. Hath- eway, Timothy French, William Smith, B. F. Dean, James T. Dean,1 Ephraim F. Norcut,1 Enoch Ma- comber,1 James H. Macomber, Cromwell T. Eades, Samuel W. Phillips, John Q. Chase, Philip F. Chase, Lewis Green, Hercules Dean, James Arnold,1 John Boyce, Bradford G. Hatheway, Charles Riccord, John Q. Dillingham (by substitute), Benjamin F. Luther, Michael Burns, H. L. Babbitt (by substitute), Reynolds,1 Joshua Pittsley,1 John Q. Adams, Johif E. Adams, John Cameron, Alonzo French, Thomas J. Brooks,1 Daniel Hatheway, Ezra Dickerman,1 Seth Briggs, Henry Williams, Bildad Williams.

Of the sons of Berkley living in other States who entered the Union army mention may be made of

1 Dead. 2 Severely wounded and loss of leg below the knee.

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Alexander B. Crane, colonel of an Indiana regiment ; S. N. Crane, captain of a Colorado company ; S. V. Dean, captain of a Pennsylvania company. Col. Crane and Capt. Dean were both made prisoners. Rev. James Nichols, chaplain of One Hundred and Eighth New York Regiment, who by great exertions in behalf of the wounded at Antietam, Chancellors- ville, and Fredericksburg, impaired his health, came home to Rochester, N. Y., and died February, 1864.

Assonet Neck .- Assonet Neck was peculiarly the camping-ground of the Wampanoag Indians. They retained possession of it longer than of any of the surrounding country, on account of the convenience of the oyster, clam, and other fisheries.

At the close of King Philip's war it was taken pos- session of by the Plymouth Colony, who sold it to Taunton in 1678 for the sum of one hundred and fifty pounds.

Subsequently it was bought by six proprietors, namely, George Shove, Walter Dean, James Walker, James Tisdale, William Harvey, and Richard Wil- liams. It became a part of Dighton at its organiza- tion in 1712, and the town of Berkley in 1752 voted " to grant the request of a number of the inhabitants of Assonet Neck to be inhabitants of the town of Berkley," but it does not appear that any legislative sanction was applied for at that time. In 1798 the following petition was presented to the town of Berk- ley, and the request granted :

"GENTLEMEN, SELECTMEN OF THE TOWN OF BERKLEY :

"The subscribers, inhabitants of that part of Dighton called Assonet Neck, being desirous to be annexed to the said town of Berkley, with equal privileges of the town of Berkley, therefore request that a meet- ing may be called as soon as convenient to see if the town will grant our request, and you will oblige your friends,

" James Dean, Joseph Dean, David Dean, Benjamin Dean, Aaron Dean, Walter Dean, Ezra Dean, David Dean, Jr., James Dean, Jr., George Shove, Asa Shove, Jolin Boyce, Enoch Boyce, Daniel Lew, Henry Lew, Samuel Shove, Ebenezer Pierce, Jr., Ebenezer Phillips, Darius Phillips, William Cotton, John Lew (2d), John Jones, Jonathan Bryant, William Shove, inhabitants of Dighton."

Assonet Neck was annexed to the town of Berkley in 1799.

This peninsula embraces nearly two square miles of land, being about two miles in length and of an aver- age width of less than a mile. It lies between the Taunton River and its Assonet branch, and in some respects seems to be of a different geological forma- tion from the mainland with which it is joined, being less sandy, and having a more rolling, uneven sur- face.

The celebrated Written Rock, called "Dighton Rock," is situated in the northwestern part of this neck, on the eastern shore of Taunton River. There has been much curiosity and interest manifested con- cerning the inscriptions found thereon, thousands of persons, some from a great distance, having viewed them. There are many theories about their origin, and there will be probably many more until the fig- ures and lines are entirely effaced. For an exhaustive

account of this famous rock see history of Dighton in this work, by G. A. Shove, Esq.

Many of the leading and most numerous family names mentioned at the organization and in the early history of the town have become obsolete in this town entirely, or live mostly in some few remote descend- ants, such as Gilbert, Paull, Burt, Crane, Babbitt, Nichols, Andros, Tobey, French, Tubbs, Dean, San- ford, Hathaway, Axtell, Briggs, Chace, Shove, New- hall, and Peirce. But these families are by no means extinct. Their descendants are to be found in the business centres in this and almost every other State and Territory from the Atlantic to the Pacific, dis- tinguishing themselves in the various professions, judiciary, agricultural, mechanical, and manufac- turing pursuits, and in trade. In short, Berkley, like other purely agricultural towns in New England, is steadily being drained of its youthful and enterprising population, who are attracted to more remunerative fields and pursuits. Although Berkley is almost ex- clusively a farming town, its soil can be called good or in a high state of cultivation only in exceptional cases and localities. The soil is generally sandy, with unmistakable evidence in the far distant past of the deposit of immense icebergs or bowlders of ice upon the surface, which with the continual and in- cessant surging of the water acted upon by the wind caused them to settle deeply, and when the atmosphere was warm enough to melt them there was a consid- erable cavity or "hollow," "Timothy's Hollow" being the most considerable. These "hollows" seem to correspond in shape to the striæe in this vicinity, which seem to have been nearly south, or ten degrees east of south, invariably. In some parts of the town it is rocky and almost covered with bowlders piled up promiscuously in profusion and in disorder, pointing back to an antiquity which geology itself cannot de- termine with certainty. The eastern and northeastern part is plentifully covered and interspersed with bowlders of rocks; there are also Bryant's and Skunk Hills, which are notable hills, which with Apes' Hill constitute the most considerable hills in the town. The original houses and barns were quite rude, as they were generally in the Old Colony, and in these days could not be considered comfortable, but from time to time, according to the pecuniary means or taste, or perhaps both, the owners have improved their dwellings, not in the direction of elegance, but in that of coziness and comfortableness. The houses are well built and finished, painted, and surrounded by some evidences of taste and a desire to improve what has come down from the former generation, which is true progress. The ladies cultivate flowers in summer and winter, which is elevating and enno- bling, for who that cultivates and loves a vegetable flower cannot neglect the more beautiful human flower that needs even more careful and assiduous cultiva- tion, and will so much more appreciate it as the dawn- ing mind is developed into the intelligence of youth

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and the affections of manhood and womanhood. " These are my jewels," pointing to her children, said one who scorned the thought of counting rubies or dia- monds in comparison with those precious immortals. The barns in town are in a very good and comfortable condition, many having cellars under them, for the man who is merciful is merciful to his beasts. At the centre or common are two churches, a chapel, and a school-house, which will be mentioned elsewhere. , There were two hundred and thirty-five dwelling- houses in town in 1881. The common, " Half-Way Plain," will undoubtedly some time be completely ornamented with trees again, and it may be inclosed, but it is hoped that no vandalism will exist to again destroy the young saplings as heretofore. The pub- lic cemeteries have had much attention of late, com- pared with that which was formerly bestowed.

There are many neat monuments and, it may be humbler, but equally affectionate tributes to the an- cestors or the loved and the lost. " Whenever I visit a strange place and desire to know the degree of civ- ilization which veneration and Christianity has wrought I visit their churchyard,-not to see their splendid and costly monuments, but to see the un- pretending but unmistakable tokens of an abiding affection for those whom they have succeeded. It shows that their predecessors are not forgotten." This was said by the greatest of novelists, and per- haps the greatest delineator of character since Shake- speare. There are two public burying-grounds, one at the centre and one in the south part of the town. In both cases a nucleus was bequeathed to the public for that purpose, and in both cases more territory has been purchased to enlarge it, and both are properly inclosed, and many family inclosures are tastefully arranged. There is also another burying-ground in Assonet Neck, known as the Deane burial-ground, where most of that name have been buried, together with some of their relatives of different name. This ground also is well inclosed.

There is but little wealth and less poverty in this town. If there is not luxurious living, neither is there scarcely any suffering for the want of the ma- terial comforts of life. Berkley was once largely engaged in ship- or vessel-building, and owning and sailing them. Vessels are not built here now, and while the town furnishes many master-mariners, the vessels which they command are mostly owned else- where and hail from other ports.

In 1868, D. S. Briggs, Esq., communicated to the Bristol County Republican the following statistics of the commencement and aims of vessel-building in Berkley :

The Hon. Samuel Tobey, about the year 1790, then full of enterprise, and possessing a large share of am- bition, commenced the work of ship-building in this town. He built six ships for the European trade, and four smaller craft for the West India trade. El- kanah Hatheway, about 1804, built three schooners

and two sloops. Ebenezer Crane, in the year 1808, built two sloops of thirty-five tons each, nearly one mile distant from the Taunton River, near the South Cemetery. These vessels, when completed, had trucks placed under them, prepared for the purpose, and were drawn to the river with the united strength of forty yoke of oxen and some one hundred men who led the way, hauling by a rope. It is said one barrel of West India rum was provided for the occasion.

Darius Newhall, from 1804 to 1815, built two brigs, three schooners, and five sloops. Nehemiah Newhall, from 1813 to 1826, built two ships, five brigs, three schooners, and three sloops. About 1815, three ves- sels were built near the northerly part of the town by Edmund Burt and others. In 1827, at the town landing, near Jedediah Briggs' wharf, a steamboat and a schooner were built. Earlier two other vessels had been built at the same place.

Ephraim French built, from 1809 to 1833, six schooners and three sloops.

From 1820 to 1866 twenty-six schooners, eight brigs, one bark, and five sloops were built by Henry Crane, George Crane, Simeon Briggs, Edward Bab- bitt, and others. Thus during a period of three- fourths of a century some hundred vessels were built, varying in size from thirty-five tons to five hundred tons measurement.

Hon. Samuel Tobey, son of the Rev. Mr. Tobey, deserves more than a passing notice here. He-Judge Tobey, as he was called-was justice of the peace, representative to the General Court, State senator, and judge of the Court of Common Pleas. His per- sonal appearance was commanding ; he was for half . a century the most influential man in this town, and his influence was exerted for what he considered the best interest of the town. He was patriotic and public- spirited, kind to those who were in affliction, or who were by any means destitute ; he was esteemed a man of learning and of a remarkably sound judgment. No other man in town was so looked up to and ven- erated as was Judge Tobey. Possessed of an indom- itable will and perseverance, whatever he desired to do he did with all his might. His political partisan conviction and friendships were strong, and he was conciliating towards the opinions of those whose opin- ions were adverse to his. The firm of Samuel Tobey & Son ( Apollos) were engaged in trading in dry-goods and groceries for about fifty years, also in ship-build- ing, in navigation, in farming, and other enterprises which constitute the business era in the history of the town. Judge Tobey was the master-spirit con- cerned in the building of the second meeting-house in 1797 and 1798. But the firm meeting with losses at sea, and other losses, became embarrassed finan- cially, closed up their business, made an assignment, and their property was sold, the creditors making provision for them and their families' comfortable support.

Judge Tobey died in 1825. Taking him all in all,

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we shall rarely see his like again. Apollos, his son, removed to New Bedford, where he lived a number of years and where he died.

Other justices of the peace have been Apollos Tobey, Samuel French, Levi French, Barzillai Crane, Adoniram Crane, Jabez Fox, John Dillingham, Wil- liam S. Crane, Ephraim French, Jr., A. B. Crane, Nathaniel Townsend, Walter D. Nichols, William Babbitt, Giles L. Leach, Daniel S. Briggs, Ebenezer Williams, and Charles Bissell. The duties required of a justice of the peace in this town are almost wholly ministerial, there having been no criminal business to attend to, and all civil suits are tried in higher courts. This town could well dispense with jails, houses of correction, juvenile reformatory in- stitutions, and State's prisons. Although it pays its proportion annually towards supporting these penal institutions, I do not remember the committal of any citizen of this town upon any criminal charge whatever.

TOWN OFFICERS. DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

Town Clerks .- Abel Burt, Ebenezer Phillips, George Caswell, John Briggs, Samuel French, Ebenezer Winslow, and Abel Crane.

Selectmen .- Nathaniel Gilbert, John Burt, Gershom Crane, John Paull, William Nichols, Samuel Gilbert, John Crane, Samuel Tubbs.

Representatives to General Court .- None, the town having to bear the ex- pense.

DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

Town Clerk .- Samuel Tobey, Jr.

Selectmen .- John Paull, James Nichols, Jedediah Briggs, Jacob French, Stephen Webster, Ebenezer Myrick, Levi French, John Babbitt, Ebenezer Paull (2d), Samuel Tubbs, and Israel French.

Representatives to General Court .- Samuel Tobey, Jr., and James Nichols.

UNDER THE STATE CONSTITUTION.

Town Clerks .- Samuel Tobey, Jr., Samuel French, Stephen Burt, John Crane, Joseph Sanford, Apollos Tobey, Adoniram Crane, Asahel Ilathaway, Samuel French, Jr., Abiel B. Crane, Ephraim French, Jr., Daniel S. Briggs, William S. Crane, N. C. Townsend, George Crane, W. D. Nichols, Daniel C. Burt, T, Preston Burt, and John A. Read.

Selectmen .- John Paull, James Nichols, Jedediah Briggs, John Babbitt, Samuel Tubbs, Jr., Levi French, Simeon Burt, Ebenezer Winslow, Ebenezer Paull (2d), John Crane, Abner Burt, Nathaniel Tobey, Samuel Tobey, Apollos Tobey, Ebenezer Crane, Abel Babbitt, Samuel French, Jr., Shadrach Burt, Ezra Dean, Adoniram Crane, Jabez Fox, Henry Crane, Enoch Babbitt, Dean Burt, David Shove, Nathaniel Townsend, Joseph D. Hatheway, Tamerlane Burt, Walter D. Nichols, John C. Crane, Benjamin Luther, William Babbitt, Thomas C. Dean, Daniel S. Briggs, Giles L. Leach, Peter L. Chace, Simeon Briggs, Albert E. Allen, Herbert A. Dean, Benjamin F. Chace, Thomas A. Briggs, Benjamin Crane, Ebenezer Williams, Benjamin F. Coombs.

Representatives to General Court .- John Babbitt, Samuel Tobey, Apollos Tobey, Adoniram Crane, John Dillingham, Samuel French, Rev. Thomas Andros, Tamerlane Burt, Nathaniel Townsend, Leander Andros, Samuel Newhall, Ephraim French, Enoch Babbitt, Abiel B. Crane, William S. Crane, William Babbitt, Walter D. Nichols, Giles L. Leach, Enoch Boyce, llerbert A. Dean.

State Senators .- Samuel Tobey, Samuel French, Walter D. Nichols.

A list of names of those who received a liberal education or its equivalent :

Silas Tobey, Brown University. Rev. Alvin Tobey, Brown University.

Rev. James Barnaby, Brown University. Rev. James Sanford, Brown University.

Rev. John Sanford, Brown University.

Rev. Enoch Sanford, Brown University.

Rev. Baalis Sanford, Brown University. Eliphalet Hevey, M.D., Brown University. Rev. Silas A. Crane, D.D., Brown University. Benjamin Crane, Brown University.

Daniel Crane, Brown University and Union Col- lege.

George Hatheway, Brown University.

Rev. Wm. M. Cornell, LL.D., Brown University.

Rev. Daniel C. Burt, Brown University.

Rev. Thomas T. Richmond.

Rev. James Nichols, Union College ..

Hon. Charles G. W. French, Brown University.

Richard S. S. Andros, Esq.

Rev. Levi French.

Milton Andros, Esq.

Russell L. Hathaway, Esq.

Col. Alexander B. Crane, Amherst.

Edward Crane, M.D., Amherst.

P. Chester Porter, M.D., Amherst.

Shadrach Hatheway, M.D.

Rev. Lucius R. Eastman, Jr., Amherst.

Rev. Jabez Fox.

Rev. Gardner Dean.

There are few towns in this commonwealth which can show so large percentage of educated men during the first half of the nineteenth century. Many of these scholars obtained their education under diffi- culties, but they overcame them all. They have all made their mark in their professions. Of those who attended the ministrations of Mr. Andros alone, thirteen were ordained ministers, eight of whom graduated at Brown University and one at Union College,-nine Congregationalists, one Episcopalian, one " New Church," one Presbyterian, and one Bap- tist, -" a greater number than in any other church in the county."

Some of these scholars deserve particular notice. The Sanford brothers were a remarkable family. They educated themselves largely by their own in- dustry. They were all clergymen, remarkable for sound judgment, and held in high esteem by their parishioners, lived long and useful lives, and when age admonished them to retire from the ministry they retired. Rev. Enoch, the survivor, nearly ninety years of age, is still quite strong in body and mind. He is the author of several local histories and sketches, etc. The Crane brothers likewise were a distinguished family. They, too, obtained an educa- tion largely through their own exertions. Silas A. Crane, D.D., after graduation became tutor in Brown University, took orders in the Episcopal Church, and discharged his clerical duties to the close of his life. For a long time he was at East Greenwich, R. I.,-a most excellent man. Benjamin, after leaving college, tanght an academy, then entered into business as a trader, but returned to teaching again, in which em- ployment he spent most of his life. He was an able

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and faithful teacher, as many now living can testify, a friend to education, a good citizen, and a conscien- tious and useful man.

Daniel attended Brown University and Union Col- lege, was teacher in New England and at the South, was well versed in Latin, Greek, and other languages, in poetry and in history, lives in Ohio, and is a man of literary tastes and pursuits.

Wm. M. Cornell, LL.D., a teacher, clergyman, a doctor of medicine, and an author,-a distinguished man still in active life.

Jabez Fox, a clergyman of the " New Church" per- suasion, editor of a paper, at present in the Treasury Department, Washington, D. C.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 44

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