USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 45
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A man of culture, Gardner Dean, an evangelist, well known in almost every State from New England to Illinois, somewhat eccentric, but had many admirers.
James Nichols, Assistant Professor of Languages, Union College; clergyman, Presbyterian. On ac- count of his voice he left the ministry and became principal of the Geneseo Academy, Livingston County, N. Y., continued there many years, removed to Roch- ester, N. Y., bought the " Female Academy," made it a success, and since his death it has been success- fully continued by his widow, a well-known teacher, and their daughters.
Levi French, clergyman and teacher, of good merit, taught North and South. He was a man of acute in- tellect and of large general knowledge. He was an accurate surveyor of land, a good mathematician, and a safe counselor.
Charles G. W. French, lawyer in Sacramento, Cal. He was appointed United States chief justice of Ari- zona Territory, which position he has honorably filled for many years.
Milton Andros, a lawyer of distinction, San Fran- cisco, Cal.
Col. Alexander B. Crane, a successful lawyer, New York City.
Edward Crane, physician, and editor of a paper printed in Englishı, Paris, France.
P. Chester Porter, physician and a distinguished teacher.
Lucas R. Eastman, Jr., a clergyman of good repu- tation and of large promise.
Thomes Tobey, Richmond, a life-long clergyman, whose long and useful life is still well preserved. He has lately retired from the ministry in Taunton ( West- ville), where his pastorate had endeared him to his parishioners for more than twenty years. His whole ministry of fifty years.
Daniel C. Burt, clergyman, formerly of Acushnet.
Eliphalet W. Hervey, physician at Wareham, of great promise, but died young.
.
Shadrach Hatheway, a practicing physician for a great number of years in his native town. His knowledge and judgment in his profession is highly prized by the members of his profession, and he is considered careful and skillful by his patients.
Russel L. Hatheway was a successful lawyer in Terre Haute, Ind.
Richard S. Andros, editor, poet, custom-house officer in Boston, president of an insurance company, etc., a man of fine literary taste.
Berkley has a suitable town hall, in which town- meetings, elections, etc., are held, and in which other town business is transacted, and tlie standard weights and measures and the books and documents-some of which are very valuable-are kept. It is con- spicuously located upon the park or " common."
This town also has an almshouse, connected with a good farm of about one hundred acres, consisting of mowing, tillage, pasture, and woodland, costing, with the stock, etc., thereon, about five thousand dollars. There were but three inmates in it in March, 1882, ages ranging from seventy-nine to fifty-six years of age ; cost of supporting them, not reckoning the natu- ral decay of buildings, in 1881 and 1882, was less than one hundred dollars. But the outside pauper ex- penses at the insane hospital and private families and partial support amounted to seven hundred dollars. The superintendent of the almshouse has from one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars salary an- nually, together with the board of his family. The town is entirely free from debt. Its roads and bridges, considering the sparseness of the inhabitants and the number of miles of road to be maintained, some of them difficult to repair, are above the average condi- tion of the roads in similarly situated towns.
In 1798, money being scarce, Mr. Andros asked the town in writing to pay his salary of two hundred and fifty dollars in the following manner, which was done: 52 bushels corn @ 3/6; 15 bushels rye (a, 4/; 2 barrels flour (@ 33/; 12 pounds tea (@ 2/5 ; 60 pounds sugar (@ /9; 18 gallons molasses (a. 2/; 15 cords wood (@ 8/; 5 tons E. hay (a) 4/8 ; 3 bushels salt (@) 3/; 400 pounds beef (@ /33 ; 500 pounds pork (@, /4; 100 pounds flax @ /8; 40 sheep's wool (@, 1/6 ; 6 pairs men's shoes @8/; 5 barrels cider @ 6/; 200 pounds cheese @, /6; 100 pounds butter (@ /8; cash, $16.17.
1815. Mr. Andros' salary was increased fifty dollars and was then fixed at four hundred and fifty dollars annually, and so remained to the end of his minis- try.
In 1798 there was a subscription paper started and completed with $259.50 volunteered for the " pur- chase of a bell for the new meeting-house in Berkley." A meeting of the subscribers was then held, and they voted to purchase a bell of six hundred pounds weight, chose Samuel Tobey, Simeon Burt, and Luther Crane a committee to purchase a bell in Boston, and the aforesaid committee purchased a bell of Paul Revere of 635 pounds weight @@ 2/7 per pound, amounting to $273.37 ; carting home, $2.75; total, $276.12.
Some actions of the town : 1740. Voted to pay Rev. Mr. Tobey £3 10s. to make good the depreciation in the currency the present year.
1748. Voted to the Rev. S. Tobey for his salary
185
BERKLEY.
the ensuing year £250 old tenor, to enable him to carry on the ministry in our town of Berkley.
1751. Rev. S. Tobey's salary was voted to be paid as follows : Rye, 48. per bushel ; Indian corn (f. 33. 4d. per bushel ; beef, 21d. per pound; pork (@ 4d. per pound ; flax (a. 93d. per pound; oak cord-wood (@ 98. 43d. per cord.
1761. Voted £60 lawful money as the salary of Rev. S. Tobey the ensuing year.
Voted to pay Abel Burt for going to Boston to have Taunton remain the shire town of our county.
1761. Voted to pay Rowland Gavin £4, by reason of his having to leave teaching and move out of his house on account of the smallpox.
May 22, 1775. Samuel Tobey, Jr., was sent to represent the town in the Provincial Congress at Cam- bridge.
Persons moving into the town without its consent, and in the opinion of the town likely to become chargeable, were warned according to the law to leave the town within a specified number of days or they would be proceeded against. There are frequent warnings of this kind on record.
In the early history of this town vocal music re- ceived great attention. Singing-schools in winter evenings were frequent, and most pleasant reunions of : legible and well written, and have been well preserved. Some of the records are remarkable specimens of good penmanship. They are such records as citizens of the town may well greatly prize, and proudly hand them down to posterity for their imitation.
the young and older people, who were scattered in their homes over a considerable territory. The sing- ing-schools were mostly taught by some of the best singers in town. Later Deacon G. Sanford taught sing- ing-schools for many winters. Col. Adoniram Crane was also teacher of public schools and singing-schools in this and other towns, both in Plymouth County and in Dukes County.
He was a man of dignified and commanding per- sonal appearance, an excellent town officer, and as a singer he was well known in this and the neighboring towns as well for the great compass of his voice, his fine musical taste, and the correctness of his ear. To appreciate his singing in church he must have been heard. He was chorister in the First Church some forty years (when present), and in the Second Church from its organization to the close of his life. He was president of the Beethoven Society, composed of the best singers in the neighboring towns. After his death, A. B. Crane, a good singer and musical com- poser, became chorister in his stead.
The mechanics of the present generation belonging originally to this town have emigrated mostly to other places, where better opportunities for employment offer. In fact, Berkley seems to have been and now is a good town to emigrate from. In the past, every- thing considered, there were a goodly number in the various trades. Carpenters and builders, Ebenezer Pierce and two sons, Simeon Chace and two sons, Reuben Phillips and three sons, Samuel Phillips, and Ebenezer Dean. At present there are Benjamin F. Coombs, J. D. Dillingham, Frank Phillips, Dean P. Westgate, Timothy E. French, William Boyce,
Henry Hatheway. Wheelwrights and carriage- makers, Enoch S. Hatheway, Ellery Strange. The- ophilus Shove was cabinet-maker and undertaker for a period of more than a half-century. There were in the past a great number of ship-carpenters, who worked at home and in many other places, also Wil- liam K. Evans, machinist and inventor. Blacksmiths in the past, John Perkins, Tisdale Porter, John Clark, William S. Crane, Thomas Strange; present, James Wade, William H. S. Crane, James Maguire, George Macomber. Carriage manufacturer, S. W. Luther. Masons in the past, Joseph Sanford, John Briggs, Amos Briggs; at present, Nathaniel Case, David Hoxie, Jr., Arza Harmon. Shoemakers (they used to go from house to house and make the family shoes ; they were not kept for sale in country stores), George Sanford, Enoch Babbitt, George Briggs, Thomas Burt, Adoniram Cummings, and many others. Now this business is confined almost exclusively to repairing. Of stores there were those of Samuel Tobey & Son, Simeon Burt, Levi S. Crane, Jabez Fuller, Abiel B. Crane, Ephraim French. There is a variety store at Myrickville, Mr. Macomber's, which has a run of busi- ness, and is the only store in town.
The records of the town of Berkley are remarkably
The First Congregational Church had during the eighteenth century ruling elders as the first officers of the church. They were Daniel Axtell, Jacob French, John Paull, Ebenezer Crane. The deacons, Gershom Crane, Daniel Axtell, Jacob French, John Paull, Samuel Tubbs, Ebenezer Crane, George Sanford, Eb- enezer Winslow, Samuel Tobey, Luther Crane, Tisdale Briggs, Barzillai Crane, James Hathaway, Thomas C. Dean, Isaac Babbitt.
Deacons of Second or Trinitarian Congregational Church were William S. Crane, William Babbitt, Daniel S. Briggs.
Around and near the common or centre of the town there are a number of fine, commodious, and tastefully-arranged dwellings, among the best in town, very pleasantly located. It is a very pleasant locality for country residences. The Berkley post- office is near by. It was established about 1818, and has a daily mail. The postmasters have been Asahel Hatheway, Abiel B. Crane, Joseph D. Hatheway, and Daniel S. Briggs.
There is also another post-office at Myrickville, at the junction of the New Bedford and Boston and the Newport and Boston Old Colony Railroads, which also has a daily mail. William Simms, postmaster.
At the Bridge village, called also West Berkley, there are a number of neat and comfortable dwell- ings, occupied by shipmasters, mechanics, farmers, etc. Here is the Berkley and Dighton bridge across
186
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
the Taunton River, which gives name to the village. The first bridge was built in 1806, and was a toll- bridge. Liberty was given by the Legislature to re- move it, the draw being too narrow, it was claimed, for the larger class of vessels which were required to transact the increased and increasing business of Taunton higher up on the river. Accordingly it was removed, after standing about forty-five years. In 1872 a bridge, to be built by the county, was char- tered and soon after built under the charge and to the acceptance of the county commissioners, and it is a great public convenience. In the first half of the present century this was a busy village, largely en- gaged in vessel-building and other business, most of which has been discontinued. In 1800, Berkley had 115 dwelling-houses. In 1880 it had 235 dwelling- houses, 9686 acres taxed, about $400,000 taxable prop- erty, 276 polls taxed, and rate of taxation $9 per $1000.
In 1675, near the commencement of King Philip's war, Mr. -- Babbitt was going along the river path from one settlement to another to get a cheese-hoop. He had with him a small dog, whose restlessness prob- ably gave warning of some strange person near. The man took the hint and ascended a large pine-tree, hoping to be concealed among the thick branches; but his dog, true to his instinet, remained at the tree. The Indian attempted to drive him away, but finding that the dog was unwilling to leave his suspicion was aroused. He examined the tree, but at first discov- ered nothing, and endeavored to call the dog away, but to no purpose. In making another examination he saw something which caused him to shoot at it, when down came Babbitt dead. The Indian related his exploit to some other Indians, and they in turn to the settlers, who found and buried him. There is a stone erected to commemorate the event and the place. The inscription reads, "- Babbitt Killed by In- dians 1675." Tradition also has different versions, but there always is a man, a dog, an Indian, and a cheese-hoop; in each that the man was killed.
Berkley, as has been noticed elsewhere, is almost exclusively an agricultural town. It has no valuable water-power, and, as has already been said, the soil in some parts of the town is sandy and other parts rocky and hard, with some exceptions. The most valuable crop is hay. The salt marshes of Assonet Neck have considerable value. Indian corn was an important crop and should be still. Potatoes, turnips, etc., are raised for market. Horticulture has some attention. One of the best horticultural gardens in the county, G. F. Wilbur's, is in the north part of the town. There is some fruit-raising also. Some parts of the town are well adapted to the raising of apples, pears, and small fruit. There is also some woodland, which in the past has furnished timber for vessels that were built here. But in these days of the general use of coal for fuel, wood is of less importance than for- merly. But the early settlers were an industrions and brave people. They were as noble, pious, prudent,
and sensible people as settled any part of the Old Colony. There have been many large families reared and educated, who have in turn founded and educated families in other localities which considered and prized them as among their most valued citizens. Having been reared to habits of industry, prudence, and integrity, they have distinguished themselves among distinguished men and women wherever they are found. There was formerly a considerable and a prosperous business in the preparing and market- ing of shingles, mostly cedar from North Carolina swamps. A gang of men would be hired and carried to the swamps, a " cabin" built in the swamps, the trees felled, sawed into blocks of the proper length, then split into the required thickness, shaved, bound in bundles, shipped northward and sold. Those shingles were valuable for their durability. At pres- ent that business is discontinued here. Annual in- come of the oyster fisheries of Assonet Neck, and of the shad and alewive fishing privileges belonging to the town, amounts to about the sum annually raised by taxation for the support of the public schools, or about fourteen hundred and fifty dollars.
The following facts concerning the town of Berkley are gleaned from the tenth United States census of 1880 :
Population :
Males
472
Females
455
Total 927
Place of birth :
Massachusetts. 812
Maine ..
12
New Hampshire.
96 6
Rhode Island
40
Connecticut
5
New York
F
Canada ..
4
Prince Edward's Island
1
England
8
Ireland
13
Scotland.
1
Sweden
3
Parent nativity :
Both parents native. 66 foreign .. 45
857
Mother native and father foreign.
13 Foreign parents' nativity :
United States and Great Britain. 66 . British America.
Ireland.
S
Occupations :
Government and professional, male, 6; female, 5; total
11
Domestic and personal, female ...
S
Trade and transportation, male, 41; female, 1; total 42
Agriculture, native born, 77; Irish, 3; English, 1; Canadian, 1 ; total, male.
82
Fisheries, male ..
8
Manufactures and mechanical industries, male, 106 ; female, 2; total.
108
Apprentices, laborers, and indefinite.
104
Boot and shoemakers.
3
Builders.
4º
Carriage-makers
4
Engaged in making clothing, female, 1; cotton goods, male, 2; total
3
In tanning leather.
In sawing lumber
6
Stone-cutters, male.
3
Ship-carpenters 13
Basket-makers
Illiteracy :
Persons over ten who cannot read, 6; write, 7; total 13
Number of farms 42
Number of gallons of milk sold. 43,507
Number of pounds of butter made .. 5,280
Eggs, dozens. 10,605
1
Father native and mother foreign
1
Ireland
New Jersey
Vermont ..
Millian Babbit
To. H. Fletcher
187
BERKLEY.
Potatoes, acres bushels.
26
3,440
Indian corn, acres
47
bushels
1,201
Ilay, tons
532
Ages of the inhabitants of the town of Berkley from under one year to over one hundred :
Age.
Ago.
Under 1 year
10
35 years
1
11
36
12
37
3
21
38
4
5
17
40
13
6
41
9
42
7
S
43
6
9
44
19
10
45
11
11
46
12
47
13
48
49
=
12
17
10
52
9
53
19
54
19
55
4
22
14
23
11
58
7
24
15
59
14
60
61 to 65 years
27
66 to 70
71 to 75
76 to 80
81 to 85
31
19
86 to 90
32
64
16
91 to 95
33
15
96 to 100 €
34
13
101 and over
1
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
WILLIAM BABBITT.
" Edward Bobit," the ancestor of the Babbitt family in New England, was "subject to do military duty" in Taunton in- 1643, as shown by the records of the General Court. He married Sarah Farne, daughter of Miles Farne, of Boston, 7th month 7th, 1654. He was a land-owner in North Purchase in 1668, and was one of the " committee to view damages done to the Indians in 1671." He and Sarah, his wife, had children,-
1. Edward, born July 15, 1655.
2. Sarah, born March 20, 1657; married Samuel Pete, March, 1680.
3. Hannah, born March 9, 1660.
4. Damaris, born Sept. 15, 1663.
5. Elkana, born Dec. 15, 1665; married Elizabeth Briggs, June 25, 1690.
6. Dorcas, born Jan. 20, 1666 ; died April 9, 1676.
7. Esther, born April 15, 1669.
8. Ruth, born Aug. 7, 1671.
9. Deliverance, born Dec. 15, 1673.
Second Generation.
1698. He gave five acres of land towards purchasing a house for Rev. Mr. Danforth in 1688. He was one of the proprietors in 1689, and was of Dighton, May 26, 1720. Ilis will is dated Feb. 5, 1727, in which he mentions his wife Elizabeth, sons Benajah, Erasmus, Seth, Nathan, Edward, Nathaniel. and George, and daughters Sarah Thyre, Abigail Burt, Ruth, Han- nah, and Waitstill. His wife Elizabeth and son Be- najah were his executors. His will was proved March 20, 1732-33.
John Babbitt, the son of Benajah, was the grand- father of William Babbitt, the subject of this sketch. He married for his second wife Lydia Myrick, and resided at "the Farms" in Berkley. William Babbitt is the son of Peter and Martha (Briggs) Babbitt. He was born at " the Farms" in Berkley, March 22, 1817. He received his early education at the district schools, and resided at Berkley Common from the age of twelve to that of twenty-six, when he was united in marriage with Mary Dean Burt, the marriage occur- ring Aug. 23, 1842.
In 1844, Mr. Babbitt settled on the place where he now resides. He has followed the lumbering busi- ness, chiefly in North Carolina, shipping his lumber to Rhode Island and other parts of New England. Although starting empty-handed, with no resources but his energy and industry, he has achieved a fair degree of prosperity and gained an honorable stand- ing among his fellow-citizens. He is highly esteemed as one of the self-made men of his period.
A Whig originally in politics, he has been since the dissolution of that party a Republican, and has served his town in the capacity of selectman for many years, being always elected when he would allow himself to run for the office. In 1861 he served in the Legisla- ture, and also in 1872, on several important commit- tees, among others the Committee on Claims. He was for several years deacon of the Second Congrega- tional Church of Berkley, and is highly esteemed as a worthy and public-spirited citizen and an honor- able representative of one of the oldest families of the town.
PHILIP H. FLETCHER.
Philip H. Fletcher is the son of William and Jane Fletcher, and was born in Prince Edward Island, Sept. 12, 1813. His parents were poor, and at that day there was no provision made in the county of his nativity for the free education of the children of the poorer classes. Consequently, about the only means available to young Fletcher to obtain even the rudi- ments of an education was the Sabbath-school in his native place. At the age of seven he went to live with his maternal grandfather, John Lane, with whom he remained till about fifteen, his time being spent on the farm. He then returned to his father's home, and five years later emigrated to the States, stopping first in New Jersey, where he remained about a year,
Edward Babbitt, son of the first Edward, married Abigail Tisdale, Feb. 1, 1683. She was probably a daughter of John Tisdale, Jr., and born July 15, 1667. Their son Edward was born Feb. 14, 1686, and married for his second wife Elizabeth Thyre, Dec. 22, ! when he became engaged in the railroads of that State,
14 15
14 15
16
16
51
18
19
66
20
21
56
57
26
15 10
28 29
19
12
30
11
13 17 39 34 26 24 6 7 1 0
2 years.
10
39 54
10 17 14 7 9
11
13
17 15 16
7 15 7 13
19 11 19 12
50
13 S 13 12 10 10
=
188
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, in which business the next eight years of his life was spent.
His health failing, he located his family in the town of Berkley, Mass., and engaged in peddling general merchandise through the surrounding country. This occupation he followed twenty-eight years, during which time, however, he undertook a number of con- tracts on different railroads, in the carrying through of which he manifested much pluck, enterprise, and energy, and met with good financial success. He then sold out to his sons his interest in the peddling business, and gave his attention to agricultural pur- suits, to which his chief energies have since been di- rected.
Mr. Fletcher has always been a temperate man both in theory and practice. He is a man of sincere conviction and earnest purpose, strong willed and determined when once he is convinced of the correct- ness of his course. These qualities have not unfre- quently made him enemies among the class not holding such views as himself, and on more than one occasion he has suffered pecuniary loss through in- cendiarism and other means at the hands of those of the vicious class whose enmity he had incurred.
Mr. Fletcher has been many years selectman and collector in his town. In church matters he has always been liberal and earnest. A few years since, when the movement to build a new Methodist Epis- copal Church at Berkley was inaugurated, Mr. Fletcher was not only one of the largest contributors, but one of the most active workers to achieve the success of the enterprise. He was one of the build- ing committee under whose supervision the structure was erected, and he furnished the larger part of the funds necessary to its construction, waiting for reim- bursement until the various sums subscribed should be paid in. Though he is not now a member of this church, yet he does not regret his donation or his labors in its behalf.
It had long been one of the cherished aims and objects of Mr. Fletcher's life to visit the Old World and see face to face its numerous places of interest ; to view the scenes where have been enacted so many of the events which have shaped the destinies of nations, and particularly to visit Palestine, the cradle of our civilization, and the place made holy and sacred by the birth, residence, and crucifixion of our Saviour. Early in December, 1871, he set sail from Boston for Liverpool, where, after a pleasant voyage, he arrived December 14th. He then visited most of the principal places of interest on the European conti- nent, embracing London, Paris, Turin, Florence, Rome, Naples, the volcano of Vesuvius, and Pompeii ; thence across the Mediterranean to Alexandria, Cairo, the pyramids, etc .; through the Suez Canal to Port Said ; thence to Joppa and Jerusalem, and to all the places of historic interest in the holy land, among which may be mentioned Mount Carmel, Mount Tabor, Naz- areth, the Sea of Galilee, Damascus, Baalbec, Beyrout,
Smyrna, and Ephesus. He then proceeded to Athens and Constantinople, where he crossed the Black Sea to Odessa, Russia ; thence through Poland and Hun- gary to Vienna, Austria, from which point he returned through Germany to Paris, and via London to Edin- burgh and Glasgow, Scotland, and to Belfast, Ireland, visiting the famous Giant's Causeway; thence to Dublin, Queenstown, and home, where he arrived April 14, 1872, four months and a half, into which was crowded more of pleasure, instruction, and bene- fit than in any other like period in the whole of the seventy years of his life.
Mr. Fletcher married, May 14, 1835, Cynthia A. Greene, daughter of Waterman Greene, of Rhode Island, granddaughter of Nathan Greene, and most probably a descendant of Gen. Greene, of Revolu- tionary fame. She was born Sept. 22, 1814. To them were born nine children, only three of whom are now living,-Sarah J. (deceased), born July 19, 1837; Permelia F. (deceased), born Feb. 5, 1840; William H., born Aug. 27, 1841; Violetta F. (deceased), born June 24, 1843; Mary E. (deceased), born Feb. 14, 1845 ; John E. (deceased), born Jan. 8, 1847 ; George F., born Nov. 26, 1848; Eliza A. (deceased), born Jan. 2, 1851; and Louis P., born Aug. 26, 1855. Of those now living, William H. is married and has six children ; he resides in Trenton, N. J. George F. is married, has three children, and lives in Raynham. Louis P., now a widower, has one child, and resides with his father in Berkley.
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