History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 46

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 46


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WALTER DEAN NICHOLS.


Walter Dean Nichols, son of Abiel and Delia (Briggs) Nichols, was born in Berkley, Mass., on April 28, 1814. Not much is known of the life of William Nichols, the ancestor of the Nichols family in Bristol County. He was born in Scotland in 1689, came to this country, settled in Berkley, and married Joanna Paull, daughter of John Paull, of Berkley, previous to 1721. He died in 1754. He probably practiced medicine, as he was called doctor. The union by marriage with the Paull family doubtless was a source of strength. His son, James Nichols, was one of the most prominent men of Berkley at his time, and was honored by the town with numer- ous offices of trust. He was a man of large executive ability and was engaged in numerous real-estate op- erations of magnitude in various parts of the county, as county records show. He was born in 1732, mar- ried Esther Dean, of Berkley, about 1764, and died 1792. He was grandfather of Walter D. Nichols, and also of Dr. Thomas G. Nichols, recently deceased.


Walter D. Nichols is a self-made man, having re- ceived the limited education which he obtained in early life previous to the age of sixteen, at which period he was apprenticed to the trade of a painter, and served his time in Fall River and New Bedford. In 1834, at the age of nineteen, he began school-


Halter do. nicholas


A.B. Brane


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teaching in the town of Richmond, Ontario Co., N. Y., where he taught five months, and in the spring of 1835 went to Albany, N. Y., and worked at his trade as à painter. He removed thence to Red Hook, on the Hudson, in Dutchess County, N. Y., where he remained several years, and in 1836 was united in marriage to Lucinda Hervey, daughter of James Hervey, of Berkley, Mass.


After his marriage Mr. Nichols settled at Red Hook. In the autumn of 1836 he removed to To- ledo, Ohio, where he remained two years, at the ex- piration of which he removed with his family to his native town of Berkley, where he has since resided. Mrs. Nichols died Oct. 20, 1845, and in 1846 he mar- ried for his second wife Nancy H. Dean, daughter of Samuel Dean, of Berkley. The children by the first marriage were Fidelia L. (deceased), Fanny A. (de- ceased), Mary A. J., and Jesse G .; by the second marriage, Mary N., Walter D., Caroline M., Emma C., Sarah E., James H., James M. D., and Frank H.


Mr. Nichols was one of the "Argonauts of '49"; he visited California ria Cape Horn, and was six months on the voyage, and after a varied experience of four months in the newly-discovered "Ophir," he returned home by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. His life has been somewhat varied, he having fol- lowed his trade as a painter, and also fishing and farming, besides devoting a considerable share of his time to teaching. He has taught in all about thirty winters.


In local politics he has taken an active part, first as a Whig, during the existence of that party, and since as a Republican, and has held every office in the gift of his townsmen, serving as selectman for a number of years. In 1855 he was a member of the House of Representatives, and in 1864-66 he was a member of the State Senate, and the last year served on the Com- mittee on Valuation. He has taken an active interest in all public affairs in his town, particularly in mat- ters of education, and is the author of the history of Berkley in this work.


The children of Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, born at the old homestead, are widely scattered. The only sur- viving daughter by the first wife is Mrs. Charles H. Clarke, formerly of Cambridge, Mass., now a resident of Milwaukee. Nancy N. Street, eldest child by the second marriage, is a practicing physician (homœo- pathist) in Cincinnati ; Walter D. is a farmer in Kan- sas ; Nancy D., wife of Dr. W. W. Freeman, resides in Anoka, Minn .; Caroline M. (now Mrs. Alden) and Emma C. are proprietors and teachers of the Kindergarten in Providence, R. I .; Sarah E. (Mrs. George E. Royce) resides in Berkley, Mass .; James M. D. is a resident of Colorado, and Frank H. lives with his brother in Kansas.


ABIEL BRIGGS CRANE.


The name Crane is variously spelled Crain, Crayne, etc., but all were originally one family. Jasper Crayne was one of the first settlers of the New Haven Colony, and one of its leading and most influential members. He was one of the signers of the first or " fundamental" agreement, June 4, 1639. His son, Jasper, Jr., was born in New Haven, April 2, 1651, and was one of those who attempted a settle- ment of lands on the Delaware, and were repulsed by the Dutch, natives, Swedes, and Finns. Like his father he was a man of influence and ability, and held va- rious offices and positions of public and private trust. The family of Cranes have always been people of the highest respectability in New Jersey and Connecticut, and wherever their descendants are to be found they exhibit the same spirit and characteristics that dis- tinguished their pioneer ancestors. Four of this name graduated at Brown University prior to 1829, eight at Amherst prior to 1855, eight at Yale prior to 1851, six at Harvard, and four at Dartmouth prior to 1850. Henry Crane, who was probably the ancestor of the Crane family in Bristol County, was a native of Guil- ford, Conn. He was representative from Kennelworth, and at another period of his life was a prominent man at Killingworth.


Bernice Crane was one of the early settlers of Berk- ley, Mass. His wife lived to be a centenarian. His son Benjamin married Alinda Briggs, July 29, 1798. They had ten children, two of whom, however, died in infancy. All the others lived to maturity. Ben- jamin died Oct. 10, 1855, Mrs. Crane having preceded him one year. The eldest son, Silas A., graduated at Providence College, in which institution he after- wards became tutor. Later he studied divinity, and be- came pastor of an Episcopalian Church in Vermont.


He afterwards went to St. Louis, Mo., and became president of a college. A few years later he returned to New England, established himself as a minister at East Greenwich, R. I., and spent the remaining thirty years of his life there. He died July 16, 1872. Ben- jamin, another brother, was also educated at Provi- dence College, taught school a number of years, finally settled as a farmer in his native town, and died there Nov. 11, 1861. Daniel, another son, also received a collegiate education, was a farmer and school-teacher, and a great bookworm. He was noted for the extent and diversity of his knowledge. Of the daughters of Benjamin, Caroline became the accomplished wife of Hon. George P. Marsh, who was four years minis- ter to Constantinople, and twenty-one years minister to Rome, dating from 1861 to the time of his death, July, 1882. Mr. Marsh was an author of merit, as his many well-known works will testify. Mrs. Marsh, who survives him, is also a writer of distinction. In addition to other literary work, she has translated a number of poems from the German. Lucy, the other daughter, married a celebrated German physician, resident in St. Louis, Mo.


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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.


A. B. CRANE, the fifth son of Benjamin, did not re- ceive the advantage of a college training. At a very early age he developed a marked taste and talent for music. And while the general tenor of his life's work has been in a widely different field, yet, like the mag- net to the pole, his heart has ever turned in his leisure moments to the "harmony of sweet sounds," and he has at different periods of his life contributed to the standard musical publications and collections of the day. And even now, in the autumn of his life, since the period of his business career has closed, he amuses himself and whiles away the hours in the composition of sacred music. While he has never made music a profession, yet it has been the study of his life, and from it he has derived much pleasure and happiness, and he has produced many prized and popular pieces.


He began his business life at the age of seventeen as clerk in a store at Newberne, N. C. He filled this position two winters, returning North during the summer months. He then became partner in the business, which was continued but a year longer. He then returned home and established himself as a merchant in his native town of Berkley. Most of his business life has been spent in mercantile pur- suits, having at different periods been engaged in merchandising in Florida, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Boston, Taunton, Weir Junction, and Berk- ley. During the years of 1852-54 he was in the pork trade in Indiana. From 1865 to 1872 he was engaged quite extensively in shingle manufacturing in North Carolina. His life has been an active and diversified one, and in the main a successful one.


Mr. Crane has always persistently refused aeting in any official capacity when he could consistently avoid it, partly because he shrank from anything sa- voring of publicity or notoriety, and partly because his business pursuits called him so frequently and so long away from home. He has, however, been more than once honored by his fellow-citizens with the cloak of office. He has been town clerk, and during the war he, upon the urgent solicitation of his towns- men, acted for several years as town treasurer. In 1851 he was elected representative from Berkley, and again in 1865 he represented the district embracing Berkley, Freetown, Fairhaven, and Acushnet.


He united with the Congregational Church in 1832. In 1848 the Trinitarian Congregational Church was organized and the chapel built. In 1872 the church was reorganized as a Methodist Episcopal Church, and both Mr. and Mrs. Crane are members. He has always been a very liberal and earnest supporter of the church and one of its most devoted members.


In 1875 there was erected in Berkley a very hand- somne and commodious church building. Towards this building Mr. Crane was a liberal contributor, and this structure is now their place of worship, and will long stand as a monument to the religious zeal and public spirit of the citizens of Berkley.


Porter, of Berkley. Their children are Emma P., born July 20, 1830, now the wife of Charles Bissett, of Berkley ; Alexander B., born April 23, 1833, now a prominent lawyer in New York City ; Samuel N., born Oct. 6, 1835, now a collecting agent in New York City ; Asahel P., born Feb. 18, 1838, died Oct. 29, 1856; Helen H., born Feb. 9, 1842, now a teacher of French and music in Providence, R. I .; Rebecca P. N., born March 14, 1844, now the wife of Rev. Lu- eius R. Eastman, Jr., of Framingham, Mass.


DANIEL SUMNER BRIGGS.


D. S. Briggs was born April 19, 1813, in the town of Vassalborough, Me. He is the son of George and Eunice (French) Briggs, and grandson of William Briggs, who about the year 1800 went from Dighton, Mass., to Minot (now Auburn), Me. This William Briggs was by occupation a ship-carpenter. George, his son, was born in Dighton, Mass., 1781, and at the age of eighteen apprenticed himself to Levi French to learn the trades of tanner and shoemaker, the latter of which he followed through life. After com- pleting the term of his apprenticeship he married Eunice, daughter of Levi French, and soon after emigrated, in company with his father, to Maine, where he resided till 1819, when he returned to Mas- sachusetts and located in Berkley, where he passed the remainder of his life. Mr. Briggs was a man much respected in the community, and in the quiet walk in which his life was spent did his part well. He was chosen selectman of Berkley, and served in that capacity a number of years. He was a member of the Congregational Society, and in political faith was a Whig. He died in 1853.


Daniel S. Briggs, whose portrait we publish, is one of that class of men whose life-work will give tinge and coloring to the career of myriads yet unborn. Not that he was instrumental in inaugurating or directing any great revolution or reform, but he has been a worthy soldier in the great army of educators. The teacher who instrnets, improves, develops, and properly directs the mental powers of a child into that channel which, as the years go by, shall make him or her an intelligent, useful member of society, gives coloring and shape not only to the life of that particular man or woman, but through them to that of their progeny.


Mr. Briggs received in his youth only such educa- tional advantages as the schools of his town afforded, but being of a literary turn of mind he gave his leisure moments to study, and at the early age of eighteen he began teaching school, and from that time until he was sixty years of age he employed from three to seven months of almost every year in instructing the youth of his neighborhood. During this time he has taught a number of terms in every district in Berkley, and also several years in adjacent


On Sept. 21, 1829, A. B. Crane married Emma T. , towns. Thus for more than forty years was he en-


I S. Briggs


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DARTMOUTH.


gaged in sowing the seeds of knowledge in the fruitful soil of youthful minds.


Aug. 1, 1855, he received an appointment as post- master at Berkley (Commons), and has continued to hold the office to the present writing. He was chosen selectman during the war of the Rebellion, and held the office four consecutive years. He was re-elected to the same office in 1882. He has also been town clerk of Berkley, and has been a member of the school committee many years. In political affinity he is a Republican, and in church relation both he and his wife are Methodists.


He married, Nov. 12, 1837, Sarah, daughter of Abiatha and Sarah Crane, of Berkley, by whom he had two children,-Rowena, born Nov. 18, 1838, mar- ried Reuben Stone, of Newton Centre, Mass., and Caleb Sumner Crane, born Nov. 16, 1840, married Jerusha Luther, is a farmer, and resides in Berkley. Mrs. Briggs died Nov. 21, 1840. Mr. Briggs married as his second wife Permillia H., daughter of Rollin Eaton, of Berkley, Oct. 6, 1841.


To this latter marriage there is no issue. Mr. Briggs enjoys a serene and healthful old age, and is much beloved and respected by the entire community in which he resides.


REV. THOMAS ANDROS.


Berkley, which was originally a part of Taunton, was incorporated in 1735. It is worthy of note for the many distinguished men who have been born within its borders. Rev. Samuel Tobey was the first minister, being settled in 1737, and continuing until his death in 1781, holding a pastorate of forty-four years, exert- ing a most benign influence, leaving the impress of his deep piety and manly character upon its inhab- itants. The second minister was Rev. Thomas An- dros, a native of Plainfield, Conn. He was a sol- dier in the war of the Revolution, and one who saw much of the horrors of that war, being a prisoner on board the old Jersey prison ship. Surviving the perils of such captivity, he entered the ministry and settled in this town, where for about forty years he exerted a most salutary influence, not only for the cause of religion, but in awakening a love of sound learning. His home was a seminary where the young men of his parish were fitted for college, and the in- fluence of his beneficent labors was transmitted to the generations that succeeded him. Eminent as a theologian, accomplished as a scholar, his life stands forth as a signal example of the highest type of New England character. Among those who have been distinguished as men of eminence that have been born here and educated under the tutelage of Father Andros were Silas Axtel Crane, D.D., Rev. W. M. Cornell, M.D., D.D., LL.D., Rev. Jabez Fox, Rev. John Sanford, Rev. Baalis Sanford, Rev. Enoch San- ford, Rev. James Sanford, Rev. Daniel C. Burt, Hon. Daniel French, Rev. Julius C. Anthony, Hon. R. L.


Hathaway, Benjamin Crane, A.M., Hon. Charles G. W. French. This is but a partial list of those who received their early training and inspiration from the eminent pastor and teacher. Though nearly forty years have elapsed since Father Andros passed from the scenes of his earthly labors, the town still holds his name with reverence, and will treasure his memory as worthy of the most prominent place in its history. Mr. Andros had a large family that grew up, but his posterity bearing his name is not numerous. Milton, his youngest son, born in 1823, is an eminent lawyer of San Francisco, Cal.


CHAPTER XV.


DARTMOUTH.1


Geographical-Bartholomew Gosnold-His Visit to these Shores in 1602 -The Grant of Dartmouth-Original Bounds-Origin of the Name- Ecclesiastical Troubles-Resisting Taxation-Court Orders-Stringent Laws-The Town Indicted-Imprisonment of Selectmen of Dartmouth and Tiverton-Petition to the King-The Taxes Remitted and Pris- oners Released-Ilistory of Early Settlers and, Proprietors.


DARTMOUTH is located in the southern part of the county, and is bounded as follows: on the north by Fall River and Freetown, on the east by New Bed- ford and Buzzard's Bay, on the south by Buzzard's Bay, and on the west by Westport.


In the summer of 1602, Bartholomew Gosnold, while fortifying his settlement upon the little islet within the island of Cuttyhunk, had crossed the bay -described by Gabriel Archer, the chronicler of the expedition, as a " stately sound"-and had trod upon the shores of Dartmouth. The Indians from the mainland had visited him and his band of adven- turers in their island home, and Gosnold had returned their visits. He landed somewhere in the vicinity of the Round Hills, called by him Hap's Hill, and fol- lowed the coast westward to Gooseberry Neck. The locality is described as possessing " stately groves, flowery meadows, and running brooks," and the ad- venturers were delighted with the climate, the beauty of the country, and the fertility of the soil.


Gosnold's idea of planting a colony in this vicinity failed, and the territory was uninhabited by the white man until after the landing of the Pilgrims at Ply- mouth. Looking back over this long period of time, we can hardly fail to discern why the settlement at Cuttyhunk was a failure and the settlement at Ply- mouth a success. Gosnold and Gilbert and Archer and Rosier and Brierton were gentlemen adventurers, in quest of novelty and the excitement of a bold, daring enterprise, with a hope of gain; and when


1 The editor acknowledges his indebtedness for this chapter to the Ilon. William W. Crapo, being a portion of an address delivered by him in 1864. Mr. Crapo has ever manifested a praiseworthy interest in historical matters, and has added many valuable contributions to the historic literature of the State.


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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.


they had unfolded this fair land and had collected a sufficient quantity of sassafras-root and cedar and furs to load their little bark, the only bond which then united them was the cargo they had collected, and each one was ambitious to return with it to Eng- land to profit by its sale, and tell the marvelous stories of their adventures. We do not wonder, then, that although they found the red-and-white straw- berry " as sweet and much bigger than in England," with "great store of deer and other beasts," and feasted and grew fat upon the young sea-fowl which they found in their nests, they did not build up a permanent settlement.


On the other hand, Carver and Bradford and Wins- low and Brewster and Standish, the men of the "May- flower," came from far different motives,-not from gain, adventure, or novelty, but to plant a colony which should be permanent and enduring ; to carry out, heedless of privations and sufferings, heedless of the scorn and oppression behind and the uncertain- ties and dangers before, their ideas of a government founded upon equality, justice, and religion. The col- ony at Plymouth, conquering all obstacles, achieved permanency and growth, and from thence came the early founders of Dartmouth. We are proud of our ancestry, proud that the men of Dartmouth were Puritans. Those "stout-hearted and God-fearing men" were our fathers. Never can they be mentioned but with honor, for none ever did more or suffered more for the human race. Oppression did not intimi- date nor privations turn them. They were stern and unyielding in their convictions of the right, and thor- oughly fixed and resolute in their purpose to found a Christian commonwealth. Inspired with the one grand idea of a government resting upon liberty and religion, they thought not of policy, expediency, or compromise, but listened only to the dictates of con- science and duty. Under their sturdy and uncon- querable wills the wilderness yielded, and the New World was open to a nation of freemen.


In the history of New England not enough prom- inence has been given to the pioneer colony of Ply- mouth. The settlement of the Massachusetts Colony seems to have overshadowed in history the import- ance of this first civil body politic. The Plymouth Colony led the van, and in the years in which they were alone rested the whole problem. Encouraged by the success of the Plymouth settlement, the Mas- sachusetts colonists were emboldened, under the pro- tection and guidance of the former, to apply for a royal charter. We would not detract from the merit of Winthrop, Dudley, Saltonstall, and their associ- ates, "gentlemen of figure and'estate," for they were men of faith and fortitude, men of uncommon wisdom and heroism; but let us not be forgetful of those earlier men who smoothed the way and opened to the men of Massachusetts Bay and Boston, even though for a short distance and in a rude manner, the path which led to civil and religious liberty.


On the 29th day of November, 1652, the Indian chief Wesamequan (better known as Massasoit) and his son Wamsutta (who was sometimes called Alex- ander by the English) conveyed by deed to Wil- liam Bradford, Capt. Standish, Thomas Southworth, John Winslow, John Cooke, and their associates all the tract or tracts of land lying three miles eastward from a river called Cushenegg to a certain harbor called Acoaksett to a flat rock on the westward side of the said harbor. In this conveyance was included all the land within these boundaries, "with all the rivers, creeks, meadows, necks, and islands that lie in and before the same, and from the sea upward to go so high that the English may not be annoyed by the hunting of the Indians in any sort of their cattle."


The metes and bounds of this grant do not appear to be very definitely or clearly stated. More attention seems to have been given by the conveyancer to the consideration which the Indian chieftains were to re- ceive. The price paid was thirty yards of cloth, eight moose-skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pair of breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one cloak, two pounds in wampan, eight pair stockings, eight pair shoes, one iron pot, and ten shillings in other com- modities. Even in those early days, when the forests and meadows and streams apparently were not valued very highly, dissensions and disputes arose concern- ing the title. A younger son of Wesamequan, Philip, sagamore of Pokannockett, afterwards known as one of the most bloody and remorseless of all the Indian warriors under the name of King Philip, had not been consulted or had not given his written assent to the original conveyance. He soon began to annoy the settlers by frequent acts of trespass, and to question the correctness of the boundary lines. We find by the records that agents (referees) were appointed "to set out and mark the bounds," and in 1665 Philip gave a quit-claim which quieted the title.


This large tract of land, comprising the limits of old Dartmouth, was divided into thirty-four parts or shares. Two of these were sub-divided, so that the original proprietors numbered thirty-six persons, of whom three were women,-Sarah Brewster, Miss Jen- nings, and Sarah Warren.


Not all of the thirty-six original proprietors settled here. Some undoubtedly bought the land as a specu- lation or investment rather than for a home, but an inspection of the names convinces us that many of them located permanently within our borders. We find in the list the names of Howland, Morton, Ma- nasses Kempton, Dunham, Shaw, Soule, Faunce, Sampson, Delano, Bartlett, Palmer, Doty, Hicks, Brown, and Bumpass, names familiar to us even in this day, and constantly recurring in the history of the town.


It has always been stated that the old township of Dartmouth included and comprised the present town- ships of Dartmouth, Westport, New Bedford, Fair- haven, and Acushnet. The grant of land from the


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Indians embraces these towns. But the records of the colony of Rhode Island show that a part of the present towns of Tiverton and of Little Compton were, prior to 1746, a part of Dartmouth.1


The origin of the name of this town is a matter of conjecture, yet the inference is an easy and natural one. The "Mayflower" and "Speedwell," the latter having taken on board her priceless freight at Leyden, in Holland, sailed from Plymouth, in Old England, and that name was given to the spot where they landed in New England. After the vessels left Plymouth, England, a disaster occurred to the "Speedwell" which compelled both vessels to put back, and they made a harbor in the seaport town of Dartmouth, in the British Channel. Many of the original purchasers and some of the early settlers of the town came in the " Mayflower," and the name of Dartmouth was so associated in their minds with the home left behind that it may naturally be presumed it furnished them with the name for their new home. There is a fur- ther coincidence connected with the name. The little vessel, the "Concord," which brought Bartholomew Gosnold to our shores in 1602 belonged to Dartmouth, in England. There can be no doubt but that we de- rive our name from this fishing town on the river Dart in the English Channel. How wonderful the change since then! While the present old Dart- mouth has an aggregate population of thirty-seven thousand, with a commerce known over the whole globe, the old town in England, with a population of less than five thousand, is as little known to-day as it was two hundred years ago.




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