History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 52

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 52

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The difference between the magnificent forest scen- ery of that day and the sapling woods, choked with briers and underbrush, of the present time is shown by the statement that "though the country is wilde

1 By George A. Shove, Esq.

2 The old historians did not agree as to the exact time when this great Indian pestilence took place, some placing the date as early as 1612.

Frakt Almay

215

DIGHTON.

and overgrown with woods, yet the trees stand not thicke, but a man may well ride a horse among them." This park-like character of the forest was due to the Indian custom of regularly burning the leaves under the trees in the spring, thus preventing the growth of underbrush, with no injury to the trees. Only the wettest swamps escaped these annual fires. Journey- ing through the woods in the days of the Pilgrims could be performed as easily and quickly as over cleared land. There was a well-beaten path from Plymouth to Pokanoket, remains of which are sup- posed to still exist in this town in the rows of flat stepping-stones that are found at swampy places, where no path made by white men would be likely to be encountered.

Although Dighton was settled at a later date than many other towns in the State, yet its settlement is mostly veiled in obscurity, and only a few traditions, perhaps not wholly reliable, have been handed down concerning the first settlers and the time previous to Philip's war. One of these traditions, related to a friend of the writer of these pages by a soldier of the Revolutionary army named Snell,1 then an old man of eighty, is to the effect that when the first white men settled in this township, the only cleared land they found, excepting the salt marshes and perhaps a few plantations by the river, was a level tract lying mostly to the north and west of what is now the Lower Four Corners. This tract, perhaps a mile in length from east to west, was several hundred acres in extent, and was used by the natives for their plan- tations 'on account of its level surface and its some- what light, sandy soil. The squaws, who did most of the labor, found it easy to plant and to cultivate with their clam-shell or moose shoulder-blade hoes.

The eastern limit of this aboriginal clearing was east of the old stage-road that runs northerly from the Four Corners, while at its western end it took in the tracts that are now the farms of C. W. Turner, F. A. Whitmarsh, and Isaac Pierce. At its southeast- ern corner it included the site of the village at the Four Corners, and also the cemetery of the Unita- rian Society. A portion of this large tract has long been known as the Old Field, and formerly belonged to Capt. Rufus Whitmarsh, and afterwards to Dr. Alfred Wood, who established the Dighton Nursery on its castern end. It is now owned by a number of persons. Nearly in the centre of this great clear space, which was surrounded on all sides by the primeval forest, was a large white-oak tree, which is still stand- ing, and which bids fair, unless some thoughtless vandal shall cut it down for timber or firewood, or, as was done with Shakespeare's mulberry, to make

into relics, to stand for centuries to come. The growth of this oak has been very slow in that light soil, and it may have been a good-sized tree when Columbus landed at Guanahani. It is not the largest white-oak in the town, but it is a stately and hand- some tree, whose sturdy branches have stood the onset of a thousand gales. Close to its trunk rans the private lane or avenne through the Old Field. If the leaves of this ancient tree had the gift of speech, like those of the talking oak in the fable, they could un- doubtedly tell strange stories of the transactions which have taken place under its spreading foliage, for here, according to tradition, was a noted and favorite ren- dezvous of the natives, a sort of al fresco hotel, where they were accustomed to stop all night when out hunting or on the war-path, where powwows were held and, very likely, captives tortured. The sachem Philip and sagamores, it is said, used frequently to visit this tree. Yet the sagacious and wily Metacom did not consider even this isolated spot a safe trysting- place for himself and his braves when they were con- spiring against the whites, but paddled his canoe to the barren little island at the mouth of Assonet River, known to this day as Conspiracy Island.

Its isolated position, remote from other large trees, the traditions connected with it, and its great age make this oak the most interesting tree in this vicinity. Some distance to the north of this tree, but within the limits of the clearing, was an Indian village and ceme- tery. A house was built not far from their sites in the last century by one Simeon Perry. It was afterwards known as the Rooney house, and is no longer stand- ing.

One-third of the great tract or farm that has been described was planted in rotation by the natives each year, which left two-thirds of the ground fallow, giv- ing the soil a chance to recuperate for two years after each crop. Their method of planting was laborious. It consisted in scooping out holes about four feet apart, and nearly a foot deep, into each of which was placed one or more herrings. The holes were then partially filled with earth, and the seeds planted and covered. Besides corn, they raised beans, squashes, and a sort of sunflower with an edible root, resembling the arti- choke. With the savory succotash and the toothsome parched or roasted corn ; with nuts of various kinds to be had for the gathering; with fish, clams, and oysters; with venison and other game meat, the Indian, gastronomically considered, would not have been badly off if he had not been so constitutionally lazy and improvident.

The natives who inhabited the village mentioned and enltivated the adjacent plantations were un- doubtedly the Pocassets ; this tribe also inhabited the territory that is now covered by the towns of Tiverton, Somerset, Swansea, and a part of Rehoboth. Like the Wampanoags, the Namaskets, and the Nansets, they were under the authority of Massasoit, and after him, of his sons, Alexander and Philip.

1 Anthony Snell, the old Revolutionary soldier referred to, saw a good deal of fighting in Rhode Island and elsewhere. He was finally taken prisoner and carried to England, where he was kept until the end of the war. He lived in the house on the Broad Cove road now owned by the heirs of Jonathan Hathaway. Anthony Snell's brother John was also a Revolutionary soldier.

216

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The traditions which have thus far been followed place the first white settlement in the territory now Dighton around the great Indian farm above de- scribed. The earliest settlers were undoubtedly squat- ters, but whether they were hunters or lumbermen, or farmers or trappers, or a little of each is not related ; neither do we know who they were, nor where they came from. Their houses were at first probably log hnts for temporary shelter. One of them stood, it is said, west of what is now called the Pine Swamp, and not far from the site of the Rooney or Perry house referred to. Another was built on the southern edge of the clearing, on the land now owned by Isaac Pierce, while a third was on the eastern edge of the cleared land, not far from the grape-house on the cstate of the Jate Dr. Gardner Peck. These spots were selected as the sites of their homes by the pioneer settlers on ac- count of their natural advantages, being on the edge of the deserted plantation, and with plenty of wood and excellent water close at hand; at each of these places there was a fine spring, which saved the trouble and expense of digging a well. These springs were fully appreciated by the natives, who would not wil- lingly drink out of a stream or a pond, but would go long distances to slake their thirst at a spring. This was one of their whims, or perhaps a superstition.

Many Indian relics have been picked up on the clearing under consideration, such as arrow-heads of quartz and sandstone, fragments of tomahawks, stone pestles, and other implements used in hunting or for domestic purposes. These relies are especially nu- merous in the vicinity of the site of the aboriginal village and cemetery previously mentioned. No traces of the Indian graves are now to be found, as they had neither mounds of earth nor tombstones to mark their sites.

Dighton, as is well known, was once a part of Taunton. It was called the Taunton South Purchase, and was bought by a company of Taunton men of the

Sachem Philip for one hundred and ninety pounds, lawful money. The land was bought in two sections and at two different times. The first section was stated to be three miles broad on the river, and ex- tended back into the woods four miles. The deed of the first section was dated the 28th day of September, 1672, and the consideration mentioned was one hun- dred and forty-three pounds. The land was conveyed to a committee of the associates, consisting of Wil- liam Brenton, Esq., William Harvey, James Walker,1 Richard Williams, Walter Deane, George Macy, and John Richmond, who transferred the deed, ex- cepting their own rights, to the Rev. George Shove, third minister of Taunton, and seventy-six associ- ates, or proprietors of the land.

The second section purchased was on the south side of the first section, and was one mile wide on the river and four miles in length. The price paid for it was forty-seven pounds, and the deed was dated Oct. 1, 1672. It was ostensibly bought by Constant South- worth, treasurer of the Plymonth Colony, who im- mediately transferred the deed to the committee of the associates mentioned. It will thus be seen that, according to the value of unimproved land in those days and the much greater vahie of money then than now, the purchasers paid Philip a reasonable price for the tract, but in some unexplained way they managed to get excellent measure, the town being over five miles in length on the river. Soon after the acquisi- tion of the South Purchase, the proprietors sold a tract of it a mile wide from east to west, and two miles in length, lying in the southwest corner, to the town of Swansea. The date of the transaction and the price paid for the land I have not been able to find a record of. The tract has since been known as the Two-Mile Purchase.

The squatters, whom the tradition states had their Previously to the deeds given to the proprietors by Philip, the only mention of the tract comprising the South Purchase is in a paper given by Philip in 1663 to the colonists, confirming certain grants of his father, Ossamequin, or Massasoit. The latter had at an early period granted to the Plymouth people the privilege of establishing a trading-house at Store- House Point, now in the town of Somerset. Philip, in the document mentioned, confirmed the privilege, and included the use, but not the fee, of certain other lands. He refers to " the meadows upon the great river downwards so far as Store-House Point so called, with all the meadows of Assonet and Broad Cove, with a small tract of land bought of Ishben, lying betwixt the marked tree at the pond and the mouth of Nistoquahannock, or Three-Mile River." domiciles on the edge of the great plain, very prob- ably removed elsewhere before the outbreak of the Indian war of 1675. There is another tradition that when hostilities commenced by the slaughter of the Swansea people only one family of white persons was living on the South Purchase, now Dighton, which was that of Capt. Jared Talbot. It is related that he and his family were hastily removed to Taunton in boats in the night. At Taunton there was quite a settlement, and there was a block-house for refuge and defense in case of an attack by the savages. The block- or garrison-house stood on or near the present site of Music Hall. Jared Talbot's name occurs fre- quently in the old records, as will be seen farther on in this sketch. Before Philip went to war with the English he had sold most of the territory that had | It would be interesting to know where the pond and belonged to Massasoit, including the land in this the marked tree mentioned in the grant were situ- ated. township; of the latter transaction the following is a brief account.

Soon after the Indian war was over the South Pur- chase began to be settled by immigrants from Taun-

1 See Appendix for Walker family.

217

DIGHTON.

ton proper and from other towns, but neither written documents nor traditions tell us much in regard to their names or their doings until the carly part of the eighteenth century. The earliest record of a marriage to be found in the town books is as follows : " Jared Talbut and Rebecca Hathway were marryed in ye year one thousand six hundred and eighty and seven, ye fourth day of May."

Then follows an entry of the birth of a son, the name obliterated : "- -, the son of Jared Tal- but by Rebecca, was born March 26 Anno Domini, 1688, died ye eleventh day of ye same month." But this loss was made good the next year by the birth of another son,-" Jared Talbut, ye son of Jared Talbut by Rebecca, his wife, was born April ye fourth day, 1680." In 1691 another son was born, who was named Josiah, and in 1692 twin girls made their appearance, but both died in a few days. In 1693 another pair of girls were introduced upon the scene, but, like their predecessors, their lives were cut short before the month was out. Thereafter, in quick succession, came other children,-Jacob, John, Elizabeth, Seth, Re- becca, Ebenezer, Benjamin,-fourteen children in all, but not more than half of them surviving the perils of infancy.

Besides Jared Talbot, only three other heads of families are mentioned in the brief records of the births, deaths, and marriages in the South Purchase in the last part of the seventeenth century. These are Ephraim Hathaway, the first birth in whose family of eleven was in 1690; Nicholas Stephens, the first of whose nine children was born in 1696; and Ed- ward Babbitt, who had nine children, the first being born in 1695. The names that occur in the records of the early part of the eighteenth century, prior to 1712, when the town was incorporated, are as follows, only heads of families being mentioned : David Walker, Edward Shove, Ebenezer Pitts, Samuel Talbut, Nathan Walker, John Burt, and Abraham Hathaway. The records were very imperfectly kept in those days and for many years afterwards, and many of the births, deaths, and marriages that occurred were, probably, not recorded at all. This imperfection of the old record books is more noticeable in the marriages and deathis than in the births.

It will be seen from the foregoing extracts that Jared Talbot, one of the first authentic settlers of the South Purchase, was not married until ten years after the close of Philip's war, so that the tradition in regard to his family's removal to Taunton on the breaking out of hostilities is apparently incorrect.1 The house that he built has long since been torn down. It stood near the town burying-ground on the hill, on the east side of the old Bristol and Taunton road, and not far from where Dexter Pierce's

house now stands. The Rebecca Hathaway that he married was probably the daughter of John Hatha- way, one of the original proprietors of the South Purchase. Talbot appears to have been a man of considerable influence in the settlement on the South Purchase, active in church matters, as well as in secu- lar affairs. In the records he is sometimes called Capt. Jared Talbot and sometimes Jared Talbot, Esq. He died Jan. 21, 1733. His wife survived him nine years. He was the second clerk of the town, the first having been Joseph Deane. He also served the town as one of the assessors, and was a representative to the Gen- eral Court in 1722. He also took an active part in securing an act of the Legislature incorporating the town. His influence in the community is shown in the following. agreement, drawn up in 1708, between the inhabitants on the west side of Taunton River and those on the east side :

" To all Christian people to whom these presents shall come : Know ye, that, whereas, we, ye subscribers, inhabitants of Taunton Joint Pur- chase, together with some of ye inhabitants of s'd Taunton on ye east side of Taunton great river, have preper'd a petition to ye General Court to be drawn off from s'd Taunton and to be a Township or a precinct by ourselves, our heirs and successors voluntarily agree to and with ye in- habitants on ye east side of s'd river, viz., all and every of them that are contained within ye bounds set in s'd petition, to all and every of ye following articles, and we do by these presents, bind and oblige ourselves, ours and every of our heirs and successors, to fulfill and perform all and every of ye following articles :

"First. We, ye inhabitants of s'd Taunton South Purchase do cov- enant, promise, and engage, to and with ye inhabitants on ye east side of s'd Taunton great river, viz., all those that are contained within ye bounds or limits of our petition, that at, or any time after ye expiration or end of fifteen years after ye date of these presents, if s'd inhabitants on ye east side of said river, with the rest of their neighbors living con- venient, doc judge themselves capable and doe goe about to obtain a part out, or township, in order to settle ye gospel among themselves, that we, ye said inhabitants of ye South Purchase, will not molest, de- tain, or hinder them, but that they shall be free from all ye obligations to us, and we putting them to no charge on any account.

" 2ndly. We, ye inhabitants of s'd South Purchase, do covenant, prom- ise, and engage to and unto ye inhabitants on ye east side of ye s'd river, that we will, on our own cost and charge, build and completely finish a convenient Meeting House, of convenient bigness for all ont inhabitants contained within ye confines of our said s'd precinet, and s'd Meeting House to be completely finished, within and without, within ye space of one year's time after s'd petition is granted, if granted at all .- Further, s'd inhabitants of s'd South Purchase doe engage, as above, that they, at their charge and cost, will provide a sufficient settlement, both of housing and lands, for s'd minister, from all of which charges aforesaid yes'd inhabitants of s'd South Purchase doe engage to free s'd inhabi- tants on ye east side of s'd river; and, further, that when s'd meeting- house is so finished, then our neighbors on ye east side of s'd river shall have as good right in it as though they had carried on their parts in building it, according to ye proportion of rates they doe pay. Nextly, we, ye inhabitants of ye east side of s'd river, due covenant and promise as aforesaid, that we will be at equal charges with them of s'd South Purchase in procuring and maintaining a minister so long as we con- tinue to meet together and no longer.

"3d. Jared Talbot, for himself and his successors, doth covenant as above, to and with ye inhabitants on' s'd east side of s'd river, and their successors, that both himself and they shall and will allow and find a convenient way to s'd meeting-house from ye great river to ye country road on ye west side of s'd Talbot's land, for s'd inhabitants to go to s'd mecting-house, s'd way to be just above Legreganset river mouth, and so to go along on ye south side of ye new dwelling-house of s'd Talbot, so long as they meet together and no longer.

"4thly. We, ye inhabitants of s'd purchase do promise, as aforesaid, that we will be at equal cost and charge with ye s'd inhabitants of east side of s'd river, in building and maintaining a ferry-boat sufficient for

1 Rebecca Hathaway may have been Jared Talbot's second wife, in which case there would be no inconsistency between the tradition and the records.

218

HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

passing over to meeting, and so long as they continue to meet together and no longer.

"5thly. It is mutually agreed by both parties afores'd and as above s'd, that ye meeting-house shall be set on ye hill, on ye west side of ye way, over against Talbot's new dwelling-house, and adjoining s'd way.

" 6thly. It is mutually agreed by both parties afores'd, that when we have a school kept, it shall be kept sometimes on one side of s'd river, and sometimes on ye other side of s'd river, according to ye proportion of rates they do pay,

" Lastly. It is mutually agreed by both parties that ye above written articles continne so long as we meet together and no longer.

" In witness whereof we, ye s'd inhabitants on ye west side of s'd river, and ye inhabitants on ye east side of ye river, have interchangeably set our hands to these presents, this twenty-fifth day of February, Anno Domini, 1708.

" BENJ. BRIGGS. " THOS. JONES. " EPH. HATHAWAY.

THOS. BRIGGS.

AMOS BRIGGS.

JOSEPH POOL.

" ISAAC POOL.

JARED TALBOT.

" MATTHEW BRIGGS.

RICHARD HOPKINS.

" JOHN WOOD.

HEZEKIAH HOAR.

" EBENEZER PITTS.

SAMUEL TALBOT. " PETER PITTS "

This agreement certainly shows a very liberal spirit on the part of the people of the South Purchase. At that time Assonet Neck, on the east side of the river, was a part of Taunton.1 It had been annexed to the colony in 1677 as part of the domain forfeited by Philip when he took up arms against the colonists, and it was purchased from the government by six Taunton men, Rev. George Shove,2 James Walker, James Tisdale, Walter Deane, William Harvey, and Richard Williams. In July, 1682, it was annexed to Taunton. May 30, 1712, the town of Dighton was incorporated, and Assonet Neck was joined to the South Purchase as a part of the town. The name of Dighton, it is well known, was bestowed upon the new township out of respect for the wife of Richard Williams, one of the original proprietors of the South Purchase, and who has been called the father of Taunton. His wife's maiden name was Frances Dighton. She was a very estimable woman, and was a sister of the wife of Governor Thomas Dudley. Until within a few years there was only one Dighton in the United States, which was a great advantage in preventing the miscarriage of mail matter addressed to the post-offices here, but the name is no longer unique, there is a young Dighton in the thriving State of Kansas.

It is much to be regretted that the early records of this town were so imperfectly kept. The proprietor's book gives some interesting documents, copies of the deeds of the South Purchase, with fac-similes of the marks of Philip and his sagamores, and a few other

1 In 1799 Assonet Neck was detached from Dighton and annexed to Berkley.

2 Rev. George Shove, third minister of Taunton, and one of the original proprietors of the South Purchase, as well as of the North Purchase and of Assonet Neck, was probably born in Dorchester, in this State, was or- chained Nov. 19, 1665, and died in April, 1687. He was the progenitor of all the Shoves in Bristol County. The name was originally Shovel, hav- ing lost an / by elision after crossing the Atlantic. An eminent member of the name in England was Sir Cloudesly Shovel, admiral and naval hero of the last half of the seventeenth century. The name is said to have been derived from the French cheval, a horse.

documents that are read over with interest, but very much is omitted that we would like to know about, nor was the record much better kept for many years after the town was incorporated. The earliest record- book of town affairs was kept with very little regard for sequence of dates in the entries, the elerks appa- rently making use of whatever part of the book they happened to open upon first, and sometimes, it would seem, forgetting to open it at all. This makes it a mat- ter of great difficulty, if not an impossibility, to give anything like a connected history of town affairs as far as the first half of the eighteenth century is con- cerned. The record of births, deaths, and marriages, was quite as imperfectly and carelessly kept as the record of town affairs. For instance, the " intentions of marriage," in the . oldest book, outnumber the marriages by several hundreds, from which a person having no knowledge of the slackness of town clerks in those days might infer that people then were wiser than now, and that instead of the post-nuptial re- pentance, which now loads with libels the dockets of the divorce courts, they repented before the fatal knot was tied.

Among the earliest entries is the following, dated Dec. 19, 1709:

" At a legal meeting of the South Precinct in Taunton, voted that Capt. Jared Taulbut, Joseph Deane, Richard Hopkins, Ebenezer Pitts, and John Crane shall be a committee to treat with and make a full agreement with Mr. Nathaniel Fisher in behalf of the precinct to be our minister during his life time."

This was a very important step in the young com- munity on the South Purchase. Hitherto the seat- tered farmers and their families, which comprised the settlement, had been obliged to attend meeting at Taunton; they had no riding carriages, but some probably rode in the rude farm-wagons, while others rode on horse-back or on ox-back, for ox-saddles were not unknown to that generation, the women and chil- dren riding behind the men on pillions, while many no doubt walked the five to eight miles distance and return, most of the way being through the woods and over a rough road but little better than a cart-path. The year before a meeting-house had been built. It stood on the hill where the old town burying-ground now is. It was probably a small and rude affair, but it was better than none, and answered the purpose for which it was built. The hill upon which it stood is a bare, bleak, gravelly knoll, such as formed the favorite sites of our ancestors for the meeting-house and school-house; partly, perhaps, because in such places nothing would grow but brambles and huckle- berry bushes. The first mention of the new meeting- house in the records is as follows, the date being (obliterated) 1710:

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 52

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