History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 56

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 56

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What a charming picture of a serene old age and a painless euthanasia do these extracts disclose, and what an argument for the immortality of the soul does this old man of ninety-two with his mental pow- ers untouched by age present ! Titian, dying of the plague at the age of ninety-nine, and painting almost to the last, and Ellery, at ninety-two writing in a firm hand criticisms on the orators of the day and on Latin prosody, go far to prove the truth of the French savant Flourens' theory that the natural life of man is at least one hundred years.

William Ellery was born at Newport, R. I., Dec. 22, 1727 ; after graduating at Harvard, he commenced his career as a trader at Newport, then practiced law, and in 1776 was elected to the Continental Congress, of which body he soon became one of the leading members. He was in Congress eight years, and was afterwards collector of customs at Newport until his death. The signatures of Ellery and of his colleague, Stephen Hopkins, to the Declaration of Independence display a striking contrast, Ellery's being firm and

1 In Scribner's Magazine, a few years ago, was published a diary or journal, written by Ellery, and describing his horseback journeys from this town to the seat of government.

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bold, and that of Hopkins tremulous and uncertain, from the palsy that afflicted him. "I was deter- mined," Ellery used to say in after-years, " to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrant. I placed myself beside the secretary, Charles Thomson, and eyed each closely as he affixed his name to the document. Undaunted resolution was displayed in every countenance."

COMMODORE TALBOT .- Commodore Silas Talbot was a native of this town. He distinguished himself in the Revolutionary war on both the ocean and the land. His parents were Benjamin and Zipporah Talbot. The house they lived in, and in which Silas, the ninth of their fourteen children, was born, has long since been torn down. It stood in the lots, with only a cart-path as a way of approach, between the road leading from the Lower Four Corners to Pitts' Corner and Hunter's Hill, and southerly of the house now owned by Isaac Pierce. Benjamin and Zipporah were buried in the family cemetery near by, with several of their children. They were poor, hard-working people, unable to do much in the way of education for their children, and Silas was early in his boyhood placed on board a vessel as cabin-boy, perhaps as good a school as he could have had for the work he had to do in after-life. He was born Jan. 21, 1751. When he was twelve years old his father died, and as his mother had other children younger and weaker than he to support, he was neces- sarily thrown upon his own resources for the future. He learned the stone-mason's trade, then considered a very lucrative one, and removed to Providence, R. I. In 1822 he married a young lady named Rich- mond, and went to housekeeping in Providence, then a small town. He engaged occasionally in mercan- tile speculations, "in which," says H. T. Tuckerman, who wrote his biography, "he exhibited more than ordinary boldness and sagacity. An instance is re- lated of his sailing down the river when lumber had unexpectedly risen to a high price, intercepting a ves- sel thus loaded, purchasing the cargo, and making sales in town at an enormous advance."

When the Revolutionary war broke out Talbot and a number of other young men hired an old Scotch drum-major who had deserted from the British army to drill them in military tactics in the loft of a sugar- house. In June, 1775, he was commissioned as a captain in one of the three newly-raised Rhode Island regiments, and went to Boston with the regiment to take part in the siege of that town. He next went with the army to New York, at which port was a fleet of British men-of-war. Here he was placed, at his own request, in command of a fire-ship, in which he sailed up the Hudson River some fifteen miles, an- choring a short distance above Fort Washington. Soon after he had cast anchor three of the enemy's war vessels sailed up the river and anchored a few miles below where he lay. A night attack was imme- diately resolved upon. " At two o'clock in the morn-

ing," says the biographer, " they weighed anchor and dropped slowly down with the tide. The nearest of the ships was the 'Asia,' of sixty-four guns, whose tall spars and towering hull no sooner loomed upon the gaze of Talbot's hardy band than they steered directly for her broadside. Unsuspicious of any danger, it was but a moment before her little adver- sary had flung her grappling-irons that the 'Asia' fired, and then a scene ensued that baffles description. . . . In an instant the darkness of a cloudy night gave place to a red, flashing glare that revealed the fort, the waters, and the fields with the distinctness of noonday, and brought into vivid relief the huge ves- sels of war, now alive with their startled crews, who hastened to the relief of the ' Asia,' some pouring water on the rising flames, others disengaging the fire-ship from her side."

The attack was unsuccessful, at least in destroying any of the enemy's ships, but it served the purpose of driving them from their position into the lower bay, and it likewise had an encouraging effect on the American cause. Congress passed a vote of thanks to Capt. Talbot, and he was at once promoted to the rank of major. He had remained too long on the fire-ship, being the last to escape, and he was severely burned. It was some weeks before he recovered from his injuries.

We next hear of Maj. Talbot in the defense of Mud Island, in the Delaware River, and here he displayed his accustomed daring. His arm was broken by a musket-ball, and he received a wound in the thigh. He returned home to recover from his wounds, and as soon as his condition permitted joined the Conti nental army under Gen. Sullivan's command, on the mainland of Rhode Island, where he rendered essen- tial service in superintending the building of eighty- six flat-bottomed boats, intended to carry one hundred men each, for the transportation of the army to the island. These boats were calked by candle-light, and Talbot, wearied by his unceasing efforts to for- ward the work, was accustomed to sleep under the boats, while the din of the calking-mallets was ring- ing over his head. An incident of the campaign will illustrate the cool daring of this born leader of men. The crossing from the mainland was commenced on Sunday, the 9th of August, and the light corps, to which Maj. Talbot was attached, marched down the road towards Newport until within a cannon-shot of the enemy's lines. Talbot was then sent forward alone by Col. Laurens, who was in command of the corps, to reconnoitre. He had neared the enemy's outposts, when he saw three British artillerymen in a garden, foraging for vegetables. Without hesitating an instant he jumped his horse over the wall and threatened them with immediate death if they stirred. Thinking that he was one of their own officers, they made some apology for being absent from their posts, and gave up their hangers. He then drove them before him to the American lines as prisoners of war.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Count d'Estaing's departure with the French fleet to Boston rendered the retreat of the American army from the island a necessity, and in the retreat and the fight which preceded it Maj. Talbot's aid was very efficient, and was commended in the dispatches of the commanding officer to Congress. His next ex- ploit was the capture of one of the enemy's armed vessels. The British, in order to close the east passage, had anchored a vessel of some two hundred tons in the passage, off a point of land called Fog- land. This vessel had formerly been in the naval service, but had been cut down to one deck, and was armed with twelve eight-pounders and ten swivels. She had a crew of forty-five men, and her deck was protected from boarding-parties by strong netting. She was named the " Pigot," and was commanded by a lieutenant named Dunlap. This armed galley ef- fectually prevented any American vessels from pass- ing up or down Seconnet River, to the great annoy- ance of the people of Rhode Island and Southern Massachusetts.

Maj. Talbot resolved to capture or destroy the " Pigot," but his project was for some time coldly re- ceived by Gen. Sullivan, who deemed it imprac- ticable, but at length consented to furnish a draft of men for the purpose. The major immediately se- lected a sloop in Providence named the "Hawk," and armed her with two three-pounders and sixty men. Before he could get at the "Pigot" he would have to pass one of the enemy's forts at Bristol Ferry and another at Fogland's Ferry, in Seconnet River, and both forts were safely passed in the night.

After reaching the upper end of the island, the " Hawk" drifted silently down the Seconnet River, with a kedge lashed to the jib-boom to tear the net- tings of the enemy. The Fogland fort was passed without alarming the sentinel, although he could be seen pacing back and forth before the barrack lights. Fearing that he should miss the object of his search in the darkness, the major cast anchor just below the fort, and sent a boat forward with muffled oars to reconnoitre. The men in the boat reported the " Pigot's" situation, and the anchor was again hove up, while the strong ebb tide swept the "Hawk" down upon her prey. They were soon hailed by the watch on the deck of the "Pigot," but making no answer a volley of musketry was fired at them, but before the " Pigot's" guns could be brought to bear the kedge on the " Hawk's" jib-boom had torn away the netting and was caught in the shrouds, while her crew leaped on the "Pigot's" deck and drove every man below excepting her commander, who fought gallantly in his night-clothes, but was soon captured. Not a man was killed on either side. The prize was carried into Stonington. For this daring exploit Maj. Talbot again received the thanks of Congress, and was promoted to be a lieutenant-colonel in the army, while the Assembly of Rhode Island presented him with a sword. The next year he was made a

captain in the navy, although there was no man-of- war for him to command. He was, however, author- ized to arm a naval force to protect the coast from the cruisers of the enemy. Lack of money and lack of vessels made the task a difficult one, but the cap- tured "Pigot" and a clumsy sloop called .the " Argo" were finally equipped and manned, the " Argo" being the flag-ship. Her armament consisted of twelve small guns and her crew of sixty men.

In May, 1779, Capt. Talbot sailed from Providence, and soon captured the " Lively," of twelve guns, and two privateer brigs from the West Indies. The prizes were carried into Boston amid great rejoicing. Talbot then cruised about in search of a Tory pri- vateer named the "King George." She was com- manded by a Capt. Hazard, a Rhode Islander. She carried fourteen guns and eighty men. One fine day, when about forty leagues from Long Island, the "King George" was seen, and the " Argo" bore down upon her, giving her a broadside when near enough, and then ranging alongside, Talbot and his men leaped on board, and the "King George" was surrendered without the loss of a man on either vessel.

Not long afterwards the " Argo" fell in with a large armed ship, and a desperate fight, lasting four hours, took place, the vessels being all the time within pis- tol-shot of each other. Nearly every man on the quarter-deck of the " Argo" was killed or wounded. Capt. Talbot had the skirts of his coat shot off, and his speaking-trumpet was pierced in two places by bullets. At length the mainmast of the ship fell and she surrendered.

After this fight the owners of the " Argo" reclaimed her. Capt. Talbot then took command of a privateer called the "George Washington." But now his good fortune deserted him. He fell in with a fleet of Brit- ish men-of-war, two of which gave chase and captured the "Washington" before night. Her commander and crew were carried to New York, and thrust into the hold of the Jersey prison-ship.1 The horrors which they endured while in captivity were almost too much for their endurance, nor was their condition improved when they were transferred to another hulk called the " Yarmouth," in which a deadly fever soon broke out. Only Talbot's strong constitution and iron will enabled him to survive through the dread- ful imprisonment. He was finally carried to Eng- land, and exchanged for a British officer. When he arrived home he had been absent two years. Not long afterwards he married his second wife, a Miss Morris, of Philadelphia, and buying the forfeited estate of Sir William Johnson, in New York State, he removed there with his family and engaged in farming. In 1793-94 he was again before the public, now as a

1 Capt. James Briggs, of this town, was also for a time immured in that floating hell, the Jersey prison-ship, as was also Rev. Thomas Andros, of Berkley, who wrote an account of his imprisonment.

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member of Congress, and he was soon appointed to the command of one of the six ships that Congress had decided to add to our little navy. When hostili- ties commenced with France in 1799, he was placed in command of the frigate "Constitution," and was on the West Indian station.1 In 1801 he resigned his command, thinking himself unjustly treated by the Secretary of the Navy, who had given precedence to Commodore Truxtou. His decision was evidently unjust, as Commodore Talbot was the senior officer, and had performed greater services for the country than Truxton. But republics are proverbially un- grateful. The remainder of his life was passed in New York City, where he built a handsome house, and where he married his third wife.

"In person," says his biographer, "Capt. Talbot was tall and graceful, in features determined but at- tractive. A portrait of him, painted by Benjamin West, is in possession of his descendants in Kentucky. . He was an accomplished gentleman, with a dig- nity of manners that stamped him for a leader, and yet with a frank urbanity of spirit that endeared him as a companion. He was thirteen times wounded, and carried five bullets in his body. In private life, the elegant hospitality he exercised, the ardor of his personal attachments, the winning grace and self-re- spect of his manners, his acquaintance with life in all its phases, and a certain generous nobility of feeling rendered him in his prime one of the best specimens of a self-made American officer the country has pro- duced. He died in the city of New York on the 30th of June, 1813, and was buried under Trinity Church. No monument has been erected to his memory, but his gallant deeds are inscribed on the immortal records of the war of independence, and his name is enrolled among the patriot heroes of America."

Such is the picture that has been handed down to us of Commodore Silas Talbot. Brought up in pov- erty, with little of the education to be derived from schools, and cast upon his own resources at an carly age, he showed himself equal to any station to which his energy, sagacity, and bravery caused him to be promoted; he possessed in no small degree "that strong divinity of soul that conquers chance and fate."

HODIJAH BAYLIES .- Although not born in Digh- ton, Maj. Hodijah Baylies, aide-de-camp to Gen. Washington, was a citizen of this town for many years. Maj. Baylies was born in Uxbridge, Mass., Sept. 15, 1756. His father's name was Nicholas, and his mother before her marriage was Elizabeth Parks .. His ancestors were Quakers, and resided in the parish of Alvechurch, county of Worcester, England. His grandfather, who was named Thomas, came over from England with his son Nicholas and a daughter named Esther in June, 1737. He returned to England the

next year, but came back under a contract with one Richard Clarke, of Boston, as a clerk in an iron- works, bringing his wife and two daughters with him. Another son, Thomas, came over later, and for some years kept a store in Taunton, and was interested in the manufacture of iron. Nicholas, Maj. Baylics' father, settled in Uxbridge, but after the death of his brother Thomas, Jr., which occurred in 1756, he moved to Taunton, and was a large land-owner and manufacturer of iron in that place.

Hodijah Baylies was the youngest of eight children. Two of his brothers, William and Thomas S., were residents of Dighton, and were prominent men in the town. They will be more particularly mentioned hereafter. Hodijah graduated at Harvard College in 1777, and almost immediately entered the army as a lieutenant, his first service being on the Hudson River. When Gen. Lincoln was appointed to the command of the Southern Department, Lieut. Bay- lies was selected by him as one of his aids. In the campaigns that followed he took part in much hard fighting at Savannah, Charleston, and elsewhere, ac- quitting himself creditably in whatever situation he was placed. He was in the city of Charleston during the memorable siege by the British, and when Lincoln finally surrendered to Clinton on the 12th of May, 1780, he was included among the prisoners of war. He rejoined the army as soon as his exchange was effected ; was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and having been selected by Washing- ton as one of his aids, remained in this position until the end of the war. He stayed for some time with Washington at Mount Vernon after peace was con- cluded, receiving a brevet as major in the army. He returned to the North in 1784, and married Elizabeth Lincoln, daughter of Gen. Lincoln, who resided in Hingham, in this State. After residing for a time in Hingham he removed to Taunton, and engaged in business as a manufacturer of iron, the works being at Westville. The anchors for the frigate "Constitu- tion" were made at the Baylies Forge.

As soon as the Constitution of the United States had been ratified in 1789, Maj. Baylies was appointed collector of customs at Dighton, and at once removed to this town with his family. His father had died in Taunton two years before, in his ninetieth year. Maj. Baylies held the office of collector of customs until 1809.2 In 1810 he was appointed judge of probate for the county of Bristol by Governor Gore, holding the office until 1834, when, at the age of seventy-eight, but in the full vigor of his mental faculties, he re-

1 Commodore Talbot superintended the building of the "Constitu- tion," or " Old Ironsides," as she was afterwards called.

2 The following are the names of the collectors who held the office after Maj. Baylies : Nathaniel Williams, from 1809 until his death in 1823; Hercules Cusliman, from 1823 to 1825; Seth Williams, Esq., son of Nathaniel, from 1825 to 1829; Dr. William Wood, from 1829 to 1833; and Horatio Prat!, from 1833 to 1834. In the latter year Dr. P'. W. Le- land was appointed, and the office was removed to Fall River. While Dighton was the port of entry the custom-house was not, as at present, in a building costing half a million of dollars, but the books were kept at the residences of the collectors.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

signed. During his later years he was known as Judge Baylies, his military title being seldom used in connection with his name. He owned a fine farm in Dighton, of some two hundred acres in extent, in- cluding the woodland, some of which was heavily timbered.1 The house that he bought was a tavern during the Revolution, and was remodeled and en- larged by him. He had four children, -William G. (who lived in Boston, and died in 1848), Edmund, Amelia, and Benjamin L. Edmund was born in 1787, at Hingham, engaged in commerce in Boston early in life, and made several voyages to Russia, acquiring a handsome fortune. He married a Miss Eliza Payson, and bought a residence in Taunton, not far from the Neck-of-Land Bridge.2 Amelia married Dr. Alfred Wood, formerly of this town, but now residing in Taunton. Benjamin L. never married; he lived at the homestead until his death, a few years since. Judge Baylies died April 26, 1843, in the eighty- seventh year of his age. His wife had died twenty years before, at the age of sixty-three. She is said to have had an excellent judgment and a kind heart, gifts that were inherited by her daughter Amelia.

Maj. Baylies was said to have been one of the handsomest men in the army. His deportment, while showing his military training, was yet easy and graceful, and his manners were polished and engaging. While he was in the army, Robert Treat Paine, the jurist and statesman, who knew him well,

1 A large tract of this woodland was termed the Pine Swamp, and is still known by that name, although the timber was cut off a few years ago. It was probably the only large tract of the primeval forest in the town, and was an interesting spot to visit. The trees were of various sorts, chestnut, hemlock, and pine predominating. The swamp is evi- dently the bed of a filled-up lake. In some places a fifteen-feet pole can be thrust down without reaching hard pan. On the south side is a steep hill or ridge of gravel that was formerly covered with large chest- nut- and hemlock-trees, under which there was always a twilight gloom even at midday. This ridge of gravel is probably a terminal moraine, piled up by the action of ice in the glacial period. Another smaller bit of the primeval woods is found on the Baylies farm, near the river, and is now called Simmons' Grove, from Mr. C. N. Simmons, the present owner of the farm. This grove is noted for the clam-bakes that are an- unally hell there by the Methodist and Baptist Societies. The trees are chiefly white-oaks, and the grove gives one a good idea on a small scale of the appearance of the forest at the time when Winslow and Hopkins made their journey from Plymouth to Pokanoket, and found the trees " standing not thicke but a man may well ride a horse among them."

It was on the northerly slope of the steep Pine Swamp Hill, however, that the solemn grandeur of the primeval forest impressed itself most strongly ou the lover of nature. As in the land of the Lotus-Eaters, it seemed there to be always in the afternoon, and on dark cloudy days to be very late in the afternoon, "'twixt the gloaming and the murk." It was in some such bit of wild woodland scenery, no doubt, that Long- fellow wrote these lines,-

" This is the forest primeval : the murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight Stand, like Drnids of old, with voices sad and prophetic,

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosons."

2 Edmund Baylies had three children,-Elizabeth, Ruth, and Edmund Lincoln. The latter, who was commonly called Lincoln Baylies, was born in 1829. Ile married Nathalie E. Ray, of New York. In 1869 he went to Europe, being much ont of health. The change did not prove as beneficial as was hoped, and he died at Geneva, Switzerland, Nov. 28, 1869. lle possessed in a marked degree the good sense and probity char- acteristic of most of the Baylies family. He left four children.

said to his mother, "Your son, madame, has all the elegance of the British officers, without any of their vices." The vigor of his mental faculties was sus- tained to the last. " His perceptions," says a writer in an obituary notice in a New Bedford paper, " were clear and acute. His conversation, marked by strong sense, abounding with anecdotes and interesting rem- iniscences of the Revolution, exhibited, almost to the last days of his life, the liveliness of youth, without any of the garrulity of age, always tasteful, animated, and correct."

Judge Baylies' father, Deacon Nicholas, was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and force of char- acter, of excellent judgment, and of sterling integ- rity, respected by all who knew him. It was remark- able that in those days of dram-drinking he was a practical teetotaler, not tasting of ardent spirits, it is said, for more than sixty years. He left eight chil- dren, sixty-five grandchildren, and thirty-five great- grandchildren.

DR. WILLIAM BAYLIES .- William Baylies, brother of Hodijah, was born in Uxbridge, Nov. 24, 1743, and graduated at Harvard in 1760. He was a man of fine mental endowments, and held many positions requiring high intelligence and a sound judgment. He was a member of the Provincial Congress which convened in 1775. During the Revolution he was often in the councils of the State. In 1784, while in the State Senate, he was appointed by Governor Hancock register of probate for Bristol County and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a member of the State Convention which ratified the Constitution, and in 1800 was an elector of President and Vice-President. He also represented his district in Congress for four years. He was an original mem- ber of the medical, historical, agricultural, and hu- mane societies of this State, and was an early mem- ber of the Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was, besides, a skillful physician, and practiced medicine in Dighton for many years. He died in 1826. His son, Hon. William Baylies, LL.D., statesman and lawyer, was born in Dighton, Sept. 15, 1776. He practiced law for many years in West Bridgewater, and there the poet, William Cullen Bryant, studied law under his tuition. He died in Taunton, Sept. 27, 1865, and was buried in the old cemetery on the hill in Digh- ton. On the reverse of this monument is the follow- ing eulogium, far more deserved than are many of the flattering words of praise to be found on tombstones :

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 56

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