History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 58

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 58

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and again in 1826; Gamaliel Church in 1817, and Thomas S. Baylies in 1819.

The Great September Gale of 1815 .- The great cyclone and tidal wave of Sept. 23, 1815, are still vividly remembered by some of our townspeople, while younger generations have heard them so fre- quently talked about that they seem to many almost as if occurring within their own remembrance. It was probably the most destructive gale that has visited New England since its settlement by white men. The storm commenced on Friday, the 22d, with a high northeast gale and heavy rain, which continued until the next morning, when the wind veered to the east ; between eight and nine o'clock it shifted to the southeast, blowing almost a hurricane, and sending a tidal wave up the bays and rivers along the coast twelve feet higher than the highest spring- tides. Had the wind continued to blow in the same direction the tide would probably have risen much higher, but at half-past eleven A.M. the wind sud- denly changed to the west, and the tidal wave sub- sided as rapidly as it had arisen.

If less damage was done in Dighton by this fearful gale than in Providence, Newport, and other large towns, it was only because there was less property to be destroyed. A large brig broke from her moorings and went ashore above the town landing. When the tide fell she was so far inland that she could not be launched, and was sold at anction for less than the old iron was worth. A new ship, just completed, also went ashore near the town landing. Ways were laid, and repeated efforts to launch her were made. Her owners had nearly given up the idea of getting her off, when one day, while the workmen were at dinner, the ship suddenly started and slid gracefully down the ways and into the river, to the great aston- ishment of the laborers on their return from dinner. In some of the houses near the river the water rose nearly to the chamber floors, and they would have been swept away by the heavy waves that dashed against them had it not been for the huge, old-fash- ioned chimneys which held them in their places. Fortunately no lives were lost, although one old bed- ridden lady, named Bourne, had a narrow escape. When the tide entered the house she was placed by her friends on the top of a chest of drawers, while the family were driven up stairs by the rapidly-rising tide. Soon the old lady's retreat was overflowed, and she would have been drowned had not one of the floor-boards overhead been loosely fastened, so that those in the attie could take it up, when a hole was broken in the lath-and-plaster ceiling of the room below, through which the old lady was pulled up. That was in the old Cartwright house, that stood on the corner, near the town-landing ; it was afterwards moved off and used as a carpenter's shop. Nearly all the fences and walls for some distance from the river were destroyed, trees were uprooted, the wells were filled with salt water, the outhouses demolished, and

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many fowls and domestic animals drowned. When the waters subsided people went searching among the wreckage that strewed the line of high-water mark for their missing goods and chattels.

An aged lady, who lived on Richmond Hill at the time, tells me that she could see the great waves dash- ing over the houses that stood near the river, which seemed like a raging sea, while large oak-trees, in a grove near by, were snapping off like pipe-stems .is the fiercer gusts of the cyclone struck them. Windows for many miles inland were covered on the outside with a film of salt deposited by the briny scud lifted from the waves and borne along by the gale. In Providence several hundred buildings were destroyed, and the damage was estimated at a million and a half of dollars. The coast was strewn with wrecks, and several men from this town were lost by ship- wreck. There have been many heavy September gales since, but that of 1815 is still known as the Sep- tember gale. Long may it retain that honor.

First Congregational Society .- The founding of the First Congregational Society of this town, with Rev. Nathaniel Fisher as its minister, has al- ready been sketched as far as the few existing docu- ments relating thereto will permit. Mr. Fisher ap- pears to have been a worthy man and a faithful minister. When age and infirmities overtook him the society procured him an assistant, Rev. John Smith, at an annual salary of twenty pounds. To- wards the last of his life Mr. Fisher found great difficulty in collecting his salary, and in 1871 he was compelled to bring a suit against the town for the non-payment of his rates, and recovered fifty-three pounds for the deficiency of two years. It is prob- able that the more mercenary of those who were thus obliged to pay for some years the preacher's salary, when he was no longer able to preach, may have had misgivings as to the wisdom of the custom of hiring a minister for better or for worse as long as he should live, and would have been able to sym- pathize with the old farmer whose property had been mostly swallowed up by the doctor's bills for his wife's protracted sickness, when he expressed the wish that Betsey might get well or-something. Mr. Fisher was buried on the Will burying-ground, but there is no inscribed stone to mark the spot, nor a tablet anywhere to record that such a man ever lived and preached in this town. Towards the last of his ministry the Quakers and Baptists were re- leased from paying their rates to support the min- ister, which added to the burthen of those belong- ing to the society. In 1768 the following-named Quakers were thus released by a vote of the town : Edward Shove, Asa Shove, George Shove, Theophilus Shove, Edward Southwick, Michael Smith, Samuel Baker, William Boyce, and Ephraim Chubb. These all live on the east side of the river.

Mr. Fisher was succeeded in the ministry by Rev. John Smith, who had been his assistant. Mr. Smith

came from Plainfield, Conn. He graduated at Prince- ton College. Mr. Smith was generally liked by the society, but how long he continued to preach does not appear ; he was still the minister of the society near the close of the century ; he was finally dismissed in good standing.1 When he left Dighton he went as a missionary to Canandaigua, in New York State, and was instrumental in the purchase and clearing of six hundred acres of land in that town, and the founding thereon of a seminary of learning. He thence re- moved to Kentucky, where he died about the year 1820, at the age of seventy-five years, leaving four sons. One of his grandsons was Prof. W. B. Smith, of Union Theological Seminary.

The successor of Mr. Smith was Rev. William War- ren, of New Ipswich, N. H. He graduated at Dart- mouth College in the year 1800, and was ordained in 1802. He married Clarissa Davis, of this town. He commenced to preach under favorable circumstances. He was very popular in his society for some time, but after eight or nine years he became inattentive to his ministerial duties, and devoted a part of his time to the practice of medicine. He gave up his salary, ex- cepting what individuals were pleased to give him, be- came intemperate in his habits, and was dismissed in 1815. When he left Dighton he either carried with him all the records of the church or destroyed them, as they were not to be found afterwards. He removed to Salem, where he practiced medicine with considera- ble success, but his morals did not improve, and in 1820 he was excommunicated. For a number of years after he left here there was no regular preaching in the First Church, which declined greatly in the num- ber of its members until only a few were left. In 1826, Rev. William Torrey preached here for a short time.

In 1827, Rev. Preston Cummings was engaged, and was installed December 26th. He preached till 1835, when he was honorably dismissed. He was followed by Rev. Jonathan King, who stayed for a year, and was dismissed in 1837. In 1838, Rev. John Shaw was installed as pastor. He was dismissed in 1843. Mr. Shaw was followed in 1844 by Rev. Joseph H. Bailey. Mr. Bailey died the same year, much lamented by the church and society. In this year the church re- ceived two donations of money, the interest on which was to be devoted to the support of the ministry. The donations were from Deacon Samuel Walker and Samuel Walker, Jr., and the amount was about seven hundred dollars. As the church could not hold prop- erty, even in trust, the donations were transferred to

1 At the time Mr. Smith was settled there wasa warm, though friendly, contest between those of the society who were in favor of having him for the minister and those who were in favor of a Mr. Staples, who had been preaching on probation. The question as to which of them should be settled over the society was put to vote in the Buck Plain meeting- house, those in favor of Mr. Smith being directed by the moderator to go on the women's side of the house (the sexes were kept apart in the meeting-house in those days), while those in favor of Mr. Staples went on the men's side. The former was found to be the larger party.

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the society. After Mr. Bailey's death Rev. Malachi Bullard, of Medway, preached three months, and Rev. E. B. Claggit filled the pulpit for a short time. Rev. William Walker, of Dighton, a licentiate preacher of the Baptist order, also preached occasionally. In 1845, Rev. George Brown, from Maine, filled the pulpit, but left at the end of a year. In 1852, Rev .. E. Newhall stayed for about two months. In 1853, Rev. Ezra Newton was called. Mr. Newton stayed till August, 1855. He was followed in 1856 by Rev. E. Sanford, of Raynham, who remained until May, 1860. Mr. Sanford's successor was Rev. E. Dawes, who preached until 1879, when he received a call to the pastorate of a church in Lakeville. Mr. Dawes was followed by Rev. E. J. Moore, and he by the present pastor, Rev. William B. Green.

The brick meeting-house, the place of worship of the Central Church and Society, which formerly met in the Buck Plain meeting-house, was built in the year 1826. It was dedicated on the Ist day of May, 1827

Second Congregational Society. - When the referees from Attleborough had stuck up the stake on Buck Plain in 1768, as the proper place to build a meeting-house to replace the one burnt on the hill, there was much dissatisfaction among the people living in the east and south parts of the town. The stake on the plain might be in the exact geographical centre of the township, but it was by no means in the centre of population. The business and wealth of the town were chiefly along the lower streets, nearer the river, where were also to be found the best farms and more than half of the population. Nevertheless, the meeting-house was built on the plain, and the people in the eastern and southern sections of the town paid their proportion of the cost, and went regu- larly up among the scrub-oaks on Sundays for many years, facing many a bitter northwester on the way to meeting. Meanwhile they had resolved to have a meeting-house nearer their homes, and their efforts in this direction resulted in the raising and covering of the Second Congregational meeting-house, now occupied by the Unitarian Society, near the Lower Four Corners. So much had been accomplished by the new society just before the Revolution. During the war the resources of the people were too heavily taxed in meeting the calls of the government for men and money for them to raise the amount required to complete the new meeting-house, which was conse- quently left in an unfinished state, without windows or doors. While in this condition the building was for some time used as a sheep-pen by Capt. Rufus Whitmarsh, who owned the adjoining farm. After the war two tracts of land were given by Col. Syl- vester Richmond and Joseph Atwood for a minis- terial fund for the use of the Pedo Baptist Congre- gational Church and Society at the Four Corners. In February, 1797, it was voted by the society that the trustees of this property should immediately sell

the wood and timber on the land, and that six hun- dred dollars of the money arising from the sale should be devoted to repairing the meeting-house, the re- mainder to be put at interest, and the interest to be used in the support of a minister. The house was accordingly repaired,1 and in 1798 the Rev. John Smith undertook to heal the breach in the two socie- ties by preaching alternate Sundays at Buck Plain and at the Four Corners, but this arrangement did not last long, and when Mr. Smith left Dighton a permanent separation between the two societies took place. The Rev. Mr. Allen preached for a short time after Mr. Smith's departure, as did also Rev. George Barstow, and both were invited by the society to settle with them, but probably the salary offered (four hun- dred dollars) was not a sufficient inducement to these gentlemen, as both declined.

In June, 1803, the society met, and voted "that Mr. Abraham Gushee be and is hereby invited to take upon him the pastoral charge of the society by settling with them in the ministry of the gospel." It was then voted to pay him four hundred dollars a year as long as he should remain with them, in case he accepted the offer, and Thomas B. Richmond, James Briggs, and Josiah Wardwell were chosen a committee to notify him of the society's proposals. Mr. Gushee accepted the call, and was ordained Sept. 23, 1803, eleven churches being invited to at- tend the ordination by their pastors or by delegates. Mr. Gushec was the pastor of the society for more than half a century. He was born in Raynham, Sept. 19, 1775, and graduated at Brown University in 1798. His ancestors were French. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, about one hundred and fifty French Huguenots came over to Massachusetts, where large numbers of their posterity are still to be found. Among these refugees were two brothers, Henri and David Gachet, who came from Rochelle, France. Their name has since been Anglicized into two distinct names, the descendants of the older brother, Henri, writing it Gassett, and those of

1 The steeple of the meeting-house was not added until a generation after the house was finished as above stated. The four timbers forming the corners of the square tower were long, heavy sticks, and as to get- ting them upright was beyond the engineering resources of the carpen. ters who were to build the steeple, they called upon Capt. Anthony Shove to superintend the job. Capt. Shove procured ship's tackles, and with the aid of shears and a windlass, readily hoisted the sticks into their places. After the square tower was finished the spire was built inside of it, and Capt. Shove also superintended the hoisting of that into position.

Capt. Anthony Shove, father of the writer of this sketch, was born in Freetown, March 21, 1787. His parents, Joseph and Lois, were Quakers. He was a descendant of Rev. George Shove, of Taunton, one of the origi- nal proprielors of the Taunton South Purchase. Capt. Shove married Abby Bowen, daughter of David Bowen, ship-builder of this town. They had five children, two daughters and three sons,-Joseph, David B., and George A. Capt. Shove in early life was a shipmaster, making voyages to England and up the Mediterranean. He was chairman of the board of selectmen for several years, and was four times chosen to represent the town in the Legislature, viz., in 1840, 1841, 1846, and 1852. He was also postmaster for a number of years. He died suddenly Jan. 2, 1858. His widow survived him fourteen years.

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David converting it into Gushee. When the division between the Orthodox or Evangelical Congregational- ists and the Unitarians took place, Mr. Gushee joined the latter, and ever afterwards preached the Unitarian doctrines. Mr. Gushee died Oct. 25, 1861, at the age of eighty-six years. In person he was tall and some- what spare of flesh, and he was erect and dignified in his bearing. In his best days his sermons were well- written, able discourses. Mr. Gushee's first wife was Bathsheba Tobey, daughter of Samuel Tobey, of Berkley, by whom he had seven children,-Maria, Almond, Frederick A., Horace, Silas T., Julia A., and Bathsheba. His oldest son, Almond, practiced medi- cine in Warren, R. I. He married Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Nathaniel Williams, Esq., of Dighton.

In 1861 the Unitarian meeting-house was remod- eled and repaired at an expense of nearly two thou- sand dollars, the old galleries, pulpit, and pews were taken out, the two tiers of small windows were changed into one tier of long ones, and other im- provements were made, including the purchase of an organ. Rev. Francis Le Baron received a call from Mr. Le the society, staying with them one year. Baron, like Mr. Gushee, was of Huguenot descent. He was a man of fine presence, of an enthusiastic and poetic temperament, which characteristics were dis- played in his discourses, and, while he was genial and companionable, he was, perhaps, not altogether without a consciousness of possessing culture and in- tellectual gifts superior to most of those with whom he associated. After leaving Dighton he gave up preaching, and removing to the West, engaged in the manufacture of barrels by machinery, in company with Rev. William Chamberlain, formerly a Univer- salist preacher in this town.

Mr. Le Baron was succeeded in 1863 by Rev. Fiske Barrett, who resigned in 1866, and was followed by Rev. J. L. Hatch, who stayed one year. In 1868, Rev. Mr. Kelso supplied the pulpit. Mr. Kelso was a Spiritualist, in the best sense of this unpopular term. Mr. Kelso's successor was Rev. F. E. Kittredge, who stayed until 1874, when, owing to domestic troubles, he resigned and went West, where he procured a divorce from his wife and married a Western lady. He was suc- ceeded by Rev. John Wills, an Englishman, who re- signed in 1876, and was followed by W. H. Reeby, now of Norton, and he by the present pastor, Rev. Obed Eldridge.

The ministerial fund is now between five and six thousand dollars. After the sale, in 1797, of the wood and timber from the land donated to the society, about one thousand dollars remained as a permanent fund when the bills for repairing the house were paid. The trustees named in the act of incorporation, which was approved by the Governor June 25, 1798, were William Baylies, Silvester Richmond, John Hathaway, Hodijah Baylies, Joseph Atwood, Silves- ter Atwood, Jr., David Andrews, George Ware, and Thomas B. Richmond. They were authorized to hold

funds to the amount of eight thousand five hundred dollars.

The George Ware mentioned as one of the trustees was Dr. George Ware, who died Jan. 7, 1805, aged forty-four years. His father had practiced medieine before him in Dighton, and was also named George. He died Feb. 16, 1771, aged thirty-seven. They were both considered skillful physicians, as was also Dr. William Ware, brother of the first George, who prae- ticed medicine for many years in this town. He died about the year 1764, leaving a widow and several children. His widow, who was a daughter of Eliakim Walker, afterwards married Col. Thomas Church. Dr. William Ware lived on the Broad Cove road. He owned the farm now belonging to Weston Earle. The old farm-house was torn down some years ago. Dr. George Ware and his son George lived on a farm about a third of a mile east of Pitt's Corner. It is still known as the Ware farm, and contains the family burying-ground. A story has been handed down con- cerning the first Dr. George and the selection of a site for the family burying-ground, which is to the follow- ing effect : The doctor had searched his farm over in vain for a suitable place for the family cemetery ; where the land was not wet and swampy it was cov- ered with rocks. In this dilemma he offered a friend who was making him a visit five dollars if he would find a suitable spot on the farm for a burying-place. After considerable search the gentleman announced that he had found the right place, which was where the family burial-lot was afterwards walled in. Dr. Ware assured his friend that the spot was altogether too wet for the purpose, and that whoever was laid there would have the rheumatism in their bones. " Well, it may be as you say, doctor, but it is the only place that is at all suitable on your farm, and, con- sidering how you will be situated hereafter, the wet- ness of the soil ought to be a recommendation." Dr. Ware was too fond of bantering others to be offended when the tables were sometimes turned upon himself. His friend's decision was accepted without further demur, but whether the five dollars were paid over or not tradition does not state. George Ware, Sr., mar- ried Mary Winslow.

Dr. George Ware the younger married, in 1785, Polly Andrews, daughter of Capt. Elkanah Andrews. They had eight children. Their oldest daughter, Polly, was the second wife of Capt. Seth Talbot, of this town. Capt. Talbot represented the town in the Legislature in 1829. He was father of the late Dr. Charles Talbot, who had a large practice as a physi- cian for many years in this and neighboring towns. Dr. Talbot was formerly postmaster, and in 1874 represented the Tenth Bristol District in the Legis- lature. He was a man of large influence in town affairs, and was a leading member of the Unitarian Society. He was born in Dighton, March 30, 1811, and died June 6, 1880. He graduated from the Har- vard Medical School in 1835.

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Capt. Seth Talbot's brother, Capt. Eben Talbot, was captain of the second company of Dighton militia from 1814 to 1817, and held the offices of selectman and assessor for several years.

The Baptist Church .- In the year 1771 there was a general revival among the Baptists in Rehoboth and in the adjoining towns. Sixty members were added to Elder Wick's church in Rehoboth. Quite a num- ber of these new converts were Dighton people, to whom it was a great inconvenience to attend meeting at such a distance. Enoch Goff and other members were therefore allowed to hold meetings in this town. Mr. Goff was in favor of communion with those who had not been immersed. Being a man of considera- ble force of character, other members were led through his influence to adopt similar views, and the result was that a church was organized in the west part of Dighton in 1772. Mr. Goff was chosen pastor of the church, and as they had no meeting-house he was or- dained in the barn of a Mr. Briggs. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Elder Lyon, of Canterbury, and Elder Jacob Hicks gave the hand of fellowship.

Not much is known of Elder Goff's early life. He was born in Dighton, Nov. 3, 1740, was baptized in 1771, and began to preach the same year. During the Revolution he served for a short time as a private in the army. In person he was short in stature, but strongly built. Though intensely earnest and zealous in his religious belief, he was yet cheerful and social in his intercourse with his friends and neighbors, and was liked by all who knew him. The members of his church were to him as his children. When in- vited to the pastorate of a church in Providence, he answered, "I cannot leave my family." The reply was that he was expected to bring his family with him. "But my family is very large; there are two hundred and fifty members in it." He was a shoe- maker by trade, and supported his family by making and mending shoes, as he never had a salary. He was an illiterate man, having attended school but very little. He had a stentorian voice, which in summer- time, when the meeting-house windows were open, could be heard for a long distance. In 1781, David Simmons (or Seamans) was ordained as his colleague.

In 1780 the church completed the meeting-house, which had been commenced some time before, the site being near the Rehoboth line. It was a small structure, had rough benches instead of pews, and had neither stove nor fireplace. The circumstances attending its dedication were in the highest degree im- pressive, for it was dedicated on the " dark day," May 19, 1780, a day of intensified gloom, which must have strangely affected the congregation of farmers and their families, many of them, no doubt, illiterate and superstitious, who had assembled at the dedication. The sermon on the occasion was preached by Elder Knapp. In 1796 a larger and better finished house was built, about one mile north of the first one, and which has been known ever since as Elder Goff's meeting-

house, although it is not now in possession of the de- nomination to which he belonged. Elder Goff's con- gregation came from other towns besides Dighton and Rehoboth, and there were members of his church in Freetown, Berkley, Somerset, and Taunton. At one period his church consisted of more than three hun- dred members. He continued to preach regularly until 1806, when, his health failing, Elder Ephraim Sawyer was called to the pastorate, although Mr. Goff still preached occasionally. The oldest records belonging to the church commence in 1807, when there were one hundred and ninety-one members. In 1808 there was a revival, and fifty-seven were added to the church. The next year there was a schism among the members, and the trouble con- tinued for two years, when thirty members were excluded for having embraced what the majority considered erroneous doctrines.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 58

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