History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 60

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 60

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Another manufacturing establishment at North Dighton is the Waldron bakery, established more than thirty years ago by Francis Waldron.

Although situated in Taunton, yet the Dighton Furnace Company's works are so near the boundary line as to make the name seem not inappropriate. Besides, the works employ numbers of Dighton men, and the treasurer, Mr. James H. Codding, is a resi- dent of this town. Not far from one hundred and fifty men are employed in this establishment, which is a great aid to the prosperity of North Dighton village. If the boundary line between Dighton and Taunton had been established as was at first contem-

1 The value of the silk goods imported in 1880 was thirty-two million eight hundred and ninety-nine thousand five hundred dollars, so that we manufacture more than half of the silk fabrics that we require.

According to information received since the above was written, the old White-Birch factory was built in 1808, which would give it pre- cedence, in point of time, over Wheeler's factory. None of the cotton- mills in Fall River had been built at that date.

The non-intercourse and embargo acts that preceded the second war with Great Britain, while they were disastrous to American shipping interests, had all the stimulating effect of a high protective tariff upon our infant manufactures, and thus helped materially towards our com- plete independence of the mother-country. Without the aid of these retaliatory acts of Congress the Dighton factories would not have been built.

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plated when this town was laid out, the Dighton Furnace Works, the wool-washing establishment, Rose's nickel-plating shop, the North Dighton Rail- road depot, with twenty or thirty dwelling-houses and several hundred aeres of land, which are now within the limits of Taunton, would belong to this town. The division line between Dighton and Tann- ton, starting from near the northwest corner of this town, runs in a straight line in a southeasterly course until it reaches the pond just above the Mount Hope mill; thence it follows the sinuous course of Three- Mile River down to its junction with Taunton River. When Dighton was laid out it was proposed that the northern boundary line, instead of following down the Three-Mile River, should continue straight on in the southeasterly course to Taunton River, and across the latter stream to the Freetown line. This would have brought the irregularly triangular tract between the Three-Mile River and Taunton River into this town, where it naturally belongs.

There are many good reasons for having this pro- posed boundary line established now, and the triangu- lar strip of territory mentioned annexed to Dighton. This would do away with the mistakes and confusion arising from the fact that the North Dighton Rail- road depot and the Dighton Furnace are now in Taunton. Besides, to use the language of diplomacy, it would " rectify our frontier," and would unite under one town government the village that has grown up on both sides of Three-Mile River, and which now is inconvenienced by being partly under town and partly under municipal government. It is believed, besides, that annexation to this town would be no detriment, but an advantage to those dwelling on the territory in question, or owning real estate there, through the much lower rate of taxation prevailing in this town than in Taunton. The question of an- nexation, however, is one in which the people on the territory described must take the initiative.

grist-mill of Albert Briggs, son of Joseph Briggs, who carried on business here for many years. The property has been in the family for a long period. About one hundred and eighty years ago one Matthew Briggs came over from England, and brought the machinery for a forge and grist-mill, which was set up at this place. Mr. Briggs was one of the deacons of the Congregational Church. A part of his busi- ness was the making of pod-augers for carpenters' use, that being in the "good old pod-auger days," before the screw-auger was invented.

Just below the Briggs Forge, and not far from Leonard Horton's house, there was many years ago a fulling-mill, all traces of which, as well as its his- tory, have long ago disappeared. A short distance below the east and west road that leads to the Upper Four Corners is a stone building which was built in 1822, by Capt. David Perry, for a machine-shop. On his failure in business the property was sold, and the building was afterwards occupied as a tack-mill by various parties. About a quarter of a mile below the stone building there was, many years ago, a flaxseed-oil mill, but by whom it was owned or when it was built are not now known. It was an unfortunate concern, and the machinery was said to have been bewitched by an old woman who had a spite against the owner. No sooner was it started to running than some part of it would break down. The iron spindle of the mill- stone seemed to be the particular object of the old lady's evil spells, for it would melt down almost as soon as the mill started, although its bearings were liberally supplied with tallow and other lubricants. That was long after the time of that zealous divine and witch- hunter, Cotton Mather, and none of the women of the neighborhood were hung or tortured on suspicion of having bewitched the oil-mill. The building was afterwards used as a tub- and pail-factory by a Mr. Willard, the lower part being used by Mr. Cummings as a blacksmith-shop. The witch spell seemed to cling to it to the end, for it took fire from friction one night, and was destroyed. A plank had been run through the spokes of the water-wheel to prevent its turning, but a freshet coming on, the pressure of the water broke the plank, and the machinery started into rapid motion. As there was not enough oil on the bearings to prevent friction, the building was in flames before morning. Afterwards a saw-mill was built on the site by Joseph Briggs. About half a mile below the site of the oil-mill was the tack-factory of Nathaniel Leonard & Son, built about the year 1845, and which ran twenty-two machines until within a few years, when the concern was sold out to the combination of tack manufacturers, and has since been idle.

Water-Power of the Segreganset .- The Segre- ganset River runs its course almost wholly within the limits of this town. Excepting near its mouth, where it joins the Taunton, it is little more than a brook. One branch of it rises in the west part of the town, near Goff's Hill, and another takes its rise in the ex- treme northwest corner; these branches unite at the pond, just above the saw-mill and grist-mill of J. T. W. Reed. At this point, on the east side of the road, there was formerly a small cotton-mill, called the White-Birch factory, which was burnt more than forty years ago, while it was being run by David Westcoat, now of Taunton. Just above the site of the White-Birch mill one Simeon Williams had a saw-mill in the last century, and near by was, at a later date, the lap-mill of Joshua Williams, the build- Mr. Leonard was a skillful mechanic, and for some years was the only manufacturer in the county of the plated rolls used by jewelers. He was also the inventor of a tack-machine identical with what is ing having been previously used for the making of plugs for ship-carpenters' use by Isaac Babbitt. About a quarter of a mile west of the brick meeting- house is the pond that gives power for the forge and i called the Blanchard machine, but was forestalled in

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HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

getting a patent by Blanchard. Some distance below the Leonard' factory, on the road that was formerly oue of the boundaries between Dighton and Welling- ton, was the grist-mill known as Simmons' mill, which has not been running for many years.

Of all the many manufacturing enterprises that have been started on the Segreganset River only two are in operation at the present time, Mr. Reed's saw- mill and Mr. Briggs' forge and grist-mill. Elderly and middle-aged people, who have been familiar with the stream from boyhood, say that the amount of water it carries down is much less than was the case when they were young. This is probably true of the other streams in this town. They have apparently shrunk within the last thirty or forty years. The reason for this shrinkage is no doubt to be found in the cutting off of the woods in the north and west part of the town.

Sally Richmond's Brook .- This stream, named for one of the old maiden ladies before mentioned, takes its rise in the swamps northwest of Hunter's Hill, runs at first a northeasterly course, crossing the road leading to Pitts' Corner from the Four Corners twice, then turns southeasterly, skirting the base of Richmond Hill, and loses itself in the oozy flats of Muddy Cove, near the color-works of J. C. Jessop & Co.

There were formerly in operation on this small stream a shingle-mill and a forge, both on the west road. The first, owned by Gen. William Peck, who used to saw cedar shingles in the winter, there not generally being water enough in the summer for the purpose. Gen. William Peck, who owned the farm that formerly belonged to the father of Commodore Talbot, was born in Swansea, April 12, 1795. His father's name was Thomas, who married Elizabeth Mason, of Swansea. William Peck was colonel of the First Regiment, Second Brigade of the county militia from Aug. 27, 1828, to Sept. 11, 1830, when he was promoted brigadier-general of the Second Brigade, consisting of five regiments and a battalion of artil- lery. He was also president of the court-martial which met in Boston for the trial of Lieut .- Col. G. S. Winthrop for failing to properly do escort duty with his command on election-day in 1832. His unflinch- ing firmness on this occasion and his somewhat stern expression of features won him, in the newspaper re- ports of the affair, the sobriquet of Gen. Pluck. He Swansea. They had four daughters, whom he used to term his bushel of girls. His death occurred in Octo- ber, 1851, his wife surviving him three years.

married Lemira Mason, daughter of Job Mason, of , standing, and the manufacture of furniture was con-

The forge and blacksmith-shop of Matthew Briggs stood about a quarter of a mile below Gen. Peck's

shingle-mill. There was a small pond in the rear, from which a flume led to the undershot-wheel that carried the tilt-hammer. Mr. Briggs was a man of Falstaffian proportions, and almost of Falstaffian humor. He was quick at repartee, his eyes would twinkle under his round spectacles, and his rotund form would shake with laughter at anything that tickled his fancy. He was, withal, a skillful smith, and could make almost anything in his line from a horse-nail to a monkey-wrench. His forge being near the school-house, the boys used to find it a fascinating place of resort during recess, especially when the trip-hammer was in motion, sending horizontal show- ers of sparks from the white mass of metal it was beating into shape. Mr. Briggs was captain of the Second Company of Dighton militia from 1818 to 1822. His father's name was Matthew, and he was a seventh son; he also had seven sons, the youngest of whom ought, according to the old superstition about seventh son of seventh son, to be endowed with the gift of curing by touch the king's evil. Matthew Briggs' forge has long been torn down, the dam leveled, and the pond converted into a meadow.

The only manufacturing establishment now in op- eration on Sally Richmond's Brook is the color- grinding works of J. C. Jessop & Co., already men- tioned, steam being the motive power, and the water of the little pond, formed by a dam across the stream, being only used for manufacturing purposes. From twenty to twenty-five hands are employed, and the colors produced are chiefly intended for the printing of wall-papers. The building was erected in 1861 for the manufacture of woolen cloths. A company was formed consisting of Capt. William Cobb, of this town, George G, Crocker, of Taunton, Dr. Samuel West, of Tiverton, R. I., Thomas Whitridge, of Bal- timore, and others. The capital stock was at first forty thousand dollars, afterwards increased to fifty thousand dollars, and then to seventy-five thousand dollars. In 1864 the company held property, accord- ing to a sworn statement of the directors, valued at one hundred and twenty-nine thousand dollars, with a debt of cighty-one thousand dollars. George G. Crocker was the first president of the company, and Capt. Cobb, treasurer. The business was not con- ducted so as to be financially profitable, and after the establishment was burned, in 1867, an upper story of wood was built on to the brick walls, which remained menced by a new company, with a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars. Of the six hundred shares, Capt. Cobb held two hundred and ninety. The other principal shareholders were Gordon Bartlett, of Salem, Stephen Bartlett, of Charlestown, and Edward Gordon, of Boston, the latter being president of the company. The manufacture of furniture did not prove profitable, and the business was soon abandond, and the com- pany dissolved. The building was next used for the manufacture of white-lead, and was known as the

1 The Leonards came from Wales, and have always been noted in the working and manufacture of iron ever since the two brothers, James and llenry Leonard, came over in 1652, and, in company with Ralph Russel, set up in Taunton (now Raynham) the first iron-works built in this country.

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Albion Lead-Works. Capt. Cobb was a large stock- holder, as were several prominent Taunton men. The business was conducted at a loss for some years. May 2, 1878, carly in the morning, the building was burned for the second time. It has since been partially re- built by the color-works company.

CAPT. WILLIAM COBB, previously mentioned as prominently connected with the woolen-mill, the fur- niture factory, and the lead-works, was also concerned in manufacturing enterprises in the buildings near the town-landing, now owned and occupied by the Dighton Stove-Lining Company. The first manufac- turing establishment on this site was a steam saw-mill erected more than a generation ago, and used for the manufacture of shingles from southern cedar, nail- kegs, sashes, blinds, and doors. This building was burnt while it was occupied by Shove and Stur- tevant, saslı, door, and blind manufacturers. It was rebuilt by a joint-stock company, of which Capt. Cobb, Anthony Reed, and others were members, Mr. Reed being the agent. The business was not con- ducted so as to be profitable, and the establishment was soon turned into a tack manufactory under other managers, and styled the Union Manufacturing Com- pany, of which Capt. Cobb was the president. The capital stock of this company in 1857 was sixteen thousand dollars. Stephen Rhodes was the treasurer and in 1861 was president of the company. In 1865 a new company was formed under the name of the Dighton Tack Company, in which several Boston men were interested, Jeremiah Abbott of that city being the president. The capital stock of this company in 1866 was eighty thousand dollars, and the amount of property belonging to it was estimated in the sworn certificate of the directors to be one hundred and forty-three thousand dollars, with liabilities amount- ing to fifty-four thousand dollars. After other changes in the ownership the tack manufactory was bought by the combination of tack manufacturers, and the busi- ness was abandoned in Dighton. The premises have since been used for the manufacture of stove-linings and fire-brick.

In 1866 a builing was erected just north of the tack factory for an iron-works, and a company was formed under the name of the Dighton Rolling-mill Company, of which Enoch Robinson, Jr., was presi- dent, and Capt. Cobb treasurer. The capital stock was forty-four thousand dollars. In 1868 the capital stock was increased to eighty thousand dollars. In the great gale of September, 1869, the building was partially wrecked, and soon afterwards it was burnt to the ground by an incendiary fire. The business had not proved a profitable one as it had been man- aged, and the works were not rebuilt.

William Cobb was born in Taunton in 1811. He was the son of Charles and Rhoda, née Dean. IIe was connected, though not by direct descent, with Gen. David Cobb, of the Revolutionary period, who afterwards, during Shay's rebellion, when the court-

house in Taunton was threatened by an angry mob, emphatically informed the turbulent crowd that he would " either sit as a judge, or die as a general."

Capt. Cobb came to Dighton to reside about the year 1837, and was followed by his brothers George and Benjamin, who were also sea-captains. He bought the farm that was formerly the Bragg farm. In 1840, in connection with other parties, he built the bark " Elizabeth Hall." In 1849 he went to California in command of the bark " Ann," carrying a company of gold-hunters. After his return he gave up the sea, and entered into business pursuits on the land. He built a large wharf and store now owned by the Old Colony Iron Company, and was for many years the agent of that company in transporting their coal and iron to East Taunton. IIe also built a number of vessels at his wharf, the last of which, built in 1874, was a barkentine, named for himself. In 1857 the Rhode Island coal-mine was bought by a company consisting of himself, Samuel L., and George A. Crocker. He was one of the originators of the Dighton and Somerset Railroad Company, and was president of the com- pany when the charter was sold to the Old Colony Company. He also contracted to build the bridge across the river at Somerset, one of the longest bridges in New England, and took the contract to cut through the " Pinnacle" ledge in Stoughton, after other con- tractors had abandoned the work. He was also in- fluential in getting the new carriage-road built from Dighton to Somerset, across Broad Cove, and also the one starting from near his house, and running north across Segreganset River, to join the old stage-road.' Capt. Cobb was also interested in the brick business at Medford, in this State, and at Haverstraw, on the Hud- son River. He died suddenly, of heart-disease, in his state-room, on board of one of the Fall River and New York steamboats, while on his way home from the latter city, July 31, 1875. Capt. Cobb was twice married. His first wife was a Peckham, by whom he had two children. His second wife was Miss Emma Lubec, of this town, by whom he had three sons and two daughters.

Whatever judgment may be passed upon Capt. Cobb's business methods, and some of them have been severely criticised, no one who knew him will deny that he was a man of energetic and enterprising character, of large personal magnetism, enabling him to secure the co-operation of others in any project or undertaking in which he was interested, or that he was kind and genial in his relations to his family and his friends.

Various Topics .- Dighton has been represented in mathematics by John D. Williams, son of Jared and Martha, who was born in the year 1800. He was early in life quite noted as a mathematician, and

1 Capt. Cobb and Charles W. Briggs took the contract to build Broad Cove bridge, which was built in 1855. The new road and bridge over the Segreganset were built the same year. . These improvements were much needed, and have been a great convenience to the traveling public.

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published a little text-book on algebra, which has long been out of print. The author was not remark- able for intelligence in matters ontside of the domain of figures or their algebraic symbols, thus adding an- other to the many similar illustrations of the psycho- logic fact that the mathematical faculty is frequently largely developed in people of otherwise very ordi- nary intellectual gifts.

Mr. Williams was a mason by trade. He took the contract to build the city hall in Fall River, but the city authorities, after he had worked for some time, perceiving that the work was not being properly done, annulled the contract and gave the job to another per- son. Mr. Williams led a somewhat irregular life, and, having laid by nothing for a rainy day, his closing years were spent in the almshouse. His father, Jared Williams, was a very peculiar and eccentric man, especially in his speech.

In art this town has furnished a worthy represen- tative in Jesse Talbot, son of Josiah and Lydia, who resided on a farm in the northwest part of the town.

Jesse was born April 1, 1805, and was the youngest of eight children. Before he had reached the age of manhood he went to Dedham, in this State, and was employed as a clerk in the store of Dr. Wheaton. From Dedham he removed to New York City, where he was appointed secretary of the American Tract Society and married the daughter of a clergyman. Having shown considerable talent in drawing and painting in his youth, he was induced by the persua- sions of his friends, as well as by his own inclina- tion, to adopt the profession of a landscape painter. Thenceforward he devoted his life to the practice of his art, and with considerable success, his pictures finding a ready sale, and many of them being en- graved on steel for the magazines and annuals of that period. His pictures of views on the Hudson River and Rockland Lake were especially admired.

Probably many worldly-wise people would have considered Jesse Talbot's adoption of the profession of landscape painter, at a time when there was not nearly the taste for art in the United States that there is at present, and when artistic work was compara- tively poorly remunerated, as having some connection with his having been born on " All-Fools' day." Yet, if he did not amass a fortune by his art, as Bierstadt, Church, and a few other American artists have done in later years, he at least secured a moderate compe- tence ; and probably with him, as with many others, the practice of his art was its own exceeding great reward, and pecuniary considerations were of second- ary importance.

Dighton Rock .- Any sketeh, however fragment- ary, of the history of this town that made no mention of Dighton Rock would be, to use the hackneyed simile, like the play of Hamlet with the part of the Prince of Denmark left out, or, to use a fresher and more apposite comparison, it would be like a descrip-

tion of Newport with no mention of the old Stone Mill.

In considering the diverse theories that have been advanced as to the genesis of the sculptured charac- ters on this famous rock, and the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of proving or disproving either of them, it would seem as if the genius of mystery were brood- ing over the spot, hiding with an impenetrable cur- tain the meaning of the semi-obliterated characters, and one recalls the inscription before the mysterious temple of Isis, " Yesterday, to-day, forever, and no mortal hath lifted my veil."

That the controversy over this rock is not yet en- tirely settled to the satisfaction of everybody is in part owing to the wearing effect of ice and waves for hundreds of years on the sculptured face of this bowlder of gneiss, making it a matter of great diffi- culty to trace some of the shallow lines of the figures among the natural seams and crevices of the stone, and to this difficulty of following the lines, as they were originally chiseled into the rock, is to be attrib- nted the fact that no two drawings of the characters by different people that were ever made would agree in all respects when compared together. This di- versity or disagreement in the drawings that have been made of the rock is strikingly shown in the " Antiquitates Americanæ," a tri-lingual, quarto work, published nearly half a century ago by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen. In this work there are nine drawings of the rock, taken by different people, at different times, no two of which are alike. The first of these attempted representations of the characters on the rock was by Dr. Danforth, in 1680. The second has been attrib- uted to Cotton Mather, in 1712. It bears not the slightest resemblance to the sculptured characters, but appears as if executed by a person having the St. Vitus' dance or the delirium tremens. Then follow other drawings, of more or less accuracy, one of the best being by Dr. William Baylies, of this town. The best drawing in the series was furnished by the Rhode Island Historical Society, and was the one chiefly relied upon by the Danish savants in studying the character of the inscription, which, it is well known, they decided to be the work of the roving Northmen in the eleventh century. If they did not succeed in proving beyond doubt that Dighton Rock is a Scan- dinavian relic, they at least succeeded, by the publi- cation in the " Antiquitates Americana" of the old Icelandic sagas or histories, in proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the Norse freebooters disco- ered this continent, and made some attempts to col- onize it, centuries before Christopher Columbus was born, and that the site of the ancient Vinland, men- tioned in these sagas, was probably in the southeastern part of what is now New England.

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History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 60

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