USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 82
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" One preacher who had failed to edify in the morning effort. told the audience that he should improve upon the same text in the afternoon, when one of his hearers blurted ont, ' Well, preach from it again in the afternoon, but I shall not come to listen to you, and the man in the next pew says he won't.'
" The laborers in this stony ground of this vineyard of the Lord were as follows :
" Rev. William Way, from Feb. 14, 1704, to January, 1707; Rev. Joseph Avery, Mr. Joseph Haile, Jonathan Dodson, Rev. Thomas Craighead, Rev. James McSparrow, Mr. Israel Nichols, and Rev. Silas Brett. Of
was in the town records of 1748 called an old school- house, and a vote passed to supply its place by a new school-house, twenty-four by twenty. The school-house then built must have been the second that stood on the meeting-house lot.
These extracts, meagre as the same are, furnish nearly all that can now possibly be learned of what was done for the education of children in Fall River from 1704 to 1748.
In the early history of the town but feeble efforts were put forth in the promotion of the common schools. As the population of the town increased. however, much praiseworthy interest scemed to be manifested, and in 1826 the town voted to raise six hundred dollars for the support of the common schools, and appointed a general school committee to examine teachers and superintend the school. This committee consisted of Joseph Hathaway, James Ford, Jason H. Archer, John Lindsey, and William B. Canedy. In the following year the amount voted was more than doubled, being twelve hundred and eighty-eight dollars. In 1840 the committee consisted of Rev. Orin Finley, Asa Bronson, James Ford, Eliab Wil- liams, Joseph F .. Lindsey, Jonathan S. Thomson, and George M. Randall, and the amount voted was four thousand five hundred dollars. With the incorpora- tion of the city and the rapid increase in population increased educational facilities were demanded, and from that time to the present the citizens of Fall River have manifested a lively interest in educational matters, and their public schools to-day are among the best in the commonwealth.
STATISTICAL.
Population of Fall River May, 1881 49,049 Number of children in the city between 5 and 15 years of age, May 1, 1881. 10,252 Increase 489
Of these there were in the Borden Grammar School Dis- trict.
1357
Maple Street School District.
522
High
1451
Davis
Morgan יל
3735
Slade
970
10,252
Whole number of different pupils enrolled
10,361
Average number belonging ..
6,958
Average attendance.
6,131
Number of school-houses, 35; sittings
8,266
Number of pupils over 15 years of age.
332
Number of separate schools (high, 1; grammar, 22; interme- diate, 34; primary, 63; suburban, 9) ..
129
Whole number of teachers employed in day schools: high, 8; grammar, 27; intermediate, 41; primary, 79; suburban, 9. Total 164
Whole number employed in evening schools, 35; evening draw- ing school, 6. Total.
41
Number of male teachers employed in day schools (high, 6; grammar, 4).
Number of female teachers employed in day schools : high, 2; grammar, 23; intermediate, 41; primary, 79; suburban, 9. Total. 154
the seventy-one years between Feb. 14, 1704, and 1775, Rev. Silas Brett preached abont twenty- eight years.
" The old church edifice, the first erected in what is now Fall River, was demolished in or about 1808. It was a very modest-looking, unpre- tending structure, without a bell-tower or steeple, and innocent of the adoruments of paint.
" No church-bell was used in town during the ninety-eight years this old church stood, nor for quite a number of years afterwards."-Gen. E. W. Peirce.
2217
340
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
Appropriation for day schools, 1881.
$93,000.00
Expended for salaries.
text-books and stationery
7,009.06
624.73
carrying school children
540.00
1,445.52
Balance carried to sinking fund.
1,248.59
Total
$93,000.00
Expended for janitors for day schools
$10,165.27
fuel.
4,813.38
Davis
713
1267
237
Maple Street.
163
315
44
Borden
434
793
130
3363
5899
990
10,252
The present school committee is as follows : Louisa G. Aldrich, January, 1883; Harriet T. Healy, Jan- uary, 1883; Leontine Lincoln, January, 1883 ; Wil- liam G. Bennett, January, 1884; Marcus G. B. Swift, January, 1884; John A. Tourtellot, January, 1884 ; Thomas L. Ramsbottom, January, 1885; A. M. Jack- son, January, 1885; E. W. Hunt, January, 1885. William Connell, superintendent of schools. A. M. Jackson, chairman; William Connell, secretary.
THE MUNIFICENT GIFT OF MRS. MARY B. YOUNG to the city of Fall River for the purposes of a high school is best explained by the following documents :
" TO THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF FALL RIVER.
" Sir,-You will please find inclosed herewith a written proposition of Mrs. Mary B. Young, which I would thank you to present to the City Council for its consideration.
" Very respectfully yours,
" JOHN S. BRAYTON.
" FALL RIVER, Feb. 5, 1883.
"' TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF FALL RIVER.
"' The undersigned makes the following proposition :
"' As soon as the proper plans can be prepared, she will erect and furnish, at her own expense, in memory of her son, Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee, on the lot bounded on the north by Locust Street, east by High Street, south by Cherry Street, and west by Rock Street (which lot contains abont two hundred and forty square rods of land), a build- ing suitable for the purposes of a high school, and upon its completion, will convey the same with the lot to the city of Fall River.
"'She will also provide mechanical, philosophical, and chemical ap- paratus, and give to the city of Fall River, in trust, the sum of fifty thousand dollars, the income of which shall be devoted to instruction in the branches of study illustrated by the use of said apparatus.
"' She makes this proposition upon the condition that the selection and continuance of the teachers for said high school, and the depart- ments connected with it, shall be subject to the approval of certain per- sons to be named by her in said deed of gift, and their successors.
"' MARY B. YOUNG.
""' FALL RIVER, Feb. 5, 1883.' "IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Feb. 5, 1883.
"Received, read, and referred to his honor the mayor, city solicitor, chairman of school committee, superintendent of schools, and the joint special committee on high school building.
"Sent for concurrence.
" GEORGE A. BALDARD, City Clerk.
"IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 5, 1883.
" Concurred in.
" ARTHUR ANTHONY, Clerk."
"TO THE CITY COUNCIL:
" The special committee to whom was referred the proposition of Mrs. Mary B. Young, to give a lot of land, to erect thercon, equip, endow, and present to the city of Fall River a high school edifice, as a memo- rial to her son, Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee, and for the benefit of the higher education of the youth of said city, would report that they recommend the adoption of the accompanying order and resolu- tions.
" Henry K. Braley, James F. Jackson, A. M. Jackson, William Con- nell, Thomas F. Eddy, Hugh McKevitt, Henry 11. Earl, J. Henry Wells,
The number of children between five and eight years of age was found to be 3363, the number be- tween eight and fourteen, 5899; and the number over fourteen but less than fifteen, 990. The following | M. IT. Connelly, Committee."
tabular statement exhibits the facts in detail in the different grammar-school districts :
Grammar
Districts.
and 8 years of age.
Between 8 and 14 years of age.
Over 14 but not 15 years of age
Total.
Slade
328
545
97
Morgan Street
1298
2154
343
High Street
487
825
139
4,506.00
22,693.40
Evening school appropriation
$3,500.00
Expended for teaching
$2,692.75
580.60
46
janitors
74.00
20.44
Balance carried to sinking fond.
$3,500.00
HIGH SCHOOL.
Whole number enrolled.
384
Average number belonging.
272
Average attendance
264
Number of pupils graduated.
53
GRAMMAR GRADE.
Whole number of pupils enrolled in grammar schools. 1439
1115
Average attendance.
1036
INTERMEDIATE GRADE.
Whole number of pupils enrolled in intermediate schools 2388
Average number belonging.
1610
Average attendance ..
1437
PRIMARY GRADE.
Whole number of pupils enrolled in primary schools. 5728
Average number belonging 3700
Average attendance. 3169
SUBURBAN SCHOOLS (MIXED).
Whole number of pupils enrolled 422
261
Average number belonging ....
225
Average attendance.
SCHOOL CENSUS .- The truant officers on the first day of May, 1881, took the census of the school cliil- dren between five and fifteen years of age, with the following results. Whole number in the city 10,252, which is 489 more than for the previous year. There were on that day, in the public schools, 6897 children between the ages above named, being 459 in excess of the previous year. An enrollment of 852 was found in the parochial and private schools, which is 21 more than was found the year before. There were 1420 children employed in the mills on the above days against 1331 the year previous. Of those children neither at work nor in the schools, 1083 were found, which is 80 less than the preceding year.
The results obtained are tabulated below for conve- nience of reference and comparison with those of former years.
Grammar
In Public In Private
Districts.
Schools.
Schools.
At Work.
Not in any School nor at Work.
Total.
Slade
676
17
118
159
970
Morgan Street ...
2370
493
473
399
3,735
High Street.
1006
93
203
149
1,451
Davis
1449
206
380
182
2,217
Maple Street
433
32
19
38
522
Borden
963
11
227
156
1,357
6897
852
1420
1083
10,252
Last year
6438
831
1331
1163
9,763
459
21
89
-80
489
Between 5
miscellaneous things.
repairs on school-houses.
66
new school-houses.
miscellaneous things
132.21
Average number belonging ..
text-books.
$82,132.10
printing .
341
FALL RIVER.
" Ordered, That the proposition of Mrs. Mary B. Young to erect and convey to the city of Fall River, in memory of her son, Bradford Mat- thew Chaloner Durfee, a building for the uses and purposes of a high school, as contained in the written proposal submitted by her, bearing date Feb. 5, A.D. 1883, be and the same is hereby accepted, and a form of deed substantially like that annexed hereto is hereby approved and adopted, and the mayor is authorized to petition the Legislature for the passage of such act or acts as may be necessary, if any, to make valid the contemplated action.
" Resolved, That in its acceptance of the munificent offer of Mrs. Mary B. Young, to give a lot of land, unsurpassed in location for the purpose, to build thereon, equip, endow, and present to the city of Fall River a high school edifice in memory of her son, Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee, and for the advanced education of the youth of the city of Fall River, the City Council desire to express and place on record its grateful acknowledgment of the gift and the spirit which prompts it. Coming at a time when the subject of a new high school building, after repeated delays, had forced its importance upon the attention and careful consid- eration of the city government for immediate action, this noble and generous proposition to honor the memory of a beloved and only son in such a form as to adorn the city and benefit its inhabitants, and by an expenditure so far in advance of what prudence, on our part, would dic- tate as judicious for the city to make with due regard to other wants and necessities, excites our warm appreciation, and relieves us by its happy solution of a most important and trying question.
" Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the records of both branches of the City Council, and a copy thereof be forwarded to Mrs. Mary B. Young, signed by his honor the mayor, the president of the council, and duly certified by the respective recording officers thereof."
The following is the form of the deed :
" Know all men by these presents, that I, Mary B. Young, of Fall River, in the State of Massachusetts, in consideration of one dollar to me paid by the city of Fall River, a municipal corporation situate in said State, do hereby give, grant, bargain, sell, and convey unto the said city of Fall River, a certain lot of land, with all the buildings and im- provements thereon, situate in said Fall River, and bounded on the west by Rock Street, on the north by Locust Street, on the east by High Street, and on the south by Cherry Street, and containing two hundred and forty square rods of land, more or less.
"To have and to hold the same for the uses and purposes of a high school, in memory of my son, Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee, to the said city of Fall River, its successors and assigns, with all the privi- leges and appurtenances thereto belonging, to its and their use and be- hoof forever as aforesaid.
" Provided that, and this conveyance is made upon the express con- dition that the selection, employment, and continuance by the school committee of Fall River, or such other body, or person or persons as are or may be charged with that duty, of the teachers for and in said high school and the departments connected therewith, shall be subject to the written approval of -, and of such persons as, in case of the non- acceptance, disability, death, removal, or resignation of any of them or of their successors, shall be chosen by a majority of those then remain- ing and acting to fill the vacancy or vacancies caused by such death, non-acceptance, removal, resignation, or disability ; and in case any teacher or teachers shall be selected, employed, or continued in said school, or any of the departments connected therewith, without such written approval, then said premises, and the buildings and improve- ments thereon shall revert to the grantor, her heirs and executors, ad- ministrators and assigns, and she and they may enter and repossess theni- selves thereof.
" And I do hereby, for myself and my heirs, executors, and adminis- trators, covenant with the grantee, its successors and assigns, that I am lawfully seized in fee-simple of the granted premises, that they are free from all incumbrances, except the condition aforesaid, that I have good right to sell and convey the same as aforesaid, and that I will and my heirs, executors, and administrators shall warrant and defend the same to the said grantee, its successors and assigns against the lawful claims and demands of all persons, except those arising from a breach of the condition aforesaid.
" In witness whereof, I, the said
have hereto set
hand and seal this day of A.D. eighteen hundred and eighty-
"Signed sealed and delivered ? in presence of
" BRISTOL, SS. COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. "Then personally appeared, etc."
" IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, Feb. 5, 1883.
" Report accepted, recommendations, order, and resolutions adopted. " Sent for concurrence.
"GEORGE A. BALLARD, City Clerk.
" IN COMMON COUNCIL, Feb. 5, 1883.
"Concurred in.
" ARTHUR ANTHONY, Clerk."
THE SKELETON IN ARMOR.1
"Speak ! speak ! thou fearful guest ! Who, with thy hollow breast
Still in rude armor drest, Comest to daunt me !
Wrapt not in Eastern balms,
But with thy fleshless palms
Stretched as if asking alms, Why dost thou haunt me?"
When Longfellow wrote "The Skeleton in Armor," he commemorated forever the curious and mysterious remains that were found in Fall River in the year 1832, and destroyed in the great fire of 1843. Few persons of general reading are entirely unacquainted with the conjectures of antiquarian and archaeological societies in relation to the origin of this skeleton. The Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen, Denmark, which, a few years after the finding of the skeleton, had the subject under consideration, raised the query whether it might not have been the remains of one of the Northmen, who are now very generally supposed to have visited our coast, and to have spent a winter here, or near here, about the eight or ninth century. Probably the best account now extant of the finding of the skeleton, and a description of its ap- pearance at the time, was written by the late Dr. Phineas W. Leland in the records of the old Fall River Athenaeum soon after the fire of 1843, and is as follows :
" Among the curiosities of peculiar interest (in the cabinets of the Fall River Athenaeum) was the entire skeleton of a man, about which antiquarians in the old as well as the new world had speculated much. The skeleton was found in the year 1832 in a sand- or gravel-bank a little east of the Unitarian meeting- house 2 by some persons while digging away and re- moving a portion of the bank. The skeleton was found near the surface in a sitting posture, the leg- bones doubled upon the thigh-bones, and the thighs brought up nearly parallel with the body. It was quite perfect, and stood remarkably well the test of exposure. Covering the sternum was a triangular plate of brass somewhat corroded by time, and around the body was a broad belt made of small brass tubes four or five inches in length about the size of a pipe- stem placed parallel and close to each other. Arrow- heads made of copper or brass were also found in the grave with the skeleton. That these were the remains of an Indian seemed to be very generally conceded ; the configuration of the skull, the position in which the skeleton was found, and the additional fact that
1 Contributed by George W. Rankin.
2 On or very near the site now occupied by the gas-works, corner of Hartwell and Fifth Streets.
342
HISTORY OF BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
parts of other skeletons were found near the same place renders it nearly certain that these were the bones of an Indian. Whose frame it was will not likely ever be permitted us to know. Whether it be- longed to some chief still celebrated in song and story, or to an obscure child of the forest, whose bones and deeds slept in the same undistinguished grave, we have no means of knowing. Tradition and history are alike silent when interrogated. We would fain believe that these were the remains of some noble old chief, once master of the beautiful and rich valley through which the dark waters of the Titicut (Indian name of Taunton River) still roll. We would believe so, for we love to think that humanity once warmed the heart of him whose bones have excited so much our wonder and curiosity. Whoever he was, peace be to his ashes."
In the American Monthly Magazine for January, 1836, is a short article on the skeleton, then in the Fall River Athenaeum, portions of which we shall extract, not because the description is faultless, but because it is the account of one J. Stark who ex- amined the remains for the purpose of describing them to the public. With Mr. Stark's speculations accompanying his description we have little concern. More facts and greater reflection would probably have led him to very different conclusions. He describes the skeleton as "the remains of a human body, armed with a breastplate, a species of mail and ar- rows of brass, which remains he supposes to have belonged either to one of the race who inhabited this country for a time anterior to the so-called aborigines, and afterwards settled in Mexico or Guatemala, or to one of the crew of some Phoenician vessel that. blown out of her course, thus discovered the Western world long before the Christian era.
" These remains were found in the town of Fall River, in Bristol County, Mass., about eighteen months since. In digging down a hill near the vil- lage, a large mass of earth slid off, leaving in the bank and partially uncovered a human skull, which, on examination, was found to belong to a body buried in a sitting posture, the head being about one foot below what had been for many years the surface of the ground. The surrounding earth was carefully re- moved and the body found to be enwrapped in a cov- ering of coarse bark of a dark color. Within this envelope were found the remains of another of coarse cloth, made of fine bark and about the texture of a Manilla coffee-bag. On the breast was a plate of brass, thirteen inches long, six broad at the upper end and five at the lower. This plate appears to have been cast, and is from one-eighth to three thirty-sec- onds of an inch in thickness. It is so much corroded that whether or not anything was ever engraved upon it has not yet been ascertained. It is oval in form, the edges being irregular, apparently made so by corrosion.
"Below the breastplate, and entirely encircling
the body, was a belt composed of brass tubes, each four and a half inches in length and three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter, arranged longitudinally and close together, the length of the tube being the width of the belt. The tubes are of thin brass, cast upon hollow reeds, and were fastened together by pieces of sinew. This belt was so placed as to protect the lower parts of the body below the breastplate. The arrows are of brass, thin, flat, and triangular in shape, with a round hole cut through near the base. The shaft was fastened to the head by inserting the latter in an opening at the end of the wood, and then tying it with a sinew through the round hole, a mode of con- structing the weapon never practiced by the Indians, not even with their arrows of thin shell. Parts of the shaft still remain attached to some of them. When first discovered the arrows were in a sort of quiver of bark, which fell in pieces when exposed to the air.
"The skull is much decayed, but the teeth are sound and apparently of a young man. The pelvis is much decayed and the smaller bones of the lower extrem- ities are gone.
"The integuments of the right knee, for four or five inches above and below, are in good preservation, apparently the size and shape of life, although quite black.
"Considerable flesh is still preserved on the hands and arms, but more on the shoulders and elbows. On the back under the belt, and for two inches above and below, the skin and flesh are in good preserva- tion, and have the appearance of being tanned. The chest is much compressed, but the upper viscera are probably entire. The arms are bent up, not crossed, so that the hands turned inwards touch the shoulders. The stature is about five and a half feet. Much of the exterior envelope was decayed, and the inner one appeared to be preserved only where it had been in contact with the brass.
"The preservation of this body may be the result of some embalming process, and this hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that the skin has the appear- ance of having been tanned, or it may be the acci- dental result of the action of the salts of the brass during oxidation, and this latter hypothesis is sup- ported by the fact that the skin and flesh have been preserved only where they have been in contact with or quite near the brass, or we may account for the preservation of the whole by supposing the presence of saltpetre in the soil at the time of the deposit. In either way, the preservation of the remains is fully accounted for; and upon known chemical principles.
" That the body was not one of the Indians we think needs no argument. We have seen some of the drawings taken from the sculptures found at Palenque, and in those the figures are represented with the breastplates, although smaller than the plate found at Fall River. On the figures at Palenque the bracelets and anklets seem to be of a manufacture precisely similar to the belt of tubes just described.
343
FALL RIVER.
"If the body found at Fall River be one of the Asiatic race, who transiently settled in Central America, and afterwards went to Mexico and founded those cities, in exploring the ruins of which such as- tonishing discoveries have recently been made, then we may well suppose also that it is one of the race whose exploits have, although without a date and almost without a certain name, been immortalized by Homer. Of the great race who founded cities and empires in their eastward march, and are finally lost in South America, the Romans seem to have had a glimmering tradition in the story of Evander.
"But we rather incline to the belief that the re- mains found at Fall River belonged to the crew of a Phoenician vessel. The spot where they were found is on the sea-coast, and in the immediate neighbor- hood of Dighton Rock, famed for its hieroglyphic in- scriptions, of which no sufficient explanation has yet been given, and near which rock brazen vessels have been found. If this latter hypothesis be adopted, a part of it is that these mariners, the unwilling and unfortunate discoverers of a new world, lived some time after they landed, and having written their names, perhaps their epitaphs, upon the rock at Dighton, died, and were buried by the natives."
Water-Works. - "The system of publie water- works, regarded by engineers as one of the most per- fect, both in design and construction, in the Union, is justly a constant cause of self-congratulation to the residents of Fall River. The natural resources of the district in which the city has grown up, almost unique in the wealth and purity of their treasure, hardly need be suggested to the reader who has formed his own conception of the eastern plateau, extending parallel with the community of mills and residences, and bearing in its bosom the long chain of spring-fed lakes. Farther on will be given a comparative view of the enormous volume of water which this unequaled natural reservoir contains. The value of Watuppa to the city, regarded simply as an element in its in- dustrial progress, is very great, but when its more recent service, as a sure and powerful antagonist of fire, and a never-failing purveyor of health, cleanli- ness, and comfort in every household is considered, its worth is really beyond our powers of estimate.
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