USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Chatham > History of Chatham, Massachusetts : formerly the Constablewick or Village of Monomoit ; with maps and illustrations and numerous genealogical notes > Part 17
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1. Seeing Harwich People did sometime ago Prevail with this Hon ble Court to Order the said Families of Our South Shore to Pay their Rates with them in helping to Maintain their Minister, The Rev. Mr. Nathanael Stone, and to be in their Military List, to Mus- ter about Ten Miles Distant from the Place of their own & our De- fence, so to Remain under Harwich untill we should be settled with an Orthodox Learned Minister; We having been Supplied with such an One already for a Quarter of a Year (who was procured for us & is Approved by the Reverend Ministers of the Neighbouring Asso- ciation in Barnstable County) With Whom for his effectual Settle- ment with us we have already Agreed and have obtained his full Consent, on Condition of our Obtaining a Grant of these Petitions, Therefore, now We humbly Request that all the said Families of our South Shore Neighbourhood, from Muddy Cove, Including the Farm of Joseph Nichoson 19 & his sons, along Yarmouth Road to 19. This farin was in Harwich Mmits adjoining the Monomoit line at the head of Muddy Cove.
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INCORPORATION.
Herring River West Southerly, May be Restored to Our Village or Township of Monomoy, from & ever after the Day of the Ordination of an Orthodox Learned Minister over us; For according to the Grant of our Village or Township by the Ancient & Honourable Court of Plymouth Government above Twenty Years ago, our then allotted Bounds Included the Whole Tract of Land from the Said Muddy Cove on the Southern Side of the Yarmouth Road to Herring River including the said Families with their Lands. Herewith also we humbly Request of This Most Honourable Court a more firm Pri- viledge of a Township according to the Said Bounds, including all the Islands, Beach and Sedge Marsh Adjacent to the said Tract within it, and That His Excellency with their Honours would Please so far to Christianize Our Township with a Proper English Name as Well as our Neighbours.
II. Since we are so Daily in Danger of the French Privateers (as Mr. Barnabas Lathrope of Barnstable who sailed out of Our Har- bour this week having one Samuel Billard a Passenger with him to Boston, can both of them Testifie how we are exposed & how weak handed both we & our South Shore Neighbours are to Defend our Selves) That we may a Little Recruit untill the inhabitants of Our Settlement may multiply by coming in to Dwell on the Desolate Farms, thereby to Increase in Strength to be able to Defend our Selves & to Support the Gospel, and that No more of Our Inhabitants may be Scared away from us (by the fear of a Press); We are, therefore, Constrained earnestly hereby to Petition for a Full Re- lease of all the Men of our So exposed & Diminished Township from all Danger of being Impressed into any Remote Service for some Term of Years according to Their Honours Pleasure.
III. Because, as Diminished, Exposed to Danger & Poor as we are, Rather than be Unchurched & Ungospelized by being Destitute of a Learned Orthodox Minister any longer; We have Adventured (for his Encouragement to Settle amongst us) To Vote-1. To allow Fifty-two Pounds a Year under our Present circumstances. 2. To Raise his Salary gradually to Sixty Pounds in Four Years after our Regaining our South Shore Neighbours. And Afterwards to Raise His Salary as Our Minister's Necessity & Our Town's Ability may grow, Referring any Difficulty herein to the Determination of Eligible Arbitrators. 3. To Raise an Hundred Pounds forthwith for a Per- sonal Settlement for Our first Ordain'd Minister & His Heires. 4. To Allow Him Forty Shillings a year Towards Purchasing Hay & that Every Married Mar in our Bounds shall bring him a good Load of Wood a piece every year; Besides other Freewill Offerings of Helps in Building, Fencing, Manuring & Furnishing with a Stock of Creatures to begin withall, All which we Rationally shall Neither
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
have Opportunity nor Ability to Perform except we may be helpel accordingly; Therefore We Petition That Our Town May be also Considered & Eased In the Province Tax, Seeing so many of our Families are already Removed & Several More are about to go (hav- ing Sold & Purposing to Sell) to go away from us & from our South Shore to the Said Duck Creek & to other Places & they who may Abide here are not able to Joyn with any other church or Town in Going Nine or Twelve Miles to Meeting; seeing also Otherwise We are not like to Prevail with any such Lawfull Minister to Settle amongst us, and upon the Supposition of Regaining Our said Neigh- bors at the South Shore there will not be above Nine Families help- full to us; Now Except His Excellency & Their Honours as our Political Fathers will Please to Sympathize with us by Granting these our Petitions, our otherwise Promising Settlement or Town- ship is like to be wholy Desolate by the Removal of its Inhabitants quite away.
Howbeit, To the Mature Judgment of His Excellency & of Their Honours We must leave it, Whether for want of Such a Threefold Remedy Petitioned for, It may not be thought a Pitty to permit the Total Dissolution, Desertion & Depradation of such a Promising tho' Little Village as Monomoy it Self, Considering Especially, How as it has often been heretofore a Place of Relief to Many Ship wracked Vessels & Englishmen Cast ashore in Storms upon the Beech of Sandy Poynt or Rack Cove; So may yet be a Shelter for Such; How Fertile it is also for all Sorts of Provisions & for Good Wheat Es- pecially, It being generally the Best Land of any Town on the Whole Cape, How Likewise It has the most Pleasant Situation & Incompar- able Conveniency for most Sorts of Fishery. Thus, We being Prob- ably Now on the very turning Point of Making or Marring our Ecclesiastical & Civil Settlement, so We Plead & so We Pray.
Joseph Harding, Captain of the Village. Thos. Nickerson, Hugh Stuard, Eben'r Hawes, Ensin William Nickerson, Selectmen. William Nickerson,
At A Lawfully Warned Town Meeting at Monomoy, June 27, 1711, Then Unanimously Voted By The Inhabitants, as Witness My Hand.
Thomas Atkins, Town Clerk.
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INCORPORATION.
By Way of Postscript.
This is to Inform & Certifie that The People of Monomoy Do not Desire nor Expect the South Shore People to be at any Charge with us in the Hundred Pound Settlement of Our Minister, as is at- tested by
Thomas Atkins, Town Clerk. 20
At this time the village was willing to do anything which the new minister might suggest. At the meeting above mentioned on June 27, it was voted and "readily granted " to accept Mr. Adams' proposals just as he offered them without change. These included an annual salary of 52 pounds, a 100 pound settlement and other stipulations as mentioned in the petition above quoted, also the grant to him of rights in the common land and a stipulation that the " pro- prietors" of these lands should endeavor "as soon as posa- ble to make up the matter of their controversy in peace and love." On August 24 following it was voted to raise " one- half of Mr. Adams' salary and one-half of his hundred pound settlement by the last of October next."
In October the petition of Monomoit was duly presented to the General Court and an order passed on the 19th, di- recting notice to be given to the selectmen of Harwich and appointing a day in the following May for a hearing on the matter.21 It appearing now that a delay of six months or more was inevitable before the petition could be aeted upon, and that immediate relief from the burdens of the long continued war was necessary for the village, application was made directly to Gov. Dudley, in behalf of the village, probably by Mr. Adams, who was personally acquainted with the Governor, and in January 1711-12 the following order was issued :
20. State Archives, Vol. 113, 609-612.
21. John Mayo and Joseph Paine were appointed In 1712 by the town of Harwich, " Agents to answer In the General Court, In the town's behalf, to the petition of Mona- moy and show why the prayer of said petition should not be granted." Harwich Rec- ords.
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
"BOSTON, January 26, 1711-12.
Upon application made to me, setting forth the danger that the village of Monamoy is in, of the French privateers and the weakness of the inhabitants to defend themselves, being so few, I do hereby decree, order and direct that no men of the foot company of the place be taken by impress for any service other than their own Village aforesaid, with- out my especial orders, under my hand, for so doing. This to continue until further order. J. DUDLEY.
To the Hon. Col. Otis, Barnstable."22
The hearing appointed for May, 1712, did not take place until June 7, and two days later the House of Representa- tives by formal vote refused to grant the prayer of the pe- tition. Some kind of an understanding was, however, reached, for on June 11 the following order was passed in the Council, concurred in by the House, and signed by Gov- ernor Dudley :
" Ordered that the Village or District now called Mono- moit be erected into a Township and the Town named Chatham."23
The town was named from Chatham in England, but at whose suggestion and for what reason is not known. The other towns upon the Cape at that time, Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Harwich, Eastham and Truro, had all been named for English towns, and the desire of the peo- ple was for the adoption of a similar name for the new town. That was the custom in those days. It is likely that Mr. Adams had as much influence as any one in the selection of the name, which may have been chosen under the impression
22. Town Records; Freeman, History of Cape Cod II. 594.
23. General Court Records IX. 180. (State Library copy). The copy of the Court Records In the State Archives shows only the favorable action of the Council, (IX, 207.)
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INCORPORATION.
that the place might some day become a naval station like the English town. 24
Chatham, England, is situated in the county of Kent, on the south side of the Medway about 15 miles from its june- tion with the estuary of the Thames and 27 miles east of London. The streets of the town are irregular and narrow and with the exception of the docks and fortifications, there are but few objects of interest. The town possesses churches and chapels of various denominations, a ragged school, a nauti- cal school, a mechanics' institute and a lecture hall. The for- tifications are among the most elaborate in the kingdom. They were begun in 1758 and completed in 1807 ; but various al- terations and additions have since been effected. Fort Pitt which rises above the town to the west, was built in 1779 and is now used as a general military hospital. It was regarded as the principal establishment of its kind in the country till the foundation of Netley in Hampshire. The main fortifications from which the town derives its im- portance are situated at Brompton village. Till the reign of Elizabeth the place was a mere insignificant village ; but before 1588 the queen established the first dock yard on the site of what is now called the Ordinance Wharf and erected Castle Upnor on the opposite bank of the river for its de- fence. Under the Charleses extensive additions were made. The history of the town since the attack of the Dutch in 1667 has been mainly the history of its naval and military establishments. The population in 1891 was 31,700: in 1901, 40,800.25
24. Chatham was not named for the famous William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. He was unknown to fame In 1712, being then but four years of age.
I have seen It stated that the town was so named because the ancestor of the Sears famlly originally came from Chatham, Eng. This is also withont foundation. The Sears Genealogy, by Mr. S. P. May, the latest and most authoritative work on the sub- ject, states that the parentage of Richard Sears, the emigrant, and his English home are still unknown.
25. See Encyclopaedia Brittanlea for a plan of Chatham, Eng. -(14)-
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
It will be noted that Mr. Adams did not succeed in securing the annexation of the South Side neighborhood. Harwich people opposed it, and for some reason they pre- vailed, notwithstanding the fact that the village of Monomoit then had an "Orthodox Learned Minister " settled there. As a result, Chatham became a town without the addition of a foot of soil outside the original Nickerson purchases and claims, and its territory has ever since remained practically the same.
The incorporation of the village, at length attained thirty- seven years after William Nickerson Sen. first petitioned for it, appears to have been received by the people with no flourish of trumpets. The fact is not even mentioned in the town records, nor is any copy of the act of incor- poration to be found therein. The first recorded meeting of the new town was the annual meeting of March 1713, at which the usual town officers were chosen : selectmen Thomas Atkins, John Atkins, Ebenezer Hawes, clerk Thomas Atkins, treasurer Richard Sears, constable John Smith, grandjuryman Nathaniel Covell, tithingman Samuel Tucker, surveyors Daniel Hamilton and Isaac Hawes. These were the first officers of the town. 26
The first few years of Mr. Adams' residence must have been full of activity for him. In addition to supplying the pulpit and managing the affairs of his people before the General Court, his services as a physician were in good demand and he was also engaged in building a parsonage and in clearing and breaking in the virgin soil. Mr. Adams accounted himself very skillful in medicine, 27 and he
26. Since 1679, when it became a constablewick, Monomoit had uniformly been rec- ognized as an Independent community, not attached to any town, but as far as ap- pears, it had no authority in law to choose any officers except constable and grandjury- man, and after 1691 a deputy. It did, however, assume to proceed and elect officers like a town, as we have seen.
27. in his "Narrative of a Particular Faith" &c Mr. Adams wiltes of "my Former Travels Into several Countreys of Europe and Africa [probably as a youth] as well as of the Continent and Islands of America, my Instruction from Sundry Able Physicians & Chirurgions, my hard Studies in the best Books, and my so long Practice and Experi- ence," as giving him unusual skill.
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claims to have had patients not only at Chatham, but in nearly every other Cape town. 28
It would seem as if, for several years, Mr. Adams and his people got along very well together. There were dif- ferences, but not serions ones. The first trouble arose respecting the establishment of a church out of the Chatham congregation.29 This was a matter on which Mr. Adams had set his heart, but when application was made to the County Association of Ministers, according to the practice of that time, to approve the action of the town and install Mr. Adams as their pastor, they replied that there was a dark cloud in the way which they could not see through and advised delay. What this cloud was does not appear. Doubtless, it was the weakness of the place and the poor prospect it then had of ever supporting properly a church, without the addition of the South Side people. When Mr. Adams learned the attitude of the ministers, he urged his people to disregard the advice given and send for minis- ters from outside the County to come in and install him and organize the church. To this most of them would not agree, on the ground that it was an irregular proceeding, would cause trouble with the neighboring churches to which they belonged, and would prevent their obtaining a regular dismissal therefrom. They preferred to wait till harmony could prevail.30
28. He claims to have had patients in Sandwich, Barnstable, Yarmouth, Harwich and Eastham, as well as in Chatham.
29. In ecclesiastical language there was a congregation at Chatham, but no church. To organize a church it was necessary for the Intending church members to obtain letters of dismissal from the churches to which they belonged and organize into a new church.
30. "The testimony of John Atkins and Samuel Tucker of full age is as followeth, viz: *
* * When we went out to ye sd Minesters [i. e. of the County] in order to move [them] to bring forward a pastorall charge on Mr. Adams, ye sd MInesters an- swered us that there was a darke clond which they could not well see through and ad- vised us to suspend the matter for the present. Now when this return was made to sd Adams, then because we would not strike In with him and fetch other MInesters to ordain him and Rend onrselves from the churches that we belonged to, (when we told him that God was a God of order and that this way that he sd Adams proposed was
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
Another source of trouble for Mr. Adams arose out of his quarrel with the tavern keeper, Mr. Ebenezer Hawes. The tavern at that time was an important institution. It not only entertained travellers, but was a meeting place, where men gathered to hear the news and get refreshment. Here they bought and sold the products of the farm and made all sorts of bargains, confirming them with a mug of liquor.31 Tavern keepers were the most considerable men of their communities. Mr. Hawes had come from Yarmouth a few years before and had opened what was probably the first tavern in the village. It appears to have been located near the house of the late Cyrus Emery. He was an energetic, wide-awake man, popular with the village and well con- nected. According to the testimony of Mr. Thomas Atkins,22 a friend of Mr. Adams, the tavern and the par- sonage were too near together and Mr. Adams saw too much of what was going on. He thought the place was not properly conducted and tried to oust Mr. Hawes. Tavern keepers were licensed by the Court of General Sessions on recommendation of the selectmen, and as Mr. Hawes was one of the selectmen of the town and also a nephew of one of the County Justices, it will be seen that Mr. Adams had undertaken a difficult task.
About the same time reports reached the village affect- ing Mr. Adams' character. These reports originated with Jabez Lewis of Barnstable and Joseph Webber of Yar- mouth, who had probably been South on some coasting
disorderly in our opinions, and Instead of bringing Glory to God it Looked as if it was only a platform laid for contention and thereby would bring dishonour to God and therefore dare not Joyn with him) this was the cause of our difference att first with Mr. Adams and then as we supposed Mr. Hawes and sd Adams were very friendly one to the other and at the same time we dare not Joyn with him sd Adams in such an ordinance." Adams vs. Hawes. Files Superior Court of Judicature No 10812.
Mr. Atkins belonged to Mr. Treat's church at Eastham, Mr. Tucker joined Mr. Stone's church at Harwich May 17, 1713. Har. Ch. Rec. 4 Mayflower Descendant 248, 249.
31. Files Superior Court of Judicature No. 38,588.
32. Adams vs. Hawes. Files Superior Court of Indicature, No. 10,812.
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INCORPORATION.
voyage and had heard the gossip current along the wharves of Charleston. It is not likely that there was any truth in these reports. The clergy paid no heed to them.
There were also complaints that the teachings of Mr. Adams in the pulpit were not orthodox, that he preached certain things and afterwards denied it and that he was in general somewhat unreliable or "unsteady," as they termed it.
Mr. Adams had set his heart on establishing a church at Chatham and setting things in order there generally and he labored earnestly to that end. At length, however, finding success impossible, he seems to have lost his tem- per, thrown discretion to the winds and in a sermon preached in February 1715, handled those who differed with him without gloves. His congregation was offended and many refused to hear him any longer. According to the testimony of Mr. John Smith and Mr. Robert Pad- dock, they were "two of his constant hearers formerly until we were deterred from hearing him any longer, finding of him to be so unsteady and so wilful, which maid us absent ourselves from his ministry, and not onely us, but ye most of ye well affected people of ve Town."" Mr. Hawes, whom he had rapped in the sermon, was highly offended. He announced in his tavern that there were two or three abominable lies in it and repeated the stories circulated about Mr. Adams' character. This language of Mr. Hawes was reported to Mr. Adams, who thereupon brought suit for slander against Hawes. There was a trial in May 1715, at Barnstable before Justice John Gorham, at which the evidence of Lewis and Webber and others was heard. Justice Gorham decided against Mr. Adams. Mr. Hawes brought a copy of the testimony to Chatham and read it in his tavern, declaring that Mr. Adams "was no more
33. Adams vs. Hawes. Files Superior Court of Judicature, No. 10,812.
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
lookt upon there (that is, at the said Court) than a little black dogg !"" At this point it was alleged that Mr. Adams agreed to resign, if a majority of the town was in favor of it, and a town meeting was called and held June 13, 1715, at which it was voted to dismiss him.35 Mr. Adams denied any such agreement and paid his respects in his sermons to those who had voted against him.
At this point it seems that he sat down in his library and wrote a treatise, laying down rules for the guidance of Justices in making their decisions. He called this a "Sacred Directory for a Justice of Peace or Civil Ruler" and in it he laid down seven rules, which he explained and illustrated by citations from the Bible and other books. This treatise he sent to the General Court at Boston with the request that it be printed at public expense and sent to Justices throughout the Colony, so that they should not make any more unjust decisions (presumably as they had in his case), but as he sent in the request anonymously, no atten- tion was of course paid to it by the General Court.36
The town refusing to pay him his salary any longer, he then made complaint against the town in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas at Barnstable in October, but they gave him no redress, except to order an Ecclesiastical Council
34. Testimony of Sarah Eldridge, wife of William Eldridge, in Adams vs. Hawes. Files Superior Court of Judicature, No. 10,812.
35. "For asmuch as five out of seven men of members of the church, inhabitants of Chatham, their beaing no more belonging to sd town, did move to the Selectmen of sd town to call a town meeting becase Mr. Adams thear minister did so Imprudently unstidlly and contentiously behave himself in many respects contreary to what they say he profesed to sum of them in so much that they could not in conchance joyn with him nor set under his ministry any longer and becase Mr. Adams they say did say that if the Selectmen would call a town meetting and if the malger vote was for his leaving them that he would do so for he had a better ofer elsewhere.
Now att a town meeting orderly warned and attended one the thirtenth day of June 1715 It was then voted by the votable Inhabitents of sald town not to imploy Mr. Adams in the work of the ministry any longer." Town Records.
36. This treatise in manuscript may be found in the library of the Mass. Historical Society. According to the seven rules laid down by Mr. Adams, Justices should decide Ist impartially, 2nd speedily, 3rd sincerely, 4th deliberately, 5th resolutely, 6th exactly, 7th as they would have others do to them.
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INCORPORATION.
of the three neighboring churches at Eastham, Harwich, and Yarmouth. This council, consisting of the pastors, Rev. Samuel Treat of Eastham, moderator, Rev. Nathaniel Stone of Harwich, and Rev. Daniel Greenleaf of Yarmouth, with their delegates, met in November 1715 at the tavern of Mr. Hawes in Chatham. No report of its findings ap- pears to have been handed down to us, but it was evidently favorable to Mr. Hawes, finding the charges against Mr. Adams sustained and forbidding him to preach at Chatham any longer. From this Mr. Adams appealed to another council to be held later.
At the same time he sent an appeal to the General Court at Boston, reciting his grievances and praying relief. On this petition the Council passed an order Dec. 9 1715, re- ferring it to the Quarter Sessions at Barnstable, but as the House took no action, the whole matter fell to the ground. 37
The suit of Adams vs. Hawes came up for trial on appeal in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas at Barnsta- ble on Jan. 19, 1715-6, and resulted in a second victory for
37. "Upon reading the Petition of Hugh Adams Clerk, of Chatham, in the County of Barnstable Importing that the Selectmen of the Town of Chatham have refused to see collected bis rate for this year according to the town's firm & unanimons agreement with him, That he & his fatuily are like to be oppressed for want of it, that he made complaint & application to the Honble Justices of the Court at Barnstable at their last Session in October last, but had no Redress otherwise than an order for an Eccleslas- tical Council of the three next neighbouring ministers of Eastham, Harwich and Yar- mouth with their Delegates: which Council accordingly mett and advised so contrary to his expectations that he was immediately constrained to appeal to another Ecclesias- tical Council, Humbly Requesting
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