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 8
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59. The description is as follows: "All our parcels of Meadow lands lying and being near a place called pamnet near to his [William Nickerson's] former Bounds, all ye meadow of ye East and West side of a Neck of land that ranges up between je parcels of Meadow, with all ye sedge and creek stuff to ye Cove of water to a pine tree that stands marked upon ye Neck of upland, with all ye meadow, good and Bad, that may be made mowable, with all ye Sedge and creek stnil that is upon ye neck of land that is
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SETTLEMENT OF MONOMOIT.
This was his last purchase. He had already acquired a splendid domain, embracing not less than 4,000 acres, with which at his advanced age he might well be content. All of the land within the present limits of Chatham, lying west of a line from Frostfish Creek to the head of the Oyster Pond and thence to the head of the Mill Pond, and all the meadow around Tom's Neck belonged to him, save only what he had conveyed to his children and a few others. Few, if any, of his fellow colonists could claim such an area as their own.
Regarding his controversy with the Court, it seems clear that he prolonged it, because he believed that the Court was dealing too harshly with him. This would seem to have been the feeling of Col. Nicolls. During and after his time, there were many other cases similar to his, which wore generally compromised by giving the illegal purchaser of the Indian rights a considerable proportion of his pur- chase, sometimes as much as one-half. Had Mr. Nickerson been thus dealt with, the controversy would probably have been a short one, and the family less exasperated.
It is to be regretted that there is so little on record regarding the Nickerson side of the case. The statements of the Colony Court must, therefore, be taken by the reader with due allowance.
known by ye name of Tom's Neck. that Is in ye possession of se Sagamore's danghter that was ConsIns sqna, ye upland ye Sagamore did give his Daughter & he did give his son John Quason allas Tosowet to dispose of ye meadow with Mattagnason & John Quason have sold nnto Willlam Nicarson senr of Monamoy as it is above expressed." "With a convenient way to ye meadow through ye neck to fetch ont se hay or creek stuff." Plym. Col. Deeds V, 508. Pamnet and Pimpnuet are probably one and the same locality.
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CHAPTER VI.
EARLIEST YEARS OF THE VILLAGE.
W Y/HIEN William Nickerson settled at Monomoit, he found the locality far more picturesque in its natural features than it is to-day. Forests of huge oaks and pines adorned the hills now bare and infertile, while the swamps, now cleared for the cranberry, were almost impenetrable thickets, out of which rose a rich growth of towering cedars.1 Near the shore, indeed, were to be found frequent clearings, where the Indian had pitched his wigwam, but these open areas, although considerable, could scarcely have been so extensive as to mar the general beauty of the scene. The red men were far less destructive of the forest than their more enlightened successors.
The difficulties attending the first settlement may be easily imagined-the felling of trees, the hewing of timber, the framing of the rude cottage, its slow construction, and then the bringing of the household goods over the Indian trail from Yarmouth. It was a large undertaking for a man of sixty winters and, when we consider that he had no deed of the land and was by his action prolonging a contest with the colonial anthorities, we can appreciate the iron will and restless energy of this remarkable pioneer. There is no written record showing the location of his house, but a well- defined tradition places it near the old burying place which crowns the hill near the head of Ryder's Cove. Mr. JJosiah Paine of Harwich writes : "I have been told that his house
1. From the statement of aged citizens who could remember the huge logs burned in the fireplaces in their youth. The cedar swamps have not yet wholly disappeared.
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EARLIEST YEARS.
stood near where Kimball Howes lived, but was never shown the precise spot, and that he was buried on the hill above his house." The late Rufus Smith, Esq., a lifelong resident in the vicinity, informed me that the exact site was about half way between his residence and the head of Ryder's Cove, that spot having been pointed out to him many years ago by Christopher Ryder and Kimball R. Howes, both of whom lived near the place all their lives and their fathers and grandfathers before them.2 Mr. Smith afterwards pur- chased the lot of land, whereon the old house is said to have stood and, in cultivating it, ploughed up the foundation of a chimney and found relics of the past. The farm, on which Mr. Nickerson lived, is described by him in 1687 as bounded "outward from the uttermost corner of a pond called the Pasture Pond," and from thence straight outward to the head of a cove called the Muddy Cove and from thence inward to Joseph Nickerson's bounds."4 The words "outward" and "inward" are probably used with reference to the house on the farm and seem to confirm in a general way the tradition as to its location.
With the settlement of Monomoit arose the necessity of providing for the government of its inhabitants. Accord- ingly, in June 1665, the Plymouth Court passed an order that the lands "att Mannamoiett" should "appertaine and bee within the liberties of the township of Yarmouth, as the lands between Bound brooks and Stony brook" are, until
2. I am indebted, also, to Mr. Smith for the following figures, showing the precise location : from the front door of the house late of Christopher Ryder S. 51 degrees W, 19 1 5 rods; from the front door of the house late of Kimball R. Howes S. 62 degrees E., 2913 rods.
3. This seems to be Stillwater pond. See a deed from Sarah Covell to Ephraim Covell dated May 19, 1699, Files Superior Court of Indicatore No. 3919.
4. The farm of Joseph Nickerson bordered on Pleasant bay and included the land around and east of the house of Osborn Nickerson, Esq. The easterly line of the farm extended from Crow's pond across the neck to Pleasant bay. See deed William Nicker- son Sen. to Joseph Nickerson dated Feb. 10, 1673-4. (Osborn Nlekerson papers. )
5. Qnivet Creek, the present boundary between Dennis and Brewster, and former boundary between Yarmouth and the "purchasers" lands.
6. Sauquatuckett River in West Brewster.
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
the Court shall see cause to order otherwise." This was rather an inconvenient arrangement, as the wide area lying between Monomoit and Stony brook was already under the jurisdiction of another township, Eastham, and the parent town of Yarmouth and its offspring were thereby entirely separated from each other.8 Moreover, the Nickerson family seem to have looked with no favor on this effort to attach them to the town they had just left and to make them liable to taxation therein. When, therefore, in 1667, Mr. Thomas Howes, the constable of Yarmouth, came down to Monomoit, presumably to collect his "rates," he met with a hostile reception." He was "affronted in the exeen- tion of his office and offered divers abuses therein," says the record, for which Mr. Nickerson, his sons Sanmel, Joseph and William, and his son-in-law, Nathaniel Covell, soon found themselves in trouble.10
Perhaps, in view of this episode, the Court deemed it wise no longer to continue the relations between the two places. At all events, in June 1668, at the same time that it punished the affront to Mr. Howes, it passed an order "that the lands att Manna- moite be att present reputed to be in the constablericke of Eastham and liable to pay public charges there."" Although this order does not, in terms, contemplate that Monomoit should be incorporated into and become a part of the town of Eastham, but only annexed to it for purposes of taxa- tion, its practical effect seems to have been to give the Monomoit people most, if not all, the rights of citizens of the town. They were apparently entitled to take some part in the town meetings and were reckoned in the list of
7. P'lym. Col. Rec. IV, 97.
8. See Colony Court order of June, 1659 Plym. Col. Rec. III. 165.
9. The chief duty of a constable at that time was the collection of taxes or "rates."
10. Plym. Col. Rec. IV, 183.
11. Plym. Col. Rec. IV, 185. The statement In Swift's History of Yarmonth that Monomoft was annexed to Eastham In 1674 Is Incorrect, as also the statement that Mr. Nickerson settled at Monomolt about 1672.
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EARLIEST YEARS.
citizens. We find that, on July 13, 1671, "Goodman Nickerson" was chosen in town meeting as one of the "rate makers" for that year, an office to which he was re-elected in 1672 and 1673, being then called William Nickerson, Sen. in the records.22 In June 1674, the relations of the two places were defined so as to be clear beyond any ques- tion, by the following Court order : " Wheras Mannamoiett, Paomett and Satuckett have bin put under the constable- shipp of Eastham, that they shall belonge unto and be off the said Townshipp untill the Court shall see cause other- wise to order, and all other places in like capasitic shall belonge unto particular townshipps as the Court shall see meet.""" At the same Court, on petition of Mr. Nickerson, his "naighbourhood" was allowed the privilege of having a deputy constable, who should serve under the constable of Eastham, and Nathaniel Covell was designated for that office.44
Up to this time the growth of the "naighbourhood" had been necessarily retarded. For at least eight years, (1664 to 1672) the only white inhabitants had been the families of Mr. Nickerson and his children, Nicholas excepted. His title to the land being incomplete, no one would venture to purchase of him and, on the other hand, no one cared to purchase of Mr. Hinckley and the other grantees of the Court and settle in the vicinity of a hostile Nickerson col- ony. This state of affairs, however, as we have seen, terminated in June 1672, when he obtained title both from the Indians and from the grantees of the Court. He was then in a position to make sales of the property and early in 1674 not only conveyed various parcels to certain of his
12. It is stated In Pratt's History of Eastham that Mr. Nickerson was one of the selectmen in 1672, but a careful reading of the Eastham records fails to show any basis for the assertion. The office to which he was chosen was that of "rate maker," or assessor.
13. Plym. Col. Rec. X1, 237.
14. Plym. Col. Rec. V, 147, 148
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
children, as already stated, but sold considerable tracts to John Downing Sen. Teague Jones and Thomas Crow, (the last two of Yarmouth, ) and perhaps to others." Downing was then a resident and the other two must have soon after settled on the lands purchased. Downing and Jones settled not far from each other at West Chatham: Mr. Crow built his house at Seaquanset, by which name the locality, about Cockle Cove was known.16
Encouraged by these accessions, Mr. Nickerson, in 1675, petitioned that the "naighbourhood att Monnamoit may be allowed to be a townshipp," but the Court conceived that they were "not in a ca- passitie att present to manage the affaires of a towne," and therefore allowed them "to have a deputie constable and a grandjurymen which shal be chosen by the towne of Eastham together with themselves." In all other respects they were to "remaine and relate unto the towne of Eastham for bear- ing theire parte of all other charge, as was settled at the last June Court.""7 This was a distinet advance in the line of local self-government, for it gave them a grandjuryman for their "naighbourhood" in addition to a deputy constable, both to be chosen by vote of the whole town.
The year 1675 was, also, notable in the history of the Monomoit community, as in the history of the whole Col- ony, for marking the outbreak of the first great struggle with the Indians. King Philip of Canonchet had long been secretly plotting the destruction of the Colony and in July of this year his plans were at length ripe. The contest which bears his name then began and continued till his death in August, 1676. In this struggle the Cape Indians,
15. I have been unable to find the deed to Downing or any copy of it. Other old papers, however, show that he was among the very first to obtain land from the pro- prietor of Monomolt. The deed to Jones is dated Feb. 14, 1673 4, (copy in Ml. L. Luce papers) ; that to Thomas Crow is dated the same day and was recorded in Book 2. page 77 of former Barnstable Deeds (Certified copy in M. L. Luce papers).
16. Saquanset or Seaqnanset was the name given also to Stage Neck.
17. Plym. Col. Rec. V, 171.
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EARLIEST YEARS.
fortunately, refused to join the conspirators,18 otherwise the position of the Monomoit settlers, separated as they were from their countrymen by Indian villages, would have been perilous indeed. As it was, the presence of the Indians must have caused some anxiety. All the towns of the Col- ony were compelled to make great sacrifices to prosecute this war. To the call for troops Eastham responded with her proper share and, among those who went from that town, Monomoit was well represented. William Nickerson, Jun., and John, Joseph and Benjamin Downing, the three sons of John Downing, Sen., were in the service." Doubtless, also, John Nessefield or Nestield, who was killed in Capt. Michael Pierse's fight at Canonchet in Dec. 1675, was also from Monomoit. He left an orphan child, Sarah, there, not two years old, who was taken in and cared for by Tristram Hedges and his wife." There is no list extant of the soldiers engaged and the names above mentioned, except that of Nesfield, are known only because many years later their heirs were found entitled to share in the Narragansett lands, so called, granted to the participants in this war. In this connection we find in the Eastham records that William Nickerson, Sen. on March 21, 1676, was again chosen "rate maker," being authorized with four others "to make a rate of £56-16s-6d for defraying charges about the war against the Indians, as also to make a rate of £4-10s, to supply the town stock of ammunition, also for a sum of £88-19s-5d, for soldiers wages and fitting them out for service from the first expedition to the Narragansetts until April 1676." Other rates on account of the war were later authorized by the town.
18. In June, 1671, the chiefs of the Cape and other friendly tribes assembled at Ply- mouth and entered Into a solemn pledge of fidelity and alleglance to the English, "John Quason Taswott" signing In behalf of the Monomoyleks, and In October, 1675, this pledge was renewed at Plymouth, Wasnecksuk signing for Monomolt. Plym. Col. Rec. V, 66, 177, 178.
19. History of Amherst, N. H., and History of Gorham, Me. ; also York County, (Me.) Deeds XXII, 33.
20. Plym. Col. Rec. VI. 54.
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
On or about the autumn of 1675, the Monomoit "naigh- bourhood" was further increased by the arrival of two families from Nantucket, those of John Savage and Edward Cottle. Each of these men bought a farm of Mr. Nieker- son, whereon they erected dwellings, and John Savage, who was a cooper, obtained the right to cut hoop poles on any of the common land owned by said Nickerson.2 And here the plan on which the land at Monomoit was originally laid out may as well be explained. Mr. Nickerson first reserved the land in the vicinity of his house and extending west to Muddy Cove for his homestead farm. Three or four of his children had farms near," but, with these exceptions, all the land North of a line from the head of Muddy Cove to the head of Ryder's Cove, was embraced in his home farm.2 Certain lots were laid out on the north side of the Oyster Pond at a place called the Oyster Pond Furlong (some- times called the six aere lots) and some of these were granted to his children. Other lots, laid out on the " Great Neck," south of the Oyster Pond, were also granted to his children. All that tract, consisting mostly of woodland, lying between the present north and south roads to Harwich and west of the road connecting them, which runs from the Hawes corner, West Chatham, to the Old Cemetery cor- ner, and nearly all the upland at Red River neck and around
21. Deed William Nickerson to Teague Jones dated Dec. 27, 1675, (M. L. Luce papers) ; Plym. Col. Deeds IV, 172 and 309; Nantucket Vital Records.
22. Joseph Nickerson lived near the present residence of Osborn Nickerson, Esq . and Sammel Nickerson and Nathaniel Covell near and north of the Herring Broek ou an old road now discontinued.
23. In this connection the following testhnony given in March, 1710-11, is of interest : "Benjamin Phillips of full age testifieth & saith that about fourteen years agoe mn) mother-in-law Sarah Covell went with my uncle to bound out a house lot of land to me at the hed of the Mudy Cove in Manamoy Capt Sparrow was there present also and that the land which Ensign William Nickerson now controvarts with Sargent Daniel Hambleton for entring upon Joynes to the land which was laid out to me at sd thine & place, when we were bounding ont iny sd lot at sd thine, I would have had my mother Covell & my sd uncle William Nickerson have laid out my lot forder on upon that land that is now in controversy, but my sd mother & sd uncle tonld me no, they could not, for that land was the undivided lands & they two with Mr Sprage did own the same & that so far as they bounded me was as far that way as their father Nickerson's bounds came of his divided land which hee bad lald out for himself " Flles Superior Court of Judicature, No 8,212.
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EARLIEST YEARS.
Taylor's pond, was reserved as common or undivided land. The remainder of his purchase, consisting chiefly of farming land along the south shore, Mr. Nickerson granted, from time to time, to purchasers who came in from other towns to settle. To some of these purchasers he, also, granted, as appurtenant to their farms, rights or privileges of pas- turage, cutting wood, &c, in the common or undivided lands. Those obtaining such rights or privileges were afterwards known as the "privileged men," to distinguish them from the "proprietors" or owners of the common lands, who had succeeded to the title of Mr. Nickerson.24
At this time the main north and south highways now running to Harwich had evidently been laid out by Mr. Nickerson, but they were still in a very rough condition, consisting probably of a single narrow cart track through the forest. That the virgin forest growth still stood upon these ways is shown by a deed from Mr. Nickerson to Teague Jones, dated Dee. 27, 1675, wherein for half a hogshead of merchantable tar the former granted to the latter "all ye tember that stands upon that highway [the south road] from ye crose fence & bares yt is next Edward Cotteles land & from thence up to ye nper bares next to Robart Eldredg's bounds mark of his hones lote. "25
In November, 1678, a shallop sailed into one of the har- bors of Monomoit, its master, Moses Bartlett of Boston, having been taken ill on his voyage. Ilis disease was found to be the small pox, of which he died on the 15th of the month and was buried the same day. William Nicker- son, Sen, and his son Nicholas of Yarmouth, took an inventory of Mr. Bartlett's effects and sent it to Plymouth. Besides the shallop, with rigging, sails, anchors, oars, &c.,
24. See "A Proprietors' Book for Chatham" in Town Clerk's office; deeds of William Nickerson Sen. to his children heretofore mentioned, and Flles Superior Court of JJudi. cature, No 2,605.
26. M. I. Luce papers
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
there was a chest of clothing, carpenter's tools, a hogshead of salt, a harping iron, a drawing knife, &c. Mr. Bartlett was evidently in search of whales.26
At this period the Monomoit settlers, in order to attend public worship, were obliged to travel seven or eight miles to Eastham through a wild and uneven country and over roads as yet only partly cleared, if at all. At the time of the first settlement, the difficulties were so great that at- tendance at the Eastham church was probably out of the question. Under these circumstances Mr. Nickerson called his family together on the Sabbath and himself read and expounded the Scriptures to them. In this way he became the religious teacher of the place. It had no other spiritual leader while he lived." But though the "naighbourhood" maintained its own religious meetings, it was not thereby exempt from contributing to the support of public worship at Eastham. The church at that time stood in practically the same relation to the town that the public schools now do. All the citizens were taxed for its support and appro- priations were annually made in town meeting for minister's salary and other church items. Apparently the people at Monomoit did not object to these regular taxes, but when a special tax on account of disbursements for the meeting house at Eastham was levied in 1678, they were not dis- posed to submit. The town of Eastham, thereupon, voted in November 1678, "upon defect of their non-payment of the same to prosecute the matter to effect according to law and to bear the necessary charges that may accrue from the same." In the following March the Monomoit people applied to the Court to be rid of Eastham altogether, wish- ing to establish a church of their own. The action of the
26. Plym. Col. Wills, IV, 7.
27. "This Mr. Nicholson, In his lifetime, was ye father of ye place and ye Inhabitants of It were his children, elther by consanguinity or affinity, and he exercised as a teacher []. e. religious teacherj among them." Extract from Diary of Rev. Joseph Lord, Yar mouth Register, Dec 17, 1846.
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EARLIEST YEARS.
Court on this petition was as follows: "In answare unto the petition of the inhabitants of Mannamoiett wherin they applye themselves to this Court that they may be a town- shipp of themselves by reason of theire remoteness from the towne of Eastham, that they cannot comfortably attend the worship of God there, they manifesting that they are desirous to build a meeting house and to procure Mr. Crosbey28 or some other orthodox minnester to despence the word of God amongst them, this Court doth determine that if they soe doe, and apply themselves to the next June Court, and then give the Court a good assurance therof, as alsoe to performe all other dutyes which concern a well ordered towneshipp, they shal be a townshipp of them- selves."" At the next June Court, (1679), the plans to secure a minister having failed, an order was passed, on petition of Mr. Nickerson, "that Mannamoiett shal be a constablericke of itselfe and to choose and send a fitt person for constable and another for grandjuryman and present them unto the next Court to take oath and that all the in- habitans of Mannamoyett are heerby injoyned by the Court, joyntly and unanimously to raise amongst themselves five pounds per yeer in mony if it may, if not, in other sub- stanciall goods, or pay and deposett in the hands of some faithfull person, to be kept in stocke towards the inabling of them to build a meeting house or a house for a minnes- ler."30
This action of the Court made the place independent of Eastham. Its inhabitants could now regulate their internal affairs to a limited extent. They could meet together, raise money by taxation and appropriate the same, and choose a constable, a grandjuryman, and assessors or "rate
28. Rev. Thomas Crosby, a graduate of Harvard College In 1653, previously settled In the ministry at Eastham, but at this time engaged in business there, and later a resident In that part of Harwich now Brewster.
29. Plym. Col. Rec., VI, 4.
30. Plym. Col. Rec., VI, 14.
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HISTORY OF CHATHAM.
makers." They could not send a representative or "deputy" to the Colony Court, as towns were permitted to do, nor did they have any voice in managing Colony affairs. They were made a constablewick and not a town, because they were unable yet to support a settled minister ; for a law of the Colony declared that "it hath bine and is the pious care and true intent of this Court that all such plantations and townshipps as are by them granted should maintaine the publieke Sabboth worship of God and the preaching of the Word." It was for the purpose of hastening this event that the order for raising five pounds yearly was adopted by the Court.
About the year 1680, another family was added to the Monomoit settlement, that of John Taylor, who came from Yarmouth and settled on the east side of Taylor's Pond (South Chatham. ) Mr. Taylor had been a soldier in King Philip's War, going from Yarmouth on two expeditions. He was a quiet and respected citizen. Many of his de- seendants are still residents of the town."1
It will be seen that the progress of the settlement was unusually slow. People were not attracted thither, even after the land troubles had ceased, and the community, therefore, continued feeble and unprosperous. The follow- ing order, passed by the Court in October, 1680, throws some light on the conditions at that time: "In reference unto a poor orphan, named Sarah Nesfield, liveing att Mannamoiett, whose father was slaine by the Indians in Capt Peirses fight, which orphan was left att Mannamoiett aforsaid in a destitute condition and taken in and kept by Trustrum Hedgis and Anne his wife, soe as it is recovered of his weake and forlorne condition, it being about six yeer old att the date heerof, the said Trustrum Hedgis and Anne his wife, haveing bine att some considerable charge and trouble in the keeping of her, and requesting some satis- 31. See Yarmouth Vital Records; "A Proprietor's Book for Chatham," and Plym Col. Records,
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