USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 29
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58
At a general town meeting held on March 27, 1661, it was voted that a planta- tion be set up at the place called Wollomonopoag, and that a committee be ap- pointed to allot to each settler his proportion of the 600 acres set apart for the
233
234
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
plantation; to determine who were meet to be accepted; and "to order the setting of the Plantacion in reference to High Wayes convenient place for a Meeting House, with such other things Necesary as may here after be pro- posed." This was the beginning of authorized settlement at Wollomonopoag, the name of which place was changed to Wrentham in 1673. The account of the settlement will be found in the chapter devoted to Wrentham.
PETITION FOR INCORPORATION
While still a part of Wrentham, the Village of Plainville was laid out and settled and a postoffice was there established. Early in the year 1905 the fol- lowing petition was presented to the Legislature, then in session :
"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives, etc.,
"The undersigned petitioners, citizens of Wrentham, respectfully represent that they are inhabitants of the Village of Plainville, in said town; that they are desirous of having said Village of Plainville set off as a separate town under the name of Plainville, or such other name as to the General Court seem suit- able ; and that the boundaries of the new town be fixed as follows: Beginning at the northeast boundary stone of the State of Rhode Island; thence in a straight line to the Foxboro town line on the south side of Thurston Street ; and on all other sides by the Town of Foxboro, North Attleboro, and the State of Rhode Island."
This petition was signed by William S. Metcalf, H. E. Thompson, Willis M. Fuller, Rufus King, "and many others." On April 3, 1905, a bill, which had previously passed the senate, was reported in the house of representatives and passed the same day. It was approved the following day, so that Plainville dates its corporate existence from April 4, 1905.
THE ORGANIC ACT
"Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
"Section 1. All the territory now within the Town of Wrentham which lies south of the following described line, to wit :- A straight line drawn from a stone monument in the boundary line between the Town of Wrentham and the Town of Cumberland in the State of Rhode Island, which monument is at the intersection of the lines forming the northeast corner of the State of Rhode Island, to a point where the southerly line of Thurston Street in the Town of Wrentham intersects the boundary line between the Town of Wrentham and the Town of Foxborough, is hereby incorporated as a separate town by the name of Plainville, and the said Town of Plainville is hereby vested with all the powers, privileges, rights and immunities, and shall be subject to all the duties and obligations conferred or imposed on towns by the constitution and laws of the Commonwealth.
"Section 2. The inhabitants of the estates within the Town of Plainville and the owners of all such estates, shall be holden to pay all arrears of taxes which have legally been assessed upon them by the Town of Wrentham, and all the taxes heretofore assessed and not collected shall be collected and paid to the treasurer of the Town of Wrentham, and all moneys now in the treasury of the
235
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
Town of Wrentham, or that may hereafter be received from taxes now as- sessed, shall be applied to the purposes for which they were raised and assessed, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed; and until the next state valuation the Town of Plainville shall annually, in the month of November, pay to the Town of Wrentham its proportion of such state and county taxes as may be assessed upon the Town of Wrentham, said proportion to be ascer- tained and determined by the last valuation of the Town of Wrentham; and the assessors of the Town of Wrentham shall make return of said valuation and the proportions thereof in the towns of Wrentham and Plainville, respect- ively, to the secretary of the Commonwealth and to the county commissioners of the County of Norfolk."
Section 3 relates to the liability of each of the towns of Wrentham and Plainville in the care of paupers, and Section 4 provides that all suits and pro- ceedings at law or in equity, in which the Town of Wrentham is a plaintiff or defendant, shall be prosecuted or defended as though the act had not been passed.
"Section 5. The corporate property of the Town of Wrentham both real and personal, in existence at the time of the passage of this act, and the town debts then existing, shall be divided between the towns of Wrentham and Plainville, according to the valuation of the property within their respective limits as assessed the first day of May in the year 1904. The towns shall sev- erally retain and hold all the real and personal property now within their respective limits, at a valuation to be agreed upon by a committee consisting of six legal voters, three to be chosen by each town at a legal meeting to be called for that purpose; and the differences in valuation shall be equalized and bal- ances adjusted by apportionment of the town debt. In case of failure to agree upon a valuation and division of the assets and liabilities the same shall be determined by a board of three commissioners, none of whom shall be a resident of either of said towns, to be appointed by the Superior Court for the County of Norfolk, in term time or vacation, upon the petition of either town after notice to the other, whose award when accepted by the court shall be final, and the said court may issue any writ or make any order thereon necessary to carry their award into effect. The award may be set aside for fraud or mani- fest error, but for no other cause, and the matters to be determined as afore- said may be recommitted to the same or to other commissioners to be appointed for the purpose, with like powers and duties as aforesaid."
Section 6 provides that the public library building at Wrentham Centre and the fund held by the trustees of said library shall belong to the Town of Wren- tham. Section 7 places the Town of Plainville in the judicial district of the District Court of Western Norfolk, the Twelfth Congressional District, the Second Councillor District, the Second Norfolk Senatorial District and the Tenth Representative District of Norfolk County. Section 8 authorizes any justice of the peace in the County of Norfolk to issue his warrant for a town meeting in the Town of Plainville, and Section 9 makes it incumbent upon the selectmen of Wrentham to call a special town meeting within thirty days for the purposes of electing town officers to fill vacancies caused by the incorpora- tion of Plainville. Section 10 relates to powers and privileges reserved to Wrentham in the construction, maintenance and operation of certain street rail-
236
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
ways. Section II provides that the Town of Plainville shall bear the expense of making the surveys and establishing the line between it and Wrentham. Section 12 sets forth that Plainville shall receive a proportional part of any funds paid by the Commonwealth or by the United States to Wrentham on account of bounties to soldiers or for state aid heretofore paid to soldiers' families, "after deducting all reasonable expenses," and Section 13 declares the act shall take effect upon its passage.
FIRST TOWN MEETING
On April 5, 1905, the day following the approval of the act of incorporation, James H. Shannon, a justice of the peace residing in Plainville, issued a war- rant to William F. Maintien "to notify and warn the inhabitants of the Town of Plainville qualified to vote in town affairs, to meet in the Plainville Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday, the 12th day of April, A. D. 1905, at nine o'clock in the forenoon," to elect officers and transact certain other business set forth in the warrant, especially the appointment of a committee to act with a committee of Wrentham for the division of the town property.
The officers elected at that first town meeting were as follows: William F. Maintien, George F. Cheever and William S. Metcalf, selectmen, overseers of the poor and board of health; James H. Shannon, clerk; Walter E. Barden, treasurer ; George W. Wood, tax collector; William F. Maintien, Joseph F. Breen and J. F. Thompson, assessors ; John J. Eiden, auditor; Edward C. Bar- ney, highway surveyor; Rufus King, Bentley W. Morse and Gardner Warren, school committee; John H. Greven, Sylvester Smith and Daniel Crotty. con- stables.
On the question of the division of the town property, William F. Maintien, Herbert E. Thompson and Walter E. Barden were unanimously chosen by the meeting as Plainville's members of the joint committee provided for in Section 5 of the act of incorporation. The meeting also voted to borrow $15,000 for the purpose of erecting a new school house, and Herbert E. Thompson, W. M. Fuller, Rufus King and Edward C. Barney were appointed a committee to superintend the erection of the building. Walter E. Barden, Frank O. Corbin and Rufus King were appointed a committee on by-laws, with instructions to procure designs for a town seal and report at the next meeting. Their report on by-laws was made at a special meeting held on Monday, November 6, 1905, and was accepted.
DIVISION OF PROPERTY
The committee above named met with the Wrentham members-Elbridge J. Whitaker, Artemas Willard and Edward F. McClennan-and the joint com- mittee organized by electing Elbridge J. Whitaker as chairman and William F. Maintien as clerk. After canvassing all the property, real and personal, they found within the limits of Wrentham property valued at $43.592, and in Plainville at $13,712.22, in addition to which the former held assets of $16,- 391.44, making the total valuation of corporate property $73,695.66. Wrentham assumed all the town's liabilities, amounting to $29,277.1I. The final settle-
237
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
ment was that Wrentham should pay to Plainville $4,055.20 to equalize the division of corporate property, and $727.30, with interest thereon at 4 per cent from February 1, 1905, as the town's share of the school fund.
THE TOWN SEAL
At the meeting of November 6, 1905, the committee on by-laws, pursuant to the instructions of the first town meeting, submitted a design for a town seal, a representation of the new school building to occupy the center of the seal. James H. Shannon, town clerk, brought forward a design making use of the Angle Tree boundary monument as the proper emblem to occupy the center of the seal, and explained at some length the significance of his design. Walter E. Barden, a member of the committee, moved that the design submitted by the town clerk be substituted for that offered by the committee, which was carried by a decisive majority.
A brief history of the Angle Tree monument shows the wisdom of the town in selecting it as the central figure of the corporate seal. When Charles I granted the patent to the Massachusetts Bay Company in the spring of 1628, the south- ern boundary was designated as "three miles south of the southerly end of the Charles River." It was not long until disputes arose between the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies as to the exact location of the boundary line. In 1640 Plymouth selected William Bradford and Edward Winslow, and Massachusetts Bay selected John Endicott and Israel Stoughton, "for ye setting out, setling & determing of ye bounds & limitts of ye lands betweene ye said jurisdic- tions," etc.
The work done by these commissioners evidently was not satisfactory to the people of the two colonies, for in 1664 a second commission was appointed to run and mark the line. The record of this survey was outlined on a tree, called the "Angle Tree," standing on the line between the present towns of Plainville and North Attleboro, where it remained for more than a century. Finally the old tree disappeared and in May, 1790, the General Court appointed Lemuel Kollock to erect a monument where the tree stood, and to "make a return of his doings into the Secretary's office with a Certificate from under the Hands of the Selectmen of the Towns of Wrentham and Attleborough or the Major Part of them sworn to before some Justice of the Peace certifying that said stone is erected in the same spot where the said station or angle tree formerly stood & is one of the bounds between said towns, and lay his account before this Court for allowance and payment."
On March II, 1791, Lemuel Kollock was allowed £21 25 6d for "procuring and fixing a Monument upon the important Bounds in the Town of Wrentham, by order of the Government." It is a representation of this monument which occupies the center of the town seal. At the top of the monument are the words "Mass. Colony 1628"; in the center, divided by the figure of the monument, "Wrentham, 1673, Plainville, 1905," and in the circle surrounding the central field the inscription: "Town of Plainville, Mass., Incorporated April 4, 1905."
MISCELLANEOUS
A fire engine house had been built in the Village of Plainville before the town was incorporated in 1905. This became the property of the Town of Plainville
238
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
in the division, and the department has since been improved by the purchase of somne new equipment and a supply of hose. The appropriation for the depart- ment in 1916 was $500. Soon after the town was incorporated a system of waterworks was established. At the close of the year 1916 the amount of water bonds outstanding was $29,400. In their report for that year the water com- missioners announce that the total supply of water pumped and distributed was 9.968.954 gallons, and the amount received from water rates was $2.366.06. Plainville is well supplied with public schools, churches of different denomina- tions offer opportunities for public worship, the manufacturing interests include jewelry, shoestrings and shoddy, the town claming the largest manufactory of ladies' mesh bags in the world, and the mercantile interests are in keeping with the general demands of the town. The Boston & Providence division (via Wrentham) of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and the electric railway running from Franklin to Attleboro provide good transportation facilities.
In 1910 the population of Plainville was 1,385, and in 1915 it was 1,408, a gain of only 23 in the five years, owing to the removal of several persons from the town. In 1916 the assessed valuation of property, as shown by the report of the assessors, was $1,070,032.
TOWN OFFICERS, 1917
At the beginning of the year 1917 the principal town officers were: Earl B. Thompson, William E. Blanchard and Fred W. Northup, selectmen, overseers of the poor and board of health; Theodore E. A. Fuller, clerk; Walter E. Barden, treasurer ; J. Fred Thompson, William E. Blanchard and Frank E. Barney, assessors ; Harry B. Thompson, William H. Nash and Charles N. Moore, water commissioners ; James H. Cheever, auditor ; John J. Eiden, Willis M. Fuller and Charles C. Root, school committee; Oliver P. Brown, tax collector.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE CITY OF QUINCY
GENERAL DESCRIPTION-SETTLEMENT-MERRYMOUNT-GOVERNOR ENDICOTT-PART OF BRAINTREE-THE TOWN INCORPORATED-FIRST TOWN MEETING-AN EARLY CUSTOM-TOWN HALL-QUINCY GRANITE-POSTOFFICES-CITIZENS GAS COM- PANY-INCORPORATED AS A CITY-WATERWORKS-FIRE DEPARTMENT-MODERN QUINCY-CITY GOVERNMENT.
The City (formerly Town) of Quincy is situated in the eastern part of the county and is bounded as follows: On the north by the Town of Milton and Quincy Bay ; on the east by the Weymouth Fore River and Town River Bay, which separate it from the Town of Weymouth; on the south by Braintree and Randolph ; on the west by Milton, and on the northwest the Neponset River forms a little of the boundary line, separating Quincy from the City of Boston. The coast line from the mouth of the Neponset to the mouth of the Weymouth Fore River is indented by numerous bays, such as Dorchester and Quincy bays, Rock Island Cove and Town River Bay. Projecting into the waters are several capes or headlands, the principal of which are Commercial Point, Squantum Head, Quincy Great Hill, Hough's Neck, Rock Island Head, Gull Point and Quincy Point. The main water-courses are Town River, Sagamore and Black creeks and Furnace Brook. The surface is uneven and some of the finest granite deposits in the United States are found within the Quincy limits.
SETTLEMENT
It is quite probable that Capt. John Smith, while voyaging along the coast in 1614 and trading with the natives, landed in what is now Quincy, for on the rude map of the coast drawn by him the coast line can be identified. But the first recorded visit of white men was in the month of September, 1621, when Miles Standish and twelve men came up the coast from Plymouth, anchored in a small cove on Thompson's Island on the night of the 29th, and the next morning landed on Squantum Head, where they found a pile of lobsters, upon which they breakfasted. Taking four men and the Indian guide, Squanto, Captain Standish started out to explore the country. They soon met an Indian woman, who was going after the lobsters they had eaten, and for which Standish gave her something in the way of compensation. Squanto accompanied the woman to her village, which was on the northerly side of the Neponset. while Standish and his companions returned to their boat. Upon their return to Plymouth they gave a favorable account of the country they had visited, "wishing they had been there seated."
239
240
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
Nearly four years elapsed after the visit of Standish before any attempt was made to plant a settlement at the place where he had landed and which he partially explored. In June, 1625, a company of adventurers, chief among whom was a Captain Wollaston, came over from England with a party of articled servants with a view to establishing a trading post. They located at a place called by the Indians Passonagessit, but to which they gave the name of Mount Wollaston-a name which it still retains. Here was built the first house within the limits of Quincy, but its exact location cannot be determined. The winter that followed was severe and it seems that Captain Wollaston had enough of the "stern New Eng- land climate," for in the spring of 1626 he took part of his company and set sail for Virginia, leaving a man named Rasdell in charge of the post at Mount Wollaston. He reached Virginia and managed to send word back to Rasdell to place one Fitcher in charge of the post and come on to Virginia, bringing with him a number of the servants, whose labor was afterward sold to Virginia planters.
MERRYMOUNT
In the company was Thomas Morton, who had first come to America with Andrew Weston, a brother of Thomas, in June, 1622, and passed a portion of that summer at Wessaguscus (that portion of Weymouth later known as Old Spain), returning to England in September. Morton has been described as a sportsman who was desirous of returning to America, but was without means to organize an expedition of his own. Having been connected with Weston's unfortunate venture, he deemed it imprudent to apply to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who was laboring to encourage emigration, so he joined the company led by Captain Wollaston. When the latter sent for the man Rasdell, Morton saw that it was the intention to break up the settlement at Mount Wollaston, a movement with which he was not in sympathy. He therefore sowed the seeds of discon- cent among the remaining servants by telling them that if they were taken to Virginia they would be sold, and suggested that if they would place him at the head of the plantation they could all live there in comfort and derive large profits by trading with the Indians. After Rasdell's departure there were but eight men left, one of whom was the man Fitcher selected by Wollaston to conduct affairs.
Morton soon won over the seven men and Fitcher was expelled from the settlement. He went to Plymouth, leaving Morton in full control. Nor did he fail to make good his promises regarding easy living and the profits of the Indian trade. With the Indians he became a great favorite, because he not only bought their furs on liberal terms, but he also admitted them to the drunken revels of the trading post. Morton decided to rechristen the plantation and on May-day, 1627, he set up a maypole, a merry song was made "which was sung by a chorus, every man bearing his part, which they performed in a dance hand in hand about the maypole, while one of the company sang and filled out the good liquor, like Ganymede and Jupiter." The name selected by Morton was Maremount, but the place soon became known as "Merrymount," on account of the wild orgies conducted there from time to time.
Had Morton and his associates contented themselves with their frivolities, they would probably not have been molested by his neighbors at Plymouth, even
CAIRN ON PENN'S HILL. QUINCY
241
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
though they might have remonstrated with him because of his worldy practices. Unfortunately, however, he began to supply the Indians with fire-arms and ammunition. Some five years before this time the French on the coast of Maine and the Dutch in New York had commenced to sell guns and ammunition to the natives and the practice was forbidden by royal proclamation. Morton ignored the proclamation and sold the Indians all the guns he could spare, after which he sent to England for a new supply, preparatory to going into the busi- ness on a larger scale. All along the coast the infant settlements looked upon Merrymount as a menace to their safety. The settlers from Plymouth to Ports- mouth realized that if they attempted to drive Morton out by force he could summon to his aid his Indian friends and prove to be a match for them all. Nevertheless, something must be done.
In the spring of 1628 the Plymouth authorities wrote a friendly communica- tion to Morton, asking him to desist from his evil practices and requesting an answer by the messenger. Morton sent back word to the Plymouth magistrates that they were meddling in matters which in no way concerned them, and inti- mated that he was capable of conducting his trade with the Indians as he pleased and without any of their interference. Again the authorities wrote to Morton, reminding him of the royal proclamation concerning the sale of fire-arms to the Indians. To this he replied that King James' proclamation was not law and that he was prepared to defend himself against any attempt to molest his business or his plantation. Early in June, 1628, Capt. Miles Standish was despatched with eight men to suppress the Merrymount nuisance. Standish had evidently been coached by some of Morton's near neighbors, as he arrived at a time when most of the company were absent on a trading expedition. He found Morton at Wessaguscus, to which place he had gone, as he said, "for the benefit of company." Standish arrested him and placed him under guard. During a thunder storm that night, the prisoner managed to make his escape and went back to Merrymount, where he barricaded himself in his house, accompanied by his three retainers, one of whom Charles Francis Adams says "in the endeavor to stimulate his courage, got hopelessly and helplessly drunk."
When Standish and his party arrived on the scene the next morning and demanded a surrender, Morton returned an insolent reply. The door was ordered to be broken down, when Morton came out, followed only by his drunken associate. He aimed his gun at Standish, but it was turned aside by one of the Plymouth party, after which Morton was again made prisoner and this time was taken to Plymouth. From there he was sent to England. Merry- mount being outside the jurisdiction of the Plymouth colony, it is clear that Morton's arrest and banishment was not strictly legal, but "desperate diseases yield only to desperate remedies," and the act was one of self-preservation.
GOVERNOR ENDICOTT
In September, 1628, about three months after the arrest of Morton, Governor Endicott and his company landed in Salem, under the patent of March 19, 1628, to those who afterward became known as the Massachusetts Bay Company. Endicott was a typical Puritan and when he learned of the doings of Morton (it is possible that he had received instructions regarding the Merrymount Vol. 1-16
242
HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY
plantation before leaving England), he lost no time in taking action. With a small company he crossed the bay, suddenly appeared at the settlement, overawed the startled inhabitants, hewed down the maypole and warned them against the continuance of their pernicious practices. Bradford says the Merrymount people now changed the name of their place and called it Mount Dagon.
No charge was placed against Morton in England and in some way Isaac Allerton, the London agent of the Plymouth Company, was induced to befriend him by helping him to get back to America. Late in the summer of 1629 he appeared at Plymouth, much to the chagrin of the inhabitants, and from there made his way to Merrymount, where he again assumed control. Although he did everything in his power to annoy Governor Endicott, it seems he was tolerated for a time. About Christmas Endicott sent men to arrest him, but he succeeded in eluding them and continued his annoyances. His company was reduced by this time to a mere fragment of its former proportions, probably not more than four or five men being left. Morton was finally arrested in the latter part of August, 1629, and on the 17th of September was arraigned for trial. He attempted a defense, but was ordered to hold his peace and hear his sentence, which was pronounced by Governor Winthrop. He was ordered to be set in the stocks for a certain length of time, at the end of which he was to be trans- ported to England, deprived of all his possessions, and have his house burned to the ground, "to the end that the habitation of the wicked should no more appear in Israel." Such was the end of Merrymount.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.