USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 32
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familyes and Children which by the Blessing of God are greately increased There- fore your Petitioners have of late Petitioned this Honourable Court to be sett off a seperate town or Precinct, but this Honourable Court did not see Cause to grant ye Petition. The reason as we Humbly conceve was the answers to the Petition which were wrong & erroneous.
"Therefore your Petitioners humbly Pray this Honourable Court to see with your own Eyes by sending a Committee to view ye circumstances at the charge & cost of ye Petitioners that this Honourable Court may be rightly Informed & see the Unjust procedings of the Honourable respondents & their fallacious answers to our former petitions & as your Petitioners are Obliged by Conscience and Law to attend the Worship of God they have by a free Contribution main- tained preaching amongst them selves for a Considerable time Notwithstanding they have alsoe payed their proportional Part to ye North Part where they can have but little or none advantage. And we would beg leave to Inform this Hon- ourable Court that since we have had preaching amongst us it has encouraged some well minded Persons to come & Settle within the limitts herein Petitioned & if it should Please the Honourable Court to Grant our Petition it would be a greate encouragement to a greate many more if your Petitioners were in a Capacity to have the Ordinances of God administered amongst them & your Peti- tioners having had some Experience by their Having maintained preaching amongst them selves they look on them selves as able to Maintain the Worship of God. Your Petitioners therefore humbly pray this Honourable Court that they would please send a Committee to view our Circumstances that so your Petitioners may be put into a Capacity that they may have the ordinances of the Saviour Settled amongst them in a regular Order by setting them off as a dis- trict and seperate Town or Precinct viz :
(Here follows a description of the boundary lines including the present towns of Sharon and Foxboro, after which the petition continues :)
"We humbly beg leave here to say that what we now offer in Respect to our being sett off is in sincerity for the promoting of the Worship of God and Religion in its purity amongst us. Wherefore we pray Your Excellency & Honours would be pleased to hear our request and grant our petition and as in duty bound shall ever pray."
The signers of this petition, in the order in which their names appear, were as
follows: Benjamin Estey, Timothy Tolman, Isaac Cumings, John Smith, William Colwell, Samuel Cumings, William Richards, Samuel Estey, Samuel Dwelly, Nathaniel Coney, Pelatiah Whittemore, Eleazer Puffer, Joseph Ingra- ham, Samuel Lovel, Matthias Puffer, Abraham Chandler, Ebenezer Estey, William Webb, Mahew Tupper. Stephen Holland, Benjamin Perry, Joshua Johnson, Josiah Perry, Eliakim Perry, John Noyes, Eleazer Hawes, Job Swift, Jacob Estey, Daniel Richards, Joshua Whittemore, Ebenezer Hewins, Edward Belcher. Jeremiah Belcher, Matthew Hobbs, Clifford Belcher, Ephraim Payson, Samuel Bird, Thomas Randall, Thomas Rogers, Ebenezer Capen, William Wood and Nathan Clark.
THE ANSWER
To this petition the inhabitants of the north part of Stoughton prepared a response. in which they said: "The Petitioners have used a great deal of Craft
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in the course they have pursued, in as much as the Town now owes the minister about eighty pounds (£80) & the town has just layed out nearly one hundred pounds (£100) in building a Road for the petitioners to go to Meeting & now they have built a Church near their own Doors & ask to be set off as Town or Precinct."
The General Court appointed a committee as asked for in the petition, and after visiting the territory the committee unanimously reported in favor of granting the prayer of the petitioners. A bill to that effect passed both branches of the General Court and it was approved by the governor on July 2, 1740. At a meeting of the inhabitants held soon afterward, John Hixson, Ephraim Pay- son and Daniel Richards were elected a committee to manage the affairs of the precinct, and Ebenezer Hewins was chosen treasurer. On January 5, 1742, Rev. Philip Curtis was called to the pastorate of the Second Precinct, and the meeting house mentioned in the petition was completed in 1744.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
In this conflict quite a number of the citizens of the Second Precinct volun- teered as members of the company commanded by Capt. Elkanah Billings. Among them were some who signed the petition asking for the establishment of the precinct, notably Samuel Cumings, Nathan Clark, Mayhew Tupper and Benjamin Estey. Samuel Billings was lieutenant of the company; Eleazer Robbins, ensign; Elijah Billings, Timothy Morse and Ebenezer Billings, ser- geants; Daniel Morse, Benjamin Rhoads and William Savage, corporals; Eleazer Fisher, clerk; Ebenezer Bullard, drummer; and Seth Lane, fifer. The company served in Colonel Miller's regiment about Crown Point, Ticonderoga and Fort William Henry.
Capt. Ebenezer Mann of this precinct raised a company, most of the mem- bers of which came from Wrentham. The volunteers from Sharon fought side by side with the British regulars and acquitted themselves in such a manner that the precinct afterward profited by their services. The war closed in 1763 and not long after that the inhabitants of the Second Precinct decided to ask the General Court to be set off as a separate town, or at least to be made a district, whereby they would enjoy greater civil and political privileges.
DISTRICT OF STOUGHTONHAM
Early in the year 1765 Joseph Hewins, Jr., Jeremiah Fuller and William Richards were appointed a committee to present a petition to the General Court asking that the Second Precinct of Stoughton be made a separate town or dis- trict, and this committee emphasized the services of the men who went out from the precinct in the French and Indian war as an argument why the petition should be granted. It does not appear that the Town of Stoughton offered any serious objections and on June 21, 1765, the following act was passed : 1
"ANNO REGNI REGIS GEORGII TERTII QUINTO
"An Act for incorporation the Second Precinct in the Town of Stoughton, in the County of Suffolk (as it now is), into a District by the name of Stoughtonham.
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"Whereas, the inhabitants of the Second Precinct in Stoughton labor under great difficulties, by reason of their distance from the place where town meetings are held in said town :
"Be it enacted by the Governor, Council and House of Representatives, That the Second Precinct in the Town of Stoughton, by the same bounds and limits which the said Second Precinct now have, be, and hereby are, incorpo- rated into a separate district by the name of Stoughtonham; and that the inhab- itants thereof be vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities which the inhabitants of any town within this province do, or by law ought to enjoy- excepting only the privilege of sending a representative to the General Assembly -and that the inhabitants of said district shall have liberty, from time to time, to join with the Town of Stoughton in the choice of a representative," etc.
FIRST DISTRICT OFFICERS
Pursuant to the authority conferred upon him by the above mentioned act, Joseph Hewins, justice of the peace, issued his warrant to Richard Hixson, as one of the principal inhabitants of the district, to notify and warn the legal voters of the district to meet on July 8, 1765, for the purpose of electing such officers as by law the district was entitled to choose. At the appointed time . Daniel Richards, Job Swift and Thomas Randall were elected selectmen and assessors, and Daniel Richards, clerk and treasurer.
The district was now in a condition to manage its own affairs, take care of its own poor, divide the school money with the Town of Stoughton, and a settlement with that town was effected without trouble or ill feeling.
THE FIRST CANNON
It may not be generally known that the first cannon cast in America were made in the Town of Sharon while it was the District of Stoughtonham. In the spring of 1767 Edmund Quincy, Jr., came to the district and bought a farm on the east shore of Massapoag Lake. One day while walking along the shore of the lake he noticed the indications of iron ore in considerable quantities. Realizing that in case of a war with the mother country, which then seemed imminent, this ore would be of great value to the colonies in the manufacture of heavy guns, he communicated the information of his discovery to his friend Richard Gridley of Boston. Colonel Gridley was the only American who knew anything regarding the manufacture of cannon, having been an engineer in the colonial service. Mr. Quincy purchased of the Dorchester proprietors the right to take the ore. He then formed a sort of partnership with Colonel Gridley and Joseph Jackson and bought the furnace that had been erected by Ebenezer Mann in the south part of the district. The first cannon were completed in 1775, and Colonel Gridley, who had in the meantime become the chief engineer of the Continental army, came out to the works to test them. The test proved satisfactory and the guns were used on various fields of the Revolution.
BUNKER HILL
When the "Lexington Alarm" was sounded through Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, two companies, commanded by Capt. Samuel Payson and Capt.
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Israel Smith, marched from Stoughtonham (See chapter on the Revolution). But there was one incident connected with the War for Independence that belongs peculiarly to Sharon history, and is thus told by Solomon Talbot :
"It was the morning of the 17th of June, 1775, when the stillness of the early hour was broken by heavy cannonading in the distance, at Boston. The roar of heavy guns continued all the forenoon. In the afternoon the contest seemed to have redoubled its fury. What were the thoughts of these women as the horrors of war and bloody strife entered their minds? What if their husbands or sons should be slain in battle and a revengeful, conquering enemy should put into execution their threats to come with fire and sword, burn the houses and kill the defenseless women and children ?
"In their agony of spirit and despair they turned their steps to Sharon Hill, the high ground near the school house, where they might possibly behold the fearful contest. They sank down in despair as they beheld before them on the horizon, twenty miles away, in a fearful mass of smoke and flames, Charles- town, with its six hundred dwellings.
"Night coming on, the tumult and voice of war was hushed. Anxiously awaiting some tidings from the terrible strife before them, they went into the school house, where they could sympathize with and console each other. Others came in and a goodly number were gathered. Rev. Philip Curtis, who had faithfully watched over them these many years, was with them with his prayers, exhortations and watching. Here on this eventful night was held the first watch-meeting ever held in Sharon. Here these women, with aching hearts and tearful eyes, beheld in the light of burning Charlestown the beacon of freedom, the dawn of a nation's birthday."
THE TOWN OF SHARON
On August 23, 1775, was passed the general law providing that all districts in the Province of Massachusetts Bay should become towns, and on that day, or under that act, Stoughtonham became a full-fledged town. Its boundaries then included the present Town of Foxboro, which was set off on June 10, 1778. In some of the records there is a mention of a meeting at which the citizens voted to ask the General Court to change the name to Washington, but no fur- ther information on the subject is available. On February 25, 1783, the follow- ing act was approved by Gov. John Hancock :
"An act for discontinuing the name of a town in the County of Suffolk incorporated under the name of Stoughtonham, and calling the same Sharon.
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That the said Town of Stoughtonham shall no longer bear that name, but henceforth shall be called and known by the name of Sharon, the aforesaid incorporating act notwithstanding. And all officers in said town shall hold and exercise their respective offices in the same manner as they would have done had not the name of said town been altered."
POSTOFFICES
The first postoffice in the town was established on July 1, 1819, and was located at Cobb's Tavern, on the Bay road. In 1828 the postoffice at Sharon
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Centre was established. On June 3, 1841, the name of the office at Cobb's Tavern was changed to East Sharon, and that at Sharon Centre to Sharon. The former has been discontinued, so that the only postoffice in the town is the one at Sharon.
TOWN HALL
For many years the town meetings of Sharon were held in the meeting house or in hired halls. In 1883 J. M. Weston, C. C. Barney and A. B. Lovejoy were appointed a building committee to superintend the erection of a town hall, 45 by 70 feet and two stories in height. Plans were prepared by Arthur H. Dodd, an architect of Boston, and the contract was awarded to L. E. & T. L. Barlow, except the granite foundation which was built by John Moyle. The superstructure is a frame, the first story of which is covered with clapboards and the second story with shingles. At the right hand of the front entrance is a circular tower and the building is surmounted by a cupola, the top of which is seventy-six feet above the sidewalk. The first floor is occupied by the town offices, the clerk's office being provided with a fireproof vault for the preservation of the records. On the second floor is a large hall, 44 by 45 feet, with the cus- tomary anterooms, etc. The public library was formerly kept in the building. the cost of which was about eight thousand dollars. The hall was dedicated on February 21, 1884, with appropriate ceremonies.
WATERWORKS
The Sharon Waterworks were built by a company and were acquired by the town in 1895. Since that time, to January 1, 1917, the town has appropri- ated $31,414 for water for public use, and the sum of $89,544.51 has been realized by the sale of bonds. Of these bonds the amount outstanding at the beginning of the year 1917 was $49,000. The system includes two pumping stations, nearly twenty miles of mains and 107 public hydrants. During the year 1916 Pumping Station No. I pumped 26,121,500 gallons, and No. 2, 20,371,- 952 gallons, making a total consumption of 46,493,452 gallons, for which the town received $10,325 and the cost of maintenance was only $3,403.
On November 20, 1916, Daniel W. Pettee, who had served on the board of water commissioners for more than twenty-one years, passed away by death and Alfred C. Sampson was appointed to the vacancy. The board at the beginning of the year 1917 was composed of Ralph O. Brown, Alfred C. Sampson and Timothy F. Quinn.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Sharon fire department, like those of most of the towns, has been de- veloped from the old hand engine and volunteer company into a thoroughly modern fire-fighting organization. The cost of maintenance for the year 1916 was $4,541.77, of which $2,552.51 was used to pay the salaries of the members of the department, and $698.27 represents the cost of installing a new storage battery for the fire alarm system. Concerning this battery, the board of fire engineers
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say in their report : "On June 3d the new storage battery for the fire alarm system was put in commission, replacing the old gravity battery which had been in use since the first installation of the alarm system. The cost of operating the old battery from January 1, 1916, to June 3, 1916, was $146.88, while the cost of operating the new battery from June 3d to the end of the year was $18.79. At this rate the new battery will soon pay for itself, as well as being more reliable and up to date."
The board of fire engineers at the beginning of 1917, was composed of Edgar H. Andrews, chief ; C. P. Curtis, assistant chief and clerk; A. D. Packard, superintendent of fire alarm.
MODERN SHARON
The Sharon of 1917 is quite a different affair from the old Second Precinct of Stoughton in 1740. In 1910 the population of the town, according to the United States census, was 2,310. In 1915 the state census reported the number of in- habitants as being 2,468, a gain of 158 in five years. The assessed valuation of property in 1916 was $3,900,627, an increase of $488,038 over that of the preceding year.
Sharon has two weekly newspapers (the Advocate and the News), four public schools, three of which are conducted in buildings erected for the purpose and one in the town hall, electric light, steam and electric railway transportation facilities, a fine public library for a town of its class, churches of different faiths are represented by comfortable houses of worship, several mercantile establish- ments and some manufacturing concerns. The good roads movement has not been neglected, as in 1916 the town meeting appropriated over one thousand dollars for the purchase of a steam roller and about ten thousand dollars for the construction and repair of highways and sidewalks.
TOWN OFFICERS
Following is a list of the leading officials at the beginning of the year 1917: Charles E. Whitcomb, Robert G. Morse and Herbert F. Nelson, selectmen and overseers of the poor; Charles A. Hixon, Henry A. Boyden and Edgar M. Hixon, assessors; George H. Whittemore, clerk; George A. Dennett, treasurer and tax collector ; William D. Wheeler, moderator ; Ralph S. Earle, John J. Rafter and Sidney A. Weston, school committee; Ambrose B. Peach, highway surveyor ; Hervey T. B. Derry, Joseph B. Legge and Milton O. Parker, constables ; Edmund H. Talbot, town counsel.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE TOWN OF STOUGHTON
GENERAL DESCRIPTION-TIIE NEW GRANT-EVOLUTION OF STOUGHTON-WILLIAM STOUGHTON-THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD-A STATE GOVERNMENT-STOUGH- TON'S RESOLUTIONS ON THE SUBJECT-SALTPETRE-WATERWORKS-FIRE DEPART- MENT-TOWN OFFICERS-THE PRESENT STOUGHTON.
Lying on the southern border of Norfolk County, about midway between the Atlantic coast and the State of Rhode Island, is the Town of Stoughton. It is bounded on the north by Canton; on the east by Randolph and Avon; on the south by Avon and Plymouth and Bristol counties; and on the west by the Town of Sharon. The central portion is the most elevated, the streams rising in this section flowing in different directions, some northward into Canton and others southward into Plymouth County. Ames Pond, in the southern part, is the largest body of water. York Pond, which receives the waters of Beaver Brook, is on the boundary line between Stoughton and Canton, and in the northwestern portion there is a chain of smaller ponds drained by Mill Brook, which flows in a northerly direction and finally reaches the Neponset River. Being less hilly than some of the other towns, the soil is better adapted to culti- vation, and some of the finest farms in Norfolk County are located in Stoughton.
THE NEW GRANT
The territory now comprising the Town of Stoughton is a part of the exten- sive tract known as the "New Grant" to Dorchester, which was made in 1637. That tract extended from "ye Town House to ye Plymouth Line." Its north end was near the present village of Readville and its south end was on what is now the southern boundary line of Norfolk County. The average width was about ten miles.
EVOLUTION OF STOUGHTON
On December 15, 1715, the region embracing the present Town of Stoughton, and some of the adjacent towns, was organized as the "Dorchester South Precinct." Part of this precinct was set off to Wrentham in 1724, and on December 22, 1726, the territory now embraced in the towns of Canton, Sharon, Stoughton and the greater part of Foxboro was incorporated as a town by the name of Stoughton, taking its name from Gov. William Stoughton. On July 2, 1740, by an act of the General Court, that part now included in Foxboro and Sharon was established as the Second Precinct. This precinct was made a dis-
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trict called Stoughtonham on June 21, 1765. Foxboro was incorporated as a town on June 10, 1778, Sharon followed on February 25, 1783, and the Town of Canton (originally the First Precinct of Stoughton) was incorporated on February 23, 1797. These changes reduced Stoughton to its present dimensions and boundaries. The first town meeting in Stoughton was held on January 2, 1727. The records of that meeting are not available, but it is known that George Talbot was chosen as one of the selectmen. Joseph Tucker was the first town clerk.
WILLIAM STOUGHTON
The man for whom the town was named was born in Dorchester in 1631, and was a son of Israel Stoughton, one of the Dorchester proprietors. He graduated at Harvard College at the head of the class of 1650, and soon afterward went to England, where he enjoyed a fellowship at Oxford and completed his studies for the ministry. In 1662 he returned to Massachusetts and followed the pro- fession of a clergyman until 1671, though he never was pastor of a regularly organized society. In 1686 he became the head of the colonial courts, which position he held until the arrival of Governor Andros. Judge Stoughton was named as a member of the council under Andros and by his acceptance he lost much of his popularity. He regained the confidence of the people to some extent in 1689, when he was the first to sign the petition to the king demanding that Andros surrender the reins of government.
Under the new charter he was made lieutenant-governor under Sir William Phipps, and when Governor Phipps instituted a special court of Oyer and Terminer for the trial of the witchcraft cases, Judge Stoughton was appointed chief justice. Barry describes him as "a Puritan of the commonwealth mould ; of phlegmatic temperament; rigidly attached to the Puritan creed; thoroughly versed in the knowledge of men; knowing how to accommodate himself to a variety of circumstances, yet superior to all ; he was one who, in any situation. was calculated to succeed."
In the witchcraft trials by the special court of which Mr. Stoughton was chief justice, nineteen persons were convicted and sentenced to death. Con- cerning these trials and convictions, Barry says: "As the excitement subsided the prominent actors in the terrible tragedy began to reflect, and a few made public acknowledgment of their error. . Stoughton alone refused to retract, and to the day of his death never regretted the part he had taken."
When the Superior Court was organized he was made chief justice, his com- mission being dated December 22, 1692. His commission was renewed in 1695 and he continued as chief justice until only a short time before his death, also holding the office of lieutenant-governor at the same time. Upon the removal of Governor Phipps in 1694, Stoughton became Governor and served until the arrival of Lord Bellamont in June, 1697. Lord Bellamont died in March, 1701, and Stoughton again became governor, somewhat reluctantly on account of his age and the state of his health, and served until his own death on July 7, 1701. Governor Stoughton was a benefactor of Harvard College. Before his death he erected at his own expense the building known as "Stoughton Hall," and in his will be left a legacy of a thousand pounds to his Alma Mater.
NEW HOME OF THE STOUGHTON TRUST COMPANY
HIGH SCHOOL, STOUGHTON
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THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD
During the first half century of Stoughton's corporate existence little out of the ordinary took place. The people were busily engaged in building better houses, developing their farms, establishing schools for their children, opening highways, etc. With the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, the dawning of the spirit of independence began to be felt. Early in 1773 a letter from the Boston Committee of Correspondence was sent to all the towns of Suffolk County. At a town meeting in Stoughton on March 1, 1773, this letter was read and it was voted to send a reply, setting forth the opinion that the rights of the colonists had been seriously infringed upon, violated by arbitrary will and power, and that the people of Stoughton were apprehensive that in the future this might prove fatal to them and their posterity by reducing them to a state of slavery.
On September 26, 1774, Thomas Crane, who lived in the First Parish, after- ward set off as the Town of Canton, was elected representative to the Great and General Court to be held at Salem, and was given the following instructions :
"Sir-As we have now chosen you to Represent us in the Great and General Court to be holden at Salem on Wednesday ye 5th day of October next ensuing We do hereby Instruct you that in all your Doings as a member of the House of Representatives you adhere firmly to the Charter of this Province granted by their Majesties King William and Queen Mary & that you do no act that can possibly be construed into an acknowledgement of ye validity of ye Act of the ye British Parliament for altering ye Government of Massachusetts Bay. More Especially that you acknowledge ye Honourable Board of Counsellors elected by ye General Court at their Session in May last as ye only rightfull & Constitu- tional Counsel of this Province: And as we have reason to believe that a Con- scientious Discharge of your Duty will Produce your Disolution as an House of Representatives We do hereby Impower and Instruct you to join with ye mem- bers who may be sent from this and ye Other Towns in ye Province & to meet with them at a time to be agreed upon in a General Provincial Congress to act upon such Matters as may come before you in such manner as may appear to you most Conducive to ye true Interest of this Town & Province as most Likely to Preserve the Liberties of all North America."
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