USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 8
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PETITION FOR INCORPORATION
On December 2, 1887, the following petition was published in the Stoughton Record, the result of a movement started some months prior to that time for the establishment of a new town :
"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled :
"The undersigned petitioners, citizens of Stoughton, Norfolk County, respect- fully represent that we desire all that part of Stoughton east of the following described lines to be incorporated into a town separate from Stoughton, to be called Said lines to be the Old Colony Railroad commencing at the southerly line of the Town of Randolph and running southwesterly to a point where the Boston & Taunton Turnpike, so called, crosses said Old Colony Rail- road, and from thence the Boston & Taunton Turnpike to be the line to the City of Brockton."
This petition was signed by D. H. Blanchard, Hiram Blanchard, Alva M. Butler, Charles H. Felker, D. C. G. Field, S. S. Gifford, James Keith, G. F. Little- field, L. G. Littlefield, Gilbert Littlefield, George W. Robbins, George J. Smith and H. H. Tucker.
IN THE LEGISLATURE
This petition came before the House of Representatives on February 1, 1888, and was referred to the committee on towns, which reported favorably, and a' bill granting the prayer of the petitioners was passed and sent to the senate.
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It passed that body and was approved on February 21, 1888. Section I of the bill reads as follows :
"All that territory now the Town of Stoughton, in the County of Norfolk, comprised within the following limits, that is to say: Beginning at a point on the easterly line of Stoughton, where the Old Colony Railroad crosses said easterly line; thence southwesterly along the westerly side of the Old Colony Railroad about four hundred and sixty rods to a point on the westerly side of the culvert where Saulisbury Brook passes under said railroad ; thence in a straight line south about five hundred and thirty-two rods to the westerly side of Oak Street, where it intersects South Street ; thence southerly again along the westerly side of Oak Street about seventy-five rods to the Brockton line; thence along said Brockton line about six hundred and eighty-seven and one-half rods to the Holbrook line: thence in a straight line northerly about eight hundred and ninety-four rods along the Holbrook line and the Randolph line to the point of beginning, is hereby incorporated as a town by the name of Avon, and said Town of Avon is hereby invested with all the powers, privileges, rights and immuni- ties, and made subject to all the duties, liabilities and requisitions to which other towns are entitled or subjected by the constitution and laws of this Common- wealth."
Sections 2 to 6 inclusive refer to the division of the town property, appor- tioning the town debt, relief of paupers, etc. Section 7 places the new town in the Second Congressional District, the Second Councillor District, the Second Norfolk Senatorial District and the Seventh Norfolk Representative District.
Section 8 provides that "any justice of the peace in the County of Norfolk may issue his warrant directed to any inhabitant of the Town of Avon requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof qualified to vote in town affairs to meet at the time and place therein appointed for the purpose of choosing all such town officers as towns are by law authorized and required to choose at their annual meetings," etc.
EXTENDING THE BOUNDARIES
Soon after the town was organized under the provisions of the above act, an agitation was commenced for the acquisition of certain tracts of land in the towns of Randolph and Holbrook. A petition asking for the annexation of these lands to Avon was presented to the next session of the Legislature, with the result that the following act was passed and approved on April 16, 1889:
"So much of the towns of Randolph and Holbrook, in the County of Nor- folk, with all the inhabitants and estates thereon, as is thus bounded and described, to wit: Beginning at a stone bound on the westerly side of Main Street in the boundary line between said towns of Randolph and Avon (formerly Stoughton) marked 'R' on one side and 'S' on the opposite side, and thence running in a straight line over territorial land of said Randolph and of said Holbrook midway between the two main tracks of the Old Colony Railroad as now existing and distant north, sixteen degrees and fifteen minutes east, six hundred and ninety- four and eight-tenths feet from the southerly side line of High Street in said Holbrook ; thence running south, sixteen degrees and fifteen minutes west, mid- way between said tracks, one thousand five hundred and sixteen and four-tenths
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feet to a point of curvature in said Holbrook and intersecting said southerly line of High Street at a point distant south, fifty-six degrees and thirteen minutes east, one hundred and sixty-seven and seventy-two hundredths feet from a stone bound set in the southerly line of High Street ; thence running by a curve to the left of five thousand seven hundred and thirty feet radius, one thousand three hundred and twenty-three and forty-five hundredths feet to a point of tangency in Hol- brook; thence running midway between said tracks south, three degrees and one minute west, five hundred and thirty-five and forty-five hundredths feet to the boundary line between said towns of Holbrook and Avon; thence running north- westerly by said boundary line between the towns of Randolph, Holbrook and Avon to the point of beginning, containing an area of about fourteen acres of the territory of the said Town of Randolph and about one hundred and thirty acres of the territory of the said Town of Holbrook, is hereby set off and sepa- rated from the said towns of Randolph and Holbrook and annexed to the said Town of Avon."
The reason for this enlargement of the town was to give it access to railway facilities. The Old Colony Railroad mentioned in the above act is now the Boston & Middleboro division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford rail- way system, which covers a large part of New England. Avon station was established soon after the boundary of the town was extended to the railroad.
WATERWORKS
Soon after the town was incorporated a movement was inaugurated to estab- lish a system of waterworks. A petition was presented to the Legislature asking for authority to issue bonds for that purpose and on April 9, 1889, the governor approved an act empowering the Town of Avon "to supply itself and its inhabi- tants with water for the extinguishment of fires and for domestic and other pur- poses," etc., and to take "by purchase or otherwise and hold the waters of Porter's. Brook or spring in said town." The act also authorized the town to borrow not more than thirty thousand dollars, issue bonds therefore and provide a sinking fund for their redemption when due, said act to take effect upon its acceptance "by a two-thirds vote of the voters of said Town of Avon at a legal town meeting within three years after its passage."
The conditions imposed by the act were accepted by the required two-thirds vote, Lewis Hawes of Boston was employed as chief engineer, and the water- works were constructed in 1889-90. Wells were sunk to obtain a supply of water and a pumping station was installed. The standpipe, twenty feet in diameter and ninety feet high, was built by E. Hodge & Company of Boston. It has a capacity of 212,670 gallons and the average pressure of the system is sixty-five pounds to the square inch. Up to December 31, 1912, the total cost of the plant was $83,324.09 and the aggregate amount of bonds issued was $69,500. There were then eight miles of mains. Since that time some extensions have been made and the bonds have nearly all been paid. The works are owned by the town.
TOWN HALL
On October 18. 1912, the town hall was damaged by fire to the amount of $1,500 and the contents to the amount of $1,500. The building was erected a few
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years after the incorporation of the town at a cost of about three thousand dollars. It contains a hall for holding town meetings, offices for the town officials and quarters for the fire company. At the time of the fire the town carried $2,000 in- surance on the building and $1,200 on the contents. The damage to the building was quickly repaired, but the loss of records renders it impossible to ascertain the original cost or just when the structure was completed.
MISCELLANEOUS FACTS ABOUT AVON
Avon is the smallest town in Norfolk County. It is an agricultural community and has no manufacturing establishments of importance. In addition to the trans- portation facilities furnished by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Rail- road, the Milton & Brockton division of the Bay State Street Railway Company traverses the town, connecting it with practically all the principal places in Norfolk County. Cars run on this line every thirty minutes.
The first board of selectmen was composed of Hiram Blanchard, George W. Robbins and Bartlett Collins, who also served as the first town assessors. George J. Smith was the first town clerk, and James Keith the first treasurer. In 1917 the town officers were as follows: John F. Geary, Frederick P. Bodwell and Fred- erick A. Parmenter, selectmen; John J. Collins, clerk; William W. Littlefield, treasurer ; John F. Geary, Frederick A. Parmenter and Fred P. Whitten, assessors.
In the principal square stands a neat monument of granite bearing the in- scription :
In Grateful Remembrance of the men of Avon Who fought to Save the Union 1861-1865
Above the inscription are two crossed swords carved in bas relief, and on the top of the monument is the figure of an infantry soldier. Avon was a part of Stoughton at the time of the Civil War, but the monument commemorates the gallant deeds of those who went from that part of Stoughton now comprising Avon. On the die of the monument is the following :
Presented by Orlando Leach To the Town of Avon MDCCCCV
In the southeastern part of the town is Highland Park, one of the beauty spots of Norfolk County. It is on the electric railway line running from Avon to Brock- ton and is a favorite resort for persons who desire a day's outing amid peaceful surroundings.
On the covers of the annual town reports is a small portrait of William Shake- speare, indicating that the town derives its name from the birthplace of the im-
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mortal bard -- "Stratford-on-Avon" in England. The Avon of today has two modern public school buildings, a well drilled and equipped fire company, a public library, Baptist and Catholic churches, and a number of cozy homes. The popu- lation in 1910 was 2,013 and in 1915, according to the state census, it was 2,164, an increase of 151 in five years. The assessed valuation of property in 1915 was $1,119,847.
CHAPTER X
THE TOWN OF BELLINGHAM
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN-FIRST SETTLEMENT-DIVIDING THE LAND- INCORPORATION-FIRST TOWN MEETING-A BOUNDARY DISPUTE-TROUBLE WITH THE GENERAL COURT-A COINCIDENCE-NEW STATE GOVERNMENT- EFFORTS TO FORM A NEW TOWN-TOWN HALL-WATERWORKS-VITAL STATISTICS-ODD LEGISLATION-THE BELLINGHAM OF TODAY.
Bellingham is the most western town of Norfolk County. It is bounded on the north by the Town of Medway ; on the east by Franklin and Wrentham; on the south by the State of Rhode Island; and on the west by Worcester County. The surface is generally uneven, though there are no large elevations in the town. The Charles River flows across the northern part, the Peters River rises near the center and flows in a southerly direction into Rhode Island. Its principal trib- utary is the Bungay Brook, which rises in Wrentham. North of the Charles River and connected with it by a small stream is Beaver Pond, and in the southern part is another pond of considerable size called Jenks' Reservoir. There are also a few smaller ponds drained by the Peters River.
FIRST SETTLEMENT
From the best authority at hand, it is believed that the first white man to locate within the limits of the present Town of Bellingham was Jacob Bartlett. Follow- ing the custom of the time, Mr. Bartlett selected a tract of land some time in the summer of 1713 and erected a cabin, to which he moved his family. Land was then plentiful and such a thing as acquiring it by purchase was almost unknown. On October 27, 1713, the proprietors of the Town of Dedham, of which the territory was then a part, granted thirty-five acres to Jacob Bartlett. This grant is the first official mention in the records of the region now included within the town limits of Bellingham.
During the fall of 1713 and the following winter, several families settled near the Charles River. That no confusion should arise regarding the possession of the land, a crown warrant was issued early in February, 1714, the return upon which was as follows:
"In pursuance of a warrant to me directed by John Chandler, Esq., one of her Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of Suffolk, these are to give public notice that a meeting of the proprietors of that tract of land belonging to Dedham lying between Wrentham, Mendon and Providence is appointed to be held and kept at the house of Deacon Thomas Sanford, in Mendon, on the eleventh day of March next ensuing, at eight o'clock in the morning, then and
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then to agree upon a division of land and what relates thereunto, of which all persons concerned are to take notice and give attendance accordingly. Dated this twenty-fifth day of February, A.D., 1714.
"JONATHAN WIGHT, Constable."
Between the time the warrant was issued and the day of the meeting, the land was divided into lots or parcels containing from twenty to sixty acres each. On the appointed day the residents in that part of the present County of Norfolk assembled at Mr. Sanford's house and the meeting was organized by the election of John Ware of Wrentham, moderator, and Thomas Sanford, clerk. Slips of paper were prepared, each bearing the number of a certain lot of land, and the slips were then placed in a box and thoroughly mixed. Each settled then drew a slip, which entitled him to the tract of land bearing the same number. The highest number was 121, indicating that there were then that number of actual or prospective settlers in the district.
INCORPORATION
The five years immediately following the distribution of land witnessed the influx of quite a number of new settlers. In the summer of 1719, owing to the great distance from Dedham, where the inhabitants had to go to attend church and transact their business with the town authorities, a movement was started for the establishment of a new town. A petition was accordingly prepared, ad- dressed to "His Excellency Samuel Shute, Esq., Captain-General and Governor in Chief in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, and to the Honourable Council and House of Representatives in General Court convened at Boston."
After setting forth in detail the reasons for asking that a new town be created, the inconveniences to which the inhabitants of the territory was subjected, etc., the petition closed as follows :
"Our Prayer Therefore is that your Honours would Graciously plese to con- sider our Difficulty Circumstances and grant us our petition, which is That ye above mentioned Tracts of Land (as by one Platt heretofore affixed & Described) may be incorporated together & made a Town & Invested with Town Preveliges. That we may be Inabled in Conveniant Time to obtain ye Gospel & Public Worship of God settled, & our Inconveniances by Reason of our Remoateness be Re- moved ; granting us such Time of Dispence from Public Taxes as in wisdom you shall think Conveniant, & in your so doing you will greatly oblige us who am your Humble petitioners : and for your Honours, as in Consciance we are Bound, Shall ever pray.
"Dated ye 17th Day of November, 1719."
The petition was signed by Richard Blood, Thomas Burch, Nicholas Cook, Nicholas Cook, Jr., Seth Cook, Daniel Corbet, John Corbet, Cornelius Darling, John Darling, Samuel Darling, Zuriel Hall, Jonathan Hayward, Oliver Hayward, Samuel Hayward, William Hayward, Eliphalet Holbrook John Holbrook, Joseph Holbrook, Peter Holbrook, Inheritance of Mendon, John March, Samuel Rich, James Smith, Pelatiah Smith, Samuel Smith, Ebenezer Thayer, Isaac Thayer, Ebenezer Thompson, John Thompson, John Thompson, Jr., Joseph Thompson, Samuel Thompson and Nathaniel Weatherby.
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The plat submitted with the petition showed "a Tract of Land belonging to Dedham, westward of Wrentham, and a small Corner of Mendon adjacent Thereto." On November 26, 1719, the petition was read in the lower house of the General Court and that body "Ordered that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that a township be erected and constituted according thereunto and the plat above: Provided they procure and settled a learned orthodox minister within the space of three years now coming."
It was further enacted that "John Darling, John Thompson and John Marsh be Impowered to call a Town Meeting any time in March next to choose Town Officers & manage ye other prudentiall affairs of ye Town. The name of the Town to be called Bellingham." The upper house concurred in this action the next day, so that the Town of Bellingham dates its corporate existence from November 27, 1719. The name was no doubt chosen as a mark of respect for Sir Richard Bellingham, who was one of the early colonial governors of Massa- chusetts.
FIRST TOWN MEETING
The commissioners named in the act of incorporation-Darling, Thompson and Marsh-issued a call for a town meeting to be held at the house of John Thompson on March 2, 1720. Pelatiah Smith was chosen moderator, and the following town officers were elected: Selectmen, John Darling, Pelatiah Smith, John Thompson, John Corbett and Nathaniel Jilson; Clerk, Pelatiah Smith ; Treasurer, John Holbrook; Tithingmen, John Marsh and Nicholas Cook; Con- stables, Nicholas Cook and William Hayward ; Hog reeves, "for the due observ- ance of swine," Oliver Hayward and Samuel Darling.
Bellingham did not actually obtain a corporate charter by the act of November 27, 1719, but the people were authorized to form a town government which should become fully operative if they established a church and installed a min- ister within three years. This provision came before the first town meeting. John Darling, Nicholas Cook, Sr., John Corbet and John Holbrook were ap- pointed a committee to select a location for the meeting house, and another com- mittee, consisting of Nathaniel Jilson, Nicholas Cook, John Corbet and Pelatiah Smith was appointed to build the house, "so far as the covering and inclosing are concerned."
On November 14, 1720, the committee on location reported at a town meeting held at the house of John Thompson-"That the meeting house should be sett whare thare is a Stake standing near Weatherly's corner, with a heap of stones Laid about said Stake and a pine tree marked; said Stake Standing in an old Road that goes from Mendon to Wrentham, the Demension of the meeting house to be : fourty foott long thirty foott wide, Eighteen foott Between Joynts. The Stated price for Laborers for a Narrow axx man finding himself tow shillings and a sixpence per day, Broad axx man three shillings pr day, finding themselves."
The location thus selected for the meeting house is a short distance north of the Charles River, near the site of the village of Crimpville, which afterward grew up there. The building was evidently inclosed some time in the summer or early fall of 1721, for on November, 23, 1721, a town meeting voted that the meeting house should be lathed and plastered with white lime and that an aisle
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four feet wide should be left through the center and aisles four feet wide between the ends of the seats and the sides of the building. In January, 1723, the town voted to give fifty acres of land to the first minister who would settle in the town and not long afterward Rev. Thomas Smith accepted the offer and entered upon his duties as pastor of the church. Bellingham then became fully incorpo- rated according to the provision of the act, though a little more than three years elapsed before a regular minister was settled.
A BOUNDARY DISPUTE
In 1723 a difference of opinion arose between the people of Bellingham and those of Wrentham as to the actual location of the boundary line dividing the two towns, and some ill feeling was developed before the question was finally settled. Bellingham appointed a committee to carry the matter before the court, and a tax was levied upon the cattle of the town to defray the expenses. A little later the town sold one hundred and fifty acres of common land, for which the sum of one hundred and forty pounds was obtained, practically all of which was expended in making a survey and securing the establishment of the line as it stands at the present time.
TROUBLE WITH THE GENERAL COURT
So far as can be gleaned from the records, the first call for a member of the General Court was made on Bellingham in 1755, but the town meeting voted not to send a representative, on the grounds that the people could not afford the expense. The General Court appears to have been incensed at the action of the meeting and fined the town for its disobedience of orders. When the people of Bellingham learned of the fine another town meeting was called, but the only action taken was to petition the General Court for an abatement of the fine and voted the sum of two pounds and ten shillings to defray the expense of carrying the petition to the Court. At the same meeting it was decided to assess the sol- diers who enlisted in the King's service and the people pledged themselves to stand by the assessors in levying a tax on said soldiers. It is not shown by the records that the tax was ever collected and the assessment probably was a "dead letter."
Early in the year 1757 the General Court again made a demand on Belling- ham for a representative, but at the May meeting the town again "voted in the negative" and no representative. No fine was imposed upon the town in this in- stance, but when in April, 1761, Bellingham again voted not to send a represent- ative a small fine was levied against the town. A year later another demand was made for a delegate, but the town meeting declined "by a large vote."
Although refusing to send a representative to the General Court, the people of Bellingham recognized the authority of that body and cheerfully endeavored to observe the laws. At least in one instance they called upon the Court to settle a local dispute. At a town meeting held on March 6, 1764, officers for the en- suing year were elected. Nine days later another meeting (or an adjourned meeting) undertook to annul the action of the former one and elected another set of officers. Nineteen citizens signed a protest against this second election and sent it up to the General Court, with their reasons therefor. The Legislature
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decided that the election of March 6th was legal and the subsequent action of the adjourned meeting null and void, "much to the satisfaction of the officers first chosen."
At the March meeting in 1773, "the condition of the country being in an un- settled state, and the town being greatly inconvenienced by the excessive taxation, a committee consisting of John Metcalf, John Corbett, Samuel Scott, William Holbrook and Benjamin Partridge was chosen to look into the condition of affairs and report at the next meeting." If the committee ever reported it was not made a matter of record.
About this time, the town being so negligent about sending a representative to the General Court, another fine was imposed and a petition of abatement was sent as payment. It seems that none of the fines had ever been paid and the town had been at some expense in the matter of petitioning for their remission. In the case just mentioned, the Legislature gave no immediate attention to the petition and the town records that on October 22, 1773, when the question came be- fore a town meeting it was "Put to vote to see if the town will send to Court any more to get the fines off that we are fined for not sending a Representative in years passed. Decided in the negative."
At the beginning of the year 1774 the colonies were almost in a state of revolution against the excessive taxation levied by the mother country. In May of that year the people of Bellingham voted to send a committee to the General Court to explain their poverty and ask that the town be assessed for a less amount, as well as that the fines imposed upon them for their failure to send a represent- ative be remitted. This committee met with better success than its predecessors and the fines were abated, restoring good feeling between the Bellingham people and the colonial authorities. On September 2, 1774, a town meeting voted "the sum of nineteen shillings to the General Court, to assist in carrying on expenses." At the same meeting it was agreed that the citizens of the town would purchase no goods imported from England, and the sum of five pounds was voted for ammunition.
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