History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 142

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 142

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As we have seen, Foxborough was carved in 1778 from Wrentham, Walpole, Stoughtonham, and Stough- ton; principally from the two latter towns. It is natural, therefore, to inquire what the conduct of these two towns had been during the Revolutionary struggle.

Stoughton had been a little backward in support of the Boston Committee of Correspondence in 1773 and the early part of 1774, but the County Congress was held at Doty's Tavern in Stoughton, now Canton, Aug. 16, 1774, and Joseph Warren was present, and there was no hesitation afterwards. The town was repre- sented at the famous County Convention at the house of Daniel Vose, in Milton, Sept. 9, 1774, when War- ren said, " On the fortitude, on the wisdom, and on

1 The following chapter was contributed by Hon. E. P. Car- penter, being an address delivered by him at Foxborough, June 29, 1878, and is an invaluable contribution to the historic literature of the State.

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the exertions of this important day is suspended the fate of this new world and of unborn millions." Then the "Suffolk Resolves" were unanimously adopted.

On the 19th of April, upon the " Lexington Alarm," nine companies, or four hundred and seventy men, marched from Stoughton and Stoughtonham. Among these it is easy to distinguish the Foxborough names.

July 10, 1775, Stoughton and Stoughtonham as- sembled together, and elected Thomas Crane as their representative to the General Court, to be holden at Watertown, July 19, 1775.

Our act of incorporation establishes the territory we have been discriminating, " with the inhabitants living thereon," " into a town by the name of Fox- borough." It is said to be the only town of that designation in the world, so that there can be no mis- take as to our identity. Whence the name ? The name itself proves the inhabitants loyal to liberty.

Charles James Fox, born 1749, son of Lord Hol- land, in Parliament before he was twenty years of age, was already an eminent man when, in 1774, he opposed the Boston Port Bill and defended the conduct of the colonies. He said, in 1775, of Lord North, the prime minister of George III., " The King of Prussia, nay, even Alexander the Great, never gained more in one campaign than Lord North has lost. He has lost a whole continent." One of Fox's biographers says, " During the whole American war, Mr. Fox succes- sively protested against every measure of hostility directed against the colonies." Of him the Foxbor- ough soldiers, who marched in quickstep at the " Lex- ington Alarm," and to Bunker Hill and Dorchester Heights, had heard, and, whatever the faults of that famous British statesman, no friend of American inde- pendence need blush to bear his name.

May 22, 1776, the town of Stoughton passed this resolve : "That if the honorable Continental Congress should, for the safety of this colony, declare us inde- pendent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, we, the inhabitants, will solemnly engage, with our lives and fortunes, to support them in the measure." 1

It may not be out of place, however, to add here the tradition that Seth Boyden (then eighteen years of age), Ebenezer Forest, Samuel Forest, and Oliver Pettee (father of Martin Pettee), of Foxborough, were, | in the last year of the Revolutionary war, taken by a British fleet while cruising on an American privateer, and were thrown into the prison-ship at New York, whence they were released at the close of the war. Of Abijah Pratt, who was afterwards a lieutenant in

his company, his descendants relate that, enlisting as an undersized lad of sixteen, he stood on tiptoe behind the other recruits in an agony lest he should fail to pass the military inspection.

But who were the inhabitants incorporated ? How many were there of them ? Whence did they come, and how long had they been here ? These questions are not easily answered, because the town records contain no list. A distinguished antiquarian has furnished a list of those males of sixteen years and upwards, supposed to have resided on the Foxborough territory Jan. 1, 1777, collated by him from an orig- inal schedule, prepared at that time by Mr. Hill, one of the selectmen of Stoughtonham. It is suggested that there may not have been so many residents, but it is thought useful to preserve the list, in all one hundred and six in number :

" January 17, 1777.2 Nehemiah Carpenter, 3; Jacob Cook, 1; Josiah Robbins, 1; Jacob Lenard, 1 ; Joseph Wood, 1; John Comey, 4; John Sumner, 3; Job Willis, 2; Zebulon Dean, 1; Widow Elizabeth Payn, 4; William Payson, ye first, 2; Spencer Hodges, 1; Thomas Richardson, 2; John Richardson, 1 ; Daniel Robeson, 1; Seth Robeson, 1 ; Joseph Payn, 1; Wil- liam Payn, 2d, 5; Jacob Payn, 1; John Payn, 1; Lem. Payn, 1 ; Eleazer Belcher, 1 ; Josiah Blanchard, 1; David White, 1; Samuel Balcom, 1 ; Joseph Tif- ney, 1; David Forrest, 1; William Clark, 1; Elijah Mors, 1; Joseph Rhodes, 3; Nathaniel Clark, 2; Maj. Samuel Billings, 4; Josiah Farrington, 1 ; Ebe- nezer Billings, 3; Levi Morse, 1; Ebenezer Hill, 3; Elijah Billings, 2; David Wood, 3; Tim Clap, 1; Ezekiel Pierce, 1; Jethro Wood, 1; Capt. Nat. Morse, 2; John Smith, 1; Lem. Lyon, 2; Lieut. Ezra Morse, 2; William Billings, 1; William -, 3; Zuriah Atherton, 1; William Clapp, 1; William Comey, 2; Capt. Israil Smith, 1; Beriah Billings, 1; Jeremiah Rhodes, 1; Jonathan Billings, 2d, 1; Jonathan Bil- lings, 3; John Basset, 1; William Wright, 1; Samuel Bradshaw, 2; David Wilkeson, 1; Thomas Pogge, 1 ; Joseph Rhodes, 1 ; Stephen Cobb, 3 ; Ephraim Shep- ard, 1; Nathan Clark, 2; total, 106."

Many of the residents upon the present territory of Foxborough, previous to 1778, are known, and their places of residence can be identified.

In 1713 the proprietors of the outlying lands in Dorchester were incorporated into a distinct body from the town, and were henceforth called "The Proprietors of the Undivided Lands." This body held its meetings until after 1770, and from it the title to much of the lands in Foxborough was derived.

1 The Revolutionary history will be found on subsequent pages of this work.

2 The figures after each name indicate the number in family.

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FOXBOROUGH.

Previous to either of these dates, however, i.e., about 1669 and 1670, there was laid out to William Hudson two tracts of land adjoining each other, con- taining five hundred acres, annexed from Dorchester to Wrentham in 1824, but now in Foxborough, and known as " Shepard's Farm." William Hudson con- veyed the tract to "Thomas Platts, of Boston, butcher," Oct. 21, 1676, in consideration of two hun- dred and seventy-five pounds, " the same situate, lying, and being in the wilderness, between Dedham and Seaconet, commonly called or known by the name of 'Wading River Farm.'" Under the will of Thomas Platts, probated Aug. 8, 1692, the farm passed to his son, Thomas Platts, of Boston, victualer, who, by deed dated July 11, 1704, conveyed it to " Jacob Shepard, late of Mystic (now Medford), but now of Wading River, planter." Thus Jacob Shep- ard1 was certainly here in the wilderness in 1704, and, so far as any known record, must have been the first settler of Foxborough. If he had half the trouble in discovering his place of settlement that I have had in establishing the fact that he was the pioneer settler, he must have been endowed with a large share of perseverance and patience.

In 1718 his widow administered upon his estate, inventoried at £1339 19s. 6d., and in 1727 partition of the lands was made between the widow, Mercy, John, Thomas, Joseph, and Benjamin. His son John is the patriarch John before spoken of as born here in 1705, and possibly, nay, probably, was the first white-born child of Foxborough. The cellar is still to be seen over which that house stood.

Afterwards, Timothy Morse, of Walpole, bought of Edward and Samuel Capen three hundred acres of land, late in Dorchester, but then in Stoughton,-the southeasterly end of the forty-seventh lot in the twenty-fifth division. This must have been subse- quent to 1726. Timothy sold to his son Timothy in 1749, who became a settler. A portion of this land is now owned by Jarius Morse. The name of Timothy Morse, Jr., appears in the tax-list of 1742; | that of Eleazer Robbins, from Walpole, appears in | the same list. Robbins owned about one thousand

1 William Shepard, one of the first settlers of Dorchester, ad- mitted to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1642, afterwards moved to the southerly part of the town, near Provi- dence; then returned nearly to the town of Dorchester, "as near thereunto as Dedham ;" this was in 1675, or near that time." (From History of Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. John H. Eastburn, publisher, 1842.)

Was this William Shepard the father of the Jacob Shepard, and grandfather of the John Shepard, named on pages 54 and 55 of the " Centennial Record" ? And isn't it probable that Wil- liam settled here on his return from Providence way ?

acres of what is now called East Foxborough. He had three daughters. One of them married one Dr. Winslow, from Freetown ; another married Abijah Pratt, of Foxborough (to whom we have alluded) ; and the third married Kingsbury, the great-grand- father of our present worthy citizen, Joseph A. Kingsbury. Robbins' house stood nearly opposite the present Kingsbury homestead. Of Dr. Shadrach Winslow, one of our former worthy townsmen, now nearly eighty-six years of age, writes, "He was a man of marked mind, and was probably the most scientific individual who ever resided in the town of Foxborough. After graduating at Yale College, and receiving the best medical education the country could afford, about 1778 he embarked as surgeon on board a privateer, made several trips successfully, but was at length taken prisoner and carried to England and confined in Dartmoor prison for several months, where, by exposure, he sustained injuries which greatly im- paired his health, and from which he never recovered. His profound knowledge of his profession led him to despise quackery in all its forms, and to which he never descended. He became a citizen of Foxbor- ough about the year 1784. Notwithstanding his talents and high attainments he declined all partici- pation in governmental affairs, not accepting even a town office. He loved retirement. Books were his companions and friends. He was social and cour- teous to all his friends. He was a gentleman in the full sense of the word."

The Morses and Boydens came from Medfield ; the Capens, from Dorchester, now Stoughton ; the Bel- chers, from Stoughtonham, now Sharon ; the Ever- etts, from Dedham; the Carpenters, from Reho- both.

Seth Boyden's name appears in the tax-list of | 1742. He was the ancestor of all the Foxborough Boydens. The record shows that he bought a tract of some two hundred and forty acres (now what-is known as the Amos and Seth Boyden estate) about 1738. Ebenezer Warren, the brother of Gen. Joseph Warren, removed here about 1779 from Roxbury, where he was born in 1749. A son of Gen. War- ren, visiting his uncle, died, and was buried in the old burying-ground; but his remains were removed, some years since, in a most unceremonious, not to say uncivilized, manner, in a raisin-box for a casket. Ebenezer Warren was a stanch patriot and true man, and always a leading citizen, but of obstinate and unyielding temper. He was its delegate to the State Convention which adopted the Federal Constitution, the magistrate of the infant town, and was for many years a judge of the County Courts. The Clarks,

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Everetts, Bakers, Carpenters, Pratts, Pettees, and Bel- chers settled here after 1750.

what after became Foxborough territory, and the sure- ties named in the bond were Elkanah Billings (one of In 1776 the annual town-meeting of Stoughtonham the proprietors), Josiah Morse, and Ebenezer Hill, was held March 11th. Of those then elected to the | Foxborough men. The said forty-fifth lot of land town offices the following became two years after citi- contained four hundred and thirty-seven acres, of which two hundred and thirty-two and one-quarter acres were set off to Seth Boyden, with an additional zens of Foxborough, viz. : Ebenezer Hill, Selectman ; Nathaniel Clark, of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety ; Nehemiah Carpenter, Con- | allowance for " bad land," in the whole probably stable, as he was for many years in this town ; Jona- than Billings (2d), Surveyor of Ways. Seth Boyden was collector for the second ministerial precinct in Stoughton in 1750, as appears from the rate-book, now in the hands of his descendants. That precinct included Stoughton, Sharon, and a large part of Fox- borough.

They also have " the records of the proprietors of a lot of land, being ye forty-fifth lot in ye twenty-five divisions of land (so called), lying, and being in ye Township of Dorchester, and now in ye Township of Stoughton, in ye County of Suffolk ; and is held in common by the said proprietors,-Begun the tenth day of April, 1739." This record was kept by Seth Boyden as the "Proprietors' Clerk." This lot was partly in the present Sharon, and partly in Fox- borough, and contained the iron-ore bed worked so long. The sixth article in the warrant, issued March 4, 1738, by Jonathan Ware, Esq., of Wrentham, is " to determine in what manner ye Iron oar and stream in sª land shall be divided or disposed of." Capt. Preserved Capen was moderator of the first two meet- ings, held respectively at the house of Mrs. Mary Billings, widow of Beriah Billings, innholder, and Capt. Samuel Billings. Both Beriah and Capt. Billings lived in what now is Foxborough. It was voted that the iron " oar," then or thereafter found, should be reserved to the use of all the proprietors, according to their interest, each of whom might between the last Tuesday in August and October " dige oar an- nually, and at no other time of the year."

" The Brook or Stream" was also reserved for the use of the proprietors " to build a mill and dam on, provided they do not raise such a head of water as to float the adjacent lands or meadows, at any other time of the year than between ye first day of October and the 20th day of April, annually." And in the same custody we find a bond of Nathan Clark, Jr., " Bloomer" (or maker of iron blooms), and Nathaniel Clark, " Cord- winder" (cordwainer or shoemaker), for one hundred pounds, dated Dec. 20, 1760, and conditioned upon draining off " their forge pond, by hoysting the gates by the first day of May, so long as it is improved for a forge pond." Nathan Clark and Nathaniel Clark (the Stoughtonham committee-man of 1776) lived on

nearly two hundred and seventy acres. By this record of the last meeting of the proprietors, held Sept. 12, 1757, it appeared that Daniel Bacon had " duge and carried off, without leave, seventeen tuns seventeen hundred and fifty pounds of iron oar, and Michael Woodcock nine tuns and fourteen hundred of iron oar, without proper leave." By Boyden's account he received seventy-five tons of ore as his proportion in the years 1740 to 1755, inclusive.

It was at this forge and from this iron ore that the first cannon were cast for the war of " '76," by one Uriah Atherton ; and the " grog cups" used on the occasion are now in the hands of one of his descend- ants. This honor is claimed by Bridgewater; but there is a well-authenticated tradition that the " Bridgewater folks" came here to learn the trade, and proved themselves ready apprentices. A cannon-ball cast by Atherton at this forge is deposited in Memo- rial Hall.

Boyden was a man of intelligence, and held a full share of offices in Stoughton before the incorporation of Foxborough, as the ancient papers we have to-day would show. Among them is a warrant addressed by the Selectmen of Stoughton, April 25, 1768, to Seth Boyden, directing him "to take care of and award the wages," viz. :. " All ye roads lying in that part of Stoughton called Robinses Corner" (i.e., Robbins), as the part of Foxborough where Boyden lived appears to have been then called. He was to give the high- way tax-payer the proffer of doing their proportions, etc., in labor at " £0 2s. 4d. a day for a man, and £0 4s. 8d. a day for a man and yoke of oxen and cart."

Amos Boyden was early a surveyor in Foxborough, as appears from a warrant addressed to him in the second year of incorporation ( ¿. e., 1779), directing him " to take and award all ye highways or roads in your squardren," etc. Also, " all ye other roads be- longing to ye town of Foxborough in that part that of late belonged to Stoughton."

The expense of the school in " Robinses Corner" is show by the following receipts. It was, perhaps, as burdensome to our fathers proportionally as to us ; but we find no record of complaint for what are called " public burdens :"

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FOXBOROUGH.

" THE TOWN OF STOUGHTON TO SETH BOYDEN, DR. MARCH, 1772. £ s. d.

By Cash paid to Jeremiah Fisher for keeping School in Robinses Corner six weeks the sum of thirty- six shillings . 1 16

To boarding sd School Master two weeks in Feb- ruary and March, 1772, at five shillings and four pence per week ten shillings and eight pence ... ...

0 10 8

"STOUGHTON, July ye 10, 1772. " Per me, SETH BOYDEN."

The schoolmaster's wages were six shillings a week.

"Sept first 1773

" Received of Seth Boyden fifteen Shillings for Keeping School in Stoughton five weeks in July and August in the year 1773 Recd by me

" LYDIA MORSE."

Lydia received three shillings a week. Judging by the name, she was of the neighborhood talent, and boarded " to hum."

According to the list, which has before been given at length, there were, at the time of incorporation, sixty-four families, containing one hundred and six male inhabitants, sixteen years of age and upwards, in that portion of Stoughtonham which became Fox- borough. This makes no account of the inhabitants living upon the lands of Wrentham, Walpole, and Stoughton, incorporated with those of Stoughtonham. The names of quite a number have been named of

In 1765 Stoughton, including the present Stough- ton, Sharon, Canton, and all of Foxborough (except such portions as once belonged to Wrentham and Walpole), contained a population of 2295, and 567 male inhabitants, sixteen years and upwards, or al- most exactly one in four of the whole. In 1777 Stoughton contained 532 males, sixteen years and upwards; Stoughtonham, 300. In 1778 Stoughton had 504 polls in valuation, Stoughtonham 209, and Foxborough (now appearing in census for the first time) had 113. Stoughton and Stoughtonham had each lost to Foxborough, and all three had doubtless lost by the ravages of the war.

According to the proportion of Stoughton and Stoughtonham, the population of Foxborough at its incorporation must have been about 450. In 1781 it had 133 polls, and had, perhaps, nearly 550 inhab- itants. In 1790 the census gave the town a popula- tion of 640; in 1800, 779; in 1810, 870; in 1820, 1004; in 1830, 1168; in 1840, 1494; in 1850, 1880; in 1860, 2879 ; in 1875, 3168. At a town- meeting held Nov. 11, 1832, a committee appointed to consider the expediency of building a town house, reported that " the whole number of voters are sup- posed not to fall much short of 200, and we may

confidently anticipate that at no distant period that number will actually attend town-meetings." The expectations of the committee were more than real- ized Nov. 9, 1840, when, under the stimulus of the " Log Cabin Campaign," the town polled 252 votes ; but that number was not again reached for years. In 1875 the population of Foxborough was 3168, and its polls numbered 695. It has, therefore, increased about sevenfold since its incorporation in these re- spects. The soil of the lands set off as Foxborough, better known as "Foxbery" at that time, was not rich or productive, and the people who dwelt upon them were poor also, and rather looked down upon by their wealthier neighbors of Walpole, Wrentham, Sharon, and Mansfield. In 1781 the State tax of the town was less than that of any town in Suffolk County save Hull.

In 1796 its State tax was the smallest paid by any of the towns in Norfolk County ; in 1810 the small- est except that of Dover; in 1820 the smallest ex- cept that of Dover and Stoughton (the mother-town) ; and in 1830 the smallest, still excepting Dover.

In 1876 there were twenty-four towns in Norfolk County ; of these, fourteen towns had a greater val- uation than Foxborough, nine had a less valuation. In amount of taxable property it surpassed its neigh- those who, before incorporation, dwelt upon the lands | bors of Sharon, Walpole, Mansfield, and Wrentham. of Stoughton and Wrentham.

In population it is the twelfth town of Norfolk County. Of the first settlers of Foxborough as a town, John Everett was a blacksmith, Aaron Everett a carpenter, Joseph Everett, a tanner and currier and a glove- maker. One citizen made hats and another stamped calico.

Swift Payson was the first town clerk, 1778 and 1779. He was son of the Rev. Phillips Payson, pastor of Walpole, one of the eleven candidates voted. for, in 1729, for minister of the church in Dorchester. The good parson established his son as a farmer in Foxborough. This Swift Payson was a humorous, whimsical, but kindly character. Passionately fond of music, his first accumulations, as a boy, were de- voted to the purchase of a violin. Horrified at the sound of the instrument, accidentally heard after a long concealment, the father cried, " Where did you get that fiddle ?" "I bought it, sir," was the appa- rently innocent reply. "Then sell it at the first op- portunity ; let me never hear it again." Shortly the Ministerial Association met with Mr. Payson, to whom, sitting in the parlor, demurely entered the lad with his violin. " Gentlemen, would either of you like a first-rate fiddle ? My father says I may sell it, and I thought it only right to give you the first chance." It is to be hoped the boy's wit saved his fiddle. It

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

may have done good service in Foxborough, for tradi- tion says our people, in the midst of hardship and privation, were yet gay and pleasure-loving, and " often danced on sanded floors to the scraping of the catgut ;" and the discovery of red ears at huskings was the same then as now. Joseph Hewes lived in the house afterwards occupied by Col. Henry Hobart, well remembered as one of the strongest and most re- liable citizens of Foxborough. Joseph Hewes prac- ticed medicine, and removed to Providence, R. I., where he accumulated considerable property.

John Everett, the blacksmith, lived in a large house, sheltered by two fine old trees, an elm and a white-wood tree. Upon a limb of the last he hung a tavern sign which welcomed the wayfarer.

Joseph Comey was the village shoemaker; Simon Pettee was a gunsmith ; Stephen Pettee, a farmer ; William Pettee, a laborer and a famous singer ; Ben- jamin Pettee lived in what is known as Daniel Car- penter's " old house ;" Forrest, Guild, and Jedediah Morse lived in what is now called "New State." David Stratton, the Shepards, Sherman, and Clafflin (another shoemaker) lived in the southern part of the town.

On the great road from Worcester to Taunton lived Grover, Shaw, the Paines, Seth Robinson, Ebenezer Warren, Spencer Hodges. On the road leading to Mansfield (through East Foxborough, or " Robbinses Corner," before the roads through Witch Woods or over Robinson Hill was laid out) lived Robins, Kings- bury, Pratt, Bird, Comey, Sumner, and Leonard fam- ilies. Near Sharon lived the Boyden, Clap, and Clark families.

Near the northeast corner of the town lived Eleazer Belcher, who cultivated a farm, made potash, and kept a little store. Before Belcher, however, Joseph Rhoades, living a mile from any other person, kept a store in his corn barn. The Morses lived near Swift Payson, on the road to Walpole, or what is and was one hundred and twenty-five or one hundred and fifty of the family lived at Robinses Corner. At the Centre were Leonard, Cook, Jeremy Hartshorn, Sam- uel Baker, and Nehemiah Carpenter.

It is said that the old Deacon Baker house, alias Bird house, has sheltered six generations, and always loyal except in one instance. The old Ironside Pa- triots, Baker and Belcher, who lived there at the time of the tea-tax, declared " tea shall not be drank in this house ;" but Mrs. Belcher's taste for the cup was stronger than her patriotism, and, detailing her daughter as guard at the door, she would indulge in a " sip" of tea in the absence of her liege lord. The

disloyal cup still exists, but in the hands of loyal sub- jects.

Moseley was a deserter from an English man-of- war, who hid himself in Foxborough, where, long after, his wife joined him. He bought a piece of land of Samuel Mann, in the dense woods, for which he paid four dollars. On it he built a log cabin with one room and loft reached by a ladder. Afterwards a rude shelter was put up for cow and pig. Near by was a never-failing spring. A flat rock was the door- sill, upon which played successively eleven daughters, some of whom became mothers of highly respectable families. Roses long grew spontaneously where the rude home of the sailor fugitive had been.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 142

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534