History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 163

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 163

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At the conclusion of the report, Mr. Babcock, chairman of the selectmen, received the keys from the committee, making brief remarks, after which followed an extended historical address by the Hon. Edward L. Pierce, which was listened to with great interest.

Town-meetings were held until 1836 in the parish meeting-house, now belonging to the First Congrega- tional (Unitarian) society. In that and the succeed- ing year they were held in the stone meeting-house at the Railway Village. In 1838 the town occupied its first town house, then just completed, which cost, with land included, the modest sum of $2684.32, and was paid for out of the surplus revenue which the United States had divided among the States, to remove from the town, resigned his trust in 1839, this commonwealth dividing its share among the | when Edmund J. Baker was appointed, April 1st of towns.

The Blue Hill National Bank of Milton, incor- porated in 1832, under the title of the " Dorchester and Milton Bank," with a capital of $100,000, was first located in the ancient town of Dorchester.

In the year 1850 a gang of burglars, under the notorious Jack Wade, raided the institution, securing funds to the amount of some thirty thousand dollars; | N. Tucker received an appointment, but declined to

as a large portion of the money thus taken was in bills of the bank, it was thought advisable to alter the name by which the bank was known ; accordingly, in the year 1851, by statutory provisions the name was changed to " Blue Hill Bank," and some thirteen years later, in conformity to a law passed by Congress " for the establishment of a National Banking Sys- tem," the name of the bank was again changed, De- cember, 1864, to " Blue Hill National Bank."

Congress by special act, 1881, authorizing the re- moval of the bank to the town of Milton, it removed

March, 1882, to its present commodious quarters in the Associates' Building, Milton.

Since its incorporation the bank has had the fol- lowing officers : Presidents, Moses Whitney, 1832 to 1848; Hananiah Temple, 1848 to 1854; Asaph Churchill, 1854 to 1876; Eleazer J. Bispham, 1876 to date (1884). Cashiers, Hananiah Temple, 1832 to 1836; Joseph L. Hammond, 1836 to 1848; Eleazer J. Bispham, 1848 to 1876 ; Sarell J. Willis, 1876 to date (1884). The capital at the present time is $200,000.

The present board of directors are E. J. Bispham, Laban Pratt, Henry S. Russell, Samuel Gannett, A. L. Hollingsworth, Joseph E. Hall, and Horace E. Ware

The Milton News .- The first newspaper published in Milton, bearing date April 29, 1882, was a venture undertaken by Mr. Frederick P. Fairfield, of Boston, it being issued weekly, and bearing the title of The Milton News. After having published the above sheet some six months, Mr. Fairfield sold out his right, title, and interest to Mr. W. A. Woodward, the present proprietor.

Post-Office .- The date of the first establishment of a post-office in Milton was January, 1803. The first postmaster appointed was Samuel H. Glover : date of appointment Jan. 1, 1803. He was succeeded by Moses Whitney, who was appointed Dec. 9, 1805. Gen. Whitney held the office until 1817, when he resigned in favor of his friend, Nathan C. Martin, who was appointed Nov. 4, 1817, holding the office for nearly twenty-two years. Mr. Martin being about

that year (1839), and held the position until Jan. 19, 1844, when George Thompson was appointed. The appointment was held by him until May 29, 1849, when Nathan C. Martin again received the appoint- ment, occupying the position until his death, Aug. 26, 1864, making the whole term of his incumbency some thirty-seven years. Upon Oct. 20, 1864, Louis serve, when Henry Pope was appointed, Jan. 12, 1865, holding the office until his death, when his wife, Abigail F. Pope, was appointed, March 3, 1880, continuing in office until her decease, in 1883. July 16, 1883, Henry A. Pope was commissioned, holding the position at the present writing (188+).

Conclusion .- We can no more fittingly close our history of this grand old town than by quoting the following from an address delivered at the dedication of its town hall by one of her most eminent citizens, the Hon. Edward L. Pierce :

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" We have in the pleasant places where our lines have fallen blessings which came to us without effort or sacrifice of ourselves or our fathers. There are no four square miles in our country -perhaps, without exaggeration, we might add on the globe- more endowed with all that is attractive in scenery than those which are covered by our municipal jurisdiction. Here are no morasses, no pestilential districts, no blasted heaths, no wastes where all is parched, scraggy, and repulsive, no dead level weari- some to eye or feet ; but the whole space filled with a pure and health-bringing air, which rises from the sea and descends from the hills, spread out in varied landscapes, diversified with eleva- tions and intervales, with forests and fields watered by unfailing brooks, and even the hills fed by perpetual springs. Here on our fair heritage are combined the Blue Ilills to the south, from which came, according to Roger Williams, the Indian name of our beloved commonwealth, Massachusetts; the Neponset River, flowing along our northern border, and the ocean view to the east. You who have journeyed in other lands, along the Cha- rente, the Loire, or the Arno, what fairer prospect have you seen than the eye sweeps as you stand on Milton Hill, looking on the river, as with changing tide it spreads out a broad lake, or with- draws to its narrow bed ; on eminences crowned with villas; on villages nestling in valleys or covering elevations ; on church- spires testifying to Christian worship; on the islands and beacon- lights in the harbor of New England's metropolis; on ships departing and returning on their errands of commerce and civilization ?

" Looking southward on the same highway, the old Plymouth road, the eye glides along a scene hardly less picturesque which embraces the intervale and the hills beyond. Standing on Brush Hill, with no intervening obstruction between you and the Blue Hills, there lies spread out before you nature in one of her royal moods, a study worthy of some gifted artist. Passing on to the south, and ascending the hills themselves, which in a less modest nomenclature than ours would be classified as mountains, and there, on the summit, lies before you a magnificent panorama of cities, villages, mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, the ocean, where one may contemplate with reverence the works of the Creator, the intelligence of man, the life and growth of society, and the events of history which have transpired in successive generations within the bounds of the horizon.

" Nor is the natural beauty of this township confined to such favored sites as these, but it is distributed among our farms and along our roads. I have seen the artist sitting by our longest brook, which rises in the Blue llills, and, flowing through the Hobart woods, falls into the Neponset, sketching the overhang- ing branches, the old trunks, and the flowering meadows by its side, and placing on canvas beauties of which we live altogether too unconscious. Coming at the close of day from the railway station to my home, with the twin churches before me and the Blue Hills in the background, looking westward I have often paused to gaze on sunsets as finely colored as any I have ever | seen on Italian skies. We have, indeed, villas and lawns which art has constructed and spread out, but, better still, we have retained the primitive forest, where woodcock, partridge, quail, and rabbit still linger; we have highways not too broad and lined with graceful elms ; we have still, and long may we retain, that freshness of nature which makes the charm of Milton as a home and place of rest. If some lover of nature gifted with imagination like Wordsworth, who glorified with sentiment the Lake district of England and peopled it with ideal forms, shall ever be born or come to live among us, he will find all about him food for his contemplative spirit and poetic genius.

formed by our townsman, Mr. Robbins. The chronicles of its churches have been written by two of its pastors and present citizens, the Rev. Dr. Morison and the Rev. Frederick Froth- ingham, both of whom are with us this evening.

"Our town has been conspicuous for the good sense and solid character of its citizens, and in some epochs for names which mankind will remember. When our fathers contended for ex- istence against Philip of Pokanoket, her Capt. Wadsworth fell bravely with his gallant and devoted band in the swamps of Sudbury, and in a graveyard of that town is a monument with the inscription, 'Captain Samual Wadsworth of Milton, his Lieut. Sharp of Brookline, and twenty-six other soldiers fight- ing for the defence of their country were slain by the Indian enemy and lye buried in this place.' The Voses and Sumners served their country with honor in the army of the Revolution and in the war with England of 1812, and theirs and other names of our citizens are among the recorded heroisms of our civil war. In an early period this town gave a president to Harvard College in the person of Benjamin Wadsworth. Some of its citizens have been identified with the civil and judicial history of the State. The town has witnessed within its limits some historic scenes, the preaching of John Eliot and George Whitefield, and the passage of the Suffolk Resolves in the house of Capt. Daniel Vose, drawn by Joseph Warren, and re- garded as the earliest organized demonstration for independence in the colonies.

"There has been a continuity in the life of this town rare in municipal history. Growing in population by natural increase rather than by accessions from other places, there has been a steady flow of influence and character from one generation to another. Eight of the original trustees, to whom, in 1664, a tract of land was conveyed for 'a meeting-house and other ministerial purposes,' have always since had and still have de- scendants in the town bearing their names, and in some instances living upon and holding, without break in the chain of title, their ancestral acres,-the Voses, Wadsworths, Tuckers, Sum- ners, Gullivers, Babcocks, Swifts, and Cranes. It has a remark- able record for longevity, including in successive generations an unusual number of inhabitants who have lived to fourscore years, and even passed in health and vigor far beyond that limit. The long service of many of its clergymen signifies its conservative and steady-going character. Five active pastor- ates, those of Peter Thacher, John Taylor, Nathaniel Robbins, Samuel Gile, and John H. Morison, span a period of one hun- dred and sixty-seven years, of which those of Thacher and Robbins were each nearly half a century in duration. Three lives, always identified with the town, connect us with the early part of the eighteenth century. Nathaniel Robbins, the third minister of the Milton Church, lived from 1726 to 1795. His son, Edward H. Robbins, an early Lieutenant-Governor of the State, lived from 1758 to 1829; and we have with us this even- ing, next in the line, worthy alike of sire and grandsire, the Hon. James M. Robbins, who, at the age of eighty-two, is in the full enjoyment of his powers and active for the public good.

"The tone of municipal life has been at all times sensibly affected by the superior intelligence of leading citizens. For- tunate the people who have this advantage! thrice fortunate the people who value and profit by it! The town has probably counted among its citizens, at different periods, more graduates of Harvard College than any one of similar population in the State, and their trained intellects and large views have been felt at all periods in its social life and public action. We greet this evening, as one of our most welcome guests, a representative of the ancient university, Mr. James B. Thayer, Royall Professor of the Dane Law School,-no longer of us as a citizen, but always

" It has been customary at dedications like this to review the history of the town from its settlement. But I decline a task which at our second centennial anniversary was so well per- ! of us as a friend,-whose scholarly tastes, neighborly offices,

Edward LI Pence

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and beneficent activity in civic duties remain in fresh remem- brance.

"There is another feature in the character of the town which deserves mention. A kindly spirit of association prevails among our people, with no sharp divisions into sects, occupa- tions, and family groups. Wealth here is not supercilious and exclusive, but hospitable, open-handed, and sympathetic. There is little of poverty and dependence, but a general condition of comfort. There are no wide estates tilled by tenants, but, more than in most communities, each man is the owner of the house he lives in. As the result, there prevails a sense of self-respect and of respect for others.

"In political controversies the vote of the town has been steadily for freedom, for the support of the government, and the honest administration of State affairs. In commemoration of the ratification of Jay's treaty, by which Washington upheld against clamor the peace of the country, an arch was erected over the bridge at the lower mills, at the instance of Capt. John Lillie, an officer of the army of the Revolution, then a citizen of the place, which bore this inscription, ' We unite in defence of our country and its laws,' a resolution to which the town and, may I be permitted to add, his descendants have ever since been loyal."

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

EDWARD L. PIERCE.

Edward Lillie Pierce, son of Col. Jesse and Eliza S. Pierce, was born in Stoughton, Mass., March 29, 1829. He received early instruction from his father, and was prepared for college in the academy at Bridge- water and in a classical school at Easton. He was graduated at Brown University in 1850, standing in some departments at the head of his class, and carry- ing off an unusual number of literary prizes. His in- terest while still a youth in public and literary ques- tions is shown in his articles published in 1848-50 in the Democratic Review on "The Independence of the Judiciary," "The Executive Veto," and " Sir Thomas More," and in his essay on " the relation of education to wealth and industrial prosperity," which was pub- lished in the " Transactions of the Norfolk Agricul- tural Society" in 1852. From college he went to the Law School at Cambridge, where he was graduated in 1852. Here he displayed the same devoted applica- tion to his studies that had marked his course in col- lege, and received the first prize offered to his class for an essay on "The Consideration of a Contract." In 1853, he wrote an able and learned article for the Boston Post on "Secret Suffrage," a question at that time of marked interest in the politics of Massachu- setts, which was reprinted and widely distributed in England by the "Ballot Society," and referred to as authority in Parliament.

passed nearly a year at Cincinnati, Ohio, in the law office of Salmon P. Chase, then a senator and since chief justice of the United States, with whom from that time he maintained relations of friendship and confidence. In 1857, he published his book on “ Amer- ican Railroad Law," which at once took a conspicu- ous place in legal literature, and was regarded by many lawyers and judges having special knowledge and experience in this branch of the law as the best treatise on the subject. In 1881 he published a new treatise on " The Law of Railroads," availing himself of the multitude of new cases though follow- ing largely his original method. This is now deemed the standard authority on the subject. He also pre- pared for the railroad commissioners in 1874 an elaborate index of the "Special Railroad Laws of Massachusetts." He has been one of the lecturers at the Boston Law School since its foundation, a period of ten years.

In 1857, Mr. Pierce took an active part in opposing the narrow and proscriptive policy towards citizens of foreign birth which was at that time strongly urged in Massachusetts ; and a valuable letter from him, filled with statistics and advocating the most liberal treat- ment of foreigners, was printed in the newspapers and afterwards extensively distributed in pamphlet form.

Mr. Pierce continued in the practice of his profes- sion until the breaking out of the Rebellion. In 1860 he represented his district in the National Republican Convention at Chicago, and supported the nomina- tion of Mr. Lincoln. In February, 1861, when the Massachusetts Legislature was considering the sub- ject of modifying the " Personal Liberty Laws," he appeared before a committee of the Legislature and made a vigorous and very able argument against the proposed changes, which was printed, and is known to have made a strong impression upon the committee, and was warmly commended by Governor Andrew and Mr. Sumner.

In the very first week of the civil war, Mr. Pierce enlisted in Company L of the Third Regiment of the Massachusetts Militia, went to Old Point Comfort, and took part before the week was out in the destruc- tion of the Norfolk navy-yard. He performed his duties as a private soldier in all respects until July. when he was detailed to collect the negroes at Hamp- ton and set them to work on the intrenchments of that town. This was the beginning of the employ- ment of negroes on our military works. Mr. Pierce's views on putting them into service as laborers and soldiers were in advance of those of the government, as may be seen in his article on " The Contrabands at

At the beginning of his professional life Mr. Pierce | Fortress Monroe," published in the Atlantic Monthly

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of November, 1861, which at the time attracted much attention, being written nearly two years before Col. Shaw led the first negro regiment out of Boston. In December of the same year, Mr. Chase, Secre- tary of the Treasury. despatched Mr. Pierce to Port Royal to examine into the condition of the negroes upon the Sea Islands. It was a delicate service, for the government had as yet taken no position as to the status of the slaves of rebels. In February, 1862, Mr. Pierce returned to Washington and made a very able and exhaustive report in which he assumed the freedom of these negroes and the duty of the govern- ment to protect them. This report was published in the New York Tribune, and thence extensively copied both in England and America. One of the English papers, making a full abstract, entitled it " Mr. Pierce's Ten Thousand Clients." The work which he had recommended was placed in his charge by the government with full authority, and in March, 1862, taking with him teachers and superintendents, nearly sixty in number, he again sailed for Port Royal, and entered upon this most difficult and important work. He occupied the Sea Islands having nearly two hun- dred plantations and ten thousand negroes, planted fifteen thousand acres in cotton, corn and potatoes, had the negroes instructed in their duties and rela-

In June, 1862, Mr. Pierce made his second report to the government, setting forth what had been done. These reports, afterwards reprinted in the Rebellion Record, were widely noticed and praised, both by | American and European journals. They were com- mended at that time by the Westminster Review, Earl Russell in the House of Lords, the Revue des Deux Mondes, and Gasparin, and later in the histories of the Rebellion by Wilson and the Count of Paris. In the spring of 1863 he was again employed at the South on similar duty. The care of the negroes having been transferred to the War Department, he was asked to continue in charge under its authority, but declined. In 1883, he gave to the white and colored people of St. Helena Island, S. C., the scene of his former labors, a library of eight hundred volumes of modern editions of standard works of history, biog- raphy, travels, popular science, general literature, the best novels, and valuable books of reference.

collector of internal revenue for the Third Massachu- setts District, which office he held from October, 1863, to May, 1866, discharging its duties with the same fidelity and diligence which had heretofore marked his career. A vacancy occurring at this time in the office of district attorney for the district comprising Norfolk and Plymouth Counties, Governor Bullock at once appointed him to the position. He was elected by the people to the same office in 1866, and re-elected in 1868. In October, 1869, he resigned this office and accepted the position of secretary of the Board of State Charities, which he held until his resignation, in 1874. In his reports, as secretary of the board, besides the routine work of the office, he treated with fullness certain topics of permanent in- terest connected with crime and pauperism. Among them were those of " Executive Pardons," " Habitual and Juvenile Offenders," and " Out-Door Relief." In his concluding report he reviewed foreign institutions and methods, giving the results of his observations in his visit to Europe in 1873. These papers are now consulted as authority on the matters which they dis -. cuss, and furnish the most thorough and exhaustive treatment of these important subjects which has been made in this country.

In 1875 and 1876, Mr. Pierce was a member of tions, started the schools, and became as it were the | the Massachusetts Legislature, and served on the founder of a new State and a new civilization among the blacks. Largely owing to his suggestions, Freed- men's Aid Societies were formed, through whose in - | strumentality a vast amount of good was accomplished. Judiciary Committee, being its chairman the second year. Besides giving his attention to the ordinary business which falls to this committee, he originated and carried through a most important measure limiting and regulating municipal indebtedness, which is gener- ally regarded as one of the most salutary laws which has been enacted by the Legislature for many years.

Mr. Pierce's best known literary work is the " Me- moir of Charles Sumner," the first two volumes of which were published in 1877. The author was spe- cially qualified for this duty intrusted to him as one of the literary executors of the distinguished statesman, having been during the whole of Mr. Sumner's pub- lic life his close and intimate friend. This work of love was executed with rare discretion, excellent taste, and sound judgment. Seldom have the func- tions of a biographer been performed so thoroughly and conscientiously. The narrative is perspicuous, full without diffuseness, lucid and animated, and free from rhetorical pretension. It is entitled to rank among the few great biographies.

In 1880, Mr. Pierce delivered the oration before the Alumni of Brown University, the subject being nate." In this admirable address he discussed in a vig- orous and scholarly spirit the relations of educated men

Mr. Pierce was on duty at Morris Island in August, 1 " The Public and Social Duties of the College Grad- 1863, when, without any previous request or knowl- edge on his part, he was notified of his appointment as

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MILTON.

to the community and the country, and enforced with power and earnestness the claim which the world has to their best work and endeavor. Two years later he received from Brown University the degree of LL.D. He has ever kept up an interest in his Alma Mater, and has been for two years the president of the associa- tion of its graduates in Boston and vicinity.

From his youth Mr. Pierce has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and periodicals. Among his papers and addresses not already mentioned are the following : " Report to Governor Andrew on the Condition of Massachusetts' Soldiers at Fortress Monroe ;" address delivered at the Town House in Milton, Oct. 31, 1868, on " The Two Systems of Gov- ernment proposed for the Rebel States;" speech in February, 1874, before a committee of the Massa- chusetts Legislature in favor of rescinding the reso- lutions passed the preceding year censuring Senator Sumner for his course in the Senate with regard to the battle flags ; " Speech on Municipal Indebtedness," delivered before the Massachusetts House of Repre- sentatives, April 9, 1875 ; " Address at Milton on Memorial Day," May 30, 1870 ; speech at Faneuil Hall, June 27, 1876, on the nomination of Mr. Hayes as President ; lecture before the Long Island Historical Society at Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 18, 1877, on " The Private Life and Literary Friendships of Charles Sumner ;" article entitled "A Senator's (Charles Sumner's) Fidelity Vindicated," in the North American Review, July-August, 1878 ; " Ad- dress before the Suffolk Bar on George S. Hil- lard," January, 1879 ; speech at the public dinner given to Carl Schurz in Boston, in March, 1881. He was the author of the resolutions of the Republican State Conventions of 1867, 1869, and 1872, and has been chairman of the committee on resolutions at different times. He again represented his district in the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati in 1876, where he served on the committee on resolutions, and made an earnest speech against a proposition to exclude Chinese immigrants from the equality recog- nized by the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of the Republican National Convention meeting at Chicago in 1884. He was appointed by | President Hayes in December, 1878, assistant treas- urer of the United States, but declined the appoint- ment. As soon as he was old enough to be a voter he began to address popular meetings and write for the newspapers in favor of what was then known as the Free Soil party, and has continued from that time until the present (1884) to take part as a speaker and writer in political discussions.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 163

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