History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 47

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 47

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

enemies of England. They sent six men to fight the Pequots in 1637. They armed against the French, the Dutch, and the Spaniards. The mounds in the burial-place at Hingham are believed to be relics of the Dutch fort. Capt. Thomas Andrews and nine others perished in Sir William Phipps' ex- pedition in 1690, one of the party being slain by the enemy and the others dying of smallpox. Maj. Samuel Thaxter and five other citizens of Hingham were taken prisoners at the fall of Fort William Henry in 1757. Two Hingham men had been cap- tured before the surrender of the fort, one of whom was put to death, and one of whom, Jeremiah Lin- coln by name, escaped from captivity to lead an honor- able and useful life. Knight Sprague, a survivor of this expedition, lived to a great age at Leicester, Mass. Capt. Joshua Barker was among those who served in the attack on Havana in 1740. For these facts I am indebted to the careful researches of that learned antiquarian, your neighbor and friend, Hon. Solomon Lincoln. These wars were a fit prep- aration for the great war of Independence. The stories of the living and the memory of the dead kept alive a martial spirit in the hearts of the colon- | ists,-even as the stories of '76 and the memories of 1812 prepared for the greater contest of our own day.

An interesting event in the annals of your parent town was the obtaining of a deed of its territory from the heirs of Chickatabut. This powerful sachem, living on the banks of the Neponset, ruled over a great part of what is now Plymouth and Norfolk Counties. He is supposed to have given permission to the first settlers to make Hingham their home. His sons, Wampatuck, Squmuck, and Ahahden, deeded the whole tract which comprises Hingham and Cohasset to Capt. Joshua Hubbard and Ensign John Thaxter, for the inhabitants, in 1665, on the 4th of July. That day was destined to become famous as the date of an infinitely greater charter.

and either name would apply to Cohasset Narrows, in Sandwich. Mr. Trumbull, the best living authority, assures me that neither of these is correct. Unfortu- nately, he cannot give the true meaning of the word. It is enough that Cohasset now means a place where, for two hundred years, upright men have led honor- able lives, and where an honest New England town has flourished for a century.

In 1714 Hingham was requested in vain to remit the school and ministerial taxes to this portion of the old town. In 1715 Hingham voted to grant the re- quest, provided that Cohasset would settle an ortho- dox minister, and accept this settlement of the matter cheerfully. But the citizens of Cohasset voted that they could not do so cheerfully. In 1717 an act of the General Court was obtained creating a second parish in Hingham ; and on July 14, 1718, the act was accepted at a meeting, over which Daniel Lin- coln presided. The meeting was called for Cohasset, alias Little Hingham. This strange phrase is several times repeated. To lawyers the word alias savors of anything but honesty. Yet here it was applied to a community as honest as ever breathed.

In 1719 a fast was appointed for the third Thurs- day of April, in order to give a minister a call. Mr. Pierpont was called at this time, and Mr. Spear in the spring of 1721. But no one was settled until September of that year, when Nehemiah Hobart be- came pastor. In 1727 the precinct petitioned the General Court for liberty to apply taxes to schools, and in October, 1728, schools were established. In 1731 it was voted that the two arms of the district should each have its share of school money, Rocky Nook at one end, and the Beech-Woods at the other.

In 1740 the church lost its able and beloved pas- tor, who was a worthy descendant of Peter Hobart. His place was not filled without long delay, nor with- out various attempts to fix proper terms. One prop- osition was to pay £400, old tenor, as settlement, and The first mention of this locality in the town rec- ords of Hingham is in February, 1647, when divi- sion of meadow land was made among the proprieters at Conghasset. Not all of these proprietors, how- ever, were residents of this territory. The first Hingham settlers here are said, by Rev. Mr. Flint, to £350 as salary, corn and rye to be taken at 15s. in February, and beef at 10d. in November, with money enough for twenty cords of wood. John Fowle was for a short time the successor of Mr. Hobart, and then Rev. John Brown became pastor. This able preacher served faithfully for forty-five years, preach- have borne the familiar names of Beal, Cushing, , ing on the last Sabbath of his life, and dying at the James, Lincoln, Tower, and Sutton. With these were age of sixty-six. Governor Hancock's state visit to him was a great event in Cohasset. Your town is filled with traditions of his quaint sayings. Serving for one campaign as regimental chaplain in the Nova Scotia expedition, he never lost his military spirit, and his love of liberty made him a warm friend of inde- joined the families of Bates, Kent, Nichols, Orcutt, Pratt, and Stoddard. The first settlement is reported to have been at Rocky Nook, and on the Jerusalem road. The name of your town is said by some to mean " a fishing promontory," by others to mean " a place of rocks." Either name would fit the place, pendence. When the mild and conservative Mr. Gay

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asked him what he would do if the British should come into Cohasset Harbor and try to burn the vessels, your minister replied, " I would shoot them !" When, at a meeting in 1775, he had urged recruits to enlist, and an old man had taunted him with calling upon others to do what he dared not do, he raised his staff and threatened to cane the " old Tory" who insulted him. His sermon, preached to volunteers under the old elm in Hingham, was a powerful exhortation to fight for the liberties of America. A stirring sermon on the Boston massacre was published. No one, then, had proclaimed that a clergyman should never exhort men to discharge their duties in this world ; no one had denied that patriotism is a duty. Woe to New England if, when liberty, loyalty, and humanity are in danger, her pulpit ever shall be dumb.

In 1750 it was reported at a parish-meeting that the meeting-house had been completed at a cost of four thousand pounds. This was, of course, old tenor, but it was a large sum for the men of those days. The building was sufficiently completed to be used in 1747-48. This is the building in which we now are assembled, and for more than a hundred and twenty years its walls have echoed the prayers and praises of four generations of men.

In March, 1752, it was voted to petition Hingham and the General Court for the setting off of a new town. This project was renewed again and again, more especially when town-meetings became frequent, on account of the questions with the mother-country. But Hingham, while earnest for independence, could not see the importance of self-government to her sub- ject province. Yet her opposition was, after all, a compliment. No wonder that the parent town was loth to part with so fair a territory and with so worthy a people.

Before leaving Hingham, let me refer to a vote in | 1768, when impending trouble with England ad- monished the people to look well to their ways. A committee was chosen in March, composed of the best men in the town, who in May reported resolves : " First, that we will, by all ways and means in our power, encourage and promote the practice of virtue and suppressing of vice and immorality, the latter of which seem daily increasing among us, and the decay of the former much to be lamented." This passed in the affirmative.

is now extinct) who loved virtue in the abstract, but opposed every practical measure for the suppression of vice.

On March 23, 1767, it was voted by this precinct not to give up singing line by line, conservatism win- ning a victory over the radical youth of the church ; and in March, 1768, the porch was added to this house.

On May 7, 1770, the act of incorporation, which had been signed by Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson on April 26th, was accepted at a meeting where Deacon Isaac Lincoln acted as moderator and Daniel Lincoln as clerk. It was voted to ask that the style of " dis- trict" be changed to " town." I have referred to the general act by which this was finally accomplished.

In December, 1770, it was voted that each child bring one foot of wood to school, or 1s. 6d., and the assessors should charge each person that was " be- hind." Such votes carry us back to primitive times, and remind us that even then the education of chil- dren was not neglected. The annual election of " deer-reeves" tells of the time when the beech-woods were alive with game, as the mention of Turkey Hill, in running the bounds of the precinct in 1647, kindles the imagination of sportsmen. But graver matters soon occupied the minds of men who could use fire- arms. On March 7, 1774, it was voted to build a closet in the meeting-house for ammunition. Already the little town was preparing to resist the British Em- pire, and the same walls that heard your fathers' prayers for deliverance and their resolves to resist oppression sheltered the ammunition which was to enforce these resolves, and to show that those prayers were honest.

On Dec. 25, 1774, the town chose a com- mittee of eleven, agreeably to the Articles of the Continental Association. Jesse Stephenson was chairman of this committee. Thomas Lothrop was placed at the head of a committee to draft a paper to be signed by freebolders in approval of that asso- ciation. At the same meeting it was voted to pay the province tax to Henry Gardner, and to indem- nify the selectmen and constables for so doing. This seems a simple matter, but Mr. Gardner was treasurer under a revolutionary government, and this vote was an act of treason. Thus, day by day, in regular town-meeting, by solemn vote, each little municipality fell into the ranks, and pledged its faith for the con- test with Great Britain.

Next, they reported, that to promote virtue and discourage vice, it was desirable to lessen the number of licensed houses, so that there should only be six On March 6, 1775, it was voted to pay the share of Cohasset for Deacon Lincoln's attendance on the Provincial Congress, and for Col. Benjamin Lincoln's in the town,-three in the North Parish, two in the East, and one in the South. This passed in the negative, for there were men in those days (the race | attendance at the General Court at Salem. It was

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worth while to be united with Hingham in the choice of a representative, since thus you shared the credit of having such a patriot as your spokesman. Again, in November, 1775, your fathers joined with Hing- ham in sending Col. Lincoln to the Provincial Con- gress at Concord and at Watertown. Thus, by being united with Hingham as a representative district, your town was honored in sending to the Legislature the able general who was destined to receive the surrender of Cornwallis, to sit in the United States Cabinet, to crush by his vigor the rebellion of Shay, and to continue always the trusted friend of Wash- ington.

On April 28th it was voted to buy five hundred bushels of corn, one hundred pounds of gunpowder, and five hundred flints. On May 29th a Committee of Correspondence was chosen, of which Deacon Isaac Lothrop was chairman. Also a committee, of which Joseph Luther was the head, to call on Maj. Thomas Lothrop to see whether he will call the alarm-list together and settle them in some order. In March next a Committee of Safety was chosen, of which Thomas Lincoln was chairman. In May, Jonathan Beal was elected representative. On June 15, 1776, it was voted (and no other vote was taken) that if the honorable American. Congress should declare the united colonies independent of the kingdom of Great Britain, the town would support it with their lives and fortunes. Thus, when Congress made the declaration, they only echoed the voices of the people and renewed their sacred pledges.

On August 22d it was voted to raise fifty-two pounds as bounty for four soldiers required for the Northern army. In September sixty-two pounds were raised as bounty for sixteen soldiers to march to Connecticut. In December forty shillings were added to the pay. of volunteers to encourage them to march on the shortest notice. Subsequent additions were made to this sum, and a final addition was voted of three pounds if ordered to march. At a later date the sum of ten pounds was given for three years' en- listments.

The Declaration of Independence was in December copied into the town records.

Stoddard. Tradition tells, also, of an English brig bound for Boston with supplies for the British army becalmed off these shores, and taken by a boat manned by Cohasset men. Maj. Stoddard was the leading spirit on this occasion, and when one of the boat's crew pointed to the brig's artillery, and proposed to return, the major declared that there should be no going back. The defenses of the brig proved to be " Quaker guns," and she became an easy prize. Her cargo was rum, and if, as is reported, the town was for a few days a little more lively than usual, we must borrow the words of Burke, and " pardon something to the spirit of liberty."

Many of you must remember the veteran Noah Nichols, who was accustomed in his old age to shoul- der his fire-lock,

" And show how fields were won."

You have heard his story of Washington ordering him to repair the wheel of a gun-carriage while on a forced march, of his request for permission to stop while mending it, and of the general's abrupt refusal. " It was the hardest thing I ever did," the old man would add, " but I did it."

One of your truest patriots in this contest was Joseph Bates. Marching to join the army around Boston, he declared that he never should return. He fought at Bunker Hill, and when the ammuni- tion of the Americans had failed and they were obliged to retreat, he was seen throwing stones at the well-armed British soldiers as they swarmed into the redoubt. Such was the spirit of our fathers, firm in defeat ; cast down, but not destroyed. Well did Washington say, when he heard of the result, the retreat, the British victory, but heard also of the spirit of the people, well did he say, "Thank God, America is free!" When a man is in earnest for the right, whether he stands on a lost battle field in Charlestown, Mass., or beneath a gallows in Charles- town, Va., he knows that failure is only the prelude of success, and that death will at last be swallowed up in victory.

The town did its full share of service in the war. One full company, commanded by Capt. Job Cush- | These words are often misquoted as occurring in the ing, was attached to Col. Revere's regiment. Capt. | Stowers commanded a company, nearly all from Co- | hasset, who did guard duty on the coast, and Noah Nichols was commissioned as captain of an artillery company comprising many Cohasset men.

During the war, in 1780, the Constitution of this State was adopted, with its bill of rights, containing the words " All men are created free and equal." Declaration of Independence, but the slaveholder who wrote that instrument did not and could not use the word " free." It was inserted in our bill of rights by a wise judge, in order to abolish human bondage in Massachusetts. Prior to this time slavery was held to have a legal existence in Massachusetts, and, as

In the early days of the controversy your town was represented at the Boston tea-party by Maj. James | the old records of Hingham show, even the soil of

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Cohasset was trodden by master and slave. But after the adoption of the State Constitution, a fellow-towns- man of your fathers by birth, Levi Lincoln, trying the cause of a man held as a slave in Worcester County, procured a decision that broke the shackles of every bondman in Massachusetts. Mr. Lincoln, who was born in Hingham, rose to great eminence at the bar, was chosen to Congress, was appointed attorney- general, held the office of Lieutenant-Governor in this State, and declined appointment as judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. But his greatest honor was that he pleaded the cause of the oppressed, and won a victory for freedom.

This was one of the forward steps that gained for our State its proud position. When the Fifteenth Amendment went into operation, it had no effect in Massachusetts. Here was no law which it could repeal. Other States obtained their freedom with a great price. We were born free.

The war of 1812 found the men of Cohasset ready to stand by the flag, although they were not attached to the administration, and although the town had suf- fered greatly from the embargo. They forgot that they were Democrats or Federalists, and only remem- bered that they were Americans. A Committee of Safety was chosen, a coast-guard of seventy-five was formed, and a committee was sent to ask arms and ammunition from the State. Lieutenant-Governor Cobb (in the absence of Governor Strong) refused the request, and recommended the hoisting of a white flag. The men of Cohasset disdained the timid coun- sels of the executive, and finally procured muskets and a field-piece. The executive of to-day would give no such prudent advice in any similar peril. Gov- ernor and Lieutenant-Governor alike would counsel the use of no flag except their country's flag-and that nailed to the mast.

In June, 1814, a British man-of-war having sent a flotilla of barges to burn the shipping of Scituate, sailed for Cohasset on a like errand. Capt. Peter Lothrop, roused by a messenger from Scituate, leaped from his bed, and, without hat or coat, mounting a horse without a saddle, rode through the village and roused the slumbering inhabitants. Marching to White-Head, the militia and other citizens threw up an earthwork, pastor and people working together, and when, on Sunday morning, the British appeared, they found a redoubt held by what appeared to be a formidable force. The enemy withdrew ; the fleet of twenty-seven vessels was carried to Gulf River and scuttled. The militia of Hingham and Weymouth, with the artillery of Abington, Hanover, and Scituate, marched to Cohasset, and for three months White

Head was occupied by a garrison. And so the com- munity was kept in constant alarm till, on February 21st, came the glad tidings of peace, which was cele- brated, with the birthday of Washington, by a dinner at the academy.

The diary of Josiah Willcutt tells of the fishing- schooner " Nancy," captured in September, 1814, two of her crew being set ashore at Plymouth, and the others carried to Halifax jail. In April, 1815, Ezekiel Wallace returned, bringing news that Isaiah Lincoln had died in prison. England alone, among civilized nations, makes war on poor fishermen.

Tradition tells of a brave son of Cohasset who could not bear to see the English fleet insulting our shores. Alone he embarked in his ducking-boat, declaring that he would have one shot at the enemy. He fired his shot with effect, but was taken prisoner, and died in Halifax jail. I have inquired in vain for his name, but I cannot give up my faith in the story of the British fleet assailed by a punt.

To us it seems strange that through this contest the shores of this State were invested by the enemy,- Nantucket flying a flag of truce, Provincetown Harbor occupied by a hostile fleet, and Boston closely block- aded. This can never happen again. The growth of the country forbids it. Our mail-clad ships would forbid it. And, better far, the spirit of | the people would guard the shores from foreign insult. There may be different opinions as to the efficiency of our navy as compared with England's, but there can be no doubt about the sailors who would man our navy.

" Vain are those fleets of iron framed, Vain those all-shattering guns, Unless THE UNION keep untamed The strong heart of her sons."

And that the strength of American hearts is un- broken, the recent Rebellion has shown.

Your good town early responded to the call of-the country. In May, 1861, most liberal provision was made for the pay of volunteers and the support of their families. Similar votes were passed as need arose. And under the folds of a noble flag, given by a patriotic citizen, the sons of Cohasset met, from time to time, to enlist for the defense of the Union and Liberty of which that flag is the emblem.

One of your fellow-citizens, Oliver E. Simpson by name, fell in the first great battle at Bull Run. The names of your other martyrs are known to you all- Arnold, Bates, Litchfield, Lincoln, Manuel, Nimms, Riply, Shays, Treat, Thayer. William Bates had the mournful honor of giving two of his sons to his country.

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You are all proud of Gen. Zealous B. Tower, first in his class at West Point, afterwards for a time head of that institution, distinguished in the Mexican war, where he fought by the side of Lee and Beaure- gard, winning the high praise of Gen. Scott, serv- ing bravely on many a field of the war against rebel- lion, wounded while fighting for the Union, known and honored wherever courage and loyalty are honored. Such men are the glory of their homes and the strength of America.

But I must not forget :

- " Peace hath its victories Not less renowned than war."

And of such victories this rugged coast has often been the scene. For when the gales have hurled the Atlantic waves upon Cohasset rocks, and when some vessel has become a wreck, there have never been wanting men who were ready to risk their lives to save the forlorn strangers, and every house has been ready to become a home for the rescued mariner. The days of chivalry have not gone, when every northeasterly storm summons to the shores of New England a host of men ready to brave death in the hope of saving life. To-day you can point out the men who, if to-morrow morning should bring a storm and a wreck, would man the lifeboat and welcome the shipwrecked sailor. If I must ever be subject to marine disaster (which is not wholly improbable), let it be off Cohasset, and let some Doane, or Lothrop, or Tower receive me on the shore.

Grandest of all the scenes of nature is a winter storm upon a rocky coast. But grander far to see, as I saw once, as you have often seen, the will of man triumphant over the strife of the elements. The stranded vessel lies hopeless on the shoal. Her master is lashed to the bulwarks; the freezing sleet has numbed his limbs ; every wave dashes over him. All the billows of despair have gone over his soul. Then a man of the sea leaps into his cockle-shell of a boat, sends a token to his children, who may be orphans at night, and guides his frail canoe among the rocks. Now the waves have swallowed him up, but strength and skill prevail ; he reaches the ship; he bears the almost lifeless sailor in safety from the parting frag- ments of the wreck.

Time would fail me if I sought to recall all the marine disasters which this spot has witnessed. Let a few records suffice.

In the morning hardy sailors rescued them with great hazard, losing one boat upon the rocks, and humane friends sheltered them at their homes. This was the reception of men who, fearing that they were about to fall into the hands of savages, had cut the gilded buttons from their coats, lest they should tempt the barbarous people to crime.

The king of Denmark, learning the facts, sent medals of gold and silver to honor the gallantry and humanity of the people of Cohasset; and when, years after, Mr. Hubbard, a citizen of Boston, was carried into the harbor of St. Croix dangerously sick, the health laws were suspended; the rigorous quarantine gave way in token of the hospitality which Capt. Clien and his men had received when wrecked at Cohasset, near the port of Boston. Thus was America honored in distant lands ; the humanity of your fathers was repaid to a stranger, and the nations of the world were brought nearer to each other.

Rev. Mr. Shaw was among those who were con- spicuous for their humanity. The names of Doane and Tower were not wanting on the roll of honor. The proceeds of one of the gold medals were most ap- propriately used to add to the communion plate of the first church-appropriately, for when the men of Cohasset rescued and fed and clothed and sheltered the poor wayfarers cast upon these shores, they be- stowed their gifts on Him who is commemorated by the communion service :

" The Holy Supper is kept indeed

In whatso we share with another's need."

In October, 1849, the British brig "St. John," with immigrants from Galway, struck on the Sea Ledges, a little to the west of the Minot, and immediately went to pieces. More than a hundred of her passen- gers were drowned. Others were rescued by the humane exertions and heroic daring of the men of Cohasset ; and every house was open to welcome those who were thus snatched from the grave. I have already named the founders of your town. Let me name some of those who, in our own day, sustained its honor and the honor of humanity. Studley, Snow, Lawrence, Hardwick, Lothrop, Tower-these were prominent in their efforts to save. I have not been able to procure the names of all. Their modesty will thank me, as the modesty of all would have thanked me if all the names had been withheld.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 47

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